Chapter 28: Stowaway!

  “Team Alex, assemble!”

  Primith rolled her eyes. “We aren’t The Avengers.”

  Our team consisted of Isa, her parents, Primith, and Carlito.

  The airship hummed with forbidden power as it hovered above the landing pad. A steady stream of workers ferried supplies onto the ship as everyone in the castle hustled to get it ready for the journey. I was especially impressed by a group of children who struggled to haul a particularly large chest up the gangplank.

  “What have you got there?” I asked.

  A freckled boy at the front glared at me. “A heavy chest.”

  “I see that,” I chuckled.

  “Then don’t ask,” he said, sticking his tongue out and yelping when he accidentally bit it.

  I sighed. “Do you guys know who I am?”

  He let go of the chest, causing the other kids to swear at him. “Of course we do. Why else would we load this on your airship?”

  “Uh,” I was soundly defeated by a bunch of kids. “Carry on, I guess.”

  Next, I spotted Sir Lamorak leading a procession of knights delivering food to the airship. Most of it was stored in barrels, but there were also large cuts of meat as well as some cheese wheels.

  “Won’t the meat go bad?” I asked.

  He laughed. “Nonsense. There’s a magically enchanted larder that will keep all of this food nice and fresh so long as the ship has mana. If you run out, don’t blame me.”

  “Are you leaving already?” Ceru asked, holding Cobalt. “How long are you going to be gone?”

  “Not long, I hope,” I replied, scooping up my son. “If all goes well in Solitair, maybe we can sneak in and out without too much trouble.”

  “I hope so,” she replied. “Do you really think the humans will mind me being in charge while you’re gone?”

  “They better,” I chuckled. “But if they don’t, we’ll chuck them in the dungeon. Bori’s dungeon.”

  The kids dropped the chest again at the top of the gangplank.

  “Careful,” I called over my shoulder.

  Ceru reached out and touched my cheek. “You be careful too, Chonu.”

  “Don’t worry,” I replied. “I will.”

  “This is really something,” Anna said from the ship’s bow once we were airborne.

  It was remarkable how well voices carried when the shields were activated. I heard her from the helm, where I was teaching Isa how to pilot. There wasn’t much for her to do, as we only had to point the ship north and aim at the giant smoldering volcano in the distance, which we could see from Camelot Castle.

  “I was born to do this,” Isa swooned as she rocked the ship back and forth. “I wish I could feel the wind in my hair.”

  I grinned. “We can, but I think your mom will be blown away if I lower the shields.”

  “Don’t do that!” Isa shoved me playfully.

  “My Lord,” Sir Palamedes cleared his throat. “There is something below decks that demands your…”

  “Not now,” I shooed him away. “I’m giving a flying lesson.”

  “Very well,” he said as he vanished.

  I hoped I hadn’t offended the old knight, but Isa was having so much fun I didn’t want to distract her. Vince and Anna made their way to the helm, and I lowered the shields. Isa whooped as her hair billowed out behind her. The ship felt significantly faster with the wind in my face, and I made a mental note to get goggles for future voyages. Someone on Gaia had to be able to make them.

  It didn’t take long to get there in the airship. We passed over the sea north of Albion and into the tiny country known as Solitair. The island was dominated by a hulking volcano that spewed ash into the sky. A series of structures adorned the outside of the peak like an ivory necklace held together by a chain of transparent tubes. The landing pad was located on the largest building close to the peak. A squadron of armed guards awaited as we slowly descended.

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  “You are not welcome here,” the lead guard said as he brandished a glowing spear at me. “Solitair is closed to visitors.”

  “We just have questions,” I called over the rail, worried that if I lowered the gangplank, they would board the ship. “And would it be possible to get an updated map?”

  “You need to leave or face the consequences,” the guard insisted.

  “Relax, Cyrus. It’s obvious they aren’t with the shadow league,” a beautiful woman with flowing blonde hair said as she walked past the guard. “Still, this isn’t a good time. You can have a map, but you aren’t welcome to stay.”

  “Why?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”

  “Haven’t you heard?” she asked, her eyes widening. “There’s a high-level wizard on a rampage. He murdered the king and queen of Dabia and my bro…Melvin Murphy and the queen of Celestea are missing. We are temporarily evacuating. You should speak to your sponsor about going back to Earth. I am sure they can come up with another planet for you to finish your little game.”

  “Aren’t the people here supposed to be strong?” I blurted out the question without thinking about the implication.

  Maya gave me a sad smile. “Sometimes, strength means knowing when you’re outmatched. If it makes any difference to you, this wizard killed me once already. If rumors are to be believed, he’s grown even stronger since then.”

  The fact that Gaia’s strongest were useless came as a shock. That meant the sponsors behind S.I.M.P. Co were equally ineffective, and I was on my own. There was just one thing that didn’t make sense.

  “How are you alive if he killed you?” I asked, glancing at Isa to see how she felt about meeting another resurrected person.

  The woman frowned. “That’s complicated. Melvin, my brother, managed to save my soul before my body perished. Then he somehow…made me a new one.”

