by D N Meinster
And Kytheras was not the exception. Faunli was ruled by the Korona dynasty. Only a member of that family could inherit the throne. In Belliore, a council of elites ruled that were chosen based on their abilities, not by who their fellow Bellish desired. And Terrastream was temporarily ruled by a king who took power by force, though tribal chiefs chosen by the stars were the typical leaders.
It was absurd to think that people could choose just about anyone to be their ruler. So if Aros convinced enough Twileans to put his name down on their slips of parchment, he could become the King, or Mayor, of these islands? That would be ridiculous.
But then, the people having a say in who ruled over them? There was some sense to that. Kytheras had had its share of bad kings. Imagine if the people could have removed them from the throne with only parchment. It’d be incredible, but it seemed like fantasy.
“I guess none of you have heard of elections,” Hunner commented on the silence. “Funny, since before Twileans swore allegiance to King Aergo, we chose the Mayor by vote back then as well.”
“Why wouldn’t they put that in the history books?” Rikki wondered aloud.
“Why indeed,” Hunner replied.
“To keep this one in power,” Kula spoke, nodding at Doren. “And to keep any other ideas out of your heads.”
“Wife’s got it right,” Hunner stated.
“I…” Doren tried to respond, but there were no other words escaping his lips.
“Think on it,” Hunner said. “But before we part ways, mind telling me if Neanthal’s on these islands? As Acting Mayor, I should know.”
“Hatswick,” Rikki spoke. “Former Grand Mage. He’s a Thalian and trying to gather the Keys to release him.”
“Keys?” Hunner spotted the Key hanging from Rikki’s neck. “To open the Door.”
“Do you know where your Key is?” Aros asked, hopeful they could wrap this trip up quickly and return home. Hunner was the current leader of the Islands. Who else would know?
“I know how to find out where the Key is,” Hunner stated, checking back the way he’d come. “But you don’t want to go there.”
“Why not?” Aros asked.
“Does it have something to do with why you’re Acting Mayor?” Rikki asked, catching on.
“That it does.” Hunner looked at his wife, who clearly didn’t approve of what he was about to say. “Stay here with Clayd.”
“Don’t do this,” she begged. “We just escaped.”
“Escaped what?” Doren asked.
“I’ll show you.” Hunner indicated that the trio should follow him, and he turned around and started sauntering back through the rows of palm trees.
Aros followed Hunner and his friends as they navigated through tight patches of brush that accompanied the trees. Even as they made their way from the shore, the sand remained everywhere. It made him miss home deeply. So he didn’t care what danger Hunner was about to show them, he was going to get the Key and go back.
“You might want to keep your weapons at the ready,” Hunner suggested as they went on.
Aros only withdrew one clawblade as they kept walking. The air cooled down as they went, which he attributed to the wide fronds of the palms.
Were they about to find out how Clayd got his scars? There was something on these islands that could do that, wasn’t there? Aros would have thought it to be some sort of sea creature, yet they kept going further inland.
“It doesn’t take much to travel across these islands,” Hunner informed them. “Even Noon only takes a few hours to cross going at a tortoise’s pace. Of course, it takes even less time now, given how there’s only so much we’re capable of crossing.”
Doren was the first to ask, “What does that mean?”
Hunner stopped and waited for them all to gather at a particularly dense thicket. “We didn’t know what it was at first. Took a bit of reading for us to put a name to it. Even then, we thought it was a mage playing tricks. Only problem was there was only one mage on these islands. If I’d have known about Hatswick earlier, might have even thought it was him. And it would’ve been a relief if it was.”
Aros gulped as Hunner reached into the bushes and began to push the branches to the side.
Rikki, Doren, and Aros all pressed their heads against each other as they sought to look into the hole Hunner had created. For a short way past the brush, there was only more sand and more palms. But beyond that, there was something else; something bright.
Aros had only seen the substance when he was younger, so it took a minute for him to recall what it was. But as he stared at the white fluff that had coated the trees and piled up atop the sands, he remembered.
