Chapter Two

 

     As he marched with the other children down a narrow, winding path, Landon marveled at his surroundings. He was deep in the forest now, and the familiar sound of waves crashing onto the beach had faded long ago. Ancient, gnarled trees lined the path, so thickly grown that they formed an almost solid wall on either side, blocking both light and sound so that only the crunching of dead branches under the children's feet broke the heavy silence. Though the forest must once have been full of life, Landon saw only dead trees, dry brittle trunks surrounded by a tangle of grey vines and deadly pale thorns.

     His eyes rested on the girl in front of him—Sira—whose short, black hair swayed back and forth rhythmically with each step she took. An angry red mark stood out sharply on the exposed patch of skin below her hair, and Landon imagined the golden Leaf inside, sucking away her memories like a thirsty man drinking a cup of water on a hot day. Aside from a few chats at school, Landon had never really gotten to know Sira. Now he never would, if what the Alchemist had said was true, if her mind was gone. The Alchemist had called the leaf an instrument, not an end in itself, but Landon thought of it as a living creature, searching around in her spine for a good place to sink its tendrils. He shuddered quietly.

Until now, Landon never realized how much he took his freedom of movement for granted. The Alchemist had instructed him to copy the other children, and Landon hadn't moved any muscle except those in his legs for at least four hours. He desperately wanted to do something—anything—to break the monotony. He had to force himself to remain in line, not to run away from this ghostly parade of children, from the soldier marching behind him, and from the suddenly transformed Charlie, who now acted like a complete stranger. But the Alchemist's warning still stood out sharply in his mind, and the Perianth soldier behind him cut off his escape as surely as the impenetrable barrier of trees.

     Landon almost bumped into Sira when the line suddenly came to a halt, so occupied was he with his own thoughts. He saw in the gloom up ahead that they had arrived at a dead end, where a solid line of tangled trees blocked their path, and he dared a sideways glance at the soldier behind him, who had abandoned his stoic expression for one of confusion. The Perianth soldier who was leading the line emerged from the darkness, his leaf-uniform shining with a light of its own, and stopped to speak with the other soldier. Landon could just hear their whispered conversation.

     “The path is blocked ahead,” said the leading soldier, whom Landon named Square-Jaw for his rectangular face.

     “Is it the only path to Stomatus?” asked the other, swinging his arm nervously back and forth. Landon decided he would call this one Long-Arm.

     “The only path I know,” answered Square-Jaw.

     “Fine, then let's set up camp here. We can find a way around in the morning light.”

     “We risk the children by staying.” Long-Arm looked doubtful, so Square-Jaw continued, “You know how desperate the kingdom is for the next generation of children. If any were to come to harm...”

      “The children will be fine for one night without food.”

      “It's not starvation I'm worried about.”

     “You're worried about the witches? They wouldn't dare attack us here,” Long-Arm stated, but he didn't sound at all sure to Landon, who felt a chill of fear pass down his spine.

     “I don't know. I hear the king himself gave the last batch of children to the witches.”

     “The entire batch!” exclaimed Long-Arm. “It used to be one child a year. Wasn't that the old deal?”

     “Times are changing. The witches are on the move, they say, and the king's preparing for war.”

     “Well, war or not, we're not going any further tonight. We'll just risk losing someone in the dark. Let's set up camp here and search for another path tomorrow,” urged Long-Arm, and though Square-Jaw looked dubious, he nodded.

      “Fine,” he mumbled, “But it's your head if anything happens.”

     Long-Arm pulled a single Leaf from his chest with a small snap, and the other leaves quickly scurried across his body to cover up the exposed skin.

     “Get the water,” said Square-Jaw, taking the leaf from Long-Arm and placing it delicately on the ground several feet away from Landon near the tangled trees. Long-Arm pulled a small bottle from a pack at his side. He carefully removed the cap and tipped the smallest drop of water onto the upturned leaf. As soon as the water touched the surface of the golden leaf, it began to grow. Landon's eyes widened in surprise. The leaf quickly ballooned outwards and upwards, until it reached a height greater than Landon's own, and its end could not be seen in the murky darkness. He found himself looking at a domed golden shelter, a perfect replica of the small leaves on the Perianth's uniform, only hundreds of times larger.

