Scarlet and the Keepers of Light

by Brandon Charles West

Moments later, the dancing lights of the Tounder surrounded him, and he began to shrink. Once he’d reached the right size, the Tounder gathered him up and whisked him quickly away to the castle in Illuminora. They carried him to the room he had shared with Allie and sent for Xavier at once.

  Charles was near delirium by the time Xavier arrived with Allie, Melody, and Cricket. Seeing the state he was in, Xavier asked Cricket if she could take Melody downstairs for a while. Although Melody nearly pitched a fit at being taken away from her father, she eventually followed Cricket out, leaving Xavier and Allie to tend to Charles.

  “Charles,” Allie sobbed. “What’s happened? Where’s Scarlet?” She was doing her best to hold off hysterics, but they weren’t far away.

  Xavier was checking Charles over, whispering chants, and occasionally bathing him in light. He examined Charles’s right hand especially carefully, then called for a Tounder waiting outside the door to bring water. “He has a fever and is severely dehydrated,” Xavier said to Allie. “His hand has been exposed to a powerful bit of dark magic.”

  After the Tounder returned, Allie raised the glass of Tounder water to her husband’s lips while Xavier performed a series of light incantations over his hand. Finally, Charles lapsed into an uneasy sleep.

  Xavier took Allie to the side, away from the bed. “He’s going to be fine. In a couple of hours he’ll be able to speak to us. I won’t lie to you—something has gone very wrong.”

  “Is Scarlet . . . is she . . . oh God!” Allie wailed.

  “No, no. Scarlet is alive. We are connected now, through the magic we share as student and teacher. I would know if she wasn’t. I promise you.”

  Xavier’s promise seemed to give Allie a small degree of peace. It didn’t help explain where her daughter was and why her husband had returned without her, though. She went back to the bedside and sat down in a chair, taking her husband’s hand as she wept.

  Charles woke several hours later with a start, calling out for Scarlet. It took him a minute to realize where he was, and before he could say anything, Xavier had appeared beside Mrs. Hopewell.

  “Where’s Scarlet?” Mrs. Hopewell asked, unable to wait a second longer.

  Tears pooled in Mr. Hopewell’s eyes as he looked from his wife to Xavier, his face contorted with sorrow and guilt. “I should never have left her,” he cried. “I walked ahead to find us some shelter from the storm, and it came for them—for her. I had her—the strap tore off.”

  “What storm?” Xavier asked a rising panic in his voice.

  “Black. Endless black clouds that sucked them away. I waited for days. There was no sign of them. They just disappeared.”

  “Black clouds. Like a fog. It took them away,” Xavier repeated. Charles nodded. “I’m sorry,” Xavier said suddenly. “I must go. I’ll be back soon, or if you feel up to it, meet me later in the library.” And with that he vanished, moving more quickly than Charles had ever seen him move.

  Allie leaned down and wrapped her arms around her husband, holding him tightly as they both wept.

  ***

  An hour later, although he still felt weak and emotionally drained, Charles forced himself to get out of bed and go find Xavier. He was in desperate need of answers, and he couldn’t wait any longer to get them. Wherever Scarlet was, she was alive; Charles had gathered that much from Allie. What mattered now, more than anything else in the world, was finding his little girl and keeping her safe. The weight of guilt that bore down on him as he made his way to the library was crippling. Regret over letting Scarlet go on the quest, letting himself be sucked into the idea . . . He couldn’t help but feel that he had failed her as a father. He hadn’t protected her.

  Xavier was sitting in his high-backed chair when Charles found him, desperately searching through the enchanted leather-bound book. The patience he’d developed with old age, the ability to let the passages he wanted come to him, had failed him, it seemed. Not until Charles had come all the way into the library and was standing before him did Xavier notice his presence.

  “You look much better.” Xavier’s voice was full of weariness. He looked as if he had aged considerably in the past few hours. “You’ll need more rest, though.”

  “Where is Scarlet?” Charles demanded. “Where is my little girl?”

