Chapter 6, Part vii

The hewn-stone corridor that led from the throne room was draped with lavish cloths and tapestries, all covered with Tovish heiroglyphics. Hector couldn't stop staring at them as they passed, and resisted the powerful urge to copy them all down. Lilly spared a glance up at them as they jogged down the hall. “Mountain must have really loved the Jabberwock. All these words written here are a love poem,” she said, to Hector's delight.

“How romantic,” Aric said dryly. The corridor angled downward for about a hundred feet, then leveled out again. Torches burned brightly in regular intervals along the decorated walls, and the sconces were obsessively clean of ash.

“It looks like a shrine,” Hector observed. Mountain must have spent almost every scrap of his free time – and he certainly had a lot of free time – wiping down surfaces and brushing away dust. Not a single speck of dirt or grime marred the gorgeous passageway.

At the end of the hall was a stone door, which was etched from top to bottom with beautiful, symmetrical designs and Tovish runes. It was polished to a mirror's sheen and had precious gems inlaid in the design. Hector quickly tried to memorize the pattern so he could sketch it later.

Aric sighed with relief. “Yes! This one actually has a handle!” He reached for it and paused.

Burr growled in haste. “Open the door!” he said impatiently. “Is a thing wrong?”

The man blinked and shook himself out of his thoughts. “No, it's nothing. I just thought that this is it... we have finally reached the Jabberwock. Our quest is almost at an end.”

“Let us finish it,” Lilly said firmly, “And slay the Jabberwock once and for all.” She directed a knowing look at Hector, who gave her a thumbs-up.

Aric nodded, twisted the golden doorknob and pushed the door open.

Everybody stood completely still. The room seemed full of an immobilizing energy. To Hector it wasn't some strange force coming from the creature itself, but rather simply an all-consuming feeling of awe.

“That's the Jabberwock?” Burr said incredulously. Hector instinctively shushed him, though he knew not why.

“It is so beautiful,” Lilly whispered.

Without taking his eyes from the sleeping white beast – whose fur rose and fell with its quiet breathing – Aric pushed everyone forward. “Come on, Professor Trellis is in here somewhere...”

Hector looked around, scouring the room for signs of the Mome Rath, but there was no sign of him. “I don't know if he's been here,” he murmured. Everyone took a step forward onto the lush carpet.

Suddenly the door behind them slammed shut, and Hector felt a strange force seize him. His limbs moved against his will, and he sank to his knees while his hands clasped each other behind his back. He couldn't speak nor move his head, but he could still move his eyes. He saw that Aric and the others were put under the same enchantment, bound to the ground with invisible cords, and a feeling of panic gripped his heart.

Triumphant laughter rang through the air. Though the carpets and walls absorbed most of the sound, it chilled Hector to the bone. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Professor Trellis and his two bodyguards emerge from behind a hanging tapestry and take their places before him. The Professor had the vorpal sword strapped to his hip, and the Manxor Slithe lay open in his hand. He sneered at them, in a way that forced Hector to see straight up into his nostrils.

“Welcome, my friends, welcome to the Inner Sanctum of the Jabberwock!” he chuckled. “What a magnificent place, wouldn't you agree? It looks like our friend Mountain spent a king's ransom on the decorations alone. Of course, he was a king, so he could afford it.”

At this point Hector wanted to break free of his bonds and flee, but he couldn't move a single part of his body beyond his eyes. Even Burr and Aric were forced to be silent. The Professor laughed to himself, as if the situation were exceptionally funny. “Ah, to have come so far and have done so much to get here, only to fail in the end. A pity, really. But you can be useful yet.

“If you're here right now, I suppose you have already done away with our associate, Mountain. He then would have told you that for the past thousand years, he has been living off of the Jabberwock's energy, giving him unnaturally long life. Sadly, either his age or the sheer loneliness must have addled his brain, because in all his time here, he never once thought to take control of the Jabberwock and fulfill his greatest desires: of conquest, of dominion, of control. Oh well. You snooze, you lose, as you are so fond of saying, Gerard.” Trellis winked at Aric and chuckled once more. He hefted the Manxor Slithe where everybody could see it.

