The stars below, p.19
The Stars Below, page 19
part #4 of Vega Jane Series
“Would that have made a difference?”
“Perhaps, Vega, perhaps.”
“Only I couldn’t tell you, because I was afraid you would tell Morrigone. She tried to stop me as it was.”
“So you didn’t trust me, then?”
“You had changed, John. Morrigone had changed you.”
“Morrigone allowed me to be as I was meant to be.”
“No, she made you cruel and unforgiving.”
As soon as I saw his face flush, I wished I hadn’t said that. I thought I even saw his wand flick threateningly.
“John, you know what you were and you know what you became. Can you honestly claim you didn’t change?”
He cast his gaze downward. When he looked up, his expression was calmer, more reasonable.
“I cannot say that your words are untrue, Vega.”
Well, I thought that was something at least.
“I wanted very much to take you with us,” I said. “I have missed you every day.”
He nodded and said, “What have you been doing since you left Wormwood?”
“I have been trying to survive. And now I’m leading the fight against the Maladons.”
“I know little of them.”
“You know what they did to Wormwood.” I pointed to the others. “And you know what they did to their families and their homes. So, really the only things you need to know are that the Maladons are incredibly evil and powerful and that they kill all who oppose them.”
“Then perhaps we should not oppose them.”
It was as though he had punched me in the face.
“You cannot mean that, John. They killed Virgil. And they nearly killed our father.”
Now John looked like I had punched him in the face. He took a step back, and something flashed in his features that reminded me of the little boy shuffling along beside me as I walked with him hand in hand through Wormwood.
“Virgil, dead? And our parents?”
“Dad is grievously injured. He is but a shell of his former self.”
“But still alive?”
“Yes. And we are working on a counterspell to bring him back.”
“And Mother?”
“She’s fine.”
“Can you take me to them?”
I looked around. “I think I need to take all of you.”
“How is that possible?” John asked.
“There is only one way,” I replied.
I USED A VARIATION of the same series of spells that I had employed to provide wands to all the formerly enslaved in Greater True and then transport them to Empyrean. I sent a wand wire ahead so that the others would be expecting us.
As I began to incant, I saw John looking at me curiously. When I reached the peak power of the spell, a huge dome of blue light descended upon all those who had fled there. I connected this dome to my golden tether, which I had reattached to Delph, Petra and Seamus. Finally, I uttered, “Pass-pusay,” and tapped my wand against my leg.
The next moment we were all standing in the front lawn of Empyrean.
“Quickly now,” I said. “Inside.”
The door opened and everyone, people and creatures and those, like the hobs, that were in between, were herded inside.
Inside, Pillsbury and some of the others were there to greet us.
I hurriedly explained what had taken place.
But what I really wanted to do was obvious.
“Come with me, John.”
I told Delph to take over down here. “You can find rooms for the people inside, and the creatures, the unicorn and cucos and the like can be given free rein outside.”
After that, I literally pulled John up the staircase.
“Where are we going?” he said, resisting a bit.
“You’ll see,” I replied.
I threw open the door to the room and pulled John in behind me.
Our mother looked up from the book she was reading, while our father lay swaddled on the bed.
The book fell from her hands as she stood, rushed across the room and embraced her only son.
“John, John,” she said, weeping.
I stepped aside and took it all in.
John patted her on the back, and I could see his eyes grow watery and his features soften. With this sight, my spirits once more took a little leap.
She stepped back to look at him.
“My, you’ve grown so tall. Just like your father.”
John looked over at the bed, and his features turned to dismay.
“That … that is Father?”
She nodded, the happiness at seeing her son after such a long time receded.
“Vega told me he has been injured but that a cure is being worked upon.”
“That is so, John. And we all pray that it will work.”
John looked at me. “Who is performing this? You?”
I shook my head. “Astrea Prine. The former Keeper of the Quag. Astrea is a very powerful sorceress. She is concocting the incantation, but she says that Mum has to actually perform it.”
“This Astrea Prine did not stop the Maladons from destroying the Quag and Wormwood,” John pointed out.
I could not argue with that, and I didn’t. “She is still the best chance we have to bring Dad back.”
John drew close to the bed and looked down. “What happened to him, precisely?”
“A confluence of two spells that struck each other before impacting him. That was why the result was so unforeseen.”
To my surprise John nodded. “I have read of this.”
“You have? Where?”
“In books provided to me by Morrigone.”
“Her spirit is here, as I told you. She will be happy to see you, I expect.”
John showed absolutely no interest.
“I would like to meet with this Astrea Prine.”
“If you wish,” I said. “We can go there now.”
“I do wish it, Vega,” he said, his gaze lifting to mine.
“You have not even told me how you found him, Vega,” said our mother.
I explained in a very few words. “We were lucky,” I said. “He more found me than I found him.”
