by Sarah Noffke
The yellow birds screeched from the rafters and swooped down in the magicians’ direction, making them turn and look up with horror in their eyes.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Bianca threw her hands up at once, covering her head as she crouched into a ball. Lorenzo waved his hands back and forth, encouraging the birds away. Marty pulled a sword from a sheath on his hip.
The strom all landed on the far side of the room, tweeting delightedly.
“What are they?” Bianca asked, not rising from her crouched position but looking up at the yellow creatures.
“Birds,” Lorenzo stated matter-of-factly.
“Do-Do-Do you think they can hurt us?” Bianca asked.
“Not a chance,” Marty stated, holding his sword with menace.
“We only need to make it to the other side of the room,” Lorenzo encouraged, pointing to the door seemingly guarded by the strom.
They were going to swoop again. That was certain, and they all knew it.
“Maybe we go to the side to go around them,” Lorenzo offered.
“No,” Bianca said at once. “We’re supposed to cross this room directly. I’m not messing this up for some birds.”
“Then we take them out,” Marty stated.
“I’m not sure,” Lorenzo mused.
“Well, what if that’s how we’re to complete the room?” Marty challenged.
“Yeah, it’s better to be safe rather than sorry,” Bianca agreed.
Lorenzo thought for a moment. “I don’t have a weapon.”
“You two make a run for it,” Marty urged. “I’ll finish these guys no problem. They’re a bunch of dumb canaries.”
Sophia shook her head and blew the whistle again. That’s exactly the reaction she expected from cowards.
The strom all dived in unison but still didn’t come close to the heads of the magicians. It was all perceived danger for those who didn’t observe and were too much into self-preservation.
Bianca screamed again, then sprinted for the door in a hunched position. Lorenzo followed her and nearly pushed her to the floor, trying to get around her and speed to the exit. Marty however, seemed to think this was his moment in the sun. He brought his sword straight into the air as the birds streaked overhead and sliced through them. That caused sudden chaos, and the flock retreated toward the entrance at the back of the room.
Apparently deciding that he hadn’t had enough and they all had to go, he chased after them, having to jump into the air to strike birds down. Thankfully when they hit the ground, seemingly dead, the holograms disappeared at once, which gave the magician a real head trip when he looked around searching for his kills.
When there were only a few strom flittering around in the corners of the room, Marty sent a couple of spells in their direction, killing them at once with a victorious smile. “Yeah, you babies never stood a chance. Such jokes if this is all it takes to get complete power.”
With a swagger that Sophia thought would make her throw up, Marty made it to the other side of the room. Lorenzo and Bianca were huddled in the doorway, adamantly waving him toward them.
“Hurry up,” Lorenzo stated. “The door is open. Only two more rooms left.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
“Well, this next one will be quick,” Liv said with a laugh, striding along the windows to follow the three magicians’ progress.
Sophia shook her head. “I don’t know,” she disagreed. “I mean, we could have killed Rudolf many times, and we didn’t.”
Liv held up her finger and thumb, both really close together. “I’ve come that close too many times, and I have a soul. Those three don’t stand a chance.”
“We shall see.” Sophia looked down as the three entered the next room. It consisted of a tile floor that was all randomly numbered. There were also various algorithms on the walls, as well as colored buttons and knobs. The room looked like a puzzle that needed to be solved. For a mathematician, there was a solution. However, for most, it was a complete conundrum.
“What do you suppose we do here?” Bianca looked around at the various columns that had dials on them.
“It’s a puzzle,” Lorenzo stated while studying the room.
King Rudolf Sweetwater popped out from one of the columns wearing his regal robes and a wide smile. “You have to solve it to make it out of the room. That’s the only way. Well…sort of…mostly.”
“What are you doing here, King Sweetwater?” Marty asked.
Rudolf scratched his head. “I’ve forgotten.” He began ticking off on his fingers. “I woke up this morning. Got drunk. Went to church. Ruled over my kingdom… Oh, that’s right. I’m your guide.”
