Strange Creatures of Dr. Korbo (14 page)

Reb threw himself into the fray, and he and Josh together managed to put the guards out of action. Then the boys and Sarah ran for the stairs.

“It's a long way up to the top of this thing,” Reb panted.

The stairs were long, and on every landing they had to fight off a guard. Dealing with the few human guards inside the castle turned out to be almost as bitter a fight as the battle outside with the lion-headed bulls.

At some time, Josh became aware that the rest of the Sleepers had joined them. Gus too was in the thick of things. He did not carry a sword but a small ax that
had a blade on one side and a sharp point on the other.

But soon he had received a wound along his arm.

“Oh, you're hurt,” Abbey cried.

Gus frowned at the wound. “Probably a little poison in there, too, I expect—but that'll just be more of a challenge, don't you think?”

Finally the Sleepers fought their way to what Josh thought must be the last landing. Here was a large open area, and beyond that was a huge door, which he was relatively sure led to the magician's laboratory. And here, it appeared, Korbo had placed most of his guards.

“We've got to get to that door!” he shouted. “All right, Sleepers, let's have at it.”

Arrows hissed, and swords clashed. Some of the villagers arrived then and valiantly threw themselves into the fighting. The guards refused to give up.

The battle continued to rage until finally the weight of the invaders began to tell. One of the servants of the magician threw down his sword and cried out, “Don't kill me! I give up!”

As if at a sign, the rest of the guards did the same.

Josh yelled, “Don't kill them! Make them prisoners.”

Soon the villagers had rounded up the surrendered men and bound their hands.

“Take them downstairs. We'll be there soon,” Josh commanded.

“Now for the magician,” Sarah said. “Wherever he might be.”

“Right,” Josh said grimly. He crossed to the huge door, lifted his foot, and then kicked it open. He entered, followed by the Sleepers and Gus, to see Dr. Korbo, the magician, drawn up before another large door that opened onto a balcony.

Korbo was a tall, lean man dressed completely in black.
He wore a sharp-pointed hat, and hatred flashed

from his eyes.

“You'll pay for this!” he cried.

“No.
You're
going to pay for what you've done, Korbo,” Josh said.

“Who are you? What are you doing in my castle?”

“We are the servants of Goél, and we have come to liberate the people and the poor beasts that you've enslaved.”

“Goél! I know of no Goél!”

“You will know him soon, because you are going to meet him.”

“What do you mean by that?” Korbo snarled.

“I mean we're taking you to him, and your fate will rest in his hands.”

The magician drew himself up. “I will never surrender to this Goél or to anyone else! I am a servant of the Dark Lord.”

Sarah asked quietly, “Why did you do such terrible things to the animals of your country?”

“You would not understand. I am a scientist, and we scientists do not live by the rules of other people.”

“You're not a scientist. Scientists like to help people,” Jake said. “You're just full of meanness and hate.”

Korbo glared at them all. “Get out of my castle!”

“I'm afraid not, Korbo. We're taking you with us to Goél. He can take that evil out of you. If you are willing, you could become a better man.”

The magician laughed wildly. It was obvious that he was not normal. “I will never go with you!” he said.

“Reb, you and Dave bring him along.”

Reb and Dave advanced on the magician, but Korbo backed out onto the balcony. He continued to back up until he had reached the railing. “Stay away
from me!” he screamed. “I won't go with you!”

“Look, Korbo,” Josh said. “Goél can help you. You don't have to stay the way you are.”

“I want to stay the way I am.”

“So you can experiment on helpless babies?” Josh asked. “Don't you see how wrong that is?”

“I am a magician and a scientist. I obey only the Dark Lord.”

“Just bring him, guys.” Josh sighed. “There's no reasoning with him.”

But Dave and Reb never had a chance to get to Korbo. Without warning, a monster bat swooped down from the sky. Evidently it had been searching for prey, and now it dove toward Korbo.

“Look out, Korbo! It's a bat!” Josh shouted.

The magician looked up, but he had no time to do anything else. The bat seized him by the throat.

Josh yelled, “Korbo!” and ran out onto the balcony. But the giant creature was flying off with its prey.

Sickened, Josh turned away. “I was hoping that we could help him.”

“I guess he had just gone too far in the dark arts,” Sarah said. She put her hand on Josh's arm. “You did your best, Josh. He just didn't want help.”

“Thanks, Sarah. But now,” he said, “we've got to help his people.”

“That's right,” she agreed. “They've been under tyranny for so long that they won't know what to do with freedom.”

“At least they'll have a chance now,” Abbey put in.

“Yeah,” Reb said. “All they need is some leadership. This is a good land.”

Josh was encouraged by their remarks. “We'll do the best we can,” he said. “Let's get started.”

J
osh and the Sleepers found it more difficult to set right the land than they had supposed. Day after day passed, and the people seemed pathetically helpless. Chief Canto and the chiefs of other villages would meet from time to time, but their villages were really isolated from one another. Each one was a small world, so that they did not know each other well enough to work together.

“I don't know what we're going to do!” Josh finally declared. “How are we going to get them all together?”

The Sleepers were gathered about a table in Chief Canto's house. Gus sat beside Meta. So far, both had been listening but without joining the discussion.

“Well, first we've got to rid the land of these awful beasts,” Sarah said.

“We're working on that,” Gus said. “We'll have them rooted out soon—if they don't kill us first, of course.”

“You've done a good job, Gus,” Josh said warmly.

Indeed Gus had. He'd made himself responsible for leading the villagers in hunting down the beasts that Korbo had created. He had been a very busy man indeed and by now seemed to know everybody in every village. “Just give us a few more days, and we'll have the experimental animals taken care of. If they don't rise up against us, of course.”

