Lyla was so surprised to hear Cystalzee's name that she forgot to whisper. `How do you know Crystalzee?'
The Gochmaster put his mouth to her ear. `She is also my pet, friend, best friend. Each week I bring a barrel of seawater to the Ulaan Town tavern keeper who pays me with beer. I do this late at night so I am not seen, as Gochmasters are not allowed beer. Sometimes, when the innkeeper is not there, I pour Crystalzee a bowl of seawater and she sings for me.'
`What does she sing about?'
`Sad things. Astounding things. Things that the General told her when he was drunk and would not want anyone else to know.'
Lyla moved closer. `Such as?'
The Gochmaster shook his head. `I cannot say. I will not have Crystalzee punished.'
`I won't tell anyone. And if you tell me, I will use my Gaabi Desert sand to find your Goch and help it.'
The Gochmaster's eyes brightened and Lyla felt guilty at bargaining about something she had already decided to do.
The man's voice became so low she had to strain to hear it. `The eagle on his wrist is a king who was enchanted by the High Enchanter in the hope of forcing a princess to marry him. This princess is the only magician who can make the Fafnir spell that will keep the High Enchanter alive forever.
`But General Tulga is afraid that if this princess becomes the High Enchanter's Queen she will give birth to an heir. And that heir will inherit the throne of Acirfa instead of him. As the High Enchanter's adopted son, Tulga will only inherit the throne if there are no other contenders.'
Lyla frowned. `You mean Princess Elle knows a spell that will keep the High Enchanter alive forever?'
`How do you know Princess Elle?' whispered the Gochmaster, quickly searching the darkness to make sure no one was listening. But there was no one there, just the glowing eyes of the wolves and the shuffling walk of the half-crazed bears doing the rounds of their too-small cages.
`I just do,' whispered Lyla. `But how did the General find out that Crystalzee had told you of his desire to inherit the throne of Acirfa?'
`One night the tavern keeper's wife heard Crystalzee singing to me. She told a Raider who told the General. Now keep your promise and tell me, where is my Goch?'
Lyla wiped away the straw and sprinkled the Gaabi Desert sand on the cage floor, then wrote in it, asking: Where is the Gochmaster's Goch? The answer appeared immediately.
`It is alive and well. It has fallen into a hole in the middle of a nettle field on the right hand bank of the Shambala River on the other side of the Shambala Gorge.'
She scooped up the sand and was pouring it back into its pouch when four Raiders entered the cage. They dragged her and the Gochmaster out and up the southern staircase into the orange gert.
General Tulga, wearing a fur-lined brocade robe, a jewelled crown and a gold facemask, sat at the far end of the round tent. His huge hands, decorated with gold talon-shields, gripped the carved eagle-headed armrests of an enormous throne. Beneath his gold-studded boots lay two black mountain bears, each one the size of a very tall man. Beside the throne, perched on a golden pedestal was the chained eagle.
The Raiders marched Lyla and the Gochmaster to the foot of the throne where they were pushed down onto their knees. Staring through his frightening gold mask, General Tulga asked if they were ready to entertain his guests. The Gochmaster mumbled unintelligibly. Lyla said nothing.
The General raised his hand and twenty-four drummers standing at the grand gert's four entrances pounded on their drums. The guests hurried up the staircases and rushed to sit on cushions placed around many low tables.
No one looked happy or hungry, but it wasn't long before Lyla found out why they all looked so terrified.
During the first course the General chose two guests to fight. When they didn't hurt each other enough, other guests were ordered to leave their dinners and whip them.
During the second course, cages with starved animals were wheeled in and the animals were tormented with food until the pitiful creatures went berserk throwing themselves against the bars over and over.
During the third course a cage containing a young Goch and a bear that had been trained to poke and slap at the Goch's head, was wheeled in. The tormenting of the baby Goch made the Gochmaster's eyes fill with tears. This so amused the General that he ordered the Gochmaster to replace the bear.
`I cannot,' cried the Gochmaster clinging to Lyla. `I cannot hurt a Goch.'
He was ripped away and thrown into the cage where he was forced to slap the frightened baby Goch's probing head to stop it from biting him.
