The Rumpelgeist

by Fiona McIntosh

  Tria stole a worried look at Pilo but he sent her a calming one back, as if to say ‘Lute knows what he’s doing,’ but Pilo felt a shiver of fear pass through him. As much as he wanted to applaud Lute’s steadfastness, he didn’t believe swords and shields, men and horses were any defence against Grevilya.

  ‘We have to fight magic with magic,’ he breathed, and it seemed only the sprite king heard him. The small green creature nodded in his direction as though acknowledging a private thought.

  ‘Come, I will lead you in,’ Wren said.

  Flynn ran by the house, stealing past with great care, desperate to look in a window and see the Princess but he resisted and pressed on to the outhouses. He could not know he missed seeing her by moments.

  Crouching behind one corner of the manor, he saw another sprite – this had to be Wren’s queen, Starling, and a dwarf struggling to lift the beam from the barn door. That had to be the real Bitter Olof. He watched them, trying to reassure himself that neither could be Simeon. He took the risk.

  ‘Psst!’ he hissed and both swung around.

  ‘Who’s there?’ called the dwarf in a low voice.

  ‘Flynn Jolien,’ he whispered into the darkness. ‘Wren sent me to find you.’

  Starling flew over but kept her distance. ‘How can we trust you?’

  Flynn scratched his head and then smiled, stuck his tongue out.

  Starling nodded in relief as Flynn watched the dwarf approach. ‘You must be Bitter Olof, sir. I’m Flynn,’ he said and briefly explained who he was and the recent events.

  Bitter Olof held out a gnarled hand that the glow from Starling’s inner light illuminated to show inkings. The dwarf saw Flynn’s eyes widen at them. ‘One day, when we have time, I’ll share some of the stories my inkings hold.’ He squeezed Flynn’s hand tightly.

  ‘We’re trying to free the children,’ Starling said.

  ‘Help us,’ Bitter Olof urged. ‘I can’t reach the beam easily.’

  In a couple of heartbeats Flynn had crossed the courtyard and in another he’d shifted the beam and placed it silently on the ground. As he did so, Lex arrived.

  His companions looked alarmed but Flynn put up his hands. ‘It’s all right. He’s on our side, I promise. What news, Lex? Starling, can you hear him?’

  ‘I can. Speak up, Lex. It’s taking all my effort to trust you.’

  Lex looked pained by the rebuke and began to tell them what he knew. Starling swiftly outlined his words.

  ‘He says the King’s troops are moments away – apparently Grevilya can feel it so she’s excited. He says the Princess is under the inertia spell but not harmed.’

  ‘Where’s Simeon?’ Flynn asked. Lex answered with a shrug. Flynn was about to say that Simeon was their real problem when Olof, who was helping him to pull the barn door open, gasped.

  A dozen or more luminous ropes were hovering in the air. At the end of them floated ghostly children. Flynn was sure his heart missed a beat or two as he was struck by an intense pity for these young, vulnerable souls, and then his heart exploded back into life and began to pound angrily at their entrapment. The children, who had looked fearful at their entrance and had immediately clustered together, grabbing each others’ hands, must have spotted Lex and felt immediately secure for suddenly they were flying down to greet him. They floated around Flynn and Olof and although Flynn tried to touch the ghostly small hands in friendship, his fingers passed right through. The children sighed at his empty touch.

  Flynn and Olof heaved the door closed and looked to Starling for Lex’s guidance.

  ‘Each of those magical ropes is attached to a stolen child,’ she said. ‘I hear the little ones weeping. The older ones do their best with them. As much as I hate to admit it,’ she added, her gaze narrowing as she eyed Lex, ‘it is Lex who has a wonderful way with them all. He is keeping them all calm and cooperative.’

  ‘I understand why you did what you did, Lex,’ Flynn admitted, and was rewarded by a sad nod and smile from his friend.

  ‘Thank you,’ Lex mouthed for his benefit.

  ‘What Grevilya did to Gracie and myself was vicious but what she has done to these little ones is unforgiveable,’ Olof remarked, still filled with wonder at the floating clump of ghostly children. ‘I find no mercy in my heart for her. I can’t imagine how terrified their parents are. I’ve done some things in my past that I’m not proud of but …’ He shook his head, biting back on words, as though still finding it impossible to believe his eyes. He cleared his throat. ‘Grevilya must pay for this,’ he said. ‘No mercy from the King.’

