“I am the first of my kind,” Folkvar moaned. “And I can guarantee I will be the last. The sooner we find land, the better.”
“Indeed,” Galis agreed. “The sky is looking more foreboding as we speak. Perhaps we should turn inland.”
Alice agreed. “The others may be on land. And you said the oracle claimed the more earthlings, the better. We should all shack up together.”
They needed to land as close to the Mirror as possible. With the oracle out of their reach and Clare having no desire to confront Queen Zephyr, she had decided to view the Mirror alone and find out what she could. If what Galis had guessed about the darkness in it was true, perhaps some answers and clues about how to destroy Umbra would be seen. Besides, she was an earthling and the Mirror would have to answer to her.
“Do you think we can save Yilith?” she whispered. She dared not imagine the elf was dead. He seemed to be the one always in peril. His life seemed almost coveted.
“I pray we can,” Galis said. “I despise myself for letting him be taken.”
Folkvar put his hand on Galis’ shoulder. “Don’t. It was up to me as well. The witch was too strong for us.”
Clare hoped that Yilith’s life could be saved too. She had already lost Gwen.
They glided on for about another hour in and she watched Titus learning quickly how to tie up the large sail and work the ropes. He learned fast and this made Galis like him more than he had before. Folkvar was unimpressed and wanted nothing more than to sleep until they docked.
“Not long now,” Galis said. He pointed in the distance. “There is a dock and some mountains beyond.”
Clare shaded her eyes and looked. “I see a castle. Is that where the Mirror is?”
Galis frowned. “The winter woods are gone.”
“Things change when earthlings are present.” Clare sighed. “I’ve learned by now that our presence changes things.”
They were drawing closer to the shores when a gravelly roar called down to them from the clouds. A midnight colored blur blazed past the gathered sail.
“The Beast!” Folkvar called. “It’s back again to defend the Mirror.”
The crew was called to arms and the spears were loaded onto the mini ballistas on the side of the ship. Folkvar, looking sick, took up his huge crossbow and aimed high.
“Don’t let it get away this time!” he grumbled. “I grow tired of this Beast.”
“And don’t let it bite you!” Galis warned.
But the Beast did not attack. It hovered, wings arched above its head, and stared down right at Clare. After it was sure it was her, it began to circle the ship.
From a distance, a voice magically called out on the wind from the castle, “Come back and leave them be. They’ll come to me of their own will.”
A shiver cascaded down Clare’s spine. She knew that voice. Alice gasped and clapped her hand over her open mouth. She recognized it too. Of course. Who else could have built a castle around the Mirror and not been damaged by it? No one from Revary could even approach it. It had to have been an earthling. Perhaps a corrupted earthling no longer capable of bearing their light and power.
“Stella,” Clare gasped.
“No,” Folkvar exclaimed. “We did not even recognize her!”
They wouldn’t have. Perhaps she had enchanted their eyes or changed her appearance. They were just Revarians and she was an earthling. They were no match for her alone. It seemed that Zealnis had poisoned her well enough during her one visit. Or was it something else? Could Umbra’s corruption have gotten to Stella in the real world?
“Stella took Yilith?” Alice asked in disbelief. “But she met him. Why would she do that?”
Clare blinked back tears. “Revenge. So much of her hate can be taken out on the elf.”
They docked the boat and went inland quickly. There was no time to waste now. Clare just hoped that wherever Max was, he was with Lance and safe. If Stella was here and in such a rage, there was perhaps no limit to her vengeance.
“Lance!” Max called from his perch on the rail. He had been tempting fate with a levitation spell he had found. “I see Clare! Near the ocean’s edge. She’s with Alice and they have company.”
Lance ran to the side and looked over. With joy at last, he called over the edge to her and waved his arms. She had heard him and looked up, surprise and joy on her face. They heard her and Alice squeal with delight. They leapt up and down, waving their arms, motioning them to land.
Hovering a few dozen feet above the ground, a ladder was let down from the Exorcist and Lance and Max climbed down at top speed. All four of the earthlings ran into each other’s arms and embraced like they’d never let go. Chattering and disjointed story-telling began to ensue until they were all gasping and in awe of each other’s adventures. Clare began the long narrative of the Revarian’s adventures to fill them in on the Mirror and the Beast and the predicament they now found themselves in. Now here they were with no oracle and Stella hiding out in a castle with the dangerous Mirror and revenge on her agenda.
As they spoke rapidly, they migrated more inland and set up a camp for the night. Time was passing, but they paid it no mind. They all gasped and applauded over the characters Revary had chosen for them all. Alice really liked the gunblade and Clare admitted only to herself how adorable she thought Max was in dark, Victorian garb. After about another hour of story-telling, Folkvar and Galis providing filler, they were all on the same page and the other three had great sympathetic pains for Clare.
“I’m sorry Gwen’s dead,” Lance sighed. He clenched and unclenched his metal glove. “You talked about him a lot.”
“And Yilith,” Max added. “I remember that night you asked me what you’d name him.”
Clare smiled sadly. It seemed so long ago now.
“What seems the best course of action?” Galis asked. “Should we go to the Mirror castle now that you know who is inside?”
