‘I thought we had a problem for a moment,’ said James.
‘No, for some reason it let me see the forest before we arrived. I was looking for a space, as it might not be a good idea if one of us emerged in a tree.’
James shuddered. ‘Could that happen?’
Alex shrugged. ‘Don’t know, I thought it best not to risk it.’
They were in the forest Rho had taken Alex where he saw the bright-eyed rabbit. There were no animals to see now, it was all too eerie. They heard noises coming from the right, and headed in that direction. The noises grew louder, there was a scream, it sounded female and they ran.
‘Now you die.’ They heard someone say.
‘What have you done to her?’ cried another voice.
Six men in black suits stood with their backs to them, each had a weapon. One had a heavy-looking chain and he swung it down, his target, a creature Alex had seen in his dream. It was four-foot tall with dark fur, and bright eyes like the rabbit he saw before. Another was lying on the ground. The creature dodged the chain, but was hit on the side by a mace and fell. Alex dived in and grabbed the chain as the first man swung it back. The man turned, he had black eyes and pointed teeth. It gave an angry hiss. Alex swung the chain to the side with immense force, and for some reason the ghoul he now decided to call it didn’t let go, and flew through the air hitting a boulder with a loud snap.
‘Protect the furry ones,’ he shouted.
They didn’t need telling twice, as one ghoul aimed a mace at James who slid underneath and pushed his swords into its chest. Rho leapt at one and sank his fangs into the ghoul’s neck. Chi did the same, and both wolves thought the taste was disgusting. Asima was just as quick as she parried a sword away, and sliced through her attacker’s neck with her own sword. The last one had a metal bar with a large sharp hook on the end, and swung it down at Carrie. It almost panicked Alex, until he saw how easily she dodged it. She spun around in mid-air breaking the ghouls jaw with one kick. James jumped on the foul creature as it hit the ground, and finished it with his swords.
Carrie folded her arms. ‘I’m sure that was mine.’
‘You sure can fight, but you don’t need to kill just yet . . . and it’s not very pleasant without a weapon,’ said James, as all the ghouls bodies disappeared, but their clothes remained.
Tell us about it, said Rho, as he and Chi were standing over the fallen furry creature.
Alex stepped over to them. ‘How is she?’
Rho looked up. Alive, but you need to get her back to the mansion.
‘Thank you,’ the furry creature said, holding his side as he knelt by his fallen friend.
Alex crouched. ‘We have to take her back with us.’
‘She’s my mate, why do you want to take her?’
‘She’s badly injured, and we have to try to save her — what were those things we killed?’
‘I don’t know, they were after something in the forest, but we wouldn’t tell them where they were.’
‘The pixies, that’s why we are here . . . they must come with us, as do you.’
‘We cannot do that.’
‘She will die if you don’t.’
All of a sudden they were surrounded by pixies. ‘There was nothing we could do, the warlock sent them after us, and they have one of his special bags which they can imprison us with,’ said a pixie, and pointed at an old cloth sack on the floor.
Alex concentrated, the bag started to float, he thought about it ripping apart and it did. He heard a noise come from it as the spell had been broken.
‘How did you do that?’ said James.
‘I don’t know, I just thought about it.’
‘Impressive.’
‘Are you coming with us?’ Alex asked the injured creature.
‘Yes, if you can save my mate.’
Alex picked up the unconscious creature, and Asima retrieved the vase as they waited for everyone to get ready. They were soon in the back yard outside the party room.
James opened the door. ‘Are you trying to confuse me?’
‘I thought the study might be a bit small now we have new guests.’
The pixies ran through into the hall, and Alex carried the female creature while Carrie helped the other one in.
‘House, how bad is she?’
She has internal bleeding, which I am trying to stop and broken bones I am mending, but you need to see to her external injuries.
‘I need some help here.’
Blaze hurried over to them. ‘How serious is it?’
‘She’s badly injured.’
Claire stared at the injured creature in amazement. ‘What is it?’
