©2025 SammyC

Malcolm, who was riding point on his Hobnob, signaled for our small escaping party to stop when we reached some hills several kilometers from the Western Kingdom.

“Why are we stopping?” asked Amos from the rear, in as loud a voice as he dared. Malcolm dismounted and walked uphill a short distance before taking out his binoculars, as he had called it.

Scanning the horizon behind us, Malcolm declared, “No sign that anyone’s noticed we’ve left. That’s curious.”

“No one will come after us until first light. Everyone sleeps very soundly in our kingdom. Especially the guards,” Kelvin informed us, seated between Merlyn and me in the basket atop Emma.

“Even with a few hours head start, they’ll catch up very quickly. Their Hobnobs are big and fast, faster than our Romperdons,” Malcolm forewarned.

“Then we shouldn’t waste time standing still. Let’s ride!” Amos rode his Romperdon to the front of the line and looked down on Malcolm. “I’ll ride point from here on. Malcolm, you’re our rearguard. Look out for our pursuers.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Malcolm announced as he mounted his Hobnob. “The entrance to the underground train that brought us here from The City is only an hour’s ride from here. Rani, hail your friend Alvin on that thing he placed in your pocket. Do you still have it on you?”

I searched the folds of my nightgown and thanked the Gods that I had, perhaps absentmindedly, kept it with me throughout the various changes of clothing during the day.

“Yes! I still have it,” I exclaimed.

“Speak into it. Perhaps he’ll answer you.”

Holding the thing in my right hand, I moved my lips close to it and called out to Alvin. Magically, it seemed, the object started to turn a shade of blue and the face of a handsome young man that I only recall seeing once before appeared on it.

“Rani? It’s 2 hours past midnight. Too excited to sleep before your wedding day?”

“Alvin? I’m sorry, but I don’t remember exactly who you are. Forgive me. But we need your help! As soon as possible!”

“What’s wrong? Something’s wrong?”

“There is no wedding! They wanted to sacrifice me in order to appease the Gods and divert the Dagger of Heaven!”

“What? That’s superstitious nonsense. Are you being held prisoner?”

“No, we managed to escape in the dark of night. Prince Kelvin saved us. But they’ll catch up to us sooner than later when they set out at first light. We need you to bring the train to us, Alvin.”

“It’ll take me at least 4 hours to get to you. Can you hold out until then?”

“One more thing, Alvin. I must know for sure. You…you won’t rescue us just to eat us, will you?” I swallowed audibly, my hand shaking in fear as I waited for his answer.

“We’ll wait for you at the entrance to the train. Where it dropped us off yesterday,” Malcolm told Alvin, shouting from atop his Hobnob.

“I will bring a squad of men with me, armed for action if need be. Signing off now. Stay safe, Rani.”

His image blinked out of existence and the thing in my hand returned to its normal dark color.

I turned to Malcolm and Amos. “You told us they were cannibals.” Malcolm shrugged his shoulders. “Do you think he’ll get to us in time?”

“Probably not, but we don’t have an alternative plan. Let’s hope that Kelvin is right about how deeply his people sleep. Sunrise is about four hours from now. We’ll cut it really close,” Malcolm calculated.

Amos led the way as we headed toward the train entrance as quickly as our Romperdons’ ponderous gait would allow. An hour’s ride later, we reached the half-hidden entrance to the underground train terminus. Centuries if not millennia of overgrowth and debris had ruined its once shiny edifice.

Once we settled into a campsite a short distance from the entrance, hidden from sight by a thicket of tall trees, Daisy and Edward rummaged through the saddlebags of our Romperdons for any liquid refreshment they could find. They came up with some leather water flasks that we passed around, taking care not to empty them by gulping down their entire contents. Since the early morning air was quite chilly, a good three hours before sunrise, Malcolm used his fire-starting kit to provide us with some heat to warm our hands.

“Sorry, Amos, I’m all out of Dreamweed,” smirked Malcolm.

“Good. I’m taking first watch. Hand me your binoculars, Malcolm.”

Malcolm tossed it to him and then lay down in the grass, placing his hands behind his head to make a temporary pillow. “Kelvin, are you really nine years old? I have an uncle who’s a dwarf. Just about your height, too. Of course, he’s got a beard. You don’t…or do you shave every day to keep up the illusion?”

“Malcolm, he’s really a nine-year-old boy. Can’t you tell?” I teased.

“I’m not as sure about him being nine years old as I am that you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”

I must have blushed because Malcolm had a wicked smile on his face.

“You’re prettier than any girl in our kingdom, Rani,” Kelvin said breathlessly.

