“You can’t be here!” a voice cried in the hall.
“Well, I am here, so clearly I can be,” said a hoary male voice.
“But there’s a warrant for your—”
The doors to the hall flung open and Merlin, Professor Dovey, and Lancelot all marched in, chased by a phalanx of stewards, both Tedros’ and Agatha’s, Reaper biting at their heels. Guinevere swept in last, regal and coiffed in a rich purple gown—
She froze.
The once-queen gazed at her son, covered in blood and in Lady Gremlaine’s arms.
“Lady Guinevere!” said Lady Gremlaine, letting go of Tedros. “They’ll arrest you! How’d you even get—”
“We’ll take it from here, Lady Gremlaine,” said Guinevere.
Lady Gremlaine straightened. “The king and I have a meeting. You best leave the castle at on—”
“We’ll take it from here,” Guinevere thundered.
The hall was dead silent.
Lady Gremlaine turned to Tedros, waiting for him to say something . . . to stand up in her defense . . .
But Tedros wasn’t looking at her anymore.
“Mother—” he gasped.
He rushed into Guinevere’s arms, wiping his eyes, before he moved on to embrace Professor Dovey, Merlin, and Lancelot, so thankful to have a family again just when he needed one most.
By the time Tedros even remembered his steward, Lady Gremlaine was already gone.
14
TEDROS
What It Feels Like for a King
The Treasury Master was put off until after lunch.
Chef Silkima nearly passed out when she saw there were five to feed instead of just the king and scampered back to the kitchens, which erupted in shrieks and a clatter of pans.
“I’d offer my hat to help, but it’s on strike until I give it a pension plan,” Merlin sighed, taking a seat in the Blue Tower dining room. “Says it wants ‘security.’”
“And I thought fairies were a challenge,” Professor Dovey murmured, sitting beside him.
“It’s Lance’s fault,” said Guinevere across the table. “Couldn’t leave the hat alone, demanding food night and day: turkey legs and beef bourguignon and enough bacon to rid the world of pigs . . . Wore the poor thing out.”
Lancelot shrugged. “A man needs to eat.”
Sitting quietly at the head of the table, Tedros listened to the group banter: first about how they’d snuck into the castle (they’d mogrified into dung beetles beneath Merlin’s hat and shoved it around like a dung ball) and then how’d they’d taken turns changing under Agatha’s bed into clothes they’d hidden in the hat as royal guards made their rounds—
“But won’t Lady Gremlaine tell everyone you’re here?” Tedros cut in, wringing his hands. “Won’t they kill you for the bounty?”
The group went quiet. Merlin met Tedros’ eyes.
“I’m afraid the time has come to endure such risks, Tedros. Given recent events, we need your mother and Lance to be at your side from here on out. That said, if anyone gets too close, I’ve reminded your mother and Lance how to use their spells from school to defend themselves.”
Under Merlin’s stern glare, Guinevere and Lancelot quickly lit their fingers. Guinevere’s flickered feebly. Lance’s burnt hot red, then snuffed out spectacularly with a loud fart sound and burp of smoke.
“Or at least, confound their attackers,” Merlin piffed.
Tedros managed a smile. “You don’t know how much I’ve missed you. All of you.”
His mother smiled back, her eyes glistening.
“If only this were a social call,” said Merlin.
Tedros tensed. He knew there had to be a reason that Merlin would risk his mother’s and Lance’s safety and Professor Dovey would leave her students to come here. But hearing it out loud made his stomach hollow.
“I’ve had my fill of bad news today,” he said.
“No news, good or bad, should be discussed on an empty stomach,” Merlin assured. “Silkima!”
More pots clanged in the kitchen.
Lunch was meatballs with yellow curry, spaghetti squash with smoked paprika, and peppered radish patties, all of which had been violently spiced, as if the cooks had taken out their angst on the food. By the end, Tedros had sweated through his shirt and the whole table spent as much time sniffling and gulping iced water as they did eating.
“Dessert is chili-spiced truffles,” Chef Silkima announced, stonefaced.
“Perhaps we’ll skip it,” the wizard told the chef, waiting until she was gone before he turned to the rest. “Shall we talk?”
A short while later, they were all on one side of the table, some sitting, some standing, as they studied the Quest Map floating over them and listened to Professor Dovey finish recounting what she and Merlin knew about Chaddick’s death and Sophie’s and Agatha’s adventures in Avalon.
“After I spoke to them in my crystal ball, Agatha and Sophie started tracking the Snake,” she said, pointing at a miniature white-sailed ship inching across the Savage Sea. “The Storian painted them last night aboard the Igraine, which should reach Jaunt Jolie later today judging from its movements here. But four quest teams are missing that I haven’t been able to reach via crow or crystal ball—Ravan’s, Kiko’s, Vex’s, and now Beatrix’s in Jaunt Jolie. All their teams appear safe, given their names haven’t been crossed out on my map. But each of the four teams seem to be moving away from their assigned kingdoms, which seems a rather ominous coincidence.”
Tedros could see his mother and Lance as shocked by all this as he was.
“This Snake killed Chaddick and is going after our quest teams because of . . . me?” he said to the wizard and Dean. “So The Lion and the Snake . . . that story we learned growing up . . . It’s real?”
“As a point of fact, no,” said Merlin. “The Lion and the Snake isn’t a real tale at all. And whoever this Snake is likely knows that.”
“What do you mean it isn’t real?” Lancelot asked.
“The Storian didn’t write it,” said the wizard. “By all accounts, The Lion and the Snake was invented by an early king of Camelot a thousand years ago. He and his brother both laid claim to the throne, so he made up this tale and spread it through the kingdom as if it were real. He portrayed his brother as the Snake and himself as the Lion, suggesting the kingdom would be in grave danger if his brother were picked to rule instead of him. The people listened and crowned him king.”