Deelind and The Icefire

by Lance Dempster

  ‘But what are the tyres all about?’

  ‘Princess Lee put them on in case I find a way of getting back to Hyde Park again. That way, I won’t look so real,’ laughed Zak. ‘They help when I’m a little tipsy. I don’t fall over now. If I fall over it is impossible for me to get back up on my own. That’s why I made sure my house has only one level.’

  ‘I thought snails lived in their shells?’

  ‘We do but I decided to move into my own tree,’ said Zak. ‘Come by and visit anytime.’

  ‘Come on, Dee. School is finished for the morning. Let me show you around the village and we can go get something to eat at the Cracker Jack Pub,’ said Mug, giving a small wave goodbye to Zak.

  ‘Bye, Zak, I’ll be sure to visit!’ she said.

  ‘Why are you all scratched?’ asked Mug.

  ‘I was chased out of the forest by crazy walking and talking twigs,’ she said and explained what happened.

  ‘You stood on an Elp.’

  ‘What is an Elp?’ she said. ‘And I broke it in half.’

  ‘They are Elemental Life Plants, or as everyone calls them, Elps,’ said Mug. ‘You did not break or hurt it. They have a knot in their middle which makes a snapping noise when stood on. We would snap them when we were small. It makes them scream like babies.’

  ‘Shame on you!’ she said, staring at him in surprise.

  ‘I learnt it from Ivan,’ said Mug, his shoulders slumping slightly, ‘and Mum used to shout and threaten us if she heard we had been snapping them. Most of the kids have done it at some point, although I don’t think Tom has.’

  ‘Thank goodness I didn’t actually hurt it,’ she said with a small smile. ‘Why did they bite me and chase me?’

  ‘They must have been protecting something. I have never heard of a cottage either. I wonder if they were protecting the cottage. You said it had a graveyard. Whose names were on the graves?’

  ‘I cannot remember them all as the names were strange, like King Merle Arnethland and Princess Desiree Tia something or the other,’ she said. ‘Those names are the only ones I can remember and pronounce.’

  ‘What?!’ said Mug.

  ‘What?’ she said, looking about, thinking something else was about to happen.

  ‘King Merle is Princess Lee’s father and Princess Desiree Tia is her daughter. But it is not possible. Princess Desiree was given over to Oakman after the attack and King Merle never died here. The graves must be symbolic ones.’

  ‘How did Princess Lee’s mother and father die?’

  ‘It goes back hundreds of years, when Princess Lee and her half-brother Blackthorn were children. Rumours have it that there was black magic involved but the truth is locked away with the royal records somewhere. They lived in the Dragon Kingdom. A whole other world, or so we have been told. It was a dying world with all the mystical folk living under the rule of the royal family. Blackthorn was always jealous of Princess Lee, partly because she was the heir to the throne but also because it was in his nature to be that way. Princess Lee, and Blackthorn fought non-stop.

  ‘Seeing Blackthorn’s jealousy and desire for power begin to take hold of him, Princess Lee’s mother became afraid for Princess Lee’s life. King Merle was focused on trying to find ways to save his kingdom and world, so Queen Inna, Princess Lee’s mother, took matters into her own hands. Inexperienced at magic, she created a potion which she poured into Blackthorn’s drink. The potion ensured that Blackthorn could never hurt Princess Lee. However, Queen Inna’s plan backfired. Somehow Princess Lee drank some of the potion, too, and the potion ended up working both ways, leaving Princess Lee and Blackthorn unable to directly harm each other to this day. Blackthorn turned his anger towards Queen Inna. He would constantly find ways to make the queen’s life harder. One day he went too far and poisoned her. She died.’

  ‘King Merle went mad with rage when he found out what Blackthorn had done. To escape his father’s wrath, Blackthorn fled here. With so many difficulties in his own world, King Merle could not pursue his son, so he exiled Blackthorn. Trusting only Princess Lee, he sent her to watch over Blackthorn and guard the gate here at Brakenhill that leads back to the Dragon Kingdom. She was given permission to kill him if he tried to return, but of course this was not possible for Princess Lee and Blackthorn knew it, too.

