Tara Duncan and the Forbidden Book

by HRH Princess Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian

  When they explained, the little thief looked thoughtful.

  “That’s incredible,” he said. “And it’s kind of a far-fetched plan if all he wants is to get the Forbidden Book. To do that he could just spy on Master Chem and steal the book when he’s away from Lancovit. After all, he travels a lot. But we can clear that up when I get out of here. The second reason I’m happy is that my mom came to visit, and she knows how to prove I’m innocent!”

  “Hey, that’s fantastic!” exclaimed Fabrice. “So we’re saved. Let’s go see the empress right away! The gorgeous, magnificent eighteenth letter of the alphabet + what we do to pants = m + pants = empress.”

  “Er, there’s just one catch,” said Cal.

  “I should have known it was too good to be true,” said Fabrice with a sigh. “Go on.”

  “According to my mother, there’s a very particular entity embodied in a statue called the Judge of Souls. The entity was created by the demons in order to tell truth from lies. Everybody tells lies in the demon kingdoms, so this is the only way the rulers can exercise any control over their subjects, since the Truth Tellers refuse to go to Demon Limbo. Once we’re in front of the Judge, we can recall Brandis a second time, which is normally impossible, and convince him that someone other than me caused his death. We’ll record the whole proceeding with a taludi and turn it over to the imperial court. It’s practically impossible to fool a taludi, so that should be enough to get me declared innocent.”

  Tara’s eyes widened. “You want us to go to Limbo? To talk with demons? Fabrice was right. The guards must’ve hit you on the head. And what the heck is a taludi?”

  “It’s a little animal that records everything it sees. It can even see through spells and illusions. You can’t fool a taludi, which makes them valuable witnesses in lawsuits and criminal cases. The little problem I mentioned is that the Judge of Souls statue is in the Demon King’s court.”

  “Hold on,” said Manitou, feeling very uncomfortable. “Do you mean the same Demon King who gave Tara that metaphor infection? I thought he was furious at her. You think it’s wise to defy him again?”

  “Well, she did yank his chain a little,” said Cal with a chuckle. “I think she called him ‘a babbling blob who talks a good game, but doesn’t actually have any power.’ That may have annoyed him—really, those demons have no sense of humor. But I didn’t say anything bad to him, and since this was Mom’s only suggestion for solving my problem, I don’t have any choice. I’ll go alone.”

  “No, you won’t!” said Tara and Sparrow at the same time.

  “Besides, you need me,” added Sparrow. “Because I’m the only person who knows how to reach the ‘object’ that can get us to Limbo. And if you don’t let me come along, then you can forget about me helping you.”

  Sparrow had stressed the word “object,” and Cal snapped his fingers excitedly when he understood what she meant.

  “Of course! How dumb I am! The Forbidden Book! The book Master Chem used to take us to the Demon King’s realm! And you know how to get it?”

  “That’s right. First Master Chem reprogrammed my accreditation card so I could pass through his wall-door. Then he told me to memorize these instructions.”

  The pretty brunette closed her eyes and carefully recited what the dragon wizard had said:

  “On the upper left-hand bookcase you’ll see a book called Comparative Anatomy of OtherWorld Fauna. Take it down and put it on my desk. Tap three times on page 3, and then ten times on page 20. Be careful not to make a mistake. My desk will shift aside, revealing a glass staircase. Go down it, skipping the fourth and seventh steps. At the bottom you’ll see two fire snakes. Crawl between them on your hands and knees. Whatever you do, don’t walk between them standing up; they’ll burn your head off. This passageway will bring you to The Forbidden Book, which is on a pedestal. Walk around the pedestal and pick up the flat stone hidden behind it. Quickly replace the book with the stone; you’ll have less than a second. When you’ve done that, climb the stairs, this time skipping the second step from the bottom, then the fifth. In the office, pick up the anatomy book without touching its pages. Put it around The Forbidden Book to hide its cover, and bring this to me.”

  Sparrow opened her eyes. “There you have it! If nothing has changed we shouldn’t have too much trouble getting the book.”

  Tara gave her an enthusiastic hug. “Sparrow, you’re terrific! So, what do you say, Cal? Do you have enough to go on?”

