Dominoes

by Barbara Gaskell Denvil

  “Battles, adventures, new lands?” Captain Terror was delighted. “Come on then. I’ll get Gino and the brigand band too, if you like.”

  “We ain’t ready fer battle yet,” John said in a hurry. “T’would be good when we’s ready.”

  “I can’t leave my ship uncaptioned,” said Arthur tentatively. “But once you’re ready for the fight to regain the throne, well then I shall come, and all my crew too.”

  “Not me,” said Deben, looking angry. “I’m going back to my father.”

  “But I’m your father,” objected Lob.

  “Krillester’s my father,” scowled Deben. But then he relented. “You too, dad. Come back with me and I’ll keep you with me as a body-servant.”

  Lob appeared to accept this to Nathan’s surprise, but everyone else was talking at the same time. “I have to go back to the house,” said Alice.

  “And I shall go with her,” declared Alfie.

  “I’ll stay wiv me dad on the ship and sail home,” said John. “Then I can tell him more magical truths, and get him to understand more proper “Sides, I likes sailing..”

  “I insist you take me home,” glared Violet.

  “But I’ll come back with Nat,” said Peter. “I want to get back to the lute, and the kittens and Gillywobbles and Candykins.”

  “All your illustrious animals are at the cottage,” said Hermes. “I will gladly carry you, my illustrious friend, and also the illustrious empola.”

  “I thought everyone was coming, and now no one is,” sighed Nathan, “Just me and Peter and Poppy. But that’s alright. We’ll all meet up again soon. What about you, Ninester?” he called as Ninester wandered back with a bright smile and the puppy in his arms.

  “Oh yes, yes,” grinned Ninester. “I’m afraid Little Smudge has fleas and I want to give him a nice soapy bath.”

  Then, with a sudden thought, Nathan looked up to the ledge just above the beach where the three kings stood, arms crossed. “Anyone want to visit Lashtang with me?” he called.

  Immediately Richard stepped forwards. “Indeed,” he said. “This will be a fair fight to return the rightful king to the rightful throne. I cannot now fight for my own throne, since you tell me that sadly I am already dead. But I will gladly take on the crusade of fighting for the rightful leader of Lashtang. I shall come with you,” and he walked down to stand beside Nathan.

  Henry V followed. “Indeed,” he said. “I suppose I cannot die twice. And I shall prove again that I am a great warrior.”

  Henry VIII was now standing alone and staring down at everyone. “Oh, very well,” he said at last. “I suppose I’ll come, as long as you get me some servants.”

  The crowd on the beach was now quite considerable, and they all stared in amazement as Poppy and Peter climbed onto the goose’s back. Shark muttered, “Stoopid kids Ain’t no way that bird can fly wiv that weight.”

  Henry VIII started to chuckle. “Try that during my reign, idiots, and I’d throw you all into Bedlam and put the goose in the oven.”

  But almost immediately Hermes stretched out his wings, started to run, flapped his huge white wings twice, and sailed up into the starlit sky, just a white mark against the vast black.

  Arthur clapped his hands, calling, “How grand, how exciting.” Then he turned back to John. “This is marvellous,” he said. “Have you ever travelled like that?”

  “Have indeed,” answered John. “When you starts to believe in magic, reckon one day you can an’all.”

  Nathan turned to Deben and took out the Knife of Clarr. It reflected the twinkle and glimmer of the stars, just as though it was studded with gemstones. “As the Lord of Clarr,” he said loudly and clearly, “I ask you to return Deben and his father Lob to Lashtang during the reign of Krillester Hazlett, at the same moment that they left.” Standing patiently, his head bowed, Deben waited. He had been quiet for most of the day, for although he was angry, he also accepted that his magic had failed, and he no longer felt like the master of the world. Then, as Deben and Lob began slowly to fade, Nathan called, “And remember to be kind. To your real father and everyone else too.” Nathan didn’t believe this would happen, but he had done his best, and he turned back to Alfie and Alice. “Are you sure you want to go back together to medieval London?”

  Alice nodded, and Alfie took her hand. “Just for a little while,” Alice said. “I must see my home and the people there, and rest there and feel safe. But please don’t forget me, I want to come back to Lashtang soon and help with whatever I can.”

