‘Something magical?’ suggested Alex.
‘Something valuable? A gem, for example,’ said Tariq. ‘Stone for a stone?’
Keeko shook her head. ‘Too dull. Must be something quirky.’
‘I’m decisioned out,’ said Zorrin. ‘We’ll take all three. That rod leaning on the parrot’s cage will do for the magical. Tapped once, it produces fire.’ He reached through the solid top of the desk, withdrawing a glass bottle in which was suspended a huge milky pearl. ‘Queen Rak-hi-eda’s wedding gift from her father. No magic but, being huge and perfect, it’s extremely valuable. Let’s see. Quirky.’
‘Time tears?’ suggested Ikara, surveying the desk.
‘Too dangerous. Cabivitrim glue and the gold mesh glove – that will do. Please shove them in a pocket, Alex.’ Zorrin put the other things into his trousers, collapsing the black and gold rod into a short stick.
He sat down at the desk. With a light touch to one corner and a few muttered words, a control panel sprang up in front of him. ‘Keeko, if you would push that blue lever beside you the doors will seal. I’ll then launch us. Once in the air we’ll be able to see the earth below through glass panels. From the ground we’ll look like a solid silver ball, owing to a one-way mirror effect.’
Keeko leaned hard on the lever. ‘So we can see out and they can’t see in?’
‘Correct. Launching now,’ said Zorrin.
With a whoosh, they shot upwards.
‘I’m loving this.’ Keeko trotted across to one of the windows to gaze down at the receding jungle. ‘Flying’s brilliant.’
‘Bit further to the west,’ Zorrin said to a map laid out on his desk. ‘Yes, about there. Show me a detailed section of the area.’ As he spoke a small silver arrow travelled across the map towards Makusha. A small red dot moved in response to his words. ‘The crimson light is our Point of Intended Touchdown or PIT,’ he told Alex, who had moved across to see what was happening. ‘The silver arrow represents the Modo in Flight or MIF.’
‘I suppose that’s,’ said Alex, pointing, ‘is the Point of Launching at Ravenscraig. POLAR.’
‘And this,’ said Ikara, pointing with her tail at the Single Redwood, ‘Is Many Unpleasant Deeds Done Yesterday. MUDDY.’
‘How about,’ said Tariq, indicating the river, ‘This being the Crocodiles and Keeko Experience? CAKE.’
‘And what about,’ said Keeko, pointing at Makusha, ‘This being the—’
‘I don’t think you’re taking this seriously,’ interrupted Zorrin.
‘No, but then we don’t have to,’ said Ikara, curling herself back on the floor. ‘We’re not flying the joint.’
‘Do we get in-flight refreshments, Captain?’ asked Alex.
‘Of course,’ said Zorrin, waving his hands vaguely towards a cabinet on the far side of the room. ‘Over there.’
‘Ice,’ said Ikara.
‘Now it’s you with that word,’ said Zorrin.
‘It seems to be catching,’ grinned Alex.
‘Not by me it isn’t,’ muttered Zorrin, as he bent over the map once more.
CHAPTER 15
Deep in the tangled forest the swarthy goblin leader Tevo threw a broken-legged squirrel on to the fire. Ignoring its dying screams he sat on a rock, eating the animal’s barbecued brother. The band of animals around him didn’t flinch. They knew how little Tevo valued life; his total disregard for pain. His long brown beard soon filled with bits of flesh as he ate, yellow dog-like teeth tearing at the meat.
Malicious goblin eyes watched the Modo rise, its shape etched out in the steely grey sky. Then a heavy black cloud swept across the heavens, hiding it entirely.
‘Good riddance,’ spat out Tevo. ‘That will be the do-gooder wizard out of the way.’ Tevo’s voice rose into an imitation of a woman’s voice, totally out of keeping with his stocky build and strong face. ‘Let’s go and rescue the persecuted, Zorrin. Or shall we grow herbs together?’
The pack of animals surrounding him laughed loudly.
‘Why does he hate that wizard pair so badly?’ Grut, a small badger, asked his cousin Smuddy Binks.
‘They captured the Sword of Alwyn. I believe that Tevo’s real reason for breaking into Ravenscraig isn’t the jewels: it’s the sword.’
Tevo’s wife Rectoria watched him from the other side of the camp, frowning. She sniffed hard – collecting as much snot into her throat as she could – swished it around her mouth and, with a hard contraction of her abs, spat. A glob of spit-covered nasal gunk sailed through the air, glistening dark green in the sunlight. The foul-smelling quivering mass landed three metres away.
