Curse of the Dream Witch

by Allan Stratton

  Milo realised, to his horror, that the droplets weren’t droplets at all. They were eyes on a monstrous green head, camouflaged against the leaf. Milo stared as the creature’s hideous shape emerged. Now he could see the long green body. The grisly mandibles. The spiked forelegs raised as if in prayer.

  Milo struggled to stay calm. ‘It’s a giant praying mantis.’

  Prey

  The mantis flickered its papery wings.

  ‘Stay absolutely still,’ Ephemia warned. ‘If you move it’ll strike.’

  ‘Talk to it,’ Olivia whispered urgently. ‘Make it leave us alone.’

  ‘I can’t,’ Ephemia said, eyes riveted on the mantis. ‘Meat-eaters don’t listen when they’re hungry.’

  ‘Leo,’ Olivia begged. ‘Help us.’

  Leo shrank behind the fungal stem. ‘How?’

  ‘Wave your sword.’

  ‘And draw attention? Are you crazy?’

  ‘Then give your sword to me.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Fine, be that way,’ Olivia said. She slipped off her cloak, and held it in front of her. ‘Milo, I’m going to make a distraction. When I say Go—’

  Too late. The mantis pounced. Milo was hurled to the ground. He smashed the rock on the insect’s mandibles. It reared in fury.

  Olivia roared forward waving her cloak. The mantis twisted its head to the flapping cloth. It flew to attack the intruder. Olivia unfurled her cloak to protect herself. The mantis caught it in its claws and tossed it towards a jungle of weeds. A flash of silver fell from the pocket.

  ‘The pysanka!’ Ephemia cried, as the mantis toppled Olivia. It held her fast, one foreleg on her chest, the other on her stomach.

  Milo jumped on its back and pounded its steely thorax. The mantis ignored him and prepared to chew off Olivia’s head.

  At that moment, something huge jumped under the boughs of the peony bush. A long red carpet shot through the air and lashed around the mantis’ abdomen. In a flash, the force threw Milo off the insect’s thorax and tore Olivia from its grasp. The mantis snapped back under the bush.

  ‘What was that?’ Olivia gasped.

  The visitor leapt forward. It was the biggest frog she’d ever seen. Bits of the mantis clung to its rubbery lips. Its glassy eyes extended out of their sockets and shoved the leftovers down its throat. Then it blinked blankly, gave a satisfied croak, and hopped away.

  Leo scrambled out from under the mushroom. ‘Well done,’ he said. ‘I guess we showed that mantis who was boss.’

  Ephemia ignored him. ‘Olivia, your pysanka. When the mantis tossed your cloak, it fell out of your pocket. I saw the silver case.’

  Leo pricked up his ears. ‘Where did it land?’

  ‘In those weeds, by the grove of dandelions.’

  If ever there was a time to destroy Olivia’s talisman, this was it, and Leo knew it. He imagined the Dream Witch’s treasures pouring down around him; heard the cheers of the court; saw the pride in his father’s eyes. I’ll never be mocked again, he thought. The world will do as I say.

  Leo ran to the giant weeds and swung his sword at a sprawl of crabgrass. Olivia and Milo scrambled in his wake. Together they dodged the toppling purple seed heads, pausing only for Leo to sneeze and itch.

  Ephemia suffered no such delay. She zipped over and under the jungle of stems. The dandelions were just beyond the next rock.

  ‘Over here,’ the mouse squeaked. She leapt on the stone. ‘Oh no.’

  Leo, Olivia and Milo carved through the undergrowth.

  ‘What is it?’ Olivia demanded.

  ‘There, where your pysanka landed . . .’ Ephemia pointed to a hole, six-feet wide, that descended deep into the ground. A few feet below the surface, thick dandelion taproots broke through the earthen side and dangled like vines into the subterranean dark.

  Olivia ran to the opening. ‘How are we to get the pysanka out of this hole?’

  ‘Stay back,’ Ephemia cried. ‘It isn’t an ordinary hole.’

  ‘What is it then?

  ‘A mole’s burrow.’

  Olivia leapt back. ‘But moles are tiny,’ she gasped.

  ‘Not in this world.’

  Down the Burrow

  Olivia’s palms went moist; her flesh crawled. She’d first seen a mole when she was three, playing in the castle garden with the servants’ children. The mole had poked its little head out of a hole in the grass and quickly disappeared. Olivia had laughed at the sight of its furry snout, teeny red eyes, and clownish paws.