     “Everyone inside,” commanded Square-Jaw, touching another leaf on his arm. The children mechanically turned towards the golden structure and crawled inside. Landon followed, worming his way under the edge of the leaf, which was only a foot or two off the ground. Each child lay down stiffly, side by side on their backs, and Landon made sure to position himself next to Charlie. Outside, he could hear the muffled conversation of Square-Jaw and Long-Arm, though no matter how he strained his ears, he couldn't make out what they were saying. Eventually, he turned towards Charlie, whose eyes were closed. He was breathing in shallow, even breaths.

     “Charlie,” whispered Landon, a lump growing in his throat. Charlie didn't move or give any sign he had heard. “I'm so scared,” Landon gulped, trembling. He was used to being by himself, but this was different. Despite being surrounded by so many familiar faces, he had never felt so alone. Landon lay with his eyes wide open, counting the minutes as they passed, clenching his teeth together and hoping the lump in his throat would subside.

      He may have dozed off for a time, but his eyes snapped open when he thought he heard a sound. He listened closely, but he could only hear the breathing of the other children, like soft rain falling on a soaked roof. Then, he felt a dull tremor under his back. The tremor came again, much stronger this time, and he sat up straight, then carefully crawled over Sira towards the opening of the shelter to peer out into the darkness. He could just make out Long-Arm standing at the center of the path with Square-Jaw.

     “Did you feel that?” asked Long-Arm.

     “I told you we should have kept moving,” Square-Jaw hissed.

     “What is it? Do you think we should leave now?”

     Before Square-Jaw had time to respond, the ground directly beneath him caved in, and he was gone. Long-Arm just stood blinking for a moment. Landon gasped and backed away from the gaping, black hole, which extended almost to where he crouched. He looked up in alarm at Long-Arm, who had turned towards him, but the Perianth soldier seemed not to notice him. The leaves around the soldier’s neck were moving up his face and over his head, until they formed a solid helmet covering all but his eyes, which had turned a deep shade of black.

     For one unbearable moment, all was silent, and time seemed frozen. Long-Arm perched above the abyss, and Landon saw now that the ground had dropped straight down, like a hole drilled directly into a slab of wood. Then came a high-pitched scream, and a small creature jumped straight out of the hole. It looked to Landon like a small man, though he couldn't be sure in the dim light. The creature emitted another high-pitched squawk before throwing itself violently upon Long-Arm, who tumbled backwards.

     Landon almost felt sorry for Long-Arm, whom he felt sure would be thrown painfully onto the rocky ground, but just as Long-Arm neared the ground. Landon noticed a flurry of movement at the soldier's back. The metallic leaves around Long-Arm's shoulders bulged outwards and pushed against the ground, propelling him to his feet in one smooth movement. At the same time, he swung his arm in an arc towards the creature, and though the creature backed away, the leaves whipped out from the Perianth soldier's open hand like a blade, striking the creature in the midsection. When Long-Arm pulled back his fist, the leaves contracted promptly to their previous formation.

     At least a dozen more of these creatures jumped from the hole, but now Long-Arm was ready. Landon watched with fascination as the Perianth soldier danced and spun across the ground, his deadly golden leaves whipping around him like an autumn storm.

     Although he knocked down several of the creatures, more were streaming from the abyss, and five of them made their way to the children's shelter. The creatures stopped several feet from the leaf under which Landon hid. One of them stared at Landon with its thin, beady eyes, and he motioned to the other creatures excitedly. Landon knew in that moment that he would have to disobey the Alchemist's orders and abandon the Perianth soldiers, for he sensed the creatures were after him specifically. As if to confirm his thought, the voice in his head spoke up, shouting “Run!” But Landon quickly turned to Charlie, not yet willing to leave his best friend.

“If you can hear me,” he pleaded, tugging at Charlie’s limp hand, “you need to come with me now. Please, Charlie!” Landon looked over his shoulder and saw that a creature was crawling through the entrance to the leaf. Giving up on Charlie with a great moan, Landon dashed quickly out the back of the leaf structure, tripping over several prone children on his way. Risking one more glance behind, he saw a creature bending ominously over the sleeping Sira.

     The sight spurred him on. He spotted a small gap in the wall of trees at the back of the shelter and pushed himself through, his shirt ripping as one of the branches scraped painfully across his chest. The fight was still going on just behind him, and he struggled with all his might through the tangle of vines, desperate to get as far away as possible. The Alchemist's words rang out in his head: "Stay with the soldiers. Whatever you do, stay with them, and don't attract attention." Why, he though in anger, didn't you tell me this would happen?

He was bleeding from a dozen cuts by now, and his knee still ached painfully from the day before. He heard someone following him, but he did not have enough energy to keep going. Spinning around, he planted his back to a large tree and found himself almost nose-to-nose with one of the foul creatures.

