“Good morning, Octiva.” She stepped down the last stair and went to meet Octiva.
“I was on my way to your quarters.” Octiva’s eyes were large with fear and her voice shook. “Come quickly to the Great Hall.”
Sarah followed Octiva to the Great Hall that was amazingly empty. “Where is everyone?”
Octiva walked over to the spot where Marion’s body still lay as it had the night before. “The servants are afraid to come in here. Many ate morning meals in the East Wing Hall.”
She bent down and lifted Marion’s head. “Help me with him.”
Sarah grabbed Marion’s feet and they lifted him onto the table. His black, empty sockets frightened her. “Now what?”
She glanced around quickly and said, “You must encase his body into one of your protective spheres.”
Sarah obeyed and cupped her hands together. The sphere grew and she walked along the length of Marion’s body, pulling the sphere as she walked.
“Why are we doing this?” she asked.
“We must protect his body. He is a Minister Knight and he is the son of Queen Zoë. His body is not the same as mine or yours.”
Finished, Sarah clapped her hands together and the sphere remained intact. “Meaning what?”
“Meaning that if you and the other knights can save his soul, he must be reincarnated back into this body. You will not be able to recreate one for him. Your sphere will keep him from decomposing.”
Octiva sprinkled some powders across the sphere as she watched Sarah. “You must save him.”
“Me?” Sarah asked, disbelieving her own ears.
“You are the gel, Sarah. You must convince Zykeiah and Kalah to assist you. You will need them both if you wish to save Marion and Amana and stop Valek.”
“The three of us need more than that to do all that you ask.” Sarah sat down, her pride deflated, on the bench in front of Marion’s body. “Zykeiah believes I am a traitor.”
Octiva moved from Marion’s body and said, “Round up the knights and meet me back here in this Hall. I have much to tell you and them.”
Sighing heavily, Sarah left the Great Hall and knocked hard on Zykeiah’s door.
“Zykeiah, it is Sarah,” she called.
No response.
“Come on, Zykeiah,” she sighed. “Octiva wants to gather in the Great Hall.”
The door to Zykeiah’s quarters gradually opened to a mere crack from which Sarah could barely make out an eye, the rest was pitch black and cold.
“Go away,” Zykeiah muttered coldly.
“Octiva said we must get together,” she repeated.
Silence as the door opened wider. “For what reason?”
“I do not know,” she concluded before moving over to Kalah’s door. She raised her hand to knock before looking back to Zykeiah.
“You tell him,” she said disgustedly. She was through with their judgments. Each of them had something to be ashamed of, why be so cold toward her mistake?
As she stalked into the Great Hall, the soft pulsating light of the sphere made the Hall seem eerily haunted. The Great Hall, totally devoid of people, did not seem so great. Sarah loomed sorrowfully in the entranceway despite the beautiful day springing to life outside the Great Hall. She did not want to go in, but she knew she must.
Octiva appeared like a pale apparition by the Queen’s throne.
“Where are the others?” Octiva asked.
“Coming,” she said although she wasn’t sure they would come. She came into the hall and climbed into the seat across from Marion’s encased body.
Within minutes, Zyekiah entered the Great Hall and said, “This had better be good.”
Kalah trailed her and looked as though he had spent the night wrestling with demons and lost.
“No, Zykeiah, this is not good. This is tragic,” Octiva said boldly.
Zykeiah halted her steps and frowned as she put her hand on her dagger. “Who are you to speak to me like that?”
Octiva said, “I am the queen’s servant, as are you.” She went on, “Queen Zoë has fallen into a coma.”
“You did this!” Zykeiah reached for her dagger and stepped toward Sarah with a look of burning anger.
“Stop!” Octiva raised her hand. “Allow me to finish.”
Grudgingly, Zykeiah stepped back.
“This coma is because of Marion’s soul extraction,” Octiva declared.
“How?” Zykeiah asked heatedly.
