by J. B. North
He picked up his torch again and we started back through the tunnel. Once the middle stone was triggered, the floor began to rise again, but at a much slower pace. It felt like ages before we reached the main floor. When the shuddering came to a complete stop, the king set a brisk pace through the hallway and into the openness of the wide corridor, with the battering ram sitting on the floor and soldiers littered about. I was grateful for the morning light that poured in from the window, especially after being in that dreary tomb.
“If you would close the door, Ivy,” the king said, gesturing to the wall.
I looked at it. How? Luckily, when I pressed my hand to the wall, it responded immediately by shifting back into place as if it had never moved at all.
“Clear the hall,” the king ordered. “Back to your posts. You two, with me.”
Two burly men fell into place beside us as we walked down the hall and up a flight of stairs. The air was warm, but stuffy. We continued through an empty servants’ hall until we came to a humble door at the very end. Before anyone had the chance to knock, the door swung open and a man that resembled a bat peeked out.
He had pointed ears and a comb-over with long, greasy white hair. His spectacles were as thick as dessert plates and almost as large. “What’s all the ruckus?” he grumbled in a raspy voice. “I wasn’t alerted that a parade of elephants would come tromping down my hallway this morning.”
“I’m afraid you’ll get no more sleep today, Edibus,” the king replied. “I know I won’t.”
The old man scowled. “Oh, wonderful. What is it?” He opened the door a little more as he studied the rest of the group. “And why have you brought an entire entourage to my door? Have you come to carry me off to the gallows? You know I can’t put up much of a fight.”
The king sighed. “What would we condemn you of? Living far too long? Just let me get to the point.”
The man folded his scrawny arms across his chest. “Fine, but speak fast. I may be strongly inclined to shut this door in a few seconds.”
The king pushed me forward. “This is the phoenix.”
The man’s eyes grew huge behind his thick glasses. He took them off for a moment, squinting as he wiped them on his baby blue nightclothes. “The phoenix, you say?” he asked, putting the spectacles back on and looking me up and down. “Ah yes, I see it now.”
“See what?” I asked.
“The radiance of a light being. And more importantly,” he paused and pointed at the place where my sleeve had slipped slightly, “the scar.”
-Chapter Twenty-three-
“A scar?” the king said, brow creased. “I knew nothing about a scar. Did you withhold information from me?”
“I didn’t keep anything from you,” Edibus said simply. “You clearly didn’t study Rare Flora Lore by Jon G. Debley as thoroughly as I did. There was a whole page on the scar that the immortal plant may leave.”
King Torran frowned. “That book was almost seven hundred pages long and duller than a spoon.”
Edibus shrugged. “But informative, even though most of it was a bunch of hogwash. It seems that he was right about the immortal plant.”
I tilted my head. “That may explain that the plant could leave a scar, but how did you know that the phoenix would have one?”
Edibus looked sheepish. “Well…okay, I’ll admit it… I may have held back just a tad bit of information.”
“What?” the king shouted suddenly, fists balled at his sides. “It was my right to know everything about this!”
Edibus squinted his eyes and pointed a bony finger up at him. “And you would have found a letter and a journal under my bed, wrapped in parchment that said, To King Torran, which would explain everything I hadn’t told you yet.”
“And is it under your bed now?” the king asked.
Edibus shut the door until only his giant spectacles peeked out. “Well…no. I was planning on writing it when I felt like I was dying.”
“You foolish old man,” the king said, shaking his head.
“Never mind what would have been,” Princess Cecile interrupted impatiently. “The phoenix is here now, and we need answers. Tell us what you know.”
The old man sighed. “I suppose it is time.” He threw me a quick glance. “Let me get dressed, and we’ll meet in the library shortly.”
The king drew out a sigh. “Fine, but I’m leaving a guard here to make sure that you follow through.”
“Whatever,” the old man grumbled and slammed the door.
The king turned to me. “See what we mean?” he muttered. He pushed his way through to the head of the group, and motioned for one of the guards to stay at the door.
“What if he had been killed?” he said as we made our way back down the stairs.
“I suppose it’s a good thing that he lived so long,” said Princess Cecile.
I glanced at the king, brow knitted. “If the royal family were the only ones who were supposed to know about the prophecy, how did Edibus find out?” I asked.
The king shot a troubled look back at me before he answered. “My father and mother were older when they finally had me. After years of trying to produce an heir and no luck, they decided to pass the information on to my father’s most trusted advisor—Edibus. As ancient as he is now, Edibus was younger than my father, and he’d promised to pass on the information to the next person to ascend the throne. Then, coincidentally, my parents finally had me. They left all the tutoring to Edibus. After my father died when I was eleven and my mother when I was thirteen, it was up to him to pass on the majority of the information.”
I nodded. “Well, if your father trusted him that much, he must not be too bad.”
“I do trust him, and I still can’t believe he didn’t tell me everything. He’s just…an irritating man.”
“I suppose there are worse things he could be,” Princess Cecile said. “And at least he’s decided to tell us now.”
