by Bailey Dark
“At what cost?” I ask. “Are you willing to lose your life? Marcus did.” The room gets eerily quiet. Even the beefcake twins’ attention is rapt on what I’m saying. “Marcus was killed to uncover those secrets. Thomas was tasked to kill me and instead he lost his own life.”
Mallory gulps, “Thomas tried to kill you?”
I dip my head. “And I’m sure he won’t be the last. The council thinks I’m without abilities, which makes me useless to them.” My eyes roam the room, meeting each of the competitors’. “If the council finds that the abilities they are looking for aren’t in this room, none of us will survive.”
“What are they looking for?” Gareth asks, finally sounding shaken.
I look to Chancellor Andrews for answers. “The night the men were murdered the council lost a great deal. They were the three strongest of all the Knights,” he huffs. “But they aren’t just looking to replace those abilities, they need help locating Excalibur.”
“Why would they need our help? Surely, the council can retrieve it.”
He shakes his head, looking grave. “There seems to be a block on the council. They need someone with the Sight ability to infiltrate that and discover where they’ve taken Excalibur.”
“How can the council be blocked?” Mallory asks incredulously.
“That information they are keeping very quiet. Not even I know what’s going on with the council, but whatever it is, they are vexed.”
“So, these trials were all a farce to out our abilities?” Mallory spits with disdain. “They never intended to actually give three of us a seat at the table?”
Chancellor Andrews shakes his head. “It would only go to whoever has the ability of Sight and even then, you’d be nothing more than a puppet for the council. There is no way you’d truly be granted Knighthood.”
“This is bullshit. I’ve been running around here like a chicken with my head cut off for nothing?” Mallory bellows.
“That must mean she doesn’t have Sight,” Galahad snickers at her.
“Like you do?” she seethes. “You can barely sneeze without catching something on fire, you dumb oaf.”
Galahad steps toward her menacingly, but Chancellor Andrews intercepts, holding him in place.
“This isn’t the time. The council is losing patience. If one of you doesn’t show promise soon, they’re going to kill you all.”
“Let me get this straight, only the person in this room that has the Sight ability is going to survive?”
“That’s the only way I see it,” The Chancellor explains. “They have no intention of granting three of you Knighthood. They can’t take the chances of you pitching a fit and having your parents coming at the council to uphold their bargain. They’ll simply get rid of you before it comes to that.”
Mallory sinks to the floor. “I don’t have Sight.”
“What if instead of finishing this worthless trial, we bring them Excalibur?”
The Chancellor narrows his eyes at me.
“We have very strong abilities in this room. Now that we know what the purpose was and that Excalibur is missing, let’s use our combined abilities to bring it to them. In exchange, we’ll barter for our lives.”
“Great plan, Brainiac, but unless you know something we don’t, we’re missing the key element… Sight.” Mallory drones.
“I can help with that,” I admit.
Galahad and Gareth share a glance before turning their steely, disbelieving eyes on me. “You said you didn’t have any abilities,” Gareth challenges.
“You may be strong enough to do this, Gwen,” The Chancellor says, ignoring the boys, “But you’ll need help. Your father always thought you were strong enough to dream walk and do it with passengers. He claimed that when you were a child, you had taken him into a dream with you.”
I search my brain for memory of that, coming up short.
“He said you had asked to go to the fair and he had declined due to work. That night you dreamed of the fair and your father went with you.”
My smile is wide as remember that very dream. I didn’t know then that I was dream walking, I’ve always assumed I had just…dreamed. It’s been a favorite. As we took in the bright lights of the Ferris wheel and all the laughing, giggling kids. The next day, he took me, and we enjoyed all the food and fun I could handle. It was the one time in my life that I felt love from my father. The next day he had returned to the cold man I’ve always known.
“Let’s give it a try,” I say.
“Someone want to fill us in on all of that?” Mallory says with a hint of irritation.
“I have reason to believe we don’t have time for that. It’ll only be a matter of time before the council swoops in. There are spies in the school. I just don’t know who,” he explains. “You must act now.”
I look to Mallory. “I understand you’re confused. I’ve had plenty of time to work out the details of my head, but I need you to trust me. When this is all over, I will explain everything to you.”
She eyes me curiously. “Why should I trust you?” she asks.
“I have no good reason to offer you right now, but I promise I have the best interest of all of us at heart, and I’m trying to protect us.”
She purses her lips, but eventually says the words I’m waiting for her to say. “Let’s do it. Show us what you got, D’Morte.”
Chapter Eighteen
An hour later we meet the chancellor back at the auditorium stage. We had all agreed that we needed time to process this, and the Chancellor needed to gather some supplies.
“How exactly do I do this?” I ask the Chancellor.
“Wait…you don’t know how to do this?” Mallory asks incredulously.
I owe the girl some answers. “Up until recently, I had no idea that I even possessed a single ability,” I say truthfully.
“This should be interesting,” she huffs, beginning to pace the floor.
