The Dark Lord's Demise

by John White

  "Come toward my voice!" Lisa called. Wes realized he could now identify his sister as a shadowy forma next to him. Kurt reached out toward them. They caught his hands and pulled him to themselves. Now all three began to distinguish each other's faces.

  Kurt gasped, "I can't tell where we are. Can you?"

  "Not yet, but I'm sure Gaal is in this," Lisa answered. "He'll tell us what we're supposed to do next." She admired Kurt for how he had walked blindly through the fog when she was afraid to take a step.

  "What's that humming noise?" Kurt asked. They turned to face toward the sound, which now seemed to come from a specific direction. As they strained eyes and ears, the light around them intensified. The blueness faded. The fog became white, like normal mist. It felt cool and refreshing on their faces. Light poured through the mist, not a ray of light like a sunbeam but a diffused light that grew constantly brighter. What happened next looked like magic. You would know it was quite natural if you have ever watched fog burn off a landscape. You have seen the same effect if you've seen photographs developed in a darkroom. Out of blankness, shapes start to emerge. First they mean nothing to your mind. Gradually they grow more definite until they transform themselves into people or objects you recognize.

  As the three children watched, a vertical solid form appeared nearby. It materialized into a tree trunk. Other, skinnier shapes appeared and became the trunks of trees farther off. Beyond the trees a horizontal strip of pale yellow emerged and became a strip of sandy shoreline. There was now no doubt that their feet were safely on the ground. But where? Water showed itself, at first a blur, then alive with choppy waves. The water stretched away and revealed an opposite shore where a line of trees poked upward. That shore came into sharper focus as a point of land with more water beyond it. Finally a distant, uneven shoreline appeared on the far side of the water.

  Everything glowed neither blue nor white but soft gold. The sun (for it was clear now the light was ordinary sunlight) penetrated and evaporated the mist. Suddenly the world got bright and hot and surprisingly normal. The children could have been by a Canadian lake in summer.

  "Where are we?" shrieked a girl's voice. It wasn't Lisa! To all three Friesens the voice was strangely, disturbingly familiar. They turned to see the last person they expected to see in AnthroposBetty Riggs.

  If they were surprised, Betty was completely flabbergasted. She stared at the Friesens. She stared at her surroundings. She looked down and stared at herself. She wore clothing nobody would wear along Grosvenor Avenue, except perhaps at a costume party. Betty had on a white tunic of woolen material caught up at the waist with a light cord, a leather vest embroidered with bright colors, and softleather boots.

  She swayed a little in shock. To steady herself she leaned with both hands on a most unusual "cane" encrusted with brilliant jewels.

  "What are you doing with the Sword of Geburah!" Wes exploded. "You're not supposed to have that!" Betty only blinked at him stupidly.

  "This can't be Anthropos," Lisa muttered. "Why would Betty be in Anthropos?"

  "Look how she's dressed," Kurt pointed out. "She's dressed like us, in Anthropos-style clothes." Lisa looked down at herself. She now wore clothing much like Betty's. The boys were dressed in woolen, trouserlike garments, loose shirts gathered at the wrists and leather boots.

  Betty managed to choke out a few more words. "Is this the great surprise you talked about? I don't think much of it!"

  Lisa turned and stomped away toward the water's edge. Wes still fumed at the sight of the sword in hands where it didn't belong. He wanted to snatch it away. He took it deep breath and tried to steady his emotions. If Betty Riggs was here, Gaal must have summoned her. If Gaal summoned her, he had his reasons, and she had it part to play. But still-the Sword of Geburah in the possession of it stranger to Anthropos?

  Wes kept his voice calm. "Betty, tell me one thing. Did you pick up that sword when you were in the parlor and we were upstairs?"

  This specific question helped Betty settle down and focus her thoughts. She swallowed hard. "Yeah. I got bored sitting around waiting for you guys. So I thought I'd take this jeweled doodad upstairs and ask you about it. At the same time, I'd see what was going on up there."

  Wes restrained his outrage at hearing the sword called a `Jeweled doodad." He asked, "Now, can you remember what happened when you came into the attic?"

