by SJB Gilmour
The air was colder and the smells were different, but this forest was no less alive than Wolfenvald. Sarah inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. ‘Greetings, Golden Mane,’ the forest whispered to her.
‘Yes, greetings,’ a new voice said coldly. Sarah yelped and spun around to see an enormous Black Coat werewolf. The great male did not introduce himself. He glared at them each in turn, and sniffed them suspiciously. Then, satisfied that there had been no trespassing by non-werewolves, the guardian of the portal wagged his tail curtly and bounded away.
Sarah stared after him, stunned.
‘The guardians are always very serious, Sarah,’ Roberta told her calmly. ‘Theirs is an important job.’ As she spoke, the Heirogryph enchanted elevator appeared, which looked very out of place in the forest. Soon they were all home in time for dinner. Sarah found her Aunt Roberta was right. That little bit of rabbit she had shared with them had indeed been just a snack. When her dinner was put in front of her, she gobbled it down until she felt she could hardly move. With her stomach full and her mind exhausted, she then went to bed and slept very, very soundly.
‘I don’t see why we can’t just take her to Wolfenvald and keep her there,’ Robert complained. Downstairs, once again having waited until Sarah was fast asleep, her guardians were talking seriously.
‘Not while we have the advantage,’ Angela told him curtly. ‘Right now, her enemy knows where she is, but doesn’t know that we know. I’ve consulted every prophecy I can get my hands on, I’ve scried and asked seers. She’s in no immediate danger and the Kelly girl is going to be alive and safe for a long time yet.’
‘You know that’s not an absolute,’ Roberta argued. ‘If Sarah’s in danger then by extension, so is everyone around her. Maybe we should bring Mel here to stay with us.’
Benjamin put his hands on the shoulders of both Angela and Roberta, who were now staring angrily at each other.
‘Now we’re not going to do anything drastic,’ he told them. ‘Mel’s safe in her apartment with Angela here. Apollo Himself is keeping an eye on her. She’s as safe as houses.’
‘For now,’ Roberta conceded grumpily.
Benjamin nodded. ‘For now,’ he agreed. ‘For now.’
Chapter Five
For the next few months, Sarah and Mel continued their studies and spent many hours in the library reading enchanted tomes and playing in the yard of their very strange little school. Sarah had mastered her ability to change form at will very early on. Not changing form when she was angry or upset was proving to be a challenge. Still, because Sarah could be quite stubborn when she chose to be, she was working at it whenever she could. Mel of course, saw this as a great opportunity to needle her new friend and did so every chance she got. Usually, Mel would tease her, or pinch her or pull her hair – anything to get a rise out of her. This went on in the indoor playground under the watchful eye of Miss Angela Harding.
One sunny Monday lunchtime in late November, Sarah and Mel were tussling at the netball hoop. Jimbo hovered officiously overhead, blowing frequently into a large chrome whistle that set Sarah’s teeth on edge. After each ear-shattering hoot, the multicoloured firedrake would scold Sarah and try to award Mel penalty shots. As Sarah’s temper grew to the point where she was having quite a bit of trouble remaining human, Angela came outside. Their teacher clapped her hands together which was her favourite way of getting the girls’ immediate attention.
‘Now girls,’ she announced. ‘When you go home tonight, I want you to brush up on your long and short division. The day after tomorrow, Mr Dyson is coming to give you both your end-of-year tests. After that, the official school year will be over. You’ll have seven weeks of holidays. I want you to be shining stars for me. All right, girls?’
Sarah nodded nervously. She hadn’t thought of Mr Dyson for ages. Though she’d been looking forward to the end of the year, she wondered just what she was going to do. She had found that she actually liked her lessons at Heirogryph.
‘Who’s Mr Dyson?’ Mel whispered, as they walked in an orderly manner back into the classroom for their afternoon lesson.
‘My old principal,’ Sarah reminded her friend in a whisper. ‘He’s an absolute…’
‘Now Sarah,’ Angela turned around to peer down at Sarah chidingly. ‘Part of my duties here are to keep you girls from running completely wild, and that includes making sure you both keep civil tongues in your heads. You may not like Mr Dyson, and from the sound of him I don’t like him very much either, but it’s not very ladylike to call him names.’
