“We need to go,” I said. “We’ll make a break for it and duck under the stones. On three, okay?” I glanced over my shoulder and saw everyone nod in agreement — even, thankfully, Blade. “Okay. One. Two.”
Before I could finish, the blue rock leapt out and struck Miles in the chest, knocking him to the ground. The glow from the rock flooded into Miles and faded away. He gasped for air. The rock darted back to the circle and kept spinning.
“Miles!” I cried.
“I’m okay,” he gasped.
“Oh God, they’re killer rocks!” said Calvin. He hit the deck, but the white rock leapt forward and slammed into his back. “Ow!” he yelled. “That’s cheating!”
I tried to put myself between Tess and the rocks, but they were everywhere. The yellow one flew out and flung Raven to the floor. The red one got Blade, and then the purple one streaked toward Tess. I leapt in front of it, but it swerved like it was alive and hit Tess. She cried out and went down.
Finally the brown one jumped out and got me, and I fell on my butt with a grunt. I barely held back a cry of pain. I rubbed where the stone had struck me, trying to dispel the sting. A glow in my chest faded beneath my fingers.
Finally, the hum died away. The rocks slowed in their orbit. Their glow dwindled to nothing, and they settled back down on the same pillars they’d started on.
I groaned and started to push myself up, but a funny thing happened. I felt the stone under my fingers, and it…tickled. I ran my hands across the rough surface of the stone. It felt somehow comforting. Like…the thought seemed ridiculous, but it was like hugging a family member I hadn’t seen in years. The stone felt alive.
Then there was a POOF, and an old, gruff voice said, “Well, now that that’s over with.”
I leapt to my feet. Just outside the circle of stone pillars stood an old man. Not just old — ancient. His face had more wrinkles than a crumpled-up piece of paper. His bushy eyebrows jutted out like the wings of a bird. His crazy white hair stuck out in all directions, reminding me of Albert Einstein. He was wearing an old, faded grey robe and clutching a gnarled wooden walking stick that was a little taller than he was.
I put myself in front of Tess and Calvin. I felt Miles step in on my left and Blade on my right, the three of us forming a wall in front of the smaller kids.
“Who are you?” I asked.
The old man scoffed. “Who am I? Listen, girl, I have nothing to prove here. You’re the one with boots to fill, child, and you look barely old enough to ride a horse, much less save the world.”
“Ride a…save the what?” I said. Something about his speech was distracting. I could understand it, but in the back of my mind I knew he wasn’t speaking English. His lips weren’t forming the same words I was hearing. And even the words were confusing.
The old man sighed. “Always with the new ones. It’s always ‘what are you talking about?’ and ‘who are you?’ and ‘why are these people trying to kill us?’”
“What?!” I shrieked.
“Hey man, where are we?” said Miles. “What’s with those rocks?”
Rather than answer, the old man peered at us intently. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Miles and Blade look at me. Like I was supposed to know what to do. There was a flash in the old man’s eyes, and he focused on me.
“You,” he said. “What is your name?”
I glared at him. “Why?”
“Come now. You have asked me who I am, despite my being your elder, but you do not offer your name? Give me yours, and I will give you mine, and then I will hear from the rest of you.”
My brow wrinkled, but I stayed silent. I didn’t know what to think about any of this. But something about the old man drew me in. Something in his eyes. Yes, he was a crotchety old guy, but I…I felt like he was here to help us.
“I’m Sarah,” I said. No way I was giving him my last name. “Now, for the last time, who are you?”
He snorted. “‘For the last time.’ Such bravado.” He thrust his staff out to his side and bowed low. “I am Greystone the wizard, and I am, most unfortunately for all of us, at your service.”
“A wizard. Right,” said Blade, sarcasm heavy in his voice.
“Cool!” cried Calvin. He pressed forward between Miles and me and stared at Greystone with a wide grin. “What can you do?”
Greystone looked at him with disdain. “Oh, you’re one of those.”
