The Final Storm (10 page)
Aidan easily found the fort. He and Robby had built it between four towering pine trees in the heart of the woods. Assembled from an odd assortment of planks, two-by-fours, and sheets of plywood, the fort was as ugly as it could be, but to Aidan and Robby it had been
Castle Courage
, the home of truth, justice, bravery—and the largest assortment of comic books and hand-held video games known to mankind!
Aidan stood there for a few moments, letting the memories wash over him. Then he stepped over a few fallen trees, ducked under a low bough, and slid a small square of plywood away from the entrance.
No sign of Robby.
Aidan carefully laid his backpack on the fort floor and then walked around to the backside. There a shaky ladder stood, leading to the roof of the fort. Aidan climbed to the roof and tested his weight on the old boards. They held.
It’s ugly, but it’s strong.
He brushed away some leaves, stretched out on his back, and stared at the treetops. Aidan watched a single leaf sail on a breeze and then spiral down. He began to feel drowsy.
“You fall asleep, Aidan?” Robby asked as he climbed onto the fort’s roof.
Startled, Aidan sat bolt upright. “Yeah,” Aidan said. “I wasn’t sure if you would make it. How’d you get away from your dad?”
“Aw, he doesn’t much care what I do,” Robby replied, looking into the woods. He gestured into the fort. Aidan followed his friend inside.
Sitting opposite Aidan, Robby fished out a lantern and flicked it on.
“The fort feels smaller than I remembered it,” Aidan said.
“Maybe because you’re bigger,” Robby said. He laughed nervously. “You takin’ vitamins or somethin’? I’d swear you’ve grown since the beginning of the summer.”
“My mom says the same thing,” Aidan replied.
An uncomfortable silence settled upon them. Robby began to rock a little, and the lantern cast strange shadows on the fort wall behind him.
Aidan couldn’t stand the waiting. He was alone with his best friend at last, and he wasn’t about to waste the opportunity. “I brought the Scrolls with me if you want to look at them again.”
Robby sighed. “No, Aidan. I don’t think I want to look at those again. I know that story very well already.”
It seemed to Aidan that the air inside the fort became chill. The shadows behind Robby seemed to grow. At last Robby said, “Aidan, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
There was, in the way that he said it, a tone that made Aidan wish he had sat closer to the fort’s door. Aidan turned to his friend, and there was suddenly an eerie confidence about Robby that hadn’t been there just moments ago. “What is it, Robby?”
Robby took a deep breath. “The night you left for Colorado,” he began, “I waited until Mama and Jill went to sleep, and I took off.”
“You what?”
“I left—ran away, or at least I meant to. Kinda stupid, really. I didn’t even pack anything. I walked outta my house with a jean jacket on my back and about fifteen dollars in my wallet. But I didn’t care what happened. I just wanted to get away, so I left.”
“Why’d you do that?” Aidan asked.
“I don’t know,” Robby replied. “I was mad, I guess. Mad that you had to move. Mad that my life never felt good for long. Mad at everything.” He laughed. “I ran all the way up that old path near the school. You remember the one where we found all those bottles that one time? Well, I stood there in the middle of the night and just went off on the bottles. I smashed ’em with rocks, hurled them at tree trunks—all the while, screaming like some kind of loony!”
Aidan stared.
“And you know what, Aidan?” Robby asked, an eerie gleam in his eyes. “It felt good to bust up the bottles. Like I was getting back at every bad thing that ever happened to me. I got so charged up, I ran up to the bleachers behind the middle school and just lay there staring up at the stars. And for once, I felt like I was in control of things. That’s when I heard the voice.”
Voice?
Aidan thought.
Robby explained. “I was thinking about you, about my dad, about all those things I wished would have never happened. And then this voice was just kinda there all of a sudden.
‘You do not have to be afraid, ever again,’
it said. And I sat up on the bleachers fast. ‘Who’s there?!’ I yelled, but no one answered. There wasn’t anyone around.