Mel flared up in defence of her friend. ‘Well I’m not a lady!’ she declared hotly. ‘He was mean to Sarah and I think he’s awful! He’s a…’
Angela snapped her fingers at Mel, whose mouth suddenly clamped shut. Mel’s eyes went wide in anger and she muttered angrily at her aunt through tightly sealed lips. Sarah had to stifle a smile. Her friend certainly was quick to flare up. When they had settled in the classroom and Mel was reduced to sitting sullenly at her desk, Angela blew a kiss at Mel and her mouth suddenly came free again.
‘That wasn’t fair!’ she accused her aunt.
‘Fair, smair!’ replied Angela joyfully, and she waved at a piece of chalk that was writing on the board for her. Today they had been learning about verbs, nouns and adjectives.
‘I don’t think ‘smair’ is even a real word!’ Mel muttered.
‘Not in English, Melanie,’ her aunt replied. ‘In Trollish, it means the same thing however.’
Mel glowered at her aunt. Then, as she was prone to do when a new thought came to her, her mood quickly changed. She looked at the calendar.
‘Hey! It’s a full moon tonight. Can we try some of the rites?’
‘My, you’re curious today! You’re almost as bad as a pixie…’ Angela teased, her eyes sparkling.
Mel fumed. ‘Am not!’ she retorted hotly. ‘Mum and Dad are right. The whole lot of ‘em oughta be wiped out. Should be a law!’
‘And if there was a law, young lady,’ Angela asked, ‘who would enforce it? Certainly not The Sorcerers’ Guild. They rely on The Pixie Postal Service far too much to risk alienating them by eradicating an annoying I’ll grant you, but harmless bunch of nosy-parkers.’
‘Knew I should have gone with my parents.’ Mel glowered and muttered.
‘Where are they now? Sarah asked her friend.
Mel scratched vigorously at her hair and shuddered. ‘Russia. Somewhere in The Taiga.’
‘The Tiger?’
Angela pointed at world-map poster on the wall. ‘The Taiga, Sarah, is the enormous stretch of boreal forest in northern Russia, America and Canada. In practically circles the globe.’
Now Sarah understood. The forest she’d visited in Wolfenvald was similar.
Mel got up and pointed to a spot in the northeast. ‘Bodaybo,’ she told them. ‘Or near it, I guess. There was an extinct volcano out in the middle of nowhere but Klaus the fire giant woke it up. The Pixierazzi heard about it.’ She shrugged. ‘Klaus’s a hermit so they’re probably doing the pixies a favour by warning him.’ She chuckled. ‘He’d roast the lot of them.’
Sarah wasn’t really listening. As soon as Mel mentioned the moon, she thought of Mandy Kelly. ‘The lycanthrope lives,’ Wolfenvald was telling her. ‘She is content.’
Content?
The voices sounded wry. ‘What more does a wolf need? If she is free to run, has prey to hunt and a den for warmth, does she need more?’
You mean she’s not a prisoner any more?
‘No, Golden Mane. That lycanthrope has chosen her path. She has joined the pack of those who captured her.’
Where is she?
‘We know not.’
‘That sounds dangerous, Melanie,’ Angela was saying. ‘Fire Giants are notoriously bad tempered and Klaus is one of the oldest and most powerful Fire Giants there is. He and his brethren spawned some of the nastiest characters around. I’m glad you’re here where I can keep an eye on you.’
‘Is Sarah still in danger?’ Mel asked.
Angela sighed. ‘I guess there’s no point hiding it from you. Yes. You both are. Someone, probably someone quite nasty, is keeping an eye on Sarah.’
Sarah gave a start, jerking her attention back to the classroom. The news Wolfenvald had just given her created a knot in her stomach. She told Angela what she’d just learned.
‘Stockholm syndrome,’ Angela mused sadly. ‘I’d been afraid of that… ‘We think,’ she went on, ‘that whoever has taken Mandy Kelly did so to keep her and train her as she matures. A child lycanthrope is hardly a danger to anyone. An adult, trained and indoctrinated, can be far more dangerous.’
