Venom and Song

by Wayne Thomas Batson

  “Poof?” Autumn had barely uttered the word when she took a whiff of air and realized all too clearly what Sarabell was talking about. She spun around in her chair and glared at Migmar.

  “Sorry,” he muttered, turning red from ear to ear. He was grateful when Jett broke the silence.

  “You called us honorary Moonchildren,” Jett said. “What’s that mean?”

  “With that title,” said Migmar, “Gnomes the world over will call you friend and give you leave to travel freely in their territory.”

  “How will they know we’re honorary Moonchildren?” asked Kat. “Do we get a necklace or something?”

  “No,” said Migmar. “Gnomes care little for jewelry. You will have a tattoo.”

  “Uh-uh,” said Jett. “Not me. I hate needles.”

  “Needles?” Migmar echoed. “Oh, like the Gwar who cut their designs into their flesh, you must mean. Oh no. We are not that way. Ink, our tattoos are . . . ink of a kind that does not come off, not unless we want it to, that is. But more, there is. As a friend of Gnomes, your friends are our friends, your enemies are our enemies. In plenty and in want, your kindred, we Gnome will be. Children of the Sun and Children of the Moon, together, as Ellos the Maker would have it. Ah! And speaking of plenty, arrived have the desserts!”

  “Desserts?” said Johnny. “I’m totally full.”

  “Not me,” said Migmar. He stood and patted his stomach. Then he frowned. “Oh, dear. Upset, my stomach is.”

  “Uh-oh,” whispered Jimmy to the others, seeing what the immediate future held. “I think we might want to move to another table.”

  27

  Death in the Abyss

  “TAKE YOU, Migmar can, no farther,” Migmar said, folding his hands nervously. The Seven shared a few glances, uneasy with the sudden news given the sun’s swift descent toward the eastern horizon. That and this part of the forest seemed particularly unwelcoming.

  “You mean as far as you wish to take us,” corrected Kat.

  The Gnome stared at her wide-eyed. “Wish to, yes. That’s it.” The Gnome pointed. “Beyond that thicket, cave there is; only entrance to forgotten fortress, hidden Elven stronghold. Burcherond, called by us.”

  “Burcherond?” echoed Kiri Lee. “It almost sounds French. What’s it mean?”

  Migmar hesitated, glancing left to the path they had trod. “Means painful building.”

  “Just where I wanted to go,” muttered Johnny.

  “Nah, man, don’t think that way,” said Jett.

  “Thank you, Migmar,” said Tommy as he placed his hand on the kind soul’s shoulder. “You’ve already helped us so much.” Truth be told, the little Gnome had done far more than Tommy ever could have hoped. Had it not been for him and his community, the Seven might still be wandering in the Thousand-League Forest alone. And what’s more, nowhere close to finding the Keystone. “We are grateful for all you have done, and will remember you fondly when the thrones of Berinfell are restored.”

  “Oh, a grand day indeed,” he grinned. “And fine party, I presume.”

  “The finest,” said Kat, leaning down and giving him a kiss on the cheek, to which the Barrister Gnome blushed and stepped backward. The strange odor they had grown accustomed to filled the air . . . apparently a nervous tick, as well.

  “Going, am I,” he bowed. “Come you back anytime.”

  “And have a safe journey,” said Tommy.

  But as the Gnome was about to vanish into the wood, Kat felt a strange pit form in the bottom of her stomach. She glanced at Tommy. “Did he say why he wasn’t going to take us into the fortress?”

  “No. Maybe he’s afraid of the dark.”

  Kat thought for a moment. “Afraid of something,” she repeated. “Migmar! Wait!” Kat took off running after the little man.

  Tommy nodded to Autumn, who was off in a flash. Suddenly Migmar reappeared on the path, pushed behind from Autumn. Kat returned and drew close to the Gnome. “What are you so afraid of?”

  Migmar shook his head.

  “What’s he thinking?” asked Tommy.

  “Migmar, tell us,” asked Kat again. But the little Gnome only shut his eyes, twisting his head back and forth.

  “Kat?” asked Tommy once more.

  “I can’t tell,” she replied over her shoulder. “Something about a keeper.”

  Migmar burst out then. “The Keeper of the Cistern!”

  “Keeper of the what?” asked Tommy.

