by Clayton Wood
The two halves of the army came together as they passed the scorched field, and then…
…then they merged.
The soldiers threw themselves at each other, forming a writhing mass that grew as it continued forward. A mass that quickly took shape, transforming into a monstrosity as big as the White Dragon’s head. An inky-black creature with a humanoid head, but with huge jaws lined with razor-sharp teeth. Possessed of a long, serpentine neck and a muscular body, it had three pairs of arms and one pair of legs…and no tail. Fire raged in its eye-sockets, and flickered between its jaws. It was hideous, bizarre. A nightmare unlike anything Bella had ever seen.
And it moved with terrible speed and purpose, charging at the White Dragon’s head, then leaping up into the air!
Upward it soared, toward the dragon’s closing maw. But the White Dragon simply drew its head upward and backward, and the dark creature missed, falling to the ground. It landed with a thump that Bella heard seconds later, then continued forward until it was near the dragon’s chest. It leapt again, extending its six arms and slamming into the White Dragon.
Then it crawled up the dragon’s chest to the front of its neck, circling around to its spine. It scaled upward easily with its claws, making its way toward the dragon’s head.
“Oh!” Ula gasped, putting a hand to her mouth.
“What?” Grandpa asked.
“It’s breaking apart,” the woman explained. “Back into the soldiers!”
And it was true; the pale creature seemed to disintegrate even as it made its way up the White Dragon’s neck, breaking up into thousands of soldiers once again. These sprinted to its head, swarming over its face, crawling over its eyes and leaping into its nostrils.
The White Dragon jerked its head backward, then thrashed from side-to-side, its jaws opening in an ear-blasting roar.
Some of the soldiers fell off, landing on the ground and shattering into pieces. But those pieces merely flew back up to join the other soldiers, re-forming there.
The White Dragon closed its eyes, flinging the side of its head into the grassland below. The impact sent an explosion of dust and rocks skyward, a thunderous boom echoing through the night air. Hundreds of the soldiers were crushed.
And yet, as the dragon lifted its head from the earth, the broken pieces of their bodies came back together, and in moments the soldiers were whole again.
Bella felt a hand grab hers, and she looked down at it, realizing it was Grandpa’s. He turned to her, his expression as grave as she’d ever seen it.
“We should go,” he prompted.
“Go?” Bella asked. “Where?”
“Um, guys,” Ula warned. “There’s more of them coming this way.”
“What?” a man asked.
“More of the soldiers,” she explained. “They’ve gotten past the White Dragon. They’re coming up Main Street!”
All eyes turned to the mushroom forest…and the path leading from it to curve around the lake toward the mountain. Shadows were sprinting across it. Demonic soldiers with fiery eyes, following the spiraling path up the mountain.
Dozens of them.
“Let’s go,” Grandpa urged, pulling Bella up the street and toward the ledge leading back to the Water Dragon cave.
“Grandpa…”
“Now!” he snapped, yanking her bodily forward.
Bella did as he commanded, fear twisting her guts. He’d never spoken like that to her before. Not ever.
“Get indoors if you want to see tomorrow!” Grandpa cried, gesturing for the crowd to follow him. “To the castle, or with me. Go!”
The crowd hesitated, turning back to face the White Dragon. It was bashing its head against the earth again and again, trying in vain to obliterate the army assailing it.
Then there were screams from far below. From downtown Havenwood, near the base of the mountain.
Screams that made Bella’s blood run cold.
“Run!” Grandpa cried, sprinting from the crowd. Bella followed at his side, struggling to keep up with him. She glanced back, seeing some of the people following them, while others made their way up the street toward the castle. Ula was among those jogging to catch up with them. But the portly woman tripped, falling face-first onto the rocky ground…and the men around her ran right by her.
“Grandpa,” Bella urged, yanking on his arm. He skid to a stop, glancing back, then cursing.
“Keep going!” he ordered, rushing back to help Ula. “Get to the house!”
