Dormia (50 page)

Major Hornslight witnessed this from only feet away. He
roared like a wounded tiger and rushed into the Dragoonya lines, followed closely by the entire Dormian army. The battle raged with a ferocity never witnessed before. At first, the Dragoonya withstood the Dormian charge, but they could not overcome the constant, calm pressure of the sleeping Dormians. The Dragoonya wavered and began to shuffle back. Men on the front lines turned and ran. Moments later, a chorus of Dragoonya bugles sounded, calling for a retreat. Major Hornslight and his army pursued them through the fields. Retreat turned to panic, and the Dragoonya stripped off their armor and threw away their weapons to focus on running away as quickly as possible.

Eventually, the retreating Dormian army reached the giant wooden ramp they had used to exit the Founding Tree's root system. In a wild rush, thousands of Dragoonya soldiers descended the ramp into the murky darkness below. At the bottom of the ramp, the Dragoonya scrambled into their boats and paddled back upstream in the hopes of escaping Dormia with their lives. This chaotic stampede only further weakened the already decaying walls of the root system. Soon enormous chunks of the roots' ceiling were breaking off, falling down, and crushing the Dragoonya below. The root had finally begun to collapse and the walls began to cave in, as if the earth itself were swallowing up the entire Dragoonya army.

One of the last of the Dragoonya to descend into the collapsing root was Kiril. During the Dragoonya army's retreat from Somnos, he galloped among his men, yelling at them to stop and fight. For those unlucky enough to be within the reach of his sword, he killed them for disobedience. Still, he could not
convince them to turn back. The remains of the Dragoonya army fled underground. Kiril roared in frustration as he stood at the mouth of the ramp. "Cowards!" he yelled. "Filthy cowards!" Arrows from the pursuing Dormians fell around him. Kiril jumped into the tunnel and disappeared into the darkness.

I
NSIDE THE
Founding Tree, on the foggy, snow-filled floor of the main chamber, the battle raged on. Bilblox, Colonel Pissaro, and the band of Dormian knights continued to hold off the Dragoonya soldiers. Thanks to the handiwork of the Dormian archers, who had managed to pick off quite a few of the enemy, the contest was now almost evenly matched. "Hold your ground, men," yelled Colonel Pissaro. "They're losing heart!"

"I wish I could see," muttered Bilblox as he continued to swing his fists wildly.

"Bilblox, watch out!" yelled Colonel Pissaro. "You almost hit me. Make a quarter-turn to your right—and be quick about it—you've got a Dragoonya coming at you."

Bilblox quickly pivoted and thrust his fist outward just in time to strike down a large, grunting Dragoonya.

"Well done!" yelled Colonel Pissaro. "Now, quarter-turn back to your left, we've got three more Dragoonya headed our way. We'll take 'em together."

On the other side of the main chamber, Resuza worked frantically to fight the growing flames. She kept her eyes clenched shut—to protect herself from the purple clouds of Dormian ash—and used her bare hands to throw snow into the fire. She wasn't able to put the fire out, but she was able to keep it from spreading. Her main problem was that she was getting tired. She would have to rest soon and, when she did, the fire would almost certainly spread. She needed some reinforcements, but none appeared to be coming. Colonel Pissaro and his Dormian knights had their hands full while Alfonso and Nartam had disappeared from sight.

Alfonso had left the main chamber altogether. He was deep in one of the tree's many roots where, at that moment, he was running for his life. This wasn't simply because he had no weapons to use. Alfonso also knew that as long as Nartam could foresee his every move, there was no beating him in battle. There was just one thing that gave Alfonso hope: he had to keep Nartam away from any more ash. Alfonso knew that one of the powers that the ash bestowed—the ability to see into the future—never lasted very long. Bilblox's vision into the future didn't last more than a few minutes. Who knew exactly how long Nartam's vision would last? Perhaps ten minutes. Perhaps thirty minutes. Perhaps it was an hour, because of the extra powder that covered Nartam's face. He would have to
wait. As soon as Nartam lost his ability to see into the future, Alfonso could turn and fight him. But until then, he ran away from Nartam as fast as he could.

