Authors: Rain Oxford
“What do I do? How do I keep it away from Sammy?”
“I’m sorry. I do not know how to stop it. Only one
of my brothers knew enough of the old beasts to stop them.”
“Vretial.”
“Yes.”
Figures. “Can I trust Nano?”
* * *
I looked up at Mordon. “Looks like we need to get out
of here,” I said as he helped me up. “Tiamat says the god of Dios has decided
he doesn’t want me here anymore. She said to go to Malta, that Avoli and Madus
can help us. Emrys is Malta’s Guardian, and they’re trying to get him here, but
Zer is keeping him out.”
“So how are we supposed to get there? Have you signed
the book for Malta?”
“No. Let’s confer with Nano about it. Maybe Nano can
go get Emrys and bring him here.” It only took us a couple of minutes to get
back to the cabin. Nano was awake, sitting on the platform when we arrived.
“Morning stroll?” he asked.
“Yeah, and guess who gave us a visit.”
“The demon,” he answered.
“He wasn’t supposed to be able to follow us,” Mordon
accused.
We climbed up the ladder and he stood, then shut the
door, which he had left open, so we wouldn’t wake Vivian.
“He came at us and Blood attacked him. They both
disappeared, but the body that the demon used was left. I was able to heal him
because he wasn’t completely burned out like the other people,” I said.
“Huh. Why would the dragon and demon vanish and not
the physical body?”
“Maybe because the man isn’t a traveler of worlds,”
Mordon suggested.
“Or maybe the universe is trying to fix itself. What
did Tiamat tell you?” Nano asked.
“She said that Zer turned against me. She said we need
to get to Malta, but Zer is keeping Emrys away.”
“Yes. Zer told me last night that I needed to get rid
of you. Fortunately, I am not all that devoted to Zer. I would not normally go
against him, I am no traitor, but he is prone to changing his mind and making
snap decisions. You are still an apprentice, and as such, I am inclined to act
as your master in his absence, once again. I assume that you are also in
apprenticeship,” he said to Mordon, who nodded. “Then I am also responsible for
you.”
“But if your god tries to kill me---”
“Then he will succeed. Let’s get you away from here
before that happens. We’ll go to Nila’s kingdom; his guards can protect you
while I leave to bring Emrys here.”
“What if the demon attacks?”
“Then there will be plenty of food to distract it
while you get away.”
“I don’t want to go meet a king,” Mordon said. His
reluctance was nearly tangible and he frantically thought up excuses.
“Nila is nothing like your father. He’s younger than
you. He’s goofy and playful and not mean at all.”
“He put poisonous insects in my bed. I could have
died,” Nano said.
“Yeah, well, you named him ‘nephew,’” I said, as if
that was a perfectly valid excuse.
Mordon was quick to play along. “You named him
‘nephew’? That’s horrible. Why would you do something like that?”
Nano grumbled something as he turned and entered the
cabin. Mordon and I waited outside. The sun was fading in and it was started to
warm up, but it had the chill of an early morning. Soon, Nano came outside, his
arms piled high with Sammy and baby supplies and Vivian followed, yawning. We
all climbed down from the platform except Nano, who jumped. Vivian wrapped her
arms around mine and put her head on my shoulder, which was something she had
always done when she first woke up. She trusted me to guide her with her eyes
closed. I looked at Nano and he stared right back. “It’s habit,” I defended.
“I know,” he sighed. He handed Sammy to Mordon and
the baby bag to me. Then he pried Vivian’s arms off me (getting a few grumbles
for his troubles) and wrapped them around his own arm. It didn’t take long
before we came to a wall and large steel door, which Nano opened to reveal a
narrow alley with tall walls and a cobblestone road.
We shuffled quietly down the alley and when we
entered the castle main, I recognized where we were. “You live in Nila’s
kingdom?” I asked.
“No, I live in a forest in a room in Nila’s kingdom.
Oh, boy, I think there’s trouble,” he said.
Sure enough, three goblin guards where headed our way
with snarls on their faces. At least… I think they were snarling. Vivian
shrieked, fully awake now, and hid behind Nano.
“It’s all right,” Nano told her.
