by Bryan Davis
“Please show her to her room. Take the back hallway to bypass the children.” He raised a finger. “Oh, and bring the New Table cloaks.”
He picked up Bonnie’s pizza box and neatly folded it in half. “Miss Silver, you’ve had a long journey, and you must get some rest before your next one.”
Bonnie smiled, her tired eyes blinking. “Thank you. I’d like that.”
A few seconds later, Markus came in and laid the folded cloaks next to the wall by the entry door. After handing him the empty boxes, Patrick whispered in his ear. Markus nodded and led Bonnie toward the exit, her backpack hanging limply over her shoulder. Just before passing through the doorway, she waved at Billy with one of her wings.
The professor patted Billy on the back. “William had a difficult night as well. I suggest that he also gather his strength.”
“As should you, Merlin, but I don’t have another available room.”
“I can nod off in my chair, but I would sleep better if William had a bed.”
Sir Patrick extended his arm toward his cot against the wall. “Will my bed be sufficient?”
Billy slid out of his chair and shuffled to the spindly bed. He yawned again and sat on the edge. “I think I could sleep on a bed of nails if I had to.” He stretched out on his back and intertwined his fingers behind his head. Within seconds of closing his eyes, he was dreaming, floating over dark clouds in a star-sprinkled sky. He had experienced this dream a hundred times before, flying with dragon wings over high-topped thunderheads in the middle of the night. It seemed so real, yet he knew he was dreaming, predicting the events before they occurred. Next came his usual dive into the clouds and then farther down into the stormy air currents below.
Three dragons flew past. One of them, Clefspeare, his father in dragon form, circled back. It orbited him three times, then zoomed away and joined the other two.
Billy finally landed on a forest path, rain pelting his head and forming puddles across the muddy trail. Next, if the dream went according to plan, a penguin with an umbrella over his head would walk by and offer it to him. Yes, there he was, waddling down the path, propping the umbrella up with his narrow black wing. It raised the umbrella toward Billy’s hand and opened its mouth to speak, but the words that came out were new. On most nights he said, “Here, my umbrella never leaks.” This time, he croaked a low-pitched warning. “Great danger awaits. Beware of the Watchers.” He then shuffled past Billy and disappeared in a flash of lightning and a thick curtain of driving rain.
As had become common in recent months, a familiar character appeared, Billy’s old nemesis, Palin. The dark knight stood in his path, wielding a sword. “Come on! Fight me face-to-face! Or are you still a coward who can only attack from behind?” As Billy drew nearer, Palin vanished, but his voice echoed in the darkness, “You’re just like me, boy. You’re just like me.”
Billy ventured on in the gloom of his dream, trudging through muddy water in a cemetery littered with bones. As usual, a white glow appeared on a distant hill. He hurried toward it, but a fence of shining light dropped down to block his way. He had seen this fence in other dreams, and he knew that touching it would jolt his skeleton right out of his skin. No matter how evil his pursuers, no matter how bright and wonderful his destination, this fence always prevented him from escaping death and darkness. He was never able to figure out how to open it.
A new sound rang out in the dream, the clanging of metal on metal. He spun around. Two men fought with swords, but they looked strange. Their bodies were normal, but they had the heads of lions, complete with sharp teeth and thick manes. One of them roared, yet the roar transformed into words as his bright blade smashed against his opponent’s. “Patrick, he cannot enter the circles. It’s too dangerous!”
The other lion-man countered with a swing of an equally bright sword, and when the two blades met, each one flashed like the sun. “He must go, Merlin! Without him, the prisoners will be trapped forever!”
Another clash sent a current of light through Merlin’s sword, making it too bright to watch. As the blades rubbed together, Merlin gritted his teeth. “Would you exchange their freedom for William’s life? And what if the Watchers are set free? Would you risk the safety of the entire planet?”
Suddenly, the dream took another new turn. The earth collapsed beneath Billy’s feet, sending him plunging downward in a swirl of bright lights. His body throbbed, and a horrible squeal pierced his ears and sent numbing shock waves through his brain. He landed on his feet and stood alone in darkness. Above, he could still see the hole he had fallen through, so far away it seemed like a solitary star in an ink black sky.
A loud crack jolted Billy out of his dream world, and his eyes snapped open. The sun had already set, leaving only early evening twilight peering in through the hole in the ceiling. A single lantern sat on the floor between him and the center of the room, shedding dim light throughout the chamber. The professor and Sir Patrick stared at him, each man sitting in one of the dining chairs, their elbows resting on the arms. Their faces seemed tense, locked jaws around tight lips.
Sir Patrick’s complexion had turned gray, making him look much older. He rocked his head upward. “Merlin, I think we should inform William of the danger and let him choose. I will abide by his decision.”
Patrick’s words mixed with the sound of heavy rain ripping across the floor at the center of the room. A peal of thunder answered, and a gust of wind swept a blanket of mist across the faces of the two gentlemen, relaxing their tense cheeks.
