The Witch's Revenge

by D. A. Nelson

  “Is it safe?” Morag whispered to Montgomery.

  “Not for long. He’ll be back,” he replied. “Come on, we have to get out of here. Aldiss needs us.”

  With her heart beating wildly, Morag picked up the paintings and followed Montgomery to the door. He opened it cautiously and glanced outside. The corridor was empty. They slipped out and sneaked downstairs. Along the corridor they ran toward the secret door, and under the cover of the growing darkness they bolted for the undergrowth beyond the path. They stopped for a few minutes, panting.

  “Are you all right?” Montgomery asked Morag.

  “Yes,” she replied, gradually getting her breath back.

  “Let’s go,” he said, then stopped. “Where are Shona, Bertie and Aldiss?”

  “Follow me,” said Morag, pushing through the ferns. “They’re close by. I only hope that we’re not too late.…”

  16

  Aldiss was barely moving when they found him. The only sign that he was still clinging on to life was the slight trembling of his whiskers. Morag’s eyes filled with tears and she could not talk as she handed Mina’s tooth to Shona.

  “How do we use it?” she gulped, her voice high-pitched and breaking. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “Mmpnhhgigrhmppph!” said a voice from Morag’s pocket.

  Henry! Morag put down the rolled-up paintings of Nathan and Isabella and pulled him out.

  “Place it on Aldiss’s chest,” the medallion instructed. “That’s right. Leave it there … watch it doesn’t roll off.”

  He fell silent.

  “Do we say something?” Morag asked. She was unable to tear her eyes away from the tooth or from Aldiss. “Is there a spell?” she demanded. Without thinking, she shook the medallion hard as she spoke. “What do we do, Henry?” she wailed.

  “Stop shaking me, for starters!” he snapped, glaring up at her. Morag’s face was white and her eyes were large and worried.

  “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, and looked away.

  “Not at all. I understand,” the medallion replied. Then he inhaled deeply.

  “Now we wait.”

  The dragon, who had nursed Aldiss since he had been struck by the dart, frowned.

  “Wait for what?” Shona asked. “Surely we can’t just leave the tooth there. It’s not doing anything. It … it …” She gazed down fondly at the little rat lying on his bed of bracken and a great tear rolled down her cheek and plopped to the ground.

  “He’s going to die, isn’t he?” she sobbed, turning away. Bertie threw his wings around her and hugged her tightly.

  “It’s all my fault,” the dragon cried. “I wasn’t there to protect him. He saved me in the past and I couldn’t do the same for him. Now I’ll never see Aldiss again!” Her body heaved and shook as her grief poured out.

  Morag ran to her and placed her arms around Shona’s wide belly, with Henry still dangling from her fingers. Tears of sorrow flowed from her eyes too as she tried to comfort both Shona and Bertie.

  “Aldiss! I’m sorry, Aldiss! Whooaaaah-ah-ah-aahhhh!” bawled the dragon, eyes tightly closed.

  As the three of them cried they did not notice the tooth brighten with a warm white glow. Only Montgomery watched as it spread all over the rat’s tiny body, enclosing him in a light that was almost too bright to look at.

  “Er …,” he said, trying to attract their attention, but they were too upset to notice.

  The light flickered and danced over Aldiss now. There were tiny tings, the sort of sounds you’d expect from violin strings snapping. Then the light went out and the tooth returned to its normal cream color.

  “Booo hoo hoo!” Bertie sobbed. He pulled a large red and white polka-dot handkerchief from his bag and blew his beak loudly.

  He did not notice that Aldiss’s paws were twitching slightly, or that his whiskers and nose were flickering, or that he was yawning and slowly opening one eye.

  “He was so lovely,” wailed Morag to her friends.

  “You’re right there. The loveliest rat ever!” Shona agreed. “He’d laugh if he heard me saying that. He used to tease me because I was afraid of rats.”

  “I can’t believe he’s gone,” sobbed Bertie.

  Aldiss opened his other eye and turned his head to see where all the crying was coming from. He sat up and stretched, letting the tooth slide to the ground. The stretch started in his arms, slunk down into his torso and ended with a very satisfying extension of his tail.

