“I can lead the guys there,” Theo suggested. “I remember where the pit is. The monster’s lair must be inside.”
“Hopefully you’ll return with the crown, and we’ll return with some answers,” I said.
Or at least, I hoped. The Pool of Memory hadn’t given us the information we’d been looking for the first time. Who knew if it’d be willing to give up its secrets now?
Ethanand I decided to visit the Pool of Memory immediately. We hadn’t taken a portal to the Pool of Memory the first time, because back then, Ethan had been possessed, and taking portals back and forth weakened him while increasing the hold the demon had on him. Since the leshane was gone now, we could go directly to the site. It was a good thing, too, because we had little time to lose.
We portaled about a half mile away from the abandoned druid village where the Pool of Memory resided. We didn’t want to portal in too close, just in case there was a trap already waiting there for us. Ethan paused to observe the area before we proceeded forward.
“Karkanshave been here,” Ethan said, stooping down to observe the hoofprints embedded in the mud.
“Are they still around?” I asked warily.
“I don’t smell them, and these tracks are at least a week old. Droga’s minions don’t patrol this area regularly,” he said, rising to stand.
“I’ll put a defensive shield around us, just in case,” I said. I didn’t want anything sneaking up behind us while we were trapped in the visions.
The forest was overgrown, so it took time to wade through all the brambles that were in our way. Ethan stopped. I ran into him and had to grab onto his arm to remain upright.
“What’s going on?” I asked. I immediately knew that he’d sensed something. He put a hand on the hilt of his sword, and opened his mouth to tell me what was up.
An ear-splitting screech ripped through the air, so powerful that it knocked both of us over. I threw my hair out of my face and looked up. The creature before us was twelve feet tall, curled horns pressing against branches. It had a skull-like face, with tight skin drawn all over its naked body. Blood-red Unseelie runes were written all over the skin, and the creature’s hands and feet were adorned with sharp, long claws. It was some kind of cross between a devil and a fiend, but the hybrid wasn’t one I knew. The monster had red eyes, and a thin nose, but no mouth.
Ethan hurled into action. He ran toward the monster with his sword drawn. The devil lashed out with its claws, and sparred with Ethan as he viciously swung his sword. Claws crashed with the blade, emitting sharp ringing noises. The demon let out another screech and sacked Ethan to the side, where he fell in a heap.
The monster turned its red eyes on me, squinting as its nose wrinkled. It charged, claws outstretched as it prepared to rip me to shreds.
I wasn’t in the mood to deal with this shit today, so I gritted my teeth as I rendered my magic. I reached out with my power, and overtook the monster’s mind.
As I slipped inside the monster’s consciousness, bleak thoughts overtook me. I was immersed in dreams of torture, pain and death, and heard the cries of suffering. It was like I’d been plunged straight to the Underworld. I pushed away the darkness and forced the devil to submit to my will. The monster backed down, shriveling up against a tree and making weak sounds as it clawed at its skull, trying to get me out.
While I incapacitated the creature, Ethan got to his feet. He ran forward and stabbed the beast in the heart. The monster gave a shrill cry as Ethan yanked his sword out, and crumbled to the ground. I let go of the creature’s mind, as I knew it was dying. It twitched like an insect as it writhed on its back, the redness fading from its pupils.
“What kind of monster was that?” I asked Ethan. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. The devilish creature hadn’t been depicted in any of my books or covered in any lectures at Arcanea University. What was more, the creature didn’t seem like an animal that hunted and lived in the woods. From what I’d gathered when I’d overwhelmed its mind, the monster was only driven by the instinct to kill.
“Another one of Droga’s creations,” Ethan said as he sliced the creature’s neck. “He sent it here to guard the area.”
The monster bled out, and finally went still. Ethan added, “We’d better get to the Pool. The smell of blood will attract other monsters.”
“Then let’s do it and get home.”
Ethan changed so I could ride on his back the rest of the way through the forest, as we’d get there quicker. When we finally came to the clearing that held thedrycaruins, I slid off, and he changed back.
I looked around. The druid remnants looked as forlorn and sad as ever. It was absolutely terrible that they’d died out. I wished someone would come back and restore this place, one day, but I knew the time of the druids had long come and gone.
“Emma, we don’t have a lot of time,” Ethan reminded me. I shook myself out of my melancholy reverie and hustled to cast a shield around the area. Once that was done, I knelt by the edge of the Pool where he was, and prepared to put my hand in.
I gazed at the crystalline reflection of the Pool. The last time we’d been here, it hadn’t given us a lot of answers, me especially. The Pool had only shown me small clips of what was to come.
Ethan grasped my hand. “We’ll do it together,” he said. “Are you ready?”
I nodded. Ethan thrust our conjoined hands into the Pool. As he did so, I thought the question;What must we do in order to find the silver crown?
My eyes were already closed, so I slipped into the darkness of the vision naturally. I found myself floating through murky waters, as if I was wading within the Pool’s depths.
I opened my eyes and began swimming upward, toward the surface. Whispers rang all around me, the voices of the druids who were long since dead, but had contained their memories within these mysterious waters.
As my fingers broke the surface of the Pool, a vision overtook me. I didn’t fight it, but allowed myself to become submerged within the past, focusing my attention so I could remember every detail.
