by BJ Hanlon
Edin watched it float down to the surface and sat on the water. A moment later, a bubble rose and it disappeared beneath.
“Um…”
“Ahh,” Fokill yelped. “Too cold.” Fokill yanked his hand back from the statue and stuck his fingers in his mouth.
Edin looked back to where the leaf was. It could’ve been a fish. He’d seen fish come up and snatch flies that had rested on the surface of ponds. “Hold it steady,” Edin said. Slowly he stood, there were no trees close enough for him to steady himself.
He heard a croak from behind him that almost sounded like ‘no.’ Edin put a toe out and tapped the step. He brought his other foot over and then pulled the boat closer.
Fokill stepped out.
“Are you sure?” Arianne said, “we don’t have any rope to tie up.”
“We’ll pull it up onto the steps.” Edin said. “I don’t want to be on that boat anymore.”
Arianne stared at him, her gray-green eyes only gray now. “You think I do? Being cramped up with a pigheaded jerk.” She smiled but a moment later, it faded. “I’m not sure this is the right place to stop for a bite.”
“We have no idea where we are, or where we’re going. Maybe something here can help us get out of this swamp,” Edin said though not very hopeful.
They probably should’ve had this conversation earlier, but in that boat, Edin felt too vulnerable. On land at least, he could see what was beneath him and it was dirt.
“Come on,” Fokill called from the mist behind him. “There’s a building.”
Edin helped Arianne out and stood with her on the cold rock. Their eyes met and he kissed her. “I’ll never let anything happen to you, my haughty princess.”
“Haughty? I do not have to take that from a lowly half noble like you.” Arianne huffed in a mock indignant way. Then she paused. “Who’s going to stop things from happening to you though?”
“Myself of course,” Edin grinned.
She kissed him. “And me.”
Edin bent down and started pulling the boat onto the stairs. “Where’d that guy go?” Edin grunted yanking it up.
“I don’t know…” Arianne said and helped him.
Together, they pulled the boat up the first two steps and onto dry land. Dryish at least and a bit spongy. Edin pulled his sword while Arianne took her bow.
They moved forward and Arianne quickly grabbed his hand. “You remember what the Foci said about the ground that looks solid but isn’t?”
Edin squeezed her hand and stepped gentler tapping a foot to make sure the ground was solid. Or solid enough. Every footstep seemed to dig into the earth and he had to pull it out with a bit of effort. A sound like thuwp came from each of their steps.
“Fokill?” Edin called out. No response. “I feel like he’s going to pop out at any moment,” he whispered. “He’s creepy.”
Arianne didn’t respond, she just squeezed his hand a little tighter. Then, as if by some magic, the fog parted and a giant building appeared in front of them. It was round and tall, disappearing up into the fog above them.
It was the same white stone but untouched by the foliage. The smell changed too, no longer the smell of a man after a pound of beans.
It grew sweet and homey, like a roast meat with gravy and potatoes and carrots.
The place felt good, soothing even. He turned to Arianne, a small smile was on her face but her eyes were distant as if she were remembering something.
“Hey,” Edin said and squeezed her hand.
She looked at him and for the briefest of seconds it seemed like she didn’t know who he was.
Then she smiled. “I wish you’d have been with me in the days of my father’s rule. We had such wonderful banquets, cow or lobster or duck… any food you wished for. And then the sweets, pies made of fruit from all over the land.”
Edin chuckled now thinking about the manor. His home. “I would not be invited to your table. But at my mother’s, there were no banquets, only small cozy dinners. Sometimes with guests, travelers. Some were scholars or philosophers, others just brought news of the outside world. We’d listen to them and drink wine… well my mother did… and just enjoy the night.”
Without the hesitancy from before, they walked quickly to a large wooden door ornately carved with unknown runes that brought a smile to Edin’s face. Everything here did.
The door was slightly ajar and they stepped forward. Edin pulled it open further and a great white light appeared. He blinked as his eyes adjusted.
It took but a moment and then before him, nearly a hundred yards long and fifty wide, was a grand ballroom. Edin was on a landing almost ten feet above the ground floor.
A moment later, he noticed odd light came in through stained glass windows high above them. The sun…
Buttresses flew with magnificent carvings of birds, storks, falcons, and others he didn’t know. The smell of food made his stomach quake and somewhere, he heard a cork pop.
It was as if an unseen banquet was being thrown. There was no sign of Fokill. Edin turned to Arianne, but she was gone.
6
The Haunted Tower
“Arianne!” he shouted and looked around. The door behind him was closed and a large beam sat across it. One that looked to be made of solid gold.
Edin blinked. He looked back toward the hall and saw rows of tables and benches. The tables were covered with gleaming plates and silverware. There were mugs too, tankards, and jewel-encrusted goblets.
Edin spun around, where’d she go? He looked to the walls, there were no passages anywhere. No place to go. He thought he heard her calling him. Her voice faint like a trickle on the wind.
“Arianne!”
The smell of the food was intoxicating. He heard chattering and looked back. People were there now, people standing, people sitting. Many voices, subdued, but there was an air of joviality in them. Edin shook his head.
