The Dark Lord's Demise (34 page)

They got up from the meal, stretched, considered sitting by the
fire a while but decided to turn in. Wes blew out the oil lamp, and
the boys went upstairs to bed. Lisa went to the stable corner to say
good night to Philo. She patted the black snip on his nose and said,
"Thanks for offering to carry all three of us today."

"I heard you talking to the Lord Gaal," the horse said. "I am glad
that you know him."

"Do you know Gaal?" Lisa asked.

Philo shook his mane in amazement. "Of course. All animals
know Gaal. Especially horses. We are his special favorites."

"You think so, do you? Say, could you-I mean, if he's here in
this room, did you-" Lisa glanced toward the fireplace, which was
the only light in the room. Deep shadows hid most of the chairs
and divans. "Never mind. I was just curious if you can see him all
the time." Philo turned big dark eyes on her but did not answer.

"You know, you remind me of a horse I once knew here in
Anthropos," Lisa said. "He was white like you, but-well, let's say
there were differences. His name was Theophilus."

Philo shied and pinned back his ears. "Lady Lisa, how do you
come to know that name? Never mind. It is mere coincidence.
Unless ... would you know this horse's full name?"

"Yes. I'll try not to laugh. It was ... Theophilus Gorgonzola
Roquefort de Limburger V." She dissolved in a fit of giggles. She stifled it when she saw Philo's reaction. His head drooped so low, the
black snip on his nose almost touched the straw on the floor.

"Alas, I must confess to an unfortunate and shameful portion of
my pedigree. There is it streak of insanity in my family. This Theophilus of whom you speak was an ancestor of mine. I like to think
he was not a direct ancestor, perhaps a distant cousin. I understand he had the foolish idea that he could-that he

Lisa was sure Philo would have covered his face with his hooves
if he could have done so. She couldn't wait to put his horsy mind at
ease. "Oh, Philo, Theophilus could fly! I've ridden on his back. He
was marvelous. That is, when he didn't take off in all directions he
wasn't supposed to go. He could be scatterbrained, but he had a
good heart, and he was fast and strong. And brave! Once he flew
straight through an attack of the Qadar. Well, that was his fault. He
was way off course."

The horse's ears worked back and forth. "Is this true?"

"Of course it's true! I'll tell you more later. Now I have to go to
bed and so do you."

"If you don't mind, Lady Lisa, could you scratch my back first? There is not room to roll here, and my back is so itchy."

Lisa obliged. The strange growths on the horse's back were
larger than ever. She stared at them and a new thought carne into
her mind. But she was too tired to figure it out now. She went
upstairs and left Philo to ponder his ancestry.

"Kurt! Lisa! Wake up! Look at this!"

Wes's voice in the downstairs room jolted his brother and sister
from sleep. They pulled on their clothes, stumbled into each other
in the upstairs hall and made it down the stairway without falling.
"What's wrong?" Kurt asked as he rubbed his eyes.

Wes stood by the window that faced the clearing. He explained,
"I woke up early and came downstairs to see if there was food. I
looked out the window and-" He pointed.

"More soldiers?" Lisa asked anxiously. She and Kurt crowded
close to the window. They expected to see some new threat: more
men with swords, goblins, swarms of weaver bees, perhaps even
Queen Hisschi herself. They never expected to see what passed by
a few yards from their tree.

The priest Hazilon, whom they had met in the royal council
chamber, strode along the stone pathway in the direction of Lake
Nachash. He carried a pole from which a long banner streamed
and snapped. The dark-blue banner was woven with a design of
gold. It waved so the design was hard to see, but it looked like some
sort of building.

The priest was not alone. Behind him in an uneven line walked
several other people. More and more figures emerged from the
woods and spread out across the clearing so that they no longer
walked in a line but in a mass. They were of all ages, and they were
not only Regenskind. Among them trotted Koach whose coats of
white, gray or black glistened in the morning sun. Among the
crowd were also Marmon (because of their small stature, they were
harder to spot). Many of the walkers conversed with excited hand
gestures and animated expressions, though the children could not
hear what they said. A few people snatched wildflowers. Most took
no time for that. These walkers were not out for a casual stroll. They were on their way somewhere important and could waste no
time.

