Golden Mane, Book One of The Adventures of Sarah Coppernick

by SJB Gilmour

  Sarah knew this would normally have made old Mr Dyson explode with fury. He was busy enough around exam time without having to trudge all the way into the city just to give one student, particularly a student he didn’t like, a test.

  Mr Dyson swallowed with a loud gulp. ‘C… C… C…’ was all he could say.

  ‘Come into my office?’ asked Benjamin calmly, with one raised eyebrow.

  Mr Dyson nodded again.

  Now Benjamin’s smile vanished and his jaw set. ‘Yes, Dyson. You. Come. Into. My. Office.’ Each word sounded like the snapping of steel-trap jaws and poor Mr Dyson flinched awfully with every one of them. ‘And,’ and Benjamin held up one finger, ‘if you do that, then of course we’ll have no reason to give the authorities any reason to question why you let a student be bullied for so long. You know how it is these days. Busy-body social welfare groups poking their noses into everything.’

  And that was that. Later, as they walked towards Robert’s Volkswagen Beetle, Sarah was so happy she skipped beside Benjamin. Sarah hadn’t skipped for years, being much too grown up for that childishness. What a fantastic couple of days had just passed! She’d been in trouble and forgiven, got a new bicycle, which she couldn’t wait to get home to ride, and she was going to be spending much more time with her favourite Uncle Benjamin at his work! Okay, so she’d be doing lessons, but she did that at school anyway. How much luckier could she get?

  As they drove away from the school, a thought occurred to Sarah. She looked over at her uncle Benjamin. He and Robert were talking but since Robert was driving and his attention was more on the road than the conversation, and Benjamin was staring out the window and was just as distracted, neither was making a lot of sense and neither seemed to notice.

  ‘Uncle Benjamin?’ Sarah asked politely, mindful of the enormous favour he had done for her and always careful not to interrupt any adult’s conversation no matter how unimportant it seemed.

  Benjamin tore his attention away from the traffic out the window. ‘Yes, cub?’

  Sarah smiled to herself. She loved that nickname that only Benjamin had for her.

  ‘How did you get my bicycle into my room without me seeing?’

  Benjamin shared a secretive glance with Roberta, and nodded to Robert, who was driving. He put a finger to his nose and leaned towards her conspiratorially.

  ‘Magic,’ he whispered.

  Sarah felt better and giggled. ‘C’mon, Uncle, there’s no such thing as magic!’

  ‘Not magic, there isn’t,’ Robert corrected, holding one finger up in the air as he drove, his eyes still fixed on the traffic. ‘Sorcery is a completely different matter. You see what really happens is …’ then he realised that Sarah and Roberta were staring at him. ‘Oh… Umm… never mind. Gee, this traffic!’ he said, flushing slightly.

  Sarah didn’t know what to say. Her uncle was obviously serious and had let something slip here, but it was impossible, wasn’t it? How could her uncle Benjamin, who was certainly wonderful but also very ordinary, be some sort of wizard?

  The following silence in the car was too much for Sarah. It had to be a joke, didn’t it? She started to laugh, hoping the others would laugh along with her at the great joke Robert had made, but nobody else laughed.

  ‘What?’ Sarah asked. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Robert,’ said Roberta abruptly.

  ‘Okay,’ he mumbled and pulled the car over to the side of the road, just near the park two blocks from their street. When the car was stopped, Robert and Roberta got out. Benjamin followed them. He gestured for Sarah to follow them to an empty wooden bench and table underneath a giant oak tree.

  ‘Looks like a nice spot,’ Robert said, looking up at the huge tree. ‘Always been fond of oaks.’ He patted the trunk fondly.

  Sarah looked around. The morning wind had died down completely and the sky was clear and bright. The park, which would normally be full of people enjoying the sunshine, was nearly empty save for a person in a long brown coat on the far side. She looked across the street. The footpath was deserted. The only other living thing she could see was a big grey cat asleep in the sun on top of a big red brick fence between two houses. That far away, she couldn’t tell if was the same grey cat that often yowled along with Mr Jamieson’s orange tom, but it didn’t matter. It was a cat and Sarah didn’t like cats.

  As if sensing it was being watched, the cat looked up and glared balefully at Sarah then put its head back down and closed its eyes.

