Azrael's Twins and the Circle of Stone: Book Two of the Nearworld Tales

by Vincent Mortimer

  ‘You are strong,’ said Modron calmly. ‘But he has the strength of earth in a way you do not possess … yet. There is something lurking behind your eyes which might allow you to have that power, but right now Grady is the one to hold this. Reach for the roots of the mountains when you hold this in your hands and I will hear your words.’

  Niamh marvelled at the troll princess. No one else knew, or at least was certain, about the secret of Persephone. No one other than Grady. Yet this creature, who was not even a year old, had managed to look into her in a way she had not thought possible and seen the spirit of the twin. It was scary.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Modron, taking Niamh’s hand in her crystal fingers. ‘We all need secrets. And my father will not know. At least not from me.’ Modron dropped Niamh’s hand and pushed open the stone slab. It swung backwards without any effort and glided to a silent stop.

  ‘There you are,’ said the king from the centre of the chamber. The vast chamber was empty except for Hewn and the king. ‘We have discussed the matter and are certain my daughter did not cast that light which caused you to miss your mark in your competition. Nor was it any of our kind. The flash of light you saw this morning could have been a reflection from one of our quartz veins. So, from our side we believe the matter is closed. However, I will raise it with your parents.’

  Grady groaned. He could see another session facing the wrath of his father for being where, once again, he should not have been.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Hewn, reading Grady’s mind. ‘We would have met soon and your visit has been … useful. I believe Modron has enjoyed your company?’ he said, inclining his head to their companion. Modron nodded and gave a small bow in return.

  ‘It’s been illuminating,’ said Niamh in her best princess tone. ‘Modron has taught us a great deal about trolls that we never knew.’

  ‘And I imagine we are not what you expected.’ The king smiled, his gold face reflecting light across the chamber. But Niamh fancied she could feel a little more menace in his voice than was heard in his words. ‘You had better go now,’ said the king dismissively. ‘Hewn, return their broomsticks to them and escort them to the ledge. Goodbye, for now, young royals. Good luck with your parents. You may need it …’

  Grady started at the final under-the-breath comment. He returned Modron’s smile but dreaded his return to the castle even more now than he had before.

  Hewn handed their broomsticks back gently. ‘Fitzhollow and Hooligan, I see,’ he said as he fingered the makers’ mark on the shaft of the beautiful creations. ‘Your parents must have done the clurichaun a favour to get two brooms as beautiful as these. Treat them well. There is only one other person I know who has one of these. And she is the best I have ever seen on a broomstick.’

  ‘Who is that?’ said Grady curiously.

  ‘I am sure you will meet her soon enough,’ said Hewn enigmatically as they walked down the tunnel through which they had entered, troll guards falling in behind them as they did.

  Hewn did not talk again until they reached the ledge on which they had landed. ‘Safe travels,’ he said quietly. ‘Until we meet again.’ He bowed more gracefully than they imagined any troll could possibly bow.

  ‘Thank you,’ chorused the children as they waved and flew over the edge of the cliff towards home.

  ‘Well that was weird,’ said Grady, feeling relieved at their escape.

  ‘Weird?’ said Niamh. ‘You meet a king made of gold and a princess made of crystal and all you can say is “weird”? I think you could …’

  ‘Shhhh,’ said Grady, turning his head this way and that. ‘Can you hear that?’

  ‘Hear what?’ said Niamh. ‘I can’t hear anyth…’

  A furious storm of dragon wings encased the children in a maelstrom of wind and noise. A glory of dragons swooped around them, wings beating and nostrils flaming. Niamh screamed as the storm of angry beasts surrounded them.

  The noise and wall of scales opened as a blast of flame scoured the nearest dragons. A black shape carved a pathway through the middle of the glory. Grady saw their chance and grabbed Niamh’s hand as she spun close by him. ‘Take the gap,’ he shouted in his head. Niamh nodded and the two children pointed their broomsticks towards the rapidly closing space. As they sailed out into clear air the glory turned as if a single living creature and headed back at the children. Niamh and Grady froze as the dragons closed on them, but were blown backwards by a blast of air from the wings of a dragon that speared between them and the glory.

