The Magic Lands (15 page)

Opening his eyes, Jack just
managed to catch a glimpse of its pale form disappearing into the
long grass.

"I'm going to look for him even
if you won't help me," vowed Tom with a sharp look at both Mo and
Dredger.

"Please listen a moment, Tom,"
said the badger kindly. "I didn’t mean we would leave Jack behind.
I only meant that whatever is wrong with him, he will have to fight
it for himself. It is within and we are powerless to reach it."

"But I must try to help him,"
Tom insisted, his face twisted with concern.

"The boy is right," interrupted
Dredger, "we must at least try."

Mo looked at them both and then
nodded. "Very well, but I do not harbour much hope for what we
shall be able to achieve."

"It will be more productive if
we separate," the warrior directed, making briskly for an opening
in the undergrowth without waiting for their agreement.

After watching the man vanish
among the trees, Tom turned to the badger. "I can't understand why
you won’t at least try to help Jack. I just don’t…" He broke off,
his voice cracking with emotion.

"I am afraid," the animal said
slowly, "afraid that it’s already too late."

Tom fell silent, not wanting to
believe what Mo was suggesting.

Jack will be
all right.
He will!
It was
just this terrible place, this stupid world where nothing made any
sense.

"I'll go this way," the badger
said abruptly and with one final glance at the boy, made off into
the trees.

Somewhere secluded within the
heart of the forest, Jack still sat beneath the sycamore.

"When they come," whispered a
voice at his ear, "you must say that you are sorry and pretend that
everything is all right now."

Jack nodded. "But will they
believe me?" he queried, his speech a little slurred.

"They will believe you, have no
fear. You must wait and be patient. You must await the moment of
your reckoning." Jack nodded again. "Remember Jack, all things come
to be when they are meant to be. Every dog must have its day."

"Yes," the boy said, "yes, I
can wait."

"And you will, Jack, dear Jack,
you will wait for me."

Jack turned his head very
slightly and looked into the woman's eyes and saw that a silver
light twinkled within them.
Beautiful,
he thought dreamily. Then there was
the sound of movement in the undergrowth, the sound of someone
steadily drawing nearer and Jack peered into the surrounding
woodland.

Where am
I?
He stood up with a grunt of exertion.
How did I get here?

Abruptly a figure appeared
before him and Jack smiled, pleased to see that one of their
company had found him. "Hello Dredger, I'm glad you found me," he
said in warm greeting, but the big man did not return his smile. He
came ominously on toward the boy, gripping a sharp blade tightly,
his glacial eyes unsettling.

"What's the..." began Jack, but
then, with a gasp of horror, he realised what Dredger meant to do.
He screamed and tried desperately to run, but the warrior seemed to
block every avenue of escape and Jack knew what it was to be an
animal caught in a snare. The roof of the forest flashed overhead,
light alternating with shade.

"No...no," he murmured in vain,
but it was too late. The blade rose up and floated above the man's
shoulder. "Why?" was all Jack could say as he waited to die.

THE FORK IN THE ROAD

Tom made his way slowly through
the rough undergrowth, scanning the forest for a sign of Jack.

White Wolf,
white death,
he thought fleetingly, though he did not
know why these words should trouble him now.
Show yourself, Jack. I need you! Please come back and be your
old self again.

Above him the sky, subtly, was
beginning to darken. Tom was sure that it had not been very long
since night had last come. But could he really be certain?

A little way ahead there was a
muffled sound, as if someone were trying to cry out and hearing
this, Tom quickened his pace, heedless of a cluster of prickles
that stung his legs. Suddenly as he passed beneath a mass of low
hanging branches, a terrible scene appeared before him.

He saw the tall figure of
Dredger looming over the cowering form of a boy and in the
warrior's hand a gleaming blade was poised to strike.

