“Only chosen ambassadors will be able to visit your realm. Your army will be dispersed, and if there is even a thought of invading other lands…” He paused for dramatic effect. “The exile will be one thousand years.” He pointed at the portal. “Now go.”
The Queen turned, then paused in front of the shimmering portal.
“Why’s she just standing there?” said Robin. “She got off lightly. I thought she’d be straight through.”
“I’ll say she got off lightly!” said Granny. “I’ll help her through that thing with the end of my boot!”
“She’s scared,” said Alfie, surprised to find himself feeling sorry for her. “Her soldiers turned against her and her big plan failed. She probably doesn’t know who to trust back home.”
The Queen turned to Emily, her face no longer confident and cruel as she said in a wavering voice, “Come with me?”
Emily took her hand. “For a short while,” she said gently. “I do have a job to get back to. That place would fall apart without me.” She winked at Caspian who raised a single eyebrow in response.
“Don’t go,” said Ashford suddenly dashing forwards. “Not yet.” He held something tightly clenched in one fist. “The reason I went back, after all that happened … well, it was to have something made. I thought I had gone undetected the first time. But when I went back to collect it, they followed me through.”
“I don’t understand,” said Emily. “What was important enough for you to take that risk?”
“You,” said Ashford. He knelt on the cobbles before her. Emily’s hands flew to her mouth.
“No way!” said Amy, clutching Alfie’s arm, Madeleine grabbed the other and bit her knuckles nervously.
“What?” asked Alfie, looking to Robin who shook his head in equal confusion.
“Shhhh!” hushed Granny. Even Alfie’s dad was frozen to the spot.
“Emily Fortune,” said Ashford, opening his hand to reveal a silvery elven ring glowing with white moonstones. “Will you marry me?”
Alfie didn’t even hear her answer over Amy and Madeleine’s shouts of delight, but he guessed Emily must have said yes as Ashford slipped the ring on to her finger and they kissed.
“Ugh, well there’s no need for that,” said Madeleine, quickly looking away. Emily wiped a tear from her face as everyone rushed over to congratulate them. Even Caspian stiffly shook hands with them both.
Alfie’s dad patted Ashford on the back. Alfie smiled at the two of them together and decided it might be just a bit too weird to let his dad know that Ashford was his great-great-grandson.
The Queen’s lips were pressed together so hard they had turned white, but as Ashford and Emily looked to her she gave a nod so slight it was barely noticeable.
“Well, that’s more approval than I ever expected from Mum,” grinned Emily. “Goodbye for now, Ashford.” She hugged him tightly. “I’ll return as soon as things are settled back in the realm. And you…” she turned to Caspian, suddenly fierce again. “There will be no punishment for Ashford. Do you hear me? He was kidnapped, tortured and nearly killed. I think that’s punishment enough, don’t you?”
Caspian went even paler than his usual shade, something that Alfie wouldn’t have thought possible. His jaw tightened as he said, “There is more to it than that. He broke our pact and led an army of elves to Alfie’s door—”
“And saved us from them!” said Alfie, stepping in front of Ashford. “The crown was destroyed. It can never be used again.” Amy, Madeleine and Robin rushed to flank him between the butler and the solicitor.
“You see?” said Emily. “Alfie has forgiven him, so there’s no need to take this to Mr Muninn.”
“Yeah, he’s not going anywhere with you,” said Amy, still completely un-awed by Caspian.
The solicitor looked to Alfie. “You are happy for me to leave him here with you, after all that he has done?”
Alfie tilted his head back to look up at Caspian, his jaw thrust out. “He’s not going anywhere,” he said firmly.
“Then Ashford shall remain here on parole,” said Caspian crisply, as though it was his own idea. “His first duty will be to rebuild the tower and clear up the destruction he has wrought.”
“That’s a bit unfair,” said Alfie. But Ashford was grinning.
“It will be done by morning,” he agreed.
Emily and Ashford shared one last lingering look and then Emily took the Queen’s hand. “Come on then, Mum,” she said, leading her through the portal.