Once we got back to the main floor, the library doors were only a few steps away. A woman bowed to us when we entered, but kept on shuffling through the papers on her desk. Through the shelves, a small sitting area could be seen. We sat there while we waited for Edibus to show up. It certainly seemed that he took his time.
There were about twenty awkward minutes of tired yawns and impatient sighs before the door opened up again, and he and the guard stepped through. He’d changed into loose clothing not so different from what he’d been wearing before. With him, he carried a small leather bound book that’s binding was falling apart.
“Ed, what took you so long?” grumbled the king.
“It takes a lot longer to dress when you get older,” grumbled Ed. “Not to mention I had to find this old thing.” He raised the book.
The king reached for it, but Edibus, moving faster than it seems an old man should, snatched it out of reach. “Ah, ah, ah. It’ll be useless if I don’t find the page first.”
The king slammed his fist against the arm of his chair. “Then just get to it, would you?”
Edibus cleared his throat and opened the old book. He flipped through the pages until he came to a certain one. “Ah. Here it is.”
The king snatched for the book, and this time, Edibus let him have it.
He studied the page for mere seconds and then flipped the book over to the cover. “What is this? It’s hand-written.”
“It’s the journal of Leon Baldwin, the last phoenix. Go ahead, read it out loud. I think the young lady has waited long enough,” he said with a gesture to me.
The king opened the book back up and began to read.
“He says, ‘I had another vision today… I watched as the great metal giant was hurled into the chasm, but it wasn’t me that did it. Instead, on the top of that cliff, there was a small, red-headed girl, one that I’ve seen many times before in my visions. The last phoenix.
‘The vision ended before I could see if she made it across the pit of lava, but I’m certain she did. I’ve seen her in the middle o
f a battlefield after she’s gotten the scars.
‘Since that vision, I’ve worked out why she has them. While the Creator let her have the plant, no human in this world is meant to be immortal. She must have consumed enough of the plant to make her more powerful than her mortal body could handle. Whether or not the plant will destroy her completely, I wouldn’t be able to say. I can only hope that she accomplishes her destiny before it is too late.’”
The king turned the page, and then shuffled through the rest.
Edibus’s started toward a chair. “That was his last entry, if you were trying to look for another.”
The king looked at him. “Why did you keep this from me? What would have been the consequence?”
Edibus’s knees creaked as he sat down. “You are duty driven. If I had told you, you would have been obsessed with looking for the phoenix, suspecting every small, red-headed girl only to be disappointed when it wasn’t her. I wanted there to be enough mystery that you could only wait, instead of wasting your life looking for something that would only show up when it was ready.”
The king looked down at the book. “I wouldn’t have done that. I was patient enough when we heard that the phoenix had been found in Leviatha, the northern island no less.”
“Only because I persuaded you to stay. I had to remind you that it was her destiny to come to Onwin in her own time.”
“Fine,” the king gritted out as he stood. “Maybe I would have spent my life searching for her, but that should have been up to me. You had no right to keep this a secret,” he said as he raised the book.
Princess Cecile reached up and placed her hand on her father’s arm. “Father, enough of this. What’s done is done. The prophecy has been told, and I’m sure we could all use some rest.”
The king took in a few deep breaths as he stood up straight and dropped his hand. “You’re right, Cecile. Take Ivy to one of our guest suites. I’m sure you are both tired after your journey.”
Then, he swept toward the door, but before slamming it behind him, he paused. “If you were any younger, Edibus, I’d throw you in a cell. You’re lucky the phoenix came now instead of a decade ago.”
Having heard our conversation, the librarian wouldn’t stop staring at me curiously. Edibus pushed himself out of his chair and walked up to the woman. “I trust you can keep this conversation to yourself?”
The woman nodded as she turned back to her papers. “Of course, Master Edibus.”
“Good.” He turned to me and gave me a nod. “Rest up, young one. Destiny awaits.”
* * * * *
After being taken to a room as gray and bleak as any other in this fortress, all I could do was toss and turn. I may have gotten in two hours of sleep, if you added all the minutes together. I would drift off for a while, and then my mind would wake up with a jolt and my heart would race, pounding in my ears as my eyes wandered around the sun-drenched room.
When the sun was high in the sky, I was awoken not by a thought, but by a voice. “Ivy,” someone whispered. “Ivy.”
The voice faded in and out, echoing slightly off the stone walls. I sat up straight in bed. “Who’s there?” I asked, pulling the cover up to my chin.
A laugh reverberated throughout the room. Then, through the barred window, I saw him, glowing ghostly blue, slightly wavering with the wind. He walked through glass and metal as if it wasn’t even there, and his feet didn’t fully touch the ground.
“What are you doing here, Niko?” I asked, letting the cover drop and backing against the headboard. “How are you here?”
He put his hands up. “Relax. I can’t hurt you in this form and you can’t hurt me. All I want to do is talk.”
“How are you here?” I enunciated, fighting the urge to scream for the guards standing just outside my chamber.
“I know you probably hope it after our last encounter, but I’m not dead. I’m simply taking advantage of Kurt’s pendant.”
My eyes widened. “How? I don’t have the other half.”
