Zach Brenner's Arc

Chapter 31 of 86

Zach sat on the cold stone of Tyr Alys. His legs still shook from the demon's grip. The city walls closed them in, but the seal lay days north, and one was already broken. He looked at his hands. They had held a sword through everything. Now they felt useless. "We ran," he said. "Malachar broke a seal while we lay on our backs. We don't even know where the last one is." Raven crouched beside him. Her cat ears drooped. "We're alive. That's not nothing." "It's not enough." Zach stood. "We keep chasing him and keep losing. Maximus Darkthorne is going to walk free. We have to face that." He drew the enchanted blade and stared at it. "I carry this. It chose me. But I don't understand it. I don't know what it can really do." He turned to Ayla. "Maybe it's time I learned." Ayla leaned on her staff. Teleporting the whole group had drained her. Her face was pale, but her eyes sharpened. "There is a man who might know. Geneva Rudsone." She said the name carefully. "He's the last living blood of the warrior who sealed Darkthorne a thousand years ago. His family passed the sword's secrets down through the years." Talon crossed his arms. He had guided them this far and trusted little. "I've heard that name in the north. They say he's mad." "He's old," Ayla said. "He lives alone in a swamp, far from any road. People forgot him. But if anyone knows how that blade beat Darkthorne once, it's him." Lyra pulled out her worn map and spread it on the stones. She traced a route with one finger. "I can track a living person. Give me a name and blood tie and I can find him." She closed her eyes. Her purple eyes moved under the lids. Then she opened them and pressed a spot on the map. "South. In the wetlands. A single hut. One old heartbeat, slow and steady." Zach felt the weight lift a little. For the first time since the stones, he had a direction. Not the tower. Not another chase. A teacher. "Then that's where we go." He sheathed the sword. "If I can't out-race Malachar, I can learn to beat what he wakes." Raven stood and gripped his arm. "You're sure? The swamp will slow us. Malachar won't wait." "He only has one seal left," Zach said. "When Darkthorne wakes, I need to be ready. Running scared won't do it." Talon nodded slowly. "South, then. I know the edge of those wetlands. The mud swallows men who don't respect it." Ayla rolled her shoulders and forced herself upright. "Rest tonight. We leave at first light." Zach looked south, past the city walls. Somewhere in the swamp waited an old man who might hold the one thing he lacked. Not a faster horse. Not a better plan. The truth about the sword in his hand.