“You've done a wonderful job,” Meta said.

“Yes, I have, haven't I?” Gus said with satisfaction. “What other problems do we have? I'm available.”

Josh laughed. “Well, once we get rid of all the beasts, it seems the big problem is getting these people to get along with each other.”

“Why, I think they get along fine,” Gus said with amazement. “What makes you think different?”

“They get along fine within their own villages, but the villages need to work with each other. There are some things that take a lot of people to do, not just one village.”

“That's right,” Dave agreed, “and they're sure not good at that.”

“I think,” Abbey said slowly, “it's because all their lives they've been cooped up in their own little villages and not really able to get close to anybody else.”

“You're right on,” Wash said, nodding. He was eating a pear rather noisily and now offered one to Reb. “What they need is some kind of political system.”

Dave groaned. “I hate politics.”

“Well, you have to have somebody to tie things together. Think how it is with us. We're just a small group, but even
we
need a leader. That's why we have Josh.”

Josh felt very good about this. He had now become convinced that his failure was behind him and that he had learned from it. As a matter of fact, he had told Sarah, “I think I can take it now if I
don't
succeed every time I try something.”

 

One day Gus went along with Josh to report to Chief Canto and the other village leaders who had gathered. They all seemed willing enough to listen, but Canto said, “My people trust me, and in the other villages they trust their chief. But no one knows the people in other places, and they don't know us. How can we work together?”

“Maybe we could have an election,” Gus said.

“What is an
election?
”

“Oh, I've been listening to some of Reb's stories. He said that back in Oldworld the people in some countries would just get together and choose who was going to rule them.”

“I never heard of anything like that,” Chief Canto replied, astonished.

“It worked well in some countries,” Josh said. “Other countries had kings. That worked pretty well for some, too.”

“As for myself, I would prefer not to be ruled by a king. We have heard about kings. Some can become very cruel.”

“Well, they can. Others are very kind and love their people, but the people don't have any say in their government.”

Canto and his fellow chiefs whispered for a while. Then he turned back to Gus and Josh and said, “We want to have an election.”

Gus took great interest in the election proceedings. He had never seen an election and knew nothing about democracy or about governing. He spent a great deal of time listening to the Sleepers explain all this. Then he volunteered to go from village to village, explaining to the people. The villagers seemed to enjoy his poetry about elections, which he made up on the spot. After just a few weeks, he came back to Josh and said, “Well, we're ready for the election.”

“So soon?”

“I've talked to every chief, and I've talked to all the people in every village. They're ready to make a choice.”

“That's great, Gus. You're a smart fellow.”

“Yes, I am,” Gus said contentedly. “When do you want to have the election?”

“As soon as you can get everybody together.”

 

Election day came a week later. Josh stared at the enormous crowd gathered in the castle courtyard. “They can't all get inside,” he said, frowning.

“No,” Gus said, “but we can go outside and get their vote.”

Josh ordered a raised platform to be built in the courtyard. Then he stepped up on it and lifted his hand for silence.

When all was quiet, he said, “What you are doing here today is deciding on one individual who will help you in every way he can. He will talk to all the chiefs and serve as their counselor. They will bring him their problems, and he will do his best to help solve them.”

He made quite a long speech, explaining how democracy worked.

Finally Chief Canto stepped up onto the platform. He said, “It is enough. We understand. Let us have the election.”

“All right.” Josh grinned. “I
was
being a little longwinded. Now, give me the names of your candidates.”

“What is this ‘candidate'?” Canto asked in a bewildered way.

“I mean, give me a list of all the men or women that you want to vote on. The one who gets the most votes will be your leader.”

“Oh.” Canto turned to the crowd. “Who do you want to lead us?”

Everyone began yelling at once.

Josh was half-deafened.

“What are they saying?” Sarah shouted up to him.

“I don't know, but I think they're saying
‘Gus'
!”

“They want
Gus
to be their ruler?” Wash said, looking stunned. “I can't believe it!”

Reb grinned. “
He'll
believe it. Wait and see.”

Josh walked to the edge of the platform and said, “Gus, come up here.”

Gus came up at once, a contented smile on his face.

“Do you want to name another candidate?” Josh asked the people.

“No! We want Gus!” the shout came.

“Do all of you want Gus?”

“Yes! Yes!” everyone shouted. “We want Gus to be our leader!”

Josh Adams could not help laughing. He turned to Gus and said, “You're the best politician I ever saw in my life.”

“Well, I like to think they want me not just because I'm the handsomest one in the country but because I'll do a good job. Which I will, of course.”

“I believe you will, Gus.”

“What will my title be? I can't be a king. People don't like the sound of that word.”

“I think we'll call you the
governor,
” Josh said, grinning. “Will that sound all right?”

“The governor,” Gus said. “Yes. That sounds good. Governor Gustavian Devolutarian.”

And so it was that Gus became governor of all the land. He had won the hearts of the people, and everyone seemed happy with their choice. Gus asked if he could make a short speech.

“I will do the best I can for you,” he said, “but there is one problem.”

“What's that?” Josh asked as the people stood waiting.

“Well, a single man is rather unsteady . . .” Gus seemed to be suddenly at a loss for words.

Josh prompted him. “Then perhaps you ought to get married, Gus.”

“What a fine idea!” He looked down at Meta and said to her, “This is a hard thing to ask a young woman. You know how crazy women are about me. There will always be some chasing after me. Can't help that. But if you could put up with that, I think I'd be a good husband.”

It appeared that Meta had already seen through Gus and had decided she could put up with him. She came up onto the platform and stood beside the new governor, and all the people cheered.

 

A huge crowd gathered to watch the Sleepers depart.