Eran stood over his fallen prince, hot tears of rage standing in his
eyes. His shield blocked the archer's arrows and anything else's
attacks, and his sword swung repeatedly at the monsters
surrounding him and Lecrian.
Beneath him, no longer conscious, Lecrian finally succombed to
the visions.
~~~
"And let me assure you your friends don't want to get killed either,"
Marco said with a laugh. He and Cassie stood alone on a stonelike
balcony overlooking a huge, empty, stonelike hole in the ground.
"I'm completely opposed to getting killed."
As Lecrian watched, he saw that something was wrong. Cassie
looked worried and lost. Their friends were not there. The lawn
was not taken care of, the trees were bare, and no birds sang.
Marco grew uncharacteristically serious. It was the kind of serious
that was actually sad. Melancholy.
"But you know what?" he continued sadly. "Sometimes bad things
happen. That's the way it is."
The subtily heartwrentching scene slowly disappeared in thick
mist. As Marco and Cassie faded away, Lecrian heard someone
starting to cry.
"Your cousin's life is your passport to salvation in the arms of
Crayak," a nasty voice whispered in the blinding fog.
And someone continued to cry.
In the corner of Lecrian's eye, he saw each of the Animorphs
together. He turned to see what was happening.
Jake nodded to something someone said. "No choice. Too much
hangs on this. Millions of lives versus one? Not even a question."
"Bull," Marco said angerly. "This isn't our fight. We sit this one
out."
The scene blurred and shifted. The Animorphs were still there, but
in different positions.
"One?" Marco asked.
"One," Jake confirmed.
"Well, then Visser Four is my meat." Marco grinned to Jake, then
turned away.
The smile disappeared when he was sure Jake couldn't see. He
looked as if he was about to cry.
Then he looked at Cassie. Cassie looked defeated, but she walked
up to Marco and leaned in close. She whispered:
"Crayak is *not* going to have him."
Marco nodded. Lecrian looked at Jake and felt a chill crawl down
his back.
The dooming scene vanished in the mist. Slowly, another scene
replaced it. Rachel and the hawk Tobias stood in a foreign room,
Tobias on a dresser and Rachel before him. The same weeping
voice continued to cry, but it quieted, almost as if the owner was
running out of tears.
"One more change, Tobias," she said to him. "Back to human.
You'd be free of this stupid war and free of all of the danger of
living as a hawk."
Unreadable Tobias didn't answer.
"I wouldn't have to worry about you anymore."
~~~
Marco was not having fun.
He was a giant demon, with red skin, black bat wings, corded
muscles all over, rams horns, wicked fangs, and a fire whip. He
was a Baalrog, one of the more powerful demons, and usually lord
over any Gallu. But he was at a disadvantage. The black skinned,
red-eyed, monitaur-like lesser demon was smaller than he was, and
it welded a battle-ax, which was built for close-range combat.
Marco could barely fit in the hall with his massive wings, and his
fire whip was no good in close-up combat.
Marco dropped his whip, and it dissipitated before it hit the stone
floor. At least he'd have both hands free, and fire never hurts
demons, anyway.
You wanna throw down, shorty? he taunted the Gallu. I'll
throw down. I'll kick yo' bee-hind from here to Hades.
* * * * *
The Gallu swung the huge ax at Marco's neck. Marco awkwardly
jumped ducked under it, then plowed at it, trying to knock it down,
or at least knock it back.
It easily stepped back from Marco and swung the ax straight down.
AAAHHH!!! Marco reached up with both hands instinctively
and grabbed the ax as it fell, stopping it just inches from his head.
The Gallu yanked the ax back, but Marco held on.
The Gallu jerked. And jerked and jerked and jerked.
AAAAHHHH!!! Marco yelled as he was jerked back and forth.
Finally, his hands loosened and he let go. The Gallu stumbled back
into the back wall. Its eyes glowed with an angry fire, then it
attacked Marco ferociously.
Wow! AAAHHH! Cool it, man! Marco hollared to the demon as
he jumped awkwardly back from the wild swings of the Gallu, his
wings slowing him down and scraping the walls to either side of
the corridor.
The Gallu forced Marco back past the blasted door. Out of the
corner of his eye, Marco saw a shimmer of pure white dart from
the cell where Ax was working on the bomb. The unicorn. The
white unicorn ran towards the oppocite side of the
corridor, running back to where the Gallu came from.
Oh, sure, Marco complained to Cassie and Ax as he jumped
back some more from the blizzard of blade called an angry demon's
ax. Forget all about poor ol' Marco. Then he heard Ax say
something, but Marco was no longer paying attention
to him.
He felt his wings touch the very back wall. He couldn't back up any
more.
Behind the Gallu, Marco saw Ax shoot out of the cell.
The Gallu, unaware of everything except its hatred of Marco,
hacked again. Marco carefully deflected it, then pushed the Gallu
in the chest as hard as he could. The Gallu fell and dropped its ax.
Eyes burning, the demon kicked Marco hard in
the stomach, then reached for the ax.
Suddenly, Ax was there. The demon didn't even see the bullwhip
slash that cut its throat.
Marco. Are you well? Ax asked calmly when he made sure that
the demon was dead.
Marco, doubled over in pain from the kick, mumbled, Fine?
Fine? Of course I'm fine. Couldn't be better.
Ax was silent for a while. I believe that you were being
sarcastic?
Oh, yeah, Marco said as he began to demorph. Never felt better
in my whole blessed life as an Animorph. Then he looked at the
dead demon. Thanks, man.
You're welcome.
Then Cassie approached them, with the unicorn following. "Glad
you're alright, Marco," she said as she reached for the door. As
soon as she pulled it open, the unicorn ran through, and from there,
found a way out of the castle.
* * * * *
Outside, the war still raged. King Themis' grey cloud still hung
overhead, waiting. Nothing but dragons flew, and those dragons
were fighting the various giants in Zilos' army on the ground. But
nothing was going right for King Themis and the Dragon King.
Zilos' army was unnaturally strong, so much so that the giants were
beating back the dragons, and the smaller monsters were pushing
back King Themis and his soldiers.
And Jake, Lecrian, Herlim, Crimber and Eran were still missing,
separated from the rest of Themis' army.
Jake ran frantically through the surging armies of monsters and
humans, ignored by both. The humans because they knew he was
Jake, and the monsters because he was a werewolf and, therefore,
one of them.
Lecrian! Where are you? he called. He had been separated from
him, and knew that Lecrian couldn't last long. He could catch
Lecrian's scent, but it was faint, and there were so many other
smells all around him, masking it.
A black clad knight with a purple-flaming sword attacked one of
Themis' soldiers from behind. Immediately, Jake pounced on the
knight, knocking him down. Then he continued running through
the battlefield, following Lecrian's faint trail.
As he blew past another werewolf, he thought about his friends. He
thought about Tobias in his bed, safe. Rachel, in the battle but as a
dragon, was not safe, yet not in real danger. But what about Cassie,
and Marco and Ax?
He hoped they were safe. Looking around at the carnage and
bloody confusion and fear all around him, he was glad they were
not out there with him.
Lecrian! he called again. No answer.
Suddenly, he saw Eran. He was dressed in black armor, but didn't
wear a helmet. There was a nasty looking gash along one side of
his head and his usually tan skin was a shade paler, but he
otherwise looked healthy. His sword looked had symbols carved all
along the blade length, and he held it in front of him with both
hands, his eyes ablaze with battlerage. He was in a clearing, with
dead and dying monsters laying around him, and with broken
arrow shafts laying like tinder. His shield was shattered, and his
helmet lay several feet away. Beneath Eran was a body with an
arrow sticking from his back.
Lecrian's scent was strong here. Very strong, and coming from the
clearing where Eran stood his ground, guarding the body.
Only a huge, bulky, grey-skinned humanoid with black eyes and
long claws stood between Jake and Eran, with its back to Jake.
It made the mistake of attacking Eran.
As it stepped forward greedily, Jake tore out the hamstring muscles
in the back of one of its legs. The leg gave out, and the creature fell
forward. As it hit the ground, Eran immediately swung his sword
in a deadly arch, severing the head from the body.
Jake moved a little closer, looked at the body and froze. It was
Lecrian.
Eran quickly whipped the sword, aiming at Jake.
Jake stopped. It's me, Eran, he said. Jake.
Eran still looked skeptical. His eyes were red and hard, and his
cheeks were wet. He still didn't lower the sword. "How do I know
that?" he asked.
I'm thought-speaking. And don't you recognize my morph?
"All wargs can speak with their thoughts," he replied, "and I've
never seen that morph. But..." He turned the sword away from Jake
and to the other monsters, all of whome only stayed away because
Jake, a warg, was there, and had apparently layed claim to his prey.
Most of them moved on, looking for other prey.
"Wargs do not call it thought-speech," he explained out loud, "and
only the Animorphs have used the word 'morph,' and I finally
recognize your voice, Jake. Please," he plead, his hard voice
quivering slightly, "help me guard my Prince. I am not going to
leave him to these," he waved his sword at the monsters.
Jake slinked up to him, his hand/paws supporting his weight just as
much as his back legs. He could smell blood, steel, and sweat, and
could hear three heartbeats in the clearing, as well as screams,
thuds, slashes, growls, and movement all around him.
Three? But there was only himself, Eran, and...
Jake suddenly looked closer at Lecrian. His was the third heartbeat,
and he was still breathing.
He's alive! Jake exclaimed.
"He is?" Eran asked incredulously. He dared a glance back and
down, still keeping an eye on his enemies. "He is!" he cried happily
as he saw the slight rise and fall in Lecrian's back.
We need to get him out of here. Now.
Outside the clearing, watching the two from the shadows of his
fellow soldiers, lurked a true werewolf. He was an old one, with
gizzled fur and cunning, malicious eyes, and yellowed fangs and
dulled claws. He watched the exchange between the human and the
younger, tantilizingly familiar warg. His yellow, already narrow
eyes narrowed into slits.
{Attack,} he softly told a nearby kelpie and manticore in the
language of the beasts. {Attack the humans. Both are alive. The
warg is a traitor, and is mine.}
The kelpie, a creature with a horse-like head and humanish body,
grinned widely, showing its glistening teeth. The manticore, a huge
lion with an even longer, tail that ends in a poisoned, spiked ball,
growled gleefully. Both of them respected the warg, as most
creatures do.
The kelpie moved to the right as the warg moved to the left and the
manticore moved straight towards Jake, Eran, and Lecrian.
Eran sheathed his sword, then bent down to his best friend.
Gingerly, be broke the arrow shaft near the skin, then picked
Lecrian up with surprising gentleness. He looked back in time to
see the warg, the kelpie, and the manticore split up.
Go! Jake barked. I'll watch your back.
Jake ran alongside Eran, teeth bared. Most of the monsters stayed
away from Eran when they saw that Jake, a warg, had "claimed"
him for his own. The few that tried to attack Eran and Lecrian soon
missed a leg.
Jake looked bahind him as he plunged behind Eran. The manticore
was chasing them, spiked tail poised to strike. It was quickly
gaining, despite its size.
Dodge if anything attacks you, he told Eran. The knight nodded,
understanding that Jake would be too busy to help him.
Jake spun around. In a blink of an eye, he pounced on the
manticore. He grabbed onto its shoulder and bit in. Ignoring the
pain, the manticore struck Jake with its tail. Jake fell off, poisoned,
but he immediately bounced back up and attacked again.
The manticore struck, but Jake was ready. He dodged right, then
leaped for the closest leg. Before the manticore realized it, two of
its legs were torn, their ligaments severed.
Jake left the crippled, eerily silent manticore and ran back to Eran.
Eran had placed Lecrian down on the ground and had drawn his
sword, not being able to run with all of the monsters attacking him.
Jake leaped passed a kelpie, landing next to Eran. He growled and
snapped at the monsters, keeping them at bay.
Go on! he yelled at Eran. Keep going. Eran promptly
sheathed his sword and gently scooped Lecrian up. Breathing hard,
he ran, with Jake protectively close and forever on alert.
Far in the distance, Jake could see a silver splash of color slowly
rise from the ground. The silver flag bore a red dragon enveloped
in a glorious red sun, and in the heart of the red dragon pranced a
silver unicorn.
Hey! Isn't that King Themis' banner? Jake asked Eran, who was
dripping sweat and breathing harshly, the arms holding his friend
trembling. Eran wearily lifted his eyes and looked.
"Yes," he gasped in exhaustion and relief. "That's him. We're
almost there."
The kelpie that Jake had cut off slunk beside them, hidden by the
numerous bodies of humans fighting monsters and other humans. It
was waiting. Waiting for the right time.
