The Legend Thief (36 page)

Ambrosia, daughter of the Arkhon, had finally managed her monumental shift after biting Solomon-a shift that would, in the absence of the full moon, rapidly change her into a mind less Gloom. She had all but given her life for the attack, and it appeared she had every intention of making the most of it.

Chaos erupted.

Echo limbs flailed madly, smashing into people and sending them flying through the air.

Sky, Phineas, and Errand rushed toward Morton and his hunters.

Morton raised his midnight-blue hand and smoky darkness erupted out of the Eye. Sky felt it slam into him, repelling him, and then he was flying backward with Errand.

As
Sky flew through the air, he saw Phineas raise his shimmering blade and cut through the darkness. Phineas swung down, and a physical, smoky light erupted out of the blade, catching Morton in the chest and pitching him tumbling toward Solomon.

Sky and Errand climbed to their feet as Morton's hunters closed on Phineas. Sky saw Phineas slide his palm along the blade, and an Eye of Legend appeared on his hand, revealed somehow by the blade.

Sky and Errand charged once again, but the smoky light swirling around Phineas pushed them back.

Sky watched helplessly as Morton's hunters attacked. Phineas became a whirl of motion, smacking hunter after hunter with the flat of his blade to knock them out, his movements so precise, so perfect.

Morton Thresher dove into the ground like a Gnomon.
"Phineas!
He's gone underground!" Sky warned, still trying to get in close enough to help.

Phineas must have heard him because he
thunked
a hunter on the head, knocked him down, and then dove blade first into the ground.

With Phineas gone, Sky and Errand rushed in. Only six of Morton's hunters remained, leaving three each for Sky and Errand.

Sky swung with his branch and had it blocked by a kid with a sword. The kid smiled. The other two hunters attacked. Sky caught the first sword with his Tin shield. As the girl swung down, Sky uncurled the Tin, making it sharp. The sword slammed into it and split cleanly in two, leaving the girl stunned. Sky used the opening to ram her with his Tin, avoiding a slash from the second hunter at the same time.

The first hunter came at him and Sky blocked with his branch. The sword sheered into the wood and hit the knot ' getting stuck. Before the hunter could react, Sky twisted the branch, yanking the sword from the kid's hands, and then he flicked his wrist and smacked the kid on the head with the sword handle, driving him back.

The second hunter attacked again, and Sky blocked with his L-shaped sword-club- the sword still stuck in the knot. Sky spun the club and smacked the hunter on the head.

She stabbed, and Sky stepped to the side so that her sword went through the handle of the sword wedged into his club. Spinning, Sky yanked the sword from her hand so that now he was holding one end of a U.

They both stared at his strangely shaped weapon. But before either of them could do anything, Errand stepped up behind the girl and clocked her on the side of the head with the hilt of his sword, knocking her out.

"I was handling it," said Sky.

Errand looked at Sky's weapon, turning his head from side to side. "Nice weapon. What do you do with it?
Spell 'U stink'?"

Sky threw down the club. "Where's Phineas?"

The earth rumbled, low and deep, sending Sky and Errand stumbling, and then Phineas and Morton shot out, swords locked together, darkness streaming from their marks.

The darkness hit Sky and Errand, sending them flying in opposite directions.

Branchy limbs struck all around as Sky landed next to the flailing Echo and scrambled to his feet. The Echo began to roll. Sky leaped onto a limb, racing along its length to avoid being squashed. Another limb flashed by, and he jumped, landing hard. The limb curved upward and he ran and ran, leaping and scrambling from one limb to the next, the Echo rolling over and over.

He reached the edge of a limb, clinging to it as it carried him up and up. He'd nearly reached the wall. Through it, he saw a giant Harrow Knight draw its fist back.

"Oh no . . . ," Sky muttered, knowing what was coming. He'd seen these kinds of walls blow up before, and it was never pretty.

A shadow passed by overhead.
"Sky!
Jump!"
Andrew yelled. Without thinking, Sky pulled a Jumper canister from his coat, pointed down with a stiff arm, and activated it.

The Harrow Knight's burning fist hit the nearly unbreakable wall and passed right through it, igniting the plasma within.

The explosion was deafening.

Sky sailed up, and then T-Bone, Andrew, and Hands were yanking him onto the Darkhorn's back.

The Darkhorn darted forward, racing the flames from the exploding wall. They pitched and teetered, but stayed in the air as the shock waves washed over them.

