by Robin Jarvis
The Punchinellos quacked and cackled. This was better entertainment than a horror film. They swigged from their bottles and bet each other which prisoner would fall down next.
A sharp spasm clutched at Lee’s heart. His eyes widened and he felt a sudden cold surge through his veins.
“No,” he grunted. “Not now!”
The back of his throat began to burn and he looked around wildly. He recognised what was happening to him. It meant only one thing. Someone here was falling under the spell of Austerly Fellows’ words for the very first time. They were going to Mooncaster, and they were dragging him with them.
Maggie was alarmed. She saw Lee trembling and sweat begin to pour down his face. She took hold of his hand. It was freezing and covered in gooseflesh.
He wasn’t aware of her. His eyes were locked on Jody. Her head was nodding to the rhythm of Jangler’s voice. Then she began to shake violently and flung herself down, writhing and convulsing. Alasdair cried out and pushed through the crowd.
“She’s having a fit!” he shouted. “Help me. Someone hold her arms and legs before she hurts herself!”
The guards laughed at him, struggling with his one good hand while Christina tried to catch hold of Jody’s flailing legs.
Lee’s stomach lurched and his eardrums were splitting. The breath wheezed out of his lungs. Then he toppled over. Spencer caught his arm as he fell and Maggie kept hold of his hand.
Captain Swazzle ceased laughing at Alasdair’s hapless antics and turned to see Lee, Spencer and Maggie drop to the floor. The Punchinello elbowed the other guards and they guffawed at them sprawled in a heap.
Jangler stopped reading and sighed wistfully as he returned from his other life. He viewed the fallen children and tugged on his pointed beard. Nine of them had fainted. Jody’s feverish movements ended and she grew still.
“Is she dying?” Christina asked Alasdair.
The boy didn’t know and he gently arranged Jody in the recovery position.
Jangler tucked his copy of Dancing Jax under his arm. Then he stepped between the unconscious children and chortled, feeling very pleased with himself. His Lord had commanded him to make them suffer. They were certainly doing that. There would be no shortage of nightmares tonight.
Standing over Lee, Maggie and Spencer, he thought it most peculiar the three of them should faint together like that. He nudged the girl with his shoe. She was as still as a stone and could easily be mistaken for dead. The other two were the same, completely insensible. It was exceedingly strange.
Nearby the other children began to groan and stir as they came round.
Suddenly Alasdair gave a shout of dismay and he scrambled away from Jody in a panic.
“What is that?” he yelled. “What is it? Dinnae touch her, Christina!”
Jangler and the guards hurried over and looked down at the stricken girl. Her eyelids had fluttered open, but the eyes beneath…
“Good gracious!” Jangler exclaimed. “I’ve never seen the like of that before. Whatever can it mean?”
The Punchinellos muttered unhappily and didn’t get too close.
“You tell me what it means!” Alasdair snapped. “What is up wi’ her? What’ve you done to her noo?”
Christina gazed down at Jody’s face. Her eyes were no longer human. They were transparent orbs of bright blue glass.
“Most irregular and unexpected,” Jangler commented. “I do believe she has crossed over into the Kingdom of the Dawn Prince at last. She is no longer an aberrant. She is one of the blessed. What a sensational occurrence! After all this time being worthless scum. Well, well.”
Alasdair couldn’t get his head around it. “So she’s one of you Jaxers noo?” he said. “But why them eyes?”
The old man stroked his moustache. “This girl was always a troubled creature,” he said thoughtfully.
“She wasnae afore she came here!”
“I believe she has become wedged halfway between waking and sleeping. I have no idea who she is in our real world, but it must be a very unusual personage.”
Alasdair knelt beside her again and stroked her hair.
“Jody,” he called softly. “Can ye hear me?”
There was no response. The blue glass eyes stared fixedly up at the evening sky.
“It’s no use,” Jangler told him. “She can’t respond. She’s still awake, back home. Dear me, she’ll get awfully tired not being able to sleep there and dream these silly fancies.”
