David Baldacci - The Keeper

I screamed, Harry Two yipped and Delph raced over to him to help.

But Astrea calmly said, “ Eraisio ,” and waved her wand at Archie. The slashes immediately healed, though his trousers were still ripped.

I apologized profusely, but Archie took it in stride.

“There’s not been any of us that hasn’t made mistakes, Vega,” he said encouragingly. “And you’re doing just fine.”

However, I was so shaken that I could do no more that light. Later, I cried myself to sleep, the image of bloody Archie refusing to leave my thoughts.

The next light, I crushed the clay man by invoking the spell Impacto . I very warily performed the Impairio curse on Archie and struck him blind, but the reverse curse worked just fine too, restoring his sight instantly.

“Mind, body and spirit,” Astrea kept stressing to me.

“I’m getting the hang of it,” I said confidently.

“The basics at least.”

I looked at her, knowing that something else was dwelling on the tip of her tongue. “But?” I said.

“But you’ve had to do none of this while an opponent is casting spells back at you, trying to hurt or even kill you. That changes everything, Vega.”

“But how can I practice that?”

“You will practice that, when you are ready.”

“You mean truly fighting?”

“Yes! You will have to do so to get through the Quag.”

That night I lingered in front of the fire with Astrea and Harry Two while Delph and Archie went off to bed.

“The first night I was here I saw the room covered in dust and cobwebs. It was set up like a nursery.”

She slowly nodded. “It was a nursery, Vega. For my children.”

“It... it must have been difficult for them,” I began.

She gave a hollow laugh. “As you so astutely pointed out, I took their lives from them.”

I remained silent. I shouldn’t have said that to her. I’m sure she had meant the best. But sometimes decisions come at a great cost. For others.

“They never had the chance to meet anyone. Never had the chance to fall in love, marry and have a family. See their children grow up and have their own children.” She let out a long breath that I could sense was chock-full of remorse. She glanced at me before looking away. “My youngest, Ariana, was the first to die. She was so full of life when she was a child. Then she grew into a bitter old biddy, and who could blame her? This cottage, her brothers and sisters. And me. That was all she had. Then one by one, the others went. Tired of not living. A decision I had made for them.”

She lapsed into silence, a quiet I was hesitant to break. But the fact was I had another question to ask her, and it would have a great impact on me personally.

“You said you had killed?” I began.

She was staring into the depths of the fire. She looked so young that it was difficult for me to accept that she was over eight centuries old.

“To defend myself. I was quite good at it. As you will have to be.”

I drew closer. “When I threw the Elemental at the males attacking me on that battlefield, I didn’t know it was going to kill them.”

“And you wonder if you have it in you to consciously do so?”

“I cried when I hurt poor Archie.”

“It is not a natural thing to kill another. At least it is not for us.”

“Do you think that’s why, well, why they beat you? The Maladons?”

“Do you know how they came by their name? Did Archie tell you that?”

“No.”

“In our ancient language it means ‘terrible death,’ Vega.”

“Terrible death. So you named them that? Because of what they did to you?”

She shook her head. “No. They named themselves. To inflict terrible death on others is the highest calling they have.”

“That’s... awful,” I said, nearly unable to process how anyone could be that evil.

“The Maladons have always been remarkably good at killing. Although toward the end, many on our side became quite adept at it as well. Alice Adronis killed scores of them and seemed to care not a jot.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

She turned to face me. “And how could you possibly know that?”

“I saw her on that battlefield. She was honorable. Noble. I’m sure the killing did bother her. As it would me.”

“And your point?” asked Astrea curiously.

“Well, if we didn’t care, we would be no better than the Maladons. And then what would be the point of defeating them?”

This comment seemed to surprise her. “You figured that out without any help whatsoever from me.”

“I’ve had to figure out a great many things on my own,” I said quite seriously. “But that still doesn’t answer the question of whether I can kill if I need to. I don’t even know what the spell is to do it. Is there a particular one?”

“ Rigamorte ,” she said immediately, her features deadly serious. “It is the most powerful of all curses. While we have other spells that can eventually lead to death, that is the one guaranteed to produce it.”

“It even sounds hurtful.”

“Point your wand at me and say it.”

“What?” I exclaimed in astonishment.

“Point your wand at me and say the incantation.”

“But I can’t do—”

“Now,” she screamed, “or I will do it to you . Now, Vega!”

Terrified, I raised my wand and cried out, “ Rigamorte! ”

My wand gave what amounted to a little sneeze and that was all.

“I guess I need work,” I said lamely. “But you would have blocked it or countered it if—”

“There is no shield. Only inevitable death.”

I was horrified. “Then if it had worked?”

“It could not possibly have worked, Vega. You were scared. It was why I screamed at you. One cannot perform the curse while scared. It is not the emotion required.”

“What is, then?”

“Something more than loathing. Or even hatred. An emotion so strong that it blocks out every other feeling you have. It must be like molten lava in your blood vessels. You must want to kill above all other things. To end the life of another living thing, Vega. Otherwise, you’re simply wasting your breath. It is horrible to kill someone. So to take the life of another, you must become horrible.”

I cleared my throat and said slowly, “I don’t know if I could ever feel that way about anyone. I mean there were blokes in Wormwood that I didn’t much care for. But I couldn’t kill them. I mean I just wouldn’t.”

“Would you rather it be you dead, or your enemy?” she retorted. “For I can tell you quite plainly that a Maladon confronting you will not hesitate to kill.”

I sat back and thought this through. To get through the Quag and do what I needed to do, would I have to become a killer?

It seemed that I would.

I rose early next light and dressed quickly. I could hear no one stirring yet. Even Harry Two was still asleep at the foot of my bed. I walked down the hall and stopped in front of one of the doors that had refused me entry my first night here. I took out my wand, gave it three parallel flicks and said, “ Crystilado magnifica. ”

I jumped back so far that I actually slammed into the opposite wall.

Full in my face, burning a hole in my brain really, was a jabbit curled up in a cage made of brilliant light. The terrible creature was fast asleep, its hundreds of eyes closed. But sleeping or not, I wanted to run away shrieking.

Instead, I tapped my wand against my leg, hissed “ Pass-pusay ” and thought of my destination. Anywhere but here, actually.

Moments later I was outside the cottage and also free of the green dome.