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Authors: John Bellairs
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sentence. With a loud cry the Grand Autarch rose from his seat and pointed a long bony hand at the guard. The guard screamed in pain, and the air around him turned to gray smoke. When the smoke cleared there stood a hunched old man with drooping wrinkled cheeks and a few wisps of white hair on his head. His eyes were red-rimmed and sunk into deep hollows. His spiked leather uniform hung loosely on his skinny withered body.
"Why did you do this to me?" the guard asked. His voice was cracked and shaky, the voice of a man who might be eighty or ninety years old. "I tried to do my duty, I really did."
The Grand Autarch was still boiling with rage. He clenched his fists and sank back into his seat. "I have punished you because you failed. A true servant of the Autarchs would have found a way to stop three silly, helpless people. And why didn't you come to me immediately after you saw them get away?"
"I was afraid," said the guard, who was weeping helplessly now.
"Why don't you kill him now?" said a nasty-looking old woman who sat at the far end of the table. "I hate to see people suffer."
The Grand Autarch shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "He will water the plants in the garden and rake leaves and do other tasks that are fit for elderly servants. Some day, if I feel that he has suffered enough, I will return him to his former shape. Go, wretch. I am finished with you for now."
The guard turned and shuffled away, still weeping. When the door had closed behind him all the Autarchs began to speak at once.
"What do you suppose they found?"
"We should go after them!"
"We need what they've got! And we need vengeance!"
"Who are they? And how did they find out about this place?"
And so on. Finally the Grand Autarch raised his arms and roared, "Silence! I still rule here, and I will deal with the problem in my own way. I will pursue these wretched intruders and make them wish they had never tampered with our world. In fact, I shall go tonight. The meeting is adjourned."
The Autarchs got up and left the Council Room, still muttering to themselves. But the Grand Autarch swept his cloak about him grandly and walked to a place in the paneled wall where carved cherub heads smiled amid clusters of carved grape leaves. Seizing one of the heads between his thumb and his forefinger, the Grand Autarch twisted it, and part of the paneled wall swung inward. Stone steps wound down into darkness, and the Autarch snatched a torch from a bracket just inside the doorway. A muttered word from him made the end of the torch bloom with fire, and down he went, along a corkscrewing passage so narrow that his shoulders almost brushed both walls. At last he came out into a crypt, a large room with heavy stone pillars and ribbed vaulting. Set into the walls were oblong niches, and in many of them were coffins. Brass plates glimmered on the sides of the coffins, showing that a certain Autarch had died on such-and-such a date at such-and-such an age. The grim-faced leader stalked on until he came to an empty wooden coffin that lay in the middle of the floor. Climbing into it, he lay down and crossed his hands over his chest. He muttered a few words in a strange language, and the coffin began to fill with yellow smoke. When the smoke had cleared, the Autarch was gone.
CHAPTER NINE
For the next three days, the sky over Shadow Lake was gray and gloomy. Clouded by day and clouded at night. Emerson and the others felt terribly frustrated, but there wasn't much they could do except wait. Meanwhile, at night Anthony began to hear and see strange things. Once he woke from a sound sleep to hear someone whispering outside his door. Rigid with terror, he sat listening. Who was it? What was the whisperer saying? Anthony could almost make it out, but not quite. He didn't dare go near the door, and after a while the whispering died away. On another night, he heard something tapping at his window. It couldn't be a branch, because there weren't any trees close
"Why did you do this to me?" the guard asked. His voice was cracked and shaky, the voice of a man who might be eighty or ninety years old. "I tried to do my duty, I really did."
The Grand Autarch was still boiling with rage. He clenched his fists and sank back into his seat. "I have punished you because you failed. A true servant of the Autarchs would have found a way to stop three silly, helpless people. And why didn't you come to me immediately after you saw them get away?"
"I was afraid," said the guard, who was weeping helplessly now.
"Why don't you kill him now?" said a nasty-looking old woman who sat at the far end of the table. "I hate to see people suffer."
The Grand Autarch shook his head. "No," he said firmly. "He will water the plants in the garden and rake leaves and do other tasks that are fit for elderly servants. Some day, if I feel that he has suffered enough, I will return him to his former shape. Go, wretch. I am finished with you for now."
The guard turned and shuffled away, still weeping. When the door had closed behind him all the Autarchs began to speak at once.
"What do you suppose they found?"
"We should go after them!"
"We need what they've got! And we need vengeance!"
"Who are they? And how did they find out about this place?"
And so on. Finally the Grand Autarch raised his arms and roared, "Silence! I still rule here, and I will deal with the problem in my own way. I will pursue these wretched intruders and make them wish they had never tampered with our world. In fact, I shall go tonight. The meeting is adjourned."
The Autarchs got up and left the Council Room, still muttering to themselves. But the Grand Autarch swept his cloak about him grandly and walked to a place in the paneled wall where carved cherub heads smiled amid clusters of carved grape leaves. Seizing one of the heads between his thumb and his forefinger, the Grand Autarch twisted it, and part of the paneled wall swung inward. Stone steps wound down into darkness, and the Autarch snatched a torch from a bracket just inside the doorway. A muttered word from him made the end of the torch bloom with fire, and down he went, along a corkscrewing passage so narrow that his shoulders almost brushed both walls. At last he came out into a crypt, a large room with heavy stone pillars and ribbed vaulting. Set into the walls were oblong niches, and in many of them were coffins. Brass plates glimmered on the sides of the coffins, showing that a certain Autarch had died on such-and-such a date at such-and-such an age. The grim-faced leader stalked on until he came to an empty wooden coffin that lay in the middle of the floor. Climbing into it, he lay down and crossed his hands over his chest. He muttered a few words in a strange language, and the coffin began to fill with yellow smoke. When the smoke had cleared, the Autarch was gone.
CHAPTER NINE
For the next three days, the sky over Shadow Lake was gray and gloomy. Clouded by day and clouded at night. Emerson and the others felt terribly frustrated, but there wasn't much they could do except wait. Meanwhile, at night Anthony began to hear and see strange things. Once he woke from a sound sleep to hear someone whispering outside his door. Rigid with terror, he sat listening. Who was it? What was the whisperer saying? Anthony could almost make it out, but not quite. He didn't dare go near the door, and after a while the whispering died away. On another night, he heard something tapping at his window. It couldn't be a branch, because there weren't any trees close
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