“Guide?” Bianca asked. “As in you’ll help us through the room?”
He shook his head. “Heck no. I can’t do that. It’s against the rules. I’m here to make sure you don’t cheat, like using a calculator or an abacus or a smartphone or a sundial. You don’t have any of those, do you?”
“Wait, why would we use a sundial?” Marty asked.
“More importantly, why would anyone use a calendar?” Rudolf remarked, slapping his knee.
“You said guide,” Lorenzo commented thoughtfully. “What can you do as our guide?”
Rudolf proudly put his hand to his chest. “I can offer you simple yes or no answers to help steer you in the right direction.” He walked over to a tile on the floor and pointed at a number. “For instance, if you said, King Rudolf is this the number eight, I would say, yes, my dear boy, it is.”
“Wait, but do you know the answer to the puzzle?” Bianca asked.
“Of course I do.” He laughed. “It’s… Oh, wait, it’s against the rules for me to tell you that.”
“Why are you here?” Lorenzo asked, quite skeptical.
Rudolf shrugged. “Apparently, to get the full reign of power, you have to have endorsement from all the races according to the powers that be. So this was constructed for the three considered worthy by all the races and endorsed by the angels and kissed by Mama and Papa themselves. That’s the story. I’m not making it up. Couldn’t if I tried.”
Marty shook his head at the other two. “I think he’s still drunk.”
“I wish.” Rudolf pulled a flask from his robe.
“I thought you confiscated that,” Sophia said to Liv.
She shook her head. “I took at least six from him. Apparently, that’s his lucky seventh.”
Sophia laughed and returned her attention to the scene below.
Rudolf took a long swig and began doing hopscotch on the various numbered tiles, getting in the way of Lorenzo, who was studying the pattern and trying to make it out.
“Can you stop that?” he asked, irritation flaring in his voice.
Rudolf paused. Considered this. “Why yes, I can stop.” Then he recommenced doing his hopscotch and taking swigs from his flask.
Lorenzo sighed loudly. “Would you?”
Again the king of the fae paused. “I don’t know. It’s boring here with all these numbers and no television.”
Bianca played with the dials on the columns while studying them, and Marty was trying to work out the equations on the walls.
“I don’t know what we’re supposed to be doing here,” Bianca said in a whiny voice.
Lorenzo shook his head. “I don’t either. There are too many variables to consider.”
“There’s a math word,” Rudolf stated and began saying the word with different inflections. “Var-iable. Var-i-able. Va-ri-able.”
“Would you stop that!” Lorenzo yelled, his face suddenly red.
Rudolf immediately looked hurt. “Fine. I won’t speak unless spoken to.”
“Good,” Lorenzo said with a sigh.
Liv pulled out her phone from her pocket and rang the king.
A second later, his phone buzzed in his pocket. Rudolf’s eyes widened with excitement.
“Wait, you get to use your phone, but we can’t?” Bianca asked, offense in her voice.
Rudolf nodded. “I’m not the power-hungry magicians trying to rule the world. I’m your guide you’ve shushed. But it looks like someone wants to talk to me.” He held up the ringing phone and waved it through the air before answering it. “Hey baby, what are you wearing?”
“I will kill you in your sleep if you ever ask me that again,” Liv said into the phone.
Down in the room, Rudolf giggled like a schoolgirl and twirled his hair with a finger. “It’s so cute when you talk dirty to me.”
The other three magicians shot him dirty looks, obviously frustrated by the interruption he was causing.
“Pretend that I asked you where you are and lie about it,” Liv said into the phone.
“Oh, where am I?” Rudolf asked loudly. “I’m…at the horse races. Yeah, I can’t get enough of those stallions and their tiny riders. It reminds me of Friday nights in Savannah… Why no, I’ve never been to Georgia, why do you ask?”
“Oh, show some decorum.” Bianca glared at Rudolf with a pinched expression.
He covered the phone and shook his head. “Eavesdropping is a criminal offense in the fae world.”
