by Alex Getz
“Her highness in person. Isn’t that a little bold, Florence?”
Ortigon raised the hand holding the pistol and aimed it directly at her. Florence’s husband and other defenders moved forward to stand next to her.
“It appears you have gathered your entire company here,” Ortigon drawled.
Vic, Arthur, Carol, and River were looking all around to see if their backup arrived.
“Why hasn’t anyone come?” Carol said in a panic. “Could it be that our plan failed?”
Instead of the awaited guests, the rest of Ortigon’s army advanced against the horizon.
“I guess we’re done for,” Arthur said.
Ortigon did not lower his gun pointed at Florence.
“We’ve played this game for too long, dear ruler of a tiny land called Octavia. How long can you keep this paltry piece of land to yourself? It can be of no use—defeat is inevitable. Why should you complicate your lives, my dear?” Ortigon tried to smile, but a nervous grimace distorted his face instead. “I can offer you favorable conditions: Octavia will become my possession, and you will receive the honor of remaining alive, and to live in my wonderful new world. What do you say to that?”
“Earth has never belonged to you, Ortigon,” Florence took a few steps toward the man and stared him directly in the eye. “Why don’t you understand that you are destroying yourself with this evil? The people in your world are suffering, and so are you!”
Ortigon was no longer grinning.
“You will always have very little, Ortigon! Stop before it is too late. Who, apart from you, know that your world violates the rules of the universe?! You lead others on the wrong path!”
“YES, AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!” Ortigon bellowed so loudly that even the mountains seemed to shake from his voice. “Now is the time for power! You and your inhabitants still live as you did thousands of years ago!”
“We have never hidden the truth from the inhabitants of our land. Now, our people continue to grow, and their abilities are greater than any person in your world has. You doom every human life to a meager existence–”
“SILENCE!”
A shot was fired. Ortigon pulled the trigger, and a bullet flew from his pistol directly at Florence. The light gleaming off Florence dissolved the piece of iron. Florence stood before Ortigon as if nothing happened. It seemed that Ortigon did not expect such an outcome.
“Soon, the rest of my army will be here,” Ortigon growled, “and you will be in no condition to defend yourselves.”
Indeed, the army was already quite close, troops moving steadily toward the glade.
“What do we do?” Carol groaned. “If we don’t get out of here soon, they won’t blink an eye before killing us.”
The children didn’t know where to hide. Troops of soldiers approached from all sides. There was no chance of running away, and they couldn’t teleport back by themselves. The only way was to climb down to the defenders.
“We have no choice. It’s either that or death,” River said.
They began to descend the mountain at a quick pace. Each person’s heart jumped from trepidation like never before.
“Now, who do we have here?” Ortigon said, noticing them on the slope.
Florence and the other defenders looked in the children’s direction.
“Just look!” Ortigon roared with laughter, “Tiny little helpers came. I wonder which of them wants to leave their young body first and go off into the light. Hahaha. How about this pretty little girl?”
Ortigon rapidly flew to Carol, grabbed her by the waist, and returned with her to his former place. No one thought fast enough to prevent that, as Ortigon acted so quickly. One of the defenders standing in the circle instructed the children to be next to him. Drawing closer, the boys recognized Mr. Ketling. Ortigon held Carol with one hand around her neck and pointed the gun against her temple with the other hand.
“Let the girl go,” Florence said. “Children have nothing to do with this.”
“I don’t know, I don’t know, I get the feeling that you are all scheming here. I don’t trust you, any of you, DO YOU HEAR? First, I will destroy her, and then the rest of you,” Ortigon hissed. “Well, little one, do you have any final words?”
“Leave her be,” Mr. Ketling headed directly at Ortigon. “She isn’t guilty of anything. This concerns us only.”
“Don’t come near me,” Ortigon yelled.
“I told you clearly, release the girl!” Violet energy balls appeared in Mr. Ketling’s hands.
“Stephan, don’t!” Florence tried to stop him.
“I’m going to kill her now,” Ortigon roared. “FIRE!”
Everything happened so fast. Mr. Ketling aimed a blow at Ortigon. Carol managed to break free from Ortigon’s grasp in the tumult and join the defenders. Meanwhile, at their leader’s command, Ortigon’s people began to fire at the defender. After sustaining multiple shots, Mr. Ketling collapsed to the ground.
“No!” Vic cried out, “Mr. Ketling!”
“YOU WANT BLOOD, DO YOU? You refuse to play by my rules ― no matter; you will have to submit to them anyway!” Ortigon seethed.
Florence wanted to approach Mr. Ketling, but Ortigon would not let her do so. It seemed that Mr. Ketling was seriously injured.
“Stay right where you are, Florence. Enjoy the fresh mountain air, which shortly, you will never feel again. Now, my army will kill every one of you.”
