The Secret of Ashona (48 page)

Rosco bowed low, and then rose stiffly. “Master.”

Erec could not read Baskania’s face any more than Baskania could read his mind. The two stared at each other for a few minutes, wondering. Had King Pluto seen Erec in Tarvos’s cave? Erec thought he had been so careful. He had waited until Pluto was gone before he had spoken to the bull. The only person who had seen him was Ward. . . .

Baskania rose, a huge smile on his face. “Erec! I am delighted to see you again. I have become more and more impressed with your talents. Look at you—a trip to the Underworld and you’ve arrived back with no problems at all.”

Erec froze inside, but he tried not to show it. How did Baskania know? Rosco may have been uneasy, but he looked completely calm. Spartacus, on the other hand, paced back and forth across the room. Erec wished he would stop. Even though nobody else could see him, it was making Erec nervous.

Baskania strode forward and patted Erec on the head. “It’s so nice that you are alive and in one piece again. You have proven useful to me constantly, helping me with one thing after the next. What a good boy you are.”

The Shadow Prince’s words worried Erec, but Erec had no idea what he was getting at. He stayed quiet and waited.

Baskania began to count things off with his fingers. “First, you gave me the scepter. Granted it’s gone again, but soon you will return it to me safely. Next, you offered me both of your dragon eyes. A nice touch—and thank you. I do look forward to using them. Then you offered yourself as a blind follower. But when I made you my servant, and allowed you to keep your sight, what did I get?” He paused dramatically. “Loyalty? Servitude?”

Erec could feel his heart pounding. He had no idea what Baskania knew, other than that he had been in the Underworld, but it didn’t sound good.

“Oh, no. Erec Rex, you’ve offered me something far better than that!” He laughed, and snapped his fingers. Connor Flannigan appeared, bound in black rope from shoulder to toe. “You gave me your old memory. The one that you were missing.”

Erec’s stomach dropped to his feet. How did that happen? Erec had the memory back himself—Connor didn’t own it anymore.

Connor looked stunned, eyes darting around the room in fear. “I gave my memory back to the Memory Mogul,” he said. “It’s too late. I don’t have it anymore.”

“Oh, but you do.” Baskania gloated. “One never really gets rid of a memory, true?”

That left Erec thinking. What was Baskania talking about? He was sure Connor had given back his memory, just like Erec had removed the memory that used to give him nightmares once.

And then Baskania said something that made Erec’s breath stop. “But the most exciting thing that you have given me so far is Bethany Cleary’s younger brother. You know, the one who will be able to teach me the secret of the Final Magic. You, Erec Rex, have put him right into my hands.” He tilted his head back and cackled with glee.

Erec could not believe his ears. This was a sick joke. Was Baskania making it up to upset him? Was this his way of confusing Erec, so that he could learn something from him? He looked around for Bethany’s brother. Was he here somewhere?

Baskania chortled. “Are you trying to see if I’m hiding the boy here now? Not yet. But I have all that I need now to find him.” He patted Connor’s white hair.

Everybody in the room was trying to absorb what Baskania was saying, but it seemed like only he knew. He paced the room, wringing his hands, a big smile on his face. At one point, he walked straight through Spartacus, who was also pacing. That made Erec nearly jump out of his skin, but Baskania did not notice the ghost at all.

Finally he stopped in front of Erec. “I’m sure that you want to know more, and it will be my great pleasure to tell you. First, as you suspect, I know everything that happened in the cave with Tarvos, after Pluto left. Which means that I know that on top of all of the other amazing gifts that you have given to me, you also have a Master Shem, and Tarvos’s magical power source for me as well.” He held out a hand. “Thank you for those, my boy, and for everything else.”

Erec froze, unsure what to do. He had no doubt that if he resisted, Baskania would overpower him and take both of them easily. But, then again, he couldn’t give Baskania the key to the Golem army! He was planning to lay siege to Otherness and Upper Earth. There had to be a way to stop this.

Spartacus had an idea. “What if you start to give those things to him, and I’ll grab them and fly out the window. I’ll hide them somewhere.”

That sounded like a great plan—and the only way to solve all of the problems at once. Relieved, Erec fished in his pockets and pulled the Master Shem from one of the horns. He held it out toward Baskania in his open palm.

Spartacus swept down and scooped it up. To the rest of the room it must have looked like the object came to life on its own, flying suddenly toward the window. . . .

And then it stopped, mid-flight. After hanging in the air for a second, the Master Shem was whisked out of Spartacus’s hands and straight into Baskania’s.

It took a moment for Spartacus to notice what had happened. He tried again to take it from the Shadow Prince, but this time only got it an inch away before it returned again.

“Very good, Erec.” Baskania nodded. “I remain more and more impressed with your mind, if not your magical skills. But don’t worry, your abilities will improve with time and my teaching, even though
they will never match mine.” He examined the object that he held intensely. “You were right to get this, Erec. This will be much better held by me directly, not by that stupid beast. I shall keep it with my other treasures.” He stuffed the item into his pocket.

If Baskania knew exactly what had happened in the Underworld, then he knew that Erec did not take the Master Shem just to give it to him. What kind of game was he playing here?