  “It’s perfect!” he exclaimed with a big grin. “Couldn’t be better! Master Chem won’t notice a thing—at least I hope not.”

  “Great,” said Robin, smiling. “With that out of the way, we can concentrate on planning the escape. But what about the prison’s security system?”

  “Just guards and chatrixes,” said Cal. “Oh, and Drrr, of course, but she isn’t here on guard duty. It’s more like she’s the one being guarded.”

  “Drrr? Who’s that?”

  “A young arachne.”

  Fabrice blanched. “An arachne, here?” he whispered fiercely. “I didn’t see any webs.”

  “No, because she’s allergic to her own silk. She can produce it, but not spin it; it burns her. It’s extremely painful and she’s undergoing therapy, so she asked to be locked in a cell so she doesn’t accidentally hurt anyone.”

  “Well, if she’s locked up, everything’s fine,” said Fabrice, relieved.

  “That is, she’s locked up during her therapy sessions,” said Cal with a small, wicked smile. “She didn’t have a session today, so I think she’s out somewhere, stretching her legs.”

  Fabrice took a deep breath and tried to speak slowly and deliberately.

  “Cal?”

  “Yes?” The little thief’s tone was perfectly innocent.

  “I don’t know when, and I don’t know how, but you’re going to pay for this.”

  “Come on, boys,” interrupted Sparrow. “You can play games some other time. So what do we do now, Cal?”

  “The cell door is no problem. I have everything I need to get myself out. They searched my spellbinder robe, but they didn’t find my little lock-picking tools, because I hid them under fake scars and scabs. All I have to do is peel them off. But the chatrixes and the guards—that’s more complicated. We can’t cast spells on them because of the antimagic statuette. Wouldn’t do any good, anyway.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the guards have been heavily dosed with anti-enchantment spells. No one can use magic to put them to sleep, knock them out, blind them, wipe out their memories, and so on.”

  “And chatrixes are naturally immune to magic,” noted Robin soberly.

  Cal was thinking hard. “During the attack on the Gray Fortress, your fellow elves used drugged darts to put the chatrixes out of commission. Would they work on the guards? Those guys may be immune to spells, but not to drugs.”

  The half-elf’s crystalline eyes narrowed as he thought it over.

  “I don’t know; putting the guards to sleep, then the chatrixes . . . Seems like a pretty tall order. I have to think. Give me a little time, and I’ll see what I can come up with.”

  “Anyway, that’s just the first stage,” said Sparrow. “Once you’re out of jail you still have to make it to the Transfer Portal to travel back to Lancovit. And the portal is guarded.”

  Cal’s face fell. “Darn! I forgot about that! You’re right. We’ll have to figure how to put everybody out of commission.”

  “Are you sure that’s the right way to go?” asked Manitou diplomatically. “Why don’t we just ask Chem what he thinks about this? After all, he already used The Forbidden Book to save Tara’s life once. Maybe he’d be willing to use it again to save Cal and thwart Magister’s plans.”

  Sparrow answered, “He’d never agree; it’s too dangerous. Last time, Tara was dying when he agreed to read it to take us to Limbo. If we approach him this time, there’s a chance he’ll do everything he can to keep us from getting the book, which
would ruin all our efforts. No, I agree with Cal. Let’s get him out of jail, get the book, then go to Limbo. We can disguise ourselves as demons in order to approach the statue. We ought to be able to fool them.”

  “If you say so,” growled Manitou, unconvinced. “But my nose says this stinks!”

  “Really?” asked Cal, laughing. “Since you’re a dog at the moment, isn’t that normal?”

  “Very funny, Cal. Very funny. Keep laughing and you’ll see what dog teeth can do to the seat of your pants.”

  Over the next days, the four young spellbinders and Manitou crisscrossed the palace back and forth and top to bottom. They noted the changing of the guards and the schedule of their meals and rounds, both day and night. Because the palace was so huge, their familiars were especially useful. Gallant flew to every nook and cranny, and Sheeba used her stealth to fetch whatever they needed.

