Golden Mane, Book One of The Adventures of Sarah Coppernick

by SJB Gilmour

  ‘I thought you didn’t believe in them?’

  Angela smiled. ‘I don’t.’ To Ronny, she went on, ‘Just who is this contact of yours you’d recommend?’

  Ronny shrugged his stumpy shoulders. ‘You know him. A relative of yours, I believe. James Isaacs. Why?’

  Angela turned to Benjamin. ‘“Son of Demeter?” “The Flower Man”? Does that sound like a coincidence to you?’

  Benjamin scowled. ‘It does and I don’t like it. It feels like I’m being led about by the nose.’

  ‘Never mind that,’ Roberta told them quite firmly. ‘Coincidence, fate or whatever, I’ll not have you exposing Sarah to Master Isaacs. He’s a bad influence.’

  Benjamin and Angela shared a surprised look.

  Then, with a gentle and careful expression, Benjamin ventured, ‘You seem quite certain about that?’

  Roberta assumed her human form and strode up to him. ‘Wolfenvald charged me with the responsibility of guardianship over Sarah,’ she declared. ‘Same as you. We’re to keep her safe from harm. Trolls and spirits are one thing, but Isaacs is another altogether. He’s foul-mouthed, corrupt and he associates with some very shady characters.’ She punctuated her speech by jabbing Benjamin in the chest.

  Ronny coughed delicately and was about to come to this Isaacs character’s defence.

  ‘Oh save it, Mason.’ Roberta scoffed. ‘I know that you’re probably just as bad but at least you’re more discrete.’ She turned to Benjamin. ‘I forbid it.’

  Angela smiled. ‘You know, Roberta,’ she suggested, ‘I have a fair amount of sway with Apollo, and Demeter knows it. She’s James’ goddess. If we were to put the right spin on it, I’m pretty sure She’d agree to make sure James behaves himself. Then would you consider letting him join us?’

  Roberta considered this while the others waited with bated breath. ‘Alright,’ she conceded. ‘If you get Demeter to keep Isaacs in line, and I mean really in line - no swearing, thievery, illegal spices or debauchery… I’ll allow it.’

  Angela smiled. ‘Well,’ she said brightly, ‘why don’t we see about that then?’ She turned to Ronny. ‘Master Mason,’ she began formally, ‘I trust you have some stores in your satchel?’

  Ronny nodded. ‘A sacrificial goat?’ he suggested.

  ‘That would get Apollo’s attention, but I need something to lure Demeter. She’s the goddess of harvests. ‘Your freshest fruits and vegetables should suffice.’

  Ronny produced two baskets of freshly picked carrots, beans, celery and tomatoes. He handed the baskets to Angela. She looked at them with a disapproving expression. Ronny sighed and produced fresh pineapples, bananas, mangoes and a bushel of apples and several un-husked cobs of corn.

  ‘Much better, Master Mason!’ Angela turned to Roberta. ‘Come along then, Roberta. Let’s go see to it that my cousin behaves himself.’

  ‘Can I come?’ Sarah felt very excited. She couldn’t believe this! Angela and Roberta were about to talk to a goddess!

  Angela smiled but shook her head. ‘Not this time, Sarah. You’ll meet Apollo and Demeter soon enough, I’m sure. Especially Demeter. She’s a curious sort and I’m sure She’ll find an excuse to bump into you before long. Now though, we’re about to ask Her a favour in an official way. There are some formalities we need to observe quite strictly. You stay here. We’ll be back soon.’

  ‘Are you sure you’re up to it?’ Benjamin asked her. ‘You’re tired enough as it is.’

  ‘I’ve strength for this,’ she replied with a shrug. ‘Besides, Roberta’s right. This needs to be done and I’m the only one who can do it.’

  And so, Angela and Roberta went back up to the stone circle. The ceremony was short and although even Sarah could not hear all of what had been said, she knew that a very strong presence had been among them for a short while. When Angela and Roberta returned, they were both grinning from ear to ear.

  Chapter Eleven

  ‘Well?’ Robert handed both women fresh glasses of wine. ‘What happened?’

  Roberta smiled at him cheekily. ‘You’ll see when we get to Columbia,’ she promised. ‘I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise!’

  ‘Columbia?’ Sarah asked her.

  ‘My cousin James Isaacs will be joining us before we go to Troll Mountain,’ said Angela.