A pale turquoise aura began to emanate off Florence. It formed an orb around defenders. Each defender emanated the same turquoise light, and thus the orb became bigger and brighter. Ortigon was forced to step back as the light from the orb pushed him away. The Ortigon’s enormous army descended the mountains and surrounded the defenders, but they could get no closer. They were separated by a space filled with turquoise light. Ortigon was furious. He and his soldiers were trying to take several steps forward, but an invisible force pushed them back. The defenders’ energy began to weaken Ortigon and his soldiers. The longer the foes spent near the orb’s radius, the more strength they were losing. Ortigon pulled out a walkie-talkie and muttered something into it. Then he turned off the device and raised his head. The right corner of his mouth trembled. Utter silence surrounded them, broken only by the howl of the wind.
“ATTACK!” Ortigon shrieked.
At that moment, Ortigon’s soldiers raised their weapons and began to shoot at the defenders. Military helicopters circled over the glade and dropped one bomb after another. Ortigon’s entire artillery was unleashed against the octavians. But the defenders were steadfast. Their energy was dissolving all weapons directed at the circle. The soldiers standing closest to the turquoise orb fell to the ground, powerless.
“Give up,” shouted Ortigon. “Your orb is beginning to diminish. You are not fated to hold out much longer.”
Vic glanced at the orb around them and noticed that, indeed, it became slightly dimmer. The defensive field separating the octavians from the soldiers started also diminishing. Vic caught Carol’s gaze and felt that his heart might break. Like in slow-motion, while bullets were flying into them and dissolving in the turquoise light, the pictures of the best time they had in Octavia appeared in his mind.
“Florence,” Ortigon’s malignant voice snarled, “how do you like the fact that quite soon, not even the smallest piece of your land will remain?”
The distance between the defenders and the soldiers was dwindling. The orb shrunk to half of its original size. Ortigon’s army seemed to have an endless supply of ammunition. The soldiers continued to shoot at the defenders. Ortigon rubbed his hands together and continued, “Soon, other civilizations will join my side once they understand that the world I am creating will be the strongest of all! Its strength will have no rivals. Poor Florence, Octavia is crumbling right before your eyes; all your efforts will soon be meaningless. Maybe now you are ready to save yours and others lives and come to my side? It is not late yet, Florence! You still have a few minutes—”
“They,” Vic heard Carol’s voice next to him. “It’s them, up there…they came after all! Look!”
Small unfamiliar figures appeared on top of the mountains and the mountain hills. They continued to increase steadily in number. Vic looked at Mr. Ketling, who was still lying motionlessly on the ground; he ran to Florence and begged her, “These are children from Ortigon’s world. We told them about Octavia and this battle, and they came to help us. Florence, please, do something to bring them into our force field. They are here for us, just help them to take the first step!”
For a moment, Florence stared bewilderedly at Vic. But right after, she raised her arms upward in a sharp motion. Many string-like rays of light started to come forth from the turquoise orb—each ray connected to one of the newly arrived children. Instantly the orb around defenders became bigger.
“What’s going on? Who are they?” Ortigon said. “Attack again!”
But the entire glade became cloaked in golden and turquoise light, paralyzing Ortigon’s army. Weapons were falling out of the soldiers’ hands, and soldiers themselves began to fall to the ground, unconscious. Ortigon took several shots with his pistol, but the bullets immediately disintegrated upon contact with the air. Fear and anger twisted Ortigon’s face.
“What have you done?” he sputtered.
Ortigon began to retreat. But all the light rays coming from arrived children and Octavia’s defenders directed now toward a horrified Ortigon, and for a moment, turned black as tar when they reached him. The clouds over the glade thickened, and surroundings suddenly became dark as night. A strong wind rose, and the air became as cold as winter. Dark smoke rose from Ortigon’s body. There were spirits with distorted faces in it; they looked as they tried to stay in their master’s body like faithful servants. But the orb mercilessly swallowed up the spirits, one after another. This continued for a few moments more until Ortigon’s black energy dissolved entirely in the light. When it happened, Ortigon’s body fell feebly to the ground, as well as the rest of his soldiers. The orb simultaneously vanished with a bright flash that illuminated the entire glade. The dark clouds parted, and the wind calmed. Florence walked over to the motionless Ortigon. She knelt and placed her hand under his head. Ortigon was pale and almost lifeless.
“He’s breathing,” Florence said.
“Be careful,” her husband warned, approaching.
Ortigon was lying unconscious on the ground. It was hard to believe that just a short time ago, this man was the embodiment of evil. Florence looked at all the children and defenders around her.
“It is over now,” she said quietly.
Chapter sixteen
The Second Chance
The day after the battle, Florence invited Vic, Carol, River, and Arthur to her house. When they arrived, Florence started to speak in an unexpectedly cold tone.
“Over a short time you spent here, you broke more rules than any other guest has ever dared. We had a few rare instances where we had to wipe our guests’ memories as a result of their misconduct.”
The children’s faces took a slightly worried expression.
“But Florence,” Arthur said, unable to restrain himself, “you won’t do that to us, will you?”
“We did that for their safety,” she continued. “But you are a different case,” Florence’s face lightened, and the corners of her mouth turned up. “Now, I understand why Stephan decided to help you. He knew you better, and his belief in victory was as great as yours. The four of you are very brave, I must admit. You have taught us a lesson—to believe in something important to you no matter what.
