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Kyra and Doci stood at the bottom of the mountain, wondering how they were ever going to get way up there to see the castle.  They could see no stone stairway, no winding pathway of any sort.
    
She looked up to see if there were any people up there.  Perhaps if they saw them down here, they would let a rope down – she hoped not, she didn’t have the energy to climb a rope to the top of the mountain – or reveal a secret way to the top, even use helicopters to pick them up, if they had them.  Kyra laughed at this crazy notion, and Doci looked at her, wondering what was so funny.  She just shook her head.
    
Personal joke, she thought.
    
He walked toward the very bottom of the mountain and saw a steep face.  No handholds or supports anywhere.  So they weren’t going to be able to climb on this side, but he didn’t have the energy to search the entire face until he found a way to get up.  It just didn’t make sense.  Why would they build this castle on top of a mountain, and then make no possible way for anyone to get up to it.  Doci folded his arms and gave up, looking sour.
    
I know a way, Kyra thought.
    
Doci looked at her in that questioning way again.  He did that a lot.  Kyra actually thought it was kind of cute.
    
Come here and take my hand, she thought.
    
He soon came over and took her hand.
    
She looked into his eyes and smiled.  He smiled back, then he took his eyes off her and focused on the motion behind her.  He looked down and gasped, seeing them rising up away from the ground.
    
Just look into my eyes, it will be easier that way, she thought.
    
Doci looked into her eyes again and they increased in speed, shooting upwards.  Kyra could see the mountain face flying by, unaffected by it.  She stared back into Doci’s eyes and felt the thrill as they shot higher, getting closer to the castle.
    
In those dark pools that were Doci’s eyes she lost herself in her own memories: taking airplanes across the country to visit relatives, and being really scared of heights and of flying, just focusing on listening to her music and watching the little TV straight in front of her, as if by applying all this concentration, the fact that she was over thirty thousand feet above the ground wouldn’t matter, and the plane would get to its destination and land without a problem, as it always did. 

And now she was . . . well she didn’t know how high she was, as she looked at the rock face shooting by behind Doci and then looked down at the ground shrinking away from him.

Yes, they were high enough now to pass through the lowest layers of cloud to reach the castle in the sky.  Was this just a castle in Aisis Lip, or was it something more, something else, in another world or on another plane?  Or was it like the giant throne: a great relic from the past.  And were there people up there, in there?  People from the past?  People who fit that throne?

They were about to find out.

They rose up above the very edge of what they discovered was a plateau and then settled onto the ground.  They let go of each other at the same time and both looked down over the cliff at the distant green ground below.  It was now shrouded in clouds, seeming like a different place.  They felt powerful and mighty way up here.

Kyra looked around and could see the distant land from which they’d come, but it was all covered with thin layers of cloud, creating a dream effect.  She felt like a goddess or angel up here, as if this were here realm, her land to control.  She could see the way they’d come, where the desert began, where the grasslands ended, where the boundary stone sat, and back into the kingdom of Enchantus.  And far on the horizon, she imagined, was Enchantus Palace, where Queen Anita sat wondering how she fared in her quest.  She turned and started walking, Doci following her. 

The castle was so much clearer and so much larger now.  The turrets were two great towers reaching into the heavens.  There in the middle was a giant drawbridge, with a deep and wide moat around the castle.  The drawbridge was pulled up, while the moat was motionless, like a circular band of glass.  Kyra didn’t think it would be filled with crocodiles or sharks, but there could be something worse.  It might even be enchanted in some way.  If she touched the water she might be transported magically into the water and trapped beneath the surface somehow, as if she were under ice.  Kyra shivered at this thought. 

She didn’t walk any closer to the castle, but turned right and headed away from it.  They were on an immense plateau, the top of the mountain.  As Kyra studied the other mountains of the range, she could tell that this one was unique, for all the others ended in craggy peaks.  She looked at the ground and wondered if the builders of the castle had had to cut off of the top of the mountain and flatten it out.  What had they done with all the excess rock?  Dumped it over the side?  She had no idea.

