The Invisible Tower (25 page)

“Okay, we have to get it done now,” Kay said. “What else?”

The dragon reached across to Artie. Its front paw was the size of a love seat. Artie recoiled instinctively but he knew, somehow, that for the moment Tiberius was harmless.

The dragon flicked Excalibur's scabbard. “This'n stays here.”

“Great,” Kay said sarcastically.

Artie asked, “Can Kay come with me?”

“Hmmmph.”

“That's a yes.”

“Yes.”

Artie unstrapped the scabbard and laid it at his feet. “Fine, then. We'll go together to Numinae, both vulnerable.”

Kay tried to protest, but Artie held up his hand. “It's only fair.”

All the dragon said was, “Hmmmmmmmph,” but it was so weighty and guttural that it was clear that he didn't hold the concept of fairness in high esteem. Since dragons probably were always at an advantage, this made perfect sense to Artie.

At last the dragon stood. Artie and Kay held their breaths as it backed up. It raised its relatively small wings as it lumbered back and forth on its muscular haunches. It came to a stop and looked down. In the wall was a low, black hole.

“A test lies through there. Get the comb. Only then will Lord Numinae be awaiting.”

“
Another
test? Man, these guys love tests. You all should have been teachers instead of crazy dragons and wizards and spirits or whatever,” Kay said. Then she grabbed Artie's hand and squeezed it tight.

Artie asked, “Ready, Sis?”

Kay nodded. “Let's do this.”

Hand in hand, they walked into the small cave and disappeared.

Kay hollered, “See ya later, Tiberius!”

But the dragon, standing over their departure, said nothing.

Artie asked Excalibur for some
light. They were in a narrow capillary of rock, and after about a hundred feet they emerged in a wide field of ankle-high grass. The sun was screened behind a sheet of clouds, its bright disk clear and sharp.

They looked back. A large boulder was buried in the ground, and in the middle of this was the cave's mouth. Surrounding the field in a neat circle were thick woods of oak and ash.

Kay grasped Cleomede with both hands. She asked, “What do you think he meant by ‘the comb'?”

Artie held Excalibur in his right hand and drew his dagger, Carnwennan, with his left. He hit his buckler, fastened on his left arm, with the sword's pommel, making sure it was tight. “I think I know but I don't want to say it.”

Suddenly the treetops in front of them shook to life. Unseen branches snapped. The woods seized, and whatever was making the commotion moved from left to right over a distance of about thirty feet.

And then two massive oaks bent and parted as the thing pushed by them.

It was Twrch Trwyth.

“Oh fudge.” Kay sighed.

“Yeah,” Artie said half heartedly.

The boar jumped and pawed the ground ferociously. It was about a hundred feet away. Steam rose from its snotty nostrils, and its eyes glowed like embers. Its wiry hair bristled. The bright silver comb atop its head was plain to see.

A wind kicked up as the animal lowered its head and began to pace tightly, never dropping the Kingfishers from its sight. The treetops hissed and danced, and the wind carried a whisper that was more rustling leaves than insistent voice: “Bring me the comb.”

The whisper was clearly Numinae.

Then the boar charged.

Shoulder to shoulder, Artie and Kay backpedaled furiously. At the last minute they bumped into the boulder with the cave entrance—which was now gone—and upon hitting this, each jumped sideways, away from each other.

The animal came hard and headfirst into the rock. It made an awful noise, like a massive tree trunk snapping under the weight of a tornado.

The boar grunted and backed up, the Kingfishers flanking it. It should have been bleeding but it wasn't. Then it reared, shuddered its head, and turned on Kay.

Artie quickly attacked its hindquarters. Excalibur easily sliced through skin and tendons, but again, there was no blood.

The animal growled like a dog and spun to Artie. Kay saw where her brother had cut the creature and, unbelievably, its bloodless wounds closed and healed themselves.

Suddenly Artie's sword hand tingled. Excalibur was trying to tell him something.

But he didn't have time to contemplate this because the boar charged again. Defensively Artie drew the flat side of Excalibur between his body and the boar's pointed, filthy tusks. As they hit him, flecks of putrid spittle lashed Artie's face.

