Gabriel Stone and the Divinity of Valta (21 page)

An indiscernible scream from Malgor, and the gruocks fell silent.

“Get to my tempest room and stop this storm now!” Malgor screamed to someone on the other side of the ice. Gabriel wondered if Malgor was communicating with someone from the castle somehow and telling them to stop the storm with that tempest room he had mentioned.

Within seconds, not even Gabriel’s amazing hearing could pick up any sounds of a storm coming through the hole in the ice to the Tandem Wood. Only beams of sunlight shone through. The storm had stopped!

I was right! The tempest room must be some magical kind of weather control room for the Tandem Wood.

Dripping sounds filled the silence as the ice began melting rapidly.

Piper paced in circles, running her fingers through her tangled hair. “What are we gonna do? He has a whole army of gruocks and death-mongers with him. I mean, I know you’re strong, Sherpa, but how can we defeat them
all
?”

“Do you have any ideas?” Gabriel looked up into Sherpa’s face, hoping for an answer.

“Calm yourselves!” roared the giant. “Do you think I would begin a feast with a full belly? I would not face Duke Malgor unprepared, either.” He stuck his fingers into his mouth, and let out a high-pitched whistle.

Gabriel, Brent, and Piper looked at each other, completely confused. Then, the trees began to sway. Gabriel couldn’t believe his eyes as Jasra and many of the creatures from Parma stepped out. Even little Dramel yielded a spear.

Brent grinned. “He made it!”

Piper smiled, and Brent and Gabriel fist pumped the air, amazed so many creatures continued to appear. As Piper ran to meet with Jasra and hug his huge, furry moose leg, Eric’s head popped up from behind a small, grassy knoll. With him were humans from Ericville, each with a long spear or sword, and serious faces.

Eric patted Gabriel’s back. “Good job, lad, good job.”

“Th-thanks,” Gabriel stammered, barely believing what was happening.

“Follow me.” Sherpa headed toward Jasra and the others. “We’ve not much time before the war.”

Gabriel gulped at the sound of the word
war
. They ran to keep up with Sherpa.

“Don’t forget where you are, children,” Eric warned. “You may be safely out of the Tandem Wood, but remember; this is the Valley of Shadows, and not without its dangers.”

Water splashed behind them in the distance; the wall of ice was a wall of water again.

“Take this.” Eric threw Gabriel a spear. “Take good aim. You know what you have to do.” Eric looked from Piper to Brent. They nodded.

Malgor and his army of evil came running right at them. Piper filled her lungs, and conjured up a wind of hurricane proportions that flung the first of the gruocks back into rotting death-mongers. Some escaped, including Malgor, who sidestepped the commanding airstream. He faced them, his black eyes glittering.

Malgor growled, as though he were part gruock himself. His army ran on, snapping and snarling. Gabriel’s army charged forward unwavering. The two sides collided in a fury of swords, snarls, bites, screams, kicks, and fury.

Eric struggled with one of the death-mongers, ducking and weaving with a fencer’s grace, unlike any scientist they’d ever seen. Sherpa fought a pack of gruocks, flinging them through the air.

Piper’s wind assault continued, but after a while, she weakened. One of the gruocks skulked toward her, snapping its enormous jaws. It jumped at her chest, hurling her to the ground and knocking the wind out of her. As she gasped for air, the gruock stood on her chest growling, its mangy head just inches in front of her. Saliva dripped onto her terrified face. The gruock reared back its head and lunged forward.

Gabriel plunged a spear through its heart, and the creature toppled to the ground in a limp heap. Gabriel tugged his spear out of the body with a burst of blood. He helped Piper up with his free hand, and attempted a shaky smile. The color began to return to her face.

“Stay with me,” he said. “Catch your breath.”

The war raged as Gabriel and Piper maneuvered around dead gruocks and death-mongers. But many creatures from Parma and Ericville lay dead or wounded, too. Gabriel felt sad, angry, and responsible at the same time.

Then they saw Jasra. The moose man kicked his powerful legs at the gruocks, sword in hand. One slipped past him, jumped, and snapped its jaws around his neck. He crumpled to the ground, bleeding. The beast rushed away to find another victim. Blood poured from the gaping wound in Jasra’s neck.

Piper kneeled beside Jasra, bursting into sobs. “Jasra no—please—not you.”

“Don’t give up … dear friends,” he gasped. “My time has come, but yours has just begun.” Piper hugged him, oblivious to the battle raging all around. Jasra’s eyes softened, and slowly, he closed them for the last time.

