Lake in the Clouds

by Edward Willett

  The pilot came onto the intercom, warning him that they were beginning their descent into Regina. First things first, he thought. Let’s see if Felicia Knight shares more with her little brother than a last name.

  •••

  Ariane didn’t go far: just the length of the lake to the Knight swimming pool. It felt almost like home, emerging there. For Wally, of course, it was home. She dried them both off, and then he led her to the kitchen. “I’m starving,” he said. “And exhausted. But starving more. Want something to eat?” He opened the refrigerator’s freezer compartment. “There are some microwave pizzas. Good enough?”

  “Anything,” Ariane said. She hadn’t realized until that moment just how hungry she was, after using her power so hard and for so long. The granola bars in Alaska or wherever they’d been now seemed ancient history. She watched Wally pull out the pizzas and pop them in the microwave. As the machine whirred, she said, “Wally, how did you do that?”

  “Do what?” he said, without turning around.

  “You know what. You took that man down like a martial-arts expert or something. You never told me anything about taking self-defence classes.”

  Wally kept staring at the rotating pizzas in the micro-wave. “It wasn’t me,” he said in a low voice. “It was the sword.”

  Ariane blinked. “What?”

  Now he turned around. “The sword,” he said. “I can feel it too, Ariane. I don’t know if it’s what you feel. I certainly can’t travel through water. But I can feel it. It’s…after me.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “After you?”

  “It wants me. It wants me to…wield it, I guess. And it’s…feeding me. Ability I shouldn’t have.” He sighed. “I noticed it in fencing class: suddenly I was one of the best fencers on the team, when before…I wasn’t. Then when I was escaping from Rex Major…I almost killed the guard there by hitting him with a poker. I didn’t intend to hit him at all. Just…”

  “Poke him?” Ariane said.

  He made a face. “It wasn’t funny. There was blood everywhere. And now, tonight…” He shook his head. “I not only took that guy down, I was two seconds from killing him. If you hadn’t stopped me…”

  Ariane knew well enough the call of the sword to kill her enemies. She knew why she felt it: she was the heir to the power of the Lady of the Lake, who had made the sword, or caused it to be made, and put into it whatever power it had. But why was Wally feeling it? Why, when he touched the shard, did it suddenly become more powerful? Why had he been able to join two shards together in perfect harmony when she couldn’t?

  She had two shards now, but they couldn’t be joined together: the first shard was the point, the third shard was from somewhere halfway up the blade. But she could feel that their songs were ever so slightly out of tune with each other.

  She pulled them both out and held them out to Wally. “Hold these for a minute.”

  He drew back. “I don’t –”

  “Just for a second.”

  “I’m surprised you’d let me,” Wally said. “After France.”

  “I think you just convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt you’re not working for Major,” she said dryly, “since you just about skewered his district sales manager.” She wriggled the two pieces of the sword at him. “Go on, hold them.”

  Hesitantly, as the microwave beeped behind him to announce the successful heating of the pizzas, he took hold of the two shards.

  Instantly that faint, grating discord vanished. As the first and second had in France, so now the first and third sang together in perfect harmony.

  Wally had a far-away look in his eye. “I can…almost…hear? I guess?...something…”

  Ariane took the shards back. The discord returned, harder to take in the wake of that beautiful song. She tucked both shards into the pockets of her jeans. “You’ve definitely got a connection to the sword,” she said. “I wish I knew why, or what it means.”

  “You and me both,” Wally said. He turned around and pulled out the pizzas, and they sat at the kitchen counter and ate them. They tasted pretty much the way cardboard smeared with melted cheese probably tasted, and she thought she’d never eaten anything more wonderful in her life.

  They washed down the pizzas with ginger ale, and then, all at once, Ariane’s exhaustion really hit her. “I need bed,” she said, yawning hugely.

  “Me, too,” Wally said. “You can have Flish’s old room.”

