by John White
"In the ruins of the fortress, you mean?" Wes inquired.
The priest frowned and fingered the gold embroidery at his collar. "A fortress does stand there. It is uninhabited but hardly in ruins. The weaver beehives may be in the fortress walls. Or they may be in caves at the water's edge. The eagles will soon inform us.
The queen explained, "No ordinary citizen of Nephesh dares approach a large colony of weaver bees. We considered sending Ildreth and Shamith, for they have a way with the creatures. But now-praise to the Lord of All!-you have come to us. My lord, "higvah, wishes you to journey to the island and bring him back honey, as much as you can carry."
Wes shuddered as he again felt the fiery bee stings. "Thank you for your confidence in us, your majesty. But I'm not sure we can handle the bees like we did the other (lay. I don't have the-" Again he had started to say "the Sword of Geburah" and stopped himself. "I don't know if I have the courage."
Tigvah raised his head. The color was drained from his face. "My friends, the Undying One will provide what you need. You must travel to the royal lodge on the southern shore of Lake Nachash. There at the foot of the cliffyou will find boats. I myself have not visited the lodge in years. The memory of my father's death there was too painful, and now my weakness makes the journey impossible."
The boys exchanged a quick look. The royal lodge. That was where abandoned children supposedly went for fresh air and sunshine before they moved on to happy homes with families. Wes decided to take a risk. "When we go to the lodge, will you have us take some message from your majesties to the children?"
Tiqvah blinked. "What children?"
Kurt took a deep breath. "The children who are there to regain their health."
Hisschi rose and came around behind the king's chair. She placed her hands on his shoulders and massaged them gently. Tiqvah closed his eyes and leaned his head back. Hisschi smiled and said, "Yes, abandoned children lodge under our royal protection before they go to homes where they are wanted. We are in cotnmunication with them." She paced hack and forth behind Tiqvah's chair. Her eyes glowed with new intensity. Her beauty was intensified by the fire of purpose. "You are wise," she said to the Friesens. "Surely you have seen how the land of Anthropos prospers. We are at peace with the kingdoms around us. For this we are glad. We thank the True Shepherd who gives us peace and prosperity."
The king appeared to regain some strength. He opened his eyes and sat up straighter. "You know that in my youth I served the True Shepherd," he said. "I am ashamed to say that after the death of my father and mother, other concerns took his place in my heart. It was not so much rebellion as a slow slipping away. But lately I have remembered ... remembered ... Hisschi my queen and the good priest Hazilon have drawn me back toward the Ever Living One." He spread his hands out to the children. "I had begun the journey in my spirit. Your arrival brings me further along the road." His face grew sad. "Years have passed since Gaal has been seen in Anthropos. We know not why he denies us his presence. But as I was saying ... what was I saying? Forgive me. Forgive me. I am weary."
The queen quickly took over. "Despite the efforts of the king and Hazilon and myself, many of our people have cast away the worship of the True Shepherd. They do not consider the One who gives us prosperity and peace. The king wishes to devote himself to leading our people back into right worship. But if his life is tragically cut short-" Her voice caught in her throat. She blinked and regained her composure. "If his life is cut short, the land of Anthropos will wither and die from the inside as a great tree rots at its heart."
Tiqvah smiled the broadest smile they had seen on his face so far. "You must think of this journey not as a mission for me but for the Lord of All-Gaal the Shepherd-and for the Changer. May they be blessed forever! Do you accept?"
At that moment from outside the window came a noisy thrash of wings and the harsh call of a bird. The racket increased as more bird voices and wings joined in. Shadows raced across the window, blocking and then revealing the sun. Hisschi stood up. "It is our eagle convoy. They have returned from their flight over the island." She hurried to the window. "What report have you?" she called.
With a hoarse cry, a huge bird lit on the outside window ledge. Its dark body filled the window, and its head (which was above the window frame) could not be seen. "What news, Vulcanus?" asked Hisschi.
