The Merchant of Death (25 page)

I entered to find that it was another abandoned avenue. The ore-car railroad tracks were old and rotten. This must have been one the first tunnels they dug off the main cavern. I wondered how long ago that was. Years? Decades? Centuries? I also wondered why Rellin and the other miner were down here. I found my answer a few yards in. As with many of the other tunnels, there was a chamber dug out of the rock off to the side. But unlike the cell where I had just slept, this one had a wooden door to it. I took a quick look around to see if I was being watched, then opened the door and went inside.

It was a room about twice the size of the one I had just slept in, and this one was packed full of equipment. At first I thought this was where they kept their mining tools, but on closer inspection I saw the truth. This wasn't digging equipment, this was an armory loaded with weapons! There were hundreds of spears like the ones Uncle Press had lashed to the side of the sled we rode from the top of the mountain. I was surprised to see their sharp metal tips gleaming in the light. The Milago weren't allowed to use metal tools except in the mines, but I was sure they weren't allowed to make weapons, either.

One side of the room was full of these spears. Below them were stacks and stacks of arrows. There must have been thousands. Across from them were the bows for the arrows. Probably a hundred in all. This looked to be a pretty formidable arsenal. Then I saw something that didn't quite make sense. There were large baskets placed along the back wall. I recognized them as the baskets they used to bring the glaze to the surface. These baskets were full, but not with glaze. I walked over to them and picked up one of the items inside. It was a small, sturdy stick about six inches long.
Attached to one end were two thin, leather straps about eighteen inches long. At the other end of the strap, a leather pouch the size of a baseball card was attached. I looked at the strange contraption trying to figure out what it could be. And then I got it. It was a slingshot! An old-fashioned slingshot! These guys didn't have rubber, so it wasn't the kind that you could stretch back and snap to propel stones. With this thing you had to hold the wooden stick and kind of fling the stone. There must have been a couple hundred of these babies in the baskets.

As I stood there holding the slingshot, I was struck with a sad thought. Rellin was right. The Milago were not prepared to do battle with Kagan's knights. These slingshots were pitiful. Sure, we all knew the story about David slaying Goliath, but that was just a story. How did these guys think they could stand a chance against trained, killer knights in armor by using these toys? The spears looked a little more dangerous. The arrows did too, but did the Milago even know how to use them? Suddenly Rellin's concern seemed very real to me. If they tried to fight the Bedoowan, they'd be slaughtered.

I was just about to drop the slingshot back in its basket, when somebody reached out and grabbed it from my hand!

I turned in surprise to see Figgis. He danced away from me, swinging the slingshot over his head.

“Changed your mind, have you?” he chirped. “Ready to make a trade?”

“I don't want anything from you,” I said as strongly as I could.

“No? I have many things you may need,” he said with a toothless smile. “How about this?”

He took something from his waist pouch and held it up to me. It was a red Swiss Army knife.

“That's mine!” I shouted and grabbed it away from him. “You went through my pack! What else did you take?” The mystery of why my pack was worked over had been solved. Figgis didn't put up a fight for it. He just cackled out a wheezy laugh.

“I know what you really need,” he said slyly. “I know, I know.”

“What do I need?” I asked, losing patience.

“You need tak,” he announced. “I am the one, the only one who can get it for you.”

Tak. There was that word again.

“What is tak?” I asked.

Figgis laughed again and reached into his waist pouch.

“Tak is the answer,” he said reverently. “Tak is the hope.”

Whatever tak was, it couldn't be very big because it fit in his pouch. He was just about to pull it out . . . when Rellin walked in.

“Figgis!” he shouted.

Figgis instantly pulled his hand out of the pouch, empty. He looked incredibly guilty.

“You should not have brought him here, old man,” Rellin chastised.

Figgis cowered and ran out of the room like a guilty puppy. Whatever tak was, it was clear he did not want Rellin to know that he was trying to sell me some.

“I am sorry you saw this room,” he said, sounding tired. “I do not want you to think we still have hope of fighting the Bedoowan. These weapons will soon be destroyed.”

