The Four Realms

by Adrian Faulkner

  Maureen quickly hurried up the rest of the steps and into the building before the question dawned on him.

  The hallway on the other side was empty, miraculously, but Maureen knew it wouldn't stay like that for long, so she darted down the passageway to the left, before any more wizards came across her and started questioning what she was doing.

  Once in the corridor that lead back to her gateway, she breathed a little easier. Whilst there was still the chance of an encounter, the hard bit was over. Even so, she kept close to the wall so she could flatten herself against it at a moment's notice.

  Thoughts now turned back to the encounter with the elf. She was so sure that it had been her lot when that dragon's head was cast. Thank heavens for the ice wall. But only now did she start to wonder who had cast the ice wall and why hadn't they revealed themselves to her? The whole encounter had given her a devil of a fright and it was the least they could have done to see that she was all right.

  And more importantly, why did they not give chase when the elf ran away? She’d seen it vault over Ernest's fence, she'd not seen anything else follow it. A myriad of possibilities floated through her head. So many, in fact, she had to stop thinking about it lest she give herself a headache.

  There was the sound of a door opening that brought Maureen’s thoughts back to the present. She pressed herself against the wall and looked ahead to see two wizards pacing up the corridor in front of her.

  "You ready for this?" one said.

  "Sure, I'll beat you hands down."

  "That's what you said last time."

  "You can always find another sparring partner."

  "With the sickness going around this place? You got to be kidding."

  The other wizard laughed. "I know what you mean. Does anyone still do magic round here anymore?"

  The first wizard joined in laughing.

  A little way ahead of them, the passageway opened into a little grass courtyard. She could see both wizards now, a tall, dark haired one with long drawn-out features, and blonde, foppish-haired man with narrow eyes and a square chin. Both were fairly young, neither had beards, yet they wore the robes of a full wizard. Probably only newly graduated, Maureen thought.

  Each man stripped off his robes, revealing a crimson T-shirt, crimson leggings with yellow piping and knee-high black boots.

  "I don't want you to hold back," said Blondie, scooping down to pick at the grass.

  'All right, if you say so," his lanky opponent responded, jumping up and down to limber up. "But it's gonna hurt."

  "Bring it on!"

  Lanky's opening move was a lightning bolt, a small electric charge that didn't kill but sapped your opponent's strength. Blondie blocked this with an ice wall, a move that Maureen thought was overkill for such a light attack. Consequently, when Lanky immediately fired off an earthquake, a spell which cracked and churned the earth, like he was sending out some giant mole, Blondie didn't have another defence ready. But they weren't fighting at speed, and so Blondie just jumped and rolled to the side, letting the Earthquake pass. As he rolled onto one knee, Blondie let loose his first offensive move, a spell Maureen knew as creeper. Vines emerged from the ground and entangled round Lanky's legs, trying to drag him down. Maureen watched as another blade of grass turned into dust in Blondie's hand.

  Maureen would have released a counter-spell, maybe some sort of fire bolt, to burn the vines away, but Lanky, knowing the spells were very light, choose to try and stay upright and let the fire bolt fly at his opponent instead. The vines pulled him to the ground, affecting his aim. The bolt flew over Blondie's head, just as the vines trapping Lanky crumbled into nothing.

  Earthquake, earthquake, thought Maureen. While he's down. And Blondie did just that. Trouble was that the spells were so weak, the Earthquake wasn't that wide, and Lanky could easily roll out of the way. If I could do magic, thought Maureen, I'd make the Earthquake a mile wide so no-one could just roll out the way.

  As he tumbled Lanky fired off another fire bolt, this one aimed correctly. It had cost him the last of his blades of grass though, Maureen noticed. With no time to jump out its path, Blondie threw up a giant wave that consumed the fire bolt and then crashed into nothing as the spell wore off. He followed this up with a lightning bolt that managed to catch Lanky as he was desperately collecting more blades of grass.

  "Oww!" he yelled, and Blondie laughed.

