Magic Invitation: Kalendra Chronicles Book One

by Barbara Ferrier

  “Thank you so much. You are amazing. You knew how to break me out. I still don’t believe it, Shantini.”

  Shantini let Kassara give her a hug and rub her coat. Suddenly She stood alert, her ears perked. She signaled to Kassara. There was no time to spare. The two ran full-out. This time Shantini opened a Wolf Trail. It was quite different than anything Kassara had experienced before. Wolf messengers. They flew through cliffs and plains.

  When they came out of the wolf trail, it was unclear where they were. A plateau with cliffs appeared on the left side of the canyon. A dense fog bank filled the valley. She could feel the moisture in the clouds before her.

  As she looked down the trail, she saw Jasmine. She wore the outfit of an emissary. Jasmine speed traveled the Messenger Trails in Kalendra. Kassara had seen her in the Wenderfaren, at Beacon’s Village; she’d checked on Tahendra at Ivy’s. Last night she was at dinner.

  Sylvia arrived wearing another beautiful dress. Was she always dressed up, Kassara thought? It seemed to make her happy, and it suited her.

  “Cup of tea?” Kassara said. Just as Jaime had shown her, a setting of chairs made itself visible. The women sat down. “I didn’t do that right. I hope you don’t mind. I wanted comfortable chairs.”

  “Thank you, Kassara. We’d love some tea service,” Sylvia suggested. The hot tea appeared on the table before them.

  “I’m going to say it. I feel like they must need my help, and I should have gotten them out before I got me here. I’ve feel guilty, like I should be responsible for everyone,” she bit her lip.

  “You got out of the Bog the only way you could.” Sylvia said. “With healthy cynicism and determination to stay on your mission,” Sylvia said. “That is the only breaking out there is. You can’t do that for someone else, you know, break them out of the Bog. Not really. It’s a switch inside your mind. That’s part of what makes it such a challenge. I have every confidence they’ll make it.” Then Sylvia looked at Kassara closely. “How are you? I got a message from Shantini.”

  “I don’t know. I just spent the night strapped to this freezing cold Blue Montis bed. Huge slab. I was tied naked to poison and kill me. They even dug me a grave ... But Sylvia, the craziest thing happened. Sohm, Tahendra’s moon brother, spoke in my head and said the Blue Montis changed my blood and made me stronger. He told me how to soothe the Shaman Moon through the meridians.”

  Chapter 25

  Maureen was outside, yelling in Sam’s face, “Just stop already!”

  Sam froze, wondering what to do. He was trying to help. The Grizzled Queen had insisted he move bags of rocks across the back wall to the other end, where they were needed.

  “She’s always building and scheming. As her mover, you’ll be worn out. Slow down,” Maureen insisted.

  Was she helping him or getting him in trouble? Sam knew there was no winning here.

  The Grizzled Queen could appear at any moment. She was the single most terrifying creature Sam had ever met, including in his nightmares. She was the Fortune-Teller of Doom. Gloomy futures. And she was definitive. She’d assured Sam he had nothing to offer and never would. He should give up and accept being a servant. He wasn’t worth anything. And if he received anything of value, he’d better hand it over right now. It didn’t matter how hard he worked because his work had no value.

  Sam was glad Maureen got him to pause. Preserving his energy made sense.

  “Okay,” Sam said and looked at her.

  Jaime had been instructed to draw a new garden, complete with beds and an elegant walkway.

  “Red crystal for the queen,” the Grizzled Queen had insisted.

  Jaime escaped into his sketchbook to hide. He felt exactly like he was with his mom at home, and he knew exactly how to become invisible. He saw the poundage of rock Sam was moving and wanted none of it, so he hid in his sketchbook.

  Tahendra suddenly popped in to bring the Grizzled Queen her cup of tea, while she got the guy’s attention. “How are you feeling, dear Queen?”

  “You don’t want to know.” Her voice was grizzled and deep. “It’s always so hard to get good help. People don’t do things the way they ought to. They come up with their own ideas and stop following directions. It’s terrible,” she said, shaking her double chins. The Grizzled Queen was warming up for her familiar rant. “Everyone would be so much safer if they did exactly what I said. I’m always right! I pick my favorites because they’re the only worthy ones. No one else,” she said with a scolding finger.