Merlyn sat down in Malcolm’s line of sight and turned to Kelvin. “Child, you never completely explained what this diabolical scheme is all about. And is it really all Lydia’s doing?”

“Oh, yes, it’s all Lydia’s idea. When I told my parents that the new star in the sky was undoubtedly a meteor, they turned to Lydia, and she hesitated before answering. She told them that the matter needed more consultation with her astrological charts and that she’d give them a full report the next day.

“So I approached her the next morning and asked her why she’d been so evasive about it. After all, we had discussed the fact that it was a meteor just the other day. That’s when I first heard her call it The Dagger of Heaven, sent by the Gods to punish the wickedness of humankind.

“Before I could tell my parents about this strange behavior on Lydia’s part, she’d told everyone in the court that the only way to avert the destruction of the world by The Dagger was to marry you, a princess of the Eastern Kingdom, to me, a prince of the Western Kingdom and, by so doing, appease The Gods’ anger at us.”

“Yes, that’s what Lydia told me through a series of letters a month ago. But where did the idea of sacrificing Rani to quench the bloodthirst of The Gods come from? And, knowing what you knew about the very origin of Lydia’s ruse, why did you continue to go along with it?” asked Merlyn.

“She didn’t tell me about the sacrifice until the day before you arrived. She wanted your people to believe the Underground People had abducted you. That would make your kingdom start a war with The City. When they did, our forces would enter the city through an opening she knew about and take it over. It has something to do with revenge on the Underground People. You know she was exiled from there. Anyway, she thought it was a sardonic touch to use that Queen Sacrifice tactic in the chess game—”

“Sardonic?” Malcolm interrupted. “Now I know you’re not nine years old.”

“Go on, Kelvin,” Merlyn urged. “Ignore Malcolm. He’s an illiterate savage.”

“I couldn’t refuse to go along. Lydia had me at a great disadvantage. Like a checkmate in chess.” Kelvin bowed his head in shame.

“What did she hang over your head, child?”

“She…she knew all about the deal I had made with the locksmith. She knew I used the keys to unlock the storeroom and steal candy and treats. Mother and father believed me when I suggested it was done by vermin.”

“Yeah, vermin that looked a lot like a supposedly nine-year-old boy,” snickered Malcolm.

“That’s it? That’s all she had on you?” I screamed. “You would have let them immolate me or put a noose around my neck so that you could get away with stealing candy?”

“There was also some other embarrassing stuff. I…sneaked into the maids’ chambers to look at them while they were asleep. The pretty ones, of course. Mother would tan my hide if she found out.”

Malcolm leapt from the grass and placed his hands around Kelvin’s throat. “You evil dwarf! I’ll appease The Gods by dispatching you right now!”

Merlyn and I pulled as hard as we could to pry his hands away from Kelvin’s neck. “Please, Malcolm, he’s just a child!”

“A demon child!” Malcolm relented and released a wheezing Kelvin from his grip.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think much about sacrificing someone from the Eastern Kingdom to The Gods.” He saw the look of disgust on our faces. “Well, your kingdom killed a lot of my ancestors in the last war. I thought it would be just revenge. But then you finally arrived and…I fell in love with you.”

“What does a nine-year-old boy know about love, for The Gods’ sake!” Malcolm exclaimed.

“I hope this doesn’t mean you won’t marry me, Rani.” Kelvin’s eyes pleaded with me.

“She’s barely old enough to be your nanny, little boy. Just hope I don’t leave you behind when the train arrives. I’d love to see your hide getting tanned real good.” Malcolm lay back down on the grass. “Wake me up when your boyfriend Alvin gets here.”

“Is…Alvin your boyfriend?” Kelvin tremulously asked.

“No, of course not. I don’t even remember ever meeting him. Malcolm told us he’s someone from the Underground City. All I know is that we were transported here by a vehicle that travels underground, making a journey that normally would take days in a matter of hours. I suppose this Alvin person had something to do with that.”

“I guess girls like you would prefer older men. But please bear in mind my royal lineage. People from different social classes make for bad marriages…”

Kelvin went on and on but my eyes were growing tired. I yawned and slowly lay down on the grass. Before my head hit the ground, Daisy placed a folded blanket under it. I mumbled a thank you and shut my eyes.

Vague filigrees of images of broad corridors that faded into the distance, rooms full of strange furniture and light that emanated from panels set in the ceiling, men and women dressed in tight-fitting one-piece suits made of some shiny smooth material, and a young man with a shock of wavy brown hair and a charming smile filled my dreams.

An old man in front of a gigantic picture screen explained that The Dagger of Heaven was merely an oddly shaped meteor. Malcolm was put on trial for unknown crimes against The City. The City? Was that where the underground people lived? I was still puzzled over these dream images when I felt someone shaking me awake by the shoulders.

