The Prince Warriors and the Unseen Invasion

by Priscilla Shirer

The masses of vines fell upon the kids’ shoulders as they followed Ruwach down the path. Unlike the Cave, which felt mysterious and otherworldly, this place seemed much more real, more alive.

  “Be careful,” said Ruwach. “We are outside of the Cave now.”

  “It’s like that place Mom took us in the city, remember Xavi?” Evan belted out, causing the others to cringe. “The mechanical garden?”

  “Botanical garden,” Xavier corrected in a hushed tone. “And yeah, it does kind of look like that.”

  “Why is everyone whispering?”

  “Shhhh.”

  They followed the path around several tall trees with more vines hanging down, brushing the kids’ faces and shoulders as they passed. The path was red, as if the soil itself was red. Not the usual brownish-red like clay, but bright red, ketchup colored. Blood colored.

  A branch poked Brianna, and she jumped back, startled, rubbing the sting on her cheek.

  “Sharp,” she whispered. “That hurt.” She reached out to push the vines and branches out of her way as she carefully stepped forward again. The others did as well, sensing that the plants around them were not particularly pleased by their presence.

  They came to the end of the path, where a single tree stood unencumbered by vines or moss. This tree had long branches that dipped low into the ground. In fact, the branches actually grew right down into the red dirt.

  “Never saw a tree do that,” said Manuel, inching forward to study how the branches disappeared into the ground. “Must be its way of replanting itself—”

  “You are correct, Prince Manuel,” said Ruwach.

  Ruwach crouched down under the tree. The kids saw his hands emerge from his sleeves; his long fingers glowed brilliantly, as if they were made of light. They had seen his hands a few times, but they still had never seen his face. Ruwach began to dig, sending sprays of scarlet dirt into the air, shimmering in the light from above. Specks of red dirt settled on their hair and skin so that the kids felt as if they, too, were coated in red.

  Ruwach dug in silence. The kids tried to ask him questions about what he was doing, but he didn’t answer.

  After a while, they began to get antsy and wandered around, investigating the various plants around them. Manuel was particularly enthralled, as there were species here even stranger than the ones he had in his room.

  “This one looks like a skunk cabbage,” Manuel said, pausing over a large, bulbous plant with a purple flower in the center. “But not quite.” Then he came to another plant that had long curly stalks like corkscrews shooting straight up. “Could be a trachyandra! I’ve never seen one up close before. They can only grow in South Africa. I’d like to take a cutting back with me for my collection—”

  “You can’t take anything back with you, remember?” Brianna said. Another branch brushed the back of her head; she jumped, knocking her foot against something hard. She stooped to see what it was, pushing aside some tangled vines to reveal a large red stone. It hadn’t been painted red, it was red. She’d never seen a stone this color before. When she touched it, the redness moved, like it was actually a fine covering on the stone. She shifted more of it aside until she had uncovered some writing engraved into it:

  The Garden of Red

  “Look!” she said, calling the others to see. They all looked at the red stone curiously.

  Levi looked over his shoulder at Ruwach, who was only a short distance away but still quite involved in digging. “Maybe he will explain it,” said Levi in a raspy whisper. “If he ever finishes digging.” Ruwach continued his work, paying no attention to what the kids were saying. “Probably not,” said Evan with a sigh.

  “Red dirt,” said Manuel, sticking his fingers in the dirt around the stone and rubbing them together. “Like Mars . . . or Oklahoma.”

  “This isn’t Mars,” said Xavier.

  “And it sure ain’t Oklahoma,” Levi said with a laugh.

  “There aren’t any shields here,” Evan said disappointedly. “I’ve looked.”

  “They’re probably still back in the Hall of Armor, where the other pieces came from,” said Brianna.

  Evan was tempted to ask Ruwach about going to the Hall of Armor, but he had a feeling the guide still wasn’t going to answer. Instead, he leaned toward Brianna and asked: “Why didn’t Ruwach take us there instead of here? Maybe we’re going there next. . . .” He turned back toward the gate where they’d entered, but it was gone. There was nothing but thick green vines where the doorway had been.

