Martha Bloom and the Glass Compass

by Estelle Grace Tudor

  As Martha snuggled down with Bracken she listened to the soft voices of Conn, Soren, Doran, Fenn, and Reed as they discussed their next steps, before her eyes slowly closed.

  Martha was floating. Her hair billowed out around her as she enjoyed the soft spring breeze on her face. Looking down, she concluded that she was being carried through the air by hundreds of butterflies. Smiling, she enjoyed the sensation and turned her face up to the sun, closing her eyes. She didn’t see the dark clouds creeping in.

  A shadow crossed her face, and she opened her eyes in dismay. The feeling of elation turned to horror: a cloud was zooming towards her, with an awfully familiar figure riding on its back – Nesrin!

  Nesrin aimed her staff at the group of butterflies and, with a cruel smile, zapped a beam of light at them. Martha screamed as the butterflies scattered, leaving her to fall towards the rapidly approaching ground.

  “Martha, wake up!” Beatrice shouted, until Martha opened her eyes and looked into the identical gaze of her sister. Sitting up, she looked around and realised that everyone was staring at her with varying looks of worry on their faces.

  “Are you well?” Soren asked with concern, coming over to hand Martha a cup of water.

  Taking it in a trembling hand, Martha sipped before answering, “Yes, I’m fine – I just had a nightmare about Nesrin.”

  Soren exchanged a worried glance with Doran and Conn before patting her on the arm. “It’s been a fraught day.” Reassured that she was fine, he and the other men settled back down near the unicorns and closed their eyes.

  Martha leaned back against a mossy mound. Beatrice continued to look at her with concern.

  “I’m all right, Bea, honestly. I remember you and Octavia having vivid dreams too.”

  Octavia crawled over to Martha and said, “Oh yes, it was so realistic!” She held Martha’s hand and stroked Bracken’s fur as the small rabbit hopped up onto Martha’s lap.

  “I’m sorry I woke you – we should try to get some more rest,” Martha said as she noticed the first pinkish rays of dawn filtering through the trees.

  Otto didn’t need telling twice and was asleep as soon as his head hit the mossy ‘pillow’. Octavia rolled her eyes affectionately before curling up next to him. Martha laid Bracken next to Octavia, and her young cousin opened her eyes briefly and gave a grateful smile before wrapping her small arm around the rabbit.

  “It must be so hard for them without Sage and Ferren,” Felicity murmured, watching as her siblings slept.

  “Don’t worry – we’ll get them back,” Beatrice said with confidence, rubbing Felicity’s arm. The two girls lay down, but Martha felt restless. Waiting until they were asleep, she stood and walked from beneath the bower. The sleeping butterflies’ wings stirred slightly in their sleep.

  Martha headed over to the stone circle, where Doran had set up a small purple fairy fire. Her nerves were still jangling, so she retrieved her bag and pulled out her sketchpad and pencil. She spent the next few minutes sketching, and felt her heart-rate start to settle as the comfort of the familiar action soothed her.

  “Are you all right?” Fenn asked, stepping from the shadows with Reed, Twig and Thicket.

  Martha, lost in her art, jumped. “Yes – it was just a nightmare. It seems my sister, cousins and I are prone to vivid dreams concerning Fairy Land.” She set her sketchpad down on the ground and warmed her hands in the heat from the flickering flames. Fenn and Reed joined her, the flames casting shadows on their pointed features.

  Fenn looked at the drawing and gave a sudden grin. “You have captured Callia perfectly! You have a gift.”

  Martha blushed. “Thank you,” she said with a shy smile.

  Putting her hands in her pocket, she felt something cold and hard; withdrawing the compass, she gazed down at it and thought about Castle Astra. Immediately, the arrow pointed diagonally right. An idea struck her, and she thought of her sister: instantly the arrow swung around to point at the bower. Feeling relieved that she could always count on the glass compass to find her way to those she loved, and to any destination, she placed it safely back in her cloak pocket.

  “That’s some compass,” Reed said. “Don’t let Magorian see that – he’d be offering you a lot of coin for it.”

  “Magorian?” Martha queried, remembering Twig and Thicket mentioning that name when they had first seen Caeruleus.

