Shadows

The next day was a lot cooler. Still undeniably warm, but a northerly breeze was blowing down from Mt Ares bringing with it a pleasant calm. Whether due to the extreme heat of the day before, or the exertion from swimming, Robert didn’t wake until mid-afternoon, and when he did he found Angie and Kel were still fast asleep.

That was a mild blessing at least, thought Robert. It meant he would have more time to think about how he was going to reveal to Angie that Kel wasn’t the only member of the trio who could perform some kind of magic. How would Angie react? Kel had been fairly certain Angie would be as accepting of his magic as she had been of hers, and whilst there was no doubt in Robert’s mind that Angie had accepted a lot about him over the past few days that he’d never thought anyone would, he was still uneasy.

Angie and Kel rose not long after Robert, Angie gently lifting the still dozing Polo off her stomach and onto the floor. Kel climbed to her feet and stretched to the sky, smiling as she bathed in the light of the day. Angie dragged herself up using a log for support, then turned to Robert and blinked, bleary-eyed.

“You’re up early,” she smiled.

“Actually you’re both up late,” Robert replied. “From the sun’s position it’s nearly mid-afternoon.”

“You know what I meant – probably. How long have you been up, then?” asked Angie as she began to root around in the supplies bag.

“Not t-too long, actually. I’ve only really just got moving. I don’t think I’ve ever woken up so late in the day.”

“Fair enough. We’re getting quite low on supplies by the way,” Angie commented as she removed an overripe apple from the bag. “The heat isn’t good for the food’s longevity, we should really start making our way back down towards Alderbay soon.”

“Already?” sighed Kel, who was touching her toes. “I thought we were having fun?”

“We were,” agreed Angie, “but the reality is we need food. It’s still almost a day or more from here to Alderbay, so we can keep enjoying ourselves on the way there.”

“Oh alright, fair enough.”

“You’ve changed your tune a bit,” smiled Angie. Robert was perplexed – he hadn’t realised Kel had a song, let alone that she’d modified it. He couldn’t help but feel he was missing something here.

“Well, I…” Kel blushed, “I understand now that as much as I want to just have fun, there are more serious things to pay attention to. It was childish of me to try and ignore them. Besides, I could have sworn I had dreams about the Orb last night. Dreams of it whispering to me. I want to get moving and find out some answers about it once and for all.”

“I had dreams about the Orb last night too,” nodded Angie. “How about you, Robert? Have you heard the Orb whispering to you at all?”

“I c-can’t say I have,” said Robert, shaking his head. “What kind of whispers?”

“I don’t know, really. I seem to forget the words as soon as they’ve been said. False promises; trying to get me to touch the Orb. You really haven’t heard anything like that?”

“Really,” nodded Robert, drawing the Orb out of his pockets. It rested in his lap, the glowing red sphere pulsing in the sun. “I’ve had a bit of headache the past few days, but I just thought that was because of the heat.”

“How curious,” mused Kel, her eyes fixed on the Orb. “The fact you can touch the Orb without being incinerated is very strange as well. Not that I’ve tried touching it…”

“No, neither have I…” said Angie, trailing off. Robert could see both girls transfixed by the Orb, their eyes glassy and their hands reaching out towards it. He hastily bundled it out of sight again, and the spell was broken.

“How are you not affected by it?” asked Kel, shaking herself. “Even now, I can still hear it faintly in my mind, calling out to me…”

“I don’t know,” said Robert, “though maybe it’s related to my…” he trailed off, looking up at Angie.

“Your what?” she asked.

“My, um… I d-don’t know how to say this.”

“It’s okay,” comforted Angie, placing a hand on Robert’s shoulder.

“I can do magic,” Robert blurted out.

“Ah,” replied Angie. “And, um… how long have known you could do magic?”

“Since I was about thirteen.”

“Alright. Why, um… why didn’t you tell us before now?”

“Oh, I t-told Kel last night.” Robert gulped.

“Right.”

“I’ll, um – give you two some time to talk this over, shall I?” Kel mumbled. “I can take Polo for a walk?” she said, nudging the sleeping dog with her foot. “Come on, boy.”

After several unsuccessful nudges, Kel resorted to picking up the still slumbering Polo and carried him sheepishly away. Robert and Angie watched her disappear around a tree, then saw her pop her head back cautiously to look before blushing and disappearing a second time. This time she didn’t peek back round.

