Elliot and the Last Underworld War, Page 3

  "Exactly." Shadow Men couldn't touch direct light or they'd disappear in it. Elliot pressed his mouth tight and then opened it and said, "The Pixies promised to help us when Kovol escaped. It's time for their help. Fudd, I need you to bring the Pixie princess, Fidget Spitfly, here."

  Fudd bowed to him and poofed away. At the same time, Elliot saw several Brownies already leaving their homes. They came out timidly at first, checking the sky to make sure it wasn't about to fall in on them (which is good advice for everyone, even if you're not being attacked by evil Demons, don't you think?). Then as more and more Brownies came out from their homes, they moved together in a big clump into the center of Burrowsville.

  Elliot ran to the top of the hill near his toadstool throne. He could see hundreds of Brownies gathering, from tiny newborn Brownies all the way up to Brownies who were several hundred years old. All were dressed in simple, earth-colored clothes. Their wild gray hair was sticking up so much, it made them look even more frightened than they probably already were. Elliot still didn't know most of their names, but he thought of each one as his friend.

  He waved his hands to get everyone's attention and said, "I know you're scared. You might be thinking that we have no chance. When I first became king, I wasn't sure we could stop the Goblins either. The Brownies had been losing that war for so long, we forgot that we are strong and clever and that we never give up! We won the Goblin war, and now we will fight Kovol and his Shadow Men. Whatever else happens, Kovol will not collapse Burrowsville while I'm king!"

  Then he looked up as small bits of dirt landed on his head.

  "What--" He jumped back as a large chunk of dirt fell on the ground, barely missing him.

  "It's starting!" yelled a Brownie in front of the crowd.

  "Burrowsville is collapsing!" another cried.

  "Wait!" Elliot called. "I know about a kind of magic that all Brownies can do. You can make a cold fire in your hand. Get anything you have to hold that fire. Sticks or papers or anything made of wood! Surround Burrowsville with it, and then light the wood with the fire. The Shadow Men won't be able to cross it!"

  "They can still collapse the town," a third Brownie cried.

  "I'm taking care of that. Now move!" Elliot ordered.

  Still in a panic, Brownies scurried in all directions. Elliot turned his back on them and called, "Fudd! What's taking so long?"

  "Like, I had to do my hair!" a voice behind him said. "Totally chill out."

  Elliot turned again. Fluttering in the air in front of him was the Pixie princess, Fidget Spitfly.

  Fidget was a foot high and looked about the same age as Elliot. Except she dressed like every flavor of fruit candy and had learned to speak Elliot's language by watching the totally awesomest television show ever, Surfer Teen. Her tiny wings were round, her ears were long and thin, and she had an explosion of curly yellow hair.

  She and Elliot weren't exactly friends. But since it was Fidget's fault he had awoken Kovol, they had always known they'd have to work together one day to stop him.

  Fidget held her hand out to examine her nails. "Oh, fruit rot! I had to dodge a falling piece of the Underworld and broke a nail. Kovol's totally going to pay for this!"

  "The Brownies need your help," Elliot said. "I need the Pixies to spread light all over Burrowsville so that we can keep the Shadow Men out. And if they try to collapse it, have the Pixies poof the chunks away before they fall."

  "But what if the Shadow Men attack the Glimmering Forest while we're gone?" Fidget said. "My daddy wouldn't like that."

  "We're testing this plan to see if it works," Elliot said. "Better to test it here than on your own home, right?"

  Fidget tossed her hair back. "Totally!" She snapped her fingers and instantly hundreds of Pixies appeared. Then she announced, "We're going to make the awesomest ever dome of light to cover Burrowsville! For some strange reason, the Brownies actually like this place and want to keep it. Also, I'm making a scrapbook all about me. So if anyone takes my picture while I'm poofing away some collapsing pieces of the Underworld, that would be, like, totally and completely awesome!"

  Together the Pixies flew up into the air. They separated until they were as wide apart as the distance they could spread their light. Once Fidget gave the order ("Okay, so like totally, y'know!"), within seconds a ceiling of light widened across all of Burrowsville.