  “Same for me,” said Alfie. “I’m going to train with an expert. I want to be a warrior. I want to fight for you in the great rebellion to come.”

  “I promise I’ll come and visit soon,” said Nathan, and lifting the shimmering knife, he said the words as always, and gradually both Alice and Alfie, waving madly, disappeared.

  “Look after Pimple,” John yelled after them.

  “Thank goodness it’s all working this time,” Nathan sighed to himself. “No confusions or flying off to China or anything.”

  Arthur shook Nathan’s hand. “What a remarkable young man,” he said. “I never realised what important friends my little Johnny has. I hope to see you again soon.”

  Following his father, John climbed into the small rowing boat, ready to climb on board his ship and sail back to England. Keeping utterly silent, frightened, angry and extremely puzzled, Violet Crinford also tottered across the sand and scrambled into the boat as both John and Arthur took the oars. John waved. “Sees yer all mighty soon.”

  “Make it really, really soon,” Nathan called back.

  Captain Terror was grinning. “You call on me, young man, when you want to fight for your throne,” he said. “I’ll be ready, and my crew too. And me mates, all them Sicilian brigands. We all like to fight for a good cause. Just call. We’ll be waiting. But you’ll need that mighty useful knife of yorn, or we’ll never find the country you talks about.”

  Most of the pirate crew began to climb back onto their ship, but Ninester, still clutching the puppy, and the three kings were all standing on the beach, wondering what was going to happen next.

  “Right,” said Nathan, “Now it’s our turn.”

  This was a special thing to ask the knife, and Nathan clutched it more tightly than usual. They were only here in the first place because the knife had got the magic wrong. But it wasn’t the knife, Nathan admitted to himself. It had been everyone talking at once. Now he’d have to be extra careful.

  Henry VIII promptly sat down on the sand. His grand and bejewelled clothes were covered in sand, mud and daisy petals, but he just looked a little scared. Henry V and Richard III stood bright-eyed, seemingly quite excited. Ninester was busy telling the puppy not to be frightened and soon he could have dinner and a big juicy bone.

  “Please, everyone keep really really quiet.” Nathan held up the knife. “From the Lord of Clarr to the Knife of Clarr,” he said loudly, “please take us back to the cottage in Lashtang so we arrive at the same time as Hermes. Me, Ninester and the dog, and my three friendly kings here. Take us all now.”

  A sudden roar from Henry VIII made Henry V laugh, calling, “You’d be no good in battle, sir. I doubt you could even climb on a horse.”

  “How dare you,” shouted the other Henry. “You’re no ancestor of mine. You should have sympathy since I rule our great country even though I’ve never had a faithful wife and I have a bad leg with a wound that never goes away.”

  Henry V pointed to a huge scar on one cheek. “I was wounded too,” he scowled, “and had to have an arrowhead pulled from my skull.”

  “Wow,” said Nathan. “That must have been so painful without anaesthetic.”

  “I have no idea what anaesthetic is,” grumbled Henry V, “but I certainly didn’t have any.”

  Richard III, ignoring these pointless interruptions, was standing very close to Nathan, hands tight clasped, waiting for his sudden flight into a new world.

  Quite abruptly, e
verything went dim and blurred, the stars flicked out. The sand beneath their feet turned to cloud, and Henry VIII squeaked in alarm as the puppy whimpered. Then a new scene began to take shape around them. Instead of night time, it was bright and sunny with a blue sky and a warm breeze. There were huge orange and white flowers growing in clumps, and deep purple flowers spread across the ground. A large garden bench stood behind them, and in front was a pretty cottage which spread from end to end of the garden with a long line of shining windows. As everyone blinked, smiling at the beauty of Lashtang, Hermes came flying down beside them, Poppy and Peter climbed off his back, and three people came running out of the cottage door.

  “At last, at last,” cried Bayldon. “Who shall I hug first? Poppy or Nathan?”

  “Me!” said Poppy, rushing into her father’s arms.

  Behind him came Messina, who stared at the three kings, then nodded, saying, “You are welcome to my home. I believe I recognise all of you, although I am extremely surprised to see you arrive here. Come in and tell me your stories.”

