by Wesley King
I usually just lightly stabbed it in the stomach or something. Once I got the sword stuck in the leather and had to leave it there, which was very embarrassing. I decided to try a big overhead swing today. But this time there wasn’t a sword sitting on the table. Or a spear. It was a hammer, and it was even more impressive than the picture.
The weapon was huge—at least a metre long with a massive double-sided iron top as big as a portable barbecue. The top was inlaid with three crimson rubies on each side, and there was a large black handle at the bottom big enough for two hands. I doubted I could even lift the thing. Was this a last joke to finish the test?
I stopped to look at the hammer for a moment, and this time I heard some of the Swords and other Monster Crushers laughing. I thought I could even pick out Caria’s cruel laugh from the gate. My cheeks started burning again, and I felt that anger filling my whole body. I was really sick of being laughed at.
I reached down and scooped up the hammer. It must have been made of some special type of metal, because it was a lot lighter than it looked. Actually, it felt really good as I lifted it up over my shoulder. Kind of like a baseball bat.
My eyes fell on the goblin. I knew exactly what to do with a baseball bat.
I charged the monster, and when I got close, I swung the hammer right toward its head. The hammer connected with a massive thump, and the fake goblin’s head exploded in a billowing shower of straw and brown wool. The courtyard fell into absolute silence as the straw slowly floated to the ground all around me.
I turned back to Eldon, catching Caria’s stunned look on the way.
“Anything else?”
Eldon was the first to react. He walked over to me, giving me a quick smile on the way. When he reached me, he turned me toward the three old men.
“Well done,” he whispered.
I was still in shock. I’d seen a lot of Monster Crushers hit the fake goblin. A few had even used hammers, though they never trained with the actual Iron Hammers. But for all that, no one had ever knocked its head off, never mind exploded it.
I wasn’t even sure what had happened. I mean, I was a great hitter. But I’d never felt a swing like that—it was like the hammer was an extension of my arm.
The rest of the warriors still weren’t speaking. Neither were the old men. Lee looked pleased at least. He gave me a sparkling smile and a nod.
“We all have to find our strengths,” Eldon said loudly. “Brothers, I believe Laura has proven herself. She is not a runner or a jumper or an archer. But she is most certainly a Monster Crusher.”
The Brothers stared at me for a long time, and I felt their shrewd eyes looking right through me. I shifted, unsure if they were convinced.
But finally, the Brother in the middle nodded.
“I agree,” he said. “I name you a Monster Crusher, defender of two worlds.”
Instantly the Swords straightened and bowed their heads. Many didn’t look happy about it. Most were still stunned. But they all bowed. Even Caria.
I grinned. I didn’t exactly want to be a Monster Crusher, but it was kind of nice to prove Caria and everyone else wrong.
The three robed men suddenly turned and strode into the castle without another word, and Eldon looked at me, grinning.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” he said.
“Me either.”
“So it’s official?” a deep voice asked from behind us. “She’s it?”
Eldon smiled. “Yes.”
“Does that mean we can show her?” he asked.
I turned around, frowning. The warriors had all gathered in a group behind us. I noticed that five new people were there today, all wearing hoods pulled down to their noses. One of them was a huge man with a thick black beard, and he was smiling.
“Yes,” Eldon said quietly. “You can show her.”
The bearded man grinned and pulled off his hood. I felt my knees buckle.
“Uncle Laine?” I whispered.
“Hello, sweetie,” he said. “Welcome to the Monster Crushers.”
Beside him the other four hooded Swords pulled off their hoods one by one. I felt like I was going to topple over. One was the waitress from the café who had given me the dirty look, introduced as Liz Boden; another was the quiet, bespectacled manager of the grocery store we went to, Steven Hale. He nodded in greeting. One other I didn’t recognize, a tall man with cropped, strawberry-blond hair and a wispy goatee, Laren Elvitan, who turned out to be from the Under Earth, and the last one hesitated with her hood.