  They plodded up the stairs. Wally put his hand on the handle of his room’s door, and as it swung open, Ariane suddenly remembered what she had done to his room when she’d been in it a few days earlier. “Wally –” she began, but it was too late: he was gazing, aghast, at the torn posters and scattered books and clothes. “Um…sorry,” she said. “I was…upset.”

  “No kidding,” Wally said. He sighed. “Well, I deserved it.” He rubbed his bruised face. “And more.” Then he gave her a crooked grin. “Any more punishment to come, or are we good?”

  “We’re good,” Ariane said. And then, moved by some strange impulse, she pulled him to her and hugged him tight. He went stiff for a moment, then returned the hug. “Wally, I’m glad we’re friends again. I missed you.”

  “I missed you, too,” he said, his voice muffled by her shoulder.

  She let him go, stepped back. “Good night,” she said, and went down the hallway. She still hated the purple décor in Flish’s room. But the bed looked wonderful. She stripped off her clothes, climbed beneath the covers, and fell instantly asleep.

  •••

  Two doors down, Wally likewise undressed and climbed into bed, still feeling warm from the hug Ariane had given him, still feeling shaken by what had happened at the lake – and still hearing, distantly, the song of the two shards of Excalibur currently under his roof.

  What do we do now? he wondered, and had no answer. He might have some mystical connection to the sword, but Ariane was the freaking Lady of the Lake, and that made her the leader of the quest. He suspected, though, they’d next be taking a watery trip down to Estevan to retrieve Aunt Phyllis. Ariane was right: Rex Major would soon figure out where she’d gone. They couldn’t afford any more hostage-taking. Where they’d go after that, he hadn’t a clue.

  But before they took up the quest again, there was one thing he had to do: visit his sister in the hospital. They might not be close anymore, but she was still family. Maybe a few days laid up after attacking Ariane has softened her, he thought, but without much hope.

  He’d float that idea with Ariane in the morning. It’s not like she’d have to come with me, he reasoned.

  That decided, his mind was free to worry the other matter like a dog with a bone. Who, or what, was he? The sword had given him great fighting prowess, made him stronger and faster, more skilled and more ruthless. It was as if it were channeling the spirit of some great warrior, focusing it on him…

  Great warrior. Excalibur? The only great warrior who had ever wielded Excalibur had been King Arthur himself.

  Could that be it? he wondered. Does the sword think I’m Arthur? Or think it can make me into Arthur?

  And since when did the notion of inanimate objects “thinking” become something I could think without giving it a second thought?

  Am I the modern equivalent of Arthur, like Ariane is the equivalent of the Lady of the Lake?

  Except she isn’t just “the equivalent,” she really is the Lady of the Lake: the Lady’s heir.

  Does that mean…does that mean I’m Arthur’s heir?

  The thought was so exciting it brought him upright in bed. He jumped up, remembered at the last second he wasn’t wearing any clothes, grabbed a dressing gown and ran down to Ariane’s room. He opened the door a crack. “Ariane!” he whispered. “Are you awake?”

  “Mmmph?” He heard her roll over in bed. “What…Wally? I was asleep…is something wrong?” Her voice suddenly became more awake. “Is it Rex Major?”

  “No, it’s me. Can I come in?”

&
nbsp; “Sure…”

  He opened the door and went into Flish’s room. There was enough light from the street outside to show him Ariane stretched out under the covers, which she’d pulled up to her chin. He sat on the bed beside her. “I think I know why I have a connection to the sword,” Wally said. “I think…Ariane, I think I’m Arthur’s heir!”

  “King Arthur?”

  Wally laughed. “No, Arthur the cartoon aardvark. Of course, King Arthur!” In a rush, he told her why he thought that made sense.

  When he ran down, she was silent for a moment. Then, “You could be right,” she said. “That would explain why the shards react to you the way they do.”

  “And that would explain why Rex Major was interested in me,” Wally said. It stung to say it, but it was the truth. “It has nothing to do with me at all. Not me me. He wants a new Arthur under his wing. He wants someone to lead his army. I don’t know what he can do with his magic once Excalibur is intact, but as a fencer, I can tell you one thing about swords: someone has to wield them.”

