The Moon Stealers and the Quest for the Silver Bough (Book 1)

by Tim Flanagan

  The End

  If you are wondering what happens after Edgar and the children go through the portal, the first two chapters of the second book, The Moon Stealers and the Queen of the Underworld, are included next….

  About the Author

  During the day, Tim works as a Podiatrist in private practice in Kent, UK. He is the author of two books for Health Professionals, has lectured across England, Scotland and Ireland, and has treated national athletes for Sport England.

  By night, Tim lurks in his office, writing stories of fantasy and imagination. The Moon Stealers series tells the story of an alien bacteria that lands on the Earth inside a meteor. As it evolves and grows it becomes a serious threat to civilisation. At the same time, a group of children unknowingly hold the key to saving the planet, whilst attempting to rescue one of their friends from an ancient portal that leads to another world.

  He is also currently working on the third and fourth books in the Moon Stealer series, as well as a book about Dragons in London during the 1600's.

  Tim lives in Kent with his wife and three children.

  Follow Tim on his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/timflanaganbooks

  Preview of Book 2

  The Moon Stealers and the Queen of the Underworld.

  Book 2

  1. Into the Underworld

  Entering a new world is not something that most people get to experience in their lifetime, but Joe, Max and Scarlet, led by the magical Sir Edgar, were the first people to step into the Underworld since Medieval times after which the entrances were closed by King Arthur to protect England from the evil Faerie Queen.

  Joe gripped the Silver Bough, an ancient musical pipe, tightly in his hand, not completely understanding what had just happened. He remembered blowing gently into the mouthpiece but instead of a breathless note coming from the end he seemed to be playing a beautiful enchanting melody. It was like the angels in heaven were singing for him and all other sounds vanished from his ears. There was a strange feeling that came over him, like he was a visitor in his own body, with no control over his own mind. The pipe played itself and all he had to do was hold it and blow. Around him he recalled the panic of the Moon Stealers attacking them from the sky, but he didn’t seem to feel scared or worried; he just felt an overwhelming feeling of happiness, like he was floating weightlessly in the air. In front of him, the night sky seemed to twist and distort, swirling like a whirlpool made of white smoke. A brilliant white light flashed in the corner of Joe’s eye, then his arms were gripped and he was being pulled into the whirlpool of smoke. Sir Edgar and the children had taken a leap of faith into the unknown, they believed that they were going to go through into another world, but they could quite easily have just jumped into the air and landed exactly where they had left: in the centre of the Faerie Ring under attack from the Moon Stealers.

  As soon as they leapt forward, Joe noticed that they were all enclosed in a swirling mist of smoke, twisting and turning around them. There didn’t appear to be any more sound coming from the Silver Bough, but Joe could hear a distorted whooshing sound like they were speeding through the air but the more he listened the more he began to distinguish voices muttering all around him. Ghostly faces also began to form in the smoke but then disappear as a breeze dispersed it to be replaced by another. Joe felt an unnatural pull towards them, like he was sinking; they beckoned to him, tempting him to join them, but a strong pull from the Silver Bough in his hand took him away from them.

  He then felt something soft and spongy beneath his hands as he landed on the ground. He seemed to be looking down on himself from above before getting sucked back to join his body. He blinked hard and, remembering the scene they had just left only seconds ago, he looked desperately around him to see if the attack from the Moon Stealers was still continuing.

  Although there were no creatures diving down at them, the sky seemed to be filled with something equally terrifying.

  The dark sky seemed to be alive with static and electricity. Although it was night time, the sky was taking on different shades of red. A large plume of grey volcanic ash folded and turned upwards into the sky and electric lightening crackled as it met the sky illuminating the night in a dramatic display. The ash cloud seemed to be coming from a volcano some distance away, but he could still hear the gentle rumbling sound in the air.