  When they were settled down at the table in the shade, Robert turned from the tree and took Sarah’s hands in his own, looking very serious indeed.

  ‘Sarah, I want you to think very carefully now…’

  ‘Uh-huh?’ Sarah mumbled. She didn’t know exactly what was going on, but she was determined to find out, without being rude about it, of course.

  ‘We’ve been dropping hints lately, and we think you’ve cottoned on to the idea that you’re not exactly normal,’ Robert continued seriously. Sarah looked anxiously at Roberta and Benjamin for support. They smiled and nodded for her to listen to her uncle.

  ‘You’ve been having some rather strange dreams lately, haven’t you?’

  Sarah blushed. There was no way she was going to tell anyone about some of the dreams she’d been having lately.

  ‘Really strange dreams?’ Robert pressed. ‘Where you’re not human?’

  Sarah chewed her lip. One of the dreams she’d been having that didn’t involve some very embarrassing things, was of being in a cool, dark forest. She had actually dreamed of running on four legs through that forest, and having a tail, but she’d forgotten all about them until now. She gulped, getting very anxious indeed.

  ‘Not dreams, Uncle Robert,’ Sarah corrected a little nervously. ‘It’s always been the same dream.’

  ‘Dreaming of running through the bush?’ suggested Roberta.

  ‘Or of having a tail?’ added Benjamin.

  Numbly, Sarah nodded. How could they know, she wondered?

  ‘Not bush, really,’ she told them. ‘I keep having this dream where I’m running through a forest with great big trees so high I can’t see the tops of them. I’m not scared, though. The trees like me and tell me things.’

  Benjamin nodded at Roberta and Robert as if to say ‘I told you so!’ Then he turned to Sarah.

  ‘Now, Sarah, I’m going to do something here, and I don’t want you to freak out,’ he said.

  ‘Okay,’ she said, chewing on her lip.

  Robert and Roberta looked around to make sure there were no passers-by around. There was no one. Suddenly Sarah heard a roaring in her ears and her nose tingled and if she hadn’t been staring right at Benjamin, she wouldn’t have believed it was possible. For a moment, the air around him seemed to shudder just like it had around Mr Dyson in his office. Then within a few short moments, there sitting quite calmly at the wooden bench where Benjamin used to be, was a giant black-and-silver-haired dog!

  Chapter Two

  Sarah was too stunned to move. Her eyes opened wide and she seemed to have trouble breathing. He was beautiful! The dog looked at her and amazingly, she heard Benjamin’s voice come out of the huge beast’s mouth.

  ‘It’s okay, Sarah. It’s me, Benjamin,’ said the enormous dog.

  ‘You, you’re a dog?’ Sarah whispered in awe.

  The animal sniffed disdainfully. ‘Wolf. Werewolf, actually, cub.’ The air around him shuddered again. Then, as if nothing had happened, Uncle Benjamin was back again.

  Sarah was stunned. ‘Whoa,’ she breathed. ‘Cool!’ Then she looked at her Uncle Robert and Aunt Roberta, who didn’t appear to have been the remotest bit surprised about the whole thing.

  ‘Are you guys…?’ she began. ‘Am I a…?’

  ‘A werewolf?’ finished Roberta. She and Robert looked at each other then shrugged. The air around them shuddered, just like it had around Benjamin, and again Sarah heard that strange roaring sound in her ears and her nose tingled. Before her very eyes,
Sarah saw her beloved aunt and uncle turn into two enormous brown-haired wolves, with bright eyes and lolling tongues.

  ‘See, Sarah, it’s all in the family,’ said Robert reassuringly. Then in an instant, he and Roberta were back to normal again. ‘We can all change if and whenever we need to.’

  ‘And,’ added Roberta, ‘we werewolves are much larger and stronger than those poor ordinary wolves you see in the zoo.’ Her eyes were distant for a moment. ‘We’re related, but in much the same way as humans are to gorillas. Werewolves are far superior beings.’

  ‘Whoa,’ Sarah said again. ‘This is totally out there… Okay, so you guys are wolves or werewolves or whatever... I know I should be scared, but somehow, I’m not.’ She paused. After all, it did seem to make sense. If they were some sorts of monsters, wouldn’t they have eaten her by now?

