The Keepers Of The Light (God Stone Book 2)

by Andrew Schafer

  “No!” Garrett screamed.

  Pressing his face close to his brother’s, Apep sneered as he held the sword fast. He kept it there for a long moment as the strange blade lurched back and forth.

  “Look into my eyes, brother! Know that you have failed your father – failed your kingdom! Know that I have ended you!”

  Syldan looked past his brother to the stone cell, finding Garrett and Lenny, his yellow orbs darting back and forth intently between the two boys.

  With several feet of stone stalagmite between them and Coach, they could only look on helplessly.

  “God, Lenny, he’s killing him!” Garrett said as both boys refused to look away. Neither would abandon him.

  Slowly the light behind Syldan’s eyes faded like a rogue ember in a cool breeze. Inside Garrett a rage built. No words needed to be exchanged for the message to pass between them. It was on them now. They had to stop Apep.

  Satisfied, Syldan nodded, and just before the light winked out completely, he closed his eyes and smiled.

  “Farewell, brother!” Apep spat, wrenching the sword free from Syldan’s flesh. The vines released their grip, withdrawing back into the earth.

  Syldan’s eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed to the temple floor.

  Behind Apep a stone stalagmite column cracked with a resounding pop.

  31

  Bound by Blood

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1

  Petersburg, Illinois

  Garrett startled and spun, throwing his hands up as small bits of rock rained down around him. “Holy crap!” Paul was on his feet, both of them, moving like his leg had never been caught in that bear trap. As Paul backed up for another go, Garrett’s eyes found Lenny’s. Lenny made a fist and smiled. Garrett nodded and smiled back. Now they had a chance.

  Apep looked back toward the stone cell, then to Lilith. “Deal with them!” He climbed up onto the slab, approaching the head of the giant.

  Pressing his back against the opposite wall, Paul ran forward again, launching his whole body at the fractured stalagmite column. The chamber shook as his shoulder compressed against the dense stone. Chunks of fracturing rock exploded from the other side as even more stone rained down from the ceiling, but still the column held.

  Garrett and Lenny quickly dragged a once-again unconscious David back out of the way of falling debris.

  “I’m not calling this little mustached freak David anymore,” Lenny said adamantly. “From now on he’s Bruce Leroy.”

  “The Last Dragon?” Garrett said, digging his heels in as he baby-stepped backward, his hands clasped around David’s wrist.

  “Yep, and if Apep starts glowing next I’m going to start calling him Sho’nuff.”

  Even in this insanity, Lenny could still find a way to squeeze in an eighties movie reference. It was both inappropriate and comforting at the same time.

  Paul rubbed his shoulder, a look of doubt on his face as he sized up the stone column for the third time. There was a big crack along the center, and the top had detached from the ceiling and broken off, but the giant stone column sill stood, unyielding.

  As Garrett sized up the column too, a memory came to him – knowledge Mr. B had passed down to him. “Paul! Don’t focus on the column! Instead, look beyond the column, past it, and go there!”

  Paul’s brow furrowed, then he nodded slowly as he backed up again, pressing his back against the wall. He narrowed his eyes at something beyond the column and then launched himself off the wall into a dead run, crossing their small cell in five short, fast steps. He roared as his shoulder bit into the stalagmite column.

  Garrett flinched, watching but not wanting to watch. Something was going to break… had to break. And something did. This time Paul exploded completely through the thick stone.

  Paul’s momentum carried him forward in a stagger that turned into a tumble. He tucked and rolled clear of the debris only to spring back to his feet. He reached forward and touched the stone slab, then turned back toward Garrett with a sharp nod.

  Garrett didn’t see Lilith, but he heard her doing that creepy chanting thing again. By the time he cleared the newly opened hole with Lenny on his heels, Paul’s feet were already rooted to the ground, vines winding around his legs.

  Garrett reeled to his right in time to see Lilith disappearing around the corner of the slab.

  “Get her, Lenny! I’m going for Apep!” Garrett shouted.

  Pete and Breanne appeared from the hole next to Lenny.

