The War for the Waking World (30 page)

Kara started to lift her weapon but was too slow. The dwarf cackled, spun around, and struck Kara's soldier squarely on the noggin with a staff. Through the thread connecting her to the soldier, Kara felt the blow. It wasn't pain as she expected but rather a rapidly increasing sense of numbness. She could still see through the soldier's eyes, but she could not will it to move.

“Oh, well,” Kara muttered. “On to the next one.”

She took control over a warrior who was cresting the outer wall. This was one of the soldiers who carried the peculiar lance-weapon. A trio of what looked like walking marshmallows blocked her advance. They held out their arms, and all manner of fluffy white goo shot out. Kara used her lance to vault over the stream of nastiness. Then she dropped to a crouch, whirled the lance, and took the legs out from under the spongy enemies. They flounced onto their backs and wriggled like overturned turtles.

Kara was up and running in an instant. She scrambled out of a melee involving several of her obsidian knights and . . . what? Had she just seen armored frogs wielding light sabers?

Kara turned her attention to a rampart that seemed to switchback repeatedly down to an inner bailey. It looked as likely a spot as any to find one of the Dreamtreaders, so she bounded down the first ramp. She turned corner after corner, loping along without opposition until, near the bottom of the final rampart, she had to slide onto her back to avoid some kind of thorny branch that swept for her head.

No. It was a gigantic, bristling black spider. A soldier in spiked armor rode upon its back. His ominous red visor covered his eyes, and Kara was instantly reminded of the red-capped fellow who had knocked her previous soldier for a loop.

This time, Kara was ready. Her lance low and menacing, she charged the spider and made as if she were going to shove the lance into the creature's fanged mouth. Instead, she jammed it into a crevice in the cobbled stone. Kara used her momentum to vault up out of the way of the charging creature and plant both of her booted feet into the chest of the spiked warrior.

The impact knocked Kara's enemy clean from his saddle, but when he struck the ground, he shattered like a glass bulb. Kara landed in the shards and spun around to contend with the spider. Kara despised spiders, and this was enormous. It couldn't be an accident. “This is Rigby's doing,” she muttered through her knight's mouth.

That was when Kara lost her sense of combat. The spider was wearing sunglasses. She almost laughed, but the creature began to rock on its hinged limbs. Back and forth, it swayed hypnotically. Without warning, it raised its huge abdomen. There was a face . . . a hideous, clownish face . . . staring back at her.

Kara screamed. That just startled her all the more because it was a deep man's voice. By then, it was all over. Something shot forth from the spider's jaws, and Kara's soldier went completely numb.

“This is more difficult than I expected,” Kara said, back in her own skin once more. She didn't turn to Nick and Bezeal. There was no
need to show them how frazzled she'd become. “They have . . .
decent
defenses.”

“Any sign of the Dreamtreaders?” Nick asked.

“Not yet,” she replied. “They're letting their minions be their first line of defense. I'm going back in.”

Once more, Kara closed her eyes and tugged on a thread leading to the consciousness of a different soldier. This one was already down in the courtyard where the battle was raging in full. Spiders and armored frogs dueled her obsidian knights in every crevice and corner. The little red-capped people were wreaking havoc by sneaking past soldiers already occupied with an opponent and then biting them.

Somehow, her soldiers were going down too quickly. Kara checked her mental inventory, rapidly counting the threads. In less than an hour, she had lost more than six hundred warriors. Something had to change.

Kara flashed back into her soldier in the courtyard and sped through the fighting. She kicked a red cap and sent him flying, and then used the momentum to roll underneath a reaching scarecrow. She charged down a corridor, saw the shadow of a lurking spider, knelt, and took aim with some kind of twin-barreled rifle. Kara heard the spider's hiss as she pulled the trigger. The weapon discharged two glowing spheres, one green and one purple, that swirled around each other until they reached their target. Right in front of the creature's hideous face, the spheres collided. There was a flash of brilliant white light, and, when Kara got her night vision back, nothing was left of the spider but a blotchy, quivering shadow.

“Ooh. I like this weapon,” Kara whispered, and then she continued through the passage.