  They seemed to have landed in the middle of a clearing beside a forest. From the bursts of electrical lightening that lit up the sky they appeared to be surrounded by the tallest trees Joe had ever seen. If it wasn’t for the clearing they were in, he wouldn’t be able to see the top of the trees. As he looked around him, he could see the thick red trunks of the trees, their bark splintered upwards making them appear like they had tiger stripes. Above them was a canopy of green which seemed to echo where they were sat; lush soft green ferns and mosses covered the entire surface of the forest clearing. From their high vantage point he could see that the forest quickly dropped down in the distance. The rough outline of the tree tops was silhouetted against the blood red sky as another crackle of lightening erupted from the plume of volcanic ash.

  ‘We did it,’ Joe said with some amazement.

  Sir Edgar was already on his feet, his white bladed sword, Ethera, still drawn and hanging down from his hand. He was looking around them cautiously, listening intently to the sounds of the forest, although all Joe could hear was the distant empty rumble of the volcano.

  ‘Where are we?’ asked Max with an element of fear in his voice.

  ‘The Underworld,’ said Edgar.

  ‘But where did the stone circle go and all those Moon Stealers?’

  ‘We left them behind. The Silver Bough opened the portal to allow us through into this world. This is where Peter came. We have come from our world, one inhabited by humans where nature is controlled by our own will, to this,’ Edgar held his hands open and gestured to all that was around him. ‘Here you will find that Faeries rule with magic. Here there are many different animals, even the trees around us are alive and will be listening to us right now. If you need proof, all you need to do is look at the Silver Bough, to see that the magic in this world is much stronger and is already working around us.’

  Max and Scarlet both turned towards Joe and they all looked down to the Silver Bough he held in his hand. Although it still appeared to be highly polished metal, there were now beautiful carvings along the shaft of the pipe that hadn’t been there when they left the human world. It shimmered more brightly like light reflecting off the surface of a running stream.

  ‘The magic in this world has brought the Silver Bough alive.’

  ‘I felt it as we came here. I had no control over the Silver Bough once I blew into it,’ said Joe almost regretfully.

  ‘There are things in our world, as well as in this one that have a will of their own. Sometimes we are simply their tool to take them to their path of greatness,’ Edgar began explaining. ‘This sword, for example, is not merely just a flat piece of metal. This is Ethera, one of the ancient twelve swords of power. It was constructed in the furnaces of Avalon by the most skilled and gifted Bladesmith, Nimue, the Priestess of Avalon, who cast many layers of magic upon them. But despite this, if the sword doesn’t suit the user then it is just a piece of metal after all. Ethera knows my style of fighting and can even predict what I will do before I know. Back there when we were in the Faerie Ring, it was Ethera that guided me to form the shield above us. So you see I need her as much as she needs me and together we are stronger than apart.’

  ‘So you mean the Silver Bough is using me for its own purpose?’

  ‘In a way, yes. But don’t fight against it. Let it lead you.’

  ‘It pulled me away from the white faces I saw on the way here,’ explained Joe.

  ‘I didn’t see any faces,’ said Max as another dance of electricity flickered from the deep red cloud above the column of ash from the volcano. Scarlet shook her head also agreeing with Max.

  ‘T
hey were like white ghosts staring at me, muttering in strange languages. It seemed like they were calling to me, tempting me towards them, but the Bough pulled me through the mist and we landed here.’

  ‘They were the ghosts of the dead, trapped between this world and ours, not completely dead but not alive either, just breaths of their former selves,’ Edgar explained. ‘Legend says that the ghosts in the mist where warriors who committed unforgivable crimes during their lives and cannot completely become dead until they obtain a soul that is untouched and cleaner than their own. In the past there used to be many more travellers between our worlds, many more souls to tempt and steal but not any more, not now the portals are not used.’

  Edgar paused as he looked around them once again. ‘We should find a place to shelter and rest for the night. The sky has eyes and the trees have ears. There will be many questions you have about this world and I will do my best to answer as we make our way on the long journey to the twisted tower of the Faerie Queen.’

  Edgar began walking towards the forest in front of them. As they approached, the trees were so high that it hurt their necks to look up. Very soon, the dense canopy of fern-like leaves high above covered them in darkness, but occasionally they would still see a fork of lightening illuminating the thick red trunks around them.

