“The stars look so tiny,” murmured Bayldon. “We know they are huge, but from so far away they look absolutely tiny.”
“But so pretty,” said Messina. “Some are silver, some are white, and some are just little spots of cream. And there, see, that one is a pretty blue.”
There was a sudden silence as everyone rushed to the window and peered out. “Blue? You’re right,” said Zakmeister. “How is that possible?”
“Is it really him?” whispered Granny.
“It can’t be anything else,” shivered Messina.
It was Sherdam who turned from the window and gazed at the others. “We trapped him before,” he said. “We have to do it again or as soon as Nathan turns all our people back to men and women, then Yaark could turn them into insects again. Or something worse.”
But Granny was still staring out of the window. “Wait,” she called, very loudly. “Stop. Something else is happening. Something horrible.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Through the shadows came the beasts.
They stank as they rolled, ten legs each scrabbling through the bushes, their jelly bodies squelching and farting, appearing like huge balls of stinking red sludge oozing slime as they moved.
The cottage was surrounded. All around the garden, pushing in from between the trees, tramping through the grass, flattening bushes and flowers, more than twenty fat jelly-oxen had silently arrived, threatening everyone inside the cottage.
They surged closer, closer, until they were squeezing against the windows.
Within the cottage, everything suddenly went black. The sky could no longer be seen, nor any blade of grass, nor any petal of a flower. Only the beasts and the jelly ooze could be seen, filling all the space.. The windows were closed off and no light entered. For one moment Messina, Granny, Bayldon, Zakmeister and Sherdam stood in frozen shock. They had seen these creatures tiny and blind, trying to suck the life from Sam’s neck. Then they had seen one grow as large as Nathan, and it had rolled on top of him, squashing and suffocating him. Now these foul things were giants, their ten spindly arms and legs had grown to tree trunks and their bodies were as large as a coach, massive astride its fat bandy legs. They waddled, encircling the cottage, moving one way and then the other, until they were so wedged against the walls, three of four layers thick, that not even they could move. The stench came pouring through the doors and chimneys, and a sound of sucking, sucking at the walls, sucking at the windows, and sucking along the ground. And now, for the first time their eyes and mouths could be seen. In such massive creatures, the tiny spots were visible. At the front of the bodies were ten little oozing knobs that stared around, so tiny that when the jelly-oxen had been small, these eyes had been invisible. Now their mouths were also seen. Flat sucking lips with a long thin tongue that sprang out, white and covered in slobbering spots. Messina, seeing one pressed against the kitchen window, thought she would be sick. She moved back, summoned her magic, raised her arms, and pointed, repeating the spell to make these things explode.
Nothing happened. She called Granny, Zakmeister and Sherdam. “We must do this together,” she said. “It seems these vile creatures have been protected by some magic from Yaark or the Hazletts. They don’t react to my words.” They stood together, backs to each other, pointing outwards, and spoke the same words. Three times they repeated the same spell, then another which worked to strengthen the spell already spoken.
Nothing happened.
The globs pressed ever closer, those behind squashing those in front. Now, with the red squelch uniting, it seemed like one great red barrier of stink and sludge crushing in upon the walls of the cottage. And then, finally, two of these creatures climbed upon the backs of their companions and rolled onto the cottage roof. Inside the ceiling began to crack and break. Zakmeister immediately raised his hands and shouted the magic to double the strength of the ceiling, putting up beams and thick boards. At once the cracking stopped and the ceiling was safe. Zakmeister looked back at the others. “It would be sad to lose our home,” he murmured, “but I think we must leave. Together we can magic ourselves out into the fields, or all the way to Peganda if you wish, or the tower.”
“To the fields first I think,” said Messina, and standing close, each one spoke the words.
Yet once again, nothing happened. “What’s gone wrong?” demanded Granny. “Has our magic disappeared? Has Yaark made us suddenly powerless? We must try something else.”
