The Dark Lord's Demise

by John White

  Betty was thrilled that Queen Hisschi considered her worthy to hear these deep secrets. And to live in the palace and be adopted by a king and queen-that would make her a princess! She'd never again move away and leave behind all that was familiar. She touched the rose in her hair. Suddenly she felt light-headed and overwhelmed. "Your majesty, I'm terribly sorry, but it's it little too much for me to take in right now. I don't think I feel well. Besides, these shadows are getting long, and I'm kind of cold. Could we go inside?"

  "Of course, my dear child. Forgive me. You look so lovely that I forget your ordeal of the past days. I shall go in now and give instructions to the head servants. Tonight you shall dine with my lord the king and myself. You may pass through that door there. It opens into a hall that will lead to your own chamber." She smiled the most sweet, open and accepting smile Betty had ever seenexcept perhaps that of Gaal. Her eyes sparkled in the low sunlight. "May the True One grant that it shall be your chamber forever!" The queen gathered up her skirts and hurried away. Even her quick stride was graceful.

  Betty stood near the fountain. She gazed down into the pool. Several large goldfish looked up at her and dumbly worked their round mouths. How did the queen expect her to see her reflection in this swirling water? What was that? Had one of the goldfish called her name? Again the voice came: "Pssst! Betty! Over here!"

  A section of the tall hedge vibrated and shed a few leaves. The voice came from behind that hedge! The stiff branches parted slightly to reveal a hand that motioned for her to come over. Betty was nervous but curious. She stepped closer-and gasped in surprise. Through the hedge she saw the face of Lisa Friesen!

  The sight of Lisa Friesen was like a glass of cold water tossed in Betty's face. Already she was proud of her special place in Queen Hisschi's affections. She couldn't let Lisa and her brothers butt in on that. She stiffened her back and raised her chin. "Well, Lisa, what's all the big secrecy?"

  Lisa motioned Betty toward her. "Please! Come around the end of the hedge. There's a path inside here where nobody can see

  Betty folded her arms and declared, "If you've got something to say to me, you can come out in the open."

  "You'll understand once I explain to you. Oh, gosh, I wish I had the Mashal Stone!"

  "The what?"

  "Just come around the end of the hedge. And act casual. Please. "

  Betty was peeved but also curious. She shot a quick glance around and saw no one. She slipped around the hedge and found herself in a narrow gravel lane between two hedges. Betty looked Lisa up and down critically. "Well you're dressed in nice new clothes. Where'd you get those? They're not nearly as nice as mine. How do you like my dress?" She twirled around and let the long, silky skirt billow out for Lisa's admiration.

  Lisa paid no attention to Betty's dress. She got right to the point. "What did Queen Hisschi tell you?"

  "Were you spying on me? I'll tell! You'll be in big trouble!"

  "Betty, please listen. You can't trust the queen. She isn't a true follower of Gaal. She may say she is, but Wes and Kurt and I are sure she isn't. Oh, I know you don't know what I'm talking about. I tried to explain when we were in the dungeon, but I got mad at you and didn't do a very good job. See, the person we talk about, Gaal, is-"

  Son of the Emperor, the Unchanging Changer. I know. I've met him!"

  Lisa was struck speechless. Goal had come to Betty Riggs? Why, Lisa hadn't even seen him since they arrived in Anthropos! It wasn't fair! She wished she could spot the window where Wes and Kurt watched, but the hedge cut off her view-and theirs. She choked down her envy. "Betty, I'm-I'm really happy that Gaal came to you. Can you tell me anything about your time with him? Please, I don't mean to be nosy. I know it can be hard to talk about it when you've been in his presence."

  Betty thought again of those welcoming eyes and that strong but gentle voice. "It wasn't so much what he said as what he was like. He was really kind. Oh, but not wishy-washy. Not in the least." Lisa smiled. She understood. "And I just remembered; he predicted you would come to see me."

  "He did? Well, of course, he'd know that. He knows everything. Listen, if you've already met him, you understand that you've got to trust him and follow him. You can't trust Queen Hisschi and whatever stories she's feeding you."

