Autumn Awakens

by M. J. Padgett

  Ross sucked in a breath, then reached for her. He nearly swallowed her in his arms, and she chuckled. Chris quickly swiped a tear from his cheek and joined the family hug. Rebecca doted over her boys for a few moments, then released them.

  Chris cleared his throat. “I trusted you when I was just a stupid kid. I trust you now, too, despite the circumstances. You’re alive. That’s all I care about.”

  Rebecca patted Chris’ cheek, but her face quickly grew serious. “Fiona tells me you have a good reason to break your promise to me, Parker.”

  “Yeah. This morning Thaddeus came to my room and told me Henry needed to speak with me. The thing is, he was acting shady like he was snooping in my room right in front of me. It gave me an idea.” I pointed to Ross, who arched his eyebrows. “Ross is a tech genius. What if he can rig a secret camera in Thaddeus’ quarters and a few other strategic locations? We might get the evidence we need that way, including who else might be in cahoots with him.”

  “Hang on, evidence for what?” Ross asked. “I mean, yeah, I can definitely do that but why would we spy on Thad?”

  Fiona and Rebecca shared a concerned look, then Fiona said, “Thaddeus has been seen in secret meetings with one of Rose’s advisors. I suspect he is a traitor, but I need solid proof to present to King Marcellus.”

  “Thad is a traitor? He seems like a solid dude,” Chris said. “Maybe a little egotistical... and kind of chauvinistic... and sort of—okay, yeah I can totally see it. What can I do?”

  “I was hoping you could casually question some of the guards and villagers? That thing you do where you start a normal conversation, and by the end of it, you have the suspect pleading guilty to crimes that occurred before they were even born?” I suggested.

  Chris chuckled. “Yeah, I can do that. Anyone, or just pick a few random lucky people?”

  “I have a few in mind, including the three dragons willingly locked in the basement cells,” Rebecca said.

  “Did you have a chance to try the binding thing on them?” I asked.

  “No luck. It didn’t work, so they agreed to stay in... What do you call it? You know, when someone agrees to be placed under controlled protection?” Rebecca asked Chris.

  “Protective custody?” he offered.

  “Yes, that’s it! Heidi has magically reinforced the cells, so the dragons should not be able to escape if they shift.” Rebecca looked back at me. “It only furthers my theory that the siblings are, in fact, natural dragons form Liliental. It doesn’t explain why they have no memory, but it does give me something to work with. At any rate, I also have some suggestions for the cameras. Chris and Ross can stay with me for a while. We can discuss their duties, and I’ll fill them in on my purpose for faking my own death.”

  “You make that sound so normal,” Fiona teased, finding humor in the small things. Meanwhile, I was picturing Ethan squashed inside a jail cell in dragon form if he shifted. It was a bit humorous to think of, but I managed to keep my thoughts to myself.

  Rebecca giggled at Fiona’s attempt at humor. “Go, before Thaddeus suspects something. Don’t forget to meet with Henry first or you’ll risk tipping him off.”

  I reached for Rebecca and hugged her, then nodded to my brothers. “Be safe,” I reminded.

  “Always,” Chris reassured me, then sat at the table stacked high with books.

  Fiona and I darted down the hall. She paused at the exit to listen. When she was sure the coast was clear, she opened the magical doorway and slipped out. I followed and dropped the tapestry cover just in time. Henry turned the corner and practically ran me down. He appeared stunned.

  “Parker? Thaddeus told me you needed to see me. I’ve been looking for you for half an hour. Is everything okay?” Henry asked.

  I tilted my head, confused. “He told me you wanted to see me.”

  “That’s odd,” he replied. “Perhaps he was confused?’

  Fiona’s tinkling music began to hum louder. She was nervous. “Where is Thaddeus?” she asked.

  “He went for a hunt. Should be back in a couple hours. Why?” Henry asked, his voice edgy. His tension grew as ours did.

  “He went for a hunt alone with dragons and all manner of monsters on the prowl?” she asked.

  Henry squinted his eyes at her. “I suppose—Fiona, is something wrong?”

  “Where are the rest of the Guard?” Fiona asked, panicked.