  A scowl came across her face. “Go to the hamlet and bake six dozen cookies exactly. The workers don’t deserve any. Not one. They are for me and maybe the ladies of my inner council.” She glowered. “We are the only ones who deserve acknowledgment and reward, not the boys.”

  Tahendra kept her head down, something she’d learned to do in tenth grade when a new popular girl arrived and made the school her personal stage for the drama of her life. Tahendra nearly laughed but caught herself.

  Her mom had called it the negative side of the feminine spirit. Tah took a very measured deep breath. Theatrics always gave the game away. Life through the lens of victimhood. Victims are dangerous, her mom warned. They’re the ones who victimize, and feel justified.

  Tahendra played the part of her school self. No eye contact. Deference and neutral agreement.

  They were running out of time, and she had to get the boys out of here. She noticed Maureen. Perhaps when she went down to the kitchen, she could ask for help. She wasn’t sure where Kassara was, and she didn’t know how she was going to get Sam and Jaime free. Tahendra walked to the building that led down to the kitchens. As she’d hoped, Maureen followed her.

  “What are you doing in here?” Maureen asked. “It’s not safe.”

  “I’m trying to find Kassara. Do you know where she is and if she’s okay?”

  “Don’t worry about Kassara. She’s on her way to the Full Moon Ceremony. One of your wolves got her out of here. It was brilliant. I’ve been trying to get those boys functioning. Sam’s like a robot, taking every single order. The queen loves him. I got him to slow down. I think it worked. She isn’t quite as enamored anymore.

  “Why are you helping, Maureen? Aren’t you in danger here?”

  “Charles injured my mom. When Charles started taking all the energy for himself, my mom warned against breaking meridians and removing sacred objects. She said they were critical to keeping the planet healthy. She stood up to him with real information. He banished her. Shannon and I ended up in limbo. We can’t stay or go. It’s weird.

  “If all I do is get those boys out of here, so they make the Full Moon Ceremony, then consider that my contribution,” Maureen continued. “I wish I was coming with you. Just so you know. I’ll do what I can to head Charles in the wrong direction.”

  “You need to go now. Take those back stairs all the way to the bottom. The Grizzled Queen saw you going toward the kitchens already. There is a window in that back-cellar room. Leave through it. I left it open, and nobody is guarding that path. I will get those boys out of here, I promise. Charles still trusts me, so if he sees me, I have stories. Got you covered.”

  “Thank you, Maureen. I wish, well, I wish things were different.”

  Tahendra ran down the rest of the stairs and found the window immediately. She climbed out and was soon running through the forest. She called for a Messenger Trail to open and ran through a golden tunnel that got her past the pinon forest. She arrived near the Divide, then took a minute to catch her breath. Her wolf took an alternate path and showed up to meet her, carrying her pack on his back. Sylvia was taking no chances. She made sure there was a dedicated wolf for each traveler, plus extras for errands.

  As Tahendra and her wolf continued, he opened a Wolf Trail. Safer, Tahendra thought. She jumped into the trail and heard some of Charles’s men hot on her track. They’ll never be able to follow a Wolf Trail, she thought. Thank you, Maureen, and Sylvia.

  “You should not be here if you d
on’t want to carry the water,” said a commanding voice. It was hard to discern where it came from. Sam turned to look around.

  “I should not have come,” he replied. Immediately he felt angry. Why did he have to interact with these women? They reminded him of home, of his dad’s recriminations, but here they came in triplicate. The Grizzled Queen and her two sisters. He thought he learned to get that junk out of his head. These women were in his face. The ladies of the Bog. They proudly kept everyone small and stuck. Who wants to live like that?

  Sam wanted out. He wasn’t sure how. Those ladies were a lost cause. They had no empathy, Sam thought. None. They put their rules ahead of everyone else. Had they replaced their lives with rules for how life ought to be? That was a terrible idea. No wonder they were miserable.

  Hearing his own thoughts was refreshing. The Grizzled Queen and her sisters scolded and scowled. They were stuck on rote. Repeat. Did their rules make them rulers, Sam wondered? Definitely not. Then he thought, were rules all they had?

