Everybody shook themselves as though they had just awoken from a deep sleep.
‘So,’ said Nebiré gruffly, ‘the crystals have spoken!’
‘But what does it mean?’ Anthony and Destiny asked simultaneously.
‘You will know – when the time comes!’
The path back was completely straight and walking along it took about half the time it had previously.
‘You will know – when the time comes!’ intoned Destiny in a gruff, mysterious voice. Anthony laughed. Walking through the fields in the late afternoon sun, they felt as though some kind of weight had been lifted from their shoulders.
‘You shouldn’t make fun!’ chastised Saddler.
‘I’m sorry, it’s just I thought you said she would give us some answers. “You will know – when the time comes” wasn’t exactly helpful!’
‘Let’s hope we will,’ said Anthony thoughtfully. ‘Still, at least we have this …’ he lifted a small box and looked at it reflectively, ‘… which has solved one of our problems!’
The box Nebiré had given them held a small phial containing a few drops of a bitter, yellow-coloured liquid. After Nebiré’s comment, there had been a long space of silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts. Then at last, Destiny had said, ‘I don’t see how we can help. It could take days, maybe weeks to even find the Natorqua let alone work out what to do about them. I know time moves slower here, but not that much slower. We can’t just disappear for that long!’
Nebiré, once more settled in her chair, had put the tips of her fingers together and closed her eye. She stayed that way for so long they thought she had fallen asleep. Then a low hum rippled from her throat, her eye sprang open and she stretched out one hand, staring intently at a table across the room. The table was covered with hundreds of different bottles and phials of all shapes and sizes. They watched amazed as the bottles all jiggled and rattled animatedly before settling again to an expectant stillness. Slowly, smoothly, a small bulb-shaped phial had risen above the others and floated across the room. It landed gently on the palm of Nebiré’s outstretched hand and seemed to nestle there contentedly like some small animal. Nebiré had bent close to her hand and muttered over the phial for some moments. At last she had straightened; a radiant smile lighting up her face.
The phial, it turned out, contained a substance so strong that it would, for a short time only, freeze time on Earth. It was the only way Nebiré could give Anthony and Destiny the time they needed if they were to help find the Natorqua.
‘I hope it will give us long enough!’ Destiny and Anthony had both exclaimed at the same time.
In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Destiny had giggled. ‘We keep doing that – saying the same thing at the same time, I mean!’
Nebiré had merely raised her graceful eyebrow and said nothing.
So they now had the means to buy some time. There was, however, a snag. The potion would only work if they could persuade another human being to drink it. They had each had a sniff and turned their noses up in disgust. Apparently it tasted worse than it smelt.
‘No chance of slipping it in someone’s tea then!’ Anthony had grimaced.
Back once more in Destiny’s bedroom, they stored the phial safely on the top shelf of her wardrobe, along with the other thing Nebiré had given them. It was a very small egg timer. She had told them to turn it once as soon as they had administered the potion; that way they would know roughly how long they’d got before their time ran out. They were too exhausted to discuss what they were going to do about the potion and decided to think about it the following morning. With a sigh of relief, Anthony finally said, ‘Goodnight,’ and disappeared into his room next door.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
For the next couple of days, Anthony and Destiny racked their brains trying to think how they were going to get someone to swallow the foul smelling, evil-tasting potion. They mooched around getting under Jenny’s feet and driving her to distraction. Then two nights after they had last seen Saddler, they were awoken by the sound of stones hitting Destiny’s bedroom window. Blearily, she opened it and peered down into the darkness below. Anthony’s sleepy face emerged from the adjacent window seconds later.
‘What is it?’ whispered Destiny.
At first Anthony couldn’t see anything, but as his eyes became accustomed to the dark, he just made out a shadowy figure standing on the patio below.
‘It’s Saddler! Come on, he’s going back down to the greenhouse.’
Destiny groaned. The thought of leaving the comfort of her warm snugly bed to go out in the freezing cold was not appealing.
