The Invisible Tower (6 page)

“Aye, lad. Hellish things, aren't they?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Got two myself over there in the bush.”

Then Artie thought of something. “Did they have a mom or dad or anything?”

“Most likely, lad. That's why we need to wrap this up and get moving!”

Thumb didn't need to say that twice.

Artie hopped from the rock. Thumb produced a short rope and motioned for the sword. Artie handed it to him, and Thumb tied a sash for Artie to carry his new weapon. As he worked he spoke quickly. “Can't fathom why these things were here. I don't see why there would be any need to post a guard on the stone…” He handed the sword back to Artie, who slung it nervously over his shoulder. Thumb, still thinking out loud, said, “Bless my stars, these dragolings are very curious, very curious indeed!”

Thumb turned back around and, judging by the look on his face, seemed suddenly to have forgotten his concern. He looked Artie over and smiled broadly. “The sword—Cleomede—she becomes you, my boy.”

Artie didn't really care about that at the moment. “Tom, shouldn't we get going?” he asked.

“Oh yes! Of course we should! To the moongate, lad!”

Thumb wheeled and ran back to the path they'd come up. Artie eagerly followed him.

As they ran in silence, Artie thought, I just killed something with a sword.
I just killed something with a sword. I JUST KILLED SOMETHING WITH A SWORD!

But then his mind went blank as a sound unlike any he'd ever heard rose up behind them. It was part wail, part scream, part three-alarm fire. He looked over his shoulder and saw a huge green glow light up the trees from where the sword in the stone had been. Artie and Thumb stopped briefly in their tracks. Thumb turned to Artie with a look of terror on his face and yelled, “Quickly, lad, as fast as you can!”

They took off at a dead sprint, and in spite of being much smaller, Thumb kept up with Artie quite easily.

The sound behind them changed. It was like a huge machine beginning to turn on, or like a gust of air pushing itself through a massive bellows.

It was the sound of two wings beginning to flap.

“Don't look back, my boy!” Thumb implored.

Artie wasn't planning on it. He saw the moongate ahead and ran fast and then faster. Thumb did the same. They hit the portal at breakneck speed and tumbled through it head over heels.

Artie looked behind them. There was nothing there. Just the woods surrounding Serpent Mound in Peebles, Ohio, on a beautifully moonlit night.

“What
was
that, Tom?” Artie asked, out of breath.

“That, my boy, was a close shave, wouldn't you say?”

“Uh, yeah! But was that really a dragon?”

“Can't be sure, but it certainly sounded like one.”

Artie started to walk away from Thumb, who'd shrunk back to his smallest size. Artie reached over his shoulder to touch the hilt of the sword. It was too much.

He dropped cross-legged to the ground. Thumb walked to Artie's feet and rested a hand on his leg. He sighed and said, “I know this is a lot to take in, lad.”

“I'll say. These things don't happen, Tom. I'm talking to a man the size of a baseball… And we just killed three baby dragons… These things don't happen.”

Thumb gave Artie a grave look. “Whether you like it or not, these things
do
happen, and whether you knew it or not, these things have been happening to you your whole life. You did well back there, but trust me, you will have to do more than that before your days are done. I know this isn't making sense, but it will. I swear to you, it will.”

Artie took a deep breath and nodded. “All right.” He stood. “Let's get back to Merlin. I want to get that controller and go back to my family.”

Thumb nodded. “Of course, lad.”

They silently made their way along Serpent Mound. When they reached the spot where they'd crawled through Mrs. Thresher, Thumb tapped the ground. It started to glow and very quickly the light became so intense that Artie was momentarily blinded. When the light faded, he found himself back in Merlin's basement, in the first room at the bottom of the stairs.

The little man—or fairy or whatever he was—said, “There's the sink. Why don't you wash up?” Artie went and splashed his face and forearms. As he did, he noticed something orange swirling down the drain.

Dragoling blood.

Great.

When he was done, Thumb looked him up and down and said, “Good as new. Merlin's upstairs waiting for you. He'll give you what you came here for.”

