After nearly being squashed underfoot by a couple of bumbling treefolk, I thought it couldn’t get much worse. It was all well and good when they were in their spirit or dryad form, running around like ghosts of the forest. When an entire family of pine trees decides to relocate when you’re sleeping right besides them, it’s a different story.
Scarlet was on the watch and before there was time to wake me, she was dodging great big roots, swinging in our direction. The roots hit me hard in the back, causing me to yell out in the middle of the night.
Apparently the trees didn’t know that humans needed to sleep at night. They were forest trees, not used to any human company in these parts of the world. To tell the truth, they didn’t even say this, the thoughts more passed through us as the roots swiped us aside. I suspected the trees weren’t great at using their words.
By the time dawn rolled around, a sea of feathered drakes were hissing high in the trees. It was a cacophony of colours as they traded from tree to tree and kept us from any ideas of rest.
“That’s enough!” Scarlet sprang to her feet, her dagger drawn.
I sighed and watched as the little devils proceeded to leave flakes of metal droppings over us. It didn’t smell all that terrible, but we still knew it might be time to leave.
I rolled up my sleeping bag and stuffed it back in my bag. A great yawn came from my mouth, which made Scarlet yawn as well. I looked to see she was still scowling at the drakes.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to kill them all before they bite all your skin off…”
“I know, but I can try!” She growled, ready to pounce.
“We’ll be able to reach The Architect’s house before nightfall, since we’re already awake. Maybe you ought to thank them.”
“Yeah, right after I kill them—-“
“C’mon Scarlet…” I urged.
She looked up in hesitation one more time before sheathing her blade. I now knew how early was too early, even for Scarlet.
We made our way through the trees, still following the tracks made by two burly horses. The tracks were only about a day old and it looked as if the riders were keeping the horses at a gallop. By the looks of things, they should have reached their destination on time. So the question was, did something or someone get in their way? What could be strong enough or fast enough to stand in the way of two warhorses?
I didn’t share my fears with Scarlet but from the way she inspected the tracks as we went long, I could see she had similar thoughts. There was an edge developing in her eyes, which was usually dormant. I’d only really seen it whenever we duelled, but now the piercing looks were constant. I think the moving trees had rattled us enough that we both didn’t want to put our guard down in case something genuinely dangerous appeared.
We travelled another few hours, with seldom conversation. Mostly, we talked of the school classes we would be missing. Even that was beginning to feel so very far away. This reminded me of Professor Willow who would at least be in a medical centre.
The sun was still climbing the sky, and it wasn’t until after lunch did I begin to voice my concerns about our destination.
“What do you think The Architect is like?” I asked.
“I heard they’re all nutters. The Eastern Architect especially.”
“What makes him crazier then the rest?”
Before she could respond, we both stopped dead still. Ahead of us there were the bones of a horse. The skeleton was laying directly in our path. From there, we managed to make out that only one horse continued forward. Instead of continuing north, the tracks of the horse veered off to the east.
Upon examining the bones, I was confused. “These bones look old. Too old to have died yesterday.”
“There’s no skin of any kind left on them, no decaying or even a smell. The bones are dried, as if they’ve been out here for at least a year.” Scarlet put a finger to the skull of the animal.
“So why are the bones completely intact?” I voiced the question, but quickly realised Scarlet didn’t have an answer.
We both just stood there, examining the bones for a few minutes longer. An uneasy feeling was beginning to come over me, like we were staring at some impossible shape too long.
It was a minute rustle in the underbrush a few trees away which broke us away from the skeleton. The forest grew still and silent. Even the invisible cicadas stopped singing, until there was only the rustle of something moving closer and closer.
In the silence, Scarlet slowly brought out her dagger and held it firmly as she raised her hood above her head. I stepped behind her and began to concentrate.
If there really was something that could do that to a healthy horse, I didn’t want to think how fast it could dispose of us.
“Terrible fate really.”
The mysterious man was squatting in the tree closest to us. How he appeared in this position, I did not know. He then proceeded to throw little pine cones, which landed in the direction we heard the rustling, only a moment before.
“Are you talking about the horse?”
