As they moved farther into the cave, the walls began to press inward, the pathway bottlenecking in places once they got past the shelves of essence. Slender creepers twisted up the rock face, with tiny white flowers peppering the vine. The petals were smooth and velvety with a bright yellow center, almost like a daisy. It was hard to believe anything could grow in here, but Alex supposed nature always found a way of thriving, even in the darkest of places.
Before long, the large group had collected in a small expanse at the farthest end of the cave, where the narrow path of the cave’s walkway gave way to a slightly more open space. An enormous stalactite hung down from the cave’s roof, with a tip forged from sapphire. Pausing here, Hadrian made a show of hiding something from sight, a shape that was sticking out of the wall. Alex peered around the nervous royal, and saw he had his hand upon a big, rough-cut gem that resembled a lotus flower. Casting an anxious glance back at the group, Hadrian pushed the gem in. With a loud, rumbling scrape that panicked the students into thinking another quake was happening, a large section of wall slid away, though it was clear now that it was a thick screen of painted wood, made to look like rock. It wasn’t as convincing when it was tucked away to the side, but Alex knew it had looked just like the real thing moments before. Now, it revealed the familiar glow of a portal, and, beyond it, Alex could see the beautiful land he had scouted from Storm’s back. Even at this distance, he could almost feel the crisp, cool air and the warm sunlight on his face. Of all the havens he had encountered, this was the only one that truly felt like a haven to him.
Alex hung back until the last of the students had stepped through to the new land, following the lead of a sensible Aamir and an exuberant Jari. With only Alex and the two girls left to step over the threshold into Starcross, he gestured for them to go on ahead.
“I just want to have a quick word with Hadrian first,” Alex explained, glancing at the nervous royal. To soften the blow of bringing all these people to Starcross, he wanted to try to persuade Hadrian to come with them, even though it seemed the royal had no intention of doing so whatsoever. It was almost as if he feared the portal to Starcross, not daring to get too close. Perhaps what lay on the other side was too tempting an escape from the responsibilities of Falleaf.
“We’ll wait,” said Ellabell, and Natalie nodded.
“No, really, you go on ahead, it’s—” He never got to finish his sentence, as vibrations began to shake the cave, and the sound of feet pounding the stone echoed off the walls. Alex turned sharply in the direction of the narrow passageway, bracing himself for whoever, or whatever, was incoming. A split second later, Vincent appeared in the narrow passageway, running down through the cave, a panicked expression on his face. To Alex’s surprise, Helena was following, and there were others, just visible behind her, all of them hurtling toward the portal.
“What’s the matter, Vincent?” asked Ellabell.
The necromancer came to an abrupt halt just in front of them, his brow beading with sweat. “It is exceptionally bad news, I’m afraid,” he gasped, clutching his chest.
Helena ran up behind him, the exertion barely affecting her. “It’s Julius,” she explained bitterly. “We’d just jumped through the portal back to Stillwater when we saw him arrive—it was like lightning in the distance, and I just knew it was him. He descended on us out of the blue. We turned tail and went straight back through to Spellshadow, following your tracks… but there’s nothing I can do for the rest of them—those still trapped at Stillwater, suffering who knows what at his hand.” Her face twisted in a furious grimace.
“How did you avoid the mist?” Alex asked.
“Some of us didn’t,” said Helena, shaking her head sadly. “It had started to roll out and was seeping through the floor, but there were a few corridors that were clear, and we used those. It still got a few of us though.” Her eyes glittered with un-spilt tears.
“I’m so sorry,” Alex whispered.
“Julius is going to find us,” she warned. “Wherever we go, he will follow us, until we have nowhere left to run.”
It was a terrifying thought, made all the more horrifying by the fact that Alex knew she was right. Julius would follow them to the ends of the earth. They had his wife, they had defied him, they were a thorn in his side—it was only a matter of time before he caught up. But, at least for now, he had no idea where they were.
For the time being, they were a tentative step ahead.
Chapter 5
After ensuring the remainder of the Stillwater army was through, Alex and the girls followed, stepping into the idyllic realm of Starcross Pond. Hadrian paused in front of the portal.