“What?” Kalah asked, shocked.
“Quiet,” Octiva pleaded. “This is extremely important.”
The three remained quiet as Octiva continued. “You three must rescue Marion’s soul and return it here or else both he and Queen Zoë will die.”
Kalah snorted then laughed. “How do you know what will save them? You are nothing but a servant,” he said.
“A servant yes, but also Queen Zoë’s advisor and teacher.” Octiva waved her hand across her face revealing an elderly woman.
“This is my true face.” Octiva smiled beneath her layers of wrinkles and spots of age. “The Northern Forest was only a handful of seedlings when I was your age.”
Kalah gasped and backed away from her, wildly waving his hand across his face as if trying to make sure his face was his own.
“You are one of the people from before!” Sarah shouted, unsure of how she knew that Octiva was one of the ancients; she just did.
With the wave of her hand, Octiva once again showed them her younger face, smooth and free of wrinkles. “Yes, I am the only one left. But all that I knew, I taught the queen.”
Zykeiah had watched in silence. Sarah could not read her expression.
“Minister Knights, Veloris needs you.” Octiva gathered her cloak to leave. “Your time is short, waste none of it.”
* * *
Zykeiah turned to Sarah and said, “I guess that means you have to come with us, but that does not mean I trust you.”
Sarah sighed. She did not argue. What good would it have done? She would just have to prove to Zykeiah that her devotion was to Veloris.
“Do we have a plan?” Kalah asked.
Zykeiah quickly turned her scorn to Kalah. “So does that mean you are coming with us?”
“Are you sure you want to risk it, being the next king of the castle,” Sarah added.
Kalah coughed before shrugging. “She is my mother, too.”
“Then I do have a plan.” Zykeiah smiled for the first time since Marion’s disappearance. “While I was on Solis just a few rotations prior, I learned that Valek is selling Solance to both Saturn Four and Earth 3012.”
“Your plan, Zykeiah,” Kalah said, bored already. He sat down next to Sarah on the bench. “Is to spread that knowledge to both planets?”
“Yes.” She rolled her eyes in disgust at Kalah stealing her thunder.
“But why?” Sarah asked, still not sure about the plan.
“Because, we are only three. There is no way we are capable of defeating Valek alone. But with the help of both planets’ Generals, we can rescue Marion. They can deal with Valek.”
“We should rescue Amana, too,” Kalah pitched in.
Sarah gasped and Zykeiah stared at him in disbelief.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kalah stared back at Zykeiah. “I saw her eyes. She was not in control. Her eyes were blank and dead like the bones in the burial grounds.”
“I have one question.” Sarah interrupted.
“You have had more questions than that,” Kalah said.
She ignored him and asked. “How do we get there?”
* * *
“Where is that little spineless brat?” Valek spat as he spun around his desk.
“They are in the guest quarters.” Manola licked her hand and rubbed angrily at the spot that had developed there.
“We do not have guest quarters,” Valek roared.
“The group of rooms just before the stairs that led down to the dungeon is where we have placed them.” She
alternated between licking the spot on her hand and answering Valek.
“Those rooms had been used for slaughtering slaves.” Valek placed his forehead onto the cool surface of his desk. “Idiot!”
She stopped her licking. “Sir?”
“Get out of here and find Amana!” he barked. “Do something useful for a change!”
She scurried out of his office faster than the first delivery batch of Solance. He sat back in his chair and turned to watch the slow descent of Solis’s sun.
The situation with Earth 4016 and Richard was a done deal until Richard’s advisors started coaching the king into requiring more evidence of Valek’s claims.
“How about a tour?” Richard had asked.
Valek had drawn the line there. The contract be damned. There were other planets he could sell to. No one saw how Solance was made, no one.
Richard then asked for a tour of Valek’s castle and evening meals instead. He reluctantly agreed. He had put too much time and money into wooing the kingdom; one more thing would not be so tragic.
