Tales from Dargo Island: The Complete Trilogy Read online

  “It’s been here all this time and no one’s read it?” I asked, skeptical.

  “Maybe my father read it but never told me. He was murdered unexpectedly by giants mere weeks ago, as you well remember. Maybe he never thought the plague would be unleashed.”

  “It’s unleashed now,” I said. “He planned on using the birds to spread the disease?”

  “Possibly. He created them to be carriers because the creatures native to the island died as soon as they were infected. They obviously couldn’t be carriers.”

  “Those birds were down there for a hundred years?” Astrid asked.

  “It seems so.”

  “Where was Dargonius buried?” I asked Aneela.

  She shook her head. “No one knows. He just disappeared.”

  “How many birds do you think shot out of that well?”

  “Nine,” she said, smiling self-consciously. “I counted them.”

  “Maybe we can capture them all before they infect anyone else.” I shrugged.

  “Hopefully. I’ll send troops out now with nets and weapons. We can’t afford to lose any more people; there are a little over a hundred of us now. We’re on the brink of extinction.”

  I nodded, remembering the battle with Nalke’s small army that wiped out so many of Aneela’s people.

  I suddenly felt a tingling in my hands and saw them becoming less wrinkled. They were returning to their nineteen-year-old selves. Astrid was also becoming young again, her blue hair turning red and shortening into a cute bob.

  Aneela smiled. “Welcome back, you two. It’s later than I thought if the sun is down. Come—time to get to work.”

  Chapter 4: I Find Something

  Though I was glad I was back to normal, I couldn’t help remembering how much pain I’d been in as an old man. It seemed to get worse every day. Astrid had had nineteen years to get used to becoming old, but it had only been weeks for me. She said she didn’t feel pain and wondered why I did.

  We stood in the grand hall of the palace with nets set up on the floor. Aneela had gathered twenty soldiers, nearly her entire force, and told them what she wanted them to do. She hoped the birds hadn’t migrated to this side of the island, so we were to return to the side where we’d discovered them. I would check the well while the soldiers searched the surrounding jungles.

  Aneela wanted the birds destroyed, seeing as they weren’t living creatures.

  Even though it was dark, the queen didn’t want to give the birds time to spread out and infect anyone else. She made an announcement to all of Dargo to stay indoors and keep away from any red birds. If they saw any, they were to contact the palace via phone. There was a room dedicated to incoming calls from anywhere on the island.

  We changed into white suits that reminded me the kind fencers wear, with helmets to match. Every inch of our bodies was protected from the birds’ sharp beaks. We loaded the nets, weapons and flashlights into trucks and drove back to the other side of the island. The waves were much higher now, the spray reaching over the edge of the cliff. The hill was soaked, the grass making squishy noises under our feet.

  Astrid and I went straight to the well. Before we could seal the opening with the wooden planks we’d brought from the palace, I got an idea.

  “What if the birds came from the well?”

  “We already know they came from here,” she replied.

  “I mean, what if there’s something else down there?”

  “So what?”

  “Why would they be down there?” I asked, frustrated and excited. “What if Dargonius is down there? His body, I mean.”

  “Aneela did say no one knows what happened to him.” Astrid looked thoughtful through her mask. She looked really good in that outfit. “We should send someone down there.”

  “I’ll go. Now that I’m not an old man anymore, I want to do something crazy.”

  “What if there are more birds down there?”

  “I have the suit to protect me.” I looked around for a large branch that could support my weight. We’d brought rope as well, just in case. Astrid helped me carry a thick log to the well, where I tied the rope tightly around it. I dropped the other end into the well and crawled in after it, pressing my feet to both sides of the well to hold myself in place.

  “Are you sure about this?” Astrid asked me.

  I turned on my flashlight. “As soon as I see something, I’ll come back up. I’ll be fine; nothing can get me while I’m in this suit.” I tapped the chest plate, not even feeling it.

