The Dark Lord's Demise

by John White

  Kurt's voice broke into Lisa's reading. He ran up and yelled, "Goblins! Anybody with a sword get to the forest edge! Everybody else, use these slingshots on the harpies!" Betty took a slingshot and gathered up a handful of stones. Emmy and the two other servants put larger stones in theirs and whirled them over their heads. Their arms were strong. The stones sailed far and high. One hit a harpie on the side of the head so it faltered in flight. It turned its head and screeched in anger. Many stones missed and splashed into the lake. Matmon turned out to be best with the slingshots. Their short muscular arms hurled the stones straight and fast. Lisa continued to read. The words were so powerful that her throat ached with them.

  Kurt raced back to do battle with the goblins. Charaban could not run as fast but followed him gamely. The swordsmen formed a line of defense between the woods and the field. Still they were too few to make a solid barrier, and a dozen goblins had already made it onto the field. The monsters attacked several people who were busy slinging stones at the harpies. The goblins were ruthless and efficient killers. The harpies above howled with envy as the goblins took some victims they had missed.

  The wounded lay or staggered all over the field. Wesley called out, "Set up a field hospital in the cottage!" He didn't know if they understood the words "field hospital" so he said, "I mean a place for the wounded!" Several people hurried to help the injured to the cottage. Hazilon the priest appeared and offered to care for the wounded. Emmy started to go along but Wes said, "Stay here! You're too good with a slingshot!"

  The Koach howled with excitement and charged into action. They made daring forays and nipped at the goblins' loose green skin. The monsters turned to slash at the wolves, only to be nipped from the other side. But the Koach could not be everywhere at once. More goblins broke through the meager line of swordsmen and viciously attacked those armed only with slingshots.

  Still Lisa read the words of power. Goblins ranged behind her with hungry eyes but did not attack her directly. Wes stood near a bonfire and scanned the scene. He had not yet drawn the Sword of Geburah. It was not the weapon for the efel spawn or the flying monsters. But now as the goblins attacked, his hand went to its jeweled hilt. His mind asked a question. Within him he felt rather than heard the voice of Gaal: I am with you.

  On the other side of the fire Emmy picked up fresh stones for her slingshot. Her attention was momentary distracted. Beyond her, half obscured by flames and wavering heat, Wes saw greenish movement. A goblin stalked her, and she was defenseless. Wes called out, "In the name of the Unchanging Changer, the Emperor, and in the name of the Emperor's Son, Gaal the True Shepherd." He drew the sword. Blue light flashed and arced toward the morning sky.

  Emmy looked up, startled, but she looked toward Wes instead of toward the goblin. The monster charged. Wes raced around the fire and swung the blade at the monstrous pointed head. The goblin parted in two and immediately turned to liquid. Some of its green slime ran into the fire and made a foul-smelling hiss of green steam.

  Ernmy reeled but recovered quickly. Her years with Queen Hisschi had given her a certain toughness. She stared at the Sword of Geburah. "I never seen such a sword! Even in the palace!"

  "It is fit only for the palace of Gaal," Wes said.

  Emmy looked above Wes's head. "Why, Lord Wesley, how do you teach a bird to sit on your head like that%"

  Wes went cold all over. The pigeon must be on his head! He longed to reach up and touch it, but he dared not. With the confidence of its power, lie turned into the field where goblins had broken through the line of soldiers. He advanced, sword held high. There was no need to rush. Goblins lunged at him. Their faces were wickedly gleeful. He cut with his sword and killed one of them, then two more. Emmy screamed, "Harpie above you!" and Wes slashed blindly upward. The harpie screeched. It flew away with one foot half cut off.

  Wes turned back to the goblins. He struck surely, confidently, with no fear. He could not feel the pigeon, but he knew it was there. Only the pigeon gave him this kind of strength and skill.

  On the fortress wall the Lord of Darkness turned from the lake and pounded his fist in his hand. Danger after danger he threw at the fools, and the Detested One did not show up! Instead he let his underlings fight his battles. Lunacy ground his yellowish teeth. Up until now he had played at combat. The Enemy was a strong and cunning foe, and Lunacy willingly rose to such a challenge. Now all would see his finest work.

