The Dark Lord's Demise (23 page)

Son of the Emperor, the Unchanging Changer. I know.
I've met him!"

Lisa was struck speechless. Goal had come to Betty Riggs? Why,
Lisa hadn't even seen him since they arrived in Anthropos! It
wasn't fair! She wished she could spot the window where Wes and
Kurt watched, but the hedge cut off her view-and theirs. She
choked down her envy. "Betty, I'm-I'm really happy that Gaal
came to you. Can you tell me anything about your time with him?
Please, I don't mean to be nosy. I know it can be hard to talk about
it when you've been in his presence."

Betty thought again of those welcoming eyes and that strong but
gentle voice. "It wasn't so much what he said as what he was like.
He was really kind. Oh, but not wishy-washy. Not in the least." Lisa
smiled. She understood. "And I just remembered; he predicted you
would come to see me."

"He did? Well, of course, he'd know that. He knows everything.
Listen, if you've already met him, you understand that you've got to
trust him and follow him. You can't trust Queen Hisschi and whatever stories she's feeding you."

Queen Hisschi! Betty pictured the woman's beautiful face and
felt those gentle hands place the thornless rose in her hair. She
reached up and touched the rose. It felt delicate but so solid and
real. "The queen makes me feel the same way Gaal made me feel,"
she said. "She likes me and accepts me, even though I don't know exactly how to act here. Yet, I mean. She wants me to be a daughter
to her. She already calls me her dear child. She wants me to stay
here and live at the palace forever. Did you know she and the king
had three children, and they all died?"

A lump swelled in Lisa's throat. The news grieved her, though
more for Tiqvah than for the queen.

Betty went on: "She lets me in on all kinds of secret stuff. I'll bet
you didn't know that Gaal and somebody called Lord Lunacy have
formed an alliance. People thought they were opposites, but
they're one and the same."

"She told you that? Betty, that's a lie! Gaal is completely different
from Lord Lunacy! You have to follow (Gal completely or not at
all."

Betty laughed in triumph and walked away down the narrow
lane between the hedges. "That's exactly what the queen told me
you'd say! Gaal must have told her you'd say that. Like you said, he
knows everything."

Lisa's head hurt with confusion. How could she ever free Betty
from this tangle of lies? She remembered her brothers' story of the
room with the lost children. She hurried after Betty, spun her
around and gripped her by the shoulders. "What happens when
the queen is through with you? Wes and Kurt told me there's a
place where they put children nobody wants. The story is that they
take them to a sort of camp, but it's not true."

Betty shook free of Lisa's grip. "Oh, how do you know what's
true? You're a fanatic. That's what the queen called you, a fanatic!"

"Yes, I guess I am! A fanatic for Gaal! Betty, if he bothered to
show himself to you, please don't take him lightly."

"I take him very seriously. He's all around us. He's everything
there is. The roses in the rose garden, the leaves on this hedge, the
stones on this path, it's all him. And Lunacy too. It's all one. It's all
the same thing. Too bad you and your brothers haven't reached
the-" She frowned as she searched for the phrase. Then she
remembered. "The place of wisdom! Now excuse me. Tonight I
must dine with Queen Hisschi and King Tigvah." Betty moved
away. Her long silky skirt trailed on the gravel. She turned and
remarked, "I should tell on you. I should tell the queen how you came here and tried to interfere. But I won't lower myself to your
level. That wouldn't be like a true princess." She walked away with
her chin tilted upward. Because of her haughty bearing and the
dim light, she tripped over her skirt several times.

Lisa could not resist one last challenge. "If the queen wants a
daughter, ask her why she doesn't adopt one of the street children
from the royal lodge! Go ahead, ask her!"

Betty walked on with a prideful gait. Soon Lisa was left alone
between the tall hedges.

