“I was afraid you were going to be late.” He emerged from his hiding place.
“I had some baggage I needed to collect,” DaGon replied as he flew over and settled next to the horse.
“Hello again,” Chester whinnied at Matt.
“Chester, we’ve got bad news. Caitlin and George, Thomas and Ned’s cousins, disappeared, too. Do you think that black banshee got them as well?”
“Yes,” DaGon answered before the horse could respond. “The robins came and told us. We have them keep watch over part of the garden. They reported seeing the banshee fly out of the portal. She captured the three children with a magic bottle, and there wasn’t anything we could do about it. Somehow, her master sent misdirection spells from the other side of the portal and covered the presence of that thing in this land. It had us looking in circles, unable to protect them.” DaGon puffed another billow of smoke in frustration.
“A magic bottle?” Matt inquired fearfully, thinking of his brother. “What’s going to happen to them?”
“The banshee shrunk them with magic dust and will transport them to Black Isle in the bottle. Much easier that way,” Lily said softly. “After they’re delivered to Uthal, another spell will be used to return them to regular size.”
“Wicked...wicked man,” Chester whinnied. “Making them ride in cold glass.”
“I don’t understand why he wants my brother and the others. And who’s this Uthal?”
“He’s a very old warlock, and he wants the life energy of the children. Their essence is one ingredient to a very powerful and ancient spell. If we don’t get to them in time, they will cease to be,” Lily said, shaking her head in sadness. “And so will we.”
“Okay. What do we need to do and all?” Miranda inquired. She wrapped her arms around her body, tightening the sweater against the morning chill, her small face serious and thoughtful.
Thomas dug his hands deeper into the pocket of his Levi’s. “Gee whiz, I don’t understand what’s happening, but I guess our cousins and Matt’s brother need help, so maybe we should get goin’.”
“Speak for yourself, Thomas. I don’t wanna be put in any ole magic bottle. I’m think we should head home, ya know. Mom will be wondering where we are.”
“It’s okay, dear. You’re not going to be put in a bottle, but you’re going to have to go with us through the portal and journey to Black Isle, and the fortress of Uthal.”
“It’s going to be a difficult task. One that dragons can accomplish. Not so sure about Earth children though, but I guess we’ll have to give it a try.”
“I’ll do anything to help my brother and bring him back home. If I have to go to this Black Warlock’s fortress, then I'll go. Fight whatever he throws in our path. I’m not afraid. I just want to get Toby back home to Mom and Dad.”
“And we’ll do the same for our cousins. Gee whiz, I’m not afraid either,” Thomas affirmed with a nod. “Lead the way, Matt.”
DaGon chuckled, his small laugh almost rude. “Remember what you’re saying now, because you may soon regret your words. This journey won’t be an easy one.”
“It’s almost sunrise, DaGon. We must hurry,” Lily interjected urgently. “The mirror will only work with the first rays of the sun.” The fairy darted ahead to a fork in the hedges, her soft glow lighting the way for the group.
“Come on,” DaGon snorted. “Let’s begin this...rescue.”
The group stumbled in the dim light through the twisted and overgrown hedges, trying to keep up with Lily. She led them deeper into the maze, her ball of light darting through the thick brush. Matt soon realized they were headed to the center where the white crypt stood. The lump in his back pocket seemed to grow heavier, the nearer they got. “Are we going to the crypt?” he asked, needing confirmation.
“Yes. It’s actually a magic portal from your world to Green Isle, our home,” Chester replied excitedly. “This will be the first time in over a hundred years that I’ll see it.”
“Why haven’t you been back?”
“The Elven blood stone is missing. The portal can be only opened once from this side with Lily’s magic. We had to save that for today.”
The group emerged into a large circular clearing overgrown with weeds. In front of them rose the ivy-covered crypt, its base encased in a platform of marble. Stripped and weathered by the elements, it stood lonely, its upkeep forgotten. Matt noticed no doorway or entrance, only a small cavity the size of an egg above the steps on one side of the base.
“I don’t see any mirror,” he stated.
