Alistair Grim's Odd Aquaticum (28 page)

The prince whirled and, in a crack of thunder and lightning, struck Father with his whip.

“FATHER!”
I screamed in horror, but Dalach held me fast as Father staggered backward and slumped lifeless on the dais steps.

“I hear you, Grubb!” the prince cried, cracking his whip again, and he turned to the Black Fairy. “Kill the witch and find the boy!”

The Black Fairy smiled and was about to snap Malmuirie’s neck when a bolt of lightning shot down from above and struck him in the back. The Black Fairy uttered a deafening shriek and then burst apart in a cloud of thick black smoke. Malmuirie, collapsing to the floor, glanced about frantically, unable to fathom what was happening. The Black Fairy was gone, and she was free.

“Shinobi!” cried the prince, and I followed his gaze to find Kiyoko perched high among the pillars with Mad Malmuirie’s wand in her hand. The prince leaped for her and cracked his whip, but Kiyoko quickly disappeared down the narrow catwalk.

The ground shook as Nightshade landed. “Kill them all!” he screamed, and the throne room erupted into battle. Mr. Smears dove for cover under one of the sharks, axes and swords clanged, and Shadesmen burned in the dragon’s fire. Prince Nightshade began mowing down the Royal Guard with his whip.

Queen Nimue and her sisters flew toward Malmuirie. The ladies held her by the arms as the queen slipped a long pin from her hair—the same hairpin with which she had turned Mack red at the festival. Malmuirie screamed as Nimue touched it to her forehead. A flash of brilliant white light blinded me for a moment, and then there was Mad Malmuirie, standing tall and holding a gleaming silver sword.

Dalach gasped. “Excalibur!”

Prince Nightshade saw it too. But before he could react, Mad Malmuirie was upon him—only she did not look mad anymore. Her eyes were fixed and fearless, and in a swipe of flashing steel she brought down Excalibur hard on the prince’s shoulder. Nightshade cried out in pain and dropped to his knees, unable to use his whip, and then I lost sight of him as a horde of Shadesmen came to his defense.

Malmuirie quickly dispatched them with Excalibur, their skeleton bodies exploding into smoke with a single blow from the magic blade. From out of nowhere Kiyoko joined the fray, and as she and the knights set to work on the other Shadesmen, the battle escalated to a fever pitch.

It was then that I saw Mr. Smears helping the wounded prince into the hatch of his mechanical shark. It had been unchained from the others. The devils were making to escape.

“Prince Nightshade!” I cried, running after them, but the Gallownog pulled me back by my shackles. “What are you doing? We can’t let them get away!”

“I swore an oath to protect you,” he said. “I cannot risk you getting hurt.”

Prince Nightshade and Mr. Smears were inside the shark now, its engine revving and roaring in a cloud of demon dust. And as Mad Malmuirie and the others finished off their Shadesmen, the mechanical monster skidded out and zoomed back through the window whence it came.

The throne room was now littered with fallen knights and their dragons. All of the Shadesmen were gone, their undead bodies blown to oblivion by Excalibur. As Captain Fox Tail and Queen Nimue’s sisters began tending to the wounded, Kiyoko dashed over to Father and hovered with her ear close to his mouth. Dalach blinked us visible and released me from his shackles. I was human again. Queen Nimue and I joined the shinobi at Father’s side, and I knelt down and cradled his head against my breast. His flesh had gone snow white and just as cold.

“Father!” I cried, the tears beginning to flow. “Can you hear me, Father?”

No response. Kiyoko rested her fingers on the side of his neck, then closed her eyes and bowed her head. There were no words for what she had to tell me.

Alistair Grim, my father, was dead.

I
wept openly, unable to speak. And what would I have said if I could? For even now I cannot find the words to describe those agonizing moments wherein I held Father’s lifeless body in my arms.

“His destiny is now in your hands, sister,” said Queen Nimue, and through my tears I looked up to find Malmuirie standing over us with Excalibur. Her eyes were full of compassion, and before I had time to grasp what was happening, the once mad enemy of Alistair Grim touched the sword to his breast. Father’s breath hitched, the color flooded into his cheeks, and he began to cough. My insides gushed with joy.

Alistair Grim was alive!

“Father!” I cried, at which he opened his eyes and struggled to his feet.

“Well, that was unpleasant,” he said, dazed, and I threw my arms around his waist. “Sorry to put you through that, son, but it was necessary to gain the advantage over the prince.”

“You mean you—you
planned
all this?”

“Not at first. But after the Gallownog told me of Miss Kiyoko’s return, and with Malmuirie’s magic wand, no less, my next move was clear. I spied her watching us from the rafters and hinted that she should fire Malmuirie’s wand at the Black Fairy.” Father gazed round. “And so, Miss Kiyoko, once again we find ourselves in your debt.”

Father gave a slight bow, and Kiyoko pulled down her stocking to reveal her face. “The Black Fairy and the Shadesmen are dead,” she said. “However, the prince was wounded by Excalibur and escaped through that window there with Mr. Smears.”

“Unfortunate, to be sure,” Father said, thinking. “But at least we know now where he’s headed. Hang on—where
is
the prince headed, Your Grace?”