“I got her,” a man declared. To Bella’s surprise, it was Piper. The Actor transformed in front of her very eyes, growing into a tall, muscular man with a buzz-cut. He scooped Ula up into his arms, carrying her easily as he rushed after Bella and Grandpa.
More screams from below, closer now.
“We have to help them!” Bella cried, glancing back.
“Save who you can,” Grandpa retorted, “…not who you can’t.”
They rushed up to the stream leading to the waterfall ahead, then turned right at its shore, seeing the gaping maw of the cave in the distance, nearly hidden in shadow. Bella glanced back the way they’d come…and saw something coming up the street. It looked human, but had pitch-black skin, with hunched shoulders and fingers that terminated in vicious-looking claws. Two flaming eyes bobbed in the darkness as it came closer.
Bella’s blood ran cold.
The figure spotted them…and sprinted after them. Another followed…then another.
“They’re coming!” Bella warned, following Grandpa. She lost sight of the figures, and focused on the mouth of the cave ahead. Piper beat them to it, despite carrying Ula, vanishing into the shadows beyond. Grandpa and Bella followed, plunging into darkness.
“We need light!” someone yelled. The only source of light was Bella’s glowing mushroom, which barely illuminated the path ahead. Bella reached reflexively into her chest-painting…or at least she tried to. She was wearing her nightclothes, not her Painter uniform. But one of the others managed to draw out a torch, holding it high. It illuminated the skeletal cave in a flickering orange glow, casting long, ghastly shadows ahead of them.
They sprinted down the large cave, the dark waters of the Everstream flowing to their left.
The sound of footsteps echoed through the cave, coming from far behind. Bella looked back, seeing the group of artists following them…and far behind them, at the mouth of the cave, four shadowy figures silhouetted by the moonlight beyond, their terrible eyes glowing brightly in the darkness.
Sprinting after them.
“Behind us!” Ula warned.
“Silence!” Grandpa hissed.
The tunnel grew as they reached the end of the neck of the cave, entering into the Water Dragon’s body. The Everstream was a torrent here, the roar at its source almost deafening. A blue light pulsed beneath its surface, casting the walls in its glow. They rushed toward it, but Bella noticed that Grandpa was slowing down, his face pale and slick with sweat, his breath coming in short gasps.
He stumbled, falling forward onto his hands and knees. A loud pop reverberated through the cavern like a gunshot.
Grandpa bit back a scream.
“Grandpa!” she hissed, rushing back to his side and helping him up. He clutched his right wrist to his chest, his face twisted with pain. The end of his forearm was bent like an “S.”
Grandpa grunted, continuing forward, but what little color remained in his face drained away, and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. He fell forward like a stone, and Bella caught him. But his weight pulled her down with him, pinning her to the ground.
“Help!” she cried.
“Take her!” Piper barked, shoving Ula into two men’s arms. He ran back toward Bella and Grandpa…
…just as Bella felt a hot, hard arm wrap around her waist from behind. She looked down, seeing a black arm clutching her, its skin riddled with cracks…and terminating in a hand with long black claws.
“Grandp-!”
She
was yanked backward, torn away from Grandpa. She struggled, kicking and screaming, and desperately trying to pry that awful arm from around her waist. But she may as well have been fighting a statue…and the thing’s hot, stone-like skin burned her palms.
Another black soldier burst out of the shadows, grabbing Grandpa and dragging him backward the way they’d come.
“Help!” he cried at the artists further down the cavern, most of whom were still running away. “For god’s sake, you’re Painters. Do something!”
They glanced back, but kept running…including the man with the torch.
Suddenly a huge hand grabbed on to the arm clutching Bella, tearing it off of her…and off of the soldier it was attached to.
It was Piper!
The Actor grunted, swinging the disembodied arm at the soldier. It struck the thing in the face, shattering its left cheek. Piper executed a perfect spinning back-kick, sending the soldier flying into the Everstream in a burst of steam.
