The Lost Treasure of Annwn (6 page)

‘It's not your choice, Gerda and Medric can choose and I happen to know Gerda likes Bacon.'

‘To eat maybe, but I'm not sure she'd choose it as a name for one of her boys.'

‘What are your brilliant suggestions then?'

Jack thought rapidly.

‘Edric, Cedric and Brodric, Freda, Rhoda and Ada.'

‘Oh what lovely names!' exclaimed Nora as she joined them. ‘Don't you agree Elan.'

‘That's really clever Jack, I'm sure we can think of some more names with those endings. What about you, Camelin? Have you thought of any names?'

‘No,' grumbled Camelin, ‘I'm not clever like Jack.'

‘I'm sure you could think of at least one if you tried,' coaxed Nora.

‘Garlic,' croaked Camelin as he fixed Jack with his eye, ‘that ends in ic.'

Better than Kebab or Bacon, thought Jack, but only just.

‘Are you ready to collect the blackberries now?' asked Nora, as she took four bowls out of the basket she was carrying.

Jack hoped they weren't going back to Silver Hill, even in daylight.

‘Are we going far?'

Elan laughed.

‘Only to the far end of the kitchen garden, the bushes there are laden with fruit but it will probably take us till lunchtime to pick enough.'

‘They're for picking, not eating,' Nora reminded Camelin.

‘It's not my fault. It's not easy picking blackberries with a beak without squashing them. You wouldn't want me to put squashed fruit in the bowl would you?'

‘It doesn't matter today as it's all going to be made into blackberry jelly.'

Camelin didn't look too happy. Jack knew he'd be even more disgruntled when he found out that he was going to be busy at the Cricket Club all afternoon and that Elan was invited to lunch but he wasn't. Jack got a chance to speak to Elan when Camelin moved away.

‘I've got to go home for lunch today because I'm helping Grandad at the Cricket Club all afternoon. You can come too if you like and Grandad said you can have lunch with us.'

‘That would be great. Have you told Camelin yet?'

‘No, I wanted to see if you were coming first before telling him anything.'

‘He'll be fine, he can help Nora with the blackberries.' Elan turned towards Nora, ‘I'm going back for lunch with Jack and won't be back till late this afternoon.'

‘Lunch!' croaked Camelin excitedly. ‘Already?'

‘No,' replied Nora, ‘it's lunchtime for you when your bowl's full.'

Jack could hear Camelin grumbling under his breath. Both his and Elan's bowls were already full.

‘Can you leave them on the kitchen table for me?' said Nora. ‘I'll stay a bit longer and help fill the other bowl. Tell your grandad there'll be a pot of blackberry jelly and a pie for him in a couple of days.'

 

After lunch, Jack walked down the back lane with Elan and Grandad. Jack was lost in thought as Elan chatted to Grandad about the goslings. He was cross with himself for forgetting to ask about the Druid's library his Book of Shadows had told him about. He'd presumed it would be in the palace in Annwn but his book might have meant Nora's library. He might get a chance to ask Elan while they were in the pavilion. Crystal magic was something he wanted to know a lot more about. Any hope of talking to Elan disappeared when Jack saw the length of the queue at the Cricket Club.

‘Stand back,' said Grandad as he produced the key for the pavilion.

The crowd started to move forward until Grandad turned and held up his hand.‘Doors open in ten minutes, two o' clock, like it says on the notice board.'

A murmur of disappointment ran through the queue. Grandad seemed very excited.

‘There's more than last year. It's going to take a while to get through that lot.'

Grandad wasn't wrong. There was barely time for him to show Jack and Elan where to sit and tell them what to do before he went to open the door. Grandad sat at a table near the entrance and collected the registration fees. Elan and Jack were in charge of the forms and information packs. By the time the room had emptied Elan had over thirty team names on her list. Grandad looked at his watch.

‘Ten minutes to go. That was quite a turnout. They'll not all be in the race. Some of them just go in for the best looking buggy. You get some strange looking karts. Last year's winner looked like a pirate ship, mast, flag, and all. Can you two manage here while I start bagging this lot up ready for the bank?'

‘That's fine,' said Elan, ‘I'm sure Jack and I can manage now.'

Grandad picked up the cash box. Jack waited until he'd gone through the door before speaking to Elan.

‘I had a dream last night about Velindur, more of a nightmare really.'

‘Oooh! Pixie Boy gets nightmares does he?'

Jack swallowed hard. He hadn't seen or heard anyone come in but Max and Tank were now standing in front of the table towering above them. Elan picked up a pen and looked straight at Max.

‘Fee first, and then fill in this form please.'

Tank thumped both his hands on the table and glowered at Elan.

‘You fill it in.'

