Chapter Fourteen
The Hall of Heroes
"Mary Jane! Mary Jane wake up!" Jack cried, shaking his sister.
Mary Jane swatted at him sleepily and rolled over. Jack pushed her again, insistently. He growled, "Get up!"
"It's too early. I want to sleep," Mary Jane mumbled.
"You're not at home in your bed. Get up! Maude is missing."
Mary Jane's eyes flew open. She sat up and grabbed Jack's arm. She repeated, "Missing? Maude? Oh no. Where are Aldair and Alcide? Where is Archipel?"
"We are here," Alcide said gravely.
"She's been taken. Oh, taken in the middle of the night!" Mary Jane wailed. "Now Mirrin has her for sure."
"No, not Mirrin," Aldair said. "Archipel is missing as well. They left together in the early morning."
"How do you know? Why didn't you stop them?" Mary Jane demanded angrily.
"There was no sign of a struggle," Alcide replied. "Even magical beasts sleep."
"How long ago did they go? Why haven't you gone after them?"
"They left hours ago. We have only just awoken, ourselves. Do not fear; we will find them. Alcide will be able to track them," Aldair said.
He added in a low, earnest voice, his amber eyes locked upon them, "You must know one thing. If Maude reaches the Hall of Heroes, we cannot protect you."
"What? What do you mean?" Mary Jane asked, startled.
"The Hall is a sacred place, protected by layers of its own magic. While we are there, Alcide and I will be no different from any other mortal creature. If we are somehow able to cross over the river onto the island, which I doubt, we will be temporarily rendered defenseless," he admitted.
"I don't like this," Jack complained, his mouth drawn into a tight frown. He ran his fingers restlessly through his thick black hair. Dirt lay beneath his short fingernails.
"We don't have a choice. We have to get Maude back. Let's go," Mary Jane urged.
Alcide sniffed the air, her nose and whiskers twitching. She walked in a slow circle, then strode purposefully east.
"This way," she commanded. "To reach the Hall, we will have to travel northeast through the thickest parts of the Valdale Forest, then make our way down steep cliffs into the Thornmir Valley. The river we seek runs through this valley. All the time we will have to be wary of Mirrin's spies and allies. It will take time to catch up with Maude and Archipel. I only hope that in the meantime Mirrin does not find them before we do."
Mary Jane felt sick to her stomach. It seemed that no matter how hard they tried, everything seemed to always go wrong. Why couldn't they just go home? Why had Maude run away? She was scared. Scared that Maude would be caught, or that they wouldn't be able to find her, or that they would be caught. She never wanted to see Mirrin again. She wished they had smashed the mirror in the attic as they'd promised to, because then none of this would have happened. She kept walking, for all she could do was put one foot before the other and hope for the best.
As the day wore on, the forest began to look more dark and foreboding. The sky turned a dark gray, the sun hidden behind a thick veil of menacing clouds. The trees grew closer together, and the color of their bark turned from brown to black. The children threaded their way between leafless branches that scratched at them like sharp fingernails from twisted trunks. In the silence, all they could hear was the sound of their own feet stepping on fallen twigs. Aldair left them to scout the forest around them for danger, leaving Alcide and the children to follow Maude's trail.
"We're catching up to them," Alcide encouraged. "Soon we'll overtake them."
"I hope so. I want to leave here. I don't like this place," Mary Jane said.
"Does any animal live in this part of Valdale Forest?" Jack asked, pushing aside a branch that seemed to be reaching for him.
"No," Alcide answered. "There's not enough water in the ground for trees to grow well, and without water, animals can't survive either. Wait!"
The leopard dropped into a crouching position low to the ground, her bright white body coiled like a spring. Her eyes were focused on a place somewhere deep in the forest on their right. The children froze, peering into the dark woods with concern. Although the trees were thin, they grew so densely that it was difficult to see through them. Jack was the first to spot the movement among the trees. He pointed at it with his finger wordlessly. As he and Mary Jane watched, several beings moved through the forest towards their small party.
