Wychetts and the Thunderstone

by William Holley

  “There she is.” Edwin pointed. “Fly the car to her, Inglenook.”

  “I cannot,” said the Keeper of the Ancient Wisdom. “Control of the vehicle is beyond my means at this distance. You are the only one who can save her, Young Master.”

  Edwin shook his head. “But I don’t know how to drive a car, let alone fly one. What can I do to save Bryony?”

  “What you did in the Cavern of Death,” said Inglenook. “What you did when the Storm Hags attacked you on the church tower. What you have always done, from the very first day you heard my voice.”

  Edwin nodded slowly. He knew what Inglenook meant, and he now knew how he had been transported to Val’s cottage. It hadn’t been down to wind direction, or mere chance. It had been Inglenook guiding him all along by the psychic link.

  Just as he was now.

  “So I guess it’s up to me.” Edwin hauled himself into a crouching position, then climbed carefully onto the car roof.

  “What madness is this?” The Weather Vane cried out as Edwin took hold of his spindle. “Have you taken leave of your senses?”

  “The senses walked out on the boy a long time ago,” said Stubby. “He still gets a card at Christmas, but they don’t have much contact for the rest of the year.”

  “I’m going to have to ask for your help,” Edwin told the Weather Vane. “I need you to spin for me, like you did when we flew to Val’s cottage.”

  “I am a regal bird,” huffed the Weather Vane. “Not a propeller.”

  “Then you won’t help me?” Edwin gazed pleadingly at the metal cockerel. “After all we’ve been through?”

  “Well...” The Weather Vane’s voice lost some of its pomposity. “I must admit it has made a nice change to see the world, instead of just hearing about it from the Four Winds.”

  “Then you’ll help me?” Edwin smiled expectantly.

  “Oh very well,” said the Weather Vane. “Just this final time. But when this is over I want a good rub down and a new coat of paint. This adventuring has played havoc with my plumage.”

  “I’ll make sure of it.” Edwin grinned at the Weather Vane, but his expression changed when he heard Inglenook’s voice echoing in his mind.

  “It is time, Young Master. You must act now.”

  Air blasted Edwin’s face as the car tilted forwards, and he suddenly realised how fast they were falling. The car’s wings had disappeared, and he knew he was sitting on nothing except a hurtling lump of metal.

  The car was now almost level with the cage. It was hard to gauge the distance, but Edwin reckoned it was at least one hundred metres between Bryony and him.

  One hundred metres to fly, with nothing but a Weather Vane to keep him aloft.

  And Wychetts’ magic, of course.

  “Here goes.” Edwin took a deep breath, and lifted the Weather Vane above his head.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” said Stubby, “I’m quite curious to know what hare brained plan you have to save the girl. What exactly are you intending to do?”

  “Believe,” said Edwin.

  Then jumped from the car.

  Chapter 27- Gotcha!

  It took all Bryony’s strength to lift her head. It felt like a fire raged inside her, every muscle of her body aflame. She could see nothing except swirls of brilliant colour, but she could hear a voice, faint but growing louder, calling her name.

  “Bryony… Hold on!”

  But Bryony couldn’t hold on. All she wanted was for the fire to stop, the whirling colours to fade. She couldn’t feel her arms, she could feel nothing but the searing heat inside her.

  Her grip weakened, her hands sliding down the bars of the cage…

  “Gotcha!”

  There was a jolt as a skinny arm wrapped around her waist.

  “Hold on to me,” said the voice. “I can’t lift your weight by myself.”

  Are you saying I’m fat?

  Bryony thought the words, but couldn’t say them. It was all she could do to raise her left arm and hook it around the neck of her rescuer.

  “Look at me,” said the voice. “Bryony, look at me.”

  Bryony saw a face through a veil of swirling colour. A freckled face with pale blue eyes…

  “Look at me, Bryony.”

  Bryony focused on those pale blue eyes. She felt the heat subside, as though the raging fire within her had been doused. The swirls of colour faded, and as her vision cleared Bryony saw who had saved her.

  “Mum?” Bryony glared at Edwin. “Where’s my mum?”

  “Typical.” Stubby’s head poked out of Edwin’s top pocket. “I knew a simple ‘thanks for saving my life’ would have been too much to ask.”

  “My mum was here.” Bryony looked around, but saw nothing except sky. “Where is she?”

  “That wasn’t your mother,” said Stubby. “It was the Nyx traitor Grinny Greengums. She was trying to lure you into the cage.”

  Bryony found no reason to doubt the mouse. It made sense, and she chided herself for being so easily duped.

  “You’ll have to hold on tighter,” warned Edwin. “This thing doesn’t come with a safety harness.”

  Bryony looked up and saw that Edwin was holding something that looked like a whirling propeller. Then she looked down, and gasped when she saw the flooded landscape far below her dangling feet. It was only then that she noticed they were flying.

  “Nice try.” She looked up at Edwin again. “But if I had the Key I’d have magicked something with more comfortable passenger seating.”