“I’m not a fae, thank all that’s holy,” Bianca replied. “Pesky, worthless creeps.”
“Thank you,” Rudolf sang proudly and put the phone back to his ear. “Okay, I’m back. Sorry. The horses can be real heifers sometimes.”
“Say that you don’t know when you’ll be home and have to stop off in the bad part of town,” Liv instructed into the phone.
“Yeah, chick, get up off my biz about my sched,” Rudolf stated. “I don’t know when I’ll be home. I’ve got pimps to see on the south side… Yes, I know I nearly got capped there. Take a Xanax and put on something sexy for papa. I’ll be home when I get home.” Then Rudolf ended the call and pocketed his phone.
Sophia shot Liv an impressed look. “You’ve got to hand it to him. That’s a great performance he’s giving right now.”
Liv nodded reluctantly. “I’ll give it to him. No one can play the part quite like Rudolf.”
“Why did you lie about your whereabouts?” Marty asked him.
“Oh, well, because it’s none of that skank’s biz,” Rudolf answered. “Honestly, I don’t ever let anyone know where I am.”
“So no one knows you’re here?” Lorenzo asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t even know where I am, honestly. I signed a contract with the devil for this one. Something tells me you all did too.”
Bianca spun the dial on the column again. “I don’t understand what we’re supposed to do here.”
“Me either,” Marty admitted.
“Yeah, I’m not sure.” Lorenzo turned in a circle, taking in the room.
Rudolf sank to the floor and took another drink. “Yeah, you all will die here with me trying to figure it out.” He laughed loudly. “Ironically, then the door to the other side will open.”
Lorenzo tilted his chin to the side. “Why is that? Because one of us died?”
Rudolf shook his head. “Because you either have to complete the puzzle to get through the door, or you have to kill me, the guide. I get that’s weird because who would kill the king of the—”
“Enough then!” Lorenzo pointed his finger at King Rudolf and sent a lethal spell at him that should have knocked him out at once, sending him into a coma deprived of oxygen and therefore killed him in three minutes. It was a complex and powerful spell and not something that moral magicians practiced or used.
However, it appeared to work instantly on the king of the fae as he sank back at once, looking completely comatose. The truth was that Liv had placed an even more powerful shielding spell on the fae prior to this to protect him from any lethal spells. She might pretend not to tolerate him, but never would she let something happen to Rudolf. He had simply played the part perfectly and thrown himself back when Lorenzo shot the killing spell at him.
“Did you?” Bianca asked in shock, looking over Rudolf’s limp figure.
“I did.” Lorenzo strode for the door on the other side of the room that opened at once.
“Good thinking,” Marty commended. “We’re almost to the end.”
Liv shook her head. “Unfortunately for you three, you’re almost to the end, and so far you’ve done nothing to redeem yourself.”
Sophia sighed. “One last room. Maybe they’ll answer the riddle correctly.”
Chapter Sixty
Sophia walked along the windows and nearly doubled over with laughter at the sight of Rory in the third room. He wore long white robes that made him look like an angel or a Greek god of some sort.
Liv joined her. “Yeah, he lost a bet so he had to wear those. But he was compliant since you were able to get the chief’s blessing.”
Sophia paused. “Yeah, about that…”
Liv glanced at her sister. “I probably shouldn’t say anything. It’s Rory’s business.”
“Then don’t,” Sophia said at once. “I understand. I’m glad the giants have their fishing territory back, and Rory got this mysterious blessing. Also, he got to help us out with this task.”
Liv lowered her chin. “Really, Sophia, you got nothing out of the deal. You were captured by gross gnomes who don’t know what toothbrushes or deodorants are and dealt with giants who don’t know what laughter is and all you get in return is maybe the satisfaction of a job well done.”
Sophia patted her sister’s arm. “That’s enough. I’m fine.”
“Rory wants to propose to his girlfriend, Maddy,” Liv burst out and covered her mouth, her eyes wide. “Well, you didn’t hear it from me.”