“Why… why didn’t you tell me before? About your magic?” asked Angie. “Did you not think you could trust me?”

“N-no, it’s not that,” stuttered Robert.

“Then why? I know we’ve only known each other a few days, but we’ve known Kel even less and you told her. I mean, were you even planning on telling me if it hadn’t come up whilst we were talking about the Orb?”

“Yes. I was going to t-tell you this morning.”

“Because you felt guilty about telling Kel last night, or because you wanted to?”

“I d-don’t know what you want me to say.”

“I want the truth. That’s all. We’ve been through a lot since we first met in Velayne, and in a short space of time. I’m just confused about… everything, really. Just tell me the truth.”

“I wanted to tell you,” replied Robert, “but I guess there is a part of me t-that feels guilty I didn’t tell you first.”

“Why?”

“Pardon?” asked Robert, confused.

“Why do you feel guilty you didn’t tell me first?”

Robert’s mind was having to perform mental gymnastics he’d never attempted before. Questions such as: ‘Why did the far off land of Statera Terram once fight a war against the indigenous bird population?’[37] could be answered with relative ease compared with: ‘Why do you feel guilty?’

“Um…” Robert mumbled.

“Do you feel guilty because you feel you betrayed a friend?”

“In a way…”

“Look, Robert. I tried to ask this before at Clifftop but we got distracted by the whole diary thing – which I know is my fault. So I’ll ask again, and please – tell me the truth. Do you have feelings for me? Do you want us to be more than friends?”

There was a pause.

“No,” said Robert.

“No?” asked Angie.

No?! thought Robert. What do you mean ‘no’, you idiot?!

“I just,” Robert began falteringly, “I’ve never had f-friends before, and I d-don’t know if I c-can handle that without messing it up, let alone anything… m-more.”

There was a pause, in which they could only hear the sounds of Kel and Polo playing in the distance. Robert was barely breathing.

“So…” began Angie after a while, “you do have feelings for me?”

“P-please don’t make me say it.”

“You’re a pain sometimes, you know that don’t you?” grinned Angie.

“I have been told words to that effect, yes,” smiled Robert in return.

Robert looked into Angie’s face, and saw her staring back at him with her gorgeous hazel-green eyes. Beautiful as they were, he couldn’t help but feel a deep level of discomfort building up inside him as each second of eye contact passed. Angie must have noticed, because she smiled and said:

“You don’t have to, you know. I know you find it difficult.”

Robert sighed gratefully and averted his gaze, choosing instead to stare off into the middle distance.

“It’s a bit of shame, I won’t lie,” continued Angie, blushing. “I… really like your eyes.”

“T-that’s nice,” gulped Robert. “I like yours too, it’s just when I m-make eye contact I end up concentrating too much on staring and not the actual c-conversation. It’s almost as stressful as trying to hold hands.”

Angie laughed softly. Polo was barking in the distance.

“So, um…” Angie began, biting her lip. “Should I say anything about how I feel?”

“I’d really r-rather you didn’t, actually. I think I’d feel p-pressured to say something back.”

“Fair enough,” nodded Angie. “A tad presumptuous, but… ultimately correct. Besides, I really think I’d rather not say anything at the moment too. I haven’t the foggiest as to what I’d actually say,” she chuckled awkwardly, blushing slightly.

That was really quite easy, thought Robert happily to himself, almost in a dreamlike daze. True, he hadn’t actually said anything he thought you were supposed to say in such circumstances – he’d told Angie he didn’t have feelings for her, then said he didn’t want to try anything more than friendship, and capped it all off by saying he didn’t want to hear her feelings on the subject. Even so, he couldn’t help but feel some sort of understanding had been reached between the two without actually really mentioning what it was they were agreeing on.

He wondered if that was what subtext was. If he could get halfway to understanding that that would be a huge victory.

“How about this magic of yours, then?” asked Angie, changing the subject for both their sakes. Robert found it slightly odd that the topic he’d been worried about broaching earlier was now an area of conversational refuge. “What can you do?”

