Now where? Thomas decided that they had been travelling roughly south on the way here, and it was supposed to be on the way, so he would continue south. With a bit of trepidation, Thomas started to trek into the forest, still lost in thought over the events of the previous days, unaware of the danger lurking in front of him.
*****
The Shadow had been waiting for this moment since losing the human to Dragons of BlueShift the previous day. Now the human was outside its walls again, and even better! The human was alone. There was no one around that could protect him. The Shadow would have smiled if its features allowed it to.
It decided it would wait until the human had travelled into the woods a ways. It was not going to mess up again. Its master wasn't that understanding. More than likely its master was already angry with it for not returning immediately with its prey.
The human was heading south toward Westminster. It was never going to make it there of course. With silent glee, the Shadow glided through the black void created by the ancient trees canopy overhead, taking an unfortunate snack here and there as it waited for the main course.
*****
Thomas had the distinct feeling he was being followed. Even worse, it was almost completely dark now. He hadn't been thinking too clearly when he left. He should have stayed out of the forest until daylight and then travelled, but he hadn't wanted to risk being caught by Alanna and her guards. Now his mind was on being caught by whatever it was that was following him. It wasn't long before he had his answer.
It started out like before. A thick mist started to build. Thomas didn't realize what was happening at first. When he noticed how thick the mist was getting he gasped. This was just like the night he had arrived at BlueShift. It had to be the Shadow that Gatsby had mentioned!
He was hours away from BlueShift now. There was no way that he was going to get back there before whatever this Shadow was, got him. It was apparently scarey enough to scare a dragon, and that deeply concerned him. The mist was getting thicker around Thomas. It was hard to explain exactly what it felt like. He could only describe it as the mist was solidifying, physically getting thicker. It seemed to suck the light out of the surrounding forest, and materialize it in the form of this cold mass of swirling fog. Thomas had to stand and face whatever it was that was coming for him. He had no choice. Was there ever a point in the last few days that had control of the events happening around him?
Something dark formed in the centre of the mist. That something was vaguely humanoid, but undefined. Thomas didn't need to see the features to know that this was pure evil. Terror welled up inside of him, and he found himself unable to move.
*****
The Shadow took his time. He took delight in the dramatic. There was a certain unappreciated flare that one needed to have in order to be truly terrifying. Few ever were given the chance to appreciate it. Fewer still ever lived to tell of it.
His prey was there, stuck to the spot, the effect of his evil essence rooting him to the ground like a tree. Rooting ... him ...
The Shadow was confused. This wasn't right. His master had sent him after a girl. Although this individual had the appearance of the individual in the bowl of seeing, it was not a girl. This wasn't good. If the Shadow brought the boy back to the master instead of a girl, the master would be angry. The Shadow knew what that anger could be like. It was one of the reasons there were so few of them left.
The Shadow decided it would be smarter to return without the boy. At least then it wouldn't have made a mistake, it merely would be clarifying its instructions. the Shadow was unable to disobey instructions, the master knew this. He would understand that it couldn't bring a boy when he had asked for a girl.
The Shadow turned to look at the boy one last time. Still the boy would make a nice morsel. The Shadow sighed inwardly. It would have to let the boy live for now. If it were to devour the boy and it was indeed the being that the master had asked it NOT TO HARM, he imagined that his usefulness would come to an end. Silently, the Shadow turned to leave and dissolved into the darkness of the forest from which it had come. It was a long trek back to Mount Rift, there was a lot of time to consider how the master would take this news.
*****
This was it. This was the end of a journey gone horribly awry. Apart from absolute fear, he felt sadness that his parents would never know what happened to him. He was just about to accept his fate when, as suddenly as it materialized, the Shadow disappeared.
