by Peter Howe
Walker felt himself shaking with anger. He grabbed the sword and scrambled to the top of the wall, where he stood holding it in both hands.
“No, no, no!” he cried. “He was my friend. You’ve taken my friend.”
This produced another barrage of bolts, barely missing Walker. One came right at his face, and in panic Walker instinctively swung Eddie’s sword at it as if it were a baseball bat. To his astonishment the bolt glanced off the blade and flew back into the darkness. His hands tingled from the force of the contact and his body felt like a giant fist had punched it—but he was still there.
“Come down! Please come down!” yelled Frankie.
As it turned out, Walker didn’t have any choice in the matter. One of the bolts destroyed the part of the wall he was standing on, taking out a large chunk and causing him to tumble to the ground several feet below. He landed with a thump that knocked all the wind out of his body. Frankie raced over to him.
“Walker! Are you all right?” she cried. “Can you hear me? Can you move your arms and legs?”
Walker sat up and shook his head, trying to get rid of the dazed feeling. He looked at Frankie.
“Yeah, I think I’m okay,” he reassured her. “Help me up.”
She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. He peered around in the gloom. The remaining children were huddled together against the wall. The boy who had jumped had regained consciousness, but was lying down, his leg swollen and obviously causing him pain.
“Please,” he said to Walker. “I don’t feel good. Can you get us out of here?”
There was a lull in the attack and everything was quiet. Walker looked at the huddled group of children. Each one of them was relying upon him to save them and he had no idea how. How could he rescue all those faces turned toward him, waiting for his next move?
Suddenly another torrent of darkning bolts rained down on the wall and a large part of it broke away and crashed to the ground. Beneath the rubble Walker could see the blade of the sword that had tumbled from his hands when he fell. He went over to where it lay, carefully pulled the debris away, and lifted up the gleaming weapon. He looked at the intricate workings of the blade through a blur of tears. Eddie was gone and all that was left of him was this weapon and an ache inside that Walker had never felt before.
His hands tightened around the handle of the sword. Eddie had died heroically protecting the children, and now Walker owed it to him to keep them safe. He ran back to the wall and slowly moved up to where it had collapsed. Cautiously he looked out into Diabolonia, but the darkness was so dense that he could see nothing. He brought the sword around and by its light he could just make out the monstrous silhouettes of some Warriors of the Black Shroud. They stood motionless, as if awaiting orders from the Black Count, who was nowhere to be seen.
Frankie sidled up next to him.
“How many can you see?” she whispered.
“Not many, but boy, they’re big!” he replied quietly.
“What should we do?” said Frankie.
“We’ve got to get the children back to Nebula,” Walker told her. “If we don’t escape soon we’re either going to be captured by the Shroud or killed by a falling building.”
“But it’s miles and miles and miles to Nebula,” she protested. “It took us forever, and don’t forget we’ve got that boy with the injured leg.”
“You’re just going to have to do the best you can,” he muttered.
“What do you mean ‘you’re going to have to do the best you can’?” cried Frankie in a loud voice.
“Shhh,” whispered Walker. “Don’t let them hear us. You’re going to have to lead the kids back to the Kingdom. You know the way as well as I do.”
“And what will you be doing?” she asked, only quietly this time.
“I’m going to try and distract the Shroud,” he replied. “As far as I can see there’s only about four or five of them, and we know they can hear us so I’m going to go out there and start yelling at them, calling them names, and things like that. They’re bound to come after me, and that’ll give you and the others the chance to get away.”
“Walker Watson, you can’t possibly do that,” Frankie hissed. “You’ll never get away with it. They’ll get you in a heartbeat.”
“I doubt it,” said Walker. “With their size I’d be surprised if they can move as fast as I can. Besides which, I’ve got the sword if things get really hairy.”
“That’s nuts,” snorted Frankie under her breath.
“Do you have a better plan?” Walker asked.
“No,” Frankie admitted, “but that doesn’t make yours a good one.”
“In that case I’m going to stick with mine,” he said.
Before she could say anything else he leaped through the gap in the wall and ran toward the nearest Warrior. When he looked up at the sightless giant that loomed over him, he almost ran back, but his nerve held. He took a deep breath and then yelled.
“Hey, you overgrown piece of dirt, you think you can make a slave of me? You think you can even come near me? You’re so slow you couldn’t catch me if I was running on one leg.”
The monster turned toward the sound of his voice. With every step it took, the ground shuddered beneath its weight. It began to move slowly toward him. Walker looked to his right and saw another not too far away. If he could get that one to come toward him maybe they would crash into each other. Maybe he could get them to destroy each other. He ran toward it.
“You may be bigger than me,” he shouted, “but you’re so stooopid! And did I mention ugly? Well, you are!”
