I must have breathed in a lot of smoke up there.
He stumbled on until at last he reached an opening in the cliff wall between two massive crystal pillars. Through it lay the way back into Celestis.
Exhausted, Gulph leaned against the base of the nearest pillar. Each time he took a breath, he felt a sharp pain in his ribs. He slumped to the ground. He couldn’t go any farther.
“Gulph!” The woman’s voice was faint. Where was it coming from?
“Is it him?” A man’s voice.
On his hands and knees, Gulph dragged himself through the gap. Compared to the brightness of the chasm, the interior of Celestis looked as dark as night. Who was talking? He couldn’t see anyone.
A slender gray figure solidified out of the gloom: a cloaked woman, running to meet him. She dropped to her knees beside Gulph and gathered him in her arms.
“Gulph,” she sobbed, covering his thin cheeks with kisses. “Gulph, it’s me. It’s your mother.”
The woman’s hood fell back to reveal a pale face marked with burn scars. Gulph stared at her, stunned. Like everyone in Celestis, his mother had been put under a spell by its ruler, Lady Redina, which had made her forget everything—even her own children.
His hand trembling, Gulph brushed a lock of hair away from Kalia’s scarred face. Her hair was red-gold, just like his own.
“You . . . you remember me?”
“I remember everything!”
Gulph gazed deep into her bright green eyes. He could feel himself grinning. She knows me! At last, she knows me!
“And now that I’ve found you,” his mother said, her eyes shining, “I’m never losing you again.”
A second figure strode up—the man who’d called out. He was gray-haired and dressed in a tattered soldier’s uniform.
“Gulph!” he exclaimed. “I cannot tell you how good it is to see you!”
“Captain Ossilius!” Gulph clasped the hand of his old friend. “Did you do this? Did you . . . ?”
Ossilius grinned. “Just as you asked, Gulph. Your mother put up quite a fight when I held her under the surface of the lake! Didn’t you, Kalia? But I managed for long enough that the magic could heal her memory.”
“Lady Redina has a lot to answer for!” Kalia said bitterly. “She poisoned me, as she has poisoned every other person in Celestis.”
“She’s done something to the wine,” Gulph said, remembering how he’d snatched it from Ossilius’s hands.
“It’s not just that,” said Kalia. “She gives orders that make no sense, yet people obey her. She is cruel, yet people love her. She does not wield power like a sovereign. She casts it like a spell.”
“A spell?”
Kalia nodded gravely. “I believe that Lady Redina is a witch, like me.”
“Not like you!”
“Perhaps not, but she is a witch all the same. How else could she have remained in power for so long? But her magic is of a kind I have never encountered before.”
Ossilius nodded. “And she’s furious with you, Gulph.”
“With me? Why?”
“The undead have reached Celestis,” Ossilius said.
What was left of Gulph’s strength drained from his tired body. He sagged against the pillar. Ossilius slipped an arm around Gulph’s shoulders before he fell.
“I knew it. I was too late. It was all for nothing,” Gulph said, gazing past him into the hidden depths of Celestis. “How bad is it?”
“It’s already over. No, we won!” Ossilius said hastily when he caught Gulph’s horrified expression. “There were not many of them. No more than a hundred, I should say.” With his free hand, he drew his crystal sword from the scabbard he wore. “Your mother’s blades made short work of them.”
“Those who wielded them were brave,” added Kalia modestly. She was searching her robes for something and brought out a small vial of dark liquid. “One drop on your tongue, Gulph.” She smiled. “I see how your body aches. Before you do anything else, do as your mother says.”
Gulph opened his mouth. The potion was cool and sweet. Three breaths after the liquid went down his throat, the pain in his back began to ease.
“Now,” Kalia went on, “are you ready to tell us what happened up there?”
Gulph eased himself away from Ossilius’s arm and straightened his twisted back as best he could. “I’ll tell you on the way.”
“On the way?” said Ossilius. “Where are we going?”
“Where do you think? To see Lady Redina.”