“But you kept your promise. You brought him back to us.”
All this time John was staring down at our father, with more curiosity than pity or concern.
“Let us go see Astrea Prine,” said John.
“Follow me,” I said. My high hopes for who my brother would actually turn out to be started to fade once more. But I told myself I would not give up on him. Hel, I had just found him!
I led him down the hallway to Astrea’s room and knocked on the door.
“Enter,” came the imperious voice.
Astrea had set up an enormous table in the center of her room. On this table were stacks of books and parchment, ink sticks and various instruments of great delicacy. I also glimpsed the pewter cups that comprised her Seer-See.
When Astrea looked up and saw John, her jaw dropped. She left her desk and approached us.
“John Jane, then.”
It wasn’t a question.
“You know me?” he said.
“I know of you, yes.”
“How?” I asked her. “Through Morrigone?”
“Not exclusively, no.”
I quickly glanced at the cups. “You were watching him through the Seer-See.”
She continued looking at John, her gaze seemingly taking in all facets of him.
“A Seer-See? What is that?” asked John, looking annoyed.
“A magical means to see faraway places. With it, I saw you in Wormwood. I watched you escape Wormwood. I saw you levitate down the cliff. And I observed you venture fully into the Quag.”
“What else did you see?” asked John, in a tone that made me sharply glance at him.
Astrea came over to him and looked up at my tall brother.
“It is no sin to practice one’s sorcery skills.” She paused. “It is also no sin not to know certain parameters as a young sorcerer.”
“Certain parameters?” I asked.
Astrea kept her gaze on my brother. “Most of us have gone through similar ‘learning’ experiences.”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
Now Astrea looked at me. “Your brother was stretching his magical muscle, as it were.”
“In the Quag, you mean?”
“Not just in the Quag,” said Astrea.
I looked at John. “What is she talking about?”
John would not answer me.
Astrea said, “There was a reason why John left Wormwood.”
“John, I thought you left Wormwood to discover what was outside it. And to find me and our parents.”
“It’s difficult to explain,” said John, not meeting my eye.
I looked to Astrea for an “explanation.”
Astrea said, “Let me just say that John exerted control over certain creatures that did not want his intervention, with the result that they did things that otherwise they never would have done.”
“And what were these creatures?” I asked.
“I will not say, Vega,” she replied firmly. “For it will do no good. To you, John or anyone else. I think John has learned his lesson — have you not, John?”
“I have,” he said, though I did not note much sincerity in his voice.
“So there, now, Vega,” said Astrea, looking as though the matter was settled. I could not believe she was giving in that easily. She had to see that John was just appeasing her.
She continued. “Now, you are undoubtedly here to talk about my researches into your father’s condition and hopefully a cure.”
“We are,” said John before I could answer her.
“Well, I am happy to say that I have made progress. In fact, I believe that by tomorrow, we will be ready to give it a try.”
“Tomorrow?” I said, astonished.
“I am fine-tuning a few things. But, yes, tomorrow seems right to me.”
I looked at my brother. “Now, John, let’s get something to eat. You look rather thin. And we can talk some more.”
He didn’t seem remotely pleased by this prospect.
But I didn’t care.
After all, I was his big sister. And that status gave me certain inalienable rights with regard to my little brother!
JOHN DIPPED HIS spoon into the bowl and scooped out some of the soup. We were sitting in the small dining room off the kitchen. It was just the two of us.
I had been serious about how lean he was. My brother obviously had not been eating well since leaving Wormwood.
Perhaps sensing this, Mrs. Jolly brought him some more bread and a rasher of bacon. I thanked her, and after she departed, I settled my gaze upon John as I sipped my tea.
“You rounded up that lot in the Quag and led them to a safe place under the maze in the First Circle?”
John swallowed his spoonful of soup and took a drink of the steaming tea before answering.
“As I said,” he replied soberly.
“You also said that you were their leader. Where were you going to lead them?”
He shrugged. “I hadn’t thought about it, really.”
“And I really don’t believe your answer.”
He gave me a sharp glance but said nothing.
“So why don’t you tell me the truth?”
“What business is it of yours?”
“You used to tell me everything.”
“We’re not children anymore, Vega. We haven’t seen each other in years. We’re no longer close.”
“We were close. Which means we can be again.”
He shook his head. “I’ve been on my own for a while now. I keep my own counsel.”
“You kept your own counsel. Now we’re in this together.”
He shook his head again. “I don’t know if I can be that way, with anyone.”
“You can try, John. I need you to really try.”
“Why? I don’t understand the urgency.”
I leaned in closer to him and started speaking quietly but firmly. I needed my words to sink deeply into that very large brain of his. “Because you need to understand quite clearly that we’re in the fight of our lives. And the odds are not with us. We’re heavily outnumbered by the Maladons. That’s why we’ve stopped engaging them for now. We’re running out of people to fight them.”
