Charlie felt like she’d been smacked in the face. Any thoughts of escape or plans for alerting her two friends to her predicament withered and died. She was being forced to effectively destroy her relationship with the two Tremen, and not just that, she was being instructed to spitefully insult them too!
Stones leaned down so that his grinning face was mere inches away from hers and his yellow eyes shone with nasty mirth. He was enjoying this. ‘Now go and do as you are told and make it convincing!’
Already feeling guilty, Charlie walked across the drawbridge. Kelko and Jensen looked up from their cards with bright smiles on their faces.
‘Ho, ho, it’s me little Hippotomi!’ said Jensen, jumping up to greet her.
‘Finally!’ exclaimed Kelko. ‘Blossom, how ya doing?’
Charlie’s heart began to beat faster. She didn’t want to do this. Little beads of sweat began to form down the back of her neck as she did her best to fight the influence of the Isiris Bracelets.
‘Lass, are ya OK?’ asked Jensen. ‘Ya look like ya’ve seen a ghost.’
Charlie wanted to scream, to cry aloud, to shout up at the very heavens, anything but this. But the cruel jewellery around her wrists forced her to open her mouth.
‘Kelko … Jensen … I think the time has come for me to be honest. I don’t want to see you guys any more, as I find it a waste of my time having to listen to your loathsome, dribbling conversation. In fact, it’s not just my time you’re wasting by being here but Lady Narcissa’s and her wonderful family’s. Why, even these poor Watchmen have to take extra guard duty just to make sure you don’t do anything foolish in your attempts to see me. I think it would be best if you were to go.’
‘Wot?’ said Kelko, a look of vivid disbelief shooting across his face. ‘How can ya say that, blossom? We’re yer mates. We’ve just come ta make sure yer OK.’
‘He’s right, Charlie. We’re just here ta make sure everything’s OK and that ya’ve settled in fine,’ said Jensen, who was giving her a funny look, as though he thought this was all just some kind of practical joke.
Charlie, to her horror, felt her face creasing into a thick sneer and her voice sounded cruel even to her ears. ‘Just who do you think you guys are? Here I am staying with Lady Narcissa, learning new things about Sylvaris, and you want to come and spoil it. As a Keeper I need to start associating with a better class of people than riff-raff like you two.’
Kelko and Jensen froze with shocked looks of betrayal etched on their faces. Even one of the Alavisian Watchmen broke attention for a brief second to turn and stare at her.
‘Ha! Charlie, lass, ya certainly know how ta tell a good joke! Ya almost got me believing ya mean it!’ chuckled Kelko, but Charlie could see the uncertainty and fear in his eyes. He stared anxiously back at her and licked his lips nervously.
Charlie had never felt so heartbroken, but the Isiris Bracelets hadn’t finished with her yet.
‘I mean it, you fat fool! Leave me be! You’re embarrassing to be seen with. How on earth can you think anyone would want to be seen in your company?’
‘But, but … ya can’t mean that!’ stuttered Kelko. His lips quivered and he looked as though he might cry. ‘Charlie, I thought we were friends!’
‘I can’t believe ya would say such a thing!’ cried Jensen. ‘Ya can’t just turn yer back on us, not after all we’ve been through. Tell me ya don’t mean it!’
‘Bah! I knew you guys were stupid but I would’ve thought that you’d have got the message by now! I don’t want to see you two again, I don’t want to hear from you and I certainly don’t want to associate with you! Right, I think I’ve already wasted enough time talking to you two. Now scab off home before I set the Watchmen on you!’ snapped Charlie, then, turning her back on her friends, she strode into the ivory tower.
25
A Night to Forget
Devastation swept across Charlie’s soul. She couldn’t believe what she’d just done. She’d never felt so guilty or so repulsed by herself in all her thirteen years of life. Now that she had done the job and seeing that her back was to her friends, the Isiris Bracelets allowed her true emotions to show. Glistening tears began to slowly trickle down her cheeks.
‘Ha, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?’ chuckled Stones obscenely. He leaned against the wall and casually flicked the ring from hand to hand.
