The Shadow Dragons - James A. Owen [72]
“What did he say they were called?” asked Jack.
“Lunch.”
“That’s terrible,” said Charles. “Is that all he said to you?”
“No,” said Artus. “He told me that I was the King of the Silver Throne, and the dragons served at my pleasure and could be released from service by blowing a horn that he kept in his cave. He said it was very old, and then he said something I didn’t understand—he told me it was from a time and place before he was a dragon.”
“That’s interesting,” said Jack. “So what did you do?”
Artus sighed. “I blew the horn. Then I came back to the castle and formed a republic. Everything has been utter chaos ever since.”
“Well,” said Jack, “sometimes the magic works.”
“And sometimes, you really wish it hadn’t,” said Artus. “I wonder if it’s possible to unblow a horn?”
“It isn’t possible to unblow a horn,” Samaranth said disapprovingly. “You’re intelligent enough to know that, Artus.”
It had not taken the companions long to reach Samaranth’s cavern, and once they were there, it took even less time for them to realize that he was not pleased to see them.
“The Caretakers have not remained steadfast in their jobs,” he said in a raspy voice, “and the King of the Silver Throne has handled his stewardship with even less aplomb.”
“We’ve dealt with every crisis we’ve been called to,” Jack pointed out. “Minor and major. And we’ve always emerged triumphant.”
Samaranth snorted one, twice, and then three times—and they realized he was laughing. “Triumphant? Really? With the Keep of Time nearly destroyed, the Morgaine and the Green Knight gone from Avalon, and a new power rising in the Archipelago who may in fact be the enemy you were brought to defeat to begin with? In what way do you consider that triumphant, little Caretakers?”
“We’re learning the value of persistence,” said Charles. “That’s a start.”
Samaranth sighed heavily and regarded the companions with weary eyes.
“That you are,” he said, blowing out a thin cloud of smoke. “I’ll tell you this much. The Prophecy you are meant to fulfill is true—and you have been in the midst of it since the first time we met.
“So, consider everything that has passed before now to be a test. A test of your worthiness to survive.”
“As Caretakers?” asked Jack.
“As a king?” said Artus.
“No,” Samaranth replied. “As a race.”
“We’ll meet the test,” said Charles. “We just need to know if we’ll be seeing it through alone.”
“You aren’t alone unless you believe you are,” said Fred.
“The Child of the Earth speaks wise,” Samaranth said to Artus. “Ask what you’re here to ask.”
Artus swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “Can I still summon the dragons?”
The great red dragon ambled over to one of the metallic compartments that lined the walls of the cave and removed a horn. It was stained ivory and curved in on itself like a lily.
“There’s one call in it left,” he said as he handed it to Artus. “Do not use it until there is no other option. Once the horn is blown, it will be useless to you. So choose your time wisely and well.”
“It will bring back the dragons?” said Artus.
“It will do whatever you wish for it to do,” said Samaranth. “The Horn of Bran Galed was one of the great treasures of the world. It was acquired by Merlin before he became the Cartographer, and it originally belonged to a centaur who was slain by Hercules. Most of those whose hands it passed through believed that its particular value lay in the fact that it would contain any drink one wished for. The truth was, it gave one anything one wished for, and stupid, stupid man-creatures wasted almost all of its wishes on ale and wine.”
“So when you told me that blowing it would free us from our dependency on the dragons . . . ,” said Artus.
“That’s what it gave you, because that’s what you wanted the most,” said Samaranth. “The desire for independence. It’s one of the qualities that makes you a good leader—but you also lost