by Vance Huxley
“First we find out who told him about the game. He’ll want a familiar voice.” Abel took out his phone. “We’ll split the calls between us.”
Ten minutes later Kelis raised a fist in triumph. “Got him! He’s one of Justin’s cousins. Justin is going to ring up and explain it isn’t really that scary, and someone will get to him and organise training.”
“Any ideas on that?” Rob frowned at his phone. “I’ve got two offers of transport so far, but only to drop someone off.”
“We need someone who can go missing for a weekend, someone advanced enough to give the poor kid confidence.” Abel glanced at his arm. “No spooky-phone to help this time, so somebody this Kieran will trust.”
“Justin and his sister Rachel can vouch for whoever goes. That should be enough.” Kelis started texting.
“We’ll need a proper plan for when we get more.” Abel looked up and the other two were staring at him. “It will be when, not if. The cat is out of the bag, a great big ugly magical cat.”
“Curses.” Kelis scowled. “This is when I wish I could swear properly, but I can’t risk making it real.”
“Crikey flipping bleddering tarnation?”
Kelis’ forehead wrinkled in thought for a moment. “What’s a bleddering, Rob?”
“I made it up so I don’t know and it can’t be made real.” Rob preened a little. “I could invent a whole string of new curses for sorcerers?” The other two weren’t so sure. They’d both started wondering what a bleddering could be and might create some entirely new creature by accident.
An hour later Shawn had agreed to spend the weekend in the Hope Valley. In the game the allegedly magical symbols had to be drawn or carved on wood or rock before activation, but now the fledgling sorcerer would learn the truth. Only one symbol in the game was a true glyph, and all it needed was magic and the intent to activate it. One of the other trainees had a tent and agreed to go as well, to save renting accommodation. Better yet, Kieran would meet another relatively new trainee still practicing with a leaf. The text from Ferryl/Jenny saying “phew” more or less summed it up.
Visitors
Heading home with Rob, Abel carried on discussing ways to deal with new magic users who didn’t live near Stourton. When Abel opened his garden gate, Rob stopped talking to point at a stone figurine in the garden.
“A Goblin? Here?” As Rob spoke the dog-like head turned into a round green one though the squat, scaled body and small wings still looked like stone.
“The slippery slithery is still here, sorcerer. We hunted down the Hoplins and other small creatures.” It smirked as it spoke. “A pack of us even cornered a Globhoblin. It was delicious.”
“Sorry, we’ve been very busy.” Abel turned to Rob and explained the missing barrier posts and what the goblins had told him.
“So where is the, what did you call it, a slippery slithery? Where is it hiding?”
The Stonelin turned to Rob. “It lives in the old Ratlin tunnels, under the churchyard. It stung two of us and ate them, drained their magic. We sealed up all the holes inside the walls but it has other exits so we can only look for food in packs. Where is the sorceress?” Its eyes moved to Abel’s sleeve. “The new creature in your arm does not seem as strong.”
“Can we get to see it, get an idea of what we’re dealing with?” Abel needed a better description before he phoned Ferryl/Jenny, so she could tell him if they’d got a real problem.
“It is across the road, under the lilac bush. It follows you, apprentice.” As Rob and Abel turned to look the Goblin continued. “It knows when you leave the house. It follows and finds a place to watch, though it cannot get into the Dead Wood or the Sorcerer’s Keep.”
“Does it talk to anyone, or have a magical tether?” Abel thought of the watcher in the park.
“We have not seen it speak, nor any magical connections though a sorcerer might hide one.”
“I can snatch it?” Zephyr had also thought of the watcher.
“No Zephyr, not until we see how big it is.” Abel tried to see under the bush, but either the creature had blurred the view or it blended into the shoots and leaves. “Rob, smack the bush with a wind glyph please. I’ll be ready if it breaks cover.” The smoky shape shot across the road, dead leaves flew up into the air, and something long and low shot out of the shadows. Abel and Rob got an impression of a long scaled shape, pointed head, a crest on its back and two stumpy chicken-legs almost blurring as it ran off. It disappeared, leaving Abel with a half-formed flame glyph on his hand.
