House of Secrets (42 page)

“W
hat is
that
?” the Wind Witch gasped, staring out the broken window at the colossus’s gigantic gut and flowing dark hair.

“A . . . colossus,” said a dumbstruck Slayne.

“I know
that
! How did it get in my castle?”

“I suspect it ripped the gate—”

“Take your men and kill it!”

Slayne nodded grumpily and left the throne room with his sword drawn. The rest of the Savage Warriors followed suit. “Not you!” the Wind Witch barked at Krom. “You stay here and watch the whelps.”

Krom looked longingly at Slayne—the two had been killing together since they were kids—but Slayne just shrugged:
Better listen to her.
Krom stayed.

The Wind Witch turned to the still-flaming tapestry on the wall. She pointed her diamond-studded arms at it. A blast of water shot out and immediately extinguished the fire. It wasn’t like the rain the Wind Witch had conjured before; this was like a fire hose.

“
She’s even
more
powerful with
two
messed-up hands?” Brendan said. “That’s really not fair.”

“The hardest steel is tempered in the hottest forge,” said the Wind Witch, looking at her sparkling fake hands. Then a flash of motion outside got her attention; she turned to see Fat Jagger tossing a Savage Warrior over his shoulder like a pebble. The man’s screams were drowned out by the tumult of battle in the courtyard.

“I believe I’m needed,” said the Wind Witch. “Guards! Take the book down to the ship!”

Two guards quickly grabbed the stone casket that held
The Book of Doom and Desire
, closed it, and wheeled it out the back of the room. Meanwhile the Wind Witch bent back, cracked her spine in that horrible way the Walkers had seen before, and unfolded her dirty, greasy wings to whip up a column of air. Her veins and arteries pulsed in her face. Cackling, she flew out of the broken window to confront the colossus.

“What’s she gonna do to Fat Jagger?” Eleanor pleaded. “He
came
for us. He knew we were in trouble, and he must have walked across the whole ocean—”

“Look!” Cordelia called.

Three grappling hooks had flipped into the broken window and caught against the stone inside.

“Intruders!” Krom called. “Get them!”

As Krom and two guards tried to get in position to defend the throne room, three fighters in black cloaks jumped down. (Outside, the Wind Witch flew at Fat Jagger; he bellowed and swatted at her as if she were a gnat.) In a flash, the cloaked figures landed in crouches, whipped out crossbows, and—
thwip thwip thwip
—shot Krom and the guards!

Brendan cheered; Krom and the guards were wearing armor, but the cloaked figures had buried the crossbow darts right in their faces. Krom was twisting on the ground, screaming, trying to pull one out of his eye. He finally managed to extract it, but his eyeball came out along with it; seeing his eye attached to the top of the dart like a martini olive made him scream at a higher pitch than anyone would have thought possible.

“Who are
you
?” Eleanor asked the intruders.

Brendan could hardly speak, but he managed to say, “Celene.”

The cloaked figures pushed back their hoods—and sure enough, it was Celene from Tinz and the two men she had been ferrying messages for in the marketplace. The Resistance fighters.

“Of course. The Resistance against Queen Daphne,” said Cordelia.

The Resistance fighters strode toward the Walkers. The other guards in the room ran for the stairs, not wanting to end up on the floor with crossbow-dart piercings.

“Brendan? Are you all right?” Celene asked.

Brendan lurched forward and hugged her. “You saved us!
Thanks!
”

“You’re welcome, but we—”

“These are my sisters: Cordelia and Eleanor.”

“Nice to meet you, but we need to move fast,” said Celene. “I’ve got to get back to the rest of my team; they’re out there fighting the castle guards.”

“How did you find us?”

“I had guessed where you were going when I saw you in the cart, and then”—Celene pointed her thumb behind her—“the big guy showed up.”

Outside, the colossus was stomping and roaring. The Wind Witch was nowhere to be found. “His name’s Jagger,” said Eleanor.

“Then I’ll have you know that yesterday, Jagger waded out of the sea into Tinz. And the only word he said was ‘Walk-er.’”

“I knew he came for us!” Eleanor said. “I fed him well.”

Celene nodded in a way that made it clear she had no idea what Eleanor was talking about. “The Resistance decided it was time to strike, since the ultimate weapon was here to help us. After we win, we’re going to elect a new leader and never live under the tyranny of Queen Daphne again. But”—she grabbed Brendan’s arm—“you need to get to the top of one of the towers,
now
. That way Jagger can see you and carry you away. This battle isn’t getting any stablerer.” She frowned. “I think that’s a word.”

Outside the window, Fat Jagger caterwauled; the Wind Witch was flapping her wings and shooting bolts of lightning at him. One of Jagger’s eyebrows was singed off. His nostril hairs were on fire.

“I’m rejoining the battle,” said Celene. “The big guy needs all the help he can get.”

“But . . . ,” Brendan said, suddenly tongue-tied as he looked at Celene’s flushed face. “Will I see you again?”

“And are you my brother’s girlfriend?” Eleanor said.

“Nell!”

Cordelia laughed. Brendan suddenly looked about seven years old.

“I don’t know about girlfriend, but I think your brother’s very brave,” Celene said to Eleanor. She pulled Brendan close.

Afterward, Brendan would tell his sisters that they hugged. Celene would tell her Resistance compatriots that Brendan kissed her on the cheek. What really happened was that she went for his cheek, but he awkwardly turned his head, so they just bumped their cheekbones together.
“Ow!”

Celene whispered, “Maybe we’ll see each other again someday. In your world.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you. How do you know about—”

“Another time,” Celene said. She stepped back and looked at the Walkers. “
Go!
Take weapons!”

