The Island of Two Trees

by Brian Kennelly

  When they reached the bottom, they landed on the ground with a thump. They held their breath as they glanced around the room. It was another barracks. Twenty of the leaf-hammocks hung from the ceiling, most of them inhabited by sleeping demons. A few of them began to stir and grunt, their slumber breaking.

  “No,” the children thought. “Don’t wake up!”

  The movement and grunts started to fade back into quiet. Connor pointed to a doorway that led outside and began to tiptoe away. The girls followed. They were only a few steps away when a scratchy voice fell down from above them.

  “What’s all dis? Gortuf…nid! Look, you’s!”

  A demon directly above them peered over the side of his hammock. He screeched so loudly it sounded as if a dinosaur had broken through the quiet of this sleeping chamber. The dozen other sleeping demons shot up from their hammocks, shrieking at the sight of the intruders who had infiltrated their liar. Their mouths opened wide, as if their jaws could be dislocated. Drool dripped off their fangs and down their chins. They leapt down from their beds and landed on the ground as nimble as cats, pulling their daggers from their belts and charging at the children.

  26

  THE FINAL ASSAULT

  Revin knew even at his quickest pace he would barely be able to stay in front of the Shadow Army and the sinister roots that grew beneath the mud, so he summoned a mighty tiger that lived deep within the wood and climbed on his back. The tiger dashed through the forest at speeds that blurred the stripes of his fur. Even in the darkness, he navigated the maze of trees with ease and burst into the queen’s lands when the moon was directly overhead.

  The knights manning the guard towers at the edge of the trees readied their weapons but put them away when they saw it was only Revin, the mysterious but loyal servant of the queen who lived amidst the forest. They knew something had to be wrong for him to leave the trees and ride into the village on the back of this tiger. They turned to gaze into the darkness of the wood, wondering what might be chasing him.

  Though the village was quiet and empty, some villagers awoke at the sound of the tiger’s paws thundering past their home. They peeked out the windows and, like the knights, quickly knew something was wrong. Friends went to wake other friends, and soon the whole town was speaking frantically in the main square about what danger might be lurking.

  Revin made his way up the mountain. He journeyed past the waterfall to the mouth of the cave where he dismounted the tiger and thanked him. The tiger collapsed and rested on the ground as Revin raced into the mountain. He ran into the Tabernaculum and paused briefly to gaze up at the Mysteria Tree. He gritted his teeth. He would not let it fall. He would not let the demons and the sinister roots reach the mountain. But he knew that depended on the children now. All he could do was buy them time.

  He circled up the Tabernaculum path and scaled the floors of the castle, passing by curious knights manning their posts. He awoke Anastasia who went to wake the queen and Sir George and bring them to the throne room where Revin waited. He informed them of what marched their way. Though the queen knew the day of the final assault would come, she struggled to remain calm. She walked outside to the balcony as Revin and George followed, each of them peering over the forest and to the Shadow Tree in the distance.

  “I sent for the children just in time,” she said. “They will accomplish their mission. I know they will. Their love for their father will fill them with courage. But nonetheless, we must prepare to defend ourselves. Evil comes for us.” She turned to George. “Sound the alarm.”

  George ran toward the edge of the balcony and blew into a horn that echoed down the mountainside. Knights and servants awoke. Suits of armor where thrown on and shields and weapons were readied. Knights rushed down the mountain to gather up the villagers, escorting them up into a secret chamber in the mountain where they could hide. Anastasia and some of the other servants also filed into the chamber, hoping to ride out the attack.

  Revin, meanwhile, led another band of knights to the edge of the forest where they lined up in the field, waiting for what would emerge from the trees, while Sir George led a formation at the base of the mountain. Behind them and within the Tabernaculum, an elite band of the queen’s brigade known as the Mysteria Knights, specially trained for moments like this, encircled the sacred tree they had sworn to give their life for. And so Revin would hold the first line as long as he could, filing back to join George if he had to. If the second line broke, the Mysteria Knights would be the last hope to protect the tree.

