Circles of Seven (27 page)

To the right of the bridge, an enormous red stone lay impacted between the two mountains. It looked like a river dam, perhaps drying out the valley many years ago, but now it seemed that the river no longer flowed at all. Huge white letters covered the face of the boulder, rows of etched poetry. He read the words silently.

The final circle numbers seven,

And beasts await your sword’s command.

The greatest danger tests your faith,

And wisdom’s touch will make you stand.

The bridge of faith still lies in wait,

The narrow path of answered prayer.

Restore the fountain from the stone,

Regenerating souls laid bare.

Billy pulled Bonnie’s head close and rubbed his cheek against her hair. “I wish you could see all this,” he said out loud.

A man in a black cloak appeared from behind a solitary boulder just inside the yawning mouth of the cleft on the other side. He waved his arms frantically. “Billy! Come over here!”

Billy hoisted Bonnie’s body a bit higher and squinted across the valley. “Sir Patrick?”

“Yes, yes!” Patrick stepped up to the edge of the bridge. “I heard what happened to Bonnie. Bring her to me. There is still hope for her.”

Billy put a foot on the bridge and tested his weight on it.

“It’s sturdy!” Patrick shouted. “I would come and help you, but it’s a one-way bridge.” He spread his fingers on an invisible wall and leaned against it. “You can come to me, but I can’t come to you.”

Just as Billy stepped forward, a huge shadow enveloped the entire span. An enormous dragon swooped down and landed gracefully on the bridge, straddling the left parapet. His reddish brown scales reflected the sun’s glory, and his long neck curled over, placing his head in front of Billy. His red eyes flashed, and his wings beat the air like two whipping sails. “Billy! Stop! You must not cross this bridge!”

Billy gulped. “Da . . . Dad?”

Walter yanked off his hood and rubbed his eyes. The blinding light slowly faded away to reveal a row of deserted buildings lining a cobblestone street. He stuffed his hood into his pocket and swung his head around, quickly taking in his surroundings. Apollo sat at his feet, and a sword lay near the front wall of the nearest building. He snatched up both of them. A solitary man about a hundred yards away marched toward a horse stable. Billy didn’t seem to be anywhere around, so Walter tiptoed after the man, staying in the shadows of the buildings.

The man disappeared through the stable’s open double doors. Walter ran up to the outer wall and inched close enough to the door to peer inside. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, he could see the man standing next to an eerie light that illuminated his sinister face.

Palin!

Walter sneaked into the stable, quiet as a stalking cat. He crept as close to the dark knight as he thought safe, and crouched, barely breathing.

Palin squatted in front of a short barrel. A glowing statuette stood on top, a feminine figure, about a foot tall, with a long, flowing dress. Its arms were spread out as if making supplication, and its head was angled upward. Walter swallowed a gasp. The statuette moved! Its arms waved in jerky motions like a movie projection with missing frames, and its lips seemed to be forming words.

Walter crawled closer and pressed his ear between two crates. The statuette’s voice poured out a mixture of sweetness and poison. “I keep you here, my dear Palin, for my good pleasure. I know letting young Arthur win your little swordplay wounded your pride, but I care nothing about that. The fact that he thinks he defeated you fulfills my purpose, and you will have another chance to take your revenge. Very soon he will deliver the virgin bride to me, and I will have my hostiam. After that, you can slice him to pieces for all I care.”

“What if he doesn’t deliver her? What will you do?”

“He will deliver her. How can he not trust his own father?”

“But did you foresee Patrick’s interference?”

“I expected Merlin’s fools to meddle somehow, but it will not matter. You see, every test in the circles actually works in my favor. If Bannister fails, Merlin’s plans to revive his precious menagerie in the seventh circle will also fail. If the young king succeeds, he will be bursting with pride, making him perfectly ripe for harvesting the girl from his arms. You will see.”

“And when do I get to skewer the mongrel pup?”

“Patience! I want our victory to be as sweet as possible. When I take over the girl’s body, I will pronounce the boy’s death sentence myself. Won’t it be a delight for Billy Bannister to hear the command for his death from the lips of Bonnie Silver, his prophetic bride?”

Palin leaned his head back and laughed. “Oh, yes! Perfect! I can see his face now! And he will die believing he was forsaken by the one he held most dear!” He laughed again, almost cackling with pleasure. “Morgan, your plan makes me feel positively alive again!”

