The Witch's Revenge (5 page)

“Where
is
the study, Bertie?” asked Aldiss impatiently.

“Er … down this corridor, I think,” replied the bird, pointing. With his beak he opened a door that revealed a passage leading to the back of the house. “Follow me!” he called. “This way!”

There was only one door at the other end and it opened into a large, well-lit room with huge arched windows and bookcases covering three walls. Morag noticed what smelled like rotten eggs, but said nothing because she started in surprise. Montgomery was leaning against his oak desk in the middle of the room. He did not seem to hear or see them. He was staring at the ceiling.

“Montgomery?” Morag ventured.

“Excuse me, sir?” tried Bertie.

Montgomery did not respond; he did not even move.

“What's he looking at?” whispered Aldiss.

“There's nothing there,” replied Shona, looking up. “Oh … wait a minute … what's that?”

A dark spot was spreading on the ceiling directly above the wizard. As they watched, it grew into a cone of swirling air, a tornado that spun furiously, scattering all the papers and books from the desk. It seemed to scream at Montgomery but he was rooted to the spot.

“Look out!” cried Morag, her hair whipping around her face. Too late. The tornado exploded and with an audible gulp swallowed the wizard. The last they saw of him were the soles of his shoes disappearing into the vortex. Morag jumped to try to catch him, but just as she did the whirlwind gave out a final groan and disappeared altogether.

“MONTGOMERY!” she screamed.

But there was only silence.

“What
was
that?” Morag wept. “Where did he go?”

“Could it have been one of his experiments?” asked Aldiss.

“Absolutely not,” said Bertie. “He would never try anything that dangerous. In all my years as a trainee wizard I've never seen anything like it.”

“Now what?” said Morag.

There didn't seem anything to say or do but stand and look at each other in total despair.
Now what?
That phrase rattled around Morag's head like a captured wasp in a jar. She looked at each of her friends and saw reflected in their faces the same terrible turmoil that she felt.

“Oooh!” A soft groaning rose from the floor behind the desk. “Ooooh!”

Morag looked at Shona, whose ears were twitching to catch the sound again. “Did you hear that?” said Morag, peering round to the other side of the desk. “It sounded like someone was moaning, but there's no one here.”

“Ooooooooh!”

She got down on her hands and knees and placed her head on the floor to look under the desk. At first, she could see nothing in the tight dark space between the bottom drawer and the rug. Then something glinted at her. She jammed her hand under and reached for it.

“Nnnggeuh! Can't … quite … reach it!”

The back of her hand screamed with pain as she shoved it further under, fingers outstretched. The tips just touched a smooth, shiny thing and with a nail, she drew it toward her. She pulled out a long chain with a large gold medallion at the end of it.

“Henry!” she cried happily.

“What were you doing down there?” asked Aldiss.

“Aren't you normally around Montgomery's neck?” asked Bertie.

“Do you know what's happened to him?” asked Shona.

The face on the medallion flinched at all their questions and his little eyes remained closed. “Will you all stop shouting at me for a moment and give me time to recover?” Henry snapped. “I have a terrible headache. For goodness' sake, be quiet, will you?” Everyone held their breath. At last Henry opened his eyes and looked around. “Did you see
what happened?” he said, addressing Morag. She took a breath before explaining how they had found Montgomery motionless before he was swept into the whirlwind.

“There was nothing we could do,” she added.

“A whirlwind?” said the medallion, face set in concentration. “The last I remember was that I was round Montgomery's neck. We were looking through an old spell book together. Monty wanted my opinion on something he had found there. Then we heard something odd—”

“What did you hear?” asked the dragon.

“Well, if you'll let me talk, I'll tell you,” replied Henry irritably. “It was a strange barking laugh. It came from the ceiling. And when we looked up there was a blinding flash and Montgomery stopped moving. It felt like they used some sort of immobilizing spell. That would certainly explain the flash.…”

“They?” Bertie asked. “There was more than one?”

