Laura Monster Crusher

by Wesley King

  I was just climbing onto the mattress when I heard the voices again.

  There was no doubt: there were people outside, and they were getting closer. Were the Swords trying to come in? Was there a problem? I had to make sure they didn’t come inside and wake my family. It was going to be hard to explain a group of hooded warriors to my mother. I thought about taking the elevator to Derwin to see if I could find Eldon, but if that was him outside and he was trying to get my attention, he might wake up Tom while I was gone. Thankfully Tom was a very heavy sleeper, but if he woke up, he would hear the voices for sure. The Swords didn’t know about his hearing, and I definitely didn’t want Tom wandering down there. I had to go check it out before someone else did.

  Thinking that I was never going to get a good night’s sleep in this new house, I crept down the stairs. I wished I had some sort of weapon to bring with me. Why did I get rid of all my baseball bats? Pale moonlight was filtering in through the windows, and it was eerily silent as I crossed the living room—well, aside from the creaking floorboards. I headed for the family room, where the door to the backyard was located. On the way I scooped a big rolling pin off of the kitchen counter; it would have to do.

  Stache had been painting the family room all day, so there were no curtains on the large rectangular windows. As a result the moon was illuminating the entire room, and I could make out the dark, brooding wall of the forest at the edge of the yard. My right hand tightened on the rolling pin as I approached the door. The voices had stopped.

  I reached the glass door and pressed myself against it, listening for movement. All I could hear was the wind rustling through the leaves, as if whispering for me to go back. I really didn’t want to go out there, but I had to have a look now or I’d never be able to sleep. I slowly turned the old bronze handle, lifting the rolling pin with the other hand.

  I eased the door open and peeked outside. Nothing. It was a cool night, and the wind cut through my flannel pyjamas and chilled me right to the core. I was just closing the door when I heard them again: quiet, rasping voices. It was hard to make out what they were saying, but it sounded like, “We need your help.”

  “Eldon?” I whispered. “Is that you?”

  Brandishing the rolling pin, I stepped out onto the sprawling back patio. The cement slabs were crooked and cracked and covered with weeds, and they felt very cold on my bare feet. I took a few steps from the door, peering into the heavy darkness.

  “Eldon?”

  That’s when I heard the rusty hinges on the back door slowly closing. I instantly straightened, feeling tingles running through my entire body.

  There was something behind me.

  I turned just in time to see the door click shut. Standing in front of it was a creature I recognized instantly from the guide. Its skin was a mossy, sickly green, like it had just emerged from a swamp, which only added to its witch-like hooked nose and protruding mouth, flashing with yellow teeth. It was wearing a rusted black chest plate marked with dents and scratches and holding a crooked sword in one of its slender hands. I recognized the eyes from the woods: large and yellow, with pupils like a snake.

  I just stood there, unable to scream or run or fight. The goblin lifted the crooked sword over its head with two hands, ready to bring it down in a killing blow.

  “Bad move, Monster Crusher,” it whispered in a raspy, awful voice.

  That woke me up. I turned and ran just as the goblin swung the sword, and I heard the metal clang off the concrete. I sprinted for the edge of the house, trying to get to the front door. Forget Eldon’s warning—I was going to lock the doors and call the police.

  I was just turning the corner toward the front when a second goblin charged out of the shadows with a long black spear. I saw him just in time to dive face first into the grass, narrowly avoiding the deadly sharp tip as it sliced through the air where I’d been standing. I slid across the damp grass and then tried to scramble back to my feet as the goblin turned toward me, its big yellow eyes flashing in the darkness.

  It stabbed at my stomach with the long spear before I was even up, and I just managed to knock the point aside with the rolling pin, slamming it downward. The spear jammed into the grass, getting caught in the dirt, and I got up and took off running again.

  “Help!” I screamed. My parent’s room was upstairs in the front of the house, but Tom would hear me and wake them. “Help!”

