Megan Button and the Brim-Tree (5 page)

‘But what could he possibly
want
with them?’ she asked bleakly.

‘If Abraxus
did
want every leaf from The Brim-Tree,’ Prince Tumble reckoned with a hunch of a premonition, ‘I can only assume he desires to completely ravage The
Enchanted Kingdom.’

With quaking fingers, Megan fished in her pyjama pocket for The Brim-Tree leaf. She slowly uncurled her hand, fingering the stalk tightly - to make sure that the leaf didn’t blow away.

Lucy was alarmed at the deathly seriousness on Megan’s face, and investigating the leaf she was dismayed that over half had now turned a midnight black - though the prickly top was still
spewing out rainbow embers - and showing Prince Tumble, her hand began to tingle in the most oddest fashion.

From the darkness of the leaf, armlike specks of ink began to seep out. Lucy took a closer step to Megan, while the Unicorns spied the blue-black steams uneasily.

The Prince shouted.
‘Move back, now, children
. This does not bode well!’

But the pulsating ropes grew bigger, continually sliming and oozing. They were about to run, when two, icy-cold, thick tendrils, wrapped wound them and as the Prince and his Unicorns moved
forward to help, both were lifted off the ground, yowling their heads off, as the congealing tentacles were hurling Megan and Lucy around with such thrashing force, it was as if Peruvian
boa-constrictors were greedily guzzling them up.

Suddenly, the dark mass began recoiling into Megan’s leaf taking itself and the two girls with it.

From the twist of the last tendril the forlorn-looking Unicorns saw Megan and Lucy being gobbled up, and heard evil laughter that was deep and full of menace. They knew then that Abraxus had
used the Magic in the leaf to bring the sisters too him.

The destruction of The Enchanted Kingdom was not far off now.

They had no hope.

They were doomed…

‘
Lucy… Lucy
?’

‘I’m-over-here,’ she squeaked fearfully from the gloom.

Megan blew a tousled strand of hair out from her eyeline. She wriggled and crawled noiselessly over the rough dirt, using Lucy’s beckoning voice to guide her. Feeling her way carefully,
she suddenly put her jittering hand on to something furry, and cringing, she froze. Breathing slowly, she became aware of a rustling sound, which scuttled past her into the spooking shadows.

With her pulse pounding she again inched forward, wincing, from the stones grazing her hands and knees.

A shape rose up making her juddering heart leap into her throat: about to scream, she realised that it was Lucy.

‘Something’s-in-here-it-didn’t-feel-very-nice-so-be-careful,’Megan

warned, breathlessly, and lobbed off a pebble that had lodged on her palm.

They looked around tensely before sitting down, and then sensed that the now specter-like shades were splitting.

The air changed becoming warmer, the ground began to vibrate and the stones jumbled haphazardly into the air. A sweltering cloud of smoke swirled about them and squinting their stinging eyes,
they saw Abraxus unfanning his wings.

Megan sprang up and hastily grabbing Lucy by the scruff of the neck ducked behind a large boulder. They peeked out surreptitiously, and in an unimpeded view, were petrified to see a stream of
fire spurt from his mouth, smouldering the area where they had just been. From the fires glow it showed a cosmic-spaced cavern with ledges running round the sides, where a constellation of hundreds
upon hundreds of glittering, looming eyes stared unblinkingly.

Megan swallowed, as she had seen long points of rock hung from the roof like huge fangs waiting to eat them.

And casting a momentary look towards Abraxus, the light from the fire illuminated his blue and white scales, causing bursts of flashes to shine like sapphires, while brilliant sparkles shone
brightly like diamonds, and his enormous spiked tail swished along the ground stirring the air making the flames flicker and spit. Megan couldn’t believe how something so beautiful, could be
so evil.

Her spirits then lifted, for there in his front claws were Blossom and Nugget!

Holding her breath, she stared hard, slowly becoming aware that a weak glow was around the Fairy and Elf.

‘We don’t have much time-e,’ she said, giddy with relief.

‘OK smarty-pants, what do we do-o now?’ commanded Lucy.

‘We need to-o call on the Magic-c with-h-in us-s,’ Megan choked, her hands were executing wagging motions, to drive the rapidly thickening smoke out of her face. ‘I-I know we
fall out a lot, but we’re going too-o have to work together to defeat Abraxus, and save Blossom a-and Nugget. O-Ok?’ she asked, while looking at the nearly black leaf in her smarting
hand.

