“RUN!” Joey shouted.
No one needed to be told twice. After a brief moment of indecision about which way to go, the group chose a direction and made a break for it. Unfortunately, the orcs did the same, and they were better at it. Joey and his friends scrambled across the trail as fast as they could, but there wasn’t much of a trail to follow. As they stumbled through unfamiliar territory, dodging fiery blasts and climbing over rock formations that slowed them down, the orcs charged ahead as if they had been shot out of a cannon. They knew the terrain and were sprinting all out, covering the distance between them and their prey with ease.
“I take back what I said about Transylvania!” Joey said, feeling a newfound appreciation for Dracula’s hometown. At least there were no real monsters there. Joey knew there were no “real monsters” inside DeMayne’s head either, but that didn’t make him any less afraid of the hideous beasts chasing him. As he hurried across an uneven path, desperate to escape, he told himself he was still on Hypnova’s ship and the orcs were merely figments of DeMayne’s twisted imagination. If he was captured and killed, he’d wake up in the real world without a scratch on him. That had been the plan, but there was no denying they had hit a major snag. DeMayne had cut off their connection to Hypnova from the moment they had entered his mind. Joey worried that DeMayne’s will was stronger than anyone realized. What if Hypnova couldn’t see them well enough to pull them back to reality? If that was the case, all bets were off and there was no safe space anywhere. Off-balance and unprepared for the chase, Joey felt like a wounded deer trying to escape a pack of hungry wolves. The orcs were gaining fast.
Tired of running, Leanora crested a hill and turned to fight. Janelle joined her, and together they began throwing rocks at their pursuers. They were decent-sized rocks, and the girls’ aim was good enough to score a few direct hits, but the orcs laughed them off. It was like throwing pebbles at an oncoming train to try to slow it down. The orcs kept coming, pausing only to return fire. Everyone ducked for cover as spears whistled through the air, just missing them.
“Stop it!” Shazad said, pulling Leanora back. “You’re just making them mad.”
“I think they started out mad,” Janelle said.
The spears hit hard enough to sink into the rocks, breaking them apart. Cracks ran out from the point of impact in a zigzag pattern, destabilizing the ground.
“Keep running!” Shazad said.
Leanora stopped throwing stones and ran, but not before doubling back to grab one of the spears and take it with her. The chase went on, but the outlook was increasingly bleak. Joey and his friends scaled a rocky crag trying to get away. Their energy was fading and their progress was slow.
“How can I be this tired in a metaphysical realm?” Janelle wondered aloud as Shazad helped her over the top. “I’m not even really here!”
“It’s DeMayne,” Joey huffed, coming up behind her. “We don’t belong here. In his head. Puts us at a natural disadvantage.” He was already winded when they started the climb. Now his strength had all but left him. The orcs looked like they could go another ten miles without breaking a sweat, but the finish line was closer than anyone thought. The fissures created by the orcs’ spears had never stopped growing. Soon the fault lines caught up to Joey and his friends, and the ground gave way beneath them.
“Look out!” Leanora shouted, but there was nothing anyone could do. Caught up in a rockslide, the group tumbled down a steep slope and rolled to a stop at the base of a mountain.
“Ouch,” Joey said, scuffling to his feet. He and his friends got up and assessed their injuries. A few cuts and scrapes aside, they had survived the fall without incident, but they were about to enter a world of hurt. Joey looked up at the nearly vertical rock face behind them. They had slammed into a mountain wall at the bottom of the ravine. There was nowhere to go. He looked back the way they’d come. One by one, orcs appeared, lining the top of the hill. There was no way out.
The orcs brandished swords, spears, and maces that were studded with spikes. Their weapons were stained with rusty red blotches, and they laughed in a way that made Joey’s skin crawl. Their mouths were full of rotten, razor-sharp teeth, and they smelled awful. It was an odd thing to worry about, but Joey wondered if their stink was the last thing he’d ever smell. The leader of the pack quieted the others and said something in orc-speak. Joey didn’t understand the words, but hearing them made him cringe just the same. The way the other orcs reacted, whooping it up and gnashing their teeth, Joey got the feeling they had just been told that dinner was served.
Joey and his friends called out for Hypnova but got no response. No one was coming to help them. The group huddled together as the orcs slowly advanced on their position. Joey’s heart was racing. It didn’t matter if they were “really there” or not. He had to imagine it would hurt to die at the hands—or teeth—of an orc, and he couldn’t be certain of what would happen after that. Still holding her spear, Leanora stepped out in front of everyone, ready to stick any orc who got too close. She was as fearless as ever, but she didn’t stand a chance. None of them did. They were up against eight fully armed warriors, and they had one spear to split between the four of them. The hero in Joey wanted to step up and save the day with the wand, but he didn’t even have that option. Not in this place. That was the problem. They had more than just the orcs to contend with. Everything worked against them here, which was what Hypnova had been trying to tell them earlier. DeMayne was everywhere, including the ground that had disappeared beneath their feet. Joey thought about how willing DeMayne had been to give everyone a crack at his brain. His confidence now seemed more than justified. As the orcs closed in, Joey thought about DeMayne and his great game and how well he had played them, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
The first orc reached the bottom of the hill. He had a sword in each hand, and he scraped them together with a menacing grin. Leanora backpedaled slightly as he approached, but before the beast could strike, a cloaked figure leaped out of nowhere and landed between them.