“Well, by touching objects I can see into their past. L-like with books – I can read the story on the pages, but I can also read the past of the actual book – who wrote it, bound it; owned it. Often I’d see who broke it. When I worked for Mr Colywick, it was a useful skill to have when p-people brought in books for repair. I could look back and see how it was damaged; to know how b-best to fix it.”

“That is useful,” nodded Angie. “I could’ve used that power when I was working for Mrs Gable. Find out how people broke their bones, or when they first developed a cough, for example. People’s memories are often really inaccurate.”

“I’ve never tried it with a p-person before,” admitted Robert. “I tried it with a fish once, to try and f-find out which was the most fresh at market, but it went badly.”

“How so?”

“Well, for a few days afterwards I thought I had gills. Kept f-feeling like I had to dunk my head in water to be able to breathe. I’d really r-rather not think about it if that’s okay?”

“Oh no, that’s more than alright. I can see how you’d want to avoid that thought.”

“Are you smiling?”

“Who, me? No, no,” Angie replied, and Robert was sure she was trying to stifle a grin. “You have to admit, it is a bit funny,” she continued, beginning to giggle.

“Well, maybe a tad,” Robert shrugged, but soon he was laughing along with Angie.

After a brief interlude of laughing, they both sighed and smiled at one another.

“So what else apart from books and fish have you tried it on?” asked Angie.

“Well, pretty much any inanimate object, really. Some are more interesting than others.”

“What about the Orb?”

“What about it?”

“That night back in Clifftop, when you touched the Orb – did you see into its past then?”

“Oh. Yes. That was quite interesting, indeed.”

“What did you see?”

Robert told her.

“Wow,” replied Angie after Robert had finished explaining. “So let me check I’ve got this right. There was a bunch of confusing stuff at the start of its history, but then it fell into the hands of Kel’s people – the Olossa, wasn’t it? They used the Orb to gain magical powers and rule the world, but then started fighting amongst themselves and eventually got killed off by the humans who took advantage of the situation. But they might not all have been killed, because there were a group of Olossa left who performed a ritual involving the Orb then disappeared, right? What if they went into the Orb?”

“I beg your pardon?” asked Robert, who until now had been nodding along.

“They were losing the war and in danger of being killed off altogether, right? What did we do when the Skadirr was after us? We ran and hid. What if they hid themselves in the Orb? It’s the perfect hiding place! Plus it’s nearly indestructible without strong magic, and at the time no human had strong magic so they’d be safe. Am I right? I’m right, aren’t I?”

“That’s… logical,” nodded Robert hesitantly. “You and Kel said you could hear voices coming from it? Where does that fit into it all?”

“What if those voices are the voices of the Olossa hidden inside?”

“Why would they be talking to us? Or t-to you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they need something from us. What would they need from us, though? They want us to touch the Orb, but anyone who touches it burns to a crisp. What do they gain from that? Energy?”

“I didn’t burn up.”

“No. No, you didn’t. But you don’t hear the voices either. Why not? Is it because you’re magical?”

“Maybe. B-but why would Kel be able to hear the voices then?”

“Because… damn it!” shouted Angie exasperatedly, kicking up some leaves. “I can’t help but feel we’re so close to working it out. It was easier talking about our relationship!”

“Wait,” gasped Robert. “W-what if that’s it?”

“What if what’s it?”

“What if the Orb’s like a relationship?”

“I don’t understand,” said Angie, scratching her head.

“I don’t r-really understand relationships. You saw as much in my diary. I keep observing, t-trying to figure them out.”

“I’m with you so far…”

“Well, what if the Orb’s like a relationship?”

“You said that before Robert, and I just don’t get what you’re thinking.”

“No, but that’s it! Like when Rosemary Bletherwick asked me out to the Summer Festival I didn’t f-fully understand what she was saying – it was like I was missing this whole part of the conversation. What if the v-voices are like that subtext? I can’t hear them.”

“Right…” replied Angie uncertainly.

“Everyone else can, but I can’t. And like everyone else with relationships, they keep trying d-different combinations; different people until it works out.”

“Alright…”

“Well, don’t you see?”

“See what? Oh…” said Angie, clarity dawning on her face. “You’re saying the Orb is searching for the right person to touch it? …That sounds wrong.”

“Oh, really? I thought it sounded right,” said Robert, his face falling.