The werewolf crept on the other side of Jake and Eran, keeping the
kelpie in sight. Watching the traitor warg, it had the nervous
feeling that he should know this warg.
Shaking off the feeling, the grizzled warg looked at the kelpie
directly in the eye.
{Now. Before they reach the human king.}
The kelpie grinned. Both it and the warg moved in for the kill.
The banner was much closer, Jake noticed. Almost within
thought-speech range.
Almost there, he urged Eran. Just a little--
The kelpie leaped in front of Eran just as the warg leaped into Jake,
knocking him over. The warg landed on top of Jake, pinning him
down with his paws/hands.
Eran, unaware that Jake wasn't there, didn't try to avoid the kelpie
until the last second. Not seeing Jake leap on the kelpie, he deftly
danced to one side.
He wasn't quick enough. The kelpie slashed at him with its claws.
The force of the blow spun Eran around.
Eran! Jake suddenly rolled to one side, slipping out of the warg's
grasp.
Jake growled a warning at the werewolf, but the werewolf didn't
back down. The werewolf in Jake weakened and began to
whimper, wanting to submit to the elder. It was afraid, and its fear
was beginning to get to Jake.
Jake looked past the werewolf to check on Eran. The knight had set
Lecrian down and drew his sword, his
armor torn.
{Traitor.}
Jake stared back at the werewolf. Understanding slowly dawned on
him: the werewolf thought he was a real wolf.
Yes. Your fight is with me. Leave the humans out of this.
The werewolf was silent for a moment.
{You speak in a human's voice.}
Jake didn't answer. Instead he slowly moved to one side, trying to
get around the werewolf and closer to Eran.
Jake did not get far before the werewolf's eyes widened in shocked
recognition.
{Warag? No ... You were sent to Hivena castle and never came
back. The children ... were ... there...} The ancient warg's eyes
narrowed in rage, his shock gone.
{Human! You are one of those human children. The ones who
claim the bodies of their victims as their own.}
What?!?' Jake thought. The rumors had spread tremendously.
{And now, you've ... you've...} the raging werewolf, unable to find
the right words, attacked.
Jake shot sideways, just barely avoiding the werewolf. Ahead of
him, Jake saw that Eran was in trouble. Swinging his sword every
which way, he was fending off not only the kelpie, but also several
other, smaller monsters. One of those smaller monsters was an eye
killer, a strange two limbed, hawk-headed, snake-bodied creature.
Eran was studiously avoiding eye contact with it, while still
keeping the others at bay.
The eye killer snapped its long, snakelike tail at Eran's sword,
entangling it like a whip. The kelpie eagerly snuck behind Eran,
preparing to attack from the knight's blind side. It crouched, ready
to spring.
Eran! Behind you! Jake yelled. He bunched up and leaped
forward at the treacherous kelpie.
Something snapped down on Jake's ankle as he flew forward. Jake
was stopped suddenly, and his ankle snapped. The werewolf,
which had bitten Jake in midair, jerked him back, crushing the
fractured bone. The ancient warg released Jake once he landed hard
on the ground, then sprang at Jake's throat, jaws open wide.
Jake lifted his arms and caught the older werewolf by the shoulders
just before the warg reached his neck, then shoved it off. He rolled
to his feet, but
Ahh! He quickly took the weight off his injured ankle.
His ankle was not healing. It was not mending at all.
At the same time that Jake's ankle shattered, Eran had jerked his
sword out of the eye killer's grasp, severing it in two in the process.
In the same motion, he spun around and sliced the kelpie in half as
it leaped at him. He looked at Jake, standing on three feet as he
faced the older warg.
"Jake!" he yelled. "Wargs and magic weapons can hurt you. And --
Uph!" He was cut short as another small monster leaped on his
back, knocking him down.
The older warg leaped at Jake again, knocking him aside. Jake
rolled with the blow, trying not to scream in pain as his limp ankle
flailed around.
The warg stood between him and Eran, growling menacingly at
Jake. It glared at Jake, waiting for him to make the first move. Jake
stood still, trying to figure out what to do.
Suddenly, his shattered ankle began to itch. Jake gingerly set it
down, keeping his eyes focused on the werewolf, to find that the
weak bones were strengthening. He was mending, but very, very
slowly.
Way too slow. If it was a mortal wound, he would've died.
The warg saw Jake set the foot down and grinned a wolfish grin.
Still, it waited. Behind him, Eran was hard-pressed with keeping
the creatures from killing himself or the unconscious prince.
Jake made up his mind. He darted to the left of the werewolf. It
moved to block his way. Lightning quick, Jake immediately
changed direction and leaped, his ankle surprisingly strong enough
to support the weight.
As he sailed over, something tore his belly. Red hot daggers of
pain seared him, blinding him. He landed in a limp heap close to
Eran, hurting too much to even scream.
He's been gutted. The grizzled, ancient werewolf gutted him in
midair, even after falling for Jake's simple faint.
As him mind began to shut down, he understood why the werewolf
mind was afraid of the greying warg. Wargs, like dragons, grow
stronger with age. Faster. More cunning. More powerful.
He never had a chance.
The triumphant, vengeful warg, seeing the fake warg helpless,
charged forward. It paused for a brief moment above the
semi-conscious warg.
{Bye, human,} it said as it opened its jaws, aiming for Jake's throat
and ignoring all else.
"Grrraaawwwwww!!!!!" it screamed as something bit into its
exposed back. The sharp blade slid past the thick fur and skin, past
the corded muscles, and through a lung and a rib. The warg
crumpled, freeing itself from Eran's sword. Blood flowed freely
from the deep wound, wetting the dirt next to the still moving Jake
and filling its lung. It backed away, preparing itself to retaliate
against the foolish human.
As it looked into the fierce eyes and bloody sword of the black-clad
knight, the warg realized that it was not healing. It looked at the
sword in Eran's hands and saw the deeply etched writing on the
blade. Suddenly, it felt cold. Very, very cold.
{No,} it moaned as it slunk away, beaten and dying. {A rune
sword. How could I have missed a rune sword?}
The warg disappeared among the masses of monsters. Neither Eran
or Jake saw it
again.
"Jake! Turn back!" Eran cried as he shuffled back to defend
Lecrian, who had still not recovered from the poisoned arrow. With
the warg gone, Jake was relatively safe, but Lecrian was definitely
not, and a horde of goblins have come to replaced the warg and
other monsters. "Back to human! Jake..." he searched his mind for
the word. "... Demorph? Yes! Demorph!!! Demorph now, Jake."
Much to his relief, Jake's dark fur slowly shortened
Hearing a stealthy sound behind him, Eran spun around and
slashed at the goblin that tried to sneak up on Lecrian. The lithe
creature jumped back, unscathed. Beyond the goblin, maybe by
about a hundred yards, King Themis's banners snapped in the
growing wind.
Jake, still demorphing, crawled painfully towards Eran. Hopefully,
it would make guarding him and Lecrian a lot easier for Eran until
Jake could morph again. But he was tired, and the thought of
morphing again made him wince.
Eran was not doing much better. He nimbly danced around Lecrian
and Jake, fighting off the goblins with apparent ease, but he was
tired, nearly exhausted. He had been fighting for a long time.
Underneath Eran, the soil began to dampen.
"Eh?" Eran looked down when his feet started to slide out from
under him. As he watched, the ground became muddy, then boggy.
The goblins, eyeing the watery spot, stayed away from Eran and
crept towards the mostly demorphed Jake and vulnerable Lecrian.
"What the..." he exclaimed as his feet sank in.
A small pool of water formed around his sunken feet, and began to
bubble.
"Oh, no."
And the water exploded like a geyser. Eran, the treacherous bog
underneath him refusing to let him go, was jerked up and stretched
taunt by the endless flow of bubbling water. His sword tore from
his grip, and water forced itself into his mouth and down his throat.
His feet tore free of the clinging bog. He shot through the torrent
straight up, but before he could shoot clear the water direction
curved and began to swirl, like a water spout without an eye,
holding Eran in the center. Eran struggled and thrashed, trying to
get free. Slowly, his struggling slowed, then came to a halt.
Jake looked in horror at Eran trapped inside the water elemental.
The goblins surrounding the now human Jake cheered, then closed
in on him and Lecrian.
CCRRRRAACKKKKKKK
A blue-white spear of lightning shot from King Themis's grey
cloud, striking the ground between Jake and Eran. It lingered,
allowing individual forks to branch from it, striking the malicious
water elemental and the goblins. The goblins screamed and
convulsed, no longer interested in Jake. The lightning danced
through the water elemental, evaporating the water and caressing
Eran without harming him. The elemental twitched, then retreated
back into the safe ground, leaving Eran and his rune sword behind.
Only Jake was left on the small patch of battle field.
The lightning spear widened, shining so bright that Jake couldn't
look at it. The column of lightning expanded and shortened,
disconnecting itself from the cloud and encompassing Jake, Eran,
Lecrian, and evaporating dead creature in its
range. The lightning walls thinned and began to spin. Soon, the
lightning spear was a spinning, lightning dome, shielding Jake,
Eran, and Lecrian from the rest of the battle.
Jake crawled over to Eran. He wasn't breathing, but his pulse was
strong.
"Eran? Hear me, man? Hold on, buddy," and Jake began to do
CPR.
"No," someone moaned. "Please, no." Alarmed, Jake twisted
around to see who could have possibly survived the lightning storm
surrounding him and the other two.
King Themis stood there, Herlim and Crimber flanking him. The
King's tired eyes rested on his eldest son, lying as if he was dead.
Lecrian's skin was ashen, and a black spot extended up his neck
near the wound from the arrow.
"He's not dead, Themis," Jake said, trying to comfort the King.
"He's poisoned, but still he's still alive." Jake immediately went
back to doing CPR on Eran, hoping to not loose him.
Themis's shoulders relaxed. "Thank Rurga," he whispered as he
knelt by his stricken son, muttering a spell under his breath.
Immediately, the greyness in Lecrian's face faded away, replaced
by a healthier color. Herlim and Crimber
relaxed and smiled. Herlim knelt by his brother, placing a hand on
his shoulder. Crimber looked over to Jake, then anxiously hurried
to him and Eran.
Just as he got there, Eran coughed up water. Jerking his body to the
side, water poured out from his gaging, hacking, coughing mouth.
Once he finished his coughing fit, he laid back, too weary to even
open his eyes. He panted, trying to catch his breath.
Themis and Herlim helped Lecrian over to Eran. Lecrian especially
looked down sadly at his friend.
"Eran?" he asked. "Are you alright?"
The knight stopped panting. His eyes popped open, and he looked
up at his king, the princes, and his best friend, and smiled.
"I am glad to see that you are still with us," King Themis said
warmly. Then his turned grim. "Unfortunately, none of us will be
here for long, it seems. We have been surrounded." Jake and Eran
stared at him in disbelief. Lecrian nodded, already knowing this. "I
do not know how Zilos can conjure up so many monsters, much
less control them, but his army is actually growing. It is so large
now that it flanks us on all sides." He sighed. "Unless something
miraculous is done, we will not see the sun set."
Jake became thoughtful. His brows furrowed, trying to see a way
out. His eyes abruptly widened, and he shook his head slightly.
"None of the animals from my world exist here, right?" he asked.
"True," Lecrian answered. "Is there something from your world
that can help us?"
"Maybe. The idea bouncing around in my head is totally ridiculous,
but it just might work."
* * * * *
"Let's play a game: 101 ways to commit Animorph kamikaze."
Marco laughed. "But, hey! Since it's my idea the only sane,
humble, handsome, debonair, sensible, charming one here, coming
up with this totally insane idea why not?"
Cassie smiled tolerantly, Marco's joking easing some of the thick
tension in the air.
Cassie, Marco, and Ax stood atop the castle walls, looking over the
battle below. They watched as Themis' forces were surrounded by
the various monsters, and as the dragons driven back by the endless
army of giants. Themis' army gathered around a lightning dome,
and the dragons mostly flew overhead, trying to help their allies.
More importantly, they noticed that many of the monsters were
streaming out of the castle gate beneath them.
She looked sadly at the lightning dome that shielded King Themis.
"Looks kinda grim, doesn't it."
"Hey! Stop trying to destroy the light-hearted atmosphere I'm
trying to create here." But his eyes softened a little. "You know
what to do, Cassie?"
She nodded, an extra pair of arms already sprouting underneath her
own arms.
"Just be sure to be clear when I go elemental."
"Mental? Cassie's going *mental?*"
Soon, she was glowing like the noonday sun, and she streaked back
to the insides of the castle and its dungeons.
