The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen (35 page)

“
Go!” he
shouted again. “Get to the crystal room. You are the only one who
can stop this.” 

Jared hauled with arms and
pulled himself up and in. Turning he slammed the stained glass
window and twisted the latch. The room he was in appeared to be
some kind of observation point with only a couple of carved wooden
chairs and a wide table in the middle. Making his way round the
table he opened the door and looked both ways. The hallway to his
right was clear and the staircase on his left was deserted. He
darted up the stairs and kept to the wall as the staircase
spiralled round.

The Glavers
swooped on the hundred or so men with shrieks and laughter. Unlike
the bridge though, the men were so tightly packed they could not
pick out targets so easily. Mordalayn leapt at a cackling figure
that came too close and while still in the air side swiped his huge
sword at the Glaver who tried to dodge the blow but failed. He saw
two Glavers holding a struggling soldier by each arm and attempting
to lift him up. He leapt at them and elbowed one out of the way and
brought his blades down on the other, splitting it in half. As the
frightened soldier nodded his thanks a third Glaver appeared,
grabbed the man around the waist and scooped him up. It flew to the
edge of the battlements and glanced over at Mordalayn. Then with an
evil grin it dropped the screaming man over the edge, laughing in
triumph and flying off.

 
The
others were swinging their swords at the Glavers who were too fast
for most. Another man stepped too far from the company of his
fellow men and almost instantly a grinning Glaver wrenched him up
in the air before dumping him screaming over the edge.

 
Mordalayn cursed and wondered how they could have let
themselves sink so far into useless clumsiness as a kingdom. “Aim
for their boards,” he shouted. “Cripple their boards!” As a Glaver
shot by him he reached up, impossibly fast and again wrenched the
figure off. The board ploughed into the closed and barred double
doors of the palace entrance. It took a chunk from the oak and then
split into pieces. The Glaver looked up with frightened eyes.
Mordalayn snarled and threw it down before despatching it with his
sword. 

The other
soldiers were losing their discipline and the tightly packed men
were spreading out. Glavers weaved everywhere and men were dragged
screaming up into the air. A few tried to run for the staircase but
were quickly caught and thrown over. Mordalayn swung his sword in
powerful arcs and again and again Glavers fell to his blades. He
saw a man being hauled up into the air but too far away to help. He
fumbled with his belt buckle and twisted the metal catch on the
side. A short, knife came free and he hurled it at the black clad
monster. It caught it in the face and the monster skidded off its
board, dropping the wriggling soldier and collapsing onto the floor
dead. Its board clattered to the ground next to it. Wiping sweat
from his brow, Mordalayn whirled and swung at two Glavers who tried
to ambush him from behind. One fell and the other arced up and away
shouting curses back at him. The soldiers who had retained
discipline were now giving the attacking force some problems.
Without as much room to manoeuvre as on the open bridge the Glavers
couldn’t fly freely and had limited range of motion. Mordalayn ran
at the group and shouted. “Fight back to back. It’s the only
way!” 

Some of the
men heard him and began to heave together. One fell as a hover
board caught him in the chin and sprawled at the head of the
staircase. A Glaver managed to grab Mordalayn around the waist and
he yelled in rage as the spindly, leathery arms tightened. “Got
you!” the Glaver cackled but then suddenly shrieked and dropped
him. Mordalayn looked around confused and saw the Glaver twitching
with a crossbow bolt in its head. He glanced up and Bue saluted him
from one of the narrow windows above the door. The boy had found a
spot to hide and pick off the enemy at the same
time. 

The light in
the crystal burned brighter and the lightning was becoming more
frequent. Fear took hold of Mordalayn as he looked up and realised
that unless Jared could do something the plot would work and the
queen would be forced through the portal to have her life ended.
Grimly he turned and again raised his sword at the buzzing swarm
around him.

Chapter
32

Jared was panting heavily as he
forced himself up the steps and rounded the corner. The throne room
was deserted, the sounds of the battle at the front entrance faint
in the distance. Everybody in the royal palace was either hiding or
fighting. He looked for the statue on the throne and saw it
straight away. A large bird of prey, like an eagle or a falcon. He
ran up and was about to approach it when a familiar and grotesque
shape lunged out of the shadows and stood in his path.  

Skidding to a halt he was
confronted by the ghastly sight of Rancidrain. He was still wearing
his tattered old blue suit and held out his arms wide as Jared
stuttered on his feet in front of him.

 “
We-ee-ll!!” he cackled nastily. “Seems you can’t stop being
nosey can you little boy?” and Jared saw he had another rainbow
blade in his filthy hands but this time it was a huge curved sword,
the lights playing merry colours on the wall.

 
Kloee
shouted in her high voice. “I’ve had enough of this. Ugly people
with ugly souls!” and flew straight at Rancidrain who, caught off
guard, tried to swat her with the blade but missed. His grotesque,
eyeless face contorted in panic and he staggered back, tripping
over the top step that led to the throne. He floundered and fell,
dropping the sword on himself.

 “
No!”
he shrieked as the blade pierced his leg. Jared watched him glow
the same rainbow colours as the sword and the shriek stretched out
and then died away as Rancidrain exploded into little dots of
multi-coloured light. The dots slowly drifted apart and spread out
across the vast room and up to the ceiling. The sword faded and,
like in the hospital, turned into a lump of rock. Jared stared at
it and Kloee flew back to him as the final snatches and pieces of
colour that had been Rancidrain faded away.