He had been mistaken.
Richard would not leave until all of his advisors’ questions and curiosities were answered. Now they were holed up in his castle; they threatened they wouldn’t leave for days. He hated spineless men; but the more spineless they were, the easier for him to manipulate, and the fatter his pockets would grow.
Grimacing, Valek stood up and went to the window. The blackening sky and the cool breeze of Solis swept pass his office with the smell of sulfur and death.
He had more important things to attend to then Richard’s demands, like Amana’s return with the soul of Marion. Yet, these things gained him no monetary benefit.
Satisfying Richard’s advisors and appetite for knowledge would net him a nice hefty bag of silver.
Valek placed his thin fingertips to his temples and gently massaged. It was not that he was unaccustomed to changes or the everyday stress of managing a business. It was the little tiny nuisances that cropped up in droves and wasted resources and funds.
Those things angered him all the more.
He untied the top of his cloak and it collapsed to the floor in a hush just as Manola shoved Amana through the door of his office.
The girl’s face had been sliced open and it was not a small nick, Valek thought as he walked to greet her.
“Manola, fix the girl’s cheek,” he ordered as he placed his hands on Amana’s shivering shoulders and guided her to his desk.
Manola cupped her hands together and produced a chunky thatch of green paste in her hands.
Valek lifted Amana onto his desk, as if she was a child, and smiled.
Manola dipped two fingers into the paste and with her other hand held the flap of flesh up against Amana’s cheek. Almost like glue, the green paste was applied to her cheek and immediately the skin rejoined and melted into smooth flesh. There was no scar or any indication her cheek was ever damaged.
“There,” Manola said softly, almost motherly.
He lifted his hand and said, “You have something for me?”
The anxiousness within his heart pounded hard and fast, driving the rush through his veins until his entire body felt sensitive and alive.
Hopping down from Valek’s desk, she dug deep into her pockets and removed the small turquoise sphere. “My Lord.”
She dropped the sphere into Valek’s outstretched hands without further comment.
Valek lifted the sphere to his eye level and peered inside. Marion’s gray eyes turned to look at him and screamed what could only be insults and demands, but Valek could not hear it. Only the rapid movements of Marion’s mouth were any indication that the soul was speaking at all.
“So you are the one who dared to steal one of my souls?” he asked, although it was doubtful that Marion could hear him. He grinned and said, “Get MaxMion in here. Now!”
Manola sighed and left the office on yet another errand.
* * *
The day continued, undeterred by the undecided fate of Veloris, as Sarah sat alone in her quarters covered by the blanket Marion had given her on her arrival. It smelled faintly of danker beast, just as it had on her first night on Veloris, but the smell did not matter now.
Naked except for the blanket, she felt exposed and vulnerable. She imagined this was how Marion felt, nestled in the empty, drab soul cages. But she knew from experience that he probably felt nothing at all, which was all the more frightening.
She had to stay focused, for cradled in her hands was a tiny sphere the color of the Antiqk Oracle. This sphere was more pale and dimmer than her usual ones. This was how she would transport Marion’s soul back to Veloris.
If they could rescue him in time.
Zykeiah’s plan was almost perfect. They needed to find a way to get to Saturn Four. Marion knew Veloris like he seemed to know everything else, flawlessly and with precision. He would know what to do. But they did not have him.
Instead they had Kalah who did not know anything of his native planet. It would seem Kalah’s attention and interests revolved around clothes, women, and strong drink.
It was as if Kalah became a Minister Knight by default, because his mother was the queen. She didn’t understand what good his presence would do for them.
“Tell me, all knowing oracle. How do we reach Saturn Four?”
The quiet sphere grew more brilliant and the now familiar voice of the oracle spoke and this time Sarah listened.
“See Queen Zoë,” it said.
The sphere returned to its unlit and silent state.
“You must be joking? That is all you have to say?” Sarah asked.
