Winds of War

by Dennis Morrow

  As soon as they stepped out of the power station building, they were surrounded by Humongers and escorted to Torron’s control room.

  Chapter 39

  Ensnaring Cord

  Torron watched the Alliance, Hagred, and Margot on a large monitor as they were being surrounded by six Humongers. I wonder what might have happened if I had convinced Hagred to join me, she thought. He and I could have easily ruled both Gandoral and Earth. From there, we could have expanded throughout the universe. But instead, he . . . She abruptly came back to the present. “Bring them to me,” she commanded.

  “Yes, Your Highness,” General Haflyf answered.

  Six guards escorted the Alliance, Hagred, and Margot into the control room.

  Torron was seated on her throne. “How did you get into this dome?” she asked as the six approached her.

  “We came in an Oar-7, Your Highness,” Hagred said.

  “Why do you surrender so easily?” Torron asked.

  Why aren’t we attacking right now? Steve projected.

  I don’t know. Maybe he knows something . . . Jesse’s thoughts were cut short.

  From behind and without notice, Margot pointed a wand at the Alliance. A whirlwind of bright streaks of light, like beautiful red, yellow, and blue shimmering ribbons, surrounded them. The colorful ropes around their waists turned black.

  Hagred looked over his shoulder at the Alliance and smiled. “I wish to join you,” he said to Torron, “and help you win the war and take over Earth. I believe without Margot and me, you cannot win this battle.”

  “You come to me now? You’re a bigger fool than I thought.” Torron pointed her staff at Hagred. “I should vaporize you right here and now.”

  Hagred put up his hand, as if to stop the attack. Torron lowered her staff.

  “I bring you the Alliance as a peace offering,” Hagred said. “As you can see, Margot found the Ensnaring Cord of old. I have used its magic to capture the Alliance.”

  I can’t disappear, Jesse thought to herself.

  Torron stepped down from her throne and walked up to Jesse with that evil smile crossing her face. “You’re mine now, little girl.”

  ~~~

  Haven sat quietly in the corner. Gary, Sammy, and Johnny were playing cards at a table across the room.

  Gary kept glancing at the thirteen-year-old. “You okay?” he finally asked.

  Haven sat looking down at her cell phone.

  “Hey, kid, you okay?” Gary asked again, with no response. He got up and went to the girl.

  She looked up.

  “Are you okay?” he asked again.

  Haven motioned that she couldn’t hear. She went to the general’s desk and got out a piece of paper. “I am deaf,” she wrote. “What do you want?”

  Gary wrote back. “I just wanted to see if you were okay. You look sad.”

  “I’m okay. I have some new friends, so I’ll be okay.”

  “Where’s your family?” Gary wrote. “Your mom and dad?”

  “They’re dead. They died on the first day of the invasion.”

  “Do you have other family?” Gary wrote.

  “No, but I found some really cool friends,” Haven wrote. “They’ll end the war against the aliens.”

  Just then, a tremendous explosion ripped through the building. The roof caved in, a couple of walls collapsed, and debris flew everywhere. Before Haven knew what had happened, Gary had grabbed her and pulled her to the floor against the wall, shielding her with his body. The devastating blasts continued for another minute or so. To Haven, it seemed like a lifetime. Then the only sounds were the sounds of agony and pain.

  Buried under debris alongside Gary, Haven could feel Gary struggling to catch his breath. She had several scrapes on her face, internal injuries, and two broken legs. Gary was badly injured. They waited for rescuers.

  “You okay?” Gary mouthed.

  Haven nodded.

  “Sammy and Johnny?” Gary mouthed again.

  Haven looked sadly at Gary and shrugged her shoulders.

  Tears welled up in both Haven’s and Gary’s eyes. Gary’s breathing became labored. He struggled to lift his arm and pointed to his bicep on his right arm. He pointed again.

  Haven could hardly move, but she opened her hands as if to ask, “What?”

  Gary tried to pull his shirt sleeve up, and Haven began to help him. He smiled. She pulled the sleeve up until the armband was exposed. Gary motioned for her to remove the armband, and she did.

  He smiled, nodded his approval, and with his last ounce of strength, motioned for her to keep it. “It’s yours,” he whispered with his last breath.

  Quietly crying off and on for the next two hours, Haven waited for medical help to come.

