Cursed (22 page)

When the inspection was done the lead goon pushed Glenbury into a chair.

“So where are they?” he said leaning over the old man.

Sasha had to hold a weak Evan back from charging out of the corner. It was offensive to see young men rough up an old man. She felt the same way but they couldn’t risk blowing their cover. They had to find the talisman.

She and Evan had nothing to worry about. Glenbury could take care of himself easily.

“They aren’t here as you can see,” he said irritated. “I never saw them.”

“But you knew they arrived,” the man said nastily.

“Of course,” Glenbury said. “I felt the energy ripple like everyone else.”

“It’s against the law to travel by portal without the queen’s permission. So where are they?”

“What makes you think they arrived here?” Glenbury said huffily. “I’ve been out of the portal business for years. There are at least half a dozen other portal masters in the realm. Why don’t you bother them?”

The head goon stood straight as if he needed to consider the suggestion. He turned to one of his henchmen and whispered in his ear. The man left the house leaving the door open.

“Listen old man,” the head goon said. “The queen doesn’t tolerate liars.”

“Good,” Glenbury said getting to his feet. “I haven’t lied. I didn’t bring anyone here.”

He strode to the open door and stood beside it.

“I have nothing to hide as you’ve seen,” he said motioning for them to depart. “I have work to do for the queen that you have interrupted. Shall I inform her that her potions aren’t ready because her guards were bothering me about a portal I didn’t open?”

The lead goon strode briskly through the door followed by the spare man.

“We’re watching you Glenbury,” he said once he walked outside.

“I feel sorry for you then,” Glenbury responded. “I have such a tedious life.”

Glenbury slammed the door shut and went to the window. He discreetly peered through the curtains. The two men were joined by the third man who had run out earlier.

Glenbury motioned for them to remain where they were. It wasn’t until the men were out of view on the dirt road that he undid the charm that sealed their mouths shut.

Once her lips were freed Sasha opened her mouth and drew in a deep breath.

“Was that necessary?” she gasped.

Glenbury ignored her question and continued gazing out the window.

“It could be a trap,” he said. “We must be careful.”

“How did they know?” Evan asked.

Glenbury glanced at him from the door.

“Why do you think son? Everyone felt the magic ripple and I’m the only one this side of the Marquis River able to open a portal. It was just logical,” he said harshly.

“I don’t know any of this shit,” Evan said frustrated. “I’m just a guy from Austin, ok? I’m not up on this magic mumbo jumbo.”

Evan had taken to using Sasha’s term for magic. Whatever they couldn’t figure out was real was mumbo jumbo.

“Ok, let’s not get all freaky deaky,” Sasha said. “We didn’t mean to disturb you. My mother said she visited you a while back to make my pendant. I think Dominic just thought you’d be able to help us”

Glenbury turned away from the window.

“What kind of help?”

Sasha cleared her throat and studied Evan uncertainly. Should they tell him the plan? Evan shook his head. Sasha disagreed. How would they get Glenbury’s help if he didn’t know what they were doing?

“So a few years ago,” Sasha said haltingly. “You helped my mother create this pendant to protect me.”

Sasha fished the necklace from under her T-shirt and held the pendant so Glenbury could see it.

“Who says?” he muttered grumpily.

“Willow Bean said,” Sasha said more aggressively than she planned. “She said you would help us.”

Evan stared at her. He knew she was lying.

“She did, did she?” he said. “Did she tell you she still owes me for that job?”

Sasha panicked. She wasn’t surprised her mother had unpaid magic bills. She didn’t live in Tysseland. How would she pay them?

“No,” Sasha said hesitantly. “What does she owe you?”

Glenbury stared at her hard. It was as if he were looking through her and not at her.

“Never mind,” he mumbled moving toward the couch and flopping on it with exhaustion. “I can’t get a daughter to pay her mother’s bills. This is all about mother and daughter debt isn’t it?”

Sasha sat gingerly on a chair. “I guess so,” she said. “Except in my case I’d say it’s grandmother – granddaughter.”

Glenbury guffawed. “You don’t have a chance,” he said.

Sasha remembered the pouch Dominic gave her and dug it out of her pocket. She dumped half of the counts out in her palm.

“Is this enough?” she offered Glenbury the coins. “Half now, half later.”

She didn’t want to give him the pouch’s entire contents just yet. She might need the money to bribe others.

Glenbury seized a coin, held it to his nose and breathed deeply. Then he licked it. He snatched the rest of the coins in her hand.

“The money isn’t going to help you with the queen,” Glenbury said.

A chill ran down Sasha’s back. This wasn’t the first time she’d been discouraged from taking on the queen.

“Not your concern,” Sasha said. “All we need is passage home. You won’t be involved in any other way.”

Glenbury stared at her with pity. “Do you think it’s going to be that easy? How are you going to get into the castle? Find the talisman? Fight Queen Vania?”

Sasha was surprised he knew of the talisman. He was a portal master. He must have known why her mother created the pendant so he must know about the curse. Or he could read minds like Gus. Sasha was uncomfortable that everyone knew more than her.

“We’ll find a way,” she said. “We are resourceful.”

Glenbury laughed heartily. “You don’t know the meaning of resourceful.”

Sasha didn’t respond. She felt she’d said all she could. He was either going to help them or he wasn’t. She didn’t think there was more she could say to convince him.

“This isn’t about the queen,” Evan said. Glenbury gazed at him with surprise.

“What is your role in this?” Glenbury asked him.

“I’m just helping a friend,” he said and then smiled at Sasha warmly. “A good friend.”

