Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary (Fablehaven #4)

The night was well below freezing. Unseen clouds blotted out all light from the heavens. A few softly glowing fairies bobbed among the flowers in the yard, providing the only illumination. Seth mounted the bike and soon discovered that heavy boots were not designed for pedaling. Once he gained some momentum, the endeavor became somewhat easier.

He knew the way to the cave where Graulas lived. From what Seth had seen, Hugo had been keeping the main paths through Fablehaven relatively clear of snow. Hopefully that would hold true on his way to the cave. Otherwise he might have to ditch the bike and walk.

Seth pedaled across the lawn toward the path he needed. Squinting in the darkness, he rode through a flower bed and had to hit the brakes and turn to avoid a row of rosebushes. He decided to walk the bike until he was far enough from the house to use a light.

Just as he was passing out of the yard onto the path, a huge hand gripped his shoulder and hoisted him into the air. The mountain bike clattered to the ground. Seth cried out in startled terror before realizing he had been apprehended by Hugo.

"Late," the golem rumbled.

"Set me down," Seth demanded, legs swinging. "You almost scared me to death!"

Hugo placed Seth on his feet. "Go home," Hugo said, pointing at the house. "Are you under orders to send me back?" Seth asked, slipping a hand into his emergency kit. "Guard," Hugo said.

"Right. They told you to guard the yard. Not to baby-sit me."

"Woods bad. Seth alone."

"Want to come with me?" Seth tried, jittery fingers finding the potion bottle.

"Guard," Hugo repeated more firmly.

"I get it. You have your orders. But I have mine. I have to run a crucial errand."

"Stan mad."

"You mean Grandpa wouldn't want me running off? Of course not. He thinks I still wear diapers. Which is why I'm doing this in the middle of the night. You have to trust me, Hugo. I know I've done some dumb things in the past, but I've also saved the day. I have to sneak into the woods for a little while. It isn't for idiotic reasons, like to get gold. Basically, I'm trying to save the world."

The golem stood in silence for a moment. "Not safe."

"It isn't totally safe," Seth admitted. "But I'm prepared. See? I even have this potion from Tanu. I'm going someplace I've been before. I'll stay on the path and be careful. If I try to get permission, I'll fail. They won't let me. But only I can do this. Sneaking away is my only choice. You have to trust me."

Hugo turned and looked at the house. Seth could barely see the earthen giant in the darkness. "Hugo come."

"You'll come? You don't have to join me. We don't want to leave the yard unguarded."

Hugo pointed across the yard. "Mendigo."

"Mendigo is on lookout too?" he confirmed. "Seth go. Hugo come."

Relief flooded through Seth. This was unexpected good fottune. He wondered if Hugo would still consent once he knew the destination. There was only one way to find out.

"Hugo, take me to the cave where Graulas lives."

Hugo picked up Seth. "Seth sure?"

"We have to go there. He can give me important info. It could help save everyone. Remember last time? Grandpa didn't want me to go there, but we ended up getting information that helped us stop the plague."

Hugo loped away into the woods, moving swiftly. When traveling without the cart, the golem preferred to move cross-country rather than sticking to roads or paths. Ice and snow crunched under the golem's massive feet. Bare branches whipped past in the darkness, but Hugo altered how he cradled Seth to keep limbs from scraping him. This was so much better than awkwardly biking along icy trails in the frigid darkness!

Seth had given no real consideration to the possibility of Hugo helping him. He had heard Grandpa give the golem orders to protect the yard, and he had never known the golem to disobey a command. Hugo was becoming more of a free thinker than Seth had realized.

After pounding through the cold night long enough for Seth to start worrying about frostbite, the golem came to a halt and set him down. The night was too dark for Seth to discern any landmarks, but he figured the sudden stop meant they had reached their destination. The golem would not be able to set foot on the land allotted to Graulas. If Seth ran into trouble, he would be on his own.

Seth retrieved the flashlight from his emergency kit. The beam glittered on a snowy slope that led up to a steep hill with a cave in the side. Seth rubbed life back into his partially numb ears, then adjusted his hat and coat to cover his face better.

