CHAPTER 24

The three aboard the cantankus shot over the plains and came to the locked golden gate. Behind it lay the bodies of half a dozen guards, and Ned's expression grew strained. He slipped off Fluffy and unlocked the gate. "It appears the assassin kept his word and has traveled from the stairs through the caves to free us a path."

Fred scowled. "Let's just get this done," he insisted.

Ned got back on Fluffy, keeping the gate open for their escape, and they sprinted into the cavern system. They passed more groups of guards, all dead, and climbed the winding stairs as far as Fluffy's body would fit. They dismounted and snuck up to the hatch beneath the dining hall floor. Ned put a finger to his lips and gestured to the ceiling. Voices floated through the floor.

"But my lord, the armies are right outside the gates!" a nervous man entreated their lord.

A fist pounded against the table, and Sturgeon's voice spoke angrily to the other man. "Why do you bother me with this news? Let them battle and wipe each other out, and the victor will deal with my army. What is more important is finding that assassin. He may know the whereabouts of my son."

"The men are looking for them both, my lord, but we've had no luck," the man replied.

"Then stop relying on luck and use your wits!" Sturgeon snapped. "Use the men from the cavern if you must, but find them!"

"Perhaps they aren't as loyal as you assumed," a calm, soft voice spoke up. It was Lord Tramadore.

"Perhaps you would like your tongue cut out, my lord," Sturgeon mocked him.

"I don't believe I'd like that at all," Tramadore countered.

"Then what do you say to this?" The three below the hatch heard the sound of a hand knocking against bone. "You had me underfoot for too long, Tramadore. Now you will be the one to kneel."

"You're mad, Sturgeon, if you believe you were ever mistreated enough to justify your actions now," Tramadore bit back.

The doors to the room slammed open and a new voice broke in on the conversation. "My lord, the dark army has turned back on the walls! They've broken through the gates!"

A chair clattered onto the ground. "What?" Sturgeon shouted. "Where are the fools who are supposed to be guarding them?"

"They are overwhelmed, my lord, and their weapons do nothing against these shadows," the man replied.

"Must I do everything myself?" Sturgeon growled.

They heard his footsteps stalk out of the room, and Ned ventured to push up the hatch. The group saw Tramadore seated on one side of the dining table with two guards along the wall behind him. There was a meal on the table, and the door leading to the entrance hall was open. Ned noticed silverware on the table and peeked his staff over the rim of the hole. Tramadore stared at the table in a depressed stupor, but he jumped when the utensils came to life.

The silverware leaned their necks forward in a bow, and the guards on either side of him noticed the living utensils. They grabbed for the swords in their sheaths, but the forks and knives flew off the table and pinned them to the wall. The guards screamed for help before the large serving spoons floated up and bashed them hard on the head, silencing their wails. Unfortunately, it was too late. There was noise in the halls and Ned popped out of the hatch. He quickly untied Tramadore and pushed the man ahead of him before more guards crashed into the room. Ned sicked the silverware on them and the men needed their swords to fend off the vicious knives and forks.

When the pair reached the open hatch Sturgeon himself appeared in the doorway. His complexion reddened and his face twisted into a horrible scowl. "You fools, stop them!" he shouted at the guards. They had their hands full with the cutlery, and that gave the companions ample time to duck down into the escape route.

Ned shut the hatch and hurried everyone down the stairs. Fluffy eagerly awaited them and they all climbed onto the beast's back. They heard footsteps hurry down the steps above them and Fluffy flew down the steps just as Sturgeon made his appearance around the corner. A cruel, cold smile appeared on his lips and he shouted to them. "Are you leaving so soon? Before all the fun begins?"

Ned had Fred stop Fluffy two dozen yards down the cavern, and the old man twisted around to face their adversary. "Sorry to be such rude guests, but we have a battle outside that won't wait for us," he called back.

Sturgeon held up a hand and showed off the ring about which Percy had spoken. "Do you recognize this power, pathetic castor?" he mocked Ned.

