Empress of the Underworld (15 page)

Everyone jammed both knives and forks into the crack. And sure enough, the stone moved a little.

Volka reached down and put the tips of his fingers on it. “More!” he boomed.
“More!”

They all tried frantically, and Volka managed to grab hold of it. His mighty muscles bulged. And then the stone shifted upward! Volka picked it up and said,
“Hroom! Hroom!”

Beren said, “Look! It is a passageway! Quick! They might come for us any moment, and they'll try to follow. I'll go first. I don't know this tunnel, but if there's a way out, I'll find it. Volka, you squeeze through last. When you get through, see if you can knock some rocks loose to block the passage.” He dropped feet-first into the hole, and one by one the Sleepers scrambled after him.

It was a very small hole for Volka, and he grunted as he squeezed through. He dropped down with a thud into the tunnel beneath, then began pushing loose rocks under the trapdoor. His powerful muscles rippled, and he said,
“Hroom! Hroom!”
again and again.

As the Sleepers followed Beren, they came very quickly to a larger tunnel.

“I know where I am now,” he said. “Come. We've got to gather my people together. It's time to fight.”

Josh said slowly, “We've got to overcome the empress, but I don't think it will be a physical battle.”

Beren said, “Maybe not. But it won't hurt to muster what strength we've got.”

Sarah asked Josh as they walked along, “You think we can win?”

Josh said, “She has a lot of power, but there's strength in Goél—if we can just find a way to use it.”

14

The Battle

I
t was well that the Sleepers had Beren for a leader. They would not have known what to do. The young prince was everywhere, summoning the Underlings.

“I never knew there were so many of them!” Josh exclaimed, wonder in his voice.

Sarah and Josh watched as Beren went through all the secret passages, sounding the alarm. Now the corridors were filled with men, armed mostly with only staffs but some with swords, spears, and knives.

“They don't look like they could fight much. They're all weak and pretty washed out,” Reb observed.

His words were overheard by Empress Laiona, who turned to the tall young Texan. “My people are brave,” she said. “We are outnumbered, and we do not have the arms of the enemy, but we have a heart for freedom. And the time has come that we have long waited for.”

Beren organized his troops into small battalions. He gathered the leaders together. The Sleepers watched as he pointed to a map spread out on the ground, instructing each one where he was to strike.

“We are weak,” Beren said. “But our cause is right, and we fight for our families and our kingdom. Are you with me?”

A shout went up.

Wash grinned. “If they fight as good as they can shout, then this thing might work all right.” He turned to Reb, who was shifting from one foot to the other. “Sure
would like to have my old .44 here. Or my .33. I guess I'd take care of that old Lothar.”

“Well, we don't have any guns and not nearly enough other weapons,” Mat grumbled. “But I guess we'll have to do it.

“That's the most cheerful thing I've ever heard you say, brother.” Tam grinned and slapped his identical twin on the shoulder. “You can be captain now.”

Beren called out, “It's time to go. Follow me. Sleepers, you and your people stay close.”

The Sleepers scrambled after Beren and his small force. They went through the usual maze of tunnels and corridors carved out of the rock.

Suddenly Beren threw up a hand and whispered, “There're some guards ahead. I want to take them alive. They might know something.”

Beren chose four of his men, and they crept silently down the darkened passage.

The soldiers seemed half asleep and were taken completely off guard. The Sleepers pressed forward to hear Beren interrogate them.

“Where is the empress? Where is Lothar?”

One guard was a smallish man, and his eyes were wide with fright. “I can't tell. They'll kill us.”

Beren, Sarah was sure, had no intention of harming the man, but he said roughly, “Well, you've got your choice.
They'll
kill you if they catch you, or
I'll
kill you now for sure. Volka, pull this fellow's head off for me.”

Volka grinned broadly and reached out. He grasped the guard with wide arms and encircled his head with his mighty fingers.
“Hroom!”
he shouted. “I love to pull head off foolish guard.”

“No! Wait!” the guard screamed. “Wait! I'll tell.”

“Be quick then,” Beren said.

The guard could not answer quickly enough. “The empress and Lothar are in the council room.”

“Who's with them? How many guards?” Beren shot questions at the frightened man and soon turned to say, “We're not likely to have a better chance. The council room is off to itself. It will be guarded, but we can break through, I think. It's our best chance.” He glanced at the trembling guard. “Tie them all up. Quiet, man! You can keep your head.”

After the guards were made secure, Beren led the group on down the tunnel. Stopping at a corridor, he said, “This leads right into the palace. When we get there, we'll have to take the guards out. We can't let any of them get away to get help. Are you ready?”

“I'm ready as rain,” Reb said. He was holding a sword in his right hand and a club that he had picked up in his left. “Let's do it!”

Beren grinned. “I hereby appoint you sergeant. Come on, Reb.”

The two young men burst down the corridor and were confronted at once by a rank of heavily armed guards. Reb let loose a screeching battle cry as steel clanged on steel.

Then the other Sleepers came boiling in and formed a line with Reb and Beren. The guards outnumbered them, but slowly the fury of the Underlings combined with that of the Sleepers proved too much. Gradually the guards were forced back, and finally the survivors threw down their weapons, crying for mercy.

