Free The Last Summoning---Andrew and the Quest of Orion's Belt (Book Four) by Ivory Autumn Page A

through the dirt until he came up
with his rock.
    “There you are,” he cried, hugging it tightly
to his chest. “I told you I’d take care of you.” He placed the
footprint in his sack, and clawed at crumbling earth. But with the
added weight of the rock, he was too heavy to pull himself up.
    “Help!” he cried, grasping for solid ground.
“Help!”
    He moaned, and glanced down at his hefty
companion. “I’m sorry but I may have to leave you after all. Just
as he said those words, a small, ivory-white hand reached out and
caught hold of his, pulling him to safety.
    He stood panting before a small girl about
ten years of age. She looked angry. Her face and skin looked
unearthly, almost ghostlike.
    “Hurry,” she said, grabbing Gogindy’s hand.
“You mustn’t stay here. This is the place of the dead. Many brave
souls fought and died here. The ground was hallowed by the blood of
many, who were not supposed to die. So the ground, out of shame and
respect for those slain, covers the bones of the dead.
    “But I am not dead.”
    “You wished to be dead. And your heart had no
hope. A heart without hope is very dead.”
    Gogindy folded his arms and growled. “Wishing
to be dead, and being dead are two very different things.”
    “No, they are not. The ground does not know
the difference so it reaches out to claim its own.”
    “Are you dead?”
    “Yes,”
    “Then how are you…talking to me? Shouldn’t
little girls be in heaven?”
    “I was, but your presence brought me here for
the moment. I was the daughter of the captain that died right where
you slept.”
    Gogindy looked distraught. “Did he win? Oh,
but he died, and so did you? Then I guess not.”
    “Yes, the battle was won, but my father
sacrificed his life for the cause of freedom, as did a vast
multitude of soldiers. It was a battle of battles. After the
battle, all the armor and every weapon, of both dead and living,
were melted together into the bell of Conroy, in memory of those
who fought on this field of battle for freedom. A freedom that must
always be retained and remembered and preserved. The bell was
erected so that its voice could ring out over the land and waken
the people to remember. That is the bell you must ring to awaken
hope in the hearts of men. You must not linger here, but hurry.
Time is running out.”
    Gogindy eyes filled with astonishment. “You
know about the Bell of Conroy?”
    “Yes.”
    “You?” Gogindy balked. “But you are so
small.”
    “And so are you,” the girl replied. “But that
does not make a difference, now does it? Little people can know
things just as big people can.”
    Gogindy shook his head. “I guess you’re
right. But sometimes it doesn’t seem like it. I guess I just don’t
think I know as much as I thought I did.”
    The girl looked at Gogindy with stern eyes.
“You guess? You must know, Gogindy. In times like these, you must
know, or you will be swiftly swept from your purpose. How do you
ever hope to ring the bell if you do not have hope, yourself?”
    Gogindy sniffed, and rubbed his whiskers
nervously. “I have hope.”
    The girl looked at him with hard eyes, and
slowly shook her head. “You don’t, right now. But you may, in time.
When hope is in your heart, it sings to you. It makes you feel
alive when death is looking you in the eye. It breathes life into
those who are dead. It heals the saddened heart. Gives sight to the
blind. It lights paths that are dark, and claims victory where
there is defeat.”
    Gogindy took a step towards the girl.
“Really? It can do all that?”
    “Yes. And much more. Now you must hurry and
leave. Your heart holds many dead things. And that makes the land
think you are dead.”
    Gogindy looked at his furry chest with
worried eyes. “It does?”
    “Yes,” the girl said. “I’m afraid so. Dead
dreams, memories of those gone past, and many unfinished things.
You must try to get rid of the dead weight you carry. A heavy heart
will weigh you down more