Aldric Starweaver's Arc

Chapter 6 of 10

Outside the gate, the bear finished the wall creature. Aldric heard the wet crack of it, then a long silence. Galahad turned from the doorway. "That thing won't hold the bear much longer. When it's done eating, it comes here. We have minutes." Aldric pressed both hands to the two iron boxes on the stone table. He had crossed the whole valley for this. Now he had to open them before the fight came through the gate. He knew the boxes resisted force and magic alike. But two boxes, side by side, had to matter. The sky-keepers had made them as a pair. He set the seals of both facing each other and spoke the old binding words, the ones his master taught him for crystals. The iron warmed under his palms. A thin line of light traced the lid of his own box, then died. "Nothing," Faelan said from the gate. The elf stood small in the broken doorway, arrow nocked, eyes on the open ground where the bear fed. His voice held no anger now that the creature was dead. "It's coming soon. I can smell the blood on the wind." Aldric tried again. He pushed his own box hard against the second, iron to iron, until the seals touched. This time he did not command. He asked. He pictured the shard inside, grey and dull, and the crystal it belonged to. The two lids trembled together. A seam split along both boxes at once. Cold air hissed out. His box fell open. Inside sat the grey shard, no larger than his thumb. Aldric snatched it and closed his fist around it. The second box lay open too, empty, its purpose spent. He had what he came for. "I have it," he said. His voice shook. "I have the shard." A roar rolled across the open ground. The bear had finished. Sylvra ran in from the gate, bow up. "It sees us. It's coming." Galahad drew his sword and stepped between the table and the door. "Then we don't stay. Wizard, move." Aldric grabbed his empty box off the table. He would need it to carry the shard safely home. But the ground shook now with the bear's weight, and the gate was the only way out. The white shape filled the broken doorway, ribs still showing, mouth red. It had killed one beast and wanted another kill. Galahad braced. "We can't fight it in here. Too tight." Faelan and Sylvra loosed together. Two arrows struck the bear's shoulder. It shrieked and reared, blocking the only exit. Aldric backed against the cold stone table, the shard hot in his fist. He had the thing he crossed the valley to take. Now a starving bear stood between him and every road home, and the walls of the old keep pressed close on every side.