The Return To Erda Box Set

by Beca Lewis

  Still sputtering, I nodded. Garth took pity on me and started rubbing my back until I caught my breath.

  “I don’t understand. I thought I would have to explain myself, and then you would not remember what I said and think it was a dream. How do you know who I am and why I’m here?”

  “Let’s just say we’ve done this a few times.”

  “Done what? Been here? Done this? I don’t remember it at all.”

  “You’ve met us in the future right?” Garth asked. “So you know we are dimension travelers. And of course, you know about the first time we came back here by mistake. But the future Anne and Garth don’t have this memory because we have chosen to forget once we return home.

  “Then if Abbadon hasn’t been stopped, something brings us back to this timeline and all of you, and we do it again. We don’t know why the rest of you don’t remember. Maybe it’s a time loop for you. All we ask, Hannah, is please, please, please make it work this time. We are tired of making this trip.

  “We suppose people have told you over and over again that it is up to you to save the Kingdom. That’s true. If we could tell you what you need to do, we would. But we don’t know. We just know it’s you who has to end up doing the right thing.”

  “You don’t have any idea what that right thing is?” I asked. I wanted to burst into tears. This has all been because of something that I didn’t choose? How could that be? Why couldn’t I remember?

  Anne must have read my thoughts because she answered, “Maybe you don’t remember because you have to make the choice from a fresh point of view. Past experiences might get in the way. I promise you, that if we knew, we would tell you.

  “I do think that what we have told you might be your burden to bear, for now, Hannah, or Princess Kara Beth. Yes, we know who you really are, we know you in the future too, remember? And something else that we have learned as we have watched you each time is that you have a pure heart. That might be all you need to hold on to.”

  Even though my voice was barely working, I forced out a question, “Is there anything you might tell me about Abbadon that could help?”

  Anne and Garth looked at each other. “I know that there is something about him that I found I could love. Is it because all monsters have a piece of themselves that is lovable and it’s gone wrong? Or is there something else going on? I wish I knew. We only get this far each time and then we are sent home. I think the answer is something you are supposed to find.”

  “Are we to leave now?” Garth asked.

  When I nodded yes, they stood up, and each of them came over and hugged me. I wish I could say that I didn’t cry, but I did. These were two people I had come to love, and now I knew why. I had known them for a long, long, time.

  “I’ll see you two soon,” I whispered.

  “To the future,” they both answered and slipped out the back door to return to their future. I prayed it was still there.

  Abbadon Forty-Three

  We spent the night in our new home in King’s Watch. I chose not to tell Anne and Garth what I had learned from their past selves. It seemed as if it was my burden for now, and it only would confuse the issue. All that we needed to think about was convincing Abbadon to bring us all into the Castle. Today, if possible.

  Anne was sure she could do it. All she had to do was say “yes.” All I had to do was recognize my choice and make the right one.

  While we waited, Anne kept fiddling with her hair. Somehow Aki had managed to give her long hair again. I suppose it felt weird to have all her hair back after wearing it short for so long. I hoped the magic spell didn’t wear off in the middle of the mission. Just one more tiny thing for us to put into the “let’s hope it doesn’t happen” pile.

  That afternoon Anne went for her walk with Abbadon. Pita’s relatives followed her just as they had in the past. The Priscillas were watching from the trees, along with a few of their relatives. All of that in case something went wrong.

  Garth and I waited in the house practically biting our nails in anticipation. Cahir was in the woods, unseen by Abbadon, and was allowing me to watch what was happening. Sometimes he wasn’t watching the road where they were walking though, and I had to ask him to turn back and watch Anne and Abbadon.

  At first, I tried giving Garth a play by play description but that started driving both of us crazy, so I stayed quiet. Really, all we wanted to know is what happened when she said “yes.”

  As I watched, I was amazed by how happy Anne looked. Was she that good of an actor? She looked as if she was in love, and the Abbadon I saw walking with her seemed as happy as she. How could that be? I knew that if she said “no” he would turn into an abuser to her, and even more of a monster to the rest of the world.

  I watched Abbadon turn to Anne, take both of her hands in his and then kneel holding up a ring. The perfect romantic picture of a proposal. I was astonished to discover that tears were running down my face. If I forgot who he was, I was so happy for them. I saw Anne nod, yes, and the two of them embraced, and Abbadon held Anne’s face in his hands and kissed her gently on the lips.

  What? Abbadon? What was going on?

  My tears gave it away to Garth, and he fell silent. It was his sister who had put herself into the hands of the man we had come to destroy. I wasn’t sure if we were more worried that she would be happy, or that she wouldn’t be. But there was nothing for us to do except wait for the invitation to join Anne in Abbadon’s Castle, or was it his lair? At this point, the only one who knew for sure was Abbadon.

  Later I would think back to that moment and realize that it wasn’t only Abbadon who knew. And the fact that we didn’t have all the information is what made everything else that happened after that even more dangerous.

  Instead, we sat there drinking cold tea and hoping for the best. Instead, it was the worst that was coming.

