Final Kingdom (6 page)

“Me either,” Jake said, his face grim. “I feel we failed him somehow.”

“We did the best we could,” Wash said defensively. “There just wasn't enough of us to go back and rescue him.” He hesitated, then tried to be more cheerful. “He'll be all right. At least he's alive.”

“We don't know that.”

“He was when we last saw him. He took an arrow in the shoulder. But it wasn't enough to kill him.”

“You know the Dark Lord's methods better than that,” Jake snorted. “They'll pull him apart muscle by muscle if they decide to, trying to get information out of him.”

Wash did not answer. He knew that, indeed, Jake
spoke the truth. The Dark Lord's captains had no mercy, and Wash tried not to think what a terrible time Josh Adams might be going through.

Abbey fell into step with Sarah. She knew that Sarah, of all the Sleepers, was hardest hit by what had happened to Josh. Sarah and Josh had been the closest of friends, and now the sun had gone out of her sky. As they retreated into the dark mountains away from their pursuers, she seemed unable to find a single spot of joy.

Abbey was silent for a time, yearning to give her some comfort. Finally she said, “We mustn't give up. We've been in tough spots before, Sarah.”

Sarah blinked the tears away before she could say, “I'm trying to keep hoping, but it's hard, Abbey!”

Abbey trudged along beside the older girl but could think of no comforting words. Glancing over her shoulder, she said, “Beorn thinks that they're going to catch up with us.” At this point, Abbey thought, Sarah probably didn't care, though she was visibly trying to keep up a good front before the others.

“I know he does,” Sarah said wearily. Looking at the craggy rocks on each side of them and the narrow trail ahead, growing steeper with every mile, she said, “I don't know how long we can keep up this pace. All of us got hurt. My leg's killing me.” She looked down to where blood had soaked through the bandage around her calf.

“We mustn't let that get infected. And you really need to rest.”

“I don't think there's any hope of that. Beorn says we've got to keep going or we'll get trapped.”

All morning long they plodded upward. The air seemed thinner now. At one place the going grew so
steep that Abbey said, “Beorn, we've
got
to rest. Besides, Sarah's bandage needs changing, and so does yours.”

Beorn came back and glanced at Sarah's leg. “All right,” he agreed, “we'll take a break. But we can't stop long.”

Abbey quickly assumed her role as nurse. She put more antiseptic on Sarah's wound and commented that it looked inflamed. She rebandaged it, rebandaged Beorn's chest, and washed the soiled wrappings in a stream for future use. Then she went around treating the others, who had taken minor scratches. The only medication she had was the bottle of antiseptic, growing dangerously low.

As Abbey treated injuries, Beorn drew Dave to one side, looking back down the path.

“They're there,” he said grimly.

“Have you seen them?”

“Yes, even though they're clever at concealing themselves. And I think they know these mountains better than I do.”

“Glori says we'll be all right if we can make it through this pass.”

Beorn did not answer. His dark eyes were fixed on the canyon below. Suddenly he exclaimed, “There!
I saw them that time.”

“How many? Can you tell?”

“No, it's too far, but a half dozen could pin us down and starve us out.” He gnawed his lip and ran a hand through his black hair. “I don't know how we're going to make it through,” he finally said, his voice filled with defeat. “But we've got to!”

“If we don't get through,” Dave exclaimed, “the centaurs and the magicians won't be alerted. Goél told
Josh they were very important—almost vital—to the last battle.”

“He told me the same thing.” He looked up at the boy and said with surprising gentleness, “You miss your friend Josh.”

“Yes, I do. We've been together a long time. We haven't always gotten along, but he's my friend. I wish we could go back and get him. Oh, I know we can't,” he said hurriedly, holding up a hand. “All I can hope is that he's all right. And that somehow we'll be able to get him back from those people.”

“It looks like they're more apt to get us than we are to get him.” Then Beorn's eyes flashed. “There—did you see that?”

“Yes, it was the sun on a shield or spear, wasn't it?”

“They're coming up. We'll have to go on even if Sarah is hurting.”

