“My Lord, a very strange thing. Einter has just arrived at the gate.”
“What? Why, he’s here! He’s...”
“Bring him in,” Ayuthaya said. “Bring him straight away and seat him for the service.”
“But...but...” Alerik sputtered. “He’s already...he was just...he just stepped away for a moment...”
“Prepare the service,” Ayuthaya said. I’ve sent for Blai. We’re going to need her.”
“What’s going on?” Alerik demanded, confused.
“Your brother has returned. We need to be ready, and we must find out what he intends. But first, we must carry out the service, as we are obliged to do.” She squeezed Alerik’s hand, reassuring him.
“What ‘service’ are they talking about?” Analisa whispered to Milo.
“I think I know,” Stigma answered. “From the stories.”
“I know, too—this time,” Milo added. “From what I saw in the Well of Revelation.”
The porter came back into the Hall, with Einter—and Raster—following.
“The greetings of Yule to yuh, one and all!” Einter called out. Alerik sat in stunned silence, his jaw open. It was Ayuthaya who stood, opening her arms in greeting.
“Einter! Old friend! Come forward and share our Yule table!”
“An’ I see yeh’ve met the young folks. Hey Milo! Analisa, Stigma!”
Raster’s tail went straight up as he scampered through the Hall, under tables, between legs, and in two jumps bounded up the dais onto the table in front of Milo, still moving so fast that he skidded into the place setting, which Milo was barely able to catch before it sailed off the edge.
“Hiya, Boss!” he said, with a meow. “Wait ‘til I tell you what me and Einter did!”
“Einter?” Alerik asked shakily. “How did you...” he turned toward the rear of the Hall, where the first Einter had gone moments before, then back to face the new Einter, the real Einter, striding down the aisle between tables.
“Come and be seated,” Ayuthaya said again, motioning Einter to the vacant place between her and her husband. Milo and his companions were on Alerik’s other side. She gripped Alerik’s hand again, in warning to say no more.
Alerik’s confusion was tangible, and murmurs from the others in attendance showed the assembly’s confusion as they noted these inconsistencies. Einter arrived at the table and the greetings of old friends was repeated. Milo tried to catch Einter’s eye, but only when their greetings were complete did Einter give him a quick and secret wink. Then he settled into his place.
“Einter and I”—began Raster, but Milo stopped him.
“Tell me, but quickly. Don’t let anyone else hear you speak. Now, what happened? How did you two get here so quickly?”
“That’s what I wanted to tell you,” insisted the cat. “We were traveling along, you know, the old slow way that those dumb old oxen go. I wanted to catch up with you guys, ‘cause I didn’t want to miss the excitement. Then, all of a sudden, Einter says, ‘It’s about time they got there,’ or something like that. Then he said I should get there, too. He said that Senster and Dexter knew the way and could get there in their own good time, and he just picked me up, and in just a couple of steps we were standing in front of that big door, knocking! I haven’t missed anything yet, have I?”
“Yes, and no,” Milo told him. “At least, not the important thing. Now be still, listen, and watch. If you see anything I don’t, you let me know right away, okay?”
Doors on the side of the Hall opened, and a page carrying a crossbow came in. A moaning sigh rose from the crowd as the page made his way down the corridor of tables to the dais. Alerik hung his head and Ayuthaya sat stoically upright, her face neutral. The page lifted the bow above his bowed head before the King, then turned to pass back out of the Hall, taking the door opposite his entrance.
Three young women came through the same door as the page. They were dressed all in white, their heads bowed and shrouded, as if in mourning.
“What’s going on?” Analisa whispered to Milo.
Milo knew, remembering the same ceremony from his first visit when he had been as baffled as Analisa was now. “Just watch,” he whispered back, locking his whole attention on what was happening.
Erisa came next, dressed in a matching white gown, except her veil was scarlet. She bore the great platter as she had the first time, but that time it had held the Salmon, and Milo had focused his whole attention on that. This time, he concentrated on the platter itself. It was empty. Erisa carried it gravely, but Milo could see that she wobbled somewhat, her own focus distracted by the events that had preceded the service.
Milo turned toward Alerik, who stared with intensity at his daughter as she approached.
“Pardon, Lord Alerik,” Milo said.
