“We could really use those swords right now,” murmured Levi.
“We have everything we need,” said Xavier doggedly. He kicked and shoved at the spikes in frustration.
“What’s happening?” yelled Evan from the other end of the line. Manuel and the girls were silent, watching Xavier and Levi with nervous eyes.
“Can I help?” Finn asked, bending forward so he could see what Xavier and Levi were doing.
“Don’t do that!” cried Evan, pushing him back. “You’ll fall!”
“Just hang on!” Xavier called back.
“We should go back down!” Manuel yelped. “Look! Here it comes again!”
The dragon came in like a jet, strafing the mountain with more spikes. Bursts of rock and dirt clouded the air and ricocheted off their shields. Xavier’s shield was down; his eyes filled with dust so he couldn’t see. Then something hit his leg, causing it to collapse under him. He reached out blindly as he fell sideways, somehow managing to grab onto one of the embedded spikes.
“Xavier!” Levi shouted. Xavier swung with one hand like he was on a trapeze. He reached out the other hand and felt Levi grab it. But then Levi’s grip slipped, and he was swinging again. He kicked with his legs to try to get back to the ledge, but he was just too far away.
He shook his head, clinging to the spike, trying to get his thoughts in order. All he heard were the screams of the other kids and the distant, braying cry of the dragon. . . .
You . . . will . . . fail. . . . You . . . will . . . fall. . . .
“Xavier!” Levi cried. Xavier glanced over his shoulder to see Levi removing his belt. “Just hold still a second!” He threw one end of the belt like a lasso, encircling Xavier’s leg. Brianna grabbed Levi’s shirt, holding him steady as Levi hauled the belt toward him, pulling Xavier in.
“Keep going, Levi!” Brianna cried.
Once Xavier’s boot touched the ledge, it grabbed on like a suction cup. “Give me your arm!” Levi shouted. Xavier took a breath and let go of the spike, as Levi hoisted him back to the ledge. The two of them collapsed together against the wall, winded and scared. The others gasped.
“Xavier! Are you all right?” asked Brianna.
“Yeah,” said Xavier, pulling himself to a sitting position. “Thanks, man.”
“No problem,” said Levi.
Above them the dragon continued to circle, its shadow like a presence in their souls, inescapable.
“What now?” Brianna asked.
Xavier closed his eyes, resting his head against the wall. He had no idea what to do now.
Manuel sank down against the wall. “We can’t get through with that thing up there,” he murmured.
“Manuel’s right,” said Evan, sinking down next to Manuel. “We’ll never get those swords.”
“We have to,” said Ivy. “We have everything we need!”
The black dragon shrieked again.
You . . . will . . . fail. . . .
“No, we won’t!” Ivy answered back in a loud voice as her helmet glowed and pressed against her ears, blocking out the words of the dragon.
As if in answer, the dragon swooped in for an attack. The Warriors raised their shields, bracing for another round of deadly spikes.
And then a new sound joined the dragon’s piercing wail—an out-of-tune warbling the kids instantly recognized.
CHAPTER 5
Impossibilities
Tannyn!” Evan shouted, pointing to the sky, where the big green dragon soared into view.
Tannyn gave the kids a wave with one huge wing while breathing a stream of blue fire at the black dragon, which responded with a blast of steam that doused the flames instantly. The two dragons collided in midair, teeth slashing and tails whipping, the sound like crashing trains. Fire and steam exploded around them, teeth flashed in the slanting sun, claws raked against dragon scales. The black dragon appeared invulnerable, its armored hide impervious to Tannyn’s fire or his bite. Yet Tannyn had never looked so fierce, so terrible. His nostrils flared; his red eyes glowed with fury. He somehow managed to dodge the black dragon’s deadly spikes, dipping and weaving so fast the black dragon couldn’t seem to hit him.
