Rise of Allies (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 4) (45 page)

When he twitched a little at the flutter of a bird amid the branches of his head, Jake ducked down, his heart pounding.

After a moment, he was satisfied that the zookeeper wasn’t going to wake and nodded toward the cottage. He and Og continued on, tiptoeing past the sleeping Green Man.

Their task this night was relatively simple. Archie needed to borrow one of those big sprayer gizmos that Dr. Plantagenet had used to treat the dracosaur, and Jake was going to steal it.

The irony, of course, was not lost on him. Dani and Gladwin had just finished clearing his name of false thieving charges, only to have him go and steal something in earnest.

But, of course, he would return the sprayer as soon as they were done. In truth, the kindly Green Man probably would have lent it to him willingly if he only asked, but they didn’t want adults asking questions. Besides, Dr. P. was sleeping, anyway, Jake rationalized.
Why wake him?

More importantly, Nixie had been very firm in insisting that they not include adults in this. Magic meant everything to her, and she was afraid of getting kicked out of Merlin Hall if the Elders heard about her banishing the Bugganes from Castle MacGool—considering that the evil laird had then fallen prey to a lynch mob without his ghouls to protect him.

Not that that was
her
fault.

To Jake, it sounded like the tyrannical Clan MacGool had brought their fate upon themselves, terrorizing their people. Personally, he was more concerned about Nixie’s safety if the Dark Druids discovered her role in the affair.

If they’d been willing to wipe out half the village with a plague to punish the locals, who knew what they might do to the young witch who had started the whole thing by banishing the Bugganes?

Jake didn’t want to risk it. It was bad enough that the Dark Druids had found out about his killing Garnock. If Nixie could be spared the same fate, they had to try. Otherwise, the Dark Druids would probably come after her, too—whether to kill or recruit her.

Jake shuddered at the thought of those devils winning Nixie over to their side. If they could gain a magical prodigy of her ability as a future member of the Dark Druids, she would be a serious enemy to contend with for many years to come. Jake was not about to let that happen.
They
were her friends now, and they were going to help her. Show her she wasn’t alone. It was very much the same thing that Dani, Archie, and Isabelle had done for
him
just a year ago, when he had been a half-feral street kid.

Time I passed on the favor.

At last, he and Og reached the cover of the shadows beside the veterinary cottage. Og pointed to an open window on the upper floor, and then gave Jake a boost up on his massive shoulders. Jake stepped onto Og’s thick head and climbed in the window.

Inside the cottage, he hunted around until he found the doctor’s spare sprayer on the bottom shelf of a rack full of veterinary supplies. Moving silently, he picked it up, slung the leather strap over his shoulder, and glided down the stairs to the front door.

He slipped out, pulling it closed behind him. “Let’s go!” he whispered to Ogden.

“That was fast!”

“Come on! We’ve got to get this to Archie.”

They raced away from the cottage before they were seen. Once they cleared the grounds of the zoo, Jake made Ogden carry the sprayer in case anyone asked about it.

Troll Boy was known for helping Dr. P. with different chores, so nobody ought to think twice about it. However, if they did,
Jake
did not intend to be the one who got caught with the thing!

Anyway, he doubted anyone would bother them as they hurried toward a side entrance to deliver the sprayer to Archie in the basement.

While they were crossing the broad stretch of lawn between the palace and the zoo, a burst of light suddenly appeared at the waypoint, heralding the now-familiar sight of a portal opening up.

Jake stopped in his tracks as the blue circle of light appeared in the darkness. He still found the whole thing utterly irresistible.

“Look, Og, one of the Lightriders must be coming in off the Grid!”

“So? Hurry up!” Og urged.

“Hold on, I want to see…”

“But somebody’s coming! Look over there, by the bridge!” Og pointed up the driveway.

Jake squinted into the darkness and could just make out three figures, two in dresses. “That’s our friends, you dolt. It’s Maddox and the girls. Don’t worry—”

His words were cut off by a scream from the pair of adults who suddenly staggered through the portal.

A bloodied man hung slumped over, his arm slung across the shoulders of a fierce female Guardian. The woman held him up with one arm around his waist while brandishing a sword in her free hand.

“Help us!” she bellowed, dropping the wounded Lightrider none-too-gently on the grass, and turning to ward off anything that might have tried to follow her through the Grid.

Jake was already in motion, racing automatically to her aid, never mind that he was just a kid. If nothing else, his telekinesis might be of some use, as it had been when Tex had arrived wounded.

“Og, take the sprayer to Archie—now!” he yelled back over his shoulder, pointing toward the palace.

“What are you gonna do?”

“I’m going to help them. Go!”

Og looked startled but ran off to do as he was told.

In the distance, Maddox must have also seen what had happened and heard the shout for help, because he left the girls behind and sprinted toward the portal, approaching from the opposite direction.

The Guardian woman thrust her sword blade down into the turf, where the weapon stood upright, in easy access for her to grab if she needed it again.

As the boys pounded toward her, Jake shouting for the gnomes, she bent and yanked up the sleeve of the Lightrider’s coat. They could see her urging him to punch in the coordinates.