‘Must we?’ she hissed
‘I think it must be important, or he wouldn’t have risked coming this close to the house.’ Anthony’s head vanished.
Destiny sighed and rooted about for her trainers under her bed.
When they reached the end row of trees, they could see the light Saddler always carried bobbing backwards and forwards as he paced up and down the length of the greenhouse.
‘Oh, thank goodness.’ Saddler smiled, but it was a shadow of his usual cheerful beam. ‘You two are ‘ard to wake.’
‘Could be something to do with not having had much sleep for two nights,’ muttered Destiny.
‘Ssh,’ said Anthony, frowning at her. ‘What’s up, Saddler?’
“ave you found a way to, you know, give someone that there potion?’ asked Saddler hopefully.
‘Not yet. It’s hard. We’ve come up with all sorts of ideas, but nothing we think would work,’ said Anthony.
‘Problem is, see, things are getting very much worse. Nebiré ‘as seen a strange purple shadow in the north, not far from where she thinks the Natorqua are. It’s spreading. And people are beginning not to trust each other. And I had to step on five Grunds this morning, just to get down my front path!’ He looked at Destiny apologetically. ‘I ‘ate to nag,’ he said worriedly, ‘but I think something needs doing sooner rather than later!’
‘We know.’ Anthony looked perplexed. ‘But we just can’t think how to give it to anybody. If it didn’t taste and smell so Bad …’
There was a silence.
‘I’ve got it!’ yelled Destiny excitedly, making both Anthony and Saddler jump. ‘I’ve got the perfect solution – doh, why didn’t I think of it before?’
Anthony and Saddler looked at her expectantly.
‘Granddad’s coming tomorrow,’ she continued in a rush. ‘He’s always falling asleep – and he snores, with his mouth open!’
‘That’s it then,’ grinned Anthony, catching her enthusiasm. ‘We’ll wait until he’s snoring and drop it in. Easy!’
Destiny loved her granddad and was always very pleased to see him, but even he was delighted and rather surprised by how warm her welcome was when he arrived.
Their opportunity arose not long after lunch. It was Sunday and a large roast dinner was guaranteed to work its magic. Sure enough, he was soon comfortably seated in a chair in the lounge and within minutes his eyes began to close.
‘This is it!’ whispered Anthony as they both ran lightly up the stairs to fetch the phial and egg timer from their hiding place. By the time they got back downstairs however, Matt had seated himself on the sofa and was reading a book.
‘Hi, you two, what are you up to?’
Granddad grunted, but thankfully didn’t wake up.
‘Erm, we … er … just thought we’d go on the computer, didn’t we, Destiny … if that’s okay?’
‘Fine by me, only keep the noise down, I might have forty winks myself in a bit.’
‘Let’s hope he falls asleep before Granddad wakes up!’ breathed Destiny.
For what seemed like hours, they kept on glancing surreptitiously at Matt who showed no signs at all of drifting off. Destiny was getting quite absorbed in a game of solitaire when Anthony nudged her. Looking round cautiously, she saw that Matt had put his book down and closed his eyes. They played on for a few minutes to be
sure that he had really fallen asleep. Granddad was snoring gently, head back, mouth open.
‘Thank goodness he’s not snoring loudly,’ said Anthony. ‘At least he won’t wake Dad up.’
‘We’d better be quick.’ Destiny could feel every muscle in her stomach clenching with the fear that one of the two men would wake up and catch them out. Anthony undid the lid of the phial so that he would be ready just to tip the few drops of liquid straight into Granddad’s mouth. They had discussed who should do the deed the night before. Destiny had said that she was sure her hands would shake too much, whereas Anthony was used to being calm in difficult situations.
Now Destiny put her head around the lounge door just to check that her mum was nowhere about. She gave Anthony the thumbs up. They padded silently across the carpet, Destiny desperately trying to control a nervous giggle that seemed to have lodged threateningly in the back of her throat. They stood looking down at her granddad sleeping peacefully.
