Heart of the Dragon King

by J Boothby

  I shake her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Kylie,” Uriah says slowly, “Elohan is my wife.”

  I blink. For a minute, I’m not sure I heard my uncle correctly.

  Whoah, Devon whispers.

  “How long have you two…”

  “All of your life,” she says, smiling. “Since before you were born.”

  Uriah is watching me to see how I’ll react.

  There’s a snappy comeback for this, I know there is. I just can’t find it. I stand there for a minute with my mouth open. “I...”

  “It’s a lot to take in,” Elohan says. “I’m sorry about that.”

  My uncle is married? I try to reconcile that with the single-dad uncle I know, the scattered, messy one who spent so much time raising me. The two images of him just don’t want to come together in the same space-time continuum.

  “Maybe we should all sit down,” Uriah says.

  That sounds like a good idea. I pull out a chair from the table and fall into it. Uriah opens wine. I pass the glasses around the table. Elohan thanks me. Xandro studies me strangely as I hand him his glass, without speaking, and I’m not sure what to make of that. Zara looks at hers thoughtfully, and Devon shoots his back like a shot as soon as I hand it to him. Uriah pours a glass of whiskey for himself from another bottle. Laphroiag, his favorite. I can smell it from across the table.

  “Tell me a story, uncle,” I say. It’s what I used to ask him at bedtime. “Tell me a story about an uncle who lied to his niece about her family’s entire secret life in the Elhyra.”

  He snorts. He sits up straight, the way he always would in the chair next to my bed.

  “This is a story about a sister and a brother,” he says. “Twins who tried to make the world a little better.”

  “You’re sure that’s the same story?”

  “I’m absolutely positive.”

  “You may proceed.” It’s also what I would have said as a kid. I may have been a pompous child, but had to have learned it from somewhere, didn’t I?

  He leans forward. “Your mother, Sarah was a brilliant scientist, Kylie. A particle physicist much smarter than any of the rest of us. She was recruited out of MIT by a very wealthy man named Erik Bennett to help him understand a new energy particle his labs had detected. This particle hadn’t been seen before. Still, Erik’s lab had developed a process to track them flowing in regular patterns through many places on the planet.”

  “Lei lines,” Devon says.

  “Exactly. Sarah determined that not only could these be tracked, but that they could be collected and focused through devices. They set up a lab in New York to experiment with what they hoped would be a new energy source.

  “Poughkeepsie?” I’m remembering the photo Max had shown me.

  “Yep,” he says. He takes a drink of whiskey. “Natural, clean, and completely environmentally safe energy. She got me a job as a programmer to help build some of those devices, so I moved up there too. Everything was going well until—”

  “Until something went wrong?”

  “Until something went right, actually. They were able to tap the energy. They were also able to store it in specially constructed batteries and to use transmitters to focus it wherever they wanted. They also learned something else.”

  “They learned that all of the energy came from the Elhyra,” Elohan says, leaning forward. “Though you did not know what to call it yet.”

  Uriah nods. “Sarah determined that the source of the aether was from somewhere else—somewhere tightly connected to the reality that we knew, but just adjacent to it.”

  “Another dimension?” Zara asks.

  “Another universe,” Devon agrees.

  “Technically, the same universe,” Uriah says. “Just a part of it we had not seen before.”

  “A shadow world,” Devon says.

  Xandro sits up straight. “We think of you as the shadow,” he says haughtily. “For good reason, too.” He speaks English with a strong accent.

  Uriah makes placating motions with his hands. “We’re all tightly interconnected—we know that now. I’m not sure the details really matter. But this is where your mom and Erik disagreed. Sarah wanted to publish their findings so other scientists could help study the aether. Erik wanted to find a way into the Elhyra. He wanted to locate and control the source of the energy.”

  “So you opened the way into the Elhyra,” I say.

  “I didn’t get a vote, and Erik had all the money,” he shrugs. “So yeah, we did.”

  “And you found the Narrow King,” I say.

