The tide was rising, and the river was growing rough, splashing over the banks and piers. But two wherries were tied up to the nearest quay, waiting for business. John stepped onto the first one, asking to be taken across. It was a rocky ride as the little boat pitched and rolled, but John was used to the ocean, he had loved sailing the open seas with his father, and the tossing of a boat on a river didn’t bother him at all.
He climbed off the other side at the Winchester Palace pier, paid the wherryman, and strode quickly into the palace to the courthouse within. He could hear the noise from outside, with many people all speaking at once and some shouting and was curious to know what had been happening with Poppy and the others. So with a push to the large double doors, he hurried inside.
At first it just seemed like chaos. Someone was running. Someone else was standing on a table, and another was thumping on a bench, shouting for silence.
There he stopped in the doorway, staring around an extremely surprised. Then he started to laugh.
Chapter Four
A small man in flowing scarlet robes trimmed with a great deal of white fur, was sitting looking completely confused at the head of the court. He kept waving his large white kerchief around to get attention, but it wasn’t working because it seemed no one paid him any attention at all.
“Sniff, quiet, quiet everyone. Now, now, sniff, this is most irregular. I shall have to arrest you all unless you keep the sniff, peace.”
A small huddle of priests stood together mumbling and nodding to each other. One priest was shouting, “This is disgraceful,” at the top of his voice and was clearly furious. The public gallery was full of people either laughing very loudly, or sitting shocked, with their mouths open, and there in the middle of the court stood Poppy between her mother and father on one side, and Granny and Alan the llama on the other.
The llama stood placid, watching everyone else with a gentle patience, simply waiting in case his master Bayldon fainted, as he so often did, when Alan would be required to break his fall, so not banging his head on the floor but instead landing on soft fluffy llama fur.
Indeed, Bayldon had not yet fainted, and he was hugging his daughter Poppy, who had the giggles.
The great Empress Messina held both hands high in the air, and said, “Everyone hold onto your seats. I shall teach all you medieval fools how to fly.”
“Sniff,” said the bishop, waving his kerchief, “Madam, I believe you are also a heretic. What nonsense is this?”
Peter was hovering by the doorway in case he was required to go and pick a lock, and as soon as Alfie and Alice saw John, they came rushing over.
Nathan was standing on a table, stamping both feet. “See what my magic mother can do,” he yelled, delighted.
“They all just appeared out of the air,” Alfie explained to John. “One moment there was the bishop being nasty to Poppy, and the next moment the room was full of incredible people wearing wonderful clothes.”
“And that bishop has a shocking cold,” said Alice. “He should go to bed instead of being horrible to poor Poppy.”
“Tis me grandmother’s fault,” sighed John. “She done the accusation. I talked to her, but she don’t listen to me.”
“She will after this,” said Alice.
And as they watched, everyone in the courtroom began to rise into the air. The whole long bench where the bishops and church authorities were sitting floated upwards, and everyone sitting there began to squeak and shiver, and one small bishop burst into tears. On the other end of the room, the entire public gallery whooshed right up with a bit of a creek, and all the people gazed downwards in silent amazement, wriggling their feet to prove to themselves they were flying, and not just imagining it.
It was Granny who then quickly pointed to her own apron, warned Ferdinand to keep safe in the pocket, and then danced straight up into the air and began to swirl around and around, pointing down at Poppy first, then Nathan, Peter, John Alice and Alfie. All of them grabbed each other’s hands and began to turn circles.
Bayldon looked up as Alfie’s toes bumped into the back of his head, and he immediately fainted. But Alan managed to get there in time, and stood chewing on a candle he had discovered, while Bayldon lay, eyes closed, against his soft sides.
The Bishop of Winchester, frantically waving his kerchief, was now hanging from the ceiling, fiercely gripping onto one of the beams with his little legs kicking in mid-air, and shouting between sniffs, “How dare you. Wicked females, heretics and witches. You are creatures of the night who worship monsters.”
