The Winter War, epub Read online

  Others joined in, until there was general commotion among them about what was really going on. More and more Warriors were moving toward the chariots, eager to get a closer look.

  Suddenly trapdoors on the chariots sprang open, releasing a torrent of . . . snakes.

  At least they looked like snakes—enormous creatures with long silvery bodies like writhing icicles. They sprang from the chariots and slithered toward the Prince Warriors, wrapping around their legs and coiling up their bodies, freezing them in place. The Warriors screamed in terror, some slashing at the snakes with their swords, even as they were being trapped.

  Commotion turned to chaos as everyone ran to escape the ice-snakes. Before they could regroup, the chariots began to move, spewing blasts of ice that formed giant webs. Those trying to run away were caught in the webs like flies. They cried out for help, but all who came to help were caught as well.

  Ivy had stayed far away from the chariots and kept her shield raised, so she managed to escape the snakes. She ran toward a trapped Warrior and hacked at the snake with her sword. She recognized Kalle, the Finnish boy who had spoken to Evan before the battle began.

  “Hold still!” she shouted, as she broke a few pieces from the snake, enough to allow Kalle to free one of his arms. Another Warrior soon joined her to help. The two of them kept hacking until Kalle was able to wriggle out of the ice-snake’s grip. He shook off the last of the ice.

  “Thank you,” Kalle said. He was shivering so badly even his voice shook.

  Ivy paused to stare at the two Warriors before her. They looked exactly alike.

  “I’m Kristian,” said the one who had helped to free Kalle. “We’re twins.”

  “Right.” Ivy stopped to take a breath, gazing around at the chaotic battle, Prince Warriors on all sides struggling to fight off the snakes. The Warriors caught in the ice-webs screamed for help until their voices froze and they could no longer make any sound at all.

  “We should try to free them,” said Kalle.

  “Look! The bridge!” Ivy said. Even through the ice storm she could see the Forgers reappearing on the Skot’os side of the bridge. If Xavier and her friends couldn’t hold them off, they would be dealing with not only the chariots but Forger foot soldiers as well. “Let’s gather as many free Warriors as we can. We’ve got to keep those Forgers from crossing the bridge.”

  Ivy and the twins began to call to the others who were still free to help them protect the bridge.

  But then Ivy saw something that made her sick with horror.

  The ice-belching machines were plowing through the army of Prince Warriors, mowing down anyone who didn’t get out of the way in time. They left a trail of frozen and wounded Warriors in their wake as they headed to the Mountain of Rhema.

  * * *

  Xavier realized the metal soldiers had never really retreated in the first place. They had only pretended to in order to lure the Prince Warriors over the bridge. And Xavier had fallen for it.

  “This is not good,” murmured Manuel.

  “We can do this,” Xavier said. But he wasn’t sure he believed it himself.

  Ruwach. Help us. Help me.

  Xavier glanced back to see that Ivy had managed to rally a remnant of Prince Warriors to stop the Forger advance at the bridgehead, which was where Xavier should have stayed. Now he was cut off, with no chance of escape and unable to help Ivy and the others stop the invasion.

  We can at least try and stop them from here, he thought. He raised his sword and shield, preparing for the Forger attack. His friends banded around him, struggling to keep their shields raised.

  “Here they come,” Xavier said.

  “I can’t . . .” Manuel said. “Too tired.” He fell to one knee.

  “Get up, Manuel!” Finn said, hauling Manuel back to his feet.

  “It’s too heavy . . .” Brianna said. She slumped forward, dropping her shield. Levi caught her and pulled her upright.

  The Forgers closed in. A strange darkness had fallen, causing their red, glowing eyes to magnify a hundred times, like monsters in a nightmare. The whole world seemed filled with terrible noise—the bellows of the Forgers and the screams of the Prince Warriors being trapped in ice on the other side of the bridge.

  Then a new sound pierced the air, a warbling shriek like many trumpets all playing different notes. Everyone, both Forgers and Prince Warriors, stopped to see what it was.

  “Tannyn,” Evan gasped. “It’s Tannyn!”