  The royal gardener, a rough-hewn stump of a man, hadn’t been so amused; he’d cursed the pest who’d potted his carefully tended lawn, and thrust his spade into the earth. Olivia’s heart filled with pity that the creature might have been killed, but her pity soon turned to terror. The gardener had unearthed the vermin’s pantry, a tiny cave it had hollowed out and filled with worms and beetles. They all looked dead, but the gardener knew better.

  ‘These poor things fell into Mr Mole’s burrows. He freezed ’em with a poison in his spit. Then he dragged ’em to his larders to feed on at his pleasure. That’s right, little Princess, he eats ’em alive. Slowly. Bit by bit.’

  Olivia pictured a giant mole. What if it does that to us? she wondered.

  ‘Milo and I can take care of this,’ Leo said gallantly.

  Milo gave him a funny look. ‘You want to brave danger?’

  ‘Indeed,’ Leo said slyly. ‘I need to prove myself worthy of your company.’

  ‘There’s hope for you yet,’ Ephemia exclaimed.

  ‘But I should go,’ Olivia insisted. ‘It’s my pysanka.’

  ‘No. You helped with the mantis. Me, I need to redeem myself,’ Leo said.

  ‘He’s right,’ Ephemia agreed. ‘You mustn’t deny him. It would be cruel. You and I can help from above. We’ll hide under that dandelion leaf and guard the burrow entrance, in case some creature comes sniffing.’

  ‘Please?’ Leo wheedled. He put on his best pleading face, the one he used to lure milkmaids close enough for a pinch.

  ‘All right,’ Olivia said. ‘But if there’s trouble, I’ll be there.’

  Leo and Milo lowered their legs down the burrow. Each grabbed a taproot, tested his weight, and began the descent, as if rappelling down a rope.

  Milo was faster. In fact, he was soon so much further down that he wondered if Leo had returned to the surface. He looked up and saw Leo’s feet. The prince kicked the side of the burrow. Loose dirt fell into Milo’s face. He coughed, swinging blindly on the vine.

  ‘You idiot,’ he exclaimed, wiping his eyes with a forearm. ‘I could have broken my neck.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Leo lied. ‘I’ve never climbed down a mole hole before.’ His breath caught in his throat. ‘Look. Do you see that sparkle?’

  Milo squinted. Not twelve feet below, the silver sheath of the pysanka lay glinting on the ground. His heart pounded with excitement and fear. ‘We’ve reached the floor of the burrow. I can see tunnels opening in three directions.’

  A low, snuffling sound echoed out of the dark. Milo held his breath. He heard steps, padding up the tunnel, and the sucking of lips and spit, the chitter of teeth.

  He tried to scramble up the root. ‘Quick, Leo! The mole! It’s coming!’

  ‘Not for me,’ Leo smiled and sliced Milo’s vine with his sword.

  Milo tumbled to the ground. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Why, waiting for the mole to carry you away, stupid. There’s only room for one hero in this story. You, my friend, are an accident paving my way to glory.’

  The vermin pounced. It clutched Milo in its scaly paws.

  Milo saw its snout. He smelled its breath. He fainted.

  Leo watched the mole drag Milo away to its larder. Then he slid down and grabbed the pysanka. He wanted to pry open the silver case and smash the egg then and there. But what if other moles were lurking? Why risk becoming a vermin’s lunch?

  Leo slipped the talisman inside his breastplate and shimmied up t
he vine, determined to smash the egg when he was out of the burrow and alone. As he neared the surface, he planned a simple story.

  ‘Help!’ he shrieked as he climbed over the lip of the burrow. ‘Help!’

  Olivia and Ephemia ran out from under the dandelion leaf.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Olivia cried. ‘Where’s Milo?’

  ‘Milo! Poor Milo!’ Leo wailed. ‘The mole! It was terrible!’

  Olivia grabbed him by the shoulders. ‘What happened?’

  Leo howled piteously. Olivia slapped his face to bring him to his senses. Leo almost slapped her back, but remembered he was supposed to be in shock.

  ‘W-we reached the bottom of the hole,’ he stammered. ‘The p-pysanka was nowhere to be seen. We searched down one of the tunnels. The m-mole surprised us. It grabbed Milo in its claws.’

  Olivia clutched her chest. ‘Oh no.’

