Everville: The Rise of Mallory (15 page)

At Zee’s estate, Zee and Drusilla discussed the best course of action regarding Jacob and their belief that he had stolen the jar with the liquid element.

“Drusilla. I’m done with this crap. I’m done with Jacob. I’m taking my bo staff, and I’m going over his house to find the jar the of the element. I also suspect that he somehow has a hand in the missing members of the Echo Club. Since you’re already on probation, I suggest you stay here. Jacob is going to regret the day that he messed with us.”

“Are you sure that’s such a good idea, Zee?” Drusilla asked.

“If I’m not going to stop him, who will?” Zee asked.

A short time later, Zee arrived at Jacob’s home. The butler answered the door.

“Listen, if you don’t leave now, I’m going to call the cops,” the butler said refusing to let Zee pass.

Zee started walking away, pretending he was getting ready to leave, but when the butler had turned back around and was preparing to go back inside the house, Zee quickly did an about face and pushed himself through the door.

“Hey, I’m calling the cops now. You going to regret that you did that!” the butler shouted.

Zee ignored the butler and ran up the stairs to Jacob’s room. He thrust the door open and saw Jacob standing in the center of the room, stroking the artifact that was around his neck.

“I know you stole my jar, the jar of the element that my father left me,” Zee said angrily.

“Why, I haven’t the slightest idea about what you’re talking about,” Jacob said in a sarcastic and taunting tone.

“Give it back to me now. If you don’t, I swear, you’ll regret it,” Zee shot back.

“What you are going to do? Kill me? You don’t have the stones!” Jacob said as he started laughing, taunting Zee even more.

“You know, Zee, you really shouldn’t have come here. I used to kind of like you. I used to think we were kind of alike. Now though, I see that you’re pathetic and weak. You’ve been hanging around those losers Dante, Anika, and Owen. Now you’re just as stupid and just as lame.” Zee approached Jacob with his bo staff as was about to hit Jacob in the head with it.

“Nice try,” Jacob said, just before the bo staff made contact.

Jacob rubbed the artifact. The artifact that contained the element had given Jacob a lot of power. Now Jacob was going to use it.

“Now you are going to join the rest of them,” Jacob added.

Before Zee had a chance to respond or the bo staff had time to make contact, Jacob extended his arm towards Zee, making a fist. Instantly Zee vanished.

Zee had gone to the same place as the other members of the Echo Club, and it wasn’t entirely clear if any of them were ever coming back.

Chapter 16

The Attack

B
ack in the land of the giants, the Alarians made their move. Near the central monolith, Governor Jahal expelled a torrent of fire from the massive jaws that protruded out of his monstrous dragonhead. The soldiers directly in the line of fire lifted their shields in an attempt to cover their bodies and prevent incineration. The fire scorched the metal, forcing the soldiers to drop their shields. Their hands were scorched and so were portions of their bodies that were not covered behind their shields. Several soldiers lay dead, already having succumb to the intense heat.

“Attack!” shouted Borak.

The archers stepped forward and pulled back their bows, releasing spears tipped with tar and fire. Volley after volley, the spears launched into the air.

Once the fire tipped spears reached the Alarians’ position, they passed right through them. The Alarians simply shape shifted, and Them were not yet close enough to force the Alarians to maintain a solid form.

Eventually the archers retreated and the giants stepped forward. The giants propelled large boulders toward the dragons, but like the spears before them, the boulders simply passed right through them without making contact.

The Alarians flew by for a second pass, breathing flames that torched all the soldiers in their path. Hundreds more soldiers died. At the current pace, the armies of Everville and the armies of the giants would be decimated within only a few hours.

“Retreat!” shouted Borak.

The armies fell back to a defensive position closing in on the monoliths. The monoliths were solidly constructed and would provide shelter against some of the fire from the dragons. Until then, the largest of the giants grabbed more large shields, hoping to stop most of the fire from torching more of the soldiers.

“Here they come again! Duck!” Borak shouted.

When all the soldiers squatted down near the ground and covered themselves with the shields, the posturing was effective.

After watching Borak’s contingent of soldiers successfully defend against the fire of the dragons, the rest of the soldiers followed suit.

Eventually, the fire from the Alarians was no longer effective. It was time for a different strategy.

Governor Jahal communicated with his old soldiers that with each successive approach, they would change their form to include an appendage shaped like a razor sharp spear. They made their first pass with the new form and then continuously repeated it.

