Once Upon a Quest

by Anthea Sharp

  Straight at Yadira.

  * * *

  “No!” Tilly yelled. “This way!”

  She jumped up and down, waving her arms about, while Jayshu rushed forward and splashed into the river. After one more shout, Tilly gave up and hurried after him. Both Yadira and the dragon were in the river, which was about waist-high at its deepest point, and wasn’t flowing particularly fast. Yadira was doing her best to shield herself from the dragon’s flames, but Tilly could see heat shimmering in the air where the layer of shield magic had begun to weaken.

  Jayshu threw a handful of sparks at the dragon, but Tilly held her magic back. A few sparks wouldn’t do anything against a beast so large. They needed something more. She’d read about magic that was powerful enough to knock a person or creature unconscious. A stunner spell, it was called. And while there was no way she had time to gather the kind of power necessary to stun a dragon, she might be able to gather just enough to push him away from Yadira.

  She reached the other side of the river and ran, dripping wet, up the bank, constantly drawing on the core of magic deep inside her. Between her hands, an orb of power began to form. It flashed and sparkled and struggled to break free. Still in the river, Jayshu continued tossing various forms of magic at the dragon, which at least gave Yadira a chance to reinforce her shield magic. But after a particularly large blast of flames forced Jayshu to dive beneath the water, Tilly decided she’d waited long enough. She raised her magic above her head with both hands and threw it with all her might at the dragon’s head.

  Her aim was true, and her power was greater than she’d thought. It struck the side of the dragon’s face, knocking his head away from Yadira. His thick neck swung sideways, and his head cracked against a rock on the riverbank.

  Tilly froze. So did Jayshu and Yadira.

  Was the dragon still conscious? Had she actually managed to injure him?

  Then he shook his head before slowly turning to face her. His orange eyes burned into hers, and she wondered for one paralyzing moment if he had the power to hypnotize her.

  Then something solid slammed into her abdomen, sweeping her completely off her feet. The dragon’s tail, she realized belatedly as she flew through the air. Stop, stop, stop! she yelled silently, throwing magic out beneath her, hoping to cushion her fall. She managed to slow herself, but pain still blazed throughout her body when she hit the ground.

  It took her several moments before she was able to sit up. Then another few moments before she pushed herself onto her feet. She was about to run back toward Jayshu and Yadira when she realized something: The dragon had moved far enough from the cave that she could easily slip inside unnoticed. She looked back to make sure Jayshu and Yadira were still managing to fend off the dragon, then ran through the opening in the side of the mountain.

  The dim light of early evening illuminated the interior of the cave, revealing another opening at the far end. As Tilly grew closer to it, she noticed golden light streaming faintly through it into the first cave. Her heart leaped, and she hurried forward.

  She knew the moment she stepped into the second, smaller cave that she’d found the right place. By the light of several enchanted candles floating near the ceiling, she saw gold stones scattered across one side of the cave. Some of the vines that had found their way inside were gold too, and in the center of the cave sat a gold backpack.

  But her amazement turned to horror when she saw the woman pressing herself against the far wall. Her dress was torn and dirty, and a small cage enclosed each hand. “Oh no, that’s awful!” Tilly exclaimed. “Who did that to you? Did someone else find you here?” She rushed forward to help the woman.

  “No! Stay away.” She shrank further back against the wall.

  “Hey, Mirradel, it’s okay.” Tilly stopped and held her hands up to show she meant no harm.

  “You know who I am?” Mirradel asked.

  “Yes. We came here to get you out. I swear I’m not here to hurt you or use your power.”

  “Even if that’s true, you shouldn’t come near me. If you touch my hands, you’ll be turned to gold. I had gloves—enchanted gloves that didn’t become gold when I put them on—but they were destroyed when I was captured.” A small winged creature—a sprite, Tilly realized—landed on Mirradel’s shoulder holding what looked like an armful of berries.

