by Roger Hurn
‘Well, needless to say, the half-life was delighted and told Aldair that the glass would take pride of place in the window of the Town Hall at Francheville, his home town.’ She sneered condescendingly. ‘Between you and me, I don’t think they had much glass in that pathetic collection of hovels so the Crystal Beast was quite a prize.’
Celandine’s tone infuriated Ritchie. ‘Yeah, OK, so this Aldair was a nice guy and the glass is pretty but so what?’
Celandine harrumphed in exasperation. ‘Trust a dull witted half-life like you to completely miss the point.’ She tapped her foot on the floor impatiently. ‘Do you seriously think I’d risk everything for something that has no value?’ She paused dramatically and looked expectantly at Ritchie.
‘Well, I err …’
‘“No, of course not”, is the correct answer you pea-brained lummox. In your world the glass is worthless, but in mine the Crystal Beast acts like a scalpel that reveals the soul.’ She gently traced round the outline of the lion with her finger. ‘Like most objects of power it can be used for good or for evil.’ She grinned at the two children. The tip of her tongue slid along her top lip. ‘And guess which one I’m going to use it for?’
Ritchie shrugged. ‘That’s a no brainer. You’ll use it to do evil.’
Celandine looked disappointed. ‘Oh my sweet petal,’ she said, ‘how little you really know me.’ She shook her head. ‘No, I’ll use it to do things that are good.’
Ritchie and Lizzie did a double take. Celandine winked at them. ‘Well, good for me that is. The lion will recognise its true mistress and will come alive in my hands. Its eyes will glow and I’ll use that eldritch light to burrow into my rivals’ brains and twist their minds to do my bidding. I guess you’d call it hypnotism, but it is so much more than that. You see, Ritchie, this “pretty glass” will allow me to turn grown men and women into my slaves. They’ll fall over themselves to spill their secrets to me. In this way I’ll learn the schemes and strategies of the King’s councillors and courtiers and I’ll use that knowledge to ruin them. I’ll make myself indispensable to the King. I’ll unmask traitors and reveal their dastardly plots on his life. The streets of Elfhame will run red with their blood.’ Celandine was breathless with excitement as the words tumbled out of her mouth. ‘Before too long he won’t be able to blow his royal nose without consulting me. The King will be my puppet.’
‘You’re sick.’ Lizzie’s face was creased with disgust.
‘No,’ said Celandine. ‘I’m in perfect health. But I do want to be more than just a puppet master – I want absolute power. And to that end I’ll use the Crystal Beast to worm my way into the King’s heart. It will show me his most secret desires. But although the drooling old idiot will be beside himself with adoration for me, our love affair will last only until he makes me his Queen.’ She paused before adding: ‘You see, I’ve a funny feeling our wedding night is going to be a big disappointment – for him.’ Celandine stared past the children, her eyes fixed upon a scene that only she could see. Her lips curled back from her teeth and Lizzie and Ritchie knew beyond any doubt that they were face to face with a killer.
Celandine sighed and refocused her attention on the present. ‘When I am Queen I will rule Elfhame alone and, with the aid of the Crystal Beast, I’ll crush my enemies as easily as if they were flies on a window pane. Oh, and you won’t be surprised to learn that number one on my hit list will be Captain Ezra Silverspear.’
Bogan applauded this final statement loudly. Celandine grinned and gave a little curtsey. She tilted her head at Ritchie and Lizzie as if expecting their approval too, but they looked at her as if she was something unpleasant they’d just trodden in.
‘All right, Celandine,’ said Ritchie, ‘you’ve convinced me. The Crystal Beast isn’t junk. In your hands it’s obviously deadly, but how did you get to hear about its magical powers? I can’t see Aldair spilling the beans to someone as crooked as you.’
