‘By the way, thanks for saving our lives,’ said Alex.
‘No biggy,’ replied Tariq with a shrug. ‘Don’t be too grateful. You may yet need to return the favour.’ He turned to Zorrin. ‘Does that guy who guided me here never talk? Only the rabbit spoke at all.’
‘Yidgit is complex. The pair share a body. The rabbit does all the thinking and talking, but he’s almost boneless and has no vital organs of his own. No heart, no lungs, no gut. Without the man the rabbit would die, and vice versa.’
‘Amazing,’ said Tariq, reaching for a banana. ‘So what happened to you guys?’
Keeko launched into the story. She acted out the fight with Karlan, overplaying it. The enemies became larger, the battle bloodier. She passed over Ikara’s defeat by Karlan, moving on to a graphic description of travelling by aerocroc.
‘Great acting,’ said Zorrin as Keeko bowed. ‘We need to work out why Virida sucked you into this task and if it’s related to Karlan’s attempt to kill me. We must also get more information on the disappearance of Alex’s parents.’
‘That would be great,’ said Alex.
Zorrin took a small white ball from the edge of his desk and flung it into the air. As it rose in a lazy arc it expanded, becoming hazier. It floated down to the floor behind them, becoming a large undulating crescent-shaped cloud, wisps of vapour rising from its surface.
Zorrin sat on it. ‘Join me.’
‘Looks fun,’ said Keeko, jumping on.
‘Loving this.’ Ikara leaned her head back on to the moving white cushion.
‘Thanks. Alex, may I see you your parents’ stuff?’
Alex pulled out the netbook, put it on the desk and found his father’s Eridor file.
Skoodle scrambled out of Alex’s pocket and jumped on to the desk. ‘Put it a bit closer, please. Should be less boring with Zorrin to explain it.’
Zorrin opened the file. ‘It’s written in Tor. Sensible of them. Almost no one understands that ancient language.’
They waited as Zorrin read – the silence only broken by Skoodle scratching his head, drumming his claws on the desk or sighing.
Finally Zorrin spoke. ‘They’ve collected an amazing amount of info. Astonishing, as they’ve got no personal magic. The map is highly detailed: it even has the mooring place of my boat Phaedea in Petrock Bay on it. Very few know where she lies.’ He read on. ‘I’ve found the reason why Virida trapped Alex with the hex. Listen to this prophecy. ‘One shall come from afar. Of few years and of human frame, he’ll rediscover the Sapphire of Akan, thereby launching a new era.’’
‘So Virida chose me as her puppet,’ said Alex. ‘Landed us with a curse.’
‘We must stop looking for the sapphire,’ said Keeko, grabbing Zorrin’s arm and shaking it. ‘We can’t play into her hands.’
Zorrin shook his head. ‘We can’t stop. If the stone does exist we have to get to it first. It has awesome power. We’ll have to get more information from the Mountain of Makusha.’
He rummaged in the cloud sofa and then pulled out a coloured three-dimensional map. Zorrin hung it in thin air above his desk.
He whistled a note. A thin silver stick appeared in his hand. Zorrin pointed it at the map. ‘Makusha is part of the mountain range that we flew over to get here. The journey to him will be appalling: arctic, exhausting, dangerous. But there is no choice, as Makusha knows things that no one alive would be able to remember.’
‘I’m confused,’ said Alex. ‘Is Makusha a mountain or a living creature?’
‘Both,’ replied Zorrin, putting down his pointer. Immediately it rolled into a ball and attached itself to the sleeve of his shirt as if it were a magnetic button. ‘Makusha has an astonishing brain trapped in a granite exterior. He is guarded by the Xo force, which prevents unwanted visitors reaching his heart. Unfortunately it also prevents us from getting there by disparticulation.’
Skoodle trotted over to Zorrin’s sleeve and pulled the silver button off. ‘Will this Xo stop us getting in?’
‘No. If your motives are good the Xo will allow you to pass. If not, it throws you back out into the snow as if you’d been blasted by a cyclone. Bone-shattering stuff. Tomorrow we shall find out what Makusha knows about the sapphire.’ Zorrin gestured dismissively at the map.
‘Great. So you’ve finished with me,’ said the map. ‘No “Thank you” or “Good work”. Well, I know when I’m not wanted.’
