Greystone Valley

by Charlie Brooks

  “Well, that just doesn’t make any sense!”

  “What doesn’t make sense?”

  “In the stories, whenever a mysterious traveler arrives from far away, it’s always to save the world or fulfill some prophecy. If there aren’t any prophecies, then why am I stuck here?”

  Kay didn’t offer an answer. He just chuckled, shook his head, and started walking again.

  “What?” asked Sarah, picking up her pace. “What’s so funny?”

  “Oh, nothing. It’s just that if the Fates were going to send someone into the valley to fulfill some sort of prophecy, they could at least give the Chosen One a good pair of slippers.”

  Sarah looked down at her bare, mud-crusted feet. With a growl of frustration, she picked up her pace. She marched so far ahead of Kay that the boy had to jog just to keep up with her. That didn’t stop him from quietly chuckling to himself, though.

  When they reached the inn, they proceeded with caution. The men inside had tried their best to hand Kay over to Baelan, and neither Sarah nor Kay wanted to risk a confrontation, especially with the warlord’s patrols skulking about the surrounding countryside. Nonetheless, there was only one thing for them to do if they were to retrieve the boy’s staff. They had to go inside and take their chances.

  Approaching the inn’s front door, Sarah noticed a crudely-drawn picture above the door of a young woman dressed in bright green robes.

  “Who’s that?” she asked Kay, gesturing toward the picture.

  “That’s the Emerald Enchantress. Supposedly, she knew the secrets of Castle Greystone. But no one’s seen her in the valley for years.”

  “The Emerald Enchantress? I’ve heard stories about her before.” Although, now that she thought about it, she couldn’t really remember where those stories had come from.

  “Well, I’m not surprised. She was a pretty important figure.”

  “But how do I know her from the real world?”

  Kay seemed taken aback by Sarah’s choice in words. “First off, this world is just as real as any other world. It’s the only one I’ve ever been to, anyway. Second of all, Greystone Valley is a place where magic from other worlds comes instead of disappearing. Just because the Emerald Enchantress is a fairy tale in your world doesn’t mean she didn’t exist or that your world was the only place she had ever been to.”

  With Sarah feeling sufficiently chastised, Kay turned back to the task at hand. He took a deep breath like he was about to take a plunge into a frozen lake. Then he walked into the inn with Sarah following after him.

  The downstairs of the inn held a common room, which was lined with tables and chairs. It was sometime in the mid-afternoon now, and few people were thinking about a meal after the excitement earlier. Nonetheless, there were a handful of people gossiping around a table in the middle of the room. One of them was a big bald man with dark eyes—one of the gang that had tried to take Kay to the warlord.

  “Great,” murmured Kay. He signaled to Sarah to pick up the pace. The two made it almost all the way to the staircase on the other side of the common room before the man saw them and stood up. Much to Sarah’s chagrin, the bald man cut them off at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Well, well,” he said loudly. “Looks like the little rat has come back to the scene of the crime.”

  “Actually,” said Kay, “I didn’t commit any crime. And I just came back here to get some of my things.”

  The large man took a threatening step toward Kay. “You’re a wanted man, boy. You should turn yourself in to Baelan before you cause some serious trouble in this valley.”

  “Sorry, I don’t know of any spells that would allow me to actually turn myself into Baelan.”

  A confused expression crossed the man’s face. It took him a moment to realize the play on words that Kay had performed. When he realized his own bewilderment, his eyes opened wider and his voice rose in anger. “Don’t try to confuse me!” He looked at the other people in the common room, who were eagerly watching to see what would happen next. “Boys, I’m going to solve all our problems once and for all! I’ll bet Baelan will give me my weight in gold as a reward!”

  As the others in the inn jeered and Kay looked about nervously, Sarah stepped forward. She had had enough.

  “Your weight in gold?” she cried. “You’re dealing with the great sorcerer Kay. If you try anything, he’ll turn you into a stone statue.”

  Kay’s eyes bulged in surprise at the threat. Without his spellbook, he didn’t have a single wisp of magic.