“I have been reading up on the nature of the magic that enslaves the Jabberwock. As I'm sure you all know, it requires a great deal of slithe-energy to maintain the bond, which of course means the sacrifice of living things. There are only six of you here right now, which would only give us a short amount of time to romp around, but as soon as we get back to the surface – which should only take a minute or two, at the most – there are plenty more souls on the surface to harvest for my purposes.”

The Professor's bodyguards seemed to have detected the wording in Trellis's sentences, and realized that they, too, were going to be sacrificed. Before they could move to react, Professor Trellis casually said:

“Tozola mino.”

And a fiery yellowish-blue flash illuminated them both. The light flew to Trellis's outstretched hand, then extended toward the Jabberwock. It encircled the creature's thick neck, forming a leash made of vibrant, shimmering energy. The remains of the soldiers – two piles of blue ash fell to the ground with a puff of smoke.

Neither Hector nor his companions could move to protest, but from where he knelt Hector could see their eyes. Aric was horrified and wary, as though he knew exactly what Trellis was capable of but was unable to react; Burr was angry and defiant, but powerless to attack; Lilly seemed conflicted between struggling for survival and accepting her unavoidable fate. What do I look like? Hector thought. He felt scared, of course, but also insatiably curious.

Trellis smiled. It was a sort of smile that Hector had never seen on anybody ever before: one of maliciousness, spite, and cruelty. It was the smile of the sadistic torturer that no longer had a scrap of humanity left in him. His usually-well-kept hair hung in sweaty strands across his forehead, and his lip twitched as he bared his teeth in a greedy grin.

“It is time to wake our little friend from his shallow sleep...” he crooned. He tiptoed dramatically toward the Jabberwock, then lovingly patted its huge forehead. He whispered a single word into its ear.

(Graphic 6.12: We see the Jabberwock lying asleep, but suddenly its eyes snap open. They are gigantic and horrible, with slitted pupils and spidery veins at the edges. The monster bares its terrible teeth, losing all appearance of docility and beauty.)

Even if he hadn't been under the binding sorcery, Hector would not have been able to move in his absolute terror. The Jabberwock's monstrous eyes glistened with an ancient hatred, and its heavy, ravenous breathing rapidly increased. It began to stand, but Trellis pushed down gently on its head with a smile. The beast obediently sat back down, which caused the whole structure to rumble. Trellis couldn't hold back another triumphant peal of laughter, and he held out his hands theatrically.

“It is awake! Finally! After centuries of waiting, the Jabberwock is finally awake! The beast that destroyed entire cities with a swipe of its paw, leveled mountains with its glare and brought the world to its knees! It is mine! Ha ha ha haaa!”

He wiped a tear of mirth from his eye and leveled his gaze at each one of them. “You actually thought you stood a chance. You actually supposed that you could beat me to the Jabberwock? You? Pathetic. I have studied the ancient magics for longer than any of you have been alive. And what are you? A traitor to his friends...” Trellis shook his head at Aric, slowly walking beside him.

“...A foolish, ignorant simpleton...” he scoffed at Burr as he passed.

“...A coward and a weakling...” he sneered at Lilly.

“...and a naïve, untried bookworm.” Professor trellis clucked his tongue in shame and sighed. “To be honest, I'm surprised that you even made it this far without killing yourselves. Oh well. At least your long journey won't have been completely in vain.” He stepped toward Aric and took him by the chin, looking straight into Aric's wide eyes. Trellis seemed even madder than Mountain had been. “Because you, my old apprentice, and all your little friends, will be the first to feed it.”

The door behind them suddenly flew open.“Etzera!” cried out a voice from the doorway, and Hector fell to the ground, free from his magical bonds. A shadowy shape flew through the air and landed on Professor Trellis, and the two figures began to wrestle across the room. With a shock, Hector realized that it was River who had pounced on the Professor and was brawling mercilessly with him. The Jabberwock watched the proceedings hungrily with its horrible eyes, but did not move to intervene.

