Rise of Allies (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 4) (50 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Bagpipes at Dawn

“N
ow, now, no need to make a fuss,” Archie scolded them all with affection, finally getting a little annoyed with everybody hanging on him so.

The way they were all staring at him made him feel just a wee bit freakish, and nobody wanted to explain what the deuce had just happened.

Red was almost as confused as he, apparently having just come running in answer to Jake’s call. The Gryphon had arrived on foot since he could not quite fly yet.

Having their large, feathered friend on hand was always a comfort in dangerous situations, to be sure. But Archie wondered just how bad the hag’s attack on him had been, because neither Jake nor Dani nor Isabelle would let him walk out of arm’s reach.

Nixie kept her distance, meanwhile, but watched his every move with wide, haunted eyes, and Maddox was even more taciturn than usual for a Guardian.

Archie hardly knew what to make of it all.
Must’ve passed out or something,
he thought.
Maybe inhaled a bit of the river.
Beyond that, he did not care to think about it. All he remembered was a big, black void around him, and a light in the distance.

“How did you know to do that with the lightning? How did you know that would work?” Jake asked Nixie.

“I-I don’t know. I read
Frankenstein,
you know? With the electric eels? And the mad scientist used lightning to bring the monster to life.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Archie jested in exhaustion.

But he was quite sure they were mistaken. There was no way he could have been literally dead. He refused to believe such a thing. His legs still felt a trifle wobbly as he stood up and, rather desperate for a return to normality, went over to check on his ruined experiment.

Perhaps it could be salvaged, he thought while everyone continued hovering about him.

“Can you see all right without your glasses?” Dani asked anxiously.

“Well enough. I’ve got another pair in my room.”

“Do you want me to go and get them for you?” Isabelle offered.

“No, sis, I’m fine! Now, everybody, please, let me see to my invention!”

Just then, they heard galloping hoofbeats coming from across the fields. Everybody tensed.

“It’s Nuckalavee!” Dani cried. “What do we do?”

Red growled, the still somewhat scraggly feathers on the back of his neck bristling as he moved to the fore to protect his children.

“Halloo!” a deep voice rumbled from the darkness.

“Holy…” Jake uttered.

Ogden Trumbull waved to them from astride the Nuckalavee’s back, then reined in with a violent tug on the rope from Jake’s broken lasso. “Whoa, boy!”

“You have got to be joking,” Maddox breathed, staring in disbelief as Nuckalavee obediently slowed.

Red relaxed a bit, realizing the threat was not quite what he had assumed.

“Look at me!” Og shouted in triumph. “I got a pony!”

Archie hooted with laughter as Og made the hideous, skinless beast walk tamely over to them.

“He did it, he tamed Nuckalavee!” Dani cried in amazement.

“Do you think Dr. Plantagenet will let me keep him?” Og asked eagerly. “You think he’ll be impressed?”

“Uh…” Even Jake’s sarcasm failed him.

“
Everybody’s
going to be impressed, Og,” Maddox assured him.

“Well done,” Isabelle murmured, shaking her head in shock.

“Ain’t he a beauty? First horse that’s ever been strong enough to carry me.” Og gave his skinless mount a proud pat on the neck.

Everybody winced, but their heads bobbed up and down dazedly. No doubt, as a half-troll, Og had different standards of beauty.

“And we get along ‘andsomely, too,” Og added. “He tried to throw me for a bit, the old rascal. We had a grand tug of war. But I taught him who was boss, then he settled down, nice and gentle. Well!” Og declared, with a beaming smile that made him considerably less ugly. “Think Nuckie and I’ll go for another gallop. That’s fun, ain’t it, boy? Tallyho!” Og kicked the ghastly water-horse in the sides and rode off on him.

Everybody looked around at each other and started laughing incredulously.

“Doesn’t look like Nuckalavee’s going to bother you anymore,” Archie told Nixie.

“And maybe Og won’t be so mean to everybody, either, now that he’s got a ‘horse’ to keep him busy,” Dani said.

“All due to my brilliant cousin’s Bully Buzzer,” Jake declared, throwing his arm proudly around Archie’s shoulders. “You tamed Og, and Og tamed Nuckalavee. Which was convenient, considering the beast was trying to kill us.”

“Well done,” Maddox agreed, nodding at Archie.

Archie gave a modest shrug but couldn’t help frowning as he looked down at his ruined experiment, hands on hips. “Dash, it really is too bad about the Boneless, though. Can’t deny I’m disappointed.”

But then a very peculiar thing happened as his friends gathered around to consider the situation.

Some of the river water still dripping off Archie’s clothes, and Jake’s and Maddox’s and Isabelle’s, trickled across the ground and into the broken pieces of Boneless scattered at their feet. The dried-out bits started swelling like little sponges sucking up water. Puffing up one by one, the pieces started to levitate.

“Blimey! Just add water,” Jake said.

Red tilted his head in confusion. “Becaw?”

Dani gasped. “It’s coming back to life!”