  “We can’t get out,” Brianna whispered.

  “Guess we’ll have to wait to find out why Ruwach brought us here first,” said Xavier.

  They huddled closer together, watching their guide silently, growing more nervous the longer this went on.

  “What’s he digging for?” whispered Levi.

  “Maybe he buried the shields here,” said Brianna.

  “Why would he bury the shields?”

  “Who knows?” Xavier said. “To keep them safe, maybe. If Ponéros would steal the key, he might steal more stuff too.”

  “He’d need a much bigger hole to bury those big shields,” said Evan.

  “But Ponéros can’t get into the Cave, can he?” said Brianna, wrinkling her nose.

  “We aren’t in the Cave, remember?” said Levi.

  “It looks to me as though he’s digging up one of those branches,” Manuel said, peering at Ruwach.

  Just then Ruwach rose, holding up one of the long, swaying tree branches. At the end of it there was something round and red—a deep, dark, crimson red.

  Manuel moved closer to the red thing, his face clouded with skepticism.

  “You must have faith, Prince Manuel.” Ruwach responded to the question Manuel had not even asked.

  “Faith?”

  “Yes. Your faith is your shield.”

  “How can faith be a shield? That’s impossible!”

  “Nothing. Is. Impossible.” Ruwach spoke each word as if it were a sentence in itself.

  With that, he took the round, red thing in his two hands and slowly split it open, so that his Warriors could see what was inside.

  Chapter 8

  Seeds of Doubt

  What are they?” Levi asked. “Skittles?”

  The kids peered with some dismay at the small, hard, red dots inside the cocoon-like thing Ruwach had opened.

  To Evan and Manuel, they looked very familiar.

  Manuel groaned. “Not those things again!” he said. “I thought we were getting real shields today!”

  “How can Skittles be shields?” Brianna asked.

  Manuel shook his head. “They aren’t Skittles, they’re seeds,” he said. “Plain old boring seeds.”

  “You’ve seen them before?” Xavier asked.

  “Yeah. My mom had one. These are exactly the same.”

  “Not exactly,” Ruwach said, a sort of smile in his voice. “Similar, yes, but exactly, no. No two are ever alike.”

  “Well, they look the same,” said Manuel.

  “They definitely aren’t shields,” Evan said, crossing his arms.

  “You must trust me, Prince Evan, Prince Manuel,” Ruwach said, without a trace of impatience. “Hold out your hands.”

  Brianna stuck out her hand immediately. Xavier and Levi followed more slowly, Evan and Manuel, slower still. Ruwach placed one of the small red seeds in each of their palms.

  Brianna held hers up to inspect it. “Shiny,” she said, smiling a little. “Kind of pretty actually. Maybe I could make it into a necklace. . . .”

  “Great,” said Evan, rolling his eyes. “We come for shields and get jewelry.”

  “They’re really . . . hard,” said Xavier, trying to squeeze his between two fingers.

  “What do we do with them?” Levi asked. “Plant them?”

&nbs
p; “Take your seeds back to earth with you,” Ruwach said. “Cultivate them. Protect them. Use them.”

  “I thought we weren’t supposed to take anything from here?” Xavier said.

  “This is different. Keep it with you at all times. How well you care for it will determine its power.”

  “But there is no power,” Manuel said, irritated. “I’ve already checked. A thousand times. It doesn’t do anything. . . .”

  Just then one of the tall curly stalks near Manuel came to life. Its leafy tentacles became like long, sinewy fingers, reaching for Manuel’s seed as if to snatch it out of his hand. Manuel jumped away, shocked at the aggressive behavior of a thing that was supposed to be mere vegetation.

  “That plant just tried to attack me!” he yelped.

  “Whoa! Like your Venus flytrap,” said Evan. He felt something brush the back of his neck and whirled around to see a leafy vine slithering down his arm toward the seed in his hand. He closed his fist, snatching his hand away.

  “It wants the seeds,” said Xavier, gripping his seed and looking around for more attacking plants. “But what for?”

