At the Crossroads. Book 1

Chapter 9

Dinner with the Wands is, erm, mostly uneventful. The King's late, grabs some food from the table and is about to storm off– the Queen stops him. Then he goes back to the table, grabs some more food and dashes out of the hall. The Queen sighs and shakes her head. She isn't much of a talker even since.

You glance as she picks on the scarce round reds on her plate. No idea what those are. Or why the Queen has insisted on setting the large table in the dining hall, which is miraculously almost intact. So now you are sitting on one side of the long table, the Queen on the other, and Lars... Hm. You look closer at the boy, and it seems he's switched at least two seats closer to your side. Yet when he did that – you've missed.

You gobble up everything the Queen's put on your plate. The Wands foods are weird, but most taste and smell meaty. Lars leaves half the meal through and sneaks something into his pocket. The Queen doesn't shout. She watches the empty spot for some time. You can't see her expression well, but her posture remains perfectly regal.

"Thanks for the meal," you say, and it echoes around the hall.

You step closer and notice the Queen gape for a second. Then she sees the empty plate in your hand, unlike the other two, and relaxes.

"Leave it." She pats the table to her side. The tablecloth is dirty. Marble and plaster dust smudges some parts of the dark purple with intricate silver embroidery. "I'll prepare a room for you, down the hall–" She rises–

"Don't worry," you pull on a smile and wave. "Finish your food, I'll wait. Guess, I'll..." You glance back into the shadows. "Erm, kinda look around the castle? Very carefully. And not the wrecked parts..."

The Queen nods, and you turn to leave.

"Most of it is wrecked parts," you hear her whisper, and you look back. She stares at her plate and in no way talks to you.

The Wands castle is... something. The grandeur amazes, and yet what's left of it creeps you out. Some walls have vein marks on them, and you find a half-devoured sentry. It feels as if the previous King of Wands would pounce out any time.

You shiver and hug yourself. Only because it's getting darker, and the breeze gets in through all the gaps in the ceiling. And, yes, the Queen made you change into some light purple and silver loose overall.

You stop and look into the shadows. Just shadows. Not moving at all or anything. What did the previous Wands King even look like? You shut your eyes, but the only hazy image that comes is a tall, dark figure. Means the stranger and Maze were right. Lose your card and disappear forever. As if you've never existed. Guess, that's what happened to your parallel–

"Leave. Me. Alone!" The voice echoes down the hall, and you creep its way. "For fuck's sake! Get the bloody..."

Yeah, that's definitely the Kind of Wands. Wonder what that language is.

Portraits cram the walls until you reach the end of the corridor. You stop in front of several ones, the King's still swearing anyway. And those portraits are weird. Some frames have no one in them, only the royal setting, but these have a few, erm, people? Wands people. They all look like the Queen, chocolate-purplish skin and dark hair.

A woman, two children... and an empty space. "Why did they part here?" You rise on your toes. "They'd fit better." And yet for some reason, they left the corner empty.

"Lia Maria and the King of Wands, with their children Abiel, Sarahi and the Knight of Wands." you read the cracked caption. Five. Wait. What?!

Oh. You tumble back and choke. They were cards. Apparently, cards fade away even from portraits. You dash down the corridor–

"Whoa–"

"A-ah!" yelps Lars and jumps out of your way.

"Sorry, I–"

He sniffs and wipes his nose with his sleeve. Before you open your mouth, Lars darts around you. His hurried footsteps echo further and further away into the shadows.

"Erm..." You turn the way he came from.

At the end, there's a small study. The door's slightly ajar so you creep closer and peek inside. The wreckage looks cleaned up a little. And, oh, there's the King of Wands and Swords. He stares at the table, clutches its side and looms over a card. A plain cardboard card, it doesn't shine or shimmer, or even flutter a little.

"He said," groans the King, and the blood-red flows down to the tip of his messed-up braid, "it's possible. Because Garold sucked them out," he roars, and the red vines weave around his wrists. More of those thin vines slip out of his hair. Curl. Coil. Throb? "He didn't kill them, he sucked them out as their King..."

You step back. Quietly–

"Who's there?!"

Fuck.

The King whirls around, and the vines lash and split the sturdy wooden cabinet. "Bleeding show yourself, dammit!" The vines shoot up and pulsate. As if that's real blood– Did the previous King of Wands even have this power?! You don't care enough to find out.

You run.

The door crashes, and wooden splinters fly, and that sounds like stone breaking– Who cares. You don't look back and pray he hasn't noticed you.