“Fight, you fools!” cried the sorceress, “they are just miserable gnomes!”
The gnomes brought out great wooden trebuchets and sent heavy rocks twirling through the air and crashing down on the Queen’s soldiers.
“Looks like the battle is finally turning in our favour,” said Meredith happily.
A dozen soldiers were crushed wherever the large stones fell, but they had not accounted for the Sorceress’ many powers. She began to murmur and made a sudden gesture with her hand in the direction of the gnomes. A wave of blue light rushed down the hill and swept over them at great speed. She destroyed the trebuchets and knocked down all the gnomes. Only the Queen’s own soldiers remained standing. The gnomes got up as best they could, and the Sorceress’ soldiers moved in to gain the advantage.
“She’s too powerful,” said Meredith, getting up.
“We have to play for time, I’m sure that Alexander will be here soon.”
Meanwhile, Zgard was doing battle with a false Ice Orpe. He easily managed to deflect all of the attacks in spite of the giant’s large hands. The battle turned in the favour of the Sorceress’ army. She stepped forward and ordered her forces to stop the fight.
“Look, you poor fools. You will never defeat me. Now, hear my voice one last time before you die. Nevertheless, if you hand over the children to me, I will be merciful enough to let the gnomes live.”
Not one of the gnomes moved or answered. They may not have been good fighters, but they were certainly faithful friends. One of the gnomes stepped forward and spoke.
“Now listen here, you old hag. If you want these children, you will have to come and get them.”
All of the gnomes burst into a laughter that made the Sorceress’ face turn red with rage.
“You,” said the sorceress, pointing at Hope, “where is the portal between the worlds?”
“I will never tell you where it is!” shouted Hope.
“In that case, it is time to die! Zgard, spare just one of the children so that I can make them talk. Leave no-one else alive.”
Suddenly, the sky filled with clouds that masked the starry night. All the eyes of the fighters on the battlefield turned to the sky as a flash of lightning hit the ground. Never had anyone seen such clouds, they were all shaped like pirate ships. Cloud staircases appeared, connecting the ships to the ground. Alexander and Dongo, accompanied by all their friends, the dwarfs and the Ice Orpes, emerged from the boats. Hundreds of dwarves with Silmaril and Golmuth in the lead, Antarus, Glacius and the Ice Orpes side by side, ran down the stairs to join the battle. Alexander found Hope and Meredith and hugged them.
“I have never been so happy to see you, Alexander,” said Hope.
Alexander smiled.
“Prepare to fight!” cried the Sorceress, hardly impressed.
“That’s enough,” said Alexander, “you have caused enough harm. You don’t scare us anymore.” Alexander lifted his left arm carrying Ganarock and with his right he brandished Vulcaria.
“Impossible,” said the Sorceress, turning to Zgard and understanding her error in not having listened to him about keeping Ganarock and Vulcaria nearby. “You are more foolish than I thought. I am immortal, you cannot defeat me.”
“About that,” said Dongo, “we regret to inform you that we have dispelled the magic that Ramenor bestowed upon you.”
“What?!”
The Sorceress looked at her arm and pushed one of her nails into it. A drop of blood flowed from the little wound.
“You are no longer immortal!” shouted Dongo, sticking out his tongue.
“Kill them all!” screamed the Sorceress, holding her arm.
The battle began again, and this time the dwarves and Orpes crushed the Queen’s warriors. Antarus and Glacius fought side by side. Silmaril rushed into the fray on Kyra’s back, pushing all his enemies away in the process. Zgard rushed at Alexander to retrieve the shield and the sword, and they matched each other blow for blow. His sword touched Alexander’s face and cut a strand of hair. Alexander tried to hit Zgard with Vulcaria but the henchman was much more skilled at swordplay than he was. Alexander retreated more and more under the persistent blows of his enemy. He stumbled over the body of a fallen warrior and found himself on the ground. Zgard raised his sword again and struck Alexander, but he held up Ganarock to protect himself. As soon as the sword came in contact with the shield. Zgard was immediately projected into a room he did not know.
A man in black, no doubt a priest, stood in front of the Sorceress, pleading with her.
“Amareda, I beg you, give me the child.”
“No, he is mine now. He knows where the portal is, it is hidden somewhere in his memory.”
“This is not his world.”
“And neither is it yours.”
“Please, let me take him back to his parents.”
“I have taken my decision,” said the Sorceress, “he will aid me in invading and forcing the whole world to its knees. My vengeance will be terrible.”
“I cannot let you do that, Amareda.”
“Then you are of no more use to me. I am sorry, my friend, but you must die.”
“I will give you my life freely in exchange for Jonathan’s.”
“I will take your life and the lives of all those greedy humans from your world who wanted me dead. I was wrongly judged for witchcraft, but now I have truly become a Sorceress. I will make them understand their suffering.”
“Jonathan is a good boy, he will never kill for you.”
“If he fails to serve me, he dies.”
The door opened and Tobias entered, holding Jonathan by the hand.
“Do you care more for this child than you do for me?”
