The Curse of Deadman's Forest (2 page)

But Laodamia merely shook her head and insisted that he give it to Jacinda to care for. “It must go to her and no other,” she said, knowing that for the gem to fall into another’s hand would irrevocably alter the future. “Promise me you will see to it that she alone receives it and instruct her that she must wear it always?”

“Of course,” he said, wrapping her hand in his. “Yes, my
love, I will do as you ask. But tell me why it must go to my baby sister of all people.”

“She is the only soul who can deliver it to the Guardian,” Laodamia said, already reaching for the stylus and blank parchment on her bed.

“The Guardian?” Iyoclease repeated.

“Yes,” said Laodamia. “I’ve seen it in my visions. Jacinda will entrust it to the Guardian, who will in turn give it to the One.”

Iyoclease’s face clearly showed his confusion. “And who is this One, Mia?”

“The greatest Oracle who will ever live, and the only one who can save mankind.”

Iyoclease continued to look at her with concern. “I thought
you
were the greatest Oracle who ever lived.”

But Laodamia simply shook her head. “No,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper as she considered the raw power she’d felt from the One in her visions. “There is a gentle but profoundly intuitive soul, yet to be born, with far greater powers than I have. One who will be called upon to save the world from an unspeakable evil. But first I must write about the Guardian,” she mused.

“The Guardian?” Iyoclease asked again.

Laodamia nodded distractedly. “Yes,” she said. “Only the Guardian can protect the One long enough to gather the others. They will all be needed, you see. And I must write to tell the Guardian and the One how and where to find each of the others.”

“Are you quite sure you wouldn’t rather rest?” her betrothed asked.

Laodamia smiled at him, caught once more by the beauty of his face and his vivid blue eyes. “Yes, my love, I’m sure.”

Iyoclease got up from the bed and regarded her. “Is there anything else that I can do for you before I go, Mia?”

Laodamia looked up from the first words she was already writing on the parchment. “Yes, please,” she said earnestly. “You may find a man named Phaios. You will discover him in the market, selling small trinkets. There is a sundial that he has recently acquired. He is about to discover that the dial does not work and will be anxious to be rid of it. I must have that dial, Iyoclease.”

He smiled at her and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “Then you shall have it,” he assured her, and off he went to find his betrothed her treasure.

I
an Wigby sat deep in thought at the top of the stone steps of a creepy old tower in his home at Delphi Keep. The keep was an orphanage located in the village of Dover, England, that had the supreme good fortune of having the kindly Earl of Kent as its patron. Downstairs, Ian could hear the chatter, giggles, and roughhousing that were commonplace within such a large orphanage. But that day he wasn’t in the mood for fun and games, because he was far more interested in the small bronze sundial he was turning over and over in his hand.

Ian knew that at first glance, this ancient relic hardly seemed worth a second look, unless one considered that it had been discovered in a silver box buried deep in a cave in Morocco amid the largest pile of treasure Ian had ever seen. But what was even
more
remarkable was that the silver box containing the sundial had been intended for Ian all along, bequeathed to him three thousand years earlier by the most powerful Oracle ever to have come out of ancient Greece. Laodamia of Phoenicia had a special quest for Ian and his
surrogate sister, Theo, that involved nothing less than saving the world from a tragic and rather abrupt end.

Ian had already become quite familiar with some of Laodamia’s other prophecies, which foretold of a time when mankind would be brought to the edge of its own destruction by a massive military conflict involving all the great powers of the world. This war would cost millions and millions of souls their very lives, and this massive devastation would nurture, feed, and make ever more powerful the vile underworld god, Demogorgon.

Ian knew the ancient legend of Demogorgon, which held that he had long before been imprisoned in the underworld by his jealous siblings, and ever since, the evil deity had been plotting his revenge.

Ian was also painfully aware that Demogorgon had set the seeds of his escape thousands of years before Ian’s birth, during the time of the Druids, when the underworld god had lured four innocent maidens deep belowground and returned them some months later all heavy with child. One demigod had been born to each of the maidens, who were said to have perished giving birth to their beastly children.

But Demogorgon’s offspring had survived and even thrived, and legend further held that all were bound by blood to serve their evil father in his quest for escape. To that end, Demogorgon had bequeathed each of his children command over one of the four elements: To his son, Magus, Demogorgon had given the power of fire. His three daughters, Caphiera, Atroposa, and Lachestia, ruled water, air, and earth in turn.

Over the many millennia since their birth, the four demigods had grown into powerful sorcerers. And according to
everything
Ian had read about them, they were a despicable and deadly lot indeed.

Laodamia’s prophecies had also revealed that in return for their loyalty and servitude, Demogorgon had promised his offspring that once he was free, he would strengthen their powers a hundredfold, and each would receive one quarter of the world to rule over as he or she saw fit. Ian knew that if that happened, so volatile were the sorcerers that no living creature would survive their rule for long.

And yet, in the midst of all this doom and gloom, there was hope. According to Laodamia, one thing could stand against the combined forces of Magus, Caphiera, Atroposa, and Lachestia; a group of seven orphans, each imbued with a unique and powerful metaphysical gift, could form a united front and defeat the demigods, thus keeping Demogorgon imprisoned for eternity. The trick, Ian knew, was locating all of these special children in time.

This was the heart of the quest Laodamia had set out for Ian some three thousand years earlier. And the young man of nearly fourteen still found it astonishing to be at the center of such an important mission, which he’d never wanted but could hardly turn down, even though the thought of failure and the resulting consequences terrified him.

Still, he had found some encouragement in the rhyming prophecies and magical items Laodamia had left for him in her small treasure boxes, which she’d hidden in various places all about the world. He knew that the Oracle had left
him one box for each orphan he was supposed to find, but the boxes weren’t together and finding them was nearly as difficult as locating the orphans.