“That’s what the blessing was for?” Sophia asked.
“Yeah, Maddy’s father is very traditional, although they live in the States,” Liv explained. “So he wouldn’t allow the marriage unless Rory got the chief’s blessing. That’s why he was at the Isle of Man. Then you showed up, and Chief Dag saw his opportunity to take advantage of things.”
Sophia’s mouth popped open. “That sneaky little…I mean, gigantic chief.”
“It all worked out because you got the deal with the gnomes, Rory gets his bride, and we get to entrap our Councilors.” Liv swayed back and forth as she watched the three magicians approach Rory, the giant.
He stood stoically in the middle of a bare room, his arms crossed and his eyes closed. He was also doing an excellent job of playing the part. Rory also had a lot to gain when the Council was full of honorable people. They’d do right by giants and magicians and mortals, all people he cared a lot about.
When Bianca, Lorenzo, and Marty all stood in front of Rory, he opened his eyes like a statue come to life. “I’m the giant known as Rory and your final obstacle to the device that will grant you power.”
Bianca made a noise of excitement. Lorenzo rolled his eyes. Marty made a motion of impatience to encourage Rory to talk faster.
“One of you must answer a simple riddle. Then you’ll be allowed through the door at my back,” Rory stolidly instructed, indicating the exit like a stiff flight attendant.
“Go on then.” Lorenzo sounded bored. “What is it?”
“There are no right or wrong answers,” Rory went on. “It’s more about how you answer than anything.”
“Go on then,” Marty encouraged.
“You’re in a boat,” Rory stated. “Only the collective one of you. Not all three. It’s a lifeboat because you’ve crashed. It only holds ten people, and it’s full when you discover that there’s a hole in the bottom.”
“Get on with the riddle,” Lorenzo stated.
“You begin to bail out the water,” Rory continued, unperturbed by their manner. “But it won’t keep you afloat for more than a few hours.”
“So we need fewer people in the boat,” Marty stated, rather victoriously.
“I’m not done!” Rory exclaimed, surprisingly authoritatively.
All three magicians straightened and listened.
“Another lifeboat happens by,” Rory continued. “This on
e is sailing just fine, and your best friend captains it. He only has nine people in the boat and encourages you to swim over and join him. So the question is, do you stay in your current boat, not abandoning them and risk drowning if you all aren’t rescued in a few hours? Or do you join your friend and take the better odds?”
“I’ve got this!” Bianca exclaimed, stepping forward. “Neither. We don’t take either option.”
“What do you mean?” Lorenzo asked, his voice vibrating with tension. “Everything rests on this. Our future. Our power. We have to answer this right.”
She nodded adamantly. “I know the right answer. I know how someone in power would answer. Trust me.”
Lorenzo considered her for a moment and held out a hand, welcoming her response. “Then by all means, answer for us. Make it good because if that door at the other end doesn’t open, I’ll be beyond livid at you.”
Bianca stepped toward Rory while shaking her head at the man behind her. “The answer is that we’d…well, that I’d travel to the other boat.”
Lorenzo nodded, along with Marty.
“Yes, that’s the right answer,” Lorenzo agreed.
Bianca shot him a scolding look. “I’m not done.” She returned her gaze to Rory, who remained stoic. “I would then knock the other nine people out of the boat and continue because the experience would teach me that too many people in a single flimsy boat will damage it. Therefore I’d have the best chance of surviving while everyone else perished.”
All three men simply regarded Bianca as if they’d met the devil themselves. Sensing their judgment, she shrugged. “Isn’t the purpose about the survival of the fittest? We as the powerful aren’t going to get there unless we take care of ourselves first. Always.”
Marty and Lorenzo took a moment to think this over before deciding that Bianca was right and nodding beside her.
“Good call,” Lorenzo stated.
“Yeah, I agree,” Marty said.
Rory held his long arm out wide as the final door opened wide for them. “Then go forth and enjoy the prize you’ve won through all your endeavors.”
