by Ren Ryder
A collective feeling of frustration was shared by the suddenly hyperactive teens.
“What? Already?” Leif asked.
Jade pattered across the hardwood floors over to Rex to cling to his side. “I don’t wanna go back to sleep! I want to stay up with you!”
“Can’t we stay up for just a bit longer?” Rae begged.
Vale shuddered. “There’s no way I can sleep after seeing that.”
“Sleep. Now,” Rex hammered away, unmoved.
Voicing their complaints for all to hear, the teenagers filtered out of the living room and climbed the stairs together to return to their sleeping quarters on the second floor. I kept a watchful eye on the kids as they left the room, feeling a sense of protectiveness fill me. Chase looked back at the top of the stairs, a nervous glint in his eye.
“You got my letter,” Rex said without preamble.
I nodded, my eyes shifting around the quaint interior of Rex’s home. “You’ve sure come up in the world. How’d you do it, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Rex laced his fingers together on his belly and yawned. “Simple. I leveraged yer share of the take ta prey on the lord of a feudal barony that happened to be in dire financial straits. He sold me his title for a mere pittance of what it was worth ta get out from under the swarm of debtors coming after his properties.”
“My share?”
Rex dipped his chin into a nod. “The kids insisted you should get half the money, and seeing as you entrusted me with them and you might be gone, forever, I figured I might as well put it ta good use. Can you believe I’m a bone-fide member of the House of Lords & Ladies?” Rex’s face wrinkled into a dry smile.
“I’m not sure I understand how all that led you to all this,” I waved my hands about.
Rex’s grin grew wider. ”Did ya know wards and blood-relatives of professors can attend the Royal Academy for free? All I had ta do was sign some papers and register them with the city clerk to make it all official-like. And ta top it all off, they provide every professor with housing for as long as they teach at the academy. I had ta grease some hands to get the job, but it pays well.”
“So what am I supposed to call you, sir baron?” I joked.
Rex sketched out a shaky bow. “Ya may address me as your lordship.”
I rubbed my face in disbelief. “Are you for real?”
“Ya think I woulda done all this if I didn’t ‘ave ta? These kids need structure and possibility. Climbing the social ladder ain’t something to scoff at, and they might have a rough go of it, but their futures will be better off for it,” Rex said, nodding his head to himself.
I whistled quietly, impressed. “You’ve really thought this all through.”
Rex shook his head side-to-side with all the speed of an eroding boulder. “You’ve been gone almost a year, Kal. We’ve gone on with our lives. Ya seem pretty changed yerself.”
“I do?” I asked, surprised.
“For starters, you look like you’ve been ta hell n’ back.”
“Something like that,” my lips curled up into a slight smile. “You look, better.” What I wanted to say was he looked like a new man, revitalized by his new life.
“Been working out,” Rex flexed his biceps. “Gotta stay in shape ta keep up with all these little tikes running around, bouncing off the walls the way they do.”
I tried to stray back to safer topics. “So what do you teach, anyways?”
“Information gathering and intelligence. Got more than enough experience ta teach it, if not the fancy credentials,” Rex scoffed.
I nodded. “It definitely seems fitting for you. Speaking of, I have something I want you to look into. Here,” I rummaged through my pockets to produce the token Neil had given me. It burned to the touch and I handled it like a hot potato until I could get it into Rex’s hands.
Rex took the proffered token, turning it over in his hands. “Never seen its like. What is it?”
I scratched the back of my head. “It’s supposed to allow passage to the Arcanium on the New Year… apparently there’s a secret, official school of magic, though I’d never heard of it until recently.”
“Hmm, that ain’t much time, but I’ll do some diggin and see what I can turn up. Fair?”
“Fair,” I agreed.
There was a lull in our conversation where Rex and I sat looking at one another without speaking. There were so many things left unsaid, and more that I was nervous talking about. I didn’t want to drag Rex back into a world he’d left behind, and I think Rex knew he was better off not asking too many questions.
