Alex rushed forward, forging a sword of anti-magic in his hands, only to catch sight of Demeter. The auburn-haired man had slid from the back of his Kelpie and was walking up to his beloved, his movements slow and silent. Ceres was so engrossed in her fight with the group that she didn’t even see him until it was too late. Breaking apart her shield with his own powerful magic, he rested his hands gently on the sides of her head, and wove silvery strands through the skin of her temples, into her mind. Her one good eye went blank as she fell limp in his arms. Demeter caught her, sinking to the ground and holding her tenderly to him, while he continued to weave the mind-control magic into her brain, halting her fighting spirit.
“Go,” he whispered, looking up at Alex and the others, his expression glum. “And make sure it’s worth it.”
They didn’t need telling twice, with the sands of time slipping away at an alarming rate. Natalie and Ellabell gathered up a recovering Helena, and they all sprinted for the portal. There was a familiar-looking, lotus-shaped gem on this side of it, which Alex hadn’t noticed before. Pressing it in, they watched as the false rock face slid back, allowing them through to the cave beyond. They hurried in, not wasting a moment more.
Alex wished he had a way to check the time. Through the thick canopy of trees, he could see that the sun was a little higher in the sky, but he didn’t know what that meant—were they already too late?
Knowing they’d have to chance it, they continued through the forest, running as fast as they could, avoiding any traps that sprang up along the way. Even so, Alex knew it was taking them far longer than he’d like. They came to the edge of the forest, the pagoda rising in front of them. Koi carp swam lazily in the pools of the water gardens, the petals of the pink and white lotus flowers swaying gently in the breeze that rippled the surface of the ponds. The calm scenery did little to slow Alex’s racing pulse, however, especially once he caught sight of the soldiers.
There were more military personnel than usual, due to the celebrity staying within the walls of the pagoda, but Alex knew they would be expecting him. The others, however, were not exactly welcome guests.
“You’re going to have to hide yourselves outside, in the trees, but close enough that you can help if I get into trouble. A few of you can maybe hide up on the walkway of the top floor, if you’re careful—the guards don’t patrol the walkways, so if you keep low and climb fast, you should be okay,” he whispered, pointing toward the open wooden balconies that surrounded each floor. They were only accessible from the pagoda windows, or if someone was a very good climber, so Alex knew the guards had little reason to patrol there. “If anything happens, I’ll send a spear of anti-magic out through one of the windows. That’ll be your signal to help, and for us to get the hell out of dodge, okay?” he added rapidly, knowing he was really cutting it close.
“We’ve got this,” said Aamir confidently. “Go on, before you really are late.”
Alex nodded, waiting a moment until his friends had gone a little farther up the tree-line before emerging into the bright sunlight, where everyone could see him. To his right, he saw Jari and Helena dart across the gap between the trees and the cellar, without incident. The sight gave him some degree of comfort, and he steeled himself as he continued his walk forward.
“Halt! Who goes there?” A soldier came forward, pointing a nasty-looking saber in his direction.
Alex cleared his throat. “I am Alex Webber. I have an audience with the king.”
The soldier gave him a cruel smile. “Ah, so you’re the one we’ve been expecting? I thought you’d be bigger,” he said mockingly. “Well, I suppose you’d better come with me.” With that, he marched toward the front entrance of the pagoda—a beautiful, carved archway with two iron double doors, painted a deep, sea green. Alex smiled despite himself, realizing he’d never actually come through the front door of this place before.
He could smell rice and onions cooking in the kitchens as he followed the guard through the doorway and into a grand reception hall with countless golden statues arranged around the room, shaped like foxes, raccoons, and the turtle-like kappa—creatures of folklore. They stared at him with eyes of precious jewels as he was directed toward the stairs.
“Fifth floor. The king is awaiting you,” the soldier sneered.
Alex paused. He had presumed he’d be meeting with Julius on the top floor. Still, if anything went wrong, his friends would be close enough to come to his aid. He hoped so, anyway.
