The Search for Truth (16 page)

Suddenly, the world was all chaos and confusion. Black-and-white specks swirled, completely lacking color and form. It was the whirlwind of nothingness inside the Nevervarld—the realm of no magic beyond the borders of the Substance. Nothing could live here except for dragons, and they could only live a short time.

All he could think about or remember were the rushes of flecks whirling in and around him. There had been flowers here, hadn't there? Did he need to get them for something? He couldn't
remember. Confusion took over as he tried to adjust to the prickly static stabbing his skin.

Then he became aware of another presence in the Nevervarld. It was the manticore. Erec could sense it, the only other living thing he could detect. It looked blindingly bright in the strange mixed static.

It was good the manticore was here. Erec remembered that now. He was glad that it had fallen in here after him. Now Bethany would be safe. Other details seemed more distant, other people that might have been involved. They were in another universe, somewhere, that Erec had once known.

He could hear the manticore's thoughts as it died.
What's happening? Where is my prey?
The body of the beast glimmered like a fading rainbow in the swirl of specks, then it began to turn gray. It could not live more than a few moments in here, Erec knew. He was sad now. A living thing was dying. Why was that happening again?

Strange forms were taking shape nearby. The sparks were hurting more as they crackled on his arms and face. Each one left him more tired and confused.

Then a familiar voice sounded. Was it around him or just in his head?
Thank you,
it said.
Yummm.

He was glad that someone was happy. He had a vague feeling he was finished now. All he had to do was rest. The black-and-white sparkles were in him and around him. They made him so tired.

The voice said,
You are not dead. I see why. You are the human with the dragon parts—and you are more dragon now than before. But you will still die here before long. Leave now or rest with us forever.

Erec was confused which was the right answer. He had no idea what to do.

But then he saw it, gleaming like a beacon in the swirling gray. A hand. It was alive, like he was. Bethany.

With every ounce of energy he had, he willed himself toward
the hand. Soon he grasped it, and it pulled him through a hole into a painfully bright place.

Kyron and Bethany were standing over him. Then he had to close his eyes. Their faces, as well as the twinkling stars, glowed so bright he felt blinded. Loud noises pummeled him, even though he was vaguely aware that they were distant jungle sounds.

Then, blaringly loud, he heard Kyron whisper, “Well, well. Look at you. I'll never kill another dragon again.”

After drifting in the lifeless void of the Nevervarld, even the touch of the ground under him was too much to bear. His mind could not handle the overload, so he did the only thing he could and fell asleep.

 

Erec awoke on a couch in Artie's house. The table was covered with foods that everyone had conjured from the Serving Tray, but they had all waited for him to wake before they ate. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, still aching all over.

“Look.” Bethany rushed over, picking up Erec's amulet. “Another one is glowing now. You did it!”

A third segment of the Amulet of Virtues now shone a glittering cream color. Erec peered at the black symbol on it. He wished Aoquesth was here to tell him what it meant.

Then he had a thought. For a moment he concentrated, looking mainly at Bethany. When his dragon eyes were out, he could read the symbol easily. “Caring.” Well, he thought, there was no arguing that he had cared.

Kyron's face beamed with joy. “How can we ever repay you? Other than never hunting dragons again. After seeing the way you looked coming out of that hole from the Nevervarld, I'll never look at them the same,” he said. Erec had no idea that he had transformed in there. “We're free now.” Kyron grinned. “Dad and I can go anywhere.”

Bethany pulled Erec to the table and piled some food in front of him, then popped a chocolate into her mouth. “Where do you think you'll go?”

“I don't know.” Kyron laughed. “Maybe we'll just stay here. But at least we have the choice.” He sat down. “I guess I should thank you for fixing things for Upper Earth, too. I mean, easy to say now that we're okay and all.” He looked embarrassed. “But remember, if you ever need us, we'll be there for you. One hundred percent.”

T
HE NEXT MORNING
Erec and Bethany found the Hermit. He led them through the mountains, past the streams and waterfalls, palm trees and bamboo thickets, then by the beautiful many-limbed people on their terraced rice paddies. The Hermit had put the Port-O-Door into a huge, umbrella-shaped cassia tree.