     "So it is you," croaked the creature. The creature's flesh was pale and wrinkled, as though he had been soaking in water for several hours, and he was dressed only in filthy rags. His beak-like nose sat above a thin mouth pulled down into his sunken chin, his tiny arms sticking out from his shoulders like vestigial appendages. He reached out with one bony hand and grasped Landon's face, his cold, wet fingers slipping over Landon's forehead. Landon tried to pull away, but the creature's grip was surprisingly strong.

     "What do you want," cried Landon, tears running down his cheeks.

     "Just one look, that's all I want," the creature gulped. He pulled open the eyelid over Landon's golden eye and peered in. Landon could smell the creature's foul breath, though through his panic, he was surprised to see that the creature's tiny eyes were the exact same color as those of the Alchemist.

     "Yessssss," the creature hissed. "I can see you in there, I can see you. Thought you could hide?" Landon had no idea what the creature was talking about, but he noticed that its grip had loosened slightly. With one great burst of energy, Landon threw himself into the creature, and the two of them tumbled onto the ground. The creature let out a surprised gurgle as his back hit into one of the knotted roots protruding from the ground. Landon jumped up and dashed off once again through the dead forest. He ran furiously, wild with panic, tripping over tree roots and getting tangled in vines until he collapsed in exhaustion against a tree. Sleep took him quickly, and he soon lost all sense of time.

 

He awoke to light filtering through the dead canopy, highlighting dried bits of leaf falling through the air like ash from a fire. It took him a moment to realize where he was; yesterday's events swam through his mind like a fevered dream, but the surrounding forest and his empty stomach forced reality upon him. As everything rushed back, he slapped his hand to his neck where he could feel the hard bump of the leaf. It was slightly warmer than the surrounding skin, and it seemed to pulse softly under Landon's fingers, independent of his heart. He pulled his hand away in disgust.

His thoughts wandered, as he lay on the cool ground, to the other children and especially to Charlie. He imagined Charlie lying on the forest floor or being dragged off by one of those foul creatures. He could even be dead, thought Landon, killed by those monsters. The lump again grew in his throat, and this time it would not go away. Because he was by himself, he cried, but the sobs soon turned to laughter. To his surprise, he was overwhelmed by great bursts of laughter, which sprang forth from his chest, and he rolled over, grasping his stomach.

     “What are you laughing about?” asked a high-pitched voice from behind him. Landon's stomach lurched as he turned around, still on his back. That creature must have followed me, he thought, but when he looked up, he saw a small girl about his own age. Her long, red hair was filled with bits of dirt and leaves so that it stood out from her head in great unwieldy tufts, but her thin face was clean, and her lips were pulled up at the corners in a kind of smirk.

     “You're not one of them, are you?” she asked slowly, tipping her head and arching her thin eyebrows almost comically. Landon was still lying awkwardly on the ground, looking up at her.

     “One of who?” he asked.

     “The Children of the Leaf, of course. Well, I guess you couldn't be, if you're still talking to me.” She paused, then asked, “You are still talking to me, aren't you?”

     “Yeah,” he said, standing up and brushing himself off.

     “It’s a bad idea to be making so much noise around here. Especially at night, though it’s not night now, obviously. Still, it’s best to keep quiet when outside the walls. You're from Stomatus?

     “No, that’s where I’m trying to go.”

     “Then who are you?”

     “I'm Stomatus—I mean, I'm Landon,” he said, a bit flustered. “I was taken by some soldiers yesterday, and—”

     “Turn around,” she snapped. “Lemme see the back of your neck.”

     “No, way!” said Landon, but she had already grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around. When she saw the bruise on his neck, she gasped and backed away several steps.

     “You're one of them!” she exclaimed. “You have the leaf.” She turned to leave.

     “Wait!” cried Landon, desperate for her to stay.

     “Get away from me, Leafy, if you know what's good for you.”

     “But I'm not. I have the leaf, but I'm still thinking, aren't I?” called out Landon. She stopped walking but didn't turn around.

     “Well, I don't know. If you were thinking, you wouldn't be rolling around laughing in the middle of the forest,” she said, but her voice had softened.

     “I'm lost, though. The soldiers I was with were attacked by these small creatures with high voices who came out of the ground. So I ran away.”

     “Gremmels,” she said, turning around.

     “Grem—what?”

     “Gremmels. That's what attacked the soldiers. Nasty little buggers. They'll follow anyone who can pay ‘em, right? That’ll be the witches now.”