Darkness deepened around Lisa. She turned to stumble back to
the room where Wes and Kurt waited. She had ruined everything.
Now she hardly cared if anyone saw her. She had taken only a few
steps when she bent double and sat down on the sharp stones with
her back against the prickly hedge. Hot tears flooded down her
face. She sobbed, "Oh Gaal, I've failed! I didn't say the right words
to convince her. That awful queen has pulled Betty in with all sorts
of promises and-and-how could I have let you down so bad?"
Lisa put her face in her hands and gave herself up to her own grief
and disappointment.

She thought the moon must have come up while she sat there.
The narrow lane was bathed in bluish light. Then, an instant
before she opened her eyes and looked up, she knew. Before her
stood the one person she had most longed to see since she came to
Anthropos.

"Gaal!" she cried out.

He smiled and reached both hands down to her. "Stand up,
Lisa!" he said in a voice that made the hedges tremble. She
reached up to him. He took her hands in his own strong, rough
hands and lifted her to her feet. "Do not weep for the words you
said to Betty Riggs. They were good words, right and true."

"But they weren't enough!" Lisa wailed. She fell into Gaal's
embrace and let him hold her while she wept. Her tears did not
last long. The reassurance of his strength filled her with new courage. In a moment she stepped away and looked up at his kind face.
She knew that even if she had failed, Gaal forgave her. "What else
could I have said to her? I tried to convince her, but she kept talking rubbish. All that nonsense about you and Lord Lunacy being the same. I can hardly stand to say it!"

"As you say, Lisa, it is rubbish. It is rubbish which for now she
chooses to believe. Many hurts and questions live in her young
heart. But I will not abandon her. Tell me, what is your favorite
name for me?"

Lisa sniffed. "Um-I guess the Shepherd."

"And that is what I am. I care for Betty Riggs, and I care for you
and Kurt and Wesley."

Lisa felt much better. She wiped away the remains of her tears
and smiled a wide, warm, beautiful smile. "Thanks, Gaal. Help me
not to forget that, okay? Oh, but what about Tiqvah? He's very sick.
He wants us to go get honey for him from the Island of Geburah.
We want to help him, but we don't trust the queen. Shouldn't Wes
and Kurt and I stay here and try to get Betty out of the queen's
clutches?"

Gaal's voice took on the tone of command. "All three of you will
go to the Island of Geburah. You must use great caution, for it is
now the center of Lord Lunacy's power. Once inside the fortress,
you will enter the tower and go up to the Garden Room. The door
will open when you command it in my name. There you will see
what you are to do."

Lisa tried to picture their progress as Gaal explained it. "The
Garden Room? That's the top room, isn't it?"

"It is. When your uncle, John the Sword Bearer, entered that
room, he found that it opened into a green hillside and a sunlit valley with thickets and streams."

"That's right! He told us about it. But when Wes and Kurt and I
went into it, it was an ordinary room. Well, not ordinary. That's
where we found the orb, book and key that we had to take to Kardia. And that's where we first saw the Sword of Geburah."

Gaal nodded his approval. "Now sunset approaches. You must
give the king and queen your answer. Go back to your room and
tell your brothers. And remember, I am always close to you,
whether you see me or not."

Gaal was gone. Lisa wanted to feel his hug once more, but the
memory of his words and his smile held her close as she hurried
back to the room where Wes and Kurt waited.

Lisa had barely gotten back to their room when three serving
girls in white caps arrived bearing large, covered trays. From the
trays came irresistible smells of roast fowl, buttery vegetables and
hot breads. One of the servants was a round-figured girl whose
white cap contrasted with her healthy red cheeks. She made an
awkward curtsy and nearly dropped her heavy tray. Wesley offered,
"Here, let me take that. Kurt, pull out that side table. We'll put
everything on that."

The girl was clearly relieved to be free of her burden. She said,
"Her majesty thought you'd be more comfortable if you dined in
your chamber, seeing as how you must be up and away early." Lisa
was glad not to dine with the king and queen for other reasons.
She didn't want to face Betty Riggs with her princesslike posturing.