Baskania dusted his hands together. “As I was saying, I was privy to the happenings inside of Tarvos’s cave. And I am completely impressed, my boy. You went there on your own to obtain all that vast power. And you succeeded! I watched you use magic in that cave that I did not know you possessed.” He pursed his lips in thought. “You didn’t tell me, your master, that you were going to steal those things. In fact, you could well have ruined my plans for your own gain.

“But then there was more! I learned that you had been to the Memory Mogul, and found your old, lost memory again. How clever of you. And how handy for me. But what I truly admire is the way that you operated on your own. No regard for me.” Baskania pointed to himself. “Only for what was good for you.”

Regardless of the fact that Baskania sounded pleased, Erec was sure that he must be infuriated. He had caught Erec red-handed trying to ruin his plans. How could he be happy about that?

Baskania sat on the edge of his desk with a sigh. “It has been so long since I have found a follower with true bravery and spunk.” He gestured to Rosco. “My advisor here had that at some point, for sure, which is why I’ve ended up respecting and trusting him so.”

Rosco returned a smile to the Shadow Prince.

“But you are something else altogether. You do not cower before me. You are not afraid to further yourself at my expense. No worries—” Baskania held a hand up. “I am not at risk of you actually ruining any plan of mine. I am more than capable of keeping you under check.
In fact, this has been a delight.” He bounced the Master Shem in his palm.

Erec was amazed. It seemed that Baskania was serious—he was happy that Erec had broken into Tarvos’s cave and stolen the Master Shem. He truly was that impressed by it. . . .

Baskania looked at Erec with respect. “And see what you’ve given me. I now am holding the Master Shem, which gives me personal command over the massive army of Golems that Tarvos created. And I’ll be able to do wonders with his power source. And you—I now have someone to actually teach. No offense, Rosco—you still are close to my heart. But what spunk!”

Erec, oddly, was feeling slightly proud of himself. It wasn’t often that people patted him on the back for anything he had done. And it was true—he had been pretty brave. Erec was doing it to help others, though—Baskania was wrong about him just wanting power. But it felt nice to get complimented for once. Usually people just complained when he messed up. . . .

“Like I said, so many gifts at once. The scepter, your dragon eyes, Tarvos’s magic, and now your old memory.” He smiled. “Which gives me Bethany’s brother. Perfect!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Reliving Old Times

E
REC CLOSED HIS EYES
, completely losing what Baskania was saying—even though his words made Erec boil. Erec had given Bethany’s brother to Baskania? It was bad enough that he had handed him his dragon eyes, the Master Shem, and everything else.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. At least Baskania wasn’t blowing him into pieces. He had to ask questions. How would Baskania know what happened in that cave? The only other person there was Ward, and Spartacus made sure that he forgot
everything. “Was there a hidden camera in the cave?”

Baskania laughed so hard that he bent over. “You could say that.”

And then it all made sense to Erec. He had completely forgotten. Ward! Ward Gamin had given Baskania one of his eyes, so the Shadow Prince was able to see through his other eye at any time. In fact, that was the whole reason that Ward was left there—to keep watch on Tarvos for him. Maybe there was even an alert for Baskania, somehow, to look through Ward’s eye when he sensed that something was going on. That must have been it.

Spartacus figured it out at the same time. He stomped around the room shouting names at Baskania. He was so loud to Erec that he was terrified that everyone else would hear, even though they showed no signs of it.

It was bad enough that Erec had lost the Master Shem to Baskania. But there was more that he needed to know. “If you heard that Connor had my old memory, and I got it back from the Memory Mogul . . . then why is he here?”

Baskania patted Erec on the shoulder. “Because I like you, Erec. I really do. I never thought that I would say those words. But you have become a sheer pleasure now that I have gotten to know you. It helps that you finally came to your senses—even if it took a little help from the Furies—and decided to become my pupil. But that is not answering your question, now, is it?

“Yes, I learned that you found your old memory, and that Connor Flannigan here was its holder. He used it for years, had it removed, and now you have it. So, if I did not care for you so much, I would simply use your brain to explore your missing memory and find out what I need to know. But rather than strap you down and take days, or longer, fishing things out of your mind—” He gestured to Connor. “I’ll simply do it to him. He has all of the same memories inside of him still.”

Connor let out a gasp of protest.

Erec did not understand. Not that he wanted to have his brain probed through, but . . . “I thought once a memory was taken out, it was gone. I had a memory taken by the Nightmare King and now it doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Baskania tilted his head. “What was the memory? Can you tell me?”

The memory was nothing really important, nothing Baskania didn’t already know. “It was just someone else’s memory of a bad childhood that I was given once. But yeah, I could tell you about it in detail . . . if you want to hear it.”

Erec realized that he was talking to Baskania like he might a friend. It even felt a bit like Baskania was on his side, which he knew was completely wrong. This man was his worst enemy. He had tried to kill Erec many times in the past. But now that Erec knew him better, he didn’t seem quite so bad. It was almost confusing.

“It doesn’t matter what the memory was,” Baskania said. “What is important is that you could still repeat it all now. You still
remember
it. It’s a funny thing about memories. If your original memory was removed, it’s gone. That’s that. But if you get someone else’s memory, you think about it on your own, it becomes your memory as well as theirs. So when the other person’s memory is removed, your own memories of that memory stay . . . if that makes sense.”