“That particular window leads to your Lake Ullswater,” said Queen Nimue. “It is the last of our windows into your world, but you needn’t fear. The prince cannot return to Avalon without the heart of one of us to guide him.”

“I thought as much,” Father said. “Nevertheless, now that Prince Nightshade thinks I’m dead, we will have the element of surprise on our side.”

“But I’m afraid I don’t understand, sir,” I said. “You mean you got yourself done in on purpose?”

“You can thank the prince himself for giving me the idea. After all, in chess one must often sacrifice a piece or two in order to gain the advantage. However, the rules of the game clearly state that if you can get one of your pawns to the far side of the board, you may exchange it for a more valuable piece.” Father turned and bowed to Princess Malmuirie. “A queen, perhaps, if you’ve lost one.”

“Well done, Alistair Grim,” Malmuirie said. “It was because of your sacrifice that I am returned, both in mind and body, to claim my rightful place here in Avalon. And thus you and your friends have proven yourselves worthy of Excalibur.”

She handed the sword to Father. It was somewhat smaller than I imagined, its blade plain and unblemished, its hilt ordinary and unadorned. And yet I shivered in awe at seeing it up close. After all…Well, if you’ve stuck with me this far, I needn’t remind you that the most powerful Odditoria are often those things that, on the surface at least, appear to be ordinary.

Father examined the sword and tested its balance. “It was the hairpin, wasn’t it?” he asked, and Queen Nimue smiled. “I suspected as much after you mended Mack at the festival. Excalibur was forged to unite armies rather than destroy them. To heal rather than to hurt.”

“So you knew Excalibur would bring you back to life, Father?” I asked.

“I’d hoped so, yes, and decided in the end—as do all good chess players—to trust in the power of my queen.”

“It was the Lady of the Lake, sir,” I said. “Princess Malmuirie—she was the one who wounded Prince Nightshade and brought you back to life with Excalibur.”

“You have my undying gratitude, Your Grace,” Father said. “No pun intended.”

“The gratitude is all mine,” said Princess Malmuirie, the soon-to-be queen of Avalon. Her voice was gentle and kind, her eyes clear and content, and despite everything that had happened, it did my heart well to see her so. Father’s too, I could tell, and with a smile he bowed to her and Queen Nimue.

“And now I beg your pardon, Your Majesties, but we do have an evil necromancer to catch.”

“I will dispatch the Royal Guard into Ullswater to pursue the prince,” said Queen Nimue.

“That will not be necessary, Your Grace. Prince Nightshade will undoubtedly have more of those mechanical sharks waiting to ambush us. Besides, the prince thinks I’m dead. And although he’s wounded, he will no doubt set out to destroy the Odditorium and capture Cleona for her animus. First, however, he will need to take care of that business with his armor.” Father smiled. “And I know just where he intends to do it.”

The queen closed her eyes and pondered this—and for a moment I thought she was trying to foretell our future—but in the end all she said was, “Very well. I bid you good fortune on your quest. However, aren’t you forgetting someone?”

“Good heavens!” Father said, spying Mack’s scattered parts on the floor, and he held out Excalibur for Princess Malmuirie. “If I might trouble you one last time, Your Highness?”

Princess Malmuirie took the sword and touched its tip to Mack’s crumpled case. There was a great flash and a pop, and then all Mack’s pieces began to join back together of their own accord. His case straightened itself out and his eyes flickered to life, and there was the chief of the Chronometrical Clan McClintock, beaming red and hopping about as good as new.

“Wha-wha-what time is it?” he sputtered, hands spinning. I scooped him up off the floor and hugged him close.

“Mack!” I cried with tears of joy. “You’re all right now!”

“What the—?” he said, squirming about. “What’s all that blubbering for? And where’s that devil what tried to squash me?”

“I’ll explain it to you later, old friend.” I closed Mack’s case and slipped him into my waistcoat, where he promptly began shaking up a storm.

Princess Malmuirie handed Excalibur back to Father. “When your quest is over, you must return Excalibur to Ullswater. Toss the sword far out into the lake and one of my sisters will be there to catch it.”

“After which this window to your world shall be closed forever,” said Queen Nimue, and she touched Malmuirie’s cheek. The other princesses joined them, their shimmering white gowns like a curtain of loving light around their sisters. Kiyoko passed Father the magic wand and he offered it to Malmuirie.

“Keep it for your collection,” the princess said. “A gift of Odditoria for bringing an old witch back to her senses.”

“I shall cherish it always,” Father said. He slipped the wand inside his coat and turned to Queen Nimue. “And speaking of gifts, Your Grace. That prophecy of yours—it wouldn’t happen to say anything about our defeating Prince Nightshade, would it?”

Queen Nimue smiled. “That story has yet to be written.”

But something
had
been written—or pieced together, I thought—on the temple walls. Fragments of the future that were unalterable—the battle with Prince Nightshade, the pictures of Mack and Moral’s golden egg. But now was hardly the time to tell Father about all that, nor did I think it proper to ask him about what was sure to be the most mind-boggling revelation of them all:

Prince Nightshade was really Abel Wortley!

“Very well, then,” Father said. “This Aquaticum of ours is not over yet.”