Elliot and the Last Underworld War Read Online Free PDF

the Shadow Men most of all.
    Shadow Men were made of smoke and a black fire that burned but gave off no light. They wore long black cloaks that held the fire in, but thick smoke poured out from beneath the cloak in every direction and could choke a person who got too close. They smelled of charcoal and cinders and spoke with a hissing sound that made Elliot’s skin crawl.
    A Shadow Man in front tried to push through the dome of light but screeched as it stung his hand, and he pulled back. Another two or three tried to get past the Brownies’ fire, but they failed too.
    “It’s working!” one of the Brownies said.
    “Keep your guard up,” Elliot said as the Shadow Men grouped together and flew to another area of the dome. “They’ll keep testing us and trying to find a way in.”
    “They’re over here,” several Brownies a long way from Elliot called. “King Elliot, please come!”
    Elliot took a breath, then began running. It would be a very long, very tiring war if he had to run everywhere all the time.
    He turned to tell Agatha that, but she had already poofed herself there. By the time Elliot came, the Shadow Men were trying to break through the light dome again. Luckily, the Pixies held their magic strong, and no Shadow Man could push through it.
    Elliot bent over to catch his breath, but other Brownies from even farther away cried, “Now they’re over here!”
    Between breaths, Elliot wondered why the Shadow Men had to fly so far away each time. Couldn’t they just test the light dome all in one place so that it wasn’t so tiring? It was like they wanted to make this war tough on him or something.
    “I’ll be right there,” Elliot panted. He started to run, then leaned over with his hands on his knees and said to Agatha, “Will you go tell them to stay strong?”
    Agatha nodded and poofed away. When his breath slowed, Elliot hurried toward the latest cry for help.
    Then he stopped as his foot stepped into a shadow.
    Shadow? There couldn’t be shadows in here. The entire town was bathed in light from all directions. A shadow was bad.
    High above him he saw a small gap of darkness. A Pixie fluttered in the center of it. He wasn’t sure what she was doing, but her hands were moving behind her head.
    “Get your light back,” he called up to her.
    “In a minute. But I have to tie my hair back first,” she said. “You won’t believe how much wind the Shadow Men are making out here.”
    “Light!” Elliot cried.
    “Fine!” She lowered her hands and shook her hair out. “But if I get a tangle in my beautiful hair, it’s all your fault.”
    “Light!” Elliot repeated. She huffed and spread her light again, but it was too late. Five cloaked shadows made it through the gap just in time. A sixth one made it halfway through, but the light cut him off and he disappeared.
    The five Shadow Men swept down through the air in a flight that reminded Elliot of a hawk diving for its prey. Smoke trailed from their cloaks like a damaged airplane about to crash land. But these creatures weren’t damaged and weren’t going to crash. In fact, the closer they flew to Elliot, the darker the fire inside their cloaks burned. Then at once, all five of them looked at Elliot and flew even faster. They were arrows, and he was their target. All he could see was the smoke of their bodies and the raging black fire inside their cloaks.
    They were coming straight for Elliot.



Elliot stumbled back a step and looked around for anything he might use to defend himself from the approaching Shadow Men. But there was nothing. Everything that could hold light had been carried to the borders.
    The Shadow Men stopped directly in front of him and spoke: “King Elliot of the Brownies.” He couldn’t see their faces, so it wasn’t clear exactly which of them was talking. It sounded like they were all speaking at the same time. If they weren’t his enemies who were about to attack him, he’d have asked how they all knew what the