  Uriah nods. “And a whole lot more. But—”

  “But the Elhyra was beautiful,” Elohan says. “Wonderfully so, Kylie. It’s not like it is today. And we were happy to welcome you, humans, into it. The Narrow King was not who he is now, and neither were we.”

  “And then you destroyed it,” Xandro says, slamming his fist onto the table. All of the wine glasses bounce.

  Xyr leans forward. “Enough, Xandro. Your enemies are not at this table.”

  Xandro crosses his arms over his chest and sits back with a dark look on his elegant face.

  Uriah sighs. “Xandro’s not wrong. It’s a much longer story than we have time for, but we were welcomed into the Elhyra as honored guests, ok? The Narrow King and his court were as eager to learn about us and our world as we were to learn about theirs. Over time, after repeated visits, we were invited to stay for a while. Several of us lived in the Elhyra for nearly five years.”

  I’m astonished. “That’s a long time!”

  “It was like we were living in a dream,” Uriah says. He reaches over and takes Elohan’s hand. “It was glorious, really. A fairytale land of floating castles and stately old forests. Oldmothers drifting through the skies. Beautiful ships ghosting across a warm, glowing sea.”

  “It’s where you were born, Kylie,” Elohan says. “That Elhyra will always be a part of you.”

  “So I was right,” Kylie says. ‘That’s why I’m still remembering things.”

  Uriah nods. “But Erik Bennett wouldn’t give up his quest for the source of the aether. The short version of the story is that he found it, and he tried to take it.”

  “The Sundering.” Xyr says, frowning.

  “The Sundering. Erik’s machines shattered the Elhyra into pieces, and in the process they killed members of the Narrow King’s family. Your mother…”

  Uriah looks away and clears his throat. His eyes look wet.

  “Sarah died trying to stop him. Erik died as well. And the rest of us had to flee.”

  Zara leans forward. “Why?”

  Xyr clears her throat. “In his grief, the Narrow King blamed all of you humans for his loss. Understand: for an oldfather, family means all. In losing that, he was forever broken. When he sought revenge, you all were his target.”

  Xyr’s glass of wine is still untouched in front of her.

  “We still are,” Uriah says. “With all of Earth included. It has taken him a long time to build his power back. Now that he has, we don’t have a lot that can stand against him.”

  That sounds pretty bad. “How did you escape?”

  Uriah nods. “Xyr helped us. We ran with you through the Whisperlands, Kylie. Once we got to Earth, I hid us as best I could.”

  “In a bar called Poe’s on a street in the Fan?”

  He nods. “In a place that had no connection to the Elhyra at all. At least not at first. When you started to develop your abilities, I did the best I could to keep you safe.”

  “But you have a wife here.”

  Uriah looks at Elohan, down at his glass of whiskey, and then back at me. “We talked about it, and we decided together. Once you were on your own, I knew I needed to come back here and help. We knew the Narrow King was building his strength back, that we would need to stand against him for the sake of the Elhyra and for Earth too. I wasn’t the first Sparrow. I’m just the one that’s left.”

  It’s a lot to take
in. I look around the table.

  Zara is quiet, thoughtful—she’s processing.

  Devon looks pretty concerned.

  Xandro stares back at me, angrily, like all of this is my fault. I want to flip him off, but I’m thinking there’s probably a better time for that.

  Xyr looks impatient, like she’s ready to go fight something, and Elohan looks sympathetically from me to Uriah and back.

  A tremor passes through the castle.

  The wine in my glass shakes.

  Uriah drains his whiskey and sets it back on the table. “So there’s a lot more to tell you, Kylie, and no time to tell it. The Narrow King rages now. He has corrupted armies that he’s been stealing from Earth. We have been able to hold him back, but now I think all of that’s about to change.”

  I have a bad feeling about what he’s going to say next. “This is where the key comes in, doesn’t it,” I say.

  He frowns. “Unfortunately, yes. The Sundering fractured the Narrow King’s power. Part of that, we hid in the chamber with Sarah’s casket. We thought the only way in and out of the chamber was through that one mirror, the one we disconnected from the Whisperlands. The single key that would work on it—”

  “Was the one you asked me to hide. So Max was looking for the stone,” I say.

