Jason Cosmo: Hero Wanted

Chapter 16

Stunned, rattled, and possibly upside down, I found myself blanketed in heavy green canvas. From all around me came excited voices-but muffled, as at a distance. It hurt to move. It hurt to think about moving. It hurt not to move. I considered the merits of passing out.

"Fire!" a voice called.

That got my attention. I wondered just where the fire was. I noticed that it was getting hot inside my canvas cocoon.

Very hot.

More voices reached me.

"Your Royal Supremacy, are you injured?"

"I'm unharmed, you sniveling cur! But I'll have the incompetent swine who erected this tent flayed alive!"

Good help was so hard to find these days.

"They were assassins from the sky, Your Majesty!"

"What did you call me?"

"Your Royal Omnipotence?"

"Royal Supremacy, you dolt! No, wait-Omnipotence! I like that better! A promotion for you. Now what were you saying?"

"They flew in on a magic bath towel, burning like...like a flying campfire."

"What inspired imagery."

"Thank you, sire."

"Continue, fool!"

"They flew right into your royal omnipotent tent and tore it down!"

How interesting. In my dazed state, I dimly recalled being quite recently in the sky myself, aboard a burning carpet that-uh-oh!

I came to my senses. I was ensnared in the folds of King Halogen's collapsed pavilion, which our ruined rug had ignited. I felt about for my battle axe. No luck. So I was unarmed in the middle of a hostile camp and about to be roasted alive.

This day had started so well.

"We've got one of them!"

"Bring the dog to me!" snarled Halogen. "By the crown on my brow! Mercury Boltblaster! The selfsame vile sorcerer who bewitched my beloved has been delivered into my hands by his own folly!"

Merc was alive. Good. But not for long by the sound of it. I burrowed through the cloth until I could see what was happening.

King Halogen was a tall man dressed for a royal ball, not a battlefield. He had a flowing mane of wavy brown hair, a conventionally handsome face marred mainly by his arrogant sneer, and blue eyes fogged with vanity. He wore a crown made of gold, green velvet, and large emeralds surmounted by the figure of a dragon with unfurled wings. He was surrounded by knights in green plate armor.

Two mercenary soldiers held a glassy-eyed Mercury between them. His body was limp. His feet dragged on the ground, not supporting his weight at all. He had lost his sunshades and seemed barely aware of his surroundings. Halogen struck him across the face with his scepter. Merc's head merely lolled to one side.

There would be no wizarding our way out of this one.

While soldiers pulled nobles and servants from the wreckage of the tent, a hastily assembled bucket brigade relayed water from the nearby stream to fight the fire. My hiding place wasn't aflame just yet, but it would go up soon. I couldn't stay here. But revealing myself would mean instant capture.

No, it wouldn't! I cursed myself for a fool. No one here knew who I was. I could transform my clothing into an Orphalian uniform and blend in until I figured out how to rescue Merc. In the excitement of his capture, the Orphalians had apparently forgotten there were two men aboard the flying carpet.