Little Orphan Anvil: The Complete Trilogy by Joseph Beekman (good beach reads .txt) 📗

narrows of the canyons. A gentle snowfall greetedhis weary eyes as he looked around.

“Well, I’d say so!” he huffed. “Here it was—Ithought I’d gone and entered the world of spirits! Butnow, I seem to remember…I was kidnapped by two evilwitches back in the Land of Shadows where I’ve beenliving!”

Aleeria glided over to his side. “I’d only beenalerted to your presence by a great blast of lighting! I’dbeen lingering above in the caves; but I dared not tryand help you for fear of bringing greater danger toyourself, should those others have been aware of myown presence. I could only watch and wait for the rightmoment to assist you. When they finally left, then Icame down to assist you.”

Will looked into her face; it shined with a sweet,angelic-like glow. “So, you’ve been hanging aroundhere in these haunted narrows these past few years?” heasked.

“Going on four years now,” she said. “And I’vebecome quite acquainted with the ghosts up there inthose dusty caves!” She nodded up towards the tops ofthe canyons.

Will looked up to the dark pockets of caves. “Ohyes…the haunted dwellings of the ol’ stone traderghosts,” he recollected, scratching his head in thought.

“They’re actually a fair bunch of ancient ghosts,”she said. “A few even took pity upon your old soul!”She laughed.

Will gave her a funny look. “Those ghosts?” Hecocked an eye up to her.

“Well of course, those ghosts!” she echoed.“They came around to this old grave after I had flownoff to follow those others that had kidnapped you. Withthe leaves from the dark forest, some of those ghostshad covered your body for protection. They keptcareful watch over you while I had made my way north,into the strange and dark wilds.”

“Wow!” Will said, gratefully surprised for thepresence of the ghosts. “And the others—you followedthem?”

Aleeria nodded. “In secret, yes.” She pointed tothe other side of the open grave, towards the two robotsthat laid lifeless upon the ice.

Will’s eyes widened, seeing Anvil’s little bodylaying upon the ice, and remembering all too clearly theincident of what had taken place. He moved around thehole and knelt beside the little robot.

“Oh my,” he said, placing a hand over Anvil’scold, steely surface. “What has become of you, my littlefriend?” His eyes misted over as he reflected upon therobot.

“Well, you old smithy—we mustn’t linger hereany longer,” Aleeria said, floating over to his side.“Those witches have a grand plan on crushing the entirerealm forever; and I’m afraid they mean to start withyour former home.”

“The Land of Iron and Anvil?” Will said alarmingly. “What devilry do they have in mind?”

“Plenty, I’m afraid!” she exclaimed. “It seemsthe device they had you create and place into that otherrobot—it allowed them to detect the iron-plated body ofAnvil.”

Will rubbed at his eyes in thought. “I can recallthem putting me under their spell…but most of it’s all abit blurry!”

Grumbling, he looked over at the robot with theblack box. He shook his head, trying to desperatelyremember everything clearly.

“Anyways,” Aleeria resumed, “they wanted thewitch’s soul that we had buried inside of Anvil, fouryears ago. So they snatched it from that little robot andthen quickly departed these narrows.”

“Go on,” Will said, “please continue!”

“When I had reached their dark dwelling far intothe north, the land once known as the Land of Stars—now the Land of Darkness—I spied them brewing anevil medley of sorts into a heavy iron cauldron. Andinto it they placed a tiny, and rather odd, piece of acrystal…”

Will’s jaw dropped. Oh no—the crystal shard!he thought.

Aleeria noted his expression with interest. “Youknow of what I speak—don’t you, Will?”

“I do!” he said, quickly standing up. He cinchedhis cloak about him as the winds continued to bring agreat chill down through the narrows.

“Before they had taken me from my old barnhouse in the Land of Shadows—before they seduced mewith that spell of theirs—I can now recall that they hadwith them a piece of the crystal shard that the witchlady had once used so many, many years ago! She hadused a magic crystal to control those poor, spellboundorphans—the ones from the old orphanage in thatland.”

“Then those two witches must have collected apiece of its remains from the burnt ruins of that witchlady’s old mansion,” Aleeria said. “I, too, recall thattale.” She lowered her eyes in thought. “Hmm…well,those witches then poured a small pouch of ashes intothe cauldron, stirring them into the broiling mix. Theychanted eerily of how the old pumpkin orchard’s asheswould serve their dark purpose.”

“Devils below,” Will said, quivering at the verythought. “The ash, and the crystal! The same wickedness that the old witch-lady had used when she had firsttried to take control of the realm!”

A thunder clap boomed far above the canyons,startling them both. Will looked up to the ominous skyand shuddered.

“But what was most disturbing of all,” Aleeriacontinued, “was what I finally saw the witches placeinto the cauldron…” She looked into Will’s eyes.

“The witch-lady’s soul!” Will said, seeing as howthe witch-lady’s soul had been taken into possession bythe others. “Those two witches must have been a partof her old secret group of sorceresses —the same onesthat were involved in dark magic, ages ago!”

Aleeria nodded; her form shimmered, as if shewere shivering, recalling the old haunted memories.

“Yes, you’re quite right, Will. It’s the same evilgroup that had been brought to ruin in the Land of Starsby the great meteorite shower —the shower of doom. Itwas said to have destroyed all those dark sorceressesfrom that land…or so it would have seemed.”

“They must have crept forth from that formerland,” he said grimly. “They’ve probably been hidingout there, somehow having had escaped the wrath ofthat meteorite shower! The witch-lady—she survivedwhen she had fled that land, long before ruin ever fellupon it.”

“Yes,” Aleeria said, “and I believe that those twowitches are going to use her soul and her dark power toput the realm into very grave danger. They’ll be usingthe pumpkin ashes as part of their plan, along with thatpiece of crystal shard—”