The First Dragon(76)
“Do you know where you are?” she asked. “This is no place for visitors. There is a price to pay to sup at this inn.”
“What price is that?” Madoc asked.
“One life, for one hour here,” she said. “One of you must give themselves to death, or none may enter.”
“All of us are coming in,” Laura Glue said as she rummaged through her bag. “I’ve got a pass.”
She pulled out the bone hourglass that the Serendipity Box had given her, turned it over, and twisted the valve. Slowly the grains began to slide through the neck of the glass.
“This is acceptable,” the woman said, “as long as you understand that all of your party must abide by the glass. If any still remain on this island when the sand runs out, then all are forfeit, and if you cross the threshold again, you will die the final death, and not return.”
“I understand,” said Laura Glue.
The woman could barely suppress her expression of surprise and delight. “Then you are welcome here on Youkali,” she said, “but there is one more caveat—whatever you are Named, you must cross this threshold as you really are. None can be here in this place except as they truly are, and not as they appear.”
“We know who we are,” Rose said. “And we’re not afraid to pass.”
The woman stood aside, and one by one, the companions entered. Rose and Edmund simply walked across the threshold, unchanged, as did Uncas and Fred.
“We animals in’t very complicated,” Uncas explained as they passed.
Charles also passed unchanged. “I do feel a bit more like a writer than an editor,” he said, “but I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”
Quixote, however, youthened considerably as he entered the inn. “To be young in one’s heart is the greatest achievement,” he said.
“Good work,” said Uncas.
Jack’s change was much more dramatic, as was Madoc’s.
On entering, Jack became a boy again, as he had once been on the island of the Lost Boys. And Madoc lost his wings, and much of his age, becoming a fresh-faced youth not much older than Jack.
“Ah,” said Charles. “So now we see the truth of things. And our Madoc truly is Madoc again.”
“Come,” the woman said as she ushered them into the next room. “You may join our other guests for tea.”
In the main room, the companions were astonished to see the tea party taking place. Sitting around an elaborately set table were five guests: a very young man with red hair that kept spilling into his eyes; a very young woman who was demurely nibbling at a cookie; an older, bearded man who wore an expression of such sadness that it was almost palpable; a very aged man, who was so old that his skin resembled the most fragile parchment, and whose eyes radiated hatred; and a badger, who immediately leaped up to greet the newcomers.
The reunion of Tummeler with his son and grandson, and with his old partner Charles, was so filled with joy and happiness that even the old woman started to tear up. The three badgers and the Caretaker whooped and hollered and hugged one another until it seemed they would burst.
“To see that, something so wonderful, I would pay almost any price,” the young man said.
“Samaranth?” Rose exclaimed. “Is that you?”
“It is,” the young angel replied, nodding, “but you’ve come just moments too late. I’ve already lost the Archipelago to Dr. Dee.”
♦ ♦ ♦
The companions all suddenly realized that there were hourglasses of bone identical to Laura Glue’s in front of each of the guests, but only one, in front of the old man with the terrible visage, was still trickling sand through the glass.
As if in confirmation of Samaranth’s words, he reached out and grasped a crystal box, which was glowing a soft purple, and pulled it across the table closer to him.
“The Archipelago,” said the man they now realized was Dee, “is mine.”
“How did you cross the threshold?” Charles exclaimed. “You would have to sacrifice a life to—”
“That’s exactly what I did,” Dee said, gesturing at a sorry-looking shadow in the far corner. “What do you think I brought Crowley for?”
“My time ran out, all too quickly,” Samaranth said, “and as Sycorax can confirm, I cannot take the Amethyst Box with me without destroying the entire Archipelago.”
“But the time limits,” Jack began.
“The box is protected,” the woman Sycorax said, “but it must be taken elsewhere, away from this house, before it can be opened.”
“We can take it!” Rose exclaimed, reaching for the box.