The Keeper

by David Baldacci

  I felt my eyes close, the rise and fall of my chest started to slow and I collapsed into a deep sleep. But right before I completely drifted off, I could hear Harry Two’s contented snores as he lay beside me on the floor.

  My dreams were not pleasant ones. In every crevice of my mind, I seemed to encounter danger. Time passed and I slept on. When I finally awoke, I started to rise, but something held me back. I opened my eyes. And gasped.

  I was in a cage!

  I sat up and looked around. Delph was lying next to me, still asleep. What had been keeping me from rising was Harry Two. His paw was still protectively on my shoulder. The bars of the cage were stark white. As I drew closer to them, I could see why. They were made of bones.

  I instantly drew back when I heard a laugh, a familiar one.

  I looked to the right and there sat Thorne on a huge chair carved from still more bones. And all around the cage were ekos bearing weapons.

  He pointed at the cage bars. “As you can see, we do make use of our little, uh, trophies here in the Kingdom of Cataphile.”

  With a thrill of horror, I saw four items resting on a slab of rock next to his seat. Destin, my chain, the Adder Stone, my grandfather’s ring and the glove I had to use when holding the Elemental. I touched my cloak and felt the small outline of the shrunken Elemental still in my pocket. They must not have noticed it or else thought it of no importance.

  I spoke loudly. “Why are we in here? And why did you take my things?”

  This roused Delph, who slowly sat up and then leapt to his feet.

  “What the —” he began, but I shushed him and then turned back to Thorne.

  “Why are you doing this to fellow Wugmorts?”

  Thorne pointed in turn to the Adder Stone, the chain, the ring and the glove.

  “What are these things, Vega Jane? I would dearly like to know.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, how else can I make use of them?”

  “You’re not to make use of them. They’re mine,” I said heatedly. I felt woozy in the head and I suddenly knew why. “You put something in our water to make us fall asleep,” I said accusingly.

  He picked up the ring. “I have seen this before. On your grandfather’s finger.”

  I grabbed the bars of bones and shook them. “Let us out of here! Now!”

  “You are in no position to make demands, my silly little female.”

  “I’m not silly and I’m definitely not little,” I shot back.

  “To me, you’re nearly invisible, so insignificant are you.”

  “Well, then I guess you don’t need me to tell you what they are, if I’m so bloody insignificant.”

  He stood up and strolled over to the cage, stopping a foot away, and smiled maliciously.

  “You must think things through a little better.”

  He pointed at Luc, who held a bow with an arrow perched on the string.

  He grunted and Luc came forward.

  Thorne said, “I just ordered Luc to kill the canine.”

  “No!” I screamed and immediately thrust myself between Luc and Harry Two as Luc began to take aim.

  “Move out of the way, Vega, it’s only a blasted canine,” said Thorne.

  “He’s my canine and I’m not moving. So you can just go to Hel!”

  He grunted again and four more ekos came forward with their bows and surrounded the cage. They all took aim at Harry Two. I couldn’t be in four different places at once, so I ended up covering him entirely with my body.

  “Vega Jane!” shouted Delph, and he put his big body over both of us.

  Thorne drew closer to the bones, a dangerous smile playing over his lips. “There is a mile-long drop from a cliff when entering the Quag to get to my kingdom. How did you manage it?”

  My glance betrayed me. I looked past him, to the objects he’d taken.

  “I see,” he said. “Now, which one?” When I didn’t answer, he pointed at Luc while keeping his gaze directly upon me. “One grunt from me, Vega, and Delph is no more. I will add his bones to your cage. With his size, they’ll fill all the bloody gaps. Now, which one?”

  “Vega Jane, don’t,” shouted Delph.

  Thinking quickly, and already having sized up Thorne as vain and arrogant, I said, “I’m sure your secrets are far more amazing than my pitiful ones.”

  Thorne appraised me for about a sliver. “You know, I think you’ve hit on something there. I actually think it appropriate to show you how my mind works. Then you will understand that it is futile to resist me.”

  He grunted in rapid succession and the ekos sprang into action.

