The Evertree

  They’d gotten away.

  With Kovo’s departure, the skies changed color again, shifting from black and blue to an eerie, dark red.

  “This is from my vision,” Conor said beside him, his face turned up to the sky with a stunned expression. “This was when I saw Tellun.”

  But Tellun was nowhere to be seen now.

  Zerif was the first to bolt. He scrambled to his feet, suddenly freed of Gerathon’s control, and called his jackal back into its dormant state. He shot a quick glance at Rollan. Then he turned away and hurried to the edge of the rock. Rollan wanted to shout at him. He wished he were strong enough to give chase. But Zerif was already gone.

  Conor let out a groan nearby. “Are you okay?” he asked Rollan.

  Rollan gingerly stretched his limbs. The sharp pain that had crippled him seemed like it’d started to fade now. The fog that had shrouded his mind lifted too. He gradually felt more like himself again. Rollan tested his fingers and toes, then pulled himself into a crouch.

  “Yeah, I think so,” he replied. He got up laboriously. “What did Kovo do to us? The way my bond with Essix stretched …” He paused, shuddering at the memory. “It felt like my arms getting pulled out of their sockets. I thought it was going to tear me apart. Was that … bonding sickness?”

  Conor shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe. But whatever it was, the staff must have caused it.”

  They both went to check on Meilin, who nodded weakly at them, her face crinkled in shame. Jhi ambled over to her and nuzzled her gently. At first, Meilin couldn’t seem to bring herself to look at her panda. Only when Jhi uttered a low, mournful growl and nudged Meilin with her nose did she finally turn her eyes up. Meilin put a hand on Jhi’s nose, then hugged her muzzle. Jhi stayed perfectly still. Her gesture said everything Rollan wanted to. It wasn’t her fault. None of this was.

  Then they turned to Abeke.

  But Abeke was already up and moving, walking past them with a grim, determined gait. She was headed toward Shane, who still lay on the ground. He’d looked so powerful while on the battlefield below – but now, after Kovo had cast him aside, he looked defeated. His eyes, flashing and furious only moments earlier, were hollow and empty. He stayed in a fetal position, his arms and legs limp.

  His crocodile was gone now, back in its dormant state, and he made no effort to move. He didn’t seem to care about his well-being anymore. He didn’t even seem to notice Abeke approaching. Whatever spark of power that had driven him before was gone from his face, leaving behind something empty and forlorn.

  At first, Rollan thought that Abeke would help him up, kindhearted even after all Shane had done to hurt them. But when she reached him, Abeke kicked him hard with her boot instead. Her heel caught him under his ribs. Shane’s cry echoed out over the desert. He coughed breathlessly.

  “Get up!” Abeke snapped. “I said, get up.” Her voice sounded completely cold. Rollan didn’t know what to make of it. He had always thought he would cheer the day when Abeke finally got her hands on Shane. But somehow, seeing her like this, merciless and vengeful, gave him little pleasure.

  Still, it was hardly his place to say anything. So he watched silently with Conor and Meilin as Abeke forced Shane, swaying, to his feet. Behind them loomed Tellun’s stone temple, as if the Great Elk himself looked down on the proceedings.

  Abeke bent down and picked up Zerif’s discarded sword, pointing it toward his neck. She narrowed her eyes at Shane.

  “Come on,” she said. “Fight me.”

  THE LAST TIME ABEKE HAD CONFRONTED SHANE, THEY were at Greenhaven, and she’d seen him turn her kindness against her, stealing their talismans and running away like a coward. Now, as she faced him once more, all of his past betrayals came hurtling back, overwhelming her.

  Shane hugging her with open arms in Samis, whispering into her hair how much he’d missed her.

  Asking her to stay with him before they reached Greenhaven, claiming he wanted the others to accept him.

  That twilit evening on the boat, when he’d confided in her about the loss of his sister and his fear of Gerathon … and he’d told Abeke she was amazing.

  All were false memories – humiliating reminders of her gullibility. Shane had deceived her into caring for him, sympathizing with him, pitying him.

  Lies.

  Abeke’s anger rose with each poisonous thought. She glared at Shane’s swaying, weakened figure, and then lifted Zerif’s sword with one hand. She slapped Shane in his side with the dull edge. He winced, hissing in pain through his teeth.

