Milo and the Dragon Cross

by Robert Jesten Upton

  Some of the old, malevolent fury came back to him as he said this, and he seemed to forget that he was speaking to Milo. The instant he came back into reality, though, it faded.

  “What does the question, ‘Whom does the Grail serve,’ mean,” Milo asked. “And why do you want it so bad?”

  Smith gave him a taunting look, and sneered. “If you don’t know, you won’t learn it from me.” He turned a look of acid on Milo, but even this seemed to Milo a pitiful thing.

  “You!” Smith spat. “You thought you were stalking me, you fool. I was leading you! After I figured out who you were and what you had—by pure, dumb luck after all my work of learning the lore of the Grail and the location of the hidden Cross—I realized that it was you who had to bring it back to Crane Castle. I saw how I could take the restored Grail from you then and finish the task of becoming Grail King. All I had to do was to see that you succeeded. You could never have done it without me. All I needed to keep up with your whereabouts was to possess something of yours. So I went back to the Kingdom of Odalese where you started and I got this.” He flipped a coin into the air for Milo to catch. It was the coin with the buffalo on the reverse side that Milo had traded to the lady at the coin shop.

  “I found that, the silly little medallion with the image of Count Abracadabracus and that mythical beast on it, and I could follow you wherever you went. I didn’t even have to follow you, because I knew where you would show up if I pointed you in the right direction.” He was obviously quite pleased with his cleverness.

  Milo looked at the coin, front and back. What should he make of the claims that Smith was making? Was Milo really nothing but the discredited sorcerer’s stalking horse?

  Did it matter? What could Smith’s claim mean since the whole affair had worked out the way it had? He put the coin into his pocket. “Thanks for the info,” Milo said, turning away to leave Smith in the ruins of his own conspiracies. “Live in peace.”

  Just then Blai arrived. Erisa broke away from the dancing to join her, and the two of them went to Alerik and Ayuthaya. Stigma and Analisa came over to Milo and Raster.

  “What’s going on?” Analisa asked. Milo shrugged.

  “What will they do now?” Stigma asked, more as an open speculation than for information.

  “Maybe Einter can tell us,” Raster suggested, and they joined the tinker where he sat, taking it all in.

  “Oh, I expect everything’s going to change,” he mused. “One thing’s sure, though. We’ll be leavin’ soon. Got to get you younguns back to K of O. You’ll be wantin’ to see what’s become of the Hunt, won’t yuh?”

  “There’s lots of stuff I don’t understand yet,” Milo stated.

  “Then yeh ought to ask Blai,” Einter suggested. “She’ll know about as much as anybody, I’d say.”

  “What?” Analisa asked. “I thought you knew what was going on,” she told Milo, rather accusingly.

  “No. You’re overestimating what I know again,” Milo reminded her.

  “But...you knew just what to ask, and when to ask it.”

  “Yeah, from what I saw in the Mirror of Revelation,” he told her. “But that’s all I knew. I didn’t know what would happen to get me here and I didn’t—don’t know what happens next. I think I understand what it is the Mirror shows you when you look into it. It shows you what’s in your own mind that you aren’t letting yourself understand. I sort of knew what went wrong the first time I was here. I knew I’d done something, or not done something, that I should have done, but I hadn’t really faced up to it.”

  “What about Smith?” Analisa pointed out. “He must have seen himself killing his brother, but it didn’t work out that way. Was the Mirror lying?”

  “I think I understand that, too,” Milo answered. “You have to be open to your own truth before the Mirror can show it to you. Kayn had been set on murdering Alerik for so long, nothing else could come into his mind, so his own closed thoughts warped what the Mirror could show him. He couldn’t see anything else. He believed that killing Alerik was the one and only thing that would reward his ambitions. If he hadn’t shut every other option out of his mind, he probably would have seen something else. So, ultimately, what you see is what you are. Kayn was so fixed on evil, he couldn’t see any other choice.”