Kalia shook her head. “That is not a good idea. She is dangerous. We know that now, my son.”
She calls me son!
Gulph couldn’t get over it. He hoped he never would.
“You should lie low for a while,” Ossilius agreed. “We can hide you.”
Gulph pulled the crown from his pack. Its gold contours glimmered in the smoke-soft light. “Not as long as I’m carrying this. I can’t rule Toronia if I’m skulking in the shadows. And I can’t turn my back on my enemies. Lady Redina must pay for what she’s done. I’m finished with hiding.”
Gulph stepped between the pillars and into the darkness. Captain Ossilius and his mother followed.
“The climb seemed to take forever,” he began, rolling his shoulders in their sockets and enjoying the warmth of the potion’s magic working through his body. “When I got to the top, at first I thought Idilliam was deserted. Then I saw them.”
“The undead?” Kalia asked.
“Yes. The undead. That’s when I started to set the fires . . . .”
• • •
By the time Gulph came to the end of his tale, they’d reached the other side of the narrow strip of crystal that spanned the lake. Ahead, at the top of a narrow, emerald-colored lane, stood the grand and glittering house where Lady Redina lived. The high cavern roof hung over it like a sullen purple shroud.
“You robbed Brutan of his victory when you jumped,” said Ossilius. “That took great courage.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” Gulph replied. “None of it really turned out how I’d planned.”
“Nothing ever does,” Ossilius said. “But thanks to you, Brutan is gone, and the undead are destroyed.”
“The city’s destroyed too.”
Ossilius squeezed his shoulder. “Cities can be rebuilt.”
Kalia held a hand to the pink scar covering the side of her face. Her eyes were troubled. “You faced the monster who tried to kill you, and your brother and sister. The monster who tried to burn me alive at the stake—and who would have succeeded if not for Melchior’s magic. Oh, Gulph, I am so sorry you had Brutan for a father!”
“None of it was your fault,” said Gulph.
“Brutan is gone at last,” Ossilius soothed. “Do not distress yourself.”
“I am glad to be distressed!” Kalia cried. “Lady Redina’s magic has poisoned my mind for too many years! Every memory is precious to me now, even the bad ones.” Her voice softened. When she smiled, Gulph could almost forget the scar was there. “And especially the good ones. The memories with you in them.”
A warm breeze carried a woman’s voice to them, powerful and commanding. It was coming from the house.
“Lady Redina,” said Ossilius, his hand dropping to the hilt of his sword. “Has she not yet finished with her victory speech?”
“It sounds like she’s giving quite a performance,” said Gulph. “Let’s see what we can add to it.”
Several hundred people had gathered in the ornate crystal garden surrounding the house. Lady Redina herself was standing on a platform of pure ruby, addressing the crowd. She wore a flowing red dress the same vibrant color as the shining platform, so that she seemed almost to grow from it. She looked even taller than Gulph remembered. Her milky skin seemed to glow in the perpetual Celestian twilight.
“Marcus and the others are there,” whispered Ossilius, pointing out a knot of people huddled beneath a diamond sculpture of a knight on horseback. “There is Hetty, do yo
u see? And the little girl.”
“Jessamyn. Yes, I see them.”
Gulph recognized the three companions who had fled with them to Celestis through the tunnels beneath Idilliam. But what really gladdened his heart was the sight of those who stood with them: his old friends, the Tangletree Players. Noddy and Dorry were gazing respectfully up at Lady Redina, their hats in their hands. Sidebottom John was shifting uncomfortably, tugging at a loose thread on his smock.
Gulph turned to Ossilius. “Did you . . . ?”
“Dunk John in the lake?” The former Captain of the Guard was smiling. “Yes. His memory has returned, just like your mother’s. I asked him not to tell the others, though. I wish I could have restored them, too, but I couldn’t risk Lady Redina getting suspicious.”