  "Well, before I even reached the door, I heard you yell something. When I opened the door, you were all in a line hanging onto each other. I thought it was a game of tug-of-war, but I couldn't imagine who with. So just for fun I grabbed hold of Lisashe was last in line-and I-I got yanked right off my feet!"

  Wes tried to picture the scene. "So you had hold of Lisa with one hand and the sword with the other hand when you came through the TV set-"

  "When I what?"

  "Game through the TV set. We were pulled through the glass, except there was no glass there anymore. That's how it always happens. And you got dragged along."

  "What do you mean, that's how it always happens? You guys do this kind of thing all the time?"

  Kurt spoke up. "It doesn't always happen that way, Wes. When we were in Hong Kong we climbed up Lion Rock and that funnel cloud came and swept us away, and that time we wound up in a fog something like this one-"

  This was too much for Betty. She let go of the sword and covered her ears. The heavy scabbard toppled to the ground. Wes ran forward to pick it up. Before he reached it, Lisa called out to them from the shore: "Hey, I think I know where we are. This is Lake Bamah."

  The two boys turned to squint over the lake, if a lake is what it was. They forgot about Betty for the moment and hurried to join Lisa on a strip of sand lapped by little waves.

  "It's the lake where the city of Bamah used to be," their sister said, "before Gaal made it sink down and fill with water."

  Kurt corrected her: "It sank and filled with water when I commanded it to. In the name of Gaal, of course."

  Lisa ignored him and pointed out, "At first I thought those were rock formations on the far side. Now I'm sure it's a city wall with towers and ramparts."

  "Wait!" Wes said. "Listen. That humming sound is getting louder. Is it coming from the city?"

  Kurt was more and more excited about the possibilities for adventure. "If this is Lake Bamah, then that's got to be the royal city of Nephesh. I bet we're being sent on a mission to help whoever the king is now. Or queen, maybe. King Kardia is dead. We know that."

  "Depending on when this is," Wes reminded him.

  Betty came up behind them and interrupted their discussion. She wasn't interested in the view across the lake. "Somebody has got to tell me what's going on! How did we get here? Where did these silly clothes come from?"

  They struggled for some way to explain. Kurt remembered something Betty had said in the hallway before they went up to the attic. Maybe it would help her understand. "Betty, remember how you said you believed in other worlds? You said any sensible thinking person has to believe there are other worlds. Well, you've just entered one. You're standing in one now. This is another world."

  Kurt's words appeared to make Betty a little more confident. She even stood up straighter. Then she startled the Friesens by asking, "So how do I get back?"

  The question came on them like a sudden thick fog. They couldn't answer. From all their previous experience in Anthropos, they never knew how or when they would go back to Winnipeg. They always did get home eventually. But it was only when and how Gaal decided.

  Betty looked around as though in search of something. "What does it look like from the inside?" she inquired.

  "What?" asked Wesley, Kurt and Lisa together.

  "The TV set. I'll just climb back through it. Where is it? It must look different from the inside."

  "Urn ... the TV set isn't here," Lisa replied. "Anyhow, you'd never get back that way. You only go back when Gaal decides."

  "When who decides what?"

  At that moment the pe
rsistent background hum rose to an indistinct roar. They all looked across the water. The Friesens still expected to see some sort of boat. What they saw looked at first like another kind of fog about to roll in.

  A small, dense black cloud rushed toward them a few yards above the surface of the lake. It rose and fell as though it rode on wind currents, but the main movement was straight at them across the water. The cloud looked alive. Its edges rippled in waves. As the roar increased, bits of black broke off from the edge of the cloud and rejoined it. The shape was only a few yards offshore when the children realized what it was.

  Kurt yelled, "Bees! Hornets! Wasps!" And the swarm was on them.

  They threw their arms in front of their faces and ducked their heads as the roar of thousands of wings engulfed them.

  Kurt was hit first, as though to punish him for warning the others. Fire stabbed the back of his neck. He slapped at it and was stung again on the hand. He dropped to the ground and tried to curl into a protective posture. It took the attackers only seconds to sting him through his clothes. Each sting was a red-hot needle deep in his flesh. There was no way to roll out from under the onslaught. Kurt scrambled to his feet and ran in frantic circles, eyes tight closed, as he waved and slapped at the savage insects.

