The voice was unexpected. “Well, Messssssenger of Clarr,” hissed the deep guttural voice from the ground. “Vissssiting usssss in our own pretty home. And the child Sssssam. What a sssssurprissssse, and what a pleasssssure.”
Through the thick swirling dark mist, Sam and Hermes looked downwards, to where the sibilant voice came. Sam was nearly doubled over, for the stench made him ill. He found himself falling, stumbling down onto his knees, and trying very hard not to be sick. And there, staring at the rocky ground, he found he was staring into the great horned face of a serpent, its eyes glowing red and its vast mouth open. Two fangs burst out from between its lips, and a long black forked tongue.
Sam whispered. “What are you? Who are you?”
“I am the Leader of the Ssssssuccubi,” it said, tasting the air with its tongue. Sam skidded back away from it. “I am the Massssster of the Meteor K.E. 689, the omnipotent Grublick. And all who know me, speak of me with pride and honour. Or they die.”
“You’re the purple star,” shouted Sam. Angrily, completely terrified but determined not to show how scared he was. “But the stars can’t talk, so you turn into a snake. That’s not honourable. And you can’t be the master of a place you left over a hundred years ago. Did the other stars on the meteor throw you off?”
Rearing up like a giant cobra, the serpent Grublick faced Sam, eye to eye, and spat poison. Sam managed to duck, stood again, moving back and prepared to run. But first he looked around at Hermes, who had said nothing. Unfortunately, Sam saw that the goose was now in the same trap he had been in before, wrapped around with the clammy fog fingers which had also crept inside his beak. Jumping beside him, Sam tried to pull the ropes of cloud away, shaking Hermes free, and pulling the muck from his beak.
Hermes immediately rose up, flying just below the low stone ceiling. “You are a cowardly monster,” clacked Hermes. “Why do you hide here? We know Yaark, is another revolting creature but at least brave enough to live on Lashtang. You just live in a little dark tunnel.”
The stars all danced together, sitting on the snake’s huge purple back. It was endless, almost as long as part of the tunnel, and its scales were dark purple, and it stank. Then it lashed out, the end of its tail like a whip, aiming upwards at Hermes. But Sam stamped, shaking the whole base of the tunnel, and the snake retreated. The orange star was sitting on its snout and the other two were flying just above the top of its head. But they did nothing except shooting sparks, and it was the serpent Grublick with the power. Again it reared up, darting out towards Sam. Sam grabbed inside his pockets, and pulled out the banana skin from earlier, and threw it straight into the snake’s open mouth.
The two curved fangs slashed down, piercing the banana skin, and were immediately stuck.
Sam sniggered. But in just a moment the snake had tossed away the peel, and was twisting around Sam’s ankles,. He could feel the rasp of the great purple scales as they rubbed against him, the snake’s width up to his knees, and even higher, as he jumped over it, trying to extricate himself from its attack. Its great body was heavy, and even when just a part of its tail passed over his feet, Sam felt its great weight, and was frightened. But he did not let it grip his legs or squeeze around him. Each time the serpent attempted to do this, Sam jumped, ran or skipped out of the way. He jumped more and more, until Grublick was extremely angry, snarling and hissing, its jaws jutting out and its fangs dripping poison.
Again it hissed, and the poison sprang out from the fans like two jets of sour water, but both Sam and Hermes were able to dodge.
The other stars still clung to the giant snake, waiting for it to threaten, attack, and kill. But it could not slide around Sam’s legs without him jumping over its huge body, and then jumping back again. As the jumps and stamps became louder and more desperate, the rocks again began to shake with vibrations, until all the tunnel seemed to quiver. There was the faint sound of distant rumbling, as though the vibrating had caused rock falls, even perhaps an avalanche.
Finally the serpent Grublick reared up as far as the roof and came crashing down, all its enormous weight tumbling onto Sam’s head and back. He fell at once and could not roll away as the snake hissed in his face. Its stubby horns, dark purple and bulbous, bent forwards towards Sam, and from them came a stream of the slimy cloud that could trap him as it had to the others when Messina had saved them all.
