The Unwilling Aviator (Book 4) (11 page)

On the benches sat a dozen old men in long, white robes that flowed onto the floor and over the edges of the steppes. They each sported a beard that rivaled Ned's white one and many were bald. There were cushions beneath them to soften the hard seats and several lay their heads on the higher steppes and were asleep. Their drool dripped onto the sanctified stone. Those awake talked among themselves, and there whispers echoed off the stone walls and sounded like hymns to the gods. Their snoring was a torture to those same gods.

At the center rear of the room and set back from the benches was a wide, heavy curtain hung between two columns. Beyond the cloth lay the Swearing Stone, but in front of the curtain stood a half dozen guards. When the group marched into the assembly room they tensed and grasped their halberds, but relaxed when they noticed Topper.

Fred was shoved into the depression and Master Topper skirted the narrow ledge around it to stand before the old men. "Gentlemen of the Senex, I bring before you a self-professed castor." Topper's rousing voice roused the sleeping members, and the others stopped their whisperings. The entirety of the Senex turned their attention on Fred. Some were curious, but others were openly angered. Their narrowed eyes and pursed lips told him they held some unknown hostility toward castors.

One of the old men looked over Fred and furrowed his brow. "Are you sure of this, Master Topper?" the senexer asked Topper.

Topper bowed his head. "Positive. This boy was found with his staff-"

"Speak up!" one of the old men shouted. His hand was cupped to his ear.

Master Topper sighed, but raised his voice. "This boy-"

"Young man," Fred spoke up. The master glanced at the guard behind Fred, who the knocked the back of Fred's head. Fred fell to his knees and glared at the guard.

Master Topper gasped. "You see! He would attempt a crime even without his staff!"

"Commits what crime?" one of the other men asked him.

"The Evil Eye-twitch to one of the guards of the city. This castor casts his evil on any who dare raise a hand against his impertinence! The only salvation for any of us was that he did not have his staff. He must be the castor for whom we have been searching!"

One of the old men laughed and clapped his hands until his neighbor silenced him. "This isn't a game, Senilius," the neighbor whispered.

Another senexer stood and glanced between Topper and Fred. The edge of his robe was tinged with purple dye. "Master Topper, all we see before us is a young man who reeks of a good time. If you bring someone before the Senex with such heavy charges then you must show us more proof than a glare. For instance, where is this castor's staff?" the man asked him.

Master Topper bowed his head and his hat nearly slid off. He straightened himself and adjusted the ornament. "I will give my proof, Senexer Regis." He turned to the guard who held Fred's sticks and held out his hand. The guard handed over the sticks and Topper raised them above his own head. "This is the castor's staff."

The old men chuckled, but Regis frowned. "A castor's staff is not two ragged sticks, my dear Topper," he protested.

Topper turned to the guard who had held the sticks. "You said this was a staff, now prove it," he hissed. He tossed the sticks to the guard, who juggled them for a moment before he grasped them and looked to Fred.

"Here, boy, use these," the guard ordered. He knelt down and shoved the sticks into Fred's manacled hands. The sticks transformed into the staff, and many of the old men gasped. Some jumped to their feet and Regis' eyes widened.

Topper's eyes widened and he snatched the staff from Fred's hands. They returned to their stick form and he shook the pieces in front of the guard. "What were you thinking handing him his staff? He might have attacked the stone again!" he screeched.

The guard looked sullenly at the bureaucrat. "You told me to prove it," the guard defended himself.

"But not by endangering us all! What if he had used his spells on us?" Topper countered.

"That's enough. We have our proof that he is a castor," Regis spoke up. He looked to Fred. "Master Topper here has lodged an accusation against you that might bear repeating. He has accused you of secretly entering the Senex last night and attacking our sacred Swearing Stone and the guards within the Senex. What do you have to say to this?"

Fred's eyes widened and he struggled to his feet. "I didn't attack anything! I wasn't even in the city last night!" he protested.

"Where were you?" Regis asked him.

"In a cave to the west," Fred replied.

"Do you have anyone who can vouch for your word?" Regis inquired.

"My friends can," Fred told him.

"We can hardly accept the word of his friends. They may be in league with him," Topper argued. He glared down at Fred. "Why did you attack the Senex and the stone last night?"

Fred whipped his head to the tall man and glared at him. "I didn't!"

"Liar! It is too much to believe there is a coincidence to your coming and the attack on the stone!" Topper insisted.

"A moment, Master Topper," Regis calmly interrupted. He stroked his long beard and turned to the other older gentlemen. "What do you think, my friends? We have very little to go on either way."

"We need more evidence. Being a castor does not signify guilt," Regis argued.

One of the fatter senexers shrugged. "Topper has produced an interesting argument. If he isn't the castor who attacked the Senex then he might be in league with the person," he pointed out.

"But he might not, and we must weigh the possibility of innocence with the chance he is guilty," Regis replied. He turned to Fred and pursed his lips. "Until we can figure out either way I am afraid you must remain in our custody in the stocks below the aviator cliffs. If you will provide us with the names of your companions we can see if you are telling the-"

"A moment, dear, honored sirs," a cackling voice spoke up. All heads turned toward the door, and in the doorway stood a bent old woman covered in a thick black cloak. Half her face was hidden beneath a hood, and before her was a golden cart with a ball on a pedestal. "If I might have a moment of your time."

Fred noticed the room quieted and many of the old men shifted uneasily in their seats. Topper stepped aside and frowned at the old woman.

Regis stepped forward and bowed toward the woman. "Old Soothsayer, we are always eager to lend an ear, but what have you to do with this young man?" he wondered.

"You question this young man's words, and I am here to judge whether he speaks the truth," she replied.