Marco in turn grew incredibly huge, becoming a baalrog. Ax
turned invisible and expanded, losing his solidity and becoming an
air elemental.
Marco opened his mouth to say something when Ax interrupted
him.
Let's do it.
Marco smiled at the foggy wisp that was the only sign of Ax's
presence. Took the words right out of my mouth,
Rachel-wannabe.
* * * * *
A young man stood in the middle of the court, surrounded on every
side by his towering castle walls. He had icy blue eyes and light
brown hair, and his colorful robes billowed around him in the
wall-trapped wind. Around his feet were black, red, and white
arcane symbols, all drawn inside a bright red, quartered ring. Each
quarter of the circle held a small trinket: a bag of gold, a dragon's
tooth, a candle, and a crucible. With the exception of the crucible,
each item had a flickering tongue of flame on it. Between his feet
stood a small hourglass.
Zilos closely inspected the circle. Satisfied, he pulled out a glowing
silver-white unicorn's horn from his robes. He lifted it above his
head, and the horn seemed to catch white fire. The wind picked up
and swirled around him. A baalrog flew overhead, watching out for
him.
He glared at the darkening cloud that covered the whole sky. It was
Themis' cloud, a warning of what Themis was willing to do to
bring him to justice,' the arrogant hypocrite.
Zilos closed his eyes, letting the supreme power build in him.
"Zominik estdighis vallillio stras," the summoner chanted,
lowering the horn until it pointed at an empty spot a few meters
away. He opened his eyes and looked at the spot with a stone hard
gaze.
"Xilie!" he barked. Sheer power flowed from him and through the
horn. Light shot from it, striking the ground. The light began to eat
through the ground, flickering tendrils of fiery smoke rising.
Far, far away to the east, a tremendous pillar of fire began to move
towards the west. It rose from the blackened ground in a swirl and
flew to the west.
Zilos, still holding the ray of light in place, grinned as he saw a ball
of fire streak through the air straight towards him. The fireball, as
big as the court yard itself, stopped its flight above the castle,
above him. Only then did the ray of light stop streaming. The
baalrog was engulfed in the wheel of fire when it flew in, and it
finally flew out from it, watching the fire that blocked out even
Themis' cloud from view.
Holding the ever luminous unicorn horn up, Zilos bent down,
turned the hourglass over, and grabbed the lit candle.
"Come to me, fire elemental!" Zilos commanded it. He tipped the
candle into the empty crucible, and with shocking suddenness the
inside of the crucible caught fire, as if it was filled to the brim with
oil. He lifted the burning crucible over his head.
"Come!"
Unbelievably, the fire elemental began to shrink, and as it shrank,
it lowered itself until it was no bigger than a house and hovering
over the ground charred by the magical laser. It stayed there,
waiting for Zilos's's command. The baalrog kept watching, clearly
interested.
Zilos laughed. It started out as a low chuckle, then grew to
full-blown laughter.
"Yes!" Zilos triumphed, his eyes dancing in delight. "I've done it. A
true, full-grown elemental. Not a young one or an imitation, but a
true elemental." He calmed down. "Crayak's gift did not work, but I
didn't really need that gift, after all. Not with this power. Go," he
commanded it, pointing to the battle beyond the open gates.
"Destroy the dragons. Themis is finished, but the dragons
are still strong. Burn those that burn, and suffocate those who do
not. Now go!" And the fire elemental grew, lifting from the
ground.
Crayak, huh? You don't mind if I drop in, do you. After all, with
house guests like the ultimate optometrist, I must be welcome.
The baalrog that was watching darted towards the elemental.
"What?" Zilos uttered just as the baalrog dived through the
elemental, fire streaming after him as he shot through the other end
like embers.
Great, Marco muttered. Nothing solid anywhere in it.
"One of the animal children," Zilos realized. He stared at the flying
demon in surprise and ... fear.
"Destroy it!" he screamed at the fire elemental, pointing at the
baalrog that wasn't really a baalrog. "Kill it now!"
The fire elemental shifted, seeming to turn towards the demon as it
tries to fly past. Instantly an arm of fire shot out to block the
baalrog's path. Marco flew through, unharmed.
Uh, I'm kinda immune to fire. Try something else. Marco flew
towards the summoner, a fire whip materializing in his hand.
Say cheese,' he said, reaching out with his free hand for the
summoner.
Suddenly, a wall of flame cut Marco off, blinding him with the
sight of nothing but fire. The summoner fell to the ground,
clutching the hourglass protectively. Marco flew past him, missing
Zilos.
Drats! Have to go through all of that *again?* Marco whined as
he burst out of the hovering wall of flame. He made a sharp U-turn
and came at Zilos again. The elemental cut him off again, suddenly
expanding so that it covered the whole court with fire, leaving a
bubble of breathable air around its master. Marco couldn't see Zilos
through the firestorm that had started to climb up the walls,
reaching for him. Marco just flew higher, the overwhelming heat
comforting his demon mind.
A huge black smoke cloud billowed up from the fire pit. Before
Marco realized it, he was surrounded by choking smoke. Then he
found out that even demons need oxygen.
Ack! Not fair. And he shot straight up, trying to get clear of the
smoke.
Only it didn't work. He cleared the cloud itself, but a small bit
clung all about him, refusing to allow him to breathe clean air.
Ax! Marco cried in panic, his lungs burning and gasping. Can't
breath, man. Help!
A wind picked up, blowing at the small cloud covering Marco. The
winds grew stronger, to the point that Marco had a hard time
staying aloft. The choking smoke clung to him, but bit by bit the
smoke was blown away and dissipated in the air.
Air! Clean, fresh air burned into Marco's lungs, but it tasted so
sweet, and soon the pain went away.
Thanks, Ax, Marco gasped. He looked down at the rising smoke
cloud so far below him to see a strong wind breaking it up, too.
Double thanks. Is it just me, or have you been saving my behind
on a regular basis today?
You were in danger. I did what I could to help.
Yeah. I noticed. How are we going to reach Zilos now? I can't see
him.
You lost him that easily? Ax sniffed. I know where he is.
Good, o high and mighty Andalite. Maybe you can get to him,
then.
No. The enflamed being has not stopped producing toxic gasses,
and it is taking all of my power to keep the cloud from reaching
you. Not only that, but I am in danger of being consumed if I come
in contact with those flames.
Marco thought about that. He slowly smiled.
Can *you* go through the smoke? I mean, as a bubble? And you
would stay together?
Absolutely. The smoke cannot control what shape I am in, or how
dense I am.
Then forget about the wind. Form a tight bubble around me and
get me down there. Soon, he felt a strange calm around him.
Let's go for it! Marco cried as he slowly descended.
Let me know if I go too fast, okay? he said as he entered the
dense smoke. Sure enough, a solid-looking bubble surrounded him,
keeping the deadly smoke away.
What is your plan, Marco? Ax asked, a touch confused.
You know exactly where he is, right?
Yes.
Lead me to him. When we reach the flames, I'll go in alone and
take care of him. Got me?
Got you. The bubble shifted directions, and Marco followed
Ax's lead. Ax is never wrong when it comes to direction and
location, and Marco knew this very well.
Soon, they reached the flames. Ax started a small, powerful wind
to clear the way of smoke. As soon as everything was clear, Marco
suddenly dropped from sight.
Uph! He hit the ground sooner than he expected.
He looked around in the fire. Nothing but flames.
Ax, you missed, Marco reported.
Miss? Ax said with spited dignity. Well, I guess it is possible.
Not likely, but possible. I think you would like to know that the fire
line is dropping speedily.
No, I didn't like to know that. Marco spun around, looking
frantically for the dang nabbit twiggy guy before the smoke cloud
reached him.
Thud! His wing grazed something. He heard glass break. Then
someone screamed.
"NOOOOO!!!!! No, no, no," Zilos cried, ending in a despairing
moan.
The fire pit stopped sinking. The smoke stopped flowing into the
air.
The fire contracted, creating a spinning wheel of fire. As it did so,
the concealing flames withdrew from the ground, revealing the
despairing summoner, who knelt on the ground staring at his
shattered, partially melted hourglass. The circle that was not
immediately around him was burned away. The cloth holding the
gold was gone, and the gold had melted away. The dragon tooth
still gleamed brightly, and the crucible was undamaged.
Soon, the whole fire elemental hovered in the air, looming over
Zilos like a cloud of doom. Zilos tore his gaze away from the
broken hourglass in time to see the angry, vengeful entity turn from
orange-red to white-blue.
"No," he whispered, fear nearly numbing his mind. Instantly, he
reached for the unicorn horn stashed in his robes. His hand just
barely touched the horn when the elemental struck. A sheet of
superheated fire rained down on him, completely engulfing him
and the ground he stood on. He screamed once, then fell silent.
The elemental continued to burn the area, making sure that he was
dead. When it withdrew, nothing but a blackened body clutching
tightly to a still glowing unicorn horn was left. Satisfied, the
elemental flew away, not really taking note of the castle, the
baalrog, the young air elemental, or the war outside. It just left, for
none of the destruction concerned it.
Marco looked around the castle court. It was as hot as an oven, so
hot that even Ax was terribly uncomfortable inside the court. He
floated to the outside of the castle walls, away from the rising heat.
Everything was blackened or destroyed. The stone walls were
darkened, radiating heat in thick waves. The ground was now black
glass. The wood drawbridge and wood doors were gone, long since
burned away. The metal chains that used to hold the bridge, the
weapons, and any other metal object was now molten slag. Any
cloth, straw, or combustible object was no where to be seen.
Smoke filled the castle halls, still seeping out the shattered
windows. If any living thing was anywhere in that court or those
halls, it was long since dead. Even now, the hot stone walls and
glassy ground radiated enough heat to boil a person alive.
All of this destruction was comforting to the baalrog mind. Just
add a few more endless fires and it would be just like home.
Marco, of course, was not comforted. He couldn't even make a joke
about this.
Oh, man. What was that guy thinking? He looked at Zilos'
shriveled, stick-like body, sick and amazed that his body wasn't
totally incinerated. Was it his imagination, or was the body actually
growing thicker?
Marco, Ax said, the human prisoners are exiting the
dungeons.
Wha? Marco asked. Shaken out of his thoughts.
The humans. Cassie is releasing them.
What? Is she insane?!? They can't survive this heat. Cassie! he
yelled. They can't come up.
Faintly, from far away Cassie answered. They are not staying
down here.
Cassie, listen, he yelled, kneeling on the glassy ground.
everything's so hot up here that it'll cook them alive.
For a while, Cassie was silent. What's hot, specifically.
The castle. Everything in the castle is broiling. Then he realized
what she can do. Can you lead them to a place outside the castle?
Somewhere far away with, like, a tunnel or something?
It may work, Cassie, Ax interjected. As a young earth
elemental, you may be able to create a tunnel that will not
collapse.
OK, guys, Cassie consented, but I need a target. Something to
tunnel for, or else I'll be, well, driving blind.
Done, Ax said. Invisible, he flew to a spot on the ground a safe
distance away from the castle. Being sensitive to the heat, he knew
just how far away would be comfortable for the more fragile
humans.
Once he found a spot at the bottom of a small ditch about fifty
yards from the castle, he began to spin. Faster and faster he spun,
pulling himself tighter and tighter, until a hollow howling sound
was made. He touched the black earth, and tighter he spun still,
attracting twigs and dust in the process, until the howl was no
longer a howl, but a shrill siren.
Cassie, can you hear this? he yelled as loud as he could, hoping
she was not out of range. She didn't answer.
Hey, Cas! Marco called. Ax wants to know if you can hear
him. He's a small tornado.
Yes, Cassie replied. I hear.
The ground rumbled slightly, and a small wave of vibrations shot
through the ground towards Ax. He stayed in place, still spinning
fast enough to keep the shrill siren sound going. The ground
opened up underneath him, and only then did he stop. The twigs
dropped to the ground, and the dust settled, rendering Ax invisible
again.
Amazing, Ax remarked to himself. No sense of vertigo.
After a few minutes, a dirty human head poked out. He flinched in
even the dim light underneath Themis' storm cloud, but he crawled
out. A joyous grin spreading across his face, he turned around to
help the others climb out.
Inside the castle, the ground didn't stop rumbling. As soon as the
last prisoner was out of the tunnel, the vibrations escalated. Soon,
the tops of the walls crumbled, and the glass ground began to crack
and shatter.
Whup, gotta go, Marco remarked to no one in particular. He
took off into the air, leaving the body of Zilos behind.
The vibrations grew stronger. Once Cassie knew that no one would
be hurt by her, she let go of all of her anger at what she had seen in
the underground dungeon. The vibrations grew to an earthquake.