Clare shook her head. She addressed her fellow earthlings. “Do you remember what the book said about the Golden Son?” They nodded. “I think we should head up. He sounds like he should know what’s going on. And…” She hesitated. “I’m not ready to face the Black Witch.” She smiled at Lance and Max. “And thanks to you two, we have an airship now. Surely a great way to travel. The star would have loved to fly, I think.” She scanned the sky; it felt like looking into a familiar friend’s face. “Stars,” she mused. They were all gone now. How could Stella be on the side of Umbra and lend her power to such destruction?
Folkvar groaned.
“To the Celestial Plane?” Galis gasped. “Never has a surface dweller been there.”
“I think many an earthling has,” Clare said. “I only wish I could laugh in that oracle’s face when we get there. He’d be furious at how competent we are.”
They all shared a smile.
Choosing to sleep on the ground with great insistence from Folkvar, the group of warriors were restless while preparing themselves for the ascent into the Celestial Plane.
Chapter 20
The Golden Son and Desolation of Calimorden
The way to the Celestial Plane was a journey through all the others. After taking flight in the Exorcist with Lance at the helm and what was left of the crew following his orders, they found the Pegasus hauling the great gate through the sky. Its paces were slower now and its head hung low in weariness. When it heard the airship approach, it raised its glorious head and pricked its ears in their direction.
“Earthling girl,” she sighed to Clare. “Long have we Keepers heard of your name. Years it has been since an earthling walked the ever-changing land of what you call Revary. What wish may I bestow on you in my last hours? Could you not find the Keeper of the Surface Plane? Has he already vanished? It is up to me to take you up and bring you back.”
Clare wanted nothing more than to pet the great sparkling creature, but she could see there was no time for that. Not to mention how disrespectful it might be.
“G
ate Keeper, we need to ascend into the Sky Plane and thence to the Astral Plane. Can you take us there?”
The Pegasus’s nostrils flared as it sniffed the air. “I smell the storms on the wind,” it sighed. “They are closer now than ever.” It heaved a huge sigh and said seriously, “None of the other Keepers will ask for payment as I have not. None will ask you the questions of passage. We all feel the impending doom and will not hinder you.”
With that, the gate blazed brightly and opened up to allow the airship through as it had done once before. Lance expertly navigated it through the cloudy gate. When they appeared on the other side, the wind immediately thrashed at the sails and shoved the ship forward with a lurch. Everyone seized a rail for support, but none groaned so loudly as Folkvar.
“Curse you two-legs and your ships!” he called over the wind.
Alice nodded, her mouth held closed against the storm in her own stomach.
“See how far the corruption has come?” Galis pointed to the bit of the sun they could see through a break in the blackening clouds. “Already the king of the Astral Plane has been damaged.”
Clare shook her head in awe. She wanted to say so many things about Stella, Revary, and the powers earthlings had on this land. She wanted to know why Stella chose Yilith. Would they ever find him? Why had the Beast taken the star? Why had Stella built a great castle around the Mirror?
With a few more moments of windy flight interrupted by thunder and lightning, the skies grew darker. But soon, above the clouds and the steam villages of the Sky, they beheld the Gate Keeper of the Astral Plan, gliding about like a snowflake on wind. He was tall and seemed to be gliding on a little comet that was quickly loosing its mass. He had a long white beard and a silver crown of stars. He too glowed like the star Clare had met.
“The earthlings,” he sighed in a deep, mountainous voice. “To the Celestial Plane, I see.” His great blue eyes lowered. “I think it is too late for Revary, but you are welcome into my lands. Beware the tears in the sky set by Greylheim. His claws have ravaged my lands and devoured most of my children.”
He reached up behind himself and pulled at what they thought was part of the sky, but was really a large curtain made to look like the sky. Behind it lay glittering nebulous clouds and large glowing stars.
“Thank you,” Clare said as they passed him. “We will do whatever we can for Revary.”
The Astral Plane was wide open and gleaming with orbs of light. Clare could not see how anyone but a star could live there. Then she wondered what it must have looked like before Greylheim had ravaged it. There was no land, no plane to walk on. It was all open space. Galaxies glittered around them with constellations none of them had ever seen, dark purple clouds that pulsed with starlight.
But even with all this, there were obvious black spaces of nothing. Even before their eyes, one bubbly, sparkling nebula pulsed, flickered, then went out all together.
“Stay away from those holes,” Max warned Lance. “Remember what happened last time.”
Navigating easily around them in the silence of the Astral Plane, the Exorcist made it easily to the last Gate Keeper. He was just as the last earthling had described in the pages of the green book. White robes, a golden crown, and arched, feathery wings. In his right hand was a long staff of gold.
When they approached, he did not smile. “Great has been the hope of the Golden Son that you would come and seek his advice,” was the greeting. “Had you the sense on your first visit to Revary, you would have sought out a higher power.”
Clare felt a little insulted and usurped at the same time. “I didn’t know there was one.”
The Keeper shook his white head. “Earthlings never think of a higher power. They want to be the ones with all the glory and might.”
“That’s not fair,” Alice cut in. “How was she supposed to know to ask for who was in charge?”
