Wayne Batson - The Rise of the Wrym Lord

It was as the sun went down on the third day that Kaliam saw hundreds of knights ride across the plain on the backs of unicorns. He leaped upon one of the guard’s dragons and flew out to meet them. Kaliam looked at them hopefully as they rode past. They saluted their Sentinel, and he smiled and saluted back, but Mallik, Sir Rogan, Lady Antoinette, and Aelic were not among them.

Kaliam returned to his bench and waited. Then two lone knights appeared on the horizon. As they neared, Kaliam recognized them. Leaping from the bench, he ran to meet them.

“Mallik! Sir Rogan!” he cried. “I feared the worst, but here you are! Praise to King Eliam, you survived!”

Mallik and Sir Rogan dismounted, and each in turn embraced Kaliam. But they were weary and somehow changed. They did not speak much-even days later-but they stayed in each other’s company and exchanged knowing glances.

Kaliam stayed at the gate for many days more, but Sir Gabriel, Antoinette, and Aelic did not return.

T he guards brought Antoinette through many dark, smoky passages and up a long, winding stair. At the very top of the stair, they opened a thick wooden door and entered a chamber that had one small cell within it. They roughly dragged her into the bare cell which smelled of dust, rot, and worse things; locked manacles around her ankles; and chained her to a ring embedded in the cold stone floor. A wall of iron bars divided the chamber, and the Paragor Knights locked her in. Finally, they slammed the wooden chamber door behind them. Antoinette heard a faint metallic click, and she knew they had locked the chamber door too.

There was one small window. When Antoinette dragged her chains to their full extent, she was able to look out. But she found the view inside her cell much more to her liking. For the window looked out upon the Grimwalk in the land of Paragory. Antoinette sighed and twisted at the silver ring the merchant had given her in Baen. At that point in her journey she had still been able to convince herself that going after Kearn was a noble thing. Now, the grim reality was all too clear.

Antoinette had betrayed her commander, her friends, and her King. She had failed to keep her promise to Aidan. Robby’s Glimpse was not willing to turn his allegiance from Paragor and accept King Eliam. Antoinette slid away from the window, dropped to her knees, and curled into a ball. And there she shivered upon the stone until at last she fell asleep.

“A morsel, my dear,” said a voice. Antoinette woke with a start and scrambled to the back of the cell.

“Come now,” the voice said. A metal tray scraped along the stone floor. On it was meat and bread. A dark boot nudged it into the light from the window. “You must eat. You must build your strength for the trial to come.”

Antoinette suddenly knew the voice. “Kearn!”

“Yes, it is I,” he replied. He stepped out of the shadows and peered out the window of her cell.

“What have you done with Aelic?” she screamed.

“What have I done?” he said, turning and walking toward the cell door. “Why, I have done nothing. His fate is a result of your actions.”

“Nooo!” Antoinette moaned and sank to the floor. “Why didn’t you just kill me too?” she whispered.

Kearn stepped out of the cell, locked its door of iron bars, but paused at the huge wooden chamber door. His eyes flickered red, and he replied, “I keep asking myself that same question.”

S he’s still not back, Dad,” Aidan said, inserting the plane’s phone back in its slot on the seat in front of him. He looked out the window of the plane and watched streaks of lightning crawl among the purple cloud tops.

“Relax, Aidan,” Mr. Thomas said, munching on some peanuts. “I’m sure she’s fine.”

“But she’s already been gone longer than I was-earth time, anyway,” Aidan complained. “I thought for sure she’d be back before we landed in Baltimore.”

Mr. Thomas gave his son a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. “I’m sure she’s okay. We’re about to land now, but you can call her from the hotel.”

The intercom came on. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have some storm clouds up ahead. We might be experiencing a little turbulence. Please keep your seat belts fastened for the duration of the flight. We should be on the ground at BWI in about thirty minutes. Thank you for your attention.”

Mr. Thomas stretched and put his arms behind his head. “Just think how surprised Robby’ll be when you show up at his front door!”

Yeah, Aidan thought. ‘Surprise, Robby! Are you ready to believe yet?’ Aidan shook his head and went back to looking out the window. The plane had already sunk into the clouds. Now it began to bounce a little. Aidan’s stomach tightened. Lightning flickered in the hazy distance outside the window.

One of the flight attendants hurried up the aisle. Aidan watched her buckle herself into a little seat behind the cockpit. The plane shuddered for a second. Aidan’s stomach felt like it did sometimes in an elevator. One of the little overhead compartments popped open. A pillow and a child’s teddy bear fell out.

Aidan gripped the armrests so hard that his knuckles went white. He turned and looked out the window, and there in the reflection, he saw Gwenne’s pale face. Lightning struck, blinding light filled the cabin, and the lights went out.

A elic stared up from the bottom of a deep pit. His vision was unfocused, and what looked at first to be dark, feathery hands reaching down from the pale sky above turned out to be layers and layers of massive roots. They burst out from all sides of the deep hole he had fallen into.

“Arghhh!” The pain awakened Aelic fully. His legs throbbed. His arm burned as if a white-hot blade had broken off under his skin. And he felt a tightness in his chest, as if a heavy weight lay on him, compressing his lungs.

Aelic tried to sit up, but it was such excruciating agony that he almost lost consciousness. He lay back in the dirt and gasped. Eventually, the pain evened out to a dull pulse, and Aelic could think again.

The darkness is gone, he realized, looking at the circle of gray sky above. It all came back to him then. Fighting the wolvin Sleeper. .. if it hadn’t been for Gabby… Gabby! Aelic thought with a start. Aelic felt certain that Gabby had sacrificed herself so that he might live.

Aelic’s left hand bumped into something. He reached for it. It was Fury! And with what little strength he had, he lifted the blade from the soil. He stared at the hilt, at the engraved image of the sun rising between the sacred peaks of Pennath Ador. It brought him hope. For there the sun had risen, a bright new dawn, marking the return of King Eliam. There, as in the forests of Yewland, had been suffering and tragedy. But King Eliam had proven to be greater still, even greater than death.

“I am never alone,” Aelic whispered. And then he heard voices from above.

Adventures are funny things. They offer dark, uncertain times, forks in the road, and choices between comfort and peril. And in such times, heroes