The Familiars #3: Circle of Heroes (12 page)

“Wolverines!” he called out. “I’m being taken!”

Aldwyn turned to see the rest of Lothar’s pack burst out from the trees, snarling and drooling. Aldwyn telekinetically lifted four of Grimslade’s traps from the open Mobius pouch and flung them into the path of the charging wolverines. Two of the coils missed their targets, but the other two clamped shut around the rabid pursuers’ ankles, causing two of them to go tumbling face-first into the ground.

The two wolverines still in pursuit gave an extra burst of speed, and one lunged forward, biting down on the chain wrapped around Lothar’s neck. His fangs shattered on contact, no match for the enchanted steel that had been forged by the cave shamans of Stalagmos. With a loud groan, the beast went somersaulting backward.

Now only one of Lothar’s enforcers remained. Orion was racing for a patch of forest dryweed.

“Simeon, sprint ahead,” said Orion.

As soon as the lightmare saw the bloodhound was safely away, he rubbed his back hooves together like flint and steel, creating a spark that lit up the dryweed. Lothar was quickly pulled through, but his soldier was not so lucky. Aldwyn looked back and could no longer see any of the wolverines through the wall of smoke and flame, but he could hear them, coughing and wailing in anger at having let these animals escape with their leader.

9

LOTHAR

“T
his is turning out to be great fun,” enthused Banshee. “And here I thought I needed a wizard to go on an incredible quest.”

She jumped off Orion’s back with vigor and headed over to splash in a stream that was running along beside their path. The other animals joined her to refresh themselves as well.

“I learned a long time ago that animals are quite capable enough on their own,” said Orion.

“I, for one, still believe my true calling is and has always been at the side of my loyal,” replied Simeon.

“How did you find me?” asked Lothar.

“The unimice told us how you had attacked their village,” said Aldwyn.

“So that’s how they repay me for letting them live? I should have slaughtered every last one of them. They would have made a nice snack.”

“Enough,” said Orion. “You should be on our side. Standing beside all those animals who believe in a peaceful future.”

Lothar’s lip curled, almost as if he was amused.

“It’s fitting that you would have me shackled, seeing as how you all fight against Paksahara’s stand for animal freedom.”

“That is hardly what Paksahara stands for,” said Skylar.

“Isn’t it, though?” asked Lothar. “All she wants is a Vastia where animals can achieve the greatness that they hold within. Something man has kept from us for far too long.”

“And killing innocents is an acceptable means to such an end?” asked Simeon.

“Your humble obedience has left you blind, old dog,” replied Lothar. “What do you suggest? Standing by idly for another hundred years of enslavement?”

“You know, man and animal can live peacefully side by side,” said Gilbert. “Take our loyals. Marianne and I always help each other out. Or look at Skylar and Dalton. They’re like best friends.”

“These boys and girls you call
loyals
are the farthest thing from what their name implies,” said Lothar. “They use you. You’re nothing more than assistants, there to serve them. And if they had to choose between a fellow human and you, I assure you it wouldn’t be much of a choice at all.”

“You spit out words, but they are little more than hate,” interrupted Orion. “You will stand in the circle and do what is needed.”

Orion walked Lothar over to the tiny stream.

“Drink. You’ll need your strength to keep up with me.”

Lothar bent his head down and lapped up a mouthful of water.

Everybody made sure to keep a good distance from him; only Skylar was hovering in the air close by. Thinking himself unobserved, the wolverine, water dripping from his chin, leaned over and whispered to Skylar—but Aldwyn was able to overhear.

“I see the look in your eyes, bird,” Lothar said quietly. “Your friends can’t see the truth. But you can.”

Skylar stared at him for a moment, as if considering his words, before turning away. Aldwyn felt an elbow to his side and saw Gilbert pressing his face up to him.

“Did you see that?” croaked the tree frog. “You don’t think she’d turn on us, do you? My puddle viewing. What if it
is
true?”

“Relax, Gilbert,” said Aldwyn. “She’s on our side.”

But as he watched the blue jay fly ahead, he wasn’t so sure himself anymore.

“We should get to the Abyssmal Canyon by nightfall,” said Skylar. “And once we collect the mongoose and king cobra, all we’ll need is a golden toad to complete our quest.”

Sundown was already approaching, and the group was halfway across the Brannfalk Pass, a wide, mud-caked road that snaked toward lush green hills in the distance.

Aldwyn, Gilbert, and Banshee were walking on the ground with Simeon. It felt good. Riding bareback on a horse for hours on end had left them all in need of a good stretch.

Aldwyn looked down to see a grasshopper jumping from one blade of grass to the next. The tiny insect appeared blissfully unaware of the chaos that had engulfed the land. Aldwyn envied its simple existence, a life ignorant of the Dead Army marching across Vastia, free from fear of Paksahara’s tyrannical rule. The grasshopper leaped up onto Aldwyn’s shoulder; for a moment Aldwyn wished to switch places with it. It would be so easy to live without the pressure of having to save the queendom. To think that this green, long-legged little fellow would spend its days here amid the flower and brush. Blissful afternoons, peaceful nigh—

Slurp.

Gilbert’s tongue lashed out and snagged the grasshopper.

“Saltier than I expected,” said the tree frog, chewing thoughtfully.

“One’s place in the world can change in an instant,” said the bloodhound. “One moment you’re living free, the next you’re lunch.”

“Or in my case, one moment you’re an alley cat living on the streets, the next you’re one of the Prophesized Three.”