The giants continued to take the brunt of the casualties. The smaller Fron, tiny marmooks, and miniature Ubaloo were spared from the stabbing of the appendages.

Once again, the Alarians decided to adapt their form, seeing that many of the smaller creatures were going unscathed. The next time they passed, they would make thousands of smaller protrusions that were equally as sharp but small enough to maximize causalities.

The next pass was brutal and effective. Hundreds of Fron, Marmooks, Ubaloo, along with the giants were strewn across the battlefield. In the land of the giants, the casualties were quickly piling up. General Varrick was about ready to release the first wave of the armies of Them that were hidden in the monoliths and have them prevent the Alarians from being able to shift.

In the land of the Fron, above the catacombs of Everville, The Keepers were holding the line. Their staves and other artifacts had prevented the Alarians from making any real progress.

Hundreds of thousands of Alarians transformed into dragons. The first wave dove towards The Keepers, the Fron, and the marmooks who stayed back to protect their land from the onslaught. Collectively, The Keepers united their staves and created a shield that covered most of the land surrounding them.

On the outside of the shield, fire from the dragons’ flames torched the ground and vegetation, but it was only the outskirts of the land of the Fron. The underground catacombs, The Workshop of The Keepers, and everything else below remained unscathed. The villages and homes of the Fron were also safe.

The Alarian councilman that was in charge of the battle in Everville instructed his people to shift, this time into the form of wind. It was his hope The Keepers would release the shield, but The Keepers remained on guard.

The Alarians then tried to burrow underground, but the shield created by The Keepers went below ground as well. For now, any attempt to harm those in Everville or the minerals, portals, and artifacts was thwarted.

The Alarians continued to try different forms to pierce the shield. Everything they tried failed. The Keepers, and those who stood with them, did not have to lift a finger to protect their land; they merely stood guard and watched as the Alarians continued to expend their precious energy. It was a bright spot in the three front war against the Alarians.

While the Alarians were making great progress in the land of the giants, there was a real concern that if The Keepers could not be destroyed, then they would continue to prevent the flow of the element, which would eventually result in the demise of the Alarians. Worse yet, there was a concern that such an expenditure of the element in the futile battle would deplete the Alarian’s energy before they had a chance to succeed.

In Brackenbone, the walls of Vermogen provided an initial protection from the Alarians. Soon though, just as in the land of the giants, they quickly changed shape to create large spikes that protruded from their dragon bodies. The spikes extended from the claws of the dragons, which changed shape to match the size of soldiers they were attacking. The charge killed countless Ubaloo soldiers along with others.

There had been enough bloodshed of Ubaloo, and the order finally went out to Them to send out the first wave of the armies of Them and freeze the shape that the Alarians currently held. Immediately after the order, the Alarians lost the ability to protect themselves from the weapons of the Ubaloo and others who fought along side them. Their claws also became less effective at stabbing, since they were now stuck with whichever size they were when the order had been given to prevent their shifting.

Brackenbone was especially important because it was the location of the eventual collector that would restore access to the portals, and the Ubaloo were determined to hold the line.

“Now!” shouted one of the leaders of the Ubaloo army.

The archers that had fallen back in retreat reformed. They readied their bows, placing the spears in them.

“Shoot!” the Ubaloo general said as he gave the order.

The Archers spears bounced off the scales of the dragons, but the Alarians’ eyes, snouts, and mouths were vulnerable. With each round of spears, several of the dragons were injured. It was the first time the Alarians had felt physical pain since long before they left their universe.

Then it happened!

“Fire!” the general shouted.

“Again! Fire!” he repeated.

The Ubaloo army concentrated all of their firepower on the eyes of the dragon. One of the large dragons, which they believed was one of the leaders, was struggling to stay in the air. The soldiers focused their aim on that one solitary dragon. Volley after volley, attack after attack, the dragon grew weaker. The dragon was eventually blinded, but the attack did not cease. The spears and boulders laced with tar and fire burned and hollowed out the eyes of the dragon, eventually penetrating the inside of the dragonhead.

Soldiers from both sides fixated on the dragon. A rare moment of silence and a break in the battle seized the region. The wings of the dragon slowed and then came to a complete stop. The shimmering scales and opulent color that the Alarians took on in their dragon form faded from its skin.