Rycant the black Rottweiler trotted over to look at the repulsive snot-ball more closely. He looked back at Rectoria, estimating the distance of the gob’s flight by eye.
‘It’s a winner,’ he stated loudly, adding in an undertone to his brother, Hebor, ‘She must be about to snap.’
Rectoria strode across to Rycant. ‘I heard that. I am. I’d divorce him if I could,’ she muttered back.
‘Then do it.’
‘Can’t. Goblin law. He’s a life sentence.’
Tevo glanced across at the snot-glob, then pulled a map from his pocket and unfolded it on to the ground. He gazed upwards to the cloud formations scudding across the sky.
‘Blasted ferret gizzards,’ Rectoria hissed. ‘Greatest gob for months, far better than many of his, and he doesn’t say a word. He doesn’t give a stoat’s left ear for any of us, including me. The only two emotions he’s got are anger and hate. Even loyalty doesn’t feature, useful though it might be to him.’
‘I know,’ replied Rycant in a low growl. ‘In battle I’ve seen him pass within a pace of his injured comrades, not lifting a sword arm to help. Once you’re too badly wounded to fight he has no more use for you. Is there anything at all he cares about?’
‘Money. Power. The Sword of Alwyn. But mainly desire to reclaim the goblin rights, taken from the great goblin master. That will keep him fighting until the last breath is slashed out of his body.’
Tevo rooted in the soil with a stick, examining conditions underfoot. He arose, a cruel gleam in his black bulgy eyes. ‘It is right. Tonight we enter Ravenscraig.’
‘That’s good,’ muttered Hebor. ‘I’m fed up with waiting.’
‘The defences at the hideout will be weak,’ continued Tevo.
‘Will no one be guarding Ravenscraig?’ asked Rectoria, her voice harsh and strident.
‘Don’t be such a complete fool, female,’ answered Tevo, looking at her with a sour expression. ‘The servants and animals will remain. They wouldn’t leave the castle entirely undefended.’
The urge to snap back was strong, but the memory of the beating Tevo had given her the last time she had angered him kept her silent.
Smuddy Binks, a large badger with a battle-scarred snout, was standing away from the group. He called over, ‘How many servants?’
‘The number is unimportant,’ Tevo replied.
Rectoria raised her eyebrows. Turning her back on him she mouthed to Rycant, ‘He doesn’t know.’
‘How are we to get into Ravenscraig?’ asked Arnak, a fox whose battle skills and courage had made him a subsection leader, feared and respected in equal measure. ‘Are we to storm the front door?’
Tevo snorted. ‘No one can get in by force. It’s guarded by deep magic. The only way in is either to be an elemental wizard, or be invited in by one.’
‘As we are neither this has been a lousy waste of time,’ muttered Smuddy Binks to Grut.
‘Stupid badger,’ said Hebor, trotting over to kick Smuddy Binks. ‘I’ve worked it out. Tevo’s captured an elemental wizard. He’s going to torture him and make him lead us into the castle.’
Tevo produced a hideous grin. ‘That wouldn’t work. Deeper magic would recognise that there was no free will on the part of the wizard. You’ve also forgotten the stupid loyalty that all elemental wizards have for Zorrin. Any would rather die than betray him.’
Arnak s
hook his heavy russet head, bemused. ‘There must be something you’re not telling us, as we’re not elemental wizards and I seriously doubt they’ve invited us in.’
‘I have a visorb,’ Tevo said. ‘The defence magic will recognise it as being that of an elemental wizard.’
‘But that’s not possible,’ barked out Arnak.
‘For me anything is possible.’
‘But how?’ asked Grut. ‘You cannot take a visorb from a living wizard, nor from a dead one: it dies with him or her.’
‘So how is this apparently possible?’ asked Smuddy Binks.
Tevo leaned back against a tree, arms folded, surveying them with a half smile.
After a minute Rectoria realised that Tevo wanted her to describe his cleverness and the brilliance of his plan. Fool, she thought. Deeply irritated, she asked him, ‘Shall I tell the story?’
‘If you really want to,’ he replied. ‘You can have centre stage and your bit of reflected glory.’
Forcing her voice to sound full of admiration, she began. ‘Some of you may have heard of Olip, an evil wizard who betrayed the elemental wizard Jago. As a consequence Jago’s wife Hera lost her life. Jago swore that she would be avenged: Olip would die.
