The Magic Lands (23 page)

"So where do we go now?" Jack
asked, getting to his feet and brushing grass from his clothes.

"I think you could both do with
a bath and a change of clothing," Mo said briskly, wrinkling his
nose.

"And how are we going to manage
that?" Jack chuckled.

The badger began to pad away
over a hillock and down toward a long meadow.

"The house of a friend is
somewhere near here," Mo told them. "Could you check the map,
Tom?"

After all that had happened,
Tom had completely forgotten about the map but now he pulled it
from under his shirt, unfolded it upon the ground and ran a finger
across the creased parchment while Jack and the badger looked on.
It was not easy to follow the route they had taken, but making
allowances for their unorthodox exit from the caves, he calculated
their position roughly and pointed at a symbol marked to the
north-east. "There is some kind of building here. Is that what you
mean?"

"Yes," affirmed Mo, "that’s
it."

The company of three moved on
again, fully expecting to find a signpost nearby. They were not
disappointed. One of the now familiar wooden constructions awaited
them dutifully, a few hundred yards into the trees.

"Do you get the feeling that
someone wants us to get wherever it is we’re going?" asked Jack
dryly.

"The thought had crossed my
mind," admitted Tom.

Mo made a low coughing sound in
his throat. "We will be able to rest and refresh ourselves at the
house," he said seriously, "and maybe even requisition some new
clothing for you both."

At Tom's side, Jack laughed.
"Tom definitely needs a bath as well!"

Tom tutted and pushed lamely at
his friend. "You don't smell so good yourself."

The badger nodded gravely,
sniffing the air. "Indeed."

They walked on past swaying
trees, branches relenting to a stiff wind that had begun to blow.
Where the land began to climb steadily upward, the hillside was
lush and prosperous, thick grass and wild flowers dominating the
countryside.

"So who owns this house?" Tom
enquired, trying to concentrate on what lay ahead of them rather
than what they had left behind, his ordeal in the caves of
Rith-ran-ro-en still troubling his mind.

"It’s the home of my good
friend, Henry Blakestone," explained the badger. "He will help
us."

"Sometimes I think you know
more than you let on, Mo," Jack said and the animal gave him a
sharp look but did not reply.

Jack moved up next to Tom and
walked alongside him, hesitant about broaching a subject that he
had been thinking over ever since his friends account of his
adventures in the caves.

"Tom," he began at length,
"about that girl...what was her name?...Lisa?" He said it as
casually as he could manage. But there must have been a certain
edge to his words that betrayed some of his true feelings, although
if asked, Jack would have been hard pressed to explain them, even
to himself, because Tom's expression darkened.

"She's just a girl."

"But where do you know her
from? You've never mentioned her before." Jack said this in a
slightly hurt tone of voice, unhappy that his friend should have
kept secrets from him.

"I've just seen her before,"
said Tom shortly.

"But where?" Jack insisted on
knowing.

Tom seemed to be annoyed by
these questions and looked away. "In my dreams," he mumbled, almost
too low to hear.

Jack shook his head, mystified.
"In your dreams!" he parroted, disbelief on his face. "What are you
talking about? So now you're telling me she's just a figment of
your imagination!?"

"Look," snapped Tom, his
irritation growing, although he didn't really understand why.
"She's real enough. And anyway, I don't want to talk about it, so
let's just forget it all right?"

Jack looked at his friend
carefully, wondering just what was going on between him and this
mysterious girl, Lisa, who apparently had sprung from Tom's dreams.
He shook his head again and almost asked this aloud, but seeing the
other boy's flushed face and pursed lips, he decided to leave well
enough alone, at least for the time being.

They had almost reached the
brow of the hill now and gradually what lay upon the other side
became visible to them, a long, wide valley winding into the
distance.

A great house stood below them,
a startling image in a land that had until now seemed so
desolate.

"There it is," the badger
indicated.

