Jordan (23 page)

“Thank you, my friend.” Jordan raised his wine and drank.

But Arthur was not done. “If not for Merlin, I would not have made it back to Arcturus alive.”

His words indicated that Jordan had always known Arthur still lived. Her gaze went to him. Jordan didn’t seem pleased by her
look or Arthur’s attention, but he took the words in good spirit. Still, Jordan had more secrets than Arthur had horses.

“No thanks are necessary.” Jordan shook his head but sipped from his goblet. “Surely you haven’t forgotten that you already
thanked me for tripping up Trendonis so you could leave Pendragon?”

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Of course I remember what happened with Trendonis. Hmm… is this a test? Perhaps you don’t believe
I am… me?”

Jordan held Arthur’s gaze. “Perhaps I’ve forgotten what you look like.”

Arthur nodded. “My friend, you didn’t trip Trendonis, you pecked out his eye with your beak.”

“I had to be certain, old friend.” Jordan lifted his goblet and drank, obviously getting the confirmation he’d required.

“With his beak?” Vivianne’s gaze focused on Jordan, but his face remained hard, unreadable.

Eyes twinkling, Arthur explained. “I’d already suffered a mortal wound, but I could not die, since I’d sipped from the Holy
Grail and possessed it still. Yet with Trendonis dogging my heels, I couldn’t keep the Grail with me and risk the Tribes following
me home to Arcturus. So I left the Grail safe in Avalon. Still Trendonis came after me.”

“And Jordan saved you?” Vivianne prodded.

“Let’s not speak of the past,” Jordan said in an attempt to change the subject.

But Vivianne was too curious to drop it, and Arthur obviously relished telling the tale. “Sir, finish your story, please,”
she asked.

“Jordan had taken the form of an owl and guarded me even then, although at the time, I did not recognize him in his new shape.
When Trendonis sneaked up on me while I slept, Jordan flew down and pecked out his eye.”

The knights raised their tankards in many toasts to Jordan’s bravery. They drank so much, Vivianne wasn’t sure if she’d ever
get the answer to her question of why Arthur had brought them to Arcturus. But finally he turned serious.

Arthur clapped Jordan on the shoulder. “Brother, I owe you my kingdom and my life. While no native born Acturan may leave
this world and return more than once, I have not been idle. I’ve spent these centuries preparing for your return. The Key
of Soil is here. And I’ve safeguarded it so that only the great Merlin can retrieve it.” Arthur’s eyes turned sly and crafty.
“If you trust enough, the Key of Soil shall be yours. And in addition, I will grant you a boon.”

“I ask for no favors.”

“Don’t be so quick to turn down this one. I offer you Dominus’s history.”

“I don’t understand.” Jordan’s eyes narrowed.

Guinevere explained, “On Arcturus, we’re fanatical galactic record keepers. We have a memory chip about Dominus that includes
your customs, your history, your science, religion, and art.”

Arthur leaned forward, his ringed fingers clasped around his silver goblet. “Find the Key of Soil and all the worldly knowledge
of Dominus shall also be yours.”

“You
have
been busy.” Jordan grinned, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

Something was wrong. Vivianne didn’t know what, but she could feel the tension in Jordan. She would have liked nothing better
than a private conversation with him, but there was no opportunity.

And then it was too late.

One moment it was evening and they were dining at a sumptuous round table in Camelot surrounded by Sir Lancelot, Lady Guinevere,
King Arthur, and his knights, and the next, the castle simply vanished.

She and Jordan were standing alone, beneath the stars in a grassy field.

Vivianne shook her head in a futile attempt to clear it. “Did I just dream that we met King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, and Lady
Guinevere?”

“If you did, I had the exact same vision,” Jordan said.

At his admission, her gut knotted.

“But where did they go? Where did Camelot go?” she asked, trying to accept what seemed like magic. Although if Earth could
transport people across the stars, she supposed a higher civilization could transport an entire city.

