by Lee French
Still groggy, Caius scanned the site, trying to make sense of what he saw. His horse galloped into view, dodging flying rock.
“The seal is broken!” the horse screamed.
Caius held Iulia close, still protecting her. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath amidst the chaos. When he let it out, his eyes snapped open. Alert and free of the weariness caused by the wine, he took in his surroundings and ended looking down at Iulia. Her grace had returned and she laid a hand on his face, sorrow in her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“What have you done?”
“The only thing I could do.”
Silver claws crunched into the rock at the edge of the now-destroyed stone slab. A dragon, its features similar to Enion’s in his large form, slammed another claw into the rock and pulled itself up to stand on the ground. Snapping its wings open, it bellowed rage and frustration in a terrifying roar that threatened to burst Claire’s heart from the inside.
Caius shoved Iulia to the ground in his own rage. She collapsed into a heap, sobbing. He grabbed a fistful of his horse’s mane and leaped onto its back. The horse thundered away. Moments before it disappeared over the side of the cliff, Caius looked back, cringing with anguish, and saw the dragon standing over Iulia protectively, her hand on its silver skin.
Claire groaned while the world spun again. When it stopped, she knelt in the library, facing the large mural once again. Some other time, she’d have to try the rest of these images, because that part of the story made her want to know more. The seal, the dragons, Iulia—they all fascinated her. At one time, the dragons had been large in the real world. Caius and other Knights must have sealed them away for some reason. With Enion so harmless and cute, she couldn’t imagine what made them need such a drastic prison.
“I suspect you understand a great deal more about your original reception here now.”
Pleased to hear Rondy’s voice from behind her, Claire turned and smiled. “Yeah.” She checked the dragon around her neck and found him sleeping. If he hadn’t wakened during that vision, she figured he hadn’t experienced it with her.
“Djembe has always been an eager student of our history. Justin…less so.”
“Not surprised.” Claire stood and brushed herself off. Her stomach growled loud enough to echo.
Rondy grinned. “How about if I fill in some gaps over sandwiches?”
“Sounds good to me.”
Chapter 12
Justin
“I feel strange.” Tariel clopped up the road home, taking it slow.
Justin looked the horse over. Nothing seemed off to him. He patted his sword, retrieved from Anne’s yard before they left, reassuring himself he still had it. “Strange how?”
“I’m not sure.” She took a long, deep breath and huffed it out through her nose. “Colors seem…off.”
“We did get hit by magical backlash. I don’t think that’s ever happened to us before. It stands to reason something different would happen.”
“I suppose. Usually when you make sense it’s because I’m not thinking straight. This time, your conclusion seems sound. If that’s what magical backlash does to you, maybe we should seek it more often.”
“Funny.” He rubbed his face, wishing he had time to take a nap. They turned up the driveway, and he climbed off Tariel’s back. “Don’t go anywhere. We’re heading right back down there in a few minutes.”
“I should eat soon. So should you.”
“I’ll ask Anne for something.” He patted Tariel’s neck and strode to the cottage. Inside, he found chaos. Lisa chased Missy around the kitchen table, shrieking and waving stuffed animals in the air. Drew stood at the counter, trying to both wash the dishes and stop the girls. Justin didn’t spot Marie until she stood on the other side of the couch with a filled laundry basket.
Marie saw him and sighed with relief. “Welcome back.” She set the basket down and rushed to him.
“Girls! Settle down.” His voice sounded sharp to his own ears, but they stopped screaming and running to stare at him. “Drew, you need to come with me.”
Marie stopped an arm’s length away. “What?”
He closed the distance to his wife and wrapped his arms around her. “I need to grab Drew and take him someplace. We’ll be back in an hour or so.”
“I just got home.” Marie pulled away enough to look him in the eye. “My parents had to go into town, the girls are hyper, and Claire is nowhere to be found. I need help right now. Can you at least wait until someone else gets back?”