  The bone cage was opened, and with pokes and prods from swords and spears, we were herded out of it.

  Delph grew close to me and whispered, “He’s a mad ’un, Vega Jane.”

  “I know he is.”

  “We got to get out of here.”

  I nodded again, but I couldn’t think of a single way for us to accomplish it.

  Thorne led us down another passageway until we came to a far larger cave than the one we had left. I heard the sound of something pounding into rock long before we reached it. As we came into the space, I could barely believe my eyes.

  It was a mountain of rock underground. And swarming over it were little creatures in work clothes and sporting red woolen caps and high leather boots that covered most of their short legs.

  “The aforementioned gnomes,” said Thorne, pleasantly enough.

  The gnomes stopped what they were doing and turned as though hooked together, to stare down at us from their mountain.

  “Come closer,” said Thorne enticingly. “I’m sure our little friends would simply love to meet you.”

  Well, neither Delph nor I wanted to move closer and meet anything, but the prods in the back from the ekos forced the issue.

  When the gnomes came more fully into view, I flinched. It wasn’t just that their faces were deathly pale and prunish and evil-looking. It was their hands. Or, rather, where their hands should have been.

  Instead, they had long claws that looked as strong as metal. They were curved and deadly sharp, although they were covered in dirt from their work on the rock.

  Their lips curled back like attack canines, revealing yellowish-black teeth that were rotted and misshapen. I put a hand down in front of Harry Two because I was afraid he might go after them. And as strong and brave as he was, he would have no chance against a hundred gnomes with sabers for hands.

  Thorne grunted rapidly and the gnomes fell back as the armed ekos advanced on them. So, I thought, the gnomes were obviously kept in check by force.

  I glanced at Delph and could tell he was thinking the same thing.

  Thorne said, “Do you know what they’re mining off that rock?”

  I looked at him. “No.”

  He clapped his hands together and one of the gnomes ran off but was back in a jiffy, hefting a large bucket made of wood and encircled with metal bands.

  Thorne took it from him as the gnome respectfully swept off his cap and bowed. I could see that his hair was bushy and filthy. And from the smells wafting off the thing, I could tell that bathing did not occupy a sliver of the creature’s time.

  Thorne held up the bucket so that I could see inside. It was filled with blackish powder.

  “Still don’t know what it is?” asked the king in an amused tone.

  Delph answered, “Looks like morta powder.”

  Thorne seemed impressed. “Well, well, brains and brawn. But you’re not exactly right. It’s not yet morta powder, but it will be.” He pointed to the high rock the gnomes were working. “That stone has two of the three elements necessary to make the powder. The third is charcoal, which must come from trees on the Quag’s surface. I brought the requisite formula with me here, and the ekos, once I trained them up a bit, are delightfully efficient in doing the appropriate mixing, compression and other tasks necessary. Indeed, they are quite good at building many things.” He thrust the bucket back in
to the gnome’s claws and waved him off with a casual flick of his hand.

  The creature instantly obeyed, but as I kept my gaze on him, I could see him look back with a sullen expression as he clacked his claws ominously against the bucket’s side.

  Thorne clapped his hands, and the gnomes returned to their work. I marveled at how rapidly they tore through the rock and dirt with their claws. They were like ants flitting through grains of sand.

  Thorne led the way down another passage. We arrived at a large, stout wooden door with a blackened iron keyhole. Thorne produced a key and opened it. We filed inside and as I saw what was there, I gasped.

  It was a large room, and from floor to ceiling, it was filled with mortas. Tall, short and even some in-between models I had never seen before. They were all shiny and looked in perfect working order.

  “You would need furnaces and Dactyls to make these,” I noted.

  “We have both,” replied Thorne. “Plus a great many other skilled ekos. They have proven themselves quite adaptable to my teachings.”

  Thorne walked over to a corner and patted a thick-barreled contraption that was bracketed by two wooden wheels. “We call this a cannon,” he said. He pointed to another section of wall, where many crates were stacked. “And powder and ammunition for the weapons.”