"Look at the Great Sleeper on the run," cackled Nartam as he chased after Alfonso. "The great hope of Somnos fleeing like a cowardly child!" Nartam was holding Alfonso's blue sphere in his hand. He gripped the sphere tightly and then hurled it at Alfonso. Alfonso jumped to avoid getting hit by the mighty force of his own weapon, but it was no use. Nartam had foreseen Alfonso's jump and had thrown the sphere so that it would strike Alfonso in midair. The sphere nailed Alfonso in the lower back—
bam!
—and caused him to topple backwards off a chunk of ice that he had been climbing. Alfonso landed with a heavy thud. His back was in excruciating pain, but there was no time to wallow. He scrambled to his feet and continued running as best he could.

Nartam continued to hurl the blue sphere at Alfonso as he ran. Ice exploded everywhere around Alfonso as he scrambled deeper into the root. The situation was growing increasingly desperate. As quickly as he could, Alfonso crawled up an enormous piece of ice that looked like a pyramid, except that the very top was flattened. Upon reaching the top of this pyramid, Alfonso made two very troubling realizations. The first was that the ice under his feet didn't feel stable at all. Using his powers of hypnogogia, he could sense that there were hundreds of cracks within this pyramid of ice, and that it was only a matter of time before the whole thing fell apart. The second and far more troubling realization was that there was no way down from here. The other walls of the pyramid, which Alfonso had not seen until now, were much steeper than the one
that he had just climbed. If he fell off, he'd likely slide to his death. He was trapped. A moment later, Nartam appeared. Snow swirled around him, making him look like a ghost. The two of them stood poised atop the pyramid, no more than ten feet apart, staring fiercely at each other.

"My young friend," said Nartam softly. "I'm tired of running after you. In fact, I'm simply tired of you altogether. Goodbye."

Nartam clutched the blue sphere, looked at it thoughtfully for a moment, and then threw it at Alfonso. Alfonso dove and cringed for the expected blow. Much to his surprise, and relief, Alfonso realized that the sphere had missed him. How was this possible? Nartam had been standing so close to him. How had he not foreseen which way Alfonso was going to dive? Suddenly he realized why. The powder covering Nartam's face had washed away by the snow and the dampness of his own sweat. He no longer had the ability to see into the future.

Nartam looked surprised and the entire pyramid began to tremble. The sphere, after it missed Alfonso, slammed into the pyramid with enormous force and burrowed deep inside. The sphere returned back to Nartam's hand while several massive cracks began to work their way up from the base of the pyramid. There was a giant rumbling sound. Huge chunks of ice began to break away all around them. The pyramid itself began to dissolve. A moment later, what was left of the pyramid split apart into two pieces and then into four separate pieces. All four of the pieces teetered unsteadily like bowling pins in the wind. Nartam stood atop one of these pins. Alfonso stood on another.

Alfonso closed his eyes and let himself feel the trembling of
the ice. In his mind's eye he could see every single crack and fissure that was working its way through the four legs that once made up the pyramid. He could also feel the torque, bend, and sway of the ice. And then he knew: all but one of the pieces of ice were about to fall. The piece directly to his right, on which no one was perched, would remain standing. Alfonso took a deep breath and leapt across the chasm onto the piece of ice to his right. A moment later, the other three pieces of ice clattered to the ground in an overwhelming cataclysm of sound. Alfonso saw Nartam toppling down into the abyss, but then he disappeared from view, buried beneath the avalanche of ice.

***

It took Alfonso the better part of an hour to climb down from the ice and make his way back to the main chamber. He was in considerable pain and he limped much of the way. He was also quite cold. His fingers were so frigid and frostbitten that he could barely control them. But he did his best because, in his hands, he held his blue sphere. He had found the sphere near the spot where the pyramid had disintegrated. At the time, Alfonso had been searching for Nartam. He wanted to make sure that his enemy was dead. He used his powers of hypnogogia to search every last crevice. He found nothing and concluded that Nartam was buried somewhere at the very bottom of the avalanche, dead underneath tons of fallen ice. This thought didn't exactly cheer Alfonso. In a way, it actually saddened him, though he couldn't say why. His spirits, however, were soon lifted when he found his blue sphere lying in a nearby pile of
crushed ice. Alfonso snatched it up, smiled for a brief moment, and then headed back down the root toward the faint glow of the fireflies.