“Rani, wake up! We have to move!” I opened my eyes and saw the fear in Merlyn’s eyes to match the panic in her voice. Daisy helped Merlyn pull me up off the grass, and I saw Amos leading Emma over to us. Malcolm was already on his Hobnob, his binoculars trained on the horizon.

As Merlyn, Kelvin and I mounted the basket atop Emma, Malcolm turned his Hobnob around and shouted to us as he rode by. “About a dozen riders. Five minutes away at most. I think Alvin’s not going to get here in time. Let’s move!”

We had barely emerged from the thicket of trees when another dozen riders came at us from the opposite direction. We were caught between the two contingents with no path for escape. Behind the wall of Hobnob riders rising like an ocean tide toward us, a wooden coach drawn by six Hobnobs and trailed by an open-top wagon emerged from its wake. A feminine voice ordered us to stand still. Against a dozen men with crossbows, it sounded like good advice.

It was Lydia who stepped out of the coach, an expression of both annoyance and triumph on her face. Reflexively, Amos reached for his broadsword. As futile a gesture as it was, it nevertheless warranted a response from one of Lydia’s warriors. An arrow whizzed by Amos’ left ear, and the archer took aim again, this time between his eyes.

“The jig is up. Right, Merlyn? You all need to come back with us. I abhor violence, so please offer no resistance. I’ve gone to great lengths to conceive and execute this ingenious plot. I will not let trivial pawns such as you spoil my endgame. Now dismount and allow these gentlemen to load you onto the wagon.”

Kelvin climbed out of the basket and descended the rope ladder down Emma’s side. He approached Lydia and seemed encouraged by a slight softening of her expression.

“Lydia, let them go. It’s no use continuing to make everyone believe that The Dagger of Heaven is anything but a strange-looking rock. I’ll even return with you and tell mother and father that they left me behind after they saw they were clear of the valley. I’ll make sure you won’t be blamed. I was just careless being alone with them after hours. They’ll believe me. We’ll tell them that you made new calculations with your charts—”

“Silly little boy. Do you think I care one wit about you? Or your stupid parents? I have a mission to complete. You, Malcolm or whatever your name is, hand your sword over to my man here. Now!”

Malcolm unsheathed his sword and slowly handed it, hilt first, to the man Lydia had indicated. The man handed it in turn to Lydia.

“Come here, Kelvin. Closer. Let me take a good look at you, child. You are truly the miniature version of your mother…that blathering idiot.” As she enunciated that last word, she thrust the sword into Kelvin. The blade went right through the boy, and he crumpled to the ground. Ten seconds later, he wordlessly expired.

“We’ll show his parents the sword that ended his life. Killed by an outlander’s hand before the age of ten. They will have their revenge on you, Malcolm. Justice will be done.”

“You,” she pointed to one of her warriors. “Place the prince’s body in the wagon and put a blanket over him. I’m not without a heart. His friends should accompany his remains all the way back home.”

We could barely hold back our tears, even Malcolm and Amos, as they marched us toward the wagon.

“We need a plan,” Malcolm said, addressing the wind.

“Our plan was Alvin. That’s out the window now,” I replied. “Counting on him, someone we don’t even know, was a mistake.”

Merlyn turned to me, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’ve killed us all. Why was I such a fool to listen to that madwoman? It’s all my fault!”

It was at that point, just meters away from the wagon, that the entrance to the train terminus opened like a flower bud, and a thundering noise announced the arrival of what I later learned was called a “truck.” From the inside of the truck, beams of intense red light shot out toward Lydia’s warriors, knocking several of them off their Hobnobs. An oddly familiar voice filled the air.

“Rani, it’s me, Alvin. Hit the ground! Now!”

We fell to the dirt immediately as more rays of red light crisscrossed above our heads. In a matter of seconds, the remaining number of Lydia’s warriors scattered, whipping their Hobnobs into a gallop in all four cardinal directions, leaving Lydia crouching against the side of her coach, cowering as the truck stopped by the wagon to pick us up.

Alvin jumped out of the truck, holding one of the red-light shooting weapons in his right hand. He ran over to me and swept me up in his arms. I was happy to be rescued but I still didn’t know anything about this young man except his name, Alvin.

“Is it really you…Alvin?” Lydia asked in a barely audible whisper. When she realized no one had heard her, she repeated in a louder voice, “Is it really you, Alvin?”

Alvin turned to look more closely at Lydia, but he showed no sign of recognition.

“Yes, my name is Alvin. Who are you?”