Jack Staples and the Ring of Time

by Mark Batterson

  “You have to—”

  “Child,” Mrs. Dumphry said, cutting her off. “You are a sapling standing before an avalanche. There is no winning right now.”

  When Alexia met the old woman’s eyes, she took an involuntary step back. She had to physically unstick her tongue from the roof of her mouth.

  The boy with the bow and arrows—Wild—walked toward Alexia and awkwardly extended his hand. “My name is Ethan Wild, but the Awakened just call me Wild. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

  Alexia was thankful for the opportunity to turn away from Mrs. Dumphry’s gaze. She glanced at Wild’s extended hand, rolled her eyes, and stalked toward the wagon.

  Chapter 15

  THE BATTLE BEGINS

  In a matter of minutes, Arthur, Alexia, and Jack were in the back of a covered wagon. The moment they had climbed in, Mrs. Dumphry whispered sharply, “Do not make a sound, or we will all die today.” Without another word, she closed the wagon’s cover and tied it shut. Inside it was black as pitch.

  Arthur sat in the darkness with his knees pulled to his chest and his palms placed hard against his eyes. He could hear Jack’s labored breathing coming from the direction of his feet. And though he couldn’t see Alexia, he could hear her breathing from the opposite bench.

  Arthur hadn’t seen Alexia since a week earlier when Mrs. Dumphry had knocked her out with the rock. Yet he’d heard stories about her. All of Ballylesson had been talking about “the wild girl” living with the Staples. Though he hadn’t been able to see her clearly when he was outside, he’d recognized her voice.

  For a very long time, the only sound was the creaking of the wagon wheels, the steady plodding of the horses, and the breathing of the three children. Every now and then the wagon stopped. When it did, Arthur held his breath until it lurched forward again.

  He didn’t understand it, but something was wrong with his eyes. The pain was starting to subside, but even the smallest amount of light made him squint terribly. He was glad Mrs. Dumphry had tied the back of the wagon shut; the light outside was piercing. But he didn’t want to think about the light. He didn’t want to think about any of it.

  Finally, when he could stand the silence no longer, he whispered, “What happened to Jack?”

  A minute passed before Alexia spoke, but when she did, it wasn’t to answer Arthur’s question. “Is it true what she said? Was the town destroyed?”

  This time it was Arthur’s turn to stay silent. He’d been trying not to think about what happened in Ballylesson. When he finally spoke, his voice shook with fear.

  “I was at O’flannigans with Mother,” he whispered. “We were there to buy some sugar and grain, and I had to, you know”—Arthur suddenly felt embarrassed—“I had to go. So I went to the outhouse behind the store, and that’s when the screaming started. I don’t know, but I think most everyone in town was screaming. I wanted to run out, to see what was happening, but …” His throat caught. “But I was too afraid to move.”

  “When I looked through a slit in the side of the outhouse, I saw an old scabby dog. It was chasing Mrs. Wetworth, and one of the buildings across the street was on fire. Then something crashed outside. It sounded like someone was fighting. I wanted to go to Mother, but I couldn’t move. I wasn’t brave enough.” He broke down in tears. “I heard something scream. I don’t know what, but I’m sure it was evil. Don’t laugh, but its voice scared me more than anything I’ve ever heard.”

  “What did it say?” Alexia whispered.

  “It was begging for mercy, like it was afraid or something. It said, ‘Spare me!’ and then …” Arthur began to shake. “And then a black sword pierced through the outhouse door; it nearly took my head off! And whoever or whatever had been begging was suddenly quiet.”

  “I don’t understand. You’re saying the evil voice was begging for mercy?” Alexia asked.

  “Yes. And that’s what I’ve been wondering. If it really was evil, then whatever it was afraid of must have been far worse, right?” Arthur didn’t wait for Alexia to respond. “When I finally left the outhouse, I saw someone. It was a pale, bony man who was covered in sores and dressed in rags.” Arthur swallowed, continuing in a harsh whisper. “He was lying on the ground, and I’m not sure, but I think he was dead. And I don’t know why, but just then my eyes started to burn like fire, and for just a moment, it wasn’t a man lying on the ground but a monster. I called for my mother, but she didn’t answer.” Arthur’s entire body began to tremble. “I don’t know if she was still in the store because I couldn’t see anything. My eyes were hurting so badly. I don’t know where she is or if she’s even …,” Arthur trailed off.

