Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow (20 page)

By the time they reached the parkland again, the sun had fully set. Stars filled the heavens, and the white road of the Milky Way blazed across the sky. The full moon hung over Calypsos, shining brightly on the merriment below. Music drifted up from the lower levels of the town, along with songs in a chorus of languages.

But how long would it last?

A giant raz flew low over them, rising up from the Tiberius estate. Jake felt the rush of its wings as it passed. It was probably a scout, sent out to raise the alarm among the People of the Wind.

“Keep moving,” Gaius urged as Jake slowed to watch the bird’s flight.

The gravel path crunched underfoot as if they ran over crushed bones.

With every step deeper into the forest, Jake could not escape the feeling something was watching them—or
rather watching
him
. Jake searched both sides of the path. Here in the darkness, he remembered Livia’s black eyes, and the words that flowed from her throat.

“I see you…”

The hairs on the back of Jake’s neck quivered with the certainty that something frightening shared this dark forest. A shadow shifted on his left, a twig snapped.

Something
was
out there!

With a gasp, Jake veered and bumped into Bach’uuk. He was nimble enough to catch Jake and keep them both on their feet. They sped onward. Jake finally noted a break in the darkness. He hurried and took the lead. The trail flowed out of the forest and into one of the park’s many meadows, the one that overlooked the city.

As he burst out, the welcome moonlight washed over him. It bathed the field with silvery light and revealed something perched at the edge of the overlook. It was black as if a clot of shadows refused to flee from the moonlight.

Jake’s first thought was of the dark assassin Bach’uuk had spotted, the man with a cloak of living shadows. This illusion grew as the form heard their group’s approach and twisted around, casting out wings of darkness from its wrapped body. Outlined against the stars, it was plain the wings were not made of cloth or shadow—but leather and bone.

“A grakyl!” Gaius shouted behind them.

Jake fled from the overlook, drawing the others with him. Only the centurion remained behind. Gaius yanked his sword and crouched. The beast sprang into the air, wings outstretched. With a single flap, it dove toward Gaius.

“Run!” the centurion yelled. “Make for the castle!”

They obeyed, but Jake kept half an eye behind him. The grakyl fell upon Gaius with a great thrashing of limbs. It beat at him with its wings. But Gaius danced and spun and stabbed out with his sword. The beast screamed like a rusty fork dragged over a chalkboard. Blood gushed from its wounds. But it did not try to escape. With a great shudder, it cried out and prepared to attack again.

Worst yet, its cry was answered by another scream. From beyond the lookout, a second grakyl swooped up from below and swept overhead. The pair fell upon Gaius with a storm of claws and teeth.

Then Jake dropped into another section of forest, and he lost sight of the centurion. The four of them fled, too scared to speak, only run. Once again, Jake felt that overpowering sense that something watched him, possibly hunted him. He again heard whispers of pursuit: a rustle of leaves, a crackle of branches.

They reached the bench where the young lovers had been sharing a kiss. The pair had long since gone, but something else had taken their place. It leaped off the bench and filled the trail. Wings spread and blocked the
way completely. They all froze on the path.

A grakyl. Its porcine nose sniffed at them. Its ears swiveled, taking in every slight noise. It panted at them, revealing a mouthful of jagged teeth.

But this was no ordinary grakyl.

This one clutched a sword in one claw, and two spiraling horns grew out of its head like some horrible crown. It hissed at them and lowered its sword, as if trying to judge which one to kill first. Jake scrabbled for his penlight, but he’d buttoned it into another of his pants pockets, and he couldn’t get it free.

Behind Jake, a snapping of branches alerted him that a second beast closed in from the rear. They were surrounded. He didn’t have time to get his flashlight out. He grabbed Marika and dove to the side.

But the trailing beast simply shot past them, running low to the ground, a blur of shadows. It leaped straight into the air and struck the grakyl in the throat. Its momentum and weight knocked the hollow-boned creature onto its back. A fierce feline scream followed as saber-toothed fangs ripped deep into the tender neck of the monster.

It was the
Rhabdofelix
! The one Jake had set free. Latched onto the monster’s throat, she shook and spit and thrashed until the wings of the grakyl stopped beating.

Jake urged them all to circle around the trail. “Go! Cut around that way!” He pointed and followed after them.

