Chapter Thirteen
Bakar and Cynthia took a hesitant step backwards. “What do you mean? Someone put a potion on the wine? Who did it?” The King cried.
We laughed again. “We shall find him.” Abbadon turned towards the doors.
“Lance, wait! What do you mean you aren’t steering? What is going on?” Cynthia asked.
“I am Abbadon! Lance is with me, and I am with Lance. I guess you could say that we are Lance, and we are Abbadon.” We said.
“I have no more time for talking, every second we waste, the culprit has more time to escape. You wish to see the great Abba…No. You wish to see us in action? Then, by all means follow, if you can keep up!” We roared, and launched out the door.
There was a mad scrambling as everyone behind us tried to catch up. We heard Cynthia and Bakar not too far behind, both carrying the King. We grinned, and sped up.
Our first stop was the kitchens. We burst through the doors, and laughed at the horrified faces of the staff.
“Has anyone recently left this kitchen?” we asked, calmly.
“Who…Who are you?” A chef asked.
“We are Abbadon! The first, the last, and the final!” At this, Abbadon took over my hands, and weaved them into a spell.
Dark strands of matter wove up around us, making a pitch black cloak, complete with low a low hanging hood. Now, we were completely unrecognizable from how I had looked a few minutes before. “Now, has anyone left the kitchen recently?” Abbadon roared.
“Yes…one girl, but she meant…” One chef started.
“Where is she now?” We roared.
“Room 262” Came the squeak.
And just like that, we were gone, bounding through the halls, towards room 262. We reached it, and slammed the door in. There, Melissa sat, holding a petri dish, and muttering under her breath.
With a flash, a dark matter strand wrapped around her petri dish, and it shattered. Melissa screamed a horrible cry, and looked up at us. Slowly, her face shriveled, and she grew shorter. She turned into a small hag. “How dare you mortal, challenge the everlasting Esmeralda!” She screeched.
“Silence fool, You know not who you talk to. I am Abbadon, I am Lance, I am your fate.” We said.
The little lady cackled, and muttered some words. Spiders dropped around us, and started biting our ankles. We laughed.
A vortex of dark matter surrounded our feed, and killed the spiders.
“A dark witch, eh. Still, you stand not against us.” Abbadon said.
“If she tries attacking again, you may kill her.” I said mentally.
A grin creased Abbadon’s face. “So be it witch. Will you come quietly, or will you die?” We asked.
“You die!” The witch crowed, and flung a lightning bolt at us.
At this time, Bakar and Cynthia came running into the room, and stopped dead at the sight of the old witch. We and the witch ignored them.
We raised both our hands, and started summoning a dark spell. Strands of dark matter flew up into our hands, and curled around each other making a ball. At the same time, balls of golden light flew from the witch, and went into the ball.
Every time some golden light left the witch, she hunched more, and grew more shriveled. We shuddered, feeling the potency of the spell. Mentally, we both vowed to never use the spell again unless the need was great.
Suddenly, the golden light stopped flowing from the witch. She staggered forward, a curse on her lips. But it never left them. We threw the black ball, and it hit her in the chest. The dark matter wrapped around her like a cocoon, and suddenly shrank back to the size of a ball. Golden light started blasting from the openings, and suddenly, in a blast of light, it exploded, leaving no trace of the spell.
“I must retreat now, that spell has taken much out of me. We shall begin a training schedule for ourselves to be able to handle more output.” Abbadon said, and faded back into my head. Surprisingly, the hooded cape stayed on my shoulders. I turned around to face Bakar, Cynthia, and the King.
Their mouths were hanging slack as they stared at me. “Hey, I’m back.” I said.
They snapped out of it, and Cynthia rushed up to me and hugged me. The king raised his eyebrows. “I’m not sure if I should make you each kings, in my place, or have you arrested for being dark magic practicers.” He said, with a small laugh.
I chuckled. “Why don’t we just stick with being dukes?” I asked.
The king grinned as well, and nodded. “Hey, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go to sleep.” I said.
“Bakar, could you warp me?” I asked.
