Glasruhen Gate (7 page)

Jack hopped back in front of the well when he’d finished pecking two holes into the hardened mud. It looked as if Agye was wearing a mask but at least she didn’t transfix him again.

‘Come on,’ said Camelin. ‘Let’s go and find ourselves a Dorysk.’

‘What’s a Dorysk?’ asked Jack.

Camelin tutted loudly, ‘Don’t you know anything?’

They took off in the direction of Newton Gill. As they left, Grol and Agye were still grumbling. After a while, the only sound in the night was the flapping and fluttering of wings.

‘Thank you,’ Jack said after his legs had stopped trembling. ‘It was lucky you two came along when you did.’

Camelin humphed and gave the bats a glower.

‘I don’t think luck has much to do with it. We were followed, weren’t we?’

‘You said we could go on an adventure with you, and we wanted to find out what you were up to,’ Timmery replied.

‘We thought we could look for Norris and Snook at the same time,’ continued Charkle. ‘Maybe we could ask the Dorysk if it knows where any Dragonettes have been seen lately. That’s if you catch one.’

‘What d’you mean, if I catch one! I’ll have you know I can spot a Dorysk no matter how hard it tries to disguise itself, but they’ll only answer one question. You’ll have to catch your own if you want to ask about your family. And make sure you have something to trade or you’ll not get an answer at all.’

‘Would someone please tell me what a Dorysk is?’

They all looked at Jack. Camelin sighed.

‘Dorysks are a bit like Bogies, they spy and trade information. Unlike Bogies they can shape shift, but only into something about the same size or smaller, nothing bigger.’

‘Do they like shiny things like water nymphs?’

‘They’ll trade for anything that takes their fancy but they mainly they like sharp things, like pins. Some of them are pin millionaires.’

Jack had no idea why anyone would want a million pins. He wondered how big a Dorysk was and hoped it was going to be friendly.

‘What’s Nora going to say when she finds out where we’ve been and what happened?’

Camelin looked at them all in turn.

‘Nora isn’t going to find out, is she? No one breathes a word. Promise?’

‘Promise,’ they agreed.

‘It’ll be our secret,’ piped Timmery.

‘Yes, a secret,’ agreed Camelin.

‘So what does a Dorysk look like?’ continued Jack.

‘Depends what shape it’s in. Don’t know why I didn’t think of a Dorysk, I should have gone hunting for one before. We’d have had the cauldron remade by now. The problem is, they’re not very easy to catch.’

Jack didn’t ask any more questions. He was worried about getting back to Grandad’s, it must be late by now and he’d got to get up in the morning for school. He didn’t like to ask how long it would take to find a Dorysk.

They were at the edge of Newton Gill Forest when Camelin started to descend. He made his way towards what used to be an ash tree. Its leafless branches were rotten and creaked as they landed.

‘What do we do now?’ asked Jack.

‘Act suspicious, do something unusual. That will always bring a Dorysk out. They’re even nosier than Bogies.’

‘Couldn’t we go back now? Nora’s going to find out you know, the trees will tell her.’

‘Not these. Don’t you remember, dead wood don’t talk? The only thing the trees and Nora are talking about at the moment is Arrana. She hasn’t got time for tittle-tattle, she’s too busy worrying.’

Jack was worried too. He knew time was running out. They all sat on the branch, no one moved and no one did anything unusual. Jack wondered if they were going to be there all night, and then Camelin started his shuffle dance. Jack decided to join in. Unfortunately, the branch wasn’t strong enough to support a lot of bouncing up and down. There was a loud crack that echoed round the forest; then the branch came down. No one was hurt but it sent all the creatures on the ground scurrying away, except for one.

‘Got you!’ cried Camelin as he grabbed a large beetle in his claw.

‘Let me go you big bully,’ a small voice replied.

‘I’m not a bully. I’m just good at catching Dorysks.’

‘Alright, you recognised me. You get to ask your question.’

Camelin released the beetle. In a flash it shape shifted into what looked like a large hedgehog. It had prickles all over its body except for its face. On the end of its nose was a small pair of glasses. It shuffled and snuffled around Jack’s feet, until eventually, it sat on its haunches and sighed before speaking.

‘Let’s get down to business then.’

‘Business!’ exclaimed Jack.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Camelin as he stepped in front of Jack. ‘I’m in charge here.’

There was a tittering from Timmery and Charkle, which Camelin chose to ignore.

‘What have you got to trade?’

‘We didn’t come to trade, we’re visiting. Jack’s new to the area and I’m showing him around.’

‘So why’d you catch me?’

‘I wanted Jack to meet the most knowledgeable Dorysk in the West.’

‘Only the West? I think you’ll find I’m the most well informed Dorysk in the whole kingdom.’

‘I told you he was famous,’ Camelin said as he turned to Jack.

