The Door Within (19 page)
“No, not at all,” Aidan replied. “The Captain’s been a little harsh, but he treats everyone that way. Even so, I know he cares. Everyone seems to care. Oh, I don’t know what my problem is.”
“Problem, eh?” Mallik grinned. “I have found that there are very few problems in life that cannot be solved with a great big hammer!”
This time Aidan did fall off the log. He lay on the ground and laughed so hard it hurt! With a hand from Mallik, he finally got up.
“Thanks, Mallik,” Aidan said, “for everything.”
“We’re together in this, lad,” he said. “Remember that.”
Weariness from the journey caught up with them all, and each retired to his or her tent for the night. Aidan was about to snuff the candle in his lantern, but the urge hit him to use the bathroom. Of course, they had no portable toilets in the wilderness of Alleble, so Aidan wandered off to find a private place. He walked away from the tents and toward the edge of the Cold River. It was just a narrow branch of the river—barely a running leap to the other side, if one was interested. Aidan had no interest in leaping across, for, somehow, the other side of the river seemed spookier. There were tall, leafless trees with gnarled branches swimming in a sea of waist-high dead grass that brushed this way and that in the chilling breeze. No, Aidan would wait until he had the other eleven Knights of Alleble with him before he crossed to that side of the Cold River!
It did look cold too. Aidan looked down from the edge into the inky black water that was far too still for a river. Aidan imagined what dark things could inhabit such water—long, segmented gray worms, slimy black fish with bulging eyes, sleek lizards, or snakes!
Blech!
Aidan shivered and stepped back from the edge.
It was not easy undoing his breeches, but he managed. He stood there, taking care of business, when he saw a flicker of light on the other side of the river. He looked up and squinted, but it was too far away to identify. Only seconds later, another light flashed on— bright yellow, a little closer. Then, two or three more lights. Suddenly, lots of them, maybe twenty or so—in the tall grass, near the trees, some only thirty yards away! Aidan’s mind whirled in a frantic attempt to think. There were more now, perhaps a hundred, but what could—
Oh no! TORCHES!
Aidan stood paralyzed. Torches could mean only one thing: The wicked Knights of Paragory had somehow found them!
Aidan thought about the others—he had to warn them! If more than a hundred Paragor Knights attacked their little band of twelve with no warning, they would all be slaughtered! That thought urged Aidan to move. He yanked up his breeches, secured them as best he could, and raced back for camp. He began screaming urgently, “The Paragor Knights! They’ve found us! Wake up! They’re here! Captain Valithor, the Paragor Knights are here!”
Aidan expected to feel an arrow stab into his back as he ran closer to camp, but somehow he was able to keep running and screaming. In a matter of seconds, Captain Valithor and the others burst forth from the camp. Nock and Bolt, arrows fit to their bowstrings, were up in the crooks of a tree. Mallik, his hammer at the ready, bounded to Aidan’s side.
“Where, Sir Aidan? Where are they?” bellowed Captain Valithor, scanning for the enemy.
“Across the river . . . there, you can see their torches!” Aidan shouted back.
The knights ran fiercely to the river’s edge and looked across, but then, something peculiar happened. The intensity of battle vanished from their faces, and to Aidan’s complete surprise, they all started laughing.
“What . . . what’s going on?” Aidan asked, feeling frustrated.
That seemed to make things worse, for several of the knights were holding their sides from the pain of laughter. Kaliam and Acsriot actually fell to the ground and heaved in hysterical fits!
“Hey!” Aidan screamed. “Why are you all laughing? Huh? Aren’t you worried about the Paragor Knights?”
Finally, after the roar simmered down to small bursts of snickers and giggles, Captain Valithor came over and put a hand on Aidan’s shoulder.
“Come, Sir Aidan,” he said tenderly, while obviously trying not to break into fresh laughter. “Come, let us go look at your Knights of Paragor!”
