TWO HEADS TWO SPIKES (The Pearl of Wisdom Saga) (27 page)

“Where did Ali-Steven go?” Russell wanted to know.

“I know many people who know many things, but not a one knows where Ali-Steven Wamhoff went off to. He was reported to be in the Pearl Islands for some time, but from there it is a mystery,” the wizard said with a smile. “King Ali-Stanley’s jealous nature continues to this day and is exemplified in his latest decision. Our King has declared war on Mattingly and has requested the help of all men from Waters Edge. I will understand if your sense of duty precludes you from pursuing our mission,” the wizard informed Russell.

“I have heard much about wars of kingdoms. They are often self-serving tantrums of kings. I do not wish to be a counted number amongst the dead. Our noble cause shall outweigh the King’s whims of justice each and every day and night,” Russell proudly stated.

“I am glad to hear that. I will not rush to the King’s aid either. We have a grander war to carry out. Now let us go test your training in Morningdale,” Dragon-Eyes said as he pulled his hood over his head.

Dusk set in about twenty minutes into their southward walk through the soggy forest. It started raining as they approached a clearing in the woods. The small opening exposed the haunting skies that growled with rolling thunder. Russell looked over to see a smile on the old man’s face.

The rain picked up as the Imp spoke, “I have been teaching you how to come into contact with spirit guides to aid you to do anything you wish. Well, now we test that. Do you see that tree over there?” he asked as he pointed to a giant maple tree.

“I do,” Russell replied.

The wizard closed his eyes and clenched his fists. The intensity of the storm increased and thunder boomed louder. The Imp was now breathing heavily as lightning flashed through the sky. Dragon-Eyes started shaking and threw his hand up into the air. A bolt of lightning shot down and struck the little man, but he didn’t fall. He held out his hands in front of his tiny body and the lightning transferred from him and crushed the enormous tree. It instantly turned into black ashes and started crumbling in the rain.

Russell stood in awe once again. Before meeting the Imp Wizard, the young man’s life had been rather mundane in comparison. Since meeting the wizard, it had been one amazing feat after another.

“Your turn,” the Imp uttered.

“My turn? To do that?” Russell questioned.

“Of course, is your mind strong or only your body?” Dragon-Eyes asked.

“Both, but, it is just a bit scary,” Russell said with slight trepidation.

“Being scared is not necessarily a bad thing. It is quite natural actually. It means you recognize the danger or significance of a situation. It is how you react to that fear that will define Russell Seabrook. Believe in yourself. Believe in your spirits. And show me that you can do this,” the wizard firmly stated.

Russell pointed to a big tree and closed his eyes. He remembered that Afromenda was the angel of lightning and there was a chant to free her spirit.

Afromenda,

Guide your light through me,

Shine your light through me,

Evil, I shall fight against for ye,

The storm got nastier and thunder resonated through his head as he concentrated.

Afromenda, send your strength to me,

Angel of Lightning become one with me,

Let your spirit fly free,

Guide your light through me.

Although Russell didn’t realize it, he had been shaking for about the last minute. He repeated the words and tried to conjure up the spirit of Afromenda. Lightning brightened the horizon as Russell shook like the leaves on the trees. He felt something pulsing though his body; an external energy seeped into his system.

He saw a bright white light and, BOOM, lightning struck Russell Seabrook.

He stumbled to one knee, but bounced straight back up and extended his hands toward the mighty tree. He could sense the power run through his entire body and exit out his hands. He opened his eyes to see the tree blasted by the bolt. The blackened tree crumbled to ash, just as the Imp Wizard’s had done, and Russell collapsed.

His body was numb and cold after harnessing the lightning bolt. He flopped onto the ground and his eyes couldn’t focus on anything.

“So cold,” was all he could utter.

Dragon-Eyes waddled over to him. “Not to worry, my boy. The same thing happened to me on my first attempt.”

Why am I cold? I just had lightning inside my body and it burned me up until I released it.

