David

 

 

David slammed into something hard. Pain ripped through his shoulder, his head. Two more thuds landed beside him. A third one hit so hard the ground quaked.

He pushed to his hands and knees, discarded the spindly broken chair clinging to his back like a turtle shell, and stood. He recognized the pots and pans suspended from the ceiling, the prismatic colors flickering off a line of crystals hanging in a sunlit window above a sink. A pewter teapot sat on a wood stove. Bottles of all shapes and sizes, some so dusty he couldn’t see their contents, perched on tilted shelves. And up above, nestled between the ceiling and the lopsided cabinets, a black creature with leathery wings stared down at him, its purple eyes watching his every move.

“Hello, Maggot,” he muttered under his breath.

It had been two weeks since he’d first laid eyes on the creature. At the time, Finn called it a familiar, his double, his alter-ego. David called it creepy and wished it would go away. The sentiment hadn’t changed.

The gargoyle blinked and turned its gaze on Eric who winced while helping Charlotte to her feet.

He had seen that contorted look of pain on Eric’s face once before, in Berg Castle, in the dungeons when they’d first met. A shiver ran up his spine at the sight of Eric’s arm dangling precariously at his side.

“It’s dislocated again, isn’t it?” David asked.

Eric nodded. “Have you got a sash I can use?” He smiled.

David returned the grin. “I wish.” He kicked the overturned chairs out of the way and shoved the small table to the side, grimacing as the lanky, twiggy legs grated across the floor. “I do have a wall for you though.” He gestured to the partition separating the kitchen from the hall, as if showing off a grand prize on a game show.

“What are you two babbling about?” Charlotte asked. “Where in God’s creation are we and what is that thing on top of the cabinets?”

“We’re at Finnagin Aginagin’s. He’s a crazy old magician who’s literally as thin as paper with whacky hair and eyes like a lemur. He brought me here the night Einar kidnapped you and I collapsed in the woods. He took care of me and nursed me back to health within hours only to put me through the most insane, spell-casting training you can imagine. Almost twenty-four hours of learning how to pass through solid objects, how to open doors. Perfecting the spells Slavandria gave me. And if that wasn’t enough, he tossed me out on my butt the next morning after I had maybe two hours of sleep, and sends me into the belly of Berg Castle. As for that thing up there, his name’s Maggot, and he’s a gargoyle and probably just about the laziest, most useless creature I’ve ever seen.” David looked around, his brow pinched. “Speaking of creatures, where is Mirith?”

“He can’t be too far away,” Eric said, one eye on the familiar. “I felt his exorbitant weight shake the whole of Fallhollow, if that is indeed where we are.”

“Oh, yeah. We’re still in Fallhollow,” David said. He found a stained but clean cloth in a drawer and handed it to Eric. “Here. Is there enough there to keep you from biting off your tongue?”

Eric nodded. “Thank you, however, I must say with a great amount of certainty, I am not looking forward to this.” He squared off with the wall, and shoved the cloth in his mouth.

“What is he doing?” Charlotte asked, her eyes wide. Scared.

Eric shot forward, turning his body at the last minute so that his shoulder connected with the door jam. A loud pop, followed by an excruciating yell sent Maggot scampering across the cabinets to the darkest corner of the room. Eric spun and pressed his back to the wall. Sweat dripped from his forehead.

David squeezed his eyes tight at the bellow of pain. He couldn’t begin to imagine it. He hoped he never would.

Charlotte shouted, “What did you do? Why?” She approached Eric, her expression one of anger and perplexity. “What in the devil’s name possessed you do such a thing?”

“My arm was out of its socket. I had to put it back. Otherwise, I would be unable to protect you from such dangerous creatures as the one hovering in the shadows above you.”

David chuckled. “He’s not dangerous. Besides, what are you going to protect her with, your charming smile and daring personality?” He grinned. “That is unless you have an invisible sword you can wield.”

Eric glanced down at his side and cursed beneath his breath. “Fantastic.” He pointed to David. “Looks as if you are without armament as well.”