The Queen lay unconscious in her bed, a prisoner of extreme grief and loss. What could she possibly find there?
She dissolved the sphere and climbed out of bed. She reached for a bronze colored shirt made of fresh cotta and black leather pants. Her sweater hung over the chair, but she could no longer wear it. A constant reminder of Marion, the sweater must remain behind. She would wear it at his homecoming celebration. She swore to it on the breast of her mother.
As Sarah made her way down the stairs and through the castle, children and servants moved about in slow motion. Or maybe it was she who moved in slow motion. They all seemed sullen and sad. Grief had truly blanketed the castle.
On her way to the Queen’s quarters, a toddler boy ran into her as he fled from his older sister’s make-believe monster.
It took Sarah several more steps before she realized the boy had become tangled in her legs. The sister had partially extracted him when she finally looked down. He had been screaming, yet his cries had fallen on deaf ears.
“Oh, little boy, I did not see you there,” she said.
The boy’s huge brown eyes looked up at her before welling up with tears. His mouth trembled, then opened to release a wail that shocked her.
The sister picked up her brother and ran off to the East Wing without looking back.
“What was all that about?” Sarah asked.
“They fear and blame you for Marion’s capture,” Zykeiah said from the opened door of her quarters.
“You told them lies, Zykeiah,” she snapped.
“It was not I.” Zykeiah smiled as she squatted to pick up a discarded marble. “Amana was your sister and you paraded around through the castle with her at your side.”
Sarah resumed her walk to the Great Hall without another word to Zykeiah, whose attitude had changed dramatically since their trip to Stocklah. She wondered if it was the fact that Amana was her sister, or was there something more?
Then she remembered Marion and Zykeiah’s friendliness in the hallway on her second rotation at the castle. Groaning as she found herself in that very same hallway, she thought that Zykeiah was trying to attack her at Stocklah and she had been right.
Zykeiah wanted to get rid of her rival.
As she made her way up the spiraling staircase to the Queen’s quarters, she came face to face with the three royal guards
and this time they took notice of her.
“Halt!” The guard on the right held up his thick, hairy hand.
“No one is permitted to see the queen,” the third guard on the left finished as the middle guard grunted in affirmation.
“It is extremely important that I see her,” she said.
“No one is permitted to see the queen,” the third guard reiterated.
He reached out and grabbed Sarah’s arm and lifted her into the air.
She put her hand on the guard’s arm and pictured the fiery heat of an open hearth.
The pungent smell of burning flesh spiraled into the air as the guard screamed and removed his hand from her arm, causing her to fall to the floor. On fire, the guard screamed and raced past her down the steps.
Confused and a little exasperated, the middle guard tried to snatch Sarah’s hair, but she had thrown one of her bubble-like spheres at him.
The sphere went splat against his chest then proceeded to grow and cover the middle guard. It grew until it restrained his every action and limb, causing him to fall to the floor. The more he wrestled with the gooey substance, the more it spread.
The guard on the right breathed fire at her, but she had already produced a shield that deflected the guard’s fiery breath.
As the guard continued to assault her with his breath, she used the shield to protect herself with one hand and conjured up another throwing sphere with the other.
As soon as he heard the first guard take a breath, she lowered her shield and threw the sphere at him. The guard blew his breath of fire onto the sphere, but it did not dissolve.
Surprised, the first guard stopped for another intake of air when the sphere went splat against his mouth, sealing the guard’s lips and making it difficult for the guard to growl or spit fire.
Like the middle guard, the more he wrestled, the more the gooey substance grew and soon the guard was covered from his head to his grotesque toes.
“Why are they attacking me?” Sarah said aloud.
“Bravo, well done.” Octiva stood just outside the Queen’s quarters. “Your powers are growing by leaps and bounds.”
Winded, Sarah lowered her shield and stared at Octiva. “How long have you been standing there?”
“A little while. It was just a little practice. You wish to see the Queen?”
Modern Magic Page 202
