Legend of the Three Moons (30 page)

`Allow me to introduce myself,' said the tall blonde Rider in the front. `I am Lord Orion, and these are my companions. What are your names?'

`I am Princess Lyla. This is Princess Celeste, Prince Lem, Prince Chad and Prince Swift, and we are going to M'dgassy to break the High Enchanter's enchantment over our royal parents.'

Lord Orion nodded. `Correct. But time is short. Princess Lyla and Princess Celeste will ride behind those two Lady Riders. Prince Chad and Prince Swift will ride behind those nobles, and Prince Lem and his dog will ride behind me. Hold on tightly, our horses gallop as fast as the wind and if you fall off we will be long gone before we notice.'

`How do you know Princess Elle?' asked Lem, after Lord Orion had swung him and Nutty up behind him.

`I asked for her hand in marriage during her 18th birthday celebrations. Alas she refused me.'

`She refused everyone,' Lem shouted, as the hills on either side of their Wind Horse suddenly became a green blur. `She wanted to study Extreme Magic.'

`I know that now.' Lord Orion turned and his blue eyes twinkled at Lem. `But I was eighteen then, and it broke my heart. A young man's heart is a fragile thing as you will soon discover, if a wef doesn't get you first.'

`What's a wef?'

`A mournful, homeless thing summoned from the bowels of the earth by the High Enchanter!' shouted Lord Orion, as they passed what Lem guessed was Babylon Forest. `If a wef touches you, it will freeze your heart and you will die.'

`Is there any magic that can stop them?'

Lord Orion's long blonde hair whipped across Lem's face as he shook his head. `No more than there is magic to stop the High Enchanter.'

Suddenly an enormous tremor rocked the hill they were galloping up and their Wind Horse stumbled. Righting itself, the horse sped on as a hail-filled wind bombarded them with knuckle-sized lumps of ice.

`Cover yourself and your dog with my cape. The wefs are coming!' shouted Lord Orion.

The hailstones grew larger, and the wounds they inflicted on the Wind Horses' rumps, legs and heads were awful to see. When huge cracks appeared beneath the Wind Horses' silver hooves they leapt over them, and kept on galloping.

Hidden beneath the large capes, the children clung to their Riders as the Wind Horse Clan became invisible to all but the pursuing wefs.

And those ghostlike creatures surrounded them, poking and prodding and scratching with their icicle fingernails. They stretched out their gaunt, fleshless arms and their claws raked at the Riders' exposed faces. They ripped chunks of mane and tail from the Wind Horses and tossed the long hair into the wind like skeins of knotted silk.

Morning became afternoon and still they galloped; first west then north, with the wefs - bloody-fingered and bloody-mouthed - attacking all the way.

`Where are we?' Lyla asked.

`Far from our last Oom,' her Lady Rider called back. `Straight ahead is Mussel Cove Road, and to the right is the cliff track to Wartstoe Village. We will take Snake Tree Wood, the route to the left.'

`Is it night?' asked Lyla, recalling how the snake trees changed at night. She lifted the Lady Rider's cape to take a look and was immediately stabbed in the eye by a wef's icy finger.

`Ah, my face is frozen,' she screamed, covering her frost-burnt eye.

`Lean against my back. My warmth will help thaw you. Do not let the cold reach your heart!'

Lyla did as she was told and pressed her frozen eye against the Lady Rider's back.

In front of them galloped Lord Orion with Lem, whose heel had been jabbed by a wef. If it hadn't been for the warmth of Nutty on his thigh, the numbing cold would have travelled up and reached his heart.

Beside Lyla galloped the two nobles with Chad and Swift, and the second Lady Rider with Celeste, all three covered by white leather capes.

Behind them rode the rest of the Wind Horse Clan, wielding the silver swords as they battled the wefs.

With their view obscured by the capes, the children could only imagine their progress, but their Riders told them when they had passed through Snake Tree Forest, and when they approached Abel Penny's bridge.

As the many hooves echoed over the bridge's stone arch and then onto the dirt of the narrow path through the Royal Wood, Lyla knew they were almost home.

`Do you know where the palace moon dial is?'

`I do, and we have arrived,' replied her Lady Rider, reigning her Wind Horse to a halt beside Lord Orion.

`Quick!' shouted Lord Orion. `Run to the moon dial. The eclipse is starting. We will fight off the wefs.'

