Other Worlds: Vesta Mansion Trilogy - Book Two - Fantasy

by P. A. Priddey

  ‘Yeah, I want to show the girls the seaside.’

  That would be nice. I seem to remember that I used to like travelling on the sea.

  ‘That’s an idea . . . we could go on a cruise.’

  Alex took some brochures and made his way to see George, who as it turned out was not busy and decided to join them on their day out.

  They all chose their films, and Alex paid for the tickets before going into the arcade. They saw new machines which did not please Blaze, as the horse racing game had gone. Alex spoke to the owner, who still had it in storage, and bought it for her. Paige won Gort a cuddly toy, and he gave her a look as if to say “I am over six hundred years old” but as he was wearing sun glasses it looked like a thank you. Flax on the other hand loved the attention.

  At the cinema, Alex didn’t watch a film with the children as Luella told him to watch something he liked. He decided against the zombie film as he had seen so many in the past. He liked the idea of people trying to survive, but not just going around shooting them, it felt like a thin plot. He chose a spoof on the latest horror films, what he didn’t realise it contained a lot of witches. A character in the film tipped a bucket of water over a witch hoping she would melt, but she didn’t and turned him into a newt. He scampered off muttering “you’re not having my eyes”, and that was as entertaining as the film got. He sat there thinking of the real witches and where he could search for them.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Something Evil at Work . . . Again

  They discussed the films on the coach, and the children were the only ones who enjoyed theirs.

  Carrie appeared let down by the horror film. ‘The problem was the zombies. They were too slow and no real challenge for the warriors.’

  Jodie nodded. ‘There should have been different monsters in each town.’

  ‘Yeah, a bit of variety was needed,’ said Carrie, and turned to Alex. ‘Did you like your film?’

  ‘It had witches in it.’ Alex stared out of the window into the darkness. The rain, still heavy, made the drive home slow. There was something in the rain he could feel it.

  ‘What’s up, Papa?’ said Alhena.

  ‘I was just wondering how much rain has fallen.’

  Alhena beamed. ‘Oh I know that.’

  ‘And how much is that then?’

  ‘Lots.’

  Alex laughed and pulled her to him. ‘I do believe you’re right.’

  Adhara pressed the button to open the gates and James drove up the long drive.

  We appear to be under attack again, said House.

  Attack from what? Alex asked.

  I do not know, but it looks like some big watery thing.

  Alex raised both eyebrows. A big watery thing?

  Yes, and it is hitting the shield down by the river.

  Can it get through?

  Not at the moment, but the blows are getting stronger.

  Alex hurried into the mansion and watched the children run to the games machines. He turned to James. ‘Get the weapons . . . we have a visitor out the back.’

  The attack pack ran to the gym. Alex fetched the vase, joined them, and they vanished. The others followed Blaze into her room to look into the crystal ball.

  ~~~~

  The creature looked huge, and like the troll it had four arms, which hammered at the force field. It was almost invisible but you could just see its outline in the rain.

  Blaze had the image on the ball.

  ‘That’s impossible,’ said Daralis, ‘it was destroyed a long time ago.’

  ‘What is it?’ said Blaze.

  Luella stared at the ball. ‘A water demon.’

  ‘Not just any demon, it was a demon lord,’ said Daralis. The door shut, as someone left the room.

  ~~~~

  Alex threw his spear at the demon, only for it to pass through as did Jodie’s bolts.

  James stared as the rain poured down on them. ‘Is it made of water?’

  Alex wiped the rain away from his eyes. ‘It appears so, and our weapons are useless against it.’

  I just had to reinforce the shield as it was weakening, House told them.

  ‘How can it hurt the force field if it’s made of water?’ said James.

  ‘It can probably solidify parts of itself at will . . . maybe,’ said Alex, very unsure.

  Asima held her hands above her eyes as she tried to see through the rain. ‘We have to find some other way of stopping it.’

  ‘How about a big water container with a lid?’ said Paige.