“Which is all the more reason to find Finn. Shall we? He’ll know what to do.”

They strode down a narrow hallway littered with stacks of papers and small tables topped with knick-knacks. The corridor emptied into a large room lit by a single lamp, tassels hanging from the rim of its pointed shade. Slanted bookshelves hung on the walls. Stacks of papers were piled high to the ceiling. Crystal balls, potions, and bizarre, miniature animals, some striped, some spotted, wandered around tables and over open books as if it were the most natural thing in the world. In a shadowed corner at the far end of the room, David spotted his host slumped in an overstuffed chair.

“Finn,” David said, hurrying to his side, “it’s David. Wake up. Come on, buddy. Snap out of it.”

“What are you doing?” Charlotte asked. “Why don’t you let him sleep?”

“He’s a sestra, and sestras don’t sleep. Ever,” David said. He shook Finn by the shoulders. “Finn. Come on. Wake up.”

“He’s a what?” Eric asked, stepping over strewn parchments and leather-bound books splayed like birds in flight.

Both Eric’s and Charlotte’s gasps nearly sucked all the air from the room as their gazes fell upon the man in the chair.

“What in dragon’s breath did you say he was?” Eric asked, staring at the man with flesh as pale as moon glow, bugged eyes, and eyebrows that appeared half-eaten by a goat. Blades of grass-green hair spiked at every angle, while flat, paper-thin arms and hands protruded from the bell sleeves of his embroidered robe. “He’s as thin as a feather. Literally. Why, you could turn him sideways and lose him all together.”

David nodded. “I know. I thought the same thing when I first saw him.”

“Is he really a sestra, an emissary of the mages?”

“Yep, so he says.” A wave of confusion swept through David’s. “Wait a minute. Are you telling me you’ve never seen one before?”

Eric shook his head. “I always thought they were feigned, creatures of hope made up for bedtime stories to ward off evil dreams.” Eric reached out and touched Finn’s arm. “This is remarkable.” His gaze traveled down Finn’s body, all the way to his paper-thin feet. “I wonder how he moves, how he breathes. There’s nothing to him.”

“I could say the same about you, sprout,” Finn said, bolting upright. “Didn’t your elders ever teach you it’s impolite to gawk and comment on others’ appearances? I may look scrawny and weak, but I could send you into another universe before you could utter a sound.”

Eric laughed, his nerves playing havoc on the sound coming out of his throat. He stood, not taking his hand off of Finn. “I’m sure you could, Sir. No offense meant.”

“None taken. I’m only giving you grief.” The sestra grasped David’s hand and patted it. “I’m glad to see you survived the attack. The paladin lives to fight another day.”

“Yeah. Whatever,” David said, wishing someone else would claim the job. “What happened to you? Why were you sleeping?”

Finn rubbed his forehead. “It wasn’t sleeping, young man, of that I can assure you. I was working on a project when I heard this strange noise coming from the hallway. An instant later, I became quite disoriented and took a seat in hopes the feeling would dissipate. I passed out. Quite different from sleeping.”

David stood still, every inch of him taut with tension. Something wasn’t right. Finn sensed everything. Nothing got by him, yet something dulled his mind. Wiped his senses. Had someone cast a spell upon him, and if so, why? He remembered the Eye of Kedge dangling from his neck. Could it be whomever stole the crystals came looking for the pendant?

Finn snapped his paper-thin fingers in David’s face. “What’s got you so serious, boy?” He headed toward the kitchen without a look back.

“Finn, I think someone may have drugged you or used magic on you.”

“To what end?”

“To get their hands on this.” David pulled the Eye of Kedge from beneath his doublet.

“Bring it here by the window so as I can get a better look.”

David slipped the necklace over his head and handed it to Finn. “Slavandria said to give it to you. That you would know what to do with it.”

Finn held it up to the sunlight streaming in through the kitchen window. He examined it backwards, forwards, and upside down. His only words were “Umm hmm. Hmm. Umm hum.” After intense inspection, he turned to Eric who stood beside the kitchen table wearing a most perplexed look.