As he edged past the slaughter, the cat growled in Jake’s
direction. Her eyes caught every bit of light under the dense canopy as she stared at him. The giant cat must have been following him all along. He read her eyes as she stared at him, sensing the bond between them. Not as pet and owner, but more like equals.
You watch my back; I’ll watch yours
.

Then she leaped away and vanished back into the woods. But Jake knew she was still out there.

Jake ran after his friends. He still sensed eyes upon him, but now they offered him a measure of comfort. He felt a little less alone.

“What in all of Hades’ fires was that thing?” Pindor gasped out. “It had horns! Carried a sword!”

“A grakyl lord!” Marika answered, panting. “I read…but no one believed they were real.”

“
That
looked real to me!” Pindor said.

Jake stopped them at the edge of the forest, keeping to the shadows of the branches. Ahead, bright moonlight lit the way. But as he caught his breath, the world suddenly went a little darker.

Concerned, Jake saw that a low black cloud had swept over the face of the moon and flowed toward the castle.

Below, in the city, all music had stopped. A hush had fallen over the town.

Somewhere high above, a piercing cry screeched downward. At this signal, grakyl after grakyl dove out of the clouds.

Screams rose from the streets.

Jake pushed everyone deeper into the forest’s cover.

“They’re here!” Marika moaned. “Through the barrier. How?”

“I don’t know, but they are.”

“What are we going to do?” Pindor asked.

“Find somewhere to hide. That’s what we must do first.”

“What about Gaius?” Marika asked.

Jake shook his head. They could not count on help from the centurion.

“He told us to go to the castle,” Pindor said.

They all turned toward Kalakryss. Flocks of grakyl already mounted its walls. A few soldiers fought on the ramparts, but they were being swamped. More grakyl disappeared into the courtyard. Beyond the wall, saurians bellowed and men shouted.

The bright blare of a trumpet sounded near the stadium.

Jake stared up again as a new force rose into the sky. The People of the Wind! A wave of the mighty raz took to the air in scores of V-shaped groups, launching from their cliffside homes. They climbed high, then dove quickly downward. Like a volley of black arrows, the birds shredded into the black spiraling cloud. With a single pass, scores of grakyl fell earthward, tumbling and trailing shredded wings. The sharp talons of the raz ripped leather and bone with ease.

But the winged riders were vastly outnumbered.

Pindor realized it, too. “They’ll never last,” he said. “We need more forces.”

“Who?” Marika asked. “The Saddlebacks are spread all over Calypsos. The People of the Wind are only one tribe.”

Pindor shook his head. “I don’t know. But for now, Jake’s right. We need a safe place to regroup, maybe somewhere we could rally more forces.”

Jake studied Pindor. It seemed his skill at strategy was not limited to just a ball game. Did anyone else have a plan? Jake found himself studying the most silent of their group.

“Bach’uuk,” Jake said. “Your caves are on the far side of the wall.”

He nodded. “Our Elders wish to look upon the face of the dark forest, to not forget. That is our way.”

Jake turned to Pindor and Marika. “The town’s not safe, neither is the castle. Our best chance might be to hide out there.”

Pindor stepped before Bach’uuk. “Would your people come and defend Calypsos?”

Jake knew what Pindor was hoping—that perhaps the Neanderthal tribe could
be
the extra forces he was talking about. But Bach’uuk would not meet the Roman boy’s eye and stared down at his feet. His heavy brow hid his features.

“That is not the way of our people,” Bach’uuk mum
bled. “But such matters must be judged by our Elders.”

“Then we’ll talk to them,” Pindor said. “Convince them.”

The Ur boy’s eyes flashed with a moment of anger, but the fire quickly subsided and his features went calm.

Pindor hadn’t noticed. “How do we get all the way over there?”

“There is a way. I can take you.” Bach’uuk pointed beyond the castle to the Sacred Woods. “A tunnel.”

Jake stared out there. For the moment, the fighting focused on the town and the castle. The forest remained dark and undisturbed. Also Kady was out in those woods, too.

Marika frowned. “I don’t remember hearing of any tunnel in the forest.”

Bach’uuk pointed his arm. Jake followed his direction. He seemed to be pointing toward the stone dragon. It hovered over the treetops, lit by moonlight.

“Are you talking about the great temple?” Marika asked.

Bach’uuk nodded. “Tunnel there.”

