by Jeff Gunhus
Eva and Daniel threw their bodies on top of T-Rex and Xavier.
Ariel and Will crowded over me, willing to take the arrows themselves so I could live.
Instead of fear, a terrible anger rose inside me. Not because we were about to fail in our quest, or that some of my friends were about to be injured, or even die.
My anger was for the Creach monsters hiding behind the castle wall, cowards that fired blindly at us instead for going toe-to-toe in honorable combat.
The anger was unlike anything I’d ever felt. It seemed ancient, as if it was part of my DNA that had fought battles with swords for centuries.
All of this happened in a moment that seemed to stretch out endlessly. I had the strangest feeling that if I wanted to, I could step forward, turn around, and see myself crouching in that open field, my friends frozen in place over me. But I was afraid to do it. Some irrational fear whispered that if I left my body I’d never find my way back.
Instead, I used the slowed-down time to reach into my pocket and clutch the four Jerusalem Stones.
The second I pulled them out, time resumed.
My friends yelled as they anticipated the arrows dropping on them.
I held out my hand with the Jerusalem Stones.
“No!” I commanded, my voice sounding like a roar of thunder.
All of my anger flew through my chest, down my arm and through the Stones.
Slowly, my friends looked up.
Hundreds of arrows hovered only a few feet above them. So many arrows that they cast shade over us, blocking out the sun.
In my mind, I searched out the Creach monsters who had fired each arrow. Somehow I could see every single one of them at once, without really seeing any of them.
The anger in me suggested one simple command. There was a brief hesitation, something deep in me nagging that I was making a mistake, but my anger pushed it away.
The command came out as a cruel whisper, a voice I’d never heard come out of my mouth before.
“Turn,” was all I said.
The arrows turned slowly one hundred eighty degrees, vibrating in place so fast that the tips were a blur.
“Fly.”
The arrows streaked into the air, retracing their path. Buried within my command was a terrible intention that I gave each arrow. It wasn’t just to fly back on its path; it was returning to whatever Creach had fired it. My anger flew with the arrows and the goal was clear. The cowards behind the wall had to pay for trying to kill me. For trying to kill my friends.
“Jack,” Will whispered. “How did you…what are you…”
I turned to him, my arm still outstretched and the Stones clutched in my fist. I saw the concern on his face, but that wasn’t all I saw in his expression. He was afraid of me.
A great cry rose up from behind the castle walls as hundreds of arrows hit their mark. Screams tore through the air, for a few seconds even overpowering the sound of the zombie battle being waged behind us.
Then the screams stopped.
With a cry, I reached out toward the gate to the castle. The wood exploded inward into a thousand splinters as though a bomb had gone off, leaving a gaping hole in the wall.
I grinned at the sight, relishing the pure power coursing through my body. It was better than anything I’d ever felt before.
The others climbed to their feet, trying to make sense of what had just happened. All of them looked at me like I’d just grown an extra arm out of my head or something.
The anger burning in me turned on them.
“What are you looking at?” I yelled. “I got us in. The Creach in there deserved what they got, right? They tried to kill us.”
Will reached to touch my arm and I jerked back so hard that I nearly fell.
He wants the Jerusalem Stones, a voice whispered in the back of my mind. He wants the power you have. Just look at him
“Hey, it’s all right,” Will said. “It’s me. Easy.”
“You take it easy. Get away from me,” I said. “You can’t have the Stones. I’m warning you.”
“You’re warning me?” Will said, looking exasperated. “What are you talking about?”
“You’ve always been jealous of me,” I snapped. “Ever since we were little kids. That’s why you want the Jerusalem Stones for yourself. You can’t stand to see me be better than you. Just admit it.”
The others walked toward me. All of their expressions told me the same thing. They wanted the Jerusalem Stones for themselves. Now that they saw the power in them, they wanted to take them from me.
I pulled my sword. “Back,” I snarled. “All of you.”
“You’re being an idiot,” Eva said. “Stop it.”
“What’s wrong with him?” T-Rex whined.
“What’s wrong with him?” I said, making fun of T-Rex’s voice. “You’re pathetic, T-Rex. We only let you hang with us because we feel sorry for you.”
“Jack,” Will said. “That’s enough.”
“It’s the Jerusalem Stones,” Xavier said. “They’re doing something to him.”
“I’m about to do something to him if he doesn’t snap out of it,” Daniel said.
“And what exactly do you think you’re going to do?” I said. “Do you think turning into a werewolf would do anything to stop me?” I held the Jerusalem Stones higher, taking a perverse pleasure in the way they all took a step back in fear.
The power felt so good. And the Stones whispered to me that this was just the beginning. That the real power was still to come. I couldn’t wait.
“Jack, please,” T-Rex said. “This isn’t you. Just listen to yourself.”
“That’s exactly what I intend to do,” I said. “Listen to myself. Make the decisions from now on without listening to all your whining and complaining. I’m in charge. No more democracy. What I say is law, got it? And if you don’t like it you can –– aaarrgg!”
There was a flash of pain on my left forearm. As I looked down, a bead of blood rose up from my skin. The pain was so excruciating that my hand opened involuntarily and the Jerusalem Stones tumbled to the ground.
