by Linda McNabb
He looked over the group without comment, then let his gaze rest on his son and daughter. It was a stern look that showed his disapproval. Both Asher and Tal dropped their gaze to the floor and knelt before their father.
Seth looked at the others, wondering if they were supposed to follow. He had never met a king before and had no idea what to expect. Eagan, Ryker and Waide looked at the floor but remained standing. Seth followed their lead and waited in the silence that followed. It seemed like it would stretch on forever and Seth was about to take a peek around the room when Asher spoke up.
‘Your Majesty, we bring you traders from distant lands. We have travelled far to…’
‘Quiet!’ the king snapped. ‘If you’re going to tell lies then tell them to someone else.’
Asher fell silent and there was another long pause.
‘I see you have three traitors with you, and one young boy.’ The king stated.
Seth flicked his gaze across their group. Three held staffs and the other one was Waide.
Asher rose to his feet, followed by Tal and the rest looked up to watch as Asher stepped forward. ‘Traitors, Your Majesty? It is true they are not merchants, but nor are they traitors.’
‘And they’re just twigs they picked up along the way?’ the king queried without even looking over at the staffs.
‘Well…’ Asher looked to be searching for a truth to tell that wouldn’t make his father angry.
‘Don’t bother, Asher. I know what they are. These traitors, or their predecessors, flooded our lands and trapped us here with the night-shadows!’
‘Father it’s not what you think…’ Tal tried to object but her father cut in.
‘Really?’ he snapped back. ‘So they aren’t wizards?’
Tal looked from her father to the visitors and back. ‘Well, no, you can’t even see the wizards.’
Seth tried not to watch Darius as he stood up and walked back and forth in front of the King.
‘Does he think life with the real wizards would have been better? He may yet find out!’
A brief silence followed and Seth was surprised that Waide was the one to break it.
‘The wizards have my little brother and I want to get him back, Your Majesty.’
King Harld looked surprised and turned his attention to those holding a staff.
‘Them?’ He queried.
‘They’re not wizards,’ Waide said with a confused expression. ‘I mean the ones that live over The Gap. The ones that will be coming here for revenge.’
‘Revenge? On us?’ King Harld looked startled. ‘But we’re the ones who should be seeking revenge.’
Eagan stepped forward and two of the king’s guard responded by moving closer to block access to the King. Eagan held his hands out to show he meant no harm.
‘Everyone thinks they have reason to seek revenge it seems, and such thoughts will no doubt bring about even more chaos and disaster than we have already seen. There can be no winners in such a confrontation.’
The room fell silent for a few seconds and Seth could see the King was about to explain why his case was more important and revenge should be sought.
‘The wizards from across The Gap will be here in a matter of days, Father. And with far more power than they ever had before,’ Tal said quietly. ‘We will not be the ones taking revenge.’
Chapter Nine - Marcel
A silence hung on the room and even Darius and the other wizards sat quietly. The king’s face showed that he did indeed understand the seriousness of the situation and he looked at those before him as if trying to decide which of them was to blame for the imminent catastrophe.
‘Get out! All of you!’ the king boomed suddenly.
‘Yes, Father,’ Asher replied without even blinking.
The king looked at him with a sudden suspicious glare. ‘You didn’t come here to see me anyway did you?’
‘Um…. Well…’
A voice out in the corridor boomed angrily and prevented Asher from replying.
‘How dare you keep me waiting!’
Seth watched a flicker of annoyance pass over the king’s face.
‘What I have to tell His Majesty is urgent! Who is more important than his eldest son?’
The king glared at those before him. ‘Wait here while I speak to my loyal son. I want to find out why you are really here.’
Seth looked over at Eagan and raised one eyebrow in question as to what to do. Eagan simply nodded with the barest of movements and remained exactly where he was. The rest of them followed his lead.
The doors opened and the man from the rowboat stormed in.
