"Don't let him get away!" Aldwyn shouted.

Despite Aldwyn's cries, Warden's retreat was successful. He disappeared into the ma.s.s of troops heading their way, and none of them had any reason to believe he was anything but an ally.

The queen's chamber was so close. If they could make it through this thronga"not defeat them, just pa.s.s by thema"they could get to Loranella's bedside and slip the vial between her lips.

With their path to the door blocked by the wall of guards and soldiers, Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert had no choice but to come to a stop. Navid and Marati did the same.

"It's over. It ends here," Navid said.

"You're letting Warden escape," Aldwyn said.

"What does he have to do with any of this?" Marati asked.

"Everything," Aldwyn replied. "He set us up. He's not who you think he is."

"His great-grandfather was Uriel Wyvern!" Gilbert croaked.

"Wyvern and Skull had no heirs," Navid said.

"Well, Commander Warden seems to think otherwise," Skylar said.

Marati turned to two of the queens' guards.

"Stop the commander before he leaves," she said. "Tell him we want to ask him a few questions."

The men did not budge.

"We have explicit orders from Commander Warden to stand our ground," one of the guards said.

"You don't take your orders from Commander Warden," Navid said. "You take them from us."

"Not anymore," the guard replied.

Navid and Marati suddenly found themselves alongside Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert, staring at a wall of armored, wand-wielding soldiers.

"I suppose we owe you an apology," Marati said.

"Save it for later," Aldwyn said. "We've brought a potion that will save the queen's life."

"It will be a challenge for even the five of us to get to that door," Navid said. "But we'll certainly give it our best."

"Maybe we don't need to get to the door," Skylar said.

"It's the only way in," Marati replied.

"Not necessarily," Skylar said.

The blue jay reached into her component satchel and gripped a talonful of moist moss. She threw it up against the outside wall of the queen's chamber and chanted, "Aquat.i.tus, aquat.i.tus!"

Suddenly the entire wall turned to water. A tidal wave flooded the hallway, soaking everyone in the standoff up to their ankles and leaving a clear path to the queen's bedroom.

"We'll cover you," Navid shouted.

Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert ran for the queen's bed. Navid and Marati did what they could to fend off Warden's soldiers. A barrage of venom blasts and astral claws took out the first wave of guardsmen.

The familiars came to Loranella's side. She looked peaceful, even though she was slipping ever closer to death. Skylar uncorked the vial and Gilbert brought it to her lips.

A second rush of traitorous soldiers managed to slip past Navid and Marati's attacks. They were coming at the three animals with wands and axes outstretched. Aldwyn looked up and telekinetically tugged the cover folded at the foot of Loranella's bed and draped it over the guards.

"Now, Gilbert!" Aldwyn shouted.

The tree frog poured the healing potion into the queen's mouth. As the last drop went down her throat, the soldiers emerged from beneath the cover. They surrounded the familiars and summoned magical shackles to ensnare them.

"Take them back to the dungeon," one of the guards ordered.

Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert stared at Loranella hopefully. But she wasn't moving.

"Maybe I brewed it wrong," Skylar said.

Navid and Marati were no longer fighting. They, too, were being taken prisoner.

"I'm sorry," Aldwyn said to them.

The soldiers began to lead the animals from the room. It really was over.

"Let them go," a regal voice said, bringing everyone in the room to a standstill.

Aldwyn spun around to see that Queen Loranella had awoken. She was sitting up in her bed, very much alive.

19.

WELL OF ASHTHERIL.

Less than twenty-four hours had pa.s.sed since the queen had been saved from the parasitic poison. And despite the palace healers' advice that she take a few days to rest and recuperate, Loranella insisted on wasting no time before returning to public view. Her first appearance would be in the palace courtyard, to resume the birthday celebration so rudely interrupted just a few days earlier.

Hundreds were gathered as before, mingling about beneath colorful streamers and floating paper lanterns. Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert had not only been cleared from their alleged crimes but once again they were celebrated as heroes of the land. They could barely take two steps without being showered with apologies and deep thanks.

Jack, Marianne, and Dalton had been released from their temporary detainment at Turnbuckle Academy and were standing proudly at their animal companions' sides.

"I still think this party was a terrible idea," Skylar said to Dalton, flapping alongside him. "With Warden's whereabouts unknown, there's no telling who's allied with him and might still want the queen dead."

"Loranella is making a clear statement to her enemies," Dalton said. "She refuses to hide. And if there are other traitors among us, they'll be exposed, too."

Marianne and Gilbert trailed just behind the others.

"I thought it might be nice to give the queen a little something from the two of us," Marianne said. "I got her this candle."

"Nuh-uh," Gilbert said. "No more gifts. I'm not taking any chances."

"Gilbert, trust me, this can't hurt her."

"A card, maybe," Gilbert said, still unconvinced. "But that's it."

Just then, Urbaugh approached.

"Excuse me," he said. "Queen Loranella has requested that the Prophesized Three join her for a moment before she makes her entrance."

Aldwyn, Skylar, and Gilbert parted with their loyals and followed Urbaugh toward an entrance to the palace.

