Call to War (8 page)

Firepos screamed, and the cavern jolted. Tanner grabbed the shaking wall.
What is she doing? What's wrong with Firepos?

Nera dragged her claws on the ground and roared, and Gulkien joined them, his growl rising to a hoarse howl that seemed to pierce Tanner's bones, making him shudder. Firepos scratched the stone and opened her wings; Gulkien's wings snapped through his shoulders; and Nera bounded against the wall again, swiping deep gashes with her claws. The cavern could hardly contain the three Beasts.

Gwen fell to a crouch. The cavern jerked and shook as their Beasts roared, and Tanner saw Castor struggling to regain his balance. The piece of the mask flapped in Tanner's hand as he spotted Rufus at the altar. Bundling his precious things in the blue cloth, Rufus rushed for the rear tunnel and shouted back at the riders, “Come on!”

The ceiling cracked.

Tanner's grip tightened on the piece of the mask as he followed, breaking into a run. Was the mountain collapsing?

The tunnel twisted and sloped up in front of Tanner and as they ran, it brightened: There was daylight at the top.

“Rufus!” Tanner called. “Where are we going?”

The Beasts were still howling, shrieking, and roaring around them. Rufus continued ahead. Either he hadn't heard Tanner or he was ignoring him. They followed the steep tunnel as it rose, stepping and climbing over slippery, reflective rock — into daylight.

The tunnel opened to a courtyard of ruined stone, craggy trees, and ivy. The sky was overcast. Rufus helped them climb out, into the open remains of the mountain castle. Around them, high stone walls were broken in three places. Heavy blocks had been knocked free and smashed, now covered with green moss, spotted mushrooms, and grass sprouts. The tops of the walls were crumbled and thick with ivy and skinny trees. The regular guard posts on the outer wall were skeletal and open with prickly weeds. In the center of the courtyard, the castle itself was a cavernous hollow, thick with trees, bushes, and long-hanging vines that blossomed with poisonous red-yellow flowers.

On Tanner's left, the castle had been gutted, the wall cracked open with ancient burn marks around the edges. A fire had run through the castle. A tower had fallen and lay smashed across the left-side outer wall, now green with ivy — but the right side looked untouched. The roof had collapsed, and the stone face was pocked with irregular holes, but it hadn't burned and broken like the rest.
Whatever happened —?

Red eyes stared out at Tanner.

The narrow slits inched closer to one of the overgrown windows, and Tanner reached for his sword. His boots crunched an ancient courtyard mosaic, and now, as their Beasts quieted, Rufus approached the castle ruin.

“No,” Tanner said. “Rufus!”

Castor and Gwen saw the eyes, too — the slits glowed steady, like unnatural torches — and a high-pitched hiss snapped the air. The eyes came into the light: A serpent appeared in the window-hole. It was huge, and its wide head, bristling with spikes, was poised, steady on a body of scales that swirled with rainbow colors. The serpent hissed again and noiselessly slipped down the wall toward Rufus.

We have to attack!
Tanner thought.

Firepos answered:
No. He is one of us.

Their Beasts called back to the serpent. Nera purred, and Gulkien snorted, as if he were laughing. A pink, forked tongue flicked out of the serpent's mouth, then disappeared inside again.

Castor backed away to the stone steps of the castle wall. “What is that?”

Rufus smiled as the serpent came to his side, its scales shiny black. Tanner saw his blurry reflection repeated in each diamond scale. He looked dirty and tired. The red scrap of linen hung from his wrist.

“His name is Falkor,” Rufus said, and he pressed his hand to the serpent's head. “He is my Beast. Until I saw you, I thought that I was the only one, but there is a reason all of this is happening, isn't there?”

Gwen smiled and reached a hand up to touch Falkor's scales. “What does he say?”

“He says” — Rufus smiled — “‘the girl with yellow braids is braver than the others.'”

Gwen laughed.

“Never mind that,” Castor said, taking the steps up the outer wall two at a time. “Does he say that he's hungry and wants to eat strangers?”

“I know you're worried about me, Castor. But I can help you,” Rufus said.

“No,” Castor said, when he reached the top of the wall. “I'm not worried about you. I'm worried about
that
.” He pointed in the distance.

Tanner led Gwen and Rufus up the ruined wall steps, careful not to slip in the tangle of vines and loose stones. At the top, beside Castor, they could see across the valley to wooded mountains, and beyond that …

“An army,” he muttered. A press of bodies, most in black armor. He raised the Looking Crystal, and as he stared into it, the clouded, milky center cleared, like smooth water. He could make out faces and a dense mass of pikes, like a thin, moving forest, and as he scrolled across the army, Tanner saw a column of men on varkules surrounding General Gor. He sat on his own brown creature, its fur scored white with whip scars. Gor wore the same dragon-snout helmet Tanner remembered from the attack on Forton. Net bags of polished skulls were fastened to the sides of his saddle.

Tanner's heart beat strongly in his chest — harder than he had ever felt it before.
This is what I'm here for.
Immediately he felt a message push back through the air to him from Firepos.
That's right. This day is what we have been waiting for.

The soldiers' armor was scored and scratched, patched over with interlocking chain mail and fresh iron bands. Tanner pulled past Gor to try to count the number of soldiers. Varlot was there, too, tall beside the general in his bronze armor. They were marching away from the mountain into the valley.
Toward us
, Tanner thought.
Good, we have the high ground.
There were others in the army not dressed in black: a crowd of men in blue tunics, and there, in the middle, was Worrick, still carrying his ax.

“How many are there?” Gwen asked.

