The Dark Lord's Demise (15 page)

The head jailer said slowly, "Never in my years of duty have I
known it prisoner to escape. Tonight I have seen four. It is indeed
strange."

Betty said very confidently, "Allergic." She said it almost like a
sneeze: "Ah-h-h-LER-gic."

The jailers were eager to be rid of their captives. They prodded
the children to their feet and hurried them along a maze of corridors and up it flight of stone steps to a heavy door. Quick muttered
consultations took place among the guards before the door
opened and they all walked out to be blinded by sunlight.

Nothing blinds you like daylight when you expect total darkness.
The jailers blinked, rubbed their eyes and formed a loose circle around the prisoners. They wanted to perform their guard duties
from as safe a distance as possible.

This door did not open into the narrow lane of the night before.
Instead it brought them out at the edge of a dusty, open space like
a minor town square. The area was full of people and animals. A
farmer herded several donkeys close to the group. Clouds of dust
rose to make the brightness more confusing. Dominicus coughed.
"Can't see or breathe," he choked out. Andron wiped his eyes.
Another jailer said, "Hate doing service in those wretched dungeons. Can't tell if it's day or night. Ma-a-a-" The man cursed
loudly as Betty Riggs ducked through the circle of jailers and took
off at a fast mu.

In a loud whisper Wes said, "Run!" The Friesens took off in different directions. Donkeys and Nephesh residents and poultry
scattered before them. They dodged and shoved through the
crowds. Already they were separated. They didn't know which way
to go, but they kept running.

Lisa's side ached. The air she sucked in hurt her throat. She
dared to stop by it stone bench and catch her breath. She ran it
hand through her hair and was horrified to find prison straw clinging to it. Straw stuck to her clothes too! It would mark her as an
escapee from the dungeons. She brushed it off and looked around.
She thought of Dominicus and hoped he wouldn't be punished too
severely. Maybe they shouldn't have made a break for it. They
shouldn't even have left their cells. It was all Betty's fault. Betty had
pulled the cell door open; she had trusted the light person; she
had ignored Lisa's pleas to stop; she had taken off running.

Still, freedom felt good. Lisa wasn't about to go back and turn
herself in. She plunged into the crowd again. How could she get
out of the confines of this small square where she could easily be
trapped? That dark space between two buildings-was it an alleyway? It was! Lisa started down it, but it looked like it dangerous
(lead end. She stopped and went back. Twice more she encountered similar alleys and rejected them. Across the square she saw
an archway that appeared to lead into it larger open area. Would it
lead to safety or would she only be more exposed there?

The crowd decided for her. They surged toward the archway and caught her up in a current of bodies. She couldn't tell what the
stir was all about. Probably a big sale at the market, she thought. Special on duck gizzards. She giggled nervously. As she passed under
the archway, she looked up and caught her breath at its height. She
didn't remember the arch from their previous time in Nephesh.

Trumpets sounded in the distance. The crowd surged and
pushed Lisa forward. Then her way was blocked by-a soldier! She
cast her eyes on the ground and was glad she had brushed off the
prison straw. "Keep back there," the soldier snapped. He didn't
recognize her as a fugitive.

Other soldiers moved people out of the way to open up a route
in front of Lisa. With a shock and a sense of privilege she realized
she had a front-row seat (or standing place) for whatever would
soon pass by. Everyone began to cheer. She was afraid she would
attract attention if she didn't cheer, so she joined in. The parade
route, if that's what it was, turned a square corner through the
crowd a few yards away. Waves of hurrahs and trumpet fanfares
came from that direction.

The musicians came into sight. Long banners fluttered from their
shiny trumpets as they made splendid brassy tones. Four of the wolflike Koach appeared next. Two were silvery gray, one was white, and
one was charcoal gray, almost black. Their great heads swung from
side to side as they paced along, eyes watchful and suspicious. Their
mouths were slightly open to show glistening teeth. Their bushy tails
drooped slightly. Lisa wanted to call to them. Maybe they were
descendants of Whitefur or Garfong or other wolves who had fought
alongside them in battle against Lord Lunacy's forces.

