Page 26 of Midnight Kingdom

I can see changes in the others, as well. Revenant is more cautious and even a little bit optimistic. His newfound friendship with the necromancer, Pyre, seems to be giving him some type of purpose. Even Flumph, despite his complaining, has found some sort of meaning to his life. Cambion is, as usual, too concerned with whatever’s going on in his own mind to notice the outside world.

My heavy boots cause the boards beneath my feet to creak as I search for Noni. She shakes her head and clicks her tongue in disappointment when she sees me up and moving.

“Mr. Dragan, you should be resting. Noni take care of you.”

“Thank you, Noni, but... I need your help with something,” I say, hedging around the subject. I can’t go after Eilish and Pyre because Cambion was right—I can barely walk. Furthermore, no one knows the way to the Echoing Spire. So, I have no choice but to stay here and wait for their return. In the meantime, there’s some unfinished business I need to take care of, and I’m not familiar with the other areas of The Veil.

“What Shadow King need Noni help with?”

“I need to see Thoradin,” I say. “Do you remember when we talked about him?”

Thoradin was my lead Centurion and my friend. He was killed and Noni told me his spirit was in The Veil.

“Oh, yes. The big stone man. Noni like him.”

“Can you take me to him?” I ask. When Noni nods her little head, I can’t help the smile that lands on my face. She pats my cheek and scurries off to grab her coat.

“Winter coming soon,” she says. “Will be good to be prepared for it.” Noni leads me outside.

“When did you first see Thoradin?” I ask her.

“When he first come here,” Noni replies. “When Master busy, Noni like to help spirits find their way to a place where they be happy.”

“How do you take them to this place?”

“There be portals that help Noni get around. She use the portals to take the spirits.”

“Is that where we’re going?”

“Yep! Noni take you there.”

She scampers alongside me. I look around the forest, taking in the landscape. I’ll never get used to this place. Not when the trees are bare and towering over me, backlit by an endless sky filled with millions of swirling galaxies. Here, I don’t have to worry about turning to stone. That’s when I remember Pyre’s promise—that he’s working on some type of magical elixir that will keep me from turning to stone while we’re in the realms. I can only hope he’s successful. As it now stands, the only reason I haven’t been doomed to my gargoyle form is owing to Eilish. There’s something about her light and dark magic that allows me to keep my mortal form.

We arrive at a stone slab surrounded by a circle of rune-marked rocks. I have to take a break and rest after the walk. It wasn’t far but it’s exhausted me, all the same. I lean on a large outcropping of dark rock and breathe in deeply.

Noni takes a piece of chalk from the small pouch that hangs around her waist and begins scrawling symbols on the stone.

“Stand back, Mr. Dragan.” She hurries over to my side, hand fisted in my pant leg, dragging me back a few paces. With a few whispered words, purple light flares at the heart of the stone slab. It crackles like lightning and breaks open like shattered glass.

“Come. Quick, before it close.”

That strange feeling of cold reaching down into my soul rushes through me as I step beyond the portal. My vision briefly goes black before clearing once more. I stand in the center of what appears to be a graveyard. Noni climbs up my side and onto my shoulders. She stretches one arm, pointing to a cave partially hidden along the rock face of what appears to be a canyon.

“The stone man in there, Mr. Dragan.”

I follow Noni’s lead once again and head towards the cave. Spirits roam the graveyard and I wonder why Thoradin chooses to stay in such a grim place. “Noni, did the stone man say why he remains here?”

“Him say it remind him of home. And he protect the spirits here.”

We come to the mouth of the cave and Noni rubs her hands together quickly, causing sparks to fly. A tiny ball of fire appears in her palm and she smiles victoriously. I walk deeper into the cave until I reach the back. Something shifts. Something large. Then, I see it: Thoradin’s face appears among the stone. His eyes open and he steps into the light, removing the magical camouflage, his gargoyle stone breaking apart as his mortal form appears.

“My liege.”

“I come as a friend, Thoradin. Not your king.”

Despite my words, Thoradin takes a knee and lowers his head. “I’m sorry I failed you,” he says.

“You didn’t fail me. I failed you,” I say as I reach out and wrap my fingers around his upper arm. “I wasn’t the king I should have been.”

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