  Wren chose this moment to arrive and after a brief, hugged reunion with his queen he turned to Flynn.

  ‘Your king approaches and he’s not in a tolerant mood. He is refusing to bow to Grevilya’s wishes.’

  ‘He understands Ellin’s been captured?’ Flynn pressed.

  Wren nodded. ‘I told him everything, including to be watchful for Simeon and not to be tricked by suddenly seeing his daughter approach. I’ve told him she is very much a prisoner.’

  ‘So now what are we to do about the children?’ Flynn asked, focusing his small group of allies back onto their first goal.

  ‘Starling has a plan for them,’ Olof said.

  ‘Oh?’ Flynn said, turning to the sprite queen.

  ‘I do, but we have to release them. Wren, do you understand this magic? It is a secret one that Grevilya used from her grimoire that I was not privy to.’

  Wren glanced at the children and their newly tangled magical ropes. ‘I know this spell. It is the same binding that she used on Pipit. But it is also a spell of Grendel’s she must have borrowed. Grendel bound the spell to himself. Only he could utter the reverse incantation. But Grevilya is lazy, I see.’

  Starling rolled her eyes. ‘Very,’ she confirmed.

  ‘I’m sure I can release these poor children if I can recall the words of freedom. Let me try.’

  ‘Please,’ Flynn said. ‘Make room. Lex, tell that little boy to come forward first.’ He watched Lex beckon to the child.

  ‘This is Beng,’ Starling repeated from Lex’s introduction, pointing towards the child that floated forward, a thumb in his mouth.

  ‘He can’t be more than a few summers,’ Olof murmured.

  ‘How come we can see them?’

  ‘Lazy Grevilya,’ Starling said. ‘When she made Lex into her ghost, she completed the spell properly, so much so that she too could only hear him. Only those of us who are creatures of magic – like us sprites – could see and hear her ghosts.’

  ‘Davren can’t see him,’ said Flynn.

  ‘No, but Davren’s centaur magic is different again to our forest magic. Yes, it’s of the forest, Flynn, but it’s very specific, wholly spiritual, and very special to his kind. He’s half mortal, don’t forget.’

  ‘And me?’ Flynn asked.

  ‘Your magic is wild and wonderful,’ Wren said. ‘It chose you. You can see Lex when everyone but us cannot. I have no idea what else you’re capable of but I suspect there’s more and I imagine it will reveal itself. And Olof is already touched by Grevilya’s magic.’

  Flynn thought of the Silvering and knew Wren was right. He held his breath as Wren began to utter the unspell in a language he couldn’t comprehend and together with Bitter Olof shared a heartfelt smile of joy at the faces of the ghostly children as one by one they were freed from the magical bindings. They whizzed around the barn, flying unencumbered, linking hands and twirling around.

  ‘I can hear them now!’ Flynn exclaimed, watching the children’s gleeful expressions and flights.

  ‘Grevilya always takes a short cut if she can,’ Starling sighed.

  Wren explained. ‘In breaking the bonding magic, it has removed some of the other constraints.’

  ‘But not released them fully yet?’ Flynn said.

  Wren shook his head. ‘We have to destroy the grimoire for that, I suspect, and her ability to hold the spell or recast it.’

  �
��Well, it seems she hasn’t forgotten how to wield her inertia spell,’ Bitter Olof sulked.

  Starling sighed. ‘It’s her favourite.’

  The young boy flew clumsily up to Flynn and stared at him with a grave expression. ‘I’m Beng,’ he announced in a voice still ghostly, and without taking his thumb from his mouth. ‘And that’s Dilly,’ he said, lisping because of the thumb as he pointed to a small girl, not much older than himself. ‘She cries a lot, but I’ve been brave.’ He pulled out his thumb. ‘Have you come to rescue us?’

  ‘Yes, Beng,’ Flynn said. ‘The King’s men are on their way and we will stop that witch, once and for all. You’ll be back to yourself very soon, I promise.’

  He watched Lex gathering up the children, and guessed he was asking them to stay brave and still for just a bit longer.

  ‘I say we turn these children loose,’ Flynn suggested. ‘Let them roam free. The more confusion we can generate for Grevilya, the better, surely?’

  Wren was nodding. ‘Lex and I both agree that’s a good idea.’

