City of Gold

by Daniel Blackaby

  “We present our thanksgiving, oh Great One, with the sacrifice of this infidel. May his flowing blood be soothing in your mouth.” The four men pushed the boulders above their heads. “Amen.”

  Cody winced.

  BANG!

  29

  Summoning the Hound

  THE BLOOD-SMEARED BOULDER CRASHED to the ground. The sound was echoed as the lifeless body of a Garga collapsed—a red mark dotting the center of his forehead.

  A humming noise buzzed in Cody’s ear. Thud. Thud. Cody opened his eyes as two Garga staggered with surprised faces. Embedded into each of their chests was a crescent blade. The zealots crumbled to the earth, their elevated boulders smashing down on them. Gunfire crackled as two more stunned Garga buckled over.

  Free from restraint, Cody pulled the stone from his mouth and turned toward Xerx, still bound and flanked by two Garga. “Dastanda!”At his command, the zealots’ eyes bulged. Dropping their spears, they grasped their necks. Then both fell to the ground, a mound of sand draining out their mouths.

  Cody pulled the stone from Xerx’s mouth and severed the bindings. “What’s going on!? Where’s the attack coming from?” There were two more jarring blasts followed by two loud thumps.

  “Cease!” The only remaining Garga, the rock-nosed chief, stood upon the altar with the Book open in his arms. “May the Great Garganton’s wrath fall upon you all!”

  Cody held up his hands. “Put the Book down…it’s over.”

  The Garga laughed. “Only over for you.” The chief’s eyes fell toward the Book. Cody’s heart skipped as realization finally struck.

  Oh, no! “Stop him! He’s going to read from the Book!” The Garga began to mutter. There was a pop of gunfire; the chief’s head whiplashed as he tumbled off the altar, dead. Cody ran toward the body. We were too late.

  He snatched the fallen Book. “We have to get out of here, now!”

  Xerx continued to process the rapid turn of events. “We’re okay…nothing happened when he read the words.”

  Cody scanned the sky. “I’m not worried about when he read them…I’m worried about what comes afterwards. The last time someone other than the true Book Keeper read those pages it was me—and things didn’t turn out so well.”

  A familiar British voice carried across the clearing. “A shame that necessity repeatedly cuts our meetings short, as I always find our conversations so delightful.” Dunstan appeared, striding toward them; smoke still rising from his revolver. Behind him stood the Man with Circular Blades, the towering bearded man from the bedroom encounter, and a cloaked woman with bright, red hair.

  Cody shoved his hand in Dunstan’s face. “Now you show up!? Why are you following me?”

  Dunstan’s face drooped. “Now, now my boy! Your haughty tone chills my heart.” He bared his crooked teeth. “Especially considering I just saved you from certain death!” He holstered his pistol. “After all this time, do you still not trust me as a friend?”

  Xerx stepped forward. “Cody, who are these men with their Surface-Dweller weapons?”

  Dunstan raised his eyebrow in amusement. “Ah-ha, you have Wesley’s defined chin, my lad.”

  Cody brushed Xerx off, flustered. “They are CROSS. They…well…it’s complicated.” He redirected his attention to Dunstan. “We don’t have time for games. You told me to find the Caves. You said I’d receive understanding; but all I have are more questions. What does The Prophecy mean? Who was the murdered man in the cave? What does the upside down arrow mean? What…”

  “Good golly!”cackled Dunstan. “You and your boundless curiosity. Unfortunately, it’s not my place to give you life’s answers—only to point you in the right direction.”

  Just then the ground shook. Xerx grabbed Cody for balance. “What was that?”

  Dunstan’s cheery face became deathly serious. “It’s here. You must go swiftly. Head east. Two of your companions are there on horseback. You must not linger,” he paused, “the answers you seek reside in Randilin. Only he can provide the knowledge you pursue…now go!”

  Cody grasped Xerx’s collar and sprinted across the clearing. Xerx panted. “I don’t understand, what is happening?”

  Cody felt a chilling sensation stirring in him. The feeling was horrifyingly familiar. Floating across the glade came a soft, purr-like growl.

  “We’ve summoned the hound.”

  30

  Through the Portal

  “DO YOU HEAR THAT?” Tiana whispered, stroking her white stallion’s mane to keep him quiet. Tat pressed his ear against the earth.

