CHAPTER 41
Keenan
Hugh’s eyes glowed red, and his mouth widened in a grin more similar to Cherry’s than his usual cheerful smile. “You did a fine job with him, Churippu. And the council agrees: his performance was quite satisfactory. We have found our new holder.”
Keenan staggered back from his friend – or what he had thought was an illusion of his friend. Cherry gave a wriggling jump. “So we won’t be stuck here any longer? We can come out of hiding?”
He stared at her. “You mean leading us down that passage wasn’t an accident? You knew all of this was going to happen?”
The little dragon crouched in a penitent sort of pose. “Everything I told you was true, I promise! I didn’t know Mother was here until she pulled me aside while you were in the smithy and asked me to offer the temptation.”
“You weren’t supposed to be here, Churippu,” Hugh gently chided in his new rumbling voice. “I’ve told you to stay out of the tunnels, especially when a test is underway.”
Cherry’s head dipped further. “I know. But you said the magic told you the one we wanted was here. How could I miss that?”
Hugh, or Cherry’s mother, sighed. “I should have known better than to mention it while you were within a hundred feet.” Turning to Keenan, she extended a hand. “Come, Keenan Kyaputen. I will take you to your prize.”
Princess Sakura stepped forward and wrapped her hand around Keenan’s arm. “Where do you plan to take him?” Her voice was mostly steady, but her hand spasmed on his arm. “Pardon me if I do not trust a stranger after our experiences down here.”
“Hugh” studied her for a moment. “I did not request your permission, Sakura Koyoshu, nor do I need it. But Churippu has identified me. Is that not enough for you?”
“It’s all right, Princess.” Keenan squeezed her free hand. “If this is another test, I’ll just have to do my best on my own.” He glanced up at the dragon-Hugh. “I don’t think she’s offering to bring anyone else.”
“Oliver,” the princess begged, turning her eyes to the guard.
But he simply shook his head. “Keenan is correct. We are not invited.”
“But—”
“I’ll come back, Princess. I promise.” Bending down, Keenan dropped a light kiss on her forehead. “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
“You have no idea how little it would take, Keenan,” she whispered, her eyes sad as she gazed up at him. “Nor what it would do to me should it happen.”
She released him, and he gave her a confident smile as he stepped up next to the illusion of his friend and set his hand in the dragon’s. He glanced over his shoulder one last time, committing the princess’s sad, wistful expression to memory.
He needed to stop doing things like kissing her forehead and holding her hand.
Or nearly kissing her lips like he had in the alley.
Princess Sakura might think she cared now, but they’d been practically alone together for the last several weeks.
Once she showed her amazing non-princess talents to her court, she would learn that he wasn’t the only one who appreciated the woman beyond the title.
And then she would find someone better suited to a princess.
Someone with a title of his own, manners…
Someone whose love wouldn’t keep her from the crown she deserved.
The image of Hartford slowly faded around him until he was squinting in the dim light of a small patch of brightness far above him. At the same time, the pain in his arm diminished until it wasn’t even an annoyance.
He heard a rushing sound behind him, and then suddenly he could see the walls of the surrounding cavern. Turning, he jumped back when he saw the pile of burning logs in what amounted to a hearth. And, of course, the massive blue dragon sitting next to it with an amused smile.
“That must be handy,” he said, wishing his voice sounded a little less breathless. But actually seeing a dragon larger than a house was…shocking. “You know, being able to start a fire whenever you want.”
“It works better than the tinderbox I’m about to give you,” the dragon replied. “Unless, of course, you know how to use it.”
“I’ve used a tinderbox before.”
Cherry’s mother gave him a toothy grin. “Not like this one, you haven’t.”
The gryphon sitting next to her yawned, his large beak opening wide enough to clamp around Keenan’s head. “Enough with the dramatics.”
The dragon’s neck curled as she turned her head toward him. “If you wish to see dramatics, I can certainly provide some.”
“Enough.” The new voice was rich and musical. Keenan turned, surprised to find another human down here. But though it was a woman’s voice, the female torso that appeared from behind the dragon was attached to a horse’s body. A shorter female, this one with the legs of a deer, followed.
He couldn’t quite help his stare. It shouldn’t have been a surprise after seeing dragons and the gryphon, but the centaur was his own kingdom’s symbol. Like the other creatures, he had supposed them to be myth. But like the others, his kingdom’s symbol was clearly derived from reality.
