In the Shadow of Mountains: The Lost Girls

by David George Richards

Chapter Forty-Four

  The Survivors

  In the alcove of the underground chamber, Prince Harold was splashed in the blood of Gil-Yan as he hacked off her head. But even as the slight form that had been the real Gil-Yan slumped from the bed, the beast slammed into the entrance of the alcove behind him. Turning, Prince Harold was faced with her gaping jaws. He stepped back in fright, but no final snap of her teeth followed.

  It was as Jai-Soo had said, in death, Gil-Yan had returned to the metal of the sword she once was. But such was her size that any transformation was impossible. Instead, her great bulk only changed colour to black and grew as hard as stone, leaving her locked in her final position.

  Prince Harold stared at the huge jaws, and as no bite followed, he grew bolder and struck at her teeth with his broken sword. Metal clanged against metal, the sound resonating and echoing.

  “She is dead!” Prince Harold shouted in triumph. “The beast is dead!”

  “Aye,” came the more subdued sound of his brother’s voice. “But so is everyone else.”

  The victory was indeed hollow. Apart from L’Barr, only two men had survived from those who had entered the castle with Prince Harold, and none had survived from the castle garrison. Now all those who had survived were scattered about the chamber, totally exhausted, and still deep in shock.

  As Mai-Ra and Hai-Fam helped El-Vin with the stab wound she had received from the teeth of Gil-Yan, L’Barr did the same with one of his men. He slapped the other man who lay sprawled next to him and smiled, happy simply to have survived and still be alive.

  Nearby, Soo-Kai held Rolf in her arms while Prince Carl did the same with Anne. And above them by the broken and splintered door, Becky and Jane held on to Vanessa. All three girls were crying, but it was Vanessa’s sobs that were the most forceful.

  In the aftermath of the battle, all were silent and subdued. Even Prince Harold’s brief joy over the death of Gil-Yan quickly faded when he heard his brother’s blunt but realistic reply. He squeezed himself between the wall of the alcove and Gil-Yan’s stone hard flesh and returned to the main chamber. There he found Zen-Wa helping Kai-Tai to stagger to her feet. He took her arm and helped Zen-Wa support her, but even Kai-Tai had no words to speak. In the dust filled chamber, no one spoke, and the only sound was that of the girls crying.

  The sound of the crying tore at Anne’s heart and her conscience, and she pulled herself free from Prince Carl. He let go of her reluctantly, and watched her as she went over to the girls.

  Anne climbed up the debris to the floor above. There she sat between Becky and Jane, taking Vanessa in her arms. Vanessa turned to her almost eagerly, and cried even harder and louder as Anne rocked her back and forth, patting her and stroking her. And beside them, Becky and Jane cried just as noisily.

  Anne wanted to console Vanessa, to say something meaningful, something that would make sense of the horrors they had faced. But she couldn’t think of anything, nothing at all. That one, final second of horror and shock had robbed her of all her words of comfort. So instead she did the only thing she could. She cried with them.

  But even amid this pit of sorrow and anguish, there were still those who followed a Purpose.

  One by one the Destroyers began to search the chamber and each of the other alcoves. To them, the carnage that had occurred was unimportant. The only thing that counted was that they were inside the castle and the Outsider was dead. The way forward was now clear.

  What they searched for they found in one of the alcoves. Hai-Fam was inside on all fours, scraping at the gaps between the stone slabs, while Mai-Ra twisted and tugged at all the metal hooks on the wall that supported the burning torches. It was the third torch that hid the lever. As soon as Mai-Ra twisted it, there was a loud scrunch and Hai-Fam squealed. The stone slab she had been kneeling on suddenly tipped forward and she slithered down into darkness and disappeared. Below the stone slab, a set of steep, stone steps was now revealed.

  All the Destroyers quickly congregated around the alcove. Di- Quan led the way. Ducking under Gil-Yan’s outstretched neck where it lay across the crushed minibus, she hurried to the alcove and watched as Yan-Lai and Mai-Ra darted down the opening. Mai-Ra was in front, and she had hardly taken more than two steps down when Hai-Fam reappeared in her path. Mai-Ra put her hand on Hai-Fam’s head and pushed her back down again. No sooner had they and Yan- Lai disappeared when Di-Quan followed them down.

  Zen-Wa left Kai-Tai with Prince Harold and quickly followed Chen-Bey down the steps. El-Vin also made her way slowly into the alcove, still clutching at her midriff. There was blood on her fingers and on her tunic. But instead of following the others down the steps, she sat down on the edge of the slab at the top and stared down into the darkness.

