The Common King

by Brian Olsen

  “Staff,” he explains. “They sleep as little as possible because Jasmine goes through everyone’s dreams looking for proof that they’ve done something wrong.”

  “Why are they crying?” Liefer asks. “Could that mean they’ve just seen the Common King? Is he nearby?”

  Kenny shakes his head. “They all cry, Mr. Liefer. Usually late at night when he’s asleep. When he can’t hear them and get mad.”

  “We should help them,” I say. “We can’t leave them here.”

  “They wouldn’t come with us.” Kenny curls his lip. “They know he’d punish them. Punish their families.”

  “We have to help them somehow.”

  “Yes.” Alisa puts a hand on my shoulder. “We do. And we will, by stopping the king. Kenny, can you talk to them? Convince them to let us by without giving us away?”

  “I can’t. If they see you and don’t report it, Jasmine will find out from their dreams. They’ll be killed.”

  “Okay. Mr. Liefer—”

  “Enough of this.”

  Liefer pushes past Kenny and opens the door. Alisa grabs his wrist but he disappears from her grasp, reappearing down the hall, in full view of the weeping women.

  One of them gives out a startled sob, and the other a gasp of fear. Mr. Liefer points, and their sounds cut off. Everything’s quiet.

  We run down the hall. The side corridor opens up into the elevator bay, then continues a long way down. There’s no sign of anybody but Mr. Liefer.

  “What did you do?” Alisa snarls at him. “What did you do to them?”

  He looks affronted. “Calm yourself. They’re fine. I’ve sent them about a mile away, and we’ll be long gone by the time they get back. And they won’t be punished, because the Common King will see that there’s nothing they could have done to stop me.”

  Kenny shoves him into an elevator door. “You don’t know that! Even if he doesn’t kill them, Jasmine will torture them in their dreams for this! She’s a psycho!”

  Nate stiffens at this. I take his hand and he leans into me.

  Alisa pulls Kenny away. “It’s done now. Mr. Liefer, please consult with me before making a decision like that again.”

  He pushes himself away from the elevator, straightens his jacket, and looms over her. “Alisa, I’m happy to encourage your burgeoning leadership skills. But don’t make the mistake of assuming you are actually in charge here.”

  She doesn’t flinch. “I’m done humoring you, Mr. Liefer. I’m in charge because everyone wants me in charge. Your contributions and your opinions are valued, but your leadership is not. Please decide which is more important, stopping the Common King or salvaging your pride. You don’t have the luxury of doing both.” She turns back to Kenny. “Let’s—”

  Liefer makes a brushing away gesture. Alisa vanishes.

  Nate dives forward and shoves Mr. Liefer. “Bring her back!”

  Lily thrusts her hands towards him. “Bring her back, Mr. Liefer!” She flexes her fingers, ready to cast a spell.

  Kenny pounds his palms into his forehead. “No, no, no, what did I do, what did I do…”

  “Alisa is safe, back at the museum,” Mr. Liefer explains. “She was going to get us all killed. Kenny, take us to your parents.”

  Kenny backs up. I think he might run for it. “No. You lied before. You’re lying now.”

  I grab Mr. Ambrose’s arm. “You have to stop this. You’re the only one he’ll listen to.”

  “Ronald.” Mr. Ambrose rubs his eyes. “Bring Alisa back.”

  “Darryl, I’m doing what has to be done, like I always—”

  “You could have transported us down the corridor,” Mr. Ambrose says softly. “Past those two women. They never had to know we were here. You endangered them for no reason except your own need to be in control.”

  Mr. Liefer turns beet red. I don’t know if it’s from embarrassment or rage.

  “I’ve known you a long time, Ronald,” Mr. Ambrose continues. “In this world, and in the one before. You’re a good man now and you were a good man then, but you’re not giving our friends much reason to believe that. You are an excellent headmaster and teacher and logomancer, but this type of life-or-death strategizing is not your forte. I’m sorry to be so blunt but time is short and lives are at stake.”

  Liefer looks down at the floor. I almost feel sorry for him.

  “Then you should lead us, Darryl,” the former headmaster says. “We can’t let children—”

  “They’re seventeen. Hardly children. And Alisa’s been doing a good job so far. We need to help her, not undermine her. Bring her back, Ronald. Right now.”