A small bush located a few feet from Russell was set ablaze by the wizard. The flames raged despite the driving rain. Russell wiggled his way over to the flames and warmed his body that was frozen to the core. Russell still felt physically drained, but he was warm again. He got to his feet and leaned on his little friend as they started the trek back to the School of the Daughters of Darkness.

“I cannot believe you just did that. I was just testing you to see how much progress you had made. I never expected to see that. You are well beyond your years for harnessing lightning. The rest should be quite easy,” he said as a proud teacher.

A smile came over a still shaking Russell Seabrook as they walked through the storm.

“What do you mean, there is a stone wall?” the King screeched.

He wore his ruby-themed crown today. It was a golden crown, studded with large and small rubies and a red silk lining. It rested more like a hat than a crown on his head but it still slipped down over his bushy eyebrows from time to time.

“There is a fifteen-foot-high wall that is also ten feet wide, along the entire border of Mattingly. We don’t have the weaponry to take out a wall like that. And with a majority of the border on top of the hills and mountains, it is rather impenetrable. From the Sea of Green to the Royal River and then over to Bottomfoot, every last inch seems to be accounted for, your highness,” said Dirk Eller as he showed everyone the wall on a huge map laid out on the table.

“Havest thou the firth?” the King rhetorically asked for the tenth time at this meeting. “And we cannot take the coast at any point? Why are we throwing money into a navy if it cannot protect us?”

“Well, then this news will not be pleasant, your highness…”

“None of the news is pleasant anymore, get on with it,” the King ordered.

“Mattingly is causing problems with our imports as well. They are offering better prices for our supplies to be delivered to Mattingly. Word has gotten around. And most of these exporters have no loyalty to you because you aren’t their King. Mattingly has also threatened to sink any ship that attempts to deliver anything to Fox Chapel,” said Derrich Bonsfogger.

“Well, what in all the hells are we going to do?” the concerned King asked his council.

Suddenly you want to listen to everyone’s opinion.

“Could we go down the Royal River en masse?” asked Dirk Eller.

“There was an attempt to get into Mattingly by way of the River. It ended in slaughter. It appears to be heavily defended at every possible entrance,” stated Henley Moore.

Ali-Ster spoke up, “Why don’t we go through Bottomfoot and cross the western border? Surely they cannot have a wall along that side, nor do they have reason to with a neutral Bottomfoot. We pull back so that Mattingly believes we are retreating. Then we can hit them from the western border when they aren’t expecting it.”

King Ali-Stanley Wamhoff stared intently at the map, trying to find a way to breach Mattingly.

“Wait. What about the Royal Road passage? They can’t have a wall there,” the King thought out loud.

“There was a one-mile stretch where they amazingly built a wall before we could rush the opening,” a dejected Henley Moore stated.

“Unless anyone else can come up with a better idea, it appears Ali-Ster is correct. Can we make it through the mountains and over the border?” the King asked.

“We must find out, if this is your will, father. We cannot run through the wall, so we shall go around it,” Ali-Ster sharply said.

His father stared at him. Ali-Ster had never spoken back to him before. But if the King wanted to attack Mattingly, Ali-Ster knew this was the only viable option.

“We shall send word to Bottomfoot and our Generals after the meeting,” the King said softly. “I have one last card to play that can help us while we wait…” he said trailing off so that nobody at the table really understood him.

“Your highness, Sir Ali-Samuel has left for Burkeville,” said Leo Braunshaur.

“Good. I hope he can clean up that mess quickly and we can get more Burkeville men to join our cause,” the King stated.

“Speaking of men to join the cause,” said Dirk Eller, “It seems four thousand of the soldiers from the Goldenfield stand-off have disappeared.

“Come again? Disappeared?” the King questioned. “Were they eaten by dragons? Maybe they mysteriously floated up into the heavens? How do you lose four thousand men?” the King screamed as he slammed his scepter into the table.

“Well, your highness, it seems that the eight thousand men were split into two divisions. And somehow the division in the rear must have gone astray,” Dirk Eller weakly stated.

“Disaster. Disaster,” repeated the King as he shook his head. “What is happening to my kingdom?”