The General's raucous laugh, followed by the false laughter of his guests, rolled around the gert.
When General Tulga saw that Lyla wasn't laughing he held up his hand. All noise stopped instantly.
`Our messenger is going to entertain us now. Tomorrow he will fight Master Wan-rast's golden eagle. So messenger, how will you amuse us?'
Fully aware that every eye was upon her, Lyla answered in her boy's voice, `Using a bow and arrow and standing at the eastern entrance I will hit a target placed in front of the western entrance.'
The General pointed to an archery rack beside him, told her to choose her weapon. He then ordered two Raiders to drag the Gochmaster to the western entrance where a pigeon was tied to his head.
Lyla's eyes widened. `Oh no! I can't shoot a live pigeon.'
The General looked amused. `Why not?'
`I don't shoot birds for entertainment.'
His cruel smile widened. `But it is not entertainment. It is so I do not order you to shoot the Gochmaster. Choose your bow and do not annoy me.'
To choose a bow and quiver Lyla had to pass the chained eagle, so she formed a question in her mind. `Where is your talisman, father?'
The eagle's eyes connected with to hers. `It is the bluest feather under my right wing.'
After choosing a gilt-edged bow and a quiver with five gold-tipped arrows, Lyla was marched to the eastern entrance. Directly opposite, two Raiders held the cringing Gochmaster while the pigeon flapped on top of his head.
Lyla fitted an arrow to her bowstring, drew it back until its golden feathers brushed her right cheekbone, then she let the arrow fly. It flew over the guests' heads and through the gap between the pigeon's pink claws and the Gochmaster's matted hair. Neither was hurt and Lyla couldn't resist a triumphant smile. But there was no applause - just a hushed stillness.
`Again!' shouted the general. `Guards, balance a glass of beer on the Gochmaster's head.'
This time when Lyla loosed her arrow it flew over the heads of the guests, and hit the glass dead centre, sending it and the beer flying. The Gochmaster sagged.
`Again!' the General yelled. `The messenger will now pierce the Gochmaster's right hand.'
`No!' gasped Lyla.
General Tulga rose menacingly from his throne, kicked aside the bears and stepped closer to Lyla. Behind the mask, his eyes glittered with fury and his voice shook with palpable hostility. `What did you say, messenger?'
Lyla bowed low and thought quickly. `Forgive me mighty General Tulga but you, who are the greatest general in the known world, Ruler of Baatar, Ulaan, Table Mountain and heir to the Acirfa throne and all of Ifraa, know how important tomorrow's fights are.'
She pointed to the gaping-mouthed guests. `Your Raiders have waged fortunes on them and have gambled many coins. Even the Gochmaster and I have been practising special fighting moves so we can be sure to beat the eagle and the bears, and ultimately face each other.
`But there will be little entertainment if the Gochmaster is wounded. His death would be too easy. So please General, for your guests and your loyal Raiders, choose another target for my last shot.'
General Tulga's golden eyes stared at her as if, like his gold-tipped arrows, they could pierce her uniform, her skin, her bones and her heart. Lyla boldly stared back. The grand gert was so quiet she was sure the General could hear her thumping heart.
When General Turga finally spoke, his voice was menacingly
low. `You are a fool. Tomorrow you will die hideously. But now I am bored.' He turned to his guard and shouted, `Bring me the contortionist and more beer.'
The contortionist, who was the image of Plus One, somersaulted backwards into the grand gert wearing a tight pink costume and holding a bundle of hoops. Smiling at everyone she twisted herself into the most abnormal shapes, did double somersaults in mid-air, and gyrated the hoops around her wrists, ankles, neck and waist until their colours blended. The audience applauded happily until they saw General Tulga's thunderous frown, then their clapping petered out.
`Messenger! Kneel so that Quattro can balance on your back,' he shouted, the beer slurring his words.
A Raider dragged Lyla over and pushed her to her knees. With a quick flip, Quattro balanced on Lyla's shoulders.
`Plus One and your sisters are looking for you,' Lyla whispered.
Quattro somersaulted over Lyla's head, then flipped back up to balance on one hand on her head. `I cannot escape.'