Four soldiers came into view. They were dressed in decorative
uniforms and bore swords in long, engraved scabbards (though
nothing like the Sword of Geburah). All four looked straight
ahead; yet Lisa sensed they also watched the spectators as the
Koach did. The noise of the crowd rose. Lisa caught her breath at
what came next.

A beautiful, white horse pranced down the parade route. It
tossed its long mane and shook the golden reins of its bridle.
Mounted on the horse, head held high, one hand on the reins,
was-

"Kardia!" Lisa called out. People gave her strange looks. No, it
wasn't Kardia. But it looked like him. Here was a man perhaps in his
forties, the most dashing and at the same time the most distinguished man Lisa had ever seen. Long curls of hair, lighter than
Kardia's, fell about his sharp features. His clothes were richly colored but surprisingly simple for a king. He was not handsome in a
movie star way, yet Lisa could not take her eyes off his face. His
eyes-she couldn't make out their color-darted about the crowd
to focus on one face and then another. He didn't wave like a politician in a motorcade. He only smiled slightly and nodded to
acknowledge the cheers of the citizens of Nephesh. He was a man
in command-of his horse, of this crowd and of himself.

What had the Matmon said? Thirty years they had served King
Tiqvah! Of course-this wasn't the father but was the son! She
struggled to abandon her image of Tiqvah as a boy about Wes's
age.

A jolt shot through Lisa. The man looked familiar not only
because he resembled Kardia. He was the man she had seen in the television screen, the one who walked away down the stone hallway.
True, that man had appeared more frail and weak. But it was the
same man.

A second horse walked at the flank of Tiqvah's horse. Mounted
sidesaddle on a lovely bay was a woman in a long dress of richly
embroidered fabric. She also smiled and nodded at the crowd.
Surely she was Tiqvah's wife, Queen Hisschi, the one everyone
talked about. Lisa shrank back a little. The queen's face was full of
gracious kindness. Lisa thought, I must have gotten the wrong impression of her. Still, appearance isn't everything.

The four soldiers marched past Lisa. In a moment the king and
queen would pass by also. With no definite plan or thought, Lisa
stepped out of the crowd and stood in the path of the horses.

In a room some distance away a disturbance took place. The
room was large but felt densely crowded. Heavy, ornate carved
chairs surrounded a long rectangular table of dark wood. Some
chairs were snuggled up against the table; others were pulled out and stood at disorganized angles. Bookshelves climbed to the high
ceiling, sagging with large, leather-bound volumes. Here and there
a book had fallen off the shelf and lay half-open on the floor with
pages ripped or crumpled. Where bookshelves did not cover the
walls, framed paintings and tapestries depicted violent battles
between strange creatures.

The room had one window. Though in Nephesh it was daytime,
here the light of a full moon shone in and cast shadows in the
silence. Nothing moved.

Soon a soft hum broke the silence of the room. It emanated
from every surface: walls, floor, ceiling, chairs, table. Books on the
shelves began to vibrate. A few shifted so far that they fell with a
loud clump to join the other neglected volumes. The humming
sound increased. Paintings rattled against the walls.

Near one end of the table a portion of the air (that is the best
way to describe it) distilled into translucent mist. The mist darkened and became opaque. It trembled at the edges in harmony
with the monotonous hum. Abruptly the hum ceased. Now the sole
sound in the room came from the gray mass of mist. It was the gasp
of labored breathing, as from exertion or extreme fear. The desperate inhalation and exhalation continued with no relief for several minutes.