"Thanks for the lift," Seth said. "I'll be back soon."

"Be safe."

As Seth tromped through the snow toward the cave, he began to question the sanity of this excursion. He was walking alone at night into the cave of an evil and powerful demon. Hoping to bolster his spirits, he shone the flashlight back at Hugo. Under the single white beam, standing in the snow, the golem looked different, like some strange, primitive statue. Hardly comforting.

Clenching his jaw, Seth increased his pace. If he was going through with this, he might as well get it over with. He marched past the rotten post with the dangling rusted shackles, paused outside the spacious mouth of the cave, almost turned back, and then strode inside.

Seth hurried along the excavated tunnel, winding past a couple of curves before reaching a stuffy room with roots twisting down from the domed ceiling. The first thing that struck him was the unnatural warmth. The second was the smell, sweet and disgusting, like spoiled fruit.

After shining his light across rotting furniture, smashed crates, pale bones, and moldering books, Seth let the beam settle on a massive shape slumped against the wall. He could see and hear the shape taking slow, ragged breaths. The lumpy figure stirred, cobwebs billowing, and sat up. The flashlight shone on a dusty face dripping with wrinkled lobes of inflamed flesh. A pair of ram horns curled from the sides of the bald head, and a milky film clouded the cold, black eyes. "You... came," the demon wheezed in an impossibly deep voice.

"You really did call me," Seth said. "I thought so."

"And you... heard me." A fit of coughing seized the rnoribund demon, sending plumes of dust into the air. When the spasm finished, Graulas spat a shiny wad of greenish gunk into the corner. "Come closer."

Seth approached the huge demon. Even with Graulas seated on the ground, Seth stood no higher than his hunched shoulder. The foul smell intensified as he drew nearer, becoming a rancid medley of decay and infection. Seth fought the urge to puke.

Graulas closed his eyes and tilted his head back, his bulky chest laboring like a huge bellows. Seth heard a wet rattling with each strained inhalation.

"Are you okay?" Seth asked.

The demon tilted his grotesque head back and forth, wattles flopping as he stretched his neck. He spoke slowly. "I am more awake than when we last spoke. But I am still dying. As I mentioned when we met before, death comes slowly for my kind. Months are like minutes. In a way, I envy Kurisock."

"He's really dead?"

"He has passed beyond this sphere of existence. His new abode is less pleasant. No doubt he will be there to greet me." A small spider descended from the tip of one of the ram horns, suspended by a silvery thread.

"Why did you want to see me?" Seth asked.

The demon cleared his throat. "You were foolish to come. If you understood who I was, you would stay far away. Or maybe you were not so foolish, for again I mean to help you. Tell me how your abilities are developing."

"Well, I could hear you when I was in the woods with the satyrs. In the dungeon I could hear what wraiths were whispering. And I saw a goblin the other day even though he was invisible."

The demon raised a thick, gnarled finger and tapped it against a deformed hole in the side of his head. "Whether I like it or not, my perceptions reach well beyond this hovel. I can observe most of the preserve from here, all save a few shielded locations. One place I could never look was inside the domain of Kurisock. Until he died. Then the curtains came down and I could see. The nail in the revenant left a mark on you when you removed it. When the nail was destroyed, you were nearby, and some of its power fled to you, marking you more deeply."

"Marking me?"

"The nail left you empowered. Primed for even greater achievements. I understand your need. Your family discussed the object they desire from the centaurs as they traveled unshielded roads. Your grandfather should know better. I could hear every word."

"They need the unicorn horn from the centaurs," Seth said. "I was hoping you might know how we could get it."

Graulas began to cough, a violent progression of heaving and choking that left him slumped to the side, propped up by one elbow. Seth stepped back, wondering if he was about to witness the ancient demon's strangling on his phlegm. At last, gasping, creamy fluid drooling from the corner of his mouth, Graulas forced himself back into a sitting position.