Granny flew up to where the bishop hung and gave him a little push. He turned upside down and his long robes fell over his face. He could be heard sniffing beneath the scarlet velvet. Poppy couldn’t stop laughing, but Alice spread out her arms and pretended to be a dove, flapping her fingers as she swished around the beamed ceiling.
Sir Thomas Winterberry had been standing in the middle of the courtroom, grasping his papers, when everything started to happen. He was one of the only ones, apart from Alan, Bayldon and Messina, who was not flying high. But then, much to his consternation, it started raining very hard right over his head. He quickly tried to move away, but wherever he ran to, the rain followed him. It streamed down over his face and onto his shoulders, splashed into his collar, and soaked every part of him. His sodden hat fell off, and his hair looked like wet black treacle. All his carefully collected documents were spoiled and dripped water, and his feet were so wet, his shoes squelched.
Rushing backwards and forwards across the large space, he tried desperately to escape the water, but it continued to pour down over him in one long stream of dark heavy rain, as if one little raincloud was stuck to his head. Soon all the floor was slippery, and Sir Thomas began to slide. Finally he fell, sitting on his bottom in the middle of the room, with the little storm falling only on him, as if somehow it found its way through the ceiling wherever Sir Thomas went, even though there was no hole at all in the roof.
“Go away go away, leave me alone,” screeched Sir Thomas.
“Let me down. Release me, you witch,” screeched the Bishop of Winchester from where he hung upside down.
“You are all devils,” screeched one priest who was whirling around the ceiling unable to stop or even slow down.
“This is really rather nice,” called a woman who had been sitting in the public gallery and was now floating gently in the air, avoiding Sir Thomas’s personal rain storm.
Bayldon woke up, stood, stretched and yawned, and said, “Time to go, I think.”
And immediately Messina smiled and nodded, brought her hands down to her side, and everyone else flopped to the ground. The bishop fell upside down, Sir Thomas collapsed in a sodden puddle, all the priests hurtled down with bumps and yells, while one tumbled on top of Alan the llama, who tossed him off angrily.
“Good. Back home for tea,” said Granny. She held out her hand, and Poppy took it with a big grin. “And I shall bake a nice chocolate cake with strawberries on top.”
That was when Granny and Poppy, Nathan and Bayldon and Alan, Empress Messina and Peter, John, Alfie and Alice all quite suddenly disappeared. The courtroom was left in chaos.
Faintly they could hear the bishop’s wail, saying, “I shall inform his majesty, King Henry. Sniff.”
“The king won’t believe you,” muttered Sir Thomas. “He’ll think you’re crazed. Send you to Bedlam. Or call you a heretic.”
But the dull and gloomy shadows suddenly flickered away, the distant voices disappeared, the brilliant sunshine came out, the sky turned bright cloudless blue, and Nathan recognised the beautiful scenery of Lashtang, with the cottage sitting in the little valley, waiting for them.
“Oh thank you everyone,” said Poppy, skipping to the cottage door, which was open. “Gosh. Those horrible people wanted to kill me in the nastiest way.”
“That’s the trouble with magic,” said Alice. “People don’t mind some witches, because they’re usually nice old women
who make herbal medicines and look after sick children. But real clever magic seems more dangerous to them, and they think you must be worshipping the devil.”
“But heresy is something different anyway,” Alfie said, taking Alice’s hand and following Poppy into the cottage. “That’s when the Catholic Church thinks you believe in a different church or religion.” He smiled at Poppy. “They said you spoke against his holiness the pope.”
“Of course I didn’t,” Poppy scowled. “I don’t know the tiniest thing about the pope back then I don’t even know his name. And why would I say anything mean about him? Those are all lies from John’s granny.”
“Tis true.” John flopped down in an armchair, stretching out his legs. “I really gotta have to get rid of her. I mean, she ain’t just some bad-tempered old grump. She’ be real rotten. How could anybody chuck her own little new-born grandson onto a rubbish dump? Wanted me dead. And Poppy in the nastiest way she could think of. Burn some kid alive, all tied up in a bonfire? That be torture. Me grandma be proper wicked.”