  ‘Well, that was the idea I was playing with,’ Starling admitted. ‘Grevilya hates noise. She has so much trouble remembering her spells that she needs calm to perform them. If we encourage the children to create as much distraction as they can, then we’ll have Grevilya very quickly slipping into her addled state. Then she becomes fearful and anxious. It makes her clumsy and angry too – all of that makes her less effective.’

  ‘Brilliant!’ Flynn said. ‘Lex, you know what to do. Get the children organised. Turn them loose, let them fly rampant around the house and grounds. They must do everything they can to distract, annoy, disrupt and enrage Grevilya. I’m right that she can’t see them?’

  Lex nodded with a grin. ‘Only hear, as she does with me.’

  Flynn made a fist of triumph. The children knew to be silent and not draw attention but he saw each of them form their small fists into triumphant signs and shake them at him with unbridled glee.

  ‘Unleash your warriors, Lex,’ Flynn said. ‘Frighten her.’

  34

  Flynn and Olof moved stealthily out of the barn, while a stream of ghostly bodies flowed out behind them, up and over the house, its rooftop, its walls. Lex lifted a hand in salute to Flynn as he led his charges.

  Flynn and Bitter Olof rounded the house and peered into the gardens at the front. They could see neither of their enemies, but the shapes of Calico Grace and Miss Greenleaf were eerily lit in the moonlight and they could hear the pair muttering to each other.

  ‘Are you all right, my love?’ Olof asked his wife, as they approached.

  ‘Hurry up, dwarf,’ Grace said, irritably, amusing Flynn. ‘Whatever mad plan you’re hatching, do it quickly.’

  ‘This is Duke Jolien. Flynn,’ Bitter Olof explained.

  ‘You haven’t got any tobacco on you have you, Duke?’ Gracie wondered and Flynn grinned despite the gravity of their situation.

  ‘I don’t, er, Captain Grace.’

  ‘Pity. On with you then. You’re no help, either of you, at the moment.’

  Bitter Olof winked at Flynn. ‘Don’t move, Gracie, my love. I’ll be back for you,’ he whispered, and as he was level with it, he kissed her hand tenderly before moving over to his friend. ‘Mistress Greenleaf, are you well?’ he murmured, stifling a smile.

  ‘Oh, I’m just having a nice rest here, thank you,’ Little Thom replied in a high whisper. ‘And one day soon I am going to take the biggest pumpkin I can find and ram it right –’

  Bitter Olof squeezed his friend’s arm, grinning. ‘Back soon, Thom.’

  They ran on, heading for the edge of the woods where Flynn knew Davren waited in his statue form, and knowing they had a better chance of meeting up with the King and his men from that vantage.

  ‘This way,’ Flynn urged in a soft voice.

  Ellin felt a strange tingling returning to her fingers. She had been numb for so long that she thought at first she must be imagining it. She wiggled them surreptitiously and was overjoyed to realise that she could move her toes as well.

  A sprite appeared and caught Grevilya’s attention.

  ‘Where have you been, Starling?’ the witch demanded.

  ‘The children were making a commotion, Grevilya. I went with Lex to calm them.’

  Grevilya eyed her suspiciously. ‘Help me find the carrying spell. I want her,’ she said, gesturing rudely at Ellin, ‘on display for her father’s arrival.’

  Starling glanced at Ellin and gave a surreptitious nod of encouragement to the Princess before she moved to where the grimoire lay quietly on a table beneath a lamp. The grimoire squeaked a noise of enquiry as Starling opened her velvet cover.

  ‘It’s only me, dear Grimoire. We need the spell of carrying,’ she said, gently.

  The pages flicked themselves over and came to rest at an early entry. ‘Here it is, Grevilya,’ the sprite said obediently.

  ‘Let me see.’ Grevilya batted Starling away. ‘Ah yes, that’s right. This is a good one, isn’t it, Grimoire?’ The book agreed with a soft moan of contentment.

  As Grevilya began to read the words Ellin felt immediately lightheaded and then she felt herself become entirely weightless.

  Grevilya guided Ellin on a cushion of air out of the house and into the garden. ‘Your father will arrive any moment. I do want us ready to greet him.’

  Just as Grevilya had placed her upright in the moonlit garden outside the main door of the house, Ellin heard voices, but couldn’t turn to see who they belonged to.

  ‘Starling, what’s that racket?’ Grevilya called out.

  ‘Sounds like excited children to me,’ Ellin said.

  Grevilya’s face drained of colour. Even her lips looked bloodless. ‘It can’t be,’ she murmured. ‘They were tied with magical ropes. That’s … that’s impossible.’