  The bald man laughed, unimpressed by Sarah’s threat. “And who is this young lady? Some poor beggar’s daughter?”

  Kay started, “She’s, um… she’s, um…”

  “Sarah,” said Sarah, realizing that she hadn’t told Kay her name yet.

  “Yes, yes. She’s Sarah, my apprentice. Why, just this morning she turned a boy into a frog.”

  The man stopped laughing and looked at Sarah suspiciously. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”

  Kay arched an eyebrow. The bluff was beginning to work, and he was looking more confident as a result. “It doesn’t matter what you believe. Magic works, regardless. In fact, I don’t think I need to cast any spell on you at all. Getting rid of you will be good practice for my pupil here.” Kay stepped back and gestured toward the large man. “Go ahead, Sarah. Only don’t just turn him to stone. Make it something more interesting, like pudding.”

  Sarah smiled as wickedly as she could. The bald man was starting to sweat now. She rolled up her sleeves and thought of the most magical-sounding words she could think of. “Ebao—”

  “Stop!” shouted the man, his voice shrill.

  Sarah held her position, with one finger crooked in his direction.

  “Um… I don’t need to waste my time on kids like you two,” he said, trying to regain his lost bluster. “Now get out of my sight before I change my mind.” Shoulders hunched, the man returned to his table. Everyone else stared at Sarah and Kay as they began to climb the stairs.

  “You’re not bad,” Kay whispered. “You’ve got the demeanor to be a great enchantress if you wanted.”

  “Thanks,” Sarah replied. “But next time, I’m going to be the master and you’ll be the apprentice, OK?”

  The walking stick lay propped against the wall, right where Kay had left it. Now that she took the time to get a good look at it, Sarah saw that it was a unique, if nonmagical, staff. The wood was gnarled and twisted, but carefully polished into a fine finish. A small emerald was inset at the top of the staff, with a single rune underneath it:

  “What’s this?” she asked.

  “That’s my name, of course.”

  “I thought your name was Kay.”

  Kay took the stick from her gently. “It is. And this mark is a symbol of that name. All the great wizards have a personal rune.”

  “And so do you,” said Sarah sarcastically.

  “OK, that’s enough of that.” Kay picked up the walking stick and sulked out of the room. “When I need them to, my spells will work perfectly. Remember that.”

  They left the inn and began heading back up the hill toward where they had buried the spellbook. Once they left the town limits, they went back to moving in a zigzag pattern, jogging through open clearings until they found a tree or a rock to hide behind while they prepared their next move. For a moment, it seemed as though they were going to make it back without any problems at all. Baelan’s patrols had drifted farther away, and it seemed the army had gone past them. Naturally, it was just as the pair finally started to think they were safe that a scout saw them and blew his horn.

  “Great,” Kay said as he looked anxiously up the hill. “Now we have to run.”

  They didn’t make it far. Before they had gotten more than a dozen paces up the base of the hill, the clopping of horse hooves drew nearer to them. It wasn’t mounted soldiers that surrounded them this time, though. The creatures that galloped after them each had a pair of hoofed feet and a swi
shing brown tail. Their bodies, though, were human—strong, well-muscled, and armored.

  Then the animal form returned at the neck, leaving each of the creatures with the head of a horse. Five of them emerged from the surrounding woods and caught up to Kay and Sarah quickly—they moved as fast as galloping horses, after all. In a moment, Sarah and Kay found themselves surrounded by the creatures. Each of them carried spears and brandished their weapons at the wayward pair.

  “You’ve got another spell up your sleeve to get us out of this,” Sarah said, looking warily at the horse-men’s spears. “Right?”

  Kay gave her a crooked smile that was probably supposed to look confident. Instead, it looked empty and hollow. They were trapped. “Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’m sure I’ll think of something.”

  For some reason, that reassurance failed to make Sarah feel any better. Then someone else approached, and she felt even worse.