  “Who’s gone?” he squeaked. “Who are you talking about?”

  Morag stopped sobbing. She let go of Shona and turned around. Then a smile swept over her tear-stained face.

  “You’re alive!” she cried, running to his side. She knelt down, picked him up and hugged and kissed him. The rat waved his little arms and legs.

  “Of course I’m alive. What else would I be?”

  “Oh, come here, rodent!” bellowed Shona and snatched him up into her huge embrace.

  Aldiss was squeezed and kissed and hugged until he could stand it no more.

  “Put me down!” he squeaked. “You’ll squash me!”

  They all laughed as Aldiss hopped to the ground and shook his tail.

  “You had us all worried.” Morag grinned. “You nearly died!”

  “Me? Not a chance! Are you sure?”

  “Don’t you remember the tornado in the castle?” tried Bertie. “Or being hit by the dart?”

  Aldiss shook his whiskers.

  “Fortunately Morag found just the thing to revive you,” said Montgomery.

  Aldiss listened with growing disbelief and looked up at Morag gratefully.

  “Thank you for saving my life,” he said.

  “Montgomery helped,” she replied, “and it was Henry who suggested we get the tooth. Where is it anyway?” She scanned the ground. “Oh, there it is.” She bent down and picked it up by the chain. Nearby, the rolled-up paintings of Nathan and Isabella lay in the grass. She scooped them up and asked Bertie to keep them in his satchel, where they would be safe.

  The rat turned to the wizard. “Montgomery, thank you …,” he began.

  “It was nothing,” the wizard said quickly.

  “No it’s not. You saved my life.”

  “Aldiss, we don’t have time for this,” the wizard replied. “I’m glad you’re alive, but we must get back to Marnoch Mor. The town needs me.”

  And it was then that Morag remembered his connection to the Eye of Lornish.

  “The Eye!” she gasped. “I’d forgotten all about it.” She looked at Montgomery, scared to ask. “How much time do we have left to get you back to the Eye?”

  “The last time …,” the wizard replied. “Well, you were there, you know about the last time—it was four days before the town began to fall apart. You lot managed to get it back to me just in time. There were a few cracks in some buildings, but nothing that we couldn’t put right afterward with magic.” He sighed. “I’ve been away from Marnoch Mor for about two days, so that means we still have about forty-eight hours.”

  Morag stared at him. “This time it was different. It was much worse,” she said as she shook her head.

  “I don’t understand,” he said.

  “There was an earthquake only minutes after you disappeared,” Morag explained.

  “It was terrible,” added Bertie. “Buildings were collapsing all over town. Everyone headed to the Town Hall to get answers from the Queen. That’s where something unimaginable happened.…”

  Montgomery’s face paled. “This is impossible. The Eye should protect the town for longer.… Tell me what happened.”

  “Queen Flora’s dead,” said Shona abruptly. “She was assassinated by the same thing that tried to kill Aldiss.”

  Montgomery was stunned. Tears pricked Morag’s eyes as she remembered her fear and the anger of the townspeople. “But everyone thought it was me!”

  “Her Majesty told Morag of a secret escape route and we had to use it,” said Bertie.
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br />   “The photo booth?” cut in Montgomery. “Yes, it is reserved for emergencies.”

  “Marnoch Mor is being destroyed as we speak,” Morag said, “and I don’t know if we’ll get home in time to stop it.”

  Montgomery’s face was grave. He rubbed his eyes wearily.

  “Well,” he said, “we’d best get back as quickly as we can.” He looked around him. “How are we getting off this island?” he asked.

  As Bertie opened his beak to speak, he was interrupted by a sneering voice from behind.

  “You’re not going anywhere.” They turned round and saw Mephista standing before them, hands on her hips and a triumphant smile on her lips. Tanktop was at her side, sniggering. “And I’ll have the tooth back, if you don’t mind,” she added.

  She stepped forward and snatched the tooth from Morag before she could do anything about it.

  With a twisted smile, Mephista took a wand from her left sleeve and tapped it thoughtfully on her chin before she spoke again.