  Xavier sighed. “She is back in your world, with Dakota and Delfi.”

  “How is that possible? I thought . . . I don’t know what I thought. What is going on?” Mr. Hopewell’s voice was full of desperation. Unable to stand still any longer, he began to pace feverishly in front of Xavier.

  “I have made a horrible miscalculation,” Xavier admitted, his eyes deeply apologetic. “Prince Thanerbos has played me for the old fool that I am. The attack on Leona, the Mortada he stationed around Illuminora, it was all a ruse. A misdirection.”

  “What do you mean, a misdirection?” Charles demanded.

  “To distract me from what he has done to your world, Mr. Hopewell. He is still imprisoned—I’ve had word from the king confirming as much—but his powers are far stronger than I had guessed. He has sent an army to your world. He has torn the very fabric of time. Only months have passed here in Satorium, but fifty years have passed in your world. While we were training for the coming battle, preparing for his eventual escape from prison, he has destroyed that world.” For a moment, Xavier looked completely vanquished. He bowed his head, as if to accept his defeat. But the moment passed. When Xavier looked up, his face was set in a determined smile—more to reassure Charles, he thought, than a reflection of his true feeling.

  “How do you know all this?” Charles asked.

  “Some of the pieces fell into place when I reread old texts of the prophecy. Others I have received from the Doran king. Lastly”—Xavier shrugged—“well, I guessed.”

  “You guessed?” Charles was incredulous.

  “We have some catching up to do,” Xavier announced briskly, avoiding Charles’s question. He stood and began to make his way out of the library.

  “Catching up?” Charles followed Xavier as the old Tounder strode out of the library.

  “We will leave in the morning. He may have won the first round, but the war is not his. We will defeat him.” Xavier briskly led the way through the castle’s mazelike passages, stopping every so often to issue orders to a castle Tounder.

  ***

  Ten minutes later, Charles found himself in the conference room with Xavier and the rest of the Tounder council. This time there was no grumbling or heated debate; all, even Thaniel, sat in silence, waiting with bated breath to hear what Xavier had to say.

  “It has come to my attention that Prince Thanerbos has succeeded in mounting an attack on the human world. While we have been preparing here over the course of the past months, a fifty-year battle has been waged in the land beyond—a battle that has been lost. Minions of the dark prince have overrun the world of Mr. Hopewell and his family. Those humans that remain do so in hiding, or in small pockets of resistance.” Xavier took a moment to let his words sink in.

  The members of the council all looked somberly at Charles, and a few offered their condolences.

  Brynn placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We may be divided by magic, but we are all creatures of the earth. We will do whatever we can to help your world.”

  “That we will,” Xavier chimed in. “I see only one way to do that now. The two worlds must be no more.”

  There was a series of gasps from the council. Thaniel huffed so loudly that he had to look away in embarrassment when Xavier’s flashing eyes locked on him. The council member managed to gather enough courage, however, to add incredulously, “You mean to undo what the great Hulpric brought to pass eons ago?”

  “Times change, Thaniel,” Xavier said sternly. “What was right then is not always right now. The few that remain in Mr. Hopewell’s world are defenseless against the pligh
t they face each and every day. They have fought for fifty years against hopeless odds, and it is time that we come to their aid.”

  “I agree,” Brynn interjected. “I must ask, however, what this means for our plans against Prince Thanerbos.”

  “It only strengthens them, old friend. And in our current circumstance, the two goals are one. Lady Scarlet, the For Tol Don, is trapped in that world. Without access to Satorium, she cannot hope to complete her preparations. Prince Thanerbos now controls the ability to cross over. Our only hope is to take that control away from him by making it obsolete.

  “Before this new development, I had plans to ask Morelpis for his help in repelling the prince’s army from invading Caelesta. I will still make this trip, and I hope that Mr. Hopewell will agree to accompany me.”

  Charles was taken aback. “You want me to go and see the dragon?”

