Spell of the Crystal Chair (3 page)

Josh looked over at Sarah. She was wearing a simple dress that came down just to her knees. It was made of some soft, pale green material. “That’s a nice looking dress,” he said.

“Well, things are looking up! You never used to compliment my clothes. Do you really like it?”

“Sure. It looks nice on you.”

The two made tea and sat and sipped it and talked about the adventures they had had since coming to Nuworld.

“Sometimes I have bad dreams about the Dark Lord,” Sarah confessed. “He frightens me.”

“He frightens just about everyone. Not just us, either. Everywhere we go, people are scared stiff of him. He’s got lots of strange powers.”

“If it weren’t for Goél, I don’t think I could bear living here,” Sarah said.

“I wish he’d come soon. He may send us out on some awful mission, but it’d be better than just hanging around here.”

Josh did not get his wish that day, and the Sleepers spent their time hunting for squirrels. There were no guns in Nuworld, so all of them had learned to use the bow and arrow. To hit a squirrel with an arrow was quite a feat, and Sarah turned out to have the surest eye. She got three squirrels, and Reb brought down four with a slingshot that he had made of some elastic and a forked stick.

“I don’t see how you hit anything with that,” Jake complained. He was not a very good archer, nor was he
good with a slingshot. “If I just had my .22, I’d show you what squirrel hunting was really like. I could hit anything with that gun.”

Jake stood watching Reb skin the squirrels for supper. Reb was very good at it. He just made a simple cut or two, then ripped off the hide as easily as taking off a small overcoat.

“I don’t see how you do that, Reb.” Jake shook his head. “I’d make a mess out of it.”

“If you’d cleaned as many squirrels as I have, you could do it, too.”

“Do you think Goél will come pretty soon?” Jake asked suddenly.

“I reckon so.”

Reb’s attention was not altogether on the squirrels, and Jake had noticed. “What are you thinking about?”

“Guess I was thinking about back in Camelot. That was really my kind of place.”

Their adventure in Camelot had been a high hour for Reb Jackson. The people there had somehow arrived at a civilization much like King Arthur’s court. Being the best horseman of any of the Sleepers, Reb had become an expert jouster. “Someday I’m going back to Camelot,” he said.

Jake did not answer right away. “I’d just like to go back home,” he said finally.

“You mean back to Oldworld?”

“Yes.”

“That’s all gone, Jake. You might as well forget it.”

“How can I forget it?” Jake said. “I’d give anything just to walk down a street again with big buildings on both sides. Go out to Coney Island, catch a movie. All the things I liked to do, they’re all gone.”

Reb shook his head. “I miss a lot of things, too. I don’t ever get to go trot lining like I did back in Arkansas.”

“We could do that here, but we can’t build a city like New York again!”

Josh and the other boys watched Sarah and Abbey set about making squirrel stew for supper.

“Can you make some dumplings?” Reb asked. “Squirrel and dumplings go mighty good.”

“Maybe not like your mom used to make, Reb,” Abbey said, “but we’ll do the best we can.”

“I saved the brains. You could have some of them, Abbey. Nothing like squirrel brains for taste.”

Abbey shuddered. “No, thanks!”

“You don’t like squirrel brains?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never tasted any and don’t intend to.”

Supper went well, though the meat was rather scarce. The squirrels did not go far, divided among ten people. Volka probably could have eaten them all himself. Instead he filled up, more or less, on the pasta that Sarah had learned to make.

When the dishes were done, they sat around talking, and then things turned rather gloomy. It wasn’t long before an argument broke out between Jake and Dave Cooper. The two were just starting to shout at each other, in spite of Wash’s plea to cool it, when all of a sudden the door swung open. There stood a tall figure wearing a gray robe. A hood shadowed his face, but as the man entered he pushed it back.

“Goél!” everyone cried.

Goél was a lean man, not handsome but strong-looking, and there was strength in his face and warmth
in his dark eyes. He came to the center of the room, saying, “Greetings, my young friends.” He glanced at Dave and Jake and smiled slightly. “I see you’re still showing great love and affection for one another.”

Both Dave and Jake looked terribly embarrassed. To ease the strain, Josh said quickly, “Goél, we’ve been waiting for you. Come and sit down. Have something to eat.”

