Part 20 (1/2)
CHAPTER NINTEEN.
Sasha tried to convince Evan to stay with Glenbury. He was so weak after the portal travel. He refused. He stuck close to her as if he were her personal bodyguard.
”I can do this on my own,” she said.
”No you can't,” Evan said forthright.
”It's nice that you have faith in me,” she said glumly.
”I do,” he said. ”I'm just realistic about your lack of abilities.”
”Oh, ho, ho, you haven't seen anything yet,” she said like a braggart. She wished she could be even more confident, but the blue sparks hadn't appeared in days so she really couldn't count on them.
Was Evan only helping her because he thought she was pathetic?
”Why are you helping me?” She asked boldly. She was afraid of hearing the answer but she'd also come to a point where she no longer wanted unanswered questions lingering in her mind. They drove her crazy. If the end was near, she didn't want any more regrets.
Evan glanced at her and smiled. ”Because you need me?”
”That's not an answer,” she said.
”What do you want me to say?”
”The truth,” she pressed. ”What was the first thing that popped into your head?”
”I don't think you want me to say,” he muttered quietly.
”Yes I do,” she said. ”I'm all about the truth. I've been in the dark for too long.”
Evan seemed to be choosing his words carefully.
”You needed help so I helped you,” he said finally.
”Is that a polite way of saying you felt sorry for me?”
Evan shrugged. ”I wouldn't put it that way. It was more like right place right time.”
Sasha smiled. Even if he had felt sorry for her, he didn't want to admit it. Wasn't that a good sign? She knew Evan liked her. She just worried that he was helping her out of a sense of duty rather than love.
She shook her head vigorously. Love? Love? When did that get into the picture? She barely knew the guy. The threats to her life were making her emotional. She dismissed thoughts of love. She was being so silly. Grow up, she told herself sternly.
They left Glenbury puttering around his abode and waiting for their return. He'd promised to help them get back home. That's all they needed from him.
There were no other travelers on the dirt road, which was more of a path of least resistance beaten through the brush and forest than an engineered route. It wasn't smooth or graded and they had to climb over fallen trees often.
”You wouldn't be able to get a cart through here,” Evan remarked surveying their surroundings. They were in the thick of the trees that rose endlessly into the sky. It was a beautiful forest, peaceful with the trilling of birds and light scamper of the little feet of squirrels and rabbits. Sasha loved nature and its positive energy. It was a shame there was so much evil lurking about because the forest was a place worth investigating.
”Maybe this is the hiker's route?”
They continued to walk toward their destination. The castle came into view about a mile down the dirt road from Glenbury's shack. It wasn't what she expected. She'd seen castles in pictures and books and even visited one in England.
The Tysseland castle was made of a gleaming white stone. Despite its light appearance it was foreboding. Its walls were smooth like gla.s.s. Sasha guessed the material was marble but in certain light she thought it resembled ice. The walls were sheer drops and climbed several stories before the first parapet. Windows were only visible four stories high. There were no ledges or footholds to aid in climbing the walls. That was probably a deliberate defense design.
Glenbury had warned them they wouldn't be able to get into the castle through the gate or over its walls. He had drawn them a map of underground tunnels that lay beneath the monstrous structure. They were sewage tunnels that flowed into the Danu River. If they waded upstream they'd be able to sneak into the castle via underground caverns.
Glenbury swore they were large enough for a human to travel through. Occasionally they got clogged with debris and workers were sent below to clear out the mess.
Without modern technology it would have taken decades to build the castle. How old was the queen? It was clear some in Tysseland had technology. How did they get it?
Glenbury told them that Tysseland was an ancient realm. No one had electricity except the queen and some of her most trusted allies. The power was generated by an enormous wind turbine behind the castle. The device probably could have powered hundreds of homes but the queen would not share.
Glenbury said the queen often sent sorties to other worlds to pilfer technology. That's where the guns and lightweight armor were found as well as other goodies. Most of the items taken don't require power because there isn't much of it in Tysseland. If her armies travel far, they can't recharge or refuel any weapons they planned to use.
Guns don't need power and are the perfect weapon for the queen's troops that have no magical abilities. It was such an obvious selfish existence that Sasha didn't understand why the queen's subjects didn't overthrow her in an uprising.
Glenbury had laughed and called her knowledge of authority juvenile.
”She has more than electricity and guns silly girl,” he said. ”She has more magical power than anyone in the realm. No one can go up against her and win. It's unfathomable.
”Even your mother has only a slice of Vania's abilities. Vania is unbeatable.”
The realization of what they were up against was daunting and depressing. For the first time Sasha wondered if she'd taken on too much. Were she and Evan destined to die here? She didn't want to be responsible for Evan's death. Keeping him alive was her top priority ahead of finding and destroying the talisman.
For a second she thought about tricking Evan into staying with Glenbury. It would be hard enough trying to find the talisman without being distracted with keeping Evan safe. He didn't give her the chance. He was the first one packing up supplies and out the door walking to the castle. She would have had to tie him up to keep him from following her.
She resigned herself to her fate. They were facing a tough opponent they knew nothing about and they could die. She didn't like her odds.
Glenbury gave them burlap sack robes to wear over their jeans and T-s.h.i.+rts. He had nothing to disguise their shoes except to cake them in mud and hope that no one looked at them too closely.
”Did they bring back ma.s.s-produced shoes and clothes from the other realms?” She asked.
Glenbury smirked. ”The queen has the finest tailors in the world. What would she need with poorly made rags?”
”I mean for her subjects,” she said.
Glenbury shook his head and didn't answer with words but his actions said it all. The queen didn't care about the comfort of her subjects.
The river was easy to find and thankfully there was no fresh sewage floating in the brown water. They walked along the sh.o.r.e until they reached a set of twin tunnels that fed the river. The openings were buried under some brush.
They dragged away branches and other debris to clear the entrance. Glenbury hadn't said there would be two openings. Evan suspected they were both sewer tunnels and would lead them to the same place.
Sasha put a hand on Evan's shoulder as he crawled into the tunnel.
”Just a sec,” she said. ”I have to talk with you.”
Evan stood up brus.h.i.+ng dirt from his burlap poncho. She didn't know why he bothered. Evan was covered in mud. Glenbury had put a layer of dirt on Evan's jeans from the knees to the ankle that could be seen beneath the sack. The effect worked if no one inspected them too closely.
”Nice dress,” she said laughing.