  Lanky then pulled off a brilliant move in Maureen's opinion, as he used the distraction to throw a wind blast at Blondie, blowing his blades of grass from his hand. Lanky immediately followed this up with a double lightning bolt that struck Blondie on both arms. Maureen would have personally used a fire bolt, but then that would have done some serious damage.

  "OK, OK, I concede," Blondie said.

  "Pussy," Lanky replied. "I thought you had me back there."

  Both men were dripping sweat. Aside from the physical demands of spell casting, there were the mental demands as well. It took a lot out of you so Ernest had told Maureen on several occasions. Whilst this sparring had lasted a little over a minute, that wasn't unusual. Most wizards got worn out and made a mistake before they ran out of nature to power their spells. So the fact that these two fresh-faced wizards had gone on for so long impressed Maureen. She'd not actually seen magic cast before today, but she knew enough about it to form an opinion, based on things Ernest and his colleagues had told her over the years.

  Both men patted each other on the back and shook hands.

  "Same time next week?" Lanky asked.

  "Only if you promise to let me win this time."

  Maureen slunk back into the shadows. The corridor was filled with dark spaces where one could hide, and whilst her heart was beating that they might turn and see her, they walked past without even noticing her hiding behind a pillar.

  "Right," she said to herself. "No more distractions. Get yourself home, Maureen."

  She got a surprise when she reached the covered walkway before the door that lead to her cellar. There sat on a stone plinth beside the wall, looking bored and forlorn, was Joseph. She looked out over the city and saw that the sky was starting to brighten. Had she been out all night? No wonder, she felt so exhausted.

  There was no way she was going to sneak past the troll. She'd just have to trust him not to report her.

  "Psst," she whispered, holding a finger to her lips to indicate for him to be silent. He turned and his eyes went wide.

  "Maureen, what are you doing here? How did you...?"

  "No time," she said hurrying over. "I can't let them catch me."

  Joseph laughed. "No-one ever comes up here."

  "Be that as may, I've had quite an eventful night." She didn't mean to be snappy, but she was so very tired.

  Joseph nodded and went and opened the door for her. Beyond, the passageway and her own door.

  "Are you all right, Maureen?" he asked. "This is very unlike you." His voice sounded concerned.

  That was very true, this was very unlike her.

  "I needed to see his house, Joseph," she said turning in the passageway. "They're whitewashing this whole murder, pretending it never happened."

  "I'm not sure about that, Maureen."

  Poor old Joseph, Maureen thought. She loved him as a dear friend, but sometimes he was very naive.

  "I found an elf in his house. She tried to attack me."

  "An elf? Are you sure?"

  "Yes Joseph, an elf. She was dressed all in red, it was hard not to notice her."

  "You have to report this, Maureen," Joseph said worriedly.

  "Do I? I don't think I have to do anything."

  She realised she was tired and bad-tempered.

  "I'm sorry, Joseph," she said. "Today really has taken it out of me for some reason."

  "I'm used to it," said Joseph but Maureen couldn't tell if that was a dig or not. She probably deserved it if it was. She could be a grouchy old woman when she wanted to be, and whilst she had no issue being that in fron
t of strangers, she didn't like it when she did it in front of friends.

  "I'll tell you about it after I've had some sleep," she said. "I promise."

  Joseph's face was still one of concern. He stood there thinking for a moment before nodding.

  "Make sure you knock as soon as you get up," he said. "I want to hear everything."

  CHAPTER TWENTY - Nanny Voodoo

  Darwin and Cassidy fled London by train the morning after the fire. He'd made Cassidy buy the train tickets, worried that the ticket office might take one look at him and decide he was too dirty to travel on the train. But Cassidy said, they'd not even looked at her, and that Darwin was just a worry-wort.

  The snow on the ground seemed to intensify as they left the city, buildings and roads giving way to fields and trees, all Christmas card perfect. The blue skies would ensure that it didn't stay around, long wet icicles hanging around the stations, a sign of the snow's retreat.

  The train journey seemed to take forever, Darwin growing increasingly impatient with each stop.

  "Why do we need to stop here?" he'd ask Cassidy. "It's not like anyone is getting on or off."

