Curse of the Spider King (45 page)

Edward bent down, picked up a softball-sized stone, and tossed it at the blank wall.

Kiri Lee gasped.

The stone hit the wall, and the wall stretched away. There was a momentary bluish sparkle, and the stone vanished.

“What?” Kiri Lee exclaimed. “What happened? Where'd the rock go?”

“An excellent question,” said Edward. “What yu just saw suspends reality as yu've always known it. And that is difficult to accept. . . . Kiri Lee, have you experienced anything else lately that yu thought was beyond reality?”

For a moment, Kiri Lee felt afraid. She didn't really know this Edward person at all. They were alone in a tunnel with no one else around for hundreds of yards. She stared at the leather satchel. For all she knew, Edward could be one of those mist creatures. He could have a knife in the case . . . or a gun or . . .

Edward put the satchel in his lap and unlatched it. Kiri Lee involuntarily jerked backward into the stone wall of the tunnel. But when Edward reached into the case and pulled out a book, she felt not only relieved but strangely at peace.

“They aren't leaving, are they?” The gravelly whisper came from beneath a hooded cloak. Two dark figures stood behind a tall, thorny bush and what was left of a chamber wall just forty yards from the bridge in the ruins.

“So what if they are, Lorex?” said the other. “We know what they'll find on the other side.”

“Still. . . . Mobius, if somehow they crossed over and were able to return with news—”

“They would never return to tell the tale,” said Mobius. “I've planned this down to the last detail. But we must be wary that others do not come sooner than expected, like these two.”

“If they do?” asked Lorex.

“Kill them.”

The two Drefids hissed and ducked down, just as the old man and the girl emerged from the tunnel.

Edward took Kiri Lee back to Dalhousie Castle and showed her to a private chamber to warm up. She picked up the violin on the stand. It was a Baroque violin. It looked like a Martelle . . . very old and very expensive. She tucked it beneath her chin and began to play. The arpeggios, individual notes played not together as a chord but one after the other, flowed smoothly right into the beautiful Mozart sonata, the first movement of the piece she would play for the private concert that evening. As her instincts took over, she began to play without thinking of the notes. It all simply came, and in the melodies she began to hear hints of that otherworldly music that made her heart soar. And now, now she knew where the music came from: Allyra, her real home.

As the music enveloped Kiri Lee, her mind roamed freely to the earthshaking conversation she'd had with Edward at the ruins. At first she'd thought Edward had lost his mind. But he knew so much and guessed even more. He knew that she could walk on the wind; he knew that she was afraid to go home; he knew that she'd seen horrible, frightening things. He even put a name to them: Wisps. Edward guessed that the Wisps had driven her to flee to Edinburgh early, that she had no idea what she would do after the Royal Festival. Well, that was all settled now. Edward had given her a book, too, a very special book. It was the beginning of her life story and a history of her people.

Elven people
, Kiri Lee thought with a smile. The notes came fast and furious now as she progressed into the minuet. Edward suggesting that she was an Elf Lord from another world was nothing short of insane. But given the events of the past week . . . given her newfound ability . . . given the strange portal in the ruins . . . and given the scars on the tops of her ears, Kiri Lee had no reason not to believe it. But it was more than what she'd seen with her eyes. Something deep within her testified that it all was true, that it belonged to her, and she belonged to it. Something about the news Edward had shared with her agreed with the music. It struck the perfect tuning fork that resonated in a place within her that Kiri Lee could not ignore.

As her fingering accelerated for the
rondo
at the end, her thoughts continued to wander in a kind of peaceful, meditative state. Kiri Lee couldn't wait for the impromptu concert with Edward's group to begin. It wouldn't be quite as exciting as playing for the royal family at the palace. Missing the festival concert was one small regret, a small ache from her old life. But Kiri Lee wouldn't dwell on such things. With no fear at all, she thought,
This will be the last time I ever play . . .
on Earth.

The sun had gone down. It was a perfectly clear night—unusual in Edinburgh this time of year. The lights outside of Dalhousie Castle bathed its great barrel-turret and its walls in shimmering white. Lights shone on the temporary stage used for weddings. In front of it was a myriad of folding chairs, and every chair was full. Elves and humans chatted politely, the latter completely unaware that they were talking to beings from another world.

At last, the performers took the stage. Since Kiri Lee would play violin, Edward kept his spot playing the cello. His good friend Chuck Rogers and Chuck's brother Bob manned the double bass and the viola. The audience lights dimmed and went out, and the concert under the stars and moon was ready to begin. Everyone clapped, and the quartet wasted no time. Music filled the night.