  Paul ripped his feet free of the vines.

  Lenny gripped his staff in both hands and nodded.

  “Where’d she go?” Breanne asked.

  “This way,” Lenny said, pointing toward the corner of the slab. “Go, Garrett. We got her!”

  Garrett ran for Apep.

  Apep removed the God Stones from inside his jacket, murmuring, “I have waited so long for this moment.”

  “I’m going to kill you, Apep!” Garrett shouted, climbing onto the slab. He drew his sword and ran toward him.

  Apep waved his hand. “Eshakmue ff esh!” he said forcefully.

  Garrett felt Apep’s power hit him full on. It was immense, seemingly bottomless. It pressed against him like a hurricane’s wind, forcing him to stop, then pushing him backward toward the edge of the slab. He was up on the balls of his feet, leaning in. He stepped back into a fighting stance to try and dig the balls of his feet in, but it was no use.

  Breanne peered over her brother’s shoulder as Lenny, Peter, and Paul eased close to the corner of the slab. From around the corner a shadow grew, protruding out past the edge. Longer and longer it stretched. Something was approaching from the other side where Janis had vanished. They pulled up short and waited.

  Lenny stepped back into a fighting stance as he spun his staff, bringing it around to chamber in his armpit. It pointed forward, ready for whatever came next. “Here we go,” he whispered.

  Paul nodded. “Here we go.”

  Pete took a tentative step back to stand next to Breanne.

  The shadow crept closer to the corner, but when it finally came into view it wasn’t Janis. It was a rat. And not just a regular old river rat, but a giant river rat.

  “Balls!” Lenny said.

  “Back up!” Paul ordered. They all shuffled back.

  The rat was huge, maybe five feet tall on all fours – and it wasn’t alone. Behind it were two more rats just like it, along with a giggling Lilith. She walked slowly toward them, her father’s sword in her right hand, its tip, now rigid, dragging ominously across the floor of the chamber. “Rayzae!”

  The rats attacked.

  As the first one leapt, Lenny cracked it in the snout with the tip of his staff, resulting in an unnatural squeal. Paul jumped over the second one, rolled to his feet, and grabbed it by the tail. Then, straining with all he had, he pivoted and slammed the rat against the edge of the stone slab, crushing its skull.

  Lilith made a pouty face, then sneered as she made some motion with her hands and spoke more ancient words.

  Garrett stopped sliding before he fell over the side of the slab. Apep’s power was incredible, but there was something about it – like it didn’t truly belong to him. What if he was only harnessing power, rather than creating it? What had Coach said to Apep? Something like, you don’t own the stones? Or maybe you don’t own the power?

  Apep paused. “Well now, let us see what you are made of, boy! Akdoemue oz doe!” he shouted, as he thrust his open hand out toward Garrett. Grey ribbons poured like thick smoke from his fingers, blanketing Garrett in thick shadows. Once Garrett was completely covered, Apep snapped his fingers and the ribbons of shadow surrounding him burst into flame.

  Breanne looked toward the slab just in time to see the envelope of smoke covering Garrett explode in fire. “No!” she gasped.

  Three more rats came scurrying from the shadows, growing larger and larger as they approached. From behind them came yet another three. Breanne’s he
art began to race as fear gripped her, but she refused to let it take hold. She ran to the wall, where piles of shields and weapons were stacked unceremoniously. Most were decayed beyond use. She grabbed a wooden shield that seemed to be pretty solid. She had to look a little harder for a weapon that was usable, finally settling on a stone-headed tomahawk. Now armed, she sucked in a sharp breath and ran toward Paul and the nearest rat.

  She swung her stone tomahawk at a rat’s head, striking it hard across the snout. The rat screeched, scurrying back. But another rat attacked.

  Next to her, Paul used his bare hands and booted feet while doing his best to avoid both teeth and claws.

  Breanne swung again, and again another rat attacked. Between swings she held out the old wooden shield to block the lunging bites. Occasionally her counterstrikes found purchase, parting coarse brown hair to open flesh and elicit deafening squeals. Each time, Breanne yanked her hand back and produced her own frightened shriek. But she didn’t stop. She had to get to Garrett.

