Keeper of the Realms: The Dark Army (Book 2) (34 page)

SSSSSCCKKRR!

A pair of stone hands pushed through the fabric and ripped away a large portion of canvas. Looming over the two with a sullen face the gargorilla growled.

‘Run!’ shouted Charlie.

Scuttling between the creature’s legs she squeaked in surprise as she came face to face with a second.

‘On yer left!’ screamed Jensen.

Charlie turned left and bounced off the third’s backside.

‘No!’ hollered Jensen, ripping at his hair in frustration. ‘Don’t
turn
left. There’s one
on
yer left!’

Sprinting past the soldiers he grabbed Charlie by the back of her shirt and hauled her out of the way as a boulder-like fist smashed into the ground.

‘Use yer Will!’

Charlie panicked when she realized she couldn’t. ‘I can’t! I can’t hold the Portal open and wield my Will!’

‘Duck! Duck!’ yelled Jensen, watching with horror as Charlie narrowly missed getting squished by one of the lumbering creatures. ‘Well let go of the Portal then!’

Charlie, already fatigued from her fight with Fo Fum, and grown weary from holding open a Portal for so long, was in no shape for a fight. Falling back on her K’Changa skills she bobbed, weaved and sprang out of the way. She was unable to use the hand that held the pulsing heart, which severely disadvantaged her. Eluding the gargorilla’s grasping paws, but becoming further exhausted by the second, she struggled to think of a solution.

‘What about Crumble?’

‘He’s safe where he is! Let go of the Portal and we can get him later.’

Charlie, ending a series of complicated single handsprings, saw an opportunity in Jensen’s argument. ‘Let’s forget using my Will; let’s use the Portal instead!
We
can come back later.’ She ducked away as a fourth gargorilla entered the tent.

Unfortunately Crumble, unaware of what was happening, chose that moment to step through the Portal with his shopping.

‘Cracked Rock!’ he cursed as the soldier nearest him spun round and tried to hammer him to a pulp.

‘Back!’ screamed Charlie. ‘Go back!’

But one of the gargorillas barred his retreat. Realizing she had little choice, Charlie let go of the Portal. Calling on her Will she slammed a fist against the nearest creature. Large cracks appeared across its chest, but still it lurched on. Clenching her teeth Charlie punched it with all her might. It staggered forward for several more steps before shattering into a hundred pieces.

But Charlie’s strength was fading fast.

‘Crumble! Throw me your shopping!’

The young Stoman was having problems of his own. In his haste to escape the clutching hands of one gargorilla he almost backed straight into another and now found himself penned in.

‘Here!’

He threw a wrapped packet at her, then, breaking into song, he dived forward to slam both glowing hands against one of the gargorilla’s feet.

KRAAAACK!

The soldier’s foot shattered, but Crumble’s sigh of relief was short-lived as it continued to limp forward on its ruined ankle. The young Stoman was forced to scramble away.

‘Charlie, if yer gonna do anything, now’s the time!’ shouted Jensen.

Sensing her friends’ growing panic, Charlie tore open the paper, pulled out a chunk of meat and squeezed the blood over the heart. It pulsed and wriggled greedily as it feasted on the bloody offering, then reached up to snatch the flesh from her hand. The tendrils pulsed with an odd rhythm across her palm, then gripped gently at her skin. It was a disgusting sensation.

THUD!

THUD!

THUD!

The great noise was accompanied by a vibration that caused the ground to shake with each thud. Charlie, Jensen and Crumble struggled to keep their balance as the floor rocked from side to side. With shocking abruptness the tent was whipped away revealing the cloud-filled sky and torrential rain.

THUD!

THA-THUD!

Charlie felt the blood drain from her face.

The tent had been circled by a ring of gargorillas. They were pressed shoulder to shoulder, ripped remnants of the tent still gripped in some of their hands, and on their simple faces were expressions of mindless anger.

‘Use it!’ screamed Jensen over the roar of the downpour. ‘Use the heart!’

Charlie, a horrified expression on her face, looked dumbly
down at the nasty thing that squelched in her hand. ‘H-how?’

‘Tell it wot to do!’ shouted Jensen. ‘Tell it –’

His words were cut off as one of the soldiers grabbed him round the neck. Yanking the Treman into the air it attempted to grab his writhing arms with its other hand. A second came along and grabbed Jensen’s kicking legs. Pulling him so he was spread-eagled they prepared to tear him apart.

‘STOOOOOOOOP!’ screamed Charlie. Her voice was ragged and her chest lurched from exhaustion, but there was no mistaking the command.

THU–

All the gargorillas froze mid-step. The two who held Jensen had assumed a statue-like stillness disturbed only by the motion of the heavy rain.

‘Release him!’

Jensen fell to the floor. Gasping and clutching at his throat he began to retch and dry heave.

Charlie rushed to his side. ‘Jensen?’

‘O-OK,’ he rasped between a fit of coughing. ‘I’m OK.’

‘Charlie!’ shouted Nibbler as he joined them in an ungainly tangle of wings. Limping forward he did his best to hurry to their side. ‘Are you guys all right?’

‘Safe for now, but we’ve all earned another set of bruises to add to our growing collection.’

‘Are they going to attack again?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘I saw them turn round to face the tent. It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen! You should have seen them from up above; it was like clockwork in motion.’

‘Where’s Sic Boy?’

‘There!’ said Crumble. He pointed to the encircled mass of gargorillas that remained as still as statues.