  “I…” Liefer lowers his voice. “I can’t.”

  “What do you mean, you can’t?” Nate smacks Liefer’s arm. “We need our boss! Go get her!”

  “I can’t! I told you, I can’t teleport within the hotel. If I go to retrieve her, we’ll both be stuck at the museum.” He looks off to the side, avoiding eye contact with everyone. “I’m sorry for acting so rashly. I’d bring her back if I could. We’ll have to proceed without her.”

  The door to the stairwell at the end of the hall, the one we came through, opens. Alisa comes through, breathing heavily.

  Liefer’s jaw drops. “How—?”

  “Zane’s portal,” I say.

  Nate laughs. “Oh, right. Duh. As if she’d sit around waiting for someone to come get her.”

  Alisa rejoins us. She looks at Mr. Liefer and folds her arms. “You wanna try that again? I don’t mind the workout.”

  He puts his hands up. “I’m outvoted, it seems.” He gestures to the rest of us. “The mantle of leadership, and its responsibilities, are yours.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Don’t be such a drama queen. Zane and Andy and the other two Lilies are almost done with the artifacts in the first room. Our parents are awake. They’re mad and confused but they’re helping, receiving the artifacts at the museum and clearing space for more. Let’s hurry so we can get back to them and get yelled at. Kenny?”

  Kenny’s eyes dart to Liefer, uncertain, but then he nods. He leads us back into the main corridor, to the far end, and down the left turn. Halfway down, he stops outside room 357 and knocks gently on the door.

  “Dad? Bobby? It’s Kenny.”

  “Do you have the key?” I ask.

  The look I get in return lets me know exactly how dumb my question was. No, his jailers didn’t give him the key to the room where his family is being held hostage.

  He knocks again, louder. “Dad?” He bites his lip, then steps back. “They can’t see the door. Dante cast a spell to hide it from the inside. Maybe they can’t hear anything outside the room, either.”

  Liefer taps the door. “I’ll get them.”

  “Uh…” Nate squints at him. “What happened to maybe teleporting inside a wall?”

  “It’s a short distance. So long as there’s nothing immediately on the other side of this door, I should be safe.” He glances at Kenny. “A risk, but one worth taking, I think. Alisa, do you agree?”

  She nods. “Thank you, Mr. Liefer.”

  Liefer splays his fingers against the door. “Space.” He disappears, then reappears almost immediately. “That was easier than I thought. Maybe Dante isn’t—”

  “My family!” Kenny hisses.

  Liefer shakes his head. “The room is empty.”

  “What?” Kenny pounds on the door and yells, “Dad? Bobby?”

  Mr. Ambrose grabs his wrist. “Quiet, Kenny!”

  “There are signs that they were there,” Liefer explains. “The beds have been slept in. Clothes. Food. But no people. I’m sorry, Kenny.”

  “But where are they?” Kenny’s voice breaks. “Alisa, where are they?”

  “Maybe I can scry for them,” she says. “I’ll need a map of the hotel. Let’s go into another room. There should be an emergency exit plan on the back of the door, I can use that. We’ll find your father and your brother, Kenny. We will.”

  “No nee
d to trouble yourselves.”

  My voice comes from the far end of the hall. My voice, but a little more formal. More pompous. More cruel. The voice that visited me in the floating room.

  The Common King is about twenty feet away, a few doors down the corridor. Jasmine is with him. So is Dante, who must have been hiding them. They’re all smiling. Pleased with themselves.

  My mom’s there, too. Not smiling. But she’s with them.

  Kenny’s father and brother kneel on the carpet in front of them. Mr. Pillman doesn’t look much like his sons, with his dark, clear complexion and black hair, but Bobby Pillman is a miniature version of his older brother. Tall for eleven, with the same curly red hair and freckles. Father and son are both in plain white t-shirts and sweatpants. Barefoot. Dressed for bed.

  The king rests a hand on each of the Pillmans’ heads. “You can call off the search. They’re right here.”

  Alisa steps forward. “How long—”

  “Not long. One of my servants called security on her cell phone and alerted them that we have guests, guests who magically transported her far from the hotel. Security alerted me.” He inclines his head back towards my mother, behind him. “Kelle, remind me to do something nice for those maids once they’ve returned. Maybe let them see their families tomorrow. Loyalty should be rewarded.”