  While Lunacy glowed with confidence over what he still had in store for Gaal's followers, he failed to see a band of fresh reinforcements, armed soldiers and archers, break suddenly out of the forest and gather by the ruined cottage. Captain Charaban signaled Wesley. Wes sheathed the Sword of Geburah, and they ran to meet the company. The soldiers' faces were tense and drawn. They were sweaty and scratched by thorns. Wes realized they must have marched all night. Charaban offered them no sympathy. He gave a quick, sharp order: "Swordsmen spread out along the edge of the trees! Defend the field from the goblins as they emerge from the forest! Archers to the cliff to bring down the harpies. Now!" New life poured into the tired fighting men. The archers strung their bows, the swordsmen drew their weapons and they all ran forward into the battle.

  To Wes's surprise, several soldiers threw down extra swords at Charaban's feet. The lead soldier approached. He did not seem surprised at how the old captain took charge. Briskly he reported, "We bring twenty extras swords, sir. His Majesty King Tiqvah advised us of your situation. Messages have gone out to all Anthropos."

  The man left and Wes thought, How does King Tiqvah know about this battle? He doesn't even know Queen Hisschi is dead! Wes picked up two swords and ran to find the girls.

  Betty had left Lisa under the book's protection and was busy with her slingshot. She had managed to hit several harpies. The stones didn't bring them down, but the monsters veered away in annoyance. Betty's arm ached. She kept on. If she couldn't kill them, at least she could harass them. When the archers appeared on the field, she dropped her weary arm in relief. They let fly the first volley of arrows. Two harpies plummeted into the lake. Betty looked on in admiration. She wished she had learned to shoot a bow.

  The next thing she knew, Wes slapped the hilt of a sword into her hand. She stared at it dumbly. Betty had never swung a sword in her life. "Come on!" he said and started away toward the woods.

  "I don't know how to use this thing!" she protested.

  Wes turned back and shouted, "Learn!" His breath caught in his throat. Directly behind Betty, a greenish webbed hand reached up over the edge of the cliff. A goblin had come from below! Wes didn't have time to reach Betty. He yelled, "Behind you!"

  She turned and crouched in fear. The goblin's full arm appeared, then its pointed head. Betty raised her sword but stood frozen. The goblin bounded up over the cliff edge and lunged for Betty's foot. She chopped at it inexpertly and cut its shoulder. The stench of green blood made her sick. Wes reached her side and started to draw the Sword of Geburah, but Betty raised her sword again and swept it down with all the strength of fear. The blade split the goblin's head. Betty gagged as the creature collapsed into a dark green mass. It slid over the cliff and was gone.

  "I thought you didn't know how to swing a sword," Wes said.

  Betty could only ask, "Where'd that thing come from?"

  "Must have climbed down where nobody noticed, then sneaked along the base of the cliff. We'll station swordsmen here as well as archers, in case any more try the same trick."

  Betty pointed over the lake. "Look! It's like a rainstorm of harpies out there!"

  The archers did their work well. Their arrows struck true and brought the monsters down like a rain of rocks. Sometimes they spiraled like aircraft out of control.

  Near the woods Kurt stood in a line of soldiers and slashed at goblins as they advanced. They came in bunches with little respite in between. He had killed three in rapid succession when a shriek of terror came from somewhere near the stables. Heads snapped around. The scream was that of
a small child.

  A harpie rose from the ground. In its talons something wiggled and squirmed. Kurt gave a strangled cry and waved his sword in useless fury. It was the smallest boy, the one he had tried so hard to protect. The harpie sailed over the line of archers and flew out over the lake. Wes shouted, "Hold your fire! A harpie has a boy! Shoot only if you're sure he's clear!" The order ran up and down the line. The hail of arrows lessened.

  In shock Lisa stopped reading from the Book of Wisdom. Kurt ran up. He raged, "Why didn't somebody watch him!" Then he remembered, the abandoned boy had no one. Maybe he had even run outside to look for Kurt.

  The boy's capture distracted the soldiers at the forest edge. Goblins poured out of the trees and seized two men. With sword arms pinned to their sides, they could do nothing to defend themselves. The goblins dragged one swordsman into the woods before his comrades could do anything to save him. The other they hacked free, but he was severely wounded.

