by Ben Zackheim
Gwen followed but stopped almost immediately and let out a screech. Above the door, glaring down, were two hideous dragon faces carved into the ceiling. Liquid rained down on her from their mouths and eyes. She slapped at her clothes to wipe it off.
Caradoc stuck his head through the door and saw the statues. “They’re just a warning,” he said. “That’s water coming out of them.”
But Gwen still shook her arms, disgusted.
One by one, they stepped into the room. Caradoc had to knock off a few inches from the doorway with his fists to fit through.
The wand’s green glow drew contorted shadow figures on the wall. Everyone saw their worst nightmare in the play of light. The light also revealed that the room was actually a hallway. A hallway with no end in sight.
After ten minutes of walking, the scenery changed.
“Look at this!” Maille hollered.
“What is it?” Simon called out as he ran to catch up.
“A painting. Nice frame.” An ancient portrait of a serious old man leaned against the wall.
“There’s more down here,” Gwen said.
Crates of silverware, plates, and goblets were piled to the ceiling. The more they walked, the more valuable the items became and the higher the piles.
“It’s Trejure’s loot,” Thadeus finally said. Maille sent a ball of light down the hall. The floating glow sparkled off of mountains of treasure.
“Shouldn’t someone be guarding all this?” Russ asked in a whisper.
Caradoc’s stomach growled like a lion. In a blink, Josh and Russ had their swords drawn and were slashing at the darkness.
“Settle down, guys,” Maille grumbled. “ It’s Caradoc’s appetite again. Let’s take a break for a meal.”
Famished, they sat, unrolled their supplies and picked out just enough food to keep them going. No one talked. Simon was worried that his friends doubted his judgment. Thadeus seemed to sense as much, and gave him a wink. It lifted Simon’s spirits, until he let the doubts about Thadeus creep back in.
Since he’d been swept away by Maille and Merlin, it had been hard to tell what was true and what was magic. Could this guy, who certainly looked like his dad, be someone else? He wasn’t acting like the dad Simon remembered. But if he was an impostor, then how did he know so much about Simon?
“This place could use a couch or two,” Josh said. He was trying to lighten the mood but all he got were forced chuckles.
Simon had just glanced away from his smiling dad when it struck him.
The teeth.
Thadeus had infamously bad teeth. Uncle Victor had called Thadeus ‘Jaws’ because they were so horrendous. His father himself had often described them as yellow, crooked, and beyond redemption.
But the impostor who called himself Thadeus had straight teeth, shining and white.
44
Simon had to keep calm. Somehow.
His throat went tight. His heart pumped hard, chilled, broke.
Then everything, all of it, became one thought.
Dad is still out there. This faker will know where he is.
He couldn’t think about it any other way. He needed hope as much as he needed his friends on this mission.
He was in a tight-knit group with no excuse to pull anyone aside without raising suspicion. He did have Maille, though. She was naturally skeptical, and Simon still caught her shooting nasty glances at Thadeus once in a while.
Simon decided to bide his time and see where the impostor was leading them. He had no doubt it was a trap. But a wood dragon and three giants couldn’t bring them down, so he was confident his friends could handle anything. As they wove their way through the dark passage packed with treasure, the man pretending to be his father shot Simon a friendly wink. Simon mustered up a grin.
But then everything changed.
It was as if they both understood what was going on at the same time. Thadeus smiled, but it was not kind. It reminded Simon of his uncle’s smirk. All of a sudden, every one of Thadeus’ features reminded him of his Uncle Victor.
Simon’s stomach tightened. He remembered how easy it had been for Maille to change his own appearance when they’d visited The Spell. Did Victor have access to that kind of magic?
Was Victor disguised as his dad?
Simon’s muscles prepared for the double-cross. His palm rested on the hilt of his sword. Whatever the guy’s plan was, it was about to happen.
“Hm. I guess we’ve arrived.” Gwen’s voice cut through the silence, bouncing off the stone walls. “I’m not sure where that is exactly,” she said looking straight up.
