Crisanta Knight: The Lost King

by Culbertson, Geanna;

  The Portalscape Portal consumed half the wall. Its silver energy washed us both in shimmery light. “This portal is for you,” Arian said. “I have a few more things to see to before I head to Oz.”

  “I hope one of those things isn’t Rampart,” I scoffed. “You know your buddy is dead, right?”

  “So I’ve heard. It’s too bad, but after we claim Book tonight, having allies in Camelot won’t matter as much.” Arian reached for his pocket and my hand flared defensively with golden energy in response.

  “Easy,” Arian said. He brought out a Mark Two compact mirror and flipped it open. “Alex.”

  A chill went through me at the sound of my brother’s name.

  “Hello?” Alex’s voice projected from the compact.

  “Your sister is coming to the Portalscape,” Arian said. “Meet her there and bring her friends. If she has Excalibur or doesn’t show, kill them all. If she submits, then leave the protagonists alive. Remember, Nadia wants them for later.”

  He closed the compact and looked at me. “Your friends were transported through a portal to Neverland after they were captured,” he explained. “I instructed Alex and Mauvrey to take another portal back to the Portalscape once you and I had this conversation. Now then—” he gestured to Excalibur. “Hand it over.”

  I gradually took off the sheath and held it in both hands, studying it. I had no intention of letting Book fall to the antagonists tonight. Ormé and her forces were going to back up the Fairy Godmothers. I’d shown all my cards to Lena Lenore so that she would call for her own reinforcements as well. Arian didn’t know about either of these moves. Moreover, if we beat Glinda, we could use her Simia Crown to counteract the power Nadia was going to exert on the flying monkeys with the crown that had been stolen from SJ. And for the cherry on top, if we moved fast enough, my friends and I could provide additional manpower at the Alderon border to stop the spell from coming down.

  Given all this, when everything was said and done, I knew there was a very firm chance that good would win out the day’s climax. But if I gave Excalibur to Arian, those odds changed. He would be able to access Paige’s memories. He would have a head start to Oz while I saved my friends. Even if his attack on Alderon’s In and Out Spell failed because our side had proper reinforcements, I would be giving him a shot at his Plan B by providing him with everything he needed to find the genies and destroy Book later. And for what? Five lives? Five people over the safety and security of an entire realm and all the people in it?

  I could feel the sheath growing heavier in my hands.

  I knew what my friends would say. They were all exceptionally brave, selfless people who put themselves in mortal danger every day for the greater good and for the sake of protecting the innocent. If they were here, I was sure they would tell me not to give Arian the sword. They would say they weren’t worth sacrificing the well-being of our world. And if the situation was reversed and I was the one in peril, I would tell them the same thing. It was the right thing to do; the greater good had to come first.

  My mind flashed to my conversation with Merlin in the dumbwaiter. “Being a hero is a complicated endeavor,” he’d said. “It means having the courage to do what you know is right even if it means sacrificing some part of your own morality.”

  And that’s when I realized the truth.

  It crushed me hard like a hammer. I wanted to be a hero to my realm. I wanted to be the hero of this story . . . But not if it meant sacrificing my friends. I just couldn’t do it.

  “Here.” I shoved the sheath into Arian’s hands. Quick, abrupt, and finite, like a knife to the heart.

  I half expected the Lady of the Lake to appear. I knew eventually I would make a fate-altering bad decision as penance for claiming Excalibur. That was part of the deal for taking the sword from Avalon. The mysterious spectral lake guardian was meant to present herself to me when that price was paid. Handing the sword over to Arian seemed like a very good bad decision, so this would’ve been as fitting a time as any for her to show up. Yet the Lady of the Lake didn’t materialize. I must’ve had a worse date with destiny on the way.

  Arian smiled. “I knew you would see reason.”

  “This isn’t reason,” I said, moving past him toward the portal. “This is weakness. And you knew exactly how to take advantage of it.”

  “Fair enough,” Arian said. “And in the spirit of good form, I’ll tell you it won’t be the last time.”