  Delph was staring upward at the shelves and stacks of shiny mortas.

  He said, “What d’ya need all these for?”

  But somehow I already knew the answer.

  “War,” I said. “You’re planning on going to war.”

  Thorne smiled, even as Delph exclaimed, “Cor blimey!”

  I added, “And you’re not going to war against beasts in the Quag.”

  Thorne shook his head and smiled even more broadly. “What would be the point?”

  I finished my horrible thought. “You’re going to war against Wormwood.”

  WAR? AGAINST WORMWOOD?” exclaimed Delph. He stared over at Thorne like he wanted to rip him apart. “Are you nutters?”

  Thorne gave him a withering look. “I can assure you that I am in full possession of my faculties, my brawny bloke.”

  Thorne’s statement had hit me as hard as a collision with a garm. I felt sick to my stomach. Through my mind flashed the horrors that would result from what Thorne was planning. My village of Wormwood, all the places I knew so well, Stacks, the Care, Steeples, Council building, Loons, and my old family home, all lay in ruin. And starker still, I saw piles of Wugmorts dead from morta wounds. Even mighty Thansius and magical Morrigone.

  Chiefly, though, I saw my brother, John, lying dead, his eyes frozen, his features still, his magnificent mind gone for all time.

  With cold dread but a steely resolve I turned to Thorne.

  “There is one problem,” I said firmly.

  Thorne studied me, his eyes crinkling and an arrogant smile playing over his lips. “Oh, you think so?” he asked. “Do tell.”

  “It’s a heavy problem,” I said cryptically, though I could tell he knew exactly what I meant.

  “Oh, yes, indeed it is,” replied Thorne. “You’ve laid the mallet directly on the nail head, Vega. I can see that you’ve inherited the brains of your grandfather. You’re thinking of the mile-long rise we will need to reach the top of that cliff, eh?”

  Delph said emphatically, “You can’t climb it. Not with all those mortas, cannon and ekos.”

  “Quite impossible,” agreed Thorne.

  “And ya can’t go to war without your bloody army,” Delph said, a triumphant look on his features.

  “Well, I won’t have to, will I?” said Thorne patronizingly. “Let me show you.”

  The room we now entered through a massive portal, which Thorne unlocked, was far larger than any we had seen so far. My gaze quickly flitted to what dominated even this enormous space.

  “What in the Hel is that thing?” gasped Delph.

  There was a huge structure, rectangular in shape and made of wood, that looked rigorously constructed. It reminded me of the water vessels fisher Wugs used back in Wormwood, only far larger. It could easily carry hundreds of ekos. Connected to its sides were long, stout ropes. But suspended over it, high in the air, was something that dwarfed even the mammoth wooden carrier. It was black and roughly the shape of a circle, though it was thinner at the base and wider at the top. The stout ropes from the wooden structure were connected to a frame that was in turn attached to this thing. It was flattened and suspended by other ropes from the high ceiling.

  “That, my fine Wug,” said Thorne, “is the culmination of many sessions of work.” He waved his hand at it. “It is, in fact, an aero ship.”

  Delph looked at him blankly. “An aero ship?”

  “It flies.” He pointed up. “Aero. Up there.”

  “How?” demanded Delph heatedly.

  I could feel waves of anger rising off him. I gripped Delph’s arm tightly and looked at him, trying to calm him before he did something we might all regret.

  Thorne motioned to the flattened, suspended object. “That is what I term a bladder. Once it is filled with heated air, the bladder will lift the underneath carriage quite easily. And I have fashioned certain controls that will allow me to guide its path. By my calculations, it will lift my army and all its equipment in a very few excursions. Then, we will make our way to Wormwood. Our triumphant march to Wormwood, rather.”

  “But how are you going to get this contraption out of here?”

  He pointed upward again. “Much as the hole you fell in? Well, we have dug up to the top there, though it’s well covered now. The hole we have fashioned is far large enough for my aero ship to be launched through.”

  “Why do you want to attack Wormwood?” I asked fiercely. “You’re a Wug.”

