by James Somers
Cole considered his objective. He had completed the detonation prior to his use of teleportation. His master would be pleased with his success. As he vanished from the mountain, on his way back to Greystone’s Keep, Cole wondered why he was not.
Keystone
I found Sophia and Laish seated at our dining room table in the royal apartment. Never one to be left out of a conversation others didn’t want her to hear, Sadie tagged along behind. When they saw us walking into the room, they both looked down at the table uncertainly. The look on my face betrayed my next question, and I could tell they dreaded sharing the answer.
“Sadie, we would like to talk with your father alone,” Sophia said.
“Is it about Uncle Oliver?” Sadie asked quickly. “I want to stay, Mother.”
“Sadie—” Sophia started to scold her.
“I think she should stay,” I said. “In fact, I think Sadie holds the very key to the mystery I’m wondering about. Sadie, if you wouldn’t mind?”
My daughter extended her right hand, drawing the wolf’s head cane from thin air. Laish sighed noticeably.
“I’m wondering why I woke up in my bed today, when I was on my way to a meeting with Oliver,” I said. “I’m wondering why my trusted friend would drug me, and I’m—”
“Oliver is dead, Brody,” Sophia said.
Sadie gasped next to me.
I had been dreading the truth, even though I had already suspected. After all, there was no other viable explanation for the wolf’s head cane appearing with Sadie. I had heard Oliver mention his intention to pass it to her at some time in the future, when she was old enough to bear it.
“I’m sorry, lad,” Laish said.
“He saved your life at Oliver’s request,” Sophia said.
“Oliver couldn’t bear the thought of your family losing you,” Laish added. “He hoped to vanquish Southresh on his own. He asked that I delay you. I agreed to do so.”
“Do we know what happened?” I asked. “What about his body?”
“We have no idea,” Laish reported. “Only that the sword came to Sadie, as Oliver said it would upon his death.”
“And Southresh is still out there,” I said. “I have to stop him.”
Sophia stood immediately. “No, you don’t,” she protested. “Oliver has already died while attempting that very thing.”
I started to rebuff her, but Laish intervened first. “Your wife may be right about this, Brody,” he said. “Consider what has happened, but also this—neither Southresh or Anubis have made any trouble that we know of. He only came near enough for you to sense him through the blood bond. It might have been a trap. You’re needed here. Sometimes it is best not to go looking for trouble that isn’t looking for you.”
My pride wanted me to speak, to lecture them about duty, but reason kept me from it. There was much wisdom in what Laish was saying. I wasn’t sure that I could do any better than Oliver.
I looked at my wife and my daughter. It was easy to see where their opinions rested. As for me, I was in no position to argue the matter at the moment. I would be forced to wait and see what might be done about the Fallen still present in the world.
Tom had been presented with no other options. He and his elves were forced to come at the mysterious stranger with a full frontal assault. He had no allusions to this man fearing them. After all, whoever he was, he was here for one purpose only—to open the Underworld and release the terrible beast kept prisoner there for thousands of years.
The man, dressed in his wolf furs to keep out the cold, made no attempt to abandon his effort. Despite the biting wind, falling snow and darkness steadily covering the land, the stranger had turned and looked at Tom and his army when they were still several hundred yards away.
Despite the knowledge of an entire army of elf warriors and spell casters coming down to kill him, the man had not fled. He remained where he was before the pedestal where the keystone would come down and undo the lock. His hands held high, he called down the ancient object from its orbit in the heavens.
Tom paused with the spell casters while the rest of the army ran on. Charlotte was among them. The spell casters attempted to bind the man in order to thwart his efforts to call down the keystone. They could not. It was like trying to bind an elephant with thread. Whoever this person was, he was far more powerful than any Descendant Tom had ever encountered.
He teleported himself away from the spell casters and ahead of his army. Tom reappeared on the opposite side of the pedestal. He raised his sword and ran at the man in the wolf furs.
“Stop what you are doing!” Tom shouted. Charlotte and his warriors were now only one hundred and fifty yards away and closing fast.
The stranger lowered his hands. “It’s too late,” he said. “The keystone is on its way.”
Tom looked up and saw a fire in the sky, the keystone passing through the atmosphere on its way to the lock pedestal. He raised his sword to strike the man down, hoping that this might prevent the keystone’s complete descent somehow and return it to its orbit. He stepped toward the man as his fur hood was pulled back, revealing his identity in the twilight.
“No!” Tom cried, staggering backward. “Not you!”
“But it is me,” Ishbe said, grinning devilishly at his benefactor.
Tom approached him again, furious. “How could you do this? You’re a Lycan, you don’t have the power!”
“But I do.”
“Why?” Tom screamed. “We trusted you. Why this betrayal, Ishbe?”
Ishbe’s face hardened. “Why did you and Sinister betray me, your benevolent benefactor?”
In that single moment of clarity, Tom realized the truth.
“Black?”
A wicked smile. “At your service,” he said and then vanished.
A thousand terrible thoughts raced through Tom’s mind in that instant. The two most profound were of Cole and Charlotte. Was Cole, who had been entrusted to Ishbe’s care, still alive back in Greystone? How could he save his wife with the keystone almost here?
