by M S C Barnes
“Who knows,” Zach moaned. “But it needs to stop. I’m getting drenched!”
It really did look like the owl was annoyed, and each time its foot landed, another wave of increasingly bigger ripples travelled outwards and more water poured out of the gargoyles’ mouths.
Aelfric was in motion, running back towards the door.
“Aelfric?” Henri called after him as Dierne followed him, zooming across to catch up.
And now Scarlet yelled, “Look!”
She pointed at an area in the water fifteen feet from where she stood, and suddenly Seb saw it. The ripples the owl’s foot and the spitting gargoyles were causing travelled smoothly across the water until they got to the point Scarlet indicated. Here they distorted, as if hitting an obstacle and, flowing around it, continued on and away to the sides.
Seb’s heart was in his throat. There was something in the water and that something was moving towards those standing by door.
“It’s a little person, a water person!” Scarlet screeched and Philippe immediately backed away, making for the door.
“No, Scarlet, it’s a golem!” Aelfric called, still running towards them. He lifted his hand, capturing light from the fireflies above and shone it just ahead of the watery shape. Instantly its forward motion was halted as it hit an invisible barrier.
Henri had been slow to react and even now he still stood on the bottom step of the throne platform, as if reluctant to place a foot on the water.
“That is not possible!” he shouted as sections of the filigree on the pillars and ceiling rafters began to peel off and spiral in the air below the fireflies.
“Tell Water-Sméagol that!” Zach mumbled, pulling his staff from the trouser belt loops around his waist. He pushed Seb back and stood in front of him while Trudy moved up to take a position beside him. The Caretaker grabbed Philippe, dragging him over to the far side of the platform.
To Seb’s surprise, Reynard now nodded to The Caretaker, then stepped onto the water and, supported by the imps, ran across to meet Aelfric as he reached the golem, which had grown considerably in size. It was far more defined too, with an obvious head, arms, legs and torso. It butted against the barrier Aelfric had formed, trying to move towards the platform and he now circled to stand in front of it, keeping the barrier in place, Reynard and Dierne beside him.
“How can that be?” Dom muttered, moving closer to Seb and staring at the golem. “Water is not a mould-able substance.”
“Ice can be moulded, can’t it?” Aiden suggested, cowering behind Dom.
“But ice would melt in water, it couldn’t keep its form,” Greg answered, sounding intrigued.
“Which is why it is growing!” Dom said, suddenly making sense of it. “Clever. Really clever,” he said, shaking his head. “As the ice melts, it breaks the form and now the golem can take in more water and grow.”
As if affirming his words, the golem grew bigger still.
“Should we get more Dryads?” Seb asked Alice, remembering the net they had used on the snow golem. Alice shook his head.
“They can’t get through the Stairway lock without Aelfric or you opening the door.”
“Dierne, Alice, cut it off!” Aelfric shouted.
Alice, shrugging apology to Seb, leapt away from the doorway and zoomed across to meet Dierne, feet from the golem. Now the two Dryads began circling it so rapidly they became a green blur. In the wake of their movement, the water around the golem swirled and then dipped in a vortex beneath it leaving it suspended in mid-air. The gargoyles all around the room began spouting heavy plumes of water in response to the displacement the Dryads were causing. The noise, amplified by the empty space above, was deafening and freezing water poured over the party by the door.
No-one complained, however, they were all too preoccupied by the sight of the golem — which was already the size of a grown adult — hanging in the air feet in front of Aelfric. Separated from its water source it had, at least, stopped growing.
Aelfric was still creating the invisible barrier and the golem relentlessly struck it, fell back and then pressed forward again.
“Dom,” Aelfric called. “Scarlet cannot use Alice.”
It was all happening so fast and Seb was trying to remember what needed to be done to stop a golem; he hadn’t thought as far as the detail of Scarlet relaying the spell in silence to Alice. Suddenly he understood what Aelfric meant; Scarlet couldn’t communicate silently with Alice here, so she couldn’t pass the spell word or words on to Seb through him; she also couldn’t speak the word or words aloud. So how were they supposed to undo the spell?
