The Familiars #4: Palace of Dreams (2 page)

“What do we do now?” Aldwyn asked.

“We find another way to the castle,” Jack said, whipping out his wand and pointing it skyward. “Hop on.”

Aldwyn grabbed hold of his loyal’s leg, and the two, led by Jack’s wand, took flight. But they didn’t get far before one of the specters ripped the wand from Jack’s hand, sending them into a free fall.

As they tumbled through the air, Jack stabbed his sword at the cliff’s side. The blade scraped along the rocks, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake. The specters shrieked and howled, frightened by the flecks of electricity. The tip of Jack’s sword wedged itself into a thin crevice, stopping their fall. But Aldwyn could see the stone was splintering around the sword, and the wicked ghosts—no longer deterred by the sparks—were back in pursuit.

Aldwyn flipped open Jack’s component pouch and telekinetically tossed a dozen storm berries at the specters. Tiny gray clouds appeared, accompanied by rain and lightning. The sparking bolts sent the ghosts back into a panic, forcing them to retreat into the cracks in the cliff.

“Good thing Skylar made us take those berries,” Jack said.

“She always says nothing helps out in a pinch like storm berries,” Aldwyn replied. “And to never leave home without them.”

“Now how do we get out of here?” Jack asked, feet dangling in midair.

Aldwyn glanced around. They were too far from the staircase to grab hold of it. The sword was giving way. And those storm clouds weren’t going to last forever.

“We’re slipping,” Jack said as the stone around the metal tip began to crumble.

Then the blade dislodged itself from the mountainside and Jack and Aldwyn dropped like two stones. Speeding toward the ground, Aldwyn scanned the beach for something that might save them. Anything. Then he spied a polished wooden rod amid the pebbles: Jack’s wand! He focused all his attention and snatched it up with his mind. Just before they made impact, the wand flew into Jack’s hand. They immediately changed course, soaring to the top of the cliffs, never slowing until they touched down outside the castle keep.

“We were nearly food for the worms,” Jack said.

“An all-too-common feeling in my life,” Aldwyn replied.

“But better than actually being food for the worms,” Jack said.

“I can’t argue with that.”

Unlike the collapsing staircase that led up to it, the justiciary’s castle was an imposing fortress of solid steel. It stood three stories tall, with pikes lining the perimeter of the rooftop. Scales of justice were engraved on the front doors. One side weighed a severed hand choking a snake; the other the silhouette of a dove rising up from a flaming nest. The walls popped and sizzled, emitting some kind of electrical energy. Even from a distance, it made the fur on Aldwyn’s back stand on end.

Jack headed for the door, but Aldwyn hesitated. It was as if his paws were trapped in quickmud. He was so close yet he hardly felt ready.

“Come on, Aldwyn,” Jack said. “Meeting your sister is the one thing on this island that you shouldn’t be afraid of.”

Aldwyn pictured seeing Yeardley for the first time since he was a day-old kitten and took a calming breath. He joined Jack at the castle’s entrance. Jack reached out his fist and rapped his knuckles on the door. The two waited. For a moment it seemed like no one was going to answer. Then the door was pulled inward by a large, bearded man dressed in scuffed leather armor. He was holding a metal staff that crackled at the tip. Bright white sparks filled the air. Upon seeing Jack and Aldwyn, he lowered it, extinguishing the sparks.

“You never know when one of those specters will try and sneak its way inside,” he said. “I wish you’d sent a messenger arrow to alert me to your arrival. I would have met you down at the beach. It’s a miracle you made it up here alive without one of these.”

The guard gave his sparking staff a little pat.

“We’re here to see the justiciary,” Jack said.

“I could have guessed as much,” the man joked. “We don’t get too many tourists coming around here.”

He opened the door wider and allowed them entrance.

Aldwyn and Jack followed the guard down a long hallway to a spacious room with a wooden chair and table sitting atop a dais. Dozens of troubled Vastians lined the hall, many embroiled in heated arguments. It was clear they had come to state their cases before the justiciary.

“Do you have any idea how long we’ll need to wait?” Jack asked.

“Well, that depends on when he returns,” the guard replied.

“Returns?” Jack asked.

“Yes. The justiciary’s services were requested by the Legion of Mindcasters. He’s been absent for some time now.”

“Ask him about Yeardley,” Aldwyn urged Jack.

