The Last Summoning---Andrew and the Quest of Orion's Belt (Book Four) (43 page)

The bell smelled clear, and crisp, metallic,
and heavy. It called out to him, urging him forward. He licked his
lips as if the smell made him hungry.

“I’m coming,” he whispered. “I’m coming.”

Deception

Andrew groaned, and coughed, spitting up bits of
coal. He opened his eyes, but saw only blackness. He tried to move,
but he felt strangely immobile. His face, arms, and body were
covered in a layer of coal. He gasped and coughed, pushing himself
up. As he sat up, heaps of coal fell away from his body. He looked
around him, confused. His head throbbed. His arms felt sore where
Freddie had dug his fingers into his skin. He looked above him at
the opening of the coal enclosure. The moon was up, shining through
a veil of clouds.

He had lost all concept of time. He rubbed
his head, trying to remember what had happened.

Croffin peered over him, looking worried, and
very agitated.

Andrew could smell Croffin’s unpleasant
skunk-like odor that lingered about him like a ghost, especially
when he was upset. “You awake?”

Andrew nodded. “Yeah…I guess so.” He slowly
stood, and looked around the pit. Except for Croffin and himself
they were alone. “Croffin…” Andrew questioned, his voice filled
with alarm, “where’s Freddie and Ivory?”

“Gone,” Croffin said, his voice flat, and
hollow. “They’re both gone.”

“Both gone?”

“Yes. The Codes took them both.”

“You let those terrible fiends take them?”
Andrew’s face twisted in pain. “How could you!”

“It wasn’t me. Freddie did it. He’s the one
to blame. Not me” Croffin’s little paws trembled. “I…I’m sorry…I,
didn’t know what to do. Honestly, I didn’t. After they took
Freddie, they came back for Ivory. I was worried that they’d come
back for you too, so I buried you in coal, and waited. I didn’t
know what else to do.”

Andrew placed his hands on his head and
looked up at the sky. “How long have they been gone? Maybe I can
catch up to them.”

Croffin shook his head. “No. Don’t be silly.
You can’t catch up to them. They’ve been gone for hours.”

“Hours?” Andrew repeated. “Oh, Freddie. You
never listen...” He turned, and began scrambling up the slippery
pit of coal.

“Where are you going?” Croffin shouted.

“I’m going to find them!”

“But they’ve been gone for hours, HOURS,
Andrew.” Croffin cried, pulling on Andrew’s pant leg. “You’ll never
catch up to them now.”

“I don’t care!” Andrew retorted, heaving
himself up and over the edge of the pit. “I’m going after
them.”

“Wait!” Croffin called, scrambling after him.
“Freddie was right. You’re not thinking clearly.”

Andrew continued forward, stumbling on shards
of sharp glassy sand and hard rocks, until his shoes were torn, and
his feet bled. When he could run no longer, he fell to his knees
and pressed his face into his knees shivering in the cold.

“Andrew…” Croffin ventured, peering over
Andrew.

Andrew looked up at Croffin, his eyes
desperate, and filled with pain. “They’re gone, Croffin…gone.”

Croffin breathed out a sad sigh, and nodded.
“Yes, Andrew. They are.”

Andrew glared at Croffin, his eyes flaming.
“Why didn’t you do something to stop them?”

Croffin’s face fell. He looked truly hurt. “I
did all I could do, Andrew. Do not think I am so heartless. I cared
about them too. You must get a hold of yourself, Andrew. We must
move off the main road, or we, too, will be taken.”

Andrew clenched his jaw, and moved off the
road, walking well ahead of Croffin, feeling as though Croffin had
somehow done him a great wrong. His head throbbed. His heart ached.
He felt angry, tired, and hungry. But mostly he felt forsaken. He
forged ahead, not caring to stop for food or water, or rest. All
that mattered was to get to The Fallen. He could not stop, could
not rest. He was worried that if he stopped he might have time to
think. And he did not want to think.

Perhaps there was still time to save his
friends.

Croffin trudged slowly behind him, moaning
that he was tired and hungry. Andrew ignored Croffin’s constant
complaining. Being too near Croffin disgusted him. He knew it
wasn’t right to blame the creature. But still it felt good to have
something to blame, something to direct his anger on.