The bird theist its head down and wiggled itself through the window. Once inside it extended to full height and perched on the inside ledge, blocking out much of the sunlight. The Friesens gasped at the bird's appearance. It sat hunched down with head low and shoulders high. The head was bright red, not because it was covered with red feathers. In fact, the head had no feathers at all.
Kurt whispered to the others, "That's no eagle. That's a buzzard!"
"Turkey vulture," Wes corrected in a whisper. "Same thing."
"Yuck!" whispered Lisa.
"What news, I ask?" the queen repeated. The bird ignored her. It preened its black breast feathers with its blunt hooked beak. Hisschi folded her arms. Hazilon rolled his eyes and shifted his weight. Tigvah drummed his fingers on the table. Apparently this delay was part of the bird's routine. It would talk when it was ready.
Tiqvah filled the time with introductions. "Vulcanus, since you choose to hold us all in suspense, allow me to introduce the young gentlemen, Wesley and Kurt, and the young lady, Lisa. They will accompany you on your next journey to the island."
The vulture swiveled its naked head toward the children and blinked its small eyes. Wes knew the squinty appearance was decepfive. The bird had vision like an eagle's. All the same, how could the king and queen possibly mistake this ugly thing for an eagle?
"Can they fly?" croaked the bird.
Tigvah ducked his head to hide a smirk. Hisschi calmly turned to the children with raised eyebrows. Hazilon replied, "Alas, the great lord, Gaal, has not granted them the gift of flight. However, they have other gifts that will prove useful. Now tell us, is there honey on the island?"
"From a great height-not too high, of course, for my superb eyesight-from a height so close to the clouds I was nearly swallowed by a thunderhead, so close to the sun I nearly scorched my wings-"
Hisschi snapped, "Vulcanus! Did you see weaver bees?"
The vulture's little eyes fixed on a point in midair. His raspy voice became poetic (but still raspy). "I saw black clouds of weaver bees fly back and forth across the water, between the island and bright fields of wildflowers on the shore. I saw those clouds of bees ascend and descend on the island. I saw holes in the stone walls where they entered like a funnel. I marked the spots in my deepest memory." How deep can that be with your tiny bird brain? Lisa thought but fortunately did not say. "There is honey there. Trust me, there is honey there."
"Excellent," said Hisschi. "Then you will guide these children from the air while they follow you on the ground."
"Waste of time," said the vulture. "I can fly ten times faster than they can walk."
"Yes, good Vulcanus, but how much honey can you carry?"
The bird was stumped. He shuffled his sharp-clawed feet back and forth on the window ledge. He dipped his head and complained, "They'll never keep up with me. I'll waste hours every day. Fly ahead and come back, fly ahead and come back ..."
"Ah, but you and your kind are masters at circling," the queen replied.
The Friesens pictured the familiar, creepy sight of buzzards wheeling high in the air, tilting back and forth with wings held in a wide V, searching for dead prey on which to feed. Would they make their entire journey under the ominous flight of a scavenger? The vulture protested, "My duties are to search and find. I have never been given guide duty." Suddenly he extended a wing and twisted his undersized head to preen beneath it. The wing reached far into the room. It did not intimidate Queen Hisschi. "Then you shall learn new duties, Vulcanus. The king commands it."
Wes spoke up. "Your majesty, I mean, your majesties, if you don't mind, Kurt and Lisa and I don't need a guide. That
is, if we go. We can find our way between here and Lake Nachash. You go through the Forest of Blackness and down the ancient stone pathway. When we did it, we traveled from there to here, anyway, to near here, to the Rinnar Heights. It's almost the same thing."
"And how long (lid it take you to travel by your own puny feet?" Vulcanus asked.
"We didn't go by foot. We rode on the backs of reindeer." Vulcanus spread both wings and started up a one-bird croaking chorus. The children guessed he was laughing. "White reindeer," Wes added over the racket. The bird flapped his wings and lifted himself on his toes. He gave the unsettling impression he was about to take off and soar around the small room. He squawked, "And when was this madness?"
"Before you were ever born!" Lisa retorted. She thought again. "That is, before you were hatched."