As the ripples in the portal died down Caspian uncorked a bottle of highly scented oil, removed a calligraphy brush from his pocket and flexed his fingers.
“Now, to seal this portal properly.”
“Wait,” said Alfie quickly. “I nearly forgot, there’s one left!”
“I’ll get him,” said Ashford. The butler disappeared into the castle, returning swiftly with Loth the elf, still in his elven long-johns. Alfie, Amy and the twins grabbed his arms and legs. Together the five of them carried him to the portal and, after a few big swings to build up momentum, hurled him through.
Madeleine stuck her head through the portal. “And don’t come back,” her muffled voice yelled after him.
“If that is all?” said Caspian. “I will need full concentration to seal this portal properly. Please refrain from disturbing me during the ritual.”
“Refrain from disturbing,” Granny muttered under her breath, as Caspian dipped his brush in the oil. He began to paint symbols that soaked straight into the dry bark leaving a faint glow in the dark. “I’ll disturb him right in the—”
“Mary!” said Alfie’s dad quickly. “Come on everyone. Grace and Herb must have finished making the tea by now.”
Out of the Wreckage
Alfie saw Aunt Grace crying into Uncle Herb’s shoulder as he entered the kitchen. She quickly wiped her tears and hugged them all one by one.
“Come on. Eat, eat,” she said, finishing laying the kitchen table with the food she had brought. Alfie looked greedily at the feast of sweet and savoury scones, carrot cake, muffins, biscuits, chocolate sponge, sandwiches in home-made buns, and sausage rolls.
“She hasn’t stopped baking since that mist blew up,” said Uncle Herb. “It’s a good job this ended when it did, or there’d be a world flour shortage.”
“Hush,” said Aunt Grace, shoving an angel cake into his mouth so quickly he began to cough crumbs across the kitchen. “Now, Ashford, tell me all about this proposal!” Aunt Grace made each of them recount it in detail in case anyone missed anything out.
“Alfie, can we take a walk?” whispered his dad when Alfie had finally eaten his fill and Aunt Grace was listening to the fourth retelling of Ashford’s proposal. Alfie suspected it was her way of avoiding talking about the unpleasantness of the last two days. He slipped out of the kitchen with his dad and headed outside.
Caspian had laid down his brush and was making a complicated series of hand gestures and chanting something under his breath. He paid them no attention as they crossed the courtyard to walk around the garden on the other side.
Alfie told his dad about everything that had happened as they walked.
“Oh, good job, Robin!” he said as Alfie told him about how they had used the iron-tipped arrows and iron bombs against the elves. Alfie carefully left out the scarier and stranger chunks of the story, such as being captured and held at arrow-point, disguising himself as an elf, and travelling back in time. Having his son held captive by elves behind a mist of forgetfulness was enough strangeness for his dad to deal with right now.
They sat down on a bench under the apple trees. “Alfie, I can’t imagine what you all went through. I can only thank the stars that Ashford was here with you.” Alfie didn’t think it wise to reveal that the Ashford they had been shut in with had turned out to be an evil sprite. “I’ve been thinking … I’d understand if you want to leave this place.”
“What do you mean, leave?” asked Alfie.
�
��After all this – do you even feel safe here now? If you want to leave, to live somewhere a little more … normal, then we can pack our bags and leave tomorrow.” He looked up as dawn began to breach the castle walls, spilling a golden ray of light into the courtyard. “Well, today.”
Alfie smiled. “Since when have we liked normal?” He hugged his dad. The elves had tried to take everything from him, but they had failed. Just as Murkle and Snitch had failed. His inheritance might draw trouble like a magnet, but with Amy, the twins, Ashford and Artan by his side, nothing was going to take it from him. “This is our home. It always will be.” His dad hugged him back until a melodic trilling made them look up into the trees. Something shiny was hopping from branch to branch. There was a sudden crack and a shower of small twigs and buds, and it toppled on to Alfie’s lap.
