The Warble (21 page)

Rumalock nervously
twirled his beard around his finger, as he usually did when trying to remember
something. Then, fearing the outcome, but knowing he must, he asked, “What was
it exactly that you wanted me to do with the other three children, dearest
queen?”

Queen Sentiz’s temper
began to rise as she stared down at him with a trembling face. She turned pink,
then red, and finally purple. Her eyes began to bulge out of her head, and her
thin lips shriveled up to almost nothing. Rumalock slowly lifted his arms over
his head and then shrunk to the floor, as if to defend himself from what might
possibly be his own death. As he waited for what seemed to be his unavoidable
fate, all he could hear was the sound of his own heart beating and the queen’s
loud breathing through her flared nostrils. He was expecting something hard to
come down on him and crush him, but nothing did.

instead, an odd thing
happened—Queen Sentiz suddenly regained her composure, and her face went back
to its normal pale, gaunt appearance. She took a deep breath and calmly said,
“I realize that I must be more patient with your inferior species, no matter
how trying it is.”

Rumalock suspected that
she really just didn’t want to deal with going out in the cold to get the
children, which she’d have to do if he were killed. Regardless, he slowly moved
from his curled up position on the floor with his arms over his head and turned
to look up at the queen. “Do you really mean it, dearest queen? Will you take
time out of your precious day to explain it to me once again?”

“Yes, yes. Now get up,”
The queen said. Rumalock slowly rose to his feet and stood before his tall
dictator, who cast a long dark shadow over him. “Now listen to me very
carefully. I want you to go out of this tent, to the place where the three
children are being held, and let them know that we will be going for a little
hike.”

“Yes, my lady.”

There was silence
again. Rumalock dared not move.

“Well, what are you
waiting for? For hell to freeze over?”

“No, of course not, we
wouldn’t want that,” Rumalock said, as he started for the tent flaps.

While he was untying
the flaps, the queen said, “I think you might be needing these.”

Rumalock turned around,
and she threw three ropes on the floor at his feet. “Do you think these are
really necessary?”

The queen’s eyes began
to bulge again, and her lips began to shrivel.

“Yes, I suppose they
are.” Rumalock answered his own question.

As he trudged up the
mountain toward the tent where Davina, Graham, and Hester were being held, the
harsh wind blew at him and made it very difficult for him to walk. He fell down
and had a very hard time getting back up, however, he finally made it to the
tent.

Inside, the three
children sat huddled close together in a crate. They’d each been given a small
dwarf cape, but they had nothing else to keep them warm. Even though it was
freezing outside, they still had the strength to argue with each other.

“Quit breathing your
putrid breath on me. It smells like road kill,” Hester said to Graham.

“Would you rather have
me move to the other side?” Graham made an effort to breathe the words out
towards her face.

“I would, but then we’d
probably freeze to death.”

“Then don’t complain.”

“I don’t know about you
two, but if someone doesn’t get us out of here soon, we’re going to turn into
ice statues,” Davina said through chattering teeth.

Graham caught sight of
the tent’s door flaps moving. “Someone’s coming,” he said in a loud whisper.

The three of them
couldn’t see who it was because it was dark in the tent. Rumalock entered,
carrying the ropes. He dropped them on the floor, which startled Hester, so
that she huddled even closer to Graham. Rumalock lit a lantern, and the
children peered through the crate’s bars, trying to see who he was. Hester was
the first to notice that it was Rumalock. “It’s about time you showed up. Do
you realize that you and your fellow little people are going to be charged with
child abuse?”

Rumalock didn’t answer
but went to shut the tent door flaps because the icy wind was blowing in
through them. Then he picked up the ropes and the lantern and walked up to the
crate to get a better view of the three children. “You look very cold,” he said
to them.

“Please, could you get
us out of here?” Davina pleaded.

“I’ll tell you what. If
you cooperate with me, I will take you to a much more comfortable and warmer
tent for some hot cocoa and a bite to eat.”

The three children
looked at each other, and then Hester said, “I suppose we’ll cooperate.”

“Good. I will let you
out, one at a time,” Rumalock unlocked the crate. “Boy, you come out first.”
Graham went out of the crate. “Now turn around and put your hands behind your
back.”

“What for?” Graham
blurted.

“Listen, I can leave
you here in the cold if you don’t do as I say.”

