I ran, ignoring the danger to myself if I should misstep and fall. The vision of my brother had shown me that Fynn, Jakob, Clothis, and Will were all in terrible danger. I had not been able to save Nathan, but I still could save them. If I did only one thing in this strange world, it would be to save them.
Occasionally, I could catch glances of the ghosts watching me, drifting in and out of my line of vision as I hurried up the tower. I ignored them as best I could, focusing on the winding stairs before me. Soon I reached a second landing that was identical to the first. This time, I pushed through the heavy wood door without hesitation and found myself in a similar room to the one I had just left, the greatest difference being that this room was largely lacking a floor. Clothis was standing inside, her sword drawn and her eyes locked on imaginary targets. I could see the three ghosts that circled her, each trying to lure her away from the relative safety of the doorway and deeper into the room where the floor had long since turned to dust.
“Clothis!” I called.
“No!” Clothis snapped. “You won’t kill them again! Not this time!”
She charged forward at the nearest ghost, and I grabbed onto her sword belt. She was very strong, but had not expected the sudden resistance, and we both fell backwards. I nearly dropped my torch as she turned on me with anger filled eyes. She looked as if she was dreaming, lost in a world only she could see. I knew the feeling too well, and for a split second, I wondered what vision the ghosts were showing her.
“I can save them this time,” she growled at me. “Stay out of my way.”
She roughly pushed me aside, rising to her feet and dashing once more towards the ghosts. I reacted quickly, springing after her as she neared the sheer drop.
“They’re not real!” I exclaimed, dropping the torch as I wrapped my arms firmly around her middle and pulled her back with all my strength. Clothis lashed out at me with her sword, cutting me in the shoulder, but I refused to let go. The ghosts drifted closer, obviously calling to Clothis as she fought to free herself from my grasp.
“They’re ghosts,” I yelled into her ear. “You can’t do anything about the past! Let it go, Clothis.”
I fixed my eyes on one of the three and felt the heat of my anger rage inside of me. The ghost stopped moving and vanished, its eyes growing wide in fear as it did so. Clothis calmed down a bit and stared at where the ghost had been.
“The
mercenary,” she muttered. “Where did he go?”
“It’s a hallucination,” I told
her gently as she gradually relaxed. “It’s not real.”
“My family,” Clothis said in a whisper, sagging in my arms.
I felt something wet land on my hand, and I realized Clothis was crying. The remaining two ghosts faded into the masonry, sensing that their opportunity was gone. As Clothis relaxed, I released her, wincing at the cut on my shoulder. The Dyrel guard sat on the ground, her sword lay before her, searching the room with clear eyes for the vision that had vanished.
“My family,” she repeated. “My sisters. They killed them, all of them, without mercy. We were just children, just children, and they killed them. I played dead, like a coward, while they died.”
I patted her reassuringly on the back, unsure of what to do to comfort her, and she buried her face into her hands, the tears flowing freely.
“Atropis, Lachis, forgive me,” Clothis cried. “I was not strong enough to save you.”
I let her cry, knowing too well how the tears would cleanse her soul. When I thought we had lingered long enough, I gently guided her to her feet and picked up her heavy sword for her.
“Clothis,” I said gently, “we have to continue. The others are in the same spell you were trapped in. We have to help them.”
Clothis wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and nodded, taking the sword from me. She took a step towards the door, then paused and glanced over her shoulder at me.
“Don’t mention this to the others,” she said.
I nodded mutely and followed her out the door, retrieving my torch as I did so. The sputtering flame grew stronger in my hand as I led the way up the stairs to the next landing, where I hoped we would find another of our companions.
I burst into the room on the third landing and stopped short. Clothis pushed her way around me and froze as well, staring in shock at what we saw. Jakob was in the room, dueling fiercely with Fynn. The Huryl had a look of pure hatred on his face and he fought without holding back. Fynn, on the other hand, was doing his best to stay alive without injuring Jakob.
“If you knew me, you’d know I would never serve!” Jakob was saying.
