The Secret Throne

by Peter F. Hamilton

  ‘They’re alive!’ Taggie exclaimed breathlessly. She couldn’t see the second gnome her beam had illuminated. Fright made her keep the torch shining on the one that had stabbed her.

  ‘They’re nasty little beasts,’ Felix whispered. ‘They allied themselves with the Karrak Lords . . . Now keep the torches on them at all times, and walk with me towards the roundadown. Quickly now, I’m guessing there’ll be more than three.’

  ‘So did Arasath let them through as well?’ Taggie asked as they carefully walked backwards, with Felix’s paw guiding her.

  Felix cocked his head to one side, pointed ears flicking about. ‘It must have. But it is most strange. Nobody really likes gnomes.’ The beam wasn’t particularly strong, and Jemima could see the two gnomes getting dimmer behind them. Then suddenly they were gone. She squealed in fright. They’d moved so fast.

  ‘There!’ Felix shouted. He helped her slide the torch beam round. It flashed across one of the gnomes, not ten metres away now. Frozen with one foot in the air.

  ‘Where’s the other one?’ Jemima yelled. Too late she heard the rush of small feet. Felix kicked savagely into the darkness outside the two torch beams. There was a grunt of pain as the gnome tumbled backwards. Taggie’s beam swept across the creature, locking it into a pinwheel shape as it flew through the air. Then Felix drew a sword. Taggie had no time to wonder where he’d been concealing it before the blade shone with a sleek, green light. She was swinging the torch beam round from side to side, frantically trying to find a gnome. Felix slashed with the sword, there was a clang, and a tiny dagger dropped out of the air.

  ‘My lantern’s in my bag!’ Taggie suddenly remembered.

  ‘Get it!’ Felix exclaimed.

  Taggie let her torch drop as she fumbled for the small backpack she was carrying. Felix and Jemima stood back to back, Jemima sweeping her torch around, Felix holding the sword ready in front of him. Jemima’s beam found a gnome in the middle of a leap, and it toppled to the ground, motionless. She kept the beam on it. Shapes were moving through the gloom of the orchard now. Too many shapes, Taggie saw, as she struggled with the flap on the top of her bag.

  ‘Hurry!’ Felix shouted.

  Taggie saw the symbols on her bracelet starting to glow with a thin orange light. Strange memories began to race through her mind, as blurred as any recollection of a dream. Then her hand closed round the lantern in her bag, and she tugged it out, holding it high. Her thumb hit the switch.

  A wide pool of bright white light splashed out. Seven gnomes were caught in its radiance, instantly becoming still. They formed a loose circle around the trio, arms raised as they held up various nasty weapons, legs petrified in mid-stride. The lantern’s light had immobilized their faces in scowls of hatred.

  Jemima let out a sob of relief.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Felix said quietly.

  ‘Are there any more?’ Taggie asked.

  ‘I can see a couple,’ Felix admitted. ‘But they’re staying well outside the light. Ma’am, please, we need to go.’

  Still holding the lantern up high, Taggie stepped carefully through the wildflowers. Her leg was hurting quite badly now, and she winced at every step. Shadows of the tree trunks flowed slowly across the ground as she moved. Her heart beat faster as she realized she was carrying the light away from the circle of gnomes. ‘They’ll start moving again,’ she exclaimed.

  ‘Yes,’ Felix said. His paw was gripping Jemima’s hand tight now, helping the frightened girl along. ‘But they can’t get close enough to harm us.’

  ‘OK.’ Taggie nodded fearfully, and kept walking. She had to pass between two stationary gnomes, which was awful, but she kept going. Then she couldn’t help but grimace as the edge of the light left two gnomes behind. Jemima shone her torch where they’d been, but she wasn’t quick enough, the gnomes were free. The sound of tiny running feet came at them like a breeze through the darkness. Just a few paces later, all the gnomes that’d been caught in the lantern’s light were in darkness. It seemed as if they were surrounded by the sound of them slithering through the grass.

  After what seemed an age, Taggie stumbled past the fence Dad had half built. Ahead of her was the ring of ancient stone at the top of the well. Her leg felt awful, but she gritted her teeth and told herself the pain wasn’t as bad as when she got clobbered by a hockey stick on the last game of term. They’d gone on to win that match.