‘If you’re visiting, where’ve you been?’

‘Uriel’s well.’

The bats and Jack nodded. The Dorysk looked shocked.

‘Uriel’s well! No one goes there!’

‘Jack hadn’t seen gargoyles before, I told you he’s visiting. We’re off to see Coriss next.’

‘At the Mere Pool?’

‘Yes, at the Mere Pool. Now we really must be going, we’ve got a lot of other places to go to before daybreak.’

The Dorysk looked thoughtful. It ran its sharp claws through the dead leaves, found a maggot, flipped it in the air and gulped it down.

‘Care for one?’ he asked Jack.

‘No thank you. We ate before we came out and we really need to be going now.’

‘No matter,’ the Dorysk replied as he dug out another maggot. ‘I’m sure we’ll meet again another time.’

‘You were brilliant,’ Jack told Camelin once they were airborne.

‘They’re not very clever, you know, not as clever as ravens.’

‘Do you think he realised you’d tricked him?’

‘Naw, he’ll be tucking into those maggots now and won’t give us another thought. Come on, we’d better get you back to your room.’

Timmery and Charkle said goodnight when they reached Grandad’s house.

‘Let us know when you’re off out again, we’d like to come with you,’ piped Timmery.

‘Maybe you could come and help us search for my brothers,’ added Charkle.

‘Once the cauldron is remade and everything’s been sorted out we’ll come and help you, won’t we Camelin?’ said Jack.

Camelin grumbled to himself.

‘We will,’ Jack assured Charkle. ‘I’ve got to go now or I’ll never get up in the morning.’

‘See you after school then,’ said Camelin once Jack had transformed and was in his pyjamas.

Jack yawned, but before he could answer, Camelin was gone. Once Jack was in bed Orin came and lay down next to him on the pillow. She said something, but Jack was too sleepy to go and find his wand.

‘It’s been quite a night,’ he told her. ‘I don’t think I’ll be going on any more night flights but at least we know where Coriss is now. I’ll tell you all about it in the morning.’

Jack closed his eyes. He couldn’t keep them open any longer.

THE MERE POOL

Jack could hear Grandad calling him from downstairs. He forced his eyes open but they promptly closed again. Orin nudged his ear with her nose, but even though he knew she was hungry, and wanted her breakfast, he couldn’t get out of bed.

The knock on his bedroom door meant he must have fallen asleep again.

‘Jack, are you up? If you don’t get a move on you’ll be late.’

‘Won’t be long,’ Jack replied as he swung his feet out of bed.

The next half hour was frantic as Jack washed, dressed, fed Orin and bolted his breakfast. By the time he got to school he felt exhausted. He didn’t remember much about any of the morning lessons, he’d dozed through most of them. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice.

At lunchtime, Jack got permission to use the library. He found a quiet corner and got out his Book of Shadows. He hoped there’d be a message waiting for him and wasn’t disappointed. He waited eagerly for the words to appear:

dont tell Nora or Elan you no abowt the

dont for get it’s a see kret

Jack laughed when he’d read Camelin’s message. He wondered if he could magic a spell checker into Camelin’s book for him. He was about to write back when another message appeared:

We know where Coriss is.
Camelin caught a Dorysk last night and found out for us.
Nora and I have thought of a special gift for her,
one she won’t be able to resist.

Jack looked around to see if anyone was watching before he took his wand and answered both messages. To Camelin he wrote:

I won’t forget.

And to Elan:

What’s a Dorysk?

He wondered if he might learn any more from her, but she told him to look in his Book of Shadows and said Camelin would tell him all about it on the way to the Mere Pool later.

The afternoon went quickly. Jack felt fine by the time he met Elan, and they were soon on their way to see Coriss. Jack looked over the seat into the back of the car. The picnic basket was there, along with the wrapped cauldron plate and another package about the same shape and size as the base plate of the cauldron.

‘Has Camelin flown on ahead?’

‘In here,’ came a muffled reply from the picnic basket.

‘He’s been very quiet in there,’ said Nora. ‘I think he’s crumb hunting!’

‘So where are we going?’

‘Camelin will tell you all about his meeting with the Dorysk. He was really lucky to find one, they’re masters of disguise and very hard to catch,’ explained Elan.

‘It wasn’t easy. I was out for hours scouring the countryside.’

‘You’ll never believe what happened. He tricked the Dorysk into telling him where to find Coriss,’ added Elan.

‘I’m telling Jack, not you. Can I come out now?’

Camelin lifted one of the flaps and poked his head out. Jack held it open so he could hop out.

‘Are we going far?’

‘Naw, it’s just the other side of Beconbury. We’ll be there in no time.’

