The Battle for Urth

by Lee Bacon

  All because of the Sorceress.

  No doubt the dragon wants to escape. But it seems as though there’s one thing it wants even more.

  Revenge.

  The enormous creature shoots through the chamber like lightning. A blur of wings and teeth and claws.

  The Sorceress’s eyes snap in the dragon’s direction, her mouth twisting with fury. In the instant of distraction, Kara knocks the knife out of her hand and dashes away. The Sorceress makes no move to follow her. At the moment, she has a much bigger concern.

  “Disloyal lizard!” she shrieks. “How dare you defy me!”

  The Sorceress raises her free hand. From her fingers comes a burst of white light. The dragon twists into a barrel roll and the spell destroys a pillar instead.

  “When I found you, you were a tangle of fabric.” The Sorceress unleashes another blast of light and singes the dragon’s tail. “I made you into an unstoppable beast! I gave you life! And I can take it away!”

  The dragon opens its jaws. Fire blazes across the chamber. The Sorceress dodges the flames with remarkable speed.

  Unfortunately, I can’t do the same. Not while I’m under the Sorceress’s spell. Utterly and horribly stuck.

  A great tidal wave of fire is headed straight for me. But Kara gets to me first. She slams into me and the two of us topple sideways, behind a pillar. Fire blazes on all sides. I feel as though I’ve been tossed into an oven. My entire body swallowed by agonizing heat. And yet—when the fire ceases, Kara and I are still alive.

  Kara grabs me by the shoulders, her eyes wide with concern. “Are you all right?”

  I try to nod. Instead something very peculiar happens. My finger moves. It’s just a twitch. Barely noticeable. But believe me…when you’ve been stuck in the same position for as long as I have, that finger twitch feels like cartwheeling across the room.

  The Sorceress’s spell. It’s wearing off! This is what I want to say, but my mouth still isn’t working. And instead, another finger moves.

  I rejoice. Around me, the battle rages. The Sorceress and the dragon, locked in fierce combat. Flashes of white light. Flames spewing. Roaring and shrieking and flapping wings. But my concentration is elsewhere. All my attention is on something much closer. My foot. I focus, strain, push. And all of a sudden, I feel…

  A toe wiggle.

  It may not be much, but it’s progress. Next I move another toe. And an eyelid. My lip. Another finger. An entire foot.

  “Oh my gosh!” Kara whispers excitedly. “You’re moving!”

  I know! What a marvelous development!

  At least—that’s what I try to say. But the muscles controlling my mouth haven’t fully returned to normal yet. The words come out all wrong.

  “Brumble glugg!” I say. “Frruuump blubbmenn!”

  Kara tilts her head, confused.

  I apologize, I try to say. I have not regained the capacity for basic human speech.

  But what comes out is: “Derp pllooooop. Eeewweee sloooog pleeeech.”

  “Uh…okay.” Kara lifts me into an upright position. “Do you think you can stand up?”

  I shall try my hardest, I attempt.

  “Flooop. Yooop,” I say.

  Kara releases her grip on me. I fall onto my face.

  “Looks like standing isn’t an option just yet.” Kara lifts me up again, leaning my back against the pillar. “And I don’t think we have time to wait for the spell to wear off.”

  She has a point. The battle between the Sorceress and the dragon is taking its toll on the castle. A blast of the Sorceress’s spell rips a hole in the stone wall. Spinning in midair to avoid her attack, the dragon slams through a pillar. Tremors jolt the floor. A massive chunk of the ceiling breaks loose and lands a few feet away.

  I make another attempt to stand. This time, more of my body reacts. My arms strain to push against the floor. My legs flex. And…

  I flop sideways.

  “Maybe I can carry you?” Kara says.

  Excellent idea! I try to say.

  “Gooob rumpp!” I actually say.

  Kara brings her hands under my armpits and lifts. At the same time, I push with my legs. The two of us stagger out from behind the pillar.