  Elliot kept an eye on the smoke as it continued moving closer to Burrowsville. The Shadow Men were almost here. He hurried over to where the Brownies were building up kindling for their cold fires. They were working hard, but there was still too much to be done. Elliot joined the Brownies in piling up kindling, making sure there were no gaps.

  "Hurry!" he said.

  "Elliot!"

  Surprised, Elliot jumped a little, then turned. When he saw who had come, he jumped again. He wasn't surprised, really. Startled might be a better word.

  Dear Reader, even though the two words mean nearly the same thing, there is a very big difference between being surprised and being startled. Surprised is when it's your birthday and you get a large gift from your brother that you had not been expecting. Startled is when that gift turns out to be a giant python. It's a good thing that it's not necessary to explain what the word horrified means, because otherwise we would have to discuss that giant python swallowing your birthday party guests whole. The good news is there will be lots of birthday cake left for you. Surprise!

  Unfortunately, it was not Elliot's birthday. And his brother probably wouldn't give him a giant python anyway, mostly because it wouldn't hold still long enough for Reed to wrap it. So when Elliot was startled, it was because Agatha the Hag had just appeared beside him.

  Elliot had first met Agatha very soon after he became the Brownie king. In most ways she was the exact opposite of Fidget the Pixie. Fidget was young, fashionable, and beautiful. Agatha was older than dust and wore ragged clothes that were held together by little more than cobwebs. Her skin was dry and wrinkled, and she was dotted with warts. Worst of all, her left eye bulged out so far from her head, it seemed likely to fall out and land on him at any minute.

  "I came to help," Agatha said. "It's about time the Underworld started fighting back."

  "The Underworld has some powerful magical creatures," Elliot said. "Why aren't they fighting?"

  "Nobody knows what to do. Kovol is stronger than any one of us. And we haven't had to work together for a thousand years."

  "Not since the first Underworld war." Elliot remembered what the Brownies had taught him about the war that happened a thousand years ago when all the creatures of the Underworld had stood up to Kovol and the Shadow Men. "They worked together then, and now it's time we do that again."

  As the last of the kindling was put into place, the Brownies used their magic to light cold fires on their hands and quickly set them on the kindling. Elliot had first seen Mr. Willimaker light a cold fire while they were on their way to Demon Territory one night. It was bright and gave off a little warmth, but it wouldn't burn on its own. As long as the Brownies used their magic to keep the fire alive and the Pixies kept the light above them, they could keep the Shadow Men out of Burrowsville.

  Patches ran to Elliot. "We're ready. Are you sure this will work?"

  "If everyone does their part, it'll work." Elliot started walking, keeping his eyes open for any dark holes in the dome. Agatha hobbled beside him on her cane.

  "You don't have to be here," he said, thinking of how much older she looked and acted than when he'd last seen her. "You should rest somewhere."

  "You forget that I'm really a beautiful young woman," Agatha said.

  "Oh, right." Elliot hadn't really forgotten, but it was tough to look at her deep layers of wrinkles and remember that a woman even more beautiful than an angel was hiding inside.

  "Besides, you might need me," Agatha added.

  Before Elliot could answer, a Brownie far from them shouted, "They're here! The Shadow Men have come!"

  Ell
iot ran toward the Brownie who had cried out. It was hard to see through the Pixies' light and the Brownies' fire, but sure enough, an entire army of Shadow Men was on the other side, ready to attack.

  Elliot's gut did a belly flop as he stood frozen for a moment. He'd faced Grissel the Goblin and a Shapeshifter posing as a werewolf, and even Cami Wortson when she was mad at him. But he feared the Shadow Men most of all.

  Shadow Men were made of smoke and a black fire that burned but gave off no light. They wore long black cloaks that held the fire in, but thick smoke poured out from beneath the cloak in every direction and could choke a person who got too close. They smelled of charcoal and cinders and spoke with a hissing sound that made Elliot's skin crawl.

  A Shadow Man in front tried to push through the dome of light but screeched as it stung his hand, and he pulled back. Another two or three tried to get past the Brownies' fire, but they failed too.

  "It's working!" one of the Brownies said.

