The Dark Lord's Demise (12 page)

"It looked like it. For some reason it stayed on shore and didn't
fly out to the raft. But I'm sure it means we really are on a mission
for Gaal, and he's going to help us."

"But what's our mission? It must have something to do with how
messed up things are in Anthropos. What exactly is messed up in
Anthropos? Remember when we were being paraded through the
streets? Everybody looked like life was going great. Nobody looked
poor or unhappy. Even the stray cats were fat."

"Yeah, you're right. Everything looked fine on the outside. But
now we're seeing the inside or maybe the underside. People get
arrested and thrown into prison because they made the wrong
people mad. Or in our case because some Matmon wanted to be
heroes or wanted somebody to blame for letting their bees
escape."

"It's like we hit into a shiny apple and found out the core is rotten." Kurt knew it wasn't a very original comparison, but it fit the
situation. "Speaking of apples, I'm hungry. Don't they have to feed the prisoners? Isn't that a right of the accused or something?"

Wes laughed, though there was no humor in his laugh. "I don't
think the accused have any rights anymore in Anthropos. One
thing I do know-we have got to see King Tiqvah. It's got to be in
our favor that he knows us."

Kurt kicked at a wad of straw. "Wes, it was thirty years ago in
Anthropos time. Why should he believe we knew him when he was
our age? The Commander will have already told him we're liars or
crazy or both."

"I'm sure Tiqvah understands about Anthropos time. And about
other worlds."

Hunger and thirst made Kurt more and more cranky. "What if
he doesn't? What if nobody ever told him? His father's dead and
maybe his mother is too." That idea jolted Wes. The beautiful and
wise Queen Suneidesis ... dead? He couldn't imagine Anthropos
without her.

Kurt's anxiety focused into anger. "This is all that dumb Betty's
fault! She was never supposed to come with us. And then she made
that Commander mad. I hate her!"

"Hold on! It doesn't do any good to hate anybody. And I don't
see how it's all her fault. Anyway, she's in the same boat we are
right now."

"Or at least she was on the same raft," Kurt answered. The two
boys managed to giggle before a metallic clang startled them into
seriousness. They retreated into a corner of the cell.

"Stay back!" warned their guard as he unlocked the door. He
carried a wooden tray covered with an upside-down wood bowl like
a dome. He set the tray on the straw-littered floor and locked the
door with a decisive clunk. "Supper," he grunted and went away.
He left the impression that he preferred to let the prisoners starve.

"I'm not hungry after all," Kurt moaned. Of course, he was hungry, but he didn't want to see what was under that cover. He knew it
was garbage worse than what Anthropos farmers fed their pigs.

"Come on, Kurt," Wes urged him. "We've got to eat. Even bad
food will give us some strength." Wes walked over to the tray, which
was lit by unsteady light from the corridor.

"Don't open it, Wes! It'll stink up the whole place!"

Wes lifted the tray's crude wooden cover. He quickly set it down
again. He thought he must be hallucinating from hunger and
exhaustion. Slowly he lifted the cover and looked again. Now he
was sure that his eyes-and nose-told him the truth.

Kurt joined his brother and stared at the food. Thick slices of
roast beef! Piles of mashed potatoes smothered in gravy! A loaf of
fresh-baked bread with butter melting over its top and running
down its sides in streams! It was the food they would have had in
the kitchen on Grosvenor Avenue. Tears of gratitude blurred the
boys' eyes. Kurt asked, "Who did this for us? It can't be that jailer
guy. He doesn't care about us."

Wes answered, "It's Gaal! Hasn't he always fed us and taken care
of us when we're on a mission for him?"

They spent no more time on questions. They dug in with
wooden forks and spoons that looked newly carved.

"Look over there by the wall," Kurt mumbled through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," ordered Wesley, whose mouth
was also full.

"It's a bucket of water and a dipper. I hadn't noticed it before. If
I'd seen it earlier, I'd have figured the water was all slimy, but now I
wonder ... Wes! It's clean and cold and delicious!"

Both boys gulped down dipper after dipper of water. They let it
spill from the dipper and run down their chins and necks. Then
they finished their food. Wes started to wipe his mouth on his
sleeve but stopped. He couldn't appear before King Tiqvah with
gravy on his shirt! Carefully he wiped his mouth with his fingers
and did a few swipes of his hands against his trousers. He
remarked, "I hope the girls are being treated as well as we are."

At that moment Lisa and Betty crouched on the floor of their
cell, eating a similar meal and drinking from a similar bucket of
water. Yet their reactions were quite different. Lisa happily dug into
the food and chattered to Betty about how Gaal had given them a
meal exactly like what they left behind in the kitchen on Grosvenor Avenue. Betty wrinkled her nose and picked at the food. When she drank, she clenched her teeth as though to strain out dirt.
Finally she spit out a mouthful of water and went into a coughing
spell. She managed to ask, "Lisa! How can you stand this?"