He nodded, and I was sitting in my bed. I sighed, laid down, and went to sleep.
“Hey, Lance wake up!”
“Leave me alone!” I grumbled.
Somebody poked me a few times. “Get up, the king is waiting!” Bakar said.
I sighed, and slowly opened my eyes. Bakar was standing at the foot of my bed, poking me. “Fine, I’ll get up. Get out.”
Bakar grinned, and walked out of my room. I rolled out of bed, and pulled off the clothes I still had on from yesterday. I grabbed a green shirt, and matching pants from a shelf near the bed, hoping they were for me. I walked halfway to the door, before I paused, and returned to my room. I grabbed the black cloak, pulled it on, and went to the kings chambers.
As I headed there, Abbadon spoke up. “Hey, we must decide on a training schedule soon. I was thinking every day at four?” He said.
“That wont work well with school, I have school then.” I said.
“You have school at four A.M.?” Abbadon asked, surprised.
“Of course not…” I trailed off.
“You want to train at FOUR A.M.?” I nearly screamed.
“Of course, it’s great practice to control your body!”
“Fine, but not today.” I said, as I reached the kings chamber.
I knocked on the tall wooden doors loudly. Immediately, a well-dressed man opened the doors. “Lance?” He asked.
I nodded. He stepped aside, and I strode into the kings room. The King was sitting at the same table as before. I sat down on his right. As I sat down, Bakar and Cynthia came through the doors, and took their places next to us.
The king gestured to the man at the door, and he hurried out. He returned with several servants buried under dishes of French toast, some type of pancake, bacon, and much more. They laid the plates down, and immediately scurried out of the door.
The king turned to me. “Now, as you might have guessed, I have not called you here just to eat. I wish an explanation for what happened yesterday.” The king said.
I grimaced, knowing that the king would wish to know what happened, and eventually, try to control it for himself. “I received a gift from God.” I said.
I was satisfied with my answer because I was not lying, and the king could ask no more if he was to follow the correct etiquette. The king frowned, but nodded. “The boy who was foolish yet brave enough to throw a metal roasting spit, and hit your poisoned glass with it.”
“I have had him say nothing about what happened, or how he knew the glass was poisoned to anyone, so you would hear the original truth. The king pulled a rope hanging at his end of the table, and the boy from last night was pushed through the doors. The king gestured to him, and nodded. “Well… I was turning the spit, to make some seasoned chicken, when I watched chef Jonasson walk in with a plat of wine glasses. I remember looking at them, just wishing that I could one day taste such a amazing thing…Oh, I’m getting off topic aren’t I? Where was I? That’s right; I was watching the wine glasses, when I saw Melissa come in.”
“She looked over the cups briefly, and took a packed from her sleeve. She muttered a few words, and dropped the packets contents in the cup. I immediately knew it was poison, since we don’t have any white spices of any kind, and even if we did, who puts spice in tea? I opened my mouth to warn the cook, but he grabbed the plate, and swept out of
the room. I pulled the turkey from the spit, and ran into the room behind the chef. You know the rest.” The boy said.
I hid a grin. The boy spoke with a lot of enthusiasm, and he practically radiated happiness.
“Kid, what’s your name?” I asked.
“My name’s Jack.”
“How old are you?” I asked.
“I’m eighteen, but I look young for my age.” Jack said sheepishly
I looked to the king. “Well, it looks more like Jack should be rewarded, not punished. Maybe a promotion...” I trailed off.
The king paused for a moment, and suddenly, a grin split his face. He looked at Jack. “Your reward for quick thinking and possibly saving our soon to be Duke is… a promotion to head cook! You shall work for Lance, Cynthia, and Bakar in their lands! I hear you are quite talented at cooking, am I right?”
Jacks eyes bulged out of his sockets, and he barely managed to nod. The king grinned. “Excellent. You may do whatever you want today, and leave with Lance and his friends tomorrow when they visit their lands.”
Jack hopped out of his chair, and ran out of the room, grinning the whole way. The king turned to us. “Oh my, I never said we could eat, did I? Well, if you were waiting, dig in!”