I sighed, weary beyond measure. “You mind if I crash here tonight? I promise I’ll get out of your hair tomorrow.”
Rex stretched out an open hand. “Stay as long as ya like. This is your house as much as it is ours.”
A nervous flutter went through my chest. “I think it’s safer for all involved if I stay away. You don’t need to tell the kids about me, either.”
Rex gave me an even stare. “They deserve to know what you are to them, don’t ya think? I think some of ‘em are already onto ya, anyhow. Won’t be long afore they piece it all together.”
“I’d rather not break open old wounds if I don’t have to, but if they come to me asking, I’ll own up to what I’ve done.”
Rex stood and stretched, walked a few steps, then turned back around to face me. “S’ not like you did them wrong.”
“They might see it that way,” I shot back, feeling defensive. “All I am is a living connection to a horrible past. I think it best to let those memories stay buried.”
“These kids have good heads on their shoulders. Yer underestimatin' their ability ta see through to the truth,” Rex said, then heaved a heavy sigh. “Ya want me to make up the guest room for you?”
I waved him off. “That’s alright, I’ll be fine down here. I bet I could sleep on a pile of jagged rocks and wake up feeling better than I do now.”
One by one, Rex turned the dials on the gas lamps lighting up the living room. “Goodnight Kal. Was good ta see ya in one piece, or thereabouts.”
I yawned huge, my eyes watering. “Night Rex. Thanks for giving me a place to rest my head.”
I was too tired to follow Rex with my eyes as he left the room and stomped up the stairs to the second floor. There was a blanket thrown across the couch that looked warm and inviting, but I couldn’t find the energy to rise from the recliner I was sitting in to go get it. Instead I let the exhaustion I’d been fighting off lull me off into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Chapter Eleven
I awoke with a start in the middle of the night to find a quilted blanket thrown over me. I’d tried to stand up, but my feet got tangled in the fabric. I stumbled then fell flat on my stomach in the middle of the living room. Wheezing from getting the wind knocked out of me, I turned my head side-to-side as a sudden foreboding filled me with alarm.
Something was wrong, I could feel it in my bones.
That was when I heard it, carried faintly on the wind. The sound of reed pipes playing a haunting, enticing melody melted through the walls of the house like the walls weren’t even there.
The legend of the Pied Piper raced through my mind, a story about a mysterious figure known for luring away unsuspecting children. Many never returned, and were thought either to be spirited away, or worse, gone to their deaths.
“No. No!” I raged.
I raced up the stairs and started throwing open doors, peering inside rooms to find them, empty. They were all empty! Not a soul was to be found in the house besides myself. I bit my lip in frustration and pushed my hair back up, out of my face.
Where’s Bell?
Realizing I’d missed a spot, I crashed into the door to the master bedroom, finding the kingsized bed inside occupied by a deeply asleep Rex. I pushed and prodded the old man, but he didn’t stir from his slumber. My suspicions grew and grew until I became convinced magic was at work.
Creeping dread settled into my gu
t.
I clenched my teeth. I was so angry— at myself. Why had I stayed? My mere presence was a danger to everyone around me. I knew that. I knew it, but I’d let my feelings and the atmosphere of Rex’s home wash away my inhibitions.
And this is what happened.
I jumped down the full flight of stairs and rushed into the bathroom to strap on my sword belt and grab my cloak from where it was hanging dry. Throwing it over my shoulders as I moved out into the living room, I fumbled the clasp closed around my neck as I reached the front door. Shuddering with fear and adrenaline, I took a deep breath, then threw open the door and stepped outside into the night.
The enchanting melody filtered into my ears from somewhere further down the Row, near a stand of trees I saw in the distance. Bolting off in that direction, I followed the bewitching music towards its source. I reached the end of the line of houses in no time flat, then stopped again to listen with my hands cupped around my ears before what I realized was a small grove of trees.
The melody stopped abruptly, and an air of panic replaced it.
