“I have it!” he said in triumph while holding the ring over his head.
“Bring it here!” ordered Qruzer.
The warrior obeyed and quickly handed it over to his master.
Qruzer inspected the ring and found nothing remarkable about it. If anything, it was extraordinarily plain.
“So, this is the ring of the prophecy? It seems so common and feeble-looking. It is hard to believe that this is an object of power.”
On a whim, Qruzer held the ring with both of his hands and started to twist it. The ring slowly deformed and with a loud snap, broke in two.
A roar of approval rose from the tribe.
“Oh, my. It seems that I have broken your ring by accident,” he snickered as he threw the worthless pieces away.
“Now that I have disposed of the threat of the ring, I will take the sweater now!”
“Oh, Great Qruzer. If you would allow me a moment of time to say goodbye to my friends, I will gladly give you the sweater and be your prisoner,” Louis said.
“We do not take any prisoners and we allow no survivors! However, to show you that I am not totally unreasonable and to demonstrate my greatness, I will give you a few moments for your goodbyes and farewells. As you have probably already guessed by now, I had no intention of releasing any of you. I was looking forward to the slaughter.”
Louis turned to his friends and whispered, “Something’s not right here. You saw how Qruzer tore the ring in half, right?”
“So what? He tore it in half,” Gus said in discouragement. “All it means is he’s really strong and he’s probably going to do that to us too! He’s broken the ring and now we have no hope of defeating him.”
Louis countered the statement and said, “But that doesn’t fit the prophecy. It says the ring is indestructible.”
“Wait a minute. Doesn’t the prophecy also say, ‘It can never be hurt and can never be worn’? But I was able to wear it,” Crystal added.
“That’s exactly my point. If my mom’s ring can be worn and broken, that must mean it’s the wrong one! There has to be another ring!” Louis said.
“That is a remarkable theory, but your speculation about ‘another ring’ comes much too late. I find your concept a bit absurd, considering the precarious situation that we are in at the moment. Even if this second ring exists, we most definitely lack the sufficient time to search for this theoretical alternate ring of yours,” Mr. Bixbee said in his analytical way.
“It’s not absurd! The prophecy predicted everything correctly up till now. There’s something I’m missing here. If I could just figure this out. . .”
“It is an extraordinary coincidence that your mother’s ring fits the prophecy so closely. Hypothetically speaking, if your mother’s ring is not the correct one, just where do you propose to look for another ring with two hearts?” Mr. Bixbee said.
“I wish I knew.”
“Your time has expired!” Qruzer said impatiently.
Louis ignored him and continued, “Do any of you have a ring that you didn’t tell me about?”
They all said no.
“I said your time is up!” growled Qruzer.
Louis ignored him again.
“Let’s assume the prophecy is totally correct. That means my sweater is the garment it is referring to. We can also assume that the ring must be here for the final battle. If this is the final battle, then the ring has to be here. We just don’t know where it is.”
“But none of us have it! You’re sounding crazy, Louis. How can we have something and not know about it?” said Gus.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out!”
Crystal tried another approach to the puzzle, “Well, what can rings be made of? What kind of ring can you have that can’t be worn?”
Qruzer shouted to his troops, “Prepare for attack! It is obvious they are wasting our time. Draw your swords and form a battle circle around them. I don’t want any of them to escape! The garment may protect them for a time, but, without the ring, they are doomed.”
“Why do the bad guys always use the word, ‘doom’? They must go to ‘bad guy school’ and are taught to use it a lot,” said Gus.
“This is not the time to be funny!” Crystal said.
“But I was just trying to–”
“Look, it’s too late. They’re forming a circle around us. We can’t run away and there is nothing to fight them off with. What are we going to do?” Crystal asked urgently.
Louis remained silent. It was something Crystal just said. There was a clue there, but what was it?
“Louis, did you hear me? They have us surrounded!”