“It never did that before, ran.” The Goblin had turned completely into a fat green munchkin to come to the gate and look, but now it looked guilty and turned back into stone. The mouth and eyes turned green again. “Sorry. We didn’t think it could balance on those two little legs. I wonder if the wings work as well?”
“That bit on the back is wings?” Rob looked in the direction the creature had gone. “That’s towards the churchyard so it probably went to ground. We’ll need Ferryl to burn it out of those tunnels like we did the Ratlins. That’s if fire bothers those scales.”
“I’m more worried about it spying on me.” Abel turned to the Stonelin. “What does it do if I’m not here?”
“It follows him or the other one.” It looked at Rob. “Or watches your houses and families.”
That settled it. Rob wasn’t having some creature creeping round after his little sister, especially after he found out it killed a rat. If it could hurt real animals as well as magical it had to go as soon as possible. While he stomped off home to collect his enchanted rounders bat, Abel texted Kelis. On the way to collect her, he asked the Goblin how to find the thing, but Zephyr already had the answer. “I can find it now. There are many magical signs in the village, many creatures moving about and each sort has a magical taste. I did not realise that one should not be here.” Zephyr must be seeing or tasting Batlins, fae, faeries, Piskies and the other small creatures either encouraged or tolerated by Abel and his friends. “I can go down the tunnels and search?”
The Goblin stopped that idea, because Zephyr wouldn’t be strong enough and might be caught in the narrow tunnels. Unfortunately, the creature would run away from anyone strong enough to hurt it. When Abel explained everything to Kelis, she only had one question. “It follows you? So if you went for a walk it would follow Abel?” The Goblin agreed and Kelis pointed along the road. “So walk up there, Abel, towards Castle House.”
Abel didn’t fancy it, especially when Kelis insisted that Zephyr couldn’t contact anyone else. The creature might see the spooky-phone, and realise it was a trap. According to the Goblin, Abel was stronger than the slithery so with Kelis he should be able to clobber it. Just in case it got away Rob volunteered to guard the middle of its three escape tunnels. He could always run to the others if the intruder went that way.
The three of them hesitated but none of them liked the idea of this thing creeping around their families, families unaware of magic and so unprepared for any attack. Zephyr flew up high, reporting that the creature now lurked at the entrance to the nearest tunnel to Abel. It really seemed interested in him, which meant he had to try.
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Abel felt twitchy as he walked up the road alone in the dark. Zephyr flew high above, but only connected to him because if she talked to the others the slithery might see the magical phone lines. He paused at the gate, but still nothing happened so he went into Castle House gardens. Once he’d crossed the lawn Abel hid behind a tree and watched the road.
This time he saw the long, chicken-headed shape clearly as it slithered across the grass to hide in the depression where the Bound Shade, a dead tree, had once stood. A warning from Zephyr meant Abel already had a glyph forming when Kelis’ flew from behind a garden wall near the slithery. He started running, a second fire glyph growing in the other hand.
Because Kelis had sneaked past to strike from behind, the wind glyph bowled the slithery out of the hollow towards the road. For a moment t
he slithery had an open escape route away from Brinsford, but it ran towards the safety of the tunnels giving Abel a clear shot. Both fire glyphs hit, one on a leg and the other on that scaled tail. The leg buckled for a moment and a loud hissing filled the night, but the scales deflected the other attack.
“Tell Kelis and Rob, fire is no good on the scales.” Though as Zephyr’s spooky-phone snaked out to connect to them and pass the message Abel could see that Kelis had stuck to her favourite, wind. A tight glyph struck the beaked head, knocking it sideways and the creature staggered, slowing long enough for Abel to hit his target leg twice more. That slowed it up, but instead of limping onward what looked like a crest on its back blurred, and the creature flew upwards!
Even as the long shape swooped back towards Kelis, beak agape to show rows of tiny teeth, Zephyr broadcast a reminder. “Watch the tail sting!” Kelis had already launched one glyph at the beak, but her second swatted the tail aside. Neither was as powerful as the first ones, because Kelis had no time to concentrate now. Abel had the same problem, especially while running. His two quick wind glyphs barely knocked the creature aside far enough to miss Kelis.