Snow.
It had snowed on the Twilight Islands.
As his mouth slowly dropped open, a frosty breeze chilled him to his core, and he shook in terror at the impossible substance before him.
Chapter Two
An Icy Welcome
Even if it was Winter, it should not have been possible. Rikki was fluent enough in science and history to know that. And with magic, it would’ve taken days to conjure up the profuse amount of snow that had piled on the islands.
And it did look like magic. It was still fairly warm where they were, behind the brush. How could the weather transition so steeply mere feet away? That’s not something that would happen due to natural causes.
Rikki couldn’t look away from the white substance. Its mysterious and likely mystical nature had her transfixed. Hunner had insisted it wasn’t done by a mage, but she could only presume that Hatswick was behind it. Who else would it be?
She shuddered, not because of the chilly breeze but because of her former teacher. Hatswick had defeated her and nearly killed her on these islands. All that water was merely a means of death. She was glad to have grown up without so much of it. It hardly ever rained in Kytheras, and she had never had access to any of the sources of water, thanks to her imprisonment in Castle Tornis.
The only time she could recall seeing snow was when Hatswick had created a self-contained storm within their classroom. That’s why this had to be him. There was no other explanation.
Rikki did not want to face him here. Hatswick had the advantage on these islands. He could manipulate the oceans and, apparently, the weather. She could create a storm, sure, but snow? The closest she’d gotten to that was when she’d accidently caused it to hail in Faunli.
He was going to drown her. He was going to freeze her. Not here. Not here.
The Twilight Islands began to fade around her as she impulsively started shifting to another kingdom. Only when Doren touched her arm did the world around her become solid once more.
“Are you okay?” Doren asked her.
Rikki shook her head. Her initial experience on these islands had not left her with fond memories.
Hunner withdrew his arm from the bushes, and the branches all snapped back into place. “If you’ve got a problem with the snow, then you definitely won’t like what else I have to tell you.”
“The Key is buried beneath all that snow,” Aros guessed.
“Couldn’t tell ya,” Hunner replied. “Not too far into that damn blizzard is Tunsev Manor. It’s where the Mayor lives during his tenure, and where all the records of the Twilight Islands are kept. King Shine himself lived there with his family during the exile. Of course, it is now otherwise occupied.”
Rikki locked her eyes onto Hunner’s. He didn’t mean Hatswick, did he? While whatever was there currently propagated an immense fear within his soul, she was rather relieved. “So where’s the Key?”
Hunner looked away from her. “To protect it, the Key was buried somewhere on these islands not long after it was given to us. A single map was drawn to reveal its location, and an enchantment was put upon it so that only someone in possession of that map would be able to see the Key when it was dug up. That map was left in the protection of the Mayor of Twilight, where it has stayed for hundreds of years. As far as I know, it’s somewhere
in Tunsev Manor.”
Rikki looked past Hunner, picturing herself rushing through the brush and mounds of snow toward a red-bricked mansion in her mind’s eye.
“What have you left out?” Doren demanded to know.
“I was gonna tell ya,” Hunner insisted. “Ya might not find Hatswick or any Thalians in Tunsev Manor, but there’s something worse there now. We started calling them frost urchins, cause the spikes on their backs reminded us of those thorny critters in the sea. But there ain’t nothing else like them. Everywhere they go, they bring the cold with them. They can’t speak, but they’re smart.” He pointed to his head. “They work together, ganging up on any poor Twilean that crosses their path. We’re food to them, and they’ve made a meal out of many of us.”
Aros looked like he was about to be sick, while Doren stared stone-faced at the Acting Mayor. Rikki, however, was more curious than anything else.
“Where did they come from?”
Hunner smirked. “One day they weren’t here, and the next day they were. That’s all I know. Rise is already lost to them, and Noon will follow. I’ve tried to evacuate all survivors to Set, which is where we were on our way to before we ran into you.”
