The Quill and the Quest Page 2

  “Aye, my lady,” I said, watching as she cast one more loathsome glance at the king and then stormed off.

  When I turned back to him, his veneer of ease and good humor was gone. He stared after Sarah with an expression that looked uncomfortably like longing. I cleared my throat and eventually he settled his gaze back on me.

  “It seems now we are both rivals for her heart and for her counsel.”

  I stared at him, twin feelings of pride and jealousy warring in my gut. Pride that I should be considered in competition with a king. And jealousy that there was a competition at all.

  He eased into a smile again. “Come now, I’m not blind. And I’m not stupid. I know that she has feelings for you. It’s my opinion that she will change those feelings, given enough time.”

  “Is that why you’ve locked her up in the castle?” I asked, against my better judgment. It was one thing for Sarah to argue with the king, but a lowly groundskeeper like me would have to be mad to. And yet, I continued, “So you can keep her away from me?”

  The king laughed. “I merely wanted to keep her safe after the invasion. But soon she will be free to go wherever she pleases. My scouts report that there is no immediate threat.”

  Something like relief washed over me. Sarah had just said the other day that she wanted to return to my home. Surely once she was given the king’s leave to go where she may, she would do just that.

  “And that brings me to the reason I sought you out,” the king said, interrupting my thoughts.

  “You were looking for me?” I asked.

  King Ash nodded. “I was. I was hoping you could tell me where you were the night of the invasion.”

  2

  My blood ran cold at his words and, even more so, at the knowing look in his eyes. Could he think I was working with our enemies?

  “I was intercepting invaders from the west, Your—” he cut me off with that irritating wave of his. “As you know, the bulk of the Hennell forces invaded from the south, along the main road. But there was also a smaller troupe of soldiers in the west. They wore what looked like Berrodda armor, but I couldn’t be sure in the dark.”

  He gave me an assessing look. “And you fought them off all by yourself?”

  “Aye.” I was proud of the fact that I’d dispatched the small troupe of men single-handedly. Er, well, the horn had helped as well, I supposed. But I was cautious about where the king was going with his line of questioning. Did he know about me? Had he guessed? Surely, he didn’t think me a traitor….

  “I see,” the king said, looking unimpressed. “Your mother must have been very worried about you.”

  “My mother?” I asked, scowling at him outright. His question was so far from what I’d expected, I didn’t know how to react. “What does she have to do with anything?”

  The king ran his hand over the perfectly level top of the shrubbery. “Sarah told me your mother had one of the Ancient Kingdoms books. The one in which a man came through the gate and transformed into a bear.”

  “Aye,” I told him, still wondering what this had to do with the invasion. “My ma read it to me as a child. But I forgot about it until we were looking for clues about the gate in your royal library.”

  “What’s strange about that, is the fact that there was only one copy of the Ancient Kingdoms books ever made.”

  “I had no idea,” I said, my mind racing. Did he believe she was a traitor? And…what? Stole the book? What would that have accomplished?

  “Is your mother a beautiful woman?” the king asked, as he fingered the petals of a light pink rose.

  “Excuse me?” My blood rushed in my veins and I had to stop my hands from balling into fists.

  The king turned his full attention to me and slowed his words. “Is. Your. Mother. Beautiful?”

  If any other man in all the kingdoms had asked me something like that, slow and drawn out as though I were an idiot, I would have punched him and thrown him over the bushes to get caught in the thorns. But since the king, my king, was asking, I had no choice. “My ma is a lovely woman. She’s kind and caring and she works hard as any man I know. But I don’t think most men would call her beautiful.”

  The king squinted at me. “Does she have many gentleman friends?”

  “What are you getting at?” I nearly yelled, caution forgotten in my fury. “My ma’s as loyal a woman as you’re ever like to meet. You can question my character all you want, but don’t ever—”

  The king held up a single finger and the subtly of the gesture, more than anything, reminded me who I was talking to.

