A
braham passed the two stones to Melris, who passed them to Leodor, who gave them to Lewis, who handed them to the king.
King Hector’s eyes filled with the color of the sparkling stones. He licked his moustache and removed his crown. Two of the six horns were filled with gems. The blue stone was in the back and the green stone in the front. The king rolled the new stones in his hands, one in each. “I feel the life in them. They are excited. It’s as if they are a family being reunited.”
“The annals tell of the stones having their own unique essences,” Leodor stated. The chinless man continued, “Essences that can be quite persuasive.”
Abraham noticed a look of concern growing on Queen Clarann’s face. She swallowed, reached down, and held her daughter’s hand. Her eyes slid over to Abraham, but she quickly looked away.
King Hector clicked the new stones into the open clawlike prongs in the front of the crown. Left to right, the stones were red, green, and orange, with the blue one in the back. Each precious gem caught the sunlight and twinkled.
“It’s magnificent, Father,” Lewis said with a nod. “There is nothing that compares to it.”
“And to think that it isn’t even complete. Imagine how radiant it will be when all of the stones are put back in place,” King Hector said. He lifted the crown and placed it back on his head.
A sudden wind whooshed over the terrace. The winds rustled King Hector’s beard, enhancing a momentary wild look of power in his eyes.
Abraham shielded his face with his hand until the high wind died down. He grabbed a goblet of wine, filled it up from a carafe, and drank. I got a bad feeling about this.
As the windy stirrings at the table settled, King Hector eyeballed Abraham and said, “An excellent idea, my otherworldly friend. A toast! Everyone, grab a goblet. We’ve much to celebrate.” He clenched a fist. “Victory is within my
grasp!”
“Hear! Hear!” Lewis said.
Leodor echoed the sentiment.
Even Melris took up a goblet and sipped.
Abraham found Melris’s actions odd because he’d never seen the Elderling eat anything. He felt eyes on him. Queen Clarann’s wary eyes were on him again. He needed to talk to her about Ruger Slade, but for now, that would have to wait.
King Hector guzzled down a goblet and refilled another. “I feel so spry. Like the days of my youth when I hunted the great elk with nothing but a knife and a spear. I yearn to fill my hands with steel again and take it to my enemies.” He hefted up the goblet. Red wine sloshed over the rim. “Another toast, to Abraham and Melris. Your aid came in the nick of time.”
Neither Lewis nor Leodor spoke this time. Instead, the queen and princess offered their own “Hear! Hear!”
Abraham looked at Lewis and Leodor, the most discontent of all Henchmen. I see someone still has a bug up their butt.
“Tell me all that I need to know and more if need be,” the king said as he looked between Abraham and Melris.
Melris opened his mouth.
Abraham cut him off. “Your Highness, we cut a bloody path from here to the Wound and back. We journeyed into the belly of the deep. Elders rose up, and now they are dead. All the Henchmen survived. Two stones were recovered. That’s the CliffsNotes version. But there are more important matters at hand that need to be attended to.”
King Hector nodded. “Yes, of course, we need to find the other stones. Leodor has been neck deep in the libraries, searching for their location. Certainly, it’s not a priority.”
“No, that’s not it.” Abraham took a breath. This was the part where he had to decide to tell the truth or not about his being able to go back in time and see his family. All he had to do was convince King Hector to stand down. “It’s about the invaders. They are going to come hard and fast. But they have an offer.”
King Hector sat up in his chair, put his hands on the table, and leaned over. “I beg your pardon? Have you been consorting with the enemy?”
Lewis jumped up out of his chair, jabbed a finger at Abraham, and said, “I told you that he was a traitor. We should have killed him long ago.”
“Melris, do you know anything about this?” the king asked.
“This is news to me,” Melris said quietly. “But in Abraham’s defense, I do not recall him consorting with any of the king’s enemies. Any enemy we crossed, he killed, or we killed, rather.”
With a wave of his hand, the king said, “Sit down, Lewis.”
Lewis plopped into his chair.
King Hector rolled his hand and said, “Out with it.”
“As you know, my essence has been switching between this world and my world on occasion. It is in my world that the enemy created a rift, or dimension door, between my home and yours. They are making great strides controlling a portal or, as they call it, a Time Tunnel. I have seen it with my own eyes, and they are sending powerful artillery the likes that you and your armies have never seen.
“I’m sure you recall the weapon that the zillon dragon riders used to try and assassinate you with. It’s called an assault rifle. They shipped hundreds of them, perhaps thousands of them, and are giving them to the Gond and whoever else. There is a weapon called a tank. It’s a chariot made out of solid metal and bigger than elephants. It has a nose that fires a missile that would blow a hole clear through any side of this castle. That’s just the beginning. There will be more—much, much more. They can’t be stopped.”
Everyone at the table paled except the king. He rubbed a finger over his chin and said, “We’ll see about that.”