  They continued walking in silence for several minutes until Edgar stopped, satisfied that they were deep enough in the forest to be protected. Lightening continued to crackle in the distance, lighting up the forest. Around them they caught a glimpse of large green leaves shooting up from thick stalks on the ground. Edgar cut some stems away to create a small tunnel into which they all crawled. Once they were deeper amongst the plants, Edgar used the leaves he had cut to line the floor of a small chamber he had created. It was like they had gone into a small house, the roof made up of the biggest leaves they could imagine. The ground was mossy and spongy so was relatively comfortable to sit on. Edgar left the children to rest and went back out of their shelter and onto the path where he gently sliced layers of bark from some of the trees. After acquiring an armful of bark he crept back into the plant house and laid the bark on the ground.

  As soon as they sat down and huddled together, tiredness caught up with them and all of the children quietly nodded off to sleep. Edgar forced himself to stay awake keeping his sword constantly drawn in readiness for any approaching danger. He had not told the children the complete extent of the dangers that awaited them in the Underworld and since they had come this far, he knew he had to protect them at all times.

  2. The Golden Hall

  Scarlet was the first to wake in the morning. She could hear the repetitive beating of large rain drops as they fell onto the thick skinned leaves above them as they hid beneath the giant Gunnera plants. She could also see a small trickle of water as it ran down from the centre of one of the leaves and onto the ground forming its own small pool of crystal clear water. She leant forward and cupped her hands under the small trail of water, then poured it into her mouth. It felt cold on her tongue and, although it tasted good, there was a faint smoky flavour to it that she presumed was from the ash cloud in the distance. She drank some more of the refreshing water, then splashed some onto her face. In the daylight she could see how beautiful the small room was. Above her the sunlight shone through the lush green leaves, highlighting the veins in the leaves like a coarse lace veil. Shadows of other leaves shook as rain drops violently struck them, then bounced off and leapt onto another leaf. Beneath where the children sat was a soft red brown carpet of bark that had become flattened from the weight of the children. It also seemed to retain the heat beneath them just like the small climate underneath the leaf roof maintained their temperature.

  Max and Joe continued to sleep quietly. Joe held the Silver Bough in his hand against his chest; keeping it close to him like a baby would a favourite teddy bear. Scarlet felt a strange urge to touch the Silver Bough, but she remembered the awful sound it had made inside the railway station in Edinburgh when Max had touched it. Although she felt confident that she could resist the need to touch it, she couldn’t help but look at the surface, tracing the intricate shapes and carvings with her eyes. She wondered what it was that made Joe so special that he was the one the Silver Bough chose to reveal itself to. What would their journey actually hold for them and how much danger were they in? She was glad they had Sir Edgar guiding them.

  As she thought about Edgar, she suddenly became aware of the sound of heavy feet crushing the cut stems that lay on the floor coming along the short tunnel towards them and the inner room. At first she noticed the heavy sword hanging from its hilt around a belt, and then she recognised the gentle and wise face of Edgar as he ducked through the tunnel. In his hands he cradled a large leaf that was folded slightly to hold a collection of small fruits nestled in the centre. He placed the leaf on the ground then took a bundle of green stems from under his arm and placed them next to the selection of berries.

  ‘Good morning, Scarlet,’ he said gently. ‘We have a small selection of Blackberries, Salmonberries, Thimbleberries and one or two Strawberries.’

  ‘They look lovely,’ she replied amazed at the bright and inviting red, pink and black colours of the assorted fruits. ‘What about those?’ she pointed to the small bundle of green stems.

  ‘They’re the stalks of the plant we’re living underneath. Tastes a bit like rhubarb,’ he added unconvincingly. He had already tried one and could honestly say that he was not a big fan of the Gunnera stalks.

  Scarlet decided to politely wait for the other two to wake up before she tucked into the berries. Edgar reached over to the silvery trickle of water that fell from the leaves above, and took a drink.

