Alfie Bloom and the Talisman Thief (5 page)

“He's got a point,” said Robin. “I know the portal is sealed, but we should be ready to protect
ourselves
– just in case. Think. You saw them at Caspian's offices. Is there anything you remember?”

Alfie thought hard and remembered how the elves had screamed in pain when the armour in Caspian's offices had grabbed their wrists. “Iron! It burns them or something.”

“Of course!” said Amy. “That must be why Caspian had those little blokes ring the tree with iron.”

“Robin, do you remember Granny's stories?” said Madeleine suddenly. “When we were little she told us she always keeps a cat in the house and an iron poker by the door…”

“…In case the Fair Folk come calling,” finished Robin, his eyes wide. “Do you think she was talking about elves? She couldn't really know something about them, could she?”

“Let's ask her tomorrow,” said Alfie.

“Hey, look at this.” Amy had been investigating the harpsichord and had found something. “I was wondering why some of the keys wouldn't work. This was hidden under the lid.” She handed Alfie a curved black mirror in a round copper frame. It was about the size of a large saucer.

“I was wondering where Orin left that,” grinned Artan. “Give it a go.”

Alfie
stared into the mirror, and a distorted reflection with a huge nose stared back at him.

“It's not a very good mirror,” said Madeleine, polishing the surface with her sleeve. They took turns to look into it until Alfie's stomach broke the silence with a loud grumble.

“All right, calm down. It wasn't that funny!” he said as the others fell about laughing. “Let's go and see if Dad needs a hand in the kitchen.”

“Alfie, the mirror!” cried Robin. Alfie looked at the curved disc in his hands and nearly dropped it in astonishment. In the glossy surface he could see a room with a little figure running frantically backwards and forwards.

“Let me look,” said Madeleine, pulling at the mirror. The second it left Alfie's hands the image disappeared.

“Look what you did!” snapped Robin. “Why do you have to be so grabby?” He handed the mirror back to Alfie. “See if you can do it again.”

Alfie stared down at it. “I don't know how it works. I just said ‘let's go and see if Dad needs a hand in the kitchen—'” The mirror flickered to life again. “It's Dad!” he cried. They all watched as Alfie's dad soaked a tea towel in water before running back to throw it over a flaming pan.

“
What is this thing?” Alfie asked Artan, who was enjoying watching their puzzlement.

“Orin's scrying glass. It was always handy for seeing who was at the door. Just tell it the room you want to see – it works for anywhere within the castle's walls, even the courtyard and gardens.”

“Try another room,” said Madeleine eagerly.

“OK, how about my bedroom?” The surface flickered and reflected a fisheye view of Alfie's room.

“Nice boxers, Al,” laughed Amy.

Alfie went bright red and mentally kicked himself for leaving yesterday's underwear on his bedroom floor. “The Great Hall, the Great Hall!” he shouted quickly.

They spent half an hour viewing all of the rooms that they knew of in the castle, even making up names of rooms to see if they existed.

Alfie took the scrying glass and the caged mouse to his bedroom before they went down to dinner. The mouse sat quietly in the cage, front paws wrapped around the bars.

“It's like it's watching us,” said Robin.

Alfie's dad met them on the stairs, his face red and sweaty and his hair sticking up more than usual. “Dinner is served!” he panted. “I've set
out
the table in the courtyard. Thought I'd let the castle … er … air out for a while.”

Alfie was very glad that they were eating outside as a fog of burnt cheese seemed to be creeping into every corner of the castle. They trooped into the courtyard garden where plates and cutlery had been set out on the stone picnic table. He wondered if another reason they were eating out here was to keep an eye on the oak tree. He could understand his dad being worried. The fact that their home had been invaded in the middle of the night was terrifying. His dad seemed to be avoiding mention of Ashford.

“Ace lasagne, Mr B!” said Amy as she tucked in. Alfie was sure she was just being polite, but his dad seemed to swell with the praise.

The layers of sauce and cheese in the lasagne were separated with slices of toast. Alfie realized that his dad must have forgotten to buy pasta sheets. He sometimes wondered if his dad deliberately forgot ingredients to turn the preparation of a meal into one of his experiments.

“How's Lizzie?” Alfie's dad asked Amy as they ate. Alfie knew that Amy's gran loved working in her tea rooms and rarely took a holiday, so it must have been a very nasty illness to slow her down.

“
Getting over the infection,” said Amy. “But she asked if I could stay on until the end of the holidays. She said she has some stuff to sort out at the tea rooms.”

“That's fine with me, but we'd understand if you'd prefer to stay on the farm with the twins after last night.”

“Yeah!” said Madeleine immediately. “You could share my room.”

“Cheers, Mads, but nothing could put me off staying in a castle,” said Amy quickly.

“Leave those, Dad, we'll do them,” said Alfie as his dad began to clear away the plates.

“Thanks, Alfie. I'm going to bed before I fall asleep right here. As it's the holidays you can stay up for another couple of hours, but make sure you use the security switch, and promise me none of you will go out into the courtyard.”

“We promise,” said Alfie.

“What's the security switch?” asked Amy after Alfie's dad had gone off to bed.

“Muninn and Bone had it fitted after Murkle and Snitch nearly tore the Great Hall apart before Christmas.” Alfie led the way to a brass switch on the wall near the main castle doors. “Flick it.”

Amy flicked the switch and a strange chorus of
clinking
chains, sliding bolts and hissing pistons rang through the castle as the front doors bolted shut and iron grates rattled down in front of the stained-glass windows. The chandeliers and torches on the walls flared to life in the sudden darkness.

“Cool!” said Amy. “I can't see any elves getting past that.”

“Yeah,” said Alfie. “I just wish we'd used it last night.”

