Quest for the Secret Keeper

by Victoria Laurie

  Ian knew the waiting was at an end, and without another moment’s hesitation he dropped the lantern into the hole, then whirled around and bolted back toward the window. An incredibly powerful gust of wind came whipping down the hallway, blowing him off his feet and sending him hurtling down several more meters.

  “Ian!” Carl shouted as Ian lay on the ground, his head pounding and his thoughts in utter disarray.

  “There!” said Caphiera behind him. “You see, witch? The boy has been subdued. Fetch him for us.”

  Ian tried to get to his feet, but he failed on his first attempt. Behind him the witch was approaching quickly, but abruptly she stopped again. “He has started a fire,” she said, looking uneasily at the open door where Ian had dropped the lantern.

  “ ’Tis of no consequence!” Caphiera yelled. “We will be far away before it becomes an issue!”

  But Ian knew better. Using every bit of energy he had, he pulled himself up to the sill and attempted to focus on Carl’s urgent expression. “Leap for it, mate!” Carl cried, and Ian realized that all the planks had been knocked to the ground below.

  “He means to jump from the window!” Caphiera cried, and an instant later a sharp dagger of ice burrowed into the wood right next to his hand. “Stay where you are or the next one will be buried in your back!”

  Ian froze halfway in and halfway out of the window. Carl was frantically waving at him to make the leap as the witch’s footfalls came again, this time more quickly.

  Ian waited until she was almost upon him before he leaned forward and leapt out the window, reaching out frantically for the other sill. As he leapt, an explosion filled the night with a tremendous BOOM, and before Ian could fully register what was happening, he slammed into the opposite building and would have fallen to his death were it not for Carl, reaching out to clutch his shoulders.

  Hearing a torrent of noises, Ian suspected that the second-floor corridor had given way and caused the third story to fall down too.

  Carl didn’t even pause to observe the disintegrating building; he pulled Ian the rest of the way in, and the pair lay on the ground, panting and spent.

  But soon the air was too choked with smoke and dust for them to remain there, and they both staggered to their feet, taking up their positions around the earl’s stretcher. As Ian bent low to take up his end, he realized his leg was bleeding badly. He knew he’d have to ignore it for now; the earl was in far worse shape.

  With some difficulty Ian and Carl made it down the stairs of the flat next door, and Ian found that this building had an exit to the opposite side of the block as well. Motioning to Carl with his head, he indicated the left-side exit, and with a great deal of effort and straining muscles, the young men carried the Earl of Kent out of the ruins and into the relative safety of the darkened streets.

  There, they both collapsed, and Ian knew he didn’t possess the strength to carry the earl one more step.

  To his immense relief, as he lay panting and exhausted, he saw several Parisians running toward him, one leading a horse drawn cart. When the small crowd gathered round to help them, Ian knew he and Carl had done all they could to see the earl to safety.

  ENCOUNTER AT THE GREEN DOOR

  The earl spent the next few days in a makeshift hospital. He suffered from three broken ribs, a concussion, and a broken arm but otherwise appeared to be in remarkably good shape, given his ordeal.

  Ian’s leg had also been tended to—it had required a dozen stitches—and other than a few additional scrapes, cuts, and bruises, both he and Carl were in excellent condition.

  As for Caphiera, Atroposa, and the witch, Carl was quite certain they had perished in the explosion, but Ian held some doubt. He was convinced that he could still sense their evilness somewhere within the city.

  At present, however, the question of the sorceresses’ survival was the least of their worries. They had taken refuge in the shop with the green door but had yet to hear from, or locate, Jaaved and Argos. Ian and Carl continued to make their way to the fountains each day and the two young men debated using the sundial.

  On the third day of their vigil at the fountains, Theo and Adria brought them a bite to eat. “Is there any sign of them?” Theo asked.

  “No,” said Carl, taking an apple and half a loaf of French bread from her. “I’d like Ian to use the dial, but he’s worried the sorceresses will come looking again.”