  “I’m not going to tie you down,” she said furiously, “because you are already weak. I don’t need to bind an enemy who’s as cowardly as you.” She slapped him again with the sword. “Come on. Are you scared now? Hanging your head, now that you’ve been left behind?”

  Shane circled her warily while the others looked on, their uncertainty clearly written on their faces. None of Abeke’s friends seemed quite sure what to do. But Abeke didn’t pay attention to their hesitation. She barely heard them call out her name. All she saw before her was Shane.

  “Abeke,” Shane said, steering clear of the range of her sword. “I’m sorry. You don’t understand how hard it’s been for me –”

  The tragedy in his voice made Abeke’s anger boil over. She screamed and lunged at him. Shane tried in vain to dodge it, but the blade of her sword glanced off his shoulder, leaving a blooming red stain. He winced and hobbled away.

  “I still remember when you sparred with me for the very first time,” Abeke said as she started circling again. Her hand was trembling now. “You had a pretend-assassin attack you during the match, so I’d think that it was real. I was so sure of you – even after you’d already lied to me!” The memory came back to her with stinging clarity. How ironic, she thought, that their first session was a harbinger of the betrayals to come. Abeke gritted her teeth and struck out again.

  “Abeke, please!” Shane shouted as he dodged. “Listen to me!”

  “Why should I?” Abeke shouted back. “You’re the Devourer! You tried to kill all of us!” Her voice grew louder and louder, until it was raw with her heartbreak. “I trusted you! I defended you! How could you?”

  “You summoned Uraza!” Shane suddenly spat. He sounded furious now. Abeke was almost taken aback. “Do you ever think about that? You didn’t choose for your spirit animal to be one of the Four Fallen – you were handed a hero’s choice. How easy that is for you! What about me? Do you think I had a choice?”

  “You always have a choice!”

  “What if you had been me?” Shane pressed on. “What if you were the crown prince of an island prison – a nation condemned by the Greencloaks for the crimes of their ancestors? What would you do?”

  He’s baiting you again, Abeke thought. He’s good at it. She steeled herself against his words as she attacked again, purposely using the same move she’d used on him during their very first training session together. Her hands were shaking, despite her best efforts to steady them.

  Shane stumbled backward, still talking. “I watched the bonding sickness destroy my mother and father, and turn my sister into someone I didn’t recognize. Did you ever have to go through that? Spirit animals were a curse in Stetriol! The Greencloaks decided we weren’t worthy of their precious Nectar. So they abandoned us without a second thought. Did they abandon you? Did you have any idea that Stetriol even existed?”

  Abeke sliced at him again with her sword, catching him this time in his side. He winced and gritted his teeth. “Then my family was approached by Zerif, who brought us the secret location of Gerathon’s talisman. With it came the Bile – the only cure for bonding sickness that we’d ever seen.” His voice grew louder. “Don’t you understand? I thought I was saving my people, Abeke! I truly, honestly thought –”

  Abeke growled. She charged Shane with Zerif’s sword pointed forward.

  To her surprise, Shane paused. His tense stance suddenly relaxed, and he shook his head. “Just
do it,” he murmured. Then he held both of his arms out to either side, leaving himself completely open for Abeke to attack.

  Abeke couldn’t stop – she twisted the sword at the last moment, striking him hard in the chest with the pommel. The impact knocked him off his feet. He fell to the ground without even a cry. Abeke stood over him, breathing hard.

  Shane coughed. He kept his head bowed this time, and his hair fell over his face. “I thought …” He trailed off for a second. “I wanted to be worthy. It’s so easy for you to feel that way. You were chosen for greatness. What about the rest of us? I only wanted the same.”

  To Abeke’s dismay, she felt her heart waver. She narrowed her eyes.

  Shane finally looked up at her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry, Abeke. For everything. You meant so much to me – you were my only true friend. I remember everything about you ever since we first met. It killed me to have to betray you, because I didn’t want to lose you. I sacrificed so much … my sister …” He winced visibly. “But I had no choice. I’m bound to the Bile, just as helplessly as your friend Meilin.”

  Don’t. Abeke closed her eyes and pushed his words out of her head. She thought back to Shane’s cold eyes, the way he had violated their trust at Greenhaven and imprisoned Meilin. All of the horrible things he’d done. How did he manage to sway her like this every time? What’s wrong with me?

