The Dark Lord's Demise (43 page)

Kurt was shaking. "Thanks," he said. He stuck his sword in his
belt and grabbed a branch from the fire.

Wes saw what had happened. He thought, Even the Sword of
Geburah wouldn't work against these things. Only fire. Gaal, I don't have
to be the hero with this sword. I'll be a torchman. I'll be anything. just
don't let me fail you. Wes grabbed a burning branch and stood guard
with the others.

The fight poured life into Captain Charaban. With a flaming
branch in his hand, he ran from circle to circle and called encouragement to the fighters. He was not swift, but he was as expert with
a torch as he had once been with a sword. He stabbed at the efel
spawn as he ran and killed many that were out of reach of the circles. The weird balloons burst all around him.

The lieutenants had chosen the torchmen well. Almost none
backed down. If any did, someone else snatched up the torch and
wielded it well. The flood of slick greenish bodies continued to
pour up over the cliff in a reverse waterfall. Hours of battle passed
as the cold stars wheeled across the sky. Qadar patrolled overhead.
They seemed both curious and jealous of the efel spawn's assault.
Some efel spawn lunged and caught a foot or leg before a torch
could reach them. The victims screamed and gave in to every
instinct of hate and murder. Swordsmen had to cut them down
before they killed the innocent. Sometimes two or three victims
battled each other and rolled over the cliff in a crazed fury. Qadar
hurled lances of fire at them, not realizing they were already lost.

The Koach had nothing to do and were frustrated. They sat with
their backs to the center fire and complained. Swiftlope growled,
"Have we not heard that our ancestors were warriors? Yet these
Regenskind do not let us fight!"

"Do you wish to fight, Swiftlope?" taunted another Koach. "Your life in Nephesh Palace was a soft one. Perhaps you have lost your
heart for combat. If you ever possessed one."

Swiftlope expressed his feelings in a series of barks, howls and
yelps. He found a branch that burned at one end but lay mostly out
of the fire. He bared his teeth, snatched it from the fire and dashed
between Kurt and Lisa. Wes yelled, "Come back here!" Swiftlope
ignored him, sprinting the length of the cliff top among the writhing efel spawn. His torch, held horizontally just off the ground, cut
a path of death through the attackers. He turned and raced back.
The other two Koach grabbed torches and ran out into the tide of
efel spawn. The giant wolves leaped about and swept their torches
from side to side with swings of their huge heads. They pivoted
around and around like shot-putters getting ready to throw. Efel
spawn exploded all around them. When they came out of their
spins, they staggered with dizziness. Wes called, "Wolves, get in
here until you recover! I'm sorry I said you were no good with
torches!"

The flood of efel spawn subsided. The rock of the cliff top
began to show through their ranks. The torchmen plunged their
flames less and less often. As pink light streaked the sky to the east,
the tide stopped its flow. Wesley walked to the edge of the cliff and
looked down. The cliff, its steps, the wooden dock and the raft
were clear of everything except the reddening light of dawn. The
last of the Qadar were only specks retreating toward the Island of
Geburah. Qadar cannot stand the light of day.

Wes gazed down along the lakeshore. Far down the lake, a little
out from shore, six or seven empty rowboats bobbed on the waves.
Lunacy had a whole flotilla out! And the efel spawn got all of them!

The five companies around the fires broke up and pounded each
other on the back, cheered and laughed. They added more wood to
the fires and danced around them. Children wailed, "I'm hungry!"
Many grownups made the same complaint. Emmy and the other servants went back into the cottage to see whether there was more food.
And there was! This time a dozen other people ran to help them
carry it out. Somehow there was plenty for everyone. People sat all
over the field, ate and told stories of the night's battles.

The Friesens and Betty sat near the cottage with the than who had sold food on the street in Nephesh. He marveled, "How does it
happen that there is enough for all? I work many hours to make
enough meat rolls to sell in one (lay. And never have I sold to this
many folk!"

Lisa said simply, "It's Gaal. He feeds us. He takes care of us just
like he helped its defeat the efel spawn and the Qadar."