  Lisa ran for the trees, though she knew the insects were too swift for her. She beat at her legs and shoulders and face in an attempt to kill or at least ward off the attackers. Their stings felt like a rain of molten metal. With her eyes shut tight, she ricocheted off one tree trunk and then another. A root tripped her, as if in league with the insects. She fell face down in the dirt. She attempted to shield her face with both hands, but as the rain of fire continued, she had to beat at the fierce attackers with her fists.

  Over the roar of wings Lisa heard Betty scream, "Where is it? Where is it?" Lisa thought, She still thinks she can get back through the TV screen! She shouted, "Betty, we can't go back! We have to stay and fight them!" A human body landed on her and rolled off. It was Betty, still howling "Where is it?" Lisa shoved her away and curled into a ball, but it didn't help.

  Eyes closed tight, Wes scraped at the ground in a wild effort to dig a hole like a dog and bury himself. It was no use. Burning-hot stings rained onto his legs, his neck, his back, his arms. He heard the shouts and screams of the others and thought he should help them, but how?

  Gaal! Help us! The words tore through Wes's brain before he knew what he thought. Of course! Gaal the Shepherd had always helped them in times of danger. Where was he now? Would he come and rescue there? Wes longed to open his eyes and see that strong figure stride toward them through the trees, maybe even across the water.

  Still the insects assaulted them. Wes blindly scraped the ground for leaves or pine needles or anything he could pull over his exposed skin. The palm of his hand landed on what felt like jagged pebbles. He knew instantly what it was. He risked a brief look and caught a flash of bright jewel colors.

  The Sword of Geburah! It lay in the dirt where Betty Riggs had dropped it. Wes went to his knees beside the sword. Now he didn't need to see. By feel alone he grasped the sword's hilt and slid the blade from the scabbard. A flash of brilliant blue penetrated even his tight-shut eyelids.

  The sword felt familiar and right in Wes's grip. He had swung this great weapon in battle. So had Uncle John and Kurt. So had Gaal himself, from the back of a flying horse, in life-and-death battle with a winged serpent. Wes stood and raised the sword high. He wondered how close Lisa, Kurt or Betty might be. Through the insect roar he shouted, "Everybody out of the way! I've got the Sword of Geburah!"

  Wes slashed the sword through the swarm. He took a second swing and a third. His sword met no resistance. He only flailed at the air. You idiot! he reviled himself. A flyswatter would be a better weapon! But the Sword of Geburah was all he had. He continued to swing as the insects hit him with needles of fire. His strength failed. His arms and shoulders ached. The stings felt less intense, and the noise of the swarm was muffled. He thought he must be losing consciousness.

  Wes ducked his head and opened his eyes. He had dropped his cloak. It lay over his feet in a heap. No, he didn't have a cloak! Then what was that strange dark blanket around his shoes? He looked up and saw Kurt, Lisa and Betty, eyes shut, trying to beat off their attackers. Did he only imagine the swarm had thinned? He was stung on the arm and reacted with a quick slash of the sword. In the path of the blade, dozens of bees dropped like stones. They joined the dark mass on the ground. It was a blanket of dead insects!

  Wes shouted, "Everybody come to me fast!" Lisa and Kurt responded to the confidence in his voice. They opened their eyes part way and stumbled toward him. "Hold still!" he ordered. He chopped with the sword in quick thrusts around his brother and sister. Dead insects dropped around them.

  Betty Riggs stayed away from Wes. Her eyes were still tight closed as she tried to battle the insects. "Betty, stand still!" Wes yelled. He ran to her and sliced at the air around her. She flailed around so wildly that the sword blade almost hit her twice. Wes commanded, "Open your eyes or I'll cut your arm off!" He meant to protect her, but when she opened her eyes and saw him with the Sword of Geburah raised high, she screamed and sprinted for the lakeshore. A few insects trailed after her like wisps of dark cloud but gave up and veered away.

  The tattered remains of the swarm regrouped in the middle of the clearing. For a moment they hovered in apparent confusion. Abruptly the swarm shot away through the trees. Their angry droning noise faded and vanished.

