The words hurt as Nadia recalled the images of what her home looked like now. “Yeah, me too.”
Rich’s voice came again. “My co-pilot here tells me we’re going to be back at the Sanctuary in just a few hours, and that there’s a big box of food in the back of the plane. Remember to share!”
All at once, everyone dashed for the back, stumbling over each other to get there first. Phillip beat them all, but when he’d opened the box, he served everyone else first before taking any for himself. It wasn’t exactly gourmet stuff, but after the little they’d had in the maze, even crackers, juice pouches, and dried fruit felt like a feast.
Having eaten about as much as she could take, Nadia settled back in her seat, lost in thought. She knew her grandfather’s words would haunt her for a long time, but now, she was even more nervous about returning to the Sanctuary. Would the dark knights have been there? Maybe the paladins would have fought them off.
Thinking about it drained the last of her strength. Before she knew it, the gentle vibration of the plane had lulled her into a fast sleep.
CHAPTER 22: SHATTERED SANCTUARY
A few hours later, Rich stepped into the Sanctuary and promptly fell to his knees. The mighty table around which all the paladins had met lay in pieces, some of them burning and charred beyond recognition. Rubble and debris lay strewn everywhere, and the stench of smoke hung thick.
Not a single soul was in sight, though Rich couldn’t be certain under all of the rubble. He broke through his momentary shock, springing into action and urging the others to follow. Adrenaline and rage keeping him going forward, Rich flung the larger pieces of debris aside with ease, noticing that some had come from the ceiling. Broken or bent goblets and weapons lay strewn about, mingled with pieces of armor. Spying a particular piece, Rich bent down and picked it up—a dark helmet to which had been attached the necktie Mallory had taken from him after besting him at their first dual of sixty-four.
The dark knights had done this. With all their talk of working together, they had used the supposed treaty to launch a sneak attack...more like a massacre.
Rich turned to Aaron and held out the helmet. “How could they do this? I...I didn’t think they could get in.”
Aaron stared dumbfounded at the helmet, his mouth twitching several times, but not actually forming any words. “T-they can’t!” he stuttered. “There’s simply no way. I don’t—” His face went even paler than its usual shade, and he motioned wordlessly for Rich to follow. Aaron took off at a run and Rich followed, noticing a clear trail of dirt and grime on the floor where a large group of knights had charged in.
Aaron led him all the way back through the Sanctuary and only stopped when he reached what looked like a bright, shining circle of light, through which Rich could see the scene of a night’s sky. Aaron stopped in front of it, clutching his chest and shaking his head. “No...no, no, no! It can’t be like this! We sealed it behind us. I know we did!”
He continued muttering and pacing, and Rich stared at the swirling space. This must be the portal they had taken to rescue Nadia and Angela. It also appeared that someone had left the backdoor open.
“Aaron, this can’t be your fault,” Rich said, hoping it was true. “You know how dark knights operate. Somehow they tricked you or manipulated someone. It could have happened to anyone.”
Aaron swung around, holding out both hands. In each, he clutched a white chess piece, one queen and one king. The sight made Rich stumbled back a step, a deep feeling of dread creeping over his body like an army of spiders. “W-where did you get those? They were—”
“Your grandparents’?” Aaron said with a nod. “That’s right. Checkmate.”
It felt like someone had brought a sledgehammer down on Rich’s heart. His grandparents had always seemed so strong...untouchable, even. How could they simply be gone?
Rich leaned against a wall with one hand, trying to fight back the tears. “Aaron,” he said, his voice breaking. “Where are they? When will I see them again?”
Aaron put his arm around Rich, speaking softly. “I don’t know, Rich. Possibly a very long time. But I don’t understand. With the king’s abilities, usually only the enemy king or queen is powerful enough to take them down. If the two of them are out in the world, we are in great trouble. The dark king and queen have kept themselves hidden so long...”
They both stayed silent for several moments before Rich sniffed loudly and turned around, channeling his anger to keep sadness from overwhelming him. “We never should have trusted them. After all the help we gave them, they still turned around and stabbed us in the back! We can’t let them get away with this! We need to—”
Rich’s face reddened, and he flung his arms around as he talked. Aaron clapped his hands on Rich’s shoulders. “Rich, we can’t focus on revenge. I know you want to. Palad knows I want to. But if we do, we won’t survive. If we don’t have a queen and a king soon, we will all perish. All of our powers will cease to work, and the dark knights and the gray knights will sweep us away.”
Rich’s anger gave way to panic, his breathing coming faster. There was still so much he didn’t know. How was any of this supposed to work? “So, do we have an election or something? Because if that’s it, I want to make sure I’m not on the ballot.”
Motioning for Rich to follow, Aaron explained as they returned to the main hall. “The king and queen leave a message to be read in the event that something happens to them. I’m sure one of the senior knights is fetching it as we speak.”
