Elliot and the Last Underworld War (6 page)

They laughed, all of them with the exact same laugh. Which would have been fine if Elliot had told a joke. But he hadn’t. So it was actually sort of creepy.

“Then you will be the first human Kovol destroys,” they said. “Leave with us now, and save this place from doom.”

Sheesh
, Elliot thought. The Shadow Men really had a thing for doom. Although he very much liked the idea of their leaving, no way was he going with them. His family had a very strict rule about never going anywhere with strangers. And even if they didn’t have the rule, Elliot knew that leaving with the Shadow Men was a terrible idea.

Elliot’s hands folded into fists. “I said to leave while you still can.”

“We’ll only leave with you as our prisoner.”

Elliot shook his head. “You’re trapped inside this dome of light. I think that
you
are
my
prisoners.”

Another laugh, even creepier this time. Then the Shadow Men spread out, surrounding him. They flew to their left, faster and faster, swirling around Elliot. He sank to the ground as they pulled air away from him, sucking it from his lungs. He was really scared but also sort of annoyed. They were supposed to be his prisoners, yet he was the one who was trapped. This wasn’t fair!

Elliot should have been used to things in his life not being fair. It wasn’t fair that when he was five, Tubs stole his sandwich every day for a whole month and he had to eat napkins for lunch. It wasn’t fair that his house had been blown up by the Goblins, or that day when Wendy had accidentally shaved the middle of his head and given him a backward Mohawk. But somehow this not-fair moment seemed worse than all the others combined.

Just as Elliot felt the last of his air being sucked away from him, the Shadow Men let out a pained screech as in their swirling three of them crashed into a wall of light. Air filled Elliot’s lungs again and he looked up. Agatha had transformed into her angel self and, with her hands held high, created a light so white it hurt his eyes.

Her wobbly cane was still in her hands, but now it was as bright as the sun. It created a line above her head that seemed to give the Shadow Men pain if they came anywhere close to it.

Elliot stood and ran to where the Shadow Men could hear him. “Tell Kovol to go back to Demon Territory and stop this war,” he warned. “If he doesn’t, we will defeat him.”

“You’re only a human,” the last two Shadow Men said. “We’ll tell Kovol nothing for you.”

“Fine! Then he’ll find out on his own!” Elliot threw up his hands and began walking away. Add stubbornness to the list of things he didn’t like about Shadow Men.

“Elliot, look out!” Agatha cried.

Before Elliot turned, he felt the hot claw of a Shadow Man grab his shoulder. Even through his shirt he felt its burn.

“Catch this!” Agatha tossed her cane at him, and Elliot ripped free and dove for it. As soon as it was in his hands, he swerved around and struck the Shadow Man in the chest. It screeched for only an instant before its cloak dissolved and fell like ashes at his feet.

“This is over for now, but we’ll be back,” the remaining Shadow Man said. “And next time it won’t be so easy for you.”

He fled up in the air toward the light dome. He tried to push through it but disappeared, as shadows will. Nothing came through on the other side. Seeing what had happened inside the dome, the Shadow Men on the outside quickly flew away.

Suddenly tired, Elliot fell to his knees. Agatha crouched beside him. “Are you okay?”

“Sure,” he mumbled. The shoulder of his shirt was burned off, and the skin below it was hot and red, but he couldn’t worry about that right now. “What happened to that Shadow Man I hit?”

“Kovol cursed the fire to create an army from the flames,” Agatha said. “That Shadow Man was nothing but smoke and ash.”

“They said it won’t be as easy next time,” Elliot said. “Did they think this was easy?”

“There will be more battles,” Agatha said. “And the next one will get much worse.”

When the last of the Shadow Men had flown away, a cheer rose up from the Brownies. Mr. Willimaker ran toward Elliot, then stopped and bowed before he said, “You did it, Your Highness! You saved us!”

“Only for now,” Elliot said.

Fidget fluttered down from above them. Her thick mass of hair looked wind-tossed and wasn’t nearly as bouncy as usual.

“I hope you know that was a lot harder than it looked,” Fidget said. “They were, like, so totally mean!”

“But you were…um…awesome,” Elliot said. “We couldn’t have done this without the Pixies.”

Fidget arched her head in pride. “Totally. But now we’re even, right? We don’t owe each other anything more.”

“It’s not about being even,” Elliot said. “It’s about stopping Kovol.”

Fidget frowned. “Oh, fruit rot! If I have to fight in a war to save the world, then I’m totally going to miss
Surfer
Teen
on TV tonight.” She punched a fist into her palm. “If Kovol wants to destroy the Underworld, then that’s totally rude. But now he’s ruining the awesomest TV show ever, and the Pixies will not allow that!”

Elliot stood and said to Fidget, “I’ll help whoever wants to lead this war. But I need some time to think of ideas about how to fight it. Meet me back here later and we’ll talk about it.”

“What if anyone else wants to come?” she asked.

“If they’re willing to fight against Kovol and save the Underworld, then I want them to come!”

