Flight of the Eagles (6 page)

7

The Ghost Marshes

A
lthough getting from their camp to the sea was no problem, finding a boat was a different matter. While most of the group waited a short distance from the shore, Crusoe and Josh set out to buy or borrow a boat.

After several failures, they met a fisherman named Dedron who said that he would sell them one of his old boats.

“Not good for fishing much,” Dedron said in some sort of mixed dialect.

After looking at the boat, Crusoe said it would suffice for one voyage. “We'll take it,” he told Dedron and handed him several gold coins as payment.

Dedron, a large and homely man with a fisherman's scarred hands and weathered skin, looked curiously at the coins, then said, “First money I see in two years.” He held up three dirty fingers to clarify his speech.

“Why is that?” Josh asked. “Can't you sell your fish?”

Dedron held out a muscular forearm for them to see. “No have mark,” he said. “Cannot buy or sell.” He shot a question at them. “Do
you
have mark to buy and sell?”

Josh looked at Crusoe, who said, “No. Neither of us.”

The fisherman looked at them as if weighing them in a careful balance. “I put my life in your hands—are you in the House?”

“In the house?” Josh asked. “What does that mean?”

Dedron rumbled, “You not know song? I sing it for you.”

In a voice completely off-key, he sang a song that shocked Josh to the bone—the same words that Josh's father had sung in another world, in another time.

“‘
The House of Goél will be filled,
The earth itself will quake!
The Beast will be forever stilled
When Seven Sleepers wake!'”

“But what does it mean?” Josh asked. “Who is Goél, and who is the Beast—and who are the Seven Sleepers?”

“I am only fisherman,” Dedron said, shrugging his shoulders. “But I think it mean that one day—soon—bad men will all be killed and good man will come. And then all the world be happy.”

“But who sings this song? And how did you learn it?” Crusoe asked.

“I know it all my life.” Dedron shrugged again. “But now, lots of people sing it. Not when Sanhedrin is near, but at night in secret places.”

Crusoe breathed quickly. “Do you hear that, Josh? That's the Uprising the Sanhedrin is trying to stamp out. And it sounds like it's spreading faster than they can get rid of it.”

Crusoe turned once more to Dedron and asked, “When will all this happen?”

Dedron looked at him impatiently. “Listen to song— ‘
When Seven Sleepers wake.'
Maybe soon. Then House of Goél be filled!”

He shoved the coins back into Crusoe's hand. “No pay—we brothers. Anyway, I no can spend.”

They heard him laughing as they hurried back to camp.

When the two reached camp, Josh was at first so filled with their news that he noticed nothing unusual. No
sooner had they got in voice range than he cried out, “We've found out about the Uprising and about the Seven Sleepers!”

Just as he was about to launch into his story, Josh saw Mat gesturing with his head toward a clump of trees. Josh realized then that Mat's hands and feet were tied! Everyone was tied up!

A scarlet-clad figure stepped from behind a giant elm. It was Elmas, the Chief Interrogator, who had met them in the forest.

Josh tried to run, but a single “Stop!” from Elmas froze him in his tracks.

“Bind them, Onar. I will take these two in the chariot to the Temple for the Questioning,” he said, indicating Tam and Jake. “An armed escort will be sent for you and the rest. You will guard them well. On your life, Onar.”

There was a clear threat in Elmas's muffled voice.

Onar answered at once, “Yes, Master.”

Onar threw Tam and Jake into the chariot, cuffing them into silence when they tried to speak to the others. Then Elmas got in and, without a word, picked up the whip and lashed the horses into a dead run down the road.

“How long will it take the escort to get here?” Josh whispered to Crusoe.

“About four hours—unless he meets a patrol already on the march. We've got to get loose.”

“Quiet!” Onar suddenly stood over them. “You will not speak.” Then he looked at Crusoe and said, “Maybe you will talk. There is much that you can tell me before the Master returns. What is your name, Old One?”

Crusoe tightened his lips and made no answer.

His silence seemed to infuriate Onar. He seized the frail hunchback and carried him toward a clump of trees almost as easily as Volka would have done. When the pair was concealed by the thicket, Josh heard Onar ask a question
and pause. Then, instead of an answer, there was the sound of a blow being struck—then another, and many more.

“He'll kill Crusoe,” Mat whispered in a fury. “Can't any of you get loose?”

“I can't,” Sarah said.

Volka groaned. “No, too tight.”

Perhaps Onar had been in too much of a hurry, but Josh felt a slackness in the ropes around his wrists. He gasped with effort and was almost free when Mat warned him, “Watch out, Josh! He's coming.”