“I’m afraid there’s not time for that,” Goél said. He had a pleasant voice, one that the Sleepers could never mistake. It was quiet right now, but there was hidden power in it. Josh knew that at times Goél could raise his voice until it was like the roll of distant thunder.

Mat looked relieved but could not help complaining. “Well, we’ve been waiting for you, sire,” he said. “We expected you earlier.”

Goél seemed to find this amusing. He smiled. “Mat, you are always unhappy, but I do not come on command.”

Somehow Mat could not meet the eyes of the tall man. He dropped his glance to the floor and muttered, “Well, we were just anxious to see why you commanded us all to meet.”

“It is a fair question, Mat.” He looked about the group and said, “I hope you are well rested, for I have a mission that will involve considerable effort.”

Something very close to fear came over Josh. He was a shy boy, never completely certain of himself, always thinking he was a failure. And now the thought of leading this group anywhere into danger frightened him. “Are you sending us far, Goél?”

“Very far indeed. To a land that is different from anything that you have encountered in Nuworld so far.”

“Where is it, sire?” Tam said. “I’ve traveled quite a bit.”

“Have you ever been to Whiteland?”

“Whiteland?” Tam looked puzzled. “No. I’ve never even heard of it.”

“I am not surprised. As I said, it is far from here, and I would not send you if going were not of the utmost importance.” Goél looked around then, as if weighing each person. Josh felt the weight of his eyes. Once Reb had told him, “When Goél looks at us like that it’s like he just comes through my eyes, crawls down into my heart, and rummages around to find out what’s down there. It’s downright uncomfortable.”

Each of them must have felt somewhat the same. Abbey kept looking down at her hands, unable to meet Goél’s eyes. Everyone knew that Goél seldom explained himself, but most of them had had times when he would come to them individually and quietly talk to them about things. “I reckon we’re a pretty motley group, Goél,” Jake said. “I never have understood why you chose us. We’re just a bunch of kids and not very talented ones at that.”

“You are as talented as you need to be, friend Jake. All of you have hidden talents.” He paused for a moment, and they all waited. Then he said, “It is not the easy things that make a young man or a young woman strong. It is the hard things.”

“Well, we ought to be getting strong,” Reb said. “We’ve gone through some mighty hard things.”

“Yes, you have, Reb, and you are not the same young people who came to Nuworld.” There was approval in Goél’s warm eyes. “But now, I have another hard thing for you, and if you are faithful and strong and brave, it will make you more into true servants of Goél.”

“I’d guess it involves the Dark Lord again, sire.” Dave Cooper spoke up suddenly, his eyes fixed on their visitor.

“It does. His arm is long, and he has reached into a group of my friends that are in great need of help.”

“This Whiteland. Where is it?” Josh asked.

“It is far to the north. It will be a hard journey for all of you. It will require all of your strength just to get there.”

“But how can we find the way? Are you going to draw us a map?” Sarah asked. She’d often said she had visions of getting lost in some pathless forest, and the thought frightened her.

“I have something better than a map, but first let me tell you a little about the situation. Sit down.”

They all sat except Goél. Standing before them, he spoke of the Dark Lord, who had his spies and his servants everywhere. He spoke of the House of Goél, which was small. He said, “You all know the prophecy that concerns you.” Then he quoted the verse that all of them knew well:

“There was once a young queen,” he went on to say, “who was called upon to do a very daring thing. She risked her life to save her people. It was said that she came to her kingdom for just such a time as that. And now I must tell you that you Sleepers are come to Nuworld for such a time as this. The shadow of the Dark Lord grows long. More and more fall into slavery
in his deadly kingdom, but the Sleepers have been awakened, and one day the power of the Dark Lord will be broken.”

“Will it be soon, Goél?”

Goél smiled and said quietly, “All times are the same to me, but whether soon or far in the future, your task is to be faithful to me.” Then he said, “You ask how you would find your way. I have provided a guide for you.” He moved to the door and called out, “Come in, Fairmina.”

Josh did not know what to expect, but he and the other Sleepers got to their feet. Even as they turned to the door, a young woman stepped through. She wore clothes made of some soft blue material that clung to her athletic figure. Long blonde hair cascaded down her back.