They reached the main room and watched as the remaining knights filtered in a few at a time, some wandering in a daze and other rushing off as though the Sanctuary was still under attack.
All the activity in the room stopped as a knight with a red beard entered the room, carrying an alabaster candelabra with two spots for candles. In the absence of a table, he took his place at what might have been the head and held the candelabra in one hand. Rich could see that one candle had been made to resemble the white king piece and the other the white queen.
All the knights in the room formed a loose ring around the broken table and watched in silence as the red-haired knight accepted a lit candle from another knight and touched the flame to the king candles.
As soon as the flame ignited the wick, a loud voice, Rich’s grandfather’s, filled the room.
“I record this message upon the event of my death or banishment, knowing that it is more likely in the dark days to come. If I have left you, I fear that the power of the Sunstone has diminished too far and our worst fears have been realized.”
The sound of his grandfather’s voice sent pain like dozens of tiny needles poking into Rich’s heart. How could he really be gone?
“As this candle will not burn long, I will be brief in my counsel to all of you. First, remain strong and do not take too long to grieve. Save that for after the battle is won and life’s balance is restored. Save your energy for the battle to come.”
Despite his grandfather’s words, Rich could hear quite a bit of muffled sniffling around the room.
“Secondly, the succession of the next king and queen must happen immediately. After giving this much thought, I come to you with a most unusual recommendation, one that you may not trust at first. I do not condemn your doubts, but I ask you to put them aside and to trust me. For reasons I do not have the time to explain in this short message, Heinrich, my grandson, must be named the next king of the paladin order.”
Rich felt the air chill around him as he drew in a breath that stuck in his lungs. In a time full of shocking news, this he had expected the least. He knew that all eyes must be trained on him, but he didn’t move his own, staring off into space as though he had been struck blind. But the incredible words did not st
op.
“As I do not know how long it will be until my demise, I do not know if Heinrich will have yet chosen a companion. According to the ancient rules of our order, the queen must be the king’s companion, and as such, the choice has already been made or will be made by him. I trust his judgment, even though if he has already made this choice, he did not realize the gravity of it.”
Now Rich really didn’t want to look around. He hadn’t made that choice, hadn’t even know that he needed to make that choice. But this wasn’t something he could put off. Aaron had said that if they didn’t have a new king and queen soon, they all would die. But how could he step up and lead the order? He didn’t have half the experience of most of these other knights, and there was still so much he didn’t know.
“Be strong, my brothers and sisters. I’m confident that you will succeed in doing what generations before you could not. Until we meet again, may you all walk in the paths of peace and favor.”
His grandfather’s voice died away, and Rich turned to look at the candle. It had burned down completely, and the flame had flickered out.
A knight lit the queen candle, and Minerva’s voice now filled the room.
“I too record this message in the event of my demise. My husband has explained the importance of quick succession. I wish to speak to you of another problem you are facing, or will soon face. The Sunstone is dangerously low on power and will soon reach a critical point, if it has not already. You might attempt to secure the other stones, but this task will surely result in great loss of life. Should this not be feasible, there is another way, though you may hesitate to take it.
“The new king and queen can choose to take the sunstone back to its place of origin, a realm known as the Centerspace. It is the place where all of the many worlds in existence connect. The directions to this place are accessible to the new queen and king, who can take the stone and restore its power where it came into being. The road is there is very dangerous and difficult to navigate. There is a definite chance that you will not return, which will make the situation much worse. I trust that those who remain will make the best decision for the future of the order.”
Rich tried to add this bit of information to all that he had already learned, and he couldn’t quite wrap his mind around it. Something told him this would be the only way forward. He would have to pick his “queen” and go with her on an extremely perilous quest, with everything riding on it.
The pressure inside his head built, and he could feel himself losing his grip on consciousness. His knees gave way, and everything closed around him to black.
“Heinrich.” Arlenen’s voice came from the mists. “Heinrich, can you hear me?”
Rich came to himself in his dream and could see Arlenen’s familiar bearded face not far away from his own. The old man stepped back and offered him a hand. Rich took it and got his feet, feeling much less unstable than he had in the waking world. “Whoa, I think I passed out. Are you here to get me back to the party?”
Arlenen snorted, shaking his head. “If that is your idea of a party, you had a miserable childhood indeed. No, I’m not ready to send you back yet. I believe you have just discovered the reason for which I had been visiting you in your dreams.”
His choice of a queen. For once, Rich felt immensely grateful for Arlenen’s company. Perhaps he should have been a little more grateful before. “Yeah, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out. But really, I don’t know if I can do this. I wasn’t going to make any sort of decision like this for a long time.”
“You’ve had to grow up quickly, Heinrich. I truly do mourn the fact that your childhood has been stolen from you. I cannot promise that you will ever get it back. But now, you must make a decision for the good of all of us.”
