Golden Mane, Book One of The Adventures of Sarah Coppernick

by SJB Gilmour

  To head off the fight that was obviously about to erupt, Robert gave a short whine. ‘A bit early in the day for a sorcerers’ duel, wouldn’t you say?’ he suggested. He sat on his haunches and scratched at one ear. ‘Or would you like me to pass around the brandy before measuring out your paces?’

  Marzdane took one step back. Without taking his eyes off Benjamin, he said, ‘Ahh, the instinctive wisdom of wolves.’ He then glanced at his cronies and back to Benjamin. ‘Or is it fear?’

  ‘When was the last time you saw a werewolf afraid of anything, Marzdane?’ Benjamin grated. Then he shrugged. ‘If Angela brought these young cubs here, then she did so for a reason. You know as well as I do that she could quite well have gone to Lentekhi. Instead, she chose to do the right thing. As Chairman, you should have the grace to acknowledge that. But if I can’t trust even one of you with the sense to do the right thing, I must distrust all of you. I know a safer place for them!’

  Benjamin gestured briefly to an empty space in the room and a rainbow-coloured portal appeared. ‘You five, go on,’ he instructed Angela, Sarah, Mel and her werewolf aunt and uncle. ‘I’ll be along as soon as I finish here.’ Then he slowly and deliberately crossed the room and sat down at an empty chair. He put his feet up on the table and leaned back with his hands crossed behind his head. ‘And now we’ll just have to wait until the full council arrives.’ Though his manner was very relaxed, his eyes were like cold steel and they bored into Marzdane ominously. ‘Why don’t you put your bully-boys here to good use for once and round up the slow-coaches?’ He waved at the goblins and they were finally able to move again.

  As soon as she got near the portal, Sarah knew exactly where it went. She could smell the unmistakeable scent of the forest and feel the cool air against her skin. Wolfenvald!

  Just as Angela went to follow, Robert nudged her thigh. ‘Better not go through armed,’ he advised her. ‘Wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.’

  Angela gave the Brown Coat werewolf a startled look. Then she nodded and clicked her fingers. Once more, she was dressed in her normal office attire.

  One by one, Angela, then Mel and Robert followed Sarah through the portal. Lastly, Roberta stepped up to it. She stopped and turned to Marzdane, her hackles still raised. She gave one last warning growl and then followed the others.

  Mandy Kelly moved silently towards her target. The Shao-lin monk had no idea she was coming. He had not been told someone would try to steal the amulet he wore around his neck. He was sitting stock-still, meditating. Mandy knew that even though he seemed oblivious to the world around him, the monk was in fact very, very aware of his surroundings. Every slight gust of air through the windows of the temple, every change in temperature from the sun being hidden by the clouds outside, every single sound – he was aware of it all. As Mandy crept up behind him, her master, and the master of the monk in the temple, watched.

  The first few times Mandy had tried such an exercise, she had failed miserably. Each time, the targets (in each case, monks from temples like this one) had caught her. One had simply reached out behind him and grasped her hand without even opening his eyes. Another had launched himself high in the air, twisting and somersaulting over her to land behind her.

  This time, Mandy came much closer. She’d even managed to reach her hand a little way inside the monk’s robe before his eyes opened and he grabbed her.

  The monk’s master turned to Mandy’s master and bowed. ‘Your subject improves,’ he remarked, showing no emotion at all.

  ‘Yes,’ Mandy’s master replied, his eyes gleaming. ‘Thank-you, monk. Your coffers will be filled as we agreed.’ He gestured for Mandy to follow him and then turned to leave.

  ‘A question?’ the monk asked.

  Mandy’s master paused, raising an eyebrow. It was unusual for these monks to ask anything.

  ‘You train her to steal. What could be so valuable that you risk her soul, and yours?’

  Now Mandy’s master laughed. ‘Oh, I’m training her to be more than a thief, monk. As for what she’s to steal, you’d best ask your Buddha.’ He laughed again. ‘Though I doubt you’ll get an answer. Even He has reason to fear.’

  ‘Why is that?’ The monk pressed, but his words echoed off an empty floor. Mandy and her Master had disappeared.

  Chapter Seven

  When they were all through and safely on the moist ground, deep within the ancient forest, the portal disappeared. Robert and Roberta bounded out and immediately rolled onto their backs, kicking their paws up in the air. Both were mightily relieved to be home.