‘There are sea monsters just beyond the mainland!’ the captain blurted out as he strode past the others and stood before the king. He belatedly remembered to bow briefly. ‘Your Majesty.’
The king was so taken aback by the statement and the earnest expression on his son’s face that he sat and blinked several times.
‘Sea monsters, Tulone?’
‘We were attacked just after sunset last night and were lucky to escape with our lives,’ Tulone insisted. ‘There were two of them. Huge glistening monsters. One black, one white and they broke into the hold of our ship and took all the fish.’
Seth shot a look at the others and they exchanged a silent agreement. All of them knew who the sea monsters were. This turn of events was unlikely to help their cause.
The captain finally took a longer look at those he shared the room with and he looked even angrier. ‘Asher, Tal. Where have you been? We’ve had search parties looking everywhere for you!’
‘We went looking for new trading partners…’ Tal replied but it was obvious that even she didn’t put much weight behind the lie any longer.
‘We’ll deal with them later.’ King Harld waved his hand at the rest of them. ‘Back to the sea monsters. Were you sharing the ship’s rum a little too freely perhaps?’ the king asked sharply. ‘I’m afraid I can’t spend my day worrying about imaginary monsters who you say stole your fish. You’re not going a little mad are you? You’re a bit young for that even given the family history.’
‘It was MoonFlame and StarFire, wasn’t it?’ Neras asked. He was laying on the floor looking up at the sky.
‘Of course it was the dragons. They are trouble. All dragons are trouble,’ Oran replied grumpily as he walked circles around the people in the room, glaring at them all as if his displeasure at being there would be felt.
‘Yet without them we wouldn’t have come so far so quickly,’ Darius pointed out. He was sitting on the platform next to the throne and mimicking the king’s pose exactly. Seth wondered if he was aware of what he was doing or if it was just by chance that both of them looked up at the sky at the exact same time.
Seth turned his attention back to the conversation by the throne. The ship’s captain had gone red around the neck as he continued to insist on his sea monster tale. The King was starting to look annoyed again.
‘Actually he’s telling the truth,’ Seth said quietly and everyone, including the wizards, stared at him in surprise. This was all taking far too long and being polite about it all was achieving nothing.
‘I assume you have a plan?’ Neras queried.
Seth called to MoonFlame in his mind. He looked up at the circular window in the roof and suggested that she bring StarFire. He felt the mark on his forehead tingle and then a distant voice echoed in his head.
‘…coming…’
‘You brought sea monsters as well, Asher?’ the king asked his son with an icy tone.
‘Ummm…’ Asher looked around for help and Eagan just nodded. ‘Not exactly.’
Just at that second there was a loud bang above them and a scrabbling sound. Seth looked up and saw the large undersides of the dragons blocking out most of the sunlight as their feet scrabbled for something to hold onto on the domed window.
Seth smiled and looked back at the king who had leapt from his throne and was retreating behind it. ‘These are our se
a monsters.’
‘They’re… they’re dragons!’ the king said. He peered out from behind the chair and pushed away the guards who had rushed to protect him. ‘They’ll burn our city to the ground!’
King Harld watched the dragons slide down the window then fly off and circle back for another attempt at landing on the slippery curved glass.
He cleared his throat and returned to the front of his throne then straightened his jacket and looked at those gathered in the room.
‘What exactly did you come here for? I have no army nor magic.’
‘We came for a ship,’ Asher said simply.
‘Is that all? And if I give you a ship your ‘friends’ will leave, and take the dragons with them?’
‘We will never return if we are not welcome,’ Eagan replied with a short bow.
The king flicked his attention back up at the dragons and cringed as the glass creaked, then his attention landed on his eldest son. ‘Tulone. You will give them your ship.’
Tulone began to splutter a protest but the king glared at him.
‘Now!’
‘Go fish for a while,’ Seth suggested to MoonFlame in his mind. ‘We will be out soon.’
MoonFlame lifted off and glided away but StarFire remained for a few seconds.