Maille turned up the light on her wand. A large door dominated the cavern wall. It was a grand entrance, more at home in a church than a cave. It was at least forty feet high, with iron hinges the size of a grown man.
“No handle, or knob, or keyhole,” Caradoc said while running his large hand over the wood surface. Simon gave it a firm push but it didn’t budge.
He was about to ask Caradoc to work his own kind of door-opening magic when Gwen gasped. “Simon, look,” she whispered. He followed her gaze up. High above them, a set of eyes began to blink open on the door’s wood surface. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing until the eyes looked back at him, angrily.
Simon didn’t know what else to do, except... “Hello!” he said in his friendliest tone.
“Why are you pushing me?” asked the door in a voice that boomed from everywhere. It was so loud and low that it shook their stomachs.
“Sorry. We’re trying to get through,” Simon hollered.
The pebbles beneath their feet began to bounce around. A noise, like a dog’s growl, rose up and became a chuckle.
“I think the door is laughing at us,” Russ said, with no small amount of humiliation in his voice.
“Why would you want to go further?” the door asked. “Surely, you don’t think this ragtag group is ready for what’s behind me.”
“We’re doing okay so far,” Simon said, trying not to sound as irritated as he was.
“Who you calling ragtag?” Josh hollered. Gwen shushed him as the door chuckled again.
“Do turn back,” it said. “There’s a good bunch. I won’t be party to a massacre, especially when children are involved.”
“Who are you calling children?” Russ stopped holding Josh back and stepped forward too.
“Will you two quiet down?” Maille asked, ready to swing her bat at them.
“What can we do to convince you to open, sir?” Simon asked.
“I will ask you one more time to move on. Abandon whatever treasure hunting scheme you’ve concocted.”
“Or what?” Josh asked. “You’ll slam on our fingers?”
The growling sound didn’t turn into a chuckle this time. This time the noise, coming from all around them, stayed a growl.
“Oh, that wasn’t smart…” Caradoc whined. The walls began to shake. The pupils on the door’s eyes went dark. Crates of treasure toppled. Stones began to fall from the ceiling.
“I am not a door, fool child.”
Everyone struggled to keep his or her balance. “What is he, then?” Josh asked whoever would listen.
“I think he’s the room!” Gwen screamed over the rumbling walls. “He’s everything around us!”
A loud noise came from the corridor behind them. Maille was knocked down by an avalanche of coins. As she hit the ground she managed to send a ball of yellow light into the darkness. It bounced off a massive pile of stone a dozen yards away.
“The walls are coming down!” Maille screamed.
“Caradoc!” Simon shouted.
Caradoc understood and ran full speed at the door. He threw his shoulder into the wood. The door shifted slightly. The huge eyes settled on the troll, who took a few steps back to try again. But large rocks began to rain down on him. He swung his arms to deflect the missiles.
Maille cast a spell that threw a shield of orange light over their heads, buying the troll time to make
another run at it. This time he had more success, jarring the door open enough for the smallest of them to slip in.
“Josh, you’re up!” Simon yelled.
Josh hesitated. No one knew what they were walking into, after all. But he clenched his fists, slapped his chest and slipped through the crack as fast as he could with his best warrior yell.
The avalanche was still a few dozen yards away, but the rocks raining down were getting bigger. The attack wasn’t random, either. Many stones were being tossed with purpose. Simon watched the door’s eyes moving around the room.
He’s aiming at us.
Simon had an idea. As Caradoc got ready to rush for a third time, Simon ran to the back of the pack, where the enemy could do the least damage to others if his plan worked. He picked up a couple of smaller stones from the ground and threw them at one of the eyes.
Bullseye.
Just like when he brought Maille’s envelope down from Victor’s ceiling.
Just like when he nailed Merlin with a pebble to wake him from his nap.
Just like when he brought Chester’s would-be assassin down from the banisters.
