‘Magic.’
Annev snorted and glanced again at the carving in Crag’s hand. He tried to remember what it had felt like holding the artifact. The wood hadn’t been particularly warm. In fact, he hadn’t felt any of the premonitions that the ancients had trained him to recognise. Did that mean the lantern really wasn’t magical?
‘Can anyone use it? Could I do it?’
Crag nodded, exchanging the carving for the pole under Annev’s arm. ‘Once it’s lit, you don’t need to do anythin’.’
Annev swept the broad beam over the forest, marvelling at the details the light revealed. As he did, he clutched the block in both hands, feeling its rough, half-finished shape.
‘Did you make it?’
‘You saw me carvin’ it, didn’t you?’
‘I meant the light. Did you create the light?’
Crag huffed. ‘Do I look like a magician? Lumea created the light. I’m just a pedlar who figured out how to sell it.’
Annev examined the carved block of wood in his hands, his fingers tracing its delicate carvings. He looked at Crag. ‘How do you turn it off? And make it shine like you did before?’
Crag took the carving and spun the block of wood in his hands. ‘You see the side where the phoenix is carved? What do you see on its breast?’
Annev studied the carving. ‘Feathers.’
‘Look closer.’
‘A flame,’ he said at last. ‘A tiny flame.’
Crag nodded. ‘Good. Now what about here? In the heart of the fire.’ He turned the block of wood over to the side covered in flames.
Annev studied the carved flames for a long time. Unlike the phoenix, they had been carved long ago; the wood had been sanded, stained, and worn smooth with use. He peered closer, noting their lines and curves, the varying depths of the cuts. When Crag turned the block of wood, the light from within seemed to flicker between each static flame, causing them to move and dance.
He was about to give up when he saw it: a thin, curved line carved into the centre of the largest flame with a dozen smaller lines extending from it.
‘A feather?’ Annev asked, his fingers tracing the tiny line.
‘A feather.’ Crag spun the block, pointing at the opposite side. ‘The flame within the phoenix,’ he intoned, placing one finger on the phoenix flame. ‘And the feather within the fire.’ He placed another finger on the feather. ‘Neither can truly die while the other lives.’ He pressed his fingers against the feather and the flame and twisted them outward, slightly elongating the cylinder. The light coalesced around the phoenix’s eye and shot forth in a beam of brilliant white.
Annev shook his head, still impressed by the shape-changing, light-producing artifact. He took the carving back from Crag and examined it once more. ‘I suppose if I want to turn it off, then I just …’ Annev’s fingers sought the flame and the feather. He pressed down on both, felt a soft click, and tried to collapse the lantern together.
Nothing happened.
‘Hmm.’ Annev released the two buttons and tried again, but this time he rotated his right and left hands in opposite directions. As he did so, the block twisted inward, becoming thicker and shorter. He felt the block click into place and the light became diffused once again, shining from the lantern flames. Annev pressed the hidden buttons and twisted a second time and the block became shorter still. There was another soft click, and then the light went out, leaving them in moonlight. Annev blinked at the sudden darkness and fumbled with the lantern, fingers searching for the feather and the flame. When he found them, he pressed inward and pulled, twisting outward. Pale light sprang forth, shining from the cracks surrounding the flames as it had before. He twisted a second time, pulling as he did so, and a narrow beam of light once again sprang from the eye of the phoenix.
‘It’s incredible,’ Annev said, turning the carving over in his hand. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’
‘Nor will you again, I expect.’ Crag pulled the silver flask out of his pocket, took a sip, and started the cart moving again. ‘No man alive knows how to make a lighted puzzle box, save the one in front of you.’ He screwed the cap back onto the flask and tucked it inside his waistcoat.
Annev suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. ‘What was that? Did you feel that?’
‘You’re jumpin’ at shadows, boy. There’s nothin’ here.’
Annev turned back to Crag. As he moved, the light reflected off something metallic in the bushes. He whipped the lantern back again, shining it on a dark thicket of trees. Still he saw nothing. Then he heard it – the harsh, scratching sound of metal against metal.
‘Crag …’ Annev said, pulling the rust-pitted cutlass from his belt. As he yanked the blade free, the lantern light shifted to the right and fell across a shambling, misshapen form.
‘Crag!’ Annev screamed, afraid to take his eyes off the creature, unable to turn and see if the pedlar had heard him.
Then the shadows came roiling out of the darkness. The light from the phoenix lantern revealed two human figures, each one half-naked and grotesquely malformed. As they drew closer, Annev saw the scarred face of a man with long, scraggly brown hair and a matted beard. When the light touched the man’s face, he raised his arms and covered his eyes, exposing the thin blades of iron that had been grafted into his forearms, their edges sharp as swords and protruding over an inch from the man’s scabby flesh.
Annev swung the light towards the second figure, this one a woman, and saw her back was hunched, her breasts and spine twisted with bands of gold and copper that seemed to have merged with her skin. When the light shone across her face, she snarled, revealing broken teeth that had been filed to sharp points. She raised one thick limb, shielding her eyes from the light, and Annev glimpsed a mottled arm that looked carved from stone.
‘Gods,’ Crag choked, appearing at Annev’s side. ‘The witch hunts us still.’
‘I thought she was dead!’
‘She is.’ Crag planted his feet on the ground and lifted his staff. ‘These must be her feurog …’
Chapter Forty
‘The feurog?’ Annev swung the phoenix lantern in front of him. The light flashed from creature to creature as they shuffled through the dark. ‘She said she killed those things!’
‘Stop that!’ Crag snatched the lantern from Annev’s hand and twisted it inward. He tossed it on the cart and the now diffuse light scattered around them, illuminating the surrounding darkness.