“Hypnova!” Joey shouted.
Only it wasn’t Hypnova. It was a man. His hands gave it away. They were the only parts of the stranger visible underneath his cloak, and they were large and pasty white. His drab cloak was the wrong color too, as was his sword. A blade appeared in one of the stranger’s hands, and it was not Hypnova’s shiny golden saber, but a broadsword forged from dull gray steel. Before anyone had a chance to react, the sword flashed out in a blur, slicing the orc in two. The creature exploded in a puff of black smoke, shocking everyone, the remaining orcs most of all. They roared with anger and charged down the hill, expecting to overwhelm the stranger, but they were sloppy and untrained. He was quick and deadly. The orcs swarmed the stranger, coming at him from all sides. They couldn’t touch him. He parried their attacks with graceful, polished movements. His cloak flew out as he spun away from the tips of their swords, giving the orcs a target to flail at. They stabbed at the stranger and hit nothing but fabric. One orc accidentally ran through another orc trying to get him. It was another bloodless death as the unlucky orc disappeared in a smoky blast. The stranger dashed through the black cloud with his sword, and a third burst of smoke appeared, followed by a fourth, and a fifth. The haze spread out, obscuring everything. Joey heard the clanging of swords inside the dark, billowing mass. It went on for a few seconds and ended with two soft puffs. When the dust settled, the stranger was the only one standing.
But the orc leader had lingered back from the fray. With his crew defeated, he came down the hill seeking revenge. The stranger had just effortlessly taken out seven bloodthirsty orcs, but the eighth and final enemy wasn’t like the others. He was bigger, stronger, and much better with a blade. He cut a swath through the air and flipped his sword around, moving it from hand to hand and showing off his skills like a gunslinger twirling a pistol. He finished his routine at the bottom of the hill and roared at the stranger, challenging him to a fight—a real fight.
Poof.
Just like that, it was over. The orcs had all been reduced to a sooty black mist. The danger had passed, and the stunning reversal of fortune left everyone speechless. Joey inched forward, coming up behind the mysterious stranger. The man was looking the other way, his face still hidden by the hood. Joey didn’t ask who he was. All he could think about was Indiana Jones taking out the swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
“That. Was. Awesome!” he gushed.
The cloaked swordsman sheathed his blade. “Follow me.” He spoke in a gruff, hoarse tone as he pushed past Joey on his way to the mountain wall. It was a dead end, but not for him. He pushed on a series of stones in a special order to unlock a secret passage into the mountain. “In here.”
“Even awesomer,” Joey said.
Janelle looked sideways at Joey. “Awesomer? Really?”
“Let it go,” Shazad told her.
“Who are you?” Leanora asked the stranger before they went any farther. “Did Hypnova send you?”
“Not exactly.”
The stranger threw back his hood, revealing the absolute last face Joey expected to see. The man who had just saved his life, and the lives of all his friends, was none other than Grayson Manchester.
7 Dangerous Minds
“You!” Shazad exclaimed. “You’re alive?”
Manchester cocked his head to the side and touched his chin. “Alive… I wonder. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure. I’ve never given the matter much thought.”
Shazad scrunched up his face, visibly thrown by Manchester’s response.
“You can’t be here,” Janelle said, jumping in. “You got sucked into a black hole! We watched you go!”
“Did you?” Manchester’s eyebrows went up. “That’s new information. I’d like to hear more about that.”
“What?” Shazad looked around at Joey, Janelle, and Leanora. They were all equally baffled. “I don’t understand. Why are you here?”
“And why would you save us?” Joey wanted to know.
“One question at a time,” Manchester said softly. His smooth British accent grated on Joey. It bothered him that Manchester sounded so intelligent and in control even though nothing he said made any sense. “First of all, I’m not here. Not in the way you think I am.” Manchester stepped into the secret tunnel and motioned for everyone to join him. “I’ll explain everything, but we need to keep moving. We’re too exposed right now. It’s not safe.”
Joey planted his feet. “I’m not going in there. I’m not going anywhere with you.” The idea was completely out of the question. He looked at the others, expecting unanimous agreement, but his friends didn’t seem to share his opinion.
Shazad put a hand on Joey’s shoulder and whispered in his ear. “I think it’s all right, Joey. You said yourself he saved us.”
“Did you see what he did to those orcs?” Leanora added.
“I don’t care what he did,” Joey said, pulling away from both of them. “We can’t trust him. He’s working an angle. He’s got to be. It’s the only explanation.”
“That’s no explanation,” Shazad said. “What possible angle could he be—”
“I don’t know!” Joey blurted out, cutting Shazad off. “But you know he’s got one.”
“What do you want to do?” Leanora asked. “Do you have any other ideas?”
“Did you forget what he did to us?” Joey asked, turning the question back on her. “To Redondo?”
“That wasn’t me,” Manchester said.
“Don’t give me that,” Joey shot back. “We were there!”