“Vincent and I will stay behind. If we hear anything, we’ll l-let you know,” he said. The nervous royal looked perplexed, as if the weight of what was happening had just sunk in.
Alex nodded. “We’ll do the same, but could you do me one last favor before you go?”
Hadrian frowned. “What is it?”
“If you walk around the forest outside the cave awhile, you’ll see my Thunderbird—she should have arrived by now,” he explained. “You might have to call her name to coax her out. She’s called Storm. If you just tell her where I’ve gone, so she can follow, that would be great.”
“Tell her where you’ve gone?” Hadrian repeated, incredulous.
Alex nodded. “I know it sounds strange, but she’s a clever bird. She’ll understand.”
“Very well, I shall s-send your Thunderbird to y-you.”
“Oh, where are we going, by the way?” Alex asked, realizing they’d need to know. He’d only seen Starcross from the air before, and had no idea where this field was in relation to the survivors’ camp.
“Follow the r-river, and k-keep it to your righthand side. It w-will lead you to Ceres,” Hadrian said. With that, the nervous royal pressed what Alex presumed to be the lotus-shaped gem, and the false wall slid back across the portal entrance, hiding it from anyone who might accidentally wander into the cave.
“Thank you!” Alex called through, feeling bad for the amount of pressure he’d loaded onto Hadrian’s shoulders.
The group gathering on the emerald-green field had grown considerably with the arrival of the Stillwater students. Alex had been sure Ceres would accost them before they even set foot through the portal, but she was nowhere to be seen. He headed to the front of the group, where Jari and Aamir were trying to allay the fears of a few fraught individuals. They would have to follow the river that glittered just ahead, where the banks sloped down to meet the babbling water, until they found the survivors’ camp.
“Not much farther to go,” Alex promised, shouting to the gathered group. It was as Hadrian had said upon meeting them all in the Falleaf glade: they were all hungry, cold, and tired, with many of them injured. If they didn’t reach a safer place soon, they would lose their resolve entirely.
Alex led the way across the field, which was fringed by regal-looking eucalyptus trees that rose to monstrous heights around the edges, their silvery trunks gleaming in the low afternoon sunlight. After clambering over a fence, they set off across another field, this one brimming with row upon row of vivid lavender, the scent so overpowering it almost stung the nostrils. Alex kept the river to his right, using it as his compass, though his eyes flitted toward the distractions all around, from the graceful flap of a “cabbage white” butterfly, half remembered from his grandfather’s butterfly collection, to the sprawling wildflowers that seemed to take up every available patch of land. Across the river, fields of poppies stretched along the bank, the delicate scarlet heads dancing in the breeze, carefree and flourishing.
It didn’t seem like the kind of place that had once been overtaken by the mist, but then again, Alex wasn’t sure exactly what type of fallout had occurred in its wake. Did the Great Evil affect plants and animals in the same way as mages? Did it leave whole realms to wrack and ruin? Or did it simply kill and move on, like a rabid disease, sinking away once there was nobody left to consume?
“What is this place?” Ellabell asked, her blue eyes wide with awe, the bronze sunlight on her face making her look more beautiful than Alex had ever seen her.
“This is Starcross Pond,” he replied, reaching for her hand. “There used to be a castle here somewhere, but it fell with the rest of the havens that didn’t make it.”
“It does not seem very fallen to me,” Natalie commented.
Alex shook his head. “No, it certainly doesn’t.”
Such idle thoughts were cut short by the sight of strangely shaped figures moving toward them in the distance. They appeared small at first, but quickly grew larger, as if they were moving at a great speed. The earth shuddered beneath Alex’s feet. He froze, wondering if they had just made a colossal error. What if Julius had somehow guessed where they had gone, and was charging toward them this very minute, having trapped them exactly where he wanted them? It seemed unlikely, but Julius was an unlikely sort of man, prone to being dangerously unpredictable; it was part of his power, part of what drove people to fear him.
