Phein swallowed deeply. His triangular lip flaps barely moved as he muttered, “Well…yesssth, you are right, of coursssth. But understand it was our ancestors who took the scroll.”

  Grimwarden slammed his fist down so hard on the armrest that a sliver of crystal shot across the chamber and tinkled on the floor. The Saer, spectating from the stands that encircled the thrones, hissed their disapproval. A withering glance from Grimwarden stopped that instantly.

  “Ancestors?” Grimwarden bellowed. “Not that old dodge. Phein, my patience has worn to its breaking point. Your people have knowingly had this Prophecy of Berinfell for two-thousand years!”

  “Actually,” Phein said, clearing his throat, “it is closer to three-thousand yearsssth. Balsooth the Bold obtained it while we Saer helped you repair Berinfell City.” He coughed. “After the failed Nemic invasion. Remember, the Saer helped you?”

  “You helped yourself to our property, didn’t you!” Grimwarden fired back. “Do you have any idea how significant this could be to the Elves of Berinfell?”

  Phein seemed to grow just a little bolder. He said, “Balsooth found the scrollsssth in a caved-in reliquary far from your Great Hall and its archivesssth. It was among many commonplace parchments, family rolls, architectural diagrams, and such. If it is so hallowed by your people, how is it that it came to be so…discarded? How is it that the Elves have not searched for it ever since?”

  If Grimwarden had looked like an overripe tomato before, he now looked as if the tomato was boiling within its own skin and might burst. “This rare and precious document was NEVER discarded!” he shouted. “And…just who says we have not been searching for it?”

  “Well, have you?” Phein asked.

  Grimwarden tilted his head and cracked his neck. “No,” he said much more quietly. “Not to my knowledge.”

  “Why not?” Tommy asked. “Why didn’t we search for it?”

  Grimwarden glanced at Goldarrow. “I…I do not know,” he replied at last. “I suspect someone thought it was an old copy, rather than the original. There are segments of this we have all read before. But there is also much that is new to us. How it could have disappeared…I cannot say.”

  “Perhaps,” Goldarrow said, “perhaps it was one of the oldest manuscripts. Perhaps it had only ever been seen by a few and became…forgotten.”

  “It’s like Whitehall,” Kat said.

  Goldarrow looked up. “What?”

  “The bricked-up tower in Whitehall, remember?” Kat said. “The Scarlet Raptor showed us the Book of Prophecies. It was original and included things other Elves tried to cover up.”

  “Yes, Kat,” Grimwarden said. “We all remember that quite well. But this set of scrolls is very different.”

  “How so?” Phein asked, the hunger for wisdom lighting a fire in his eyes.

  Tommy and the other Lords, even the Saer spectators, leaned forward waiting on Grimwarden.

  “This prophecy,” Grimwarden began, “well, I have studied much under the wisest Old Ones in Allyra, and yet, I have not learned…have never even heard, mind you, of some of the elements within these scrolls.”

  “Like what?” Kiri Lee asked.

  “Lords, you are blood rulers of Berinfell, indeed of all Allyra’s Elf kind,” Grimwarden explained. “You will need to read—nay—study these precious words for yourselves. We will wait for your interpretation before we take action.”

  “But what about Asp and his forces?” Tommy asked. “This was not his true army…we don’t know where he’s gone.”

  Goldarrow and Grimwarden exchanged glances once more but, this time, Magistrate Phein was also involved.

  Tommy asked again, “Do we?”

  Grimwarden sighed. “I am afraid we do, Lord Felheart,” he said. “The troops Asp left here were nothing more than a clean up crew, assigned to destroy those who would not join him in his new crusade. His full army, or at least a gigantic portion of it, was here.”

  “That isssth correct,” Phein said. “It wasssth a vast army.”

  “Kat told me,” Tommy said. “You found signs of troop movements. Massive areas of foliage trampled. Tens of thousands of enemy soldiers.”

  “More,” Goldarrow said. “But what you do not know is that, when we felt Thynhold Cairn was securely in our hands, we sent scouts to follow the enemy’s trail. If he was headed for the Nemic next, we thought, perhaps we could send raptors…get there first to warn them.”

  “Our scouts followed Asp’s trail east,” Grimwarden continued. “But less than a league from here, the trail ended.”