  *******

  We didn’t have to wait too long, although it felt like an eternity to the two of us. An hour later there was a knock on the door. I opened it as if I didn’t have a care in the world, but I was as tense as a tightly wound guitar string. I thought if someone touched me, I might vibrate and play a note that sounded like panic.

  Instead of Raiders, or Abbadon himself, a fresh-faced messenger from the Castle stood there. He handed me a note embossed in what looked like gold leaf. Abbadon and Anne were inviting us to come and stay at the Castle while they planned their wedding. Seeing both their signatures on the invitation made my head hurt. I felt pulled between terror and happiness for Anne.

  A few young boys were standing behind the messenger carrying what I might have called duffel bags if I was in the Earth Realm. These were much more elaborate, but it was the same idea.

  The messenger said that Anne asked me to pack what she would need at the Castle, along with what Garth and I wanted and the boys would bring it with them. We wouldn’t be returning to the house.

  I invited the messenger and the boys in and while they waited in the living room, Garth and I packed. “They look so normal?” I whispered to him.

  “What were you expecting, gargoyles?” Garth whispered back.

  “Well, maybe.”

  What was I expecting? So far none of what had happened was something I expected. Perhaps that was the way it worked. Abbadon sucked us in with normalcy. If marrying a King and living in a castle was normal. Still, it kept throwing me off balance. I expected to be wary and angry, and that was not what I was feeling. Except for it all felt wrong somehow. Too accommodating. Who was fooling who? Were we deceiving Abbadon or was he fooling us? Did he know what we were doing? Maybe this had all been a trap from the beginning.

  Perhaps the spider had woven his web, and his prey was walking right into it.

  Abbadon Forty-Four

  Along the way, we met Aki, who had also received an in
vitation. We greeted each other as if we had just met, and Garth nodded to her and thanked her for making his sister’s wedding dress.

  The messenger told us that Castle was a few miles out of town, and since the young boys were carrying our bags, there was nothing to keep us from enjoying ourselves, other than useless worrying. The road wound gently up and down hills, and alternated between being lined with trees and then opening to a view of the meadows. It was hard for me to imagine that anyone would want to destroy this beauty in exchange for a barren landscape with only himself left in it. But if what we had seen in the future was true, that was precisely what Abbadon intended to do.

  I decided that during the walk to the Castle, I would not try to project what was going to happen, even a few hours into the future. I would simply enjoy the beauty. As I relaxed, I could feel Garth let go of some of his tension, and Aki turned and smiled at me. The woman she had chosen to look like had long dark hair that swung straight and shiny to her waist. As this woman, Aki was very substantial, not at all like her true transparent self or even the way she looked to us back in the Kingdom of Zerenity. Her smile remained the same, and her eyes were still pale blue. I wondered if it wasn’t possible for her to change her eye color.

  “It’s not,” I heard her say. “But I can change it temporarily which I will do once we get to the Castle.”

  “What about the boys and the messenger?”

  “I already showed them brown eyes, although I doubt if they will remember me. It’s you that they are looking at.”

  I glanced over at Aki in shock. “What are you talking about?”

  “You haven’t seen yourself in a mirror for a long time have you, Hannah?”

  I shook my head and looked down, denying what she was telling me. And then it occurred to me that perhaps I could use it to my advantage. I wasn’t going to rule it out. I didn’t have enough magical powers to give up any advantage.

  Even though I had determined not to worry while we walked, it was hard not to. We hadn’t heard from Zeid or Niko. Assuming, hoping, that they were still in the Castle, what would they say when they saw us walk in?

  Would they understand what was happening? Could we see them without giving anything away? I wanted to see Zeid so much I was afraid it would show. As for Niko, I had no idea what he looked like at the moment. He said he looked like a Raider. That in itself was terrifying.

  Cahir kept showing me that he was following us. Since trees surrounded us, I knew that Ruta would be nearby, and of course, the Priscillas would be flitting in and out watching over us as we traveled. Below us were the Ginete and Whistle pigs. If we needed the circles, we would be able to see them. Until then they would be invisible. We were safe, and we weren’t alone. It just felt that way.

  As we reached the top of one of the hills I could see the Castle in the distance. I involuntarily drew in a breath. It was beautiful. Sitting gracefully on the rise in the middle of a meadow it gleamed in the sunlight. Flowers of all kinds greeted us as we walked the road that led to it. To our right was a massive expanse of tall sunflowers waving in the wind. I could see, and hear, birds enjoying the seeds. The whole meadow was pulsing with life.

  As we drew closer to the Castle, I could see some of the buildings that we had determined must be where Abbadon took his prisoners and did whatever he did with them. We saw no sign of the Raiders. Abbadon’s Keep looked like a small village filled with little gardens and beautiful trees.

  There was no way I could reconcile what I thought of Abbadon, and knew of what he had done in the future, with what I was seeing. I knew that Aki and Garth were having the same problem. If the intent was to disorient us, it was working.

  As we moved closer, enormous front doors swung open, and Anne stepped out into the sunshine, dressed in a beautiful green gown, and looking radiant. How could she? Wasn’t she a little afraid? I had no time to think further because Anne ran towards us and soon we were all hugging her and congratulating her on her engagement and upcoming wedding.

