The Skull Warrior

by Yajat Sharma

  Lynx spoke. “I am sorry, but we cannot tell you here. Walls have ears, you know. Let’s go away from the town square.”

  Insanity nodded. “I understand. Follow me.”

  Without another word, he turned and began walking. The others followed silently.

  Insanity led them through an endless maze of turns and corners and alleys and rights and lefts. Everyone was tired. Finally, Insanity stopped outside an alley. “We have reached. Now tell me.”

  Daniel felt like screaming. They were back in the town square.

  “But we are back where we started!” Matt said in protest. “Why did you take us on this meaningless walk?”

  Insanity smiled at him. “One’s whole life is meaningless. Why are you born if you have to die someday? What is life’s meaning? Do you know?”

  They shook their heads.

  Insanity shrugged. “Well, I don’t know either.”

  Daniel exchanged looks with Matt. This man was crazy.

  Lynx cleared his throat, controlling his impatience. “As I said earlier, we need your help.”

  “For what?” Insanity asked.

  Lynx tried hard not to lose his calm. “Can’t you think of a place where we can discuss this confidentially? Don’t you understand that we are surrounded by hostility here?”

  “Sorry, I was just enjoying,” Insanity said as he lowered himself to the ground and sat in a meditation pose. He closed his eyes and muttered a spell. A portal appeared.

  Insanity instructed everyone to follow as he stood up and walked into the portal.

  Before entering the portal, Lynx pulled out a green circular thing from his pocket and put it below the portal. At once, a green glow appeared around the portal’s entrance.

  “What is that?” Daniel asked.

  “A Porteller,” Lynx replied. “It’s like a tracker. If you put it below a portal, it produces this glow that you see all around. It alerts people that there’s a portal here, even if the portal closes.”

  “How does this help us?” Matt asked.

  “We don’t know where Insanity is taking us. When the Scavenger and the others come looking for us in Opal City, they will see this glow and know that there’s a portal here.”

  Matt nodded, understanding.

  They entered the portal, emerging in a massive empty room with no furniture.

  Insanity nodded. “Now speak.”

  “We are looking for the Trident.” Lynx began. “We would need your -”

  Insanity raised a hand to stop him. “Stop. No more. I get it. I sensed that this time would occur soon. The Dark World has been in turmoil for so long.” Insanity nodded to himself, and said, “I can help you. Listen carefully…..”

  Suddenly, Insanity’s face started changing. He backed away, waving his hands as if to repel evil. “Stay away from me! Stay away!”

  Daniel looked at Lynx. “What’s happening?”

  Lynx didn’t reply, just looking towards Insanity.

  Insanity’s eyes started rolling into his head. “I have said nothing! Stay away from me!”

  Insanity dropped to the ground, unconscious.

  Lynx acted at once and knelt beside Insanity. He slapped Insanity on the cheek to wake him up, but to no avail. He slapped him harder, then harder, then harder.

  Insanity’s eyes burst open, and he started screaming. “Aaaaaaaaaa! Help!”

  Insanity suddenly stopped screaming and fell silent.

  Daniel just got a blurred glimpse of Lynx moving, the movement was that fast. Lynx jumped away from Insanity. Lynx’s hand shot out and moved towards Urrax’s face.

  Urrax’s eyes were glowing red.

  Lynx’s eyes widened. “I was right, after all.”

  Urrax looked at him. “Of course you were,” he said in a deep and cold voice. He flicked his fingers and Lynx flew back, banging against the wall.

  Urrax walked towards Insanity. Lynx used magic to disappear from where he was on the wall to appear behind Urrax. Lynx put his arm around Urrax’s throat and Urrax’s eyes bulged out due to the pressure.

  Urrax extricated himself from Lynx’s hold and pushed Lynx away. Lynx fell to the ground. He then quickly got up and ran towards Insanity to help him.

  Hovering ten feet above the ground, Urrax pointed his hands towards Lynx and Insanity. Small but sharp arrows shot out from his fingers.

  Lynx and the others were helping Insanity to get up. Insanity was now conscious. Seeing Urrax firing arrows at them, Lynx waved his hand around, and a dome surrounded them. The arrows stuck on the dome and could not penetrate it.

