Shadow

by David L Dawson

  Cressida Widdershins Volume 1

  The Book of Fire Trilogy

  Book 2 - Shadow

  Copyright 2012 David L Dawson

  Other works by this author

  The Fall

  The Sky Is Falling

  Snow White and Trip parts 1-6

  Chapter 1 – Intruder Alert

  Abe accepted a cup of tea from Grace and sipped it, lost in his own thoughts. Grace didn’t sit down with him or ask him in her usual quirky way how he was. To Grace it was obvious that this man was in turmoil. She just wished she could help him somehow. She just wished she knew his name, even.

  “I think he’s trouble,” said her mother, peering her head out from the kitchen. “You can tell by his eyes that he’s trouble.”

  “I want to help him,” said Grace.

  “I still think he’s trouble,” said Monika, adopted mother of the love of Abe’s life. “You listen to me.”

  “Perhaps,” Grace agreed, watching as Abe stared into his cup. “I only know that I’m somehow drawn to him.”

  Monika snorted. “You only met him for the first time the other day.”

  “Trust me on this,” said Grace. “You know I have good instincts.”

  “So do I, and my instincts tell me he’s trouble.”

  Grace smiled, eyes still on the man. Why is he so interesting? She thought. What’s so different about him? He looks like a normal man.

  Abe knew they were talking about him. His lack of self-esteem usually told him people were talking about him, but this time he knew it was true. He could tell by the way mother and daughter kept giving him side-glances.

  His task filled his mind again. He had to get the Book of Fire and Cressida Widdershins and deliver them to the Shadow Assemblage. It sounded like an easy task. For someone like him, a man who was part spider and could turn people to stone, capturing a book and a child should be easy. He knew he could do it.

  But if I give the book and Cressida to the Shadow Assemblage they will kill the girl, he thought. I don’t think I can live with myself if I do this.

  He drank more of his tea. There was no choice in the matter. It was either do as he was told or…well, the consequences didn’t bear thinking about.

  The cold shiver of the premonition eased. Cressida passed it off as a cold wind. She didn’t like the feeling that the premonition had brought out in her. It was best to just enjoy the ride. How can I enjoy the ride when we’re flying to the house of my mortal nemesis? She thought.

  Emily Swine was the school bully and school nerd all rolled into one vindictive package. Cressida and Emily had locked swords ever since they’d first set eyes on each other. Emily had made fun of Cressida’s white hair and silver eyes, and Cressida had cried and retaliated, and that had been it. From that moment on they were enemies. And now I have to go to her house because her Elvish teacher is the only one who can teach me ancient Elvish so I can read the Book of Fire, she thought. It might be worth it in the end. To get the Book of Fire un-bonded from me I have to learn ancient Elvish. When that wretched book is finally out of my hands I don’t have to worry about the Shadow Assemblage.

  The Shadow Assemblage are weakened gods from another universe. They only exist as shadows now, and the Book of Fire belongs to them. Neither Cressida nor Miss Weber knows what they want the book for. The book is full of powerful magic, so they can’t want it for anything good.

  The sky platform shuddered to a violent stop. They were thrown around, Miss Weber almost flying off her seat and crashing into the magic mirror. It cracked. The toilet bowl and its spinning vortex tumbled off the edge of the platform and dropped into the sky below, vanishing into the storm of snowflakes. Cressida tried to move, finding the wolf sat on her face. She pushed him off and managed to stand up.

  “What was that?” she cried.

  “The Shadow Assemblage,” said Joe grimly. “It has to be them!”

  “They’ve never attacked so openly before,” said Miss Weber.

  “Nobody had stolen the Book of Fire before,” Ginger added.

  Cressida made sure her backpack was still on tight. Phew, she thought. For a second there I had imagined it going flying off the edge.

  Seth peered over the edge of the platform. He could just about make out a beam of black light impaling the underside of the platform. It was so bright it seemed to melt the snow in a wide area around it so he was able to follow the beam all the way back down to earth. It was coming from a small tower that jutted out from the top of a large cottage that sat on the edge of a row of four story houses. The cottage itself seemed innocent enough.

