Balam straightened. “On the morrow will be soon enough. I know you want to see how your sister fares. But I wanted to give you this first. A symbol of your apprenticeship.”
Balam reached inside a pocket and removed a flat silver square about the size of Jake’s thumb. The old man stepped forward and pinned it to the front of Jake’s jacket like a badge. Jake stared down at it. Four tiny shards of crystals were imbedded in the silver. In the center was a white crystal as bright as a diamond. Only this diamond glowed with its own inner light. Jake recognized it as the same stone that shone in the lamps and sconces of Kalakryss. Around the diamond, three other stones formed a triangle: a ruby, an emerald, and an icy blue sapphire.
“The four principal crystals of alchemy,” Balam said, noting his attention. “The four cornerstones that support our world.”
Marika’s father turned to the bench and lifted an egg-sized chunk of ruby crystal. He rubbed it between his hands, and it began to glow with an inner fire. He held it out toward Jake.
Curious, Jake took it and quickly began bobbling it between his palms. It was hot—and growing hotter.
Balam snatched it back with a grin. He tapped the crystal with a silver hammer, like the one he wore around his neck as a Magister. The crystal chimed like a bell, and the fire inside it died.
“Such crystals grant us heat, while stones of blue…” Balam lifted another chunk of crystal, this one a pale sapphire. Puckering his lips, he blew across its surface. A frosty glow inside the stone’s heart grew.
Jake could guess its purpose. He held a hand over the crystal. “It’s cold.”
Balam nodded and tapped the stone and set it aside. He reached next for an emerald crystal. “We use these stones for farspeaking. If one splits a green crystal into two pieces, each half vibrates the same, even when far from the other. Like—”
He was cut off by a new voice coming from another section of the bench. It sounded tinny. “Magister Balam, I must speak with you. It is urgent.”
“Excuse me.” Balam crossed and lifted what looked like a wooden Ping-Pong paddle, but it was hollow in the center with a green chunk of crystal suspended in the center by a fine mesh, like a spider in a web.
Jake saw the web gently vibrate as a voice emanated from the center. “Magister Balam…”
Balam touched the stone with a finger, silencing it, then spoke with his lips almost touching the stone, like using a walkie-talkie. “I’m here, Zahur. What is it?”
Jake recognized the strain in Balam’s voice. The calm casualness had hardened with worry.
“It’s Livia.” There was a long moment of silence. “She continues to decline. My salves and unguents should be helping by now. I fear I will need your help to search for poisoning splinters still in her flesh.”
Jake pictured the huntress. A stab of worry shot through him. He remembered the vow he made last night, to help her in any way he could.
Balam sighed and closed his eyes. There was a hopelessness to his posture, as if the prognosis were grim. He leaned to the crystal. “I will join you in your cellars.”
With a touch of his finger, he ended the conversation and turned to Jake and the others. Balam tried to force his face into something that resembled encouragement, but it came out false. “We’ll have to continue our talk later. See to your sister, Jacob.”
Marika’s father waved them out with a tired gesture. But Jake held his ground. Maybe there was one small way he could help the huntress.
“Magister Balam,” Jake said. “Last night. After you removed the arrow from Huntress Livia, I heard her mumble. I don’t know if it’s important, but if they end up being her last words…” Jake’s voice caught in his throat. He swallowed hard, but it was the least he could do for the woman, to share her last words.
Balam’s bushy eyebrows pulled together. “You heard her speak?”
“Yes. But she seemed delirious…unaware of what was going on…”
“What did she say?”
“She asked for help, but also two words. She kept whispering them. He comes. Then she went silent.”
“‘He comes.’” Balam repeated. His gray eyes went flinty with worry. “Thank you, Jacob. But say not a word of this to anyone else. For now, go see to your sister. We’ll talk more on the morrow.”
They were quickly ushered toward the door.
Once outside in the morning sunlight, Marika and Pindor both stared at Jake. Pindor’s eyes were huge, while Marika’s had narrowed with concern. Jake didn’t need any magical crystal to read their minds. He knew what they were thinking.
He comes.
There could only be one person who triggered that much fear.
The Skull King.
12
BORNHOLM HALL
“Who the heck is this Skull King?” Jake asked as they crossed the castle courtyard. He’d been wanting to ask that question, but it was only in the bright sunshine of the day that he felt comfortable enough to bring it up.
Pindor grimaced and bit his thumb. He glanced to Marika.
She lowered her voice to a whisper and edged closer to Jake. Pindor leaned tighter, too. “His full name is Kalverum Rex. He was a Magister in Calypsos over half a century ago. My father was one of his apprentices.” Marika pointed to Jake’s new silver badge. “Back then, Kalverum was Calypsos’s most skilled alchemist, outshining the other two Magisters. But like Magister Zahur, he took to the cellars and forbade anyone to trespass. He also kept creatures of the jungle down there.”
Marika shuddered.
Pindor continued. “It’s said he committed all manner of horrors down there, dabbling with a new type of crystal—the bloodstone—a black crystal that poisoned and twisted flesh.”
“And maybe that poison twisted him, too,” Marika continued. “He became more and more reclusive, sometimes not coming up into the sun for months at a time. Then children began to disappear…”
Jake felt his stomach churn.
“My father would never say exactly what was found in those cellars. One Magister was killed. A fire came close to burning the tower down. But Kalverum escaped. He fled beyond the Broken Gate and out into the jungle. A handful of people went with him. It was a hard time for our people. We were left with only one Magister, and even he was ancient and doddering…and the three apprentices at the time.”
“Your father,” Jake said, “along with Zahur and Oswin?”
She nodded. “We lost much knowledge, but at least we were rid of the monster.”