Artie looked over his shoulder and saw the hilt still hanging there. It was so light. “Okay,” he said.

“I'll be seeing you right soon, lad. You and me, we're going to have lots of capital-
A
adventures!”

Artie felt like they'd already had a capital-
A
adventure and wasn't so sure he wanted another.

Dazed, Artie shuffled up a few stairs before turning back. “Hey, Tom, thanks for taking care of those things back there.”

“Don't mention it, lad. Someone's got to look after you. Off you go now!”

Back in the shop Merlin was talking to a couple of kids a little younger than Artie. A grown-up behind them thumbed through a graphic novel. Artie was suddenly conscious of the sword. Merlin broke away from his customers midsentence, turned to Artie, and said under his breath, “Don't worry, they can't see it. Look in the video monitors.” Artie looked and, sure enough, there was no sign of Cleomede. Then Merlin piped up and said, “Children, you are very lucky. This young man has proven himself worthy of one of my rarest possessions! He has won the Golden Controller!”

“No way!” exclaimed the boy, expressing immediate admiration for Artie.

“I thought no one could get that!” said the girl, sounding more disappointed than impressed.

“Not no one, child, just not
any
one. Artie is this young man's name, and he is quite special. Go on, Artie, help yourself. Take the controller, but come back tomorrow when the tournament is over. We have some unfinished business to attend to.”

Artie went to the case, which had been opened since he'd gone on his surrealistic adventure, and picked up the controller. It was a lot heavier than he expected. He put it in a bag that Merlin held open for him, and headed toward the exit.

“I called a taxi for you,” Merlin shouted. “And remember tomorrow, sire!”

Sire
. That would take some getting used to.

Artie climbed into the yellow Cincinnati Checker cab idling in front of the shop and found himself back at the hotel in five minutes. He was so out of it that as he was getting out, he didn't hear the young driver exclaim, “I'll be seeing you around, kid!”

Artie threw Cleomede over his shoulder as inconspicuously as he could. No one said a thing about it or paid him any special attention.

He had an invisible sword? Really?

He walked through the lobby, got into a full elevator, and no one stared. He passed a cleaning lady in the hallway outside his room, and all she said was, “Hello there.”

He had an invisible sword. Really.

He let himself into the room. Kay and Kynder were resting on the beds. When he walked in, Kynder propped himself on his elbows and said, “There you are. I was just beginning to worry.”

He didn't notice the sword at all. “Nothing to worry about!” Artie said uneasily. “Here. Check it out, Kay.” Artie removed the controller from the bag and held it out.

She took it without taking her eyes off her brother. Kynder didn't seem to notice, though, and he said, “Well, that looks really cool, Kay. I think it'll work great for the tourney, don't you?”

“Uh, yeah, should be fine,” she said.

“Great,” Kynder blurted, “I'm going to grab a shower.”

“Cool,” Kay said.

Kynder went into the bathroom and closed the door. Artie didn't move.

Kay asked, “
What is that?
”

Artie said weakly, “That's your stupid controller.”

“I can see that, Slick, but I mean
that
.” She pointed directly at him and said in a desperate whisper, “
The sword!
”

“What sword?”

“Uh, the medieval-looking broadsword hanging over your shoulder!”

“You can see it?”

“Of course I can.”

“No one else can. Kynder can't. The cabbie couldn't. No one else can see it!”

“Bull.”

“Not bull. Look, I'll take it off and lean it against the wall over here, and wait and see if Kynder says anything.”

“Wow. Okay. But you're crazy.”

“Maybe.” Artie put the sword down, and as he did, everything that had happened drew into focus. He had met Merlin. Tom Thumb had guided him. He had taken the sword from the stone. He had seen and slain a dragoling. He was King Arthur and, while totally unsure of what that meant, he was proud of himself.

He couldn't explain why it all made sense, but suddenly it did.

He looked at Kay. “Later on today, after you win the tournament, I think things will get a little clearer.”

“How's that?”

“You—you and Kynder—we've got to go back to that store. You'll see.”

“See what?”

“I can't explain.”

“Artie,
what
is going on?”