‘Here goes,’ whispered Anthony. He positioned the phial so that it was only a couple of millimetres away from Granddad’s mouth. He gave one quick glance at Destiny and then tipped up the phial.
The liquid was quite thick and seemed to take forever to slide down the glass.
One drop
Two …
The last drop was just hanging by the slightest gossamer like thread, waiting to fall into the abyss below, when Granddad gave an almighty snort. In that briefest of moments before the final drop fell, Destiny and Anthony looked with horror, first at each other and then at Matt, who had started up violently at the sound. Wrenched out of a deep slumber, his confused mind was confronted with the vision of Anthony and Destiny slightly stooped over her granddad, whilst Anthony poured something bright yellow into the old man’s mouth.
‘What the devil …’ But there was no time to finish the words.
The last drop fell.
There was silence.
Complete silence.
Destiny slowly let go of Anthony’s hand, which she had been clutching tightly. Nebiré had warned them not to touch anyone else as they administered the potion, otherwise that person would also remain outside the time freeze.
‘The egg timer,’ whispered Destiny hoarsely, still afraid that Matt might easily be woken once again. Neither man stirred however. Anthony turned the timer and then tucked it firmly into his pocket.
‘Come on,’ he said urgently. ‘We have to get back to Saddler’s, there’s no time to waste.’
‘Sorry, Granddad,’ said Destiny sorrowfully, as she gazed down at the half-awake look of shock and disgust on his face. Planting a kiss on his forehead, she grabbed her jacket and rushed after Anthony.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
When they arrived at the greenhouse, Anthony immediately made for the place amongst various discarded pots where Saddler had told them the box would be hidden. Glancing at Destiny, he took a deep breath before plunging the key into the keyhole. Without Saddler to go before them, it seemed a much scarier thing to do than it had before. The next thing they knew however, they were standing in Saddler’s kitchen once more. The warm afternoon sun filtered lazily through the windows and everything was quiet.
‘I hope that potion really works,’ said Destiny, ‘otherwise we’re in big trouble!’
‘I’ve no doubt it will! More importantly, what do we do now?’ said Anthony, putting the box and the key carefully down on the table.
At that moment, a beautiful, sleek black and white cat leapt lithely through the open kitchen window and landed soundlessly on the wooden table. It had four white paws and a rather fine white moustache, which instantly sent Destiny into exclamations of delight.
‘Oh, how beautiful!’ she crooned. She stretched out her hand to tickle him under the chin.
‘The last time you did that, you nearly got your hand bitten off!’ Anthony laughed.
The cat gave him a withering look.
‘I am not a Grund!’ it retorted in a silky voice. Then turning to Destiny it purred, ‘Thank you for the compliment. I have been told –’ a quick lick to the paw – ‘that I am quite handsome. Ahh yes, you may scratch there a little more, my dear.’
Anthony raised his eyebrows and Destiny, restraining the urge to giggle, dutifully scratched behind the cat’s ears a little more. At last, shaking its head and arching its back in a curving stretch, the cat sat down and looked at them both solemnly.
‘Saddler is at a meeting with the Prof. He asked me to see if you had arrived yet and, if so, to tell you that he won’t be very long. Please feel free to make yourselves at home. As you see, Mrs Saddler has left some cakes on the table in case you’re hungry. A pleasure to meet you.’ So saying, the cat sprang lightly onto the window ledge and, with a flick of his tail, disappeared into the garden.
They didn’t have long to wait before Saddler appeared. It was growing dusky and his lantern brought with it a cheery glow.
‘Ahh, there you are.’ He sounded relieved. ‘I was ‘oping you’d make it. I’ve just been chatting to the Prof. First thing tomorrow morning, that’s where we’ll go. ‘E and ‘is lad ‘ave been ‘unting out all sorts of provisions for us to take.’