  “Training in the rear field. What’s going on?” Henry insisted.

  Fiona didn’t respond. Instead, she pushed me aside and made her way across the castle toward the rear. Henry and I wasted a second staring after her, then kicked in gear and jogged along behind her. She cut a turn quickly and knocked a maid over, but she didn’t pause even for a second to help the woman to her feet. Henry did, but I kept after the Fairy Godmother. She stopped abruptly and gasped, her gaze focused on the open field behind the castle.

  I stopped beside her, stunned. “What happened?”

  She shook her head. Her petite hands covered her mouth.

  “What is it?” Henry asked as he approached. He looked out over the field. “No!” he screamed, then ran down the hall toward the stairwell that would take him out to the field. I followed while Fiona stood in horror. There were more stairs than I anticipated, and I chastised myself for not simply shifting and flying down to the field.

  When I reached the bottom and turned the corner toward the open air-balcony, I realized just how bad the situation was. Henry moved from guard to guard, but no one would open their eyes. They were frozen in a kind of deep sleep or suspended animation that stiffened their bodies and kept them in standing formation. Not one guard remained awake, save Henry—and Thaddeus.

  A horse shot across the far end of the field with a member of the Royal Guard on its back. I shifted and flew after it, but Henry issued an order.

  “Halt, Parker! You will be needed in the long fight. Do not submit to foolish wishes of revenge,” he called. The cop in me heeded the order immediately, regardless of what I truly wanted. I landed hard beside a soldier, her body rigid as her sword was drawn overhead. Her honey-gold hair was tied into a braid and knotted at the nape of her neck. She wore a frozen look of horror on her face. A shiver ran down my spine.

  I shifted and jogged back to where Henry stood just as Fiona reached him. “The dagger!” she screamed. “It’s gone!”

  Henry turned back to me. “Forget what I said. Go, go as fast as you can!”

  I shifted again, then heard a wolf howl behind me. I flew in the direction the horse went, high above the trees so I could see better. The canopy was thick, but periodic breaks in the vegetation helped guide me. A pack of three wolves disappeared into the forest followed by Henry and another person on horseback. The woman wore a long, flowing cape that billowed behind her like a dark cloud. It appeared Ravenna had chosen to tackle this problem along with us. With their help, I was able to navigate which direction the rider I assumed was Thaddeus went.

  As we approached the border, my vision grew blurry. A thick fog filled the air, blocking a clear view of the land around me. I had to land or risk crashing. I carefully lowered myself between the trees and glided over the forest floor. The wolves were just ahead, and the horses just behind. The three wolves darted along, then the errant horseman broke from the underbrush a few yards away. Thaddeus was the rider, there was no doubt.

  The pack made a hard left and pushed toward him, but his horse was fast. My vision distorted again, but it wasn’t fog. The closer I got to Thaddeus, the more the scene in front of me became a mirror image of what was behind me. I slowed to a stop. The wolves kept chasing, but soon Thaddeus and his horse disappeared into thin air, seemingly merging with the mirrorlike scene in front of us. The first wolf ran smack into the mirrored wall and cried out. He fell but immediately rose back to his feet, shook his head, and grumbled.

  Henry and Ravenna approached from behind.

  “Someone tell me they retrieved the Siphon Dolche!” Ravenna cried.r />
  The wolves shifted—Caleb, Ely, and Calla.

  “No. What the heck is that?” Caleb asked, leaning close to the magical forcefield that now reflected our images.

  “I know it well. It’s basically an enlarged version of what Snow locked me in. It appears the entire kingdom of Weisserwald has been locked in a mirror spell,” Ravenna replied.

  “Why didn’t we see it before?” Calla asked.

  “She must be weakening. When the witch is strong, the mirror is invisible,” Ravenna replied.

  “Is that why she took the dagger? Is she a siphon witch like Aline, and Clara?” Calla wondered aloud.

  “I don’t know, but if she is then we have a lot more to be worried about than we did before. It’s always possible she only stole the dagger to keep us from killing her with it,” Ravenna said while I pretended to have a clue why the dagger was important. I decided it didn’t matter. If they needed it, then it was important, and I’d try to get it back.

