The figure pulled back the hood, revealing black hair and a cold expression. The face was similar to the one Raith anticipated but not the same. His surprise was plain.
“I am not who you expected?” the figure asked.
“S-s-s,” stuttered Raith, confused as blackness overtook him. “Soliander?”
“Indeed,” confirmed the arch wizard, “the real Soliander.”
Chapter 18 – End Game
Right from the start Eric had his suspicions. He’d only traveled via worm hole – or whatever it was – once before, but the vivid memory remained. There had been lots of flashing lights, roaring sounds, wardrobe changes, that sort of thing, but none of that happened this time. Maybe the spell sending them home was different, but they still needed their clothes back. Granted, all this magic stuff was rather new to him, but something didn’t seem right. It wasn’t just his lingering fear that they weren’t really headed home either. His suspicions only deepened when the spell stopped almost as soon as it began.
His first thought was that something had gone wrong. For one, he still wore the leather armor and weapons, Matt still looked like a wizard, and Ryan and Anna hadn’t changed either. They also weren’t standing in a field surrounded by the stone monoliths of Stonehenge, but in the center of a dusty chamber with cobwebs on the walls. The stone work, general disrepair, and odor of decay seemed familiar. Through a dirty, stained-glass window off to one side, forest-covered foothills sloped away for miles. A nearby wooden door stood closed, but another was open enough to reveal a tall, swiveling mirror with the looking glass removed. The room was sparsely furnished, but what little remained lay covered in filth and mold, mildew having rotted cushions and curtains. The only newer items were a wooden tray with an empty plate and drinking cup on the center table, and a rough cot in one corner. Upon this sat a woman about twice their age. She looked to have seen better days, for the dirtiness of the room had clung to her gown, face, and hands, as if the room’s disrepair were slowly consuming her, making her a part of itself.
Anna turned to him. “Where are we?”
It was the woman who answered. “Castle Darlonon. I assume from your astonished expressions that you did not come here to rescue me?”
“No,” Anna answered. She peered curiously at the woman. “You look a lot like Queen Lorella.”
“That’s because I am Queen Lorella,” she replied, rising with a natural air of authority her surroundings hadn’t changed.
“You do look a lot like her,” Ryan admitted, stepping closer, “enough to be her sister maybe, but we just came from where she is.”
“Olliana? That is an imposter and has been for some time.”
“How do we know you’re not the illusion?” Eric asked.
“The staff isn’t telling me there’s anything,” Matt observed. Suddenly he looked surprised and opened his mouth to say something when Anna spoke.
Anna asked, “Why would someone impersonate the queen?”
“Because the queen learns all,” said a bold female voice from the other room, “and that’s just the sort of information I need.”
They stared as another Queen Lorella stepped into view wearing a smug sneer and a tight-fitting leather outfit showing a dragon’s head emblazoned on the breast, every tone and movement hinting at danger and cunning, not elegant benevolence. Behind her stood a swivel mirror shimmering with light. Eric noticed that Matt looked less surprised than the others. Had the staff warned him that magic mirror was on?
“You have no doubt noticed,” continued the new arrival, stalking into the room in black, heeled boots, “that you have not been safely delivered to your precious home world, wherever that may be – and I intend to know. A visit there seems only fitting once I have terrorized Honyn, a joy for which I will wait no longer. When done I will return to tear answers from your hearts, one by one, until there is nothing left of you. And what I want most to know is where the real champions are.”
Looking back and forth between the two queens, Ryan objected, “But the spell was supposed to send us back. We finished the quest.”
“Did you now?” the imposter interrupted, snidely amused. “You accomplished nothing more than what I let you believe, fool! The gate stands open even now. Its closing was an illusion, as was Sonneri’s attempt to send you home, though he thought it was real, but he saw what I wanted him to see while another spell of mine brought you here.” She laughed cruelly.
“Nir’lion,” Eric said in realization. Two dragons had come through. Who had they killed?
“But we killed Nir’lion,” Ryan protested.
“No!” the dragon snarled, slapping him so hard that he crashed to the floor with three bloody gashes on his cheek. “You killed my daughter,” Nir’lion growled as Anna bent down to him, “and for that I will roast you alive!” Tendrils of smoke drifted up from her nostrils, a reek of power from her engulfing the room like a smothering weight.
“What now?” asked Eric, hoping to distract her from more violence.
“Oh, I want a great many things. My brethren will be arriving in minutes to take back this world that belongs to us.”
Hoping for answers and to stall, he asked, “Why didn’t all of you come back before? Why just you and your daughter?”
She gave him a withering look. “What point lay there in that? Unless I found and killed every wizard able to close the gate, someone could just send us back. I had to find and execute them all first, before anyone knew we’d returned. Perndara ruined that by being seen.”
“You didn’t know only Soliander can do it. Or someone with the ore.”
“Yes, not until I replaced the queen here and read the
