“I have a good idea,” I said nervously. “Let’s turn around and go home.”
“I have to agree,” Gary said. “Do you know what this cold is doing to my skin? I’m probably as dried and cracked as a dried-out crack addict.”
“There, there,” Tiggy said, running his thick fingers over Gary’s neck. “Pretty Gary not cracky Gary.”
“Thank you, my love,” Gary said. “It’s good to be appreciated, no matter where we are. Sam, you would do good to remember that. I always need to be complimented when we go someplace new. You know I have a very fragile sense of self.”
“You look super awesome,” I said. “Your scarf makes you look like you aren’t being wind-raped.”
Gary preened. “It does, doesn’t it? The gods only know there is nothing worse than arriving someplace new, not receiving a compliment, and having wind-rape hair. I am so glad I remembered to pack twenty-seven different scarves. It just wouldn’t do to be caught wearing the same one two days in a row. I mean, could you just imagine the scandal?”
No, I couldn’t, but I nodded dutifully before turning back to Morgan to give him the ol’ Look-How-Precious-Sam-Is big eyes, sure that I could convince him to turn us right around and go home.
Unfortunately for me, Morgan proved to be impervious in the face of my awesomeness. It was the bane of my existence. “Keep walking,” he said, sounding amused.
“Godsdammit,” I muttered under my breath. “You never let me do anything.”
“Yes, yes. Your life is so hard. Whatever was I thinking.”
Randall, of course, was waiting for us at the entrance to the castle, like a creeper. His arms were crossed over his chest, and there were flecks of snow in his beard.
“It’s about time,” he said, ignoring me completely. “Get inside before I leave you out here as a penance for your dillydallying.”
Dillydallying, I mouthed to Gary, who rolled his eyes.
“I saw that,” Randall said.
“Eep,” I said and tried to think about anything but penises.
I’D BEEN back a handful of times after that as I got older, always at Randall’s request.
Each time he’d been waiting for me at the entrance.
This time, though….
“…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAHHHHHH!” I shrieked as we snapped into existence in front of the legendary Castle Freesias.
My feet hit the ground, and I stumbled forward.
And immediately vomited onto the snow.
We’d eaten mutton the night before.
It wasn’t the best idea.
“No offense,” I said, wiping a string of bile from my lips, “but your method of travel really sucks my nuts.”
“Maybe you should just have a stronger constitution,” Randall pointed out.
“Great. This is going to be just great.”
Randall ignored me, which was probably the best way to deal with me. He headed toward the entrance to Castle Freesias, leaving me no choice but to follow.
The snow was thick on the path that led to the castle. Every step I took, I sank into the snow just up to my knee. It was slow going, but there were shots of blue in the bone-white clouds above, and it wasn’t as cold as I expected it to be. Now if only I could reconcile the present company, I’d be doing just fine.
Castle Freesias was… old. It was one of the few structures left in Verania that still held legendary status. Castle Lockes was one. I suppose if more people knew of the former castle where Zero currently resided, that would be another. Time hadn’t been kind to a lot of the old ways, the progressive march into the future aggressive and inflexible. We were living in an age of machines where much of my birthright—this magic I contained—was passing more into legend than fact. The days when wizards had been commonplace were rooted firmly in the past. It had been the age of Randall, and partly Morgan. I thought maybe Myrin’s betrayal had been the reason for the downfall even if he’d been erased from the mind of Verania.
But Castle Freesias had been here a long time. I’d found mentions of it going back centuries but never read anything about a town that might have surrounded it. There was nothing around the castle aside from the mountains and trees and snow, no ruins that could have signaled that this place had once been like the City of Lockes. I didn’t think Randall had made this place. I thought it was before even him.