Thursdays With the Crown

by Jessica Day George

  “I see,” Lilah said, lips pursed. She studied Ethan closely. “Now tell me, how is it that you speak Sleynth?”

  “We all learn Sleynth as part of serving the Arkower,” Ethan said. He nodded at Lulath. “The prince is right. He’s never said it, but I believe that the Arkower plans to take over your country. He wants the Castle and the griffins, even after all this time.”

  Lilah arranged her dirty skirts around her knees. Celie braced herself, and saw Rolf sit up straighter as well. Lilah looked perfectly at ease, but her sister and brother knew she was about to go on the attack.

  “We should probably be on our way soon,” Lilah said as though commenting on the weather.

  As though a wizard weren’t searching for them.

  “But before we do, I have a few questions for you,” Lilah went on, and she fixed her gaze on Ethan, who was intelligent enough to squirm despite her still-casual air. “Questions like, why is the Arkower preparing for attack now, when he’s had hundreds of years?”

  “He — he —” Ethan stammered.

  “How many of you are there, and how is he planning to attack?”

  “We — there are only — ”

  “You’re not taking another step with us, no matter how much you helped with the escape from the mountain last night, until I get satisfactory answers,” Lilah said pleasantly. She arched an eyebrow. “Do you understand?” She finished in a menacing tone that made Celie shift away from her.

  “Oooh,” Rolf said, eyes gleaming.

  Ethan looked around for support, but they all just looked back. Celie was holding her breath. Would Ethan tell them? Could he help them? Or was he really a spy?

  The boy ducked his head, his ears and cheeks flaming. “I’ll tell you everything I know,” he mumbled. “I swear. But I don’t really know all of it. I mean, I was told when I was eight that I would go to the mountain and serve the Arkower. My parents are dead; I didn’t have another choice. The older boys, the ones before me, they find ways to leave. To sneak away … They are ashamed when they realize that no matter how badly they want a griffin, the griffins don’t want them.”

  Lilah made an impatient gesture, and Ethan hurried to continue.

  “I think the Arkower originally wanted to build up the Glorious Arkower again. We had parts of the Castle, and there were some griffins left. But no one has ever bonded with one of the griffins, and they don’t breed as quickly as they used to.”

  “Because the Castle is gone? Or is there another reason?” Celie asked.

  Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know. He gave up his name and became the Arkower, as though he was dead and our land was dead. But I think he had a vision of restoring our land, our griffins, our Castle.” He licked his lips nervously. “It was ours first, you know.”

  “We know,” Rolf said, circling his hand to encourage Ethan to keep going.

  “But that didn’t work, so …” Ethan shrugged.

  “So now he’s going after our griffins and our Castle?” Celie asked, but she didn’t need to. Ethan nodded. “How?”

  “I really don’t … well, he wanted to use the shard of the Eye that’s still here, but it got stolen. That’s how I found out about his plan to go to Sleyne.”

  “So he needs the Eye to travel to Sleyne?” Pogue asked, looking thoughtful. “I wonder if we could use it to get home without his help, then.”

  “I don’t know,” Ethan said.

  “Where is the shard of the Eye?” Lilah asked.

  “I don’t know that, either,” Ethan said. “If I knew … well, I would have told the Arkower.” He made a face. “It’s difficult to keep secrets from a wizard.”

  “That is being the truth,” Lulath said. “Even the Bran, who is kind, is making me to want to confess when I have nothing to confess.”

  “Who stole the shard?” Celie asked.

  Ethan looked around at Rufus and his father. “This is going to sound very odd, and I did try to tell the Arkower, who didn’t believe me. I swear it was a griffin.” He lowered his voice. “That griffin.” He pointed to Rufus’s father, hastily dropping his hand when he saw the griffin looking back.

  They all stared at the big golden griffin. He preened his feathers, and Celie startled them all with a burst of laughter. She believed Ethan. It was exactly the kind of thing that Rufus would have done: steal a shiny gem like the Eye. And now they had a better chance of finding it! There was every possibility that Rufus’s father could lead them right to it!

  “Who does the Arkower think stole it?” Lilah asked.