No longer able to follow the music, I crashed through the undergrowth into the grove, my head snapping every which way in hopes I would spot some clue to lead me to the kids. Having run at full speed for awhile with no luck, I stopped in my tracks, chest heaving.
A realization caught up to my hasty feet. If Bell had as much trouble trying to rouse me from sleep as I did with Rex, she would have taken up pursuit of the wayward teens by herself in hopes I’d be able to find her, and through her, them. Closing my eyes, I focused on our bond and zeroed in on my sylph familiar’s location.
I pumped my fist. “Gotcha. Great job, Bell. You saved the day.”
I’d run off course. Bell was a ways off to my left. She wasn’t far, though, and I had to hope I wasn’t too late. Feet flying beneath me, I crashed through the woods, leaping over any obstacles I couldn’t just plow straight through. I tripped then stumbled my way into a small forest glade with a grassy meadow under a canopy of leafless deciduous trees.
The plants of the glade started flowering out of season, and a fresh coat of leaves grew as on the bare-branched trees as I watched. Dancing will-o-wisps floated through the air, making me feel as if I’d stepped straight into the Otherworld.
I heard singing. Faint, but clear. A haunting song drifted through the glade, filling me with dark anxiety.
“Ring around the roses
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down!”
The kids were dancing around a flickering campfire, their hands linked to form a circle. Giggling, they all fell spread-eagled onto their backs as they sung the last line. With out of place cheer, the teens hopped back to their feet to repeat the refrain.
“Ring around the roses
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down!”
I walked over towards the frolicking children, alert for danger. It wasn’t natural for kids to rise from their beds in the middle of the night to go dance and sing in the forest around a fire. The culprit had to be lurking around here somewhere.
“Hush! Hush! Hush! Hush!
We've all tumbled down.”
All eight children laid down on the ground, giggling and laughing. Walking up so I was standing over them, I found their eyes unfocused, as if they were in some kind of trance. Crouching down to their level, I waved my hand in front of Vale and Rae’s faces. No reaction.
“I’m not playing this game. Show yourself, whoever you are,” I shouted out at the top of my lungs.
“There is no need to get so worked up. I was just having a bit of fun. Look, see— no harm has been done to the children, and your rather persistent familiar is safe with me.”
A figure radiating power covered by decaying flora stepped out from behind a tree, unveiling themselves. At the same time a great pressure bore down on me, making it hard to breathe.
The creature had hairy black hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, but otherwise his body was that of a man. His body looked chiseled from stone by a master stonemason, perfect in every detail and untouched by time. A pan flute fashioned from bone was strapped to his waist by leather strands, and in his idle hand he held another pan flute of the same kind made from hollow reeds. In the other hand he had a tight grasp around Bell, covering her mouth so she couldn’t speak.
The ancient being I knew as Robin Goodfellow stepped into the firelight. “I said I may follow your feats with some interest, and that we would meet again. Here we are,” Goodfellow said, revealing two rows of needle-sharp teeth.
I broke out in goosebumps. “Goodfellow. If you’re here to collect the tithe, I would rather you not have involved innocent children.”
“I have not come for that, although I am quite sure Oberon would be overjoyed if I rid him of the nuisance your existence represents. Relax, I am not here to harm you or your precious humans.”
Goodfellow played a gentle melody across his reed pipes, and my heart sung in longing as the notes brushed against my soul like a gentle caress.
Encountering the ancient being that wanted to be known as Robin Goodfellow was like meeting with a natural disaster. No matter what he wanted from me, he could pluck it out of my hands the same way one would take candy from a baby. He was way above my weight class. Fighting him would be folly.
I gritted my teeth.
Screw that.
Whatever force the universe sent to rob those around me of life and happiness, I would fight to the bitter end. Although instinct made me fear the deep dark pools speckled with stars, I looked Goodfellow dead in the eyes.
Goodfellow raised his eyebrows at me. “Oh, I see I have made you quite angry. Would it help if I demonstrated my good faith?”
