Page 156 of Earthbound

Alder’s gaze turned guarded. ‘It will also turn all the obeah into humans. Lettle, we’d be making them vulnerable in the middle of the war.’

‘According to you, there should be no more war if Yeeran is successful,’ Furi said.

‘Yeeran will be successful,’ Lettle said.

Alder shook his head. ‘We’re saving one soul but still putting many more at risk. None of the obeah even know what’s about to happen.’

Furi hesitated. There would be no spell without her consent, as she would be the one to speak it.

Ajax whined behind them and that swayed Furi’s mind.

‘Teach me the spell,’ the queen said.

They kneeled on the ground and Lettle opened the grimoire.

Her fingers ran over the ink that coated the pages. Afa’s whole life bound in paper. He had called it a map; the pathways that would lead Alder back to who he was. But Afa hadn’t realised that once pen touches paper you cannot control who owns those stories. There are no borders or boundaries to a tale.

And his story would not end with Alder, but with Lettle.

‘How does it work?’ Furi asked.

‘You have to repeat the words after me. Put intention behind it.’

Furi’s lips quivered. ‘How?’

‘Think about the way you call on magic, imagine it like that.’

Furi nodded sharply. ‘I’m ready.’

Fingers gripped her shoulder and Lettle looked up. ‘I have a bad feeling about this,’ Alder said. Fear had bled the colour from his cheeks. ‘What are the consequences of the spell? The sacrifice?’

Lettle shook her head. ‘There are no sacrifices with unravellings. We are not creating a knot in the magic, simply pulling it free.’

Alder shook his head, his hand reaching forward as if to snatch the grimoire away.

‘So this spell will unravel the bindings to Mosima, to obeah, but what of the humans? How does it bring them back?’

The truth was Lettle didn’t know. Afa had taught her the words, but not their meaning.

‘I did not have the luxury of centuries like Afa did, I learned what I could.’ As fast as she could, because every second had been time with Afa and not Alder.

Golan was looking at Alder’s distraught face. ‘Lettle, perhaps we should consider this some more,’ he said.

Ajax shuddered and Lettle held her breath.

Was this it? Was this the end?

Then Ajax’s chest moved once more.

‘We have no time,’ Lettle said. ‘It’s now, or…’

Furi wiped a tear from Lettle’s cheek. ‘We do this, you and me. The consequences will be our responsibility to bear. But we’ll do it together.’

Lettle couldn’t recall when Furi had become family to her, but in that moment she realised she was, and always would be.

A hush fell over the woodland, as though the very trees listened in.

Then Lettle began to speak. ‘Ruhi ya’tini gah ba’al’ra…’