The Jack Brenin Collection

by Catherine Cooper

  All the Spriggans had scurried away from Nora. They were all trying to hide behind the Chief. Their small legs were trembling so badly the chamber was filled with a knocking sound. Only Chief Knuckle stood his ground.

  ‘Spriggans never steals. They only takes what belongs to them,’ he informed Nora with as much courage as he could muster.

  ‘And yet you stole my golden acorn. I’m Eleanor, Seanchai and Guardian of the Sacred Grove. I presume you’ve heard of me.’

  Every Spriggan in the room fell flat on its face, except Chief Knuckle.

  ‘All the gold from the earth belongs to us,’ he pronounced defiantly.

  ‘But this gold wasn’t from the earth. It came from Annwn. It’s Druid’s gold and belongs to me.’

  This final revelation brought Chief Knuckle to his knees.

  ‘Forgives us, oh Seanchai, we didn’t knows. The Bogie said it was his.’

  ‘What exactly did the Bogie tell you?’

  ‘He said he’d lost it on the path and a boy picked it up and wouldn’t give it back. He told us the boy was staying with an old woman at the big house. He gaves me this in exchange for his gold.’

  Chief Knuckle held up the torch with a very wobbly hand so Nora could see his prize.

  ‘The Bogie lied. The golden acorn belongs to me and if I don’t have it back by the end of the month I’ll shrink you down to the size of a matchstick.’

  Chief Knuckle gasped and turned pale.

  ‘I promises you it will be brought back to you, oh great Seanchai.’

  ‘When you bring it back you can come and shrink your friend down to his normal size and take him away. I never expect to see you in my garden again and you’ll never hunt rats on my land anymore. Do you understand?’

  The Chief nodded and bowed as he backed away from Nora. As she turned to go she held up her wand and sent sparks flying around the cave from its tip. All the Spriggans crouched down and shielded their bodies. There was a terrible shrieking as they all tried to talk at once. In the confusion Nora turned around slowly and transformed back into a ferret. Jack picked up her wand in his beak.

  ‘Time to go,’ she whispered. ‘I think we made an impression don’t you?’

  Once they were back in the garden Nora sealed the hole in the bush again. By the time they reached the kitchen Jack couldn’t stop yawning.

  ‘I think it’s time we all went to bed. You can tell Camelin all about it if he’s awake and tomorrow we can continue with your flying lessons.’

  Jack climbed into the basket and Elan raised him up to the attic window. He waved his wing to her once he was inside. He hopped up the stairs into the loft and waddled over to Camelin.

  ‘Nothing to report here. It’s all been quiet,’ said Camelin after he’d transformed Jack back.

  ‘I’ve got lots to tell you.’

  ‘Don’t want to talk tonight,’ Camelin announced abruptly. ‘I need some sleep.’

  ‘Tell you in the morning then,’ said Jack.

  He wasn’t offended. As he lay on the beanbag Orin came and snuggled in the crook of his arm. He watched the stars though the round window. Moonlight streamed in and bathed Camelin’s raven basket in a pale, ghostly light. It was peaceful in the loft and his thoughts drifted from Chief Knuckle and the Spriggans to Peabody, Orin and Camelin. Jack listened to the loud squeaking from Motley and the Night Guard as they patrolled the garden. Camelin’s rasping snore changed into soft rhythmic breathing. Jack was dozing off when a flapping of wings jolted him awake. Timmery had flown into the loft. Jack reached for his wand so he could understand why Timmery had woken them. He managed to catch the end of his report.

  ‘… moved from the wall; they’re under the tree now…’

  ‘Spriggans?’ asked Jack getting ready to leap off the beanbag.

  ‘No, cows,’ grumbled Camelin. ‘He’s woken me up to tell me the cows in the opposite field have moved from the wall and are under the tree.’

  ‘… and I’ve seen a car on the main road,’ continued Timmery.

  ‘Nora told you. It’s unusual things you need to report, not cows and cars.’

  ‘But the cows don’t usually go over to the tree until dawn,’ explained Timmery.

  ‘It’s not important. Now go away and leave me in peace,’ Camelin croaked loudly.

  ‘Only doing my duty,’ twittered Timmery as he flittered out of the window.