  A moment later, the big green dragon dove out of the clouds. He swooped over the embattled armies and breathed jets of fire onto the Forgers that surrounded the kids. The metal soldiers fell back with hideous screams, for the fire from Tannyn’s breath was hotter than a blowtorch, able to melt their metal bodies into shapeless gobs.

  “Yay, Tannyn!” Evan yelled. The others joined in, calling to their old friend, who had rescued them many times before. Tannyn swerved and sped toward them.

  “He can’t land here—there’s no room,” shouted Finn. “Belts!”

  Everyone knew what he meant. Quickly, they took off their plain white belts and touched them to each other. The end of each belt fused with the next one, forming one large, unbroken belt. They strapped themselves all together in the large belt as tightly as they could.

  Finn waited until he could see one of the dragon’s huge rear legs about to skim over his head. “Hold on!” he yelled. He reached up and grabbed the leg with both hands, and Tannyn lifted all of the Warriors up into the air like a bundle of sticks. Finn’s muscles bulged as he fought to hold on, while the others clasped their arms around each other. Xavier managed to grasp Tannyn’s other leg, giving Finn a little relief.

  As Tannyn flew over the battlefield, the kids could see the devastation below them—hundreds of Prince Warriors standing in their battle poses, frozen in place, their swords now reduced to tiny Krÿsen. A small group of Prince Warriors was still on the bridge, beating back the last of the Forgers. The air was suddenly filled with small white specks flying every which way, coating the bridge, the ground, and the frozen Warriors themselves.

  “Look! Sparks!” said Evan.

  “No,” said Finn. “Not Sparks. Snow.”

  It was true. The snow went from flurry to squall to storm, covering everything below them in a blanket of white.

  Winter had come to Ahoratos.

  CHAPTER 6

  The Garden

  The dragon flew for miles through the darkening sky, carrying the small group of Warriors. They did not speak to each other; they were too shocked and too sad. And too cold. Only the heat of the dragon’s body kept them from freezing solid, although their tears formed little ice crystals on their faces.

  They passed over the Mountain of Rhema, which was now surrounded by the iron chariots. Despite the storm, smoke rose from the top of the peak. It was not the gentle wisps of the Breath that the Warriors had seen on their first trip to the mountain. This smoke was dark and violent, born of a bright orange-yellow substance that now churned at the crater.

  “Lava,” Manuel said. “The mountain has become a volcano.”

  The Warriors gazed at the newly formed volcano in shock.

  After what seemed like forever, Tannyn let out a loud “Gorp!” The sound was half warning, half burp. The Warriors braced themselves as Tannyn dove straight down, letting go of the children, who gasped as they dropped to the ground, landing on a soft pile of snow. Tannyn shot back up into the air, twirled around to waggle his wing in farewell, and flew away.

  The belts had separated before they landed, allowing the Warriors to roll away from each other, rubbing their sore elbows and knees and backsides. Everywhere they looked was snow, glowing faintly under the night sky. Before them stood a large stone arch, the kind that might lead to a garden. The kids pulled themselves to their feet and trudged wearily toward the archway, buc
kling on their belts as they went.

  “I think that’s the Garden of Red,” said Evan as they neared the entrance. There was no snow here, only large patches of dirt and bare trees along the path. Dried-up vines hung from the tree branches, looking like creepy spider legs. “Look! There’s the stone.”

  The Warriors paused before the large stone near the entrance with the words “Garden of Red” engraved on its surface. This Garden was where they had first received their seed-shields. Back then it had been lush and green and fragrant, filled with plants of every variety. But now there didn’t seem to be a single thing alive.

  “At least it’s warmer here as they entered the garden,” said Manuel. The heavy crusts of ice on their armor began to melt, allowing them to breathe more deeply and stand up straight without feeling as though they were weighed down by some unbearable burden.

  “It must be the Garden,” said Brianna. “But everything is . . . dead.”

  “Not quite,” said a whispery voice. The kids jumped, spinning around to see who had spoken.

  “It was Ru,” Evan said, his voice quavering a little. “It must have been Ru.”