“Just do as he says,”
Davina cried out, shivering.

Graham put his hands
behind his back and Rumalock tied them. Then he let the girls out, one at a
time, and tied their hands behind their backs as well.

“Why are you treating
us like criminals?” Hester asked.

“It’s the queen’s
orders.” Rumalock quickly picked up a whip that had been leaning against the
table and snapped it in the air. “Now don’t try to run away. It’s nothing but a
stormy blizzard outside and there is no one out there to help you.”

The three children were
so cold, and their teeth were chattering so loudly that they didn’t even try to
respond.

Rumalock looked at them
through his squinty eyes and said, “Very good.”

He walked back to the
tent’s entrance and untied the door flaps. A gust of bone-chilling wind blew
in, directly at them. “After you.” He indicated that they should pass by him.
The three slowly exited the tent, and Rumalock followed. Once outside, they
heard a voice behind them say, “Are my lovely guests enjoying their stay?” They
turned around to see Queen Sentiz.

The howling winds and falling snow
showed no mercy on Werrien, Kristina, Ugan, and Retzel. They could now see the
very top of Mount Bernovem. Werrien took the map out again to try and find the
exact place where they needed to deliver the Warble. The map showed that its
resting place was in a small cave on the north side of the mountain, near its
peak.

“I was up here once
before, a long time ago, with my father so I might be able to recognize the
place from the map. May I have a closer look at it?” Retzel said.

Werrien handed the map
to him. Retzel held it very close to his eyes to get a better view, but a very
strong gust of wind blew at them and swept the map right out of his hands. The
four franticly grabbed for it, but it was no use—it was quickly carried away by
the wind, down the mountain.

“I’m so sorry!”
Retzel’s face had guilt written all over it. No one said a word, but it was
clear from the look on each of their faces that no one expected to find the
Warble’s resting place now. “I have caused you all nothing but trouble.” Retzel
looked very sad.

“Wait a minute—what’s
that over there?” Werrien pointed up the mountain.

“It looks like a wolf,”
Ugan said.

The animal stared down
at them, then turned around and disappeared into the side of the mountain.

“It must have gone into
a cave,” Kristina said.

“Let’s follow it,”
Werrien said.

It took every bit of
their strength to reach the spot where they’d seen the wolf disappear, but it
was worth it when they found the cave. The entrance was about three feet wide,
just big enough for a dwarf or someone about Kristina’s size to fit through.
Werrien stuck his head inside it, and from a short distance away, the wolf
stared at him with its light-green glowing eyes. It began to growl, and then it
suddenly came charging toward him. Werrien quickly pulled his head out and
backed away from the entrance. The wolf stuck its head out the opening and
continued to growl, revealing its large white fangs. “What do you want?” it
asked in a gruff voice.

“We are looking for the
resting place of the Warble,” Werrien said.

“You will only be able
to enter if the chosen one is among you, any imposters I will fight to the
death.”

“She is here with us.”

The wolf’s eyes shifted
from Werrien to Kristina. “You will need to show me the Warble before I can let
you in.”

With very cold, shaking
hands, Werrien brought the gold case out from underneath his shirt. Then he
held it out toward the wolf so the animal could examine it.

The wolf sniffed it.
“Yes, this is the gold case that was placed in the hollow of a tree many years
ago.” The wolf turned around and directed them. “Follow me,” it said.

The five, including
Raymond, who was now awake and fully alert in his container, followed the wolf
into the cave. There was no light inside, and their surroundings became so
pitch black that they couldn’t see even a glimpse of the wolf ahead of them.

“Stop,” the wolf said
suddenly.

They all did as they
were told. There was complete silence, except for the wind whistling outside
the cave.

“Dwarf,” the wolf
directed, “to your right is a torch. Take it.”

Ugan was the only dwarf,
so he felt in the dark to his right, and just as the wolf had said, there was a
torch leaning against the cave wall. “How am I to light it?”

“The walls in this cave
are covered with a flammable substance. Scrape the top of the torch against the
wall to light it, but be very careful—once it is lit, you must not let it near
the walls or the ceiling again, or the entire cave will go up in flames. Make
sure you stay in the middle of the tunnel, so that you do not go to close the
left or the right.”