“Leonardo’s bird!” exclaimed Alfie’s dad as the silver sparrow hopped to its feet, chirped, and shook out its feathers. “What is it doing out here?”
“The Queen did something to it,” said Alfie, surprised that the bird had escaped the vortex. It bounced from Alfie’s knee and fluttered up to his dad’s shoulder where it nuzzled his face, chirruping.
“It seems to have a spark of life in it now. I think it likes you.”
“Amazing,” whispered his dad as he stroked the bird’s feathers gently with one finger. It threw back its head and began to whistle happily. “I think that’s what we’ll call it. Sparky.”
“It is done,” Caspian’s voice cut crisply through the silence. Alfie and his dad hurried over to shake hands with the solicitor as he tucked the little jar and brush into his inner pocket. “The portal is secure. My sentinels will guard your walls, but you may sleep peacefully. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a temporary administrator to find in Ms Fortune’s most inconvenient absence.”
He climbed into the coach and Johannes turned the horses, talking them into a gallop across the drawbridge, down the hillside and then up into the air.
“One day I need to ask him exactly how that works,” said Alfie’s dad as the coach disappeared into the clouds.
“I don’t think you’ll get an answer.”
“Me neither.”
Ashford was waiting for them by the wreckage of the front door.
“They’re all off to bed for a few hours’ sleep,” he told them. “There are enough rooms made up for everyone. I’ll secure the castle before retiring myself.”
“Just shut the drawbridge,” yawned Alfie’s dad. “There’s nothing we can do about this door right now.”
“You’d be surprised at what I can do when I put my mind to it,” said Ashford.
“I can believe that.”
“Dad, I’ll go up in a few minutes,” said Alfie as his dad joined the others traipsing wearily up the stairs, Sparky still happily bobbing up and down on his shoulder. Alfie had seen something in Ashford’s face that indicated he wanted to talk to him. “I’m just going to get some milk.”
“OK. But don’t be long. See you this afternoon.”
Once they were alone, Ashford waved his hand at the door and tower. “I thought you could help me with this little problem. And at the same time, we can take care of this change magic that’s bothering you. That is, if you’re sure you want to be rid of it?”
“One-hundred-per-cent positive!” said Alfie immediately. It wasn’t just its unpredictability and the fact that it came from Murkle and Snitch that bothered him, it was the way it seemed it have a mind of its own, just like the ancient magic. After all the books and comics he had read, he had never imagined that possessing magic would be a bad thing. “How do we do this?”
“I could show you how to use it yourself,” said Ashford. “Teach you how to burn up the change magic with the creation magic Orin gave you and create something physical with it. I could do that, but your magic grows hungrier the more it is fed; I fear what it would do to your mind.”
“I don’t want to use it,” said Alfie firmly. “Is there another way?”
Ashford nodded.
“I will let the magic I inherited from you feed on it. It is much less powerful than yours, but I can use it to recreate what has been destroyed.”
“What do I need to do?” asked Alfie.
“Just this.” Ashford held out his left palm. Alfie placed his right palm against it. The butler opened his top button to reveal his own talisman on his chest. “Ready?” he asked. Alfie nodded. Almost immediately he felt something flowing from his chest, down his left arm and through his hand. The change magic was leaving him, being absorbed by Ashford’s creation magic – the very magic that he had inherited from Alfie. So this was why Orin had said the butler was the only one who could help!
The lens in the talisman on Ashford’s chest started to glow as the magic flowed faster and faster down Alfie’s arm. He felt a little queasy and his legs began to wobble until Ashford finally removed his hand, the talisman on his chest now glowing bright white.
“Sorry, Alfie,” he said. “I’d have warned you, but I had to take it quickly, before Orin’s magic realized I was stealing from it. Fortunately it is weaker and tamer inside me, but I still allowed it too much freedom for many years. It started to corrupt me. Never underestimate it. Now, are you ready to see how I really get things done?”