He had just climbed the stairs to the fifth floor when he saw a familiar figure turning the corner, heading straight for him. His head was low, and he was wringing his hands. It wasn’t until he was almost upon Alex that Hadrian looked up. Once he did, and saw Alex standing there, a look of pure, unadulterated horror flashed across his face.
“What are you d-doing here?” he asked. “Oh no, no, n-no, this is b-bad—this is very b-bad.”
“Julius asked me to come,” Alex said, frowning. All his previous good feelings had fallen away at the sight of Hadrian’s expression. Perhaps all this had been a colossal error in judgment.
“No, no, n-no, why would you c-come here!” Hadrian hissed. “This wasn’t part of the p-plan.”
Alex furrowed his brow with worry. “What do you mean? This was the plan.”
“No, no, n-no, dear me, I didn’t think y-you were r-reckless enough to actually c-come! Have you l-lost your m-mind?” Hadrian hissed. “Did anyone s-see you?”
“A soldier sent me up,” Alex replied.
Hadrian let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Well then, I g-guess there’s n-nothing for it. You’re g-going to have to s-see him now. He’s b-been placing b-bets all morning on whether y-you’d actually show up. I c-can’t believe y-you have.” He shook his head and led Alex to a door at the far end of the hallway.
“The letter told me to come here,” said Alex, incredulous about what he was hearing. He replayed the letter over in his head, wondering if he’d missed some subtle warning, telling him not to come after all.
“I know it did, b-but I didn’t expect y-you to actually d-do what it asked,” Hadrian muttered. “Well, no, that’s not t-true. I knew you’d c-come if he c-called, I just h-hoped you wouldn’t.”
“Sorry, Hadrian,” Alex said. “I had no choice. I have to try.”
Hadrian sighed, cracking half a smile. “I k-know. He’s w-waiting for y-you.” He opened the door and gestured for Alex to enter.
It was a room Alex was fairly sure he’d seen before, with tapestries on the walls that appeared to move as a person walked past them, shifting to another image, showing another panel in the tale it was trying to tell. A clock sat on the mantelpiece above the fireplace at the nearest end of the room. It read eleven fifty-five. He had just made it.
At the end of the room sat a throne, which looked as if it had been dragged in here purely for the purpose of this meeting, so Julius could really put on a show. It was gigantic and garish, with twisting golden vines making up the frame, each one embellished at the top with a jewel the size of Alex’s fist. Plush, red velvet cushions lay at the bottom of the vines, and atop those cushions sat Julius, a smug expression on his face.
“The stranger, I presume?” purred Julius. “Just in time, I see.”
Alex nodded. “Yes, Your Royal Highness,” he replied, remembering his manners. “Though my name is Alex Webber.”
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?” the king said quietly, a suspicious look in his eyes.
“Yes, Your Royal Highness. We have met twice before.”
“Twice?” Julius snapped.
Alex inhaled deeply, calming his nerves. “Yes, Your Royal Highness. Once at Kingstone Keep, and once here, when I served you and your lady wife, the queen.”
Julius got up and prowled toward Alex, coming nose to nose with him, the way he had done at Kingstone. “Ah yes, now I remember you,” whispered the king.
Chapter 11
A second later, Julius moved sharply away and began to pac
e, walking up and down the lengths of tapestry. Alex didn’t dare speak until spoken to, and so he stood there silently, awaiting the king’s next words.
“You know, I loathe it when things are stolen from me,” Julius said quietly, pausing to look at a tapestry depicting a great battle, Thunderbirds flapping in the sky, the glint of magic and anti-magic clashing. “I do not tolerate thieves, and you are a thief, are you not?”
Alex took a deep breath. “Not in the way you would think, Your Royal Highness. I have not stolen anything of yours with the intention of keeping it. I firmly intend to give it back. I suppose I am more of a… racketeer than a thief.”