Camelin was right. It wasn’t long before Nora turned off the main road into a small country lane and then into a car park. Instead of parking near the other cars, Nora drove towards the opposite end before switching the engine off. They were next to a low stile. A damaged signpost indicated the way to the Mere Pool. Not far away, Jack could see small boats bobbing around on a lake. Several sailing dinghies with brightly coloured sails sped through the water.

‘Ready?’ asked Nora as she picked up the cauldron plate and passed the other package to Jack.

‘Ready,’ they replied.

‘I presume we’re going somewhere a bit quieter,’ said Jack.

‘We are,’ agreed Nora. ‘Camelin will show us the way.’

The Mere Pool was secluded and overgrown. It was surrounded by tall slender trees whose leaves quivered in the gentle breeze. The water in the pool was still, apart from an occasional ripple moving across the surface. It looked deep and forbidding, Jack was glad he wasn’t alone.

Nora stopped by the water’s edge. Instead of kneeling down and putting her lips to the water she took a heavy coin from her pocket and flipped it into the pool.

‘That should bring her up,’ she laughed. ‘I doubt anyone’s thrown a Roman coin in there for a while.’

Nothing happened. Jack began to wonder if the Dorysk had played his own trick on them and given them the wrong information. Maybe the coin Nora had thrown in wasn’t acceptable, it was quite dull.

‘I thought nymphs liked shiny things?’

‘They do but we need to tempt her out. She’ll want to know who’s throwing dirty coins in her pool. She’ll be up soon,’ explained Nora.

‘She’s got a worse temper than Jennet,’ added Elan. ‘If she thinks we’re desperate for something she won’t let us have it. It’s really going to depend on how much she likes the gift we’ve brought. I’m hoping she’ll think it’s so special that she’ll let us have the cauldron plates without too much bother.’

Jack was worried. If this was the same nymph he’d seen in the spring at Viroconium she wasn’t going to want to chat like Myryl. He hoped she liked the gift. After all, he was the one who had to offer it to her.

‘What if she doesn’t like it or she’s got one already? She must have thousands of shiny things down there after all these years.’

‘She will have,’ agreed Nora. ‘But I’m sure what we’ve brought will be the best gift she’s ever had.’

Jack got a shock when Coriss finally decided to surface. He’d only seen nymphs rising from small springs or wells before. This time was different. Surrounded by a mass of bubbles, Coriss used the whole pool. The water began to swirl and spiral downwards, and a black hole appeared in the centre, out of which, a sword began to rise. The last time Jack had seen that sword, the Camp Prefect of Viroconium had been holding it in his hand. Now, pale green fingers gripped the hilt tightly. A faded red plume came into view – a little the worse for wear and with quite a lot of weed attached to it.

‘It’s her!’ Jack gasped.

He was amazed to see she was wearing the fish scaled armour he’d also seen on the Prefect. It looked strange to see her pale green skin underneath it instead of a red tunic. There was no doubt in his mind. They’d found the nymph he’d mistaken for Jennet at Viroconium.

‘AVE!’ Coriss shouted as she made a fist with her free hand and beat it on her armour. ‘Who comes here disturbing my peace?’

She pulled something out of the plume of her helmet and flipped it towards Nora.

‘I don’t take kindly to people throwing worthless things into my pool. If you’ve come for something, speak out, and it had better be worth my while.’

The coin rolled to a stop at Nora’s feet. Instead of picking it up Nora smiled before slightly bowing her head.

‘What marvellous armour and such amazing weaponry. Very impressive!’

Coriss straightened and thrust her shoulders back before bowing back.

‘It’s a matching set. The most magnificent gift I’ve ever had. Never had another gift like it, don’t expect I ever will.’

‘Is it Roman?’ asked Nora.

‘And why would you want to know that?’

‘We’ve been searching the land for the nymph who once lived in the spring at Viroconium. Many years ago she was given some armour as a gift.’

‘And why would anyone be wanting such a nymph?’

‘We have sworn to search until we find her. We have something belonging to that nymph, and she has something which belongs to us. We would like to undertake an exchange.’

Coriss looked thoughtful. Nora stood to one side so Jack could step forward.

‘Do you remember this boy?’

Coriss sniffed the air and looked intently at Jack.

Nora patted him encouragingly on the back.

‘I gave you three cauldron plates the night you acquired your armour, could I have them back please?’

‘In exchange for what? I don’t give things back unless I’m offered something much better in return. And even then it depends. I might not want to exchange.’

Nora signalled to Jack to unwrap the circular package.

Coriss thrust her head forward, sniffed the air, then reached for the gift, but Nora took it from Jack and held it high so the sunlight glinted on its surface. Jack could see it was a hubcap from a car. In the centre were the letters VW.

‘A shield,’ shrieked Coriss. ‘Oh how magnificent! But what do the letters mean?’

‘They have a very important meaning. They stand for
Viroconium Warrior
. Only the most noble and distinguished may bear this shield.’