Celandine smiled at him indulgently. ‘Well, he did in a roundabout sort of way. You see, the bloods had discovered the corrupt chronomage in their ranks and so Aldair was arrested soon after his return to Elfhame. But, luckily, not before he had made the infinity mirror.’ She laughed happily. ‘The mirror was hanging on Aldair’s wall when the bloods burst in and captured him and the fools never even noticed it. Naturally, he said not a word to them about it or the Crystal Beast.’ Anyway, he was put on trial and found guilty of breaking the laws of time and space. There’s only one sentence for that particular crime and so Aldair was sent to the Wraith Pits of Grimore.’ There was a catch in Celandine’s voice. ‘Poor Aldair, he caught a fever and died there a broken man.’ Unbelievably, a tear rolled down her cheek. ‘Forgive me,’ she said brushing it away with the back of her hand, ‘but sad stories always make me cry.’ Then she brightened up. ‘But this story has a happy ending. You see, before he passed away, a kindly fellow prisoner nursed Aldair. In his final hours, Aldair whispered the secrets of the Crystal Beast and the infinity mirror to this goodly soul.’
Lizzie groaned. ‘And that kindly prisoner told the secrets to you, I suppose?’
Celandine nodded. ‘Correct. In fact, that prisoner was Rasna. He had nearly finished his sentence when he met the crystal smith. He made it his business to win Aldair’s trust and he finally wheedled the whole story out of the old man as he lay on his deathbed. Of course, on his release, Rasna came straight to me. He and I sent Bogan to your world to bring the Crystal Beast back to Elfhame, but the blundering fool brought those wretched children back instead!’
Bogan blinked and his sleepy eyes suddenly looked hard and dangerous. ‘Don’t call me a blundering fool, Celandine,’ he snarled. ‘I got you the Crystal Beast in the end, didn’t I?’
Lizzie giggled with nervous excitement. ‘Actually you didn’t,’ she said.
***
Chapter Thirty-Five
Her words had the impact of a stun grenade on Celandine and Bogan. Lizzie had their full attention and she was relishing it.
‘You see, shortly after Bogan took the children, French soldiers invaded the Isle of Wight. They attacked Francheville and burned every building, including the Town Hall, to the ground. So, unfortunately for you two, the original Crystal Beast was destroyed along with everything else.’
Blood dripped from Celandine’s lower lip as she bit into it. ‘Tell me this isn’t happening, Bogan,’ she whispered. Sweat rolled down Bogan’s forehead. His mouth hung open like a dead codfish on a fishmonger’s slab but he made no reply.
‘Oh it’s happening all right,’ said Lizzie pressing on. ‘The piece of stained glass that you’re caressing so lovingly is only a copy made when the people of Francheville rebuilt the Town Hall.’
Celandine swore loudly. Colour drained from Bogan’s face. ‘She’s lying,’ he said.
‘She’s not,’ said Ritchie. ‘But what I don’t understand is why you guys waited so long to come back for it. You might have guessed something would have happened to it in 600 years.’
Celandine wiped the dribble of blood from her mouth and chin. She radiated cold like a glacier. ‘I sent Bogan back as soon as I learned of his folly. But this incompetent idiot played a sharp instead of a flat when he conjured the melody that opens the gap between Elfhame and here. That’s why he appeared in your time and not in Francheville.’
Bogan’s face was a surly mask. ‘Yes, all right, I did play the wrong note and jump too far forward in time but I did it deliberately. Why? Because there was no way I was going straight back to Francheville. The people there were after my blood and who could blame them? I mean I’d stolen their kids’ right? I was a wanted man and they’d have hanged me from the nearest tree if they’d caught me.’ He looked pleadingly at Lizzie and Ritchie as if he was making a bid for their sympathy and support. ‘Not that her ladyship cared anything for my neck of course – all she wanted was that blasted ‘Crystal Beast.’
Celandine spat like a cat. ‘Which, thanks to you, I haven’t got.�
�
She and Bogan locked eyes and, for a precious moment, forgot about the two children.
Ritchie grabbed the chance. He lunged at Bogan and grappled with him knocking the knife out of his hand. Bogan lashed out with his elbow and caught the side of Ritchie’s head. While Ritchie staggered backwards, Bogan snatched up his pipe. As Ritchie came back swinging his fists, Bogan played a single shrill note on the flute. Ritchie clapped his hands over his ears and his eyes bulged alarmingly. His knees buckled and he pitched forward falling flat on his face. His legs twitched spasmodically then he lay still.
Lizzie dropped to her knees beside the prone figure of her brother. Tears of rage poured down her face. ‘What have you done to him, you ratbag?’