  “Essentially a part of the Narrow King’s heart,” Uriah agrees. “If Erik’s son took the key from you, and found a way to bring the heart to the Narrow King, it means he now has the power he needs to pull the Elhyra back together.”

  “Which means our death,” mutters Xandro. “Everyone that has stood with the Sparrow.”

  “And after that, it means his next stop is Earth,” Uriah says. “So, we have to stop him now.”

  “It is a fool’s errand,” Xyr says. “You know that Uriah.”

  “What is?” I say.

  “Your uncle wants to face the Narrow King in his home,” Elohan says. “The city of Elathor.”

  “Not exactly,” Uriah says, shaking his head. “I’d be thrilled to never see him at all. But if he has the heart, we need to go there. We need to get it back.”

  “What about the others?” Elohan says.

  “Others?” I ask.

  “Not everyone in Elathor is fully under the Narrow King’s thrall,” Uriah says. “There are those who will resist him, if given a reason. But it could mean their deaths if they were caught.”

  “I’ll come with you,” I say.

  “No!” Uriah, Zara, Devon, and Xyr all say, simultaneously.

  Then they all look at each other, surprised.

  “Look, I’m not going to argue with you,” I say. “It’s my fault he has it back. Besides, that’s probably where Sam is, and I’m going to bring him back home too.”

  I cross my arms over my chest. “It’s not up for debate.”

  “If the boy is a harbinger, he should be killed,” Xandro says.

  “What is wrong with you,” I say. “He’s just a little boy.”

  “He is a powerful weapon, just like you are. The younger he is, the easier he will be for the Narrow King to manipulate. He will use him to destroy all of us, and all of your world as well.”

  “Which is one of the reasons you cannot go to Elathor, Kylie Walker,” says Xyr. “You, too, could become the Narrow King’s weapon.”

  “There are other reasons?”

  “You could die,” Zara says. “That’s one.”

  “And we kind of like you in one piece,” Devon agrees.

  The others are silent.

  I don’t like the way my uncle, Xyr, and Elohan are all looking meaningfully at each other.

  “What,” I say. “What are you not telling me?”

  “You should tell her, Uriah,” Elohan says quietly. “She deserves to know.”

  Uriah shakes his head. “It’s not the right time.”

  “It will never be the right time. You know that.”

  “What?” I have a sinking feeling that I know what he’s about to say. “What is it?”

  He won’t meet my eyes. “Kylie, who do you think your father was?”

  I’m not sure I want to hear this. “Tell me it wasn’t Erik Bennet.”

  Uriah shakes his head.

  For a minute, I’m relieved.

  “Erik was not your father. He and Sarah worked closely together, but Erik already had a family. His wife and son didn’t come to the Elhyra with him, though it sounds like the Elhyra found them.”

  “Then who…?”

  Oh, hell. I think I know the answer.

  But that can’t be possible.

  Uriah looks at Elohan, who nods slowly. “Your father,” Uriah says, “is the Narrow King.”

  We’re all quiet for a long minute.

  “Holy freaking Star Wars, Batman,” says Devon.

  39

  The Narrow King is my father? It's too much. I shake my head. “So, I'm going to walk out of this room and come back in again, and then I want you to tell me the real story. There's no way that could possibly be true.”

  In my brain that scene in Return of the Jedi is playing, the one where Luke Skywalker is holding on to his severed hand and melodramatically yelling Nooooo! into the wind.

  “Honestly?” Zara says. “I sort of saw that coming.”

  “Really?” Devon looks at her thoughtfully. “Smart thinking.”

  “You have to understand. Before the Sundering, the Narrow King was a very different person,” Uriah says. “Brilliant. Cultured. Erudite.”

  “Beautiful,” Elohan says, wistfully. “At that time.”

  Uriah looks at her. “That too.”

  “Not as beautiful as you,” Elohan says, putting her hand against Uriah's sweaty cheek.

  He snorts. “That's not true. But thanks for saying it.”

  “But…” I say. “But...” There's static running through my brain. “That would make me half smaug.”