“
Jack!” Tom realised at
once as he screamed the name, the fear and horror of the sound
puncturing the tranquillity of the forest. With a swift glance,
hesitation momentarily passing across his dark features, Dredger
glared at him, violence in the man's eyes. "No!" Tom shouted and
Jack joined the plea flinching away, begging for some show of mercy
from the warrior.

The blade wavered above Jack's
head for a moment and then, with an expression that

neither boy could read, Dredger
slowly lowered his hand, his fingers clenched white

around the weapon's haft. "You
should not interfere," he breathed, still looking hard at the boy
huddled at his feet.

Paying no heed and moving
closer, Tom gazed down at his friend and saw that Jack was
obviously in a state of shock, his eyes wide and confused, his face
ashen. "Jack, are you all right?" he offered gently.

"I...I think so," muttered the
other boy, looking around as if he were emerging from a bad dream.
But before Tom could question him further, the sound of something
approaching made all three turn to see Mo come into view, his large
body appearing from out of a deep thicket to their right.

"So he is found," the badger
said, noting the expressions on each of their faces.

"Is he going to be all right?"
Tom asked, beckoning Mo forward.

"Let me see." The badger
sniffed the air, occasionally nudging Jack with his large black
nose. "How do you feel, Jack?"

The boy rubbed his forehead and
grimaced. "Like I've been hit over the head with a plank of
wood."

"Can you stand?" Mo
enquired.

Jack felt his body in an
apparent attempt to locate any broken bones. "I think so,” he said
and with a hand from Tom he got up onto his feet. "What happened?"
he finished.

"Don't you remember?" protested
Tom but Jack just shook his head, staring blankly at his friend,
then at the badger.

"No I can't remember a thing
after we reached the cottage."

Dredger smiled tightly. "A poor
memory can be a convenient thing."

Tom turned and scowled angrily
at the man. "So what were you going to do with your

knife when I found you,
Dredger?" he demanded savagely.

The tall man still held the
weapon in his hand and with a thin smile he now replaced it in its
sheath. "Why," he answered with a casual air, "protect the boy of
course."

Tom glanced briefly at Mo who
remained silent, watching them both carefully. "Protect him from
what!?" the boy asked in disbelief.

"There are many things that
stalk the forest, many evils that lie in wait." Dredger paused and
found Jack with his gaze. "And they come in many shapes and forms.
They come in many guises."

"All is well now," interrupted
the badger. "And for that we should all be thankful. I suggest that
we go back to the cottage for there is food to be had there, and we
must provide ourselves with whatever is necessary for the long
journey ahead. Now that the place stands empty," he added softly,
"we must take rather than receive."

"The darkness is almost here
again," Jack said distantly.

Tom nodded. "No day, no night
and no time. Everything is jumbled up.”

"Not so, Tom," Mo countered
swiftly, "All things abide by the will of the Beast and only change
at its whim. Never forget that The Wolf is master of these
lands."

Turning away, Mo started back
toward the cottage. The two boys followed him readily, Tom relieved
by the return of his friend, but perplexed and worried by the
episodes leading up to Jack's outburst. Dredger however, did not
follow immediately, pausing to watch the others go.

"I smell you here," he growled
through clenched teeth. "Heartless one...bright one." He spat on
the ground venomously and with one last look around the area he
moved off,

taking great strides in pursuit
of his companions.

A sense of oppression permeated
the small dwelling and Mo felt it bite into his very heart.

Tom experienced it too, like a
cleaving, living thing. The sight of the man, his wife's head
somehow having been horribly transplanted onto his dead body,
hanging like a rag doll from the tree, was by far the most terrible
thing he had ever seen. His mind reeled at the memory. How could
the Wolf be so cruel? What kind of mind could conceive of such a
hideous thing? If Tom had ever doubted that true evil actually
existed, he knew now that it was all too real.

But at least Jack is all right
now.

There had been a moment back
there, when he had begun to believe he might lose his friend and
that had scared him very badly. He brutally pushed this thought
away, unable to face the emotions that churned inside him.