“What, you expect him to just believe you’re a wizard?” said Raven, surprising me by coming to Calvin’s defense.
Greystone rolled his eyes as though this whole affair were so unimaginably far beneath him, he couldn’t have reached it with his feet if it were on the ground. Then he held up his hand, and a tiny ball of orange flame erupted in midair. It burned brightly for a few seconds, turned blue, and then vanished as he closed his hand into a fist. Greystone held up his hands and wiggled his fingers like he was telling a ghost story.
“Ta daaa,” he said. “Oogie boogie.”
My jaw dropped, and my eyes felt like they were going to burst out of their sockets. Miles, Blade and Raven were all looking at the old man with the same expression of stark astonishment that I must have been wearing.
Only Calvin seemed excited. “Oh my God, that was so cool!” he shouted, running his hands excitedly through his hair. “Dude, that was real? Can anyone do it? Can you teach me?”
Greystone sniffed and looked past him, back to me. “Are you satisfied, Lady Sarah?”
Why was he asking me?
Miles stepped in before I could respond. “Hey, man, what was with those stones? They, like, attacked us or something. It hurt.” He rubbed his chest ruefully where the blue stone had struck him.
“Forget about that,” I said. I stepped forward, coming to stand beside Calvin. “Where are we, and how do we get back to school? Are you keeping us prisoner or something?” It seemed like everyone else was willing to go with the flow, but the only thing I could think about was that some weird, possibly crazy old man had kidnapped all six of us and was now keeping us in a courtyard in who knows where. I wanted to find out if he was just crazy, and would let us go once he had a bit of fun, or if this was something worse.
Greystone gestured toward the door. “There is your exit. At any point, you may take it. However, may I kindly suggest that you do not, at least not without me, unless you all wish to suffer a most gruesome and painful death.”
Miles stepped in front of Calvin. “Are you seriously threatening us? There’s six of us, and no offense, you’re old. We could so take you.” I resisted the urge to point out that this guy had some kind of fireball powers. No need to let him know I was worried.
Unexpectedly, Greystone burst out laughing. He roared, guffawed and slapped his knee as he doubled over. For a moment I was afraid he was going to have a heart attack.
“You could ‘take’ me, eh?” Greystone finally choked out. “In the interests of our continued, if unwilling, relationship, and in the interests of the continued existence of both our universes, I will forgive you that little slight. I needed a good laugh.” He wiped his eyes and let out a little hoo noise. “There is some gumption in you. I’ll give you that.”
Suddenly his face became serious. “But gumption alone will not save you. I will, I suppose, be forced to explain everything to you eventually. But in this precise moment, you have to come with me, or we will all perish.”
“We’ll what?” asked Blade behind me.
Calvin turned to him. “‘Perish’ means die.”
“I think he knows that, man,” said Miles, irritated.
“Actually, I totally didn’t,” admitted Blade.
“Enough!” said Greystone sharply, cutting them off. “Chaos above! Are all children of True Earth as gabby as you six? Now is not the time for words, but for action.” Once more he fixed on me with his piercing blue stare. “What you must know right now is that if you care to live, you must follow me.”
One by one, the others all turned to l
ook in my direction. I felt my chest grow tight and I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears. They were all waiting for me to decide. Like I was some kind of leader. What, because I was the student body president?
But if Greystone was right — and I’d just seen the guy make a fireball, so I figured maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt — we had to go. And if the others wanted to listen to me anyway…
“All right,” I said, nodding. I stepped toward Greystone. “Let’s go.” One by one, everyone fell in behind me. There was a twitch at the corner of Greystone’s mouth, and then he led us to the large oak doors on one side of the courtyard. When he reached them he stopped, turning to look at us.
“Listen to me very carefully, and ask no more questions. On the other side of this door is a battlefield,” he told us.
“I don’t hear anything,” said Blade suspiciously.
“That is because of the magic that surrounds this place,” Greystone explained. “But outside, thousands of people, good people of Midrealm, are fighting to protect you. They are laying down their lives in order to protect yours.”