Sam felt the cloud icy cold and it smelled of sour milk and decay, rotten things and ancient filth. Half covered, trying desperately to move away but already half trapped, Sam saw the other three stars staring down at him from the serpent’s back, and he could almost see them smiling.
But immediately Hermes flew at the snake with feet and beak, slashing and pecking, thumping the creature’s head away, and then landing heavily on its coils. Grublick hissed and reared again, but now both Sam and Hermes were free, and they both raced away down the tunnel into the deeper shadows.
They knew the serpent had overtaken them when they both saw its eyes in front of them, and the stench reeked from its mouth. Hermes screeched, “Run the other way,” and they both did, racing, almost out of breath, back towards the volcano and the Eternal Chain. They could hear Grublick slithering behind them.
“You are trapping your missssserable sssssselvesssss,” it crooned, almost at their heels. “Ssssssoon you will be mine. I will ssssssquasssssh you both like little tadpolessssss and eat you with one gulp. Your end hasssss come.”
The great cave of the silver ribbon and the magical pool was before them. “Quick. Climb in the pool,” squawked Hermes, and both ran towards it, when there was a violent rumble and the entire cave shook, tipped sideways, and began to explode.
Pieces of rock hurtled in all directions and the stony ground split wide open. Within the huge crack, the volcano fires blazed up, shooting flames to the ceiling. They crackled and burned, hissing a great deal louder than Grublick, and smashing around the walls.
Then two unexpected events happened at once.
The cavern’s floor split once again immediately beneath Grublick, cracking outwards in a widening gap of flame with slivers of stone shooting like arrows, and the serpent, with a high pitched scream unlike any animal, tumbled, caught completely by the broken rock. Without hands or legs for grasping at the edges, twisting and turning its long snake’s body, deep into the golden abyss of flame and lava. It disappeared down, down, deeper and deeper until only a wriggling black line was visible, and then nothing at all.
At exactly the same moment the rippling water from the magical pool splashed upwards, and then fell in one stream of pure silvery liquid straight over Sam. He opened his mouth and gulped, swallowing some by mistake, and then sat coughing and staring around. He shook the water from his hair, and the drops fell to his nose and hands.
“Oh goodness,” he said in astonishment. “That felt really cold and strange.”
“It was strange indeed, my lord,” said Hermes. “The water fell on you alone. But look, now it is back in the pool and the holes in the rock are closing.”
With thunderous groans and creaks, the trembling floor had stopped vibrating and the cracks closed. The beautiful Eternal Chain and the vast cave where it hung, had completely returned to normal and looked exactly how it had when Sam first saw it.
“But one thing is different,” said Hermes, bright-eyed. “The stars have gone. All four of them. Gone. And,” he looked up, “there’s another change, my lord. Your hair has turned silver.”
Chapter Ten
“Silver?”
“Brilliant and beautiful silver, my lord,” Hermes assured him. “That must have been the water. But the disappearance of the stars is the most important of all.”
“It must be the shadows,” Sam said, puzzled. “I can’t see without a mirror. But silver doesn’t make sense. Am I that old?”
Hermes chuckled. “The effect may wear off before we reach Lashtang, my very young lord,” said the goose.
Once more they walked down the tunnel t
owards the distant end of the island. They could see that the other tunnel back through the volcano was now completely blocked with fallen stone. “Besides, I think it’s easier this way,” Sam nodded. “Especially now there’s no snakes and no stars. Most of all no Grublick.”
And the dreadful stink had melted and gone. There was now a sweet smell of fire, of fresh air blowing the fire away, and of the magical pool around the Eternal Chain.
The small circle of daylight showed long before they reached it, so they started to run, excited at the thought of getting home and away from all the danger. Eventually they stood at the very end of the tunnel, staring out into the bright blue sky.
They looked down and could see the huge wedge of the island’s roots, as tall as four men, with twisted vines and ivy, tree roots waving and clots of earth all stuck together. They couldn’t see the bottom of it all, for they wouldn’t risk bending over that far. “No wind, my lord,” said Hermes with relief. “If you will climb on my back, we will return to Lashtang.”