  “The Treaty-breaker,” Ethan said.

  “Who?”

  Ethan squirmed. “That’s what we are supposed to call him. He’s the old Royal Wizard and the last Hathelocke.” He tilted his head at Celie. “Well, until you came here.”

  “I’m not a Hathelocke,” Celie said in frustration. “I’m a Glower!”

  “Well, technically we’re Hathelocke on our mother’s side. And Arkower on our father’s,” Rolf pointed out.

  “Arkish,” Ethan corrected him.

  “Yes, Arkish,” Rolf said with a nod. “Our father’s family is Arkish, and our mother’s is Hathelocke. So, I suppose you could call us Arklockes.” He paused. “No, don’t. That sounds awful.”

  “This treaty-breaker, he’s the old Royal Wizard?” Pogue said, ignoring Rolf. He frowned. “But I thought the Arkower was.”

  “The Arkower was the greatest Arkish wizard,” Ethan said. “And the broker of the peace between us and the Hathelockes. But the Treaty-breaker … I don’t know his real name,” he confessed, “he was the Royal Wizard of the Castle.”

  “I — wait — you’re just going to have to tell us more,” Rolf said.

  “But not here,” Pogue said. “We’ve stayed here too long. We need to get moving.” He stood up and looked toward the lake. “Should we just keep going along the shore?”

  “It is being best if we are to stay within the covering trees, Friend Pogue,” Lulath said. He stood up and brushed the sand off his clothes, which were much the worse for wear. “If only there was being another place to be resting, that is not the Castle. For surety the Arkower is seeking us there, and there he is finding us simply.”

  Rolf helped Lilah and Celie to their feet, and the girls dusted each other off. Their gowns were so creased and stained that they were probably ruined. Of course, if they didn’t get home, it would hardly matter.

  “I wonder what the other thing on the map is?” Celie said, gazing at Lilah’s cape.

  “What map?” Pogue followed Celie’s gaze. He frowned. “I don’t —”

  “What in the name of — there’s a map of the Glorious Arkower on Lilah’s back!” Rolf exclaimed. “It looks just like the wooden one back at the Castle!”

  “Yes!” Celie clutched at Rolf’s arm, pointing to the map with her other hand. “Do you see it, too? I noticed it before on the boat but didn’t want to say anything in front of the Arkower.”

  “May I be seeing?” Lulath went eagerly behind Lilah to look as well. “A wonder!” he cried. He pointed to the lake and the mountains. “Here is being the Arkower’s only home, and here is being the Castle.” He pointed to the pillar shape at the bottom of the map, while Lilah strained her head over her shoulder to see what they were looking at. “But yes, what is this being?” He rested his finger on the other pillar. “It is not being far from here.”

  Pogue waved to Ethan, summoning him. “You must know,” he said bluntly.

  “I shouldn’t tell you,” Ethan said.

  “Now you have to,” Rolf told him, his face severe. “We need all the information we can get!”

  “All right,” Ethan said, his face chalky. “I shouldn’t, but … it’s … it’s the Tomb of the Builder.”

  “The Builder?” Celie’s heart started to pound.

  “I want … I hoped to go with you to the Castle,” Ethan went on. “In Sleyne. But not if you’re going in there first,” he babbled.

  “A tomb? Is it haunte
d?” Rolf looked delighted.

  “It’s the Tomb of the Builder,” Ethan repeated.

  “The Builder of the Castle?” Celie swallowed, trying to calm herself. “There’s a tomb and it’s big enough to be on the map?” She exchanged excited looks with the others.

  “Hollowing out that mountain was no mean feat,” Pogue said. “He must have been a great man, and powerful.”

  “He didn’t do it himself,” Lilah pointed out. “I’m sure he had lots of people working for him.”

  “But he designed the Castle,” Celie said. “He was in charge?”

  “Yes,” Ethan said. “And he was a very great man. We shouldn’t disturb his rest. He … you shouldn’t disturb his rest.” His face twisted. “The Arkower made me steal something from it … Darryn, too. That’s why the griffins didn’t want us. They know.”

  “That is being nonsense!” Lulath slapped him on the back and nearly knocked him down. “The griffins, they are not being such … and how are they knowing?”

