The Time of the Titans

Chapter 19: The Phantoms

The Prince Master stretched his arm and held his fist towards me. I looked at the skull ring. His stunt had stunned me but this ring, with no doubt, was something I knew very well from my long history as a comic fan.

"So, you're the Phantom too?" I noted. "An itinerant masked hero? But you keep the ring in the middle finger instead of the ring finger, sir. You surely know, however, that in Falk's original stories..."

"Embrace my ring!" Max interrupted me. "So I don't need to leave its skull mark on your face!" He had returned to the pompous bravado of the Prince Master.

"Yeah, kiss it!" ordered Mickey and seized my arm, trying to drag me closer to Max's fist.

Ferdinand rolled his eyes and shook his head in sheer contempt at the entire scene.

I was getting tired at this. "You can't be serious, boys. Aren't we done with stuff like this already?"

Mickey and Ricky seemed serious enough, but Max broke into laughter and turned, so his wolf cloak made a fly, and then he marched to the throne room's door.

"If you don't like it, then fine", he uttered, and by doing so, he planted a seed of regret in my mind. I did not want to harm my relations here for simple pride. It would have been as childish as his demand to kiss his skull ring. "Bring him here", Max ordered. "Let him see me on the throne then."

He didn't turn back, just marched in, his wolf's cloak swinging, and Ferdinand followed on his tails. Mickey and Ricky weren't going to let me get there on my own, so at least I tried to make my entry as dignified as I could; I didn't resist too much and walked rather than got dragged. To my relief, however, there was nobody in the throne room except the Prince Master himself and the counsellor Ferdinand. No assembly of seven masters, let alone rows of mocking boys making fun of me.

To call it a throne room was rather grandiose. It was more like a club room, with a cosy fireplace and a bunch of armchairs, apparently for gatherings of the selected ones. There were carpets and some large pillows on the floor as well. The throne was just another armchair they had put on a pedestal, installing a velvet-covered stool in front of it so the Prince Master's feet would not hang in the air as he sat on his oversized seat.

Max cast a royal glance at me. He had crossed his right leg over his left knee, and he leaned his hands on the armrests of the throne. Ferdinand loitered about, tall and gaunt, and finally sat down on one of the other armchairs, looking bored at the entire ceremony. The custodian brothers, however, seemed to take it fully to their hearts, as they brought me right in front of the youthful ruler, making me kneel.

Max stayed quiet. I wondered what he had in mind when he said I had seen the good cop in him and would now meet the bad cop. I needed to sharpen up, I told myself. I was getting fed up at the theatre. So, I raised my head and looked at him straight into eyes. He didn't avert my look, quite the contrary, his eyes met mine and he smirked. But he still said nothing.

"Sir", I said finally. "I recognize you're the boss here. I'm a guest, so I need to follow your rules. But I have been honest to you. I thought I had made it clear that I didn't come here as a spy, or on any other hostile intention. I'm an outcast like all of you. The way the Laputan swiftcraft destroyed the Nautilus shows that."

I felt Mickey or Ricky moving nervously, but I considered the twins as sensible guys. They were obviously effective in violence if they wanted, but for that very reason they didn't need to use violence for nothing. And I was right. There was no slap or anything alike. Yet Max remained curiously quiet.

"Sorry about the ring", I said finally. "In fact, when I called it the Phantom's ring, that was a compliment. I used to be a big fan of comics as a kid. The Phantom was one of my favourites. For me, the Phantom means only good."