Sarah and Mel gaped at each other as this news sunk in.
‘Can we see her again?’ Sarah asked.
Angela rolled her eyes. ‘Alright. Just for a moment, then back to schoolwork. Okay?’
She didn’t wait for the answer and again drew a nonagram on the blackboard. This time, Sarah wasn’t self-conscious at all when she spat in the middle of it. Her aim was better too.
The image was different this time. Mandy was dressed differently for a start. Instead of the fashionable clothes she had worn at school, she was now dressed in combat fatigues. Her long lustrous hair was cropped down to a brutal crew-cut. Also, she looked fit – far fitter than she had ever appeared to be at school. For a twelve year-old girl, Mandy Kelly had become remarkably well-muscled.
Mandy was no longer in a cell. Instead, she was now out on some sort of training field, doing push-ups. Presently, she got up and began to walk out of the frame.
‘Sequollo!’ Angela commanded, using the Magaeic word for ‘follow’. The image obeyed.
Mandy walked up to a cloaked, hooded figure and saluted. The hood covered the face of the figure completely. The two began to talk. Then the figure held up one gloved hand to silence her. It paused and turned and looked up and directly at Sarah as if it could see through the image right at her.
Angela gave a hiss of surprise and anger.
The cloaked figure withdrew its hood. Where everyone expected to see a face, all they could see was a black shade. The figure waved at them angrily. Then there was a loud bang and a flash of fire. The blackboard exploded into flames.
Angela threw a quick spell at the blackboard, extinguishing the fire. Then she turned to Sarah.
‘I’m sorry you had to see that,’ she told her. Then she sighed. ‘It seems that person now knows we know what has become of Mandy Kelly.’ She rubbed her temples and shut her eyes for a moment. ‘That hurt.’
Mel had gone very pale. ‘Is that thing going to come after us too?’
Angela laughed confidently. ‘Oh no, Mel.’ If anything, I’d say you’re in less danger than we thought.’
‘Why?’ Sarah blurted.
Angela shrugged. ‘Who or whatever that thing was, it went to a great deal of trouble to keep its identity a secret. That means we pose a threat. If it hasn’t attacked us yet, then it is unlikely to in the immediate future. We’re safe.’ She smiled at them. ‘Now, stay here and go over your notes for moment,’ she advised them. ‘I must go and inform Master McConnell.’
While she was gone, Mel and Sarah were far too excited to do anything of the kind. They didn’t really chatter so much as they did ask themselves again and again if each other saw that and what was it if it wasn’t human?
Not long later, Angela returned and promptly sent Mel to the library on an errand. When she and Sarah were alone, she sat down on Sarah’s table.
‘Now Sarah, this little event has managed to clear something up for us.’
‘It has?’
‘We’d worried whoever abducted your parents, also took Mandy Kelly. We now believe that’s not the case. Your parents’ abductor must be powerful. Certainly powerful enough not to need to hide his identity.’
‘Have you tried scrying to find them?’ Sarah asked in a small voice.
Angela nodded sadly. ‘Detecting a scrying witch and then breaking her contact is difficult but not impossible. So, we know whatever that thing is with Miss Kelly, it has some talent but not as much as whoever’s holding your parents.
‘Stopping a witch’s scrying from succeeding at all requires great deal of power. Far more than that displayed by Miss Kelly’s abductor.’
Mutely, Sarah hung her head. Tears burned her eyes and her nose began to run.
‘It’s all my fault,’ she sniffed. Sarah felt truly awful. She had become used to the idea that her parents were being held prisoner somewhere. A new worry planted itself in her mind. What if her parents joined whoever captured them?
‘Fear not, Golden Mane. Though your sire and dam are well, they are not content. They have not, nor ever will they join the ranks of their captors.’
Are they the same people who took Mandy?
Again the forest voices answered flatly. ‘We know not.’
Sarah pulled out a slightly grubby handkerchief and blew her nose loudly. Then again. It wasn’t long before her handkerchief was gooey and full of snot. Angela produced a fresh one and held it out for her.
‘Swap you,’ she offered.
