The Common King

by Brian Olsen

  The fire in the king’s eyes fades and goes out.

  “Yes.” He nods. “My apologies, Kelle. I’d forgotten.” He winks at me. “Promises were made. And loyalty, as I said, is rewarded.”

  I try again to catch my mother’s eye, but she’s on guard, watching everybody except me.

  “Chris, don’t react.” Alisa’s voice, in my head. “He’s telling the truth about not killing any of us yet. We can use that. You and Nate keep them talking and distracted while we get Liefer alert enough to teleport us out of here.”

  “What promises?” I ask.

  “Oh, not to spare your life, if that’s what you’re thinking,” the king replies. “She knows I wouldn’t promise that. No, just that when I kill you, she won’t have to watch.” He sighs. “It’s a weakness. But they do cling to these false lives, these false relationships. You’ve found that to be true, haven’t you, Chris?”

  “They’re not false. They’re more real than any relationships you’ve ever known.”

  He shakes his head sadly. “You know that’s not true, Chris. Alisa, you should call him out on his lying.”

  Alisa doesn’t answer. Luckily the king doesn’t know how unusual that is. He takes a few steps towards me, past the Pillmans.

  “I’m sure you have no true memories of my life,” he continues, “just as I have none of yours, but do you still recall the dreams that my Nightmare Queen shared with you?”

  “I do. So?”

  “So? So?” He looks at Nate and jerks his thumb at me. “How do you stay friends with this dullard, Nate? Honestly, Chris, did you inherit any of my intelligence? So I know you didn’t merely see what I saw. You felt what I felt. You know I’m not some soulless monster. I have people I love. And they love me.” He spreads his hands wide, indicating my friends. “Just as they, for some inexplicable reason, love little phantom you.”

  I snort loudly and sharply, to take his attention away from them. “It’s not the same. They don’t love you.” I make the gesture he just made, indicating Jasmine, Dante, and my mother. “They fear you.”

  “Of course they fear me.” He laughs. “Who can blame them? I’m terrifying! But fear doesn’t preclude love.” He spins around. “You love me, don’t you, Tes? Tell the truth, now, Alisa won’t let anyone lie. She’s boring that way.”

  Jasmine jumps up and down, laughing. “You’re my very best friend in the whole world, Kirt. I mean, my Lord.”

  “You see?” The Common King takes her hands. They swing their arms back and forth. “Ruling the world is so much better with good friends at your side! Shonda would agree if she were here. She’s probably in bed by now. She’s been working so hard these past few days.” He drops Jasmine’s hands. “And we love each other, don’t we, Dante?”

  Dante blushes. “Oh, wow. This is so fast, Chris. I mean, Kirt. I mean, Your Majesty. Oh, wow.”

  The king smacks his behind. “Don’t get above yourself, Dante. I meant love in the broadest sense of the word.”

  “Oh.” Dante shoves his hands in his pockets. “Yeah. I knew that.”

  My double winks at me again. “You missed out on this one, Chris. You should have seized the moment and claimed Dante for your own ages ago, like I did.” He walks his fingers down Dante’s chest, leering. “He can barely string two sentences together, but the man is magic in the bedchamber.”

  Dante flicks his hair back. “Yeah, Chris, you missed out. I’m wicked good at sex.” He sticks his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans. “And I’m good at logomancy too, right, Your Majesty?”

  The king pats his head. “Yes, Dante, you’re good at logomancy, too. Kelle!”

  Mom starts in surprise. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

  He touches her ice javelin and the tip melts. She drops it into the flames at her feet, where it evaporates into a cloud of white steam.

  “You love me, don’t you, Kelle?”

  She stands rigid. “Love you, Your Majesty?”

  “Yes.” He’s still smiling, but it’s a cold smile. The affection he showed Dante and Jasmine is gone. “It’s a simple question, Kelle. And remember, Alisa will know if you’re lying. I ask again, do you love your monarch? Do you love me, Kelle?”

  Mom’s eyes dart over to Alisa. Alisa’s pretending to follow the conversation, but I can tell she’s talking to everybody in their minds. Kenny, at some point when I wasn’t looking, got back on his feet. The Pillman prisoners are holding hands. Liefer’s muttering, “I can’t, I can’t.” Hopefully it sounds to our enemies like he’s delirious from pain, and not carrying on a half-telepathic conversation.

