Lacuna - N.R. Walker Page 0,72

world outside, and he understood why it took Kohaku’s breath. Tancho could barely believe his eyes. They were clearly high up because for as far as the eye could see was the top of an endless green sea of jungle. Not even the golden hue of the sun could tinge the green. The castle was made from stone, but there were wooden houses built in the forest canopy with wooden suspension bridges linking trees like a spiderweb, creating a network of communities in the treetops.

“Oh wow,” Crow said. “Elmwood, that is a thing of beauty.”

It really was. Tancho could never have imagined a place like it. Birds Tancho had never seen before, so brightly coloured and loud, and . . . “What is that? In the tree?” he asked.

“A monkey,” Elmwood said. “Cheeky things they are.”

“And that?” Soko squeaked. He hid behind Karasu, who promptly shoved him in front of her.

Elmwood laughed. “Giant python.” Tancho noticed then what he’d originally thought was a tree branch growing along the window frame was indeed moving. “They keep the castle free of rats.”

Tancho almost laughed in wonder. “Crow’s right. It is beautiful.”

Elmwood smiled beside them. “Thank you. But please forgive my lack of small talk. Can you please explain to me how it is you are all here? And how that sparking circle worked and how you can travel between lands? And Tancho,” he said as if just remembering, “was the threat at your home attended to? We saw no one at Aequi Kentron after parting ways. We saw no one. As in, not one soul.”

Tancho nodded. “Indeed, there was a threat, and the news we bring is urgent. So yes, let us not delay.”

Elmwood nodded, his heavy brow etched with concern. “Come this way, to my meeting room.”

Elmwood, along with Kearmore and Cardwick, the two guards that had accompanied him to Aequi Kentron, led them through some corridors to another room with two large windows facing a different view of the forest. Vines grew along the windowsill and an ocean of green trees beyond, and in the middle of the room sat a large round wooden table. It seemed to be carved from one gigantic piece of wood; each chair appeared to be cut from the same tree.

“Elmwood, my friend,” Crow said. “When this is over, I would very much like to return so you can show me your amazing home and kingdom. I am enchanted with what I have seen.”

Elmwood gave a proud nod and smile. “Any time.”

Soko wiped his brow with his shirtsleeve. “Though there seems to be something wrong with the air here. It’s hot and thick to breathe.”

Crow smiled. “A far cry from the icy thin air of our home.”

“You can really travel to other lands through that magick circle I saw?” Elmwood asked. “Tell me everything.”

So they did.

When they’d covered everything, Elmwood was quiet for a long moment. He looked out over his jungle kingdom and sighed. “So what do we do now?”

“We seek out Samiel,” Tancho said. “And we four leaders go back to Aequi Kentron, through the doorway to see with our own eyes what’s going on. They won’t expect us to know how to use the doorway. We will have surprise on our side.”

Crow nodded. “Whatever the elders had planned with their army of creatures, they were not planning on all four kingdoms joining forces. Asagi said there were about one hundred of those creatures,” Crow added. “Together, we could have ten times that.”

“Do we gather our armies?” Elmwood asked.

Crow and Tancho both nodded, but it was Tancho who spoke. “Have them prepare to leave. If we need them, they can be with us in Aequi Kentron in a matter of minutes.”

Elmwood gave a rather sad smile. “Men who have trained, yes. But we’ve never seen a day of battle. We’ve never known combat or wars. We’ve lived in peace for hundreds of years.”

“And we will live to see it again,” Tancho declared. “Let’s hope the elders have a fair explanation and we can see an outcome without a single weapon being raised.”

“Do you have any ancient scripts in your archives or maps?” Crow asked. “Or any writings on magical doorways? My mentor found a book in our fictions that more or less explained the doorways. Tancho as well.”

Elmwood frowned and had a guard relay the message to the archive keeper to search and retrieve without delay. He had tea brought to the table, which Tancho was excited to try. He’d never had tea