Empress of the Underworld (12 page)

11

Abbey Makes a Plea

I
say execute them immediately!” The empress was leaning back on a gold-encrusted throne, her eyes half-closed. Lifting her head, she glanced at Lothar standing before her, his lips drawn tightly together. “No,” she said. “Once we do that, we cannot use them any longer.”

“The Dark Lord would not agree.” Lothar rarely argued with the empress, but now he had a determined look on his face. “You're well aware of how he has sent his agents all over Nuworld pursuing these Sleepers, and they had orders to kill them as soon as possible.”

“Death is rather final.” The empress smiled thinly. “We will try my plan first.”

She had thought this thing over well. A fierce ambition burned in the breast of the empress. She saw being Empress of the Underworld only as a stepping-stone to greater powers. Now she said plainly, “There's an entire world out there, Lothar. We're stuck now in this hole of a kingdom; but if my plan succeeds, there is no limit to what we can do. Why, we'll be at the right hand of the Dark Lord himself.”

Lothar looked doubtful. Shaking his head, he said, “It's a dangerous thing to tamper with his orders. You know what has happened to others.”

The empress did not take well to opposition. She stood up and snapped, “I've told you what we're going to do. We'll try all of my powers to transform these children into servants of the Dark Lord. We have already succeeded
with the girl. If we can bind their minds and transfer their loyalty from Goél to the Dark Lord, think what a mighty weapon it would be!”

Lothar stroked his chin thoughtfully. “That's true,” he admitted. “But—”

“Enough!” the empress barked. “We will talk to the girl. She might be the one to help us.”

They left the throne room and made their way down the corridor to the new quarters where they had moved Abbey after the secret passageway had been exposed.

Abbey's new room was far less ornate. She sat in one of two single chairs, waiting for the empress's customary visit.

She rose as Fareena and Lothar entered. “Oh, Your Majesty! I'm glad you've come!”

Fareena had a soothing note in her voice, saying almost in a whisper, “I'm sure you've been disturbed by the coming of your friends, Abbey.”

“Oh, yes! We must do something to help them.”

“That is exactly why I've come, my dear,” Fareena said. “Now, you must not trouble yourself over this. We will find a way to help them, just as we have found a way to help you. Isn't that so, Prince Lothar?”

Lothar came over and stood beside Abbey. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he smiled down at her. “You must trust the empress completely, Abbey,” he said. “We have found in the Kingdom of the Underworld that she is able to do that which others cannot. Trust her.” Then he turned and left the room, giving the empress a significant look as he passed.

“Now sit down and let us talk,” Fareena said.

When they were seated, Abbey began to express her dismay over the capture of the other Sleepers.

“I feel terrible,” she moaned. “You don't know them like I do, Empress.”

“That is true. You know them better than anyone else,” Fareena agreed. “And for that reason, you are the one who must help them.”

“I…help them? How can I help them?”

“By bringing them to the same knowledge of truth that you have found. They're still blinded by their loyalty to Goél, just as you were. But you have been brought to the light. Now you must help them.”

Abbey's mind was filled with a host of confused thoughts. She loved her friends dearly, and the sight of them being carried away to the retaining room had stricken her. For some reason she felt that something was terribly wrong, and the words and tone of the empress did not help this time.

Fareena began her ritual. She lit the incense and slowly began her rhythmic chant. It took longer to be effective this time, for the girl's mind was struggling to break free. Still, after a long period, Abbey sat there, her eyes almost blank.

The empress said, “Now I will have you taken to your friends. Do your best to help them.”

“Yes, I will, Your Majesty.”

Fareena moved to the door, and a guard opened it. “Take her to the prisoners. When she's finished, bring her back to her quarters.”

“Yes, Empress.”

Abbey rose and followed the tall guard down the passageway. They moved to a lower level and finally stood before a steel door set in solid rock. It was guarded by no fewer than four soldiers. One of them, at the command of her attendant, opened the door, and Abbey stepped inside.

“Abbey!” Josh hurried to her.