‘That's not a problem if you can't write,' replied Elan as she held out her hand. ‘But I'll need your registration fee first.'

Jack held his breath; he thought Tank was about to explode but Max pushed him out of the way and threw his money onto the table.

‘If we don't get a move on we won't get registered, you made us late already.'

Elan offered Max a form and a pen. He ripped the form out of her hand and went over to one of the tables to fill it in. Tank didn't move. He stared at both of them in turn then moved his head closer to Jack's.

‘Shame you and your girlfriend aren't entering, we'd show you what a real buggy can do.'

‘Oh but we are entering,' replied Elan.

Jack stared at her, wide-eyed. Entering against Max and his gang in a buggy race wasn't something Jack had been planning to do. They didn't even have a team or a name for a buggy.

‘Wouldn't bother if I were you, Freckles, we know who's gonna win, don't we Max!'

Tank nodded as he chuckled to himself. Jack did his best to stare back but he knew Tank could see the fear in his eyes. Max brought the form back but instead of handing it to Elan he held it up and let go of it. They all watched it float down to the table. When it landed Jack could see the name of Max's buggy, it wasn't something anyone could miss. Written in big capital letters was the word TERMINATOR. Max smoothed his long blond hair back from his face before fixing his eyes on Jack.

‘So… what's your buggy called Pixie Boy?'

‘The Comet,' said Grandad as he came through the door.

Max and Tank turned quickly and without another word left the pavilion. Jack realised he'd been holding his breath. Grandad added Max's fee to his cash box and got out his wallet.

‘Just time to register our buggy before it's time to shut up shop.'

‘But Grandad, we haven't got a team.'

‘I'll help,' said Elan.

‘Good lass, and so will I,' replied Grandad. ‘But I'm afraid we're stuck with the name Comet now.'

‘But we still need another team member,' said Jack.

Grandad patted him on the shoulder.

‘Don't worry about that, I'm sure one of your friends will want to help when they know you're going to be in the race.'

Jack wasn't so sure. His best friends weren't going to be able to help even if they wanted to and they would have to build the buggy without any magic or it wouldn't be fair. At least Grandad would know what he was doing. Elan gave him a smile.

‘It'll be fun.'

Grandad nodded in agreement before closing the door.

‘Let's sort these forms out before Don arrives. He's going to give me a lift down to the bank; we don't keep any money here, not since those break-ins a few weeks back. You can come along if you want.'

‘If you don't mind, Jack was going to come back to Ewell House; he wanted to look something up in Nora's library.'

‘That's fine, and if those boys bother you again, just you let me know.'

Jack tried to give Grandad his best smile but inside he didn't feel too good. As he and Elan left the Cricket Club he realised he hadn't said anything to Elan about the library.

‘How did you know I wanted to use Nora's books?'

‘Good guess… when you mentioned Velindur I thought you'd have a question you couldn't find the answer to in your Book of Shadows… correct?'

‘Correct.'

As they walked the short distance from the Cricket Club to the front door of Ewell House, Jack told Elan about his dream and the strange message he'd received. Elan looked puzzled.

‘Hmm! The Druid's library… you won't find what you're looking for in Nora's books or the palace library in Annwn. Your message is referring to a very ancient place.'

‘You mean there's another Druid's library!'

‘Oh yes, it's where Nora got a lot of the information from for her books. It was traditional for every Druid to write at least one book in order to preserve their knowledge. Once it was finished it would be taken to Falconrock. The library there is much bigger than the one in Annwn and it's unique. Most people think the Druids didn't write things down, they'd get quite a shock if they knew how many books had been written over the years.'

‘But I thought Nora was the only Druid left on earth.'

‘She is, the librarian at Falconrock isn't a Druid, she's a Sylph, a nymph of the air. Her name is Cloda. She's an archivist, which means she's the guardian of ancient knowledge and a keeper of secrets. She'll be able to tell you how to find out about crystal magic.'

‘That's brilliant.'

‘Well it is and it isn't.'

‘Why?'

‘Falconrock is a very special place but it's hidden from the mortal world. No one can enter the library unless they can open the door and to do that you need a golden acorn and a special key.'

Jack's hand went up to the chains around his neck.

‘I've got both. Does that mean I can get in?'

‘I suppose it does, but it's something you can only do on your own, without any help, and once you enter the library you have to go through a labyrinth to get out again. I think we need to go and talk to Nora about this.'

‘Couldn't Camelin come with me?'

‘No, only one person at a time is allowed to enter the library and since Camelin doesn't have a Druid's acorn or a special key either you really would be on your own.'

Jack didn't think Camelin would be too happy about that but it was only going to be a quick visit to a library, he wouldn't be gone long. Jack couldn't wait to find out what Nora had to say.