AFTERMATH

The next morning broke bright and clear. The shadow of the attempted assassination was swept away by the dazzling sun, and the festivities continued in the merry town. Inside the castle Fred groaned and turned over. A beam of sunlight shot into his eyes and they creaked open. He saw a figure close by the window, and the memory of the previous night came back to him. He sat up and his hand missed the edge of the bed; he tumbled to the floor and knocked his head hard on the harder stones.

"Damn it!" he cursed. Fred sat back on his legs and clutched at his head. He remembered he wasn't alone and his head snapped up; a guard stood near him with a suppressed smirk on his face.

"Did you need help, sir?" the guard asked him.

"What? Oh, no, I'm fine. I meant to do that, it's my morning stretches." Fred stood and looked around; his companions weren't in sight, but the door was open. He glanced back to the guard. "Could you tell me-"

"-where your friends are?" a voice finished. Fred swirled around and he saw Captain Spalding in the doorway. "They are down in the dining hall eating their breakfast. Would you like me to accompany you?"

Fred frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Why would you need to do that? This place isn't that big."

"We have orders from Lord Tramadore to protect you. Until we're told otherwise then you must have a guard with you at all times," Spalding explained.

Fred cringed. "At all times?" he repeated.

The captain smiled. "At all times," Spalding confirmed.

"If I can't get out of this then I guess you can come with me," Fred agreed.

Spalding, the guard and Fred went to the dining hall and found the room as jovial as the night before. The guests were all aflutter with the news of the assassination attempt on Sturgeon and the earthquake from the night before. Fred wondered why they stared at Ned, and not him; not knowing the lie Lord Tramadore told his guests for the previous night's tremor. They were curious about his armed entourage, though, and he received his fair share of attention.

Pat noticed his entrance and watched him move down to take a seat beside Ned. "How are you feeling?" she asked him.

Fred shrugged. "Like somebody hit me on the head with an anvil."

"That may have something to do with the fall out of bed," the guard spoke up.

Fred glared at him, and Spalding intervened. "If you're comfortable, we'll be on our way." The captain and the guard left them.

"You fell out of bed?" Pat asked him.

He appreciated the concern in her voice, but waived off his humiliating awakening. "It's nothing," he mumbled. He glanced between the two. "So what happened last night? I don't remember anything after-"

Ned put his hand over Fred's mouth and his eyes darted tot he other guests. More than one conversation died down to focus on theirs. "For another time," Ned advised the boy.

Lord Sturgeon was conspicuously absent from the breakfast, but his son, Percy, was one of the guests. After the three companions finished their meal and rose to leave, he came up to them with a bright smile on his face. Percy held out his hand to Ned. "I wanted to personally thank you for saving my father's life," he told them.

Ned ignored the distending hand. "We were merely fulfilling our duty to protect those who needed it," he replied.

Percy dropped his hand but shook his head. "Not everyone would do the same, especially for my father. He's made a great many enemies in his dealings, and I'm grateful that at the first attempt you were there to intercede." He looked to each of them and stopped on Pat; his smile brightened. "But I hope this won't cut short your stay here. Tonight is the fireworks display, and no place in the world can beat our men with gunpowder."

Pat blushed and looked down. Ned glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. "We had planned to stay here one more night, but our plans may change," Ned replied.

The girl's head shot up. "Surely we can stay here one more night," she pleaded with him.

Ned frowned but bowed his head. "Then it's settled. Our plans will remain as they were."

Percy grinned and grabbed Ned's hand in his own; he roughly shook the old man's hands and his voice bespoke his pleasure. "I shall be glad to host a dinner in your honor this evening. Say you will come."

Pat was disappointed when her guardian shook his head. "That can't be. Lord Tramadore expects us here, and we can't refuse his invitation on such short notice."

"Then you must allow me to finish the tour my father gave you," Percy begged them. "Or at the very least to take this lovely young woman to the market. Our jewelry is the best in the world, but I will try to find something worthy of her."

"I accept," Pat replied. Ned opened his mouth, but a warning glance from her shut it. Fred stepped back to avoid the displeasure that emanated off them both.

"Then shall we go now?" Percy invited.

"In a moment. I need to speak with Ned and ready myself," Pat promised.

"Then I shall wait for you in the hall." The young man kissed her hand, flashed his smile and allowed them to leave.

When they reached the hallway Ned followed Pat into her room; she expected him to, and turned around with a sigh. "I know this is foolish of me when we're so close to the border, but it is because we're so close that I wish to take this last chance at personal bliss."

"Would it not be wise for me to accompany you?" Ned asked her. "You're not ignorant of Lord Tramadore and my own suspicions toward the father. What makes you believe the son is any better?"

Pat crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. "A son is not his father any more than the father is the son," she countered. "And if you can't show me evidence to implicate the young man then I have nothing but your suspicions to rely on. Besides, if I needed a guard I would rather have this boy here." She nodded to Fred. "He performed admirably last night, which is more than you can say."

Ned looked over her face carefully, and finally nodded. "Very well. Go with him, but do not leave the city."

Pat smiled, grabbed her coat and dashed out of the room. Fred watched her go, but Ned continued to stare straight ahead. The boy heard a sigh and looked back to the old man. Ned chuckled, soft and low, and shook his head. "Only yesterday I would have laughed at the idea that a mere boy would prove more capable than me of protecting her, but-" Ned turned and smiled at Fred, "-you've certainly proved my former self wrong. Yet I get the feeling you would trade in the responsibility for the home from which I took you."

Fred shrugged. "Probably. I don't understand anything that's happening, and I really don't understand this thing." He pulled out the stick he kept at his waist. His eyes broached over every cracked piece of letter and splintered piece of wood; it told him only part of the picture. "Where did it come from? How can I get this thing to work? What am I supposed to do with it?"

Ned shuffled forward and put his hand on Fred's shoulder; he was glad when the boy didn't shy away. "The wood of that staff came from an ancient tree that grew in the garden of a very old temple managed by the priests of Phaeton. It was whittled with great care and imbued with a most powerful magic, one only the pure of heart can use."

Fred wrinkled his nose. "Pure of heart? Shouldn't a girl be wielding this thing?"

Ned laughed and patted Fred's shoulder. "I've met many women with hearts blacker than coal, and many men whose souls would put the purest winter snow to shame. You would know the world is more complicated than it seems if you choose to go with us on this journey."

The boy put the stick back; he would keep it until he was sure the assassin was gone from his life. "I don't think I'm cut out for everything you two are going to find. I barely got out alive last night with that assassin."

Ned leaned down and caught the boy's eyes in his. "But you did survive. That's proof enough that you have some ability in you."

"Well, maybe that ability will be useful to a blacksmith or a tanner, but not for you two," Fred replied.

Ned sighed, straightened himself and nodded. "Yes, perhaps it may, but the future is a very mysterious thing. It may lead you down paths you don't wish to go, but that destiny demands you travel."

Fred narrowed his eyes and looked into the old man's face; he felt there was something Ned wasn't telling him, but he couldn't be sure. He didn't know the old man that well to tell if he was hiding something or not. "Yeah, well, I guess I'll just enjoy the day and tomorrow see about Lord Tramadore's promise."