The force of contact was awful. Artie's guts sloshed as the pig lifted him high into the air. Twrch Trwyth tossed its head and caught Excalibur crossways through its tusks. Artie held on for dear life as he stabbed furiously at the hard ridge of the animal's nose with his dagger. But the dagger was to the boar like a mosquito to an elephant.

Twrch Trwyth jostled its head again, and suddenly Artie found himself in arm's reach of the comb. This was his chance. Time slowed slightly. He reached out with the dagger and cut the hair that held the comb.

It was free!

But then, right before Artie's eyes, the hair of the boar reformed, and creepily tied the comb back into place.

Artie couldn't believe it.

The animal reared, and Artie was nearly turned upside down as Kay swung and chopped off the boar's right hind leg just below the knee.

There was a great hissing sound from the stump, and the creature toppled. As it fell, Artie's dagger drove into one of the boar's reddened eyeballs. It exploded like a rotten tomato. As the boar hit the ground, Artie came free and rolled to safety.

Artie and Kay were still many paces apart when his hand tingled so much it almost hurt. And suddenly Artie understood: Excalibur wanted to be paired with Cleomede.

Artie started to move toward Kay as Twrch Trwyth twisted its powerful body like an acrobat. It didn't seem to be bothered in the least that it had three legs instead of four.

“What now, Bro?”

“I think we need to get our swords together!”

“Sounds good!”

But then, as it hopped and retreated a little, the boar found its severed leg. It lowered its mouth and in a single motion picked up the thing and gobbled it down. Not more than a second later, its rear right leg grew back. It lowered its head and took a few careful steps toward them. Its empty eye socket began to smoke, and then flame, and then it went out.

Its eye was back too.

It raised its head and appeared to smile.

Kay rolled her eyes. “Oh
super fudge
!”

“No kidding. We need some help,” Artie said.

And that's when Artie remember Cable and his calling card!

Immediately Artie screamed the wolf-man's name, and then he howled at the top of his lungs.

Twrch Trwyth paused for a moment, a look of uncertainty crossing its face. It twitched one way and the next.

But nothing happened.

Artie and Kay moved next to each other. Each felt the other's heart quicken, and each felt the other's despair deepen.

The boar lowered its cinder-block head and charged again.

And then something did happen.

Cable joined the battle so quickly they didn't even see him arrive. He was faster than Twrch Trwyth. Much, much faster. When he skidded to a stop, tearing massive clumps of grass around his legs, they'd never been so happy to see someone in their lives.

Cable had grown in size and was as big as Twrch Trwyth, and more frightening by half.

Artie and Kay gazed in amazement at their canine friend. For some reason he had a bone in his mouth.

No—not a bone. A tusk!

Artie looked at the boar. It was minus a tooth.

Artie and Kay cheered as Twrch Trwyth turned from them and confronted Cable.

The wolf juggled the long tusk in his own powerful mouth and then bit down hard and snapped it in two. The pieces fell to the ground and disintegrated to dust.

The boar squealed.

Kay yelled, “Yeah!”

Artie held out his sword and said, “Kay, cross Cleomede with Excalibur!”

She did. Excalibur and Cleomede sparked at their point of contact. They spoke a language to each other that Artie and Kay could not understand, but they felt it. Boy, did they feel it. Like the Kingfishers, Excalibur and Cleomede had a special relationship. And Excalibur seemed to know that put together—the Kingfishers
plus
their swords—they would form a powerful quartet.

They moved to within a few feet of the buried stone. Artie said, “I think together our swords can cut that thing's hair and then we can get the comb!”

“Got it,” Kay exclaimed.

Cable continued to turn as the boar mirrored him. The wolf's eyes made quick stabs at Artie and Kay, assessing their readiness. The Kingfishers braced themselves against the rock. Cable was going to drive the boar right to them.

The wolf-man lunged, lightning fast. The boar managed to catch Cable under the chin with its remaining tusk. It made a deep gouge and cast a spray of red blood over the field.