"Gaal is great," said a voice that was oddly familiar. Their heads
snapped up. The priest stood nearby, hands behind his
back, the picture of solemn politeness. "My friends, we have not
met since that day in the royal council chambers. Now you bring
tragic news that our queen is dead. I am grieved to hear it."

"Why'd you bring these people here?" Kurt asked bluntly.

Hazilon's answer was vague but smooth. "It was commanded.
One does according to command."

"Commanded by whom%" Lisa asked. From the far side of the
field came the howl of a Koach. It was even more terrible than the
howl of warning. It was the howl of terror. People scattered frantically all over the field. They spilled food and tripped over themselves and each other. Swiftlope broke through the crowd at a mad
gallop. He barked as he came. "Harpies! Harpies!"

Betty asked, "Harpies! What's that?"

"Horrible birds with human heads!" Lisa said. "They pick up
children or animals or anything they can and fly high and drop
them to their deaths! Swiftlope! Did they get-"

The Koach slid to a halt, tongue hanging out. "Two small ones,"
he panted.

The children ran into the field. All was chaos. People ran and
screamed and covered their heads or pointed at the sky. Across the
dawn streaked dark winged forms with long hair streaming
behind. The weird beings circled and dived in it macabre dance in
the sky.

"Small children inside!" Wes shouted. "All old and weak inside
the buildings!"

Charaban and his lieutenants rushed up. The captain's face was
twisted with grief and anger. He said bitterly, "I have failed! We let
down our guard! Never again!" He turned to his two lieutenants
and ordered, "All with swords will stand and strike if the monsters swoop low enough. If only we had archers!"

"Slingshots!" Wes said. "We'll make slingshots. Lisa, stand in the
field and use the Book of Wisdom like you did with the Qadar.
Betty, be extra eyes and help her watch for them."

"How are we going to make slingshots if we don't have rubber
or elastic?" asked Betty.

"We'll make the older kind, the shepherd kind," Wes answered.
"The kind with a leather pouch and straps that you whirl over your
head. Kurt, can you find stuff to make them?"

Kurt ransacked the stables and found old bridles and harness.
With his sword he awkwardly sliced up the leather. He gathered
the people who took refuge in the stables and put them to work
making slingshots. The littlest boy was there. He watched, fascinated. He poked a curious finger and nearly got it cut off. Kurt told
him, "Sit over there on that feed box. And stay put!"

Kurt hurried outside with the slingshots in time to hear the horrific sound of a man's scream. Near the woods a harpie had a soldier in its talons! The monster flopped its wings and dangled the
man ten feet off the ground while the man slashed at it with his
sword. Kurt ran to help, but his own sword reached only to the
man's feet. The harpie struggled to take off. It had not counted on
the weight of the bulky man with breastplate. The soldier cut at the
harpie's feet until it howled, dropped him and flew away. He
landed hard. Kurt put away his sword and asked anxiously, "Are
you hurt?"

"Mostly I ain furious at the beast! What have you there? Slingshots? Give me one!"

"Take half of them and hand them out. I'll hand out the others."
Bushes at the forest edge rustled and moved. A leering green
pointed face appeared between the branches. Kurt caught the
motion from the corner of his eye and yelled, "Goblin!" He tried to
drop the slingshots and reach for his sword. His fingers were
entangled in the straps. Like a game of cat's cradle was the crazy
thought that flashed into his mind. The goblin lunged forward.
The soldier met it with a slash of his sword. Green blood gushed
out, and the body melted to a pool of foul shine.

"There will be more," the soldier said. "Alert other swordsmen!"

Harpies still circled and dived above the field and the lake. Near
Lisa, Betty and Emmy and the other servant girls kept watch. Betty
yelled "To your right!" as a harpie made a daring, low swoop and
almost caught Lisa's hair in its talons. Lisa whirled, opened the
book and cut down the harpie with the brilliant beam of pure light.
It flopped about like a wounded ostrich and almost knocked over
several soldiers. They finished it with their swords and kicked it
over the cliff.

"Lunacy's throwing everything he has at us-worse and worse
each time," Lisa said. "I'm going to read from the book, like
Chocma did on the battlefield. When she read, the blue light made
a dome that protected everything around."

