by L. R. W. Lee
Methuselah, you may not be able to kill Abaddon, but I hope you can still maim the bellicose, Andy prayed as he moved his blade in a figure eight pattern.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Give Me a Break
“It’s not responding to any of my suggestions!” Yara shouted as the bellicose crouched, mirroring Andy.
“Let me handle this!” Andy yelled back.
All but Sergeants Ector and Rosser had witnessed a previous encounter pitting Andy against the bellicose.
“Stand down!” Captain Baldric bellowed at his men.
Andy and his adversary circled, eyes locked. Around and around they paced in cautious, sideways steps, neither giving the other any advantage. Andy kept to the balls of his feet, ready to react but unwilling to make himself vulnerable by attacking first. The sounds of animals nearby drew his notice.
Bark. Arroo. Yip-yip-yip.
He heard Sergeant Terric growl, “Herewolves have us surrounded.”
A red-leafed clump ten feet away gave Andy an idea.
Here kitty, kitty.
Keeping his focus steadfast, Andy slowly circled but deviated toward the red plant.
Mermin, I hope you’re right.
The bellicose grew restless with the monotony but continued mirroring its prey. Five feet away.
That’s it, Mr. Kitty.
Two feet.
Just a little farther. Come on. You can do it.
Andy barely missed the lykosamative this time around, but when the bellicose tromped its hind paw down in the middle of the cluster, the plant’s white flowers exploded, expelling a burst of pungent, yellow pollen. Andy bolted back, falling over an exposed tree root. He scrambled up as the cat-man crouched, readying its launch. But as it sprang, five herewolves shot from the forest and intercepted it in their powerful jaws.
“Andy!” Yara yelled.
He dashed for her voice and fell into Sergeant Hammond’s waiting arms.
“Up the trees!” Captain Baldric commanded, and Andy felt himself rise without effort as the sergeant propelled him upward.
The sounds of ruthless conflict cut the forest.
“What’s the plan, Captain?” Sergeant Fulk queried once all thirteen perched high up in the trees.
“Herewolves can’t climb. Hopefully neither can the bellicose even though it has cat-like tendencies. We wait until nightfall. We’ll have a full moon tonight. I’m just hoping those clouds break so they get moonstruck, like moths to a flame.”
The herewolves and bellicose raged for hours.
Grrrrr.
Bark. Arroo. Yip-yip-yip.
Rrrarh!
The sun set and darkness enveloped the forest. At last the sounds of battle waned and silence reigned once more as the fog thinned. The moon had not yet risen and the blackness hid movement.
“Is it safe to climb down?” Alden questioned.
Rrrarh! The bellicose answered from the base of one of the three trees in which they had taken refuge—Andy’s tree.
The sounds of claws seeking purchase in bark immediately followed, and Sergeants Gavin and Hammond, who occupied the lowest limbs, hastily moved higher.
Despite the creature’s bitten and bloodied condition, the bellicose would not stray from its appointed mission, and its claws found anchors. The officers, Andy, Yara, and Mom climbed farther up into the smallest limbs as the cat-man began inching up the trunk.
“If it comes any nearer I’m gonna take Methuselah to it.”
The fog thinned and the glow of moonlight brought dark shadows, allowing Andy to make out his nemesis. The cat-man’s piercing yellow eyes shone in the dim light, boring into its prize. As it continued upward, Andy lowered himself three branches against the officers’ objections.
The cat-man had climbed to the branch directly below Andy when a thick cloud parted and the full moon suddenly shone above the treetops. The creature had received multiple bites during its struggle with the wolves and could not ignore the lunar allure.
Arroo! Arroo!
Seizing the opportunity, Andy brought Methuselah down on the creature’s head, which tumbled from its shoulders. Gravity reached to embrace the adversary and, as if in slow motion, the cat-man’s body fell away from the tree, bouncing between branches as if in a pinball machine.
Thud.
The sounds of night creatures reignited and Andy felt the mood of the forest instantly shift.