“First,” said Sherdam, stepping forwards, “We strengthen the walls of this cottage. If we can’t get out, at least we have to make sure these things can’t get in. Make this cottage secure.”
Beams now grew up the walls, wooden slats over the windows and doors, and huge boulders across the floors. “Not terribly beautiful,” sighed Messina. “But it must be done. We can remove it all once we find a way of getting rid of these jelly things.”
“I have an idea,” Bayldon said quickly, but keeping his voice low. “I cannot make the magic myself, but if you can put a spell to protect this house against fire, and then send sparks and flames out into this squash of Yaark’s servants outside? First keep the house safe and then burn those things.”
“An excellent idea,” said Sherdam. And he spoke the words to protect the cottage. Then both he and Messina sent out fire and smoke, and although they could see nothing, they could hear the sound of crackling flames.
They waited. Almost holding their breath, they stood, gazing at each other, and hoping. But again, like a nightmare they could not escape, nothing happened. The nightmare continued, and they could not wake. “I can guess,” sighed Granny. “Those fat wet lumps have rolled onto the flames and put them out before the fire could grow. Now we have to find a way of seeing what is happening outside. All the boards and beams have to become transparent. If we can’t see outside, we won’t know what to do next.”
The others nodded. Once again they stood together and made the magic they needed. The windows were glass again, and there were more of them where the walls grew transparent. But seeing, as gradually the view outside became clear, brought more problems. Indeed, now they could see again, they knew the situation was even worse.
Messina gasped. It seemed there was a rippling wall of red mess in every direction. The things’ mouths dribbled red slime, their eyes oozed red sweat, and their tongues, licking up the walls, left thick trails of pale muck. The faint sound of their wallowing and rubbing together was like the slush of feet in wet mud and no magic yet seemed to stop them.
“Swords,” said Zakmeister. “If they don’t react to magic, then we use the old fashioned method.”
“But how do we get out to attack them?” demanded Bayldon. “Even that magic doesn’t work.”
“Yaark was watching,” said Messina. “I saw the star before these jelly things got so close. I believe Yaark has protected them in some way –put a protective barrier around those things, just as we have put one around the house.”
Granny said the one thing none of them had expected. “Shall I put the kettle on?” she said. “I think we all need a cup of tea.”
“Now look,” said Messina, “we need magic, we need explosions, maybe miracles – but certainly we don’t need tea.”
“Oh yes we do,” said Granny. “We need to sit calmly together and make proper plans. Remember some of the old magic that may work better, and try something quite new. It seems those creatures can’t be hurt so easily – but nor can we. We’ve protected ourselves and the cottage. So time is the one thing we have. So calm down, no more wild ideas, let’s relax – and think.”
The tea was strangely calming, Granny didn’t tell anyone she’d put a spell on it to make it taste extra nice. There were also biscuits and doughnuts with coloured sprinkles. “Right,” said Sherdam, elbows on the table, “The fire didn’t hurt them, and they squashed it out. What about arrows?”
“I think their barrier is too strong,” said Messina. “But we can try.”
“How about
a series of attacks one after the other?” said Granny. “That might just manage to break through.”
“So – arrows.”
“Then lightning blasts,” said Bayldon.
“Boiling hot water,” said Messina.
Zakmeister said, “Freezing cold sharp icicles.”
“And a hurricane and tornado,” suggested Granny.
“More fire.”
Bayldon leaned forwards. He said, “Spears up their bums.”
“And everything together,” said Messina.
Sherdam nodded. “I have a feeling none of this can work. I doubt these great jelly-lumps will even feel sticks or arrows, nor care about hot or cold, winds or fires. But these are things we can easily produce, and it will take only minutes to discover whether anything works.”