“
Inside
the temple?” she pressed.

A nod again, this time followed by an impatient grunt.

“But only the Magisters are allowed to enter the Temple of Kukulkan,” she insisted.

Again fire flashed in the Ur boy’s eyes. “Magisters…and those who
serve
them.”

Marika stared at Bach’uuk a moment longer, stunned,
then over at Jake. “I didn’t know.”

“No one sees us,” Bach’uuk said, letting some of his irritation shine more boldly. “No one counts us. We are only Ur.”

Jake remembered how Marika’s father seemed hardly to acknowledge Bach’uuk. Marika certainly appreciated his help, but Jake recalled her earlier description of Ur intelligence.
Papa believes there is a dullness to their thoughts, but they are strong and obey simple directions
.

Jake knew better than that. And apparently so did Bach’uuk.

“Will you lead us there?” Jake asked.

Bach’uuk nodded and turned away, but Marika remained where she was.

“Even if the Ur are allowed to trespass in the temple, we are not,” she said. “It is forbidden for any but the Magisters to tread inside the pyramid.”

Jake struggled not to roll his eyes. He had great respect for Marika, but she had some streaks of stubbornness equal to his own. He had to break through her rigidity. He grabbed her hand.

“Mari, there are no more Magisters in Calypsos. At least none around at the moment.”

He saw how much his words wounded her, reminded her of her missing father. But they had to be said.

Jake touched the badge still pinned on his vest jacket. “As apprentices, we are the only Magisters Calypsos has
at the moment.”

Her brows scrunched together, digesting his way of looking at it. She glanced to the war in the sky, then finally nodded. “You may be right.” Her voice firmed. “We must try.”

Jake gave her wrist another squeeze, then waved for Bach’uuk to lead them.

Pindor followed, mumbling his usual dour advice. “You’re Calypsos’s only Magisters? Then we’re doomed for sure.”

The Sacred Woods spread like a black sea beyond the outskirts of the besieged town of Calypsos. It washed up against its walls in a twisted tangle of trees. All of the trees were giants with corkscrew trunks, like the one that graced the castle courtyard.

A path wound through the woods, lit by solitary lampposts of glowing crystals, but they were spread far apart, leaving long stretches of pitch-black darkness. The group raced along the path.

The temple lay in the heart of the woods, over a mile away. As they ran, they heard sounds of fighting. The war continued to spread. Other townspeople were seeking refuge in the forest. Voices called out to them from hiding places as they ran past. But they kept moving, led by a determined Bach’uuk.

Jake searched the woods for any flicker of flame. Kady
had come to this forest with her friends for some post-game bonfire. But Jake saw no sign of any fire. Either it blazed much deeper in the dense woods, or they’d doused it once the fighting started.

Worry kept his jaw muscles tight.

“We’ll never get inside the temple,” Marika whispered as she ran alongside him. “As the crystal heart of Kukulkan protects our valley—at least until this night—it also casts a shield over the opening to the temple. Only Magisters are allowed to pass through.”

Jake pictured the grakyl at the Broken Gate, writhing against the force shield. “Are you saying there’s a barrier across the entrance?”

Her face was in shadow, but Jake knew she was frowning. “What do you think I was saying back at the park? Only Magisters may enter…and apparently the Ur.”

Jake had thought the temple was guarded by men or by mere superstition. “What if we can’t get in?”

“Like you said, Jake, maybe
we
are the Magisters now, and we’ll be allowed to pass. Or maybe Bach’uuk will know a secret way inside known only to the Ur. He mentioned a tunnel.”

Jake nodded and increased his pace. He would cross that invisible barrier when he got to it.

They continued through the forest in silence. This deep in the woods, the whispers and calls had grown quieter. None of the townspeople hiding in the Sacred Woods had
gotten this far. And why would they? If Marika was right, the temple offered them no refuge.

Jake sensed the pyramid before he saw it. The air grew heavier and somehow charged, like before a thunderstorm, when the skies were low and dark and chains of lightning crackled in the distance. His senses grew keener. His ears picked out the rustle of leaves over the canopy. He smelled the sweetness of night-blooming moss that grew with a ghostly luminescence on the twisted trunks of the trees. His skin prickled with every skittering breeze.

Then there it was.

The forest stopped a few yards from the pyramid’s bottom step.