  “For your mother to have gotten a one of a kind book directly from the royal library, she must have known someone with access. I’m simply wondering if she could have had some sort of…relationship with my father.”

  I stared at the king, outrage and surprise warring in my chest. When I tried to picture it, my ma with the old king, I almost had to stifle a laugh. But instead, I seethed with anger.

  King Ash rolled his eyes at my expression. “Regardless of what you believe, I am not trying to insult you. It’s just that when two people in one kingdom share the same…gift let’s call it, and the only information we have about it claims it to be hereditary, well then, certain questions are raised.”

  What was he on about? Did he really believe that his father had been seduced by—

  My mother. Suddenly a hint of understanding glowed bright in my brain.

  The king cocked his head, having noticed the change, and waited for me to go on. I wondered if a maddening sort of patience was something you learned as a royal.

  “You asked me about my mother, and I jumped to conclusions,” I said, consciously softening my voice and trying to regain a respectful demeanor. “I told you about the woman who raised me. But I can’t tell you much about the woman who birthed me.”

  “You were adopted?” the king asked carefully.

  “Aye,” I said, dropping my head and staring at the ground. The sting of sadness hadn’t gone away after all these years. I was only five when my ma and da told me I wasn’t theirs. Not originally. I loved them each more than I could imagine loving any other parents—and I knew they loved me at least twice as much. But still. There was that ache when I thought about her…. “I was only a babe when my birth mother died. Or that’s what I was told. I have no real memories of her. I can’t picture her or remember what she smells like. Only…a faint memory of what it felt like to be in her presence.”

  “And your father?”

  I shook my head. My mother was a vague feeling. But my father, he was nothing more than an empty canvas. One I rarely bothered to imagine. “I was told he died before I was born.”

  The king seemed to consider for a moment. “Make it your mission to find out everything you can about your birth parents.”

  I met his eyes, startled. “Why, Your Majesty?”

  He stared at me as though he believed I couldn’t really be that stupid. “We need information about the gate and we also need information about our surrounding kingdoms, which are friends and which are foes. And we especially need to know which other leaders, if any, possess the same transformative gift that I and Queen Maeri of the Hennells have. By sending you on a quest for information about your birth parents, I hope to kill two birds with one horn.”

  Royalty sure had a way of speaking politely while cutting you to the core. He knew. King Ash knew about me and my secret and he was telling me he knew in the most roundabout way he possibly could. And yet, how many times had I wondered about my heritage? I’d tried asking my ma and da, but they never had much to tell me. I didn’t know if my ability truly was hereditary or not, but King Ash was right, the storybook was all we had to go on so far, and it drew a connection between the gate and the first king to shift into a beast. It made sense to follow that lead. And having the king’s order to do so ought to help me gather information.

  “All right,” I said. “I’ll make it my mission to learn everything I can about them, and the
gate.”

  After the last of the villagers were gone and the servants had cleaned up after them, I did my final rounds of the royal gardens to make sure they were still healthy and vibrant. When I got to the marble fountain, I noticed something just up the path a bit, near where Sarah had come through the gates. I walked up to it, my heart pounding, even though it looked innocent enough. I reached down and picked up a small, white piece of paper that was folded several times and damp with dew. I was about to open it out of curiosity, when I noticed one side had Sarah’s name printed across it. Someone had written her a note? I was wildly curious, but I tucked the paper into my pocket, reminding myself that it was rude to open someone else’s letter. At least it would give me an excuse to call on Sarah at the castle.

  With that to look forward to, I finished up my survey of the gardens and then headed west, toward the section of woods where I liked to roam. The woods behind my house were on the eastern side of the kingdom, and a bit too close to my family and the gardens I worked in. But the woods to the west were emptier and more relaxing. And it was visiting this favored spot that had led me to discover, and disarm, the invaders from the west the night of the attack.