“I never actually saw anyone, but I'm assuming it wasn't just a single person. Things happened so quickly.” He paused to reflect.

“So if they froze Montgomery, how did you get away?” the rat asked. “Why weren't you affected by the spell?”

“It takes a lot to catch me out,” said the medallion haughtily. “As soon as I realized what was happening, I unfastened myself and dropped. Just as well, because it just missed me.”

“It?” Bertie asked.

“Whatever it was that took him! Pay attention, bird, will you? You're obviously losing the thread of what I'm trying
to tell you!” growled Henry. “I didn't see what it was, I was too busy escaping. I must have been knocked out when I rolled under the desk because I don't remember anything else until just now.”

“So you left Montgomery to face it on his own?” said Morag quietly. There was a silence as everyone took this in. The medallion suddenly seemed uncomfortable.

“Well, I w-wouldn't put it
exactly
l-like that …,” he stuttered. He looked away, unable to meet her gaze. “I thought I'd be more help to him here than wherever they were taking him.”

Morag sighed deeply. “You mean you were too busy saving yourself to help him,” she said coldly. She pursed her lips, trying hard to keep the anger out of her voice. “You might have been able to help him escape or … or … or at least keep him company so that he wouldn't feel frightened and alone,” she added, remembering when she had been taken to Murst as a slave two months before. Henry had been with her then and she had been very grateful for his friendship.

“I didn't think,” the medallion admitted, “I just reacted.”

Morag snorted in disgust as the others looked away.

“Let's not get upset,” said Shona, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Standing around here arguing is not going to bring Montgomery back. We must search for clues. Let's do everything we can to find out who did this and why.”

“What do you suggest?” asked Bertie, flapping his wings in agitation.

“We need a rescue plan,” said Morag quickly.

Sitting on the leather chairs, the friends were able to establish three definite facts: Morag had been having recurring dreams about a ghost from Murst; Mina's tooth had been stolen and they believed a Klapp demon—a creature found only on Murst—was involved; and someone had kidnapped Montgomery from his own home.

It was obvious where they should start looking, for two of the three had links to the DarkIsle, Murst.

“What if all three are somehow connected?” Morag suggested.

“That would make sense,” said Bertie, and he told them about all the objects that had vanished from the human museums recently. “On their own they may not seem significant, but if brought together they
could
be used for magical purposes. What I can't understand is why they also took Montgomery. What use is he to them?”

“Maybe they need someone to cast a special spell?” suggested the rat.

“Don't be so stupid, rodent!” snapped Henry. “They must have used extremely powerful magic to get through the protection of the Eye in the first place. No mere novice witch or wizard could ever hope to achieve that. No, whoever has taken him must be very accomplished in magic.”

“Maybe they are going to hold him for ransom?” said Shona.

“But why?” Morag replied. “What's unique about Montgomery, apart from his being in charge of the WWWC?”

They looked at each other, but no one could come up with anything.

“He was here at the beginning,” Henry said quietly. “Maybe that has something to do with it.”

“At the beginning of what?” asked Morag.

“He is the last of the ancient Founders of Marnoch Mor,” the medallion told the astonished friends.

“B-but that was three hundred and fifty years ago!” Bertie spluttered. “Montgomery can't be more than about thirty-five. He's too young to have been one of the Founders.”

“He's three hundred and sixty-five years old,” said the medallion. “He doesn't like people to know in case they treat him differently.”

“But how is that possible? No one else from that time has survived,” said a puzzled Morag.

“He has a unique connection to the Eye of Lornish,” explained Henry. “It keeps him alive. He keeps it alive. One cannot do without the other for long.”

“Why didn't we know about this before?” Shona demanded.

The medallion's lips pursed and he frowned.

“It's hardly the type of thing one broadcasts to the whole world, is it?” he said crossly. “If the information got into the wrong hands, someone might try to kill him or take the Eye. Marnoch Mor would always be vulnerable to attack, its streets would crumble and its people would die.”