Thomas found that he could move again. What had happened? Gatsby had said the Shadow never left people behind. He knew one thing for sure. He wasn't going to stand around waiting to find out. The question was, which way to go? Back the way he came? Or toward the unknown. Now that he had experience with the Shadow, he knew he didn't want to go through that again. In one direction, possible death by beheading, life imprisonment or worse, marriage. Of course if he went the other direction, he quite probably would get lost in this land he was a stranger in, or possibly suffer death by shadow. It was a hard decision.
It was nearing dawn by the time Thomas found himself at the gates of BlueShift again. Was he ever going to escape this place? The Shadow on the outside and Alanna awaiting inside, the walls of the city felt more like a prison rather than protection. Now that he had been into the forest, the forest itself felt like another type of prison. This world was a prison stealing him away from his home! The despair that Thomas was feeling was muted by the fact that he hadn't had a restful night in a long time, the fact that he was dead tired was more of a deciding factor to finally go back to BlueShift than anything else at this point.
The gatekeeper called out to him “Quite a long walk there sir! Not the safest time of day to go for a stroll though.” Thomas didn't bother replying. He walked like a zombie into the city wondering what terrible thing it held for him next. Thomas sighed. He wasn't likely to get much sleep today either. He looked around at the buildings inside of the gate and uttered a curse under his breath. He hadn't been paying attention when he walked to this gate earlier. He supposed he would walk toward the palace, then figure it out from there.
CHAPTER 12
SURVIVING ETIQUETTE
Alanna sat in the same chair that she had been sitting in since the previous day. Gatsby had on several occasions asked if she had wanted to get some rest in the quarters upstairs. He had assured her that he'd cleaned most of the mess Thomas had brought in the previous day, but she had declined, insisting that they had a thousand things to sort out. The truth was, she was afraid of trying to get up. She feared that some infection may have spread through her wound, and she certainly didn't want Gatsby to learn about the first meeting between Thomas and herself.
As the night had worn on, Alanna grew worried. Thomas had not come back. It hadn't occurred to her that she would need to set up surveillance for the person she was meeting. Why would she? She thought she was meeting a willing party! Unfortunately, the meeting had gone in quite a different direction than she had anticipated. When Thomas had stormed out and Gatsby had come in, her mind had been such a mess, that she had forgotten to consider that he may actually try to run the first chance he got. That had been a colossal mistake on her part. It was clear by the middle of the night that Thomas wasn't coming back. She had sent out her best guards to search for him, but eventually they all came back empty handed.
Gatsby had stayed with her, trying to reassure her that Thomas had agreed to their deal and that he would be back. It was nice of Gatsby, but Alanna noticed that every time he said this, he would grip the sides of his jerkin so tight his knuckles would go white. Gatsby had more at stake than Alanna.
It was in the early hours of the day, as the sun was not quite up, but close enough to cresting the Turusian mountains that the sky was brightening into an early morning fiery orange, and Alanna was realizing she was going to have to give up on Thomas that she heard the door faintly creak open.
Thomas stiltedly walked into the room and stood there, no
t saying a single word.
Alanna's fear was immediately consumed by an intense anger. How dare he deliberately worry her like this!
“Where in the world have you been?!” Alanna demanded.
“Out. Walking.” Thomas replied, tired and resigned.
Alanna was about to unleash a barrage of pent up emotion on Thomas when Gatsby, sensing a relapse into disaster, intervened.
“Good lord Thomas, you look like you are the walking dead. Would you like a cup of tea or something? You look half frozen.”
Thomas looked to be in another world at the moment. He just stared at the chair in front of him. Gradually he nodded.
“Great!” Gatsby exclaimed. Thomas had really scared him. Gatsby was being silly, Thomas had probably just wanted an excuse to get out of the room after the previous morning. He couldn't really blame him. The atmosphere had been a little stormy.
Gatsby swept out of the room leaving the two of them alone once more. Alanna was hoping that Thomas would say something about where he had been, or at least proffer an apology. She already knew that she wouldn't accept it, but that was beside the point. It was only proper.