“Yes. . .they have us. . .surrounded.” Louis started on a path of logic and began to unravel the enigma. “If they have us surrounded, that means they’ve made a circle around us. If they’ve made a circle around us, isn’t that the same as forming a ‘ring’?” he said with a flash of understanding.
“And it’s a ring you can’t wear!” Crystal added.
“Right! I think we’re on the right track!” Louis said excitedly.
“Two close hearts within an unbroken ring of friendship to do what cannot be revealed. . .” Chalandoor recited from memory.
“I thought the ring in the prophecy was a real ring. I misunderstood. The prophecy is describing another type of ring, ‘an unbroken ring of friendship’,” Louis pointed out.
“But how can we make an ‘unbroken ring of friendship’?” asked Gus.
Qruzer raised his sword and shouted to his army, “Attack formation! Assail them with all your might and destroy them! Retrieve the garment and we will rule Tetra once again!”
The Shadow Warriors shouted at the top of their voices in a blood-curdling battle cry. Their horses galloped with purpose and enclosed their defenseless targets. Clouds of dust and thunderous sounds of pounding hooves filled the air. There was no escape for Louis and his friends.
“They’re attacking!” Gus shouted.
Louis continued his thoughts and rolled the verse over and over in his mind — two close hearts within an unbroken ring of friendship. . .
They had only scant seconds until the Shadow Warriors were upon them.
Two close hearts within an unbroken ring of friendship. . .
Louis agonized over the conundrum, but couldn’t come up with anything. He looked at his friends and felt he had let them down. He would have given anything in order to save his friends, but this was wishful thinking. He had run out of ideas. The ingenuity and wisdom he depended on so often had failed him. He felt beaten.
Crystal saw the expression on his face and understood Louis’s feelings immediately. She tried to comfort him and said, “Don’t worry, Louis. We’re still here. And friends never let friends down, right?”
Louis blinked away tears upon hearing this. “What a faithful and loyal friends you are. I’m so glad that our friendship is so strong. I don’t deserve such friendship.”
They all held hands.
He looked at the connected hands and suddenly understood. The answer was right in front of him!
“I’ve got it! It’s so clear to me now. I understand! I see it!”
“See what?” asked Gus. “I don’t see anything.”
“It’s so simple. We’re all friends and we can form a ring. . .’a ring of unbroken friendship’! Everyone, stand in a circle and hold hands again. Don’t let go whatever you do. Crystal and I will stand in the center of the ring.”
“How do you know it’s supposed to be you and me at the center?” asked Crystal.
“Because it says, ‘two close hearts within an unbroken ring of friendship’. I can’t think of anyone except the two of us that could fit that description better!” he said with certainty.
“Brilliant!” said Mr. Bixbee.
Louis and Crystal stood in the center as the rest of them formed the “ring of friendship” around them.
When the last hand was connected and the “ring” completed, out of nowhere, a shi
mmering glow appeared and slowly engulfed them all. The translucent dome pulsated with light and then, as abruptly, disappeared in a flash.
“Wow. What in the world was that?” Gus said with wonderment. “What does it all mean?”
“I don’t know, but I think we’re in deep trouble,” Crystal replied.
The Shadow Warriors galloped clockwise around them, forming a slow, moving circle of death. The warriors leveled their massive swords and aimed them directly at the heads of Louis and his friends.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m scared to death!” admitted Gus in alarm.
“Don’t let go of each other, no matter what. We have to make sure the ‘ring’ isn’t broken,” Louis shouted from the center.
“We have nothing else to do except to believe,” Shining Star said calmly.
“Yes, yes. Believe we must. No matter what we see, we must believe. . .” Chalandoor added.
“Easier said than done!” remarked Mr. Bixbee. “We have no assurances that what we are doing will have any positive effects regarding our situation. However, I am prepared to stay with you, my friends, no matter what the outcome.”
“Well, all I can say is that I am very glad all of you are with me. No one could ask for better friends,” Louis said with emotion.