The map rolled itself up into a long thin tube and shot back towards the cloud sofa, heading straight at Alex. As Alex flung himself forward on to the desk the map whistled past his left ear, missing by only millimetres. It dived into the sofa, shouting, ‘May your brains turn to bogies.’
‘A map with attitude. Rare, thankfully, but better than the other kind of troublemaking map – which explodes in a shower of beetles when it’s angry. It takes ages to piece it back together, as the bits keep running off.’
As Skoodle pulled at the button and shook it, trying to make it elongate, a snarl cut across the air. Clawds stood braced: back arched, fur on end, tail vertical, his gaze focused beyond Ikara.
‘Clawds, what’s the matter?’ asked Zorrin. ‘It’s only a mouse.’
Clawds gave a savage yowl. ‘No. Evil wizard.’
‘Blazing asteroids, you’re right,’ shouted Zorrin, leaping off the sofa.
The rodent pelted across the floor, aiming for the cloud door. Clawds leapt after him, hissing and spitting.
‘Don’t lose him, Clawds,’ yelled Zorrin as the tip of the mouse’s tail disappeared through the cloud door, the cat in pursuit.
Zorrin grabbed Alex’s arm, holding him back. He took an orgreeb and shoved it at Alex. ‘Cram this in your ear. I’ll relay instructions. I’m going to the ice wall so I can track him better. Follow Clawds.’ Angry black eyes met Alex’s. ‘Show no mercy. Kill the intruder.’
Scooping up Skoodle, Alex raced after the other three. They threw themselves through the hazy door into a corridor lit up with a soft orange glow. Clawds’s tail was disappearing down some stairs at the far end of the corridor. As Alex approached he found deep shadow on the long narrow flight of stone stairs as it plunged downwards, the bottom treads in total darkness. Ikara raced down them ahead of the others. Near the bottom she stopped suddenly, rearing up on her tail.
‘What’s wrong?’ Alex asked, drawing level with her.
One glance answered his question. A cavernous black hole lay beyond the bottom tread, filling the whole passageway: no other way forward. Clawds had already disappeared down it.
‘Jump,’ said Zorrin’s voice through the orgreeb.
Alex peered into the darkness. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive. The crystal shows Clawds ahead of you, with the mouse not far beyond. Go for it.’
Alex relayed the message to the others.
‘Not me,’ said Skoodle, clinging on to the edge of Alex’s pocket.
‘Yes. Us.’
Taking a deep breath Alex closed his eyes and launched himself into the hole, hoping that he wouldn’t break both legs on landing.
‘Parachute,’ yelled Skoodle.
‘That’ll be me.’
Alex and Skoodle fell through darkness until a blast of air slowed them to a halt. They touched down in a vast cellar – Ikara, Keeko and Tariq landing a second later. The mouse was still ahead of Clawds, the gap closing as he raced onwards.
‘Spread out to herd him towards Clawds,’ Alex called to the others. ‘We’ll trap him.’
The mouse reached some turquoise mosaic tiles close to the far wall. As he ran on to one it flew upwards, whooshing him towards the ceiling.
Its body flattened against the cold stone tile, the mouse clung on to the speeding slab as it rocketed up.
Skoodle’s eyes were fixed on the tiny figure. ‘Is this Zorrin’s magic? Death by splattage?’
They waited for the nauseating crunch. Yet, with a whisker to spare, the roof opened above the mouse. He shot on upwards, unharmed.
; ‘As it turns out, no,’ said Skoodle.
Clawds jumped on to the next turquoise tile. As he landed, this too began to soar towards the ceiling.
‘If the roof doesn’t vanish he’ll be pulverised,’ wailed Skoodle. ‘Close your eyes.’
Alex couldn’t look away. As Clawds’s head reached the ceiling a black hole appeared. He vanished into it.
‘Get on to one,’ Alex called to Keeko and Ikara. ‘Quickly.’
‘What if the roof doesn’t open for us?’ yelled Skoodle.
‘We get crushed,’ said Alex, face set in hard lines, hazel eyes serious.
CHAPTER 14
Alex leapt on to a coloured stone. With a jerk it began to rise, faster than the others had done.
‘Know where we’re going?’ asked Skoodle.
‘Up.’
Keeko jumped from the floor into his arms as Ikara lassoed his leg with a coil of her tail to haul herself on board. Tariq jumped on to the slab next door, his face showing no emotion.