“But she doesn’t do anything herself,” Alice pointed out. “She orders other people to do the dirty work for her.”
“That be worse,” John objected. “Cowardly an’ all.”
“Bad as Yaark.”
“Nasty as Clebbster.”
“Forget about that horrid thing,” interrupted Poppy. “I’m just so glad to be free. Nat, I thought you’d come marching into the trial and save me with the Knife of Clarr.”
“I was going to,” Nathan nodded. “I was going to try and do it under my cape, because I thought if those officials saw me with a big shiny knife, they’d drag me off to the cells before I could do a thing. But Mum and Granny did it all better anyway.”
“Well, well,” chuckled Granny, rolling up her sleeves and reaching for the big jar of flour. “Grannies always do everything better.”
‘But there’s no one else,” noticed Peter. “I was hoping to see Tryppa for some more lessons on the lute.”
“And I was hoping to see Zakmeister,” said Alfie, “for more lessons with the sword and bow.”
Bayldon sat on the big couch and regarded his two children and their friends. “The other leaders of the rebellion have gone to begin the preparations,” he said. “Zakmeister and Umbod have gone to the Forest of Sharr to speak with the Epilogs. Many of them had collected important information from their secret spying, while Younger Willow and Sherdam were studying how to grow golden fig trees. Jassle and Tryppa have gone to the Tower of Clarr to see if it can be made ready as a future base.”
“There’s a lot more been happening,” said Nathan, wondering how he should explain the terrible destruction of the city. But he didn’t want to upset Poppy immediately after her horrible experience in medieval London.
Poppy was still dressed in her modern clothes, and said, “I suppose I had better go and find my Lashtang skirts. I wanted to go back to the house in Hammersmith and live the modern life for a holiday, but now we’re all here, we had better settle in.”
The cottage looked as it always did, being extremely comfortable and cosy. They had brought a few things from the modern time, and a few things from the medieval time, and all the rest was from Lashtang. The sunshine was wonderful and warm as it always was in the Lashtang summer, and everyone felt so much better. But Nathan was still worried. “We only just left Peganda,” he told his father. “A strange black cloud with long creepy fingers came out of the sky and destroyed everything it touched. Every single house and building in the city crumbled and fell down. Complete ruin. Not one single home was left standing within the walls. Alfie and John and me, worked for days to help everyone and put up shelters and huts.”
Messina had gone into the bedroom, but she came hurrying out as she heard this. “That’s terrible,” she said. “I can’t believe no one told us when it first happened. Usually I know everything that goes on in Lashtang, but I know nothing of this. It sounds absolutely dreadful. Yaark or the Hazletts must have put a curtain around Peganda to blind us all from what happened and keep it secret.”
Granny, wafting flour from her hands and her apron, came marching in from the kitchen. “What’s this?” she demanded. “Something has happened to Peganda. And the truth was kept from us?”
“Exactly,” said Bayldon. “It seems Yaark is becoming more and more powerful.”
“Where’s Hermes?” Poppy asked, peeping around the bedroom door where she was changing her clothes into the Lashtang fashions. “I haven’t seen him. “
“He stayed in London,” Messina said, “to collect Sam, all the cats, Peter’s lute, and a few other things I asked for. Hermes will bring them all back here. We have a great deal to do.”
“And what I have to do,” added Nathan, “is go to Sparkan to find the eternal chain.” He looked quite excited. “John and Alfie want to come too.”
It was Bayldon who stood, clapped his hands, and frowned. Alan hurried to stand behind him, just in case. “The news about Peganda is very serious,” he said. “It shows that Yaark has been growing stronger. It is some time since we saw him, but he has been hiding somewhere and hatching terrible plans. But perhaps he doesn’t realise that by hurting all our people, he is actually making them turn to support us instead of the Hazletts. There can be hardly anyone left in Lashtang who loves Yaark and the wizards.”
“But lots are too frightened to fight against them,” muttered Alice. “And others have been bribed.”
John chewed his bottom lip. “Y’know,” he said, “Yaark gotta have a hiding place wot we don’t see. It used to be that old castle.”
