David Baldacci - The Keeper

Delph said in a normal voice, “Then how do we choose, eh?”

Petra said, “I vote for Lack to go in.”

Lackland swore under his breath. “Why me?”

“Well, we need Vega’s wand to get through, don’t we?”

“That’s bloody ruthless of you,” snapped Lackland. “What about Delph? Or are you too wonky over the bloke?”

Delph and Petra both looked like they had been walloped by a colossal.

Before Petra could answer, Delph said, “I’ll go. I’m a strong swimmer.” He added in an embarrassed tone, “And like Petra said, we need Vega’s wand to go on.”

“No, Delph,” snapped Petra. “You’re not going in there. Bloody Hel, I’ll go.”

Lackland interjected, “Look, why not the ruddy canine, eh? Will somebody tell me that? It’s a bloody beast.”

Delph shoved him. “Harry Two is worth five-a you.”

“Enough,” I shouted. “I’m going in.”

“But we need you to—” began Petra.

I pointed my wand at them.

“No, Vega Jane,” screamed Delph. He knew what I was about to do.

Harry Two barked and lunged at me, his mismatched eyes wide with distress.

I said, “ Subservio .”

Instantly, their eyes became unfocused and they stood rigidly before me. I pointed my wand at the vessel and they all climbed in, Harry Two included.

I drew a deep breath as I looked at them one by one, my gaze holding finally on Delph. Would the last impression I have of him be one of stark betrayal? And there sat Harry Two, frozen, but inside I knew he could see what I had done. I felt deep shame all around. But I had no time to dwell upon it.

I turned back to Rubez, who was waiting expectantly.

“Anything you can tell me before I dive in?” I asked coolly.

He appraised me for a few long moments. Then he glanced overboard. “What’s down there needs sorting out, don’t it? Whether you’re the one to do it?” He shrugged. “Only you can answer that.” He gave me a wicked grin, which made my blood boil. I told myself that I would survive this if only so I could face this bloke again and turn him to dust!

Rubez used his oar to push off from the pier. I watched them drift away. It had occurred to me that this might be the last time I would see Delph or Harry Two. I should have felt teary. I should have felt something. And truth be known, I did. A terrible, terrible emptiness. As though all I had or had ever felt was gone.

Then they disappeared in the mist that had sprung up over the water. All I could hear was the splash of the oar against the water’s surface as Rubez carried all of my companions away.

The Subservio spell would only continue to work while I was in relatively close proximity to them. But by the time the effects wore off, it would be too late to stop me.

I held up a solitary hand and said, “Good-bye.”

Then I stepped to the edge of the pier and looked down at the Obolus River. Delph was right. I was not a very experienced swimmer. There simply wasn’t that much water in Wormwood. I had no idea what awaited me in the foul depths, but standing here thinking about it was not doing me any good.

So, gripping my wand, I took a deep breath and dove in.

I didn’t know what to expect when I hit the water. Well, I supposed I thought it would be cold and miserable, but it really wasn’t. In fact, it felt warm and comforting.

When I broke the surface of the water that changed.

I took a breath. At least I tried to. But when the air hit my lungs, I thought my brain would explode. I gasped and writhed and when I was about to lose consciousness, I did the only thing I could think to do. I dove under the water.

After nearly suffocating above water, my mouth was still open when I went under. The liquid poured into my lungs and I knew then that I would die when my lungs filled like buckets.

But I didn’t die. The pain in my head went away and I gulped breath after breath and as the water poured through my lungs, I felt strangely replenished. I lit my wand and looked around. The water was so murky that even with the illumination, I could see only a few feet in every direction. I swam on, gliding smoothly through the water. I wanted to make sure that I was heading in the right direction, so I broke the surface again and stared ahead. But it was so dark and the pain in my head became so fierce that I had to dive back under again.

A cold chill invaded my insides, even as my outside felt warm and comforted.

If I can’t breathe out of the water, how will I escape this place? Was this the due that Rubez demanded? The sacrifice that most would be unwilling to make?

Me imprisoned in the Obolus forever?

I pushed these troubling thoughts away and swam on, hoping I was traveling in the right direction.

Rubez had said that things in here needed sorting out. I had no idea what he meant by that. I assumed that there were vile creatures lurking in the water that would do their best to kill me. If so, I was as prepared as I could be.

I held out my wand and said, “ Crystilado magnifica. ”

What I had expected were water demons whose ferocity and lethality would match those that walked the land. That, I could understand. That, I could fight, and perhaps win. But that wasn’t what I saw.

“Nooo,” I moaned. I stopped swimming and started to sink to the bottom of the foul river.

The great battlefield on which I had been given the Elemental by Alice Adronis and then nearly killed lay before me. Only, this time I was part of the great battle. I was astride a muscled steed. I was outfitted in chain mail. I carried a great spear in one hand as I flew through the sky. Just as Alice had done.

I had seen this same image before in a dream, thus I knew what was about to come. The blow hit my image full in the chest and I tumbled off my steed. I fell, and as my image fell, it happened.

The image and myself became one. And we were both falling so fast and so far that my breath was torn from me. I looked down at my chest and there was the wound, deep and bloody. And the pain pierced me so badly that I cried out and my mouth instantly filled, not with water but with blood. My blood. And then I felt no more.

And that scared me more than anything else had.

For there is only one reason a wounded person feels no pain.

This was no dream. This was no image.

This was my death.

Me, Vega Jane.

I was no more.

I hit the bottom of what I supposed was the Obolus River and then a remarkable thing happened.

I kept falling. It was as though the riverbed there had opened, the dirt moving aside, allowing my plummet to continue to a place that was somehow even deeper.

My eyes had been closed all this time because my courage had reached its limits. But now I had to open them. I heard the heavy staff strike the stone floor. I looked up at the tall, lean, near-cadaverous figure.

It was Orco. With his great, long nose, which had three openings. His totally black eyes looked me up and down. His awful mouth opened, revealing both his black teeth and the long tongue with the trio of arrow ends. He hissed and struck the stone again with his cudgel.

This caused me to spring bolt upright and stand before him. I looked down at myself. My clothes were as dry as if I had never stepped foot in the water.

I looked to my right and there it was.

The wall of the dead. The mouths were open, the eyes the same. No sounds came from the mouths, but in the pleading eyes I heard more misery than I could possibly bear.

I looked back at Orco. He was smiling in triumph. And I knew why.

I looked down at my chest and saw the gaping hole there, my stilled heart right underneath. I put out my hand toward it but then drew back. I could not bring myself to touch my own mortal wound.