The first question he could not answer.
The second, he hoped he had the strength to do something about. He turned on Charlotte as she ran toward the pedestal with the soldiers following. As a vampire she had been slightly faster than the elves.
Tom heard the fiery descent of the keystone. Charlotte looked up at it, as did the army behind her. He had no time for explanations or goodbyes.
“I love you!” he shouted and then hit her with every ounce of power he could muster. Charlotte was hurled out of Siberia through a portal envelope much more powerful than Tom had ever employed. A moment later, the keystone impacted with the lock.
Blinding white light and heat devoured Tom and every elf soldier who had come to stop this event from transpiring. The resulting blast hit the forested lands around the lock like a buffalo charging through a china shop. The snow melted, instantly vaporizing into steam. Trees in an eight hundred mile radius were flattened to the ground and set ablaze.
The keystone sat firmly in the lock. No living creature remained for hundreds and hundreds of miles around. All that was necessary now was for someone to come and open the door that had been unlocked.
Arrival
Cole had made it back to Greystone’s royal Keep in one piece. It was already dark here. He had hoped to find someone waiting for him. All of the servants had retired for the evening.
He wandered the Keep, but only the guards were up, watching their positions faithfully. Each of them acknowledged him as their prince when he passed. Sometimes, he liked to avoid the guards so that he didn’t have to keep hearing their subservience.
Cole didn’t like the idea of adults bowing to him. Something about it seemed unnatural. He was a child—he understood that. He was the learner, they were the teachers. His father had told him that one day he would lead. When that time came, then his people could honor him—when he had done something to deserve it.
He walked alone quietly,
passing his master’s room. It was empty—no one stirring inside. His parent’s room was the same—they had not returned from Xandrea yet. Cole wondered if that meant ill tidings for his grandfather.
He heard someone approaching. Cole made a gesture with his fingers, rendering him invisible—spell casting he had learned at the age of three from his father. He leaped up to the ceiling out of the gas torch light. Shrouded in darkness, he waited.
Footsteps in the corridor became lighter and then completely silent. He looked with keen eyes that saw everything in the dark, but he still didn’t see anyone approaching. Only when his master spoke did he find him in the corridor.
“Back so soon, Cole?” Ishbe asked.
He didn’t seem surprised, despite his question. Cole dropped to the floor, becoming visible again. He stood before his master ready to give his report.
“I take it your mission was a success?”
“Yes, Master,” he said. “The goblins and the castle were destroyed.”
“Really?” Ishbe asked. Now, he seemed a bit surprised. “How did you manage to also destroy the castle of the giants?”
“Explosives they were storing in the basement,” he said.
Ishbe smiled. “Of course. Very resourceful, Cole. I’m proud of your accomplishments. You have single-handedly stopped an invasion that might have threatened everyone dwelling in Greystone.”
Cole bowed. “Thank you, Master,” he said. “Your teachings made victory possible.”
They regarded one another for a moment—until the screaming started.
Marta had been given the privilege to serve the royal family almost a year ago, after the passing of the former chamber maid, Hallo. She was young, but Charlotte had personally chosen her. For this position, she received certain privileges, particularly the option to live in the royal wing of the massive Keep.
She had expected the king and queen to return by now. They had only been planning to remain in Xandrea for a day. Still, she tried not to worry. They were in no danger there.
Inspecting the room for the tenth time that day, she reduced the flames in the gas wall sconces, preparing to retire to her own rooms for the night. A flash of light erupted near the bed, illuminating the entire chamber. Charlotte was hurled through a portal across the room. She smashed bodily into one of the wardrobe chests against the wall.
The entire event lasted only a moment. When Marta saw her mistress lying in the middle of a pile of busted furniture, she gasped, unable to breathe. When she realized her queen was almost certainly dead, she screamed like she had never screamed before.
Donatus fell onto the floor next to his bed. His nightmarish vision had come upon him seconds ago, driving him from sleep. He had tried to get up, but he could barely sit up in bed, let alone stand.
Still, he made the best effort he could. Managing to get up on his hands and knees, his labored breaths came in gasps. He had barely eaten in days. His vigor had been drained completely by the visions and fatigue he had suffered over the past few weeks.
One of his physicians came into the room; conducting a routine examination to be sure he was doing well. The doctor raced to the bed, when she saw him on the floor. “My lord, are you all right? Why are you out of bed?”
“I must travel to Greystone, immediately,” Donatus said between heaving breaths.
“That’s quite impossible in your condition,” the physician said, attempting to help him back into bed. “You cannot even stand, my lord.”
“But I must,” he insisted, growing frustrated and angry.
“Why must you?”
Donatus stopped fighting his weakness. He slumped against the night stand next to his bed, allowing tears to roll down his cheeks. “Because my son is dead.”
Fury
It was a messenger who came bearing an urgent message from Greystone. The letter had been signed by Ishbe, Tom and Charlotte’s Master at Arms, the man who had for years trained their son, Cole, in the ways of warfare and personal defense. The Lycan warrior had turned out to be so exceptional an instructor that Sophia and I had asked him to also train Sadie during our regular visits to the Vampires’ icy kingdom.