Professor Hamilton wrung his hands together, then tightened his intertwined fingers. “William, Sir Patrick has revealed to me that your mission is more dangerous than I knew. He believes it is vital and that you should go anyway, but since we cannot wait for your mother’s counsel, the decision is up to you and Miss Silver.”
Billy searched the professor’s sad gray eyes. Prof was definitely worried, more worried than he had ever seen him. After a few seconds, his teacher’s countenance suddenly brightened. Billy swung his head around. Aha! Bonnie was standing just inside the doorway. The lantern’s flickering wick cast dancing shadows across her smiling face, covering her blonde tresses with orange ribbons of light.
Patrick rose from his chair, and the professor and Billy followed suit, each giving her a gentlemanly nod. Patrick beckoned her in. “Please come and join us. I assume you are more rested now?”
Bonnie glided toward the chairs, clutching her empty backpack in one hand. “Fit as a fiddle.” She sat in the dining chair Patrick had vacated. “I was snoozing like a log until that thunderclap rattled my window.”
Patrick placed his hand gently on her shoulder. “A startling yet effective alarm clock indeed. But it’s good that you’ve come. It’s time to tell both of you about your mission.” He stepped over to the cot and sat next to Billy, folding his hands in his lap. “We have long believed that a king in Arthur’s mold would come at our time of greatest need, and your professor believes that you, Billy, have proven yourself to be the one, both by virtue of your lineage and your deeds.”
Billy pinched the edge of the cot’s blanket. “But I can’t possibly rule a country. I can barely keep my own room clean.”
Patrick grinned and patted Billy’s back. “Don’t worry, son. You are not called to rule; you are called to rescue. You are to journey into a strange land that we call the Circles of Seven and rescue some prisoners there. As your professor has noted, we suspect that this land has some connection with the afterlife.” Sir Patrick glanced at Professor Hamilton for a moment before turning his gaze back to Billy. “Your mission should have been simple in concept, but complications have arisen. The knights of the New Table plan to coerce you into using your power and authority for their purposes. They aim to trick you into releasing their allies who are also trapped there. The details are sketchy, but they need you to use Excalibur to destroy their prison.”
Billy stood and shoved his hands into his pockets. “So there are prisoners I nee
d to rescue and prisoners I don’t want to rescue. How do I tell the difference?”
Patrick reached for a night table next to the cot and retrieved a tape recorder. “Your professor recorded Merlin’s song, which I believe he sang to you several months ago. We have a few clues in the lyrics and a few more in a poem that I will show you in a moment.” He pressed a button on the player. “Listen while our modern bard sings the old prophet’s song.”
The recorder’s tiny speaker replayed the sound of a chair being dragged and the professor clearing his throat, then crooning the song in his melodic tenor.
With sword and stone, the holy knight,
Darkness as his bane,
Will gather warriors in the light
Cast in heaven’s flame.
He comes to save a remnant band,
Searching with his maid,
But in a sea of sadness finds
His warriors lying splayed.
A valley deep, a valley long
Lay angels dry and dead
Now who can wake their cold, stone hearts
Their bones on table spread?
Like wine that flows in skins made new
The spirit pours out fresh
Can hymns of love bring forth the dead
And give them hearts of flesh?
O will you learn from words of faith
That sing in psalms from heaven
To valley floors where terrors lurk
In circles numbering seven?
The haunting words sent a cold shiver all across Billy’s skin. He remembered the song. It had the same effect on him the last time he heard it.
Patrick waited through a soul-searching pause, then rose to his feet. “Apparently the prisoners you’ll be looking for are helpless and in great need. I get the impression that they will be in a weakened state and desperate, while the allies of the New Table will be in some sort of impenetrable confines that only Excalibur can destroy. Otherwise, the knights would have released them long ago since they hold sway over that domain. They need the Once and Future King and Excalibur to set their evil company free.”
Patrick gazed at the kneeling bench and cross next to the cot. “Even the greatest king of all time turned down an earthly crown to rescue a host of captives.” He leaned over and grasped Billy’s shoulder, his deeply set eyes drilling a laser stare. “Everything else pales when compared to securing freedom through courage and personal sacrifice. From what I have heard, you risked your life to set prisoners free from a candlestone.”
Billy dropped his gaze. “Well . . . yeah . . . I guess so.”
Patrick straightened his body and stepped back. “So this mission is similar, except that it is on a larger scale and more dangerous.” He curled his finger, beckoning for Billy to follow. “And now I want to show you something that will astound you.” He walked toward the north side of the room where a thick green drape veiled the entire wall. Reaching behind the veil, he pulled down on a rope, drawing the curtains apart. A rectangular window appeared, framed by beams of varnished hardwood. The window seemed wide open, no glass, no screens, just a bare hole that led to a dark forest, a tropical jungle of massive trees and dense, fern-like undergrowth.