  “There are many who would like to steal your seed,” Ruwach said serenely. “Be on guard. Follow me.”

  Ruwach spun around and headed back down the winding path they’d taken to get to the tree with the weird branches. The kids quickly followed. As they moved through the garden more plants and vines came alive, twirling around their ankles and slinking down their arms, clearly attracted to the seeds within their hands. The trees leaned in toward them, their teardrop leaves stretching toward the tiny seeds. Brianna found she had to hold hers tight in both hands to make sure it wouldn’t get snatched away.

  “We need to get out of here,” Brianna said. She jumped ahead, avoiding a tall tree that had started to bend toward her. The Warriors clustered together as the vines grew longer and thicker, snaking toward them.

  As they neared the end of the path, they saw that the gate was still completely overgrown with thick, tangled vines.

  “Hurry, Warriors!” Ruwach commanded as he approached the gate. He threw up his hands, and the vines suddenly untangled, withdrawing from the gate, which swung open creakily.

  The kids barreled through the portal, which slammed shut behind them, as vines once again curled around the iron bars, still trying to reach the seeds.

  “That’s one crazy garden,” Levi said under his breath.

  “This way.” Ruwach began to move again. “Keep up.”

  “Hopefully we will go to the Hall of Armor now and get the real shields,” Evan muttered.

  Ruwach led them back through the twisting tunnels, but instead of ending up in the Hall of Armor, they came again to the Corridor of Keys. Ruwach stopped to put the garden key back in its vine-covered box.

  Evan turned his face toward Ruwach expectantly, waiting for something else. Something more. But Ruwach was still. “So that’s it?” asked Evan, sounding annoyed. “This is all we get?”

  “This is all you need,” said Ruwach placidly. “Remember this: the enemy will do anything to stop you from using the seeds.” Ruwach’s voice dropped low, as if he were imparting some dreadful secret. “You must be careful.”

  “You mean we are in even more danger than before, just for having these?” Evan asked, his eyes wide with fear, his hand containing the seed stretched out toward Ruwach. “Why are you giving us these things then? How about going and getting the real shields now . . . quit fooling around. . . .”

  Xavier flicked him on the back of his head.

  “Ouch!” Evan gasped.

  “You do not have to be afraid, Prince Evan. Your seed is your shield.” Ruwach reached out and patted Evan on the shoulder. Evan was not very comforted.

  “But what about the shields we saw in the Hall of Armor?” Evan insisted. “They were big and strong. Why can’t we have those? I mean, those are the shields that go with our armor. They were real shields! Not these dumb seeds—”

  Xavier put a hand on Evan’s shoulder to stop him from going further. But the other kids looked as though they agreed with Evan. They stared glumly at their little seeds, no one even trying to contradict Evan. Xavier knew he had to do something to keep them all on track. He turned to Ruwach.

  “We’ll do what you say,” he said. “But it would help if . . . there was an instruction.”

  “Ah, yes . . .” Ruwach spread one arm toward the opposite end of the room. A pinprick of light appeared, flickering faintly, very far away. Ruwach drew his arm back, and as he did, the object grew brighter, closer, coming toward them at breakneck speed.

  The kids didn’t flinch, not even Evan. The Book sped toward them and then just as suddenly stopped, resting on its golden pedestal. The kids stared at it, once again amazed at its magnificence. It was very large, with a glowing cover from which the Crest of Ahoratos seemed to rise up like a 3-D image, twirling in the air. The Book, they knew, came from the Source—the source of all Life and Truth.

  Ruwach lifted one arm, and The Book opened, the shining pages flipping quickly at first, then more slowly. As each page turned, it hummed, sort of like music, ringing out a different note. After a moment Ruwach dropped his arm, and the pages stopped flipping.

  The kids leaned in for a better look. The Book had opened to a page that was full of strange characters and letters all scrambled up. Briana thought it looked just like the images that often appeared on her phone. But Ruwach made another small gesture with his arm, and the letters lifted off the page, hovering in the air, flickering gently.

  fI ehlt eodeett sehl vmuaa fsoa sitfhe ihzse loits in ebelp ymog hos bni frywuiol

  “That’s still so cool,” Evan murmured. Xavier nudged him to be quiet.