  Garrett’s vision narrowed to a single point, then expanded to a beautiful single-track forest trail flying by him at fantastic speeds, speeds he had never reached before. His blood didn’t pulse, he didn’t sweat, and his muscles didn’t flex. The rest of his world slowed as his footfalls landed perfectly. Then the trail fell away, leaving him covered in dark grey shadows. The shadows were burning. For an instant, he thought he heard the shadows whisper to him. If his focus weren’t so pure, so absolute, in the moment, he would have thought it was only the wind in his ears. But it wasn’t. The shadows spoke to him. The sound was barely audible, but he heard it – a single word that was unfamiliar, and yet he understood it. It was an ancient word. It was a word of power – Sentheye.

  Apep made another motion with his hand, commanding the flaming shadows to bring the burning boy to him.

  Garrett felt his body being drawn toward Apep. He let his mind take control of the shadowy fire. The flames glowed a brilliant blue-green. He was consumed in their warmth. But they did not burn him. He didn’t know how, but the flames were his now. He told the shadows to stop dragging him. He stopped moving. Next, he imagined the flames and shadows forming into a ball, and they obeyed. The flaming shadows were reduced to the size of a basketball.

  “What’s this?” Apep said with a look of amused interest.

  Garrett held the ball of flames in his hands, his eyes suddenly going wide. He blinked. What now? What do I do now? His confidence began to wane as he felt his focus slip, and with it all control. The strange ball of flame suddenly felt like a wild animal in his hands. He knew it then. The Sentheye could sense his fear. Now the ball bucked terribly in his palms, stretching and lurching, the sphere becoming unstable. It was too hot! He had to get rid of it – now! Quickly he chucked the flaming shadow at Apep as if he were passing him the basketball in gym class.

  Apep’s eyes went wide as the fireball streaked toward him. He tried to stop it with a word of power, “Mue—” But he had no time. He threw his hands up and dove for cover, launching himself from the slab.

  Garrett ran forward as the fireball sailed across the chamber and imploded as it slammed into a distant wall. He looked down to Paul and Bre fighting the massive rats as Lilith backed Lenny across the chamber with a flurry of kicks. He was holding his own, but if he gave up any more ground, he was going to back right into the sleeping dragon. “Behind you, Len!” Garrett shouted.

  Lenny glanced back, taking his eyes off Lilith for half a second.

  Lilith spun into a crouch and swept Lenny’s feet from under him.

  Lenny landed hard on his back, expelling all his air, the back of his head bouncing off the stone floor.

  “Shit,” Garrett said, preparing to jump from the slab. But then Lilith turned, running toward the spot where Apep had fallen. Double shit, he thought, realizing they would both be coming for him now. Garrett drew his sword.

  Lilith closed the gap.

  Apep had already pulled himself to his feet and was climbing back onto the slab.

  Garrett looked down at the giant and sucked in a deep breath. Now or never, he thought as he positioned himself to strike down with the sword.

  “Stop him!” Apep screamed.

  Lilith shouted the words and made the gestures. “Akdoe mue flah ak zae ozoz. Zaeshi ak ff esh!” Vines emerged from the slab at Garrett’s feet, but they stopped growing. Lilith frowned, forced to say the words again.

  Garrett cocked the sword.

  “Akdoe mue flah ak zae ozoz. Zaeshi ak ff esh!” This time she said the words with a more commanding tone and the vines obeyed, bursting forth and snaring Garrett’s arms and legs. He couldn’t move.

  Janis collapsed to one knee, her hand outstretched.

  “Focus, Lilith! Your human side is weak. You must not fail until I succeed!” Apep commanded furiously as he approached Garrett with a pointed finger. “Do you know why you are really here, Garrett?”

  Garrett grappled with the vines as they snaked around his body. What happened to Coach was about to happen to him. He was panicking, fighting with all his strength, but he still had enough sense to know this wasn’t going to work.

