The Locket (7 page)

“Ah, well,” Lance slid his gaze from her face down to her feet. “By the looks of you I can see why you do not entertain above your station; therefore, I suppose it makes sense you’re not used to royalty.”

“Excuse me?”

“None the less,” he continued, changing the topic, “I will have to report you to the king. He will not be pleased, though he may be intrigued.” His frown turned into a devilish sneer. “I am sure you will not be beheaded, at least not right away.”

“Beheaded?” With a wince, Savannah enclosed a hand around her throat.

“I would say you could pass with manners and appropriate attire but, aha, I can see that that idea is best forgotten.”

Savannah did not even register the remark, but rather focused out on all that was around her once more. Everything was so perfect. Too perfect. The civilians could use an upgrade, yet other than that it all seemed so peaceful. “Where am I?”

Lance, at first about to make another sarcastic comment, decided against it when he saw her face. She was so lost, this girl he just met. Her expression was a mixture between a child frustrated from a difficult question and an innocent doe during hunting season. Resigning his initial annoyance, Lance simply said, “Revalia.”

Savannah brought her attention back to him. “What did you just say?”

“Revalia,” he repeated without a beat. He only had so much time before they were behind schedule, and so much patience before he lost his temper. “This is the world of Revalia, though our kingdom, the one upon that hill over there, is the Kingdom of Reverice. Now if you don’t mind—”

“Everything is so beautiful,” she interrupted, not paying any remote attention to him. Her eyes widened, hoping to take in as much as possible without appearing over-eager. Land of Oz, indeed. “What is this place, some kind of fairytale land?

“I suppose you could consider it that, yes.” Lance stared at her for a minute, and when she did not move or speak, he tugged on her arm in the direction he came from. “Come on, the king has requested an audience with you.”

“I … ” Looking down at the little man who was pulling her arm out of its socket, Savannah reminded herself that she was not at her aunt and uncle’s. She did not know where she was, and even though she wanted answers, she knew she could not stay.

“I have to go.” She heard the cries of Lance behind her as she began to run in the opposite direction, but stopped abruptly when she remembered that she did not know the first place to look in order to go back home. She did not even know precisely how she got here.

“Wait! I need living proof that someone came through the portal, or else the king will have my head!”

Savannah turned around, but kept searching for a way out. “What are you talking about?”

Rapidly, he tried to explain. “What I mean to say is that I can sense when people travel through the locket. Due to my position as the only advisor and assistant to the king, I am given certain responsibilities, and certain gifts like this one. So, feeling the portal open, I ran all around the palace to find him and, ruining his royal nap, I told him that there was a visitor to the kingdom. Unfortunately, that got the king’s hopes up so much that if I come back with nothing, then he might have me hung or, even worse, put into the guillotine!”

Savannah watched, almost in amusement, as Lance caught up with his breath from speaking too much too quickly. “But you wouldn’t be wrong; someone did come through the portal.”

“True,” he looked fiercely up at her. “However, it is not as though you are going to help us, so whether or not someone did come through is probably irrelevant to the royals. Besides, you are not whom we were expecting, meaning that no one in town would be concerned with you if you were here or not.”

Savannah stopped searching and brought her attention back to the little dwarf. She was not, or would not admit to being, easily affected by some of Lance’s comments. Something stirred inside her, though, and she hated not being able to pinpoint what exact emotion it was. Anger? Or curiosity? “Who were you expecting then?”

Lance did not hide that he was a bit shocked. She really didn’t know, did she? Of all the scenarios he expected, this was not one of them. She may have been new to this world, yet it was interesting to see that she wasn’t told anything. “Well, in point of fact, we were waiting for your mother.”

Even if she wanted to, Savannah could not hide her shock either, for it came too quickly. In one whoosh all her defenses fell. “My mother?” she whispered.

“Yes,” Lance rolled his eyes. “Your mother. Now if you do not mind, I would really like to see the king about this situation. He will be wondering where I am, and I want to get my punishment done with quickly.”

As he turned to head back to the kingdom, Savannah grabbed his shoulder. “Hold up a minute. Are you saying that, one, my mother can but I can’t help you with your problem even though I don’t have a clue what it is, and two, that my mother has been here before?”

“Yes and yes. Your mother left us seventeen years ago, and that is all I am afraid I can tell you.” Once more he started to leave, but Savannah stopped him again.