  Astrid kissed me on the cheek. “Be careful.”

  “I will.” I started climbing down, hand over hand. I used to work out on the mainland, in my old life, so I had a fairly strong upper body. Climbing down isn’t hard; it’s climbing back up you have to worry about.

  I’d put the flashlight in a pocket, while Astrid shone hers down the well for me. I immediately felt claustrophobic once I hit the halfway mark, where it was darker. Before I knew it my feet were in water. I’d reached the bottom. The water was knee-high and smelled awful. I pulled my flashlight out and told Astrid I was fine.

  Turning on my light, I saw a small hole in the stone that made up the well. It looked like only one stone had been removed. I felt under the water with my foot and hit something that felt like the stone block. I looked through the hole and barely saw what looked like a bunch of rocks piled up from ground to ceiling.

  “I found something!” I shouted up to Astrid.

  “Want me to get the others?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you coming back up?”

  “No.”

  “Okay.” Her light beam vanished and I saw her disappear from the well’s opening. I started pulling the blocks away from around the hole; they’d been loosened, thankfully.

  As soon as I’d made a hole big enough for me, I crawled through, hands first, since the ground on the other side of the well was level. I stood on my hands for a few seconds until I could get me feet through the hole.

  I stood and looked at the rock pile again. There was a gap, and I could see a door behind it. It was made of rotted wood that had holes of its own. The birds must have pecked their way out. I pulled some rocks away from the pile and pushed on the door, but it was locked. I reached through one of the holes closest to the handle, feeling a lock on the other side. I pulled it and the door opened a crack.

  I turned back to the well, wondering if I should wait for the others.

  Then I decided not to. I crawled through the gap I’d made and went through the door.

  Chapter 5: Dargonius’s Chamber

  The first thing I noticed was the smell and wondered if there was a dead body in here. The beam of my flashlight barely helped; I could only see a few feet in front of me. The darkness in this room seemed deeper than normal and felt like a physical weight.

  I caught a glimpse of a table to my right. I walked over to it, keeping the light on the floor so I wouldn’t trip over anything. I got to the table sooner than I thought I would and nearly bumped it. There were scrolls and bowls spread about. The smell wasn’t coming from here, though.

  “Don’t touch anything!” Aneela screamed behind me. I knocked over a bowl in shock, spilling crap on the floor.

  She was standing in the broken door with Astrid and three soldiers. She crossed the room quickly, pulling me away from the table.

  “What are you doing down here?” I asked. She was wearing the same protective suit as me, but I couldn’t imagine her climbing down the rope. Call me chauvinistic.

  “Astrid told me what you were doing so I rushed over. We tried calling you from the top of the well, but you clearly didn’t hear us.”

  “I really didn’t.”

  She looked at the stuff on the table, at the spilled bowl on the floor. “This must’ve been Dargonius’s chamber, where he created the plague.”

  We backed away from the bowl. “Is that it?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure, but don’t touch it, all the same.”


  Astrid joined us and we shined our lights around the room. With all three beams, it was a little easier to see through the thick darkness.

  “The birds must’ve been trapped in here,” Astrid said.

  “The door over there has holes in it,” I said. “The well is cracked, with loose stones. One of the stones was already out of place. It must’ve been set up that way, by Dargonius, so he could come and go as he pleased.”

  “Sounds like the ingredients for disaster,” Aneela said.

  “Did you find any birds?” I asked her.

  “No. It’s too dark. I think we’ll be all right until morning. Everyone’s staying indoors.”

  “Except us,” I joked.

  “Speaking of which, we should get out of here. The waves are rising.” Aneela looked at Astrid. “Maybe you can talk to your father about those.”

  “I’ll try.”

  I shined my light around one more time. “There has to be something down here. Otherwise, we came here for nothing. I don’t climb down ropes for nothing. What’s that smell?”

  Aneela turned to her soldiers. “Grab some of these scrolls and bring them with us to the palace. I don’t think the plague is spread through the air or by touch.”