The Hall went silent, anticipation tangible. The swish of Erisa’s satins could be heard throughout the Hall.
“Whom does the Grail serve?”
The sudden inhale pressed from every throat in the Hall broke the silence as if everyone there had suddenly surfaced from drowning. Alerik’s jaw dropped, his eyes wide with surprise. Einter, at his side, caught Milo’s eye and winked. Milo waited steadfastly for Alerik’s answer, then repeated, “Whom does the Grail serve?”
Raster dug his claws into Milo’s thigh. “Look!” he hissed and Milo glanced upward. Erisa, turning to look the same way, gasped and stumbled. High in the rafters of the Hall stood Kayn with the crossbow he had taken from the young page. The bow arms vibrated with the release of the bolt now hurtling straight at Alerik’s chest. Without thought, Milo surged to his feet, projecting the shield that Culebrant had guided him to make into the bolt’s trajectory.
The edge of the shield caught the bolt’s flight and it ricocheted away. Milo moved into Dreaming to slow time. He saw Kayn, eyes fierce with anticipated victory. Milo knew that in Kayn’s mind this was the instant he had seen in the Mirror of Reflection: the bolt piercing his brother’s chest to finalize the murder he had attempted so long ago.
Milo also saw the way the bolt, deflected from Kayn’s aim, wobbled onto a new course toward Erisa, who, stumbling, dropped the platter. Milo reached out to save her as the platter, like Milo’s shield an instant earlier, fell into its path.
The bolt struck it squarely in the center. The plate split into two parts, one to the right and one to the left. Milo reached Erisa, jerking himself out of Dreaming in order to help her. As he pulled her away, the deflected bolt passed so closely that its fletching sliced the back of his outstretched hand. The two halves of the broken platter clattered to the floor.
Milo switched back into Dreaming, but this time much more deeply than he had ever gone. Kayn, crossbow spent and useless in his hand, stood in the rafters. It was the moment Milo had seen in the Mirror, only this time he dropped through its surface into the Other Side.
What he saw was the Hall in the Crane Castle, with Alerik and Erisa and all those around them, but they seemed ethereal as if made of no more than smoke. Beyond them the Castle’s walls were just as insubstantial and there was another world, one much more profound. Milo thrust his hand into his pocket to grasp the Dragon Cross. The two worlds solidified.
“King!” he shouted. “What ails you?”
He reached out to Alerik. The old bolt lodged in Alerik’s hip shone with a putrid glow. Milo grasped it and wrenched it free. Alerik contorted in agony and black blood jetted from the rotten wound.
Milo turned toward Kayn. He held the old bolt in his right hand, the Cross in his left. Kayn released a burst of fire to destroy Milo, but the Cross absorbed it, draining it away to an impotent trickle.
“You are done, wizard,” Milo told Kayn.
Kayn’s face contorted in fury. Milo snapped the old bolt and dropped it to the floor. Kayn gathered himself for another attack, drawing all the power he commanded. But Milo looked beyond him to a much greater threat on the way: the huge and elemental colossus, the dragon Heronsuge.
Herons
uge was coming. Kayn glanced back. Would the dragon devour Kayn and perhaps Milo as well? Milo held the Cross high, as much to the advance of the dragon as to Kayn. “Your plan is finished. Ruined. You have nothing left.”
Kayn cringed. Although he was unable to see beyond the Hall—Milo was the only one there able to do that—he sensed the onrushing power and his rage gave way to broken capitulation, his magic spent.
The instant was past. Milo pulled away from the depths of the state he had entered and surfaced into the Rule. He stood firmly in Alerik’s Hall. Only Milo knew what had transpired. Alerik braced himself against the table, gasping. Ayuthaya rushed to Alerik’s side and Erisa rose from the floor, straightening her dress but otherwise unharmed. Pandemonium filled the Hall as everyone came to their feet in shock, joy, astonishment, fright, or shear release. Milo stooped to retrieve his shield, which still rotated on it edge, not yet at rest. He placed it on the table, concave side up, before Alerik, then picked up the two parts of the broken plate to lay them into the shallow cup of the shield. The two parts nestled in the shield perfectly, finding the shape of their broken fit. Two drops of Milo’s blood from the cut fell onto the center of the plate and soaked into the crack.