  The Sword of Geburah dangled from Wes's hand. Betty stumbled back from the edge of the water. All four of the children stood exhausted and trembling in the aftermath of terror. They stared at the carpet of dead insects. Lisa asked, "What are they? I've never seen anything like them."

  Kurt got his breath back, along with some of his courage. He bent down for a closer look at the insect bodies. "They're not like any hornet or wasp I've ever seen. And they're sure not honeybees." He blew on the insects. They made no response. He touched one.

  "Don't!" Lisa warned. "Some of them might still be alive!"

  There was no movement. Kurt stirred the bodies with a fingertip. When he was satisfied all were lifeless, he gathered a few in his hands and stood up.

  Fascination overcame the children's fear. They leaned closer. Except for their ancient-style clothing, they might have been modern entomologists-scientists who study insects-or Canadian students on a biology field trip.

  "Look at them," Kurt marveled. "They're gigantic!"

  Each insect had a heavy, jointed body at least two inches long. Dark veins ran through the four large transparent wings. The rear section of the body bore bold stripes of dark brown and pale yellow or off-white. Unlike some insects, these did not lose their stingers after stinging their prey; from each tail protruded a wicked barb like a fishhook. The front body section was black with some fuzziness. Each of the six jointed legs was shiny black and thickmuscular, Wes thought, though he knew the word wasn't accurate. The head had two very long feelers that sprouted fuzzy ends. Large multisectioned eyes bulged from the sides of the head.

  "How did they die?" Betty asked. "Wes, you couldn't possibly have killed them with that sword."

  "Sure seemed like it to me," Wes replied. "I swung the sword, and they dropped dead. What else could have done it?"

  Betty kept at it. "They're all in one piece. None of them got sliced in two. How do you account for that?"

  "I must have injured them enough that they died," Wes surmised. He walked away to where the scabbard of the Sword of Geburah lay on the ground.

  Behind him Kurt said, "Wes, why do you always have to be the big hero? I think Betty's right. You didn't kill them with the sword." Wes turned around. Kurt was busy examining the dead insects. "There's not a leg or antenna missing from any of them. They look perfectly okay-except they're dead."

  "Maybe they died of concussion from the force of the sword swinging through the air," Lisa suggested.

  Be
tty scoffed. "Nobody can swing a sword that hard!"

  "Well, maybe they died of fright!" Wes snapped. He didn't mean to be funny, but the others laughed loudly. Wes was so irritated that it took him several tries to get the Sword of Geburah into its scabbard. Meanwhile Kurt flung a handful of insect bodies high into the air. Lisa and Betty picked up double handfuls and did the same. They kicked through the blanket of bodies the way they would kick through autumn leaves on their way to River Heights School.

  Wes leaned the sword against a tree trunk and watched the others dance with relief and joy. He sighed. After all, they did have a lot to celebrate. They were safe. They had met and survived the first challenge on this trip to Anthropos. Thanks, Gaal, Wesley thought. Immediately he was ashamed. Hadn't he pleaded for Gaal's help in the middle of the attack? Their Shepherd had answered. Wes had swung the sword, but Gaal himself had won the battle.

  Wes knew he had to tell the others, especially Betty Riggs. She would probably have trouble understanding. He went back to the pile of insects and put in a few kicks of his own as he tried to think of the right words. Before he could figure out what to say, Betty stopped with one leg held out stiff in front of her. She looked at her own legs and arms and felt the back of her neck. Her eyes wide with wonder, she announced, "I don't have a single welt from all those stings! Do any of you?"

  The Friesens quickly checked themselves over. A wasp sting almost always leaves a painful welt. Some people even have lifethreatening reactions to a sting. These insect attackers were more vicious than any insect they had ever seen. Yet none of the four children had a mark, not even one like a mosquito bite.

  The children's festive mood sobered. They looked at themselves and each other with awe. Whatever was going on here, it was mysterious. Quietly Kurt said, "You know something? All of a sudden I feel like we really are in Anthropos. Things have started to happen the way they happen there. I mean, this must have something to do with why the Changer summoned us."

  Lisa agreed. "I'll bet these bees, or whatever they are, were an attack from Lord Lunacy!"