  “Do you really believe they survived the blast?” Theo asked Ian.

  Ian opened his mouth to tell her he couldn’t be sure but he thought so, when Adria cut in and said, “They’ve survived much worse, Theo. It’s quite likely they came through.”

  Ian frowned. He wanted to leave the city the moment the earl was well enough to travel, but if Jaaved and Argos did not arrive, then what would they do? The city was filled with rumors that the Germans were quickly approaching Paris and France was as good as defeated.

  All seemed bleak, in fact, and Ian stared down at his own apple, suddenly not hungry. And that was when he heard his name being called. Snapping his head in the direction of the voice, he blinked in the bright light of the day, only to see Jaaved dashing across the square toward him, waving his arms and looking quite happy.

  “Jaaved!” Theo shouted, running off to greet the Moroccan boy.

  Ian and Carl exchanged happy looks, but then Carl’s brow furrowed. “Where’s Argos?”

  Ian searched the crowded streets where Jaaved had appeared and was now making his way toward him with Theo.

  Then, just as he was becoming anxious, he saw the soldier from the portal. “There!” he said, pointing with an excited laugh, relieved down to his toes that both of them had made it.

  But in the next instant, Ian’s arm was gripped tightly. “By the gods!” Adria said, looking as if she were seeing a ghost. “Iyoclease!” she gasped. Then, more loudly, “Iyoclease!”

  Ian’s jaw dropped. He and Carl exchanged looks again and together they said, “Iyoclease?”

  But Adria was in motion, running at the soldier with her arms outstretched. The man they’d known as Argos turned to the voice calling out to him, and a look of shock came over him when he caught sight of her. It was quickly transformed into the brightest of smiles as he opened his arms wide to catch her and swing her up in a fierce embrace.

  “How did you get here?” they both asked at the same time, and Iyoclease explained first. “Calais and I went hunting for two deserters. I thought I heard a noise coming from a cave and went in to investigate. I found a set of stairs and they led me to a wood I did not recognize. At the wood’s edge, I found Ian, and Carl Lawson.”

  Iyoclease gestured to them and Ian could hardly believe that the real Iyoclease of Delphi was standing before him.

  Adria was scrutinizing the soldier. “Yes,” she said. “I remember now. Laodamia was quite lost without you.”

  Iyoclease eyed her as if she’d said something incomprehensible, and then he studied her intently. “Adria,” he said. “You seem to have gained some years … how is this possible?”

  “The portal,” Adria told him. “The same as you, my friend, although I have been traveling through it for quite some time and I have aged accordingly.”

  “I believe you have much to tell me,” Iyoclease said.

  “But why did you say your name was Argos?” Carl said, looking more than a little put off at having been lied to.

  Adria looked at her friend curiously. “You gave them the name of your father?”

  Iyoclease nodded. “I am sorry about that, Carl. I was worried at first when you said that a sorcerer was trying to kill you both. I feared that if Magus or his sisters discovered who I really was, it might put you all in even greater danger.”

  Adria put a hand to her mouth, as if the idea horrified her. After a moment, she said, “You were wise, my friend. Of course they would know who you are, and what you mean to the quest. As long as you’re here, our mission is vulnerable, which is why I cannot fathom why the portal op
ened to you in the first place.”

  “He’s part of the third prophecy,” Theo told her. “Near the beginning, in fact, his appearance is foretold.”

  Ian took out his worn copy of the prophecy and showed it to her, pointing to the lines, which clearly indicated Iyoclease’s arrival. Adria nodded but her expression remained troubled and she addressed the warrior again. “I feel it best that you not linger in this time, my friend. The consequences of your discovery by the sorceresses would be far too great to risk. We must see to getting you back as soon as possible. There is a portal door not far from here.”

  “But we’re not done with the prophecy yet,” Carl protested. “There’s still more sections to work through.”