  ‘Oh, yes, Princess. Milo is dead. I saw him in the vermin’s grip. I saw it drag him off to its larder.’

  Without thinking, Olivia dropped to the ground and swung her legs over the hole.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Ephemia gaped.

  ‘Going for Milo, what do you think?’

  Leo blinked. ‘But he’s dead.’

  ‘You don’t know that. You only saw him carried away. Maybe I can save him.’

  ‘From the mole’s larder?’ Ephemia gasped. ‘You’ll only get yourself killed as well.’

  Leo’s mind raced; the witch would not be amused if Olivia’s heart was eaten by a mole. ‘Your mouse is right,’ he said. ‘Would Milo want you risking your life for him? Think of your friend – and those children trapped in the witch’s spice grinders. You need to stay alive to rescue them. Don’t be selfish.’

  ‘I can’t help it,’ Olivia said. ‘I can’t leave my friend to be eaten alive. I just can’t!’

  ‘Then let me go in your place,’ Ephemia pleaded.

  ‘No. People have gone in my place too often already. Besides, I’d be left alone with that one.’ She glanced at the prince. ‘Sorry, Leo, but I don’t exactly trust you.’ She grabbed a tap root. ‘Wish me luck.’

  Ephemia raised a paw. ‘Olivia—’

  But the princess was already sliding down the root-vine.

  The Mole’s Larder

  Olivia lowered herself to the ground, careful lest the tiniest sound alert the mole. The air was thick with the smell of damp fur. At least there was no smell of blood; good – that meant Milo hadn’t been ripped to pieces.

  Olivia looked around. Tunnels ran off in three directions, each dimly lit by shafts of distant light filtering down from holes burrowed to the surface. Paw prints ran in all directions.

  Which way to go? Olivia wondered.

  Her heart skipped a beat: Two furrows in the loose soil disappeared up the darkest tunnel. Milo’s heels dragging behind the mole?

  Olivia rubbed her arms and legs with earth to dull her scent from the mole’s inquisitive nose. Then she edged up the trail on tiptoes, barely daring to breathe. The farther she went, the staler the air became.

  The walls of the tunnel widened. A small spill of light from a surface hole on the far side revealed a shadowy place filled with a hill of dark, glistening shapes. Olivia reached out to touch them. Her right hand pressed into thick rolls of cold, slimy flesh. She yanked her hand back in horror. Earthworms. She’d touched a mountain of giant earthworms, all of them waiting to be eaten by the mole. Why – she was in the mole’s pantry!

  From the other side of the cavern, she heard a chittering sound. The mole had arrived from the far tunnel. What could she do? Where could she go?

  An arm reached out of the sickening heap, grabbed her, and pulled her into the pile. Olivia slid between the gooey rolls, her hair and skin slick with their ooze. She tried to scream, but her mouth filled with worm.

  ‘Shh,’ a voice whispered.

  Olivia spat and covered her lips. ‘Milo?’

  Milo gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. ‘Yes,’ he murmured. ‘The mole grabbed me and I fainted. It must have thought I was dead or it would’ve paralysed me. I woke up on top of this worm-hill, and swam down to hide among their bodies.’

  Milo’s grip tightened. They could hear the mole beyond the wall of food.

  The creature shrieked in fury at the disappearance of its most recent catch. It sniffed the air. The fetid sweetness of the worms filled its senses. But another aroma mingled in the stink – disguised, perhaps, but there all the same: the smell of human.

  The mole let loose a guttural trill: Its treat hadn’t escaped. It was hiding. But where? It churned the earth with its massive paws. No luck. It turned to the mountain of worms.

  There was a terrible squishing sound as the mole crawled over its paralysed captives. Milo and Olivia felt the pressure as the worms pressed down over their heads. They sank under the weight, and squirmed as nubby ends tickled down their shirts.

  The mole prowled forward. The rubbery torsos rolled and twisted with each step.

  Milo took Olivia’s hand. ‘Follow me.’

  Together, they trailed below the mole’s wake, taking cover in the undulations of the worms. The mucky slime greased their slide through the fleshy jungle.

  ‘We should be nearing the tunnel at the far side of the pantry,’ Milo murmured. ‘Before I dived into the mound, I saw a shaft of light at the entrance. If we can make it there, we can try and escape.’

  The mole stopped in its tracks. There was nothing on top of its food stores. That meant only one thing: Its prey was beneath.