  The first goblin suddenly crashed into me, knocking me right off my feet. I hit the ground hard, the rolling pin flying from my hands. I rolled over a few times and then flopped over hard, lying flat on my back. I looked up in terror as the goblin stepped over me, raising the sword once again. I saw its sharp yellow teeth glinting in the moonlight as it smiled, and I knew it was about to kill me. I didn’t even have a chance to scream.

  The sword was halfway down when a black arrow tip suddenly emerged from the goblin’s stomach. The goblin looked down in shock, grasping at the wound, and then toppled forward. I just barely rolled out of the way as it crashed into the grass beside me.

  The second goblin turned in panic as a shadowy figure came sprinting out of the woods, drawing a gleaming silver sword. The goblin never had a chance: the shadowy figure easily dodged a desperate jab of its spear and plunged the sword into its stomach.

  As the goblin hit the ground, the shadowy figure tucked the sword into a sheath and walked toward me. As soon as the figure came close, I recognized crimson locks protruding from her hood. She looked down at me in disgust.

  “This is why you should be training,” she said quietly. “Two goblins should stand no chance against a Monster Crusher. Get up.”

  “They were coming into my house—”

  “They will never enter the house,” she cut in coolly. “They’re afraid of the Brotherhood’s spells. They wanted to draw you outside and ambush you. Which you foolishly fell for.”

  I climbed to my feet, staring down at the dead goblin beside me. A light flicked on upstairs. “My parents are going to see the bodies—”

  “I will take care of the bodies,” she snarled. “And I will be sure that we add a few extra Swords here to keep watch. Clearly you need the help. Lie to your parents. You don’t know how close you just were to putting your family in danger. When Eldon tells you something…listen.”

  With that, she grabbed the goblin’s collar with one hand and dragged him toward the trees. I watched her disappear into the shadows and then hurried to the back door. I had just stepped inside when Stache and my mom rushed into the family room.

  “Laura!” my mom gasped. “What were you doing outside?”

  Tom stepped in behind them, looking very upset.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled sheepishly, “I heard something back there. I thought it might have been the hiker. I went to have a look and a stupid bat flew right by and scared me.”

  Stache hurried to the back door and looked outside, locking it as he did. I glanced outside, alarmed, but the girl had already removed the other goblin. Stache turned to me.

  “Why didn’t you wake us?”

  I shrugged. “I didn’t want to wake you for nothing. Sorry.”

  My mom wrapped me in a quick hug and took my face in her hands, looking over me. “We’re just happy you’re okay. Please don’t go out there by yourself at night.”

  “I won’t anymore,” I muttered. “It’s all right, Tom.”

  He was giving me a weird look from the doorway. “You sounded really scared.”

  “I don’t like bats. No offence.”

  Tom didn’t look convinced, but he obviously decided to let it go. “Well, I’m just glad you’re all right, Giant Girl.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I’m going to get back to bed. Sorry again.”

  We all headed back upstairs, and I gave them a little wave and closed the bedroom door behind me. I leaned there for a moment, trembling. That was too close.

  Eldon could have warned me that the monsters were going to try to kill me so soon. But he w
as right: I was already involved, whether or not I wanted to be. I could try to get my parents to move, but what if the monsters followed? What if they started attacking Riverfield because I hadn’t done my job? And how could I possibly convince them to move without telling them about the Under Earth anyway? There’s no way Stache would just give up on his dream house.

  No, I was definitely going to be here for awhile. Which meant I really only had one choice.

  I threw on some light track pants and a T-shirt, grabbed the guide, and crawled through the panel into the elevator. If these monsters were going to come after me, I better figure out how to start crushing them. After plummeting back to Derwin—still shutting my eyes to try to keep from vomiting—I hurried into the meadow.

  “Are you all right?” Porton asked, his stormy grey eyes narrowed in worry.

  “Yeah,” I replied. “But only because that Sword was there.”

  “That’s her job,” he said wryly, leaning back in his chair. “So what now?”

  “I think I better start training,” I murmured.

