The Familiars #4: Palace of Dreams

by Adam Jay Epstein

  “Let’s steer clear of that pool,” Aldwyn said. “We don’t need another close call with the Alchemist’s pet pirahnadon.”

  They made sure to avoid the waters, and approached the next stretch of their climb with extra caution. The Mountain Alchemist had magically rigged the trail to his front door with booby traps, all in an effort to keep away trespassers. Somewhere along this stretch Aldwyn remembered a giant hand made of snow that attacked them with a barrage of icy snowballs. But as they proceeded ahead, nothing happened. Aldwyn certainly wasn’t going to complain. The journey was difficult enough without one of the land’s most powerful wizards playing games with them.

  By the time Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert stepped foot on the edge of the frozen lake, the snow had stopped falling.

  “Oooh, a big one!” a deep voice grunted.

  The familiars turned to see a giant cave troll crouched about halfway across the lake. He was clearly pleased with himself, admiring the foot-long fish he had just grabbed out of a hole he’d carved in the ice.

  “That troll looks friendly enough,” Gilbert said hopefully.

  The gray, stony-skinned creature bit off the head of the fish and chewed noisily.

  “He might want to work on his manners, though,” Gilbert added.

  “And that’s saying something, coming from you,” Aldwyn said.

  “I’m surprised the Alchemist would allow a cave troll so close to his cabin,” Skylar said.

  “Unless it’s not a real cave troll, but an illusionary one,” Aldwyn said. “Another clever trick to scare off unwelcome visitors.”

  The troll chomped down the rest of the fish held in his stubby hand, accidentally biting into his own finger. The creature let out an angry growl, and he pounded a fist against the ice in frustration. The force of the blow sent a fissure along the surface of the lake, and shook Gilbert off his feet.

  “Definitely not an illusion,” Gilbert said, slipping as he tried to stand back up.

  Grabbing another handful of fish from the hole, the cave troll rose from the ice and took long, lumbering steps back toward the mountain. The eight-foot-tall creature stomped right past the familiars. Clearly the troll was less than observant, and more focused on the bounty in hand than the one at his feet.

  Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert hurried across the lake. Once again, they were surprised to find their approach to the cabin so easy. On the Prophesized Three’s previous journey they had to go under this lake, not across it. That was because of an impassable, invisible wall, one that now seemed to be dispelled. Perhaps the Alchemist had grown softer with age. Or maybe he’d seen that the familiars were coming, and decided to give them a clear path.

  The trio passed the spot where the illusionary cabin once stood, and rounded a cluster of rocks before arriving at the Mountain Alchemist’s cabin. It was just as Aldwyn remembered it, with a small porch out front and icicles dangling from the snow-covered roof.

  They knocked several times, but no one answered.

  “Hello?” Aldwyn called. “It’s Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert.”

  After waiting another moment, Aldwyn pushed the door open and the Three entered.

  “Is anybody home?” Skylar asked.

  They stepped into a sitting room that doubled as the kitchen, then moved past the fireplace. Only ash remained; whatever logs had been inside were burned completely. Cold porridge still sat in a pot, uneaten.

  “Edan!” Gilbert shouted, hoping for a response from the Mountain Alchemist’s time-stopping turtle.

  But the eerie silence within only grew louder.

  They headed down the hallway, stopping to peer inside the room where they had first met the Alchemist. Just as before, the bookshelves were all empty, but now so was the chair. Even the solitary book that the Alchemist did own was gone.

  Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert hurried to the last room in the cabin, and there they found the entire alchemy studio destroyed. The apothecary cabinet had been turned on its side, all of its hundreds of tiny drawers littering the floor. Beakers were shattered. Gusts of wind blew through the broken windows. It was clear that the familiars were not going to find the Alchemist or Edan here.

  “Someone came looking for something,” Skylar said.

  “The question is, what?” Aldwyn asked.

  “Guys, look at this,” Gilbert said.