The hulking figure came toward them, carrying the limp body of Crusoe. He threw him down with a curse. “Stubborn fool!”

Then his eyes lit on Sarah. He moved toward her and jerked her to her feet. “Maybe you will be more talkative,” he said. He moved with the frightened girl, now helpless in his grasp, toward the trees.

“No!” Josh cried.

Onar glanced at him with an evil grin. “Don't worry, boy, your time is coming—and you'll be begging me to take her instead of you!”

He laughed cruelly as he moved to the trees, but this time he was not concealed. His broad back was just visible.

Josh grunted fiercely, and his hands finally broke free. At the same time, he heard Sarah cry out in pain. Blind with rage, Josh started to run to her aid, but Mat's whisper stopped him.

“No, Josh! You won't have a chance! The bow! Josh, the bow!”

Mat nodded at a nearby tree, and Josh saw Onar's bow and a full quiver of hunting arrows. He seized the bow and strung it in one smooth motion. Then he cocked an arrow and pulled it to his cheek. Suddenly he paused.

“Shoot! Shoot!” Mat urged.

Josh had never loved hunting, though he had often accompanied his father on trips. Looking at Onar's back, he realized that he was about to take a human life. Everything in his past said no.

Yet, even as he wavered, Sarah cried out again.

Mat whispered desperately, “They'll kill Sarah, Josh. They'll kill all of us, if you don't get us away from here! And you can't do it as long as Onar is alive!”

Perhaps even this would not have been enough, but then there came into Josh's mind the same faint voice that he had heard once before. He heard the words again,
The House of Goél must be filled.

Josh set his jaw and sent the arrow right through Onar's broad back. The Servant grunted once, then fell forward.

Josh ran and pulled the scarlet-clad form away from Sarah.

“Come on. It's all right now, but we have to hurry,” he urged.

As he pulled her away, Josh took one clear look at the blood that stained the ground around Onar. He realized that he had lost something very precious. Never again, he knew, could he be the simple boy that he had been.

They freed the others quickly.

“What are we going to do about Tam and Jake?” Sarah asked.

“We can't help them by staying here,” Josh said. “We'll find some way to get them back later.”

“Where are we going?” Sarah asked as they moved toward the sea.

Volka was carrying the limp form of Crusoe. The others carried the supplies.

“We're going to the boat, then to the next Sleeper.” Josh spoke with a hard tone. Onar's death had changed him.

He got them to the boat and, when they were ready, shoved off. Mat knew a little about sailing, so he took control of the small craft.

“How is he?” Josh finally asked, as Sarah leaned over Crusoe.

“He's unconscious,” she said. “I—I think he's hurt
very
badly. Can't we get a doctor?”

“I don't see how,” Josh said grimly. “Do you know any medicine, Mat?”

“If I did, I'd use it on myself,” Mat said.

Then Josh noticed that Mat was swaying on the seat, pale as ashes.

“What's wrong?” Josh sprang to help him, and the dwarf slumped to the bottom of the boat. “I'm a Gemini—that's what's wrong.”

And then Josh remembered what Crusoe had said— that Gemini twins would die if separated.

“You'll be all right soon, Mat,” Josh encouraged him. “They're taking Tam to the Temple, and that's where we're headed too—in a roundabout way.”

Mat brightened a little. “We are? That's good. I don't feel so well.” Then he fainted.

So there they were. Two dying men, two teenagers, and a giant.

∗ ∗ ∗

It was nearly dark when Mat awoke and pulled himself up to look over the side. “That's it,” he whispered. “That's the sea entrance to the Ghost Marshes.”

Somehow they landed, and then Volka had his finest hour. They could not have done it without the giant, for he practically carried them all on his broad back. “Load me up!” he said with a swagger. “I've never seen a load I couldn't carry!”

They tied Mat in a sling on Volka's back, then hung
the supplies and packs anywhere they could. Volka picked Crusoe up in his arms. Loaded like a frigate, he plowed into the muck of the evil-smelling swamp. He called to Sarah and Josh. “Catch hold and come on, young ones! I'm Volka, and no little swamp stops me!”

Forever after on that trip, when any of them was in trouble, Josh would remind himself that nothing could be as bad as the Ghost Marshes. For hours they slogged through the sucking mud. They finally gave up trying to wave away the bloodthirsty mosquitoes. They exhausted all their strength, then summoned still more.

It was not just a terrible physical effort. Josh thought there was something evil and hungry about the way the mud tried to suck them under, as if it were trying to devour them.