     “Witches?” repeated Landon, dumfounded.

     “You really don't know anything.”

     “I’m not from around here,” said Landon, feeling a tad defensive.

     “Yeah, I can believe that,” she laughed. Landon felt his cheeks redden, but he took a deep breath. Perhaps she can help me, he thought.

“I'm trying to get to Stomatus, the place you mentioned earlier. Do you know how to get there?” Despite being separated from the Perianth soldiers, he could at least try to follow the Alchemist's other instructions.

“Yeah, it’s where I’m going. We’re pretty close.”

“Can I come with you, then?” asked Landon, his spirits lifting.

“I suppose…” she said, scrunching up her face in thought. “If they were using your Leaf, they’d have found me already. We’d better get moving, though. I'm really late as it is.” And with that, she took off through the forest, winding her way expertly through the trees.

     “What's your name?” he called to her.

     “Leyna.”

     “You don’t have any food, Leyna, do you?” asked Landon, trotting after her. He hadn’t eaten anything in almost a day and a half, and his stomach was complaining loudly.

     “Food in the forest is a horrible idea,” she called over her shoulder. “Never know what’s out here. It’s really quite dangerous.”

     “Then what’re you doing out here?”

     “Oh, you know. Just poking around,” she said evasively, squirming through a tight space between two trees. Landon followed her through and saw that they had come to a small stream. It wasn't even a stream, really—just a small trickle of water running along some bare rock, but it was cold and it was moving, so Landon eagerly took large mouthfuls of the water through cupped hands. Leyna, meanwhile, busied herself a few feet away with some curiously blue pebbles, piling them into a makeshift sack she was carrying.

     “Here, you carry this,” she said, handing Landon the satchel of rocks and filling up another stretch of fabric with more rocks.

     “What're these for?” he asked.

     “Just to bring back. You'll see.” Leyna started walking along the riverbed, though the more Landon looked at it, the more he realized that it probably wasn't meant to carry water. The perfectly flat, perfectly straight rock continued through the forest as far as Landon could see, keeping the trees from growing too tightly together. It must be manmade, he thought, though he couldn't fathom its purpose. In any case, he had a much easier time following Leyna now that they were following the rock.

     Landon rather enjoyed the silence of the forest. The only sound was the soft patter of bare feet on smooth rock, and this silence was so much friendlier than the chill quiet of his march through the forest with the other children. He couldn't stop the smile that crept onto his face, but his good cheer was short-lived. Leyna stopped dead in her tracks, and Landon walked right into her.

     “Why'd we stop?”

     “Shh!” she said, motioning for him to follow her off the side of the path. They climbed over a massive tree trunk and nestled down by its base, so they were completely hidden from anyone traveling where they had walked.

     “What're we doing?” he whispered.

     “I told you, be quiet.” As soon as she said this, Landon heard footsteps. Leyna motioned to him, and they both slowly rose up until they could just see over the trunk. Landon's eyes widened, for he saw the very same gremmel he had knocked down the day before, marked with a nasty bruise on its pale, thin neck. It was sniffing around where Landon had just stood, and he thought guiltily that it must have tracked him.

     The gremmel stood up on its hind legs and gave a short yelp as a plump woman bounced through the trees. Her pale skin made Leyna look tan in comparison, and she was dressed only in leaves and twigs with ghostly blond hair that swayed in a nonexistent breeze. She stopped by the gremmel, reaching out to caress its scabby head with her thick, stubby fingers, and spoke in a loud, clear voice: “It's rude to stare, especially when the object of your fascination is unaware of your presence.”

     “There...” The gremmel grabbed hold of one of her round legs and pointed to where Landon crouched.

     “I believe some might even call that spying,” the woman said. Her voice was soft and tempting, but it drew Landon's breath from him. His chest felt like an empty air sack, his lungs trying in vain to re-inflate. Landon glanced at Leyna. She grasped one blue rock in each hand when she stood up slowly, bringing Landon up with her. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a short wheeze.

     “Oh, don't hurt yourself,” the woman said, sounding like a petulant child with her round face scrunched up tightly. Landon kept trying to take in a breath of air, but the harder he tried, the more difficult it became to breathe at all.

     “Well, if you insist,” she pouted, blowing a little swirl of air in his direction. Finally, he could take a deep breath.

     “Who are you?” Landon asked, doing his best to sound brave, but his voice quivered uncontrollably.