Granny saw them before they landed, and she and Bayldon rushed out into the garden to welcome them home.
“We’ve been extremely worried,” said Bayldon. “You shouldn’t have gone without leaving a note.”
“You’d have all stopped me going,” said Sam, scratching his head. “But I’m sorry. I never meant to be gone this long. I only thought I’d be a couple of hours.”
“You’ve been nearly three days,” said Granny. “But you aren’t the only one off on secret adventures. Nathan, Peter and John have gone to Lashtang to find the Eternal Chain and had no idea you and Hermes were already there. And Poppy, Alfie and Alice went to explore the old ruined Palace of Bymion again and haven’t yet returned.” She sighed. “I’m not worried about Nathan and his friends. They are old enough and clever enough to look after themselves, and as empole Nathan is obliged to search for the Eternal Chain. But I am extremely worried about Poppy and Alice, even though they have Alfie to protect them, and he’s the best warrior amongst you. I’ve sent Sherdam, and Zakmeister to find them and see if they’re in trouble. Messina and I would have gone ourselves, but Messina has been unwell, and I have nursed her.”
“Yes,” Bayldon sighed. “She has caught the speckled measles powder and cannot leave her bed. But she’ll be delighted to know at least one of you boys has returned safely.”
Suddenly Granny looked a little closer at Sam. “I believe your hair has changed completely, young Sam,” she said. “It is as silver as mine.”
“We saw the Eternal Chain,” said Sam in a rush. “And it ends in a pond. Then the water went magic and fell on my head. And Grublick turned into a huge python but now it’s dead. And Hermes helped me buy meat at the market for the lava wolves, and they feel better now. But the rest of them are awfully hungry and they don’t get enough to eat. But the volcano fell in and the stars are gone.”
Granny and Bayldon stared at Sam as if he had gone quite mad, and Bayldon asked, “Perhaps you could explain more clearly. What is a Grublick and where is the Eternal Chain?”
“It is a long and very complicated story, your illustrious highness,” said Hermes, bowing. “I must say that young Lord Samuel has been most amazingly courageous, and this bravery has achieved great things. Wonderful and terrible things have happened. I am a little tired, having flown all the way back from the Sky Island with the young lord, but if I may sit, I will gladly recount the whole story.”
“Come inside,” said Granny at once, “and I shall put the kettle on. There are three sorts of cake on the kitchen table, and you can help yourselves.”
It was nearly an hour later, full of tea, llama milk and cakes, and all their magnificent story told, that Sam said, “I just wish we could be sure those stars got burnt up. Grublick was. Being a snake, there’s no way he could live through all that volcano fire. But I don’t know about the stars.”
And the soft sweet voice he had heard before coming from his silver finger, answered him. “I can answer three questions, Master Sam. Which questions will you ask?”
Sam nearly fell off his chair, Hermes got the hiccups, Bayldon peered all around wondering where the voice had come from, and Granny stared very closely at Sam. “Go on then, Sam,” she said. “Ask your questions.”
“Oh gosh,” squeaked Sam. “This happened before, but I didn’t think – but yes, alright. Are those four stars all gone?”
“Grublick and two of the others you met, have perished in the fire of the volcano. They cannot now return.” The voice paused, then asked, “Do you have other questions? I may answer three every day.”
“Now that,” said Granny softly, “is very handy indeed. Sam dear, please ask where that voice comes from, and how it is now attached to you.”
And Sam did.
The answers were interesting. “I am the element of Eternal Curiosity,” said the voice, “and I come from the Pool of Knowledge which feeds the Eternal Chain. I have come to you, Master Sam, since you carry a small part of the pool’s water with you.”
“That’s true,” Sam laughed, “’cos my hair turned silver, I’ve got a strange silver finger, and I swallowed some of that water too. But all the other questions will have to wait till tomorrow.”
“Which is a shame,” said Granny, “because there is a very great deal we wish to know. But, young Sam, it seems you have become very important and very special indeed. And that’s the gift of courage. Well done.”