Jake stepped out into the clearing. It wasn’t a wise thing to do as the war continued to roll toward them overhead. But he had never seen such a wondrous sight. There was no doubt. It was exactly the same as the golden artifact at the museum, the one recovered from his parents’ dig.

Only this one is giant-sized
.

Each of the pyramid’s tiers was taller than Jake’s head, rising higher and higher to crest above the tallest trees. And there, perched at the very top, crouched the stone dragon. Moonlight turned it silver, crisply outlining each and every detail.

The outstretched wings were inscribed with feathers. Jake stared up at it. The statue truly was a feathered serpent! No wonder Marika’s people named it Kukulkan
when they first came here. Then again, perhaps the myths of Kukulkan among the Maya came from this place. Jake remembered what he had spied in Magister Balam’s library. It made him wonder once again: Had ancient people long ago found a way back home from here? Had they carried myths of monsters and feathered serpents from this place back to their native lands?

Jake studied the statue. The dragon’s face stared toward the horizon. The face did not look quite saurian, nor did it look even reptilian, but somehow something entirely new, even vaguely human. That last sense came from the crinkled stone eyes that looked outward with such hope and seemed full of ancient wisdom.

Lastly Jake noted its tail. It curled fully around the uppermost level, as if it were protecting a nest of eggs. The tip of the tail formed a perfect circle, marking off a round door at the top of the pyramid. It looked to be the only entrance. It was at the spot where Jake had inserted the two halves of the Mayan coin into the golden artifact at the British Museum.

“This way,” Marika said, pointing forward.

Down the center of that side of the pyramid, the giant tiers had been sliced through with a narrow staircase of ordinary-sized steps. The stairs aimed straight for the round entrance. She headed there.

“We’d better hurry!” Pindor added, looking over his shoulder as he passed Jake.

Jake craned up and saw the writhing storm of grakyl and razor-taloned raz had reached them. They had no more time. Jake hurried after Pindor with Bach’uuk behind him.

Jake hit the stairs and began climbing. He fumbled out his penlight. He wanted it in his fingers if they were attacked. He kept a thumb on the switch, but he kept the light off. He wanted to save the battery. He didn’t know how long it would last. He also feared the beam might attract the wrong eyes.

But in the end, it made no difference.

The grakyl proved to have sharp vision. A few of them spotted the four figures climbing the moonlit pyramid. A screech pierced the night. Jake glanced up and saw a dozen grakyl diving toward them. The one in the lead was the largest, with spiraled horns on his head, and his black blade reflected the moonlight off its wicked length.

One of the grakyl lords.

“Everyone together!” Jake screamed.

They were only a quarter of the way up the side of the pyramid. They’d never make it. All around them, grakyl crashed to the stone sides of the pyramid. The lord of the foul beasts landed a few steps below Jake. It crouched, wings out, its sword pointed straight at Jake’s heart.

Jake raised his only weapon. He pointed his penlight at the grakyl’s face and clicked on the light. The glare bothered the beast at first. A wing snapped around,
shielding its eyes like a cape. Then it suddenly wailed as the freezing touch of the light turned its eyeballs to ice. It fell backward, clawing at its own face, tearing gouges as it rolled down the steps.

Its sword struck the step below and rattled. Jake lunged and grabbed it before it bounced away. They needed every weapon. Jake passed it to Pindor, but he caught a glimpse of an emblem melted into its hilt. It struck Jake as familiar, but he didn’t have time to examine it further.

The grakyl lord’s cries had ignited a bloodlust in its brethren. They came at the small group from all sides. Jake hit two more in the face, blinding them and sending them tumbling after their lord. Pindor did his best to ward off the others with his sword. But more beasts closed in from all directions, screeching in agony and fury.

They had to keep moving.

Jake twisted and pointed his light toward the grakyl on the stair above. It hissed and hid its face. The creatures were learning. Thinking quickly, Jake aimed for its knees instead. He flashed his beam between the two bony joints.

“Run!” Jake yelled. “Follow me!”

He ran straight toward the monster ahead and hollered a challenge. The beast tried to step forward to meet Jake head-on—but its knees were frozen solid and wouldn’t bend. It toppled forward, straight at Jake, ready still to rip the boy’s throat out. But Jake ducked and used a Tae
Kwon Do shoulder flip to pitch the beast down the stairs. It crashed end over end. The others dodged past it and followed.

