Jack looked numbly down upon the City of Shadows. Thousands of humans and animals had been left behind. No! His eyes found Aias. The last he’d seen, the one-armed man had been fighting fifty Shadow Souled at once. Now he lay among the rubble with a spear in his chest, his eyes staring blankly at the heavens. Aias had been one of the first humans to Awaken. And now he was gone.
When he had first seen the Sephari and the flying animals, he’d hoped more were coming. He hoped they could take everyone, but he had been wrong. From what Jack could see, only Alexia, Mrs. Dumphry, Wild, Andreal, and Arthur had been saved, though Arthur was unconscious atop the winged meerkat.
Jack turned to look at Alexia. At least she is safe. It was a numb thought. As their eyes met, they nodded. She’s my sister! Jack still could barely believe it. He clung to the back of the panther as a chill passed through him.
“I am sorry, Jack. We arrived as quickly as we could, but even if we had come sooner, we wouldn’t have been able to save them all.” Elion was flying beside Jack and looked as forlorn and exhausted as he felt.
“I know,” he said tiredly. “Thank you for saving us. Are the rest of them …” Jack hesitated, not sure he wanted to hear the answer. “Are they all dead?”
“I don’t know,” Elion said. “But there is nothing we can do for them now.”
Jack wiped fresh tears from his eyes.
“The Assassin thought he would win the war today. Yet in a single battle he lost both of the Children of Prophecy. He will be angry.” Elion shivered. “And that will make him even more dangerous. But you did well. You wounded him for the second time, and that is no small thing.”
“Will we win?” Jack asked. “In the end, will we be able to stand against him?”
“I do not know,” Elion said. “I don’t think he could ever kill the Author as he plans, but he may be powerful enough to destroy the world. Yet we must stand and fight no matter the outcome.”
Jack stared at the darkening sky. “What happens now?” He suddenly felt cold.
“The Last Battle has begun, and nothing in all of creation will be able to stand aside. The choice will be made—the Author or the Assassin.” Elion’s eyes turned as black as pitch. “The world has become a far more dangerous place. Every blade of grass, every insect and mountain, even the air itself will become enemy or ally. We must gather every last Awakened into an army like this world has never known. And we must find the Poet’s Coffer. Without it, we have no chance of standing against the coming darkness.”
Jack clung to the panther as they flew over rivers and valleys. He had no idea what the Poet’s Coffer was, and at the moment he didn’t care. So many of the Awakened had been lost in a single battle! Right now all he wanted was to sleep.
As Jack Staples closed his eyes and fell into a fitful sleep, his sister, Alexia Dreager, also slept atop her stallion. And as the Children of Prophecy flew toward the horizon, neither saw the mountains tremble or the valleys quake. Neither Jack nor Alexia witnessed the sinkholes forming below, swallowing entire forests in a matter of seconds. Neither child noticed the grass of the fields withering as large swathes of earth chose to follow the Assassin.
The Last Battle had begun, and the choice was being made. And the world itself began to tremble.
Chapter 26
AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR
Three hours later
Alexia didn’t make a sound as the Shadule threw the five members of her Gang of Rogues into the prison cell. All looked weary beyond words and carried multiple wounds. She stayed safely hidden in the darkened corner of the cell, barely able to contain her excitement.
“The master will come for you soon,” the Shadule rasped. “You will beg for death by the time he is done.”
None of Alexia’s friends protested as the Shadule closed the prison door. Juno dropped to the cold, wet floor and cradled Adeline’s head in her lap. Adeline was bleeding from a wound in her shoulder. Josiah stared blankly at the closed door as Summer and Benaiah sat beside him. All five were filthy and streaked in blood; some of the blood was theirs, much of it was not.
Alexia waited until she was sure the Shadule was gone, then stepped out from the darkness. “I know you are weary,” she said boldly, “but if you are willing to come with me, I can get you out of here. And with your help, we can free every last prisoner and animal.”
None of the children so much as moved.
“I don’t …” Josiah stopped. “We saw you fly away …”
“I did,” Alexia agreed, “but that was three weeks ago. I’ve come from the past to rescue you.” A boy stepped out from the shadows behind her. “This is Parker Staples. He’ll help us. But before we free the prisoners, I’m going to need your help with something else.” Alexia was giddy with excitement. “We’re going to free my mother.”
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Thank you!
—Mark Batterson and Joel N. Clark
Read on for an exciting excerpt from the final book in this series,
Jack Staples and the Poet’s Storm.
