Serial Saturday: "Clan of Outcasts" Season 3, Part 27 "The Roque Of Gybralltyr" (2 of 2)

Part 27

"The Roque of Gybralltyr" (Part 2)

It's not fair. What had I done to deserve this prison? A mere slip of judgment--what happened at Gybralltyr wasn't entirely my fault. One might contend that perhaps Thalia was to blame--after all, if she had given better Gifts, then my Jacking would have been more useful in defending the Gate! It was her fault that I didn't have a good foundation to mount a defense!

Now my physical essence is fused in a dagger, beholden to mortals.

At least when Juros left the dagger behind, a man found it shortly thereafter, and treated it like any old knife, cutting down branches, paring fruit with it--I suppose I should be grateful he didn't pick his teeth with it! He never even noticed me, though, and as soon as he reached the nearest city, he went straight to the marketplace and lost the dagger in a gambling bet to a pampered young lord. I suspect Juros had something to do with it, because as soon as he saw it, I overheard him bragging to his friends that he was now in possession of a dagger that had magical properties, courtesy of the star depicted on the hilt: Polaris.

The moment he said my name, I could feel my Shadow gathering around me--but still, I remained invisible to the mortals. Instead, their attention riveted on the projection of a star that appeared over the young lord's hand. He thought it was pretty, flashy, and entertaining, like a magic trick. He called my name over and over again, but it wasn't me he wanted--it was the shiny star that amused him.
The lord made his way out of the market, headed for the house of some lady he wanted to make his bride. I suppose he figured he could impress her with this new dagger and the palm-sized star it contained.
Unfortunately, a group of thugs had seen him with the dagger, and they followed him out of the marketplace, attacking him just as he was coming down the private lane to the young lady's house. They attacked him, and beat him pretty savagely, although he did wound a few with the knife--but he never used my name, so I could only stand by and watch.
Juros appeared to me as he lay bleeding in the road.

"Polaris, what instruction did I tell you when I placed your essence in this dagger?" He asked me--there was nothing hidden from Juros, even if I was invisible to them, I could not be invisible to the one who had made me so.
I shrugged. "You told me to defend whoever wields the dagger and calls my name--but he never called my name, so I am powerless."
The thugs saw him lying in a heap, but before they could take the dagger, guards from the mansion at the end of the lane showed up, ready to help him.
Juros wagged his head. "I will tell you further the parameters of your imprisonment: you must not just serve the mortal, but preserve their life for three years, and after that, if they die, you will be free. In that time, I hope you learn what it is that I intend to teach you through this experience."
I knew the thugs were still watching when the lady came out and saw the state of her beloved. They didn't walk away, they waited in the surrounding area, hidden and stealthy.
"Why don't you just tell me what it is you want me to discover here?" I demanded of Juros. "Is that all I have to do to be released, wait three years and let the mortal die? What lesson is there in that?"
Juros nodded to the house, as the guards took the man inside. "You will see," he said. "When the Key returns to Gybralltyr, you will know that hope has arrived."
>>>>>>>>>>>>

Cornelius Haggard limped heavily as he dragged his body down the musty, cloud-shrouded road of what once was the proud city, Gybralltyr. Goddry's massive hand rested on his shoulder, offering him support without words. His three prisoners were gone, and they were no closer to unlocking the Gate than they had been before docking at The Harbor--his mission had failed. How was he to know that they would somehow receive reinforcements on a deserted island at the far end of who-knows-where? He wagged his head. Queen Mallory would not be pleased if she ever got wind of this. Haggard turned down a familiar side-street, retracing the steps they had made through the thickest part of the traps. Hanging in the middle of an arch even higher than Goddry could reach was a small, wiry, redheaded figure.
"Sally?"

The cage swayed a little, and the head came up. "You--Captain! Trees and forests, you came back for me?"
Haggard sagged against the stone wall and waved an arm impatiently at his quartermaster. "Git on up there and git 'er down," he growled.

Goddry did not hesitate or question his captain's order. He grabbed a pair of fallen spears and used them as hand-holds to scale the wall until he came within arm's reach of the trap holding Sally. Jumping off to cling to the bars along the base of it, he warned her, "Hang on to something!"