By the time he reached the main chamber, Alfonso saw a most welcome sight: Colonel Pissaro and his Dormian knights were putting out the last of the flames. The purple Dormian ash was still fluttering in the air—which required Colonel Pissaro and his men to keep their eyes firmly shut as they worked—and this meant that none of them spotted Alfonso as he limped back into the main chamber.

The only person to see him was Resuza. She was resting on a nearby pile of snow and, as soon as she spotted Alfonso, she ran toward him, hugged him, and began talking so rapidly that Alfonso could barely understand her. It didn't matter. He quickly got the gist of it: the Dragoonya had been defeated and the last embers of the fire were now being put out. Alfonso then relayed the news that Nartam was dead. Resuza let out a cheer and she, in turn, shouted the news to Colonel Pissaro and his men. Soon everyone was cheering wildly. Everyone but Alfonso. He still was preoccupied with another thought. Where was Bilblox? What had happened to him? Then Alfonso spotted his large friend, standing on the far side of the main chamber with his arms crossed, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Hey, Bilblox!" called out Alfonso. "What are you doing over there?"

"I won't go anywhere near that purple ash," yelled Bilblox. "Besides, our work here is done."

"Yes it is," replied Alfonso softly—so softly that it almost seemed as if he were talking to himself.

T
HE BATTLE
for Somnos, as it came to be known, ended just before dawn. It had raged for almost twelve hours and suddenly it was over. There were no immediate victory celebrations because, just minutes after the battle ended, a raging blizzard swept over the city of Somnos. Bitterly cold wind shook the buildings, while snow fell almost horizontally, forming massive drifts that threatened to overwhelm the battered city walls. It was clear that the Founding Tree was essentially dead and no longer offered any protection to the Dormians. Citizens of Somnos plodded along over snowdrifts, taking stock of their badly damaged city. After many months of little food, Somnos's supplies were exhausted. Everyone was starving. Given their desperate situation, the grand vizier decided that
the planting ceremony would be held that very morning. It would have none of the pomp and finery Dormians associated with such an important event.

Still, the Dormians themselves were in high spirits, especially the children, who ran around the snow, screaming with delight. They had good reason to be happy. After all, the people of Somnos had defeated an invading army and vanquished their age-old enemy, Nartam. Of course, all this had come at a price. It would take months, and perhaps even a few years, for them to rebuild Somnos and restore the city to its former glory. It would also take some time, after the planting ceremony, for the new Founding Tree to sink its roots into the soil and beat back the encroaching cold of winter. For the time being, however, all anyone in Somnos could think about was how good it felt to be alive—and perhaps none felt this more keenly than Hill Persplexy.

"This is a day I will never forget as long as I live," declared Hill as they rode to the Tree Palace for the planting ceremony in a sled, surrounded by cheering citizens. Hill was clothed in his Somnos military dress uniform, which included a black velvet cape, a feathered cap, and a shirt full of gleaming gold medals. Snow fell steadily, turning his uniform white. "Please slow down the sled," added Hill. "I want this moment to last as long as it possibly can."

"Yeah," added Bilblox in a gruff but happy voice. "Let's enjoy this. We've earned it." A hurriedly fashioned medal was pinned onto Bilblox's heavy jacket. In ancient Dormian script, it declared that Paks Bilblox was pardoned of his sins and declared an honorary citizen of Somnos.

"Of course, gracious sirs," replied the driver who, of course,
was none other than Ivan, although this time he had been given permission to be awake to fully enjoy the event. "Enjoy it all you can, sir," said Ivan. "But why don't you show them the bloom? That's what they really want to see. They're hungry, they're cold, they're miserably tired—but they have hope because of that little tree that you've dragged halfway around the world."

"Yes, that's a fine idea," said Josephus who was sitting next to Ivan, with paper and pen in hand. Josephus was there, of course, to document the planting ceremony. "You have to show them the bloom," continued Josephus. "That's what this is all about." The other passengers in the sled—Alfonso, Resuza, and Bilblox—all agreed and urged Hill to show off the plant. The bloom, which was sitting in a pot on the floor of the sled, was in excellent health. The people of Somnos had Hill to thank for this, since he led the small band that had protected the bloom. Word had spread quickly of his heroics—very quickly—and every last person in Somnos knew of his deeds. Now they all chanted his name in unison. "Hill, Hill, Hill, Hill, Hill," called the crowd.