  Urrax brought his hand forward and a ball of energy shot out from it. It hit the dome with a big blast. The dome fractured into pieces.

  Another ball of energy appeared in Urrax’s hand.

  Daniel’s heart sank as he realized that Lynx had been right. Urrax was a traitor.

  In a split second, Daniel ran towards Urrax, without really thinking about how he would attack. He was just acting on instinct.

  Thankfully, Urrax acted first, saving Daniel the trouble of thinking through his next step. Urrax turned and, with a kick, sent Daniel flying away. Matt rushed towards Daniel to help him.

  To Daniel’s surprise, Lynx and Insanity were nowhere to be seen. Were they alive? Or killed? Or had they escaped? Questions flashed through Daniel’s anxious mind.

  To his relief, Lynx appeared out of nowhere and barged into Urrax from behind. Urrax fell to the ground. His hands glowed again, but suddenly Insanity was there, with shackles ready to bind. Lynx firmly held Urrax down as Insanity tied the shackles around Urrax’s body.

  Urrax roared.

  “Help!” Lynx shouted over to Daniel and Matt. “This won’t hold him long.”

  Daniel and Matt rushed forward and tightly held Urrax’s legs. Matt pulled out a sword and struck at Urrax’s leg with all his force.

  Urrax roared in pain and suddenly, with a blast, he broke the shackles and hovered in the air, looking down with anger towards them.

  “Why are you doing this?” Daniel looked up at Urrax. “Why? You will not win. Evil never wins.”

  Urrax looked at him and his red eyes flickered. “It is just a matter of perspective,” Urrax said. “According to me, you are evil. No one is evil or good. It is just context.” Urrax shook his head, a ball of energy forming in his hand. “Enough chit-chat. Prepare to die. Lynx, I will break you into pieces and throw you in a caged dimension. Imagine that. Tortured in pain for all of eternity.” Urrax laughed.

  “You will never succeed with your plan. The Scavenger will find you,” Lynx said, his voice sure and confident. “He will not stop until you are dead. He will come for you.”

  Urrax laughed again and pointed his hand straight at Lynx’s head.

  “Keep dreaming. The Scavenger isn’t coming for you. Someday, I will get the Scavenger too. My next target is him and the rest of you so-called prophesied children. You people defeated the Death Lord, but this time, the tables have turned. My Lord, the Mighty Skull Warrior, shall triumph. Your time is up.”

  Urrax raised his other hand and an invisible force lifted Lynx up into the air, metres away from Urrax. With a single flick, Urrax sent Insanity, Matt and Daniel flying away.

  “Prepare to live your life in torment,” said Urrax, lifting the ball of energy into the air, aiming at Lynx’s head.

  “Say goodbye to your world,” Urrax said. “And to your dearest friend, the Scavenger.”

  Urrax lowered the ball, and moved his hand forward to throw it.

  “Somebody called me?” A voice came from behind.

  Urrax whipped his head around.

  Daniel did too.

  A portal was open in the middle of the room. The Scavenger, No One, James and Archer were standing in front of it.

  “Hello, Urrax,” the Scavenger said. “You owe me an explanation.”

  Urrax shot the ball of energy at the Scavenger, but No One easily deflected it from behind.

  The Scavenger ran toward
s Urrax and punched him right in the face. There was the unmistakable sound of teeth breaking and Archer cringed.

  The children were quick to pounce on Urrax. No One quickly rolled his hands about, and chains appeared in the air, binding themselves around Urrax. Within a minute, except for his face, Urrax’s whole body was bound in chains.

  Lynx, now on the ground, gave the chains magic of his own, binding them harder. The Scavenger stepped ahead and reinforced the chains. Within ten seconds, the chain stopped gleaming red and stabilized.

  Archer examined Urrax’s face. There were cuts all across his face, and he was bruised hard, but he was conscious. He snarled at them, revealing nothing but chipped pieces of teeth and blood.

  Suddenly, a ray of blue light shot out from his eyes towards the ceiling. The ceiling started to crumble.

  “Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow,” the Scavenger said, wrapping the chains around Urrax’s face too. The ray of light stopped against the chains. Urrax now looked like a mummy in chains.