Sally gripped the sides of the cage as Goddry suspended his full weight from just a couple wooden staves. The connections gave way instantly, and Goddry dropped to his feet, carrying the entire base of the cage away with him. Sally let go and dropped also, with expert grace befitting her Elvish heritage. She smiled up at her captain. "Now then--are the others camped out somewhere? What did I miss? Have we got the Gate open?"

Haggard scowled at her. "Shaddup, girl! We're done with the Gate business--ain't no more o' that mess! We're headed back to the ship, once we find out if Keaton survived."
Sally frowned and turned back to squint down the abandoned road. "But... the others..."
"There ain't none others besides us!" Haggard groused at her. He lurched on, with Goddry following close behind, leaving Sally no choice but to follow after them.

Haggard made it all the way back to the sprung trap that had swallowed Keaton without seeing the young pirate. He signaled the others to halt, and listened keenly for any noises.
"Oy! Keaton!" he called. "You still alive?"
Bam-bam-bam, came a knock somewhere beneath the ground. Sally immediately crouched, hand splayed in the dirt to feel the vibrations. She stood and pointed across to the other side. "It's coming from that direction!" she said.
"We're close by, Keaton!" Haggard called, "Just keep knockin', boy, and we'll find ye!"

Find him, they did--deposited into a cell with no windows and no other entrance except the slick chute beneath the trap door that had closed over him. Their only way to retrieve him was to send Sally down the chute with a rope about her waist. She secured Keaton along with herself, and Goddry hauled the two crewmates back to the surface.
Haggard appraised what was left of his crew. "Well," he grumbled, "I s'pose four is better'n two--and we'll at least have enough to sail far away from this place and never look back!"
"Sail away?" Keaton frowned. "But what about the rest of the crew?"
"Hang 'em all!" Haggard fumed. "Watson's dead--looks like 'e was mauled by a bear or somethin'--an' I don't doubt the rest of 'em met a similar fate, fighting so many Gifted at once."
Keaton gasped. "Gifted? Like the prisoners were?"
Haggard nodded. "Turns out they had friends right here on Gybralltyr--guess it wasn't as empty as the Queen led us to believe! They're all long gone by now. There's nobody left to open the Gate, no way of getting the Key. We're all that's left."

In the despondent silence that followed, a crow squawked, and came to land on Keaton's shoulder, just as his pet raven would do. It croaked in Keaton's ear, and he nodded as if he understood what the bird was saying. "No one is going anywhere," he declared, squaring his shoulders and inviting the crow to step off into his hand.
"What d'ye mean?" Sally asked.
Keaton grinned. "I may have been trapped, but I've still been in contact with Her Majesty, Queen Mallory the whole time. She knows we didn't get the Gate open, and she's promised to send reinforcements if we need them. Even now, all the birds in the sky are scouring the landscape for any sign of the others." He nodded to Haggard. "Did you manage to find the Gate, at least?"
Haggard shrugged. "Well, we did catch sight of it, but without the girl--"

"Queen Mallory is even now confirming the location of the Key," Keaton interrupted him. "She will be here with reinforcements when she has found the means of opening it. Tell me where to find the Gate, and she will meet us there."

Haggard shook his head. "Plague take the blasted Gate!" he waved his hand in its general direction. "I care not for the Queen's bid for power--she ain't even a Queen yet, no castle or throne or nothin'! It's time we leave this cursed island--let the others suffer at the hands of fate--"

While he was still fuming, a swarm of crows burst out of the bushes beside them, and two figures--one tall man with what looked like a metal gauntlet over one arm, the other a small fair-haired girl--stumbled out into the open.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Zayra stared at Polaris as he backed away from her. His startled eyes looked like they might pop right out of his face.
"No..." He muttered under his breath. "No... It can't be!"