Charlie wanted to hit the muscled giant. She wanted nothing more than to wipe the smile off his smug, smirking face. A sudden thought popped into her mind: Lady Narcissa had foolishly forgotten to forbid her one essential thing when she’d issued the commands with the Isiris Bracelets. She’d never mentioned anything about retaliation.
Grinning through her tears, Charlie slowly yet firmly folded her small hand into a fist. Stepping smartly forward, she punched Stones as hard as she could in the stomach. He staggered backwards, more from shock than anything else. Charlie’s knuckles felt like they’d just hit a brick wall, but she didn’t care about the pain. It felt good to strike back at one of her tormentors.
‘Why, you …’ snarled Stones disbelievingly. His meaty hand shot out and grabbed her by the scruff of her neck. He yanked her off her feet and held her aloft. Charlie’s legs dangled helplessly beneath her, but she was too angry to notice.
‘Look who’s laughing now!’ crowed Charlie. She rubbed cheerfully at her knuckles and carelessly thrust her face closer to Stones. ‘Want another?’
Stones growled so low and menacingly that Charlie felt her teeth vibrate in her gums. Raising a massive, bludgeoning fist, he drew it back.
‘Stones!’ snapped Lady Narcissa as she walked briskly down the long corridor towards them.
Charlie noticed that she had changed into yet another magnificent silver-white dress that shone softly in the light. ‘Put her down. I’ve already discussed the matter of harming the girl. Don’t make me repeat myself!’
‘Yes, Mother,’ said Stones meekly.
He released Charlie, who dropped awkwardly to the floor. On shaky legs, she dusted herself down and rose to her feet.
‘Causing more trouble, are you?’ sneered Narcissa. ‘Well, not to worry, Charlie Keeper. You will only have the pleasure of staying with us for one more day. Tomorrow, I promise you, I will release you from our company.’
‘Oh yeah? And why would you do that?’
‘Because I have just sold your carcass to Bane, the Stoman Lord.’
Charlie’s face paled and her stomach tied itself into knots. ‘Wh-what did you just say?’ she stammered.
Lady Narcissa smirked evilly as she bent down to stare into Charlie’s eyes. ‘Hmmmm, let me assure you, you heard me right, little brat. I’ve just negotiated the sale of your skinny behind for a most pleasurable fortune. So enjoy your last twenty-four hours with us, because shortly after Bane will, I’m quite sure, be snacking on your flesh.’
Charlie had been wondering why Narcissa had taken her in. It had made no sense for the woman to offer her services to the Jade Circle and then turn cold and hard the minute she and Charlie were alone. But this explained it. Lady Narcissa had offered to house her purely for financial gain.
‘I congratulate you on getting rid of those tiresome Tremen as well. But now I grow weary. It is late and I need my beauty sleep, so without further ado I shall bid you goodnight. Stones, I think that we should put our young guest in suitable lodgings. Take her to the old cattle pens.’
‘As you wish, Mother.’
Lady Narcissa turned smartly and disappeared up the nearby stairwell of her tower.
Stones grabbed Charlie painfully by her hair and pulled her along, through twisting and winding corridors, until he came to a heavily bolted door. Pulling back the bolts, he carelessly tossed Charlie inside.
‘Until tomorrow, little rabbit,’ he growled. Slamming shut the door, he pulled the bolts back into place and stomped off.
Charlie groaned. Her knees were scraped and bloody and she was sure her shins would be horribly bruised. In her opinion
hard stone floors weren’t the most comfortable thing to be thrown on. Picking herself up, she plucked the worst of the splinters from her hands and looked around.
Thin moonlight trickled into the dank room through narrow, barred windows that were shrouded by the forest canopy. Damp straw lay scattered across the floor and empty, rundown cattle stalls lined one of the walls. Charlie wrinkled her nose in disgust; it stank of unwashed animals, rot and mildew. Rats, large millipedes, cockroaches and long-legged spiders scuttled, scurried and squeaked in dark corners.
‘Nice, real nice,’ she muttered to herself. She really wasn’t looking forward to spending the night here. How on earth was she going to sleep without creepy-crawlies trying to use her as a new home? The floor was out of the question – it practically heaved with insects. Climbing on to the fencing of one of the stalls, she perched herself up high and by wedging her back against an upright post managed to get reasonably comfortable.