  ‘Iris!’ said Grady. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Next stupid question?’ came the reply. ‘Saving your necks by the look of it!’

  Niamh and Grady recovered their balance as Iris flamed at the approaching glory. The lead dragon – a square-headed brute of a beast with hideous fins sticking out at crazy angles from its neck – responded with a roar and a stream of flame. But the blast from Iris was not to be denied. It cut through the flames of the glory’s leader, hitting the beast between the eyes. The dragon howled and wheeled away, the glory moving like a school of fish with it, heading towards a gap between two mountain peaks.

  Iris glided around to where Niamh and Grady drifted slowly across the skies.

  ‘I really didn’t enjoy that,’ said Grady out loud. He urged his broomstick forward and headed back towards home.

  ‘I’m not surprised,’ said Iris. ‘Mountain dragons like those don’t normally chase humans if they can avoid it. Someone has upset them. Humans are not popular round here at the moment. Someone, or something, has been killing dragons. Not many. But they have been killed for sport and the bodies left on the mountain sides.’

  ‘So that’s why they are so angry,’ said Grady.

  ‘You would be too, if someone was killing your relations,’ said Iris testily.

  Grady cocked his head with surprise. ‘Your relations? What do you mean?’

  ‘I was born on these slopes. The tall peak in the distance is where Roland found me. The dragons in these parts are the closest thing I can have to family.’

  ‘You make it sound like you have no more family,’ said Grady.

  ‘I don’t,’ said Iris. ‘Whatever has been killing the dragons here killed my parents. That’s why Roland took me in. My parents were found dead on the slope beside me. Did Roland not tell you that?’

  ‘He must have forgotten to mention it,’ said Grady, making a mental note to have a discussion with Roland when he returned.

  ‘What are you two talking about?’ said Niamh. She had been looking from Iris to Grady and back again but the two were oblivious to the exclusive discussion taking place.

  ‘I’ll tell you about it when we get back,’ said Grady.

  Niamh growled her displeasure. ‘Well please tell Iris not to be so rude. I’m not invisible, you know.’

  Iris made an unusual chortling sound at Niamh’s petulance.

  ‘Was that a laugh?’ she said. Iris said nothing but Niamh was sure the creature winked back at her.

  ‘You should get back as quickly as possible,’ said Iris, turning to Grady. ‘There are people looking for you.’

  Grady glanced ahead and could see, in the far distance, specks which could easily be broomsticks rising higher in the sky. ‘Why didn’t they call us on our iWands?’ he said.

  ‘The trolls have their own unique magic surrounding their home. If they did not want someone to contact you then you can be sure it would stay that way. I think you should use your new … skill to get home as fast as you can.’

  ‘You know about that? How?’ said Grady. ‘We only learned to time-fold this morning!’

  ‘Creatures like us can feel disturbances like that. We can feel the ripples you cause.’

  ‘And here was me thinking it was going to be a surprise,’ Grady said aloud.

  ‘Thought what was going to be a surprise?’ said Niamh.

  ‘Nothing,’ said Grady. ‘Think you can time-fold again? Iris says we had better get home. Looks
like Mum and Dad might have sent out the troops to find us,’ he said, gesturing ahead.

  Niamh lifted her head and groaned. ‘Yes,’ she said, with resignation in her voice. She knew an audience with her parents was the inevitable outcome of their morning’s work. ‘Ready?’

  Grady nodded. The two children reached out, and twisted at the invisible fabric of the air. It was considerably easier this time than the last. The world blurred again and, together, they shot forward. Grady glanced at his sister close alongside him and smiled at the feeling of extraordinary speed. A manic laugh echoed at the back of his mind. Hep was obviously enjoying the experience too.

  Niamh looked ahead and pointed to the rapidly approaching castle. Grady nodded and together they slowed to a pace that would allow them to land in the castle rather than plaster themselves on its walls.

  A swarm of guards converged around them as they headed for the castle courtyard. The children recognised Garrett as he pulled alongside them.