"We must take all the food that
we can find," Mo said, looking grimly around the room.

"It seems so cold-hearted,"
commented Tom with an uneasy look at the badger.

At that moment, Dredger entered
the room. "They have no further need of the provisions," he
remarked.

Tom glared at him in disgust.
"Sometimes," he hissed, "you really make me sick!"

With a slight smile, the
warrior sat down on a hard wooden stool and just looked steadily
back at the boy.

"The larder is well stocked,"
reported Mo, appearing at the doorway to one of the other rooms.
"There will be enough to sustain us for a great distance. And there
are also two rucksacks which we can put to good use." He paused,
looking over at Tom. "It’s what they would have wanted."

Saying no more, the four of
them gathered the provisions together, emptying the larder. Jack in
particular went about the task with dedicated enthusiasm.

When they had filled the
rucksacks until they bulged heavily, Dredger took one up onto his
broad shoulders with little effort. "I will carry this," he
announced, "and with your agreement, I will take it with me on my
own journey, which very soon must take me on a different path than
your own."

"Of course," approved Mo.

"And I'll carry the other one,"
voiced Jack, grabbing hold of the bulky pack.

Dredger smiled broadly but
without humour. "Yes, that is fitting. He will make a good
mule!"

Jack didn't seem to take any
offence at this and quite happily hoisted it up onto his back,
appearing to be ready to go wherever he was led.

"Very well," the badger
declared, "we have remained here long enough. Let us now walk the
road of bitter dream, where nothing and no-one are what they seem.
The verse is best remembered by all. Many things that were in
darkness are now coming to light."

He cast a look around the room,
noting the expression on each face. Tom's pale and frightened, yet
strangely resolute. Dredger, grim and purposeful, sure of his skill
in battle, ready to fight to the death. And Jack.

Mo gazed at the boy as Jack
scurried about, so keen to be of assistance. What had possessed him
when he had raved about the map being his own? It was odd indeed
that he had recovered so suddenly. The badger knew that he would
have to watch Jack very carefully from now on.

They left the cottage and
passed out into the gloom.

"I feel a bit sleepy," mumbled
Jack to no-one in particular.

"We must travel on," stated Mo.
"I think that perhaps the darkness has been sent merely to
discourage us, to persuade us to delay our journey. The Wolf enjoys
the discomfort that we all share whilst we remain in this
place.”

"We will not be deterred,"
reinforced Dredger, nodding his head solemnly.

"I still can't understand it
though," Tom mentioned. "It seems such a short time ago when we
rested. Wasn't that during the night?"

"Night is day and day is
night," sang the badger. "In the land of half dreams it suits the
Wolf for you to sleep."

Tom considered this for a
moment and came to realise that time here never seemed to pass
either quickly or slowly, or in fact ever really matter to them at
all. It was just as Mo had said, time did not exist, at least in
the way he understood it. "I always seem to feel tired even when
I've only just slept," he grumbled and yawned as if to demonstrate
his grievance.

They went on in a brooding
silence. The badger had his own thoughts, his doubts and his hopes.
While Tom recalled his Uncle Ira and began to understand many of
the strange things he had been told, which until now had always
sounded so bizarre and mysterious.

Jack however did not have any
thoughts at all. He was like a boy who was sleepwalking. He only
wanted to be told what he should do. And there was only one person
who could tell him. He knew he must be patient until she came to
him again.

And Dredger, now renewed with a
sense of destiny and purpose, knew where he must

go and what was expected of him
when he arrived at his destination. He was also aware of how much
depended on him.

To fail was to condemn them all
to a hell unimaginable.

With time seeming to stand
still and darkness settling deep around them, the party of four
travelled on for many miles. There were no stars and no moon to
light their path and yet the chasm of night was aglow nonetheless,
for a spectral light of uncertain origin filtered through the
trees, lending the landscape a yellowed, anaemic aspect.