  “The bartender said he got pecked a week ago,” I said. “It takes a while to kill, at least.”

  “Hopefully there’s a cure in the scrolls,” Astrid said.

  She and Aneela walked out the door as the guards gathered the scrolls from the table. Just before I could leave, I saw something shiny on the floor. Well, it wasn’t on the floor so much as in the hands of a dead body. I jumped in shock and was about to call Aneela back, but she was already gone.

  The shiny thing was a crystal the size and shape of an egg. I read a lot, dabbling in different genres, and I’ve read enough fantasy novels to know a crystal is usually important. The body must’ve thought so, too, the way it was clutching it. The body was pretty much skin and bone, with the ragged remains of clothing. I took the crystal.

  At the palace, we went over the scrolls and found nothing but the instructions for creating the birds. According to the scrolls, the birds were alive and dead at the same time. They had organs but didn’t breathe or eat. Creepy.

  I showed Aneela the crystal, but we couldn’t figure out what it was. She decided to keep it along with the scrolls until more could be learned from it. I didn’t argue.

  When we got home, we were met by a couple of neighbors—Champagne and Victor. Champagne, an old woman who liked to dress like a much younger one, had the power to read and affect people’s emotions; Victor was a dwarf, with a long red beard he liked to twist around his index finger.

  I told them about the birds and asked if they knew anything about Dargonius. They knew as much as everyone else on the island.

  We played card games and drank (sodas for Astrid and me, alcohol for the adults), and called it a night. None of us wanted to abuse Aneela’s curfew too much.

  The next morning, when I woke up, I felt something was wrong. I knew I was an old man again, but I was in a lot of pain. More pain than I’d felt in weeks, since the curse began.

  I left my room and walked down the hall to Astrid’s room. I knocked and she opened the door. She wore her age gracefully.

  “Astrid,” I said to her, “something’s wrong.”

  Chapter 6: Nalke’s Diagnosis

  Astrid’s mom, Shae, was in the kitchen. Since she was a doctor, I told her about my symptoms (headache, nausea, joint pain), and she gave me a quick examination in the living room.

  “You don’t think I have the plague, do you?” I asked her.

  “You haven’t told me much about this plague, but from what I do know, it takes a week to kill. Besides, you said you’ve been feeling bad since the curse started. Since you weren’t born with it, it might be affecting you differently than Astrid.” She looked to her daughter, who sat next to me on the couch. “We should visit your father.”

  “In his realm?” Astrid asked. “It’s been a few days since I was last up there.”

  “I think it’s time you went back.”

  Astrid bit her lip, nervous. She nodded.

  “Let’s head up there, then,” Shae said, standing up. She looked nothing like her daughter, which was probably why it took me a while to realize they were related.

  Since we didn’t have Rockne to take us to Nalke’s realm anymore, Nalke devised a way for us to get there ourselves. We walked to a closet at the end of the hall, behind the kitchen. It was a room that had never been used, even when Rockne owned the house.

  We stepped inside the dark closet. Shae flipped the light on, and I saw the room was barely big enough for three people.

  “Ready?” Shae asked us. We nodded. Astrid had to help me stand; the pain had gotten worse since waking up.

  Shae flipped another switch, one hidden behind a picture of a tornado. Despite my pain, I grinned. I would never forget my first encounter with Nalke, and his tornado that killed me. Temporarily.

  The room slowly got dark, and the sound of wind seemed to come out of nowhere. I was reminded of a haunted house I went to years ago.

  Astrid grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

  The closet brightened again, but instead of being surrounded by close walls, we were surrounded by clouds and a bright blue sky. We were thousands of feet in the air, standing on a solid cloud, and a plane’s tail actually passed through the cloud like a shark’s fin through the water’s surface. I still couldn’t believe the clouds were solid enough for us to walk.

  As soon as the plane flew away from us, I looked back at Astrid with a huge grin on my face.