  “No,” said Theo, with that faraway look in her eyes. “I believe Adria may be right. Perhaps that’s the reason we were to bring him along to France, Carl. So that he could assist us as far as this, then return home.”

  “I feel I’ve done nothing of significance,” Iyoclease told her.

  “Oh, I think you’ve done a splendid job seeing that the boat made it safely to the harbor, and you brought Jaaved back to us. That isn’t insignificant at all,” Theo assured him.

  Adria was surveying the crowd around them, her forehead creased with worry. “We should leave this open area,” she said to them, turning away and taking Iyoclease’s hand while motioning to the others to leave the square.

  When they were safely back at the small camp in the shop with the green door, Ian found a note from Madame Lafitte and Océanne. They had gone to visit the earl and would be back soon. It was a fortunate circumstance, because it allowed Adria to speak freely and without a great deal of added explanation.

  “You came through the portal,” Adria told Iyoclease when they were seated in a circle.

  “Yes,” Iyoclease said. “That much I have gathered.”

  “I too ventured past the wall,” she explained. “But it was much later, nearly half a year after your de—” Adria caught herself and her hand moved to cover her mouth. Iyoclease was looking sharply at her.

  “My what?” he pressed, but even Ian knew what she’d nearly revealed.

  “Nothing,” Adria told him. “Just know that it was later. I came at the request of Mia, who sent me on a quest to hide her most treasured prophecies. She commissioned me to create several silver boxes, and recruited a general from Lixus to hide them for the Oracles to discover.”

  “Lixus?” Iyoclease asked her. “What is this place?”

  Adria smiled. “A city far from Greece,” she told him gently.

  “Who is this general?”

  “His name is Adrastus,” she said. “He is my husband.”

  Iyoclease’s eyes widened. “Your husband? But what of Calais?”

  Adria looked down at her hands, folded in her lap. “I married Adrastus after …,” she said, leaving her sentence unfinished.

  Iyoclease got to his feet and began to pace the small room. Ian could tell he was struggling with all that Adria was telling him, and he knew the soldier was a very intelligent man. He’d picked up on the subtext, Ian was certain. “You must tell me how to go back,” Iyoclease said.

  “You must go back through the portal,” Adria told him. Her gaze ventured to the far wall meaningfully and Iyoclease stopped his pacing and considered the stone. “How does it open?”

  Adria held up her hands to show him her cuffs. “If the portal had already been opened by my husband, I could use these to send you back. But this is a dormant wall and I cannot open it.”

  Ian and Carl leaned forward and looked with interest at Adria’s cuffs. She smiled and held them up again so they could see them better. Ian again noted that they were identical to the ones worn by Adrastus except that Adria’s pair were much thinner. “They are from the same cuffs my husband wears,” she told them. “It’s through the cuffs that Adrastus controls the portals. When I initially went through the portal with him to hide the first box, we didn’t get on so well. I was afraid he would leave me behind, so to ensure that I could follow after him, I took a thin layer from the top of the cuffs while he was sleeping. He woke to find them secure to my wrists and I thought for certain he would be angry with me, but he merely laughed and told me he would have done the same if our roles had been reversed.”

  “How is it that the cuffs control the portal?” Theo asked.

  “No one knows,” Adria told her. “But Adrastus and I believe it has something to do with the markings on them. Only Adrastus’s cuffs will open a portal door and his also allow him to choose the time and place he wishes to select. It took us years and years to discover that. My cuffs will also open the door to any portal entrance I find, but only if my husband has already traveled through it.”

  Ian knew Adria might attempt to dodge his next question, but he wanted to know, so he said, “But how and why did you two become separated?”

  Adria looked again at her hands, still folded in her lap. “It is because of this portal,” she told him bluntly. “This doorway is the last one we’ve needed to find, and we knew, after discovering all the others, that we could not discover it together.”

  “But why?” asked Theo.