Julius smiled. “A good word. I like it. And what makes you a racketeer? I already know of your blackmailing exploits where that nervous wreck Hadrian is concerned, but if you think you can blackmail me, in the same way you have done him, you are sorely mistaken.”
Alex tried not to let his bemusement show on his face. Blackmail? Alex guessed it must have been a ruse Hadrian was using, in order to keep up the pretense of being allied with Julius. If Alex was the bad guy, Hadrian could continue to be neutral in Julius’s eyes, giving him the opportunity to see and hear things he otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Once again, Alex marveled at the resourcefulness of the anxious royal, who somehow always seemed to be one step ahead.
“I would never think to blackmail you, Your Royal Highness. Hadrian is a different creature entirely—like chalk and cheese, the pair of you could not be more different if you tried,” Alex replied. “Blackmailing a man like Hadrian is easy. Blackmailing a man like you would not be.”
Julius suddenly sped in Alex’s direction, circling him. “So, is it a ransom you want? Think very carefully about your reply.”
The to-and-fro of Julius was unsettling, with Alex never knowing if the king was going to lunge toward him or drift away. The man was like a shark, stalking its prey, sizing it up before going in for a bite.
“No ransom either, Your Royal Highness. I took your property; I admit to that. I took the queen, without your consent, and for that I am sorry. But I took her for a very good reason,” Alex began, aware that Julius was now behind him, breathing down his neck. “I took her because I needed to broker a deal with you, and I believed her to be a valuable bargaining chip. I needed to get your attention, so we might meet like this. You would not have met with me if I were some nobody who mattered little to you. The truth is, I wanted to matter to you—I had to matter enough that you would agree to this.” Alex gestured between himself and the king.
Julius smiled, puffing out his chest a little. “Well, you have certainly gained my attention, though whether you will keep it remains to be seen,” he remarked, laughing coldly in Alex’s face.
“I wanted to strategize like a king,” Alex ventured. “I wanted to think the way a leader would think. So, I stole Venus from you and took her hostage, because that is what a leader would do. With her in my grasp, I now have something to offer you in return for what I want, where before I didn’t. Are you familiar with Sun Tzu’s The Art of War?” he asked, taking a gamble.
Julius nodded. “I know it well. I have read it many times,” he replied proudly, his eyes glancing at Alex with curiosity.
“Excellent. Then you will be familiar with the quote, ‘If you know both yourself and your enemy, you can win numerous battles without jeopardy’?”
Another eager nod. “I know it very well. I can recite much of that book by heart, I have studied it so intently,” Julius replied, though Alex had a feeling the king was embellishing the truth slightly. Still, it was clear Alex had his interest.
“Then you must understand why I did what I did. I had to meet with you, to know you, and know where your weakness lay, so we both might win the battle we seek to fight, without anyone having to die or any war being waged,” Alex pressed on, pausing as Julius flew toward him, raising a hand as if to strike. Alex trembled, watching a swirling orb of magic appear beneath the king’s palm, preparing for it to smash down on his face.
“You think I have a weakness?” the king spat, his spittle flying across Alex’s face.
Alex shook his head. “No, no, that’s not what I meant. Of course you have no weakness—you are the strongest, most powerful man in the magical realms, and undoubtedly beyond,” he said hurriedly, conscious of the heat of the swirling magic on his face. “I simply meant that I had to take something you cared about, to make you care about getting that property back. It was my way of knowing how to get to you, so we could talk—that is all I meant,” he added, hating the fact he was referring to Venus as “property”.
For a moment, Julius kept the burning ball close to Alex’s face. Then he drew it slowly away and wandered toward a bookshelf, his index finger scraping along the spines. “I see. You were strategizing, as you say, using ideas from Sun Tzu’s fine text?”
Alex nodded. “Indeed, Your Royal Highness. That is what I was doing.”