Walter strangled the sword’s hilt. With his jaw locked tight, he was ready to leap out and hack that hyena’s head off with a single swipe. But he had to wait. He had to find a way to warn Billy, and attacking Palin now would ruin everything.

The statuette continued. “Come, then. We will plunge together into the seventh circle and prepare to receive our army. The Watchers will rule the earth again!”

Palin straightened his body and closed his eyes. Walter retrieved his hood and pulled it over his head, grabbing up Apollo and the sword as he rose to his feet. A stream of light poured out of the statuette and shot around the room dozens of times, creating a blinding vortex of radiant energy, like a tornado of lightning.

Hot fingers grabbed Walter’s frame, knifing through him like electric sabers. He cried out as the flashing cyclone lifted him into its swirl and flushed him through the floor. Hurtling feet first, he zoomed down a rollercoaster of light, rushing wind trying to snatch away his hood as he bit the material to keep it in place.

After a few seconds, the rocketing plummet slowed, and the swirl of light placed Walter on solid ground as gently as an old farmer would set down a newborn chick. Being numbed from the electric jolt, he couldn’t feel Apollo and the sword still clenched in his fingers. He set them down and jerked the hood off. With long strokes, he tried to rub feeling back into his hands and arms while he scanned the area.

He spotted Palin, walking away on a ledge, treading lightly over a carpet of pebbles. A steep mountain rose to his left, a deep canyon plunged to his right, and rocky terrain lay all around. Seconds later, the dark knight disappeared into a yawning archway in the mountainside. In the opposite direction, far in the distance, a bridge crossed the canyon. Walter bit his lip.
No time to check that out. I gotta follow Palin!

He grabbed Apollo and the sword and headed for the archway. The ledge was level enough, but a layer of talus littered the path. His shoes crunched down on the sand and pebbles, forcing him to tiptoe to mute the noise.

When he reached the mouth of the cave, he flattened himself against the side, creeping in inch by inch. His eyes adjusted slowly. Two forms took shape. One was obviously Palin. The other was more slender, a bit taller, and seemed to be wearing a dress. Both had their backs to the cave entrance.

Walter leaned forward and narrowed his eyes.
The statuette!
But now she was normal size, and the only light surrounding her came from the rising sun’s beams that splashed on the cave’s vestibule.
Hmmm. He called her Morgan back at the stable. I’ve heard that name somewhere before.

Morgan and Palin leaned over, peering into a wide hole, and smatterings of their conversation trickled into Walter’s ears. He sneaked as close as he dared and listened. Morgan’s voice echoed off the rock walls. “Don’t be ashamed, Palin. Viewing Tartarus for the first time would make any man tremble, and I understand your frailties. It is difficult for you to gaze upon utter hopelessness.”

“Yet they have endured it for thousands of years!” Palin exclaimed. “Your husband must be amazing.”

“Now you understand why I have gone through so much to get him out. It has taken all these years for my plans to come together, but it will be worth it.”

“What if the mongrel won’t come?” Palin asked. “Do you have a plan B?”

“I do. But don’t worry. He will come. He will trust his father, and Clefspeare will deliver his son and Bonnie directly to me. Then, when Billy gives the girl up, I will be able to possess her.” Morgan swung away from the hole, her silky dress spinning with her, and took several steps toward Walter’s hiding place. Walter pressed his body against the wall and held his breath. She set her hands on her hips, her eyes fixed on Palin. “It’s time you had a dragon history lesson. You and Devin battled them all your lives, but did he ever tell you why he lusted for their blood?”

“Is that a trick question?” Palin rolled his fingers into a fist. “Because they’re evil.”

Morgan turned and glided back to the edge of the hole. “Oh, yes. They were evil, at least by your definition of the word. Back when you first strapped on your sword, most dragons did the deeds of their spiritual father, the one to whom I bow the knee.” She spread out her arms. A shaft of light rose from the floor, creating a flat, oval disk that hovered over the opening like a vertical flying saucer. She curled her finger, gesturing for Palin to join her. “I have a story to tell you. It’s time you learned the mysteries behind my power.”

The disk flared with a burst of light and slowly transformed into a moving image, a winged humanoid creature with flashing blue eyes and a dazzling white robe walking among an adoring crowd of humans. Its shining head towered at least two feet above its worshipers.