Alex crouched down, hoping that the roof would open earlier than for the other animals. His eyes were fixed on what seemed to be a very solid ceiling, when it evaporated, leaving a dark hole. The slab below them began to glow. They zoomed upwards in a turquoise tile of light. After a few seconds the paving stone halted in a laboratory stuffed with benches of scientific instruments, gas burners, glass beakers and jars of chemicals.
The mouse was streaking down the centre, pursued by the sleek tabby body of Clawds. Both bolted through an open door at the far end.
Zorrin’s voice came again in Alex’s ear. ‘Clawds is closing in. The storeroom has only one door. Guard it. I’ll transparticulate there and deal with the mouse.’
‘Understood.’
As Alex arrived in the next room he heard Clawds’s deep growl coming from the other side of a pile of boxes. He ran round it to find Clawds with the mouse clamped in his jaws. Black blood oozed out of his mouth. Clawds dropped him, keeping one front paw on the rodent’s tail. Then, opening his mouth wide, he engulfed him. Zorrin and Myth reparticulated beside them as the tip of the mouse’s tail disappeared into the cat.
Clawds’s eyes glazed. His body stiffened. In seconds the cat had frozen into a solid block of wood, perfect in every detail, even in his startled expression. Shocked, Alex stared at the lifeless form.
‘He’s dead,’ cried Keeko.
‘No. Only lignified,’ said Zorrin. ‘I’ve changed him into wood. If I hadn’t transmorphed him the evil concentrated in that small rodent body would have killed Clawds.’
‘But doesn’t being turned into wood count as being dead?’ asked Skoodle. ‘Seems a bit on the terminal side.’
‘No,’ said Zorrin. ‘This spell is reversible. The evil trapped inside Clawds is lignified with him and can’t escape. He’s safe, at least for the moment.’
He picked up the small wooden figure, turning it in his hands, studying the warm sculpture. ‘We’ll take him to Flick and see if she can reverse this without killing him. The tree will be the quickest way down.’
A window stretched from ceiling to floor at the far side of the room. Beyond it a huge oak spread its branches towards the glass. Zorrin opened the leaded casement and climbed on to the low sill. With a quick ‘Follow me,’ he scrambled on to the nearest branch. Myth jumped on behind him. Placing his feet on the bark in front of him, Zorrin yanked downwards on a small leafy twig.
A hole appeared in the trunk, light blazing from it. The branch tilted slowly, sliding Zorrin and Myth into the gap. As they whisked out of sight the hole closed and the branch levelled out.
‘Me first,’ said Keeko, swinging herself on to the branch and yanking on the twig. She disappeared out of sight, shrieking and hollering.
Alex climbed on to the branch, then pulled on the twig. The branch tilted him forward as the yawning hole appeared. As they slid forward into the centre of the tree, candles fixed to the walls burst into flame, lighting up the inside of a polished tube. They flew down as if on a water slide, whizzed through a hatch at the end and slid to a halt on the flagstone kitchen floor next to Keeko. An undignified heap of snake followed a few seconds later.
‘Move,’ yelled Alex, wrenching Ikara off the landing strip, knowing that in a millisecond three hundred kilos of flying bear would crush her.
‘Clawds took a huge risk and swallowed the intruder,’ Zorrin was telling Flick as Tariq crashed into the kitchen. ‘He would have died in seconds if I hadn’t transmorphed him.’
Flick took the statue into her hands. ‘What an amazingly brave thing to do.’
‘Can you save him if I change him back now?’
‘No. It would kill him.’
‘Makusha might know a way to reduce or divert the negative power flow. Then waking him up might not kill him. We’ll go first thing tomorrow. Flick, will you stay and guard Ravenscraig? I’ll leave Myth with you.’
‘Why can’t Flick come?’ asked Skoodle. ‘More wizard power.’
‘There could be a rescue attempt,’ said Flick. ‘Then we’d lose Clawds. That mouse interloper must be an immensely powerful magic force.’
‘How do you know?’ asked Tariq.
‘Because he broke through our defences. The fortress boundaries are impenetrable to all but anyone specifically invited or elemental wizards,’ said Zorrin.
‘If he’s so powerful, why didn’t the mouse kill Clawds as soon as he gave chase?’ asked Alex.
‘Because Clawds acted so quickly. He never gave the wizard a moment to stop and gather enough energy to transmorph. With even a couple of seconds’ pause Clawds would have caught him.’