One man near the edge of the group pointed to the top of the
Gaal tree and said something. A few other people looked where he
pointed. "They must see Vulcanus," said Wes. Then he cried, "It's
the old prisoner! Charaban!"

The man still looked up at the tree. They saw his face clearly. In
the hall of inquiry he had been either furious or in despair. Now
his face glowed with joy. Lisa recalled that he had been a captain
in King Kardia's army. She could believe it. His shoulders were
back, and his bearing was that of a soldier-slowed down by age
and a limp, but still on the march.

"I wonder why they let him out of prison. I thought we'd never
see him again! Wait, maybe this is a group of prisoners. They're
being marched to another prison or something. But why do they
all look so happy?"

"And why is the priest leading them?" Kurt wondered. "Hey,
there's Eminy! The serving girl from the palace!" He started to
wave but stopped himself. She couldn't see him, and even if she
could, it would not be wise to attract attention.

Emmy stepped quickly along the stone path. Gone was all her
anxiety and fear. She gazed at the sky as though she expected
something definite there. Then she turned and motioned with her
arm in a gesture that said, "Come on! Hurry up!" Two younger girls
followed her out of the woods. Like Emmy, they were dressed in
the plain clothing of servants.

"I'll bet that's the two girls the queen jailed for stealing," Kurt
said. "The ones Emmy said were innocent."

"Yeah," Wes said. "She said they were only jailed because they
believed the true way about. . ." His voice trailed off. The children
looked at each other. Kurt finished Wes's sentence. "Because they
believed the true way about Gaal. And Charaban said exactly the
same thing. He said they singled him out because he worshiped
Gaal."

"And Emmy said that Hazilon told her about the queen's lies,"
Lisa added. "And now here's Hazilon himself, leading all this
crowd! This is a bunch of true followers of Gaal!"

"They're sure on their way somewhere! But where?" Kurt
pressed his face up against the window. "Are Ildreth and Shamith
out there? The king's beekeepers? I doubt it."

"I doubt if the Commander is there either," Wes said cynically.

For several minutes they watched the parade of believers cross
the clearing. Now and then they pointed out a familiar face. Wes
said, "Hey, I think I see some of the young guards from the hall of
inquiry. They've got those dark uniforms on. But they don't have
their swords."

"I think I see some of the prisoners too," Kurt commented. "It
was so dark in there, I'm not sure. Hey, there are kids too! Is it the
abandoned ones from the room where we were?"

Wes squinted. "I think it's some of them. Oh gosh, yes, there's
the boy who was scared and crying. He sure looks happy now."

"That silvery gray Koach there-is that Swiftlope?" Lisa asked.
"He's the right color, but now he looks like a real wolf. Not like a
big puppy dog."

The crowd moved across the clearing in a long wave. They
thinned out to a few stragglers. When the last of them disappeared
into the woods, the sunny clearing looked empty and forlorn.

Kurt turned from the window. His eyes shone. "Let's go with
them!" he said.

Wes shook his head. "Gaal hasn't told us anything about it."

"But Wes, those were Gaal's followers. We don't need special
instructions to go with them."

"I don't think so, Kurt."

Frustrated, Kurt asked Lisa, "Don't you think we should follow?
We don't need to have it written across the sky. Just seeing them
should be enough."

"Well, we don't know for sure what it means," Lisa replied. "It
could be a trick. I wish we could have heard what they were talking
about. Say, what about Vulcanus? He was in the top of the tree. He
must have heard them."

Cautiously (more cautiously than Kurt liked) they went outside.
No one could miss the fact that a large crowd had trooped by. For
yards on either side of the stone pathway, the long yellow grass was
trampled flat. Wes walked out to where he could see the top of the oak. He expected to see Vulcanus on the top branch. But the bird
was not there. "Probably hunting mice," Wes muttered. They
waited and scanned the sky, but the bird did not show up.