Finn shook his head and motioned to Eric. “Sit, sit, boy. No need to gawk. I know I’m a bit much to take in, but your brain might explode if you don’t give it a rest.”

“Explode?”

“Yes, yes,” Finn said. “It happened once, you know. Right here in this very room. I was talking to a young boy about your age and he couldn’t stop staring. Soon, his eyes got bigger and bigger until they bulged from their sockets. All of a sudden,” he mimicked an explosion with his fingers, “his head popped.” He paused for a few moments, long enough to prepare four mugs of tea, then continued. “It was a nasty mess, I have to tell you. There was brain matter everywhere. If it wasn’t for Maggot helping out, I might still be cleaning up the remnants.”

“Finn,” David said, folding his arms across his chest, “you’re so full of crap.”

Eric sipped and swallowed his tea. His gaze flitted from Finn to Charlotte then back to Finn. “I apologize, sir. It was not my intention to stare. I-it’s just you’re a sestra. A real, live sestra.”

“Well, we’d be in a bit of a pickle if I were a dead one now, wouldn’t we?” He turned to David. “Are you going to introduce me? It’s rather rude to drop in unannounced and not introduce your playmates.”

“They’re not playmates,” David said, taking a seat.

“Semantics. Get to it.”

“Fine.” David sat back in his chair. “Eric, this is Finnegan Aginagin, but you can call him Finn. Finn, this is Eric, and my best friend in any world, Charlotte. And somewhere around here is Mirith, my pet dragon.”

“So that’s who’s making the ruckus in the basement,” Finn said. He glanced up at the gargoyle. “Maggot doesn’t like dragons.”

David snorted and said, “Kind of an oxymoron, considering where you live.”

“Why do you say that?” Eric asked.

“Go look out the window.”

Eric rose and walked to the window. Within seconds, his face turned red. Anger pinched his brow as he balled his fingers into fists. “That’s Berg Castle.” He glared at David. “Why are we at Berg Castle? Didn’t you get enough of this place?”

“Hey, I didn’t pick the vacation destination, remember. Thank Slavandria for that one.”

“Does she want to see us dead?”

“I don’t think so,” David said. “In fact, I’m pretty sure she sent us here so we’d be safe.”

“Safe?” Eric’s hands began to shake. “We are within a stone’s throw of Einar’s lair, a place where King Gildore and I were held captive and beaten.” A black, wispy shadow passed outside the glass. Eric’s eyes widened. He pointed at the window. “Did you see that? Did you? It was a shadowmorth! Do you remember those? Trog almost died from one of them. I was scraped by one and thought I would die.”

David took a deep breath. “Yes, I remember, but they don’t know we’re here. The cottage is concealed. Finn’s got it under control, so relax. Trust me, there’s no one here who wants to beat you up or hurt you, unless you want to keep acting like a deranged mental patient, at which time I’d be happy to knock you on your butt.”

“You? Knock me on my butt?” Eric laughed loud and hard. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Children,” Charlotte moaned, “chill out. Sheesh.”

Finn tapped the pendant in his palm. His brow furrowed and his eyes changed from black to a strange shade of forest green. “David, what has happened to the crystals?”

“They’ve been stolen,” David said.

“When?”

“We’re not sure, but if I had to guess, I’d say this morning about the same time someone tried to poison the queen.”

Finn’s eyes got bigger, if that was even possible. “A distraction.”

David nodded. “And even though Slavandria denied it, I think my parents might have been the ones to take them.”

“What would your parents need with them?” Finn asked.

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

“Do I look like a mind reader, boy? Now tell me what happened at Gyllen, and maybe I’ll decide if I can help you.”

 

 

***

 

 

Finn paced the room as he listened, his forefinger tapping his lips. Back and forth. Back and forth, even when the story was through.

Eric smacked the table. “Will you please quit pounding the floor and tell us what you’re thinking?”

