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The chief difficulty in getting the slaves out came in the form of the guards - there were no-one knew how many of them compared to only seven, with the addition of Galadria, in Leoric's group. Nonetheless, as far as Leoric was concerned, it was his sworn duty to end the tyranny that had been going on down here for the last eight months and he meant to see this through until the end.
Gathering his followers together, he outlined his plan. "Now, we know there are too few of us to take on Sanofainus' guards directly," he explained. "If we try anything like that, all that will happen is that they'll slaughter us and this whole nightmare will continue . . ."
"So, what is it you plan to do?" asked Witterquick. He had no doubt that, whatever Leoric was planning had to be in the best interests of everyone - even if a direct assault was impossible, the Spectral Knights' leader was sure to find a way to achieve his mission.
"We split up and free the slaves a few at a time," Leoric explained. "That way, it'll be easier to slip into the workings unobserved than it would be if we all tried to go at once. Then, we'll meet up - all of us - and then . . ." He paused for dramatic purposes and raised his whip as if he was striking at an imaginary foe. "Then the fight for freedom begins!"
The others nodded approvingly and the five Spectral Knights gathered round in a circle, joining hands at the centre in a gesture of comradeship.
"May the Light shine forever!" they said, speaking as one. This ritual served to cement the bond between the Spectral Knights and their allies and, while it could vary in tone depending on the circumstances, it was rarely as serious as it was now. The lives of many young people and the very future of Prysmos depended on them and failure . . .
But Leoric knew better than to dwell on the possibility that the rescue might not be successful and began to outline his plan in detail. "Now, here's what I want each of you to do . . ."
As Witterquick crept through the underground kingdom, passing groups of young slaves labouring under the threat of their overseers' cat-o'-nine-tails, he had to fight to contain his disgust at what was going on down here. The scenes Merklynn had shown at Iron Mountain, disturbing as they were, could do little to prepare anyone for the reality. Glancing at a few slaves, he saw the same expression in all their young faces - that all hope was lost and they might as well resign themselves to spending the rest of their lives down here.
It was the younger slaves - those nearing or barely in their teens - that angered him the most and he was all he could do to keep himself from rushing headlong into the workings and grabbing the nearest chain-gang. But it was safer to wait until an opportunity presented itself, until he had the means to get the chains off them. That chance came when a guard, for no apparent reason other than a desire to be as sadistic as he knew how, decided to raise his cat-o'-nine-tails to a group of slaves working only a few feet away from where Witterquick was hiding, just near enough to recognise Feryl at the end of the line.
Wasting no time, he assumed his Cheetah form and darting at the guard, unhooking his keys from the loop in his belt. Then, before the astonished guard could react, he changed back into his human form and set to work on Feryl's manacles.
"Wh - what's going on?" Feryl stammered as the chains fell away. "Witterquick, how did you get in here?"
"Shh!" Witterquick warned the younger knight, well aware that they could be caught at any moment. "Help me free the others, but do it quietly."
It did not take long to get the chains off the other four members of the chain-gang and they now stood blinking in the gloomy light of the underground realm. None of them was sure what to do next; the only thing they knew was that the hour of freedom seemed to be at hand, that their life of forced labour was coming to an end. As this realisation dawned on them, it reignited what little hope they had managed to maintain and they began cheering and shouting.
"We're not free yet," Feryl told them. "But, if you follow us, we'll . . ." He broke off when he saw Leoric and Arzon approaching at the head of an army of wheelbarrow-pushers.
"Looks like we've got reinforcements," he added.
Elsewhere in the underground realm, Kromos was doing some plotting of his own.
Earlier in the day, he had been in the process of delivering a message to Sanofainus when he found the tyrant's broken body lying half-way up the stairs, exactly where he had landed when he fell while trying to wrestle the Crystal away from Atla. He was alive, but only barely and his dying breaths had been used in telling Kromos what had happened, how two intruders had burst in on him and stolen the Crystal he had forced his slaves to search so hard for.
"One . . . Crystal . . . gone," Sanofainus had told Kromos, his once powerful voice barely audible. "But six . . . still remain - maybe they are . . . enough . . ."
"Enough for what, my Lord Sanofainus?" Kromos had demanded. But his words came too late, for Sanofainus - who had made it his life's work to become the most powerful man on Prysmos - had closed his eyes for the last time, his ambition never realised during his lifetime, the Crystals that would have given him his power still not found.