“Once upon a time you were on the side of good. I beg you, come back.”
“My path is set. I was born to rule over worlds, I am immortal. One day, all men will kneel at my feet.”
“I am on the side of justice, I cannot let you do that.”
“Then the child will die.”
She raised her hand, the light in the room darkened, a purple flash jumped from her fingertips to Jonathan. The priest leapt between them and was struck in the chest by lightning. He collapsed to the floor and Jonathan started crying.
“Silence, you rotten child, or I’ll feed you to the Fire Orpes.”
The sorceress cast another spell from her fingers and she lifted the body of the priest. He was suffering greatly, but still alive.
Another flash of light exploded and Zgard found himself in the room with the sarcophagus.
“The sarcophagus is ready, my Queen,” said Tobias.
“Are you certain it will not kill him?”
“I cannot be certain, my Queen. We had better test it on a guinea pig first.”
“Jonathan, come to me. I would like you to get into this sarcophagus. It would make me happy.”
“Madam, will it really not hurt me?”
“No, have no fear, it will heal your friend the priest. This sarcophagus is going to make him better.”
Jonathan climbed into the sarcophagus and the lid was closed on top of him. Green smoke wafted in through holes in the sides and Jonathan cried out in pain.
“Help, it burns, let me out!” he begged.
“What is happening, Tobias?”
“I do not know, my Queen, maybe the elixir needs a little more time before it starts working.”
Jonathan was screaming in pain, but the Queen remained impassive. Tobias opened the sarcophagus out of reflex. Jonathan’s unconscious body had turned green and his hair white. Little wings had appeared on his back.
“I think we should perform other tests before we put the priest in the sarcophagus.”
“If anything happens to my friend, you will suffer the consequences.”
“I have another child available, his name is Zago. He is the son of the old chief of Aronia. You remember, we captured him when you took Aronia. Perhaps we could also use Harlan Gori as a guinea pig?”
In another flash, the priest was standing with the Queen before a tomb. She was near the village of Aramunt Vell. Strangely, there was only a single grave.
“You wish to see him one last time,” said the Queen.
“That is not possible. My God, what happened to him?”
“Many things came to pass while you were unconscious. I think he must have drunk from one of Tobias’ phials by accident.”
“Poor Jonathan, I can’t believe it.”
“What will you do now?”
“There is nothing left to keep me here now.”
The Queen seemed sad. Without doubt, she had thought that her friend would remain by her side. Despite the situation, the Queen was in love with the priest, and these feelings were mutual.
“I am sorry, Amareda, but I cannot stay here. I have to tell his parents of this tragedy and tell them it was all my fault.”
The Queen became enraged. “You will never leave Avengard. You will be my prisoner until your death,” she spat.
Now, the priest was in one of the corridors in the castle of Avengard. His breath halting, he was hiding behind a statue. He seemed to be in a bad way and he walked with great difficulty. Tobias passed in front of him but did not notice him. He fled the fortress and found refuge in Aramunt Vell. He then crossed the land and came face to face with an Ice Orpe.
“Are you injured?” asked the Orpe, looking at him with suspicion.
“Yes, I hurt myself escaping from that horrible red castle built inside a rock.”
“That is strange. You are dressed in black, just like the Sorceress.”
“No, men of the cloth dress in black where I come from.”
“And where is this ‘where you come from’?” asked the Orpe, even more suspicious.
“It’s difficult to explain. I am not from here. My name is Charles, I come from another world.”
“You wound is deep,” said the Orpe, looking at the priest’s leg. “My name is Celastrus, let me help you...”
Zgard’s vision faded and he was thrown into the throne room where Tobias was kneeling before the Queen.
“The prisoner has escaped, my Queen,” he said, not daring to look into her eyes. “Should I begin the search?”
“No matter, let him go. I don’t need him, we are going to focus on the child.”
“Your wish is my command.”
The Queen moved towards the window and pictured her friend the priest with his eyes turned on the castle even as he fled through the forest. She felt a final pang in her heart that disappeared after a few moments. Her face and her features grew dark once more, and from that moment on her heart was as hard as stone. Never again would she be able to experience a similar emotion. Never again would she be capable of love. Her heart had turned to stone forever.
The veil lifted from Zgard’s eyes. He stopped still on the battlefield. The things he had seen had lasted many long minutes, but in reality, only a fraction of a second had passed.
“That’s enough, stop this at once!” he ordered the other fighters.
A deathly silence hung over the battlefield. All of the warriors stopped. They didn’t understand.
All eyes fixed on Zgard. He let his sword fall to the ground and turned towards the Sorceress.
“What are you doing? Why have you stopped? Fight, fight, that’s an order!” said the Queen.
“He thought I was dead,” said Zgard.
“What?” asked Alexander, who didn’t understand.
“You have been deceiving me for all this time,” he said to the Sorceress. “You pretended to love, pretended to be as a mother to me. I do not remember how it was that my skin became deformed. I see myself as a child, I see my parents, I see my friend the priest, all that life that was torn from me because of your thirst for revenge.”
The Queen looked down on Zgard from the top of the hill.
