The Black Fortress

by E. G. Foley

  “I’ll be fine, but of course I’ll miss you terribly,” Isabelle said.

  Dani stepped back and looked into the older girl’s sky-blue eyes. Izzy still looked troubled. “Any word from Janos?”

  She shook her head. “We were all going to go and speak to him tonight, remember? But now I have to leave.” She looked away. “Perhaps it’s for the best. He did tell me to stay away from him. I don’t know what I did that was so wrong, but he’s been through so much, I suppose I should at least try and respect his wishes.”

  Dani squeezed Izzy’s forearm. “I’m sure you didn’t do anything wrong. You did exactly what he asked you to do. You got the coordinates right, you gave the Elders the message…”

  Izzy shrugged. “I know. I just… Maybe if I go away for a while, I’ll come back and he won’t hate me anymore.”

  “Janos doesn’t hate you.”

  “It seemed like it.” She glanced across the grounds, but the mausoleum where their vampire friend had hidden himself away was not in view. Then she looked at Dani. “If you see him, maybe try to cheer him up. You’re always good at that. At least let him know we still care about him.”

  Dani nodded. “I will.”

  “And if the Elders decide to take any action concerning him, will you write to me and let me know? I keep thinking surely they’ll reinstate him as a Guardian after all he’s done for the Order, but…I’m not sure he’d even want that.”

  “If I hear anything, I’ll let you know,” Dani promised. “But try not to worry. I really can’t see how he’d be angry at you. He was probably just devastated over his family and you were just the first available target.”

  Izzy heaved a sigh and lowered her head, her blond curls swinging forward over her shoulders. “I don’t know. It seemed more personal than that. If you do get a chance to talk to him, maybe you could… Oh, never mind.”

  Dani smiled haplessly.

  Izzy smiled back and gave Dani another quick hug, then went to say goodbye to Her Ladyship. Then Dani bade Henry and Miss Helena stoic farewells and thanked them for everything.

  She hugged Derek, too. The big warrior would always have a special place in her heart for the way he had tracked Jake down as an orphan and brought him back to his relatives. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but Derek was the first person that either of them had ever met from this whole magical world.

  Next, Dani gave Red a hug. The Gryphon touched noses with Teddy, then went and hopped up into the carriage.

  Finally, it came time for Dani to say goodbye to Jake.

  As they stood together apart from the others, she felt like her heart was slowly tearing in half.

  She read his face anxiously and saw the fear in his eyes over this situation with the prophecy. She’d be terrified if she were in his place, but seeing Jake scared unsettled her. Because this boy wasn’t afraid of anything.

  Not gargoyles. Not rock monsters. Not shark-men. Not even Garnock the Sorcerer. But this prophecy that he might end up evil had clearly shaken him to the core.

  Dani rested her hand on his arm. “Listen to me. I know you better than anyone, Jake, and there is no way you could ever turn evil.”

  He swallowed hard and stared into her eyes. “Well, the Dark Druids believe it. And let’s be honest, I’m not exactly good.”

  “Yes, you are. Good enough,” she offered, trying to coax a smile out of him.

  He shook his head solemnly. “I’ve got to be better, Dani. I don’t know how I’ll ever manage to walk the straight and narrow without you pointing the way. But I suppose it’s time I learned.”

  “You’ll do it,” she assured him. “You always succeed when you put your mind to something.” She paused. “Say, can I ask you for a favor?

  “Of course. Anything for you, carrot.”

  “Take Teddy with you. He’s better off at Griffon Castle.”

  Jake’s eyes widened. “Really?”

  She sniffled and nodded, a lump in her throat. “From what I’m told, Finnderool is going to have us running ragged from sunup to sundown with our Lightrider training. I mean, I don’t want to part with Teddy any more than I want to part with you or…or the others. I’ll miss him terribly, but he’ll be cooped up in the suite all by himself for most of every day. It’s not fair to the wee thing. He knows Griffon Castle. He always liked it there. Lots of room to run. He’ll be happy there with you. And Isabelle will be just next door. You know how much he loves her. Plus, when you two are busy, he can keep Red company. I don’t want him to be here alone all the time.”