  “What do you mean?” Tommy asked.

  “I mean the trail stopped completely,” Grimwarden said. “Thousands of soldiers, Warspiders, and worse things…all marched recklessly through the foothills into the forest, and then vanished.”

  “More of that Gnomic invisibility paste?” Johnny asked. “That what you’re saying?”

  Grimwarden shook his head. “If only it were that simple. The enemy didn’t just vanish from sight. The enemy vanished from Allyra.”

  “A portal,” Tommy said. “Asp took his armies through a portal.”

  “There was a vast section of forest flash-burned,” Grimwarden explained. “The tracks of the enemy end there. Beyond that point, the forest is undisturbed.”

  “Dear Ellos!” Tommy exclaimed. “Does that mean…?”

  Grimwarden nodded gravely. “Phein?”

  Magistrate Phein stepped down from his throne. “Asp wanted my people to come with him, to conquer, and to pillage a place we Saer had never heard of before. He claimed it wasssth ripe for the taking. He called thisssth place…Earthsss.”

  Tommy and the Lords sat alone in the Saer archive deep within Thynhold Cairn. Tommy held the scrolls in his lap. “I know we all want to read these,” he said. “We all need to read these. How do you want to work it?”

  “I can’na wait to get into them,” Jimmy said. “But yur the leader. Yu should go first.”

  “A couple of us could go at a time,” Autumn said.

  “I could read them aloud,” Kiri Lee suggested.

  “I have an idea,” Kat said. “What if I read it and broadcast it to you?”

  Tommy looked to the other Lords, collected their nods, and said, “Okay.”

  Kat took the scrolls and began to read with her inner voice, and the other Lords heard her in their minds. Verse after verse, the Word of Ellos spoke to them. They had read much of the text before, studied it even. But they came to several new passages that fed their souls like cool water to parched earth.

  Time passed unnoticed. Kat read on. Nearing the last page, however, they came to an unnerving series of prophecies. It was no forgery—undoubtably truth, indisputably the Word of Ellos. But that served only to make it more terrifying to read.

  From all time to all time, the children who rise under the sun will bleed wickedness. Drop by wretched drop, it will flow from all who dwell in Ellos’ kingdoms. Not of Ellos’ hand, for what has light to do with darkness? Nay, it is the transgression of all, flowing unseen into a Black River within the firmament.

  And it shall come to pass that the deceived, those of shriveled soul and diseased mind, will find their thirst for more to be far more than they can bear. They will dip their cups into that dismal torrent and become the destroyers of worlds. The river will o’erflow its banks. Malice will bleed into the soil, into the stone, into flesh, and into the very air.

  By dark chants, the deceived will tear open the sky, and even the faithful of Ellos will travel into lands they were never meant to tread. With each new soul who traverses, the ocean of darkness will swell and consume. By Dark Arts, the lawbreakers will shepherd their legions across thresholds of disaster.

  And, “Behold!” says Ellos. “I will not suffer their misdeeds forever. I will not hold back the Tide.” And all the venom of eternity will rise up in a Tide of Unmaking. All that was, all that is, and all that might be, will be swept away, consumed utterly. Unless the Tide is turned, those living who wander return, and the Seven be Seven again.

  Tommy and the Lords marched into the Saer Crystal Throne room, now emptied of its previous Saer hosts. He held up the scrolls. “This is bad,” he said. “Really, really bad.”

  “Lord Felheart, you have many gifts,” Grimwarden said. “But eloquence is not among them. Nonetheless, we agree with your assessment. Tell me your interpretation. Begin with the Black River, what do you make of that?”

  “Sounded like evil,” Johnny said.

  “More like sin,” Kiri Lee said.

  “Same thing,” said Johnny.

  Kiri Lee shrugged.

  “I don’t understand the river image,” Tommy said. “Is it a metaphor or some other kind of symbol?”

  “I do not believe so,” Goldarrow said.

  “So…what?” Jimmy asked. “Don’na tell me there’s a great lot of sin floatin’ around in the sky.”

  “Ten years ago, Jimmy, would you have believed in Elves?” Grimwarden asked.

  “Good point, that,” Jimmy replied.