How did she keep getting into these situations? Her adventures in Bellania seemed to lurch from tragedy to tragedy. Every time she overcame one obstacle another two cropped up in its place. She was no nearer her goals. Her parents were still far, far away, while her grandma had been left behind and was now in who-knew-what kind of sticky situation at the mercy of Mr Crow.
Charlie sat there and brooded. Her brain was whirring and ticking over far too fast with memories and fanciful thoughts of escape for sleep to come easily. Hours passed.
After a while a noise that was different from the background chitter of insects roused her from her troublesome daydreams. Pulling a disgusted face and trying not to scream, she plucked an over-inquisitive spider from her hair, sat up and strained to listen. Arguing voices, muffled behind the bolted door, grew closer. With a thick rattle and scrape, the bolts were drawn back and torchlight flooded into the room.
26
Where There’s a Will There’s a Way
‘You must be mad! Mother would have a shouting fit if she knew we were even thinking about doing this!’ grumbled the familiar voice of Stones.
‘Well, if you were that worried you shouldn’t have allowed me to talk you into coming down here!’ rasped Stix with his sandpaper voice. ‘Come on, don’t worry about it. What’s the worst that can happen? Not much when you think about it. By tomorrow night that little brat of a Keeper will be digesting inside Bane’s stomach. No one will ever know the truth apart from you and me.’
Stones didn’t bother to reply, he merely grunted his consent.
‘Ha! That’s my brother!’ Stix laughed. ‘Come on, let’s have some fun!’
‘What do you two chumps want?’ asked Charlie. She had to shield her eyes from the blazing torch that Stix held in his hand. After the gloom of the cattle pens, her eyes weren’t ready for the intrusive glare.
‘Well, little brat, it’s not every day we have a Keeper at our mercy, even a little wisp of a one like you. Me and my brother intend to take full advantage!’ smirked Stix, his sharp teeth and feral yellow eyes glinting in the darkness.
‘Hang on, Stix,’ rumbled Stones. ‘Do you really want to do it in here? How about back in our quarters?’
‘Definitely not! That’s far too close to Mother’s room. We can’t risk waking her.’
‘OK, how about the Great Dining Hall?’
‘Make it the Lower Dining Hall and it’s a deal,’ said Stix.
‘Done.’
The Delightful Brothers fixed Charlie with their squinting, cat-like eyes.
Stix held up the Isiris Ring and slowly put it on to his finger. ‘Follow us.’
Charlie, her will bound by the bracelets, did as she was instructed.
The three of them trekked back along the corridors and through a rather plain-looking door into a large dining room. Long tables and benches formed two lines down the length of the room and large white banners showing Lady Narcissa’s heron and rose lined the walls. Stix stopped Charlie right in front of a huge polished mirror that hung from floor to ceiling.
‘Right, then, girlie, open a door to … to New York.’
‘Hold on,’ said Stones. ‘I thought we agreed that if we were crossing over to Earth we would go to Paris.’
‘Paris, Paris, Paris!’ snapped Stix. ‘What is it with you and Paris? Everyone that’s ever crossed over said Paris was the place to go and see … two centuries ago! New York is supposed to be the place with the flavour these days.’
‘Paris or nothing,’ growled Stones.
‘New York!’
‘Paris!’
‘New Yor– OK, look, this is getting stupid,’ reasoned Stix. ‘Let’s pick another city. We both want excitement, a chance to terrorize and the opportunity to steal something spectacular, so how about –’
‘London!’ exclaimed Stones.
Stix grinned in agreement. ‘London, then. It’s a deal.’ He snapped his fingers at Charlie. ‘Girlie, open the Portal.’
The Delightful Brothers looked at Charlie expectantly. The torch held in Stix’s hand cast a sickening glow over both their faces. Already hard and unpleasant, they now appeared more brutish than normal.
‘Portal? What Portal?’
‘Use the mirror, you silly girl!’ hissed Stix.
‘You’re joking, right?’
