The Fairy Crown (Adventures in Otherworld Book 2)

by Michael Kerr

  Sam told Gorf of how Redwing and all but Fig and Speedy had gone on ahead with the crown, and that after the warning from Swamp Thing, Fig and Speedy had flown off to catch up with them and tell them to fly high over the grasslands, where the Ghosts of Sooth roamed.

  “I met the creature you call Swamp Thing,” Gorf said. “It told me that there are also traps set to catch anyone that crosses their land on foot.”

  “So there’s danger up ahead, and the Dark One and an army of horgs chasing us,” Tommy said.

  “We should move quickly,” Zoot said. “Horgs will not stop to rest.”

  As Gorf bent to pick up his bow and arrows, a bat fluttered overhead, circled them, and made to fly away. Gorf acted quickly. He fitted an arrow to the bow and let it loose, to arc up and pierce the furry body. The bat squeaked and toppled down to the ground, and Gorf and the others rushed over to it, to watch as the small, flying mammal burst into flame and burned up to nothing in a second.

  “That was no real bat,” Zoot said. “The Dark One has sent out imps to search for us and report our whereabouts to him.”

  “How did you know it wasn’t a real bat, Gorf?” Ben asked.

  “Because bats do not fly and hunt in daylight as a rule. And this one was circling and watching us,” Gorf said, looking down at the small patch of scorched earth and his now blackened arrow.

  They hurried on, and after a while the mangrove trees began to thin out, and the ground became firmer underfoot. Ahead of them was a sea of high grass that seemed to move in green, liquid waves as the breeze swept through it. The air was cooler, and rose-tinged clouds sped by overhead in a bright pink sky.

  Sitting on a log at the fringe of the grassland were Fig and Speedy.

  “Hey,” Tommy shouted, and the two fairies flew back to join them.

  “Gorf!” Fig said as he landed. “We thought you were heavenward.”

  “I came very close to being,” Gorf said. “But good fortune has let me survive to face yet more danger.”

  “Redwing and the others have flown across this forest of grass,” Speedy said. We shall walk across with you and hope that our magic is strong enough to ward off the things that we have seen moving through it.”

  They found a trail and set off along it, keeping close together with Fig leading the way and Speedy at the rear watching their backs.

  Fig was testing the ground, after being told by Gorf that there were steel traps set, and covered pits with sharp stakes waiting to impale anything that fell into them.

  As the light began to fade, Zoot saw movement. The shoulder-high grass was being parted by something that was off to the left and keeping pace with them. Soon after, Gorf had a fleeting glimpse of something moving incredibly fast. It was sleek, grey, and was running upright.

  “Whatever these things are, they’re too close for comfort,” Zoot hissed. And as he said it, the grass parted next to Sam and a bony hand grasped her by the wrist and jerked her off her feet.

  Gorf was ready for the attack. He dived headfirst at the spot next to Sam, where he knew that whatever was holding her would be, and wrestled a figure to the ground. The creature’s grip on Sam’s arm was broken. She scampered back to where the others had stopped and were huddled together for safety.

  The thing that Gorf held onto twisted and writhed. It clawed at him with its fingers, and its head lunged forward as its teeth snapped together, trying to bite his face. Gorf pinned it to the ground by its neck, and saw that it was no more than a skeleton held together by rope-like sinews as brown as strips of old tanned leather.

  “Why are you attacking us?” Gorf asked.

  “Because this is the Kingdom of Sooth, which we have protected from outsiders since we were slaughtered in our sleep by marauding barbarians over twenty generations ago,” the skeleton said, although Gorf realised that it was thinking the words, not speaking them aloud.

  “We are not your enemies,” Gorf said. “We are only crossing this land to reach the Lava Beds. But if you attack us again, then you will find that we are well able to defend ourselves.”

  “Why should I believe you?” The skeleton man thought.

  “Because I have not killed you,” Gorf answered.

  “You could not kill me, stranger, for I am a ghost of Sooth, and am already dead.”

  “Then I could dismantle your bones and scatter them to the wind.”

  “Do it, and prove to yourself that it is a waste of your time.”

