Amulet of Doom (16 page)

Marilyn turned away from her aunt. “Kyle?” she whispered.

Kyle looked at her hopelessly. “I don't know what to tell you. I think Guptas got a bum deal. But I sure don't want him walking the streets of Kennituck Falls at night.”

Marilyn went to the window and stared out at the great peaks surrounding them. The air was cool. Glancing down, she could see a break in the clouds, and the ground, incredibly far away. She leaned her head on the sill and tried to think, but her mind was whirling with fear, with anger, with sorrow.

“Why me?” she whispered. “Why do I have to make such a decision?”

The amulet was warm in her hand.

She stood up. “Guptas, I want to see you!”

At once the demon appeared.

“Do you have anything to say?” she asked.

Cooley started to protest. Zenobia cut him off.

Guptas looked around the circle of faces. Marilyn could sense a great weariness in him.

“I have been imprisoned for thousands of years,” he said at last. “My world has vanished, and I have no home. I am a slave to whoever holds the amulet.”

He turned to Marilyn and looked directly into her eyes. “I want to be free. If you can't free me from the amulet, then free me from life.”

He stepped closer to her.

“Let me go, or let me die.”

“I thought you couldn't die,” she said, her throat tight.

He looked away. His voice little more than a whisper, he said, “There's a way. If you're willing.”

18

JOURNEY INTO FEAR

When she thought about it afterward, Marilyn was never certain how much time passed before she spoke again.

She studied the faces around her. Kyle, sweet and gentle, seemed very sad. She wondered what he was thinking. Cooley was fidgeting, chewing his ghostly lips, fighting to keep his mouth shut. Zenobia's eyes were filled with pity. And Guptas looked blank; there was nothing to be read in his face.

Her grip on the amulet tightened until the edges of it were cutting into her hand. She held it pressed against her chest. Closing her eyes, she could feel a tear trickle under her lashes. At last she whispered, “Guptas, I can't do it. I can't free you.”

The demon nodded. “So be it.”

She opened her eyes. “What do I do now?”

“You kill me.”

“I can't do that, either!”

Guptas grinned, a hideous smile filled with fangs. “It's easier than you think. You simply destroy the amulet.”

“I tried that,” said Zenobia. “Remember?”

He laughed, a harsh, short sound. “I remember. It was pathetic. There is only one way to destroy the amulet, and that is in the forge where it was made.”

“Where is that?” asked Marilyn.

“Below us. Deep in the bowels of the castle.”

“Make him take us there,” said Cooley.

“Shut up!” snapped Zenobia and Marilyn together.

Silence fell over the great hall. Brick came and rubbed against Marilyn's legs. “Will you show me the way?” she asked at last.

Guptas nodded.

Marilyn sighed. “Then let's go.”

She couldn't hear it.

She couldn't see it. (Several times, when she thought it was close, she spun around to try, but found nothing.)

Even so, she was certain it was there, following them; some force, some
power
she did not understand.

She had no idea how she knew it was there, but the knowledge of it was driving her to distraction.

“What are you?” she wanted to scream, but resisted, for fear the others would think she was crazy.

They had been walking for hours. At least, it seemed that way to her. With the image of Guptas leading the way, they had left the Hall of the Kings through a secret door behind the throne, entering a world of twisting passages that the demon threaded as if it had been only yesterday when he last walked them.

The sensation of being followed would not go away.

“Do you feel anything strange?” she asked Kyle at one point.

“Everything
is strange here,” he answered.

She gave up and kept to herself what the rational part of her mind insisted was a mere nervous reaction to the insanity that had enveloped them.

She tried to pay attention to the sights around her, telling herself this was a place no other human eyes had ever seen.

It was strange, but strangely beautiful—all out of proportion to her senses, the doors and ceilings built for the great race of the Suleimans. But it was in perfect condition, as if not a moment had passed from the day Guptas's father had sealed the place and left it to the ages. She saw no decay, no dust. The strange carvings in the doorsills were without nicks or chips. The floors in the winding halls gleamed as if they had been polished yesterday.