  Like me.

  “Of course. If that’s what you want. I’ll be glad to do it.” Jake nodded and let her put the little brown dog, her greatest treasure in all the world, into his arms.

  Teddy panted happily, unaware of what was happening. Dani patted his head and tried her hardest not to cry.

  She couldn’t believe that these, her two favorite creatures on the earth, would be leaving her any minute now. She didn’t even know for certain when she’d see them again.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him for you,” Jake said softly.

  “I know you will, Jake.” She looked away as his face blurred from the tears coming into her eyes.

  “Hey, carrot, remember the time Teddy tried to eat one of the servants that Fionnula had turned into a frog?”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “What I remember most is how you changed them back into people with that spell from your aunt, and they were all bare naked.”

  They both started laughing, Dani in spite of herself. In spite of the tears in her eyes.

  “Remember that fat chap with the hairy back?” Jake teased.

  Dani made a face. “Blech! So disgusting!”

  After laughing over the mischievous memory from their first magical adventure together, she gazed at Jake for a long moment. Once again, he had cheered her up.

  “You don’t think you’ll be gone too long, do you?”

  His smile faded. “I really don’t know. I don’t want to put the Order at risk, or any of you.”

  Dani felt a hundred protests rise within her at the mere suggestion that he might not return, but this was not the time to make them.

  The decision had already been made. It was beyond her control. The situation was too serious, and they all would simply have to do what had to be done.

  He must have read her distraught emotions on her face. “Aw. Come ’ere, you.” Jake shifted Teddy into one arm and hugged Dani with the other.

  She hugged him back hard and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

  He held very still, as though soaking up her affection, memorizing how it felt to be together. “You will write to me?” he murmured.

  “Of course.” She nodded. “I’ll ask Gladwin to bring you my letters. But you’d better write back!”

  “I will,” he promised. He gazed into her eyes. “You know, you’re a right plum—”

  “No. Don’t say it or I’ll cry. Just go.” Her lips trembling, she stepped back from him and Teddy. “We’ll see each other soon. I’ll keep you posted on things here. Stay out of trouble and be safe.”

  “I will.” His expression turned resolute. “Enjoy your Lightrider training.”

  She shook her head. “No. I won’t enjoy it without you.”

  “No, enjoy it,” he chided. “You deserve it, Dani O’Dell. You can tell me all about it when you write.”

  She managed a smile, her composure hanging by a thread.

  Jake smiled back, then snuggled her dog. “Come on, Teddy. What do you say we go to Griffon Castle?”

  Jake climbed up into the carriage, and Dani handed him the satchel with Teddy’s things: his bowls, his blanket, his extra collar, and his leather chew toy.

  Once Jake had sat down with the dog on his lap, he waved one of Teddy’s front paws at her out the carriage window.

  Dani chuckled, but more tears rushed into her eyes. Once again, she managed to blink them back by sheer willpower. Then she blew the whole c
arriage full of her loved ones a kiss as the vehicle started rolling away.

  Henry was driving, but Derek had stationed himself atop the carriage, a rifle resting across his lap. Inside the coach, Miss Helena and Isabelle sat across from Jake and Archie, with Red lounging on the floor between them, his wings tucked around him.

  The Gryphon gave Dani a silly look out the window, then the Bradfords and Jake waved goodbye to the three of them who were left behind.

  In the tumult of her emotions, Dani was barely aware of Nixie and Maddox standing nearby.

  The only thing that stopped her from breaking down in tears altogether was the knowledge that she would be a Lightrider one day. After all, elite future agents of the Order probably shouldn’t blubber like a baby.

  Already feeling forlorn, Dani watched the coach trundle up the arched stone bridge, over the naiads’ stream, then continue rolling on down the drive, farther and farther away.

  After a moment, Nixie and Maddox both walked off without a word, each in their own world of confusion and grief at this unexpected parting.

  Dani remained behind, watching and waving goodbye until the carriage disappeared in a cloud of dust.