While the wounded Lightrider struggled to lift his hand to shut the portal using the Flower of Life device embedded in his arm, the woman bellowed toward the palace, “Gnomes! Help! We need a doctor here!”

The Lightrider pressed the crystal chip buttons with crimson fingers, and the Guardian moved her long duster coat back to glance down at her side.

She wore men’s garb—vest, shirt, trousers, boots—and a weapons holster slung around her waist. But it was not her unladylike clothes that caught Jake’s attention. It was the blood seeping through them.

He saw her hands shaking and realized she was badly hurt, as well. The moment the portal vanished, she fell to one knee with an angry sound of anguish.

Glancing furiously toward the palace, she spotted Jake coming. “You, boy! Fetch the gnomes! My Lightrider’s injured. I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

“I already did. They should be here in a trice. What happened?”

“We were ambushed, obviously!” she snarled, her face a mask of fury. And then she faltered, cursed with pain, and passed out from blood loss on the grass.

Jake’s eyes widened. Panic filled him.
“Gnomes!”
He turned around, but there was still no sign of the palace helpers.

Perhaps they hadn’t heard the shouts for help, what with the noisy ball going on inside.

When he spun back around, he was hugely relieved to find Maddox arriving on the scene. “What do we do? They’re both hurt bad. We’ve got to get them inside!”

“Lightrider first,” Maddox clipped out, skidding to a halt by the waypoint.

Jake had never been so glad for the battle training that had obviously taught the future Guardian how to be cool-nerved in a crisis. Immediately, Maddox crouched down by the now-silent Lightrider and felt his neck for a pulse.

Jake held his breath. “Is he dead?”

“Pretty close.”

“What about her?” He pointed at the black-haired warrior woman. “Be careful, she’s mean. Could probably cut your throat in her sleep.” Unconscious—and no longer enraged—she actually had a pretty face. Jake hoped she didn’t die. “She said they were ambushed.”

The boys exchanged a grim glance as they realized the Dark Druids were probably behind this, making good on their promise to punish the Lightriders for him having killed Garnock. Jake flinched with guilt at the thought that the blood of these two agents was on his hands to some extent.

Maddox stepped over the Lightrider’s inert body and grabbed the unconscious woman’s shoulder, turning her over to check her for a pulse.

But the second he saw her face, Maddox drew back with a gasp of alarm.

“What is it?” Jake exclaimed. He had never seen the Guardian kid rattled before.

Suddenly Maddox looked terrified.

“What’s wrong? Has she died?” Jake cried.

Feeling herself being moved had revived the Guardian woman ever so slightly. Her eyes opened to slits; she seemed to be fighting to stay conscious. But the moment she saw Maddox, a soft smile skimmed her lips.

“Oh…hullo, son,” she mumbled, and then she passed out again.

Jake’s jaw dropped. He looked at Maddox in astonishment. “That’s your mother?”

“Birth mother,” Maddox said through gritted teeth, managing to regain his composure enough then to check the gaping wound on her side.

“I thought you were the son of a blacksmith—”

“Adopted!” Maddox barked at him. “Not that it’s any of your business!”

Jake blinked. “Well, don’t just stand there! Take her in to the doctors!”

“It’s not protocol,” Maddox answered in a strangled voice. He moved back toward the man. “I must see to the Lightrider—”

“Are you daft? Hang protocol! She’s your mother, man! Go!” Jake ordered him with all the lordly authority he possessed. “I’ll see to the Lightrider,” he added, even though he feared the poor sod was already dead.

At the very least, on death’s door.

Maddox glanced from one bloodied victim to the other as though he didn’t know what to do. Instinct visibly warred with duty on his square face.

“Take her in,” Jake ordered fiercely. “What’s wrong with you? You can’t let your own mother die! Go!”

“A-all right.” Still looking shaken, Maddox bent down and gently picked her up, lifting her into his arms. She moaned, her head hanging back. “You have to get
him
, though.”

“On it!” While Maddox strode off carrying his mother, Jake marched over to the Lightrider and started trying to wake him up with a few light taps on his cheek. “Sir, sir, can you hear me? We have to move you, all right? This might hurt, but we need to get you inside.”

No response.

“Blast it!” Jake whispered. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as strong as Maddox and could not lift a grown man in a dead-weight state. All he could do was hook his arms under the Lightrider’s armpits and start dragging him backward toward the palace.

When the man groaned in pain at the movement, Jake suddenly remembered he had telekinesis.

He cursed at himself for forgetting his ability and smacked himself in the forehead. Why did that always happen whenever he got flustered? Would he never get used to having magical powers?

He let the Lightrider lie flat on the grass again, took a deep breath, and used his telekinesis to levitate the wounded man gently off the ground.

Just then, a troop of gnomes came rushing out to help. Maddox had been yelling for them as he sped toward the palace carrying his mother, and they had finally heard him once he neared the front doors of Merlin Hall.

Two gnomes held the doors open for him; Maddox disappeared inside. The rest trundled out in formation to retrieve the second victim.

“Oh, thank you.” Jake stepped back in relief and let them take over from there. It was what Sir Peter had done, after all, when Tex had arrived.

Jake watched them anxiously, but it was hard to read their wizened little faces. They barely reacted to anything and didn’t say a word, simply did what needed to be done.