  The king scratches his chin. “I’ll clarify the question, Kelle. Perhaps that will make it simpler. Do you love me more than you love Chris? After all, as I’ve made crystal clear on multiple occasions, neither one of us is really your son. Isn’t that right? Didn’t you tell me that Chris Armstrong is nothing to you?”

  “Yes,” she answers. “Yes, I said that.”

  “In reality, you only knew him for less than a week before you came to your senses. Hardly enough time to form any kind of maternal bond.”

  I clench my fists. “Stop it. Don’t do this to her.”

  He puts his hand to his chest as if I’ve hurt his feelings. “Do what? I’m simply telling some truths. Alisa, isn’t that the right thing to do? Isn’t truth always your choice? That’s what you said.”

  “That’s what I said,” Alisa replies slowly.

  “See? Alisa agrees with me.” He turns back to my mother. “You served me in the real world for…what? Two years or so? And you’ve been in my inner circle here for weeks now. You know me far better than you know this impostor. So tell me that you love me more than him, and we can get back to punishing Kenny.”

  Kenny takes a sharp breath. The king notices, and holds a finger up to his mouth.

  “Shush, Kenny. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you. I just feel like this is an opportunity for a…what’s the phrase Kumar used, Tes?”

  Tes furrows her brow. “A teachable moment?”

  “Yes! Thank you. Teachable moment. Ridiculous expression. Still. Kelle? You’re keeping our guests waiting.”

  Mom bows. “Of course I love you more than him, Your Majesty. You are my king. He was merely my charge. A duty, temporarily imposed on me by magic. A burden.”

  “Oh!” The king laughs and holds up his hands. “Kelle, Kelle, Kelle. I didn’t ask you to be cruel to him. Ouch.” He shakes his head at me. “My goodness, Chris, that must have hurt. I am so sorry. Alisa? Was Kelle telling the truth?”

  Alisa doesn’t respond.

  He pats Mom’s arm. “Unlike you, Alisa doesn’t want to bruise Chris’s feelings. That’s all right. I believe you, Kelle. Thank you. It took a while but we got there in the end. Now!” He clasps his hands together. “Don’t I have some prisoners to kill?”

  “No!” Kenny shakes in terror. “No, please!”

  “Jasmine!” Nate lets go of my hand. “Babe. Please.”

  “Oh, here we go.” The Common King chuckles. “I knew we’d get to this eventually.”

  Nate continues, “I know you’re still in there.”

  “I am, Natey!” She waves at him. “I’m right here! Hi!”

  “You can still come back to us. To me.”

  “Oh, I know.” She blows him a kiss. “You guys are super forgiving. But I’m right where I want to be.”

  I put my hand on Nate’s shoulder. “He’ll die, Jaz. Nate will die if the Moment breaks. Do you want that?”

  The Common King gives Jasmine a look. It’s subtle, but I catch it. I think he’s warning her to watch what she says. I could be wrong, but it’s my own face, so I have a pretty good idea of what its expressions mean. I wonder what he’s worried she’ll say?

  Jasmine speaks slowly, like she’s carefully choosing every word. “I don’t want Nate to die, Chris. And yes, if the Moment is undone he’ll die. Or never have lived. Which I guess is the same thing, basically.”

  “Then
help us!” Nate points at the king. “You could end this right now! Get in his head and put him in a nightmare and this is all over and nobody else dies. You can be Jasmine again!”

  “I can’t be Jasmine again, Natey. I never stopped being Jasmine!”

  “That’s not true. The Jasmine I loved wouldn’t threaten peoples’ lives. Wouldn’t have let Kenny’s mom be murdered! That’s the Nightmare Queen who did that. Not Jasmine O’Kane.”

  Jasmine gives the king a worried look. He nods for her to continue.

  “I…didn’t want Mrs. Pillman to be killed. But Kirt said it had to happen, and I trust him.”

  Lily comes forward. Liefer is sitting up now, supported by Mr. Ambrose, but he’s cradling his ruined hands to his chest and crying softly. Damn it. Even if he pulls himself together, I don’t know if he can get us out of here.

  “Alisa.” I think hard. “Can you hear me?”

  “I hear you.”

  Lily asks, “What about the people who work here, Jaz? They’re terrified of him. Has he killed any of them?”

  Jasmine twirls a long lock of red hair around a finger. “A couple.”