Alex shrugged, he had no idea, but thought Joseph might know.
Blaze walked to the office. ‘You better get her into a spare room, and I’ll get the first aid kit.’
Alex took the furry creature upstairs and put her on a bed, Blaze came up a minute later with Paige.
‘I hope I’m not being rude to your new friend, but it’s all this fur, I’ll have to shave her,’ said Blaze as she held a cloth on the creatures head.
‘If that’s what it takes. I’ll go and see how bad the other ones injuries are,’ said Alex, and walked downstairs.
The other creature wanted to go up, but waited while Summer put bandages around its chest to stop the bleeding.
Joseph stared at him. ‘Are you a Phooka?’
‘Joseph! Language please,’ said Summer.
‘Oh my, oh my, I didn’t mean that, it’s P-H-O-O-K-A,’ he said, spelling it out.
The creature had dark brown fur, with ears which stood upwards on his head that made him look taller. ‘No, I am a Puca.’
‘You’re a goblin?’
‘So some say, but not like other goblins, we only try to protect and never hurt.’
Alex gave him a gentle smile. ‘Do you have a name?’
‘I am Gort and my mate is Flax, where have you taken her?’
‘She’s having her wounds tended to. I’ll take you up soon, but I just need a few answers, if that’s OK?’
‘Yes, and thank you for saving us,’ said Gort, with his arms in the air, as Summer did a thorough job with the bandages.
Alex noticed the puca’s eyes were yellow. ‘I’ve never read anything nice about goblins, but you two almost died protecting the pixies tonight.’
‘They’re our friends, just like many of the animals in the forest.’
‘I’ve read many things about your kind,’ said Joseph. ‘But they’re conflicting stories, some say you’re helpful, and others say you’re tricksters and shape-shifters.’
‘There’s more than one race of us, some do like tricking people, and some evil ones. There are the likes of us who used to help people as well as the animals, but times changed and so did the people.’
‘How have you managed to stay hidden for so long?’ said Alex. ‘I know why the pixies haven’t been seen as they were prisoners.’
‘Like your friend said, we are shape-shifters. We can sense when man is near, and change into the form of any animal.’
‘But you didn’t sense those tonight?’
‘Not as men, but something evil. Flax felt it first and went to see what it was. She had fallen by the time I got there,’ said Gort, shaking at the thought of it. ‘She made a mistake and should have changed into an animal first.’
Alex held the puca reassuringly around his shoulder. ‘Was you the rabbit when I went to the forest before?’
‘No, that was Flax,’ said Gort, as Summer finished with his bandages.
Alex took the puca upstairs, where Blaze and Paige put the female puca in bed. ‘How is she?’
‘Sleeping,’ said Blaze. ‘I’m not altogether sure about internally, but we’ve done everything we can, she just needs to rest.’
Alex looked at Flax lying there with a duvet pulled up to her chin and bandages around her head. ‘Internally she’ll be fine.’
‘How do you know that?’
>
‘House.’
‘He has the power to do that?’
‘Yeah, he’s good at what he does.’ Alex left Gort to sit with Flax.
You have a lot of confidence in me? said House.
‘Very much so.’
Thank you.
‘You’re welcome, so how many pixies do we have now?’
One hundred and twenty-eight, so far.
‘That’ll be a tempting number for him,’ said Alex, noticing Kaeya wasn’t amongst them. He saw Shaula covered in many of them who were curious about her, and she looked rather excited about it.
Claire looked up from the sofa. ‘Is it safe to have goblins in the mansion?’
‘Anyone who would risk their life to save the pixies is always welcome here, and I’m fond of them already. You needn’t worry though, you have Carrie to protect you as she kicked ass tonight.’
Carrie looked up and smiled.
‘They don’t look like goblins in the films,’ said Paige. ‘I think they’re cute.’
‘Joseph,’ said Alex, as he sat down. ‘Would you know what the other things were?’