I snatched a few pieces of French toast, and some egg, and eagerly began eating. When we had all finished our food, the king dismissed us, and told us to enjoy ourselves. I headed back to my quarters.
When I got there, Jack was waiting in front of my door. “Jack, why are you here?” I asked.
“Well, I was thinking I could get to know you more, and take you on a tour around the city!” He said.
I shrugged. “Why not?”
Jack led me out of the castle, and began following a large cobblestone road that was practically coated with people. As we walked, he pointed out shops, and almost everything with a name. “That’s Joe’s Bakery. He has the best baked goods in town. Or so I have heard- He only sells to nobles, since nobles are the only ones with enough money to pay half a silver for a pastry.” He looked longingly at the bakery.
I laughed, and walked into it. The place smelled like cinnamon and raisins. I walked to the counter. A buff man was sitting in a stool, kneading some dough. I coughed politely.
He looked up. “Get out; I don’t give free samples to those who can’t afford my food. And you don’t look like a noble.” He said.
I sighed, and rattled the sack with coins that was hanging off of my belt. He looked back up, grinning. “So, what would you like?”
I glanced at the rows of pastries lining the shelves. “Which do you recommend?”
He thought for a moment. “Why don’t you try my special flaky raisin puff pastry of amazing deliciousness?”
I nearly fell over laughing. It took all my willpower to nod, and turn around. I raised my fist to my mouth, and tried to stifle my laughs. The large man nodded sagely, and walked to one of his counters. He pulled out a pastry, and put it in a bag. He walked back to me. “That will be two silvers.”
I handed him two silvers, took the bag, and returned to Jack. He looked at me with wide eyes. “F..for me?”
I nodded. He eagerly took the bag and opened it. He took the pastry, and raised it to his mouth. Just before he took a bite, he paused. He broke the pastry in half, and gave me a half. I smiled, and took it. With wide grins on both of our faces, we finished the pastries, and returned to the castle. We parted ways, and I promptly went to bed and fell asleep.
My eyes snapped open. “Finally, You’re awake! We have training to do!” Abbadon said.
I sighed, and rolled out of bed. I pulled on my shirt and pants. I headed out to the soldiers training area. “Now, Here is what you must do…”
Abbadon certainly had a strange idea of the word training. A normal person, or as normal as I could get, would consider training at its hardest to be doing constant pushups, pull ups, spell exercises until you can’t move anymore.
Abbadon’s idea was to create a immense concentrated ball of black magic and slowly pour more magic into it, until I could put in no more. Then, He would break my block stopping the spell leeching the life from my body, and use his own magic to keep me alive while I poured every ounce of magic into the ball.
We held the position for over an hour and a half. “All right, That’s enough for today. Fire the ball into the sky, and have it explode a quarter mile in the air.” He said.
“A quarter mile? Isn’t that rather high?” I asked.
“No, now do it.”
I sighed, and launched the ball into the air. When it reached a quarter mile high, I canceled the spell holding it together, and watching through a spell Abbadon had apparently set up earlier, I watched as the ball of black magic began to expand. Suddenly, it launched out and flattened, turning into a huge black disk the size of the castle. Just as quickly as it had expanded, It shrunk into a puny black dot. The dot began to spin. It slowly expanded until it was about the size of an obese human. It deepened in color, and I could feel a powerful gravitational force coming from it.
“A black hole, Abbadon? We made a black hole?” I asked, marveling at it. Abbadon grunted in appreciation. I felt him withdraw from the outer edges of my mind. I watched as the black hole slowly shimmered, and faded into the light of the sun, which was now rising over the walls of the castle. I headed back in, towards the kings chambers.
The others were already there, waiting for me. “Sorry guys, am I late?” I asked.
Bakar sighed. “What do you think? But don’t worry, we’re getting used to it.”
“Sorry Bakar, I was training…”
“No time for this now, my soon to be Dukes and Duchess. There is a ceremony, and we must not be late!” The king cried, and herded us out the door.