“They probably didn’t go anywhere. It’s you and me who have left Camelot.” Jordan’s voice was gentle, as if he understood
she was having difficulty coping.

She took a step toward Jordan and almost tripped over something on the ground. “What’s this?”

“I’ll get a light.” Their daylight was fading with the setting sun. Jordan unsheathed the Staff and shined it over the bag
she’d run into.

Vivianne kneeled, opened the pack, and looked inside. “Why do we have climbing gear?” She glanced around with a frown. It
might be dusk for only a few more minutes, but she could see enough to ascertain that the land was flat, filled with grass
and a gentle breeze. “Where are the mountains to climb?”

Jordan sighed. “You’re looking in the wrong direction. According to the Staff’s pulsing, we have to go down.”

“Underground?” The knots in her stomach drew tight.

Jordan shined the Staff’s light into a dark spot, hidden by the grasses that she’d overlooked. “Do you see that tunnel in
the ground?”

“How far does it go?” Vivianne asked, hoping her voice didn’t sound as reluctant as she felt.

“I have no idea.” Jordan didn’t sound happy, either.

In truth, they should both be elated. After all, he’d just met his old friend, and they’d learned the Key of Soil was here
on Arcturus. She should have been thrilled that they were about to find the key and move on.

Perhaps Jordan sensed something wrong, too. She could still feel the tension radiating off him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He dumped out the bag’s contents and held up two sets of climbing gear. “I’m supposed to take you with me.”

The pessimist complains about the weather, the optimist expects it to change, the realist brings an umbrella.

—A
NONYMOUS

J
ordan held the Staff higher and peered into the cave. He hoped that Arthur hadn’t hidden the Key of Soil so well that even
he couldn’t find it. While the ground maintained a gentle descent through a dirt tunnel braced with wooden beams, some caves
wound underground for miles. “You ever been caving?”

“No, but right now it’s easier for me than you,” Vivianne said, her tone upbeat. “I can stand upright. You want me to carry
the pack?”

“Maybe later.” He strode inside and inspected the dirt-packed walls. “There are no spiderwebs, no insects, no sounds of nocturnal
creatures.”

“You think this cave is as artificial as Camelot?” she asked.

“Maybe,” he mused. She caught on quick. But he still would have preferred not to have had to bring her along. Arthur wouldn’t
have sent a woman into danger unless he believed her presence was necessary.

Yet this was not Arthur’s decision, but his.

By now Jordan knew better than to try to talk Vi out of accompanying him, but if he found an opportunity to leave her safely
close to the entrance, he would take it.

He glanced at her sideways, and when she showed no overt concerns, he walked deeper into the tunnel. “This cave was created
by an intelligent being. But it’s as clean as if it had been swept free of dust.”

“Perhaps Arthur buried the Key centuries ago but only recently created this tunnel for us.”

Walking hunched over, he had to crane his neck to see in front of him. Yet even this awkward position was preferable to the
sudden ninety-degree right-hand turn followed by a seeming dead end. Then he looked down to see a shoulder-width black hole
in the dirt.

He shined the light over the opening. The shaft appeared to be a straight vertical drop into the bedrock. “The fun starts
now.”

As he shrugged out of his pack, she peered into the hole, her brows furrowed. “How deep does it go?”

“Listen.” He tossed a rock down the hole. In a short moment, he heard a distinctive thud that sounded fairly close to the
surface.

She grinned. “That didn’t sound so far.”

“Unless the rock landed on a protruding ledge and didn’t reach bottom.”

“Maybe this won’t be too hard.”

Nothing on this mission had gone easy, but he kept the thought to himself. Jordan set out lines, picks, crampons, boots, carabiners,
and harnesses. He handed her a hardhat and the smaller pair of boots and knee pads. “See if these fit.”

She pulled on the knee pads, then the boots. “Exactly my size.”