The dragon began its lifeless descent. Everyone watched as the dragon fell below, coming closer and closer to the ground. Moments later it made impact with a dull, unimpressive thud. By the time it hit he ground, the Alarian had shifted into its ancestral form. Then suddenly, the beast that was once an impressive behemoth of a dragon separated into smoke and vanished into the air.

Brackenbone represented the first death for the Alarians. It was only one dragon, but it was a crushing defeat. They were now subject to mortal laws. They still had a massive advantage, though. The dragons numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but their sheer size and number got in their own way, limiting the maximum number of casualties they were able to inflict. The Ubaloo, on the other hand, were small and nimble. They were able to use the shields and terrain to hide from the dragons’ approach.

The battle in Brackenbone continued. The archers came out and launched endless volleys of fire tipped spears. Hundreds of the Alarians were shot down from the sky in the same fashion as the first. Each time a dragon was defeated, it fell from the sky landing with a dull thud and evaporated.

Eventually, hundreds turned into thousands, and the battle raged on with both sides losing soldiers in great number.

Back on the battlefield in the land of the giants, Borak gave the same order to the armies of Them. The Alarians were frozen in whatever form they last possessed the moment the order was given.

“Fire,” shouted Borak. The archers took their positions, and just as in Brackenbone, thousands of Alarians were shot out of the sky. Those thousands turned into tens of thousands.

The giants, though, did not fair as well as the Ubaloo. Neither did many of the larger creatures that fought alongside them. Their large size made them a much easier target, and their losses were much more severe. Nevertheless, the deaths of the Alarians continued to increase, and many of them believed it was time to regroup and reassess the battle plan. Governor Jahal, however, was persistent and stubborn. He felt assured of an eventual victory and he did not want to give up until the deed was done.

Word spread quickly to the second city, and Governor Laveda discussed options with the council.

“Let’s send a peace convoy to try and call a truce,” she suggested.

“I don’t think that’s going to work. Unless our people stop attacking first, the armies of Everville will continue to do what must be done to protect their kind. Also, the loss of tens of thousands of soldiers is a lot to us, but there are millions of soldiers fighting with Governor Jahal. I don’t think he’s going to let the death of that small a percentage stop him from engaging in battle,” one of the councilmen suggested.

They continued to discuss among themselves about possible solutions, but none of them were workable. The Governor left the meeting in frustration and returned to her residence.

In The Valley of Darkness, the Mountain Dwellers and Fwaylan neared the entrance to the land of the giants. Once they arrived, the armies would be able to make additional progress.

The Alarians continued to lose tens of thousands of soldiers. Even among those most supportive of Governor started to question the losses. This kind of death was simply unheard of to the Alarians. They didn’t understand why their form had been frozen, but it had.

“Governor Jahal,” one of the councilmen said.

“What is it?” he asked.

“How is it that they have been able to prevent us from shape shifting?” he asked.

“I do not know,” Governor Jahal replied.

“Maybe we should fall back until we better understand what the cause is. The loss of so many of our people is unheard of. I don’t think it would hurt to take a step back while we recover from our losses and decide on the best method of attack,” the councilmen said.

“No! We can’t capitulate now. We have the armies of the giants on their knees. It will only be a matter of time before we succeed!” the Governor shouted.

“But at what price? How many of our men do we have to lose? We have survived the death of our universe and tens of billions of years, but at this moment you have led to more death than any other single event in our entire existence. We didn’t even lose this many of our progeny in The City of Worms. I beg you. I am begging you, pleading with you. Please, please stop this madness! Let’s pull back and regroup. We must find out what is preventing us from being able to shift. If not, I fear that we would have been better off staying with our families and descendants at the moment of our universe’s destruction,” one of the councilmen said begging.

Facing the very real possibility of a revolt, Governor Jahal reluctantly agreed. He instructed the Alarians to transport just outside the realm. Once they were outside the influence of Them, the Alarians regained their ability to shape shift.

Governor Laveda also got word that the Alarians were in retreat and arranged a meeting between the two.

“Governor Jahal!” she exclaimed. “There hasn’t been a murder or death of our people since the destruction of our universe, and yet your lust for power has resulted in the death of tens of thousands of our citizens. Why can’t you stop this madness?” Governor Laveda asked.

“I don’t care how many of our men die. These people, The Keepers and the others, are responsible for the murders of our children and they are going to pay!” he exclaimed.

“Hasn’t there been enough death, Governor Jahal?” she asked.