  Revin waited in the center of the pasture, flanked by several dozen knights. They stared forward at the line of trees as dawn’s first light crept over the sea. The ground began to tremble beneath their feet.

  “Ready your weapons,” Revin screamed.

  Half the knights pulled out their swords while those with bows steadied an arrow against the string. Revin, too, pulled out his katanas. Movement came amidst the forest, bodies sifting out of the trees. A row of demons crept into the pasture, slowly but confidently. They were all smiling, with daggers and spears in their hands. More followed. Hundreds.

  “Fire arrows on my signal,” Revin yelled.

  The demons picked up their pace, breaking out into a jog, then a sprint. Some placed their knives in their mouths and got down on all fours, running like animals. All of them still kept their deranged smiles on their faces, growling and snorting. They were several hundred yards out.

  Suddenly, the ground began to shake even more. Revin knew what was coming even before he saw two thick roots burst forth from the ground, flailing around like the arms of an octopus. Other demons rode on the roots, hanging on their long hair follicles. When the roots broke free from underground, the demons leapt into the air and tumbled down to join the charge.

  “Fire!” Revin yelled.

  Thirty arrows pierced the air. About half hit a target, taking down a dozen demons.

  “Reload and fire!” Revin yelled. The enemy charge was nearly to them. “Fire at will!” The knights fired off two more lines of arrows, taking down several more. But many remained. They were just feet away. “Fall back to the second line, bows!” Revin yelled over the battle.

  The knights with bows turned to run toward the village and join George’s forces, while Revin and the others with swords braced for impact. Seconds later, the charge of the Shadow Army reached them. Blades clashed amidst the shrieking of the attacking demons. Several of them leapt high into the air and came down on top of the knights. Revin sprang into action, twirling his swords and slicing into demon flesh. The knights were well-trained and took advantage of the undisciplined demons. They held the line and took down ten more.

  But the roots, still flailing behind the battle, swooped to the ground and swept across a line of knights, sending them and even some of the Shadow Army flying through the air. The sinister roots cared little for taking out their own if they also took out the queen’s forces.

  Revin ran past the battle toward the middle of the pasture where the two roots had sprung up from the ground. He tumbled toward them and sliced his swords across one, creating a deep gash. The giant root convulsed and slid back into the ground like a snake slithering into a hole. The other root did the same before Revin could leap over to it and inflict any damage. Standing in the middle of the pasture, he assessed the battle. They had killed several dozen demons and it looked like only ten knights had fallen or been badly injured. About thirty more demons remained but the knights were holding the line.

  Before any sense of victory could wash over him, Revin heard a commotion coming from the trees behind him. He turned. Another wave of the Shadow Army came barreling out of the forest.

  “Fall back!” he yelled, taking off into a sprint. He entered the fray once more, urging the knights to retreat as a hundred more of the enemy charged toward them. Revin and the others ran through the village, carrying some of the injured with them, as the enemy followed in pursuit. When they broke out the other side of the villag
e, they saw George and a line of knights waiting for them.

  “Ready the arrows!” Revin yelled.

  George motioned for those holding bows to prepare to fire. A line of knights raised their bows into the air. When the first wave of the Shadow Army emerged from the village roads, they let the arrows fly. They sailed over Revin’s head and the other knights running alongside him and fell into the hoard of demons, taking down a dozen. The knights continued to sail arrows into the sky, but the demons kept coming.

  When Revin and the other knights from the first line reached George, they turned and prepared to fight again. But the ground began to rumble again. This time three massive roots burst up from the mud. Again, on one of them, a band of demons rode the root and flipped off into the air. The knights with bows shot arrows at the roots but it was a hopeless cause. The enemy charged and another hand-to-hand battle ensued at the base of the mountain.

