The Summoning

by Dale Britton

  Chapter Ninety-Six

  Jordan hardly paid any attention to where she was going. She didn't hear the happy chatter of the birds. She didn't notice when a squirrel ran across her path only a few feet ahead. She was lost in her own dark thoughts.

  What would the pool show her? What was it she most needed to see? Would it be Ollie and Sarah off somewhere kissing each other? Or maybe it would show her just how worthless she was. Nobody cared about her. Why did she even bother trying? Maybe the pool would just swallow her whole.

  She didn't even notice when the others disappeared. She just looked up and they were gone. And there, only a few yards ahead, was the pool. She wanted to run away, but like Ian, the pool pulled her in, and she could not resist. She looked inside and was drawn into the sparkling blue water.

  Jordan was floating. The world swirled around her. When her vision cleared, she found herself looking at an elementary school classroom, maybe fourth or fifth grade. The kids sat quietly working at their tables while the teacher walked around the room, sometimes leaning over to help one of her students, sometimes just smiling and offering words of encouragement.

  Jordan watched the children closely, trying to find meaning in what she was being shown. She liked little kids. She had lived with some in her foster homes before, though never for very long. Still, she couldn't make any sense of this scene.

  Her eyes kept being drawn back to the teacher. There was something familiar about her. She looked about thirty years old. She wore a pink skirt and a flowered shirt, and her long brown hair was tied back with a ribbon. She was beautiful, and it wasn't just her physical appearance. Jordan liked the way that she smiled at the children. She could tell the teacher really cared about each student. She practically glowed with kindness and concern.

  It was several minutes before Jordan realized that the teacher was herself.

  Chapter Ninety-Seven

  Johnny actually saw the others disappear. One second he had been watching Jordan walking only a few feet ahead, and the next she was gone. Lylor had also vanished, and looking behind, Johnny was not surprised to see that Ian was missing as well.

  Johnny fought down his panic and drew his bow, pulling an arrow from his quiver. He had to believe his friends were alright. But he also knew they could be in trouble. And why had they been taken, and not him?

  Johnny stared into the woods, looking for any movement, but saw only a squirrel jumping between the branches of a tree. The birds continued to sing as if they didn't have a care in the world. Everything looked exactly the same as before, at least until he turned to look at the path again.

  Directly ahead of him, only a few yards away, a pool of water had appeared. It had not been there only seconds before, but now it sparkled in the sun, calling to Johnny. Come and look at me.

  Johnny took a deep breath and approached the water. This was why they were here, after all. He needed to see what the pool would show him. It might be the key to beating the demons and getting back home. It was also kind of creepy. He had a strange feeling that the pool wanted him to come, like it was actually alive and not just an inanimate thing. Well, he would do what it wanted.

  He reached the edge and looked into the swirling water. The currents made strange patterns as they flowed across the surface, and Johnny was mesmerized. It was so beautiful, and he lost himself in the motion.

  Johnny stood in a grove of small, sad-looking trees. It was freezing cold, and he shivered. He walked to the edge of the trees and saw a huge valley outside the grove. In the distance stood a large group of buildings that reminded him a little of an old apartment complex, one that had seen better days and was awaiting demolition. It looked like a strong wind would be able to topple the entire conglomeration at any moment. The thing had towers jutting out at weird angles all over the place and no discernible logic to its construction. It gave Johnny an uneasy feeling.

  As he watched, black shapes suddenly began spilling out of the structure and spreading out into the valley. He couldn't see them very well, but he had no doubt he wouldn't want to be here when the things made it this far. He turned and walked back into the grove.

  Now he saw the altar in the center, surrounded by five large stones. A red gem was set into the altar, and it glowed brightly in the early evening light.

  Suddenly, out of nowhere, Ollie appeared in front of the altar. He looked terrible. He was obviously exhausted, and his leg was covered with blood. He also looked terrified, which made sense if the creatures from the city were as bad as they seemed and if they were coming for him. Ollie's expression brightened when he saw the gem, and he immediately walked to the altar to get it. Unfortunately, the stone resisted his efforts to remove it from the altar. Even more, unfortunately, Ollie didn't notice when two of the large standing stones suddenly came to life behind him, changed into monstrous forms and moved quickly up behind him, carrying huge clubs with ugly spikes.

  Was this real? Or was the pool messing with him for some reason? Johnny had no idea, but when the troll-thing raised its club to swing at Ollie, he shouted out a warning.

  "Ollie! Watch out!"

  Ollie seemed to hear his shout and started to turn, but Johnny's warning had come too late. The monster was already attacking. His friend was about to be killed.

  Then Johnny realized he was still carrying his bow. Without thinking, he pulled out an arrow and shot. There was an explosion of light, and the vision disappeared.

  Johnny found himself back on the golden path with a horrible headache. Ian, Jordan, and Lylor had all reappeared.

  "We must leave," Lylor said by way of greeting. "We have to return to the rendezvous point immediately."

  "What's going on?" Johnny asked, shaking his head to clear away the vision.

  "The pool showed me how to get to the demon's tower. We must hurry if we are to save my daughter."

  "Yrabelle?"