  Queen Hisschi! Betty pictured the woman's beautiful face and felt those gentle hands place the thornless rose in her hair. She reached up and touched the rose. It felt delicate but so solid and real. "The queen makes me feel the same way Gaal made me feel," she said. "She likes me and accepts me, even though I don't know exactly how to act here. Yet, I mean. She wants me to be a daughter to her. She already calls me her dear child. She wants me to stay here and live at the palace forever. Did you know she and the king had three children, and they all died?"

  A lump swelled in Lisa's throat. The news grieved her, though more for Tiqvah than for the queen.

  Betty went on: "She lets me in on all kinds of secret stuff. I'll bet you didn't know that Gaal and somebody called Lord Lunacy have formed an alliance. People thought they were opposites, but they're one and the same."

  "She told you that? Betty, that's a lie! Gaal is completely different from Lord Lunacy! You have to follow (Gal completely or not at all."

  Betty laughed in triumph and walked away down the narrow lane between the hedges. "That's exactly what the queen told me you'd say! Gaal must have told her you'd say that. Like you said, he knows everything."

  Lisa's head hurt with confusion. How could she ever free Betty from this tangle of lies? She remembered her brothers' story of the room with the lost children. She hurried after Betty, spun her around and gripped her by the shoulders. "What happens when the queen is through with you? Wes and Kurt told me there's a place where they put children nobody wants. The story is that they take them to a sort of camp, but it's not true."

  Betty shook free of Lisa's grip. "Oh, how do you know what's true? You're a fanatic. That's what the queen called you, a fanatic!"

  "Yes, I guess I am! A fanatic for Gaal! Betty, if he bothered to show himself to you, please don't take him lightly."

  "I take him very seriously. He's all around us. He's everything there is. The roses in the rose garden, the leaves on this hedge, the stones on this path, it's all him. And Lunacy too. It's all one. It's all the same thing. Too bad you and your brothers haven't reached the-" She frowned as she searched for the phrase. Then she remembered. "The place of wisdom! Now excuse me. Tonight I must dine with Queen Hisschi and King Tigvah." Betty moved away. Her long silky skirt trailed on the gravel. She turned and remarked, "I should tell on you. I should tell the queen how you came here and tried to interfere. But I won't lower myself to your level. That wouldn't be like a true princess." She walked away with her chin tilted upward. Because of her haughty bearing and the dim light, she tripped over her skirt several times.

  Lisa could not resist one last challenge. "If the queen wants a daughter, ask her why she doesn't adopt one of the street children from the royal lodge! Go ahead, ask her!"

  Betty walked on with a prideful gait. Soon Lisa was left alone between the tall hedges.

  Darkness deepened around Lisa. She turned to stumble back to the room where Wes and Kurt waited. She had ruined everything. Now she hardly cared if anyone saw her. She had taken only a few steps when she bent double and sat down on the sharp stones with her back against the prickly hedge. Hot tears flooded down her face. She sobbed, "Oh Gaal, I've failed! I didn't say the right words to convince her. That awful queen has pulled Betty in with all sorts of promises and-and-how could I have let you down so bad?" Lisa put her face in her hands and gave herself up to her own grief and disappointment.

  She thought the moon must have come up while she sat there. The narrow lane was bathed in bluish light. Then, an instant before she opened her eyes and looked up, she knew. Before her stood the one person she had most longed to see since she came to Anthropos.

  "Gaal!" she cried out.

  He smiled and reached both
hands down to her. "Stand up, Lisa!" he said in a voice that made the hedges tremble. She reached up to him. He took her hands in his own strong, rough hands and lifted her to her feet. "Do not weep for the words you said to Betty Riggs. They were good words, right and true."

  "But they weren't enough!" Lisa wailed. She fell into Gaal's embrace and let him hold her while she wept. Her tears did not last long. The reassurance of his strength filled her with new courage. In a moment she stepped away and looked up at his kind face. She knew that even if she had failed, Gaal forgave her. "What else could I have said to her? I tried to convince her, but she kept talking rubbish. All that nonsense about you and Lord Lunacy being the same. I can hardly stand to say it!"

  "As you say, Lisa, it is rubbish. It is rubbish which for now she chooses to believe. Many hurts and questions live in her young heart. But I will not abandon her. Tell me, what is your favorite name for me?"