It seemed almost a game at first as they all summoned their magic and threw everything they could imagine at the slobbering beasts outside. But most of their attempts did not even reach the creatures and were stopped in mid-air. The arrows and spears fell in a heap in the trees beyond the garden, the hot water and boiling oil splashed away into the clouds, the icicles and snow melted, the winds blew backwards, the hurricane fizzled into a breeze, the tornado went flop and slithered away, and the fire went out with a hiss and a small finger of smoke. Finally the lightning faded into speckled white lines in the distance, and the thunder sounded more like some boy’s indigestion.
Sighing, Zakmeister said, “I feared that would happen. Now we must think of something far more dangerous.”
“The old, old magic.” Granny put her hands together beneath her chin, and after a moment’s silence, “I could conjure up a dark genie, “she said softly. “But I can’t believe these jelly things are easily frightened.”
“But it seems they’re always hungry,” said Sherdam suddenly. “So if we send piles of food somewhere, they might all move off to feed.”
“Brilliant.” Granny clapped her hands. “So, apart from people, what do these beasts love to eat?”
Nobody knew. “But we can send out a good variety, especially foods that smell tasty,” said Messina.
“Out on the edge of the garden, perhaps,” suggested Bayldon. “Too far away, and they won’t know anything’s there. These beasts are just lumps of stupidity, so we have to make it easy. Away from the cottage, but close enough for them to smell and see the food.”
“Sucking heads?” wondered Bayldon, pulling a face. “Must we give them heads and brains to eat?”
Slowly and carefully, everyone created a pile of food, spread around the edges of the garden well behind where the jelly-oxen had crowded. There was roast beef cooked with plenty of garlic. There was fried bacon, boiled eggs, raw meat on the bone, grilled liver in gravy, boiled onions with slices of ginger, fried kidneys, bowls of milk and steaming jugs of hot chocolate.
It took a good deal longer than anyone had expected, but eventually one creature lumbered around, slurping and sniffing, and seemed to have recognised the close possibility of eating. It began to move away from the cottage, rolling in the opposite direction. Another followed it. Then a third. But the rest did not move from their squash along the walls. Messina and Granny kept watching as Bayldon, and Zakmeister waited at the door with their swords ready to rush out and attack. But there was no way out, for the slime-monsters remained against the doorway, and did not move. Sherdam had sat at a distance, building up a strong magic to make all the food shrink the jelly-oxen to their normal size. Then Granny shouted, “They’re carrying the food back with them. They’re going to eat it here. That’s spoiled the whole plan.”
The sound of cheerful eating was loud and ugly. The things gulped and sucked noisily, spitting slime and vomiting pieces back onto the ground, then nudged another aside to eat what it had puked. It was not long before all the food was eaten, and no crumb remained, but the beasts had not moved from their siege of the cottage.
“There has to be a way,” Messina said loudly, standing, hands on her hips, in the centre of the room. “I will not let that wicked Yaark get the better of me.”
“I have put spells on the food,” Sherdam told them. “It should shrink every one of them. They should grow considerably smaller. If this finally works, then we can fight them, leave the cottage and chase them off. Or if they grow small enough, we could trap them as we did before.”
“They’ve eaten mountains of food,” said Zakmeister, shaking his head. “That usually makes them swell and grow larger.”
“We’ll wait and see,” said Granny, sitting down, clearly very tired.
It had been exhausting for them all. The shock of such a sudden and unexpected attack, the sighting of Yaark and then the disgusting monsters so huge and so impossible to move, had tired each one of them. The continuous effort of making magic which did not work had also been hard. Now Zakmeister said, “We need to rest, or our magic will become weaker and weaker.”
But Granny could not help hopping up every now and again to peer from the window, hoping to see the jelly-oxen growing smaller. “I don’t even know what Yaark hopes to achieve,” she said eventually. “With them just stuck outside, and us just stuck in here, what good will that do? He can’t starve us out. We can at least make our own food in here. Besides I have a cupboard full.”
“When Nat and the others come back,” decided Bayldon, “they may be able to achieve something from outside. The Knife of Clarr could help. And if we can get them a message, then they can gather the people of the plains, and kill this jelly-filth from behind.”
