The Stars Below, page 3
part #4 of Vega Jane Series
As I lowered my wand, it occurred to me that the voice sounded familiar, though I’d heard it utter only one word.
The next words dispelled any doubts as to who was speaking.
“No, Archie. Can’t you see? That’s not a Maladon you’re casting spells at. It’s Vega.”
The voice left me dumbstruck.
And my numbness only increased as two people appeared out of thin air at the edge of the wood. It was the woman who had taught me to be a sorceress.
Astrea Prine, and her only living child, Archie, who had once tried to murder me.
Blimey.
I HAD PETRA SPIN the ring back around so that we all became visible.
Astrea Prine looked exactly as she had when I left her, now over two years ago. Her son, Archie, looked exactly the same as well.
She was petite with dark hair cut in bangs and looked to be in her twenties. She was actually over eight hundred years old and one of the most powerful magical beings I’d ever encountered.
Archie was taller and thin but with looks that showed quite clearly that Astrea was his mother.
Seeing them both now was absolutely stunning.
“What are you doing here?” I exclaimed as Petra and Miranda looked warily at the newcomers, their wands held at the ready.
And I kept one eye on Archie since he’d just tried to curse me into an early grave again.
Astrea said, “There was nothing left for me to do in the Quag.”
I stiffened. “You know about Wormwood, then?”
“Of course I do, Vega. It was my job to keep it safe.” She paused. “I obviously failed.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I said tersely. “The Maladons discovered and exploited a seam in the barrier you concocted.”
“Regardless, Wormwood is no more. Thus, Archie and I came here to see what we could do to defeat the Maladons.”
“How did you break through the barrier?” I asked. “I sealed it afterward.”
She hiked her eyebrows. “I am rather something more than simply a competent sorceress, Vega. You should know that by now.”
I felt myself blush, but then my features hardened. This woman had taught me to be a sorceress. But she hadn’t seen how much I had changed in the last two years, how much I had experienced and overcome. She didn’t know that my wand, after saying its respectful good-byes to its previous owner, had become one with me, immeasurably increasing my confidence and, with it, my magical power.
“My apologies,” I said in an overly formal tone.
“I found the gash despite your sealing it,” she said. “Of course you created the opening when you breached the wall on your way through into this world. That was what you were referring to before, wasn’t it?”
She didn’t have to say the second part of this thought, for there was assuredly a second part.
And also how the Maladons found their way in, allowing them to slaughter all your fellow Wugmorts.
Petra said nervously, “Vega, I don’t think we should just be standing here talking about these things. We’re completely vulnerable.”
I nodded, because she was exactly right. But I had one last query that I needed an answer to now.
“Have you seen a woman around here who looks like me?”
“No, I have not seen your mother, Vega. Nor have I seen your father.”
I frowned. I had forgotten that Astrea knew about my parents.
Astrea answered my look. “Yes, Vega, I assumed they must have ended up here somehow. They did not pass through the Quag. They found another way.”
“The Maladons call them the Campions,” I said proudly. “Like we’ve been doing, they’ve been fighting the Maladons.”
“Which is what Archie and I have been doing as well.”
My jaw dropped. “You’ve been fighting the Maladons?”
Archie spoke up. “That’s who we thought you were.”
“Have you killed any?” I asked pointedly.
“An even dozen,” she said. “But we keep looking for more. Bloody Bowler Hats.”
I looked down at the cloth in my hand, then at the surrounding woods. If my parents had been here, they apparently no longer were.
“Vega?” hissed Petra anxiously. “We should go.”
“Come with us,” I said to Astrea. “We can provide shelter and I’ll introduce you to the others.”
“You have others?” said Astrea, looking interested.
“I have an army,” I said. “I can explain in more detail later.”
“Where are you staying?” she asked.
I lowered my voice. “Just come with us. You’ll see.” But then a thought struck me as I looked down at my gloved hand. “The Maladons can track the mark of the three hooks,” I said. “You must have that mark on your hands.”
Astrea said dismissively, “It is taken care of, Vega.” She held up her hand, and Archie did the same.
I was stunned I had not noticed it before. Their hands looked metallic.
“A simple spell,” she noted. “But effective.”
“When did you learn of their ability to track you that way?” I asked.
“From the first Maladon we encountered. I forced him to tell me.” She added casually, “Before I dispatched him.”
I roped all of us together and then used the Pass-pusay incantation to carry us to Empyrean.
As soon as we alighted on the front steps, covered by my ring of invisibility, Astrea gasped.
I looked over at her to see tears spilling down her cheeks as her gaze ran along the stretch of the stone facade. Never had I seen Astrea this overwhelmed. She was not a woman who showed emotion. Yet now, it was plain to see what this place had meant to her.
“It’s really still here?” she said, her voice quavering.
“I’tis,” I said. “Come inside. I doubt things have changed a whit since you were here last.”
She slowly approached the wooden front door. With every glance, it seemed a fresh memory from the past was forming in her mind.
Inside, we were met by quite a few people, including Delph.
When he saw Archie, he charged forward, ready to fight.