  ‘It might not want to go inside,’ said Alex, giving her a questioning look.

  Carrie was about to say something when the ground beneath her gave way, and she slid into the river. The river was shallower than earlier as she managed to climb the bank on the other side — outside the shield. The demon saw her.

  Alex saw a huge fist coming down at her, and leapt over the river pushing Carrie out-of-the-way and they both fell. The huge fist smashed into the ground just missing them.

  Alex saw another fist hurtling down at them, he raised a hand and golden energy shot from his fingers, but only put holes through it. Alex started to glow but the fist did not reach, it smashed apart over what looked like a sheet of glass above them. The demon screamed at its arm and the fact that it had no hand. Another started to grow in its place.

  ‘Hey ugly,’ said Kristina, and with one look from her it was now missing part of its head, its four arms came up looking for the rest of it. Millie stared at the demon with one arm raised and hit it with her force field. The top half of the creature broke apart and crashed to the ground. The lower part of the body fell and the river once again spilt its banks.

  ‘That was so cool,’ said James.

  ‘I totally agree,’ said Alex, after using the vase to cross back over with Carrie. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘I would hug you if I wasn’t so wet,’ said Carrie, soaked through with her hair plastered to her face.

  Kristina looked miffed. ‘It would’ve been better if it looked at me when I called him ugly.’

  They grouped together and they arrived outside Carrie’s room where they left her to get changed.

  Alex smiled at Kristina. ‘An umbrella?’

  ‘It’s a bit more now, we have been trying other things.’

  ‘Don’t stop trying.’

  Blaze passed them each a towel. ‘What happened?’

  James dried his face. ‘Kristina and Millie beat it up.’

  ‘We could see what happened to it, but not how you did it?’

  ‘We hit it with our umbrellas,’ said Kristina.

  Daralis arched an eyebrow. ‘You used your shield as a weapon?’

  Millie grinned. ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time.’

  ‘You won’t get any arguments from me,’ said Alex. ‘So, do we know what it is?’

  ‘A demon lord,’ said Luella.

  Alex sighed. ‘That means it’s a lot more powerful than the ones we faced before.’

  ‘Yes, but it has another form, and I don’t understand why it never used that.’

  ‘What form’s that?’ said Alex.

  ‘Similar shape,’ said Daralis. ‘But it had a leathery skin, with a fish like head, and a mouth with razor-sharp teeth.’

  Alex removed his jacket before sitting down. ‘Sounds lovely, but at least we know how to hurt it, and it would be easier to fight it away from water.’

  ‘How do you know that?’ said James.

  ‘Did you see how the river filled back up after Kristina and Millie defeated it?’

  James nodded. ‘Is that the reason we are having so much rain?’

  ‘I was thinking about that, and how it all seems so unnatural.’

  ‘We can’t create weather,’ said Daralis, ‘but we can alter it.’

  Alex took a glass of juice from the table. ‘The witches must have waited for it to rain before summoning the demon.’

  Luella rubbed her chin. ‘We didn’t think it could be sum
moned . . . we thought it was destroyed a long time ago.’

  ‘I thought they just got sent back.’

  ‘That’s if you kill them, but we believed the wizard destroyed it.’

  ‘The same wizard who had disappeared a long time ago, who I believe is your brother.’

  Luella nodded sadly. ‘Yes, the very same.’

  ‘Maybe he didn’t destroy it,’ Asima added. ‘Only hurt it and someone did put it in some water container like Paige said.’

  Alex shook his head in disbelief. ‘I really believe she was joking.’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Daralis, ‘but then it could’ve been hiding in some pond or pool waiting.’

  ‘Waiting for what?’

  ‘This rain, as you said it’s unnatural and it might have given him power again.’

  ‘So the witches are not just going to hide, they’re coming after us.’

  Luella nodded. ‘If they believe you’re going after them, they will summon anything to stop you.’

  ‘Good, it’s what I’ve been waiting for.’

  James continued to dry his hair with the towel. ‘You think they will show themselves?’

