Free Aster Wood and the Book of Leveling (Volume 2) by J B Cantwell Page B

age-knobbled finger at Erod. “You have no place here.”
    I looked at Erod, unsure of what to do, but when he didn’t speak, I had no choice but to.
    “Erod is welcome wherever I go,” I said. Almara shifted his untrusting eyes to me, and the gray orbs softened at the sight of my face.  
    “Son,” he said. “Oh, my son!” He approached me again, embracing me as he had done now twice before. “Brendan, tell me, did you find it?”
    How was I supposed to get past this? Every five minutes he was forgetting who I was. And that didn’t even matter, because I wasn’t Brendan. Not only did he keep forgetting, but he had it wrong entirely. I wasn’t, and could never be, the son he wanted to see.
    I stared at the man, the madman Almara, deranged from what, I didn’t know, and lied.
    “Yes, father,” I said quietly. “I found it.”

    Ten minutes later I sat with Erod and Jade in her old quarters. She was exhausted from both the sea journey and the huge disappointment she had just faced. I dug out the old ratty blanket Kiron had given me and wrapped it around her. She curled up into a ball in the back of a dark closet. She could rest here, hidden and undisturbed.  
    Almara remained in the library, probably thinking himself left alone for another hundred years. He took little notice when we had left, and he’d begun muttering again, walking himself around and around the room. He wouldn’t miss us.
    “Erod, what was he talking about?” I asked once Jade had drifted off.
    “What do you mean?” he answered.
    “What did he mean that the Solitaries have the book of…what was it?”
    “Leveling. The Book of Leveling.”
    “Yeah, what is that?”
    Erod picked at the pebbles that littered the floor.  
    “Supposed to be a secret,” he finally answered. “The elders always claimed to have it, but no one’s ever really seen it. If they had, why wouldn’t they have used it to fix the Triaden hundreds of years ago? Our people were starving just as much as any other folks.” He looked up and around at the destroyed room. “They know where it is, that’s for sure. But I think they can’t get to it, somehow.”
    “But what is it? How can a book be powerful enough to change something like a planet?”
    He shrugged. “Got me. I ain’t no seer, and I ain’t no elder.”  
    We sat in silence for a time. Jade’s light, even breathing was just audible from her dark corner.
    “Why did you leave?” I asked.  
    “None of your business,” he replied quickly. “Besides, I’m back now.” A veil of hurt shadowed his eyes. “We’ll see if they’ll have me.”
    “We should go there,” I said suddenly, getting to my feet. “Now. We should go there right now. Find out what happened here. Maybe they know what happened to him.” I gestured to the door.  
    “What about the girl?” he asked.  
    I looked over at Jade. She would panic if she woke up and we were gone. But I didn’t want to wake her up.
    “How far is it? To get to the Solitaries?” I asked.  
    “Few hours’ walk to the north, then a steep climb to get into the village,” he said.
    I pulled paper and pen from my backpack and began writing.  
    Jade,
    Erod and I have gone to his village to try to find some answers. Maybe the Solitaries will be able to help Almara. Or at least maybe they can tell us what happened. I should be back by tomorrow afternoon.  
    I’m leaving the rest of the food for you. I’ll get more at Erod’s.  
    I’ll be back soon.
    Aster

    I stared down at the page and then looked up at Jade’s sleeping form. I hoped she wouldn’t go nuts when she found out I had left her. But she was in no state to travel, and I needed to know more before Almara blasted us all again and did some real damage.  
    “What about the old man?” Erod asked.
    “He’s not going anywhere,” I said, standing. I doubted Almara would leave this place. In fact, I doubted he remembered meeting us at all.
    “Come on,” I said. “Let’s