  “I saw...” Stigma began, then stopped. “What I saw, I’m not sure about yet. I don’t know what it means. We all need to travel back together, though. When do we need to leave?” This last, she asked Einter.

  “Right soon.” He set down the mug he’d been drinking from and wiped the foam out of his mustache. “I’ll go see if th’ boys have gotten here yet.”

  As he ambled away, Blai came their way. “Milo? You’ve done now what I knew you could do. But...there’s one more thing you could do if you’re willing to take it on.”

  Milo, thinking of all that had happened that had started with just this sort of request, shifted unhappily, but said, “If I can, yes, sure.”

  “My niece, Erisa, has spent her whole life trapped here in this castle through its enchantment. She dreams about seeing the outer world and wants to go with the four of you. Alerik and Ayuthaya, although they’re sorry to let her go, have agreed that she should. Will you take her?”

  “That’s it!” Stigma whispered.

  “She’s the Grail Maiden and will be Grail Queen someday,” Blai continued. “Alerik will die someday as every mortal does and Ayuthaya and I will leave this world. All will change after that and Erisa must discover a new way to serve the Grail on her own. The best way for her to learn would be to go into the world to find out what it’s like.”

  Milo spoke then. “Blai? I need to ask you...What is the Grail and whom does it serve?”

  Blai smiled. “The Grail is a Power. The power of what has been within the innermost part of noble hearts and the promise of what can be. That’s all. And that’s All. Although Heronsuge—you know him as Culebrant—has returned to retrieve the repaired Grail to take it back to its proper resting place in the Garden at the Hub of the World, the power of the Grail remains, embedded in each of us. Every person who is drawn to take up the Quest must seek, and find it on his or her own, just as you have, Milo. Who does it serve? It serves us all.”

  “Okay. I think I understand,” Milo answered. “But...what I need to know is how all this came about? When did the Grail get broken and how was the Dragon Cross separated from it?”

  “That’s an old, old tale,” Blai answered. “It goes back to the War of Elementals, when the Fallen rebelled against the First Born, Anzu’s children. The Grail was taken from the Hub and the Fallen possessed it. They intended to use it just as Kayn did. The war was fought over it. The Oak Clan, fighting on the side of the First Born, had recovered it from the Fallen, but they got trapped in what you call the Valley of the Stone Knights. The plate was broken in the struggle, but the Oak King escaped with the pieces. He put the two halves of the plate into the keeping of the Crane King, one of his most loyal supporters, but he took the Dragon Cross with him. No one knew where he had taken it, but by keeping it apart from the other pieces left it less likely to fall into the wrong hands.

  “Generations passed. The Oak King’s capital at the End of the Earth had long been abandoned and remembered only as the terminus of the Pilgrimage. Even the memory of the Dragon Cross faded from knowledge. The Crane Clan and the Fisher Kings guarded the Grail in its repaired state, though its powers were only a shadow of what it had been before it was broken and the key, the Dragon Cross, removed. Until you came. So you see, what you did tied the ancient past and all that transpired since into the present.”

  Milo let this sink in, sort of like a deep drink of water after a long thirst. When it felt complete, he said, “Sure. I’ll...we’ll”—looking to his companions—”be happy to have Erisa travel with us. All I can promise, though, is that we can travel together, at least as far as the Kingdom of Odalese. After that...”

  Blai broke in. “Of course. You can’t promi
se the future, and I’m not suggesting that you be her guardian. She must learn to make her own way if she’s to accomplish her own Quest. Thank you for accepting her.”

  23

  Thomas Jefferson Takes Milo Home

  It took about a week for Einter, Senster, and Dexter to get Stigma, Analisa, Erisa, Milo, and Raster to The Kingdom of Odalese. Smith didn’t come with them. As soon as they left Crane Castle, he slipped away almost without anyone’s notice into the pre-dawn mist.