`What are you saying?' General Tulga demanded.
`I am telling the messenger where I will put my feet, General.'
`Don't! You have spoilt the entertainment. Leave me before I find someone or some animal for you to fight. A snake perhaps, you could coil around each other until it crushed you.'
This idea so pleased him that his frown was replaced by an evil grin that made Quattro stumble out of the gert in fear. The General then waved his taloned fingers at the twenty-four drummers and, as the drumming commenced, the guests rose from their cushions and headed for the gert's exits.
Four Raiders dragged Lyla and the Gochmaster away.
`What will happen now?' Lyla asked one of them as he pushed her roughly down the southern steps.
`The General will sleep. You will practise your famous fighting moves, and I will wager my coin on the eagle and the bear,' he said, shoving her under the great gert's platform.
Back in the cage the Gochmaster caught hold of Lyla's hands. `Thank you. Thank you for not shooting me. Tomorrow, if we fight each other, I will let you win.'
Lyla pulled her hands free. `We are not going to fight anything tomorrow. We're going to escape.'
18
The Escape
Lyla waited until there were no more bear grunts, wolf whines, wings fluttering or guard's footsteps marching around the platform, then she placed a pinch of the metal-melting powder onto one of the cage's bars. Two more pinches and she and the Gochmaster were free.
Lyla went first and the reluctant Gochmaster tiptoed behind as they made their way up the southern entrance staircase into The Grand Gert. Four lanterns lit up the huge empty gert, sending elongated shadows dancing across the tapestry-covered walls and the golden curtain hanging behind General Tulga's throne.
`Stay behind the drums,' she whispered, then she crept towards the curtain and drew it aside. Sprawled across an enormous couch was the General, still wearing his brocade robe, gold mask, talons and studded boots. Draped over him was the eagle feather, wolf and bear skin cape.
Between Lyla and the black eagle's golden pedestal slept the two black bears.
She held her breath and slipped past the bears, hesitating once with her heart thumping like a drum when one let out a loud snore. On reaching the other side of the couch she saw movement, and froze.
So did whoever or whatever was looking at her. Lyla took a tentative step. So did whoever or whatever. Wishing again that she still had her dagger she edged forward...
And almost crashed into a mirror. Seeing her own frightened face reflected in its surface, she held her breath - and almost laughed at herself - while the disturbed general rolled over. The chained eagle was forced to hop from the pedestal to the couch-head, and the skin and feather cape slipped to the floor.
Lyla moved silently around the mirror to the couch-head.
`Father, I have a powder that can release your wings but I have no dagger to cut through the leather leash to free you. Will I look for the general's sword?'
`There is no time. The Blue Mist is coming. Break the chains and take the talisman. Hurry!'
Lyla sprinkled the powder, and the gold links around the bird's wings dissolved so fast that she just caught the chains before they hit the floor. The general sighed as they clinked together and one of the bears placed its snout in his master's hand.
`Sleep Odiin,' Tulga muttered. `Tomorrow you will feast on messenger and Gochmaster.'
Lyla waited until he settled back into sleep, then the eagle spread its wings so she could pluck out its bluest feather. She turned to make her escape but found the very tall, black-furred Odiin blocking her way. In his huge paws was the general's cape. The bear seemed to be offering it to Lyla.
`Take it,' said her father's voice. `Odiin is no more a bear than I am an eagle, and while you have the cape General Tulga cannot change into a bear, wolf or eagle to hunt you down.'
`Thank you,' Lyla thought to her father, and smiled at Odiin. She clutched the cape and the blue feather, sped across the room, out through the curtain and across the gert to the shivering Gochmaster.
`We have to go. Now,' she whispered.
The cliff edge was a long way away for someone not used to walking and Gochmasters seldom walked. With his strength flagging the Gochmaster stumbled past the Raiders' gerts, the penned animals and the horse stables, all the time fearing his smell would alert them. Finally, as they neared the whispering grass, he sunk to the ground. `I can go no further.'
Grabbing his long arms Lyla hauled him to his feet. `You have to. The Blue Mist is coming. I'll help you to the cliff edge. After that...'