“How noble,” Glenbury said sarcastically. “What do I get out of it?”

Sasha had thought of this before she came. What reason would anyone have for helping her in Tysseland?

“My mother will owe you a favor?” she said. She hoped her proposal would unlock any resistance. If the queen died then theoretically Willow Bean would inherit the throne. No one need know that Willow Bean had no plans to return to Tysseland.

Glenbury nodded approvingly. “That’s more like it.”

Sasha let out a soft sigh. She felt very close to a small victory. If Glenbury didn’t help them leave Tysseland, they would be stuck here forever.

“Alright,” he said rising to his feet. “You’ll need supplies and a map.”

Sasha jumped to her feet with delight. She hadn’t anticipated that much help.

“A map?” asked Evan. “I thought the castle was visible a mile down the road.”

“It is,” Glenbury said. “You won’t go far if you go in the front door.”

Evan shook off his naiveté. “Right,” he said. “Is there another way in?”

Glenbury stretched a piece of parchment across a table and used a piece of black coal to draw lines. “There is always a way in,” he said.

CHAPTER NINTEEN

Sasha tried to convince Evan to stay with Glenbury. He was so weak after the portal travel. He refused. He stuck close to her as if he were her personal bodyguard.

“I can do this on my own,” she said.

“No you can’t,” Evan said forthright.

“It’s nice that you have faith in me,” she said glumly.

“I do,” he said. “I’m just realistic about your lack of abilities.”

“Oh, ho, ho, you haven’t seen anything yet,” she said like a braggart. She wished she could be even more confident, but the blue sparks hadn’t appeared in days so she really couldn’t count on them.

Was Evan only helping her because he thought she was pathetic?

“Why are you helping me?” She asked boldly. She was afraid of hearing the answer but she’d also come to a point where she no longer wanted unanswered questions lingering in her mind. They drove her crazy. If the end was near, she didn’t want any more regrets.

Evan glanced at her and smiled. “Because you need me?”

“That’s not an answer,” she said.

“What do you want me to say?”

“The truth,” she pressed. “What was the first thing that popped into your head?”

“I don’t think you want me to say,” he muttered quietly.

“Yes I do,” she said. “I’m all about the truth. I’ve been in the dark for too long.”

Evan seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

“You needed help so I helped you,” he said finally.

“Is that a polite way of saying you felt sorry for me?”

Evan shrugged. “I wouldn’t put it that way. It was more like right place right time.”

Sasha smiled. Even if he had felt sorry for her, he didn’t want to admit it. Wasn’t that a good sign? She knew Evan liked her. She just worried that he was helping her out of a sense of duty rather than love.

She shook her head vigorously. Love? Love? When did that get into the picture? She barely knew the guy. The threats to her life were making her emotional. She dismissed thoughts of love. She was being so silly. Grow up, she told herself sternly.

They left Glenbury puttering around his abode and waiting for their return. He’d promised to help them get back home. That’s all they needed from him.

There were no other travelers on the dirt road, which was more of a path of least resistance beaten through the brush and forest than an engineered route. It wasn’t smooth or graded and they had to climb over fallen trees often.

“You wouldn’t be able to get a cart through here,” Evan remarked surveying their surroundings. They were in the thick of the trees that rose endlessly into the sky. It was a beautiful forest, peaceful with the trilling of birds and light scamper of the little feet of squirrels and rabbits. Sasha loved nature and its positive energy. It was a shame there was so much evil lurking about because the forest was a place worth investigating.

“Maybe this is the hiker’s route?”

They continued to walk toward their destination. The castle came into view about a mile down the dirt road from Glenbury’s shack. It wasn’t what she expected. She’d seen castles in pictures and books and even visited one in England.

The Tysseland castle was made of a gleaming white stone. Despite its light appearance it was foreboding. Its walls were smooth like glass. Sasha guessed the material was marble but in certain light she thought it resembled ice. The walls were sheer drops and climbed several stories before the first parapet. Windows were only visible four stories high. There were no ledges or footholds to aid in climbing the walls. That was probably a deliberate defense design.

Glenbury had warned them they wouldn’t be able to get into the castle through the gate or over its walls. He had drawn them a map of underground tunnels that lay beneath the monstrous structure. They were sewage tunnels that flowed into the Danu River. If they waded upstream they’d be able to sneak into the castle via underground caverns.

Glenbury swore they were large enough for a human to travel through. Occasionally they got clogged with debris and workers were sent below to clear out the mess.

Without modern technology it would have taken decades to build the castle. How old was the queen? It was clear some in Tysseland had technology. How did they get it?

Glenbury told them that Tysseland was an ancient realm. No one had electricity except the queen and some of her most trusted allies. The power was generated by an enormous wind turbine behind the castle. The device probably could have powered hundreds of homes but the queen would not share.

Glenbury said the queen often sent sorties to other worlds to pilfer technology. That’s where the guns and lightweight armor were found as well as other goodies. Most of the items taken don’t require power because there isn’t much of it in Tysseland. If her armies travel far, they can’t recharge or refuel any weapons they planned to use.

Guns don’t need power and are the perfect weapon for the queen’s troops that have no magical abilities. It was such an obvious selfish existence that Sasha didn’t understand why the queen’s subjects didn’t overthrow her in an uprising.

Glenbury had laughed and called her knowledge of authority juvenile.

“She has more than electricity and guns silly girl,” he said. “She has more magical power than anyone in the realm. No one can go up against her and win. It’s unfathomable.

“Even your mother has only a slice of Vania’s abilities. Vania is unbeatable.”