  Porton smiled grimly. “I agree. They’ll send more than two next time.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  An hour later I collapsed onto the cobblestones, sweat dripping over my shaking hands. Even though the air was cooler than I thought it would be, I was completely drenched. I’d gone through the Warrior’s Way three times now, and I wasn’t getting any better.

  Eldon had actually looked concerned when I first walked through the gate, and he had reiterated to me to always stay in the house at nighttime, no matter what.

  “The monsters are creatures of darkness. Why do you think we never dim the sun sphere?” he asked, pointing upward at the massive mechanical contraption on the cavern roof.

  “What is it?” I asked curiously.

  “A creation of the Brotherhood, thousands of years ago. Half magic and half alchemy, like I said, but the secrets of its creation were lost centuries ago. There are five sun spheres remaining in the Under Earth. They bring life, and they keep away death.”

  “Where are the other five realms?”

  “Scattered across the globe,” he said. “There are two under your North America, while the largest is the original, under Africa. There is one under your Antarctica, and the last is beneath your China.”

  I shook my head, frowning. “And how do all these Monster Crushers get to Derwin every night?”

  “Most stay for longer and then go home for a few weeks. But we have trains running throughout the Under Earth…different than yours, maybe, but similar. They run on coal and reach incredible speeds, so we can stay in relatively good contact with the other realms. You can take one to visit the other realms, if you complete your training.”

  I thought about that, looking out at the sprawling cavern. It still seemed impossible that all this could exist. The sparkling lake, the forests, the wheat fields.

  Eldon obviously guessed at my thoughts. “For surface humans, it’s hard to believe. They know the underground as dark and lifeless. But if you were born here, it’s frightening to imagine an open sky. A yawning blackness that sweeps over the landscape. For us, it feels like we might just float away into that darkness and never return.”

  “I guess,” I murmured. “How many of you are there?”

  “Derwin is the smallest of the five realms: there are only about twenty thousand people here. The greatest is Eran, the one beneath your Africa: half a million live there. In all, maybe three million.”

  “And how many monsters?”

  The smile disappeared from his face. “Countless.”

  After that, he had ordered me to get right back to training. As I stumbled and tripped and sweated, he shouted out information for me to remember:

  “There are sixteen tunnels in Riverfield that we know about—both those created by us and those created by the monsters. It is your duty to protect them all and discover the rest of the monsters’ tunnels as well. Unfortunately, I think there are many more.

  “Ogres will always try to crush you with a club. They just prefer it.

  “Monster Crushers must never show fear. If they do, the monsters will sense the weakness, and the battle will be lost.

  “You must find strategies to get to the leader as fast as possible.”

  The other warriors just watched me with a mixture of bemusement and disdain as I tripped on logs, toppled over wooden barriers, shot arrows wide, and awkwardly stabbed fake monsters with knives and spears and swords, all the while trying to pay attention to Eldon. A couple of times I missed the monsters altogether with my attacks…and the targets were stationary. That was not a good thing.

  “Take a break,” Eldon muttered after another run through the course, obviously seeing that I was taking one either way. “We’ll start again in a few minutes.”

  “Yeah,” I managed. “Awesome.”

  I crawled over to the nearest wall and propped myself against it, feeling my cheeks burn as some of the other Monster Crushers whispered about me in the corners. I knew that Swords were guarding my house even now, while others were scouting the tunnels all around Riverfield, trying to find out how the monsters were accessing the surface. But as Eldon constantly reminded me, the tunnels were a maze that could take years to unravel. The entrances were all hidden in the stone.

  The woman with the crimson hair was back, sharpening her recently bloodied sword in the corner and sneering at me. As I sat there, I started thinking about what I would be doing right now if I hadn’t found the secret door in my closet. I’d be sleeping right now, probably dreaming of Liam R. Kelp and me running along a beach together. Well, maybe not a beach. I didn’t like even fantasy me in a bathing suit.

  Instead I was running around a walled stone courtyard jumping over logs and getting laughed at by grim-faced warrior boys, and all so I would be ready to fight trolls and giant spiders in pitch-black tunnels. Maybe Newcastle hadn’t been so bad after all.