“I wasn’t,” Manchester said. “I know this is hard to believe, but I’m not Grayson Manchester.” His assertion shut everyone up. It was an odd thing to say, seeing as how he was obviously Grayson Manchester, but the conviction he said it with was undeniable.
“Who are you, then? His twin brother?” Joey asked.
“No, but we are related, in a sense. I’m Ledger DeMayne’s memory of Grayson Manchester.”
Manchester’s revelation produced a collective “Oh” from Joey and his friends.
“You look just like him,” Shazad said.
“Sound like him too,” Leanora added.
“Of course I do. The old man’s got a memory like a steel trap, but if what you’re saying is accurate, the real Grayson Manchester is either dead or very far away. In either case, we don’t need to worry about him. However, you’re right about one thing: I do have an ulterior motive for helping you.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Joey said. “Let’s hear it.”
“I didn’t save you from the orcs because I care about you. I did it to frustrate DeMayne. You’re wondering if you can trust me? You can trust me to be what he remembers me to be, which is someone who betrayed him. He doesn’t remember all the details, but he knows I came between him and the wand. I worked against him in the real world and ruined his plans. Naturally, I do the same here. Does that make sense?”
Joey thought it over and decided it actually did make sense. The mental loophole allowed him to do the impossible and accept Grayson Manchester—or this version of him—as an ally. The howling of orcs in the distance made everybody jump. “Fine, let’s go,” Joey said, eager to get away before the orcs found out where they were. The group hustled into the tunnel and closed the door behind them.
Manchester led the group down a narrow, torchlit passage, fielding questions along the way. “Since when are you so good with a sword?” Shazad asked him. “Not that I’m complaining, but the Grayson Manchester I remember was a magician, not a fighter.”
“DeMayne controls the idea of magic here, but he doesn’t control me,” Manchester explained. “I draw power from another well. I’m a painful memory for DeMayne. Something that gnaws at him. His only way to defeat me in this place would be to forget me, which he could never do, because he spends so much energy trying to remember what it is I did. To be honest, I don’t even know myself because he doesn’t know.”
“This is making my head hurt,” Leanora complained.
“I think I understand,” Shazad said. “DeMayne doesn’t know what Manchester did, because Hypnova hid those details from him when she erased his memory of us.”
“So it would seem,” Manchester said. “He’s starting to remember though. The memory blocks your friend Hypnova put in place are breaking down. Probably a result of you all rooting around in his brain.”
“You know Hypnova?” Joey asked.
“I know everything DeMayne knows, which is limited to what happened on Hypnova’s ship and the reason you’re here.”
“So, you don’t know who we are specifically?” Joey asked hopefully. “And you don’t know what happened between us and the real Manchester?” Memory or not, he wondered if Manchester would be so eager to help them if he knew they were the ones who dropped him down the black hole.
“Any history you have with him, good or bad, is between you and him,” Manchester said, putting Joey’s mind at ease. “We may not be friends, but you’re Ledger DeMayne’s enemy, and that makes us allies.” They came to a room filled with swords and armor. “I say let’s give the old vulture a headache.”
Everyone went around the room choosing their weapons and outfitting themselves with a mix of chain mail, pauldrons, chest plates, and armguards. Joey was glad to have the added protection, and he felt much better with a sword in his hand. He chose a blade that should have been too big for him and found it surprisingly light and easy to swing. It was one of the benefits of being in DeMayne’s mind versus the real world. “Normally, I wouldn’t know what to do with this, but I won’t have a problem stabbing any of DeMayne’s henchmen knowing they’ll just vanish in a cloud of smoke.”
“Tell me about it,” Janelle said. “I hate the sight of blood.”
“You don’t have to worry about spilling blood here,” Manchester confirmed. “We’re safe as
can be. Unfortunately, you can’t get what you’re after by playing it safe. If you want to search DeMayne’s deepest, most protected memories, you’ve got to go back into the wild.”
He took them through a doorway that led back outside. It was much darker when they emerged from the tunnel. The sun had gone down during the short time Joey and his friends had spent inside the mountain. The sky had turned from an overcast gray to a deep inky blue, shading to black. Another dark mountain sat on the horizon, and an eerie arc of green light glimmered in the air above it like the aurora borealis. The spooky vibe the light gave off clashed with something at the peak of the mountain that didn’t belong. High atop the summit was a city surrounded by a wall of white stone and marble. A soft glow illuminated an inviting, peaceful haven that stood in stark contrast to the desolate, rocky crags. In the center of the city there was a castle on a green hill, and it was not the ominous, impregnable fortress Joey expected to see. DeMayne’s stronghold looked surprisingly like Camelot. It was obvious where they had to go, but the castle was a long way off. Perhaps a week or more. “How long is this going to take?” Joey asked.
“That depends on which road you choose,” Manchester replied.
They followed him to the edge of a cliff for a better view of the land below. A wave of hopelessness crashed over Joey when he looked down from the precipice. A vast army of orcs waited for them at the foot of the mountain. There were tens of thousands of them. An insurmountable number. Not even Grayson Manchester’s swordsmanship could protect them from this many soldiers.
The New World Page 8