Bogan shrugged. ‘I gave him a sonic shock. Mostly it just knocks people out but maybe I’ve killed him. He wouldn’t be the first. It’s no big deal.’
Bogan’s callous indifference to her brother’s fate made Lizzie’s blood run cold. Then Ritchie whimpered and Lizzie could breathe again. Her brother was alive! Relief flooded through her.
She glanced up and saw Celandine looking at Ritchie. Celandine was running her tongue over her lips and a peculiar smile flitted like a ghost across her face. ‘Finish him,’ she breathed.
Bogan arched his eyebrows but again he put the pipe to his mouth.
‘Oh no you don’t!’ Lizzie flung herself at him and butted him as hard as she could. The flute went tumbling to the floor along with Bogan’s gold tooth.
‘You little vixen!’ Bogan balled his hand into a fist and made to hit her. Lizzie shrank back but before he could strike they all heard the sound of someone crashing about in the mirror maze. Bogan forgot all about Lizzie.
‘It’s the bloods. They’re on to us. We’ve got to get out of here quick.’ His face was contorted with panic. ‘If they catch us we’re going to the Wraith Pits for sure and I can’t face another stretch in that hell hole.’
Celandine stepped over to his side. ‘It’s all right, my little dove,’ she said soothingly. ‘We’ll use the infinity mirror to escape. By the time they figure out how to work it we’ll be long gone.’
Bogan was shaking and a sour smell of fear clung to him like a cloak. ‘Let me go first, Celandine,’ he begged. ‘They’ll throw the book at a low class crook like me but you’re an aristocrat, the bloods won’t dare harm you even if they nab you.’
Celandine regarded him with amused contempt. ‘But that was always my intention,’ she purred. As the frantic footsteps in the maze grew louder and nearer, Celandine moved to a mirror that was half concealed in a recess in the wall. She seemed to glide rather than walk and it made Lizzie’s flesh crawl. Celandine turned and beckoned to Bogan. ‘Here you are, my sweet Piper,’ she whispered huskily. ‘Here is your salvation.’
Lizzie saw that instead of reflecting the room, the mirror showed a sunlit field of wild flowers. Bogan threw himself at it as if he were diving into a pool of clear water. As soon as he entered the scene in the mirror changed. The sunlit field vanished to be replaced by a storm blasted plain where a nightmarish creature prowled in the middle distance. It lifted its scaly head and saw Bogan standing alone and helpless. The creature loped slowly towards him. Bogan’s mouth opened in a silent howl of terror but then the picture fragmented into a thousand pieces like a kaleidoscope. Celandine snapped her fingers and the mirror went blank.
***
Chapter Thirty-Six
‘What have you done to Bogan? Where have you sent him?’ Lizzie was horrified. She stared at the mirror which now showed her her own reflection.
Celandine screwed up her face as if she was thinking hard. She shook her head. ‘I don’t know exactly. He’s in a reality somewhere between here and infinity but I shouldn’t worry your head about it – he’s almost certainly dead by now.’ The thought seemed to lighten her mood. ‘You know, there are some really horrible dimensions out there and, as you saw, Bogan’s ended up in a particularly nasty one, poor chap.’ Celandine’s pulled a mournful face but her eyes were as cold and pitiless as a snake’s.
‘Bogan was a boastful, useless waste of space and he failed to bring me the Crystal Beast. Not only that but he was such a blabbermouth. He would have told the bloods everything if they’d caught him but now he’ll never be able to testify against me – ever!’ Her voice was filled with a gloating malice.
Lizzie was desperate to keep Celandine talking. The girl terrified her but she was hoping against hope that the person in the mirror maze was Ezra and she didn’t want Celandine escaping before he arrived.
‘But how can you be so cruel? You can’t be more than sixteen?’
‘So what?’ It’s not like you have to study being bad and take exams in it. Nobody gives you a certificate on your eighteenth birthday that says you’ve now got a license to be evil. I was born bad. I’m bad to the bone. And what’s more, I like being bad.’
Lizzie was aghast. ‘But you can’t always have been so horrible.’
Celandine grinned. ‘Why not?’
Lizzie shook her head. ‘I don’t know. Something must have happened to you when you were little to make you like this.’