  But the panther was very annoyed at Robin over the matter of the traduc turds. Robin and Sparrow had concocted a potion similar to the one the elves had used to knock out the Gray Fortress chatrixes, and they planned to use it on the guards and animals here. Unfortunately for Sheeba, traduc excrement was an essential ingredient in the potion, and she was the only one able to slip into the stables to get it. She complained that her fur would stink to high heaven for a week.

  The other ingredients were easier to obtain: kalorna seeds, green mud from the Drakorn Islands, magic water from the Sea of Fogs, a few pinches of salt from the mountains of Hymlia, snow from the Tador peaks, and the narcotic purple flowers the elves used in the Gray Fortress assault. Within an OtherWorld week, everything was ready for the escape.

  Empress Lisbeth’tylanhnem, meanwhile, had been extremely busy. For the third time in a month, a delegation of gnomes had come to ask her help in resolving a very serious but mysterious problem. Nobody knew exactly what was going on, but the hunter-elves had been mobilized and the word “scandal” was being whispered among the courtiers.

  One night, when most of the palace was asleep, Tara felt like getting some fresh air, so she and Gallant went for a stroll in one of the parks. Robin discreetly kept an eye on her. Since the attack, he wasn’t letting Tara out of his sight, which sometimes got on her nerves. He was now hanging back in the shadows, so as not to disturb her.

  A couple of hunter-elves stood chatting by the light of OtherWorld’s two moons, Tadix and Madix. Tara didn’t want to bother them and was about to move away when she overheard them say the empress’s name. She casually edged closer—I’m just out for a stroll, pay no attention to me—and listened.

  “It sure wasn’t an ordinary search,” one of the elves was saying. “Either the gnomes were lying, or he isn’t guilty of anything.”

  “Hard to say,” said the second. “After all, we did search the whole castle without finding anything. Besides, why would he do something like that? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Hey, the empress tells us to investigate, so we investigate.” He changed the subject. “What did you think about the aerial polo match? That referee really . . .”

  Tara moved away, having heard all she wanted.

  During the following days, she expected to be summoned by the empress over the matter of her name, but Lisbeth’tylanhnem clearly had other fish to fry.

  For his part, unaware of what his young spellbinders were plotting, Master Chem had made several trips to Travia, the capital of Lancovit. King Bear and Queen Titania were furious that Cal had been put on trial, and they lodged a formal protest, demanding that the verdict be overturned.

  The empress answered by diplomatic courier that since the defendant had been judged by the victim’s manes, changing the sentence was out of the question.

  Relations between the kingdom and the empire quickly went from warm to chilly.

  The kingdom threatened to recall its ambassador.

  The empire threatened to call its ambassador.

  In short, the political world was at a boil.

  Tara strongly suspected Cal’s mother of using her 007-style superspy skills to rattle a lot of skeletons in a lot of closets to get her son released. From the looks on the ambassadors’ haggard faces, the skeletons must have been highly embarrassed.

  And speaking of relatives, Tara’s grandmother had nearly destroyed half of planet Earth over the past week.

  When Isabella realized that her granddaughter had left for OtherWorld, her fear and rage sparked a terrifying storm that devastated several countries and blew down thousands of trees. She wanted to rush to Omois and immediately haul Tara back to Earth, but Selena stopped her. In spite of Selena’s own anxiety, she understood Tara’s desire to rescue her friend.

  All this news reached the group by way of Master Chem, when he handed Tara a taludi that had just come in. Consisting of a white bony dome with three large round eyes, the taludi is a strange little animal that sticks on your face like a suction cup and covers your ears. When it’s in place, it faithfully reproduces the image, sound, and even smell of the last person who spoke to it.

  Somewhat apprehensively, Tara put the taludi on and was amazed to see her mother in front of her, looking so real she felt she could practically reach out and touch her. She could also see a swath of damage behind her. Lightning had shattered trees, the manor’s blackberry bushes were but charred memories, and a smell of smoke hung in the air.

  “I’m afraid we won’t be making blackberry jam anytime soon,” said Serena, gesturing at her surroundings. “As you can see, your grandmother was a little upset about your leaving without permission. But Chem says that everything’s fine, at least for the time being.”