She emerged in a very quiet section of the fortress that was open to the sky above. The snow was falling heavily now. Big, feathery flakes, whirling and swirling—the wind drove the flakes in a spiral around the base of the tower in the center of the yard. Beyond that, near the
opposite wall, a stairway rose and disappeared into a very familiar building.

“There it is,” Kara hissed. “Rigby's house.” She drew a second weapon, the revolver, and raced across the yard.

A deep growl came from her right. Kara turned and found three of her soldiers waiting, but something was wrong with them. They were meandering about, taking exaggerated steps, and stumbling often. They looked dizzy or worse, and, when Kara drew near to them, she saw each knight had his or her helm open. The look on their faces was nothing short of idiotic. Googly eyes, crooked smiles, lopsided eyebrows—the works.

“What do you think you are doing?” Kara demanded. She was half tempted to fire on them, but her thoughts flew from her mind at the sound of the growl. It was closer. In fact, it was directly behind her.

Kara was firing her weapon as she turned, but that wasn't fast enough. She came face-to-face with the largest, furriest Siberian husky she'd ever seen. The thing licked her face, and the whole world turned . . . funny. Kara couldn't think straight.

“What am I doing?” she asked, suddenly marveling at the snow. Some part of her mind registered she had a job to do, but there was really no reason to do anything serious, was there?

FORTY-FOUR

T
HEATER OF
W
AR

“H
EY
, B
EZEAL
,” N
ICK SAID
. “W
HAT
'
S GOING ON WITH
Kara? She doesn't look right.”

Bezeal glanced up to find Kara swaying where she stood, her expression comically absurd. The merchant's pinprick eyes went flat for a moment. Then, he rolled up one sleeve and reached for Kara's hand. The moment his mottled green flesh touched Kara's knuckle, she snapped from the stupor.

“What's going on?” she demanded. “We should have breached their fortress by now.”

“They messed you up a fair bit,” Nick said. “You should have seen—”

“Silence!” Kara hissed. “The Dreamtreaders aren't using lethal force. They are stunning our troops . . . and some other thing. It's like laughing gas, only worse.”

“Ahhhh,” Bezeal muttered. “Of violence and death, they've had their fill. Pity for them, they miss out on the thrill. Advantage to us, for they are afraid to kill.”

“That's
it
,” Kara said. “It's time. We go in strong. Nick, find Archer, Rigby, or Doc Scoville—it doesn't matter which one—and take them out. But if you find Kaylie, notify me immediately.”

“And how should I do that?” Nick asked. “Shoot up a flare?”

“If need be.” Kara waved him off dismissively and took to the air. She flew over the battlefield, gazing down at the strange combatants
fighting on every inch of the suburban neighborhood street. She let them fight, for she was searching.

Kara soared over the parapets and scanned the walls. Those horrifying, giant, clown spiders leaped and spat at her, but she easily dodged or swatted them into jelly with a slash of her will.

“Enough of this,” Kara cried, and from a sturdy hook she pulled the whip. Vorcaust's Tongue of Fire lashed out into the night. She gave it a violent jerk, snapping it in an earsplitting crack. As if a mighty switch had been thrown, all of Kara's obsidian knights—wherever they were on the battlefield—kindled with molten light. Their power surged, and they tore into the Dreamtreader-made hosts. Their weapons, now angry orange lances, cut through giant scarecrows by the handfuls. Spiders were left in quivering heaps.

Nick added to the carnage. The Dreamtreader flew to the top of the double wall and unleashed his chain. First, he whirled it overhead to build momentum until it was nothing but a tornado of metal. As he allowed it to drop to chest level, the chain took out piles of silver knights and their husky steeds. A giant armored frog landed next to Nick, dodged a chain swipe, and then let him have it with a powerful double-legged kick. Nick careened wildly over the edge of the wall, but used his Dreamtreader will to keep from falling. With superhuman speed, he chucked five boomerangs.

“Away, me beauties!” he shouted, watching them fly.

Each found its mark. The offending frog fell unconscious from the walls. Two ninjas were f lattened along the parapet. One of the giant scarecrows attempted to catch a boomerang and lost its straw hand at the wrist. The last boomerang turned its head into nothing but a dust cloud.

