The Dark Lord's Demise (44 page)

On the fortress wall the Lord of Darkness turned from the lake
and pounded his fist in his hand. Danger after danger he threw at
the fools, and the Detested One did not show up! Instead he let his
underlings fight his battles. Lunacy ground his yellowish teeth. Up
until now he had played at combat. The Enemy was a strong and
cunning foe, and Lunacy willingly rose to such a challenge. Now
all would see his finest work.

While Lunacy glowed with confidence over what he still had in
store for Gaal's followers, he failed to see a band of fresh reinforcements, armed soldiers and archers, break suddenly out of the
forest and gather by the ruined cottage. Captain Charaban signaled Wesley. Wes sheathed the Sword of Geburah, and they ran to
meet the company. The soldiers' faces were tense and drawn. They
were sweaty and scratched by thorns. Wes realized they must have
marched all night. Charaban offered them no sympathy. He gave a
quick, sharp order: "Swordsmen spread out along the edge of the
trees! Defend the field from the goblins as they emerge from the
forest! Archers to the cliff to bring down the harpies. Now!" New
life poured into the tired fighting men. The archers strung their
bows, the swordsmen drew their weapons and they all ran forward
into the battle.

To Wes's surprise, several soldiers threw down extra swords at
Charaban's feet. The lead soldier approached. He did not seem
surprised at how the old captain took charge. Briskly he reported, "We bring twenty extras swords, sir. His Majesty King Tiqvah
advised us of your situation. Messages have gone out to all Anthropos."

The man left and Wes thought, How does King Tiqvah know about
this battle? He doesn't even know Queen Hisschi is dead! Wes picked up
two swords and ran to find the girls.

Betty had left Lisa under the book's protection and was busy
with her slingshot. She had managed to hit several harpies. The
stones didn't bring them down, but the monsters veered away in
annoyance. Betty's arm ached. She kept on. If she couldn't kill
them, at least she could harass them. When the archers appeared
on the field, she dropped her weary arm in relief. They let fly the
first volley of arrows. Two harpies plummeted into the lake. Betty
looked on in admiration. She wished she had learned to shoot a
bow.

The next thing she knew, Wes slapped the hilt of a sword into
her hand. She stared at it dumbly. Betty had never swung a sword
in her life. "Come on!" he said and started away toward the woods.

"I don't know how to use this thing!" she protested.

Wes turned back and shouted, "Learn!" His breath caught in his
throat. Directly behind Betty, a greenish webbed hand reached up
over the edge of the cliff. A goblin had come from below! Wes didn't
have time to reach Betty. He yelled, "Behind you!"

She turned and crouched in fear. The goblin's full arm
appeared, then its pointed head. Betty raised her sword but stood
frozen. The goblin bounded up over the cliff edge and lunged for
Betty's foot. She chopped at it inexpertly and cut its shoulder. The
stench of green blood made her sick. Wes reached her side and
started to draw the Sword of Geburah, but Betty raised her sword
again and swept it down with all the strength of fear. The blade
split the goblin's head. Betty gagged as the creature collapsed into
a dark green mass. It slid over the cliff and was gone.

"I thought you didn't know how to swing a sword," Wes said.

Betty could only ask, "Where'd that thing come from?"

"Must have climbed down where nobody noticed, then sneaked
along the base of the cliff. We'll station swordsmen here as well as
archers, in case any more try the same trick."

Betty pointed over the lake. "Look! It's like a rainstorm of harpies out there!"

The archers did their work well. Their arrows struck true and
brought the monsters down like a rain of rocks. Sometimes they
spiraled like aircraft out of control.

Near the woods Kurt stood in a line of soldiers and slashed at
goblins as they advanced. They came in bunches with little respite
in between. He had killed three in rapid succession when a shriek
of terror came from somewhere near the stables. Heads snapped
around. The scream was that of a small child.

A harpie rose from the ground. In its talons something wiggled
and squirmed. Kurt gave a strangled cry and waved his sword in
useless fury. It was the smallest boy, the one he had tried so hard to
protect. The harpie sailed over the line of archers and flew out
over the lake. Wes shouted, "Hold your fire! A harpie has a boy!
Shoot only if you're sure he's clear!" The order ran up and down
the line. The hail of arrows lessened.

In shock Lisa stopped reading from the Book of Wisdom. Kurt
ran up. He raged, "Why didn't somebody watch him!" Then he
remembered, the abandoned boy had no one. Maybe he had even
run outside to look for Kurt.

The boy's capture distracted the soldiers at the forest edge. Goblins poured out of the trees and seized two men. With sword arms
pinned to their sides, they could do nothing to defend themselves.
The goblins dragged one swordsman into the woods before his
comrades could do anything to save him. The other they hacked
free, but he was severely wounded.

The harpie with the small boy soared impossibly high. Lisa said
desperately, "If it drops him in the lake, we can go out on the raft
and save him!" But she knew there would not be enough time.
However, the harpie did not drop the boy. Instead it swooped
down and along the cliff face, taunting them with its closeness.
The boy was now too terrified even to scream. Kurt tried to yell
encouragement. His words sounded ridiculous. Now the monster
crossed back and forth over the field while the other harpies (lived
in attack. Archers hesitated to shoot. The boy was the harpies' hostage, and they used him to full effect.

