The Magi (The Magi Series) (33 page)

After they were out of sight, Becca turned around. “Malpetra is this way,” she said pointing to the northwest, “but we’re going to go a little ways east, first. We’ll need a meeting place in case something goes wrong, and I know of a good spot.” They all climbed onto their horses, the horses previously ridden by Maliphists, and began their mission toward Malpetra.

****

CHAPTER 18: MALPETRA

The silver and black Maliphist cape Elijah wore during the journey north blew uncomfortably through the gusty wind. It was much too long for him, and he wished he could take it off, but Becca insisted on all three of them wearing the garments for the entire journey. They found a small supply of food the Maliphists had kept for the horses and an even smaller amount for themselves, so Elijah, Paul, and Becca had to ration their portions for the remainder of the day and night. At this point, any food, even the small scraps they found, was satisfying because it had been almost two days since they had eaten anything.

It was sunset by the time they reached their destination. Inside the thick forest, just east of Malpetra, Becca led them to a small rock formation covered with moss. In the middle of the mossy rock, cut deep inside, was a small waterfall about twenty feet high. The water fell into a small crystal clear pond that led to nowhere. A thin layer of mist hovered over the pond and drifted into the green trees beyond.

Becca instructed Paul and Elijah to tie up their horses near the water, then she led them around the rocks to the back side of the waterfall. They followed Becca into a sort of passageway deep inside the rocks into a small niche where a wooden box lay. She lifted the lid of the box and began pulling out objects. First, she pulled out some old books and a pad of paper with sketches. Then, she removed a crude-looking doll with one eye missing. Becca stared at the doll for a moment and brushed the hair to the side and tidied her clothes a bit. The last item she pulled out was a map that she immediately unfolded and straightened out.

“What’s all this?” Paul asked her.

“It’s mine. I would come here sometimes if I ever needed some time to myself.”

“So what’s with the doll?” Paul continued.

Becca scowled at him. “I’m a girl, you moron. I played with dolls when I was younger.” Elijah laughed and Paul shrugged off her retort. “I brought whatever I thought would help keep me company.”

“What was the map for?” Elijah asked delicately.

“I made a map of the area from Malpetra to here. I was always afraid I would forget the way here,” she explained. Her eyes were distant as she relived the past memories. Elijah wondered if her memories were fond or if they were regretful.

“So why is it here?” Paul asked.

“They were left behind,” Becca replied. “I wasn’t able to retrieve any of these things after my parents fled the city.”

“How on earth did you find this?” Elijah asked, looking around at the surroundings.

“I liked to wander,” said Becca. “My parents lived near a spot where it was easy to climb out of Malpetra. When I discovered I could leave the city, I began to explore. As far as I know, I’m the only one that knows about it. I assume no one else has found it since my stuff is still here.”

“Wait—” Elijah said, “
Out
of the city? You climb
out
of the city?” Becca directed Paul and Elijah to the map she had drawn. It was clearly drawn by a younger Becca.

“Malpetra is located inside a canyon. It’s massive down there, but from up here, it just looks like a giant crack in the ground that you want to be careful not to fall into.” Elijah was fascinated. She pointed to both ends of the map. “These are the areas that are the most heavily guarded by the Maliphist soldiers. The river that runs through the city is scarcely traveled on by common people, but if someone does happen upon the area, they are—well—taken care of—to keep them from discovering the city.”

“What do you mean taken care of?” asked Paul. Becca looked at him gravely, and neither Elijah nor Paul had to inquire what “taken care of” meant. It meant they were destroyed.

“The story that usually makes it back to the common communities is that they were on a hiking trip and they went missing,” Becca explained further. Elijah felt sick. He remembered reports of missing people lasting for days until they were pronounced dead or their bodies were finally found. He wondered if some were unfortunate people who had just happened upon a Maliphist city.

“Anyway,” she continued, pointing at the map, “this end is the most populated part of Malpetra. It’s the city center.” She looked up. “It’s huge. Like nothing you’ve seen in Savenridge. Hopefully we can avoid it.” Elijah looked at the edge of the map where Becca was pointing. Then, she directed their attention to the opposite side. “Over here is the prison, down the river from the city center. This is where we need to go.”

“How do we get into any of these places?” Paul asked. “If the soldiers are looking for people on both ends, and it’s a canyon, there’s no way inside!”

“Yes there is,” Becca answered smugly. “We can enter the way I used to escape to get here to this waterfall. My parents lived along the river between the prison and the city center. I found a spot to climb out of the canyon right by my parents’ place. I think I can still find it, but finding it from up here is harder than from the bottom of the canyon. I just hope no one has caught on to it yet. If so, we may be in trouble.”

“Okay,” said Elijah. “Then what? You said it might be possible to get my uncle and Samuel and Phinneas out of prison. What do we need for that?”

“Nothing,” she said.

“No weapons or anything?” Paul asked.

Becca shook her head. “No. We only need to be elusive enough to keep from being seen.”

“But if we get caught,” Paul continued, “they’ll use their elemental powers. Don’t we need something to at least protect ourselves?”

Becca shook her head again. “The prison is made of stone like this.” She ran her hands along the side of the rocks that surrounded them. “Elements can’t be used inside stone, remember? It’s for their protection against the prisoners mostly, but it puts them at a disadvantage too. So they use manmade weapons inside the prison—like swords and spears and such.”

“So what’s the plan, then?” Paul asked.

“The guards change shift three times a day. During the change in shift, they get orders from the warden, so they have to leave their posts briefly. We’ll need to time that and somehow slip in and free your uncle.”

“And Samuel,” Elijah interjected.