  “Then losing you may be as crippling to his plans as losing the sword,” Ariane said. She sounded excited. “Wally, that’s great!”

  “Yeah!” he said…except right then he remembered the moment when he’d been ready to stick a knife in Bukowski’s throat, and it wasn’t so great after all. “But it’s scary,” he said in a small voice. “The sword almost took me over in the parking lot, made me do something terrible. And the more shards we find, the stronger it’s going to get. What if next time you can’t stop me…and I can’t stop myself?”

  “You can fight it, Wally,” Ariane said. “I have to fight it, too. It wants both of us to use it as the weapon it was intended to be. But it’s Major – Merlin – who wants a weapon. We don’t need a weapon. We just need to keep it out of his hands.”

  “How?” Wally said. “If we succeed, and we get the whole sword…we’re still stuck with the sword and he’s still one of the richest men in the world. Sooner or later he’ll get it from us.”

  “I don’t know,” Ariane said. “The Lady didn’t tell us that little detail.” She sighed. “Wally, can we talk about this in the morning? I can barely keep my eyes open.”

  “Sure,” Wally said. He got up. “In the morning. Good night.”

  Ariane had already rolled onto her side, the top of the bedspread slipping down to reveal one bare white shoulder. “G’night,” she said.

  Wally swallowed. It wasn’t the sword urging him to kiss that shoulder. That was all Wally.

  Glad to know I’m still me, he said. For the moment, at least.

  He went out, closed the door behind him, and went back to his own bed.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Visiting Hours

  Promptly at 11 a.m., Rex Major walked into Felicia Knight’s private hospital room. The teenager lay propped up in her bed, one cast-covered leg raised high by a complicated pulley system, reading something on an iPad. “Hello, Felicia,” Major said calmly. He knew Wally called her Flish. He also knew she hated that.

  Flish lowered the iPad. Her eyes widened. “You’re –”

  “Rex Major, yes,” Major said. He walked to the side of her bed. “How are you feeling?”

  “How do you think?” she said. There were fading bruises on her face. Then she grimaced. “Sorry. Don’t mean to be rude.” She looked past him. “Is Wally with you? Mom told me he was staying with you, last time she called. I didn’t believe her, but if you’re here –”

  “Wally is…elsewhere,” Major said. He sighed. “I’m afraid your brother was a disappointment.”

  “Yeah, he’s good at that,” Flish said. “What did he do?”

  “Ran away,” Major said. “I don’t know where he is now.”

  Flish’s eyes widened. “Ran away? Is he…safe?”

  “As far as I know. He’s with that Forsythe girl and her aunt.”

  “He ran away to be with that…bitch?” Flish spat the insult as if it burned her mouth.

  “I’m afraid so. But that’s why I’ve come to you.”

  Flish blinked. “I don’t follow.”

  “Can I show you something?”

  Now she looked suspicious. “What?”

  Major reached inside his jacket and took out the second shard of Excalibur. Flish’s eyes widened again. “Cool,” she breathed, and that reaction alone told Major volumes. “Can I hold it?”

  “Please,” he said. He held it out. “But be careful, it’s sharp.”

  Merlin had not had a hand in the making of the sword. That had been all his sister’s doing, back when they both shared a vision of what they wanted to accomplish in this world. But he was attuned to all magic, and the sword drew magic to itself through the tiny opening still left between this world and his. He could feel that magic every time he handled the shard, though he had not yet been able to draw on it because Ariane’s possession of the other shards prevented him.

  All that changed the moment Flish touched the shard while he still had hold of the other end. The power of the shard flared in his awareness like a searchlight being switched on, blinding in its intensity. He gasped a little and let go of it, and the sensation faded.

  “It’s really old,” Flish said, turning it over and over. “And it feels…tingly. Weird.” He held out his hand for her to give it back and, though it was just for a moment, he saw her hesitate, reluctant to let it go. But then she handed it back, and once again, as they both had hold of it, he felt that surge of power.

