The Magic Lands (13 page)

Dredger stood on a mountain
high above a city.

"Now the time has come," he
said to the wind as it howled around him. Slowly, the warrior came
down from the summit, down through the rocks and the livid stones
scattered about the mountain face, down across the withered plains
and into the dark city. The streets were deserted. With a slight
smile Dredger strode along a muddy road, his eyes alert. "Show
yourself," he cried as he went.

The buildings of the city stood
desolate, forbidding shapes frowning down upon him, full of
shadows, surprises. The harsh wind rattled the window frames and
broken panels of the ancient structures, once inhabited, now
forgotten. And yet this was not a ghost town.

A thing lived here, a thing old
and monstrous and Dredger had come to find it.

Reaching the end of a murky
street, he turned to face the creature. It was waiting for him, a
twisted gunslinger, ready to draw. "We meet at last," it
rasped.

Dredger smiled. "At last."

Mo came and nudged Tom with his
nose. "Wake up, Tom. We should be moving on." The boy stretched and
sat up, rubbing at his bleary eyes. "Did you sleep well?" enquired
the badger.

"I think I must have had a bad
dream," Tom answered stifling a yawn.

Mo frowned a little. "Can you
remember what it was about?"

Tom shrugged his shoulders.
"Not really," he said after a short pause, "just that it was bad."
Turning away, he prodded Jack in the ribs until the other boy
stirred.

"What...?" Jack mumbled.

"Good morning," Tom said
brightly, "remember where you are?"

Jack took a moment to focus his
eyes before returning a weak smile and scratching his head he sat
up. Running a hand through his unkempt hair he noted that Dredger
too was awake, sitting against the tree where he had presumably
slept, staring absently into the forest.

Tom got to his feet. "Is he all
right?" he asked the badger, also aware of the man.

"Things have been hard for
him," answered Mo. "He must come to terms with this in his own
way."

Tom nodded and was thoughtful
for a moment. "Tell me something," he began, "why can I never
remember how long has passed since we stopped to rest, or for that
matter how long it's been since we came into this place? I seem to
keep losing track of time."

The badger wrinkled his nose.
"It is as I have already told you. Time does not exist here. You
cannot measure it. Think of it as if you are in a dream, where
things are not subject to the laws that you are accustomed to. It’s
all quite confusing for you I’m sure, but it is the way of things
here. And remember," he tapped at Tom's arm with a gentle claw,
"there is white magic and there is real magic. You must learn to
tell the difference between them."

Just then, before Tom could ask
what the badger had meant, Dredger came over to join them and Mo
greeted him. "Are you rested, Dredger?" But the man only stared
back at him, with no trace of pleasantry. Tom wondered if he should
say something to try to ease the tense atmosphere, but found
himself at a loss for words.

"I had a dream," Dredger
announced at length. Mo fixed the warrior with a probing look. "…a
vision," the man continued thoughtfully.

"A vision of what?" questioned
Tom.

"A sign that told me where my
destiny lies."

The badger came close to the
man and looked up at him. "What did you see?"

"I saw...," Dredger began
slowly, "the image of the Second Beast."

Tom stared at the man
sceptically.

"The Second Beast," Mo
echoed.

"Yes," affirmed the warrior,
"the beast who I must destroy."

"But what about the Wolf?"
demanded Tom, feeling that things were becoming out of control.

"I must find the lost city of
Hydan, in the Land of Scars," stated Dredger, paying no heed to the
boy, "the Second Beast awaits me there."

"How can there be another
beast!?" Tom started, unsettled by all of this, "there is only one
White Wolf, isn't there?"

"Hush now, Tom," said Mo
firmly. "Nobody has said there is another White Wolf, but there are
more evils at work in these lands than you yet know."

"So Dredger is going to leave
us," said Jack from behind them. Tom turned to look at his friend
and thought just for a moment, that as he had done so he had seen a
tiny flicker of a smile on the boy's face.

"I have my road and you have
your own," professed Dredger, unmoved. "When my task is complete, I
will seek you out again."

Tom was bewildered by all that
was happening. Now that they were actually going to lose the
warrior, he was not at all sure he liked the idea. Admittedly, he
had never really taken to the man but he understood that without
him, they would be far weaker.

"You must do what your heart
tells you is right," determined Mo.

"I will journey with you a
short while," replied the tall man with a distant air. His heart
and mind now dwelt far away, in a city of ghosts, where something
hideous awaited him.

Still sitting by the tree where
he had slept so contentedly, Jack watched the others preparing to
set out again.

So Dredger is
going to leave us. Now that really is a shame, isn't it.
Jack sniggered to himself, suppressing the sound with his
hand, his eyes darting about guiltily. But no-one noticed him. And
why should they? Who cared about what he had to say? He was just a
nobody after all.

Then Jack remembered something.
A voice inside his dream, speaking words of truth.

He looked at Tom with
cruel, shadowy eyes.
You are a good
friend
, his mind sighed,
but
you've got something of mine.

He closed his eyes and thought
about the woman in white. It was strange, but before he had gone to
sleep, he had almost forgotten he had ever known her before. Now
that seemed impossible. He had known her, been with her, all of his
life.

I am yours.
Always.
And her words of love were with him, enfolding
him.
The map is mine!

"The map is mine," he said very
quietly, so that only he could hear.

"Would you mind checking the
map, Tom," Mo asked, coming to a halt in the shadow of a small
copse of wilting trees, "we should be somewhere near to the home of
some friends of mine. I’m sure we would be welcome to some
refreshments there." He cast a quick glance in Jack's direction.
"How does that sound?"

Jack tried to seem
enthusiastic. "Oh, yeah…that's great," he muttered.