  “Oh, that’s clever,” Tilly said, taking a tentative step forward. “Has the sprite been feeding you? Since you can’t use your own—”

  “Get the hell out of here!” Mirradel shrieked, looking past Tilly. “I refuse to turn anything else into gold for you!”

  Tilly’s heart pounded as she swung around, expecting to find herself face to face with the baron.

  But it was Yadira who stood there.

  * * *

  “You?” Tilly said, her brow scrunched up as she struggled to figure out what was going on.

  “Yes,” Yadira said. “Me.” She held a knife in one hand, while magic crackled around the other. “Now get out of the way.”

  “Wait. Your entire story was a lie?”

  Yadira cocked her head. “Actually, most of my story was true. The only part I had to twist was the beginning. I didn’t rescue Mirradel from her captor; I stole her from her husband. I mean, just look at what she can do.” Yadira gestured to the gold items around the cave. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t want this gift for yourself.”

  “That wasn’t your only lie,” Tilly said between gritted teeth. “You lied about Jayshu too. About being afraid he might attack you, and implying he hurt you as a child. Why would you say things like that?”

  Yadira shrugged. “I was just embellishing facts. It was fun. I didn’t plan for either of you to make it out of here alive, so it didn’t matter to me what you believed about him.”

  “Then why did you bother bringing me with?”

  She sighed. “Jayshu’s useless. I didn’t trust him to keep the dragon occupied for long enough to allow me to get in and out of the cave. You seemed a little more capable.”

  Fear sent a chill through Tilly’s body. “Where is Jayshu? What did you do to him?”

  Yadira’s lips turned up in a cruel smile. “You shouldn’t be worried about what I did to him. Perhaps you should run along outside and find out what that dragon’s doing to him.”

  Mirradel let out a yell, and before Tilly realized what was happening, the woman with the golden touch had launched herself across the cave at Yadira. “Stop ruining people’s lives!” she yelled as she swung her caged hands at Yadira’s face. “Who do you think you are?”

  Bright light shot away from Yadira’s hand. A moment later, Mirradel hit the floor with a groan. One of the cages snapped open and fell away from her hand.

  “Are you okay?” Tilly gasped, running toward her.

  “Ugh, stop interfering,” Yadira said. She raised the knife, aimed at Tilly, and threw it.

  “No!” someone shouted.

  Mirradel lunged across the floor, her hand reaching for Yadira’s ankle, just as Tilly threw herself out of the knife’s path. It nicked her shoulder and clattered to the floor—and in the same instant, Yadira became a solid gold statue.

  “Oh my goodness,” Tilly whispered, staring wide-eyed at the girl’s golden face, frozen forever in an expression of irritation. Then her gaze shifted beyond the statue, to where Jayshu stood in the cave’s doorway, his clothes partially singed and his hand outstretched just as it had been after he’d thrown magic at the serpent.

  “I hit her,” he murmured. “My knife hit her. And then she turned to gold.”

  Tilly stepped slowly around the statue and saw that he was right. Buried between Yadira’s shoulder blades was a golden knife.

  Mirradel sobbed into her free hand. “I didn’t want … to hurt … anyone else.”

  And for only the third or fourth time in her life, Tilly had no idea what to say.

  “Mirradel!” a new voice called out from somewhere behind Jayshu. Tilly looked past him and saw a man
—the man who’d chased them across Kaleidos—hurrying into the cave. “My love, I’m so sorry.” He ran toward Mirradel. “I got here as soon as I possibly could.”

  “Wait, be careful,” she said before he could get too close. “My gloves. Yadira destroyed them when she took me.”

  “I know. I saw them on our bedroom floor. That’s why I brought—”

  “Cecile!” Mirradel cried out as a woman rushed into the cave along with the other two men who’d been chasing Yadira and Jayshu. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  Tilly managed to stifle her gasp at the sight of the woman’s black eyes and pointed teeth. She’d never heard a single good thing about a witch, but perhaps some of them weren’t that bad.