  ‘I think that’s it, really. Other than that, I do not know anything else; I’m not even sure this is correct. The only book that has any information of the royal family is locked away in the restricted room in the Learning Tree.’

  At some point in the conversation they had sat down on a bench placed under a large, drooping tree overlooking the river. Everything about the tree sagged, its branches, its bark and even its leaves flopped. Deelind’s eyes started to droop and her body felt heavy with fatigue.

  ‘Quickly! Move away from the tree,’ said Mug, quickly standing while yawning. ‘I was talking so much I didn’t realise we were sitting under this tree. This is the Sleeping Tree. We must go get something to eat now or we will be sleepy all afternoon.’

  ‘What is the Sleeping Tree?’ she said, jumping up in alarm and moving away from it.

  ‘It’s a tree that makes you sleep of course. If you go into the tree, you will sleep until it wakes up. No one ever knows how long it is going to sleep for. The longest it has slept was one year. Other times it may sleep for just one night.’

  ‘Why would anyone ever go into it to sleep, then?’

  ‘No one normally does. It is used for punishment or if someone is seriously ill and needs sleep to heal. This is the quickest way to do that.’

  ‘How do you know when it is awake?’

  ‘It lifts up its leaves and the flowers open.’

  ‘Why put a bench next to it?’

  ‘Some people like to sit near it to help them sleep at night.’ Mug pointed behind them. ‘Look! There is the Learning Tree entrance.’ Seeing her confusion, he said, ‘It’s the school I told you about.’ The tree was huge with boughs thicker than a house. The double doors at the bottom of its trunk were now closed but she could see a field and some smaller trees behind the Learning Tree.

  ‘You see those branches with windows growing out of them? They’re the classrooms. I will show you around tomorrow,’ promised Mug. ‘It’s closed now because the afternoons are for external activities like moling for me in the pit, and training in the Upper house for you.’

  They walked past the Learning Tree and into the village with the river running through it. The stone bridge that straddled the river, allowed access to both sides of the river. She saw a number of individuals popping out of the river, near the bridge, landing squarely on their feet, unlike her landing. They made it look easy.

  Deelind and Mug walked across the bridge and towards an ancient, giant tree that filled a big part of the village on this side of the river. The tree was much wider than her gran’s cottage and had two wooden doors that opened onto the cobbled street they were walking on. The small windows dotted around the trunk were all wonky and crooked with little panes of glass. Small branches grew out the side of the trunk near the bottom of the tree, while large, sturdy branches grew up and outwards higher up the tree. These branches created a canopy above and around the main trunk.

  Looking at an old, warped piece of wood hanging above the door she saw ‘Cracker Jack Pub’ painted on it. They pushed through the doors and found themselves inside the trunk of the tree. It was all rather exciting. This was her first time in a Brakenhill tree house, and it didn’t disappoint. Inside, a tree branch had been grown into a bar counter, while bar stools grew out of the floor. Looking around, she could see the rest of the pub furniture was much the same. She felt her eyes widen when she saw chairs rapidly growing to accommodate a new patron, while other chairs disappeared into the floor when the customers using them walked out of the pub having finished their meal. Wow, if only Zara could see this! She looked up at the ceiling to see why the lighting was so poor, only to see glow beetles instead of lig
ht bulbs. There was the typical smell of food and beer and the hum of chatting from the patrons. Mug walked over to the pub counter and ordered two pies and chips and two fruit drinks.

  ‘That’s our traditional root beer, brewed in the root of the pub’s tree,’ said Mug, pointing to a hollow tree branch in the shape of a wooden barrel, sitting on a shelf at the back of the bar. ‘They won’t serve us alcohol. Dad would close Cracker Jack down if they did and everyone is scared of Dad.’ He led them to a table towards the back, near the kitchens.

  ‘Two chairs,’ said Mug and the chairs popped up around the table.