Lucy shrugged half-heartedly.

‘F-fine,
just
too save them-m t-t-hh-oo-uu-gg-hh,’ she replied with terse coolness, and then suffered a coughing fit.

Seizing hold of Lucy’s hand, Megan concentrated hard on the leaf, and the deep Magic of The Brim-Tree. Slowly, firing beams of light appeared from the tip, which blazoned into streaks of
white dots, encouraging Megan and Lucy to step out from behind the rock. Facing Abraxus, the lights crackled, and turned into every colour of the rainbow, which glinted and lightened up the pools
of shadows. Suddenly, bolts of reddish-blue and coppery green light shot into a corner where piles of dry, dusty leaves had been littered like rubbish, and as Megan watched, a glow began to throb
flaming into a golden light.

The air was then filled with a thunderous voice that was so frightening it stabbed deafeningly into Megan and Lucy’s ears. ‘YOU WILL NOT STOP ME, WHATEVER YOU MAY BE. YOU HAVE CAUSED
ME ENOUGH TROUBLE, BUT NO MORE. TODAY IS THE DAY THIS REALM BECOMES MINE. FROM THE BRIM-TREE’S POWER, I AM ABLE TO SENSE EVERY MOVEMENT YOU TAKE,’ the Dragon roared and continued his
evil fiery victory. ‘IF THEY HAD ONLY CHOSEN ME AS PRINCE OF DRAGON LAND, THEN NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED. BUT NOW WITH ALL THE MAGIC, I AM GOING TO BE THE ULTIMATE RULER OF - ’
suddenly, Megan thought,
what can I do? What can I do?
She felt like a teeny-tiny mouse in front of a whopping great elephant. A chill ran down Megan’s spine. Then, to her, it was like
the noises all around her hushed, and she realised:
I do believe… I
believe
in… me,
and clearly knew what she had to do. She bravely faced Abraxus and shouted as loud as
she could muster, ‘ - I believe in Magic!’

As her voice rang out, the explosive rainbows bouncing around them grew more vibrant. They began to fly into Abraxus, while a bombardment of golden fingers spreading from the leaves looped
themselves grippingly through the Dragon like chains, and as he tried to bring forth his fiery breath, rainbows dived down his throat causing a loud roar to fill the air, ricocheting around the
cavern.

Megan jumped up and down like a demented Jack-in-a-box, and awkwardly tugging Lucy, who wore an expression like a moody witch chewing on a fat fly, they chorused repeatedly, ‘We
believe
in Magic!’

The whole affair caused gasps of glee to come from Megan, for over his head a great golden cloud had formed, surrounded by a glorious rainbow.

Megan was shouting, ‘Yay!’ Lucy, meanwhile, glanced at Megan now screaming ‘Hooray!’ and looked smug. Very smug. So smug in fact she could have won a certificate in it.
Then Lucy’s eyesight was taken in by the cloud engulfing Abraxus, while the rainbow spun out shafts of lavender light into the air, and they both stared wide-eyed, as the cloud had formed
into a shower of heather-pinkish Fairy dust, raining down over everything.

The puffs of smoke had vanished.

And amazed, Megan watched the Fairy dust settle on the ground.

Flaring light continued too rove around the cavern, merging together to form an even bigger rainbow, which glowed and shimmered iridescently in front of her and Lucy.

The Fairy dust, where Abraxus had been, moved, and out flew Blossom and Nugget!

Laughing, Megan said. ‘Oh, Princess Blossom, I thought we might have lost you both forever.’

Fluttering her wings, Blossom hovered by Megan, and her tuneful voice chuckled. ‘Nugget and I cannot thank you and Lucy enough for being so brave.’

‘Has Abraxus really gone?’ asked a very quiet voice.

‘Yes, Lucy, he could not fight the strong Magic that Megan, together with you and The Brim-Tree brought forward.’

Before Megan could offer a comment, Lucy cut in and began an impromptu pirouetting performance as though she were on a theatre stage with her trooping friends. Megan frowned quite deeply, and
noticing this, Princess Blossom turned to her, and said. ‘There is still one last thing for you to do.’

Megan anxiously looked around, and Blossom hastened too add, ‘It’s OK. There is no more evil here. It is a good thing only
you
can do now. Look at the leaf, Megan.’

With the harp still strumming in her head, Lucy stopped her nimble prancing.

She was most infuriated.