Something wasn't right. Rellin wasn't telling me the whole truth. I figured since he wasn't being totally up front with me, then I should be careful about what I said to him. So I didn't mention the tak thing that Figgis was trying to sell me.

“I guess you gotta do what you gotta do”, was all I could think of saying.

I didn't like being there, especially since there was something going on that I wasn't clear on. The best thing for me to do then was leave. So I walked past Rellin and out the door. He didn't say another word to me.

Once away from there, my thoughts went back to the problem at hand, which was Uncle Press. So I ran back to the cell where my gear was. When I stepped inside that room, I saw that Loor and Alder were there and they were going through my stuff! They had it spread out all over the floor. Wasn't there any such thing as privacy around here?

“Hey!” I shouted.

Alder jumped back, embarrassed. But Loor kept right on rummaging.

“I am looking for the weapons you brought back,” she said without a hint of apology. “I see no weapons here.” She said this while shaking one of the yellow walkie-talkies you sent.

I grabbed it from her and said, “I didn't get any weapons. I wouldn't even know how to use a weapon.”

“Then this is all useless,” she spat out.

“That's what you think,” I said and handed her back the walkie-talkie. I then found the other walkie-talkie and stepped to the far side of the room. I put it up to my mouth, hit the send button and said, “Boo!”

Both Loor and Alder jumped in surprise. Loor threw the walkie-talkie away like it was hot. Alder caught it and then he threw it too. Man, how excellent was that? It was the exact reaction I was hoping for.

“What is this magic?” asked Alder with wide eyes.

“It isn't magic,” I said. “You gotta understand, my territory is way more advanced than here. Things like this are pretty
common where I come from. It's not magic, it's science.”

I picked up the small CD boom box you sent and hit Play. Instantly the first track started to play. It was a headbanger rock song with thrashing guitars that sent Loor and Alder into a panic. They covered their ears and ran to the far side of the room like frightened rabbits. It was awesome. I didn't want to prolong their agony so I turned the music off quickly. The two sat there staring at me with wide, frightened eyes.

“Still think we need weapons?” I asked with a sly smile.

Then I saw something that totally blew me away. Loor looked to me and, believe it or not, she smiled.

“I like this science,” she said.

“Me too,” added Alder.

So far so good. Their reactions gave me hope that my ideas might work. The trick was to use this stuff the right way and the time to do that was coming fast. I took a quick inventory and saw that you were able to get everything except for the flashlight. You guys are amazing. I was a little surprised to see that none of the stuff was mine though. I didn't mean for you to go out and get new stuff, or to send your own, Mark. But after I thought about it, I realized that it would have been hard for you to go to my house and get my stuff. My parents would have asked questions and that would have been tricky. So as soon as I can, I'll repay you for everything.

I gave one of the walkie-talkies to Loor and showed her how to use it. If we got split up, these would be crucial. The rest of the equipment I put back in the pack. Alder then added something that was a little surprising. He gave us each clothes that the Bedoowan wear inside the palace. They were simple pants and jackets with long sleeves. The pants had pockets and were tied with a drawstring. The jackets closed
with buttonlike pieces of wood. They were light, almost pastel colors of green and blue. But the thing that really jumped out at me was that they were soft. The material was some kind of cotton and they were really comfortable. Even the leather shoes were comfortable. If I didn't know better, I'd guess that the Bedoowan did their shopping at The Gap. It really struck me how the Milago lived their lives wearing rough, smelly caveman skins while the Bedoowan wore these coolio, comfortable clothes that were like pajamas.

Loor didn't want to wear them. She wanted Alder to get us armor from the knights. But Alder explained that the knights were not allowed to wear their armor in the palace. If we were seen inside wearing armor, the Bedoowan would instantly take notice and we'd be lost. Wearing the clothes he gave us was our best chance of blending in. Loor didn't like it, but she couldn't argue with the logic, so we quickly dressed in the Bedoowan outfits.