Mo eyed him for a moment before
turning to Tom. "And what about you Tom, are you hungry?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders.
He knew he should be starving by now, but he felt strangely empty
inside. "I suppose so," he managed and took out the parchment as
the badger had asked. "What should I look for?"

"Sumbolon Grove," Mo told him,
"it should be marked there."

Dredger made no objection to
this proposal and once Tom had identified the location
approximately south-east of their current position, they continued
on their way noting landmarks as they went.

"Who are these people that you
know?" questioned Tom as they walked.

"An old couple, man and wife,"
said Mo. “They are always willing to aid a weary traveller.”

Wondering where Jack was, Tom
looked around and saw him trudging along some way behind them,
seeming rather distracted. He had his hands thrust deep into his
pockets and his head down. "Come on Jack," Tom called, urging his
friend on.

"I'll keep up," came the curt
reply.

Not really knowing what to make
of the other boy's mood, Tom decided that it would be best to leave
him alone and hope he would snap out of it. But Jack's behaviour
was certainly odd as he was one of the most good-natured people
that Tom knew.

"Will you tell me something?"
Tom said to the badger, his concern for Jack temporarily put
aside.

"What is it Tom?"

"What is the Second Beast?"

Mo moved along easily at his
side and Tom realised how much he had come to depend on the
animal's help and advise. The badger had taken the place of his
real Uncle and although this didn't mean he was happy to be without
Ira, he at least had someone to turn to. Especially now that Jack
was acting so peculiarly. He remembered when they had been
preparing to set out again after his uneasy sleep. Several times he
had caught Jack staring at him resentfully and he just couldn't
understand why. What had he done? Whatever it was, he would have to
have it out with him sooner or later. Tom didn't like having bad
feeling between them.

Mo sniffed the air,
interrupting his thoughts. "Something's on the wind," he stated.
"Something up ahead."

"What is it?" asked Tom,
becoming afraid.

"I’m not certain," was all the
badger could say.

Tom gazed out into black woods,
across fields of scattered flowers, primeval trees etched against
the sky. It was hard to imagine this land ever really changing. He
couldn't see how

they would ever come across a
town, let alone a region of snow and ice.

"To answer your question,"
began Mo suddenly, reminding Tom of what he had asked, "we have
long awaited the coming of the Second Beast and since your arrival
I have expected it."

"Why!? What do you mean?"

"It is part of the prophecy.
Things are happening now and we are moving toward the final
confrontation with the Beast, when all will be revealed and many
questions answered."

Tom bit his lip absently, a
worried frown creasing his brow. "But what if we fail?"

"I have my own doubts,"
admitted the badger, "but we must do what we can and never give up
hope. Thus far, the prophecies have all been fulfilled."

With a sigh, Tom accepted the
animal's words, trying to convince himself that everything was
going to be all right, but it was not easily done. There were too
many uncertainties, too much he didn't understand. "But you still
haven't told me what the Second Beast is?" he said finally.

"There are many runes that tell
of it, but the most significant is known only to a very few. Even
your Uncle Ira does not know of it. It is a most ancient
verse."

"Will you tell it to me?" Tom
ventured.

The badger sniffed the air
again and gave a violent twitch of his nose. "Something bad," he
said flatly, apparently ignoring the boy’s request.

Tom looked ahead to where
Dredger walked alone. He was a lonely man, driven by a need, a
desire, although just what that might be was hard to define.

Then as they travelled over
muddy terrain, the badger began to recite:

"When comes the Second
Beast,

who can count the cost

to the one who must find

Hydan the lost?

There to face the hooded
foe

and learn the truth
concealed,

to gain the daimon blade,

that the catalyst may
wield."

"And Dredger is the one?"
questioned Tom eventually.

"So it would seem."

"Hydan," Tom breathed, "that's
where he said he was going. How did he know?"

"He too knows the prophecy," Mo
said. "We are all like pieces in a puzzle that must be put back
together. In the end, none of us can succeed without the
other."

"He’s a strange man," Tom
decided.

"Perhaps," said the animal,
"but still a part of the game that the White Wolf plays, like you
and I...and Jack."

"Have you noticed
anything...well, unusual about Jack lately?" Tom asked, his worry
over his friend obvious.

Mo looked over his shoulder at
the other boy, who came slowly along several yards

behind them. "I see many
things," he remarked, "but perhaps he is merely tired. You have
both had a shock to your systems remember. Entering another world
has its effects!"

"I suppose that could be it,"
conceded Tom, "but I'm not sure..."

Just then, Dredger shouted for
them to come ahead and at once Tom and the badger ran to meet
him.

"What's happened?" Tom asked
quickly, afraid of some attack or concealed trap.

"Blood," replied Dredger with a
detached air and pointed at the ground. A dark, sticky substance
coloured the grass with a scarlet stain. "Can you not smell it?"
the man asked. "I know that stench very well. I can almost taste
it."

"The house lies just beyond
this small forest ahead," said Mo. "I fear that something very bad
has happened here." The old badger felt a terrible sense of dread
descend upon him like a heavy cloak.

"Let us find what we must,"
growled Dredger, setting off down the blood-splattered bank in the
direction of a close-knit thicket of trees.

"Prepare yourself, Tom," Mo
cautioned, lifting his head, his fur bristling all along his back.
"There may be things here that none of us would wish to see."

The building stood silent at
the centre of a clearing, portending some sinister work of the
Beast. Or so it seemed to Tom. He wondered what they would find
within those walls.

It was Dredger who came first
to the doorway and even he hesitated before pushing the door open
and stepping inside. Following behind, Mo and Tom entered the
house, but Jack, hanging back a few paces, did not cross the
threshold. He wore a disinterested expression that Tom found rather
irritating.

"Empty," reported the warrior,
moving across the room and through a low opening to their left. It
was a small cottage with only three rooms, each sparsely
furnished.