Finn stopped and flattened his palms on the kitchen table, his face inches from Eric’s. “I know who all of you are. I know what roles you are to play. You think you understand what has happened, what will happen, but you know nothing. Destinies have been set into motion. The three of you are players in a game of perpetuity. You will not endure here, not while the Seekers hunt for the one who controls the Eye.” His gaze turned to David. “I know why Slavandria sent you to me. I know why I must send you away.” Finn turned away.

David drummed his fingers on the table and bit his bottom lip, choosing his next words carefully.

“Do you plan on telling us what you know?”

Finn moved to the sink and stared out the window. “It was written seasons ago in the Book of Telling that no harm should come to the Hirth or Fallhollow so long as the protectors of Hirth remained in the realm together. Sadly, to protect the realm, the king of Hirth entered into a sorcerer’s agreement, nullifying the sacred words, and the protectors of Hirth were separated.”

David’s stomach flipped and hitched a ride to what-the-hell island. Why would the king do that? What could have been so sacred he would make such a bargain?

“Now, they have rejoined,” Finn continued, “thus breaking the sorcerer’s concordance.” He turned around, facing them once more. “He and the Dragon King will never stop searching for you. They will tear this world upside down to find you. You must leave. Go where he cannot touch you.”

“What about the crystals?” Charlotte asked. “What about Gertie and Garrett? We have to get them back.”

“And you will, when the fates allow.”

Eric snorted. The muscles in his arms flexed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not going anywhere.”

“Do you want to die?” Finn asked.

“No, of course not,” Eric said, his voice cool and measured, “but if you think I’m going to run while everyone else stays to fight, you’re wrong.”

Finn pushed back from the table. “What makes you think you’re running from a fight? How do you know you’re not running into one?”

“But you just said—”

“I said what I said. You construed the rest.” He placed the necklace with the medallion around his neck. “Come with me. All of you.”

Chairs scraped across the floor.

They turned left out of the kitchen, down another narrow hallway into a room as dark and musty as the one they’d found Finn in. David shook his head at the tilted shelves. Did Finn not believe in anything being flat and level? He flinched as Maggot scuttled past him and jumped up on a credenza stacked high with parchments, books, and odd glass globes filled with water and model cities. Finn pushed his way through piles of broken chairs, picture frames, and strange metal contraptions until he reached a roll-topped desk in the center of the room. Raising the tambour, he removed a round metallic ball, red as an apple and half the size.

“What’s that?” David asked.

“A rutseer. A very handy device for where you’re going.”

“Where are we going?” David asked.

Finn tossed the ball once and caught it. “Wherever the crystals are.”

He laid the Eye of Kedge upside down on a table. David and the others moved closer as Finn pressed the rutseer into an indentation in the back. A glow swelled from deep within the ball, turning it into a fiery globe.

“What is it doing?” Charlotte asked.

“Finding the crystals.”

The ball began to spin, slow at first, then increasing in speed until it began to hum. The top opened, emitting a shard of light which faded, leaving behind a projected map hanging in the air.

Eric gasped, his mouth hung open. “This is incredible.”

“It’s a hologram,” David said, “and the image looks familiar.”

“It should,” Finn said. “It’s—”

BOOM!

Eric shoved Charlotte to the ground, his body shielding hers as a door blasted from its hinges and flew from across the hallway into the room, crashing into an ocean of spindles and broken chairs. Mirith’s shape filled the doorway, his sizzling tail arched over his back, his teeth exposed. Behind him, Maggot crouched on a table, rows of flesh-ripping teeth exposed within a guttural growl.

“No, no,” Finn said, panic saturating his voice. Incantations slipped from his tongue. Tingles invaded David’s body as the spells shot by him, one after the other. Maggot roared as the powers bounced off his body, now covered in plates of stone. “David, do something with your dragon! The two together are as volatile as gunpowder and fire!”

David called out to Mirith in his mind. Stop, Mirith! Back away. You’re going to get us killed.

The plea slammed into an invisible wall. The dragon had mentally turned himself off.

A string of curses flew from David’s lips.

Another growl, this one so deep it rumbled the floor. Blue sparks sizzled overhead.