The centaur brushed her wavy, golden locks behind her shoulder. “If you do not proceed, the poor boy will think you have brought him here simply to tease him. He is surely anxious to return to his friends.” The corners of her lips tipped up slightly. “Especially the heir to the Ryunic throne.”
Keenan’s hand, finally free of the sling, pulled at the edge of his jerkin. “She needs a lot of looking after,” he mumbled. “She’s like a magnet for trouble.”
“Of course,” the centaur agreed amiably. Turning to the dragon, she said, “Mamoru, the box?”
Chuckling, the dragon lifted a clawed hand and extended it palm-up. “Your prize, Keenan Kyaputen. Guard it as you would the princess, and use it wisely.”
Keenan slowly reached forward and lifted the banged-up metal box from her hand. It was a short, wide cylinder with a handle on one side and a short stovepipe on top, just like other tinderboxes he’d seen. But when he tried to pry the lid off to look inside, it wouldn’t budge.
“The dents must have locked the lid in place,” he said, grunting as he tried to pull it off. “I don’t understand how I’m to use it if I can’t open it.”
The centaur folded her hands at her waist, much like Princess Sakura often did. “As Mamoru said, it is not like other tinderboxes.” She nodded toward the gryphon. “Tell him to give you his name.”
Keenan’s forehead furrowed. “What’s your name?”
The gryphon turned his head to the side, the better to stare at Keenan with one bright golden eye. “Don’t ask. Command it.”
“But you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
The gryphon took a step forward. “You must command it, Commandant. And you must mean it.”
It was eerily reminiscent of his conversation with Cherry. “No,” he said firmly. Giving up on opening the tinderbox, he let his hand fall to his side. “Why would I give an order to someone I just met? If you don’t want to answer the question, that’s fine.”
Mamoru’s large head appeared in front of him, and he took a startled step back.
“You must, Kyaputen,” she said earnestly.
“No one knows what will be, but there is tension building across the continent. My connection to the depths of magic tells me that it is time for the sphinx to come out of hiding, but we must be able to trust the bearer. And he must know how to wield it so that when the time comes, he will be able to protect it and use it to fight for the good.”
“Sphinx?” he echoed in confusion. “But it’s…”
“Give the command, Keenan,” the faun said quietly from beside the centaur. “It will all become clear.”
All four looked at him with serious eyes. It was a simple request. He wouldn’t be asking the gryphon to hurt someone like Cherry had suggested. Taking a deep breath, he focused on the gryphon, drew up the feeling of telling Liesl to run, and said, “Tell me your name.”
The hand holding the tinderbox felt like it was suffering the pins and needles of falling asleep. Then the gryphon’s eyes glowed, and he bowed over an extended foreleg. “Chasseur, Commandant.”
Keenan’s eyes widened as they dropped to the tinderbox. But instead of the beaten metal cylinder, a large yellow diamond carved in the shape of a sphinx sat in his hand.
He dropped it with a colorful word. The firelight glinted off the faceted surfaces, and he reached out to catch it before it tumbled to the ground. It bounced off his fingers and skittered across the floor.
“It will take more than that to damage one of the six enchanted objects given to the kingdoms,” the dragon said with amusement as the faun skipped out from behind the centaur, carefully picked up the diamond, and held it out. “Thank you, Helian.”
Keenan took it back, holding it up to his face to better examine it. “So it’s—what is it, exactly?”
The centaur stepped forward. “A thousand years ago, during the battle between the humans and the fae kingdoms north of the Rio Azul, the fae descendants and magical creatures who sided with the humans granted each king a powerful object to aid them in their fight. The sphinx was given to Koyoshu. It defended against the creatures sent by the enemy and protected his allies from the influence of the enemy fae. It was his to guard afterward, to use to the benefit of the people under his care.”
Keenan frowned. “Koyoshu…that’s the name of the Ryunic royal family, isn’t it?”
The gryphon nodded, taking up the tale. “The first king of Ryuni served wisely. But his sons were greedy and hungry for power. The oldest used the sphinx to remove his brothers from the competition. There were those who opposed his brutality, and he sent the creatures after them next.” Chasseur’s golden eyes dimmed as he dropped his gaze to the floor.