“Can ye no do something for her?”
“I’ll call for an ambulance. The poor child needs a doctor. I’m only a gaoler and she is no longer one of my charges. I can’t keep her here.”
He disappeared inside his cabin to make the call. Alasdair drew Christina towards him.
“Time to say goodbye,” he told her sadly. “Jody’s going away noo.”
The little girl crouched beside Jody and slipped her small hand into hers. Alasdair looked around. It was only then he saw Lee and the others.
“Och, no!” he cried.
Running across, he dragged them clear of each other. At first he thought they really were dead until he checked their pulses. Then he tapped and slapped their faces and spoke their names. Not one of them moved.
“What is going on here?” he uttered in despair. “Help me get them indoors.”
The Punchinellos flicked their fingers at him and returned to their bottles. Drew came over, but Nicholas didn’t feel up to it. Charm’s girls stepped forward.
Lee touched the back of his head. The lump was still there and sore as anything. He sucked the air through his teeth. It was freezing and made them ache. Then he realised that his knees and arms were freezing too. He opened his eyes.
“Oh, what?” he cried.
“I didn’t see that bus coming,” Maggie moaned groggily. “Am I in one piece? I’m too scared to look. It’s gone all cold. That noise – the horrible falling feeling…”
Startled to hear another voice, Lee stared down at her. Then his astonishment doubled when he saw Spencer lying close by.
“Damn,” he muttered.
“Is it that bad?” Maggie asked, shivering.
“There weren’t no bus,” Lee told her. “Open your eyes, you’re in one piece. Hey, Sheriff Woody, wake up.”
Spencer blinked and both he and Maggie looked up simultaneously.
The vapour cloud of the girl’s breath steamed like an old-fashioned train as she turned the air blue with her incredulous, technicolour language.
They were in the middle of a wood. The trees were bare and icicles spiked down from the diamond-dusted boughs. Deep and unspoiled snow covered the ground and they were lying in it.
Lee rose and brushed the stuff from his knees.
“When I said I was Jack Frost, this is not what I meant,” he said, rubbing his bare arms then helping Maggie to her feet.
“We’re here, aren’t we?” she marvelled, her teeth chattering with the cold and the excitement. “We’re in Mooncaster!”
Spencer was speechless. He stared about them, overwhelmed. This place wasn’t like any of the real woodland he had seen in the New Forest. This was like being inside the most chocolate-boxy, picturesque Christmas card, complete with silver glitter. Everywhere he looked was a painter’s dream. The sky was a pale gold; all it lacked was a church spire in the distance, with a light shining behind a stained-glass window. But there were no churches in the Dawn Prince’s Kingdom.
“Er… why… how did we get here?” he stammered.
“Didn’t you guys see Jody back there?” Lee asked. “She was being converted. That book was finally working on her. When a newbie turns, they always drag me with them if I’m near. I can’t stop it. You two just got in the way an’ I pulled you in with me. Sorry.”
Maggie blew into her cupped hands. “Don’t apologise,” she said. “It’s amazing. But we’re not exactly dressed for it. We’re only in T-shirts. I’ll turn purple in a minute.”
“I gotta get yo
u back to the camp soon as. We’ll just be lyin’ on the floor there and can’t wake up. That is way too dangerous. No tellin’ what could happen to us in that state.”
“I saw other kids fainting,” Spencer said. “They’re in the same boat.”
“Difference is, they’ll come round. We won’t, long as we’re here. Gimme your hands. We’re goin’ back.”
“Hang on!” Spencer argued. “This is perfect, don’t you see? You were going to have to come here tonight anyway. We can be your posse!”
“You is kidding me.”
“The three of us together stand a better chance of finding Malinda’s cottage and stealing her wand than you on your own.”
Maggie’s jaw dropped. “We’re doing what?” she cried.
“No way!” Lee told them. “You have not the smallest clue what this place is like! It’s a fairyland war zone here. I don’t even trust these trees!”
