by L. EE
“Yes, that’s right. King Abaddon is on the move. The incursion into the watchtowers that you and Alden discovered was, I believe, his first major move. Other than that, he has done nothing directly confrontational yet, but it’s clear he’s setting up a major attack. Our army succeeded in retaking the watchtowers, but only after a hard-fought battle. Thankfully our casualities were small. I’ve repositioned troops to better defend the castle. That’s why you ran into trouble with the soldiers when you arrived. That’s also why I’ve brought in experts to direct the construction of weapons and fortifications. You’ll meet them later.”
“If you’re preparing for war, why am I back?” questioned Andy.
“I can’t be sure why you’ve returned, but I’m glad you have. It’s more urgent than ever that the curse be broken so we have freedom of movement to defend ourselves. Our efforts have been stymied because of the fog. It’s hard to throw a spear at a moving target you can’t see.”
“But won’t you die once the curse is broken?” Andy’s voice rose.
Instantly, the noise of surrounding conversations ceased and heads turned to stare.
“Sorry,” Andy whispered, leaning closer to the King.
The King smiled at the onlookers and then responded to Andy in hushed tones. “None of us know what tomorrow holds or how many days we have. I am not guaranteed to die if the curse is broken.” He paused and looked Andy squarely in the eyes before continuing. “The message you received the last time you were here said you would lead even me one day. Until last year, I worried about who would command the kingdom after me because my wife left long ago and I have no heir to assume the throne. But Andy, when you came—”
“Wait, did you just say you were married?”
The King smiled and slowly replied, “Many, many years ago.” His face betrayed a mix of emotions, a warm initial smile gave way to sadness, which welled up into tears.
“Your wife left you?”
Mermin cleared his throat, “I miss my bwother, Merlin, sometimes too.” He paused, taking a deep breath.
What’s Merlin got to do with the King’s wife.
The King reached over and gently patted Mermin’s arm. “Andy, I’ll tell you the whole story sometime when an old man has time to share one of his life’s greatest joys and heaviest sorrows.”
He paused before finally picking up again. “There have always been skirmishes with the land of Hadession. King Abaddon’s tried to stir up trouble with us for as long as I can remember. This time it’s different. He seems to be attempting to conquer the land once and for all. He has controlled Carta and Cromlech for a couple years now. We’ve taken in many refugees from those slaughters.”
Andy’s thoughts went immediately to Marta, Alden, and Hans.
“I received word recently that Abaddon has taken over Sometimes Island. It seems he now controls all the territory surrounding Oomaldee. That’s why an attack seems imminent.”
Andy gave a start.
“What is it, Andy?”
“I’ve been having a nightmare for the last month,” Andy began. He recounted the vivid details, including the seven-headed dragon’s declaration of its ambition to rule the world and live forever.
“Interesting,” said the King when Andy had finished.
“What does it mean?”
“I think I understand parts of it, but I’m not sure about all of it. Let me know if you have that nightmare again. There are too many similarities to not have meaning and relevance for our current situation.”
Mermin nodded agreement.
As soon as the King finished eating, a servant girl paused next to him, interrupting the conversation.
“E-excuse me Y-your M-majesty,” she stuttered.
The King looked over and smiled warmly before saying, “No need to be nervous.”
The servant girl’s face turned a bright shade of red. “M-marta a-asked me to t-tell you that there are f-fresh ch-chocolate ch-chip cookies for you and Andy in the k-kitchen when you are d-done with your l-lunch.”
“Thank you for letting us know,” replied the King. He glanced at Andy and chuckled as he saw him mouth, “Yes!”
“Well, we can’t keep fresh chocolate chip cookies waiting, now can we?” said the King once the girl had left.
“Mermin, if you’ll excuse us.”
Mermin smiled and nodded.
“Shall we, Andy?”
“After you, sir.”