Justin saw the dark circles under her eyes and the droop of her shoulders. Between soothing away Lisa’s nightmares and getting up earlier than usual for her job, Marie hadn’t gotten much more sleep than he did last night. An hour’s nap would probably be a good thing, for both of them.
Not wanting to argue in front of the girls, he walked with his wife to the hall beyond the living room. “I’m sorry. This can’t wait.”
She covered her face and rubbed her eyes. “Jay, you know the first day at the store is always hard on me, especially since it’s the day before Thanksgiving, and I need to make the pie, and you forgot the butter. How am I supposed to make an apple pie without butter?”
Thinking back to his trip to the store, Justin remembered Missy whining about being bored the entire time. When he’d turned his back on her to get milk, she’d bolted. Five minutes later, he’d found her surrounded by picture books on the floor.
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I let Missy distract me too much. I’ll stop for butter on the way home, I promise.”
Marie took a deep breath and gave him a weak, tired smile. “At least let Drew finish the dishes. You didn’t do them before you left.”
Though judging Kurt was much more important than something as mundane as dirty dishes, Justin nodded. “It can wait a few minutes.”
“Thank you. Is any of this going to spill over into tomorrow?”
He wanted to promise he’d be around all day. With Claire here, they could divide and conquer the girls. Maybe he could lounge on the couch in Jack’s basement den and watch some football.
“I don’t think so.”
Marie gave him a quick, light kiss. “Good.”
More than anything, he wanted to sweep her off her feet and carry her to the bedroom to lavish attention on her for a while. Missy screamed in the other room. With a sigh, he squeezed Marie’s bottom and let her go to deal with the disaster. He ducked into the bathroom to avoid being drawn into it.
By the time Justin returned to the main room, Drew had finished the dishes and Marie had Lisa coloring at the table while Missy played with her stuffed unicorn by the couch. He chose not to interrupt the tenuous peace and beckoned for Drew to follow him outside in silence.
In the mud room, Drew shrugged into his jacket. “What’s going on? Is Claire in trouble?”
“No.” Justin pushed the boy ahead of him to where Tariel snacked on tall grass near the driveway. “I ran into someone you need to meet.”
Drew set his foot into the stirrup and took Justin’s help launching himself into the saddle. “Someone? Who?”
Hauling himself up behind Drew, Justin wondered why he wanted to be so coy about the matter. He gained nothing from keeping the kid in the dark. “I believe he’s your grandfather.”
“What?” Drew cranked his body around to peer up at Justin with his brow furrowed. “How?”
“It’s complicated.” Justin turned Drew around to face forward as Tariel walked down the driveway. “The important thing is he wants to see you.”
Tariel launched into a gallop down the street, making further conversation impossible. That suited Justin fine. He didn’t know what else to say about the subject, especially not to Drew. If it was Claire, they’d talk about Phasms and identifying corruption in them. They might also discuss how to cross into a Phasm’s demesne and how things worked on the other side. None of that would help Drew, though.
His thoughts wa
ndered back to Marie. Her seasonal job at the nursery her sister worked for always ran her down. In January, when the job ended, he could expect her to come down with a wretched cold. He needed to do something for her, maybe something to help her stay healthy. She always wanted wool socks. Flowers or chocolates would make her smile, but wool socks would make her happy. Maybe he could find gloves and a scarf to go with them.
Of course, he had no money to get these things, but that didn’t have to stop him. In an emergency, he had no trouble bending or breaking a law or two. He’d certainly done it before, and he’d definitely do it again. This counted as an emergency, of sorts.
Several minutes later, Tariel slowed to a stop in front of Anne’s house. Justin flipped his cloak aside to let Drew see the place.
“He lives here?” Drew asked.
“Sort of.”
“He’s squatting in the woods?”
Justin hopped down and helped Drew dismount. “Not exactly.”
They heard the flock of dragons chirping before reaching the trees. The silver creatures clustered around the hollow stump, some perched on edges and broken branches, others lounging inside it. He grabbed Drew’s jacket and hauled the boy stumbling past the flock, ignoring how the kid gaped at the creatures.