“Oh no, not like that,” replied Angie, waving her hand in front of her face. “Never mind. I think I agree with you. It would make sense, wouldn’t it? Anyone who isn’t the right person gets used up; burnt as fuel to sustain the Olossa inside. But then who’s the right person? And what happens when they touch the Orb?”

“Where’s Kel?” asked Robert, looking around.

“I can’t hear her or Polo any more,” replied Angie. “You think it’s Kel?”

“She’s the last surviving Olossa. It would m-make most sense.”

“But what happens if she touches the Orb?”

“If there are Olossa hiding inside the Orb, d-do you think they’d want to stay there forever?”

They turned to one another, and spoke in synchrony:

“We need to find Kel.”

Unfortunately, someone else had found her first.

“Who are you?” asked Kel to the surrounding wall of weapons. One moment she had been waltzing through the forest, playing with Polo, the next she found herself enveloped on all sides by a group of menacing bandits. She cursed herself for not paying enough attention. “What do you want with me?”

“My apologies,” came a sinister voice from somewhere within the crowd. Kel turned and watched as a small man prowl forward of the blades pointing towards her until the two of them were in the centre of the circle. Polo growled by her feet, his eyes fixed on the new arrival. The only thing that betrayed the man’s aura of cool, calculating charm was a fresh, livid scar on the left side of his face.

“My name is Art. I’m currently the leader of this fine bunch of men. And you might be?”

“Don’t tell him, Keliashyrr,” whispered Ambriel in Kel’s mind. “Don’t tell him anything.”

“I’m no-one.” she replied.

“No-one?” Art smiled. “Can’t say I’ve ever met no-one before. You must have a name, girl?”

“I’m Angie,” Kel lied. “What do you want with me?”

“Well, Angie,” smirked Art, “my friend Arrow here,” he said, gesturing at a nervous looking man wielding a bow and arrow that Kel recognised all too well, “was telling me a curious story the other day. He told me that whilst he was up in these forests hunting for some rabbits for our dinner he came across someone else hunting for rabbits.

“Now I know what you’re thinking – nothing too curious about that now, is there? Perhaps not. The thing is, though, Arrow told me that the girl he saw hunting – yes, a girl – didn’t seem to have a bow. Yet she was firing arrows. How does one fire an arrow without a bow, I ask? Do you have any ideas, Angie?”

“I’m afraid I don’t,” gulped Kel. “Maybe she just hid the bow in the woods?”

Art smirked.

“That’s an idea we thought of. There was another idea we thought of too. Do you want to hear it?”

“Please,” nodded Kel nervously.

“We think – and you’ll laugh, really – that perhaps she was conjuring these arrows using magic.” Art chuckled to himself, a vile self-indulgent chuckle, and Kel laughed weakly in response.

“What a funny suggestion! Everyone knows magic hasn’t been around for ages…”

“I know! Isn’t it a funny suggestion?” Art gestured to the rest of the group, and they joined in with the laughter half-heartedly. “It’s silly, really. Of course, the funniest part of this whole story is the last part, you know? Can you guess what it is?”

“I’m sure I don’t know,” said Kel, shaking her head. Alarm bells were ringing in her mind, and she could sense Ambriel trying to calculate the best way for her to escape, but all around her was a ring of sword tips and arrows.

“Go on, guess.” Art sneered.

“Um… it was all a dream?” Kel replied.

“Oh no, this was quite real,” Art grinned. “Shall I tell you?”

Kel nodded frantically.

“The best part? Arrow tells me the girl was you.”

“Is that so?” Kel squealed. “I don’t think it was me.”

“No? Are you saying Arrow here is a liar?”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to go that far…”

“But that’s what you’re saying, isn’t it? His word against yours. He tells me one thing, you tell me another. Whom do I trust?” Art stepped closer to Kel, and Polo growled even fiercer. “Look, I’m not your enemy here, Angie. I don’t want to hurt you. I’m very interested in you, actually…” Art reached out to stroke Kel’s hair, and she recoiled sharply. Polo lunged at Art’s leg, fixing his little jaw around the man’s ankle and gripping tight. Art yelled and thrashed his leg about wildly, turning Polo into a black and white blur of fluff swinging through the air. Still Polo bit firm into Art’s ankle, drawing blood and making the man give a guttural growl.