With that, the powerful Captain took Aidan by the hand and led him over to the river’s edge. Then, to Aidan’s horror, the Captain took Aidan under one arm like a sack of potatoes and jumped across the river to the other bank. He carried Aidan over to the closest light and put him down. When Aidan looked closely at the light, he saw that it wasn’t a torch after all. It was a web nestled between the stalks of grass. And in the web was a spider with a glowing rear end that lit up all the web around it.
“They’re called lantern spiders, Sir Aidan,” explained the Captain to Aidan’s complete embarrassment. “Their abdomens light up to attract moths and other insects into their webs.”
The other knights stood watching from the other bank and burst into a new round of laughs. Gwenne did her best to shush them, but a moment later, something else happened and even Gwenne could not restrain herself.
As Captain Valithor again picked up Aidan and leaped across the Cold River, Aidan’s breeches, which he had not yet secured properly, slid right off his legs and fell into the murky water.
Aidan landed on the other bank wearing nothing but a nightshirt and long underwear.
Kaliam used his broadsword to fish Aidan’s sodden breeches from the water. He handed them to Aidan, grinned, and walked back to his tent. Aidan had never felt so mortified in his entire life. First, he had scared everyone half to death because of some stupid glowing spiders! Then he had pretty much flashed all of his companions! At least no one teased him about it as they walked back to camp—except, of course, Gwenne, who couldn’t resist.
“Well, Sir Aidan,” she said, biting her tongue to keep from laughing, “I guess those spiders just scared the pants off of you, eh?”
Aidan just gritted his teeth and ignored her.
Some courageous knight I am!
he thought, flopping down on his fur-lined bedroll.
What good could I possibly be on this adventure? Maybe I could be the Royal Jester, and when the knights become sad, I could do something stupid to make everyone laugh!
Thoughts like those picked at Aidan until he fell into a light sleep. A few hours later, in the darkest, quietest part of the night, a small sound awoke Aidan.
Nothing alarming, just a sound that broke the silence of the sleeping world in the wee hours. Instead of going out, Aidan lifted up one corner of his tent to see what had made the sound. He was thinking that perhaps a moonrascal was crawling around out there looking for leftovers from their dinner.
It wasn’t a moonrascal at all. It was Acsriot, and he appeared to be leaving the camp. Curious, Aidan crept out of his tent to see where Acsriot was going. Aidan was just in time to see Acsriot leap over the Cold River and disappear into the dead grass and the darkness beyond.
Humph,
Aidan thought, scratching his head and going back into his tent.
I guess Glimpses need to go sometimes too!
Aidan went quickly back to sleep, laughing quietly to himself as he imagined Acsriot being frightened by a bunch of lantern spiders.
T
he Twelve Knights of Alleble had been traveling for hours. At daybreak, they had donned their cold gear and set out across a ford over the river on their way to the Grimwalk.
Aidan noticed the temperature decreasing as they rode closer to places ruined by the Prince. He was glad for the fur-lined breeches and surcoat.
The ground became pitted and hard. Old gray waste grass stuck out here and there like whiskers. Most trees were broken as if by wind or lightning.
Ominous gray clouds had rolled in as well, devouring every last trace of blue sky. The twelve rode slowly due to the uneven ground. The ever-present dreariness cast a pall over them, and no one spoke for quite some time.
Abruptly, Captain Valithor held up a hand and halted their journey. He gestured for the knights to circle their unicorns closely around him before he spoke.
“Alleb Knights, on the other side of the next ridge is the desolate land called Grimwalk,” he began.
“It can’t get any more dreary than this, can it?” asked Aidan, not intending to interrupt but accidentally thinking aloud.
The Captain sent a harsh look to Aidan but softened it immediately. “The half-dead lands from the Cold River to this point are indeed injured and bereft of anything green. But at least here we can still be warmed by thoughts of green blossoming things, strong root, and smooth bough. But gird yourselves, knights, for the Grimwalk will rob you of the hope of ever seeing a green thing again. It is poisoned with despair, which is the enemy’s most powerful weapon.”