Lyla didn't want to think about after that. Not if the Blue Mist followed them into the cleft or hurled them over the cliff. Now would be a good time to really be able to fly, she thought, as she stuffed the remaining peppermint root into her mouth.
The Blue Mist caught up with them as she was lowering the Gochmaster over the cliff to his first foothold. Part of the mist wound itself around the Gochmaster's wrists, while wispy tendrils, like long blue fingers, wound around her ankle and the General's cape.
`No!' she yelled, pushing the cape over the cliff. It dropped out of sight. She kicked at the Blue Mist which disintegrated then formed again, this time winding around her neck to choke her.
Lyla teetered on the cliff edge and then, still holding on to the Gochmaster, she fell.
The Blue Mist stretched itself into a thin ribbon in its attempt to catch her and the shrieking Gochmaster. But the Blue Mist was unable to leave Table Mountain and they had already fallen out of reach.
Only they weren't actually falling.
Lyla was astounded they weren't droppng like stones, and even the Gochmaster had stopped panicking. While he had been shocked into silence, Lyla was simply amazed.
Although she wasn't flying the way she did in her dreams she was, nonetheless, flying. She was doing what birds did when they floated on an up-wind. She was gliding down on an air current that took the two of them over sleeping Ulaan Town and Ulaan camp and into the Shambala River Gorge.
She was starting to worry about where they would land, when a bigger problem presented itself. Screaming Bulgogi - five of the hairy-bellied creatures were hanging from the swinging bridge.
Just as she saw them, they spied her and the dangling Gochmaster. Their teeth clashed, their wings stretched to full width with a snap, and one by one they dived straight at them.
With her heart pounding Lyla held out her left arm in an attempt to fly, really fly this time, before a Bulgogi sank its claws into her shoulders or snapped her in half with its horrible beak. But she and the Gochmaster continued to fall.
With the river racing up to meet them she barely had time to ask the Gochmaster, `Can you swim?' before a low-swooping Bulgogi caught hold of her hair and all three hit the water with a mighty splash.
As they sank into the river's depths the Bulgogi let go of Lyla and struggled upwards but its heavy wings and hairy body weighed it down and it was
dragged away by the current. Lyla saw it swirl by as she fought to loosen the Gochmaster's grip around her neck.
Long bubbling trails of air left her body as, kicking and struggling, she reached the surface and gulped in air. Overhead the other four Bulgogi flew across the surface of the river, raking it with their extended talons.
Lyla heaved the limp Gochmaster up beside her and allowed the current to push them towards a distant reed-filled bend where the water was shallower. Twice, with her hand over the Gochmaster's mouth so he wouldn't breathe in any water, she let them sink out of sight as a Bulgogi flew too close; and twice she dragged the limp Gochmaster back to the surface, hoping that he was still breathing.
When they finally reached the bend, Lyla pulled the waterlogged Gochmaster in amongst the matted reeds, snapped off two dry stems and stuck one in his mouth and one in her own. Then she pushed him below the muddy water and held him there, while she hung onto the reeds breathing through the stem. Above them the Bulgogi screamed and searched, and screamed again in frustration at not being able to find them.
Lyla was tired and frustrated. If only dawn would come, she thought. If only the Bulgogi would go away. If only the Gochmaster hasn't drowned.
Hours passed before the sky turned the palest of oyster pink and the last Bulgogi flew back to their cages.
Shivering with cold Lyla dragged the Gochmaster up onto the bank where she began pressing on his ribs to force any water out of his lungs. `Press, breathe, count, press, breathe, count,' she muttered, fighting back her tears.
`Don't be stupid,' she scolded herself out loud. `He isn't real. He's not a person. He was becamed.'
But it made no difference. She did not want the ugly little Gochmaster, who had defied General Tulga because he loved his Goch, to die.
With a cough and a grunt the Gochmaster opened his bulging eyes. She was so relieved she wanted to hug him. Instead she growled at him. `You should know how to swim. You almost drowned.'
Sitting up he flexed his long arms, wriggled his feet and grinned at her. `But I didn't. You saved me, Raider messenger. You saved me twice. Once from General Tulga and once from the river. I am your servant forever.'
Legend of the Three Moons Page 19