‘What did they look like?’
‘Men from behind, but had black eyes and pointed teeth, I called them ghouls.’
‘I never heard of anything like that, maybe vampires come closest, but you’re probably not far wrong. Either clones or he’s raised the dead, and altered them to his own fashion.’
‘They were like the ones who attacked the twins when I first saw them,’ said Asima.
‘Then he was already my enemy,’ said Alex. ‘Is he a warlock or necromancer?’
Joseph rubbed the bridge of his nose. ‘Hard to say really, maybe both after he took our small friends. His power increased, so would have no worries in messing about with the dead.’
‘The other thing is am I lucky in my timing, or is it some strange coincidence?’
James took a jug of orange juice off the table and poured himself a glass. ‘I did wonder about that.’
‘I wouldn’t say luck,’ said Joseph. ‘You were most likely meant to save the pucas.’
‘Well, if we make any more trips like we did tonight we’d better be prepared to fight.’
James drank the juice. ‘You may have noticed Asima and I are always prepared.’
* * *
Alex took some of the younger women out for a jog around their land, as he had overheard them talking of going out looking for more pixies. It gave them another chance to run in the dark with their new sight, and he wanted to show them the perimeter of the land which House protected.
‘You mustn’t try going outside of it at the moment. You might see something on the other side, but don’t leave the perimeter.’
‘What if it’s a pixie in need of help?’ said Lucy.
‘Tell House, it might be a trick to lure you out.’
‘Are we in that much danger?’ said Anna.
‘No, you’re safe here. I’ll deal with the warlock, but I guess he’ll be up to tricks at first, and I don’t want to lose any of you,’ said Alex, not knowing how he would deal with the warlock.
‘What if we forget and go too far?’
‘House will stop you, and warn you of any danger. He won’t stop you if you want to leave, which is totally up to you.’
Anna looked surprised. ‘He doesn’t have power over us?’
‘No, he’s your friend, and is protecting you.’
* * *
Alex slept. The dreams took him back to when he first met Rho, he refused to go with the wolf and hobbled back to his flat and slept. He woke for work, dressed and opened the front door. He could see dead bodies everywhere. The dream took him to the mansion. It was how he first saw it, unlived in for years with all the windows broken. Alex walked inside and the women were all lifeless on the floor, as were the wolves and pixies. He knew if he were to go upstairs he would find his girls, and just like everyone else in the world, they would be dead.
Alex woke in a cold sweat, and sat up. He concentrated, and could sense the children, they were safe.
Anything wrong? House asked.
‘Bad dream,’ he said, and fell back down to his pillow.
Nothing important?
‘No, I believe it was showing me what would’ve happened if I hadn’t followed Rho to save Adhara and Sarin.’
Would we have met?
‘No, I did come here in the dream, but everyone was all dead. I don’t know where you were.’
Everyone was dead. That sounds strange, I thought it would have just been the girls and no one else would be affected.
‘I think it had something to do with the choices I’ve made, and the ones I’ll have to make,’ said Alex, terrified and full of dread at the thought of his girls and friends dying because of him.
* * *
At breakfast, Gort walked into the party room. He looked nervous until one of the girls approached him.
‘Hi, I’m Adhara.’
‘Hello, I am Gort.’
‘I know . . . would you like some breakfast?’
The puca beamed. ‘Yes, please.’
‘Come and sit here, and I’ll get it for you,’ she said, pulling a chair out opposite Alex, before going over to the hatch.
Gort sat. ‘You don’t mind me sitting here do you? Only Blaze sent me down to get something to eat, and she can be quite demanding.’
Alex nodded. ‘Only if she believes it’s for your own good, and you’re welcome to sit anywhere.’
Adhara put a large dish of fruit and salad on the table. ‘I hope you like this as the pixies are vegetarian’s, and I thought you might be one as well.’
Gort’s yellow eyes grew big. ‘I am, and thank you, it looks wonderful.’