"It's more like a palace,"
corrected Jack with amazement. And indeed the building was far more
than a simple dwelling, huge turrets and spires marking the
skyline, hundreds of windows glinting in the daylight. Tom assessed
that there must be at least sixty rooms, very probably many
more.

As they made their way down the
hillside, it became clear that there was a great deal of activity
around the perimeter of the building. An enormous gateway was the
only entrance visible, a high wall of brown stone encircling the
grounds attached to the house. Tom saw a large group of people
milling about outside of the gate tending animals that he decided
must be horses. They did not appear to be actually doing anything.
It was as though they were just waiting.

"And the owner of this place is
a friend of yours?" Jack questioned, glancing over at the badger as
they continued to clamber down the hill.

"A very good friend," confirmed
Mo, moving on toward an area where several men and women all
dressed in red tunics, white trousers and long black boots stood
idly beside impressive looking horses. They regarded the three new
arrivals with blank, impassive stares as the badger led Tom and
Jack toward the open gate.

They had managed to replenish
their supplies with exotic fruit and water from a small pond found
amongst the vegetation. But after the incident with their horses,
Dredger was very reluctant to sample either resource. Only once
Geheimnis had actually drank and eaten several mouthfuls was he
satisfied and even then, the warrior had waited for a reasonable
amount of time to pass to ensure that any effects they might have
were not latent. Throughout this self imposed abstinence, Geheimnis
had watched him with an amused half-smile set upon his mask,
taunting his caution openly until Dredger could bear it no longer
and ventured a grudging taste of the water. He had found it
surprisingly pure and sweet, particularly after the trials of the
desert and so now, at last they began their trek across the Land of
Scars, a brooding silence falling between the two men.

The warrior's thoughts returned
to his mistrust of his companion. The further they travelled
together, the more convinced he became that Geheimnis was an enemy.
He had come very close to challenging the masked man to combat on
several occasions, but he was still uncertain. Perhaps it might be
a mistake. It was still possible that he was not a foe. And maybe,
just maybe, the man behind the mask would be a match for him. These
things he pondered on.

At Geheimnis' direction they
had sought and found several stout lengths of wood taken from a
stand of tawny, sinuous trees that Dredger did not recognise. His
companion informed him, after some sharpening, that they would
serve as ground stakes. And to make things worse, setting the
warrior further on edge, Geheimnis had also produced a grappling
hook, apparently from out of thin air, telling him that it would go
nicely with the rope!

They passed over many of the
smaller fissures, managing by sheer physical strength and prowess
to hurl their bodies to the other side without hazard or injury. A
fierce wind had begun to gust around them, billowing dust into
their faces, forcing both men to push hard against the elements and
Dredger found it bitterly amusing that where he had to shield his
eyes from the raging dust-storm, the masked man had no such
difficulties.

At length, they came upon a
rift in the land that ran as far as they could see, although in the
present conditions, that was not really very far. It was perhaps
the width of ten tall men and Dredger was thankful that they had
the rope and iron, even as he resented having to use the unnatural
objects. At least the masked freak had been of some use to him.

Taking up the hook, it now
fastened securely to the rope, Dredger flung the contraption
through the air. With a dull thud, the iron claws dug into one of
the smaller fissures that lay several yards beyond the far side.
Pulling hard on the rope, the warrior assured himself that it would
bear a man's weight and then, striking one of the wooden stakes
into the ground, he began to tie the end of the rope to it.

"Perhaps I should do that,"
Geheimnis interjected, kneeling down beside him.

"I know how to tie a knot,"
retorted Dredger irritably.

"Certainly," allowed the man,
"but I know of a way to tie the rope so that once on the far side,
we shall be able to retrieve it without having to wrestle the stake
from the earth."

Dredger raised an eyebrow. "How
could such a knot hold our weight?" he scoffed.

"You should put your trust in
me, my dear Dredger. I assure you that I know what I am doing. I
have learnt many useful tricks during my lifetime."

