Omasa answered that one. “We messed up this morning. The queen herself wove the spells that kept you safe from discovery for so long. She removed the memory of the location of who and where she dropped you off when you were a babe so no one would be able to find you. She sent me to be your guardian. Penelope is my daughter and had this house here is why I chose this area. She scried the people around here and we found Chuck and Glenda. We bought the lighthouse from the National Park Service and took it over. We were the ones who sent the anonymous letter letting Glenda and Chuck have the run of the lighthouse for as long as they wanted it.”
Omasa continued with the story after reflecting for a moment. “One of the members of the queen’s retinue the night we dropped you off disappeared months ago. No one thought too much of it beyond trying to save her and figure out where she was until the queen was killed by a poison dart from an assassin. With the queen dead, they were able to break the spelled barriers in the kidnapped woman’s head and determine the approximate position you had been dropped off in. That was about the same time you heard something scratching on your window and I fought a demon in a storm in the middle of the night outside your window. We should have pulled you all out that night but we didn’t. We were making arrangements for another home and a story for why you would move there when Chuck was killed and all of this came to be. I failed you my king. Once we have you safe I hope to have the opportunity to regain my lost honor if you will allow me.”
Chris had been listening carefully. He had been focused on the old knight and knew beyond a doubt that the man’s words were true. He stood up and hugged the man.
“You are forgiven. Speak no more of it. I accept the trials and training and will do my best to accomplish whatever needs to be done. I still don’t really understand what is going on but it sounds like a fight that needs to be fought. I’m in.”
Chapter 7: Laid to Rest
Chris woke up late the next morning. His first panicked thought was that he was late for school. He sat up straight in the large bed and looked around the room he was in. He was completely disoriented. The large bed with the silky sheets, the gold inlays on everything, the room reeked of money and privilege. It was about as far from his room in the lighthouse as you could get. At the thought of the lighthouse the memories of recent events came crashing down on him. In the forefront of those memories was the look on Chucks face as the demon had hit him. Chris hung his head as his chest heaved with barely contained sobs.
He took a deep breath and steadied himself knowing as bad as he felt that Glenda would be suffering worse. He had this whole new world that was opening up to him while she had nothing but him and an army of elite magical assassin monsters trying to track her down and kill her. Chris pulled the robe back over his head and arranged it like he’d had it on yesterday when Omasa helped. When he was pretty sure he had it fastened correctly he went to the door and let himself out.
Sitting in the hallway in an oversized recliner he had dragged over from the living room was Omasa. The bare blade of his sword rested on the floor with the hilt within easy reach of his hands. Chris nodded and told him good morning. Omasa returned the greeting with a lot more flair while smoothly rising up from the chair. They both walked down the hall towards the room Glenda was in. Chris knocked on the door softly. Glenda opened it. She looked like she had already been out of bed for a few hours. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying. She latched onto Chris as soon as she saw him.
As they embraced Penny let herself in the front door to the cottage. She stood there waiting patiently until Glenda finally broke the embrace. Penny walked over and gave them each a hug and then asked if they would like to say goodbye to Chuck. They both nodded in the affirmative and Glenda led them out of the room and back into the main house. The main hall had been transformed. Paintings, pictures and moving images of the lighthouse and Chuck and Glenda were arranged all around. Chris had never seen most of the images before. He did recognize the scenes contained in them though. Glenda pointed out one showing him and Chuck standing at the end of the jetty with a homemade model sailboat.
“That’s where you and Chuck tried to make miniature sailboats and launch them off the jetty. Look! They even got the picture underneath of when you fell off the jetty and Chuck had to jump in and pull you out of the water!”
“Oh! Look they got dad putting up the Christmas tree in the living room from last year!” Glenda and Chris continued to wander around the cavernous room admiring all the images. They were both studiously ignoring the four knights standing at attention in the middle of the room guarding a long table. “Omasa. Where did all these pictures come from?”
“The queen wanted images of her son growing up. We weren’t allowed to send them to her but we captured them so that she could look at them later when you two were reunited. I helped pick out the ones for the observance. I am deeply sorry for the loss of your father Chris. He was a wise and honorable man. I’m sorry for the loss of your love Glenda.”
They both nodded and thanked Omasa for his sentiments. Then they grew serious again. They had been laughing their way around a good deal of the pictures scattered in the room. They both feared what came next. It was time now to venture to the guarded table. It was time to face the fact that Chuck was really gone.
The knights around the table bowed deeply and took a few measured steps backwards to give Chris and Glenda plenty of room. Chuck was laid out in full state on the table. He had been dressed in a suit way too nice for him to have afforded. His hair and his face looked perfectly normal. He looked like he had gotten dressed up and then decided to take a quick nap. Glenda held herself together long enough to kiss Chuck tenderly on the lips then she collapsed to the ground with great wracking sobs and refused to be moved.