Suddenly, as if changing tactics, the black dragon broke away and flew straight toward the kids, its mouth dropping open, spikes springing up on its head. The kids choked back screams as Tannyn shot after it. The black dragon got within striking distance of the kids and began to whip its tail toward them, but before it could release a spike, Tannyn clamped down on its forked tail, trapping it in his teeth. The black dragon screamed as Tannyn flung it around and slammed it against the side of the mountain. The whole mountain seemed to shudder with the impact, an avalanche of rocks raining down on the kids’ shields. The black dragon let out one more mangled roar as it began to fall, tumbling down the side of the mountain and disappearing into the deep valley below.
“Go, Tannyn,” Brianna whispered, holding tight to Levi’s sleeve.
Tannyn swung his head to the kids and let out a big “Gorp!”—a combination greeting and burp. But there was little time for celebration, for in the next instant another black dragon, this one even bigger than the first, flew into view from the side of the mountain.
“Look out!” shouted Ivy.
Flicking its forked tail, the new dragon went straight for Tannyn. The kids watched in horror as several spikes sailed through the air at warp speed, straight for their beloved friend. Tannyn twisted around to avoid them, but there were too many; one of them pierced his neck. Tannyn let out a plaintive yelp of pain as he was propelled backward, his wings floundering as he tried to stay in the air. He opened his mouth to throw a flame, but nothing came out. The spike had choked off his fire breath.
The black dragon locked onto Tannyn once more, closing in and launching more spikes. Tannyn was too weakened to get away; several spikes pierced his tail.
“Tannyn!” Brianna whispered, her hand flying to her mouth. “I can’t watch.” She turned her head away.
Tannyn pumped his wings desperately to stay in the air, despite the spikes embedded in his neck and tail. The black dragon, sensing victory, went in for the kill. Tannyn seemed to have given up. But just as the black dragon was upon him, Tannyn summoned one last trembling bit of strength and whipped his tail around, slamming the embedded spikes into his opponent’s wide, open mouth. The black dragon let out a strangled scream. Then both of them fell into a spin, still connected by the spikes, and disappeared into the misty abyss.
“Tannyn!” Brianna screamed this time, the horror in her voice echoing in the now empty air.
The rest of them were very quiet, hoping to hear Tannyn’s warbled greeting rise up from the depths below, announcing that he was all right. But there was nothing to hear, except the sound of their own beating hearts.
“Is he . . . dead?” asked Ivy, her voice very small, as if she dreaded saying those words out loud.
“He can’t be dead,” said Evan, sniffing. “He can’t be.”
The kids were silent a long moment, gazing into the mist. Tannyn did not return. Nor did the other two dragons. All was very still.
“The sun!” said Manuel. He pointed to the sky, where the sun was sinking fast.
“Tannyn saved us, but we’re still stuck here,” said Brianna. “The spikes. How are we going to get them out?”
“We can’t get them out,” said Levi.
“I really wish Ruwach had given us those swords,” Evan grumbled. “We need swords to cut through those spikes. How are we gonna get around them?”
Get around them. Xavier got to his feet slowly and examined the spikes that blocked their path. They were densely packed and stuck out well over the ledge. You have everything you need. Okay, he thought to himself. The black dragons are gone, for now at least. If he and the others couldn’t cut through the spikes or pull them out, they had only one opt
ion that he could see. They had to get around them. Or—
“We’ll need to climb through them,” he said finally.
“No way!” said Evan. “You can’t climb through those things.”
“I know it doesn’t look possible,” said Xavier. “But we’ve been in these situations before. What may look impossible isn’t always.”
“It will take too long,” said Manuel. “We’ll never make it in time. Look! The breath is already going away!” They all looked up to see that the cascades of mist had receded slightly. “The day is almost over. The breath will be gone by the time we get there.”
“We have to try,” said Levi. “It’s the only thing we can do.”
Xavier nodded to Levi and then turned to face the spikes. They had to get through them. They had to get to the top of the mountain. That meant there had to be a way.