"Before you were even an egg!" Kurt added.
The vulture folded his wings and squeezed himself back out through the window. "Waste of time!" he croaked before he took off with a loud pounding of wings. He wheeled back to sail in front of the window and rasped out, "We leave at dawn from the northeastern gate!" Then he was gone.
"He must have a constant sore throat," Lisa said.
Tigvah, Hisschi and Hazilon were half-choked with laughter. The queen said, "If eagles were not master spies, we might still keep them for amusement."
The strange confusion of vultures with eagles bothered Wes. There had been eagles in Anthropos. An eagle called Strongbeak, curiously like Vulcanus in his actions, had once accompanied them on a journey. Uncle John had told them of another eagle, Aguila, who brought food during a journey and gave her life in battle against Lord Lunacy's forces. Surely Tiqvah knew those stories. How could he confuse those birds with this one?
The king's voice broke into Wes's thoughts. "As I was saying before Vulcanus arrived, do you accept the task I have laid before you?"
"Your majesty, we mean no disrespect," Wes replied. "Please allow us to consult with each other before we give you an answer."
A spark flared in the queen's eyes, but she said nothing. Hazilon also remained quiet, though his eyebrows went up in a questioning manner. Tiqvah looked steadily at the children. He said, "Good friends of my youth, I wish that you would not hesitate. For the sake of my father and mother, who regarded you highly, I will wait until sundown for your answer." He closed his eyes and slumped back in his chair.
Hazilon the priest bent over the king and spoke quietly to him. Queen Hisschi rose. She motioned for the children to go to the door. They were surprised when she followed them out. Her manner had changed dramatically. All her composure and humor were gone. She was quite agitated. She looked back to make sure the door was closed before she pleaded, "I beg you, do not refuse the king's mission!"
The children waited silent in the hallway. Wes and Kurt remembered Gaal's words: "Listen, listen, listen!" Hisschi went on, "I could not say all I wished to say in the council chamber. The king is it sick man, sicker than he himself knows. He will need more honey as soon as possible!" She glanced back toward the door. "Keep all that was said here, and all that you do, behind it veil of secrecy. We must be on our guard. Enemies are everywhere."
"What enemies, your majesty?" asked Lisa. "You said Anthropos was at peace."
"Our enemies are not from some other kingdom. For such threats, we have an army. No, this danger rises front the inside. It comes from the advisors who trained the king as a young man and in the younger allies they have gathered around them. I am certain that their treachery is behind the king's strange illness. Whether it is sorcery or it spell, I do not know." She looked at each of them in turn with fierce urgency in her eyes. "Be careful whom you trust. Be very careful. Go now to the chamber Swiftlope shall show you. You must make your decision by sundown. For the sake of the king and for Anthropos, I beg you to go on this journey!"
Swiftlope met the children and led them down the hallway. His heavy yet speedy gait, the swing of his head and the click of his toe nails were comforting and familiar to them now, especially to Lisa. The great wolf had grown more at ease with them too. As they rounded a corner and entered a long, deserted corridor, he heaved a big sigh. "You young Regenskind need much care," he grumbled deep in his throat. "I lead you here. I lead you there. The other one is no better."
Wes was tired of being told he needed guidance from wolves and turkey vultures. He started to say, "That's all right, we'll find our own way," when Lisa cut in: "Swiftlope! What do you mean, ,the other one'?"
"The other Regenskind. She is a girl."
Wes and Kurt woke up to what the Koach had said. "What girl?" Wes asked.
The Koach sighed again. "I should not speak of her. She is under the queen's secrecy. I do not like her, for she acts as though she herself is a little queen. For some reason her majesty takes special interest in this young female, who is most stubborn and demanding."
The Friesens exchanged quick looks. They hurried to come alongside Swiftlope. Lisa laid her hand on his bristly back. "What is this girl's name? Would it be-Betty Riggs?"