  ‘Hopefully,’ said Alex, ‘and I think they were testing our defences out tonight.’

  ‘Did they summon the troll too?’ said Claire.

  ‘Maybe, but not summoned like they would a demon.’

  ‘What happened to the demon, it just disappeared?’

  Luella shrugged. ‘Escaped down the river I would imagine.’

  ~~~~

  The demon, now the size of a man did escape down the river, although it was more up than down. It could travel fast and eventually climbed out. It ran across the land until it came to a lake, and swam across until it had to get out. It ran to a forest where there was a very large hill with a cave. The only reason the demon could see it was because the witches allowed it to see. The two witches stood by an old wooden table in the spacious cave.

  ‘You failed us Moneth,’ the witches told him, they were tall and thin with self-inflicted scars across their faces. They wore long old-fashioned dresses, one had grey hair and the other had dark black hair going grey. The grey haired witch had eyes that were also grey with a black dot in the centre, and the black-haired witch’s eyes had a black ring around a grey iris and a black pupil.

  ‘You knew I would fail,’ said Moneth. ‘I am not strong enough yet, you just used me to test out their defences.’

  ‘Yes, we did,’ said Mardella, ‘but could you feel any weakness in it?’

  ‘It seemed to be weakening until the wizard appeared and it became too strong for me.’

  ‘Was it just him or did any of the others have any power?’ said Tagana.

  ‘Just him, one of them fell and he had to save her while the others just stood there watching.’

  ‘That could be his weakness,’ said Tagana, watching something move in the cave.

  Moneth stared at a small brown furry creature about three feet tall with pointed ears. ‘What is that?’

  ‘An Alp,’ said Mardella, ‘and it’s going to take care of those women.’

  ~~~~

  Alex dreamt, not one of his usual dreams this time, he was limping again and trying to run. He was afraid but not for himself but for all the others he had let down. There were bodies everywhere, he could only see two of his children, and they were both crying.

  ‘This is all your fault,’ Blaze scathingly told him.

  ‘I thought you loved us,’ said Livvy, bleeding heavily from a wound in her chest.

  ‘You let them kill us,’ said Paige, and collapsed.

  ‘Why, Alex, why?’ Carrie screamed.

  Alex, wake up, said House. ALEX, IT IS JUST A DREAM.

  He sat up shivering, and could hear crying. ‘The children?’

  You cannot help the children until you sort yourself out, House told him.

  ‘I’ve let them down, I’ve failed them all,’ said Alex, with his head in his hands.

  No, it is some sort of spell and you have to break it.

  Alex sat there shivering. ‘I can’t do it.’

  You have to think of the children and the others.

  Alex felt cold, he thought about the golden energy he had when he saved Alhena and called upon it. He suddenly turned very warm, and wasn’t afraid any more, he was angry. He ran to his children, who sat huddled together on the bed crying.

  ‘Papa, we’re frightened,’ said Shaula.

  ‘It will be OK now,’ he said, and put his arms around them. The golden energy covered them and they stopped crying.

  ‘We thought you left us,’ said Sarin.

  ‘It was just a bad dream, sweetheart.’

  Alex left the room and saw his mother sitting on the floor outside her room crying with Thomas in her arms, who had a terrified look on his face. He put his arms around them, the crying stopped.

  Luella shook her head and managed to stand up. ‘What happened?’

  ‘House said it was a spell.’ Alex could hear crying throughout the mansion. He stood and went to the top of the stairs as the golden energy turned brighter.

  Luella and Thomas had to cover their eyes. Alex opened his arms out, and the energy spread throughout the mansion. Within seconds the crying stopped and bedroom doors opened. Some of the residents of Vesta Mansion gasped at the sight of him.

  Alex turned around as the energy dissipated. ‘How did they manage that?’

  I do not know, said House. I could sense nothing apart from you all having bad dreams.

  ‘This is the witches doing, and they will pay for it.’