“This is your guide,” Goél said. “Fairmina is the daughter of Denhelm, chief of the Lowami tribe in Whiteland. Her mother is Rimah, who comes from a princely race.”

The girl looked around at the Seven Sleepers, and Josh thought he saw disdain in her eyes.

Then she turned to face Goél. Her back was straight. She said, with scorn in her voice, “My lord Goél, my father sent me here because we are desperately in need of help to save our people.”

“I understand that, Fairmina, and I am answering your father’s request. These are the Seven Sleepers.” He named each Sleeper and then introduced Tam, Mat, and Volka. “This is my answer to your father’s plea for help.”

Fairmina, princess of Whiteland, looked over the group again. “My lord, this one may do”—she waved a hand toward Volka. “He is big enough to be of help. But
as for the others, my father sent me to get
warriors!”
A sneer twisted her lips. “We need warriors in Whiteland, not children!”

J
osh Adams could hear the scorn in Fairmina’s voice. Anger raced through him, and a hot reply leaped to his lips. But then he saw Goél’s eyes watching him carefully.
He wants to see if I wait for him
, Josh thought. He knew Goél often tested the Sleepers, and he knew this was one of those times. Determined not to disappoint his leader, Josh clamped his lips together. But as he glanced around, he saw that the rest of the Sleepers were not pleased with Fairmina’s words, either.

Goél waited. Silence fell over the room, and surely he could see the displeasure on the faces of the company. Turning to Princess Fairmina, he said, “You are new in the service of Goél, my daughter. You must learn submission.”

Fairmina drew herself up. She was a tall girl, strongly built, and there was a fierce light in her eyes. “My father has no son, sire. You are well aware of this.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Since there is no prince, no one to step into my father’s place when he dies, he has raised me as he would have raised a son if he had had one.” She looked very proud, and her green eyes flashed. “There is no man among our people who is better with a bow than I—or with a sword, either! True, I am not as strong as some of our men, but I am quicker, and none can keep up with me on a trail. My father has given me hard training, for he knows that one day I must stand in his place, woman though I be.”

Goél listened patiently to this. Then he said slowly, “I know well what your father has done and that you are indeed a princess of strength. You have honor and courage. But, my daughter, you have not much of two other qualities that every ruler must have.”

Suspiciously, Fairmina asked, “And what are those, if I may ask, sire?”

“Patience and gentleness.”

“But our people are perishing! We must fight for our existence! There is no time for patience, and we do not need gentleness but fierce strength in order to survive!”

Silence fell over the room again.

None of the Sleepers would have dared to answer Goél in this fashion, Josh was thinking.
She doesn’t know who she’s talking to! If she knew who Goél was, she would be a little bit more humble
.

Goél, however, did not seem to be disturbed. He said quietly, “You do not yet know the ways of Goél, and you are very young, my daughter. Before long you will learn that sometimes gentleness is stronger than violence. And you will learn that patience is a virtue that I highly admire.” A smile touched his lips then, and his gaze went to the Sleepers. “My young friends here have learned a little about how to trust me. Is it not so?”

“Yes, Goél,” Josh answered immediately. “We do trust you.” He looked at Fairmina. “We may not be much in your eyes, Princess, but we are the servants of Goél. His strength is enough for us.”

Fairmina stared. She did not answer him, but a look of doubt crossed her face. She turned back to Goél and said, “You know that my people are at war.”

“So your father says. I have not forgotten him. He
and I have been friends for a long time. And your mother, Rimah, is a jewel among women.”

“Then you must know that if something isn’t done, the Dark Lord will have us all. We’ll be helpless if we don’t fight—and soon!” Again she looked doubtfully at the Sleepers. “I spoke hastily, perhaps, and I ask your pardon. But my heart is heavy when I think that even now my people may be dying, waiting for help that I was sent to bring.”

“You must not trust your heart, daughter,” Goél said. “Trust
me
. These young people may not look like much, but they have done battle with the Dark Lord and his servants already and have not bent.” Then he amended his speech, and his eyes glowed with humor. “Well, perhaps they did bend a little, but they did not break. Is that not so, Wash?”