Qruzer overhead this and said, “Your friendship is useless and you are defenseless! How pitiful you all look. Do you not even have the intelligence to beg for your puny lives? This will truly be a slaughter! Warriors, strike them down. Now, I say!”
The menacing army assailed them from all angles and directions. Swords flashed everywhere, intent on piercing and slicing through flesh and muscle.
Louis and his friends had an overwhelming urge to run at the sight of the horrific shadow army. In spite of their fear, they held their ground and grasped even more tightly to one another, as if doing so might protect them from harm.
Loud “clangs” sounded as hundreds of blades came down in fury on the group. But the clanging did not come from metal striking bone, but from swords striking some sort of invisible shell. Whatever it was, it saved Louis and his friends from certain death.
“Wow, that’s way cool!” shouted Gus.
“What sorcery is this?” exclaimed Qruzer in disbelief. “Redouble your efforts!” he screamed in fury. “Anyone able to put Louis to death will be rewarded with half of all the treasure I possess!”
Not only were the warriors violent, they were also very greedy. The announcement by Qruzer made his troops even more desperate in their attempts to extinguish the life of Louis.
The warriors tried with all their might, but without success. The remarkable protection from the unseen dome continued to keep everyone within it from harm.
Chalandoor suddenly understood the meaning of one of the verses and recited, “. . .two close hearts within an unbroken ring of friendship to do what cannot be revealed. . .”
Louis said suddenly. “It’s true! The prophecy is true! I understand that verse. What can’t be revealed?” asking a question he already knew the answer to already.
“Something you can’t see!” Crystal said with revelation. “You can’t ‘reveal’ something that is invisible, right?”
“Right! The prophecy is describing the shield.”
“We are protected by some sort of invisible barrier. If you recall, it momentarily appeared when we first formed our ‘friendship ring’. Apparently, it protects us, although it is rather unnerving not to be able to see it,” remarked Mr. Bixbee.
“I don’t understand all of this, but there’s good and bad news to all of this,” said Gus.
“What’s the good news?” asked Crystal.
“We can’t be hurt.”
What’s the bad news?”
“We may be stuck here for a long time if we don’t have a way to fight them off. By the looks of it, I don’t think they give up very easy. We’re protected, but what good is that if we can’t fight back? We’ll be here forever if there isn’t a way to get rid of them,” Gus said with extremely clear reason.
“An accurate assessment of our state of affairs, I would say. I couldn’t have analyzed the situation with more aplomb,” Mr. Bixbee said.
“What does a ‘plum’ have to do with anything?” Crystal asked.
“I think what Mr. Bixbee said was Gus did a good job of explaining what is happening,” replied Louis.
“Why didn’t he say that in the first place?”
“I believe I just did,” Mr. Bixbee said.
The frenzy of the attacks increased with alarming speed. The more the warriors failed, the more frustrated they became. The more frustrated they became, the harder they attacked. Even though Louis and his friends were safely inside the protective dome, it was still frightening to see the warriors so close.
“Like Gus said, at least we’re safe. . .” Crystal repeated.
Qruzer made another futile attempt to break through.
“Hey, why don’t you just give up? You can’t hurt us! I guess you’re too weak or something!” Gus taunted and laughed.
“Gus, you shouldn’t make him angrier than he already is. I don’t think it’s a good idea, you know?” Crystal warned.
“Sorry, Crystal. I guess taunting him wasn’t very nice. I’ve been a bully so long, it’s kind of hard to drop some of the bad habits,” he said embarrassed by his conduct.
Crystal’s comments proved to be uncannily correct. Gus’s ridicule made Qruzer even more furious and determined to pierce through the invisible obstruction. With one mighty effort, Qruzer slammed his sword with terrifying force against the impenetrable shell. Somehow, the sword was just able to barely go through, nicking Gus’s ear in the process.
“Ouch, that hurts!” Gus cried in shock and surprise.