Sky looked down into utter devastation. Plasma had ignited along the entire length of the wall, leveling it and everything within fifty yards.

Through the haze, Sky saw flashes of light and ribbons of darkness as Phineas and Morton fought on.

The plasma storm went mad. Bright lights swirled above, washing the landscape in eerie colors. Lightning crashed down again and again, and funnels touched the cornfields and gar dens, gobbling them up. The Darkhorn rocketed through it all, weaving and rolling as they hung on for dear life.

Rain poured from the plasma clouds in torrents, dousing the sputtering fires and washing away the haze. They swooped over Phineas and Morton, and Sky saw Errand fighting along side Phineas.

Phineas swung at Morton. Their blades crashed together. Errand shadow slipped behind Morton, stabbing with his sword. Morton shadow slipped out of the way, reappearing behind Errand,
then
wrapping his arm around Errand's neck.

Phineas raised his hand and darkness flooded out, sending both Errand and Morton flying. Even from where he was, Sky could feel that terrible darkness.

Before Errand flew too far, Phineas raised his blade. Vines shot out, wrapped around Errand, and kept him on his feet.

As
Morton flew, he, too, pointed his blade at Errand and snatched him with vines. Errand cut both sets with his sword and then dove into the ground, followed by Phineas and Morton.

And then, above the ever-rolling thunder, Sky heard Solomon Rose laughing.

Near the shattered wall, Sky saw what remained of Bedlam's army streaming over the ruins and, closer,
he
spot ted the two burning Echo. Solomon stood tall, and the rain doused out his fires. Sky watched in horror as Solomon's eyes- the eyes Errand had destroyed the year before with a candleholder-regrew and became white and pupil-less once again. The wall was finally broken. Solomon could shift. The world was doomed.

Solomon laughed maniacally, raising his great Echo mouth to the sky in triumph.

Ambrosia lay at Solomon's feet, her body shrinking and growing and writhing chaotically as it burned. The Gloom had taken her, if she wasn't already dead.

From high up, Sky saw hordes of monsters streaming toward the manor from the Finger of Erachnus. A small band of hunters stood on the Finger's tip, fighting against over whelming numbers.

And farther south, he saw the surviving hunters fleeing for Arkhon Academy. Monsters closed from all sides, overrunning the school and heading for Exile.

"We've lost," Sky muttered in shock.

“Sky!
The blade!”
Andrew shouted, shoving Alexander’s shimmering blade into his hands. “Phineas gave it to us after you left it behind. He didn't want Morton and Solomon to know you had it. We can still stop this- where's Bedlam?"

"It doesn't matter. I tried to open the Chrysalis, but I don't know how."

"Think, Sky; there has to be an answer!" Hands yelled.

Sky frowned. He pulled out the seed and the note they'd recovered from the bowling alley. "It occurred to me earlier that this might be related, but I don't know how. Whoever sent it claimed it could stop Bedlam's army, but the only way I know how to stop Bedlam's army is to free Bedlam. Maybe you guys can figure it out." He read:

When Hope, Patience, and Vengeance fail, and the broken world around you breaks, plant this seed within your heart, and avail to free a soul and mend mistakes.

"What does it mean?'' T-Bone asked.

"I don't know," Sky replied. "But I think it's related. According to Morton, the First Hunter named the two monocles Hope and Vengeance, and the watch Patience."

"And them failing could refer to the prison opening," said Andrew.

Below, Sky saw Solomon marching toward Phineas and Errand as they fought Morton.

"Well, the seed is obviously that seed you're holding," said T-Bone. "But how are you supposed to plant it in your heart?"

"And the soul could be Bedlam-the mistake Alexander's," Sky added. "Bedlam never should have been locked up."

"It's love!" Hands cried.

"What?" said
Sky.

"The answer to the riddle is love! When Hope, Patience, and Vengeance fail, you plant this seed-love-in your heart to make things better. That's the thing that will stop Bedlam's army! We need to love them!"

Everyone was silent.

"That's the worst interpretation I've ever heard," Andrew muttered.

T-Bone nodded, but Sky started laughing.

"The answer is love!" Sky exclaimed.
"The Edge of Oblivion
claims that Bedlam can only break free when he has a pure heart filled with love! The seed is the answer!
But how?"

“Hands, take over flying the Darkhorn. And try not to kill us. We'll do the thinking," T-Bone said.