  ‘The Flower Man,’ Mel breathed. ‘Oh man, this is sooo cool! Some prophecies aren’t much more than weather forecasts. This one’s epic!’

  Mel obviously knew far more about prophecies than Sarah. She found herself feeling both relieved someone understood just what was going on, but also a little jealous that she herself, who seemed to be central to the whole thing, had no idea. Guiltily, she realised this wasn’t a very nice thing to think. She breathed and thought to herself, remember you’re new to this, Sarah.

  Benjamin looked at her and smiled. ‘It’ll make sense soon enough,’ he assured her. Then, in a tone meant only for her ears and that told her he knew exactly what she was thinking, he told her, ‘I’m proud of you, cub.’

  Sarah felt much better.

  Benjamin raised one eyebrow at Angela. She nodded and took a long sip of her wine. Now that she had eaten, she seemed much better. She explained to Robert, Roberta and Ronny the rest of what the spirit had told Sarah.

  ‘So, someone’s managed to put that old wolf in a cage?’ Robert asked. ‘How the hell did they do that?’

  ‘From what I gather, it doesn’t look like a cage,’ Angela told him. ‘It’s supposed to be disguised as knowledge.’

  ‘So it’s probably a scroll or a tome then,’ Ronny surmised.

  Angela nodded. ‘I assume as much. Anyway,’ she went on, ‘there’s someone or something trapped under Troll Mountain that’s in the habit of hoarding things. Somewhere in that hoard is whatever Rufus is trapped in.’

  Angela took another sip of her wine. As she cradled the glass, she gazed into the embers of the fire for a few moments. Ronny scurried into his tent and re-emerged with a large plate of crackers and brie which he passed around. Then the busy little gnome produced some more drinks. He poured Benjamin and Roberta some wine and a large glass stein of dark, foamy beer for Robert. To Sarah and Mel, he gave another mug each of hot chocolate. He then sat down himself with a stein the same as Robert’s, though his was filled with a beer that was blood red.

  ‘We need to bring the trolls under control,’ Angela told them all as they resettled around the fire. ‘In so doing, we should find Rufus.’ She smiled at Sarah. ‘And, it seems that we’ll finally be a little closer to finding your mother and father, Sarah. The spirit mentioned your sire and dam.’

  Something inside Sarah’s chest seemed about to explode. Sensing her excitement, Angela smiled a little regretfully. ‘It might be some time before we see them again, but at least we know they’re alive. But,’ and she held one finger up to Sarah, ‘that’s not our main concern right now.’

  ‘It isn’t?’

  She shook her head and winced. ‘Ohh,’ she murmured. ‘Still a bit early for that… Now Sarah, we’ve discovered that we’re to bring the trolls under control by ourselves,’

  ‘The spirit said something about something that must not be, being destroyed by me. What did it mean?’

  ‘It meant, young cub,’ Benjamin told Sarah with a steely glint in his eyes, ‘that the spirits believe you’re the one who’s destined to destroy Conundrum Gate.’

  ‘Why destroy it?’ Sarah asked. ‘And why me?’

  Angela sighed and took another sip of her wine. ‘Sarah,’ she said after she swallowed, ‘Conundrum Gate is the most powerful fixed portal in the universe. Most portals can transport a few people at a time and only for short periods. Conundrum Gate could reach anywhere, for any length of time and for any amount of people. Problem is it’s locked. Legends tell of a key that’s supposed to be able to unlock it and allow whomever holds it the power to command it.’

  ‘The Star of Planes,’ Mel breathed. ‘It’s supposed to be lost.’

  Ange
la nodded. ‘That’s the real purpose for The Guild,’ she told the girls. ‘If the wrong person, say someone nasty, got their hands on The Star of Planes, he or she could use The Gate to do terrible things. Earth could become vulnerable to countless hordes of demons and other monsters. It is not of this world. It has long been the purpose of The Sorcerers’ Guild to find the missing pieces of The Star of Planes and use them to destroy The Gate once and for all. If they can’t destroy it, they’re the last line of defence against any who would use it for evil.’

  Sarah’s werewolf instincts began talking to her very loudly just then. ‘Do you think Rufus disappearing or being trapped or whatever he is, had anything to do with this key thing?’

  Benjamin shrugged. ‘It could have,’ he admitted. ‘The old boy was certainly obsessed with destroying The Gate, but no more than any of those who came before him.’