Quickly arriving at the kitchen, Andy and the King inhaled seven cookies apiece as Marta beamed. The King grabbed another handful as he informed Andy, “I have several meetings this afternoon, so I’ll be occupied. Go ahead and let Razen know I’ve told you to report to him.”
Andy opened his mouth to object, but after a second thought chose not to respond. The King tousled his hair and smiled as he exited the kitchen.
I’m not telling Razen anything.
“That’s a bad idea,” his inneru objected.
Quiet!
“Humph,” his inneru mumbled.
Seeing Andy standing alone, Marta called, “Alden is doing chores. I’ll let him know you’re looking for him when he gets back.”
Just then a beefy kitchen servant passed by with a large pot full of water. Andy had seen him several times, but they had never officially met. With each giant step the man took, the container sloshed and spewed, leaving a wet trail. He put the pot on a counter and turned toward Andy.
“Name’s Osnardabond. Most call me Ox. You’re Andy. Seen ya ‘round. You gonna play Oscray with us after dinner? You’d make a good sponger.”
“Excuse me?” Andy replied.
“Sponger, you know,” the giant man repeated, as if he should know this.
“Oh, uh, sure. Wouldn’t miss it,” Andy replied weakly.
“Hey everybody, Andy’s gonna play on our team tonight!” the man broadcast to the kitchen staff, at which a great cheer went up from all the servants as they cleaned lunch dishes.
Where’s Alden when I need him? I wonder if Mermin can explain Oscray to me. Andy grabbed a fistful of cookies. Maybe he can also tell me what he knows about the writing on the scrolls. Hmm… how to find out without telling him about the trunk though?
CHAPTER FIVE
Oscray
Andy stopped at the open door of Mermin’s library. The wizard had returned from lunch and sat hunched over the table, studying a scroll. Andy cleared his throat loudly enough for him to hear.
“Ah, Andy. Come in, come in. What bwings you here?” Mermin encouraged, motioning him over.
“Can I use a piece of paper?”
Mermin furnished paper and quill, then watched intently as Andy wrote out several characters he had memorized from the scrolls in the attic trunk. When finished, Andy turned the paper toward Mermin and asked, “Do you know what that says?”
Mermin’s eyes grew wide as he examined the writing. “Where did you see this?”
“I’d rather not say. Do you know what it says?”
“This is Oomish, I wecognize the chawacters. It’s known only to kings and scholars, the only ones permitted to study it.”
“Really?”
“I wemember studying it in my youth, but I can’t wecall any of it. I’m sowwy.”
“Did the King learn Oomish, too? Could he help me translate it?”
Mermin shook his head. “We studied it together at the secwet libwary of Oomaldee on Sometimes Island, but that was many, many years ago. You can ask him, but I doubt he wemembers any better than I.”
“Secret library?”
“Oh yes. The libwary houses all the histowy of Oomaldee for thousands of years. It’s much larger than this one. I was sixteen the last time I went, just before the curse fell on the land. After that, I couldn’t leave the castle “Where’s Sometimes Island? Can I go there?”
Mermin chuckled and said, “The libwary is hidden from all but those who know the way. It’s also vewy well pwotected.” As an aside he added, “A pixie could pwobably fi
nd it, but not humans unless they know where they’re going.”
“A pixie?”
“Yes, the magical faiwy people. They are gweat explowers. They’re familiar with underwater caves and hidden sources of stweams on land. There’s lots of pixies, but fwiendly ones aren’t easy to come by.”
Vividly remembering his encounter with the little menaces just hours before, Andy thought, Pixies? He’s got to be kidding.
“Would you show me the island on a map at least?”
Smiling, Mermin turned and searched through the trunk that looked like the one in Andy’s attic, finally excavating a scroll. He unrolled it on the table and began, “Here is Castle Avalon, where we are,” he pointed at a picture of a castle on the map. “And here is Sometimes Island,” he continued, pointing at a landmass due north.
Andy noticed the drawing of a huge sea serpent in the Sea of Mystery surrounding the island.
“Are there really sea monsters?”
“Yes. Definitely.”