“Humility,” the Keeper said easily. “But there is little time for this lesson. You must pass my gates and go to the Golden Tree. There you will find him. Now go and retrieve your quest.”
Without saying so much as a thank you, Clare motioned for Lance to fly the airship through the golden gates. The sight that greeted them was one they would dream about for years to come and wonder what had prompted such a lovely vision.
The Celestial Plane was pure. It was untouched by the corruption and full of sunlight. In the center of the rolling hills, white clouds, and celestial life was a great white tree with golden leaves. The bark was like marble, clean and bright. The leaves were supple and gleamed in the celestial sun. In the branches were floors and houses, rooms and doors, stairs and ladders.
“I suppose we knock on the door,” Clare said.
Lance anchored the airship by the topmost platform where they assumed the king would be. They all disembarked and marched up to where two female centaurs stood on guard at the great golden doors. With only a look at the troupe, they stepped aside and the doors opened.
Inside was a massive round throne room, much like the one in Calimorden. The ceiling was made of a night sky and the walls were all live trees, noisy with life. In the middle of the room was a round table and at the head sat a small boy of about fifteen. His skin was ivory and his long hair was brushed to a bright gleam. Before him on the table was a little green book.
“Sit, earthlings,” he said in a princely voice. “And also, welcome people of Revary.” With no other options, they all sat.
“I am glad you’ve come,” the Golden Son said to Clare. “I was waiting for you all this time.”
Clare nodded an apology. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think to ask if Revary had a king.”
The Golden Son smiled. “I’m not king of Revary. Revary has no king. I am too young to rule, though I am not a boy either.” His eyes twinkled with a mysterious humor. “I understand how you feel in your home. Lost with no sure path before you. What will you do when you grow up? After you leave school?”
Clare gaped. “How can you know about school?”
With an elegant hand, the Golden Son lifted the little green book before him.
“Just as you have books in your world about Revary, so in Revary we have books about your world.” He flipped open the book and read, “‘No one spoke or moved. Each noble among them was thinking back to his or her past in Sun Age. What Madame Clarissa had said was true. This world needed to be protected.
“Lord Jeffrey stood up. ‘So let it be written in the book of Ages that on this day, a threat was made to the land of Sun Age and the council, from all corners of the land, acknowledged it and will place it in the front of their thoughts as we embark on this most perilous journey of senior.’
“‘And to those who have commoners’ work and must keep at it,’ Lady Alicia spoke up. ‘May the gods bless you and grant you the patience of a thousand mothers!’”
“Enough!” Clare gasped.
A general outcry had arisen over her voice as well.
“How?” Max cried.
“Did you write that?” Alice pointed a finger in the Golden Son’s direction.
“That’s our meeting! How do you know that?” Clare demanded.
The Golden Son smiled. “I like the parts where you play in Sun Age. It makes me smile.”
Clare continued to glare at him.
He went on, not even slightly offended by her disrespect. “This world exists because of your dreams and ideas, Clare. Because of all of you,” he addressed the rest of the earthlings. “Earthling’s ideas, imaginations, and dreams form realities outside of your own. These are the skills you will need to fight the Great Umbra. You have these skills. You always have.”
“Did you…” Clare shook her head, not believing it. “Did you dream us up? Am I even real? Do we really exist or is that book of yours some kind of magic that just wrote me into being?” She knew her idea was ridiculous, but at the moment, she felt that her most absurd fear might be the true one.
Here the Golden Son stood up and Clare saw how tal
l he was. He was not so much a child when he stood and walked. He was more like a king.
“Of course you exist. You are real. Stories are real.”
She shook her head and pounded her fist on the table for emphasis. “I’m not a story!”
“What good are we to Revary if we’re all stories?” Lance asked. “What good are our dreams? I want to be a football star. What does that dream have to do with Revary? Do I matter if I’m just a story?”
The Golden Son’s blue eyes filled with tears of joy. “You matter most when you are a story, Lance. It means you have something to say.” He walked behind Max and placed his hands on his shoulders. “You matter when someone loves you or you love someone and they don’t even know it.” He went to Alice next. “You matter when you watch out for someone.” He went to Lance. “You matter when you are silent, but strong.” He smiled to Clare. “You matter when you have hope that fights against what the world thinks you should do.”
They all met each other’s eyes across the table. None of them were sure that had really answered the question.
“Then what about us?” Folkvar asked. “If earthlings give us life, what are we?”
He smiled even brighter. “In return, you give them hope back. You inspire them. And in the end, you are real to them.”
“Could we go to Clare’s world?” Galis asked.
The Golden Son shook his head. “You would not be as you are now in the world of the earthlings. But I cannot tell you that. It is for another to say. This is your quest if you wish to know about the connection between your worlds.” He went back to the head of the table. “You must seek out the greatest servant of Umbra: Greylheim. Find the great dragon, the devourer of stars, the sky ripper, and defeat him. Only in his weakest hour will he give you the secret to Umbra.”
Every heart skipped a beat at this command. Fighting any dragon may have been fine, but Greylheim had haunted Clare’s dreams all year. He was a terror to think about. What kind of beast could tear the sky and eat stars?
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