  “It would be simpler if you just let us pass.”

  “That will not happen,” the skeleton said.

  Gorf crushed the figure’s backbone, pulled off the grinning skull and threw it as far as he could into the long grass, before ripping off both arms.

  In the blink of an eye, the skeleton was whole again. The skull bounced back through the grass like a beach ball and reattached itself to the neck, the vertebrae of the spine knitted together to become whole again, and the arm bones snapped back onto the shoulders.

  “Now do you believe me?” the skeleton said. “We are indestructible, for we are not living.”

  Fig appeared at Gorf’s side, reached down and touched a finger to the ghost of Sooth’s shinbone. A blue-white light spread out to coat the undead creature, and although it could not be harmed, it was shrunk to the size of Gorf’s thumb.

  “Come, Gorf,” Fig said. “Speedy and I can deal with these, whatever they might be. But the spell will only keep them that size for a short time.”

  The group made it across the grasslands with all due haste, and every skeletal figure that attacked them was shrunk in its tracks by fairy magic.

  The terrain became stony again, and they followed a deep, winding canyon, ever on the lookout for danger, expecting horgs or some other threat to appear on the ridge high above them.

  The Dark One waited for news of the fairies. As time passed by without any word of where they were, he fell into a terrible rage and began tossing soldiers into the sacrificial pit to ease his black mood. Twice, he soared up into the sky and flew far and wide, to look down and search the landscape, but returned to the Black Tower without any success. It crossed his mind that the fairies may be stupid enough to return to their burned-out village. They would be reluctant to leave the Oak Palace and the locality that had been their homeland for so long. And so once more he flew up into the sky, to fly so high that from the ground he appeared no larger than a grain of sand. His powerful wings and a following wind quickly took him over the jungle, the Mountains of Fire, and the large expanse of the Lava Beds. He came to open countryside with trees and meadows and rivers, and with eyesight as keen as a great hawk’s, he was soon looking down at the scorched and blackened area that had been the kingdom of the fairies.

  Landing outside what remained of the oak tree palace, the Dark One searched for signs of life. The area was deserted. Any survivors of the horg attack had left for pastures new. He lashed out with his arm, and the charred oak tree was uprooted and toppled to the ground. This state of affairs was not acceptable. His plans to be the supreme ruler of Allworlds was subject to his finding a fairy that knew where the gold chalice had been taken. Only the power of good forged within that small cup was standing in his way, stopping him from bringing ill luck, disaster, misfortune and misery to all forms of life everywhere. He thrived on causing mayhem, and grew stronger with every act of harm he visited upon others. He was the supreme spirit of evil; a diabolical being that was known by many names, such as Satan, Beelzebub, Belial, Lucifer, Old Nick, Lord of the Flies, and many more. In every corner of existence he was feared by the good and worshipped by the bad.

  He would find the chalice, of that he had no doubt whatsoever. It was only a question of when, not if. And when he did get his claws on it, then all that was untainted and noble and pure would be destroyed for the rest of time.

  Rising up from the forest floor, the Dark One headed back to the Black Tower, to wait for his imps or the horg soldiers to bring him the information he was impatient to h
ear.

  ― CHAPTER EIGHTEEN ―

  INTO THE FUTURE

  The way before them was blocked. Up ahead, a thirty-foot high chain-link fence of diamond-shaped mesh with rolls of razor wire along its top stretched from one side of the canyon to the other. In the centre was a pair of gates that were closed and almost certainly locked. Behind them was a small, brick built gate lodge with a pole barrier outside it; the type that rose up to let vehicles through. No one came out of the building as they drew near.

  They approached the gates warily, expecting someone or something to make an appearance. But apart from the whistle of the hot wind that swayed the fence, and the rattle of two signs that were fastened to it, swinging loose at the bottom and blowing to and fro against the galvanised wire, there was no movement.

  They reached the gate and read the signs. Sand had scoured the paint, but the writing on them was still legible. One stated:

  WARNING

  RESTRICTED AREA

  IT IS UNLAWFUL TO ENTER THIS

  FACILITY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF

  THE INSTALLATION COMMANDER.