“Not it,” Archie said, staring.
“They!”

Each new, miniature Boneless had a face.

And all the little faces were smiling.

Tittering laughter came from the horde of itty-bitty pranksters as they found themselves not just alive, but in good company, each one surrounded by several dozen copies of itself.

“Ohhh,” Archie said in belated understanding. “Of
course
! I should’ve realized!”

“What?” Jake asked.

Archie gestured at them. “That’s how amoebas replicate! Cell division. Why didn’t I think of that? Well, you’re pretty clever, aren’t you?”

The teeny Boneless pranksters flew around, pestering them all just a bit, even Red, before zooming off in a hundred different directions to cause trouble.

“Come back! Oh, botheration,” Archie huffed.

“At least at that size, they can’t do too much damage,” Jake offered with a shrug.

But to Archie’s surprise, one of the diminutive Bonelesses flew back and smiled eagerly at him, bobbing back and forth in the air.

“What do you want?” he asked it. “Can I help you?”

It chirped at him in a high-pitched flurry of, well, not quite words, but the tiny Boneless seemed to know exactly what it was saying.

Archie furrowed his brow. “Why aren’t you flying away?”

It stayed.

“Hold on—unless you want to be studied?”

“
Bee-bi-bee-bop
,” it replied cheerfully.

Isabelle cast her brother a wry glance and translated as best she could: “‘You said you wouldn’t hurt us. We believe you.’”

“I won’t, I promise!” Archie told the tiny thing.

“
Beep-boo!
”

“It agrees,” Isabelle said.

“Really? Well, all right, then!” Archie exclaimed, brightening. “Maybe my experiment is not a total loss, after all! Come along, little fellow. We’re heading back to Merlin Hall to regroup now, what?”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Dani said and yawned. “It’s getting really late.”

“I daresay it’s almost morning,” Isabelle agreed.

“Help me get this cart up,” Maddox said to Jake, but as the two boys went to push the handcart back up onto its wheels, the mood of joviality faded.

For a long, lone, ominous note of bagpipe music floated out across the grass from the direction of the black woods.

It filled them with dread.

No wonder the bagpipes had been used in warfare for centuries to strike fear in the hearts of enemies, Archie thought. The dire tune sounded like a warning.

Or a threat.

#  #  #

Jake stared toward the woods, reminded anew that this wasn’t over yet. “Maddox, take everyone inside.”

They glanced at him, fear on all their faces save the Guardian’s.

“What are you going to do?” Dani asked anxiously.

Jake kept his gaze fixed on the forest. “I’m going to finish this. Alone,” he added when Red growled. “The Highlander disappears if more than one person sees him at a time, remember? We’ve got no choice. It has to be one-on-one.”

“Then let me go. I’ve trained for this,” Maddox said.

Jake shook his head. “Sorry, not this time, my friend. You may be the Guardian, but I’ve already conquered bigger enemies than this.”
And bigger enemies than you have,
he did not add aloud.

Maddox frowned.

“He did kill Garnock,” Archie pointed out cautiously.

“It’s too dangerous, Jake,” Isabelle insisted. “After what just happened…”

“What choice do we have? We have to finish this, or he’ll just keep coming back and haunting Nixie. Look, the Highlander’s an apparition,” he explained, “and I’m the only one out of all of us who can see ghosts. If he tries to play hide-and-seek and attacks while he’s invisible, then none of you stand a chance against him. Not even you, Maddox. He can’t get away with that with me, though, because I can see him. Besides, I can’t risk losing any of you again.” He glanced meaningfully at Archie, but Nixie stepped forward.

“This is my fault. I should be the one to face him, Jake. He’s only here because of me—”

“Nixie, his sword alone is taller than you are. No,” Jake replied. “I promised you my friends and I would free you from the Bugganes, and I keep my word. Especially after what you just did…for Archie.”

“Yes, but you needn’t do it alone!” she insisted. “Jake, you just proved to me that everyone needs allies. I think there’s something I can do.”

“I’m listening,” he said.

Nixie told him her plan.

#  #  #

A few minutes later, satisfied with their strategy, Jake set off across the field alone. Unfortunately, Red was not having it.

The Gryphon galloped ahead of him and stood in his path to block him, all four paws planted.

“Stand aside, boy. As much as I’d love to have you with me, it won’t work. I have to do this alone.”

“Caw!” Red shook his head angrily.

“Aw, don’t worry, you old mother hen. I know he’s got no head, and that is rather disturbing, but look on the bright side. He hasn’t got any magic powers, which means at least he’s not as bad as Garnock, anyway. All he’s got is a really big sword. On the other hand, I’ve got the advantage of a having my head. That’s got to count for something.”

“Caw becaw?”

“Oh, and I’ve got Risker, too,” he added, holding up his very sharp magical dagger, a gift from Odin after his heroics (if he dared say so himself) in the land of the Norse giants.

The worried Gryphon let out a low yowl of disapproval.

“Now, now, you and I will have plenty of adventures in future. Trust me, this won’t take long.”