The dungeons collapsed. The castle walls crumbled and fell down.
Ceilings fell in, and the floors couldn't hold themselves anymore
and collapsed.
CRACK! BOOM! SCREEEEEECHHHHHH! Stone screamed in
pain and tore apart. A sinkhole formed in the court, sucking
everything in.
As the stones began to fall in, Zilos' ash-covered hand moved.
* * * *
Rachel flew through the air alone. Well, not quite alone, for the
other dragons had also taken flight, but alone in that she did not fly
with them as they headed towards the center of the battle, where
King Themis and his badly outnumbered army stood fast. Just a
moment before, she had demorphed and re-morphed, only to find
that the other dragons were gathering at the center of
the battle. Far, far away, a fireball larger than the castle lit the sky,
casting its red, fiery glow across Themis' angry cloud, heading for
the castle. She flew adjacent to the dome of lightning, not drawing
close.
She did not want to get close. Jake would be there, underneath that
protective dome. She knew that if she saw him, she would have to
make a choice, and she did not want to make that choice.
Rachel was a brave girl, one who acted before she thought, and she
never backed away from a challenge. She was reckless on a regular
basis in the war against the Yeerks, playing by ear instead of
allowing herself to be paralyzed by indecision. But this was
different. Very, very different. This time, it was better to avoid the
...
No,' Rachel thought as she saw something rise from the lightning
dome. A small, nearly invisible bird with narrow wings and
beautifully contrasting colors of dark and light. It was a peregrine
falcon, and the only peregrine falcon on this world was Jake. As
she watched him, Jake started to fly towards the far distant forest,
but seeing her, changed direction slightly and gained altitude,
flying directly towards her.
She couldn't avoid it any longer. With her huge, black dragon body
against the glowing red sky, she stood out even for human eyes.
Who did she love more, Jake or Tobias? Tobias.
Jake would understand. He'd be happy to sacrifice himself for any
of the Animorphs. He was the leader. Of course he'd understand.
But what about Cassie? Cassie and the others?
They wouldn't understand. Especially not Cassie. And even if she
did ... what would it do to her? If she killed Jake, she could no
longer be with her friends, even if they never found out. She could
never stand to be with them if she betrayed them so badly. And
Jake was needed in the war against the Yeerks.
But we're never going back to that war, are we,' a bitter voice said
in her head. We can never go home. We are stuck here.'
Tobias *will* die, Drode had said. But why should she trust him?
Because he has never lied to you. Not even when he gave the
Animorphs a chance to stop Visser 4. And what will happen to
Tobias if you don't trust him now?'
Tobias was the one who always watched over the Animorphs, over
her. The innocent, sad, hopeful boy who had the strength to hold
on to his humanity in spite of the horrid things that had happened
to him. Sweet, gentle, courageous Tobias, with tender blue eyes
and wild, dirty blonde hair.
She *couldn't* give him up. She just couldn't.
Forgive me, Jake...Cassie, she said to herself as she changed
course and flew to greet Jake.
He wants you to give up,' a small voice in the back of her head
said. She almost screeched to a halt in mid-air. Jake continued to
fly towards her, speeding up just a little.
What am I doing?' She asked herself. Am I really saving Tobias?
Or am I giving in to Crayak, becoming his pawn.'
She knew the answer. But was her freedom really worth more than
Tobias?
What would Tobias say? What would he think?
Rachel, Jake called as soon as she was in thought-speak range.
You okay? You just stopped all of a sudden.
Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing?
Something stupid, but it may work. No time to explain, but I need
you to help calm Themis' army and the other dragons when I do
it.
Gotcha, Rachel answered as Jake flew past, heading for the vast,
green forest.
Now would be perfect,' a small voice said. Maybe her own. And it
was a perfect time. Jake had his back turned to her, unsuspecting,
helpless and there were no witnesses. All of the other dragons were
already at the battle's center.
But she didn't move.
As she watched, Jake began his dive. Faster than anything on this
world or at home, he swooped towards the forest.
She could still get him. All she had to do was breathe out her fire...
And she still hovered in the air. She didn't open her mouth or move
to follow Jake.
Jake vanished on the edge of the huge, green trees. But she could
still follow him, find him.
Still she hesitated. Soon, she couldn't tell exactly where Jake
landed. Finally, she turned away and headed for the battle, her
heart shattering.
This had better be worth it, Jake, she muttered, tears threatening
to well up in her eyes. She saw the fireball rise from Levakh
Castle, leaving it blackened. It flew back to where it came from.
Soon, she was over the battle, heading towards the lightning dome.
At least fighting would get her mind off Drode's threat. Besides,
maybe he was lying. Maybe Tobias wasn't dying.
Imperceptibly, a darkness Rachel had not noticed left her, leaving
her to mourn.
* * * *
Jake pulled up harshly as soon as he neared the treetops. He landed
roughly just inside the edge of the woods, at least two miles from
the edge of the battle.
He hoped he was far enough away.
He demorphed as quickly as he could, shooting up from the
ground, with waves of weariness washing over him. After all, he
had been fighting and morphing for quite a while. He hoped Rachel
demorphed sometime during the battle. That one thought brought
his encounter with her sharply to focus. She was obviously
bothered by something, and Rachel wasn't the kind of girl who
would be bothered by much. Now was not the time, though, to
think about what it could possibly have been. He would ask her
later. For now, he had an army to save.
Jake staggered over to the edge of the forest and looked at the
battlefield. All he could see was a cloud of dust and dark, moving
masses. The ground underneath him rumbled, and the black castle
shook, falling apart. He closed his eyes a moment, catching his
breath, then opened them again and focused.
Immediately, he shot up from the ground, just as if he were
demorphing from fly or ant. Up and up he flew, his feet planted
firmly on the ground, and as he grew the ends of his hands
changed. His feet sank into the ground. Huge claws formed out of
his nails, impossibly long, thick claws. Thick, feathery, black and
white fur sprung up from all around him, impossible long fur that
hid his features. Proportionally, his legs and arms shortened, and
he lost his balance and fell forward with a monstrous crash. His
arms-turned-legs took the impact, and his still-bare palms grew
padded, turning into paws. A tail shot out from behind him and
grew long, feathery fur. Looking down, Jake could see the battle.
The battle was still, everything from the mighty dragons to the
lowly goblins staring up at him. At last, his face elongated, pushing
out and out and out, forming a very
long mouth and narrow forehead.
He was impossibly huge. His claws, each bigger than the biggest
giant or dragon, stopped at the very edge of the stilled battle. His
massive shoulders grazed Themis' dark cloud. The broken castle
laid forgotten, its fall insignificant in the face of Jake. Jake loomed
over everything, completely blocking out the sky. Everything
below him was rooted to the ground, paralyzed in fear and terrible
awe.
It's me, Jake, he whispered to King Themis' army and the
dragons. Even whispering, he nearly blew all of their minds away.
Don't worry.
Looking down, he chose a target. With one swipe of his claws, he
sent dozens of monsters flying, broken.
That was it. Screaming in sheer terror, the monster army scattered,
ignoring their helpless enemies. Not even Zilos could command
them to attack that ... that thing that the human animal child had
become.
Themis, seeing Jake through the dome of lightning, was drenched
in cold sweat. Jake had warned him, and he had done everything he
could with his magic to keep his soldiers from panicking along
with their enemies, but Jake had said that this creature was
ridiculous. Ridiculous, he said!
"F-father, what's th-th-that?" Herlim managed to stutter, looking up
at the alien head that filled up the whole sky.
Themis opened his mouth to answer.
* * * *
"An anteater!" Marco cried in delight. "Jake turned into an
anteater!" He couldn't take it anymore. Holding onto his sides
tightly, Marco rolled on the dead ground, laughing uncontrollably.
Cassie herself couldn't keep from laughing, and even Ax couldn't
help but smile as best as an air elemental could.
It is tactically sound, he defended his prince. It is large enough
to survive an attack from a primitive army, and on this world
where they don't exist, it is quite a frightening thing. I certainly
would not wish to fight it.
Marco, Cassie, and Ax were with the freed captives, Marco and
Cassie as themselves and Ax as the invisible air elemental. They
calmed the poor captives and watched as Zilos' army scattered in
all directions.
"An *anteater.* He kicked their butts with an *anteater*!" And
Marco continued to laugh loudly, tears forming in his tightly shut
eyes. The frightened captives stared at him, not seeing what he
found so funny.
No one noticed when a lone gargoyle broke off from the army just
before Jake had turned into the anteater. It flew into the castle, then
quickly left again, carrying something in its stone-like arms.
Zilos flew away, still clutching the unicorn horn. He watched as his
castle fell, then as his wonderful army shattered.
Defeated, he commanded the gargoyle to take him far away, which
the gargoyle did.
* * * *
"We have to go," Rachel insisted to Jake. Both of them had
demorphed, much to everyone's relief, and were waiting for Cassie,
Marco, and Ax. The battle was won, allowing the nurses to care for
the wounded and the dead, and allowing the soldiers, knights, and
dragons to rest. After disbanding the cloud, King Themis and his
sons helped care for the wounded and the dead, leaving Rachel and
Jake alone.
"Why?" Jake asked. He still remembered her rather unnerving
distress earlier, but realized that bringing it up would not help.
"I'm worried about Tobias. We have to go back right *now*,"
Rachel answered.
Jake nodded, a suspicious glint in his eye. "We'll leave as soon as
Cassie and the rest are here." He paused a moment, as if
contemplating something.
He was about to say something, but when Marco, Cassie, and Ax
appeared, he decided against it. Soon, five birds that existed no
where on that world flew over the blackened earth of Levakh,
headed straight for the lush forests of Hivena.
King Themis watched them fly away. With a wave of his hand, the
cloud overhead thinned and dissipated. First, small patches of blue
grew, then thin rays of the noonday sun broke through, and those
blue patches and rays of light grew until the sky was completely
clear, with no trace of dark clouds anywhere. He never had to use
his power.
"Lecrian," he addressed his son, "what is happening at home?"
"I don't really know, Father," he replied. "Has Mother ever been
attacked by spydrs?"
* * * *
All was strangely quiet at Hivena. The sun shone brightly on its
way toward evening, but there was no cheer. Spydr webs hung on
turrets and roofs, glued doors and windows shut, and clogged halls.
The palace was sealed. Outside the palace, where damage was
minimal, most of the spydr threads were gone, so the citizens could
do some last minute shopping and socializing before the evening.
Not that any of the citizens were cheerful, for each one was
worried about what had happened inside the palace, where the
spydr attack had been focused. They waited nervously for any word
from the palace, but none came.
Inside the palace, everyone was in a hurry. Servants fanned flames
and carries torches, hefted swords off walls and took knives out of
drawers, and filled water buckets and cups and any container able
to hold water and hauled them up and down stairs. The few
magic-users trapped in the palace cast spells, starting magical fires,
extinguishing others when they rage out of control, and dissolving
webs with invisible acid. All of these frantic actions concentrated
on one hallway: the one leading to the room where Queen Marah
and the young hero had been trapped, completely isolated.
The hallway was impassible, for the webs were so thick that it was
a virtual wall. It filled the whole hall, and no one could tell how
deep it was. The webs smoked terribly, so any flames on it had to
be extinguished regularly, but they were so tough that only the
sharpest of knives and the heaviest of swords could cut it, and so
sticky that if anyone would just graze an arm across a strand, that
person would be stuck fast. Ariana stayed out of the way, using her
power to coordinate efforts and monitor her Mother and Tobias.
Inside the room, nothing moved. The window facing the east did
not catch the bright sun, leaving the room in a grey twilight. The
candles were low, nearly burnt out. The two spydr carcasses were
drying, nothing more than black shadows. Queen Marah knelt by
the lone bed, her head resting on the mattress, her hand barely
holding onto the boy's. Tobias laid in the bed, all color gone from
his face as he slipped back into a dangerous weakness.
Marah had nothing left in her. The spydr's poison, though not lethal
to one as healthy as herself, was seriously debilitating, sapping her
of her energy. Since that horrible morning, she had given what
little strength she had to Tobias, determined, even in her
half-conscious state, to keep him alive. But that was the morning,
when she could throw a forty pound, struggling spydr out the
window and still manage to stumble back to the bed. Now it was
evening, and there was nothing left to give.
As she slipped into unconsciousness again, she thought she heard
Tobias say something. His voice was nothing more than a whisper,
so quiet that if the wind blew outside she would not have been able
to hear it.
"Tell them I'm sorry," he pleaded.
