Royal Institute of Magic: The Shadowseeker (Book 2)

by Victor Kloss

  “Who says you always need a wall?” Charlie said. “Why don't you try it now and see what happens?”

  “Try what?”

  Charlie gave a vague wave. “You know, your Guardian thing, whatever it is you do that results in suddenly finding a hidden passageway.”

  “Right. Well, normally I spin around, tap my head three times and sacrifice a goat to Fortuna, the god of luck.”

  Charlie made a show of looking around. “We might have an issue with the goat.”

  “Guys, come on,” Natalie said. “Really, Ben, is there nothing you can do? I know it's different from other times, but we're kind of desperate. In case you've forgotten, the solar eclipse is tomorrow.”

  “I haven't forgotten,” Ben said. He got to his feet, and started pacing the dungeon slowly. Joking aside, the Guardian aspect was a good idea; it was how they got into the dungeon in the first place. Ben took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Where hadn't they looked? The answer came to him so suddenly his eyes jolted open.

  The floor.

  “What are you doing?” Charlie asked.

  “Shh, let him concentrate.”

  Ben had got onto his hands and knees. He knew immediately he had done the right thing. A subtle vibration ran up his limbs, into his chest, making his hairs stand on end. He crawled forwards. The vibrations increased. He crawled a bit further, and they receded. Left? No. Right? Yes, the vibrations increased further. He crawled forwards again. It was slow, painstaking progress, but gradually he homed in on the floor slabs producing the greatest vibrations. It was here, somewhere – though he still wasn't sure what he was looking for. He was dimly aware that Charlie and Natalie were staring at him, but he blanked them out. Ben's eyes locked on the slabs – some were no bigger than a brick; others could have held a car. They were solid, unmoving, built by a master craftsman many centuries ago.

  Ben wasn't sure how he spotted it, but he knew when his eyes ran over a small, perfectly square slab that this one was special. He put his hand on the centre of it, and gently pressed down.

  There was a loud click, followed by the rumble of cogs moving.

  Natalie screamed.

  A giant slab was moving, creating a large black hole in the ground. Natalie was on that slab. She leapt to safety, landing next to a stunned Charlie.

  Ben got up and hurried over to the hole, and the three of them peered into it. Blackness, total and complete. Natalie pointed her spellshooter into the hole, but the light was too weak to penetrate.

  “You did it,” Charlie said. “Now, any volunteers to jump into the black, bottomless pit?”

  “I'll do it,” Ben said.

  “What a surprise.”

  “Be careful, Ben,” Natalie said. “You have absolutely no idea how far the drop is.”

  Ben was very aware of that. Just looking into the blackness made his stomach do unpleasant things.

  “This is obviously a way in,” Ben said, trying to convince himself as much as anyone. “I can't see how they would make a drop that would kill someone.”

  Ben sat down so that his legs were dangling over the edge. It really was black down there; he felt like he was jumping into space. Several times he tried dropping down, but his body's natural desire to survive kept holding him back.

  “Do you want me to push you?” Charlie asked, with a perfectly straight face.

  “No, I'm fine.”

  Ben counted down in his head. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.

  With a cry, he leapt off the edge, into the black hole. He extended his arms and bent his legs. The fall seemed to take forever, but it was only seconds before Ben saw the ground rise to meet him. He landed painfully and rolled, his knees absorbing most of the fall. The rock was hard beneath his body, scratching and bruising his exposed skin. He lay there for a moment, heart hammering, until his ragged breathing slowed. Then he stood up and dusted himself down. The fall had been less than ten feet. He could see the faces of Charlie and Natalie peering down, but from their anxious faces it was clear they couldn't see him.

  “I'm fine!” he shouted up to them. Their expressions didn't alter; so they couldn't hear him either. Ben cursed. He would have to be quick, in order not to worry them. He appeared to be on some sort of ledge. There was a dim light that permeated the place, though Ben couldn't identify its source. Ben walked tentatively to the edge. The sight that greeted him took his breath away. It was a cavern so vast that it looked like an underground mountain range. Cliffs, rocks and caves descended as far as the eye could see. There were small plateaus at various points, providing brief breaks for anyone trying to climb down. Ben loved climbing. He used to seek out the biggest trees he could find and even belonged to a rock climbing club. But this was something else; this was a hundred times bigger than anything he'd ever encountered.