  Then Sarah heard Wolfenvald. ‘Welcome, Sarah.’ Sometimes, she heard the voices within her mind. Other times, like now, it seemed the very trees themselves were talking to her. ‘Welcome Golden Mane!’

  Sarah looked about to get her bearings. She felt fine, though very confused. Then, she felt herself becoming much calmer as Wolfenvald whispered to her that she was safe. Instinctively, she knew this was a very rare occasion. Though Angela and Mel obviously weren’t mortal humans, they certainly weren’t werewolves and that made them probably unwelcome. She shook her head a few times to clear her thoughts and then snapped back to attention.

  She looked at her teacher. ‘What happened back there?’ she asked. ‘Are you alright?’

  Her teacher was wan and seemed quite unsteady. Mel too was very pale and sat down clumsily on the leafy forest floor.

  Angela blinked a few times then gave herself a bit of a shake. ‘My powers,’ she breathed. ‘Wherever we are, I can’t use them here!’

  ‘Me too,’ Mel muttered, rubbing her eyes. ‘I’m buggered!’

  ‘The witches cannot use their powers here, Golden Mane.’ The voices of the forest world whispered to Sarah. ‘If their strength follows them to other worlds, it is not business of Wolfenvald, but upon this world, the source of their power is not permitted.’

  ‘It’s because you’re on Wolfenvald,’ Sarah explained to Angela. ‘You’ll be alright when you leave.’

  Angela and Mel accepted this news with wide eyes.

  Then Sarah turned to her teacher. ‘We weren’t here on Wolfenvald back in that tunnel. What happened to you back there?’

  Angela smiled at her. ‘Casting spells can drain a lot of energy from the body. The more powerful the spell, the more energy it takes. A portal that size is hard enough, but I had to punch through the wards at Conundrum. I’m not even supposed to be allowed to go to there at all. It wore me out, I’m afraid.’ She paused and panted for a moment, then stood upright again. ‘I had to use Mel’s body to cast the spells to shrink the dragon and quash his fire. That’s why they took so long to work. There’s always a short delay when you do it through another vessel.’

  ‘But why did you take us there?’ Mel asked, still slightly dazed. ‘Master McConnell said you could’ve taken us to Lentekhi.’

  ‘I could have taken you to the Amazons, Mel. But, they have no jurisdiction over Miranda and the trolls. They’re a mercenary outfit, not law enforcement.’

  ‘Whoa,’ breathed Sarah. She turned to Mel, who was still slightly dazed. ‘What was it like?’ she asked her befuddled friend.

  Mel shook her head. ‘I don’t know,’ she confessed. ‘My head feels fuzzy! It’s all kind of a blur...’

  Then Angela looked sternly at Sarah. ‘Now Sarah, I appreciate everything you did back there, but I’ve got to tell you, I’m a little disappointed!’

  Sarah gulped nervously. This was the closest her teacher had come to being angry with her.

  ‘You really shouldn’t have attacked that dragon like that,’ she admonished. ‘What on Earth were you thinking?’

  Sarah hung her head. ‘I don’t know,’ she mumbled. ‘I guess I wasn’t thinking at all really. I got angry, and it was threatening us, and well, it just happened.’

  Sarah forgot about being scolded for a moment. Another question popped into her mind and she turned to her teacher. ‘Who is this Miranda person?’ she demanded. ‘Trolls? Amaz
ons? What’s going on?’

  Angela frowned and paced back and forth amid the trees. ‘It doesn’t make any sense,’ she mused. Then she seemed to shake off her confusion and became very serious indeed. ‘Sarah, it’s a long story. The trolls used to be the official guards of Conundrum. Everything was fine until their old Commander and Gatekeeper was thrown into the sea and melted – Thrush, its name was. Anyway, Thrush was replaced by an idiot of a troll called Thrag. Thrag’s an untrustworthy brute and it didn’t take long for things to start going wrong. So, Rufus cancelled their contract.’

  ‘Rufus?’ asked Sarah.

  Angela nodded. ‘Marzdane’s predecessor,’ she told her. She smiled at Sarah. ‘He was a Golden Mane too.’ Then Sarah’s teacher sighed. ‘The problem was, when Rufus sacked Thrag, it left the trolls without a home, so they were all shipped off to Troll Mountain. That’s when the goblin, General Guntex, took over their job.’

  ‘He’s a nunjuxu,’ Mel murmured, her eyes wide.

  Sarah blinked. ‘A what?’