“The trees can talk?” Maggie asked. “That’s bloody fabulous!” She ran over to the nearest and knocked on it. A hammock of snow dropped down on her head and she squealed, jiggling up and down to shake it out of her T-shirt.
“I’ve not seen them talk,” Lee admitted. “But all sorts of weirdness lives in them, and under them, an’ if you keep foolin’ around like that, you ain’t gonna last long.”
“Sorry,” she said contritely. “I’m just so gobsmacked to be here. It’s real – it’s actually real! And it’s gorgeous!”
“Visitin’ time is over,” he said decisively. “Grab my hands. I’ll come back after eight o’clock on my own, properly geared up, and find that thing.”
Spencer refused and folded his arms.
“Them Big Noses could be putting your sorry ass on a fire right now, for all you know!” Lee said crossly. “Cos they is more than capable of that, and worse – or do you need reminding what they just did? Do you, really?”
“Alasdair is there,” Spencer replied. “He won’t let them. He’ll look after us.”
“Ya think?”
“Yes – I trust him, and you should too. It’s time you did. I’ve seen his face each time he’s excluded. I know what that feels like, even before Dancing Jax. Whatever he did and said, Alasdair’s really sorry for it.”
“That changes nuthin’! He can’t stop those…”
He spun around suddenly. There had been a noise – music. It was nearby.
Lee hissed at them to crouch down. They peered over the snow-covered roots and caught their steaming breath in their hands.
The wood was on a gentle slope. A little way down there was a gap between the ice-draped trees, forming a winding path through the forest. Figures were travelling along it and Maggie clamped her lips together to stop herself exclaiming with delight.
It was a procession of woodland folk: animals and strange creatures who dwelt in the forest. Leading the way, the beautiful almond hind carried the three gnome miners on her back. They were brothers who tapped for moon pearls and wish stones beneath the earth. For once they were not bickering amongst themselves but playing instruments – a flute, a drum and a hurdy-gurdy. After them marched a badger on a long silver leash, held by a thin character in a plum-coloured gown and stovepipe hat, decked with matching ribbons. A pair of weasels followed then a group of squirrels, stoats, foxes and rabbits and several wild cats. All of those animals were walking on their hind legs, clutching twigs of evergreen in their front paws, which they waved about in time to the gnomes’ midwinter song.
Gud masters give ear to our pleading
Wherever ye may abide.
Come, see where we will be leading
To doorways far and wide.
The sun, she has slept long enough, love
’Tis the darkenmost time of the year.
So sing out loud, beat the drum, love
Awake and bring the gladdest of cheer.
Maggie was mesmerised. It was the most enchanting, yet bizarre spectacle she had ever witnessed. Outlandish creatures went parading by. Some were odd, stunted people with long, beak-like noses along which icicles were forming or robins hopped; others could barely be seen beneath oversized hats or were muffled in scarves or beards. A small, whiskery, barrel-shaped woman rode on a wild pig that was garlanded with scarlet berries. Amidst all this, a very solemn-looking twig imp in a russet cloak strode up and down carrying a staff, topped by a golden sun symbol, keeping them all in line and reminding the animals not to devour each other on this special day.
Tramping on all fours at the rear of the column was an enormous bear, whose shaggy fur was a rich shade of cinnamon. Nobody dared ride on its back. It turned its snout towards the place where Lee and the others were hidden and sniffed the cold, sharp air. Its wild, amber eyes glinted. Then it tossed its head and continued on its way.
When the music faded in the distance, Maggie’s eyebrows lifted as far as they could go.
“Wow!” was all she could say.
“Shh!” Lee whispered. “It ain’t over yet.”
There was a rustling in the trees beside the path. The snow was shaken free and the ivy that grew around the trunks ripped itself clear. It slithered to the ground. Then the evergreen vines moved like serpents and twined and twisted themselves together, forming a rough human shape. Then there came a leathery, swishing, crackling sound and a stocky being made entirely of holly branches strode on to the pathway. It stood before the graceful ivy form and bowed low. The Ivy Girl gave an answering curtsy and raised a leafy hand. The Holly Boy took it and together they went waltzing through the forest.
