The Dark Lord's Demise (46 page)

A few soldiers lowered their swords and stumbled forward. They
had marched all night to get here. All morning they had fought
life-and-death battles. Exhaustion lay heavy on them. The peace of
the fires, the music and the green field beckoned. They did not
want to fight anymore.

Wesley ached to go forward into that peace. Surely Gaal had
won the battle and made peace with his enemies! He took a tentative step, then another. Something scratched his scalp. He reached
up to hit at it, but halfway there his hand stopped. The pigeon! He
felt it scratch him again. This time it hurt so much, Wes was sure it
must have drawn blood. The pain woke him up. He shouted, "No!
Those peaceful scenes are Lunacy's lies! The battle is not over!"

The peaceful view dissolved. The harpies no longer sat on the
ground and combed their hair but (lived from the air and snatched
at Gaal's followers. Winged goblins cackled and swarmed overhead
and threw their rocks of fire. Boarwartz were not giant hogs in a
mud puddle but raging beasts with murderous tusks. Lisa and Kurt joined Wes to attack them with swords and slingshots. Betty read
from the book and hoped her voice and strength would hold out.

In the air above Lake Nachash, the dragon of the Mystery let
loose a roar that echoed up and down the lakeshore. The thing
now showed itself not only as a head but as an entire scaly, redwinged dragon. The beast writhed and lashed its tail so violently
that waves churned in a circle beneath it. Something caught its
furious attention. It turned its wrath away from the clifftop. The
enemy it hungered for, its true opponent, now advanced through
the air to do battle.

Gaal was mounted on Philo and armed with the Sword of
Geburah. The winged horse flew unafraid straight at the dragon.
The dragon shot out fire. Philo passed so near that his mane must
surely have been singed. Gaal slashed at one of the dragon's wings
and wounded it. The beast roared in pain and anger. Its flight was
hampered, but its fury was multiplied. Gaal circled away. He held
Philo back so the winged horse hovered above the lake.

Gail's voice rang out. It echoed not only across Lake Nachash
and the Forest of Darkness and the Island of Geburah but across
the ages of Anthropos. "I call on the warriors of all time to come to
my final battlefield! I summon my followers of all centuries to witness the defeat of the Mystery of Abomination!"

At the sound of Gaal's voice, the forces of the Mystery faltered.
The pace of battle slowed. Clouds stirred behind the dragon. Betty
glanced up from the book and stared in amazement. The Friesens
gasped in recognition. Figures appeared in the air beyond the
Dark Lord's terrible form.

Lisa cried, "It's Kardia! And there's Suneidesis! Tigvah, look!"
King Tigvah gazed at the faces of his parents. His own face was
bathed in smiles and tears.

"Authentio!" Kurt yelled. "And there's his mother, Illith! And
there's Chocma! Betty, she's the one who read from the book!"

The sturdy figures of Matmon appeared. Wes waved and called
out, "Inkleth! Bomgrith! Billingrath!" Giant wolves stalked across
the sky. Swiftlope and the other Koach howled as they recognized
their warrior ancestors Garfong and Whitefur.

The dragon flailed its injured wing. Gaal urged Philo forward. He swung the Sword of Geburah and slashed the other wing. The
beast shot fire and smoke and lashed its tail. The lake roiled
beneath it in a more violent circle. It lunged its full red scaly length
and bit at Gaal with its glistening fangs. Gaal pivoted Philo and cut
it deep gash across the dragon's head. Red fire gushed out, which
Gaal escaped with a skillful turn and dive.

Gaal's followers stood transfixed. At first they did not hear the
low drone from the forest behind them. The Friesens and Betty
heard it first because it was so fearfully familiar. It was the roar
they had heard on another lakeshore, the shore of Lake Bamah.