Andrew paused on a low knoll that overlooked
The Fallen’s citadel. Here, he could see the vastness of The
Fallen’s empire---the towns, the streets, the hills, the cities.
Fields of glowing starflowers spread out on both sides of the road
leading to The Shadelock castle, like sheets of shining-white
carpets, luminous, inspiring and foreboding. They glowed and shone
like thousands of lanterns, magnificent, and stirring.

Just before the castle was a large bridge
that covered a huge gaping chasm that was belting steam, smoke and
fire. Row upon row of slaves trudged to the edge of the gaping
chasm, dumping lumps of coal, wood and other flammable objects into
the lake of fire, adding to the illuminating effect of the land.
Thousands of flickering lights embroidered the Shadelock castle,
like small stars trapped in stone, steel, iron, and brick. Its
spires shone and sparkled, gleaming like they were made of crystal
and glass. Their light reflected on the drifts of snow, amplifying
their luminosity ten times over, so that the earth, sky, and land
surrounding the castle were nearly as light as day.

The castle was so brilliant and luminous that
it seemed to laugh at the moon and stars, daring them to outdo its
grandness. Its spires towered higher than any structure Andrew had
ever seen. They seemed to touch the sky, their gleaming lights
heralding the coming of a being within its walls that was powerful
and full of light. A creature that did not seem dark at all, but
brilliant and good.

Croffin rubbed his one eye, and blinked back
tears from staring too long at the brilliant land. “How could such
a miserable being live in such a beautiful, brilliant place? I’m
beginning to wonder if this Fallen one is so bad after all.”

Andrew clenched his fists, turning away from
the radiant scene. “That’s the great deception. Not everything is
as it seems or looks. The darkest being of all puts on a cloak of
light in order to deceive. It has always been that way. If such
beings were to shed their cloak of deception, everyone would know
them for what they are and run far away. But as it is, people
believe what they see, and forget the things they know, because
what they see blinds them from the real truth.”

“I don’t know…” Croffin mused, mesmerized by
the city of light. “This being of darkness does not seem dark.
Perhaps we are wrong, Andrew. What if we are fighting on the wrong
side? Why would such a creature who loves light, want the world in
darkness? I can’t quite understand that.”

“Because,” Andrew replied, “then all will
look to him to see by. That is why.”

Taken

The Codes entered The Fallen’s castle, dragging
Freddie and Ivory along with them.

Freddie and Ivory were covered in coal and oil, and
wet with dripping snow. Freddie’s eyes looked sad. His lips were
pinched together in defiance. He had not expected them to take
Ivory along with him. And that made him feel as if he had betrayed
her as well as Andrew. He had tried to do the right thing, and now
look where it had gotten them.

“I have brought you the boy,” One of the
Codes cried.

Freddie was thrust before The Shade, and made
to kneel.

“The boy?” The Shade looked up, his face
shrouded in a black mantle. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” The Codes all breathed at once.

The dark being walked around Freddie as
soundlessly as a drifting cloud, ignoring Ivory. Then he stopped,
leaned over and stared into Freddie’s eyes. The Shade’s presence
was strong, like the coming of night itself. His body was thick,
and yet thin, like thousands of sheets pressed together.

Freddie groaned, and closed his eyes, feeling
an instant headache coming on. The Shade’s presence made him feel
confused and nauseated. After a long pause, the Shade straightened,
then turned to the Codes. “This is not the boy! How dare you bring
an imposter! The Fallen will hear about this, and when he does, he
will not be pleased!”

“Please,” one of The Codes cried, “he bears
the marks. Pray, look at his hands.”

“Fine!” The Shade snapped, causing shadows to
swirl and scatter around the room. “Show me! But that does not
change who he is.”

The Code grasped Freddie’s hands and forced
them open, revealing the two diamond marks.

The Shade sniffed, and then breathed out a
host of shadows, in an angry gust. “Those marks mean nothing! He is
not the one. He is an imposter.”

“But…” The Code pled.

“But, nothing! I have seen the boy myself,
and this is not him!”