His eyes roved over our tiny little group, sizing us up. I couldn’t help but feel that he was judging us, and that he was finding us unworthy of the sacrifice. Each of us shifted nervously under his stare.
“Us?” squeaked Calvin. “Why?”
“I said no more questions,” Greystone shot back in exasperation. “What I am trying to tell you is this — your lives are important. So do not lose them. We must cross the field to reach the portal on the other side. Try not to die. And whatever you do, do not engage the enemy.”
“How will we know who the enemy is?” asked a tiny voice — Tess. It was the first she’d spoken since the stones had attacked us.
Greystone scowled at her grimly. “If you cannot recognize this enemy, you are unworthy of the stones.”
Without waiting for an answer, he turned and struck the door with his staff. There was a deafening boom, and the doors swung away to show us the land beyond the wall.
SARAH
PIERCING SUNLIGHT BURNED MY EYES, and I held up a hand to shield them. The sun had been hidden behind the rim of the wall, but now with the doors open it was shining right into my face. My eyes adjusted, and I stared out across the landscape in horror.
Death was everywhere.
On the fields before us, thousands — perhaps tens of thousands — of soldiers were fighting for their lives. They were all clad in armor and wielded swords, shields, spears, axes, weapons of ancient history. The massive sea of their armor shone in the daylight, glowing nearly as bright as the sun itself. Closest to us was a thin line of men and women in brilliant silver with red trim, their right flank held by a high, steep hill.
I looked a little further, and I saw why Greystone said we would recognize our enemy.
A horde of black…creatures…pressed upon the humans. Their shape was almost impossible to establish. Their armor was clear enough, but beneath the plate mail and inside the helmet visors, everything was darkness. A roiling, writhing mass of pure smoke and shadow.
My breath caught in my throat, and I took an involuntary step backward. I felt Tess cowering behind me. Even Calvin was terrified.
Greystone stepped in front of me, his eyes hard. “Let’s go,” he commanded. He turned and began to move quickly in the direction of the battle before us.
“I’m not following that guy!” Raven shouted, struggling to be heard over the roar of the fighting.
“We don’t have a choice,” Calvin said. “They’re losing.”
He was right. The creatures were slowly overwhelming the men and women fighting to protect us. They’d break a hole in the lines here or there and quickly be contained, but every time there were less and less human bodies holding them back.
“Come on, guys,” I said. We had to move. “Stick with Greystone, and stay safe.”
“We should run!” said Blade.
“Run where?” Miles asked him. “Do you know where we are? Do you know where to go? Could you find a way to safety before those things,” he pointed at the creatures, “found us?”
“You telling me what to do?” Blade asked angrily.
“Nobody’s telling anyone what to do,” I interrupted before Miles could respond. We didn’t have time to get into an argument. “Blade, you can run if you want. But I’m going with Greystone. He’s the only one who knows what the heck is happening.”
Without waiting for an answer I turned and walked off after Greystone, hoping to high heaven that they’d all come with me. Thankfully they did; I saw them on either side of me as I tried to keep my eyes locked on the small, stooped figure dressed in grey that approached the back of the human battle line.
“Cara!” shouted Greystone. Contrary to how he’d sounded in the courtyard, his voice was now powerful and booming. It cut through the sound of the fighting like a knife. “It’s time!”
A figure turned to face him, then reached up and removed her — for now I could see it was a woman — helmet. She was young and beautiful and had white-blond hair that was trimmed short and glistened in the sunlight. She stared past Greystone at the six of us, and I was amazed to see relief wash over her face. Like we were there to save her and her army. We weren’t there to save anyone. We were terrified. At least I was.
The woman turned back to her soldiers, and her voice rang out in command. “Runegard! On me!” Immediately, as though they’d been waiting, about two dozen warriors disengaged from the lines and surrounded her in disciplined ranks. Cara shoved her helmet back on her head and used her metal sword to point at the six of us. The sword was stained with what looked like blood, except it was black instead of red.
