Merioch shouted and the elves took aim at the wailing armour. Giving up on the first window, Amy moved to another and finally managed to unlatch it. Alfie could hear Merioch counting down in Elvish. Just as Amy and Robin managed to open the window the elves let loose their arrows, peppering the armour’s breastplate like a pincushion
The armour slowly toppled forwards and came crashing down the stairs in pieces. “Come on!” Alfie whispered under his breath as Amy boosted Robin up to the window ledge. Elves jumped out of the path of the pieces of iron bouncing towards them, and Alfie leapt about with them, purposefully jostling the ones that looked close to turning around and seeing Amy and Robin’s escape.
A shout from Merioch silenced the chaos. He had found the walkie-talkie that had fallen from the armour and held it out to the Queen. Realization that they had been tricked dawned on their faces. Spinning around, the Queen saw Robin scrambling out of the window. She shouted a curse so strong that a passing fly dropped out of the air stone dead.
Alfie pretended to trip on a chest plate and fell back into the elves rushing towards the hall. They began to topple over each other as Amy pushed Robin out on to Artan’s back and pulled herself up on to the ledge. Merioch walked over the backs of the elves that had fallen to the floor and took an arrow from his quiver.
Alfie leapt up and charged into him as he raised his bow. The effect was like hitting a stone statue, but he managed to redirect the elf’s aim and the arrow smashed through one of the tiny windowpanes to the left of Amy. She cast a desperate glance back at Alfie then hurled herself out of the window and on to Artan. The bear whisked Amy and Robin away as more elves recovered enough to send arrows crashing uselessly after them.
Merioch hurled elves out of his path and grabbed Alfie by his tunic, shouting something in his own language. Alfie mumbled and pointed to his swollen mouth, but this time Merioch wanted an answer.
The prickling that had started in Alfie’s skin intensified as the elf disguise began to slip. He struggled but Merioch was impossibly strong. Alfie felt as though his brain was rattling against his skull as the elf shook him violently. As Merioch lifted him into the air, Alfie finally gave up the effort of keeping his disguise.
Expecting to shrink back to his usual size, Alfie was shocked to find himself growing. Merioch’s cold mask slipped as something in Alfie’s face seemed to frighten him. Alfie crashed painfully to the floor as the elf hurled him away. The Queen was shouting and something was growling. Getting to his feet, Alfie realized that the growl was coming from his own throat. He was shooting up in size, bursting out of Loth’s clothes as his body turned green and scaly. Merioch shouted again and the elves let their arrows fly as Alfie watched his hands twist into vicious-looking claws. The change magic had taken control, he realized. It was protecting itself, just as Orin’s magic had. He was becoming a dragon.
Alfie felt a cold satisfaction as the arrows clattered harmlessly off his scales. He tried to shout, but a terrible roar burst from his jaws and he felt something burning in his belly… Flames? The elves were in disarray. Some of them had run for the portal, others cowered in the corners of the hall. The bravest encircled him, firing arrow after arrow. Alfie span around clumsily, his tail sweeping their legs from under them. Arrows bounced off him as he charged, driving some of them out towards the destroyed doorway. Maybe he could scare them from his castle.
The burning in his stomach intensified. He knew he’d feel better if he released the flames. He felt angry. They invaded my home, threatened my family, tortured Ashford. He had never felt such rage. But as the fire bubbled up into his throat, the shreds of himself that remained fought back against the dragon-like fury. He couldn’t kill. He couldn’t burn the castle with everyone inside. Alfie roared and fought back against the anger, bellowing in pain. His huge body doubled over as he struggled to contain the fire inside him.
The elves stopped firing and ran from his great stomping feet and thrashing tail as he tried to control himself. He clutched his great scaly head with his claws, summoning every ounce of mental strength, and tried to shut down the change magic.
“NOOOOO!” he yelled, the sound coming out as a distorted growl as he staggered forwards. The ground rushed up to meet him as he rapidly shrank in size, his skin regaining its colour as he collapsed to the floor and sank into unconsciousness.
