The Dark Lord's Demise (10 page)

Kurt tried to memorize all the turns of their route through the city.
If they escaped, maybe they could retrace their steps and find their
way back to the passage through the city wall. But he got confused.
The harder he tried to remember, the more frustrated he became.

Betty Riggs walked as though her legs were numb. She looked as
if she wanted to ask a hundred questions but was afraid to open
her mouth.

At the entrance of a narrow cobblestone lane, it sign warned: Go
No Further. The two soldiers never paused. They herded the children into the lane. It made a sharp turn and became narrower,
darker and damper. Their feet slipped on wet slimy stones. Wes
wondered, What is this, the slums of Nephesh?

They made their way around several more corners and stopped
before a heavy wooden door. One soldier knocked a complex
rhythm. In answer a panel slid back. Stern eyes peered out through
a small, barred window. The soldier who had knocked reported
crisply, "Four Regenskind arrested on the shore of Lake Bamah."

"We have received orders concerning them," replied a voice that
seemed to belong with the suspicious eyes. "The charge is trea

"Rebellion and treason," corrected the second soldier.

The voice rose in annoyance. "Yes, yes, rebellion and treason!
Do you think we are ignorant fools here? Enter and take them to
the hall of inquiry."

The children never saw the rest of the watcher behind the
barred window. As the door opened, their guards shoved them
inside and down a dim stone stairway. From below came uncertain
light, a bitter, smoky stench and a clamor of discordant voices. At
the bottom of the stairs they stumbled out into an airless room
where weird shadows danced over hunched shapes. Kurt thought,
Is this the hall of inquiry? Looks more like a waiting room. With a shiver
he wondered what these people were waiting for.

Two distinct kinds of people occupied the room. One group sat
on benches against the sooty walls. They were men and women of
all ages, each with the unmistakable look of a suspect under arrest.
Some appeared fierce enough to commit murder without a
thought; others retained a sad dignity; others only looked bewildered. They sat silent or muttered to each other. The second group
of people were no-nonsense officials in dark woolen tunics, armed
with short swords like oversized daggers.

All the accused were seated. The officials were on their feet,
except for a sharp-faced man with a wiry black beard who sat
behind a table half-buried in documents. Crumpled papers lay
around him on the filthy stone floor. The man sat facing the stairway. As the children and the soldiers entered, he was busy writing.
They waited in front of the table a long time while he wrote faster
and more intently.

An old man stood up from a nearby bench. He took a few stiff
difficult steps toward the man at the table. "There has been some
mistake," he began. A guard clamped him on the shoulder and
started to push him back to the bench. The eyes of the elderly man
flashed in the torchlight. Clearly he was accustomed to respect, not
rude treatment. He said, "I have a right to address the Commander!"

The bearded official looked tip from his paperwork. His eyes
met the steady gaze of the old man. After a moment he asked,
"Well? What have you to say to me?"

"Only that you know I am innocent."

The one called Commander replied calmly, "You are accused of
plotting to overthrow their majesties Queen Hisschi and King Tiqvah. The accusations against you are spelled out here in your
papers." Which papers he meant wasn't clear because he did not
refer to any as he said it. The Friesens puzzled over the identity of
this Queen Hisschi. The name was unfamiliar. They could only
suppose that Tiqvah had married since their last visit to Anthropos.

The old prisoner stepped closer to the table. "Who accuses me?
I have the right to read the accusation. Where is it? No one has
ever questioned my loyalty to Anthropos. I served as a captain in
the army of King Tiqvah's father, King Kardia!"

"We know your military history, Charaban. You were once
known as Charaban the Strong. Or was it Charaban the Mighty?"
The Commander's eyes flicked over the old prisoner's bent form.
"Your reputation is in ruins, and you have only your own stupidity
to blame. The stories of your past cannot save you now. Sit down at
once!"

The prisoner drew boldness from the very accusations against
hire. "I refuse! I am innocent! Against all the laws of Anthropos
you hold me prisoner! And I know why you single me out for injustice!"

The Commander raised his eyebrows and put down his pen.
"Do you, now? And why do we single you out for this imagined
injustice?"

Years of age fell away from the prisoner. He stood straight and
proud. "It is because I worship Gaal the Shepherd, Lord of All
Worlds!" If he thought his statement would get a big reaction, lie
was wrong. No guards leaped to seize him. The Commander's
expression did not change. He only remarked, "All of us in Their
Majesties' service are followers of Gaal. I commend you for your
loyalty. Indeed, it is admirable in view of the fact that no one has
seen Gaal for some time."

The prisoner lifted his chin in defiance. "He shall come! We shall again see him in Anthropos. Meanwhile his worship is
twisted and perverted. We cannot serve both Gaal and the lord of
darkness." The prisoner's voice trembled. His courage failed as
quickly as it had flared up. His posture drooped, and the years
piled on once more. "I beg you, look at me. I am old, I cannot take
the rigors of prison life."

The Commander turned back to his papers. "You should have
thought of that before you planned your conspiracy."

"I planned nothing! I did nothing! It is all lies!" The guard
forced the prisoner back toward the bench. With his fading
strength the old captain twisted around, put both hands against the
guard's chest and shoved. The move took the guard by surprise. He
stumbled backward and nearly fell. The guard's face burned with
rage and embarrassment that an old man had almost knocked him
down.

The Commander (lid not bother to look at the prisoner again.
With a casual wave of his hand he ordered, "rake him to the lowest
cell."

A young official who stood near protested. "Sir, we cannot take
Captain Charaban. Not yet. His inquiry papers are not complete. I
believe they are there on the table before you. Or-or they may
have fallen on the floor." The young man bent down and retrieved
a handful of documents.