Still touching Tobias' hand, Marah felt him slip away.
eyes. His shield blocked the archer's arrows and anything else's
attacks, and his sword swung repeatedly at the monsters
surrounding him and Lecrian.
Beneath him, no longer conscious, Lecrian finally succombed to
the visions.
~~~
"And let me assure you your friends don't want to get killed either,"
Marco said with a laugh. He and Cassie stood alone on a stonelike
balcony overlooking a huge, empty, stonelike hole in the ground.
"I'm completely opposed to getting killed."
As Lecrian watched, he saw that something was wrong. Cassie
looked worried and lost. Their friends were not there. The lawn
was not taken care of, the trees were bare, and no birds sang.
Marco grew uncharacteristically serious. It was the kind of serious
that was actually sad. Melancholy.
"But you know what?" he continued sadly. "Sometimes bad things
happen. That's the way it is."
The subtily heartwrentching scene slowly disappeared in thick
mist. As Marco and Cassie faded away, Lecrian heard someone
starting to cry.
"Your cousin's life is your passport to salvation in the arms of
Crayak," a nasty voice whispered in the blinding fog.
And someone continued to cry.
In the corner of Lecrian's eye, he saw each of the Animorphs
together. He turned to see what was happening.
Jake nodded to something someone said. "No choice. Too much
hangs on this. Millions of lives versus one? Not even a question."
"Bull," Marco said angerly. "This isn't our fight. We sit this one
out."
The scene blurred and shifted. The Animorphs were still there, but
in different positions.
"One?" Marco asked.
"One," Jake confirmed.
"Well, then Visser Four is my meat." Marco grinned to Jake, then
turned away.
The smile disappeared when he was sure Jake couldn't see. He
looked as if he was about to cry.
Then he looked at Cassie. Cassie looked defeated, but she walked
up to Marco and leaned in close. She whispered:
"Crayak is *not* going to have him."
Marco nodded. Lecrian looked at Jake and felt a chill crawl down
his back.
The dooming scene vanished in the mist. Slowly, another scene
replaced it. Rachel and the hawk Tobias stood in a foreign room,
Tobias on a dresser and Rachel before him. The same weeping
voice continued to cry, but it quieted, almost as if the owner was
running out of tears.
"One more change, Tobias," she said to him. "Back to human.
You'd be free of this stupid war and free of all of the danger of
living as a hawk."
Unreadable Tobias didn't answer.
"I wouldn't have to worry about you anymore."
~~~
Marco was not having fun.
He was a giant demon, with red skin, black bat wings, corded
muscles all over, rams horns, wicked fangs, and a fire whip. He
was a Baalrog, one of the more powerful demons, and usually lord
over any Gallu. But he was at a disadvantage. The black skinned,
red-eyed, monitaur-like lesser demon was smaller than he was, and
it welded a battle-ax, which was built for close-range combat.
Marco could barely fit in the hall with his massive wings, and his
fire whip was no good in close-up combat.
Marco dropped his whip, and it dissipitated before it hit the stone
floor. At least he'd have both hands free, and fire never hurts
demons, anyway.
You wanna throw down, shorty? he taunted the Gallu. I'll
throw down. I'll kick yo' bee-hind from here to Hades.
* * * * *
The Gallu swung the huge ax at Marco's neck. Marco awkwardly
jumped ducked under it, then plowed at it, trying to knock it down,
or at least knock it back.
It easily stepped back from Marco and swung the ax straight down.
AAAHHH!!! Marco reached up with both hands instinctively
and grabbed the ax as it fell, stopping it just inches from his head.
The Gallu yanked the ax back, but Marco held on.
The Gallu jerked. And jerked and jerked and jerked.
AAAAHHHH!!! Marco yelled as he was jerked back and forth.
Finally, his hands loosened and he let go. The Gallu stumbled back
into the back wall. Its eyes glowed with an angry fire, then it
attacked Marco ferociously.
Wow! AAAHHH! Cool it, man! Marco hollared to the demon as
he jumped awkwardly back from the wild swings of the Gallu, his
wings slowing him down and scraping the walls to either side of
the corridor.
The Gallu forced Marco back past the blasted door. Out of the
corner of his eye, Marco saw a shimmer of pure white dart from
the cell where Ax was working on the bomb. The unicorn. The
white unicorn ran towards the oppocite side of the
corridor, running back to where the Gallu came from.
Oh, sure, Marco complained to Cassie and Ax as he jumped
back some more from the blizzard of blade called an angry demon's
ax. Forget all about poor ol' Marco. Then he heard Ax say
something, but Marco was no longer paying attention
to him.
He felt his wings touch the very back wall. He couldn't back up any
more.
Behind the Gallu, Marco saw Ax shoot out of the cell.
The Gallu, unaware of everything except its hatred of Marco,
hacked again. Marco carefully deflected it, then pushed the Gallu
in the chest as hard as he could. The Gallu fell and dropped its ax.
Eyes burning, the demon kicked Marco hard in
the stomach, then reached for the ax.
Suddenly, Ax was there. The demon didn't even see the bullwhip
slash that cut its throat.
Marco. Are you well? Ax asked calmly when he made sure that
the demon was dead.
Marco, doubled over in pain from the kick, mumbled, Fine?
Fine? Of course I'm fine. Couldn't be better.
Ax was silent for a while. I believe that you were being
sarcastic?
Oh, yeah, Marco said as he began to demorph. Never felt better
in my whole blessed life as an Animorph. Then he looked at the
dead demon. Thanks, man.
You're welcome.
Then Cassie approached them, with the unicorn following. "Glad
you're alright, Marco," she said as she reached for the door. As
soon as she pulled it open, the unicorn ran through, and from there,
found a way out of the castle.
* * * * *
Outside, the war still raged. King Themis' grey cloud still hung
overhead, waiting. Nothing but dragons flew, and those dragons
were fighting the various giants in Zilos' army on the ground. But
nothing was going right for King Themis and the Dragon King.
Zilos' army was unnaturally strong, so much so that the giants were
beating back the dragons, and the smaller monsters were pushing
back King Themis and his soldiers.
And Jake, Lecrian, Herlim, Crimber and Eran were still missing,
separated from the rest of Themis' army.
Jake ran frantically through the surging armies of monsters and
humans, ignored by both. The humans because they knew he was
Jake, and the monsters because he was a werewolf and, therefore,
one of them.
Lecrian! Where are you? he called. He had been separated from
him, and knew that Lecrian couldn't last long. He could catch
Lecrian's scent, but it was faint, and there were so many other
smells all around him, masking it.
A black clad knight with a purple-flaming sword attacked one of
Themis' soldiers from behind. Immediately, Jake pounced on the
knight, knocking him down. Then he continued running through
the battlefield, following Lecrian's faint trail.
As he blew past another werewolf, he thought about his friends. He
thought about Tobias in his bed, safe. Rachel, in the battle but as a
dragon, was not safe, yet not in real danger. But what about Cassie,
and Marco and Ax?
He hoped they were safe. Looking around at the carnage and
bloody confusion and fear all around him, he was glad they were
not out there with him.
Lecrian! he called again. No answer.
Suddenly, he saw Eran. He was dressed in black armor, but didn't
wear a helmet. There was a nasty looking gash along one side of
his head and his usually tan skin was a shade paler, but he
otherwise looked healthy. His sword looked had symbols carved all
along the blade length, and he held it in front of him with both
hands, his eyes ablaze with battlerage. He was in a clearing, with
dead and dying monsters laying around him, and with broken
arrow shafts laying like tinder. His shield was shattered, and his
helmet lay several feet away. Beneath Eran was a body with an
arrow sticking from his back.
Lecrian's scent was strong here. Very strong, and coming from the
clearing where Eran stood his ground, guarding the body.
Only a huge, bulky, grey-skinned humanoid with black eyes and
long claws stood between Jake and Eran, with its back to Jake.
It made the mistake of attacking Eran.
As it stepped forward greedily, Jake tore out the hamstring muscles
in the back of one of its legs. The leg gave out, and the creature fell
forward. As it hit the ground, Eran immediately swung his sword
in a deadly arch, severing the head from the body.
Jake moved a little closer, looked at the body and froze. It was
Lecrian.
Eran quickly whipped the sword, aiming at Jake.
Jake stopped. It's me, Eran, he said. Jake.
Eran still looked skeptical. His eyes were red and hard, and his
cheeks were wet. He still didn't lower the sword. "How do I know
that?" he asked.
I'm thought-speaking. And don't you recognize my morph?
"All wargs can speak with their thoughts," he replied, "and I've
never seen that morph. But..." He turned the sword away from Jake
and to the other monsters, all of whome only stayed away because
Jake, a warg, was there, and had apparently layed claim to his prey.
Most of them moved on, looking for other prey.
"Wargs do not call it thought-speech," he explained out loud, "and
only the Animorphs have used the word 'morph,' and I finally
recognize your voice, Jake. Please," he plead, his hard voice
quivering slightly, "help me guard my Prince. I am not going to
leave him to these," he waved his sword at the monsters.
Jake slinked up to him, his hand/paws supporting his weight just as
much as his back legs. He could smell blood, steel, and sweat, and
could hear three heartbeats in the clearing, as well as screams,
thuds, slashes, growls, and movement all around him.
Three? But there was only himself, Eran, and...
Jake suddenly looked closer at Lecrian. His was the third heartbeat,
and he was still breathing.
He's alive! Jake exclaimed.
"He is?" Eran asked incredulously. He dared a glance back and
down, still keeping an eye on his enemies. "He is!" he cried happily
as he saw the slight rise and fall in Lecrian's back.
We need to get him out of here. Now.
Outside the clearing, watching the two from the shadows of his
fellow soldiers, lurked a true werewolf. He was an old one, with
gizzled fur and cunning, malicious eyes, and yellowed fangs and
dulled claws. He watched the exchange between the human and the
younger, tantilizingly familiar warg. His yellow, already narrow
eyes narrowed into slits.
{Attack,} he softly told a nearby kelpie and manticore in the
language of the beasts. {Attack the humans. Both are alive. The
warg is a traitor, and is mine.}
The kelpie, a creature with a horse-like head and humanish body,
grinned widely, showing its glistening teeth. The manticore, a huge
lion with an even longer, tail that ends in a poisoned, spiked ball,
growled gleefully. Both of them respected the warg, as most
creatures do.
The kelpie moved to the right as the warg moved to the left and the
manticore moved straight towards Jake, Eran, and Lecrian.
Eran sheathed his sword, then bent down to his best friend.
Gingerly, be broke the arrow shaft near the skin, then picked
Lecrian up with surprising gentleness. He looked back in time to
see the warg, the kelpie, and the manticore split up.
Go! Jake barked. I'll watch your back.
Jake ran alongside Eran, teeth bared. Most of the monsters stayed
away from Eran when they saw that Jake, a warg, had "claimed"
him for his own. The few that tried to attack Eran and Lecrian soon
missed a leg.
Jake looked bahind him as he plunged behind Eran. The manticore
was chasing them, spiked tail poised to strike. It was quickly
gaining, despite its size.
Dodge if anything attacks you, he told Eran. The knight nodded,
understanding that Jake would be too busy to help him.
Jake spun around. In a blink of an eye, he pounced on the
manticore. He grabbed onto its shoulder and bit in. Ignoring the
pain, the manticore struck Jake with its tail. Jake fell off, poisoned,
but he immediately bounced back up and attacked again.
The manticore struck, but Jake was ready. He dodged right, then
leaped for the closest leg. Before the manticore realized it, two of
its legs were torn, their ligaments severed.
Jake left the crippled, eerily silent manticore and ran back to Eran.
Eran had placed Lecrian down on the ground and had drawn his
sword, not being able to run with all of the monsters attacking him.
Jake leaped passed a kelpie, landing next to Eran. He growled and
snapped at the monsters, keeping them at bay.
Go on! he yelled at Eran. Keep going. Eran promptly
sheathed his sword and gently scooped Lecrian up. Breathing hard,
he ran, with Jake protectively close and forever on alert.
Far in the distance, Jake could see a silver splash of color slowly
rise from the ground. The silver flag bore a red dragon enveloped
in a glorious red sun, and in the heart of the red dragon pranced a
silver unicorn.
Hey! Isn't that King Themis' banner? Jake asked Eran, who was
dripping sweat and breathing harshly, the arms holding his friend
trembling. Eran wearily lifted his eyes and looked.
"Yes," he gasped in exhaustion and relief. "That's him. We're
almost there."
The kelpie that Jake had cut off slunk beside them, hidden by the
numerous bodies of humans fighting monsters and other humans. It
was waiting. Waiting for the right time.
