Page 243 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Birds chirped in the trees and chased each other overhead. The wind blew hair out of Hallie’s face, which felt a little stiff and sensitive after basking so long in the sun. The serenity of it all calmed her nerves with each step they took.
About a quarter hour of walking later, a Zuprium-brick archway appeared from behind the trees. It served no purpose out in the open, no walls or ceiling to hold up, no entrance to anything beyond it; it was simply there. The space between flickered gold and brown and black and back again.
As they approached, Hallie saw people appear as if out of thin air once or twice. They spoke with a woman with jet black hair nearby. Sometimes she held their hand. Others, she hugged; but after speaking with her, they either vanished into thin air or—less frequently—trudged toward the path Jack and Hallie strolled down.
They had to get closer to the Gate before Hallie could read the symbols written on the bricks.Anora Yas Ess Vanaktr.
“Time is Powerful.”
She hadn’t been able to translate them before, but now the words shone as clearly in her head as the sunny day around them.
Jack looked back at her. “What?”
Hallie pointed to the Gate. “That’s what the archway says.”
He shrugged and went up to the woman helping the odd soul who came through. When she wasn’t speaking or comforting someone, she poked and prodded the Gate. She even pulled Zuprium dust, Vasa, from a pouch at her waist and rubbed on the bricks. The dust glowed, then sank into the metal. Each time, she’d pause to write something down in her notebook.
The Gate looked calm on this side compared to the other, which had been a chaotic mess with the smoke leaking out and the incessant thumping of a heart in her ears.
“Hey Gran! Gotta visitor I’d like you to meet,” her brother said, sidling up to the woman.
Her night-dark hair twisted in a tight bun at the base of her skull. She wore a dark blue petticoat and flowing skirt, a green matron belt wrapped around her waist. She was tall and willowy like other Yalvs. She was clearly where Hallie and Jack’s father had gotten his height. A plain canvas satchel hung across her body.
A few people emerged from the Gate. An elderly couple and a young child. Hallie’s heart hurt. Gran spoke quietly with them and then pointed them in the way of the village. “It will be about a fifteen-minute walk, but please feel free to have a look around on your way. Valora is a quaint and beautiful place.” She stopped the little boy who couldn’t have been older than seven. Tears streamed down his face. Gran handed Jack her notebook and bent down to his level. She gave him a hug and held him tightly. “It’ll be all right, little one. You don’t have to stay here. Do you have anyone else who has gone before you?”
The boy only nodded, too choked with his tears to say anything out loud. Gran pulled back and looked up at Jack. She looked younger than Hallie would have thought with a name likeGran.She had a gray-and-white streak of hair at the front that looped by her ears before being tucked into the bun. The lines around her mouth and her golden eyes weren’t deep. Her nose was long and straight. “Will you look in the archives….” She turned back to the little boy. “What was their name, Liam?”
The boy, Liam, muttered something that Hallie couldn’t quite hear. Gran nodded and repeated the name to Jack. “Brianka Veville, Tev Rubika”
Jack put his hand in a pouch at his waist and brought forth Vasa. He sprinkled it on the notebook in front of him. It didn’t do anything for a minute or so before the glittering dust rose and coalesced in the form of parchment.
Hallie’s mouth dropped open.
Jack checked the outside. “Yes, this should be the correct one.” He squatted down next to the boy and Gran. “Hello, Liam. My name is Jack, and I know this is scary and confusing, but Gran and I are here to make you feel better. This letter is for you.”
The boy took it with shaking hands. Gran rubbed the boy’s arm. “Would you like me to read it to you?”
Her voice was melodic and soft but had an underbite of steel. It was so familiar to Hallie that she no longer had any doubt: the woman in front of her was Navara, the daughter of the Lord Elder. The woman who’d run away from her destiny…and had left Hallie to bear it instead.
Seemed she and Jack werebothpicking up the woman’s slack. In two different worlds.
Her power responded to her frustration and resentment, but it was difficult to stay irritated with Navara when she opened the folded parchment and read:
“To my family who may come after me,
I love you, and I’m waiting for you just beyond.
Nana”
The boy gave Navara a watery smile before he faded away in the morning light as if he never was. Hallie gasped and reached out, but her fingers met only air, not even a hint of the corporeal boy who had been standing there with tears on his cheeks seconds before. It was as if he’d become the morning mist, only existing forevermore in her memory.
Jack stood and dusted off his hands. “Well, that was real easy.”
Navara waved long fingers at the parchment, and as it had appeared, it vanished in a cloud of glittering dust. She stood and stretched a little. “Children usually are. That’s why there aren’t too many of them who come through Valora.” She brushed off her skirts and then turned to Hallie at last.
Jack grabbed Hallie’s hand, tugging her forward. “This is Hallie, my twin, though it’s hard to tell now. I’ve been able to maintain my good looks. Poor girl wasn’t so fortunate.”
Hallie held out her hand to Navara so she wouldn’t use it to slap Jack upside the head. “Pleasure to meet you, finally.”