"If you can, soothsayer, but we cannot take your word as final judgment," Regis told her.

The woman bowed her head and wheeled her cart into the room. She stopped it at the edge of the depression and gestured with one bony hand toward Fred. "Come here, my son, and look into my ball."

"I'd rather not," Fred protested.

One of the guards snarled and roughly grabbed Fred by the arm. "Don't you know who this is? She is the soothsayer of Phaeton, and to disobey her is-"

The woman waved him off. The guard frowned, but bowed and stepped back. "He needn't know my name, only my purpose," she replied. She raised her hood high enough to show off a pair of bright eyes. "You have a good spirit, but do your words speak truth?"

"I know they do," Fred affirmed.

The old woman chuckled. "Let us look into my ball and see the truth." She stepped around to the opposite side of the cart as Fred and waved her hands over the ball. It lit up with a white and dark glow. The lights danced across the walls and high ceiling, and cast everyone in a strange, dream-like haze. The old woman leaned over the ball and peered into the glass. Fred was mesmerized by the light and stepped forward. "I see you have faced much and have much to face. You have seen many cities and traveled over many miles, and all in search of cursed stones."

Fred started. "Yes, but how'd you know that?" he asked her.

She twittered. "I see much, and I see much danger ahead." Her eyes flickered over the ball to Fred. "There is a man searching for you, a man in white. Beware of him."

Fred's face fell and he glanced at the white-robed men. He looked back to the old woman. "Could you give me a little more detail?" he requested.

"No time. There is no time." She glided a wizened hand over the ball and brushed away the flickering lights. The surface of the ball became reflective and showed the balconies above them. Fred leaned forward and his eyes widened when he beheld Pat and Ruth above them. The old woman lifted her head and Fred noticed a shimmer over her wrinkled face. Her voice dropped to a hushed whisper. "They come to help you, but their help will one day fail you." He recognized that beautiful face from the reflection in the creek and his time at Galaron.

"Martley," he whispered.

She smiled and glided her hand over his manacles. They fell open and dropped onto her cart. "Beware the man in white, my son. He uses the stones to search for you."

Fred frowned. "Search for me? Who? Why?"

Topper frowned and took a few steps toward the old woman. "I do not know you, old mother. Where did you come from?"

The old woman cackled. "From the grave," she replied.

Topper pulled back and whipped his head to the guards. "Seize her! She is an impostor!"

Fred grasped the cart and leaned toward her. "What are you following me? What can you tell me about my future?" he cried out.

"Fred!" yelled a voice from overhead.

CHAPTER 13

Fred whipped his head upward in time to watch Pat slide down the curtains. She reached the end of the cloth and dropped down the remaining two yards to the stone floor. Pat turned to Fred and revealed she wore a sliced part of the curtains over the lower half of her face to hide her identity. The pair of guards around Fred rushed her with swords drawn, but she drew her own weapon and battled them. Topper let out a yelp and hid behind a nearby pillar while Regis staggered back from the fight. Senilius again laughed and clapped his hands.

"Ruth, get him out of here!" Pat yelled at their gargoyle friend.

"Wait! Not yet!" Fred yelled. He looked at Martley, but she stepped back and lowered her head to hide her face once again.

Ruth jumped over the side of the balcony and dove down to Fred. She grabbed his shoulders and lifted him off the ground. He caught one last glimpse of Martley's young face before the veil fell over her again. They circled the room as Ruth sought to keep them above the heads of the old men. Unfortunately, without air currents they slowly descended so that the old men on the higher benches ducked and dove to the stone floor to avoid Fred's flailing feet.

Fred grabbed Ruth's clawed hands and snapped his head up to her. "Let me down! Martley was going to tell me something!" he yelled at Ruth.

She frowned. "But do you not need rescuing?" she argued.

"Not yet!" he shouted back.

"Very well." Ruth released him and Fred dropped to the floor.

Fred made an unscheduled crash landing into the depression, but he quickly picked himself up and turned to the cart. The old woman was gone. Fred whipped his head to and fro around the room, but there was no sign of her.

"What are you doing?" Pat exclaimed as she beat off her opponents. She had her hands full when half the guards in front of the Swearing Stone curtains joined their comrades to battle her.

Ruth slammed into one of the columns and her strong claws dug deep into the marble. Bits of stone fell from her fingers and rained down on the senexers. The old men shrieked and shuffled away from the column. Senilius let the debris fall onto his head and clapped his hands before a fellow senexer dragged him away.

Ruth cringed. "Sorry!" she called to them.

"Guards!" Topper shrieked. "Guards!" The companions heard the pattering of a dozen heavy feet as the guards rushed into the outer hall toward the assembly room.

Pat knocked the swords from the hands of her two opponents, and grabbed Fred's sticks from the one. She tossed the sticks to Fred, who juggled them for a moment that had them transforming between stick and staff. Finally he grasped them in his hands and his staff broke from the spell.

Pat hurried over to Fred's side as her opponents retrieved their fallen weapons. "A fireball spell would be very useful right now!" she told him.

Fred shook his head. "Too close! We'll get burned!" he replied.

The men charged them and Fred put up a barrier. They crashed into the clear wall and tumbled backwards onto the ground. Fred looked around for another Martley, but Pat grabbed Fred's hand. The action broke his concentration on the barrier, and they were unprotected when she dragged him past the dazed guards and the inflamed Topper. They rushed into the hall and were in time to watch Topper's contingency of guards rush into the hall. The men saw the pair and drew their weapons.

Fred re-raised his barrier so it completely encompassed them. The men rushed up and slammed their swords on the wall. The weapons bounced off, but the men started wailing on the walls. Others held back close to the entrance to bar their escape. The barrier held firm, but Fred winced at each pounding.