Spellfall (30 page)

“Dead?” Merlin whispered, a chill going through him. “No wonder he’s acting so crazy! We have to get out of here.” He crawled towards the entrance, only to find his father’s stick blocking the way.

“Going somewhere, little mouse?” Hawk hissed, the insane glitter back in his eyes. “You think you’re so superior, don’t you, with your clever computer-talk? Little traitor, that’s what you are. You and that pathetic familiar of yours. Take off your boot!”

“Lady Thaypari will be back soon,” Merlin said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. “She’ll bring Herders with spears! They hate Casters.”

His father smiled. “No she won’t. They’re all far too busy at the Thrallstone. We’re alone in here and I think some punishment is due for all the trouble you’ve caused me, don’t you? Remember your mother’s sweet little canary?”

Merlin felt ill. He darted a glance at the entrance. Still no sign of Lady Thaypari. As slowly as he could he began to ease off his right boot.

The stick crashed into his ankle. “Not that one! The one with your mouse in it. Stop delaying! No one’s going to help you now.”

Which might be true now their tree was safe. Merlin took a deep breath. “Run, Redeye!” he shouted, whipping off his left boot and turning it upside-down, at the same time making a dash for the entrance.

Several things happened at once.

Hawk made a grab for the mouse but missed. Redeye scurried up Merlin’s leg, dragging a rather creased spell that nevertheless glittered and flashed with power. A pack of silver magehounds poured into the Heart and sprang at the intruder, snarling and snapping. Lady Thaypari shouted to Merlin to get out of there. Lord Hawk swung his stick – and froze, his gaze fixed on Merlin’s hand.

Cast it, you fool!
Redeye said.

“No,” his father whispered, his eyes showing the first flicker of sanity since he’d appeared in the Heart. “Don’t—”

Merlin set his jaw. “Couldn’t transport a flea if it hopped half the distance itself, huh Father?” Twelve years of frustration and pain streamed down his arm and into the spell. The heat and power of the casting knocked him backwards. The resulting spellflash stained the Heart purple, blinding Merlin, Redeye, magehounds and Spell Lords alike. He smelt burnt sugar mingled with singed hair and flesh. When he could see again, his father had gone.

He stood very still while the magehounds sniffed around the Heart, whimpering in confusion. The Spell Lords wafted smoke away from their faces. Then Lady Thaypari gathered him into her soft, warm arms. “It’s all right, young Caster,” she said, holding him tightly. “You’re safe now. It’s over.”

*

The questioning at the Thrallstone was soon over. After only a few minutes, Lord Pveriyan came striding back, dragging Claudia by the wrist. Lady Fayhilia stood and brushed grass off her robe, one eyebrow raised in query. Natalie looked up, afraid of what she might see. But apart from two small bruises on her temples, Claudia appeared to be unharmed.

Pveriyan flung the Caster to her knees in the shadow of the Thrallstone and regarded her in disgust. “She hasn’t a clue!” he said. “She doesn’t even know where K’tanaqui went, let alone Hawk. All she keeps saying is she has to take Atanaqui’s daughter through the gateway to this place called Hospital so she can be properly treated. Pah!”

“Then maybe it’s true,” Lady Fayhilia said quietly.

Pveriyan scowled. “She’s lying to save her skin. The Caster poison must have damaged Oq, and—”

“Changed your tune rather, haven’t you Pveriyan?” said an amused voice behind them. “I seem to remember you saying the Raven was no threat to us.”

Everyone swung round. Pveriyan’s scowl deepened, but Natalie saw Fayhilia’s lips twitch up at the corners. The voice belonged to Lady Thaypari, who had brought the rest of the Council with her. Their magehounds chased one another around the Thrallstone, getting under the unicorns’ hooves, tails waving. They greeted Fayhilia’s hound and Lord Gerystar’s with playful bites. Only K’veriyan remained stiff and unfriendly, his hackles raised and a growl beginning in his throat.

Natalie’s spirits lifted at the sight of the small, grubby figure jogging behind the newcomers. The boy’s Herder clothing was virtually unrecognizable, being torn and covered in mud, but his grin was undiminished. A white mouse peered from under one ear. “Merlin!” she said. “How did you get here?”

The boy crouched beside her. “Used the Root System, of course. Lady Thaypari thought we’d better see if the organazoomers still worked. They do! Better than before, actually. Not so many bruises.”

“But the Raven?”

“Gone. Just like Father.”

Natalie’s stomach clenched. “Lord Hawk, you mean? Did you see him? He was here, but then he transported—”

“Into the Heart. I know, I was there. But I soon transported him out again.”