Walking from the tropics of southern Otherness into the Castle Alypium made Erec catch his breath. It seemed strange to cross such
a huge space in a few steps. The west wing was cool and quiet, full of luxurious pillows and intricate tapestries. “We better lie low,” Erec said. “Jack and Oscar can't know we're back.”

Bethany nodded. The Hermit walked with them to the west wing dining hall. When Jam saw them, he dropped the tray of food he was carrying on a table and rushed over. “Is young sir okay?” He bowed, dusting Erec off.

“Yeah. Good to be back, though. Hey, thanks for the Serving Tray.”

He reached into his backpack to get it, but Jam held up a hand. “Not at all. Please keep it, young sir. You may need it again.”

Erec put it back, thanking Jam. “It's like a traveling restaurant.”

But Jam looked worried. “Are you sure you are safe here, young sir? Might Baskania pop in again for another surprise visit?”

“I don't know,” Erec said. “I don't think he will, though. Probably the only reason he came into the castle before is that he knew, through Oscar, that I was here and King Piter was gone.”

Bethany added, “Baskania probably thinks we're off in Otherness somewhere, doing a quest. He wouldn't know to look for us here now, unless Oscar saw us. So we have to make sure he doesn't.”

“Is King Piter around?” Erec asked. He could not wait to tell him that he had fixed the problem with the Substance.

“I think he's in his throne room,” Jam said.

Indeed, King Piter sat atop his huge throne at the far end of the immense room. His scepter lay in the groove that was made for it in the arm of the chair. Erec found it hard to keep from staring at the scepter as he came close.

Balthazar Ugry was kneeling before the king, speaking to him. Erec heard him say, “I hope you give this your full consideration, your highness. It is of the utmost importance that we contain him. Now.” He glared at Erec, giving him an icy chill. Then he drifted away, leaving the king with a troubled look.

Erec unlocked his gaze from the king's scepter and said, “We have great news. For the third quest, we had to find and set free the bee-hind in Otherness. It was locking up all the Substance there. So maybe the Substance problem is fixed now.”

He waited for the king to jump up and celebrate. But the king just tilted his head. “I am aware. It was a great deed you did. And it will make the Substance more stable on Upper Earth, give them another ten years at least.”

Only ten years? Erec could not believe it. “You mean it's not permanently fixed?”

“I'm afraid not.” King Piter smiled sadly. “Don't be mistaken. What you did, freeing the hind, was extremely helpful. It gives us so much more time to solve the problem. If I can just figure out what the problem is. But we were in grave danger before. Thank you, Erec.”

“Wait,” Erec said. “If you knew about the bee-hind, why didn't you go free it?”

The king's hand touched his scepter, then pulled away. Erec found he was acutely aware of every movement the king made around it. “I didn't know about it until now, or I would have. Or at least I would have tried. I'm not sure I could have done as good a job as you did.”

Erec noticed the king sounded resigned or defeated. He wondered why.

“Hermit,” the king said, pursing his lips, “can I have a word?”

“Of course.” The Hermit tilted his head. “You can have as many words as you like.”

Erec appreciated that the Hermit was not afraid of the king at all. He never felt a need to treat him differently because of his station.

The king beckoned him closer. “In private, I mean.”

“No need for that,” the Hermit lilted. “We're all family here, right?”

Everybody eyed each other. Erec did not feel like family with anyone other than Bethany, and even she was not exactly the same
as family. The king finally gave in. “All right, then. Balthazar warned me that there may be a problem soon with the castle. And he said Erec—” The king turned his attention to Erec.

“No problems,” the Hermit said. “Erec will take care of it. He's already working on fixing it, aren't you, Erec?”

“I am,” he agreed. “I've had visions about it with my dragon eyes. I'm going to figure out how to keep it from happening.” He thought a moment. “But if you want to help me, you can.”