He smiled maliciously. “You may not have it anymore, but someone near you does. I’ve been watching you for a long time, Ivy. And now that I’ve altered the magic, I can speak to you.”
There was only one person who had traveled with me to get to Onwin. “Princess Cecile. How does she have the pendant?”
He snorted. “People do such foolish things when they’re afraid, particularly when it has to do with the supernatural. First it was your prince. I told him to go get the pendant and bring it back to the castle.”
“And Princess Cecile?”
“I told the prince to give it to her, as a sort of apology for not marrying the girl he truly loves.”
“You’re horrible,” I said in disgust.
“I’m cunning,” he corrected. “Which is why I’m invaluable to King Ciaran.”
“Why are you here? Why are you telling me all of this?”
“Partly to see the look on your face when you find out what I’ve been doing all along. Now I know everything. I saw the prophecy.”
Dark tendrils of fear crept into my heart. “No,” I whispered. Could that fact change the prophecy all together? Has my mission failed before it even began?
“But here’s my question to you—how do you know you’re on the right side? How do you know that the kings of Leviatha and Onwin don’t have darkness in their hearts?”
I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t doubt that they do. They’re only human after all…It’s just that some, like you and your king, have more darkness than others.”
“I wouldn’t judge a person’s heart so soon,” Niko said, folding his ghostly arms over his chest, his smirk changing into a frown.
“You brought that on yourself when you tried to force me into your Saints of Sorcery group.”
He glowered at me. “Have it your way. But you don’t want to be our enemy on the battlefield.” He paused to collect himself and let the same small smirk curl on his lips. “But then again, you may not make it to the battlefield.”
With that, he took the phantom stone off his neck and disappeared.
Heart pounding, I stepped off the bed. He knew where I was, and Princess Cecile had the other half of the pendant. I had to leave as soon as possible. I hurriedly opened the window and grabbed the bars, ready to rip them out of place if I had to. But then, I stopped to think.
Princess Cecile still had the pendant. I needed to make sure that it got as far away from the Black Fortress as possible before Niko reported every little secret detail back to King Ciaran.
I slipped my sandals on and rushed to the door. The guards looked at me questioningly, but didn’t say anything as they matched my hurried pace toward Princess Cecile’s room. Her guards looked up as I approached.
“I need to speak to the princess. It’s urgent,” I said.
They looked at the guards behind me, and something passed between them that allowed the guards to step out of the way. To avoid spearing my hand on one of the spikes, I opened the door without knocking.
I looked inside to see Princess Cecile still sleeping peacefully in her bed, undisturbed by glowing apparitions like I was.
I approached and shook her shoulder, startled when the harmless looking princess gripped my arm tightly and brought a knife out from under her pillow, death in her eyes. Then, she saw that it was only me and dropped my arm immediately.
“Couldn’t knock,” I said, gesturing back to the spiky door.
“Oh. Sorry,” she said as she slipped the knife back under her pillow.
“Where did that come from?” I asked.
She raised an eyebrow. “Did you think I would live in a place like this and have no combat training? My father made sure I knew everything about fighting before I turned sixteen.”
“Impressive,” I said, ignoring my racing heart.
“Imagine going through all that training and placing so much importance on ferocity only to have the second form of a swan.” She laid back in the bed with a tired groan and
closed her eyes. “What do you want, anyway? Don’t you have sleep to catch up on? Or did the plant give you the power to go forever without it?”
“I wish I could’ve let you sleep longer, but something urgent came up.”
She leaned up on her elbow and cracked her eyes open again. “Well?”
I tilted my head. “Did Prince Matthias give you a black pendant?”
Her eyebrows lowered. “How did you know about that?”
I looked down at the bed cover to avoid her eyes. “Have you been seeing ghosts?”
She didn’t answer straight away. I glanced back up to see that her face had gone white and pale. “Have you been seeing him, too? He told me I was the only one who could see him because I carry the pendant.”
“Partly true,” I said. “He wanted me to see him. But Cecile, Niko isn’t a ghost.”
A look of confusion, almost anger, passed across her face. “What else could he be?”
“He’s a sorcerer. A spy,” I answered.
Her face turned steely. “How do you know?”
“Because he was my trainer in the conservatory. I’ve seen him work magic.”
Her eyes widened, and then water began to pool in the corners. She jumped up from the mattress and ran to the dresser across the room. After pulling it open, she tossed aside the things in the drawer, which was made up mostly of underclothes. She pulled out the phantom stone and held it out to me. “Take it. Take it far away.”
I grabbed the gem and looked back up. “Shouldn’t we tell your father?”
She bit her lip and shook her head. “No. He has enough to deal with without knowing that most of his secrets have been given away.”
“Won’t he find out eventually anyway?” I said.
“Maybe,” she said, crossing her arms. “But at least for now, he doesn’t have to know.”
I took a step back. “Where should I take it?”
“I-I’m not sure.”
“Should I just leave? To find the dragon?”
She shook her head. “Father wouldn’t be happy about that, and frankly, neither would I. Isn’t there more you want to learn?”