But Simon didn’t have time to think about his uncanny precision because the hail of stone immediately shifted to where he stood. Caradoc hit the door harder than ever, jarring it wide open.
Simon got a peek through the opening long enough to see that, wherever it led to, there was a large bonfire inside.
He felt a rock hit his head, then felt nothing else.
45
Simon stared at a gaping mouth, packed with diamond teeth. It was getting closer. He scrambled to get away, but something held him in place. After all he’d been through, he was about to end being a door’s lunch.
Maille moved into view.
“Ssh. You’ll be fine,” she whispered. Gwen stood above her, concerned. When he came back to his senses, Simon realized that the large mouth was actually a cave wall, lit by a few dozen torches. “You got pegged pretty hard in the head by a rock, but not before that stunt of yours bought enough time to get us through.”
“Where are we?” Simon asked, running a hand over a huge bump on the back of his head.
“In Trejure’s cave. Looks like your dad was right. But…” Gwen said. She and Gwen shared a glance at each other.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well. No one’s here, Simon,” Maille answered.
He wobbled a bit, but was able to stand with his friends’ help. The wet walls dripped with water. Massive fang-like stalagmites had a rich texture, almost like flesh. He couldn’t see the ceiling, even with torches blazing everywhere.
“The perfect home for a dragon,” Gwen said, as if she’d read Simon’s mind.
He took a couple of steps before Maille grabbed him by the elbow and yanked him back to her side. She pointed down.
They were on the edge of a sheer drop into a stone bowl the size of a football field. It was carved into the guts of the mountain with beautiful precision. The bowl was covered with peaks and valleys of gold and gems that glittered in the firelight. Simon had never seen, or imagined, a dragon’s bed, but he knew he was looking at one.
“Why would he leave all his treasure unprotected?” Simon asked.
“We’ve been thinking the same thing,” Maille answered, gesturing to the others. They were wandering around, as in awe as he was.
“The only reason a dragon would leave a treasure behind is if he found a bigger treasure,” Caradoc mumbled.
“I don’t like this,” Josh hollered from a perch above everyone. Simon had no idea how he managed to get up there, and he was afraid to ask. “It feels like we’ve been tricked.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” Maille said, glancing suspiciously at Thadeus who was running his hands over the walls.
“What are you doing?” Simon asked him.
But Thadeus didn’t answer. Suddenly, the stone wall in front of him darkened. A shadow spread across the surface, its sheer blackness draining the light from the room. But as quickly as it had emerged, the gloom shimmered and came into focus.
An image of New Camelot materialized, surrounding them in an eerie haze. The roofs of the town were as bright as the sun. The castle was on fire.
“It’s a Lazy!” Russ yelled. The stink of smoke seeped into the cave and the sounds of battle erupted through the portal. They watched New Camelot’s knights meeting swords with soldiers in black and red armor. An enormous dragon soared past their view through the Lazy. It was so close that everyone stepped back.
“How did you know that portal was there?” Maille asked Thadeus. Her bat-wand was at the ready.
“I was a prisoner for years. I saw Trejure use it to spy. But I could never see what he was studying from my jail cell.”
“How convenient,” Maille said.
Thadeus pointed across the cave. Everyone followed his finger and they saw an iron box with a single barred window sitting on a ledge.
That’s where Thadeus had been for two years? Simon’s doubts lifted for a moment. He met eyes with the man who claimed to be his father.
“Home,” Thadeus said, smiling. Which would have been charming if it weren’t for his perfect teeth.
“So I guess we follow you through,” Maille said. “Amazing how we’ve been following the poor prisoner since you showed up.”
Leave it up to Maille to inject the doubt right back in.
“If you want to save your home, yes,” Thadeus answered. His tone was hard to read. Was he taunting them?
No one moved. Within seconds, all eyes were on Simon. And his were on the Lazy.
He walked to the flickering image of his new home, now burning. He held a hand up and felt the heat.
He glanced back at Gwen. He stepped through.
46
It took Simon a moment to realize what he was witnessing.