“I don’t hear the confidence in your voice that I would expect from one chosen by the stars.” Simeon stared ahead, but Aldwyn felt as if he was looking into his soul.

Aldwyn made sure that Skylar and Gilbert were walking out of earshot before speaking again.

“If I tell you something, do you promise to keep it between the two of us?” he asked.

“Of course,” replied Simeon.

“Before we started to collect the seven descendants, I read something in one of Kalstaff’s diaries. Something that has called into question everything I believed.”

“My brother often told me how wise his loyal was,” said Simeon. “What did it say?”

“Not all prophecies come true.”

Aldwyn was expecting Simeon to immediately object—to say it wasn’t so—but instead a concerned look appeared on the bloodhound’s face.

“I haven’t told anyone yet,” continued Aldwyn. “We need everyone to have faith that all will go well on this mission. To cast doubt would put us all in danger.”

“And you really worry that this prophecy may be false?” The bloodhound’s voice dropped to almost a whisper.

“When I was chosen by Jack to be his familiar, it was a fluke, an accident. If I hadn’t jumped into the store’s window at the moment I did, he would have picked someone else.”

Then Aldwyn remembered: Simeon was a past walker. He could show him what could have happened instead.

“I need you to take me back,” said Aldwyn.

“Sometimes seeing what could have been haunts us more.” The bloodhound spoke with caution.

“Please. I have to know.”

Simeon hesitated.

I’m afraid you won’t find the answers you’re looking for
.

Simeon said it so quietly that Aldwyn had to do a double take.

“What was that?” asked Aldwyn.

“As you wish,” said Simeon.

The bloodhound looked into the distance, and without any further warning, the world around Aldwyn began to change. He felt himself rise half an inch above the ground, then watched as the dirt beneath his feet started turning into cobblestones. Buildings sprouted out from the ground beside him, brick and wooden walls unfolding as easily as paper in the hands of an origami master. The fields surrounding the Brannfalk Pass disappeared, and Aldwyn was back on the streets of Bridgetower, with Simeon as his guide into the past-that-might-have-been.

“You’re an impressive foe,” a voice called out, “but the chase ends here.”

Aldwyn turned to see Grimslade with his crossbow in hand. Across from him was a second Aldwyn, beside a fish pinned to a wooden barrel by an arrow. Another bolt brushed by the second Aldwyn’s fur. He made a run for it, dashing around a corner and leaping through an open window.

Simeon and Aldwyn moved through space quickly. Aldwyn didn’t even need to take steps yet was still being propelled forward. He phased straight through the wall into the familiar shop, where Jack was standing in front of a cage with Kalstaff and the red-haired shopkeeper behind him.

“I’ll take him,” Jack blurted out as he stared into the green eyes of the past Aldwyn.

“Are you sure?” asked the shopkeeper. “This is not like a wand or a hat. A familiar must be chosen very carefully.”

Jack reached into the cage and pulled the cat out in his arms. The boy stroked the underside of his chin with the backs of his fingers.

“He’s sure,” said Kalstaff.

Aldwyn watched, yearning for his loyal’s touch once more. He turned to Simeon. “I remember all of this. I thought you were going to show me what could have been. Not what was.”

Simeon did not respond. He simply nodded, and Aldwyn felt himself getting pulled backward until he was standing in the alley again.

“You’re an impressive foe,” said Grimslade, “but the chase ends here.”

Once again the past Aldwyn was looking at the fish pinned to the barrel, then at Grimslade. A second bolt brushed by his fur. But this time, instead of running toward the window into the familiar shop, the past Aldwyn snared the fish from the barrel and took off down a different alley. As Grimslade pursued him, Aldwyn and Simeon moved in the opposite direction, through the wall and back into the shop.

This time, the cage where the past Aldwyn would have been was empty, and Jack walked right by it. He stopped and paused for a moment, then doubled back for a second look at a pocket dragon, a scaly snake with wings on its back.

The boy wizard suddenly got a big smile. He put out his arm and the miniature dragon flew onto it.

“I’m Jack.”

The snake-like creature shot out a burst of orange flames from its mouth and wrapped its tail around the boy’s shoulder. Aldwyn couldn’t help but notice how quickly the two gelled as loyal and familiar.

“You and I are going to go on great adventures into the Beyond together,” said Jack.

And with that the walls began to bend and twist, reshaping themselves into the inner walls of the courtyard within the New Palace of Bronzhaven. Aldwyn and Simeon stood watching as Queen Loranella spoke to the young wizards and their familiars.

“We are honored to carry on your legacies,” said Dalton.

“That’s very noble of you, Dalton,” said the queen. “But you, Marianne, and Jack are not the three chosen by the Heavens to protect Vastia.” The queen turned to the familiars. “It is you, Skylar, Gilbert, and Karna.”

It took Aldwyn a moment to realize that the pocket dragon was standing in the place where he had once held his own head high.

“You are the Prophesized Three,” continued Loranella. “The ones that killed Paksahara and brought peace back to the land.”

Killed Paksahara?
Was it true? Had Skylar and Gilbert, with the help of this pocket dragon named Karna, done what he had been unable to? Did they strike down the gray hare before she unleashed her Dead Army?

If Aldwyn had been having doubts about the prophecy before, now he was truly troubled: What if the third star that had fallen over Stone Runlet had not been meant for him, but for somebody else? Kalstaff’s warning seemed even truer than Aldwyn had first thought.