As much as he wished this was all an awful bad dream, he knew Arlenen was right. But then again, where did he even begin? Even if he chose someone to be his queen, wouldn’t she have to be okay with that?
“I should point something out,” Arlenen said. “As this is a dream, I can sense your thoughts and feelings to some degree. When you choose your companion, it is not the same as getting married, though that does happen in many cases. But it is a very strong bond. Usually, it can only be broken through death.”
Rich couldn’t dismiss the idea that this was more than likely where they were going.
“I guess there aren’t that many choices, right?” Rich asked. “But what do you think? I mean, you’re the expert, right?”
Arlenen stared directly in Rich’s eyes, and Rich gasped. In that instant, they looked like he was staring into a pair of bottomless pits. A tingle shot through him for a moment, and then Arlenen blinked.
“Yes, your true choices are few. I will present you with three.” He drew in a deep breath. “First, you could choose someone who is not yet a knight, in your case, Angela. She is already loyal to you and as intelligent as they come. It can be extremely helpful at times to have someone from outside either of the knightly families to provide insight. You would do well to have her by your side.”
Yes, Rich thought. I would. She has always had my back, and been on my side even when no one else was. She was there long before Nadia was. But this mission was going to be dangerous, and she didn’t have any experience with being a knight. It wasn’t going to be as easy as working on a history report together.
“Secondly, you could choose someone who has the blood of a knight in her veins and is already your ally. Nadia fits that description well, especially because you are not close to any paladin women around your age. She has a courageous heart and a cunning mind. She has also proven that she can hold her own in a fight. You will need that in the coming days.”
Then again, Nadia had been acting so strangely since she’d been captured by the dark knights. Was there something she wasn’t telling him? Was there something wrong that she hadn’t explained to him? He didn’t know if he could really trust her. Maybe she would open up more if she were the queen to his king.
“And finally, you might make the most audacious choice of all. You might choose Mallory.”
Rich held up both hands. “Hey, let me stop you right there. She’s not in the running.”
Arlenen nodded, but kept talking. “Listen to me, Rich. If you choose someone who is already a knight, you have the advantage of being able to temporarily share powers. If you choose someone who is a dark knight, you can borrow her great offensive powers in the heat of battle. You would be able to shapeshift at the same time, turning into a force to be reckoned with.”
He did have a point there. Two Hydras would always be better than one.
“But do other knights actually do that? I mean, she’s a dark knight. How could she become the white queen?” Rich asked, gradually lowering his hands. “Sounds dangerous. She might just use me and then kill me when she’s done to get out of it.”
Arlenen raised a finger. “She would have to become a Paladin through adoption, which she might not accept. I’m sure you recall how she made you the offer to be adopted as a dark knight once. This would be a similar process, and once she was your queen, her highest priority would be protecting you. The process of severing this bond beyond a king and queen is a very unpleasant experience for the one left behind. If one partner dies, the other partner sometimes dies as well. And if not, the recovery process is long and difficult. If you were bonded to Mallory, it would act as a powerful deterrent for her causing you harm.”
As comforting as that would be, it didn’t seem like enough. She had done so many terrible things to him, had literally been the “girl of his nightmares.” How could he stand working so closely with her?
Then again, maybe it was the best for the good of the mission. The thought sent a wave of panic through him so his entire
body shook, first gently and then in uncontrollable waves.
Arlenen reached out and placed both hands on Rich’s shoulders. Right away, the mighty hands calmed his shaking, and once his body calmed, his mind gradually followed.
“Heinrich...Rich,” Arlenen said. “I can’t imagine how impossible this choice must seem to you. I want you to know that I trust you. Whatever you chose, I will remain here as your constant advisor and supporter. You will not have to face this alone.”
Rich bowed his head and closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. He could do this. He needed to do this.
“Nadia,” he said. “I choose Nadia.”
Arlenen straightened, looking back at Rich with a benevolent smile. “A good choice, Rich. The two of you will make an excellent team.”
The mists swirled quickly, and Rich felt himself catapulted upward.
CHAPTER 23: RICH’S QUEEN
Rich gasped awake, surrounded by healers. Among them, he recognized the one who had helped him after he’d gotten the brand on his arm after fighting his nemesis. Now the brand burned, feeling as tender as when he’d first gotten it. A few of them helped him to his feet and Aaron rushed to his side, followed closely by Angela and Nadia.
“Rich, thank goodness you’re awake,” Aaron cried. “We’re getting reports of nemesis attacks all over the world. The balance has been thrown off even worse than last time. Our mages also tell us that they still can detect a dark knight in the building. We’re searching everywhere, but that might take a while. We need to hurry with the coronation or it will cost many lives.”
His decision already made, Rich nodded and turned to Nadia. Through her face was bruised, her hair a mess, to him, she was still the perfect example of powerful beauty. “I want you to be my queen, Nadia. When things get tough, which they really have, I want you next to me.”
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