“It’s not visible yet,” Lily replied. “We must wait for sunrise. When you see the rays of the sun open the gateway, quickly cross into the liquid. It won’t be open for long.”
“What gateway?” Miranda inquired, her brow furrowed.
“The mirror,” DaGon fumed, irritated at the questions.
“Now, I’m confused.” Ned frowned. “I don’t see a mirror either.”
“Gee whiz, you’re always confused about somthin’. It's just like she said; when the first rays of light hit the crypt, the portal or mirror thingy will be visible.”
“I’m still not understanding it, but okay,” Ned muttered.
“Just watch, Ned, you’ll see in a Moment.” Lily flew to the side of the crypt, her soft glow lighting the glossy green of the ivy.
The four children stood quietly in the coolness of the early morning. No one said anything as they watched the sky become brighter. Shadows melted away as the yellow tinge of the sun crept over the hedges. Matt realized when he heard the strange song that Lily started to sing, that it had been the fairy singing in the garden the day they arrived. He watched with growing interest as Lily spread her arms wide and the tempo of her melody became charged with energy.
“It’s the old language of the fairies, from Green Isle,” Chester whispered to Matt. “She’s singing the spell to open the portal mirror.”
Matt nodded, thinking back to the previous day and the sounds he and his brother heard from the garden. “I remember hearing it the day we arrived.”
“She was practicing then. So very excited when we knew you were here.”
The statement made Matt scrunch his face. Why would they have been excited about him and his brother living in the Manor? His thoughts focused again on the fairy, as Lily’s song became more intense. With each new note of the melody, the ivy twitched, seeming to come alive. Soon it rolled and twisted, forming itself into a large oval shape. When the sun’s rays crept over the hedges, and the light penetrated into the deep green tips of the branches, a swirling mass of silver liquid rushed from nowhere, filling the ivy frame and forming a glassy mirror. The sound of the fluid became loud, like the wings of a hundred birds massed together in flight, and began to spin clockwise.
“Quickly,” Lily commanded. “Into the opening.” She flew directly into the shimmering mass, disappearing from view.
“Oh my, perhaps I should have left a longer note for Momma. Where do ya think we’re going to end up?” Miranda asked timidly.
“I can’t really say, but if we’re going to help Toby and the others, then we need to follow her and have faith that we’ll be all right.” Matt climbed the step next to the magic mirror. He held out his hand for her.
“I told ya it was gonna be bad,” Ned cried, shaking in fear.
“Come on, ya big chicken. Gee whiz,” Thomas shouted, grabbing his brother’s arm. Ned wailed loudly when Thomas hauled him over the threshold. Both brothers quickly vanished within the oval frame and Ned’s scream abruptly ended as they disappeared into the silver.
“Hold my hand if you’re scared.” Matt looked back at Miranda, sensing his friend’s reservation. “I’ll protect you, I promise.”
“I’m not scared at all.” She clasped his outstretched fingers, her voice wavering, yet her eyes spoke differently, and Matt knew she was. When they both moved into the spinning silver of the mirror portal, an inky blackness consumed them, suffocating the two with thick
ness. Matt felt Miranda’s fingers slip from his hand. All he could do was close his eyes against the pressure squeezing his body. He opened his mouth to call for her, but the words were ripped from his throat, and the air rushed from his lungs. He was unable to breathe and for the second time, consciousness slipped from his grasp.
Chapter Six
“Matt? Can you hear me?” The voice seemed far away, floating above him, muddled, as if talking from inside a tin can. “Open your eyes,” it commanded gently.
The Moment it took for Matt’s mind to focus on the words seemed like an eternity to him. Everything was spinning in his head. Did he fall? Was he standing or sitting? Why was everything black? Slowly his mind realized he still had his eyes shut. When he was finally able to open them, he saw Miranda’s face. “What happened?” he asked, pushing himself up on one elbow. Shaking his head, he tried to lessen the ringing in his ears. “Are we still in the garden?”
“No, we went through the mirror...to here...” Miranda waved her hand in the air. “I don’t know how to go about explainin’ it, ya know. I guess you might wanna see for yourself and all.”
