by Alan Tucker
Alisha walked over, not wanting to appear too happy to see her, though she was thrilled to find someone she could actually talk to. “Stuck in my room for days on end. What are you doing?”
Maggie indicated the plant in front of her. “Turns out I can talk to plants … sort of. It’s weird, but anyway, I can help them grow, so they put me to work here in the gardens.”
“Talk to plants, huh?” Alisha was unimpressed, what a worthless ability! “Have you seen any of the others?”
Maggie didn’t seem to notice Alisha’s disdain; she never had. “Oh, yeah,” she replied. “Um, let’s see… Vic is out somewhere helping with the herds of goats I think.” Maggie blushed. “He’s actually kinda cute now, I was thinking of asking him out, seeing we’re the same size and all —”
Alisha cut Maggie off before she could get going. “Have you seen anyone else?”
Maggie took the interruption in stride. “Hm … Yeah, Will, Todd and Kim went off with the guards to do … well, you know, guard stuff.”
That made sense, Alisha supposed. “What about Lori, or Zoe?”
Maggie paused again, thinking. “No, I haven’t seen them since we got here. Brandon either, or Mr. Kain. I wonder what happened to them?”
Maggie had never really paid attention to the world around her. All the changes haven’t affected her personality, or her brain, Alisha thought.
“I don’t know,” Alisha replied. “Brandon was probably too big to fit inside the castle anywhere. But I’d like to know what happened to Lori and Zoe.” Mr. Kain too, for that matter. “Where do you sleep?” Alisha asked.
“Oh, there’s a tree there in the middle of the greenhouse that we all sleep in. We spend most of our time here — it’s kinda hard to go very far with these tiny legs,” Maggie said, blushing.
“I see,” Alisha said and smiled. “Well, I’ll try to find my way back down here so we can visit more some time.”
Maggie beamed. “That would be great!”
Alisha had left then to continue her wanderings. Mogritas, it seemed, had put most of them to work in one fashion or another. Alisha grew more determined to find Lori, Zoe and Mr. Kain.
She thought she had explored most of the fortress, but thinking further in her rooms that night, she admitted she had avoided places with lots of guards. Assuming Mogritas was keeping Mr. Kain, at least, under guard, areas where guards hung out were likely candidates for finding him. She couldn’t think of any reason to keep Lori or Zoe under guard, but since she hadn’t found them anywhere else, it seemed the only possibility.
The next morning Alisha ate the breakfast that had been left in her room before she got up — she still wondered how they slipped in and out so quietly. Then she wrapped some food up in a napkin and put it, and a bottle of water, in a shoulder bag. She wanted to be prepared for an extended outing.
She traveled down what were now familiar passageways to what she considered the ground floor, ground being relative since they were hundreds of feet above the valley. No one challenged her; most of the servants were accustomed to her presence in the castle halls.
Alisha stepped into a large courtyard. Gobinstratstorai were everywhere: sparring, doing calisthenics, practicing with bows and arrows, and other martial activities. It looked like an army readying for war more than castle guards training to keep themselves fit. Alisha was staggered by the number of troops. She estimated there were five hundred or more. Certainly more than was necessary to keep an eye on the fortress, even as big as it was.
She saw a group to her left that were practicing hand to hand combat and she heard a familiar voice. Will was instructing them in wrestling techniques. Alisha watched Will demonstrate a hold, then his students paired up and tried it. Will walked around to each, making corrections and suggestions as they practiced.
After a few minutes, he called for a break and his charges went to a basin nearby to get a drink and cool off. Alisha caught Will’s attention and beckoned him over.
“Hey Alisha, what’s up?” Will smiled at her with a mouthful of sharp teeth. His large nose and ears did little, however, to make him look menacing.
“Not much,” she replied, smiling back. “Just out getting some fresh air, and thought I’d see what you guys were up to.”
“Well, Mogritas’s guards never really trained in hand to hand or wrestling, so the captain decided to have me teach some of them what I know,” Will explained. “It seems to be going pretty well. They learn fast.”