Your rule is what happened to this kingdom.

Everything Ali-Samuel had been saying about the King was true. Donegal would be a lot better off without King Ali-Stanley, Ali-Ster finally thought. He realized it may be time to put Ali-Samuel's plan into action.

“What else? What else?” the King queried.

“Our sword-smiths still cannot replicate the Dragon-Steel that you had asked them to. They say there is a metal in the mix that they cannot identify,” Leo Braunshaur said.

“I have an idea of who I can ask about the unknown metal,” said the King with a devious smile.

“It also appears that the Gold Bandit is at it again. He struck up along the Fox Chapel-Waters Edge border this time. They hit the Sanders and Aprott castles for over ten thousand gold coins. The pattern stretches from inside Goldenfield almost to the Sea of Green. How he can still get into the castle reserves, I cannot understand. If the reports are correct, he has stolen over five hundred-thousand gold rounds. Who could possibly get away every-single time?” Leo Braunshaur wondered.

“Well, when it rains, it pours. Perhaps the mystery man who made my troops disappear is stealing the gold too,” said the King listlessly.

This meeting had exposed to Ali-Ster the sad state of affairs in Donegal. It was terrible news on every front. He had only been home for a few months and every one of his King father’s decisions was an epic failure. The kingdom was a sinking ship and Ali-Ster never liked swimming.

Ali-Ster yawned as Jake Fielder spoke, “There seems to be a possible threat across the Sea of Green. It may not present a problem for several years, but it looks as though we have a rising son in the east.”

Ali-Ster faded in and out of sleep for the rest of the meeting until his father finally dismissed everyone.

As Ali-Ster walked back to his room he thought about Queen Leimur Leluc. He remembered seeing her on the battle field and could still picture her purple eyes. He had heard that everyone hailed her for ending her father’s reign.

Would they treat me as the same hero, right here in Donegal? My father might not be the drunk that Pascal Leluc was reported to be, but his decision making is much worse.

He wondered what Queen Leimur’s parents did to push her over the edge. He had been told that her citizens understood that she had killed her parents for the betterment of the kingdom, not for a personal family vendetta.

She has men running to fight on her behalf and our soldiers desert their King, who obviously commands no respect. What must I do to restore MY kingdom
?
Death is part of life.

Traveling through the cities of the Pearl Islands and Gama Traka had tested his former vices. Finding information about the school had also proved no easy task. He wasn’t sure whom to trust in this foreign land. Gama Traka was a dry, dusty desert. It remained hot for most of the year and hardly rained. The large towns and cities were the only habitable areas. He had heard stories of people getting caught in sand-storms and being lost in the desert to die of starvation and thirst. Summer was arriving, which made the conditions even more brutal. But he finally thought that they were nearing their destination.

Ollor looked at the twelve year old Sunny and reflected on how much he had grown recently. The red-headed boy stood extremely tall for his age but he still had to look up to Ollor with his brown eyes. Then he patted Muriel, who had just turned six, on the shoulder. Her dark skin, hair, eyes and lips made her look much more like a native than Sunny. Ollor had trained her as if she were a boy, showing no mercy to the girl. He knew the cruel world would take no pity on a little girl so he tried to prepare her as such. If anything, being a girl made her an easy target for twisted souls. He believed that the children were ready for the school.

He saw a building that was supposed to be the school according to his latest clues. Ollor didn’t think that this simple one-story house could be the school. The school had been rumored to train hundreds of warriors. This place couldn’t house more than ten people comfortably. Ollor took the kids up to the door and tapped on it. No one answered, so he knocked again a minute later.

I knew this couldn’t be the spot
.

As Ollor turned to leave, the door cracked open. A skinny, dark arm came through the crack. A man held his hand out and spoke in Gaman, the native tongue of Gama Traka, “Place the dragon coin in my palm.”

Ollor pulled the huge silver coin from his pocket and handed it to the hidden man. The door slammed. It remained closed for several minutes giving rise to slight panic in Ollor.

It cracked open again and the same man asked, “Do they bear the true mark of the dragon?”