And there were voices that whispered, “Rest a little! You're so tired! Just for a moment, then you'll be stronger.”

Finally even Volka was swaying from side to side, about to topple with his burdens. At last they all slumped in a helpless sprawl beside a huge cypress.

And the voices sounded so good that, one by one, each of the weary travelers slipped into a drugged sleep.

What would have happened if they had continued sleeping, Josh never knew. Only a familiar voice that stirred in his mind kept him from finding out.

“
Joshua, you must get up,”
the voice urged.

He tried to ignore the words, but the voice came again, sternly this time. “
Joshua, I need you.”

Josh slowly and painfully opened his eyes. There before him in the shadows of the swamp was a tall figure dressed in rough brown cloth, his face shielded by a hood.

“You must awaken the others and follow me,” he said.

Josh staggered to his feet. Somehow he got them all awake, and they staggered out of the swamp.

“Where are we going, Josh?” Sarah asked weakly.

“Out of here—where he says,” Josh said, pointing at the tall figure going before them.

But Sarah seemed not to see the man.

Finally they stumbled out of the mud onto firm land. The sky opened up, and fields appeared.

Suddenly Josh felt someone near and turned to find the tall man beside him pointing at something.

“That is where you are to go, Joshua,” he said. He would have passed on then, into the woods, but Joshua called after him.

“Who are you?” he cried. “What's your name?”

The man was almost invisible in the darkness of the trees, but he turned and spoke clearly.

“Yes, you have earned the right to know my name.”

He turned, and as he disappeared in the morning mists he called back in a clear voice, “
I am Goél!”

Then he was gone.

Josh stood and listened to the echo of that name.

8

The Fourth Sleeper

J
osh peered into the darkness of the woods so long that he was startled when Sarah came up behind him.

“What is it, Josh?”

“Oh! I was just wondering …” Josh began. Then for some reason he felt powerless to mention the stranger. He said instead, “Look, there's the place. At least I think so.”

He pointed to a large steel door set in a hillside about a hundred yards away from where they stood.

Sarah pulled her necklace free. As they walked toward the cave, she said, “You must be right. Look how the heart is glowing.”

Without hesitation they walked up to the massive door. Josh immediately recited the song.

“‘
All caves of earth are dark and drear,

except that one that glows like diamonds clear.

“‘
He who would this Sleeper wake,

must pass the deadly jaws of fate.'”

Suddenly the door separated like a set of huge fangs. The top half slid up, and the bottom half lowered, revealing diamond-shaped teeth that met.

“They're
jaws!
Just like a shark,” Sarah said.

“Come on, Sarah,” Josh said. “Volka, you rest here and take care of the others.” Josh indicated the still unconscious
Crusoe and Mat, and the giant wearily nodded. Then Josh and Sarah slipped through the dangerous opening.

Josh had expected the cave to be as dark as the hive had been. Therefore, he was amazed to see that a brilliant light illuminated the cavern, making it even brighter than daylight.

“What is it?” Sarah asked breathlessly. “I've never seen anything so beautiful! It's like a million Christmas trees all at once!”

“Sure is,” Josh whispered. He blinked. The walls and roof glittered as if they were studded with precious stones —green emeralds, glowing red rubies, flashing diamonds.

Josh touched the walls carefully. “I think it's some kind of quartz formation,” he said. He did not know really, but the words sounded impressive.

“Let's hurry. We've got to get back to the others,” Sarah said.

Finding the Sleeper was not difficult. The familiar capsule lay open to view in a small chamber. As they had done before, they paused to activate the system that would awake the person who lay resting inside.

Sarah said, “Josh, I have a feeling that this Sleeper is really something. I mean,” she tried to explain, “it's just got to be, hasn't it?”

Josh knew what she meant. “Yeah, we're in such a mess now it'll take a real
somebody
to do us any good. Well, push the button, Sarah. Keep your fingers crossed, and hope it'll be a super person!”

After Sarah had pushed the button, they waited for the vapor to clear. When it did, they both gasped as the plastic hood swung free.

“Oh!” Sarah breathed. “I think we really did find a super person!”

The Sleeper who opened his eyes and slowly sat up was one of the handsomest boys that Josh had ever seen.

He was perhaps a year older than Josh. Everything about him seemed perfect, from his clear skin and perfectly formed head to his trim athletic figure. He looked like one of those young men that Josh had always envied in Oldworld because they could always win at any game or find a ready audience.

Perhaps this bitter memory set Josh to wondering what good another teenager—and probably a spoiled one, at that—was going to be on the Quest. But as he greeted the Sleeper, Josh tried to hide his thoughts. He smiled quickly and said, “Hello. I'm Josh Adams, and this is Sarah Collingwood.”

