The Dark Lord's Demise (45 page)

A commanding voice interrupted Betty's reading of the book.
"Soldiers of Anthropos, I bid you in the name of your queen, attack
and kill the followers of Gaal!"

Hazilon the priest stood behind Betty. In his hand he held a
sword. His polite noncommittal expression was gone. His face was
a picture of controlled anger and offended power. "Your queen is
dead. You swore eternal loyalty to her. I am authorized to act in her
name. She had vowed to destroy the fanatics of Gaal. I command
you now, turn your weapons against these fools who pollute all
Anthropos with their lies!"

Betty closed the book and stared at Hazilon. Kurt and Wes, who were using their swords nearby, did the same. They had never fully
trusted this priest, but they were shocked to hear his words. He
shouted, "Attack them! I command you in the name of Queen
Hisschi!"

Up and down the line the soldiers hesitated and looked at each
other. One who had been in the search party spoke up. "Hazilon, I
have met and talked with these fanatics, as you call them. Their
love for Gaal is greater than any force I have ever seen on any battlefield. I will not turn my sword against them!"

Another soldier said, "I myself have chosen to follow Gaal. And
not in any ridiculous alliance between him and the foul Lord
Lunacy!"

"The queen controlled her forces by fear," said a third. "These
folk have shown me that the Shepherd binds his forces to him by
love."

Other soldiers agreed. Even the ones who did not profess to follow Gaal still refused to lay a hand on his followers. Hazilon
fumed. He raised his voice and his sword. "Gaal is not your leader!
I am your leader! Follow my example and strike them!"

Hazilon advanced on Betty. Two soldiers stepped forward to
protect her, but she opened the Book of Wisdom and began to
read aloud. The burst of blue fire rose again and spread a curved
roof above her. It expanded to cover the soldiers who stood
nearby. Hazilon's sword froze in midstrike. The light reached out
over him. The strong words continued, filling the blue dome with
power. Hazilon looked up into the light. The pure radiance lit up
his face and softened the lines of fury. Slowly he lowered his
sword. His arms trembled. The words rolled on under the blue covering. He bowed his head. The priest took two steps forward and
fell on one knee. He whispered, "Gaal is lord. Gaal is lord."

Wes stepped forward. He touched the priest's shoulder with the
blade of the Sword of Geburah and said, "Hazilon, you have worn
Gaal's name in deception. Wear it now in truth. You will ever be a
priest of the Ever-Living One, Gaal the Shepherd."

Hazilon looked up with tear-filled eyes. He nodded but could
not speak.

From somewhere beyond the cottage came a cry of surprise. The people gave each other questioning looks. Some asked, "Harpie attack?" Others wondered, "More goblins?" Hazilon got to his
feet, and he and Wes hurried around the cottage to see what was
coming next. Never would they have expected what they saw.

Over the cliff edge skimmed an enormous, white-winged horse.
On its hack rode a man with brown skin, white beard and white
robe, from whom light scattered in a streaming path. The horse
wheeled and circled over the field. Now it was clear he carried two
riders. Seated behind the white-robed man, clinging to his waist
and looking down with a mixture of ecstasy and terror, was King
Tiqvah.

The crowd scattered as the flying horse descended and touched
his hooves to the ground. Gaal slid easily from his back. Behind
him Tic{vah climbed down more cautiously.

Lisa heard the commotion and came to the door of the field
hospital. She cried out, "Tiqvah! You look so much better! And
Theophilus! Where have you been all this time?" The horse whinnied and rushed toward Lisa. His gait was remarkable. He galloped
two or three strides, lifted off and flew a couple of wingbeats,
touched clown and galloped again. When he was a stride (or a
wingbeat) from Lisa, he thrust his wings out and slid to a halt. She
stared at the black snip on his nose. "You're not Theophilus!
You're Philo! Where did you get those wings? "

The horse inexpertly folded his wings one at it time. "On the
way back to Nephesh the Lord Gaal appeared. I asked him to
scratch the itchy bumps on my back, which had become nearly
unbearable by then. He touched them, they grew and became-"
He thrust out a wing in demonstration.

"Careful!" Lisa said.

"I wish to thank you, Lady Lisa," said Philo. "You opened my
eyes to the truth of my ancestry."

Tigvah now.joined them. Lisa could hardly believe the change
in the king. She thought he looked not only heavier and stronger but more handsome. He smiled that open, almost mischievous smile of the boy Tiqvah they had known years before. Then
his mood grew serious. "Lisa, I know you have been brave in battle. So have Wesley, Kurt and Betty. And now I know the sad
truth about my queen. The Lord Gaal told me gently on our journey."

"I'm really sorry," Lisa said. She thought she should say more,
but she didn't know what.

Gaal summoned everyone to gather near the cottage. The
sound of his voice filled the injured with new strength. They came
and stood in the cottage doorway. Swordsmen, archers and slingshot hurlers returned from their battle stations and fell to their
knees in front of Gaal. Koach dropped to their bellies and lay panting before their lord. Vulcanus settled in a nearby treetop. For now
there were no Qadar, no harpies, no efel spawn, no weaver bees,
no goblins. Where Gaal was, everything was peaceful.

Wesley stepped forward, unbuckled the Sword of Geburah and
laid the jeweled scabbard on the ground before Gaal. "It's yours
now," he said. "It always was."