“What about the Maidenmere cat he keeps by his side? Is she here?”

“Oh, no. The justiciary never travels without her. That black-and-white is a very powerful ally.”

“And this Legion of Mindcasters,” Jack said. “Do you know where they are located?”

“I’m afraid that’s confidential, young man. Top secret.”

But the answer wasn’t good enough for Aldwyn. His eyes narrowed in on the guard. He focused his mental energy the same way he did for telekinesis, only this time he wasn’t trying to move anything. He was attempting to read the man’s mind.

Aldwyn had only recently discovered that he had inherited his mother’s telepathic powers. They were still developing, and he had yet to learn how to control them. Months of practice had not helped, as his readings were spotty at best. Still, he concentrated, trying to open the guard’s brain like a book.

Suddenly words came into his head:
Well of Ashtheril.

Aldwyn knew that’s where Yeardley and the justiciary were.

“Aldwyn, what is it?” Jack asked, sensing something.

“We can go now,” Aldwyn said.

Jack nodded and the two turned for the door.

You shouldn’t have done that, cat. You shouldn’t have pried.

Aldwyn looked back, but it was clear he hadn’t heard the words spoken aloud. It was what the guard was thinking. And now he was aiming the reignited sparking tip of his metal staff at them.

“Usually, I only use this on those vile cliff ghosts,” the guard said. “But today I’m going to make an exception.”

He fired off a blast of lightning that shot right between Aldwyn and Jack.

“Trussilium bindus!”
Jack shouted.

A silver rope materialized in his hand and he threw the coiled end around the staff. With a tug it flew into Jack’s waiting palm. Aldwyn used his telekinesis to push open the front doors, and as he leaped onto the back of Jack’s tunic, the two made a running jump off the edge of the cliff.

Jack’s wand guided them through the air as the crackling staff kept the specters at bay.

“So, where to next?” Jack asked.

“The Well of Ashtheril,” Aldwyn called back.

“The what? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Neither have I. But wherever it is, we’ll find it. We have to.”

Jack pointed the wand down toward the beached ship. Aldwyn was disappointed that they’d be leaving the Equitas Isles without Yeardley. But their trip had provided him with an important clue. He was another step closer to his sister. And he knew that with the help of his companions back in Bronzhaven, he would find her.

“T
ighter . . . tighter. Too tight.”

Gilbert was wrapped head to toe in seaweed and looked like a slimy green mummy. A young palace hand stood in the spa waters loosening the kelp around the tree frog’s ankle.

“All that’s missing is a pair of chopsticks and some soy sauce,” Aldwyn said from the gilded archway at the entrance to the Bronzhaven seaweed springs.

Gilbert leaped to his feet, nearly falling face-first into the water.

“Aldwyn, you’re back!” He removed the mask covering his eyes and ran over to his friend. “So, did you find her?”

“Not yet,” Aldwyn replied. “And I’m fairly certain the justiciary doesn’t want her to be found. What about you? How was your questabout?”

“Surprisingly easy. When Marianne and I reached the Ocean Oracle, the Seven Serpent Guardians were absent. We just waltzed right in and asked for the tome.” Gilbert peeled off the sheets of seaweed clinging to his body. “Just keep that between us, though. I might have told Skylar a slightly different story. One involving me beheading those Seven Guardians.”

“You could have been honest with her, you know.”

“Once you get immortalized in stained glass as a hero of the land, you don’t want people to think you’ve gone soft.”

“Are you ready for your flower petal massage, Master Gilbert?” asked the palace hand.

Gilbert’s cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment, even through the green.

“We should go find Skylar,” Gilbert said to Aldwyn, quickly changing the subject. “I’m sure she’ll be excited to see you.”

Aldwyn nodded. It had been ten days since they’d all departed on their questabouts. He was happy to be back with his best friends, too. Especially since Commander Warden had sent Jack to meet up with Marianne and Dalton at Turnbuckle Academy. The most renowned beast tamers from the Beyond were gathered there for a series of lectures on monster baiting and entanglement techniques, rare and valuable wizarding skills.

Aldwyn and Gilbert walked beneath the archway, leaving the seaweed springs behind. They made their way through the palace courtyard, past the golden eel pond and the wishing web in the everwillow tree. Outside, preparations for a feast were under way, as kitchen wizards used their magic to summon fruit trees from the ground, complete with apples and pears ripe for the picking.