He reached the nearby sycamore. With a simple press of his will, they left the normal world and entered Kurt’s demesne. The sunset remained as breathtaking as it had been before. Justin had seen it before and didn’t care. He looked around, finding nothing but sand, water, and grass. “Kurt? He’s here.”
Drew turned all around, eyes wide with wonder and mouth hanging open. “Where are we? How did you do that?”
“Didn’t tell him a thing, eh?” Kurt appeared behind them. “Damn, you’ve grown, boy. Last I remember, you were maybe this tall.” He held out his hand, indicating roughly three feet tall, and smiled wistfully. “Spitting image of your dad.”
“What?” Drew turned and blinked, staring at the misty form of Kurt. His mouth opened and shut several times until he finally poked Kurt’s arm. Drew pulled his hand back, rubbing his finger against his thumb. “Whoa. What is this place?”
Justin smirked. “It’s your grandfather’s demesne.”
“This is really…wow. But, um, where is he?”
“Right there.”
Drew frowned at Kurt and cocked his head from side to side. “No, that’s not—”
“It’s all right.” Kurt chuckled. “You only ever saw me old. This is what I looked like in my twenties.”
Justin shrugged. He’d expected this to be different, smoother. Drew should’ve been overcome with emotion. Instead, he seemed confused and didn’t even recognize his own grandfather. “He’s a ghost, Drew. He died about a month ago.”
“But—”
“Death doesn’t stop a Knight, right, boy?”
“No, sir,” Justin said with a grin. “It sure doesn’t.”
“Wait—”
Kurt set his hand on Drew’s shoulder, and the boy’s mouth snapped shut. “How about you give me a little time with the kid? He probably needs the whole spiel. That’d bore you to tears. Besides, I got a few private things to say.”
If Drew came out possessed, Justin felt certain he’d notice. Now that he knew how to get into and out of Kurt’s demesne, taking care of any corruption should be a simple matter. “Sure thing. Send him through when you’re done, and I’ll take him home.”
With Drew seemingly deep in thought and Kurt waving him away, Justin backed out of the demesne and returned to Tariel. She stood beside the house with Anne petting her nose and offering her an apple. Tariel inhaled the fruit.
“He’s a big jerk, isn’t he,” Anne cooed at the horse. “I’ll bet he never feeds you properly. A magical creature like you probably needs all sorts of things he won’t make the effort to give you.”
Justin scowled. “Yes, she starves regularly. That’s why you can’t see her ribcage.” He sighed and rubbed his face, trying to wipe his weariness away. “All the same, do you happen to have some oatmeal I can give her? It’s been a strange day.”
“I might.” Anne patted Tariel’s nose affectionately. “I’ll go check. In a bowl?”
“Anything big enough for her to stick her mouth into is fine. Thanks, Anne.” He watched his sister-in-law disappear inside the house. After the door shut, he noticed how quiet this area was. At home, he could always hear birds chirping, kids screaming, small animals chittering, kids shouting, and frogs croaking.
“I hate oatmeal, and you know that. It’s mushy and gross. Are you trying to irritate me on purpose?”
“No, I tried to pick something simple, fast, and warm. Aren’t you starving to death?”
“Yes,” Tariel grumbled. “How long are we staying here?”
“As long as Kurt wants to talk to Drew. He won’t be able to get home otherwise.”
“He has a bus pass.”
“Marie is already frazzled enough. Let’s get her babysitter home as soon as possible.” Justin patted Tariel’s neck and cocked his head to the side. He still heard nothing. “There’s no ur-phasms here.”
“Good. One more reason to believe Kurt isn’t corrupted. That makes everything easier.”
Something seemed off about that to Justin, but he couldn’t imagine why. Tariel was right. They had no reason to worry about Kurt. He needed to be watched, certainly, but not quite so closely. “I don’t think we should introduce Claire to him. Not yet, anyway. She’ll only get confused and try to stab him.”
