A Pinch of Moonlight

by A V Awenna

  ***

  The darkness and silence were so profound, Demi wondered for a moment if she was still alive. But she could feel her heart thudding in her chest, and her rapid breath, escalating towards panic. She was all alone – except for the vile creepy crawlies which even now could be plotting to creep up on her and crawl down the back of her neck. Indecision paralysed her. Fortunately the Guide piped up with ‘continue straight ahead to the next challenge’. As if this wasn’t a challenge enough! Her heart was racing, as fear and anger fought for control, and as she shifted her position she realised the Gadget was glowing faintly once more. Of course! Anger was an energy, and she had every right to feel furious. Now that her eyes were used to the darkness, the glow from the Gadget was enough to stop her walking into the walls.

  Hauling herself to her feet, she dragged herself along the passageway, until eventually she sensed a faint breeze on her face – a warm dry breeze, something she thought she’d never feel again. The journey seemed to take forever, and she felt as if she was lost in space, but eventually she realised there was a faint patch of grey light ahead, which brightened, until she stepped out of the passage into a beautiful crystal-lit cavern. A dry, warm cavern.

  Compared to the passage, this cave was paradise. The ceiling was a few feet above Demi’s head, not lost in darkness. That, and the soft golden glow produced by the crystals placed here and there on niches and in ledges, gave it a comforting, homely feel. There were no cobwebs or creepy crawlies in here – maybe the magic from the crystals had driven them away.

  Roughly in the centre of the cave, a flat rock of a dark and glinting sort of stone supported a wooden box. It was tall and narrow, obviously ancient, carved and inlaid with brass and gemstones. It would have taken months for a master craftsman to create, but to Demi it looked hideous and old-fashioned.

  The Guide instructed her to open the box, and select the one true object, ignoring all illusions.

  As she circled the plinth, looking for the keyhole, she saw something that made her stop dead – a trail of tiny footprints in the dust. Someone else had been here! But then she realized, of course they had. Someone would have had to put the key in the ice, and bring the box of illusions from Annwn. The knowledge that real physical effort had been involved, as much as magic, was hugely comforting.

  It took her a while to work out how to fit the oddly shaped key into the keyhole, but once she managed it, the result was more wonderful than a plain spell. The box unfolded gracefully, its panels slipping and tumbling, whilst a shower of sparkles – which turned out to be glitter – hid the mechanical details. But when the box was unfolded and she peered inside, it took her breath away.

  The box held an infinity of space, where six orbs slowly span and circled. They looked small enough to fit in her palm, yet simultaneously as huge as planets. One glowed as if red-hot. The next was surfaced in swirling blue and white; a miniature earth. Another, a disturbing shade of raw flesh, pulsed as if alive. One, as dull and dreary as a ball of lead, sucked the hope right out of her. She looked away from that one, and found the next enchanting. The more she looked, the more details were revealed, layer upon layer of lacy designs, one behind another, each seeming to grow and fill her vision, until she felt it was pulling her inside itself. She pulled herself back, and focussed her gaze on the floor of the cave until she regained her control. The sixth orb was pretty, with twinkling lights chasing over its golden surface.

  Demi knew none of these could be the genuine orb. It had to be in there, but she couldn’t see it. She scooped up some of the glitter and scattered it over the illusions. A few sparkles stuck to something inside the box, so she scattered a little more. It was invisible in the darkness, but they outlined something spherical. Gently she reached in and lifted something cool and almost weightless. One by one, the remaining orbs burst, evaporated, fizzed out or unwound, leaving nothing but that familiar magic smell. She lifted the orb out of the box and brought it up to her eyes.

  It was so delicate, and so beautiful. Knowing it had been made by real hands made it even more special than Hafren’s clever illusions. A bubble of glass, so fine it hardly affected the light passing through it. Except for something she took to be a flaw, where the glass was much thicker. But as she twirled it she realised the flaw was a lens which shrank the image of the cave and turned it upside down. She toyed with it for a while, watching the image change as she manipulated it, not realising how it was starting to mesmerise her. She’d completed three tasks; she’d hardly rested all day; and she was exhausted. She leaned against the wall of the cave, on a comfortable ledge, and rolled the orb into the hole that had opened up in the top of the Guide. Leaning her head on her forearms, she didn’t even realise she was falling asleep, until her nodding head touched one of her bruises, and the pain woke her up again. Dammit, she had to keep going, and she was still cold and damp – even colder now she’d stopped moving. At least she was finally making progress with the tasks. It was hard to believe she’d ever get back to the real world – she was starting to feel like she’d been in this cave forever. Checking there was nothing she’d missed, she got back to her feet and followed the small footprints out of the cave.

  At least this passage was lit by crystals – and the Guide confirmed this was the right route. After just a few moments the passage widened into another small cave. A male fairy stood within, preening his wings, next to a little wagon on rails. The fairy looked up as she entered.