A swarm of weaver bees poured out of the forest and rolled
across the heads of the crowd. The swarm was so huge, it must
surely have contained every weaver bee in Anthropos. Gaal's followers ducked, but the bees paid no attention to them. They surrounded the monsters of the Mystery. The bees drove the ogres,
goblins, boancartz and all the Dark Lord's forces toward the edge
of the cliff and trapped them there. They surrounded the flying
goblins and harpies and kept them penned in midair.

Gaal rode twice around the dragon while it dove and snapped
and slashed at him in vain. Its thrashing tail roiled the waters once
more. The waters of Lake Nachash began a slow whirl like a circular current. The current ran faster. Beneath the dragon a depression formed in the water. Tiqvah cried out, "Whirlpool! Never have
I seen a whirlpool in Lake Nachash! What means this? Have all the
laws of nature changed?" The speed of the whirlpool increased.
One by one it picked up the empty boats of Lunacy's night patrol
and swept them around and down. The weaver bees surged forward. Without mercy they drove the forces of the Mystery off the
cliff and clown through the air into the swirling waters. The whirlpool caught them all in its current and sucked them downward.

The whirlpool spun ever deeper; yet it never revealed the lakebed, as though it reached even beyond the bottom of the lake. At
first, the farther it descended, the darker were its depths. Then a
glare of light rose from the deepest center. The light circled
upward and merged with the spinning water. The whirlpool of lake
became it whirlpool of fire beneath the dragon of the Mystery.

The dragon opened its mouth and emitted a roar that changed into a scream and then a wail. Gaal rode in so close it seemed the
monstrous mouth would swallow him. He raised the Sword of
Geburah high above his head. For a heart-stopping instant he hesitated. Then the sword came down and split the dragon's head in
two. The beast plummeted down into the whirlpool of fire and followed its doomed forces into fiery depths.

The whirlpool slowed. It grew shallower, calmed and flattened.
The surface of Lake Nachash began to rise. Its waves lapped
almost to the edge of the cliff. The deep blue changed to a multitude of colors. Where there had been water, there was now an
expanse of long grass, heather, gorse and wildflowers between the
royal lodge grounds and the Island of Geburah.

The island itself was changing. The fortress widened, expanded
and opened up into a great stately room of cream and gold marble.
From clouds high above descended a form like a golden chair. It
settled slowly in the room. As soon as the chair was in place, it was
as though it had been there forever.

Kurt shouted, "It's a throne! And Gaal's riding toward it! It's his
throne!"

Gaal rode Philo slowly across the field, which was now a throne
room. When he reached the throne, he dismounted and walked up
its steps with a regal tread. He took his place on the throne while
his followers bowed low. When he said, "Look up again!" they half
expected Gaal to regard them with an expression of distant majesty. Instead he gave a smile of warm acceptance that filled the
magnificent room with light.

"My friends, welcome to my Bayith of Yayin! Here I have established my throne forever. Come and feast on the delights I have
prepared. Rejoice in my presence forever, for I will never leave
you. The whole world is now my Bayith of Yayin!"

King Tigvah was the first to approach the throne. He knelt
before Gaal, and for a moment the two talked in words no one else
could hear. Kardia and Suneidesis came into the room. Tiqvah
stood and embraced them. Now all the others hurried toward the
throne. Charaban's limp was gone. He ran like a young man. But
even he could hardly keep up with the little boy who sprinted like
mad toward the throne of Gaal.

Lisa turned her head to wipe away a tear of joy. She said, "Look
behind us! It's the Garden Room!" They turned to see that the
royal lodge grounds had become a wide valley with flowering trees
and the bright ribbon of a stream.

In the living room on Grosvenor Avenue, John McNab stared at
the wall above the fireplace. Eleanor said something to him from
the kitchen, but he didn't answer. She came in and snapped in an
irritated voice, "I'm talking to you! Why don't you ever listen to
me?"

For once John did not defend himself or argue back. He only
pointed and said, "The Sword of Geburah is gone."

Eleanor also stared. "The sword isn't all that's missing," she said.
"Dinner is ready in the kitchen, but the kids are gone."