  The walk-in refrigerator is fifteen feet away. We begin moving toward it. Half stumbling, half walking. Slumping my head to the right, I gain a view of the Sorceress. She has her back to us. And by the look of it, she’s nearly vanquished the dragon. The creature’s tail has been severed. Its right wing is badly burned. Its scales glisten with blood from at least a dozen wounds.

  But the dragon isn’t through fighting yet. It sweeps along the edge of the chamber, veering sideways to avoid another burst of terrible magic from the Sorceress. The creature opens its mouth, spewing flames. Fire crashes over stone walls and pillars. It blooms against the floor and collides with a large stack of boxes at the edge of the room. Each one marked with the same words:

  “Oh no,” Kara says.

  “Blurph,” I say.

  Then the entire chamber explodes in flames.

  I’ve seen plenty of explosions in movies. Blown-up cars, demolished buildings, alien spaceships crashing to earth. But nothing could prepare me for the real thing.

  KA-BOOOOOM!

  The blast is deafening. Imagine thunder erupting inside your brain. Now crank up the volume even higher. You’re still nowhere close to the sound that rocks my eardrums.

  The cavernous room is torn apart. Thick stone walls crumble like LEGO pieces. Massive pillars collapse. The floor shakes.

  The world is falling apart. And I’m right in the middle of it. With a half-paralyzed prince hanging over my shoulder. We’re trapped in the heart of Legendtopia. Surrounded by flames. There’s no chance of making it out of the castle alive. Our only hope for survival is…

  The walk-in refrigerator.

  But with all the smoke and debris kicked up by the explosion, I’ve completely lost sight of the big metal box. I drag Prince Fred blindly one way, then another. We change course again and again. But no matter which direction we go, it’s always wrong.

  It’s hopeless. I’m totally turned around. Unable to see anything. Lost in the chaos.

  Burning-hot ashes rain down, searing my skin. My lungs are clogged with smoke. A massive chunk of the ceiling slams to the ground beside us.

  Prince Fred slips from my grasp. The two of us collapse, coughing and clasping at our throats. Flames billow through the fog of smoke and debris. It feels like someone’s turned the thermostat in the chamber to a thousand.

  If the smoke doesn’t suffocate us, we’ll burn to death.

  We came so close. This thought whispers through my fevered brain. So close to reaching the walk-in refrigerator. So close to Heldstone.

  But not close enough. And now I’ll never find my dad.

  Through the smoldering gray smoke, I can just barely see Prince Fred’s face. I begin to say goodbye, but something stops me.

  A movement in a pocket of my dress. A faint rustling.

  It must be my phone. Probably another burst of texts from Marcy. Then I remember—my phone no longer works. And Marcy wouldn’t be texting me, anyway—not while she’s brainwashed by the Sorceress’s spell.

  I reach into a fold in my torn dress, where a pocket has been sewn into the hem. My fingers settle over something small and metal.

  The owl necklace.

  I can feel its wings flutter against the palm of my hand. The smoke must be getting to my brain. That’s the only explanation. I’ve witnessed a lot of magic over the last couple of days, but the necklace isn’t supposed to be a part of all that. It has nothing to do with the Sorceress. It was given to me by…

  My dad.

  My memory tumbles backward. To the night before my dad disappeared. If you keep this necklace with you, it’ll bring you closer to me. What if he was trying to tell me something? Something I’m only just now beginning to realize?

  My thoughts bounce like a Ping-Pong ball between t
hree different random events…

  …the field trip to Legendtopia yesterday, when my owl necklace got stuck in the waitress’s hat…

  …searching through the shoe box of Dad’s old stuff with Prince Fred, discovering that my father visited Heldstone once before…

  …moments when I thought I felt the silver owl faintly rustling against my skin and assumed it was just my imagination…

  I can’t shake the feeling that they’re all connected. But how?

  The silver owl flaps forward, tugging at the chain. I still don’t know how any of this is happening—or why—but I am sure about one thing:

  The owl wants me to follow it.