“Yeah, Arthur always was good with supply details.” He adjusted the harness, clipped the carabiner into a bolt already driven
into the rock, and tested the strength with a hard yank. “Feels solid.”

After attaching the other end of the line to his harness, he planted his feet, backed over the hole, and leaned into the harness.
Balancing his body in an L shape, he prepared to descend. “I’ll take a quick look. Maybe the key’s just over this lip.”

“You don’t believe that,” she muttered. But she didn’t protest. Instead she dropped to her stomach and watched him descend.

At first he had exactly the right amount of room to rest his back against one vertical wall and keep his feet planted against
the other. But soon the opening narrowed, so much so that he was forced to squeeze his knees against his chest.

Another two feet and he couldn’t drop any farther. He stopped and looked around with his headlamp. “There’s a narrow passage
off to one side that travels horizontally again.”

“How far?” Her voice echoed down.

“I’ll check it out and report back.” He unclipped the harness.

“Fine.”

As he began to crawl horizontally, Jordan realized Vi had taken Arthur’s kidnapping of the
Draco
better than he would have expected. Vivianne didn’t panic, and she kept an open mind—even when faced with seemingly impossible
scenarios. Like coming face-to-face with King Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere. Like dealing with Jordan. His history and his
fate. Like dealing with the inexplicable keys to the Ancient Staff. Another woman might have doubted her own sanity, but Vivianne
was strong.

“Talk to me,” she demanded.

“I’m crawling along. All I see is more tunnel.”

“Is there plenty of air?” she asked.

“There’s actually a breeze.”

“How narrow’s the passageway?”

“Too tight for hands and knees. I’m pulling myself forward on my elbows.”

“Don’t get stuck. You’re too big for me to have to pull you out.”

“You worried about me?” he teased.

“You get stuck down there with the Staff, and my ship won’t have the power to leave Arcturus.”

“I’m touched.” She didn’t want to admit she cared about him even a little. “From the way the Staff’s pulsing, I’m getting
closer.”

“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. Well, besides the fact that Guinevere seems to be happily married to Arthur and
Lancelot.”

“You approve of the threesome?”

“Who am I to judge? If they are happy, and they seem to be, it’s right for them.”

The tunnel was narrowing again. He had to hunch his shoulders to crawl forward. “I’m glad she now has the children she always
wanted.”

“What about you?” she asked.

“Huh?”

“You have any children?”

At the question, he bumped his head. “You aren’t trying to tell me anything, are you? Because now is really not a good time.”

“I’ve taken precautions. We’re not pregnant. And we won’t be. But it’s good of you to think of it
now.
”

Apparently there wasn’t enough time in the day for all the things he did wrong. As dirt fell onto his face, he sighed.

But suddenly up ahead the tunnel widened, and when he crawled past the tight spot, he could finally stand and wipe the dirt
from his eyes. “I’m in a wide cavern. And the key’s just sitting here on a granite slab under a carsized glass dome.”

“You found it!”

Approaching the glass, he touched the smooth, cool surface and tugged a handle near the top curve.

“What’s happening?”

“Nothing. The handle seems stuck. Looks like I’ll have to break the glass.”

He picked up a rock and slammed it into the dome. Nothing broke. He kicked the glass with his crampon. Still nothing.

“What’s wrong?” Vivianne asked.

“Some kind of impenetrable force field is protecting the glass.” Jordan rested his hands on his hips. “Since Arthur packed
equipment for both of us, I suspect that means getting past the force field to the key will require your presence down here,
too.”

“Happy to oblige.”

Jordan recalled Vi’s current position, the ten-foot drop, the long horizontal crawl. He wasn’t able to help her except by
talking her through it. But even after she made it down here, they still might not find a way to release the key. “Arthur
also mentioned trust.”

“And trust takes two people. But how did Arthur know when he buried this key that when you came for it you wouldn’t be alone?”

“I’ve had to accept that Arthur can do things that I can’t explain.” Jordan hesitated. “How much do you trust me?”