  ~~~

  “I finally have you all in one place.” Torron shook her head. “It’s hard to comprehend after all these years.” She reached out to touch the gold chain around Matt’s neck. She pulled on it, and the bright green moon Symbol popped out from under his shirt. She dropped the chain, and the Symbol lay across his chest. She reached to grab the Symbol and was shocked. She backed away. “I thought no magic could be performed while under the influence of the Ensnaring Cord,” the queen said as she looked at Hagred for an answer.

  “The Alliance can’t perform any magic,” Hagred explained. “The four Symbols, however, possess their own magic, separate from the Alliance.”

  “The way I see it, you both have a problem,” Matt said. “Your Majesty, you have a problem because the only way you can get the Symbols is for us to willingly hand them over to you. Hagred, you and Margot have a problem because the only way the queen can get the Symbols is for us to willingly hand them over to her.”

  “We’ll just kill them,” Margot said as she pulled out a dagger.

  “Queen Torron, what happened when you killed Gregory with a dagger?” Jesse asked. “Gregory was a member of the Alliance. He had a Symbol when you killed him. What happened to Gregory’s Symbol after he died?”

  The queen’s face became rigid with disapproval. “The chain and the Symbol disappeared. One minute it was there. The next it was gone.”

  “You can’t get our Symbols unless we voluntarily give them to you,” Steve said. “That isn’t going to happen.”

  “We’ll see about that. There are ways to get you to change your minds. There is always the easy way, and then there’s the hard way.” Torron had that evil smile on her face. “Quite frankly, I enjoy the hard way the best. I’ll find your parents, and I’ll get the Symbols. It’s a matter of time, and I have all the time I need. Guards, take them to the cages.”

  Eight guards, one on each arm, grabbed the Alliance and took them away.

  “Now, what am I going to do with you?” Torron asked Hagred and Margot.

  Both pulled out wands and immediately began attacking Torron. Electric arcs combined with lasers and fire shot from the tips of the wands.

  Torron’s first reaction was to simply put up her left hand to shield her from the attack. She stood while the attack roared on and pulled out her own wand. Her wand created a simple white beam, one inch in diameter. The beam shot out toward Hagred and Margot, but instead of hitting them, it split in two and surrounded each of them a dozen times and then tightened around them until they dropped their wands and could barely breathe. They stood, each entrapped in a white coil.

  “You are so predictable, Hagred. You truly believe you can defeat me and take my place.” Torron was now standing nose to nose with Hagred. “I rule at the pleasure of Zolog. I will rule Gandoral and Earth. He has given me the authority to take whatever action I deem fit to take charge of both. You could have ruled at my side. Now, you will never take my place.”

  “The Alliance will defeat you,” Margot said. “When they do, Hagred and I will rule in your place.”

  Torron pointed her scepter at Margot, and a stream of lightning hit her and knocked her to the floor. The wand that activated the Ensnaring Cord slid across the floor
and under a chair against the wall. The lightning danced all over her body. Then, as if nothing had happened, her body rose back up, seemingly unaffected. She started to say something.

  “Keep your tongue or you will not survive the next time I hit you,” Torron said. She looked back at Hagred.

  “You know you have no real power over us,” Hagred said. “Ultimately, you will fail. When you do, we’ll be there. You are favored by Zolog, but his patience is running thin, and he needs to see real progress or you’ll be replaced.”

  “You’re speaking for Zolog now?” Torron asked.

  “Yes, he was about to throw you aside until he saw your current strategy for taking over Earth. He believes you have a good chance of winning. However, he has seen your failures of the past as well and has set up a replacement plan. If you fail this last time, Margot and I will take your place, finally ruling both Gandoral and Earth.”

  “You will never take my place,” Torron said.

  “I’ve allowed you to capture us, Torron, but your time is limited.” Hagred clenched his fists and broke the bonds that had held him.