Andy swallowed.
“Why’s it called Sometimes Island?”
“No one knows what causes it, but sometimes you can see the island and other times you can’t.”
“Really?”
Mermin nodded. “Might be dark magic.” He let his words linger before adding, “You wouldn’t want to go there wight now anyway. Word has it that Abaddon has taken contwol.”
“Then how can I figure out what this says?” Andy asked, picking up the paper on which he had written.
“That—” Mermin began, but Alden stopping outside the library door interrupted him. “Ah, Alden. Come in, come in,” Mermin said, smiling.
“Hi, Mermin!” began Alden.
Mermin nodded.
Turning to Andy, Alden continued, “My mom said you were headed up here.”
“Oh, yeah. I need to find out about Oscray,” Andy said as he remembered the other question that had spurred his coming to see Mermin. “Ox asked if I would play on his team tonight, but I don’t have a clue what I’m supposed to do. He said I’d make a good sponger, whatever that is.”
Alden laughed. “I’m glad Ox asked. I planned to, but he beat me to it.”
“So…?”
“Let’s go down to the Oscray field and I’ll explain it.”
“Good,” said Andy, relieved.
Alden headed toward the door. Andy paused and quietly whispered to Mermin, “Please don’t tell anyone about the writing. Not even the King, okay?”
Mermin nodded and tapped his index finger against his mouth.
Andy and Alden headed downstairs and toward the back door. Before exiting, Alden ducked into the castle laundry and grabbed a large wooden box stored in a closet.
“Equipment,” he said. “Help me carry this.”
Andy grabbed one rope handle and Alden the other. They exited the castle and headed left across the cobblestone terrace into the thick sunlit fog.
“What happened to Mermin’s fog-removing invention? I figured the fog would be gone.”
Alden laughed. “Let’s just say there was a small problem.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Well, he rebuilt it after Abaddon stole the first one. He put it over there while he tested it.” Alden pointed to a hole in the ground they were walking past. It looked to be a foot deep and five feet across. Between the fog and the commotion of being arrested, Andy had not noticed it before.
“Whoa. What happened?”
“It worked for the first four days, but on the fifth day it exploded. It’s good no one wore it,” Alden finished.
“But I had that thing strapped to my head!”
“Yeah, I know. I thought about that right away when I saw the crater.”
Andy pinched his nose between his thumb and finger and in a nasal tone added, “I’m liking cow farts better and better all the time.”
They both laughed.
Andy heard the sound of pounding hammers and similar construction noises as they walked.
“What’s going on over there?”
“Oh, the King is building weapons to use against Abaddon if he attacks. That’s where they’re building catapults.” Alden nodded toward the noises and added, “Merk, Henkel, and Medrick don’t like people watching while they’re working. They complain it distracts them.”
“Who are Merk, Henkel, and Medrick?”
“Merk is a gnome, and Henkel and Medrick are dwarfs. The King brought them in to direct the building of the weapons. Gnomes and dwarfs are expert craftsmen, especially of war machines. I’ll warn you, Merk likes to play practical jokes. Drives everyone crazy. Ya never know when he’ll strike next.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Has he ever done anything to you?”
Alden laughed and rubbed his hands together. “Oh yeah, so I’m always looking for opportunities to return the favor.”
Andy chuckled. Right up my alley, he thought.
They reached a dirt field with egg-shaped markings on it. Andy remembered seeing it earlier that morning. It was the size of half a football field.
“This is where we play,” announced Alden, motioning to set the box down. “We play Oscray in the summer until harvest time and the annual festival, since it hardly ever rains and the ground isn’t muddy. It’s always the Castle Staff against the Cavalry.”
Andy nodded.
“People get into it. Sometimes fights break out.”
“Really? But everybody seems so…so…nice.”
“Yeah,” said Alden, laughing. “About a week ago, Ox got into it with Major Cahill. With him being a vulture-man now, he couldn’t waddle fast enough to get away before Ox let him know he wasn’t happy being laughed at for screwing up his throw. Didn’t turn out so well for the major.”