The Commander's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why do you
take such an interest in the prisoner? Could it be you harbor secret
sympathies with his cause against her majesty?"

Even in the dim light the young man's face registered shock. He
replied, "No-no sir! Of course not!" He threw down the crumpled
documents and turned to his companions. "We need no papers for
the likes of him. You heard the Commander. Take the conspirator
to the lowest cell!"

The guards could restrain the prisoner's body, but his voice was
still free. As they took him through a door in the back of the room,
he shouted out, "Is there no justice in Anthropos? Without trial she
condemns the innocent!" The door slammed shut. The man's defiant cries echoed and faded away.

The hall of inquiry was now as full of silence as it had been full of noise. Most of the accused looked at the floor. The man behind
the table swung his gaze around and gave full attention to the four
children.

Betty Riggs was about to collapse. The Friesens had been
through so much in Anthropos that nothing surprised them; yet
they were alarmed. What was true and what was false in the painful
scene they had witnessed? Was the old captain-Charaban-here
on a trumped-up charge, as they were? Was he a combination of
dangerous criminal and good actor? Or was he arrested because
he served Gaal? But everyone here talked freely about Gaal. And
why had he said, "She condemns the innocent"?

One of the children's guards coughed and dared to speak. "We
have brought the young rebels, sir. Destroyers of the king's property. The ones who claim to be from some imaginary land called
Cadana." He not only mangled the word Canada, he pronounced
his butchered version "Ca-DAH-na"! Betty exploded with a loud
nervous snicker. The Commander glared at her. That only made
Betty more nervous so she snickered even louder. Lisa giggled a little but managed to control herself. Kurt didn't laugh because he
suddenly felt very homesick. Even with all the problems back
home, he wished he was there. He wanted to correct the soldier so
he could hear Canada pronounced correctly.

The Commander looked at the children with new interest. "So
the four of you destroyed some valuable property of the king?"

Wesley stood up straighter and looked the Commander directly
in the eyes. He couldn't see how what he had done was a crime,
but he couldn't let the others take the blame. "Sir, it wasn't all of us.
It was me. The weaver bees attacked us-me and my brother and
sister and our friend here. I had to kill them. I never thought they
might belong to somebody, least of all the king."

The Commander's mouth twisted in what could have been an
attempt at a smile. He gloated, "Then you admit you are guilty."
(Wes fumed at that but kept quiet.) "And how did you do this
deed?"

"With the-" Wes decided not to mention the Sword of Geburah.
If anyone in Anthropos still knew what it was, they would never
believe how he got it. They certainly wouldn't believe he had any right to it. He finished his sentence "with the weapon I carried."

"And where is that weapon now?"

Wes hesitated. He didn't know for sure, but he guessed it was still
propped against the tree by the lakeshore. Lisa answered for him.
"Of course he doesn't have. it. Those Matmon who arrested us
wouldn't have let him keep it, would they?"

"Would they, sir?" added Kurt.

The Commander grinned. One of his teeth flashed gold. "You
are wise beyond your years. I am saddened that young minds such
as yours are so early turned toward-" His eyes widened. "Wait.
You say the monsters attacked you. How many?"

"It was a whole swarm, sir," Kurt answered. "Hundreds. Probably thousands! They stung us about a million times!"

The Commander beckoned for a guard to bring a torch. He
peered at the children in its smoky light. "You are liars!" he roared.
"You are unmarked! If such a swarm attacked you, your bodies
should be a mass of stings-if you survived at all!"

As soon as the words left the Commander's mouth, Betty Riggs
came alive. Confidence flooded back into her face and her posture. She said, "I can explain that. I mean, I can explain that, sir."
Everyone else, especially the Friesens, stared at her. The attention
only prodded her to talk more. "It's because of something I did.
I've always believed it would work, but I never had a chance to try it
in a really bad situation."

The Commander looked skeptical. "And what did you do?"

"I decided the stings weren't there."

Lisa wanted to grab a handful of documents from the table and
stuff them in Betty's mouth. Her ridiculous story would only get
them into more trouble. She hissed, "Betty, don't talk rubbish! The
stings were there!"

Betty didn't back down. "I decided they weren't."

Kurt scoffed at the idea. "You mean you pretended, and our
stings went away? You must have a powerful imagination!"

Betty shook her head in a very definite manner. "I didn't pretend. I decided. And it worked! What I didn't expect was that it work
for the rest of you too."

Wes was furious. Betty had stolen the credit, which belonged to Gaal the Shepherd. Gaal had given Wes the power to kill the bees
with the Sword of Geburah. He must have taken away the hurt of
the stings too. Of course! Why hadn't Wes seen that before? "Betty,
you didn't do anything! Gaal was the one who protected us and
took away those stings!"

"And you don't even know him!" Lisa added.

"I don't know who you're babbling about!" Betty returned.

"That's what we mean!" Lisa snapped at her. "You can't take
credit for what he did and you didn't do."

The children could have argued for hours, but the Commander
lost what little patience he possessed. He shouted, "You are not
only liars; you are mad! If I did not have the word of the Matmon
beekeepers, I would still confine you for madness. Now I must confine you for destroying the king's property and for madness!" He
calmed down slightly. "I do not yet know who you are or why you
came to our kingdom. I know we will uncover your true intentions.
Until then-"

He flipped his fingers in a gesture toward the back of the room.
Guards in dark tunics seized the children and dragged them
toward the door where the old man had disappeared. The next
moments were chaos. Their captors forced them down a dim corridor past a row of barred doors. From behind the doors came violent curses, bewildered questions and demands for freedom. The
further they went, the more miserable and desperate were the
calls. Abruptly one of the guards pulled the girls to a stop, while
another urged the boys on down the dark hallway. Lisa screamed
out, "Wes! Kurt!" but they were gone.