He unclenched his fist and released a spitting mad Bell back into the world. My sylph familiar, unafraid of antagonizing the ancient one, sunk her teeth into Goodfellow’s open hand.
“I hate you, I hate you I hate you!” Bell screamed.
With a flick of his wrist, Goodfellow struck Bell and sent her flying across the glade to land in a heap on the ground. I ran over to where she was laid sprawled, staring at the night sky with murder in her eyes. Picking her up, I deposited her into my shirtfront pocket while she muttered dark promises under her breath.
“Kal is mine Pan, mine— you can’t have him,” Bell growled.
I gulped and took another look at the ancient being standing across from me. “Pan? Isn’t he… Isn’t he, a—”
“A god? Who cares,” Bell scoffed. “Let me at him!”
Bell tried to fly off the handle to attack Pan, and I caught her about the waist to stop her. Fear rooted me in place. My vision pulsed along with the frantic beating of my heart.
“Bell, please, let me handle this,” I begged her.
Bell stopped struggling and crossed her arms over her chest in bitter acquiescence. “I doubt very much you could have found the children without me.”
“You’re right, it was all thanks to you,” I told her.
Bell sniffed. “I know.”
Pan played a sharp, fast tune on his reed pipes. “Loose lips sink ships, little sylph. Well, no matter. Yes, I am Pan: god of the Wilds, of fields and groves and wooded glens, Lord of the Mountain Wilds, patron of rustic music and companion of nymphs.”
I clenched my fists to hide how much I was shaking. “I’m nothing, no, less than nothing to you, so why are you here, Pan?”
Pan trotted towards me on cloven hooves and grabbed hold of my face with his hand. He cocked his head to one side and stared at a spot above my eyes. “How intriguing, the blessing of the forest is upon you. How ever did you manage that? What an intriguing child you are.”
I pulled back out of his grasp, and the god let me go. I was breathing heavy, but I couldn’t let my fear take control.
Pan dusted off his hands. “As I am quite partial towards seeing your story play out, I came to wa
rn you. Factions within the Seelie courts are banding together to strip you of the mantle of kings, and there is but one way to rid you of it now: death.”
I laughed a high-pitched, nervous laugh. “I can’t imagine I matter. I’m the least among many, so why bother killing me?”
Pan smiled wide, a wild, gruesome thing. “Because of what you represent. Your mere existence is a threat to the traditional power structures of the Otherworld, of any world for that matter. That alone would be enough to condemn you, but your rise in station was the last straw.”
I blew a raspberry. “Right, like I’m so special.”
Pan removed himself from my personal space. “Oh, but you are. An existence betwixt and between, you are quite special indeed. Special enough that I would risk involving myself in the petty politics of the fae.”
I swallowed. Despite myself, I believed Pan was telling the truth about the coming danger from the Other Side. I had no trouble imagining Oberon recruiting an army of pawns to deal with me.
Pan’s eyes flicked over to the teenagers lying spreadeagled on the ground, still in a trance. “When they come for you in earnest, no one around you will be safe. Human life is so very fragile, and these younglings are blind to the dangers of their association with you,” Pan said, reaching out his hand and clenching his fist. “But children possess untapped potential, waiting to be released. All that potential, all it needs is a tiny spark to ignite,” Pan snapped his fingers, and a bright light flashed. "It is even within my power to grant them eyes to see true with, for a pittance.”
Bell couldn’t hold herself back any longer. “Be careful Kal. Whatever his price is, it isn’t worth it.”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to worry, Bell. You want me to weaponize children for my own gain? I refuse.”
Pan bent down and plucked a budding flower before it had a chance to unfurl its petals. “As they are now, they will be plucked before they have a chance to flower. Throw away your fear and stubborn pride. With my intervention, they will have an opportunity to grow. Make no mistake, denying me is denying them that chance. Be they kings or paupers I could care less about the life and death of humans, but do you feel the same way?”