  From her throne room balcony, the queen looked down upon the violent skirmish. She watched as her brave knights battled the Shadow Army. The sinister roots had cracked open the ground and were sweeping wildly through the air, back and forth, wiping out her forces in droves. Behind the battle more and more demons were filing through the village roads, setting huts ablaze as they ran past. Black smoke began to rise. The queen looked past the smoke at the Shadow Tree looming against the dawn.

  “Hurry children,” she whispered.

  27

  INTO THE MUD

  A band of demons stampeded toward the children in the tight confines of the barracks. Maggie fired two arrows in a matter of seconds while Lucy flung three knives through the air. Nearly half of the charging beasts collapsed.

  Connor brandished his sword and engaged in a battle with two at once, blocking their dagger thrusts and darting to the side. He crouched low and spun around with his sword thrust out, slicing his long blade across their bodies.

  Four remained.

  One charged at Maggie. She tumbled down and avoided his grasp, reloading an arrow all in one motion as she flipped about. Now behind him, she released the arrow from just feet away and took him out. But with her back turned, another leapt on her shoulders, tackling her and sending her bow sliding across the ground.

  When Connor heard Maggie screaming, he dashed across the room, lowered his shoulder and bulldozed the demon. Maggie was freed as Connor tumbled on top of the demon. Both lost hold of their weapons, leading to a wrestling match as they grunted and squirmed and tried to gain the upper hand. His slimy body was difficult to secure, but Connor finally pinned him, holding his wrists down. Now what? He had no weapon.

  The demon began to thrash around, seeking to regain his freedom. Connor saw his sword lying just feet away. He released his grip only for an instant to reach for the blade. The demon saw his opportunity. With a hand now free, he punched Connor in the face. Connor fell to the ground, dazed, as the demon squirmed away. When he regained his wits, Connor turned around just as the demon was about to pounce on top of him. But before he could, an arrow pierced his back. The demon’s face froze as he collapsed. Maggie stood behind him, once more with her bow. She and Connor nodded, breathing heavy from the skirmish.

  But then…

  Lucy!

  Their attention quickly turned to their sister, cornered by the last two remaining beasts. They slowly closed in on her like a pack of wolves, grinding their teeth and growling. She held a knife in each hand, waiting on their attack. Her eyes darted back and forth between them as her feet backed into the corner.

  Maggie reached over her shoulder for an arrow but found only air. Her quiver was empty. She panicked. Where had her arrows gone? She knew she had more. Her eyes scoured the lair.

  Seeing Maggie out of arrows, Connor retrieved his sword and screamed as he ran towards the beasts closing in on Lucy, hoping to draw their attention. One took the bait and turned to engage as their blades clanged against one another, but the other remained on Lucy. He inched closer with a deranged smile as he tossed his dagger from one hand to the other. She hurled her knives at him but he dodged both with ease, then sprung impossibly high into the air over her head and clutched the ladder. From behind, he pounced down on top of her. Lucy screamed!

  In the midst of his own battle, Connor saw an opening and thrust his sword into the demon’s side. Connor turned about quickly. The demon clutched Lucy up against his chest, holding her hostage and using her like a human shield. His dagger blade was an inch from her neck.

  “No more’s foolery!” he belched. “You’s stay right there, there, there until more of me brothers come, come, come!”

  He let out a bloodcurdling shrill that seemed to be a kind of distress call, like an animal crying in pain. The call rung just inches from Lucy’s ear, so loud it almost made her pass out.

  Connor stepped ever-so-closer, his sword held tightly.

  “Stop right there, you’s!” the demon called, moving the knife closer to Lucy’s neck and clutching her tighter against his slimy body.

  While all this was happening, Maggie had finally located her arrows, sprawled on the floor about ten feet away. She realized they had fallen out of her quiver when she was tackled, save for the one, thankfully, that she had used to save Connor. She darted across the room and scooped one up. By the time she loaded it in her bow and pointed it at the demon, he was already using Lucy as a shield. The demon shifted his focus to her side of the room and moved his head behind Lucy’s.