Alcide began to growl loudly in warning, her long tail twitching behind her. The children could not see what the creatures were at first, but as they came closer their features came into focus. They had the heavy yellow bodies of lions, with huge paws and long tufted tails, but where a lion's head and neck would have been they had the torsos and faces of women. Although the three lion-women wore no clothing, their scraggly, unwashed brown hair was so long that it cascaded down their chests to their waists, covering their bare chests.
"Stay back," Alcide warned.
Mary Jane did not know whether the warning was for the creatures or for them. The three creatures stopped before them and the one closest to them smiled, revealing a row of small, pointed white teeth below its yellow cat's eyes.
"What'sss thisss?" It hissed. "What hasss come to thisss part of the foressst?"
Said another, devouring the two children hungrily with its eyes, "Humansss. Deliciousss."
"You will not touch them," Alcide growled. "Go in peace, carrion eaters, and you will come to no harm."
"Sssissstersss," said the first, "why doesss it threaten usss? We are three, and it isss but one."
"Jussst give usss one," the third begged. "You have a ssspare. We are ssso hungry."
"We would even take just the sssmaller one. She is just a bite," said the second. "Won't you give her to usss?"
"You have tressspasssed into our forest," said the first. "You mussst offer usss payment. Just one human. It hasss been ssso long sssince we have had a human to eat."
Mary Jane whimpered fearfully. The second creature's head swiveled to look at her and it licked its lips. Its tongue was pink and pointed. Mary Jane shivered, and noticed that its human body was too thin--the creatures were indeed starving. She whispered urgently, "Alcide, tell them to go away. Tell them the way you told the others."
The first lion-woman's smile broadened and seemed to stretch across its entire face, two rows of tiny white daggers. It purred, "Itsss tricksss won't work on usss, little human child."
Alcide hissed, her sharp teeth bared and her small ears flat against her head. She growled, "I will not tell you again. Leave now."
It was then that Mary Jane noticed that the lion-women had positioned themselves so that two encircled Alcide while the third stood nearer to the children. If a fight broke out, Alcide would be hard pressed to handle the two creatures while the children would be defenseless against the third. Mary Jane looked around her for a large stick that she could use to keep the creature at a distance, but the tree branches were small, and none lay on the ground within reach anyway. Jack subtly moved to stand between Mary Jane and the third creature.
The monster nearest to Alcide took a challenging step toward her, but stopped as a flash of brown fell from the sky and struck it in the face. The lion-woman screamed and clawed at its eyes. Mary Jane could see long red scratches across its face that ran from its mouth to its forehead. They had not been there a moment earlier. Now smaller brown and black shapes swooped from the sky almost too quickly for Mary Jane to see, harrying all three creatures. The lion-women waved their arms, trying to fend off the attackers, but the birds flew mercilessly at them, aiming at their faces and driving them back from the children and leopard step by step.
"Nooo," wailed one of the creatures, its arms covered in scratches.
It jumped and pivoted, trying to avoid the birds. Groaned another, "It hurtsss."
It managed to hit one of the birds with its hand and the bird slammed into the ground with a squawk. The bird was not hur
t and immediately took to the air again. The first bird, a giant brown eagle, swooped in again and hit one of the creatures with such force that it was almost knocked to the ground entirely. The bird's claws dug deeply into its sides and the lion-woman squealed. The children were forgotten as the creatures, half mad with pain, reared on their hind legs and tried to swat the birds away from them. The birds were nimble, however, and avoided their swinging arms and kicking front paws. A bird bit down hard on one of the creature's tails and it screamed.
The creatures endured the assault for several long seconds, then turned and fled as quickly as they could, crashing heedlessly through the trees as they tried to evade their attackers. The birds continued to follow them, flying above their heads and swooping down to nip the creatures' yellow haunches. In the dark forest, both pursuers and pursued quickly disappeared from view, and soon the forest became perfectly silent again. Alcide gradually relaxed from her crouched position and stood, although she remained alert for danger.
"Where did those birds come from?" Jack asked.
"The magical beast Aiglon," Mary Jane said, recognizing the giant brown eagle as the same that had come to her rescue outside of Tarah. "He must have brought them."
"I'm glad he was here. We were in trouble."
"Alcide, why couldn't you use your magic on those terrible creatures?" Mary Jane asked.
