Stephen Lawhead - The Realms Thereunder

The two regarded each other silently. Freya sat staring at Gad, who had raised his hands and now held them steepled beneath his chin.

“It won’t work,” Freya said, now uncertainly. “My friends are going after your heart right now, as we speak. If you’re trying to twist my mind around, or anything, it won’t work.”

Gad pinned his bandage down and settled back into his chair with a sigh. “Yes, I understand that.” He shook his head. “Fortunately, I have prepared for all of this, and they are doing precisely what they must do in order to help me. Indeed, let us see how they’re getting on.”

A remote control appeared in Gad’s hand and he pointed it at the antique television across the room. He pressed a button and there was a click, a hum, and a bluish-white picture appeared on the screen.

The canal that Daniel and Ecgbryt traveled along sloped down, down, and down, just as the banks beside them rose higher above their heads. The muddy, foul-smelling water rushed ahead of them, sloshing around their calves as it passed. So far the water hadn’t risen, just kept getting faster. It was slow going, since the brickwork underfoot was slippery with sludge. Daniel wondered if they were on the right track, but this felt right. He felt a tug inside of him, as if an invisible fishing line were pulling his rib cage forward.

Then they saw the lights. At first they became aware of a blue glow growing around them. As they walked they saw the edge of a wall ahead of them come into sharp relief by the dim blue light. As they got closer, Daniel was aware of a kind of sizzling sound, and when they rounded the corner of the illumined wall, they could see where the light was coming from; in two long rows on each side of the wall were odd-looking orbs stuck on the end of black poles about a foot in height. They gave off a gentle radiance.

Daniel stared into one of the orbs and could just make out the shape of a slowly moving flame, but nothing else.

“Enchantments,” Ecgbryt stated.

“I’ll say,” Daniel replied.

They walked cautiously between the strange lights, which made an odd buzzing sound, but no heat. The glow seemed to get in behind the eyeballs and sit in the back of the head. Daniel shuddered but kept going, trying to find comfort by telling himself they were probably on the right track if they were starting to see magic lights guiding them.

They turned another corner and were met with an incredibly strong wind blowing across them. It forced Daniel to blink several times to close his eyes, and when he opened them again, he saw they were at the entrance to an enormous and magnificent cavern shaped like a pyramid. It looked almost half a mile to the other side. The stream they were following emptied into a pool of many levels- about a dozen concentric squares. They could see down almost to the bottom because the blue orbs of light were placed on each step, fizzing gently underwater and still giving off the radiant blue glow. On the ground around the square pool, tall buttresses and columns supported a roof that mirrored its depth and dimensions. Everything was covered in glazed tiles, mostly white but patterned with other colours.

At the far end of the pool, a large column rose like a lectern in a church. Unlike all the other surfaces they could see, this was pure blue stone that was tinged with ripples of white. Light from a hole in the ceiling fell upon its centre and upon a large, manyfaceted box made of crystal that threw the light in all directions.

“This must be it!” Daniel said in an excited whisper to Ecgbryt. “That must be the soul box!”

Then came a scraping sound from both sides of the room. Daniel turned in horror as he heard the distinct and familiar scrabbling sound, and the first of the yfelgopes came into view.

“Hurry, Daniel,” Ecgbryt cried. “We must run!”

They started around the pool at a sprint. Daniel’s hand found his sword as Ecgbryt unslung his shield and hefted his axe.

“Ah, good,” said Gad. “They’ve arrived. Let’s see if we can . . .” He pressed a couple more buttons on the remote control and the image shifted, zoomed in, and panned to the right. Freya realised that she was seeing a fight taking place-inside of what looked like a giant pyramid.

She picked out Ecgbryt first, the enormous knight swinging his axe at a cluster of yfelgopes. He was mostly just knocking them into the pool in order to move forward as fast as possible. He was standing in front of and trying to protect Daniel, who was following behind him, sword drawn. Occasionally Daniel would stab or slash at an yfelgop who had rebounded off Ecgbryt but not fallen into the pool.

“Well,” said Gad, “that’s going nicely.”

“Nicely?” Freya asked, worried now. “What is it? Is that room some sort of trap?”

“No, not at all. If they do fight their way through my warriors and make it to the box, they will hold power over my soul.”

“So aren’t you worried about them getting through?” Freya asked.

“Worried? No, not in the least!” Gad said, smiling warmly at her. “In fact, nothing would make me happier. Do you think that I’ve truly, earnestly been trying to stop you? You were never in any real danger coming here. Did you think you were?”

Gad was wiping the blood off of his hands with a rag. “No, my dear, the truth is that I want everyone to succeed. That’s the whole point of being on this earth, isn’t it? To succeed? I want Daniel to be a hero. I need him to be one. The world needs heroes who are willing to fight and even kill for what they believe. His actions will help me to free millions of people all over the world. People just like you, who want to be free but don’t know how to-who don’t even know that they aren’t free!”

“So it has all been a trap,” Freya answered hotly.

“My dear, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” said Gad.

“But it’s not my trap. You have been under their control far longer than mine. In fact, my control releases you from theirs . You’ve let

Ni?ergeard rule your life since before you even heard its name. But it doesn’t have to be that way now.”

“How can I trust you? How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

Gad shifted in his chair and pointed across the room. “Do you see that door over there? It’s just like the one you came into the room by. That door will lead you out of these caves-continue straight on until you see the light of day and feel the fresh air on your face. It’s not locked. There are no guards on the other side. All you have to do is turn the handle and leave, at any time. That door will lead you home.”

The blue column was now looming over Daniel. He could see a stone staircase that led up it. The yfelgopes weren’t coming as fast now; the two had managed to create a little circle of protection around them, which the yfelgopes were reluctant to enter. Some had dived into the pool and were swimming across to try to meet them on the far side, but their weapons and scraps of armour made it hard for them.

They raced onwards. Ecgbryt dealt easily with the yfelgopes before them and then they had a clear stretch to the column. Sprinting as hard as they could across the tile floor, they sprang over the corner of the pool and made for the towering stone column at a dead run.

Daniel could feel something pushing him onwards-this must be how heroes felt when they were performing amazing deeds. There was no doubt inside of him; his thoughts were clear. He knew exactly what he had to do and how to do it, and as he reached the first of the stone steps, he knew that he would do what he came to do.