  “It didn’t sound like him,” said Levi.

  “What’s that smell?” Brianna wrinkled her nose in disgust. “It’s awful. Like a garbage dump.”

  “No, more organic,” Manuel said. “Like compost or . . . rotting leaves.”

  “It’s weird to see this place so . . . empty,” Evan said with a shiver.

  “Empty,” said Brianna. “That’s exactly how it feels.”

  “A giant empty,” said Evan.

  “Warriors.” This time it was definitely Ruwach’s voice, coming from somewhere in the Garden. They whirled around, searching for him, but not seeing him. “Come to me.”

  “Where is he?” whispered Brianna.

  “I can’t tell,” said Manuel, looking all around.

  They started down the narrow garden path, searching for the familiar form of Ruwach, their friend and guide. They could still hear his voice calling to them, but for some reason they couldn’t see him. The path broke into several different paths, and soon they were confused and filled with panic. The smell of rottenness had become nearly overwhelming.

  “He’s not here,” said Brianna, fear rising in her voice. “This is a trick. We’re in Skot’os; we’re in Ponéros’s prison. . . .”

  “No,” said Levi. “He’s here.” Levi headed down a small, winding path alone. The others followed him. The path was very dark, but the smell receded as they walked.

  “Are you sure?” Brianna asked, but Levi didn’t answer.

  Then they saw him: Ruwach. The small figure stood in the center of the path under a large, barren tree, his purple cloak glowing in the darkness, accentuating the emptiness of his hood. Levi got to him first. Ruwach extended his long arm, a brilliantly glowing hand emerging from his cloak. He placed his hand on Levi’s shoulder. Levi’s head dropped, but he didn’t speak. The others caught up, and Ruwach withdrew his hand, hiding it in his voluminous sleeve.

  “Boy, are we glad to see you,” said Evan. “There’s something weird going on in this place. What’s that smell? Have you been fertilizing or something?”

  “Evan,” Xavier huffed.

  “I was just asking. This place could use some fertilizer.”

  “What’s happened, Ruwach?” Brianna asked. “Is it really winter in Ahoratos?”

  Ruwach nodded his hood silently. The kids looked at each other.

  “For how long?” Brianna whispered.

  “Forty,” said Ruwach.

  “Forty?” said Manuel, hope and fear mingled in his voice. “Forty what? Days? Weeks? Years?”

  Ruwach didn’t answer.

  “Hey, guys.”

  They turned to see Ivy coming toward them down the path. She had taken off her helmet, but her red hair remained plastered to her head. She was out of breath.

  “Ivy!” Brianna rushed over to hug her friend. “I’m so thankful you’re all right.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Ivy brushed past Brianna and joined the others.

  “How did you get here?” said Evan.

  “I’m not really sure. We were fighting the Forgers, and then the Sparks came, and all of a sudden I was here.”

  “Did you see the Finnian guy?” Evan asked. “Is he okay?”

  “Finnish,” corrected Manuel.

  “Yeah,” said Ivy. “There’s actually two of them. Twins. Kalle and Kristian. We stopped the Forgers at the bridge, thanks to Tannyn, but we couldn’t stop those chariots. They took the Mountain of Rhema. The Breath . . . is gone.”

  Everyone was silent a moment, the truth almost too awful to bear. It was the Breath of the Mountain of Rhema that had given them their swords. The Breath was the core of Ahoratos. It didn’t seem possible that something so mighty and enduring could be cut off by the evil schemes of Ponéros.

  “We really blew it.” Evan said aloud what everyone was already thinking. “We shouldn’t have gone over the bridge. If we’d stayed where we were supposed to be, maybe we could have stopped those tank things.”

  “It was his fault,” Levi said, rounding on Xavier in sudden fury. “You did exactly what Ponéros wanted you to do! You could have gotten us all killed!”

  “Hey, take it easy,” said Brianna, stepping in front of Levi. “He made a mistake, okay? He did his best. . . .”

  “I’m never following him again.” Levi spun on his heels and stalked away.