  Mom nods. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

  “Although I could have guessed you’d be back.” The king grins at us. “Your plan is to stop me from breaking the Moment, yes?”

  None of us respond.

  He sighs and shakes his head. “Don’t answer, then. I’ve filled in the blanks already. The book, Creatures of Myth and Legend, is a key component of the Moment. You tried to steal it from me before, and I’m guessing without it whatever spell you attempted failed. Yes? No, no, I know.” He makes a buttoning gesture across his mouth. “Loose lips sink ships, as they say here. But your ship is leaking quite badly already. This time you’ve come for Kenny, yes? Thinking if he amplifies your logomancy, you won’t need the book?” He taps his chin with his thumb. “That might work. Yes, I think it might. Or it would, if you had any chance of escaping me.”

  Mr. Liefer raises his arms toward the Pillmans, but before he can begin to gesture, his hands explode into flames. Pulsing orange light swallows everything below his wrists. Liefer screams, recoils backwards into the door, then drops to the carpet. He tries to smother the flames with his body but they won’t go out.

  “Stop!” Lily screams. “Stop it!”

  “Oh, I’m just getting started.”

  “Run.” Alisa bends down to help Liefer, but he’s curled up into a ball, wrapping his torso around his burning hands and screaming horribly. “Chris and Ambrose, help me! Everybody else, run!”

  Mr. Ambrose, Alisa and I try to pick Liefer up, but it’s no use. He’s too heavy and when we heave him up he thrashes away in agony.

  “Pain,” I say. “Mr. Ambrose, disrupt his pain.”

  Nobody else ran, despite Alisa’s command. Nate and Lily only took a few steps before stopping and waiting for the rest of us. And Kenny moved a little closer to our enemies.

  “Nobody’s going anywhere.” The Common King stamps his foot and a straight line of fire, a few inches high, spreads out from beneath it on either side. The flickering line spreads across the carpet until it hits the walls, where it climbs up to the ceiling, finally joining its two ends above the king’s head. A square of flame, framing him.

  “Disrupt!” Mr. Ambrose puts his hands on Liefer’s head. “Disrupt!”

  The square of flame shoots forward, away from the Common King and his friends. As it travels down the hall towards us it leaves in its wake an orange inferno covering every surface of the corridor. The fire reaches Kenny first, but passes beneath his feet without harming him. I flinch as it shoots past me, but even though it’s uncomfortably hot, it’s not consuming anything. Once past Nate and Lily, the square closes itself off, forming a wall of flame behind them. An identical wall forms behind the Common King and his allies. The doors and walls and carpet and ceiling are hidden from view. We’re sealed inside a long tunnel of flames.

  Liefer’s cries quiet. He uncurls, just a little. The fire that burned him has gone out and now I can see his hands. What’s left of them.

  Nate covers his mouth. “Oh, god. Oh, man.”

  Liefer’s head drops to the floor, resting in the unburning fire. His eyes stare blankly.

  “Nice effect, don’t you think?” The king waves his hand through the flames coming from the wall next to him. “It won’t hurt you. So long as you behave.”

  Kenny drops to his knees, his calves and feet half-swallowed by the fire. “Please,” he sobs. “Please. Please. Please.”

  My double puts his hands on his prisoners’ heads again. Kenny’s father is frozen in terror, but the younger Pillman weeps uncontrollably.

  “Oh, Kenny.” He runs his fingers through their hair. “I did warn you.”

  “No!” Alisa runs forward, her hands in the air. “No. Kenny didn’t betray you. I forced him. This is my fault.”

  “Ree Vardanchild.” He grins at her. “Pardon me, it’s Alisa Green, now, yes? I never had the pleasure of an in-person meeting in the real world, and our encounters in this false reality have been so frustratingly brief. I look forward to getting much better acquainted during your stay as my guest.” He throws his arms up, releasing the Pillmans, who fall forward onto their hands. “That’s right! Despite my reputation I am a kind and generous ruler. Aren’t I a kind and generous ruler, Tes?”

  “Oh, yeah.” Jasmine nudges him with her shoulder. “Super kind, and, like, the most generous.”

  He laughs. “You all have such unique talents. Why waste them when I can use them?”