Xavier noticed that the first few spikes were high enough from the ledge that he could crawl under them, so he did. But then he encountered several spikes much closer together. Somehow he’d have to squeeze between them. He sucked in a breath and felt his belt tighten around his middle. The belt holds everything together. That’s what Ruwach had told them when they first put it on. The belt had gotten them through river rapids and a waterfall. It would get them through this jumble of spikes too. He stuck his head between two of the spikes and wriggled his shoulders back and forth, pushing one through and then the other. Once his arms were free he grabbed onto another spike and pulled the rest of his body through inch by inch. He realized that although the spikes had looked impossibly dense from his vantage point on the ledge, once he was inside of them there was more space than he had realized.
“You can do it!” he called out to the kids. “Just find a way through!”
“Xavier’s big,” Evan said. “If he can do it, we can too.”
One by one the others followed Xavier into the spikes, searching for an opening, a space big enough to crawl through. Xavier continued to shout at them to keep a good grip and not look down.
“The belt will tighten around you,” he said. “It will help you so you won’t get stuck.”
Keep going, Xavier said to himself. Find a way. Sometimes he had to climb up, sometimes he had to crawl under. His body felt more nimble than usual, more flexible, like he could slide through a keyhole if he wanted. Was this because of the belt? He wasn’t sure, but he was glad of it.
Once Xavier had made it all the way through the spikes, he helped pull Levi through the remaining tight stretches.
“I feel like a pretzel,” Levi gasped as he finally popped out of the last cluster of spikes.
The girls had an easier time since they were much smaller. Manuel got himself tangled up a couple of times, and Evan and Finn had to wait until he untangled himself and kept going.
Finn had the hardest time because he was the biggest. Evan went before him, talking to him the whole time, encouraging him.
“You can do it, Finn! Just one more, see? It’s not so bad! Kind of like a jungle gym where the bars are really close together. You can do it!”
A few times Finn was completely stuck, and it didn’t look as though he would ever get through. But Evan kept talking to him, and the other kids soon joined in. Finn kept pushing and squeezing until, inch by inch, he was able to get himself through the spikes. When finally he tumbled out of the last tight spot onto the ledge, the others let out huge breaths of relief.
“I knew you could do it!” Evan said, holding out his fist. Finn, tired and sore, did a fist bump with Evan and then dragged himself to his feet.
“What next?” Manuel asked, looking a bit afraid to hear the answer.
“We’ve got to hurry,” Xavier said. The sun had begun to redden. The air felt cooler; a brisk wind kicked up. It felt good at first, after the exertion of climbing through the spikes. Xavier started more quickly up the ledge; the others followed, limping and straining but moving as fast as they could.
But as they continued, the ledge grew narrower and narrower, until they had to sidestep so as not to fall off. The sun dipped below the tip of the mountain; it was soon so dark they were unable to see more than one step on either side of the ledge. The wind turned icy, raising goose pimples on Xavier’s skin. Yet despite the wind, he found it was actually getting harder to catch his breath.
Soon the ledge was no wider than Xavier’s foot. He suddenly wished he didn’t have such big, size-12 feet. His feet had grown so much in the past year that his mom constantly complained about having to buy new sneakers for him all the time. Big feet were great for basketball. Not so great for inching along a ledge a mile in the sky.
He slid along carefully, cautioning the others. He could see almost nothing ahead. He was certain the ledge would eventually disappear altogether. Thankfully, his boots still felt sticky enough to give him a firm footing.
“Everyone okay?” he called out. He leaned forward slightly, although he couldn’t really see them at all. He heard grunts and “yups” in response. Satisfied that everyone was with him, he started to move again, sidestepping, pressing his back against the wall.
Until the wall wasn’t there anymore.
CHAPTER 6
Smoke and Swords
Xavier didn’t realize he was falling until he actually landed. He thought he had just gotten dizzy or stepped into a weird daydream. The back of his legs slammed against a hard edge as he flailed his arms to regain his balance. His head, thankfully cushioned by the helmet, cracked against something sharp. He lay a moment, stunned, trying to get his bearings.
“Xavier!”