  “Of course I’m here,” Cecile said, her voice surprisingly gentle. “I won’t let you suffer from this gift any longer than necessary.” As Mirradel stood, she added, “Come outside and put your hands in the river. I’ll make you a new pair of gloves.”

  “I’m—I’m so sorry,” Jayshu stammered as he stepped aside to let Mirradel pass. “I had no idea. Yadira said you were the baron’s captive. I never would have helped her if I’d known the truth.”

  “It’s okay,” Mirradel sniffed. “She deceived us all.” She looked around the cave and added, “You can take as much of this gold as you wish. Or don’t take any of it at all, if that’s what you’d prefer. It’s up to you.”

  “Oh, um—thank you,” Tilly said. Her eyes swept across the cave, wondering exactly how much wealth it currently contained. “Perhaps just one or two stones. I don’t want to be greedy.” She had a feeling that taking anything more might lead her down the same path Yadira had ended up on.

  * * *

  As everyone else left the cave, Tilly turned to Jayshu. “So, uh … what happened with the dragon?”

  “Funny thing, actually. I remembered an enchanted lullaby my mom used to sing to me when I was little. Every single time, I’d fall asleep the moment she finished the last word. Turns out it works on dragons too.”

  Tilly blinked. “You really should have thought of that sooner.”

  “I know.” Jayshu looked down, then peered up at her from between his lashes. “Anyway … the unexpected bonus of facing a dragon is that talking to you seems a lot less scary now than it did earlier today.”

  A smile spread across Tilly’s face. “That’s a definite bonus.”

  “So …” He raised his eyebrows. “I guess you need to go back home now?”

  Tilly sighed. “I guess. What about you?”

  “I’m planning to come back here, actually. I’ll search for any record of whether this area has been mapped before, but I honestly don’t think it has been. I want to explore it further and record whatever I discover.”

  “Alone?” Tilly asked. “That doesn’t sound particularly safe.”

  “Oh.” Jayshu frowned. “True. I suppose I should probably assemble some sort of team. People with expertise in different areas. Is that how exploration is done?” He gave her one of his rare smiles. “This is all very new to me, but I’ve suddenly realized it’s exactly what I want to do. I want to be the person who draws the very first map of a brand new place instead of being the person who studies that map later on. And I want to—well—practice being brave.”

  Tilly gripped both his hands tightly in hers, her eyes shining as excitement welled up inside her. “I want to go with you,” she said, the words tumbling hurriedly from her lips. “Not yet. I can’t do that yet, and the thought is almost killing me, but I have a year and a half left of school, and I can’t break my parents’s hearts again. I’d feel guilty for the rest of my life if I did. But once I’m finished and I’m old enough to choose what to do with my life, I want to join you. Please.” She squeezed his hands a little tighter. “I can do—well, anything you need me to do. I can fight whatever threatening forces we come across in the uncharted areas of the world, or I can learn any other skill you need me to learn, and we can explore together. I mean, with whatever team you’ve assembled by then. It’ll be the best and biggest adventure ever.”

  Jayshu’s smile turned into an actual grin. “That sounds like a brilliant plan. I can’t wait.”

  * * *

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  * * *

  In an attempt to fit this story into my Creepy Hollow world and into the backstory of one of the characters I’ve been dying to write more about—Tilly—I’ve ended up straying quite far from the original myth of King Midas and his golden touch. But the most important element is there: a person whose touch can turn things into gold.

  If you look a little closer, other hints of the original story have made their way into mine: When Midas realized his golden touch was more of a curse than a gift, he prayed to Dionysus, who told Midas to wash his hands in a particular river. When Midas touched the water, his power flowed into the river and turned the sand into gold. In my story, the witch Cecile tells Mirradel to put her hands into a river, and the water forms part of the spell that creates her enchanted gloves. And in place of Midas accidentally turning his daughter into gold, in this story we have Mirradel accidentally turning her former maid Yadira into gold.

  I also took an ounce of inspiration from the tale of the Golden Fleece (why not add another ‘gold’ myth in there, right?), in which Jason and the Argonauts went on a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece which was (according to most versions of the story) guarded by a never-sleeping dragon.

