by SJB Gilmour
‘What do you want with Kevin?’ Siouxanne was genuinely interested.
Now Angela spoke. ‘Angela Harding, Madame. We are curious about why the rock giant has released some of his charges. If he did it on his own accord, then he’s in trouble. If Mautallius was behind it, then,’ and she smiled a little viciously, ‘that’s another matter.’
James nodded. ‘Really it’s a win, win situation,’ he told Siouxanne. ‘You get out, and all the beans you want. We get our friends back and do a bit of pest control. All for the price of one tome.’ He smiled her appealingly. ‘Once we’ve got our friend out of it, you can have it back if you like. Of course, I’d like to study it for a few years, if that’s okay, but once I’ve had a crack at it, I won’t really need it.’
Siouxanne yawned, stretched and then smiled, showing just how huge her great fangs really were. She waved her massive jewelled tail at an innocuous pile of rubble. It shimmered and the illusion fell away to reveal a huge pile of jewels and gold. Mixed in with the precious stones and coins were all sorts of other items. There were sceptres, goblets and several crowns. There was also a large, black, leather-bound tome. She nodded at it and it drifted up out of the pile to hover in front of her.
She grinned at James. ‘You release me, one entire harvest of beans, and,’ and now she nodded at Sarah, ‘five more Golden Mane hairs, and you can have the tome for one year,’ she offered.
Sarah grinned at the dragon. ‘Ten hairs,’ she countered, ‘and we get the tome for five years.’
Siouxanne laughed. ‘Oh little wolf and friend of Amixo, you’ll go far,’ she chortled. She turned back to James. ‘Deal,’ she told him with a nod of her massive head.
‘Deal!’ James grinned and spat on his hand and thrust it hand out to her. Siouxanne lifted one fore-paw and touched a claw to her lips. Then she reached out and touched James’ palm with the huge talon.
Then the dragon looked back at Sarah. ‘Be careful of Mautallius, little girl,’ she warned. ‘His words are like honey, but they are as poisonous as those trolls he’s so fond of. When he drugged Kevin and shut me in here, they sealed the top of the cavern with some sort of demonic spell. It’s as hard as diamond. Believe me, I tried to dig out, but all I did was break my nails… A Golden Mane on the other claw… Call upon your forest world, young wolf. You may do better.’
‘There’s a point,’ Angela said politely. ‘Why don’t we get along with this?’
Siouxanne snorted. ‘Go right ahead,’ she told her. The massive dragon lowered her head to the floor. ‘Climb on,’ she instructed Sarah.
Sarah paused. She didn’t want to hurt the dragon with her claws.
Siouxanne chuckled. ‘My scales are very thick, little one,’ she chided Sarah. ‘It would take a lot more than your little paws to hurt me!’
Sarah felt a little embarrassed as she leaped nimbly up on top of the dragon’s head. Then the dragon slowly but gracefully walked over to a spot to one side of the cavern. Then she stood at her full height and raised her head high. Sarah reached up with her nose and sniffed the cavern ceiling. It was icy cold and had the same dread touch as the demon’s heel she had bitten the week before. She looked down at Angela.
‘Go on, just like before,’ her teacher instructed her. ‘But remember, it’s a strong enchantment so you’ll need to be quite forceful.’
Sarah shut her eyes and concentrated very hard. The voices of Wolfenvald came to her. Once again, she felt an enormous power surging through her veins. Her every fibre tingled with raw energy. Soon the power within her had built to the point where she thought she would burst. She opened her golden eyes and focused not on the ceiling itself, but on the spell surrounding it.
‘Quassico!’ she barked.
The cavern ceiling shimmered and began to glow. Brighter and brighter, the ceiling glowed until everybody was forced to shield their eyes. Then the cavern shuddered, making rubble and several more stalactites fall from the ceiling. A scream of agonising pain and loss came through the rock ceiling above them.
‘Well, Mautallius,’ drawled Siouxanne as she lowered her head back down. ‘I always knew you’d get your come-uppance. I hope it hurt.’
Sarah dropped lightly from the giant dragon’s head and changed back into human form.
‘Wow,’ Mel breathed, in awe of her friend.