“As I mentioned, whenever someone in Riverfield finds a tunnel, they have a choice,” Eldon explained, looking over the gathered Swords. “To maintain the secret, or to join the Swords and help protect both worlds. Four have joined from Riverfield, including some of our best—a rare incident, to have so many surface humans from one area. Your uncle has been a Sword for twelve years.”
I just stared at my uncle in disbelief. “Why did no one tell me?”
“We always conceal our identity when someone from Riverfield is being trained,” he said. “Just in case they flake out and tell someone. We only tell them when they become a member.”
I noticed the last Sword still had her hood on. She was just giving me a familiar, mean little smile. I stared at her for a second, my eyes widening. It couldn’t be.
The girl pulled her hood off.
It was Allison Black.
Chapter Twenty-One
I sat at the large, rectangular wooden table in Arnwell’s mess hall, still completely stunned. Eldon had invited me to stay for a meal to celebrate my official naming as a Monster Crusher. It didn’t really seem like something to celebrate, but I did want to know more about the Swords and why people from my town were a part of it.
Specifically the dour, raven-haired girl who terrorized me at school.
“I stumbled across a tunnel twelve years ago while I was hunting,” Uncle Laine was telling me, while also drinking from a big flagon of mead. “Tripped over the edge completely by accident. Did some digging around to find out what it was and then pulled the hidden door right open. Probably should have gone home, but I was curious, so I set off down the tunnels. I was about a half kilometre down when Eldon popped out of the shadows right behind me and snatched the crossbow.”
Eldon was sitting at the head of the table, listening with a wan smile. He had finally removed his cloak and now wore a simple beige tunic that was open enough at the top to reveal the lines of his muscular chest. Allison was sitting a few seats down from Uncle Laine, shooting me occasional condescending looks as she picked at a plate of roasted lamb. I still didn’t understand how such an awful girl could be a Sword.
Especially one of my Swords.
“So Eldon explains everything,” Laine continued, “and of course I didn’t believe a word of it until he took me farther down and showed me Derwin. He told me what was happening in the Under Earth and that my home was in danger too. So I decided to join, and I’ve been here almost every day since, whenever I can manage. Of course I’ve been doing late nights since you moved here…I train after you go back up, usually. But yeah, been a Sword for a long time now, that’s for sure. Had some close calls too. Worked with the last Riverfield Monster Crusher—the chap who lived in your house. He…died six years ago. Paul the Imp Chaser they called him. Nice kid. He was actually eighteen…bought the house himself with his inheritance. Parents had died, you see. He had something to prove maybe and went charging after those imps. Couldn’t stop him.”
“Was he the last one?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Laine said gruffly. “Started to think we weren’t getting another one. Eldon let me do some other work in the meanwhile. Scouting and guard work and so forth. That’s what led to the last close call.”
“Your uncle was captured four months ago,” Eldon said, glancing at me. “On a mission to scout the monsters’ movements. He was held for a few days, and he just barely managed to escape.”
I looked at my uncle in amazeme
nt. “Did they hurt you?”
“No,” he said softly. “Well, a bit, but mostly they were waiting.”
“For what?”
He shrugged. “The troll, I’m guessing. They kept saying the king was coming.” He took another big swig of mead. “But one of them got a bit too close one night, and I managed to kick out its legs and kill it. Used its sword to cut myself free and then took off for Arnwell. They hunted me right through the night. Not my best night ever.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “I don’t understand. If you knew about all this, why did you tell Dad to move to that house? You knew it was the Monster Crusher’s house.”
He shrugged again. “I had a hunch that you might find the elevator.”
“You wanted me to find it?” I asked incredulously.
I saw some of the other Swords scowling.
“We needed a Monster Crusher,” he said. “And I knew you had it in you.”
I rubbed my forehead. “But why didn’t you just move there?”