“Very shrewd,” said Julius, evidently impressed. “So, what is it you want to put on the table, in exchange for my wife’s safe return? Though, I think you put too much weight on how much I care for her. If she returns to me tainted in any way whatsoever, any deal we might make is terminated, effective immediately. Is that understood?” he warned, though it was clear in his eyes how much he actually did care for his lost “property”.
“I understand, Your Royal Highness, but I assure you she is being safely kept and treated well,” Alex said. For the briefest instant, he thought he saw a wave of relief pass over the king’s face, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared.
Storming over to his throne and sinking back down into the plush velvet cushions, Julius waved his hand in Alex’s direction. “Go on then, get on with it. What is it you want? I can’t guarantee I’ll give it to you, or that you will even leave this room alive, but you have intrigued me enough that I will listen to what you have to say,” he said, unsettling Alex even more.
What if it didn’t even matter? What if Julius heard him out, but simply didn’t care about the future of the magical realms, so long as he got to be king of whatever remained? Gulping quietly, he hoped his friends were in place, to help him if things quickly turned sour.
“In essence, Your Royal Highness, I want what you want,” Alex began. “I want to see an end to the Great Evil, and the scourge it has caused upon this land. I have the power and the ability to do that, but in order to succeed, I need your blood. A small amount of it, that is all. In return for doing the spell, or getting my volunteer to do it, in this case, and returning your wife to you unharmed, I would ask only that you promise to release all the students from the havens and allow them to return to their families, be they in the outside world or another magical place. If they wish to study, then make those havens real schools, with no death waiting for them at the end of their school days,” he suggested, coming to the end of his proposal. “That is all I ask in return for ridding the world of the Great Evil, and giving back your wife. Though, I should point out, you will receive the accolade of such a task. You will be named the one who destroyed it, and rid the magical realms of it forever, allowing everyone to live in safety and security, once and for all.”
Julius said nothing for a long time, tapping his slender fingers against the bejeweled armrest. His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized Alex. The silence was deafening, and Alex knew he’d prefer anything to the awful tension he felt gathering in his chest. At any moment, he knew Julius could end his life, and he couldn’t stop thinking it was about to happen. There was something about the king that instilled that kind of fear in a person; there was an unpredictable, antsy, psychotic quality that emanated from him in terrifying waves.
“I admire your gumption, Alex Webber.” He almost hissed the name. “I suppose there is bravery in you coming here and asking these things of me,” he said, flicking small, fast-moving darts of golden magic in Alex’s direction, smirking as they sailed past Alex’s shoulder. It was like a game, to see how close he could get
the dart to Alex, without actually hitting him. “I wish you hadn’t stolen my property first, but I can see bravery in that too, now you have explained it to me. Perhaps a deal of this kind might not be so bad. I can certainly see how it could work in my favor,” he mused, a dart zinging beneath Alex’s ear.
Alex tried not to flinch, but he had to duck out of the way of another dart as it narrowly missed his eye. “It would be entirely in your favor, Your Royal Highness. Your people will be free, and they will adore you for getting rid of the evil that has loomed over them for so long. The cost to you is low, in comparison. A few hundred people, in return for your realm fully restored to you.”
Julius nodded thoughtfully, chuckling to himself as a dart skimmed the skin of Alex’s neck. A tiny, almost imperceptible snowflake drifted down onto Alex’s shoulder.
“Why should I trust a Spellbreaker?” Julius sneered, throwing another dart that made impact with Alex’s chest. It hit him like a freight train, surprising him, given the dart was so small. He gasped for air as it was knocked from his lungs. Julius laughed.
Clawing back his breath, Alex rallied. “You can trust me… because I want… what you want. I want the realms free, and I want my friends free. Unity is power, as Sun Tzu says… and the only way to achieve freedom is by uniting with you.”
Julius ceased throwing darts. “Very well. I have listened to your terms, and I am willing to bargain with you, but I have points of my own,” he said, a touch of menace in his voice. “As I said, if my wife is returned tainted, our deal is instantly off. I presume you are getting Virgil to do the dirty work?”