‘Don’t play dumb with us,’ growled Stones. ‘You are a Keeper. Everyone knows that Keepers can open doors and paths, so don’t try and be coy with us. If you muck around, I’ll break all your fingers … Just open the blasted doorway!’
‘How on earth am I supposed to do that?’ asked Charlie in disbelief.
Stix kicked her painfully on her already bruised shin. ‘Stop stalling. We aren’t known for our patience. Now hurry up and open it before we do something unforgivable.’
Charlie looked from one brother to another. They weren’t joking. They seriously expected her to snap her fingers and magically open some sort of ‘doorway’ back to London. She knew she couldn’t do it, just as she knew she couldn’t jump over a skyscraper or walk on water … yet for some reason they thought she could.
Strange.
Charlie could sense the threat that now hung in the air. Stones opened and closed his fists with a murderous look in his eyes and Stix stroked his sword hilts in a most unnatural manner. They obviously expected a result … and soon.
‘Um … if this is something a Keeper is supposed to be able to do, you’re going to have to remember I haven’t grown up with my parents or anyone else who might have taught me how to open a “Portal”. So please, please, please believe me when I say I can’t do it.’ She eyed the brothers some more, then added, ‘And please, please don’t hurt me. I honestly don’t know how to do whatever it is that you want me to do. And believe me, I would do it if I could. C’mon, don’t you guys think I want to see London as much as you?’ Charlie, realizing she was gabbling, shut her mouth. Standing with her shoulders hunched protectively forward, she waited to see what would happen.
‘Hhmpf … maybe she’s telling the truth,’ said Stones. ‘Remember we heard the Jade Circle discussing her parents’ fate.’ He rubbed his chin speculatively and stared at Charlie.
‘Hhmm, she could be,’ agreed Stix. ‘But that doesn’t matter, does it? If she’s never been shown how to open a Portal she should still be able to do it, right? She’s a Keeper – the ability is inbuilt. So all we’ve got to do is teach her how to do it.’
‘What?’ exclaimed Stones in his massive, rumbling voice. ‘Are you joking? Show a Keeper how to open a Portal? How are we going to do that? Killing is one thing, torturing another … Those are all areas that we have expertise in. Doorways and Portals … that’s another ball game altogether. Let’s just forget it, get some food and throw the girlie back into the pens.’
‘Pah, where’s your sense of adventure, brother? We’ve got the Isiris Bracelets and she’s got the ability. All we have to do is put them together and BLAM! Come on, where’s the harm in trying?’
Stones cocked his head to one side. After some
thought he said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’
‘Great!’ Stix fixed Charlie beneath his gaze. ‘All right, girlie. I am going to teach you, to the best of my abilities, about the theory of opening Portals, so make sure you listen up and listen up good. I’m not the sort of Treman who likes to repeat himself.’
Charlie didn’t need telling twice. And even though she would have preferred to learn such knowledge from her parents or perhaps from Jensen or Azariah this was still going to benefit her. She was going to learn something new, something about herself and her heritage.
‘I’m sure even you must have learned by now, girlie, that Earth and Bellania were many thousands of years ago the same place, but since the events of the Great Cataclysm they now exist on almost two separate and different plains of existence, right?’
‘Er … right,’ muttered Charlie.
‘Wrong,’ grinned Stix nastily. ‘They both exist in the same place, but one on top of the other. Like a coin – it has two different sides, heads and tails, but together they make the whole. Right?’
‘Er … right?’
‘Correct, little girlie. Now then, because Earth and Bellania are seen as different sides of the same coin it should therefore be impossible for the two sides to meet. After all, with a coin you cannot bend the head side round to touch the tail side, can you?’
‘Er … no?’ said Charlie, and although she was slightly confused she thought that she did have a basic grasp of what Stix was telling her. Perhaps she would have found it easier if he didn’t glare at her every five seconds like he wanted to skin, bone and slowly cook her.
‘Right again … but this is where things get confusing. Now we head into the more bizarre world of Keepers. All Bellanian children, be they Stoman, Human or Treman, are taught what I have just told you. However, what I am about to explain to you is something that I and Stones can only guess at, as this is a field normally taught exclusively to the Keepers.’
Keeper of the Realms: Crow's Revenge (Book 1) Page 14