‘Jago told everyone what he planned to do. He wanted Olip to lie awake at night tortured by fear and spend every waking moment in mental agony. As soon as the news of Jago’s sworn intent reached Olip the coward went into hiding.’
Choosing her words carefully and trying to sound more enthusiastic than she felt, Rectoria continued, ‘The first part of Tevo’s brilliant plan was to become Jago’s bodyguard. As Jago’s servant he could spy for Olip. The plan worked perfectly. Tevo became a trusted part of Jago’s household. Then Olip came back out of hiding and threatened to kill Jago’s son, Luke.’
‘Why?’ asked Arnak. ‘A wizard boy of fifteen is no threat. He doesn’t even have his own visorb until he’s sixteen, so his magic would have been puny – nothing compared to Olip’s.’
Tevo took a couple of paces towards Arnak, who backed away. ‘That wasn’t the real plan. Olip knew that Jago would hide Luke. While they were travelling to a hideout they’d be vulnerable. The concept was working exactly as we’d anticipated.’
‘We’ my big hairy toes, thought Rectoria. It was my idea. Tevo looked across to her. Suppressing a sigh, Rectoria continued. ‘Tevo told Olip the route along which they would escape. At a remote spot, high above the falls of Spirox, Olip waited in the stormy night for the two travellers. The horses had to slow down to walk on part of the slippery narrow path. At the sound of their approaching hooves Olip sprang out and hit Jago with a maxalgia curse.’
‘Agonising death,’ whispered Grut, paw across his mouth.
Smuddy Binks lay rigid, thinking of Jago lying in agony knowing that he’d failed to save his son’s life. Mentally he could see the horrified white-faced boy staring down at his father in despair, Olip and Tevo watching and gloating.
‘So Olip escaped his death sentence,’ said Arnak.
‘Not exactly,’ said Tevo, frowning. ‘Jago killed him.’
‘But how?’ asked Smuddy Binks. ‘It’s not possible that a wizard in the grip of maxalgia, limbs broken, could work any form of magic that would kill a powerful wizard like Olip.’
‘The boy,’ spat out Tevo. ‘Jago whispered a few words to him. The boy lifted his dying father’s broken arm, ignoring his scream as he did so. Through gritted teeth Jago spat out “Mortus” as Luke pointed his spell finger at Olip’s heart. Jago gave Olip a better death than he himself suffered a few minutes later.’
CHAPTER 16
Tevo looked back at Rectoria, head tilted, eyebrows raised. Mentally curling her lip at having to glorify the smug toad, Rectoria took up the thread again. ‘With his last breath Jago instructed Luke to seek safety with Zorrin, telling him the incantation and where the key vine was. He also told him to hang the visorb round his neck to gain entry. Tevo heard it all. With the boy at swordpoint he snatched Jago’s visorb and placed its chain around his own neck.’
‘Surely the visorb would die. It needs oxygen and blood nearby to live. It’s a parasite. It cannot live away from flesh for more than seconds,’ said Smuddy Binks.
‘Correct, badger,’ said Tevo, a strange high note in his voice. He loosened the cord that held his rough shirt closed to expose his thick neck and hairy chest. Halfway down his breastbone on a thick metal chain nestled a visorb, the flat silver disc covered in weird writing.
‘It lives on me.’ Tevo lifted the visorb, showing the dark red mark where it had sucked energy from him. He replaced it quickly.
Awestruck, Hebor stared at it. ‘Do you have its power?’
‘No, I don’t. But it will get us past the barriers of Ravenscraig.’
‘Is that innocent boy also dead?’ asked Smuddy Binks.
‘No,’ said Tevo, shoving his shirt back into place. ‘I chose to capture rather than kill Luke. He could be useful in the future as a hostage. A couple of lower-order goblins guard him in a cave to the north. He’s alive. Just.’
‘Jago told his friends that they were going away for a long time, so no one seeks the boy. The plan is perfect,’ said Rectoria.
Not waiting for a response, Tevo grabbed a stick and squatted near the fire, the flames throwing grotesque shadows across his hard face. With firm strokes he drew a passable map of the nearby jungle in the ground. He stabbed the stubby stick roughly at it. ‘We’ll approach from here. We’ll pretend to be travellers: a wizard and his companions lost in the storm.’
‘What storm?’ asked Hebor.