  This was better than he’d hoped – far better. He hadn’t noticed any such effect on the shard when Wally had first handed it over to him, but then he had been so eager to receive the shard he’d snatched it from the boy’s hand. There’d only been a fraction of a second when their touches had overlapped.

  The sword can only serve one master, he thought. But who is the true master of the sword? The heir of the Lady of the Lake – or one of the heirs of Arthur?

  One thing he now knew for certain: the blood of Arthur, the strain of magic peculiar to that great King, ran in Felicia Knight as surely as it did in Wally. Though not in their parents: he could Command either of the senior Knights as easily as anyone else – and had, over the phone, to get their permission to offer what he said next, and to assure them they had no reason to worry about Wally or even to try to find out where he was.

  “I’ve spoken to your parents,” Major said. “I’d like to offer you the place in my household Wally had. I’d like you to come to Toronto. You’re in your last year of high school. You can finish with a private tutor and start work for me at once. There’ll be a very generous salary and other perks.”

  Flish gave him a searching look. “You know how creepy that sounds,” she said. “What ‘perks’ are you talking about? And are they perks for me…or perks for you?”

  Major shook his head. “I’m not talking about that sort of arrangement,” he said, though he approved of her suspicion. If she were going to take the place he had thought Wally would have at the head of his armies, Excalibur in hand, she would need to cultivate cunning and suspicion and deviousness. From what he knew of her, she was already well along the path.

  Arthur had had a half-sister, Morgan le Fay. Sometimes an ally, sometimes an enemy. They had reconciled at the end, and she had been one of those who had borne Arthur’s body to the mysterious island of Avalon – in reality, a portal to Faerie, still wide open (though heavily guarded) in those days. Merlin had hoped to find enough power in that place for him to heal the dying king, but Arthur’s injuries had been too severe even for his magic. Arthur had died, and despite the legend, he would not be returning.

  Except in the person of one of his two heirs: a brother and sister. Odd how magic causes history to, if not exactly repeat itself, then to echo itself down through the ages, Merlin thought.

  He regarded Flish. I wasn’t able to save Arthur, he thought. But maybe, with the power of the shard…

  “Let me show you something else,” Major said.
He held out the shard. “Touch this again, but don’t take it from me.”

  Frowning, Flish did so. Again Major felt the surge of power. It didn’t come close to equalling what he had once had, but it was as much greater than the little he had managed to hold onto as a bonfire was to a match. He closed his eyes, reached out his right hand, and touched Flish’s cast-covered leg. The bones were aligned: the doctors had seen to that. It was a simple matter of convincing them to return to their accustomed, unbroken state. A little surge of magic and…

  Flish gasped, and snatched her hand away from the shard. “What…what did you just…?”

  Major turned and regarded the cast. The power was fading, but he had enough to…

  He touched the hard plaster. With a loud crack, it broke in two and fell away, leaving Flish’s leg bare…and whole.

  Flish gasped again. “What are you doing? You can’t –”

  “Your leg is fine,” Major said. “I just healed it. With magic.”

  “You’re crazy!” Flish said.

  “Am I? Does your leg still ache?”

  “No…”

  “Can you bend it?”

  Flish tried. Her face went slack with amazement, then a fierce delight. “Wow!” she said. “Oh, wow!”

  She swung the leg over the side of the bed. She stood up, swayed, and clutched at Rex Major. She grinned at him. And then she looked past him and her grin grew wider…and meaner.

  He turned. Wally Knight and Ariane Forsythe stood in the hospital doorway. He smiled. “Hello, Wally, Ariane. Nice of you to visit.”

  •••

  Wally had slept late. So had Ariane. It was almost 11 a.m. before they even left the house, and it took them twenty minutes to walk to the General Hospital. Ariane had insisted on coming. “I don’t want to fight with your sister anymore,” she said. “I’ve got bigger things to worry about. And you two should totally make up. You’re lucky to have each other.”

  “I used to think so,” Wally said. “Recently, I’m not so sure.” But he was secretly glad Ariane had agreed to come.