  "Keep your guard up," Elliot said as the Shadow Men grouped together and flew to another area of the dome. "They'll keep testing us and trying to find a way in."

  "They're over here," several Brownies a long way from Elliot called. "King Elliot, please come!"

  Elliot took a breath, then began running. It would be a very long, very tiring war if he had to run everywhere all the time.

  He turned to tell Agatha that, but she had already poofed herself there. By the time Elliot came, the Shadow Men were trying to break through the light dome again. Luckily, the Pixies held their magic strong, and no Shadow Man could push through it.

  Elliot bent over to catch his breath, but other Brownies from even farther away cried, "Now they're over here!"

  Between breaths, Elliot wondered why the Shadow Men had to fly so far away each time. Couldn't they just test the light dome all in one place so that it wasn't so tiring? It was like they wanted to make this war tough on him or something.

  "I'll be right there," Elliot panted. He started to run, then leaned over with his hands on his knees and said to Agatha, "Will you go tell them to stay strong?"

  Agatha nodded and poofed away. When his breath slowed, Elliot hurried toward the latest cry for help.

  Then he stopped as his foot stepped into a shadow.

  Shadow? There couldn't be shadows in here. The entire town was bathed in light from all directions. A shadow was bad.

  High above him he saw a small gap of darkness. A Pixie fluttered in the center of it. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but her hands were moving behind her head.

  "Get your light back," he called up to her.

  "In a minute. But I have to tie my hair back first," she said. "You won't believe how much wind the Shadow Men are making out here."

  "Light!" Elliot cried.

  "Fine!" She lowered her hands and shook her hair out. "But if I get a tangle in my beautiful hair, it's all your fault."

  "Light!" Elliot repeated. She huffed and spread her light again, but it was too late. Five cloaked shadows made it through the gap just in time. A sixth one made it halfway through, but the light cut him off and he disappeared.

  The five Shadow Men swept down through the air in a flight that reminded Elliot of a hawk diving for its prey. Smoke trailed from their cloaks like a damaged airplane about to crash land. But these creatures weren't damaged and weren't going to crash. In fact, the closer they flew to Elliot, the darker the fire inside their cloaks burned. Then at once, all five of them looked at Elliot and flew even faster. They were arrows, and he was their target. All he could see was the smoke of their bodies and the raging black fire inside their cloaks.

  They were coming straight for Elliot.

  Elliot stumbled back a step and looked around for anything he might use to defend himself from the approaching Shadow Men. But there was nothing. Everything that could hold light had been carried to the borders.

  The Shadow Men stopped directly in front of him and spoke: "King Elliot of the Brownies." He couldn't see their faces, so it wasn't clear exactly which of them was talking. It sounded like they were all speaking at the same time. If they weren't his enemies who were about to attack him, he'd have asked how they all knew what the others wanted to say. Because the answer was probably pretty cool.

  "Get out of here while you still can," Elliot warned. He had tried to sound brave, but it felt like something inside his belly was doing somersaults.

  They took a step forward and all said, "You will serve Kovol forever or else pay the price of doom."

  Elliot snorted, not sure exactly what the going price for doom was these days. "No way! I'll already be in trouble if my mom finds out I'm down here fighting an Underworld war without permission. Can you imagine if she found out I promised to serve some ugly super villain?"

  They laughed, all of them with the exact same laugh. Which would have been fine if Elliot had told a joke. But he hadn't. So it was actually sort of creepy.

  "Then you will be the first human Kovol destroys," they said. "Leave with us now, and save this place from doom."

  Sheesh, Elliot thought. The Shadow Men really had a thing for doom. Although he very much liked the idea of their leaving, no way was he going with them. His family had a very strict rule about never going anywhere with strangers. And even if they didn't have the rule, Elliot knew that leaving with the Shadow Men was a terrible idea.

  Elliot's hands folded into fists. "I said to leave while you still can."

  "We'll only leave with you as our prisoner."

  Elliot shook his head. "You're trapped inside this dome of light. I think that you are my prisoners."

  Another laugh, even creepier this time. Then the Shadow Men spread out, surrounding him. They flew to their left, faster and faster, swirling around Elliot. He sank to the ground as they pulled air away from him, sucking it from his lungs. He was really scared but also sort of annoyed. They were supposed to be his prisoners, yet he was the one who was trapped. This wasn't fair!

