Walking out from the glowing Origon River, Anna Lott was relieved to find familiar faces. The traveling army of both Ikarus and Graleon soldiers gazed upon her with astonishment at her luminous appearance.
Indrid looked pleasantly surprised to see her, as she was to see him. But when Anna saw Burton’s arms tied, she became angry.
“Free that man…now!” Anna said, walking toward them, her clothes dripping wet and the water that covered her remained luminescent.
The Ikarus soldiers looked mystified. The key holder’s hand shook as he clumsily searched through the keychain.
Indrid snapped at him, “Don’t you dare unbind that man’s hands without my order!”
“That man alone has saved more people than the kingdom walls,” Anna said, stamping towards them. “How dare you treat him this way? First you arrest Montague, the man who cared for us like a father, and now Burton? Do you even know him? Did you ever talk to him?” Anna asked.
“You have?” Indrid asked, “When?”
“Yes,” said Anna. “He provided food and shelter for me after I escaped from that madman who invaded our home. You should be grateful for what he’s done.”
For a moment Indrid was silent. Anna knew there was a pompous answer behind his sealed lips.
Burton nodded at Anna, wearing a thankful expression.
“Have you heard anything about Montague?” Anna asked Burton.
“No. But I’m sure he is safe.”
“Yes, safe in the dungeons of Ikarus, now ruled by Demitri,” Indrid reminded them sarcastically.
“And who put him there?” Anna yelled. She was furious.
Indrid bit his lip. He grabbed Anna by the arm and pulled her to the side. “Who do you think you are? I am the count of Grale now, Anna. You cannot disrespect me in front of my own men.”
“I see. I apologize, my count,” Anna said, dropping into a curtsey.
Indrid brushed his thumb and forefinger across her cheek, “It’s all right. You don’t have to bow to me.”
“Indrid, listen! You can’t take Burton to Ikarus. Don’t you see? Demitri wants us to attack him there,” Anna said. She had always been influential in Indrid’s decision-making as Ikarus general. She knew that Indrid loved her and she could only hope that she could still persuade him.
“Then what would you suggest?” asked Indrid.
“We must go back to Illyrium. When you fail to deliver Burton, Demitri will go there. He’ll realize that forces are conspiring against him. I found my mother, Indrid. Her name is Glassinger Lott. The Merns, the real Merns from kingdoms on the ocean floor agreed to help us. The rivers and fresh water are no boundaries to them. My people will take Demitri’s ships down as they cross the Origon River.”
Considering the notion, Indrid paced around, combing through his black beard with his fingers.
Anna could tell that he took her claim seriously and no longer thought mythical ideas crazy. And she was grateful. “It’s the only way to free our people. They are now hostages. If we attack Ikarus, he will kill them.”
Indrid jumped onto a high stone and addressed his traveling army. “I have reconsidered and decided that it is in our best interest to go back to Illyrium and use it as our base. It will be a temporary home for the new Resistance against the tyrant who calls himself king.”
He looked back at Anna and nodded with a stern look.
The sun had set. They traveled back by moonlight. Anna rode with Indrid. He had covered her with an alpaca fur blanket. When she held him close, his body felt warm.
Back at the ruins of Illyrium, the army set their horses in the old garden, weed-choked and overgrown.
“Where is everyone else?” Anna asked. “Burton wasn’t alone.”
“They’re still down in the oubliette,” Indrid said.
Anna insisted that she and Burton go down the well immediately to gather the rest of the people. During the little time she’d spent in the caverns, she took a liking to the comical characters.
Indrid was reluctant, but allowed it. “Sir Simon will accompany you.”
Anna immediately said, “No!”
“It’s all right, Anna. He can come. Trust me,” said Burton.
EGGWARD AND Grimm led Montague through the troll’s system of intricate underground tunnels to the oubliette of Illyrium. His back had miraculously healed, but the pace at which the nine trolls were moving was still too fast for him. Illyrium was far from the caverns beneath the Ikarus plateau where the trolls had cared for Montague. The further they went the wetter the air became. There were no more lights on the walls, and the smell wasn’t as friendly as before. Instead of torches, Eggward held a device that shined light like the lights on the walls at the troll’s home, similar to Burton’s wand, but not as bright.
