Little Orphan Anvil: The Complete Trilogy by Joseph Beekman (best contemporary novels .TXT) 📕

the black box. Grimy slush fellfrom the robot’s tarnished body, and two of its metalliclimbs were hanging loosely from its rounded body.

Tears welled up in the old man’s eyes as hecontinued to watch the lifeless robot being unearthed.The odd-shaped robot moved itself higher into the air asit increased the magnetic force of the black box, pullingthe little robot further up. It was then laid off to oneside of the burial hole near the two shadowy figures.

The old man quickly moved to shut the otherrobot’s system down, depressing the two buttons in itsside panel. The black box went silent, and its bright,green light faded as the robot dropped like a stone tothe ground, shattering the ice. Turning back around, hegazed with dreary eyes upon the body of the little robot.

The ghastly figures hurried over to it, hissing likeevil snakes as they bent down beside its once, vibrantbody. With claw-like fingers, they began tinkering withits rusted iron plates and scarred electrical wires.

Shivering terribly, the old man looked on helplessly as they appeared to be casting a sinister spellupon the little robot. Stepping back, they then directedtheir arms up towards the darkened sky.

Within seconds, a loud crack of thunder rockedthe canyons. It was followed by a bolt of lightning thatinstantly struck the center of the robot, igniting it in ahot, white light. The two figures, along with the oldman, were quickly thrust backwards from the outburst,landing a few feet from the robot. Its iron body wasnow simmering with a red glow.

As the old man laid motionless upon the ground,he watched as the two figures rose and moved over tothe little robot. They placed their hands upon its ironplated surface which still sizzled from the heat of thelightning blast—they seemed to not mind the heatedmetal.

Then, like magic, the mid-section of the robotopened with a creaking, metallic sound. At its centerwas a little light, the size of a tiny candle, that pulsatedin dark, red waves.

The witch-lady’s soul! the old man thought inhorror.

With great haste, one of the witch-like figuresplucked out the tiny light from the robot’s center andplaced it beneath her cloak. The witch-figure glancedover to the old man with an evil scowl.

“What shall we do with him?” she hissed.

The other one peered over, seeing the old manhunched over and looking back at them. “Leave him tothe creatures of the dark, and the cold winds of thewilds!” she crowed. “He is nothing to us now—she isall that matters! Soon the realm will be put into its finalrest, and we shall forever have erased all the hereticsdeeming to erase our ways of sorcery!”

The other cackled with laughter. “No longer willthose ancient iron machines of science give rise withinthis realm!”

They quickly disappeared from the old man’ssight, leaving him alone to the darkness and the freezing winds. He suddenly fell limp, collapsing upon theground as if a great weight had been lifted from hissoul. His mind began to slowly awaken, and felt as if ithad been in some maddening nightmare.

Their spell must have been lifted from me! hethought with a bit of relief.

Now his main concern was to protect himselffrom the biting winds and ice-cold temperatures. Usingall the strength he could muster, he crawled towards theburial hole, rolling himself over its edge and into thebottom of it. The darkness completely swallowed him,and the winds were now a muffled howl sweepingoverhead.

Curling up into a ball, he quickly dozed off into adeep sleep…unaware of a purple, bluish form descending down upon him.

~ CHAPTER II

~ GRAVE DANGER

The old man slowly cracked open his eyes to ablurry, bluish haze that greeted his vision. He feltsluggish, and his head ached a bit. Rubbing his eyes,he saw a little more clearly the outline of a glowing,blue form wavering above him. He couldn’t be sure ifhe was in some mad dream, or if he was now departedfrom the realm, and had now become some sort of spirithimself, awakening to a new existence.

After a few moments, the glowing light becamesharper and more detailed—he could make out theappearance of a young woman’s face; it was ghostlyand shimmering. She had lush, reddish hair swirling inthe air like big red ribbons.

And then it dawned on his dull and dim sensesjust who the young woman was: Aleeria! he thought,astounded.

“Greetings, you old blacksmith!” She grinned,waving her hands in front of his weathered eyes.

With a twinge of fear, a strange possibility hadsuddenly occurred to him…

Maybe I’ve actually passed into the spirit world!

The thought gave him a shock, and he quicklystood up in the surrounding darkness. As he did, heslipped on a few stones and fell back down with a hardthud.

“Steady there, Will—not so fast!” the sorceressspirit said, her voice soothing and direct. “You’ve beenunder a slumbering spell of my own making for the pasttwo days. You must be careful not to move so hastily;for your bones are sure to be brittle from the frozenwinter in these canyon narrows!”

Will grumbled, shaking his head. He tried again,this time standing up carefully. Falling away from hisbody were a few large leaves that were heavy andblackened with soil.

The leaves of the dark forest! he thought, remembering the enormous leaves that had once protected thechildren, Jonathon and Haley, after they had beendiscovered in the forest that neighbored the narrows.

His body felt sore, and he could feel his stomachchurning with hunger. He stretched his back, trying toget the kinks out of it.

“Pray tell—” Will blurted out. “How is it that anold man like myself, seems to always finds himself inthese situations?”

Aleeria snickered, happy to see that Will hadn’tlost his dry sense of humor.She waved her hands overhim, using her healing magic to ease his discomfort.

“For instance,” Will continued, as he wasclimbing out of the hole; “there was some spell that putme all this way out here—” waving his hands around“—and then your own spell that put me into a slumberof sorts!”

“You’re just a magnet for these things, my dear,”she joked.

Standing upon the riverbed, he peered around theicy