  Cassidy just told him to calm down. "They're not following us. And besides if they are, they'll have to stop at all the same stations as well."

  She was right, he was on edge and didn't feel safe. Each time the door to the next carriage opened, he felt his heart jump, as if one of Mr East's colleagues might step through. Cassidy, on the other hand, seemed largely unaffected by this. How did she manage to stay so calm? She was glued to the window for most of the journey, watching the world shoot past, and even found time for a quick nap. How she could sleep after all that had happened was beyond him.

  "So who is this Nanny Voodoo then?" Cassidy asked as they arrived in Clacton and made their way down toward the seafront.

  "She used to look after me whilst I was a child," he said. "Well, bringing me away here on holidays."

  "Is she a vampire?"

  Darwin laughed. "Nanny Voodoo? No, she's something a lot more dangerous."

  He saw Cassidy's face turn to one of worry and he almost felt glad. She'd been so calm on the train journey he almost wanted her to suffer. But he stopped himself from taking out his angst on Cassidy.

  "She's... well she's Nanny Voodoo. They say she's the only person who can do magic in this realm."

  Cassidy raised an eyebrow. "Darwin, you know that's not possible, right? I mean, even if there was any mana in this realm, the fact that she's female…"

  "If I'd said that, you'd have accused me of being sexist."

  "But still..."

  "Look, all I know is she got a lot of respect from the vampires. There were few people who Metzger considered untouchable, and she was one."

  "So much so, that he'd let her take you away on holiday?"

  "Yeah, right. Nanny Voodoo said it was no good a child being cooped up with vampires all the time. Said I deserved a break once in a while."

  "So how come you ran away rather than come live with her?"

  Darwin scratched the back of his head nervously. "Because she always said she needed a break for the other eleven months of the year."

  Cassidy smiled. "I could see that," she said.

  In truth, Darwin had some of his fondest memories in Clacton. Going off and playing in the sea, ignoring Nanny Voodoo's calls for him to come back and let her apply sunblock, then spending the rest of the week in a shaded house, while his red skin, blistered and peeled. Oh, how he used to drive her mad. He'd felt the full force of the woman's right arm on more than one occasion. Not that he was particularly naughty, just that as a child without any real upbringing, he had to have some things beaten into him. Even so, the month he spent with Nanny Voodoo each summer were the best times he could remember, which was why he was nervous now.

  When he'd run away, he'd run away from everything, the vampire council, the vampire way of life, everything. Heck, he'd near starved himself to death and not worried how burnt he got. He was raging against the system, a system that Nanny Voodoo was part of. He felt ashamed of that now. He should have at least phoned her, told her he was OK, even if in those early days it was far from the truth. But it never seemed like the right time, so he'd put it off and off and off, waiting for that time when he could call her up and tell her he was doing fine.

  And in truth, he was worried he might turn up on her doorstep and she'd reject him. She'd have every right to do so, he was only now turning up because he was in trouble. That and to check she was OK. Mortality had been brought to the forefront of his mind in recent days. Never before had the thought that someone might not be there any more ever really crossed his mind. He'd be surrounded by immortals for most of his life, why would it?

  That was what had been really bothering him on the train. If they'd managed to get to Metzger and the Vampire Council, had they got to her as well?

  "You're very quiet today," Cassidy observed. "Is everything OK?"

  Is everything OK? How he could have laughed. Of course it wasn't. Things were fucked up royally, it was all his fault and he had to put them right. That started with Nanny Voodoo. A new chapter, Darwin, he told himself. No more hiding from yourself. It's time to man up, protect your friends and the remains of your race.

  "I'm OK," he said sullenly. "This place holds a lot of memories."

  "Well are we going to get there soon, cos I'm freezing."

  He looked down at her, hands wrapped round her body, head retracted as much as it could into the warmth of her coat.

  "Not much further now, Cassidy."

  #

  Nanny Voodoo lived in a bungalow on the outskirts of town, not much more than a stone's throw from the beach. Darwin used to be able to run out of her front door and get nearly all the way there before she'd scream for him to wait.

