The Kingdom - Clare B Dunkle - Hollow Kingdom 01 - The Hollow Kingdom

“I have just bitten a man,” hissed Charm triumphantly.

Chapter 13

Kate picked her way carefully down the rotted wooden stairs underneath the warehouse building, still clutching the sword. She was beginning to regret having asked the golden snake to show her the sorcerer’s body.

“Charm, did you know all along that I was going to have a baby?” she asked.

“Yes, I knew, King’s Wife,” hissed the snake.

“And you let the baby and me leave the kingdom?” demanded Kate in amazement.

“The kingdom was not safe. The sorcerer could reach inside it to bring harm to you and the Heir. I needed to come to the sorcerer to protect my Wives.”

They reached the bottom of the stairwell. Two large gray wolves were chained there. One of them was long dead, rolled onto its back with its legs out stiff. The other one appeared to be sleeping. Its beautiful fur was matted with filth, and the gray coat wrapped a desperately thin body.

At the end of an unlit hallway, Kate came to a thick wooden door, splintered and twisted from its hinges. She stepped cautiously past it and caught her breath sharply. At her feet lay two hideously desiccated human corpses wrapped in dirty bands of cloth. Their dark brown skin was tough and leathery, stretched taut over the bones beneath. One was missing a hand, and the other had no lower jaw. The upper teeth stuck out into the air, yellow and uneven.

“When I was here before,” hissed Charm quietly, “these two were awake. I did not bite them because they did not try to stop me. I am only a magical charm, and they are here to combat the living.”

Kate stepped over the mummified forms as well as she could, keeping a worried eye on them. Then she looked up and stopped short.

Before her lay the sorcerer on a low stone table, his comfortable face calm and his body motionless. Kate gripped the curved sword tightly, reassured to be the one holding it now. She saw in horror that his red-lit eyes were fixed on her. They were the only thing about the body that could still move.

“I have just bitten a man,” hissed Charm with deep satisfaction. “There he lies, awaiting the King’s Judgment.”

Kate stared at the grotesque red lights in the pleasant face, remembering her husband’s glowing body lying on the ground. She didn’t even know if Marak had survived. She thought of the bloated Hulk, who lay here so far from home, and the little child’s hand still longing for its mother. A hard lump rose in her throat as she glared at those sickening eyes, and she lifted the sword and brought it down with all her strength. The sword rang hard against the stone table, sending a shock up her arms, and the sorcerer’s head bounded off his body and rolled into the corner. Kate stared, startled, at the rush of dark blood inundating the sword blade. Perhaps she hadn’t needed to use all her strength.

“There you are, Charm,” she said shakily, wiping the bloody blade. “I don’t think we need to bother the King about this one.” As Charm buzzed like a hive of angry bees, Kate looked around the room in disappointment. “Where are the goblins? Are they already freed?”

“No,” said the snake. “They are upstairs in jars. I found them in my journey looking for the body. I am sure the King would have planned an excellent revenge for it.”

“Then he should have gotten to it first,” replied Kate, stepping over the mummies again.

They went upstairs to the sorcerer’s workroom. Kate, used to Marak’s tidy ways, was disgusted at the mess. Scrolls, parchments, and open books littered the tables and the floor, and the room reeked from the many nasty mixtures that rode the sea of paper. Kate reflected that goblin magic and demon magic must be very different. Marak’s magic relied on herbs, minerals, and other inanimate objects, whereas the flies buzzing about the stinking remains in this room told a very different tale.

Standing along one wall were rows and rows of ordinary glass jars, each with some hieroglyphs painted on its lid. Kate picked one up carefully. It was very light, but she could see something inside that looked like colored water. “What should we do?” she asked. “Should we open the jars or take them back to the kingdom? Maybe if we break the seal, the goblin inside dies.”

“I do not know,” admitted the snake. “I interest myself in no magic but my own. Here are some that are not goblins,” it added, gliding over two old jars at the back. “Open them and see what happens.”

Kate carefully pried up the lid of the first one, breaking the wax seal. A cloud of orange smoke streamed out like steam from the spout of a teakettle. It flowed swiftly past her and was out of the room before she could blink. The other jar was filled with yellow smoke that sped after the first.

“Well,” she said doubtfully, “they certainly knew where they were going, but how do we know we did the right thing?” She went back to the other jars, looking for Marak. Charm found his jar, and Kate held it up to the light from her bracelet. It was only half full, she noticed with concern. The others were completely full.

A rasping noise behind her made her turn around. The two desiccated corpses from downstairs shuffled slowly into the room, one propping himself upright on the other, who was crawling. Their noseless, leathery faces turned toward Kate, and she saw with a shudder that they looked at her without eyes. The one without a hand had orange sparks glowing in its empty sockets, and the one without a jaw looked at her with twin yellow sparks. The handless one spoke in a mumble, propping its inadequate form on a paper-strewn chair. Kate let out a terrified squeak as the jawless one crawled a pace nearer.

“They mean no danger to the King’s Wife,” hissed Charm. “It is just that they have been dead for a very long time—they were wizards long ago when I was young. They wish to thank you for freeing them from the sorcerer’s control.” Staring at the hideous corpses, Kate remembered the orange smoke and the yellow smoke that matched the flaming eyes.

The mummy spoke again, holding its hand below its shriveled jaw to help itself form the words. “They go now to the place where they belong,” translated the snake. “They serve a greater power than this paltry man. They have had a tiresome few years putting up with his arrogance.” It listened closely as the corpse spoke on in a mumbling whisper. The crawling figure knelt upright now, almost at Kate’s feet.

“They ask a favor,” Charm hissed. “They wish to take the body of the sorcerer with them. They say there is always danger from a dead body that held such powers, and also, there is the matter of their revenge.”

Kate stared at the two ghastly forms before her. Their flames glowed very brightly at her as Charm spoke. The voiceless one kneeling at Kate’s feet gave a vigorous nod to show his enthusiasm. He did this by reaching up with his bandaged hands and rocking his skull back and forth on its bony neck.

“Do you think I should let them?” Kate asked doubtfully.

“I think so,” hissed the snake. “I can feel their hatred for the sorcerer. Their desire for revenge is real.”

“All right, then,” said Kate. “In return, ask them what we should do with this place. We need to make sure that this magic can’t be used again and that the spells worked here are undone.”

Charm spoke quietly to the wizard, and he mumbled out an answer. “They say that when fire consumes the spells and enchantments, they will all be broken.” Kate considered the difficulty of this task rather unhappily. The standing mummy spoke, and the crawling corpse nodded his skull. Then they turned and shuffled slowly from the room. “They thanked you again,” hissed the golden snake after they left. “They said it was a great pleasure to meet such a powerful young sorceress, especially such a pretty one.”