Page 101 of Earthbound

‘And this,’ Afa said, holding up the grimoire, ‘is a diary of all that has come before, so the shell I am outside of here could be replenished with the parts of me. That is why I wrote it in the language only I could understand.’

All this talk of Alder being a shell was making her angry. ‘But Alder doesn’t speak human, he entered this world with little more knowledge than a babe.’

‘Forsooth, over a thousand years old and it is strange to be foiled by ignorance,’ Afa matched her scorn, but for a different reason. ‘I did not know my alternate would not be equipped to succeed. I tied a rope to myself just in case, to lead me back down the stairs. I was lucky for my foresight, as in a blink of an eye I was back in the sanctuary without the diary. The oaf you call Alder had left it above.’

Though Lettle smarted at his jibe at Alder, she was distracted by her own realisation. The pieces of memory Alder had started to recall correlated to Afa’s tale.

‘And that was thirty years ago?’

‘Yes, according to your timeline, as that was when your prince’s obeah stole the diary from the cave.’

‘Why didn’t you go back for it?’

Afa looked into the distance, his lip trembling ever so slightly in a rare expression of vulnerability.

‘I spent hundreds of years planning my attempt to leave; two decades alone weaving the first line of the spell to strip myself of my memories. After my scheme was thwarted and Alder,’ his mouth twisted as he said the name, ‘returned without the diary, I wintered for decades: not eating, only sleeping.

‘I would have stayed like that, I think, for the rest of time,’ he said. Then he pointed to a fissure in the cavern’s ceiling. It leaked water from the waterways above.

‘But such is the way of the world, it will always change around me.’ His eyes glistened as he tapped a single finger on his forehead. ‘Drip. Drip. Drip.’ His voice cracked. ‘They were Hady’s tears, each reminding me of my purpose.’

Lettle looked away from him. His grief was hard to witness, perhaps because it looked like her future.

He cleared his throat. ‘So, I left the cavern once more, hoping this time my vessel would find the diary and read it. And now we are here.’

The grimoire sat between them.

She lowered her head into her hands. Her head felt heavy with everything she had learned.

She closed her eyes and breathed in, settling her thoughts.

‘Lettle?’

She sat up, startled.

Afa was so close she could feel his breath on her arm. His face was a mask of concern.

‘Are you feeling well? Shall I get you more food?’ he asked.

It was in moments like these that she could see the sweetness in him that Hady must have loved.

‘I’m all right,’ she said. She pointed to the grimoire. ‘So there are no spells in that at all?’

Afa’s eyes brightened and he smiled widely. ‘There is. A spell I have worked on for centuries. I can unbind the obeah from the fae and then bring the humans back.’

There was a slight hesitation in the way he spoke and Lettle presumed it was a reflection of his excitement and nothing more.

‘Then speak the spell,’ she said.

He flashed her an annoyed glance. ‘Tarnation! Have you not been listening? The binding can only be unravelled by the one who spoke it.’

‘I thought Hady was dead.’

‘She is. But my descendants’ blood will do just as well,’ he said.

Rayan and Furi.

Trepidation fizzed in her veins. She didn’t like the idea of Rayan speaking an ancient spell.