Mrs. Galdarro sat between Kat and Tommy in one of the back rows; Jimmy and Jett, along with their Sentinels and Dreadnaughts, spread out in the rest of the row. With close to three hundred Elves—Sentinels, Dreadnaughts, flet soldiers, and the teens—the audience was much larger than usual for Edward's concerts. So he had the staff put hundreds of extra chairs in front of the portable stage. Mrs. Galdarro was content. Things had gone exceedingly well. Kiri Lee had accepted the news of her Elven heritage better than most of the others. Nelly and the Briarmans were safe and would arrive at the castle in a few hours. Elle Galdarro sighed. Soon they would all return to Allyra.

Mrs. Galdarro looked off to the side in the direction of the road. She could not see them, but she knew Sentinels and Dreadnaughts were out there, patrolling the grounds. It was a comforting thought. Then she turned the other way and looked toward the forest and the ruins. Through the trees, she thought she could see the moon shining on a piece of white stone. The portal was there. She'd often wondered what they would find when they returned to their homeland. After all, hundreds of years had passed in Allyra. But the very fact that the Spider King still felt threatened enough by the young lords that he would send his assassins after them on Earth—that meant that the surviving remnant of the Elves must still be alive. Perhaps they were all still safe in the Nightwish Caverns.

“She's amazing,” whispered Tommy. “I've never heard a violin played like that.”

“Kiri Lee is one of a kind,” Mrs. Galdarro replied. “As are all of you.”

Kat glanced sideways at Tommy, but she didn't focus. She didn't want to know any more of what he was thinking about.

The moon was high in the sky as the quartet began the third movement. Even though Nelly wasn't due to arrive for an hour still, Mrs. Galdarro found herself looking often to the winding driveway leading away from Dalhousie Castle's parking lot. She wouldn't feel at ease until she saw Nelly coming down that road.

For now, she tried to get lost in the music. But as good as the quartet was, Mrs. Galdarro couldn't immerse herself the way she wanted to. Elves and humans sat here in the audience . . . but did Wisps as well? Had Drefids somehow penetrated the Elven defenses? Were they lurking now in the woods surrounding them? She had a bad feeling about the whole thing; their entire operation was so fragile—so precarious—even one wrong note from the quartet on stage seemed like it might wreck it all.

She shuddered to think what would happen if the Drefids also managed to shut this last portal. Hundreds of Elves, including the young lords, would be trapped in a world that was not their own. But that got Mrs. Galdarro to thinking. To trap them on Earth forever, the Spider King would need to close the portals forever . . . giving up the ability to raid the Earth for slaves forever.
Would he do that?
she wondered. Perhaps there were other worlds he could travel to—but if Sarron Froth was to be believed, the Spider King had yet to find any other realm where serviceable slaves could be harvested.

Still . . . something didn't feel right—the portals closing . . . everyone here in one place at one time. Was it truly just circumstances that started this all?

The music reached its furious
crescendo,
and Mrs. Galdarro's thoughts raced with it. She looked at the beautiful, innocent faces of the young lords: Tommy, Kat, Jimmy, and Jett. And Kiri Lee up on stage. So much promise. So much power.

Tangible cold like a blade of ice slid down the Sentinel's back. She sat up straight and looked toward the road once more. No headlights. She looked back in the direction of the ruins. It didn't make sense.
The
Spider King wanted the young lords dead, not just trapped on Earth. . . .

Then it all clicked.

“No!” she gasped. “He left the one portal open on purpose . . . as bait! To draw us all here, get us together in one place so he could—”

A blue flash. An explosion.

Screams.

Too late.

An arc stone had landed near the front row. Mrs. Galdarro had no time to determine the damage, for more arc stones fell from the sky. Explosions rocked the area. She looked up to see darkness closing in on their flanks . . . Cragon trees from two directions.

To make matters even worse, she heard the terrible
scree
of Warspiders.

Elves and people ran in all directions, chairs toppling over by the dozen. Several of the Elves began to shepherd humans to the castle, to the parking lot—any place away from the attack

“Mrs. Galdarro!” Tommy yelled. “What's going on?”

“It is a trap, Tommy! The enemy is here!” She turned. “Charlie!”

“Right here!” said Mr. Charlie, appearing behind their row. “And I brought my tools.”