“I don’t know,” I answered. “But we better find out.” I took a step toward the royal box and called out, “Figgis! We want to talk with you!”
In answer Figgis abruptly turned and ran back into the palace.
“C’mon!” I shouted and ran for the royal box.
Loor was right behind me. We both hit the stairs and ran up three at a time until we hit the royal box. Without hesitation we ran into the Bedoowan palace after the strange little man who was responsible for finding the power to destroy all of Denduron.
Outside of the palace the two armies were drawing closer. The Milago miners were making their way through the dense forest, while the Bedoowan knights massed along the far side of a giant, open field. This grassy, sloping field was where the long-awaited battle would take place. Behind the Bedoowan was nothing but ocean. Behind the Milago would be forest. Between them was a huge expanse of empty field with nothing to use for protection but sea grass. The Bedoowan knights knew what they were doing. They had trained to protect their palace from marauders. They lined up in rows with shield carriers first, followed by archers, followed by spear carriers on horseback. They were ready.
Alder later told me how he ran through the forest with the miners, trying to get them to turn back. But no one listened. They were locked and loaded and primed for a fight. But when they got to the edge of the forest, the leader held up his hand and the miners stopped short of charging out into the open. It was a smart thing to do, for he saw something that the rest of the miners hadn’t yet seen.
Standing across from them on the far side of this vast field were the Bedoowan knights. But they did not look like a straggle of injured survivors who were reeling from a devastating explosion. Just the opposite. There were more knights standing there than the Milago knew existed. They didn’t look any worse for wear, either. They were strong and healthy and well armed. Obviously something had gone wrong. The explosion didn’t do the damage they had hoped. This battle wasn’t going to be the cakewalk they had anticipated. This was going to be a dogfight and they were going up against the best dogs in town.
The Milago leader held his army back, not entirely sure of what to do. The rest of the Milago miners had now seen the vast army of knights and it shook their confidence.
The only thing that Alder could do was watch, and pray.
When Loor and I ran into the palace, we found ourselves in Queen Kagan’s empty chambers. We got our bearings, then dashed out into the corridor. I looked toward the stairs and caught a quick glimpse of Figgis scampering down.
“There!” I shouted and ran after him.
Loor was right behind me. We got to the stairs and started down. They were wide, spiraling stairs, and as we ran down we could see that Figgis was far below, headed for the lowest levels of the palace. We bounded down the stairs as fast as we could without taking a header and breaking our necks. When we hit the bottom, I saw that my boom box was there, only it was in pieces. That’s how the knights finally got it to stop playing. They smashed it. I guess no one knew how to use the on-off switch. Idiots. I had the presence of mind to dig through the debris for the batteries. It may have been too little too late, but at least nobody could use these batteries to blow anything up.
We both took a quick look around for Figgis and heard a familiar giggle coming from down the corridor. The thought came to me that he was playing with us. But it didn’t matter. We had to stop him. So we took off down the corridor.
“He is going for the mines,” she said. “He must know the secret entrance.”
She was right. That’s probably how he got into the palace in the first place. Since we knew the way, we didn’t bother looking down every corridor for the little guy. We headed right for the kitchen, which led to the pantry, which led to the trapdoor and the tunnels that would drop us down into the secret passage of the Milago mine that stretched beneath the palace.
In the forest, the Milago leader didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. They weren’t supposed to fight the Bedoowan army at its best. Should he attack or retreat? His decision would clearly decide the future of his tribe. Luckily for him, the responsibility for making a decision was soon taken away from him. With a roar of excitement from the miners, he looked to see a familiar face making his way toward him through the crowd. It was Rellin. He was here to take charge.
The sight of their trusted leader sent a rumble of relief through the Milago miners…not to mention to the interim leader who no longer had to be in charge anymore. It must have been a stirring sight, seeing their leader walking confidently to the front of his troops to take command. He jumped on to a rock so that all the Milago could see him and announced, “My brave Milago brothers! Today is the day. Now is the time. This is where our slavery ends!”
The miners all gave a cheer. Rellin was stirring them up again.
“Bring the tak to bear!” he commanded and all of the miners who had the tak and slingshots came to the front of the group. “Are we prepared to take back our lives?”
Everyone let out a whooping cheer. They were no longer concerned about why he hadn’t died. He was their inspirational leader, and they trusted him.
“Are we prepared to win our freedom?”
Another cheer.
“Are we prepared to make the Bedoowan pay for their crimes against us?”
That brought the biggest cheer of all. They were ready.
“Then do not stop until we have reached the throne room!”
That was it. The miners went nuts and the charge was on. With the tak throwers first, they charged out of the forest and onto the field to meet their enemy.
While this was going on, Loor and I dropped down the ladders into the Milago mine. No sooner did we hit the tunnel, than Loor stopped short, her ear to the air.
“Listen,” she said.
I did, and after a second I heard what she was talking about. It was footsteps. Running footsteps. Figgis wasn’t far away. But the strange thing was, they were coming from deeper in the tunnel. That didn’t make sense because the tunnel didn’t go on much farther. There was nothing beyond the end of this tunnel but a long drop to the sea. So where was that sound coming from?
Loor didn’t stop to think, as usual. She headed deeper into the tunnel. Her senses told her that someone was back there running and she didn’t bother to let logic stop her from following her instinct. All I could do was follow. We didn’t go more than twenty yards before we came upon another offshoot from the main tunnel. It was a crudely dug side tunnel that was wide enough for one person to pass at a time. This is where Figgis went, so this is where we had to go too. As always, Loor went first. She ran into the tunnel, unafraid of what she might find. That was cool with me; she was the macho end of this duo, after all. Luckily the tunnel wasn’t all that dark because there was enough light that seeped in from the main tunnel to let us see our way.
“I see the far end,” Loor announced. “This tunnel connects with another tunnel.”
I looked ahead and saw that she was right. This side tunnel connected with another large tunnel. But it soon proved to be more than just a shortcut. Before we reached the other end, the side tunnel grew wide and opened up into a large space. We stopped, trying to figure out why this cavern existed so deep inside the Milago mine. I took a step and felt something weird under my feet. It was a soft, springy sensation, like walking on tiny bits of rubber. I knelt down and scooped up a bit of the stuff to give it a close look. It had the feel of eraser dust. You know, the stuff you brush off your paper after erasing something. It didn’t take me long to realize what it really was though, and my heart nearly stopped.
“What is it?” asked Loor.
“It…it’s tak,” I said with a dry mouth. “I think we just found out where Figgis got the tak. He mined it…from right here.”