“And Phinneas,” said Paul.

Becca looked overwhelmed. “If we have time. We’re going to have to take what we can get in the short time we have.”

“How exactly do you know all this?” Paul asked skeptically.

“My dad used to be a guard. That’s why we lived away from the city and closer to the prison. I can get us there, but you’ll both have to do what I say when I say. No questions asked.”

“I sure hope you know what you’re doing,” Paul said.

“Me too,” she replied.

Becca made sure she didn’t oversleep that night. She woke Paul and Elijah up extremely early, gathered up something to eat, and led them by foot through the woods toward Malpetra. It was still dark outside, and she warned Elijah and Paul not to get ahead of her as the canyon opening was a deadly fall if they didn’t watch where they were going. Even though it was a nuisance, Elijah was thankful for the warm cape during the walk in the cold climate.

After they traveled for an hour, Becca stopped and scanned the terrain. Morning was approaching and the shadows from the arriving sun were tormenting Becca’s memories as she searched for a recognizable sign. Finally, she spotted something she remembered and led Elijah and Paul to a gap in the earth that was hardly noticeable. Elijah thought that it was so narrow it might be possible to jump across it if given a running start. He guessed it was a little less than ten feet wide. Looking along both sides of the gap, there were places where the opening was wider, and there were places where it narrowed so much that someone could almost step across it. Becca still searched for the right place, pacing up and down the gap, occasionally raising her head to make sure she knew where she was. Elijah was beginning to wonder if she would ever find it when she finally peered deep inside the canyon at a particular spot, sat down, dangled her legs over, and then jumped in.

Elijah and Paul frantically ran over to the place Becca was last seen and looked over the edge. Becca was there, just feet below them looking back up and smiling. She stood on a rock just under the ledge.

“Found it,” she said. “Let’s go.” Elijah and Paul followed her as she carefully climbed down into the deep canyon. Elijah couldn’t help looking around as he lowered himself down the canyon wall. The lower they descended, the more the walls opened up. All they could see at first was stone and dirt towering over them. Eventually, when they had descended far enough, the narrow walls opened up into the massive canyon, where they could see for miles. It was a land untouched by the hand of winter. The air was warmer and the ground was free from the blanket of snow that covered Savenridge this time of year.

Lower and lower they went, carefully mounting and dismounting boulders, repelling off ledges, and jumping over pits and other gaps along the way. At last, they reached the bottom. Becca scanned and visualized the area.

“Look around,” she said. “Get some land marks in your head so we remember how to get back.” Elijah’s first thought was the river. Several hundred yards away, cutting through the canyon was a river running east and west. However, that wasn’t a good marker. It went on for miles, and there would be no way he could use that to help him find his way up. After careful observation, he finally noticed something that he could use. Up a few feet from where they stood sat a rock that reminded him of a sinking ship. That would have to do. He hoped he could find it again.

Becca first headed toward the river and then turned east. She kept inside the trees and instructed Paul and Elijah to do the same because she was uncertain where the soldiers would be now. They carefully continued their quest to find the prison until the sun was up. Even though there wasn’t much sky showing overhead, the sun completely illuminated the entire canyon.

The trio eventually came to a hill that led up to the base of a small mountain, which Becca explained was the prison. To Elijah, it looked nothing like a prison—just a mountain with lots of stone at the bottom. Between them and the stone prison was a large, square tower with lookout openings along the side. It was the only obvious man-made structure around. Becca continued instructing them.

“Keep hidden, and go slow,” she commanded as they began their ascent. “Any sign of movement will alarm the guards!” They methodically crawled up the side of the hill, inch by inch. All of the work Elijah had put into training with Zempke was now paying off. His body felt almost like a weapon as it slowly climbed its way closer to the prison, keeping in the shadows of the trees and tall bushes until they were finally level with the square tower in front of the mountain.

Elijah and Paul followed Becca past the tower, being careful to stay out of sight. The stone at the base of the mountain rose up about six feet and wrapped all the way around as far as Elijah could see. Above the stone was the remainder of the mountain, making it look like a mountain was somehow placed on top of the prison.

Elijah and Paul hid behind a large bush to keep from being seen by anyone in the tower while Becca searched for something. Elijah looked around. The tower was about fifty yards in front of the mountain. A dirt path ran between the tower and an opening to the stone base of the mountain, where the prison entrance apparently was. There had to be another way inside because the opening was in direct sight of the tower. Fortunately, Becca had already worked that out.

“My dad used to patrol this area, just inside the mountain here,” she whispered, making an imaginary walkway with her hands that explained what was supposedly on the other side of the stone wall. “When I used to sneak up here, I found a loose rock at the bottom of the wall. I would take it out and crawl inside through the small hole it left. My dad never knew, of course, but I would sometimes watch him as he patrolled.”

“That sounds creepy,” Paul said sarcastically.

Becca shot him a look.

“Not the time, Paul,” Elijah said under his breath as he looked around again to make sure they were still unseen. Becca started to feel around for the loose rock.

“Help me look,” she said after searching without success. Elijah didn’t want to turn away from the tower, but he did what Becca asked. The three of them searched for what seemed like hours, frequently turning their heads around to make sure they were safe. Soon, Paul signaled to the other two that he had found a loose stone. Becca smiled, recognizing it. Paul immediately began to pull it away when Becca lunged toward him and smacked his hands away from the large rock.

“What the heck?” said Paul.

“Are you crazy?” Becca whispered loudly, almost in panic. “You can’t just yank away the stone like that! They’ll hear! You have to do it extremely slow.”

“Do you want me and Elijah to watch while you do it?” Paul asked, irritated.