“King, whom does the Grail serve?” he asked for the third time.
Bedlam took the hall again. Milo gazed around. Raster hopped back up on the table from where he had been thrown when Milo jumped up. Einter was missing. Just as Milo was beginning to fear that the Einter he had believed to be Einter was also some sort of impostor, he saw the tinker striding forward from the back of the Hall, pulling Kayn along by his ear as if he were a naughty five-year-old.
Alerik, pale and shaken, smiled and stood up straight, the old wound rapidly closing and healed. Ayuthaya hugged him, tears of joy streaming down her face. She came to where Milo stood. “Thank you, Milo,” she said, and kissed his cheek. Erisa hugged him and kissed his other cheek. Einter arrived with the captive Kayn and faced Alerik. At the sight of the wizard, the onlookers shrank away.
“Here he is,” Einter announced. “What do yuh want t’ do with ‘em?”
“Einter!” Erisa squealed. “Be careful!”
“Oh, this one’s not nearly so bad as he thinks he is. Why, my pappy told me that his pappy—my granpappy—told him that it was his, that is our, great-great-great-sompthin’ or other granpappy that caught this one when he an’ Alerik was young themselves, an’ this one had just killed a lark with a stone from his slingshot. My granpappy what-ever-back-then grabbed him up just like this”—Einter demonstrated by giving Kayn’s ear a tug, making him squirm—”an’ he took him over his knee an’ gave him a good solid whackin’. Not good enough, though, I’m afraid.”
Just then the main doors of the Hall opened again. This time it was Culebrant—Heronsuge in his form as The Keeper—who strode into the company.
“I am Culebrant, the Keeper. This young man, Milo, has served as my apprentice to learn all he needed to know to perform the service that you, Alerik, as Guardian of the Grail, have waited for these long years. In my original form, I am the Elemental known as Heronsuge, the Guardian of the Path. Milo has returned the Dragon Cross to take its rightful place at the center of the Grail, thereby restoring it to its fullness and its purpose for uniting the manifest and the magical realms.”
He turned to Milo. “Milo, hand me the Dragon Cross.” Milo held out the Cross. It seemed to pulsate in his palm like a beating heart as he gave it to the Keeper.
“The Quest is complete,” Culebrant announced, taking the Cross in his fingers and holding it up by the edges for all to see. “With this, All shall be healed.” He laid it down onto the center of the platter. Milo noticed that there was a recess there, and the Cross fit it precisely. It fit so closely, in fact, that the Cross seemed to merge into the material of the platter to become part of the whole. Furthermore, the crack where the plate had been broken was erased.
“The Grail is whole,” Culebrant pronounced. “The Fisher King and his land are healed. Healed, and fertile once more, the blight that has lain upon it and the world is purged.”
He turned to address Alerik. “What will you do with this one?” he said, holding a hand to indicate Kayn, who cringed away.
“I forgive him,” Alerik said. “The suffering that he brought on me, my land, and my people is ended. The Grail is at last whole. What was done, is done. He is my brother.”
“This is good,” Culebrant said. He turned to Kayn. “With the healing of your brother’s words and the deeds of this young man”—he gestured to Milo—”your crimes are absolved and your wizardly powers made null. The purity of Milo’s intentions and his steadfast heart have succeeded in restoring the Grail. Your powers, based in corruption, deceit, and treachery are dissolved. You must live on as an ordinary man. If you choose, you may use your remaining years in atonement, or you may end your days nursing your spite and living as a petty thief. That’s entirely up to you, as it is for everyman.”
Culebrant now lifted up the Grail. To Milo’s astonishment, his shield, which he had used as a receptacle of the broken parts, was now so firmly welded to the bottom of the platter that it was part of the legendary artifact. He could see the four-part design of The Dragon on its underside.
“You who are the guests of the Crane Castle”—and he looked to Milo, Stigma, Analisa, Einter, and Kayn, who was rubbing at the ear that Einter had, at last, released—”have your own choices to make. You may decide to stay on to live in Crane Castle or return to your birth-realms. By sunrise, Crane Castle will take its place within the Rule. It shall no longer float in the limbo in between. Milo, you are now the Grail Knight, and have the right to remain in the Grail Castle, but you shall be the Grail Knight regardless of where you go. You should know that your noble friend, Boriboreau, and his family reside with me. In time, a new star will appear in the sky of the Western Sisters for him. My advice to you is to consider what you believe to be your proper destiny. Your duty is to serve the Grail, but how you achieve that is your decision. Whatever you decide, go in peace, and with honor.”