Kyra eyed the castle warily and wondered again if there were people inside, whether they were good or evil.  They were close to Jolus the Malignant’s kingdom now, so they could very well be evil.  But she thought if that had been the case, they would have been attacked by now.  Nothing had happened, yet. 

They reached the other side of the mountain and looked down together over the boundary that was the beginning of Jolus the Malignant’s land.

There was no boundary stone here.  Oh no, it was much worse than that.  Jolus the Malignant’s boundary for his land was death.

There was plenty of plant life here.  Only it was almost dead, barely living.  No green stalks or leaves, but sickly yellow ones, pale purple and watery tangerine, all lying down like they’d given up the will to live.  And then Kyra actually saw a little person down there.  It seemed as if the being was trying to escape the tenacious hold of Jolus the Malignant.  He‘d managed to escape the lair and was struggling to make it out of the kingdom, and while he was so very close, the land had literally sucked the life out of him.  He was emaciated, weak, and frail.  He lifted his head barely, looked up and seemed to see Kyra, and dropped his head down to the swampy soil.

Kyra turned away, not wanting to face this horror, this evil place, just yet.  She looked up at the castle, deciding that she wanted to find out just what was in there.

“Come on,” she said to Doci and they started back towards the castle.

They stopped at the edge of the moat and looked into it.  It was just as she had suspected: cool, wonderfully blue and inviting, it seemed as if she could hear a little voice in her head telling her to step into the moat . . .

Come Kyra, come little girl . . .

Just one step and you will be enveloped in bliss . . .

Surrounded by cooling water in this hot, uncomfortable place . . .

You will be able to drink, and you are so thirsty, you will be able to drink your fill . . .

So come . . .

Step in and release . . .
    
Kyra forced the voice out of her head; this was the enchantment, the spell that had been placed on the moat.  It probably wasn’t even real water; it looked too perfect to be real.  She looked to Doci and saw he wasn’t faring so well, the voice seemed to be winning him over.
    
She took his hand in hers and stepped in front of him, obscuring his view of the moat and forcing him to look into her eyes.  Then she used the power within her to push the voice from his head.  His mind cleared and he looked right at her with that same smile.  She stepped away quickly, wondering if he was going to try to kiss her again, but then regretted it.   
    
Kyra turned and faced the castle with its colossal drawbridge.  She brought her hands together and rubbed them furiously, creating a lot of heat, then she held her arms out, palms facing the drawbridge, and felt the energy come from her body and go down her arms and out of her palms and shoot across the moat, hitting the drawbridge.  A white light surrounded it, starting to pull on it.
    
You know, you do not need to force your way in.  We will let you in if you ask nicely, she thought she heard to her right. 

Kyra wondered why Doci was talking in such a funny way, and when she turned she saw it wasn’t him but one of the people of the castle.  Her head was in line with its chest, while its body continued on going up.  It was at least seven feet tall. 

It was tall, very tall, and slim and sleek, almost feminine.  Long arms, long fingers, three times the length of hers.  But while it seemed so thin and fragile, Kyra was pretty sure this one could be powerful if it wanted to.  It’s face and head were a triangular shape, with big dark round eyes, like saucers, but inky black, and slightly sunken.  There were just two little slits for a nose and a thin hairline for a mouth.

We will gladly let you into our castle, it thought, and Kyra realized it was communicating telepathically.  Doci also seemed to be sensing what it was thinking.

The creature lifted up its arm and pointed one of his long tubular fingers at the drawbridge, which came to life and began opening, coming down and down, until it touched the other side of the moat, forming a solid bridge into the castle.

Kyra looked in and could only see a deserted courtyard.  The creature lifted its arm again and indicated that they could enter.  Kyra and Doci looked at each other and then walked across the drawbridge, sending echoing wooden footsteps into the moat below.  The creature followed them and they stepped inside the castle.

The drawbridge started pulling up behind them, closing them inside.