Lisa focused on the pages of the Book of Wisdom and read
aloud. The blue light not only swelled out as before, but her voice
rose with it. Her whole being thrilled to the strange, powerful
words she said aloud. Her voice took on the tone of a deep, clear
bell. Blue light surrounded her in an expanding dome. Betty
scanned the sky for harpies and listened in fascination. She was
carried back to the spot by the stream when she read aloud from
the book and felt herself changed inside.

Kurt's voice broke into Lisa's reading. He ran up and yelled,
"Goblins! Anybody with a sword get to the forest edge! Everybody
else, use these slingshots on the harpies!" Betty took a slingshot
and gathered up a handful of stones. Emmy and the two other servants put larger stones in theirs and whirled them over their heads.
Their arms were strong. The stones sailed far and high. One hit a
harpie on the side of the head so it faltered in flight. It turned its
head and screeched in anger. Many stones missed and splashed
into the lake. Matmon turned out to be best with the slingshots.
Their short muscular arms hurled the stones straight and fast. Lisa
continued to read. The words were so powerful that her throat
ached with them.

Kurt raced back to do battle with the goblins. Charaban could
not run as fast but followed him gamely. The swordsmen formed a
line of defense between the woods and the field. Still they were too
few to make a solid barrier, and a dozen goblins had already made
it onto the field. The monsters attacked several people who were busy slinging stones at the harpies. The goblins were ruthless and
efficient killers. The harpies above howled with envy as the goblins
took some victims they had missed.

The wounded lay or staggered all over the field. Wesley called
out, "Set up a field hospital in the cottage!" He didn't know if they
understood the words "field hospital" so he said, "I mean a place
for the wounded!" Several people hurried to help the injured to
the cottage. Hazilon the priest appeared and offered to care for the
wounded. Emmy started to go along but Wes said, "Stay here!
You're too good with a slingshot!"

The Koach howled with excitement and charged into action.
They made daring forays and nipped at the goblins' loose green
skin. The monsters turned to slash at the wolves, only to be nipped
from the other side. But the Koach could not be everywhere at
once. More goblins broke through the meager line of swordsmen
and viciously attacked those armed only with slingshots.

Still Lisa read the words of power. Goblins ranged behind her
with hungry eyes but did not attack her directly. Wes stood near a
bonfire and scanned the scene. He had not yet drawn the Sword of
Geburah. It was not the weapon for the efel spawn or the flying
monsters. But now as the goblins attacked, his hand went to its jeweled hilt. His mind asked a question. Within him he felt rather
than heard the voice of Gaal: I am with you.

On the other side of the fire Emmy picked up fresh stones for
her slingshot. Her attention was momentary distracted. Beyond
her, half obscured by flames and wavering heat, Wes saw greenish
movement. A goblin stalked her, and she was defenseless. Wes
called out, "In the name of the Unchanging Changer, the
Emperor, and in the name of the Emperor's Son, Gaal the True
Shepherd." He drew the sword. Blue light flashed and arced
toward the morning sky.

Emmy looked up, startled, but she looked toward Wes instead of
toward the goblin. The monster charged. Wes raced around the
fire and swung the blade at the monstrous pointed head. The goblin parted in two and immediately turned to liquid. Some of its
green slime ran into the fire and made a foul-smelling hiss of
green steam.

Ernmy reeled but recovered quickly. Her years with Queen Hisschi had given her a certain toughness. She stared at the Sword of
Geburah. "I never seen such a sword! Even in the palace!"

"It is fit only for the palace of Gaal," Wes said.

Emmy looked above Wes's head. "Why, Lord Wesley, how do you
teach a bird to sit on your head like that%"

Wes went cold all over. The pigeon must be on his head! He
longed to reach up and touch it, but he dared not. With the confidence of its power, lie turned into the field where goblins had broken through the line of soldiers. He advanced, sword held high.
There was no need to rush. Goblins lunged at him. Their faces
were wickedly gleeful. He cut with his sword and killed one of
them, then two more. Emmy screamed, "Harpie above you!" and
Wes slashed blindly upward. The harpie screeched. It flew away
with one foot half cut off.

Wes turned back to the goblins. He struck surely, confidently,
with no fear. He could not feel the pigeon, but he knew it was
there. Only the pigeon gave him this kind of strength and skill.