Each room and corridor had been treated as if it were a work of art. Even as they penetrated deep into the hidden heart of the castle, they found breathtaking tapestries adorning the walls.

She lost count of the rooms they passed. Once in a while Guptas stopped to point through a door, saying, “That's where the king came to be alone” or “This was where they sent me to be punished when I was little.”

Marilyn began to have an odd sense of the demon's life, of a quiet domesticity that seemed oddly incongruous for such a creature.

As they went deeper into the castle, they left the bright areas behind. Here there were no more windows—only strange glowing stones set in the ceiling, stones that cast an eerie light over the halls through which they wandered.

Guptas's comments on the rooms grew stranger: “Here is where the king met his wizards. Here is where the demons came to perform their ceremonies.”

“Ceremonies?” asked Zenobia, ever curious.

“I cannot speak of them,” he replied.

“How do we know he won't lead us into some kind of trap?” Zenobia had asked earlier.

“That's simple enough,” Cooley had said. “Marilyn can compel him to lead us safely. Remember, he is still bound by the amulet.”

“He'll lead us safely,” said Marilyn.

The moment the words left her mouth, she caught her breath and wondered what would happen: Without intending to, she had shown some trust in Guptas. Would that be enough to release him?

She waited nervously, but nothing seemed to change.

She began to wonder what was happening inside her. How much did she believe in the ancient demon after all? Would her emotions betray her and free him against her will?

She wished they would reach the forge.

And then what, Sparks? Can you really destroy the amulet, knowing that it will mean killing Guptas? You know that demon better than you've ever known any
living creature. You've been inside his mind. You've experienced his life. You've felt his pain
.

Can you really destroy him?

She backed away from the question. It was too much for her to deal with at the moment.

The sense that something was following them increased. She reached up to stroke Brick, who was riding on her shoulders. The cat's black-and-white tail flicked back and forth.

Ahead of her Guptas stopped. His tail lashed warily from side to side, much like the cat's.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I'm not certain,” he growled. He turned restlessly, a worried look on his face. “I sense dan—”

Before he could finish, the floor gave way beneath her.

Marilyn screamed. She felt a ripping sensation on her shoulders and realized, in some corner of her mind, that it came from Brick's claws. The cat had jumped away, using her as a launching pad.

She hit something solid, and all the breath was knocked out of her.

Forced into silence, as soon as she caught her breath she began to scream again, because she was in a darkness deeper than anything she had ever experienced. It was as if something had swallowed the sun, had swallowed all the light that ever existed.

“Be quiet!” snapped Guptas.

“I can't stand the dark!” she sobbed.

He turned on a light. She didn't know how he did it, but she almost wished he hadn't, because the first thing she saw was so horrible it made Guptas look almost pretty by comparison.

The monster sat in a corner. It was obscenely bloated, a dripping mound of flesh with an almost human face and a score of scaly tentacles sprouting from its body. It blinked for a moment when Guptas turned on the light. Then it began to smile.

Welcome
, it whispered in her mind.

Marilyn began to inch away.

Oh, don't do that! I'm very hungry
. It chuckled softly—a bubbling, slimy sound that made her skin crawl.
I've been waiting a long, long time for someone to step into my little trap
.

As it spoke, a tentacle slithered across the floor and wrapped around her leg. At its touch, her skin began to burn. An odor of death rose from the tentacle's slimy casing.

“Let her go!” roared Guptas.

Her attacker shrank back against the wall for a moment, then sent another tentacle lashing out to wrap around the demon. It made a loop about Guptas. But closed in on itself, passing through the illusion of the demon's presence.

Marilyn beat at the tentacle that held her leg. She could feel blisters erupt on her hand where she struck it. The creature only tightened its grip.