The wolf's nose twitched. He said nothing. They reached a door, which he deftly opened with his teeth. "The queen forgets that yesterday she put two maidservants in prison for stealing. The wing of the palace where she intended you to stay is not clean. However, this chamber will do. In fact, I think it is finer. I will come back at sundown for your decision." His ears twitched. "As for the girl of whom I spoke, I am sworn to secrecy. I will say only that she is a foolish braggart. She babbles of imaginary power over bee stings."
The Friesens stared at each other. Swiftlope turned and limbered away down the hall.
In a room on the other side of Nephesh Palace, Betty Riggs rolled over in a wad of thick, downy blankets and woke up. Sunlight poured through a window of diamond-shaped colored panes. The light made brilliant patterns on the stone floor. Betty looked around the elegant chamber. Where was she? Certainly not in her bedroom in the new house on Grosvenor Avenue.
She sat up in bed. Suddenly she was wide-awake, and she knew where she was. This was a palace, and she wasn't dreaming! Her mind raced over the past couple of days. Her new neighbors the Friesens had somehow dragged her into this strange world called Anthropos and gotten her arrested by ugly little creatures called Matmon. That was bad, but in the process she had it chance to test her beliefs. She found she could alter bad circumstances by her own decision. Betty snuggled back cozily on a big feather pillow and closed her eyes. It really worked!
Her mind drifted on. Despite Lisa's resistance, she had followed the light person out of that awful dungeon. The light had told her she had it special task to do. It must be true because even when she was recaptured, she had gotten away again. Out on the streets some kind people like police officers had believed her story. They had escorted her to the palace of the king and queen of Anthropos. Servants had promised her she would soon meet the royal couple. Surely they would tell her about her special task. The servants had fed her a huge meal and put her to bed in this luxurious room where she had slept and slept.
Was it already evening? Had she slept all day? Through her closed eyelids she detected a bluish light like evening light. A servant called to her. "Betty! Betty Riggs!" How had he entered the room? She had not heard the door open. She didn't want to open her eyes. It felt so delicious to rest here in all this softness. The voice called again: "Betty Riggs!" Curious, but not afraid, Betty opened her eyes.
A man she had never seen before stood a few feet away from her bed. Her first instinct was to scream for help. The next instant her fear melted away. The man's face was so open and kind that she felt at ease with him. He wore a long robe of white with shimmers of iridescent blue. His skin was browned from much time in the sun and open air. His hair and beard were white. He looked too young to have white hair, but at the same time he appeared ageless. Betty thought he must be a new servant. She hoped he would wait on her often because she liked him already.
"Did you bring me breakfast?" she asked. She d
idn't know if it was morning, afternoon or evening, but she thought breakfast was a good starting point.
"I bring you something far better than breakfast," the stranger replied.
Betty wondered what that could be. She started to realize how hungry she was. She couldn't think of anything better than a good breakfast.
The man stepped closer. "Betty, you have heard your neighbors the Friesens speak of one named Gaal."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, they talk about him all the time. He's connected with somebody called the Changer. I tried to explain to Lisa that all of us have the power to be changers. See, I was in a group at my old school and we-" Her words died away under the stranger's steady gaze. She felt a little foolish. Her group at school seemed insignificant in this man's presence. Again she was almost afraid of him, but the comfort and warmth of his presence crowded out her fear.
"Betty, I am Gaal. I am the Son of the Emperor, the Unchanging Changer. I offer to change you and make you new, but not in the ways you and your group practiced. You played with ideas that you did not understand. Now you must walk away from those ideas. You must walk toward me."
Betty looked down at the mountain of covers. She thought of the bare, stone floor. "Well, if you want me to get up, could you bring me some slippers? 'T'hat floor's cold."
Gaal's laughter rang through the room and shook the velvet curtains. "You do not need to walk with your feet, Betty. You must walk in your heart." He became more serious. "I know you are grieved that your family has lived in so many different places. You did not want to come to Grosvenor Avenue. You (lid not want to leave the school where you at last had made friends. You miss the way they admired you and looked up to you. When they followed you, you felt power."
Betty wondered how Gaal knew so much about her. She felt defensive. "There's nothing wrong with being powerful."