The wonder of riding a flying fox had faded long ago. Although the varmint was graceful, spending two days on its back with little sleep or chance to stretch her legs had left Alexia Dreager incredibly sore. She’d named the fox Dagger because of the way he flew. Dagger had an impressive ability to shift direction and dart about without warning.
Alexia hugged Dagger close as he dove straight down and turned sharply to the left. Her fists tightened on the handfuls of fur as the fox soared toward the face of an enormous bluff. Alexia squealed in delight as her winged friend twisted sideways and entered a hidden cavern. Dagger had the precision of an eagle and the agility of a sparrow. The fox flipped upright as he glided in, then dropped and skidded to a stop, sending dust and shale flying.
Alexia exhaled heavily before climbing from his back. Every muscle burned and she was weary beyond words, yet she took the time to scratch Dagger behind the ears before stretching. The fox had to be even wearier than Alexia. You did well. She sent the thought as Dagger yawned widely. She cleared her mind and waited, but nothing came as the poor beast collapsed in exhaustion.
Alexia had spent much of the past two days trying to communicate with Dagger. It was the strangest thing she’d ever done, and she still wasn’t sure it was actually happening. More than once, an image had formed unbidden in her mind, and she was certain the images had come from Dagger. I just need to learn how to understand what the images mean, she thought. And to figure out how to make him understand me!
Alexia turned to watch as more flying beasts entered the cavern, each landing with varying degrees of grace. A winged black panther came first, carrying a bleary-eyed Jack Staples. Next came an overly large meerkat with Wild atop, followed by a winged beaver with Arthur Greaves still asleep on its back. Alexia could barely believe it; the boy had slept through most of the past two days, waking only to eat or relieve himself.
Next came a very large and very beleaguered winged rabbit, lugging the giant, Andreal. Every time Alexia saw Andreal climb onto the hare’s back, the poor animal let out an audible sigh before launching into the air. Last came Mrs. Dumphry’s tusked elephant, its two sets of wings scraping the side of the cavern. The ancient Mrs. Dumphry hadn’t been herself these past two days. Aias, the man she’d loved for more then five thousand years, had been killed in the City of Shadows.
Her friends climbed off their rides and then stretched, their muscles tired from the journey. The rest of the Clear Eyes, the animals that had chosen to serve the Author, collapsed in exhaustion.
“I do not understand,” Andreal rumbled. He stretched his arms high, his fingers brushing the cavern ceiling. “We should be losing them ages ago; how be it they still be finding us?” He collapsed onto the cavern flo
or. Andreal reminded Alexia of a bear she’d once known back at the circus.
“A tired body can betray even the most willing mind,” Mrs. Dumphry said wearily. “I do not know how they continue to follow, yet I am sure the answer is simple. I am just too weary to see it.”
Some version of this conversation came up each time they’d stopped over the past two days. Ten thousand of the Assassin’s deadliest warriors had been pursuing them ever since they’d escaped the City of Shadows. At first, Mrs. Dumphry hadn’t been worried. She was sure the Clear Eyes could fly faster than the Shadow Souled’s winged beasts, yet no matter how fast the Clear Eyes had gone, they’d been unable to stay more than a few hours ahead of the dark army.
Alexia was as vexed as the others, but for different reasons. On the day they escaped the Assassin’s city, she’d learned something so incredible she could still barely believe it. Her mother might still be alive. Until then, she’d been sure her mother had passed away when Alexia was just five years old. She had no way of knowing for certain, but it was possible that Madeleine Dreager was out there somewhere.
Yet it wasn’t just hope for her mother that occupied Alexia’s thoughts. Each hour spent fleeing the dark army took them farther away from the City of Shadows. With each passing hour, Alexia’s guilt and misery grew. Though she and a few of her friends had been rescued, Alexia’s best friends—her Gang of Rogues—had been left behind. It’s the second time I’ve abandoned them; she shivered at the thought.
Her friends were most likely being tortured and starved. If they’re still alive, she thought coldly. She had no way of knowing who had survived the battle or if the Assassin would bother keeping any of the prisoners alive. The Last Battle had begun, and what need did the Assassin have of prisoners? Alexia didn’t care about being the Child of Prophecy or what the Awakened expected of her. The only things that mattered were finding her mother and saving her friends.
She hadn’t told anyone what she’d learned about her mother. In part because there had been very little time to talk since their escape, and in part because she was afraid to. Although she no longer hated Mrs. Dumphry, she still didn’t know what to think of the woman. But more than anything, she was certain Mrs. Dumphry would never allow her to run off. I am one of the Children of Prophecy, after all, she thought glumly. The conundrum was that Alexia had no idea where to look for her mother or how to save her friends, and the only person she could think of to ask for help was Mrs. Dumphry.