  “Or to give it to the cloaked woman,” Ely added.

  “Perhaps,” Ravenna agreed.

  I shifted so I could join the conversation. “Can we get in while she’s still weak?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Henry said. “We are ill-prepared.”

  “True,” said Ely, “but perhaps we can use the opportunity to peek inside, see what we’re up against?”

  “We cannot enter, but perhaps we can peek. Let me see,” Ravenna said, then lifted her hands and placed them against the mirrored wall. She closed her eyes and winced. “It’s a bit hot, but I think I can project an image much like I did with Wil and Jay when I was locked in the mirror.”

  “I thought you spoke with them telepathically?” Calla asked.

  “In a way, yes, but I did it through images and audio projected through the mirror. Hush now, let me focus.” Ravenna’s fingers glowed like sunset, and her forehead broke with sweat, but she kept trying.

  Finally, a small pinhole opened in the mirrored wall. It grew wider until it was the size of a basketball. It was small but large enough for us to glimpse into the lives of the villagers behind the wall. There were none.

  The entire kingdom was dismal and stormy, dank and dark in ways that countered my nightmares. Hellhounds scavenged on the rotted meat of livestock. Human-like monsters with fanged teeth and repulsive, inverse skin sucked on the necks of what few living livestock remained. There were other hideous creatures, including something I swore was a troll, but the most ominous thing seen through the little hole was the castle. Grandiose and expansive, it protruded from the mountain face behind it as if it were carved from the very rock that protected its southside. It was once a beautiful castle, but it was crumbling and sagged, weighted by centuries of neglect.

  Ravenna gasped, and her hands slipped. The opening shut and she backed away.

  “Oh, no,” she gasped, her hands clutched tightly against her chest.

  “What, mother?” Ely begged.

  “I feared this might happen. Those creatures, some of them were once thought to be extinct, but I’ve heard stories that they survived eradication by hiding in the caverns of Das Unbekannte. No one has been brave enough to explore there, not even during your first lives centuries ago.”

  “Why?” Henry asked as if creepy monsters weren’t enough reason to stay out of the Das whatever place. I wanted to remind him he nearly peed his own pants when a dragon dropped us in a tree, but I refrained.

  Ravenna shook her head, releasing the horrible image from her mind. I was itching to get as far away from the mirrored wall as possible, but the others seemed content nothing would break through. I, however, did not share their confidence.

  “Das Unbekannte is a lost kingdom, once known as Land of Friedens, or Land of Peace in English, before it fell into darkness. It was a beautiful kingdom, even more so than Schwarzwald. The stories say it was a land filled to the brim with creatures of beauty—fairies, sprites, unicorns, even a Pegasus would pass through on occasion. But the princess there, she was quite spoiled by her father after her mother passed away.”

  We hung on every word that passed through Ravenna’s ruby lips. She seemed lost in the story.

  “My own mother used to read her story to me, a warning to all children to behave themselves and listen to their elders. Princess Elfriede was a petulant child, as I mentioned, and her obstinance only grew as she matured. She was a gifted sorceress with light magic that served her well, but she had a secret thirst for dark power. Soon the darkness overtook her, and she disappeared one cold winter night. Her dark power was so immense, it could not be contained within her, and so it spread its dark tentacles into the hearts of others. The darkness grew so intense, it longed to fill the hearts of all. Eventually, the entire kingdom fell to the dark and disappeared from existence.”

  Ravenna paused, and her eyes connected with her daughter, Calla.

  “I thought it was only a silly fairy tale, but now...”

  “What?” Calla urged when Ravenna paused again.

  “Now I believe the Seven Sworn might be the light that was born to eradicate that darkness. It is not one mysterious cloaked woman we should fear, my loves. It is darkness incarnate, the very darkness that destroyed the Land of Peace and threatens to spill into the rest of the Black Forest if we do not stop it.”

  “Are you trying to say the evil that the stupid Princess Elfriede played with escaped and destroyed her kingdom, and now it’s spread into Weisserwald?” Ely asked. It was a far more brutish assessment than Ravenna’s, but it did make her point.