  Adria sighed. “When my mistress Laodamia charged us with our quest, she told my husband and me that one of us would betray the other and place the Oracles in terrible danger. She said this would occur at the time we discovered the final portal, marked by a green door. She warned me that if she was correct and it was Adrastus who betrayed the cause, then the course of his actions would cause my own death. She added that I must not allow the final box to fall into the wrong hands; the prophecy within must be protected at all costs.”

  Ian was confused. Adrastus had spent many years hiding the boxes and protecting their locations, not to mention that he’d also saved Ian’s life in Spain; why would he suddenly betray all his efforts and freely give the last of the boxes over to the enemy?

  He asked Adria as much. “I cannot fathom it,” she told him. “My husband is the greatest man I have ever known, pure of heart and intention, and to think that he would betray me and the cause is incomprehensible to me. That is why we are separated. Adrastus has always feared this final prediction. So one night several years ago, just after we’d hidden the second-to-last box and we both knew there was only one portal left to discover, he left me.”

  Beside Ian, Theo gasped. “He left you? But why?”

  Tears formed in Adria’s eyes but she blinked them away. “He wrote me a note telling me that in order to ensure Laodamia’s words did not happen as predicted, we must separate. He would go on to hide the final box alone and I must stay away.”

  “But you haven’t stayed away,” Carl pointed out.

  Adria shook her head sadly. “No, Carl. I have not. I swore an oath to Laodamia that I would watch over the boxes and ensure the general did not betray us, and I will not stop looking for him until I have finished my quest.”

  But Ian had another concern. “Mistress Adria, you say that you’ve hidden all the boxes save for one, but we’ve only managed to locate three so far. Have we failed already?”

  The woman smiled kindly at him. “No, Ian. You have not. And although Adrastus carries with him the last box to be hidden, it is not the last in the sequence to be discovered. We hid them out of order, you see. So it is the last box for us, but likely the fourth or the fifth one for you.”

  Ian was shocked by that revelation. “You mean you don’t know what order we’re supposed to find them?”

  “No,” said Adria. “I only know the order we were to hide them, and only because when Laodamia gave me the scrolls with her prophecies, she left explicit instructions for which scroll was to be placed in which box and in what sequence they would need to be hidden. The box we hid before this one was located in a cave close to your keep.”

  “That was the first box we found!” said Theo.

  Adria nodded. “Yes, child. I gathered as much.”

  “So where are the other boxes
?” asked Carl.

  “I cannot tell you that.”

  “Why not?” he pressed.

  “Because part of your destiny lies in the discovery of each box on your own. To tell you where the boxes are hidden would likely jeopardize your quest, and I’ll not have that.”

  Ian noticed that Theo was toying with her crystal necklace. “So we should wait here for Adrastus to come and attempt to use the portal to hide the last box?”

  Adria eyed Iyoclease, who was listening very carefully to their discussion. “Yes and no,” she said. “Iyoclease must be sent back to his own time in Greece. His appearance here and my own memory of him tell me that he must have slipped through the portal to the present time. It also means that we’ll find a way to send him back.”

  The flood of relief clearly showed on Iyoclease’s face. “Thank you, Adria,” he said to her.

  But her expression was somewhat melancholy. “We will wait here for my husband and he will open the portal to let you return. We will then hide the final box.”

  “But what about us?” Jaaved asked.

  “You must also return to your home. The portal near your keep will eventually open and lead you to the next box and all will be in sequence once again.”

  “We can’t leave without the earl,” Ian told her, just as a flurry of noise erupted outside. A shout made its way into their shelter.

  “We’ve surrendered!” came the anguished cry. “The Germans have conquered France!”

  Ian felt a well of remorse knock the breath right out of him. “Oh, no!” whispered Theo.

  Adria turned to Ian, her expression sober. “You and your party must flee Paris before the Germans arrive.”

  “But the earl!” he protested.

  “Leave it to me,” she said, and hurried out the door.

  Adria arrived back with the earl leaning heavily on her. Océanne and Madame Lafitte were arguing with her that the earl should have been left where he was at the hospital.