  They turned to see scuff marks leading out of the room, as if something had been dragged along the floor. The Three followed the trail of thin black lines left in the wood through the hall and up to a back door. They exited the cabin to find a large pile of snow with a glowing stone marker at its head, and although Aldwyn didn’t want to believe what he was seeing, he knew what it was: a grave site. Someone had been buried here, and he feared it was the Alchemist.

  “First Loranella, now this,” Aldwyn said. “Something tells me it’s no coincidence.”

  “We don’t know that it’s him for sure,” Skylar replied.

  Although Aldwyn was more than a little hesitant to do so, he used his telekinesis to move the snow enough to see the frozen face of the Alchemist. With an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, he quickly covered it back up.

  “Now what do we do?” he asked.

  Gilbert had strayed away, unable to watch. But as he averted his eyes, he’d seen something else.

  “Hey, I think this might be Edan’s trail,” the tree frog said.

  Aldwyn and Skylar came over to take a look. Sure enough, there was a path leading away from the burial. While snow had fallen atop the prints, there was enough of a trace left to guess that they belonged to a tortoise.

  “Let’s see if we can’t find him,” Skylar said.

  And as quickly as they had come to the Alchemist’s cabin, they were leaving once more. Aldwyn was unsure if they’d be able to catch up to Edan before it started snowing in this region of the mountain, covering his tracks for good.

  The familiars began heading downhill, moving as swiftly as they could. They hadn’t traveled more than half a mile before coming upon Edan, trudging slowly through the snow. Lucky for them, he was a turtle, and speed was not on his side.

  “Edan, we’ve just come from the cabin,” Aldwyn said. “What happened?”

  The tortoise seemed to look upon them with a heavy heart.

  “There were too many for us to take,” he said. “Even with our magic, the slow and the blind didn’t stand much chance.”

  “Did you see who they were? Or what they had come for?” Skylar asked.

  “They wore crimson hoods, and bracelets. Just like the one around your talon.”

  Edan gestured to Skylar’s anklet.

  “The Noctonati?” she asked.

  “That’s how it appeared,” he answered. “Or people posing to be so. They were searching for the Alchemist’s book. The one book he owned. The only copy in existence. Written by his grandfather Parnabus McCallister. It was the thirteenth volume in his collection of divining spells. There are many secrets hidden within.”

  “Is there a spell that can cure someone of a parasitic poison?” Skylar asked.

  “There is very little that the spells in that book are not capable of.”

  “Where were you going?” Gilbert asked.

  “To Bronzhaven,” Edan said. “To warn Queen Loranella that she may be next.”

  “You’re a little late for that,” Aldwyn said. “What made you think the queen needed to be warned?”

  “It was my loyal’s dying wish.”

  “But he didn’t tell you why?” Skylar pressed.

  “He didn’t have a chance,” Edan replied. “Has the queen already been attacked?”

  “Yes,” Aldwyn said. “There’s been an assassination attempt. And the three of us have been framed. The best ravens and healers in the land are trying to bring her back, but she’s stuck in the Wander. We have less than two days to save her.”

  “It is most unfortunate,” Edan said, “for the Mountain Alchemist had an antidote for such a curse
. And only two others did, as well. Kalstaff and Queen Loranella. It was knowledge the original Prophesized Three had obtained long ago from their own mentor, Somnibus Everwake. And they planned to one day pass it down to the next Prophesized Three.”

  “Then I’ll contact them in the Tomorrowlife, just as I did the great architect Agorus,” Skylar said.

  “But it’s too dangerous for you,” Aldwyn said. “Last time you lost a feather. Who’s to say what you’ll lose this time?”

  “That’s a risk I’m willing to take. Now, if I’m to summon them forth, we’ll need to find their gateway. A place of profound importance that will connect them to this world.”

  Edan gave a wrinkly smile.

  “I know just where this place would be. Sixty years ago, after the defeat of Wyvern and Skull, Kalstaff, Loranella, and the Mountain Alchemist stood together on a cliff overlooking the Ebs. Zabulon, Paksahara, and I were at their sides. We were staring down upon the land we had saved from ruin when they said this was the spot they’d return to, if not in this life, then the next.”

