“From where I’m standing, pretty damn dumb since you tried to let a dangerous beast run free without a backup plan. I don't know how he got here. I know it sounds unbelievable, but I woke up the other morning and he was sprawled half-dead across my doorstep. I fed him and took care of him and now I've locked him up until we find a way to reverse whatever spell he's under." Edwin gazed into the cage at my father, his chest rising as he took a deep breath then exhaled loudly. "I want to help him as much as you do. But my way will be a lot safer for everyone. Plus it was his choice to come to find me instead of going home."
I shook out my hands, every part of me afire and my brain completely unable to get it under control. I glanced at my snarling father in the cage. What would I have done with him if I’d set him free? He might have killed me and ran off again so that we’d never find him. But Edwin? Something twinged deep in my muscles when I saw his smug face. Things didn’t add up.
"Why you?” I grabbed the sides of my head and tried to sort out my thoughts as I paced in circles. “Out of every place he could have gone, in the state he's in, why would he risk coming all the way up here just to see you?"
Edwin crossed his hands behind his back and widened his stance. "Because out of everyone in the entire kingdom he trusts me. He knows I might be the only one that can help him."
“Really?” I met his stare, not willing to back down so easily. Last time I’d been here he didn’t have the highest opinion of my family, but all of a sudden he was going to help? "Then how come he's never spoken of you?"
A dark shadow cast over his face as his proud smile deflated to an angry frown. "Because we had a falling out many years ago and I’ll bet he never intended on seeing me again. Besides, from what my daughter tells me you've been left in the dark about a lot of things. It's no wonder you hadn't heard of me."
I crossed my arms to protect myself while doubting every line he threw my way. He was right, someone had been lying to me, but was it really my parents or was it him?
Edwin softened his tone and stepped away from the cage. I stared after his every move, but stayed in one spot, still unsure how to react now. His ability to flip from angry to calm tossed me off guard. Maybe all the years of training to be a wise man helped control his emotions. Or maybe he didn’t really care that much at all.
”Your father and I used to be very close, and I worked for him at the castle. I was his confidante. A consultant of sorts."
"So, you were on the Council?”
"Not exactly, the Council can’t provide the same type of assistance that I can. In fact, the Council and I didn't get along very well."
"It sounds like there were a lot of people at the castle that you did not get along well with.”
He laughed, "You're right. People hate what they fear. They ostracize what scares them.”
I looked him over. Nothing about him, other than his self-righteous sneer, screamed menace. His bulky frame could easily be overtaken by the most inexperienced guard, even though his wider shoulders looked like he might have been muscular back in his younger days. "You don't look that intimidating to me.”
"Because you’re an arrogant know-it-all. Plus, you haven't seen what I can do.” An odd, mischievous twinkle flashed in his eyes and a chill pulsed through me.
“Watch that statue over there.” He pointed at the brilliant golden eagle perched on the right corner of the temple.
He closed his eyes for a moment and brought his hands together in front of him as if in prayer. The mountain fell into silence. Even the breeze stopped blowing while he postured in front of me.
Suddenly, Edwin whipped his right hand over his head and flexed his fingers into a claw shape. A strange blue light emanated from his fingertips and snaked through the air like smoke. It billowed higher and higher in the air as it snaked toward the eagle statue. A loud crack echoed through the peaks and the golden figure spread its metal wings as the blue light wrapped itself around the metal bird. The statue’s head turned and stared at us, then it pitched into the air and glided off the side of the building.
The eagle statue circled above our heads, flapping its wings occasionally to keep momentum. The sun reflected off its body, and I shielded my eyes, still not believing what I saw. Alizeh jumped to her feet and squawked at the gilded bird, chasing at it, her beak snapping loud and angry behind us.
"How did you…" But the words stuck in my throat as I kept staring into the sky, wonder and dread mixing a strange cocktail in my blood as my heart pounded a warning my chest.
"Magic," Edwin said, "I can do a lot of things that you probably haven't even dreamed of."
I’d heard of people who could do things like this, but never met one, especially not in Aboria. Enchanted creatures walked all over these lands, but humans who could wield magical powers, that was something only people in far off lands could do. Places like Enchantia or maybe even in Oz. But not here. Never here.
Edwin snapped his fingers and the blue smoke cloaking the eagle dissipated. Immediately, the metal bird’s