  ‘Taggie,’ Jemima said in a shaky voice. ‘Are you turning the lantern down?’

  ‘No.’ Even as she said it, she saw the lantern wasn’t as bright as it had been when she switched it on.

  ‘When did you wind it up last?’

  ‘I can’t remember.’ The circle of light was visibly shrinking now.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Felix said. The squirrel leaned over the edge of the roundadown and dropped a tiny blue and white flower into the hole. ‘Zarek fol,’ he murmured.

  ‘Wind the lantern up again,’ Jemima snapped.

  ‘You have to switch it off to do that,’ Taggie snapped back.

  A loud rumbling sound came from the darkness of the roundadown. Taggie looked down to see a stone sliding out of the wall just below the rim. Then a second stone emerged slightly below the first and the next row down, and beyond that was a third, a fourth . . . It was like watching a spiral staircase growing down the well before her eyes.

  ‘Leave the lantern on top,’ Felix said in a rush. ‘Come on, we haven’t got much time left.’ He sprang lightly on to the first stone, then began to scamper downwards, quickly passing into the darkness.

  Taggie urged Jemima on to the top step. Jemima didn’t need any further encouragement; shining her torch ahead, she hurried after Felix. Taggie placed the lantern on the rim, right by the top step, and started down, trying to avoid putting too much weight on her wounded leg. She had only gone round the wall a couple of times when the light above vanished. The low grinding sound came again, as the steps above began to retreat back into the curving walls. Taggie gulped and hurried on as fast as she could, trying to keep her footing true. She had no idea how far down the roundadown went.

  Eventually she lost count of how many times she’d gone round. It was all she could do not to feel dizzy. And she was sure she could feel blood soaking into her sock below the dagger cut. Sometimes she caught a glimpse of Jemima’s torch beam below, bobbing about as her sister scurried down and down.

  Finally Jemima’s beam was steady, and Taggie trotted down the last spiral, to land on a floor of dry leaves next to Felix. The sound of the steps retreating into the walls followed her, and less than half a minute later the bottom step had withdrawn, leaving a perfectly smooth curving wall of stone. She shone her torch round. There was a neat wooden doorway, bound with iron, inside an arching frame of stone. It was shut.

  ‘There’s no handle on the door,’ Jemima said.

  ‘The Great Gateways open only if they wish to,’ Felix said. ‘Ma’am, introduce yourself to Arasath.’

  Taggie kept her torch beam on the wooden door. ‘And it’ll open?’

  Felix’s teeth chittered for a second. ‘Yes. But you should know that sometimes the Great Gateways can be . . . troublesome.’

  ‘What sort of troublesome?’

  ‘Some are keen on making you solve riddles before they let you through. Others like a small gift. Some cause mischief for the sake of it. Some are jaded and require a tale of your travels to enliven their endless existence. Others lecture you for days, telling of how much better life was in times past. But not to worry – no Great Gateway would ever dare to turn you away.’

  Taggie wasn’t entirely convinced, but she stood in front of the door, squaring her shoulders. ‘Hello. My name is Taggie, granddaughter of the Queen of Dreams, and I want to go to the First Realm where my father has been taken.’

  Felix made a soft coughing sound, and his paw nudged Jemima.

  ‘Oh. Hello, I’m Jemima, she’s my grandma, too; and I want the same thing. I want my dad back.’
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  A cool dry gust of air stirred the leaves on the floor.

  ‘The hope which your bloodline bestows to the First Realm has been absent for a long time,’ a deep voice said directly behind Taggie. She jumped and spun round, shining her torch against the blank wall to see who’d spoken. There was nobody there.

  ‘It is Arasath who speaks,’ Felix whispered.

  Taggie gave him a confused glance. The white squirrel seemed to be a lot bigger in the dim light; his head came up to her elbow now.

  ‘Will you bring it back, that hope?’ the voice of Arasath asked gently. The Great Gateway sounded genuinely interested.

  Taggie turned to the wooden door again. ‘I want my father, that’s all I know. What happens after I find him is something I do not know.’

  ‘An honest answer,’ Arasath said in amusement. ‘That’s something I haven’t been given for a long time.’

  ‘Please . . .’ Taggie had to struggle to speak; there was a lump in her throat and she was worried she was about to start crying. It wasn’t fair the Gateway was being so obstinate. Why can’t the wretched thing just open? she thought. ‘I just want to see him again. That’s all.’