With that, Culebrant turned and walked out of the Great Hall, through the doors, and out into the night.
It was much later before the celebrating crowd settled down enough for Alerik to call for the dinner to be served. Milo was amazed at how vigorous he was, and how well he walked, with only the slightest hitch to his step. He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from Ayuthaya, who herself seemed to have shed the look of centuries from her eyes. Milo wanted to take Erisa aside, to ask her about so much that he still didn’t understand, but Alerik was as devoted to her as he was to his wife, hugging her and keeping her near his side as he greeted personally everyone in the room.
Milo turned to Einter instead. “Einter? How long has it been since Kayn shot Alerik?”
“Oh, in our way of thinkin’, it’s been...oh, centuries. But here in the castle, they’ve lived in the limbo of Time. There’s no way to tell the difference between ten years an’ ten centuries. “Course, time will start running for Alerik and all the rest of the folks here since the clock’s going again.”
“When did the Cross get separated from the platter?”
“I reckon I’m not the one to answer that question. Yeh’ll have to ask that of somebody else.”
The kitchen staff at last served the dinner, with piles of food on every table and dishes of every conceivable sort. Milo had never seen so much food, nor had he tasted food so delicious. Alerik served Milo himself, putting more on his plate even after Milo couldn’t eat another bite. Alerik, on the other hand, ate like he had not eaten in all the time of his suffering.
The general celebration went on and on. The hubbub became a sort of buffer around Milo, who felt himself isolated in his own thoughts. It was almost like Dreaming, where he could see everything around him, but couldn’t enter into it. There was so much for him to think about and consider, and every new thought seemed to lead to a hundred more.
Who could answ
er his questions? He had known what questions to ask in order to heal the King and restore the Grail, but not the answers. So far, he hadn’t received any response to those questions. Who did the Grail serve? And what was it, really? He looked around at the celebrants, wondering who could tell him. Alerik and Ayuthaya would know, but he could hardly interrupt them in their moment of joy and release from the long, torturous enchantment. Erisa had joined Stigma, Analisa, and the other young people who were all dancing. Einter was stomping his feet and clapping his hands to the music, a huge flagon of ale before him. Only Kayn—demoted now from wizard to common thief—sat alone, looking as if he preferred to fade into the woodwork.
Of all the people here, Kayn—now just Smith—should know, if he would talk to Milo at all. Milo picked up Raster, who had stuck to him like glue the whole evening—very unlike the young cat—and went to where Smith sat.
“May I ask you something?” Milo asked the doused sorcerer. Smith glared up at him, but the ferocity of the look he gave Milo didn’t quite make it, and even that seemed to fizzle like a candle flame that was burning out.
“I suppose you can,” he said in a voice so subdued that Milo could hardly hear it.
“How old are you?” Milo asked, deciding to start at another of his questions to see if Smith was really willing to answer.
“Very, very old. Up until now, my magic has preserved me. I suppose it won’t anymore.” He seemed to shrivel a little as he said it.
“The Grail...it was already broken when the crossbow bolt hit it, wasn’t it?”Milo asked, seeking verification for what he suspected was true.
“Yes. It had been repaired, and convincingly so, but it was broken long ago, back when the Dragon Cross was taken. I learned the lore of its breaking after I had shot my...shot the Crane King. I was banished for that, and so began my long quest for the Grail. I learned the lore of the Dragon Cross and how it had been taken, by the remnant of the Fallen after the War of the Elementals. In removing the Cross, they broke the Grail. It was the Crane Clan who became the Grail Kings and the keepers of the partially repaired Grail. Eventually, I learned where the Cross had been hidden but my own actions had inadvertently cut me off from getting to that place at the End of the Earth. I knew if I could gain possession of the Cross, I could reunite the pieces of the Grail and restore its full power, which I would then control. The Grail would belong to me and the whole world would be at my feet.”
Milo and the Dragon Cross Page 32
