by Brandon Mull
He kept walking. Cole decided that if he kept striding purposefully, everyone would assume he belonged. As he made his way along a lane between a couple of buildings, passing several other people, Cole didn’t feel particularly in sync with castle life, but he could tell that his camouflage was effective.
After walking around a couple more buildings, skirting a rectangular pool choked with lily pads, and passing through a covered walkway, Cole emerged into a huge courtyard that he immediately recognized. This was where he had met Queen Harmony and her daughters in Trillian’s contest! The people present and the new design of the guard’s uniforms were the only significant differences from the version Cole had experienced. Trillian had really nailed the details!
As he strode across the vast yard, Cole thought about how Trillian had told him he would play a vital role in the revolution. Was this the fulfillment of that prediction? Had the torivor made part of their contest to rescue Honor happen at the First Castle because he knew Cole would end up here? Or was it coincidence? How much could the torivor really know? Could he see the future? Maybe he saw deep enough into the present to make educated guesses.
Cole watched for somebody to casually ask about Barton Skellers. He wanted a person who looked knowledgeable and reasonably kind. That was hard to judge using only appearances, but since looks were all he had to go by, he made guesses based mostly on expressions.
As he furtively studied people and considered who he might actually approach, Cole decided that he didn’t want a guardsman who might get suspicious, or a lord who would be insulted by the bother. Some common laborer who looked friendly would be good.
He noticed a couple of other errand boys. One was kind of heavy with dark hair and a friendly face. The boy looked a year or two younger than Cole.
Changing direction and quickening his pace, Cole intercepted the dark-haired errand boy. “Hey,” Cole said. “Do you have a second?”
“If you walk with me,” the kid said, not with attitude, but not too friendly, either.
“I have a message for the Honorable Barton Skellers,” Cole said.
The boy looked a little impressed. “Good for you.”
“You know him?” Cole asked.
“You don’t?” the boy replied with a smirk.
“I’m pretty new,” Cole said.
“New to the job, or new to Junction?” the boy asked incredulously. “How do you not know the royal chamberlain?”
“I’ve heard of him,” Cole lied. “That doesn’t mean I know how to find him.”
The boy gave a derisive snort. “New or not, finding people is what we do. The chamberlain is easy. Tell you what, trade me messages. I’ll take it.” He held up his message—a rolled parchment, sealed with wax. “This guy, Tom Portman, is in that building over there.”
The kid clearly thought the message to Barton carried more prestige and probably a bigger tip. Rather than help Cole out, the boy wanted to take advantage of him.
“I’m delivering it,” Cole said. “I was just asking a question.”
“Then stop being helpless and figure it out.”
The obnoxious kid looked spoiled and soft. Cole had survived too much to let some pompous little jerk blow him off. As his anger rose, Cole couldn’t help thinking how Jace would handle the situation.
Cole clapped the kid on the back of his neck, a chummy gesture, but he slapped him too hard, and he kept his hand there, squeezing. The kid stopped and stared up with wide eyes.
“How’s this?” Cole said through a big smile, his grip firm. “I’m new here today. I’m not new to beating up little jokes like you. Don’t you have enough enemies in your life?”
The kid looked like he might cry. “Just go through the castle door over there. Head straight until you get stopped, and show your message for the chamberlain. The guards will direct you.”
Cole released the back of his neck. “Was that so hard?”
The kid straightened his coat. “What syndicate are you with?” he asked, trying to sound casual. Cole guessed the kid probably wanted to get him in trouble for intimidating him.
“Your mom’s,” Cole said. “It’s pretty run down, but I joined up on a dare.” Cole walked away before the kid could ask more questions, striding importantly.
The kid had been rude, but Cole felt bad for being so hard on him. He probably should have bailed out when the conversation went the wrong direction and asked somebody else. He got the info he wanted, but at the risk of starting trouble. The high stakes of his mission had him wound up. He needed to settle down and be less emotional.
Cole went through the door the kid had indicated. The guards paid him no mind, and Cole marched straight down the hall, up some stairs, then continued straight, passing other halls. Before long the hall ended at a large door with four armored guards.
One of the guards held out a gauntleted hand. “Let me see that.”
Cole handed over the cylinder. The guard gave the seal a cursory look.
“Haven’t seen you before,” the guard told Cole.
“I’m pretty stealthy,” Cole said.
The guard didn’t look amused.
“Also, I’m pretty new,” Cole amended.
“Do you know the way to the chamberlain’s quarters?” the guard asked.
“No,” Cole said.
The guard described some stairs and turns. Cole did his best to memorize them. The door opened, and he entered a much more beautifully decorated hall. Framed paintings hung on the walls. A rich carpet ran down the center of the floor. Elegant items of furniture were spaced at intervals on either side.
Cole tried to follow the turns prescribed by the guard but soon felt sure he was lost. He paused and asked for clarifications from a guard with a heavy mustache and got back on the right path.
Before too long Cole stood outside an elaborately carved door with a pair of middle-aged guards, armored men with no-nonsense expressions. Cole held up the message cylinder. “I’m looking for the chamberlain.”