Vulcanus's disappearance gave Kurt new ammunition. "See?"
He said with more than a touch of gloat. "He went with them. What
else would you expect him to do?"

Wes exploded. "You don't know that! Maybe he went back to
Nephesh! Maybe he flew ahead to the lake to do reconnaissance!
Maybe he packed his bags and went on a buzzard holiday! We're
not going anywhere until we know Gaal wants us to!"

Philo stuck his big head out the door of the tree. Very politely he
said, "Excuse me, may I be of assistance?" His presence made the
Gaal tree look like a barn. Lisa said, "Philo! You spotted the soldiers last night. Why didn't you get all excited about the parade?"

"I have been in far too many parades. They are rather pointless.
Besides, this one had no horses."

In a sarcastic tone Lisa said, "Yeah, and since horses are Gaal's
special favorite, this parade must not have been a real Gaal parade,
right? Never mind. That was your ego talking."

"My eagle?"

"Ego. Your pride."

"Young lady, I am a humble horse."

"I think we should go," Kurt fumed. "Now. Otherwise we'll never
catch up with them. Come on, let's get our stuff." He squeezed past
Philo and reentered the tree.

Wes gazed toward the woods where the company had disappeared. He looked at Lisa and shook his head. "It's not right," he
said.

"I think I agree with you," Lisa answered. "But let's see if we can
get Kurt to sit down a minute so we can talk about it."

They stepped back inside the tree. The scent of hot buttered biscuits and ham nearly made their knees buckle as they walked in.
Lisa breathed in deeply and said, "Mmmmmm!" Wes did the same
but cut it short when he saw Kurt already seated at the table with a
biscuit in his mouth.

Wes laughed. "Well, Kurt, I thought you were all ready to hit the
trail!"

"Gta eat frst," Kurt mumbled.

Lisa sat down at the table and picked up a biscuit. She said,
"You'll have to excuse Kurt. He talks with his mouth full. The result
of constant grazing." She bit into a biscuit.

Wes joined them at the table. "I think you have to agree, Kurt,
that if Gaal wanted us to run and follow that group-"

"-he wouldn't have provided breakfast. I know." Kurt had swallowed his first installment of food. He had also swallowed his
pride. After they worked their way through several biscuits and
generous portions of ham, Philo whinnied, "The bird is back!"

For the second time that day, the view from the window surprised them. They expected to see the big dark form of Vulcanus.
For a moment they saw no bird at all. Then they spotted the white
pigeon, which fluttered and hopped on the trampled grass by the
stone pathway.

"I told you so!" Kurt whooped. "Let's go!"

"We don't know yet which way it wants us to go," Wes cautioned.
But all three children were already on their way to fetch their backpacks. The panniers still lay where Lisa had tossed them the night
before They decided to abandon their backpacks and let the horse
carry everything. He readily agreed. They packed up the remains
of the biscuits and ham and put on their shoes. Wes gathered up
the panniers and told Philo, "Come on. We have to put them on
you outdoors."

Lisa took a last look around. She breathed, "Thanks, Gaal.
Maybe next time it really will be the Bayith of Yayin." As soon as
she stepped outside, the door closed up. The Gaal tree again
looked like an ordinary oak.

The pigeon fluttered off along the stone pathway in the direction the crowd had gone, and they followed. In the woods the
recent march was very evident. The stone pathway showed no footprints, but broken brush lined the path on either side. It gave the
children it wider walkway. They made good time, the pigeon always
a short way ahead. Now and then the bird stopped and turned to
cock its head and study them. Then it fluttered on, making no
sound.

Soon they approached a place where the trail divided. The stone pathway continued straight ahead. The Friesens knew that it
led directly to Lake Nachash. But the trampled trail, where the
party led by Hazilon had gone, turned right onto another pathway
of grass and dirt rather than stone.