Saddler seemed more cheerful again, now that they were actually preparing to do something.
The following morning, the children were roused by the most wonderful breakfast smells. Mrs Saddler was determined to give them a hearty send off and neither of them needed to be asked twice to tuck in. Mrs Saddler’s cooking was exceptionally tasty!
Saddler appeared very soon after they had sat down, having already been out to fetch a paper. He smiled at them all and bade Anthony and Destiny a cheery good morning, but his eyes held a worried look.
‘Not good news again, my dear,’ he said gruffly. ‘Not good at all.’ The front of the newspaper had a large picture of a Natorqua lying curled up on the ground. It was obviously dead.
‘EMAJEN’S LIFE-BLOOD SEEPS AWAY’
read the heading. Underneath, a subheading stated, ‘LOCAL MAN TERRORIZED BY GRUNDS’.
The story told how these small, innocent looking creatures were now attacking in packs and how the poor old gentleman in question had been obliged to fight them off with his walking stick. It was only due to Nebiré’s help that he had very quickly been able to re-grow the toe that one of the Grund’s had viciously bitten off!
Saddler looked first at Mrs Saddler and then earnestly at Anthony and Destiny.
‘I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve done the right thing in asking you to come ‘ere. I ‘ad ‘oped we might be able to get to the Natorqua before things got too bad.’ He sat down at the table and put his head in his hands, unable to keep all his worry to himself any longer.
‘Of course you’ve done the right thing,’ said Destiny. ‘We’ll figure out something.’
Saddler lifted his head and shook it slowly from side to side.
‘I’m just afraid it’s going to be too dangerous, my dear. There must be some other way.’
‘I think we’ve probably done the worst bit –’ Anthony laughed, attempting to lighten Saddler’s mood – ‘trying to get that wretched stuff down Granddad’s throat. You should have seen the look on Dad’s face!’
Destiny laughed too. Then she looked seriously at Saddler.
‘We’re here now, so it looks as though you’re stuck with us. Besides, time’s getting on, so we’d better get going!’
Looking from one to the other, Saddler finally stood up and squared his shoulders. There was an expression of mixed pride and gratitude on his face. If Anthony and Destiny could be so determined, then what on Emajen did he have a right to whinge about?
‘Right then. Let’s go!’
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The day was a gem. The morning sparkled, a perfect example of a clear, crisp autumn day. Small, white cotton wool clouds did their stuff, almost competing with each other to make the most fascinating shapes. Birds trilled, sang and chattered. Two dear little rabbits hopped out of
the long grass on one side of the track. They put their little paws up to their noses at the sight of the three travellers, giggled audibly and hopped out of sight again.
‘Oh,’ breathed Destiny, ‘how adorable!’
It was, apparently, about a two-hour walk to the Prof’s place and, as the morning wore on, the day became brighter and warmer and altogether more perfect.
‘It seems impossible to believe that there’s anything at all wrong here,’ said Anthony. ‘Everything’s so calm and peaceful!”
‘Well let’s ‘ope it stays that way!’ remarked Saddler.
A tall, imposing house stood at the end of a short path that was guarded by soaring, majestic looking trees.
‘What’s that?’ said Destiny, tilting her head to catch an almost inaudible hum that reverberated gently through the air.
‘I can hear it too,’ said Anthony, intrigued.
Saddler smiled. ‘It’s the trees snoring. They’re nocturnal you know, really, trees. They come awake mostly when it’s cool and dark. That’s why you wouldn’t want to be walking through Nebiré’s wood too late in the day!’
Destiny laughed delightedly and then guiltily clamped her hand across her mouth.
‘It’s all right,’ chuckled Saddler, ‘they won’t ‘ear you. Sleep through anything, trees will!’ He patted the trunk of the nearest tree and turned to walk up the path. A long delicate twig swayed gently as if tickled by the breeze; it caught the tip of Saddler’s cap and snagged it off his head.
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