  “Where exactly was this?” Skylar asked.

  “The Turn,” Edan replied.

  The Turn was a bend in the river where cliffs had been raised by a powerful wizard to prevent a deadly flood. A wizard who just happened to be an animal.

  “Before we go, could we trouble you for a time bubble?” Skylar asked. “We could certainly use the rest, and can hardly afford to waste the hours.”

  “Of course,” Edan said. “Whatever I can do to help.”

  Edan lowered his head so that his chin touched the snow, and he shut his eyes. Suddenly a translucent shell formed around the four of them. It appeared as if time had stopped entirely outside the bubble, while inside, the world seemed to go on undisturbed. Stopping time was the tortoise’s talent.

  Skylar cast a flame fairy, causing the snow on the ground to melt and creating enough warmth so that they were comfortable. Gilbert was snoring within minutes. Aldwyn curled up to sleep. But Skylar was busy scratching her talon in the wet earth. She had written out the words again: “Spuowbip wjots sby udpjbm uosdwoyt.”

  Edan turned his head to see.

  “What does it say?” he asked.

  “I was hoping you could tell us,” Skylar replied.

  “I’m sorry,” Edan said. “It’s no language I’ve ever seen before. Are you sure you’ve transcribed it correctly?”

  “I am,” Skylar said.

  She stared at the message for a few moments longer, then slowly closed her eyes.

  Aldwyn lay there. There was so much to think about. So many puzzles that needed solving. His mind raced from one mystery to the next. But the answers would all have to wait.

  He had fallen asleep.

  Not a second had passed outside, but it felt to Aldwyn as if he’d been lost in slumber for the better part of a day. Once he and his companions agreed that they were all fully rested, Edan lifted his chin from the ground and the shell disappeared. The chill of the mountainside returned and final farewells would be quick.

  “What will you do now?” Aldwyn asked Edan.

  “I suppose I will continue on to Bronzhaven. I have been a stranger to the land for many years. I am interested to see how it’s changed.”

  The familiars gave one last nod and began their journey to the Turn, leaving Edan inching his way down the gentle slope to the north.

  As the dark of midnight approached, the moon was not even a sliver, making it difficult to see. Aldwyn was taking cautious steps forward, feeling for solid ground so he didn’t fall off a cliff. The trip downhill was less tiring, but more strenuous on the knees. And unfortunately it was no faster than the trip up, especially given the low visibility.

  “I had another dream about the queen,” Aldwyn said. “This time I was standing on a rug in the middle of a field of dandelions and my paws started to sink into the fabric like it was quickmud. I was being pulled in deeper and deeper, until I fell through a hole and landed in Queen Loranella’s royal chamber. She was standing there about to tell me something but I woke up.”

  “I was dreaming, too,” Gilbert said. “Well, it was more of a nightmare really. Anura and I were swimming in a pool of maggots as far as the eye could see.”

  Aldwyn shuddered. “That does sound terrifying.”

  “No, that was the good part. Then they all disappeared and we were sitting in an empty hole. Talk about a cruel joke.” Gilbert had a faraway look in his eyes. “With Anura, I feel like it’s the first time somebody’s really gotten me. Everything in my life was finally starting to go so great. Now all of this. What’s Anura going to think? What’s my family going to think?”

  “I don’t want to go back to the way things were, either,” Aldwyn said. “Before I met Jack and the two of you I was a nobody and an outcast. But no matter what happens, you’re still you and I’m still me.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of hammering. They quietly followed it to a wall of ice. Through the darkness Aldwyn could make out a trio of howler monkeys chipping away at the ice with pickaxes. They held glowing torches, barely illuminating the night.

  “What are howler monkeys doing this far from the Forest Under the Trees?” Skylar whispered.

  The monkeys broke through the frozen surface and one of them lowered a torch, bringing it close to the exposed object within. A mountain moose was revealed in the light, having been chilled solid for who knows how long. When the monkeys extracted it from the icy cocoon, they took knives to its hide and began to skin it.