The guards reached us and started speaking with Nano
briskly. Nano turned to us after a few minutes. “Apparently Nila is sick and not
receiving guests. And even more unsettling is that the guards have seemed to
forgotten who they’re talking to.”
“They don’t remember you are Nila’s uncle?” I asked.
“Oh, no, they remember that. They have just forgotten
that I am the most powerful being on this world.” With that, he faced the
guards.
They immediately dropped to the ground and withered
in pain, but Nano walked passed them with no mercy. Townspeople watched and
guards stood off to the side as Nano led us to the large wooden doors of the
castle. It looked like a tornado blew through; there was broken furniture,
glass, and pottery strewn all over the huge, once-magnificent chamber. Nila was
sitting, curled up on his throne with his hands over his ears. There were no
guards in the room.
“Nila,” Nano said.
Nila looked up at us with wide, hopeful eyes. He was
pale and his blond hair was messed up. Nano spoke in his language and took a
step closer to Nila.
“Stay away,” the boy-king said in English. “I do not
want any more.”
“Any more what?” Nano asked.
In answer, Nila pushed his hands out towards us and a
great gust of wind picked up, nearly knocking us off our feet. Sammy let out a
little cry and I responded by bending the wind away from us.
“Dylan!” he said. He jumped off his throne and bound
towards us.
Nano moved out of his way, but Mordon stepped in
front of me. “Any more what?” Mordon asked when Nila halted.
“Magic,” I answered for him. “You can do magic now.
How?”
“I am no void anymore,” he said, his tone panicky.
“Since when?”
“Four days I wake up and guard hand me clothes. I go
to open door and it blow off wall. I touch another and food freeze in my hand.
Guard grab my arm, I destroy room. I do not want magic. I am void,” he said.
He looked at his uncle and I realized he probably
wanted a hug. Nano backed away.
Vivian, however, went right up to him as if we were
being ridiculous. “Hello, Nila. I am Nano’s girlfriend, and I have no magic.”
She then hugged him with no hesitation. Adulthood was doing Vivian good. She
was also about six inches taller than him.
“How does it work? Do you get their powers? Do they
lose the power?” I asked. Vivian let go of him and he turned to me.
“I do not know. I get only one magic from each
person.”
I tried to step closer to him, but Mordon grabbed my
arm and pulled me away. He still held Sammy.
“Do not let him touch you,”
he whispered in my mind.
“Why not? What do you smell?”
“The boy himself smells innocent, but there is
something in him.”
“The demon?”
I asked. I observed Nila, who was
glancing at us, but seemed to be listening to Nano.
“No, not the demon. Something else. It’s old and
powerful but not bad. Just don’t touch him. We don’t know what he might get
from you or if you will get it from him.”
We went back to the others. Nila stayed close, but
out of reach. I think he was frightened enough of his new magic to keep away
from me. Mordon was right; I was terribly unlucky before I learned control, and
we didn’t need someone new to magic to have that power.
Sammy cried and thrashed in Mordon’s arms. Vivian
took the baby bag from me. “I have some dried fruit in here for him to eat,”
she said.
I tried to help her look, but the bag was bigger on
the inside and filled to bursting. “Why do you have pliers in here?” I asked,
dropping them on the floor.
“I’ve been looking for those for a month.”
Mordon sighed. “It’s in the inside pocket,” he said,
passing Sammy to me before joining the hunt.
I looked into the baby’s huge, startled eyes until I
heard a gasp.
Nila cried something in his language before lifting
his bare foot. He had stepped on glass and his foot started bleeding profusely.
Nano moved to help, but that startled Nila. Nila tripped and Mordon barely
caught him. I saw Nila’s face as he gasped, paled, and then his eyes flashed
red. I’m sure the room hadn’t literally caught fire, but a fire tornado forming
around us was near enough. Nano took Sammy and tried to stop the fire, but I
knew it wouldn’t work. Even though Nila was causing it, that was Mordon’s fire,
and Nano wouldn’t be able to stop that. Mordon covered Vivian from the fire.
My first instinct was to stop Nila. I grabbed him and
leaned closer to speak without yelling. “You have to stop it,” I said. And just
like that, it stopped. The fire immediately died out. He looked at me confused,
but his eyes didn’t flash any magical color. I let go and he stumbled backwards
a couple of steps. “Mordon?” I asked. “Still intact?”