“If her father is to be believed, she’s very gifted,” the Chancellor says, coming to my defense. “Also, I know a thing or two about dream walking.”
“I need three of you to lie down, forming a circle.”
We look to each other with varying degrees of concern. Tristan pulls me aside. “I’m going to sit this one out, to make sure you’re protected. I’ll keep an eye on things and make sure he’s not up to anything,” he says, gesturing toward the Chancellor.
I find it frustrating that he’s still uncertain about the Chancellor. I’m getting ready to allow the man to put me to sleep. If he still has doubts about him, why on earth is Tristan allowing me to do this?
He couldn’t stop you even if he tried.
I hate my inner voice now more than ever, but someone should stay and watch. I trust Tristan with my life, so it only makes sense that it’s him.
The beef head twins also step away, mumbling their excuses.
“I need a third,” the Chancellor directs to the three boys.
“You may trust him, Gwen, but I don’t. You expect me to let you guys twine my hands behind my back and be put out when I don’t know the whole story? You’re out of your mind. It’s not happening,” Gareth spits and Galahad nods, unable to speak for himself.
Tristan levels the pair of idiots with a stare so lethal they both visibly cower under it. “I’ll do this, but if anything happens and I make it back here, you’ll wish you were never born.”
Tristan sits, completing the circle with Mallory and I.
“Here Gwen, make yourself useful,” the Chancellor says, throwing twine at me. “We will bind your hands together so that when I put you all to sleep, your connection won’t be broken.”
“This seems more like witchcraft than sorcery,” Mallory scoffs.
“My dear girl, magic is magic. No matter the form of it. The only difference is the ways in which we harness it. That’s what differentiates us magical creatures,” he says, tying twine around her wrist, securing her to Tristan. “Sorcerers will argue that because ours is innate, tha
t it’s the purest, but I maintain magic his magic. And here in lies the root problem at the center of the council: we’re split. Some say that the sorcerers should be the only magical beings, while others agree that if this blasted war is to end, and we all come together, our powers would be far greater.”
“Which side are you on?” I ask.
“You already know that answer,” he winks, completing the knot that connects me to Mallory.
“Sadly, that quest will have to be left in the hands of your generation to finish. My generation is far too gone in their beliefs to ever work together. It’s time,” he says, looking at his handy work.
We’re all connected in a circle ready to dream walk and figure out what happened and where Excalibur is hidden.
“What’s the game plan for when we get in here?” Mallory asks.
“I always land in the room where the knights were killed, but now that I know I can control this, I’m going to try something different. I want to be outside. A witch coven was there that night chanting. We need to know why they were there and what - if anything - was said prior to their deaths.”
“What do you want me to do?” Tristan asks.
“Once we land, Mallory will stay outside with the coven and gather any information that she can find,” I look to her and she nods. “Tristan, you need to find out who is wearing the cloak and why she did this.”
Everyone sits quietly for a moment, taking in their quests and getting prepared. Tristan’s hand squeezes mine and I turn to smile at him. I need to be calm and Tristan has that effect on me. I take several deep breaths until I’m finally ready.
“Gwen, before I put you to sleep, you need to concentrate. You should have the ability to appear where you want and summon Tristan and Mallory into your dream.”
“How?”
“I’m getting to that,” he snaps, irritated. “Close your eyes and imagine your dream. Picture Tristan and Mallory being next to you and hold that image in your head. You ready?” he asks the three of us, and we all give our consent.
He whispers words that I couldn’t hear when he snaps, “Stop paying attention to me and start concentrating, Gwen.”
I do as he says, blocking out everything around me. I call the image of the witches in the courtyard to my head. Then I imagine Tristan and Mallory on either side of me. I hold that image until I’m actually there.
Holy shit. It worked.
Mallory and Tristan are soon beside me, wide eyed. “You did it,” Mallory says in awe.
“Pretty badass, right?”
She rolls her eyes, “Only if you get us out of here in one piece, too. Can they see us?” she whispers.
“No. At least they never seemed to before.”
Tristan walks up to the witch that I presume is their coven leader. Waving a hand in front of her face, he elicits no reaction.
“I think we’re safe,” he says.
The witches are just standing there at this point. They aren’t chanting. Since I have never been on this side before, I’m not sure at what point of the dream we’re in.
“Where’s the hooded woman?” Tristan asks.
“I’m not positive, but I can image she’s killing the knights as we speak.”
“I’ll go follow her,” he says, planting a kiss to my cheek, but before he walks off, the hooded woman comes out from behind a row of bushes off in the distance, headed right in the direction of the coven.
“Wait with her, Mallory, and when she goes in, follow her and see how it all goes down,” I command. “Mallory, your job is to figure out what their plans with Excalibur are,” I say, motioning toward the coven. “I’m going to find out why they’re here.”
“How do you plan to do that?” Mallory asks.
“I’m going upstairs to find out what’s going on in the rest of the school. While an entire coven of witches was outside chanting, none of them came to see what was happening?”
“Good call,” she nods her head, looking impressed. “Good luck.”