  “Liefer always uses his hands to do his magic,” I think. “Are you sure he can teleport?”

  “That’s what I’m working on, Chris. Kenny’s gonna boost him. But Mr. Ambrose is having a hard time blocking out his pain long enough to get through to him. Liefer’s in shock.”

  “What about Zane?”

  “I told him what’s happening but this fire is blocking his shadow portals. Liefer’s all we’ve got. Keep the king talking. We’re not beat. Not yet.”

  “A couple?” Nate says incredulously. “And did he say that had to happen, too?”

  “I’ll jump in on that one.” The king puts one hand to his heart and raises the other. “I have a temper. It’s a fault. I’m working on it. I won’t apologize for using a firm hand with the servants, but there are times when I immolated where I could have scalded. That’s entirely on me.” He waggles his finger at Jasmine. “But you’ve had your fun too, my queen. I hear the screams from their quarters at night. Don’t act the innocent.”

  She giggles. “I’m not!”

  “Jaz!” Nate gapes at her. “Jaz, no. No!”

  She shrugs. “I get bored, Natey. There isn’t much for me to do while Shonda’s gathering all the magical artifacts. I need to practice.”

  “But…” His shoulders slump. “But you wouldn’t.”

  “You keep saying that, Nate.” She smiles at him, and it’s a Jasmine smile, not a Nightmare Queen smile. “But I’m not just your Jasmine anymore. I’m Tes Tesbrunchild, too. She’s as much a part of my identity as Jasmine O’Kane is. If you really loved me, you’d love all of me. Like I love all of you.”

  There’s hope in her eyes. I think she actually believes she can convince Nate to be okay with her torturing and murdering people.

  Nate shakes his head. “I can’t, Jaz. I can’t. If that’s who you are now, then…then I can’t love you.”

  The hurt of Nate’s rejection washes over Jasmine’s face. She turns sharply away from him. “This isn’t fun anymore, Kirt.”

  “Agreed.” He walks behind the Pillmans. “Now, Kenny. Choose.”

  Kenny wipes his eyes. “Choose what?”

  The king sighs. “Choose who I’m going to kill, obviously. Your father or your brother. It’s part of the punishment. I wish I had thought of it last time instead of melting your mother straight away, but I was distraught.” He raises an eyebrow at me. “I had just been through something traumatic.” He snaps his fingers at Kenny. “So. Choose.”

  “Choose me, son,” Mr. Pillman says. “You have to choose me.”

  Bobby Pillman sobs. “No, Dad! No!”

  “It’s all right, Bobby.” Mr. Pillman straightens up. He and Bobby are still holding hands, and with his free hand he wipes his son’s tears. “I’ll be with your mother.”

  “Will you, though?” The Common King scratches his head. “The Pillmans are fake people, aren’t they? Do fake people have souls, do you think? Assuming anyone does, of course. Some people believe we join the chorus of the Logos when we die, but I always thought of that as superstitious nonsense. Kelle, what do you think?”

  Mom looks at him in surprise. “Your Majesty?”

  “Do you think your dead fake husband is in some sort of afterlife, or did he fade back into the nothing he sprang from?”

  She takes a breath in through her nose, then bows her head. “I don’t know, Your Majesty. I’ve never been much of a theologian.”

  “Ha!” He nods. “That’s what I love about you, Kelle. I pick and poke and tease and you never take the bait. Good woman. Anyway. Kenny. Who will it be? Are you accepting your father’s brave sacrifice or should I off the brat? Please say the brat. I could feed my former army with how much he eats. But it’s up to you.”

  “Get ready,” Alisa thinks. “Liefer says we all need to be near him. I’m telling the Pillmans to run for it. Lily’s going to split into a gang of dupes and charge them. Sacrifice her copies to let the rest of us get away.”

  “No.” I let go of Nate’s hand. “No, we don’t know what all those duplicates dying would do to Lily. I’ll do it. Leave me behind. You need Lily for the spell, not me.”

  “Nate just made the same offer and I’m telling you what I told him. Lily knows what she’s doing. She says she’ll be fine. Trust her, trust me, and do what you’re told.”

  The Common King taps his foot. “Don’t make me choose for you, Kenny. If you do, I’ll kill your brother and then melt your father’s tongue out of his mouth. I need a hostage, but I don’t need him intact. What’s the matter? Afraid of a little patricide?” He nods at me. “Chris and I can talk you through it. We’ve both had some experience—”

  “Now!”