“And what happens when they get to Set?” Rikki knew the answer before he even gave it.
“Twileans become extinct,” Hunner replied. “The Islands will belong to the urchins.”
Rikki tucked her chin against her chest, her hair sagging down along her shoulders. It was clear they weren’t on these islands just to retrieve the fifth Key. They were there to save all the islanders as well. Magenine didn’t even have to give those orders directly to Aros for her to know it was their purpose. She wouldn’t even have to. Rikki was compelled to come to their aid.
Nevertheless, she was hoping this was going to be a brief trip. Her friends might think this place a paradise, but she knew better. Ironically, the urchins were transforming them so no one would think that.
“How many are there?” she asked. They had to know what they were up against.
“Hundreds. Thousands. I don’t have a count for ya.” Hunner tried peeking through the bushes. “Whenever I see ‘em, I run. That’s how I survived. You try to fight them, you end up like Clayd’s parents.”
“We have some experience fighting nasty things,” Doren alerted him to with a hint of bluster.
“Like that purple fuzzball on your friend?” Hunner nodded toward Aros.
“Mr. Kwee’s got some skills,” Aros countered. “He’s saved my life.”
“He’ll be bait to the frost urchins,” Hunner warned.
Rikki thought of Ji-Ji and Doren’s miwolf and mideer. They’d left them to wander the islands freely. If they reached a cold patch, they might not know to run from it. Their pets could be in danger.
“We have to go back for Ji-Ji!” Rikki nearly screamed.
Doren’s face fell. “And my nameless pips.”
“Come along,” Hunner said, and he walked by them back in the direction that they’d come.
The trio immediately took after him, and he guided them all back through the palms and shrubs to the shore.
Kula hurried over to her husband and gave him a long hug, even though a frown remained planted on her face. Clayd was busy playing in the shallow water, while Rikki and Doren’s pets flopped around in the waves nearby.
Rikki and Doren grabbed each other’s hands while they sighed in obvious relief.
“We can take them,” Hunner offered.
Everyone’s head turned to him.
“Noon isn’t safe. And you can’t take them with you ‘less you want them to end up as urchin food. Same goes for your Mr. Kwee.”
Aros appeared offended. “I told you—”
“And I’m telling you,” Hunner interrupted. “They’ll be lunch and you’ll be dinner.”
“You won’t eat them, right?” Doren asked, seeking clarity.
“By my word as Acting Mayor, they’ll be safe.”
Doren and Aros both looked to Rikki to make the final decision, as was typical of these boys. Was it so hard for them to reach a conclusion without her input?
If they were truly leaning on her to make the difficult choice, she knew what it had to be. Hunner was absolutely correct. Their pets were in danger if they stayed on this island. It was bad enough they were going to have to risk their own flesh as they went after the urchins and the Key. They couldn’t risk the only other creatures they actually cared about.
“Then you shall take them,” Rikki stated. “But we will be back for them.”
Aros gazed down at Mr. Kwee, and two giant yellow eyes stared right back at him. “You have to go with him, Mr. Kwee.” His hands enveloped the sides of the spherical purple body and started to tug. “Come on.” Aros gently pulled and his pet’s tails loosened from his waist. He raised Mr. Kwee up to his face and leaned his head against the furball. “Thank you for saving me. I’ve got to save you now.”
“Kwee!”
“Hunner is gonna look after you for a while.” Aros held out his pet for the Acting Mayor.
Hunner extended his arm, which was swiftly ensnared by Mr. Kwee’s tails.
“He likes sticking to you,” Aros told him.
“I can tell,” Hunner replied, staring unamused at his new purple sleeve.
“Ji-Ji!” Rikki shouted.
The denhare darted out of the waters and stopped when he came to Rikki’s ankles.
“There are bad things on this island that we have to take care of,” she informed him. “So you’re gonna have to stay with the Acting Mayor until we’re finished with them.” Rikki scooped up the denhare into her palms. “Behave yourself please.”