  “We need to move now,” Pogue said. “We’ve stood around here too long.” He paused. “What did you steal from the tomb?”

  “But we’re going to the Tomb of the Builder, right?” Rolf asked. “You could put back whatever it was you stole, Ethan. Because we’re going there right now!”

  “I can’t,” Ethan protested. “It’s gone!”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Celie said. “But we’ve come all this way, and lived in the Castle all our lives, and we never even knew there was a Builder,” she said to Ethan by way of apology. “We can’t leave without at least taking a look.”

  Chapter 8

  “I don’t like this,” Lilah announced.

  “It’s just making you nervous because we’re all staring at your back,” Rolf assured her. “Which is just as lovely as ever. Also, your hair is remarkably shiny despite everything we’ve been through.”

  Pogue laughed softly and Lilah continued to grumble. Celie just kept plodding along beside Rufus, who kept looking up with envy at his father, swooping and wheeling high above them. She was keeping him on a short lead because Rufus showed every inclination of heading back to drink out of the lake whenever Celie let go of him, and he was too tired from yesterday’s flying for her to ride. So they were forced to walk through the forest, with Rufus straining against his harness, searching for the tomb.

  “It is not being the best of maps, this Lilah cape,” Lulath said to Celie, trying to cheer her up. “But it is being the best of maps that we are having. And how bright of your brain to see it as a map!”

  “Thank you,” Celie said. “It is a bit too regular, though, isn’t it? I mean, to make the fabric look better. Nothing’s really that round.” She pointed to the circle of lake.

  “Oh, but it is being the very rounded,” Lulath said. “And so is the valley in which the Castle is now sitting. I am thinking it is being made in this fashion.”

  “I guess the Castle likes being at the bottom of a bowl,” Celie agreed. “And if the Builder could hollow out the mountains and make the outside so smooth, I suppose he could make the lake rounder.”

  “Perhaps it is making it feel the safety, this bowl,” Lulath said. “But the army that comes down from the mountains would be having the better part.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh, yes!” Lulath told her. “They are winning the battles, mostly always, the armies on the highest ground.” He laughed. “That is being my other passion, the military strategying.”

  “It is?” She stared at him. She’d never heard this before.

  “Yes,” Lulath said. “Since I am the smallest of boys I am in love with two things: the making of wars and the training of the small dogs!” He laughed, and then began to whistle.

  Celie reflected that Lulath was somehow the happiest, strangest, and most interesting person she knew, all at the same time.

  “So,” she said a minute later. “Do you think you could negotiate with the Arkower? To make him send us all home, with the Eye? And Lorcan?”

  “Oh, surely!” He nodded his head several times. “That is why I am having a liking of your family so very, very, my Celie! When I am coming to Sleyne I am thinking that it is but your father who is a very man, with his mighty Castle. But then I am having the acquaintances of yourself, our Rolf, our Lilah, and our others, and I am thinking, here are the people like you, Lulath!”

  “Like you?”

  “The people who wonder at the world, and make it to be very better and mighty.”

  “Oh,” Celie said.

  “We are all strong friends,” Lulath said. “Together and apart. We will be getting home with honors.”

  “I hope so,” Celie said.

  “Oh, but a surety, our Celie!” Lulath looked at her in concern. “Do you not believe your Lulath?”

  “I — I want to,” Celie said. “But it just seems so hopeless.” She lowered her voice. “And I — I’m so afraid. How can you never be afraid of anything?”

  “Me? Not being afraid?” Lulath threw back his head and laughed. Everyone turned to look at him, but he just kept laughing, and after a minute they kept plodding along. “I am knowing so many fears, our Celie!” he said at last.

  “You are?”

  “Oh, so many! In the bad times, when that Khelsh did control the Castle? It was a terrible fear that had me!”

  Celie gaped at him. “But you just walked all over the Castle, whenever you wanted! You brought me things, you were … you were afraid?”