Another of the servants said, "I do hope the food's not cold. We
were forever finding you. That devil of a Koach brought you to the
wrong room."

Kurt spoke up in defense of Swiftlope: "He said the other room
wasn't clean because some servants got fired-I mean dismissed."

Lisa corrected him. "I don't think they were dismissed. I think
they were imprisoned for some reason."

The three servants glanced at each other. The round-figured
one said, "Indeed they was put in prison, miss. For stealing, her
majesty said. But it ain't true! Someone counts the silver wrong and
the poor little souls gets dragged away like common criminals!"

"Hush, Emmy!" said the second servant in alarm. The third
apologized: "She's tired out from work; you'll have to excuse her.
We do hope your meal suits you. Now we must be off!" She urged
the other two servants toward the door. All made curtsies and went
out.

"What do you make of that?" Wes asked after the door closed.

"Let's talk about it while we eat," Kurt suggested. "Lisa, how did
your adventure go? We couldn't see anything once you went behind
that hedge."

While they ate, Lisa described her encounter with Betty and
reported everything Gaal had told her. The boys nearly choked on their food when they heard Betty's claim that Gaal and Lord
Lunacy had formed an alliance. Then they almost forgot to eat as
they discussed what they might find in the Garden Room and why
Gaal would send them there.

Wes raised an objection: "How can there still be a Garden Room
if the tower is gone and the fortress is in ruins?"

"Good question," Lisa said thoughtfully. "Oh, wait, I remember!
That priest named Hazilon said it wasn't in ruins. Somebody must
have rebuilt it. But who

"Maybe the wrong people rebuilt it," Kurt said. He frowned.
"Maybe it isn't according to Gaal's plan. Lord Lunacy is obviously
very busy in Anthropos again. Lisa, are you sure Gaal meant we
were going to the island right away? Or did he mean later?"

"Well, he told me not to worry about Betty because he would
take care of her. So I guess that means we're free to go."

"Or maybe you just want to be let off the hook about Betty."

"Kurt," Wes cut in, "I think we're supposed to go tomorrow. And
we already know what to do when we get to the island. Now let's
finish eating."

The meal was barely over when the same three serving girls
returned with supplies for the trip. They brought three leather
backpacks and a supply of bread, cheese, dried fruit and nuts. They
also brought the children leather water bottles, warm cloaks, walking shoes heavier than what they were wearing, and two tents. The
boys would share a tent, and Lisa would have her own. She was a
little nervous about sleeping by herself but tried not to show it.

The three servants piled the dirty dishes on trays. As they were
about to leave, Wesley said, "Please give message to the king and
queen that the three of us accept their request to go on the journey
tomorrow."

"We will do as you ask," they said, and two went out promptly.

The red-cheeked girl, Emmy, lingered when she found a stray
cup on the mantle. When the door shut behind the first two, she
quickly asked, "You're from the outside, ain't you?"

The question startled the Friesens, who had been busy examining their new clothes. The girl's cheeks were flushed even redder
than before. She whispered, "You'll be getting out of this place. You can tell somebody what needs to know. Them poor girls wasn't
thrown in prison because of no silver. They was put there because
they seen through all the fancy words about the Great Lord Gaal."

The children hesitated at the mention of Gaal. They had
learned that people who talked about him were not necessarily his
followers. Kurt asked simply, "What fancy words do you mean?"

"That priest Hazilon himself told me. He's good to us servants,
you know. Visits us and knows all what our life is truly like. He says
her majesty is spreadin' harmful lies about the Emperor's Son himself."

Cautiously Lisa said, "We may have heard something about that."

The eyes of the serving girl brightened with hope. "The priest
says there's not many of us left, you know. Those who believe the
true way. Them girls in the prison is two more. Oh, I pray the Shepherd himself to protect'em from harm. I still do believe in him. But
oh, I wish he'd show himself around here again!" She glanced
toward the door. "Now you won't say nothin', will you?"