‘It will come,’ said Tevo. ‘After passing through the magical barriers we’ll request food and shelter for one night. My name will be Chalon Zim. He was a wizard: a recluse living in the mountains, found dead by my cousin seven days ago.’
‘What if Flick or Zorrin knew Zim?’ asked Smuddy Binks. ‘If so we could get blasted to smithereens because of an unlucky coincidence.’
‘As far as I have been able to find out, they didn’t,’ replied Tevo, scratching his head with the muddy stick. ‘Even if Flick or Zorrin had met him before he retreated they wouldn’t recognise him after all the years in the hills. He was clean-shaven in his early years: hairy, latterly. My beard will be a natural disguise.’
‘And how will we get out of Ravenscraig?’ asked Grut.
‘We’ll find a way,’ said Tevo. ‘Earth, metal, wood or fire are little barrier to goblin magic.’
‘Or we might have to tunnel,’ said Rectoria.
Scowling at Rectoria, Tevo continued, ‘After we’ve gained entry, you all shut up and play dumb. Rectoria and I will do the talking. We’ll raid the castle when I give the word for action. Any questions?’
Rycant clapped Tevo on the shoulder. ‘This plan is typical of you: bold, direct to the face of the enemy, yet cunning and deceitful. It’s perfect.’
‘What now?’ asked Smuddy Binks.
‘We wait. The storm will be here soon,’ said Tevo, unpeeling Rycant’s paw from his shoulder.
‘We had better find shelter,’ said Rectoria.
Tevo reached into his pocket and produced a dried human finger bone. He began picking his nose with it methodically. ‘No. We need to be soaked by the time we get to Ravenscraig.’
With slow-burning anger, Rectoria crouched near the inadequate fire and waited, Rycant by her side. ‘He’s planned it this way deliberately,’ she muttered.
‘What?’
‘Made sure I got drenched. I hate the icy skin and deep-seated cold. My brain seems to slow down. Spiteful toad. He’ll get another pus-filled boil on his head tomorrow. He never seems to register where they come from.’
Five hours later the rain began. At first droplets then great sheets of rain swept in on the wind, stinging their faces, plastering fur down. Heavy black clouds blocked the weak late afternoon sun. Lightning arced over their heads: jagged, vivid. Thunder, louder than Smuddy Binks could remember ever hearing, crashed across the fer
ocious skies.
Cold gripped all of them, seeping through to their bones. Under the battering even the animals’ normally water-resistant coats were saturated. Only goblin stubbornness kept Rectoria crouching in her place by the few flickering twigs kept alight by a spell, the cold wracking her shivering limbs.
Still Tevo waited as the relentless rain belted down from the darkened skies. His beard, streaming with rainwater, was cleaner than it had been for years. Finally, he stood up. ‘Now.’
Everybody got stiffly to their feet, underbellies squelching as they rose from the mud. Rectoria started to pack up the few possessions lying around on the forest floor.
‘Leave them,’ Tevo said. ‘We take nothing but our knives. If we fail, whoever is left alive shall meet back here.’
‘Reminding us that we may be about to die,’ murmured Smuddy Binks to Grut. ‘Great leadership.’
‘Shut it,’ barked Rycant.
As Rycant turned away, Smuddy Binks stuck out his tongue.
‘Grow up,’ whispered Ferox, the smaller of the two foxes.
‘No thanks. Too painful.’
‘Follow.’ Tevo strode out of the clearing.
Rectoria dropped everything back on to the ground, covered it with sodden leaves, then put her hand over the pitiful fire. ‘Exato flamori.’
The fire died, leaving no spark or warmth. The dogs and wolves loped into line behind Tevo, splashing their way across the muddy forest floor. Within only a few paces their forms became indistinct blurs in the driving rain. Smuddy Binks and Grut fell in behind them, scuttling along at the back.
Lightning forked across the sky, turning the forest into a black silhouette. Between flashes very little light filtered through from the moon above yet the goblins marched without faltering, their vision almost as good as by daylight. Despite their broad ugly feet neither made a sound as they walked. On stealthy feet goblins had walked through the years, stealing, assaulting, murdering… then vanishing as silently as a morning mist.
After two miles Tevo halted. The dogs and foxes by his side stopped. Both badgers were marching with their heads down, trying to prevent rain lashing into their eyes. Realising too late that they were stopping Smuddy Binks skidded through the slimy mud, crashing straight into the back of Rycant.
The Serpent of Eridor Page 11