  He hesitated before knocking, then knocked before all the doubts and angst could take hold. No going back now.

  "Whatever it is, I ain't buying," came her unmistakably voice, her accent a bizarre hybrid of Essex and the Caribbean. Relief washed over Darwin. However she might react to him, at least he knew she was still alive.

  There was the sound of the door being unbolted, and the turn of a key in the lock, before the door was flung open.

  She'd got older, Darwin thought. Her hair was now dusted with grey and her face was more lined than he remembered, but still it was unmistakably Nanny Voodoo. Those buck teeth, those eyes that could narrow and bore right through you.

  Darwin held out his arms as she eyed him suspiciously.

  "Nanny Voodoo," he boomed, nervously hoping that she would recognise him.

  The clout came from nowhere, struck him on the side of the head.

  "Where have you been?" she demanded as if he'd just stayed out late. "Worried myself sick over you. Running off like that."

  Darwin rubbed his sore ear. The glittering vial hung around her neck held his attention as he dare not look up.

  "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I thought you'd make me go back."

  "Of course I'd make you go back," Nanny Voodoo huffed. "Best place for you, judging from the state of you."

  "I couldn't take it anymore, I..."

  He was interrupted by another clout.

  "You're a vampire, Darwin. If you think that's the greatest challenge you got coming, you think again. I didn't spend my summers taking care of you, just so you could go running off."

  She sniffed him, her nose visibly wrinkling from the smell.

  "At least you're eating."

  Darwin stood there, cowered and waiting, although if he was honest, he wasn't sure for what.

  "Hmmm," mulled Nanny Voodoo. "Suppose you'd better come in."

  Relief washed over Darwin. He broke into the broadest smile, threw his arms around the woman and kissed her on the cheek.

  "Thank you," he said, realising what he'd been waiting for - her forgiveness. She was his one remaining link with his old life, and to have been rejected by her would have broken his
heart.

  Nanny Voodoo pushed him away. "Be off with you," she said, before breaking into a slight smirk. "You smell like a sewer."

  She nodded toward Cassidy, waiting at the top of the path. "Who be your friend?" she asked.

  "Oh, this is Cassidy," Darwin replied beckoning her to come forward. "Cassidy, this is Nanny Voodoo."

  Nanny Voodoo eyed her carefully, but then she eyed everyone carefully thought Darwin.

  "Fallen angel?" she mused. "Some interesting company you be keeping these days."

  "Hello," said Cassidy with a little side-to-side wave. "I've heard a lot about you."

  "Whatever he's told you, it's all lies," Nanny replied completely deadpan.

  "Even the good stuff?"

  "Especially the good stuff," she said with a smile.

  #

  Nanny Voodoo's house was as Darwin remembered it, all flowery patterns and lace doilies.

  "Don't you be bringing any mud in," she warned him. "Shoes off! Shoes off!"

  Darwin wasn't sure how long he'd been wearing this pair of socks but he wasn't sure taking his shoes off was a good idea.

  "What are you waiting for? Christmas?" Nanny Voodoo said, grabbing the free paper from the floor, rolling it into a cylinder and beating him with it. "Off I said."

  Darwin did as he was told, only becoming aware of how dirty he was as he did so.

  Nanny Voodoo grabbed her nose.

  "To the shower with you. Go on, you know where it is. Throw those clothes outside the door."

  "Thank you," Darwin said earnestly. "For what it's worth I'm..."

  But he never got time to finish. There was the thwack of rolled up paper round his head and Nanny Voodoo shouting. "Go, I told you!"

  He smiled at her, and hurried to the bathroom.

  The shower felt good. It was little more than a shower head above the bath that gurgled and spluttered but he wanted to submerge under the jet and never come up. Yet still, he didn't feel clean. The grime felt thick on his skin as he took Nanny Voodoo's loofah and scrubbed at his skin until it felt raw. His hair too was long and knotted, and even Nanny Voodoo's luxury shampoo, poured on thick until it generated a beehive of suds, could not get it feeling clean.