Squinting from the flame’s brilliant glare, he spotted New Camelot’s archers perched on the new wooden towers. They let loose volley after volley at dozens of dragons in the sky.
The arrows that missed the flying beasts fell on advancing foot soldiers, who wore glistening black armor. The warriors marched from Shadow’s gates, running over the landscape like a sea of oil.
From the high hill he stood on, it was clear to Simon that the forces of Shadow had allied with Trejure to attack his home.
He focused on one enemy soldier. He couldn’t help it. The young man was not much older than Simon. He pumped his shield and prepared to yell a battle cry. But the sound died in his throat as an arrow from high above landed on his chest. Simon watched the life leave the young man. He became a part of the landscape as his body joined the others beneath his feet.
Simon had never seen war before. His horrified stare settled on a new sight, one that he would see in nightmare after nightmare for years to come. Hundreds of Shadow’s men pulled a dozen small dragons on a cart. The wheels of the vehicle crushed the bodies of their own men as it drew closer to New Camelot. The creatures, protected by a large shield at the front of the cart, spat fireballs into the air. Their aim wasn’t good, but the number of missiles slamming into New Camelot was horrifying.
Bodies of friend and foe littered the ground. Simon wondered which of his comrades were among them. As if to answer him, he saw the long red hair of an elf among the dead. It was hard to tell, but it looked a lot like Dergh.
Simon was jerked from his thoughts by Caradoc. The troll put a heavy hand on his shoulder and pointed down the hill. “We can all see Shadow now,” Caradoc said.
“You’re right, Simon. It’s as nasty as you described it,” Josh muttered.
“Maybe Shadow’s army attacked and that broke the spell,” Gwen said softly.
Simon tried to spot the elf’s body again, but he couldn’t pinpoint it. He was distracted by an intense blaze in the distance. A mile away, on the base of Mount Tipper, the Excalibur II had been brought down — its remains burned brighter than the sun.
“Oh no,” Gwen s
aid, having seen the zeppelin at the same time as Simon. He knew she was worried about Hut. It was likely he’d been inside.
“What’s that sulphur smell?” Russ interrupted, his nose contorting as he sniffed. The stench was overpowering.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing,” Caradoc said. “It smells like…” He hesitated.
“What? What does it smell like?” Simon asked.
“It smells like Trejure,” Thadeus answered.
The party looked down on Shadow from their perch above the battleground. They were closer to the enemy than they were to home. The windows of the black castle shone orange and red. Like fire.
“They don’t know we’re here,” Maille said. “We’re only a few, but we could take them by surprise.”
“Sure, yeah,” Josh agreed. “If you set off some kind of noise spell, we could draw a lot of attention.”
“And you have a troll, don’t forget,” Caradoc said proudly.
“Wait,” Thadeus said.
“I suppose you want us to just sit here and watch?” Maille snarled.
“Look.” Thadeus pointed down the hill. Dozens of soldiers emerged from a large door in the enemy’s castle. They lined up in formation near the stone walls and faced Simon’s party.
“So much for surprise,” Maille mumbled.
“This can’t be good,” Russ said.
“Who are they?” Josh asked.
“I don’t recognize the armor,” said Caradoc.
“I do,” Gwen and Simon said at the same time. They glanced at each other to see who wanted to go first.
“It’s a lot like the outfit the assassin wore,” Simon said.
“What assassin?” Thadeus asked.
“The one who tried to take out Chester, Arthur, whatever you want to call him,” Simon answered.
“That still doesn’t tell us who they work for,” Maille muttered.
“Why don’t we go and find out, then?” Simon asked. But it wasn’t really a question. He’d already decided he was going to go, with or without the party.
“We’ll go with you, Simon,” Thadeus said. Simon made eye contact and kept it. He studied Thadeus’ face for an extra few seconds. Was his similarity to Victor because they were brothers? Or was Victor under that mask? Simon tried to shake the thought from his head. He needed to focus.