“Rise, Book-Bearer!” said the voice from before, and furry hands picked him up from the ground. Trembling with adrenaline, Hector regarded the Tove that held him upright. She was obviously very old, and her appearance was unkempt and haggard. Her fur had once been yellow, but had long since faded to white. She directed her piercing eyes into Hector's face. “You must retrieve the Manxor Slithe and take the Jabberwock's leash for yourself! Hurry, for you will not have a second chance!”

“T-take the leash for myself?” Hector stammered. “But I don't want to--”

“It's so you can kill the Jabberwock, you fool!” seethed the woman. “Go, get the book!”

“You're Star, aren't you?” he asked. Star smiled mirthlessly.

“You're quick, Librarian. Get the book now or we will all die.”

Intimidated, Hector obeyed. River was slashing at Professor Trellis with burning claws and attempted to freeze him solid with icy breath, but some invisible shield protected the Mome Rath from these attacks. Trellis grabbed River and tossed him into the side of a golden brazier. The magical yellow-blue leash still stretched from Trellis's hand to the Jabberwock's neck, lengthening and shortening as he moved toward or away from the Jabberwock. The vorpal sword was still belted to his waist.

Hector cast around and saw the Manxor Slithe, lying face-down and half-hidden beneath a fallen stand of cloths. He moved to recover it, but looked up just in time to see Professor Trellis's shape blur, and stretch, and duplicate itself. Two identical Professors stood side-by-side. Then each Professor copied himself again. Without warning, all four Trellises attacked Lilly, Burr, Aric and River. The sound and heat were unbearable, and over all the cacophony, still the loudest sound of all was the heavy breathing of the ravenous Jabberwock. Hector didn't know how much time the two sacrificed Mome Raths gave them before the beast broke free of its leash, but he didn't want to find out.

On his hands and knees, Hector scrambled behind a gigantic incense-burner shaped like a totem pole and made his way toward the book. Aric and his opponent tumbled together against the pole and both fell to the ground, kicking and punching ferociously. They landed right in the space between Hector and the book, blocking him off. Looking at the Trellis-clones, it seemed that with their supernatural strength they would soon overcome Hector's companions. He panicked.

From the other end of the room Lilly must have seen his plight, because she slipped out of her opponent's grasp and dashed for the Manxor Slithe. The shadow-Trellis behind her leaped after her, taking hold of her legs as he heavily fell with her to the ground. She grunted as she landed, mere inches away from the ancient book. With all her remaining strength she pulled herself closer to it, but the Professor clawed his way toward her head and grabbed a fistful of her hair.

“Stop it!” Hector shouted, and grabbed a golden ornament from a nearby incense-stand. He threw it as hard as he could, and it struck the attacker on the ear. Trellis snarled and clutched his bleeding ear with one of his hands.

Lilly pulled herself free and snatched up the Manxor Slithe. With a cry of exertion she tossed the book over Aric and the other Trellis; its pages flapped madly as it fell awkwardly through the air, seemingly in slow motion. Hector extended his hands and managed to catch it. Lilly turned back with bared teeth to face her adversary once more.

With the Manxor Slithe clutched against his chest, Hector scooted backward until he was relatively hidden in a mass of rolled-up carpets standing on end against a wall.

Fortunately, Professor Trellis had left the correct page dog-eared. Hector scanned the open pages as fast as he could, then pulled himself to his feet. Looking up, he realized that he had to choose the correct Professor in order to take command of the arcane leash. All four of them were exactly identical and they were all fighting with his friends in one brutal mess, but--

There! The one strangling River was the only one with the leash stretching from his hand. Hector hastily reviewed the words of the spell, then pointed at the true Trellis and shouted:

“Liardi mino xeq!”

