The Secret Of The Unicorn Queen -The Dark Gods (11 page)

    The drain bent without warning to the right, and Sheila had to turn carefully on her side so she could worm her way around the turn. She wanted to ask Pelu and Dian, following her, how they were doing. But that would have meant taking a deep breath of the stinking air. And she really didn't want to do that again. 

    But Sheila couldn't stop herself from thinking. And a horrid thought kept running through her mind. The imp was so much smaller than the humans. How could he be sure they would fit? What if they couldn't make it? What if they were stuck in this loathsome drain forever? 

    Sheila was just about to panic when suddenly their foul journey was over. Sheila, then Dian, and finally Pelu climbed up out of the drain into a vast, dark corridor. 

    "The walls are so smooth and fine," whispered Pelu, touching one carefully. "This isn't just a tunnel. We must be somewhere within the palace itself." 

    "But where?" added Dian, trying to brush the worst of the filth off her clothes. 

    Sheila looked around for the imp and located him by his glinting green eyes. 

    Nervous eyes. Do we really have to stay here? they seemed to ask. 

    "Ah, imp, do you know where-" 

    Sheila's whisper was cut short by a sudden crashing sound that echoed up and down the passageway. The imp's eyes widened in fear. 

    "Hey, wait!" Sheila whispered. "I know what that was: a gong, that's all. Don't-" 

    Too late. The imp was too scared to listen. Before Sheila could stop him, he gave a wild little chitter of alarm, dived back into the drain, and disappeared. 

    Sheila, Pelu, and Dian were left alone in darkness. 

    Standing there in the middle of who knew what, Sheila had no idea which way to turn or what to do. For a long, terrified moment she couldn't even think. The darkness seemed to press in about her, tighter, tighter . 

    No! That was silly. She had never been scared of the dark before, and she wasn't about to start being scared now! 

    "Okay," she said softly, "which way do you think we should go?" 

    What if no one answered? What if Pelu and Dian had somehow disappeared? What if-"The passage leads off to our left and right." Pelu's voice was as calm as ever. "The sound of the gong came from the right, I think." 

    "Then we should go left," Dian said decisively. 

    "I'm not sure about that." The healer hesitated. 

    "They'd only be sounding a gong somewhere within the main halls of the palace. That means if we go to the left, we'll be going away from the heart of the building. We'd probably wind up somewhere near the outer walls." 

    "Yes, but-" 

    "Dian, Illyria is a precious prisoner to Kumuru. He's not going to keep her in some isolated corner." 

    "I know that. I just think it would be safer to get a better view of the whole palace before we start wandering around in here." 

    ''I don't think we have time for that 'safer,' '' Sheila cut in. "We don't know how long we have till morning. Once the sun comes up, the whole palace will be up and about. Then we'll never be able to get to Illyria." 

    "I still think we should go left." 

    "I think we should go right," argued Pelu. "What about you, Sheila?" 

    Which way? Which way .... 

    Sheila straightened. "Hey, I know what! In my world we have a sort of magical chant we use when we can't make a decision. It goes like this: 

    "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe . 

    The three warriors, drawn swords in their hands, made their way down the passage way— to the right. 

    Sheila still wasn't too happy about the choice. Sure, there hadn't been any better way to decide, but even so... 

    What if they were going the wrong way after all? When would they even find out? The passageway continued straight and true and level. The walls remained smooth and unmarked, slightly cool to the touch. 

    What if it's leading us straight into another trap? Sheila worried. 

    Hadn't things gone just a little too easily so far? Kumuru was a sorcerer, after all, even if all his power did seem to come only from that strange red amulet of his. 

    Maybe he knew exactly where the warriors were. Maybe he was just biding his time, playing with them as a cat played with a mouse. 

    Suddenly Sheila saw a light up ahead. And just as suddenly all her fears seemed ridiculous. Funny, how a little light made everything seem so- 

    "No!" 

    Pelu's horrified scream made Sheila whirl around—just in time to see one of the huge stone guards come lumbering out of the darkness. Before she could even raise her sword, the healer was caught up in a pair of mighty stone arms. 

    "Pelu!" 

    Dian and Sheila slashed frantically at the rock-man. But their swords just bounced off the thing's stony surface. Then it turned on them so suddenly that Dian went flying. She crashed into Sheila, and both girls were slammed to the floor. Winded, heart racing, Sheila struggled to get up, expecting a powerful stone foot to come stomping down on top of her at any second. 

    But instead the rock-man turned and strode swiftly away into the darkness, Pelu cradled helpless in its grasp. 

    Gasping, Dian and Sheila scrambled to their feet, bruised and aching. 

    "We've got to go after her!" panted Sheila. 

    "Too late! They're gone!" 