  Margot did the same.

  “I’ve delivered the Alliance to you by Zolog’s orders,” Hagred said. “He wants to see if you can truly defeat them. They’re here, they’re in your hands, and they’re ready to be destroyed. The question is, can you capture all nine Symbols of Power and kill the Alliance?”

  Margot and Hagred disappeared.

  Torron stretched forth her right arm, and the wand under the chair flew into her hand. She looked at it curiously and smiled.

  Chapter 40

  Smalik (T-Bone)

  “Can you find it?” Jesse asked Matt.

  “I know it’s in here someplace,” he answered.

  “It never ends with you two,” Steve said sarcastically. “There’s no way out of these ropes. You heard them. As long as we’re ensnared by the cord, we’re powerless.”

  “If we don’t figure something out quick, we’re doomed,” Jeremy said.

  “Doomed?” Steve said. “That’s a little extreme, isn’t it? You’re getting to be a ‘glass-half-empty’ kinda guy. I’m disappointed.”

  “She’ll torture us until we give up the Symbols,” Matt said. “The real problem is, she has many devious ways to torture us. She’ll use them all.”

  “Not only us,” Jeremy said. “She’s going after our parents.”

  ~~~

  A soldier sitting at a surveillance monitor got up and went to General Haflyf. “There’s an ATV approaching the main entrance. There’s a driver, and it looks like a body is strapped to the back of the ATV.”

  “Have the guards report who it is,” the general ordered.

  A few minutes later, word came that it was the queen’s high priest Smalik and a captured wizard. The general had them brought to the control center.

  “You failed me again, Smalik,” the queen said. “I sent you after Hagred and Margot, and what did you bring me? Mr. Hill? Why? I’m surprised he’s still alive.”

  “I heard on the way in that Hagred and Margot were already here,” Smalik (T-Bone) said. “Where are they?”

  “Not your concern,” Torron said, obviously perturbed. “Why do you bring me that old man?”

  “He’s been working with the Alliance to defeat you,” Smalik (T-Bone) said. “I thought it best to bring him here to see if we can learn anything from him. As you already know, he’s an excellent conjurer of potions and elixirs. We need to know what he’s dreamed up against you.”

  “He’s unconscious,” Torron said.

  “Yes, unfortunately, we got into a little scuffle, and he fell and hit his head,” Smalik (T-Bone) said. “He’ll come around soon, and I’ll find out what he knows.”

  “Throw him into one of the cages,” Torron said to the guards.

  The guards hauled T-Bone (Smalik) to the cages.

  “I have the Alliance in one of the cages,” Torron said. “They have the Ensnaring Cords around their waist, so there is no urgency to deal with them right now. I need to concentrate on the battle. I’ll deal with them later.”

  “Ensnaring Cord?” Smalik (T-Bone) asked. “I thought that was a myth. Is it true?”

  “Yes,” Torron said as she held the wand in her hand. “The cord is useless without this wand.”

  “Can I see it?” Smalik (T-Bone) asked.

  Torron handed the unique black wand, about eighteen inches long, to Smalik (T-Bone). The shaft consisted of three small cords tightly braided together, and the handle consisted of three larger cords tightly braided together.

  Smalik (T-Bone) handed the wand back. “You must keep this in a safe place.”

  ~~~

  Jack looked at his watch. The one-hour time limit was approaching. He put his thumb on the button, ready to destroy the power station. He watched the second hand counting down the seconds. Right at the one-hour mark, Jack pushed the button and squinted his eyes in expectation of an explosion. Nothing.

  He ran back into the power station and grabbed one of the bombs Hagred had placed there. He carefully took it apart. It was a fake.

  Oh boy, they’re in trouble, Jack thought to himself.