“Get up, Piper. Don’t be a baby!” Gabriel yelled. He clasped his hand over his mouth, and shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t feel g-good—that gruock b-bit me,” he stammered. But Piper didn’t seem to hear him. Gabriel searched the battlefield. Many of their allies were dying or dead, but the gruocks and death-mongers continued to fight.

In the center of combat, Brent lobbed vast fireballs toward the death-mongers. A dozen of them exploded in a ball of flames. But their attacks kept coming, and as many as he destroyed, there were more to replace them. One death-monger in Brent’s path escaped his firestorm, and charged him. Before Brent could throw a fireball, the death-monger thrust the sole of its heavy black boot against Brent’s chest, sending him flying onto the ground. Brent gasped for air as his eyes widened. The vile creature snorted through its hollow nostrils and raised its sword high.

An arrow struck the creature between its eye sockets.

“Later, sucker,” Brent huffed. He sat up and looked around, patting his chest. His gaze met Gabriel’s, through the chaos. Gabriel threw up his hands, waving him over.

They stood by Piper, who still crouched beside Jasra’s body, tears spilling down her cheeks. Brent pulled her arm gently, but she yanked it back.

Gabriel lifted his head and gazed into the distance. He blinked. Looked again. And saw the most beautiful face—the face of Empress Malina.

“Come here,” she called out to him.

A rush of adrenaline hit Gabriel’s veins. He ran to meet her, leaving Brent to console Piper.

“Empress Malina, we have the Divinities for you!”

“Yes, Gabriel, I have come for them. To set things right again. Thank you, my sweet. Give them to me now, and all will be well.”

Gabriel reached into his pocket. As he pulled out the Divinity, the gruock with the bright red patch of fur on its hind leg glared at him from its perch on top of a moss-covered rock about twenty feet away.

It’s gotta be morning soon.

“Yes, it will be morning soon,” the empress said, reading his thoughts, “but that will not matter after I connect the Divinities. Hurry now, before it is too late.”

Gabriel handed the empress the Divinity from around his neck, while the howls and clashing of spears and swords rang out. A drumming of paws stole Gabriel’s attention away from the empress. Glancing over his shoulder, his gaze dropped on the red-patched gruock, charging toward him.

“Hurry up,” Gabriel snapped, not wanting the burden of them any longer. “I’m sick of this.” He dug a fisted hand into his eye, and shook his head. “Sorry. I’ve been bitten. Just take them already.”

Just as the empress was about to place her hands on top of Gabriel’s, the red-patched gruock leapt through the air. Teeth bared, it flung itself on the empress. Gabriel screamed. Shoving each Divinity into a separate pocket, he grabbed his spear.

The gruock bit her face, while the empress screamed. Rage rushed through his veins. Gabriel figured it was probably the gruock virus, but he didn’t care. As the sun rose above the mountaintop, Gabriel raised the spear above his head. But just as he was about to bring it down on the savage animal attacking the empress, the beauty peeled away from Empress Malina. She shook violently, her face contorting as she transformed into someone else.

Duke Malgor.

Gabriel froze, ice skittering down his spine. He wasn’t sure if he was being tricked, or going crazy from the virus. He became more confused as the gruock continued its attack on Malgor, despite Malgor’s demands for release.
Either that gruock is completely insane—or I am
, Gabriel decided, but he kept his spear high, ready to strike if the beast turned on him.

Malgor grabbed a dagger from the sheath on his leg. He thrust it at the beast, missed, then sunk it into the beast’s shoulder. He stood, stepped roughly onto its other shoulder, and jerked the dagger out, callously wiping the gruock’s blood on his pant leg. Yelping, it fell to the ground.

Gabriel looked away from the gruock, his anger growing over Malgor’s never-ending deceit. Malgor flicked away the blood from the gruock’s attack, as if it were no more than sweat, then wiped his hand on his pants.

Gabriel pointed his spear at Malgor’s head. “You’re sickening.” Gabriel stared into his icy-cold eyes. “I should kill you now!”

“You are an ignoramus. I am a Zeveron and a shape-shifter. If it weren’t for this mad gruock, victory would already be mine!”

So the attack really did happen. I wasn’t just seeing things from the virus!

