The Magic Lands (21 page)

And still Geheimnis hummed.

"We are now within the deepest
regions of this place," Mo alerted them, slowing his pace. His
large paws padded gently against the rock and the sound echoed from
the walls.

In the faint light Jack peered
ahead but couldn't see anything except darkness. "What should we
do?" he said apprehensively, not really wanting to go any
further.

"I am afraid we must discover
whether She sleeps or wakes. There is no other choice."

Jack frowned and shook his head
reluctantly. "You don't really expect us to just march right in and
look, do you?"

"As I’ve said. There is no
other choice."

Beside them Tom fidgeted, his
thoughts troubled, urging him toward an unwelcome decision. "I
think," he said quietly, "that it's for me to go alone."

The Badger stopped walking and
faced the boy, an unreadable expression on his face. "Do you think
so?"

Tom nodded. "It has to be me,
doesn't it?"

Mo smiled in the gloom. "I’m
glad that I did not have to ask you."

Tugging at Tom's arm, Jack
faced his friend. "Now hold on a minute. We need to stick together.
Why do you need to go off on your own? That’s stupid!"

As Tom looked into the other
boys eyes, he knew for certain that this truly was the old Jack,
who had so nearly been lost to him. "No Jack, it’s not," he stated
firmly, although he regretted what he had to say. "I have to go
alone." He squeezed the boy's arm affectionately. "But don't worry,
you won't get rid of me so easily."

Something in the way his friend
spoke and the look on his face told Jack that there was no point in
arguing. "You had better make that a promise," he mumbled.

"Listen to me, Tom," voiced Mo,
coming close beside the boy, "if you find her awake, do not linger.
Return to us immediately. Don’t hesitate, just run. But if she
sleeps, then you must ask her the way to find Pandora's Box. Only
she can lead us there."

Tom nodded quickly. "I
understand."

The badger took a step back and
sniffed the tepid air of the tunnel. "Now go quickly. We will wait
for you here."

With one final glance at his
two companions, Tom began to move further along the passageway,
phantom fears huddling within his mind, threatening to suffocate
him. The darkness seemed to become denser with every step he took
deeper into the labyrinth and when after only a few minutes, he
looked back the way he had came, he could only see blackness, his
isolation absolute. All light was fading rapidly now, slipping away
into the shadows, but he stumbled on, walking for a great distance,
several times having to choose between divergent corridors.

A presence, cloying and
guileful had begun to work within his subconscious, growing
steadily stronger. Up ahead, Tom dimly made out what appeared to be
an archway, the craggy rock walls blushed with a soft, flickering
incandescence. And beyond this ingress, he could see a brighter
light that threw shadows on the rock-face, inventing freakish,
moving spectres which danced like twisted marionettes.

She's in there.

As he thought this, the aura
that suffused his mind became even more powerful.

With his heart drumming
absurdly fast, Tom inched very slowly toward the archway cut in the
stone.

Please be asleep. Please don't
be waiting for me.

Beneath the arch he went, his
eyes stung by the brightness of a vibrant light within a large
chamber. Tom scanned the room for the hideous creature he knew
rested there, not knowing what to expect but visualising the most
horrible thing his imagination could contrive. And yet he saw what
he least expected.

Reclining upon a lavish four
poster bed, rich silk sheets spread about her, lay a strikingly
beautiful woman, her long, dark hair fanned out around her head
like a burnished halo. Her breasts rose and fell with each breath
as she slept and Tom marvelled at the thin, apparently transparent
gown that she wore, crimson, almost sanguine in colour.

As he watched, she turned
briefly in her sleep and Tom started, ready to run, but her
breathing remained even, its sound the only intrusion upon the
silence of the chamber. Could this truly be the monstrous
Rith-ran-ro-en that Mo had warned him of? And yet he had said she
had been beautiful and it was certainly no exaggeration. For a
minute or so, Tom could only stare at her, the scene before him
like some master's painting, the stillness of it reinforcing the
impression. But then he remembered why he had come there.