“Where to?”

Merlin smiled. “As far as possible.”

“Merlin!” Natalie clutched at her arm. She couldn’t cope with this now.

Immediately, his grin faded. “Are you all right? You look terrible. What’s wrong with your arm? Did you get wounded in the battle? Did Father do it? I hope I hurt him, I hope I
killed
him.”

The Council were discussing Lord Hawk too. Lord Pveriyan seemed furious that the spellclave leader had vanished again but Lady Thaypari said soothingly, “Even if he survived the transportation, he’s trapped in Earthaven until the next Opening. We can deal with him later. He’s powerless now you’ve destroyed his familiar.”

Lord Pveriyan grunted. “We didn’t have to destroy it. Seems there was a rebel in the spellclave.” He pointed to Claudia. “
She
shot the goshawk.”

Everyone stared at Claudia. Thaypari helped the Caster woman to her feet, touched the bruises on her temples and frowned at Pveriyan. While the other Spell Lords gathered round, murmuring excitedly, Thaypari extracted some orange berries from her hair, mashed them between her palms, and smeared the juice on Claudia’s wounds.

The Caster woman smiled. “Thank you, Lady,” she said quietly. “But I’m afraid your Earthaven remedies won’t work for Natalie. Her world made the Raven and only her world can heal her now. We really do have to hurry.”

Lord Pveriyan’s lips twisted. “Sure you wouldn’t prefer a nice quick cleansing, Caster? If you go back, they’ll lock you up for a long time. Sure you can stand it without your hawk? The others couldn’t.”

He pointed to the far side of the clearing, where glowing creepers curled out of the clouds to weave thick cocoons about a line of struggling bodies. Natalie squinted at them and was suddenly glad she’d lost her glasses. No wonder the army was cheering so loudly.

Merlin paled. “They’re
torturing
them,” he whispered.

Lady Thaypari shook her head. “The pain won’t last long. When it’s done, they’ll be put to work in Earthaven – simple tasks that don’t require them to think. Sometimes it’s a blessing not to remember.”

Claudia winced, as if she didn’t need to be reminded. She grasped Natalie’s hand. “The doctors will need to know the exact formula of the Raven,” she said firmly. “I think I can keep my sanity long enough to tell them that. Come on, Natalie. Are you strong enough to open the gateway, or shall I ask one of the Spell Lords to let us through?”

Natalie hung back. “What about Merlin? I’m not leaving unless you let him go too.”

The boy grinned. “It’s all right, I’m going to stay and teach the Council about viruses and stuff and how to access other soultrees so they can communicate with each other, maybe even set up a world-wide Root System. Soultree roots go right under the oceans, you know. It’ll be brilliant, Natalie! Imagine taking an organazoomer anywhere you want –
whoosh
, and you’re there!”

She stared at him. “But I thought you hated organazoomers?”

“That was before. Besides, now Oq’s opened my Earthaven eyes, I’ll probably need Redeye to see in your world, and I’ve had quite enough of that— Ow!”

In spite of her sickness and the worry over K’tanaqui, Natalie giggled. The mouse had nipped his ear. Then her legs gave way and she sagged against Claudia.

“We have to go,” the Caster woman said. “Now!”

Lady Thaypari nodded and opened the gateway herself. “Don’t forget us, Natalie, will you?” she said. “There’s still a vacant seat on the Council. I hope you’ll fill it some day.”

Lord Pveriyan stepped in front of them, his jaw working. Natalie stiffened. But he said gruffly, “Hurry up and get well, Daughter of Atanaqui. And while you’re in this Hospital of yours, remember to ask if their wonder technology can find K’tanaqui, because Oq certainly can’t.”

Natalie was saved from making a reply as Claudia pulled her through the stone. There was a green flare. Her ears popped, she tasted diesel fumes, felt chill air on her burning cheeks. Then a lot of people were running towards them, all shouting at once.

Just before the gateway closed, Natalie looked back. The Spell Lords and their magehounds were watching silently, flanked by exhausted Treemages. Behind them, unicorns with rainbow horns, huge bears each carrying three or four riders, and stags with proud antlers, all blurred into the secret Earthaven shadows. The last thing she saw was Redeye creep from Merlin’s shoulder, steal a berry from Thaypari’s hair and eat it.