They turned to look at each other. Their puzzled expressions
cleared into the beginnings of understanding. They looked back
toward the fireplace wall. Now the wall itself was gone! It was as
though it had dissolved and opened up into a mansion next door.
They saw into a room of gold and cream marble with columns,
banners, tapestries and tables laden with food. Musicians strolled
and played, though they could not hear them. People swirled into
view. They talked, laughed and danced-but still John and
Eleanor heard none of their merriment. Then Eleanor gasped and
caught John's arm. "It's the kids! There's Wes, Lisa, Kurt-and
who's that girl with them?"

They stepped closer to the wall that was no longer a wall.
Eleanor still clutched John's arm. Normally they would have
stopped when they reached the wall, or the place where one
should have been. But now they kept going. They stepped into
the throne room of Gaal. The burst of sound almost hurt their
ears.

"It's Gaal!"John said. "He's on the throne! I've never seen him
on a throne! What's happened?"

Gaal turned toward John. His eyes shone with recognition and
welcome. John and Eleanor longed to hear him speak, but other
voices came to their ears first.

"Aunt Eleanor! Uncle John! You're in Anthropos!" Their niece
and nephews ran to meet them. John and Eleanor surveyed the
scene like people who return to a house where they once lived. It
was all so familiar. It felt like home.

"I'd almost forgotten what it was like," Eleanor said. `John, why
couldn't it have been like this forever?"

"It is going to be like this forever," Lisa answered. "And you'll be
here with us! Oh, excuse me. This is Betty Riggs. She's our new
neighbor. I mean our new neighbor back in Canada. We fixed her
a special welcome dinner."

"We saw it," Eleanor said vaguely. As she looked around, her
nostalgia grew like a painful lump in her throat.

John could hardly speak either. He said, "I'd forgotten how it
feels to be here and to be in Gaal's presence. This used to be so
much part of us."

"It was more than part of us; it was in us," Eleanor said. "Why
can't we feel like this back in Winnipeg?"

Kurt was frustrated. Didn't they get it? "You don't have to go back
to Winnipeg! Gaal has defeated the Mystery of Abomination!
We're all going to stay here forever!"

The crowd stirred and parted. Gaal, now with a crown of gold
on his white hair, rose from the throne and walked toward them
with sure strides. He smiled. His wonderful eyes glowed with
warmth. He reached out his hands and said, `John and Eleanor!
The final victory is mine. The Changer has now changed all of
Anthropos. This is the New Anthropos where the old has passed
away. All the enemies of the Emperor are gone forever, and those
who are my loyal followers shall enjoy being with me now and
without end.

"Once more, for the last time, you see all your friends of Anthropos. But (to not fear. The household of the Sword Bearer shall ever
enjoy the gladness of my presence."

Gaal extended his hands. John and Eleanor reached out to him.
He was only a step away. And then suddenly, they found themselves looking at the fireplace wall in the living room in the house
on Grosvenor Avenue. Near them stood Lisa, Betty, Kurt and Wesley in their normal clothes. The space where the Sword of Geburah should have been was empty, and the house smelled like
roast beef.

"But we-we're-" "How did-" "What happened to-" Everyone sputtered something at once, and none of it made sense.

"We're back," Wes said in a dull voice. "I guess that settles it."

"Gaal said, `Once more for the last time,' " said Eleanor. "But
maybe he means that for John and me, not for you."

"He mentioned the household of the Sword Bearer," Lisa
responded. "I think he means all of us."

"What did he mean about always having the-what was it?"
Betty asked.

"The gladness of his presence,"John repeated. He looked at the
rest of them. "I have an idea. There's food in there, and we're all
hungry. Let's talk about it while we eat."

"It won't be as good as the food in the Bayith of Yayin," Lisa
apologized.

For the first time in a long time, Uncle John's eyes twinkled.
"Oh, I don't know about that."

Around the table the six of them talked and talked. The four
children told all their adventures. John and Eleanor listened. They
warned Betty to be careful who she told about Anthropos because
most people wouldn't believe her.