Then Ronny stepped forward to Siouxanne. ‘Excuse me, Madame,’ the gnarled little gnome said politely, ‘would you mind?’
‘Of course not.’ The massive dragon regarded the little gnome with her enormous red eyes. She smiled viciously and lowered her head. As Ronny clamoured over her huge scales, many of which were much larger than himself, Siouxanne did her best to contain another burp.
‘Sorry about that,’ she murmured through clenched jaws, trying to keep still for Ronny.
Ronny grinned as he climbed. ‘No matter at all, my lady,’ he told her. ‘I take it as a compliment.’ He put his mask and goggles back on and climbed up over her eye-ridges. ‘I do try to… Oomph! …always carry the best stores I can…’
‘Well, my little well-prepared friend, go right ahead!’ Siouxanne encouraged the gnome. ‘You’d better hurry. Mautallius is probably vulnerable right now. Having that spell broken probably gave him quite a headache, but he’ll soon recover.’
Ronny reached up to the ceiling with both hands and began burrowing through the solid rock. Soon, he had dug a hole high up into the ceiling and then hauled himself off Siouxanne’s scaly head.
The others waited and chatted while their gnomish representative from Gnumphlatia Manor dug tirelessly up through the rock above their heads. After perhaps half an hour, Ronny called down to them.
‘I’ve done it!’ he called in a harsh whisper. ‘Come up, but keep your voices down! I’ve dug through to behind a tapestry hanging from one of the walls!’
One by one, Siouxanne lifted the group up into the hole in the ceiling. Inside, they found that Ronny had not only carved a tunnel, but the clever little gnome had also carved out steps for them to climb. Being careful to make as little noise as possible, they made their way to the end of the tunnel, where they found the reverse side of an ancient tapestry blocking their path.
They also heard the sounds of fighting. Trolls were screaming and wolves were snarling and barking.
‘Sounds like Master McConnell is out of the cage,’ Ronny whispered. ‘He must have escaped when Miss Sarah broke Mautallius’ spell.’
More sounds of fighting and screaming trolls came from the other side of the tapestry. Finally, they heard a harsh voice issue an ultimatum.
‘Be still! One more move and I’ll kill these two Browns!’
Chapter Sixteen
‘That’s it,’ Sarah growled and she rushed through the tapestry. James and the others had no choice but to follow.
She found a very smelly, very gory and very, very tense situation. Roberta and Robert were covered with troll blood, as was the snarling Silver Shroud. The floor was littered with gory, twitching pieces of troll. Sarah stared at them for a moment and realised the pieces were growing back into more trolls.
Six trolls were poised at the three loose werewolves with long, silver-pointed spears and two more had spears pointed directly at Henry and Jozefa. The two ragged-looking Brown Coat werewolves snarled and snapped at the pair of trolls holding their chains, even though those chains were fastened to the wall.
‘“And they shall come over sand and under”…’ Mautallius murmured to himself. Then he fixed his attention on Sarah again. ‘Well, now. My collection is complete!’ His was the evil voice they’d heard from behind the tapestry.
Sarah stared around her in amazement. The hex that had brought the rain each time she had seen a troll wasn’t working!
A black-robed witch, who Sarah recognised as Miranda Molotov, stepped forward. ‘Of course the hex isn’t working, you silly little girl,’ she observed in a voice equally as wicked as that of Mautallius. ‘I’ve been watching you for a long time,’ she gloat
ed. ‘All the trouble your stupid pack-mates went through to keep you hidden.’ She changed form into grey cat for a moment.
Sarah recognised that cat! It was the very same one she’d seen in the park what seemed like years ago when she’d first seen Roberta and Robert in their werewolf forms.
Sarah didn’t stop to think any further. ‘Quassico!’ she barked at the silver chains holding her parents captive. There were two great flashes of light as the chains turned to dust. Jozefa and Henryk immediately leaped at the trolls nearest them. From then on, it was quite literally as if hell had broken loose.
Sarah, Benjamin, Roberta, Robert, Jozefa and Henryk, all snarling and growling horribly, began to tear to pieces every troll they could find. The trolls tried to defend themselves, of course, but their weapons were almost useless against the Browns. They were useless against Sarah. Against Benjamin, they did more harm to themselves as the curse of the Silver Shroud took effect.