“Don't beat yourself up, Al,” said Amy. “Caspian's an arrogant jerk, but I bet he'll get Ashford back.”

Alfie wished he shared her confidence. His fingernails dug into his palms as he thought about how much worse things could have been the night before. If only he'd used the security switch when he got back with Artan, Ashford would still be with them.

The Change Magic

Alfie woke abruptly from yet another nightmare about turning into a dragon. Something was brushing his face. He sat up quickly, dislodging Galileo from his chest, and patted himself down to check that his body was still human. The cat's tail was swishing from side to side as he watched the mouse in its cage on Alfie's desk.

“Wha-issit?” said Robin blearily from his inflatable mattress on the floor. Madeleine and Amy were sharing a room too. There were enough bedrooms for everyone several times over, but none of them felt like being alone after what had happened to Ashford.

“
It's just Galileo,” said Alfie, getting up and grabbing the cat. “He's obsessed with that mouse. I'm going to put him out.”

“OK,” said Robin, checking his watch. With the shutters down it was impossible to get an idea of the time. “It's seven o'clock. We might as well open up the shutters and let the mouse go. It looks fine now.”

Alfie looked into the cage. The mouse was running in circles, squeaking agitatedly. It stopped as he approached and stood on its back legs to look up at him. It did look as though Galileo hadn't done any damage. He put the wriggling cat down on the floor, where it prowled around his ankles, looking hopefully up at the cage.

“Not for you!” said Alfie, wagging his finger. He picked up the cage. If he released the mouse in the courtyard and kept Galileo shut up for the day it would have time to get back to wherever it belonged.

Galileo let out a hopeful yowl as Alfie carefully carried the cage across the room. “No, you're staying in here,” he said, nudging the cat back with his foot as he opened the door. “Robin, would you catch him?”

“OK,” yawned Robin. “Here, fella.” Galileo
hissed
as Robin tried to grab him and clawed his way up Alfie's leg to swat at the cage.

“Ow!” cried Alfie, holding the cage out of the cat's reach. “Robin, get him off me!”

“I'm trying!” said Robin. Alfie felt the cat's claws rake his leg as Robin pulled the spitting creature off him. What had got into him?

Between the two of them, they managed to shut Galileo in the bedroom, and then they took the cage downstairs. The sunlight that flooded the dark entrance hall as Alfie flicked the security switch made him blink painfully. Several of Caspian's ravens were patrolling the castle walls, so Alfie released the mouse into the long grass across the drawbridge. The ravens watched it hungrily but stayed at their posts as it scurried away down the hill.

For breakfast, Alfie's dad reheated the remainder of the soggy lasagne, and prepared prunes, bran flakes and custard to follow.

“Tuck in. Got to keep yourselves regular!” he announced. Alfie nearly choked on a prune stone in his embarrassment.

The phone rang as they were washing the dishes. Alfie rushed to answer it. A slightly flustered-sounding Emily Fortune was on the other end.

“
Alfie!” she exclaimed. “Is Ashford there?”

“What do you mean?” asked Alfie. “How could he be here?”

“We received a message this morning. They released him last night.” She sounded a little concerned. “I thought he'd be there by now, but I suppose it depends on the gateway they used to send him back.”

“Caspian did it? Ashford's free? I don't have to give up the talisman?” Alfie could hardly believe it.

“They said that they didn't want to break the peace between our worlds,” said Emily.

“That meeting with Caspian must have scared the Queen into giving Ashford back,” said Alfie, thinking of the iron knights. He wondered what other resources Caspian had up his sleeve.

“Maybe. I just never would have thought she'd be so … so reasonable.”

“This is great news though, isn't it?” said Alfie, wondering why Emily wasn't dancing around the room when he was tempted to do so himself.

“Yes. Yes, I'm sure it is,” said Emily, finally allowing herself to let out a little laugh. “It's the best news. He's coming home!”

Alfie let out a whoop of joy that made everyone rush out from the kitchen.

“
They let Ashford go!” he told them. Amy and the twins hugged each other and such a look of relief ran over Alfie's dad's face, revealing just how worried he had really been.

“Alfie, would you mind if I pay you a visit?” asked Emily. “I'd like to be there when Ashford gets back.”

“Of course,” said Alfie, putting his hand over his free ear to block out the questions the others were shouting as he strained to hear what Emily was saying. “OK, see you this afternoon.”

The castle and everyone in it seemed much more cheerful in the light of Ashford's release. Madeleine had gone back to the farm to help Granny with the sheep shearing, but made Alfie promise to call as soon as Ashford was home. Robin had been talking excitedly to Alfie's dad over breakfast about an idea he had for some sort of security device, should the elves ever return. The two of them disappeared into the workshop, where Alfie's dad had recently set up a small forge, to explore the idea.

Amy had promised her gran that she wouldn't leave her maths homework to the last minute, and went up to her room after lunch to catch up with it. Alfie had plenty of his own homework left to do but killed time batting Amy's baseball around
the
courtyard garden as he waited for Emily to arrive.

At around two o'clock he heard a car coming up the hill. He had been keeping an eye on the skies for a flying coach so was surprised when a white vintage sports car drove over the drawbridge. The roof was down and Emily waved at him as she pulled into the courtyard.

“Alfie!” she got out of the car and kissed him on both cheeks before untying her headscarf and shaking her long, dark hair free.

“You can drive?” said Alfie, feeling silly for asking even as he said it.

“We don't use the coaches during the day if we can help it,” laughed Emily. “Besides, this is my day off.” She held out her elbow to him. “Shall we?”

“Er, OK.” Alfie hooked his arm through hers and she practically skipped into the castle alongside him. He found himself being dragged along behind as she twirled from room to room.