Emmy pointed far across the lake and cried, "What's that?"

Wes groaned, "What's Lunacy up to now?" A gigantic bird, bigger than any of the harpies, approached straight on at cliff height.
It flew with deep powerful wingbeats. Wes thought, Vulcanus! But
when the bird soared briefly, it held its wings flat rather than in a
vulture V.

The bird dipped its head. In the morning sunlight its neck
feathers flashed burnished bronze. Lisa shouted, "It's an eagle! A
golden eagle! I didn't think there were eagles anymore in Anthropos!"

The harpies darted at the eagle from all sides. It flew on as
though it did not see them. One of the monsters circled high above
the eagle and (lived. The bird ignored its approach. At the last
instant before the harpie would have hit, the eagle banked and slid
sideways and down. The harpie plunged wildly and hit the lake. It
struggled in the water for a short time and went under.

The eagle spiraled upward and resumed its flight toward the
clifftop. Other harpies harassed it. Always it evaded them. Two
more plunged into the lake before the rest pulled back and flew in
large circles at a safe distance. The watchers thought the monster
who held the small boy had stayed clear of the eagle. At least they
hadn't seem him fall.

Suddenly the eagle veered off and streaked straight at one of the
harpies. The two figures clashed in midair, wings flailing. They
broke apart, hovered a moment and clashed again. When the harpie broke free the second time, it fled toward the eastern sun. The
eagle pursued it, caught up and grabbed the monster's long hair in
its talons. It jerked the harpie to a halt and hovered, dangling the
monster above the lake. The harpie's great wings beat in fury but
the eagle's wings were stronger. The eagle had already swooped
low and dropped the monster in the lake when the sound of their
mixed screams arrived at the clifftop.

The eagle rose again. Another harpie circled above it and came
close. The eagle lunged at it but veered away at the last instant.
Something fell like a rock from the harpie's grasp. The boy! On
the field people screamed, none louder than Kurt. The eagle
folded its wings and plunged clown. The boy thrust out desperate hands as though he could break his fall. He was about to land flat
on the water when the eagle snagged the back of his shirt and rose
with the boy in his talons.

Gaal's followers cheered. The great bird flew straight toward
them. At the cliff it rode a current of air upward, spread its gigantic
wings to descend and set the boy on the ground in front of Kurt. It
flapped away a few yards and perched at the very edge of the cliff.
In a piercing voice with it hint of a rasp, the eagle announced, "Not
a decent tree on the place. Don't know how they expect a bird to
land."

"Vulcanus!" Wesley cried. The magnificent bird preened its
golden-brown feathers. Wes stammered, "How'd you get to be an
eagle? Why were you a vulture?"

The bird stared at them. His eyes were no longer small and
squinty; they were large and fierce. He said, "The Shepherd
changed me after you left the Gaal tree. For some time I had
sensed that my skull wanted to enlarge. I felt feathers poking out
from my head. Always I was told I was an eagle, but now in some
strange way I feel I truly am."

The little boy clung to him and wept freely and loudly. Betty
reported to Wes and Lisa, "Some scratches, but mostly scared half
to death. It'll take him a long time to get over it. Gosh, I wish we
could take him back to Canada and give him a real home."

Vulcanus spread his wings halfway. "Let us hope he does not
grow up with a fear of birds. Now I shall harass the goblins in the
name of the Lord Gaal!" The eagle rose and began to dive at the
goblins that broke through the line of soldiers. Lisa went back to
reading the powerful words of the book. The dome of blue light
expanded once more. All within earshot felt stronger and wielded
their slingshots with more skill. But Lisa's throat ached, and her
voice began to fade. Her arms were as tired as though the book
were large and heavy.

Betty detected the change. She asked, "Lisa, what's wrong?"

"Just tired," Lisa muttered.

"You've got to keep reading! I can feel the difference when you
do!"

A swordsman ran up to Lisa. His tunic was smeared with blood-both red human blood and green goblin blood. He gasped
out, "Lady Lisa, Lord Kurt bids you come and read the book near
our lines. We have lost several men, and the goblins now come
faster!"

Lisa felt faint. She didn't think she could even walk to forest, let
alone continue to read. "I can't," she said. "Wes has the Sword of
Geburah, doesn't he?"

"Yes, but he cannot slay them all, nor be in all places at once."

Lisa took a few faltering steps. The book felt unbearably heavy.
She couldn't drop it; she couldn't! But it fell from her grasp.

Betty caught the Book of Wisdom as it tumbled from the other
girl's hands. "I'll read from it, Lisa. Gaal let me find it in the Garden Room. He must think it's okay. You go into the field hospital
and rest."

Lisa nodded weakly. Betty accompanied her to the cottage and
handed Lisa her sword and said, "Here, I've got the book, so you
take my sword. And thanks." She hurried off to stand behind the
line of swordsmen. When she took up her position and began to
read, she had a moment of doubt. Would the dome of blue light
rise over her as it had over Lisa? After all, I gave in to Queen Hisschi's
offer of power. I thought I could do anything and everything without
Gaal. But he's forgiven me! Her voice trembled as she began to read.
The blue radiance rose and spread like a calm umbrella of peace.
Goblins shuddered and shrank back. Swordsmen slashed at them
and met little resistance. Betty's strong voice and the words of the
book turned the tide at the line of soldiers.