I would like to invite you and your families to move onto our land’s territory, which will remain hidden from the majority of people still for some time. Here, we will continue to live as we have before. If you want to stay in your former world, that is your choice, but know that we will be happy to have you here. Either way, you will make the right choice.”
The children promised to think about that.
“Florence, how is Mr.Ketling feeling now?” asked Carol.
“He was seriously injured, but he is better now and hopefully soon will recover fully.”
“And what’s going to happen with Ortigon?” Vic asked.
“He is in the hospital, not far from here. He has a hard time walking and even finds talking difficult—any extra movement causes him pain. Ortigon’s evil strength gone, thus when he recovers, we will decide how he could be helpful here.”
“What?” Everyone voiced their bewilderment.
“You didn’t think that we would lock him in a dungeon, did you? He is greatly intelligent and will be capable of handling various complicated tasks.”
“But you can’t trust him! Or, at least, not yet,” River protested.
Florence stood up and walked to the large window. “Everyone deserves a second chance. Even if that person is Ortigon.”
Such were Florence’s words. Carol, Arthur, Vic, and River became speechless. From all variety of scenarios of what could happen with Ortigon next, this was the least possible they could imagine. Only later, when the time passed, they could understand her decision.
And that was how the children spent their last day in Octavia. The new academic year waited for them, with their former teachers, friends, and classmates. But would everything be the same as it was before?
Chapter seventeen
Epilogue
At midday on Sunday, all members of the Wellington family were at home waiting for their guests to arrive.
“Mother, tell me again about Mr. Walsh. I barely remember anything about him,” Mrs. Wellington said to Grandma Doris.
“We met when we were children at a summer camp,” the old woman began her story. “After that, we wrote to one another for a while. Joe and I were good friends. I was probably even a little in love with him. But then, as so often happens, we lost contact.”
“Well, well, Grandma. Give us more details,” River called out merrily.
“I saw him only once after that, at a train station. It was the year when I finished my junior year at the university. I was traveling home, sitting on the train, and looking out the window when I suddenly saw a familiar face. Can you imagine, I recognized him immediately! He walked along the platform with a girl. My train began to leave, and I didn’t even get a chance to jump out and greet him. I watched through the window as they boarded a different train. They laughed and behaved as people in love do. Then, I understood that he must be happy. I hoped that he would see and recognize me as well. But that didn’t happen.”
“What a story,” Mrs. Wellington said.
“Yes, and thanks to our boys, as you already know, I found him again. Who would ever think that Arthur and River would befriend Joe’s grandchildren also at the summer camp?” Grandma Doris winked surreptitiously at Arthur and River.
A bell rang throughout the house.
“That’ll be them!”
The boys darted down the hallway. Upon opening the door, they found Vic and Carol smiling on the stoop with Grandpa Joe behind them. They all felt as if they didn’t see each other in eternity, although no more than a month passed since their last meeting.
“Please, come in. I’m so happy to see you all!” Grandma Doris greeted the guests first.
Mr. and Mrs. Wellington stepped forth to meet the guests as well.
“We’ve heard so much about all of you from Grandma Doris and the boys! And now we finally meet you in person!” Mrs. Wellington said.
“I am glad that we managed to stop by. Though little time has passed, I am sure the children missed each other. Be
sides, tickets have become so cheap that we can finally afford to travel,” Grandpa Joe said.
“It’s astonishing,” Mr. Wellington added, “Over the last month there have been so many political and economic changes, and all for the better! Even my boss has become nicer! I wonder if it’s just my observation, or the world is actually becoming a better place.”
Smiles spread across the faces of most of the members sitting around the table. Mr. Wellington eyed them suspiciously.
“Did I say something funny?”
“No, no,” Grandpa Joe said. “You’re right, I’ve noticed these changes, too. Probably,” he continued with a more serious tone, “we used to be under an evil sorcerer’s spell. Now he lost his dark powers, and that’s why life became so much better.”
Carol, Arthur, River, and Vic stared at Grandpa Joe with wide eyes. Meanwhile, Grandpa Joe continued chewing his food, as if he said nothing out of the ordinary. After several moments of processing Grandpa Joe’s words, Mr. Wellington laughed.
“Joe, you wisecracker! I suppose your grandchildren are never bored with you,” Mr. Wellington said, adjusting his glasses, which were sliding down his nose. “So, now there is no spell over us?”
“Yes. I heard there was a huge battle between good and evil; only some people know about it. Thanks to a few brave souls,” Grandpa Joe gazed at the children, “the evil sorcerer was defeated, and all of us are free from him now.”
Grandma Doris coughed loudly. “Joe, enough of your tall tales. Your time would be better spent pouring me a glass of wine and telling me about your life. I’m extremely interested to know what you’ve been up to for these past sixty years or so.”
The two families sat around the table, sharing various stories while treating themselves to Mrs. Wellington’s delicious cooking. When it was time for dessert, Mrs. Wellington brought out a festive cake decorated with lit candles. Carol’s cheeks turned bright red. Her birthday was the day before. Everyone sang Carol “Happy Birthday” and, gathering as much air in her lungs as she could, Carol blew out all of the candles.