  The harpie with the small boy soared impossibly high. Lisa said desperately, "If it drops him in the lake, we can go out on the raft and save him!" But she knew there would not be enough time. However, the harpie did not drop the boy. Instead it swooped down and along the cliff face, taunting them with its closeness. The boy was now too terrified even to scream. Kurt tried to yell encouragement. His words sounded ridiculous. Now the monster crossed back and forth over the field while the other harpies (lived in attack. Archers hesitated to shoot. The boy was the harpies' hostage, and they used him to full effect.

  Emmy pointed far across the lake and cried, "What's that?"

  Wes groaned, "What's Lunacy up to now?" A gigantic bird, bigger than any of the harpies, approached straight on at cliff height. It flew with deep powerful wingbeats. Wes thought, Vulcanus! But when the bird soared briefly, it held its wings flat rather than in a vulture V.

  The bird dipped its head. In the morning sunlight its neck feathers flashed burnished bronze. Lisa shouted, "It's an eagle! A golden eagle! I didn't think there were eagles anymore in Anthropos!"

  The harpies darted at the eagle from all sides. It flew on as though it did not see them. One of the monsters circled high above the eagle and (lived. The bird ignored its approach. At the last instant before the harpie would have hit, the eagle banked and slid sideways and down. The harpie plunged wildly and hit the lake. It struggled in the water for a short time and went under.

  The eagle spiraled upward and resumed its flight toward the clifftop. Other harpies harassed it. Always it evaded them. Two more plunged into the lake before the rest pulled back and flew in large circles at a safe distance. The watchers thought the monster who held the small boy had stayed clear of the eagle. At least they hadn't seem him fall.

  Suddenly the eagle veered off and streaked straight at one of the harpies. The two figures clashed in midair, wings flailing. They broke apart, hovered a moment and clashed again. When the harpie broke free the second time, it fled toward the eastern sun. The eagle pursued it, caught up and grabbed the monster's long hair in its talons. It jerked the harpie to a halt and hovered, dangling the monster above the lake. The harpie's great wings beat in fury but the eagle's wings were stronger. The eagle had already swooped low and dropped the monster in the lake when the sound of their mixed screams arrived at the clifftop.

  The eagle rose again. Another harpie circled above it and came close. The eagle lunged at it but veered away at the last instant. Something fell like a rock from the harpie's grasp. The boy! On the field people screamed, none louder than Kurt. The eagle folded its wings and plunged clown. The boy thrust out desperate hands as though he could break his fall. He was about to land flat on the water when the eagle snagged the back of his shirt and rose with the boy in his talons.

  Gaal's followers cheered. The great bird flew straight toward them. At the cliff it rode a current of air upward, spread its gigantic wings to descend and set the boy on the ground in front of Kurt. It flapped away a few yards and perched at the very edge of the cliff. In a piercing voice with it hint of a rasp, the eagle announced, "Not a decent tree on the place. Don't know how they expect a bird to land."

  "Vulcanus!" Wesley cried. The magnificent bird preened its golden-brown feathers. Wes stammered, "How'd you get to be an eagle? Why were you a vulture?"

  The bird stared at them. His eyes were no longer small and squinty; they were large and fierce. He said, "The Shepherd changed me after you left the Gaal tree. For some time I had sensed that my skull wanted to enlarge. I felt feathers poking out from my head. Always I was told I was an eagle, but now in some strange way I feel I truly am."

  The little boy clung to him and wept freely and loudly. Betty reported to Wes and Lisa, "Some scratches, but mostly scared half to death. It'll take him a long time to get over it. Gosh, I wish we could take him back to Canada and give him a real home."

  Vulcanus spread his wings halfway. "Let us hope he does not grow up with a fear of birds. Now I shall harass the goblins in the name of the Lord Gaal!" The eagle rose and began to dive at the goblins that broke through the line of soldiers. Lisa went back to reading the powerful words of the book. The dome of blue light expanded once more. All within earshot felt stronger and wielded their slingshots with more skill. But Lisa's throat ached, and her voice began to fade. Her arms were as tired as though the book were large and heavy.