  The grin vanished when I saw her, though. Her blue hair and wrinkles were gone. Astrid was young again.

  * * *

  Shae walked up to her daughter, cupping her now-young face. “I don’t believe it.”

  Astrid looked at the two of us, embarrassed. “Yeah, I wanted to tell you guys but didn’t see the point.”

  “You’re young again,” her mom said, dumbfounded.

  “I know.” She looked at me. “Dad said it only works for me, because I’m his daughter. Or some convoluted mess like that.”

  Shae looked at me as well. “We’ll talk to Nalke and see what he says.”

  “Talk to me about what?” a voice asked.

  Shae spun around, revealing Nalke. The nature demon looked like what you would imagine a wizard to be, with a long white beard that went down to his stomach. I noticed for the first time that there were swirls of blue in the beard. His eyes grew wide when he saw his daughter.

  “Oh, my,” he said quietly. “That’s an unexpected surprise. It’s been days since you were here. After last time, I didn’t think you’d ever return.”

  Astrid released herself from her mom’s grasp and walked over to her father. “Hello, Dad.”

  “Sweetheart. I’ve been eagerly awaiting your return to my realm.”

  She looked around. “It feels weird, being so high up. I still haven’t gotten used to it. I think that’s why my training doesn’t go so well.”

  “Why does she turn young again?” I asked.

  “This is her home. She’s safe up here, which might explain why the curse doesn’t affect her. I used a significant amount of energy to curse Shae when she was pregnant with her. That energy must disperse when Astrid is in my realm.”

  “And if I leave again?” Astrid asked. “Like, when I step on the ground.”

  “You’ll most likely grow old again.”

  She looked at me. “We’re here because Josh is feeling sick. It’s like he’s aging faster every day. We were wondering if there is something you can do for him.”

  Nalke walked up to me. “How old do you feel?” he asked.

  “A hundred.”

  “You look like you’re almost there, too. I don’t know what I can do for you that I haven’t already tried. I thought I could remove the curse completely since you weren’t born with it, but something
is locking it into your essence the way it does to Astrid’s.”

  “I did absorb some of Astrid’s essence when I tried to take her curse away,” I said, remembering that night weeks ago.

  “It’s like you became a part of her, I suppose,” he said. “Do you become part of everyone you absorb?”

  I shuddered. “I’ve only absorbed three people: my twin sister, some random guy and Rockne. But I still feel like myself. I guess it’s possible.”

  “I’m sorry, Josh. There’s nothing I can do for you.” He looked at his daughter. “You, on the other hand, are safer here than on the ground. If you stay with me, you’ll never grow old again. And your training will go much faster.” He looked at Shae. “I’m teaching her to use her elemental powers.”

  Astrid shook her head and grabbed my hand. “I don’t want to leave my true home. I’m sorry.”

  Nalke sighed. “No, I’m sorry. I did this to you and it’s my curse, I suppose, to deal with your ire for the rest of my long existence.”

  Shae grabbed her daughter by the shoulders and steered her away. “Sorry to bother you, Nalke. We’ll go now.”

  “Not a bother at all. I enjoyed seeing you all. Please visit often.”

  Shae and Astrid walked me back to the spot where we first appeared. We were back at the house moments later, and Astrid was an old woman once again.

  Chapter 7: When Birds Attack

  As soon as we stepped into the hallway we heard flapping wings. A lot of wings. Astrid walked to the kitchen window and looked out into the backyard.

  “Oh, no,” she said. “The red birds are circling the house.”

  I walked over, feeling horrible pain in my knees that wasn’t there before, and looked out the window. I saw at least twelve birds flying in a perfect circle high above us. Then they shot off over the house, toward the front yard. We followed, looking out the bay window by the front door.

  I gasped when I saw Champagne and Victor standing in their front yards, watching the display. “We told them about the birds, didn’t we!” It wasn’t a question; I’d told them personally. Why were they outside?