  Lisa sniffed. "Um-I guess the Shepherd."

  "And that is what I am. I care for Betty Riggs, and I care for you and Kurt and Wesley."

  Lisa felt much better. She wiped away the remains of her tears and smiled a wide, warm, beautiful smile. "Thanks, Gaal. Help me not to forget that, okay? Oh, but what about Tiqvah? He's very sick. He wants us to go get honey for him from the Island of Geburah. We want to help him, but we don't trust the queen. Shouldn't Wes and Kurt and I stay here and try to get Betty out of the queen's clutches?"

  Gaal's voice took on the tone of command. "All three of you will go to the Island of Geburah. You must use great caution, for it is now the center of Lord Lunacy's power. Once inside the fortress, you will enter the tower and go up to the Garden Room. The door will open when you command it in my name. There you will see what you are to do."

  Lisa tried to picture their progress as Gaal explained it. "The Garden Room? That's the top room, isn't it?"

  "It is. When your uncle, John the Sword Bearer, entered that room, he found that it opened into a green hillside and a sunlit valley with thickets and streams."

  "That's right! He told us about it. But when Wes and Kurt and I went into it, it was an ordinary room. Well, not ordinary. That's where we found the orb, book and key that we had to take to Kardia. And that's where we first saw the Sword of Geburah."

  Gaal nodded his approval. "Now sunset approaches. You must give the king and queen your answer. Go back to your room and tell your brothers. And remember, I am always close to you, whether you see me or not."

  Gaal was gone. Lisa wanted to feel his hug once more, but the memory of his words and his smile held her close as she hurried back to the room where Wes and Kurt waited.

  Lisa had barely gotten back to their room when three serving girls in white caps arrived bearing large, covered trays. From the trays came irresistible smells of roast fowl, buttery vegetables and hot breads. One of the servants was a round-figured girl whose white cap contrasted with her healthy red cheeks. She made an awkward curtsy and nearly dropped her heavy tray. Wesley offered, "Here, let me take that. Kurt, pull out that side table. We'll put everything on that."

  The girl was clearly relieved to be free of her burden. She said, "Her majesty thought you'd be more comfortable if you dined in your chamber, seeing as how you must be up and away early." Lisa was glad not to dine with the king and queen for other reasons. She didn't want to face Betty Riggs with her princesslike posturing.

  Another of the servants said, "I do hope the food's not cold. We were forever finding you. That devil of a Koach brought you to the wrong room."

  Kurt spoke up in defense of Swiftlope: "He said the other room wasn't clean because some servants got fired-I mean dismissed."

  Lisa corrected him. "I don't think they were dismissed. I think they were imprisoned for some reason."

  The three servants glanced at each other. The round-figured one said, "Indeed they was put in prison, miss. For stealing, her majesty said. But it ain't true! Someone counts the silver wrong and the poor little souls gets dragged away like common criminals!"

  "Hush, Emmy!" said the second servant in alarm. The third apologized: "She's tired out from work; you'll have to excuse her. We do hope your meal suits you. Now we must be off!" She urged the other two servants toward the door. All made curtsies and went out.

  "What do you make of that?" Wes asked after the door closed.

  "Let's talk about it while we eat," Kurt suggested. "Lisa, how did your adventure go? We couldn't see anything once you went behind that hedge."

  While they ate, Lisa described her encounter with Betty and reported everything Gaal had told her. The boys nearly choked on their food when they heard Betty's claim that Gaal and Lord Lunacy had formed an alliance. Then they almost forgot to eat as they discussed what they might find in the Garden Room and why Gaal would send them there.

  Wes raised an objection: "How can there still be a Garden Room if the tower is gone and the fortress is in ruins?"

  "Good question," Lisa said thoughtfully. "Oh, wait, I remember! That priest named Hazilon said it wasn't in ruins. Somebody must have rebuilt it. But who

  "Maybe the wrong people rebuilt it," Kurt said. He frowned. "Maybe it isn't according to Gaal's plan. Lord Lunacy is obviously very busy in Anthropos again. Lisa, are you sure Gaal meant we were going to the island right away? Or did he mean later?"