  She looked around again, feeling very nervous that someone was watching the bizarre goings-on. The person in the coat at the far side of the park was facing them, but since Sarah couldn’t even tell if the person was a man or a woman because he or she was so far away, she assumed that there was no possible way the person could have seen what had just happened very clearly either. The big grey cat on the fence had seen them quite clearly however. It had fluffed its tail up like a bottlebrush and was staring at them. Its ears were flat down and though she couldn’t hear it, Sarah just knew it would be hissing horribly.

  ‘But?’ Benjamin asked.

  Sarah dragged her attention away from the angry cat. ‘But that still doesn’t explain how you got my bike into my room!’ she protested, not knowing what else to say, or even how to feel. She looked from Robert to Roberta and Benjamin in turn. Had she not been so focused on everything that had just happened, she might have noticed the person in the trench-coat running towards them. What she did notice for a very brief moment was a faint scent of something rotten. Then the wind started to blow, bringing with it the unmistakeable smell of rain.

  Sarah looked up to see enormous dark grey clouds in the once-clear sky. The wind blew harder and the rain began, gently at first, then pouring very heavily down upon them, accompanied with violent clashes of thunder. At first, Robert, Roberta and Benjamin looked at each other in alarm. As the rain pelted down, the cat across the road forgot all about the strange people in the park and bolted for the nearest open window. It leaped inside the house to the dry safety of its owner’s kitchen.

  Then, Benjamin laughed loudly and ran towards their car. They all followed him, laughing happily, as they splashed through puddles and clambered into the car.

  They drove home in silence. When they reached the house, the storm had very nearly blown over. Only a few short gusts of wind and a few sprinkles of rain were all that was left of the raging thunderstorm. Once inside, they filed into the living room and huddled near the fireplace. Soon they were comfortable and warm.

  Roberta went into the kitchen then re-emerged with a large mug of hot chocolate for Sarah and three glasses of red wine for the adults. While Sarah blew on her hot chocolate to cool it down, Benjamin began to talk.

  ‘I’m sorry this is all coming in a bit of rush, Sarah,’ he apologised. ‘You’re doing very well. A lot of other girls would have totally freaked out by now.’ He smiled at her and reached out and tousled her hair. ‘I know you’re curious, cub and it’s making me quite proud of you to see that you’re not only not freaking out about it, but being very polite too.’ He nodded at Roberta and Robert. ‘You’re a credit to your aunt and uncle here. Without manners, we’d all be in a right mess.’

  Sarah loved the way that her uncle talked to her sometimes as if she and he were exactly the same age. Other times, he was just like all the other grown-ups, but today it was like he and she were both just really good mates. It made her feel very secure and happy.

  Even so, it seemed like her head was stuffed with hundreds of questions, all jostling to come out at once. ‘What happened to your clothes?’ was the first question that came out.

  Roberta shrugged. ‘They’re part of us, so they change too.’

  Sarah thought this was a little odd. She looked at her aunt sceptically.

  ‘When you shut your eyes and imagine yourself, do you imagine yourself clothed or naked?’ Roberta continued.

  Sarah blushed. ‘Clothed!’

  ‘There you go,’ Robert told her. ‘The power to change comes from within. When you change back to human, your clothes come back because that’s the way you think of yourself. You could come back in a suit of armour or the latest fashion if that’s your mental image of yourself.

  ‘That’s why we don’t really worry about uncomfortable clothes,’ Roberta pressed, tugging at her sleeve. ‘These are comfy and they’re just how we like it.’

  ‘Some of us,’ Benjamin corrected. He looked down at his own clothes, which of course were much nicer than Robert’s.

  ‘Uncle Benji,’ Sarah began, half giggling.

  Benjamin groaned. ‘Look,’ he said, laughing and waving a finger at her. ‘You can call me a lot of things, but please, anything but Benji.’ He laughed. ‘Benji is an adequate name for a dog, but werewolves are much more dignified than ordinary dogs. The Sorcerers’ Guild would make a laughing stock of me if they thought they could get away with calling me that!’

  ‘Sorcerers’ Guild?’ asked Sarah, her previous questions forgotten for the moment.