Sure enough, the second one began to move in his direction. He ran to one side to watch the two creatures slowly close in on each other, but just when it seemed inevitable that they would collide some instinct kicked in and they both turned toward him. He ran in the opposite direction of Litherium, hoping to draw them away long enough to give Frankie the opportunity to escape with the children. But instead of drawing them away he was running into more of them. Suddenly he realized that what he had thought to be only four or five Warriors was actually dozens, maybe hundreds of the creatures. He was surrounded by them.
There was nothing for it but to run back toward the comparative safety of the city, and hope that Frankie hadn’t tried to make it out with the children. He dodged and weaved through the enemy, at one point actually running between the legs of one. Finally he made it through the lurching hulks and there was open space between him and Litherium. He was almost at the walls when the darkning bolts began. At first there were just one or two, but slowly they began to get closer, and he just got to the outer perimeter when a furious fusillade of bolts came crashing down. He threw himself over the rubble where the wall had collapsed and rolled over and over until he was behind the protection of the part that was still standing.
“Just four or five of them did that?”
To his immense relief Frankie was standing there, huddled against the wall with the children. They all looked shaken but okay apart from that.
“No, apparently I didn’t see them all,” admitted Walker.
“That’s good,” said Frankie, “because if that’s the work of just four or five we’ll never get out of here.”
As more bolts rained down it occurred to Walker for the first time that it was likely they wouldn’t.
“What’s plan B?” asked Frankie.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” he admitted.
“Uh-oh, that’s not good news,” she said. “Because I don’t have a clue what we should do.”
They stared at each other, their fear clearly showing on their faces. Then a thought struck Walker that caused his expression to change. It was a memory that gradually cleared in his mind like a picture coming into focus.
“Oh, Power of the Source, I command you to come to the aid of a Chosen One as is your ancient duty and pledge,” he said softly under his breath, almost like a prayer.
“What did you say?” asked Frankie
.
“It’s something I remembered the king telling me,” Walker told her. “I don’t know if it’ll make any difference.”
At first nothing happened except that the constant stream of black streaks bursting from the Warriors stopped for a moment, but this was to be short-lived. A roar came from the Black Count.
“You are beyond help, Chosen One,” he bellowed. “Your mark cannot protect you here, and you will be our prized captive. When we enter the Kingdom you will lead us through its gates in chains. That is your destiny; for that you have been chosen!”
The barrage resumed with more ferocity than before, and the bolts kept coming closer. One landed just a few feet from them, causing everything to shake and sucking up dust and rubble from all directions, but the walls held firm. Frankie pushed as close to Walker as she could.
“I’m sorry I brought you here,” Walker said to her. “I never should’ve.”
“I made you bring me here,” Frankie reassured him. “I wanted to see the Kingdom, and I’m glad I did because it’s a really cool place. We just tried to do stuff we probably should have left to grown-ups.”
“Well, we did get through when they couldn’t,” he reminded her. “Not that it did us much good. I suppose I started to believe that I really was a Chosen One and that nothing bad could ever happen to me.”
“It’s scary to think we may never see our parents or the Outerworld again,” Frankie said. “With that time-difference thing, do you think they’ll even know we’re gone?” And at that point she did a very un-Frankielike thing. She began to cry.
Then Walker did a very un-Walkerlike thing. He put his arms around her to comfort her, and holding on to each other they waited for whatever was going to be their fate. He felt Frankie’s sobs shake her body, but as they huddled together he was suddenly aware of a strange light coming from the other side of the wall like the very beginning of dawn, and he could hear a low humming sound.
“Something’s happening!” he cried. “Something that has to be good, ’cause there’s light. Stay there, everybody. I’m going to go see.”
“Not without me, you’re not,” Frankie declared, and she grasped his hand firmly.
Not even bothering to argue, he cautiously led her along to where the wall had collapsed. They gingerly peered out, and what they saw was the most amazing sight either of them had ever seen.
Chapter 22
Is it true what this page tells me?” thundered Lumina. “Did you allow those foolish children to go by themselves into Diabolonia?”
Jevon looked her squarely in the eye.
“Those very brave children went into Diabolonia to make contact with the citizens of Litherium,” he told her.
Astrodor was standing to one side of Lumina. He looked uncomfortable now that Jevon knew he was the informer. When Jevon had been taken to the Chamber of the Lightkeepers, he had expected to confront Lumina and the others immediately, but this had not been the case. He’d been kept waiting in the adjacent hallway for a long time, always in the presence of two knights. Although he wasn’t handcuffed or shackled, it was clear to him that he wasn’t free to leave, and he waited as patiently as he could until he was finally brought in front of Lumina. She was seated on the old king’s throne and she was not happy.
“Not only was this against my specific command,” she continued, glowering at him, “but children, Jevon! You allowed children to do this! Have you lost your mind?”
“No, my lady,” he replied. “On the contrary, my mind tells me that it’s likely the Warriors of the Black Shroud are incapable of identifying targets as small as children and because of this they have the best chance of reaching Litherium unharmed. It is vital for the survival of this Kingdom that we join with the citizens of the Sister Cities to defend ourselves against the Black Count, because I am convinced that there is no peace to be had with him.”