Like a glowing yellow serpent floating through water, the leash gently detached itself from Trellis and floated lazily through the air toward Hector. He reached out and grabbed it, finding it insubstantial, but it wrapped itself obediently around his wrist.

“No!” roared the original Trellis petulantly. The distraction gave River just enough time to react, so he thrust himself into Trellis's chest and sent the Mome Rath tumbling backward...

...Straight into the open maw of the Jabberwock. The monster's three-pronged, purple tongue lashed out and wrapped itself around his arms and waist, drawing him inward while he struggled violently against the pull.

“No! You imbecile, Blithe! You cannot do this to me! I am Professor Rigoberto Trellis! I am the Leigelord of the Honorable Guild of the Mome Rath! I will have my vengeance! I will---Aaaagh!”

The Jabberwock closed its unnaturally sharp, foot-long teeth after the man's boots, swallowing Professor Trellis whole with a pleased grimace. Once closed, a ghastly light burned inside its mouth, shining out from between its many teeth like an otherworldly furnace. Hector looked away.

He opened his eyes. The Jabberwock sat on its pedestal as before, looking hungrily at the others, but did not move. The shadow-Trellises had vanished. Aric lay flat on the ground, squeezing his eyes shut and panting with exertion. Lilly leaned against a column as she gasped for breath, and Burr and River simply looked around in astonishment.

Hector coughed. The room seemed very, very quiet all of the sudden, except for the breathing of his companions. Even the Jabberwock seemed sated, for the time being.

“Well,” Hector croaked, and his knees collapsed.

He found that Burr was lifting him up again, and the two of them stood together for a moment to calm their trembling bodies. Hector weakly lifted his wrist and saw that the leash still extended from his arm to the Jabberwock's neck, glittering silently in the air.

“Hector,” Aric gasped as he struggled to his knees. “Did you make him eat Trellis? Tell me that was you.”

“No!” Hector said frantically. “No, no! It wasn't me! He ate him all by himself, I promise!”

Aric smiled knowingly. “Right, right. Of course.”

The Tove named Star stepped over a fallen roll of carpet and approached Hector. She was smiling. “Well done, Book Bearer. Well done, River. Well done, everybody. Now it is time to fulfill the prophecy – it's about time, too – and destroy the Jabberwock for ever more.”

“Wait a minute,” Lilly drawled from her place by the column. She languidly straightened herself and glared with confusion at the shaman. “You told me that we would not be able to kill it. You said that we could only wound it again so that it would sleep for another thousand years! You lied to me!”

“It was a motivational lie,” Star said mischievously. “I told you that you would only be able to wound it. I knew that you would not agree with such a prophecy. I knew that you would react in one of two ways: either try to defy fate and kill the Jabberwock, or give up and go home, in which case we would all end up dying anyway. If you had believed me, you might have only tried to fulfill prophecy and merely wound it, which would have been a very unwise thing to do, and again we all would have died. So you did the right thing, and it is time for you to kill the beast.”

Lilly looked like she wanted to argue some more, but instead she sighed and shook her head. “I am too tired to fight with you. Let us slay the thing and be done with it.” Star nodded with satisfaction.

Hector spoke up with alarm. “But, where's the vorpal sword? Didn't Professor Trellis have it when he got--”

River made a sound and lifted the golden sword in the air. “I took it from him just before he was eaten. Here, Aric, this belongs to you,” he said, and handed the hilt to Aric. The man slowly took the sword and rose to his feet. He looked the blade over with tender care. Aric glanced up at River and licked his lips, unsure of what to say.

“River... why did you save us? Why did you come after Professor Trellis?”

The Tove bowed his head in shame and directed a glance at Lilly. “I have been a fool. A great, stupid, selfish, fool. After Burr... taught me a lesson, I began to think that there was no hope for me. All the Gyres in the world couldn't bring me the satisfaction I wanted. I had given up what made me truly happy for an empty, selfish vision...”