  ‘Oh, there you are,’ he said, shaking out his wings and climbing into the back seat of the little wagon. He indicated the front seat to Demi, inviting her to sit there. She took her seat, and realised the wagon was at the top of a steep slope which led down into the depths of the mountain. ‘Thought I might as well wait,’ the fairy said, ‘or I’d have had to send it back up to you, and it took forever to come up here with that box.’ He huffed irritably. ‘You left it back there, didn’t you? Typical! Wait there, there’s something I need to tell you.’ He was clambering over the side of the wagon, and caught his foot on a lever as he got out. He gave another irritable grunt, but didn’t turn round to see what had hurt him. His irritability intimidated Demi, and she didn’t say anything until she suddenly realized the wagon had started rolling. It took a moment to get the grumpy fairy to take notice of her, and when he turned and realized what had happened, his face was a picture.

  ‘Oh, stars!’ he exclaimed. ‘Push that whatsit forwards until it clicks – that’s right, it’ll activate the thingummies. When you get to the bottom pull it to the middle to stop, and right back to send it back up to me. Oh, and when you meet…’ but his words were lost in the clicking of the wheels over the rails. Whatever the thingummies were, they seemed well and truly activated. Although it was no longer accelerating, the wagon was zooming down the rails, and Demi had to tuck her head down to make sure she didn’t get knocked out by any low-hanging pieces of rock. The carriage was open-sided, and the breeze made her shiver, but it soon dried her out. As she rolled downhill the air got warmer and warmer. About time! Still exhausted, she was quite content to sit in the little wagon, rocking gently with its motion. There was nothing to see except the rock wall hurtling past her, illuminated by the little wagon’s crystal headlight, but that was okay. Down and down she went, the air getting so warm that she removed her jacket, then rolled it up and used it as a pillow. She was nodding off to sleep when she noticed it was getting lighter, and moments later she rolled out of the mountainside into hot, bright sunlight. The tracks were level here, and the wagon was approaching a little platform. Reluctantly she slipped the lever to the ‘hold’ position, and scrambled out of the wagon. She slipped the lever further back, and sat on the platform, watching as the little carriage returned to the depths of the huge mountain which blocked out half the sky above her.

  Demi-Lee lay on her back on the platform for a while, resting and warming. Only one more challenge to
meet, and finally she was out of the cold and the damp. But the sun was already halfway down the sky, and she had to return to Annwn before sunset. She sat up, and took a swig of Rusty’s brew. It was bathwater warm. In fact, it was so hot at the foot of the mountain that she was starting to sweat. She’d almost forgotten that was possible. Reluctantly she got to her feet, and surveyed the area around her. There was no path of any kind. The grumpy fairy must have come this way, but then again, he would have flown.

  The rails stopped at a set of buffers just beyond the platform. It was surrounded by dry, whispering grass, with just a few outcrops of rock and small thorny trees poking up here and there. There wasn’t even an obvious exit from the platform – she’d have to jump down. So, which direction? She referred to the Guide, which told her to ‘locate that which is concealed in the wide open.’ What on earth did that mean?

  A glint of something ahead and to the left caught her attention, but when she looked directly at it, it vanished. But it left behind an absence which reminded her of Aelwen’s Grove. A cloak? She decided to circle round the area, and see if she could sense any magic.

  The dry heat was better than the damp cold she’d endured so far, but it was still exhausting having to pick her way through, over and around the rocks and clumps of grass. Even taking off as much clothing as she could and carrying it, she was soon covered in sweat, chaff and dust. She really hoped she was heading in the right direction – she couldn’t bear the thought that she was wasting time and energy here.

  The Guide was no help, but she could sense magic emanating from a place not too far away. She kept going, walking in a wide spiral as it was impossible to approach it directly. As well as the magic, she got the distinct feeling she was being observed. After completing two circuits, she was close enough to know there was definitely a cloaking spell over something nearby. A very anonymous sort of something, of course – that was the way cloaking spells worked. In fact, the very fact that the spot she was circling looked so boring and identical to everywhere else confirmed her suspicions.

  Not only was the sense of someone else’s magic growing stronger as she circled, but her own magic was starting to respond. She was getting into the rhythm of walking, reciting Owina’s chant in her head. With one hand on her belly and the other on Owina’s Gadget, she had quite a nice little tingle going on.

  ‘Sweet sunlight,’ a male voice interrupted, ‘does your sort never learn? Another few paces and you’ll complete three turns widdershins. With the magic you’re generating, who knows what could happen?’ There was a brief shimmer as a cloak dissolved, revealing a young male elf dressed in Light of Truth’s drab colours. He was standing on a rocky outcrop glaring down at Demi, who was now knee-deep in whispering straw.