Ned straightened and scowled. "I do, and I know that power is too great for you to handle, Sturgeon."

Sturgeon fisted his hand and darkness swirled out of his clenched fingers. "Then let me prove you wrong."

A great wind blew around Sturgeon, and from his hand spilled out the undead from the Valley of the King. The skeletal warriors rode on their rotting steeds and raced down the stairs after the companions. Sturgeon mounted one of the steeds and led his army down the steps. Fred's eyes widened and he spurred Fluffy down the cavern. The wind whipped and bit at their faces, and behind them the undead army closed the gap. Fluffy whimpered and Fred understood. His load was too great.

"What's wrong?" Ned yelled above the wind.

"We're too heavy. Fluffy can't go any faster!" Fred shouted back.

Ned looked to Ruth who sat between them, and Tramadore was against his back. "Perhaps it's time you spread your wings," he told her.

Ruth blinked, and her eyes widened when she realized what he meant. She smiled and rubbed her hand against the jeweled necklace. In a moment of dazzling light she transformed into her true form and opened her wings. The gust from the undead army pushed her upward, but she caught hold of Tramadore's shoulders and lifted him with her into the air. The old gentleman cried out in alarm and clung onto her clawed hands. "Hold on, my lord!" she yelled at him.

The companions sped through the underground cavern, two in the air and two on Fluffy. They dodged in and out of the myriad of holes, spikes, and stalagmites with the army ever at their backs. In a small nook at the front of the caverns beside the stairs, and well-covered from the wind, sat Deadly Sins. He watched Sturgeon and his undead army give chase, and beneath his handkerchief he grinned. "My good lord, it seems your cunning is your undoing." He glanced up at the ceiling that stretched all the way to the golden gate. Explosives had been set by Sturgeon's men to protect the passage, and the fuse hung in front of Sins. He stuck a match against a stalactite and lit the fuse. The flame ran quickly along the coiled rope and into the first of the gunpowder-filled balls. "Run faster, little cantankus," he prayed.

The first bomb shook the entire cavern, and Fred looked over his shoulder in time to see the chain of explosives detonate. Ned glanced back and his face paled. "Oh dear."

Fred thought that was an understatement, but they had bigger problems to worry about. The exit was a dot at the end of the tunnel while stalactites rained down on the rear guard of the undead army and crushed their bodies into dust. The earthquakes from the blast hastened the collapsing spears of rock, and rubble fell all around them. Fluffy dodged the boulders and jumped over the holes created by the earthquake. Ruth ducked and swooped around the collapsing ceiling, and Lord Tramadore was a rag doll to her twisting and turning. The wind carried them faster than the cantankus could run and they outdistanced their companions by only three dozen yards.

Sturgeon glanced over his shoulder and saw the chaos of his own making. He spurred on his undead steed and his army followed, but not without losses. Even their supernatural speed couldn't outrun the falling boulders and debris. The explosions matched their speed, passed them, and overtook even the cantankus ahead of them. He narrowed his eyes, clenched his teeth and focused his power into the horse on which he rode. The consequence was that the skeletons at his back lost their speed and their undead lives. They were caught in the collapsing ceiling and their shrills of pain echoed above the noise of the pounding rocks.

The extra power gave his steed more push, and Sturgeon closed the distance between the cantankus and himself. Ned turned and saw the lord inch closer foot by foot. He swung his staff and shot out a blast of fire. Sturgeon raised his ring and with a swipe of his hand brushed aside the flames. A sneer slipped onto his face. "You will have to try better than that, old man," Sturgeon crowed.