  When I reached the trees I exhaled slowly, then inhaled the cooler, earthier smells of the forest. I spent my days taming nature, manicuring it into neat, pleasing shapes. And I got immense satisfaction from that, truly. But there was something about being in the forest, where the plants and animals were allowed to grow freely and make their own rules, that sparked something raw and wild inside of me.

  I followed the path of trodden grass, where I’d made my own trail of sorts to a small, babbling brook next to a tree with a hole in its center. I knelt down in the leaves and the dirt and scooped water out of the brook and into my mouth. It tasted even fresher than the well behind my house. When I’d drunk my fill, replacing the taste of fancy sweets and crafted ale from the festival with the minerals of the earth, I stood and undressed. As I removed each piece of clothing, I folded it and then laid it in the hole of the tree, where it would remain dry and unseen. I’d been disrobing in the forest for the better part of two years, since around the time of my twentieth birthday, but it still felt exciting to be naked and vulnerable in the wild.

  I’d picked that spot because of the stream and the convenient place to store my clothing. But also because of the soft moss that lead away from it, deeper into the forest. It felt cool and springy on my warm feet as I started to walk, and then run, through the trees. I no longer had to think about the shift. I was simply Oren one moment, and unicorn the next. My feet gave way to hooves, my hair grew long into a flowing mane, and my arms became two, more powerful legs. I could run faster as the unicorn. I could also smell more sharply, stamp more powerfully, and hear more acutely. It was a complete energy rush.

  The rest of me was still there, still a burning ball of human energy deep in my gut. But it was no longer at the forefront. When I was the unicorn, I was more connected to the life around me, while less obsessed with whatever was going on in my head at the moment. Which, on days like today, made shifting into the unicorn an utter relief.

  I ran through the forest, bathing in its beauty, until I reached a small break in the trees where the grass grew thick and lush and the sun shone down on a small field of wildflowers. I stood, soaking in its warmth before lying down. Then I rolled onto my back and wriggled in the grass. It felt good, like finally scratching an itch I’d been trying to reach.

  Someday I would take Sarah here. I’d watch her lean back in the grass and see the sunlight glint off her hair, her soft, pink lips easing into a smile. We’d spent plenty of time outside together, whether it was tending the royal gardens or eating lunch in the fields, and all of it was great. But this place was special. It was more…me.

  And I thought also, in a way, it was her as well. I couldn’t keep my thoughts from returning to that blasted proposal. She’d seemed genuinely shocked by it—a bit horrified, even. So I knew I probably shouldn’t worry. But then again, a king could offer many things a gardener could not. Riches, for one. Though she didn’t seem the type to treasure baubles or fancy trinkets. A king could also offer lands, titles—various degrees of power. But did Sarah wish for power? I did not think so.

  What, then, could he offer that I could not?

  I remembered their argument from before. Not the words as much as the flush of her skin, the excitement in her voice. And what of our time in the library? She’d near swooned when she stepped into the room and saw all those books. A king had knowledge, refinement, a whole different set of intelligence. What if she became bored with me?

  I could see the way she looked at me, the way her gaze flickered from my eyes to my lips to the open collar of my shirt, where, perhaps on purpose, I’d been buttoning fewer buttons since she’d come along. Was her attraction to me enough to win her over? And if it was, if I managed woo her, would she someday come to regret it?

  When my muscles sagged, and my teeth yellowed, would she regret her decision? Would she sit in silence with me, longing for greater mental stimulation?

  Longing for the king?

  I rubbed a hand over my face and looked up at the perfectly blue sky. What was I worrying about? Sarah had said, quite clearly, that she did not wish to marry the king. I needed to relax. I’d never been this worked up about a woman before. It was natural that I—

  I brought my hand up to my face again, turning it over to examine both sides. It was calloused and tan. Human.

