by M S C Barnes
“Master Orwell,” Dom White turned his watery eyes on Zach and nodded, “Master Lord,” he beckoned to Aiden, “Miss Kitchener and Miss and Master Thomas. This way please.”
“There you have it,” Clarissa said triumphantly. “Wonder what they’ve done this time!”
“That’s quite enough Miss Stone. Now, run along boys and girls. It seems the headmaster wants to speak with you … again,” Mrs Tilbrook said, shaking her head in mock disapproval.
To mumbled chattering and the odd snide comment, they followed Dom White out onto the uncovered walkway that surrounded the Year Nine block.
“What’s happening?” Scarlet asked, taking off her glasses. She had phenomenal eyesight — the result of Seb accidentally reflecting moonlight from his silver birthmark straight into her eyes, thereby, unwittingly giving her the gift that made her his Seer. But another result was that her pupils now shone silver, so she was forced to wear glasses to avoid drawing attention to them. She took them off at every opportunity.
“It’s time to learn,” was all Dom said in response to her question and he marched them down the ramp and across the playground.
“Learn what?” Zach charged after him. Though aged in appearance, this teacher was as sprightly as a thirty-year-old.
“About golems,” Dom said, leading them into the main building.
“Gollums. Like in Lord of the Rings Gollum?” Zach chuckled.
“No,” Dom replied. “Golem, as in the animation of an inanimate substance.” His pace didn’t slow as he walked them along the corridor and on past reception where Mrs Reeves, the receptionist, spotting Seb, stood and rounded her desk.
“Mr White, this boy again?” She frowned at Seb. “What has he done now?” Dom barely acknowledged her, waving her away with his gnarled hand. “Mr White? Is Mr Duir expecting you?” she shouted after him, her tone clipped. “Well really!” she finally huffed as they all trooped past her and up the stairs behind reception.
On the landing at the top Dom stopped.
“Aiden, what do you know of golems?” he asked.
“Probably everything there is to know.” Zach nudged him. Aiden smiled. He was a bookish lad who had spent years reading up on fairies, folklore, myth and magic and Zach, though impressed at how knowledgeable he was, still loved to tease him for it.
“I know that they are said to be figures, formed of clay or other inanimate matter, and brought to life by someone either inscribing a sacred or magical word on their forehead or placing a note bearing the word into their mouths. They can’t think, they can’t speak and they do exactly what they are instructed to do by the person who brought them to life.”
“So a mass of dirt just following orders then,” Zach suggested unhelpfully.
“No, Zach,” Scarlet said, tutting. “A mass of dirt that follows one order to the letter … and doesn’t ever stop.”
“Difference?” Zach shrugged.
“The difference being that it doesn’t ever stop. You can’t countermand the order, you can’t reason with it and you can’t kill it because it’s made of mud or clay or stuff like that.” She turned to Dom. “And that’s what Aelfric and the others are struggling with?”
“That is what Aelfric, the others and several Dryads are holding at bay,” Dom answered. “Aelfric believes you need to learn how to deal with one yourselves.”
“Oh yay,” Zach said sarcastically. “Another lesson. Yay!”
Yay was the exact opposite of what Seb was feeling. His heart was pounding as Alice appeared beside him.
“Ready?” he asked. Seb shrugged. “Come on Seb; no souls involved here. You’ll be fine.” Alice smiled.
“No souls?” Zach asked.
“It’s not a soul or a person, Zach,” Alice said. “It’s an inanimate substance animated by a ‘spell’ really. So once we remove the spell there is nothing left.”
Something nagged at Seb but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Before he had time to dwell on it Dom opened the door to the Head’s office and ushered them all through.
Seb knew where the ‘magical’ door in this office was. In order to avoid being seen coming and going through the doorways, the groups used this one whenever they were at school. Of course, the constant visits to the Head’s office were what had given Seb and his friends the reputation for being the most delinquent students at the school.
“Quickly please, Seb.” Dom walked to the large window at the far side of the room through which the weak winter sunlight filtered. Turning, he faced the wall to his left while Seb and the others joined him.