  “Yes. We must go back and call a meeting of the kingdoms. Hurry,” Ravenna said, grasping her horse’s reins.

  “Wait, Mom. Isn’t it just as likely that really was a scary fairy tale and the stuff we just saw inside Weisserwald is what Rose wants us to see?” Caleb suggested. “I mean, if I wanted to scare a bunch of people away from my kingdom so I could do some shady crap, that sure seems like a good way to do it.”

  “Anything is possible. That is why we must call a meeting,” Ravenna said. She mounted her horse and clicked her tongue before anyone else could second-guess her again.

  I was a newbie. I tried not to question much, but I was rooting for Caleb to be right. No one needed more scary creatures roaming around trying to eat them. I shifted with the wolves and trotted along behind Henry and Ravenna, who further discussed her theory. It gave me permanent spine chills just thinking about what lay behind that mirror, not to mention what might be in the dark land she described.

  We didn’t get far before we were confronted by some of those vile creatures.

  “Trolls!” Henry cried, confirming my earlier suspicion. Three giant monsters lumbered toward us. They snarled and growled, their oozing skin stinking up the whole forest, and then—they ran. The monsters simply gasped, turned tail, and ran as fast as possible in the opposite direction. I was so confused until I heard heavy breathing behind us.

  Oh, man, I thought.

  Ditto, Caleb replied, hearing my thought though I hadn’t intentionally projected it.

  I slowly turned. Oh man, oh man, oh man... What is that?

  Caleb took a step back, then Calla and Ely did the same.

  Um... maybe we shouldn’t test our invincibility today? I’m thinking run sounds like a plan. Any opposed? Calla asked.

  Nope! Ely thought, then turned and ran.

  Henry and Ravenna hunkered down as their horses ran as fast as possible. Still, the creature was gaining on them, the easier prey. It would be risky to try to carry them both, but if I didn’t, they would be... eaten? I didn’t know what the monster would do, but I didn’t want to wait around to find out. I lifted from the ground and plucked Ravenna from her horse. She struggled for a moment, then realized it was only me. She climbed me like a tree and settled on my back, then I ducked back for Henry.

  Henry’s bravery had grown since the dragon incident. This was exhibited by his climbing into a standing position on his galloping horse,
then flinging himself off with nothing more than a hope and a prayer I would catch him. I did, but I was growing weary of trust falls. My front legs barely held the muscled man, and when he tried to climb me as Ravenna did, he nearly knocked me from the sky. Somehow, I managed to stay in the air.

  The wolves moved fast. Luckily, the creature paused to eat the poor horses, giving them a larger head start. From above, I could examine the creature better.

  It was as large as Ethan and his sisters but was covered with wiry, bristle-like fur. The black hair spread apart along its back, revealing a knotty spine. It thundered along on two feet, but its arms were more like legs with stumpy ends, no hands or fingers to speak of. The face was bulbous and naked but boasted a strong, angular jaw with a massive underbite. It’s lower canines were like spears, roughly four to five feet long. Drool streamed from its floppy jowls in rivers, covering the ground with a slick, acidic liquid that instantly killed the surrounding vegetation. Glowing purple eyes peered from behind a shaggy mane thick with sticks and pinecones.

  “Hurry!” Ravenna screamed in my ear.

  I stopped observing and flew faster, which was difficult with them both on my back. The wolves made it to the castle wall, but it was blocked. The guards were still asleep, something we had not considered when we went off on our excursion.

  Luckily, the witches were ready for us. Every witch within the walls of the Salien castle held their hands high in unison, creating a sparkling bridge for the wolves to climb. I flew into the courtyard and landed safely with Henry and Ravenna, who hurried from my back to join her sisters-in-arms. Once the wolves were safe behind the wall, the witches thrust their hands forward. A giant boulder materialized from thin air, fell from the sky, and crushed the monster.

  I shifted and bent to catch my breath.

  “What... the heck... was that?” Jordan asked, staring at the gooey, rock-smashed blob of monster just feet from the castle entrance.

  “Dunno. Monster. Big, gooey monster that eats horses,” I panted.