  By morning Jack and Camelin were both shattered. They hadn’t seen Motley at all but Timmery had disturbed them another three times.

  ‘He’s taking his duty far too seriously,’ grumbled Camelin, ‘and no matter what I’ve said, he’s intent on reporting every single movement he’s seen.’

  Jack nodded in agreement but he was too busy yawning to reply. Camelin began yawning too.

  ‘I’m going to have to speak to Nora. We can’t have another night like that.’

  By the time Nora came into the kitchen Jack and Camelin had been up and waiting for nearly half an hour. Camelin was dozing on the window sill and Jack was grooming Orin.

  ‘Sleep well?’ she asked cheerfully.

  ‘No,’ Camelin croaked grumpily through a stifled yawn. ‘None of us did. I need to talk to you about Timmery. He doesn’t understand that it’s only suspicious things he needs to report. He woke us up about cars and cows and at three o’clock this morning he reported there were twenty-three starlings roosting in the dovecote. I hardly think they pose a threat but I’ll go and evict them later; they really shouldn’t be there.’

  ‘He’ll be here soon. I’ll explain it to him again,’ replied Nora. ‘But you can leave the starlings where they are. They aren’t doing anyone any harm. If the doves are happy to share their roost then I’m not going to interfere, and neither are you.’

  Camelin didn’t express his opinion about starlings. It was obvious to Jack that Nora had quite a soft spot for them.

  ‘She never tells them off about their manners,’ Camelin whispered to Jack. ‘They’re a lot worse than mine. In fact they’re disgustingly messy eaters.’

  ‘That’s enough Camelin,’ Nora chided.

  ‘But you will speak to Timmery, won’t you?’ he pleaded.

  ‘I will. Have you had breakfast yet?’

  Jack had seen Camelin help himself to a light snack from the bird table on his way from the loft to the kitchen. Camelin didn’t mention this to Nora.

  ‘I’m starving!’ he croaked.

  ‘I doubt that very much,’ laughed Nora. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll be eating soon.’

  It wasn’t long before Elan, Charkle and Gerda joined them.

  ‘Peabody must have been watching Jack all week,’ said Elan, ‘but I’m surprised no one saw him and sent word to us.’

  ‘There was someone in the bell tower under my roost last week,’ said Timmery as he flitted through the window.

  Everyone looked at the tiny bat.

  ‘And you didn’t report that!’ croaked Camelin very loudly. ‘For the last few hours you’ve come to tell me about cows, cars and starlings, but you didn’t mention you’d seen someone watching the house!’

  ‘He was there in the daytime and you only said to report anything I saw at night. He didn’t disturb my sleep. He was very quiet up there.’

  ‘Well I’m glad you didn’t lose any sleep,’ Camelin grumbled. ‘Some of us hardly slept at all last night.’

  ‘Time for me to get back to the bell tower. Hope you all have a lovely day and I’ll see you all again at dusk.’

  ‘Out!’ croaked Camelin as loudly as he could.

  ‘Just being sociable,’ replied Timmery as he darted around the kitchen.

  ‘Well ravens aren’t sociable at this time of the morning, so unless it’s really important don’t come back.’

  ‘Some ravens aren’t sociable at any time of the day,’ laughed Elan.

  Camelin frowned, hunched his shoulders and closed his eyes. He dozed on the window sill until breakfast was ready.

  ‘Are you ready to try
flying today?’ Nora asked Jack.

  ‘Oh! I er… suppose so,’ Jack replied.

  ‘You’ll be fine, a natural if ever I saw one,’ Camelin said sarcastically.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Elan said as she smiled encouragingly at Jack. ‘You will be fine. Camelin might be grumpy but he’s an excellent teacher.’

  Although Jack was still apprehensive he was also excited. It would be great to try some real flying. He longed to be able to soar, swoop and dive. Camelin made it look such fun. He was about to find out if it was.

  FLIGHT

  ‘Why didn’t Chief Knuckle say anything about Charkle?’ Jack asked Nora as they cleared away the breakfast dishes.

  ‘He won’t know for sure that he’s here. He’ll be safe as long as he doesn’t go down any tunnels.’

