Shaun was waiting outside and moved closer to the tunnel. When he heard the bugle, he jumped nervously as Herne flashed out of the tunnel, grabbing Shaun by the arm as he passed and pulled him up. They were flying above the ground at breakneck speed. He turned his head.
‘I’ll drop you off before we reach the gates. You put on your shroud and I’ll meet you on the ledge outside.’
‘I thought we were going to spend the night in your cave first.’
‘Yes, but a change of plan. I was spotted in there so we will have to leave before the alarm is raised. It’s okay, I was able to secure the frame before I was recognised, but I fear I will have trouble getting out of here, so best you go on ahead.’
‘What happens if you don’t get through? I could never find my way back to the Magic Kingdom, so is it not best if I help you break out?’
Herne laughed. ‘You are such a brave person for one so young, but without your magic hammer there is little you could do. No, you go on and if I don’t make it I will make sure my trusty horse and hounds escape and take you back. I don’t think that will be necessary, but just in case.’
As soon as the gates were in sight. Herne stopped and lowered Shaun down. ‘I will give you time to reach the ledge before I make my move. Be on your way and don’t worry about me, but I would just like to say it has been an honour to know you and whatever happens I’m sure your friends will be freed.’
‘It is me who has been honoured meeting you.’ He wiped away a tear. ‘Please be careful and don’t take any risks.’ He smiled as he rolled out his shroud and slipped it on. ‘Good luck, see you on the ledge,’ he said as he floated away.
Herne waited patiently, knowing the guards would be sending out a messenger to warn the griffins to stop him leaving, but it was no use him reaching the ledge before Shaun. Once they were outside, they would have to travel like the wind to escape the search party that would be sent after them.
Just us he was about to set off he heard the sound of galloping horses in the distance. He knew it might take some time to get through the gates, so he decided to try and slow them down. He turned and flew back along a valley he had passed through earlier, coming to a halt at a narrow gorge at the far end. He flew up one of the sides of the rocky crag with the thunderous sound of horses’ hooves echoing through the valley. He could see the guards riding at full gallop, leaving a trail of dust behind them as they headed towards him. Using all his mighty strength, he tried to dislodge one of the huge boulders; after several attempts the boulder rocked back and forth before crashing down to the ground. This set off a chain reaction, ending up in a full-scale landslide just as the guards turned a bend, and before they could bring their mounts to a halt they were buried in a mountain of debris.
The squeals from the terrified horses and the screams from the guards slowly subsided into complete silence and stillness: this was not what Herne had planned or wanted, as now the Dark Wizard would send his death riders to avenge his guards. They were his elite warriors, faceless and soulless, accompanied by a pack of huge, ferocious demon wolfhounds; their job was not to capture their escapees but to kill, and the hounds would make short work of the remains. Truly a terrifying ordeal, but there was no escape: they had never failed their master, and Herne knew he must leave as quickly as possible and get Shaun as far away as he could before he would have to face the riders.
He set off as fast as he could, stopping to catch his breath as the gates came into view slowly and nonchalantly. He trotted forward with his hounds walking slowly behind. The fire-breathing monster was blocking their way. Herne came to a halt and drew his sword.
‘That won’t be necessary,’ said one of the Griffins as it flew down from its pillar and landed alongside the monster. ‘Where are you going now? It’s not long since you returned: very unusual,’ it hissed, its serpent’s tail lashing from side to side, its huge beak opening to reveal its bright red tongue flapping around, and its large, eagle-like claws raking the ground menacingly.
‘One of my hounds went missing earlier and I thought it might have returned by now, so I need to go and search for it in case it has been injured.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said the Griffin smugly, ‘you know the rules. Only one exit and one return each day: you’ll have to wait until the morning. I don’t make the rules: you had better have a word with the Dark Wizard. Now be on your way.’