Gulph nodded, but he was only half listening. Among the knot of players, he’d spotted a gentle face framed with short curls: Pip, Gulph’s oldest friend. She was watching Lady Redina too—and like the rest of the crowd, her upturned face was dull and blank. Only Sidebottom John wasn’t in a state of complete belief and trust. Gulph no longer felt exhausted. His mother’s medicine had worked miracles, but it was more than that. Despite all his trials, he felt strong. Despite carrying no weapons, he felt invincible.
The crown of Toronia is the only weapon I need, he thought, relishing the weight of the gold on his back.
“Lady Redina has been making speeches here for far too long,” he said. “I think it’s time somebody shut her up.”
The closer they drew to the ruby platform, the louder Lady Redina’s voice became.
“. . . the battle was swift and sure, and the undead invaders have been brought down. Yet we cannot rest. The enemies of Celestis are plotting against us still. We must be ceaseless in our vigilance, and guard these precious shores against the endless danger . . .”
Faces turned as Gulph pushed his way to the front of the crowd, Ossilius at his right shoulder, Kalia at his left. Gasps of recognition went up, and then people began to cry out:
“The crippled stranger—he’s come back!”
“None who leave Celestis may return!”
“He must be punished!”
Ignoring them, Gulph shouted, “You say there’s danger here in Celestis, Lady Redina? Well, I happen to agree with you!”
At the sight of him, Lady Redina recoiled. Her red dress flowed around her in sinuous folds. Her pale face contorted with rage.
“You!” she cried.
“The danger is you, Lady Redina,” Gulph went on. “You’re the enemy. If anyone needs bringing down, it’s you!”
The cries from the crowd turned to jeers and shouts of anger. Lady Redina’s lips writhed and her eyes bulged. “Guards! Seize this deformed creature and take it away!”
On the far side of the platform, two uniformed men began making their way toward him. Gulph became aware of the furious expressions on the faces of the people around him. A woman standing nearby waved her fist, while the man beside her actually drew his sword. Gulph wondered if this had been such a good idea after all.
“You are doing well, my son,” his mother murmured from just behind him. “Stay strong.”
“Leave the guards to me,” said Ossilius, hurrying past Gulph with his crystal sword drawn.
“Banished!” Lady Redina was screaming. She paced back and forth along the platform, wringing her hands. “Exiled! This miserable creature was sent from these shores and yet he has the audacity to return!”
This isn’t anger, Gulph thought, astonished by the depth of her reaction. This is utter fury. What’s happening here?
“You!” Lady Redina stabbed a trembling finger toward Kalia. “The earth-charmed witch! You pleaded for this freak and his wretched friends when they arrived here from Idilliam, and I was foolish enough to listen!” Her eyes swiveled back to Gulph. “I will not overlook your treason a second time. You defied my exile once, and I was foolish enough to grant you mercy. Now you have defied me twice. Now you will taste my wrath!”
“Gulph!” Pip’s thin voice drifted across the crowd. “Be careful!”
He shot a glance in her direction. She was trying to get to him, but Noddy and Willum were holding her in check.
“Keep back, Pip!” he shouted. “Stay out of danger!”
By now Ossilius had intercepted the guards. The Celestians drew their swords and began to circle him warily. A gap opened up in the crowd around them.
“Idilliam is destroyed,” Gulph announced. This raised a gasp from the audience. “I set fires. I burned it to the ground. The undead are gone, all of them, turned to ash. There’s no danger from above. There’s no reason for you to hide underground anymore.”
The crowd’s anger seemed to have abated a little. Many of the nearby people were looking at him with interest. On several faces he saw something that might have been hope.
“It’s true,” he went on. “You’re free! Don’t you see that? You don’t have to live like this anymore.” He pointed at Lady Redina. “And you don’t have to listen to her.”
Now the crowd was muttering. For every person who looked angry, twice as many were regarding Lady Redina with confusion, or even suspicion. Something was moving here, Gulph realized—not a physical movement but something else. Something was changing.
“She’s been poisoning you!” He advanced so that his chest was pressed against the platform. Somewhere in the distance, he heard crystal blades chiming as Captain Ossilius began trading blows with the guards. “All these years she’s been holding you down. But you don’t have to stand for it anymore!”
