The Secret of Ashona (44 page)

Elizabeth laughed. “Mommy has magic kisses!”

Soon all of them were laughing and singing silly songs about magic kisses. Erec remembered thinking that when Mommy put them to bed, they always got to stay up extra late and have fun.

The memory hurt. Erec felt pangs of loneliness, missing his mother and siblings. But he also wondered about what he remembered. His mother was the one that would pass the crown from his father to him—and also to his siblings? Did Baskania know that too? Erec would have to find her, for sure, by the time he finished his quests.

In the meantime, he had a bull to conquer.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
A Drink in the Desert

S
ILENCE FILLED THE CAVE
. Erec peeked again to make sure King Pluto had left. Ward Gamin stood pressed against the wall, terrified, while Tarvos scratched the dirt floor with a sharp hoof.

“Hmmm.” Tarvos’s deep voice echoed through the cavern. “I could turn you into a Golem—it would be a shame to waste you. But I’d rather just fry you on the spot.” He snorted. “Show the Shadow Prince I don’t need to be watched by one of his lackeys.”

“I’m sorry—really.” Ward sounded desperate. “I’ll just stand here quietly and mind my own business. I won’t get in your way. . . .”

Tarvos snorted. “You’re already in my way.”

Laughter echoed from the walls of the cave. Erec was sure it was from the cranes that stood on Tarvos’s back.

“’Ear that?” one said. “He thinks Tarvos will let ’im live. In’t that amusing?”

Erec couldn’t let Ward get destroyed right in front of him. He’d already saved him once at the Diamond Minds pits, and it looked like he would have to again. Without wasting another moment, he ran around the corner and into the cave. Everyone stopped and stared at him.

It took Tarvos a moment, but then his eyes hardened in recognition. “Erec Rex? You ran in here to save this boy—I can see it in your thoughts. It’s too late for him. I’ll spare your life one more time, though, since you helped me so much. But you better leave and not come back.”

Tarvos could read his mind—luckily he had been thinking about Ward, but he knew he had better act quick before the bull caught on to his plan. Instantly, he sprang into the air and landed on Tarvos’s shoulder, grabbing one of his horns.

“Whoa, Nelly!” Spartacus jumped onto Tarvos’s other shoulder with a grin. “You don’t waste any time, kid.”

“What?” The bull waved a hoof up near his head. “What are you doing?” He pointed a hoof at Erec. . . .

Erec was overcome with dizziness. He collapsed and sank over Tarvos’s neck in a swoon. A ray of red light shot from Tarvos’s hoof over his head. What was happening? It felt like Erec’s eyes were spinning in his head. Had Tarvos done something to him . . . ?

Erec blinked, and everything was green. Big ropes of Substance hung around the room. Erec’s dragon eyes were out. So it wasn’t Tarvos, then. Erec was having a cloudy thought. He waited to hear what it commanded him to do.

“What’s going on?” Tarvos roared, enraged and confused. “I can’t read your mind anymore.”

Erec flopped on the bull’s shoulder with relief, his strength returning. Tarvos couldn’t read his mind now—was that because he was part dragon from his cloudy thought? Tarvos swatted at him, and he jumped to the bull’s other shoulder. The three cranes looked him up and down. He had to work quickly.

“How did you do that? Is your head a complete blank?”

Erec started to grab the bull’s horn, then stopped. If Tarvos couldn’t read his thoughts, maybe he could take advantage of that and slow down. “Sorry you can’t read my mind anymore. Something got messed up when my old memory was put in.”

“But I was just reading it a minute ago.” The bull growled. “You were wanting to save Ward. Then boom! Your thoughts disappeared.”

“Yeah. Like I said, it’s all messed up.” He tried to think how to calm the bull down.

“You ’ear that, Mage?” one of the cranes said. “He got his ol’ memory bags back again. Me wonders who had ’em. Did some sprite stole ’em or somepin?”

Tarvos frowned. “Well, boy? Answer the question. Had a sprite stolen your memory?”

Erec laughed, relieved that he had the gift of time. He wasn’t getting any commands from his cloudy thought—maybe it was just here to protect him in this way. “No sprite, just some kid named Connor Flannigan.”

The bird preened. “Wha’dya do then, hit ’im over the head and pound it back out again? I’m sure it’s no’ easy to get memory out of someone, issit?”

“Not at all.” Erec grinned. “Luckily the Memory Mogul did all the work for me.” Talking about his memory distracted Tarvos, so Erec slid down his shoulder, closer to his horn. But then he saw a look of interest in Ward Gamin’s eyes. . . .

Ugh! He felt like kicking himself. Why had he mentioned his
old memory in front of Ward? He hoped Ward would keep his mouth shut about it.

“I came back to help you, Tarvos.” Erec hung his feet in front of the bull’s massive shoulder and leaned closer to his head. “I’m sitting up here to whisper and keep things private. You know.”

“Help me? You already got me the Master Shem—what else could you do? I’ll just finish off this pathetic human. No
boy
is in charge of Tarvos!”

“I wouldn’t do that yet,” Erec said. “That’s what I came here to tell you.” Ward searched Erec with his eyes, practically begging him for help. Erec gave him a smile and a wink. “You’re going to want to keep this kid alive, especially after you find out what’s going on.”

There was a low rumble coming from Tarvos that Erec assumed was curiosity. Even the cranes kept quiet, listening.

“Baskania is trying to trick you. You can’t trust him. You see . . . this kid isn’t really here to watch you. He doesn’t know it,” Erec added, as Tarvos could read Ward’s mind. “But he is in trouble. Baskania wants him to die. But the three Fates really like this boy a lot. They said that whoever kills Ward, here, will be cursed forever. So Baskania hoped that you would do it. That way
you
would be the one cursed by the Fates.”