The first box Ian had discovered quite by accident a year earlier in his own village of Dover. It had contained an aged replica of the handwritten map he’d drawn and kept under his pillow, detailing the many tunnels that ran below his home and Castle Dover. It was an exact copy, with the notable exception that it indicated where a magical portal was located near Castle Dover.

The first box had also yielded a prophecy from Laodamia, which had revealed their overall mission and suggested that Theo was the first of seven special orphans, or Oracles. Additionally, the prophecy had instructed them to find the second box and the next Oracle by going through the portal.

It took Ian and his companions a bit to figure out how to use the portal, but eventually they had discovered themselves through it and, to their immense surprise, in the quite foreign land of Morocco. After a harrowing adventure, the group had eventually returned with the second Oracle, a young boy named Jaaved, and two other very special gifts meant to aid him on his quests. Around his neck Ian wore a piece of the Star of Lixus—an enchanted five-point opal that gave its bearer command over any language ever spoken. And in his hand was the rather unassuming sundial made of tarnished bronze. Ian was not fooled by the casual nature of the relic. He knew that it held a magical secret,
and when one considered who had sent it and for what purpose, well, it was easy to see why the sundial was likely to be quite extraordinary indeed.

But he still couldn’t fathom what he was supposed to do with it. He knew it was important. Laodamia’s riddle—also found in the box, next to the dial—told him so. But what magical power it held, he had yet to discover.

And this frustrated Ian no end, because try as he might to figure it out, the sundial didn’t appear to work. Whenever Ian held it up to a source of light, like the sun or a lamp, no shadow formed across the face of the dial; instead, its surface remained unaffected, which, as far as he knew, defied the laws of physics.

So it was with a scowl that Ian stared at the small bronze relic in his hand, wondering how to unlock its secrets, when the door at the bottom of the steps opened wide and someone from below called, “Ian? You up there, mate?”

Ian started. “Yeah, Carl. I’m up here.”

“Oy, Theo! I found him!” Ian heard his best friend say.

This was followed by a flurry of footfalls as three children rushed up the stairs. “We were wondering where you’d gone off to,” Carl said as he reached the landing and promptly came over to sit down next to Ian.

“I told you he’d be up here,” Theo said with a smug smile. Ian grinned back. There was no hiding from Theo.

“Trying to work the dial again?” asked Jaaved, the boy they’d brought back from Morocco. He’d settled in very nicely at the orphanage.

“Yeah, but it’s no use.” Ian scowled. “I can’t get it to cast a shadow.”

Theo crouched down in front of Ian, her eyes alight with mischief. “So leave it and come with us to the shore!”

Ian couldn’t help smiling at her. “The shore, eh?” He knew she’d had enough of caverns and tunnels on their dark adventure the year before. Lately, she’d preferred the wide-open space of the shore.

“Yes!” Theo replied. “It’s a lovely day and Madam Dimbleby gave us permission to walk down to the water as long as all our morning chores are done. Jaaved’s even promised to find me a trinket.” Jaaved was very sensitive to minerals and crystals, and since he’d made the keep his home, he’d returned from the shore on more than one occasion with a lost ring or a pocket watch—once even a diamond broach.

Ian glanced over his shoulder out the window at the beautiful summer day and was strongly tempted to say yes. His eyes moved back to the sundial, however, and he sighed. “I’d like that, Theo, but I think I’ll stick with this for now and try to work out the prophecy.”

Theo pouted. “I’ve told you over and over, Ian: Laodamia’s riddle won’t produce a single clue until the time is right.”

“Yes,” Ian agreed, knowing that his remarkably intuitive sister was likely correct. “But still, I rather think I’m close to working parts of her prophecy out. I just need a bit more time to sort it through.”

Theo sighed and stood up. “Very well,” she said. “Come
along, Jaaved. Let’s get to the shore while the weather is still pleasant. I’ve a feeling the wind’s going to pick up later.”

Ian looked askance at her, surprised she’d been rude enough to leave out mention of Carl. “You’re taking Carl along, too, aren’t you?” he suggested gently.

Theo was already walking back down the steps. Over her shoulder she said, “No. He’d rather stay here with you. Right, Carl?”

Ian glanced at his friend, who smiled sheepishly. “She’s right,” Carl said. “Besides, that’ll give me a chance to finish the fortress.” He indicated the oblong square of old desks, chairs, and blankets that made up their pretend castle. They’d been working on it here and there the past few weeks—or rather, Carl had been working on it while Ian attempted to figure out the dial and the prophecy.

“We’ll see you at dinner,” Jaaved said, following Theo down the steps and leaving the boys alone.

“You sure you wouldn’t rather go to the shore?” Ian asked Carl.

“Naw, mate,” Carl said with a wave of his hand. “I’ve seen enough of the sea to last me a lifetime.”

Ian knew that Carl was referring to his time spent in the port town of Plymouth, where he’d been in a miserable orphanage until the earl discovered him and brought him to Delphi Keep nearly a year before.

“Right,” said Ian, secretly happy for the company as he got up and moved to the window. “I’ll get back to working this out, then.” When he’d settled himself in the light from
the window, he held the dial up, looking for any hint of a shadow.

Carl joined him by the window and both boys peered down hopefully. “It’s the oddest thing, isn’t it?” Carl asked. “I mean, how is it that a shadow won’t form?”

Ian stared at the face of the dial in his palm, perplexed.

“I’ve no idea.”

“And Laodamia’s not much help with it either, is she?” Carl remarked.

Ian set the sundial on the windowsill and fished around inside his shirt pocket, then pulled up the translated prophecy from the silver box they’d discovered in Morocco. He studied it a moment before reciting it out loud, hoping that this time he might find the answers to the riddles it contained.