“Well done, Andy!” came a chorus of praise, but he held up a hand. “I’ve thought I’d killed it before, but it keeps coming back. I’m not holding my breath. It’ll be back. Count on it.”
“I believe you’re right, Andy,” Captain Baldric agreed. “I was surprised to see it again. That lintel crushed the thing at the Giant’s Ring, yet somehow it came back.”
Grim faces met the news.
The captain continued, “I think we’d be wise to move out while we have the moon to light the way. We need to make it out of herewolf territory before sunup.”
It took no convincing, and within minutes the thirteen assumed a brisk pace, the distant baying of herewolves and therewolves urging them forward.
The chiseled rock wall surrounding Oomaldee rose in the distance like a gray snake slithering through the haze. Its rough cut blocks told the stories of hundreds of artisans who had skillfully crafted and breathed life into it. Despite the fog’s attempt to conceal, the moonlight deftly revealed its grandeur between dark clouds floating by.
Each time Andy had seen the Great Wall, he marveled, feeling dwarfed in its shadow. Tonight proved no different as they neared the Lykos watchtower. It differed from Dragontail, which they had passed under on their way to the Dragons’ Lair. No water flowed beneath it, leaving only the current of night sounds to accompany them.
Having walked at least four hours with Andy’s mind begging for sleep nearly the whole way, the sight lightened his mood for he knew this meant they had cleared the danger of furry predators. He reached over and took Yara’s hand and began swinging arms. A smile bloomed on the princess’s face.
Captain Baldric held up a fist, halting forward progress, then waved for everyone to circle up. In little more than a whisper he explained, “We need to accomplish two things while we’re here. Tonight we need to find the hidden door to the tunnel that will take us under the wall. And tomorrow we’ll check on the guards up top to make sure Abaddon hasn’t gotten to them. Keep quiet. If the guards have been turned, we don’t want them to let Abaddon know we’re here.
“To find the hidden door, we need to locate a loose stone about the size of a man’s fist. It’ll either be in the wall or near it. When depressed it’ll open the door to the tunnel and we can get some sleep.”
The last five words spurred the flagging group to action and they fanned out along the bottom of the wall, fingering and pressing every inch. Unfortunately, the moon had crested an hour earlier and the wall now cast a shadow over the search area.
Several minutes into the search, Hannah froze to Andy’s right. “I feel evil, and it’s coming in fast!”
“What is it?” Andy questioned, hastening his search.
“I’m not sure, but it feels like the bellicose.”
“How’s that even possible? Andy just got through killing it,” Alden objected.
“No idea. I’m just telling you what I feel.”
“Everyone focus,” Mom encouraged.
The news spread like wildfire to the far end of the line, and thumps, scratches, and bumps intensified.
“Where is that stupid button?” Yara growled, kicking the wall in frustration. None too happy at being so poorly treated, the wall protested in a gravelly voice that sounded like rock dragging across rock.
“You found it!” Andy celebrated in a whisper and pulled her tight in a hug.
Before the door had slid fully open, Hannah, Alden, Mom, Yara, and Andy scrambled through.
“Aahhh!” Hannah shrieked. “Uh! What is that? Get it off of me!”
Phht! Yara sputtered.
Phht. Phht.
A large body tromped on Andy’s foot in haste. “Ouch!”
“Sorry about that,” Sergeant Terric’s deep voice replied.
The sound of hands madly brushing clothing filled the space as the other officers bolted in.
Andy stopped to extend Methuselah’s blade in the pitch black. Through the pain exploding in his foot, Andy grunted, “We need to find the button to close the door from the inside! Everyone look for it!”
“The bellicose is nearly here,” Hannah whimpered.
Sergeant Fulk found the switch and the door began closing, but not fast enough. It still had two feet to go when a menacing roar echoed through the opening and bounced off the stone walls.
A human hand with razor-sharp feline claws tipping each finger slashed inside, barely missing Sergeant Ector. With the door still open a foot, Andy charged around the sergeant, raised his blade, and brought it down quickly on the bellicose. Half a furry black arm landed on the ground as the door slid shut.