  Elliot should have been used to things in his life not being fair. It wasn't fair that when he was five, Tubs stole his sandwich every day for a whole month and he had to eat napkins for lunch. It wasn't fair that his house had been blown up by the Goblins, or that day when Wendy had accidentally shaved the middle of his head and given him a backward Mohawk. But somehow this not-fair moment seemed worse than all the others combined.

  Just as Elliot felt the last of his air being sucked away from him, the Shadow Men let out a pained screech as in their swirling three of them crashed into a wall of light. Air filled Elliot's lungs again and he looked up. Agatha had transformed into her angel self and, with her hands held high, created a light so white it hurt his eyes.

  Her wobbly cane was still in her hands, but now it was as bright as the sun. It created a line above her head that seemed to give the Shadow Men pain if they came anywhere close to it.

  Elliot stood and ran to where the Shadow Men could hear him. "Tell Kovol to go back to Demon Territory and stop this war," he warned. "If he doesn't, we will defeat him."

  "You're only a human," the last two Shadow Men said. "We'll tell Kovol nothing for you."

  "Fine! Then he'll find out on his own!" Elliot threw up his hands and began walking away. Add stubbornness to the list of things he didn't like about Shadow Men.

  "Elliot, look out!" Agatha cried.

  Before Elliot turned, he felt the hot claw of a Shadow Man grab his shoulder. Even through his shirt he felt its burn.

  "Catch this!" Agatha tossed her cane at him, and Elliot ripped free and dove for it. As soon as it was in his hands, he swerved around and struck the Shadow Man in the chest. It screeched for only an instant before its cloak dissolved and fell like ashes at his feet.

  "This is over for now, but we'll be back," the remaining Shadow Man said. "And next time it won't be so easy for you."

  He fled up in the air toward the light dome. He tried to push through it but disappeared, as shadows will. Nothing came through on the other side. Seei
ng what had happened inside the dome, the Shadow Men on the outside quickly flew away.

  Suddenly tired, Elliot fell to his knees. Agatha crouched beside him. "Are you okay?"

  "Sure," he mumbled. The shoulder of his shirt was burned off, and the skin below it was hot and red, but he couldn't worry about that right now. "What happened to that Shadow Man I hit?"

  "Kovol cursed the fire to create an army from the flames," Agatha said. "That Shadow Man was nothing but smoke and ash."

  "They said it won't be as easy next time," Elliot said. "Did they think this was easy?"

  "There will be more battles," Agatha said. "And the next one will get much worse."

  When the last of the Shadow Men had flown away, a cheer rose up from the Brownies. Mr. Willimaker ran toward Elliot, then stopped and bowed before he said, "You did it, Your Highness! You saved us!"

  "Only for now," Elliot said.

  Fidget fluttered down from above them. Her thick mass of hair looked wind-tossed and wasn't nearly as bouncy as usual.

  "I hope you know that was a lot harder than it looked," Fidget said. "They were, like, so totally mean!"

  "But you were...um...awesome," Elliot said. "We couldn't have done this without the Pixies."

  Fidget arched her head in pride. "Totally. But now we're even, right? We don't owe each other anything more."

  "It's not about being even," Elliot said. "It's about stopping Kovol."

  Fidget frowned. "Oh, fruit rot! If I have to fight in a war to save the world, then I'm totally going to miss Surfer Teen on TV tonight." She punched a fist into her palm. "If Kovol wants to destroy the Underworld, then that's totally rude. But now he's ruining the awesomest TV show ever, and the Pixies will not allow that!"

  Elliot stood and said to Fidget, "I'll help whoever wants to lead this war. But I need some time to think of ideas about how to fight it. Meet me back here later and we'll talk about it."

  "What if anyone else wants to come?" she asked.

  "If they're willing to fight against Kovol and save the Underworld, then I want them to come!"

  After Fidget left, Elliot asked for a place where he could think in private. Mr. Willimaker suggested Burrow Cave, and then Patches offered to walk Elliot there.