  She heard him before she saw him. The tromping of iron-shod hooves seemed to shake her bones as it approached. She and Kay both turned to look in the direction of the newcomer. When they saw him, they cried out in despair. The creature that approached walked on two hoofed feet, like the horse-men that surrounded them.

  However, he was much larger than any of the other beast-men—larger even than any person Sarah had ever seen. He had the face and head of a ram, complete with long curved horns. Coarse black hair covered his body. His torso was bare, save for the massive sword he wore across his back. Despite not having any armor on, he looked no less protected.

  “Uh-oh,” Kay whispered.

  “Who’s that?” Sarah asked.

  “It’s Aries, Baelan’s right-hand man—or right-hand beast, in this case.”

  The horse-men bowed their heads slightly as Aries approached, but they didn’t lower their spears. The circle parted as the ram-man arrived. The other beast-men scrambled behind Sarah and Kay, leaving their master to deal with the humans. Despite the opening the pair now saw, neither one of them tried to escape. They certainly wouldn’t be able to outrun Aries’s powerful hooves, and it seemed better to have that mighty sword of his in front of them rather than seeking the soft flesh of their backs.

  “Well, Kay, we’ve found you at last.” The creature’s voice sounded like the rumbling of a volcano. “The master figured you’d be back for your staff. After all, a wizard without a staff is worse than a wizard without a spellbook.”

  “That’s what my old man used to say,” replied Kay. “And that’s a good thing, since I don’t have my spellbook on me.”

  “I see.” Aries crossed his tree-trunk-sized arms. “And I don’t suppose you’d make it easy for all of us and just tell us where the book is hidden?”

  Kay shook his head. “No, I wouldn’t suppose that at all.”

  The beast-man snorted and turned his fiery eyes toward Sarah. “And what about your companion? Does she know anything about the book?”

  Kay glanced nervously at Sarah. Her mouth hung open, but she remained speechless. She had no intention of telling Aries anything, but at the same time she wasn’t very pleased at the prospect of what such a powerful creature might do to her if she didn’t cooperate.

  “I don’t even know who she is,” lied Kay. “She followed me all the way from the inn, and I haven’t been able to shake her.”

  “Is that so?” Aries moved in front of Sarah and dropped to one knee. It was only then that he was even close to eye level with her. Even so, his curved horns stayed well above her head. “Is that true, little girl? Or do you have something you’d like to tell me?”

  Sarah felt a swell of anger at being called a little girl. Who was this monster to talk down to her like that? At least she actually was a girl, as opposed to the ram-creature in front of her and the horse-men who served as his lackeys. Nonetheless, that anger died down quickly as she remembered how powerful Aries was. Without Kay’s spellbook, there seemed to be little chance of escape. “He knows me. We met earlier today.”

  Kay’s face went pale at Sarah’s admission.

  “Indeed?” A strange, twisted smile formed across the ram-man’s face. “And do you know where this boy hid his spellbook? We need it very badly. It’s very important.”

  “Don’t tell him,” hissed Kay.

  Sarah started to say something, but then hesitated. Who did she trust in this strange world? Did she trust anyone?

  “You can trust me,” said Aries. His deep rumbling voice became gentler—almost a purr. “You said you just met this boy, and already he has you running from armies. I’ll take you to my master, Baelan. He’ll treat you like a queen. All you need to do is tell me where that book is.”

  Kay only looked at her and said nothing.

  Sarah took a deep breath and held it for what seemed like an hour. She didn’t know anything about Kay, really. The boy was obviously on the run, and he had tried to turn her into a frog. On the other hand, he had also protected her in his own bumbling way. He certainly hadn’t waved a sword at her.

  One other thing tugged at Sarah’s heart. Even though it seemed to make some sense to side against Kay, that’s what everyone else had done. Wherever the boy went, he had an army following him and no one there to help him or even provide some friendship. That just felt wrong to Sarah. Everybody should have a friend, shouldn’t they?

  “I know where the book is,” she said at last. “But I’m not going to tell you, either.”