  “No! Don’t make Migmar go!” Migmar turned on Autumn and forced his way past her. “Let me go home! Just let Migmar go back home!” And with that he disappeared into the tall trees, his whimpering swallowed whole by the thickness of the forest.

  “Well, now I’m freaked out just a little,” said Kiri Lee, turning to look at the cave entrance.

  “Don’t be silly,” said Jimmy. “Our people have been living underground for the past eight hundred years.” He pushed up his sleeves and withdrew a torch from Jett’s backpack. “What’s a cave to us? I’ll go first.”

  “You really should know—”

  “What I’m doin’, Tommy? What’s t’know?” He winked at Kiri Lee, then looked ahead to the cave entrance, gaping wide like the black mouth of a starving beast. “Care to do the honors, Johnny?” Johnny looked to Tommy and then back to Jimmy. A quick wave of his hand and Jimmy’s torch sprang to life.

  As Jimmy walked into the entrance of the cave, Kat leaned over to Tommy and whispered, “One day that kind of attitude might get us in trouble.”

  “Yeah.” Tommy ran a hand through his hair. “Like tonight.”

  “See anything?” Johnny ased, holding a flickering flame in each palm. He remained in the back to illuminate their path while Jimmy strode in the front of the line carrying a torch. The tunnel did not deviate from its straight and flat course, interrupted only occasionally by a pile of rocks long-since relieved of their status in the arched ceiling. The smell of mildew and animal musk filled their nostrils, making it obvious that it was traveled far more often by roaming beasts than Elfkind.

  “This place,” said Kat, “I don’t know how to explain it, but it feels . . .”

  “Creepy?” said Johnny. “Way creepier than the tunnels at Whitehall.”

  “That’s because we always knew Grimwarden would come rescue us,” said Autumn. She didn’t need to point out that there would be no such salvation in this place.

  “Uh-huh,” said Johnny, a slight flicker washing across the walls as his hands trembled. “Do you think this place is . . . haunted?”

  “Don’t be silly, Johnny,” said Autumn. “There is no such thing as—”

  “I dunno.” Jimmy turned around. “An ancient Elven fortress seems like a good place fer ghosts to me.”

  “And what about the cistern keeper?” asked Jett. “The way Migmar talked about that, seemed like he’d seen a ghost once or twice before.”

  “All of you, stop it,” Tommy said a little louder than he meant to, his voice echoing down the corridor. Something fluttered deep in the distance.

  “What was that?” Kiri Lee jumped.

  “Probably just a bat,” Jimmy said.

  Tommy looked around. “Seriously now. Everyone take a deep breath. We are here to retrieve the Keystone. Our kind friend Migmar is clearly spooked by old legends, and we all know ghosts aren’t real.”

  “But spirits are,” said Johnny.

  “Johnny! Please!” Tommy was exasperated.

  Autumn gave Johnny the stink look.

  “Well, they are!” he mouthed to her.

  Tommy allowed everyone to settle down for a moment. “Let’s just stay quiet and keep moving. Come on.”

  After nearly twenty minutes of walking underground, the tunnel ceiling disappeared and before them lay a vast expanse of black. Subtle footfalls echoed into near oblivion as the sound traveled out and away, returning seconds later, amplified as it expanded higher into the space before them. The small firelight that had guided them this far was now useless.
/>
  “Johnny?” asked Tommy.

  “No problem.” Johnny shot one hand skyward, and a short stream of fire leaped into the air, arched, and started a slow, floating descent. A thousand small creatures darted away from the light. The Seven marveled at the sight. Across a vast, bottomless abyss, spanned only by a narrow wooden bridge, sat an immense stone fortress, carved out of the very subterranean rock around them. Blackened windows, voids in the gray stone, stared out coldly to the Seven. Tier upon tier of rampart sat atop the next, layers of crenellations ending one embattlement and beginning another. The stronghold sprawled outward and upward until it became one with the solid, uncut rock of the cavern.

  “Burcherond, I take it,” Kiri Lee piped up. “And the Keystone is in there?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Jimmy answered, now making for the bridge.

  Tommy reached out and grabbed Jimmy by the arm. “Wait.”

  Jimmy looked back.

  “Seriously, mannn,” said Jett. “That thing wasn’t built yesterday.”

  “Don’t yu worry now, Jett,” Jimmy answered. “If there’s one thing I know after livin’ in a land of castles, it’s stone.”