Celandine clapped her hands together in delight. ‘Oh I see. You want me to blame my wicked nature on mummy and daddy not giving me enough love when I was a child.’ She hesitated for a second and darkness filled her eyes. ‘Well, for your information, they didn’t. But then I didn’t love them either. In fact, I started putting poison in their food when I was ten. That’s how I came to inherit the family castle and estate when I was eleven.
Mind you, it was a blessed release for them, as they’d never recovered from the sudden death three years before of my older brother, Rigal.’ Celandine’s sigh slid through the air like razor wire.
‘He was always their favourite. Yet somehow a small but very poisonous snake found its way into his bed one night while he lay sleeping. It was a tragedy. I wept buckets at his funeral. And everybody said it was a lovely gesture when I placed a bunch of bright yellow celandines on his coffin.’
Lizzie was way out of her depth. She couldn’t understand how it was possible that someone who looked as innocent and lovely as Celandine could have a soul so rotten. She had forgotten all about Ezra. She was caught up in a nightmarish fascination with this girl. ‘Didn’t you ever care about anyone except yourself?’
Celandine smiled. ‘Of course I did. I’m not a complete monster, you know. I absolutely adore Loki, my raven. He would do anything for me.’
She clicked her fingers once more and Loki fluttered up and perched on her shoulder. Celandine’s face lit up and she scratched the creature’s beak affectionately before returning her attention to Lizzie.
‘But now I must leave you. The bloods are breathing down my neck as you can hear.’ She gave a tight little smile. ‘Though given that they’re having such a problem with the maze I think they stand more chance of catching a cold than me.’ Her smile vanished to be replaced by a spiteful sneer.
‘I’m truly sorry I don’t have time to revenge myself on you and your brother right now but I’m going to think of it as a pleasure to look forward to. Because you can be sure I’ll be back soon.’ A dreamy look came into her eyes. ‘Be prepared, for the time will come when you’ll look into a mirror and see my reflection and not your own looking back at you. Then, one night, when you turn out the light to go to sleep, I’ll step through that mirror and visit you.’ Celandine giggled. ‘And won’t that be fun!’ She put her fingers to her lips and blew Lizzie a kiss. ‘Sweet dreams,’ she murmured and turned towards the infinity mirror.
***
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Celandine stared at the mirror and began to chant. Once again the mirror showed the sunlit field with the wild flowers.
‘Perfect,’ Celandine sighed. ‘Just the spot to go and hide out ‘til the heat dies down.’
Lizzie was almost weeping with frustration. Then she saw Bogan’s flute lying forgotten on the floor. An idea popped
into her head and she grabbed the pipe. Lizzie had no idea if her plan would work but she knew this was no ordinary flute and she’d read somewhere that a high musical note can shatter glass. She blew a top ‘C’ as hard as she could and held it until she thought her lungs would burst. Then, just when she was on the point of collapse, the glass in the infinity mirror exploded. Celandine screamed and spun around her eyes molten with fury.
‘You meddling little whelp I’ll …’
‘You’ll do nothing.’
Ezra and four officers of CM 9 stumbled out of the maze and into the room. They were all scruffy and dishevelled but they each cradled cudgels in their hands. Loki croaked a warning and reared up as if to attack but Celandine calmed him by stroking his spiky, ruffled feathers.
‘Peace, my beauty,’ she whispered. ‘Off you go, I’ll see you again soon.’ The raven nibbled her ear gently then flew off over the heads of the bloods and into the maze.
‘I hope that bird of yours has a good sense of direction, Celandine, otherwise it’ll be trapped in there for hours.’ Ezra’s grim smile disappeared as he caught sight of Ritchie’s body. ‘Somebody help the lad,’ he snapped. But before anyone could move to his side, Ritchie moaned, pushed himself up off the floor and leant unsteadily against the wall.
‘I’m OK,’ he said. ‘The Piper got me with a sucker punch that’s all.’
At the mention of Bogan, Lizzie realised she was still holding the flute. Without quite knowing why she slipped it into the voluminous pockets of her apron before anyone noticed.
Ritchie looked around with barely focused eyes. ‘Where is that flaming son of a …?’
‘Gone somewhere the bloods will never find him,’ said Celandine.