  “Yes. He was once a father, like you, and I believe that your story and your anguish over Scarlet will appeal to him in ways that I cannot. Morelpis is the only creature living now who was alive in Hulpric’s time. If anyone can help us merge the two worlds and reach Scarlet, it will be he.”

  “What of Hulpric’s book?” Brynn asked. “Does it say nothing of this?”

  “I’m afraid that if Hulpric wished us to know how to join the two worlds, he made the information difficult to find. Perhaps he did not want the venture taken too lightly.”

  “Perhaps he didn’t want the venture taken at all,” Thaniel snapped.

  “There is no choice left to us,” Xavier responded. “He separated the two worlds to protect those without magic. His goal is now being threatened by the very means he used to achieve it. The separation only serves to keep the human world in eternal danger now. I will speak to Morelpis. I—we—will not let our worlds fall to Prince Thanerbos.”

  ***

  In the early morning light, Charles knelt beside Melody’s bed, running his fingers through her thick blond hair. She was safe here with the Tounder and her mother. With all the things that he didn’t understand, with all the things that overwhelmed his emotions and his senses, for some reason this one known fact brought him a small measure of peace.

  It had been such a short time to spend with his wife and youngest daughter that when morning came, Charles had felt as if it were no time at all. For the second time in a week, he was saying good-bye with no real knowledge of when he would see his family again. Everything seemed so wildly out of control. He wished that he could freeze time and catch his breath, try to wrap his mind around it all.

  He debated now whether he should wake Melody; her sleep seemed so serene. He did not want her to wake and find him gone, though, and so he lightly rubbed her shoulder until she stirred.

  “Daddy,” she whispered, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

  “Hi, baby. Daddy’s got to go.” A lump rose in his throat.

  Tears came instantly to Melody’s eyes, but she did not sob. She reached out her small arms, and Charles picked her up, holding her tight to his chest. “I love you, Daddy.”

  “I love you too, baby.”

  He held her for a long time before setting her back on the bed. “I want you to listen to me,” he said firmly. “I’m going to bring your sister back, okay? I’m going to bring her back.”

  Melody nodded, a few tears running down her cheek.

  “You be good for Mommy and take care of Cricket, okay?” Charles added. “I’ll be home soon.” Home. A strange concept. Illuminora had now become their home.

  He picked up Melody again, and she began to sing. As Charles held her, listening to her soft voice, he felt a peace deep in his heart he had not known since losing Scarlet. When she had finished, he laid her down and tucked her back into bed.

  “That was beautiful,” he said, leaning down and kissing her cheek.

  “It’s a healing song, Daddy,” Melody said, letting out a big yawn, her eyelids heavy.

  “That it certainly is.”

  Cricket was sitting at the foot of the bed, looking solemnly at him with her big brown eyes. “You take care of her, you hear,” he said to her.

  “I will,” she replied simply.

  Charles and Allie’s good-byes were longer. Charles held Allie as she sobbed, her head buried in his chest. Letting her go was one of the most difficult things he had ever done.

  “I don’t care how cranky that dragon ends up being,” she said sternly at last, brushing away her tears with determination and setting her hand lovingly on Charles’s chest. “You get him to agree. You get him to help us get to Scarlet.”

  “I will, darling.”

  “Maybe you shouldn’t mention that you’re a firefighter, though,” Allie said, managing a smile. “Him being a dragon and all.”

  “I was hoping that might work to my advantage. Put some fear into him.” Charles smiled back at her, and they both chuckled nervously and embraced one last time.

  ***

  Xavier was waiting in the entrance hall, wearing a heavy pack and carrying a staff much like the one he’d given Scarlet. He and Charles had both put on new spider’s-silk traveling clothes.

  “Are you ready, Charles?” Xavier looked as determined as Charles had ever seen him, the aged, wizened professor giving way to the ancient warrior.

  Charles took one last deep breath of the peaceful air of Illuminora, and looked around one more time. He would find Scarlet. He would find her and bring her home.

  “Let’s go meet a dragon,” he said. And perhaps for the first time since he’d arrived in the land of Satorium, such words did not sound at all strange coming from his lips.