  I glanced over my shoulder. Arian watched me with a sickening satisfaction that made me feel awful. Knowing I was playing right into his hands felt even worse. I shot him an embittered look full of hate, regret, and anger—at him and at myself. Then I leapt through the portal to go after the people I’d just sacrificed my realm and my heroism for.

  suppose it was the fire burning inside of me, but this time the descent through the Portalscape Portal did not faze me in the slightest. When I burst through the top of the room, my fall was controlled and focused. All my body weight ricocheted off the mattress at once and I leaned into the momentum, bouncing forward and landing on the floor in a crouched position. The fog of the Portalscape swirled around my shins.

  Four of Arian’s men were waiting for me. Two of them were from the Temple of Malbona—the lead guy, Victor, and the dude with the crew cut, Jae. I didn’t recognize the other pair, but I assumed they weren’t to be underestimated. Oddly, all of them were dressed like the uniformed Century City guards back home in Book.

  “Where are my friends?” I demanded crossly.

  Victor stepped forward. “First, these,” he said. He held up a pair of black metal cuffs.

  “Stiltdegarth blood cuffs?” I guessed.

  “Precisely.”

  “I gave Arian the sword. This wasn’t part of the deal.”

  “The deal is being amended,” Victor responded. “We know how powerful you are. If we handed over your friends without any contingency, then there would be nothing to stop you from draining the life from us the way you did that snake in the Temple of Malbona.”

  “That snake was a monster,” I argued, feeling defensive that he was calling me out.

  “And you don’t view us the same way?”

  I hesitated.

  “Besides, Arian told you he needed you to do something for him. That was part of the deal. We simply had a feeling you’d be a lot less . . . malleable to the idea if you were free. So put on the cuffs or your friends won’t be joining us.”

  I glanced around, stalling. It felt like the fourteen doors encircling the Portalscape were watching me, waiting for me to make a decision.

  I looked up at the ceiling. The thin layer of mist that normally clung around the ejection point in the curved roof had been replaced by a thick blanket of fog that swirled with fluxes of lime green, lavender, and pink. It was so dense that I couldn’t even see the roof anymore. Streaks of silver lightning also coursed through the fog, as if someone was brewing electric soup.

  The roof was not the only element of the Portalscape being disrupted. The fourteen doors encircling us seemed to be trembling. Small cracks snaked up the walls of the room like the realm was breaking apart. And the floor radiated the same off-white luminescence that my wand gave off in dark spaces.

  Surely these changes were the result of the Vicennalia Aurora and its magic fluctuations in all the Wonderlands. With so many wormholes forming and closing, it made sense that the Portalscape—the great inter-dimensional connector of these realms—was being intensely affected.

  I was feeling the effects too. With the main event so close, my Pure Magic was buzzing like my classmates when they got hyped on coffee before midterms. It was as if the atmosphere was now steadily flooding with the strength and power that had come in bursts with the magic waves earlier. We were running out of time.

  I held out my wrists. “Fine. Get it over with.”

  Victor and Jae approached me cautiously.

  “Hands behind your back,” Victor said. I rolled my eyes and c
omplied. They snapped the cuffs around my wrists and then chained them to the bedframe. Once done, the men backed away and went to rejoin their comrades. I pivoted around to face them.

  “Well?” I said impatiently. “I’m here. I’m obviously restrained. Are you going to produce my friends or what?”

  Victor signaled to Jae, who whipped out a Mark Two.

  “Mauvrey,” he said. The compact buzzed then Mauvrey’s voice answered.

  “So?”

  “She’s secure. You can bring them now,” Jae responded.

  He hung up the call. A moment later something flashed at the top of the room. From the chasm in the ceiling, two large, reddish orbs descended. They were like giant bubbles. My friends were trapped inside one. They were asleep, their arm veins glowing with purple discoloration because of whatever Poppy Potion they’d been exposed to. Their wrists were cuffed like mine.

  Inside the other bubble were Mauvrey, Alex, and a woman that seemed vaguely familiar. She was thin, tall, and fairly pretty with dark hair pulled into a ponytail. She wore a shimmering indigo dress and wielded a magic wand much like mine, which pulsed with scarlet energy. The wand was a clear indication that this woman was a Fairy Godmother; though I couldn’t understand what a Fairy Godmother would be doing working with the antagonists.