“I see,” Alisha said and smiled again, this time adding some of her power to it. “Have you seen Lori or Zoe lately? I’ve been looking for them.”
Will paused, then said, “They were taken to detention, um … basically the dungeon.”
Alisha frowned. “How come?”
“Mogritas said they might be dangerous.”
Alisha focused on his eyes. “Can you take me there?”
Will looked as if he wanted to tell her ‘no’ but hesitated. Then he said, “Sure, why not? Just let me take care of these guys, one sec.”
Will turned away and gathered his students, talking briefly with them. Shortly, they nodded and saluted him with their right fist over their hearts and collected their things. Will jogged back over to Alisha.
“Okay, I sent them over to archery practice. I’ll take you down to see Lori and Zoe.”
“Thank you,” Alisha said softly. “You’re such a gentleman.”
Will colored from the attention and led her to the south, around the edge of the huge practice grounds. They were largely ignored except for a few comradely greetings to Will as they moved through the training troops.
They came to an archway, flanked by guards. Will waved at them and they passed through into a dark hallway. Will led her slowly while their eyes adjusted. There were several doorways on either side of the hall, and at the end was a formidable metal and stone door. This too had guards, looking bored with their unglamorous duty.
The guard on the left challenged Will. “Where are you taking her?”
“Down to see a couple of the guests,” Will answered.
“Does Lord Mogritas know?”
“No,” Will replied, “but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.” Then he added, “What’s she going to do?” indicating Alisha.
Alisha flashed her brightest smile at the guard and did her best to add some power to it while still maintaining her hold on Will.
The guard hesitated, then relented. “All right, but just a few minutes, no more.”
“Yep, we’ll be quick,” Will promised. “I have to get back to training anyway.”
The guard nodded and pulled a set of keys from his belt and unlocked the massive door. He pushed it open with some effort, enough for Will and Alisha to pass through. Torches placed in brackets every twenty feet or so lit the hallway well enough to see. A staircase descended about fifty feet from the door, which the guard had closed. No other exits were visible.
Alisha shuddered at the thought of being locked in, but she took a bit of strength from Will and forced herself to relax. They moved carefully down the stairs, Alisha thought perhaps three floors worth, and came to another door. This one was barred on their side and not guarded. Will grunted as he pushed the bar up, then opened the door for Alisha.
Another hallway and more torches greeted them, but this time several doors lined the hall on both sides. The smell of unwashed bodies assaulted her nose and she paused to catch her breath.
Will brushed past her. “This way,” he said.
Alisha followed him halfway down the hall to one of the doors on the left.
A small, barred window was placed just above her eye level in the door. She rose up on her tiptoes and peered inside. Hanging from a chain attached to the ceiling, was a glass or crystal globe, maybe a foot in diameter. Within the globe, was a cloth wick, immersed in oil. The wick was lit by a small flame. Alisha could see nothing else in the cell.
She turned to look at Will questioningly. “I don’t see anything.”
“Yeah, not much to see, I know.” Will shook his head. “That’s Zoe, or what’s left of her anyway.”
Alisha looked back in the room and gasped in surprise.
Will continued, “She turned into a festri’i, one of those fire spirit things that the guys at the forest were talking about. Mogritas keeps her here so she won’t harm anyone.”
Alisha lowered herself and turned back to Will. “Why would she hurt anyone?”
Will shrugged. “I guess it’s just their nature to burn things, they don’t have any control over it. That’s what Mogritas told us anyway.”
Alisha looked him in the eyes. “Us, who?”
“Me, Todd, and Kim. He explained it to us when he asked us to join the guard force.”
Alisha fumed at this. They get explanations while I sit in my room by myself. Will got a look of concern on his face and she did her best to calm down. “So where is Lori?” she asked him.
He led her to the next cell. The door was different from the others. Instead of bars in the small window, it was covered with transparent crystal. It had also been mortared shut. Alisha got up on her toes again and looked in the window. The room inside was completely bare.
