Werewolf Knight 2: A Reverse Portal Fantasy, page 25
He flipped back to the first pages, which were full of what looked like coordinates and calculations, and then turned the book so we could see the careful calculations.
“What are these about?” Sybil asked.
“It’s information they gathered on drowning,” the cipher replied. “People, wolves, and even a couple of werewolves as well. It’s surprisingly detailed. I would guess the first plan was to drown the King, but they must have decided it would take too long, or maybe just be too difficult. So I would guess they decided to create the werewolf instead. It could sneak into the crowd and kill the King before anyone realized what was happening.”
“But no one would recognize him,” Tabitha pointed out. “And it’s a sacred ritual. No one is allowed near the King until the ceremony is complete. There will be knights on duty to make sure no one gets near him. It would have been easier to attack him at the castle.”
“You’re both right,” I said as I stared at the chart.
“What do you mean?” the cipher asked.
“This zombie werewolf they’re creating,” I said. “Would it have to breathe?”
“No.” The cipher shook his head. “The vampires seemed certain that lungs would not be necessary.”
“So this thing could just sit underwater all day,” I said.
“The moon ritual,” Tabitha gasped. “The King has to submerge himself in the water.”
“And when he does, this thing will be waiting for him,” I said. “The King will be out in the deep waters, away from the knights who are protecting him. Even if he has time to recognize the danger and shapeshift, this thing will be super powerful and almost impossible to stop.”
“They’ll try to stop him before he receives the blessing,” Tabitha said. “And if the King doesn’t receive the blessing…”
“Lupercalia could fall,” the cipher whispered.
“We have to get to the lake,” I growled. “Before it’s too late.”
Chapter 14
“This is insane,” Tabitha said as she shook her head. “I’ve never in my life heard of a plot like this. It can’t possibly be real. It’s… it’s…"
“It’s terrible, but it’s highly sophisticated,” the cipher finished her sentence. “But let’s look at it this way. By the grace of the Moon Goddess, you killed Wenderoth in the Obsidian Temple. No other questing knight had been able to succeed at that task, and yet, you wiped him out. If it wasn’t for you, Hank, we wouldn’t even have this information in the first place. I see the Moon Goddess’ hand in this, and I think she chose you, and us, because we’re the only ones who were likely to believe that such a crazy idea was even possible.”
Sybil placed her hand over mine and gave me a light squeeze.
“She did choose you,” Sybil reminded me. “This is probably why.”
“Okay,” I said and took a deep breath. “We just have to get to the lake before the King starts the ritual. When is that supposed to happen?”
“I know the procession has already started,” Sybil said, “But Tabitha, didn’t you say that it usually took a long time to get there?”
Tabitha’s ears perked up, and she ran her fingers through her hair.
“Well, yes,” she said. “But we’ve lost some time on this quest. The Moon Ritual itself falls on the full moon, which is in…”
“Two days,” the cipher said when the blonde started to count on her fingers.
“Well, that gives us plenty of time, right?” I asked. I had become accustomed to traveling at super speed, and was beginning to lose my perception of space and time altogether.
“It’s on the other side of the kingdom,” Tabitha said. “Maybe if we had the Jeep…”
Sybil sighed.
“Well,” the cipher said. “You managed to find that wasabi and bergamot pretty quickly, and I have absolutely no idea how. It’s a long journey, but for some reason, I believe in your abilities.”
I smiled because I knew that we would kill it, even if the destination was at the far end of the known world. The Moon Goddess had been on my side for all my missions so far, and I doubted that she would fail me now.
“I guess we should get our things together then,” Sybil sighed. “We’ve got a long journey ahead of us.”
“I need to plot out a route,” Tabitha said. “I want to make sure that this is my most efficient one yet."
I remembered that there was about half of the bottle of speed juice left. That bottle had served us well for all of these journeys so far, but all I could was hope there was enough left to get us to wherever Lake Wahaya was.
“If you like,” the cipher said to Sybil, “you can have a look at some of my books while you wait for Tabitha to find the perfect route. I’m sure there’s some spells and some alchemy in there that’ll surprise and interest you. You might even find something to help you reach the lake faster.”
“That would be wonderful,” the witch replied as she set her basket down and wandered over to the bookshelves.
I looked over at the cipher, who was flicking through Wenderoth’s notebook and muttering to himself.
“Hey,” I said. “You’ve helped us tremendously. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.”
“Oh,” he said and waved his hand. “No need to thank me. It’s my job, I…”
But then he stopped and stared into the distance.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said slowly. “Well, I don’t know. All the effort you put into helping other people woke something up in me, you know? Doing this isn’t my job anymore, but it sure as hell used to be. I know that I abandoned that life because of all the politics, but it felt good to be handed something that was really important for once. Something with a deadline on it, that really mattered to someone. I don’t miss life in the palace, dressing up every day and having to intercept dodgy communications between nobles and all that. But I miss doing something that feels important, you know?”
I smiled at the cipher.
“Yeah,” I said. “I fully understand that.”