She dared not stir a muscle as he approached her again, reaching out very slowly until his fingers connected with her arm. That small moment of touch, after more than a week of absolutely zero contact from the people she cared about most, brought tears to Zayra's eyes.
Polaris drew back. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I didn't mean to--"

"No, it wasn't you," Zayra hastened to explain, laughing a little and rubbing the tears from her eyes. "I just... My friends," she gestured to the astonished group around them, "I've been invisible to them for a while now, and it is such a relief to finally make contact with someone, you have no idea!"
Polaris huffed, tugging at the lapels of his coat. "Don't I?" He pointed to Tessa. "That woman calls my name every day, and yet she has no idea that I exist. How's that for being invisible?" He folded his arms and flopped onto the couch behind him with the air of a petulant child.
Zayra sat next to Polaris, studying his lean frame, the keen glint of his eyes. He didn't seem very old, but she got the impression that there were many lifetimes of experience in his gaze. She reached out and placed her hand on his arm. "My name is Zayra. You can tell me about it," she urged him earnestly.

Polaris heaved a huge sigh. "Oh, very well, it's not like they can do anything about the two of us at the moment. But here, let me bring us both to somewhere more private." He grasped her wrist, and Zayra gasped as the room around them darkened and all but disappeared. When her senses returned, she saw that they now stood in some sort of sunroom, or an arboretum of sorts, thick with plants and plenty of windows letting in sunlight.
Zayra immediately pulled her hand away from him. "What was that?" she demanded. "How did you do that?"
"Please," Polaris begged, "just listen to what I have to say. I am what is called an Abnormal--"
"I know what an Abnormal is!" Zayra seethed, folding her arms. "Which one are you precisely? An Angel or a Shadow?"
Polaris squinted. "You know? But--Oh, never mind." He shook his head. "I am a Shadow--but you do not need to fear me, madam!" he entreated her as she made straight for the door.

"Forgive me," she seethed. "But the last and only Shadow ever to manifest themselves to us mortals tried to use his power to destroy us all!"
"I swear to you, I mean nothing of the kind!" Polaris insisted. "In fact, in my state, the one and only thing I am able to do is to serve and defend whoever holds the knife that contains the essence of my spirit."

Zayra nodded toward the doorway, indicating the group now assembled in the Great Hall. "Tessa," she supplied.
Polaris nodded, and his expression softened. "Yes, Tessa."

Zayra took a moment to gather her wits, and asked, "So, tell me, Polaris--how does a Shadow come to be imprisoned in a knife, and at the behest of a mortal that can neither see nor hear him, and yet knows his name?"
Polaris heaved a sigh and hung his head. "It was a foolish choice I made, a misuse of my abilities as a Shadow, that led to the downfall of Gybralltyr, and Juros gave this as my sentence, to teach me a lesson. I have served a few mortal masters, but none quite so committed to the task of defending the island from invaders, and maintaining vigil until the return of Juros, as Tessa."
Zayra sensed the shift in focus that happened when he spoke of her, and she probed further. "How did she come to possess the knife?"

Polaris shrugged. "The man who held it before her was on his way to pay her a visit--he was attacked by vagabonds on the road just outside her house. She watched over him, and bid her servants to bind his wounds and care for him--but the vagabonds didn't leave, and chose to try and sneak in that night to finish him off and have their way with her as well. She drew the knife to wound them, and saw the star Polaris on the hilt--she called my name, and I came to her aid. All she saw was a star that glowed in the palm of her open hand. She moved out to this mansion many years ago, and I have been waiting by her side ever since."
Zayra tilted her head. "How long have you been tied to that dagger? Is there any way of getting free?"

A shift in expression slid across Polaris' features. "When Juros first imprisoned me, he promised that if I served the mortal faithfully, and guarded them well for three years, then after that if they died I would be free." He sighed.
Zayra sensed there might be more that he wasn't saying right away. "And? How long ago was that?"
A small smile played about his lips. "Three years passed... and then a score. I've lost count. It doesn't matter much anymore, not as long as we have been alone. Tessa keeps looking out for ways to protect Gybralltyr and the Gate, and aid the Gifted in any way she can, and sometimes it gets her into trouble, but I preserve her life, I make her invincible. The longer I've been at it, the more I realize that I don't want Tessa to die. I don't want to be separated from her in the afterlife."