  Where was Maureen? He didn’t have time for this. He needed her help now. He looked over to Jaime, still drawing the queen’s gardens. He showed her his journal, and she nodded in approval. Then she took his journal to keep it for herself. As Sam watched, Jaime quickly came to his senses. He pulled his book back and said, “I must make you your own copy, dear Queen,” Sam heard him say. He sounded snarky. Phew. He snapped.

  Jaime got away from her with his journal in his hands. He turned to Sam, wondering what to do next. Sam smiled at him. “We got this.” He signaled with his hand while he said the words under his breath.

  Maureen came back with the cookies for the Bog Matron. “Crunchy and delicious, just the way you and your sisters love them.”

  “Hmm. Where’s the girl?”

  “She’s still in the kitchen. She’s making you raspberry tarts. Isn’t that kind of her? Something you said. She insisted on baking them for you.”

  The Bog Matron tried to remember the earlier conversation, but her head was a little fuzzy. She had her cookies, which went according to her instructions. She couldn’t remember if she’d spoken about tarts. They’d be tasty, she thought. Now she was stuffing the cookies into her mouth with both hands. She’d be happy to eat tarts next. What a nice little girl.

  “Oh dear,” Maureen said. “The boys, here, need to wash their hands. May I assist them, dear Queen? After all, it looks like this one got pencil on his hands while he was working on that beautiful drawing for your gardens. The new one he’s making for you will be cleaner and more perfect once he’s washed up. And the lanky one can’t possibly build your new garden until he’s clean.”

  “All right but make it snappy. I want my garden now. The skinny, lanky one needs to build it all for me today. Be sure that happens.”

  Maureen bowed deeply. She knew where she could find a room full of slaves waiting for clemency for installing the garden. She’d have them build the garden during the queen’s nap. The Grizzled Queen would awaken to the gardens and most likely forget the boys. All the sugar and sleeping powder in those cookies ought to take care of that soon enough.

  “Sam, Jaime, come with me right away. I just got permission for you to go wash up,” she said under her breath. Once away from the Grizzled queen she said, “Jaime, let me make a copy of your drawings,” she took his journal, made sure nobody saw, and reproduced those pages accurately using her crystal. “I’ll give them to her later.”

  “Won’t she miss us?” Sam said.

  “No. She’ll be asleep. And when she wakes up, she’ll find someone else to boss around. Tahendra has left each of you a wolf to get you to the Full Moon Ceremony. It’s tonight. You’re late. Get there as fast as you can. Kassara and Tahendra are already on their way. They might even be there by now. Worry only about yourselves. You must each make it there on your own. Those are the instructions. Do it your way.”

  “Kassara—did they hurt Kassara?”

  “Apparently not. She was broken out of here by a wolf who knew how to release the knots holding her on the stone. Her cell was apparently unlocked,” she said with a wink. “And the clothing I left fit her.” They were out of sight, around the corner from the main square. Maureen checked quickly. They were safe. The Grizzled Queen was nearly asleep. She’d eaten half the plate of cookies as fast as she could. Judging from the look on the sisters’ faces, they shared the cookies. How nice of her. Maureen smiled.

  “She’s sound asleep. I guess a little sleeping powder fell into the cookie batter. Tarts are being made for when Queenie wakes up. She’s always hungry after her nap,” Maureen said.

  All three smiled.

  “What about Charles?” Jaime asked.

  “He rarely comes here. He probably will today, though,” Maureen said. “We dug a grave for Kassara before she went into her cell. Charles was certain the Blue Montis bed would kill her, and we don’t want to disappoint him.”

  “I’ll be sure the coffin’s buried, and it looks exactly right. He may check. I can honestly say I never saw her dead body. After all, I didn’t. Maureen then whispered, “I did see a gorgeous white wolf in a hurry. I believe it was guiding a dark-haired girl out of here.”

  They all laughed.

  “The Grizzled Queen will insist she killed the girl, and the grave is proof enough. She is completely satisfied. And she’s always right. Charles wouldn’t dare question her further.” Maureen smiled, and the three laughed.