  Kai-Tai watched her. “We are left behind,” she announced sadly. “We are too weak for the tasks that lie ahead. But the others will return when the path is investigated. There is something I possess that they must use if they are to escape.”

  Prince Harold kept his arm around Kai-Tai as he helped her into the alcove. Like her and El-Vin, he stared at the steps going down into darkness.

  “Is the treasure you seek down there?” he asked her.

  “Our treasure is freedom,” she replied. “The freedom from this world and from the Navak machine that stifles our power. Down below, trapped under the soil and the rock, is the Althon Gerail, the ship that first brought us to this world. For a short time in each generation, the Nakora Tabek, the last of the Twelve Great Ships, will pass close by. As always, she will call to the survivors of the Navak crew who abandoned her. Only in the Althon Gerail is there any means to answer that call. Tonight is the last night, and in a short time the ship above will be gone. It is our last chance to answer the call until another generation has passed.”

  “And if it was in your power, would you follow the others?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then tell me truthfully, is it the bond that keeps you from taking the first steps, or the wound in your back? For if it is the bond, I will order you to go. This at least I owe you.”

  Kai-Tai’s reply was honest. “The wound is the nail that holds me to this world, but it is the bond you have initiated that has truly trapped me. It was through this bond that I was wounded, and now, like El-Vin, I am left behind because of my weakness.”

  Rolf and Soo-Kai had come to stand next to Kai-Tai and Prince Harold in the alcove. Rolf had listened as Kai-Tai had explained to the Prince about the ship. To him, this was nothing new. Soo-Kai had told him the story long before. But now he stared down the darkened tunnel in awe. Down there, hidden for thousands of years, was a completely different world. A world of long lost technology, of power that could destroy whole planets. And among that technology was a doorway to the stars. The Portal Soo-Kai had described, the Portal that had brought the children here and could possibly take them all back home.

  Rolf turned to Soo-Kai and found her staring down the tunnel with the same despairing look as El-Vin and Kai-Tai. A sudden feeling of sadness overcame him.

  “Tell me the truth, my wife. Do you yearn for your freedom? If I gave my permission, would you follow the others to escape?”

  Soo-Kai turned and stared at him. “There is nothing down there that I crave. I have my freedom here, with you. The freedom to think as I wish and do as I like. No, my husband, I have no wish to follow my sisters, I am only sad that they will be gone.”

  Rolf smiled and hugged her tightly. If she had said she wanted to leave, he would have begged her to go. But knowing that she wanted to stay brought him such joy and comfort. And somehow, he knew that she also knew and understood his feelings.

  Kai-Tai watched Rolf and Soo-Kai kiss and hug. The sight angered her.

  “I yearn!” she said in a loud voice. “This escape I have fought and waited for all my life on Ellerkan! And now I am left behind, trapped by a wound taken for a Navak! You could go in my place, Soo-Kai! You are my seed, if I cannot esc
ape, you should!”

  As Rolf and Soo-Kai stared at her in surprise, Kai-Tai reached inside her tunic and tugged at the thong tied around her neck, pulling it free. She thrust it towards Soo-Kai. From the thong hung the red tooth Prince Harold remembered. Kai-Tai continued to speak with determination.

  “Here is the power driver circuit! The circuit I removed even as the ship rocked to the impacts of the energy pulses from the Nakora Tabek!”

  Soo-Kai stared at it almost in fright.

  “Take it!” Kai-Tai urged her, reaching forward and pushing the red device into her hand. “This will open the data-link! Talk with the Nakora Tabek, leave this world!”

  Soo-Kai shook her head and spoke hesitantly. “I will not leave Rolf. I will not break the bond that has given me such joy.”

  “Then take him with you!”

  Her words were a shock. Rolf and Soo-Kai stared at one another.

  The possibility that Soo-Kai could escape from Ellerkan, the world that had been her prison for so long, had always been at the back of Rolf’s mind ever since he had learned of the ship and the Portal. But he had never for one moment even considered that he might use the same means to follow her. There was sudden confusion, not just in his mind but also in Soo-Kai’s.

  Soo-Kai stared at the small and ancient red device she held in her hand. What should she do?

  A weak voice behind them startled her more than a shout would have done.

  “Could we get home, too?”

  It was Jane. She sniffled and wiped at her tear-stained face. Behind her, Anne and Prince Carl held Vanessa between them. She still sobbed and wailed. Becky stood next to them, wiping her face as Jane did, holding her glasses in one hand.