Ugan nervously did as
the wolf told him to do, and the torch lit up instantly. The five continued
following the wolf, and as they walked, he explained to them that the reason
why the cave walls were flammable was to protect the Warble. After it was
placed in its resting place, if someone were to try to steal it, the wolf could
easily ignite the cave and kill the thief.

“What would happen to
you?” Kristina asked the wolf.

The wolf’s glowing eyes
met hers. “I would die as well,” he said very seriously.

Kristina felt the
butterflies begin to flutter in her stomach as she realized once again how
serious this mission was.

Nobody said another
word but cautiously followed behind the wolf. Not long afterward, the wolf
turned to face them again. “We are now where the Warble needs to be placed.”

All five of them looked
around, but they couldn’t see anything special about this place. Nothing seemed
any different from other areas of the cave they had passed. But then Kristina
took notice of a certain spot to the left. It was an indentation in the wall.
“Ugan, please shine the light over there.” She pointed to the spot.

Ugan quickly shined the
torch light, and she saw that there was a shelf there with an arched top built
into it.

“Come here and take a
look at this,” Kristina said to the others.

The shelf had a thick,
dust-covered cobweb sprawled throughout the inside of it. Ugan moved the torch
slightly and the light shifted to reveal a large black spider sitting in the
upper right corner of the shelf.

“Are we to lay the
Warble down inside the shelf?” Kristina asked the wolf.

“There is a chalice,
crafted out of pure gold, sitting in the bottom of it. The Warble will need to
be placed in it, but first, you must get the poisonous spider out of the way,”
the wolf replied.

Werrien remembered the
spider that had tried to attack him in the underground hideout. He recognized
this type of spider, and he knew it’s venom was the most lethal.

“Ugan, bring the torch
to the shelf and burn the spider,” Retzel said.

“No!” Werrien took hold
of the torch to stop him. “We can’t risk setting the cave on fire.” He took his
knife and tried to stab the spider with it, but he missed, and the spider swung
out on its web toward Werrien’s face. He ducked out of its way, and the spider
landed on Kristina’s shoulder. Kristina slowly turned her head to see the huge
black spider sitting on her shoulder with venom beading out of its fangs.

“Don’t…move…as much
as…a muscle,” Ugan said slowly. He brought the torch close to the spider, and
Kristina could feel the intense heat from its flame. She closed her eyes and
swallowed. Soon, the spider, not being able to stand the heat, hopped off her
shoulder and swung back toward the shelf. This time Werrien was quicker than
the spider, and he stabbed his knife right through its middle while it was
still swinging.

“Shish kebab, anyone?”
Werrien held the spider over the flame. The spider burned to a crisp, and its
ashes fell to the ground.

Kristina and Werrien
quickly went to look inside the shelf again. There seemed to be the shape of a
chalice there, but it was covered in a thick cobweb. Werrien took his knife and
quickly wound up the spider webs with it, as if he were winding spaghetti
around a fork. Then he gave a quick yank, and all at once, the entire web came
out. They could see the goblet sitting at the bottom of the shelf. Ugan and
Retzel came closer to look at it. Then Raymond crawled out of his container and
onto Retzel’s shoulder to get a better view.

“You must not delay
placing the Warble in the chalice,” the wolf instructed. “I sense time is about
to run out.”

“Yes, of course.”
Werrien quickly brought the gold case out from underneath his shirt. It was
very warm, and it pulsated. He carefully opened its lid, and they all saw that
the Warble had reached its final color: red.

“Kristina, you must
take the Warble and place it in the chalice,” the wolf said.

Kristina reached into
the gold case to lift the Warble out, but just before she touched it, a voice
cried out that she knew all too well.

“Wait! Please don’t do
it!”

They all turned to see
the tall figure of Queen Sentiz. She was standing behind Davina, holding a
knife to the girl’s throat.

Kristina was about to
ask Davina how she had gotten to Bernovem, but then she remembered Rumalock
telling her, “Whoever has touched the Warble, or even the case it was stored
in, will be brought here.”

“If you place the
Warble in its resting place,” Queen Sentiz said in a calm yet eerie voice,
“your friends will surely die.”

What did she mean,
“friends”?
Kristina thought.

Ugan moved the torch a
little to the left and the light revealed other figures standing a short
distance behind Queen Sentiz. It was Rumalock, and he was holding Hester at
knife point; beside him stood a zelbock who was holding Graham at knife point
as well.