Sitting up, he saw he had been lying on a moss-covered rock facing a similar crypt to the one back in the garden, only this one was polished and free of ivy. Their frightening journey into the unknown brought them just two steps over a threshold into another world. Matt glanced at the two brothers who were unsteadily testing their steps and dusting off their clothes.
“Good grief,” Thomas exclaimed as he patted his clothes, dislodging the dust. “I feel like I’ve just had my insides ripped out of me. Gee whiz. That was certainly something I’ve never experienced before.”
“Are you going to be all right?” Lily asked Ned.
“Well...well, other than feeling like...I’ve been on some sort of out of control merry-go-round, I’d say...okay.”
“The effect of the portal on first-timers takes a little time to wear off.” Chester plodded over to Matt and grabbed him by the collar. The horse helped him to his feet. “It will soon pass and everything will be normal again.”
“Gee,” Thomas said in irritation. “It was like a nightmare. What in the heck was squeezin’ us so bad?”
“You pass through time and space. The dimensions between the worlds are completely different than the ones on Earth and here.”
“So what? We’re being squeezed into time? What kinda of nonsense is that?”
“It’s not nonsense, its basic science,” Chester replied with indignation.
“I don’t like being pushed into time. It hurts,” Ned complained, shrugging his shoulders.
“Then perhaps you should feel what it’s like being put into a two dimensional world,” the horse replied. “Now that hurts.”
“Enough of this,” DaGon fumed. “This silly talk is slowing us down. It’s time for them to go to Crystal Palace.” He nodded to the valley below.
The four teenagers gathered on a ledge and surveyed their surroundings. Matt noticed that strange colors seemed to jump from the landscape as the setting sun tinted the sky a deep violet, the color mysterious and unfamiliar. Two moons rose in the distance, mirroring the motion of the setting sun. Their pale light drifted over the large snowy peaks of several distant mountains.
“They remind me of Christmas.” Ned pointed to giant oaks in the valley below them, the trees twinkling with tiny lights.
“How beautiful it all is,” Miranda exclaimed.
A low mist hung in the valley below, slowly moving through the tree trunks like a ghostly sea. It covered the lush vegetation on the valley floor like a carpet of white clouds, and within them, he could make out the tip of a blue crystal tower jutting through the canopy of the oaks, its aqua light signaling to them like the beacon of a lighthouse. Songs of croaking frogs mingled with the breeze, their lyrics eerie in the dusk. The throaty voices floated upwards from the shelter of the giants, a chorus of strange and unknown words that mingled with the tiny laughter of the lightening bugs as they zigzagged in and out of the grass.
“This is Fairy Dell,” DaGon said, his voice low and mysterious, and then, with a grand sweep of his claw, he boomed suddenly, “the place of your destiny.”
“Really DaGon dear, do you have to be so melodramatic?” Lily asked blandly. Turning to the children, she apologized. “He normally isn’t like this. It must be giddiness at being home again.”
“Oh my, where are we?” Miranda asked, pointing to the twin moons. “This isn’t Earth. I know, because Momma woulda told me if we had two moons.”
“You are on Be’thasileth, a parallel world similar to Earth. This is home to Green Isle, a place of protection for all magical creatures.”
“My mind doesn’t seem to want to accept what I’m seein’.” Matt glanced at the fairy, his eyes searching for answers. “Toby’s here? This is where that black banshee thing took him? Why this place?”
“A long time ago on Earth a warlock named Uthal sought to control every bit of magic, killing those who possessed it. Be’thasileth was discovered by the Elves, who hoped to hide all he persecuted and hunted in your world.” She flitted in between Matt and Miranda. “He found a way in though, and now is trapped here, trying to escape.”
“The Elf Queen and King opened the gateways with a magic rock called a Bloodstone, so many could seek refuge from Uthal’s anger. Those with magic retreated to the safety of the Living Oaks and the lands beyond. Some humans followed, too.” The dragon motioned for them to follow.
“Are those the Living Oaks?” Ned pointed to the sparkling trees.
“Yes,” Lily confirmed with a smile. “The home of the Flower Fairies.”