  Then Ronny surprised them all. ‘There’s more to the legend, isn’t there?’ he asked quietly. ‘The Star of Planes will surface, but only to the right person. Sort of a sword-in-the-stone kind of thing?’ His eyes glowed with enthusiasm. ‘These enchanted thingamajigs always seem able to be used only by the right individual. If Miss Sarah here is prophesied to be “the one” to destroy Conundrum Gate, maybe she’s “the one” who will find the Star of Planes.’

  Benjamin nodded. ‘It’s a bit twee,’ he admitted, ‘but there is that part to the folklore.’ He brightened. ‘When we find Rufus, we’ll ask him.’ He looked at Angela. ‘You said the spirits told Sarah about “one who hoards.” Any ideas?’

  ‘It probably wasn’t Kevin,’ she replied with a shrug. ‘Giants have little to no need for possessions. Who knows what else could be under that mountain? Trolls hoard things, so do ogres, dragons, dwarves and goblins.’

  ‘Gnomes do too,’ Ronny added, nodding his head. ‘When we’re not poncing about with all kinds of pomp and ceremony, we’re mining for gems and precious metals.’

  Roberta finished her wine and stood up. ‘We could talk about this all night,’ she told everyone, ‘but I think it’s time we got the girls to bed. We’ll have a rest day tomorrow and then we’ll go and see Master Isaacs, okay?’

  Later, well past midnight, Sarah was still unable to sleep. She tossed and turned in her sleeping bag. Frustrated, she quietly dressed and stepped out of her tent. Her human and non-human companions were all sleeping soundly. The air around her was still and cool, yet she barely felt cold. She sat beside the remnants of the fire. Uncle Benjamin was nowhere to be seen. She gazed up at the half-moon. So much had happened lately, she was grateful for the time to be still and just think about nothing for a while. Without thinking, she changed form and gazed up at the night sky with wolf eyes.

  If only you could tell me what I need to know? She wondered as she looked through the trees at the moon. Where are my parents? Who is holding them? How did this strange hex get placed on me? More questions flooded her mind. The strange message from the spirit in the stone circle kept running through her mind. What was going to happen? Why her? Wolfenvald’s silence told her very clearly that it did not know the answers to these questions either.

  Fat lot of good you are then, she thought to the forest world sulkily.

  ‘All creatures have such doubts and fears, Golden Mane,’ Wolfenvald replied sagely. ‘Some can never be answered.’

  She lay down and rested her head on her paws and whined softly. Frustrated, she rose and began pacing back and forth near the fire.

  ‘Confused, Sarah?’ Benjamin asked. He padded out from the darkness beyond the campsite. His silver and black coat moved like liquid shadow and his eyes glowed with a power that could strike terror in the hearts of any who did not know him.

  For years, Sarah had known him as Uncle Benjamin, and he had been charming and generous and had spoiled her rotten. Now, though his behaviour towards her had not changed, she had seen deep into his character and found behind the kind nature, there was a will of iron, a terrible power and an even more terrible past. Despite this, he was still her uncle and the bond between them was even stronger. They were more than just uncle and niece: they were pack-mates.

  ‘It’s all happening so fast. I’m not sure what to think any more.’

  Benjamin smiled and wagged his tail. ‘It’s times like these that are the most exciting,’ he told her. ‘And all wolves love excitement. When we talk with Angela’s cousin, we’ll find out more, I’m sure. The spirits wouldn’t have told us to include him without a reason.’

  Sarah’s golden eyes gazed up at the moon. ‘I just wish I knew what was going on,’ she told him. ‘Everything seems to be happening around me and there’s nothing I can do about it. We don’t even know why it rains every time I get close to a troll.’

  ‘Yes we do,’ he replied. ‘You’re carrying a hex, that’s all.’

  ‘Yes, but who put it there? And why?’ Sarah demanded. ‘It’s not like the curse you carry. Everyone knows about it and how it happened. I just woke up one day and discovered someone’s been laying hexes on me!’

  Benjamin bowed his head briefly. Instantly Sarah was sorry she had mentioned his curse. She whined and nudged him with her snout. ‘I’m sorry. I just got frustrated, that’s all.’

  He nudged her back and licked one of her golden ears. ‘It’s alright, Sarah. I shouldn’t have made light of your concerns. You probably shouldn’t worry about the hex, though. I think I know how it got there.’