B
rendan went to the dead guards, picked up their swords, and gave them to his sisters. He took Krom’s ax for himself. Krom was still staring in shock at his eyeball-on-a-stick.

“Wait!” pleaded Krom, pointing to the ax in Brendan’s hand. “Kill me. Please. Put me out of me misery.”

“Don’t be such a wimp,” said Brendan. “Get an eye patch!”

The Walkers tore out of the throne room, ran down the stairs, and entered the courtyard.

It was sheer chaos. Castle Corroway’s black gate had been ripped clean off; it lay in two pieces on the ground. The castle guards were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Resistance forces. Towering over it all was Fat Jagger, who grunted and groaned as he pushed against a blistering column of icy air that the Wind Witch blew at his face. She was holding her position like a harpy in front of him, trying to knock Jagger into the gorge that was next to the castle.

Eleanor recognized fear in the colossus’s eyes even as she stood in his shadow.
“Jagger!”
Fat Jagger looked down. Eleanor pointed at the tower behind her and made a gesture indicating she was going up. Jagger gave a tiny nod (which of course was huge) before

a flying icicle pierced his ankle. The Wind Witch was shooting icicles at his feet! As several more missiles pierced his flesh, Jagger cried out and lifted his foot, nearly toppling into the gorge. He quickly regained his balance and grabbed for the Wind Witch.

“C’mon! He sees where we’re going!” Eleanor said.

Brendan and Cordelia followed Eleanor into the tower, slicing at any guards who got too close. Inside, they climbed past frightened horses and pigs, past even more frightened servants, through bedchambers, past stacked oak barrels, through a nightmare room with gigantic hunks of salted mystery meat hung from hooks. . . . They climbed the tower until they were dizzy from turning up the next flight of steps. Then they came to a landing with four spiral staircases.

“This is where the tower splits in four,” said Brendan. “Which one do we go up?”

At the bottom of one of the staircases lay a dead guard. “Look,” Cordelia said, “his armor’s all battered. Maybe he got killed upstairs and rolled down.”

“So?” Brendan said.

“So maybe there are Resistance forces up there.”

“Good thinking.” The Walkers started up.

This tower was tiny. The spiral-staircase walls were peppered with rectangular slit-windows for archers. The windows only faced in one direction, so as the Walkers ascended, they glimpsed the same view of Jagger from higher and higher up.

“See how the stairs go counterclockwise?” panted Brendan. “They built them this way because it would put an attacking swordsman at a disadvantage.”

“Why?” Eleanor asked.

“Most soldiers are right-handed. So the soldiers defending the castle could swing with their right arms, but if any attackers tried to fight back, they’d hit the wall. Wikipedia.”

The Walkers neared the top of the tower; they could make out Jagger’s face and wave at him. He was burned, bloodied, and bruised from the Wind Witch’s assaults.

“We’re almost there, Jagger!” Eleanor called.

The colossus nodded—but suddenly the Walkers heard a roar from above. They stopped in their tracks as, with the momentum of a roller coaster coming down the first big hill, Slayne the Savage Warrior attacked them.

His sword was swinging, his black eyes were flashing, and the scars on his face looked extra angry. “When will you brats
learn
?”

Brendan instinctively held up his ax; Slayne’s sword rang off. The ax flew out of Brendan’s hand, hit the wall, and landed on the stairs.

“That’s Krom’s ax!” Slayne said in disbelief.

“Why are you hiding up here?” asked Cordelia.

“I’m not
hiding
!” Slayne yelled, slashing. Cordelia had to roll down a few steps to avoid him. “I’m waiting for the proper moment to strike!”

“You’re lying,” accused Eleanor. “You’re a coward. The only thing you’re not afraid of is little kids!”

“Die!”

Slayne cleaved down with his blade; Eleanor scrambled back to join Cordelia. Brendan gulped. He was the only one standing between Slayne and his sisters.
It’s one thing to call this guy a coward and another to beat him in a fight.

“Wait!” Brendan yelled, picking up Krom’s ax. “Don’t you wanna know what happened to your buddy Krom?”

Slayne paused, staring at the weapon.

“If you kill me, you’ll never know,” said Brendan. “If you listen, I’ll take you to him.”

“Where is he?” Slayne finally ventured. “Is he alive?”

“Let’s just say he won’t be seeing any 3D movies in the near future.”

“Huh?” grunted a confused Slayne.

Brendan dove forward. He knew from lacrosse: When you committed to a move, you had to stick with it. You couldn’t turn a hip check into a shoulder check, or you’d get no follow-through.

He brought the ax down on Slayne’s boot-clad foot.

He hit the steps, kicking his legs back to do a somersault
up
.

He felt Slayne’s sword leave a burning tear in his side—

And then he was above Slayne on the steps. Still holding the ax.

“You’re bleeding,” Slayne said triumphantly. Behind him, Cordelia got ready to attack, but Brendan shook her off:
I got this.

“You’re right-handed,” Brendan said.

“So?”

“So
block
!”

Brendan tossed the ax at Slayne’s head. It sang through the air in a tight spiral. Slayne tried to slash at it—but the wall blocked his arm! His sword sparked, and the ax hit him in the forehead—

Unfortunately, handle first.

The ax clattered as it fell down the spiral stairs. Slayne smiled and flipped his sword to his left hand.

“I’m ambidextrous.”

He stepped toward Brendan with a glint in his eyes. Brendan wanted to say it was unfamiliar, but it actually looked a lot like the expressions that some rabid lacrosse dads had when their sons put a hurting on the visiting team—