  I wanted to ask her so many questions I thought I would burst, but her whisper in my ear, “not now” stopped me from showing the slightest emotion other than joy for my friend.

  As we stood there, a band of men came around the corner. In the middle of them was Zeid. I would have recognized him anywhere even though he wore the clothing of a Raider, and was walking in the same aggressive and slurred way of the raiders. These two attributes may seem to be opposite, but they aren’t.

  Instead, they create a picture of uncontrollable danger. Someone had designed that walk for them—someone who understood the power of movement.

  These men were the first sign that things were not as Abbadon had wanted us to believe. Were they there by mistake or were they there as a warning? Zeid stumbled when he saw us, and I had a coughing fit to hide my distress.

  The only thing I could think of was that at least he was still alive. Aki patted my back to help me with my coughing and managed to whisper that she had also seen Niko.

  I caught her eye. She too was wondering if our seeing them was planned or an unfortunate incident on Abbadon’s part. It could have been a coincidence, but none of us believed in those. It was a warning and confirmation.

  But who was sending it to us? Were they on our side, or against us.

  Abbadon Forty-Five

  Anne led us through the halls of the Castle, giggling like a school girl showing off her favorite new toy. Inside it was surprisingly like the Castle in Zerenity, and I wondered if the same architect had designed and built them both. If that was true, then at one point Abbadon and my father Darius must have known each other better or at least were willing to share information.

  Although it looked similar, it had to be different. But the more I tried to find differences, the more it looked the same. What was different was how it felt. In the Castle at home, I felt warm and safe. This one was unsettling, definitely not warm and safe.

  Anne led us to our rooms which were right beside each other. When the messenger who had stayed with us during the tour wasn’t looking, Anne showed us connecting doors between our rooms, hidden behind bookcases. Who put them there? How did she know they were there? Why were they there? Were there doors in our rooms back in Zerenity and I hadn’t known they were there?

  I had enough questions to fill up the next few hours if there was only someone to answer them. How could this Anne know the Castle so well? Had she been there before, and if so, why hadn’t she ever told us? Did this mean we had gotten this far before and failed? All signs pointed to that being true.

  “Dinner will be in an hour,” Anne said to the three of us. “You’ll find clothes and everything you need in your rooms. Someone will come to escort you to dinner. I’ll see you there!”

  With one last hug for all of us, and a sweep of her dress, she was gone, but the messenger stayed behind, and then was joined by two more. Each one stationed outside our doors. Now that was different. And much more of what I expected. Now it made sense why Anne had shown us the connecting doors.

  As soon as I closed my door, I heard it lock from the outside. I remembered Beru locking me in my room when I first came to Erda. I had long ago learned how to unlock a door, but there was no reason to give that secret away. Perhaps it meant they had no idea who we were, or maybe they did and that was why the door was locked.

  Everything we knew had two sides to it. Which side was real? We were in the middle of a puzzle. One that had to be solved as quickly as possible. The longer we stayed in the past, the more danger we were putting ourselves and the future in. After the doors closed, Aki, Garth, and I met briefly in my room since it was in the middle of the other two. We agreed to use the dinner to observe, and not do anything that would draw attention to ourselves, or put Anne in danger.

  An hour later, freshly showered, and dressed in the clothes left for me on the bed, I
was ready when someone knocked on my door. Aki and Garth were already in the hall. We were all dressed as if we were going to a ball. Although it might have been innocent that Aki and I wore dresses instead of our regular tights and tunics, it didn’t feel that way.

  “How do people breathe and move in these things anyway?” I whispered to Aki.

  “They don’t. I think that’s the point,” she answered.

  The young man sent to get us led us to an atrium that looked very much like the one in our Castle in Zerenity. However, instead of metal toadstools delivering the food, it was men dressed like the one who came to get us. I tried to start up a conversation with one of them, but I got no response. During the dinner, I tried again, but the same thing happened.

  The metal toadstools were more responsive than they were. The thought that they too might be machines made to look human flashed through my mind. My whole body must have reacted because Anne asked what was wrong.

  There was no one else at the table. Just the four of us. A huge production. No other people. But every moment that we sat there I felt as if a thousand eyes were trained on us. Anne smiled, and laughed, and made light conversation, but we said nothing of importance.

  I answered Anne with a laugh. “Oh, nothing. This is lovely Anne. I know I was hoping to meet your future husband and congratulate him. Will he be joining us for dinner?”

  I gestured at the empty chair next to her. As soon as I asked the question, there was a disturbance on the other side of the atrium, and I could see the man we knew as Abbadon making his way towards us.

  Once again, I was struck with how ordinary he appeared. Did he look like my father? Not really. Darius held himself like he was a King. He was sturdily built. Tall, with steel gray hair he kept short. He was always running his hands over his head. He rarely wore a crown because he would continually knock it off. But he didn’t need it. In his prime, my father radiated power. Not the kind that scared, the kind that made his people feel secure. His dark eyes spoke of wisdom lived and practiced.