They hurried back to the others, and Beorn looked at Glori defiantly. “We've got to move.”

“Sarah's not able to travel,” she said coldly.

“She won't be any better if the Dark Lord's henchmen get their hands on her. That leg wound will be nothing compared to what they'll do to her.”

The coldness between the two, which had always lain just beneath the surface, was now out in the open.

Glori said, “You were the leader to the Land of Ice, Beorn, but the Sleepers must follow me now. Either take my orders or leave!”

Beorn said nothing. He settled himself back on his heels and glared at her. He knew what Goél had said. Until now, it had been his task to guide the Sleepers— but she knew these mountains, and he did not.

“What should we do, Glori?” Reb asked.

“Just try to lose them. I know a pass up ahead. We
may be able to take that, and maybe they'll lose us. Can you walk, Sarah?”

“I can make it.” Sarah painfully got to her feet.

Beorn thought she was trying not to let the pain show on her face.

The little procession wound upward, all stumbling as they went. Two long hours later, Glori led them off the main trail.

“Wait!
I know this part of the trail at least!” Beorn said. “It's a dead end.”

“I know a way out.”

Beorn tried to argue, but Glori said sharply, “Be quiet, Beorn. We haven't got time to discuss it. Just follow me!”

Wearily they forged forward for another hour until they came up against a solid rock wall that barred their path.

“We can't climb that!” Dave exclaimed. He turned to Glori.

She gnawed her lip. “I must've taken a wrong turn,” she said.

Beorn looked back down the path. “Those men are trackers. They'll find us here. They're probably right on our heels, so we can't go back the way we came.”

All the Sleepers appeared overcome with dismay.

Sarah slumped to the ground, as though her wounded leg was unable to bear her weight. “What can we do? We're too weak to fight. We've got to hide.”

“Hide
where?”
Jake demanded. He looked up at the sheer wall. “There's no way to go but back.”

“That won't do,” Beorn said. “Those trackers are on their way to this spot right now.”

But Glori said, “We'll
have
to go back. There's no other choice. Maybe they missed our tracks.”

“No,” Beorn said slowly, “there
is
another way out.” When they all stared at him in shock, he said, “I recognize this place. I was here only once before, and it was many years ago, but I do remember this one spot.” His dark eyes glowed with sudden fire. “We can go through the Caverns of Doom.”

The very sound of Beorn's words visibly sent a chill through every Sleeper.

“The Caverns of Doom!” Wash exclaimed. “That don't sound like nothin' I want to go through.”

“We can't go through that place!” Glori exclaimed.

“Have you ever been there?” Beorn demanded.

“Of course not! No one goes there—except renegade dwarfs.” She turned to the Sleepers. “The Caverns of Doom are caves made partly by nature, and they became the home of wicked dwarfs.”

“They were not
wicked!”
Beorn cried. “They were my forefathers, and that was their home until the Dark Lord sent traitors among us.”

“I won't argue about it,” Glori said. “We're not going through the Caverns of Doom!”

“Wait a minute, Glori,” Dave said suddenly. He cast a wary glance at the path they had taken to this dead end. “We've got to do
something.
Is it really a dangerous place, Beorn?”

Beorn did not answer for a moment. Then he said, “Yes, it is dangerous. Foul things lurk there these days —and underground rivers that could sweep us away. But I say
that
danger is not so great as falling into the hands of the Dark Lord. I would throw myself off a cliff before I would be captured by him!”

Another debate followed then. Glori firmly argued that it would be suicide to go into the Caverns of Doom. Beorn stubbornly urged that it was their only hope.

Finally Jake declared, “Look,
I'm
not going to be caught by those fellows back there. They'd have us in the torture chamber in the Dread Tower before it was over. I vote for the Caverns.”

“So do I,” Abbey said, surprising Beorn. He'd thought her a timid girl, but apparently she had been given courage for this.

She came and put a hand on his shoulder. He was shorter than she and, of course, much wider. Summoning up a smile, she said, “I'll trust you, Beorn. Do you know the way?”