  “Well, the truth is I didn’t choose to leave Wormwood. I was forced to leave.”

  “Really?” I snapped. “And you, such a nice bloke and all.”

  “Enough,” he barked, his mad eyes narrowing. “I’ve told and shown you all that I plan to. I require answers from you. And I will have them now!”

  He grunted several times and Luc brought over Destin, the Adder Stone and the glove. “It’s your turn to speak.” Thorne grunted once more and we were surrounded by bow-and-arrow-wielding ekos. Half took aim at Delph, the other half at Harry Two. I couldn’t defend them both at the same time. I had no choice.

  Delph gazed at me. I could tell he knew what I was going to do. He shook his head, but I ignored him. If I lost Delph, there would be no point going on anyway.

  “The chain allows one to fly. The stone can heal wounds.”

  He looked suitably intrigued, if a bit skeptical of my words.

  “Indeed? And the glove?”

  “I had the pair but I lost one when we were running from beasts in the Quag. It has no powers,” I added, which was perfectly true.

  “Well, let’s try one out, shall we?” he said.

  He grunted a few more times, each one louder and more authoritative than its predecessor. Several ekos shot forward and picked me up clean off the ground.

  “Stop!” shouted Delph, but he and Harry Two were instantly surrounded by a wall of armed ekos.

  I shouted, “It’ll be okay, Delph.” I knew what I was going to do.

  The ekos carried me back into the room where the mountain of rock and the miner gnomes were located. Thorne followed us, as did Delph and Harry Two, at the sword ends of the trailing ekos.

  Thorne tossed the chain to me. “Now prove your statement,” he said.

  I wrapped the chain around me even as the ekos clambered up the mountain of rock, carrying me all the way to the top. They were strong and their grasses scratched and irritated my skin. We reached a ledge at the very top of the rock. The ekos set me down. I heard grunts from below. Thorne was obviously giving his final instructions. The git needn’t have bothered. I wasn’t going to wait to be forced off the ledge.

  When a pair of ekos reached out to me, I pushed them away so hard they
fell back against the rock wall. “Bugger off!” I cried out.

  I looked down at Thorne with as much defiance as I could possibly muster, which wasn’t hard.

  And then I jumped.

  I soared straight downward. I looked at no one other than Thorne. I wanted him to see the revulsion on my face. He looked stunned, which ordinarily would have made me smile. But my anger was such that all I could do was stare daggers at him as I fell. At the last instant, I lifted my head and shoulders and pointed my arms upward. I soared over them and then lifted up, up, up, until I landed back neatly on the ledge.

  The ekos all drew away from me.

  I looked triumphantly at Thorne.

  He smacked his hands several times by way of applause and then beckoned me to join him below. I jumped once more and landed nimbly right next to him.

  He looked at me slyly. “From where did you come by such a remarkable thing as that?”

  “You know Stacks?” He nodded. “It has rooms that are secret. I found it there.”

  He looked lost in thought for a moment. “And Stacks was not always what it is now.”

  “That’s right. Did Julius Domitar tell you that?”

  “Alas, Domitar and I did not see eye to eye on much.”

  “Well, my respect for him just increased a hundredfold.”

  “You would do well to hold your tongue, Vega,” he said, sounding dangerous. He pointed to Delph. “Say you are sorry for disrespecting me.”

  “I’m sorry.” However, my stubborn features, I know, betrayed this as a lie.

  “There is a price to be paid for lying to King Thorne.”

  He grunted to the group of ekos and before I could react, it happened.

  One of the ekos shot an arrow into Delph’s thigh. He screamed and toppled to the rocky ground, holding on to the shaft that had suddenly sprouted from his limb.

  “Delph,” I screamed.

  I rushed to him. Blood was pouring out of him far too fast. I ripped off part of my sleeve and used it to try and stanch the bleeding. But it kept pouring out. Delph’s face turned chalk white and he stopped screaming. He sank flat to the floor.

  Harry Two stood in front of us both, his fangs bared as though daring any of the ekos to come closer.