  “He runs the Middling Market. He’s tough, but he’ll give you a fair price.” Reed nodded.

  Fenn was staring thoughtfully into the fire, and a frown creased his pale forehead.

  “Are you worried about your parents?” Martha asked gently, and Fenn turned his bright blue eyes upon her and sighed.

  “Yes. I know helping you all is the right thing to do, but I’m afraid that I may have endangered our parents. Callia would be devastated if anything happened to them,” Fenn said, and put up a hand to rest on Thicket’s head as he nosed his way in, offering comfort. Martha scooted over to give Thicket’s huge antlers room.

  “I understand – when we first came here to save Otto, Beatrice ended up in danger too, and Octavia and Felicity had to make tough decisions. It all worked out in the end because we worked together and never gave up hope,” she said earnestly.

  “I still can’t believe you’ll help us, even after we captured you,” Fenn said incredulously, sharing a disbelieving look with Reed.

  “Of course. You let us go, and we will help you get your parents back. I won’t let them go through what Beatrice did,” Martha said, shaking off the last vestiges of the nightmare as determination enveloped her. The need to reverse this terrible wrong outweighed her fear of Nesrin.

  “I am zo glad to hear you zay that: you will all need to work together to defeat Nezrin. Her power izzz growing once more.” Gwenyn had flown out and was softly hovering by Martha’s shoulder. “Theze woodzzz have been our home for many yearzzz but Nezrin izzz encroaching on our land, trying to turn more good Fairy Folk to her zide. You cannot allow her to twizt your mindzzz. Queen Rhozyn is a good ruler and will put thingzzz right.”

  Martha looked at the bee and smiled at her insightfulness. “I agree – Queen Rhosyn will do what’s right.” And with a pointed look at Fenn, she stood and went to join Soren, who had awakened and was talking softly to the unicorns.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” Martha asked him as she hugged Linnea, who whinnied softly in greeting.

  Soren rolled his shoulders and frowned. “I’m just keen to get the companions back so we can get safely back to Enfys. I don’t like being so far away from Evony,” he said.

  “Maybe we should start making plans then,” Martha said, nodding at the rest of the camp, where everyone was slowly stirring. “If everyone is awake, we might as well get started.”

  Soren blew out a breath and gave a quick grin. “You would make a good council member,” he remarked, and headed over to the supply bags on Ember’s side.

  Beatrice came over and hugged Martha, looking deep into her eyes. Apparently satisfied by what she saw there, she smiled in relief and went to help Doran make peppermint tea.

  Gwenyn’s bees buzzed out of the castle, supporting large honeycomb trays of honey. “Pleaze help yourzelvezzz,” Gwenyn told them, as she delicately dipped her antennae into a tiny golden cup of nectar.

  Conn handed out thick slabs of bread, which everyone spread thickly with the glistening honey. He hunkered down next to Fenn and Reed and made sure they ate their fill as he talked with them, and Martha was pleased to see their postures relax as they became more comfortable with the group.

  Doran and Beatrice were deep in discussion, talking magic, and Octavia and Otto were feeding Bracken juicy wild strawberries.

  Felicity finished off her cup of tea and grabbed her bow and arrow. “Queen Gwenyn, is there somewhere that I may practice?” she asked politely.

  Gwenyn buzzed out a command, and five bees flew over. “My beezzz will take you to a clear area,” she told her.

  Felicity gave th
e rest of them a wave and made to follow the bees when Soren called over, “Stay alert, and come straight back if you see any sign of the ravens.”

  “I will,” Felicity agreed and disappeared from view, her thick black braid swinging as she rounded a large tree.

  “What is the plan? How do we contact Lysana?” Soren asked Conn, who was polishing off his fifth slice of honey-smothered bread.

  Swallowing the bread, then taking a large gulp of tea, Conn stood and patted down his tunic. He felt around in a pocket before bringing out a large, flat flower. Turning, he said to Gwenyn, “Lysana uses your messengers too.”

  Octavia peered at the flower. “How will that get a message to Lysana?” she asked.

  Suddenly, the cloud of butterflies swarmed around in interest before settling on the ground.