She turned Ji-Ji over to Kula. “He’s got the soul of a man inside him, so don’t treat him like he’s stupid.”
Kula’s mouth dropped open but no words followed.
Doren dragged his boots through the sand until he made it to the water’s edge. He fell to his knees and whistled. Both the mideer and miwolf abandoned Clayd and rushed toward him.
“I didn’t even get to name you guys yet,” Doren lamented. “Maybe Clayd’s got an idea.”
The child followed Doren’s two pets over to him. “Deerie and Wolfie,” Clayd declared.
Doren snorted. “I suppose it’s slightly better than Mr. Kwee.” He rubbed his knuckles into the tops of each of his pets’ heads before standing back up. “See you soon, Deerie; Wolfie.”
Doren rejoined his companions, who were eyeing their pets like they’d never see them again.
“We’ve got a boat docked not too far from here,” Hunner stated. “It should be safe as the urchins haven’t moved this way yet. But beware the cold. That’s how you’ll know they’re coming.”
Rikki’s heart hadn’t hurt like this since Doren had been in mortal peril. None of them wanted to desert their pets, but keeping them around would’ve been both selfish and dangerous.
“How many made it to Set?” Doren asked.
“Over a thousand, I’m hoping,” Hunner answered. “We’ve even got a mage there. Of course, she’s younger than Clayd. Won’t be much help if the urchins come.”
“We won’t let them,” Aros assured him.
“Here on the Islands, we have an old saying,” Hunner said. “Live in the light of the sun and it will keep you warm through the darkness. Stay warm, my friends.”
Kula elbowed him in the shoulder. “And may Magenine’s light point you true.”
“Right, right,” Hunner responded, catching the glint of Aros’ necklace. “Speaking of.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rusty circular device. “An old compass my pop gave me.” He held it out for one of the trio to take.
Rikki examined the needle, which was pointed to the embossed N on the dial.
“Since I won’t be around to help you navigate, this will help you. You keep going south, you’ll find the urchins. Take it.”
When no one else immediately reached out for it, Rikki snatched it up.
“I’d like it back,” Hunner told her.
“Of course,” Rikki said, and she let it fall down the sleeve of her cloak.
“Well,” Hunner began, but he never finished his thought. He and Kula turned away from the trio and headed down the beach.
“Clayd!” Kula called out as they went.
Their ward chased after them, and his newly acquired pets followed.
All three of them watched as the Acting Mayor and his family disappeared into the shore along with their animals.
“What if there aren’t even any urchins?” Aros put forward.
Rikki glared at him.
“We never saw them!” he said defensively.
“We saw the snow,” Rikki reminded him.
“Why would he lie?” Doren asked.
“It could be a Thalian plot,” Aros said, not letting it go.
Rikki wouldn’t admit it out loud, but Aros’ idea was not beyond reason. If Hatswick had created the snow, and Hunner had been acting on his behalf, then the entire story truly could have been fabricated. But to what end? To hold their pets hostage in exchange for the Keys?
The more Rikki thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. And that’s when Rikki decided to get out of the hot sun and back under the palm trees.
She grabbed Doren’s hand and led him back in the direction of the snow. Aros followed them, though he was having trouble letting go of his skepticism.
Rikki understood why Aros was having that reaction. He’d just had to say goodbye to another girl he had deep feelings for. And now he had to give up Mr. Kwee as well. She could sympathize completely, but she hoped it wouldn’t cause Aros to act out again like he had back in Faunli. He didn’t seem to be at a breaking point, but she’d know more when they were engaged in battle.
“What if we never see them again?” Aros whined.
“Don’t think like that,” Rikki replied.
“It’s possible we won’t make it,” Aros went on. “Or they won’t.”
Doren stopped and held his hand in front of Aros’ chest. “Aros. Shut up.”
Aros crossed his arms and bit his lip, but he stayed silent as they traveled through the trees and brush.