  After a moment he continued. “That’s when the boy walked in and found me. Do—” Arthur’s throat tightened. “Do you think they’re dead—my mother and father and the rest of the town?”

  “I don’t know,” Alexia whispered. “I don’t know what’s happening, but whatever it is, I don’t think we can trust the old woman. Those beasts didn’t arrive until she did.”

  “Mrs. Dumphry?” Arthur said in surprise. “She’s been here forever. She’s my teacher—Jack’s and mine. Some people say she’s over two hundred years old.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Alexia whispered. “No one is that old.”

  “I didn’t say I believed it,” Arthur whispered back, slightly hurt. “I’ve just heard people say it. Besides, why wouldn’t we trust her? Didn’t she kill those beasts?”

  Before Alexia could respond, the wagon stopped again. Arthur’s eyes followed the sounds of someone walking around to the back. After a moment, the cover was pulled aside to reveal soft moonlight shining in. Arthur was amazed. They’d spent most of the day in the back of the wagon and ridden well into the night. Although his eyes were beginning to feel better, he still squinted at the brightness of the moon.

  “There is evil nearby,” Mrs. Dumphry whispered. “Remain silent. The Oriax have come, and unless I miss my guess, a Shadule leads them.”

  Arthur wanted to ask how she knew it was near and what kind of evil it might be, but he was much too afraid to say anything.

  “Girl,” Mrs. Dumphry whispered. “Do you still have that sling of yours? If I remember correctly, you had some skill with it.”

  “How do you know about my sling?” Alexia whispered back irritably.

  “Do you have it or not?”

  “Yes, I have it,” Alexia replied sullenly.

  “Come with me and keep it at the ready.”

  Alexia hesitated a moment before crawling out of the wagon.

  “You,” Mrs. Dumphry said to Arthur, “will take the Staples boy. You will keep him quiet and remain hidden. And you will not move or make a sound, no matter what happens!”

  Without another word, Mrs. Dumphry turned and walked into the night with Alexia following behind.

  Arthur stood, frozen in fear. Had Mrs. Dumphry really just left him? Where was he meant to hide? When he heard a scratching sound behind him, Arthur spun and very nearly screamed. Wild stood in the wagon rubbing Jack’s cloak vigorously against the cloth walls. Feeling stupid for forgetting about Wild, Arthur blushed furiously. Luckily it was too dark for the older boy to notice.

  “What are you doing?” Arthur whispered.

  “The Shadow Souled hunt by smell. I want to make sure they think Jack is in here,” Wild said as he dropped the cloak and crouched low. “Well, are you going to help me or not?”

  Arthur quickly knelt and grabbed Jack’s legs. The moment his fingers touched Jack’s skin, he gasped. “His leg is hot!”

  “Are you a doctor now?” Wild retorted. Before Arthur could think of a response, Wild continued. “No, you are not. So why don’t you let Mrs. Dumphry worry about his leg, and just do as you’re told?”

  Arthur felt a little hurt, but nodded and picked up the bottom half of his best friend. Jack’s leg
was hotter than he would have thought possible. It was only a few short steps until Arthur and Wild were standing next to a large bush. As they laid Jack on the ground, Wild dropped to his knees and shoved him forward. When his friend disappeared, Arthur gasped again.

  “Will you stay silent?” Wild whispered angrily. “Get in, and whatever you do, don’t move.”

  As Arthur dropped to his knees, he saw a small hole that had been hollowed out beneath the bush. It wouldn’t hide them completely, but unless someone was right on top of them, it should do the job. He crawled in and quickly pulled Jack close. Even though his friend was unconscious, he was still glad he was not alone in the hole.

  When Wild turned to walk away, Arthur whispered after him, “Where are you going?”

  Wild shot Arthur an angry look and placed his finger to his lips, making a shushing motion, then climbed into the back of the wagon and disappeared from view.