Alcide sighed. She explained, "Magic is not always predictable. This is why one must never rely upon it, for it may come to be that it fails just when it is most needed. Lamiae, those creatures we have just encountered, have a natural immunity to magic."
"Where is Aldair? We needed him," Jack said.
The three, having forgotten about the other magical beast when they were facing the lion-women, now looked around but could not see him. The forest was simply too dense to see more than a few dozen feet in any direction. Alcide said, "It is not a safe forest. Ambush is too easy. Help could be within reach without ever knowing to come. Let us move on. I am sure that we will find Aldair again soon enough, or he us."
"Alcide, you don't think Maude…" Jack broke off, unable to finish the sentence.
"No," Alcide said firmly. "The lamia said they hadn't seen any other humans. I'm sure Maude did not encounter them."
Before they could begin walking once more, they heard the beating of large wings and Aiglon dropped from the sky to perch on one of the short trees, his sharp talons wrapping themselves around its thin branches. Mary Jane noticed that he came alone. She guessed that his bird companions were still chasing the lamiae. Aiglon's fierce black eyes stared at the children and their protectors from behind a wickedly sharp, curved yellow beak.
"Your arrival was timely. You saved us from a very unpleasant situation," Alcide told him. "I thank you."
"It was by chance and nothing more," Aiglon replied. "We had been tracking the lamiae for several hours already when they came upon you. We encountered them just after they entered the Valdale forest, but I suspect that they crossed the Far Reaches into Devorian from the lands to the north and have been moving south ever since. Had they managed to eat you, you would most likely have been their first meal in days."
"What word from the north?" Alcide asked.
"Just what one would expect," the eagle replied. "All the monsters of centuries past are streaming over the border. Their numbers are not what they once were, however, and for that we must be grateful. These three are the only lamiae that we have seen."
"And what of Mirrin's army?"
"It has now moved completely to Tarah. Mirrin will have to move quickly to finish her plans or else, bored and restless, the half-breeds and monsters that make up her army will begin to fight each other and the army will dissolve," Aiglon reported.
"What is her next move?" Alcide asked.
"Ambush. She will wait until you have reached the portal in the Green Forest, and then she will force the children to lead her through. You will be watched until that time, but will be unmolested, at least by her. She is not the only danger, however. You may still encounter monsters on your path such as these lamiae that act of their own will and do not follow her orders."
"Aiglon, have you seen the littlest girl? She would have been walking through the Valdale Forest with a wolf companion."
"I have. She is near, only an hour ahead of you. By chance, she did not encounter the lamiae. If you hurry, you can easily overtake her," Aiglon replied.
He added, "Aldair has joined her. I think you will find them by the cliffs above the Thornmir Valley. As for myself, I shall return to monitoring those creatures that now roam indiscriminately throughout the land. When the witch is gone, it will fall to us to cleanse Devorian of this plague of monsters. Take care and good luck!"
His message delivered, the giant eagle pushed himself from the tree and took to the skies, his enormous wings beating powerfully against the air. He circled once, high above them, and was gone. The three were alone once more in the forest.
"Let us hurry," Alcide said. "I am eager to be out of this dark place. At least Aldair has found Maude. She will be safe with him."
As quickly as they had moved before, now they pushed themselves to walk even faster. They met no other monsters in the forest and as Aiglon had said, within an hour they came to the end of the forest. Beyond the treeline lay a narrow strip of grass that ended abruptly in a steep drop. Hundreds of feet below, past the cliff, lay the Thornmir Valley, and several miles into the valley a river. Maude sat beneath a tree just at the edge of the forest, petting Archipel, who lay near her feet, while Aldair stood watch over them. Mary Jane rushed to her and enveloped her in a hug.
"Maude, thank heavens you're safe!" She exclaimed. "How could you just run away like that? We were so worried. Something could have happened to you!"
"But it didn't," Maude pointed out.
"Archipel, how could you let her go?" Mary Jane scolded.
The wolf whined and tucked his tail between his legs. He apologized, "I'm sorry. Someone had to accompany her."
"You should have woken us," Mary Jane admonished.
To Maude she said, "We have to stick together. We'll be home soon. Wouldn't you like to be home safe in bed?"