  “Footsteps—and approaching fast.”

  Tiana drew her jeweled dagger. “More golden golems? Perhaps they mean to encircle us,” she suggested.

  Tat promptly remounted his horse. “Possible, but unlikely. Sounds like just two or three persons on foot, and something else—something…big.”

  Suddenly Cody and Xerx came billowing around the bend; their arms swinging like crazed pendulums and their faces beet red.

  Tiana’s eyes widened in surprise; leaping to her horse, she kicked her heels and darted to meet them. “Cody! What’s going…” she halted mid-sentence. The mammoth frame of the purple-caped Beast skidded around the corner in pursuit.

  Tiana lowered herself, hugging tight against her horse’s neck and slammed her heels again, galloping straight toward the three rushing figures. Reaching out her arm, she grasped Cody’s collar and heaved him onto the back of her saddle. Without slowing, she turned and bolted in the opposite direction.

  Cody wrapped his arms around Tiana’s waist. “The Hunter is too fast! A horse can’t outrun it, not with two riders!” he hollered.

  Tiana pointed to the horizon to where a glowing dome-like essence rested in the distance. “If we can make it there we will be safe.” Cody bit his lip as the Hunter drew closer. That’s a BIG if.

  The dome continued to grow as they drew nearer, but for every yard they gained, the Hunter gained two. It didn’t take a genius to do the math. “We’re not going to make it!”

  “Cody, you need to make a worm hole,” Xerx shouted from the back of Tat’s horse. “The High Language word is Spakious.” The Hunter howled behind them, its hunger propelling it faster the closer it came.

  “I don’t know how! You do it. You’re more talented!”

  “I can’t! It will kill me! Only the Book Keeper can do it,” Xerx yelled, his voice raspy. “It’s just like the water well that brought you here. Draw on the Book’s power, visualize the portal’s entrance and exit, and then shout the word with all you’ve got!”

  Cody strained his eyes at the bubble-like structure ahead. He took a deep breath. You can do this…you can do this…

  He heard the powerful swoosh of the Hunter’s wings. “For heaven’s sake Cody—NOW!”

  “SPAKIOUS!”

  31

  Missing Pieces

  Three Days Remaining…

  THE SIGHT WAS UTTERLY REPULSIVE. Cody gasped and stared in horror. Randilin’s lips curved into an ugly smile. “Rise and shine—ya’ bloody sluggard.”

  Cody perched onto his elbows and rubbed his eyes. He was lying upon a nest-like bed in an otherwise empty room. He felt odd; as though something unusual were flowing through his bloodstream. “What happened? Where am I?” Slowly, visions of their flight came drifting back. “The Hunter! We escaped?”

  The dwarf huffed. “Did you escape? Do I look like a revolting, savage monster to you?!” Randilin’s grin stretched toward his oversized ears. “Don’t answer that.”

  Cody rubbed his forehead. “Then where are we? What happened to you guys at the Caves?”

  “As to our location, I’m afraid you are once again a slimy tadpole within my fishbowl. As for the Caves…” Randilin quickly recapped The Company’s battle at the Caves, how Chazic had finally broken through the enemy lines enabling everyone to escape on horseback, and how they led the enemy on a diverted chase to buy time for Tat and Tiana to locate Cody and Xerx. “We arrived here shor
tly after you,” he finished.

  Cody noticed something odd about Randilin’s demeanor. In place of his grumpy, reclusive temperament, he was strangely talkative; stumbling clumsily over his rapidly spewed words. Whenever Cody attempted to interject, he would quickly dive into another elongated monologue.

  When Randilin finally paused to inhale, Cody seized the opportunity. “We still haven’t had a chance to talk about earlier…about the Caves and…the bodies.”

  The cheerfulness drained from the dwarf like rain off a sharp rooftop. His shoulders sagged and the life in his eyes vanished. “Don’t think me a bad man,” he whispered; wincing, as though each word twisted a dagger deeper into his heart. “I was blind and selfish. Judge me if you want, but one day, boy, when you’ve truly tasted love, you will understand. I’m not a bad man….”

  The dwarf’s body shook and the wrinkles on his forehead tightened as though he would explode at any second.