So it was that Kromos had summoned Bogavus and his gang to the room Sanofainus had used as his private quarters and was now outlining what he wanted them to do. "We will carry on the work Sanofainus began - the slaves will continue to labour until the remaining Crystals are found," he informed them. "But, first, we have a more pressing problem to deal with - there are intruders in the Lost Shrine and they must be crushed! Bogavus, do you remember our agreement?"
"Aye," Bogavus said stiffly, recalling that Sanofainus had decreed that, upon the latter's death, he and Kromos would become joint rulers of the underground kingdom and - once the Crystals were found - the whole of Prysmos. The wizard smirked as he thought what a fool Kromos was - he had plans of his own and they did not involve sharing power with anyone . . .
Back at the workings, a sizeable number of slaves had already been set free and were now fighting side-by-side with their rescuers. Armed mainly with their bare fists and a great deal of determination - although some had utilised discarded chains and Arzon and Feryl had their Totems to fall back on - they battled for the thing they had believed was lost forever. They battled for their freedom.
As a heavily built guard darted at Yilly in a bid to recapture at least one slave, Galadria ran in from the side, the spear she had grabbed from a fallen guard raised ready to attack. Before she could land a decent blow, however, the guard swung at her with his cat-o'-nine-tails and knocked her off balance. Galadria staggered for a moment, managing to stay on her feet but dropping the spear in the process. The heavily built guard picked it up and seized Yilly by her hair.
"Stand back - or I'll run this brat through!" he snarled, convinced this would be enough to make the intruders back off.
As Yilly struggled and cried, fighting vainly against her powerful captor, the Spectral Knights could only watch helplessly, faced with a dilemma few would relish. They had sworn to destroy this evil kingdom . . . but not at the expense of an innocent girl's life. Even so, they knew that backing off would only mean the whole nightmare would start over again; young Prysmosians would continue to slave below ground, this time with no hope of salvation. And the world that would result once the Crystals were found was too terrible to contemplate - would it be right to save Yilly's life for that?
In the end, Witterquick could take it no more. Pulling his Power Staff out, he jabbed the tip into the ground as he called out the words that activated it:
"Sheathe these feet in the driving gale
Make swift these legs, o'er land I sail!"
In a flash of blue light, Witterquick was only inches from the bullying guard's head and, before the brute had chance to react, he jabbed him smartly in the neck. This had the effect of cutting off his circulation so that he collapsed unconscious on the spot. Witterquick checked that he posed no further threat, tying him up with a discarded cat-o'-nine-tails as further insurance, before turning his attention to Yilly.
"Quick - put your arms round my neck and hold on," he told her firmly. Then, as he turned to go with Yilly clinging to his back, he heard Atla's voice calling from nearby; she had been trying to get through to save her daughter from the moment the guard took her as a hostage.
"Yilly!" she called. "Yilly! Hang on, baby!" In just a few more paces, she caught up with Witterquick and the girl on his back was soon enfolded in a maternal hug.
"I knew you'd come for me! I knew it!" Yilly told her mother through happy tears as Atla set her down on the ground.
"How could I do otherwise?" Atla replied. Then, she turned to Witterquick and thanked him for saving her only daughter. "If it hadn't been for you, she would be . . ." Atla chose not to complete the sentence.
Witterquick responded with a slight shrug. "I knew she was in trouble, but not that she was Yilly," he informed Atla. "And we still have to make an end of this one way or another . . ."
As the subterranean battle between the Spectral Knights and their allies and Sanofainus' guards continued to rage, the Darkling Lords crept furtively through the shadows. Darkstorm had, as a matter of course, taken the lead and was smiling to himself at the thought of what he planned to do to the Spectral Knights once he had them cornered. Too many times had they outsmarted him and made him look like a fool, too many times had his attempts to steal their magic ended in failure - but they would currently be too busy battling the guards to notice a few extra opponents. All the Darkling Lords had to do was sneak into the battle and . . .
A sudden clattering distracted Darkstorm from his thoughts as he spun round to see which of his stooges had stupidly betrayed their presence. Seeing their leader's ruthless eyes scanning each of them in turn, Virulina and Lexor promptly started trying to pin the blame on each other.