Zayra fidgeted with her skirts. "Thank you for telling me this," she said softly. "Can we go back and join the others now?"
Polaris nodded, and waved his hand. The door before them opened, and the two incorporeal beings floated out to the open balcony overlooking the Great Hall on the main floor. Tessa was no longer there, but Beren had revived a bit, and even Bronn and Reva were looking a bit better.

Her attention returned to Polaris, who stood beside her, staring keenly at her face.. "What about you? How is it that you exist on this plane? Are you an Abnormal as well?"
Zayra shook her head. "No, I am merely Gifted."
Polaris pressed his lips. "And your Gift renders you invisible?"
Zayra frowned. "No! I'm invisible because I put on what I thought was a necklace--but it turned out to be an artifact, some sort of magical Key, and it threw me into this strange side-dimension where no one can see, hear, or touch me."
Polaris' gaze traveled down to the base of her neck. "And where is the necklace now?" he asked.
Zayra rolled her eyes. "It's still there," she said, "but I can't see or feel it--I suppose it's something like a defense protocol, to keep it from falling into the wrong hands."

Polaris' head snapped up, and he leaped to his feet. "Wait... The wrong hands? You have the Key? You bloody mortal!"
Zayra scowled at him. "I don't like your tone--"
"Be still!" Polaris extended his hand and pointed at the space where the pendant should have been. "I have to concentrate."

Zayra felt a tingling sensation over her collarbone, and saw a burst of glittering magic blooming just under her chin. When it subsided, she felt a weight around her neck, and by tilting her chin down she could make out the large pendant hanging from the golden chain.
All sound in the room died at once, and Zayra looked down to see everyone staring at them--no, at her.
Jaran bounded to his feet, staring without blinking.
Zayra opened her mouth, swallowed the sudden lump in her throat and asked, "Can they see me?"

She had barely finished the question before Beren screamed, "ZAYRA!" and ran up the stairs to the balcony.
Zayra stepped forward to meet him, and relished her husband's arms around her, his kisses on her cheeks and lips.

"How--did--this--happen?" He murmured between kisses. "You're back! You're whole--you're you!"
Zayra could only laugh and huddle in his arms as Beren led her down the stairs to join everyone else in a happy reunion.

Azelie threw herself at her sister-in-law, hugging her tightly enough that it brought tears to Zayra's eyes--just that one act of friendship that she had missed so much.
"I don't understand..." Erlis muttered from her corner of the room. "How are you visible again?" Her eyes fell nervously on the magical glowing pendant around Zayra's neck.

Zayra laughed. "I suppose I owe it to Polaris--he must have known what magic was needed to reverse the enchantment. It makes sense from what he told me, since he was there when Gybralltyr nearly fell to people trying to storm the Gate. He probably knew the spell to enchant the Key in the first place."

"Excuse me, did you say Polaris?" Tessa appeared in the hallway of her mansion, knife in one hand, glowing star in the other. She held it up. "This Polaris? You're talking about a star as if it was a person."

Zayra glanced off to the side, where Polaris waited patiently against the nearest wall. "Polaris isn't just a star, though, Tessa. He's a Shadow--a Knight of Juros."

"A Shadow?" Jaran blurted. "Like Troy?"

Zayra shook her head. "No, not at all like Troy--if anything, Polaris is more like Jade, in his commitment to Juros and the way he carries out his obligation to protect Tessa."

Tessa let out a high-pitched giggle. "You all speak in such riddles!" She cried. "Shadows and Keys Juros--" She tossed the star into midair, and watched it hover. "The star Polaris protects me--it emits a magical forcefield that moves things out of my way, and pushes people back if they try and attack me. The star keeps me safe." She looked from one face to another. "The whole business about the Knight of Juros in this knife was a rumor I started myself, to dissuade anyone who intended any harm to me, and to explain the magical powers that this knife had."

Glances began to shift in the direction of the silver-haired man standing in their midst. They couldn't hear or touch him, but they could certainly see him.
Tessa scurried forward. "What are you all looking at?" She demanded, her voice tinged with desperation. "Haven't you heard a word that I've said?"
Zayra pointed. "We're looking at him... at Polaris," she said.
Azelie tilted her head. "How come we can see him, but she can't?" she wondered.