  * * *

  Thank you for reading A Touch of Gold. I hope that if you’re new to the Creepy Hollow world, you’ll try out the main series of books! (Tilly shows up in book #3 and has quite an important role to play!) Discover more at creepyhollowbooks.com.

  * * *

  Rachel Morgan spends her days writing fiction for young adults and those young at heart. Her first love is fantasy, but she’s also had fun with some sweet contemporary romance stories. Find out more about Rachel and her books at rachel-morgan.com.

  Magic and Machinery

  Jamie Ferguson

  Maude took one last sip of sherry, and then set the goblet down on the white tablecloth next to the nearest silver candelabra. The number of people at the long dining table had begun to dwindle as the guests at the inn wandered off to bed. She’d wanted to do the same, but had been waiting for her older brother Gerhardt to wrap up his rather animated conversation about mechanisms for powering dirigibles with the gentleman he sat next to.

  Roderick, a tall, angular man with thick black eyebrows, wore a black suit, with a short cape bedecked with black and violet feathers slung over his shoulders. He seemed just as passionate about the topic of machinery as Gerhardt. At this point it seemed like the two men could easily talk for another hour or two, and Maude was starting to feel like a wilting flower.

  Roderick had done his best to engage her in the discussion, but something about the way he looked at her when she spoke made her feel awkward and uncomfortable. Besides, she’d heard Gerhardt go on about steam engines and pulleys and electricity many times before, and hearing yet another variant on the subject was not at all interesting. She and her brother were on holiday. She was determined to take a real break, and not think about anything remotely related to work until they went back to the city.

  Maude and Gerhardt had spent two long days traveling by carriage to the inn that lay nestled in a little valley at the foot of the mountains. They’d arrived a few hours earlier, with just enough time to get washed and dressed for the evening meal in the inn’s spacious, high-ceilinged dining room. She was excited about spending the next few weeks sightseeing and enjoying the summer weather instead of designing clockwork systems for their family business, but right now it was taking all her willpower to keep her eyes open. And to make matters worse, one of the pieces of boning in her corset had been digging in to her left side since she’d finished that scrumptious coconut pudding they’d had for dessert.

  She glanced across the table and met the warm brown eyes of the handsome young man w
ho sat across from her. He had broad shoulders, a smattering of freckles that ran across the bridge of his nose, and a rich, welcoming laugh. He smiled back at her, making the tiny lines in the corners of his eyes crinkle, and then turned back toward the white-haired woman who spoke to him. The pair of sequined and bejeweled matrons who sat to his left had been talking his ear off all evening, so he and Maude hadn’t been able to say more than a few words to each other.

  She now knew far more about the elderly ladies and their respective cats than she really wanted to. All she’d learned about the young man was his name was Tom, he worked as a tailor in a small town on the coast, and he had a great deal of patience. He’d been nothing but charming and graceful all evening, even when one of the older ladies said something off-color that made him blush and caused the two women to cackle like a pair of hens.

  Maude stifled a yawn and stood up, her yellow silk skirt rustling. Gerhardt looked up at her and blinked his greenish-brown eyes.

  “It’s the type of metal,” he said. He had the animated look he got when he’d solved a tricky mechanical problem. “We’re using nickel, but I just realized we should have used copper.”

  She rested a hand on Gerhardt’s shoulder. “We’re on vacation, brother dear,” she said. “Make a note, and we can talk about it once we get home.”

  “Right,” Gerhardt said. He pulled a notepad and a pen out of his suit pocket and began writing.

  “I’m turning in for the night,” she said. “Please continue your conversation, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Sleep well,” her brother said. He set his pen down and patted her forearm. “I know it was a long trip. Get some rest. I promise not to discuss work for the rest of our trip.” He grinned. “Or at least I’ll try not to.”

  Roderick rose to his feet, the ends of the feathers on his cape fluttering in the air. His gray eyes looked almost silver in the candlelight.