The Tower and the Crown
When Alfie awoke he was surrounded by armed elves, their arrows trained on his head. They all stood a few metres back, presumably in case he metamorphosed into a dragon again. Very slowly, he sat up and tied the torn tunic he had been wearing back around himself. The Queen and Merioch stood shoulder-to-shoulder, drawing amusement from his embarrassment.
“You are him,” said the Queen. “Alfie – the keeper of the lens. My lens.”
“Yes,” said Alfie. There was no point in trying to deny it. Thirty elves drew back their bows as he got to his feet. The Queen held up a finger and they relaxed their strings slightly.
“I can see you don’t have it with you,” she said to a chorus of laughter from the elves. “So, where is it?”
“Somewhere safe,” said Alfie. Goose pimples prickled across his bare skin as he clutched the tunic around himself.
“Enough time-wasting,” said Merioch angrily. “You will tell us where it is.”
“No,” said Alfie, amazed that he managed to keep his voice level as he tried to stand tall and defiant in nothing but a torn piece of cloth. “I’m not taking you any—” the words died in his throat as an arrow whizzed past his cheek, grazing his skin just enough for a drop of blood to run down his face and drip on to his bare toes. He felt the ancient magic Orin had hidden within him flicker to life at the threat. Not you too, he thought to himself. It had been hard enough controlling the change magic.
“If your next answer is not the location of the lens,” Merioch hissed down the length of an arrow notched to his bow, “this arrow will pierce your heart.”
“Then we will tear this castle apart stone by stone until we find it. And your friends,” purred the Queen in a voice so pleasant she might have been offering him a slice of cake. Alfie swallowed hard. Her words struck even more fear into his heart than Merioch’s had. What could he do? He couldn’t tell them where the talisman was without revealing Madeleine and Ashford, who wouldn’t even be awake to defend himself. And what else would the elves find in Orin’s study that they could put to terrible use?
The Queen stepped back. Every elf pulled back their bow. “You have five seconds,” she smiled. “One.”
Alfie’s heart hit his ribs. What could he do?
“Two.”
The magic flexed its might by sending an electric jolt through Alfie’s nerve endings as it prepared to defend its host.
“Three.”
He fought against the raw power rising inside him. He couldn’t use it, not without the talisman. It would tear him apart in trying to save him.
“Four.”
Alfie closed his eyes, his whole body vibrating with uncontrolled magical energy. Should he stop fighting to keep it under control? He was going to die anyway.
“Fi—”
“STOP!” Running footsteps echoed through the hall. Alfie kept his eyes clenched shut, fighting to control the energy that had been ready to explode out from his body. The Queen stopped her count and the elves began to hoot with excitement. The magic grudgingly let Alfie rein it back as the immediate danger lifted. He risked opening his eyes. The elves were facing a small figure who was holding her arm out towards the Queen.
“Maddie!” he cried. Amy and Robin had got away safely, yet here she was, risking her life for him. With the bows no longer pointing at him, Alfie took a step towards his cousin and froze in alarm as he saw what was dangling from her fist. The talisman. Its purple lens glimmered as it swung from side to side. The Queen watched it greedily, like a snake about to strike.
“Let Alfie go and I’ll give you the lens,” said Madeleine.
“You are hardly in a position to bargain.”
“Hush, Merioch.” The Queen smiled. “Let the boy go to her.” Merioch’s eyes narrowed as Alfie hurried over to his cousin, unable to believe that she had brought them the talisman despite being told it must never fall into their hands.
“I saw you needed these.” She passed Alfie some jeans and a sweatshirt. Alfie dressed under cover of the torn tunic, his gratitude for the clothes doing nothing to diminish his fury at her for bringing the talisman right to them.
“Now. The lens.” The Queen whistled and pointed her finger. The silver sparrow fluttered from her shoulder to Madeleine’s hand and pecked at the talisman’s string.
“Don’t give it to her!” pleaded Alfie.
“It’s OK,” whispered Madeleine, letting the bird take the string in its beak. Alfie couldn’t believe what she had done as the bird fluttered back to the Queen whose laughter filled the hall as she received her prize.