Herne turned away but he only moved a short distance, just enough to take off, and he turned back and took to the air. The Griffin was taken by surprise: it just stayed rooted to the spot, his beak wide open, aghast at what was happening. How dare Herne do such a thing? But worse was to come. As Herne flew towards the gates the other Griffin flexed its wings ready to intercept him, but as fast as lightning Herne reached over and sliced off the Griffin’s head before continuing over the gates, blowing his bugle, and with his hounds howling in pursuit.
When he reached the ledge Shaun was waiting, his shroud rolled up under his arm. He opened his mouth to speak but before he could utter a word, Herne whipped him up and continued in flight.
‘We need to hurry: I’ve caused a bit of trouble back there but I will explain later when we are safely out of sight but you had better keep your wits about you and your eyes wide open because we are now the hunted. The Dark Wizard’s death riders will be on our trail.’
‘The death… the death riders, who is that?’ stuttered Shaun.
‘As I have said, I will explain later but we need to keep focused and find a safe refuge, hopefully somewhere they won’t think of looking.’
They travelled as fast as the mighty steed could go through the afternoon into the night, stopping only at high vantage-points to keep track of their pursuers. The only good thing as far as Shaun was concerned was the warm, clean air and pleasant surroundings, unlike the depressing gloom of the dark side. It was that night that they first heard the sound of riders: they had been enjoying the stillness and silence of the twilight when the serene atmosphere was broken with the sound of the horses and the howling of the wolfhounds.
Although it was in the distance they knew they were running out of time. All of a sudden Shaun’s waystone began to vibrate. ‘It’s the Grey Elf,’ Shaun said as Herne glanced back over his shoulder, wondering what the noise was. ‘He must be going to show us where to hide.’
‘I doubt whether he could find a place that I don’t know about. I have travelled this journey so many times over many years.’
‘Please just follow his directions: he has never let me down and saved my and my friends’ lives many, many times. Turn left at this junction: he wants us to leave this main track.’
‘Left,’ said Herne, stroking his beard. ‘That is an area I have not had much to do with: a very mountainous and treacherous part of Colgilor. If we go there we would be trapped with no escape route. At least straight on I know all the secret caves and their escape passages.’
‘The Grey Elf will know that, but he must know something we don’t. I’m sure he would not take us there without being sure he can keep us safe.’
Herne pulled up at the junction, pondering for a few moments. ‘Maybe you’re right. I am less confident that I can lead us out of harm’s way. We will follow your Grey Elf and on your head be it.’ He shook the reins and left the main track. The terrain was quite rugged and at least that was to their advantage. They could fly above the ground: something the death riders and their hounds could not.
It was a totally different landscape to any that Shaun had seen before while travelling across Colgilor on their quest; in fact, it looked like another world as they got further and further away from the main track. In fact, it was a beautiful place: the huge moon lit up their pathway with only a few fluffy clouds floating by, casting the mountainsides in different shades and shadows.
At first light the sky was tinged with orange and gold as the sun peeped from the distant horizon, the early morning mist rising from the valley floor swelling and sweeping upward in mesmerising
shapes and formations. They were being lulled into a false sense of safety as they gazed at their beautiful surroundings, but that changed in a flash as the sound of the riders and their howling hounds echoed all around them. Again the waystone lit up and led them to the entrance of a tunnel cut into a huge mountainside. Herne shook his head in puzzlement.
‘Surely the Grey Elf doesn’t want us to go in there. There is no cover: the riders will be able to trace us so easily.’
‘He must have a reason. Please just follow the waystone. As I see it, we have nothing to lose. The riders seem to be able to pick up our tracks whichever way we go. Trust me, he will see us safely back to the Magic Kingdom.’
‘Very well,’ said Herne as he guided his horse through into the darkness. The air was damp and icy-cold, and that was a bonus to Shaun.
They rode on through the tunnel winding and twisting deep into the mountain. They came to a sudden halt and Herne glanced back.