Sergeants Fulk and Gavin stepped together, covering the carnage before Hannah or anyone else could see it and react.
“Don’t touch it,” Captain Baldric whispered.
Everyone sighed loudly and Andy wormed his way through the company. His blade’s light quickly revealed five torches standing on end in a niche formed from the rocks.
A flame extended from Methuselah’s tip, drawing startled looks from Mom and the officers who had never seen it behave this way. The blade lit each torch and the officers, grasping the shafts gingerly, passed them around.
“They won’t bite, you know,” Yara admonished, winking at Andy.
“Ugh! We walked into a huge spider web!” Hannah announced when she could finally see. She ran an open palm across her scrunched face, then pinched fingers together and pulled feather-light strands from her tunic. She shook the threads stuck to her fingers, but they blended with her movement, refusing to be cast aside. “Gross!” She turned to the rough wall and wiped her hand down its face, at last persuading them to relocate.
Alden stepped next to Hannah and pulled several more sticky threads from her hair while Yara brushed away the fibers that had hitched a ride on her.
With Hannah’s crisis averted, everyone looked about the narrow, stone-lined corridor. Massive wooden support beams set every ten feet secured the weight of the ceiling. Cobwebs hung the eerie length of the tunnel-like decorations for a Halloween party, reminding Andy of the passage under Dragontail watchtower.
Sergeant Fulk, who held one torch, led the company forward, burning away the webs and sending a host of eight-legged inhabitants scurrying. Within twenty yards the tunnel opened up into a room. The cobwebs hung so thick they looked like curtains swaying in the tunnel’s drafts. Everyone holding a torch went to work and quickly reclaimed the space for human habitation.
A pile of logs was neatly stacked against the far wall, and next to that was a hole in the ground. A bucket attached to a rope lay nearby.
“It’s a well, like before,” Alden remembered.
Everyone spread out a bedroll, and in no time Sergeant Hammond had a fire burning. Sounds of slumber soon filled the space.
Andy’s grumbling stomach woke him some time later. He could not tell the time since no daylight penetrated their hideaway. Captain Baldric and Sergeants Hammond and Gavin spoke in hushed tones on the far side of the fire, which Sergeant Albin teased to life. Yara, who lay on her bedroll next to Andy, twitched an arm in slumber and Mom stirred, sitting up and stretching.
With the captain still pushing to complete their mission and return to the castle as quickly as possible, he had Sergeant Rosser rouse the other soldiers, waking Yara, Alden, and Hannah in the process.
Over a breakfast of crusty bread, moonberries, and crumbly cheese, Captain Baldric formulated a plan to determine if the watchtower guards remained loyal to the King or whether Abaddon had transformed them into members of his patrol. The plan required stealth rather than brawn.
Mom closed her eyes, raised a hand, and took a deep breath. “I propose Andy goes. With Yara.”
Although excited for the opportunity, Andy tilted his head at the news.
The officers raised numerous objections but she insisted.
Accepting that he had been overruled, Captain Baldric whispered something in Sergeant Rosser’s ear and he nodded. Then, taking a torch, the sergeant led the pair and their supporters back to the door. He furrowed his brow when only a white mark remained on the ground before the door.
“That’s what always happens,” Andy responded, reading his thoughts.
Rosser chose not to reply, but depressed the stone to reengage the door they had entered in the wee hours.
Thick fog blanketed the area, making it hard to see more than three feet. For several minutes everyone stood silently in the doorway, listening for unwelcome visitors. When Sergeant Albin declared the coast was clear, Andy and Yara crept out.
“Be careful,” Hannah cautioned, giving a half smile.
“We will,” Andy assured.
Andy turned right and hugged the wall for about twenty feet. Last night’s search had confirmed the location of a stairwell that scaled the height of the wall. The captain indicated they would pass sleeping quarters and a weapons cache to the left on their way up. A separate set of stairs to the right would lead to the signal tower.