  “I don’t have the Key,” confessed Edwin. “I dropped it.”

  Bryony frowned. “Then how…”

  “Psychic link.” Edwin smiled. “I can connect to Inglenook without the Key.”

  Bryony didn’t believe Edwin at first, but after another glance at the distant ground below she came to realise there could be no other explanation.

  “But…” One thing bothered Bryony. “I’m better with magic than you. So how come I can’t do that?”

  “It’s simple. All you need to do is… ow!” Edwin winced as though in pain. His cheeks flushed bright red, and beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. “It’s OK,” he grimaced in response to a concerned look from Bryony. “It’s just the Rainbow Magic.”

  “How did you get Rainbow Magic?” Bryony stared demandingly at her stepbrother.

  “I drew it out of you.” Edwin’s voice became slurred. “Only way… to save you.”

  Bryony gasped. “But it nearly killed me. And I’m much stronger than you with magic.”

  “I did warn him about the dangers,” said Stubby. “But the boy’s as stubborn as a mule. If only he possessed the same level of table manners…”

  “Inglenook… will help.” Edwin closed his eyes, and his arm slackened from around Bryony’s waist. The propeller’s spinning slowed, and Bryony saw it was really just a rusty old weather vane in the shape of a cockerel.

  “Edwin, are you OK?” Bryony’s concern deepened when Edwin’s ginger head slumped onto her shoulder.

  “I’ll be fine,” slurred Edwin. “Inglenook… will look after us. Must… believe.”

  “Believe in what?” wondered Bryony. “Edwin, what are you talking about?”

  Edwin’s reply was a soft murmur. Then a louder noise made Bryony look up.

  High above the Weather Vane, Darkwing was in flames. A flock of golden winged creatures circled the blazing airship, their melodic chorus heralding the demise of their enemy.

  A croaky voice crackled over the airship’s loud speaker. “Darkwing is doomed! Abandon ship! Every monster for himself!”

  “How can I abandon ship?” said a throaty voice. “I’m stuck in my pot. Hey… don’t leave me behind…”

  Transfixed, Bryony watched as the airship’s flaming fuselage peeled away to reveal a skeleton of metal struts beneath. The singing voices reached a triumphant crescendo, and the airship was consumed in a massive ball of fire.

  Even from a distance Bryony felt a wave of heat fro
m the explosion. Shredded remnants of fuselage fluttered down like flaming confetti, and she spied an ugly old tree falling among the debris.

  “Ruddy hooligans!” Twisted Bough yelled as he tumbled through the air. “There’s no respeeeeeeeeeeeee…”

  The tree came plummeting straight at Bryony and Edwin.

  “Look out!” warned Bryony. “Oncoming traffic! Edwin…”

  The hurtling trunk missed Bryony and Edwin by inches, but a flailing branch snagged on one of the Weather Vane’s spokes, wrenching the spindle from Edwin’s grasp.

  Bryony clung to her stepbrother, watching helplessly as the falling tree dragged the Weather Vane down with it.

  And then they were falling too.

  “Tell Inglenook to help us!” Bryony yelled in Edwin’s ear. “Use your psychic link.”

  Edwin didn’t respond, and Bryony felt his body go limp in her arms. Then he was gone, torn from her clutches by the whooshing air.

  Bryony looked round frantically to see what had become of her stepbrother, but all she saw was a flooded landscape speeding towards her...

  Chapter 28- About the Boy

  In a heartbeat she was under. There hadn’t been time to take a deep breath, to close her mouth and prepare for the chilling shock of the waters that engulfed her.

  Bryony dropped like a stone, as though an immense force was dragging her down into the darkening abyss.

  And then suddenly she was rising, reaching out her arms towards the light that filtered through the murk above. There was a splash as she broke the surface, and her flapping hands found something to grasp on to. Then she heaved herself from the water, coughing and spluttering as she clambered onto the gnarled trunk of a floating tree.

  “Do you mind?” An ugly old man’s face in the tree trunk glared at Bryony. “I am not a dingy.”

  “That’s not so bad,” said the cockerel shaped Weather Vane wedged in the tree’s bare branches. “They put me in an umbrella stand.”

  “It’s the youth of today,” groaned Twisted Bough. “No respect for their elders and betters.”

  Bryony ignored the moaning tree. The fate of Edwin was of much greater concern to her.

  “I didn’t see him fall.” She shook her sopping head as she surveyed the flooded landscape. “What happened to him?”

  “I believe you dropped something?”

  The voice made Bryony look up to see a beautiful winged figure hovering above the tree. It was a woman clad in shining armour, carrying a ginger haired boy in her arms.

  The woman smiled at Bryony as she lowered Edwin onto the floating tree trunk.

  Bryony stared open mouthed at the angel-like figure. “Who are you?”

  “I am Valarie, last of the Shield Maidens and Keeper of the Thunderstone.” The woman showed Bryony her staff with a wedge shaped stone at the tip. “Your brave stepbrother helped me regain it.”

