|
|
Ankzar stepped into the cell beside Illyria. He was dressed as the day before, only now he had draped a silken cape over his shoulders and held his staff regally before him. And after Ankzar came Darian.
Illyria's brother had also been transformed. He was wearing a shirt of red silk that was open on all sides, like Ankzar's. Soft white trousers flowed loosely around his legs and were gathered at the bottoms. It looked to Sheila as if his eyes had also been finely rimmed with black pencil. His face was as blank and emotionless as Illyria's.
"Your queen has come to help you make wise choices," Ankzar announced. Three guards stepped into the cell behind him. The last one in relocked the door.
''Yes, I have come to urge you all to join forces with Ankzar," Illyria spoke to them gently. "Our cause is lost. Let us now align ourselves with the victor, so that our lives may continue in comfort and productivity."
Dr. Reit caught Sheila's eye. His raised eyebrow seemed to ask: Is this real or a bluff? Sheila bit her lip. She wasn't sure. Illyria would never want them to surrender—but she sounded so convincing! Could she have fallen under one of Mardock's spells?
"Mardock will use the power from the unicorn horns to create a super army that will ride against Campora," Illyria continued in the same monotone. ''That is our fate. To resist it is senseless.''
"You've forgotten one thing," snarled Simi. "Only I know the words of reemergence. You need me to create your super army. And I will never say those words for you."
“But you will," Illyria told her calmly. "Mardock has come up with a spell that compels the will of another. You have only to gaze into his eyes and you will be under his command."
''Hypnosis," muttered Dr. Reit under his breath.
Sheila clasped her hands together to keep them from trembling. Mardock must have hypnotized Illyria! If Illyria had fallen under his control, then the situation was truly hopeless.
"You can't betray Laric!" Sheila cried out, beside herself with despair.
"Nor shall I!" shouted Illyria. And with a blindingly quick movement, she grabbed a torch off the wall with one hand and seized Ankzar around his neck with the other. She held the torch threateningly close to the emperor's face.
The first guard drew his saber, but Darian was on top of him instantly, wrestling him to the ground. Zanara-Ki kicked the next guard's saber from his hand with a single well-aimed blow.
Sheila scrambled for the sword as it slid across the floor. She seized it tightly and, with a clang of metal, engaged the third guard in a duel.
Sheila's fingers tingled as she clasped the hilt with both hands. A lesson Illyria had once given her ran through her brain. "You must throw yourself into the fight with a battle madness that banishes fear. Become part of the weapon, moving through space with only one goal—victory."
Still, the guard was strong and skilled. He sliced the air in front of her; she leaned back and checked him with an upward stroke of her saber. He shifted to the right, and Sheila slammed her blade down on his. On and on they fought.
Out of the corner of her eye Sheila caught sight of Illyria. The Unicorn Queen had gotten hold of the first guard's saber and was embroiled in her battle with Ankzar, who had somehow freed himself from her grasp.
Ankzar slashed the air with his staff, twirling and spinning it like a master. Yet time and again Illyria managed to leap and somersault out of its reach. And then her saber clattered against the stone floor as she tried unsuccessfully to crack the staff in hall.
Dr. Reit came up behind Sheila's opponent and grabbed him by the throat. The guard whirled around and shoved the older man back hard. But that single second of broken concentration gave Sheila the advantage she needed. She was able to meet his saber with her own and send it sailing across the cell.
The unarmed guard pounced on Sheila, throwing her to the floor. Zanara-Ki seemed to fly across the room and was quickly on top of him. She had left her guard unconscious, and now she pulled this one up and kicked him squarely across the jaw. He staggered back, but Zanara-Ki was relentless. She flew into the air with one leg extended and kicked him in the stomach.
The guard went down, out cold. Sheila looked around and saw that Darian had finished off his foe, but Illyria was still battling Ankzar. Then, with one powerful blow, the Unicorn Queen swung at the staff and connected. The dog's head went flying across the cell. Ankzar froze, stunned by the loss of the headpiece to his magical staff. All eyes turned to Simi, who had scooped up the blue sculptured head.
Holding it up high, the sorceress sang out in triumph; “Aziwr, melvo, papisar, akaa!"
Even as the last strange syllable echoed through the cell, the stones of the pyramid began to rumble. A tremendous crack arose from the base of the floor and crept up to the ceiling, splitting the stones in two.
"You fool!" Ankzar roared at Simi. "You don't know what you're doing!"
"I know that these are the words of destruction!" Simi screamed back at him. "I know, too, that I will never say the words of reemergence!" And she went back to her chanting, growing more frenzied with each word.
The walls and floor of the pyramid continued to shake violently. Sheila leapt back as the comer of a giant stone came crashing to the floor. They were going to be buried alive—or crushed to death—by these falling rocks!
"Stop this madness!" Illyria cried to Simi. "You will kill us all!" But her words fell on deaf ears. Enthralled with her own power, Simi was oblivious to the danger around her.