‘The riders have entered the tunnel. We are trapped, I fear, unless there is an exit somewhere and soon,’ he said as he shook the reins and moved on somewhat faster: they were running out of time. The tunnel began to rise quite steeply and the sound of their pursuers seemed closer. The harder Herne pushed his horse, the more the riders seemed to respond, increasing their speed. As they reached the top of a sharp incline they came to a halt. As the waystone stopped flashing, the tunnel continued forward, Herne glanced back. ‘Why has it stopped? We can’t stay here: the riders will be on us shortly.’
‘Turn left,’ Shaun whispered, ‘the Grey Elf is telling me to turn left.’
Herne leant forward, his eyes scanning the tunnel walls. ‘But there is no opening, it’s solid wall.’
Shaun jumped down, grabbed the reins and slowly walked towards the side, and to his and Herne’s amazement they stepped through into a small cave just big enough for them and the hounds. Herne dismounted and settled his hounds, and he shook his head in disbelief as he could see out into the tunnel, yet from the other side it was solid wall. They both stood watching as the riders and the hounds arrived and worryingly came to a halt, as though they knew something was wrong. And an ice-cold shiver ran down Shaun’s spine: he held his breath as the leader jumped down from his horse and cautiously approached the tunnel wall right in front of them. Shaun had to put his hand over his mouth to stop himself screaming as the hooded figure leant forward, and as Herne had said, they were faceless and chilling. Inside the hood was pitch black with only a pair of sinister, spine-chilling, green-illuminated eyes staring straight towards them. It stood for what seemed like hours to Shaun but eventually it mounted back up and waved the others forward.
Shaun gave out a huge sigh of relief: his heart felt as though it was about to burst out of his chest.
Herne wrapped his arms around him. ‘It looks like the Grey Elf has saved us.’
But as the words left his mouth there was such a commotion coming from the tunnel: the sound of the thundering hooves. His voice was replaced with weird wailing, howling and screeching, reverberating through the tunnel. Cautiously Herne, with his sword drawn, crept back through the wall into the tunnel, with Shaun following close behind. They both stood speechless again at the sight before them: the tunnel ahead had disappeared and in its place was a huge, dark gorge with sheer, rugged, jagged walls with crevices set back and ledges jutting out, all cast in multicoloured shades created by cracks and openings in the roof, allowing brief infiltration of light and the constant flow of water cascading down, bouncing off the cliffsides and creating moss-coated beds and musty spray.
They stepped forward, peering over the edge: they could just make out some of the crumpled bodies impaled on the jagged rocks all mangled and motionless. They jumped back as, all of a sudden, the gorge was shrouded in a black veil and they watched in awe as the Great Wizard slowly appeared like some sort of holograph, a majestic being with long, white hair and flowing beard. His bright green eyes focused on them. He was dressed in a dark, velvet gown and a soft, velvet robe with embossed edging showing strange symbols, and he was holding his caduceus, a long, golden staff with two golden serpents turning around the top.
‘We meet again, young Shaun. You do choose the strongest of foes: first the evil witch Baba Yelka, then the fearsome Trolls, and now the powerful Dark Wizard. It is fortunate you have the Grey Elf and myself on your side. And you, Herne, you have goodness in your heart, a true friend to Shaun, but you do not belong in the dark side.’ His voice was deep and so loud, reverberating around the gorge. ‘I have spoken to the Guardian and he has agreed to let you take your horse in the Magic Kingdom, either with him or, if you wish, stay with the winged horse and his herd in the secret valley.’ Just as he had appeared he began to fade. ‘I’m sure we will meet again in our fight for good over evil.’ With that, he was gone and the veil disappeared, revealing the gorge once more.
Herne shook his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips. ‘You never fail to amaze me, my little friend. I have lived in this land all my life and I have never heard of anyone even seeing the Great Wizard, apart from the goblins, let alone speaking to him, and you have gone way beyond that: he is your friend and your ally – truly remarkable. But he is right. I don’t belong in that evil place and now I have to leave anyway after our latest encounter and how honoured am I to be invited to live in the Magic Kingdom. Truly a dream come true.’
‘And where will you choose?’