  Selena cleared her throat, and tried to look serious. “The next time you decide to take off somewhere—if there is a next time—you’d do well to tell me about it. Beforehand. This planet is fragile, and it would bother me if your grandmother damaged it. Let’s avoid catastrophes, please. Anyway, we’re anxious for you to get back home. Or to what’s left of it.”

  Selena smiled, showing her dimples.

  That’s funny, thought Tara as she looked at her mother. I never noticed that her dimples are just like mine!

  “I know you’re incredibly independent, darling,” the image was saying, “but I’d really like a chance to act like a mother. I was deprived of it for so long and then, no sooner are we reunited but zip! and you’re gone. We still have so many things to share. So be very careful, darling, and come back quickly! Oh, and one more thing: I’d like you to keep me up to date on what you’re doing. So please send me a taludi or a message. Your grandmother and I are worried, even though we know you’re able to take care of yourself. I love you.”

  When Tara removed the taludi, she felt a bit weepy. She would’ve loved to run to her mother’s arms and point to the bad guys so her mom could protect her from them. The only problem was that when it came to magic, Tara was much more powerful than her mother. Of the two of them, Tara would be in a better position to beat up the bad guys. Well, whatever; nobody ever said the world was perfect.

  Tara positioned the taludi and explained her situation to her mother, while carefully glossing over the details she wanted to keep secret. Then Sparrow fed the animal some silver nitrate. The taludi wolfed it down and went to a corner to digest its meal in peace. Later, they would give it to the Omois courier service to be delivered to Earth.

  “Yikes!” said Sparrow suddenly, examining her list.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Fabrice.

  “We’re missing an ingredient. To maximize the strength of Robin’s potion, I need three hairs from an elephant’s trunk.”

  “You’re joking, right? Where do you expect us to find an elephant?”

  “Actually, I saw one yesterday,” said Robin with a smile. “In the empress’s private garden.”

  “Oh, really?” said Tara. “That’s interesting. I didn’t know that garden was open to the public.”

  “It isn’t.”

  Tara looked at him for a moment, then grinned.

&n
bsp; “Oh, I get it. The empress has an elephant in her garden—right! She has Tyrannosauruses in her gardens and whales in her salons. So, why not an elephant?”

  “And it’s no ordinary elephant, either,” he said. “It’s the great sacred blue Talabamouchi elephant. It was given to the empress’s grandmother as a gift a few centuries ago, and it’s the apple of the empress’s eye, because it’s apparently immortal, like Manitou. They ran a whole bunch of tests to understand why, but without success. I’ll go pluck three of its hairs and be right back.”

  “Wait, Robin!” said Fabrice. “I’m coming with you. I’ve never seen a real elephant up close!”

  “It sure must be different from television,” said Tara. “Why don’t we all go? I’d be curious to see this famous pachyderm.”

  Robin opened his mouth, then closed it again. He found it very hard to resist anything Tara wanted, even when it made no sense. The girl had too much sway over him.

  “Go and have fun, kids,” said Manitou. “I’ll stay here with Gallant and keep an eye on the potion.”

  As they followed the hallways to the garden, Tara noticed that the empress had decided to plant trees throughout the palace that day. They had taken root directly in the green marble and extended their branches in vaulting domes of golden leaves. Firebirds flew along the hallways. Their flaming wings were treated with an anti-fire spell, but it was wise to avoid their nests, so as not to get burned. Captivated by the birds’ beauty, Tara and her friends paused to admire them. At the young people’s feet, trash boxes trotted around on their tiny legs, hungrily looking for any scrap of paper, while large, shining globes with wings cast enchanted light everywhere. There were also suits of armor—lots of them. Their empty arms held weapons whose hooks, blades, and teeth made Tara shiver.

  The kids passed a pair of elegant unicorns who were seriously discussing philosophical subjects, their cloven hooves in comfortable felt slippers to avoid scratching the marble floor. Tara was dazzled, and she had to make an effort not to reach out and touch their silvery coats. Anyway, creatures who said things like, “The empress’s idiosyncrasies are reflected in the sui generis nature of her palace” probably weren’t inclined to let themselves be stroked without spearing the interlopers—after giving them a lecture in philosophy.