Illyria scooped up the keys to the cell from the floor. Once again the walls of the cell shuddered, throwing the Unicorn Queen to the ground. "Come, we must get out of here," she called to the others, scrambling back up and unlocking the cell. But just as she pulled the door to her, a giant piece of stone crashed in front of it, sealing off the passageway.
“Please, Simi, stop this!" Illyria cried out to the woman.
"I could not stop it now even if I chose," Simi crowed as a jagged crack opened up at her feet, splitting the prison cell in half.
"Ha, ha!" she shrieked maniacally. "I will destroy you all!" At that moment the floor rumbled again, knocking Simi off balance. Seeing that the woman was in danger of falling into the crevice, Illyria leaped across the gap and only barely managed to grab Simi's wrist as she toppled over.
Simi looked up at Illyria with the burning eyes of a lunatic. In the hand of the wrist Illyria grasped, the sorceress still clutched the dog's head. Illyria tried to drag the dangling woman back to the top, but Simi's skin was slick with perspiration. She slid from Illyria's hand, shrieking as she plummeted to her death.
On the other side of the crack Sheila stared down into the gaping hole, her eyes wide with horror. There was no sign of Simi. Sheila looked to Illyria, who appeared stunned, as she, too, stared into the pit. At last Illyria raised her hand and with shock-glazed eyes studied the object now clutched in it. Simi had let go of the dog's head as she slipped, and now Illyria was left holding the magic sculpture.
Another quake rocked the prison and sent the entire inside wall crashing down. Illyria jumped to her feet, her sharp eyes searching for Ankzar. Sheila quickly followed her gaze. Where was the evil emperor?
"There he is!" cried Zanara-Ki, pointing to a dark, shadowed corner of the cell. Sheila caught a fleeting flash of Ankzar's golden trouser leg as he slipped out a secret doorway opened wide by the last rockfall.
Illyria leaped back over the crack in the floor, and another large stone crashed at her feet. "Come," she shouted, "we must follow him if we want to save ourselves!"
One by one the warriors hurried through the narrow doorway and down a steep flight of steps. At the bottom of it they found themselves knee-deep in muddy water. Overhead, a series of deafening crashes continued to rock the pyramid.
A huge square stone cracked above Sheila's head, sending a torrent of slimy water pouring down her neck. In the next second the stone fell to the ground and became wedged in the passageway, cutting Darian and Sheila off from the others who were just ahead of them.
Darian scrambled up its side and, grimacing with the effort, squeezed through the narrow niche between the stone and wall. "Come on, Sheila!" he shouted. “If I can make it, so can you.
Sheila tried to clamber up, but the rock was wet and slippery. She kept sliding back down the slick surface. "I can't get up!” she cried, a note of panic in her voice. A horrible rumble behind her made Sheila jump. The entire ceiling of the passage had collapsed, and a torrent of filthy water was rushing toward her.
''Hurry!" Darian yelled, sticking his arm back over the barrier. Sheila grabbed it with all her might and held fast as he pulled her up. The water in the passageway was rising rapidly. Scraping her arms and face against the rough stone, she finally squeezed through to the other side.
Still clutching Darian's hand, Sheila looked back and saw the water splashing up around the fallen rock. That makeshift dam would hold back the flood for a short while, but if they didn't get out of there soon, they would surely drown.
Hand in hand, Sheila and Darian hurried through the passage and caught up with the others. The water was nearly to Sheila's waist when she looked ahead and saw Dr. Reit climbing a metal ladder. She scurried up behind him, with Darian close at her heels.
When she reached the top rung, Sheila was happy to find herself staring at a bright moonlit night—and an even more welcome sight: her friends and comrades. Everyone was soaked with mud and water, but they were alive. Ankzar lay panting several feet away from them.
"I have your precious dog's head, Ankzar," said Illyria, her glittering gown now torn and filthy.
Ankzar threw back his head and chuckled glumly. "And you can keep the wretched thing Without Simi it is no good to either of us, my dear Unicorn Queen. Only she could speak the words of reemergence over it.''
"I heard her say those words," said Sheila desperately. "If only I could remember them. But there were so many and they were so very strange!"
"Don't strain yourself," said Ankzar. "The spell must be spoken in Simi's own voice. Her father was a sly one, and he fixed it that way to insure his daughter's safety. It worked, too. Why do you think I kept that madwoman alive all these years? But now I'm afraid Simi is gone for good—and so are all the unicorns."
Back To Chapter Listings!
Chapter 1: Haunted Days, Sleepless Nights
Chapter 2: Transported
Chapter 3: Return to Campora
Chapter 4: Into the Wilderness
Chapter 5: Reunion
Chapter 6: The Unicorns' Lament
Chapter 7: Spellbound
Chapter 8: Stops Along the Way
Chapter 9: The Hickorites
Chapter 10: Across the Unknown Sea
Chapter 11: Queelotoo
Chapter 12: In Ankzar’s Prison
Chapter 13: The Words of Reemergence
Chapter 15: Sheila’s Magic
Chapter 16: Homeward Bound
Email: Nikki