“You came to the right place,” one of the guards said. “One moment.”
He unlocked the door with a key and went inside. Soon after he returned. “Come in. You can wait here.” He indicated a low, white loveseat.
Cole sat down and the guard exited. There were several other seats in the room, all empty, and not much else besides tapestried walls. Though he was alone, Cole assumed it was a waiting room.
A few minutes later a door opened. A stooped old man dressed in an embroidered robe hobbled into view.
“Are you the Honorable Barton Skellers?” Cole asked.
“What’s left of him,” the old man said with a grin. His frail voice matched his appearance. “High priority message?”
“I guess you’ll be the judge,” Cole said.
“The canister, boy,” the old man said. “And the seal. Are you new?”
“Yes, sir,” Cole apologized, handing over the cylinder.
Barton produced a small knife, broke the seal, and opened the cylinder. He pulled out a parchment, unrolled it, scanned it, then stared at Cole. “I wondered if we would get another messenger. Word has it the resistance in Zeropolis has suffered of late.”
“It hasn’t been good,” Cole said.
Barton rolled the scroll and returned it to the cylinder. “I need to place my seal on this, then you can deliver it to the queen.” He stepped close to Cole and lowered his voice. “Watch yourself, lad. These are perilous times. The High King has been erratic lately. Some might say paranoid. And Owandell has seldom been more active.”
“Thanks for the warning,” Cole said. “I’ll be careful.”
Moving in slow motion, the chamberlain left the room and came back with the cylinder newly sealed. “Do you know where to find Queen Harmony?”
“Not exactly,” Cole admitted.
The chamb
erlain explained the route. It didn’t sound too complicated. Only a couple of turns and a long set of stairs. “My seal should get you past all the checkpoints. The canister is marked high urgency. Other markings specify that it must pass directly from your hands to hers. You’ll get your chance to verbally deliver the actual message.”
“Thank you, sir,” Cole said, using his best manners.
“A minor service,” the chamberlain said. “I wish I could do more for her. She has never been more in need of allies, and they have never been scarcer. Take care.”
Cole exited and followed the instructions. The guards he encountered kept letting him pass, until he was admitted to a door at the base of a tower.
Beyond the door he entered a sumptuous room, where a shriveled woman in a flashy uniform greeted him. Despite her aged appearance, she moved energetically and had a youthful voice. “Greetings, boy,” she said. “I see you have a message for Her Majesty. Please wait as I inquire as to her availability.”
As the woman exited the room, Cole sat down on a sofa with cushions deeper and softer than most mattresses. He wondered if anybody at the First Castle answered their own door. He also wondered why there were so many guards. It seemed like the high walls and the guardsmen who manned them would keep out intruders. The number of guards inside the castle made him suspect that part of their purpose was to protect their masters from one another.
The shriveled woman returned. “Her Majesty will see you.”
It took Cole three tries to rock forward and get up from the comfy sofa. He could hardly believe he had accessed the queen so easily! Having him play a messenger boy had been a smart idea. He followed the woman out a door, up a winding stone staircase, and into a luxurious living room where Queen Harmony stood.
The queen looked older than she had in Trillian’s contest, but not nearly sixty years older. She was still tall and graceful, but white streaks had crept into her auburn hair, and worry lines were visible on her lovely face. Her large eyes looked lively and knowing in a way Trillian had failed to replicate. The queen wore a black dress with a blue sash, elegant in its simplicity.
Cole bowed and waited for her to speak.
“You may approach,” she said, holding out a hand.
Cole walked to her and handed over the cylinder. The queen held it while the older woman broke the seal and opened the canister. The woman backed away as the queen unrolled the parchment inside.
It was subtle, but after a moment Cole noticed Queen Harmony grip the parchment more tightly. Her striking eyes returned to Cole with new interest. “Sophie, leave us. I would converse with this messenger in private.”
CHAPTER
25
HARMONY
The door closed, leaving Cole alone with the queen.
“Have you news of my daughters?” she whispered.
For a moment Cole found it hard to speak. This was the queen of the entire Outskirts—all five kingdoms and Junction. When he had entered, she had regarded him with an effortlessly regal air and commanded her servant with the nonchalance of somebody accustomed to being obeyed. But suddenly she looked vulnerable.
And she was waiting.
“I’ve been with Mira since the Sky Raiders,” Cole said, noting how the queen’s expression brightened at the news. “I left her in Old Zeropolis this morning. Googol and Nova are watching over her.”
“She is well?” Harmony asked.
“She’s not hurt or anything,” Cole said. “It hasn’t been easy, though.”
Harmony gave a slight nod. “Come closer.”
Cole obeyed. Because of the queen’s height, her proximity forced him to tilt his head back to retain eye contact. She stared down at him pensively.
“You were a Sky Raider?” she asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Cole said.
“Tell me your name.”
“Cole, Your Majesty.”
“How did you meet my daughter?”
“She showed me around when I arrived there. Later I saved her life from a giant cyclops. When the legionnaires came for her, we ran away with a couple of other kids.”