  Wait. Hold on.

  She wasn’t a Fairy Godmother. She was a Fairy Godmother Trainee! It was Tami Robinswood. This woman had been in the same trainee class as my own Fairy Godmother, Debbie Nightengale. I’d met her once, but I had no idea how she’d gotten involved in all this.

  When the orbs touched down, the one around my enemies evaporated while the one around my friends remained. Tami stayed near my friends’ orb as energy continued to emanate from her wand.

  I was relieved that none of my friends looked injured. They still had their sheathed weapons on them, which meant the Poppy Potion had knocked them out before they had a chance to fight. Our enemies felt so superior in the given situation they hadn’t even bothered to confiscate the weapons after the fact. Insulting much?

  Mauvrey seemed to be relishing my distraught expression. She and my brother joined Victor and the other soldiers. Alex held a teal ceramic jar in his hands, which was weird, but I had other things to worry about than if my brother had recently taken up an antagonistic pottery class.

  “Oh good, if it isn’t Book’s favorite villainous power couple,” I scoffed. “Either of you want to tell me why I’m here? What’s this thing Arian wants me to do for him?”

  Mauvrey held up a finger. “One moment, Crisa. I will be right with you.” Mauvrey drew a Mark Two from her back pocket and spoke Arian’s name. He answered.

  “Are our forces in Alderon ready for the main assault?” he said.

  “Yes,” Mauvrey replied. “I checked in with Nadia and the commons rebellion factions before collecting this lot.” She adjusted her compact so Arian could see my friends.

  “Good. I’m headed to Oz. Meet me there as soon as the last part of our plan is enacted.”

  Mauvrey shot me a wicked smile. “Will do,” she responded.

  She snapped the compact shut and sashayed over to me. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Unlike Arian, her presence didn’t intimidate me in the slightest. I’d grown up with the girl and aside from a brief stint as roommates at Lady Agnue’s when I’d experienced what her morning breath smelled like, she didn’t scare me.

  I just hated her.

  Alex was still avoiding my gaze, so I focused my attention on Mauvrey, genuinely curious as to what she and Arian were playing at.

  “So then,” I said. “Arian and Nadia are letting their lackeys lead missions now. Wow. Tell me, should I be impressed that you got promoted, Mauvrey, or is this more of a good-help-is-hard-to-find situation?”

  “Actually, this is a do-what-you-are-told-or-else kind of situation, Crisa. So you better shut your mouth for once in your life if you know what is good for you.”

  “Ooh, big words from a villain wearing purple boots,” I mocked. “Come on, Mauvrey. I’m not afraid of you, and I’ve got better things to do than be a third wheel to you and my brother on your couple’s evil rampage. What do you guys want?”

  “What I want,” Mauvrey said, “is for you to bring that dragon to life.”

  Mauvrey pointed at the door that led to Book. On her cue, Jae opened it to reveal the location in our realm that the Portalscape was currently creating a wormhole to—Century City. I instantly recognized the marketplace, the cobblestones, and the head of the enormous, gold dragon statue peeking out over the buildings. The dragon Mauvrey wanted me to bring to life was the three-hundred-foot tall statue in the heart of the capital.

  I was suspicious and surprised. Mauvrey was evil, so destruction and maniacal thinking were her bread and butter. Having that dragon destroy Century City fit with her MO. But it seemed like a weird time-wasting tactic. The antagonists already had commons rebellion attacks and many other dreadful plots in the works. Was it necessary to go through this much trouble to inflict more damage? Wouldn’t it have been smarter for them to just kill my friends and straight-up capture me?

  “Why waste time on this?” I asked accordingly. “The Fairy Godmothers are already plenty distracted. You have the flying monkeys, the commons rebellion attacks, and the antagonists breaking out of Alderon. Any of those groups can cause plenty of destruction on their own. Why is bringing this dragon to life a priority?”

  Mauvrey shrugged. “Does it matter? It will destroy the city; let us start with that.”

  I rolled my eyes again. “Even if I actually did what you wanted, Mauvrey, that dragon won’t destroy the capital because I could just will it to destroy you first. The things I bring to life answer to me and no one else.”