“Poor fool, did you really believe that that little abject being was of any interest to me? I allowed you to live because I needed you. Now, I realise that I should have killed you a long time ago. Goodbye, Jonathan.”
With a movement of her arm, the Sorceress dispelled the night and the light of day began to sear Zgard’s skin.
He set off running towards the Sorceress, but the pain was so intense that he collapsed to the ground before he reached her.
Alexander ran towards Zgard and held the shield Ganarock above his body.
“Is that better?” he asked.
“Much better. I have to get up and finish off that accursed Sorceress.”
“Here,” Alexander said, handing over Vulcaria, “I think this will help.”
Zgard put his hand on the sword and it burst into flame immediately. He picked himself up and set off in the direction of the Sorceress. The Queen brought down lightning bolts on him, but the shield Ganarock protected its bearer without trouble.
“Don’t do this, don’t do this!” cried the Queen, who continued to batter him with a volley of lightning bolts.
Fear had crept into her voice.
“Don’t do this!” she shouted.
He got close enough to the Sorceress who was still desperately raining down lightning on him. He lifted Vulcaria and struck the queen fully in the chest. She grabbed the blade and soon her whole body went up in flames. She fell to the ground and the weight of years transformed what was left of her body into dust.
“Hurrah!” cried the children.
“The Sorceress is dead!” cried Golmuth.
Jonathan took Ganarock back, but Alexander refused to accept it.
“It would be better if you looked after it. It can protect you from the sun.”
Jonathan thanked him.
“I never doubted for a second that we would win,” said Dongo.
“We did,” said Meredith and Hope.
Amy came out of the cave and ran to her sister who took her into her arms. Hope and Alexander looked at one another for a moment before they hugged.
“I think you two are in love,” said Amy.
Alexander and Hope let go of each other and looked at one another with a smile.
“Young lady, I believe this belongs to you,” said a strangely dressed man holding a doll in his hands.
“My doll!” said Amy.
All of the men and creatures present bowed.
“This is the king,” said Alexander.
“Once I was, yes. I am Oden. I offer you children my thanks, you have saved Arboria. You have shown immense courage, and Arboria will honour your names until the end of time. But first, we must rebuild this land.”
“But it has been so many years,” said Hope, “you were supposed to have died a long time ago.”
“Yes, that is true. It is thanks to Ramenor that I am alive. I ate of his fruits, which meant that I would not grow old. I have enough time left to choose a successor and to ensure that the beginnings of peace return to Arboria.”
“Amy, let me introduce you to the squirrel who stole your doll,” said Alexander.
“That was you?”
“Yes, but have a look, little Amy, and you will see that I have taken great care of it.”
“Thank you,” said Amy, delighted.
“What an incredible story,” said Golmuth.
That evening, a great feast took place in Kratoa. Everywhere in the city, men, gnomes and Orpes all danced and celebrated victory together; never had there been so much communion between all the races. Alexander thought that it would be wonderful if such a communion could exist among all the people on Earth, regardless of the colour of their skin. It was Hope who pulled Alexander out of his daydreams. She sat down on the curb of the main square.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, fine, thank you.”
“You seem to be lost in your thoughts.”
“Yes, sorry.”
“What an adventure,” she said, a little embarrassed.
“It was.”
Seeing that Alexander was not too inclined to keep up the conversation, Hope stood up and started to leave.
“You know, I wanted to thank you for everything you did.”
“It was nothing.”
“In a few days we are going to find our parents and everything will change except for my feelings for you.”
Alexander smiled and kissed Hope.
Meredith and Amy appeared at that moment, and Hope’s little sister climbed onto her back.
“I knew it, they’re in love,” she said. Everybody laughed.
“Come on, let’s go an celebrate that,” said Meredith.
They stood up and began to sing and dance. The gnomes played music on strange stone instruments which, truth be told, emitted very shrill sounds. The party lasted all night. During the evening, Geum, Gom, Gorom and Gorynth arrived, all embracing and congratulating each other.
“What’s that, are you celebrating without us?”
“My friends, how did you get here so quickly?”
“The wind spoke to us. It said ‘a ship will come for you in the clouds. You friends have won,’” said Gom, imitating Harol’s voice.
“Harol?”
“He didn’t tell us his name.”
“I really am very happy to see you.” And Alexander embraced all his newly arrived friends.
The following day, the children bid one final farewell to all their friends and the king. He also said goodbye and set out for High-View. They said goodbye to Silmaril. It was moving, the ginger dwarf thanked them again for saving him. They also bid farewell to the four bravest gnomes of Arboria: Gom, Geum, Gorom and Gorynth.
The children set off and, for once, the journey went smoothly. Wherever they went, they were welcomed as heroes.
“That’s more like it,” said Dongo.
A few days later, it was time to return. They all stood in front of the portal. The time of final farewells had come. Golmuth hugged Alexander in his arms.
“Don’t get kidnapped this time,” said Alexander with a smile.
“No danger of that happening anymore,” said Golmuth, his eyes filled with tears.
Arboria Page 15