The Eye of the Stone (10 page)

“No, Jackson Cooper!”

It was Tessa. She was walking quickly toward the bridge. “Don't listen! I love my family, but this time they're wrong.”

“
Wrong?
” Radnor bellowed.

“Yes,
wrong
!” Tessa said. She moved up onto the bridge and stopped no more than ten feet from her father. “The Yakonan aren't to blame for the troubles. They love the Vale.”

“It's not the Vale, it's Timmra!” Radnor poked his bow in the air, punctuating each word with an angry thrust. “And there is no place in it for the Yakonan. They've stolen our good life from us, and now they've stolen you and Arnica. They are low and vile. They smell like the animals they worship.”

“They worship one god, just like we—”

“They're heathens!” Radnor cut in. “I know. The Voice of Zallis has told me. But anyone can see it in their dark, shifty eyes! They're the cause of the earth cracking open, of our precious river water draining away.”

“They didn't do that!” Tessa insisted. “It's the—”

“You can't believe what they say!” Radnor shot back, pointing an accusing finger at the Yako boy, who had edged closer.

Yed jumped in. “They're murderers! They killed our mother!”

“That's not true!” Now it was Arnica, rushing up beside Tessa, her eyes glassy with tears. “It was the sickness last winter that—” Her voice broke, but she swallowed hard and went on. “It was the sickness that took Mommy.”

A pained look came over Radnor's face. He shouldered his bow and knelt, reaching out for Arnica to come to him. “Yes, little one, it was the sickness that took your mother, but it was the Yakonan who brought the plague on us.”

“No they didn't!” Tessa said. She held Arnica to her side. “When Mama's fever got so high I went to their village.”

“You
what?
” Radnor stood, eyes flashing.

Tessa's eyes flashed right back. “They gave me herbs to help cure her,” she said, her words rolling out in a quick stream. “They said we have to join together—Timmran and Yakonan—to defeat the illness, just as Musa the Yakonan and Grier the Timmran joined in defeating the Baen in the ancient days. It's the
Baen
that has caused all this, not the Yakonan. It's trying to escape from the Underworld. Jackson Cooper was sent to fix the Shaw-Mara so that we can keep the Baen from coming back. He is the answer to our Prayer Song. He is the Instrument of Panenthe. He is—”

“No!” Radnor cut in. “Listen to me, not to heathen myths and lies of this pagan god, Panenthe! It is the one
true
god,
Zallis
, that protects us from evil. That is why
He
sent Jackson Cooper! I know. Zallis speaks to me!”

“It is the Baen's voice you are hearing, Father,” Tessa said, “not the voice of Zallis.”

“Stop!” Radnor boomed. “I won't hear it! It's sacrilege!” He turned to Jackson. “Do as Zallis promised. You are the One, the Liberator, who will lead us to victory! Give us guns so we can break the evil spell that puts unspeakable words in my daughter's mouth!”

“Yes, Jackson Cooper!” Yed said. “Break the Yako spell!”

“I'm not under any spell!” Tessa insisted. “Neither is Arnica. We're here because we want to be, under our own free will, to prove to you that Timmran and Yakonan can still dance in harmony, that we can work together to fight the Baen.” She moved closer—now only an arm's length—and peered intensely into Jackson's eyes. “Do I look to be under a spell? You should know.”

Jackson's mind spun in confusion. He wasn't a mind reader, but he wasn't a fool, either. No, she didn't look under a spell; it didn't sound like evil magic was forcing words she didn't want to say out of her mouth. But maybe … maybe the Yako magic was so powerful she actually thought she believed what she was saying. These Yakos were strange, frightening people. Just look at the boy now standing right behind Tessa, staring at him as if he would kidnap him, too.

“The Yakonan tried to help,” Tessa said. “They're good people.” She motioned to the Yako boy. “
He
is a good person. His name is Dedron, and we are in love and want to marry.”

The word
marry
hit Jackson like a fist in his chest. He staggered back, mouth hanging open, air coming in short, shallow breaths. Tessa was to marry
him.
Radnor had said so.

“
Love
?” Radnor roared, pulling his bow from his shoulder again. “Marry? A Yako? It's against the will of Zallis!”

“False magic!” Yed cried. “The Yako wants to hold her hostage in his evil spell!
False magic!
”

“False magic!” the soldiers of the Steadfast Order shouted. They began banging weapon against weapon again.