"Yes, of course, but look!"
Maude pointed out over the valley. It was beautiful. A mist rose from the valley floor that trapped the sunlight close to the ground and made it shimmer. Far out, sitting directly in the river, Mary Jane saw what looked like a building. She squinted to see it better. It sparkled in the sun. She asked, "What is that?"
"The Hall of Heroes," Maude replied.
"Oh," Mary Jane said simply, her mouth hanging open in surprise.
"I'm going to go there. You can come with me or not," Maude said with determination.
"No," the others said in unison.
"I'll only slip away again if you try to stop me," Maude said obstinately.
"This is not a negotiation. You will come with us," Aldair rumbled angrily.
Maude's small mouth set in a straight little line. Jack knew that look. Mary Jane opened her mouth to protest, but Jack stopped her. He looked at Maude seriously.
"You promise that if we go there, you'll come with us back to the Green Forest?"
"Yes!" Maude agreed, nodding emphatically.
"What?" Mary Jane exclaimed. "Jack, no."
"I don't see much of a choice other than throwing her over our shoulders and carrying her kicking and screaming away," Jack explained with a shrug. "Aldair, how long will it take to get to the Hall of Heroes?"
"A few hours. If it is your wish that we go, I cannot stop you. However, I remind you that we will not be able to enter the Hall once we reach it," Aldair replied.
"That's alright. Now, how do we get there?"
Aldair walked to the edge of the cliff and peered down. He said, "We must descend the cliff."
Jack looked down the gray cliff face and gasped fearfully. He said quickly, "It's impossible. There's no way to climb down. We'll have to find another w
ay."
"There is another way," Aldair said, "but it is even more dangerous. Were there a better way to reach the Hall of Heroes, we would not go by this path."
Jack looked uneasily at Mary Jane, struggling to breathe. He was deathly afraid of heights. She was still furious that he had taken Maude's side, but she accepted that he was right and so she took his hand and squeezed it, trying to give him courage. He whispered, "Okay."
The children lined up once more and Aldair led them along the cliff heading north. The stag explained, "The path we will take was carved into the cliffs by dwarves centuries ago. Although all dwarves eventually moved into the mountains, in the beginning some lived in the plains. This was how they traveled around the valley. Here."
He stopped.
Jack asked, "Where?"
"Look closely and you will see," Aldair replied.
Mary Jane walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Just as Aldair had said, barely visible in the rock was a slanting path that had been carved from the top of the cliff to the valley below. The path consisted of hundreds of steps barely three feet wide and half a foot tall. There was no rail to keep a climber upon it; one false step would mean a long and terrible fall to the death. Even she, who did not fear heights as Jack did, trembled at the idea of walking down it.
"If there is no other way," she murmured bravely, "then it must be done. Jack, you will have to close your eyes."
"What?" He exclaimed in disbelief.
He rushed forward to look, but Mary Jane held him back so that he could not see the path. She told him, "You will never go down if you look."
Jack went limp in her arms and did not fight. He stepped back and rubbed the bridge of his nose using his index finger and thumb. Maude patted him on the back comfortingly.
"Aldair, you go first, then Maude and Archipel," Mary Jane said. "Jack, I'll go next. You keep your hands on my shoulders. Alcide can follow, and keep her nose against your back to guide you. Whatever you do, don't open your eyes."
Mary Jane tried to sound more confident than she felt. In point of fact, she was not certain that the stag would be able to fit on the narrow path at all; his antlers seemed too wide. Furthermore, she didn't see how Jack would possibly be able to make it down all those stairs with his eyes closed. He could so easily trip and fall. Yet, they had no other choice. The travelers agreed, and Aldair bravely disappeared over the edge. Maude followed fearlessly, and Archipel more timidly behind her.
When it came her turn, Mary Jane braced herself with a deep breath and told Jack to grasp her shoulders tightly. He did, with such determination that his fingers bruised the skin near her neck. She bore it without complaining. She slowly began to walk step by painstaking step to the stairway, Jack stumbling along behind her as his body fought against its sensory blindness. When she reached the first step, she steeled herself and stepped down. Then she stepped on the second step. And the third. And so on.