  Ginger, Miss Weber and the triplets readied themselves with defensive spells. They would protest themselves with everything they had. Ginger was a little terrified. She’d never had to fight with magic before. Miss Weber, on the other hand, knew how to use magic to protect herself. Fighting with magic was second nature to her.

  “Seth?” Miss Weber queried. “Please tell you know what’s going on.”

  Seth grinned at her. She hated it when he was smug.

  “It’s some type of extreme intruder device. I’ve seen something like it before on government buildings,” said Seth. “It appears to be coming from Emily Swine’s house.”

  “We were about to think of making a landing,” said the Drake triplets.

  Miss Weber said gravely, “The spell thinks we mean the house harm. It’s probably detecting some sort of hostility towards one of its inhabitants.”

  They all turned to Cressida, including the wolf.

  “What?” she cried. “It’s not my fault I can’t stand her.”

  “I feel ashamed to say this as I’m her teacher but I don’t like her much either,” said Ginger, looking at her feet. “Sorry about that. The girl is just…well, awful.”

  “I don’t like her either,” said Joe.

  “Erm…” Miss Weber decided not to comment on her feelings for Emily, which bordered on faint loathing, and looked at Seth. He mouthed the words “I can’t stand her either but be quiet.”

  “This beam will hold us here indefinitely until the household informs the police,” said Seth, inspecting the beam, thinking up possible counter-spells. “We can all either try to think good thoughts about Emily or get arrested.”

  Cressida snorted with laughter. Yeah, right, she thought.

  “Fine,” said Seth. “I think I have this thing figured out anyway. It’s a simple enough intruder device but highly effective. I’m tampered with something like it before and managed all right.”

  “This is nothing like the case we had in Zealand,” said Miss Weber.

  “I was thinking about another case I went on,” said Seth. At Miss Weber’s curious look he added, “I don’t only go on missions with you.”

  Miss Weber sighed. “Tell me you can do this.”

  Seth gulped. “If I make one wrong move then we’ll probably all plummet to our deaths but I’m quietly confident that…”

  The beam vanished. Seth’s eyes widened in shock as the sky platform suddenly gave a lurch to the right. Now the magic mirror and the food cabinet, as well as the chairs, were flung off the side. Cressida and the others clung to the floor for their lives but there wasn’t anything to cling on to, so they all slid towards the edge. Joe gave a yell and was off with the furniture, falling.

  “Joe!” Cressida screamed.

  Chapter 2 – Platform Perils

  Cressida crawled to the edge as the platform righted itself. She peered over. Joe was falling fast. There wasn’t a moment to lose or Joe would be gone. She muttered the levitation spell and prayed for the best. Please work, she thought. I know I’m only just getting the hang of this, goddess, but he’s my best friend.

  Joe felt the air being ripped out of his lungs, the wind whip
ping his clothes around his body. He was beginning to wonder what the ever-after would be like. Would he see his parents again? Would he be able to perform magic properly? Would there be something decent to eat? He could hear Corona the irie, clinging to his hair, almost pulling it out. She was screaming and screaming but he couldn’t hear her. He was imagining meeting his parents in the ever-after, telling them about his life, when he suddenly stopped falling.

  Death was less painful than I imagined, Joe thought.

  “I’ve only got a small heart you know,” Corona shouted in his ear. “Right now it’s beating so fast I think I might die!”

  “Just shut up!” he told her.

  He started to float slowly upwards, back towards the safety of the sky platform. Several thoughts occurred to him then; if Ginger wasn’t siphoning off his power to give to Cressida then he would be dead now, a great big red mess on the roof of Emily Swine’s house. The irony of it made him crack a smile.

  “How did you do that?” Miss Weber was crying as he landed. Cressida hugged him and he felt relieved.

  “We’re not sure,” said Ginger. “Cressida can do magic now.”