  The mole thrust itself down into the pile. Olivia and Milo moved out of its way. They bumped into a beetle. Using its shell as both shield and disguise, they slogged their way out of the heap. It was like wading through rooms of clammy noodles.

  ‘There! The light, the roots,’ Milo pointed excitedly as they broke through. They raced for the exit, and began their ascent before the mole had time to realise they were gone. Olivia had never thought of herself as a climber. Now, picturing herself as a feast for the beast, she knew she could scale the tunnel in an instant.

  They neared the surface.

  ‘I have to warn you about Leo,’ Milo grunted as he climbed. ‘He tried to kill me. He cut the root I was climbing and left me for the mole.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He’s a traitor. I’ll bet in league with the Dream Witch.’

  ‘Ephemia,’ Olivia gulped. ‘I left her with him. She’s in danger.’ The princess climbed faster.

  ‘Yes,’ Milo said, scrambling after. ‘And another thing. Leo and I found the pysanka. It was at the base of the burrow.’

  ‘He must have it, then. It wasn’t there when I climbed down.’

  ‘We have to get it back or he’ll smash it.’

  ‘If he hasn’t already.’

  Olivia pulled herself up onto level ground. Milo followed right after. In the distance, they spotted the dandelions that towered above the hole they’d climbed down and ran towards them. But when they got there, there was no sign of Ephemia or Leo.

  ‘Maybe they’re hiding,’ Milo said.

  ‘It’s only us,’ Olivia called out.

  Silence.

  Olivia touched her hand to her heart. ‘They’re gone.’

  A Parting of the Ways

  ‘They can’t be gone,’ Milo exclaimed. ‘Where would they go?’

  Olivia looked around in desperation. ‘Ephemia?’

  A shadow crossed their heads. Olivia and Milo looked up. The Dream Witch’s owl circled above with a mouse in its talons.

  ‘Ephemia!’ Olivia screamed.

  The owl hooted, as if laughing at some cruel joke, and flew away.

  ‘Ephemia!!!’

  Olivia’s head swam. She collapsed onto Milo’s shoulder. ‘This is my fault. How could I have left her?’

  Milo had no idea what to say or do. He’d never been held by a girl before, much less one who was crying. ‘It’s all right,’ he comforted.

  ‘What do you mean it�
��s all right,’ Olivia wept.

  ‘I mean it’s not all right. Of course it’s not. But maybe it’s not what it seems.’

  ‘It is,’ Olivia wept. ‘You know it.’

  ‘I do, yes, you’re right, I know,’ Milo babbled. ‘But Leo—’

  ‘Ephemia’s gone! How can you think about Leo?’

  ‘I can’t. I don’t. I haven’t.’

  ‘Then why did you say his name?’ Olivia pounded his shoulder in frustration.

  ‘Olivia, ow, listen,’ Milo said. ‘There’s nothing we can do about Ephemia. But Leo – he has the pysanka. It’s all that stands between you and the witch. Ephemia fought for your life. You have to fight too.’

  Olivia wiped the tears from her eyes. Her voice quivered: ‘You’re right. We need to find Leo. We can’t let the Dream Witch win.’

  On cue, there were a series of distant wails.

  ‘Leo?’

  Olivia and Milo ran towards the sounds. They found a path with Leo’s boot prints and hurried along it. The wails turned into shrieks. ‘Help! Save me!’

  They burst into a clearing by a patch of daffodils. Leo was stuck on a web strung between two flowers. A spider was binding him like a mummy. The pair jumped backwards, but the insect was too busy with its prey to pay them heed.

  ‘Save me,’ Leo pleaded.

  ‘Why should we?’ Olivia said. ‘You called the witch’s owl to snatch Ephemia.’

  ‘I didn’t. I ran when the owl swooped down and got stuck in this web. I don’t know what happened to your mouse.’

  The spider knit its web around his head.

  ‘AAAH! HELP ME!’

  ‘First, why did you leave me for the mole?’ Milo demanded.

  ‘And what did you do to my pysanka?’ Olivia chimed in.

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Leo squealed as the spider’s legs brushed against his cheeks.

  ‘I’ll bet you don’t,’ Olivia said. She and Milo turned on their heels.

  ‘No, wait, I’ll tell you!’ Leo screeched. The spider gagged him. ‘MMMMM! MMMMM!’

  Olivia and Milo looked at each other and nodded.