We talked for a few more minutes while Sybil flipped through one of the books and Tabitha jabbed at the map. I wanted to offer to help the women, but I didn’t think either one really wanted me to butt into their affairs right then. Spells and maps were their specialties, and I was happy to leave them to it.
“Alright,” Tabitha eventually said. “I think I have something.”
She made her way over to the desk and spread out the map. I saw that she’d plotted out a very long route, one that ran all the way through Yarikh to the forest of Thoth, and out the other end into a mountainous lake territory.
“Oh, jeez,” Sybil muttered under her breath. “My butt’s going to be sore for sure.”
“Yep,” Tabitha nodded. “But we can almost do a straight shot. It’ll be long, sure, and we’ll have to find a place to sleep for the night. But I think we can make it before the King heads into the lake.”
The cipher’s eyes widened.
“Hmm,” he said. “Do you really think you can do that run within two days’ time? And you’ll still have to convince the guards to let you speak to the king.”
I looked at the girls and shrugged.
“Sybil,” I said with a smile, “you might as well just tell him.”
The cipher eyed Sybil, who shot a look at me.
“Oh, fine,” she said. “Hank, show him the bottle.”
I rummaged through my sack and pulled out the corked green bottle. I set my sack on the ground, and the cipher eyed the mysterious solution in my hands.
“Don’t tell me,” the cipher said with a smile. “That stuff can make you run?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said and nodded. “With this stuff, I can really, really run.”
The cipher glanced at Sybil and then back at the bottle.
“Mind if I take a sniff?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said. “But bear in mind, I’m not as experienced an alchemist as you are. I’ve been through a lot of trials to create this, but this is the one that worked the best.”
“I’m sure it’ll be very impressive,” he replied.
The cipher took the bottle from my hand, held it up to the light to study it for a moment, and then uncorked it so he could take a deep smell of the solution. It was rather impressive, since I could barely take the cork out of the bottle without wanting to puke my guts out.
“This is amazing,” he said, shook his head, and then leaned in for another sniff.
“Is your nose, um…” Tabitha hesitated. “Is your nose lined with steel or something?”
The cipher threw his head back and laughed.
“You get better at ignoring the side effects of foul-smelling liquids when you’re dealing with alchemy all day,” he said. “You can pick apart the profile like you would a fine wine. And let me guess. The basis for this seems to be incredibly high-quality moon-beans.”
“Yes,” Sybil replied. “The moon-beans are from our estate.”
“Oh, really?” the cipher commented as he took another sniff.
“What else is in it?” Tabitha asked. “I want to know why it smells that way, and why it works.”
“Well, to know why it works would take years of study,” the cipher laughed. “I’m sure Sybil can explain it to you some time. But I’m getting hints of some odd mixtures. Are there crushed clam shells in here?”
“Yes,” Sybil admitted as she blushed.
“Crushed clam shells?” Tabitha asked. “What, are you trying to kill us?”
“Don’t worry,” the cipher said. “None of this is deadly. Actually, some of it might be in large quantities, but it’s all quite safe in such a small dose. I’m getting hints of a rare plant that smells like it originates near the equator. Where did you acquire such a thing?”
“I take great care to collect seeds wherever I go,” Sybil said shyly. “It’s one of the things my mother taught me.”
The cipher corked the bottle and handed it back to me.
“A very important lesson,” the cipher said. “But you’d be amazed how many witches fail to learn that. Well, I guess you’ll be heading off to Lake Wahaya now. If you don’t mind leaving the notebook with me, there are some other passages I’d like to study some more. Wenderoth had some notes about the history of vampires that might prove useful.”
“Just be careful,” I advised. “Someone already tried to steal it from my estate.”
“I may be an old man, but only a fool would dare attack a wizard in his demesne,” he said with a grin. “But yes, I’ll take some extra precautions, though I don’t think anyone will find it out here, unless they followed you.”
“I don’t think anyone followed us,” I said. “But better safe than sorry.”
The cipher nodded in agreement and looked expectantly at me, which I took as a not so subtle hint that we should leave. I started to put the vial back in my sack when my hand brushed against the cloth that I’d wrapped around the opal dagger.
“Actually,” I said. “There is one other thing you can help us with. You may know the answer, or you may be able to find it in Wenderoth’s notebook.”
“Oh, of course,” he replied as he blinked in surprise.
I carefully removed the cloth-wrapped dagger and then slowly unwrapped it until the silver blade shone in my hands. I’d forgotten just how detailed and luminescent it was.
It was beautiful, made of moon silver with a detailed, curling handle and a very slender edge. The most magnificent part of the dagger was obviously the opal. It looked like a smaller version of the moon, and it glinted in a rainbow of colors in the sunlight streaming through the cipher’s window.
“Now that is something,” he muttered as he leaned in for a closer look. “Very nice work. May I?”
The expression on his face reminded me of a kid on Christmas morning, and his hand already hovered over the blade like he knew I wouldn’t say no.
“Of course,” I said.
He took the handle delicately and went up to the window, where he turned the dagger around in the rays of sun.