Sarah took her hand. “I'm so glad to see you.”

All the Sleepers gathered around. Volka took her other hand in his massive paw. As usual, Mat complained and Tam encouraged.

Finally Josh said, “What's wrong, Abbey? You look troubled.”

“I've come to help you,” Abbey said. Her lips scarcely moved as she spoke. She told them how she'd come out from her state of “blindness” and how she was now so happy to be the servant of the Empress of the Underworld. Her voice droned on, and there was a blank expression on her face.

The Sleepers stared at her aghast, then looked at each other.

Reb whispered to Wash, “That's not Abbey. That Empress has put her under a spell.”

Wash shook his head. “She sure has. We've got to get her out of it.”

Sarah had been instantly aware of the change in her friend. The two girls had become fast friends during their adventures in Nuworld, and now she took Abbey's hand again. “Come and sit down, Abbey. I need to talk to you.”

Abbey obeyed and sat listening as Sarah spoke to her gently. But there was no break in the deadness of her voice or the frozen expression on her face. When Sarah tried to tell her that she was under the spell of the evil empress, she simply shook her head.

“No, the empress is my friend. She has helped me. You must all listen to her. She can help you.”

For thirty minutes Sarah tried and then the others, but all to no avail.

At last Abbey said, “I must go back now. I would like to tell the empress that you are all forsaking Goél.”

Josh gave a warning shake of his head to the others. “I wish you'd stay with us, Abbey.”

“No, I must go back.” She rose and went to the door. When it opened, she looked back, and for one moment there was a flicker of pain in her eyes, real human emotion. She started to speak—almost, it seemed, to cry out—but then somehow she could not. Turning, she left, and the door closed with a clang.

“Well, that's about as bad a scene as I want to go through,” Jake said. “She's brainwashed. It's just like Abbey's not there anymore.”

“We've got to do something to help her.” Dave was sitting down, looking pale after his ordeal. He had a bandage on his arm, but otherwise seemed none the worse. “She's just like a dead girl.”

They discussed Abbey for a long time.

“And this isn't the end of it,” Josh said.

“You think they'll execute us?” Jake demanded.

“I guess if they were going to do that, they would've done it already,” Josh answered. “What I think they'll do is try to hypnotize us like they have Abbey.”

“Why are they trying to do all this?” Wash wondered.

Dave spoke up. “That's easy.” He rubbed his wounded arm with his free hand. “You see, if we went out of here and attacked Goél's movement and stood for the Dark Lord, it would be a help to the Dark Lord. It would be confusing to those who have learned to trust us.”

“We'll never do that,” Josh said firmly. “But I want all of us to understand that what the empress has done to Abbey, she'll try to do to all of us.”

“She'll never do it to me,” Reb stated flatly. “I won't let her hypnotize me.”

“Be careful about saying things like that, Reb,” Josh said. “She's got strange powers. Any of us could become like Abbey.”

“Oh, I couldn't stand that!” Sarah cried. “What can we do, Josh?”

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I'm not an expert in this, but I think what we have to do is keep our minds fixed on who we are and who Goél is—and who the empress is. I think they've given Abbey some kind of drug, and there's nothing we can do about that. But when the empress talks to us, keep your minds off what she's saying. Think about Goél and what he's done for us and how he's saved us so many times. Think about the others in this group. Think how we're going to get out of this and how Goél is going to bring us to freedom again.”

For a long time Josh and the others talked about how to combat the empress. Then he said, “That's all that we can do—don't let them break us down.”

Josh's words were prophetic. Not half an hour after Abbey had left, the door opened, and a guard entered. He looked at Josh. “You! Come with me.”

“Where are we going?” Josh asked.

“You have been sent for by the empress.”

Josh looked over his shoulder, and Reb called out, “Don't give in, Josh. Remember Goél.”

More than an hour later, as the Sleepers were pacing the floor, the door opened again.

When Josh walked in and the door clanged shut, Sarah ran to him. “Josh!” she cried. “Are you all right?”