  Tommy shook his head. “Jimmy, just hold up a minute.”

  Jimmy didn’t reply. He just glared back at Tommy. Tommy couldn’t tell if Jimmy’s eyes just looked cold from the fading light, or because of something else.

  “We need another blast,” Jett looked to Johnny.

  “Now that we know the layout,” Johnny looked around, “I’ll put one there,” he popped off a larger burst, “and there,” and another, both slamming into their ceiling-bound targets with a flash of light and heat. Ample light came down from the steady glow of flames dancing upon red-hot stalactites.

  Jimmy strode forward and placed his foot onto the bridge. Bits of rock rained into the endless dark below. He took another step and proceeded far out onto the middle. “Well? What are yu waiting for?”

  “You think it’s safe for us?” Kiri Lee asked Tommy.

  “I’m not sure,” he replied, eyeing Jimmy. “Let me go next.” Tommy trod out onto the bridge and looked down at the stone. Are those cracks? In the weak light, he couldn’t tell. He did his best to keep his fear of heights at bay, looking at the rails of the bridge but not into the crevasse below.

  Jimmy was nearly to the other side when Tommy motioned back to Kat. “Seems safe!” he called.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Every step you guys take, dust and stuff falls from the bottom of the bridge.”

  Kiri Lee sidled in front of her. “Then I’ll go.”

  “Hey—!”

  But Kiri Lee was already out and walking, doing her best not to aggravate the ornery stone underfoot. But it wouldn’t matter to you if it broke, Miss I-Can-Walk-On-Air, would it? Kat puffed out her cheeks and went next.

  “I’ll follow you guys,” Autumn said to Jett and Johnny.

  But Jett would have none of it. “Ladies first,” he said, bowing with his arm extended.

  “Real suave,” Johnny jested.

  As Jimmy set foot on the far side’s landing, he turned around to watch the progress of the others. It was in that brief moment that a shudder rippled through the bridge, a grinding stone-against-stone sound.

  “What was that?” Kat yelped.

  “The bridge!” Jimmy cried out.

  “No one move,” said Tommy. “Hold absolutely still.”

  The momentary pause silenced the bridge. But only for a moment. Stone moved again. Everyone on the bridge felt it.

  Jett leaned over the rail and looked down. In that very second a hunk of gray stone released from the bottom of the bridge. Jett watched it fall until it was swallowed up by the deep hole, and then he listened. And listened. He never heard the stone hit bottom.

  Johnny felt another shiver beneath his feet. “Guys?” And that’s when everyone heard Jimmy yell, “RUN! ”

  The collapse begun, the bridge began to disintegrate right out from underneath them, one stone at a time.

  “Run! Run! Run!” Jimmy echoed.

  The girls screamed as they strode forward, legs pumping, arms flailing. Kiri Lee took to the air to give the others room—and she was too scared to bind her fate to a bridge that she trusted not nearly as much as open air, even air over an abyss. The bridge bucked, loosing itself of stone like an avalanche. Foundations cracked underfoot, shards of stone shooting out in all directions.

  The lords tried desperately to keep their feet underneath them, managing by some miracle to keep from falling off. But even so, would there be any bridge connected to the far side in the next few breaths?

  Tommy leaped the final three steps, colliding with Jimmy and knocking him over. Kat was a second behind, and Kiri Lee touched down after her. The four turned around to see Autumn, Johnny, and Jett leaping over gaps that appeared in front of them.

  “Come on!” they yelled. “Run!”

  Autumn kicked it into high gear, pulling Johnny, who pulled Jett. Autumn fell down the slope of the bridge, and Johnny tumbled after, screaming for Jett. Their hands had separated, and Jett had fallen to a knee behind them.

  “No!” Jimmy cried out.

  What was left of the bridge beneath Jett gave way, and he fell.

  “NO!” Tommy yelled.

  “Gotcha!” Kiri Lee cried out, and then she groaned, jarred by Jett’s momentum. She stood on an invisible island of air and had both hands wrapped around Jett’s wrist. “You are heavy,” she said, grinning.

  “It’s all muscle, baby,” he said back.

  But Kiri Lee didn’t laugh. “We’re sinking!”

  “C’mon, Kiri Lee, climb!” yelled Tommy.

  “I know!” Kiri Lee shouted, now pulling up on Jett and back–pedaling, churning her legs in reverse as if on some aerobic bicycle. “Hold on!”