  Sam was the other one who ran from the cottage and bumped straight into Ninester. “Great to see you,” he said. “You’ve got a puppy.”

  Granny was peeping from the kitchen window. “Come on in,” she called. “There’s chicken and salad and strawberries and ice cream. Enough for everyone.”

  And as they door was wide open, out scampered Mouse, Flop, Gosling and Mars Bar, Mavis and one of her puggles who was now the same size as her, Dimples who was a very large hairy tarantula and Poppy had to scream to stop Henry V stamping on her, the two baby llamas Candykins and Gillywobbles that both trotted happily out into the sunshine, and Ferdinand, leaving Granny’s apron pocket to see who was coming.

  “Good gracious me,” said Richard III, staring at the menagerie in surprise.

  But Henry V burst out laughing, and everyone hurried inside for tea.

  The kings, of course, had no idea what tea was but they all enjoyed it, and were even more enthusiastic about the previously unknown ice cream.

  “I do believe I shall be very happy here,” decided Richard III.

  It was over a long evening when everybody was able to tell their stories. Sadly, all the kings had started to forget their past lives. “I remember the battle,” sighed Henry V. “I won, you know. A great victory against the French and they had four times as many men as I did. But their king was a madman. Can’t remember much else.”

  “Humph,” grumbled Henry VIII. “I was a great king. Head of the new church too. Several children. All my people cheered me. Loved me. Best king ever.”

  “I doubt that’s true,” smiled Messina. “The people cheered you because they were frightened of being punished if they didn’t. You ordered hundreds and hundreds of people killed.”

  “Including your wives,” said Nathan with a frown.

  “Humph,” said Henry. “Can’t remember.”

  “And you,” said Nathan, looking rather sheepishly at Richard III, “have a bad reputation now, because of the princes in the Tower.”

  “Tower? Princes?” mumbled Richard. “Ah yes, I suppose you mean my nephews, my brother’s two young boys.”

  “They disappeared,” continued Nathan. “People think you killed them.”

  “Dear, dear, how sad,” said Richard. “As if I’d kill my own sweet nephews. One was named after me, you know. I wanted to keep them safe and sent them off to Flanders for my sister to look after. Very happy they were too.”

  Ninester was in one of the upper floor bathrooms, washing Little Smudge. The squeaks of delight, the splashes and thumps, all resounded downstairs. “Well, they’re having fun,” decided Zakmeister.

  “Hope he gives that puppy a good scrubbing,” said Poppy. “Poor little thing was very grubby.”

  “I’m cooking up rice, with a great big bone for him,” nodded Granny.

  Sam’s story had everybody listening very closely indeed. It was such a long story, and everyone kept asking more and more questions, wanting every fascinating detail, so it was getting dark before he had finished. He told all about going to Sparkan with Hermes, and then finding the four stars like Yaark, and especially the purple star Grublick. Then he explained about his silver finger, laughed, and said how now he had magical powers as well.

  “Oh dear,” sighed Peter. “Now I’m the only one left without any magic at all.”

  Nathan shook his head. “You can play the magical lute. Soon you’ll find out more that the music can do.”

  “But I have nothing,” wailed Poppy. “I’m useless. It isn’t fair.”

  “Nor Alfie, John and Alice,” Nathan reminded her.

  “But I’m the empola and I’m just pathetic,” Poppy moaned.

  “Well, my dear, we will have to see what we can do about that,” said Granny, looking over her shoulder as she stood at the oven. “No granddaughter of mine can be pathetic,” but she was laughing.

  “Well, I went to Sparkan too,” said Nathan. “But I wanted to cut the Eternal Chain, and it wouldn’t let me because I had to do something else first. Then I got blown up in the volcano.”

  “And I went to Bymion Palace,” sighed Poppy, “and ended up in the dungeons and found Lob and then got blown back to England. And then Deben turned up.”

  “And then we all found each other,” said Nathan. “That was good.”

  “All except me,” said Sam sadly. “I stayed here. But I know a lot more about Yaark now, and the others, and the jelly-oxen. There’s parrot-folk too but we haven’t seen any of them yet.”