Lilly moved toward him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He raised his head slightly, but couldn't bear to look her in the eye. “River... You can come back to Noosta with me. However.” Her voice became firm and scolding. “You have a lot of apologizing to do, and not to me. You have much to do to make things right again.”

He sighed and nodded in agreement, and wiped at his eye with the back of his hand.

Aric's face softened a little. “Cut him some slack, Lilly. If a miserable wretch like me can make up for all the horrible things I've done – and I still have a lot of forgiveness to earn – then he can have the slate wiped clean, too.” He sighed. “So I guess I'm the one that's going to do the dirty deed?” He looked around, as if to offer the sword to the first to volunteer. Nobody did.

“It's what you set out to do from the beginning,” Hector said. “You deserve to finish what you started.”

Aric seemed strangely numb as he fingered the glittering handle of the reflective sword. “Yeah. It's kind of weird to think that I'm finally here. I didn't actually expect to make it this far.” He laughed weakly. “Hec, just make sure he doesn't bite me in half, please.”

Hector twitched the leash, and the Jabberwock closed its eyes and lowered its head, once again appearing docile and asleep.

Aric stepped onto the stone platform and adjusted his grip on the vorpal sword. He took a deep breath and released it slowly. Every pair of eyes followed the shining blade as Aric lifted it into the air, high above his head. Just before bringing it down onto the Jabberwock's exposed neck, he wistfully said,

“You know, I'm starting to hate this Jabberwock.”

Then with all his might, he swung the golden sword in an arc over his head and straight down into the Jabberwock's flesh. With a metallic zing it sliced clean through the creature's neck and struck the stone below. The leash instantly vanished from Hector's wrist.

A golden glow began to seep its way out from the wound. A golden mote drifted upward and passed by Aric's face. It was followed by another, then another, and soon a shower of gold-colored sparks floated free from the monster's corpse. They filled the room with sparkling light until there were no more shadows. Glittering like so many millions of stars in the sky on a clear summer's night, they swirled around in fantastic glory. Hector reached out and brushed his hand through them, and they weaved themselves playfully between his fingers. He smiled, and all his cares and pains and fatigue melted away, replaced by an enormous relief and feeling of satisfaction.

For a moment more the gleaming motes danced through the air; then suddenly they reversed direction, flying quickly back toward the beast's defeated body like shooting stars. They collected on its fur until it was one single glowing mass...

...then they winked out of existence, leaving the room dark and cold. Of the Jabberwock, there was no trace.

“It is done,” said Star with immense pleasure. She closed her eyes and fell backwards, a look of utter bliss on her tired old face. Lilly cried out and moved to catch her, but in a flash of golden light she too vanished.

The five of them stood up and by unspoken accord, moved together into a circle.

“Well, guys...” Aric said, puffing out his cheeks as he thought of what to say. “Now what?”

“Trisha and the others need our help upstairs,” Hector said.

Lilly nodded. “And we need to restore Gyres to the enslaved Toves.”

“I will lead the way,” Burr said confidently. “Follow me. We have no time for to talk.” He marched toward the door.

Aric laughed and clapped Hector on the back. “Gee whiz, Burr's sure turned out to be quite the valiant little fella. I think he'll make a good king, don't you think, Lilly?”

“I think so as well,” she smiled tiredly.

“And you'll make a good shaman, eh?”

She glanced at Aric and laughed with nervous relief. “Er, ha ha... um, we shall see about that.” River, lingering behind them, chuckled softly to himself.

The four of them started walking in Burr's direction. “Hey, Hector?” Aric asked.

“Yes?”

“When are you going to write that book?”

Hector frowned in confusion. “What book?”

“You know,” Aric said knowingly, and winked at him. “That one about our adventures. You said you'd write one.”

“No I didn--”

“I am excited to read it,” Lilly said earnestly. “Surely it will become very popular among my people and yours, to know how the Toves and the humans came together to defeat a common enemy.”

Hector shrugged noncommittally, but his mind kept toying with the idea.

“I suppose I just might do that,” he said.

THE END