“After the tournament,” he said.

Kynder walked out of the bathroom in a robe to get a clean shirt before showering. Kay said, “Hey, Kynder.”

“Hey, Kay.”

“Notice anything weird in here?”

“Not really. You two can be a little weird, but I like you that way,” he said with a smirk.

“That's not what I'm talking about, but thanks for the compliment. What I mean is, you see anything, like, strange over in that general area?” Kay pointed directly at the sword.

Kynder looked at his daughter quizzically, then to where she was pointing, then back to her. “You all right, Kay?”

“You don't see anything weird over there?”

“Unless the wall is strange, no.” Kynder shook his head. “Did you have too much Coca-Cola yesterday?” He headed back to the bathroom, mumbling, “Really, I don't know why I indulge you two like I do.”

Kay was dumbfounded. “Artie,
what
is going on?” She walked up to the sword and touched it. She picked it up. “Man, it's light.” She turned the sword in her hands. Then she looked closely at the blade and demanded, “Artie, what is this? Is this
blood
?”

The boy who would be king just nodded sheepishly.

Kay calmed down, loved the
new controller, and summarily kicked everyone's butt at the tournament in record time. Her victory was so complete that Kynder deemed her controller “inspiring.” He insisted that before leaving town they visit “this Indivisible Tower place” to pay a debt of gratitude.

And so at five thirty they found themselves staring at the Invisible Tower's front door.

Kynder pulled it open, and they stepped inside.

Like Artie, Kay and Kynder were also very impressed with the place. Kynder gravitated immediately to a case full of vintage action figures. Kay moved to the comic book shelves. Artie just waited for Merlin.

After a minute or two the old man drifted up the center aisle toward Kay, who, looking at an issue of
The New Avengers
, didn't notice him at all.

When he was next to her, he said, “Hello there!” in a velvety, soothing voice.

Kay yelped, “Oh!” She took one look at the old man and said, “Wow! Nice tats, Gramps.”

“Aha! I'm glad you can see them.” Artie walked toward them as Merlin whispered conspiratorially, “Not everyone can, you know. Your brother can. Your father will not.”

“Like that crazy sword Artie's carrying?”

“Precisely.”

“So you gave that to him?”

“No. He had to go and get it. As a matter of fact, he's supposed to give it to you once he retrieves Excalibur.”

The mention of Excalibur didn't faze Kay in the least. She thumbed through the comic book, saying, “Really? Cool, I guess. Not sure why Artie has a sword, but it is pretty sweet, being invisible and all.”

Artie stepped to Kay's side and awkwardly said, “Sis, this is—well, his name is Merlin—and he's got something to do with—”

Kay interrupted, “Wait.
Merlin?
Are you kidding me?”

Artie shook his head. Merlin placed a hand on Kay's shoulder and said, “He is not, my dear. I am the wizard Merlin, and your brother is a king, and you are his champion.”

Kay spun to her brother and demanded, “Artie, what's this geezer talking about?”

Artie held up his hands and answered, “Just listen to him. I know it sounds crazy, but just listen, okay?”

Kay scrunched her face and turned back to the old man. “All right, Pops. I'll do what Artie says, but I want you to know that you're starting to creep me out.”

Merlin smiled. “Of course I am, my dear! It's not every day you meet a wizard! Come. Let's find your father.”

Kay rolled her eyes and said, “Okay, whatever.”

They made their way to the back of the store as Merlin called out, “Kynder Kingfisher? Come here, please.”

Kynder wandered down the far aisle and when he got to them, he stuck out his hand. As promised, he didn't seem to notice the old codger's tattoos at all. Kynder said, “Hello, sir! Seems my children already told you my name, but let's make it official. Kynder Kingfisher. It's a pleasure to meet you.”

The old man took his hand and said, “I can assure you that the pleasure is all mine, Mr. Kingfisher. My name is Merlin.”

“Well, it's very nice to meet you, Merlin,” Kynder said casually, as if the old man was instead named “Steve.”

“Likewise. If I may say, you've done a marvelous job with the children.”