  “So what, then?” Alisa brushes some stray braids back. “You’re going to keep us prisoner?”

  “Yes. Until you come around to my way of thinking.” He points at Liefer. “Except maybe him. He’s too difficult to keep locked down, and I doubt he loves anyone enough for me to use them as leverage. Besides, you’ve already got a teleporter.” He winks at me. “Dashing Zane Winarski. Your Mr. Liefer is redundant. I should kill him now.” He grins. “Although I’ve already taken his hands. If I take his tongue too, I could keep him as a pet.”

  Nate comes forward to join us, but doesn’t say anything. Jasmine spots him, and her gleeful expression falters.

  I try to catch my mother’s eye, but she looks dead ahead.

  “Hm.” The Common King tsks at us. “I was expecting more pleading. I knew begging was too much to hope for, certainly from you, Alisa. But no appeals to my better nature?” He shoots a look over his shoulder, at his three allies. “Not so much as a ‘This isn’t you!’ or a ‘You don’t have to do this!’ for my friends?” He folds his arms. “I’m a little disappointed, to be honest.”

  “They’ve made their choice,” Alisa says. “And so have you.”

  He tilts his head. Smiling again. “And what choice are you about to make, I wonder?”

  “Same choice I always make.” She flexes her fingers. “I choose truth.”

  His smile drops. He puts a hand to his heart and he staggers back a step.

  Jasmine catches him. “Kirt? What’s wrong? What did she do?”

  “Dropped a little truth bomb, Jaz,” Alisa answers. “Those dirty little secrets about ourselves we like to keep buried? I can drag them all out into the light and make you see yourself for who you really are. No rationales, no excuses. That’s what I did to him.”

  Damn. I hadn’t thought of Alisa using her powers like that. I’m glad I’m not still in his head while she’s working this bit of magic.

  “It’s true.” The Common King’s eyes roll up as he whispers. “It’s true. I see it. Everything I’ve done. The people I’ve killed. The reasons I’ve done it all. So…” He shudders. “So petty. So small.”

  “No.” Jasmine takes his hands. “No, Kirt. You’re not petty. You’re not small. Don�
��t let her get to you.”

  Mr. Pillman and Bobby twitch, startled by something. Bobby puts his hands over his ears. Then they both look at Alisa, wide-eyed.

  She’s talking to them, in their heads. While still keeping her spell on the Common King going.

  I take a slow step back. Lily is behind me, and I whisper to her, “Get Liefer together. He’s gotta get us out of here.”

  She crouches down with Liefer and Mr. Ambrose. Dante, silent up to this point, shouts, “Hey! Hey, they’re doing something!”

  Mom forms a javelin of ice in her hands. Despite the heat surrounding us it doesn’t even drip. “Don’t.”

  Lily puts her hands up. “I’m just checking on Mr. Liefer, Mrs. Armstrong. He’s hurt bad.”

  “Snap out of it!” Jasmine roughly shakes the king. “I can get in your head, too, Kirt! Don’t make me!”

  His eyes come back into focus. For a moment he clings to Jasmine, breathing heavily, but then he shoves her away. “It’s ‘my Lord’ in front of company, Tes.”

  Jasmine smiles and bows her head. “Sorry, my Lord.”

  He takes a deep breath, then blows it all out and smiles. “Whoo! That was an interesting experience. I’m right to keep you alive, Alisa. Thank you for that. A little soul searching does a world of good.”

  “What did you see?” I ask.

  His smile vanishes at the sound of my voice, replaced with a sneer. “That everything I’ve done needed doing. That regrets are for the weak. That I’m far better off with you cut out of me, Chris Armstrong.” His eyes glow a fiery red. “I want the logomancers alive. And my queen has a soft spot for that friend of yours. But I don’t need you for anything, Chris. And I’ll be happier without a constant reminder of my one and only defeat staring me in the face.”

  The fire spills out from his eyes, flickering around his brows. Nate takes my hand.

  “Yes.” The Common King scratches his chin thoughtfully. “Yes, I think I can safely kill you now.”

  The flames from his eyes flare higher.

  Nineteen

  My mother doesn’t move. She doesn’t lower her ice javelin. She doesn’t take her eyes off us. Her voice is calm and respectful as she simply says, “Your Majesty.”