The king laughed with relief. “No, you go ahead. It sounds like this is something entirely different than what I was worried about. Besides, you don't want me to take care of it. If I listened to Balthazar and took you away somewhere…” He shook his head. “If the Hermit says you will take care of it somehow, then I'll believe him.” He looked relieved. “I didn't know you were aware of the problem.”

The Hermit looked pleased. He spun around on one foot, then stopped like an oddly posed statue. “I remember what happened. Like it was yesterday.” Then he winked at Erec. On the way out the door he whispered in Erec's ear, “I was the only one here who believed you.”

Erec could only shake his head. What was the Hermit talking about now?

 

Wolfboy was so excited to see his master, he kept knocking Erec down faster than he could stand. Erec pulled his hooded sweatshirt far over his head, and he and Bethany walked their pets into the agora. They avoided Paisley Park, just in case Jack or Oscar were around. Oscar had said in his letter that he would stay in hiding, but it seemed best to play it safe. Anyway, they just wanted to get nectar fizz sodas and look at the magic shops.

Music pulsed up the street with the deep thump of bass drums. In the distance, the Alypium marching band approached. Seeing it
made Erec shiver. It reminded him of the last time he had heard this marching band, when it had accompanied the Alypium army as it set out to fight against him and the Hydras and Valkyries in Otherness. And the time before that, when it had paraded through Alypium, riling everyone up to fight.

This experience was not much better. A magic carpet hovered in the air somewhere between the trombones and the cowbells. Around the carpet marchers held signs saying
LONG LIVE KING BALOR; BALOR, DAMON, AND DOLLICK FOREVER; DAMON'S OUR SHAMAN; LET'S FROLIC WITH DOLLICK;
and
BALOR HAS VALOR.
The crowds chanted, “King Stain, King Stain,” again and again.

Sitting astride the carpet, waving regally at their fans with smug looks on their faces, were Balor, Damon, and Dollick Stain. Balor had some reddish scars on his face, and his arm was in a sling. As they rode closer, Erec saw that Balor kept lifting his sling, as if he were showing it off to the crowd.

“‘Damon's our shaman'?” Erec looked at Bethany with disgust. “Do they know what they're saying?”

“Maybe compared to the brainiac who came up with those slogans, Damon might be a shaman.”

“Doubtful.” Erec pulled his hood farther over his face, then he pointed at the Stain brothers. “Look! Around their necks!” Amulets, just like his, sparkled on chains on each of the Stain boys' chests. Erec looked down at his own, then back at theirs. From where he stood they looked identical, except the Stains' were shinier.

He could not believe it. “Excuse me.” He tapped the arm of a short-haired blond woman who was waving and clapping as the parade passed. “Could you tell me what's going on?”

The woman looked surprised. “You don't know? It's been publicized everywhere. All of the problems about who will be the next king have been solved.” She was excited. “The Stain triplets won
four quests already, so that Erec Rex kid just dropped out. He knew he couldn't compete. Now we only have to wait for them to finish the quests, and we'll get new kings! They say it won't take long.”

Erec's jaw dropped. “Erec Rex dropped out of the race, did he?”

The woman bounced on her toes. “High time, too. He was really messing things up. For a while people worried the Fates might be getting old and confused.”

Old and confused? Amazing. This woman had obviously never spoken to the young, bubbly-sounding and amazingly intuitive Fates. He clenched his jaw. “Didn't you all hear after that battle in Otherness that Erec Rex was on your side…our side? I thought he showed everyone the Archives of Alithea and—”

“The archives of what?” The woman looked confused. “I have no clue what you're talking about. I did hear there was a problem with Erec Rex at the Monster Bash in Otherness in the fall. He got on the side of the monsters or something.”

Erec nearly choked. How could the people in Alypium not know what had happened in Otherness? The solders in the Alypium army knew. Why hadn't they told everyone that Erec was one of the good guys? Then he thought a moment. The army was under control of President Inkle. President Inkle was under Baskania's power.

“How does everyone know Erec Rex quit?” he asked. “And that Balor is winning?”