“I may be able to summon a messenger,” said Sherdam thoughtfully. “But the trouble is, he’s a bird from Peganda. Certainly can’t fight the beasts but can take a message to someone who could.”
“But if the bird lands outside, how do we give him the message?” demanded Zakmeister. “We can’t shout it. The jelly-slime will hear us, and Yaark too.”
“I have a different idea,” said Granny, sitting up. “We have a small collection of messengers already hear, don’t we! There’s Ferdinand fast asleep in my pocket. He can’t move very fast, but he knows all the places to go, and can explain any message we want to send. Then there’s Mavis. The echidna also moved very slowly, but she speaks nicely. Lastly there’s Dimples. She’s a tarantula and a very fast one. She might be able to go faster.”
“I wish Hermes was here,” said Messina, sitting back. “Sending a messenger is a brilliant idea, but all these tiny friends would take a week to arrive anywhere.”
With a quick shake of her apron, which sent up small clouds of white flour, Ferdinand woke with a frog-like gulp, and said, “What’s wrong, illustrious lady?”
Granny scooped him out in her palm and showed him the scene from the window. Ferdinand nearly fell off her hand. “I cannot believe it, mistress,” he squeaked. “Am I dreaming?”
“Unfortunately not,” said Zakmeister. “We’ve been trying to get rid of these foul creatures for nearly two hours. Nothing seems to work, although we have protected the house in every way and none of them can burst in. Nor can we get out. It is Yaark, of course, and I believe these things are the brainless servants from Yaark’s meteor. Rather like cattle. They call them jelly-oxen, and I believe they’re far more stupid than cattle.”
“I’ve always liked cows,” murmured Sherdam.
Ferdinand was perplexed. “I will do whatever you wish, illustrious lords and ladies. But I do not believe I alone will be capable of killing these gigantic things.”
“No, no,” said Granny quickly. “I wondered if you could creep out under these beasts; legs, and take a message to Tryppa and Jassle, and all our other friends, asking them to come here and storm the cottage.”
With abject apologies, Ferdinand sat on Granny’s lap, gazing around with his huge froggy eyes. “I fear I am a woeful and useless friend,” he said, I am deeply sorry to be so feeble, but I must point out that the Lady Tryppa, Lady Jassle and all the other lustrous lords and ladies that I know, have all gone to help rebuild Peganda.
I fear that even if I run all the way and never stop one moment to rest, it will take me a week to arrive at our great city.”
“I know it,” sighed Sherdam, “But we may try to send you quicker by magic, or even call the Sky Train.”
But, as everything else, this did not work for the magical barrier which Yaark had placed around them all stopped their powers and they could neither leave themselves, nor order anyone else. Yet, as they sat together gradually feeling more and more helpless, Zakmeister pointed. “That vile thing is definitely smaller than it was,” he said eagerly. “Its legs are shorter. Look. Its body is thinner.”
They all stared and even Ferdinand hopped onto the window sill to watch.
“And that one,” Bayldon called. “And that one at the back.”
“It’s taking a long time, but it’s working,” Sherdam said with huge relief. “They are shrinking.”
“How small?” demanded Granny, pushing between Bayldon and Messina, nose up against the window.
“Only a small amount,” Messina answered. “But it may increase if we wait.”
And it did. At last something was working. More than half the jelly-oxen had shrunk just a little, being shorter and skinnier, and one by one the others plopped down, tired and once again hungry. One at the front gave a whizz slurp and was suddenly half its previous size. Then there was not one which remained as gigantic as before, and a few were no larger than horses or bison. They no longer barricaded the house, for once they lost size, they could not squash up against the windows and doors, nor block the sky.
“Smaller still,” crowed Granny. “If we can get out of the house, I’m quite sure now we can frighten them away with swords, knives and sticks.”
Dominoes Page 28