When they arrived in the great cavern of the Illyrium oubliette, Montague walked in and saw people there, wandering in darkness. They looked cold, starved, and dehydrated. They must have gone days without nourishment, he thought. Fortunately, the trolls brought bags of food, barrels of water, and piles of wood to start a fire. And when Montague turned back to Eggward, he wasn’t there—the trolls were gone.
Most of the people there recognized Montague. He was once the speaker of the Ikarus council and a well-known farmer who delivered medicines to all three kingdoms. And when Montague told the people in the oubliette that he had something important to tell all of them, their faces froze in attention.
“Some of you may or may not have heard about the invaders from the sky. Your parents and their parents before them probably passed the stories off as fairy tales. But they’re true. The invaders are called Nekrums. And they want blood…” Montague paused for a moment. He thought about all of the suffering and all of the deaths that had transpired throughout the generations; all because of what was in his blood. “…And they won’t stop until they get it. But we have allies living beneath our feet that are willing to help us. Not all of the Nekrums are malevolent. A group of rebels fights to protect mankind. They, the trolls, brought these supplies for you as a sign of peace.”
Montague knew that the truth was hard to swallow. The men and women were shocked yet thankful for the supplies, and they had many questions about the mysterious trolls and the reality that had been kept from them. But Montague urged them to rest before revealing the details of their lost history. He lit a fire in the middle of the cave and handed everyone an equal share of food and water.
Shortly after their meal, everyone except Montague fell asleep. He’d gotten plenty of rest while the trolls helped him recover from his back injury, but he was still mentally exhausted. What do I do now? Where do I go? The answers were hard to imagine. He was in the depths of the Illyrium oubliette with nothing but a week’s worth of food. Nearing two hours of tiresome contemplation, he finally dozed off.
In the middle of the night, a man woke, kicking and shoving everyone else to wake up. “There’s a boat approaching from the landing rock. I can see the light!”
Montague recognized that light. It was no fire light. It was the light of Vandagelle, Burton Lang’s wand. Finally, Montague would see his sensei again.
When the boat got close enough for Montague to see three faces, he was thrilled to see Anna Lott’s. Burton was cloaked in deep shadow, and the third face he didn’t recognize.
Anna jumped out, ran towards Montague, and hugged him tightly. “It so good to see you,” she said.
Montague smiled at her. “I can’t even explain how happy I am to see you.”
Anna introduced Simon. Montague had heard much about the dark knight. He assumed that the rest of the Graleon knights were also here at Illyrium. It gave him hope. If the three kingdoms came together, there was a chance for success.
Then Burton approached his apprentice. “My friend,” he said.
The people in the oubliette were overjoyed to see Burton again. The light returned in his presence and the diamond and golden décor sparkled once again.
Montague hugged
Burton and, without holding back, cried on his shoulder. After everything he’d learned about himself, he couldn’t help it. “Do angels cry?” he asked, looking at his sensei through tears. “I’ve never seen you cry.”
“We cry. I have cried many times before. I just prefer to be alone when I do,” said Burton. “I’ve missed you, old friend.”
“The trolls told me everything,” Montague said.
Burton looked ashamed. “I should have told you. I was only trying to protect you—”
“I understand.” Montague sniffed in and licked his tears from his lips. “Thank you.”
“Now, we must bring Rayne Volpi back into this world if we want to save it,” Burton said.
“But I failed. The spell didn’t work,” Montague said with diffidence.
“On the contrary, you did not fail. You did wonderfully. But to bring Rayne into the physical realm, we need Anna. She hears his voice. She is still connected to him.”
Both Burton and Montague looked at Anna.
“How?” she asked.
“We need privacy,” said Burton. He suggested they perform the ceremony in one of the back rooms, alone.