  ‘All? You speak as if it were a trifle.’

  ‘I’ll do what I have to,’ she said defiantly.

  Felix’s paw closed round her arm; she could feel his sharp claws through her sleeve. ‘Be careful what you say,’ he said quietly. ‘And say little.’

  ‘But you do not understand what it is that lies ahead of you,’ Arasath murmured.

  ‘I’ll find out.’

  ‘Honesty and determination. Your quest will be a grand one, I feel.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Taggie wasn’t sure if that had been a compliment or not. She waited.

  The leaves stirred briefly again. ‘Would you like me to help?’ Arasath asked smoothly.

  ‘I . . . Yes, that would be kind. Thank you.’

  ‘Polite as well. What a surprise. Welcome, lost princesses. Welcome to the First Realm, which is your birthright.’

  The door began to swing back.

  ‘Princess,’ Jemima said wistfully. ‘Did you hear that? Arasath called us princesses.’

  Taggie gave her sister a gentle push through the now fully open door. There was a long brick tunnel behind it, curving sharply. Taggie limped on ahead, with Jemima next and Felix bringing up the rear. It was light in the tunnel, allowing Taggie to pocket her torch.

  ‘That wasn’t so difficult,’ she said. ‘How far to the other end?’

  ‘That depends,’ Felix said. ‘Ma’am, it is unwise to confide so much to the Gateway. I did warn you they could be mischievous.’

  ‘But we’re through,’ Jemima said breathlessly. ‘We’re in the First Realm. How amazing is that?’

  Taggie thought they had walked almost a complete circle when a brighter light began to shine along the tunnel. She hurried forward as best she could; her leg was aching badly now. There was one last turn and they came to the entrance. It was a similar door to the one at the bottom of the roundadown, and it was ajar. She pushed it open.

  The sisters and Felix emerged into warm sunlight and the smell of a summer meadow. Beyond the doorway was a sight which Taggie simply wasn’t prepared for. Ahead of her was a lush rolling landscape of fields and forests and rivers. The emerald panorama swept off into the far distance where details blurred into a single wash of green. Then, countless miles away, it began to curve upward like the wall of some giant valley. ‘Oh gosh,’ Taggie murmured in a very small voice. Her leg finally felt like it was about to give way, and she swayed alarmingly as she craned her head back. The ground of the First Realm stretched up and up, and still further up. Her mouth fell open as she followed the curve with her gaze, seeing a small sun directly overhead. Behind the sun, the First Realm kept on going, with mountains and plains and sparkling blue seas laid out as if it was a massive map forming the universe’s biggest roof.

  This realm was the exact opposite of the world she’d known all her life. Its lands were spread across the interior of a sphere, one that measured thousands of miles across.

  Far above the ordinary clouds, long colourful streamers circled round the dazzling little sun that hung in the centre of the First Realm, casting massive black shadows over the lands that loomed directly above her head.

  ‘I’m dreaming,’ Jemima gasped, wiping a tear from her eye. ‘It’s amazing. Felix! Why didn’t you tell us?’

  Felix was staring up into the sky, with its weird shimmering multi-coloured clouds. His tail was rigid, with its fur all fluffed out. ‘This is very wrong,’ he said. ‘This is not the First Realm I left two days ago. Then, the King of Night had smothered the sun and cursed the land with a fierce winter.’ He turned round to face the door. ‘Somehow, Arasath has deceived us.’

  THE WRONG TIME

  Taggie sat down hard. She simply couldn’t stand up any more. Nervously she looked down at her leg. Her black jeans were glistening darkly with blood. She pressed her lips together and moaned, trying hard not to cry.

  At once Felix was beside her. ‘How bad is it?’ he asked, full of concern.

  ‘It hurts quite a bit,’ she admitted reluctantly, hating how weak that made her sound. After all, the gnome’s blade hadn’t been that big.

  ‘Those little brutes always drench their blades in wanspider venom to make the pain worse and stop the blood from clotting.’ Felix looked worried.

  ‘You mean they poisoned her?’ Jemima squeaked.

  ‘I fear so.’ Felix carefully rolled up Taggie’s jeans, exposing a long gash that was bleeding freely. ‘I have some bandages and ointments . . . That will hold the damage for a while, but we need to get you to a mage or a healer.’ He reached round and produced a small satchel. Like the sword, Taggie couldn’t see where he’d kept it.