“Is this all for Queen Loranella’s birthday?” Aldwyn asked.

“Yep,” Gilbert replied. “The Council has decided to throw her a surprise party. She and Galatea left early this morning to oversee the resummoning of Vastia’s southern enchanted fences.” Gilbert’s voice lowered into a conspiratorial whisper. “Of course, that was just an excuse to get her out of the castle.”

“It’s too bad our loyals are going to miss this,” Aldwyn said.

“Well, it’s not every day you get to learn how to trap a sandtaur,” Gilbert replied. “Of course, I’d rather be indulging in all-you-can-eat fun any day. Guess that’s one of the perks of being in the Prophesized Three. You’re a guest of honor at every royal function. Even other people’s birthday parties!”

“That reminds me,” Aldwyn said. “I don’t have a present.”

“Don’t worry. Skylar took care of it. She got something special from all three of us.”

They walked through an open doorway into a long corridor, where banners from every province hung on the walls. Guards and palace bulldogs roamed the grounds on routine watch.

“This way,” Gilbert said, following a trail of water trickling down a stairway. “Skylar collected some moist moss on her questabout. She’s been experimenting with all sorts of liquefying spells ever since.”

As Aldwyn and Gilbert climbed the steps, the water flow got heavier and they could hear the sound of splashing behind a closed wooden door.

“Now try the table,” Sorceress Edna’s high-pitched, nasal voice could be heard calling.

Aldwyn telekinetically turned the knob on the door, just in time to see a stone table transform into a gelatinous shell of itself before splashing down into a puddle. Skylar stood on the opposite side of the room, observing her handiwork.

“If you reverse the spell, you should be able to return the table back into its original shape,” Sorceress Edna said between sips from a cup of blueberry tea.

Skylar plucked another talonful of moss from her satchel and squeezed it as she incanted:
“Sutitauqa, sutitauqa!”

The blue jay’s wings trembled, and the silver-and-emerald chain of the Noctonati she wore around her ankle rattled. Suddenly the water began to transform. But not back into a table. Just a pool of stone.

“That’s going to take a little more practice,” Skylar said.

“Look who I found,” Gilbert said.

Skylar turned to see Aldwyn avoiding the wet spots on the floor. She flapped over and wrapped her wings around him in a hug.

“Welcome home,” she said. “Did you find Yeardley?”

Aldwyn shook his head. “Have you ever heard of the Well of Ashtheril?”

“No. Why? Is that where she is?”

“I think so.”

“We’ll check the queen’s library,” Skylar said. “We were able to locate the Crown of the Snow Leopard. We should be able to find a simple well.”

“I figured I could count on you,” Aldwyn said, happy the Prophesized Three were together again.

“You know me. The older and dustier a book, the better.” Skylar tipped her beak up into the air. “Why do I smell seaweed?”

“Oh, Gilbert was—”

Before Aldwyn could finish, Gilbert cut him off.

“—just wondering the same thing,” the tree frog said. “Must be from those liquefying spells you were casting.”

Skylar shrugged.

“I’ll let the three of you catch up,” Sorceress Edna said, waddling toward the door. “I need to get ready for tonight’s party.”

Skylar opened up her satchel and showed Aldwyn what was inside.

“You wouldn’t believe all the neat stuff we took from the Xylem garden. Icari weed, marble bark, snizzle grass. And a dozen other things we haven’t even been able to identify yet.”

Gilbert walked over munching on an orange root.

“This carrot tastes funny,” he said.

“Gilbert, that’s not a carrot,” Skylar said.

“Then what is it?” asked the tree frog.

“We don’t know. It’s one of the twelve things we haven’t identified! But it most likely has some very powerful magic associated with it.”

Gilbert gave a panicked look and tried to cough up whatever he was eating, but nothing came out. They all waited in anticipation.

“I don’t feel anything,” Gilbert said.

“Well, if your body begins to expand rapidly, stay away from any sharp objects,” Skylar replied.

Quick footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. Commander Warden entered the room, his black hair swept back into a ponytail. Dressed in gold studded armor and leather pants, he had the look of a man who could lead a thousand soldiers into battle. The commander dropped to one knee, bringing himself down to Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert’s eye level.