The Dark Lord's Demise (39 page)

She was unmistakably the same neighbor who had knocked on
their door on Grosvenor Avenue. Yet she also looked every bit the
royal princess. She wore richly embroidered robes and a crown of
fresh flowers in her hair. But her most transformed feature was
her face. The Friesens could hardly believe the change. The old
Betty habitually looked arrogant, annoyed or both. Now her face
glowed with new excitement and peace.

In her lap she held a small leather book with brass corners and
a brass clasp. It looked impossibly ancient. At the same time, it
looked freshly printed and bound. The book was closed. They
were sure Betty had closed it when she heard them coming.

"It's the Book of Wisdom!" Lisa cried. "You were reading from
it! Where'd you find it?" For a moment they almost ignored Betty as
they crowded around the book.

"Remember how Chocma read from it on the battlefield? Both
at the Castle Authentio and at Rinnar Heights?" Wes reminded his
brother and sister. "The goblins and ogres couldn't touch anything
within the sound of it. It was like the words protected us."

"There was blue light from it too," Lisa recalled. "The light
made an umbrella over us. Betty, didn't light shoot out from the
book when you opened it?"

"Where did you guys come from?" Betty's blunt question
brought them back to reality.

Kurt explained, "We came by raft. Kind of like the raft we all got
arrested on. Gaal left it there for us."

"Gaal!" Betty's face glowed. She clutched the book to her. "Isn't
he great? Now I understand why you talked about him so much.
Thank you so much for telling me about him and for bringing me
here. He's wonderful! I asked him to help me, and he showed me
how to get in here." She turned serious. "I)id you see what Lunacy
(lid to Queen Hisschi? It was horrible! I never want to see him
again as long as I live!" She drew up her knees and hugged the
book to herself.

The Friesens were ecstatic that Betty finally understood about
Gaal. Lisa breathed a quick thanks. I goofed it up when I tried to talk
to her, but you took care of her. "Betty, we are so glad you are safe
from Lunacy," Lisa said putting her arms around her. "Gaal has
changed you wonderfully."

"Oh, he has. I feel like a different person."

Everyone agreed.

"Look," said Kurt. "Over there. It's the pigeon. He's heading
back to the door. He seems to want us to follow."

"That must be what we are to do next. Come on, everyone. Let's
get going. Bring the book, Betty. Gaal told Lisa that once we
entered the Garden Room we would know what to do. Finding
both you and the book here is no coincidence. We'll probably need
it," Wes said.

"Need it for what?" Betty asked. She didn't move from her place
by the stream.

"To get through the Mystery's forces if they spot us. Who knows
what tricks Lunacy will have waiting for us. Come on!"

"I'm staying here," said Betty. She settled her gold-embroidered
skirts around her.

"You can't stay here!" Lisa sputtered. "Lord Lunacy is in the fortress! Right outside that door!"

"Right. And he can't get in here. So I intend to stay here forever.
Why shouldn't I? Everything I need is here. There are fruit trees
and berries and cold clear water. Over that way is a stand of beautiful long-needled pines. I'm going to make myself a nice bed of
pine boughs."

Kurt was flabbergasted. "Betty! The Garden Room is for safety. It
isn't to live in!"

Betty looked astonished. "Why wouldn't I want to live where I'm
safe? For that matter, why wouldn't you want to? Why don't you all
stay too? This is much better than your old house on Grosvenor
Avenue. I got the idea you weren't happy with your aunt and uncle,
and you hardly ever see your parents. Why don't you just stay
here?"

Betty's suggestion left them speechless. It made such perfect
sense that they didn't know how to answer. They could only look at
each other, at Betty, at the Book of Wisdom and at the incredibly
serene and beautiful valley. The stream chattered and splashed.
From a tree on the other side of the stream, a bird gave out a burst
of sweet music. Warm breezes rolled down the hillside and washed
them with the scent of wildflowers. Here there were no arguments
between Uncle John and Aunt Eleanor. No threat of being tossed
from their home. No fears or uncertainties.

"We can't stay," Wes said in a flat, even voice. "The pigeon is
from Gaal and has always led us the right way before."

"Well, it must be wrong this time," Betty calmly replied.

"It's not wrong!" Lisa snapped. "Do you know how many times
Gaal has talked to us and how often we've followed the pigeon?"

"All right, leave if you like. I'm staying."

The Friesens stood helpless. Wes felt for the Sword of Geburah,
but even the Sword of Geburah was powerless in situations like
this. Lisa noticed that Betty had relaxed her grip on the Book of
Wisdom. With a quick movement she snatched the book away.
Betty yelped in alarm. Lisa said, "We're going! All of us! Whether
you like it or not!" She congratulated herself: I'm getting pretty good
at snatching things. First Dominicus's sword, now the Book of Wisdom.
Betty only stared at her in shock and did not move.

Wes grabbed his own head in both hands. He was completely
exasperated, but he knew he had to stay calm. He heard Kurt mumble, "It's not easy to rescue somebody who doesn't want to be rescued."

"Maybe that's how Gaal feels," Wes said. "He tries to rescue us
even when we're too stubborn to cooperate." He looked back at
Betty. "You haven't known Gaal very long. But you already trust
him. Don't you?"

"Of course I do!"

"He wants us to follow the pigeon. You wouldn't go against his
orders, would you?"

"His orders? I didn't know he gave orders. He cares about me,
that's all. And he let me find this place."