  “There are other places in the Prophecies that talk about the evil of Allyra flowing into a well,” Kat said. “There’s a real cost to each and every sin.”

  “Yes,” Kiri Lee said. “I recall that as well. And there is another place, in the passages just before the Rainsong, that speaks of the dark water of sin, seeping into the world. It is very powerful, catastrophic even.”

  “Well done, Kat, Kiri Lee,” Grimwarden said. “When one point in the Prophecies is unclear, we must always interpret it by other Prophecies that are clear.”

  “Okay,” Tommy said. “So, the Deceived…those are the Drefids. They’re the ones who practice the Dark Arts. And they’re the ones who first opened the portals between Allyra and Earth.”

  “Yes,” Grimwarden replied. “Thresholds that never should have been crossed. When the original Spider King began extracting human slaves, he unwittingly began the process that would end all life in Allyra.”

  “And Earth,” Autumn said. “The Prophecy says all will be swept away—things that were, things that are, and things that might be. That means Earth too.”

  “I am afraid you’re right,” Grimwarden said.

  “Don’t miss the most important word in that part,” Tommy said.

  Johnny frowned. “Tide?”

  “Dark Arts?” Jimmy asked.

  “Those are two words, Scotland Yard,” Kiri Lee said. “It’s ‘unmaking,’ right?”

  “No, none of those,” Tommy said. “The word is UNLESS. That tells us there’s a chance we can reverse all this.”

  “Unless the Tide is turned,” Kat said absently.

  “Yes, but how do you propose to do that?” Grimwarden asked.

  “We go back to Earth,” Tommy said. “And bring each and every enemy back to Allyra. That’s what started the Tide flowing, then that’s what will undo it.”

  “Yes, let’s do it!” Jimmy shouted. “The Nightstalkers go to Earth.”

  “Not so fast,” Goldarrow said. “You are forgetting something.”

  “Something rather important,” Grimwarden said.

  Tommy crushed his eyes closed. “We can’t,” he said.

  “We have to,” Autumn said.

  Tommy opened his eyes. “The Prophecies,” he said. “They say that every new soul who traverses…every being who crosses into a world where they don’t belong will just make the problem worse. Asp already has many thousands over there.”

  Grimwarden nodded. “That is why we have seen so many unstable portals opening and closing all over Allyra.”

  “I still don’t understand,” Kat said. “We’ve got to get the enemy out of Earth. We have to go.”

  “But if we take a legion of Nightstalkers over,” Tommy said. “We could push it too far. We could trigger the end of the world.”

  Jimmy drove both hands through his hair. “How…can’na we do this, then?”

  The Saer Throne Room became as quiet as a tomb.

  “This is getting out of control,” Goldarrow said.

  “Long ago,” Grimwarden said. “It went out of control many years ago. And these past seven years, I thought we were, well…not quite safe but at least ready. I knew the Drefids were still out there, tampering with black evils, but I thought with our secret army of Nightstalkers, we could handle the worst they could throw at us. But we had no idea what the worst could actually mean! And now, when time is critical, we find ourselves in desperate need of information that will take time to get. Just what have those Drefid monsters tapped into? How unstable are the portals already? What exactly is the Tide of Unmaking? Has it begun?” The old Elf massaged his temples and grimaced.

  “The Tide of Unmaking,” Autumn said plaintively. “You don’t think it would really end the world? Do you?”

  “Earth?” Jimmy asked. “Allyra? Humans, Elves—”

  “Everything.” Grimwarden spoke the word in a whisper, but it fell like a hammer nonetheless.

  That was when Mr. Charlie entered the chamber. He looked around expectantly, but no one greeted him. He frowned and asked, “Why ya’ll actin’ like you was dunked in vinegar and lost your last friend?”

  “We are in a conundrum,” Goldarrow replied.

  “Several conundrums, actually,” Grimwarden said.

  “Shoot, ain’t never seen nuthin’ mighty Ellos can’t handle.” Mr. Charlie made a rueful face. “Think ya’ll would know that already, bein’ Lords and all.”

  “Well, uhm…” Tommy stammered. “It’s not that we don’t have faith, but—”

  Charlie put his hands on his hips. “Uh, huh.”

  “Ellos is good,” Kiri Lee said. “It’s not that we doubt Him. It’s just—”

  “Uh, huh.”