  ‘What do you think has happened to our parents?’ she asked, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

  Edgar took a while before he decided to reply. He was unsure about what would be the best way to put it, but however he thought about how to make it sound positive, he simply could not escape the cold reality of the truth.

  He turned away from the line of water and looked Scarlet straight in the eye. As much as he didn’t want to see the pain and hurt his answer would cause, she deserved to not feel that she was abandoned. All of the children relied on him and needed him, not just to take them safely through the Faerie world, but to be their guardian and guide just like their own parents were in the human world.

  ‘I can’t be sure what happened to any of your parents, I’m afraid. Last night we left Parsley Bottom to the mercy of the Moon Stealers. From what I could see, it looked like they had already attacked the village and it’s possible that your parents as well as Max and Joe’s, could have escaped, but they may also have died. I’m sorry, Scarlet, I just don’t know. But one thing I promise you is this: once we are back in our own world and the Moon Stealers are washed away from our planet, I will help you all find your parents.’

  Scarlet turned away. She had known inside her what the possible fate of her parents, as well as the other people who lived in Parsley Bottom was but part of her had not wanted to admit it. She had needed to hear it from Edgar and she knew that he genuinely meant what he said and would not leave them alone. The silent trails of tears slowly fell down her cheeks like the water running off the broad green leaves in the canopy above their heads. Scarlet reached out and held Edgar’s rough leathery hand and took in deep lungs of fresh air restoring her strength. Edgar gently gave a reassuring squeeze of her hand; no other words of support or sympathy were needed. Scarlet looked up into Edgar’s blue eyes and gave a small nervous smile understanding that she needed to be strong.

  They sat in silence for a few minutes listening to the rhythmic drumming of the rain droplets as they struck the leaves above. Despite the rain, the sun still seemed to shine through the green skin of the leaves giving the chamber a calm glow. There was a distant call of birds in the sky outside which reminded Scarlet of Seagulls.

  ‘Are we close to water?’ she asked Edgar who nodded.<
br />
  ‘Pollwiddon Cove is beyond the edge of Firewood Forest, where we currently are. Today we need to reach the coastline and find a way to cross the water to the other side, then we are truly in Faerie territory. Many years ago there used to be a ferry crossing at the water’s edge, but we will have to see if it still remains. First we shall eat and make our way cautiously through the forest.’

  Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by Max:

  ‘Did someone say eat, I’m starving.’

  Edgar gently woke Joe and they began eating on the berries and sipping the cool fresh water. Although they all tried the Gunnera stalks, none of them enjoyed them or went back for more.

  They waited until the heaviest of the rain had past before leaving their shelter and heading deeper into the forest. They followed a slightly worn path between the giant tree trunks as it moved downhill further away from the portal back to their own world. They all felt small by comparison to the massive tree trunks that shot high up into the air. Occasionally the path would drop down steeply in places so that the roots of the trees became exposed, looping over the path like snakes trying to snare one of the children’s legs. Edgar kept his sword drawn as he led the way, keeping a reasonably fast pace throughout the morning. Although they couldn’t see the Volcano from inside the wood, they could still hear the deep rumbling sound echoing from within the clouds above them. Edgar shaped a thick wooden stick for each child from fallen branches that they came across, to help keep them stable and give them something to lean against as they walked.

  By lunchtime the children were beginning to feel weary and although their legs continued to move, their feet began to drag on the ground. Edgar had noticed a change in the landscape: the trees seemed to be thinning slightly and the ground was becoming stonier. He knew that the children would not be able to continue for much longer without having a rest so he chose an area below the edge of the path with a rocky overhang. Here they would be protected from all sides as well as hidden from the path. The children sat huddled together with their knees under their chins, grasping their walking sticks for protection, too exhausted to talk.

  Edgar left the children and continued on ahead looking for a more suitable resting place as well as plants to forage food from. Before long he returned with a look of excitement in his face.

  ‘Come quick,’ he said to the children beckoning them to follow him.