“Why are you doing
this?” Kristina asked Queen Sentiz.

“I don’t have to
explain anything to you, you pathetic brat. Just roll the Warble over to me,
and I will spare your friends’ lives.”

Davina, Hester, and
Graham were no friends of hers, but even so, Kristina knew that she couldn’t
just let them die. She looked at Werrien to see if he might have any ideas, but
as far as she could tell, he had none.

Werrien glanced at the
wolf; its eyes were glowing as it stood in a dark crevice of the cave. Then
Werrien looked at Kristina. “You’d better do as she says.”

Werrien’s reaction
seemed odd to Kristina. It just wasn’t like him to give up so easily,
especially after all they had been through to get to this point. How could they
just hand the Warble over to the wicked queen and possibly lose everything they
had struggled so hard for? It just didn’t make any sense. Even so, she really
didn’t know what else to do, so she took the Warble out of the gold case. Then,
just before kneeling down to roll it over to Queen Sentiz, she looked one last
time at Werrien. “Trust me,” he whispered softly.

Kristina knelt down;
everyone’s eyes were fixed on the Warble.      She rolled it toward      Queen
Sentiz. When it got close enough to her, the queen pushed Davina to the ground
and reached down with her long red claws to snatch it up. And just as she
grabbed hold of it, the wolf jumped out from the dark crevice in which he’d
been hiding and leaped up onto Queen Sentiz, pushing her to the ground. She
fell backwards and dropped the Warble. When it hit the ground it rolled back
toward Kristina, who bent down and scooped it up. Then she turned to face
Werrien.
“You must do it now, before it is too late!” he said
urgently. Kristina saw that the Warble’s deep red tones were fading into a
lighter orange-red. “Its power is beginning to decline!”

Kristina placed her
hand into the shelf and was about to lay the Warble in the chalice, but again
she was stopped by another voice: “You’d best not be doing that.” Ramon stood a
few feet behind Kristina and Werrien, holding his cupped hands out in front of
him. “If you drop that thing in that cup, I’ll not hesitate to squash your
annoying, little friend like I would a bug.”

Kristina looked again
to Werrien for any ideas, but this time he definitely had none. They both knew
that they couldn’t let Ramon kill Clover, and besides that, what a horrible
sight it would be if he did squash her like a bug. There was no choice, other
than to hand the Warble over to Ramon. So once again, they took their hands
away from the shelf and reluctantly, Werrien held the Warble out toward Ramon.

Ramon stared at it with
a conniving smile on his quirky face. “Place it on the floor.”

Werrien did as he was
told. Then Ramon called for one of the zelbocks to tie Werrien’s and Kristina’s
hands behind their backs. “Now take them to sit by those other three brats,” he
ordered the zelbock. The zelbock led Werrien and Kristina toward Davina,
Graham, and Hester. “There is one more thing I must have,” Ramon went on, “if
you want me to let your pretty, little friend live.”

“We’ve already given
you everything we have,” Werrien said angrily.

“Not quite.” Ramon
brushed his dirty finger over Clover’s hair.

Clover, angrier than a
hornet, beat her tiny fists down on Ramon’s closed hand.

“What else could you
possibly want?” Werrien was disgusted with his greedy requests.

Ramon’s smirk grew into
an evil, lustful smile, and he glared at Kristina as if he could devour her
with his eyes. “If you want your little fairy princess to live, then I must
have Kristina as my bride.” His eyes grew wide.

When Kristina heard
these words, she felt like she might throw up. “I’m much too young to get
married! And besides, I’d rather die than have to marry a disgusting pig like
you,” she blurted out.

“Well, then; have it
your way.” Ramon’s lustful grin turned into an angry frown. “I will squash you
slowly after I deal with the Warble,” he said to Clover.

He plopped Clover back
into his canteen and then sent the zelbock to tie Werrien’s and Kristina’s
feet. Then he knelt down to pick up the Warble, but as his hand got close to
it, it turned from lukewarm to hot, and there was no way he could touch it.
This made him even angrier, and he stood up, drawing his dagger out of its
sheath. “Wait! I’ve changed my mind. Release the boy. I have decided to let him
have the honor of destroying it—and the honor of squashing the fairy as well.”