He felt very foolish standing
there, the idea of speaking to a sleeping woman ridiculous and he
was overcome by a powerful urge to wake her. But with some effort,
he resisted this impulse, instead stepping closer to the bed, his
eyes riveted to her tranquil features and spoke aloud his
question.

"Please tell me the way to go
to find Pandora's Box?"

The words echoed around the
cavern, reverberating within its pallid walls. There was no
movement, all remained still and Tom became certain that he must
not have asked in the correct manner.

Then she opened her eyes and
looked directly at him. Tom stepped backward, his instincts
screaming at him to run, but the woman did not rise from the bed,
her eyes appearing blank and unaware. She seemed to look right
through him, her expression distant.

And then she spoke.

"Take just seven steps

to find your heart’s
desire,

a promise of regret

to lay within the fire.

On to the very edge

and claim a blighted kiss,

there to meet your match

beyond the dark abyss."

Her voice was musical,
infiltrating his mind and Tom's vision blurred, his head aching.
The ground began to revolve as if he were on a merry-go-round,
faster and faster, spinning, turning until he reeled with the
sensation. The world became nothing more than dim colours,
encircling him.

Through it all, he could see
her face, her eyes fixed on him and Tom knew without question that
she could really see him now. Her mouth moved, a long tongue
licking at shining lips.

Let me be
with you
, Tom thought dreamily.
Forever.

Getting gracefully up from the
bed, her red gown clinging to her body, she came for him, but
something tugged at his hand, pulling him away from her, forcing
him to move backward.

He resisted.
No, I want to stay here. I want to stay with
her
. But he was wrenched violently away from the
woman's outstretched hand, her eyes pleading with him to come to
her embrace.

As he was drawn toward the
archway, he saw that the woman's face had begun to alter, her ruby
lips contorting and enlarging, her beautiful eyes becoming
salacious and cruel, a desperate fire seething within. Her soft
ivory skin darkened and decayed as if diseased with some terrible
plague, and as Tom witnessed this his mind became his own again, a
demonic shriek piercing his head as the woman realised he would
escape. Once through the archway, staggering along through the
gloom, Tom rubbed at his eyes, trying to focus them in the
blackness and nearly lost his footing when he saw that beside him
stood a golden-haired girl.

"Lisa," he whispered and she
smiled as she led him swiftly along the corridor.

"Stay close, Tom," she said
urgently, "I'll show you the way out."

He could make no reply,
everything seeming unreal and it suddenly occurred to him that he
must be dreaming this after all. Absently he pinched himself and
immediately winced at the pain.

"Hurry," Lisa said and looking
into the dark pools of her eyes, he knew that he would go wherever
she led.

His hope withered under the
incessant desert heat, doubt germinating within him. Dredger, his
eyelids heavy with sand and sweat, a physical drain inundating his
entire body, was preoccupied by a nagging question. Could he endure
this hellish journey? If he had been a child he would have surely
wept, his stinging tears falling to shrivel upon the smouldering
sand. But he was a man, a warrior and he would not weep. He would
not succumb to the terrible force that weighed him down, pressing
upon him until he felt certain that he must sink into the golden
tomb below. His feet were pieces of meat, simmering in the oven of
his boots.

Geheimnis, however, seemed
unaffected. He marched on without any apparent difficulty and
Dredger barely managed to keep pace with him.

"How do you feel?" the masked
man enquired, his tone genuine enough, though the warrior doubted
his motives.

"Is it much further?" he
answered, trying very hard not to betray the desperation that he
felt.

Geheimnis took a flask from his
pack and drank several long mouthfuls and Dredger watched
jealously, licking his cracked lips. His own water supply had long
since been exhausted and he just could not understand how his
companion had managed to conserve so much of his provision.

"I am sure we are very near,"
the masked man said belatedly after another drink from his
flask.