The Shade circled around Freddie, his anger
swelling with the host of shadows that followed behind him. “Don’t
close your eyes!” The Shade snapped. “Open them! You must look at
me, long and hard.”

Freddie slowly cracked his eyes, trembling in
the cold room.

“Yes,” The Shade crooned. “Open your eyes,
and gaze upon me. For in my shadows lies the future of the world,
where The Fallen will finally draw the black curtain over all the
earth, where we will all be equals.”

“Equals?” Freddie ventured. “I don’t see how
that will make us equals.”

The Shade held up a finger. “Do you not see?
Inequality is the universal problem that has always existed in
every age of man. And now it will no longer be a problem. In
darkness every color, cast, race and creed will be erased. Every
man, woman child, beast and creeping thing will not know the shape
of his face, nor the color of his hair. We will all finally be
united!”

Freddie frowned, clearly unimpressed. “That
is the most diluted thinking I have ever heard!”

The Shade laughed a dark, muffled laugh.
“Don’t you see? All will finally be at peace. It is the sun, moon,
and stars that separate us. It is these celestial objects that
cause wars to be waged, differences to arise, blood to be shed.
With such light gone, we will live in peace!”

“But, what kind of peace?” Freddie scoffed.
“To be awake in a dark nightmare is not peace. It is something you
can never escape from. Peace? What you call peace I call chaos.
Where there is no light, peace cannot exist. Only torment and
misery. Without light, you cannot define right from wrong, goodness
from evil. If the light is what divides us, then so be it! I would
rather die than be equal with what you are, and who you stand
for.”

“So proud. So arrogant. This is the type of
thinking that has gotten us into trouble,” The Shade let out a
weary sigh and shook his head. “You will soon see that what you
fought to keep from happening will come. When it does, unity will
fall over the entire land in one moment. We will all be equals at
last.”

“Even in darkness,” Freddie spat, “you will
still be a shadow, and I will still be a follower of light. The
only thing that will be changed is that I will not see you when you
strike.”

The Shade laughed, emitting great billows of
shadows from his mouth and nose. “Oh, your ignorance is great. You
follow light. But it is the very thing that cuts us apart. Darkness
is beautiful because there are no lines, no boundaries under its
covering. The Fallen’s light will be enough for all, great and
small.”

Freddie turned away from The Shade’s dark
stare. “Such darkness will only cause everyone to fall.”

The Shade grabbed Freddie’s head and forced
him to look into his murky eyes. “Ah, but if you fall, you will not
know that you have fallen because in darkness, flat or level, it is
all the same.”

Freddie forced his head away from The Shade’s
grasp. “Get away from me. You are the darkest being I have ever met
in my entire life!”

The Shade smiled. “Thank you. I take that as
a most appropriate compliment. But you have yet to meet The
Fallen.”

The Poisonous Book

Andrew and Croffin rested on the knoll overlooking
The Fallen’s luminous palace.

Although Croffin had complained of being tired, he
could not sleep. He stood transfixed by The Shadelock castle, his
eyes gleamed with its light. Its brilliance confused him, caused
him to doubt, caused him to wonder. He felt drawn to the place,
like a moth dazzled by mesmerizing light.

Surely nothing evil could live in such a
glorious place. He cocked his head to the side and scratched his
ear, perplexed. How could something so dazzling be evil?

He withdrew his little book out of his pack
and clutched it to his chest---his little Book of Weeds. After they
had left The Shade’s forest, the book had remained for the most
part, ordinary, and dull. Except for a few instances where it had
come in handy, and saved his life, no words of comfort were found
in it at all. It was most distressing. At first he felt hurt that
its pages remained blank. Yet, after some time, he had almost
forgotten about it. Several times he nearly tossed it away. But
something had stopped him every time. Like an empty box of
chocolates lingering with pleasing smells, he sniffed the book,
hungering for the pleasurable words they once contained. The words
that he had once read inside satisfied something inside his mind,
gave him justification, gave him comfort, like a drug, its
addictive effects lingering in his memory, of a happier time.

The words had spoken to his ego and massaged
his complaints, giving them relevance. He missed that. He missed
their understanding nature. Yet, as the days had gone by, and still
no words came, he did not miss them much.