Seb lifted his hand and reflected sunlight onto the wood-panelled wall and a door appeared. Anxious to join the adventure, Zach seized the doorknob, twisted and pushed. He rushed through and the others followed with almost the same enthusiasm. Seb, however, hung back.
“Oh, you’re having a laugh aren’t you?” He heard Zach exclaim but still he hovered in the office, not ready to step through.
Alice stood beside him. “Seb, come on, trust yourself.” He gave him a reassuring smile.
Seb smiled back, trying to feel more positive. He could still hear Zach, who was now laughing. Encouraged by the sound he stepped through the door.
A Golem
As he emerged the other side of the doorway Seb’s feet slipped in mushy snow which had been churned up by the many footfalls of his friends. They were standing under a slate-grey sky, in a field covered with a thick blanket of white. It wasn’t actually snowing but small, delicate flakes, lifted from the powdery drifts by a ferocious wind, danced in the air. Zach stood three yards from him trying to control his laughter. Nearby, Trudy glared at him.
“That’s enough Zach,” she snapped. Each of the Guardians had a staff, a long stick made of rowan wood, and Trudy was brandishing hers as though ready to strike at something. “This is not a laughing matter.”
“Are you kidding?” Zach wiped his eyes. “I mean, look at it.” He pointed.
A few yards ahead of them was a small copse of trees and Zach was pointing towards it. Seb couldn’t see what he was indicating at first and then he noted a slight disturbance. At the base of the foremost trunk a patch of snow appeared to be moving. It took a second before Seb made sense of what he was seeing. The patch of snow had the shape of a human: arms, legs, a crude head, but was tiny, no bigger than Seb’s hand, and at the moment it was jumping forward and then hitting some invisible barrier, before falling back, only to jump again.
Aelfric stood, calf deep, in a drift of snow in front of this aggressive little snowman, his hand reflecting light towards it. It seemed he was creating the barrier that the snowman was incapable of breaching.
Trudy continued chastising Zach, “That is a golem Zach, and you need to pay attention. It is a danger to us all.”
Zach was still chuckling and Seb found himself stifling a snigger too. It did look very comical, this tiny snow-figure, butting against a hidden barrier time and again. It looked far too small and insubstantial to pose any sort of threat and was laughable compared to the images his brain had conjured up in response to Aiden’s description of what a golem was. He had expected a towering mound of putrid mud with fists made of rocks, not this pocket-sized snowman.
“I thought they were made of mud.” Zach got himself under control and joined Trudy, pulling his own staff out of his trouser pocket. The stick, which had been curled like a piece of elastic, unfurled and became rigid as he tugged it. The miraculous-seeming property of the staff was now taken for granted by Seb and his group, they had seen it so many times.
“Golems usually are,” Dom said, walking up to Aelfric and beckoning Seb to join them. When Seb didn’t move, Greg West, to his left, gave him a nudge and Seb trudged forward.
To each side of Aelfric were five Dryads. Seb was able to see them because they had been among the thousands of Dryads who, just before his confirmation, had appeared and spoken their names to him and his group — and then witnessed the wonder of Seb bringing Aelfric back to li
fe.
These ten Dryads hovered above the snow, their leafy bodies buffeted by the strong wind which swept across the field. At first, Seb thought they were just watching the snow figure, but then he realised they were actually acting as anchors. When Dryads moved, if they chose, they could leave a trail in the air and these trails had substance — like a chord or thread. In the space beneath the tree branches, more Dryads were zipping back and forth above the ‘snowman golem’ so fast Seb’s eyes could not track them. The Dryads beside Aelfric were holding onto the threads of the trails they wove. Within the copse of trees ten more faced Aelfric and they held further trail threads.
“Seb, you need to move forward; take over,” Greg said to him.
“What? Take over what?” Seb said, not moving. His toes were starting to go numb with cold and his trouser legs were now soaking, clinging to his legs, making him shiver. He wished he had picked up his coat before he had left the classroom. He took a quick glance to his right, where Nat stood clasping her arms around herself. Teeth chattering she agreed with Greg.
“He’s been holding the golem off for a long while now. The Dryads are almost ready but it would be better for Aelfric if you took over, Seb.”