  Abeke lowered her sword. The fight had suddenly gone out of her, but when she spoke again, her voice still came out cold.

  “Well, I’m sorry too, because you mean nothing to me,” Abeke said to Shane.

  Shane opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again. He stared at her for a long moment. Finally he looked away. His mouth tightened into a line.

  Conor appeared with a bit of rope, and Abeke looked at him gratefully. He tied Shane’s arms tightly behind his back. Shane didn’t bother to struggle.

  As Conor dragged Shane to his feet, the ground began to tremble again. Abeke paused, then looked to Conor, who had focused all of his attention on the shifting sky. A great wind whipped at them, pushing the clouds westward and stretching them into long dark streaks.

  At first, Abeke thought that the shaking earth might be an earthquake. But as it went on, she realized that it felt less like an earthquake than it did … footsteps. Deep, mighty footsteps. She glanced at Shane in case he was up to something, but he seemed as startled as she was.

  Conor was the one who looked toward the towering circular stone temple surrounding Kovo’s prison, where a strange glow had begun to emerge from the empty recesses of the prison.

  “What is it?” Abeke asked.

  Conor didn’t turn to look at her, but his voice sounded hushed with reverence. “He’s here,” he replied.

  The ground shook with each thundering footstep. The sound seemed to come from everywhere at once. Abeke’s eyes widened as she saw the pillars and antlers start to crumble. One pillar fell against another, toppling it, setting off a chain reaction that sent the stones crashing to the ground. The antlers, too, broke into pieces and rained down.

  A blinding flash of light engulfed them for an instant. Abeke shielded her eyes with her arms. When she opened them again, something stood before the destroyed temple. Her mouth dropped.

  It was an enormous elk. His fur did not look brown, as Abeke had imagined it, but instead glittered gold and silver and white. His majestic antlers branched toward the sky, and his head was lifted in a regal stance. Wind gusted all around him, but he seemed untouched by it. He walked slowly toward them. Each time his hooves hit the earth, the ground trembled.

  Hanging from within the cage of his antlers shone a heavy, round talisman made from platinum, forged in the figure of an elk, its own antlers molding into the shape of the sun around it.

  What captured Abeke most of all were the Great Elk’s eyes – they seemed dark at first glance, but when she continued to stare, she could see red and gold, fire and earth and wind and sky, like looking into the soul of the land itself. A shudder went through her.

  Tellun had arrived.

  TELLUN WAS, BY FAR, THE LARGEST OF ALL THE GREAT Beasts. Rollan fell to his knees before the mighty elk, unable to look away. For once, he was at a loss for words.

  “Tellun,” Conor gasped out nearby.

  The elk looked back at them in silence. Rollan could hardly bear his gaze – it was the gaze of something that had walked the earth far, far longer than Rollan ever had, that had seen the ages come and go. He swallowed hard. “Essix,” he whispered, calling her out of the dormant state. She needs to see this. With a flash of light, Essix reappeared and flew toward the temple ruins with a cry that sounded to Rollan like surprise. Nearby, Conor and Abeke released Briggan and Uraza. Both crouched before Tellun, silent and still.

  Tellun’s eyes finally fell upon Meilin’s figure, where she lay wincing from Abeke’s earlier blow. Then he looked toward Shane. The elk bowed his head once. His antlers seemed lit from within by an ethereal fire.

  Meilin and Shane let out a simultaneous gasp.

  “Meilin!” Rollan shouted automatically, rushing toward her. The gasp sounded like one of terrible pain. But when he reached her, it was as if the fog that had clouded her eyes was suddenly gone.

  “Meilin?” he said again, hesitantly this time.

  Meilin blinked, unsure of herself. She frowned. Then she glanced at Tellun with awe. She held up her hands, studying them, and started to laugh.

  “It’s gone!” she exclaimed, looking at Rollan and then at the others. Her face glowed with joy.

  “Gone?” Abeke said, breaking into a grin. “You mean – the Bile?”

  An incredulous laugh escaped Meilin. “I think the Bile is completely gone. I don’t know how I know, but … I can’t feel it anymore!” Beside her, Jhi made a happy, grunting sound in her throat.