"I want to personally apologize for misjudging the three of you," the hardened warrior said. "I was blinded by what my eyes saw, and not what my heart told me. I a.s.sure you, it will never happen again."

"We understand," Skylar said. "And accept your apology."

"Speak for yourself," Gilbert croaked. "I'm still mad. You know what they feed you in those dungeons?"

Urbaugh led them through the open doorway and left them with the queen. She was standing alone in the hallway.

"I'm running out of ways to say thank you." Loranella smiled warmly. "First you saved the queendom. Now you've saved me."

"How could no one know who Warden truly was?" Aldwyn asked. "That he was the great-grandson of Uriel Wyvern?"

"I knew," the queen replied.

The familiars all were taken aback.

"You knew?" Skylar asked. "Then why would you allow him into your inner circle? Make him one of your most trusted advisers?"

"He came to me many years ago as a young man. He said he wanted to fight in my army, but feared I would reject him. I asked him why, and he told me of his lineage. At first I told him that was impossible, that Wyvern had no heirs. Warden said that Wyvern had a secret son, and that he was one of that son's children. I didn't think it fair to punish him for the wrongs that a man he never met had committed. If I could go back now, I would do the same."

"He said the storm diamond embedded in your crown is a fake," Aldwyn told her. "And that once he finds the real one, Yajmada's armor will be ready."

"Yes, he's trying to complete what his great-grandfather was unable to. But there was one thing he didn't count on. The whereabouts of that fourth storm diamond. Even I don't know where it is."

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Gilbert asked.

"It was stolen about eight years ago," Loranella said. "My jewel keeper and his wife raided the palace vault and left with a bounty of treasure. The only item that I truly cared about was that storm diamond. I sent my greatest Beyonders to retrieve it. Jack and Marianne's parents." Aldwyn was taken aback. He couldn't believe that Jack's mom and dad were involved in this mystery as well. "Unfortunately they never returned. Additional parties were sent out in search of them, but they found no sign of them, and no sign of the diamond, either."

"Warden says he's not working alone," Skylar told her.

"I hesitate to ask after all you've done," Loranella said. "But I need the three of you to find that diamond before he does. Otherwise I fear that his revenge will destroy us all."

"There's just one question I still don't have an answer to," Aldwyn said. "While we were imprisoned in the dungeons, a message was drawn on our cell floor. Words were written in the dirt that spelled out, *Thompson Warden has storm diamonds.' They were upside down and backward. But we don't know who could have sent it."

The queen appeared puzzled.

"I really don't know," she said.

"I've been thinking about it," Skylar said. "If we had only looked at those words right side up, we would have understood the message immediately. Whoever was trying to signal us didn't know exactly where we were standing to receive it. Which makes me think they weren't looking at us when they sent us that warning."

"Gilbert, do you remember what you asked me when you saw those words forming in the dirt?" Aldwyn asked. "You wondered if it was my telekinesis that was doing it. What if it was somebody else's? Maybe another prisoner in the dungeons?"

"That's impossible," the queen said. "Each of the cells has a counterspell within it that prevents those inside from casting magic. It had to have come from somewhere else in the castle."

"What's directly above the dungeon?" Skylar asked.

"Just rock and stone," Loranella replied. "But there is something below it. Abandoned tunnels. There used to be a well that provided water for the palace, but it dried up long ago."

Aldwyn's heart began to beat faster.

"Did this well have a name?" he asked.

"It did, but I don't recall what it was," the queen said.

"Was it the Well of Ashtheril?" Aldwyn asked.

"Yes. How did you know that?"

"How do we get there?" Aldwyn asked.

"A staircase below the kitchen," Loranella replied.

The words had barely escaped her lips and Aldwyn was running.

"Aldwyn, what is it?" Skylar asked.

"Follow me," he said. "And quick."

Aldwyn couldn't move down the palace halls fast enough. He burst into the kitchen, Skylar and Gilbert trying to keep up. He took the steps two at time, past the dungeon floor, going deeper. There he found a boarded-up door. With a mighty push of telekinesis, Aldwyn bashed it open and hurried inside. It was a large, cavernous room that smelled of mildew. At its center was a ring of stone with a bottomless hole beneath it. Ancient writing was scrawled all over its walls. Melted candles and cups still wet with cider were left behind. People had been here recently. But no one was here now.

"I still don't understand," Skylar said. "What are we doing down here?"

"Gilbert," Aldwyn said. "Do you remember when I asked you to find Yeardley? I had read the guard's mind, and he indicated that the justiciary had taken her to the Well of Ashtheril. During your locavating at the party in the courtyard, your stone didn't move. We a.s.sumed that was because it wasn't working. But it was working. It was working perfectly. The well was right here. Yeardley was here. It was her telekinesis that warned us." He looked up at the ceiling. "Our dungeon cell must have been right above here."

"But my locavating never works," Gilbert argued. "Remember when we tried to find the shortest route to the Mountain Alchemist. The stone went all over the place. It didn't help at all."

"No, Gilbert," Skylar said. "The stone was right then, too. The Mountain Alchemist was already dead. He was in the Tomorrowlife, all around us. The stone was trying to tell us that."

Now Gilbert was stunned.

"She must have known we were in trouble," Aldwyn said.