  “You,” she said, pointing to the dragon. “You will make me a pretty penny at the market. Dragon meat is so rare these days.” She looked at the others. “I suppose I could make slaves of you, but that would really be too much trouble. No, I’ll leave you to Kang. He can decide what to do with you.” To Montgomery, she added: “I was going to offer you up for ransom, but I heard you say Marnoch Mor is falling to pieces anyway, and the Queen is dead. We need a new kingdom, a better Queen. So why don’t you join me and my father in creating a new Marnoch Mor? With your wisdom and my magic, just imagine what we could accomplish together!”

  The wizard furrowed his brow and shook his head. “I will never join you,” he growled.

  “Not even to save Marnoch Mor?” she said slyly.

  The wizard flinched but did not answer.

  “As you wish.” Mephista smirked. “Then you might as well be with your friends when I hand them over to the Girallons. Such a pity. I thought you had more ambition than that, Montgomery.”

  She raised her wand and flicked it at them menacingly.

  “Let’s go. Back to the castle with you,” she said. “Come along, hurry up, I haven’t got all night.”

  “Do as she says,” Montgomery instructed.

  Shona started to protest, but was silenced by a warning look from the wizard. Morag saw it and was puzzled. Isn’t he even going to fight? she wondered. Is he so weakened that he is going to allow Mephista to hand us over to the Girallons? Aldiss scrambled up onto her shoulder and hugged her neck, his soft fur tickling her skin. She stroked him gently, glad of his company, as she reluctantly followed the dragon.

  Aldiss whispered to her as she pushed through the undergrowth. “Why aren’t we trying to escape?”

  “I know, it’s not like Montgomery to give in like this,” she replied. Then she had a thought. “Get Bertie to create a distraction,” she whispered. “Don’t ask me to explain. I’ve got a plan and I need your help. Trust me.”

  The rat nodded. Without another word he scampered down her body and leapt onto the path. Soon he caught up with the dodo.

  Mephista forced them on toward the castle. It was dark now and their only light came from the dull Moonstone Bertie had pulled from his satchel. He went in front, holding it up in his beak as high as he could. Perhaps this was why he did not see the tree root that tripped him and sent him crashing to the ground. Shona and Morag rushed to him immediately.

  “What’s going on?” barked Mephista. “Why have you stopped? Tanktop, go and see them.”

  Morag heard the great lolloping strides of the Klapp demon as it hurried toward them, smelled its rank breath as it ran, and turned her head as it pushed her out of the way to get to the front of the small crowd.

  “Stand!” Tanktop yelled at the bird.

  “I can’t move. My leg is broken,” Bertie squawked pitifully. Mephista shoved through to the front and looked down at him.

  “Get up, you stupid bird!” she demanded. She raised her wand angrily against the terrified dodo and … that was when it happened. Morag jumped up and snatched the wand out of the startled witch’s hand and gave her a shove that sent her flying to the ground. It was a foul-tempered, glaring Mephista who pulled herself out of the mud and rose to her feet.

  “How dare you!” she hissed, brushing the dead leaves from her dress.

  “Stay back!” Morag warned, waving the wand. “We’re far enough out of the woods for this to work.”

  “You don’t know how to use that,” Mephista sneered. “Now give it back to me and I’ll go a bit easier on you.”

  “You’re right. I don’t know how to use this,” Morag admitted. She didn’t take her eyes off Mephista. “But he does.” She handed it to Montgomery.

  “No!” screeched Mephista.

  Montgomery smiled, pointing the wand at her pocket where he had seen her slip the tooth. “Hand it over.”

  Mephista folded her arms and pursed her lips. She glowered at him defiantly. Montgomery, in no mood to take any nonsense, flicked a small firebolt at her. It glanced off the ground near her feet in a bright shower of multicolored sparks. She did not flinch. He sent another, closer. This time she jumped.

  “Give it to me, Mephista,” he said, and held out his hand.

  At first it did not seem like the witch would obey, so Montgomery raised the wand at her once more. With a disgruntled sigh, she slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out the tooth, throwing it at him. Montgomery caught it and passed it to Morag, who put it in the pocket of her dress.

