The Familiars #4: Palace of Dreams by Adam Jay Epstein, Andrew Jacobson Read Free Book Online Page B

courtyard and glanced down.
    “It’s clear,” she said.
    Aldwyn and Gilbert sprinted down the staircase, until they reached the ground. Skylar fluttered to their side. Party decorations, half-eaten plates of food, and a table filled with unopened gifts all remained untouched, evidence of a celebration cut short. The three familiars quickly passed the golden eel pond and headed for the front gate.
    “Wait up,” Gilbert said.
    Hopping over to the table where he and Anura had been sitting during the queen’s birthday festivities, he grabbed his orienteering stone and cloth map.
    “Thought these might come in handy,” Gilbert said, hurrying to catch back up with Aldwyn and Skylar while slinging the map’s tie string over his shoulder.
    Aldwyn wasn’t so sure the map would help, seeing how Gilbert failed to find Yeardley. But he’d already taken it, so there was no point leaving it behind now.
    The familiars were halfway across the courtyard when the tower bell started clanging.
    “They know we’ve escaped,” Skylar said.
    Aldwyn and Gilbert began to sprint, but the front gate was already swinging shut. Even at top running speed, Aldwyn knew he wasn’t going to make it. He turned to a nearby dining chair on the courtyard patio and telekinetically flung it into the path of the closing gate. The force of the steel door was too much for the metal chair to hold, and it snapped in two as the gate closed completely.
    The three animals had to change direction. They turned back to see Navid and Marati emerging from the palace with a dozen soldiers of the Nightfall Battalion. The familiars were being surrounded.
    “Surrender now,” Marati called out. “There’s nowhere for you to go.”
    “We fought side by side,” Aldwyn said. “Practically stood together in the circle of heroes. Why would we do something like this? It doesn’t make any sense.”
    “It’s not my job to decide if you’re innocent or guilty,” Marati replied. “But I know we can’t let you run away.”
    “Navid, we’re friends,” Gilbert said. “Please.”
    “I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do.”
    Aldwyn hadn’t noticed until now, but Skylar was removing something from her satchel.
    “Eat this,” she whispered, handing prickly blades of grass to both Aldwyn and Gilbert. “Trust me.”
    The two immediately swallowed them. The soldiers were now tightening their circle around the trio with swords drawn. Navid bared his fangs, and Aldwyn knew all too well the powerful venom blasts he was capable of shooting from them. Marati had already summoned her astral claws, sharp blue glowing blades commanded by the mongoose.
    Suddenly Aldwyn felt a throbbing below his shoulders. It made him wince.
    “What did you just give me?” he asked Skylar.
    “Icari weed,” she replied.
    Aldwyn searched his memory. He had heard that component mentioned once before, but he couldn’t remember when.
    “Remind me what that does agahhhhhhh . . .” Pressure was building up and then a searing pain rocketed along Aldwyn’s spine. It was like a pair of knives had been stabbed through his back. As quickly as the shock of pain had rattled him, it was gone. Gilbert was writhing as well. Then Aldwyn realized that something was starting to poke out from the tree frog’s back. They were slimy, bat-like wings! Aldwyn glanced around to see that he, too, was growing wings of his own, but unlike Gilbert’s, they were covered in the black-and-white fur of a Maidenmere cat.
    “Fly!” Skylar shouted.
    Although Aldwyn had never sprouted wings before, his body seemed to know just what to do. Muscles began contracting and expanding, and the wings on his back flapped. He was up off the ground. And Gilbert was right beside him.
    “Get back here!” Marati cried.
    It was too late for that. The familiars were soaring skyward. Navid fired a venom blast but it fell short. Marati’s astral claw was immediately weakened by the distance it had to travel.
    “After them!”