Andy stopped at the iron-barred gate securing the stairway and tried the handle.
“It’s locked,” he whispered to Yara who nodded.
Andy scrounged in his pouch for the gold key. As he moved to insert it in the lock, Yara tapped his shoulder and pointed. The sound of scuffling shoes echoed against the hard walls. Someone was approaching.
Yara motioned to move several steps past the door. Andy hoped the fog would provide adequate cover. They crouched and listened: keys jingled then slid into the lock. The tumbler clicked and the handle turned. Protesting metal announced someone opened the door, and a reverberating clang confirmed its closure.
Fallen leaves crunched underfoot as the guard approached. The pair hunched and made themselves as small as possible, heads toward the wall. Andy drew his arm around Yara, pulling her close. They froze, barely breathing, as the stranger ambled by, no more than four feet away.
“How’m I supposed to do rounds when I can’t even see?” the man grumbled in nasally tones. “Now what do we have here?”
Andy’s pulse quickened and he moved just enough to see the beady-eyed man waddle a step closer and squint.
Before Andy or Yara could react, the guard drew a sword and thrust it at the princess. Andy bolted up, meeting it with Methuselah.
Clang. Clash. Clang.
Yara joined the fight, and the soldier quickly found himself on his back with two blade tips pressed against his neck.
“Wait! Please don’t kill me! I’m a soldier of his majesty, King Hercalon!”
Yara kicked his weapon clear.
“How do we know he’s telling the truth?” Andy questioned.
The princess closed her eyes.
“What’s she doing?” The guard made to rise to his elbows, but Andy kept his blade steady.
“Shhh, I can’t concentrate.”
The prisoner ping-ponged his eyes between his captors then started giggling and squirming. “Stop! Oh please! Ah! Stop! That tickles!”
“He’s telling the truth,” Yara concluded. “His inneru’s frozen like the rest, but he still obeys a suggestion I plant in his mind.”
“Well, then I guess we know the state of things here.”
Yara nodded.
“But now Abaddon knows we’re here.”
Turning her back to the soldier, Yara whispered, “But only you and me.”
“Let’s keep it that way.”
Yara closed her eyes once more and concentrated. The soldier yawned, rolled to his side, pulled an arm under his head, and closed his eyes.
To Andy’s questioning look she explained, “I suggested he’s sleepy. He�
��ll take a good long nap and, if this works, he won’t remember us when he wakes up.”
“But if it doesn’t work, we’d better be long gone before Abaddon’s goons decide to pay us a visit.”
“You don’t trust my abilities?”
“It’s not your abilities that worry me. I expect Abaddon will keep acting the way he has. And that being the case, we don’t want to invite trouble, especially with what Daisy and her friends told us.”
The sound of leaves crunching underfoot drew both their attention.
Andy pointed toward the hidden door to the tunnel, and the pair made haste as the sound neared. Andy glanced over his shoulder but could see only thick fog. His stomach tightened.
“Courage, Andy,” his inneru reminded.
He exhaled, and Yara looked his way. They scampered to where Andy thought the door should be and he held up a fist. “Look for the opening stone.”
After several minutes Yara whispered, “I don’t see it. This fog is so thick. Are we even looking in the right spot?”
Crunch. Crunch.
“I don’t know, but we better find it fast!”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The Larder
With no time, Andy kicked the wall. Yara joined in, anxiously muttering to herself.
At length they found the button. “About time!” the pair complained in unison.
Sccrrraaape.
“Come on, come on. Hurry up. Open.” Yara fluttered her hands.
Crunch. Crunch. “Halt right there.”
Familiar arms grabbed Andy and Yara, hauling them inside.
“We said halt!” Two zolt in royal-blue uniforms rushed the entrance, swords poised for conflict. But Sergeants Terric and Ector, who stood on either side of the door, grabbed the first zolt and disarmed him before he could resist. The second soldier proved too quick and bolted.
Sergeant Gavin drew his weapon and held the well-built captive at swordpoint, directing him to sit.