"Stand what? Delicious food and clean cold water?"

"It's pig slop."

"Betty!"

"Pig slop! I wish you'd never dragged me here! I wish I'd never
seen you people! This is what I get for being friendly and trying to
be a good neighbor!" Betty drew up her legs and muttered over
and over how much she hated everything. Lisa didn't know what to
say. She finished the food in silence.

When the jailer came to retrieve the girls' tray, he whispered, "I
tried my best to sneak you a morsel of decent food. This was all I
could do."

Lisa beamed at him. "You did wonderfully. Thank you." The
jailer gave her a puzzled look before he withdrew with the tray and
locked the cell door.

Meanwhile the boys' jailer was openly astonished. "By the feet
of Gaal! First time I ever saw prisoners eat their whole meal! I've
had them throw the slop in my face!" The boys wondered what he
meant. Exhaustion kept them from giving it much thought. They
curled up close together. A thin layer of straw offered little protection against the hard cold floor, but the food had warmed and
comforted them. In a few minutes both fell deeply asleep.

The girls slept at opposite sides of their cell. Lisa woke often. She
watched the torches in the corridor die down. Shadows of the bars
on the door undulated on the walls of the cell. From somewhere
down the corridor echoed the moans and shouts of other prisoners.
Lisa strained to hear the voices of Wesley and Kurt but could not distinguish them. She was glad when the torches flickered out and the
shadows quit their strange dance on the walls, but then she was
afraid of the absolute dark that replaced the torchlight.

She thought she must be asleep because she seemed to enter a
dream. A different kind of light appeared in the cell. At first she
assumed the jailer had brought another torch. But this light did not come from the corridor. It was inside the cell. It rose from a spot
where floor met wall, halfway between Lisa and Betty. This new
light moved in waves and rose higher as it moved.

Fire! The straw on the floor was on fire, and they were locked in!
They would die! Lisa drew in breath to scream for the jailer.

Wait. It wasn't fire. But what was it? Why did it look so odd? Normally when you turn on a light in a room, you notice the things in
the room more than you notice the light itself. This light did not
brighten the cell. It illuminated almost nothing. It drew Lisa's eyes
to itself-a growing globular area of brightness that appeared to
have a form and presence of its own.

Lisa lay still and stared at the light. She had experienced different types of light in Anthropos. Gaal often came accompanied by
blue light such as she had seen in the fog on the lake. Reddish
light meant the presence of Lord Lunacy and his evil agents. This
light was more yellowish. Then again, it appeared to have no color
at all. Lisa thought, It doesn't matter because this is only a dream.

Then Betty's voice jarred her. "Lisa! What's that light? Have you
got a flashlight? " How could Betty see the light if Lisa was dreaming it? Lisa couldn't see the other girl. She called out, "Betty! Are
you awake?"

"Of course I am. Unless I talk in my sleep. I don't think I do."

"Then I'm not dreaming?"

"I don't think so. Unless I'm part of your dream. Or maybe I'm
dreaming, and you're part of my dream." If the jailer had been listening, the girls' conversation would have sounded like nonsense.
In fact, it was deadly serious. Now Lisa didn't know what was dream
and what was real.

A low laugh rumbled through the cell. The stone floor vibrated.
The laugh was neither cruel nor mocking. It was a sound of gentle
amusement. A deep voice spoke: "This is not a dream, Lisa and
Betty. It is very real. You do not need to be afraid." The light swelled
and began to take on a human form. A torso appeared, then arms,
then a head, which touched the low ceiling. The light flickered in
constant motion like flames; yet it was not fire. Lisa thought she saw
features of a face emerge and vanish. She blinked as the light grew
in brilliance until it was too bright to look at directly.

Kurt tossed in his sleep and woke up Wesley, who opened his
eyes and scrambled to his feet in terror. A glob of light (that was
the best description he could think of) had appeared in their cell.
For an instant he thought it was fire and panicked. Immediately he
knew it was something else.

"Greetings, Wesley," rumbled a low voice.

Wes poked Kurt with his toe. Kurt mumbled, "Ummph. Lemme
sleep." Wes kicked his brother in the ribs and said, "Wake up.
Something's happening!" Kurt rolled over, opened his eyes and
jumped up. He yelled "Whazzatt?"

The deep voice spoke again. The cell floor vibrated. "Greetings,
Kurt. Do not be afraid."

"I'm not afraid!" Kurt's words were defiant, but his voice shook.
The light continued, "Your difficulty has not gone unnoticed by
the One above. I am his messenger. I have been sent to help you."