Jake took two steps at a time. Behind him, the other grakyl gave chase, scrabbling up the stairs, flapping from tier to tier, trying to cut them off. They’d never make the entrance. Their pursuers were closing in.

“Jake!”
Marika yelled.

He turned. One of the grakyl had grabbed Marika by the ankle. It flapped and tried to drag her off the steps. Then Jake heard a whistling noise and something struck the head of the monster. The grakyl dropped like a rock and let Marika go.

Suddenly a great barrage of stones were pelted from the forest fringe. A group of young men in togas stepped out into the clearing below. They had slings and whipped them with expert skill.

Jake recognized a familiar face.

“Heronidus!” Pindor yelled, spotting his brother, too.

The rain of stones crashed down upon the grakyl demons from below. Bones broke and skulls cracked. The beasts sought to escape, but next came a flurry of arrows. The twang of bows sounded again and again. Behind the Roman ballplayers, a line of Viking women appeared with short bows in hand.

The fleeing grakyl were peppered with arrows and tumbled back to earth.

But the battle at the pyramid did not go unnoticed. More screeches erupted from the churning war overhead. An entire black wing of the grakyl horde swept down toward the bloodshed. More than three dozen strong. Some aimed for the pyramid, some for the forest’s edge.

“Jake!”
a call burst out below.

He tore his eyes from the skies. A woman in Viking garb waved at him, motioning him to make for the pyramid’s opening.

“Run, Jake!”

It was Kady!

He hardly recognized her. Her clothes were ripped, her face bloody, but she somehow stood taller. In her hand, she lifted a sword and pointed it to the top of the pyramid.

“Go! Now!”

He watched Kady and the others flee back into the forest. Jake sprinted for the opening in the pyramid. Overhead, the stone dragon stared off into the skies, its expression never changing, aloof to the flow of blood and screams.

Jake pressed harder but Pindor had taken the lead. Jake and the others chased after him. They had to reach the entrance. It wasn’t much farther. They were almost to the top.

Then a dark clutch of graykl landed on the stairs ahead—eight of them, led by another grakyl lord. They blocked the
way. Pindor faced the monster with his stolen blade.

Jake pushed forward, ready to help defend him.

But Pindor sensed it was a fight they could not win. They were outnumbered. The point of his sword dropped, giving up. The grakyl lord grinned like a shark, revealing a gaping maw of sharp teeth.

But Pindor wasn’t done. He lifted his other hand to his lips—and blew. Jake heard a faint high-pitched whine that faded into nothingness. Pindor had Jake’s dog whistle to his lips and blew with all his heart.

The grakyl horde screamed and clutched their peaked ears, as if trying to stuff them into their own canals to shut out the noise. Their foul lord hissed in agony and jumped straight into the air. It twisted and writhed as if off balance. The others scattered, fleeing the piercing ultrasonic whistle.

With the way open again, Jake pointed.
“Go!”

Pindor raced up with him. “They have big ears,” he gasped out. “I thought maybe…”

“You thought good!” Jake said, knowing Pindor had saved their lives.

The four of them raced up the last few steps and leaped through the curl of tail that circled the entrance. Jake felt a slight tingle, like when he’d passed through the Broken Gate, but they weren’t stopped. They ran a few more steps.

Jake paused to stare behind him. The grakyl returned,
but they hovered at the entrance. One swiped a claw at them. A small frizzle of sparks ran over its skin. But that was all. It wasn’t repelled, which meant that the pyramid’s barrier, like the one around the entire valley, was down.

Still, the creature pulled back. It refused to follow them into the pyramid. Others gathered outside, but none of them entered.

“Looks like they’re afraid to pass inside,” Marika whispered.

Afraid of what? Jake wondered with a trickle of fear.

“Scared or not, they’re also not leaving,” Pindor said.

It was true. More and more grakyl gathered outside. Jake pictured the entire pyramid crawling with those monsters. Maybe they were trying to get enough nerve to storm inside. Jake wanted to be gone when that happened.

“Where to now?” Jake asked.

Bach’uuk waved and led them forward. The entrance tunnel slanted steeply downward, heading toward the center of the pyramid. The way was dark, but light glowed at the end of the passageway.

They had no choice but to face what lay ahead.