The swirling shadow-winds materialized out of thin air, throwing Clara and Henry, who came crashing down on top of the icy, thorn-covered hill where the giant’s jack-o-lantern head had not so long ago rested. The sound of another crash caused them to turn and look behind them. followed A smokey cloud slowly faded to reveal the shadow horseman atop his wicked steed.
“Death has found you,” said the horseman as he raised his smokey sword high and called out, “Awaken!” The icy lava-filled hill began to tremble and shake. One by one, scattered spurts of lava randomly shot out of the ground and into the air, solidifying into skeletons made of jagged lava stone bones and snow-cluster joints before hitting the ground. Each bearing an ice sword, battle axe or spear and a rock shield. Clara and Henry were surrounded by an army of fiery eyed soldiers of the dead.
Shields engaged, the Patron duo simultaneously transformed into a pair of polar bears—with Clara glowing yellow and Henry green. “He wants a battle, we’ll give him one,” said Clara. The massive bears turned with their backs to one another. Facing the surrounding soldiers, each let out a ferocious ROAR.
The shadow horseman lowered his sword, shouting, “Attack!”
Fifty skeleton soldiers charged the centrally positioned bears—shields up and weapons ready to strike.
The mighty bears stood tall on their hind legs, claws out and teeth bared, as they pounced on the attackers with their massive fur-covered bodies. One mighty swat after another, they crushed the lava soldiers to pieces, while also taking on cuts and stabs from the persistent army of the shadow horseman, until finally the dark leader himself joined in on the fray—landing blows with his smokey shadow sword, the bears growled out in pain, their shields growing weaker with by thew second.
“I don’t know how much longer we can hold them off,” shouted Henry. Ugh! ROAR!”
“I…can…see the others from UMPH! Here.” Clara replied. “Turn to your right.”
Henry swung round, landing a fatal blow to one of the lava soldiers, as he spotted the elevator. “Right. We need to make a run for, UGH! It. Now!”
The massive bears, badly wounded and battered, turned and charged towards the distant elevator—sprinting, swatting and snipping the relentless soldiers along the way. Hoping someone would see them and come to their rescue.
Then…someone did.
From high up in the stormy clouds Charlie spotted his furry friends in peril. He went into a dive, body glowing bright, he closed in then landed with a BOOM, dead center of the swarming skeleton soldiers. The ground shook so hard, most of the shadow horseman’s evil army were thrown from their feet, landing on their crusty backs.
“Get up you fools and finish them!” Shouted the dark rider, who began charging straight for the chosen outsider, sword held high in attack position.
Charlie stood up and turned towards his attacker, glowing brighter with each passing second, he pulled back his ring fist then slammed it against the open palm of his left hand. A shock wave of golden energy shot out in every direction—disintegrating the rider’s entire army.
“The charging horseman was infuriated. Out of pure hatred, the evil leader and his horse burst into flames, gaining speed as they readied for a strike upon the chosen outsider—their focus on the polar bears now forgotten.
Beaming with golden energy, Charlie reached into his pocket with his ring hand and pulled out the orange crystal, which came alive. Its orange glow instantly transforming Charlie’s golden glow to brilliant orange. He pulled back then thrust forward with both fists—sending a lethal burst of light directly at his attacker.
KAPOW! The bright light struck the horseman and his steed dead-on, instantly erasing their charging shadow figures from the dimension of WONDER in which Charlie and his friends currently stood.
“One down, two to go,” the boy said to himself as he took off to help the others.
******
“At the very least show yourself. I think I have earned that much after mentoring you for the past several years,” said Frank.
The White Shadow Queen laughed and replied, “You? Mentor me? That is pathetic reasoning, old man. You truly must be desperate, seeking such measures to try and win this battle.”
Frank materialized, appearing from a stormy cloud into a clearing in the dark sky—his body hovering and aglow. “There, you see, it’s not so difficult.”
The queen’s piercing green eyes opened wide over Frank’s gesture. “You are either a fool or just overly confident to sacrifice yourself so freely to me.”
“This? This is no sacrifice. It is an act of compromise. I see it as the beginning to an open relationship. One where we all can exist peacefully together in this amazing place we call WONDER.”
The queen, sitting atop her white dragon horse, slowly emerged from a wall of storm clouds into the clearing, her long white hair, flowing in the wind, danced around her translucent figure as she peered down upon her prey with vengeful eyes. “Here I am, Frank. Do you like my pet? I do hope so. She will be the last thing you ever see.” The queen jerked on her golden reigns, cuing the evil creature to rear back, wings flapping hard, as it opened it jagged, tooth-lined mouth and released a stream of chartreuse flames directly at the trustful Patron.
Frank thrust his right hand forward, deflecting the fiery attack with an invisible forcefield.
The White Shadow Queen grunted and jerked the reigns hard left. Quickly, she circled round her old master as the dragon horse unleashed a ring of fire, encompassing her prey. Hovering atop her wicked pet, she sat and watched the flames expand towards the center of the ring.
Frank calmly conjured up a water bubble to shield him from the heat of the fire and buy time to find a way out.
A streak of golden light suddenly appeared on the scene, circling the fire in rapid succession to extinguish it.
