Quest for the Secret Keeper

by Victoria Laurie

  “He has taken the Metal Master potion,” said Adria.

  “Metal Master potion?” Ian repeated.

  Adria nodded. “It is the rarest substance on earth,” she told him, “the very last vial of which was placed in the treasure box personally by me three millennia ago.”

  “What is it?” Theo asked. “Is it truly poisonous?”

  “If swallowed, it is nearly always fatal,” Adria assured her, and Ian’s heart sank. “Only one in ten thousand souls are strong enough to withstand the effects,” she added. “But if you are of the right nature, and have the strength to endure it, when you wake up, you will be able to make metal out of its raw materials and craft it into anything you can imagine.”

  Ian stared at her in utter confusion. “I don’t understand.”

  Adria stood again and stepped over to the door to retrieve a small plank of wood with several exposed nails sticking through the other side. She held the wood out for them to see, then held her palm underneath the pointed ends of the nails. One by one they slid through the wood, dropping delicately into her hand. She then folded her fingers around the nails, and when she opened her palm again, they had been mashed together into a ball.

  Casting aside the plank, Adria began to mold the clump of metal like wet clay, her artisan fingers skillfully manipulating the iron into the figure of a horse. When she was done, she handed this to Océanne, who was still overcome by Carl’s condition. “Here, young lady,” she said gently. “This will give you hope.”

  Océanne took the figurine cautiously and gasped when her fingers touched it. “It’s solid metal!” she said.

  Theo reached out and stroked the figurine. “It’s warm but no longer malleable,” she said. “How is that possible?”

  “The silver boxes,” Ian whispered. “You were more than just a craftsman. You took the potion yourself, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, Ian,” she confirmed. “When I was a little older than Carl, I was given it by the woman who preceded Laodamia as the great Oracle of Phoenicia. She told me then they had waited hundreds of years for someone like me, and ordered me to drink a vial of the liquid.

  “I lived in a state of unconsciousness for two days, but when I awoke, I had skills and abilities that defied all logic.”

  “Ian,” Theo said to him. “Remember what the prophecy said? ‘See the next one of your crew, one of noble heart proved true.’ ”

  Ian’s eyes fell to Carl again. No one had ever had a truer heart than Carl; of that he was certain. “He looks barely alive,” he said to Adria. He was still terribly worried that Carl would not survive the poisonous effects of the potion. “How will he last two days in this state?”

  “He will,” Adria assured him. “Laodamia has foretold it and thus it will be so.”

  “What can we do for him while we wait?” Madame Lafitte asked.

  “Keep him warm and quiet,” Adria told her. “And watch for signs that he is working through the potion.”

  “What signs?” Theo asked.

  Adria nodded to Carl. “Watch the air around him.”

  Ian did, and as he watched, he would have sworn that the atmosphere near Carl’s body shimmered slightly. Adria then pointed to the numbers on the floor next to Carl’s head. “Touch them,” she said to Theo.

  Theo moved to the numbers and lifted one into her hand. “It’s warm!” she exclaimed.

  But Ian wondered if perhaps the numbers had been in the sun before Adria had brought them inside. He didn’t feel he could be so hopeful just yet.

  The earl looked as if he was about to speak, but he began coughing instead. Ian remembered the medicine and pulled out Carl’s cap and the envelope from the apothecary. “For the earl,” he said, handing it to Adria.

  She nodded and got to work preparing the earl’s tea while Ian sat right next to Carl, laying the cap near his head and waiting for his friend to return to them.

  ESCAPE

  Océanne stayed right by Carl’s side for most of the next two days. Ian thought he should hardly regret such devotion, given that his friend had saved his life by drinking the vial.

  Still, those familiar pangs of jealousy found their way to his heart, and he struggled mightily when he saw how Océanne held firmly to Carl’s hand and whispered, “Please, Carl! Please come back to me!”

  Ian wanted Carl back as well, but he also wanted Océanne’s affections.

  He was able to distract himself by focusing on the metal numbers, which seemed to melt and change shape before his very eyes. Crude figures would replace blobs of metal, and as the forty-eight hours progressed, even those crude figures took on clearer shapes.

