The Dark Lord's Demise (38 page)

"I think they're coming in through the tunnel," Wes said. "I
wonder if that means the door is open up above. Let's not talk, just
in case."

The raft continued to drift inward. The reddish glow brightened
even more. They emerged from the tunnel and reached the end of
their water route: a circular underground wharf hollowed out of
the island rock. Stone posts with inset iron rings provided places to
tie up boats, though no boats were docked there now. A narrow
platform ran along the wall several feet above the water. It led to a
stone stairway that spiraled upward to disappear through a hole in
the high stone ceiling.

Even the stairway is red, Lisa thought.

Suddenly Kurt yelled, "Bee!" His voice echoed dangerously
through the wharf and up the stairwell. Again they ducked and
shielded their heads. Impatiently Wes motioned for them to dock
the raft and get up the steps.

Kurt grasped the painter, the rope used to tie up the craft, ready
to secure it to one of the iron rings. Lisa wiggled the tiller to scull
the raft forward. The how was a few feet from the stone dock when
a low humming vibration began. The children had time only to
give each other questioning looks before a swarm of weaver bees
poured in through the tunnel and flew straight at them.

Three loud splashes echoed through the underground wharf to
join the roar of the bees. The Friesens were under water before the
swarm gathered above the raft in a furious circling mass.

Kurt held his breath as long as he could. There was no way to
tell if the bees still hovered over him. He would have to take a
breath soon. He propelled himself upward and whacked his skull
against an immovable object. He thought it must be the raft. He
swain down and to the side to get out from under it. Again he tried
to surface. Again he hit his head on a solid obstacle. Red sparkly
lights danced before his tight-shut eyes. Was the stone dock undercut beneath the surface? Had he accidentally gotten under the
shelf? How far back did it go? Near panic, he reached up and felt
for what the thing was. Stone? No, rounded wood. The raft! He
walked his fingers along the underside of it until he reached the
edge.

Kurt's head broke the surface. He sucked in air, choked and spit
water. Bees dived at his wet head. He splashed water at them and
looked around for Wes and Lisa. Even weaver bee stings were better than drowning. As Kurt's hands flailed at the bees, Wes's head
broke the surface a few feet away.

Wes was weighed down by the Sword of Geburah. He thought
briefly of drawing it against the bees, but at that moment something underwater pulled hard at the scabbard. He kicked at whatever it was. Then Kurt asked in alarm, "Where's Lisa?"

"Oh, no, she's down there under me!" Wes ducked underwater
and felt desperately for his sister. He grasped her and pulled her
up between himself and Kurt. She coughed and spit out water. The
weaver bee swarm hovered as though it waited for its prey to
weaken. Its furious roar still filled the cave. At least it would cover
the sound of their voices. Lisa struggled toward the (lock, followed
by Kurt and Wes. They searched for stone steps or a ladder or any
way to climb out of the water. There was nothing.

Kurt spotted one of the rusty iron rings for tying up boats. He
grabbed the ring and hoisted himself upward. His arms trembled,
and he fell back. He laid his sword on the stone dock, grasped the
ring with one hand, let himself sink as far as possible, then
launched himself upward as hard as he could and flung his other
arm over the rock ledge. The stone was wet and slippery, but he
managed to hold on. He hauled himself up and lay panting on his
stomach.

Wes and Lisa watched Kurt's efforts while they treaded water
and kept an eye on the bees. Kurt turned around and extended a
hand. "Lisa, grab hold," he ordered. With Wes supporting her from
the water and Kurt pulling from above, they got her safely onto the
dock. Next Wes grabbed the iron ring to haul himself up. Imitating
Kurt, he first lowered himself deep into the water and then
launched himself upward. The rusty ring snapped and dropped
him back into the water. In fury he hurled the broken ring at the
weaver bees. It arced through the swarm, splashed and sank. The
swarm saw the ring (and not Wes) as the attacker and flew to the
spot where the ring had splashed down.

Kurt called out, "Wes, forget the rings and grab my hand!" Lisa
reached out also and together they dragged Wesley up over the
edge onto the dock. The swarm circled twice, then took off and disappeared through the tunnel.

They were cold and wet, but no bee stings were on them. They
tied up the raft and stopped to breathe a moment. "Where did the
bees go?" Kurt asked.

"I don't know, but we better get out of here before they show up
again," Wes answered. Immediately he started up the weird, red-lit
spiral staircase, and the others followed him. It glowed more
intensely red, as though the stairway itself was angry at their
arrival.

They knew exactly where they were. The underground wharf
lay directly below the Tower of Geburah. At the top of these stairs
was a door that opened into the lowest room of the tower. The
original tower had four rooms, one on top of the other, but of
course they could only guess how the Mystery of Abomination had
chosen to design the rebuilt tower. They climbed slowly and cautiously. Their leather shoes were soaked. At every step their
smooth soles threatened to slip on the bare rock. After several
turns of the spiral they arrived at a black wooden door with a
bright ring for a handle. The door was safely closed. The ring was
like the ones below for tying up boats, but it was obviously new.
The wood of the door smelled new too.

Wes grasped the ring handle and pushed. The stairs flashed garish red, but the door opened inward without a sound. In the light from the stairway they briefly surveyed the room. "Looks like somebody's been remodeling," Kurt whispered.

