The Dark Lord's Demise (16 page)

In two steps Lunacy strode around one side of the long table. The
gray spirit rushed around the other side. It enjoyed the Dark Lord's
furious reaction to the name Gaal. Since the destruction of Bamah,
Lunacy could not stand to speak or even hear the name of his
enemy.

The spirit said, "Forgive me, my lord. What would you have me
call our enemy today?"

Lunacy thought a moment. "I feel charitable today, spirit. We
shall call him only He-Who-Must-Be-Defeated." He sat once more
(suspended in the air) and gathered his robe of pale light about
him. His rage settled into smoldering hatred. "I despise everything
about that accursed one. He mocks my power and my authority. I
will not rest until he is defeated."

The spirit hurried to agree. "Yes, and the defeat shall happen,
majesty! The victory shall be ours-that is, yours. Our enemy has
not dared to show himself in Anthropos for some time. He whose
name we will not dirty our mouths to speak-"

"Excellent, spirit, excellent!" Lunacy's laugh sent ripples
through the sinister tapestries of war. "He-Whose-Naine-We-WillNot-Dirty ... but we wander from our purpose. What of his three
deluded followers?"

"We know, majesty, you considered it most important that the
three followers of-I shall say only That Unspeakable One-that
those three be destroyed before they could come before King Tiqvah. As soon as they arrived in Anthropos, we sent the flying monsters' swarm to slay them. The plan failed for reasons I do not fully
understand. We arranged to imprison them. Then, according to
plan, we freed them. They were to be slain by the guards in the corridor. Meanwhile, the one called Betty was to be enveloped by the
same light that had freed them. She would be taken to a place of
safety where we would groom her for our purposes."

"Very clever, that light in the cells the jailers couldn't see. Was
that your idea?"

"Thank you, your majesty, yes."

"You show promise after all, spirit. I have constant need of
inventiveness in my battles. It is true that our enemy has not shown
himself for years; yet I do not imagine he has withdrawn from the
fight. I never underestimate our foe." Lunacy closed his eyes a
moment. The spirit surveyed his ghostly face and stood in jealous
awe of his power.

Lunacy's eyes opened. His gaze pierced the gray form. "The fact
remains that those miserable three were not slain by the guards.
There was some foolery about magic that planted cowardice in
their hearts." The Lord of Darkness snorted. "Afraid of mere trickery! I regret I ever called some of them to my service. But never
mind that. My latest information is that something went badly
wrong in the square. Are you able to enlighten me?"

"They ran, sir."

"Ran?"

"We captured Betty."

"The wretched three are still at large?"

"Not for long, majesty. A search is underway. As you know, our
representatives in the city are numerous."

The Dark Lord Chuckled. Paintings rattled in their frames. "As numerous as bees," he said. He settled himself more comfortably.
The spirit became uneasy. How long would this interview continue? Lunacy said, "What I wish from you now is your strategy.
Tell me how you will destroy them before they reach King Tigvah."

"There are several possibilities. I must remind your majesty that
the palace is not yet fully under our control. I do not know whether
we can prevent-"

"Be brief. I feel something takes place this moment in
Nephesh."

"I feel it also, my lord. My words will he few. Perhaps it is not necessary to keep them from the king. There are other methods ..."
The spirit's gray mist grew less distinct. "Forgive me, my lord, I must
depart."

"Yes, yes, I know. But keep in mind, spirit, I do not like failure. I
consider it an insult to the perfection of my plans." Lunacy's voice
rose. "You will succeed this time, or it will not go well for you!"

A few wisps in the heavy air were all that remained of the grayish mist.

King 'I'igvah reined his horse to a halt just before it bumped its
nose on Lisa's forehead. She felt the warm breath from the horse's
nostrils and noticed that his white nose was marked with a snip of
black. She wanted to reach out and stroke the velvety muzzle. A
heavy hand landed on her shoulder. She thought, I'm being arrested!
I've got to tell Tiqvah who I am! What should I say? Will he remember me?

"Out of the way, little lady, you'll he run over there." A soldier
tried to push Lisa toward the sidelines. She wanted to shout, "I'm
not a little lady! I'm an escaped criminal!" She planted her feet
against the soldier's efforts. He glared at the crowd and demanded,
"Whose child is this?" Everyone looked away; no one answered.
The guard turned from the people in disgust. "Another one, your
majesties. It is disgraceful to your royal persons that such children
are allowed to run wild in the streets of Nephesh."