They weren’t there a minute ago, right? Edin thought. He blinked, trying to figure out what happened and where he was.
“How’d I get here…” he whispered. He saw guards at the door now, both were clad in gold armor, shinning with the great crown on the breastplate. The five gems were making a U above a brilliant white stone.
Over the commotion, he heard his name.
Edin turned back and looked across the great hall.
Seated on a chair high above all the guests sat a man cloaked in a brilliant red robe. On his hand were great rings that twinkled in the firelight. But it was the crown was much more intriguing. He saw the five gemstones, three of which looked intimately familiar.
Edin shook his head, Arianne. Where was she? He remembered something. They got here through… how’d they get here, where’d she go?
“Arianne,” Edin called out.
The room quieted and everyone looked up at him.
“She is getting ready, young Baron,” a voice said from beside him. Edin saw a man dressed in fine livery with a long mustache that circled up at the ends.
Edin looked down at the crowd and saw people he knew, Berka with his family, Dorset, Mersett, the healer Laural, Grent, and Dephina with a small child. Master Horston and his mother… Edin shook his head again.
They were dead. Some of them anyway. Right?
Something caught his eye. Strutting… no floating down the center aisle in a magnificent blue gown that stopped just below the shoulders, came a woman with sunshine hair and a smile that caused his heart to flip. Her neckline plunged and stopped just above her chest and around her neck was a large necklace with a great white diamond.
“Hello my love,” she said. Her voice sounded happy, her tone was formal, as would be the need in such a place. “Come, I wish to introduce you to my family.” Arianne lifted the skirt of her gown and began to climb the steps to Edin.
Edin quickly descended down the stairs to meet her. He suddenly felt embarrassed he was dirty and smelly from… something. “But sweetheart, I am not dressed…” He looked down. He wore
black slacks, a black tunic, and white jerkin and he noticed something on his head, he reached up and felt a hat.
At his hip, strapped in a beautiful black scabbard was Mirage. Edin pulled it.
“Do put that away my love,” Arianne said. “We are here to celebrate. My father has approved our union and now we have but the formality.”
“Formality…” he whispered for a moment not comprehending but a soft smile came across his face and he let the blade slide back down. Somewhere, he heard his name being called but it was probably one of the many people here that knew him.
He’d find time to speak with them later. Edin held out an arm and let Arianne’s long ivory arm slide into his. Edin bent over and kissed her on the cheek.
She beamed as they walked down the center aisle together arm in arm. As they passed, people began to rise and clap.
Arianne leaned her head against his shoulder like so many times, in the caves, on boats at Erasito’s Rise… that was where he met her.
Edin looked up and saw the king, a man with dark hair staring down at him. His eyes were blue and he smiled. But something about those eyes didn’t sit right.
The king raised a hand and the crowd instantly went silent. “Princess Arianne, my beloved daughter, heir to my kingdom.” He paused and Edin felt slightly silly. “Is this the young man you wish to wed?”
“Yes, father,” Arianne said and did a slight curtesy. “Edin de Yaultan of the grand northern province. He is young, but he is brave and true and I love him.”
The king slowly nodded and glanced at his wife. Arianne’s mother wasn’t as dour as the picture he’d seen of her, neither was her father. ‘Artist’s choice,’ Arianne had said. But where did she say that?
“If he is your desire you shall have it, dear daughter.”
Did he just get engaged?
The air was filled with joyous cheers. People stood in a great cacophony of movement. Benches scraped against the floor, tankards were slammed down and then up with clinks and cheers.
He grinned. Edin looked nowhere but at Arianne. So lovely, so pretty and kind.
The king raised his hand and the room quieted to light murmurs.
“As king of the realm, the great land of Bestoria, I hereby offer my blessing to these young people. My daughter, who has sometimes made poor choices.”
Someone coughed ‘Casitas.’ More people laughed and even the king chuckled. Arianne still smiled and squeezed his hand.
“She seems to have made a fine one now. Come, join my table and my family.”
Arianne pulled Edin toward a small set of stairs that rose to the platform which the king and queen sat behind.
There were others at the table, an old woman dabbed her eyes with a white napkin. A stern looking man glared. But the king kicked out a chair in a very un-kingly manner and gestured for Edin to sit.
Arianne sat next to him, still holding his hand. “I am so lucky,” she whispered. There were no jokes in it, no innocent barbs like he’d grown accustomed to. Odd.
Odd, that was the word. He felt that way as he stared out over the people. There were a few hundred in the hall, many looked ecstatic, even his mother. Her great smile flew across the room like a great bird at flight. She’d never have known her son would one day be marrying the princess. She died not knowing that.
Died? She was right there? Where did that thought come from? Edin wondered. He could clearly see her next to Master Horston.
The thought of a ghost flitted through his mind. Edin shook it away.
“Come let us eat and make merriment.”
They did, there were many toasts, mostly to the king and queen and a few others to the princess and Edin. He drank an amazing ale and ate such foods he’d never heard of, sea creatures and lizards from the southern islands.
The food melted in his mouth, every bite of it.
“You know,” a voice said from his right, “being the Ecta Mastrino is hard work.”