There was a harried look in Josh's eyes, and his lips were tight. For a moment he didn't speak.

Sarah said, “Josh, can't you talk?”

When the words came, they came slowly. He said in a whisper, “Yes, I can talk. But that's about all.”

“Sit down, Josh,” she told him. She pushed him down onto one of the bunks, and his friends gathered around. “Tell us what happened.”

Josh had difficulty speaking. There were breaks in his speech, and sometimes he would hesitate as if he had
forgotten. He knew, however, that it was imperative that the others were prepared.

“They'll be coming for you—one at a time,” he said. “The empress will try to put a spell on you. She'll… light some incense, and it makes you dizzy … your mind kind of slows down.” He hesitated, while he collected his thoughts. “She'll talk to you. She's a good talker, real quiet and soft, and before you know it—” he looked around the group with anger in his eyes “—you find yourself
agreeing
with her.”

“What does she want you to do?” Wash asked.

“She wants to turn us into beings like Abbey—to serve the Dark Lord. You've got to keep your mind on Goél and what he's done.” He reached out to Sarah, and she took his hand. A small smile came to his lips. “All the time she was talking, I would think of what Goél's done for us since we came to Nuworld. As long as I could keep thinking of that, she didn't get me. But you can't let her take over your mind, or you'll be lost.”

For a long time the Sleepers sat making plans.

Then another knock came at the door, and the armed guard stepped inside. This time he stood over Sarah. “You—the empress requires your attendance.”

As Sarah went through the doorway, she paused for one moment and looked back at Josh. She smiled faintly and said, “I'll think about Goél.” Then she left.

The door clanged, and there was a hollow sound in it that scared Josh.

“I hope we all can hold out,” he said. “We've got to stay together.”

“It looks pretty dark,” Dave said. “We can't hold out forever. Time's on her side.”

Wash, the smallest of them all, spoke up loudly. “Yes—but Goél is on our side.” His brave spirit seemed to comfort the others.

Reb came over and patted him on the shoulder. “You've got a good attitude there, Wash,” he said. “Now, let's get ourselves ready.” A fierce light burned in his blue eyes. “You know, I'd like to put a spell on that old empress myself. Can't do that, but maybe I'll get a chance to whack her across the head with something.”

Reb's fighting spirit brought cheer into the room, and they fell again to discussing strategy.

12

Beren Makes a Try

I
t looks as if there is no hope.” Dokar looked across at his young friend Beren. The two had been sitting for a long time in Dokar's cave, and hopelessness hung in the air.

Beren had told him how the Sleepers had been captured and how he himself had barely escaped.

Now Empress Laiona poured some liquid into a cup and said to Beren, “Drink this. You must be exhausted—and hungry too, I suppose.”

“No, Mother, I couldn't eat anything.” Beren's pale face bore the marks of discouragement. He took a sip from the cup, then shook his head. “They were the only hope we really had.”

“It's not over yet,” Laiona said. She sat down beside her son and for some time tried to encourage him.

Beren finally looked over at his mother. “You never give up, do you? I wish I had your spirit.”

“You do have my spirit and your father's spirit too. I see him in you every day.”

“What do you think he would've done if he were here now? I can't think of anything.”

“I don't know what he would've done,” Laiona said quietly. “But I know one thing—he would not have given up! We used to joke about it. He would say, ‘I say I am firm, but your mother says I'm
stubborn.
'” She leaned back against the cold stone wall, thinking of days gone by, and her eyes grew soft. “I never knew your father to give up even one time. Sometimes things would get very difficult,
and the rest of us would be depressed, but he would just stand there and say, ‘We won't quit. Never give up.'”

“You speak the truth, My Empress,” Dokar agreed. “He was a man who did not know the meaning of the word
quit.
As long as there was breath in his body, he would fight for what was right.”

Beren listened as the two spoke of the old days when the family had been seated on the throne of the Underworld. It seemed long ago, almost like something he'd read about in a musty old book. He was exhausted, and failure had brought his spirits low.