  “What? How?” I asked, wondering if I could get this Melvin person to make bodies for Isa’s parents.

  She sighed. “It’s complicated, and I don’t know how he did it. Unfortunately, he also appears to be a victim of the wizard.”

  “He died too?” I asked, feeling fear’s icy grip permeate my chest.

  The woman wiped away a tear. “Yes, rumors say he disappeared the day the shadow lord appeared. That’s the wizard.”

  I couldn’t help but be reminded of Pi when thinking about Shadow Lords. Even though the Puppetmaster previously controlled the wraiths, Pi made it his business to exorcise them and collect them. He took all of them when he abandoned my body for Jericho. For all I knew, he was off on some random killing spree in my name.

  “Well, thanks for warning me about everything…uh, I didn’t get your name, sorry,” I hesitated. “My name is Alex, and I’m the new king of Albion.”

  “Maya,” she informed me. “And you’re welcome. I recommend you heed my warning and get off this planet immediately. I’m sure Albion will still be there when the danger has passed.”

  “If you’re too scared to deal with it, do you think it will ever end?” I asked.

  She smirked. “Surely you must know there are more powerful awakened out there. Eventually, they will send a task force to deal with this. I plan to wait this out on Destani. If you need help, I’d be more than happy to arrange a portal back to Earth for you.”

  “That’s okay,” I replied. “The map will be more than enough.”

  While it was updated, the map didn’t have any additional detail about Albion or Xanadu. All of the recent activity seemed to be on Dabia and the many towns sprinkled all over the place. Celestea was labeled as The Dark Lands, and Albion just said Forbidden. While Xanadu had none of that, the only locations were the two I already knew about.

  Maya explained that the sole occupants of Xanadu were a family of reasonably strong awakened. There was Mardella and her daughter Alariel, both of whom I’d met, and the grandmother, Altara. Not much was known about the ancient woman other than the fact that she never left the castle.

  It was also made abundantly clear that visitors were not welcome. That ruled out flying the airship directly to Shangdu Castle. I asked about the other location on the map and was told it was more of a home for the granddaughter. That, at least, offered some promise. With Mardella gone, perhaps I could reason with the kid, Alariel. It was worth a shot.

  The trip into Xanadu was much more somber than the flight to Solitair. Isa and her family huddled in the captain’s quarters while the knights steered. We all felt apprehensive about returning to the land of shadow beasts. I wondered if Primith and Carlito felt the same.

  “Do you have a magic weapon, Carlito?” I asked, hoping he was within earshot.

  He cleared his throat. “Do I need one?”

  “If you want to hurt shadow monsters, you need either magic or a magic weapon,” I explained.

  He appeared beside me, holding a green vial. “Does poison work?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. We didn’t try. I suppose I can try to convince Iris to bless your weapon.”

  “I already explained,” the goddess’s voice growled from my chest. “That was a one-time thing. You’re on your own for additional weapons.”

  “We should have asked Maya for something,” I sighed. “It looks like you’ll have to play support when we get there.”

  He vanished. “I’ll find a way to help out with my special skills. Combat isn’t the only way.”

  “And maybe we’ll find a weapon,” I replied.

  We flew low over the trees once we entered Xanadu. I leaned over the rails to see if I could make out any monsters in the clearings below but saw only shadows. If they were alive, they were doing a good job of hiding it.

  “Why are we flying so low?” I asked Sir Palamedes, who stood beside the knight piloting the ship.

  He cleared his throat. “Shangdu Castle is in a crag to the Northwest. While it is unlikely that they will detect us from this distance, I didn’t want to take any chances.”

  “Good call,” I said, grateful for his foresight.

  After a while, a mansion loomed over the canopy of trees, nestled between a pair of steep hills. It was the kind of place a celebrity might own back on earth. There was a curated garden in the backyard, complete with a hedge maze. The airship coasted in before coming to a rest on a landing pad beside the main house. Several guest houses were set around a swimming pool on the other side of the pad.

  As the knights tied the ship down, someone came out of the house to greet us. I readied Excalibur just in case he was hostile.

  “That will not be necessary, Sir,” the man said, holding up his hands to show he wasn’t armed. “Would you be so kind as to tell me who sent you?”

  “I’m the king of Albion, and I sent myself,” I replied.

  “Very good, Sir,” he said with a bow. “Please come this way. The mistress of the house would like to meet you.”

  I exchanged a glance with Primith, who nodded. “We might as well see what she wants. Carlito, scout ahead and warn of us any traps.”

  “On it!” Carlito’s voice whispered.

  I was just about to follow the guy I’d dubbed the butler when a squeaky voice made my blood run cold. “Daddy! Can I come too?”

  “Bori?” I snapped. “What the Hecht are you doing here?”

  “Daddy, you swore!” Bori said, bounding down the gangplank after me. “Come get my core. I stowed it below deck.”

  “What are you doing here?” I repeated, trying to stay calm. “I thought we agreed you’d stay in your dungeon.”

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