To keep Jack from thinking about what he could not see and help him get the rhythm of going down the steps, she chanted, "Left, right, left, right, left, right," as she stepped. Jack, oblivious to the great danger around him, quickly learned the length of the stride he must take to keep up with his sister, and they moved more smoothly than Mary Jane had anticipated. Alcide assisted as well, her nose constantly at Jack's back to remind him that she would not let him fall.
"Only a little farther," Mary Jane lied when they had gone only a quarter of the way. "It's really not as bad as I thought. The path is quite wide, in fact."
The opposite was true. Once she had started down the stairs, Mary Jane was terrified to discover that the path was no wider than a goat trail. She felt as though at any moment she could misstep and tumble from the face of the cliff. Still, it would do no good to let on to her brother how scared she really was, and so she kept her left hand against the cliff face, although it made it harder for Jack to hold her shoulder on that side. She felt that so long as she remained close to the wall, she would be safe.
When they reached the path's halfway point, and the valley was still several hundred feet down, she said with forced cheerfulness, "Just a little longer. A few minutes, I think."
They had been descending for almost half an hour. Cold sweat brought on by fear and effort drenched Mary Jane's hair and her dress, the same red velvet dress that she had worn during her flight from Morlach. Jack growled, "You keep saying that."
"Well it's true," she lied.
Then, to distract him, she said, "The view is quite lovely from here. The Thornmir Valley is covered by tall grass that waves in the breeze. Far off I can just see the river. It sparkles like thousands of crystals all rushing together."
Jack's fingers tightened around her shoulder as he tripped down a step. Mary Jane winced and stopped a grunt from escaping her lips.
"I miss home," Jack said unexpectedly.
He said it so quietly that only Mary Jane heard. His voice was small, and scared.
"I do too," Mary Jane replied.
She had avoided thinking about anything but putting one foot before the other during their journey from Tarah, but now thoughts of home and her parents rushed into her mind and threatened to overwhelm her. A tear rolled down her cheek.
"Mother and Father don't know where we are. They must be so worried," Jack continued.
"We'll see them again. Everything will be alright," Mary Jane said with confidence that she did not feel.
She was not sure whether her words were meant for her brother or for herself. Probably both.
"Yes," Jack agreed, but his voice was hollow, and they continued the rest of the way without speaking.
Aldair was the first to reach the bottom of the path. He sprang off the last few steps and trotted away from the cliff face, shaking his golden head to relieve the pain of having held it sideways for so long in order to descend. He was followed closely by Maude and Archipel. As Mary Jane led her brother off the stairs and onto the valley floor at last, she told him to open his eyes. Jack immediately collapsed to the ground and refused to look back at the path they had taken. He hugged the ground with his whole body and breathed deeply the smells of the grass and dirt. His clothes were soaked through with sweat.
"We are safe for now," Alcide said, her nose flaring as she smelled for danger.
"You may ride upon my back if you are tired," Aldair told Jack generously.
"I'll walk," Jack answered.
He rose to his feet and rubbed his forehead with his right hand. Mary Jane noticed that he seemed to look much older than when they had first come through the mirror. Sweat matted his black hair to his face, and fatigue was causing his skin to sag and look pale. Deep purple rings lined his eyes. She knew that she looked no better, but at least they had done it. Against all odds, they had made it here, to the Thornmir Valley. She smoothed her red hair with the palms of her hands, then smiled at Maude, who smiled back. Although the sky had been dark over the Valdale Forest, in the Thornmir Valley the sun was shining without a cloud in the sky. She could not deny that the valley was the most beautiful place they had seen in Devorian.
Their small party kept on, pushing through the tall, pale green grass that covered the valley. The grass came to Jack and Mary Jane's waists and Maude's chest. It hid Archipel completely; only the tip of his tail was visible when he held it up behind him. Fortunately, as tall as the grass stalks were, they were thin and light, and the children walked through them easily. Their path was obvious. The Hall of Heroes was large enough to be visible from anywhere in the valley. It soared a hundred feet into the air, a white stone and silver crystal building topped by magnificent spires that stabbed into the sky. It was a beacon to the travelers, drawing them closer and closer.