“You’ve got what you came for,” said Alfie, “so now you’ll leave and go home?”
The Queen laughed again. Even Merioch cracked a smile.
“Of course we’ll leave,” she trilled.
“And you’ll let us go?” said Alfie. “All of us?”
“You and your friends will all remain in Hexbridge.”
Something about the Queen’s voice didn’t inspire Alfie with confidence. He waited for a “but”.
“But … I like this castle. I’ve decided it will be my new home.”
“You said you were leaving,” shouted Madeleine, her hands clenched tightly by her sides.
“We are. But the castle is coming with us. This land of yours, Hexbridge, will be the first addition to our own lands. Its people will accept me as their Queen. Life for them will be very much the same, except they will worship me and do everything I ask.”
“Maddie already gave you my talisman. Isn’t that enough? Why can’t you just leave us alone?”
“Your talisman?” said the Queen, shadows crossing her face and emphasizing its sharp features. She held up the talisman. “This unworthy receptacle for a lens destined to take its place in my crown?”
Winds that Alfie couldn’t feel swept her hair out around her face like angry snakes. As she towered in front of him Alfie could see the empty hole in the centre of the jewelled circlet upon her head, its other stones glowing gently as though great power lay within.
“Stolen by a pathetic thief who took two of my most prized possessions and then dared to return to our lands once more, to steal again no doubt!”
She waved her hand and Merioch seized Madeleine’s shoulders, while the sprite grabbed Alfie’s arms tightly.
“We have one of yours,” Alfie shouted suddenly. “Loth. The one I was disguised as. Let us go and my friends will release him.”
“They can throw him into the lake with rocks tied to his feet,” sneered the Queen. “I have no time for incompetence.” Alfie crumpled as his last hope faded away. “Now, you will show us to one of the towers. The one to the east, which looks down over the village, will do nicely.”
“No,” said Alfie. The Queen nodded at Merioch, who drew a dagger from his belt and pressed it to Madeleine’s neck so swiftly Alfie barely had time to shout, “STOP! I’ll take you. Let her stay here and I’ll take you.”
“We all go,” said the Queen, sweeping towards the door. “Bring them.”
Alfie was shoved roughly forwards as the elves marched up the stairs. He bit his lip so hard it began to bleed as he led them towards the tower. The hallways and secret passages of the castle ran through his head as he tried to plot out a route to take them on that would give him a chance of escaping along the way. He considered dashing away and barricading himself into one of the rooms they passed, but the arrows pricking his back stopped him. Even if he could get away he would be leaving Madeleine behind. For a terrible, guilty second he wondered if that wasn’t such a bad idea. He glared at her as they climbed the stairs to the second floor.
“Why? Why did you bring the talisman? I left it there so that it would be safe from them.”
“It’s not what you think,” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth as Merioch pushed her forwards. “Ashford wanted them to have it.”
“Silence,” snapped Merioch as they climbed the final flight of stairs. Alfie glared at Madeleine. How could she even know what Ashford wanted? Unless he’d woken up and told her to take the talisman in order to save himself. Maybe he was escaping the castle right now. He couldn’t believe Madeleine had been so stupid. She glanced at him as though she wanted desperately to say something, then shook her head and looked away.
“I see no door,” said the Queen, as they reached the stone carving at the end of the corridor.
Merioch bent forwards and hissed in Alfie’s face. “Open it.”
Alfie crossed his arms. He wouldn’t tell them how to open the entrance. Merioch bent down until he was nose to nose with Alfie, grabbed him by the neck and growled “OPEN IT!”
“Put him down!” cried Madeleine as Alfie coughed and struggled against the elf. Merioch whirled around, grasped Madeleine’s hair, and yanked her head back so sharply that she couldn’t help crying out in pain.
“You don’t have to open it, Alfie,” she gasped. Merioch lifted her by the hair until her legs were kicking out in mid air.