"The first horn of a unicorn is a powerful object," Graulas rasped. "It purifies whatever it touches. Cures any sickness. Neutralizes any poison. Eliminates any disease."

"Do you want me to use it to heal you?"

The demon coughed again. It might have been a chuckle. "Disease has woven itself into my being. The touch of a first horn would probably kill me. I am that corrupt. I have no need of the horn. But I know how you can acquire the Soul of Grunhold. If you want the horn, you must employ your skills as a shadow charmer."

"What?"

"A shadow charmer enjoys brotherhood with the creatures of the night. His emotions cannot be manipulated. Nothing escapes his gaze. He hears and comprehends the secret languages of darkness."

"Am I a shadow charmer?" Seth asked hesitantly.

"In all but name. The nail laid a strong foundation. I

intend to stabilize those gifts and formally dub you an ally of the night. It will bring your abilities into greater focus."

"Will it make me evil?" Seth whispered.

"I did not say an ally of evil.

All power can be used for good or ill. This power is already yours. I will merely help you harness it better. Use it how you like."

"How will it help me get the horn?" Seth asked.

The demon stared, clouded eyes weighing him. When he spoke, his voice was deliberate. "Who can navigate an invisible maze? The man who can see it. Who can get past a mountain troll? The man who becomes his friend. Who can steal the first horn of a unicorn? The man immune to guilt."

"You really were listening to Grandpa."

"It would entertain me to see the centaurs humbled," Graulas said. "You are the first new shadow charmer in centuries. Perhaps you will be the last. Few remain who could formalize the honor. You already exhibit most of the traits in embryo. Nothing will wash that away. Better to complete what was started. Darkness has touched you, much as light has embraced your sister."

"This sounds shady," Seth hedged, backing away. Did he really want favors from a dying demon? Wasn't the decaying stink of the place a hint that he should go?

Groaning, using a splintered fence post as a crutch, Graulas rose ponderously to his feet, his curled horns nearly touching the ceiling. Gesturing elaborately, as if painting in the air, the demon began chanting in a guttural language. Toward the end of the display, Seth began to understand the words. "... consoler of phantoms, comrade of trolls, councilor of demons, hereby and henceforth recognized and acknowledged as a shadow charmer."

Graulas lowered his arms and sat down hard. Wood splintered beneath him and dust plumed outward.

"You okay?" Seth asked.

The demon coughed mildly. "Yes."

"Why did you switch to English at the end?"

The corners of the demon's mouth twitched. "I didn't. Congratulations."

Seth covered his eyes for a moment. "I didn't give you permission to do that!" He regarded the demon somberly. "I'm scared that coming here was a huge mistake."

Graulas licked his cracked lips with a bruised tongue. "I can't make you evil any more than you can make me good. You worry that accepting aid from a demon somehow alters your identity. I was once very evil. Deliberately evil. Over time, as I weakened and deteriorated, my lust for power abated. Apathy replaced avarice. You are not speaking to an evil demon. An evil demon would have killed you on sight. You are talking with a rotting shell. My life ended long ago. When I thought I was utterly past feeling, you sparked my interest. I remain sufficiently curious to help you. I have no private agenda. You remain free to use your gifts however you choose."

Seth furrowed his brow. "I guess I don't feel more evil than before."

"Choices determine character. You made no decision to become a shadow charmer. These new abilities have been thrust upon you by circumstances beyond your control. If anything, your status as a shadow charmer should protect you and those you love from evil. You now see and hear more clearly. Your emotions can't be confused by magic. You will encounter opportunities to talk rather than fight."

"Are you speaking English now?"

"Yes." Another wild fit of coughing wracked the demon. When the hacking subsided, Graulas lay sprawled on his side, eyes closed. "I must rest."

"When should I go after the horn?" Seth asked.

"Now," the demon rasped, his voice losing power. "Tonight."

"How do I see the invisible maze?" Seth asked.

Graulas sighed. "The same way you see me. Your abilities have been stabilized."

"I have more questions. What can you tell me about the Sphinx? We know he is the leader of the Society of the Evening Star."