Chris said his goodbyes in his head to the man who had raised him as his own son. This man had expressed nothing but love for Chris his entire life and had paid for that affection with his life. Chris vowed he would use his new-found power to find those responsible and punish them. His own eyes were swimming in tears at this point. He bent down and helped Glenda to her feet. They both walked towards the door leading out. The knights moved back to their ceremonial guard posts. As they walked towards the door Penny approached them.
“Many of your subjects have come to pay their respects to your fallen father. We cleared the hall out ahead of you to provide you with some privacy. We’ve granted Chuck to be given a noble’s funeral. This is a high honor and one that he has earned by mutual agreement of all the nobles. We’ll be performing the ceremony in the garden.“
Penny led them outside where a small heated room had been setup for Glenda and Chris to wait for the ceremony to begin. They did not have long to wait. Minutes after they were settled in the areas around them began filling up with people in all manner of strange clothing. It was like a renaissance fair had raided the closet of a bad dungeons and dragons themed movie where the costume designers had access to very bright colors. The colors peeked out from under the large black cloaks of mourning that the people attending were given to wear. The ceremony itself was beautiful. Chris and Glenda both told some stories of Chuck and tried to express how the man had lived his life devoted to the two of them.
Afterwards, Chris and Glenda were introduced to so many wizards and knights and nobles that Chris lost track very quickly of who was who. He figured he could depend on Wessel, Omasa, and Penny to keep him up to speed on any names he should pay special attention to. After a whirlwind of condolences and introductions they were ushered back to the cottage in the middle of the courtyard. They were given goblets of water sweetened with real fruit juice as they sat on the couches.
Once they had settled in Omasa broke the news of when Chris would need to leave. He needed to be gone by the next morning after breakfast. A limo would come pick him up and take him to the small regional airport where he’d fly out to a larger airport to get connected for a trip to the school he’d be attending. Glenda would be staying
an extra day then she would also be on her way. She’d be given updates on how Chris was doing and arrangements would be made for her to see him during the breaks and holidays. It was imperative they both get out of New England as soon as possible. Chris was already off to a very late start and needed to start his training as soon as possible.
Plans were made and changed. Chris found out that Penny, Wessel and Omasa would all be accompanying him to the school. They would each take part in his training and function as his conduit to the rest of the world and to the council. Lightening lit up the night sky as a storm moved in from off the ocean and Wessel announced they were going to move up the time table to leave around three in the morning. His reasoning was he did not want Chris out in the daylight as that increased the chances of Chis being seen by the enemy. They were safe enough while on the grounds but once they went out the gate they would be entering a possible battlefield.
Lying in bed later Chris wondered how anyone could be expected to sleep knowing that they would be fleeing for their lives in a few hours. It must not have worried him as much as he thought because within a few minutes of his head hitting the pillow he was fast asleep. He had kissed his mother goodbye before going to sleep since he didn’t wish to have to wake her when he left. He crept quietly into her room now and kissed her on the forehead. When he walked out of her room he looked over at the knight and the witch who would be escorting Glenda to her temporary home and guarding her. He asked them to please do their best to keep her safe.
The knight and witch both fell to their knees and raised an arm in the strange four outstretched finger salutes. The knight voiced their pledge to keep Glenda safe. “We will die before we allow her to be harmed your highness.” Given the circumstances that pledge would have to suffice. Omasa had already assured him that both the knight and the witch were part of the high protectors who were an elite group charged with protecting the royal family. Wondering who was calling the shots on who protected who Chris had asked who was in charge of the high protectors. Omasa had just winked at him. The queen must have known he’d end up facing great danger to have sent off her main protector to guard over him all these years.
They walked out to the waiting cars. It was strange walking with the group of knights and witches who were accompanying him. The plan had changed again so they were going to be driving a lot further. It was deemed not safe to use the local airports. They were going to head up to Providence instead where a plane would be waiting for them. Chris had stopped asking about money. It was obvious the world he was now a part of was one of great wealth. If you were a society of sorcerers who had been bouncing around the globe since the days of the Mayans and managed to stay intact as a loosely formed kingdom you tended to pick up some good investments along the way.
As they walked under the threshold leading outside the manor house his companions went from tall, broad knights with chain mail creaking and clanging with every step to casual suit wearing men with briefcases and umbrellas. The witches and wizards changed to a wide assortment of casually dressed men and women. Chris had asked why they couldn’t just throw a disguise charm on him and he’d been told the charms were custom made for each person and took a good deal of focus and ‘burn in’ time to be useful. The other thing they could have done was have a guardian project an illusion around him but then the guardian would need to stay focused the entire time the disguise needed to be maintained. Omasa had told him sometimes the simplest ways were the best. If you didn’t want to be seen, leave in the middle of the night when it was dark and people couldn’t see you. A big hat and a cloak also made for a decent disguise.
There were three limousines waiting outside. The windows were very darkly tinted so as not to allow anyone to be able to see in. Chris got in the middle vehicle along with Penny, Wessel, Omasa, two of the other knights and a wizard that Chris couldn’t remember the name of. One of the knights sitting towards the front dug around in the small refrigerator unit and started handing bottled waters to anyone who wanted one. Chris grabbed one and asked curiously if there were any other weaknesses to the disguise charms. Wessel answered that one.