“Ew. Ouch,” Andy responded, picturing possible scenarios. “That had to hurt.”
“Yeah, it took all of us to tackle Ox and get him to stop beating the major. Ox is suspended for the next three matches. It’s killing him because Cavalry’s won 18 matches and we’ve won 16 so far this season.”
Andy glanced around the field.
“Okay, so let me explain how Oscray is played,” continued Alden, running to the edge of the field as he spoke. “This is called the fallow.”
The egg white, Andy thought.
Alden motioned for Andy to follow so he could see in the fog. “And this,” he pointed to the inner area of the field, “is the flump.”
The egg yolk, Andy translated in his head.
Returning to the wooden box, Alden opened the lid. “There are four players per team.” He reached in and pulled out a small lumpy white ball and said, “One lurk per match.” He dropped it back in and grabbed a larger green one the size of a soccer ball. “Four spongs per team, green or red depending on which color your team draws —” He returned the green ball to the box, then picked up a blue one the size of a medicine ball “—and two bumpers per team.”
Andy walked over to the box and studied the contents. The white ball looked impossible to roll with any accuracy judging by its lack of roundness. He picked it up and found it to be light. After replacing it, he picked up one of the large blue bumper balls and nearly dropped it on his foot. A repressed memory darted through Andy’s mind of the humiliation he’d felt during gym class when he tried to throw a similar ball, nearly crushing himself in the process. Concern coursed through his mind. Everybody’s going to laugh at me. He quickly set it in the box and picked up the lighter green ball.
“If Ox thinks you’ll make a good sponger, the green or red one’s the only ball you need to worry about,” Alden instructed.
Andy nodded and thought, Whew! That’s a relief!
“The point of the game is to get your team’s spongs closest to the lurk without touching. Of course you have to avoid hitting the bumper balls that’ll be in the way.”
Andy translated, Get the green ball closest to the white, not-round ball without hitting the blue balls that are in the way. Got it.
�
�I’ll be playing tonight too, so I’ll tell you when it’s time to throw your spong.”
“Good,” Andy replied.
“Everyone throws their spongs at the lurk at the same time. It’s my favorite part,” Alden added, smiling. “It’s chaos. Usually when fights break out, too.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because a lot of the spongs hit each other in midair, and players on one team blame the other team for knocking their spong out. It’s a lot of fun to watch,” Alden laughed. “To see grown men yelling at each other. Like I said, people get crazy into Oscray.”
Andy had a hard time picturing it.
“The team with their spong closest to the lurk without touching it gets one point. First team to seven wins the game. Best two out of three games wins the match.”
“And you said Cavalry has 18 matches and we have 16 so far?”
Alden nodded. “Mom’s not happy about me playing.”
Andy laughed and said, “I bet.” He couldn’t help thinking about what his mom and dad would say if they knew he was going to play. A smile spread across his face.
At that moment, they heard a loud explosion not far away, followed by banging and men yelling.
“What was that?” asked Andy, bracing himself.
“I’m guessing it’s more boom powder experiments. They’re trying to make a ball launch from a tube and hit a target. They’re getting close. Mermin told me about it.”
Andy laughed. “Boom powder?”
“What?” questioned Alden.
“Sounds to me like they’re reinventing the gun, or maybe a cannon, depending on how big it is.”
“A what?”
“Never mind,” Andy replied, shaking his head.
“You should tell Mermin you know a little about it. Might speed up development,” encouraged Alden.
“We’ll see,” replied Andy. “I’m no expert.”
After a bit more coaching from Alden, Andy felt a tiny bit better about his prospects in tonight’s match, although his fear of being humiliated continued nagging at his brain. He had only ever been sarcastically described as an athletic kid.
Andy’s inneru interrupted his brooding. “Just do your best, it’s all you can ask. Isn’t that what Alden kept telling himself last year before the Tower Chase?”