"New bookshelves. Empty. Good taste, but not a big reader,"
muttered Lisa. Wes motioned toward the stairs leading up to the
next level. They closed the door to the wharf and crept upwards in
single file.

"Where did she go?" "Where is she?" "Find her! His majesty
demands it!"

The Friesens had reached the first room, the room with the balcony, when hard footsteps and angry shouts rang from the floor
above. Lantern light moved on the walls of the next stairway. People were on the way down! The children scurried beneath the balcony and scarcely breathed as feet pounded above them. The feet
halted directly over their heads. Shadows of the balcony railing slid
across the room like undulating prison bars.

The searchers argued. The Friesens could not identify the
voices. "The little fool princess defies the Lord of Darkness! He
told her to wait below the top floor. Now she has fled."

"Or else she hides. Could she still be in there?"

"We turned the room inside out and upside down. If she hides, it
is within the pages of a book. And we have searched this room as
well."

"The top room is securely locked. She cannot be there. Either she fled the tower, or she went down to the wharf."

The wharf The Friesens stiffened with alarm. If the searchers
went down there, they would find the raft.

"Ha! If that child fled to the wharf, let her spend the night in its
cold dampness. She cannot get away. The boats are all in use
tonight. Come, let us report to his majesty before his mood worsens."

"Wait. Have they removed the body? I do not like to go back into
the courtyard if it still hangs there."

"No doubt by now she has been thrown over the wall. What ails
you? Have you lost your stomach for death? Come!"

The feet and flickering lights went on out of the room and down
to the main floor. A door below opened and closed. Wes, Lisa and
Kurt crept out from under the balcony. Mostly by feel they found
the enclosed stairway and tiptoed up past the room to the door of
the Garden Room.

Lisa whispered, "I just thought of a problem. They said the top
room was securely locked."

"Doesn't matter," Wes whispered back. "It will open when we
command it in the name-"

"No, I mean Betty. Didn't you hear? Betty must be here, and they
must mean she is trying to escape Lunacy. The soldiers are after
her. If she is here, she doesn't have a key to the room."

Wes put his hand on the cold brass doorknob and tried to turn
it. It did not yield. Suddenly Kurt gasped and said, "Oh, no. What if
they catch her? She'll be a goner!"

"Impossible," Wes said. He still whispered, but his voice was
firm. "If she is within these walls, then Gaal brought the three of us
here for a purpose. And if that purpose means we are to rescue
her, then that means she comes out alive. But our first job is to get
into the Garden Rooni and worry about Betty later." He stepped
back from the door and said quietly, "Open in the name of Gaal!"
As with the portcullis below, he found it hard to believe the door
heard him. It did! Immediately it swung open and the three rushed
in together.

For a minute they blinked hard from brilliant light and shock.
They stood in full daylight on a green open hillside that sloped down to a sunny valley. Far below, a stream made a bright, crooked
ribbon on its way through the valley bottom. Here and there
clumps of bushes showed white blossoms. Stately trees shimmered
in a light breeze. Songbirds flitted about and sang bubbly songs.
Beyond the valley, blue misty hills rose in an uneven row beneath
high piled clouds.

Lisa was enthralled by the view but puzzled at the same time.
"Are we still inside the room? Or did that door lead outside?"

"And why is it daylight here when it was night back there?" Kurt
asked. "And where'd the fortress go? And the lake?"

They looked behind them. The doorframe, with its ornate door
closed, stood upright in the grass. Above it arched blue sky and
clouds. The door was the only visible sign of the Tower of
Geburah.

Wes gazed down the long hill. "Uncle John talked about the Garden Room, but I didn't understand. Wow, I wish he was here now
to show us around." He tried to imagine their uncle as a boy running down that hillside. He touched the hilt of the Sword of
Geburah. "Of course, when Uncle John was here, he was distracted
by a scaly red seven-headed dragon."

Lisa said, "It was a one-headed dragon by then, remember? The
Changer wounded it so it lost its legs and wings. And it was really
Lord Lunacy in another form."

Kurt stared up at the wide sky. "Then Lord Lunacy has been
wounded from that day. You'd hardly know it, the way he operates.
Oh, gosh, I wish I could stay here forever. This is terrific." He took
a deep breath of summery air. "There aren't even any bees
around!"

They started down the hill. Spicy, pungent scents rose from the
ground as their feet crushed the grasses. Lisa plucked a blue flower
and slipped it into her hair. As they approached the silvery stream,
they heard a voice and stopped. The voice came from behind a
dense growth of bushes. It sounded familiar-something like Betty
Riggs's voice. But it had strength and authority and was more musical than Betty's voice, not so harsh and edgy.

They stepped closer. Now they were near enough to make out
some of the words. They froze in place and stared open-mouthed at the bushes that hid the speaker. At first the words made no
sense; then they cleared up, as a muddy stream clears, and flowed
with power. The air above the stream vibrated with a force beyond
anything natural. The strange words continued for several minutes
while the children stood entranced. They felt themselves grow
cleaner and larger, not in their bodies but from within. Abruptly
the words stopped.

"Who's there?"

That was the unmistakable voice of Betty Riggs!

Wes called, "It's us! Wes and Kurt and Lisa!" They hurried
around the bushes to find Betty seated on the ground beside the
stream.