  “It's not a bad thing,” Elohan says gently.

  I shake my head. “I didn't mean—”

  “She doesn't look smaug,” Devon says.

  “Because she is aelotar,” Xyr says.

  Elohan nods. “The aelotar are the Syldana who live closest to the aether. Among other things, it means they shape their own form. And as they do, the rest of the Syldana follow. We did not always look like we do today,” she says, gesturing at her face. “But as the Narrow King has chosen his form, and we are shaped in his image.”

  “Your ears were actually pointed when you were a baby, Kylie,” Uriah says. “And when you spent a lot of time with the Morris's, you started to grow fur. I was actually worried you were going to go for tusks, too.”

  “I bet that was cute,” Zara says. “A little furry Kylie running around?”

  “You've lived around humans for so long, now you just look human,” Uriah says. “It's probably not something you do consciously.”

  It's all too hard to believe. I hold my hand up in front of me. “So I'm a daughter of a king and a shifter too? Can I use it to work on my hips?”

  “Probably,” Uriah says, “if that's what's important to you. It seems to happen over months, though. It's not like it's a sudden thing.”

  “We'll still let you in the Shifter Club,” Zara grins.

  “The orrex crave the aelotar,” Xyr says. “It is why they are drawn to you.”

  “So I'm a delicacy? Is that why you never had a mirror in our house?”

  Uriah nods. “Definitely. And once you know they're inside there, watching, it's not easy to forget. But here's the important thing, Kylie.” He looks at me sternly. “The Narrow King doesn't know you're still alive. If he discovers you, he will stop at nothing to get to you.”

  “And if he gets you, and he knows what he has, his power expands exponentially,” Xyr says. “It would be like handing him another heart.”

  “I'm not planning on getting gotten,” I say.

  “You do not know how relentless the Narrow King can be,” Xyr says.

  “Come to the dark
side,” Zara jokes. “We have cookies?”

  “Seriously,” Uriah says. “He will destroy worlds to get to what he wants. Everything you know could be at risk.”

  Another tremor runs through the castle. This one's a lot stronger. Devon's empty glass drops off the edge of the table and shatters. Xyr's full one falls too, but she catches it without looking at it, without spilling a drop. In the courtyard, something large smashes, and I can feel the vibrations up through my feet.

  Uriah stands up. “Look, there's no time left to discuss it. I need to get into Elathor. It's not much of a plan, but it's all we've got left.”

  Elohan looks pale, but she doesn't say anything.

  “I will be in and out before anyone knows I'm even there. And I need your help,” he says, turning to Xyr.

  Xyr looks at him for a long minute. Then she nods, solemnly. “I will open the way.”

  “I'm still coming with you,” I say. “Sam needs me. Don't try and talk me out of it.”

  “Don't be a fool,” Xandro says.

  Uriah looks at me and sighs. “I've learned not to have arguments with you, Kylie. I didn't win them when you were six, and I'm probably not going to start winning them any time soon. But do you hear what I'm saying?”

  I nod. “I need to stay far away from the Narrow King at all costs. Get in, get Sam, get out.”

  “Ok,” Uriah runs his hand back through his greying hair. “Ok.”

  “She'll need backup,” Zara says. “I'm in.”

  Devon nods and gives a thumbs-up. “Same here.”

  “I'm coming too,” Elohan says, quietly.

  Uriah looks at Elohan and sighs. “Are you sure? You can run, namala. Through the Whisperlands. You can find a place to hide with the others. Xyr can guide you, right?”

  “I can,” Xyr says. “If that is what she wishes. But I do not think it is.”

  “It's not what I wish,” Elohan says firmly. “I'm not going to sit here while you sacrifice yourself and wait for our world to end, Uriah. I know the Elhyra well, and I'm just as competent as you are with a weapon. Better, actually.”

  Uriah looks away. After a minute, he nods. “All right,” he says. “It will be good to have you.”

  “I will be there as well,” Xanthos says. He crosses his arms over his chest. “If you will not bring more of your army, at least let me help you.”