  Arthur barely breathed as he searched the surrounding forest, trying to see everything at once. And though his eyes still ached, his vision was returning. Except, he was relatively certain that the shadows weren’t quite so dark as they should have been. And he could see more detail than ever before. His eyes followed a small beetle crawling across the ground a few steps away. It shouldn’t have been possible to see so clearly.

  As the minutes passed, his fear began to subside. Besides his eyesight, nothing seemed unusual about the night. Maybe Mrs. Dumphry had been mistaken. After an hour of sitting in the hole, he was on the edge of sleep. Just as he was about to close his eyes and embrace the coming dreams, he heard a soft whoosh. Suddenly wide awake, Arthur listened intently. The sound made him think of the blacksmith bellows his father sometimes used. Each time his dad took him into Ballylesson, they had stopped by Mr. McReady’s forge. His father would walk inside without saying a word. He’d grab the bellows and begin pumping in a slow, steady rhythm. Mr. McReady would look back and smile in thanks as he continued his work.

  “I know it looks easy, Arthur,” his father would say, “but only a man with a steady hand and sure rhythm can be master of the bellows.”

  When Arthur’s father pumped the bellows, it made a whoosh each time the air was pushed through the small hole. He could hear the same sound now, except it was much quicker, as if the bellows were pumping furiously.

  Arthur’s breath caught as something dropped from high up in the sky. It landed directly between him and the wagon without making a sound. Fear swelled as a shadowed figure rose fluidly from the ground. It was hulking, with webbed wings extending from its back. As it stood, the wings began wrapping themselves around the strange creature. The wings didn’t fold into its back, but rather melted into its body, becoming a sort of second skin.

  Although his vision was blurred, Arthur had seen the dead beasts outside of Jack’s house. Mrs. Dumphry had called them Oriax, and though they’d scared him witless, this was infinitely worse. This must be the Shadule Mrs. Dumphry was talking about, he thought shakily. And while he couldn’t say for sure, he thought it was the same type of creature that he’d found lying headless inside O’flannigans.

  The Shadule radiated evil much the same way an ice cube radiates cold. As it stood fully upright, Arthur placed his hands over Jack’s mouth to quiet his breathing. The creature was directly facing them. It blended so well with the night that the only things Arthur could see clearly were the solid white slits of its eyes.

  Letting its head fall back at an impossible angle, the creature began to sway and make a soft rattling sound. It moved more like a snake than a man as it sniffed the air. Keeping its feet anchored to the ground, the creature bent so that its entire body hovered just above the forest floor. It moved so fluidly that Arthur was sure it couldn’t possibly have bones.

  Inhaling deeply, the creature began to swing in a slow, wide circle. It swayed in the direction of the wagon and snapped rigid as its entire body stretched itself out like a snake, adding a full pace to its length. The Shadule let out a rattling hiss, then flung its body in the opposite direction so the back of its head nearly touched the ground. It sprang forward, shooting toward the back of the wagon.

  As the creature was about to fly through the opening, a burning arrow was loosed from inside and struck it square in the chest. The Shadule exploded into flames, letting out a high-pitched scream as it disappeared into the back of the wagon.

  Arthur didn’t breathe; he couldn’t have moved if his life depended on it. Inside the wagon, the light of the flames flickered brightly, and what he heard made him want to tear at his ears. Wild’s agonized screams echoed through the crisp night air. The wagon shook violently as the Shadule shrieked in rage, rattling and snarling.

  A moment later, the flames extinguished themselves. It didn’t look as if they’d burned out, but rather they’d been sucked inward. As the flames disappeared, Wild’s screaming quieted, shifting to a terrified whimper.

  “Where is the boy?” the Shadule rasped.

  “You’re too late,” Wild moaned. “The Child of Prophecy has come, and your master’s end is near!”

  Arthur felt the hair on his body begin to rise as lightning exploded out of the clear night sky, striking near the wagon and forming a crater in the ground. The brightness nearly blinded Arthur, his eyes still sensitive to light. Almost instantly another bolt struck the ground behind him, flinging a mound of dirt high in the air. The very air was alive with electricity, and in the brightness of the lightning strikes, Arthur saw three Oriax slowly approaching.