  ‘A nunjuxu warrior, Sarah,’ Angela explained. ‘Highly trained. Absolutely loyal to their master. They’re soldiers, assassins… Whatever their master wants them to be. They never give up and they never stop. Think of ninja warriors, only goblins, and far more dangerous.’

  ‘What’s he doing on Earth?’ Sarah was bewildered.

  Angela shrugged. ‘Oh, something went wrong on Jilde, I imagine. Guntex and his warriors were exiled. They hired themselves out as mercenaries in Japan for a while, then Rufus came along and offered them Thrag’s old contract. They’ve been Guild Guardslins ever since.’ She shook her head. ‘It doesn’t make sense,’ she muttered again. ‘The trolls hate The Guild… Why would Marzdane protect them?’

  ‘I don’t get it,’ Sarah said. ‘What have trolls and goblins got to do with this Molotov woman?’

  Angela nodded. ‘Sarah, Miranda Molotov is a witch. A very nasty one. She and a couple of other witches, Gretel Grimm and Heather Gint, were among the only witches to survive Benjamin’s wrath after he became cursed,’ she told Sarah bitterly. Her eyes were clouded with a distant pain. ‘Only the Sorcerers’ Guild was able to stop him wiping them out.’

  ‘If they’re so bad, why did they stop him? Why was that Marzdane guy such a jerk?’

  ‘It wasn’t to protect them, Sarah,’ Angela explained. ‘They didn’t want him to cross that line between vengeance and insanity. So, they sent me. They knew he’d listen to me. It took a while, but after a week or so, he calmed down enough to be rational about the whole thing, at least. Then he and I apprehended Molotov, Grimm and Gint.

  ‘The trolls had nothing to do and were still annoyed that The Guild cancelled their contract. To make peace, The Guild gave them a new contract. They were supposed to be guarding Molotov, Grimm and Gint. Rufus didn’t like it but the vote was fair so he had to go along with it. Still, he wasn’t about to trust them completely, so he persuaded a rock giant called Kevin to keep an eye on the trolls. Kevin moved to Troll Mountain in the Afar region of the Ethiopian Desert. There’s an active volcano not far from there so it’s pretty sparsely populated. Nothing there but baboons, wolves and vultures.

  ‘Kevin’s supposed to be there now keeping the three witches under lock and key. The Guild had stripped them of most of their powers so even if they managed to get past the trolls, Kevin would have been able to lock them up again. Anyway, that’s all history. As for Marzdane,’ her voice hardened and her face set in a bitter expression. ‘That was later. He and I had a disagreement and I broke some of the rules. That was why I was declared renegade. He’s been holding that grudge for a long time. His beef was with me, I’m afraid. But that’s not what matters.’

  ‘Miranda and her friends have escaped,’ Sarah surmised. She realised it wasn’t the right time to ask questions about Marzdane. She looked about at the still, silent trees. ‘Uncle Benjamin told me that if ever I got into trouble, I should come here. At least we’re safe.’

  Angela looked around. ‘For now…’ she murmured.

  ‘The human witches are your pack-mates, Golden Mane. As you are protected, so too are they.’

  Sarah changed into wolf form again and sidled up to Mel and her aunt. ‘It’s alright,’ she told them. ‘You’re with me. There’s nothing to be afraid of.’

  Robert grinned a toothy grin and his tongue lolled out to one side. He chuckled wryly. ‘That means you’ve never been safer in your life.’ He smiled at them reassuringly. ‘But as a precaution, I wouldn’t try casting any spells while you’re here.’

  ‘Yes,’ added Roberta. ‘And whatever you do, don’t eat or drink anything unless we give it to you directly.’ Then she looked around, sniffing for something. ‘Speaking of drinking, excuse me a moment. I need to wash the goblin out of my mouth.’ She loped off into the forest towards a small brook.

  ‘She’s right,’ Robert continued. ‘If we share our kill with you, that’s fine, but anything you take for yourselves might be mistaken for theft. That could have nasty consequences.’

  Roberta trotted back, sopping wet but much happier.

  ‘Feel better?’ Robert asked her now she was cleaner.

  Just then a chill wind suddenly blew through the trees. Both Brown Coats laid their ears back and growled.

  ‘Something is coming,’ Roberta warned, her brown eyes flashing warily. Then Sarah heard it. The forest around them seemed to snarl in a very wolf-like manner.