“Where on earth did you get this?” he asked. “The palace would never issue such a fine weapon to a questing knight.”
“Wenderoth,” I replied. “The notebook wasn’t the only thing I picked up on that quest. This was in his stash of loot, too.”
The cipher nodded and placed the opal dagger back in the piece of cloth.
“You know,” he said. “Opal has many magical qualities, some more powerful than any other element or precious stone in Lupercalia."
“That’s what I’ve heard,” I said. “I know that it’s highly deadly in combination with moon silver, but I didn’t quite know why.”
“It’s not just deadly,” he said as he shook his head. “You can use this dagger to harness energy and protect yourself against certain dark energies. People will say it’s venomous, but it’s not venom that they’re responding to. This weapon wasn’t made to kill mere mortals.”
I looked back at Sybil and Tabitha, who were both paying close attention.
“What do you mean?” Sybil asked. “Doesn’t it work on humans and wolves?”
“Of course it will,” the cipher said. “In fact, it’ll be the easiest kill of your life. That’s why people think it’s venomous, because it can kill a human just from a scratch. But it’s not venom that does that. The magic is simply too strong for the human, or in some cases, the wolf. It’s an ideal weapon in a fight against vampires or other surly magical creatures, and that’s really why someone would carry such a weapon.”
“So it might come in handy against a zombie werewolf,” I said.
“It might,” the cipher agreed.
“But why did Wenderoth have it?” Sybil asked. “Why would he keep something that was so deadly to him?”
“You keep salves and balms that are deadly,” the cipher pointed out.
“But that’s different,” Sybil replied. “In very small doses, they can be helpful. And I’d only use a deadly dose on evil creatures.”
“So what if he was trying to protect himself against other magical creatures?” Tabitha suggested. “We always assume that the vampires are in league with all the dark monsters in Lupercalia. But what if he wanted to protect himself against them?”
“A war among the monsters,” the cipher mused. “I’d say that was good for us, unless we get caught in the middle.”
“I think he used it to kill other vampires,” I said as I tried to remember what Wenderoth had told me. “He said something about killing other vampires when they weren’t useful anymore.”
The whole room went silent, and we all stared at the dagger.
“Either way, it’s a very valuable weapon,” Melchior said with a nod. “Guard it carefully, and for the love of the Goddess, don’t let something like that get into the wrong hands.”
I nodded as I started to wrap the weapon in the cloth. I sighed when the glow was smothered again, but at least I had something else I could use against the werewolf in the lake.
I looked at the rays of light streaming through the window and saw that they were becoming brighter and brighter. Soon it would be midday, and we had to get to Lake Wahaya before the King entered the water.
“Thanks again for everything,” I said to the gangly cipher, who was leaning against one of his messy wooden ledges.
“It was my pleasure,” Melchior replied. “I didn’t think it would be, but you have shown me some of the most interesting material I’ve seen in recent months. Go safely on your journey, and when you return, I’ll be able to tell you more about what I found in the journal.”
“And thanks for showing me all of your alchemical work,” Sybil said. “It was really eye-opening. If you don’t mind, I ripped out one of the pages of your book to do with hexes."
The cipher’s eye wobbled a bit, but he forced a smile.
“Of course that’s alright,” he said with a nervous laugh. “That four-hundred-year-old book needs some use.”
Tabitha held out her hand for the cipher to shake, and he diligently took it. They shook hands, and she nodded.
“You’ve proven your worth,” she said tersely and smiled.
“Now fly away, fly away, fly away, all.” The cipher snorted with laughter at his joke and then turned back to his desk.
Since we’d clearly been dismissed again, we slipped out through the doors and back into the crisp, sunny day. The lake smelled refreshing and cool, and the breeze carried the scent of pine and lavender.
“You know,” Sybil said. “If this lake wasn’t completely ridden with monsters, I’d almost want to go for a swim.”
“I could use a cooldown after all that horrible news,” Tabitha sighed. “But we have a mission now. We have to save the King, and until that’s done, we don’t have time for a dip in the lake.”
“And we know what that means,” I said. “Time to take another swig of the magic speed juice.”
I rifled through my sack and pulled out the bottle. I was going to have to take a pretty sizeable gulp this time, because time was of the essence and this was one of the longest runs yet.
“Sorry again about the taste,” Sybil said and turned pink. “I guess what the cipher said was right. Sometimes you get so caught up putting materials together that you don’t pay attention to how bad they taste.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “This potion has served us too well for me to resent the flavor. But it might be nice if you can come up with a formula that’s easier to swallow once we’re back at the estate.”
“Then I can try it, too,” Tabitha said.
“Why would you possibly need to run anywhere?” Sybil asked as she arched an eyebrow. “You never run unless you absolutely have to, and even then, you’d rather let Hank do all the work.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Tabitha replied haughtily. “Maybe I can map out every route in the entire kingdom or something. Or maybe I’d hit the sales rack at that store Ava told us about. The one she said was a… department store?”
“Neiman Marcus,” I said. “Well, there’s a lot of them, but I know that’s one of her favorites. Okay, here goes.”