Walter rubbed both eyes with his fists.
Is that an angel?

Morgan stood beside the display, like a teacher ready to give a lecture. “Long before your day,” she began, “when the Watchers came to earth and united with us, we had to purge the skies of dragons in order to rule the world, for they were the only race with the power to destroy the Watchers.”

The oval screen switched to three dragons flying over a canyon. A river of flame shot from their mouths and nostrils and slammed against the angel. The angel absorbed the fire and tripled in size, finally exploding into thousands of sparks of light.

“The ensuing battle was cataclysmic,” Morgan continued, “igniting the great deluge that flooded the earth.” The screen filled with images of floodwaters ravaging homes and dragging people, along with the shining angels, into raging rivers. Morgan’s voice rose to match the terror of her story. “The rush of water swept the Watchers into the abyss, into the depths of Tartarus, where they have been imprisoned ever since, but Noah rescued two juvenile dragons in his ark, allowing them to multiply once again.”

The screen went blank. Morgan took a deep breath and placed a hand over her heart. “In the meantime, we, the wives of the Watchers, sank in the floodwaters and perished. Yet, because we had become united with the Watchers, a few of us survived as wandering wraiths, immortal, but with no hope of life beyond our cursed existence.”

Morgan gazed into the dim cave, a bare glow from the entrance illuminating her gaunt face. Walter held his breath again and squashed his body against the wall harder than ever. Now was no time to get caught in the clutches of the black queen of Spooksville.

Morgan placed a tender hand on Palin’s head. “As you know, the other wives bore offspring to the Watchers, a race of supermen sometimes called the Nephilim. They also died in the tempest, but the flood could not destroy their spirits. They lived on and inhabited the new brood of dragons, conquering their minds and controlling their actions.”

“And that’s what made dragons evil,” Palin added.

“If you mean that they began to serve my master, yes, most turned to our side. But a few were protected from the Nephilim, and they remained our enemies.” She rubbed Palin’s hair like she might a child’s and laughed. “What’s so comical is that you hunted dragons with Devin, thinking all dragons were evil, while Devin had a different agenda. You see, I prophesied that when the last dragon was eliminated, Devin would become like one of the Nephilim and help me rule the world. As he learned our ancient crafts, he became more and more like us, able to wield power and influence among the feebleminded. And being infused with the power of dragon blood, he lived an unnaturally long life. Devin has survived the passing of his body, and like one of the fallen spirits, he awaited a new body.”

Morgan chucked Palin’s chin. “But what you didn’t realize, was that when I sent you and Devin out to kill dragons, I really wanted you to kill the so-called good dragons. If you eliminated some of my pets along with them, it would be worth the effort. I knew that only the good dragons could prevent the Watchers from ruling the world once I set them free, so I chalked up my losses to what you might call a ‘queen’s gambit.’”

Palin gripped the hilt of his sword and tightened his fingers around it. “So you just used me like a pawn for over a thousand years?”

Morgan pressed her palms on his temples and kissed him tenderly on the forehead. “Exactly, my dear Palin, but you received your reward. I showed you how to live through it all. Even now, because you also took dragon blood for so long, you have become a wraith like me, and you’re safe from the judgment seat . . . at least for now. When my plans succeed, you will be restored to the earth to serve me once again.”

Palin loosened his grip on his sword. “And if you fail?”

Morgan drew back. A frown deepened her sunken cheeks, and she punctuated each word with venom. “I . . . will . . . not . . . fail!”

“But your plans count on Clefspeare betraying his own son. How can you be sure he’ll do it?”

Morgan spread her hands horizontally, palms up, and interlocked her “pinkie” fingers. A puff of black smoke arose from her skin and formed into the shape of a dragon. A pair of wings flapped slowly on the back of the six-inch effigy as it hovered over her hands. “Like all dragons, Clefspeare trusts in the old ways—in nature, in earthly forces that came into being by the Maker’s hand. He trusts in fire and scales, in claws and teeth. What he doesn’t realize is that the ways of the earth are my ways, so his scales cannot protect him here.” She clapped her hands together. The dragon crumbled into a shower of fine dust, and her evil grin returned, pushing dimples into her ashen face. “You will see. Clefspeare will unsheathe my greatest weapon and administer young Arthur’s final test.”