Herne threw back his head, his eyes twinkling like stars, a dreamy expression on his face. ‘With the winged horse Star and his herd, although I get on really well with the Guardian. The secret valley and the magnificent landscape surrounding it makes the perfect hunting ground for me and my hounds, and I’m sure I can help protect the herd from some of the fearsome predators there?’
‘Well, we had better go and tell the Guardian and I must return to the Grey Elf’s castle as soon as possible, so I am to give him the information I have gathered to devise a plan to attack the witches’ fortress and free our friends.’
‘Will you ask the Grey Elf if I can be involved? I would love to fight side by side with the Dwarfs’ mighty warriors,’ Herne said, clutching his sword.
‘Of course. I’m sure the Dwarfs will welcome such a powerful ally with knowledge of the dark side, but we had better get a move on. The Grey Elf will be waiting and the way our friends are being treated, the sooner we free them, the better.’
They mounted up and rode back through the warren of tunnels and out of the mountainside, travelling as fast as the horse could go, and they were soon back on the main track heading towards the magical kingdom. Their journey was virtually trouble-free, apart from the odd aerial attack from some of the huge, predatory birds and other strange, flying creatures, but Herne knew exactly when to lie low and take shelter in caves he had used previously, or to simply outfly them. But it was a great relief to Shaun when he finally approached the cinder mountain of the kingdom and the Guardian’s face appeared.
‘Welcome back, you had me worried for a while,’ he said in his booming voice, and his face faded away and the rockside opened up and they rode through.
The Guardian was waiting inside the cave. ‘Did the Great Wizard tell you of my offer?’ he said, his voice reverberating around the cave.
‘Yes, he did, and I am truly honoured but I hope you won’t be offended if I ask to join Star and his herd. The secret valley will be the perfect place for me, but I will visit you often.’
The Guardian’s face cracked into a smile. ‘I thought as much, but remember to obey our rules. You will be the first to live here since the great fairy warriors so, as you say, it is a great honour, but in truth I doubt whether anyone else would be invited.’ He paused a moment and glanced over at Shaun. ‘Well, anyone except maybe Shaun,’ he said with a mischievous chuckle.
Herne turned to Shaun. ‘Yes indeed, this young boy’s courage knows no bounds. I’m so glad he is on my side.’
Shaun blushed and bowed his head. ‘I had bett
er leave now before I start to cry.’
Herne laughed out loud and slung his huge arms around him. ‘But will you not come with me to see Star? I’m sure he would be thrilled to see you again.’
‘And me him, but time is so important to our friends. I’m sure Star will understand and I will see him again when next I visit.’ With that, he approached the Guardian’s portal, glanced back and smiled before stepping through.
The Grey Elf was waiting patiently in his magic room. As Shaun appeared, his face lit up as he approached Shaun with his arms outstretched. ‘It’s so good to see you safe and well. I had thought this was a dangerous task too far. I feared several times for your life and really thought there was no escape from the Dark Wizard death riders. They have never failed to hunt down and slaughter their prey and I found myself powerless to stop them. Only the Great Wizard had the ability to be able to create magic from a distance by projecting an image of himself to that place before conjuring up his powerful magic solution. He is something of a hermit and I had my doubts as to whether he would help: he has never been known to carry out such a deed but you must have really impressed him when you first met him while on your quest. As soon as I mentioned your name he agreed to act immediately, and just in time, as it turned out. So did you manage to gather all the information we talked about and place the two frames out of sight ready for our attack?’
‘Yes,’ said Shaun, a huge, smug grin spreading across his face, ‘but I couldn’t have succeeded without Herne. He was amazing and of course your magic shroud saved my life,’ he said as he passed it to him. ‘It really is indestructible: I proved that several times.’ His expression changed to one of sadness. ‘But oh, what a heart-rending sight to see our friends shackled to the prison walls, and the Prince of Dwarfs, what a pitiful sight this finest of warriors lying in a heap, broken and defenceless. His father would be devastated if he could see him.’
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