Disgusted by the chosen outsider’s actions, the queen lashed out, thrusting her staff to unleash a series of lighting bolts at the intruder. All missed. She grabbed the reigns of her pet and went into a hard dive towards Frank, his shield now down.
“Frank, behind you!” Shouted Charlie.
Frank turned, then morphed into a tiny sparrow, narrowly avoiding the razor sharp claws of the winged dragon horse.
The queen quickly circled back around to make another pass just as her dragon horse released a powerful stream of flames.
Charlie intercepted, redirecting the flames back at the queen and knocking her from her golden saddle.
The wicked queen let out a scream of frustration as she plummeted towards the icy terrain below before transforming into a black crow and quickly gliding back up to her wicked beast.
“Now’s our chance Charlie. We need to get out of here before she has time to saddle back up on that white beast of hers.”
“Right,” replied the boy. Seconds later, they were streaking off towards the elevator to rejoin their friends.
******
“Here they come,” said Abigale, as she dodged the giant clapping hands of the monster.
The three sprites quickly circled the wrists of the creature, wrapping its wrists with vine, before pulling hard to bring the enormous arms together behind its back and bind them together.
“The sprites have restrained the giant, now’s our chance to head for the elevator,” shouted Midnight, as he swooped down around the beasts waste to greet the two bloodied polar bears, Clara and Henry. “C'mon friends, we’re almost there.”
“Indeed we are,” said Frank, as he swooped down over the heads of the cat and bears with Charlie following closely behind.
The sprites made several low passes around the giants ankles, wrapping them in vines as well, and causing the beast to fall hard to the ground as the Patrons met at the elevator door and quickly transformed back into themselves. Alfred and Ben had the elevator fully repaired and ready to go, as Frank and the others all bunched up in the tight little box, ready to head back up to the simulated Tower of Terror hotel from which they had descended earlier.
Charlie flew up, landing right in front of the open elevator doors, temporarily powering down his radiant body to talk with his friends. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the orange crystal and said, “Here, take this Frank. The quicker we can get it out of here, the better off we’ll be.”
Frank took the crystal and placed it in his pants pocket. Just as Alexios flew up to join them.
“I’ll stay back and assist you,” said the owl.
“OK by me, Alexios. Oteza, we could use your help as well, if you don’t mind?
“I thought you’d never ask,” the ostrich stick replied.
Michael handed Oteza to Charlie, saying, “Be careful brother.”
“I’ll see you soon,” Charlie replied.
“OK, we need to get a move on,” said Alfred.
With the ostrich stick in hand, Charlie and the owl stepped back as Alfred pressed the up button. The doors closed and the elevator began its rapid ascent.
“Well…looks like it’s up to us now,” said Oteza. “Are you ready for this?”
“I’ve never been more ready,” the boy replied—grabbing the stick firmly with this left hand, he smacked his ring fist against Oteza, igniting back into full battle mode.
“Ready as ever,” the owl added—as his feathery coat transformed into full body armor.
The dynamic trio shot into the air, ready to take on whatever evil came their way.
******
The elevator quickly reached its destination and the doors popped open, revealing a landscape of inferno destruction. Frank and Abigale led the way out, being careful not to step on or through anything that had been weakened by the fire.
Everyone else exited the elevator and followed close behind as the band of Patrons carefully made their way through the charcoal remains and back outside, of what appeared to be outside the hotel.
The group stood and turned. Staring at the smokey embers and giant heaps of charcoal remains of what once was a magnificent attraction of WONDER.
“At least the real attraction is still unscathed,” said Clara.
“This is true,” replied Frank. “Now…we just need our friends to make it out safely as well.”
******
The angry queen swooped in as her dragon horse burned the restricting vines from the giant creature’s wrists and ankles. The enormous beast climbed back to its feet as the queen and her flying pet pulled in closer, hovering next to its massive pumpkin head.
“Here they come Dark Thorns. This time we crush them” said the queen.
“OK, they spotted us. You go left, I’ll go right,” said the owl.
Charlie, with Oteza in hand, banked to the left as Alexios banked right.
The giant beast didn’t know which to follow, so it chose the owl as the queen took off after the flying boy, her wicked pet ready to strike on command.
Alexios made a full turn and headed directly for the chest of the monster.
The giant’s hands began to come together, attempting to squash the owl like a fly, but Alexios swung upwards and headed towards the sky to avoid the monster’s CLAP, which made a mighty BOOM! The owl flipped and dove hard towards the beasts giant wrists at supersonic speed. Talons out, the armored owl cut through the lava-filled wrists of the monster.
Hot lava flew everywhere, as the giant waved its arms aimlessly in pain.
The wicked queen saw what had happened, then turned and leaned forward. She snapped her golden reigns, urging evil pet to fly faster as they closed in on the boy.
Charlie looked back over his shoulder, then turned and shot off like a rocket.
The queen did the same. Her piercing green eyes locked in on the chosen outsider’s light-streak trail. Closer and closer, now only thirty feet behind the boy, she urged her beast for one final push as she pulled back her dragon headed staff—preparing to strike the radiant boy with a lethal bolt.