"For what it's worth," Denahlia's dry voice came from the corner, "I can't see him either--though I'm not as convinced that there's no one there."
"You can't?" Jaran queried.

Beren snapped his fingers as an idea occurred to him. "Oh!" He said, pointing to Denahlia. "Is it because you're not--"
"Maybe just those who are Gifted can see Polaris," Seline stood up, staring straight at him.

Zayra frowned as she watched the fair-haired Elfin pirate. "What do you know about being Gifted?"

Her comment went unanswered as Seline stood directly in front of Polaris. She wriggled her shoulders, and immediately her body began to glow, and out of that glow unfurled a pair of large white wings.

Everyone gasped.
"What in the blazes?" breathed Cori.
"An Angel!" Beren cried.

Polaris knelt before Seline, and she held her hand on his shoulder.

"You have things that need to be said," she murmured to him. "I have opened a way for you to speak with these people."
Polaris stood, and Seline held his hand. He nodded to the stunned group around him.
"Hello," said Polaris.

Clang! The knife fell from Tessa's petrified hands and landed on the floor at her feet.
She stared aghast at the two figures standing before her--but mostly at the silver-haired man who grinned at her with familiarity.

"Wh-who are you?" she whispered with a quaking voice.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Queen Mallory surveyed the two captives with a cruel gleam in her eye. She glanced at the soldier kneeling before her throne. "You're sure these are the only two you found?" she demanded.
"Yes, Milady," the knight responded. "They were hidden in a tower nobody had searched yet. Wolfe used his Gift to burst through the wall to reach them."
Mallory smirked. "Good for Wolfe," she mused.

"Hey lady!" Damaris shouted. "I don't think you know who you're dealing with! I'm warning you, being this cage is making me angry--and you don't want to know what happens when I'm angry!"
Mallory ignored him. She stared at Trev, coaxing him to tip his head back and look at her--but his face remained as blank as ever. He didn't even try to communicate with her, for some reason.
Damaris wished he had that kind of restraint... but unfortunately, he was the sort to blurt out even more when he was nervous or scared.
"You think you're so evil and malicious with your crows," he taunted. "Why couldn't you at least pick a savage bird, like a hawk or an eagle? At least then you'd be scary--but crows are dumb! My friends will completely destroy your armies, and then they're coming after you!"
"Enough!" Mallory snapped her fingers, and a soldier stepped forward. Mallory waved her hand. "Ice him!"
The man turned to Damaris and made a gesture with his hands. Immediately, a sheen of ice covered Damaris' feet.

The young Phoenix laughed and rubbed his palms together, conjuring flames immediately. They hissed as they made contact with the ice, but soon his feet were free. "You think you can hurt me?" He taunted the Crow Queen. "Just wait till I burn my way out of this cage!" He grabbed the bars in front of him and focused his power on increasing the fire's heat to a white-hot rage.
The soldier gestured again, and the bars froze solid, the ice spreading to Damaris' fingertips and quenching the flame.
Queen Mallory loomed over him. "What's this you were saying about your friends?" she demanded. "How many are there? Where are they?"
Damaris frowned as he attempted to move his hands, to build the flame under his skin again--but the man's constant application of ice prevented any heat from flowing. He kept taunting. "I'm not going to tell you anything--but you'll be sorry when they come storming in here to kill you!"
Mallory threw back her head and laughed. "Kill me?" she giggled. "Foolish boy! Nothing can kill me!" She spread her arms, and a massive pair of black wings sprouted from her shoulders, extending past her fingertips. "In case you haven't noticed, I've already won!"

Damaris could feel the cold creeping down his arms, and through his shoulders, down to his feet, and through his scalp. Before he could stop it, his whole body froze solid, and he couldn't move. The fire, for the first time in his life since manifesting his Gift, went completely out of him.

Mallory turned back to Trev with a smile. "I'm so glad I finally found you!" she gushed. "You have no idea how important you are to me." She leaned back and drummed her fingers on the arms of the throne. "But soon, you will see. They'll all see. For now... we wait."

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