The second they did, my brain felt as though it suddenly snapped back into place; it was like a light turning on in a room I hadn’t even realized was dark.
All of the anger flooded out of me, and I stumbled backward, holding my forearm, trying to catch my balance.
Tears sprang into my eyes as I looked at my friends. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened.”
They stepped around the Jerusalem Stones on the ground, careful not to touch them. Daniel tore a strip of cloth from his shirt and wrapped the cut on my arm.
Even before my arm was completely wrapped, Will was the first to pull me into a hug. I clung onto him. T-Rex followed close behind.
“I didn’t mean any of that, guys,” I said. “It was crazy. Like I wasn’t in control of what I was saying.”
“I think Xavier is right,” Ariel said. “The Stones were changing you.”
I looked at Eva. She was the only one fast enough to have sliced my arm without me even seeing her. “Thank you,” I said.
“I could have spanked you for being rude instead,” she said. “But I wasn’t sure that would work and we’re kind of in a hurry here.” Her eyes wandered to my bandage. “I tried not to go too deep.”
I shuddered as I thought of the dark anger running through me seconds earlier. “No, it was fine.” I reached out and put a hand on T-Rex’s shoulder.
“You and Will are my two best friends,” I said. “I didn’t mean what I said.”
T-Rex nodded, but I could tell he was still hurt.
“For the record,” Will said. “I’m not jealous of you. I mean, have you looked in a mirror recently?”
I laughed, but only for a second. Xavier pointed behind us.
“Uh…guys. I think we have a problem.”
I spun around. A group of rock trolls and goblins had broken through the line of zombies and were chargi
ng toward us.
I scooped up the Jerusalem Stones, careful not to hold all four in the same hand. I put them in different pockets.
“Don’t use those unless you absolutely have to,” Daniel said. “Who knows what they will do to you next time?”
I nodded my agreement, starting to run and buttoning my pockets so I wouldn’t lose one.
Eva had already sprinted to the shattered gate to scout it out. She disappeared inside for a few seconds and then reappeared and waved us forward.
As we scrambled up to the gate, Will said, “Next time you use the Jerusalem Stones, try not to turn into just a jerk, all right? That was crazy.”
I couldn’t have agreed more. It was crazy, all of it was. As we crossed through the gate and entered Ren Lucre’s castle, I had a weird feeling that things were about to get even crazier.
I didn’t have to wait long for that feeling to come true.
31
The scene on the other side of the gate was a nightmare. It shouldn’t have been a surprise because I knew exactly what I’d commanded the arrows to do. But seeing it was a whole different matter.
The ramparts and the walkways were littered with hundreds of goblin archers, all struck down by the arrows they’d sent to kill my friends and which I’d returned to them. It was a battlefield, and certainly not my first one, but without the anger beating its drum in my chest, the carnage left me with a pit in my stomach.
I must not have hidden my emotion well because Eva grabbed my arm and gave me a shake. “They would have killed all of us and not lost a single second feeling bad about it.”
My impulse was to tell her that the comparison didn’t help. The point was that I didn’t want to be like them. But I held my tongue. We had a job to do. And the Creach were coming fast behind us.
“Any way to block this gate?” I asked.
“You pretty much smashed the door into firewood with your Jedi powers,” Will said.
“That’s a brilliant idea,” Xavier said.
Will looked confused.
“What do you do with firewood?” Xavier said.
“Build a fire,” I said, slapping Will on the back. “Daniel.”
“On it,” Daniel said. He and Ariel ran up the wooden stairs leading to the ramparts atop the wall. Not far along the wall, toward the main gate, was one of the fires we’d seen from the distance when we’d first marched toward the castle.
The rest of us quickly dragged the shattered wood back toward the gate, piling it up as fast as we could.
I heard the approaching Creach before seeing them. Snarls, grunts and angry cries filled the air.
“Daniel!”
“Watch out,” he said from above us.
He and Ariel struggled under the weight of a huge firepot, walking awkwardly to keep the top half of their bodies away from the flames.
We all scrambled backward and they hefted the firepot over the side of the wall. It smashed onto the pile of wood we’d formed, and exploded into a blaze. There must have been some kind of oil or tar in the pot because the fire spread far and wide, raising a wall of flames that blocked the gate.
“It worked!” T-Rex said.
A rock troll, twice as tall as any of us and as wide as an oak tree, smashed through the fire, roaring and swinging a spiked club over its head.
The troll’s clothes and its club caught on fire, but this didn’t stop it.
Xavier was the first person in the monster’s path. I watched in horror as Xavier reached for the knife on his belt, as if that would do anything to slow the troll down.
He never even got the knife all the way out.
With a sickening crunch, the troll’s club slammed into Xavier, sending him flying head over heels into a stone wall where he fell motionless to the ground.
“No!” I yelled, stepping forward with Eva and Daniel, swords pulled.
The troll roared, spittle dripping from its mouth in long strands.
“Spread out,” I said.
The troll swung its club wildly as Daniel and Eva worked their way to the sides so we could attack the troll from three directions.