“Go now! Whilst they’re distracted!” yelled Ambriel.

“But I can’t leave the dog!” Kel anxiously replied.

“It’s a dog! It’s not worth you!”

“He means a lot to Angie!”

“You mean a lot to me!”

Too soon the opportunity was lost. Kel watched in frozen horror as Art slashed down with his dagger and matted Polo’s black and white coat with red. Kel screamed as the little dog dropped loose from Art’s leg to the floor, and she rushed forwards to catch him. Polo was panting feebly, his chest rising and falling rapidly. Kel’s eyes watered as Polo whined, twitched his leg, then fell still.

“Bloody thing,” Art spat, clutching his ankle. “Now, where were we?”

“You bastard,” Kel hissed, staring up from Polo’s dead body. “You bastard! How could you?!”

“I think you’ll find it attacked me first,” shrugged Art.

“I’ll show you who else is going to attack you first!” Kel spat, jumping to her feet and raising her palm, ready to unleash a salvo of arrows. Immediately she heard bows drawn tight and felt the presence of swords at her back.

“Ah, ah, ah… let’s not any of us be hasty. I meant it when I said I didn’t want to hurt you, Angie, and I won’t – unless you hurt me, of course. Who knows what might happen then? As I was saying before that… little mongrel attacked me, was that I’m really quite interested in those with magical abilities. I used to be part of a group in the capital, you know. At least until a conflict of interests drove us apart, I’m afraid. I wasn’t happy with my share of the deal, and saw a way I could improve it... Alas, I’m rambling. Sadly my little endeavour didn’t turn out too well – my previous business partners turned against me, and the merchants I hired to retrieve what I desired failed me. But that doesn’t matter any more. I have you.”

“And just what do you think you’re going to do with me?” growled Kel.

“Well, you’re magical. Do you know what someone with magical abilities could do in this world? Too long has magic been shunned; driven away. Why, I could probably count the number of magic users in the Empire on one hand. I think that’s a great shame, don’t you? I also think, however, that it’s a great opportunity. People, in their ignorance and hatred of all things magical, know very little about magic, and what you don’t know – contrary to the saying – can hurt you. With magic on our side, our enemies would be helpless to stop us. If only you agreed to work with me, rather than against me – why, just imagine what we could achieve together…”

“You want me to be what? Your weapon?”

“Far from it! I envision us as equals. Let me guide you, Angie, and together we could rule over an Empire far grander than this miserable one we have currently.”

“No,” replied Kel, shaking her head. “No, thank you. I already have a guide, and I know what happens to people who try and use magic to rule over others.”

“I really don’t think you’re in a position to bargain, girl,” grumbled Art.

“No. I don’t think you’re the one in a position to bargain, man. You want me for my magic. I’m not going to give it to you. And if you kill me then you don’t get any magic at all. So I’ll be going now, thank you very much.” Kel made to move away, but the ring of weaponry around her didn’t move.

“Oh, come now. Do you really think I’d give up that easily? There are other ways I can get you to do what I want…” Art nodded and Kel felt herself grabbed from behind, her arms pinned behind her painfully as she was forced to the ground. She grimaced and groaned as Polo’s body slumped to the floor and Art advanced towards her, drawing his dagger menacingly. He ran the flat of the blade against Kel’s cheek and grinned.

“Now, Angie, I’ll ask you one last time. You’re going to end up working with me whether you like it or not, so I suppose the question is – would you rather join us of your own volition, or am I going to have to make you?”

Kel gulped.

“G-get away from her!” came a voice that Kel knew well.

She looked up gratefully and saw Robert stood across from them, chest puffed out and looking as confident and powerful as he could. Unfortunately, a boy with the build of a lamp post can only look so threatening. Even so, Kel was glad to see him. Where was Angie?

“Oh, hello!” smirked Art. “I think I r-recognise you from the r-road,” he mocked, and the group of bandits sneered in unison. “What can we do for you?”

“Get away from her,” Robert repeated firmly.

“Yes, we’ve been over that,” sighed Art, “but I’m afraid that’s not happening. So either you can turn around and walk away, or try something stupid. Either’s good with me.”

“Kel, are you alright?” called Robert. Kel winced slightly, but nodded.

“Kel?” asked Art, smiling at Kel. “I thought your name was Angie, girl? Tut tut, lying to me, were you? Why am I not surprised?”