  "The demons have taken her," Lylor said.

  "What did you see in the pool?" Ian asked.

  "I saw Ollie," Johnny said. "He was in trouble."

  As the group walked quickly back to the shore, Johnny told the others about his vision, and how he had warned Ollie about the attack. It had all been so dreamlike, but when Johnny carefully counted the arrows in his quiver, he discovered that one of them was gone.

  Chapter Ninety-Eight

  Ollie closed his eyes as the club hurtled toward his face, bracing for the pain. In the split second before impact, time slowed to a crawl. He could hear the air being displaced by the club as it came at him. He could hear the heavy breathing of the trolls. Then he heard a strange sound, like the snapping of a rubber band.

  The pain came, but not as much as he was expecting. Instead of hitting him head-on, the club hit him with a glancing blow to the skull. He heard a strangled cry, followed immediately by another, then the sound of something large falling to the ground.

  Ollie opened his eyes. Both trolls were on the ground, and both had bloody holes in their throats where something had shot through them. Ollie looked around the grove frantically, but he was completely alone. There was no sign of anybody who might have killed the monsters. Ollie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Something strange had just happened, but he couldn't think about it right now. A quick glance into the valley informed him that the creatures from the city were getting close. He was almost out of time.

  His head hurt terribly from where the club had hit him, and blood was dripping over his face. It made it hard to see, let alone concentrate. He looked at the three remaining standing stones, but thus far they remained solid. He would not be surprised at all if they suddenly sprang to life and attacked him. In fact, he expected it now. He had to get the gem and get out of here.

  He couldn't pry the gem out, but maybe he could get it another way. It was difficult with his aching head, but he managed to call his fire spell again. He forced the fire into as small a ball as possible and put as much energy into it as he could. He hoped it was enough. He sent the ball
directly at the gem. Ollie knew the melting point of the rock was very high, but it would be lower than that of the gemstone. If he got his fire hot enough, he might be able to melt the black stone away from the fire gem.

  At first, he didn't think it was going to work. He was tired and generating this much heat was incredibly difficult. He could feel the black creatures getting closer and closer with every passing second. He tried to keep an eye on the standing stones, but it was impossible to watch them all at the same time, especially when he was putting so much effort into his spell. After nearly a minute, Ollie could see that the rock of the altar was starting to soften under the intense heat. It was actually working! But, in his peripheral vision, he thought he saw one of the standing stones twitch.

  And then the gem slipped out of the rock and fell to the ground. Ollie released his spell and almost collapsed in relief. No time for that now. The standing stones were moving now–all three of them. He could see faces forming on them, arms separating from the main masses, the bases dividing into legs. In seconds there would be three more trolls to face.

  Ollie activated the ring. He rushed forward and grabbed the gem from the ground. He expected it to be burning hot and braced himself for more pain, but was surprised to find the stone only slightly warm to the touch. He stuffed it into his pocket.

  The trolls were fully formed and moved to surround the altar, but their movements were no match for the speed granted by the ring. He dodged between two of the creatures and dashed out into the valley. The monsters roared and lumbered after him, but they were no match for Ollie now. The creatures from the city were alarmingly close, but they couldn't match his speed either. He was nearly to the edge of the valley. He was actually going to make it!

  But then the unthinkable happened. In his excitement in finding the gem and the exhilaration of escaping the monsters, Ollie had underestimated just how much of a toll his magic had been taking on him. Between his fire spells and the use of the ring, plus the physical punishment he'd taken, his body had reached its limit. First he slowed, then stumbled, then finally crumpled to the ground. Ollie tried to pick himself up, but he didn't even have the strength to raise his head. He could hear the hoard of monsters approaching, but the world was swirling into darkness. After everything he'd been through, Ollie had finally reached the end of the line.

  The last thing Ollie heard before the blackness overtook him was the distant sound of galloping horses, and then there was nothing.

  Chapter Ninety-Nine

  Ollie opened his eyes and was surprised to find he wasn't dead. It was dark, and he lay on the ground wrapped in a blanket. He could hear a fire crackling somewhere close by, which was good because it was very cold, even under the blanket. He had a headache and his leg throbbed a little, but otherwise, he felt alright. He decided to risk trying to sit up.

  "Ollie?" Sarah's voice, sounding anxious. "Is that you? Are you awake?"

  "I'm awake." His voice sounded strange and kind of rough as if he hadn't used it for a long time. "What's going on? Where are we?"

  Ollie didn't get the answers to his questions right away. Sarah was suddenly beside him, squeezing him in a bone-crunching hug.

  "It's about time." Although the words were light-hearted, Ollie could hear great relief in them. "We thought you'd never wake up."

  "How long?"

  "Almost three days. You really did a number on yourself out there."

  Three days. This was horrible news. Ollie did some quick calculations in his head. They were almost out of time. "I almost died. I should have died." The altar in the grove of trees flashed through his mind. Those trolls would have killed him if not for... for what? Something had taken them out. Ollie felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold. "Where are we?"

  "We're at the rendezvous point. We've been here for over a day. The other group got here just last night. They had to take a longer way back to avoid the mind crab."