“I don’t know what he’s doing,” Seb said, shuffling forward a few paces.
“Then let’s find out,” Alice said. “Come on Seb, it’s not a soul, it’s a spell.” And he zoomed over to join the Dryads. As he arrived, Dierne materialised and nodded at him. Like a tag-team Alice flitted into the air, taking over where Dierne had left off, directing the Dryads in the weaving of their trails.
Seb could barely feel his feet as he walked across to Aelfric, Greg and Nat behind him. The snow was now up to his knees and his legs began to tremble from the cold as he stared down at the little snow figure. Its efforts were no more, or less, frantic than before, it just butted relentlessly against the invisible barrier Aelfric was creating, falling back then launching itself again.
The icy wind tore at them from between the trees. Seb could hear Aelfric’s breathing, which was slightly laboured.
“What do I do?” he asked and noticed that, at the sound of his voice, the snow golem turned towards him.
“Seb, in a moment the Dryads will close the net. When they do you need to light the golem for Scarlet.” As Aelfric spoke, Scarlet joined him. She had been brought forward by Lily Angel, her mentor, the deputy head of the school and a woman whose body was so age-worn her skin was virtually see-through.
Lily raised her voice over the sound of the creaking tree branches and the moaning wind.
“When Seb lights it Scarlet, you will see markings on the forehead. You need to relay them, in silence, to Alice. He will then pass them on to Seb. Do not read them out.” Of all of them Lily Angel was the only one who had thought to bring a coat. Shoulders hunched, her hands were plunged deep into the pockets and she had pulled the collar high up around her neck. But her frame was skeletal, she had not an ounce of fat on her bones, and in spite of the coat, she was suffering with the cold. She shook violently and her lips struggled to form the words as she continued, “Do you understand? Do not speak them aloud.” Scarlet nodded, her face serious.
Zach, still chuckling, walked in front of Seb, looking more closely at the golem.
“Stand back Zach,” Trudy ordered.
“I can’t see what the fuss is all about. It’s so ridiculously small. I could squish it easily,” he said and, ignoring her, leapt forward.
Trudy yelled and suddenly, The Caretaker, her own mentor and the oldest, most experienced Guardian, who had been hidden by the shadows beneath the trees, ran towards Zach. But they were both too late. Zach landed sure-footedly, on top of the golem, flattening it.
“NO!” Greg shouted.
Zach span, a triumphant look on his face which was quickly replaced by puzzlement as Dom White called out, “Back! Aiden, Nat, Scarlet, move back.”
At the same time Aelfric swept his right arm across, pushing Seb behind him. Trudy grabbed Zach by the arm and yanked him so hard he flew a good six feet to her left. She then backed off as The Caretaker reached her. The two stood in front of Aelfric and Seb, staffs grasped in both hands, watching the patch of snow that bore Zach’s footprints.
“What the heck?” Zach shouted, annoyed and strode over to confront Trudy.
“Be quiet Zach,” she snapped back at him. “Stand guard.”
“What? What against?” he protested, stopping in his tracks. “I squished it! Didn’t you see?”
“Stand guard!” she snarled at him. Thigh high in the snow, she looked furious.
Seb had fallen into a snow drift. He now had a wet bottom to match his wet trouser legs and the cold had made his fingers go numb. The throbbing in his birthmark was much stronger; it was quite painful now.
As he stood up and began brushing himself off, a dark shadow fell across him and he instantly felt on edge. Glancing up his jaw dropped. Under the trees, rising from the spot Zach had landed on, an enormous mound of snow writhed and bulged. With Zach’s shoe prints still on top of it, the mound took shape, developing a head, arms, legs.
Trudy, The Caretaker and a stunned Zach stood their ground in front of it, Aelfric and the Dryads behind them.
“Well how did it do that?” Zach shouted.
Aiden, cowering behind Dom, answered him.
“If you break the moulded form and you haven’t removed the spell, the golem is able to absorb more of the substance it was made from when it reshapes itself … The only way, really, to stop it is to remove the animation markings.”
“Aiden, you know when Dom asked you what you knew about golems?” Zach yelled. “Well that was the time when you should have told us that bit!”