“Mira was near Honor for a time,” Harmony said.
“That’s right,” Cole said. “Now Honor has gone looking for Destiny, and Mira is hunting for Constance.”
“So it would seem,” Harmony said. “Come sit with me.”
Cole and Harmony sat down on a pair of ornate armchairs that faced each other at angles. The scantly cushioned seat wasn’t very comfortable. It seemed designed with the purpose of keeping his posture upright.
“You were a Sky Raider but you bear a freemark,” Harmony said.
“The Grand Shaper Declan changed it,” Cole said.
“You’ve met with Declan?” she replied, showing real surprise. “He’s alive?”
“I saw him not too long ago,” Cole said. “He’s old, but alive.”
“Where did you find him?” Harmony asked. “Do you know how I can reach him?”
“He was behind the Eastern Cloudwall near the Brink,” Cole said. “When we found him, the legionnaires did too. Declan got away, but he left after we did, so I don’t know where he’s hiding now.”
“I see that you’re from Outside,” Harmony said.
“How can you tell?” Cole asked.
“We all have our gifts.”
“A type of shaping?”
“Similar to how I can sense where in the five kingdoms my daughters dwell,” Harmony said. “How did you come to the Outskirts?”
“A bunch of kids in my neighborhood were brought here as slaves,” Cole said. “I tried to help them but got captured too.”
“How much do you know about the state of affairs in the kingdoms?” Harmony asked.
“I know some things,” Cole said.
“Enlighten me,” she invited.
Cole figured that if he could trust anyone in the Outskirts, he could trust Queen Harmony. She wanted her daughters safe, and he was firmly on Mira’s side. He explained about their confrontation with Carnag and how Mira got her power back. He told about Quima and the threats she had made about Stafford’s shapecraft experiments. He recounted how they had rescued Honor from Trillian and how they had defeated Morgassa with the help of the Rogue Knight. He related how Honor got her power back and mentioned finding his friend Dalton. Finally he caught her up about the recent troubles in Zeropolis.
“You’re an impressive youth,” Harmony said. “You have my deepest thanks for the loyalty you have shown my daughters. Tell me about your power.”
Cole had left out the role of his ability in the fight against Morgassa. “I was able to energize objects from Sambria so they would work in Elloweer,” he said.
“Interesting,” Harmony said, drawing out the word. “Very unusual.”
“I’m not sure what else I can do. My power is blocked.”
“I can sense that, too. A tangled barrier of dark energy lies between you and your talent. I’ve seldom seen such a vicious abuse of shapecraft.”
Cole explained how his power had helped defeat Morgassa and how she had used her shapecraft on him before she died. “I still can’t reach my power,” Cole said. “I lost it just when I was starting to understand how to use it.”
“We spend our lives learning to better access our abilities,” Harmony said. “I’m sure there is much more I could do if only I could comprehend what is possible.”
“Is there a way I can fix what happened?” Cole asked. “Get my power back?”
Harmony stared broodingly—not into his eyes, or even at his body, but all around him. He could tell she was searching for an answer to his question, but it was hard to guess what exactly she was seeing.
“Difficult,” Harmony said. “The damage is too convoluted for another shapecrafter to unravel, even if we could find someone willing to hel
p you. And it would probably take years for you to restore the connection yourself. Maybe a lifetime. Maybe longer. I’m sorry that I can’t give you better news.”
“I’ll keep trying,” Cole said. “What about your power? Can you see your daughters whenever you want?”
She winced a little. “I don’t exactly see them. I can feel their location. I can sense their distress at times. Not much more than that.”
“But you know the locations well enough to mark them,” Cole observed.
“Yes,” Harmony agreed. “That I can do.”
“Could you place a star over Constance for us?” Cole asked. “The Unseen are in big trouble in Zeropolis. Googol and Nova are worried that if they don’t move quickly to get Constance, there might not be enough of a resistance movement left to help her.”
“There is little need for me to place a star above Constance,” Harmony said quietly, her eyes gazing off into space. “I can tell you her exact location. She has resided in the same place for years.”
“She’s safe?” Cole asked.
“Oh, no,” Harmony said. “Far from it. She’s in the hands of our most feared enemy in Zeropolis—Abram Trench.”
“The Grand Shaper has her?” Cole exclaimed.
Harmony nodded. “He holds her at his secret base. He’s had her for a long time. He knows her political value, so she has his protection as long as she remains useful to him. He was appointed by my husband but he is not a true ally. Her danger grows as my husband loses influence.”
“He’s losing his abilities, right?” Cole asked. “Stafford? The king?”
Harmony glanced around nervously. “The powers he stole, yes. This tower has centuries of shaped defenses designed to prevent prying eyes and curious ears from spying here. But one place in this tower is safer than the rest. Walk with me. I will share some secrets, and I have a request.”
Cole stood, and the queen did as well. Harmony led him out of the room and into a staircase that wound up and up. They passed a few doors until the stairs stopped at a final portal. Harmony produced a key, spoke what sounded like a nonsense word, and opened the door.
