The Magic Lands (14 page)

"Where do you think they could
be?" questioned Tom, surveying the interior and while he did so,
his eyes settled upon Jack standing at the door, leaning
nonchalantly against the frame. He seemed rather bored with the
whole affair and Tom glared at him, but either Jack didn't notice
or just chose to ignore it completely.

"We must search the surrounding
area," voiced Mo solemnly. "Some vile evil has visited this place.
I sense it. I can only pray that James and Rebecca have not been
harmed."

"I will search behind this
dwelling," Dredger informed them as he strode out of the doorway,
his expression grim.

"Jack and I will look down by
the forest for some sign of them," Tom said, deciding he would use
the opportunity to question Jack about his odd behaviour.

"Very well," the badger agreed
with a nod of his head. "I will search in the other direction."

Moving beside Jack, Tom looked
at his friend. "Come on," he said in as friendly a voice as he
could manage.

But Jack just stared at him for
a moment before turning away. "I think I'll stay here.”

Tom couldn't understand it. Why
was his friend acting so strangely? "Suit yourself," he responded
with a sigh and made his way across a neatly kept garden toward a
knot of trees. To his fatigued mind their outstretched branches
appeared to beckon him ominously.

Before they had come upon the
cottage they had passed through a tangled wood and Tom could see
now that at the end of the garden there was a narrow opening within
the borderline of trees. As he came upon it, he thought for just a
second that he saw a shape

moving behind the leaves and
branches. Something white.

Wolf as white,

as white as snow,

where it comes from

I don't know.

That's
strange,
Tom thought as these words sang in his
head.
I'm sure I've never heard
that
rhyme before.
He cast
his mind back, trying to recall if his Uncle had ever told it to
him, but Tom was almost certain that he never had.

A noise to his left like the
snapping of a twig made him swing around and look hard into the
foliage. Slowly, warily, Tom crept forward, toward the place where
he thought the sound had come from, but stopped after only a few
halting steps. The thick trunk of an old, unidentifiable tree stood
in his path.

"Look up," whispered a
voice.

Automatically, Tom obeyed.

There was a naked body hanging
from the tree, suspended by a white ribbon and Tom knew immediately
that the person was dead. But it was not this that made him gag and
almost bring up the little he had inside his stomach.

The
head!
his mind screamed, the horror of it almost too
much for him to bear.
What's wrong with
the head!?

Mo glanced up and then turned
away. "Cruel Wolf," he said quietly, the words harsh.

"This is a dark deed," Dredger
voiced at his side.

Tom sat against the tree trunk,
but on the far side so that he could not see the grotesque
spectacle above. He was extremely shaken, but slowly managing to
calm himself.

Jack however stood casually,
looking on with fascination as the hanging figure twisted lazily to
and fro, the tree-limb creaking under the weight.

"A noose of white ribbon,"
commented Dredger.

"I just pray his death was
quick," the badger responded in a low growl.

"We will probably never find
the rest of their bodies," Mo pronounced bitterly.

"But why?" Dredger asked. "Why
mutilate them like this? It is disgusting."

"This is no mere
mutilation," the badger countered. "The woman's head was grafted
onto her husband's body as a display for
our
benefit. I can only hope that they were both
already dead and at peace when the Beast performed the hideous
act."

"Now that's what I call a good
trick," Jack said with a small giggle.

"Be silent!" Dredger commanded,
turning on the boy, an angry fire burning in his eyes.

Mo moved closer to the warrior,
ignoring Jack's callous remark. "Will you cut him down?"

The big man nodded and taking a
short blade from a sheath strapped to his waist, he

set about climbing the tree.
While he made his ascent, Tom came hesitantly back to stand with
the badger.

"Why?" he asked, not wanting to
believe what had happened here.

"A foul game, or more likely, a
warning," Mo answered. "The White Wolf does whatsoever it desires
and feels neither pity nor remorse."