Seb had no idea what Aelfric’s solution was until Dom, standing with Scarlet, produced the small notebook and pen from his pocket. She smiled as he handed them to her and then looked horrified as a torrent of water fell from a gargoyle above her head and drenched the notebook.
“It is waterproof,” Dom reassured her, shouting over the sound of drumming water.
As he spoke, the silver filigree strands still writhing in the air below the fireflies dropped. They had meshed together and formed a net which now landed on top of the golem, enveloping it.
“Isgebind,” Aelfric said, immediately and white light shot from his hand. As it struck the silver net it, and the golem, froze. “Seb,” he called, glancing back, “I will not be able to read the words; you will need to do this.”
Feeling his stomach doing cartwheels, Seb nodded.
“I’m ready Seb,” Scarlet shouted. She had the small pen poised over the notebook and was staring at the watery golem.
Seb lifted his hand and shone the firefly light onto its forehead and Scarlet began scribbling. Then, she thrust the notebook at him but, as he glanced at it, his heart sank. The letters she had written were already dancing on the page, swirling and twisting, so that they were actually unrecognisable.
“I, I can’t…” Seb stuttered, waiting for the letters to settle into something he could read. For a fraction of a second he thought he saw words, but nothing he could interpret and then the ink swirled once more before sliding off the tilted page and landing, with a splat, on the soaking floor.
“Well Seb?” Aiden, still cowering behind Dom, squeaked. “Can you say the words?”
“I didn’t see any — Well, none I could read,” Seb said, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.
“Write them again, Scarlet,” Greg said, pushing Seb closer to her. “Read them as she writes them,” he told Seb.
Nodding, Seb glanced at the golem, trying to reassure himself that it was still frozen and hadn’t grown any bigger or got any closer. He stared at the simple human shape trapped within the silver net and noticed its right hand start to move.
“Oh Seb!” Scarlet yelled at him. “You have to look!”
Tearing his eyes away, Seb looked back at the notebook. All he could see was a twisting mass of ink. Scarlet had re-written the letters but already they had warped and, having wasted time staring at the golem, he now couldn’t read them. As he watched, the ink plopped off the page onto the floor at his feet. And then suddenly Henri was with them.
“Once more,” he said to Scarlet, moving Seb to one side. “Write them again.”
She stared up at him, shocked and then looked back at the golem as he now lifted his left hand and illuminated the figure’s forehead. Immediately, Scarlet scribbled letters onto the paper.
“Ice on chin u wear,” Henri said quickly and then his eyes opened wide as he saw the letters reform momentarily before scrambling and dropping off the page.
Seb got the briefest of glances at the reformed clusters of letters but they made no sense to him at all. They were just a jumble.
hine ic onwrecau
Now Henri spoke again, “Wear u chin on ice.”
Like everyone else, he looked up at the golem. A green mist was lifting from its forehead and suddenly, as if a pin had been put to a balloon, it burst. It fell as a cascade of water droplets into the vortex still being created b
y Alice and Dierne, which instantly closed up as the two Dryads re-materialised — along with a third Dryad, who appeared as the words, “I am Dæved,” were whispered on the air. The leafy image of Henri, he bowed to Aelfric before zooming over to join Henri by the door.
Within seconds the gargoyles around the room had stopped spouting. The strands of the silver filigree net, having fallen to the water’s surface, separated and then rose and curled themselves, once more, around the pillars and rafters.
Gazing across the now calm water, Seb noticed that the owl had disappeared and the pain in his hand had gone.
Rebellion
“Next time, I’m bringing a proper notebook and pen!” Zach said disapprovingly, brushing water from his hair. “And I don’t think much of your overflow system, Henry. Surely it’s supposed to flow out, not back in?”
Henri paid no attention to Zach; he moved across the platform to join Aelfric, and Seb could see why. All the filigree had disappeared from the rafters above the door and those strands had formed a second net, one which had fallen onto Philippe, who, bound in it, was being held up on his feet by the The Caretaker. Aelfric stood in front of Philippe as he squirmed, trying to break free of his fetters. The more he struggled, the tighter the net became and his aura, Seb noticed, had shrunk to just an angry, thin line.