“But there’s another question I must remember to ask,” Sam mumbled. More to himself than aloud. “The silver voice said three of the stars got destroyed. But there were four. So which one escaped? And where is it now?”
Meanwhile Nathan, John and Peter had climbed the ladder, and fell off the end onto the Island of Sparkan. As usual the volcano was hurtling its great bursting flames from its crater, and the sky was pure orange. It seemed at first the whole island was on fire.
“I’m sure that fire is worse than before,” said Nathan. “Oh well, luckily we don’t have to go near it.”
Peter shook his head. “No, the tunnel I saw went into the bottom of the island, where all the roots and stones hang out,” he said. “That’s over the other side. But don’t you want to meet the dragons and the lava wolves and the whooshabouts?”
“I do.” Nathan had been so sorry for Little Seed and would like to know if she was alright, and he had certainly liked the sound of the dragons. “But I want to hurry,” he said. “If I can cut the chain, then we can come back to Sparkan afterwards.”
“We wants to, anyways,” insisted John. “’Cos we gotta muster all them wolves and dragons and whatsits to be on our side fer the battle.”
“We may not even need a battle,” Nathan reminded him. “Let’s start walking, and we may meet some of Peter’s friends along the way.”
“All I can see is snakes,” said John, pointing down into the water. “More than wot’s expected, I reckon. How can all them snakes live together?”
Nathan peered down into the murky water and its popping bubbles and scorching steam. “Yes, there must be thousands of them. But I’m not going to jump in to find out. Come on, let’s move.”
They walked away from the rising smoke and the boiling lake, over the stony hillocks and onto the grassy moors. The smoke and flames made all the air hot and uncomfortable, without breeze or fresh smells of flowers and plants. After a little while they found themselves stumbling and coughing, and eventually they sat together, trying to rest and catch their breath. John lay down flat on his back, closing his eyes against the orange glare, and Nathan bent over, his eyes also shut as they were watering with the smoke. Suddenly Peter felt a soft warm tongue on his neck, and he whirled around to find himself facing a young lava wolf, its three heads all nodding and its tail wagging hopefully.
“Have you come with more food, master?” asked the middle head.
“Pardon?” asked Peter. “No, sorry, I only have a half a sandwich and a banana on me.” And he handed these over, giving the h
am sandwich to the larger middle head, and breaking the banana in half for the other two. They gobbled up every crumb and the banana peel too. “Gracious,” said Peter, “you must be so hungry.”
“We lava wolves are all starving,” said the middle head. “The other young gentleman and his goose came with great piles of meat and other foods, and they gave it all to the twelve wolves who they saw first. But the rest of us are still so hungry. We were hoping you might be the same young gentlemen bringing more for the rest of us.”
Smiling very wide, Nathan said, “That must have been Sam. How kind of him. He came with Hermes and must have got the meat and stuff at the market first. “He turned back to the wolf. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I have some biscuits in my pockets,” and he passed them over. “But I promise to come back soon and bring great buckets of good food. In the meantime I’m here to find the Eternal Chain.”
The wolf was busy eating the biscuits and licking up each tiny crumb from the grass, but John was searching in his pockets trying to find some cake. Eventually he found it, although it was very squashed, and handed it over, breaking it into three pieces. “I ain’t never bin so pleased,” he said. “I were worried ‘bout Sam. Now I reckons he’s fine, and mighty kind hearted too.”
The wolf looked up with all three heads. “Our friends were very grateful,” it said. “But there was only food for twelve and we are nearly two hundred. Many years back we were thousands of healthy wolves, but then the food became so scarce and we had to learn to eat very little, so the old dogs died more quickly. Worst of all was when the wicked stars came from the meteor. They turned themselves into giant slugs, or serpents, and they attacked and killed us. Now we are very few, and fewer each day.”
Nathan spoke at once, his voice worried. “I don’t understand,” he said. “You mean the stars used to come here? I know Clebbster comes for a hot bath. But do you mean the little stars, blue and pink and green and black?”
Dominoes Page 10