“Agreed. I’m amazed you were able to see he’s not a threat.”
Justin raised his fist to rap Tariel on the nose for being a snot, but Anne returned, carrying a steaming metal mixing bowl. She gave Justin a dark, superior look while he turned the gesture into scratching his cheek.
Anne held the bowl where Tariel could stick her nose into it. “Are you staying for dinner?”
Justin glanced at the woods, wishing Kurt and Drew would hurry. “I hope not.”
Chapter 13
Claire
Chewing the last bite of the best sandwich she’d ever had, Claire watched Enion crack sunflower seeds open while Rondy sipped from a mug of tea. Her dragon sat on a saucer, having already devoured a layer of other seeds. Beside him lay a carrot stick with tiny grooves where he’d gnawed on it. The celery stick on the far side of the plate had only one bite missing. Enion now knew he didn’t like celery.
Rondy sat opposite her at the sturdy wooden picnic table, a half-eaten bowl of broth and vegetables warming his hands. With Claire eager to avoid encountering too many Knights too fast, they’d made lunch in the kitchen, then found a small, empty room nearby.
“I’m pretty sure I need to check out those other stories,” Claire said, “but why did Iulia break the seal? That seemed pretty dumb to me. I mean, she loved Caius, right?”
“Caius later had her executed without questioning her, so we’ll never really know. All the stories are told from a Knight’s perspective, not hers.”
Claire picked up the celery stick and tapped it against the table, not sure if she wanted to eat it or not. “Why’s she got such a prominent, detailed picture, then? I mean, shouldn’t the story of how the Palace became a thing be more important?”
“Caius decided how to arrange the stories. At the time, the sting of her betrayal presumably shaped his opinion on a great many things. As you’ll discover in the earlier stories, he loved her with his whole heart and soul and wanted to protect her. Though he tried to shield her from his efforts to create the Palace, it’s likely she knew the danger she unleashed when she broke the seal.”
“Okay, hang on. Caius created the Palace? Why? It’s great and all, but without it there wouldn’t be Knights. And without the Knights…there wouldn’t be Phasms. Right?”
Rondy pushed his bowl aside and laced his fingers together. “Records from before the Palace are minimal and of questionable quality. We don’t truly know everything that prompted Caius to create the Pal
ace, nor do we understand the mechanism that causes Knights to become Phasms.
“What historical records do exist clearly show that evidence of the supernatural declined significantly after the Palace was constructed. The rise of science had something to do with this, of course. Most people no longer attribute diseases to curses. On the other hand, we know kraken existed. They haven’t been a problem since the Palace. Likewise for dragons, hydras, giant wolves, and other beasts now believed to be mythical.”
As he spoke, filling the small room with his rich, melodious voice, Claire decided she preferred this method of storytelling over being tossed into a vision. Justin probably felt the same way, which explained how he knew so much and so little at the same time.
“Does it block good stuff with the bad?”
“More than likely, yes. The darkness held back more than justifies it.”
Claire took a bite of the celery, mulling that over. Giant super-monsters sounded pretty bad, but if heroes could use superpowers, that seemed like it would balance the whole thing out. Then again, only a few weeks ago, a minor ghost puff had almost murdered Justin’s family and Claire along with them. Someone operating right under Justin’s nose had managed to bind Enion’s entire flock against their will. Those heroes would wind up acting like police all the time, squashing monsters and probably power-mad wizards and things.
“Okay, so here’s what I don’t get about all this. Actually, there’s lots of things, but this one is bugging me right now. What’s Enion?”
The dragon froze in the act of biting down on a seed. “Me?”
“Yeah, you. In that history vision-thing, dragons were sealed away and Iulia broke the seal. I’m guessing Caius eventually won and made another seal or something. That dragon looked like it wanted to rip him a new one, and he seems like the kind of guy who wouldn’t just let that happen. Thing is, that dragon looked just like Enion, how he appeared when we faced Caius to make my dagger. He really doesn’t look like that right now. He’s tiny. What’s the deal with that?”