  Miss Weber was slightly apprehensive. Maybe Ginger had done it but it just looked like Cressida had. Joe could have been caught on an updraft and had been lifted up on the wind. Or maybe she had just imagined it all.

  “How is that possible?” Miss Weber wondered. “She hasn’t got the magic gene. People with the magic gene cannot do magic.”

  “We think it’s got something to do with the book,” said Cressida. “We’re not entirely sure at this point.”

  Joe sat down on the platform, wanting to keep it under him at all times. He never wanted to experience such a fall ever again. He would keep his feet firmly on the ground once this was over. After I’ve stolen the book from Cressida and given it to the irie that is, he thought. What am I thinking? Even if Ginger is siphoning off my power, I can’t betray Cressida. She just saved my life! Joe vowed to expose Corona when they had the time. Why did he ever think he could turn traitor?

  “Can even a book as powerful as this surely is do that?” Miss Weber asked. “I’ve never heard of such a thing happening before.”

  “Is now really the time to be having this conversation?” said Cressida. “Put your priorities in order, woman!”

  Miss Weber glowered. “Need I remind you that I am your teacher?”

  “Need I remind you that you’re not my teacher?” Cressida pointed out.

  Ginger laughed. Miss Weber couldn’t help but smile.

  Seth turned to them, face going white. “Hang on!”

  “What now?” Miss Weber asked.

  The black beam came again. The sky platform rocked, landing everybody back on his or her knees once again. Martin gave a yelp as someone landed on his tail. Miss Weber looked to the right to see she had one leg dangling over the edge. She pulled it back. That was close, she thought.

  “I thought you got rid of it?” Miss Weber shouted.

  “So did I,” said Seth. “The spell is more powerful than I thought. We have to start thinking good thoughts about Emily!”

  The platform lurched again, swinging left and right, right and left. Cressida’s head started to feel like it was caught in a barrel tumbling down a waterfall. The latest bump threw her to the floor again, and she was almost positive she could hear a grinding noise coming from underneath her. It sounded like someone was drilling.

  “Something’s coming through the platform!” she yelled.

  She rolled out of the way just in time as the beam crashed through the platform, jetting up into the sky. Ginger didn’t move out of the way in time; the beam sizzled past her arm, blazing through her top and burning across her skin. At this new development the platform bucked like a temperamental horse, and Cressida was fearful the beam would slice them all up. This type of security spell is lethal, she thought. Surely something like this is illegal? Bloody Emily Swine!

  The sky platform began to turn on the axis of the black beam of light, almost like a spinning top. It was slow going at first but as the turning got faster, Cressida realized with horror that they would all soon be thrown off to their deaths. The Drake triplets were busy trying to keep all their spells going. She could tell by the strain on their faces, sat in a circle on the floor, that they were finding things difficult.

  “I don’t think I can hold on much longer!” Cressida shouted, reaching out for her mother’s hand. She found it and gave it a squeeze.

  Suddenly, the shaking stopped. The beam dulled to a miserable grey color and faded away into nothingness. Cressida hoped it was all over but wasn’t too confident. She looked to Seth, who shrugged to indicate it wasn’t him.

  “I’m glad some of us were clearheaded enough to do something,” said Ginger, wincing at the pain in her arm. “Otherwise we might all be dead.”

  “Good work,” said Miss Weber.

  Cressida peered into the small hole the beam had burrowed through the sky platform. She could see all the way down to Emily’s house. Quite why she needed this much security she didn’t know. It wasn’t as if she was related to the emperor or a celebrity or anything. Then she remembered it was Emily they were dealing with her. She was probably vain enough to think she deserved to have the best security available, just in case someone might want to knock on the door and turn her into an orange. It’s also stopped snowing, she realized. She looked up into the sky and didn’t see a single heavy cloud. Even the temperature was trickling back down to normal. She was starting to feel warm!