  ‘How … did you just … I mean …’ He seemed completely flustered by Niamh and Grady’s dramatic appearance. ‘Who taught you to do that?’ he eventually said.

  ‘You wouldn’t believe us even if we told you,’ said Niamh, smiling.

  ‘Well you might be more inclined to answer that question for your parents. They are livid! Did you not think it might be a good idea to tell them where you went?’ Garrett pointed to the courtyard, towards which they were slowly descending. Niamh groaned again as she saw her mother standing with her arms folded in her “you better have a really good reason for this” stance. Niamh hated that stance. It wasn’t a stance that brooked discussion. She had long ago worked out that even if it was an excellent reason it really did not matter. This was going to be ugly.

  Niamh stormed back to her bedroom as Grady tried to keep up.

  ‘Evil little troll!’ fumed Niamh as she stomped along the paved corridor as if the stones themselves were the subject of her anger.

  ‘To be fair Niamh, she did have a point,’ said Grady. ‘And I’m not sure you can use the “evil little troll” description today after the morning we’ve had. I mean, it’s not a description you could use when you’re thinking about a troll like Modron, is it?’

  Niamh wheeled around and unleashed a stare on Grady designed to melt flesh from bone. ‘Grounded! For the next three days! What does Mum expect us to do? Sit around twiddling our wands in the castle? And besides, we’re meant to be meeting Modron tomorrow. How do you think we’re going to get around that?’

  Grady frowned. ‘Look, I know this might sound a little weird coming from me, but maybe we should take the punishment this time. Dad has a point. We had no idea what we were getting into and they had told us the troll king lived in that mountain and to stay away.’

  ‘Yes, but they also told us a million other things when they told us about the trolls back at the Dragon’s Lair. I didn’t know we’d be flying into a diplomatic incident. I didn’t even know we were diplomats that could create an incident!’ Niamh spun on her heels. Her bedroom door flew open as she swatted the air with her wand.

  Grady hung back as his sister marched into her room. ‘I’ll see you later then?’ he said with the merest smile on his face. He was, despite the grounding, enjoying the sight of his sister displaying the uncontrolled rage that was normally his domain.

  Niamh did not respond but the door to her room swung violently closed, the iron handle on the outside clanging like a hammer blow in the quiet of the corridor. Grady smiled to himself again and calmly headed to his own bedroom, secure in the knowledge he wasn’t the one on whose head the blame had been laid.

  Niamh threw herself onto her bed in a rage. Anger at her mother seemed to flow unchecked. It seemed to her that Grady was as much to blame but her mother and father seemed to completely ignore his part in the day. How was she going to meet Modron now? She had promised, and not turning up would probably cause ANOTHER incident.

  ‘I can help you there,’ came a voice unbidden from the back of Niamh’s mind.

  ‘Can you hear every one of my thoughts?’ said Niamh, rolling her eyes. She was getting used to the idea of the unsettling voice being in her head, but not to its unexpected appearances from the void.

  ‘If I want to I may,’ said Persephone. ‘Though it is rude to listen when I shouldn’t. But I can help you, though I think it might get you into trouble.’

  ‘Great. More trouble,’ said Niamh, sarcasm dripping off her tongue. ‘So what can you do to help? Can you make me invisible to get out of the castle without being seen?’

  ‘Well, it’s funny you should say that.’

  ‘Seriously? You can? But how? I thought I needed all the elements for that. I’m not really strong in Earth and Fire. I need Grady to make that spell happen.’

  ‘You underestimate yourself. Your powers are growing stronger every day. But until you feel you have the strength, my brother and I can help. Our bond allows us to draw on the powers we need when we need them. I’m like you. My strongest powers are Air and Water, and Hep’s are Earth and Fire. I can teach you how to use the bond.’

  The thought was appealing. Not having to rely on anyone else to weave the invisibility charm would be huge! But a frown creased Niamh’s brow as she considered the possibility.

  ‘How would you do it? You can’t use my magic. Can you?’