  Ruwach waved his arm again. Before their eyes, the letters rearranged themselves to form a sentence that glowed ever brighter:

  If you have faith the size of the smallest seed, nothing will be impossible for you.

  Ruwach suddenly raised both arms, grabbing the words out of the air and flinging them toward each of the children’s breastplates. The orbs in the center of their breastplates spun and glowed, absorbing the instructions, the new words spinning around inside them.

  “Wish I could believe it,” Manuel murmured under his breath.

  Ruwach’s arms folded back into his robe once again. “Go now, Warriors, take care of your seeds.”

  “Wait . . . that’s it?” Evan protested. “What about the battle? Don’t we have a mission?”

  “Take care of your seeds. . . .” Ruwach was fading from their vision, but his voice still resounded as if he were near. “That is the mission.” In his place was a thin stream of light that seemed to pour in from the ceiling and bore down through the floor. The light gradually widened, revealing a white expanse like the one from which they’d come.

  “Guess that’s the way out,” said Levi with a shrug. “Back through the white space.” He was the first to walk through, disappearing into the light. Brianna and Xavier went as well, followed by Manuel, who was still staring at his seed and muttering to himself.

  Evan glanced around the room one more time before setting foot through the open portal. There were dozens of boxes. One of them held the key to the special locked rooms. He was convinced that he and the others needed what was in those rooms to have real victory over the enemy, but still Ruwach wouldn’t give it to them. That didn’t seem fair at all.

  His eyes fell upon a plain wooden box sitting on a simple pedestal with no engraving or ornamentation. He remembered back to when Ruwach had first shown them the empty box—it was just like this one. Plain and simple. He looked around but didn’t see any other boxes that looked quite like it. This must be the one. He was sure of it. Amazing that he was able to see it so easily among so many other boxes.

  He crept toward the box, hoping that Ruwach wasn’t around to catch him. He open
ed it carefully. A key rested on purple satin lining. It was sort of skinny and rusted with an odd-shaped bow—a long shaft with four corkscrew crosspieces. It wasn’t anything like the key they’d found in Skot’os—the one that had opened Rook’s prison door. In fact, it was unlike any other key he had ever seen before. So this must be the key that opened the locked rooms. Evan wondered how Ruwach had managed to get it back.

  Evan looked over at the glowing portal—his way back home—it was narrowing again. Pretty soon it would be gone completely. No time now. But the next time he got to the Cave, he knew what he would do.

  He shut the box and ran quickly to slip through the crack of light before it sealed once again.

  Chapter 9

  Keeping Seeds

  Evan sat on the edge of his bed, staring down at the red seed.

  He’d put it in the drawer of his nightstand before going to bed, figuring that would be a safe enough place. But he couldn’t sleep. For an hour he tossed and turned, unable to shake off the words of Ruwach: “The enemy will do anything to stop you. . . . Many will try to take it from you. . . .”

  He finally just opened the drawer and picked up the seed, examining it closely, rubbing his thumb over the hard shell. It really did look like a Skittle. He raised it to his mouth and bit it, just to see if it might actually be candy. Maybe it was just Ruwach’s idea of a joke, giving them candy instead of a real seed. The shell was so hard it hurt his teeth. Definitely not candy. He gazed at the seed, noticed he’d left a tiny tooth mark in the smooth surface. Maybe it wasn’t as hard as he thought it was.

  “Danger is on the way. . . . The enemy is angry. . . .”

  Evan shut his eyes against the chilling words. He put the seed back in the drawer and slammed it shut. He had a sudden, terrible thought that the enemy might be in his very room, lurking in the shadows or—under the bed. He’d better check, just to be sure.

  He got his flashlight out of the nightstand, got down on his knees, took a big breath for courage, and shined the light under the bed. No evil enemy. Just a lot of junk. His play armor, which he’d shoved under his bed a month ago, and the book. He’d forgotten about that book.