  Bolting up into a sitting position, I gazed down at the rest of my body. I was a man once more. Panic screamed in my chest, but I shook my head and told myself to calm down. I’d been lost in my thoughts, hadn’t I? I must have shifted back without giving it my full attention. After all, it had gotten easier and easier over the past two years. I barely had to think about it these days. Perhaps, now, I didn’t have to think about it at all.

  I stood, brushing the dirt and loose blades of grass from my legs. I pictured myself as the unicorn, how the hooves felt when they beat against the ground, how my mane felt when the wind blew through it, how it had felt to shoot that bolt of powerful white light at the dragon….

  And nothing.

  Glancing back down at my hands, I felt my nerves writhe and coil in my gut. As mysteriously as the ability to shift had come to me those few years ago, it also appeared to have left.

  3

  “She was a fair one, that girl,” Philip sighed fondly as we ate stew and brown bread at The Draft Horse the next evening. After King Ash’s announcement, the villagers weren’t as worried about getting indoors before dark, though we were all warned to keep our eyes out for anything suspicious. “I still remember the day I first laid eyes on her.”

  “Where did you find her?” I asked him, catching a glimpse of Nora over the rim of my tankard and shooting her a wink. She blushed and sent me a teasing smile. Well, at least something was still working for me. I held up two fingers and she nodded. We’d be needing another round.

  “Down by the fishing lake, past the smithy to the south. I was in my boat, waiting for the fish to bite, when I saw her standing on the other side of the lake, dripping wet. I could tell she was in some kind of trouble, so I paddled over to her as fast as I could.”

  “She came through in the water?” I had no idea it could work like that.

  Philip shook his head. “Turned out, she hadn’t even been in the lake. Not on this side anyway. Said she was swimming somewhere near her home. Popular place, with other people around. But then she thought she saw a gate on the other side of the water and swam over to it. When she got there, one side of it was unlocked. And when she walked through…well, that’s when I found her.”

  “Strange,” I said, which was surely an understatement. “It sounds similar to Sarah’s experience, though. She was in a sort of public garden—a park, she called it—when she walked through the gates and ended up in the king’s gardens. She said there was an unusual looking rose sticking
out from the gates that caught her eye.”

  “Aye. Winnie, that was her name, she said the gate sort of called to her. Not out loud, but, oh I don’t know. I thought I understood at the time, but maybe I was just trying to win her favor,” he said with a decades-old blush.

  “What happened to her? How long did she stay before going back to her world?” I asked.

  “Back?” He sat back in his chair and finished off the rest of his ale just as Nora brought over two more cups. “She never went back, as far as I know anyway.”

  “You mean she’s here? She stayed in Verdinia?” I asked, my pulse racing at the possibility. When Sarah and I had first planned to meet with Philip, I’d been a little nervous. I was worried Sarah would learn how to go back to her world and I might never see her again. But now that she’d chosen to come back and stay, I had to admit, I was as eager as the king to learn more about how all of this worked.

  Philip shook his head. “No, son, least not as far as I know. When we were still young she fell in love with a man traveling from Cyanica and moved back there with him.”

  “Cyanica?” I mused aloud. “That’s a-ways south.”

  “Aye,” Philip said, remembering. “Many a woman has been seduced by its clear blue waters and crystal shores.”

  “And you haven’t spoken to her since she moved there?” Sarah had chosen to return to this world and I’d assumed that meant we’d both live in Verdinia until the end of our days. But what if I was wrong? Would Sarah ever leave Verdinia for one of the other kingdoms? The idea hadn’t occurred to me until that moment.

  “No, I’m afraid not.” Philip frowned. “It’s been near twenty years.”

  I looked at the sad, older man. He was only middle aged, younger than my own ma and da. But he’d seen his share of loss. He must have gotten over Winnie, since he eventually wed. But his wife had died in childbirth, along with their second baby, leaving him and little Gwinn on their own. I was just a boy then, only five or six years old. But I remember my ma and da talking about it. It was no wonder he’d never remarried.