“No, you don’t, you bloody git!” shouted Delph, his fists balled.
Archie brandished his wand and seemed about to cast a spell.
I sent a blaze of light thundering into the ceiling to get their attention and shouted, “No, Archie! Delph, it’s okay. He’s no longer, well, confused.”
Delph halted his charge but looked suspiciously at Archie, who gazed defiantly back at him, his wand twitching in his hand.
My spell and the raised voices had brought everyone else flooding into the hall, including Pillsbury and Mrs. Jolly.
I introduced Astrea and Archie to everyone. I left out the part that she was not nearly so young as she looked, though many did seem puzzled that she seemed to be the same age as her son.
As the others dispersed and went back to what they had been doing, Pillsbury marched forward and extended a crisp salute to Astrea.
“Madame Prine, it has indeed been a long time.”
I glanced at Pillsbury in surprise. “You know each other?”
She said, “Pillsbury ran Empyrean with a firm hand back then, though not as a suit of armor. That came later, did it not, Pillsbury?”
“It did indeed, Madame Prine.”
Astonished by this, I said, “What were you before then?”
“I was a man,” said Pillsbury simply.
“Do you mean they turned you into a suit of armor?” I said, the revulsion clear in my tone and on my features.
“A man dies, Mistress Vega,” said Pillsbury. “An enchanted suit of armor lives forever. And that was what was called for. Oh, I did so willingly.”
I said, “But who enchanted you?”
“Your ancestor, Jasper Jane.”
“Jasper Jane!” exclaimed Delph, who, along with Petra, had lingered behind.
Pillsbury stared up at Delph. “Yes. It was necessary. Empyrean had to be kept safe. Master Jasper well knew that centuries might pass before things were made right, if they ever were. Thus, there had to be those who would remain here to take care of Empyrean.”
I looked at Astrea. “But why didn’t you come here directly after leaving the Quag?” I asked. “You obviously knew of its existence. Your portrait hangs on the wall here.”
“I was not the one who enchanted it, thus I did not know its location.”
“Who did, then? Alice and Gunther were dead before it became enchanted.”
“Jasper also provided the protective incantations,” said Astrea. “He knew the darker side of magic better than the rest of us. And as Pillsbury has already said, he wanted to ensure that Empyrean survived. It was his ancestral home after all. It meant everything to him, and his sister. He would have done anything to protect it. And he did.”
“I guess I can understand that,” I said. “But why didn’t he inform you of this?”
“It was a tumultuous time, Vega. It’s not like Jasper and I had the time or opportunity to sit down over tea. We were literally fleeing for our lives with a great deal to accomplish in a very short period of time.”
I nodded. This seemed to make sense.
“How did you find your way here, Vega?” she asked.
I held up my wand. “The Elemental led me here.”
She nodded. “Of course. You see, it is the Elemental’s home as well, having belonged to Alice.”
Petra said, “Look, I know it’s a nice home and all, but would the Maladons finding this place back then have mattered all that much?”
Now Astrea’s piercing gaze bored into Petra. “Matter all that much?” she said forcefully. “As you have no doubt discovered, there is much magic in this place. In addition to it being his beloved home, Jasper also believed that it would provide a safe haven one day for his descendants who had taken up the fight. That of course turned out to be spot on. Also, the golden wand of the slain Bastion Cadmus hangs on the wall. We would never want that instrument to fall into the hands of the Maladons.”
I interrupted her.
“His wand no longer exists. I magically broke it apart and sent its pieces to provide wands to my army,” I said. “Fifty wands from one.”
I had only once before absolutely stunned Astrea. Back at her cottage I had unleashed a magical blast without a wand, resulting in Astrea being blown off her feet and flung into a wall.
Well, I had just stunned her for a second time with only the magic of my words.
“You … you created fifty wands from Bastion’s one?”
“Yes.”
“How? There is no incantation known that would accomplish that.”
“I know. I created my own spell to do so.”
She continued to stare at me in a way that was making me feel quite uncomfortable. “I see, Vega,” she finally said.
“Yes, I think you do,” I said firmly as she continued to gaze at me. “I have seen and talked to Uma Cadmus’s spirit. And also to Alice,” I added.
Astrea’s jaw slackened. “You have seen Alice?”
“I have.”
Astrea put out a hand to the wall to steady herself.
Archie said worriedly, “Mum? You okay?”
With an effort, Astrea composed herself. “Yes, of course. It’s just that I never thought I would see dear Alice again. I never …”
“Well, now you can,” I said, staring at her curiously.
“And how is she?” asked Astrea anxiously.
“Unsatisfied” was the only word I could come up with.
Pillsbury, who had hovered in a corner of the room, stepped forward.
“Madame Prine, would you care for some food, a bath, some clean garments and a soft bed upon which you could regain your energy?” He swiveled his visor around to Archie. “And for your son too of course.”
Astrea shot Archie a look and nodded. “Yes, Pillsbury, that would be very welcome. Our beds have been the dirt and our food only what we could scrounge.”