Tessa winced at the clanking din. She scanned the sky, fear showing plainly in her eyes. The clouds had begun to swirl as if whipped by some gigantic hand. Thunder rumbled, deeper, more cavernous than before.

“See what they can't see, Jackson Cooper,” Tessa pleaded. “In the name of Panenthe, in the name of love and harmony, help us. Now is the time.”

“Yes, now
is
the time! In the name of Zallis, do something!” Radnor demanded.

Jackson's stomach twisted, his head swam. He began to tremble, then shake. How could Tessa talk of love when she'd turned so quickly from him to this—Jackson looked at the boy called Dedron—this
Yako
? How could she—

“Jackson Cooper.”

The words began low in Dedron's throat, like a soft growl, so much like an animal, full of wildness. “Jackson Cooper.” He stepped up beside Tessa, his dark eyes locked onto Jackson's, a penetrating stare that seemed to pry Jackson open, expose his very soul. Like a rabbit caught far from its burrow, like doomed prey, Jackson froze, his mouth suddenly wordless, his mind blank.

“Listen to me,” Dedron said. “After the Baen was defeated, the earth opened up and swallowed it, leaving only the tips of two of its fangs that had broken off in the battle. With those two fang tips Musa and Grier made this.”

Not taking his dark eyes from Jackson's, Dedron reached under his cloak and pulled out what looked like two short bone flutes lashed tightly together with a leather thong.

“We call it the Shaw-Mara.”

A rich amber color, the twin flutes shined as if polished smooth by the touch of many hands.

“Its notes, if blown together by a Timmran and a Yakonan, are the only thing that can stop the Baen from returning.”

Even as Jackson recoiled from Dedron's unnerving stare and animal voice, he felt himself being pulled toward the Shaw-Mara, wanting to touch it, to hold it.

Dedron held the Shaw-Mara out toward Jackson. “But the Baen has somehow snuck his power into the Vale and silenced it. No matter how hard we blow, it makes no sound. Help us.”

Jackson's hands began to twitch, to ache for the flute.

“Use your power to fix the Shaw-Mara.”

A sudden spasm wrenched Jackson's fingers out straight. His bow fell with a clatter onto the bridge planks.

He started to reach out for the Shaw-Mara.

“Don't listen, Jackson Cooper! It's a trick! He's trying to capture your soul, too!”

Yed's voice jolted Jackson as if he had been in a trance. Relief flooded him, along with deep fear and anger. He had almost been bewitched by Dedron. It
was
evil magic. He
did
have Tessa and Arnica under a spell.

“Destroy him and set my daughters free!” Radnor commanded. He scooped up Jackson's bow and thrust it at him. “Use the magic power Zallis gave you!”

But Jackson waved the bow off. Yes, his power—not the bow but the incredible black stone. How could he have forgotten, even in all the turmoil? Jackson reached up and grasped the pendant. Strength, more than ever, much more, instantly flowed into his hands. He glared at Dedron. “Leave me alone!” he said, his voice coming out like thunder.

“Jackson, please,” Tessa begged. “The Baen!”

Dedron held the flutes out toward Jackson. Jackson looked down at the fingers and palm that only moments before had been pressed against Tessa's back. They looked calloused and capable, but oddly unreal, more a foreign object than part of a human body. Anger swelled and rose in Jackson's chest at the sight of them.

“Listen to your heart,” Dedron said. “Don't be afraid.”

“
Afraid?
” The word was like a spark set to gunpowder. Jackson's hands began to tremble with concentrated force. It surged into his fingertips, vibrating with a sensation like electricity ready to release. He held his hands up and shook them in Dedron's face.

“You're the one who'd better be afraid!” he shouted, and a tiny spark shot from the tip of his left index finger with a sizzle.

Radnor's scowling face snapped into one of shocked wonder. “Your hands! But I thought—Is that a gun?”

A collective gasp filled the air. “A gun!” Several of the Timmran soldiers standing nearby stepped back, eyes fixed on Jackson's hands as another spark—longer this time—shot out of his fingertips. As if in answer, lightning flashed across the sky and the rumble of thunder surrounded them.

“You don't need that kind of power, Jackson Cooper.” Dedron stepped out in front of Tessa, who stared wide-eyed at Jackson, clutching Arnica to her side.