"So you finally admit that your
miracles are no more than mere trickery," Dredger said with a thin
smile. The mask showed no emotion and it occurred to him that
perhaps the man beneath did not have any true feelings at all.

"There is a time for tricks,"
Geheimnis hissed, "and a time for magic. As you will come to learn,
my fearless friend, I am the master of both."

Dredger almost spat his
contempt at the ground but controlled himself, barely. "Will you go
first or shall I show you how it should be done?" he managed
finally.

"I will watch and learn,"
stated Geheimnis, his mask now revealing the familiar, wide
smile.

This acted as a goad for the
warrior and quickly lowering himself over the brink of the yawning
chasm, he grabbed the rope and began working his way hand over hand
along the taut line.

This thing
had better hold
, he thought as he hung precariously in
mid-air above the depths of an unknown darkness. Only then did it
occur to him that in his anger and frustration, he had let himself
be manoeuvred into this perilous position. He was completely at
Geheimnis' mercy. All it would take was one cut of the masked man's
blade. It would be foolish to expect to survive the fall, the
blackness below appearing bottomless and even if he should do so,
it would be almost certainly as a cripple, left to die alone in a
subterranean tomb.

Desperately he glanced back
over his shoulder, fully expecting to see his enemy poised to send
him to his doom, but the dust was too thick, making it impossible
to see anything more than a vague outline. With renewed urgency,
the wind buffeting him hard, Dredger hurried toward the far side of
what he now thought of as the jaws of a ravenous beast, only
waiting for the moment when it would take him down into its foul
belly. As he drew closer to the edge, he vowed that if he survived
this he would never again let the masked devil get the upper hand.
Perhaps Geheimnis would have an unfortunate accident when it was
his turn to come across. This idea spurred the warrior on, a snarl
of hate upon his face. But just as he believed he would reach the
other side, the rope began to shudder in his hands, gently at first
but then with increasing violence.

A small, rather plump man
stepped forward and smiled broadly. "Welcome, welcome," he beamed.
"And what an absolutely wonderful day it is too." The others
gathered with the horses appeared to entirely ignore them.

Mo nodded courteously. "Good
day sir. Would it be possible for you to inform Mr. Blakestone that
a friend of his is here to visit him. My name is Mo."

The small man stared blankly at
the animal and several long moments passed, the two boys beginning
to think that the man had suffered a seizure of some kind. Then, as
if snapping out of a trance, he grinned at Mo. "Absolutely
wonderful day," he enthused. "And who can say, it could be even
better tomorrow."

Tom looked at the man with a
bemused expression, but he seemed to be quite oblivious of he and
Jack, concentrating solely on the badger.

"Well, thank you for your
help," said Mo amiably enough, although Tom detected a change in
the animal's tone. "Now I think I will go up to the house and
announce my arrival."

The man continued to smile.
"You've come just in time for the Huntsmen's Ball, you know. I look
forward to seeing you there."

Tom pulled a dubious face as he
followed behind the badger under an archway and along an extensive
driveway that led up to the great house. Once away from the group
outside the gateway, Mo slowed and spoke to the boys in a hushed
voice, as if he was afraid they might be overheard. "All is not
well here," he told them, his eyes darting from side to side,
scanning the surrounding bushes and foliage for any potential
eavesdropper.

"What's wrong?" asked Jack,
also keeping his voice low. The animal sniffed the air and wrinkled
his nose, making Jack smile slightly. "Doesn't smell right?" he
offered.

"Something's in the air," Mo
said definitely.

"What should we do?" questioned
Tom, becoming worried. There were a lot of people here and if it
was they who posed the threat, it seemed pretty reckless to be
walking so blithely into their midst.

"Be vigilant and be on your
guard," stated the badger.

"But against what exactly?"
Jack wanted to know.

"The Wolf walks in shadow," Mo
cautioned. "The Beast can be difficult to recognise. Be alert and
note what you see and hear. It could turn out to be more important
than you might at first believe."