“I'm Dave Cooper,” replied the Sleeper.

They shook hands awkwardly.

After a pause, Dave prompted, “Well, I guess you'll have to tell me what's going on.”

Sarah began to explain.

Josh grumpily thought that she elaborated and exaggerated too much.
Showing off,
he thought.

“You see, Dave, there are seven of us, we think,” Sarah was saying. “We have to wake up all of them. Now that there are four of us—”

“Where's the other one?” Dave asked.

“Well, a man named Elmas—wait a minute, I'll have to tell you about the Sanhedrin—”

“We'd better get to the others,” Josh interrupted. “It's going to take a while to tell all this. You can tell it as we go, Sarah.”

They left the capsule and made their way toward the Jaws of Fate. Sarah led the way, rapidly telling Dave all the story. Josh trailed behind.

When they got to the Jaws of Fate, Dave and Sarah passed through easily, but just as Josh cleared the opening, the Jaws snapped together, barely missing him.

“What—what was
that?”
Dave whispered, swallowing as he stared at the massive steel teeth.

“Oh, nothing,” Josh said casually, though his voice was not quite steady. “Let's get going.”

By the time they reached the others, Sarah had explained the Quest to Dave.

She had also prepared him for what he would see. Thus Dave showed no fear when Volka suddenly stepped toward them.

The giant grunted. “I see you got him.”

“How's Crusoe?” Josh asked at once. “And Mat?”

“I think Mat is better. Crusoe—not so good.”

The old man, in fact, looked terrible. He was pale, and his heart seemed to be skipping a beat now and then.

Josh said worriedly, “He's really sick. I don't see how we can travel until he gets better. He needs some rest and something to eat.”

Josh tried to think, but the ordeal in the Ghost Marsh had drained him mentally as well as physically. “I just don't know
what
to do,” he muttered wearily and slumped to the ground.

None of the group spoke for a moment.

Then Dave said slowly, “Well, of course I'm in the dark about most of this, but you all look beat to me. I don't think any of you could get very far without some rest and food—especially Mr. Crusoe.”

“We
know
that. I just said so,” Josh snapped. “Where can we get something to eat? That's what we need to know.”

“From the cave,” Dave said. “Didn't you see the room next to where I was? They showed it to me before I went to sleep.”

“I didn't notice,” Josh said, trying to dismiss the information.

“It's full of all kinds of stuff—food, clothes, supplies.”

The others began to look a little more encouraged.

“Say,” Dave said, suddenly, “I've got an idea! Why don't we go back and stay in the cave? It's safe there— especially with those jaws! And we can rest and get some food inside us. I'm starving, myself.”

Dave organized them into some kind of order, with Volka carrying Crusoe, and the rest taking the few supplies. Soon they were moving toward the cave.

Sarah pulled at Josh's arm.

“Dave is pretty super after all, isn't he? He sure learned everything quickly enough. And now he thought of the cave. I think we'll be all right now.”

“It's going to take more than Mr. Wonderful to get us through,” Josh grumped.

Sarah looked at him in amazement. “What's wrong? Don't you like Dave?”

Josh could not answer honestly. He was a little envious at the easy way that the other boy had taken command.

“I'm just tired,” he muttered. He was about to say more when Sarah left him, running ahead to walk beside Dave.

They entered the Jaws of Fate and soon had a cheery fire going. They fixed chocolate, and toast covered with cheese. There was some soup for Crusoe, who was beginning to show much more life, and there was a variety of canned meat. Some chocolate chip cookies in sealed bags had survived the years quite well.

After they could eat no more, the travelers rolled themselves into warm sleeping bags. The last thing Josh remembered before he plunged into the soundest sleep he had ever known was Sarah and Dave talking.

∗ ∗ ∗

When Josh finally awakened, he found himself caught up in a plan that Dave had devised with some help from Sarah.

Dave was quick to ask Josh's opinion, but it was immediately clear that the others had already agreed to try the plan.

“You were really worn out, Josh,” Dave said sympathetically. “I knew you'd be anxious to get on the way, so here's what we've decided. Here's the next Sleeper.” He pulled out the worn map.

Josh looked at him sharply, and Dave added, “We didn't want to disturb you, so I took it out of your pocket. I hope you don't mind.”

As a matter of fact, Josh did mind, but what could he say?

“It's so simple,” Dave went on. “You've already come through the worst of the country. Now all we have to do is get out of these woods and hit the Great Road —see?”