  Erisa had brought Milo a gift, sort of. She gave him his old clothes, neatly laundered and folded, that he’d left behind at Crane Castle when Erisa and Ayuthaya had rigged him out more suitably for traveling as a pilgrim. Even the dollar bill that the lady at the coin shop hadn’t wanted had been laundered, ironed, and folded. He decided that he would wear his old clothes when he arrived at K of O so he’d have something clean.

  Blai left with them to see her niece off before taking on her own way back to the Glass Tower. Her way divided from theirs just as the sun began to rise. She said her goodbyes to each of them, finishing with Erisa.

  “I would like to send you my blessing,” she told her niece, then turned to Milo. “Milo, what did you do with that ball of rainbow yarn I gave you?”

  “I still have it,” Milo replied. “I never knew what to use it for.”

  “May I have it back?”

  Milo dug in his backpack, rummaging down to the bottom to pull it out. Blai took it, glanced to see the rim of the sun sparking on the horizon, and threw the ball high in a rainbow that arced in the winter sky.

  “Someday, when you’re ready to return, remember this rainbow,” she told Erisa. “I’ll know and I’ll send you its twin to lead you home again. You may bring a guest with you at that time,” Blai added, and glanced at Stigma. Milo saw something unspoken pass between them, then Blai went her way, leaving her niece to travel with her new companions into a world that she had never seen before.

  She had certainly imagined it, though, but as they actually traveled into it, Erisa admitted that there was much more to it than she had imagined. Milo understood. He recalled the first day when he had found himself in a place he’d only imagined before—The Kingdom of Odalese—and how much more exciting and baffling it had been than the way he’d imagined it.

  It seemed like such a long time ago that he’d been to the Kingdom of Odalese and begun his adventures. In fact, Milo could hardly think about that time at all without starting the thought with, “Once upon a time...”

  Despite her eagerness to see the world, Erisa was anxious about her new adventure and how she would cope with it. Milo certainly identified with that. She also missed her parents, her old friends, and her home, Crane Castle and the grim comforts its familiarity had given. Perhaps in sympathy, Milo was having bouts with homesickness himself, thinking about his mom, Gracie (his cat), and even his school.

  Stigma and Analisa took Erisa under their wings, and Raster was a great distraction to Milo, so the traveling, while uneventful, was a comfort, too. The routine of moving, of covering ground a day at a time as he had done for most of the months since all this had started, soothed him. The forests of the valley gave way to hilly terrain, and that descended into a wide plain where an increasing number of people lived. Einter seemed to be well known at every farm they came to, and welcomed in every village. The hospitality that came with this recognition meant a comfortable journey and ample provisions, a luxury that Milo had rarely enjoyed. Milo thought about the hard times his travel had brought him, and now those trials seemed lifted. He spent the hours they walked to the rumble and clank of Einter’s cart thinking about his adventures, musing on the Dragon Cross, and all that Culebrant had taught him. He thought about Deryl, Beryl, and Teryl and how they might be doing in their new lives. He wondered what would become of Ayuthaya and Blai, King Alerik, and the people of Crane Castle, but most of all, he thought about Bori.

  He recalled with great detail how he had made Boriboreau’s acquaintance, fighting back tears whenever he did this, but determined to honor his friend by remembering all he could. He went over their travels together and how Bori had eaten Milo’s share of the Wise Salmon, and how that wisdom had served them both thereafter. And he considered Bori’s surprising powers and the way he had stood up to Kayn in an act of savage defiance.

  Every time he thought about Bori, he found himself fingering the Jefferson nickel in his pocket, studying its two sides absently as he had the Dragon Cross. He didn’t know why. Was it because Kayn had used it as a tool to track Milo and Bori? The thing—just a small, unimportant thing—that had brought them to the moment of Bori’s showdown with the wizard? Something so small with such consequences. What Culebrant called Destiny.

  At last, the journey ended, as all journeys must. They reached The Kingdom of Odalese. Although Milo had never actually seen the approach to the city from the perspective of a traveler on the ground, he recognized the landscape around it, the River Dulcy, the town walls, and the attractive jumble of roofs that mounted up the slopes of the hill where the Kingdom stood, with the ruins of the old castle at the top. With every step his excitement mounted, though he couldn’t really say why.