Sarah took the clean hanky gratefully. Angela took the dirty one and then, with a wink, gave it a quick shake, muttering a quick spell the same time.
‘Purgarito!’ Angela commanded, using the Magaeic word for ‘clean this mess up!’
Sarah blinked. ‘Whoa, cool,’ she murmured.
Angela smiled and handed the now clean and folded hanky back to her. ‘Just like the scouts, Sarah. One for show, one for blow. Always be prepared.’
The next day, Sarah got quite a surprise. She had been expecting more revision to prepare her for her end of term tests. Instead, when Angela and Maddy escorted her to the classroom, she found Mel glaring angrily at a small crystal ball.
Mel didn’t smile her usual greeting. Instead she rose, her hands clenched.
‘Mum says I’ve got to stay with you and start my training,’ she blurted to her aunt accusingly. ‘I thought once school was over, I could go home!’
Angela gave Mel a knowing smile, her eyes twinkling. ‘Tell me, Mel,’ she asked, ‘what would you rather? Go home and risk being captured? Your parents are skilled certainly, but they can only act within the edicts of The Sorcerers’ Guild. Master McConnell and I have more defences at our disposal. Or, you can stay with me and I can teach you the necromantic rites as well as combat.’
Mel glared at her aunt for a moment. Then her green eyes narrowed and her face became set with determination.
‘You’ll teach me how to fight the Amazon way?’
Sarah was stunned. She knew her friend had a violent temper but she didn’t expect her to be so willing to be physically violent.
‘Then it’s decided,’ Angela declared to both of them. ‘Your combat training begins after you’ve both had your first periods. Till then, we’ll concentrate on Magaeic prac and necromantic theory.’ She turned to Sarah. ‘And Sarah dear, have you had any more thoughts about which path you’d prefer to follow? You’re a Golden Mane, so you’ve the power for any of them.’
Sarah hung her head. She had no idea.
‘Remember, Golden Mane,’ whispered the voices of Wolfenvald in her mind. ‘We will help you.’
When I was younger, she thought back to them. Before all this started, I wanted to be a doctor.
Sarah shrugged and looked up at Angela uncertainly. ‘I guess I always wanted to be a doctor or a vet,’ she replied.
Angela mulled this over. She went to the board and began writing two columns. Fauna and Healing.
‘Masters of Fauna, Sarah, are the enchanted equivalents of vets. Healers, of course are the medics.’
Sarah’s eyes widened at Angela’s use of a military term for a nurse or doctor.
‘Healers are usually more powerful… More highly regarded. Certainly more well-paid. All things considered, studying healing is a useful undertaking. I needn’t point out that right now, it makes even more sense.’
Sarah considered this. She’d always thought of herself as rather dumb compared to her classmates. Some of her less than considerate teachers in the past had pointed out that one needed to be quite smart to be a doctor. They had looked her pointedly as if to say ‘And you, missy, aint smart enough!’
Now of course, Sarah knew Wolfenvald would provide her with any answer if she needed it. It was she realised, kind of like having a massive spare brain that knew everything she could ever need to know.
‘Healer,’ Sarah replied with a determined nod. ‘I wanna be a healer.’
‘Excellent! Now, let’s begin by finding out just how much power you both have.’
Sarah however, was looking at her teacher curiously. She could understand her being able to teach her how to be a healer. What she couldn’t understand was just how this beautiful, elegant woman could be dangerous.
Angela saw her expression and grinned. Then she clicked her fingers and suddenly her clothes changed. Now she was wearing snug brown leather shorts, a similar sleeveless vest that was also armoured with gleaming bronze plating. She wore strong leather boots that came up to mid calf, done up with bronze buckles. Her arms were bare down to mid-forearm where she wore strong leather and brass braces. On her hands were fingerless gauntlets also made of leather and brass. Her hair was tied back in elaborate braids, tied with bits of leather thong, rubies and emeralds.
Her bare arms and legs were very well toned indeed. Strapped to each thigh and to each boot were deadly-looking knives. A short, metre-long sword was sheathed at her side and behind her back was slung a military bow and a quiver of arrows. On her left gauntlet was strapped a small, but deadly crossbow. On the right were several crossbow bolts.