  The Scavenger and No One leaned back against a wall. The others gathered around them.

  “Thanks, my friend. I was almost dead,” Lynx said, still recovering his breath from the close call. “You were just in time.”

  “You had a major role to play too,” the Scavenger said. “If it wasn’t for your foresight to use the Porteller, we would still be searching for you.”

  “So what’s up with Urrax?” Archer asked. “What happened to him?”

  Lynx told them everything that had happened to them, mentioning the attack on the master chariot and the bull. He continued. “I had always suspected him. Long ago, when we were freeing the scroll that led us to the Warhead from his hand? Recall that I had finished only half the spell to free the scroll, but it had been freed earlier. Now I know what happened. Urrax had used his magic to stick the scroll to his hand. It was not the scroll which had stuck by itself to his hand. It was the work of Urrax. When I had started my spell, he had gotten scared of its power, so he had removed the scroll from himself before the spell could be completed.

  “Then the chariot. Urrax swapped positions with me in the chariot and sat on the inner side so that he wouldn’t get hurt. Then he wasn’t bound tightly by the enemy warriors. That’s when I knew something was wrong. Oh, I forgot something. A bell rang in my mind earlier too, when Urrax wasn’t mentioned in those most-wanted fugitive posters. Also, remember Cad? When we asked him who tipped him off about us, he said he’ forgotten. I am sure that Urrax was the one who alerted Cad that we were coming, and then Urrax made Cad forget. Finally, Insanity’s strange behaviour when we entered this place – that was none other than Urrax. That was the final straw. That was when my doubts about him were fully confirmed.”

  “Do you remember our fight with the Warhead? Daniel said. “It was kind of strange that he was just doing nothing. In fact, we were worried for his safety and asked him to do something or else he would be killed.”

  Lynx nodded, looking towards Daniel. “Exactly.”

  “But how can Urrax have such power?” the Scavenger asked. “He made people forget things. Just like that. Controlling a powerful sorcerer like Insanity requires huge amounts of energy. How is Urrax managing all this?”

  “He’s not just a child demon,” Lynx said. “He is something entirely else.” Lynx shrugged. “But it seems to be another mystery, one whose answers we don’t have. Anyway, how about you guys? Did you find Arcane’s bones?”

  The Scavenger smiled. “We found the bones!”

  “I couldn’t believe it. Hellfire sounded so sure of himself,” No One said. “But all things come to a good end, right?”

  “I think it’s – all good things come to an end,” Archer said. “Which is not what we want to hear right now.”

  The Scavenger said, “So, overall, it was a good day.”

  Lynx sighed. “Tell that to my bones. It feels like they have been dipped in kerosene, burnt to a crisp and then broken into pieces.”

  They all laughed.

  Lynx cleared his throat. “Urrax is a serious issue with us now. We all need to wear our thinking caps and decide what we do with him.”

  “We kill him,” The Scavenger said, a little excitedly.

  “Yup! I agree. After killing him, we should perform an autopsy on him to see what’s inside,” Archer said.

  “He is a betrayer. Let’s torture him.” Matt’s voice was filled with rage.

  “No, we just throw him away,” Daniel said.

  “No, we use him as a bargaining chip,” James said. “We can negotiate something with Grim.”

  “Too much of a risk.” The Scavenger dismissed the idea. “How do you know Grim will comply? He’s a backstabber, pure and simple. No, the best option is to kill Urrax and throw his body in the ocean.”

  “Okay, that’s enough!” Lynx said. “We are not going to kill Urrax.” The Scavenger’s face fell. “Nor torture him.” Matt’s face fell. “Nor perform an autopsy on him.” Archer’s face fell. “Nor throw him away.” Daniel’s face fell. “Nor use him as a bargaining chip.” James’s face fell.

  “Then what do you prefer to do, Mr Pessimist?” James asked.

  “I think that I finally know where your Elemental Powers are,” Lynx said.

  Silence fell. Then James asked, “Where?”

  Lynx looked around at the eager faces, pausing to create suspense. He opened his mouth but then closed it again. He paused some more. Then more.

  “Would you just get on with it?” the Scavenger screamed.

