Son of the Keeper: Book 1: Principles of Magic

by R. S. Merritt

  “I’m fine sir. Just a headache really. How’s my dad?”

  Mr. Omasa shook his head negatively at that. “We can still save your mom though. We’ll have to hurry. I need to drop you somewhere safe then I can go back for her.”

  Chris may have had a headache and he’d seen enough monsters and death for one day but he would never be the kind of person who could be dropped off somewhere safe while someone he loved was in danger. He remembered how the knight had obeyed him earlier in the day when he asked about saving Chuck instead of going straight home when the wolf demons attacked. He decided to push his luck. He was almost glad his head hurt too much to concentrate because it was going to be a lot easier standing up to Mr. Omasa than it would be standing up to the towering and powerful figure of the knight.

  “There isn’t time. Let’s go straight back for my mom now. I’m going with you.” Chris looked Mr. Omasa straight in the eyes as he said it. He put as much conviction into his voice as he could muster.

  “Aye your highness. I would have expected no less from you but I am oath bound to see to your safety. I’m thinking that oath will change around a bit now that a new era is starting. Let’s try and make it a successful one. Hang on. Let’s go rescue the damsel in distress.”

  With that Mr. Omasa finished getting comfortable in the driver’s seat and backed the van out of the ditch. The van was a little wobbly and pieces of it were falling off and it absolutely was not safe to drive but they didn’t have far to go. Now that they were moving Chris felt a deep fear settling over him for his mom. Glenda would have no idea her husband lay dead out in the field and that monsters could be coming for her at any time. Also, had Mr. Omasa just addressed him as ‘your highness’? What was up with that?

  “Mr. Omasa sir? Don’t slow down but can you tell me what’s going on? Especially anything I need to know to help rescue my mom. Why did you call me ‘your highness’?”

  “Not a lot of time to go into all that right now and the ‘your highness’ just kind of slipped out. For right now let’s just try and hit the basics. First of all, magic is real. It’s probably not what you think of as magic but it is real. Those books you and your little round friend like so much are probably a good generalization of it. I wouldn’t really know since I’m a knight. Knights fight with battle magic only. We wear the armor to protect us against dark magic since magic has serious issues penetrating metal. Those things that have been attacking us are called Corvellans. They are wolf demons which are kind of like the foot soldiers for the horde.”

  Mr. Omasa stopped talking and stared into the rearview mirror at the flashing lights of a police car trying to get him to pull over. Probably due to the fender they were dragging beside them causing sparks to randomly shoot into the air as they drove. They were at the turn to go down the driveway to the lighthouse so he went ahead and pulled in there slowly as if he was just pulling over for the officer. Having the policeman come to the window right now could be an issue. Mr. Omasa was kicking himself for not at least dumping the passengers body before they had started driving this way. He’d wanted a chance to search it first though and had not anticipated a cop pulling them over in the half a mile he needed to drive to make it back to the driveway to the lighthouse.

  Not having a good solution to the problem he decided to just drive fast down the long driveway and hope to get to the lighthouse and rescue Glenda from any monsters that may be encircling her. He knew that Glenda probably was not in immediate danger but as soon as whoever was directing these demons figured out they had lost their main target there would be a lot more of them descending on the peninsula and Glenda would be an obvious choice for a hostage. The cop car behind them was now directing him over its loudspeaker to pull over and stop the van. He really didn’t have time today to try and explain this situation to a cop. He definitely did not have time to sit in a jail cell. He didn’t want to have to kill the police officer but he knew if he messed around too much longer the cop would be calling for backup and that would make it that much harder for them to escape.

  He stopped the van and waited. The policeman asked him to step out of the van. He did. The policeman asked him to lay on the ground with his hands behind his back. He did that as well. The amulet he wore around his neck to disguise him worked on individuals looking at him to show them the base person that the amulet had been designed around but also showed them a little of what the person looking expected to see. Magic required constant focus for it to work. Since it wasn’t practical to have to constantly focus on your appearance Omasa had an amulet to wear that did the job for him. The old knight was the head of his order and had received the amulet from a high level charmer who had worked in special magic since Omasa would be spending so much of his time in the non-magical world.

  The amulet did its job. The policeman saw an old man get out who probably had hit a tree and then not noticed the cop car following him. The cop had called for backup already but he grabbed his radio and told the dispatcher not to worry about it. The situation was under control. Then he walked over to Mr. Omasa and bent down to put handcuffs on the man’s wrists. Omasa brought the hilt of his sword into the man’s temple hard enough that Chris heard a muted thud all the way over in the van. The cop dropped onto the ground like a sack of potatoes. Hoping no one was around in any of the large ocean side mansions to see what had happened Mr. Omasa picked the comatose cop up and put him into the driver seat of the squad car. He seat-belted the cop in so he was sitting upright then got back in the van and started them moving again.