“Well of course not! Talking about me and the unkind words your friend said regarding me.” The man cocked his head a forty-five degree angle as he looked down at us.
I suddenly recalled what Scarlet had said before we found the horse’s skeleton. When I’d asked about The Architect of the East.
“You’re The Architect?”
“The Architect is who I am, or I am the one who is called The Architect. Only of the East mind you. Those other pesky directions, too many to keep count of.”
“The four of them?” Scarlet gave me a wide-eyed look trying to silently reaffirm her earlier statement.
“I can still hear you, very rude Ms. Letalis. I suppose you learnt it from your father. Can’t be helped, or can it?”
I heard the worn hinges of a wooden door creak from above.
“Now then, shall we be off?” The man was standing directly next to me, just out of my periphery.
I turned to blink at him, turned back to look up into the tree. I stepped closer to Scarlet, facing his direction.
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“How did you get down there? You didn’t even use a spell.” Scarlet raised her dagger as a precaution.
“Well, maybe it was a magic trick!”
“Are you some sort of Illusionist?” I stepped back again.
“No, I don’t think I am? Perhaps there was a bit too much entertainment value in that one. Let’s call it a hobby. Illusions are merely a hobby, yes, that’ll do just fine.”
“So, how did you do it. All I heard was the creaking—”
“—of the door!” he cut me off. “Well lets think it through, a good thought experiment before we get bogged down and down by such heavy matters.”
“What do you mean think it through, just tell us before I cut your fingers off! How do you expect us to go with you if we can’t even trust you!” Scarlet started.
“Now, Ms. Letalis, I did warn you about the rudeness. We’re going to have to do something about that.”
His finger wagged from left to right in a disappointing notion. When I looked back at Scarlet, there was something wrong with her face. Just like the horse’s skeleton, I found it hard to pinpoint what seemed so impossible about the image. Then it hit me, her lips looked painted on. As if her mouth had disappeared and been replaced with a artist’s rendition. This man’s rendition.
“What have you done to her!” I demanded.
“Oh come on now, Mr. Reed. I’m waiting for one of you to think critically. And since it won’t likely be her, you know, because the lips.” This last part he said in an exaggerated fake whisper.
“Think about what, I don’t know.” I was starting to panic.
This man was a nutter, it might’ve been him my father was running from. We we’re only a few minutes into this encounter and things were already quite dicey.
“To how I did it of course. Door sound, no spell, ta-da! Right next to you, think about it.”
I took a breath to try to subdue the panic. I thought about what he was saying while Scarlet was making muffled sounds through her enclosed mouth. It really had been a magic trick. But magic was just a tool, it needed someone to command it, to control it.
“You’re an Architect, you can do magic without the words.”
“That’s a mighty fine guess but perhaps you’re forgetting that no matter what, no matter what young wizard, there needs to be someone or something to say a spell word.” The expression on his face went dead cold, and then contorted back to a strained smile.
“Then I don’t know, please, don’t hurt her.” I pleaded.
“Well if you’re asking so nicely,” he said while waving the same finger at Scarlet. “I’ll be honest and tell you that I’m not a hundred-percent sure how I did it either. Maybe the spell said my name? I do love to be beckoned.” When he said this, it was almost to himself, barely facing me, like he was still pondering it.
Scarlet took in a huge breath as her mouth grew back in place. I stepped between her lethal stare and The Architect. I knew we didn’t stand a chance against this madman.
“Now then!” the man raised his long arms together and clapped together his hands. “Let’s be off!”
The Architect swiftly disarmed Scarlet, making it look like child’s play. He pocketed her dagger and pulled us closer to him. “ostium pateo.”
I once again heard the creaking of hinges as a door opened. I didn’t see any door, but I felt it as we stepped through one nonetheless.
~
We stood standing in a quaint living space with a fireplace crackling away in the corner. It was built half into the wall, lined by stone bricks around it in a grand gesture. Then they began to angle up into a chimney which rose up and through the wooden roof. Although Scarlet and I kept to the shade of the forest, it never stopped the humidity from glistening our skin with sweat. In this place, despite the heat of the fireplace, the air was chilled. That was when I noticed the runes and letters painted large and eclectically around the walls. I knew the signs of enchantment.