“So—so, what, did she used to live here?”

“I cannot say anything more to the matter.”

“Why not?”

Lance took a deep breath. “I just cannot.” While Savannah stood in her place, frustratingly throwing her arms up in the air, he had a chance to take a closer look at her necklace. “By the way, how did you get a valuable trinket such as that? Did you steal it?”

“I don’t steal,” she answered, offended. When he snorted in response, she yelled, “I don’t!”

“All right then, how, pray tell, did you obtain such an ornament?” He wondered.

Savannah glanced aside, not wanting to discuss the past. It was too early to be talking about her mother and feel even remotely comfortable doing so. “She gave it to me.”

“Gave it to you?” Lance laughed. “Highly doubtful! Gwen would not give up a dimension-traveling device to anyone. And even if she would or did, it would not be to a young girl such as you. It would at least be to an older sibling or an aunt or a—”

“She didn’t have much choice,” Savannah snarled. Lance gave her a look of interest. “I don’t really want to talk about this, okay?”

Before he could answer, the sounds of chiming bells saturated the air. It was coming from the town not too far away. “We had better get going; the king will be expecting us.”

Nodding her head, Savannah began to walk. It was only three seconds before Lance stopped her. “Uh, Savannah,” she turned around. “The town is this way,” he finished, pointing toward the opposite direction.

“Right.” Changing her route, she ran up next to the little dwarf and headed for the village.

***

The two of them ventured over dozens of small hills, through three or four deep ditches, and into two wide fields. Getting another chance to fully observe the land around her, Savannah admired its true beauty. Everything had been lovely at first glimpse, though now she had the opportunity to enjoy it and recognize how, not only stunning, but large it was. The fields and woods ran as far as the eye could see, most likely even further if a person were able to stand on top of a tower or high tree.

The kingdom was higher than any of the trees she’d seen thus far. Though the trees were intimidating and large, the kingdom must have stood a good couple yards above them, making it so much more regal.

Serpentine around the mountain was a dusty and very narrow road that led up to an enormous wooden drawbridge. The tower of the drawbridge stretched out around the kingdom, hugging it safely away from the possible threats of the outside land. It held two small posts, shaped as the tips of a castle, which connected with each other.

And what is a drawbridge without its moat? Savannah wondered as they reached the top. This one must be about four, maybe five, feet deep. Ew, and by the look of it, it must also carry a lot of garbage and diseases. It’s disgusting! After staring at it for a minute, she was determined to never get too close, even though there most likely would never be a reason to anyway. Gasping, she took a giant step back as she found a second reason to stay away from it—the rather hungry-looking crocodile that had just swum past her.

Lance, on the other hand, did not take much notice of the moat. He evidently had seen it enough times that it did not occur to him to mind. “Hello there,” came a friendly, masculine voice. “Name ye purpose!” The voice came from a bulky guard with a sword lying atop his left shoulder. He had been pacing back and forth on the connection between the two posts, but paused as the two of them approached.

When Savannah looked up, she had to shield her eyes from the overwhelming rays of the sun. No wonder why the sky was such a light blue. “Afternoon, Steven! It is I, Lance-a-Lot!” He called with his hand cupped on the side of his mouth.

“Lance? Oh hey, I did not recognize ye at first!” The guard laughed.

“Obviously,” Lance said under his breath.

Steve shifted his sword to the opposite shoulder. “What’re ye doin’ out of the palace? Couldn’t have been delivering a message to the next kingdom; ‘tis too early in the day for you to be returning.”

Lance smiled, a first for Savannah to see. “No, no, I was not out delivering a message. Actually, I had felt the portal open, so the king sent me to go have a look-see.”

“Oh.”

“What happened to Xavier? He was on duty when I left.”

“Oh, he had to go take care of some ruckus taking place somewhere by Giles and Catherine’s house. They say that there is a big mess going on down there, and it certainly looks like it from up here.” He pointed his arm in the direction of the disturbance. Lance nodded in response. Steve turned back to them and, finally taking notice that someone was with the dwarf, he squinted down. “Who is that there with ye?” Lance pulled Savannah by the arm out in front of him. “Bless me soul—is that—”

“Gwen? No. But she looks a lot like her, doesn’t she?” Steven gave a small sigh, which made her feel a bit sheepish. Everyone was disappointed to see her and not her mother. “Actually,” he went on, “this is her daughter.”