  “All right, all right, no need to get agitated,” Lynx said. “I think that your Elemental Powers are inside Urrax.”

  There was a long pause as everyone thought about it, then Matt said, “How can you be sure?”

  “Well, I am not totally sure. It’s just a logical guess, but I saw Urrax attacking us. I noticed that, intermittently, he was practising magic, and it was Elemental Magic. I can recognize that. I saw signs of four of the Elemental magic – the exact ones you four use. How many people are there in the Dark World who are Elementals? Very less. And how many of them travel in a group of four? I think none. So, I think, no, now I am actually sure, that Urrax has your powers hidden inside him and he is using them against us.”

  “You may be right,” Matt said. “When Archer and I were captured by Aronicle, I got a chance to speak with Aronicle. Well, Aronicle was in the control of someone else, but Aronicle broke control for a short while and told me that he had transferred the powers he had taken from us into someone who controls him. It all adds up. Urrax controls Aronicle. He orders Aronicle to take our powers and give them to him, and Aronicle does that. And now Urrax is subdued, which means that his control over Aronicle is lost. Which also means that we need to go to Brentinute because that is what he said to do if we somehow subdue the person who controls him. Bingo.”

  “That’s right,” Lynx said. “We need to go to Brentinute. Aronicle must be there. It’s totally logical. The Brentinute is a highly secure place, even more than Voldmir’s palace. No, I am not joking,” Lynx said, looking at everyone’s expressions. Lynx nodded at the Scavenger. “You know what I am talking about.”

  The Scavenger nodded. “The only place in the Dark World better protected than Grim’s palace is the Brentinute, and while we were planning to enter Grim’s palace the only thing elevating my happiness levels was the fact that it was not the Brentinute we were breaking into.”

  Lynx nodded. “The Brentinute is the Dark World’s centre for innovation and technology. It is one of the most secure places in the Dark World, and there is no way that Aronicle would be able to escape from there, nor would anyone be able to get him out. No way.”

  “So, basically,” James said. “We need to infiltrate the Brentinute, take Aronicle, escape with him, and then get him to give the Elemental Powers back to us. Then we go get the Trident with the help of Insanity.”

  Insanity and Lynx nodded in reply.

  “It will not be easy, as I have said befor
e,” Lynx warned. “There is only one heavily guarded entrance. Any magic is used, and they know it through magic sensors. There are traps inside the prison, which can only be disabled from the control centre. There are cameras all around. The walls are covered with spikes. So yeah, we need a hugely awesome plan for this to work.”

  “But first, let’s go to your cave,” the Scavenger said to Lynx. “I am sure you have maps of the Brentinute. We need those.”

  Lynx nodded and created a portal. The Scavenger dragged Urrax, and everyone jumped into the portal.

  In Lynx’s cave, they all huddled around a table on which Lynx put up a large map. “Here is one entrance,” Lynx said, pointing at the bottom of the map. “It’s guarded by forty or so guards, maybe more. So first, we need to figure out how to get inside the Brentinute.”

  “The walls,” Matt suggested. “We could climb the walls or something.”

  “There are people there too,” Lynx said. “And, as I said, the walls are covered in spikes. We cannot use the wall at all.”

  “We can use the flying chariot,” Daniel thought out aloud. “We can jump off it right into the Brentinute.”

  “The guards at the walls would shoot us down.” Lynx disregarded the plan at once. “They have state-of-the-art weapons, remember. Also, look here.” He pointed to the area just inside the walls. “There are cannons here. They would mow us down like a tractor on the grass. We need something else.”

  “Maybe we can use force,” the Scavenger said. “You know, like, take a chariot or something and place a full-on attack on the front gate.”

  “It won’t work,” Lynx said. “We will be repelled, and we’ll all be defeated before you say ‘bad plan’.”

  “How about we make a portal?” James said. “And emerge inside the Brentinute.”

  “There are warding spells all around inside the Brentinute,” Lynx said. “We wouldn’t be able to make a portal at all.”

  “There must be some way,” the Scavenger said.

  There was silence as all of them thought about how to overcome this challenge. After a long while, James spoke. “Wait! When the Brentinute is so closed, how do the guards or other persons living inside survive? I mean, what about the water, or food and stuff.”