  Only after it had gone, as she stood there in the empty drive, still fighting back a sob, she heard footsteps shuffle up slowly beside her.

  “Well,” drawled a deep Texan voice, “reckon they’re off.”

  Her eyes blurred with tears, Dani glanced up at the wounded Lightrider. Tex was leaning on his cane, studying her from under the brim of his ten-gallon hat.

  “You all right, little lady? Don’t mean to intrude, but I promised the kid that I’d look after ya.”

  “You mean Jake?”

  “Yep,” said the cowboy, chewing on his toothpick. “Who else? You’re the moon and stars to that there boy.”

  The thought of Jake’s attachment to her gave Dani a pang in her heart. “Well, thank you, but…I’ll be fine.”

  “Shoot, I know ya will. Lil gal’s tougher than a pine knot.”

  Dani’s lips quirked. “Oh, I don’t know about that, sir.”

  “Well, I do—and it’s a darn good thing, too. You’re gonna need it.”

  She looked up gratefully at the cowboy Lightrider, squinting against the sun. “Do you think they’ll be all right, Agent Munroe?”

  “No question. Anyone comes along and gives young Lord Griffon trouble, he’s liable to serve it right back to ’em twice over.”

  “I guess so.”

  “C’mon now, don’t ya fret. I hear you got plenty to think about your own self these days.”

  She couldn’t help but smile. “That’s true. Have you heard the news? They picked me for the Lightrider program, Tex. I’m going to be just like you!”

  “Well, shoot!” He managed a weary guffaw and clapped her on the back. “Yee-haw, Miss O’Dell!”

  With that, he set his ten-gallon hat on her head.

  “Yee-haw!” Dani echoed as the giant hat slipped down over her eyes and made her laugh.

  She pushed it back up and smiled appreciatively at the kindhearted cowboy. “You’d better take this back. It’s a little big on me.”

  Tex looked pleased with himself for cheering her up as Dani gave him back his cowboy hat. He perched it atop of his own head, where it belonged.

  “Now, you come on back inside, lil lady. Don’t just stand out here a-mopin’. Let’s go get us some vittles.”

  “Some what?”

  “Lunch.”

  “Oh.”

  “You want my advice, you better rest up afore that Finnderool feller gets ahold of you. I hear he’s tough.” Tex turned her around, and they started walking back to the palace together.

  The wounded man was moving slowly, limping with his cane. Dani kept pace with him. She was already feeling scared about sending Teddy away. But, of course, Isabelle would help take care of him…

  “Nervous, tumbleweed?” Tex asked with a shrewd, sideways glance.

  She nodded ruefully. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any good Lightrider stories today?”

  He grinned and squinted toward the palace. “Weeell now…as it happens, I was just thinkin’ about this one time when I had to take a bunch o’ diplomats down to see the squid people.”

  “Squid people?” she exclaimed.

  “Dang ugly,” he said with great conviction. “Got tentacles for beards. Even the females. Ink shoots out their noses when they sneeze…”

  He proceeded to regale her, and Dani listened to his outlandish account with skeptical amusement as they slowly walked along. Though she was fairly sure this was just another of his Texas tall tales, somehow, it was exactly what she needed to hear.

  CHAPTER 30

  To Catch a Spy

  As soon as Ramona had seen the travelers off, she lifted the hem of her skirts and marched up the staircase from the lobby, then down the Elders’ private corridor into her apartment, seething.

  Her blood boiled with indignation. Eyes ablaze, she had barely managed to hide her fury from the others. But now her wrath over all she had learned today would find its true target.

  She slammed the door to the sitting room behind her and locked it. Then she crossed to the table with her crystal ball and dropped into the chair. At once, she projected herself into the dreamscape that served as their meeting place.

  “Zolond? Zolond! Come here and face me, you treacherous old snake!” she shouted as she strode in astral form up the white, curling path toward the drifting charcoal gazebo.

  The chimes sang on the air, but she was in no mood for their soothing tones.

  “Geoffrey! Blast it, where are you? I demand answers, now!” She arrived at the gazebo and paced back and forth impatiently. “Zolond!”