Lowering his eyes, not wishing
to see as Dredger cut down the body, Tom shuddered as the corpse
struck the ground and only now did he begin to truly understand the
true nature of the creature that opposed them.

Jack gazed down at the body, a
smile lighting up his face. "Now they’ll be together forever.” He
sniggered, trying to cover the sound with his hand.

Tom stared at his friend in
disbelief and had just opened his mouth to ask Jack what he thought
he was doing, when the warrior leapt down from the branches of the
tree and confronted the boy himself.

"I find that I do not like your
words," the man barked menacingly.

"The boy is in shock," Mo said,
moving toward Jack as if to protect him.

"Shock!?" repeated Dredger
scornfully, hissing the word. "Is that what it is?"

Jack gawked at the man. "I
don't know what you mean," he said and appeared to be genuinely
confused.

"Let us bury the body," the
badger suggested, trying to turn the discussion to other matters
and relieve the tension between the two.

"There is more that needs to be
said," Dredger answered coldly, scowling at the boy. After several
long moments of staring hard at Jack, he finally nodded slowly.
"But I shall do as you say."

And so, using their hands as
well as stout sticks and sharp stones found nearby, Tom, Mo and
Dredger dug a grave while Jack, standing idly beneath the tree,
watched them work.

When the job was done, Mo bowed
his head and said a prayer.

"Let those who have
suffered

pass on in peace,

let those who have lost their
way

find true release,

let the wind sing our
mourning,

let our hearts join the
song,

let the children reach the
golden land

where the faithful belong."

"The Beast will pay for what
has happened here," growled Dredger, his eyes a deep crimson.

"Yes," said the badger, "but
you, my friend, have another path to travel now. You have your own
beast to face...in Hydan."

"One piece of the puzzle joins
with the next," the man answered.

"Would it help for you to look
at the map, Dredger?" asked Tom, a great sadness within him. His
mind could hardly register the horror he had seen and now they were
soon to lose the warrior. If Dredger was no match for the Wolf,
then who could be? Certainly not two boys and a badger.

The tall man gazed down at the
boy. "Yes, it would be of help, if you will permit it. It is for
you to say who shall look upon the map now. No-one else can play
your part in this."

"No!" came a sudden shout from
behind them and turning quickly Tom saw Jack standing there, his
hands balled into tight fists, his face pale and sweaty.

"What is it, Jack?" he asked,
surprised and confused.

The other boy's face was
stricken, his mouth contorting as if in pain. “You must not show
him the map," he screamed. "You must not let him see it!"

Tom stared uncertainly at his
friend, trying to understand what was going on. "Why?" he began,
"what do you mean?"

"Do as I say," shouted Jack,
his eyes wild. "You must do as I tell you!"

Tom glanced uneasily at the
badger. "Jack, are you all right?" Mo said soothingly, taking a
step toward the boy.

"No! You must not show him. I
won't let you!" His eyes darted from Mo to Tom and then to Dredger
like some cornered animal. "Anyway," he said, becoming suddenly
calm, a cunning look creeping onto his face, "the map isn't even
yours. You can't show it to him because it doesn't belong to
you."

Mo took another step toward
Jack and the boy jumped back as if he had been physically struck.
"Then who does the map belong to, Jack?" the animal asked
easily.

"Why, it's mine of course," he
replied, his eyes wide. "Surely you know that it's mine. Didn't she
say that it was? Give it to me, Tom. Come on, give me back my
property. I'm willing to forgive and forget, if you just give me
back what's mine."

Tom stood quite still, unable
to believe what he was hearing. Had Jack gone mad? He didn't know
what to think.

As he was struggling with this
indecision, Dredger moved beside him and pointed a finger at Jack.
"Listen to me, boy," he commanded, his voice very low. "You have
been poisoned by some evil thing. Fight back against it.
Fight!"

Jack shrieked. "Give me the
map! It belongs to me. It's mine, I tell you. Give it to me!" He
stamped on the ground and began pacing about in a highly agitated
state, chanting the words again and again.