The werewolf crept on the other side of Jake and Eran, keeping the
kelpie in sight. Watching the traitor warg, it had the nervous
feeling that he should know this warg.
Shaking off the feeling, the grizzled warg looked at the kelpie
directly in the eye.
{Now. Before they reach the human king.}
The kelpie grinned. Both it and the warg moved in for the kill.
The banner was much closer, Jake noticed. Almost within
thought-speech range.
Almost there, he urged Eran. Just a little--
The kelpie leaped in front of Eran just as the warg leaped into Jake,
knocking him over. The warg landed on top of Jake, pinning him
down with his paws/hands.
Eran, unaware that Jake wasn't there, didn't try to avoid the kelpie
until the last second. Not seeing Jake leap on the kelpie, he deftly
danced to one side.
He wasn't quick enough. The kelpie slashed at him with its claws.
The force of the blow spun Eran around.
Eran! Jake suddenly rolled to one side, slipping out of the warg's
grasp.
Jake growled a warning at the werewolf, but the werewolf didn't
back down. The werewolf in Jake weakened and began to
whimper, wanting to submit to the elder. It was afraid, and its fear
was beginning to get to Jake.
Jake looked past the werewolf to check on Eran. The knight had set
Lecrian down and drew his sword, his
armor torn.
{Traitor.}
Jake stared back at the werewolf. Understanding slowly dawned on
him: the werewolf thought he was a real wolf.
Yes. Your fight is with me. Leave the humans out of this.
The werewolf was silent for a moment.
{You speak in a human's voice.}
Jake didn't answer. Instead he slowly moved to one side, trying to
get around the werewolf and closer to Eran.
Jake did not get far before the werewolf's eyes widened in shocked
recognition.
{Warag? No ... You were sent to Hivena castle and never came
back. The children ... were ... there...} The ancient warg's eyes
narrowed in rage, his shock gone.
{Human! You are one of those human children. The ones who
claim the bodies of their victims as their own.}
What?!?' Jake thought. The rumors had spread tremendously.
{And now, you've ... you've...} the raging werewolf, unable to find
the right words, attacked.
Jake shot sideways, just barely avoiding the werewolf. Ahead of
him, Jake saw that Eran was in trouble. Swinging his sword every
which way, he was fending off not only the kelpie, but also several
other, smaller monsters. One of those smaller monsters was an eye
killer, a strange two limbed, hawk-headed, snake-bodied creature.
Eran was studiously avoiding eye contact with it, while still
keeping the others at bay.
The eye killer snapped its long, snakelike tail at Eran's sword,
entangling it like a whip. The kelpie eagerly snuck behind Eran,
preparing to attack from the knight's blind side. It crouched, ready
to spring.
Eran! Behind you! Jake yelled. He bunched up and leaped
forward at the treacherous kelpie.
Something snapped down on Jake's ankle as he flew forward. Jake
was stopped suddenly, and his ankle snapped. The werewolf,
which had bitten Jake in midair, jerked him back, crushing the
fractured bone. The ancient warg released Jake once he landed hard
on the ground, then sprang at Jake's throat, jaws open wide.
Jake lifted his arms and caught the older werewolf by the shoulders
just before the warg reached his neck, then shoved it off. He rolled
to his feet, but
Ahh! He quickly took the weight off his injured ankle.
His ankle was not healing. It was not mending at all.
At the same time that Jake's ankle shattered, Eran had jerked his
sword out of the eye killer's grasp, severing it in two in the process.
In the same motion, he spun around and sliced the kelpie in half as
it leaped at him. He looked at Jake, standing on three feet as he
faced the older warg.
"Jake!" he yelled. "Wargs and magic weapons can hurt you. And --
Uph!" He was cut short as another small monster leaped on his
back, knocking him down.
The older warg leaped at Jake again, knocking him aside. Jake
rolled with the blow, trying not to scream in pain as his limp ankle
flailed around.
The warg stood between him and Eran, growling menacingly at
Jake. It glared at Jake, waiting for him to make the first move. Jake
stood still, trying to figure out what to do.
Suddenly, his shattered ankle began to itch. Jake gingerly set it
down, keeping his eyes focused on the werewolf, to find that the
weak bones were strengthening. He was mending, but very, very
slowly.
Way too slow. If it was a mortal wound, he would've died.
The warg saw Jake set the foot down and grinned a wolfish grin.
Still, it waited. Behind him, Eran was hard-pressed with keeping
the creatures from killing himself or the unconscious prince.
Jake made up his mind. He darted to the left of the werewolf. It
moved to block his way. Lightning quick, Jake immediately
changed direction and leaped, his ankle surprisingly strong enough
to support the weight.
As he sailed over, something tore his belly. Red hot daggers of
pain seared him, blinding him. He landed in a limp heap close to
Eran, hurting too much to even scream.
He's been gutted. The grizzled, ancient werewolf gutted him in
midair, even after falling for Jake's simple faint.
As him mind began to shut down, he understood why the werewolf
mind was afraid of the greying warg. Wargs, like dragons, grow
stronger with age. Faster. More cunning. More powerful.
He never had a chance.
The triumphant, vengeful warg, seeing the fake warg helpless,
charged forward. It paused for a brief moment above the
semi-conscious warg.
{Bye, human,} it said as it opened its jaws, aiming for Jake's throat
and ignoring all else.
"Grrraaawwwwww!!!!!" it screamed as something bit into its
exposed back. The sharp blade slid past the thick fur and skin, past
the corded muscles, and through a lung and a rib. The warg
crumpled, freeing itself from Eran's sword. Blood flowed freely
from the deep wound, wetting the dirt next to the still moving Jake
and filling its lung. It backed away, preparing itself to retaliate
against the foolish human.
As it looked into the fierce eyes and bloody sword of the black-clad
knight, the warg realized that it was not healing. It looked at the
sword in Eran's hands and saw the deeply etched writing on the
blade. Suddenly, it felt cold. Very, very cold.
{No,} it moaned as it slunk away, beaten and dying. {A rune
sword. How could I have missed a rune sword?}
The warg disappeared among the masses of monsters. Neither Eran
or Jake saw it
again.
"Jake! Turn back!" Eran cried as he shuffled back to defend
Lecrian, who had still not recovered from the poisoned arrow. With
the warg gone, Jake was relatively safe, but Lecrian was definitely
not, and a horde of goblins have come to replaced the warg and
other monsters. "Back to human! Jake..." he searched his mind for
the word. "... Demorph? Yes! Demorph!!! Demorph now, Jake."
Much to his relief, Jake's dark fur slowly shortened
Hearing a stealthy sound behind him, Eran spun around and
slashed at the goblin that tried to sneak up on Lecrian. The lithe
creature jumped back, unscathed. Beyond the goblin, maybe by
about a hundred yards, King Themis's banners snapped in the
growing wind.
Jake, still demorphing, crawled painfully towards Eran. Hopefully,
it would make guarding him and Lecrian a lot easier for Eran until
Jake could morph again. But he was tired, and the thought of
morphing again made him wince.
Eran was not doing much better. He nimbly danced around Lecrian
and Jake, fighting off the goblins with apparent ease, but he was
tired, nearly exhausted. He had been fighting for a long time.
Underneath Eran, the soil began to dampen.
"Eh?" Eran looked down when his feet started to slide out from
under him. As he watched, the ground became muddy, then boggy.
The goblins, eyeing the watery spot, stayed away from Eran and
crept towards the mostly demorphed Jake and vulnerable Lecrian.
"What the..." he exclaimed as his feet sank in.
A small pool of water formed around his sunken feet, and began to
bubble.
"Oh, no."
And the water exploded like a geyser. Eran, the treacherous bog
underneath him refusing to let him go, was jerked up and stretched
taunt by the endless flow of bubbling water. His sword tore from
his grip, and water forced itself into his mouth and down his throat.
His feet tore free of the clinging bog. He shot through the torrent
straight up, but before he could shoot clear the water direction
curved and began to swirl, like a water spout without an eye,
holding Eran in the center. Eran struggled and thrashed, trying to
get free. Slowly, his struggling slowed, then came to a halt.
Jake looked in horror at Eran trapped inside the water elemental.
The goblins surrounding the now human Jake cheered, then closed
in on him and Lecrian.
CCRRRRAACKKKKKKK
A blue-white spear of lightning shot from King Themis's grey
cloud, striking the ground between Jake and Eran. It lingered,
allowing individual forks to branch from it, striking the malicious
water elemental and the goblins. The goblins screamed and
convulsed, no longer interested in Jake. The lightning danced
through the water elemental, evaporating the water and caressing
Eran without harming him. The elemental twitched, then retreated
back into the safe ground, leaving Eran and his rune sword behind.
Only Jake was left on the small patch of battle field.
The lightning spear widened, shining so bright that Jake couldn't
look at it. The column of lightning expanded and shortened,
disconnecting itself from the cloud and encompassing Jake, Eran,
Lecrian, and evaporating dead creature in its
range. The lightning walls thinned and began to spin. Soon, the
lightning spear was a spinning, lightning dome, shielding Jake,
Eran, and Lecrian from the rest of the battle.
Jake crawled over to Eran. He wasn't breathing, but his pulse was
strong.
"Eran? Hear me, man? Hold on, buddy," and Jake began to do
CPR.
"No," someone moaned. "Please, no." Alarmed, Jake twisted
around to see who could have possibly survived the lightning storm
surrounding him and the other two.
King Themis stood there, Herlim and Crimber flanking him. The
King's tired eyes rested on his eldest son, lying as if he was dead.
Lecrian's skin was ashen, and a black spot extended up his neck
near the wound from the arrow.
"He's not dead, Themis," Jake said, trying to comfort the King.
"He's poisoned, but still he's still alive." Jake immediately went
back to doing CPR on Eran, hoping to not loose him.
Themis's shoulders relaxed. "Thank Rurga," he whispered as he
knelt by his stricken son, muttering a spell under his breath.
Immediately, the greyness in Lecrian's face faded away, replaced
by a healthier color. Herlim and Crimber
relaxed and smiled. Herlim knelt by his brother, placing a hand on
his shoulder. Crimber looked over to Jake, then anxiously hurried
to him and Eran.
Just as he got there, Eran coughed up water. Jerking his body to the
side, water poured out from his gaging, hacking, coughing mouth.
Once he finished his coughing fit, he laid back, too weary to even
open his eyes. He panted, trying to catch his breath.
Themis and Herlim helped Lecrian over to Eran. Lecrian especially
looked down sadly at his friend.
"Eran?" he asked. "Are you alright?"
The knight stopped panting. His eyes popped open, and he looked
up at his king, the princes, and his best friend, and smiled.
"I am glad to see that you are still with us," King Themis said
warmly. Then his turned grim. "Unfortunately, none of us will be
here for long, it seems. We have been surrounded." Jake and Eran
stared at him in disbelief. Lecrian nodded, already knowing this. "I
do not know how Zilos can conjure up so many monsters, much
less control them, but his army is actually growing. It is so large
now that it flanks us on all sides." He sighed. "Unless something
miraculous is done, we will not see the sun set."
Jake became thoughtful. His brows furrowed, trying to see a way
out. His eyes abruptly widened, and he shook his head slightly.
"None of the animals from my world exist here, right?" he asked.
"True," Lecrian answered. "Is there something from your world
that can help us?"
"Maybe. The idea bouncing around in my head is totally ridiculous,
but it just might work."
* * * * *
"Let's play a game: 101 ways to commit Animorph kamikaze."
Marco laughed. "But, hey! Since it's my idea the only sane,
humble, handsome, debonair, sensible, charming one here, coming
up with this totally insane idea why not?"
Cassie smiled tolerantly, Marco's joking easing some of the thick
tension in the air.
Cassie, Marco, and Ax stood atop the castle walls, looking over the
battle below. They watched as Themis' forces were surrounded by
the various monsters, and as the dragons driven back by the endless
army of giants. Themis' army gathered around a lightning dome,
and the dragons mostly flew overhead, trying to help their allies.
More importantly, they noticed that many of the monsters were
streaming out of the castle gate beneath them.
She looked sadly at the lightning dome that shielded King Themis.
"Looks kinda grim, doesn't it."
"Hey! Stop trying to destroy the light-hearted atmosphere I'm
trying to create here." But his eyes softened a little. "You know
what to do, Cassie?"
She nodded, an extra pair of arms already sprouting underneath her
own arms.
"Just be sure to be clear when I go elemental."
"Mental? Cassie's going *mental?*"
Soon, she was glowing like the noonday sun, and she streaked back
to the insides of the castle and its dungeons.