  He appeared suddenly across from her in the floaty gazebo, looking startled and sleepy, his snow-white hair sticking out in all directions, rather like a baby chick’s. He did not look at all in that moment like the most evil person in the world.

  “What on earth are you squawking about now, you old shrew?” he said, annoyed. “I was taking a nap.”

  “So sorry to wake you,” Ramona said sarcastically. “But I demand an explanation!”

  He sighed. “About what?” Then he dragged a bony hand over his hair, trying to squash it down.

  Ramona glared at him. “As if you don’t know!”

  He lifted his hands out to his sides, at a loss.

  “Don’t play innocent with me, you slithering cobra! You sent a mole into Merlin Hall!”

  He looked surprised. “Oh. Is that all?”

  “All?”

  Zolond frowned at her. “Why are you surprised, you daft witch? Of course we have spies. So does your side. It’s the way of the world. Always has been, always will be.”

  “Well, who is it?” she demanded, pivoting at the edge of the gazebo. “If you’ve turned one of our own against us—”

  “I have no idea!” He scoffed as though amused. “I am the sorcerer-king, Ramona. Sometimes I daresay you forget that. Such trivial matters are far beneath my notice.”

  “Zolond!”

  “Don’t bother me with these trifles. I’m going back to my nap. Figure it out for yourself. You’re a clever girl.”

  Ramona inhaled angrily. “Tell me who it is or we are done here.”

  “Didn’t you hear what I just said? I have no idea who the dashed mole is. Wyvern oversees such matters. I may receive occasional reports, but I have no involvement with the day-to-day running of such operations.” He frowned. “Why are you taking this so personally?”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Because it is personal, Geoffrey. You lied to me once again.”

  “Pshaw!”

  “And—we know about Duradel’s prophecy.”

  “Oh really?” He seemed a tad surprised. Then he folded his hands behind his back. “And how did that come about? Surely the virtuous Order has not been using spies, too?”

  She lifted her chin, ignoring the question. “You’ll never get you
r hands on Jacob.”

  He considered this. “Don’t be too sure. If the boy wishes to join us of his own free will, you won’t be able to stop him.”

  “He will never do that. He is a good boy.”

  Zolond smiled darkly. “We’ll see.”

  Exasperated, Ramona left the conversation in a whoosh. She could still hear him, though, as she sifted out of astral form back to the here and now.

  “Running away?” the Dark Master taunted her.

  “Go to Hades!” Ramona shot back.

  Zolond laughed. “Oh, I will, someday. All my friends are there!”

  Fuming at his recalcitrance, Ramona flicked her eyes open, returning her awareness to the sitting room. “Maddening beast,” she said under her breath.

  But she had to admit that at least she believed him when he said he didn’t know about the spy.

  Still irked, Ramona pushed away from the table with her crystal ball and left her chamber, heading downstairs for a private meeting that she had previously arranged with a small handful of people whom she could at least be sure the spy was not.

  Namely, herself, Dame Oriel, and Sir Peter.

  She probably should’ve included Balinor as the titular head of the Order, but she deemed it too great a risk. It was not that anyone questioned the old wizard’s loyalty, but he was growing slightly senile. If they included him, he might let something slip again and unwittingly tip the spy off that they were onto him or her.

  Ramona had also invited Ravyn Vambrace to be a part of their confidential meeting, since she was the one who had discovered the presence of a spy in their midst. With her heightened Guardian senses, the warrior woman was sure to be useful in their enterprise of unmasking the traitor.

  Exiting the palace by a back door, Ramona walked outside and proceeded down a graveled walkway, passing through the quadrangle and heading for the Chancellor’s House, Sir Peter’s home.

  A small but stately Jacobean manor house set apart from the palace, the Chancellor’s House dated from the late 1500s. It was three stories tall and built of reddish brick, its hue mellowed with time.

  The ornate stone-carved entrance was tucked back cozily between a symmetrical pair of gabled brick wings that jutted forward on either end, and glistened with banks of mullioned windows.