Tarvos shifted uncomfortably. “The Fates? Is that true? That Baskania will pay for this. How dare he risk my life?”

A crane said. “Are ’umans startin’ to tell the truth all of a sudden? Why believe ’im?”

“Erec Rex is different,” Tarvos said. “He said he’d bring me the Master Shem, and he did. He said he would get his soul back, and he did. Plus, I’m no fool. Even though the Shadow Prince puts a shield up, I can still tell some of what he’s thinking. And it’s all about himself.”

Erec put a hand gently on Tarvos’s horn. It would be easier to trick Tarvos rather than fight him.

“You’re exactly right. Ward over there has a time bomb inside
of him, so you better get him out of here soon. Baskania wanted to make sure that you got the blame for killing him, even if you didn’t do it. Ward will blow up down here and the Fates will blame you. Listen to his chest and you can hear it.” Erec winked at Spartacus, and thought,
Use those rocks to make a ticking noise.

Tarvos frowned and scooped up the stupefied Ward. Spartacus grabbed two pebbles, then zoomed to the bull’s ear. Erec could see Ward’s shirt moving as a steady click came from that spot.

“Hmm.” The bull set Ward down. “I did hear something. A time bomb? Would it be a magical one, then? Could it hurt my cranes?” The cranes squawked and flapped, flustered.

“Yes. So be very careful. And there is something even worse. Remember the Master Shem that I gave you? There was a problem with it.”

“A problem? What is it?”

“Have you tried using it yet?”

“Just once. I made all the Golems raise their hands, then sit. It worked like a charm.”

Erec shook his head and whistled a low note. “You got lucky. Baskania took it before I gave it to you. He set it with a timer. After you use it for ten minutes, one of your cranes will die. In another ten minutes the next will be killed . . . and then the next. And after that—you. I felt bad leaving it here with you. I’m the one who brought it, it was only right to give you fair warning.”

Tarvos frowned, anger steeling his face. “You’ve come back to make it up to me.”

“I have. That Master Shem is already controlling you, too. Which horn do you keep it in?”

Tarvos pointed to his left.

“Do you want me to show you something? Look what Baskania is going to do to you. He’s programmed you so that with one word your horns will unscrew themselves. I’ll show you—the Master
Shem will come to me all on its own.” He winked at Spartacus. “Baskania won’t need you at all anymore. You’ve spent all of this time building a massive Golem army. He’s going to let the Master Shem destroy you and your cranes, then steal it right back from you.” Erec pointed at Ward. “Plus, you’ll take the fall from the Fates for killing this boy.”

Tarvos was growling. “When I get out of here I’ll find the Shadow Prince and tear him limb from limb, before I use the Master Shem even once!”

It was hard for Erec to suppress the smile on his face. Baskania would be in for a nasty surprise. But he couldn’t leave Tarvos with the Master Shem and the Golem army.

“I’ll show you how easily Baskania can take your Master Shem, and then I’ll give it right back to you. Watch this.” Erec moved away from his horns and snapped his fingers.
Unscrew them, Spartacus!
he thought.

Spartacus hovered over the bull’s head and started to twist both at the same time.

“What?” Tarvos batted his hooves in the air, passing right through the ghost. “How is that happening?”

The tough skin over Tarvos’s horns was no problem for Spartacus’s strength. In a moment both were off, one in each of his hands. The ghost grabbed Erec under his arm and sailed into the air.

“Aargh!” Tarvos screamed, enraged. His mouth was trying to form words, unsuccessfully, as he had lost his ability to speak. He lunged at Erec, swiping with an iron-hard hoof.

Spartacus jerked Erec out of the way and around the corner as the bull charged after them. Panicked, Erec grabbed Spartacus, but his grasp flew through the ghost. As they flew, he stuck his fingers in one of the horns and, with relief, felt the Master Shem.

Cranes attacked from all angles, pecking and clawing. They pulled at his clothing, holding him back while Spartacus tried to fly him away. Erec covered his face, batting them away as he could,
when Tarvos dove at him, slashing with teeth and hooves. Spartacus yanked hard just in time.

Save Ward.

Erec had forgotten he was having a cloudy thought until he heard the command. He tried to tell Spartacus, but two cranes pulled him back again. Before he could break away, Tarvos butted his hornless head into his side. Erec flew into the wall, and slid to the cave floor.

“Are you okay?” Spartacus picked him up.

Erec nodded. “Get Ward.”

Tarvos snarled and dove again, but Spartacus was faster. He grabbed Ward by the arm. In a series of twists and turns, the ghost maneuvered both boys around the cranes and bull until they were out of the cave.

Sand burned and scraped against Erec and Ward as Spartacus yanked them through the quicksand. Going back up suffocated Erec more than going down had. Sand shot into his nose and mouth as he tried to suck in air. Choking, he pulled his hands toward his face, but there was no way to move them there. He kept his fingers locked over the horns, to keep their contents inside. Everything hurt. . . .

Finally, Spartacus dropped them onto the boiling ground of the Suction Pits of Despair. Erec collapsed, heat baking through his skin even worse than before. Ward was lying on his back next to him. Spartacus waited for them to stop gasping and coughing, and then held a glass of water out to Ward. “Thirsty?”

Erec blinked a few times, absorbing the situation. There was nothing else to drink in sight. Ward would gulp it all down, and Erec would be left dying of thirst. “What about me?”

Spartacus raised a finger to his lips. “Ward can’t hear me, silly. He thinks a glass of water is floating here on its own. Tell him you
already had one. Make sure he drinks the whole thing.”