“And you believe that we need to keep fighting them?”
“Unless you want to die, or be enslaved by them for the rest of your life.”
John put down his spoon and wiped his mouth with his hand.
My heart fluttered when I saw the back of his hand.
There was no mark of the three hooks there.
He caught me staring and said, “What is it?”
“Nothing, John,” I managed to croak out. “So, are you with me in fighting the Maladons?”
“Well, since I don’t want to die or be enslaved, I guess that I am.”
This was hardly an overwhelming endorsement, but I let it pass because a million horrible thoughts were flashing through my mind about his hand.
“What was Astrea talking about when she said you were stretching your magical abilities beyond certain parameters?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask her.”
I sat back. “When you were in charge of building the Wall in Wormwood, you pushed the Wugs hard. Duf Delphia lost his legs because of you, and other Wugs died.”
“Why do you bring that up?” he said, scowling.
“Because you were ‘pushing parameters’ then, just not magically. So did you use your magic to do something similar? Push folks and creatures beyond what they wanted to do?”
“We are magical, Vega. That gives us certain rights.”
“No, that gives us immense responsibilities, like never using our power to hurt innocent people or creatures. And that includes making them do your bidding.”
“We can agree to disagree on such matters.”
“No, John, we really can’t. You have to choose. Do you want to be like our kind?” I glanced at his unmarked hand. “Or do you want to be like the Maladons? Because that is exactly what they do to all others.” I stood. “Let me know when you’ve made your decision.”
I left John and returned to my room. I sat on my bed stroking Harry Two’s fur to calm myself. My brother did not have the mark. What exactly did that mean?
That he was a Maladon? Was that why he was so … unfeeling?
I blinked. But that could hardly be the case. He could see Empyrean. No Maladon could do that.
Yet why was there no mark on his hand?
I looked down at Harry Two and decided to try something.
I went to the door and called to him, he obediently followed me out.
I found John in the library, where he was staring up in wonder at all the books. This made me think back to our time in Morrigone’s home, where John had been equally enthralled by all her tomes.
And this memory made me feel a little guilty about what I was about to do.
“Harry Two,” I said. “It’s John. Go and see him.”
John turned at the sound of my words.
“Your canine,” he said. “I remember him.”
“My dog,” I replied. “That’s what they call them here.”
I watched Harry Two closely, as he cautiously approached John. His nostrils were moving as rapidly as a pair of bellows in use. He seemed to be sucking in all of John’s scent.
John said, “Hello, Harry Two. Do you remember me?”
And then my dog did something he had never done before. He sat on his rump and started to whine.
I looked up at John as he watched Harry Two.
“What’s wrong with him?” he asked. “Is he sick?”
“I don’t know. He’s never done that before. Harry Two, are you okay?”
He looked up at me with a most pitiful expression.
It was also one I had never seen before on my dog’s face, and it concerned me greatly, particularly in the context of my brother.
Harry Two was confused!
I said good-bye to my brother and took Harry Two back to my room. I sat with him on my bed and looked deeply into those beautiful mismatched eyes.
“Harry Two, with all of the wonderful things that you can do, I so dearly wish you could talk.”
I sighed and sat back, more crushed than I had been a few minutes ago.
A knock came on my door. It was Delph.
Before he could say anything, I pulled him into the room and told him everything that Astrea had said, and John had said, and also how Harry Two had reacted to John. And then I finished by saying that John didn’t have the mark on his hand.
Delph surprised me by saying, “I already saw that, Vega Jane.”
“Why didn’t you say anything, then?”
“I didn’t know what to say,” he replied.
He might as well have added, After all, he is your brother.
I sat on my bed and glanced at Harry Two.
“And Harry Two was really confused about John,” I said. “He was never that way before. Not even with Petra. What does it all mean, Delph?”
“It means that you just found your brother, after looking for him for a long time, Vega. And you have your mum and your dad back too. It’s a lot to take in. You just have to give yourself a chance to, well, breathe.”
As though putting action to his words, I involuntarily drew in a long breath and then let it go. I immediately relaxed, and my thoughts cleared a bit.
“Right,” I said firmly. “Okay. Astrea is going to try and restore my father tomorrow.”
“You said it could be dangerous.”
“Well, apparently it is, according to her.”
“How was your mum with John?”
“Thrilled to see him. Perhaps —” I stopped and shook my head.
“What?”
“Never mind.”
“Maybe more thrilled than she was to see you?” Delph said.
I turned to look at him. I had forgotten how astute Delph was. How he often saw things that others didn’t and then got right to the heart of the matter.
“Yes,” I admitted.
“But see, your mum knows how strong you were, Vega Jane. How you always stood up for yourself. How you always protected your brother. She remembered him as he was. Small, weak and needing a guiding hand. Of course she would be more worried about him.”