The stream’s powerful current pulled it up and away, and it vanished into the darkness.
“Run!” Piper ordered, shoving Bella down the tunnel. He rushed after Grandpa, who was being pulled backward by the other black soldier. But two more of the awful things leapt from the shadows, intercepting Piper. One swung its hand at his head, raking its claws across his face. Piper stumbled to the side, blood spurting from deep gashes in his temple.
“Grandpa!” Bella cried, watching as the other soldier dragged Grandpa toward the edge of the blue light from the heart of the Everstream.
Piper tried to run after Grandpa, but the two soldiers leapt on him, raking at his body with their terrible claws. He fell to one knee, blood pouring from fresh wounds on his chest.
Then he transformed again.
His back swelled, his muscles growing even larger, his arms as big as tree trunks now. He roared, grabbing the soldiers and flinging them from him, sending them flying into the Everstream. Then he charged after Grandpa.
“Bella!” she heard Grandpa cry. He struggled against the soldier pulling him backward, digging his heels into the ground. But it was no use. The soldier dragged him away, and they vanished into the darkness beyond the light from Bella’s mushroom.
“Grandpa!” she screamed.
Piper roared, throwing aside a soldier that dared to attack him. He sprinted after Grandpa, vanishing into the darkness.
Thump.
There was a splash, followed by another. Then the sound of footsteps barreling toward her.
Bella backpedaled, her heart leaping into her throat. The footsteps got louder, and she turned to run…just Piper burst out of the shadows, Grandpa in his arms!
“Run you idiot!” Piper cried, shrinking to become the tall military man again, all while sprinting down the cavern. Bella obeyed, struggling to keep up. The tunnel spiraled deeper into the earth, getting smaller as it did so. They were in the tail now, close to the end.
Close to home.
Bella heard footsteps from far behind, growing steadily louder.
“They’re coming after us!” Bella warned.
“Got that,” Piper snapped.
They reached the end of the Water Dragon’s tail, the narrow tunnel beyond bringing them to the huge cavern housing Mom’s estate. Bella squinted against the glow of the mushrooms all around them, spotting a group of men and women ahead. They were the cowards who’d abandoned Grandpa, stopped by the closed portcullis at the entrance to the estate.
Bella and Piper rushed up to join them, and the Piper shoved his way through the crowd to the portcullis.
“Open the door!” he growled. Even as he did so, she realized he was shrinking. His muscles all but disappeared, his clothes shifting to a familiar yellow uniform. “Open the damn door or we’re all dead!” Piper snapped. She faced the portcullis, seeing Animus flowing toward them from beyond it.
“Let us in!” she pleaded.
The portcullis began to rise…and then a bright purple light flared to life from behind. Bella spun around, her eyes widening.
There, at the entrance to large cavern, were two more of the black soldiers. One of them was holding a purple crystalline key…up to a translucent, dark purple door made of pure energy standing in the middle of the cavern. The door opened, revealing a long hallway beyond…and something else.
Not something. Someone.
It was a man, tall and slender, dressed in an elegant black suit. A blood-red handkerchief peeked out of a pocket at his left breast, the only hint of color he wore. His hair was slicked back over his head, with a gray hair on the right, black on the left, and he had piercing green eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness.
And they focused right on Grandpa.
“Thaddeus,” he greeted. His voice was smooth and calm, and sent a chill down Bella’s spine. It was somehow terribly familiar, as if plucked from her very nightmares.
Grandpa grit his teeth, clutching at his broken wrist and glaring at the man in black.
“We meet again, Collector,” he shot back. The man inclined his head. “You’re awfully bold. The White Dragon is distracted now, but it will come after you once its done with your army.”
“If,” the Collector corrected. “And I’ll be long gone by then anyhow.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re awfully clever,” he continued. “Or was it Gideon who came up with the idea to fake your death?”
“A joint effort,” Grandpa answered, clinging to Bella. “What do you want?”
“Your daughter cursed me,” the Collector answered. “I want you to undo her work.”