Without another word, I go running off in opposite direction, directly into the school. I’ve never been to St. Lawrence and I have no idea where I’m going. It makes the most sense to follow the path from where I am to the room where the Knights died. When I make it to the door, I stop short as movement in the room signals that the Knights are still awake.
An intense need to warn them washes over me, but there is nothing I can do. Their fate is already sealed. This is simply a dream of the past. I’m sad, watching what appears to be the youngest of them laughing and smiling at something another was saying. They look so carefree, having no clue what was to come of them in mere minutes.
The smiling knight walks to the door and our eyes meet. His stares right through me, and a pang of sorrow washes over me for this stranger. Who has he left behind? Does he have a family? He shuts out the lights, and that shakes me out of my depressing thoughts. I have a job to do. I can’t save him, but I can honor his memory by catching his killer.
Pushing through a door, I come upon a set of stairs leading up. My feet move me forward, forcing me to concentrate on the task ahead and stop worrying about what was to unfold behind me. After several left turns, I come to a grand foyer, much like Avalon Institute’s. A set of large wooden doors directly across from me are closed, but loud voices can be heard coming from the other side.
I open the doors to a large study where three members of the council—one being my father—sit around an oval table with four unknown adults, discussing something in angry voices. Whatever it is isn’t good, as no one in the room looks happy. I walk closer, trying to work out what they’re talking about.
“We know that traitors exist, but I demand names,” Martha Craft orders. “How can members of our own council betray us, and worse yet, how can we not know who they are? It’s outrageous,” she says, fuming.
“We’re working on it, Martha. Our very best are on this. What would you have me do? Interrogate the whole council?” My father says, sounding annoyed by her outburst.
“Whatever it takes. We’re running out of time. I can feel it,” a bald man who appears to be in his late fifties says, closing his eyes.
The ground beneath me begins to shake. The chandelier above the oval table begins to sway. Pieces of plaster are falling from the ceiling as cracks begin to form around the base of the massive light fixture. The men and women seated below it look on in dismay.
“Do something,” my father yells at Martha.
“I-I can’t. I’m trying. Nothing’s happening.”
“Matthew, it’s going to fall. Help me,” Martha begs a pudgy man sitting next to her. The man’s eyes close, and his hands rise, palms facing the ceiling.
“Nothing is happening,” he cries.
The crystal chandelier gives way, falling quickly toward the ground. Everyone jumps from the table, scattering to avoid contact. When it hits the table, the hundreds of crystals shaped like teardrops burst, sending shards of glass flying through the room. Martha screams, covering her head.
Outside, a storm rages. Lightning crashes toward the earth while thunder booms. Is this the witch’s doing? In all my dream walks, I have never experienced this. The ground didn’t quake and I never heard thunder. By the time the cloaked woman got outside, it was calm if not a bit windy. When the room stops shaking, the members of the council and their guests rise from their hiding spots, disordered and weary.
“What was that?” The oldest of the group roars.
“My abilities…the-they’re gone,” Martha cries.
“Mine, too,” my father said bleakly.
All the others in the room are on their feet, attempting various abilities. Nothing is happening.
“How is this possible?” the portly man directs to no one in particular. The doors burst open and a disheveled man wearing a partial knights uniform yells out, “There’s been a murder. Three Knights were killed and Excalibur…it’s gone.”
The oldest man sinks down into the chair nearest him. �
�Good God. What’s happened?”
“Souveign.” Martha says as if it were a curse. “They’ve gone back on their pact. They’re coming for us.” She begins to cry.
“Christ, Martha. Pull yourself together. We need to think,” the old man chastises.
“If Excalibur is gone and our powers have been stripped, we need to act fast. The entire council will fall if we don’t fix this,” says the man named Matthew.
“The witches are coming for us. Of that, we can be sure.”
The oldest of the group looks to have aged even more in the past five minutes.
“God help us all.”
Chapter Nineteen
I wake with a start, pulling the other two from my dream with me.
The council knew from the beginning it was witches. They needed us because their powers are stripped. My mind is running a mile a minute, until I take in the scene playing out around me. The Chancellor is held at knife point by Galahad.
“What are you doing?” Mallory spit at the beefcake duo.
“We’re taking control of this situation. The council sent us to bring D’Morte to them,”Gareth says, pointing his own knife at the three of us still sitting in a circle on the floor, tied together.
“The council wants you to hold innocent people at knife point?” she challenges. “Are you forgetting that she’s not the only one with information? All three of us went into that dream and we all gathered different parts of the night.”
What is she doing? She should shut up and save herself. I’m sure to be doomed, but maybe the rest of them can get out of this.
Gareth bends down next to Tristan and cuts off his bindings. He doesn’t restrain him. Tristan’s eyes search the room, hopefully looking to capitalize on Gareth’s mistake of letting him go.
“They need the information that all of you have gathered from the dream,” he says to no one specifically. “While you were asleep, we informed them that Gwen had what they needed. They’re very eager to meet with you, D’Morte, but now you’re all going.”