“Flower Fairies?” Miranda asked. “I always heard Momma talk about the fairies when I was little.”
“Indeed, there are many types of fairies: mountain fairies, wood fairies...”
“Gee whiz, who cares about fairies?” Thomas folded his arms across his chest in boredom.
“Okay, enough of this,” DaGon growled. “The sun’s setting and we’ll be losing light soon. Can we get started, please?”
“Yes, DaGon dear, as you wish.” Lily sighed at the dragon’s impatience.
“If this is the portal to our world, couldn’t the Flower Fairies have stopped the banshee from taking Toby and the others to this Uthal?” Matt asked, perplexed.
“Unfortunately there are many ways Uthal’s dark servants move between your world and Green Isle.” DaGon blew a plume of gray smoke into the air. “There are numerous other mirrors, so stopping him is hard.”
“And of course, this is the time of the prophecy. It’s coming to pass,” Chester stated quietly.
“Let’s not speak about that now.” Lily flew in front of the horse and shook her head. “You must go with the children and seek counsel with the Fairy Queen. We need the map she has in her possession before we can go any farther.”
“Will she know to give it to me?”
“She’ll have to,” Lily said quietly. “That has already been determined long ago.”
“All right, as you wish.” Chester moved towards the edge of the knoll.
“I’m sorry we have to leave you, but it’ll only be for a little while,” Lily explained, hovering in front of Matt. “We’ll be together again soon, dear ones.”
“Why can’t you come with us?” Matt asked. He watched the dragon veer from their path and take another one.
“We can’t enter the Dell because we were exiled, so you’ll have to go in our place. The Fairy Queen has a particular map, which we need. Very important to our rescue of your brother and the others. You must go with Chester to request it from her.” Lily followed the dragon.
“Chester will present you before the royal court,” DaGon called out spitefully. “For if I had to venture close to her, I would eat that good for nothing...”
“DaGon, please,” Lily exclaimed sharply.
“Fine, but you know how I feel about her.” He puffed another dark gray plume of smoke into the a
ir.
“We won’t ever go there again, DaGon, so it doesn’t matter, does it?”
“Still, she would be a delicious snack.”
Matt watched until he could no longer hear them talking. Chester pawed the ground anxiously and Matt knew he needed to follow the horse. He and the others carefully hiked down a worn path embedded in the mountainside. Their pace picked up once the ground wasn’t as steep.
He couldn’t stop thinking about what the dragon and fairy had said to them. Why were they forbidden to enter Fairy Dell? What could they have done to hinder them from traveling to the Crystal Palace? His questions tucked themselves into the depths of his thoughts. Perhaps he would ask Chester later.
The sun had finally faded into a soft glow on the horizon. Without the brightness of its light, the trail they traveled, which meandered through moss-covered trees, grew dark. Chester hurried the group along until they reached a grassy meadow filled with large boulders and a carpet of flowering foliage. The twin moons were high in the sky now, their light casting a swash of blue upon the valley floor. Stopping for a rest, the four children admired the colored blossoms. The flowers shimmered like waves of red and gold in the field and Matt could hear them hum. It was a strange image and sensation. Earth’s flowers weren’t alive like this.
“Are they singing?” Ned examined as he bent his ear towards one of them. “First the frogs, now the flowers. Is everything alive here?”
Miranda, intrigued by the song, stepped to the edge of the path and stopped in front of an unusual crimson flower. She reached for the petals. A tiny face smiled at her from its center, blinking and laughing, coaxing her closer with its green leaves. Just as she was about to touch it, Chester galloped to her side and knocked her to the ground. “My word, what in heaven’s name are you doin’?” she demanded angrily. Standing up, she dusted the bottom of her dress off. “Look at what you did to my clothes and all.”
The crimson blossom suddenly changed its disposition and growled in irritation at the horse. Bearing razor sharp teeth, it gnashed in anger at the interruption. Matt watched in horror as it hissed in a final display of displeasure and closed itself up, wilting to the valley floor.
The Forgotten Spell (Legends of Green Isle Book 1) Page 9