  A sudden thump and a curse broke Ben's hypnotic gaze. He turned and saw Charlie lying flat on his back.

  “Oh, that hurt!” he said, sitting up and rubbing his backside.

  “What are you doing down here?” Ben asked, with surprise.

  Charlie gave him an angry look. “I didn't have a choice, did I? You vanished, and you weren't responding to our calls. We had no idea what had happened to you.”

  Ben felt a sudden rush of gratitude towards Charlie, knowing just how dangerous that jump was. For all he knew, Ben had jumped to his death, and yet Charlie had still followed him.

  “I'm sorry,” Ben said. “I could hear you, but you couldn't hear me.”

  “That's inconvenient,” Charlie said, standing up.

  Ben realised the danger they were in. The opening above was too high to reach without assistance. If Natalie joined them, they would be in deep trouble.

  “We need to get back up, quick,” Ben said, urgently.

  Too late. Natalie jumped, and landed with a good deal more grace than either Ben or Charlie.

  “Oh, that wasn't too bad,” she said, dusting her hands off. Then she spotted Ben’s and Charlie's horrified looks. “What is it?”

  “We can't get back up,” Charlie said, his voice numb.

  Natalie paled and looked up at the hole above her. She jumped with surprising height, but her hands were still a good two feet short of the ledge. She got her spellshooter out, and fired a pellet into her chest. Nothing happened. Magic, it seemed, didn't work down here.

  “What's that?”

  Charlie was pointing to a dark spot at the other end of the ledge. Whatever it was, it seemed to deflect light, and they couldn't make it out until they were almost upon it.

  It was a rope, neatly curled. Ben picked it up. It felt soft in his hands, almost silk-like.

  “Useful if we're going down, but not for going up,” Ben said ruefully.

  But Natalie snatched the rope from him with excitement.

  “That might not be true,” she said. She ran over to the hole, and threw one end of the rope upwards. The rope gained purchase from somewhere. To Ben's astonishment, when Natalie tugged it, the rope became taut, instead of falling back down.

  “I knew it!” she said. “This is a magical rope. Someone must have left the rope down here, so they could get back up again.”

  “I wonder who,” Ben mused.

  Charlie tested the rope. “Who knows? Can we get out of here? I don't trust this rope.”

  As he was climbing up, Ben took one last glance back at the abyss. They would be back tomorrow.

  — Chapter Twenty-Eight —

  Going Alone

  Ben found sleep difficult that night; his mind clearly had no intention of taking a break. But, knowing how important rest could be, Ben forced himself to stay in bed as long as possible the following morning.

  Breakfast too was important. Though he didn't feel like eating, he didn't know when his next meal would come and he needed the energy for the long climb down the cavern. His grandma had eaten all the eggs (though she had kindly left the shells scattered across the kitchen top), so Ben settled for a big bowl of corn flakes. He dipped his
hand into his money box and was dismayed to find that he was down to his last twenty-pound note. Was he really that low? The Institute had been giving him a small weekly wage, but somehow he seemed to spend it all. Ben was starting to suspect that his grandma had found his hiding spot again. He would have to find another place for it.

  Charlie was surprisingly lacking in his usual gear when Ben met him on the road outside the house.

  “No backpack and sleeping bag?” Ben asked, with a playful nudge on the shoulder.

  “I thought about it, but I have a feeling we'll either be in and out in short order, or we'll be dead.”

  “Full of optimism as always,” Ben said, as they headed towards the Croydon headquarters.

  Neither of them talked a great deal on their journey to the Institute. Partly because they didn't want to be overheard, and partly because they had already ironed out all the details yesterday. The solar eclipse would occur at 12:17pm and would last for roughly nine minutes. Their best chance of getting round the forreck would be in that time frame, but according to Lornor there was a two-hour window where the forreck would theoretically be weakened. Because they didn't know how long it would take to find the boots, their plan was to get into the cavern as early as possible.