Billy couldn’t remember seeing any landscape so lush when he arrived at the castle, only bright green fields of perfectly manicured grass stretching out over countless acres. A few majestic oaks had dotted the expansive estate, but nothing like this virtual jungle now before his eyes. Had the long corridor led to a part of the mansion they couldn’t see when they drove up? Was it just a movie projection? It seemed so real, as though they could walk right into the screen and just keep on going, stepping through a maze of age-old trees and green long-leafed ferns.
“We believe this is the first circle of your journey,” Patrick explained, “the first of the seven circles. We know very little about what you will face, only the instructions that Merlin left with us, apparently written over a thousand years ago.”
Billy placed his hand on Excalibur’s scabbard, fingering the engravings in the metal. Somehow the touch brought him comfort as he gazed at the mysterious forest. Nothing seemed to move inside, yet he could tell the place was alive, as though the air was filled with voices that beckoned him to enter and discover its mysteries. “So do we just crawl through that window?” he asked.
“If only it were so simple.” Patrick placed his palm flat against the forest scene. “It’s a solid barrier, as far as we can tell.”
Billy touched the wall with his fingers. It felt cold, and a mild vibration, an electrostatic buzz of some kind, massaged his hand. “So what do Merlin’s instructions say?”
The professor angled the flashlight beam to the right of the forest scene. “Apparently, Merlin etched this message in stone, employing his usual poetic scheme of simple rhyme and meter, but I’m afraid the meaning is far from simple. Merlin decided to be more cryptic than he ever was in his diary. But what is truly astounding is that he must have foreseen the lettering and word usage that would make sense in this present age. The verbiage is hardly ancient, but Patrick’s scientists have verified that it has been there for at least a thousand years.” He stepped back and allowed the light to expand over the entire message. “Read it for yourself.”
Billy leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. The letters were small but perfectly shaped, as though chiseled by a laser stylus. He read out loud.
Young Arthur holds the window’s key
To ancient realms that bear his quest.
The circles know where lie the beasts
Who crave the light, who crave their breath.
The beasts conceal the ancient truths
That dwell behind divided tongues,
But dragons’ hearts reveal their flame
From shining light and psalms well sung.
The prison world awaits a king
To rescue souls who have no hope,
Yet evil spirits also wait
To ride the sword’s redeeming stroke.
In circle one there lies a belt,
The camera’s eye to watch your tale,
A tale as old as man’s first tears
When Adam donned the devil’s veil.
The stone recalls the tale of threats
That lie in circles deeper still.
In letters giving aid and hope
They guide the souls with steadfast will.
You cannot bear this test alone
For faith is edified in pairs,
And bearing witness two agree
Survival rests on faithful prayers.
Beware of mirrors found within
To quell your rival’s fiery darts,
For mirrors sketch our shallow shells;
They cannot fathom human hearts.
Yet mirrors can reflect the truth
And overcome the darkest night;
The perfect law resides in those
Who live by faith and not by sight.
When thinning shadows fade to black
Polaris greets the standing bear,
Then raise the sword to pierce the veil
And strike the pose of saints in prayer.
Billy rubbed his eyes and followed the flashlight beam back to the professor. “Is that why you mentioned Polaris to me this morning? Because it’s in the poem?”
The professor aimed the beam at the line about Polaris. “I knew about the poem, William, to be sure, but I used Polaris to illustrate light and guidance, which I’m sure many teachers, like Merlin, have done in the past. Here he seems to indicate your departure time. I looked up the astronomical charts for tonight, and it seems that Ursa Major will be standing completely upright at about seven o’clock. It will be quite dark by then, so all shadows will have faded to black.”
Bonnie lowered her backpack to the floor, hanging on to one strap. “I guess Merlin’s talking about me when he says, ‘faith is edified in pairs.’”
“I think that’s a fair deduction,” the professor replied,
“considering that the song also refers to searching with a maid. It’s a dangerous journey, but I assume you won’t be changing your mind about accompanying William.”
Bonnie smiled and shook her head. “After what we’ve been through together? Not a chance.” She lifted the backpack a few inches. “What do you think? Should I leave this here or take it with me?”
The professor pressed a finger on his lower lip. “Because of the danger, I think you should probably be ready to fly on a second’s notice.” He turned to Sir Patrick, raising his brow. “Agreed?”
Sir Patrick stood with his arms crossed, tapping his foot on the stone floor. “All souls are laid bare in that domain. Even perceptions of the mind become visible to the eyes.”
Flashing a half-smile, Bonnie dropped the backpack. “I guess that means ‘leave it here.’”
The professor gave Sir Patrick a quizzical stare but kept silent. He then placed both hands on Billy’s shoulders. “William, as far as we know, these prisoners have been waiting for many years, and no one else is able to rescue them. That’s why I approved of your participation. Lives are at stake. But now we know about the increased danger, and I am concerned, very concerned, yet I also have confidence in Merlin. It is apparent that he has intimate knowledge of what lies ahead, and his counsel is trustworthy. In the end, of course, it’s up to you to decide.”