  At one point Theo held up what had formerly been two number twos and exclaimed, “He’s made a heart!”

  Océanne clasped Carl’s hand and wept with relief as Ian attempted to swallow the large lump caught in his throat.

  On the morning of the second day of their vigil, Carl’s breathing had almost returned to normal. He was now taking one full breath for every three of Ian’s. Adria had told them that his breathing would gradually become more regular and that, the gods willing, he would wake up very soon, and she assured them that his dexterity with metal would begin to accelerate. To demonstrate that, she placed two of the blobs of metal in his hands, and sure enough, his fingers began to work at them like those of a dreaming sculptor. Before long, his friend had crafted what looked like a duck or a swan, and then a dog … or perhaps a turtle. Their moods brightened as they all debated which.

  The earl seemed to be in much better health as well, and was being administered to very diligently by the kindly Madame Lafitte.

  Their plans to escape the city had been delayed to the following evening, when, Adria declared, both the earl and Carl would be well enough for the journey. Until then, Theo was keeping a watchful eye on the door and seemed nervous and fidgety. “What is it?” Ian asked her after watching her hold her breath when two pedestrians walked past the window of their shop.

  Theo sighed. “I fear there is danger all around us,” she said.

  Ian thought that was rather obvious. “It is, Theo,” he said. “There are enemy soldiers everywhere in this blasted city.”

  Theo didn’t look at him but simply stared out the small window as if waiting for someone to approach and threaten them.

  Ian felt bad for having been so curt with her. “We’ll be off by tomorrow night,” he assured her. “And with all the destroyed buildings, there isn’t much traffic down this street. No reason for those soldiers to become suspicious of us yet.”

  Theo nodded, but her eyes betrayed her fear.

  The next day Carl began to climb slowly out of his slumber, which was a welcome relief to everyone. While they were busy packing their supplies, preparing for the journey at midnight, Carl’s eyelids began to flutter and his body gave small twitches, but most encouragingly of all, his breathing had returned to its normal rhythm.

  “Look!” said Océanne when Carl moved his hand to his head.

  “Eva?” he asked groggily. “Is that you?”

  Océanne let go a tiny gasp, her face stricken.

  Ian felt terribly sorry for her; she’d had no idea that Carl was sweet on someone else. “It’s Océanne,” he said quickly, going to kneel beside them.

  But Carl still appeared to have trouble coming fully awake. “My lovely Eva,” he sighed. “I made you a heart out of clay.…”

  Océanne backed away from Carl as if he were a leper. “He’s delusional,” Ian said quickly, attempting to catch her hand.

  But she pulled it back from him and glared accusingly. “Who is Eva?” she demanded.

  Ian looked to Theo, and he was thankful that she came over to sit next to Océanne and explain what Carl should have told her long before then. “Carl cares for you very much,” Theo said gently. “But not long ago, his heart was swayed by a very special girl in our orphanage. Her name is Eva, and, Océanne, I promise that when you meet her, you’ll like her.”

  Te
ars welled in Océanne’s eyes and she turned away from them to go sit in the corner by her mother.

  Madame Lafitte had heard all of their conversation, of course, and Ian felt acutely ashamed by her look of disapproval. “One of you should have told her,” she said quietly.

  Ian stared down at the ground. “I’m terribly sorry, Madame.”

  Carl took that most inopportune moment to cry out, “Eva? Where are you?”

  Ian wanted to thump him but Theo hurried to take his hand in hers. “There, there, Carl. Lie still.”

  Within the next few hours, they all heard the clock on a nearby church chime twelve times. Adria rose to her feet and motioned for the rest of them to follow but held up her hand to Iyoclease. “Stay here and guard the door, my friend,” she told him. “I will be back before dawn.”

  Reluctantly, Iyoclease sat back down.

  By this time Carl was sitting up and looking round at them dizzily. Ian wound Carl’s arm across his shoulders and said, “Come on, mate, time to move.”