"If you please, Darkstorm," Lexor said in the smarmiest voice he could muster, "it was Virulina - she wasn't watching where she was going and she must've kicked a stone or something."
"You lying toad!" Virulina retorted, giving Lexor a vindictive shove as she flew into a towering rage. "Darkstorm," she said to her leader, "are you going to believe . . .?"
Before Virulina could continue, Darkstorm grabbed her from behind and clamped his hand over her mouth, ignoring her when she tried to struggle free. "Keep your voice down or you'll give us away!" he hissed in her ear. But a glance further down told him it was already too late.
The Spectral Knights had heard their enemies' voices and were leading the freed slaves in a charge.
Shouting impromptu war cries as they brandished chains that had until recently been used to restrain slaves, Casiusa and Feryl launched into action. Casiusa, who had no idea who the Darkling Lords were but could tell at a glance that they meant trouble, leapt through the air with her makeshift weapon whirling menacingly while Feryl tried to fight his way through the ranks of the enemy and get to Leoric. As he did so, he paused in the midst of parrying blows with Reekon to call across to Casiusa.
"How are you doing there?" he asked as she used her chain to disarm Lexor, whose immediate response was to assume his Armadillo form and curl into a tight ball. Casiusa promptly gave the Armadillo a swift kick and sent him careering into Darkstorm and Cindarr.
Chaos was added to confusion as the three Darkling Lords went sprawling in an awkward heap and promptly began arguing among themselves, calling each other the worst names they could think of. Seeing this, Feryl impulsively decided to take on all three at once and, stopping only to assume his Wolf form, charged headlong into their midst with a low growl. Unfortunately, he failed to notice that Cravex had blindsided him until the Darkling Lord was directly behind him and had his Power Staff drawn.
"Oh mist filled pits, dark, dank, unclear,
Touch all before me with frost-fingered fear!"
Cravex chanted, watching with smug satisfaction as the deadly Spider of Fear emerged from his Staff and launched itself at Feryl . . .
The shock of being bitten by the Spider jolted Feryl out of his Totem form and he was now crouched on the floor, his head spinning as its terrifying hallucinatory power took hold and began distorting his sense of reality.
Physically, he was in the Lost Shrine. But, in his mind, he was back in the terrifying forest he and the others had passed through along the way - the Forest of the Strangle Vines. Then, one of the killer Vines began crawling slowly towards him, eager in its quest for a fresh victim, intent solely on choking the life out of the young Spectral Knight . . .
The other Spectral Knights looked round with a start when they heard Feryl cry out and, pushing guards and Darkling Lords aside, hurried over to find him backing away from a non-existant foe. Seeing the glazed expression of sheer terror on his face was enough to tell them what had happened, that the Spider of Fear had been unleashed and Feryl was its latest victim. But the Power of Fear was such that there was little anyone could do to stop it once it had affected someone - all they could do was try to keep Feryl out of any physical danger until its effects wore off.
Feryl, meanwhile, was mentally caught up in a vast net of Strangle Vines with nowhere to run, every escape route being cut off by the deadly creepers. Wild with fear, he struggled to break away, to evade their choking stems and became totally oblivious to what was actually going on around him. Then, out of the tangle mass of Vines, a single creeper began to snake its way towards him . . .
With an anguished yell like that of a trapped animal, Feryl launched himself at his attacker, intent on putting up a fight even if he was going to be slain. Then, as he grabbed hold of the Vine in a bid to hold it back as long as possible, he vaugely heard something that, had he not been affected by the Power of Fear, might have been enough to stop him from attacking further.
"Feryl! Stop it!" Leoric's voice commanded as Feryl continued his assault on the "Vine" (actually Leoric's whip which he had been using on a nearby guard). But there was no reasoning with someone who had been bitten by the Spider of Fear and, as he watched Leoric struggling to calm Feryl down, Cryotek quickly realised that it was time for desperate measures . . .
Wasting no time, he stole up behind Feryl with his bola whirling and felled the young knight with a well-placed blow to the back of the head. "Sorry about that," he whispered as he knelt beside the fallen Feryl. "But I didn't exactly . . ."
Before Cryotek could finish speaking, a seemingly disembodied voice, mocking and cruel, suddenly rang out, echoing loudly through the underground realm.
"Fools! None of you will leave this Shrine alive!"
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