  ‘They were behind it,’ said Luella, ‘but I can’t see them doing it themselves . . . it’s too dangerous.’

  ‘You mean another demon?’ said Alex, as the others came out of their rooms.

  ‘Could be, there are many demons we do not know about, and there’s a creature called an Alp from Europe that could give you nightmares, but that would have to be sitting on your chest.’

  Alex rubbed his eyes. ‘Another creature we’ll be looking for.’

  Daralis approached while pulling a dressing gown around her. ‘You may well have already killed it or sent it insane.’

  ‘What makes you say that?’ said Alex.

  ‘There were more powerful alps which could cast more than one nightmare. If you manage to cast the nightmare out it will attack the sender, one would be no problem, two or three is manageable, but you sent at least twenty back at one time.’

  ‘How did it get past the shield?’

  ‘It might already have been there when we went out, but only works on the unconscious mind.’

  Alex rubbed his chin. ‘Can we stop it from happening again?’

  Luella nodded. ‘Yes, we can do protection spells.’

  ~~~~

  The witches and the demon watched the alp, as it knelt with tiny lights floating in front of it.

  ‘What are those?’ said Moneth. The demon had the appearance of mainly water, but had a grey outline to it, and the shape of its fish-like head was visible.

  ‘Nightmares,’ said Tagana, ‘they light up when they’re active.’

  ‘I thought it had to be in contact with the victim to do it.’

  ‘For a normal alp yes,’ said Mardella. ‘This one is powerful, and was our brother’s favourite pet, so he gave it extra powers. He could make many of his enemies agree to his demands with it.’

  Tagana grinned. ‘He preferred to watch them go mad though.’

  One of the lights flickered out and became a little dark shape. It flew at the alp, who swatted it with its hand, and it vanished.

  ‘Damn he must have stopped his nightmare already,’ said Tagana.

  Mardella nodded. ‘We didn’t really expect it to work on him.’

  Four more lights turned black and the alp nearly panicked but managed to stop them in time, its face looked terrified.

  ‘That’s impossible,’ Tagana hissed.

  Two more lights flickered out, and
they just sat there watching when all the remaining lights also flickered out. The alp had no chance as all but one of the shapes entered its mind, it screamed and collapsed.

  ‘I think we have underestimated this wizard,’ said a startled Tagana.

  Mardella gasped. ‘We have to leave here before he finds us.’

  ‘Help me get my power back,’ said Moneth, ‘and I will kill him for you.’

  Tagana gave the demon a disgusted look. ‘Is that after you’ve killed us?’

  ‘I would never hurt you, I want you to live forever.’

  Mardella sneered. ‘That coming from a demon means nothing. You would kill us just to get to our pet.’

  Moneth leant back on the wall, and shook its reptilian looking head. ‘You do not understand, thousands of years I lay at the bottom of that pond with nothing but revenge on my mind for the wizard of yours. Nothing I could ever have imagined came near to what you have done to him.’

  ‘Are you saying you don’t want him dead?’

  ‘Yes, I want you to keep making him suffer, and if we can catch this other one just think of the power you will have,’

  ‘To capture the other wizard we’ll need help,’ said Tagana.

  ‘There are others who will come if you ask them to,’ said Moneth.

  ‘One was coming,’ said Tagana, ‘but we believe the wizard killed it. Others are coming, but we’ll have to wait and see who turns up. There’s a pool through the tunnel, go and get your strength back.’

  CHAPTER SIX

  The Hidden Parchments

  The mood in the mansion was upbeat despite the morning’s events. The golden energy did not just remove the nightmares it energised everyone, including House, although he did not know it at the time. Alex was determined to locate the witches, whatever it took, and now the rain had eased up. Luella and Daralis, now wearing trousers and blouses, cast their protection spell. Most of the women spent the day training, not fighting but using their other talents. Kristina and Millie had impressed everyone so much that they wanted to practice with their own powers even more. The children were playing in the mini arcade, as they called it, with the pucas who had gone back to their own form much to the dismay of Paige and Skye.