  ‘Don’t just stand there gawping,’ he snapped, ‘Hand me your Guide.’ She passed it over, and he held it at arm’s length, as though worried it was something contagious. Then again, it was still a bit grubby from where it had fallen in the swamp. Demi suppressed a smirk at the thought that he would get his pristine robes dirty.

  Beside him on the rocks a complicated apparatus stood in the sunlight. It was made of the same odd plastic as the Guide, a tripod with lots of knobs on it. He slotted the Guide into the apparatus, and tilted it towards the sun.

  ‘Why isn’t it working?’ he said, although it wasn’t clear if he was talking to himself or Demi.

  Demi started to explain about the spider trapped in the box, but the elf was paying no attention to her. He lifted up the Guide and peered in at the orb, and shrieked when he saw the magnified spider inside. Demi couldn’t help laughing at him. The elf didn’t even bother asking for an explanation; he just pressed on one of the side panels in a way which caused it to pop open. The spider was flung out and scuttled to a safe crevice in the rocks.

  ‘Any more surprises in here?’ the elf sneered, peering through the open panel into the guide. ‘I see you managed to trap an oil-seed. It should be enough.’

  He snapped the panel back into place and replaced the guide in the stand, tilting it back towards the sun. ‘That’s better,’ he muttered.

  Demi had no idea what she was supposed to do next, and asked the elf if she was meant to collect another object for the Guide.

  ‘Oh, you haven’t been trained, have you,’ the elf asked distractedly. ‘Just cloak against the fire, and if you survive that, you can try for the final reward.’

  ‘Fire?’ said Demi-Lee, but the elf didn’t respond. A tiny wisp of smoke coming from the base of the guide was followed by a small jet of blue flame, as the oil and the down of the seed ignited, setting fire to the grass just in front of Demi.

  Cloak? She tried to get into the frame of mind to cast the spell, but there was already a flame burning down the stalk, and as that grew it ignited the grass all around it. She couldn’t get calm; nor was there enough magic left in the Gadget to kick-start a spell. Her instincts took over and she ran, struggling through the knee high grass to the next outcrop. It wasn’t far, but the grass tripped and tangled her, and she stumbled on hidden rocks. She could hear the crackling of the flames as the fire began to grow. She reached the rocks and scrambled up like a baboon. As she turned, she realised the fire had hardly spread yet. But the flames were already three feet tall. By the time they reached her they’d be way above her head, and her tiny refuge was surrounded by dry grass.

  Steadying her breathing she tried to put her mind in the right state, and made a second attempt to cast a cloak, but just as she thought it was working her nerves failed her. The Gadget was so low on power it had gone into sleep mode, and even her fear couldn’t wake it. She needed to get above the flames – but how?

  There, in a crack in the rock, was a tiny seedling – a couple of inches of stalk and leaves, but she could see it was a miniature version of the thorn trees which dotted the landscape. Could she make it grow big enough to raise her above the flames? She remembered the magic she’d done the first day in Aelwen’s grove, when she’d made the berry grow red and ripe. All she needed was sunlight and a crystal – and she had those. Within seconds she was pouring energy into the seedling, and watching as the stalk began to respond, slowly at first, then faster and faster, leaves becoming twigs, then branches, as she poured all the sunlight she could into it and willed it to grow.

  The tree was growing in front of her eyes, but it wasn’t fast enough – it was still only a foot and a half tall, and nowhere near strong enough to bear her weight. She could smell smoke now, and the crackling of the flames was getting louder, but she daren’t remove any of her attention from the tree and the spell she was casting. She poured all the magic she could into the tree, focussing on the trunk and encouraging that to grow as tall and broad as possible. She realised if she made the wood less dense it would grow quicker, and adjusted the spell accordingly, but it still wasn’t fast enough. The effort needed was draining her own energy reserves and giving her a splitting headache. Although sweat was pouring off her, the sensation of the sunlight and magic flowing through her was incredible; she was tingling all over despite her exhaustion, and felt like she was blazing herself.

  But the flames were racing through the grass, surrounding her on her pitiful refuge, and now she could feel their heat on her skin. Was that awful smell her hair starting to singe? The air was full of smoke, blocking out the sunlight, and Demi was dizzy and exhausted. Ten foot tall flames were approaching her, and she was tempted to curl up and let the fire sweep by, hoping she would survive it somehow. But she wouldn’t give up; not yet. Maybe...there was no more sunlight left to power the spell, but the power of the fire was all around her; heat and smoke and light. Fire was her element, wasn’t it? She realised she was hunched over, tears and sweat streaming down her face. Straightening up, she dropped the clothes she was carrying on the rocks, wiped her face on the hem of her T-shirt, then stretched her arms up to the sky and let the fire in.

 
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