  Betty detected the change. She asked, "Lisa, what's wrong?"

  "Just tired," Lisa muttered.

  "You've got to keep reading! I can feel the difference when you do!"

  A swordsman ran up to Lisa. His tunic was smeared with blood-both red human blood and green goblin blood. He gasped out, "Lady Lisa, Lord Kurt bids you come and read the book near our lines. We have lost several men, and the goblins now come faster!"

  Lisa felt faint. She didn't think she could even walk to forest, let alone continue to read. "I can't," she said. "Wes has the Sword of Geburah, doesn't he?"

  "Yes, but he cannot slay them all, nor be in all places at once."

  Lisa took a few faltering steps. The book felt unbearably heavy. She couldn't drop it; she couldn't! But it fell from her grasp.

  Betty caught the Book of Wisdom as it tumbled from the other girl's hands. "I'll read from it, Lisa. Gaal let me find it in the Garden Room. He must think it's okay. You go into the field hospital and rest."

  Lisa nodded weakly. Betty accompanied her to the cottage and handed Lisa her sword and said, "Here, I've got the book, so you take my sword. And thanks." She hurried off to stand behind the line of swordsmen. When she took up her position and began to read, she had a moment of doubt. Would the dome of blue light rise over her as it had over Lisa? After all, I gave in to Queen Hisschi's offer of power. I thought I could do anything and everything without Gaal. But he's forgiven me! Her voice trembled as she began to read. The blue radiance rose and spread like a calm umbrella of peace. Goblins shuddered and shrank back. Swordsmen slashed at them and met little resistance. Betty's strong voice and the words of the book turned the tide at the line of soldiers.

  A commanding voice interrupted Betty's reading of the book. "Soldiers of Anthropos, I bid you in the name of your queen, attack and kill the followers of Gaal!"

  Hazilon the priest stood behind Betty. In his hand he held a sword. His polite noncommittal expression was gone. His face was a picture of controlled anger and offended power. "Your queen is dead. You swore eternal loyalty to her. I am authorized to act in her name. She had vowed to destroy the fanatics of Gaal. I command you now, turn your weapons against these fools who pollute all Anthropos with their lies!"

  Betty closed the book and stared at Hazilon. Kurt and Wes, who were using their swords nearby, did the same. They had never fully trusted this priest, but they were shocked to hear his words. He shouted, "Attack them! I command you in the name of Queen Hisschi!"

  Up and down the line the soldiers hesitated and looked at each other. One who had been in the search party spoke up. "Hazilon, I have met and talked with these fanatics,
as you call them. Their love for Gaal is greater than any force I have ever seen on any battlefield. I will not turn my sword against them!"

  Another soldier said, "I myself have chosen to follow Gaal. And not in any ridiculous alliance between him and the foul Lord Lunacy!"

  "The queen controlled her forces by fear," said a third. "These folk have shown me that the Shepherd binds his forces to him by love."

  Other soldiers agreed. Even the ones who did not profess to follow Gaal still refused to lay a hand on his followers. Hazilon fumed. He raised his voice and his sword. "Gaal is not your leader! I am your leader! Follow my example and strike them!"

  Hazilon advanced on Betty. Two soldiers stepped forward to protect her, but she opened the Book of Wisdom and began to read aloud. The burst of blue fire rose again and spread a curved roof above her. It expanded to cover the soldiers who stood nearby. Hazilon's sword froze in midstrike. The light reached out over him. The strong words continued, filling the blue dome with power. Hazilon looked up into the light. The pure radiance lit up his face and softened the lines of fury. Slowly he lowered his sword. His arms trembled. The words rolled on under the blue covering. He bowed his head. The priest took two steps forward and fell on one knee. He whispered, "Gaal is lord. Gaal is lord."

  Wes stepped forward. He touched the priest's shoulder with the blade of the Sword of Geburah and said, "Hazilon, you have worn Gaal's name in deception. Wear it now in truth. You will ever be a priest of the Ever-Living One, Gaal the Shepherd."

  Hazilon looked up with tear-filled eyes. He nodded but could not speak.