  Wearily they stood up and climbed back onto the path trying to keep up with Edgar’s retreating figure. The path continued as it had done before, but as they rounded a corner the trees thinned out even more and the sun shone directly into their eyes. Before them were the ruins of an old building which some trees and plants had begun to make their home.

  ‘This was once the Golden Hall of King Ulfric, one of the ancient kings of the Underworld and guardians of the Grey Wolf. The community he led were known as Caniards, or Wolf Herders, and they lived in the forest protecting the wolves and the magic they held,’ explained Edgar excitedly.

  ‘Looks like a pile of old stones to me,’ muttered Joe to Max.

  They all took cautious steps out of the forest canopy and into the opening amongst the half remaining walls and pillars. Edgar leapt up onto a wall like a young child in a playground. Looking beneath his feet he spotted something on the ground, jumped back down and picked it up. Examining it closely he showed the children what was left of some gold engraving on a broken tile.

  ‘I remember Hadwyn telling me about this place. It must have been an amazing sight to see with its golden roof shining amongst the green and red of the forest,’ Edgar continued.

  In front of them two tall columns of wood stuck up from below the ground with three steps leading beneath. At the top of each column a large carving of a wolf supported a wooden archway with its padded feet. Some of the carvings shaped into the arch were also coloured with various shades of red and green and nuggets of gold were studded into the eyes of beasts and creatures that wrapped their way through the complicated and detailed lettering. As they walked beneath the archway, they entered what would have been the entrance to the Golden Hall. At the other end of the hall they could see the remnants of a stone seat, elevated on steps higher than the floor. To their left a pedestal with a stone circular basin on top still remained. In the basin, crystal clear rainwater sparkled in the sunlight, the rays of light danced across its surface. All four of them eagerly walked up to the basin to drink and refresh their faces. Scarlet and Joe sat down with their backs against the remains of a stone wall out of the direct sunlight, whilst Max continued to look around. Edgar went off once more to forage for food.

  Max walked up to the stone seat and found a winding staircase behind the seat that went down into the rock. As he looked down, he could see that the steps didn’t continue for long before they reached a flat surface which went under the floor of the great hall. He ventured carefully down the steps. He could see where rainwater had collected and caused moss and ferns to grow. At the bottom was a wooden door which swung open easily. The room in front of him was big enough to store a wooden chest as well as a pile of grey fur animal skins. Max slid the fur that lay on top of the chest onto the floor and lifted the heavy lid. Inside the chest were thick bladed swords with golden handles carved with wolf faces, pale opal stones placed where the wolf’s eyes would be. Max lifted one out carefully. It was heavier than he had expected, but as he got used to it, he felt the weight disappear until it became a natural extension of his arm.

  ‘Joe! Scarlet!’ he shouted up to the other two so they could see the treasure he had found. He lifted some more swords out of the chest and gently placed them on top of the pile of skins near the door. The swords had been resting on more skins, but these were hairless and had been sewn together into hooded cloaks. The surface of them was intricately decorated with many different pictures burnt into the leather.

  ‘Max?’ Scarlet asked from above.

  ‘Down here.’

  The other two children went down the steps and stood next to Max. Joe excitedly picked up a sword but Scarlet was more interested in the cloaks. She lifted one up and threw it around her shoulder then with both hands she carefully brought the hood over her head.

  ‘Scarlet?’ Max asked, a note of weariness in his voice. He knew he was looking at where Scarlet had been just seconds before but as soon as she had put the hood over her head she had vanished, but not completely. If he hadn’t been looking Max wouldn’t have noticed anything, but Scarlet appeared to have taken on the same colour and pattern as the wall behind her, but if he looked carefully he could just about see the outline of her. It was like looking through a slightly distorted piece of glass.

  ‘Cool,’ said Joe as he picked one up and did the same. ‘Camouflage cloaks. This is amazing.’

  The children took the swords, cloaks and skins back up to the hall and waited for Edgar to return. They sat down on top of the wolf skins as they were more comfortable than the bare stone floor and continued to examine the swords and play with the cloaks.

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