The Realms Thereunder

3

“Ah, good,” said Gad. “They’ve arrived. Let’s see if we can . . .” He pressed a couple more buttons on the remote control and the image shifted, zoomed in, and panned to the right. Freya realised that she was seeing a fight taking place-inside of what looked like a giant pyramid.

She picked out Ecgbryt first, the enormous knight swinging his axe at a cluster of yfelgopes. He was mostly just knocking them into the pool in order to move forward as fast as possible. He was standing in front of and trying to protect Daniel, who was following behind him, sword drawn. Occasionally Daniel would stab or slash at an yfelgop who had rebounded off Ecgbryt but not fallen into the pool.

“Well,” said Gad, “that’s going nicely.”

“Nicely?” Freya asked, worried now. “What is it? Is that room some sort of trap?”

“No, not at all. If they do fight their way through my warriors and make it to the box, they will hold power over my soul.”

“So aren’t you worried about them getting through?” Freya asked.

“Worried? No, not in the least!” Gad said, smiling warmly at her. “In fact, nothing would make me happier. Do you think that I’ve truly, earnestly been trying to stop you? You were never in any real danger coming here. Did you think you were?”

Gad was wiping the blood off of his hands with a rag. “No, my dear, the truth is that I want everyone to succeed. That’s the whole point of being on this earth, isn’t it? To succeed? I want Daniel to be a hero. I need him to be one. The world needs heroes who are willing to fight and even kill for what they believe. His actions will help me to free millions of people all over the world. People just like you, who want to be free but don’t know how to-who don’t even know that they aren’t free!”

“So it has all been a trap,” Freya answered hotly.

“My dear, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” said Gad.

“But it’s not my trap. You have been under their control far longer than mine. In fact, my control releases you from theirs. You’ve let

Ni?ergeard rule your life since before you even heard its name. But it doesn’t have to be that way now.”

“How can I trust you? How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

Gad shifted in his chair and pointed across the room. “Do you see that door over there? It’s just like the one you came into the room by. That door will lead you out of these caves-continue straight on until you see the light of day and feel the fresh air on your face. It’s not locked. There are no guards on the other side. All you have to do is turn the handle and leave, at any time. That door will lead you home.”