Maggot roared.

Eric covered Charlotte once more as another bolt exploded the desk behind them, raining splinters of wood.

“Get off of me!” Charlotte said. Sparks danced off her fingertips and into Eric’s arms.

“Oww! Dragon’s breath, you just shocked me!”

Charlotte shimmied away on her belly. “Sorry. Next time, don’t assume I need—” Her words were lost in Maggot’s screech.

David covered his ears, the high-pitch painful.

Maggot leapt and latched onto Mirith’s head. His long talons dug into the dragon’s face, his angular teeth ripping out feathers.

Mirith shrieked, his ruby eyes rolling back in their sockets.

“Stop!” David shouted. “Get off of him!” He bent down, grabbed a broken table leg, and hit Maggot in the back.

The gargoyle released his grip and turned toward his attacker, his amethyst eyes glowing.

“Yeah, okay, that was stupid,” David said. “Eric! Get Charlotte out of here. Go!”

Maggot dived.

David swung. The table leg broke upon impact. Shards of wood flew in the air. He ducked and half ran, half stumbled toward the hallway.

Mirith burst after him, shattering the doorframe. He pivoted around, cocked his tail over his head, and aimed at Maggot.

“David, you must control your dragon!” Finn yelled, grabbing David’s arm. “If he hurls anymore bolts, he’ll shatter the barrier around the cottage. He’ll expose everything!”

“Now you tell me, Finn!”

Charlotte disappeared under a couch.

“David,” Eric shouted. “Get Mirith. I’ll hold off Maggot. Ready?”

David nodded. “Just like old times, right? Go!”

The two charged, yelling like madmen. Mirith whipped his head around as David and Eric clambered over the wreckage.

David jumped in front of Mirith, his hands in the air. “Stop. You’re going to give us away. The shadowmorths. They’re going to find us. Einar will find us. Please. Stop.”

Another bolt lit up the room.

“David, that one almost hit me,” Eric yelled, diving onto Maggot’s back and latching on to the beast’s ears.

The gargoyle growled, reared, and with a violent shake, sent Eric flying through the air. He crashed into a desk, bringing the contents down on him.

“Mirith, please,” David yelled. “He’s not worth it. He’s just a gargoyle. You’re going to get us killed.”

Eric’s hiding place disappeared, the heavy piece of furniture smashing into pieces behind him. Maggot hovered over him, his nails stretched out like an eagle’s talons ready to pluck a fish from a lake.

Eric swallowed, his breathing heavy and uneven. A rod of light zoomed across the room, exploding across Maggot’s back. The gargoyle turned and flapped toward Mirith.

One.

Two.

Three more bolts.

The room burst into flames.

A fourth bolt blew the roof off.

Sunlight streamed into darkness.

Outside came an ear-splitting screech.

“Shadowmorths!” Eric screamed.

Eric bounded over the piles of shattered wood as the swarms entered overhead. “David, get those spells ready!”

“Thanks, Mirith, you stupid dragon,” David yelled.

The window in the kitchen shattered. Shadowmorths screamed their way into the cottage, their appendages snapping.

Charlotte screamed.

Maggot soared overhead, plunging and diving into the fray. Purple droplets of blood rained down.

Mirith bounded into the room, his tail zapping the wispy clouds of death.

“David!” Finn yelled. “The necklace. The rutseer.”

Two shadowmorths swarmed Finn and sliced his mid-section. He met David’s gaze and said, “Go,” before he collapsed to the floor.

“No!” David yelled.

Maggot circled and screeched. Mirith shot off more bolts.

Charlotte scrambled across the room, grabbing the necklace and rutseer now rolling across the floor. “Guys, we have to go!”

“I can’t leave him!” David wailed. “I have to save Finn!”

“There’s nothing we can do!” Charlotte yelled. “We have to go!”

Eric and David grasped her hands as shadowmorths swarmed. David clasped the necklace and rutseer in between their palms.

A familiar grip tugged at David’s gut as they went spinning down a familiar black swirling hole.

Again.