  She rummaged in her trouser pockets for something, and then pulled it out; it was a handkerchief with her initials on it. She gave it to her mother, who dabbed at the blood on her wound. Ginger winced.

  “Does it hurt?” Cressida asked.

  “I’ll live,” Ginger answered.

  “Tell me a simple healing spell and you’ll be perfectly fine in a moment,” said Cressida. “Go on.”

  “That can wait until later.”

  Cressida sulked as Miss Weber used a healing spell on her mother. It didn’t look complicated. She knew she could make it work. She’d saved Joe from falling to his death. Surely healing a little cut was as nothing compared to that? She memorized the spell anyway, making sure they didn’t notice she was watching them.

  “We are making a landing,” the Drake triplets announced.

  “Excellent,” said Miss Weber. “I have a few choice words to say to Emily and her parents about their choice of security devices.”

  So do I, Cressida thought.

  Miss Weber regarded Cressida as the sky platform began its descent. She’d never heard of this happening before. No magic spell had ever been known to create a magic-user when they didn’t have the magic gene. It was absolutely impossible. Enchanters had been trying for millennia to reignite dormant magic genes. Nevertheless, though, it had happened. Cressida Widdershins was a wonderful impossibility, an enigma.

  Emily Swine lived in a large cottage with a somewhat misplaced tower sticking out the top of it like an oversized chimney. The roof was thatch and the walls were made of red bricks. A tidy garden was covered in small oval patches of blue roses, and an obese ginger cat rolled about on the doorstep with a brown mouse snagged in one of its front paws. The cat was playing with it.

  Cressida was first off the platform as it landed just before Emily’s front gate. The ginger cat froze, craning its neck sideways to pierce her with a hateful stare. It hissed, dropped the mouse, and fled through the closed door, passing through it like a ghost. Most cat and dog owners had invisible door flaps that only their pets could pass through. There was one on Cressida’s back door, even though they’d never had a pet.

  They assembled by the gate, staring at the house, almost afraid to go any further. Cressida was sure Lichen would turn down their request to teach them ancient Elvish. He didn’t know them, didn’t know whether they were lying or not. She had the book in her backpack as proof but maybe that wouldn’t be enough.r />
  “Right,” said Cressida, remembering the way Miss Weber had called her brave. “Joe, follow me. The rest of you wait out here. I’ll handle this.”

  “I can’t let you go in there alone,” said her mother.

  Cressida said. “No disrespect but you’re a teacher, Mom, and you lot work for the government. You’ll intimidate them. It’s best if Joe and I handled this.”

  The adults reluctantly agreed. She also told Martin to stay behind too. Most people had an irrational fear of wolves, especially Elves. Nobody knew why but whenever wolves and Elves mixed trouble was never far behind.

  She knocked once on the door. The ginger cat could be heard yowling, thinking itself a vicious guard dog. Cressida half expected the feline to come flying out, claws attacking her face, trying to scratch her eyes out. Instead the door opened to reveal Emily Swine, in tears, snot running down her face and with eyes so red and miserable Cressida felt immediate empathy for her sworn enemy.

  “Emily?” she asked. “What’s the matter?”

  “It’s Lichen!” she cried, sniveling. “My teacher, Lichen, he’s gone missing!”

  Chapter 3 – The House of Emily

  It was as if everything in the world were against her reaching Lichen. First Seth had shown up on her doorstep to delay her and now the only person in existence who could teach her ancient Elvish was missing. Still, Emily could sometimes be a drama queen. Maybe he’d only gone to the bathroom or something.

  “What do you mean he’s missing?” Cressida asked.

  “Do you remember when you saw me at the hospital yesterday? Well, I was supposed to meet him so he could show me some pickled Elf organs but he never showed up,” Emily wailed. “He never came home last night and he’s not shown up today either. What if he’s been kidnapped? What if he’s dead?”

  “Maybe he just went to the bathroom?” she suggested. Almost immediately Cressida regretted her words. She could almost feel the contempt Emily had for her about to explode in her answer.