Sagaria (33 page)

“It can be done,” Samzing reluctantly confirmed from his position crouched by a backpack on the floor. “It’s a powerful piece of magic and no single wizard can do it alone. Yes, you’re right, Your Queenship. Qarnapheeran is the place for us to go. All we have to do is find it.”

“But you’ve been there before,” said Perima.

“If only it were that easy. The magical city is invisible to anyone who doesn’t live there. Because I once did live there, I may be able to get round that, but I’m not sure. It depends on what the magicians of Qarnapheeran feel like at the time – whether or not they fancy the look of us when they see us approaching.”

“I may be able to help you there,” interposed the queen. “The magicians allow my hawks to go in and out of the city. I can send a message by one of them to Fariam, the Grand Master of the Elemental Orders, and ask him to welcome you. He rarely denies my requests.”

Samzing raised an eyebrow. “The wizards of Qarnapheeran are cautious souls, you know. They don’t like rocking the boat, Your Queenship. They may listen to what we have to say and then tell us it’s none of their business what Arkanamon gets up to, then send us packing.”

“Then you must explain to them that if the rest of Sagaria is conquered and destroyed, Qarnapheeran will be conquered and destroyed along with it.”

“And the sky will fall,” muttered Samzing sarcastically.

“That will be among the very least of the consequences, yes,” riposted the queen.

There were a few moments of silence as they reflected on this. Sagandran was the first to break it.

“Where is this city, anyway?”

“You never can tell at any particular moment in time,” replied Samzing, standing. “Magic, you see. Blasted nuisance. You ever try mailing a postcard to a city that’s never in the same place twice? The best anyone can tell is that it’s somewhere in the Never Plains, beyond the Great Junkyard.”

Sagandran frowned in disbelief. “The Great Junkyard?” he echoed. “The Never Plains? All sounds a bit Never Never Land to me.”

“Wasn’t me that named them,” said Samzing with a flourish. “And,” added the wizard, “we cannot use the transportation spell again. Firstly, because it’s too far and second, you and the girl almost met your untimely demise upon reaching Spectram. It’s simply too risky.”

“It was somewhat horrifying, to say the least,” Sagandran said, remembering only too vividly how he’d felt when he woke up, “but maybe it’s worth a try anyway. We have to get there as fast as possible.”

“I agree, but nope. We’ll have to do it the traditional way, I’m afraid.”

Queen Mirabella was looking impatient. “Again, this is something you can argue about on the road. My armies are already engaging the Shadow troops on the outskirts of Goram, and hopefully will keep them at bay for a few days, but time is still of the essence.”

“I agree, Your Majesty,” said Sir Tombin in his stately manner. “To Qarnapheeran we are bound.”

But it couldn’t be as quick as all that. A platoon of servants took the companions’ belongings down to the stable where their carriage, brought from the inn, had been housed overnight. Others loaded the vehicle with more provisions than the travelers could possibly consume. Waiting in the courtyard
for everything to be readied, the companions found that time was moving with agonizing sluggishness.

At last, Queen Mirabella emerged from the palace to bid them farewell. Sagandran was the first to be addressed by the queen.

“You are the one Arkanamon seeks, and it will often be tempting to give way to the fear of that, but don’t underestimate yourself. Listen to your heart and you’ll find that roads will open up for you, even in your darkest hour.”

She made as if to move away, but then leaned toward him, clearly hesitant. When she next spoke, her words were barely audible, though her mouth was so close to his ear he could feel her warm breath on his cheek. “Remember that no one here can interfere with your free will, Sagandran. You choose your reality. ‘The Boy Whose Time Has Come.’”

Queen Mirabella backed off slightly and gazed into his eyes.

Sagandran swallowed. Without knowing why, he had the sense that those last words carried an importance beyond anything on the surface. But what? Why was everything in the Sagaria so full of riddles?

The queen turned to Samzing.

“The Shadow Master is no minor practitioner of magic, even stripped of the power of the crystals. Your companions will need your skill and experience if they’re to succeed in this quest.”

Samzing looked down at the tufts of purple grass around his feet. “Glad to know I’m being appreciated for once,” he mumbled.

The queen kissed him lightly on the cheek and moved to face Sir Tombin. The Frogly Knight met her gaze.

“The question that you harbor in your heart, brave Sir Tombin, may be answered during your journey. Don’t look too far away for it; it could lie closer than you think. To love and accept yourself as you are will let others into your heart.”

A small tear trickled from the knight’s dark eye.

“I have a gift for you, Sir Tombin,” Queen Mirabella went on. She gestured to a guard, who approached her bearing a long cloth bundle. Mirabella unwrapped it to reveal a shining sword, a weapon that seemed almost to be made of pure light. The golden hilt was a tapestry of engraved, overlapping leaves.

“This,” said the queen, gesturing to Sir Tombin that he should take the sword, “is Xaraxeer, also known as Lightbringer. It is the sword that was borne by King Brygantra many centuries ago when he drove back the shadows that threatened the world. Ever since then, it has been resting in our treasure room, waiting for a warrior of King Brygantra’s stature and honor to face another time of such dire menace. This is assuredly the hour and, Sir Tombin, you are assuredly the
warrior. May you prove yourself a knight of the true light.”

The Frogly Knight was at a loss for words. He stared at Xaraxeer in wonderment, as if the sword had been brought down fresh from the sun. Even Samzing looked impressed.