“I was about ready to bolt, but then I heard it again. It was like bein’ broadcast into my head.
‘I will teach you to control your fears,’
it said.
‘I will teach you many things.’
“I said, ‘Who are you?’
“
‘In time. For now, you need know only this . . . I am the Keeper of Power. In my hand I hold your future. If you choose, I will make you a champion, a leader, a conqueror. So that you may know that what I say is true, I will provide you three guarantees. The first in one week’s time.’
“And then, Aidan, the voice was gone. I sprinted back home like my heels were on fire. But one week later, my soccer team won the regional championship. We beat the team from Ashburn, the one that hadn’t lost in three years. And I scored the winning goal! Aidan, it was like the voice promised—the first guarantee.” Aidan frowned.
“I know, I was skeptical at first. But the second guarantee came right after that . . . my dad came back home. It was not luck. It was not coincidence. Dad knew all about the voice. He knew all about the Keeper of Power. You see, Aidan, I know about The Realm. My dad taught me all about it. And now, I’ve seen it, in my dreams. I know why you wanted me to read those scrolls of yours. But the thing is, Aidan, you’re on the wrong side.”
R
obby’s comment blindsided Aidan. “What?” he blurted out.
“It’s what you said in some of your emails,” Robby explained. “You said you side with Alleble and serve King Eliam. But King Eliam betrayed his people—even his most trusted friends, Aidan.”
Aidan couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “No, Robby, that’s not true. King Eliam is noble and good. Paragor is The Betrayer!”
“That’s the story you’ve been told, is it, Aidan?” Robby asked. “There are two sides to every story. See, the voice promised me a third guarantee. C’mon outside. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.” Robby rose to a crouch and exited the fort.
Aidan emerged from the fort and found it strangely dark outside. Turbulent clouds raced overhead and the towering pines swayed in an unusually cold breeze. From the shadows of nearby trees strode a tall warrior. He was Glimpse-kind and wore the dark blue cape and bright silver armor of Alleble. He had no beard but had long gray hair laced with strands of black and a mustache that curled straight down to his jaw line.
The warrior presented Robby with a long broadsword. “A gift from the master,” he said. His voice was rich, almost musical. “Better, would you not say, than the one you have been training with?”
To Aidan’s amazement, Robby took the broadsword with both hands and carved a figure eight in the air. “Dad told me I’d be getting my own sword soon,” Robby said. “I just didn’t think it would be today.”
“Do you like it?” the warrior asked.
“It’s not as heavy as the trainer,” Robby answered. “But tell the master I love it!”
“You shall tell him yourself soon enough,” said the warrior, and then he turned and bowed to Aidan.
“Aidan, I’d like you to meet Count Eogan. He is a former ambassador from the Kingdom of Alleble. He’s going to tell you the real story about Paragor.”
The Glimpse knight extended a pale hand. Aidan looked him in the eye, saw a glint of blue, and warily shook his hand. “Well-met, Sir Aidan,” the count said. “Ah, yes . . . I know your name well. Robby has told me all about you. But even had he not, I would have known you for your exploits in Mithegard and upon the Black Crescent.”
Aidan stiffened. Couched within the compliment, Aidan felt a veiled accusation.
“This must all be rather startling to you—learning that what you thought was truth . . . was not the whole story—very troubling, I’m sure,” said Count Eogan.
Aidan was troubled, but not in the way that the count thought. He glanced at Robby and then back at Count Eogan. “You
used
to be an ambassador from Alleble?” Aidan asked.
Count Eogan tilted his head, smiled, and nodded yes.
Aidan squinted at the count. He wore the armor and colors of Alleble, and his eyes glinted blue, proving his devotion to King Eliam, but something seemed wrong. Gwenne’s warning came back to Aidan, and he asked, “Do you serve Paragor now?”
“Nay, lad,” the count replied without hesitation. “I am true to Alleble and to King Eliam—only Alleble as it was intended to be and King Eliam as he once was. For that, even Paragor himself yearns.”
“Count Eogan, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aidan said abruptly.