  “Oh, so much fear,” Lulath said. “But then I would look to myself in the mirror and say, Lulath, you silly big man! Here is being two beautiful princess and a noble prince in so much the danger! Have they food? Have they warmth? You must be putting on your shoes like a very man, and going forth! And so I am!” He nodded firmly. “It is why also I am studying the strategying when I am young. I am having so much the fear in the night, I think, I will learn all that is brave and very, and will also go forth with strongness!”

  Pogue, who had been behind them, walking closer and closer until he was almost on Celie’s heels, leaned forward then. “Lulath, that is the most astonishing thing you’ve ever said. You continue to surprise me.”

  “I thank you, friend Pogue,” Lulath said cheerfully. “It is because I am looking such a silly man. I am liking the clothes too much, it is a thing that I know. You are not thinking that I am having much brain.”

  “I … didn’t say that,” Pogue said, his cheeks faintly red.

  “Oh, but you are thinking it, and it is not a bother,” Lulath said. “So many are thinking it of this silly prince!” He fished in his pocket and brought out a hard lump of cheese, which he broke into pieces for Lorcan, whistling as he fed the little griffin.

  “My,” Celie said in a low voice to Pogue. “Goodness.”

  “I’m not sure whether I’m more impressed, or more guilty,” Pogue said under his breath. “I did indeed think of him as a ‘silly big man’ …”

  “It’s the dogs,” Celie said. “And the lace.”

  “So much lace,” Pogue agreed.

  “We’re here,” Rolf announced. From behind him Ethan made a faint strangled noise.

  They were in a small clearing, and before them rose a great mound, the Tomb of the Builder. The earthy dome, overgrown by scrubby little plants and tough grass, completely filled the little clearing. The tomb was perfectly round, stretching out to either side like a giant’s porridge bowl turned upside down.

  Rufus’s father landed nearby and carked at Rufus. Celie let go of her griffin’s harness and he went to his sire while Celie shook out her hand, which had gone numb from gripping the harness so tightly.

  “Stay here,” Celie told Rufus firmly. “There isn’t room for you inside.”

  Rufus bobbed his head and he and his father began grooming each other, unconcerned about the tomb or the rill of excitement that had just run through the humans. Lulath gave them each some of the bread from his pocket, and some to Lorcan.
/>   “You see,” Rolf said to Ethan. “The griffins don’t mind that we’re here.”

  “I don’t see a door,” Lilah said. “How do we get in?”

  “It’s over there,” Ethan told her reluctantly. “If you must go inside, can I stay out here?”

  “Suit yourself,” Rolf said. He was already walking around to the far side of the tomb.

  Everyone but Ethan followed Rolf, anxious and excited by turns. Celie could see the two emotions warring in Lilah’s face as she walked beside her sister. She grabbed Lilah’s elbow and gave it a little squeeze, as much to reassure herself as Lilah.

  “The Tomb of the Builder,” Celie whispered.

  “This could be a very bad idea,” Lilah whispered back.

  Celie disagreed, silently. They were going to see the tomb of the man who had built the Castle! What wonders would they find there? What answers to her many questions?

  But, at the same time, it was a tomb. There was a dead man inside, and Celie wouldn’t want to disrespect anyone’s final resting place … particularly not someone who had created her beloved Castle!

  “Here,” Pogue said. “The door’s on the north side, of course.”

  “What do you mean, of course?” Lilah asked.

  “All tombs face north,” Pogue said. “North is the top of the world, closest to the heavens.”

  “In Grath we are facing east, to the seas,” Lulath said, but more like he was making conversation than arguing, and he was the first to follow Pogue around to the north side of the mound.

  “I’ve read that,” Pogue said. “But in the ancient tombs of Sleyne, it’s always north.”

  “And Sleyne is coming from the Arkower,” Lulath agreed.

  “I’m not sure I want to be associated with these people,” Lilah sniffed as she, Celie, and Rolf followed them.

  “Don’t worry,” Rolf told her. “Remember, we’re also descended from their mortal enemies, the Hathelockes!”

  “Stop saying that,” Lilah retorted. “It’s making me feel funny.”

  Celie felt funny, too. But it was more like an itching in her palms and a twitching in her muscles that made her want to go inside the tomb, rather than any sort of gloom and doom about their long-dead ancestors.