“Remember,” added Queen Mirabella, “darkness can exist only where light is absent. Those who have once been saved from the darkness will never wish to leave the light again.”

Sir Tombin bowed. “You do me more honor than I deserve.”

“Oh, you deserve it, all right,” the queen corrected him. “You have the truest heart in all Sagaria.”

Perima was shuffling her feet, obviously embarrassed by the whole affair.

If she’d been hoping to escape the queen’s attention she was disappointed.

“You, Perima, will also learn from this adventure that awaits you. Running away from difficulties seldom offers a solution to them. Only by facing a problem can you see its true nature. Some day, you will have to face your father again and work out all that has gone wrong between you.”

Perima opened her mouth to make some acid retort, but promptly shut it again. Her face reddened.

Queen Mirabella turned diplomatically away.
That’s a conversation she’s wise not to pursue,
thought Sagandran. He smiled shyly at Perima but received only a scowl in return.

“And finally you, Flip,” the queen was saying. She bent down to where the little creature was standing. He’d absent-mindedly started eating one of the vermilion flowers, and tried to hide it behind his back.

“You,” she said, “will share your inquisitive and optimistic spirit with your companions to brighten up the journey. Do not understate the importance of that. The ability to laugh and smile even in the face of adversity is one of the greatest gifts we have. Laughter alone can drive away the shadows we all carry in our hearts.”

“I’ll try.” The little fellow tried to appear dignified, as befitted the significance of the task he had been given. Sagandran suppressed a chuckle.

The clopping of hooves and the groaning of wheels made them all glance up. Around the side of the castle a stable boy led Snowmane, already harnessed to the shafts of their carriage. Someone had tried to make the carriage look a little less battered and dilapidated, without much success. The stallion, by contrast, was immaculate except for the traceries of scars on his shoulders As Snowmane came to a halt in front of them his mane glistened silver and its soft hairs rippled in the breeze.

“This is excellent,” exclaimed Sir Tombin, putting his hand on the horse’s
shoulder. “However did you get him to look as splendid as this?”

“Took me all night it did, sir,” said the stable boy, blushing. “Thought I’d never get him clean. Couldn’t do much about the scars on his shoulders though. Strange, they are. Never seen anything quite like them.”

Sir Tombin fumbled with the tie of the pouch at his belt and produced a handful of coins. “Here. These are for you.”

The stable boy looked everywhere but at the coins in Sir Tombin’s outstretched hand. “I can’t accept that, guv’nor.”

“Of course you can. You must. You have earned it with your hard work.” Sir Tombin grabbed the lad’s hand and forced it open, pressing the money firmly into it.

“Snowmane here, the way he looks now, that’s all the payment I need.”

“Nonsense. You have done us a great service, as well as Snowmane. He will be our symbol of hope, and remind us of the power of light when all the world seems filled with gloom and shadow.”

The stable boy reluctantly closed his fingers over the coins. He bowed deeply to Sir Tombin, then to his queen, then turned and fled.

“So now you are six in number,” said Queen Mirabella. She took a couple of paces forward until she was standing right by the stallion’s head. She whispered something briefly into his ear. Sagandran could make out only a few words of what she said, and even then, he wasn’t certain that he’d heard them correctly. “Not the time,” he thought he heard the queen say, and “protect.”

The horse nodded his head once, twice, as if he understood exactly what Queen Mirabella had told him.
Maybe he did,
decided Sagandran.
In a world of talking frogs and rodents, not to mention the rhinoceros lady we met yesterday, who’s to say a horse can’t understand language as clearly as anyone?

“And now,” said the queen, “farewell to all of you. The fate of Sagaria may lie in your hands. I bid you good fortune on your journey and in all you do.”

They climbed aboard the carriage, Sir Tombin taking the driver’s seat once again. Snowmane responded to the gentlest flick of the reins and pulled them around in a half-circle to face the open gate of the castle’s outer fortification. Sitting beside Sir Tombin, Sagandran looked back over his shoulder and saw Queen Mirabella still standing there watching them, her arms raised wide apart, her hands open in either blessing or resignation.

Snowmane held his head high as the carriage rattled through the streets of Spectram. Curious children of various species ran along behind for a while,
but as the city gates came within view they fell back. Once beyond the gates, Snowmane increased his pace and soon, the carriage was making good speed along an old merchant road, with high grassy banks on either side. Beyond the banks, Sagandran could see patches of forest and the occasional cultivated field. Neither he nor Sir Tombin was inclined to say much and, judging from the silence emanating from the interior of the vehicle, the others were likewise lost in thought. Sagandran would often pull out the Rainbow Crystal and hold it tight in his hand, as if to keep it secure from any marauding Shadow Knights that might happen across them. Just as often, Sir Tombin would tell him tersely that the gem was safer inside his T-shirt and he’d reluctantly put it away again, only to find, shortly afterward, that it was once more in his hand.

After they’d been on the road for about an hour, Sir Tombin decided that he’d had enough silence.

“The best and quickest way for us to reach the Never Plains,” he announced to Sagandran, “is to go back through the Everwoods.”

“The Everwoods? But that’s where the worgs—”

“Even so, I think we’ll be safer going that way than any other. Arkanamon is bound to have spies and assassins posted along the major thoroughfares, and even many of the minor ones. We thwarted the attentions of a Shadow Knight last time, thanks to Samzing’s sleight-of-thought, but we cannot be confident we’ll have the same luck a second time.”