  He couldn’t fight the vines with his muscles, he had to fight them with his mind. He had touched Apep’s energy once and turned it. He desperately needed to do that now. He tried to take control of the energy, tried to find his focus, but the more he fought the more the vines squeezed, tightening around his wrist and ankles and compressing his already bruised ribs. Come on! he thought, but it was no use. He couldn’t grasp the power controlling the vines. He could feel the rawness of it all around him, like standing in an open field during a lightning storm, but he could no more reach out and grab hold than he could grab hold of a lightning bolt as it struck.

  All he could think about was a sword to the gut.

  Suddenly the roots entangled both arms, forcing them to spread, stretching them wide.

  “You are untrained. You touch the Sentheye by accident, not by intention!” Apep pointed his bony index finger in Garrett’s face. “Now I think it is time you learned why you’re really here, boy!” The fingernail on Apep’s pointed finger grew long and sharp. He grabbed Garrett by the wrist and poked the black nail forcefully into his palm.

  Garrett squeezed his eyes together tight as the nail bit deep, drawing blood.

  Apep squeezed Garrett’s palm, ensuring a drop of blood spilled onto each God Stone, one by one. “Here is a question for you, Garrett. Why did those who claim to care most about you tell you to come here and destroy the old one?”

  Garrett clenched his jaw, straining helplessly against the roots.

  “I’ll tell you why. Because I couldn’t wake him without your blood.”

  Garrett stopped struggling.

  Apep smirked. “That’s right… Never could. Turek made sure of that. He tied his bloodline to the spell keeping the nephilbock asleep.” Apep paused, letting that sink in. “You were never supposed to stop me, Garrett. Your own mother sent you here to make sure I get what I need to open the portal. To make sure I get your blood. They want me to open the portal. That’s the prophecy, my boy, and this moment here and now is your only contribution.”

  “You’re lying!” Garrett croaked.

  “Your accusation lacks conviction, my boy. You know I speak the truth and now I will show you.”

  Below the slab Garrett caught sight of Pete as he came around the corner and pulled up short at the sight of Janis.

  “Janis, stop! Don’t do this! I know you care about me. I know somewhere inside what we had over this past week was real. Tell me it was real!”

  Lilith stretched out a hand toward him.

  Pete smiled.

  But then Lilith pressed her lips together into a sneer and closed the hand into a tight fist. As she squeezed, so too did the roots squeeze around Garrett’s neck and torso, constricting ever tighter.

  Garrett tried to groan but no sound came. It felt as though any second his ribs would start popp
ing one by one like popcorn, and he would no longer be able to breathe.

  Apep began reciting ageless words – words that Garrett somehow knew were the language of the gods. One by one the God Stones started to spin, suspended in the air, each glowing in oscillating, opaque colors before settling on a strange new color, a color Garrett couldn’t form words to describe and couldn’t look upon directly. He couldn’t pull in a breath, and the edges of his vision began to close in.

  Spreading his arms wide, Apep smiled. “Yes! The time has come!” he shouted, his voice echoing off the chamber walls. “Thank you, my boy! Thank you, Garrett!”

  Darkness pressed in on Garrett as he fought to keep his eyes from rolling back into his head. He looked down at the face of the giant as Apep’s voice, along with the shouts from Pete and battle cries from the rat fight, all faded into the background. The last thing he saw before the darkness took him was the giant’s large oblong eyelid as it popped open.

  32

  Sounds in the Dark

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1

  Rural Chiapas State, Mexico

  Grinding stone reverberated through Gabi’s feet as the platform continued its long descent into darkness.

  “What is she talking about? What lower chamber?” Fredy asked, his voice unnerved.

  “The one painted on the wall. We were trying to tell you, Sarah, but then all hell broke loose,” Itzel said.

  Sarah blinked. “This is major!” She grabbed Fredy by the shoulders. “It’s major, Fredy.”

  Gabi noticed movement near the edge of her vision and turned just in time to see a massive stone block moving upward, outside the circular platform. Quickly she spun around, noticing three more blocks moving upward past the platform. “Look!” she pointed.