Simon looked uncomfortable. Hearing the word ‘spell’ must remind him of the enemy, Montague thought. He made sure not to speak too loud. “I assure you, young knight of Grale. Spells are relative to one’s intention. I too feared what I didn’t understand. But I’ve seen the grace of magic and what it can do. Trust us. The lady does.”
“Sir Simon, keep watch at the landing rocks,” said Anna.
Simon replied, “Yes, my lady,” then nodded at Montague and walked off to stand guard at the water’s edge.
As Burton led them to one of the back rooms, Montague was astonished at how the stone cavern turned into an extravagant fortress. The room was small, but sufficient.
“Please,” he said to Anna, dragging a wooden chair across the polished, stone floor. He placed it in the center of the room. “Sit, my dear.”
Anna sat.
Burton kneeled in front of her. “You’ve met your mother.”
“Yes,” said Anna. She smiled. “She agreed to help us.”
“She is a good woman. And she is very proud of you. The Merns are a powerful race.” Burton paused. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” said Anna.
“Now, close your eyes. Breathe deep and slow—relax. The key to this, my dear, is to remain without thoughts. Let Rayne come to you.”
Biting his nails as he watched, Montague had never seen his sensei try something of this magnitude. Although he was scared to practice magic himself, he loved watching Burton perform. Pulling an entity, who was trapped between the realm of the living and the dead, into the material world was the grandest form of magic Montague had ever read about. But this was not just a higher dimensional being they were conjuring. He was a boy who Montague had grown to love.
Burton circled Anna, whispering foreign words. He sprinkled a fine dust, sparkling down over the top of her head and tumbling along the folds of her golden curls. Her usual, awakened expression pressed into one of somnolence. Her eyes closed. “Now,” he said. “I want you to go to a place where the two of you made the best memories. Look around. What do you see?”
“I see a pond,” Anna said, “our pond.”
“Good,” said Burton. “What else do you see?”
“Just the grass, trees, birds, fish…wait…in the water…there’s a face.”
Burton looked at Montague.
“Rayne,” Anna said softly. Then suddenly she opened her eyes and started breathing heavily. “I saw him! It was him in the water!”
Burton placed his wand at the top of Anna’s head and shouted, in angelic language, an enchantment filled with seraphic tones and eloquent tongue rolling. His voice thundered. Then, as he brought the tip of his wand away, Burton pulled a string of light out of her head and shot it to the opposite corner of the room. The blast rumbled like a quake and its light, as hot as fire, nearly blinded them. A dense fog filled the room.
Anna passed out and fell off the chair, but Montague caught her before she hit the ground.
Montague squinted through the haze; he wanted to see again the boy he had raised. But as the smoke cleared, there was no boy. There was a cloaked figure, kneeling in the corner where Burton had shot the light. His body was steaming.
Burton began to approach, but Montague stopped him. He remembered what Demitri had said to him about Rayne; ‘he is certainly no angel.’ Was it possible that even Burton, an angel of heaven, had been deceived into thinking that another angel was descending? he wondered. “Be careful, Sensei.”
Burton held up his wand.
Through the fog, the figure looked up at them and slowly rose to his feet, unfurling his giant feathered wings that reached over twenty feet from tip to tip. His gray skin was unmistakable.
“Monte,” the man said.
Montague knew his voice. It was Rayne Volpi, the king of Men. And he had matured and grown even faster in two years than he had in the eight that Montague had known him. He was no longer a boy; not even just a man, but something more.
INDRID COLE could hear the echo of the spell caster’s voice in the cavern beneath the well. He was angry that he had let Anna go down there with them. How could he let the woman he loved go alone with Burton and Montague, who he believed to be mages? But since Anna was insistent, he didn’t want to challenge her any more than he already had. He couldn’t risk losing her trust, her affection. He could only hope that Simon would protect her.
For hours, Indrid waited outside at the door to the underground tunnels as strangers were released from the oubliette first. He knew that Anna was coming back above ground once the space was cleared.