  Soo-Kai looked at them all and nodded slowly. “Yes, it is possible that you could go home. But the journey is long and our time is short.”

  Becky put on her glasses. “Then maybe we should all get going as quickly as we can,” she suggested.

  Vanessa turned her head from Anne’s shoulder, revealing a face still twisted in pain and despair. When she spoke, she ground the words out between her wails and sobs.

  “I don’t want to go without Berni! I want Berni!”

  Anne looked at her in despair. “You don’t mean that!” she said.

  “I do! I won’t go without Berni! I won’t!”

  Vanessa was a complete wreck. Crying and wailing, she struggled between Anne and Prince Carl, and continued to shout and scream her refusal to leave. Her voice was sore and hoarse, and her exertions caused her to collapse, pulling Anne and Carl with her. She sat on the floor between them, still shouting.

  “I won’t go! I won’t go!”

  There was a scraping sound from above. Dust fell through the hole and rattled against the side of the rocket ship. A moment later and Nan-Po had landed by the crushed minibus. She still held her sword in her hand.

  She wasn’t the only one to squeeze her way through the tiny gaps left by Gil-Yan in the passageways and doors. A moment later and Jai-Soo jumped down next to her. She looked quickly around her and then shouted back up the way she had come.

  “They still live!”

  There was an instant reply. “Are you sure?”

  Jane recognised the voice. “Craig? Is that you?” she called out.

  The answering shout was excited and female. “Jane!”

  Jane moved closer to the debris gathered under the hole in the floor and stared up at the doorway. “Amy! Are you alright?”

  Craig answered her as he wormed his way into the room above. “We’re all okay! We’re coming down!”

  And Amy shouted, “We’ve got two French boys with us! And Paula’s here, too!”

  Becky joined Jane in staring up at the doorway, and Anne stood up with tears in her eyes.

  “Amy, Paula,” she breathed.

  As more of the girls squeezed through the doorway into the room above, Jane and Becky began to scream and jump up and down. Craig stayed at the top and helped Amy down first, then Paula. While below them, Jai-Soo waited to guide them down the rest of the way. Sophia appeared next, and then came the two French boys, quickly followed by Karen and Jemma. Rowena came last. As each girl appeared and climbed down, there were screams of delight. But they weren’t the only survivors.

  The two men Prince Harold had left to watch the horses and guard the prisoner had entered the castle after Gil-Yan was killed and had found the children. They had also found servants and other staff who had cowered in the North and East Towers during all the mayhem. Now the men followed the children through the narrow gaps and shouted to L’Barr who climbed up the debris to meet them. Their joy at finding one another alive was plain to see. But more good news was to follow.

  Sir Malcolm had been found alive on the steps of the North Tower. He and several other men had avoided Gil-Yan’s attention due to the wounds they had gained in the previous fight for the castle. Friend or foe, most had been taken inside the East Tower before Gil-Yan had emerged from her underground chambers. Even the messenger who was once their prisoner now helped with the rest as their wounds were tended.

  Sir Malcolm had been taken to the North Tower where he ended up on the dining room table. The arrow was removed from his back, and he was left there, able only to shout and curse at the servants who tended him while the carnage unfolded outside.

  Prince Harold was overjoyed by the news. He had feared that the Knight had been killed with the rest. Now he slapped the men who brought the news on the back, and hugged them along with L’Barr.

  Anne too, was overjoyed. She sat hugging Vanessa, and had cried at the sight of each girl when they had appeared, never realising that so many had survived. But as the girls and their teacher greeted and hugged one another, their joy turned to tears at the news of those who had been lost. Those that had survived cried and hugged one another, and even the two French boys were drawn into the group hug.

  Debbie, Jo, Linda, Christine and Samantha. All were gone, and now Bernice too. Rolf and Soo-Kai watched and felt helpless. They had done their best, and they had almost succeeded. But now the sight of such anguish overwhelmed them.

  Prince Carl also felt sad, not just because of his feelings for Anne, but because he had known some of the girls who were now dead, and although it had been for only a short time, he had seen them laughing and sad. He wanted so much to hug and comfort Anne, but there was no room for him. He was pushed out and he felt excluded. All he could do was watch and wait. But in his mind he could still picture them.

  Prince Harold, L’Barr and the men who had survived were also overcome with sorrow. The sound of the crying brought to mind the faces of friends and comrades of their own who had fallen. Too many had died that day, and too few were left to mourn them.