  A space nearby began to shimmer. A large portal appeared, though this was unlike any Sarah had seen so far. The edges of the portal flickered with a silver light. Sarah realised that whatever was about to come through that portal was most definitely unwelcome in this sacred forest. In a moment, the elevator appeared. Something was terribly wrong. The elevator doors were scored and burned and had some awful dents and scratches. Strange sparks flashed intermittently from the top of the doors and a nasty black smoke drifted out from within.

  The three werewolves and two witches braced themselves nervously. With a slow, grinding groan, the elevator opened one door. The other moved a few centimetres then stopped completely. At first, all they could see inside was smoke. Then a slightly blackened big bald purple head emerged from the smoke. Then the earth beneath them shuddered and the snarling from the trees around them grew even louder.

  ‘Wait!’ Sarah yelped at the forest around her. She wasn’t sure what was about to happen but she could tell it was going to be unpleasant. ‘Nathan’s my friend!’

  ‘Then sanctuary it shall have, Golden Mane,’ the forest replied. The chill wind died down and the earth stopped shuddering. The air around them was still again.

  Sarah sighed a huge sigh of relief. ‘Nathan!’

  Nathan was looking very sorry indeed. His bow tie was singed and smoking. He wriggled out, his eyes whirling in near panic.

  ‘Angela, thank goodness I found you!’ He squirmed about and then settled on the cool, damp forest floor with obvious relief. Floating along behind him was only one small bag, stuffed with a few tomes and scrolls – some of which had been treated rather badly it seemed.

  The elevator gave one last groan then they heard an awful metallic thud. It shuddered for a moment then collapsed on the ground in a smouldering, twisted mess of metal and wire.

  ‘I had an awful time convincing this elevator to take me to you!’ Nathan cried. ‘It kept on about its warrantee and how it wasn’t allowed to come here, but I had to find you! It tried to tip me out twice!’

  ‘What happened?’ Robert demanded. He sniffed the elevator suspiciously and snarled. ‘And how did you get it to come here?’

  ‘Master Benjamin set one of its destinations,’ Nathan quavered. ‘It was password protected, but…’ He paused guiltily. ‘I am his archivist after all,’ he added a little abashed.

  ‘I’m sure he won’t mind,’ Angela assured the frightened and embarrassed bookwyrm.

  Sarah too sniffed the elevator. The scent was vaguely familiar, though she couldn’t place it.
It reminded her of stale sweat and something rotten.

  ‘Something most awful is happening at the office!’ Nathan wailed.

  Angela stepped forward and patted Nathan comfortingly on the head. ‘Now, Nathan, calm down. What is going on?’ she asked calmly.

  Nathan took a couple of deep breaths and managed to calm down a little. When he was ready, he looked about himself nervously, gulped and went on with his story.

  ‘Trolls!’ he wailed. ‘The office was overrun with trolls! They didn’t stay long, but they made an awful mess of my library! They went through each floor, ripping the place to shreds!’ Nathan moaned woefully. ‘It’s going to take me ages to restore it. Thank goodness Master McConnell has originals of the rarer works.’ Then he looked up at the forest canopy high above. ‘There aren’t any birds here are there?’ he wailed again. ‘Oh dear! Out of the frying pan and into the fire…’

  ‘What did they want?’ Sarah asked the big frightened bookwyrm.

  ‘What happened to Jimbo?’ Mel demanded.

  Angela pressed, ‘Did you see anyone else with them?’

  Nathan shook his head, which also meant shaking his whole body. ‘No, just those horrible trolls! I don’t know what they wanted! Oh, my poor library!’ he turned to Mel. ‘Your young firedrake is alright, I think,’ he told her. ‘He flew off the moment he smelled trouble. He’ll show up soon, I imagine.’ He looked up at the branches again.

  ‘It’s alright Nathan,’ Sarah promised. ‘You’re safe here. The wereeagles live somewhere else, I think.’

  Relieved, Mel went to look at the crumpled mess that was once the elevator. ‘It might have been a rude bugger,’ she mused regretfully, ‘but it got you past those trolls.’

  Nathan nodded. ‘Oh, it will be alright once we get it back to Ottispuschenshuffen, Ottispuschenshuffen and Ottispuschenshuffen.’ The battered bookwyrm had calmed down greatly now that he was among friends. ‘Those trolls gave it a bit of a beating, I’m afraid. Much like the rest of the office.’ He turned to Sarah. ‘Miss Sarah, I don’t think it would be safe for you,’ and he nodded at the others, ‘or the rest of you to go back until Master McConnell returns.’