  "Mind crab?"

  "I'll let them tell you about that. But Ollie, you did it! You got the gem! We, um, found it in your pocket after we got you away from those things. When we put it into the talisman it fit perfectly. It just kind of snapped into place like a magnet."

  Ollie remembered running away from the trolls in the grove and trying to get away from the black creatures, and he remembered falling to the ground, but everything after that was blank.

  "How did we get away? Those monsters were right on top of me when I fell."

  "It was close," Sarah said. "George and I were watching all day. It was really boring most of the time, but we got nervous when it started getting late. George wanted to go after you, but I talked him out of it."

  "Good thing. Those things would have killed him."

  "About an hour before dark, we started to see a bunch of them moving around," Sarah said.

  "That was probably when they found me," Ollie said.

  "They found you?"

  For just a second the scene on the balcony flashed through Ollie's mind and he could see the army of monsters rushing forward to kill him. It took an effort to push the image away. "I'll tell you later. Keep going."

  Sarah took a deep breath before continuing. "Well, after a few minutes we saw you show up in the middle of the valley. We could tell you were hurt."

  "That's putting it mildly." Ollie reached down and felt the place where the monster had bitten through his leg. It was still pretty painful, especially when he touched it. So don't touch it, stupid.

  "George went to go get the horses while I kept an eye on you, but then you disappeared again."

  "That's when I went to the grove. That's where I found the gem."

  "Yeah, we know," Sarah said. "Johnny told us."

  "Johnny? What are you talking about?"

  "He saw you. It's a long story. Just let me finish our part of it." Sarah paused for a second to gather her thoughts. "Okay... So anyway, George got back with the horses just when you showed up again. You were a little closer, but so were the monsters. Then we saw you fall. I... I was really afraid. I thought we might be too late."

  "I think you almost were," Ollie said, thinking about how much of a miracle it was he was still alive. It was completely insane that all of this was happening to them. Before coming to Valoria the worst thing he had to worry about was maybe not getting a hundred on a test. Now nearly getting killed was a daily occurrence.

  "We rode up with the horses, but you were unconscious. We couldn't wake you up. George had to pick you up and carry you on his horse." She shook her head in disbelief. "It was amazing how he just grabbed you like you were a toy of something. I led your horse while he carried you on his. A few of the monsters got there right when we were leaving, but George knocked them away. He was incredible."

  "George the hero," Ollie said, laughing. "Crazy."

  "So, anyway, we saw that you had the gem, so there was no reason to stick around."

  "And thousands of reasons not to," Ollie said.

  "So, we came here to wait for everyone else. It was a little slow going, you know, having to carry you and lead the other horse. We had to fight a few goblins on the way." She said this casually as if it were just a normal everyday activity. "But we made it yesterday morning. The other group got here last night."

  "Are they..."

  "They're all fine," Sarah assured him. "They found out some things that will help us. Ian's been acting a little strange, but Jordan actually seems happier. Neither of them will tell us what they saw in the pool."

  "What pool?"

  "The magic seeing pool they found. It's how Johnny saw you. Lylor already knew about Yrabelle. He's really upset."

  "Yeah," Ollie said. "I'm sure."

  "He wants to leave early in the morning. George does too. And since you're awake now..."

  Ollie nodded. "I think they're right. If the elves are right about our timetable, then we're down to our last day. We have to get to the demon lord tomorrow, or it'll be too late."

  Chapter One Hundred
/>
  Lylor had the last watch, and he had the group up at the crack of dawn. He was in a hurry to leave as quickly as possible and his anxiety was contagious–before long everybody was on edge. The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon when the party set off.

  "We're really doing this," Ian muttered. His breath made a white cloud in the freezing air.

  "Of course, we're doing this," Johnny said. "What's wrong with you? You've been weird ever since we went to the island. Why won't you tell me what the pool showed you?"

  Ian shivered and the sound of his friends' screaming voices came back to his memory. He couldn't get that stupid vision out of his head. It didn't really happen. Just a dream.

  "I don't feel like talking about it." Ian pushed the images away. "And I have a really bad feeling about this whole thing."

  "We all do, Ian," Johnny said. "I'm scared out of my mind. But we don't really have a choice."

  We could run away, Ian thought, and the vision from the pool flashed through his mind yet again.

  Ollie rode at the front of the group with Lylor and Sarah. His leg ached horribly from where the monster had bitten him, and his headache lingered as well. There were limits to what the healing potions could do. Lylor was pushing the pace, desperate to get to his daughter. The huge mountains, taller than anything Ollie had ever imagined, loomed above them now. The party was following the map that Lylor and the others had found, and it led them toward a narrow pass in the wall of stone ahead.

  "Tell me again what you saw in your vision," Ollie pushed his horse to keep pace with the elf. Sarah rode next to them on the opposite side.

  "The pool showed me the demon's mines," Lylor said. "He has nearly a hundred slaves–elves, humans, other races as well. And Yrabelle..." His voice caught and he was forced to pause to compose himself. "I saw her. The demons were forcing her to carry baskets of ore out of the mines. She is being pushed past her endurance."