  “Just watch,” Conn said with a wink. He lifted the flower to his mouth and said, “Lysana, we are in Queen Gwenyn’s woods; send us a message when you can get us inside Castle Astra.”

  He blew on the flower, and it fluttered up into the air before transforming into a beautiful pink butterfly. Floriana flew up and whirled around it before touching her antennae to the flower-butterfly. Immediately it took off and flew off through the woods.

  Martha looked around at the dazed faces of everyone assembled. She had seen a lot of amazing things in Fairy Land, but nothing so wondrous as that. Floriana flew over once again to Martha and settled on her arm. Her wings shuddered and a flat flower, the same as Conn’s, materialised.

  “Ah, you are favoured, Martha – Floriana hazzz beztowed upon you a mezzage,” Gwenyn said, buzzing over in delight.

  Martha tilted her head and looked at the shimmering butterfly. “What do I do with it?” she asked Floriana.

  “You have seen how they work. If you should ever need our assistance, just speak a message and blow it into the wind – it will find its way to me and we will come to your aid,” Floriana said in her tiny voice. “A butterfly kiss will hasten the message, but it will work well enough if you are up high.” Floriana twitched her antennae, and Martha recalled her touching them to the flower-butterfly before it shot off.

  “Thank you,” Martha said gratefully, and tucked the flower into the case of her compass.

  “While we are waiting for Lysana’s reply, what is the plan?” Conn asked, looking at Aurus and Soren. “What do we do if the ravens come back?”

  Aurus was just about to open his mouth when Gwenyn buzzed, “My beezzz and I have an idea.”

  Felicity caused a commotion at that point by barrelling through the trees. “Well, whatever it is, we need to put it in motion now – the ravens are back!”

  Immediately Gwenyn rose high and buzzed loudly. Her swarm gathered in formation before separating off into groups and heading over to the castle, where a liquid moat of honey encircled it. It streamed from the side of the castle, and the bees now manoeuvred containers underneath it.

  “Hurry – help fill the containerzzz with honey,” Gwenyn buzzed, and everyone snapped to attention, doing as she asked. Once they had filled ten large containers, Gwenyn buzzed again and her swarm flew off through the trees. “They will lure the ravenzzz to the ambuzh zite. Take the honey and follow them quickly.”

  Martha scooped up Bracken and placed her inside her bag with her sketchbook, then mounted Linnea. The others mounted their own unicorns, and together they followed the buzzing noise, balancing a container each. Martha looked over her shoulder and gave a wave to Floriana and the butterflies, who had once again settled on the bower.

  The buzzing got louder, but now it was accompanied by cawing and screeching. The group came through the trees and saw that the bees had led the ravens inside a circle of twisted-looking trees; there was a trail that led up above the treeline, and Gwenyn urged the group on. They got to the top and looked down to where the bees were stopping any ravens from escaping.

  “Zee that vine over there? Attach the containerzzz of honey one by one and launch them down,” Gwenyn instructed.

  Conn took over attaching the containers, and Fenn and Reed lined up the vine and let it go just like a large catapult. The containers soared over the trees and into the circle, where the bees separated and allowed the honey to pour thickly over the ravens, sticking to their wings and weighing them down. Unable to fly, the ravens settled on the ground and croaked malevolently, eyeing the bees with hatred.

  Even though Martha knew they worked for Nesrin, she still felt a pang of sympathy for the sorry-looking creatures.

  Gwenyn saw her face and said, “It will wazh off; it’zzz juzt to give you time to get to Casztle Aztra and zave your friendzzz.”

  “Speaking of that…” Conn said, and pointed up to where a lone butterfly was fluttering his way. It landed in his palm and immediately flattened into a flower shape once more.

  A tinkling voice whispered out, “Conn, I have a way to get you inside Castle Astra. Wait beneath the castle at dusk until you see my signal.”

  Conn looked up, his eyes gleaming. “It is from Lysana – she has a plan!”

  Chapter Eleven

  What Goes Around Comes Around

  “Thank you, Gwenyn,” Soren said with feeling. He surveyed the feebly croaking ravens sitting on the ground, trying to peck at their feathers. They only succeeded in coating their beaks in the sticky substance.

  “It izzz my pleazure. We will guard the ravenzzz and wait for your return.” Gwenyn inclined her fuzzy head.