  Sec 17. Internal security act of 2250.

  USE OF DEADLY FORCE AUTHORISED.

  The other sign had an illustration of a black triangle on a yellow background. Inside the triangle was the figure of a man being struck by a jagged bolt, and below it was written:

  ELECTRIFIED FENCE.

  DANGER OF DEATH.

  “Wicked!” Tommy said.

  “What do you think it is?” Sam asked.

  “Somewhere like Area 51 in Nevada,” Tommy replied. “A secret base where the military carry out highly classified projects.”

  “It says internal security act of 2250,” Ben said. “Do you suppose that’s the year?”

  Tommy shrugged. “Looks like it. Let’s break in and have a look round.”

  “S’cuse me, Tommy,” Pook said. “But doesn’t that say, use of deadly force authorised?”

  “It’s probably deserted,” Tommy said. “And what do you suggest, that we go back all the way we’ve just come”

  “Yes,” Zoot hissed. “It is said that horgs have visited this place, and that none who entered ever reappeared.”

  “I’ll fly over the gates and see what lies ahead,” Speedy offered.

  “Very well,” Fig said. “But be careful, Speedwell. Do not approach anything that you are uncertain of. I would rather not have to come looking for you.”

  They watched as Speedy took off, flew up over the gates and disappeared from sight around a bend in the canyon.

  Tommy picked up a stone and threw it at the fence. Nothing happened. “There’s no power,” he said. “I bet no one’s been here for donkey’s years.”

  “What are donkey’s years?” Gorf asked.

  “I don’t know,” Tommy said. “It means a very long time.”

  Ben checked out the locking mechanism on the gate. He pulled down a handle recessed into a slot, and with a squeaking noise like fingernails on a blackboard, three steel tongues withdrew and the gates creaked open a few inches.

  “So much for security,” Ben said. “The gates weren’t even locked, and there are no guards in sight.”

  “Let’s go and shelter in that hut until Speedy gets back,” Tommy said as the wind strengthened and the sand was whipped up and stung their faces.

  The gate lodge door was also unlocked. Inside it was a console with dozens of different coloured buttons, and above it was a bank of TV monitors. But it was the sight on the floor that attracted their attention. It was the skeleton of a man wearing a blue, military uniform. His skull had been crushed like an eggshell.

  “How come we never get to find nice places with friendly people?” Sam said.

  “The mud men and Magar and Juno were friendly,” Ben answered.

  “They were exceptions to the rule,” Sam said. “And you couldn’t call that mud lake a nice place.”

  “Look,” Tommy said. “There’s a book with a list of visitors’ names and the times and dates they came in here.”

  They all gathered round the desk and silently read some of the entries, after Tommy had blown a thick layer of dust off the pages.

  At 09.20 on the 38th Mercady, 2258, a company by the name of Techna International had delivered a batch of telemetry satellite dishes. All the entries listed the time in and out of individuals or companies that had visited the facility. The dates and months didn’t make sense. But there was no reason why they should. This was not the world that Sam, Ben and Tommy came from. And if it was, it was so far in the future that it might as well have been another Earth in a parallel universe. They had to go with the flow, as usual.

  “Look at his badge,” Ben said, unable to take his eyes off the remains of the gatekeeper.

  Sam thought that the identification tag clipped above the breast pocket of the dead man’s shirt looked just like one of the plastic credit cards that her mum and dad used to pay for stuff. It was silver and gold, with a small square that had the holographic image of a man’s face on it.

  Ben read some of what was on the card. “United Federation of Western Alliance, Churchill Sands U.F. Base,” he said. “Sergeant Kurt Devane.”

  “He looked a lot like Brad Pitt,” Sam said.

  “What, the actor?” Ben said.

  “Yeah. My mum thinks he’s a dish. She has all his movies on DVD.”

  Tommy knelt down and unclipped the holster attached to the belt of the skeleton. He withdrew the strange looking gun from it and climbed to his feet. “It looks like some sort of ray gun,” he said, and went outside to see if it worked.