“P-please let her go,” said Robert.

“That’s not going to happen, boy. Your friend here could be very useful to me, and I’m not about to let her go. So please, just go, or I’ll have one of my men shoot you for boring me.” Art sighed, waving Robert away. “Oh, actually,” he said, turning back, “whilst you’re here I wonder if you could be useful to me too? The redheaded girl you were with back at the coast when we ambushed you – where is she now?”

“Why d-do you need to know?”

“Just curiosity, is all. The box she was carrying – I’d so love to know what was in there. Do you know?”

“N-no,” Robert lied.

“What a shame. Then really you’re not very useful, are you? Arrow – shoot the boy.”

Kel and Robert tensed as Art turned to the nervous looking archer Kel had seen the other day, who himself was looking tense.

“He’s just standing there, Art. Can’t we let him go?” Arrow gulped.

“Let him go? So he can run back to Clifftop and alert the militia? Or to Velayne and bring the guard down on our heads? Don’t be so thick. Shoot him.”

“He’s just a boy, Art.”

“Have you gone soft, Arrow? Do as I say and shoot the boy!” Art barked.

“It’s just – kidnapping a young girl, killing a boy – it’s not what I got into this bandit malarkey for. I can’t do it. I’ve never killed a man before. Never needed to when Duvet was in charge...”

“What was that?!” Art growled.

“Nothing, Art,” Arrow mewled.

“Did you prefer it when that flamboyant fop was in charge? Hmm? Anyone else thinking that way?!” Art roared, turning to look at the assembled bandits, each recoiling under his glare. Kel felt her arms drop free, and she nursed some life back into them as the bandit who had been holding them released her to edge away from Art, who was nearly frothing at the mouth.

“I didn’t mean anything by it, Art…” Arrow mumbled.

“Of course you didn’t! Here I am, trying to improve our standing in life and you, you ungrateful swine, tell me you preferred it when we were starving under the command of that moron Verc-Lean?!”

“Psst,” hissed a voice from behind Kel. “Psst!”

Kel turned and saw out of the corner of her eye a flash of red hair behind a tree. Angie poked her head out and gestured Kel to come towards her. Slowly but steadily, taking advantage of the bandits’ distraction, Kel tip-toed her way to the edge of the circle and slipped under and across towards Angie. She turned and saw Robert begin to sneak away too, and dart around towards them.

“Where’s Polo?” whispered Angie, worriedly.

“I’m sorry,” sobbed Kel, tears forming in her eyes again. “He was trying to protect me, and…” she couldn’t say it.

“And what?” Angie breathed, as if in deliberate ignorance of how she knew that sentence would end. “Kel, what happened?”

“That man… Art, he…” Kel wept, pointing back towards the centre of the circle. She winced as she saw Angie look over her shoulder and back towards the bandits, and the sad little body she knew Angie would see in the centre.

“What’s wrong?” Angie heard Robert say as he crawled round to the side of the girls. “Come on, we n-need to get moving before they realise we’re gone!”

It was all muffled, though. Angie felt as if she was watching the entire world through a mirror, or as if she was underwater. She couldn’t draw her eyes away from the small black and white and… red…lump of fur in the centre of the group of bandits. It couldn’t be… not after all she’d already been through. She’d saved him from the Skadirr. She’d brought him all this way. But for what? What had been the point? The last living memory of Verne…

“Angie, come on!” Robert grabbed Angie by the shoulders and spun her round to face him. “We need to move – we don’t have long!”

“He’s dead,” Angie said, and the world collapsed around her. She felt herself slump forwards into Roberts arms and he sank under her weight.

“Come on!” Robert wheezed, and Angie felt Kel wrap her arms around her too, lifting her to her feet.

“Angie, are you alright?” Kel asked.

“He’s gone,” Angie sobbed, and she felt her eyes grow weak, the gates that had been holding back a flood of tears finally giving way.

“We need to move,” said Robert, and Angie felt herself being half dragged, half led across the forest floor. Her legs didn’t seem to want to move. Her body didn’t want to function. Her mind had shut down. Sorrow had engulfed her thoughts, and tears drowned her speech.