Her chest tightened and she made a feeble effort to go back. But everything was spinning. Rough hands dragged her and Claudia apart and slammed the Caster woman against the stone. Someone wrapped a blanket around Natalie and led her away while handcuffs were snapped on Claudia’s wrists. She tried to tell them not to hurt her, that Claudia had helped her, but the effort was too much. Before she’d taken two steps from the Thrallstone, darkness claimed her.

*

Sirens wailing, they took Nat away in the ambulance that had been waiting ominously at the edge of the clearing since the official search adopted the Thrallstone as their base. An unmarked car followed, skidding along the churned-up track. Handcuffed in the back was the woman kidnapper who had brought Nat out of the woods. Two patrol cars went along as escort, blue lights flashing. Mr Marlins had gone in the back of the ambulance to hold Nat’s hand. Julie, who had been phoned by the police as soon as Nat appeared, would meet them at the hospital. The Ministry men had already taken the Raven canister away at breakneck speed in their black van. The remaining police officers and their dogs were now conducting a search of the area around the Thrallstone, apparently still hopeful of finding Claudia’s accomplices. Which left Tim, Jo, and the Death Heads ignored at the edge of the clearing, desperately trying to keep their eyes open now the excitement was over.

Tim stared after the convoy until he could no longer hear the sirens. He pulled his birthday jacket closer about his shoulders and shivered. Day might have come but it was a damp grey November day and the cold had worked itself into his bones. “I hope Nat’s going to be OK,” he said, voicing all their fears.

No one spoke for half a minute. Then Gaz said, “I’m sure she will be, Tim. You don’t get rid of kid sisters that easy.”

The younger Heads giggled but soon went quiet again.

“It must be really frightening being kidnapped,” Paulie said after a pause.

“Oh, I dunno,” Pizzaface said. “I bet it was pretty exciting. Now she can sell her story to the newspapers and get loads of pocket money for sweets.”

The others gave him disgusted looks.

“Best fun we’ve ever had!” Gaz declared, breaking the tension. “I think we should come up here every Hallowe’en. What d’you say, Heads?”

There were cries of, “No way!” as the gang leapt on their leader, rolling him in the leaves. They laughed as they stuffed slimy handfuls down one another’s backs.

Jo had been given one of the ambulance’s blankets, which she clutched about her like a cloak. Her cap had gone and her fringe straggled into her eyes. “Nat was so brave in Earthaven, grabbing that leaky canister like she did,” she said quietly.

Tim cast an anxious glance at the Heads. But they were too busy rolling in the mud to notice her slip. “You went after the Casters,” he pointed out. “
That
was brave. All I did was find a few measly illusion spells.”

He’d been a bit worried what Gaz and the others might get up to with the live spells they had found in the Lodge. But as soon as the Boundary shut, they’d frowned at the glimmering things in their hands, screwed them up and tossed them away – only to scramble after them again when Mr Marlins shouted at them not to drop litter. Now, all the spells were safe in a black plastic dustbin liner hidden in the shed back at the Lodge. Mr Marlins had promised Tim that as soon as everything calmed down, he’d collect them and take them to the Thrallstone, make his peace with Lord Pveriyan and assure the Council Tim didn’t remember a thing. “That way they’ll leave you alone,” he’d told Tim with an awkward smile. “Only you’ve got to promise me you’ll be responsible. No silly business, using spells to play tricks on your friends or anything like that.”

“Course not!” Tim had replied, hurt. But Mr Marlins’ words had given him a few ideas.

He smiled at Jo. “At least I can still remember everything. Who knows? Maybe I’ll even volunteer my services as a Thrall one of these days. Beats stacking shelves at the supermarket.”

There was a short, awkward silence. Then Jo said, “Your head’s bleeding again. You should have let them take you to hospital.”

“Don’t fuss. You’re starting to sound like my mother.”

“Well, someone has to. You’re such an idiot, Timothy Lockley! Next time you try taking on a spellclave single-handed, remember to duck.”

Tim grinned. He still hadn’t heard all of Jo’s story, and she didn’t know all the details of his. But he had a feeling they were going to enjoy putting the pieces together later.

“You’re lucky they didn’t drag
you
off to be tested for contamination,” he shot back. “If those Ministry people had got you in that black van of theirs, you’d never have been heard of again.”

Jo gave him a withering look. “You watch too much TV.”

“That’s what my mother says, too.”

They weren’t the only ones talking about the night’s strange happenings. Groups of weary officers stood around stamping their feet and drinking coffee from paper cups while they discussed the night’s work. Their equally weary dogs waited nearby, tails drooping. Overhead, the police helicopter could still be heard, clattering low over the trees, circling the area around the Thrallstone.