Ned tried again and again to hit Sturgeon with the balls of fire, but the effort didn't even slow him down. With the cavern falling all around them and an earthquake beneath their feet, Sturgeon came up beside them and morphed the ring's dark energy into a sword. He swung the blade down on the riders of the cantankus, and Ned held up his staff and blocked the blow with the length of the wood. Ned pushed Sturgeon back, and the lord thrust and parried with Ned while Fred dodged both their weapons. He watched the path ahead of them and his eyes widened when he saw a large boulder the size of a house fall down from the ceiling. Ruth and Tramadore were nearly at the end and easily passed the rock, but it crashed to the ground in front of the rest of them.

The boulder covered the path on their side and there was a narrow opening on Sturgeon's side. The only opening Fluffy had lay near the ceiling, and the shattered boulder didn't provide much of a trail up to the hole. Through his heavy panting, Fluffy's eyes rolled up to the boy and shined. Fred blinked as an idea traveled from Fluffy's mind into his own. The boy leaned down close to the beast's head. "You really think that's going to work?" he called back to him. Fluffy nodded, and Fred smirked. "All right, let's do it." He looked back to Ned. "Hold on!"

Ned pushed Sturgeon's sword away from them just as Fluffy turned away into the steep wall to their right. The old castor grabbed onto Fred's waist while the boy leaned over the saddle horn and pressed himself against the beast. Fluffy's speed gave the cantankus enough momentum to slam his large claws into the wall deep enough to cling there for a second before the rock slid out from beneath his paws. The cantankus could literally sprint across the wall, and that's exactly what he did with his two passengers clinging onto him. Fluffy made straight for the hole at the top and burst through with no room to spare.

Sturgeon shot through his own hole and looked up to see the cantankus completely upside down and running in a swirling pattern along the ceiling. Fluffy came down the wall and they ended up on the left side of Sturgeon, where Ned and he resumed their attacks. Unfortunately, the large boulder wasn't the last and the opening at the end became obscured with the falling debris. The earthquakes opened up pits in the floor and nothing remained of Sturgeon's army save for his horse and him. Behind them lay shaking rubble, and the collapse of the entire ceiling was catching up to them.

Fluffy growled and the horse neighed at one another, and while the two riders fought the beasts started their own battle. Their shoulders collided against one another trying to dismount the riders or trip the other. A false move would mean certain death while the falling rubble nipped at their heels. Fred saw Ruth and Tramadore fly to safety, and he glimpsed the glowing keyhole of the vanished door. The boy had a terrible idea, and he pulled out his stick. It transformed into the staff, and when their steeds bashed against one another again with both hands he shoved the staff between the horse's two front legs. The steed tripped but didn't fall, but that still gave them a few yards ahead of their enemy.

Fred glanced over his shoulder at Ned, but found the old castor had his hands full keeping Sturgeon from catching up with fireballs. The young man would have to accomplish his plan on his own, so he tightly gripped his staff and urged Fluffy onward. Behind them Sturgeon cried out in frustration and kicked his horse to catch up while he swiped the fireballs away. The steed whinnied and sped along, closing the gap again. Yards turned into feet and Sturgeon reached out his sword to slash at them, but he was too late. Fluffy reached the lock a few seconds before the horse and passed it.

Fred focused his staff on the key as he'd done on the cake platter, but this time the magic obeyed him. The key dove out of the lock just as Sturgeon reached out to grab Ned. The golden gate came down on Sturgeon and his outstretched arm was severed at the hand. He screamed out in agony and the horse beneath him disappeared. The lord fell to the ground and clutched the stump against him, but he didn't suffer for very long. The ceiling above him collapsed and a huge chunk of rock fell down on him, ending his life.

Fluffy galloped out of the cavern entrance and Fred turned him around to glimpse the final crashing of the secret pathway. The bottom of the golden gate disappeared beneath a thick layer of rubble, and behind it lay nothing but broken rocks and collapsed walls. Ruth and Tramadore rushed over to them, and the lord clasped Ned's hands after he dismounted.

"You have all done me a service I could never repay," Tramadore thanked them.

Ned grimly shook his head. "There's no time for thanks yet, old friend. Your city is still-"

At that moment the night sky lit up with a column of light that came from the front of the city.