Even if I knew where Mother was or could sneak back to the City of Shadows, can I do any of it by myself? She’d spent many years on her own, but that had been in a very different world than the one she was in now. Mrs. Dumphry said the Last Battle had begun and that all of creation was making its choice—the Author or the Assassin. From Dagger’s back, Alexia had seen things she still didn’t understand. The trees of an entire forest had thrashed about as if fighting one another. Later she’d seen a lake turn as black as pitch within seconds, sending the smell of death high into the air. Alexia had counted five earthquakes in the past two days, and Dagger had needed to fly around a number of tornadoes.
There was something wrong with the weather. It was as if the natural progression of things had been interrupted. Winter leads to spring, spring to summer, and summer to fall. It’s this rhythm that allows land to bear fruit and soil to grow rich. Yet over the past two days, it was as if the weather had forgotten its place and there was no rhyme or reason for what happened between one hour and the next. The small band of Awakened had flown through a blizzard straight into a heat wave.
“Where are we?” a voice said from behind her. Alexia turned to see Arthur Greaves awake and standing beside the sleeping winged beaver. “You look horrible!” Arthur gasped as he met Alexia’s eyes. “You should really get some sleep or something. I feel great! I’ve had the craziest dreams you can imagine. We were all riding on the backs of flying—” Arthur stopped as his eyes landed on the beaver. “Wait. What?” He squinted at the other beasts, then grinned. “That’s amazing! Is that how we escaped the City of Shadows? The last thing I remember is seeing Andreal and Mrs. Dumphry fighting in the corridors of the coliseum. And where is Elion? Is she here too, or was that just a dream? She was flying beside me for a time. And what happened to the rest of the prisoners? Did everyone get out? I can’t believe animals can fly! Jack, did you ever imagine such a thing?”
“Arthur Greaves,” Mrs. Dumphry said tiredly, “it’s time you learned to tame your tongue. An untamed tongue is far more dangerous than an untrained sword.” Mrs. Dumphry sighed as Arthur blushed. She let out an annoyed harrumph, then walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “It is good to see you awake, child. You’ve been sleeping for two days and much has happened. I am sure your friends will catch you up, but right now I need silence if I am to think.”
Arthur’s jaw dropped. “Two days,” he mouthed as Jack placed a hand on his shoulder and walked him toward the back of the cavern. Jack quietly began explaining what Arthur had missed. Arthur squealed at something Jack said, and Alexia couldn’t help but smile. She’d once thought the boy to be a coward, but she’d been wrong. He did have the habit of squealing like a little girl and his stomach was weaker than most, but he was no coward. Arthur Greaves had single-handedly saved every one of them from the arena in the City of Shadows. The memory was clear in her mind.
Alexia and the others had been buried beneath a mountain of one hundred thousand Shadow Souled. Then in walked Arthur Greaves. No, Alexia remembered, in danced Arthur Greaves. Liquid light flowed around him, forming a wall that plowed through the mountain of dark flesh.
JACK STAPLES AND THE CITY OF SHADOWS
Published by David C Cook
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David C Cook Distribution Canada
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David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications
Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England
The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.
All rights reserved. No part of this ebook may be reproduced, scanned, resold, or distributed by or through any print or electronic medium without written permission from the publisher. This ebook is licensed solely for the personal and noncommercial use of the original authorized purchaser, subject to the terms of use under which it was purchased. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
This story is a work of fiction. All characters and events are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is coincidental.
LCCN 2014948629
ISBN 978-0-7814-1108-0
eISBN 978-0-7814-1280-3
© 2015 Mark Batterson, Joel N. Clark
Published in association with the literary agency of The Fedd Agency, Inc., Post Office Box 341973, Austin, Texas 78734.
The Team: Alex Field, Jamie Chavez, Nick Lee, Helen Macdonald, Karen Athen
Cover Design: Amy Konyndyk
Cover Illustration: Duncan Stewart
First Edition 2015
MARK BATTERSON is the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, DC, one of the most innovative and influential churches in America. He is a national speaker and New York Times bestselling author of The Circle Maker.
JOEL N. CLARK is the author of Awake: The Book You Can Watch, and cofounder of Atlas District Pictures and Switchvert. Clark has written and directed multiple documentaries, commercials, and short films. He and his wife, Megan, their daughter, Juno, and their son, Elah, reside in Washington, DC.
Visit DCCeBooks.com for more great reads.
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