Beyond this there were frames of differing shapes and sizes hung about, with each one containing depictions of otherworldly creature. On the left I saw a ghoulish figure that held humanoid form, with a sigil-like eye where it’s mouth should have been. From it, emanated golden rays of light, coming out towards us. Above were bloodied scars etched into the skin, caused byits own chronic scratching. This was only obvious because viscous droplets of blood were depicted falling from the creature’s fingernails. I couldn’t bare to look any longer.
I started to notice the sprawled scrolls and leather-bound texts, some of which glowed blue in the dim light. There were clay lanterns in the shapes of different animal skulls, I recognised one that could only be a horse. I saw where Scarlet was staring and realised it was one shaped as a human’s skull. On top of the desks were different tools, engineered to utilise the powers of different crystals. Tools that were unmistakably made to probe, some with sharp edges, and others which I could only guess at. The Architect took one long look at our faces and snapped his fingers.
Light flooded into the space, reminding me of the forest, the sound of cicadas, and feel of the sun from above. Except even this light acted strangely because instead of illuminating the decor and trinkets, it obscured them from view. They glimmered and were lost to my vision, and presumably from Scarlet’s too.
“How did we get here?”
“Through the door, or perhaps the door went through you. It’s not important. Very not important. What’s important, is that this is my humble abode.” The Architect of the East bowed, letting his arm fall down in front.
“All of those things we saw, where did they—” I started to ask.
“I put them away of course, so rude of me to have no cleaned up before inviting you into my home. But honestly, I didn’t think it was you two I was meant to be meeting… Those other two seemed awfully late so I went to go snoop around. Terrible fate really. Nobody deserves such an ill fortune.”
“Did you see something else?” My voice gave away too much.
Thoughts raced in my mind, I needed to know if I was already too late. Was this journey all for nothing? Had I already failed?
“I’m talking about the horse of course.” He said.
I stared at him with wide, angry eyes. It was my turn to want to rip his throat out.
For the first time since her mouth returned, Scarlet tried to speak to him. “Did the two humans pass through here? Maybe missing a second horse?”
“I never saw them, not for one second. Must have been something strange on their trail. Something even a Knight of Brius would not want to face. It must have steered them away from here.”
“Do you think they’re still alive?” I asked.
“Perhaps, perhaps. Does it matter, Mr. Reed?
My eyebrows furrowed, perplexed by what he was saying. How could he be saying it didn’t matter?
“You mean it doesn’t matter what you think, or we think. It’s out of our control,” Scarlet put a hand on my shoulder.
“Yes you’re correct Ms. Letalis, we must discuss others matters. What must be done, or what can never be done. The crux of conflict!” He beckoned us to sit at a large round table.
We sat down with him. There, laying in the centre of the table was a brilliant geode. If I remembered correctly, it was called bismuth. It sat on a wooden stand and took the shape comparable to a bowl. Inside grew geometric, stair-stepping crystalline structures of remarkable colour. The iridescent, metallic glimmer started to captivate me.
“Do you know why I went looking for them?” The Architect interjected, pulling me away from the geode.
“You said it was because they were late.” Scarlet prompted.
“That was only half right. Looking into the eye of the storm, subversions of the truth are multiplied. I looked deep into the sea and saw the two of you looking back at me.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Before I practiced conjuration, I gleaned the signs of the stars. From time to time, I have the urge to take a peek. I believe I am missing something. Tell me how you came to leave your city.”
His tone sounded reasonable, as if the insanity was being kept at bay. I found myself recounting to him the events of the past few days, beginning with the arrival of The Mother. Scarlet spoke up to fill in all the details I’d missed.
The Architect lifted a hand to his smooth face, tapping his lip with a curled finger. I could almost see the cogs of his mind turning around. He let us sit in silence for nearly a minute before startling us by slamming his hand down on the mahogany table.
“Once again, The Mother has steered humanity into danger. An impossible situation, an unavoidable destiny. Winter, you must understand this before we continue any further.” He stopped to take in a deep breath.
His tone grew somber. “This prophecy is not only regarding the fate of Ostravos, but the fate of The Divine Construct itself.”