  “But those are the things that knew no life before you came along,” Mauvrey responded smugly. “Inanimate scraps so grateful for the life you gave them that they are willing to do anything for you. However, we both know the things that were alive before you touched them have a spirit all their own and need not obey you. Like your friend Jason.” She nodded to my imprisoned, unconscious friend. “When you used your powers to return him to life, he went on being him; your will is irrelevant. You cannot force commands on him because his life is his own.”

  Whoa.

  I genuinely hadn’t thought about that until now, but she was right. Jason, Arthur, that bird outside Merlin’s house, and Merlin himself had all been alive before. Thus, when I returned life to them, they went on living the way they always had. Living beings that I resurrected were not under my control.

  Even so, I didn’t see how that applied to our current situation.

  “What does that have to do with this statue?” I asked. “I’ve brought a statue to life before. This is merely a bigger version. It’ll still listen to me.”

  Mauvrey smiled. “That is where you are wrong, Crisa. This dragon is no statue. It is an actual monster. It was slain by my dear father to save his Sleeping Beauty many years ago, but before it perished it was petrified by the Godmothers so it could be used as a glorified street ornament. Deep beneath the enchanted gold coating though, the creature’s heart still beats. And now you are going to resurrect it and in doing so, give this so-called metropolis exactly what it deserves.”

  I’ll admit I was surprised to learn that this gargantuan creature that cast a shadow over the capital’s heart was a real dragon. I knew Mauvrey’s father had defeated many obstacles to reach Sleeping Beauty (Mauvrey’s mom), but I was impressed. This thing was huge.

  I glared at the dark princess. “You must be insane if you think I’d ever unleash that on the capital, Mauvrey. More insane than I already thought you were anyway.”

  “Crisa, is that tone really necessary? I am asking you nicely.”

  “And I am telling you flatly. You can forget it. I am not using my powers on that dragon.”

  “Oh, Crisa, Crisa, Crisa.” Mauvrey shook her head. “I know how fond you are of choosing the hard way
, but in this case, I strongly suggest you reconsider. Why not be a sport and do as I ask on your own good faith? I promise you it is easier than the alternative I shall have to pursue if you refuse to cooperate. That route will not be pleasant for you.”

  “What’re you gonna do, kill me?” I asked sassily. “Been there, done that. I’m sure Arian and your magic hunter pals have told you by now that you can’t.”

  “True,” Mauvrey acquiesced. “But I can kill them.” Mauvrey gestured at my friends.

  My heart beat a little faster. “Arian said you need them alive in order to get what you want from me.”

  “But not all of them,” Mauvrey replied casually. “They are a collective bargaining chip, but that chip still works even if I chip away at it. Maybe all it takes is one dead friend or two to get you motivated.”

  My ire bubbled to the surface. “Mauvrey, if you so much as touch any of them I will end you. Let all five go, now.”

  “I am giving the orders today, Crisa, and you already know yours,” she replied calmly. “Give that beast in Century City life or my men shall end each of theirs.”

  My hatred for Mauvrey flared with such power it was as if I’d swallowed magma. Golden energy blazed from my hands instinctively but the Stiltdegarth cuffs caused me excruciating pain in retaliation. It felt like someone was stabbing daggers into my arms. I forced myself to calm down. Power boost of the Aurora or not, I couldn’t overcome the magic-inhibiting effect of Stiltdegarth cuffs. Mauvrey lifted an amused and perfectly shaped eyebrow at my plight.

  The glow faded from my hands and I reined in the last of the pain. “Even if you do kill them, I’ll bring them back. I’ve done it before; I can do it again.”

  Mauvrey shrugged. “Well, I suppose you could, if you got to them in time. But you know as I do, Crisa, that when someone dies, the window for anyone to bring them back begins closing instantly. You only have three minutes. And once that time is up, there is no hope for them. Not even you can bring back their lost life.”

  She was right. Mauvrey saw the expression on my face and knew she had me. She grinned wickedly then turned to the Fairy Godmother Trainee. “Let us ask your friends what they think, shall we? Tami?”