Lumina got up from the throne and walked over to the nearest window. She stood there looking out over the Kingdom and then turned to face Jevon.
“My lord,” she said, “I pray that you are wrong. My greatest hope is that we can come to an agreement with the Black Count that meets both our needs.”
She paused for a moment.
“I look at you, Lord Jevon,” she continued, “and all the other fine young Lightkeepers assembled here, and I have to remind myself that I am the only one left in the Kingdom who has ever known war and its horrors. They called me the Warrior Princess even though I was not of royal blood and never carried the mark. I earned this title because there was no fight so fearsome, no skirmish so brutal that could make me back away. But after the Battle of Barren Plains, which the Book of the Kingdom will tell you was a great victory, I vowed I would do everything in my power to make sure that no mothers mourned daughters, no wives lost husbands, no brothers wept over brothers because of me.”
All eyes were upon Lumina with one exception: A knight standing next to a window suddenly cried out, breaking the silence that descended when she finished speaking.
“My lady!” the knight cried. “Something very strange is happening!”
Everyone rushed to the windows and stood openmouthed.
“What’s going on?” someone asked.
Lumina looked out of the window and then turned to Jevon.
“Lord Jevon,” Lumina said with a troubled look on her face. “I fear your children are in extreme danger. The Chosen One has summoned what you see before you. He has invoked an ancient command that only works in times of utmost peril.”
“If this is true, my lady, then we must go to their aid with all speed!” cried Jevon. “Allow me to lead as many knights as will join me to rescue them.”
Lumina sighed.
“Go, my lord,” she said, “and may your mission be successful. Save those foolish children.”
The first thing Walker and Frankie saw as they peered out into Diabolonia was a glow of light some distance away, but they couldn’t make out where it came from. All they knew was that it was getting closer, and the humming sound that accompanied it was getting louder. This was almost drowned out by the only other noise they could hear—a roaring, both angry and fearful, that came from the direction of the Warriors.
Walker realized that the bombardment of darkning bolts had stopped, and this had given him the courage to move into the open to get a better view. Then he could make out what it was that shed the life-giving light. He could see birds—hundreds, no, probably thousands of birds. They were the same ones that drifted on the air currents above the Kingdom, but now they drifted no more. They were in a tight V formation, a vast glowing triangle, and they were led by a creature much larger than they were.
“I cannot believe my eyes,” whispered Frankie in awe.
When Walker had spoken the Ancient Cry of Peril, every animal in the Kingdom, every bird circling above, every dragon below, all the creatures within the walls had felt impelled to come to his assistance. As the knights who had joined Jevon in the rescue mission rushed to their unicorns, they found them pulling against the reins that tethered them as they tried to break free and gallop to the Chosen One’s assistance. Walker’s own unicorn, Lightning, had done what only a Silverstreak of the king’s herd was able to do. She’d spread the wings that until now had lain hidden behind her shoulders, and with a whooshing sound she took to the air. It was Lightning that Walker and Frankie saw now, leading the enormous flock of silver birds. She spotted the two friends by the wall and started to spiral down. She landed beside them and folded her wings back into her body. Walker threw his arms around her neck.
“Lightning, you came to rescue us!” he yelled. “You are the most wonderful unicorn in the Kingdom.”
Lightning pawed the ground with her hooves and blew through her nostrils as if in agreement. The birds she had been leading had not landed with her, but had continued on their flight path. Walker and Frankie turned to watch along with the children, and what they saw they would remember for as long as they lived.
The Warriors of the Black Shroud had assembled in lines that went on as far as the eye could see. Walker gasped when he saw how many of them there were, but the birds flew calmly on. As they reached their targets they wheeled down, circling each Warrior, flying so close that their silver wings brushed against them.
On the ground dogs, dragons, and strange little furry creatures Walker hadn’t seen before ran fearlessly toward the Warriors. The dragons blew clouds of light from their nostrils while the little creatures that looked like a cross between a rat and a hamster swarmed up the enemy’s legs as the dogs nipped at the Warriors’ ankles.
The monsters began to stumble around, banging into one another, unable to find a way to escape. It was as if the light from the birds and animals actually caused them pain. Deafening claps of thunder crashed above their heads, and in a vain attempt to defend themselves some tried to shield their sightless faces with their arms, while others pointed their fingers toward the attackers, but the shafts of darkness they shot out evaporated as they struck the radiance of the massive flock of birds.
Then one by one the Warriors began to disappear in exactly the same way that Eddie had disappeared. They just vanished, leaving no trace, no hood, no cape, nothing. It was as if they had never existed. Many fell in the chaos that ensued, giving the animals and birds the chance to swoop down on their sprawling bodies. Those who did get away ran as fast as they could. It was amazing to see such huge creatures fleeing for their lives, and despite what Walker had thought, they moved with incredible speed and were gone. Only one was left, the largest and most fearsome of the Shroud. In front of him stood the Black Count, turning his sightless head from side to side as he realized the disaster unfolding around him.