“If you vote to go, I will do my best to bring you through safely,” Beorn said simply.

Immediately Reb said, “I'm for the Caverns. Let's get going.”

“Me too,” Dave said, and Wash quickly echoed his vote. That left it up to Sarah, who rose with a grimace of pain. “Yes, I'll try anything to stay out of their hands.”

Glori glared at the Sleepers. “It is the wrong thing to do,” she said, “but I vowed to Goél to do my best for you. So I will go—though we all go to our deaths.”

“We do not know that,” Beorn said. His eyes glowed with eagerness. “I know the Caverns will be dangerous, but Goél will be with us, and I think I remember the way. Come—there is a hidden entrance.”

For the next half hour they scrambled through broken rock along the cliff wall until they reached a small valley.

“Here,” Beorn said. “Just as I remember. The entrance is right behind that big boulder.”

“We can't move that!” Dave exclaimed. “It's too big.”

“It's balanced,” Beorn said. “Look!” He stood under the rock and braced his back against it. Shoving
with both of his powerful legs and grunting, he rolled the stone to one side.

“There,” he said, panting. He motioned to the mouth of an exposed cave. “Get your torches ready. We will burn only one at a time to make sure that they last. Everyone stay as close to me as you can. Dave, you bring up the rear. We go for Goél,” Beorn said. Then he plunged into the dark cavern.

At first the blackness in the Caverns seemed as thick as the surrounding rock out of which they were carved. Only the flickering light of the torch held aloft by Beorn lit the way. However, Sarah, who followed immediately behind him, discovered that after a time her eyes adjusted to the intense dark. The pathway was wide and flat, as if beaten by many feet. Above, the cave roof arched upward nearly ten feet at the highest point.

Beorn gave them an encouraging word from time to time. When they came to a fork, he said, “I remember. That way—” he motioned to the right “—leads to a trap. No one comes out again from that passage.”

“Are you sure it's the
right
one that's the trap?” Glori asked. She stared into both darkened ways and appeared unhappy about the whole thing. “It's not too late to turn back . . .”

“We can't do that,” Sarah said wearily. “Go on, Beorn.”

Beorn plunged down the left passageway.

The cavern trail gradually began to lead downward. Sarah felt the tilt of the path beneath her feet. Down, down, down they went. Then she began hearing the gurgle of an underground river, and finally they came to it. Fortunately the stream was very narrow.

“We must fill up our canteens here,” Beorn said,
“and drink all we can. I'm not sure when we will find water again.”

They rested for a while and ate a little. Then Beorn said, “Now we will enter the real dwarf country.”

“I'm not sure I
want
to go into the dwarf country,” Reb muttered. He glanced around. He was next in line in front of Dave. Then he reached forward and tapped Wash on the shoulder. “Don't you get lost. With your coloration it would be easy, and we'd never find you.”

Wash turned and grinned, his teeth flashing. “May-be you better tie a string on me, Reb.”

“I don't know about all this,” Jake muttered. “I never did like underground stuff.”

“It reminds me of the Underworld,” Abbey murmured. “I wish we had some of our friends from there to guide us.”

On and on they went until exhaustion compelled them to stop. They sat down to rest, and Sarah and Abbey worked on preparing food. They had bits of cold meat left and some dried fruit that was almost unchewable, but they made the best of it.

Beorn insisted they keep only one torch burning, saving the others for later. “Plenty of air in here,” he said. “See how the flame burns?” Then he waved an arm. “I remember this place. It was a big conference room in the old days.”

Then they pulled out their sleeping bags.

“Hard to know if it's sleep time when you don't know whether it's day or night,” Wash muttered to Reb, who lay only a few feet away.

“Don't matter to me,” Reb said cheerfully. “Day or night, I'm sleepy. Sleep when I'm sleepy, drink when I'm dry. That's what I do.”

Several hours later, Beorn roused them.

“I don't think they would dare follow us down here,” he said, “but we can't take the chance,” he said. “Reb, you be the rearguard now. From time to time, stop and listen. Call out if you hear anything coming up behind us.”