  Rollan stared in shock. It wasn’t until Tellun inclined his head toward them that he broke into a grin and let out a whoop. Conor and Abeke rushed over and wrapped Meilin in a giant hug. She threw her head back and laughed. The sound filled Rollan’s heart with light – how long it’d been since he’d heard her laugh like this! He laughed along with her as they all hugged. Behind them, Tellun looked calmly on.

  “I can’t believe you’re back,” Rollan exclaimed as Meilin paused in her laughter long enough to look at him. He raised a mischievous eyebrow at her. “I’ve really missed making fun of you all the time.”

  Meilin punched his arm in mock protest. Rollan laughed, then threw his arms around her and hugged her fiercely. She hugged him back. A weight lifted off his chest, and for an instant, Rollan forgot everything they still had to accomplish. This moment, at least, was perfect.

  He pulled away long enough to kiss her right on the lips.

  It took him a second to realize what just happened. The two jumped away from each other. Meilin’s eyes widened. Rollan flushed red from head to toe. What was he thinking? It seemed like such a natural gesture that he could barely remember what made him do it.

  “I-I’m sorry,” he started to stammer out. “I just –”

  Then Meilin smiled. She fiddled with the sash at her waist. “I missed you too,” she said, suddenly shy. She started to laugh again, and Rollan did too, running a hand bashfully through his hair. For once, he had no good joke ready. Beside them, Conor and Abeke looked on with amused expressions. Even Essix, who stayed perched on the ruins of the temple, fluffed her neck feathers up into a quizzical appearance and chirped. Jhi just looked as serene as always.

  Shane stood apart from the group, head bowed silently, with his hands tied behind him. Rollan couldn’t read his expression, but it was obvious that the Bile had been lifted from him too. When he thought no one was looking, he lifted his head to the sky, closed his eyes, and breathed in deeply … as if for the first time.

  “We have to stop Kovo,” Conor said as they now turned back to Tellun. “He has all of our talismans now. The only one he doesn’t have is yours.” At that, he no
dded at the Platinum Elk. “We have no idea where he’s gone.”

  Tellun towered over them all, his antlers catching the light. “Kovo seeks the birthplace of all life,” he replied in a deep, echoing rumble.

  “The … birthplace of all life?” Meilin asked. Her hand was entwined with Rollan’s.

  Tellun bowed his head once. Then he turned to look north, searching for something far beyond the horizon. “The Evertree.”

  The word itself sent an electric shudder through Rollan, a strange tremor, as if the very earth had spoken. “The Evertree?” Rollan whispered. Somehow, he felt it was a word meant to be whispered, something ancient and sacred.

  Tellun took a single step closer to them. “When the world was very new, there existed only the sky, the water, the air, and the earth. From this new world emerged the Evertree. Some say her seed was a falling star, while others say it was forged in the mountains by the heat of the world. Her branches reached up to the heavens and her roots burrowed deep into the soil of the land. Through those roots, she breathed life into the world. The Great Beasts and our talismans were born from the Evertree. Each of us protects part of her power; it is why we guard our talismans so fiercely. The Evertree is our mother, the source of the bond between man and animal, the very soul of us – and of all living creatures. Of you.”

  Tellun paused to bow his head in reverence. A tragic note entered his voice. “You have all now felt the earth shudder – the storms in Greenhaven, the poisoning of the seas, the blizzards in Nilo. The Evertree’s roots are connected deeply to the balance of life. As she trembles from the approach of darkness and destruction, so does the entire world tremble.”

  So that was why the world had seen such imbalance lately. Rollan tried to imagine what a life-giving tree would look like. “And Kovo is heading there now?” he asked. “What will happen once he reaches it?”

  Tellun lowered his head in respect to Jhi, Briggan, Essix, and Uraza. “The Evertree was wounded during the last great war. Her soul was injured by Kovo, with a staff made of only half of our talismans. This was before the Four Fallen gave their lives to protect Erdas. She has never healed. This injury is what gave rise to the bonding sickness. Now, Kovo has another Staff of Cycles, far more complete than his last one. Even without my talisman, the staff will give him the power to call all of the Great Beasts to the Evertree. If he obtains mine as well, then the staff will give him the power to control every living being in Erdas. He will rule over all.”