Gaal picked up the sword and strapped it on. His face glowed
with pleasure, yet it also showed concern. "My friends, you have
fought bravely and well." His voice carried to the furthest person at
the back of the crowd. "Our Enemy will make one more assault. It
is not you he seeks to destroy but me. When you came into my service, you willingly placed yourselves in the path of his attacks.
Some have paid the highest price. But do not fear, for all will
receive their reward."

"Will I get a slingshot?" it small voice asked.

Gaal laughed a deep, hearty chuckle. He scooped up the littlest
boy, sat on a stump and placed the boy on his lap. "You shall
receive the finest slingshot in my Bayith of Yayin. However, you
may not hurl stones at the clucks in my fountain."

The crowd laughed. Voices said, "Gaal is great!" and "Gaal has
won the victory!"

Their festive mood was cut short. Darkness rolled over the field
as though storm clouds blocked the sun. A deep vibration rumbled
the earth. All faces turned toward Lake Nachash. Its normally deep
blue waters had turned murky gray. Whitecaps raced across its surface, streaking outward from the Island of Geburah. Against the
dark sky a darker form appeared. At first it was shapeless, like a
moving thunderhead. Lightning flashed deep within it. Gradually
the form contorted itself into a face-a gigantic face of grayish yellow with huge cold eyes, thin lips and a cruel twisted smile.

The voice of Lord Lunacy boomed like a hundred peals of thunder. "So my Enemy shows himself at last! He could not keel) himself away from the foolish followers he loves! Now he shall see his
fatal blunder!" Lightning crackled behind the face. Rocks split
from the cliff and rolled into the lake. Clouds of hot steam hissed
up where the rocks fell.

The face of the Dark Lord changed shape again. His nose
broadened and flattened. His eyes elongated and moved to the
side of his head. His color deepened from yellow to ruddy, then
brightened to garish red. The skin shriveled from smooth to scaly.
The head of Lord Lunacy was now the head of a dragon. From his
nostrils spurted boiling smoke. His mouth gaped open to show
four huge fangs that were immediately hidden by it tongue of
flame.

Many of Gaal's followers screamed and covered their faces.
Some stared at Lunacy in horror. But others grinned in open defiance. Betty Riggs was appalled. She managed to ask, "What is it?"

"It's the true form of the Mystery of Abomination," Kurt said.
"What you know as Lord Lunacy is only one of the forms it takes.
Once I saw-" Kurt did not finish his explanation. From the forest
came a crash like none he had ever heard. It was like the fall of it
giant tree, but it continued and continued, as though it row of giant
trees fell one after the other. Vulcanus uttered a startled "Kee-keekee!" and took off from his treetop perch. A second later the tree
went down with a splintery crash. From the woods burst a boarwartz, an elephant-sized goblin something like a wild pig but immensely larger. Gaal's panicked followers fled across the field.
The thing snuffled and snorted after them. It tore up the ground
with its monstrous tusks. It uprooted several trees along the forest
edge and tore the springhouse from its foundation.

The crowd ran toward the far end of the field. They screamed
and turned back. Advancing on them from the other direction was
a seven-headed ogre, twice again as big as the one the children
had killed. At the same time, a formation of winged goblins flew
from behind the great dragon's head. As one they raced across the
lake and circled above the scene of panic. They came around
again, lower this time. The lead goblin flung a flaming rock and
knocked down a fleeing woman. She snatched up the rock to fling
it back at the goblin and screamed as the fiery object scorched her
hand.

Captain Charaban climbed onto the ruins of the springhouse.
King Tiqvah managed to get onto the roof of the stables. Charaban
shouted, "Back to your battle stations! Take up your weaponsswords, bows, slingshots!"

Tiqvah cried out, "Fight for Anthropos! Fight in the name of the
Changer!"

The lieutenants spread the order. The crowd regrouped and
encouraged each other to fight. Gaal's followers were now a united
army. They had much in their favor: the presence of their king, the
captain's confidence, the skills of the lieutenants, their experience
of battle together. And now Gaal himself was here among them!

Two soldiers cornered the boarwartz against a building. The
dragon of the Mystery leered from the air. Flame shot from his
mouth. The single boarwartz divided into two identical boarwartz!
Both beasts charged and trampled the soldiers before the startled
men could react. The two boarwartz split again into four and stampeded onto the battlefield.

The ogre advanced on an archer. The soldier drew his bow and
shot the beast in the chest, but it instantly divided into two. He fitted another arrow and let fly. He could not get off another arrow
fast enough. The ogres advanced over his body. As they raged
onward, they divided again and yet again. The formation of
winged goblins soared over the field and hurled flaming rocks. Archers let fly with arrows. The formation divided into two, which
veered off in opposite directions. Twice as many flaming stones
raided down on Gaal's followers.

Betty clutched the Book of Wisdom and pulled it open. The blue
light flared out once more. She started to read. The blue dome
began to spread. She looked up from the book and nearly dropped
it. Before her lay an open field unlike any she had ever seen. Fires
were lit, and lively music danced above the crackle of flames.
Around the fires sat goblins, harpies and ogres. They beckoned to
her to come sit with them. Betty thought she was hallucinating
until she heard Lisa say, "What are those monsters doing, having a
picnic?"

The noise of battle quieted. The followers of Gaal stopped fighting to stare at the scene before them. Beyond the fires, the field
opened up into an expanse of lush green where hedges flowered.
A sweet voice called, "Lay down your arms! The battle is over! All is
peace! Come join us!" The playful music swelled. Goblins waved
and beckoned. Harpies combed their long hair and smiled. Boarwartz lay by the fires like big sows in a mud hole. Ogres called
`Join us! Join us!" with all the mouths of their seven heads.