Alfie watched as Ashford threw his arms wide and looked up at the castle. A bright white beam shone out of the talisman and up to the empty space the top of the tower used to inhabit. In the beam, bricks started to form, pouring out of the light and swirling around as though in a cyclone. As they swirled, the bricks started to lay themselves one by one on the wall. Alfie watched the strange sight in silent awe. As the final bricks were laid, a new beacon appeared at the very top. The tower was complete again.
“Well, did I get it right?”
“It’s as good as new!” said Alfie incredulously.
“Next time you see Orin, you must remember to tell him not to store anything important on the upper floors,” said Ashford.
“I have a feeling I will,” grinned Alfie. “Is there enough energy left to fix the doors?”
“Not quite,” said Ashford. “But those trees should do the job.” He placed his right hand on one of the trees that had grown from the castle door. “Stand back. They’re holding up loose brickwork.”
Alfie stepped back and watched as, under the butler’s touch, the tree began to shrink back, leaves and trunk shrivelling. Bricks crashed loudly to the ground as the branches that supported them curled up, but everyone in the castle was in too deep a sleep to hear or care. At last the tree turned grey before finally dissolving into dust before Alfie’s eyes.
“You can see why this magic had to be kept out of the wrong hands,” said Ashford as he repeated the process on the other tree. “Something that feeds on energy and life to create anything you desire cannot be allowed to go free.”
As the second tree crumbled to dust, Ashford let the magic flow through the talisman again, recreating the doors and wall seemingly out of thin air. Finally the castle was just as it had been before the invasion.
“Doesn’t it drive you mad to use it?” asked Alfie, remembering the whisperings in his head whenever the magic tried to force its way out.
“Something as big as this makes it itch at the back of my skull,” said Ashford. “I usually use thefires in the castle to draw energy for things like the stage for your play last year, and the Christmas tree.”
“I was wondering how you managed to get that huge thing up the hill,” grinned Alfie.
“Just remember, don’t try to use it yourself,” said Ashford seriously. “I have trained with the magic for years. Now, bed!”
Alfie left Ashford to lock the newly made doors as he climbed the stairs to his room. It was still almost too much to believe that his own great-grandson was working as his magical butler.
It seemed like months since he had last slept in his bed. His room was still upside down after the elves’ search for the lens, but he didn’t c
are. Throwing himself face first into his soft pillows he sank gratefully into sleep.
“Al. Al! WAKE UP, AL!”
Alfie tore himself from sleep as a bright light shone through his eyelids. Amy had flung his curtains wide.
“Wha…?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“I just spoke to Gran,” she laughed as she bounced on to the end of the bed. “She didn’t half tell me off for not calling for two days, but she’s well on the mend.”
“That’s great,” said Alfie, sitting up and furtively wiping the drool from his cheek.
“She said that the illness made her think things over and she wants a change of scenery. So guess what? You’ll never guess!”
“So just tell me then,” said Alfie, exasperated by this energetic wake-up call.
Amy did a little spin of joy and threw her arms wide. “We’re moving to Hexbridge!”
Alfie jumped out of bed, staggering as he realized one leg was still asleep. He hopped over to Amy through pins and needles for a high five, fist bump and hug in quick succession.
“I’m going to tell Maddie and Robin,” she yelled. “Oh man, school is going to be so much fun! By the way, one of Caspian’s ravens dropped this off for you. It was pecking at the window for ages but gave up and dropped it down to me in the courtyard.” She threw him a yellowed envelope then dashed out of the room. “Later, Al!”
Alfie sat down and rubbed life back into his leg. He couldn’t believe the news. His best mate was moving to Hexbridge. The day couldn’t really get much better.
He looked at the envelope in his hands. Written on the front in Orin’s slanting script was today’s date. Orin must have left the letter with Caspian to be delivered on this particular day. He opened it to see a blank page. Remembering the last letter he had received from Orin, he put the talisman to his eye like a monocle and read the now visible text through its lens.
Dear Alfie,
I asked for this letter to be delivered to you after the situation with the elves resolved itself, as I had no doubt it would.
Alfie Bloom and the Talisman Thief Page 16