“Going somewhere?” came a snide voice. Through tear-obscured vision Angie saw they were once again surrounded by bandits. The small, hateful man known as Art stood in the centre, grinning at them nastily. Angie tried to muster enough rage in her heart to drive her forward, to force her hands around the man’s neck, but there was nothing left. She was empty. All this death and destruction, and for what? Some stupid Orb…

“Oh look, it’s the red haired girl!” said Art, clapping his hands together. “Finally, all three of you together at last. I was saying to your friends, girl, how curious I was to know what was in that box of yours. Care to share?”

A terrible, awful idea stirred in Angie’s mind.

“You can have it,” she sighed. “Robert – give him the Orb.”

“The Orb?” asked Art in surprise. “What manner of orb is this?”

“Angie, you can’t mean it-” began Robert.

“Give him the Orb, Robert. It’s what he wants,” Angie mumbled.

“If it’s the orb I’m thinking of, then I would definitely want that.” Art smiled, his eyes glittering with greed.

“But Angie-” Robert grimaced.

“It’s what he deserves, Robert. Give him the Orb.”

Angie watched as Robert reluctantly lifted the Orb out of his pocket and held it in the palm of his hand. Angie could hear the voices now louder than ever, and as she chanced a glance at Kel she could tell the girl was being drawn in as well. Art’s face lit up with terrifying happiness and he almost seemed to dance through the air towards it.

“It is!” he laughed manically. “It really is! The Orb! The one I hired those stupid merchants to retrieve, the one I thought was lost… the power of destruction, so nearly in my grasp…”

“You hired Verne as well?” asked Angie, dumbstruck. “You sent him after the Orb?”

“Was that his name?” scoffed Art. “Yes, that was me. I had grown tired of being side-lined by the rest of my group back in Vaygenspire, and sought out power for myself. It would have gone so well if I hadn’t been found out and forced to flee. It would have gone so well if those merchants hadn’t failed so miserably in keeping it safe until I could catch up to them. But no matter – it’s mine now.”

“Yes,” Angie hissed. “It is. Go on, Robert. I really want you to give him the Orb.”

“But Angie, if what we think is correct, then he’ll-” Robert began, but it was too late.

Art lunged forwards greedily and snatched the Orb from Robert’s grasp. It didn’t take long after his clawed fingers wrapped around the Orb that Art realised something was terribly wrong. Angie watched as the man’s eyes twisted through success and happiness, then confusion, then terror. Flames licked at the man’s hand and he tried to drop the Orb in shock only to find it was melted to his flesh. He screamed and flailed as the fire spread, his arm igniting furiously before the flames leapt to his body. In a matter of seconds Art was engulfed in flames, and in a few more the screaming stopped.

There was nothing of Art left but ash, which hung in the air with the Orb for a moment, then it all came falling to the ground. Despite having just seen the fate of the last man to touch it, all of the bandits, even Angie herself, felt drawn to catch it as it fell. She saw Kel take a step forwards and Angie finally found the strength to move, wrapping her arms around Kel and bringing them both to the floor.

“Don’t touch it!” she cried.

“But the whispers!” Kel called back. “They’re stronger than ever!”

“I know! Block them out!”

Kel watched as Robert leapt forwards to grab the Orb before it hit the ground, or before any of the other bandits could touch it and be transformed into a pyre before they knew what was happening. She tried to avert her gaze from the Orb but couldn’t help but feel drawn to it. The whispers… the voices were so loud now, she could hear them even with her hands over her ears…

Robert reached forth and felt a finger touch the Orb, curving it down through the air towards him, when a bandit collided into him and sent him reeling backwards. The Orb arced up into the air again as Robert hit the floor, a bandit landing painfully on top of him, and he watched as the Orb sailed towards a tree.

It hit the trunk and bounced off, plummeting down with demonic purpose.

Robert tracked its descent.

“Kel! Don’t touch the-”

“What?!” cried Kel, removing her hands from her ears as she heard Robert calling to her.

“Don’t touch the Orb!” he screamed, but it was too late.

Kel gasped and watched in shock as the Orb thudded into her open hands, seeming to pulse with arrogance and self-satisfaction. She heard Angie take a sharp intake of breath.

Contrary to her expectations, Kel didn’t burst into flame.

The world did.

[37] A war they unfortunately lost, along with a great deal of their dignity.