When they at last reached the river's edge, they rejoiced. The current sounded like a powerful wind rushing headlong through a forest of trees, deafening them. The river ran far too quickly for anyone to swim across, and it churned and raged around the Hall. The Hall, built upon a small island b
arely larger than the building itself, loomed over everything like a white finger thrusting up into the sky. A dock made of silver and gold led from the door of the Hall into the water. A matching silver dock sat on their side of the river, and lashed to it was a great black barge.
"There lies the boat that carried fallen heroes to their final resting place," Aldair said, indicating the barge. "If we are to cross the river, that is the only way, although I do not see how."
They walked onto the dock, Aldair's hooves ringing like church bells against the metal. The river was so loud that it was all but impossible to hear any other sound above it. The water, spectacularly light blue and seemingly made of shining crystals, crashed against both the dock and the boat, but neither seemed unaffected by the water's fury. The barge bobbed gently in the water.
"As I have said," Aldair shouted to be heard, "the barge is pulled by two water horses. Only they have the strength to pull the boat through the water."
Mary Jane studied the intricate details carved into the silver. Tiny images of wars, kings, monsters, and animals filled each of the dock's planks and posts, covering every inch of the dock. It had doubtless taken artisans years of constant work to complete. In the center of the dock was an engraved image of two water horses pulling the barge amid surging swells. The water horses had the bodies of horses, but their front legs ended in webbed feet and they had long tails like mermaids where their back legs should have been.
"What happens now?" Jack shouted.
"I do not know," Aldair replied.
He looked to Maude, who had crouched down to look at one of the images on the dock, Archipel by her side.
"When someone was brought to be buried in the Hall, how did the water horses know to come?" Jack asked.
"I do not know," Aldair repeated, shaking his head. "This was one of the few secrets of the humans that we magical beasts do not know."
They heard two plopping sounds like something falling into the water and turned in the direction from which the sounds came. Maude looked up at them with a satisfied smile. She explained, "Two gold coins for passage across the river to the Hall. The water horses will come. They will take us."
"Gold coins?" Jack repeated. "Where did you get gold coins?"
"From Tarah, silly," Maude replied.
She did not explain further. She walked past her brother and crawled onto the barge on her hands and knees. When she reached the first bench, she sat upon it and looked expectantly back at her companions still standing on the dock. They gaped at her.
"I don't understand," Jack said.
"It's how we get to the Hall," Maude explained patiently. "Do you remember how people in Greece were buried with coins on their eyes to pay Charon to ferry their souls across the river Styx? Here in Devorian the glashtyn, that's the name for the water horses, were given two gold coins to take the dead across to the Hall of Heroes."
"How do you know that?" Mary Jane asked.
"I read it in the castle library," Maude replied. "Now get in!"
"Do you mean to tell me that all we have to do is drop two coins in the river to get across?" Jack asked incredulously. "What about the fact that we're not dead?"
"I guess we'll just have to see," Mary Jane murmured, climbing in next to Maude. "It makes as much sense as anything else in Devorian."
The others piled onto the barge just as the water began to roil around them. Two narrow heads exploded out of the water, propelled forward on long necks by powerful bodies. The children recognized what they were immediately based on their images on the dock. The water horses had the same general form as their land dwelling cousins, but their blue, rubbery skin was hairless and like that of a dolphin. Where a mane should have been, the water horses had instead a spiked, long green fin like a fish. The creatures eyed the children and their guardians, snorting and churning the water with their webbed feet.
"Noble glashtyn, we need your help," Maude called to them.
The water horses turned their pale silver eyes to her. She continued, "I know you have never taken living people to the Hall of Heroes, but just this once you have to take us. We are the last humans in Devorian--you'll never again have anyone else to take to the Hall. Please, please take us across."
The water horses treaded water silently before her, evaluating. Then they simultaneously disappeared beneath the waves, their large green-blue tails slapping the water as they swam below. Only a circle of small bubbles marked where they had been a moment before, and it was quickly carried away by the racing water. Neither magical beast nor child spoke. Finally, after a long minute had passed, Jack said, "They won't take us. What do we do now?"