The stone pendant flared on Jackson's chest, now radiating power like a sun. All of Jackson's fingers began to spark. Foot-long arcs of jagged light crackled in the air, answered again by lightning and rumbling thunder from above. “Don't tell me what I need!” he boomed, and leveled his fingers on Dedron. He felt all-powerful, invincible, filled with righteousness.

“Yes, Jackson Cooper!” Radnor urged, his voice hot in Jackson's ear. “Break the Yako spell on my daughters.”

“Show them the power of Zallis!” Yed said into the other ear. “Show them the power of the Steadfast Order!”

“But you don't understand,” Dedron said, for the first time a hint of fear seeping into his voice. “It is Panenthe who sent you, not Zal—”

“Shut up!” Jackson bellowed, and the next thing he knew he had erupted, lunging at Dedron, seizing him around the neck.

“No, Jackson Cooper–Jackson Cooper!” Arnica cried. She rushed forward with Tessa, who was shouting, “Stop!” Tessa grabbed Jackson, digging her fingernails into the backs of his hands.

In one quick motion Radnor was yanking her away, corralling both her and Arnica in his massive arms. “You don't know what you're doing! You're under a Yako spell!”

Jackson's hands tightened on Dedron's neck. It was as if they had a mind of their own. “Break the spell on Tessa and Arnica!” he demanded.

Dedron struggled in Jackson's grip, wrestling to get free. “But I didn't put them under a spell!”

“Liar!” Jackson thundered. He tightened his grip even harder. Dedron gagged. “Heathen liar!”

“Jackson, stop!” Tessa screamed.

Arnica cried, “You're hurting him!”

“PI—please …,” Dedron choked out. “In the name of Panenthe … I can't … breathe …”

For an instant a memory flashed across Jackson's mind. Seth had gotten mad and punched him in the stomach once, doubling him over. Jackson had lain in the playground dirt, gasping for breath, thinking he might die, feeling like he wanted to. Now a momentary rush of regret filled him and his grip loosened just a little. In that second Dedron twisted desperately to get free, his elbow slamming into Jackson's forehead.

It was as if lightning had struck, then thunder, knocking Jackson back. For a moment patches of light and dark were all he could see. Intense pain shot through his head, jabbing, gouging. Then something inside him snapped, and all the hurts and humiliations of a lifetime swelled up from deep in his center, shrieking, “No more!” A mighty force burst from the stone pendant into his hands, increasing the power there tenfold, a hundredfold. As if possessed, Jackson lashed out in a blind fury, his hands now like clubs, and caught Dedron square across the face.

Tessa and Arnica both screamed as Dedron fell back, a gash beneath his eye. Blood spurted from his nose.

Tessa clawed frantically at Radnor, fighting to get free. “Stop, Jackson Cooper! Stop!”

Eyes as fierce as they were wild, Jackson ripped the Shaw-Mara from Dedron's hands.

Dedron grabbed for it. “You'll destroy us all!” His voice was full of terror. “
Listen to me!
”

Jackson screeched like a banshee. “Stinking Yako!” He shoved Dedron back with such force that his head made a loud thud when it hit the planks of the bridge. “You're the one who destroyed everything! And now I'm going to destroy you!” He crammed the Shaw-Mara into his jacket pocket, backed up a step, and leveled his hands at Dedron's chest. Shaking with rage, tears streaming down his face, he concentrated all the hate and vengeance that had seized him into his fingers and aimed it right at Dedron's heart.

“
No!
”

Tessa's cry penetrated the wrath that gripped Jackson's soul, and something within told him to listen.

But he was already past letting go.

15. Battle Cry

Like a demon unleashed, a terrible crackling blast ripped the air as huge, jagged bolts of lightning flashed from the ends of Jackson's fingers. At the same instant a bridge plank only a fraction of an inch from Dedron's neck exploded into splinters. Jackson's hands jerked up and back as if kicked, his arm slamming into his forehead. He staggered, stunned, the acrid smell of sulfur burning in his nostrils. The thunder of the explosion echoed in his ears, then shifted into a deep rumble.

Dedron lurched to his feet, wiping blood from his face. He looked around, dark eyes wide with fear, as the rumble continued. “Panenthe save us,” he said in a trembling voice. “This isn't the work of the Otherworld, but the
Under
world. You—
You
, Jackson Cooper, are a servant of the Baen!”