Lady Redina advanced to the edge of the platform, planting the sharp toes of her crystal shoes right in front of Gulph’s face. She glared down at him. Her fists were bunched. Her cheeks blazed like torches, as red as her dress. She looked impossibly tall, impossibly slender, almost as if she were . . .
. . . growing?
Gulph dismissed the thought. He would not be intimidated by her. The tide was turning, he could feel it.
“How dare you!” Lady Redina’s voice, low and menacing, pierced the air like a spear. All around, the crystal sculptures of the ornamental garden rang like bells. The sound of clashing swords stopped abruptly. All eyes were fixed on the woman in the red dress.
“How dare you!” she repeated. “I rule Celestis! I say what will be, and what will not be! Nobody speaks to my people like that!”
Was her voice growing deeper? Gulph could feel something pulsing out from inside Lady Redina, a growing force that was trying to push him away, yet at the same time seemed to be drawing him in.
I’m sensing her thoughts, he realized. It felt familiar, and in a rush he realized why—it was exactly like when he’d first found Sidebottom John in Celestis, when Gulph had entered John’s mind . . . .
“Nobody speaks to me like that!” Lady Redina was ranting. Her voice was thick, somehow full of splinters. Not a woman’s voice at all. “Least of all a broken, twisted, tiresome little grub like you!”
Without thinking, Gulph summoned the feelings that had now become so familiar to him: the peculiar sensation of dry heat, of coarse sand in his mouth. The taste of his own magic. If he chose, he could use these feelings to turn himself invisible. Or . . . Lady Redina’s twisted face filled his vision. The crowd melted away. Everything dissolved except her face, and what lay behind it. Gulph rushed toward her, even though his feet remained firmly planted on the ground, and suddenly . . .
• • •
. . . there are bodies, and there is blood. The bodies float and the blood spreads in a vast red cloud, because both are trapped in silver water.
The bodies are struggling—people screaming, trapped and trying to break free. But something is keeping them in the water, circling beneath the waves, making a whirlpool and sucking them down.
The something is red.
It bursts from the lake, rearing up like a striking snake. It has coils and claws and a huge unspeakable head, and the head has a face.
It is the face of Lady Redina . . .
• • •
. . . Gulph broke the connection. Gasping, he staggered away from the platform. His feet tangled together, and he would have fallen if Kalia hadn’t caught him.
“Gulph,” she said, her voice trembling. “What did you see?”
He gaped up at Lady Redina, glowering down at him from the platform. She looked . . . normal. Not bigger, as he’d imagined. Not monstrous. Tall and imposing, to be sure, but a woman all the same.
Except you’re not! I know exactly what you are!
“Bring more guards!” Lady Redina screamed. “There are traitors in our midst!”
A door opened in the side of the house, spilling a dozen armed men into the garden.
“There’s something I have to do,” Gulph said to Kalia, trying to ignore the oncoming guardsmen. “I think you should probably stand back.”
Bunching his fists, Gulph banished his thoughts, his doubts, his fears. Magic was a physical thing, he knew that now, an act not of the mind but the body. Magic was like running or swimming or climbing or leaping. Like turning somersaults before a crowd.
Come on, Gulph. Time for another performance.
He tensed his shoulders and summoned the hot desert wind. It came at once, filling him up until it gushed from the pores of his skin. Tears poured from his eyes. Thunder boomed in his ears. Once again he sprang free from his body. This time he took the wind with him.
An eye blink later, he was inside Lady Redina again. Not in her mind this time, but in her muscles. The sandstorm drove through her physical body, gusting through her veins, howling inside her heart, pushing at every fiber of her being, pushing, pushing . . .
Change! Gulph thought. Show everyone what you really are!
Hot magic spun him round, swept him up, and carried him back. He collapsed into himself again, his arms and legs accepting his return like well-worn clothes. He staggered, giddy and breathless. Sweat was spilling down his face. He spat sand.
A Kingdom Rises Page 5