  “Hey,” someone said.

  I looked up in surprise as a boy dropped down beside me. He might have been only fifteen or so, but his arms were lined with hard muscle. His raven hair was full and a little curly, and there were a few small scars on his cheeks, white against his deeply tanned skin. His eyes were a soft brown, and he didn’t seem as grim as the others, flashing me a smile of the whitest teeth I’ve ever seen.

  “Having fun yet?” he asked, tying his running shoes.

  I tried not to stare at his arms. He must really like bicep curls.

  “Oh yeah,” I said, flushing. “I think the falling is my favourite part.”

  He smirked. “It’s not fair to expect you to do all this this quickly…you’ve only been here for two days. Not to mention you’re…different. How old are you, anyway?”

  “Thirteen.”

  He looked surprised. “You’re quite big for a thirteen-year-old…” He paused, as if he had just realized what he’d said. “You know…tall.”

  I waved a hand in dismissal. “I think we’re past that. I’m an ox.”

  “Hardly,” he said. “You’re stout. Good for fighting monsters.”

  “Except I don’t want to fight monsters,” I replied glumly. “I can’t even hit the fake ones.”

  “It takes time to find our strengths. Lee, by the way. I’m one of the Monster Crushers from Canada. I figured you were an American…can’t talk to a lot of the people here, obviously. They speak English in Derwin and a few other realms, but a lot of the Monster Crushers are from other countries. Most can speak a little English, of course, but they aren’t all overly chatty anyway. Figured you might like to talk to someone.”

  He smiled again, revealing those sparkling white teeth. He smelled like sweat, but not in a bad way, which I thought was impossible. I guess not when you look like that.

  “Definitely,” I said, flustered. “Nice to meet you. Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  I looked around the courtyard. “How come so many of the Monster Crushers
and their Swords are young? I would think the elite warriors would all be adults.”

  Lee’s smile disappeared. “You don’t always live long in this job…especially the Swords. Not unless you’re Eldon.”

  I followed his gaze and saw that Eldon was doing the Warrior’s Way. He flew over the logs like a bounding gazelle, somersaulted under barriers, and landed his arrows right between the eyes of every target. When he stabbed a creature, he buried the sword right to the hilt, and then wrenched it out in a continuous motion. I watched in amazement as he flicked a knife at the last target, sticking it right into a fake goblin’s chest.

  “Who is he?” I whispered, while trying to discreetly wipe my brow. I glanced at Lee. Did he even have pores?

  Lee lowered his voice. “He’s the exception to the rule.”

  “What rule?”

  “Every Sword from the Under Earth was chosen as a child. They don’t even have a choice. They are selected as the best warriors and brought to Arnwell to train.”

  “That doesn’t seem fair.”

  “It’s not,” Lee said. “But in their world, it’s a great honour to be a Sword. So they were all chosen—except for Eldon Rein.”

  I watched as Eldon ran the course again. He was even faster this time. His hair billowed out behind him with his cloak, and his blue eyes flashed in the dim sunlight.

  “He was a farmer from Eran,” Lee said quietly. “He was only nineteen, but he’d just gotten married to a beautiful girl named Lily. He was happy. One day Eldon had to go to the next village over; he used to trade his crops for beef. It took longer than usual—apparently they were arguing over the trade, so he stayed the night. And when he came back, he found out that the monsters had come out of the tunnels and raided his village.”

  Eldon stabbed his sword through a fake ogre, driving it deep into the chest.

  “The village had been burned to the ground. His parents were dead. His brother. Lily. His whole world was gone. But he told me that that wasn’t what truly broke him. When he found Lily, he went after the goblins. Headed straight into the tunnels alone. He was wandering there, screaming for them to face him, when a lone goblin scout spotted him. They fought, and Eldon lost. Took a rusty spear through the leg, and the goblin left him there to die. Eldon said watching the goblin walk away was enough to keep him alive, just so he could have his vengeance on the monsters.”