Zach Brenner's Arc

Chapter 56 of 86

Zach sat by the spring at dawn. The lake lay flat and gray. He turned Malachar's black tower over in his mind and found nothing. No landmarks. No stars he knew. He could not plan a road back to the sorcerer without knowing where the sword had dropped them. Raven crouched beside him, her cat ears turning at every sound. "You can't map a place we've never walked," she said. "None of us can." Garrok kicked a stone into the water. "Then we walk until we learn it." Talon shook his head. "Walk where? The trees hide the sky. We could circle for days." Lyra pressed her palm to the ground and closed her purple eyes. "I sense birds. Fish. No people for miles. The tower's slow heart, and nothing else." She looked up. "I can't read a land I don't know. I only feel life, not roads." Then the air near the spring shimmered. Small points of light gathered above the water. They pulled together into a shape. An old man stood there in a gray robe, cat ears twitching. Zach's chest jumped. Geneva had stayed behind at the world's center. They had left him. Now he stood here, whole, on this strange shore. "Geneva," Ayla breathed. "How?" Geneva smiled at Zach. "The sword carried a piece of me when it carried you. I've been waiting for you to wake." He looked across at the black tower. "Now that Malachar and Maximus are one, I used what strength I had left to unlock the sword's true path. It can carry you between places now. Back to him. Wherever he stands." Zach's hand went to the blade on his back. "Then we go. Right now." "Not yet," Geneva said. "You're not ready. One last thing remains." "What is it?" Zach asked. "I must give you all my power." Geneva raised both hands. "A soul this old holds more than one body can carry. Take it. Every wielder who came before, every fight against Darkthorne, all of it." His eyes met Zach's. "You'll know the way now. You'll know where you are and where he is." Raven reached for him. "Wait—" Geneva broke apart into a swarm of bright particles. They swept over the six of them like warm rain. Zach gasped. The land snapped into place in his mind. He saw the tower's true distance across the lake. He felt the sword's new path, a thread pointing straight at Malachar. Beside him, Raven flexed her fingers and stared. Lyra glowed faintly. Garrok laughed, low and sure. Talon drew a breath and steadied. Zach stood. He knew where they were. He knew the road to the enemy. The lost feeling was gone. "I can find him," Zach said. "The sword will take us. And this time, we can win." He looked at the black tower and no longer felt small before it.