  “I am!”

  Kiri Lee worked her legs as hard as she could, ascending ever so slowly and watching the last chunks of the bridge fall away below them. The five other teens watched in stunned amazement as Kiri Lee defied gravity not only herself, but hauling Jett with her, both of them hanging over a bottomless pit.

  “Hey!” Jett called, working his legs. “I feel something . . . under my feet! Feels like wet sand . . . like I can almost climb it!”

  “Kiri Lee’s gift,” Tommy muttered. “It’s maturing.” Tommy snapped from his thoughts. “Give him more of your power, Kiri Lee!”

  “I’m trying,” she cried back. “But I’m not sure how!”

  Tommy spun on his heels. “Autumn, zip around here, find a rope, a branch—”

  “Where?”

  “I don’t know, just look!”

  Autumn flashed away, grabbing Jimmy’s torch right out of his hand. Tommy and the others urged Kiri Lee and Jett on.

  For a moment they were climbing, still about twelve feet from the landing, but getting closer. “Come on!” the lords yelled.

  But Jett’s pedaling with his feet put an awful strain on Kiri Lee. “Ah! You’re slipping!” she cried. “Stop moving your legs!”

  “But I almost had it,” Jett yelled. “I think if I keep trying—”

  “If you keep trying, I’ll drop you,” she said. “The sweat . . . your arm is slipping through my hands.”

  The moment Jett stopped struggling, the pair began to sink more rapidly. “Ah! This isn’t good!” yelled Jett.

  Autumn suddenly appeared. “I can’t find anything!” And then she saw Kiri Lee straining to hold Jett, but the two of them falling in slow motion. “Oh no!”

  “Tommy, hold me arm!” yelled Jimmy. He stepped to the edge of the crevasse and held out his arm for Tommy. Tommy did just that, and using his weight as a counterbalance, he let Jimmy lean out.

  “Uhnnn!” Jimmy grunted. “Ah, they’re just too far . . . out ’a me reach!”

  “There’s gotta be something around here!” Johnny growled, the flames flaring in his hands. In his rush to find some object or piece of debris to help his friends reach o
ut to Kiri Lee, Johnny caught the toe of his boot on a jag of rock and tripped. He fell hard, but there was a sudden burst of light, and Johnny never hit the ground.

  Flames bursting from his palms kept the young lord seven inches from the floor. Johnny surprised himself by bringing forth more fire, using the powerful streams to push himself to his feet.

  “No!” Kiri Lee shrieked. “I—I can’t!”

  Johnny turned and took in a nightmarish scene. Tommy and Jimmy were still trying to stretch out, but even with Kat helping anchor them it was no use. Kiri Lee looked exhausted, desperate, terrified. Jett dangled beneath her, helpless. He was staring at Johnny and muttering something, maybe a prayer.

  That was when Kiri Lee let go.

  She hadn’t meant to, but finally her strength gave out. “NOO!” she cried, flailing at the air, but Jett was gone.

  Johnny, rather than panicking, felt an odd prickle on the bottoms of his feet. It matched the tickling of an idea in the back of his mind. He looked over at Tommy, but caught Jimmy’s eye instead.

  “Do it,” said Jimmy.

  That was all Johnny needed. In a blur of motion that would have made Autumn proud, Johnny raced forward and dove over the edge.

  Everything had happened so fast. In a matter of seconds two of their number were gone. So utterly spent was Kiri Lee that she fell out of the air into Tommy’s arms and lost consciousness. Jimmy stood at the edge of the chasm and looked down.

  “Why did he do it?” whispered Autumn. “Why?”

  “Wait,” said Jimmy. “Yur brother—Johnny—knows what he’s doing.”

  A flash! Followed a second later by a tremendous boom!

  “What . . . ?” Kiri Lee awoke with a start just as a brilliant flare of pure white light exploded from the abyss.

  The four teens joined Jimmy near the ledge and looked. Trembling upward at a slow, lumbering pace came Johnny with enormous furrows of white-hot fire rocketing from his hands and feet. And clinging to Johnny like an enormous backpack was Jett. He grinned up at his friends and yelled, “This guy has rocket feet!”

  The pair gained speed until finally Johnny cut his afterburners, and the two sailed in a gentle arc through the air and landed on the stone.