“Er… none of that,” Spencer remarked in a stunned monotone, “was in the book.”
“Whole heaps of stuff goes on here what ain’t in them pages,” Lee informed him.
“No wonder you got addicted to this place,” Maggie breathed. “I just seen it with my own eyes and I don’t believe it.”
“Still want to go mug a fairy godmother?”
Maggie looked at Spencer and they nodded in unison.
“If the guards were going to do something to us, back at the camp,” she said, “we’d have felt it by now, wouldn’t we?”
“And it’s got to be done,” Spencer added.
Lee didn’t feel like arguing any more.
“It’s your funeral,” he said.
They picked themselves up and stamped their feet to get the blood circulating again.
“Do you have any idea where we are?” Maggie asked, rubbing her hands. “Is this where she lives?”
“Like I know one wood from another!” Lee answered impatiently. “There’s lots of woods in this mad place. Could be any one of ’em.”
“But there’s only one Cinnamon Bear,” Spencer said. “And it lives in Hunter’s Chase, same as Malinda. Come on, how many times have you read that flipping thing? Didn’t any of it sink in?”
“And that,” said Lee, “is why the geeks shall inherit the earth.”
They felt the best way to go would be to head left, travelling parallel to the path, but not walking along it, in case they encountered other peculiar creatures. As they journeyed, Lee told them to look out for fallen branches or stout sticks, something they could use as a weapon in case something unexpected leaped out at them.
“I wish an unexpected hot-water bottle, an extra-large fleece and a Tibetan hat would jump out at me,” Maggie muttered, scanning the snowy surroundings. “I can’t feel my ears.”
Apart from the cold, this place was a constant indulgence for her other senses. The scents of the forest were keen and captivating. She could smell the pines growing higher up the hill, the tantalising rumour of sweet woodsmoke from a distant chimney – even the glossy leaves of the evergreen. It was so intoxicating she began to imagine she could smell the snow in the clouds moving over the golden sky.
Then there were the sounds. The crisp crunching of their footsteps, the soft flopping of snow out of trees, a slushy stream trickling thick and slow, the light scudding of solitary birds, the furtive foraging of unseen wild animal
s, hidden under white canopies, the tinkle of sleigh bells…
“What’s that?” she murmured.
Lee had already halted and pulled them behind a tree. A little way ahead, the path joined a second wider track and the junction was in a clearing. The ringing grew louder. The teenagers held their breaths and waited. Then, at last, the sleigh came into view.
The body was carved from a single piece of oak, painted jet-black. The high, pointed prow was shaped like the head of a horned demon whose wings swept back, forming a frame around the seat. Six raven-black, muzzled hounds drew it and the occupant was swaddled in heavy sables, its head hidden in a hood and hands in leather gauntlets.
“I don’t know this from the book either,” Spencer whispered.
“It’s not Father Christmas,” Maggie assured him.
They watched as the rider alighted. It turned right and left, as if searching for something. Then it strode past the panting hounds and called out.
“Where are you? Get out here, you craven rats. Show your ugly faces. How dare you keep me waiting?”
Lee looked at the others in surprise. That was a girl’s voice.
“She doesn’t mean us, does she?” Spencer asked.
Lee didn’t think so.
“Cease skulking this instant or I’ll loose my hounds and they’ll hunt every last one of you. I always keep them hungry – they run faster with an appetite. Their jaws will shovel you up and they’ll crunch your puny bones.”
Petrified yelps and alarmed chirrups sounded from the trees and snow-covered undergrowth around the clearing. Then tiny figures came creeping out of countless hiding places, stealing forward timorously.
The Jill of Spades cast back the fur hood and her lips curled in derision as she surveyed these base, fearful creatures.