She shrugged. “It's all over the news. President Inkle announced it first. And King Pluto had a ceremony in Cliff Arena the other night. As soon as Balor recovered from his quest.”

“Recovered?” Erec said, interested. “He was actually injured? What happened?”

The woman ran a hand through her short blond hair. “You don't know anything, do you? His last quest, number four, was to sneak into the cave of a real dragon in Nemea and spend the night with it!
He did it, but he got real beat up. He was in Alypium Hospital for a while.”

Erec smirked. So, Baskania and Balor had fallen for his trick. Balor had spent the night with a dragon after the Hermit sent Erec's snail mail to Oscar from Nemea, in front of a dragon cave. And now they were pretending it was a real quest.

“And those amulets they have?” Erec wrapped his jacket around him, making sure his own was hidden.

“Yeah.” The woman nodded. “They each have an Amulet of Virtues. Pretty cool. Soon they'll get the scepters, too.”

“You know,” Erec said, crossing his arms, “the Stain triplets are Baskania's clones. They're faking their way through these quests.” Bethany shot him a warning look, but he ignored her. “You know what would happen if those three got the scepters? They would give them to Baskania.” For a moment he thought he saw a little steam escape with his breath, even though it was warm out. He hoped his dragon side wasn't going to make an appearance.

“And…?” The woman looked at him expectantly, like she saw nothing wrong with what he'd said.

Erec was about to continue when Bethany pulled him away. “What are you thinking? Do you want a mob after you again here?”

“No.”

She was right. Arguing with one stranger here wouldn't change anything. They went to Cloud Nine, their favorite cloud-cream shop, and got extra large nectar fizz sodas.

 

Erec had mixed feelings about figuring out how to save the Castle Alypium from Balor's explosion. On one hand, he was proud that King Piter and the Hermit had put their confidence in him. But on the other, it worried him. What if he didn't figure it out? Would the king step in at the end and help him?

The king had made that strange comment about sending him away somewhere. Had Ugry really suggested that? What was that about? It must have been a mistake somehow.

Erec racked his brain to remember what Ugry had been whispering to King Piter when they'd walked into the throne room. Then he remembered. He said, “It is of the utmost importance that we contain him.” Contain who? Balor Stain? Surely he couldn't have been talking about Erec.

Well, Erec didn't want to let everyone down, so he decided to explore more in the future with his dragon eyes. He had to get to the bottom of this.

On his bed, in his quiet room in the west wing, Erec closed his eyes. He pictured himself walking into the small room, and then the two smaller, darker rooms within it. It was a peaceful feeling, and even though he wasn't sitting in the sun by a brook, he relaxed. The box on the table thrummed with warmth and energy. It held all of his secrets, if he could only unlock it. He readied himself for the onslaught of emotion and drew open the shades on the two windows.

There he was again, in the middle of the chaos. He was not even sure if all the fear that surged through him was his own or a collection of the panic that surrounded him. Again, he felt the same feeling of wild power. He moved his eyes around to change the view from his two windows, and walked through the room, directing his movement around the castle.

Balor Stain stood just where he had before, smirking and holding his bronze whistle. What had he done with it? If there were only a way to step back in time from here and find out.

He walked farther and saw the huge stone statues crumbling in front of the castle again, moving as if of their own accord. Everything appeared as it had before. Erec thought hard. There had to be a way to find out more. He turned back to the castle. Maybe he could go
inside. The castle entrance had caved in but he was only there in spirit and could not be harmed.

He walked to the castle, closed his eyes, and continued straight, then looked around to see that he had, indeed, walked into what was left of the falling palace. Huge spires and walls crashed around him through the caved-in ceiling. Erec was surprised to see glowing sheets of bronze light whipping this way and that. As one of them drew close, he saw it had eyes that burned like red coals. The darting bronze figures whooped and hollered with glee as they helped with the destruction, spinning chunks of foundation and flooring through the air.

Bronze ghosts. The last time Erec had seen them was in the Under Mine, the last thing that Balor Stain had exploded. He at least was relieved that only broken glass and chunks of concrete, and no people, were visible through the dust clouds.