  “C’mon, Charlie,” Jimmy said. “Yur not bein’ fair. Is there anything Ellos can’na do? Of course not. It’s just—”

  Mr. Charlie narrowed his eyes. “Seems t’me ya’ll just need to take a little trip back into Ellos’ Word.”

  “That’s just it, Charlie,” Goldarrow said. “It is Ellos’ words that are most troubling to us.”

  “I’m listening,” Charlie said. “What’s the trouble?”

  Punctuated by additions from Grimwarden and Goldarrow, the Lords told the story. They even read the new Prophecy to Charlie. When they’d finished the whole tale, including all their fears and questions, they all turned to Mr. Charlie.

  “Aww shucks,” Mr. Charlie said, a twinkle in his violet eyes. “That ain’t nothin’ but a thing.”

  “Really?” Goldarrow said, fighting off a smile. “And just how do you propose we stop the end of the world, Charlie?”

  “Don’t got to,” Charlie said.

  “Huh?” Johnny said. He thought for a moment and repeated, “Huh?”

  “Mr. Charlie, there’s no one who respects you more than I do,” Tommy said. “But, you lost me here.”

  Charlie laughed. “It’s not some grand scheme,” he said. “I don’t do grand schemes.”

  “Then what do you mean, old friend?” Grimwarden asked.

  “Look,” Charlie said. “This Tide of Unmaking, whatever it is, you Lords think you can just muscle up against it? It’s Ellos’ will. You can toss fireballs and shoot arrows at it all day long…ain’t gonna make a dent. You just gotta play by the rules.”

  “What rules?” Tommy asked.

  “Ellos’ rules, Son,” Charlie said. “The Drefids broke ‘em. Shoot, we broke ‘em too, all us tap dancin’ across those portals like they was our personal secret passages. All you gotta do is keep everyone in the right world.”

  “But, Charlie,” Goldarrow said, “Asp has tens-of-thousands of Allyran soldiers on Earth.”

  “Don’t make no difference,” Charlie said. “They all gotta come back or they gonna die. Asp might be just as big a maniac as the old Spider King, but he don’t want to get himself all wiped out. Tell him. Show him. Whatever you need to do to make him see.”

  Goldarrow’s eyebrows beetled, then relaxed. “Charlie, that’s so simple it’s brilliant.”

  “I can do simple,” Charlie said with a wink.

  “We’ll need proof,” Grimwarden said. “Proof beyond our Prophecies, that is.”

  “He’s got to have seen the rogue portals opening and collapsing all over,” Autumn said.

  “Let us hope so,” Goldarrow said.

  “What if we give him proof?” Tommy asked. “What if we make it as clear as we can, and he still won’t order his forces to leave?”

  “Then,” Mr. Charlie said, “you kill him.”

  “And the others?” Grimwarden asked. “The other thousands?”

  “I bet a bunch of ‘em will hightail it outta there,” Mr. Charlie said. “The ones that won’t, well, you know I don’t relish the killin’ of any livin’ thing. But if they won’t leave, you won’t have much choice. Ellos’ Word said the livin’ who wander.”

  “The dead can stay,” Kat said quietly.

  Grimwarden nodded solemnly. “The dead can stay.”

  Tommy turned his back on the group and marched past the crystal thrones into the empty spectator seats. He returned a few moments later. “Okay,” he said. “There’s a lot to do and a very short time to do it. Here’s what I propose. We need proof for Asp. I say we send scouts out on raptors. Scatter to the four corners of Allyra and look for any signs of this Tide of Unmaking. Chart every portal, even if it collapses in a few seconds. He’s got to know how widespread this is. And we need to know which portals, if any go to Earth.”

  “That is precisely what I was thinking,” Grimwarden said. “What of the Dark Arts, the Drefids? We have allowed Asp and his kind to fester and toil in the Dark Arts too long unchecked. We have to know what we’re up against.”

  “We go find out,” Tommy said. “Maybe take a few Drefids captive? Interrogate them?”

  “That might work,” Charlie said. “But maybe…maybe somethin’ else would be more direct.”

  “A Coven?” Goldarrow said. “If you could even find one, Charlie, that would be incredibly dangerous.”

 

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