“Tried,” he said. “Didn’t work. The spells prevent the wrong people from living there. First the bank wouldn’t approve the mortgage. Then the private companies turned me down. I tried to just go in and open the panel, but it wouldn’t even budge. Not for me. Not for any of us.” He looked around the room. “All four of us from Riverfield tried. Allison actually talked her parents into buying it, but they couldn’t get approved either.”
Allison pushed her plate away, looking sour.
“Of course, he didn’t tell us who he had found to move in,” the waitress from the café, Liz, added coolly. She had big hazel eyes and long blond hair that swept down her shoulders. “We weren’t thrilled when we found out…you didn’t exactly look like a Monster Crusher.”
Uncle Laine waved a meaty hand. “They were skeptical. But you just proved them wrong.”
“She hit a fake goblin,” Allison snarled. “Big deal.”
I turned to her. “And how did you join?”
She met my eyes. “I found the same portal as your uncle when I was ten. I demanded they train me, and Eldon agreed. He wasn’t too keen at first, but I proved him wrong. I’ve been here since. Mostly protecting the Under Earth, but now apparently guarding you.”
I stared at Allison for a moment longer and then turned back to my uncle.
“Does Aunt Sandy know?”
“No,” he said quietly. “We’re forbidden to tell anyone or to move here permanently. There are a few of us who would like to, but it’s against the rules.”
I saw Liz glance at Eldon. Even Allison scowled.
“You want to live here?” I asked. “Why?” I paused, looking at Eldon. “No offence.”
“None taken,” he said bemusedly.
Uncle Laine gestured around the room. “We’re respected warriors here. We could have a big piece of land and a nice house. We’re something here. On the surface we’re just greasy line workers and waitresses, fighting to pay the mortgage. Understand?”
“Yeah,” I murmured. “I guess I do.”
Eldon just listened quietly. “There is great honour in what you do here.”
“Just not great pay,” Laine said, smirking. “It’s fine. We made our choice, and I’m happy to help. I’ve seen what these monsters can do. We need to stop them now.”
“If only we had a real Monster Crusher,” Allison snarled.
“Enough,” Eldon said sharply, standing up. “Laura, you better be getting back. You need to get some rest tonight. I suspect we all have some long nights ahead of us.”
I followed Eldon out of the mess hall, and my uncle stood up to hug me goodbye.
“You’ll be fine, Laura,” he said, resting his hands on my shoulders and shooting me a comforting grin. “You’re going to be great.”
I smiled as he messed up my hair and went to sit down again. Allison just stared at me as I left. It was going to be fun seeing her at school tomorrow. It still didn’t make sense that she was a Sword. How could someone protecting the world be that terrible? And why wasn’t she nicer to me? She was supposed to be helping me.
“This is weird,” I said, shaking my head as we walked out into the courtyard.
Many of the warriors were training again, and I noticed that some of the Monster Crushers were looking at me with just a tiny bit more respect.
Eldon smiled. “I told you it would get weirder.”
“So what’s next?”
“We continue your training. I have scouts watching the monsters’ movements under Riverfield, and we will know if anything happens. They still can’t find our tunnels, so Derwin is safe. Trust me, they would love to destroy Arnwell if they could.”
I frowned as we passed through the gate and out onto the road, the white stones catching the artificial light of the sun sphere. I watched as a group of children chased a ball down the street. “Why can’t they find the tunnels?”
“All the entrances and exits are expertly hidden. Finding them in the darkness without knowing exactly where they are is almost impossible, unless you have the Sight.”
“The what?”
“The Sight. It’s exceedingly rare. There is only one man in the entire Under Earth who has it…one of the Brothers who you met earlier today. There hasn’t been another in a hundred years. We call them Shadow Sights. With the Sight, he can find tunnels that we would never see, but he is too old and frail to venture off and search for them. So we must continue to do the best we can without one.”
“Aren’t there any on the surface?”
“No,” he replied. “The Sight only comes to those who know the darkness.”