     “Oh, how I do love first meetings,” she squealed, clapping her hands together. “They're so exciting. Anything could happen, like a world of new possibilities. But I'm forgetting my manners in all this excitement. I'm Neflina. And you're Landon.”

     “How do you know my name?” Landon rubbed his sore throat, his eyes darting toward Leyna. Her face was stern, but she said nothing.

     “Why, the queen told me, of course!” Neflina laughed. “What silly questions...”

     “This queen...what does she want?”

     “She asked me special. 'Neflina,' she said. 'Find the boy Landon. He will be alone in the forest.' Doesn't it make you feel good, being wanted?” She wrapped her arms around herself in a hug, and the gremmel by her feet opened his evil mouth and let out a dry cackle. “She didn't say anything about a girl, though. Oh well, we can always get rid of unwanted luggage.”

     “Let her go,” Landon said, thinking quickly. He tried to steady his voice. “She hasn't done anything. I barely even know her.” He felt extremely guilty for getting Leyna involved, and he thought he should at least try to secure her escape, even if it meant going with this woman.

     “Ah, a gallant young man. How delightful! Your friend spoke quite highly of you. Charlie, was that his name? Yes. He spoke well of you before I...well...I needn't upset you, I suppose.” She bit her lower lip, and Landon thought that upsetting him was exactly what she wanted to do.

     Leyna spoke for the first time, whispering to Landon: “Get ready to run.” Then she shouted, “Neflina dehandra!” She crashed together the two rocks she had been holding, and a blue flame spread out from her hands, rushing over Landon. He raised his arms over his eyes, expecting heat but feeling nothing. Leyna pulled him by the hand, literally dragging Landon through the forest as he stumbled along behind her.

     “What was that?”

     “No time,” she panted. “We have to reach the Grotto of the Kings before they catch us.”

     “How much further?” Landon's knee hurt each time his left foot pounded the ground, and he soon developed a horrible side stitch.

     “Not far.” In less than a minute, they crashed through a line of trees into a clearing, and Leyna let go of Landon’s hand. He fell to the ground, more exhausted than he had ever before been. Leyna stood facing the direction from which they had come. The gremmel appeared, followed closely by Neflina, who looked none too happy. They were cornered, but Leyna faced them firmly, holding the blue rocks up in front of her.

     “What are going to do with those, little girl?” the witch taunted. “Children shouldn't play with dangerous toys. They could hurt themselves.” The gremmel crawled slowly towards them. Landon saw Leyna's arm tremble, but still she stood her ground. The gremmel had very nearly reached her, but Landon never found out what she would have done, for an old man, clad in brown robes, hobbled slowly into the clearing and stopped in front of Leyna. She took a step back.

     “Stay out of this, old man,” said Neflina. All sweetness had left her voice, which brought chills to Landon's spine. “This is no business of yours.” The man said nothing, but, turning towards Landon and Leyna, he lowered his hood. His face was ancient, wrinkled yet tough, like the bark of a tree that had weathered many storms. When he spoke his mouth barely moved.

     “Leyna, you did well, leading them here.”

     She smiled as an answer. “Yes, Marcus.”

     “Out of the way, ancient one,” Neflina spoke, and her voice rang out like a command. Landon felt sure that had her voice been directed at him, he would have fallen, quaking at her feet. But the man moved not one muscle.

     “You would do well to leave, Neflina of the clan Sadry.” His voice was like stone, but she laughed, a cold, high noise that bore into Landon’s ears.

     “I, leave? I think not.”

     She strode forward, the gremmel at her side, her cheerful face now twisted into an ugly grimace. Before she had taken two steps, Marcus raised his cloaked arm, and it looked to Landon like silvery wisps of smoke shot from it into the ground. Landon felt the ground pull at his heels, as though his legs were caught in a landslide, and the golden dust on the ground rushed towards Neflina like an angry river. She threw out her arms, but it was too late. She was swept away into the forest with the gremmel behind her.

     Marcus turned to Leyna. “Go back to the Dumrolls and wait for me.”

     “But I can help!”

     “Do as I say. Now.”

     “Landon, come on,” she said after the briefest of pauses. He followed her through the forest until they came back to the stone riverbed. Leyna’s pale face had turned an even lighter shade of white, and Landon walked in silence beside her. Despite his fatigue, he felt strangely invigorated by the encounter. For the first time, thoughts of Charlie and his life before were pushed from his head by what he saw Marcus do. A sense of certainty was settling over him; Landon needed to ask Marcus to teach him.

 

 Copyright 2010© Alexander Jacobs