  ‘Couches,’ said Deelind. To her delight the chairs turned into couches and the table lowered itself to couch height. She quickly sat before Mug could change them back to chairs. This was fun! She had not realised how hungry she was. When the order arrived she was glad to see that the plate was huge and heaped with a steak and ale pie, chips and bread. She had noticed Mug paying for the food and drinks at the bar when he had ordered.

  ‘Do you use money here in Brakenhill?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes, but all the money is handed out by the Money Tree and we can only use it here in the village or in Mole City.’

  ‘The Money Tree,’ she said, looking heavenward. ‘Whatever next?’

  ‘Really, there is a Money Tree. What’s so odd about that?’ said Mug, his forehead creasing with confusion.

  ‘It’s hard for me to believe because I thought they were in the realm of fairy tales, but I can see that you are serious. How does the Money Tree work?’

  Shrugging, Mug said, ‘It is simple really. Each month it grows crown coins. Each coin is worth one crown. What you do will determine how many coins you get at the end of the month. We get one coin every month for going to school, and I get one coin for training as a moler. Dad gets lots because he has to buy goods for managing the pit.’

  ‘But you cannot use them in the real world.’

  ‘This is the real world! Brakenhill is a small, secret world hidden within the outside world. We can go to the Money Tree and ask it to change our money into outside money for when we need to leave Brakenhill. Here, have a look at this one.’ He handed her a single gold crown coin. She was surprised at how heavy the coin was. It had a profile of Princess Lee’s head on one side and a dragon on the other side. Elvish was written around the edge of the coin.

  ‘Is it real gold?’ said Deelind, studying it closely as she brushed her fingers over it, tracing the shapes of the images and the writing.

  ‘Yes, and it is magical. If someone steals it, it will turn brown and everyone knows it is stolen. If you lose it, it will turn green and everyone knows that because it is lost, they cannot use it. If it is lost or stolen, you take it and throw it at the Money Tree’s trunk. The coin will disappear and be given back to the rightful owner. Every time there is a new monarch the head on all the coins will change to that of the new monarch.’

  ‘What happens when you buy something? Who owns the coin then?’ she said, fascinated.

  ‘When you hand over a coin to someone it becomes theirs to use, but all coins really belong to Princess Lee. Here, you keep this coin. Now it belongs to you.’

  ‘I can’t take your money.’

  ‘Yes, you can,’ he said firmly. ‘I never spend much money now that I am always stuck in the pit with Dad. Besides, you will need some money until you get a chance to go to the Money Tree. You can always spend it at Mole City.’

  ‘Thank you!’ she said in delight.

  Mug blushed. ‘You must come with us next time we go. We always go in the summer holidays.’

  They both sat and ate in comfortable silence. They had just finished and were about to start talking about the graveyard when Sergeant Sam came through the pub doors.

  ‘You’re late!’ Sergeant Sam bellowed at Deelind. ‘Come. We’ve got a lot to do this afternoon.’

  With a quick goodbye to Mug, she got up and followed Sergeant Sam out of the pub.

  CHAPTER 9

  THE UPPER HOUSE

  ‘I take it you know how to use Rainbow travel?’ said Sergeant Sam as they walked up to the river.

  ‘Of course,’ Deelind said, not about to lose face with the sergeant. Bending over, the sergeant grabbed hold of the red vein and disappeared into the river. Nervously, Deelind stretched her good hand out towards the red vein. To her relief it rose out of the water towards her hand. She quickly grabbed it as though catching hold of a rope, and felt herself being pulled gently into the vein. Yes! She had this! Looking around her, she pushed her fingers into the top of the vein. Her body shot out of the vein and she was sent splashing into the river. She cradled her waterlogged cast against her body while using her feet to kick herself to the surface. She surfaced, spluttering and wiping water from her eyes. What on earth had happened? Honestly, everyone made Rainbow travel look so easy and it was proving anything but!