At the other end of the table another mist gathered. Pale light to
rival the moonlight glowed from deep inside it. Unlike the first
mist, this one took a definite shape. It formed itself into a manbut no ordinary man. The man who emerged was too enormous to
fit inside the room. He appeared to be seated, yet he occupied
none of the chairs. He sat on the air itself-or on an invisible seat
at the level of the tabletop. A long, pale robe hung over his long
frame in graceful folds of light and shadow. From his form radiated deathly pale light, which obscured the more bluish moonlight.

The man was so huge that his legs projected down through the
floor, as though the wide boards of the flooring were no more solid
than fog. His head reached the ceiling and beyond, for the top of
his head appeared to pass through the ceiling yet remained visible.
The man's size, impressive as it was, was not his most spellbinding
feature. What dominated his appearance was his waxlike face. He was hideously beautiful. You could not say that any of his features
were ugly or malformed. Yet taken as a whole, his face had the
power to terrify. His eyes, as they gazed down from near the ceiling, glittered with a hard, cold light. His expression was one of
cruel humor.

The dark mist shuddered. The monstrous figure spoke. His
voice had an icy music, like faraway bells across a snowy field. "I
thank you, spirit, that you answered my summons. However, you
could have done so more promptly."

The dark mist shifted slightly. "I would never fail to come when
summoned by the Dark Lord, disturber of moonlight, his majesty,
Lord Lunacy. I was delayed by the interference of an enemy patrol.
I destroyed them quickly."

"Very well. I will accept your pitiful excuse. More important matters are at hand. I must speak to you about recent events that have
come to my attention."

"Say on. My lord's words are as gold in a setting of silver or as
water to a

"Save your flattery, wretched spirit!" Lord Lunacy thundered. "I
have but one thing to say to you. You have failed your assignment
most miserably!" The misty form at the other end of the table
flinched. A painting tilted and another book fell. Lord Lunacy's
voice dropped to its previous level but now carried the hard edge
of threat. "Do you deny that you stand before me an utter, dismal
failure?"

The dark gray spirit expanded itself and appeared to stand
straighter. "Your majesty, I have carried out your wishes. The
young Regenskind Betty Biggs-"

"Riggs, you idiot," said Lunacy.

"The young girl Betty Riggs is safe. We liberated her from the
dungeon as commanded by my lord. She is now securely in the
hands of our forces. She has responded well to our influence.
Soon she shall trust us completely."

Pale light shimmered from Lord Lunacy's robe as he impatiently shifted position. "I have no doubt Betty Riggs is safely in
the power of the Mystery. I am glad for this. She will prove most
useful to us. Indeed, in many ways, she has already proved more valuable than I had hoped."

"Thank you, my lord."

"I thank you for nothing. The girl was captured in spite of your
mistakes. You are aware that the original plan called for all four
Regenskind children to be extracted from the dungeon?"

"Which took place, my lord!"

"Which took place, although it nearly failed because of the
unforeseen wariness of the contemptible young Lisa and the foul
young Kurt. Are you not aware-no, you are probably not awarethat the three called Friesen are of the family of John the Sword
Bearer, who did us so much harm in ages past?"

"The family of John the Sword Bearer? No, majesty, I did not
know. We will watch them even more closely."

"Watch them? Your instructions called for you to extract all four
of the little fools, remove Betty Riggs to our domain and destroy the
other three."

The spirit swayed from side to side. The sound of labored
breathing once more came from its form. "Yes-well-all does not
always go as planned, your majesty."

"Will you explain to me why, in this particular case, almost nothing has gone as planned?"

The gray spirit paused to summon courage. Lord Lunacy had
made no direct threats. The conversation, though close to the
edge, was not yet dangerous. The spirit replied, "My lord, I know
your plan was that the three followers of Gaal-"

Lunacy stood up and spread his arms wide. His action sank his
long legs deeper into the floor and thrust his head further beyond
the ceiling. His giant yellow hands swept through the books on the
shelves. The spirit cringed as the Dark Lord bellowed, "You have
been warned repeatedly! You shall not speak that accursed name in my
presence!"