“Protect them!” Cara said. “We must reach the portal!”
Greystone took off once again, heading left along the lines now, skirting the edge of the fighting. Cara’s men formed a group around us and began to follow, practically shoving us along as we struggled to keep up with them and Greystone. All of us must have looked terrified. I know Miles did. He leaned over to speak with me.
“Sarah, this is some serious stuff,” he said.
“I know,” I told him. “We’ll be fine. Greystone is taking care of us.”
“The crazy old man we met ten minutes ago?” Raven interjected.
“The one who can make fireballs,” I told her.
“Don’t worry,” said Calvin, even though his voice was shaking. “He’s wearing grey. Grey wizards are always good guys. It’s like a rule. Everyone knows that.” He eyed the rest of us as we stared at him. “Well, every one of my people.”
“What do you mean — ” Miles began.
“Where are we going?” asked Raven, interrupting him.
I looked up. Greystone had changed course, and the soldiers were following. They were headed toward an isolated group of humans and the shadow creatures fighting in the middle of the plain. The skirmish was separate from the main battle, but still there must have been hundreds of hacking, slashing, screaming bodies right in front of us.
Looking above the fight, I finally saw our destination. A blue, whirling portal floated just above the grass of a hill on the other side of the fighting. We’d have to pass through the soldiers and the shadow creatures to reach it.
Cara turned to us, still marching forward. Under her helmet, her eyes were stern and uncompromising. “Stay within our ranks!” she shouted. “Do not touch the Shadows!”
I nodded. My eyes probably looked like saucers. I definitely wasn’t going to be trying to touch any of those creepy things.
Then we reached the fighting and became surrounded by a whirling, churning mass of armor and blades. It felt like being in the eye of a tornado. It skirted all around us, trying to reach us with its winds to pluck us up and fling us into the sky. Cara fought like a crazy person, but clearly in control — wreaking havoc with her blade and smashing heads with her shield. But to our sides and rear I saw soldiers fall to the ground. When they w
ent down they were overwhelmed by creatures, and they never came back up. I gulped and turned my eyes forward once again.
Suddenly there was a shout to our rear, and I felt a cold hand grasp my shoulder. I was wrenched around to see one of the creatures had broken through and was practically leaning on soldiers to either side. One of its clawed hands was thrust forward to grip my shoulder. The instant it touched me I felt a sharp sting settle into my skin, and I cried out in fear and pain.
From nowhere, a bare fist smashed into the creature’s face. Its entire head erupted in a ball of flame. The hand clutching me spasmed and released its grip.
Blade fell to the ground, screaming and clutching his hand. Smoke rose from it like a hot frying pan dipped in cool sink water. One of the soldiers reached out and shoved Blade back to his feet and into line, although not harshly.
Cara turned back to us again. “I told you not to touch them,” she said.
Blade glared at her, still holding his hand and breathing in and out rapidly through his teeth. I looked at his hand. The knuckles were black and cracked. At first I thought it looked like a burn, but then I realized that was only because I’d seen the steam. Now that I had a moment to see, it looked more like frostbite — like the skin and the flesh beneath had died in an instant.
“Thank you,” I said gratefully.
Blade looked at me and shrugged. “Yeah,” was all he said.
The soldiers continued to press onward, and we were still caught in their momentum. It looked as though we’d almost reached the humans fighting on the other side of the creatures when I heard the bellow of a war horn rip out across the land. It was so loud that it made the soldiers stop walking, and around us there was a brief lull as the fighting ceased.
I turned to look in the direction of the blast. There, high on a hill in the center of the army of black creatures, stood a man. A normal-looking man, I realized. He wasn’t one of the creatures. But from the way the horde moved around him, the way they cowered from his outstretched hand, I could tell he was in command of them. He was massive. He wore no shirt, and every inch of his bronze skin bulged with taut muscles. Long white hair ran down to his shoulders, though he didn’t look like he could be over thirty.
Midrealm Page 3