  It was a chilly but clear day, right at noon, when they came through the city gate. Einter’s cart clanked and creaked on the cobblestones, and Senster and Dexter lumped amiably along as they always did. Stigma stopped them. “Look!” she cried, pointing straight up at the sky.

  Something incredible was happening.

  Milo had never seen anything like it before: an icy rainbow, but not an arch like normal rainbows with their ends anchored to the ground. This one was a huge ring around the sun at zenith. In each of the four directions—north, south, east, and west—were bright spots like extra suns. And above all that, the clear blue sky.

  “Wow!” Milo exclaimed.

  “What is it?” Analisa asked.

  “That’s a halo,” Erisa said. “It’s a gift for Milo from Aunt Blai.”

  Everyone in the street was looking up now. Activities came to a standstill and people inside the houses and shops came out to stare as well when they noticed what was happening.

  As Milo stared at Blai’s gift, he became aware of someone standing at his side, staring up as well. He glanced.

  It was Tinburkin. “That’s a compelling recommendation from one of your more influential friends, wouldn’t you say?” he commented to Milo without taking his eyes off the sky.

  “Wha...?” Milo started. “What do you mean?”

  Tinburkin looked at him with a friendly twinkle in his eye, winked, and answered. “Couldn’t be a more signature endorsement, I think. The Rainbow Weaver throwing a special sign in your honor? I expect the Council will recognize that as a vote of confidence.”

  He turned away from Milo to extend a hand to Einter, standing with his oxen just behind Milo in the street. “Einter,” he greeted. “Hope you’ve had an interesting journey.”

  “Ey, that it was.”

  “You know each other?” Milo asked in surprise, though he didn’t know why he should be surprised. After all, Einter seemed to know everyone. Einter nodded, and Tinburkin grinned.

  “Nary a dull moment with this young ‘un around,” Einter answered, nodding to indicate Milo.

  Tinburkin turned to greet Analisa and Stigma. Tinburkin grinned at Stigma, looking her over. “Nice to see you,” he commented, then turned to Erisa “And this then would be the Grail Maiden?”

  “I’m Erisa. I’m happy to make your acquaintance,” she said.

  Tinburkin turned another wink at Milo. “Another reason for the Council to pay attention.”

  “What Council?” Milo demanded. What are you talking about?”

  “The Council of the Hunt. You remember Barenton? The Magic Scavenger Hunt chairperson? That’s the council he presides over. They’re in session to assess the success of the 77th Hunt and its participants. You three are the final contestants to arrive, marking its end.”

  �
�Are there...how many are...” Milo asked, wary of an answer that would show how many victims were lost in the battle with Kayn and the detour into the Valley of the Stone Knights, and expecting the worst.

  “All thirteen are now accounted for,” Tinburkin reported. “Even the ones who were...detained in the episode with the Stone Knights. I found them all to be retrievable when the Council sent me out to bring them in.”

  “And Count Yeroen?” Milo asked. “And Aulaires? Lute? Sarakka? They’re okay, too?”

  “All here. Each has been interviewed by the Council and they have provided their full testimonies concerning their experiences during the Hunt. Only you three are still to appear.”

  While this conversation had been going on, the halo around the sun faded, turning the sky back to its normal, winter sky blue. The street of sky gawkers had re-formed around Milo and his companions.

  “It’s the boy,” Milo heard someone in the crowd explain. “Oh, the Thirteenth!” her companion answered. Another voice said, “He’s the one who fought the dragon!”

  “What sort of stories are they telling?” Milo asked Tinburkin, upset at the inaccuracy.

  “We shouldn’t keep the Council waiting any longer,” Tinburkin said without comment. “Come along, I’ll take you all to the Courthouse.”

  The crowd parted for them, ox cart and all, as Tinburkin led them up the street until they arrived at the town square in front of the Courthouse. Milo looked up the stairs flanked by the two bronze lions.