  “But Yaark and the other three stars are still free,” said Messina, who was sitting at the head of the table, twisting the stem of her glass around and around. “And that is the most important thing of all. They must be found. They must be captured. And then they have to be destroyed.”

  “This sounds most interesting,” said Richard III, leaning forwards across the table. “What is a Yaark star? And why is it dangerous?”

  “Oh dear,” said Bayldon. “This is going to be an even longer story. We’ll still be talking at midnight.”

  “I don’t mind,” said Peter. “It’s exciting.”

  Sherdam yawned. “Zakmeister, my friend, will you tell the long dark story of Yaark and all the wickedness he has done?”

  “And the wizards I’ve heard about,” added Henry V.

  “Oh dear,” said Sherdam. “Brewster and Wagster Hazlett. Twin wizards. Can be wicked. Can be friendly.”

  “Well, Brewster can be friendly,” admitted Poppy. “But we haven’t seen them except for a few minutes when Brewster arrived in the balloon and dropped poor Ninester on top of us.”

  “Well, I don’t mind,” said Ninester, marching into the room with soap suds half way up his arms, and the puppy wrapped in a big pink towel, “cos I met Little Smudge. So it was good.”

  “Don’t understand a word,” grumbled Henry VIII from a large armchair. “Going to sleep. Wake me up when all these idiot made-up stories are over.” And he closed his eyes and immediately began to snore.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “It’s been a wonderful day of rest,” Nathan agreed, “after yesterday with all those stories. But tomorrow I must go back to Sparkan and cut the Eternal Chain.”

  “Me too,” said Poppy, looking very fierce as though she was challenging anyone who might tell her not to go or try to tell her she wasn’t needed.

  “And me,” interrupted Sam. “I’ve got magic now. And I know where the chain is. And I know all about the stars. And I was really helpful and did things. So you can’t just say I’m the baby anymore, and just ought to stay at home.”

  “Not you too?” Nathan stared at Peter.

  “Yes, me too, but this time I’m bringing my lute,” insisted Peter. “And I was with you before, so there’s no excuse to say no.”

  “Albright,” said Nathan. “I’ve talked to Mum and Granny about it. Both Mum and Dad wanted to come too, but Granny says since I’m the one with the knife, and I’m the on
e that has to do the cutting, then surely I’m the one that’s supposed to go and not like a little boy who has to hold his parents’ hands.”

  “His sister’s hand instead,” Poppy said, trying not to giggle.

  It was Sam who laughed. “You can hold my silver finger.”

  “All I’m holding will be the Knife of Clarr,” said Nathan, not amused. “And I have to do it first thing tomorrow. So whoever wants to come has to get up early.”

  Nathan’s bedroom was right at the back of the cottage, with a large window looking out over the back garden where a climbing wisteria hung across the glass. Instead of flowering only in Spring like most wisteria flowers, this one kept going all year and the perfume was wonderful. Nathan loved this bedroom, even better than the modern one in Hammersmith, and he happily climbed into bed and snuggled up under the pretty checked sheets. There was no need for a blanket or quilt, for it was a lovely warm night. He kept the curtains drawn and peeped out of the window, so he could see the two Lashtang moons shining close together.

  He was looking forward to the next day, for he had felt guilty long enough regarding the Eternal Chain. First he took ages just to find it, and then he was sent away to find things out before cutting it. Yet until the chain was cut, all those tiny creatures in the fields, plains, marshes and savanna could not become men and women again, could not return to their homes, and could not carry on their work. The lives they had lived before were now impossible, and they risked many dangers being tiny creatures. Other matters could improve once he cut the eternal Chain, for most of those rescued men and women would fight for the Octobrs against the Hazletts, and finally bring peace to Lashtang.

  Closing his eyes, Nathan quickly began to doze. But after an hour sleeping, he felt a great weight squashing his body. At first it seemed to be part of his dream, but then as the weight refused to move, Nathan woke up, and rubbed his eyes, disbelieving.

  A great monstrous weight lay across him, pinning him to the bed. He could not see what it was, and could only gasp for breath, struggling to free himself. He called for help, but his voice was so squashed and muffled it came out as a little puff, and no one could hear it except himself.