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Paisley opened her eyes
and noticed the stars still shining. She glanced around at the others
lying comfortably in sleep. She stood, stretched, and walked around the
corner to have privacy. She was about to head back when a dark shape
appeared in front of her, blocking her way. Not sure what it was, she
didn’t move. After a few moments it took the shape of a man. Evil radiated
from him, surrounding her with its icy tentacles. “Who are you?”
“You don’t recognize me?
I’m Taygetus, Lord of the Underworld.”
“You’re Taygetus? Nobody
mentioned the Underworld part to me.” Paisley’s hands shook.
“You have a job to do.
When these boys have gathered the items from the ten places, instead of
using those items to go to Atlantis, you are to take everything from the
boys, any way you can, and call me back to life.” Paisley turned,
contemplating running away. “Don’t even think of it. You are in my
territory now. How convenient of you to come to these sacred grounds where
the doors to my kingdom lie.”
“Your kingdom? I thought
you were just a wizard.” Paisley shivered and pulled her coat around her.
“My kingdom. Just a
wizard? How foolish you are, girl. Your ancestor, Robert, illegitimate son
of Macbeth, was merely a pawn. He actually believed I would resurrect him
once I had my body back. I may do that. It would be humorous to have him
serve me.”
“I’m not going to bring
you back to life. I don’t care if I am his only living descendant. I will
do all I can to destroy you and prevent you from being reunited with your
body.” Paisley raised her voice in hopes of alerting the lads to the
danger nearby.
Black smoke, tinted with
orange flames, engulfed Taygetus. “How dare you speak to me like that. You
are but a mere child. You will pay for that dearly.”
“If you need me to bring
you back, then you can’t harm me,” Paisley said with boldness.
“I can, however, harm one
of your little friends.” The shadowy form disappeared and came back a few
moments later with Murray dangling in the air. The lad squirmed and
screamed, waking the others. They gathered around Paisley, staring at the
evil personage.
“Taygetus, let him go.
He’s just a boy and harmless.” Paisley wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“Taygetus?” Fraser
whispered, staring at Paisley.
“This is to show you my
power. Either you do as I command, or I will kill each of your friends and
I promise, they will suffer.” Taygetus soared into the ground. A misty arm
reached up and pulled Murray into the earth by his legs until the boy was
up to his waist in earth.
“My legs are burning. He’s
going to kill me. Help me! Help me!” Murray screamed in agony.
They heard Taygetus laugh
under the ground. His roar caused the ground to ripple, knocking them
down. Leith grabbed hold of Murray’s arms. “Help me pull him up!”
Once the others cleared
their minds of fear, they helped pull the boy out. His legs were burned
and smoke erupted from the black flesh. Flames coursed through his bones
and blew out of the bottom of his feet. Murray went limp and fell into
unconsciousness.
“What are we going to do?
Look at him. He’s burned and is going to die,” Fraser said.
“I don’t know. I don’t
know. Murray!” Leith panicked and paced back and forth.
“Use the golden arrow,”
Duncan said, his voice calm and at ease. “Use the golden arrow. It has
healing powers.”
Leith tugged it from his
pocket and laid it across Murray’s charred legs. “I call upon this golden
arrow to heal Murray. Restore his healthy legs. Abaris, help us. Let the
power of the golden arrow of Apollo heal Murray.”
“It’s not working,”
Paisley said. “Go and find the well and bring some holy water from it.
We’ll pour it on his wounds. Go! I know it will work.”
Leith and Sandy ran off,
while Fraser, Duncan and Paisley stayed with the scorched boy. They came
back a while later with a paper cup filled with reddish water. Leith
poured it on Murray’s legs. A pale yellow steam billowed into the air. The
others fell backwards, away from the heat. When it cleared, Murray’s legs
were whole. The skin was pink and healthy looking. “It worked!” Paisley
sobbed, wrapping her arms around Leith’s neck and resting her head on his
shoulder. He held her tenderly until her tears ended.
Murray opened his eyes and
stood. “What just happened? I had this horrible dream.” He saw Paisley’s
blotchy face. “It wasn’t a dream, was it? Where’s that devil man?”
At that moment the sun
burst over the horizon. Honeyed rays of light shone across the hillside,
filling the sky with a rosy pink color.
“He can’t get us in the
daylight. We’ll explain later. Right now we need to get out of this maze
and off this hill before Taygetus comes up with another idea.” Leith took
Paisley by the hand and they ran from the maze, not stopping until they
reached the abbey. “I think we need to find the tree and take a thorn.”
While the Glastonbury
Abbey grounds were still empty of people, the group found the tree, pulled
off a thorn and headed for the tunnel.
Back in Scotland, safe and
sound, they walked Paisley to the beach, she asked Leith a question. “Did
you say that arrow allowed you to fly and to turn invisible?”
“Yes,” Leith said.
“Then why wouldn’t it heal
Murray?”
“Perhaps we had to be
tested in some way first. I don’t know. Let’s hope we never have to find
out.” Leith helped Paisley into her rowboat and they stood on the beach
until she had disappeared around the corner. “Let’s get some sleep.
Murray, you’re fine. Forget about this. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
Murray nodded and they
lads headed for school. |