  "Well, he told me not to worry about Betty because he would take care of her. So I guess that means we're free to go."

  "Or maybe you just want to be let off the hook about Betty."

  "Kurt," Wes cut in, "I think we're supposed to go tomorrow. And we already know what to do when we get to the island. Now let's finish eating."

  The meal was barely over when the same three serving girls returned with supplies for the trip. They brought three leather backpacks and a supply of bread, cheese, dried fruit and nuts. They also brought the children leather water bottles, warm cloaks, walking shoes heavier than what they were wearing, and two tents. The boys would share a tent, and Lisa would have her own. She was a little nervous about sleeping by herself but tried not to show it.

  The three servants piled the dirty dishes on trays. As they were about to leave, Wesley said, "Please give message to the king and queen that the three of us accept their request to go on the journey tomorrow."

  "We will do as you ask," they said, and two went out promptly.

  The red-cheeked girl, Emmy, lingered when she found a stray cup on the mantle. When the door shut behind the first two, she quickly asked, "You're from the outside, ain't you?"

  The question startled the Friesens, who had been busy examining their new clothes. The girl's cheeks were flushed even redder than before. She whispered, "You'll be getting out of this place. You can tell somebody what needs to know. Them poor girls wasn't thrown in prison because of no silver. They was put there because they seen through all the fancy words about the Great Lord Gaal."

  The children hesitated at the mention of Gaal. They had learned that people who talked about him were not necessarily his followers. Kurt asked simply, "What fancy words do you mean?"

  "That priest Hazilon himself told me. He's good to us servants, you know. Visits us and knows all what our life is truly like. He says her majesty is spreadin' harmful lies about the Emperor's Son himself."

  Cautiously Lisa said, "We may have heard something about that."

  The eyes of the serving girl brightened with hope. "The priest says there's not many of us left, you know. Those who believe the true way. Them girls in the prison is two more. Oh, I pray the Shepherd himself to protect'em from harm. I still do believe in him. But oh, I wish he'd show himself around here again!" She glanced toward the door. "Now you won't say nothin', will you?"

  "Don't worry," Wes said. The girl backed toward the door, reached behind her for the latch and opened the door while she kept her eyes on the Friesens. She gave a quick smile, then withdrew, closing the door softly.

  Streaks of rosy pink laced the eastern sky as the Friesens emerged from the tunnel in
the city wall. They left through the same door they had so recently entered as prisoners. The morning air was chilly. They sucked it deep into their lungs to rouse themselves to attention. On one side of them sparkled the waters of Lake Bamah, and on the other side the River Rure flowed through a portcullis in the wall on its route north to the Northern Mountains and the Great Sea. Beyond the Rure lay the Forest of Blackness.

  The king and queen had sent a note of gratitude the night before to the three children for their willingness to go to the Island of Geburah. But Kurt had not slept well. Uneasiness still sat in the pit of his stomach. As they took final inventory of their packs, he muttered, "I still don't like this. It doesn't seem right."

  "What doesn't seem right about it?" Wes asked with an edge to his voice. He was tense, not because he questioned the trip but because he did not know what dangers waited in the Forest of Blackness. Journeys undertaken for Gaal were never safe and comfortable.

  "I don't know what's wrong," Kurt admitted. "I just don't feel good about it. Remember when we were in the cell and I told you I didn't feel right about opening the door? It's the same thing."

  "It's completely different," Wes said. Before Kurt could ask how, the main gates creaked and swung partway open. Out came Andron, the soldier who had guarded Wes and Kurt in the dungeon. Behind him came Dominicus, who had guarded Lisa and Betty. Dominicus led a white horse with panniers slung across its back.

  Andron's attitude toward the Friesens was completely changed. He bowed slightly and a little awkwardly and explained, "My Lords Wesley and Kurt, my Lady Lisa, Dominicus and I are to accompany you to the island. Truly we are grateful for this task. After you escaped, our fate was certain. The penalty for allowing prisoners to escape is death."

  "So we heard. But they let you off!" Kurt exclaimed.

  "Only by a hair's breadth," said Dominicus. "We were being led out for execution when a message arrived from the queen. She spared our lives. Truly she is merciful!" He looked toward the sky and made a gesture of thanks.