Alanna took a hard look at Thomas, trying to discern just exactly what it was that Gatsby saw in this boy. Thomas just stood there, ignoring her completely, which, did nothing to improve her mood or opinion of this human. So far her experience with him had been one misfortune after another. She really couldn't understand how someone as refined as Gatsby got stuck travelling with this troublesome young wizard.
Alanna pursed her lips. He didn't even really look like a wizard. There was no air of power or majesty about him. He seemed utterly insignificant. She supposed that it really didn't matter to her, but he would need to be able to convince her father. Her father, that was fuel for the fire. If she was having a hard time being convinced of his social status and power, how were they ever going to convince him?
“Well... at least you are here now I suppose.” It was against her every fibre to try and be civil with this boy, but Alanna decided it would be smart to offer the first brick to build this unsteady foundation on. She had never been that good at keeping her emotions in check, but she could manage it if she concentrated on the goal hard enough. They wouldn't get anywhere if they continued to fight at every meeting.
“You may as well sit down, we have quite a lot to go over.”
Thomas appeared to break out of the trance that he seemed to be in. “Excuse me? I'm cold and I'm tired! And you know what? I might even be a little bit cranky. Maybe dragons can go for days on end without proper sleep, but humans tend to get a little snippy if they don't get at least a few hours of rest each day. So... if you don't mind, the only thing I will be going over, is my bed. Right after I finish a cup of tea.”
Alanna's lips tightened. “Unfortunately for you, you will not be sleeping for quite a while I'm afraid.” Alanna could feel that hidden gate holding her emotions back, faltering. She fought to keep her voice level.
The insolent boy was glaring at her again! He was really quite good at that. In his current state, hair messed, dirty... dark circles under his eyes, he looked every part a mad man. It made her feel a little uneasy.
“Your majesty, I have not slept in two days thanks, mainly, in part to you.” Thomas paused before every word, as if carefully forming them in his mind before delivering them to her. “I have been tolerant with you to this point Princess... don't believe that you can push me around as easily as you have been thus far.”
What was that? It sounded a lot like a challenge. This boy DARED to threaten her?! Wizard or not, he would not stand a chance against her should she decide to show him her less civilized side. Would he? If he was powerful enough to cross dimensions, what else was he capable of? Gatsby hadn't really said a great deal about this boy's abilities. There were just too many things that she didn't know about this Thomas. Was he the only one of his kind? Was he a ruler in his own kingdom? Or a leader of a powerful guild of wizards. Too many questions. She didn't want to start a war between wizards and dragons. If it came to that, there was a chance that Westminster might get drawn in, as Edric, their leader, was the most powerful wizard in all of Alumia. If that happened... It was not good to think about that possibility. So it was that she sat there, feelings of anger and fear, swirling inside her like two vicious creatures attacking each other. Which ever won would determine how she handled Thomas. Her thoughts ranged from, 'I shall have you locked away for the rest of your miserable life!' to 'Perhaps we should have another cup of tea before we make any important decisions.' She was still contemplating her next reply when Gatsby swept back in to the room with a few cups of tea.
Tea it would be then.
“Getting acquainted you two?” Thomas and Alanna swung their intense stares toward Gatsby who immediately coughed and tried his best to ignore the tension in the air.
“Earl Grey tea, created by the Great Wizard Edric Greenshoot. I thought, as he and you are both trans dimensional wizards, that you may enjoy this Thomas.”
Alanna, of course, knew of the tea that Gatsby was talking about. Edric had become almost as famous for that tea as he had for being the ruler of Westminster. She had to admit that she liked it. In public she would have it black, but in secret, she preferred it with a shot of milk and sugar.
Thomas held his cup for several moments before he sipped the tea. He looked like he was soaking up the heat as much as the tea itself. She wondered once again, just where it was that he had been all night.
“As I was telling Thomas, we have a lot to go through. We need to get started immediately.”
“And as I was telling the princess here... I am not doing anything other than go to sleep.”