  “Well, Mephista, it looks like you are now our prisoner, you and the … Where’s that Klapp demon?” he asked, searching the darkening forest. He sniffed, but no telltale dead fish smell could be detected on the wind. “He’s probably headed back to the castle to alert the guards!” he said. He glanced around anxiously at Morag, Bertie, Aldiss and Shona and made a quick decision.

  “We need to get off this island fast!” he said urgently. “You still haven’t told me how we are getting off.”

  “Kyle is waiting offshore in the Sea Kelpie,” said Morag.

  Bertie showed him the small radio the fisherman had given him so he could tell their friend when they were ready to leave.

  “I’ll call him right now and get him to meet us,” he said. The radio crackled. “Where will he be able to pick us up? There’s no jetty other than the one in front of the castle.”

  Montgomery turned to Shona. “Is there a cove or somewhere out of sight of the castle where Kyle can bring his boat?”

  “The island’s changed a lot since I grew up here,” she replied. “But there’s a place a few miles from here, back in the direction of Dragon’s End.”

  “Bertie, let’s get him to meet us there,” Montgomery instructed. The dodo nodded and spoke into the radio.

  “Now, Mephista,” said Montgomery. “There’s something you must know about your father.…” But he got no further. Suddenly he cried out in pain and crumpled to the ground.

  “Montgomery?” Morag squealed. She knelt beside him as he contorted in agony. He moaned and his breathing became shallow.

  “Aldiss, get me a light!” she cried.

  The rat found the Moonstone and brought it over. Morag knelt in the cold earth and held Montgomery’s weakening hand. When Aldiss held up the Moonstone he squeaked with shock. Even Mephista gasped. Montgomery’s face had suddenly transformed into that of a tired old man, lined and pale. His normally dark and shining hair was white and falling out in clumps.

  “What’s the matter?” Bertie cried, dropping the radio on the grass and flapping over.

  “Something’s seriously wrong with Montgomery,” Morag replied, tears welling.

  “It’s the Eye.” The wizard’s voice was thin and strained. “It’s dying. And so am I. I … need … to get home. We need to be … together again.”

  Morag looked at the others. The Eye was dying and now Montgomery’s life was draining away before their eyes. But he was not the only one in peril.
“Stay with him,” she said. “I have to go back to the castle.”

  “Whatever for?” asked Bertie.

  “I promised Chelsea she could come with us. I can’t go without her, after all the help she’s been.”

  “But there’s no time!” Bertie protested. “You’ll have to leave her behind.”

  “I can’t just run away!” the girl sobbed.

  “Morag, listen to me,” said Shona, shaking her by the shoulders. “You can either save Chelsea or you can save Montgomery. But there isn’t time to save both. Go back to the castle and find Chelsea if you feel you have to. But there will be no home to take her to if Montgomery is dead when you get back. No home for her, you or us. Marnoch Mor will be gone.”

  “Who are you going to save, Morag?” asked Aldiss after a pause.

  Morag chewed her lip until it bled as she mulled one of the most difficult decisions of her young life.

  “Help me get him to his feet,” she said eventually.

  Although Shona was able to support him, it took Montgomery a great effort to rise from the ground and stand again. The attack had come so swiftly that it had drained all the energy from him. He was shaky, but able to straighten up after a few moments. His expression, in spite of the newly appeared wrinkles, relaxed a little. He managed a smile and nodded when Morag asked him if he was able to walk.

  “We need to get away,” he said, “before the demon gets help.”

  On seeing Morag’s worried face, he added mysteriously: “You, of all people, mustn’t worry. The pain has gone. I promise.”

  17

  The band of friends and their prisoner moved slowly through the dark forest, stumbling over large rocks and gnarled tree roots sticking out of the ground. They kept off the path in case they were seen by the Girallons, but stayed close to it so as not to get lost in the wood’s eerie blackness. The hunting horn had sounded shortly after their departure from the clearing, and they knew it was only a matter of time before the Girallons appeared.