  “In the building behind you there is a place to grab your things,” she said. “I had your packs set aside. You’ll find two wolves. One for each. I don’t know where Tahendra got you wolves. Not my concern.”

  When Kassara left, I saw a trail open, unlike any I’d seen before. I think the wolves are instructed to take you on ancient Wolf Trails. Charles wouldn’t know about that. Probably much safer and faster. Go. I wish you well. Out the window at the bottom of that staircase.”

  As they climbed through the open window, two wolves were waiting. Each carried a pack on their back. Sam and Jaime quickly knelt to acknowledge their wolf pups and thanked them for coming. They stood and each ran alongside their wolf.

  The wolves opened separate trails. Sam felt like he was running through a kaleidoscope as the colors inside the wolf trail spun around him. He ran as fast as he could to keep up while he was also magically transported. The landscape changed, but the feeling of running in a kaleidoscope did not.

  Jaime was in another trail. Jetson was a small black wolf with golden accents on his ears and tail. He led Jaime through the side of the mountain.

  Suddenly and seemingly out of the blue, Jaime remembered Kelne’s words at the dinner. Stay cynical and stay on mission. Don’t get led astray. Stay focused on your own path. That is the only way out of the Bog. Jaime smiled to himself. “He’s right. I hope we make the ceremony on time. Terribly sorry, Kelne. I went into one of those hiding habits Beacon talked. “Thank you, Maureen, Sylvia and Tahendra for having my back.”

  Chapter 26

  Sam arrived just moments before Jaime. Both exited their Wolf Trails gracefully enough. Sam tripped and landed on his face, then jumped up quickly as if nothing had gone wrong. He nearly pulled it off. Kassara and Tahendra were waiting.

  “I want to say thank you to Maureen,” Jaime said. “I don’t know what Sam, or I would have done without her quick thinking. She put the queen and her sisters to sleep with cookies. The big fat one ate them as quickly as she could, but her sisters arrived in time for some handfuls. They all began to snore. I guess Sam and I needed that level of intervention. They were crabby, in a familiar way, and kept promising we could earn our way out. Guess that wasn’t true, huh, Sam?”

  Sam smiled. “I’m sorry too. At least we snapped out of it eventually.”

  Kassara smiled. “I spent the night on a freezing hard stone because they thought they could poison me. My back hurts.” She stretched her arm and back. “Sohm came to me and said we better get to the Full Moon Ceremony. Nothing is more impor
tant. When I opened my eyes, the most adorable white wolf was waiting for me. She broke me out of prison, and seamlessly got me out of the compound. Smartest wolf on record.”

  “What’s that necklace you’re wearing? A Moon Catcher?” Tahendra asked.

  “It is,” Kassara said. “Maureen found Shantini and I on the way out. It’s a gift from her to bring me resilience. I could see that when I handled it some of the walls lit up, little slits along the corridor. I was terrified she was going lock me back up. She said she was keeping me away from Charles and Joe. She wants to stop them too.”

  “Charles trusts Maureen,” Tahendra said. “She’ll keep protecting us. Good friend to have.”

  “I wonder what my grave site looks like,” Kassara said. “Maybe as a dead earthling I have special powers now. What do you think?” She smiled and shook her head no.

  The four were happy to be together again. The sun was still high in the sky, but that could change fast. Another test was on the horizon. At least that’s what Kassara was thinking.

  As the travelers looked at it, the divide was very deep and wide. Having learned to check for illusions before planning her approach, Tahendra whispered, “I see you” as a request for the magic to reveal itself as she held her Moon Catcher. Nothing changed. There was no magic here. This canyon had steep walls on both sides and left a gaping crack in the plateau. The only choice was where to cross. They had a long way to go.

  The river at the bottom of the deep canyon explained the geographic scene before them. It was steep and dangerous. A mistake could be deadly. The rope was inadequate.

  Kassara spoke first. “What is the divide for you?” she asked. “We all have them, don’t we? If we get clear on one internal divide, maybe it will be easier to cross this physical one. Do you think that’s our assignment for getting across this place? I think that’s what Beacon would expect of us, especially right now. After so much mayhem, he’d want us to think about something and learn. My opinion.”