Page 56 of Earthbound

Alder was watching with his arms folded, his eyes glittering.

‘Lettle,’ Mia said as she stood on the precipice. Her voice was tight with pain. ‘Bring back Alder, all right?’

‘I will,’ Lettle said, before really considering what she was agreeing to, and if it was even possible.

Is Alder lost for ever? The thought was cold and unwelcome, so she pushed it away.

Then Mia jumped. Lettle could see Dart was holding his breath until the rope went slack. He gave Lettle a cursory nod before jumping after his love.

‘And then there were two,’ Alder said.

‘Three,’ she corrected him. Ajax stood by her side, an immovable protector.

Alder smiled as though indulging a child. ‘Indeed.’

She shivered. The drugs Mortah had given her had distracted her from her wet clothes, but now they were wearing off, she felt chilled to the bone.

Alder noticed and he ran his gaze over her clothes. In moments Lettle felt a warmth spread over her body as the clothing dried.

‘How did you do that?’

He didn’t answer her. The sound of rushing water filled the air. ‘Tell me then, what do you know of the book you cradle so tightly against your chest?’

‘I know it was written by Afa, the last human.’

‘Afa,’ the name caught in his throat. ‘I haven’t heard that name in a long time.’

‘Do you know of him?’

He looked like he might nod, but then he said, ‘No. Tell me, who is he?’

Lettle shrugged. ‘Growing up I had thought him a faerytale only.’

The Wandering Human had been her favourite story as a child. She’d had few possessions, but that book had been one of them. Yeeran had found it battered and bruised in the pocket of a soldier on the Bleeding Field. Their father had read it to them so many times that Lettle had learned it off by heart.

‘With teeth of knives and eyes of fire, the fae killed every human, for humans were the most magical of beings,’ she recounted the words from memory. ‘Until only one human remained. Afa he was called. The last of them. Damned to wander the land alone. He travelled across seas, across continents, gaining knowledge wherever he went. The knowledge enhanced Afa’s power, and when he returned to the Fae Lands, he cursed the fae for what they had done, banishing them to Mosima, a land entombed in time.’

‘A faerytale it is,’ the man said.

Lettle narrowed her eyes. ‘So, you do know Afa?’

Once more he didn’t answer.

‘Who are you?’

Again, silence. Her frustration was growing by the minute and part of her wanted to jump after Dart too.

But I’d be abandoning Alder. She couldn’t do that, not when they’d come this far. Her eyes threatened tears and she squeezed them shut.

‘That grimoire was not for you,’ Alder said. Lettle cracked open an eyelid.

He was watching her, examining her.

‘Well, whoever it was for, it’s mine now.’

This got a reaction from him: ‘No, it’s not. It’s mine.’ Lettle was learning he was a proud man, this new Alder.

‘This was found in Afa’s tomb.’