  She looked at him curiously.

  ‘Your parents were fair sorcerers as well as werewolves, Sarah. I think they were faced with a terrible choice. I think they either had to allow themselves to be taken hostage, or give you up. To protect you when they weren’t around, I think they fashioned a hex the likes of which hasn’t been seen for nearly a thousand years.’ He wagged his tail. ‘I knew they were good, but I had no idea they’d be able to write a hex that I couldn’t decipher, and I’m a Master Spellweaver.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Sarah asked him. ‘It seems fairly simple to me. Every time I get near a troll, it rains.’

  ‘Ahh, there could be more to it than that, Sarah. I think this hex doesn’t just stop there. It automatically chooses the most direct protection against your opponent and uses it. So far you’ve only come up against trolls and a short-sighted old dragon. Every creature has a weakness. Trolls are allergic to water. Hobgoblins hate the light. I wouldn’t mind betting if a hobgoblin walked into this campsite right now, it’d be bright as day.’

  ‘How do we know?’ Sarah demanded, feeling very small indeed.

  Benjamin looked around at the forest. ‘Let’s see… These woods are among the most ancient and mysterious in the world. They’re steeped in enchanted history and still home to some of the most interesting enchanted creatures. There’s one way to find out about your hex, my dear, and a sleepless night like tonight is the perfect night to do it.’ He bounded off into the dark forest of Castlerigg.

  Together they loped through the forest until they reached an enormous elm. Its gnarled roots boiled up out of the ground and its branches high above them blocked out even the dim light of the half-moon. A chill sense of dread struck Sarah. There was evil in this place! If she hadn’t been in her wolf form, and hadn’t been with her Silver Shroud Uncle Benjamin, she would have been terrified.

  ‘What do we do now?’ she asked.

  Benjamin smiled and resumed his human form. ‘You’ll need to be human for this, Sarah,’ he told her. Nervously, she changed form and stood very close to her uncle. Now her eyes were human again, she could hardly see a thing.

  ‘Now,’ he said quietly, ‘we wait.’

  ‘What for?’ Sarah whispered in near-panic.

  A rustling noise came from somewhere out in the darkness. Whatever it was, it was approaching.

  ‘That,’ he said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, I’m here. If the hex doesn’t work, then there’s still nothing to worry about. Nothing can get past me.’ His eyes were distant and his expre
ssion was ever so slightly self-loathing.

  The rustling sound became louder, as whatever was making it got closer. Sarah could hear the faint breathing sounds of some sort of animal. Then the noise stopped for a moment. Sarah heard something sniffing the forest air, detecting her scent. Then she heard a low growl that could only have been about five metres away. There was a hurried rustling noise as the creature rushed towards them.

  Sarah backed into her uncle, who held her comfortably with one strong arm. Then suddenly, a blindingly bright light appeared directly above Sarah’s head. There was a terrible animal-like squeal of pain and fright and the creature stopped suddenly.

  At first Sarah couldn’t see anything. She squinted through the light for a moment while her eyes adjusted. Then she saw it. There, trying to hide from the light among the huge mossy roots of the tree, was the smallest man Sarah had ever seen. He was even smaller than Ronny.

  Benjamin stepped forward and grabbed the little fellow, who was wearing a grubby smock made of scraps of fabric tied together with bits of string. Sarah looked closely at the dirty little fellow, then shuddered as she realised she wasn’t looking at a man at all. It was something else. Its head was almost completely bald, and its arms and legs were covered with thick, matted fur. Its ears were large and poked out like those of a giant mouse. It had beady little black eyes and pointy teeth. Perhaps most alarming about the strange creature’s appearance was its nose. It was shaped almost exactly like the snout of a pig.

  Benjamin held the scruffy little fellow up in the light. ‘This,’ he said, giving the bizarre-looking little creature a shake, ‘is a hobgoblin. They’re malicious little blighters and not too bright either.’ He shook the hobgoblin again. ‘They’re not really related to goblins at all, actually. Most goblins would be quite insulted if anyone was to imply that. They’re more closely related to pigs. The one useful thing about them is that they’re excellent hex-readers.’

  Sarah stared at the pig-nosed creature with revulsion. ‘What did it want?’ she asked, feeling a little foolish at being so frightened by such a small and funny looking creature.