"It was a good solution-!
was
right," Hands replied, sounding offended as they plummeted in a way that made Sky's stomach shoot into his mouth.
"Hands!"

"Sorry, got it now!"

"It's a good solution, but all it tells us is that the seed is part of this," said Sky. "I still have no idea what to do with it!"

Below, Solomon roared. Sky glanced down and saw Solomon staring back up at him. Solomon's wings beat down once, twice, and then he was off, his body shifting and rippling until he looked like an even larger version of the Darkhorn.

"Think faster!" Andrew yelled.

Sky ignored him, his heart beating madly in his chest as he examined the seed.

The Darkhorn swooped.

They plunged toward the earth, twirling. Solomon darted over their heads. The Darkhorn pulled out, racing away from the manor. They soared over the Finger of Erachnus.

Malvidia stood on the tip, fighting alongside Em, T-Bone's mom, Hagos, and a few others as monsters swarmed them.

The Darkhorn curved south, Solomon bellowing and raging behind them.

They flew over the school. Below, Sky saw Osmer, Beau, Dad, and Hannah leading the hunters and students in a final, desperate charge.

They banked west, soaring over the broken stadium. The Darkhorn closed her wings and sailed through the remaining goalpost. Solomon followed, but his overlarge body slammed into the sides, ripping the post from the ground. Solomon spread his wings again with a roar, and the goalpost split in two and tumbled to the ground.

The move had gained them a few precious seconds. "Hal" Hands exclaimed.

The Darkhorn faltered left, then right.

"If you're going to drive, then drive!"
T-Bone bellowed. Hands turned his attention back to the Darkhorn.

The ground around the manor trembled. Solomon closed on them.

"The blade ... it eats things! The gems can be removed!

This is it! The seed is the gem!" Sky cried. "I've got it."

He held the seed and stabbed it with the sword. The golden ichor inside the seed-Bedlam's lifeblood- flowed out and into the blade.

Sky felt a jerk, and then the blade shot out of his hands and spun in the air. Faster and faster it went, shimmering like a star.

Light burst
out,
followed by a shock wave that sent the Darkhorn reeling, and then the sword plunged into the earth.

A moment.

A breath.

One.

Two.

The earth exploded, sending ripples across the yard and ripping the front porch from the manor.

Bedlam shot out.

Darkness rolled around him in waves, and his face was terrible to behold, half rusted green copper, half gray flesh, and all mad.

Bedlam looked up, and Sky saw the Eye of Legend staring at him, not as a puffy mark of swirling dark, but as an actual
eye,
alive and menacing.

The land beneath Bedlam's feet began to crack and die. Solomon dove at Bedlam. But before he could get even halfway to him, writhing darkness rocketed out of Bedlam's Eye, swatting Solomon from the air. Solomon plummeted, plowing a deep furrow through the cornfields.

As Bedlam's army surged across the yard, Bedlam stomped his foot, the ground rippled, and the entire army fell, flames dying, copper disappearing.

Sky watched the wave crash down the hill, all the way to the Finger of Erachnus. He saw Malvidia and the others struggling for their lives on top of the Finger. As the wave washed over it, Bedlam's army toppled.

Bedlam chuckled. "Now this is more like it!"

The Darkhorn lurched and Hands cried out. "What happened?" T-Bone yelled.

"He's taken it! Bedlam wants his horse back," said Hands, rubbing his temples.

"I think it's his wife," Andrew corrected.

Sky saw Solomon climb to his feet and assess the situation ... and then fly off.

"He's running!" T-Bone yelled. "The great Solomon Rose is running!"

Several shadowy
creatures-Moonriders-rose
from the trees south of the Finger, and Sky saw Hagos Adera and a small group of hunters chasing after Solomon.

The Darkhorn landed next to Bedlam.

"Off!" Bedlam ordered.

"You can't!" Sky said, refusing to move. "You promised! Crystal and her mom first! You have to heal them!"

Bedlam growled. "You would allow Solomon Rose to escape?"

"If it saves Crystal and her mom, I'd let Legend himself escape," Sky declared.

"You wouldn't say that if you'd met him." Bedlam glowered at them and stepped forward, preparing to throw them bodily from the Darkhorn.

"You promised," Sky pleaded. "You
promised."

Far away, they saw Hagos and Solomon growing smaller and smaller until they disappeared completely over the horizon, but Sky kept his eyes on Bedlam. Bedlam ground his teeth. "Let's see to your friend."