  ‘That’s exactly how I got caught in the first place,’ said Charkle as he hovered in front of Jack. ‘I was exploring a cave with my two brothers, Norris and Snook. We’d been a few times before and not had a problem until we found a dark hole and those nasty little creatures grabbed us.’

  ‘Did they capture Norris and Snook too?’ asked Jack.

  ‘Oh no! They were older than me and already breathing fire. I was just a baby and I couldn’t defend myself. Norris set two of the Spriggans’ felt hats alight and Snook scratched the other one with his talons but they couldn’t rescue me. I got taken down to their workshop and sealed in that lantern. They used me to light their candles once I started breathing fire.’

  ‘It must have been awful,’ said Jack. ‘I don’t know much about dragons; I thought they were all big.’

  Charkle laughed.

  ‘Dragons are easy to understand. Dragonairs are red, Dragonors blue and Dragonettes green. You don’t want to go messing with red ones. They’re big, fierce and usually bad-tempered. Both the males and females breathe fire. The blue ones are about your size. They’re usually quite friendly and they don’t breathe fire at all, but they’ve got the sharpest teeth so it’s always as well to keep out of their reach just in case they haven’t had breakfast.’

  ‘Are all green dragons small?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Oh yes… we’re Dragonettes… small, friendly and very good-natured. Only the males breathe fire.’

  Charkle stopped beating his wings and sank down to the table.

  ‘It’s been so long since I’ve seen my family. I’ve missed them so much.’

  ‘I can take you over to Westwood today if you’d rather not wait until next weekend,’ offered Nora.

  ‘No, thank you. If you don’t mind I’d rather stay here with all of you for a few days. It’s so long since I’ve had any company. I’m really enjoying being here.’

  Nora smiled at Charkle before turning to Jack.

  ‘Do you understand now why I didn’t want you to go down the tunnel? Spriggans enjoy roasting birds, as well as rats, when they can catch them. That’s why Camelin doesn’t like going underground.’

  ‘Can you blame me?’ grumbled Camelin. ‘At least I’m not scared of heights.’

  ‘Who on earth’s scared of heights?’ asked Elan.

  Jack frowned at Camelin who shuffled from foot to foot and hunched his head into his neck as far as it would go.’

  ‘Sorry Jack,’ he whispered.

  ‘Well why didn’t you say?’ Nora said. ‘Fancy keeping that to yourself!’

  Jack didn’t say anything; he was too embarrassed. He’d thought his secret would have been safe with Camelin and he’d hoped he’d feel differently once he was a raven.

  ‘Straight down to the herborium with you. I’ve got just the thing. You’ll never have a problem with heights again.’

  Once they were in Nora’s room she rummaged around the shelves looking for the right bottle. Jack felt very grateful.

  ‘When you’ve drunk this you can transform in here. Save you going back upstairs. Camelin will have you flying in no time.’

  Jack drank the bitter-tasting liquid. It felt hot in his throat and made his mouth taste awful.

  ‘Sorry Jack,’ Camelin said again. ‘It sort of slipped out. I didn’t mean to tell.’

  ‘It’s not a problem and if this helps I could be flying soon.’

  Camelin shuffled around until Nora left them alone.

  ‘Did you bring me anything, you know, for the flying lesson?’

  ‘I did but I’m only giving you half. I need something to get rid of this awful taste.’

  Jack undid the small cake he’d brought from his room for Camelin. He broke it in two. In one gulp Camelin’s half was gone.

  ‘OK, let’s go.’ He croaked and touched Jack’s forehead. ‘We’ll start with a bit of gliding, only a bit higher this time.’

  They skipped over to the beech tree at the far end of the garden and hopped from branch to branch until Jack was higher than he’d been before. It would be a long glide to the grass but he felt confident.

  ‘Here goes!’ Jack croaked as he opened his wings and stepped off the branch.

  For the first time in his life he didn’t feel sick when he looked down. The ground wasn’t swirling below him. Instead of gliding as he’d agreed instinct took over. His wings seemed to know just what to do. He brought them down powerfully and then up again and again and again. Suddenly he was gaining height.

  ‘I’m flying!’ he croaked excitedly. ‘This time I’m really flying.’

  Jack saw Camelin’s beak open as he rose past him.