  “Levi, come back!” Brianna said, starting to follow him.

  “Let him go,” commanded Ruwach. “I will speak to him.”

  “I’m sorry about that, Xavier,” Brianna said, glancing at Xavier’s stricken face. “He didn’t mean it. He’s not himself today. I don’t know what’s going on with him, but I’m sure he’ll apologize when he realizes what he said.”

  “He’s right,” said Xavier, hanging his head. “If I hadn’t gone over the bridge . . . I put everyone in danger. . . .”

  “You couldn’t have stopped those chariots anyway,” said Ivy.

  “We can still beat Ponéros, can’t we?” Evan looked hopefully to Ruwach. “We can get him off that mountain.”

  “Yeah,” said Finn. “Ponéros knows he can’t win against us.”

  Ruwach finally spoke. “It was not Ponéros who drove the Askalons to the mountain.”

  “Aska-who?” said Evan.

  “The Askalons—the iron chariots.”

  “That’s what you call them? So weird.”

  “If it wasn’t Ponéros, then who was it?” asked Brianna.

  “It was Ponéros’s new Forger-general, Thayne.”

  “You mean the big-monster guy in the tank?” said Evan. He threw his hands in the air. “So there’s a new guy in charge now? Great. That’s all we need!”

  “But how could he get to the mountain?” said Xavier, ignoring his little brother. “I mean, how could Ponéros or this Thayne character cut off the Breath?”

  Ruwach’s hood bowed slightly. “Because it is Winter. Winter is the time of rest. Sleep. But also testing. It can be a difficult time. When life seems . . . absent.”

  The Warriors looked around at the barren garden, understanding what that meant. No one said anything for a long time.

  Finally, Ruwach spoke again. “You must return to your world now. But before you do, I have a gift. For you, Xavier.”

  Xavier straightened, nervous and a little fearful. Ruwach didn’t move at all, but next to him something started to wriggle out of the ground. A tiny green shoot. It grew up right before their eyes, until it was twice as tall as Ruwach. Small branches with tiny leaves popped up as it grew but then instantly withered and fell off. Its main trunk suddenly stopped growing and turned brown until it looked more like a stick.

  Ruwach plucked the stick from
the snow. He handed it to Xavier.

  “This is for you.”

  Xavier took the stick and stared at it, befuddled. “Um . . . thanks, I think. What’s it for?” It didn’t look like much of a gift.

  “You will soon find out,” replied Ruwach. “Go now, all of you. You will know when it is time to return.”

  Then he disappeared, and so did the Garden.

  CHAPTER 7

  Bad Things Happening

  Levi found himself back in the hospital waiting room, where he had been when the Crest had appeared and taken him to Ahoratos. His mother was standing before him, trying to get his attention.

  “Levi, Levi,” she said again. He looked up into her eyes, which softened instantly. “I’ve been looking all over for you. Where’d you go?”

  “Oh . . . just took a walk,” Levi said vaguely. He wondered how much time had passed. Time was weird in Ahoratos. Things happened in the blink of an eye. “Is he—?”

  “Yes. He’s back in his room. He’s been asking for you.”

  Levi went with his mom down the hallway, passing attendants and nurses who smiled and said, “Hello, Dr. Arthur,” to Levi’s mom as they passed. Some had sympathetic looks on their faces, as if they knew where he and his mom were going, and who they were going to see.

  Levi didn’t like the smell of hospitals. That mixture of sickness and disinfectant made him think of bad things happening. He’d been in a hospital once before, when he’d had his tonsils out. He was only five then, but he remembered eating ice cream and playing Go Fish with the nurses. People came to visit and brought presents. It was almost fun.

  Now everything was different.

  Levi’s mom stopped before a room and glanced down at him.

  “Ready?”

  He nodded and went in.

  His father, James Arthur, Mr. J. Ar, lay on the bed.

  There were machines and tubes all around him. Some of the machines were beeping steadily, little red lines jumping on the screens. His eyes were closed, and his cheeks were sunken. His arm, lying outside the cover and connected to all the tubes, looked terribly thin.