  Aries rose to his full height, forcing both Sarah and Kay to crane their necks upward to see him. “Then you’ve chosen your fate,” he boomed. “I’ll let Baelan himself deal with you.” He spoke next to the other beast-men. “Bind them hand and foot and take them to their prison.”

  The horse-men seized Sarah with a strong grip. She felt someone pass a length of rope around her wrists and another one around her ankles. Kay gave her a bewildered look as he, too, got tied up. Before she could say anything to her companion, one of the horse-men threw a burlap hood over her head, blinding her. Someone or something hauled her off her feet and carried her away. Where she was going, she had no idea.

  Six

  With her hands tied and a hood pulled over her head, Sarah had no way of knowing where she was being taken. She felt a hairy, smelly body carrying her somewhere and heard the clopping of hooves on the road as she traveled. Normally, she would assume that she had been put on horseback, but it could just as easily have been one of the large beast-men carrying her over their shoulder. Whatever was carrying her, she instantly hated traveling that way. She had gone through bumpy car rides before. Getting tossed around like a piece of luggage felt a thousand times worse.

  She learned one more thing on her bumpy journey: she did not like the smell of horses.

  When she finally touched the ground again, she felt a stone floor underneath her bare feet. One of her captors undid the ties around her legs and then dragged her through whatever hall she had been brought to. One of the creatures pushed her forward from behind, and she fell forward. She grimaced in pain as her knees hit the cold, hard floor.

  “Where are your manners?” came a loud, authoritative voice. “Untie her at once.”

  “But, master—” Sarah felt the warm breath of a horse at her back.

  “No buts and no excuses. You might have been raised in a barn, but I wasn’t, and I show hospitality toward my guests.”

  Sarah didn’t know exactly what was going on, but she felt the ropes at her wrists get loosened and then removed. In another moment, the heavy black sack was taken off her head, and she was free again.

  “Good,” said the man in front of her. “Now leave us alone.”

  Sarah craned her neck to see one of the horse-men behind her. Without another word, the creature bowed its head and left the room they were in, slamming a heavy wooden door behind it. Sarah was now alone with her captor—but at least he was a human and not another one of the beast-men.

  The room was exactly what Sarah expected out of a king’s castle. It was spacious an
d grand, with tapestries and banners lining the walls. White marble pillars stood evenly throughout the hall, rising from the floor to a ceiling that Sarah probably wouldn’t be able to see if it wasn’t for the chandeliers hanging from the carved stone. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all built out of rock, but the room seemed warm nonetheless. In front of her, sitting upon a gold throne, was a man she recognized immediately, even though she had only seen him once.

  The warlord Baelan sat before her, still in armor from the battle earlier that afternoon. His silver breastplate was polished and spotless, and a massive sword lay propped against the throne. Baelan himself had black hair and a long mustache that drooped past the corners of his lips. He looked old enough to be Sarah’s father, but he was tall and well-muscled and looked much stronger than any middle-aged man Sarah knew from her own world. He had almond-colored eyes.

  “I’m sorry for the way they treated you,” said the warlord in a gentle voice. “Those creatures can be more than a little stubborn.”

  Sarah didn’t say anything. She just watched Baelan, trying to figure out what was about to happen.

  “Can I get you anything? Some tea or maybe a bite to eat?”

  Sarah shook her head and remained quiet.

  Baelan smiled, showing the tips of his yellowish teeth. “Of course you’re intimidated. Where are my manners? My name is—”

  “You’re Baelan, the warlord of Greystone Valley,” interrupted Sarah.

  “Precisely. Your companion has told you that much truthfully. I wonder, though, what other stories he might have told about me.”

  “Where’s Kay?”

  “He’s safe and sound, and none of my beast-men will harm a hair on his head. The same goes for you. I give you my word that you’re safe here.”

  Sarah kept her eyes locked on the man’s face. He seemed to be telling the truth, but it occurred to her that someone who led armies across the land was probably very good at lying, too.

  “If Aries has told me correctly, your name is Sarah.”