Charlie sensed it and abruptly stopped in mid-air, then quickly turned—swinging his glowing walking stick with all his magical might. Contact! It was a solid blow to the dragon horse’s jaw, sending the beast and its queen in a tailspin across the dark sky and out of sight.
The giant turned at the sound of Charlie’s actions, and Alexios took advantage. Swooping down with great speed the mighty owl extended it talons to their fullest extent and cut off one of the giant’s legs just below the knee.
The mighty monster fell into a pool of its own lava, which quickly started to melt its crystal clear skin made of ice—forcing the five Dark Thorns to disband the creature and seek a quick exit into darkness, weakened by the battle they had just lost.
Alexios, hovering high above, watched as the last section of its enormous jack-o-lantern head slowly melted into the hot lava, disappearing forever.
Charlie flew up beside his friend and said, “Looks like our work is done here. I took care of the queen and from the looks of things, I’d say you finished off the giant?”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself young squire,” Alexios replied.
“Neither could I, my fine-feathered…wait, what’s that sound?”
Charlie and the owl snapped their heads around, only to see what was considered gone just seconds ago. The queen upon her viscous pet, hovering forty feet above them.
“So you’ve come back for more?” The boy said with arrogant tone.
“It was nothing but luck on your part, boy,” the queen replied. “This time you won’t be so fortunate!” The White Shadow Queen raised her staff and called to the stormy clouds:
“Skies of gray, black and blue
Bring forth the power to see me through!”
A bolt of lightning struck her staff and shot down through her body and the beast on which she sat. Electrical charges of light danced across and around their bodies as both began to grow. Two times, three times, then four times as large as their original size. Their eyes grew brighter, the queens piercing green and her flying beast purple. Both, staring down the owl and boy with bad intentions. The queen pulled on her golden reigns and the giant dragon horse rose up, flapping its twenty-four foot wings as it let out a ferocious roar, followed by a stream of fire that lit up the dark skies above.
The queen shouted, “Run cowards, run!” Then snapped her reigns. The dragon horse dove hard, eager to taste Patron blood.
“We’re almost there, young squire. It looks like the elevator never returned, so we’ll have to fly up the shaft.”
“Right behind you,” the boy replied, as he looked back. “Here they come.”
The owl and boy swooped down, then straight up the narrow shaft, flying as fast as they could.
There was a loud BOOM! Then a series of CRASHES, THUDS and CLANKS from the sound of tumbling stone, wood and steel beams. The giant queen and her beast had blasted through the walls of the elevator shaft and its surrounding structure and were quickly flying upwards to catch the owl and boy. Destroying everything in their path along the way.
The walls are caving in, young squire!” Shouted the owl as he dodged left, right, then left again to avoid to plummeting rubble from the hotel elevator shaft and everything around and above it.
“It’s getting dark, UGH! I can barely see a path out of here anymore! The rubble and dust is making it impossible fly,” said Charlie as he extended Oteza upward to clear a path of the falling debris, her eyes closed, and wooden head taking a beating, as the boy continued to awkwardly fly and dodge debris in an attempt to reach the top of the collapsing shaft.
A small glimpse of light cut through the dust and collapsing shaft. “I see it,” said the owl. “We’re almost there.”
Something grabbed the boy’s leg, wrapped around it, then tugged hard. “Something’s got me!” Charlie turned. The dragon horse had reached out with its monster size tongue and latched onto its prey. The boy turned and continued upward, trying to fly with all his might.
“You’re not going anywhere,” a voice called from the dark depths below.
Charlie stopped and turned to look down, his back and neck taking the brunt of the falling debris, as he hovered in the dark and dust-filled hole of the collapsing shaft.
A pair of purple eyes appeared first, then what happened next, happened very quickly.
There was a burst of wicked laughter, followed by the roar of her evil pet, who’s teeth, snout and head came into Charlie’s view suddenly through the dust-filled shaft. The boy reached back and punched his ring fist downward, striking the giant beast directly in the snout. An explosion of golden light lit the dark shaft for only a split second—long enough for the boy and Oteza to get a quick glimpse of the queen’s surprised facial expression in reaction to her pet being struck so hard that he was unconscious as the two began their rapid descent downward towards the giant pile of debris they had created. Everything went dark again in an instant‚ followed by the sounds of crashing, clunking and clanking—along with screams of frustration and anger. Until finally, there was a giant THUD…then silence.
“You alright down there, young squire?”
With Oteza in hand, the chosen outsider turned and replied. “Yes…yes, Oteza and I are fine.”
“Good. I’ve reached the top of the shaft, or what’s left of it anyway. It appears to have stabilized, so you should have a clear shot, my boy.”
Charlie turned and looked down one more time, just to make sure there would be no more surprises. Then he turned back to Oteza and said, “Shall we?”
“Yes. Please. Let’s get out of here. If we never see this place again it will be too soon.”
The boy shook the dust from his hair and gave Oteza a humble smile, before taking off up the shaft to safety and friends.
© 2024 Charles E. Zitta. Charles E. Zitta and Disney and the Wonder Within blog novels are in no way part of, endorsed or authorized by, or affiliated with the Walt Disney Company or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
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