  He ducked low and didn’t think the beasts had seen him, but they were coming directly toward him. As he turned back to look at the wagon, he screamed. The Shadule was standing next to the wagon, but staring directly at Arthur and Jack. Taking a fluid step toward him, it dropped to its belly and began slithering forward, moving like a snake.

  In blind panic, Arthur leaped from the hole, pulling Jack behind him.

  “I will receive great reward for this,” the Shadule hissed, its forked tongue flicking out from between its lifeless, gray lips. “Since time before time we have waited!” it rattled.

  As it slithered closer, another bolt of lightning fell, booming loudly and landing between Arthur and the Shadule. Though the creature glanced warily at the sky, it barely slowed its approach. More lightning fell, crashing all around them.

  The Shadule rose fluidly into a standing position and continued forward, walking the final steps to stand over the boys. With a look of pure ecstasy, it bent low, and without so much as a glance at Arthur, the Shadule scooped Jack into its arms.

  Arthur wanted to scream, to call out to Mrs. Dumphry, to do something to help Jack. But how could he stand against evil such as this?

  Cradling Jack, the creature began walking away as the black wings unfurled from its body.

  Alexia stood on the topmost branch of a birch tree, her sling ready in one hand as she idly thumbed a stone with the other. She’d been standing in the tree for more than an hour and was beginning to wonder if the old woman had tricked her. Maybe she’d just wanted to leave Alexia behind.

  As they’d walked into the woods, Alexia had kept as close an eye on the old woman as she had on the surrounding forest. After ten minutes of walking, Mrs. Dumphry had stopped. There was nothing different about this part of the woods that Alexia could see, but the woman seemed to be able to hear, or perhaps sense something. Leaning close, she’d whispered, “The Oriax are hard to kill. But if you hit them squarely between the eyes, they will die quick enough. However, if your stone lands even an inch off center, the beasts will barely feel it.” Mrs. Dumphry’s eyes searched the forest as she spoke. “They are close now. At least one pack has been hunting us since Ballylesson.”

  The old woman pointed to a nearby tree and asked Alexia if she thought she might be able to climb it. Alexia sneered and, without waiting for more instructions, she’d quietly taken four running steps and leaped for the clos
est branch, climbing silently. In a matter of seconds she was standing high in the tree. As she’d climbed, she’d pictured herself looking down to see Mrs. Dumphry staring up in wonder. But when she turned to look, the old woman was nowhere to be seen.

  An hour later, Alexia was still standing on her branch and wishing she had stayed to hear more of Mrs. Dumphry’s plan before running off. Alexia’s anger began to grow. How long must she wait here? Although she didn’t trust the woman, she wasn’t at all excited about being alone in the woods with those Oriax nearby.

  Alexia’s anger with Mrs. Dumphry wasn’t the only thing on her mind. The old woman had said she could save Megan. That was the only reason Alexia had decided to go with her. And now, here she was hiding in a tree in the middle of the forest! Her confusion and anger fed on one another until she was spitting mad. When she scanned the ground, her breath caught. A large number of Oriax were striding through the forest and would soon pass directly beneath her.

  Some of the beasts moved with the fluidity of cats, while others plodded as steady as horses, jumped about like rabbits, or slithered along the ground. Yet whether they looked awkward or stealthy, they barely made a sound. Alexia counted thirty, but she was sure there were more, farther out in the darkness.

  She once again wished she hadn’t left Mrs. Dumphry so early. Had she stayed, she might have learned how many Oriax were in a pack, or what the old woman expected her to do when they arrived.

  As she shifted her footing to get a better view of the beasts below, something pulled at the corner of her vision. When she looked out into the trees, her jaw dropped. She hadn’t known the beasts could climb and fly!

  At least another twenty Oriax were coming toward her, swinging, jumping, or flitting between the branches. They moved as silently as those on the ground. It was too dark to make out any of them clearly, but all were heading directly toward her. Though they had yet to see her, in a matter of seconds she would be surrounded. The beasts were obviously hunting something. Both the Oriax below and those in the trees stopped every now and then to smell the air before continuing on.