“Well, that is for you to decide,” Count Eogan said. “But think on this, lad. You read The Scrolls of Alleble, the account of the Great Betrayal, did you not?”
Aidan nodded yes.
“When you entered The Realm, the Glimpses who befriended you did seem to corroborate the tale? Of course they did. But did you ever consider the possibility that they have all been deceived? What if they only believe those stories because that is all they have been fed since the day of their births?” Aidan was silent.
“Come, lads,” Count Eogan said, holding out both arms. “Come and sit with me a moment and hear the story in full.”
They sat upon two fallen trees spaced a few feet apart. Count Eogan and Robby on one tree, Aidan on the other. The Glimpse adjusted his sword and took in a deep breath. “The tale you have no doubt heard,” he began, “is that King Eliam was a noble ruler, fair in all his ways. Paragor was a trusted knight, the Sentinel even, who became corrupted by lust for gold and power and sought to overthrow his kindly sovereign. Was that not what you have been taught?”
Aidan nodded slowly. The count smiled. “I tell you today that things went much differently. You see, it was King Eliam who became corrupt—not Paragor. Paragor was Sentinel of Alleble. And he was wise, powerful, and fair to behold. Soon, dignitaries, ambassadors, even the famed Elder Guard began to seek Paragor’s advice instead of the King’s. All of this, the King simply could not bear.
“One night, King Eliam gathered those whom he felt he could still trust. He inflamed them with talk of mutiny and treason. He sent twelve soldiers to slay Paragor while he slept. Then he had the Elder Guard and their families rounded up in the middle of the night and made ready to execute them. But Paragor was far too skilled to be caught in that kind of ambush. He slew his attackers and fled to Guard’s Keep. That was when Paragor made the hardest decision of his life. He loved King Eliam but could not bear to watch the innocent die. Paragor fought King Eliam along the parapets. Their duel was the fiercest in the history of The Realm. But in the end, Paragor was the better swordsman. He slew the King.
“In a rage, the treasonous soldiers who served King Eliam set fire to the fountain, which was filled with oil, and watched all of the Elder Guard and their families die. To Paragor’s dismay, no one survived,” the count said, leaning closer to Aidan.
Aidan looked puzzled, but the count continued: “That very night, Paragor discovered that King Eliam had taken to Black Arts, a sorcery so powerful that it could even bring back the dead. By those Black Arts, King Eliam returned and banished Paragor and those in Alleble who would not blindly follow the King’s rule.” Count Eogan leaned even closer to Aidan and spoke softly, like a mortiwraith charming its prey. “You see, Aidan, from that time on, the Glimpses of Alleble learned only the King’s version of the story. They believe that King Eliam is noble while Paragor is the traitor. Their faith is genuine, but . . . it is genuinely wrong.”
The wind picked up and made strange whispering sounds in the pine needles above. Aidan looked up into the sky, and his eyes were glistening. Then he shut his eyes tight and bowed his head.
This could not be true. King Eliam would not deceive his people. But still, if he had . . . I would never know. And Count Eogan’s eyes, they . . . THE EYES!
Then he remembered.
Acsriot.
Slowly Aidan rose to his feet, glaring at the count. “No one survived?” Aidan said.
The count stood and faced Aidan.
“Give it up, lad,” Count Eogan said, all humor gone from his voice. “That is the true story of the Betrayal. You may not like it, but do not throw your life away for a lie.”
Aidan’s eyes were determined. “Your story would be hard to refute, if, as you say, King Eliam made sure there was no one left in Alleble who witnessed the events of that night. But there was someone else who was there. Your master did not tell you of the ‘little runt’ who got away, did he?”
“That . . . that is preposterous. All of the Elder Guard and their families died in the fire,” the count said.
“Valithor escaped,” Aidan said. “He saw Paragor’s soldiers round up his mother and father and lead them to the fountain filled with oil. He saw Paragor execute King Eliam in cold blood. And he saw the Elder Guard and their families burned alive by Paragor’s command.”