Fynn parried another attack and pushed the soldier back, glancing at the door as he did so. Relief was evident on his face as he defended himself again Jakob’s next onslaught.
“Leila!” Fynn gasped. “Break the spell!”
“How can you force me to fight, Father?” Jakob demanded.
I glanced around the room, but I saw no ghosts present. I had no idea what was making Jakob act this way, or why he was attacking Fynn with such ferocity. I looked at Clothis, who shrugged, and back to Fynn. I could see the duel was starting to go badly for the Woodwalker as Jakob forced him backwards and nearly into a wall.
“I don’t see any ghosts,” I called.
Fynn ducked
a blow and moved quickly to his left. He managed to shoot an angry glance at me
as he did so. “There are no ghosts! Ghosts don’t exist! They are spirits!”
I blinked in surprise.
Spirits? What kind of spirits took the form of dead men? And why hadn’t I been
able to tell what they were from the start? I felt embarrassed that I had been
fooled. Fynn growled angrily as he forced Jakob back.
“Sand spirits,” Fynn snapped. “Command them, Leila.”
“She can’t!” Clothis gasped.
“Got a better idea?” Fynn demanded.
“I’ll do it,” I said softly, my eyes locked on Jakob’s angry face. I hated seeing him that way, when he was normally so kind and gentle.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on the sand spirits. Now that I knew their true forms, I could feel them all over the fortress and the desert. They were a large tribe, very powerful, and I wondered if I had the strength to bend them to my will. I sensed them paying attention to me, more irate than curious.
“Spirits of earth, tribe of the sands,” I intoned. “I summon thee. Fulfill my heart’s desire!”
The spirits surged at me, coming at me with such intensity and force that I thought I would lose myself to it. My eyes snapped open and I found myself in the centre of a maelstrom. Sand whirled around me like a tornado, and the figures of the spirits appeared within it, hissing angrily at me as they passed.
“Release him,” I commanded, straining to make my voice heard to the spirits.
Reluctantly, several spirits separated themselves from the Huryl soldier’s body and soared over to join the tornado. Jakob broke off his attack and stood blinking in the centre of the room, unsure of what he had been doing. Fynn gratefully lowered his sword and turned to me.
“Displace
them!” he called. “Send them back to the desert!”
I could feel their anger at
being held. They didn’t care about me, and resented being summoned. They had no
cause to honour the promise given to them, nor did they desire to rule the
world as the other tribes did. They wanted to be left in peace, and so I
released them. The symbol on my palm burned intensely and I found myself
raising my hand, palm forward, towards them.
“No!” Fynn cried. “Stop!”
The whirlwind disappeared in a blinding explosion, scattering the sand spirits back into their desert. I felt light-headed and dizzy as I stood in the doorway, the mark on my palm glowing brightly. Fynn looked pale and distraught, but I managed to smile at him.
“Are you okay, Leila?” Fynn asked, coming over to me and laying his hand on my uninjured shoulder.
I nodded to him, not trusting myself to speak. The whispered voices in my head were back, more of them this time, but I pushed them aside as I looked at each of my friends in turn. Suddenly, I realized one was missing.
“Will!” I exclaimed.
I hurried back down the tower and into the courtyard, Jakob, Clothis, and Fynn following close behind me. I ran into the small room and found Will asleep on the ground, exactly as I had left him before. The fire had returned to its normal glow, and all the sand that had covered our belongings was gone. I took a deep breath and allowed myself to relax. The strange crisis was over, the ghosts who were not ghosts were gone, and everyone was safe.
I turned to make sure Jakob and Fynn were all right, when a cold shiver passed through my body and I fell to the ground, enfolded by the blackness of the night. The voices in my head grew louder, speaking to me with such ferocity that I thought my own mind would be overwhelmed. I felt hot all over, and my body was shaking, but I could do nothing to control it. The sounds of my friends faded from my ears, replaced by the laughter of the spirits that threatened to consume my soul.