Quilt, Book and Bard

Once in the castle, Jeremy goes exploring, leaving Tory in the entrance hall. While she waits for him to return, a strange man shows up. Though she is scared, Tory holds her own by offering the man food and a warm sweater. He takes both the food and the sweater, but tries to bolt when Jeremy comes back from his exploration and tells Tory how he's found a place where he thinks someone must be sleeping, Jeremy finally notices the man Tory is struggling to keep with her. When Jeremy asks the man who he is, the man gives no answer. Deciding the man isn't worth the effort Tory lets him go. Jeremy and Tory try to leave the castle. Appearing before them, the man introduces himself as Neal and explains that Hildegard (the name of the castle) won't allow them to leave unless they pledge to return to the castle when they are finished with their journey. Jeremy is skeptical since Neal claims he's been in Castle Hildegard for 200 hundred years. Though neither Tory nor Jeremy are particularly inclined to believe Neal, they follow along and pledge to the castle to return once they help the man with the oxcart. As part of the deal Hildegard tells them they must take Neal along with them.

While visiting her Aunt, Tory is taken by a picture of a man and an oxcart in the dining room of the house. That night, she has a dream about it that wakes her up. The dream makes her so curious about the painting that she needs to see it. She is surprised to meet her cousin Jeremy in the dining room. Then, with Tory leading the way, the two of them venture into - and through - the painting. In the new world Tory meets Karen and Paul. They help Tory and her cousin by taking them in to their house. Tory is amazed and confused to see that Jeremy already knows both Karen and Paul. She asks them about it and Karen tells her he's been helping out the man in the picture. The next morning, Tory and Jeremy leave Karen and Paul's home, and head over the mountains to help the man with the oxcart. In the mountains frozen rain begins to fall. Hoping for some shelter, they come upon a large castle.

The trees are moving apart, and the kingdoms are separating with them. The tension is pulling the land into war. The Queen and the Head bard conspire to keep the kingdoms together using an ancient spell. Before asking any one, they lure Neal, a painter magician into working with them without telling him why. Neal accepts the offer to paint for the Queen thinking it's simply another job.

In order to take the kingdoms over properly, Neal instructs Jake and Alex that they must speak to the last vestiges of the Queen through Hildegarde. During the ceremony the Queen destroys the spell book and commands Jake and Alex to take good care of the kingdoms. As soon as the spell book is destroyed Neal goes to see if he is truly free of Hildegarde. When he realizes he is, Neal decides that living in the castle isn't for him, and moves into a small cottage in the town, finishing his painting there.Eventually it comes time for Tory and Jeremy to leave... with the promise to return as soon as possible.If you enjoyed these podcasts and wish to see more of the Kingdom Tree Universe and other stories Bryna Chalmer is writing, please visit her at: http://worldtree.brasscannonstudio.com/brynablog/

With everything in the two kingdoms starting to become more normal, Neal focuses on creating the picture to get Tory and Jeremy home.Tory, worried that Neal hasn't stepped foot out of Hildegard, despite being human again, figures out a way for him to feel more comfortable about the prospect. Taking the spell book, she convinces Seth and Neal to reverse the spell Norlis did in order to free Alex from the bracelets which Garten put on him.With the bracelets off, Neal sees that it might be possible to leave Hildegard without dying, but an unfortunate side effect of reversing the spell unlocks all the doors in the castle, allowing the King to escape into the the picture Neal is working on.