  “Put that arrows down, down, down!” he yelled. “You’ll have to shoot her first if you want to shot me…erty-ugrsss!”

  Maggie glanced at Connor and he at her. Their eyes found Lucy’s. All three of them nodded, knowing what they had to do. Maggie zeroed in on her target, holding the arrow steady. Her next shot had no room for error.

  Lucy lifted her elbow and thrust it into the demon’s stomach. He lost his breath and loosened his grip around her neck momentarily. That was all Lucy needed. She wiggled to the side at the precise moment Maggie let the arrow fly.

  Lucy screamed as she fell to the ground under the weight of the demon, an arrow now stuck through his neck. Connor and Maggie raced over and threw the lifeless body off her.

  “Are you okay, Lu?” Connor asked. Lucy stood up and nodded, wiping tears from her eyes.

  The shrieks of other demons echoed into the room, from both above and below. The thunder of movement grew closer.

  “They heard us!” Maggie cried. “There’ll be hundreds of those things here in a minute! We have to get out of here!”

  “Where are we going to go?” Lucy asked. “We’ll run right into them if we go up or down!”

  Connor looked about the room. Think! Think! Think!

  He scurried up one of the wall ladders until he reached the ceiling. He took his sword and cut down several of the vines holding up the hammocks before leaping back down.

  “Tie these vines together,” he said, hacking off the hammocks. “Hurry!”

  The girls fell to their knees as Connor put away his sword and began to feed them the vines. They looped them together with knots as quickly as they could. A minute later, they had one long vine, perhaps fifty feet in length.

  Connor wrapped it around his arm like a garden hose. “C’mon!” he yelled.

  The girls scooped up some of their arrows and knives and followed Connor onto the circular staircase. They fled down one of the long branches, which to their luck was empty. Connor stopped toward the outer edge of the branch and crouched low, tying one end of the vine to the guardrails.

  “What are we going to do?” Lucy asked.

  “Shimmy down this thing,” he said, tying the knot tight and tossing the vine over the rail.

  “What?” Lucy said. “It won’t hold our weight!”

  “We have to try.”

  “We’re still too far up,” Maggie said. “Even if it did hold us, it won’t get us to the ground.”

  “What would getting to the ground even do?” Lucy said. “There’s just as many down there!
”

  “Look,” Connor yelled. “If you got any better ideas, I’m all ears. But I say we climb down this vine and suspend ourselves from it. If I know these creatures, I bet they’ll all come up that staircase to see what the commotion was about. We can’t take that many on so we can’t go down the stairs, but if enough come up and leave their posts, we may be able to swing over below them and get down into the mud before they even know we’re here.”

  “Won’t they see us climbing down the vine?” Lucy asked.

  “Maybe not,” Connor replied. “It’s still dark and we’re far from the trunk. We have to take the chance.”

  The girls peered over the edge of the branch at the dangling vine, the last tip of it hanging one hundred feet off the ground.

  “We don’t have time for this, girls. Look,” he pointed up.

  A line of demonic creatures descended the spiral stairs, scurrying down it like insects. Down below, more climbed up. Others pulled themselves up and slid down the vines bonded to the trunk. They would be on the children’s level in less than a minute.

  The girls looked back to their brother and nodded. Connor thrust his leg over the guardrail and took a deep breath before dropping down into midair. The knot twisted tighter around the limb and creaked, but it held.

  “Let’s go,” he said, gently swaying back and forth. “It’s going to hold. I promise.”

  He began to shimmy down. When he’d gone about ten feet, Maggie looked at Lucy. She shook her head and threw up her hands, as if saying, “Why not?” Maggie tossed her bow over her shoulder, climbed the guardrail, and dipped out of sight. Standing there alone, Lucy took one more peek toward the trunk; some of the demons had reached the room where they had battled the others. They saw the dead bodies and began to shriek and yell at one another, trying to figure out what happened. Lucy knew they would run back out in search of them any second. She leapt over the rail and clung to the vine as she dropped down.