  The grimoire began a soft wailing as the children’s voices escalated and Grevilya became increasingly agitated.

  Ellin looked on, thrilled, as Grevilya’s possessions were thrown from the windows of her house onto the garden below, tiles were flung from the rooftop and windows began to rattle.

  Despite the chaos and noise, Ellin head a soft voice calling her.

  ‘Your Highness, it’s me, Lex,’ he whispered.

  ‘Is this your doing?’

  ‘Yes, and I promise you I am working for the Crown. It’s the children, you see. They’re free at last of her magic ropes. We did it! Now we just have to destroy her magic and free us all.’

  Grevilya flicked frantically through the pages of the grimoire, obviously searching for a spell to stop the children.

  The witch began to jabber and chant, but none of the spells seemed to be quite the one she wanted. At one point a dismayed toad suddenly appeared out of thin air and leapt away, startled.

  ‘Stop it! What’s happening?’ Grevilya raved. ‘Simeon! Where are you?’ The grimoire that she’d flung down to the ground in order to search her pages beneath the watery light of the moon began screech hysterically. ‘Be quiet, Grimoire,’ she yelled. ‘I can’t think when you scream like that.’

  ‘It’s working,’ Starling flew by and called delightedly to Ellin.

  Flynn and Olof hid in the bushes and watched the confusion unfold at the house. ‘We’ve got to get that book,’ Flynn murmured.

  ‘You leave the book to me. I’ve had it in my hands once today, and I don’t intend to let it go should I have the opportunity again,’ Olof assured.

  ‘It’s picking the right moment, though,’ Flynn said, watching intently. ‘The King will be here any –’

  ‘Flynn!’

  They both jumped and were relieved to see Davren.

  ‘Forgive me,’ he whispered.

  ‘Sticky syrup,’ Flynn said, looking him in the eye, making sure the centaur could see his mouth.

  Davren looked bemused. ‘Well done,’ he said.

  Flynn blinked. ‘How did you get free?’

  ‘The other sprite helped me. We wor
ked together to loosen the bonds. And he seemed to know the unspell to undo the inertia.’

  A cold feather of fear fluttered inside Flynn. He tried opening the Silvering, slicing again and again, looking for Davren, but he couldn’t find him. The Davren in front of him didn’t show anything in his expression and that was because, Flynn realised with dismay, it probably wasn’t Davren.

  ‘Say sticky syrup, Dav,’ he said unnerved, easing away from the centaur.

  ‘What?’ the centaur said, grinning, but the amusement didn’t touch his eyes. In the moonlight, his eyes looked cold and calculating.

  ‘It’s Simeon!’ Flynn yelled to Olof and in a blink had unsheathed his sword. ‘Get back, serpent!’ He swung the sword, yelling a battle cry, but the creature was fast and strong, leaping out of the way. It laughed and as Flynn stared it down he watched the centaur melt. Just for a moment Flynn thought he glimpsed a reptilian-like face before it changed again, this time into Ellin.

  ‘Oh, Flynn, don’t hurt me,’ she bleated.

  He was so taken aback he hesitated.

  ‘Don’t fall for it,’ Olof warned.

  Flynn swiped with the sword, but it was already too late. In his moment of hesitation the basilisk had taken its chance and laughing its cruel laugh, had run away on strong, powerful legs that Flynn knew no man possessed naturally.

  And now he could see the real Davren, lying on the ground where he’d left him. The centaur was unconscious. That was why he couldn’t reach him in the Silvering. ‘Press on, Olof, with our plan. You get the grimoire. I have to make sure Davren is not injured.’ He ran to Davren to stand over him as a guardian, brandishing his sword.

  ‘One day my blade will taste your flesh, serpent,’ he taunted loudly.

  From the depths of the dark forest, where no moonlight penetrated, he heard a hiss. ‘You’ll also keep, Duke Jolien. It’s a pity you disturbed me or I’d have claimed the centaur. He owes you his life.’

  ‘Then we’ll both hunt you!’ Flynn hurled into the darkness.

  ‘And I’ll be waiting,’ Simeon said. ‘A real warrior knows when to lose a fight in order to live to fight another battle. I’ll leave you to Grevilya and her grimoire. Good luck, Duke. I await our reckoning, King Davren.’ His voice was growing distant but his mirth made Flynn’s flesh crawl. And his laughter rang through the trees as he ran from Hellion’s Hole.