  “Martha, your compass?” Soren asked, and Martha took the compass from her pocket and opened up the case. The message flower covered the face of the compass, so she took it out and placed it inside the book of her great-grandfather’s drawings for safe keeping. She thought of Castle Astra, and the arrow swung around. Soren peered over her shoulder and pointed the direction to Conn.

  With a final “thank you” to Gwenyn, they set off down the trail and through the trees. Watery sunlight was now dappling through the canopy of twisted branches overhead. Before long, mist started to snake along the feet of the unicorns and stags, and Martha knew with gut-wrenching certainty that they had arrived at Misty Marsh once again. This was the place where she and Soren had succumbed to a slumbershroom, and she did not want that fate to befall anyone else.

  Soren must have been thinking the same thing, as he caught her eye and turned to the others. “Watch out for the slumbershrooms,” he said.

  They all paused on the edge of the marsh and surveyed the scene before them. Felicity and Octavia shared a grimace as their eyes rested on a mound in the distance.

  Doran spoke up, his eyes on a cluster of trees over on the other side of the marsh. “I can use a cloaking spell to get us through, but with so many of us I won’t be able to sustain it for long.” A glowing trail of toadstools led to the black cliff of Castle Astra in the distance. Banners with silver stars once again flew from the towers.

  Soren followed his eyes and said, “Can you get us to the trees?”

  “I can help,” Beatrice said, withdrawing her wand.

  Doran smiled at her and nodded. “Yes, together we can make it there and pass the day while we wait until the sun starts to set.”

  As Beatrice and Doran worked their magic, the rest clustered together with Soren at the front so he could scout for slumbershrooms. At Doran’s nod, they left the treeline and headed through the squelching marsh. They made it to the cover of the trees as the glow around them dissipated.

  “Just in time,” Doran said with satisfaction, reaching into his pocket and withdrawing two glossy red apples. He passed one over to Beatrice, who gratefully took a hearty bite to replenish her strength.

  Fenn and Reed took out bottles of water and poured some out into a large dish-shaped leaf for the unicorns, Aurus, Twig and Thicket to take a drink of.

  The group passed the next few hours under the cover of the trees with Fenn and Reed teaching the Blooms how to use catapults. Otto was particularly skilled at it, and Reed promised to make the young boy his own.

>   Twig and Thicket stayed close to Aurus, still in awe of the magnificent stag, and he softened enough to talk to them about what life was like in Bloomsville. They all ate a quick meal of honey and bread, and waited until the sun started its slow descent into night-time.

  Conn stood and nodded at Soren. “We should start to make our way into position – we don’t want to miss Lysana’s signal.”

  “What about the guards?” Octavia piped up. “There were lots the last time Felicity and I were here.”

  Conn absentmindedly grabbed the handle of his short sword. “I’m sure Lysana will have thought of that,” he said, his confidence in the female fairy evident.

  Octavia seemed satisfied with his answer, so she helped Otto and Felicity pack up the camp while Martha and Beatrice gave the unicorns one final drink. Caeruleus had his own special water, imbued with liquid starlight, that enabled him to keep talking. Having found out that he was of royal pegasus birth, he now visited the realm of Inlustris regularly to see his family there and to collect more liquid starlight. As he drank, a glow surrounded his body momentarily and Twig and Thicket looked up, their mouths dropping open at the sight.

  “Well, that’s something we’ve never seen before,” Thicket said, nudging Twig with his massive antlers. Twig closed his mouth with a snap. Caeruleus looked down at the stags and shook back his blue mane with a braying laugh.

  “Enough of the show; it’s time to go,” Soren said, gesturing to them. Fenn and Reed quickly mounted Twig and Thicket, and the children did the same with their unicorns. Martha was amused to see the two stags trying to keep up with Caeruleus, their eyes full of admiration.

  Soren looked around apprehensively as they approached the toadstool path that was illuminating the way to Castle Astra. “I don’t like this – we are exposed. Doran, is there anything you can do?”

  The old mage contemplated the question, looking at Beatrice. “Can you manage another concealment spell? I am wary about expending too much power. I’d like to conserve as much as we can for once we are inside the castle,” he explained.