After Fidget left, Elliot asked for a place where he could think in private. Mr. Willimaker suggested Burrow Cave, and then Patches offered to walk Elliot there.

“I think I can find it,” Elliot said. Burrowsville wasn’t that big, and they only had one cave large enough for all the Brownies.

“I know,” Patches said. “But I thought you’d want some company.”

She was right. He did.

“How’s your shoulder?” Patches asked.

“It hurts a little.” Actually it hurt a lot. The Shadow Man had been so angry when he grabbed Elliot that his fire had been very hot.

“Kneel down,” Patches said.

As he did, Patches walked behind him and rubbed her hands together. “Are you going to heal it with magic?” Elliot asked.

“Not everything is magic,” Patches said with a giggle. Then she peeked over his shoulder and began pasting it with something bright green and sticky that smelled like the inside of Reed’s old shoes.

“What’s that?” Elliot turned his head and quickly faced forward again. Coming too close to that stuff made his nose hurt.

“Pumpkin guts and tree moss and that stuff that sometimes collects on the edges of ponds. It makes a great burn paste.” Patches shrugged. “I figured we’d need it, seeing as we were fighting fire and all.”

“Thanks, Patches.” Elliot gently touched the burn. The pain was already going away. “You really are smart.”

“Not just ordinary smart,” she said. “I’m super smart!”

Elliot chuckled. “Maybe you’re smart enough to figure out how to beat Kovol.”

She shook her head. “Nobody’s
that
smart.” Then she stopped, realizing what she had said. “Oh! I mean except you, right?” She pointed ahead to Burrow Cave. “Here we are! Go in and be super smart too.”

“Thanks.” The cave wasn’t quite big enough for him, but it was the biggest private place the Brownies had. Being the super-smart king of the Brownies that he was, he tripped over a root at the entrance. Then he picked himself up and, without looking back to see if anyone was laughing, walked the rest of the way into the cave.

By the time Fudd called for him a while later, Elliot had decided for sure that Kovol needed to be defeated, and he was double sure he didn’t want Earth destroyed. But the details of how someone might stop Kovol were still a little fuzzy. All in all, he hadn’t gotten nearly as much thinking done as he had hoped for, and he certainly didn’t feel super smart.

“Everyone’s waiting for you,” Fudd said, walking beside Elliot.

“Everyone?” That sounded like a lot.

It
was
a lot. Maybe five times what he had expected. Crowded into the small open space of Burrowsville were hundreds of creatures of every kind. He thought Fidget was inviting only
some
of her friends.

Near the front were the Dwarves, the full-grown ones about Elliot’s own height. They had long, thick beards and strong bodies. Most of them had picks or axes or other mining tools slung across their backs. Behind them stood a herd of half-human, half-horse Centaurs. They were large and muscular with bare chests and hair hanging past their shoulders. Their ears were slightly pointed and high on their head, as if unable to decide whether to be human or horselike, so they settled on something in between. Behind the Centaurs were several Trolls, including one who had half of his fist shoved up his nose in search of something there. Elliot recognized the Fairies up in the air, along with a couple of other flying creatures he didn’t know. There were also Elves and a few Yetis, and Satyrs, and even some Mermaids near the banks of the river running through Burrowsville. All waiting for him.

“There are so many,” Elliot whispered.

“They came to hear your plan,” Fudd replied. “They came to fight Kovol.”

The crowd quieted when they saw Elliot. He sat on his toadstool throne and looked them over. These were magical creatures who were smarter than him—and mostly bigger than him.

“Why me?” Elliot asked no one in particular. “I said I would help. But am I supposed to lead this battle?”

“You are our king, and they’ve chosen you as their leader,” Fudd said. “You’ve defeated the Goblins and gotten past Kovol and his army once before. You’re the only one who can help us win this.”

Elliot took a deep breath. As he looked around the crowd, he wondered how that could be true. Maybe it wasn’t about who was most capable of winning but who was most willing to try. He stood again and shoved his hands into his pockets. He knew that didn’t look very kinglike, but he didn’t care about looking like a king right then.

“Um, I don’t know what to say,” Elliot began. “I guess I’m open to any ideas.”

A murmur spread through the crowd. Several creatures turned their backs on him, ready to leave.

“Your Highness, they need more than that,” Fudd said. “They’re here to follow you, but you must show them that you can lead this.”

“But I’m not sure that I
can
lead this,” Elliot said. “I’m just a kid.”

“I know you can, because you’re our king,” Fudd said. “It’s okay if you don’t believe that yet. But make
them
believe it.”

“I’ll try.” Elliot raised his hands and started over. “A thousand years ago, Kovol was defeated the first time. It was your parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who fought him before, who made the Underworld safe for us. Now it’s our turn. We will beat him again,
if
we are willing to fight him together.”

This time the crowd cheered, but Elliot didn’t feel much better. That speech had been the easy part. Now he was supposed to tell them how it would happen.

“What are you really good at?” Elliot continued. “Look at your strengths. Figure out how you can use them against Kovol.”