The others were tending to Xavier. I was relieved to see he was conscious and slowly getting to his feet, although Ariel supported nearly all his weight as she walked him away from the battle. Somehow, none of the spikes on the club had hit him.
“We’ve got this,” Eva said to me. “Go find Ren Lucre.”
“No, we stick together,” I said.
“It’s one rock troll,” Daniel said. “What’s the big deal?”
As he said the words, a second rock troll, this one even bigger and uglier than the first, crashed through the fire barricade. Hair was on fire all over its body, but it didn’t seem bothered. The trolls stood shoulder to shoulder and roared at us.
“Oh yeah? Take this.” Daniel transformed into his werewolf form and roared back at them.
The trolls weren’t impressed. They lunged forward, swinging their clubs.
“Go, Jack. Now,” Eva said, dodging the troll’s club and landing a slicing blow on the creature’s hand. It howled in pain and took a step back, suddenly more cautious.
I spun around and looked toward the center of the castle where I’d last seen Ren Lucre. The balcony was empty, but he couldn’t have gone far.
I knew Eva was right, but the rock trolls weren’t the slow-moving dullards we’d faced before. These two were fast and highly trained. It wasn’t going to be an easy fight. I couldn’t just leave them there.
Ariel rejoined the fight, leaving Xavier safely behind us. She climbed back onto the wood stairs to get more height, but one of the trolls obliterated the stairs with one sweep of its club. Ariel jumped clear at the last second and engaged the second troll in a rapid series of parries and thrusts with her sword while Daniel in his werewolf form snapped at the Creach’s heels.
I had to find Ren Lucre and somehow finish this, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave my friends behind. I searched for a way for us to escape together.
“There,” I said, pointing to a hole in the crumbling wall of the main castle. It was small enough that the trolls wouldn’t be able to follow us. I ran to Xavier. His face twisted with pain, but his jaw was set. “Can you move?” I asked.
He nodded his head. “I’ll need some help. I think my leg’s broken.”
Will and I lifted him and he cried out. We hustled over to the hole in the wall. Will and T-Rex helped Xavier climb over the rubble to get inside.
The others saw my plan and fought hard against the trolls, pushing them back toward the fire.
“Now!” I called.
They turned and ran toward me, the trolls in fast pursuit. I waited for them, two Jerusalem Stones in each hand, carefully keeping them apart. I wasn’t going to use them unless it was life and death. The way the trolls were gaining on them, I thought I might have to.
“Run!” I yelled, waving my friends toward the hole in the wall.
Daniel got there first, diving through the hole at full speed. Eva was next. She hesitated as if she would tell me to go first, but there wasn’t time. She ducked through as well.
A quick look told me I had just enough time to make it before the trolls reached me.
But when I turned to follow my friends, something wrapped around my chest and stomach, pinning my arms to my side.
A second later, the ground dropped away beneath me. My stomach lurched as I soared hundreds of feet into the air over the castle.
After the initial shock, I knew exactly what had happened. The enormous, leathery wings on either side of me were a pretty good tip.
Dragon.
The beast had snapped me up from the ground as easily as if I were a field mouse.
Before I had too much time to panic about whether I was the dragon’s prisoner or its dinner, the talons released me, and I fell ten feet and slammed onto a stone floor. I landed squarely on my back, and for the second time that day I had the wind knocked out of me.
Gaspi
ng for breath, I scrambled to my feet, ready for the dragon to strike again.
But it didn’t. With a few heavy beats of its wings, it soared in a wide circle around the castle and then climbed back into the sky to join the other dragon high above.
I took stock of where I was. I was high up on a narrow balcony that extended out from a circular tower. Slowly, I realized it was the same balcony where I’d seen Ren Lucre earlier.
I ran to the edge and looked over. Down below, I could see the zombie and the Lesser Creach armies still battling it out. There were both zombie and Creach bodies littered across the field, but the fighting continued right on top of them. I tried to spot Hester in the confusion but it was impossible.
I went to the other side of the balcony and saw the rock trolls punching and kicking the spot in the wall where my friends had disappeared. I felt a surge of relief that at least they had gotten away, but it was short-lived. I caught movement in the wide alley that carved between the tilting towers of the castle. Another mass of Lesser Creach, mostly goblins, were heading right toward the trolls. Once they got there, they would stream into the hole in the wall and chase down my friends. I had to hurry.
I turned to face the tall arched door that led into the tower. Black curtains concealed what was inside. There could have been a legion of Creach waiting for all I knew. I had my sword but something told me it wasn’t going to be enough for whatever waited for me inside the tower.
I reached into my pocket for the Jerusalem Stones and my heart sank.
My pockets were empty. Once again, I’d dropped the Stones when I was snatched up by the dragon.
I was in real trouble.
32
I tried to swallow but my mouth had turned completely dry. My hands trembled so badly that my sword shook. There was no getting off the balcony without going through the door. Not unless one of the dragons came back for me, but that wasn’t a good option either.
For months I’d imagined coming face-to-face with Ren Lucre, but I never thought I would be alone and with only my sword in my hand. All the work to acquire the Jerusalem Stones had been for nothing. They were lost, scattered somewhere on the ground hundreds of feet beneath me.