She grimaced glaringly at her unappreciative audience, and tramped over to Megan who was peering in her hand: the whole leaf shimmered with colour and there was not a trace of black to be seen.
A thin streak of red flew from the leaf and struck the Fairy dust on the ground, then slowly the dust started to twine around them, and became a bolt of pure gold that dissolved into the leaf!

Lucy could see something blue and white was glistening. Stooping over, she looked closely, and in stunned stupefaction swiped up a perfect, small figure of Abraxus. He had his tail snaked around
his legs and was crouching on a rock, with his wings half-raised.

It looked almost
alive
.

‘Because Abraxus turned my sister into a figurine, this is his punishment for his evil ways,’ Nugget said indifferently.

Lucy stashed Abraxus away into her pocket.

Cheerfully, Blossom announced that it was now time to leave.

‘How do we get out of here?’ Lucy asked, eagerly.

Glancing at Nugget, Blossom grinned. Looking at the buttery-golden leaf, an explosion erupted in the air. Dazzling colours jostled together to form a golden cloud, encrusted with glittering,
rainbow flickers that were so magnificent they were all transfixed.

A gentle voice echoed around the cavern. ‘Do not be alarmed; the cloud is the essence of my ancient Magic. Allow it too encircle you and carry you to me.’

As the voice drifted away, everyone felt themselves being gently pulled upwards until they were sat upon the cloud, that was so squishy Megan thought it like her quilt.

The cloud began to fly towards the caverns gapping mouth, where it emerged into The Enchanted Kingdom.

In wonderment, everyone watched as speckles of silver Fairy dust glimmered from the cloud, turning the barren land back to hills peppered richly with violets and freesias, sparkling indigo
rivers and never-ending emerald-green fields.

Looking around, they were thrilled to see the three suns were now a resplendent ruby-red, a zesty-orange and a buttercup-yellow, and once more the rainbows filled the blue sky with their
wondrous stripes.

As they continued their transported journey to The Brim-Tree, they once again passed by Ocean Land - the sight before them was marvelous.

Rays from the suns danced over the surface of the crystal blue and deep purple ocean, and looking to gain a better view, Megan happily saw that small grey dots were swirling, encircling and
puckishly tumbling round one another in the air: these were the Flying Dolphins and splashing, cartwheeling up and spattering back into the water, was the Mer-people. They looked to Megan about
human size, but the lower halves of their bodies, instead of legs, had long fish tails of pale green, with dark green tinges lining the edges. Megan noted a few of the Mer-people had pure halos of
blond hair like her sisters, but some had auburn like hers, others had pale pink and white, which flowed down to their backs, while some of the Mer-men had shorn theirs shorter.

Many Mer-people appeared to be swimming in one direction, and when Megan scanned ahead, she saw creviced rocks and boulders with nooks of promontories were jutting out of the water, and on these
the Mer-people rested. Though more were basking in the beating of the suns beams with their tails in the gentle lapping water, and their upper-bodies lying on the beach.

Lucy looked up at a cloud, which reminded her of something similar to a Blimp aeroplane splattered with ickly-sticky marshmallows, and then started to wave cheerio down below.

Seeing that Lucy was absorbed, Nugget coasted by Megan. ‘Do you see that mighty tree?’ (She inclined her head and gave a lopsided grin; her attention was just on the outer borders of
the seashore ambling into a dale, and realised that somehow, quite miraculously, her parched throat was quenching) ‘That’s Prince Oaken.’

‘He is rather big,’ Megan observed, her eyes glued, watching his treetop hair being ruffled by the breeze, which was also cooling her down.

‘You should see him up close!’ Nugget hooted, slanting his eyebrows.

‘But what is he doing?’ she asked, pointing a finger, as now dozens and dozens and dozens of other trees were stomping over valleys and fields, clustering around Prince Oaken.

‘I think that is the leader of the Birch Tribe,’ Princess Blossom whispered in Megan’s ear, who had come to be by her and Nugget, ‘and Prince Oaken is checking that they,
and all the other Tribes are OK. He has an awfully big job ahead of him,’ she said, almost to herself.

Hearing chatter behind her, Lucy wheeled round, and butting in, blurted, ‘The sand
does
look like Fairy dust!’

No-one replied except for Princess Blossom, who merely smiled indulgently.

As the cloud continued its flight through The Enchanted Kingdom, Megan was continually astonished at how wondrous and astounding the land truly seemed to be, and approaching the immense
bordering fringe of willows, she soon saw the dying Brim-Tree.