“Get ready for a fight!” Alex bellowed. They were standing in a field full of blackberry bushes, and though he knew the spiny leaves wouldn’t provide much cover, they were better than nothing.
Panic rippled across the faces of the group, but they rallied, moving into a rough formation, lifting their hands in the direction of the oncoming aggressors. Some dove for the cover of the blackberry bushes, curling up into balls at the bases of the plants, but most stood ready to fight, awaiting Alex’s orders. Alex and his friends took to the front line, standing side by side, while they waited for the approaching individuals, whose numbers seemed to be expanding by the minute.
As they neared, Alex realized why their silhouettes had seemed so peculiar. They were riding horses—but these horses were no ordinary steeds. They were gigantic, muscle-bound beasts, built like draft horses, but taller and broader than any Alex had ever seen, with manes that streamed with feathers and beads. The entirety of their eyes were colored an alarming shade of white, though the centers seemed to glow with a pearlescent light that made Alex feel suddenly cold.
“What are they?” Jari gasped, voicing Alex’s own question.
“Kelpies,” whispered Helena. “I didn’t think there were any left in the wild. I have only seen them in the royal stables,” she added, looking just as awestruck as Jari.
So, Alex thought, these are the creatures Julius threatened to have his wife ripped apart by. Seeing them in the flesh made the idea of such a torture all the more horrifying; they looked like they could tear a bear apart in five seconds flat, so he could only imagine the mess they’d make of a weaker human.
Something in the back of his mind made him remember stories of these creatures, told by his grandmother when he’d asked for a particularly spooky tale. They were found in Celtic folklore and were said to be terrible water spirits who rose from lakes, rivers, and streams to entice local children to jump onto their backs. Once on, the children would always find they were stuck and could not get down again, no matter how they struggled. With the trap securely snapped shut, the Kelpies would walk back into the water, drowning their quarry and savoring the souls of the departed. Though, it was said, if a person could get hold of a Kelpie’s bridle, that Kelpie would do the bidding of whoever controlled it.
Alex wondered how much truth there was in that tale, because these thundering beasts seemed to be very much under the control of their riders, of which there seemed to be about twenty.
Ceres was one such rider, her Kelpie speeding along the fastest, leading the cavalry charge. It pulled up short with a ferocious snort, just before it would have trampled Alex and his friends. He peered into the squad that had arrived, hoping to see the friendly face of Demeter, but the redhaired teacher wasn’t with them.
“Alex?” Ceres snapped, a look of displeasure on her face. “What are you doing here? And who are all these people?” she asked, glancing across the large group. Behind her, the rest of the Kelpies pulled up, their riders giving firm tugs on the reins. In their hair, they all wore beads and feathers that corresponded to those on the manes of their mounts, and none of them looked pleased—neither animal nor human.
“I’ll tell you everything, but first, we need help,” Alex replied calmly. “Hadrian let us through. He knew you wouldn’t let us suffer any more than we already have. These are evacuees from Spellshadow Manor and Stillwater House, and I am begging you to offer them your protection.”
Ceres glowered at Alex with her one good eye. “You didn’t think to ask first?”
“There wasn’t time, Ceres,” Helena cut in, her voice piercing through the pounding of settling hooves.
Ceres scrutinized the silver-haired young woman. “Helena, is it? I haven’t seen you since you were a little girl,” she mused. “I hope you aren’t as similar to your mother as you look.”
Helena flinched at the mention of her mother, who was still stuck in the cells at Stillwater. Alex glanced at her, wondering whether to step in or not. It wasn’t something they’d had a chance to talk about yet, but surely she was worried about Alypia, given that Julius had descended upon the place.
“I am nothing like my mother,” Helena hissed.
“Then we might get along,” said Ceres, with a wry half smile upon her face. “What happened? If you can’t give me the long version, give me the short one,” she demanded, turning back toward Alex.
“There was a battle at Spellshadow. We managed to overcome Virgil, as you can see,” Alex began, gesturing toward the still-unconscious Head. “But something went wrong with the spell, and the mist escaped. We had to evacuate. Helena wanted to return to Stillwater, but Julius was already there. This is the only place that’s truly safe for us now. If we stay at any of the other havens, Julius will inevitably find us.” He let the last part go unspoken: and kill us all.