  “Ah,” Skylar said. “They’ve come for its hide. This must be what they use to make their drums.”

  Aldwyn squinted and stared across the mountain slope. About fifty feet away, he saw stripes of red against the white snow. He looked closer and realized they were the wings of a giant moth, one born from the colossus sap at the tops of the great trees where the howler monkeys lived.

  “Maybe we can ask to hitch a ride,” Aldwyn said. “That moth could make the half day’s journey by foot to the Turn in less than an hour.”

  “Probably best not to let anyone know where we’re going,” Skylar said.

  “Then we won’t ask,” Aldwyn said.

  Skylar and Gilbert both looked at him.

  “I thought you left your criminal ways behind,” Gilbert said. “That would be stealing.”

  “I prefer to think of it as borrowing,” Aldwyn replied. “Besides, do we want to save the queen or not?”

  As the howler monkeys continued to carve away at the mountain moose, Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert began a quiet approach toward the moth. The insect was even larger than Aldwyn remembered. An elephant could comfortably stand on its back. The closer the familiars got, the more agitated the moth became, beating its wings nervously.

  “We better do this quickly,” Aldwyn said.

  The creature snapped at them, but its leash was tied tightly to a rock, keeping it from snacking on cat, bird, and frog. The Three hurried atop the creature’s back, and Aldwyn telekinetically unfastened the rope, freeing the moth.

  “Gilbert, you’re the only one with hands, so you need to take the reins,” Aldwyn said.

  The tree frog took hold of the long coil attached to the enormous insect’s head.

  “What, no complaints?” Aldwyn asked.

  “I’ll save my croaking until after Loranella is okay,” Gilbert replied.

  He snapped the reins, giving a tug on the moth’s neck. It immediately started flapping. The commotion alerted the howler monkeys, who turned from the mountain moose and were soon running toward them.

  “What are you doing?” one yelled. “Get off our moth!”

  The insect was already airborne, leaving the monkeys jumping to catch its oversized legs.

  “Wait!” a second howler screeched.

  “We’ll send the moth back as soon as we can,” Aldwyn called down as the creature soared higher, taking to the clouds.

  The familiars were now at the mercy of a
n erratic insect not known for its grace in the sky. But a bumpy flight was better than an all-night walk, so they braced themselves for the ride and watched the mountains and forest pass below them.

  9

  OLD FRIENDS

  The moth flapped over the Ebs and approached a series of high cliffs on the eastern portion of the river. Farther south the familiars could see the intermittent bright flash of the Split River lighthouse. Each time it shined, the giant insect seemed to be drawn toward it, forcing Gilbert to pull hard on the reins to get the creature back on track. Skylar pointed a wing to the tallest cliff overlooking the Turn.

  “There’s the monument,” she called out over the rush of wind. “Let’s land.”

  Gilbert did what he could to steer the moth to the grassy peak. It hit the ground with a thud and Aldwyn and Gilbert were quick to jump off the creature’s back. Skylar grabbed the reins in her talons and was trying to find somewhere to tie them down.

  “Aldwyn, help me fasten these to that tree,” she said.

  Aldwyn gave a mental tug, and together the two were able to wrap the rope around a small sapling. With one last pull of his teeth, Aldwyn made sure the knot was as tight as possible.

  Skylar flew toward the monument commemorating the Turn.

  “If Edan is right, this is the best place to contact the Mountain Alchemist and Kalstaff,” she said. “I’ll just need to prepare a few compon—”

  Just then she was interrupted by a ripping sound. They all spun around to see that the giant moth had torn the sapling right out from the ground and was now flapping off with the tree dangling from its neck. It was heading back for the Peaks of Kailasa in the distance.

  “Next time, we’ll have to find a bigger tree,” Skylar said.

  She dug into her satchel and removed a talonful of silver dust.

  Aldwyn’s attention had turned to the stone monument. Now that he was closer he could see that it was broken. The plaque once embedded in its surface had been ripped free and the gem that had been residing at its center was gone.

  “That’s strange,” he said. “Who would want to deface something so sacred?”