“I know that,” Josh snapped. “But it may not be so easy.”

“All we have to do is hit the Great Road, and it leads right to the city. That's where the next Sleeper lies. What could be easier? You'll think more clearly when you're a little more awake,” Dave added loftily.

“I'm awake enough to know that the Sanhedrin has an alarm out for us! How long do you think it'll take them to spot us on that highway out in the open?”

“Say, that's right,” Mat said. “We have to keep away from the main road.”

Dave waved his hand airily and showed his perfect teeth in a big smile. “Don't worry! When we get there, we'll skirt the roads. The important thing is to keep
moving.
Come on, let's go.”

Josh had time to speak to Crusoe for only a minute before Volka picked the old man up. “How do you feel? If you can't make it, we'll stay here until you're better.”

“Sorry to be such a bother, Josh—but I do feel much better,” Crusoe assured him. “As long as we're careful, we should be all right. But keep your eyes on that young man.” Crusoe pointed at Dave. “He could get us captured if he doesn't learn caution.”

“I'll watch him all right—but it seems like everyone is convinced that he's the great leader,” Josh said grimly.

He glanced jealously at Sarah. Dave was helping her place her pack just right, and Josh thought that she looked far too happy.

They left the edge of the Ghost Marshes, and at once the country began to flatten out. They followed a broad trail evidently used by many travelers. They covered a quarter of the distance to the Great Road before they stopped for lunch. After a quick meal and a short rest, they continued.

By afternoon, Josh had decided that he had been wrong and Dave had been right. Grudgingly, he began to admit to himself that maybe Dave was the leader they needed.

But his thoughts were abruptly interrupted when he heard Volka shout, “Everyone watch out—
Snakepeople!”

Volka put Crusoe down and set himself for a fight.

Out of a canyon came a number of terrifying creatures—perhaps twenty in all. They were upon the small group so fast that Josh had time for only a quick glimpse before the attack.

He whipped out his sword as if he'd been doing it all his life and plunged it into the scaly breast of one of the creatures. The thing was not really human, although it had two legs and two arms, for the limbs and the body were truly snakelike, twisting and writhing in coils.

The worst part of the creature was its head. Instead of a human face, it had a pointed surface with black beady eyes and a mouth with two large fangs. From the fangs dripped some sort of clear fluid.

Josh no sooner dropped the first creature than another attacked. The little group was indeed hard pressed by the attackers.

In the heat of the crisis, Dave showed his true ability to organize. He was fighting off some of the Snakepeople with a sword that Mat had given him, and still managing to shout directions and encouragement to the others. “Get back against this bluff, everyone. Look out, Mat, there's one behind you! Get those bows in action!”

It was Volka who gave them time to form, for with a roar and one blow of his massive forearm, he swept aside half a dozen of the horrible creatures. This allowed Mat and Sarah to use their bows. As another enemy wave swept toward them, Josh heard the hiss and impact of arrows striking home. Sarah was not hitting much, but Mat proved to be a deadly marksman. Soon the bodies of the snakelike creatures were littering the ground.

“There's too many of them!” Josh shouted as he fended off two scaly bodies at once with his blade. “Watch out, Dave!” he called. “They're coming behind you—from the tree!”

Now the company was completely cut off. The twisting creatures were dropping down behind them, sliding through the branches and falling on top of their victims. Josh caught one right across the neck just before the creature had Sarah in its writhing arms.

Miraculously, no one had been bitten. Yet they were at the end of their rope now, huddled together inside a ring of hissing Snakepeople.

Josh began to believe this might be the end. Yet
worse than the thought of death was the knowledge that, with them, died all hope of a new world.

Then for no reason that he could see, every Snakecreature froze like a statue carved out of marble. They looked like a movie stopped in a single frame.

Josh stared at the venomous face of the nearest creature and saw that a film had covered its eyes. It began to sway faintly from side to side.

“What's wrong with them?” he whispered to Sarah.

“Listen!” Sarah said and cocked her head to one side.

Josh heard nothing for a moment. Then a faint, thin melody reached his ears. As the notes grew stronger and stronger, Josh recognized the tones of some kind of flute. Suddenly, out of the trees just to the left of Volka, stepped a man.

He looked like the picture from a story Josh had loved —“The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” The stranger wore a peaked green cap with a feather, a short tunic, and brown leather boots. He carried a bow over his shoulder and a sword at his side, but it was the pipe that Josh looked at.

The little instrument was silver with many stops. The melody the stranger played was like none Josh had heard. It almost made him feel drowsy, in spite of the danger.