  She was a good swimmer and even with her weighty cast she quickly made her way to the riverbank, dragging herself onto the grass. Using a nearby stick, she snagged her hat which had caught on some reeds and fished it out of the river. Tipping the water out, she jammed it on her head and then wrung out her dress as best as she could. Her dress clung to her body and her hair dripped down her face and back. The cast was sodden, weighed a ton and dripped with water. How was she going to face Sergeant Sam looking like this? With little choice, she held out her hand to the red vein and smoothly slipped into it and was on her way again, heading quickly towards the Upper house without any further problems.

  Sergeant Sam was standing on the stone ledge in the middle of the cliff when Deelind jumped out of the water and hurried to join her. Looking Deelind up and down, she said, ‘Huh.’ Deelind felt her face warm. ‘First I need to go by the Great Hall and then you need Nurse Amy to look at your arm. After that we can go to the Upper house,’ said Sergeant Sam as she walked up to the revolving stone doors that Deelind and Mug had used that same morning. They quickly returned to the hall, which was now quiet. The council meeting was over but there were a few Mole People sitting around the pond, talking. ‘Wait here,’ said Sergeant Sam, leaving a dripping Deelind by the back door. She watched as the sergeant walked over to a small, rough-looking group of molers sitting by the edge of the pond. A moler stood and spoke with her, offering a piece of paper. Deelind couldn’t hear what they were saying. Nodding, the sergeant silently took the piece of paper and swiftly slipped it into her uniform pocket.

  ‘Oakman?’ Deelind called mentally. Silence.

  The sergeant returned and led them directly to Nurse Amy.

  ‘I wish we could put your arm in a fibreglass cast, but that can only be done at the large hospital in Mole City,’ said Nurse Amy, giving Deelind a towel to dry off with as they walked to the back of the first aid room. She quickly set about cutting away the wet, crumbling and now stinky plaster cast. After Nurse Amy had washed and dried her arm, she applied a new cast. Deelind’s arm had felt so weak without it; she never thought she’d be so relieved to have the cast back again. ‘There, now keep this one dry. I want you to keep it in a sling for a few days. Your arm is mending well,’ she said with a smile, while pulling a sling over Deelind’s head and tucking her arm into it.

  Standing, Deelind thanked Nurse Amy and followed Sergeant Sam out of the sickroom. The sergeant swiftly led them up a stairwell that took them out into the Upper house.

  * * *

  It was surprising how much bigger the Upper house was when standing in it, than it had appeared from below by the river and from above when Deelind had flown over it the day she had become a featherlite. There was a guard standing next to the door. ‘She is with me,’ said the sergeant.

  ‘Yes, Sergeant,’ replied the guard, his quick eyes taking in Deelind’s soggy appearance. His face was devoid of expression.

  ‘I will give you a tour of the Upper house and then we will get you a featherlite uniform from the stores,’ said Sergeant Sam as she went through the door.

  ‘Ok
ay,’ Deelind said, groaning at the thought of another uniform but thrilled at the prospect of some dry clothes.

  ‘Incorrect. Always say yes and the person’s rank when you answer anyone in the Upper house.’

  ‘Yes, Sergeant,’ said Deelind.

  ‘We have a simple rank system. Private like yourself, winger, corporal, sergeant, sergeant major, lieutenant and captain. Currently, there is only one captain, Captain Roeland, and Princess Lee who is the chief and commander,’ explained the sergeant as they walked out into a large, open field about the size of a football pitch.

  The field was surrounded by buildings which made up the upper lip of the mound. At the back of the mound were the two magnificent, twenty-foot sandstone dragon statues facing out over the valley. A grassed walkway went all the way around the top of the mound, even over the top of the buildings. Dragonknights in dragon form were patrolling the walkway, watching for signs of attack on the manor house from the town and thorn hedge.

  ‘As a featherlite you are expected to wear your featherlite uniform when you are in the Upper house.’

  ‘Why did I never see the Dragonknights when I used to work in the kitchens?’

  ‘The magic makes us look like falcons to normal people,’ said the sergeant.

  That would explain all the birds she used to see around the manor house and the watched feeling she used to get.

  ‘The barracks are to our left, with the ranking officers closest to this entrance to the mound. To our immediate left is the meeting room where all briefings happen. This room is only for the ranked staff.