Rubbish rained down out of the sky, all around it! Small rocks, bits of pizza and a chicken carcase mixed with tin cans and other less identifiable objects bounced off its wings and head. The creature looked up, hissing angrily and zooming higher where small dark shapes scattered. “Batlins!” That impressed Abel because batlins were small, secretive and fragile and definitely shouldn’t have been confronting something as strong as the slithery. Zephyr dropped out of the sky and skimmed the ground as she suddenly found herself the target.
“Towards me!” Abel had been given a moment to concentrate, and now the target followed Zephyr as she turned his way. He created two tight fire glyphs, very hot, and launched both at that blurring. The ruff around slithery’s neck looked like feathers, so with a bit of luck… A flash of flame, a startled squawk, and the beak, ruff and then the full scaled length smacked into the road, skidding along the tarmac for several metres. Before Abel or Kelis could follow up it doubled back along its own length and staggered into the village again, all thought of fighting forgotten. A streamer of smoke and the stink of burned feathers probably meant it wouldn’t be flying again very soon.
Though despite two more wind glyphs from Kelis it made the relative safety of Brinsford Main Street, half-running, half slithering along the tarmac. Abel and Kelis tried to keep up, firing off wind glyphs, but they had to be careful. Not only might fire glyphs frighten the villagers, but any deflected glyphs could damage windows or cars. As it was, anyone looking outside would have wondered why the pair of them were racing down the street in the gloom, waving their arms about. The creature staggered a few times but didn’t go down, eventually disappearing into the gardens around the old churchyard.
“Wrong tunnel. Rob came this way, it went that.” Not exactly coherent, but Abel and Kelis got the message. They followed the spooky-phone attachments as Zephyr swerved off across the gardens in pursuit. Without the improved night vision gifted by Ferryl they’d have hurt themselves in the chase that followed.
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Abel staggered as he dropped over yet another fence, pausing to catch his breath. The slithery must be tiring because he could see it, but he could also see its escape tunnel. Abel created two very tight, very hot fire glyphs, as Kelis came over the fence beside him. “Curses.” He heard her trying to steady her breathing to concentrate as he lifted both hands.
The goblins nearly made a very big mistake. Abel stifled a yelp of pain as he snuffed the glyphs and burned his hands rather than burn them as a horde poured over the churchyard wall. The goblins pelting the beaked head with everything from a piece of a gravestone to a handful of weeds, stopping it in its tracks.
Slippery slithery hesitated for a moment, then lowered its head to charge. The goblins kept yelling and throwing, but from the way they flinched from the beak and raised tail none of them wanted to actually fight. Even as Abel strengthened wind glyphs he saw Kelis raise her hands, but he doubted hitting it from behind would stop the thing moving towards safety. Kelis hesitated as a blur shot down from up high, levelling out to hit the creature in the head with a loud smack. With a screech of pain the beak snapped at its assailant, but Zephyr had already bulleted away towards Abel.
The creature hesitated, it really wanted payback and no wonder. One eye looked as if someone had hit it with a hammer! Abel and Kelis let their glyphs go, but as expected they did no more than make it stumble as it turned back towards escape. The goblins scattered, the last two leaping over the wall as the slithery tottered towards its tunnel, then its head jerked round. Rob charged into sight, swinging his rounders bat underhand. With a shout of triumph he connected with the underside of the beak.
A crack echoed as the carved ward on the bat met magical resistance, followed by a flash of light as the creature’s head came up and over. The whole front end followed as its legs crumpled, it overbalanced, and the lot fell over in a thrashing mess of scaled tail, beak and claws. Its tail came up, poised, but Rob had his bat ready. The crack wasn’t as loud this time but the end of its tail drooped, swinging loosely.
Abel called out “Use fire!” and let the flame build in his palms as he ran forward. With no goblins in the line of fire and a clear shot at the creature’s head, Abel didn’t hold back. He added a bit of wind, flinching at the brief flamethrower effect before it shut off!
“Oh yeah, barbecue.” Rob belted the charred head while Kelis stepped closer, aimed carefully and arrowed two hot glyphs into the least damaged eye.