  ‘You would have to give me control, only for a short while, to start the spell. Then you can take control of it. Keeping a spell in place is much easier than starting it off. It’s like pushing a rock down a hill. It takes a big strong push to start it off but hardly anything to keep it moving. Give me the chance to show you …’

  Niamh hesitated. Persephone sounded … eager … in a way that made Niamh nervous. But she was fed up with being treated like a child. Well, being treated without respect was more like it. To be fair to her mum she was only twelve, so the child thing was probably reasonable. But the respect … hurt. ‘What do I do?’ she said calmly.

  ‘Close your eyes and look inside yourself,’ said Persephone. ‘Imagine a river with a breeze blowing over its surface. Then see my face in the river and I will come to you.’

  Niamh closed her eyes and brought an image of the river at Avalon’s End to mind. There was a stretch where it ran smooth over a hole in the riverbed. Rapids ran either side of the hole but this patch was always calm. Niamh could still see the zephyrs of breeze crossing its surface the day before they left their old home. It was easy to peer into the river and see Persephone’s face looking back at her.

  ‘Now,’ said Persephone. ‘Relax …’

  Niamh took a deep breath and felt herself being pulled into the waters of the river. She struggled as the waters closed over her head and filled her nostrils. Arms flailed and feet kicked but she could do nothing as she felt herself sink deeper into the clear waters. She struggled for breath but just when she felt she could not last a moment longer she saw Persephone above the waters reaching for her. A hand grasped Niamh’s wrist and she felt herself rising to the surface of the river. She floated inches above the top of the water to stand beside the young girl she had glimpsed while skimming across the waters of the lake. Flawless skin and crystal-clear eyes were framed by hair that fell from her face in dancing waves. Niamh reached out, but before she could touch her the vision dissolved. Niamh found herself back in her room and seemingly unchanged.

  ‘Look in the mirror,’ said Persephone.

  Niamh turned and smiled. She was completely invisible. There was not the faintest shimmer in the air or anything to give away a hint of the spell being cast. Niamh held her hand up. It was solid and whole to her but there was nothing reflected back. As she flexed her hand she could feel the spell coursing through her but this time there was something different, something running alongside her own powers which she had never felt before.

  ‘It’s wonderful, isn’t it?’ said Persephone.

  ‘Magical,’ said Niamh, nodding. ‘What is this?’ she said, staring at h
er hands as if seeing them for the first time.

  ‘It’s the four elements,’ said Persephone breathlessly.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me it would feel like this. Why haven’t I felt this with Grady?’

  ‘Hephaestus and I are different to you and your brother. We are not separate. We are one. My thoughts are his and his actions are mine. We are not separate beings. Together we are powerful.’

  ‘And Grady and me? What about us? Are we as powerful as you?’

  Niamh heard Persephone’s laugh echo as if coming from a long way away. ‘As I said, you have no idea yet of how strong you can be. But you can never be as strong as Hephaestus and me. Not while you still live alone inside your own heads. And I doubt you, nor your brother, could take the step you need to be as strong as us, not yet.’

  Niamh had an inkling of what Persephone might mean. She looked in the mirror and, as she let the power fall away, the air shimmered, and she was revealed again. The loss of the four elements left her feeling washed out and sad, though she couldn’t say exactly why.

  ‘It’s awful having to let it go, isn’t it,’ said Persephone. ‘But don’t worry, it will be easier to get it back next time you need it. You’ve seen the river and I can join you faster and easier next time. Would you like me, Hep, to show Grady how to do this? It might be useful.’

  Niamh considered the offer. But an uneasiness came over her at Persephone’s tone. ‘No. Not tonight. I can’t trust Grady to leave the last pancake when he’s told to, so I’m not going to tell him until necessary.’

  Persephone laughed again. Niamh wondered why she did this so much. Perhaps she was just a naturally happy creature, or maybe it was the insanity of always being in two minds …

  ‘Now that Hep knows you have seen the flows of the river I doubt he will want to keep it from your brother.’

  ‘I thought you said you two were the same person, being, thing. Can’t you say no?’

  ‘It’s complicated,’ said Persephone, sighing. ‘We are one mind with two voices. I didn’t say it was an easy existence but there are compensations.’