‘You do not control me.’
Seth was surprised to hear the dragon’s voice in his mind, but he supposed he should have expected it. He could see and hear wizards that nobody else could so why not dragons as well?
‘So stay, but there’s no fish here.’ Seth muttered half-aloud, then turned away and saw the others in the room were staring at him. It was clear to all that he had both called and dismissed the dragons and StarFire’s shadow moved away as he followed MoonFlame.
Ryker looked jealous, Eagan was more like a proud father as he grinned at Seth and the king just wanted them gone. His eyes were bug-like and he swallowed hard as he pointed to the door.
Everyone left without another word and the double doors slammed behind them so swiftly that it caught the back of Seth’s heel.
Tulone stormed ahead of them. ‘I suppose you want me to fix the sails before you take it?’
‘We need a little more than just your ship,’ Asher said as he caught up to his brother. ‘We need to talk to grandpa for directions to find the wizard’s island.’
‘You’re going to find the wizards of old?’ Tulone asked, clearly thrown by the news of what his ship had been volunteered for. ‘Does father know you’re going there?’
‘No, and we’re not. We’re just arranging the ship for those who are going.’
‘You mean you don’t want to go? Really?’ Tulone asked. ‘You’d pass up a chance to cross The Gap like grandpa did?’
‘Like he says he did,’ Tal corrected him. ‘Everyone knows he’s lost more than a few marbles.’
‘You’ll have to go to sea soon anyway. All royals have to have experience on the sea,’ Tulone pointed out. ‘This might take care of it all in one trip. Tales big enough to last your whole life.’
‘Only those who are going to be king need to have leadership experience at sea,’ Asher objected. ‘And neither Tal nor I will rule.’
‘Can we argue about this later?’ Ryker asked, as they emerged out into the sunlight. There was an eerie silence all around and not one single person was out on the street.
Seth spotted several faces peering through windows, all looking up. At least it would be a fast trip back down to the wharf with no crowds.
Tulone nodded. ‘Grandpa will be down at the Salty Dog.’
They followed him down through the town and to a small shack built onto a rickety old jetty. A sign hung outside that said Salty Dog, but it was crossed out and King’s Rest was written underneath in black paint. It was dimly lit inside and when the door swung shut behind them it was hard to see.
There were a few people cowering under tables, obviously hiding from the dragons, and one old man sat by a small window that looked out to sea.
‘He’s sat there for the last ten years at least, staring out at the ocean,’ Tulone said with a sigh. ‘Ever since he became too absentminded to rule. Even if his story was true he won’t be much help. His memory has mostly gone. He often can’t even remember who he is.’
‘Yet he knows to come here each day,’ Ryker pointed out. ‘Let us be the judge of how much use he is. We can help him remember.’
Those people hiding under the tables took one look at the new arrivals and decided that they’d rather be somewhere else. In just a matter of seconds the Inn was empty except for the old man by the window and a short barkeep wiping glasses behind the bar.
‘Morning, Captain,’ the barkeep said in a slow drawl as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened today. ‘Marcel is having a good day today. He even remembered my name.’
‘Thanks,’ Tulone replied and he looked at the others. ‘Let me talk to him alone first.’
‘Is he singing?’ Darius asked as he floated across the room, followed by Oran and Neras. They moved out of the way when Tulone took the only other seat at the small table but they remained watching closely.
‘Grandpa, it’s me, Tulone’ he said and patiently waited for the old man to pull his attention away from the view.
‘Harld,’ the old man said with a smile. ‘Are the children with you?’
‘He’s lost more than a few marbles,’ Oran remarked.
‘And this is one of his good days?’ Darius added with a sigh.
Marcel looked across the room and ignored the strange group of people staring at him as if it was nothing unusual. He only noticed Asher and Tal who hurried over to hug him.