Abel didn’t get fancy again. He stuck to pure fire as he and Kelis, with Rob smacking the legs when the creature tried to stand, concentrated on the parts without scales. Moments later the three of them watched the two metre length bubble and melt away into nothing.
A woman’s voice jerked all their heads round as light from an open door lit up the lawn. “Oi, what are you three doing in my garden?”
Both Kelis and Rob moved across a bit to block Mrs. Turner’s view of the largest bubbling bits. “Sorry Mrs. Turner. We saw a fox and chased it so it didn’t get Stan’s chickens. It went down that hole.” Abel pointed at the Ratlin hole the creature had aimed for and hoped Mrs. Turner didn’t see the last scraps bubbling away or the scattered feathers. “We’ll get a spade and fill it in.”
Mrs. Turner sniffed in distain. Not everyone approved of Stan. “You should let it try for the chickens, then at least Stan can shoot something legal.” She looked closer. “Feathers? It really got one?”
“A chicken or maybe a grouse, or hen pheasant?” With luck she couldn’t tell in the gathering dark. “Don’t worry, we’ll sort it out.”
“Try not to make so much noise.” Mrs. Turner squinted, then gave up on the feathers. “You scared the living daylights out of me.” All three heaved a sigh of relief as she shut her door.
“We’ll get a spade? Gee, thanks, I love digging.” Rob bent over the feathers. “Why didn’t these turn to gunk?” He picked one up. “It looks like a rooster feather, coloured. Yeuk! It’s got things moving on it.” While Rob wiped his hand three fire glyphs incinerated the feathers.
“Is it dead?” A green head popped up over the wall in time to see the last bits bubble away. “Good.”
“Can you fill in the holes, please, to stop anything else moving in?” Abel remembered the rain of rubbish. “And pick up the stuff the batlins dropped?”
More goblins looked over the wall. “The batlins should pick that up.” Abel thought that unlikely. By now the batlins would be off hunting insects, faerie and fae.
“Some of it is food. Pizza and chicken?” goblins wouldn’t mind the dirt.
“All right.” A long thin tongue dropped from this one’s mouth to give a long, slow, typically Goblin slurp. “But just the food.” Considering what goblins would eat that meant anything remotely organic, so Abel thanked it and left.
As Rob and Abel wal
ked Kelis home, Zephyr swooped back into her tattoo. “What did you hit that thing with, Zephyr? I thought you couldn’t use glyphs or pick anything up?”
“Not yet. That was me, squished down into a small hard ball. I made me dizzy for a moment.” Abel could feel her tattoo moving, just a little, and hear the excitement in her voice.
“Just be careful Zephyr.” Rob cowered away. “And don’t punch me like that, ever.”
Kelis looked more thoughtful. “Though a Flying Fist of Doom would have come in handy before we learned magic, for dealing with the likes of Henry.”
“I am here to help protect Abel Bernard Conroy. Ferryl Shayde told me that is why he gave me life.”
“Not really, even if I appreciate the help. You mustn’t risk yourself. I don’t want you to die.” Now Abel wondered just what Ferryl had said to the Sprite. By the time he’d dropped off Kelis, and arrived back home, Abel thought he and Rob had explained. Zephyr could help, but not risk capture or dying.
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Friday and the weekend were an anti-climax after that, except maybe for what the creature was. From the description Ferryl/Jenny recognised a Kalkatrie, a supposedly extinct creature. Centuries ago they would be sent out by Greek Gods to either spy or to lead hunters to their prey. Kalkatrie had large eyes that could detect the slightest trail in the faintest light, and see both magic and heat. Their sting would only make the victim sleep so that others could capture it, but the Kalkatrie could easily kill the sleeping victim with its beak.
A second extinct creature from ancient Greece, a dedicated hunter and spy, meant whoever sent the Aryadne’s Hound must still be out there and testing. Though if the Kalkatrie didn’t leave the village and Zephyr saw no magical tether, whoever sent it didn’t get a report this time. All they could do was watch for the next spy and hope it gave them a clue of some sort.