  Carl, who was normally quite thin, felt relatively skeletal under Ian’s arm. They’d attempted to get a small bit of cheese into him, but all he’d been able to do was sip some water.

  “He’ll eat later,” Adria assured them.

  At least Ian felt he could manage alone with Carl, which was a good thing, because Océanne would not step forward to help with him, and Theo and Madame Lafitte were busy carrying the bulk of their food while Adria and Jaaved were assisting the earl.

  “Follow me and stay close,” Adria said once she had inspected the street beyond their door. “You will need to step quickly,” she added. Ian wondered if she fully understood how difficult it was moving quickly with a semiconscious person in tow.

  Adria led them on a circuitous route through the streets and back alleys. Twice they barely escaped attention from German soldiers, but finally, after what felt like an interminable time, Adria led them to the end of a narrow alley and put her hand up for them to halt. When they were all clustered close to her, she motioned to a manhole cover in the center of a well-lit square and said, “There is the entrance to the tunnel.”

  “But there’re guards posted just across the way!” Theo whispered.

  Ian, who’d been struggling under the weight of his friend, bent and lowered Carl to a sitting position with his back against the wall. While catching his breath, he squinted into the dark and could clearly see three German soldiers, yawning and looking blearily out at the square.

  “We’ll need a distraction,” Adria said before looking pointedly at Ian.

  He nodded, still breathing hard. “Yes, I’ll do it. Let me catch my breath first and I’ll get them to chase me.”

  Theo placed a hand on his arm, looking worried. “Please be careful,” she whispered.

  Ian squeezed her arm. “I’ll be all right,” he said reassuringly.

  Adria turned to him. “It’s now or never, Ian Wigby.”

  Ian swallowed hard and gave Theo’s hand one last gentle squeeze before pulling out of her grasp. “Watch after Carl,” he told them all, then walked right out into the center of the square.

  The soldiers did not react as he’d expected. At first they were so engrossed in their conversation they didn’t seem to notice him. Ian stepped farther into the light of the square and cleared his throat. Immediately, they all stopped talking and turned to stare at him. “You there!” yelled one, raising his rifle at Ian. “What are you doing out past the curfew?”

  Ian gulped and put up his hands in surrender. He hadn’t counted on their aiming their rifles at him and he wondered, if he turned and fled, would the Germans really shoot him?

  But he hardly had time to think about what to do next, because out of the shadows behind the soldiers rose a large figure draped in a cloak. Before the soldiers had even a moment to react, the newcomer brought his hands down in quick succession on the backs of their necks and they all dropped like stones.

  The stranger then stepped over the soldiers and began to approach Ian, who still had his arms raised high in the air. “Lower your hands, Ian,” said the man, pulling back his hood.

  Ian opened his mouth to say the name of the approaching figure, but even before he could utter it, he heard Adria cry out, “Adrastus!”

  The general of Lixus halted abruptly, his face a mixture of emotions. “Adria,” he said softly when she too entered the light of the square. “I have missed you.”

  Adria’s face had transformed. Her rather stern countenance had softened as she stared at her husband. “Don’t go,” she said to him when he began to turn away.

  “You know I must.”

  “I’ve found the green door,” she told him quickly. “And more importantly, I have found Iyoclease here, in this time. He is waiting inside the shop that marks the green door.”

  The general’s eyes widened. “The Oracle’s Iyoclease?” he asked. His wife nodded, and Adrastus appeared to consider this new twist. “He cannot remain in our time,” he said.

  “Yes, I know,” she told him. “He will need you to send him back before you complete your quest.”

  The general looked from his wife to Ian and then over to the rest of their group, waiting in the shadows. “What are they doing here?” he said.

  “Completing part of the third prophecy,” she told him. “I was just about to lead them to the outskirts of the city so they could escape the Germans. They have a boat waiting in La Havre to take them back to England.”

  “Tell me where the door is and I will send Iyoclease on; then I will hide the box and come back to you.”

  “Iyoclease will not know you,” she told him. “I must come to make the introductions.”