 “
Nasty,
horrid, horrid man,” she snapped. Jared ran forward and pushed the
left eye of the carved bird. With a gentle swish, a panel behind
the throne slid back and he ran towards it. Kloee made to follow
him but he turned and shouted; “No! Mordalayn said no one from this
world can come in here. I have to do this alone.” 

She pouted
angrily but flew back, looking worried and Jared stepped through,
the door closing behind him.

Chapter
33

In front of
him was a small room, circular in shape and with many tiny, arched
windows on the side opposite the doorway. In the middle was what
looked like a huge, clear, glass rose but as if someone had pinned
back the petals. Above him was another crystal, a smaller version
of the colossal one in the main tower. It was glowing brighter and
brighter as he looked. It was directly above the trap on the
floor. 

Making his
way to the huge petals he saw many spirals of what looked like thin
strands of blue smoke twisting in the centre, making lazy patterns
in the air. Around and between them, sparks of light flashed
randomly. It was too late, she was already coming through.
Panicking he tried to move the device with his foot but it was too
big and heavy. As he kicked it the glass rang clear as a bell in
the tiny room. Wincing as the sound hurt his ears he tried twice
more, each time succeeding only in making a deafening racket. The
smoke became thicker and twisted in ever more complicated patterns.
It reminded him of the patterns of DNA threads that they’d showed
him in Biology at school. There were flashes of crystal light in
the centre of the device and they flickered like shooting stars. He
glanced up and saw the crystal protruding from the ceiling, glowing
like a huge diamond, impossibly bright.

 
He
glanced at the trap again and realised what it was. As she appeared
it would close up and pin her within the petals. The smoke and
sparks got more and more frequent and the crystal burned so bright.
Desperately he stepped into the centre of the petals and his vision
blurred, the scenery shifted and his stomach lurched. He was
suddenly standing at the end of a long, ornately decorated
corridor. Sophie Roberts was facing him at the other end, flowers
in her hair and wearing a purple silk nightdress that moved
slightly from a gentle breeze. She smiled serenely and was clearly
unaware of what was going on. Behind her stood an open door and
Jared glanced over her shoulder to see it led to a hospital room.
Directly behind Sophie and down at an angle was Sophie again, lying
in bed asleep with the green sheets pulled up to her chest. A woman
sat by her bed crying and holding her hand and Jared could see what
looked like a doctor with his back to him. Sophie floated towards
Jared and her gaze was only on her destination, she did not see or
register that he was there. Jared quickly glanced around and saw
that the corridor’s walls were pulsating, first pastel shades of
peach and pink and blue and then fading to become transparent,
revealing a black void of eternity beyond.

 “
SOPHIE!!” he yelled as loud as he could. She didn’t respond
and continued towards him. Jared knew that if she came into this
world she would die.

 “
SOPHIE! STOP IT’S A TRAP!!” he yelled again, waving his arms
frantically above his head to get her attention. Again she paid no
heed. The sound of beating wings suddenly began to fill the air and
Jared glanced around quickly to try and see what was making the
noise. He saw nothing and his foot scraped on the floor as he
positioned himself to stand in Sophie’s way. She drifted on
regardless and her smile was one of peaceful joy. Jared glanced
down and saw that he was standing on nothing, the floor beneath
pulsating to the same rhythm of pastel shades and then invisibility
as the walls.

 “
SOPHIE
ROBERTS!!” he screamed as loud as he could “MORDALAYN SAYS IT’S NOT
SAFE!! PLEASE GO BACK, THIS IS A TRAP!!”

 
With a
sudden jerk of her head Sophie’s eyes snapped out of their glazed
look and she stared directly at Jared. Her expression changed to
one of confusion and alarm. She glanced over her shoulder at the
open door to her hospital room and again back to Jared. The sound
of beating wings became louder and louder. Jared screamed as loud
as he could. 

“
KING JAMES
BETRAYED YOU. THIS IS A TRAP! YOU HAVE TO GO
BACK!!” 

Sophie was now fully aware of
what was going on and she frantically glanced around and down at
her own body, the flowers in her hair tumbling to the floor and
then passing through it and vanishing as the room pulsated into
nothingness again. Jared looked at the walls and he could see red
dots in the black infinity beyond them. As the corridor pulsed into
colour and back into void again he saw they were dozens of eyes.
 

Sophie looked
at Jared again and nodded in understanding, then turned and ran
back down the corridor, her nightdress billowing and then she was
gone, the door slamming behind her. Jared saw the corridor pulsate
once more into colour and then it was gone. He was petrified,
standing on an infinity of nothing, the sound of beating wings
getting ever louder and the crimson eyes around him darting
everywhere. Far in the distance, he saw corridors like this one.
But these were gold, red, blue, silver. They faded as he stared at
them.  

Screaming in fear he suddenly
fell and as his vision blurred again. He found himself sitting on
the floor in the room, one of the open petals of the trap had
tripped him. His heart racing he staggered to his feet and breathed
slowly, trying to calm down. He glanced up and saw that the crystal
was now dimmed, the brilliant light no longer glowing.

Chapter
34

Jared tried
to calm down and forced himself to breathe normally. Slowly he
staggered to his feet and lurched towards the windows. He looked
out into the blue skies of Alegria. His heart gradually slowed down
and he placed his hands on the cold stone. As he was about to turn
he glanced up at the window and saw something move behind him. He
ducked and whirled around as a piece of metal pipe missed his head
by inches and smashed the window. He stared at the person in front
of him, open mouthed.

 “
M, M,
Madame Veer?!!” he stuttered, not believing what he was
seeing.