James began spraying the dismembered pieces of troll with his water bottle as fast as he could, while Ronny hurled bright circles of rainbow at the ceiling above Mautallius and Miranda, showering them with rocks and rubble.
The door at the end of the cavern was being hammered down by hundreds of trolls outside. Despite their combined strength, the six werewolves would soon be outnumbered if they got through. Mel backed away and began chanting the rain-bringing spell while Angela flew at both Miranda and Mautallius, her knives flashing in the torchlight.
The room and the entire mountain was shaking with the force of endless peals of thunder. After all, there were several very angry sorcerers all confined in a small space. Lightning sparked around them and bounced off the walls, floor and ceiling.
Mautallius backed away and began chanting more spells, leaving Miranda to face Angela alone. Miranda had her own knives and the two witches engaged each other with deadly ferocity.
Sarah hurled aside a troll’s head and turned to Mel. ‘Now!’ she barked.
Mel’s face was set with concentration. ‘Aquaslick!’ A large black cloud appeared on the ceiling and rain began pouring down into the room. Then Mel fell back, exhausted from having cast the spell. A half-melted troll saw her vulnerability and even though it was about to dissolve completely, lunged at her and swiped at her shoulder. Mel cried out and fell to the floor with several deep gashes filled with deadly troll venom.
The troll that had struck her also fell down. It melted, writhing until it finally burst, just as the troll in the Russian forest had. This time, there was no escaping the explosion of horrid troll gunk that blew out everywhere.
The water from the storm Mel had just summoned was now a few centimetres deep on the floor. Mautallius broke off his spell and blasted the door with a bolt of lightning, shattering it to smithereens. The hundreds of trolls behind it began surging through. The first few dozen through immediately fell to the floor as their feet were melted away. Many more however clamoured over their fallen comrades and began clawing their way towards Sarah and her family.
Henryk and Jozefa leaped over the trolls to attack Mautallius. Though weakened from years of inactivity and starvation, the two Brown Coats were still very agile. Henryk lunged at the wicked sorcerer’s throat. Mautallius twisted enough to keep Henryk’s jaws from his throat, but received a savage bite to his shoulder.
Jozefa was no less vicious. She darted behind him and tore at the tendons behind his knee. Mautallius screamed and foul demonic green blood began to gush from his wounds. He let loose another blast of lightning that struck Henryk full on the chest. Sarah’s father was hurled back, stone dead. Mautallius didn’t hesitate and let another blast loose at Jozefa, who was also felled.
‘No!’ Sarah howled, fighting her way through the trolls.
‘Stickum!’ James yelled at Mautallius as he sprayed water into the face of another troll.
Mautallius was immediately stuck to the floor, unable to lift his feet.
‘Curse you, Isaacs!’ Mautallius yelled.
James laughed at him. ‘You can’t curse me, you motherchocker! Demeter’s put one on me already. No matter how many demons you chock with you’ll never be able to overwrite it!’
Mautallius swore at him and then with one hand, shot a bolt of lightning at James and with the other, he blasted the floor. James’ spell dissipated and he was hurled backwards, still spraying with his water bottle.
For one split second, all fighting stopped as everyone looked over at the cadaverous sorcerer. There was a loud creak of stone beginning to break.
‘Uh oh,’ Ronny muttered. His distraction earned him several swipes from three trolls closest to him and he fell to the floor next to Mel. A troll grabbed his satchel and scampered away, struggling to open it. The satchel stubbornly refused to open. Enraged, the troll slashed at it with razor-sharp talons. This was probably the stupidest thing the troll could have done for the satchel immediately exploded, blowing the troll into a fine mist of fetid goo.
Benjamin was tearing at three trolls at once. They swiped and stabbed at him with silver-tipped swords and spears, only to fall back with horrid gashes on their own bodies. Then another troll ran and hurled his spear straight at the Silver Shroud.
Unlike its companions, whose attacks were clumsy, this troll had very good aim. The spear struck him true in the side. The troll was then hurled backwards with a huge gaping hole in the middle of its chest.