“You’ll be learning a lot about these things in class. It’ll make a lot more sense after you have the underlying theory down. Depending on the strength of the charm the more people who can see you at the same time the more it falls apart. Also, it doesn’t protect you from cameras. The spell works partially by causing people to see what the spell wants them to see when they look at you. The more people looking, the stronger the spell has to be. The spell doesn’t work on cameras since they don’t have a perception to alter. If you’re seen on camera then you’re seen truly.”
That made sense. Chris started to ask how come people weren’t freaking out about seeing wolf demon monsters on their closed-circuit cameras all the time. Then he decided to hold back on those kinds of questions in favor of trying to find out more about the school he was being sent to. He asked if they could tell him more about what would be expected of him.
Miss Penny laughed. “First you’ll be attending how to dress yourself 101.”
Chris turned red. He’d thought the draw strings weren’t fastened quite right. He started fumbling around until Wessel helped him get it right. One of the knights looked a little shocked and the other was giving Penny a hard stare. They evidently weren’t appreciative of someone making fun of their king. Chris decided he liked both the knights and he would see about getting them a raise somehow.
“Once you’ve mastered that we’ll move onto some of the more challenging coursework. There will be theoretical and practical lessons. You’ll be expected to master the three ‘M’s as we like to call them. Magic, martial, and mixed. Magic is magic, I’m sure you have an idea of what that may be. Martial is the art our friend Omasa here is a master of. Mixed is a combination of the two. There are an infinite variety of ways to utilize either martial or magic and ways to weave the two together. Same as there are varying levels of magical and martial and different sub disciplines in each. Most people are tested and selected for a single track. A single one of the M’s and they start around the age of five and are trained to the age of twenty in that one discipline to become proficient at it. As our king you’ll be expected to master all three by the time you’re twenty.” Penny said this last bit sarcastically but with a smile.
“It sounds harder than it should be.” Wessel was looking to help out Chris who looked slightly panicked at this point. “You are of the royal blood line which means a lot of these skills should come to you naturally. You should be able to master them well enough to survive the trials even with the late start.”
“Survive? Trials?” Chis asked. He hadn’t liked the sound of that.
“You’ll survive sire. All you need to do is work hard and you’ll be fine. Don’t forget I’ve been watching you for the last few years so I know what I’m talking about. You have a lot of work to do and a lot of training time to make up but you’ll get there.” Omasa reached up and turned the lights off in the back. “Before anyone else can freak you out anymore let’s all try and get some sleep. It’s a solid hour before we get to the airport. First lesson for the martial arts. Always get sleep when you can.”
“That goes for all the arts.” Wessel echoed as everyone adjusted themselves in the luxurious leather seats to try and take a brief nap.
Chapter 8: That Explains all Those Missing Ships and Planes
If security cameras weren’t fooled by the illusion charms Chris was wondering how they expected to make it through the airport to their plane. The answer was they didn’t. They turned off the interstate at the exit directing them to the airport then took the exit from that road leading to the freight and cargo carrier area. There was a single checkpoint on that road and the driver of the first limo handed the guard an identification card and the rest of the group was allowed through with no additional fuss. They drove from there straight onto the tarmac where a Gulfstream was waiting for them.
Two attenda
nts stood stiffly at the bottom of the stairway. Chris got out of the limo and was escorted over to the stairway where the others were waiting. Chris focused briefly on the two women at the bottom of the stairway and penetrated the disguises surrounding them. They were both still women but aged slightly from their illusion personas. Both women showed the signs of wearing armor under their clothing. They noticed him concentrating on them and they took the opportunity to bow deeply in his direction while extending their hands in the ancient salute before stiffening back into alert guard positions.
Chris and the people who had been in the limo with him all went up the stairway together and took seats in the interior of the richly appointed plane. There was still plenty of room left and when they did not immediately start to taxi Chris began to curiously look out the window. A black town car had pulled up to the same spot the limos Chris had arrived in were parked. The chauffer got out of the newly arrived town car and moved around to the back of the vehicle where he opened the door to let two girls out. One looked to be around the same age as Chris while the other looked to be in her late teens. Chris focused to penetrate their illusions but was surprised to note he was already seeing their true personas.
The two girls were escorted to the bottom of the stairway by the chauffer. Chris noted the chauffer also was not being protected by an illusion. He did have a discernable lump in his suit jacket though that Chris assumed to be some kind of concealed weapon. Same as the man who had gotten out the other side of the town car to grab the luggage out of the trunk. One of the guards from the bottom of the stairway moved to help him get the bags out of the trunk. As she was walking towards the man a police car came up the tarmac with lights flashing and two airport security vehicles with lights flashing were right behind it.
Son of the Keeper: Book 1: Principles of Magic Page 6