“Aha, the shell weakens! It can be breached after all!” shouted Qruzer with excitement. “Continue the onslaught comrades. We must continue to strike the unseen dome if we are to be victorious. Their protection is failing them!”
“See, I told you it wasn’t a good idea!” Crystal chided Gus.
“How was I supposed to know?” Gus sighed.
The shield’s effectiveness diminished with each successive blow.
If the Shadow Warriors were determined to destroy Louis and his friends before, they were absolutely obsessed about it now. Hundreds of warriors circled and beat the unseen barricade mercilessly, in hopes of breaking through and killing Louis to collect the valuable reward.
The swords were slowly breaking through! Louis and his friends moved closer together to avoid the destructive blades from reaching them. Their situation was looking precariously dim.
Crystal gave Louis a look that he immediately recognized. “I bet you were about to say, ‘What are we going to do now?’”
“Well, actually, I was going to say, ‘What are you going to do now?’”
“I wish I knew.”
“And I knew you were going to say that,” Crystal responded.
Chalandoor spoke up, “The words of the prophecy have not been exactly fulfilled, they have not.”
“What do you mean?” Louis asked.
“The events, they have not occurred as written. The prophecy, does it not say: ‘a true ring within a ring, indestructible, can never be torn.’”
“I don’t see your point,” said Louis.
“I think I understand,” Crystal said. “The shield shouldn’t be getting weaker. We should still be safe and sound. Isn’t that what you mean, Chalandoor?”
“Correct, you are.”
“The prophecy says that the ‘ring’, which is us, is indestructible. . .” added Mr. Bixbee.
“But we’re not. Look at what’s happening. The warriors are breaking in! The prophecy must be wrong,” Gus said.
“This cannot be true, it cannot. The prophecies of the Book of Tetra are always correct, they are.”
“Then it means we’re doing something wrong. But that doesn’t make sense. We’ve done everything exactly as
predicted,” said Louis puzzled.
“Chalandoor, say that verse again, okay? Maybe we missed something,” Crystal said.
“‘A true ring within a ring, indestructible, can never be torn,’” he repeated.
“‘A true ring within a ring. . .’” Louis repeated again.
Their protection was becoming critically low. The warrior’s swords were able to dig deeper into the shield with each effort. It would not be long before the attackers would lay them to waste.
“We’ve got to hurry! Come on, Louis! You can do it! What are we doing wrong?”
“Let me hear it one more time, Chalandoor. I know the answer is there. I’m just not seeing it,” Louis said.
A Shadow Warrior swung his massive sword and was able to get close enough to wound Shining Star’s left wing. It was a serious injury and the cut began to ooze orange-colored blood.
“Shining Star! You’re hurt!” Crystal said in alarm.
“Please do not concern yourself with me. We have to make sure we do not let go of each other. Our ring must not be broken,” he said.
A blow from another sword pierced through and slashed Mr. Bixbee’s shoulder. Their protection was deteriorating quickly. The warriors saw this and shouted their approval.
“‘A true ring within a ring. . .’”
“It doesn’t make sense! We’ve done everything right. We formed a ring. What else can we do?” Crystal said.
“A true ring within a ring. . .” Louis repeated to himself over and over.
“The answer is there, just like before. I need to. . .” Louis never finished his sentence. A swift diving blade cut into his leg. He let out a groan and fell to the ground.
Qruzer shouted in glee. He had struck Louis down with his sword!
“No! Louis, Louis!” Crystal said with dread and horror. She instinctively covered Louis with her body to protect him from any more harm.
The rest of his friends closed ranks as Crystal helped him.
“Ow! I think I’m really hurt,” he said in pain.
“Come on. You have to get up. Maybe we can all run for it.” She reached down and grabbed Louis by both of his hands. He stood, a bit wobbly, but determined not to give up no matter how dismal the situation appeared.
Louis in the Land of Tetra Page 19