Sic Boy, unable to push through their ranks, was instead nimbly climbing across the gargorillas’ heads and shoulders. Leaping into the rain-drenched circle he made his way towards them. He halted by Jensen’s side and, noting how pale the Treman looked, Sic Boy carefully hauled his friend off the ground and plonked him as gently as possible across his own muscular back.

‘Let’s see what we can do with these,’ whispered Charlie.

Mouth set in a determined line, she stomped her way over to the shattered remains of the gargorilla that she had destroyed moments earlier. Clambering up the rubble she punched her hand that held the heart towards the turbulent clouds that writhed overhead.

‘FORM RANKS!’ she shouted.

THUUD!

THA-THUUUD!

The ground shook as the stone army reorganized itself. Crumble, Jensen and Nibbler stared first at the massed army as it stood in neat lines then to the small girl who held all that power in her fist.

‘KNEEL!’ bellowed Charlie.

With a rumble that was louder than the thunder the army bowed their heads in deference to their new leader.

Mr Crow, tired of haunting his cave, burst apart and flapped his way into the gloomy skies. Curiosity still unsatisfied, he
flew back to the valley with an urge to revisit the Stoman bishop and the weird monsters that he’d created. Perhaps there was something he could learn from the strange god that lived in the stone urn.

Swooping over the valley ridge he paused to admire the view. Where before there had only been a few of the stone monsters, there were now thousands upon thousands. Cawing and fluttering in the strong wind, the birds swooped down for a closer look.

Crow couldn’t believe his luck when he saw the new scene that awaited him. Charlie Keeper was there! Now was the time for redemption! Now was the time to take Charlie’s life and reclaim his position of power next to Bane. Filled with a sense of sweet greed Mr Crow flew lower and lower.

A flash of lightning lit the night sky, then another and another, illuminating the scene below. With an abruptness the birds slowed their flight.

Charlie controlled the monsters?

Mr Crow couldn’t believe it. Cowardice overcame his greed and in a flurry of inky wings he made to depart for the safety of his cave. But his old devious ways gave him cause to pause. Maybe there was some way for him to benefit from this odd scenario. Ignoring the wind and rain he hid himself behind the furthest row of stone monsters to wait and see what would happen.

47

Return to Sylvaris

Charlie stood with her friends by her side and the gargorilla army at her back. With a ripping motion she tore open a huge Portal, the largest that she had ever attempted. But the effort of sustaining such a giant Portal was overwhelming. Groaning, Charlie tried to hold open the Portal, but her Will failed her. Folding in on itself the Portal disappeared.

Crumble helped her to her feet.

‘Lass, are ya OK?’ asked Jensen, standing up beside her. It struck him just how tired his friend looked.

‘I can’t do it,’ grumbled Charlie, angered by her own shortcomings. ‘It’s just too big a distance.’

‘So let’s think of an alternative,’ said Jensen.

‘Couldn’t we just ride on the gargorillas’ backs and pretend they’re large horses or rhinospiders?’ suggested Crumble.

‘Now that’s an idea,’ said Nibbler.

‘How long do you think it would take?’ asked Charlie. Unravelling the map that Ottoline had given her, she examined it with interest. ‘This has to be us, right? Just where the Slumbering Hills meet the Great Plains. Deepforest and Sylvaris aren’t on the map, but they’ve got to be over there somewhere.’

‘It would take a merchant wagon two weeks ta cross the distance,’ said Jensen. ‘That’s too long.’

‘Hang on, how fast can those things move?’ asked Nibbler.

They turned to face the long line of stone soldiers that stood silently and expressionless.

‘Good question,’ muttered Charlie.

After the fracas of taking control of the army had passed, Charlie had been able to make use of Crumble’s shopping expedition to Opal Hold. She had taken the waist pouch and strapped it across her shoulder so that it hung like an old-fashioned bandit’s bandolier. In this she had stuffed the heart along with a portion of the remaining steaks. Disgusting as it was, it allowed her to keep the heart satisfied and her hands free.

She pointed to the nearest gargorilla. ‘You. Run to that ridge and back as fast as you can!’

They watched as it charged off. Breaking into a lope it took a few seconds to reach top speed, but when it did it moved at quite a pace.

‘That’s almost as fast as a galloping horse,’ commented Jensen, a thoughtful look on his face.

‘So if we ride them as Nibbler suggests, how long would that take?’

‘Five days?’ suggested Jensen. ‘Maybe two or three if they didn’t stop at night.’

‘Surely that’s the beauty of using the gargorillas?’ said Crumble. ‘They’re made of stone; they don’t need rest.’

‘That’s true, they don’t, but we do. I don’t think we could go for that long without a break. Do ya think yer bruised
arm would be able ta hold on non-stop for two days and two nights?’

‘Even if we went all day and night,’ said Charlie, ‘does Sylvaris have that much time?’

Jensen paused. ‘No,’ he admitted.

‘So we need a different solution, then.’ Charlie clenched the small muscles that ran along the side of her jaw. As frustrated as she felt, she was determined not to fail the Treman city. It simply wasn’t an option.

‘Could ya open a smaller Portal ta Sylvaris?’

‘Yes, but you saw how weak I am at the moment. I don’t think I could hold it open for long.’

‘It only needs ta be open long enough for the five of us ta get through.’

‘What about that lot?’ Charlie pointed at the army.

‘I’m pretty confident that we can find more Keepers at Sylvaris. With Deepforest under such a threat some of the Keepers will have returned. They’ll feel duty-bound ta defend the land. If we can get three of them together ta form a Triad they could open a Portal large enough ta bring this army ta Deepforest.’