“Philippe, be still,” Aelfric said, gently. “There is no help for this; you must be still.”
Reynard, bending to retrieve Philippe’s battered bag from the puddles at his feet, opened the flap and rummaged inside.
“He put the golem form in the water!” he snarled. “That’s what the splash was! I wondered what he was doing.” He pulled a small Thermos flask out of the bag. The lid had been taken off it. Reynard tipped the flask upside down, nothing came out. “Here,” he said to Henri as he joined them. Henri looked like he had suffered a body blow as he took the flask and examined it.
“Philippe! You too? I thought —” Henri began but Philippe shouted over him.
“You thought what Henri? That I was deluded like you? How can you not see? Heath was your best friend — our friend.” Wriggling, he managed to point an accusing finger through the net at Seb. “He killed him. In fact, he did worse than kill him! And you Aelfric!” he twisted his head and glared at Aelfric. “Your mentor; your friend. You used this pathetic boy to banish him to an eternity of hopelessness.”
“Philippe,” Henri said, stunned. “We discussed this. What happened to Heath was not Seb’s fault, and nor was it Aelfric’s. You know that. What happened to Heath, he brought upon himself.”
“You believe Trudy’s account?” Philippe shouted, casting her a withering look. “She is not exactly impartial is she?” Trudy looked outraged. “Well, let’s face it, Trudy, you adore your precious Custodian. You’re not about to admit he did something wrong.”
“Enough, Philippe!” Henri exploded. “You have violated this place and now you exacerbate that by casting insults. Enough!” As he shouted, the water in the room became choppy, causing droplets to sprinkle from the gargoyles above, and the strands of the net around Philippe began to sparkle. Philippe’s expression changed from anger to fear.
“Henri,” he stuttered. “We are right; you must see that.”
“You are wrong, Philippe,” Henri sighed. “And I cannot trust you. Dæved,” he called and now his Dryad twin swooped across and took hold of the netting. Henri nodded and Dæved lifted it off the floor, with the snivelling Philippe inside. Swiftly, he carried his charge to the roof and secured the net on a small hook there, leaving Philippe dangling.
“Henri, you can’t just leave me here. Henri? Let me go!” he screamed and then suddenly his voice became quieter. “You have no idea what they are capable of now!” he said, ominously. “They will not spare you if you get in their way.”
Henri stiffened and glanced at Aelfric who gave him a small, reassuring smile.
“We will sort this out together,” Aelfric said and then turned to the others. “Henri is a friend. You all,” he looked at Zach, “need to see him as such. We cannot move forward until you do.”
It was Greg who responded. “Aelfric, I have no idea what is going on, but if you are satisfied Henri is to be trusted, then that is good enough for me,” he said. Dom, looking grave, nodded agreement but Trudy huffed and frowned until Reynard put a hand on her arm.
“Henri is not the assailant Trudy,” he said and she glanced up at him, searching his eyes.
“Then who is?” she asked.
Henri, sounding defeated, answered her, “Jacqueline,” he sighed, “And our successors.”
Trudy opened her eyes wide? “All of them?” she said.
Henri nodded and she looked horrified.
“Walk with me, Trudy?” he now said, as if asking her a favour, and instantly her demeanour changed. She straightened her back, lifted her head and without another word, stepped onto the water. Henri smiled as the imps supported her.
“So we’re best buddies now?” Zach asked. “Just like that, we trust him?”
“Just like that,” Trudy snapped. “There is betrayal, Zach, but it is not Henri’s,” she said.
“Well you’re Little-Miss-Changeable aren’t you?” Zach wasn’t convinced. “What about the sublime stuff? The puking? Don’t forget the puking.”
“If you are referring to the subliminal messages, then that was me,” Henri admitted, “And I will explain. But not at this door.” He glanced over to the throne area. “As I said before, I will not meet with any who are not friends.”