Xavier heard Levi’s and Brianna’s voices calling to him, wondering where he went. But they seemed far away. He sat up and looked around, rubbing the back of his leg, which stung badly. He’d have a bruise for sure. His breastplate dimly lit the space—he’d apparently fallen into a narrow crevice in the rock wall. His back rested against a hard edge. He felt around to see what it was. A flat, smooth top, a shelf or ledge of some sort. He reached higher, and there was another one. Steps.
He turned slightly and saw the faint outline of a narrow staircase nestled in the crevice, so perfectly fitted that it seemed to be a part of the rock itself.
“Xavier! What happened?” Brianna’s voice called more sharply this time.
“I’m okay!” Xavier shouted. “There’s a crack in the wall, and I fell in. But I found something—steps. Like a—staircase.” Xavier pulled himself to his feet and went up a couple of the steps. “I think this is the way to the top. Come on!”
He moved up a few more steps, anxious to see where they led but also concerned that his friends found their way without falling in as he did. So he waited until the glowing breastplates began to appear, one at a time, in the narrow fissure. The kids were all talking at once.
“Found it!”
“Okay.”
“Cool.”
“It’s dark.”
“Ouch!”
“That was my foot.”
“Sorry.”
Finally he heard Finn’s voice: “We’re all here.”
Xavier was thankful Finn had chosen to stay in the back to make sure the others—especially Evan—made it through safely. Hearing his calm assurance gave Xavier a sense of peace in moving forward.
“Cool. Watch your step going up.”
Xavier glanced behind once more to confirm that all six breastplates were in place before continuing up the staircase. It twisted and turned in the rock, changing directions unexpectedly; he was almost glad he couldn’t see how far up it went. One step at a time, he said to himself over and over. He looked back often to be sure the others were still following, although he was certain if someone began to lag or got into trouble, Finn would let him know.
As time went on the air became murkier, until Xavier realized that they were walking, literally, into a cloud. The texture
of the air grew thick and heavy, settling on him like a blanket, making it harder to breathe. The dense mist reflected the light of his breastplate so he could no longer see the step in front of him. He warned the others about this, cautioning them to be careful and feel for each step. He could not see the sun at all. He just hoped it was still there.
Finally, just when he was certain this climb would never end, Xavier’s head poked out of the cloud. He stopped short, staring in awe at the view that greeted his tired, mist-filled eyes. He felt a lump rise in his throat. The Mountain of Rhema. It looked much different from this vantage point than it had from below. Instead of seeming remote and forbidding, it was a vibrant, pristine landscape of brilliant color and absolute serenity.
“Hey man, why’d you stop?”
Xavier heard Levi’s voice but didn’t respond. He couldn’t find words in his throat. He took a few more steps until he was completely out of the cloud. It was like stepping onto a new planet. Once his feet had reached the top stair, he stepped out onto a wide ledge that encircled a huge crater.
The crater seemed almost as big as the Grand Canyon, which he had visited a few years back with his family. A thick bed of clouds surrounded the crater, so it seemed to be floating. The inside of the crater sloped steeply from where he stood to a small hole in the center that glowed red as if there was fire deep within. It mirrored the color of the huge and swollen sun, already sinking beyond the edge of the world, setting cloud and sky aflame.
Xavier felt light-headed, like he was getting dizzy. Maybe it was the altitude—he knew they must be up pretty high. He’d heard about people getting sick and disoriented at the tops of big mountains. How high were they? How long had they climbed? He couldn’t sort out what had happened before this moment. Dragons and spikes and . . . suddenly Xavier wasn’t sure how he’d gotten to the top of the mountain at all.
But he did notice one thing that made his heart plummet.
There was no longer any smoke coming from the crater. Not even the smallest whiff.
“We’re too late,” he murmured as Levi broke through the cloud and stepped up to join him. “The breath is gone.” Xavier felt a weakness in his legs. They had traveled a very long way. And all for nothing.
The Prince Warriors and the Swords of Rhema Page 4