Ceres’s gaze settled on the frightened faces before her. Alex could read the thoughts in her eyes. They had done nothing wrong, nor had they done anything to deserve the position they were in. They were sheep left for the slaughter.
“You shouldn’t have brought them here. My brother should never have allowed it,” Ceres murmured after a drawn-out silence, shaking her head. Alex had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that she was about to turn them away. “But, since you are all already here, I suppose I wouldn’t be a particularly good Samaritan if I made you go back. Follow me,” she said, with a heavy sigh.
“Thank you, Ceres,” said Alex.
Ceres glared at him. “You and I will speak more later. I am only doing this because I could never live with myself if I didn’t, but make no mistake—I am not pleased,” she growled, turning her vast steed around and steering it the direction they had come.
The Starcross cavalry trotted at a slow pace, allowing the evacuees to keep up, but every so often the blank face of a Kelpie would turn, and Alex would feel a tremor of fear run through him as its white eyes stared him down, nostrils flaring, with hot jets of steam ushering forth from them. These were not domestic, friendly creatures, and it left Alex in awe of how Ceres and her squad of mounted riders had managed to control them.
After a long walk, longer than Alex had imagined it would be, they arrived at the edge of the encampment he had visited before. The tents billowed in the breeze, and the makeshift shanty homes creaked, but it still looked as beautiful as the first time Alex had seen it. There was something peaceful about the place that Alex couldn’t put his finger on—perhaps it was the absence of royal influence, Ceres being the exception.
Pausing beside the river, the riders dismounted, keeping hold of the leather bridles that they unbuckled from the Kelpies’ faces. They kept these in their hands, while the gigantic beasts trotted down the sloping banks and back into the water, disappearing beneath the surface with a froth of bubbles.
So the tale has some truth, Alex thought to himself, watching Ceres strap the Kelpie bridle to her belt. He imagined the creatures’ watery
abode was why he hadn’t seen them before; Ceres hadn’t had time to summon them when Alex had descended upon Starcross last time.
“You may follow Beulah and Conleth,” Ceres instructed, gesturing toward two of her fellow Kelpie riders, a dark-haired woman and man. “Except for you, Alex, and your friends. You will follow me—and you can bring that thing along too,” she added, nodding to the limp figure of Virgil, her tone carrying a warning.
The rest of the congregation hurried away after the riders, who seemed more affable now that they were down from their savage steeds. Alex stifled a gulp as he and the other five followed Ceres toward the large tent at the far edge of the shantytown, where he had been reprimanded by her before. The heavy scarlet material still flapped in the breeze, and the yellow flag perched at the top still rippled wildly.
Once they were all inside, Ceres turned on them immediately. “You realize he will come after you, don’t you?” she remarked curtly. “I’ve spoken to you about this before—I warned you about this before, but you wouldn’t listen, would you? Now, he’s definitely going to find us. We have his wife, and we have the people who took her. He’ll sniff us out like the wolf that he is. You understand that, right? You knew that the minute you stepped through that portal.”
Everyone shuffled uncomfortably, not daring to look up at the fierce glare of the short-haired woman. It was true, Alex thought, they had known what they were doing by coming here, and yet they had done it anyway.
“There was no other—” Alex began, but she cut him off sharply.
“Don’t you give me that crap, Alex,” she snarled. “You could have integrated them into the Falleaf students. They would have been safe there, while you tried the spell again. It would have been a temporary measure, but no, you just had to be the hero.”
“He was trying to do what he thought was best,” Ellabell interrupted.
Ceres shot her a dirty look. “This wasn’t it, sunshine,” she barked, turning back to Alex. “You didn’t want them to suffer anymore, and I get that, but you have put more lives in jeopardy than you know. They wouldn’t have had to suffer for long, but now you’ve added untold horror for everyone here—them included.”
The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 6: The Spell Page 4