  The general’s lips pressed together to form a thin line. Ian didn’t think he liked that idea very much. “I could show him,” Ian said. He felt everyone’s eyes shift to him, but Adria appeared angered by his suggestion. Ian gulped. “I know the way to the shop,” he explained. “I could take the general there, introduce him to Iyoclease, and be back here before the clock strikes one.”

  Adria began to shake her head, but Adrastus readily agreed. “A good solution,” he said, moving to the soldiers and pulling them over to a large tree. He then got out some rope from his satchel and wound it around them.

  Meanwhile, Adria stepped to the manhole cover and waved her hand over the metal. It began to sag in the middle, and the edges bent up. Adria motioned to Ian, and the pair reached under the lid and slid it up onto the pavement. Ian was quite surprised when his fingers made indentations in the metal rim.

  From the shadows the earl and Madame Lafitte appeared, followed by Océanne and Theo with Carl walking between them. Carl looked better and better with each passing minute, and when Ian asked how he was feeling, his friend replied, “Almost back to normal.”

  Adrastus went over to their group and helped the injured earl down the ladder to the bottom of the tunnel, which was only about three meters from the surface of the street. Madame Lafitte and Océanne followed, then Theo, and then Carl, who managed the climb down all on his own.

  When they were all safely at the entrance to the tunnel, Adria called up, “Show my husband to the door, Ian, then hurry back. We must be to the city’s edge before dawn.”

  “Got it,” Ian assured her, moving out of the way so that Adrastus could slide the manhole cover back into place except for a small gap.

  “You should be able to move it aside far enough to let yourself down when you return, Ian,” the general explained.

  “Yes, sir.”

  The pair then raced out of the square, with Ian leading the way through the darkened streets. He had to slow his pace after a bit due to a stitch in his side, and the general didn’t press him to hurry; he merely matched Ian’s stride.

  “General,” Ian said when a thought occurred to him.

  “Yes, Ian?”

  “I wonder, if you gave me the box now instead of opening the portal to hide it somewhere else, might that alter Laodamia�
�s prophecy of the danger to you and your wife near the green door?”

  Adrastus was silent for a moment, and Ian suspected he was thinking that through. With a tired sigh he said, “I cannot, Ian. I’ve sworn to follow the Oracle’s directions to the letter. If I didn’t open the portal, your way to the next of the United might be lost. No, it must proceed as planned, I’m afraid.”

  “I understand,” Ian told him, although he wasn’t happy about the answer.

  They arrived at the shop and Ian could smell something cooking inside. He stepped to the door just as it opened. Iyoclease stood inside, eyeing the large man on his doorstep warily until he saw Ian. “What are you doing back here?” Iyoclease asked him.

  “I’ve brought General Adrastus of Lixus,” Ian told him proudly.

  Iyoclease’s brow lifted. “Are you the man that will help me get home?”

  Adrastus smiled. “I am indeed,” he said just as his stomach grumbled, and he peered past the soldier to the small stove across the shop, where a soup of potatoes and turnips simmered. “Before I send you home, however, might I have a bit of that soup? I haven’t eaten since noon.”

  Ian left the general and the soldier to share some bread and soup and got under way back to the square and his friends. He would miss Iyoclease very much and found that now that he was alone with his thoughts, he had genuinely liked the soldier.

  Ian also knew what fate awaited Laodamia’s betrothed. He paused in the middle of the street and looked back. Should he warn the Phoenician?

  Professor Nutley had told him what the records said: that Iyoclease would be killed in an ambush by the Oracle’s enemies. Perhaps if Ian warned him about the ambush, Iyoclease would take more care and surround himself with more of his soldiers to protect him.

  Several seconds passed while he thought about going back to say as much, but he hesitated, realizing the consequences of that action.

  How would saving Iyoclease’s life alter the future? Would Laodamia survive the attempt on her own life too? The professor had also mentioned that without Iyoclease to protect her, the great Oracle herself had been murdered not long after Iyoclease. Ian turned and stared down the street, his heart heavy with indecision. If he warned Iyoclease and saved his life, and then that of Laodamia, what would happen to the course of events unfolding now? Would it alter things for the better, or worse?