Will explained as she examined the cell. “Lori turned into an air spirit — venti’i, Mogritas called it. He says she’s still in there, but we can’t see her because she’s just air.”
Alisha was shocked. Transformations into other people or even beasts she could sort of understand, but changing into fire, and air?
She collected herself again and asked Will, “So, we can’t even talk to them?”
Will shook his head. “No, Mogritas said there used to be people who could communicate with the spirits, but they all died out over the years.”
“Mogritas is a liar.”
Startled, Alisha turned at the voice from behind her. Mr. Kain looked at them from the window of the cell door across from Lori’s. Dark circles shadowed his eyes and his face was gaunt.
Mr. Kain continued, “I wondered what had happened to you Alisha. I’m glad to see you are doing well,” he said, sneering at her.
“What did they do to you?” Alisha asked, still trying to gather her thoughts.
Mr. Kain laughed, but it ended in a cough. “Well, when they aren’t busy neglecting me, Mogritas asks me questions about Earth and how we arrived here.” He coughed again. “He seems to think I know how it happened or that I did it somehow. He’s crazy Alisha, don’t trust him.”
“You’re just mad he didn’t think you were as important as the rest of us to ask you to join him,” Will snarled at him.
Will’s reaction surprised her further, and she could feel it was real. Will felt loyalty to Mogritas — gratitude. Alisha could understand obeying him out of fear, but Will seemed to genuinely like Mogritas, even admire him.
“Oh he wants me to join him,” Mr. Kain said, “but he knows I see through his pretty words to the beast inside. He’s evil. And thank you, Alisha, for dragging me into this,” he finished sarcastically.
Alisha’s face grew hot. “You wanted to be with me. Everyone does.”
“Jealousy is the ugliest of beasts.”
They jumped at the new voice. Mogritas had silently moved into the hall behind them, blocking the exit. Will gaped, then snapped a salute, fist across his heart.
“Will, I’m disappointed at this breach in protocol,” Mogritas said calmly.
Will looked down, ashamed. “I’m sorry sir, it won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t,” he said icily.
Alisha stepped forward. “It’s my fault, I asked him to show me where Lori and Zoe were.”
Mogritas turned his gaze to her. “Yes, I have no doubt of that. And that’s why I won’t punish Will for his actions, for I know they are not truly his own.”
Alisha colored, embarrassed. She concentrated and disconnected herself from Will.
He blinked and looked around. “How did I get down here?”
Mogritas placed a hand on Will’s shoulder. “It’s no trouble my boy,” he said, smiling. “Why don’t you run along and get back to your training?”
Will saluted him again. “Yes, sir!” He hurried down the hallway and up the stairs.
Mogritas turned to Alisha. “As for you young lady, I suppose I have not been paying enough attention to you. You have ambitions and desires, and I have been neglecting them.”
Alisha simply stared at him, unwilling to say anything that might endanger herself.
“Mr. Kain here seeks to turn you against me. Personally, I think he is jealous of you, Alisha, and your power over him. He is upset that you discovered his secret desires about you.”
Mr. Kain kicked his cell door violently. “That’s a lie!”
Mogritas shook his head. “It’s a pity, really. You understand, my dear, why I cannot allow him to roam the castle … like you? He would be a hazard, not only to himself, but to the people who live here under my protection.”
Mr. Kain pursed his lips and fumed behind the bars of the window.
Alisha knew Mogritas was probably not telling the whole truth, but who ever did? She was never completely honest with her friends — telling them their hair or clothes looked good when, really, they were terrible. It was only common courtesy to keep them from embarrassment.
“Of course,” she said, not looking at Mr. Kain. “I understand.”
“Excellent.” Mogritas’s expression brightened. “Now, let’s go back and I can explain about your friends, Lori and Zoe.”
He led her back down the hall and they climbed the stairs after closing and barring the door behind them. Alisha thought she heard a sob from the hallway as the door shut, but she wasn’t sure.