  She screwed her eyes shut at the pain throbbing in her leg. Jemima reached out a hand to touch the wound with a finger.

  ‘Don’t,’ Taggie said instinctively. But Jemima’s eyes were closed. Before Taggie could say anything further, she felt the hot pain diminish exactly where Jem was touching her, and sighed in relief. ‘Oh, that’s better,’ she murmured.

  ‘Hold still, ma’am,’ Felix instructed. He’d produced a glass phial from his satchel and was about to pour the emerald-green potion over the gash.

  Jemima blinked. ‘No, wait,’ she said in a dreamy voice. The palm of her hand pressed down on Taggie’s leg.

  ‘Jem?’ Taggie asked uncertainly.

  But Jem wasn’t listening. Her eyes were tight shut. ‘Ranoguil,’ she whispered.

  Taggie and Felix peered down at the wound. A puff of noxious purple vapour was expelled, which Taggie guessed was the wanspider venom. Almost immediately she felt better, as if she’d managed to get her breath back. A cool sensation slithered up her leg.

  ‘It’s stopped – look,’ Taggie said in astonishment.

  Sure enough, the flow of blood slowed to a dribble and halted.

  Jemima was holding her bloodied hand up in front of her face, as if she’d never seen it before. ‘How did I do that? I didn’t know I could do that.’ She sounded almost scared.

  Felix fixed his dark eyes on her. ‘You have a healer’s touch, Princess. It is only to be expected; many of your royal ancestors were renowned healers.’

  Jemima’s mouth curled up into a delighted grin. ‘Oh, wow! That is so cool. I wonder if I can do any other spells?’

  ‘Your abilities are waking, now you are in the First Realm. It is your heritage,’ Felix said solemnly. ‘And your destiny. Time will show us what both of you are capable of.’

  The sisters looked at each other. Taggie grinned sheepishly. ‘Thanks, Jem.’

  She lay back on her elbows and let Felix wrap a slim bandage round the wound. High above, some white birds circled lazily. Above them were hazy clouds, and far, far above them, the strange stripes of dark-coloured cloud swirled slowly across the little sun. It was a warm day, with a scent of wildflowers in the air. She
couldn’t think of a more pleasing sight.

  ‘Are all the Realms like this?’ she asked.

  ‘No,’ Felix replied. ‘They are all different. But this is the only one where you cannot see the stars.’

  ‘Oh.’ Taggie hadn’t thought of that; it was almost disappointing. ‘Why not?’

  ‘It’s said that when the angels brought people to the Realms at the start of the First Times, they folded the First Realm around itself so nothing else could follow them from the Heavens. That way the new people would always be safe.’

  ‘Safe from what?’ Jemima asked.

  ‘Back then the gods themselves were at war among the stars,’ Felix said. ‘Angels and archangels fought terrible battles for them. But that ended long ago. Now we just fight among ourselves. And even the First Realm isn’t safe.’

  ‘How has Arasath deceived us?’ Taggie asked, remembering Felix’s words. Looking round at the incredible spherical landscape, she couldn’t see anything amiss.

  ‘I fear the Great Gateway has been dreadfully roguish,’ Felix said. ‘When you told Arasath you wanted to see your father, its reply – Welcome to the First Realm, which is your birthright – troubled me. Too glib. We will have to travel to the palace to confirm what I think has happened.’

  ‘The palace,’ Jemima said with a smile. ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes, Princess,’ Felix said.

  He held his paw out for Taggie. When she hauled herself back to her feet she realized that the squirrel was now only a few inches shorter than herself, and she was tall for her age. She chose not to mention it. After all of the shocking and bizarre things that had happened in the last couple of hours, a squirrel that magically changed size was the least of her worries.

  ‘How far is the palace?’ she asked.

  Felix pointed to a line of hills that were heavily forested. ‘Beyond those hills – perhaps a day’s travel. And ma’am, would you please trust me when I say I think we should try to stay out of sight as much as possible?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Felix led them down a narrow path, in truth no more than a meandering track where the grass was slightly shorter than average. The meadowland on either side was speckled by wildflowers. They’d been walking for a minute when Jemima suddenly stopped and let out an excited cry. ‘Taggie! Taggie, look.’