Even on the reciprocal visits to Tidus, by Tom and his family, Ishbe had come along. He and Sadie and Cole used their limited time wisely while they were together. And the children adored him.
The messenger left the letter and returned straightway to Xandrea with this one reply, “We’ll be there as soon as possible.”
Sophia and I quickly gathered some essentials and our daughter then went to the portal within the Atrium. We stepped upon the pad together, dreading what we were going to find when we arrived in Greystone. The message from Ishbe had been rather vague, only saying that the matter was urgent and that we must come quickly.
One moment we were standing in the warm waning rays of a twilight sky, the next we were standing in the brightly lit Atrium within Greystone. The sun was higher in the sky, but the air was colder. Cole and Ishbe were waiting for us when we arrived.
Immediately, I could see that Cole had been crying. But, for now, he had dried his tears for our sake. He wasn’t the kind to weep before others. He put on the best smile he could manage when he saw Sadie.
Still, none of us knew what was happening, though we knew it must be bad. Sadie went to Cole and gave him a hug—something she usually did not do. She must have sensed the same thing we all had.
Cole accepted her gesture gratefully. I could see fresh tears falling upon his cheeks while she embraced him. He sobbed several times and Sadie held on, crying with him even without knowing why.
Ishbe’s melancholy was nothing new. “Welcome, Your Highnesses,” he said respectfully. “Please follow me.”
We left the bags we had brought beside the portal pad. Servants would collect them soon and bring them to whatever room had been prepared for us. We followed Ishbe. Cole and Sadie came along behind.
I was a little surprised when we bypassed the stair leading to the royal residence in the Keep. We proceeded in a direction I was unfamiliar with. I soon realized why. We were coming to the infirmary. I could not help noticing the conspicuous absence of both Tom and Charlotte.
Ishbe opened the door, allowing us to enter ahead of him. Another corridor containing many rooms opened to us. We walked the length of it in silence until we came to the far end. Here a larger suite had been established for the royal family. When we walked inside, we found Charlotte lying unconscious in the bed.
To my surprise, Donatus was there in the room also. He was sitting in a chair, resting his hands upon a wooden cane. We had heard that the elf lord had been sick in recent weeks. My understanding had been that he was unable to leave Xandrea presently. Charlotte’s apparent illness had brought him anyway. Tom was nowhere to be seen.
“Brody,” he said. “I’m glad to see you here.”
“What has happened, Donatus?” I asked.
Tears came into his tired eyes. “He killed my son.”
Sadie and her mother both gasped.
My words failed me immediately. I had now lost two of my closest friends in the world in as many days. What was happening? For nearly a decade we had known only peace. Suddenly, our world was unraveling around us.
“Who killed him?” I asked, when my voice came again.
“We don’t know,” he replied. “The man of my visions. He called down the keystone, opening the Underworld.”
I was immediately confused. I had never heard of any of these things Donatus was talking about. All I really wanted to know at that moment was how to find Tom’s murderer. As much as I knew it was wrong, I only wanted vengeance.
Ishbe spoke up then. “Perhaps, I should take the children for a little while.”
I looked at Cole and Sadie standing together next to Charlotte’s bed. “That might be best,” I said to Ishbe.
He nodded and then ushered the children out of the room. It would do them good to have some distraction from all of this. I felt overwhelmed, havi
ng lost my friend, but this was Cole’s father and mother.
My thoughts went back to my own father’s death in that London alley long ago. Cole would be hurting for quite some time—wounds that only time could heal. I was glad that he at least had Sadie with him—someone near his age that could comfort him during his time of need.
“Now,” I said to Donatus, “please explain everything you can to me—this person you mentioned, the lock and keystone, the whole story.”
Ishbe, Cole and Sadie retired to one of the huge gymnasiums that had been built since Tom and Charlotte’s reign had begun in Greystone. Here, Cole and his master often conducted training exercises. A great deal of strength training and gymnastics equipment had been purchased in the mortal world and brought back to Greystone. Both Cole and Sadie had spent many hours here, engaging in friendly competitions designed by Ishbe to increase their strength, speed and agility.
He led them to the gymnastics equipment. A set of uneven bars towered over them. “Up, Cole,” Ishbe said. “I want to see the number five routine.”
Sadie had her arm around the boy, trying to console him. “Ishbe, he’s just lost his father,” Sadie said, scolding him. She did not call Ishbe Master like Cole. “His mother is lying ill in the infirmary. He needs rest. He needs time to mourn.”
“No!” Ishbe shouted. Both of the children were startled out of their melancholy immediately. “He must focus.”
Ishbe glared at them. He then picked up a Bo staff and stalked toward them. “Defend yourself, prince,” he demanded.
Sadie released Cole and stepped back as Ishbe approached. “Stop, Ishbe,” she said. “I order you to stop. Leave him alone.”
Ishbe’s eyes never left his pupil’s gaze. “Defend yourself.” He twirled the Bo staff. “Stop the one who threatens you. Do what your father could not do!”