Aidan swallowed.
“This is the most dangerous part of our journey,” Valithor continued. “For we will be out in the open in a treacherous land. The Prince should be looking for us in other places, but we must be wary. His spies are everywhere.”
“Captain, have you taken note of the weather?” asked Kaliam anxiously.
“I have. Indeed . . . it does not fill me with hope, though I still feel Acsriot was right in suggesting we go this way. Come now, let us travel on. We need to keep a steady pace to cross the Grimwalk by nightfall.”
Aidan wasn’t sure what to expect when he first saw the Grimwalk, but as they crossed the last rocky ridge and looked down into the vast valley below, Aidan felt as if every ounce of hope was sucked from his heart. He looked upon the sad land and wept.
It was miles and miles of dead land. Other than a few patches of leftover snow, the land was entirely black as if poisoned and rotten.
Here and there were icy pools of dark liquid that gave no reflection, and as their unicorns marched slowly forward, the ground crunched like the snapping of brittle bones left there to rot.
It was as if the loss of all things green and beautiful had created a horrible vacuum, and any who trod upon that barren land would be doomed to grow slowly cold, wither, and die. Aidan kept his unicorn moving.
Across the Grimwalk, far off in the distance, stood the menacing twin mountains called the Prince’s Crown. Aidan had seen them from another side, from another vantage point where there were living things and some hope. But there was no hope on the Grimwalk.
To the right of the two jagged peaks were smaller mountains, and eventually ridges and foothills. Tendrils of dark smoke issued up from behind these ridges, and Aidan knew that the Gates of Despair were there. He felt as if an icy claw were around his heart.
“Do not look, Aidan,” Gwenne said. “It will only drag your spirit down.”
Aidan tried to turn away, but he felt compelled to look. Echoes of a voice came from shadows of memory.
Come to the darkness. You can hide there. Come.
Aidan stared at the height of the Prince’s Crown and then down at the mountains’ knees shrouded in a gray, unhappy mist. For the first time, he became aware that there was something there. It was far away, but he saw that there was an immense fortress. It seemed not built from the ground up, but rather hewn, gouged from the black rock of the mountains. There were dark towers, cruel-looking keeps, and sharp parapets. Here and there, like the empty sockets of a skull, were irregular windows and gates. And surrounding it all were massive, impenetrable-looking walls.
Aidan was drowning in despair when Gwenne reached out and touched him. Her hand was warm. He looked upon her. Her smile was warmer. And there was a trace of hope reborn in him.
“Remember,” she said. “Never alone.”
“Never alone,” Aidan repeated. And he found that it brought peace to his troubled heart. They spurred their unicorns lightly and began their crossing of the Grimwalk.
As the party of twelve continued, the temperature fell lower still. They were all bundled as tightly as they could make themselves, but the frigid wind found every open spot and bit at any exposed skin. In a day, they had gone from a comfortable spring in Alleble into the dead of winter, and the low, puffy clouds threatened to make it more wintry.
Aidan looked ahead at Captain Valithor who was talking quietly with Eleazar. “You have any idea what they’re talking about?” Aidan asked Gwenne, who was riding beside him.
“They often speak of deep things,” she said. “But my guess is they are becoming more concerned about the weather.”
“Why? Is it going to storm?”
“Yes,” she replied, pointing skyward. “Look at the clouds. Do you see how dark they are? And notice the slight purplish color. I am certain that a snowstorm’s coming.”
“Snow?”
Gwenne pointed to the dark castle at the foot of the Prince’s Crown. “The Prince has many dark powers, Sir Aidan, and his heart is cold and violent. Some of the most terrible storms occur in this land, and it snows here often.”
Just then, one of the pack unicorns began to tug at its reins.
“Easy, easy!” yelled Eleazar. Farix rode up to help try to calm the steed.
“Something has her spooked,” Farix said.
“Is it any wonder, in such a place?” asked Eleazar.