“I’ll never work for you,” Grandpa vowed.
“You’ll never work against me.”
The Collector reached into his breast pocket, retrieving the blood-red handkerchief and unfolding it. One side was black; he reached into this with his left hand, pulling out a long, slender silver blade. It had no crossguard, its blade barely an inch wide…and it hummed almost imperceptibly.
“There’s no need for a struggle, Thaddeus,” he reasoned. “Come with me peacefully and my army will withdraw from Havenwood. No one else has to get hurt.”
“Your promises mean nothing to me,” Thaddeus retorted. The Collector stepped forward, and the other artists scrambled away from him. But several of the black soldiers came through the doorway behind the Collector, rushing at the artists.
“No!” Ula cried.
One of the soldiers grabbed her, dragging her kicking and screaming through the energy door. The other artists were similarly abducted, until only Grandpa, Piper, and Bella remained in the cavern.
“I’m not an unreasonable man, Thaddeus,” the Collector insisted. “No matter what Gideon might have said about me.”
“You murdered my daughter!” Grandpa retorted, stepping in front of Bella protectively. The Collector grimaced.
“I didn’t know it was her, Thaddeus.”
“Does it matter?” Grandpa shot back.
“It does to me,” he insisted. “I’ve had to live with that regret for a long time now.”
“To hell with your regrets,” Grandpa spat. “I’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done.”
The Collector raised an eyebrow.
“Yet you forgave Gideon.”
The Collector took another step forward, then another, and Grandpa backpedaled, pushing Bella back with him.
“I killed your daughter out of ignorance,” the Collector continued. “But Gideon knew exactly what he was doing when he painted me. When he drew me out. He knew that every word he told me was a lie. And he did it anyway.”
“He didn’t make you become what you are,” Thaddeus retorted. The Collector gave a grim smile.
“You of all people know that a painting can only be what its Painter makes it to be. We’re not real, Thaddeus. Not like you.”
“You’re wrong,” Grandpa argued. The Collector’s eyes hardened.
“Bullshit.”
“You are,” Grandpa insisted. “You don’t know the fir
st thing about art, Xander.”
The Collector froze, his jawline rippling.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Great art tells a story much larger than we could ever intend,” Grandpa lectured. “And you are great art, Xander. You’re the greatest painting Gideon ever painted.”
“I said don’t call me that!” the Collector shouted. He lunged forward, closing the distance between them in a split second, raising his sword at Thaddeus. Piper ran between them, kicking the Collector square in the chest…and flew backward through the open portcullis into the mansion.
“Piper!” Bella cried, rushing to his side. She helped him up, and he clutched at his chest, gasping for air.
The Collector just stood there, having not budged an inch.
“You can thank Gideon for that,” he declared. “My suit is also one of his greatest creations. It does unto others what they would do unto me.” He smiled grimly. “He made sure nothing would ever be able to harm me.”
“Run!” Bella cried. She pulled Grandpa into the mansion, and Animus closed the portcullis behind them. The Collector walked right up to it, slashing the portcullis with his glowing sword. The blade cut through the crisscrossing metal slats like they weren’t even there, and the portcullis fell to the ground with a clatter.
He stepped over it, and into the short hallway beyond.
“Run!” Grandpa cried, shoving Bella backward with his good hand. They retreated into the foyer, Animus swirling around them.
“What do you want with us, Xander?” Grandpa demanded.
The Collector went furious, lunging at Grandpa, and Bella cried out, rushing forward to stop him. The Collector shoved her backward with one hand, and she fell onto her butt. He stepped up to her, pointing the tip of his glowing sword at her chest.
“Don’t!” Grandpa cried, rushing to her side. “She’s just a child!”
The Collector’s eyes never left hers.
“So was I,” he retorted.
And then a white light appeared around his sword-arm, and his eyes grew wide, his mouth opening in a primal scream.
He raised his sword high into the air, thrusting his sword at Bella’s heart.