Antoinette heard the jangle of keys, followed by a metallic click and the groan from the hinges of the chamber door. “Kearn!” she called out to the darkness.
“Yes, m’lady,” Kearn replied, stepping forward into the moonlight. “I have brought you something to eat, but a moment, please. This darkness will never do.” Kearn placed a tray on the one chair in the chamber and disappeared into the hallway. He returned bearing a large torch, which he placed in a holder on the wall.
“There, now we can look upon each other.” He grinned as he placed the tray on the floor by Antoinette’s cell. “Please, eat, m’lady.”
“I’m not your lady!” Antoinette growled.
“Be that as it may,” he replied, “you must have something. The meat is cured, the bread is fresh—it is all unspoiled. The mug is full of water from snowmelt. You will find it quite refreshing.”
Antoinette was starving. Well, if they wanted me dead, they could’ve done that long ago, she thought. She reached through the bars and grabbed a piece of bread. At first she took only a tentative nibble. The bread wasn’t just good—it was fantastic. Feathery-light texture, sweet, and still warm! Antoinette tore off a large hunk and jammed it into her mouth. She kept eating until the plate was clear.
“Excellent, Antoinette!” Kearn laughed. “Now it is time for a little exchange of information.”
Antoinette eyed Kearn suspiciously.
“Nay, m’lady. I guess your mind,” Kearn said. “Fear not. I have not come to pry from your lips King Eliam’s secret battle plans, for they matter little to my master.”
“Then why are you here?” Antoinette asked pointedly.
Kearn’s eyes flickered red. He stood and paced near the cell. “I am . . . troubled,” he whispered. “Your actions thwart every reasonable explanation! You hunted me across a hundred leagues, and yet when I was snared, you did not kill. Thrice you placed your life in jeopardy to save mine—even when I made it perfectly clear that I serve Paragor and no other. Tell me, are all the beings from the Mirror Realm so stubborn?”
Antoinette actually laughed. “No, I’m about the most stubborn person I know.”
“I doubt it not,” Kearn replied. “But there is also courage . . . and strength. The very mention of my name strikes terror into the hearts of my foes, yet you stood up to me . . . to me! And while I can dispatch most knights five at a time, I could not defeat you without guile. Even though you are my enemy, I do respect your strength.”
“It is not my strength, Kearn,” Antoinette replied.
“Nonsense!”
She stood as best she could, hindered by the chains around her ankles. “I have strength and skill because King Eliam willed for it to be so. While most other girls in my world were playing with dolls, I was taught to fight with a sword. And I have the advantage. I attack without fear, for I know that if I die, I will go to the Sacred Realm Beyond the Sun.”
“There is no such place.”
“You said yourself that those who served Paragor well will be remembered in the world to come. You must believe something happens after you die,” Antoinette said.
“Yes . . .” Kearn hesitated. “It is as I said. Paragor will ultimately triumph over Alleble and hold dominion over all The Realm. On the rubble of Alleble, Paragor will create a new kingdom where those who served the master well will have riches and be revered by all those beneath us!”
“Paragor promises you power and fortune, if you’ll serve only him. It is the same thing he promised the kingdoms of Mithegard, Acacia, and Clarion—right before he destroyed them. It is his way. If I had my Book of Alleble I could show you.”
“You mean that worn-out leather volume over there?” Kearn asked, pointing to the corner of the chamber far outside her cell. Her book lay open, facedown in the shadows. “The guards no doubt cast it aside.”
“My book!” Antoinette replied eagerly. “May I have it . . . please?”
Kearn looked over at the book and back at Antoinette. “Nay, you have your head already too full of Alleble’s harvest tales. Let it lie there and mock you.”
“Kearn!”
“No, you have said your piece!” Kearn roared. “Now, I will say mine. You came after me, you say, to see me turn from my master and bend the knee to King Eliam. That is your wish?” Kearn turned his back to Antoinette for a moment and continued. “You say to me to leave the riches, adoration, and power I have here to be a common knight in the Kingdom of Alleble? Betray my master simply on your word, and let my eyes reflect back the weak blue of King Eliam’s servants . . . that is what you are asking, is it not?”
Antoinette stared at his back.
“Well, m’lady of the Mirror Realm,” he said, his voice deep and stalking. “I give you what you ask.” Kearn turned around suddenly, and as Antoinette looked into his eyes, she swayed as if she might fall. For Kearn’s eyes flickered blue as only the eyes of those who follow King Eliam do.
“How can this be?” Antoinette asked.
Kearn laughed and held up a small corked vial. He took out the cork and sipped from the bottle. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they flickered red in the manner of Paragor’s servants.
“Yewland,” Antoinette gasped. “That’s how you fooled Queen Illaria in Yewland, isn’t it?”
Kearn nodded. “Yewland and so many other places! It is remarkably easy to turn King Eliam’s allies against him. You would think they would be more . . . devoted.”
“Trickery!” Antoinette yelled. “Deceit! Don’t you see, Kearn? That’s just another example of Paragor’s way!”
“Silence! How easily you cast out such accusations. Do you think your own King, the noble King Eliam of Alleble, is without guile? Would it pain thee then to know that he has kept hidden his true purpose for you in The Realm?”
Antoinette stood very still.
“Oh, yes, your good King has very interesting plans for you, m’lady . . . for you and the others. But Paragor has plans for you as well—much better plans,” Kearn said. “You see . . . they are out there. My master knows, and he will find them before King Eliam. And in that moment, Alleble will be utterly destroyed.”
“That will never happen! King Eliam defeated Paragor the first time and cast him into exile. He will do it again.”
“Pity, no,” Kearn replied. “Alleble will fall. Your beloved King knows this.”
“Lies!” Antoinette cried. “Stop it! It’s all lies!”
“If they are lies, Antoinette,” Kearn said with a hideous smile, “then they are King Eliam’s lies. For Alleble’s destruction is foretold in the Scroll of Prophecy written by King Eliam’s own hand!”
Kearn took the torch from the wall, left the chamber, and locked the door behind him. Antoinette was left in utter darkness. Tears ran down her cheeks.
Antoinette awoke with the dawn. She found a new tray of food just outside her cell. She took a bite of the bread and savored it. Surely this was not the kind of food that prisoners in Paragory usually received. She went to take another bite, but then dropped the bread on the floor. Her Book of Alleble, which had lain in the corner of her cell just the night before, was gone.