Suddenly she heard a clattering noise. A small cloud of dust erupted to her right. When it cleared she saw Kyle standing near her, looking slightly dazed. He looked around, and the blood drained from his face.

The creature struck out at him. Kyle jumped, avoiding the tentacle, and grabbed a shard of the broken floor that littered the area around them. He slashed at the tentacle that held Marilyn, severing it with one stroke.

The creature howled in rage. The severed tentacle began spurting a green fluid that fell in steaming gouts around her.

“Marilyn, get out of here!” yelled Kyle.

A dozen tentacles shot toward him. But the creature was confused, disoriented by its pain, and Kyle was able to jump away from the attack.

“I'll hold him off!” he shouted. “You get out!”

“Follow me!” cried Guptas, racing past Marilyn. She scrambled to her feet, but looked back when she heard Kyle cry out in pain.

The creature had managed to snare him with one of its tentacles. Now several other tentacles were snaking in his direction.

Though Kyle was screaming, he was still fighting, slashing with the piece of flooring at the tentacle that held him. Each time he struck at the monster it gasped, its cries merging with Kyle's screams in horrible chords of anguish.

“Wait!” Marilyn cried to Guptas. “Wait!”

Guptas stopped. She dashed back and stomped as hard as she could on the tentacle that was holding Kyle. The sickening squashiness beneath her heel made her stomach lurch. The creature shrieked, but loosened its grip on Kyle, who pulled himself free and scrambled backward.

“Come on!” She grabbed him by the hand and they raced after Guptas.

Behind them the creature howled in rage, thrashing its tentacles, one of which reached far enough to lash against the back of Marilyn's leg.

The burning pain spurred her to even greater speed. Letting go of Kyle's hand, she ran on, gasping and panting, every breath cutting into her like a sword of fire. Following Guptas, she raced through tunnels that led to other tunnels, and tunnels beyond that.

Finally, unable to go a step farther, she collapsed against a wall, gasping for breath.

With a jolt, she realized the strange, unseen presence she had sensed earlier was still with them.

What was it?

Seeking comfort, she reached for Kyle's hand, then cried out in horror.

He was gone.

She called his name over and over, but there was no answer.

Turning her face to the wall, she began to sob.

19

SULEIMAN'S FORGE

“Guptas! Where are we?”

The demon shook his head. “I'm not certain.”

“What do you mean? This is your home!”

“Of course. But there are miles and miles of corridors and tunnels beneath the castle. Unless you have some kind of landmark, or have been following a pattern, when you get to the lower levels there is no way to tell one place from another.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “Did you go get us lost on purpose?”

An evil smile crept over the demon's face. “Free me and I'll take you back to the others.”

“I can command you to take me back!”

“It won't do you any good,” he said sadly. “I don't know the way.”

She looked confused. “Then why did you just say you could do it?”

He shrugged. “It was worth a try.”

“Trying to trick me like that won't do much to prove you're trustworthy!” she said angrily.

“What difference does it make now?” he shouted back. “Why should I be trustworthy when you're going to destroy me?”

“It was what you wanted,” said Marilyn, feeling guilty.

“I would have preferred freedom.”

“I would have preferred never knowing you. I guess we can't have everything.” She turned in a circle, then muttered, “What do I do now?”

“I don't know.”

“I was talking to myself!”

The demon made a face and disappeared.

“Guptas! Get back out here!”

He reappeared, looking sullen.
Better watch it, Sparks
, she thought to herself.
When you're trapped in the bottom of an ancient castle with a demon, you don't want to make an enemy out of him. Better to have a friend
.

Which raised a question:

“You tried to save me from that creature,” she said. “Why?”

Guptas turned away from her. “I like you.”

She began to laugh. “You want to know something weird? I'm starting to like you, too.”

The corridors seemed to wind endlessly through the dark. Unlike the upper floors, there were no glowing stones here to light the way. The only illumination came from some small magic Guptas worked in order to keep Marilyn from total panic, causing himself to glow enough that he could light the way for them.