  It was one of those rare days where Ben barely noticed their arrival into Taecia or their walk up to the Institute. His legs were on automatic, his mind engrossed in every possibility that might befall them when they entered the cavern. He came back into the real world only when he heard Natalie's voice. They had passed the Institute walls and were approaching the water fountain. Natalie was talking to a couple of Threes, whose names Ben had forgotten. Both were guys and they were clearly trying to chat her up. Ben watched with amusement, Charlie less so, as Natalie eventually managed to excuse herself.

  “Sorry about that,” Natalie said, looking a little embarrassed and also slightly concerned, Ben was surprised to see. “I hope they don't report me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I'm going to be skipping the morning's chores, and may also miss this afternoon's study period,” Natalie said. “My plan had been to say that I wasn't feeling well, but they've just seen me looking perfectly healthy.”

  “They won't tell,” Ben assured her. “That would ruin their chances of going out with you.”

  Natalie had the good grace to blush, but Ben knew she wasn't ignorant of her beauty and that he was probably right.

  “Shall we get going?” Charlie asked, a little stiffly, clearly uncomfortable with the topic of conversation.

  They had to wait twenty minutes for an opportune moment to sneak round the back of the Institute. Ben found the door within the door easily this time. They crawled through and walked silently down the stairs until they reached the dungeon. Ben took a little longer to locate the stone that triggered the trap door, for it was no longer in the same place. Despite knowing exactly how far down the jump was into the hole, Ben still felt a shot of adrenaline when he dropped off the ledge into the darkness. He landed hard, but managed to stay on his feet this time. Charlie landed with a bump and a roll, whereas Natalie landed smoothly.

  Ben walked to the edge and stared down at the mighty cavern, dimly lit by a faint glow that came from somewhere above. There were rocks, crags and stalactites everywhere. Ben's trained eye picked the best place to start their descent.

  “Climbing isn't my strong point,” Charlie said, joining Ben at the edge.

  “Natalie and I will help you,” Ben said. He was starting to suspect that Natalie was a better climber than he was.

  “What's our plan?” Charlie asked. “And please don't give me some simplistic answer. We're about to encounter an animal that can take down a dragon.”

  “According to Lornor, the forreck is most comfortable at the deepest level of the cavern,” Ben said. “So we go down, until we can't go down any further.”

  “And then what?” Natalie asked.

  “Once we are fairly certain we know where the forreck is, we wait for the solar eclipse, at 12:17pm. Then we approach with extreme caution.”

  “And if the forreck is still alive and kicking?”

  “Then we retreat,” Ben said reluctantly. “Let's hope that's not the case, otherwise we can say goodbye to Elizabeth's Boots.”

  “I like the plan,” Natalie said. “It's 9:30am now, so that gives us nearly three hours to get down there.”

  Ben rubbed his hands together. “Let's get going.”

  Ben considered himself a good climber, but, as he had suspected, Natalie turned out to be even better. Ben could reach for unlikely holds and take reckless risks, but Natalie's balance was phenomenal and she could jump like a gazelle, leaping from one precipice to the next, while Ben and Charlie stared on in astonishment. Charlie tried gamely to keep up, but Ben and Natalie would often have to wait or help by pointing out holds. Ben was glad they had allocated so much time, because it was slow going, and the cavern seemed to have no end. Thoughts of the forreck and Elizabeth's Boots receded; all effort was focused on reaching the bottom of the cavern. A glance up and Ben was reminded how far they had come; their entrance point was no longer visible. Ben wasn't even sure if he remembered how to get back.

  “What's that?”

  They were taking a brief rest on a small ledge, and Charlie had wandered to the edge. He was pointing at something down below.

  Ben and Natalie joined him, and instantly saw what he was talking about. A strange blue fog covered a plateau less than twenty feet below them

  “Uh oh,” Natalie said.

  “I don't suppose that's a good 'uh oh',” Charlie said. “As in, uh oh, that weird blue fog will levitate us serenely to the bottom of this endless cavern.”

  “Not quite,” Natalie said. “That blue fog is a spell cloud. They are used to defend an area because they can stay put for years without disappearing. When we enter that fog, we will trigger a spell.”

  “What's it doing here?” Ben asked.

