The Destiny of Matthew

by Jason Nevercott

  Chapter Seventeen

  Matthew waited at the door still staring at the security guard. He could now feel himself sweating. Oh well, he thought, at least I tried. I’m sure Hannah will understand. But instead of grabbing hold of him, the security guard passed him and ran down the corridor back to the Spear gallery. Matthew could not believe his luck; he was sure he had been found out. He then pulled himself together. Matthew you must move and get out of here, he said to himself.

  He went into the toilet and into the nearest cubicle. He then got the Travelling stone out of his pocket and rubbed it three times. Instantly, he was in the toilet cubicle in the Kunsthistorisches. He retrieved the Travelling Stone from the cistern and left the toilet. The thought came into his head that it was a good thing no one was in the toilet cubicle when he was transported there. He had not thought about this possibility before and it gave him some – a little – relief from his stress.

  He then here he had left it and headed for the gallery where the Picture was. He could feel the adrenalin flowing through his body. He knew that if he could pull this off he would be back in the other world almost two days before the Baron’s deadline.

  He stood in front of the picture and stared at it. It then drew him into it in its soothing and calming way, which was just what Matthew needed after his stressful experience as a burglar.

  But as he felt himself entering the Clearing, the image of the girl in the dark place came back into his head. ‘Please, you must help me. Please, please help me...,’ she said. But this time there were no galloping horses to replace it and it just dissipated as Matthew finally felt himself back at the Clearing. The image, however, was a little clearer than before, and Matthew was now confused: it was definitely not Hannah.

  But as he looked around him for any signs of danger in the night’s darkness of the Clearing, he knew he had to put any thoughts as to who it might be on hold: he had more urgent things to do first. He had to act quickly and searched for some place to hide the Spear. In the end he put it in some bushes by the Oak tree after failing to find any other places on the small island. It was a pretty obvious place but he also felt that the Tree would somehow protect it. He also put two Travelling Stones in his small rucksack with the Spear so that he and someone else could return to it quickly.

  He then set off over the narrow bridge on what he knew was going to be a journey of at least four hours on foot to the Castle to try to rescue Hannah and the others. He thought about going in a diagonal route into the forest, which would be quicker, but he decided against it in case he got lost. It was difficult enough keeping on the path in the darkness, as there was no full moon to help him tonight. In fact, it was even a bit cloudy. But the fact that he had to concentrate on where he was going helped him to ignore the spookiness of the forest at night. Every noise made him more nervous.

  Eventually, after what he thought was over an hour, he reached the track to the crossroads. He felt he would have to hurry, as he had to get to the Castle while it was still dark; otherwise his rescue would probably not succeed. Now that he was on the track, he did feel a little less nervous. This was probably for the same reason he had previously felt the same way on first coming to the Land: it was a sign of civilisation, of other humans away from the wild. His pace also quickened on the track and after an hour and a half he came to the cross roads a little out of breath but pleased he was making good progress.

  But now that he was on the road to the Castle he became more cautious in case there were any horsemen around. He kept to the edge of the road so he could quickly hide in the forest if necessary and when he came to a bend, of which there were several, he became a lot slower and more alert. After an hour, he saw the Castle looming up in front of him and entered the forest to the right of the road. He was heading towards the secret tunnel, where he, Hannah, Tobias, and Curt and his men had entered the Castle before. He knew there was a good chance that it had been discovered by the Baron’s men but it was the only way he knew into the Castle. He just had to hope luck was on his side.

  Eventually after over half an hour of nearly tripping over and falling into bushes, he came to the place near the bridge into the Castle where he thought the tunnel was. He was looking down to the path, beyond which he remembered the entrance was in the bushes. He rested here for a while, getting his energy back, and seeing if he could see any signs of soldiers hiding in wait nearby. But after about 15 minutes or so he decided there was no one down there and that he had to try to enter it. He had no idea of the time but felt it was around midnight.

  He looked up at the bridge and Castle as he moved down past the path. He could see no signs of movement in either place. In the bushes he looked and then crouched down to feel for the paving stone entrance. He found it a short time later but there did not seem to be any handle on it. He tried to open it with his fingers but in the end used a small branch to wedge it up. He then lifted it with an effort to the side of the hole it revealed. He took a deep breath and began to climb down the ladder. He had not replaced the stone entrance partly because it was too heavy and partly because he had not brought a torch or lamp and so needed all the light he could get.

  When he got to the bottom he looked up through the hole. He could see a few stars in the cloudy sky but felt cold and lonely looking up at them. Come on, Matthew, there’s no time for meditation now, he said to himself as he walked through the wet and dark tunnel. Although it was dark, he had no difficulty in moving through the tunnel as it was quite narrow. After about ten minutes of going down and then up again he reached the end and felt the ladder going up to the trap door in the complete darkness.

  He now felt very nervous about the prospect of entering the Castle and trying to rescue Hannah and the others. If he were caught the Baron would surely force him to reveal where the Spear was or realise himself, and Matthew would be imprisoned with the others, and then who knows what else, he thought with a little shudder. He then remembered the last time he had seen Hannah and the others, and suddenly had the feeling that he would show her and them that he had not betrayed them and could help them and be more than just a “boy.” With this he went up the ladder and began to push the trap door at the top open.

  But nothing happened. Matthew put more force into it. But it was no good: it was firmly closed. Bloody hell, he thought, just as he had the courage to go through with his plan something prevented him from doing it. He tried again to no avail. He almost cried with frustration. There was no way he was going to get into the Castle this way, he thought. What am I going to do now?