The children slid to the ground and ran towards the moon dial, as the Wind Horse Riders formed a barrier between them and the hysterical wefs.

Celeste held her hand out for Lem who, with Nutty under his arm, had to limp on his half-frozen leg. Swift was next, helping a hopping Chad. Last came Lyla with their precious casket.

As the eclipse began and the three moons slid closer together, a cold and exhausted Bird of Paradise fluttered out of the dead rose garden. Celeste scooped her up and placed her on the moon dial.

`Listen carefully,' the bird whispered. `During the eclipse, Lem must sing
The Three Moons' Song
while each of you place your talisman on the moon dial, in the order of the song. Then hold hands as you did in the pit. Whatever happens, do not break the circle.'

Lyla rubbed her aching eye as she opened the casket so her brothers and cousins could claim the talisman they'd rescued. Above them the three moons formed one gold and silver-circled pink disc, that illuminated the rose garden as brightly as if it was daylight.

Swift nudged Lem. `Sing.'

Lem's voice rose high and sweet above the shrieks of the wefs and the neighing of the Wind Horses.

`Three moons to save three Princesses born,

`Five journeys to save a land that's torn,

`One journey to find the dragon mocked.'

He placed the blood-red scale on the moon dial.

`One journey to find the merwoman locked.'

Celeste placed the pink pearl necklace beside the dragon's scale.

`One journey to find the poisoned tree.'

Chad and Swift together set the sapphire necklace on the moon dial beside the pearl one.

`One journey to set a chained eagle free.'

Lyla put the blue eagle feather beside the necklaces.

`Five journeymen to find the cage that swings.'

The Bird of Paradise dipped her head and the amethyst necklace slid onto the moon dial.

`Five journeys to free five Queens and Kings.'

The children held hands and formed a circle around the moon dial.

Suddenly new hands were holding theirs as Princess Elle, Queen Ona, Queen Hail, King Tefan and King Atric stood between each of them.

`Close your eyes children, and concentrate on what we sing,' the adult Royals said, and began to chant:

`Begone High Enchanter from the land of M'dgassy.

`Begone from the land of M'dgassy all servants and creatures
becamed
by the High Enchanter.

Begone all evil and begone all war from the land of M'dgassy as we, the
Circle of Ten,
build an invisible, unapproachable, unconquerable wall around M'dgassy and its subjects.

`Begone!'

As the last `begone' was shouted, and moons slid apart with the passing of the eclipse, Lyla's eye and Lem's leg became unfrozen, and Chad's thigh healed instantly.

The wefs disappeared from the rose garden and from all over M'dgassy, as did the Raiders, the Goch, their Gochmasters and the Bulgogi.

All gone, exactly as they had in Lyla's dream.

The five children stared at their royal parents, and their royal parents stared back.

Lyla didn't know what to say to the beautiful Queen Hail, whose eyes showed no sign of ever being blinded by barnacles, and she felt shy in front of her handsome father, whose smile was so like Lem's. But when her mother caught hold of her hands and pulled her close to kiss her, Lyla knew that, in that moment, words weren't important.

Celeste felt equally as awkward. Ever since Babylon Forest she had imagined her mother as a dying or burnt tree. Now she found it hard to be lovingly embraced by someone so regal and lovely, after preparing herself to never see her mother again. So, unaware of the instant hurt in her mother's eyes, she pulled away. But then, out of nowhere, she remembered the small girl she'd once been, standing still while her mother lovingly brushed her long blonde hair. Celeste smiled and allowed herself to be hugged so tightly that when Chad tried to wriggle in between them he was squashed.

Lem smiled tentatively at his father and then pushed a shy Swift towards him. As King Tefan swung Swift up for a hug, his green eyes met those of his older son and their smiles broadened until they were both laughing. As Swift's feet touched the ground, Lem rushed to his father and they hugged each other with a protesting Swift caught in between.

The fathers hugged their daughters, and their nieces, and King Atric thanked Lyla for looking after Celeste and Chad. Then all the parents exclaimed over how tall and strong the youngest boys had grown.

Finally the queens embraced their long-lost sister, Princess Elle, each proclaiming that she didn't look a day older than when she'd disappeared.

Then they danced with each other and around the men and children, and they tripped over everyone's feet, and their laughter echoed joyously around the rose garden.