Seb no longer saw anger and arrogance in Henri, he simply saw disillusionment and fear. This man had apparently been betrayed by his own Guide and a whole new group for whom he had been the mentor. It was like Dom, along with Seb’s own group, turning against Aelfric. He couldn’t imagine that. So now, feeling sorry for Henri, and without thinking too much, he stepped onto the water beside Trudy. The imps rushed to his feet and he smiled as Nat, Alice and Aiden joined him.
“Thank you,” Henri said.
Philippe was still ranting from the roof. “Henri, they won’t show mercy. Let me down; I can help you!” He sounded manic.
Other than Aelfric and Zach, everyone else now stepped off the platform and all were supported by the water imps. Zach, with a deep frown on his face, looked from Henri to the dangling Philippe and crossed his arms.
“There is more to this, Zach,” Aelfric said. “And time is short.”
Zach’s shoulders slumped. “It’s good he’s such a likeable guy then!” he muttered, looking at Henri who frowned back at him.
“Zach, if you cannot be a friend, at least bear no ill will,” Aelfric said.
“No ill will?” Zach asked, and Aelfric nodded. “Okay, but if I get wet, I’m blaming you.” He gave Aelfric a lopsided grin then, taking a deep breath, he stretched a foot over the water in an over-dramatic way, closed his eyes and held his nose. He didn’t, however, take the step and eventually Trudy, tutting, leapt off the water and pushed him. Overbalancing, he slammed his foot down and thousands of imps swooped up and held it. Opening his eyes, Zach grinned at Seb and winked. “Well, come on, let’s go,” he said, marching towards the throne dais, leaving the others to follow.
“Zach, stay with Seb!” Trudy called.
“Okay my lady. Whatever you say, but — time is short,” he said, glancing back and smiling at Aelfric before slowing his pace to wait for Seb.
“Is he always like this?” Reynard asked Trudy, as she stepped back onto the water with Aelfric. She nodded, looking annoyed. “Well, we work with what we are given,” Reynard shrugged, then added, “You have my sympathy.” She chuckled and the large group set off towards the thrones.
To the sound of Philippe’s continued protests and threats, they arrived at the dais and, directed by Henri, all but the Dryads and the Guardians took seats. Those seven formed a ring around the thrones, facing outwards.
Seb sat on one of the grand seats and, wriggling his bottom back, glanced up a
t the fireflies which circled dizzyingly above. He thought he saw leaves beyond the brightness they created and blinked, looking more closely. Definitely leaves and twigs. He suddenly had the feeling they were all sitting in a clearing in the woods, over-arched by the branches of mighty trees and as he returned his eyes to the level of the thrones he gasped. Beyond the high-backed chairs, thick tree trunks had appeared. There was no sign of the marble lake, no sign of the door, or the frescos on the walls, or the filigree-adorned pillars. They were, indeed, sitting in the middle of a wood and now, instead of Philippe’s shouting, he could hear the chirruping of night-time insects. He gazed at his feet to find that they rested, not on a smooth, hard floor, but on grass and in the centre of the circular area formed by the thrones sat a squat, flat stone, its surface scored with the familiar Custodian birthmark, the silver lines of which reflected the bright light of the fireflies.
“Ooookay. Not quite what I expected,” Zach stated.
Seb glanced over at Nat who smiled happily back at him. Beautiful, she mouthed to him and he nodded.
“The throne room is a partial illusion. This Sanctum has been created by linking the human reality and the Dryad world,” Alice said, straight into Seb’s mind. Seb jumped and turned to look at him.
“I can hear you again,” he said and Alice shrugged.
“I thought I’d try,” he said, smiling.
Giving everyone only a moment to take in their surroundings, Henri leant forward and began.
“I knew nothing of the events at the Hurlers,” he looked at Aelfric, “other than what you told the Custodian Witan. Heath had tried to open the Access Stone and release Braddock’s soul from the Soul Drop and, as a consequence, he had been trapped in there himself. I asked nothing further — needed nothing further.” He shook his head. “If I am honest, I had, in recent times, noticed a change in Heath, a disturbance in his manner. I have wondered if I should have questioned him more and trusted him less.” He lapsed into silence.