It was beginning to be Alanna's opinion that Thomas dug his heels in on principal. “The king returns tomorrow, Thomas.”
“Good for him. Let him wait for a couple of days, weeks... months... years really would be better for me.”
“I'm afraid that's not an option.” replied Alanna coolly. “As soon as he returns, he will find out that Gatsby is here. As soon as that happens, he will find Gatsby and push him into the marriage as fast as he can. We have to confront him before it comes to that.”
Thomas sighed. “I'm really not up to discussing anything. Besides, what is there to go over. You go to your dad, tell him that you... love... me... we... get.... mmm....” Thomas' eyebrows drew tightly together, “Mmm....”
“Married, Thomas... The word is married.” Honestly, would this boy ever be able to pull it off? “It's not that simple. The king will need to believe that we are both really in love as well as your claimed rank as a trans dimensional wizard. He has to believe that matching the two of us together benefits the Alkamire Dragons more than a match to Gatsby for him to accept it. If he thinks we are trying to deceive him...”
“Alanna is right Thomas.” The expression on Gatsby's face was very grave. “The king isn't known for his good humour.”
Thomas let out an mirthless laugh. “At least I know it's genetic now.”
Alanna's eyes shot open. “WHAT is THAT supposed to mean?”
“I think you know what it means Princess. The only thing sharper than that sword of yours is your tongue!”
“Thomas! This is the daughter of the king of the Alkamire Dragons! You can't speak to her like that!” exclaimed Gatsby.
Alanna gave an appreciating smile to Gatsby much as trainer might give a dog after completing a trick. Alanna then turned her attention back to the insolent boy. She had a bad temper did she? She was in complete control! Very well, she was going to show him only an even tempered, controlled princess.
“Alright. Thomas, it is your decision. However, you should know, it won't be me that is punished for being caught in a lie.”
Thomas let out a long frustrated groan. “Fine. Let's get on with whatever you feel it is that I need to know.”
Alanna felt exhaustion setting in. She was never going to make it through the day if thi
s boy was going to make every step this difficult. It was going to be a long day for sure.
*****
The day wore on. Alanna tried to explain to Thomas the history of the Alkamire Dragons, but he was feeling so tired it was all a blur. She fabricated a story of how she had met Thomas travelling through The Dark woods to the north, and he had protected her from an attack by the Shadow. The Shadow evidently seemed to be the only thing the dragons had a fear of. There weren't too many creatures that would tangle with a dragon, but the Shadow was one of them.
Alanna continued with the story of their meeting. After the encounter with the Shadow, they had been secretly meeting for months. At first as friends, but then their age difference seemed to disappear as time wore on. She decided that he would quickly grow into a man, and that she would wait for him to do so. The return of Gatsby had complicated things. Alanna had to reveal her relationship with Thomas out of fear that her father would try to pressure her into marrying Gatsby. As details of his love life unfolded before him, he dreamed of the room back at his grandfather's house.
“The story isn't all that we have to work on Thomas.” Alanna continued. “I have had the court seamstress creating an outfit for you. We are going to have to go over proper etiquette for this sort of situation as well.”
Thomas felt like pulling his skin off, but he had come to the realization that there was no point in arguing anymore. The best he could do, was try to get through this ordeal as fast as possible, and then try to get back to his own world. He couldn't afford this distraction.
Gritting his teeth Thomas conceded. “Alright. Fine. What is it you would have me do?”
Alanna smiled. This was the part of the ordeal she was going to enjoy. “First of all, your posture is atrocious. Does everyone sit hunched over where you come from?”
“Pretty much. I think people used to sit straight in the old days. I think the chairs were so hard and uncomfortable that people tried to keep as little contact with them as possible. As chairs got more and more comfortable, the need to sit like you were tied to a post disappeared.” Thomas wasn't really sure this was the reason, but it seemed reasonable enough.
Thomas Kindercook and the Pink Pyjamas Page 9