“Several hundred soldiers at least,” Tanner said. “They have varkules, and Varlot is with them.” He glanced at their Beasts in the courtyard below. A colorful mosaic had been there once — Tanner could still see the faint outline of a circle with a figure in the center, covered with dirt and weeds. “General Gor is leading them. They must be after the third piece of the mask. Geffen must have told them where to find it from beyond the grave.” Gwen's brother had seen the secrets of their map, the locations of each piece of the mask. Then he'd betrayed them.

Tanner looked at Rufus. “Your Beast saved us — if Falkor hadn't warned us, we might not have come out in time.”

“In time for what?” Castor said. “They're still all the way …” When he looked again, the army was already approaching the stream at the base of the valley. They were moving quickly.

Tanner could hear the faint, sinister clang of the soldiers' boots and weapons. Nervous excitement played in his belly. He was actually looking forward to fighting these men, he realized. Up until now he'd experienced fear, exhilaration, relief, a will to survive — but this thrill of power?
It's the blood
, came a message from Firepos.

Shaking himself, Tanner pointed to the intact right-hand side of the castle, where the tower stood. “From there, we can use the walls, attack them from above. If we're in danger, we can retreat inside the castle and lose them in the ruins. We'll have an advantage,” Tanner said, hurrying back into the courtyard. He patted Firepos's wing and she dropped her head to Tanner's chest. “Come on!” he called to them.

Gripping the carved serpent that curled up his staff, Rufus stayed on the wall, looking out, while Castor and Gwen picked their way down. “So,” Castor called to Tanner, “when the soldiers get here — what? We ambush them?”

Tanner paused. “We need more of a plan.” He looked at the ancient outer wall, the mortar worn away and the stone walls crumbling. Part of it had already collapsed. Surely one good shove would send the rest of the wall tumbling down the hillside. One good shove … Tanner pointed. “We hide behind there, and when the first soldiers arrive, we push the wall onto them. They'll be buried, and with luck, any soldiers following will be held back long enough for us to regroup and hide in the tower. But come on. For now, we need to get high enough to monitor their progress.”

Thunder rumbled overhead and a cold wind whistled through the courtyard. Tanner found a handhold, lifted himself up to a ruined window, and hoisted himself through. The second-story room had collapsed, leaving narrow stone walkways that hung with vines. Tanner creeped along a stone ledge inside the wall until he found narrow arrow-slits, overlooking the courtyard. Castor climbed in beside him. Outside, Gwen called to Rufus, “Quickly!”

Rufus was still on the outer wall, his back to them.

“Not a bad position,” Castor said.

Lightning flashed over the valley, thunder cracked, and they all jumped. A slow, chilly rain began to fall. Nera came to the castle — the hole was too small for her — and with fur rippling she jumped to the other side.

“Rufus!” Gwen called again.

Rain hit Tanner and Castor through jagged gaps in the stone ceiling, far overhead.

“Something's wrong,” Rufus said.

Tanner ran back to the window hole, helped Gwen climb in, and as he climbed out, the rain pounded harder and became a sudden downpour. Through slashing rain, Tanner splashed across the courtyard mud, ran up the steps of the wall to Rufus, and saw it: The army had turned away. They were marching west, up the slope of another mountain, out of the valley. They were going the wrong way. Had Geffen lied to them about the mask's location? Rufus seemed oblivious to the cold rain, his ragged clothes clinging like a second, filthy skin.

“We have to stop them!” Tanner shouted over the rain. Gor had the other pieces of the mask. Tanner needed them.

He looked back: Falkor waited motionless with Firepos in the courtyard, and now Castor was running over to see what was happening. Nera and Gulkien perched on the castle, with Gwen watching from inside. Lightning flashed in the valley.
We have to draw them here
, Tanner thought.
This could be our only chance to recover the other mask pieces — but how?
He looked at the army again: In another moment they would be gone.
Think!

Castor reached the steps and hurried up to join them. “Wait!” he shouted at the army. His voice disappeared into the rain. “Come back and fight.”

“Tanner,” Rufus said, “you have to do something. They're moving away!” Hair matted to his face, Rufus nodded to Tanner's belt, where he had hidden the mask shard. “Hurry — put it on! I promise you it will get the men back here.” He brought his face close to Tanner's and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Trust me.” Tanner found that he could hardly break his gaze. What was it about this boy? He'd charmed the Beasts from the first time they'd met him, and now … Tanner felt himself bending to Rufus's will.

Castor laughed, interrupting the moment, and wiped water from his face. “That's ridiculous,” he said, looking at the mask. “Maybe we can get our Beasts to go after the soldiers.” The rain pelted louder around them, turning the mountainside into slick rivers of mud.

“No,” Tanner said. His eyes were still fixed on Rufus. “We need to use the cover of the castle. There are too many of them to fight in the open.”

Gwen shouted, “What are you doing?”

Tanner pressed his drenched hair out of his eyes and held up the mask to show her. Lightning snarled across the sky behind him. In the flash, the wet leather seemed to glow at the edges, as if it were burning white-hot.

“Do it, Tanner!” Rufus said. “Quickly! It will help, I promise. Gor will sense the mask's power when you wear it and direct his troops back here.” His lips were trembling and he watched Tanner's face intently.

As Tanner lowered the mask, his heart beat frantically. The leather dripped cold rainwater, but the surface seemed to shimmer.
This is wrong.
The fear in Tanner's chest was deep, but …
We have to lure Gor back here. It's our only hope of retrieving the other pieces of the mask.
With both hands, he eased the mask closer to his face. Rain beat the old leather. Tanner felt a thin layer of soft fuzz inside, like the lining of a cured animal skin. Tiny hairs flecked the surface. Tanner closed his eyes. The last thing he heard was Firepos screaming.