  Grasping the chain with one hand, I reach for Prince Fred with the other. I wrap my arm around him and lift. Together we rise to our feet and begin staggering in the direction that the necklace leads us. Deeper into the chaos. Explosions, chunks of stone collapsing, waves of fire crashing all around us. The heavy clouds of smoke and debris make it impossible to see where we’re going, but that doesn’t matter now. All that matters is the owl. The tiny silver bird flaps persistently at the end of its chain. Our guide through the destruction.

  As the prince and I stumble behind the necklace, Dad’s words echo in my memory, again and again. If you keep this necklace with you, it’ll bring you closer to me.

  And then I see it. A faint outline up ahead. The walk-in refrigerator. The owl yanks toward it like a fly on a string. I trip over a crater in the floor, nearly losing my grip on the necklace. But now Prince Fred has gained more of his strength. And as I begin to fall, he strains to hold me up.

  We keep moving. The fridge is getting closer. The two of us stagger the final few steps. With his free hand, Fred lunges for the door. Grasping the handle, he pulls it open. Fred and I dive into the gaping mouth of the walk-in fridge.

  We’re inside.

  As I reach to close the door, I get one last glimpse of the destruction outside. There’s no sign of the dragon. Maybe it managed to escape. More likely, it was immediately engulfed by the explosion. Ashes of the puppet it had once been.

  Then something else grabs my attention. A dark silhouette, surrounded by smoke and fire. The Sorceress. The flames part like a curtain. For a moment, I can see her face. And the weird thing is…her expression is pure calm. Even though she’s smack in the middle of an inferno, the Sorceress looks like she’s meditating. Eyes closed. Lips moving slightly. As if whispering to herself. She casts her arms wide, like a bird spreading its wings. And then—

  The Sorceress vanishes.

  At least—that’s the way it looks. With the pandemonium raging all around, it’s impossible to know for sure. Maybe she was swallowed by the flames. Maybe the explosion blew her to smithereens.

  Except that doesn’t explain the shadow.

  In the spot where the Sorceress was just standing, there’s now a swirl of darkness. It reminds me of the cloud above Legendtopia. The slow-motion tornado. The dark mass of toxic magic leaking into the sky. But on a much smaller scale.

  The serene expression on her face. The moving lips. Was the Sorceress whispering a spell? Did she just turn herself into a shadow?

  There’s no time to wonder about these questions. Another seismic crash rocks the castle. A swell of fire rushes toward us.

  My grip tightens on the handle and I yank the refrigerator door closed.

  But not before the shadow slips inside.

  With the door sealed shut, the only light comes from a sliver at the bottom of the door. The fire outside casts a dim, red glow across the interior of the walk-in refrigerator. But even in the faint illumination, I swear I see it. A swirling cloud of darkness. For the flicker of an instant, it hangs before me.

  Then it’s gone.

  Or maybe it was never there in the first place. In the dark fridge, it’s impossible to be sure.

  “Did you see it?” I scream. “Where’d it go?”

  “What are you talking about?” Prince Fred’s voice is slurred and unsteady, but at least he’s forming whole words again. “See what?”

  “The shadow!”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Although to be honest, I’m more curious about that.”

  Fred points at the necklace in my hand. The little silver owl continues flapping at the end of its chain.

  Prince Fred raises his eyebrows. “Why didn’t you tell me your necklace is a Chasing Charm?”

  “A what?”

  Before he can respond, a blast rocks the walk-in refrigerator. The crash sends both of us stumbling. Heat radiates from all sides.

  The prince screams over the roar outside. “The refrigerator won’t withstand the destruction much longer!”

  I have so many more questions. What really happened to the Sorceress? How did my necklace suddenly come to life? And what’s a Chasing Charm? But they’ll have to wait. The walk-in feels like it’s melting.

  “Follow me!” I yell.

  Clenching the necklace, I let the owl guide us deeper into the metal box. The red glow from under the door fades. It’s too dark to see where we’re going, but that doesn’t matter. The necklace knows the way.

  The shock waves of another explosion ripple through the fridge. Boxes topple to the ground all around us. Moldy veggies rain down on me. The fridge is heating up like a humongous oven. The walls are simmering red. The color of boiling lava. Any second now, they’re going to melt away.