“The creatures begged him to stop using them in such a fashion. But he refused, and his son was no better.”
A sick feeling filled Keenan’s stomach as he imagined little Cherry being forced to hurt someone. “What happened?”
“A desperate revolt.” The centaur smoothed her blue tunic.
“He had control, but the number of creatures that can be commanded simultaneously is limited. With the help of a few humans, the creatures managed to steal the sphinx.” She too hung her head.
“But the cost was very high. They cast a strong illusion over it to disguise it as an old, battered tinderbox, vowing to guard it until someone worthy to bear the command was found.”
“But I don’t want that kind of power.” Keenan held the yellow diamond out to the centaur. “I don’t want to command you.”
“And that’s why we trust you,” Mamoru said with a grin. “When faced with your abuser, the man who murdered your mother, you did not fight back until someone else was threatened.”
“I was eight years old when he died,” Keenan argued. “I reacted the same as I would have then. How is that praiseworthy?”
The dragon continued as if he hadn’t spoken.
“Instead of killing him as you had the power to do, you showed mercy. Then when a young dragon you barely knew wandered away in a busy market, you sought to keep her safe. Even when faced with odds you couldn’t hope to beat, you put yourself in danger for her. ”
“She may as well be a child,” Keenan protested. “Wait, that was a test?”
“You declared that you saw her as a person. And when she offered to harm someone who had wronged you, you refused to give the command in your anger. You would not even use us to right an injustice with intimidation.” Her large head came forward and lightly bumped his shoulder.
“You suggested a way for us to protect against lawlessness instead.”
“Well, yes, but—It’s the same as any decent human would do,” he grasped. “Oliver—he would do just as well. Why not give it to him?”
“You overestimate the care that most humans have for other species.” Mamoru shook her head.
“Especially when given access to power. As for Oliver, even if he hadn’t deliberately avoided the tests, the sphinx cannot return with him to Daraigh.
It needs to stay in Ryuni to keep the balance of power between the kingdoms.”
“Stay in…?” The sphinx sagged to his side as he considered Mamoru’s words. “I’m not—I plan to return home.”
The four creatures gave him identical knowing looks.
He could feel his cheeks heating. “If you want someone who lives in Ryuni, why not give it to the princess? She was with me in all of the tests you named.”
His companions stiffened. “The princess fared decently in the tunnels, and she confessed her fears after the illusion she faced in the cavern. But we do not trust the Koyoshus, and you should not either. Not with this.” Mamoru shook her head.
“I overheard your discussion with the princess, but giving the sphinx to the queen is not an option.”
Squeezing his hand around the diamond until it cut into his palm, Keenan turned away from them.
He’d wondered if he could turn over the mysterious tinderbox when he’d only witnessed its protections.
Now that he knew its true power, he knew he couldn’t.
“But what about Miss Liesl? The queen said she was in danger.”
“I cannot see all ends; my connection to magic only grants me impressions of need.” The dragon shook her head. “You must accept that her fate may be out of your hands.”
Keenan released a shuddering breath. Everything he’d gone through since leaving home had been to help Liesl. Even this quest that had landed him with a responsibility he’d never wanted. How could he abandon her now?
“How do we leave?” he finally asked. “I should get the princess back to the winter castle.”
“You must command an end to the illusion,” Mamoru said simply. “For something so powerful, though, you must use my name. Otherwise, it will not take.”
“Can’t you just do it because I ask?”
She gave him a pleased smile. “No. But I am glad that you wish it were so.”
Sighing, he opened his mouth to speak, but the centaur cut him off. “One more thing, Keenan. While possession does not grant command on its own, the sphinx will only work when you are touching it. Do not hide it away for safekeeping and expect to command our assistance at any time.”
“I can’t anyway, can I?” he said, frowning. “You would need to be there.”
“Part of the power of the sphinx,” Chasseur told him. “You may command any creature in your presence to an extent. But for any that you have met, it takes only their name.”
He blinked. “So I could make you do something if you’re here and I’m in Hartford?”
“Yes.”
“Nothing impossible,” the centaur added. “If it is not physically or magically possible for the creature, the command will not work.”
“Good to know it has some limits,” Keenan muttered. Then taking a deep breath, he fixed his eyes on the dragon. “Mamra, end the illusion. It’s time for me to take my friends and leave.”