“But someone
did
take the Eye,” Morag blurted out. “We got it back, remember?”

“Yes, and why do you think Montgomery was so keen to
get it back that time? It was because the whole future of this kingdom—and his life—depended on it.”

“Oh my goodness!” yelped Aldiss. “What you're saying is now that Montgomery is gone, it's not just his life that's in danger, but …”

“Marnoch Mor as well!” Morag finished. “If we don't find him soon, the whole of Marnoch Mor will be destroyed.”

There was nothing else for it: they would have to return to Murst, a prospect none of them were relishing.

Bertie, knowing that they didn't have any solid evidence that the folk of the DarkIsle were involved, argued against it, but he was swiftly talked down by Morag and Shona. They were convinced that the answers about the wizard's disappearance, the theft of the tooth and Morag's nightmares would all be found on the island.

“We don't have any other leads, Bertie,” said Morag.

The dodo eventually accepted this and agreed to go, but how were they going to get there? It wasn't like Murst was just next door. The island was hundreds of miles off the mainland and invisible to all but those who had been there.

“Let's get to the sea first,” suggested Morag.

“There are buses parked at the gates,” Aldiss put in. “It'll
be quicker over land to Oban, and from there we can get Kyle the Fisherman to ferry us out to Murst again.”

“We can't hang around,” said Morag, placing Henry and his chain around her neck. “Come on, let's go!”

She rushed toward the door, expecting everyone to follow, but was stopped in her tracks by Henry. “Just a minute!” he shouted. “There's a quicker way of getting to the gates than going through the town.”

Morag held Henry up to look at him. “There is?”

“Only Montgomery and I know about it,” he said imperiously. “So this is top-secret. You must never tell anyone else. Do you all understand?” He looked around to see the nodding heads of the dragon, the rat and the dodo. “Morag, do you promise never to tell?”

“Of course I do. Just get us there so we can leave as soon as possible.”

“Now, I want you to take me back to the desk,” the medallion instructed. “Do you see that little statuette of the goddess Athena? Yes, that one. Pull it toward you.”

Morag, who hadn't noticed the little marble figurine before, placed her fingers on its head and flipped it toward her. There was a swoosh, and they spun round. A large trapdoor had opened in the floor below the windows, revealing the unnerving darkness of an underground passageway.

“This will take us down to the river!” said Henry gleefully. “No time to waste gawping.”

Without another word, Morag rushed over to see a stone stairwell leading into the gloom. Urged on by the medallion, the girl began to descend.

“Did he say
river
?” said Aldiss, shivering as he followed Bertie.

“I think so,” the bird replied, carefully negotiating his claws on the cold hard steps.

“Does that mean there's water involved?” the rat could be heard saying as he disappeared into the inky blackness. His squeaky words echoed back up to the study. There was an audible sigh from the bird, and their words became more distant and muffled.

“Wait for me!” called Shona, bounding over to the hole in the floor. She peered down nervously. The stairs seemed steep for a dragon of her size and there was no light. She crawled down the steps, her long green tail winding down after her. With a small
shoom
, the trapdoor closed behind her, plunging them all into total darkness.

The friends stumbled and stalled on the way down, unable to see where they were going. There were many cries of “Ouch!” and “Get off my tail, will you?” before they reached the bottom. With her hand on the cold stone wall, Morag encouraged the others along a passageway.

At last, they saw a ray of light ahead. It grew as they walked toward it until they could see quite clearly. It was a doorway into another chamber, a doorway that was glowing with a bright green light. Morag approached it and found that magical-looking symbols had been expertly etched into it.

“These are amazing. What do they mean?” she asked Henry, tracing the markings with her fingers.

“How should I know?” The medallion snorted. “I can't
know everything! Open the door, will you, I'm not enjoying this darkness.”