Glassmage Oblivion

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-six

Gabrielle reached Deorwynn’s tiny, white house first, but found the beachfront empty. The sea before it was also vacant. Nearly out of breath, she managed to call out, “Deorwynn! Marine!”

When Eadwynn appeared, she went immediately to the house and flung the door open.

“Empty,” she said, turning to Gabrielle.

“Deorwynn!” Gabrielle called out again.

A calm, muffled voice said, “Back here, dear!”

In a panic, they rushed behind the house to find Deorwynn, Marine and Senora hunched over a small, overturned boat. The pram, as Deorwynn had called it, would have adequately seated four people, but for the ragged gash near the starboard bow.

“It’s an old wound,” Deorwynn said, threading lengths of thick reeds into the opening. Marine and Senora knelt before her, holding braided sea oats and more reeds.

The sound of the approaching throng was now impossible to ignore.

Gabrielle, heart still racing, asked, “What are you doing?”

All three looked up from their work, but instead of Gabrielle, they stared at Eadwynn.

Confused at first, the truth of the situation finally became clear when she turned and saw at the expression on Eadwynn’s face.

“No,” Gabrielle began. “This isn’t anything like that.”

She could see with near perfect clarity the anguish in their faces. Even Senora, being a native of Kell, knew the story of what had happened. The gift of the glass ship to Marine (Marinelle) on her sixteenth birthday. The weakened craft splitting in two under the force of the waves, sending the Princess to her supposed death. Eadwynn’s decree that Glassmagery would never again be practiced in Kell…

“I won’t be responsible for something like that again,” Eadwynn whispered.

Although Gabrielle understood their reluctance to use glass on even a small sea craft, frustration and panic won her over. Pushing past Deorwynn, she drew sand from the beach and created dozens of thin glass strands, all the while humming the song of protection. Once the crisscrossed threads were secure inside the opening, she layered endless sheets of reinforced glass upon them until the final sheet rested flush against the wood.

In one final motion, she brought up a mass of sand and pulled at it quickly, creating a large sheet that fell lightly against the entire hull, sealing it completely.

In silence, they lifted the pram and conveyed it to the gentle surf.

“Oh,” Gabrielle said, reaching into her pocket. She handed the old book to Deorwynn, feeling an undefined nervous pang in letting it go.

“I will protect it with my life,” her great-grand aunt said, understanding. “Who knows what magic dwells within these pages?”

Gabrielle nodded, the ground beneath her feet shaking in response to the ever-nearing march.

When Deorwynn, Marine and Senora were safely aboard, they pushed the craft into deeper water. The two oars hidden beneath the boat were in good condition and when put to use, helped to carry the pram out past the breaking waves.

Eadwynn took Gabrielle’s hand and said, “I should be out there with them.” How many times had she stared at these waters from the Eastern Glass Castle?

“I know how you feel,” Gabrielle offered, “but we need to go to the others. After we know they’re all okay, I’ll come back, find a safe place and—”

The air behind them crackled with electricity and they spun around in dread.

The sky behind the small, white house was dark with airborne sand as the ARM infused with Kendra Sable strode deftly toward them.

Eadwynn’s instinct was to run, but Gabrielle’s firm grip on her own hand transferred just enough strength to set her feet firmly on the wet sand.

Gabrielle’s first reaction was to turn and wave her arms, shout out for Senora to play the song, but doing so might reveal their position and put them in immediate danger.

Stand your ground, she told herself.

By the time the android reached them, the vaguely human-like shapes began to spill over the distant dune. They were an amalgam of liquid glass and sand, similar to the birds—a fluid held in shape by unknown forces. Whatever ability her mother had, it was a wretched mimicry of true Glassmagery. Gabrielle wanted to speak, to rage against her mother for everything she was doing, but had no words.

Kendra stood before them, smelling of foul metals, the expression on her mutable face malevolent.

Why wasn’t Senora playing her flute? Gabrielle wondered wildly. What was wrong?

Finally, it was Eadwynn who found her voice, speaking loud and deep over the pounding of thousands of sand-fused feet.

“There is still time, granddaughter!” she shouted. “You can still choose to do the right thing!”

“Granddaughter?” Kendra asked, her voice distorted by anomalous audio artifacts. More robotic. Less human.

Gabrielle wrapped her arms around Eadwynn—the resonance of her mother’s voice formed horrible waking nightmares in her mind.

“Call them off!” Eadwynn screamed, the sound of the approaching golems deafening now. “Please, call them—”

Eadwynn’s voice stopped abruptly as Kendra’s ARM body exploded, peeling open from a point in the center of her chest. In a visually unnerving spectacle, the materials that gave her body shape unfolded in alien geometries. The final product was a six-foot tall oval surrounded by robotic shrapnel.

A portal.

Eadwynn gasped, took a half-step back and lost her balance.

From within the oval emerged a man with bright, white hair and dark, concealing eyeglasses. He shot forward, grabbed Gabrielle by both arms and hauled her back into the portal. Before Eadwynn could react, the unstable doorway collapsed in a thunderous clap.

Gabrielle was gone.

Eadwynn knew she should quickly create a Mioglasi, join the others in Gabrielle’s world and tell them what happened. Gabrielle would have wanted her to do this. Instead, she watched in numb disbelief as the twisted, metal ring fell abruptly to the ground, digging a wedge in the sand.

All that remained was one final moment, an ephemeral portion of time allowing Eadwynn to wonder (with shame and regret) what she could have done to save the brave, dear child.

The moment ended.

From up and down the beach as far as she could see, the endless legion of sand golems rushed forward.