Mordon help up a small ball of fire before crushing
it in his fist. “My fire is fine.”
Nila shakily looked at his hand. After a few seconds,
he smiled. “Magic is gone. I am void again!”
He hugged his uncle until Nano started turning blue,
and when he finally let his uncle go, he rounded on me. Mordon didn’t have a
chance to stop him before he was hugging me to within an inch of my life. Tiny
boy-king with a body-builder’s strength.
Luckily, Nila pulled away when I started making
choking sounds. “Thank you, Dylan! You made me void again!”
“I really don’t know how,” I said. Vivian, who wasn’t
injured from the fire, sat Nila down to pick the glass out of his feet. I
pulled a bandage wrap out of my bag for him.
“Mordon? What’s the reading?”
“It’s gone. Whatever was in him is gone, and it’s
not in you, either. It just vanished.”
“I think that has become a recurring theme.”
“Now that things are back to normal, Nila, I need to
borrow some of your guards. I need them to watch over these guys while I try to
find someone,” Nano said.
“Oh, I got it!” Everyone looked at Mordon, who was
holding up a bag of dried fruits. “Sorry.”
Nano handed Sammy off to Mordon to feed. Really, the
baby never got put down. “Hey, Sammy is eighteen months? Shouldn’t he be
talking yet?” I asked.
“He grunts, babbles, points, and understands us
sometimes, but he hasn’t said any words,” Vivian said. “The pediatrician said
it’s not anything to worry about.”
“Is he… slow in other development?” I asked.
Apparently not in motor skills, because the piece of fruit he was about to put
into his mouth instead hit me in the face. Thank god it was dry. “That wasn’t
nice, Sammy,” I scolded. “Shut up, Mordon.” He couldn’t contain his laughter.
“How about we go get breakfast?” Nano asked.
I took Sammy’s bag and we all headed out of the room.
Nano stopped to speak with one of the guards for a moment before taking the
lead.
The dining hall was nothing delicate or elegant; it
was huge and sturdy, just like the rest of the underground kingdom. Meats,
cheeses, fruits, and drinks were spread out along the massive table. There were
only a few people there already. Vivian was looking around with wild eyes, much
like I probably did when I arrived on Duran the first time. Mordon was more
conserved.
“What is the dining etiquette here?” he asked in
Sudo.
“I don’t know. I have eaten here in public only once
before, but it was with a different king. Everyone waited for the king to fill
his plate, then parents filled their children’s plates before their own.”
People stood and bowed as Nila went to the head of
the table. He sat, then Nano sat next to him and Vivian sat next to Nano. I
went to sit next to Vivian, but Nila told me to sit on the other side of him. I
wasn’t going to argue with him in front of his people. Mordon sat on the other
side of me, still holding Sammy.
Nano did not wait for Nila, so we all just filled the
plates in front of us. I was starving. The food was about what I remembered,
not amazing but pretty good. Mordon was able to get in a few bites after giving
Sammy some fish to play with. Once I found the water, I chugged two glasses of
it.
Nila and I had a nice time catching up, and I told
him I was impressed with how much better his English was. After we were all
done, Nano said goodbye and disappeared, supposedly to Malta. Nila asked us if
we wanted to see the kingdom and, of course, we all agreed.
We walked down the alleyways, over bridges, and
around the castle. People were just starting at their jobs herding animals,
transporting goods, setting up stalls to sell food, etc… The streets were
clean, but fairly dark. Sparsely placed torches added a measure of safety, but
I didn’t think Nila, the king of the entire world, should be walking around
without his guards.
“How are things going topside?” I asked.
“Is good. Land is healing and I made forests and
island in under city. People fight no more. They want another High King, but
that not happen. I am only High King and I stay in under city.”
“Why wouldn’t you want to live above ground?”
“I like my kingdom. I like my guards. Goblins cannot
live above ground.”
“So, why are we underground?” Vivian asked.
Nila explained in great detail about the war that
destroyed the land above and made it inhabitable. I was so engrossed in the
story that I jumped when the weirdest bark I have ever heard in my life
interrupted us. I peered around in the dark hallway, but couldn’t find the
source of the noise until Vivian screamed. She screamed so loud and harshly
that I thought she had been attacked, but then I saw it.