‘Grandpa, do you remember that story you used to tell me when I was little?’ Tulone asked. ‘The one when you sailed across The Gap. These visitors would like to hear it.’
The old man’s shoulders went stiff and he turned back to the view of the sea. ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
Seth felt a little bit of hope slip away. If Marcel couldn’t tell them how to get there he had no idea what they would do.’
‘It’ okay, grandpa. They aren’t going to laugh at you,’ Tulone assured him.
‘Everybody laughs at me,’ Marcel muttered. ‘You shouldn’t laugh at a king.’
‘We’d like to go there,’ Eagan said and stepped forward. ‘But we don’t know the way.’
Marcel turned slowly to look at Eagan, then his gaze moved from one to the next until he returned to look at Eagan.
‘You don’t look like a wizard. I heard talk that three wizard were in the city,’ he said and then fell silent.
‘And what does a wizard looks like?’ Ryker asked.
‘The don’t carry big sticks for one thing and they dress in much fancier clothes.’
‘So you’ve been across The Gap?’ Waide asked. ‘We have to go there to rescue my brother.’
The old man shook his head. ‘You’ll never find the way. I don’t know how to tell you where to go. My memory isn’t what it used to be.’
His eyes glossed over a little and he turned away to stare at the sea again.
‘So come with us,’ Seth suggested. ‘You can show us the way.’
Marcel sat taller and his gaze seemed sharper and more focused. He looked into the shadows to stare Seth in the eye. ‘Me? Go to sea?’
‘Why not?’ Seth asked with a shrug.
‘They don’t let me go very far out to sea any more. Ever since I became king fifty years ago I’ve had to stay within sight of land.’
A short silence hung on the Inn then Eagan shrugged. ‘You’ll have more idea of where to go than we would.’
‘It might be a one way trip though.’ Tulone shook his head. ‘I don’t think you should go.’
‘I’m going!’ A broad smile lifted Marcel’s face and changed his appearance instantly. He looked years younger and excited. Clearly sailing to a possible doom was far more appealing to him than sitting slowly dying by a window looking out
to sea.
Chapter Ten - The Gap
‘Well, we’re not going in that!’ Marcel muttered as he leaned out the window and looked back towards the lake where Tulone’s ship was moored.
‘What do you mean, Grandpa? It might be a bit damaged after the dragons stole our fish, but it’ll stay afloat.’ Tulone looked a little offended at the suggestion that his ship wasn’t seaworthy.
‘It’s too big.’ Marcel shook his head. ‘We need my old faithful.’
‘The one you taught me to sail in?’ Asher asked, aghast. ‘It barely fits more than five people aboard and it must be 70 years old.’
‘It is a good solid boat. I helped to build it! How many are coming?’ Marcel asked, looking around and counting in his head. ‘I make it four of them and me.’
‘I want to come,’ Tal said and earned herself a glare from Asher.
‘I don’t,’ Asher chipped in.
‘Father would not be pleased if the entire royal family was lost at sea. We stay here,’ Tulone said firmly.
‘If we leave within the hour we should make it across by nightfall. It’s not somewhere we should go in the dark. It’s probably better if we don’t tell your father where we’re going. He’d probably try to stop us.’
Seth felt both relief and terror flood through him and he kept a tight hold on his life-drawing gift. He saw a mouse scurrying around under the table next to them and felt a twinge of pride for keeping it under control as the mouse stopped to nibble a crumb.
So it was less than an hour later that they were standing by a small ship that was almost not even a ship, but a boat, tucked away in a small bay of one of the islands.
‘Just give me a few minutes to get her ready.’ Marcel leapt aboard as if he were a young man.
‘We’re going in that?’ Oran asked. ‘Remember, Ryker, if you drown I spend eternity bobbing along on the waves!’
‘So make sure it doesn’t sink,’ Darius snapped at him. ‘You are a wizard aren’t you?’
Oran made a grunting noise and muttered to himself then took out his book of spells and flicked through it.