"What can we do?" Tom said
desperately, looking to the badger and then at Dredger.

"Jack!" Mo spoke in a resonant
voice. "Stop this. You are unwell. Let us help you."

For a second Jack became still
and eyed the badger oddly, but then with a scream of fury and
despair, a terrible look of hatred distorting his features, he
turned and ran into the trees.

"Quickly," cried Tom. "We have
to catch him!" He started forward but Dredger caught his arm.

"No!" the warrior ordered him.
"Let him go."

Tom twisted away from the man's
grip and turned to the badger, his face tormented. "Why!? What's
happening!?"

"This is the work of the Wolf,"
the animal said with compassion.

"Then we have to help him," Tom
implored. He didn't want to stand and debate, he only wanted to
find his friend.

Mo came closer and met the
boy's frantic eyes with his own. "Jack must fight this alone, Tom.
There is nothing we can do to help him now."

Tom stared at the badger before
turning to look into the shadowy forest where Jack had disappeared.
He felt useless and defeated. If he lost Jack to the Wolf, what
point would there be in going on?

"Jack," he whispered, tears
running easily down his face. Why was this happening to them?

"I won't go on without him," he
said quietly.

Out in the isolated regions of
a dispassionate forest, Jack ran, trying to make sense of his
jumbled thoughts. He could remember their arrival at the cottage,
but after that everything became very hazy and vague.

Where were Tom and the others?
Surely they hadn't lost him. He thought of calling out, but for
reasons he wasn't really sure of, decided against it.

I'll keep quite. That would be
best.

Slowing to a walk, Jack moved
under silver-limbed trees, travelling in no particular direction.
When he had gone only a short distance, a weariness came over him
quite suddenly and he sat down beneath a large sycamore. The other
trees here were somehow unfamiliar, the leaves giving off a strange
incandescence, the bark scarred in a way that seemed aberrant. All
around him he saw shadow within shadow, a green light illuminating
the woodland. The forest held him in a close embrace.

Leaning his exhausted body
against the sycamore's sturdy trunk, Jack tried to determine what
his best course of action might be. But he found it increasingly
difficult to think straight.

A soft rustling near his feet
made him peer down at the grass and to his surprise he saw a small
white mouse sitting beside his leg, twitching and blinking as it
stared up at him.

"Hello mouse," Jack said,
pleased to have found a potential friend.

The tiny animal seemed to be
eyeing him carefully and Jack wondered if it would run away if he
dared to move his body. Remaining as still as he could and trying
to keep his breathing as quiet as possible, Jack smiled at the
mouse, his most friendly, good-natured smile. "No need to be
afraid," he whispered.

Hesitantly the mouse came
closer, scuttling over toward his right hand and expecting the
creature to dart off at any moment, Jack reached out gently with
his fingers until they made contact with the animal's delicate
body. Amazingly, or so he thought, the mouse made no attempt to run
away, so with the greatest of care he picked it up and looked
curiously into its dark eyes.

"Mouse," he declared, somewhat
obviously.

The little creature trembled,
staring back at him. In his big hand it seemed to Jack that the
mouse's warm, soft body was as fragile as alabaster. One squeeze
and the tiny form would break in two.

Jack's brow furrowed as he
tried to think. Things had not been going so well of late, he knew.
He had not felt like his old self at all. Why was everything so
confusing and strange? His head began to hurt, a throbbing pain
right between his eyes.

In his hand, the mouse moved
and he tightened his fingers around its small white body.

"It's those damn dreams," he
said aloud, the words ringing in the silence.

"Dreams are for dreamers,"
answered a voice.

Jack gazed at the mouse and for
a second he imagined that it winked at him.

My mind is
going
, he concluded closing his eyes tightly, raising
his other hand to his aching brow.

"What am I going to do?" he
asked in a whisper, wishing Tom were there with him.

"Dream on," replied the voice
and then the mouse wriggled out of his grasp and scurried to the
ground.