The rising sun broke through the orange streaks in the sky. The sudden light made it hard for Gabriel to see. He turned away from its harsh glare, his gaze falling on the red-patched gruock, now panting and whining. In the morning sunlight, its transformation had begun.

As he watched, something in the pit of Gabriel’s stomach squeezed up like a fist, gripping him, and twisting.

He slumped to his knees. Lying there, wounded and curled in a ball, was his mother.

He blinked. “
Mom
?”

Malgor plunged his sword deep into Gabriel’s stomach, his cold eyes gleaming in the morning sunlight.

Gabriel gasped and clutched at the sword handle. He gaped, staring from Malgor to his mother. His lashes fluttered. He’d never been so tired in his whole life. He tried calling to his friends, but his voice was weak.

“Brent, Piper,” Gabriel whispered. He glanced at Jasra’s dead body, but his friends were gone.

Malgor’s taunting voice brought him back. “You need only to be breathing boy …
barely
.” Malgor laughed. “While there is still life in you, we will connect the Divinities, once and for all. Then I shall watch you die,
Oh Chosen One
.”

Gabriel’s mother crawled to him, and stretched out her hand. “Gabriel,” she whimpered, tears streaming down her face. Gabriel reached out his bloodstained hand toward her. The world tilted off its course. His head spun. And, strangely, he felt happy.

I did it. I found mom.

She didn’t leave on purpose.

I found her.

Malgor searched Gabriel’s pockets, and retrieved the Divinities with a menacing laugh. He grabbed Gabriel’s hands, turned them palms up, and placed a Divinity in each.

Everything swirled around too fast. Gabriel’s vision blurred. First there was one duke. Then two. Then three.

“I am the rightful ruler of Valta. Emperor!” cried Malgor. He stared at Gabriel with a crooked grin. “I accept power and control of the Divinities. As the Divinities and I become one, I will be the life force for all of Valta.” He lowered his hands toward the Divinities in Gabriel’s hands.

A fierce wind swept over them, accompanied by a thunderous roar. The death-mongers stood eerily still, looking even more corpse-like than they had before. Eric and the humans from Ericville gazed with amazement at the sky. Gabriel rolled his eyes up.

An army of white tigers soared through the air on massive, white wings. Leading the way flew Andimian, the empress’s great protector with Empress Malina on his back. To her right side and following closely behind flew an equally large and majestic tiger. Prince Oliver sat on its back, shoulders squared, holding the nape of the tiger’s neck. Oliver’s shaggy blond hair blew back from his face. Spread out behind both of them, Andimian’s tiger militia swooped down in an onslaught of assault on Malgor’s army.

Piper called out, “Look—it’s Prince Oliver! When the dome smashed at Malgor’s castle, it must have broken the spell!”

“No!” Malgor leapt to cover his hands over the Divinities.

With the last ounce of strength left in his body, Gabriel twisted his hands away. Pain erupted inside him like a bomb. Malgor’s grasping hands touched nothing but air.

Prince Oliver’s enormous tiger swooped down. Its claws grasped Malgor’s shoulders, digging through Malgor’s already shredded shirt. Oliver yelled a command, and the tiger shot straight into the air with a thunderous roar, its claws hooked deep in Malgor’s flesh.

Gabriel’s limbs grew limp as wet noodles, his arms and legs tingling. Gasping for air, he looked into his mother’s heartbroken face, and drifted off into an abyss of darkness.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Thump … thump … thump …

Gabriel’s heartbeat thudded through his ears. A cool wind swirled around him. Raindrops fell on his face, stirring him into a blur of half-consciousness.

Another sound rose above his heartbeat—an unmistakable
thudding
, forceful and rhythmic. He pried his eyes open. The intense blue eyes of Empress Malina stared back. She yelled words Gabriel couldn’t understand. Her long blond hair blew back from her troubled face. Sideways sheets of rain drove into her, and a clash of lightning lit up the sky.

Slowly, painfully, he turned his head. The rhythmic thudding pounded from Andimian’s mighty wings, whipping the air.
Oh
. He was flying high in the air on a winged tiger with the empress of Valta.
Yup, I’m definitely dead
. Something pressed on his abdomen. He drifted into oblivion again.

The sound of Piper crying stirred him awake. “He’s dead, isn’t he? Everything we did was for nothing if he’s dead!” she said, sobbing.

Gabriel pried his eyes open. He tried to remember what had happened. Something about the empress and the Divinity. He gave his head an experimental shake, and pain shot out from behind his eyes. Then it all came back.