  The owl is flapping so hard now, I’m worried it’ll break loose from its chain. I can’t see it any longer, but I can feel the direction it leads us.

  It’ll bring you closer to me. Dad’s musical accent reverberates in my mind like an inspirational motto. Closer to me.

  Before long, I spot something up ahead. The glimmering, flickering light of a torch.

  “We’re getting close!” I scream over the roar of destruction outside. “Just a little farther!”

  Fred shoves aside a couple of boxes. We keep moving. The heat’s becoming unbearable. Hair clings to my forehead. Sweat drips into my eyes. When I swipe it away, I notice the walls are brick now. The floor is cobblestone. And ahead of us is the door.

  The miniature door.

  The door to Prince Fred’s world.

  The door to my father.

  I turn the handle and push it open. A shadow flickers at the edge of my vision. And for an instant, I’m sure I see it again. The black shadow, sweeping through the opening. But when I turn to get a better look, it’s vanished.

  There’s no time to wonder about what I saw—or didn’t see. A terrible bellow echoes through the passageway behind me. The sound of metal ripping apart. The walk-in refrigerator disintegrating. I open the door the rest of the way, and we stagger out of one world and into another.

  Kara slams the door closed.

  For a very long moment, neither of us speaks. Everything around us is perfectly silent. The room is cool, but my hair and my clothes are soaked with sweat.

  For the first time, I glance at my surroundings. We’re back in the Chamber of Wizardry. Back in Heldstone. Home.

  My gaze falls on Kara. Her mangled ball gown is covered with gray ash and scarred by burns. In one hand she holds the necklace. The tiny owl flaps its silver wings, yanking at the chain.

  “How is this possible?” The words tremble as they leave her lips. “How does this necklace know the way to your world?”

  “It’s called a Chasing Charm,” I say. “At the moment of its creation, the owl was placed under a spell.”

  “What kind of spell?”

  I consider this for a moment. Finally, I settle on an explanation. “Do you have ducks in your world?”

  Kara gives me a confused look.

  “Ducks?” I repeat. “Do they exist on Urth?”

  “Yeah. But what does that have to do with anything?”

  “When a duck is born, it forms a bond with the first living thing that it sees. If you’re there at the moment a duck hatches from its egg, it will think of yo
u as its mother—”

  Kara taps her foot impatiently. “Thanks for the biology lesson. Would you please get to the point?”

  “A Chasing Charm is like a baby duck. It forms a bond between an ordinary object”—I gesture to the silver owl—“and the first person who comes into contact with it. In the case of your necklace, I’m guessing that bond was formed with—”

  “My dad,” Kara whispers.

  “Precisely. For as long as your necklace exists, it will abide by a single mission. To return to your father.”

  “But I’ve had this necklace for, like, three years. Why did it only start working now?”

  “Because it was waiting.”

  “For what?”

  “The right moment.”

  Kara stares at her necklace, bewilderment swimming in her features. “There were times when I was sure I could feel the owl moving. But I assumed it was just my mind playing tricks on me.”

  “Most Chasing Charms are quite basic. They can be purchased for a few coins from any third-rate witch or wizard at the black marketplace. Parents get them as toys for their children. They’ll follow the kids across the house. Any farther than that, and the bond flickers away. But there are some Chasing Charms…”

  I turn my gaze to the little owl. Its silver wings flap up and down, pulling the necklace tight like a leash.

  “Some Chasing Charms are much more powerful,” I say. “Their bond can stretch across endless distances. And they can be clever, too. Able to devise complex strategies for finding the way back. Such a remarkable Chasing Charm is extremely rare. It must’ve been crafted by an extremely skilled magician.”

  “Like the Sorceress?”

  I nod. “She’s the most skilled of all magicians.”

  Kara’s brown eyes ignite, darting around the Chamber of Wizardry. “This room is, like, the Sorceress’s workshop, right?”

  I nod again.

  “Okay, so…” Kara’s voice quickens. “We know that my dad came to Heldstone twice. We found his work order in my shoe box where I keep all his old stuff. Proof that he inspected the refrigerator two days before he disappeared for good.”