Wayne Batson - The Door Within

From their window, the main thoroughfare of Alleble was to the left. It ran from the castle all the way to the kingdom’s outer walls. Evenly spaced and running up the center of the thoroughfare were seven tremendous fountains. Great plumes of water and mist shot high in the air, caught the sun’s rays like millions of tiny prisms, and arched down into massive pools of stone. They were incredible, Aidan had to admit, but he couldn’t honestly say it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen since arriving in Alleble.

“On the last day of every month, all of the Glimpses of Alleble go to the Fountains to celebrate… and remember.”

“Gwenne, why are only six of the fountains working?” Aidan asked, pointing to the fountain nearest their castle. It was empty and dry.

Gwenne bowed her head and looked away from the window. “Do you not know?”

“No, I just-” He snapped his mouth closed as it hit him like a thunderbolt. That fountain was the fountain-the fountain where the Elder Guard and their families were held captive by the treasonous knights who served Paragal the Sentinel.

But Aidan was confused. Paragal had promised to release them if King Eliam allowed himself to be sacrificed in their place.

Aidan turned to ask, but a very tall, armor-clad Glimpse entered the room.

This knight carried a gigantic, gleaming silver tray full of covered dishes and placed it gently before Aidan.

“Good day, m’lady,” he said, greeting Gwenne and bowing low.

“Good day, Sir Knight,” she courteously replied. “How goes the training?”

The Alleb Knight looked suspiciously at Aidan for a moment.

“You may speak freely, Sir Galorin. He is here by the King’s own invitation.”

“Prithee, forgive my mistrust, m’lad,” he said, bowing to Aidan. “For these are such days as require careful speech.”

“Uh… no problem,” Aidan muttered, a little surprised that an adult would bow to him. Alleble seemed pretty cool, so far.

Aidan looked at the tray and then questioningly up at Gwenne. She nodded, so at once he began lifting the lids of each dish. The first platter contained a pile of the succulent purple fruit he had eaten on the mountain ledge. He eagerly grabbed one and took a bite that would put a shark to shame.

His mouth full of sweet goodness, Aidan continued exploring the platter with his free hand. Under the next lid was a roasted leg of something-Aidan didn’t want to know what-but it was huge, bigger by itself than a whole Thanksgiving turkey. The giant leg-thing was garnished with purple flowers and literally surrounded by a bed of light blue flakes of various sizes.

Aidan thought about covering it back up, but Gwenne was watching him. Finicky eater that he was, he couldn’t turn up his nose with Gwenne there. Using a small knife and a two-tined fork, Aidan carved a piece of meat off the gigantic drumstick and plopped it into his mouth. He chewed slowly at first, trying to determine the flavor. He found it salty and savory, very much to his liking and somewhat familiar.

“Mmmm…,” he said. “Tastes like chicken!”

In another dish, he found what appeared to be blue and white diamonds. When he touched the gleaming jewels, however, they were not rigid and hard like the stones they resembled. Instead, they were soft and pliable like taffy.

Aidan had no idea what they would taste like, but he was too hungry to care. He picked a blue one out of the bowl and had it just inches from his mouth when Gwenne grabbed his hand.

“A solid druble in your belly would make you most unhappy,” she said. Then, she dropped the jewel into a glass of clear water and placed an unusual three-spouted lid on top. Instantly, the jewel began to fizz. Bubbles of every color of the rainbow began to shoot out from all sides of it, and the glass swirled with a tornado of color.

“Now,” Gwenne announced. “Put your mouth on the long spout and your fingers in the two little ones.”

Aidan reluctantly did as he was told and then looked up at Gwenne as if to say, “Now what?” “Slowly, take one finger out of one of the spouts.” Aidan knew something was going to happen. He could see and hear the liquid fizzing away furiously in the glass. But when he took one finger out of a spout, his eyes went wide in total surprise. The glass became warm in his hand, and the heated beverage shot into his mouth. But unlike a normal drink, which you swish around in your mouth before swallowing, little droplets of this stuff bounced and ricocheted around until every last taste bud was in flavor paradise! Aidan liked it so much that he took his other finger out of the other spout to increase the flow.

“No, Aidan, not ye-” Gwenne cautioned… too late!

The sweet drink roared into Aidan with such pressure that he had to pull the spout out of his mouth to keep his cheeks from exploding.

The liquid had nothing holding it back, so it shot like a geyser out the window behind Aidan.

Someone on the street below yelled, and Aidan could only imagine what must have occurred.

The tall Glimpse, the one Gwenne had called Galorin, howled with laughter. Gwenne looked as if she was struggling mightily to hold back. All Aidan could do was turn fifteen shades of red and watch the glass empty.

As the last of the drink shot out of the spouted glass, Aidan laughed nervously and shrugged. “Sorry,” he muttered.

Gwenne nodded and smiled at Aidan, and then glared at Galorin, who quickly contained himself. Aidan felt as foolish as he’d ever felt, but he was still extremely hungry. Shrugging again, he turned back to his meal.

While Aidan noisily gobbled up the unusual meal, Sir Galorin updated Gwenne on matters concerning the Kingdom.

“I am afraid we may be preparing too late, m’lady. The Knights of Paragory are massing even as we speak. Our dragons have counted at least four different Paragor messengers leaving the Gate of Despair. The Prince, it would seem, has a great interest in the loyalties of Mithegard.”

“And why should he not?” asked Gwenne bitterly. “There are only tens of thousands of undecided Glimpses there for his misguiding.”

“Agreed,” said Galorin, gritting his teeth.

“When will the twelve be ready for the journey to Mithegard?” asked Gwenne.

“Eleven are ready now, but we are waiting for the King to choose the Twelfth Knight.”

At that, Gwenne turned slightly to Aidan, who was sloppily gobbling down a dessert that looked more or less like a hot dog made of chocolate and whipped cream.

“Sir Galorin, the King has chosen the Twelfth Knight,” Gwenne began, gesturing toward Aidan. “It is the lad you see here before us.”

Aidan stared at Gwenne, and his dessert slipped from his fingers and hit the table with a splat.

The lad whose face was covered with cream would be the Twelfth Knight.

G wenne led Aidan down a long spiral flight of stairs in one of the castle’s main towers. “If we are to make an Alleb Knight out of you,” she said, “we must have you dressed for the occasion.”

“How am I supposed to be a knight?” he asked. His voice bounced with each footfall. “I don’t even know what I’m doing here!”

“I already told you. You were called to Alleble by the King.”

“But, Gwenne!” Aidan complained. “This can’t be right! Maybe, maybe the King called me by mistake.”

Gwenne stopped abruptly. “King Eliam does not make mistakes,” she said.

Aidan sat down hard on the stairs. He buried his head in his hands. “I’m not a Glimpse. I don’t really belong here, do I?”

Gwenne sat next to Aidan and put a pale hand on his shoulder. “Be of good courage, Aidan. You belong here just as I belong. The Scrolls you received are but a small part of the history of our Kingdom. It is also your history now.”