  He headed toward Torron’s control room. Armed with the Torron weapon given to him by Matt, he would be a deadly opponent. He killed seven Humongers, two Horrintines, and five Markers on his way to the front door of the control room.

  ~~~

  Torron heard the commotion outside the main door. “Take care of that,” she told General Haflyf. She motioned for Smalik (T-Bone) to follow her back to her private quarters.

  The doors to the control room swung open, but before Jack could fire his weapon, he was captured, disarmed, and subdued by the Humongers waiting behind the doors.

  “Throw him in one of the cages,” General Haflyf said. “We’ll let the queen decide his fate.”

  They took him to the cages, where he joined the Alliance.

  “Are you okay?” Jesse asked after the Humongers left.

  “Yeah, I’m okay,” Jack said. “My pride is hurt a little. That’s all. I can’t believe they got the best of us. Are you okay? Where are Hagred and Margot?”

  “They betrayed us like I thought they would,” Steve said. “Once a snake, always a snake.”

  “As it turns out, these cords around our waists really do take our powers away,” Jeremy said.

  ~~~

  Everyone is dying, Haven thought as tears streamed down her dusty, dirty cheeks. I can’t move my legs. Why did this stranger give me an armband? She was holding Gary’s lifeless hand. Explosions shook the ground all around, causing more dust to rise up. I’m going to die right here. I’ll never see Caroline again. She closed her eyes and passed out.

  ~~~

  “I want a damage report ASAP,” General Wisecoff commanded.

  “It was a hit and run, General,” Colonel Smith said. “Our aircraft are chasing them back to the battlefield.”

  “They hit the hangars and buildings, not the runway,” Sergeant Barr said. “We’re still in business. They hit us hard and then left. We’re destroying many of them as they try to get back to the safety of their shields.”

  “I want a count on injuries and casualties,” the general said. “What about my office? There were four civilians in there. Are they okay?”

  “I’ll check,” Sergeant Barr said. “That end of the complex was hit the hardest.”

  A few minutes later Barr returned. “Your office took a direct hit. I have men digging through the debris. I’ll report back as soon as we find the civilians.”

  When Barr returned to the general’s office, Sammy’s and Johnny’s bodies lay on the floor next to the door.

  The soldiers looking through the rubble heard Haven moaning. They quickly uncovered her and Gary. Once they got the heavy beams off of them,

  they laid Gary’s body next to Sammy and Johnny and took Haven to the base hospital. She had the armband clutched tightly in her right hand.

  ~~~<
br />
  “I can’t get this thing off me,” Steve said. He tugged at the cord. “We need to get out of these cords if we’re going to take on Torron.”

  The door to the room where the cages were opened with a bang. Two Humongers threw T-Bone (Smalik) into a cage next to the cage the Alliance was in.

  “It’s T-Bone,” Jesse said. “He’s bleeding from a wound on the back of his head. I think he’s unconscious. We have to help him.”

  “I agree, but we’re a little tied up right now,” Jeremy said. “Pun intended.”

  “I think there’s a loophole with these cords,” Matt said. “They said that while the cords are around our waist, we can’t perform any magic, right?”

  “Yeah.” Jeremy became quite interested in what Matt was saying.

  “And yet, the magic of the Symbols still prevented Torron from taking my Symbol,” Matt continued. “The magic held by the artifacts, like our Symbols, could still be operational. They could still function. Some of them, like a wand, require one of us to activate the magic. But others, like our Symbols, work on their own.”

  “Like which ones?” Steve asked.

  “Okay, let’s think about what we have in our knapsacks,” Matt said. “I’ll name them off, and together we’ll decide if one or more of them has its own magic.”

  “Before you name them off, are there any obvious candidates?” Jesse asked.

  “We know our four Symbols have their own powers,” Jeremy said. “We don’t know the extent of their powers. Let’s try one.” He pulled the purple lightning Symbol out from under his shirt. He went to Matt’s cord and rubbed it like a knife. Nothing happened. He repeated the test for all four Symbols. “Four down . . . many more to test.”

  By 11:20 in the evening, the Alliance had tested Scortak’s Clay, the Seven Stones of Honor, the Crystal of Gardenel, the Rod of Strawnob, the Wand of Cetrekap, the Wand of Wongate, the Shield of Innocence, and the Ax of Norrid. Each time, they tried different incantations, curses, spells, and commands. They even tried pointing the object at the cords and saying nothing at all.