  29

  Hulpric’s Book

  Scarlet opened her eyes to soft candlelight. She wiped the sleep from her eyes, and waited for them to adjust to the dim light before looking around. She was in a small room that had been used for private study and reading in the days when the Thomas Jefferson Building was just a library, Ms. Thandiwe had told her. She felt hungry, and a little woozy. In a stiff wooden chair nearby, Delfi was propped up, sleeping with his head in his hands. His chestnut hair was a mess, standing up at weird angles all over his head, and even though he was asleep at that moment, he had the look of someone who had not slept in days.

  “You’re going to get a horrible crick in your neck,” she said, waking Delfi, whose head slipped from his hands as he woke with a jolt.

  “You’re awake!” Delfi exclaimed. “You—you woke up! Just a second—wait just a second.”

  Delfi got up and opened the glass door to the tiny room. Scarlet could hear him yelling so loudly that everyone in the library must have heard him.

  “How long have I been asleep?” Scarlet asked. She raised herself into a sitting position, her muscles feeling a bit stiff from lack of use.

  “Two weeks,” Delfi answered, the smile on his face so broad it seemed it might wrap around the side of his head.

  “Two weeks!”

  “Dakota was afraid you might not wake up at all,” Delfi said, frowning. The memory was a painful one.

  “Dakota’s alive?” Scarlet exclaimed. “And Brennan?”

  “You saved them both. It was amazing. Never seen anything quite so powerful, not even from Xavier. Dakota said it was foolish to risk your life, but I expect he’s gonna be proud all the same.” Delfi’s smile returned as quickly as it had vanished.

  Just then Brennan, Dakota, and Ms. Thandiwe rushed into the room. They were all jammed in like sardines. Dakota wedged his way to where she lay.

  “You silly girl,” he barked. “You risked the fate of the entire world just to save us? Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?”

  Scarlet just smiled back. Despite the sternness in his voice, she could see the tenderness in his deep blue eyes. Besides, it was best just to let him get the fear and frustration off his chest. After all, he’d been w
aiting two weeks.

  Dakota softened a little. “What you did was . . . very brave. Thinking about it now, I probably should have locked you in a closet. I don’t know why I expected anything different from you. You wouldn’t . . . well, you wouldn’t be you if you hadn’t.”

  Brennan leaned down toward Scarlet. “Thank you.” His face and arms still bore the marks of the horrific battle he had fought. Looking at his wounds, Scarlet guessed that he’d carry some of those scars for the rest of his life.

  ***

  After another night’s rest, Scarlet felt well enough to leave her makeshift hospital room and venture out into the rest of the library. Delfi had been busy. Some of the trees Scarlet had called forth to block the tunnels were fruit-bearing. Delfi had added spheres of light to the darkened spaces, and the enchanted trees had responded with a steady supply of apples, pears, and figs. He’d also exposed fresh earth by breaking up some of the tunnel floors, and there was talk of finding seeds and growing vegetables.

  Scarlet gathered her father’s pack, removed the green satin bag containing the seeds she’d saved when she sowed the dwarves’ field, and went to find Delfi. She found him in the Madison tunnel, looking over a pear tree and making sure his sphere of light gave it enough energy to bear fruit.

  “Pretty brilliant,” she said, sneaking up behind him.

  Delfi jumped, spun around, and then laughed when he saw Scarlet. “Yep, you are.”

  “Me, I didn’t even have a clue what kind of trees I was calling up. Giving them light and harvesting the fruit—now that’s brilliant.”

  “Hungry is more like it.” Delfi grinned.

  Scarlet picked one of the pears and bit into it. It was perfectly ripe and extremely juicy. “Oh, these are for you,” she said, handing Delfi the bag.

  “What are they?” he asked, answering his own question as he looked into the bag. “What kind of seeds are they?”

  “I don’t know. Xavier gave them to me, and I gave most to the dwarves. They sprouted into all sorts of stuff in their field. Some of it’s what they used to save you.”