Alder also had something else of value—a map of the palace. It was crude and drawn roughly on some parchment paper, but it was good enough. It didn't show everything, but it had the key areas we needed to worry about: the cell area where Uncle Press was being held and the guard quarters where the knights stayed. Everything seemed in place except for one small detail. Maybe the most important detail of all.

“This is all good,” I said. “But how are we going to get in?”

“There is a way,” Alder said. “The Bedoowan do not know of it and very few of the Milago are aware. My brother showed it to me the day before he died.”

Now there was some new information. Alder had a brother who died. I wanted to know what that was all about, but now was not the time for chitchat.

“Then let's go,” I said.

I put on the pack and followed the others out of the cell. Rather than turn for the main mine shaft to climb to the surface, Alder led us to one of the ore cars.

“No sense in all of us walking”, said Alder. “Jump in.”

Wherever we were going, it was underground. Loor and I climbed into the ore car and Alder started to push. We headed down the track of yet another tunnel off the main cavern. As we passed some miners, they barely took notice of us. These poor guys were like the living dead.

Alder was a pretty strong guy and he pushed us along with ease. Luckily the tunnel was flat, so maybe it wasn't all that hard anyway. We traveled for a long time and went pretty deep into the mine. After a while it got totally dark, but it wasn't like we had to make a turn or anything, so Alder kept on pushing. As the tunnel started to grow brighter, I looked ahead and saw a small spot of light way in the distance. Before I could ask what it was, Alder said, “The tunnel leads to the sea. The end is not far from here. You cannot enter from the outside because the opening is high in the bluffs. It is to bring fresh air into the mines.”

Fresh air, yeah, right. Not fresh enough to get rid of the poisonous gas that was killing all the miners. I then noticed something else weird. Throughout all the tunnels, the walls looked the same. They were made of solid, craggy rock that had been chiseled out by hand. But here it was different. Along one side of the tunnel were round, stone columns. They were wide too, maybe three feet in diameter, and looked to me like big ancient columns from Greek ruins.

“The miners uncovered these by accident many years ago,” Alder said. “They are the foundation of the Bedoowan palace.”

Whoa! That meant we were directly under the fortress!

“The Bedoowan do not know that the Milago have tunneled
under their palace”, Alder added. “If they did, they would have closed this tunnel off and killed some miners in punishment.”

There must have been about twenty of these pillars and they were roughly ten yards apart. I saw off to the side, between two of the stone pillars, another tunnel. Actually it was more like a small recess, because just inside it was a ladder. Obviously this ladder led up into the palace. Gulp.

“No one knows why this secret entrance was created,” said Alder as we climbed out of the ore car. “It is older than any of the miners who are alive today.”

I stood at the bottom of the ladder and looked up. I then looked back at the others. It was show time.

“Let's make sure we're all on the same page,” I said. “Our plan is to get to the cell where they're keeping Uncle Press as quietly as possible. If this becomes a fight, we'll lose.” I said this while looking straight at Loor. She looked away from me. I knew she agreed, but it was killing her.

“Alder,” I said. “Can you get us to the cell area?”

“Yes, I think so,” was his answer.

“You think or you know?” I didn't want anything left to chance.

“I know,” came his more confident reply.

“Good,” I said.

“But it is not going to be as easy to get back unnoticed,” he added.

“And that is when we fight,” said Loor.

“Yeah, whatever,” I said, and turned for the ladder. Jeez, she had a one-track mind. It wasn't until I got halfway up the ladder that I realized I didn't want to be the first one up. What was I thinking? I had no idea what might be waiting for me on top. But it was too late now; we weren't about to change places while dangling in the air. So I continued to climb and ended
up on a dark shelf of stone. The ceiling was also stone and it was so low that I couldn't stand up straight. The others quickly joined me.

“Now what?” I asked.

Alder knew exactly where to go. He walked a few feet along the stone ledge and then raised his hands. I looked to see that above him was a wooden door. A trapdoor! Alder pushed it up easily, then hoisted himself through it. Loor was next. She easily pulled herself up. It wasn't as easy for me. Not only was I shorter, but I had the pack on. I stood below the open trapdoor looking up and said, “Uh, excuse me? Little help, please?”