“That’s right.” Nathan talked in a rush. “That’s where I saw him like a little blue star on top of a slug on top of Wagster’s head, and Wagster was asleep like in a coma. But then the ruined castle fell and was even more ruined. I bet Yaark isn’t hiding there anymore.”
“I imagine,” said Granny, “he’s found a new place, and has stayed there growing stronger for some months. It must be somewhere high up so that he can look down and see the whole of Lashtang.”
Messina stood in the middle of the room, looking very bright-eyed. “And we were late arriving at the Winchester Palace to save Poppy,” she said nodding to Granny, “because poor Hermes was caught in a wind of flying arrows on his way to the cottage. It was a gale too strong for him to fly against and he was blown away into the clouds. It took him a long time to fly free and arrive at the cottage. Now that must have been Yaark. Clearly he was watching exactly what was going on.”
“So that’s why you took so long,” sighed Nathan. “And I think it must have happened again because it’s been ages for Hermes to arrive. He should have turned up here with Sam ages ago.”
“Umm,” decided Bayldon. “That’s very true. He is usually very quick.”
“But,” said Granny, wiping flour from her hair but actually making it more floury because her hands were already covered in it, “but listen. It was a wind that nearly stopped Hermes getting to us. Before that it was a cloud that destroyed Peganda. So indeed, Yaark has found himself a hideaway up in the sky.”
“True,” Bayldon nodded. “Perhaps on Sparkan Island. Messina, my love, you had better call Hermes and rescue him from whatever problem there is.” Messina smiled and walked out into the garden. Bayldon, patting Alan’s neck, turned back to everyone else. “You told me the terrible news about Peganda, and said it was like dominoes where one falling house would immediately knock down the one next to it, and so on until the whole city lay on the ground. But the same thing happens with good things, kindness and determination to make life better. For if you manage to make something very good happen, then it causes more good things one after the other. Just like dominoes, everything affects everything else.”
Nodding vigorously, Nathan said, “Right. So this is the time to start all the good things. Re-build Peganda with good houses and roads and hospitals. Go to Sparkan and cut the Eternal Chain. Discover more about Yaark and how to get rid of him.
Then begin the proper revolution against the Hazletts.”
Nathan was in the middle of speaking when Messina poked her head back into the living room. “Yes, there’s trouble,” she said quickly. “I sense a great turbulence high up near the Sky Island, and Sam, Hermes and the cats have been abducted by Yaark. I can’t be sure exactly what has happened, but I intend going there at once. Nathan, as empole you should come with me. Do you have the Knife of Clarr?”
He jumped up immediately. “Yes, yes, I always carry the knife with me. Poor Sam. Poor Hermes. Poor Mouse.”
“And poor Flop and Mars Bar and Gosling,” said Poppy. “Can I come too?”
“I will not have you facing more danger so soon after the last time,” said her mother. “You have only just escaped from the medieval dungeons and the threat of death, my dear. You must rest and decide exactly what you wish to do in the future.”
“Humph,” said Poppy under her breath, “eat my Granny’s cakes, murder John’s grandmother, cuddle Mouse and her kittens, and squash Yaark under my foot.”
Bayldon stood and walked over to Messina’s side. “My love, we had better move quickly this time. No delays. If young Sam and Hermes are in danger, then we should act at once.”
Granny waved a puff of flour and Ferdinand could be heard sneezing in her pocket. “Yaark has been trying to stop us and delay us ever since all this began,” she called. “So this time we must be stronger than he is. Find where he’s hiding on Sparkan and haul him out.”
But Messina had already marched outside with Nathan close behind. “Just myself and Nathan” she called back. “We can move faster if there are only two of us. But if you see nothing of us after two days, then someone had best come and rescue us.” They stood together as Messina, one arm around Nathan’s shoulders, raised one hand, and said “Sparkan.” And as they both flew straight upwards into the bright sky, keeping Nathan tightly close to her side, she added, “To Hermes and Sam.”
Dominoes Page 4