Alisha and Mogritas stepped into the bright sunshine and she shielded her eyes in pain. As she blinked the last of her tears away, a guard rushed up and saluted Mogritas.
“Yes, what is it?”
“My Lord, the dragon has returned with more Gobinstratstorai.”
“Very good, I will see him straight away.”
The guard saluted again and hurried off the other direction.
“Come along, my dear. This could be interesting,” Mogritas said with a grin.
25
Brandon flew in and landed on the same large tower as before, only smoother this time. His passengers climbed down stretching and groaning. A guard appeared shortly thereafter and Brandon asked to see Mogritas. The guard scurried off, leaving them to catch their breath and rest.
Maybe fifteen minutes later, Mogritas came through the doorway, with Alisha in tow. Brandon hadn’t seen her for at least a couple of weeks, and had to admit she looked as beautiful as ever.
“Welcome back my boy!” Mogritas greeted him. “You found your friends?”
Brandon nodded. “Yes, and some others too. This is Mike, and Scott,” he said, indicating each in turn. “And this is Mrs. Minch.”
Carrie’s mother stepped forward and offered her hand. Mogritas took it in his and bowed his head slightly. “I am honored, Mrs. Minch.” Alisha stood at his side, speechless in surprise.
Mrs. Minch blushed at the attention. “Thank you,” she said.
The Gobinstratstorai chief, whose name Brandon had learned was Kordrikim — at least that was the short version — stepped forward protectively.
Brandon introduced him to Mogritas and explained what had happened before his arrival at the Nomenstrastenai village. After Brandon finished, Mogritas turned back to Carrie’s mother and said, “Well, Mrs. Minch, you appear to be a rare flower indeed!”
She blushed again. “Please, call me Kathy.”
Mogritas smiled. “Very well, Kathy, I’m sure you all must be tired and hungry from your ordeals. Please allow my servants to find you some place to rest and eat. We can get to know each other after you’ve had a chance to freshen up.”
Mrs. Minch sighed. “A hot bath would be wonderful.”
“Consider it done.” Mogritas turned and wave
d at one of the guards who stood by the door. He left and moments later a host of servants piled through the door to take the newcomers away.
Alisha stepped up to Brandon during the commotion. “I’m glad you were able to find Mike and Scott,” she said. “I can’t believe what happened with Carrie’s mom!”
“It was kind of a surprise,” Brandon admitted.
Once everyone had been tended to and ushered away, Mogritas came back to the two of them.
“Well, that is certainly exciting,” he said. “I have not heard of a Strodin’i in the world for many years.”
Brandon chuckled. “The chief definitely didn’t want to give her up. The rest of his clan are on their way here too.” He hesitated, then said, “I have something else I’d like to show you, if you have the time that is.”
Mogritas’s gray eyes stared through Brandon and seemed to understand his desire for privacy. “Of course my boy! Alisha, would you be available to dine with me this evening? Then we can continue our discussion at length.”
Alisha looked at him uncertainly. “Um, sure. I guess so.”
“Splendid! Can you find your way back to your quarters? I’ll have someone fetch you for dinner.”
Alisha nodded and said quietly, “Of course.” Then she turned and exited through the door to the stairs.
Mogritas smiled. “Lovely girl. Now, what did you want to show me?”
Brandon saw that something odd was going on with Alisha, but he was too excited to show Mogritas his discovery to give it much thought. “It’s in my cave.”
“Very well,” Mogritas said and shifted form. “Lead the way.”
Brandon jumped from the roof and they made the short flight to his cave. It was just as he’d left it, and the illusory wall looked the same as before.
Brandon led him back to the spot and explained his odd feelings and subsequent discovery. Mogritas gasped as they stepped through into the dark corridor.
“Amazing!” Mogritas said. “I knew the dragons were capable of different magics than others, but I had no idea of the complexity of illusion!”
Brandon laughed. “That’s only part of it.” He led Mogritas down the tunnel to the library cavern.
Mogritas stopped short when they entered the huge room. He bent down and scooped up one of the smaller stone tablets that lay strewn about.