After his mother s death and his father s disappearance, Cale McHail moves in at his Aunt Ellen and Uncle Frank s house. But one day as Cale is on his way to a baseball game, he comes across his old invisible friend playmates, Paffy and Cripps, suddenly made visible. They explain that they need Cale s help on an urgent mission and ask him to accompany him to their home. Although Cale protests, he suddenly finds himself in Glenhope, Paffy and Cripps s homeland, and in a world that he s never seen before. It is there that he learns of EyeStone a powerful stone that can foresee the future and influence it for good and of the influential people who wish to use its power for themselves. What s more, Paffy and Cripps believe that Cale may have the power they need to save EyeStone before it s too late. With his former playmates and his new friends Princess Barcelona and the warrior Rockfast at his side, Cale embarks on a quest to reach Balthesmor Castle and save the Eyestone. But to get there, the group must first cross the treacherous desert called Sandwhisper, survive the terrifying Realm of the Four Caves, and face dangerous and fantastical creatures. If Cale survives, he must face the most horrifying obstacle of all someone from Cale s own past may be the embodiment of the very evil that Cale was sent to Glenhope to destroy.
The Ninth Gift
By P. M. MaloneTrafford Publishing
Copyright © 2012 P. M. Malone
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4669-0213-8Contents
BEFORE....................................................ixCHAPTER I. A WHOLE NEW WORLD.............................1CHAPTER II. LAY OF THE LAND..............................18CHAPTER III. FRIENDS AND FOES............................33CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST LEG................................46CHAPTER V. FIREWIND......................................65CHAPTER VI. DARK FOREST, DARK FACES......................77CHAPTER VII. GREENHAVEN..................................90CHAPTER VIII. JULY SNOWSTORM.............................102CHAPTER IX. CAVE OF WIND AND THUNDER.....................112CHAPTER X. GROUTS........................................125CHAPTER XI. BRIDGE OVER THE ABYSS........................140CHAPTER XII. CAVE OF THE NEMEGOTH........................152CHAPTER XIII. THE SEA OF SUBMISSION......................162CHAPTER XIV. CAVERN OF COLOR.............................178CHAPTER XV. BALTHESMOR...................................192CHAPTER XVI. SHOWDOWN....................................204AFTER.....................................................217
Chapter One
A WHOLE NEW WORLD
Cale McHail ran as fast as his legs would carry him. Heart pounding with fright, and mind swimming in confusion, he ran without looking back. What was he running from? As far as he could tell there was no one behind him. And where exactly was he? No way were his worn tennis shoes still treading on the grass of his childhood's backyard in LaFayette, Illinois. It had become dark. And cool. Where had the sun gone?
He stumbled and a sudden sharp ache in his side forced him to stop. He hunched over, hands on knees, tried to catch his breath. Still bent, he shuffled to a nearby wall of damp stone, and leaned heavily against it. What was this? Through his light jacket the rocks were very cold. He became aware of flickering orange light high above. Wiping his eyes with his sleeve, he looked up to blazing torches, fastened to the wall by heavy gray metal straps. He swallowed hard and tried to steady his shaking knees. Glancing down the dimly-lit and rocky path he'd just come from, he detected no movement, heard no sound. What had become of Paffy and Cripps? They had been right behind him—hadn't they? How far had he run?
The path he'd traveled was dark and quiet. For that matter, the way forward was just as deserted. As far as he could tell, he was alone. Mist filled the air, like a light fog on a damp April day. He could see no further than twenty yards in either direction.
Where in the world was he? Chest heaving and mind rebelling, Cale decided he must be in one big crevasse, or maybe some kind of tunnel or cave, one that was wide enough that he could not see the other side. He quickly calculated the diameter of his stony path to be at least twenty feet across. Like the floor, massive rocks made up the wall. The ceiling—if there was a ceiling—was not visible. Far above his head a faint hissing sound came from the flaming torch. He could see another light; a few yards back the way he'd run. He realized he'd raced past others, spaced just close enough so total darkness was kept at bay. Were they the reason it was so hazy in here? He sniffed the air. There was no hint of smoke.
That was beside the point. No matter the place—how had he gotten here? It had to have something to do with Paffy and Cripps. In any case, one minute he'd been chatting with what he thought were old friends, imaginary ones according to his father, and the next ... A huge lump grew in his throat. What had become of the quiet Illinois street with his little room and bed?
Paffy had practically shouted at him, "Don't run!" He supposed he should have listened. But he'd been scared. Who wouldn't be? And Paffy, funny and easy-going Paffy, of all people, shouting, just made things spookier. Everything had suddenly become confusing and unreal. Running had seemed a reasonable thing to do.
That morning he'd left Uncle Fred and Aunt Ellen's house on his bicycle, throwing his baseball glove in the bike basket, deciding he'd rather be early for the game rather than hang around with Ellen. He started out for the park, he remembered that. What indistinct and forgotten whim turned his handlebars toward the house on Buckthorn Lane, the house where he'd lived with his father and mother? They were gone. For good. The white two story house that he'd called home, with his Lilac Fort in the back yard, belonged to someone else now.
The last thing he expected to find at that house were his old playmates. When he was a lonely six year old boy, who had just lost his mother to cancer, plump, jocular Paffy and slender, serious Cripps came to him in his Lilac Fort to keep him company. They brought consolation and distraction, to a boy who had no one else to play with. He was trying to distract himself from this inexplicable situation with thoughts of Paffy and Cripps.
Paffy was short and round as a barrel. He wore red pants and shoes, a faded green shirt open at the wrinkled collar, as well as a loosened and soiled red, white, and blue polka dot tie. Thin blond hair grew from the sides of his perfectly round and nearly bald head and draped over both ears. The ears were very large, left larger than right, and they stuck out straight from his head. He might have been a circus clown on the loose, with his too-pale face, large blue eyes, and flat nose. At least he didn't wear white gloves or floppy-toed shoes.
Cripps, with his long, scrawny neck was Paffy's opposite in just about every imaginable way. He was rarely without his black top-hat, except when he'd gotten down on his hands and knees, years ago, to play with Cale. He wore thick spectacles, which usually slid well down on his nose. His suit was plaid, sort of yellow-brown in color, and he seemed fond of his brown silk vest. The sleeves of the coat were too short, and skinny wrists protruded from them. His scuffed black shoes were always dusty, as though he'd walked a long way on dirt paths. Below the trousers, which were also too short, and over the tops of his shoes, he wore spats. Wispy hairs, like tufts of autumn grass, grew from his nose and ears. He carried a short walking stick topped with a shiny brass knob.
Paffy and Cripps could not be real people, of course. The whole idea of two adult men that no one else ever saw, coming to play backyard games with a lonely and frightened little kid, was too ridiculous for words. Even back then, when he was only seven, Cale knew enough not to mention these strange playmates to most people. Except his dad. That's when dad told Cale these two adults were simply part of an awake-sort-of-dream, a dream Cale needed very badly at the time. And it surely had been a bad time. Cale wasn't sure how he would have gotten through that time without them, those supposedly imaginary friends, who comforted him more than anyone besides his father. After that, for some reason, maybe because his father had told him they were not real, maybe simply because he was growing older, one day Paffy and Cripps disappeared as quickly and quietly as they had appeared. That was too bad, because less than a year ago, Cale's father, Blake McHail, had disappeared while on a hunting trip. Paffy and Cripps might have helped him through that shock and horror as well.
He wiped another tear from his eye and tried to forget the past. Okay, so if they were so obviously imaginary, how could Paffy and Cripps have shown up today, seven years later, looking...