Edin looked to the man. Aged and ancient with deep set lines in his face but his eyes were alive and the color of a sage bush Edin had once seen.
“It is.”
“And it takes lots of responsibility. It is said that one with too much on his shoulders will end up with a hunched back.” The man laughed. “Both metaphorically and in truth. Have you ever seen a carter who’d spent his life hauling goods on the docks? Bent over and crooked. They look like they’re inspecting the ground as they step.”
“We’re all searching for something,” Edin said trying to sound philosophical. A few of his words slurred and he realized this. His mind was thick and full of drink.
This man wore bright robes and had a thick chain around his neck. On it, was a small bird like pendant. “This is true, but you need search no more. Can you not see that you are home? Your life here,” he swept a hand before them. “It is grand, a life most can only dream of. You will be king one day; you have the loveliest of brides and people who adore you.”
“It is a great thing.” Edin smiled and felt Arianne’s hand on his.
Then he heard her voice again, it was soft and almost in the back of his head. She said his name.
Edin turned but she wasn’t looking at him, she wasn’t talking, she was just staring out at the people and beaming.
“This is so wonderful,” she said nonchalantly. “When we met, did you ever think we’d be here?”
“No,” Edin said, “this is like a dream.”
“A very good one, my love.”
Suddenly, Edin was rocked forward, his chest hitting the table before him. It felt as if someone had pushed him from the back. Edin turned but no one was there. A ghost?
Why was he thinking about ghosts so much? He had to stop. That wasn’t what he should’ve been pondering at his own party. An engagement party thrown by the King of Bestoria.
Then the tables began to be cleared by servants. They worked so quickly and methodically that it was like seeing Master Horston working on one of his geometry proofs.
A pang of sadness came to him. Why though? Horston was right there. Edin stared at him. The old man was grinning and laughing with Grent and Dephina.
He’d love to go over to them, to reminisce of their travels. Oh, it was grand, he thought, the four of them travelling through the lands. Seeing people and having a fun time.
Fun? Was that the right word? And why were they travelling? Why did it feel like they were always on the run from something?
A band began to play, string instruments and then metal ones, gold or brass Edin couldn’t tell. There were cheers and great laughs as people began to dance on the floor.
Dorset and Cannopina were there, the newlyweds.
Edin remembered their wedding at the Reaches. The dancing and fun. Dorset even picked Edin as his man. The one who’d watch over Canno if something happened to him. Dorset was very glum at that time, it was as if he thought something bad could happen at any moment.
A picture came to him, orange lights floating on the water far below. It was odd. He remembered Le Fie was next to him and he was screaming something. He had a panicked look on his face as if whatever was happening was not good.
“Come, let us dance,” Arianne said taking his hand.
“Remember,” the old man said next to him, “you do not need to be the Ecta Mastrino, not anymore now that we’re all safe.”
Edin nodded.
“Thank you, Master Tilliac,” Arianne said.
“Master Tilliac,” Edin said raising an eyebrow. “You were the one who hid the gemstones?”
The old man tilted his head with a questioning look. “What gemstones?”
The names were on the tip of his tongue, something was moving slow in his head like a waterwheel in a dying stream.
“Never mind,” Edin said and they went toward the dance floor.
They danced for hours, the music was an intoxicant, like the food. The band played slow songs where Edin and Arianne held each other. They played fast songs with dances that Edin
at first didn’t know, but then somehow, he did.
He danced with his mother and the queen as Arianne danced with her father and Horston and Grent.
A cornucopia of happiness rumbled through the great hall and the party seemed as if it’d never stop. It went on and on. The sun was down now and it never seemed to come back up. Edin sweated and laughed, he lifted Arianne at the waist and held her above his head. He didn’t know why.
Edin never felt tired, he never slowed. It was as if some endurance spell was cast on him.
He saw his mother again, standing near the edge of the great circle around the dance floor. Another pang of sadness came over him.
Why?
His name was called, it sounded like Arianne, but her lips never moved. She grinned and his eyes dropped to the large diamond necklace. Something felt wrong about it.
“Edin,” she said, soft and caring. She pushed his chin up with her fingers.
Edin waited for some little comment like ‘eyes up here boy’ or ‘ogling is for wierdos.’ It never came. There is something wrong here.
Edin paused and looked around the ballroom. The dancing continued; couples were swinging around him as if he were a standing stone. Everyone was great, everyone danced as if they were all professionals.
It seemed too rehearsed. Too fake. People who danced, especially when the drinks flowed, tended to get worse. A lot of feet stomping on feet, people taking tumbles and some weird moves. Women would kick off their high heels and dance barefoot.
But not here.
“My love, what is wrong?” Arianne asked slipping her arm through his.
That was another thing, she’d never called him that. Ever.
He saw his mother and Horston again, ghosts. Arianne’s family, Master Tilliac… they were all dead. He remembered now. They’d been dead for a thousand years.
“I’m dreaming…” Edin said under his breath.
“If this is a dream, I never want it to end, my love.”
Edin nodded. That was why he couldn’t remember how he got here, that was why he had clothes that weren’t his and could dance in ways that would astound anyone that ever had seen him cut it up, in the vernacular of the common folk.