  “Did you kill him?” Chris asked as they drove around the final curve in the long driveway and the lighthouse came into view out at the end of a long straight drive. Mr. Omasa assured Chris he had not killed the cop. He’d just hit him hard enough he hopefully would not wake up anytime soon. They drove past the narrow point where the ocean had covered the road earlier and Chris saw the body of his father laying in the field. A little further up the grass covered hill he saw the bodies of two tourists lying in the grass as well.

  “We can’t just leave him there! We have to stop and get him. We can put him in the van until we find somewhere to bury him.”

  Mr. Omasa looked like he was going to argue they didn’t have enough time but then he pulled over and ran to get the body. He opened up the back of the van and slid in Chucks body before quickly wrapping some of the blankets around it. He also popped open the passenger side door and searched the corpse of the Corvellan that was slumped into the foot well up there. Once he was done taking stuff off the Corvellan he dragged the body over to the seawall and tossed it down for the waves to take away. He did the same with the other two bodies lying in the grass. That grisly chore completed he got back in the van and they drove up to the lighthouse.

  A new fear gripped Chris. Not only was he scared they would not find Glenda inside he was also scared they would find her. At some point he was going to have to tell her the love of her life was lying cold and still in the back of the van wrapped in some cheap blankets. Before they could even get out of the van Glenda came out the front door and yelled to Chris to come see her. Chris started to jump out and go to her. Mr. Omasa told him to focus on her first. Chris did. He saw nothing strange about her so he jumped out of the van and ran over to her. He threw his arms around her and started crying. Too much had happened today and no matter what powers he may possess he was still an eleven-year-old boy who had just lost his father.

  Glenda was trying to comfort him and make sense of what was going on. She’d had a bad feeling for about an hour now that something was wrong. She’d been about to go out and look for Chris and Chuck when the van had pulled into the courtyard. Now Chris was breaking down on her in uncontrollable sobs while trying to tell her something about Chuck but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. She was gripped in the cold vice of fear. Chris and Chuck were her life. She needed them as much as she needed her own heart and hands. She choked back her own emotion and told herself she had to be strong for
Chris.

  Mr. Omasa got out of the van and walked around to where they were standing. Glenda continued to hold Chris against her bosom as she asked Mr. Omasa if he knew where Chuck was. They had not covered this situation in knight school as far as Mr. Omasa could recall. He had no idea how to handle it so he decided to get crazy and go with the truth. He did have an ace up his sleeve to hopefully get her onboard with the truth quickly so they could get out of here without him having to knock her out or tie her up. Both options he figured Chris would frown upon.

  “Glenda, the boy you’ve raised and embrace right now has another name. You and Chuck christened him Christopher Nathaniel Tucker. A strong and honorable name. His Xandian name is Kristobal Alexander Eronin. His mother was the queen of our people and she sent him here for you to raise and me to guard so that he would not be an easy target for the dark ones. You must think I’m completely crazy but I’ll prove myself here in a minute. What you need to know right now is we were attacked earlier today. I suspect there are more attackers on the way right now so we need to get to safety as soon as possible.”

  Glenda had been edging away from Mr. Omasa and giving him a look showing that she didn’t believe a word he said and was worried that he’d been around her son. Mr. Omasa reached up to his neck with both hands and undid the clasp of a leather necklace with a large shark tooth looking object on it. As he did so the illusion that protected him disappeared. Where an old alcoholic with a pot belly had stood a few moments before there was now a tall and dashing knight. The knight bowed in a courtly manner to Glenda. His leather covered armor creaking as he bowed.

  “I extend the thanks and deepest gratitude of our people for the service you have done in raising Chris. Now we need to get you both out of here right now. Can you get the keys to your truck?”

  Chris had looked up when Mr. Omasa took off his charm and revealed his true self.

  “It’s true mom. I don’t know about all of the other parts yet but we were attacked this morning by demon looking things. Dad didn’t make it.” The bad news delivered, Chris took a deep breath and prepared himself to do whatever needed to be done to get his mom to safety. Glenda disappeared inside and then came out with the truck keys. Mr. Omasa went inside to make a quick phone call and grab his bag then he was out and ready to go. He had Glenda and Chris get in the truck then he went around to the van and respectfully moved the body of Chuck from the van to the bed of the pickup truck.

  Glenda saw what he was doing and started sobbing. Looking over at Chris and realizing she needed to be strong right now she visibly made an effort to pull herself back together again. She didn’t know what to make of all of this but she knew how smart Chris was and she had seen the knight’s illusion fall away. She didn’t know if this was all a trick or not but she knew she’d do anything to protect Chris. They drove up the driveway and at the end of the road they took a right turn away from town and towards the interstate. As they moved out of sight of the lighthouse driveway they just missed running into three large black luxury Suburbans with darkly tinted windows. The Suburbans snaked up the hill from town and turned down the driveway towards the lighthouse.

  Chapter 5: Long Live the King

  “Is your name really Mr. Omasa?” Chris asked the man he’d known as his rather boring upstairs neighbor for the last few years as they drove up the two-lane road in a light rain. Chris was sitting in the middle of the bench seat with Glenda sitting by the passenger window. She had her arm firmly around Chris but was staring out the window with a lost look on her face. She would occasionally turn and look at the bundled body lying in the truck bed and shudder.