  “My guess is that Charlotte Rowe set up various defensive measures to stop people getting down to the bottom.”

  “What sort of spell do you think is in the spell cloud?” Charlie asked.

  Natalie shrugged. “The possibilities are endless.”

  “Well, let's find out,” Ben said. He picked up a stone, and threw it into the fog. A fireball, no bigger than a tennis ball, formed from nowhere and flew right into the stone, turning it into a black mess.

  The three of them watched in stunned silence.

  “Time to look for an alternate way down,” Charlie said.

  But after five minutes of searching, they saw no way round without losing a substantial amount of time.

  “Better we lose time than our skin, surely?” Charlie said.

  “I'd rather not lose either,” Ben said. He bent down and picked up several stones. “I wonder what would happen if I did this.”

  He threw three stones, a fraction of a second between them. The first one attracted a fireball, but the moment the second stone entered the fog, the fireball diverted its path and hit the second stone, leaving the first one untouched. The third stone was hit by another fireball.

  “See that!” Ben said, pointing with excitement at the blue fog.

  “I saw two of the three stones get burnt to a crisp,” Charlie said.

  “That's right,” Ben said, grinning. “The first one didn't get hit.” He started searching for more stones and picking them up. “We can use these like submarines use counter-measures, to divert the fireballs away from us.”

  “That might work,” Natalie said, and she joined Ben searching for stones.

  “It's fraught with risk and has little chance of success,” Charlie said. “Which means it's a typical Ben plan.” He sighed and joined in the hunt for stones.

  When their pockets were full, they started down the small cliff, approaching the blue fog slowly. Ben, who was the furthest down, stopped just a foot from the fog.

  “The plateau is small,” Ben
said. “We should be able to run through it in a matter of seconds. Then there is the jump – do you think you can make it, Charlie?”

  The jump in question was a five-foot gap at the end of the foggy plateau, which led to another huge rock and safety.

  “I should be okay,” Charlie said, his voice a little shaky. “So who goes first?”

  “We go together,” Ben said, staring grimly at the blue fog. “That will confuse it more, and I doubt it can produce enough fire balls to stop all of us. I will lead, as I think the person in front will attract the most. Are you both ready?”

  “No,” Charlie said, at the same time as Natalie said, “Yes.”

  “On three,” Ben said. “One, two… three!”

  Ben leapt off the cliff and dropped right into the blue fog. He hit the ground running. From the corner of his eye he saw the first fireball materialise and speed towards him, tinted blue from the fog. Ben threw a stone to the side of him. The fireball swerved, leaving a trail of smoke, and engulfed the stone. Even as it exploded, another fireball formed, but its target was elsewhere – Charlie or Natalie, Ben couldn't see who. The edge of the plateau was fast approaching, and Ben could see another fireball coming his way, but he didn't have time to divert it. He planted his foot firmly on the edge of the cliff and leapt. Something hot scorched his trailing leg and he gave a cry of pain. He lost momentum and only just cleared the gap, rolling and sliding on the new rock. He sat up, and was promptly knocked down again as Charlie rolled into him. He looked frazzled and wide-eyed, but unhurt.

  “That wasn't so bad,” Natalie said.

  Ben hadn't seen her jump the gap, but from the looks of it she had sailed across serenely, and looked unharmed.

  “Yes, let's do it again, shall we?” Charlie said, getting to his feet.

  Ben rubbed his left thigh as he rose. His trousers were singed and the skin was red and tender.

  “Ben, are you okay?” Natalie asked, with alarm.

  “I'm fine,” Ben said, grimacing. It stung badly, but he didn't want to make a scene. “Let's keep going. It's just passed 10:30am, which means we have less than two hours left.”

  Ben had a nasty feeling they would be seeing more spell clouds, and less than twenty minutes later his fear was realised. With time starting to become pressing, Ben was reluctant to let the spell clouds divert their course, but occasionally it was unavoidable, as it was when they encountered a pale yellow fog that instantly turned a thrown stone to ice, or the red fog that caused another stone to explode. Despite that, they made steady progress, climbing ever downwards, until they encountered the black fog. It floated within a small passage that was squeezed between two huge rocks.