  Bryony had lots of questions, not least about the Shield Maiden’s fluffy pink slippers, but Edwin was her immediate worry. He lay still, eyes closed, his reddened face slick with sweat.

  “Are you all right?” Bryony leaned over Edwin, her heart thumping as she checked for signs of life. “Can you hear me? Please let me know you’re alright.”

  “I’m quite well, thank you.” Stubby emerged from Edwin’s top pocket. “Although I didn’t know you cared.”

  “I wasn’t talking to you.” Bryony shot the mouse a glare before returning her attention to her stepbrother. “Edwin, can you hear me?”

  Edwin’s head moved from side to side, a soft murmur escaping his quivering lips.

  “Bryony…”

  “Edwin!” Bryony stifled a relieved sob. “I’m here. And you’re going to be all right.”

  “I wouldn’t bet on it.” Stubby sighed and shook his little head. “The boy’s absorbed a vast amount of Rainbow Magic.”

  “Such raw power can be very harmful,” said the Shield Maiden. “Even to a Guardian.”

  “That was always the risk,” purred a voice. “But it was a risk worth taking.”

  Bryony’s dark eyebrows knotted when she noticed the cream coloured cat mincing down the tree trunk towards her.

  “The risk wasn’t yours to take.” Bryony snarled at Katya Pauncefoot. “You’ve put his life in danger.”

  “The boy made his own choice.” Katya’s emerald eyes flashed defiantly. “Just as you did.”

  “You blackmailed me,” countered Bryony. “I wouldn’t have helped if I’d had a choice.”

  “I believe you might have,” said Katya. “After all, you know that Wychetts’ magic is fallible. Inglenook failed you, as he fails the boy now.”

  “Bryony?” Edwin’s eyelids flickered open, revealing orbs of swirling colours where his eyes should have been. “I can’t see anything. What’s happening to me?”

  “You’re probably going to die,” said the Weather Vane. “Most painfully, I would imagine.”

  Stubby tutted. “Thanks for the tactfully delivered diagnosis, Doctor Beside-Manners.”

  “I was only explaining the situation as requested,” said the Weather Vane. “I take no delight in the boy’s demise. Despite my earlier complaints, I have found our time together most… educational.”

  “There must be something we can do.” Bryony looked pleadingly at the Shield Maiden. “Can’t you use the Thunderstone?”

  “I am sorry.” The Shield Maiden lowered her head. “The Thunderstone has no control over Rainbow Magic. There is only one who can save the boy. One whom he trusts more than any other.”

  Edwin murmured something, but Bryony couldn’t make out the words. His condition seemed to be worsening by the second. His eyes narrowed into slits of spiralling colours. Sweat poured from his forehead, matting his hair into shiny ginger lumps.

  There is only one who can save the boy.

  The words repeated in Bryony’s mind. She knew what the Shield Maiden meant, but the Wychetts Key was lost, and there was no way to ask Inglenook for help.

  Katya was right. Inglenook had failed them…

  “The boy established a psychic link with Wychetts,” said Stubby. “Perhaps you could do the same.”

  Bryony expressed her doubt with a shrug.

  “It is a matter of faith,” said the Shield Maiden. “Of belief and trust.”

  “I don’t trust anyone,” spat Bryony.

  “Not even your own mother.” Katya purred amusedly. “So much distrust, so much bitterness and anger. What a devastating weapon you would have made in our hands.”

  “You must try the psychic link.” The Shield Maiden urged Bryony. “It is your only hope of saving the boy.”

  “It won’t work.” Bryony felt swamped by a tide of helplessness. “Inglenook can’t help us.”

  “Then the boy is lost,” said Stubby. “Unless you trust in the power of Wychetts.”

  Bryony placed a hand on Edwin’s forehead. His skin burned against her palm, and she knew time was running out.

  She had to try the psychic link. It was their only hope.

  “Inglenook.” Bryony bowed her head and concentrated. “Where are you?”

  “It is futile,” hissed Katya. “Wychetts’ power is useless without the Key.”

  “Be silent.” The Shield Maiden levelled her spear at the cat. “Or I shall swap my pink slippers for a new pair made of cream coloured fur.”

  “Inglenook, where are you?” Bryony closed her eyes, trying to focus her mind on the missing Wychetts Key. “We need your help.”

  The only response was the sound of water lapping against the tree trunk.

  “Inglenook, please. Edwin needs you.” Bryony’s eyes began to moisten. “I need you.”

  There was a mighty splash. Bryony opened her eyes and saw a huge, barnacle encrusted hulk rising from the water. A giant tentacle reached up to the sky, its suckered tip coiled around something shiny and metal.

  “Spoooon!” a deep voice gurgled. “Special spooooooon!”

  “It’s the Knucker,” squealed
Stubby. “And it has the Wychetts Key!”

  “And tentacles!” cried the Weather Vane. “I was right all along.”