Dredger looked ahead and saw
that they were approaching a very high dune, its slopes so steep
that he had to question his own ability to scale it in his present
condition. His mind complained wearily, a fog clouding his
thoughts, his will-power drained.

Geheimnis began to leave him
behind, pressing on easily across the rising sand.

Keep
moving,
Dredger commanded himself angrily.
Are you so weak? Look, the faceless fool manages
quite well. Is that freak a better man than you? Will you let him
see you beaten?

Finding some untapped reserve,
the warrior doubled his efforts and came up close behind the other
man, his legs threatening to give way as his boots sank into the
desert, the sand reluctant to relinquish its hold on them. With his
eyes fixed on Geheimnis' back, Dredger hauled himself up toward the
summit of the great dune.

As they finally reached the top
Geheimnis paused, Dredger gaining his side and he looked down upon
a very different land, one which was green and alive. Fighting to
hold himself straight, relief washing over him, he sighed. "At
last."

Geheimnis' mask turned a little
toward him and held a familiar smile. "We can find water and
perhaps fruit here," he said, "but it is only a much larger form of
oasis in a desert of another kind."

Dredger listened to the man's
words and nodded. "The Land of Scars lays beyond."

"Indeed," the other man
replied. "Our journey is far from ended, so I suggest that we rest
awhile and replenish our supplies before we begin again."

With a feeling of subdued
triumph Dredger made his way down the other side of the sand-dune
and into the grassy slopes that lay beneath it, his tired legs
causing him to stumble but he no longer cared. He had prevailed.
Now he would rest and renew his strength. Then to reach Hydan where
his foe awaited him.

Bending to touch the rich
vegetation, savouring its coarse texture, Dredger said a silent
prayer.

Tom followed Lisa along the
passageway, but she glided over the rocky surface of the tunnel
with such ease that he found it difficult to keep up with her.
Noticing this, she slowed a little and held out her hand. "Take
it," she instructed.

Tom touched her fingers, a
mixture of emotions flooding through him and she gripped his hand
tightly leading him on through the shadowy labyrinth. He had no
idea where she was taking him and the truth was that he didn't
really care, just so long as he was with her.

How could anyone be so
lovely?

All of a sudden she stopped and
came close to his ear. In a whisper, Tom aware of her breath
against his cheek, she spoke to him. "Just there," she said,
pointing into the darkness, "there’s a door, the way through. Your
friends are waiting for you just a little further along this
passage. You’ll be safe once you’re outside, at least for a while."
She looked deep into his eyes and he knew what it must be like to
be mesmerised. "I have to go now," she murmured, her lips just a
little way from his. Tom wondered if she wanted him to kiss her,
but then she was moving away, back in the direction they had come,
her golden hair gleaming like a light itself.

Without thinking, he started
after her. "Wait!" he called but she had already disappeared into
the blackness. He stood alone, abandoned and frustrated. "I don't
want you to go," he breathed. Then he remembered what she had said
and knew that he had to find the others. For all he knew,
Rith-ran-ro-en might still be stalking him, close by, slithering
through the tunnels seeking her prey.

But Lisa went back the way we
came. Where could she have been going?

Indecisive now, Tom looked
around and his eyes rested upon a small wooden door in the rock. He
had to believe Lisa knew what she was doing, so without any more
deliberation, he continued along the tunnel. He broke into a jog,
praying that his friends were really not too far away.

Within a few minutes, he heard
a sound ahead and stopping to listen, Tom could make out a low
voice.

"Well, I think that we should
go and look for him. We’ve waited long enough.," it hissed with
exasperation. Hurrying forward, Tom rushed around a bend in the
passage and almost fell over the badger. "Tom!" cried Jack with
unmistakable relief.

"It's me," the boy signalled
with a grin, leaning back against the wall.

"Are you safe and sound?" Mo
questioned, inspecting him closely and then sniffing at his
clothing.

Tom nodded. "I'm okay, but we
need to get out of here. It isn't safe."

"Let's go then," Jack said with
eagerness.