Alfie knew he had no choice. How could Madeleine have been so reckless? She couldn’t possibly have thought that giving the talisman to the Queen was the right thing to do. He took a deep breath and pressed the four bricks in order. The torches on the wall sprang to life as the wall parted to reveal the entrance to the tower. Merioch dropped Madeleine and pushed Alfie through the entrance as the other elves poured through around them. Alfie tried to contain his rage as they shot up the spiral staircase, rampaging through the room of treasures Orin had collected from around the world.
“Leave these trinkets!” snarled the Queen. “There will be time for this when the castle is within our own realm.” Merioch pushed the stragglers out of the room and they filed up the stairs to the top of the tower. The sprite held on to Alfie and Madeleine’s arms to stop them running back down. As they climbed through the trapdoor at the top Alfie saw that the misty dome still hung over the castle, keeping it in perpetual twilight.
“Time to view our new domain,” the Queen smiled to Merioch. She waved her arms in a complicated motion and the mist began to swirl as though she were running her fingers through it. Slowly, it flowed down into the courtyard and back through the oak portal.
As the dome disappeared, Alfie could make out the outline of the hills and forest against the night sky. Only a few street lights lit the sleeping village below. Straining his eyes, Alfie wondered if he could see a light from Merryweather farm, far in the distance. Was his dad there, with Granny and the twins’ parents? Soon they would all be together again, as slaves in another realm.
The Queen whistled and dozens of fireflies swarmed up to the tower, floating gently above it like a constellation of green and yellow stars. The silver sparrow on her shoulder snapped its little beak at any that flew too close. Under their soft light, the Queen removed her crown and handed it to Merioch to hold. She removed the lens from the talisman and inserted it into the hole in the crown. All of the jewels seemed to shimmer more brightly in its presence.
“With this lens, the power of all the other gems is focused.” She spoke directly to Alfie, her beautiful face ghostly green in the light of the fireflies. “Through it I will expand my realm until all living things call me their Queen. She tucked the empty talisman into Alfie’s pocket and patted him on the head.
Alfie’s hand twitched towards the crown, but the sprite held his arms so tightly that all thoughts of grabbing it and hurling it down into the lake melted away. The Queen shook her head and tapped him on the nose with her finger, then reached to take it back from Merioch. Her face changed as he didn’t let go.
“What game is this?” she asked, trying t
o wrench it from his hands. Merioch pushed her back with one hand, his face impassive as he held the crown high above her head. “Seize him,” she screamed, jumping up to try and grab it.
Alfie was reminded of the bullies at his last school as he watched Merioch taunting the Queen with her own crown. She stopped trying to reach it as she realized that none of the elves were obeying her command. “Was I not clear?” She held herself tall as she tried to recover her composure. “I said seize him.” She pushed one of the elves in front of her.
Merioch clicked his fingers. Two of the elves behind him stepped forwards and grasped the Queen’s arms.
“Traitors!” she screamed in fury. “Traitors. All of you. May your blood boil and your skin shrivel—” She stopped mid-sentence as Merioch placed his finger on her lips and gently touched his knife to her face. Her eyes shot fire at him as he pushed her over to Alfie and Madeleine, just another prisoner.
Alfie could feel cold fury radiating from the Queen as she stood next to him watching Merioch raise the crown and place it on his own head. He wondered if Ashford was awake, if he was watching through Orin’s mirror. He thought about Robin and Amy in Artan’s tower. What would happen to them when Hexbridge was pulled into the elven realms? They couldn’t stay hidden for ever. What would happen to his dad, to Granny, Aunt Grace and Uncle Herb? Would he ever get to go to school and see all of his friends again, or would they all become Merioch’s slaves? Or worse, his army.
The grip on Alfie’s shoulder lessened as the sprite stared up at the crown on Merioch’s head, its gems glowing brightly. Madeleine nudged Alfie’s arm with her own.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “They were going to shoot you, I had to do something. I didn’t think they’d bring us with them when they tried to use it.”
Alfie watched Merioch raise his fingers to his temples in concentration. The crown began to emit a low thrumming noise as it lit the whole top of the tower with a purple glow.
Alfie Bloom and the Talisman Thief Page 14