"But hasn't he ever told you to do something, and you did it just
because he said it?" Kurt asked. "Oh, maybe not. You haven't
known him long enough."

A little of the "old Betty" came back as she scowled at Kurt. "Hey,
since when is this a matter of how long you've known him? Isn't it a
matter of whether or not you know him?" She chewed her lip a
moment. "Now that you mention it, he did tell me to do something.
He told me to walk toward him in my heart. And I did. Except I also
walked across the courtyard at the same time."

Lisa brightened up. "See? This is the same thing. Gaal is telling
you to walk out of here. He wants you to go out that door with us.
You wouldn't want to be responsible for us not doing what he wants
just because you don't want to. Would you?"

Lisa was not sure if she followed her own argument, but it
apparently worked on Betty, who sighed and said, "You're absolutely sure this pigeon is from Gaal? Then I guess it's all right. But
let's make it fast. I don't want meet up with that horrible Lord
Lunacy again."

They started up the hill at a good pace. Halfway up Betty said,
"Wait! I'm going back to get the glow stone. It might be worth a fortune! If it is, maybe I'll cut you in on it."

Wes asked, "Glow stone? What's a glow stone?"

"It's a blue pebble I found in the stream. I hid it under the sand
by a round, red rock, right by the edge of the water." Betty turned
and hurried back down the hill. The Friesens felt it cold shock.
Then warmth spread through them from the toes up. What if ... ?
They waited in suspense as Betty came back up the hill cradling
something in her hands. Their breath came faster and their eyes
widened. A blue glow rose from Betty's hands. When she was a few
steps away, she held out her hands for them to see what she held.
Pure blue light flashed from her fingers.

"The Mashal Stone!" exclaimed all three Friesens at once.

"Betty, do you remember when we were by the fountain, and I
told you I wished I had the Mashal Stone? Well, this is it," Lisa said.
"It makes you invisible if you wear it. Several people can wear it at
once, if they put one chain around their necks. It also lets you see
things as they really are, which isn't very nice sometimes, but ..."

Betty interrupted. "Invisible? That's terrific! That means we can
get down the stairs and out of the tower without being seen!" Lisa
marveled at how easily Betty accepted the strange fact of invisibility. Betty was so new to Anthropos. Perhaps she simply expected
the impossible to be possible here.

Wes fretted. "How can we all wear it at once? The chain is missing." A small hole had been drilled through the stone to accommodate a fine chain, but there was no chain. They looked around for
something long enough to loop around themselves, yet fine
enough to go through the hole until Betty suggested, "How about
one of the gold embroidery threads from my skirt? I think I can
pull one out." She went to work and soon extracted a long shiny
strand. They threaded it through the hole in the stone and tied it
into a long loop.

Betty asked, "Can we practice this?"

"We don't need to practice," Wes answered. "It'll work. Just
remember to keep quiet. The stone makes you invisible. It doesn't
make you inaudible."

They followed the pigeon, who had waited patiently for them, to
the door that stood so unnaturally on top of the hill. Wes dangled
the Mashal Stone from the golden thread. Lisa tucked the Book of
Wisdom into her sash belt. Wes looked around at the group and
said, "Okay, ready? As soon as I say you-know-what, I'll drop this
over our heads and we'll go." He turned to the door. "Open in the
name of Gaal!"

Immediately the door swung open. The pigeon went through and
disappeared. The four of them followed. One second they were in
brilliant sunshine; the next second they were in darkness. After the
door closed behind them, they stood for a while confused and disoriented. They had forgotten it was night on the Island of
Geburah. Slowly their eyes adjusted to the faint light in the hallway.
When Wes could see a little, he nudged the others toward the
stairs.

They descended to the room below the Garden Room, then on
down to the balcony room. Just before they stepped out onto the
balcony, Wes put out his hands to stop the rest of them. There was
fire ahead! He wished he could go forward alone to check it out,
but they all had to stay within the gold thread. He nudged them
forward onto the open balcony. There they saw the source of the
firelight.

The room had a small grate where a fire flickered yellow and red. Something moved and muttered near the floor in front of the
grate. A hand came into view in the firelight. It placed a piece of
parchment into the blaze. The flames licked and consumed the
parchment and seemed to ask for more.

A face leaned into the light. Betty gasped. Lisa fumbled for her
arm and squeezed it, though she couldn't be sure whose arm she
squeezed since they were all invisible. The face turned toward the
balcony. It was the face of an angry Matnion. He listened a
moment before he turned back to his task of burning parchments.
As he worked, he muttered to himself. "Destroy her documents, he
says. Rub out her memory, he says. Some still loyal to her. He
doesn't know half." His head snapped around toward the balcony.
"What's that?"

The children never knew what alerted the Matmon-perhaps a
squeaky board, perhaps too loud a breath. He crumpled a last
piece of parchment, threw it in the fire and started toward the balcony. They moved quickly but softly down the steps to the square
room on the ground floor. Here some torchlight from the courtyard streamed through the red window glass. Betty turned to nod
encouragement to the others. She let out a startled yelp. They were
gone! When she raised her hand to her face, her hand was gone
too!

Lisa warned, "Shhh!" but it was too late. The Matmon upstairs
demanded, "Who's there?"

In a loud whisper Betty said, "I can't see you! I can't see me!"

"Of course you can't. We're invisible."