She and Archie followed Pillsbury upstairs.
Astrea turned back around and looked down at me.
Again, it seemed as though she could peel away my skin and look right into my head and heart. She had both irritated and intimidated me when we had first met. Her confidence seemed to be limitless. Yet I had ended up more than holding my own. So why did I feel like a schoolgirl once more?
It was so disconcerting that I turned and walked off, though I could still sense her watching me.
Petra and Delph followed, peppering me with questions.
“Not now,” I said. “We can talk later about it.”
“But, Vega Jane,” began Delph.
“Not now!” I barked.
I raced down the stairs to a room I knew well. The last time I had gone there, I received the most shocking and terrible news of my life. That Wormwood and all those in it were gone.
Still, I needed to talk to someone.
A dead someone.
Sometimes, they know far more than those of us still alive.
ALICE?”
I looked around the drab, shadowy interiors of the room. It was here that I had first encountered the ghost or spirit or whatever it was of Alice Adronis, my people’s fiercest warrior. I had seen Alice do battle, watched her die. Been given the Elemental by her. And she had known me by name. That was one thing I wanted to ask her about. I hadn’t all this time because, well, I guess I was afraid of what her answer might be.
“Yes, Vega?”
She had appeared behind me, still wearing the chain-mail armor in which she had perished on the battlefield. Her mortal wound still gaped in her chest. Each time I saw it, my own chest hurt.
“I have news.”
“I already know.”
“You know? How?”
She glanced down at my wand, which I had slid through my belt.
The Elemental had once belonged to her, but it no longer acknowledged that. It was my wand, pure and simple.
Or maybe not.
“What the wand can see, I can see also,” she said.
I looked down at the Elemental, feeling a bit betrayed.
“So, you know that Astrea is here?”
She nodded. “I expect her to come and see me, soon.”
“She told me you two were friends.”
“I’m sure she told you many things.”
“She taught me how to be a sorceress.”
“She was always an able mentor.”
“I owe her for that,” I said slowly.
“You owe no one anything” was her surprising reply.
“How do you mean?”
“You came to Astrea’s cottage by your own courage and ingenuity. You took her lessons and made the most of them. But your magical ability was always inside you, Vega. Astrea merely allowed it to find purchase. And then you left her and made your way across the Quag. You came here, and you have been fighting the Maladons with bravery and honor all this time. I repeat, you owe no one anything. Including me.”
“Do you trust her?”
“I have long trusted Astrea.”
“So why are you telling me these things, then?”
“Astrea has her own way of doing things. She does not take the advice of others often, or with … grace.”
“She let me change her mind and cross the Quag.”
“Yes, she did. And how did that turn out … for her?”
“I … I don’t know what you mean.”
“When you’ve thought deeply enough about this, Vega, come back and see me.”
She vanished.
“No, wait,” I cried out. “I wanted to ask you something else.”
But she did not return.
“Vega, you git. Why didn’t you just ask her the most important question first?”
Depressed, I headed back upstairs.
IT WAS A ritual I dreaded.
We were all lined up, dressed in our finest clothes.
I was at the head of the line.
I looked at the wooden coffin containing the mortal remains of Alabetus Trumbull.
We were in the rear grounds of Empyrean, which had been returned to its past glory by the loyal enchanted outdoor staff. It was a beautiful day with nary a cloud in the sky. But there were no beautiful thoughts in my head or my heart.
Only a deep sense of loss.
In my mind’s eye, I could see Alabetus smiling or making a quip over a meal. I could see him fighting alongside me against the Maladons. I could also see him grip the hand of Regina Samms, with whom he had grown very close.
We would be burying Alabetus next to Regina, for she had succumbed in battle one month earlier.
Alabetus had never been the same after her death. And I suspected that the loss of Regina had driven him to take more and more risk in fighting the Maladons, as a way of avenging her death. And finally, that had ended in his own demise.
I pulled my cloak tighter around me, stepped in front of the coffin and briefly eyed the grave that had been dug by the outdoor staff. Their marbleized forms stood off to the side at respectful attention.
I eyed the long line of graves previously dug. Today we would be adding Alabetus to this depressing number.
I shook off these thoughts and turned to the crowd facing me.
Petra and Delph stood side by side.
Harry Two sat beside them.
On the far right were Astrea and Archie.
She wore robes of emerald green, while Archie was more plainly dressed in a somber brown.
Astrea gave me a little nod, as though letting me know it was okay to start.
I frowned at this. It wasn’t like I needed her permission.
I cleared my throat and began.
“Alabetus will be much missed, just like all the others,” I said, my gaze drifting to the row of graves. “He fought bravely and ably by our sides. He gave his life in the fight against the Maladons. He will always be remembered as the fine warrior and good person that he was.”
At this Mrs. Jolly used one of her wooden appendages to place a large hankie next to her eyes, while Pillsbury patted her gently with his metal hand.
“I know that our losses have been heavy,” I continued. “But with each of our fallen, we have forcefully let it be known to the Maladons that we will fight to the very end. And that we will triumph over them. There will be no stopping us.”