    "That's impossible. Come on—" 

    “Sheila, no! There must have been some sort of secret passage back there. I'm telling you, Pelu is gone!" Sheila stared fiercely down the corridor, but saw nothing but darkness. The rock-man and his captive might just as well have vanished into thin air. Evidently, the thing didn't need light to see where it was going. That meant it had probably been stalking them silently all the time they had thought they were alone. 

    "She'll be all right, Dian," she said firmly, hoping she was right. She was glad Dian couldn't see her trembling in the dim light. 

    "How can you be so sure?" Dian asked. 

    "Because . . . because . . . the rock-man could have killed Pelu easily enough. But it didn't. Even while it was knocking us over, it was very careful not to hurt her." 

    "But that means Kumuru must have her! Oh, Sheila, what are we going to do?" 

    "I don't know. I guess there's nothing we can do. Except . . . go on." And hope that Kumuru didn't know exactly where they were. 

    But he did. Even as the light they were approaching grew brighter and brighter, Dian gave a squeal of surprise. A panel in the floor of the passage had suddenly fallen away beneath her feet! 

    "Dian!" 

    Sheila snatched frantically at the other girl's arm. But her hand closed on empty air. With a wail of terror, Dian went sliding down a smooth, glassy slope and out of sight. Sheila threw herself flat trying to peer down the slope. 

But the panel was noiselessly slipping back into place. No matter how Sheila pried and probed at it, it remained shut. 

    "Oh, Dian…” 

    Nobody answered. After a moment Sheila got to her feet again, feeling so alone that she wanted to burst out sobbing. She was tired of being brave! She wanted her parents, and her friends, Cookie and Dr. Reit. But unless she somehow got out of here and took the Tracker back from Mardock, she wasn't going to see any of them ever again! 

    The tears that were already welling threatened to spill over. But then Sheila sniffed, and quickly rubbed a hand across her eyes. Sure, she was scared, but crying wasn't going to do any good. If she was ever going to get out of this mess, she had better start thinking instead. Why were Pelu and Dian snatched away while nothing at all had happened to her? And why did Pelu's abductor strike only at Dian, as though Sheila had suddenly become invisible? 

    Oh, of course! The powers of the Dark Gods hadn't worked on her before, and plainly they still weren't working. Sure, Kumuru had been aware of Pelu and Dian. But, Sheila suddenly realized, he obviously had no idea she was here. 

    But you will soon, Kumuru! she promised silently. 

Hoping Pelu and Dian were all right, Sheila did the only thing she could: she stole warily on, following the light. 

    Now she could hear a faint thread of sound, as though two people were arguing. And ahead of her the light had become very bright, outlining what could only be the end of the passageway. It seemed to come out into some sort of an audience chamber. Now, who would be holding an audience at this hour of the night! Sheila wondered. 

    Kumuru, of course. 

    Hardly daring to breathe, Sheila took a silent step forward . . . and another . . . and then another. 

    Well, this was the end of the passageway, all right. And that probably was an audience chamber out there. But she couldn't tell for sure, because a huge column was blocking her way. Sheila gritted her teeth. Who knew what danger might be waiting ahead? But whatever it was, she certainly couldn't just stand there like a frightened rabbit all night! 

    Cautiously she moved out of the passageway and darted behind the column. From here she could see that this was indeed a vast room. The red sandstone walls were covered from floor to high, vaulted ceiling with murals. Sheila took a look at them, then quickly turned away. 

    Ugh! The creatures painted on those murals were horrible! All teeth and talons and staring, hating, evil eyes. Were those the Dark Gods? How could anybody ever be crazy enough to want to worship them? 

    To take her mind off the hideous murals, Sheila warily peeked out from behind the shielding column. 

    At the far end of the audience hall, half hidden by shadow, was a stone bier. On it lay a funerary statue of a warrior figure, like one she had seen in a history book. But not quite. Someone had apparently painted this one, putting in every detail of the slain warrior's sword and tunic and long, silvery hair—Sheila had to hastily bite down on her lip to keep from crying out. That wasn't a statue at all! That was Illyria! For a moment Sheila was sure the woman was dead. But then she realized that Illyria was breathing, softly but steadily. The Unicorn Queen was sound asleep, entranced. 

    I've got to wake her up! Sheila thought frantically. 

    But, how? All at once feeling very young and helpless, she ached to simply run to Illyria and shake her till she opened her eyes. But that would hardly do the trick. Sheila knew enough about magic by now to realize you couldn't break a spell like that. 

    Besides . . . they weren't alone. From the other end of the hall Sheila could hear the sound of angry voices. Holding her breath, she peered around the other side of the column. And now she finally got a look down the many-columned length of the hall. 

    Uh-oh. Trouble. 

    At the end of the hall, beneath a spectacular, gem-encrusted mural of heroic figures, stood a glittering red throne that looked as though it had been cut from one gigantic ruby. And lounging on that throne was Kumuru, King of Samarna and Sorcerer of the Dark Gods.