A triumphant trumpet blast echoed across the battlefield, followed by a deep, rolling drum. Nick leaped up, climbing the altitude until he could get a better look around. At last he saw them: Archer, Kaylie, Rigby, and Doc Scoville, soaring out of the central keep and coming fast.

Even with his skills, Nick was no match for those four on his own. Not knowing what else to do, he willed a stout, black pistol into his hands and fired a violent, phosphorescent flare into the snowy night sky.

From her tower perch not far from Nick's position, Kara looked up and saw the flare. The blue-white flare arose high above Scoville Manor and like a comet curled in a hook-shaped arc.

“It's about time!” Kara shouted, her voice high and intense. “The Dreamtreaders, at last.”

She leaped from the tower and flew cautiously toward the flare. She wasn't afraid of any of them—the Dreamtreaders or Rigby and his uncle—but she didn't want to blunder into a trap set by all four of them either.
There!
She saw them, all four speeding in her direction, but in that moment, they split up. Two swung eastward, and two continued toward Kara.

Which ones?
she wondered.

Kara didn't need to wonder for long, for one of the oncoming enemies landed in the courtyard in the midst of a dozen or more of her obsidian knights. The lone warrior stomped his foot, triggering a blinding flash that sent the knights cartwheeling away.

Archer,
Kara thought.

She halted in midair to watch the second enemy approach. Whoever it was fired a thick stream of something that looked like ribbons and confetti down onto a group of obsidian knights racing up the inner ramparts. For one minute, the warriors brandished their lance weapons and seemed to have a free run at the inner gatehouse. The next, they were all trapped in a giant moon bounce.

A moon bounce?
It was difficult for Kara to wrap her brain around what she saw. But sure enough, her soldiers were bouncing around within an inflatable square cage. And whatever it was made out of, her troops couldn't even blast their way out.

Kaylie,
she thought.
It has to be.
That was the best news she'd had all day.

First, Kara raced toward Archer. She'd planned this attack a hundred times in her mind, down to the finest detail, and she felt certain it would work. Step one was to distract Archer so she could face Kaylie alone, but she'd have to act fast. Kaylie was still trifling with a threesome of obsidian knights and she'd probably dispatch them soon enough. As Kara dropped to the ground behind Archer, she willed her appearance to change. By the time he had turned around, she was ready.

“Why hello, Dreamtreader Keaton,” she said, twirling so her blood-red dress rippled. “Kind of chilly out here. I much prefer my gardens.”

Archer stood very still, blinking stupidly.

“What's the matter, Archer?” she asked. “Cat got your tongue? What a shame. Last time you visited Lady Kasia, you were ever so much better company.”

“Lady Kasia?” Archer muttered.

“There,” she said, “you do remember me. I'm flattered. I wonder if you remember my friend here.”

With a flexing of her will, she left Lady Kasia's form and stood next to it. This time, Kara wore the Wind Maiden's spectral gown. “Hurry, Archer Keaton,” she said, feigning fear. “Come to me. I need your help!”

Archer spun to face her, and that's when Kara took her leave. She stepped out of the Wind Maiden, garbed herself in black, and took to the air. She left Archer to figure out what to do with Lady Kasia and the Wind Maiden as she sped toward the high tower where Kaylie was battling obsidian knights.

Kara gained altitude and readied her will to change form again, this time to Kaylie's mother. Kara hated to play on the girl's sympathies in such a way, but it had to be done to capture such a powerful Dreamtreader. Kara would appear as Mrs. Keaton, throw Kaylie off balance, and draw near to her. She would tell Kaylie how much she
had missed her and would approach Kaylie for an embrace. But the moment Kaylie lifted her arms, Kara would slap a triple-hardened pair of cobalt manacles on her wrists. And that would be that. She—

Something grabbed Kara's ankle with a jolting force.
Archer
. Somehow, he'd seen through her ruse. Kara turned and without thinking unleashed a third of her entire will. She hadn't meant to throw so much at him at once, but, in her shock, surprise, and fear, she had simply reacted. Her will took the form of a semi-transparent fist, and it struck Archer's chest dead center.