No-one was listening. They were all too busy watching the golem, which was drawing more and more snow into itself, rising above the height of the threads held by the Dryads who were now straining against its mass.
Aelfric once more shone light in front of the golem which, stepping forward, struck the barrier he created. This time, though, instead of falling backwards it bulged forwards, distorting the boundary.
Between the trees the other Dryads still wove their mesh of trails.
Aelfric nodded to Dierne. “Cut it off.”
Instantly Dierne zoomed towards the poorly-formed feet of the golem. At phenomenal speed he span in a circle around it, clearing the snow from the ground — like building a fire break in a forest fire — isolating it. Unable to draw any more snow into itself, at about twelve feet high, the golem finally stopped growing.
Zach, for no apparent reason, fell over. Trudy shouted at him to stop messing around and get up. Zach’s protests were drowned out as, with a thud, pressing against Aelfric’s barrier, the golem managed to place a foot down on fresh snow. Once more Dierne whirled in a frenzy around the foot, cutting off the supply of snow. But the figure was now fifteen feet high and towered ominously over a prone Zach who, for some reason, was unable to stand. Each time he struggled up and placed his feet on the ground, he toppled over.
“Alice,” Aelfric shouted as the golem lifted a leg ready to take another step, “Before it can put its foot down.”
As Trudy and The Caretaker grabbed Zach by the arms and dragged him sideways, out of the arc of the Dryad trails, Alice suddenly re-materialised, leading two Dryads down to land in front of them. The Dryads on Aelfric’s side, who had been anchoring the trails, which stretched over the top of the golem, pulled on them as the ten opposite lifted off the ground and rose up to hover between the overhanging branches of the trees. And now, between them all, hung a net, made of the interwoven trails.
Alice, taking a position at the top of the net, waved his arms and the Dryads at the outer edges moved round and forward, encircling the golem, wrapping the meshing around it.
As the golem pushed against the threads Aelfric, still with his left hand raised, reflected the muted sunlight towards it and spoke one word, “Isgebind.” A bolt of white light shot from hi
s hand, striking the net. The fibres crackled and fused together, sealing the golem in a cylinder of ice.
The effect was immediate. The golem itself froze mid-stride, as if it had been petrified.
Everyone seemed to relax. Trudy and The Caretaker lowered their staffs and Aelfric dropped his arm to his side as Dierne and Alice flitted over to him.
Zach was still struggling to stand and Trudy was tiring of his antics.
“Get up and stand still Zach. We’ve had enough of your idiocy today.”
“I can’t,” he moaned.
“I think there’s a problem,” Nat defended him.
“No, he is the problem!” Trudy snapped.
“Trudy, something is wrong,” Greg agreed with Nat.
As he spoke Zach, who was sitting in the deep snow, suddenly found himself moving towards the frozen golem, feet first. Like he was being pulled by an invisible rope, he slid forward, his body carving a furrow as he yelled in surprise.
Trudy and The Caretaker leapt after him. Grabbing his arms they stopped his movement and then Trudy plonked herself on top of him.
“Hey!” Zach shouted. “You’re heavy. Get off.”
She ignored him, pinning him down in the drift.
“Greg, Dom, what is it?” she called.
“The snow on his shoes,” Dom answered her, making his way towards them. “It is part of the original golem form. It needs to rejoin the main body.”
With that, Trudy began unlacing one of Zach’s shoes as The Caretaker undid the other. Pulling them from his feet they tossed them towards the golem.
“Dierne, Alice,” Aelfric said and the Dryads jumped into the air. As the shoes struck the frozen mesh they span trails around them, circling the frozen figure of the golem and binding the shoes to the outside of the cylinder. They moved away as Aelfric lifted his hand and once more uttered, “Isgebind.” A beam of light shot from his palm and the trails and shoes froze.
Everyone stood in silence, waiting. After a few moments, when nothing more happened, Greg and Lily brought the others forward.
Aelfric called Seb to stand beside him. “Well,” he smiled, “that didn’t quite go as planned. I was hoping you could contain the golem Seb, but it seems Zach had other ideas.”