  “Split!”

  Lily divides into a half-dozen copies. Five rush forward towards our enemies while one hangs back.

  Nate and I turn and crouch with Liefer and Ambrose, while Alisa drags Kenny back to join us. He reaches out for his father and brother, who spring forward, crawling towards us.

  “Spuh…” Mr. Liefer takes a deep, wheezing breath. “Space.”

  We don’t go anywhere.

  Mom encases a charging Lily in ice. Dante wrestles with another, keeping her away from Jasmine, who’s just staring open-mouthed at the scene.

  The Common King laughs as he watches the Pillmans crawl. A Lily punches him square in the face, cutting off his amusement. He rubs his jaw, snarling, and flicks a finger at her. She bursts into flames. With another gesture, all the remaining Lilys burn, including the one closer to us, who had hung back from the fight.

  It’s horrible, watching my friend die six times over, even knowing a part of her is elsewhere, safe and well. Lily’s burning, howling copies thrash around the narrow flaming corridor. It’s complete chaos, and Kenny takes advantage of it to break free from Alisa and run to help his family.

  Alisa calls him back but I follow. Kenny’s right, we need to get everybody to Liefer, but the Pillmans are moving too slowly. As they see us coming they stop crawling so they can stand and run. Bobby gets to his feet, but Mr. Pillman stumbles. His youngest son pulls on his arm, trying to help.

  “Dad!” Bobby cries. “Come on!”

  Kenny’s almost to them. He reaches to grab his father’s other arm. I’m right on his tail.

  The Common King’s eyes flare.

  Mr. Pillman and Bobby burst into flame. Their entire bodies, engulfed in fire.

  “No! No!” Kenny flinches back. “Dad! Bobby!”

  He steps forward again, as if to join them, so I grab him, wrapping my arms around his waist. He kicks and flails, trying to get to them.

  I focus on the sound of Kenny’s cries. It helps drown out the screams from his dying family.

  I drag him back to Liefer.

  The Common King laughs again. “Do you think you’re leaving? I’m not done with you yet.”

  M
r. Ambrose holds Liefer up. “Disrupt! There’s no pain, Ronald, no pain! Disrupt!”

  Alisa touches Liefer’s chest. “Truth!”

  “Kenny!” I shout. “Kenny, please!”

  Kenny shoves me away. He falls against Mr. Liefer and, through his tears, chokes out, “Amplify!”

  Liefer spasms violently once, then stiffens and screams, “Space!”

  We’re back in the conference room. It’s cleared of artifacts. Mrs. Kumar is still trapped in shadow and Shonda is still paralyzed, both on the rug where we left them. Zane, Andy and two Lilies stand by a large shadow portal set into the wall. They run forward to help support Mr. Liefer.

  Alisa yells, “Go, go, go!”

  Everyone bolts for the portal except Kenny, who leans on the table, heaving great sobbing breaths. Nate helps me manhandle him through, and after a moment of cold darkness, we emerge in the museum basement. There’s a lot of noise and commotion. The parents are yelling questions. Mrs. Liefer is crying out her husband’s name. Zane checks that everyone made it through and closes the portal.

  Kenny pushes me off violently, but allows Nate to hold him. The two of them sink to the floor and Nate strokes Kenny’s hair while he shakes with grief.

  Mr. and Mrs. Green rush forward. “Alisa—” Mrs. Green starts.

  Alisa holds up a hand. “Don’t, Mom.” Her voice cracks. “Don’t. Not now. It’s too much.”

  “I’m not going to yell, sweetheart.” She hugs her daughter. “It’s all right. It’s all right.”

  Mr. Green holds them both. Alisa relaxes into them for a moment, but then breaks away.

  “Andy, Mr. Ambrose, take care of Mr. Liefer. Zane, I want you and Chris to go to London right away. Get Ihsan and Mrs. Wollard back here.”

  “Alisa.” Mr. Montgomery stands worriedly over his son. “Slow down. We need some explanations.”

  “Time for explanations later, Mr. Montgomery. Zane, Chris, go. Get back here as quick as you can. Lily, help me clear these artifacts. We need space. Anyone who isn’t a logomancer, take over tending to Mr. Liefer once Andy and Mr. Ambrose have him stable. Get him upstairs, out of the way.”