The king called out, "Swiftlope! This girl shall be taken to join
the other abandoned children. Let Anthropos know that the king's
heart is ever open to such as these." Lisa looked up between the white horse's ears into Tiqvah's face. She took a deep breath and
said very loudly, "Your majesty! I am not an abandoned child! I am
Lady Lisa Friesen from another world!" Normally she would never
talk that way to an important person. However, these were not normal circumstances. The king's horse pricked its ears forward. Lisa
kept going. "When you were a boy, I came with my brothers, Kurt
and Wesley, to the cave beneath the sea. In that cave you hid with
your mother, Suneidesis. Together we ate the bread-bread and
fish-and water-which Gaal provided. In the cave-the inner
cave-at the back of the cave, that is, where the witch thought she
had you trapped."

She faltered. Tiqvah's expression did not change. Did she have
her facts straight? Did he think she was a silly child who made up
stories? She thought of a crowning touch. "After we rescued you,
you stood on the deck of the Thunderhead and watched the
witch's ice palace catch on fire! You told your father you didn't
know ice could burn!"

Tiqvah's eyes widened. The lady leaned toward him and asked,
"What palace of ice is this? What thunderhead does she mean?"

The king threw his head back and sent out a laugh that could
only be called "merry." It was like the laugh of a large, overfed
monarch from a storybook, or even like Santa Claus. But Tiqvah
was thin. Too thin. His face had an angular look, and his clothing
was loose, as though his thinness had recently come on him. Again
Lisa recalled the gaunt man on the TV screen. "Swiftlope!" he
called again.

Lisa found herself face-to-face with a silvery gray Koach tall
enough to look her in the eye. The huge wolf yipped and pushed
its cold nose against her forehead. It was a doglike greeting, so
tame and domestic that Lisa wondered if this really was a Koach.
The animal sat, cocked its head and whined its way through several pitches.

Lisa caught on. "Do you think I can talk Koach? I'm sorry. I
can't. Do you speak the common speech?"

"Of course. I learned it as pup. I am Swiftlope, special attendant
to his majesty, King Tigvah, and her majesty, Queen Hisschi. Come
with me." Swiftlope rose, put his shoulder against Lisa and nudged her in the direction from which the procession had come. He
growled something about "dirty little thing." Lisa hoped she had
rid herself of all the telltale dungeon straw. She asked the wolf,
"Excuse me, but is Queen Hisschi the beautiful lady on the bay
horse?"

The wolf swung his huge head around and stared at Lisa with
yellow eyes. He snarled, "I)o you make some strange sort of joke?"

"No, of course not. I just wondered."

"How could anyone in Anthropos not know of our queen? Ah,
surely you are a runaway child from some from far land. Queen
Hisschi is the most noble lady of the kingdom. Her wisdom is a
light in our darkness."

"Really?" Lisa had never known a Koach to be so eloquent.

"Her majesty came to us when our need was greatest. Our king
was an able ruler, but he had ruled too long alone. He had no
mate to be his comfort and strength. Then he went to the region of
Playsion to hunt fenfinch. Have you eaten fenfinch pie? It was a
delicacy much loved by the late King Kardia. At any rate, it was
King Tigvah's good fortune, and the good fortune of the kingdom,
that his gaze fell upon the Lady Hisschi. All is better in our land
since the two were wed."

Lisa sighed. "Sounds like a wonderful love story." She looked up
at a surging wall of people and gasped, "We're going to get trampled!"

The silvery wolf commanded, "Place your hand on my back and
take hold of my fur." She did so, and the crowd parted to let the
strange pair through.

For the second time in two days rude hands shoved Wes and
Kurt into a room against their will. For the second time they heard
a door slam behind them. They blinked and caught their breath.
Where were they? What was going on? Things had happened too
fast. A shopkeeper had caught them hiding behind some crates of
geese and turned them over to a couple of official-looking men in
dark-blue tunics. These men muttered things about "dirty children
of the street" and took them to a pale-colored stone building that the boys did not recognize. They expected to wind up in another
foul dungeon with a barred door. Instead they found themselves in
a large, bright room where high windows showed squares of sunny
blue sky.