Benjamin yelped and fell to the ground next to Mel and Ronny with the spear poking in one side of his chest and out the other. Mel hauled herself to her knees and grabbed the spear. She gave it one good wrench, using the last of her strength, and pulled it clear from his body. The silver tip from the spear was gone – melted into Benjamin’s veins. The wound in his side hissed and bubbled blood as he struggled to breathe.
Mel collapsed next to him, shivering from troll poison fever. Still, she managed to keep her focus on the storm cloud she had created. Even though it flickered and faded intermittently, it still managed to produce rain.
The explosion from the satchel was the last straw for the stone floor. It gave one final creak and then collapsed. Everything in the throne room, as well as the thousands of trolls in the main hall outside it, fell perhaps twenty metres down to the wet floor of Siouxanne’s cavern. Kevin, of course, was still strapped to the wall and he hung from it in terror.
Siouxanne bellowed a single-worded spell and Sarah and her friends landed behind her massive body, while those trolls that hadn’t been blasted to bits, along with Miranda and Mautallius fell on the other side. Sarah hit her head as she fell and nearly lost consciousness. The voices of the forest of Wolfenvald were gone.
The thundercloud Mel had summoned exploded out into the cavern and filled out above them. It pelted the assembled trolls and everyone else with heavy raindrops. Several stalactites fell from the ceiling of the cavern and shattered on the floor.
Miranda held up her left hand and erected a domed barrier against the downpour and the falling pillars of stone. The enchanted dome shielded the horde of villainous trolls. Thrag leaped over the rubble to stand at the edge of the barrier and glared angrily across at Siouxanne and her new friends.
The lifeless bodies of Jozefa and Henryk fell to ground with sickening thumps. Siouxanne spread one massive wing out to shield the wounded James, Mel and Ronny from further attacks.
Mautallius landed with his feet suddenly free and seized the opportunity to run.
Siouxanne had drawn back to belch a huge fireball at the assembled trolls and their master but Miranda had other ideas. She thrust her hand out and shot a blinding bolt of lightning directly at the dragon’s head. It struck her nose and her head snapped back and crashed hard against the cavern wall. Siouxanne then fell forward and collapsed on the floor. She gasped and managed to raise one wing over the wounded and then sank back, stunned.
Miranda then began incanting another wicked spell. Angela jumped to her feet and lunged at her with one of her knives. The blade sunk deep into the evil witc
h’s bicep, sending a spray of green blood out into the room. Miranda reeled back and kicked Angela solidly in the chest, knocking her to the ground.
Miranda’s wounded arm was hanging useless at her side, but her good arm was enough to help her create the enchantment. She barked a short curse and blasted out a ray of deadly green fire at Angela who was once more hauling herself to her feet. Angela saw it coming and dropped to the ground just as the wave of demonic flames washed over her.
The bulk of the fire buffeted harmlessly against Siouxanne’s diamond scales. The dragon shook her head and returned fire with flame of her own. Miranda scampered back to take cover behind a large stalactite that had fallen from the ceiling.
Robert bolted to Angela and began licking her face. She groaned and used his strong back to steady herself as she hauled herself to her feet. Drawing on some hidden reserve of energy, she steeled herself and turned to face Mautallius.
Flanked by Robert and Roberta, Angela moved forward to stand bravely between the troll army and their wounded friends and family. James picked himself up and shook his head painfully. Then he steeled himself, took up his secateurs and water bottle held them for more fighting.
Miranda was shouting the last commands of yet another spell now. Then Jimbo shot forward through the air. The tiny firedrake flew like a rocket directly at the evil witch. He struck her full in the face and began clawing at her furiously. Her concentration faltered and the protective dome she had erected over the trolls vanished. The screams of the thousands of trolls were almost deafening.
The rain didn’t last for long. Mel was unable to hold out any more. Shivering uncontrollably and a ghastly shade of green, she passed out and the storm cloud disappeared.
Unable to use her bad arm, Miranda had to use her good arm to try to fend off the furious young dragon. She staggered out from behind the fallen stalactite to stand only metres away from Mautallius. Jimbo gave a triumphant hoot as he ripped her left eye from its socket. Miranda staggered then tripped and fell, desperately trying to fend of the vengeful baby dragon.