I thought about Tom. I knew Eldon would love to know about the strange doors of lights that Tom had seen, but I couldn’t tell him. There was no way I was getting Tom involved in all of this. It was too dangerous. So I just stayed quiet.
We walked slowly through the village, and I watched as a group of villagers sat together in the tall grass in a yard, laughing and talking. It was all so normal, and yet here we were, miles under the surface. The lake sparkled in the background, ships sailing lazily across the crystal-clear glass of its waters. It really was a beautiful place.
“Do you think I actually have what it takes to be a Monster Crusher?”
He looked out toward the distant cavern walls. “I don’t know. All we can do is prepare and see what happens. Tomorrow you will start training with your personal Swords. You will have to become a cohesive unit if you are all going to survive.”
He glanced at me.
“What are spiders afraid of?”
“Fire,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“What’s the best way to attack an ogre?”
“Get behind him.”
“And what’s the most important thing to remember when you see a goblin?”
I snorted. “They never attack alone.”
Eldon smiled and stopped at the edge of the village. “Good. At least you’ve been reading.”
“That I can do.” I paused. “It’s going to get worse, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” he said calmly. “And we will have to be ready.”
I thought about that as I walked to the elevator, watching the butterflies. This was all fine and good…training at night and fighting fake monsters and pretending I was a warrior. But could I actually fight real monsters? Could I go into those tunnels, into the darkness, and wield that Iron Hammer?
Suddenly the cavern looked dark, and I shivered in the warm air.
I had a feeling I was going to find out soon enough.
Chapter Twenty-Two
As expected, seeing Allison at school the next day was a little odd. I kind of expected her to just ignore me, since of course she couldn’t just start acting nice to me, but surely she wouldn’t be as mean. On the contrary, I think she was worse. She stormed right past me in the morning, flipping me a dark look and asking if I’d ever heard of a comb.
I patted my hair self-consciously; I had kind of woken up late again and had to run o
ut the door after my shower. It was feeling a little tangled.
“That was right to the point,” Shal said thoughtfully, sitting beside me on the portable steps and immediately adjusting her long auburn hair as well, even though it was meticulously combed and curled. She snuck a little mirror out of her pocket and took a look. “What was in her cereal this morning?”
“Who cares,” I murmured, leaving my hair alone.
Mia was watching Shal carefully fix her hair, shaking her head in exasperation. “She was talking to Laura.”
“I know that,” Shal snapped, tucking her mirror away. “But it doesn’t hurt to check.”
Mia and I exchanged a bemused glare. We did our best to humour Shal, but neither of us shared her love of clothes and fashion. For all Shal’s complaining about her pageant-queen mother, she was certainly concerned with her looks. Meanwhile I was sitting there with worn jeans and a T-shirt that said Space Is Cool on it. Mia was wearing khakis again, a plain white long-sleeved shirt, and a jean jacket that I think Shal made her wear. But as usual her shoulder-length hair was just hanging down, looking a bit frayed, and I saw Shal staring at it longingly. She was always trying to do Mia’s hair, but Mia didn’t seem that interested.
“Hear anything else about that missing hiker?” I asked her.
Mia shook her head. “They never found the animal. Hopefully it’s moved on.”
“Or it’s still out there,” I said darkly.
Shal clearly wasn’t listening. “Liam has a new shirt.”
I instantly turned to look as Liam walked into the yard, heading for Paul and Steve. He was indeed wearing a new plaid shirt, blue and white. I sighed inwardly.
I wish I had the courage to talk to him more, but other than our random discussions about homework or the weather, we weren’t getting very far.
“I just wish he had cuter friends,” Shal said, eyeing Paul and Steve. “I mean Paul’s all right I guess, even if he is a bit of a loser.”
“As a fellow loser, I take offence to that,” I replied.
She shrugged. “Fair enough. Though I’m hardly the captain of the cheerleaders, so who am I to talk?” She turned to stare longingly at Carl. “If only.”