  ‘Close your beak,’ Jack croaked. ‘I thought you said it was rude to stare.’

  Jack gained more and more height. He felt no fear. flying was the best feeling in the whole world.

  ‘Look at me!’ he cried.

  ‘Come down now before you get me into trouble,’ Camelin called after him.

  ‘This is brilliant! Whatever Nora gave me, it’s working.’

  ‘Set down on the grass,’ shouted Camelin.

  It was too late. Jack had already started an approach towards the branch where Camelin sat. The touchdown didn’t quite go as planned. Jack overshot and went careering into the next tree.

  ‘We need to work on your landing skills!’ laughed Camelin.

  ‘Oh wow!’ exclaimed Jack. ‘I need to do that again.’

  For the rest of the morning Jack practiced his new skill. Camelin helped him to refine his technique and taught him how to estimate where his feet needed to go when he came in to land.

  ‘I think I need a rest,’ gasped Jack. ‘I didn’t realise how tiring flying would be.’

  ‘Let’s go and get some food,’ suggested Camelin. ‘Follow me!’

  Jack presumed they’d be making their way towards the house but instead he followed Camelin as the raven flew over the hedge, across the main road and around the back of the shops next to the Church. They landed on a flat roof behind a fish and chip shop.

  ‘Leave this to me,’ Camelin whispered.

  He swooped down, landed on the window ledge and tapped on the window. He puffed out his chest and walked proudly up and down once the two women in the back, who were preparing chips, noticed him.

  ‘Oh look!’ exclaimed the younger woman. ‘That crow’s back!’

  ‘Ah look, he’s brought his girlfriend too!’ replied the other woman pointing towards Jack.

  The two women put their head on one side and smiled at Jack. He wasn’t sure he liked being mistaken for a female crow.

  ‘Here he goes,’ the older woman said and nudged the younger one in the ribs.

  Camelin shuffled along the window ledge performing a kind of jerky dance. He nodded his head and hunched his wings up and down. After a bit of bobbing he lifted one leg then the other. Eventually he flew back and joined Jack on the roof.

  ‘Any minute now,’ he said excitedly. ‘But be careful, the chips are usually red hot!’

  They didn’t have to wait long before the back door opened. The younger women brought out a polystyrene tray piled high with chips and slid it onto the roof.

  ‘There you go,’ she
said kindly. ‘Brought your lady friend out for lunch have you?’

  Camelin strutted around and gave the woman a display of his gratitude by doing a few one legged twirls then promptly tucked in to his reward. Jack was ravenous. He managed to grab a few chips before Camelin could eat them all.

  ‘Do they always feed you?’ he asked when the tray was empty.

  ‘Oh yes, and they always call me a crow. Now you know the kind of indignities I have to put up with.’

  ‘Well at least they don’t think you’re a female!’ laughed Jack. ‘But it was worth it. Those chips were great.’

  ‘Not a word when we get back,’ warned Camelin. ‘If they think we’ve eaten we won’t be allowed any lunch and it’s a roast today with apple pie for afters.’

  ‘Not a word,’ Jack promised.

  ‘Come on, time to go. We’ve got someone to see.’

  Camelin took off and Jack followed. He circled around the top of the church tower before landing on a parapet which ran around the bottom of the belfry. Once he’d landed and looked around Jack gasped; the view was amazing. He could see the whole area. Glasruhen Hill loomed high above them. He could see the Forest where he’d met Arrana and Newton Gill further along. Below was Ewell House. It wasn’t hard for Jack to understand why Peabody had climbed the bell tower to spy on him.

  ‘Won’t they be worried about us. We’ve been gone a long time now?’

  ‘That’s why I’ve brought us up here, so we’ve got an excuse when we get back. We’re visiting!’

  Jack looked around but couldn’t see anyone.

  Camelin threw his head back. ‘Timmery,’ he shouted as loudly as he could.

  There was a movement from the ceiling of the belfry. A sleepy face peered down at them from the far corner. As soon as Timmery realised who’d called he got really excited and flittered down.

  ‘Hello, hello, this is an unexpected pleasure. So good of you to drop in.’

  ‘Just being sociable,’ Camelin said sarcastically. ‘And I’ve got a message for you from Nora.’