`Let us go home,' cried Queen Hail, swinging Swift around so his feet left the ground. `I have missed it so much. I want to see the palace, the gardens, the swan boats, everything.'

`It's a ruin,' burst out Lyla, not wanting her mother to be as disappointed as she had been when she had first seen the ruined palace. `It has holes in its roof.'

`Not any more,' smiled Queen Ona. `Follow us and see what our combined Extreme Magic can do.'

`What about Lord Orion and the Wind Horse Riders?' asked Celeste, catching hold of Princess Elle's hand.

`Without them we would not have reached the moon dial in time for the eclipse.'

`Indeed you would not,' agreed Princess Elle. `And I am remiss for having forgotten them.' She bowed her head towards Lord Orion and his Wind Horse Riders, who had formed a guard of honour for the Royal Family to pass through.

`We must thank Lord Orion,' she reminded her sisters and their husbands.

The kings bowed to Lord Orion to show their respect and their thanks. The Queens held out the skirts of their long velvet gowns and curtsied.

Princess Elle held out her long golden skirt too and was about to curtsy when she changed her mind. She ran over to the Lord of the Wind Horse Clan, reached up and caught his hand.

`Thank you, my Lord, thank you. You have helped rescue the Kingdom of M'dgassy.'

Lord Orion's ice-blue eyes lit up with pleasure as he and his Wind Horse clan bowed their heads to the pretty princess who, with a flushed smile, returned to her nieces.

Lyla and Celeste grinned and nudged each other.

`Don't you think Lord Orion is the most handsome Lord you've ever seen?' Celeste whispered, skipping along beside her aunt.

`Don't you think he has the most beautiful blue eyes and the loveliest golden hair?' Lyla added.

Princess Elle glanced again at Lord Orion who was watching her with a charming smile on his handsome face. `I have not seen many Lords since I was enchanted. But he is indeed beautiful of face.'

`And brave,' added Lem, dropping back to join them. `When he and you were eighteen he came to ask for your hand in marriage.'

Princess Elle looked surprised, `Did he? I don't remember.'

`You refused him and he went away broken hearted.'

`Oh dear,' Princess Elle blushed. `I shall have to apologise to him when next we meet. Which I hope will be at the Royal Banquet that will be held in honour of all those who helped battle the High Enchanter.'

`A banquet for everyone?' exclaimed Chad, who couldn't decide who he wanted to walk with the most, his father and mother who made him feel shy, or his sister and cousins and the pretty Princess Elle, so he danced in between everyone. `Do you mean Edith the Oracle, Clarissa the stilt girl, Sebastian Ull, Rosie and the Oopla Sisters Plus One?'

`Prince Torenshone and the Merpeople?' added Celeste. `Although they will only be able to come as far as the jetty.'

`San Jaagiin, Verv Roliat and my pet snow leopard, Snow?' asked Swift.

`And Chii, if he got back to Whale Island, and Dulcinella and Kendra if they escaped,' finished Lyla.

She did not mention Gochman or Finder, in front of everone else.

`Yes, everyone,' laughed Princess Elle.

Lyla waited until the others had rejoined their parents before she caught hold of her aunt's hand. `What about my friend, Gochman and his Goch, Finder? We wouldn't have escaped from the Mudmen without them.'

Princess Elle's black eyes turned sad. `I am sorry, Lyla, but the 'begone' Extreme Magic used to build the invincible wall around M'dgassy will not allow anything
becamed
by the High Enchanter to enter our kingdom.'

`But if the High Enchanter captures them he will
unbecome
them and I promised to find them. We all did. A promise is a promise.'

Princess Elle agreed that a promise was a promise, and then she leant down and whispered in Lyla's ear. `So we will have to find a way to expel the High Enchanter's influence from their memories and make them M'dgassy subjects. Which means, I suppose that someone with extra-strong magical powers will have to go and find them.'

Lyla's black eyes, which were so like her aunt's, lit up excitedly. `What sort of extra-strong magical powers? Spells for becoming invisible like the Wind Horse Riders or like the Fafnir Elixir of Youth that the High Enchanter wants so badly?'

Princess Elle stopped walking. `How do you know about the Fafnir Elixir of Youth?'

`Crystalzee, the Whale Island singer, told Gochman and he told me. She heard about it from General Tulga who didn't want you to tell the High Enchanter how to stay young because then he would never inherit the Kingdom of Acirfa.'