“Her daughter?!” He put a hand to his head, as if it ached, clearly taken aback. “She ran off with that peasant and had herself a baby?! Ha! I guess ‘tis good her ol’ man is dead.”

Before she could say anything to the last comment, Savannah was interrupted. “Yes, can you believe it? Well, I suppose it was expected.”

Steve shook his head and smiled. “Does this daughter have a name?”

“Yeah, it’s Savannah!” she shouted. All right, she thought, now I definitely have to know what’s going on! I can’t stand that my mother knew about this place and didn’t tell me. What’s worse is that she actually
lived
here. She spent roughly half of her life in this world and never once talked about it in New York. Why? I wonder what happened.

“Savannah,” he mused. “Now that is not a name ye hear every day. Well, come on in ye two, the king probably won’t be pleased with ye bein’ late.” The sound of a rusty wheel being turned caught Savannah’s attention. The drawbridge creaked and squeaked as it came down from its place, making a loud thud as hit the path.

“Thank you, Steve!” Lance hollered as they crossed to the other side of the gate.

“Ye’re welcome!” he bellowed back. “And, Miss Savannah, give me best to ye mother, ye hear?”

While the bridge gradually began climbing its way back up, she started to reply, “Yeah, about that—”

“Oh we do not have time for chatter, let’s go. His majesty will not wait!” Lance yanked on her arm, forcing her to stroll along next to him. “Besides,” he added on, more so murmuring to himself, “he probably is not even listening, that big oaf.” Again she did not get a chance to respond before his muttering and pulling interrupted her. He was certainly a piece of work.

As he tugged her along, Savannah took in the town surrounding them. The kingdom was a painting: an unreal beauty that existed only in a person’s most inspired dreams. Little brick houses were built close together, securing each other from possible unwanted threats of bad weather. Shops of all kinds aligned the streets, along with cafés and tiny shrubberies in every which way you looked. Men and women ambled along the cobble stone pathway, crowding the town, making it scarce for someone to stride through easily.

The crowds of people everywhere were wearing and doing things that seemed so strange to somebody who, technically, came from another world. The women wore silk dresses of every color with pointed hats on their heads that had a stream of thin cloth running down them. The men were either wearing suits of silver armor, complete with a perilous sword, or dull colored tunics and pants. Some men wore cloaks, while others seemed less mystifying without them. If she had to guess, Savannah would say the men with cloaks were in a higher class by the way their tunics were trim and clean.

Every aspect of this world appeared so slow; much slower than the hustle and bustle of New York. As though time were not an issue. It was soothing, in a way, and yet still held enough excitement that a person could remind herself that time does not wait for anybody. The beat and rhythm was just so completely different, Savannah found it a little hard to adjust.

“Finally, we are here!” Lance exclaimed as they reached the castle gate. It was just as large as the drawbridge, blocking your vision of the entire palace if you stood directly in front of it.

Nonetheless, the palace was still able to rise above all of the rest of the kingdom. Its walls were a marvelous gray brick, attractive and sturdy, and appeared as though it traveled all the way up to the clouds. There were at least a dozen towers taking shape off of the castle’s base, all of which held either purple, red, or white flags on its tip, waving fearlessly for their monarchy. In the center of all the flags were the identical pictures of a fierce lion.

Out of all of the high buildings in the kingdom, this fortress was the one that captured the most sunlight, which added greatly to its beauty. It surpassed any structure in the land, making them seem more like rubble than the works of art they were.

After yelling up to the guards, explaining themselves, Lance and Savannah were brought into the palace’s yard. While the streets were full of dirt and sand, the castle grounds were full of plants, trees, and grass, as if they had entered into the castle’s world of its own. Matching the land outside of the drawbridge, the grass held no bare spots, the flowers were not fading, only blooming, and the trees loomed around every corner, both small and bulky.

The path that Lance and Savannah found themselves walking on led directly up to the palace doors, which accomplished up to about ten or eleven feet tall. There were many different ornate designs on their dark oak surfaces, complete with two decorative handles: one on each door. The handles were crafted into the shapes of brass lions, spirited and bold. The lions on both handles, much like the lions on the flags, were growling in fury, keeping danger out of the castle and protecting everyone inside with all their might.