  Cody couldn’t bear the dwarf’s pain any longer. “What about that old man in the cave with the Prophecy?” he asked, shifting the subject. “You kept muttering something about The Thirteenth. What’s The Thirteenth?”

  Randilin sighed and his pupils rolled back into his head, his eyes going white. “Not a what—a who. An extremely important who at that: Boc’ro the Wise. The elder of our tribe….”

  “The tribe of Atlantis?” Cody probed, but Randilin shook his head impatiently. “No-no-no, don’t be so foolish—Before Atlantis.”

  “I don’t understand,” Cody admitted.

  Randilin snorted. “Of course you don’t. Ya’ ain’t the fastest ship in the fleet, are you? I speak of the mighty Alac-icacs.” Cody stared blankly back, causing Randilin to shake his head once again. “Well, listen closely. I’ll only explain this once.”

  “The Alac-icacs were the most powerful tribe, ruling over all the people of the sand. Chief Uscana the Merciless was bloody ruthless in his conquest. Blinded by his desire for land, he recklessly led his tribe into the Uncharted Deserts in pursuit of a new foe. The inhabitants withdrew deeper and deeper into the desert.

  “Ignoring all wise counsel, Uscana marched onward, taking the bait until the tribe was lost in the abyss of sand and depleted of all provisions. One-by-one he watched his tribe fall dead to ambush and the violent elements until the once-powerful tribe was all but shattered. When Uscana contracted fatal blood poisoning from a spear wound, he summoned his two sons and pleaded that they not make the same foolish mistakes. With his dying breath he blessed his elder son—Ishmael.

  “That very night, an unmapped star appeared in the night sky. The new Chief led the ravaged tribe over the vast wasteland toward the star; seventy-seven long days of death and sickness. When at last they arrived they found nothing but an endless sea of sand and a wild, brewing storm.”

  Cody moved forward on his bed to interject. “And, when the storm subsided they found the well!”

  “Shush, boy! Are you the ruddy storyteller or am I?”

  Cody bit his lip and Randilin continued, “The mysterious well brought the few survivors to Under-Earth. The illustrious Founders: High Chief Ishmael, son of Uscana; Ishmael’s younger brother, whose name is not spoken; Wesley the Faithful; Levenworth, warrior of many victories; Tamarah the Prophetess, of the line of Boc’ro; Naadirah the Beautiful; Sadria the Plain; Shaheena, sister of Tamarah; Kael the Invincible; Evona the Heartless; The Undecided One; and of course—Randilin the Young; at least that’s what they called me back then, when I was but a child and dashingly handsome.”

  Cody couldn’t picture Randilin as young or handsome, but didn’t interrupt. “The Twelve. That’s what legend calls us. A catchy title…unfortunately, it’s nothing but a bloody lie.”

  “You mean…there was another?” Cody asked.

  “Aye...one more. The Thirteenth, as it were: Boc’ro the Wise—High Priest and counselor of the Alac-icacs. Although I reckon only the seven remaining of The Twelve vaguely remember that name.”

  “Why? If he was so important then why was he kept a secret?”

  Randilin pointed a stubby finger at him. “Because he was so important. Until yesterday I thought him long dead. Disappeared the very night Ishmael and his brother deciphered the High Language. They must have had a good reason for keeping him hidden, although blast it all if I know what it was. Son, I’m afraid there is much more going on than we realize.”

  “Cody!” Dace emerged into the room. “You space-traveling lunatic,” he chuckled. “There’s something I want to show you.”

  Cody exchanged glances with Randilin before nodding. “What is it?”

  Dace grinned. “Something you haven’t seen in long time.”

  Cody followed Dace out of the tiny hut. A mass city of thatched houses blanketed the rolling hills. The entire city was veiled by a glimmering force field. The dome tainted everything blueish, as though seen through a colored lens.

  Dace pulled his sword and clanged it against a hanging gong in the courtyard. Cody grasped his ears. “What was that for?!”

  Then, like a raging river bursting through the dam, people began streaming out of the huts. Hundreds of people rushing and forming a mass cluster around them. Cody stared at them in shock. There was something very peculiar about them—they were short, even by Under-Earth standards. Like little men. Then it hit Cody. Dace had been correct; it was something he hadn’t seen in a long time. The people weren’t just little men or women—they were children.