When she, Burton, and Simon finally emerged, Indrid pulled Anna near.
“Indrid! What are you doing?” Anna asked.
The count of Grale said, “When you were down there, I sat next to the brim of the well, listening. I heard the chanting down there. And I saw flashes of light. They’re both mages. And I knew it! Foolish am I to let the woman I love go down there with sorcerers.”
“The true king of Men, Rayne Volpi, is back,” Anna said aloud, ignoring Indrid’s accusations.
“What did you say?” Indrid couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Although he’d accepted the fact that his stepbrother was alive, he was sure that Rayne was a paranormal entity. This was the flaw that would prevent Rayne from being eligible to claim the throne. It would ensure that Indrid be crowned king of Men, like Demitri had promised. “He is a ghost, Anna. This is witchcraft!”
As Indrid was about to unleash his sword, Burton waved his hand at him and the sword stuck in his scabbard as if the two were bonded together.
The door opened again, and Montague walked out from the tunnel. There was a green glow trailing his gait, illuminating the hallway behind him. Then, before Indrid’s eyes, the cloaked man levitated out from the entrance, his feathered wings extending wide.
Despite his ghostly appearance, the soldiers recognized the man’s face. “It’s him,” they said, bowing. Every Ikarus soldier and Graleon knight, including Sir Simon, dropped their weapons and kneeled before the king, Rayne Volpi.
Not only did seeing Montague, freed from the cell that Indrid had sentenced him to at Ikarus, bother him, his army’s change in loyalty made Indrid furious. He faced his stepbrother once again. Rayne was more than just a shadow now. He was flesh and blood. But Indrid wasn’t as happy to see him as he thought he would be; he felt threatened. He didn’t want to bow. And he didn’t.
Montague repeated what Anna had said, but louder. “The king of Men, Rayne Volpi, is alive. No, he is not like the rest of us. He is something more. And he can defend us in ways we can’t even begin to understand. Let him help us take back our world.”
Indrid was eager to make his opinion heard. He was the count of Grale. “Have I not shed enough blood for both our kingdoms? First as commander, then as general of the Ikarus
army, I have been defending our people since my stepbrother was shitting in his pants. And then in his absence, I have been leading our defense against the constant attacks our people have suffered for so long now. I have proven that I am a leader. I am a Cole, first cousin of Volpi. I am now the Graleon count. I deserve to be the king.”
“But you are not the king,” said Burton surely.
“You,” Indrid said. He gave Burton a cold look. “You and Montague have been plotting against our people. I know he is following your orders; the great Burton Lang. Every time something bad has happened, your name shows up in a letter. And as for you,” he said, looking to Rayne, “What kind of king attacks his own people?”
“The kind of king who believes in justice,” Anna interrupted. “Speaker Mongs and the fisherman were responsible for Rayne’s disappearance. They killed him—burned him to death.”
“Please, Anna. Elmer Mongs kidnapped and murdered Rayne, a priest? This is nonsense. I don’t know why you are buying this. I know it was the speaker’s son that Rayne hurt, but do you really think he attempted to kill Rayne?”
“Yes,” Anna said. “And he did.”
“I’ve heard enough,” said Indrid. He didn’t want to argue with the woman he loved anymore. “Montague La-Rose is a prisoner of Ikarus. Sir Simon, bind his hands.”
But Simon didn’t move.
“I said arrest him!” Indrid yelled.
“I’m sorry, my lord,” said Simon, refusing the order.
“Then you leave me no choice,” Indrid said. “Graleon knights, men of Ikarus, arrest Simon Atikan for refusing the count’s order!”
None of the Graleon soldiers moved, nor did the Ikarus citizens who were recently released from the oubliette. The only soldiers who struggled with the decision were the men that survived the battle of metal and magic with Indrid. But ultimately, they looked at Simon for his command; the knight that had protected the Graleon realm for years. Under the circumstances, the Graleons remained loyal to him rather than their declared count.
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