  “Aye. It’s Omasa. Typically it’s said with a Sir versus a Mister since I’m a knight but it’s my true surname.”

  “Where are we going?” Glenda asked. She had broken out of her trance for the moment and looked worried.

  “We’re headed to my daughter’s house. She’s a witch. I called her before we left and she’s calling a gathering. We’ll know what’s going on soon enough. I have an idea on why you were attacked but I’d like to hear it confirmed before I speak it out loud. It’s not far and I promise once we get there we’ll let you know what’s going on. You must have a million questions.” Sir Omasa paused then looked over directly at Glenda. “I promise you your husband will be buried with the respect he is due and you’ll both be protected.”

  Chris started to ask another question but Omasa was turning into a short driveway with an intercom in front of a large black gate. They had only been driving for about twenty minutes so weren’t terribly far away from the lighthouse. Omasa keyed in some buttons on the keypad to the gate intercom and a hidden motor whirred as the gate pulled back to let them in. Omasa drove through it and the gate started shutting behind them. Chris had expected them to drive into a gated community. Instead they drove about a half mile through an apple orchard with huge trees and then over a bridge into a large circular driveway.

  The house was huge. It was made of some sort of large brownish looking rocks that were cobbled together. It had separate wings and towers that went up to end in giant spirals. It looked like a stubby, enlarged, dark version of Cinderella’s castle. There were multiple limousines and sports cars parked around the circular driveway. Chris still had a pounding headache but he forced himself to focus and see what he could see. Once he focused he saw swirls in the air of some type of power he couldn’t identify. He also saw some strange auras leaking out of the ground in random areas. It was sensory overload and since he did not see anything he understood he went ahead and mentally clicked it off to go back to normal.

  Omasa was staring down at him approvingly. “You see anything we should be concerned about?” He asked. Chris shook his head no and Omasa drove the car around the parking lot and pulled it over to the side by a group of people who were hustling out the front door. Omasa was smiling in a bemused fashion at the group who were rushing to get in the best position to open the door when he stopped.

  “Who are they?” Chris asked.

  “Your subjects. Try and look regal.” With that vague answer and advice Omasa stopped the truck and a large man opened the door and helped Glenda out. Two more men had brought a stretcher out. They carefully pulled the body out of the back of the truck and laid him out on the stretcher. They made sure to keep the blankets in place. They disappeared around the side of the home. Chris stepped out of the truck.

  Every single person with the exception of Glenda went to one knee and slammed their hand against their chest then extended four fingers towards Chris. In one somber voice they all intoned the same ritual sounding phrase.

  “The queen is dead! Long live the King!” Then they remained kneeling on the ground with arms and fingers extended. Chris stared around him wondering what he was supposed to do. He looked over at Omasa who nodded his head at Chris.

  “Everyone please get up now. Thank you.” Chris had no idea what was going on. He was slowly surmising that he’d been left in the lighthouse with Omasa to guard him after the queen had sent him away for some reason. Now the queen was dead and he was in charge. Everyone stood up and started ushering him and Glenda inside. Chris looked around to make sure Omasa was with them and spotted the old knight walking about five feet behind the crowd.

  They walked in the house and the true selves of everyone shone through. Most of the people looked exactly how they had looked outside. There were a few notable exceptions. A few of them manifested as larger than they had been outside and were covered in armor similar to Omasa. Chris noticed these knights were all deferential to Omasa. A few more developed some pretty crazy clothing choices looking like extras from a Gandalf casting call. They wore multicolored robes and had huge beards and peaked caps. They carried large staffs and had strange tattoos covering their skin.

  The inside of the house was even bigger than it had looked from the outside. They walked across a huge marble floored ballroom area to get into a cozier chamber where tea and cheese and other refreshments wer
e being served. The general tone of the meeting was somber with people guardedly expressing their happiness at finally meeting their crown prince. Even if they hadn’t had the opportunity to meet him until he had morphed into their king. Through it all Omasa stayed close to Chris and helped him navigate the room. Finally, the knight decided Chris had had enough. He guided the exhausted boy and his mother out a side door and across a lush courtyard into a cottage situated in the middle of the courtyard.

  Omasa showed Glenda where the shower and a change of clothes had been provided for her then walked Chris over to the other side of the cottage where another shower and clothing had been set out. Omasa settled in the living room and left Chris to his shower. Chris stripped off his clothes. Noticing for the first time there was blood covering the back of his shirt and that his one knee had been ripped out of his pants. He eased into the hot water pouring out of the rain forest style showerhead and let the water wash away his worries for a minute. He’d start feeling better then he’d flashback to the look on Chucks face and his tears would mingle with the jet stream of water striking him from the faucet. He was scared and felt alone. He started thinking of those wolf demon monsters and couldn’t shut his eyes in the shower to rinse the shampoo out of his hair. He was afraid he’d open his eyes and see one of them standing beside the shower staring at him.