‘He was on the lift to the attic for several seconds,’ said Skoodle. ‘Could’ve changed then.’
‘I’m guessing that it would have taken all of a mouse’s physical strength and mental concentration to hang on to a stone travelling at that speed with the wind streaming past,’ said Zorrin. ‘It’s lucky for us that Clawds recognised the mouse for what he was. Yet I can’t think how an enemy, powerful wizard or not, foiled our defences.’
Tariq scratched his head. ‘Perhaps he came in on the back of one of the crocodiles.’
‘No. Still wouldn’t count as being invited,’ said Flick.
‘What if it became one of the crocodiles?’ asked Ikara. ‘This evil is able to transmorph so maybe it could even change into a croc. As our transport, you invited them in.’
‘Clever thought. I’ll check the stables.’ Zorrin pulled back his sleeve. On his wrist a crystal sparkled with a myriad of different colours. He looked deeply into it.
‘There are only two crocodiles in the stables now. Flick, that’s a loophole we must close. Could you work on it as soon as possible?’
‘Of course. I’ll do it tomorrow while you’re away, but now we all need to get to bed. You’ll have a very long day tomorrow.’
Alex’s bedroom was on the third floor, its windows overlooking an amazing array of huge fuchsias among heavy jungle vines. Dark emerald velvet curtains hung at the windows and cloaked the corners of the four-poster bed. Alex gently pulled a snoring Skoodle out of his pocket and placed him on a clean towel.
‘Don’t pee on it,’ he told the sleeping hamster. ‘Manners.’
Pyjamas had been laid out on Alex’s bed. He climbed into them and found that they fitted him exactly. With a sleepy smile in the direction of where he thought Flick’s room might be, he got into bed and fell into in a dreamless sleep in minutes.
The next morning Alex and Skoodle found Myth sitting outside their room. As they emerged, Myth started padding along the corridor towards a broad oak stairway.
‘Panthernav,’ said Skoodle. ‘This place has everything.’
From the kitchen drifted a fantastic blanket of aroma woven from croissants, hot chocolate and freshly-baked bread. As they walked in Flick was placing an immense platter of fruit on the kitchen table.
‘Ice,’ said Keeko, trotting over and taking a banana.
‘That word,’ groane
d Zorrin, looking up from his book. ‘Soon you’ll all be using it.’
A wicked grin crossed Flick’s face. ‘Possibly. If we all did, it would be ice.’
She ducked, avoiding the melon slice hurled by Zorrin.
Alex grinned at Flick. ‘Agreed.’ He picked up a glass of orange juice. ‘Gosh, this is warm. Pass the—’
‘Frozen water,’ yelled Skoodle. ‘Careful. Say it and he may turn you into a skunk.’
‘Or something more useful, like a cauldron brush,’ muttered Zorrin.
As they ate he filled them in on the details of the upcoming trek. It didn’t sound pleasant.
‘How are we going to get to the mountain?’ asked Tariq.
‘Come with me. I’ll show you.’ Zorrin rose, black hair cascading down his back, high cheekbones emphasised by the morning sunlight. The white mood streak at the front of his hair had pale green edges. He led them to his study.
‘This is the Modo: our transporter,’ said Zorrin, as they walked in.
‘Where?’ asked Skoodle climbing on to Alex’s shoulder.
‘This room,’ said Zorrin. ‘The controls are in my desk. When I launch us those silver plates will open up.’ He pointed to the clear ceiling, beyond which were thin metal triangles, meeting at their tips. ‘The whole room will then take off, like an enormous glass ball.’
‘Awesome,’ said Alex, trying to imagine the room in flight.
‘But what about all the stuff in here? Surely some is too valuable to leave the fortress,’ said Tariq.
‘You’re right. Those things are magically anchored to Ravenscraig so, as we leave, they’ll stay.’
‘Such as?’ asked Keeko.
‘The Sword of Alwyn on the wall behind you. It has ended many lives in the past. The goblins have woven strong magic into its shaft. It can even cut through metal: human bones are like twigs to it.’
‘Great piece of gory history,’ said Alex. ‘How did you get hold of it?’
Zorrin shrugged. ‘It’s a very long story. I’ll tell you some day. Now, help me think. We need to take a gift to Makusha. But what do you give a mountain?’
The Serpent of Eridor Page 10