Guardians of the Boundary (Book 3 of The Conjurors Series)

Chapter 18

By the next night, Valerie and her friends had assembled a powerful group of Conjurors that she was certain would easily overpower Putrefus and his friends. Henry brought Elle and Will, his friends from the Empathy Collective, and Gideon and Juniper brought Chrome. They weren't able to contact Elden, but Valerie was surprised that Cerise, Emin's mother, agreed to come in his place.

These recruits, along with Cyrus, Kanti, Henry, Juniper, Oberon, and Gideon, were a small enough group not to attract notice when they left, but their combined power was formidable.

Instead of taking the roller coasters to the edge of Arden, Cerise allowed them access to the cities in the trees. She led them up the trunk of an inconspicuous tree near the Lake of Knowledge, and they quickly clambered up. At the top, instead of a thriving city, they found a network of branches that formed bridges between trees, but no other signs of life.

"Where are we?" Cyrus asked. "This isn't Arbor Aurum, but it can't be far away."

"Distance in the trees has been spelled to be larger in some places and smaller in others," Cerise explained, and then sealed her mouth as if she regretted sharing the information.

"Sort of like the Shortcut in Plymouth," Cyrus said, naming the underground city where they had traveled in the past.

"How do you manage that? Doesn't it take powerful magic?" Kanti asked.

"Enough questions. The secrets of the People of the Woods are not yours for the taking," Cerise said, but the harshness of her words was softened by her obvious pride in their amazement.

Behind her, Gideon looked like he was struggling to repress a smile, and Valerie knew he would have answered Kanti's and Cyrus's questions if Cerise hadn't been there.

As they traveled, Valerie shared her plan for how to remove Putrefus and his friends from power. She didn't think Putrefus would have the means to fight a physical battle, so she planned to set up one of the buildings as a makeshift jail. They would split up in groups of three according to their complementary powers and approach the major buildings in the Roaming City. Then they would forcibly take Putrefus and his friends prisoner.

Oberon brought a charm that could be placed on a dwelling to lock those they wanted to capture inside. The Oracles could try them and determine sentences on their own.

Cerise led them expertly along the winding paths and stopped at a platform with a view of the desert.

"Let's hope it's as easy to find the Roaming City as it was to get to the desert," Henry said. "Is our need great enough?"

"I don't think Sibyl would have asked us to come if she didn't think we would find the city," Valerie said, and then she stepped off the platform and into the desert.

Her feet had barely touched the ground when she saw the outline of the Roaming City in the distance. She'd not found it so quickly on her previous visits, and her heart rate sped up. Their need must be strong, indeed, for the city to appear without any searching.

"I always dreamed of seeing this place someday, but I never believed I would," Juniper said as he landed beside her. His eyes were wide as he took in the low, simple huts in the distance.

Valerie squinted, and she could see that one of the pillars that surrounded the pool of water at the edge of the city had been toppled over.

"Is there any way to approach without being seen from miles away?" she asked Gideon and Oberon.

Gideon shook his head. "The tactic I recommend is to approach swiftly. There can be no element of surprise."

Oberon nodded in confirmation.