  ‘Yes, cub. I’m also a sorcerer, just like your uncle Robert here mentioned.’

  Sarah tilted her head to one side briefly, a habit she’d had for years when she was confronted with something she didn’t understand. Then she realised just which other animal did exactly that when it was confused, and she straightened up right away.

  ‘So magic is real?’

  ‘Well, we don’t call it that. Magic is something performers do at the circus, but yes, sorcery is real.’

  ‘Can you do something for me?’ Sarah demanded excitedly, nearly spilling her hot chocolate. It was now cool enough for her to sip, which she did with relish.

  ‘Take another sip of your drink,’ Benjamin suggested.

  Sarah looked at her drink in alarm. There, in the warm mug from which she’d just taken a sip, was steaming potato soup! Nervously, she took a sip of the soup. Though it was delicious, it tasted quite strange indeed after having just had a mouthful of very sweet hot chocolate. Suddenly, it all came crashing in on Sarah and she started to tremble. Robert wisely rescued her mug, once again full of hot chocolate.

  ‘Am I a…’ She didn’t get the rest of the sentence out. The tears came and she started to cry in confusion. ‘Am I going to turn into a wolf too?’ she sobbed.

  Now Roberta hugged her and stroked her hair that, despite the rain, was still as shiny as it had been the night before. ‘Of course, darling. You have been doing it for months now anyway!’

  She was stunned. ‘What?’ she squeaked, her voice going up an octave.

  Robert smiled. ‘And all this time you’ve been blaming Mr Jamieson’s stupid cat for the hairs you’ve been finding in your bed, haven’t you?’

  Sarah nodded, not trusting herself to say another word.

  ‘Every now and then, one of us checks on you at night to make sure you’re okay,’ Robert started. ‘We’ve seen you in your werewolf cub form.’

  ‘And you’ve no idea how happy we were when we first saw that cute little wolf cub curled up in her bed!’ Roberta added proudly.

  Then Robert grinned maliciously. ‘And you don’t have to worry about that cat. I’ll skin it alive if it ever comes anywhere near your bedroom,’ he promised. His grin was positively wicked. ‘Lots of ways to skin a cat too,’ he added. By his look, Sarah actually believed he’d done so before and would do so again if given the chance.

  ‘Why don’t you like cats, Uncle Robert?’ Sarah asked.

  Her aunt and uncles shared the briefest of glances that Sarah immediately recognised as meaning this was another of those things they didn’t think she should know about just yet, which was
happening all too often these days, she was finding.

  Her uncle Robert shrugged. ‘I just don’t like the buggers. Never have. I don’t know any werewolves who do.’

  A horrible thought occurred to Sarah. ‘Did I really bite Mandy?’ she asked, feeling absolutely awful. ‘Will that make her a werewolf too?’

  Benjamin smiled in the way that told Sarah she was about to be told she wasn’t ready for that information just yet.

  ‘Please,’ Sarah asked him. ‘Just this once? Won’t you tell me all of it?’

  He sighed. ‘Alright, cub.’

  Sarah swallowed nervously.

  ‘There are a few ways one can become a werewolf. The most common is to be born as one, like you and your aunt and uncle here. Another is to have been bitten by another werewolf. When that happens, a tiny bit, just the teeniest bit of the werewolf’s essence or soul if you would, becomes infused with the victim. Most of the time, they remain a human, but in the light of a full moon, that essence comes to the surface. It transforms the infected person into something part human, part wolf.’

  Sarah was horrified.

  ‘Then,’ her uncle continued sadly, ‘the person becomes what most humans call a werewolf. Not a true-blood werewolf like us, but a monster. The essence of the werewolf rises every full moon after that, driving its host to find the one that infected it so that it might return to the source. Unfortunately, while it’s in that state, only the most primal of instincts come into play. It hunts. It will feed on any living thing to survive until it is either killed or returned to the one who bit it. If it bites another human and doesn’t kill it, that human becomes infected too.’

  ‘How do we save them?’ Sarah asked in a small voice.

  Benjamin shrugged. ‘There are ways,’ he told her. ‘The best way is for the original werewolf who inflicted the bite to best the monster in battle. When that happens, the essence is returned. The host is cured and everyone goes their separate ways.’