  32

  The Ageing City

  THE CHILDREN’S FACES BEAMED as they gazed at Cody, wonder sparkling in their eyes. The entire courtyard teemed with young people from toddlers to teenagers.

  “I haven’t seen children since I came to Under-Earth,” Cody muttered in bewilderment. Dace grinned. “That’s because you’ve never been to The Ageing City.”

  Dace stepped up on a ledge. “Younglings, I present to you…the Book Keeper!” The children burst into crazed applause and began cheering. A shiver shot down Cody’s back. He found himself waving to them and giving a few slight bows. His actions drew increasingly feverous cheers. Time for a little show.

  He twirled his hands in the air. “How about some fireworks?!” he called out. The children shouted wildly. Dace grabbed Cody’s shoulder. “Perhaps now isn’t the best time….”

  Cody pushed him off. “Duomi! Illumchanta! Fraymour!” He readied himself for the explosion of magnificent color, for continued cheers, but nothing happened. Nothing at all.

  Cheers morphed into laughter. Even Dace joined in, slapping Cody on the back. “Nice one, hero. Very impressive....”

  As a droning horn rang, the children hustled away in all directions, leaving Cody once again alone with Dace. “Why didn’t it work? That was humiliating!”

  Dace shrugged. “I for one was thoroughly entertained,” he chuckled, “but before you make a complete joke of yourself, I should probably inform you that your power won’t work here.” He pointed to the blue haze arched over the city. “Within this bubble the Orb has no effect.”

  “That’s why I feel so unusual. I can’t feel the Book’s energy flowing through me anymore! I feel…”

  “Mortal?” Dace finished for him. “Indeed, you are standing within the only location in all of Under-Earth where you can age. An Under-Earth infant is just as immortal as an Under-Earth adult, but we wouldn’t last long as a race of babies now would we? That’s why all babies born in Atlantis are sent here to mature into adulthood.”

  Cody tried to wrap his mind around Dace’s words. “I knew it was odd that I didn’t see a single child in Atlantis. But who looks after these kids? It must be severe punishment to sacrifice immortality and become a constant babysitter!”

  Dace shook his head. “Quite the contrary actually. Serving a term in this city is the highest honor and reward.” Dace paused, noticing the look of utter confusion on Cody’s face. “We always desire what we don’t have. A mortal lacks eternal youth; but the Orb has allowed us underlings to remain unc
hanging forever. Therefore our greatest yearning is not for youth, but for age. It is a sign of wisdom and accomplishment. Men such as Wesley and Levenworth wear their great achievement in every deep wrinkle.”

  “Then why do you still look so youthful?” Cody blurted before he could stop himself. His face turned red as he realized what he had said. Dace laughed. “Because it would be the greatest tragedy to all the women in Under-Earth to deprive them of my roguish good looks,” he said with a wink.

  “Where did the blue bubble come from?” Cody asked, but Dace shook his head. “I wish I knew. For all we know it always existed. Personally, I like to think that nature itself was providing us with the necessities for life.”

  Cody suddenly had the sensation of eyes on him. He spotted Tiana standing across the courtyard. Dace glanced between the two. “We abandoned all our gear at the caves when we fled. I’ve sent Tat and Chazic back to salvage what they can. I thought they could use some bonding time. Regardless, we can’t depart until the morning so you might as well have a look around.” With a slap on Cody’s back, he departed.

  Cody jogged to Tiana’s position. “Thanks for rescuing me,” he said as he reached her.

  “Same to you. Book or no Book—that was a stylish getaway,” Tiana replied.

  Cody stood straighter. “This is some place isn’t it?” he commented nonchalantly, poorly masking his glowing pride from Tiana’s compliment.

  Tiana shrugged. “It loses its luster fast. I abandoned this place the first chance I could.” Cody waited for her to elaborate. Instead, without notice, she turned and began strolling through the village. Cody scampered after her, matching her stride.

  As they walked children would pause to stare at them like animals in a zoo. There was something very earthy about the city. Without the power of the Orb, the thatched buildings and dusty roads gave Cody the sensation of stepping back in time.

  He looked down a lengthy road that led outside the blue shield to a large cluster of thatched buildings. “Why aren’t those buildings inside the dome?” he asked.