As Kiari, Autolycus, and Comet neared the castle, Kiari felt a shiver
of uncertainty. The clouds seemed gathered over them, casting gray shadows.
The air was cool, yet still.
"This is creepy," Kiari whispered.
"Buck up. You're a priestess of Ares, a former goddess. You can handle an
abandoned castle," Autolycus assured her.
"But don't you wonder why it's abandoned?" She asked.
Autolycus shrugged, pushing his hat back. "Not really. I can only hope that
in their haste to leave this place, they forgot oh, some choice pieces of
jewelry or something else of value."
Kiari raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, it could happen."
She shook her head. "Not very likely."
They stopped at the front steps and gazed at the building before them. It
was perfectly preserved, yet too silent. Kiari was glad to note the absence
of dead bodies or the like. Everything actually seemed quite fresh and clean,
as if the occupants had gone for a walk. Yet she knew in her gut that something
was amiss with this castle.
"Ladies first," Autolycus said with a sweeping hand.
Kiari took a resolving breath, then led the way. Autolycus followed as they
made their way up the steps. The door opened without much effort and she
stepped in.
"Well, looks like they stripped the place," Autolycus commented. "But one
can hope for secret vaults in the wall."
The hall was dim and their boots clanked against the stone floors.
"No dust. Curious. Like they just left," Autolycus said.
Kiari shook her head. "No, they've been gone a long time. Didn't you see
the shrubbery outside? Everything around the castle is overgrown, yet
inside..."
They walked further along and came upon the throne room. The windows gave
them adequate light as they split up and examined the room.
"See, I knew they couldn't take everything," Autolycus said gleefully. "Look
at this stuff!"
Tapestries hung from the walls. A plush carpet led to a throne decorated
with jewels. A golden crown sat upon the throne.
"What is this?" Kiari bent down to a jewel laden chest behind the throne.
Autolycus was at her side in a second, eyes wide. "Ohh, what do we have here?"
He rubbed his hands together, ready to lift the lid. Then he stepped back,
remembering his dream.
"What's wrong?" Kiari asked, turning to him.
"Maybe we should leave it alone," Autolycus said, taking a nervous sweep
of the room. He was expecting Ares to appear out of the shadows at any
moment.
"Leave it alone? You're kidding, right? You, the king of thieves, do not
want to open what looks to be a treasure chest? What has come over you?"
Autolycus nodded. "Yes, no, yes, I don't know! You're making me dizzy with
all these questions. Besides, I had this dream..."
Kiari straightened up, hands on hips. "What kind of dream?"
"I open the chest and Ares comes up and grabs me by the throat," he put his
hand to his throat to demonstrate. "He chokes me, lifts me, then throws me
to the ground. Then he hounds me to convince you to go back to the temple.
Hmm, maybe I should've tried."
Kiari sighed. "Ares is not going to pop out of the shadows. I made sure he
couldn't track us. What else did you dream?"
A sly smile turned his lips. "Well, then I dreamt that I woke you up
and..."
"That wasn't a dream," she grinned at him. "Now, come on, let's see what's
in this thing."
Autolycus cast a wary eye on the chest. Oh, it looked inviting enough. He
shrugged. Why not? "Go ahead."
The moment her hand touched the chest, she felt a strange and ancient power.
Something extraordinary was in the chest. She tried to lift the lid, but
it was too heavy. "I can't lift it. You try."
He stepped up and knelt beside her. They both lifted up the lid.
Kiari gasped. "By the gods..."
"What?" Autolycus asked, jumping back.
"I never thought I'd see one of these," Kiari murmured. She touched the object,
felt the power emanating from within.
"It's just a globe of some kind." Autolycus peered into the chest. "A golden
globe, made of rods. A strange thing to do with gold."
"It's not gold." Kiari reached in and took the spherical object out of the
chest. Although it was large, it wasn't very heavy. She placed on a nearby
table and the two of them studied it.
"What is this thing?" He frowned at the object.
"It's an ancient object, a myth."
"Well, it can't be a myth if we're looking at it. What is it?"
"It's an Orb. It's like that Cronos stone you stole awhile back. It has strange
and wondrous powers. It's forbidden even to the gods. I remember learning
about it from the Fates."
Autolycus started twirling his mustache. "What kind of strange and wondrous
powers?"
"No one really knows. I wonder how it got here."
Autolycus wanted to touch it. "Hey, these things come out?" He tugged at
one of the rods.
"Autolycus, don't!"
But it was too late. The air hummed and the orb began to glow. A blue light
coursed through Autolycus' hand and up his arm. He let go of the rod in a
hurry.
"What the--" Autolycus was looking at his hand, which was starting to fade
out. Then he realized that he was starting to fade out. He began seeing strange
flashes of light, but he wasn't afraid.
"Autolycus," she whispered.
"I'm okay," he said, sounding very faraway. "It didn't hurt me." He turned
and Kiari knew that he was seeing something other than the castle throne
room. "You've got to see this!" He walked and disappeared.
Kiari knew, somehow, that Autolycus had stepped into another reality and
she had to follow. But why did she feel as though it was going to get her
in a lot of trouble?
She turned to the orb and put both hands on it. She concentrated on Autolycus,
then pulled on one of the rods. A blinding light flashed behind her, like
a door opening. With the orb in her arms, she walked towards the light...
Kiari found herself beside a bustling lane, horse drawn carriages flying
by her. She no longer had the orb, but for a moment she didn't notice. She
was staring at the people, who were dressed in the same manner as she, though
some a bit fancier and some a bit dirtier. What place was this?
She began to walk, her eyes searching for Autolycus. This strange place had
infinite possibilities for a thief like him and she needed to find him before
he did something regrettable. She tripped over a board on the walk and into
the arms of a man.
"Whoa there, ma'am, you've got to watch your step here." He righted her.
"Thank you, I guess I--" She smiled and looked up. Her eyes widened. It couldn't
have been that easy. "Autolycus!"
He looked down at her, puzzled. "Ma'am?"
A horse neighed behind them.
"Comet?" Kiari said, heading for the horse.
"What do you mean you know her?" The man said. The horse snorted. "Oh, don't
start with those dreams again, Comet."
Kiari turned back to the man. Damn, he looked just like Autolycus, but now
she knew better. She knew she'd like the no mustache version. "You must be
Brisco County Jr."
He tipped his hat to her. "That I am. Now, I don't suppose you'll tell me
how you know my horse and he knows you?"
How was she going to explain? She opened her mouth to answer, but a commotion
erupted down the street.
"He's taking my horse!" Someone yelled.
"My jewels, they're gone!"
"My wallet!"
A man on a horse sped by and Kiari sighed. By the gods!
"There he is!" A crowd was advancing towards Kiari, Brisco, and Comet.
"Now wait a minute," Brisco said, holding his hands up.
"So that's what you've come to, common thievery!" A man shouted.
Kiari jumped on Comet and gestured to Brisco. "Come on, we've got to get
out of here."
"Get off my horse, lady!"
"Come up here and get me off," she challenged.
He glanced at the crowd, then glared at the lady on his horse. He could probably
handle her better than the crowd. He climbed up behind her and took the
reins.
"This isn't over," he growled in her ear.
She felt a shiver in her spine as they rode away...
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1 /
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2
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4 /
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