On all fours, Cable swung his rear end behind him and lunged again, leading with his enormous pawlike hands, catching the boar on the top of its nose. Then the wolf-man brought his weight down on the pig's face, and its forelegs buckled. Cable was on top. He cocked his head to one side, opened wide his jaws, and came down violently on the back of the boar's neck.

Again, there was no blood, and again there was the hissing sound, like air being let out through a small hole.

The boar squealed.

Still locked on the pig's nape, Cable stood. With great effort he dragged the boar toward the Kingfishers.

Cable struggled as the animal screeched and twisted. Making one great turn down the length of its body, it finally managed to get free. Cable was thrown a few yards, and the boar stood.

It had paid a big price for working itself free, though. A massive chunk was missing from the back of its neck, exposing its black, bloodless spine.

Kay watched the neck, expecting it to close and heal. But it didn't. Cable could injure Twrch Trwyth where they couldn't.

The wolf-man dropped to all fours and spat out the part of the boar he'd torn free. Blood gushed from Cable's wound, and for a moment he faltered.

“Cable!” screamed Artie.

The boar pranced to the wolf-man and leaped on top of him. With its filthy, mud-caked feet, it pounded Cable's body. He was driven to the ground as his ribs broke audibly. His backbone buckled. More than once the boar's hideous feet punctured Cable's frame, and more than once their friend's blood gushed forth.

A serving of bile rose into Artie's mouth. He spit it on the ground.

Suddenly Excalibur tingled fiercely in Artie's hand. He concentrated and tightened his grip, and a spear of intense light shot from Excalibur toward the boar like a sunray parting heavy clouds. The creature's skin curdled with the impact.

The boar cried out and Cable took advantage, gnashing hard on the thing's throat. Its eyeballs bugged out of their sockets, and its nostrils streamed snot. Cable got his feet under him, and with two quick bounds the wolf-man presented the head of Twrch Trwyth to the scissoring X of Excalibur and Cleomede.

The Kingfishers moved their swords over the hair, and the comb came free. Kay grabbed it and pushed it into one of her pockets.

Then Cable swung around so that the Kingfishers were out of harm's reach. His strength was flagging. He scuttled away, dragging the animal. Finally and with all his remaining energy, he flung it toward the edge of the field. And there, as if on cue, a horrid gash opened in the ground, and with a rake of stone and black earth it quickly swallowed the thing called Twrch Trwyth.

Artie and Kay ran to Cable. His breath was quick and shallow, and blood flowed from his nose and panting mouth. His tongue was peaked and limp, his eyes sad.

Artie pushed his hand into the wolf-man's thick mane. Cable looked at him. The heroic creature was dying.

Cable nudged his nose at Kay, who moved closer, putting a hand on the ridge of his snout. She drew the comb from her pocket, showing it to him, and he closed his eyes and smiled.

Kay asked, “Can that thing live without this?”

Cable shook his head slightly.

“So that's the last we'll ever see of it?” Artie clarified.

The wolf-man nodded. He coughed and spit more blood.

The Kingfisher children felt so ecstatic, and yet so sad. They hugged Cable like he'd been their dearest, truest friend. They felt his fur and smelled his blood and cried. They stayed like this for some time, until he finally succumbed, and lay motionless in the bright green grass.

The Kingfishers eventually pulled themselves from the wolf, wiping their eyes. They didn't know what to do.

But then the wind picked up, and a whisper drifted into their ears: “Bring me the comb.”

They turned, and saw the thing that was Numinae, his left hand outstretched.

Or was that his hand?
It was hard to tell.

A major reason it was hard to tell was because Artie and Kay were suddenly in a completely different place. As they turned from their fallen friend, the scene around them morphed from the field of battle into a high, rocky hill. Cable was gone. Now they were just above the tree line. A few thousand feet below the mountaintop, the sprawling forest of Sylvan carpeted the countryside.

Another big reason it was hard to tell was that they were distracted by the sudden presence of not only Numinae, but also the snaking body of Tiberius, who was coiled behind his master.

But the biggest reason it was hard to make out Numinae's hand was because of Numinae himself. He was a preposterous creature. It was kind of like he couldn't make up his mind as to what kind of tree he wanted to be.