Remain by Jones Alex

Author:Jones, Alex [Jones, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Rebel Ink Press, LLC
Published: 2013-05-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

In the gardens, Jace looked down on the boy with wide eyes—the meaning in the words took a moment to sink in. Once the lights go out, you will die.

“…What… What do you mean?” The adrenaline shot into his veins like molten-cold steel.

“Just what I said,” the boy stated with disinterest. “Every time it is the same. They say she put them here because she wants to keep them safe—knights she has loved, mostly. Then the lights go out and the shadows come. By the morning there is nothing left. You said she put you here to keep you safe. By dawn there will be nothing left of you but blood smeared on the grass.”

All the fear, the uncertainty, the adrenaline and doubt and anger that had been welling in Jace for the last two days burst forth. He bent down, slamming his hand on the boy’s chess board and rattling the pieces. “No!” he shouted.

The jolt shocked the boy out of his concentration. Eyes flew up—they widened first in anger then amazement as he beheld him at last.

“It won’t end tonight—not like that!” Jace demanded. “I don’t know what’s going on, or where I am, or why the hell everyone wants me dead or magicked somewhere else. I just want to go home. And I’ll be damned if I die here before that happens!”

The boy’s jaw dropped. He seemed unfazed by the tirade and frustration being hurled at him. “You…” he stuttered. “You are a mortal…”

Jace shoved back off the ground, to his feet. “Of course I am. Why do you think I’m here in the first place?”

Excitement animated the boy’s form; he scrambled to rise, kicking over the chess board in his haste. Off in the distance, the stars continued to dissipate in their cascade of darkness, and the groan of rust and metal echoed through the trees. The sound caught both of their attention; their heads turned, Jace in fear, and the boy in mad haste. “Quickly—can you write? Can you paint?”

The question startled Jace. He turned back to the boy, who looked up at him with hope and expectation. “I… Yes …”

The boy grabbed him by the sleeve, dragging him back to the chess board and pulling him down to kneel at his side. In a hasty scramble, he located a chunk of something in the grass by his side.

“Loraine won’t let me have a pouch because she is afraid of what I might hide, but I managed to hold on to this! Take it!”

A small piece of burnt wood tumbled into Jace’s open palm.

“And draw exactly what I say on the board.”

The boy was so eager, so excited, Jace readied himself to do as instructed. Then he hesitated. “Why?” he asked in distrust.

He frowned at the challenge. “Because I am the only hope you have of making it out of here alive.”

Jace couldn’t argue. He picked up the bit of charcoal, holding it like a piece of chalk. The boy bent over his shoulder and then, as if in afterthought, added softly,

“And my name is Llewellyn.

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