Marco in turn grew incredibly huge, becoming a baalrog. Ax
turned invisible and expanded, losing his solidity and becoming an
air elemental.
Marco opened his mouth to say something when Ax interrupted
him.
Let's do it.
Marco smiled at the foggy wisp that was the only sign of Ax's
presence. Took the words right out of my mouth,
Rachel-wannabe.
* * * * *
A young man stood in the middle of the court, surrounded on every
side by his towering castle walls. He had icy blue eyes and light
brown hair, and his colorful robes billowed around him in the
wall-trapped wind. Around his feet were black, red, and white
arcane symbols, all drawn inside a bright red, quartered ring. Each
quarter of the circle held a small trinket: a bag of gold, a dragon's
tooth, a candle, and a crucible. With the exception of the crucible,
each item had a flickering tongue of flame on it. Between his feet
stood a small hourglass.
Zilos closely inspected the circle. Satisfied, he pulled out a glowing
silver-white unicorn's horn from his robes. He lifted it above his
head, and the horn seemed to catch white fire. The wind picked up
and swirled around him. A baalrog flew overhead, watching out for
him.
He glared at the darkening cloud that covered the whole sky. It was
Themis' cloud, a warning of what Themis was willing to do to
bring him to justice,' the arrogant hypocrite.
Zilos closed his eyes, letting the supreme power build in him.
"Zominik estdighis vallillio stras," the summoner chanted,
lowering the horn until it pointed at an empty spot a few meters
away. He opened his eyes and looked at the spot with a stone hard
gaze.
"Xilie!" he barked. Sheer power flowed from him and through the
horn. Light shot from it, striking the ground. The light began to eat
through the ground, flickering tendrils of fiery smoke rising.
Far, far away to the east, a tremendous pillar of fire began to move
towards the west. It rose from the blackened ground in a swirl and
flew to the west.
Zilos, still holding the ray of light in place, grinned as he saw a ball
of fire streak through the air straight towards him. The fireball, as
big as the court yard itself, stopped its flight above the castle,
above him. Only then did the ray of light stop streaming. The
baalrog was engulfed in the wheel of fire when it flew in, and it
finally flew out from it, watching the fire that blocked out even
Themis' cloud from view.
Holding the ever luminous unicorn horn up, Zilos bent down,
turned the hourglass over, and grabbed the lit candle.
"Come to me, fire elemental!" Zilos commanded it. He tipped the
candle into the empty crucible, and with shocking suddenness the
inside of the crucible caught fire, as if it was filled to the brim with
oil. He lifted the burning crucible over his head.
"Come!"
Unbelievably, the fire elemental began to shrink, and as it shrank,
it lowered itself until it was no bigger than a house and hovering
over the ground charred by the magical laser. It stayed there,
waiting for Zilos's's command. The baalrog kept watching, clearly
interested.
Zilos laughed. It started out as a low chuckle, then grew to
full-blown laughter.
"Yes!" Zilos triumphed, his eyes dancing in delight. "I've done it. A
true, full-grown elemental. Not a young one or an imitation, but a
true elemental." He calmed down. "Crayak's gift did not work, but I
didn't really need that gift, after all. Not with this power. Go," he
commanded it, pointing to the battle beyond the open gates.
"Destroy the dragons. Themis is finished, but the dragons
are still strong. Burn those that burn, and suffocate those who do
not. Now go!" And the fire elemental grew, lifting from the
ground.
Crayak, huh? You don't mind if I drop in, do you. After all, with
house guests like the ultimate optometrist, I must be welcome.
The baalrog that was watching darted towards the elemental.
"What?" Zilos uttered just as the baalrog dived through the
elemental, fire streaming after him as he shot through the other end
like embers.
Great, Marco muttered. Nothing solid anywhere in it.
"One of the animal children," Zilos realized. He stared at the flying
demon in surprise and ... fear.
"Destroy it!" he screamed at the fire elemental, pointing at the
baalrog that wasn't really a baalrog. "Kill it now!"
The fire elemental shifted, seeming to turn towards the demon as it
tries to fly past. Instantly an arm of fire shot out to block the
baalrog's path. Marco flew through, unharmed.
Uh, I'm kinda immune to fire. Try something else. Marco flew
towards the summoner, a fire whip materializing in his hand.
Say cheese,' he said, reaching out with his free hand for the
summoner.
Suddenly, a wall of flame cut Marco off, blinding him with the
sight of nothing but fire. The summoner fell to the ground,
clutching the hourglass protectively. Marco flew past him, missing
Zilos.
Drats! Have to go through all of that *again?* Marco whined as
he burst out of the hovering wall of flame. He made a sharp U-turn
and came at Zilos again. The elemental cut him off again, suddenly
expanding so that it covered the whole court with fire, leaving a
bubble of breathable air around its master. Marco couldn't see Zilos
through the firestorm that had started to climb up the walls,
reaching for him. Marco just flew higher, the overwhelming heat
comforting his demon mind.
A huge black smoke cloud billowed up from the fire pit. Before
Marco realized it, he was surrounded by choking smoke. Then he
found out that even demons need oxygen.
Ack! Not fair. And he shot straight up, trying to get clear of the
smoke.
Only it didn't work. He cleared the cloud itself, but a small bit
clung all about him, refusing to allow him to breathe clean air.
Ax! Marco cried in panic, his lungs burning and gasping. Can't
breath, man. Help!
A wind picked up, blowing at the small cloud covering Marco. The
winds grew stronger, to the point that Marco had a hard time
staying aloft. The choking smoke clung to him, but bit by bit the
smoke was blown away and dissipated in the air.
Air! Clean, fresh air burned into Marco's lungs, but it tasted so
sweet, and soon the pain went away.
Thanks, Ax, Marco gasped. He looked down at the rising smoke
cloud so far below him to see a strong wind breaking it up, too.
Double thanks. Is it just me, or have you been saving my behind
on a regular basis today?
You were in danger. I did what I could to help.
Yeah. I noticed. How are we going to reach Zilos now? I can't see
him.
You lost him that easily? Ax sniffed. I know where he is.
Good, o high and mighty Andalite. Maybe you can get to him,
then.
No. The enflamed being has not stopped producing toxic gasses,
and it is taking all of my power to keep the cloud from reaching
you. Not only that, but I am in danger of being consumed if I come
in contact with those flames.
Marco thought about that. He slowly smiled.
Can *you* go through the smoke? I mean, as a bubble? And you
would stay together?
Absolutely. The smoke cannot control what shape I am in, or how
dense I am.
Then forget about the wind. Form a tight bubble around me and
get me down there. Soon, he felt a strange calm around him.
Let's go for it! Marco cried as he slowly descended.
Let me know if I go too fast, okay? he said as he entered the
dense smoke. Sure enough, a solid-looking bubble surrounded him,
keeping the deadly smoke away.
What is your plan, Marco? Ax asked, a touch confused.
You know exactly where he is, right?
Yes.
Lead me to him. When we reach the flames, I'll go in alone and
take care of him. Got me?
Got you. The bubble shifted directions, and Marco followed
Ax's lead. Ax is never wrong when it comes to direction and
location, and Marco knew this very well.
Soon, they reached the flames. Ax started a small, powerful wind
to clear the way of smoke. As soon as everything was clear, Marco
suddenly dropped from sight.
Uph! He hit the ground sooner than he expected.
He looked around in the fire. Nothing but flames.
Ax, you missed, Marco reported.
Miss? Ax said with spited dignity. Well, I guess it is possible.
Not likely, but possible. I think you would like to know that the fire
line is dropping speedily.
No, I didn't like to know that. Marco spun around, looking
frantically for the dang nabbit twiggy guy before the smoke cloud
reached him.
Thud! His wing grazed something. He heard glass break. Then
someone screamed.
"NOOOOO!!!!! No, no, no," Zilos cried, ending in a despairing
moan.
The fire pit stopped sinking. The smoke stopped flowing into the
air.
The fire contracted, creating a spinning wheel of fire. As it did so,
the concealing flames withdrew from the ground, revealing the
despairing summoner, who knelt on the ground staring at his
shattered, partially melted hourglass. The circle that was not
immediately around him was burned away. The cloth holding the
gold was gone, and the gold had melted away. The dragon tooth
still gleamed brightly, and the crucible was undamaged.
Soon, the whole fire elemental hovered in the air, looming over
Zilos like a cloud of doom. Zilos tore his gaze away from the
broken hourglass in time to see the angry, vengeful entity turn from
orange-red to white-blue.
"No," he whispered, fear nearly numbing his mind. Instantly, he
reached for the unicorn horn stashed in his robes. His hand just
barely touched the horn when the elemental struck. A sheet of
superheated fire rained down on him, completely engulfing him
and the ground he stood on. He screamed once, then fell silent.
The elemental continued to burn the area, making sure that he was
dead. When it withdrew, nothing but a blackened body clutching
tightly to a still glowing unicorn horn was left. Satisfied, the
elemental flew away, not really taking note of the castle, the
baalrog, the young air elemental, or the war outside. It just left, for
none of the destruction concerned it.
Marco looked around the castle court. It was as hot as an oven, so
hot that even Ax was terribly uncomfortable inside the court. He
floated to the outside of the castle walls, away from the rising heat.
Everything was blackened or destroyed. The stone walls were
darkened, radiating heat in thick waves. The ground was now black
glass. The wood drawbridge and wood doors were gone, long since
burned away. The metal chains that used to hold the bridge, the
weapons, and any other metal object was now molten slag. Any
cloth, straw, or combustible object was no where to be seen.
Smoke filled the castle halls, still seeping out the shattered
windows. If any living thing was anywhere in that court or those
halls, it was long since dead. Even now, the hot stone walls and
glassy ground radiated enough heat to boil a person alive.
All of this destruction was comforting to the baalrog mind. Just
add a few more endless fires and it would be just like home.
Marco, of course, was not comforted. He couldn't even make a joke
about this.
Oh, man. What was that guy thinking? He looked at Zilos'
shriveled, stick-like body, sick and amazed that his body wasn't
totally incinerated. Was it his imagination, or was the body actually
growing thicker?
Marco, Ax said, the human prisoners are exiting the
dungeons.
Wha? Marco asked. Shaken out of his thoughts.
The humans. Cassie is releasing them.
What? Is she insane?!? They can't survive this heat. Cassie! he
yelled. They can't come up.
Faintly, from far away Cassie answered. They are not staying
down here.
Cassie, listen, he yelled, kneeling on the glassy ground.
everything's so hot up here that it'll cook them alive.
For a while, Cassie was silent. What's hot, specifically.
The castle. Everything in the castle is broiling. Then he realized
what she can do. Can you lead them to a place outside the castle?
Somewhere far away with, like, a tunnel or something?
It may work, Cassie, Ax interjected. As a young earth
elemental, you may be able to create a tunnel that will not
collapse.
OK, guys, Cassie consented, but I need a target. Something to
tunnel for, or else I'll be, well, driving blind.
Done, Ax said. Invisible, he flew to a spot on the ground a safe
distance away from the castle. Being sensitive to the heat, he knew
just how far away would be comfortable for the more fragile
humans.
Once he found a spot at the bottom of a small ditch about fifty
yards from the castle, he began to spin. Faster and faster he spun,
pulling himself tighter and tighter, until a hollow howling sound
was made. He touched the black earth, and tighter he spun still,
attracting twigs and dust in the process, until the howl was no
longer a howl, but a shrill siren.
Cassie, can you hear this? he yelled as loud as he could, hoping
she was not out of range. She didn't answer.
Hey, Cas! Marco called. Ax wants to know if you can hear
him. He's a small tornado.
Yes, Cassie replied. I hear.
The ground rumbled slightly, and a small wave of vibrations shot
through the ground towards Ax. He stayed in place, still spinning
fast enough to keep the shrill siren sound going. The ground
opened up underneath him, and only then did he stop. The twigs
dropped to the ground, and the dust settled, rendering Ax invisible
again.
Amazing, Ax remarked to himself. No sense of vertigo.
After a few minutes, a dirty human head poked out. He flinched in
even the dim light underneath Themis' storm cloud, but he crawled
out. A joyous grin spreading across his face, he turned around to
help the others climb out.
Inside the castle, the ground didn't stop rumbling. As soon as the
last prisoner was out of the tunnel, the vibrations escalated. Soon,
the tops of the walls crumbled, and the glass ground began to crack
and shatter.
Whup, gotta go, Marco remarked to no one in particular. He
took off into the air, leaving the body of Zilos behind.
The vibrations grew stronger. Once Cassie knew that no one would
be hurt by her, she let go of all of her anger at what she had seen in
the underground dungeon. The vibrations grew to an earthquake.