  Pointing the large metallic-blue pistol at the canyon wall, Tommy pulled the trigger, and was blown backwards as a thin beam of white light surged out of the gun’s muzzle and blew a deep hole in the red rock. “Wow! Did you see that?” he shouted to the others.

  “Yes, Tommy, Ben said from behind him. “Be careful where you point it.”

  “Pity we didn’t have this earlier,” Tommy said. “Nothing would have had a chance against it.”

  “It didn’t help that guy inside,” Ben said. “Whatever crushed his skull wasn’t put off by a ray gun.”

  As the others came out of the gate lodge, not happy to be inside it with the remains of the soldier, Speedy reappeared, flying back along the canyon, and soon alighted on the ground next to them.

  “What did you find, Speedy?” Ben asked.

  “Farther along the canyon is a long, straight road that slopes down into the mouth of a giant tunnel. I flew into it and found a lot of what appeared to be the remains of dead humans, all with their skulls crushed. But I haven’t seen anything alive. At the end of the tunnel was an enormous chamber with doors leading off from it. It is a very peculiar place.”

  “Is it far away?” Sam asked.

  “Mayhaps an hour’s walk in your way of measuring time,” Speedy said.

  “Let’s go take a look and shelter there for the night,” Tommy said.

  “You are far too inquisitive, Tommy,” Gorf said. “Poking your nose into strange places is asking for trouble.”

  “It’s human nature to explore,” Tommy said. “That’s how we learn about new things, and find out about stuff that we wouldn’t ever know if we didn’t look.”

  “Let’s take a vote on it,” Sam said. “We need to rest somewhere for a few hours and shelter from this wind, it’s getting stronger.”

  Tommy, Sam, Ben and Zoot voted to carry on and see what was inside the tunnel. Fig, Speedy and Gorf wanted to go back and find a way around it.

  “It’s up to you, Pook,” Sam said. “What do you want to do?”

  Pook knew that if he voted to go back, then it would be a tie, and they would have to think of another way to decide. And he knew that Tommy would be angry, and would most likely still carry on and explore whatever was up ahead. He didn’t want them to split up into two groups, so said, “Whichever way we go might be just as dangerous, so I vote we go and see what Speedy found.”<
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  “Neat,” Tommy said, grinning. “That’s my bear.”

  “I am not your bear, Tommy,” Pook said. “I’m your pal, and I sometimes wish I wasn’t, because you can be a real pain. You only care about what you want, and act like a spoilt kid.”

  “Hey, easy does it, Pook,” Tommy said with a hurt look on his face. “I am a kid. I’m only twelve. And I like to have fun and do exciting things. That doesn’t make me a bad person.”

  “Yeah, well, okay,” Pook said. “But just remember that I was around when your Dad was only a toddler. I’m a very old bear, and want to be treated with a little respect.”

  “You only got brought to life a few weeks ago,” Tommy said. “And when we left Weirdworld you became a stuffed toy again, so you’re not very old at all.”

  “I’m as old as the memories that Mephisto gave me.”

  Tommy had no answer to that. “Fine,” he said, and walked off in the direction that Speedy had returned from. Pook had made him think of his dad, and that made him sad. He still hadn’t got over his dad dying, and every once in a while he had real bad days and cried a lot, and got angry because there seemed to be a permanent empty space where his dad should be. It wasn’t fair. Ben and Sam still had dads, but seemed to take them for granted. They didn’t realise how they would feel if they lost them. And as for being a twelve-year-old kid, he felt a lot older than that. He had grown up with bad eyesight and wearing a calliper on his leg. His mum had told him that life didn’t owe you anything, and that it was nothing to do with being fair or not. You had to just make the best out of what happened, and not take it personally. That had been very hard to do. But with all that he and the others had seen and done recently in Otherworld, he felt stronger, older, and more able to face the unknown. He knew that every second that passed was also a journey, through time. Everyone was a time traveller, moving into the future. And that, he decided, was the greatest adventure there could be.

  Sam thought that they had walked for about two miles as they came to a steep slope that led down to the entrance. Above them, the three moons were rising, and she paused to look at them. It still amazed her to think that she was in another world, where a yellow, an orange, and a luminous green moon were in the night sky.