Adhara stood there trying to sound like a grown up. ‘What drink would you like? We have water and orange juice on the table.’
‘I only drink water and fruit juices of the forest, I don’t know what orange is.’
Adhara looked surprised. ‘You’ve never had orange juice?’
‘No, honey,’ said Alex, who had finished his breakfast. ‘Gort would have only had fruit from his own forest.
‘Oh, OK, I’ll find all the ones we have, and he can try them.’
Alex poured the puca a drink. ‘Orange is a fruit grown in other countries where it’s warmer, and I believe you’ll enjoy it.’
Gort took a sip. ‘It’s lovely.’
Paige gave him a warm smile. ‘Have you ever had beer? We‘ve lots here.’
‘No, we’ve never drank that,’ said Gort, as Adhara returned with the other girls who all carried glasses of different juices for him to try.
‘You love Flax very much don’t you?’ said Alex.
Gort looked pleased as he tasted the other drinks. ‘Yes, we are mates for life, and I couldn’t live without her.’
‘You won’t have to, as she’ll be having breakfast with us in a day or two.’
‘Really,’ said the puca, with a huge grin.
* * *
Amy and Lucy were outside the party room with ten horses ready to ride. It was their idea, and Alex was curious to know why.
Amy stood holding the reins to one of the horses. ‘We thought it might be nice to parole the grounds on horse for a change, and Shaula’s not ridden hers yet.’
‘Oh,’ said Alex. ‘So you decided to make looking for pixies fun?’
Amy flicked her brown hair out of her eyes, and gave a cheeky grin. ‘I’m sorry, Papa, did I do wrong?’
Alex smiled. ‘Of course not, I think it’s a great idea, and this little one is going riding today.’
Shaula had other ideas though. Her papa pointed out to her she was going to climb on the huge four-legged animal, and when he tried to lift her on to the horse, she clung to him tightly.
‘OK, sweetheart, you don’t have to go on your horse, but I’d like you to say hello to him.’
Shaula turned to face the horse. He put his muzzle on her cheek, and something clicked be
tween them. She smiled and put her arms around his neck, and let her papa put her in the saddle.
They had a problem, they were two horses short. Alex was going to buy more, but the snow came and didn’t get round to it. Sally and Skye stood there without a horse.
‘We can share,’ said Alex, sat on Bronte. ‘One of you can get up here with me.’
The others also offered, but Gort had a better idea. He stood smiling, his bandages now removed as he was already healed. ‘One of you can ride me if you like.’
‘Excuse me,’ said Skye, more than a little shocked.
‘You can’t put a saddle on me, but I won’t let you fall.’
Skye pushed her glasses on to the top of her head. ‘I think you should go and sit with Flax.’
‘I would be there now, but they’re changing her bandages. It makes me sad, so I thought I’d like to go for a run, too.’ Gort bent over and put his hands on the ground. He changed into a small horse right before their eyes, and grew to the same size as Alex’s stallion to everyone’s amazement.
Skye ran over and climbed on to his back. ‘You’re so cool.’
Thank you, said Gort, in her mind.
‘You can talk that way, too?’
It’s the only way we can talk when we are animals.
‘How do I hold on?’
Just grab my mane, it won’t hurt me.
Sally climbed on with Alex, and they set off patrolling the land. Shaula thought it was a sprint and raced off jumping over anything she could find. Adhara, Sarin and Tia raced after her.
‘Is it safe for them to do that?’ said Sally, as she sat in front of Alex with her back to him.
‘Don’t worry about them they’re quite safe.’
‘You mean House will protect them from falling or leaving the safety of your land.’
‘Our land . . . and yeah, he will if he needs to, but the horses will do it anyway.’
They found nothing but enjoyed their run, the wolves gave chase including the cubs, but the little ones tired easy. After two hours they returned to the mansion. Amy and Lucy took the horses back to the stables, and Joseph pulled Alex to one side.
Vesta Mansion: Book One - The Power Inside Page 26