“Tie them up too,” Beren commanded. “Now we have a chance. Come, you Sleepers. To the council room!”

Beren charged through the door followed by the Sleepers. Inside the large room, dominated by a huge table and large chair at one end, sat Lothar and Fareena,
who rose at once. Three other men were in the room, members of the High Council.

“Throw down your weapon, Lothar!” Beren cried out.

Lothar, instead, pulled his sword and bore down on Beren. “I will put you in your place once and for all.”

The Sleepers started to surround Beren, but the prince cried out, “No! Let me handle him.” He advanced, and soon the two were engaged in a furious duel.

“What if Lothar kills him?” Sarah gasped.

“That'll never happen,” Josh answered. “Look, Beren's getting the best of him already.”

The Sleepers watched nervously as Beren beat down the blade of the larger man. There was a skill in the young man that they had never seen before. The swords flashed, and the blades sang in the air. Then suddenly, the sword of Lothar was on the floor, and Beren's blade was at his throat.

“Don't kill me,” Lothar cried, falling to his knees and holding up his hands in surrender.

“You've got him!” Josh shouted. “Keep him right there. The rest of you men stand still.”

The Empress Fareena was watching with blazing eyes. Now, as every eye turned to her, she stood even taller. “You're fools to come into this room,” she said. “My power here is at its greatest.”

Beren said, “I fear you not, Fareena.”

“Then you are a fool. You do not know the power of the Dark Lord, which he has given to me.”

She lifted her hand high then and began to speak in a strange language. The room grew darker as though a fog had swept in. It was a darkness that almost had a body to it. Sarah thought each member of the Sleepers, as well as Beren and the Underlings, must be feeling a shiver of fear.

There was a smell of evil in the air, so thick that it seemed to weigh her down. Sarah almost fell to her knees, so heavy was the sense of wickedness.

The empress cried out, “You cannot resist me. You have stood against me and against the Dark Lord, and now you all will die.”

“You will die first,” Beren shouted. But for some reason he seemed to suddenly lose strength, and his sword dropped to the stone floor with a clatter.

The empress laughed, and Lothar rose to his feet with a grin of triumph on his cruel lips.

“Now,” Fareena said, “we will see.”

Beren cried out with hatred in his voice, “You are an evil being. I hate you with all my heart.”

Several shouted out their loathing for the empress; and the more they cried, the darker the room seemed to grow.

Sarah was now almost smothered by the feeling of evil. She felt herself slipping into unconsciousness, and for one moment hatred for Fareena and all she stood for rose in her throat, almost choking her.

Then she heard a voice, a voice that sounded very familiar.

“Remember what I told you, my daughter? You can only overcome evil with good. Never with a sword.”

At once Sarah stood to her feet and lifted her hands. “Listen to me,” she said. “We must stop letting hate have its way.”

The Sleepers looked at her. Beren also, although he was almost doubled over, turned to face her along with his lieutenant.

“That's her way—to hate,” Sarah said. “That's what she's done to the world. We must not hate!”

“What then can we do?” Beren asked.

“Let them see what
love
is.”

“I can't love her!” Abbey cried out. “Not after what she did to me!”

“Then love your friends, your brothers. Love Goél, love the good. But don't focus on hate.”

Sarah found, even as she spoke of love, that her own hatred was somehow being vanquished. She looked over at Josh and remembered the many things they had done together, and she felt her love for him grow. She looked at Abbey, at Reb and Dave, at Jake and Wash, and remembered how close they were. Love rose in her, and she saw it rising in the others too.

Even as Sarah fixed her mind on love for others, the dark fog began to diminish.

The room grew lighter; and Reb cried out, “It's working! Shoot, I guess I can love as good as anybody.”

Josh looked up at Fareena, whose face—pale already —seemed now bloodless. She clutched at her heart, and her lips twisted in what seemed to be agony. “Stop it!” she cried. “Stop it!”

And suddenly Sarah felt pity for her. “You've never known love, have you, Fareena? You've missed out on everything. I feel sorry for you.”

Fareena screamed in rage and cried out to Lothar, standing again with sword in hand.

But Lothar saw that the empress's powers were fading. And as the victors began to shout, his eyes met those of Fareena. He seemed to understand an unspoken command, and with a cry he leaped toward Abbey, his blade flashing down.

Sarah saw him move, but it was too late. The sword ripped through Abbey's cheek, and she fell backward, uttering a moan.

Beren leaped forward, seizing his fallen sword and striking the weapon out of Lothar's hand. “I could kill you
for that! But you'll have a fair trial. You and your evil mistress.”

But Sarah was not thinking about Lothar. She was kneeling beside the still form of Abbey. When she saw the damage to Abbey's face, the terrible cut that was bleeding freely, she looked at Josh and said, “We've got to get her help. She's badly hurt.”

“Yes, that's got to be sewed up,” Josh said. He was barely aware that Beren was binding Fareena and Lothar. “We've got to get a doctor quickly.”

Then Beren was at his side. “There will be a battle we must win now with the followers of Fareena—but we will get a doctor at once.” He bent over and touched Abbey's hair and said quietly, “You were most brave, my dear Abbey. We will find help for you.”