The dungeons collapsed. The castle walls crumbled and fell down.
Ceilings fell in, and the floors couldn't hold themselves anymore
and collapsed.
CRACK! BOOM! SCREEEEEECHHHHHH! Stone screamed in
pain and tore apart. A sinkhole formed in the court, sucking
everything in.
As the stones began to fall in, Zilos' ash-covered hand moved.
* * * *
Rachel flew through the air alone. Well, not quite alone, for the
other dragons had also taken flight, but alone in that she did not fly
with them as they headed towards the center of the battle, where
King Themis and his badly outnumbered army stood fast. Just a
moment before, she had demorphed and re-morphed, only to find
that the other dragons were gathering at the center of
the battle. Far, far away, a fireball larger than the castle lit the sky,
casting its red, fiery glow across Themis' angry cloud, heading for
the castle. She flew adjacent to the dome of lightning, not drawing
close.
She did not want to get close. Jake would be there, underneath that
protective dome. She knew that if she saw him, she would have to
make a choice, and she did not want to make that choice.
Rachel was a brave girl, one who acted before she thought, and she
never backed away from a challenge. She was reckless on a regular
basis in the war against the Yeerks, playing by ear instead of
allowing herself to be paralyzed by indecision. But this was
different. Very, very different. This time, it was better to avoid the
...
No,' Rachel thought as she saw something rise from the lightning
dome. A small, nearly invisible bird with narrow wings and
beautifully contrasting colors of dark and light. It was a peregrine
falcon, and the only peregrine falcon on this world was Jake. As
she watched him, Jake started to fly towards the far distant forest,
but seeing her, changed direction slightly and gained altitude,
flying directly towards her.
She couldn't avoid it any longer. With her huge, black dragon body
against the glowing red sky, she stood out even for human eyes.
Who did she love more, Jake or Tobias? Tobias.
Jake would understand. He'd be happy to sacrifice himself for any
of the Animorphs. He was the leader. Of course he'd understand.
But what about Cassie? Cassie and the others?
They wouldn't understand. Especially not Cassie. And even if she
did ... what would it do to her? If she killed Jake, she could no
longer be with her friends, even if they never found out. She could
never stand to be with them if she betrayed them so badly. And
Jake was needed in the war against the Yeerks.
But we're never going back to that war, are we,' a bitter voice said
in her head. We can never go home. We are stuck here.'
Tobias *will* die, Drode had said. But why should she trust him?
Because he has never lied to you. Not even when he gave the
Animorphs a chance to stop Visser 4. And what will happen to
Tobias if you don't trust him now?'
Tobias was the one who always watched over the Animorphs, over
her. The innocent, sad, hopeful boy who had the strength to hold
on to his humanity in spite of the horrid things that had happened
to him. Sweet, gentle, courageous Tobias, with tender blue eyes
and wild, dirty blonde hair.
She *couldn't* give him up. She just couldn't.
Forgive me, Jake...Cassie, she said to herself as she changed
course and flew to greet Jake.
He wants you to give up,' a small voice in the back of her head
said. She almost screeched to a halt in mid-air. Jake continued to
fly towards her, speeding up just a little.
What am I doing?' She asked herself. Am I really saving Tobias?
Or am I giving in to Crayak, becoming his pawn.'
She knew the answer. But was her freedom really worth more than
Tobias?
What would Tobias say? What would he think?
Rachel, Jake called as soon as she was in thought-speak range.
You okay? You just stopped all of a sudden.
Yeah, I'm fine. What are you doing?
Something stupid, but it may work. No time to explain, but I need
you to help calm Themis' army and the other dragons when I do
it.
Gotcha, Rachel answered as Jake flew past, heading for the vast,
green forest.
Now would be perfect,' a small voice said. Maybe her own. And it
was a perfect time. Jake had his back turned to her, unsuspecting,
helpless and there were no witnesses. All of the other dragons were
already at the battle's center.
But she didn't move.
As she watched, Jake began his dive. Faster than anything on this
world or at home, he swooped towards the forest.
She could still get him. All she had to do was breathe out her fire...
And she still hovered in the air. She didn't open her mouth or move
to follow Jake.
Jake vanished on the edge of the huge, green trees. But she could
still follow him, find him.
Still she hesitated. Soon, she couldn't tell exactly where Jake
landed. Finally, she turned away and headed for the battle, her
heart shattering.
This had better be worth it, Jake, she muttered, tears threatening
to well up in her eyes. She saw the fireball rise from Levakh
Castle, leaving it blackened. It flew back to where it came from.
Soon, she was over the battle, heading towards the lightning dome.
At least fighting would get her mind off Drode's threat. Besides,
maybe he was lying. Maybe Tobias wasn't dying.
Imperceptibly, a darkness Rachel had not noticed left her, leaving
her to mourn.
* * * *
Jake pulled up harshly as soon as he neared the treetops. He landed
roughly just inside the edge of the woods, at least two miles from
the edge of the battle.
He hoped he was far enough away.
He demorphed as quickly as he could, shooting up from the
ground, with waves of weariness washing over him. After all, he
had been fighting and morphing for quite a while. He hoped Rachel
demorphed sometime during the battle. That one thought brought
his encounter with her sharply to focus. She was obviously
bothered by something, and Rachel wasn't the kind of girl who
would be bothered by much. Now was not the time, though, to
think about what it could possibly have been. He would ask her
later. For now, he had an army to save.
Jake staggered over to the edge of the forest and looked at the
battlefield. All he could see was a cloud of dust and dark, moving
masses. The ground underneath him rumbled, and the black castle
shook, falling apart. He closed his eyes a moment, catching his
breath, then opened them again and focused.
Immediately, he shot up from the ground, just as if he were
demorphing from fly or ant. Up and up he flew, his feet planted
firmly on the ground, and as he grew the ends of his hands
changed. His feet sank into the ground. Huge claws formed out of
his nails, impossibly long, thick claws. Thick, feathery, black and
white fur sprung up from all around him, impossible long fur that
hid his features. Proportionally, his legs and arms shortened, and
he lost his balance and fell forward with a monstrous crash. His
arms-turned-legs took the impact, and his still-bare palms grew
padded, turning into paws. A tail shot out from behind him and
grew long, feathery fur. Looking down, Jake could see the battle.
The battle was still, everything from the mighty dragons to the
lowly goblins staring up at him. At last, his face elongated, pushing
out and out and out, forming a very
long mouth and narrow forehead.
He was impossibly huge. His claws, each bigger than the biggest
giant or dragon, stopped at the very edge of the stilled battle. His
massive shoulders grazed Themis' dark cloud. The broken castle
laid forgotten, its fall insignificant in the face of Jake. Jake loomed
over everything, completely blocking out the sky. Everything
below him was rooted to the ground, paralyzed in fear and terrible
awe.
It's me, Jake, he whispered to King Themis' army and the
dragons. Even whispering, he nearly blew all of their minds away.
Don't worry.
Looking down, he chose a target. With one swipe of his claws, he
sent dozens of monsters flying, broken.
That was it. Screaming in sheer terror, the monster army scattered,
ignoring their helpless enemies. Not even Zilos could command
them to attack that ... that thing that the human animal child had
become.
Themis, seeing Jake through the dome of lightning, was drenched
in cold sweat. Jake had warned him, and he had done everything he
could with his magic to keep his soldiers from panicking along
with their enemies, but Jake had said that this creature was
ridiculous. Ridiculous, he said!
"F-father, what's th-th-that?" Herlim managed to stutter, looking up
at the alien head that filled up the whole sky.
Themis opened his mouth to answer.
* * * *
"An anteater!" Marco cried in delight. "Jake turned into an
anteater!" He couldn't take it anymore. Holding onto his sides
tightly, Marco rolled on the dead ground, laughing uncontrollably.
Cassie herself couldn't keep from laughing, and even Ax couldn't
help but smile as best as an air elemental could.
It is tactically sound, he defended his prince. It is large enough
to survive an attack from a primitive army, and on this world
where they don't exist, it is quite a frightening thing. I certainly
would not wish to fight it.
Marco, Cassie, and Ax were with the freed captives, Marco and
Cassie as themselves and Ax as the invisible air elemental. They
calmed the poor captives and watched as Zilos' army scattered in
all directions.
"An *anteater.* He kicked their butts with an *anteater*!" And
Marco continued to laugh loudly, tears forming in his tightly shut
eyes. The frightened captives stared at him, not seeing what he
found so funny.
No one noticed when a lone gargoyle broke off from the army just
before Jake had turned into the anteater. It flew into the castle, then
quickly left again, carrying something in its stone-like arms.
Zilos flew away, still clutching the unicorn horn. He watched as his
castle fell, then as his wonderful army shattered.
Defeated, he commanded the gargoyle to take him far away, which
the gargoyle did.
* * * *
"We have to go," Rachel insisted to Jake. Both of them had
demorphed, much to everyone's relief, and were waiting for Cassie,
Marco, and Ax. The battle was won, allowing the nurses to care for
the wounded and the dead, and allowing the soldiers, knights, and
dragons to rest. After disbanding the cloud, King Themis and his
sons helped care for the wounded and the dead, leaving Rachel and
Jake alone.
"Why?" Jake asked. He still remembered her rather unnerving
distress earlier, but realized that bringing it up would not help.
"I'm worried about Tobias. We have to go back right *now*,"
Rachel answered.
Jake nodded, a suspicious glint in his eye. "We'll leave as soon as
Cassie and the rest are here." He paused a moment, as if
contemplating something.
He was about to say something, but when Marco, Cassie, and Ax
appeared, he decided against it. Soon, five birds that existed no
where on that world flew over the blackened earth of Levakh,
headed straight for the lush forests of Hivena.
King Themis watched them fly away. With a wave of his hand, the
cloud overhead thinned and dissipated. First, small patches of blue
grew, then thin rays of the noonday sun broke through, and those
blue patches and rays of light grew until the sky was completely
clear, with no trace of dark clouds anywhere. He never had to use
his power.
"Lecrian," he addressed his son, "what is happening at home?"
"I don't really know, Father," he replied. "Has Mother ever been
attacked by spydrs?"
* * * *
All was strangely quiet at Hivena. The sun shone brightly on its
way toward evening, but there was no cheer. Spydr webs hung on
turrets and roofs, glued doors and windows shut, and clogged halls.
The palace was sealed. Outside the palace, where damage was
minimal, most of the spydr threads were gone, so the citizens could
do some last minute shopping and socializing before the evening.
Not that any of the citizens were cheerful, for each one was
worried about what had happened inside the palace, where the
spydr attack had been focused. They waited nervously for any word
from the palace, but none came.
Inside the palace, everyone was in a hurry. Servants fanned flames
and carries torches, hefted swords off walls and took knives out of
drawers, and filled water buckets and cups and any container able
to hold water and hauled them up and down stairs. The few
magic-users trapped in the palace cast spells, starting magical fires,
extinguishing others when they rage out of control, and dissolving
webs with invisible acid. All of these frantic actions concentrated
on one hallway: the one leading to the room where Queen Marah
and the young hero had been trapped, completely isolated.
The hallway was impassible, for the webs were so thick that it was
a virtual wall. It filled the whole hall, and no one could tell how
deep it was. The webs smoked terribly, so any flames on it had to
be extinguished regularly, but they were so tough that only the
sharpest of knives and the heaviest of swords could cut it, and so
sticky that if anyone would just graze an arm across a strand, that
person would be stuck fast. Ariana stayed out of the way, using her
power to coordinate efforts and monitor her Mother and Tobias.
Inside the room, nothing moved. The window facing the east did
not catch the bright sun, leaving the room in a grey twilight. The
candles were low, nearly burnt out. The two spydr carcasses were
drying, nothing more than black shadows. Queen Marah knelt by
the lone bed, her head resting on the mattress, her hand barely
holding onto the boy's. Tobias laid in the bed, all color gone from
his face as he slipped back into a dangerous weakness.
Marah had nothing left in her. The spydr's poison, though not lethal
to one as healthy as herself, was seriously debilitating, sapping her
of her energy. Since that horrible morning, she had given what
little strength she had to Tobias, determined, even in her
half-conscious state, to keep him alive. But that was the morning,
when she could throw a forty pound, struggling spydr out the
window and still manage to stumble back to the bed. Now it was
evening, and there was nothing left to give.
As she slipped into unconsciousness again, she thought she heard
Tobias say something. His voice was nothing more than a whisper,
so quiet that if the wind blew outside she would not have been able
to hear it.
"Tell them I'm sorry," he pleaded.
Still touching Tobias' hand, Marah felt him slip away.
