by Michael Kerr
“Be that as it may,” Magar said. “Evil can only flourish if it has followers who put aside all notion of what they know to be right. You have no compassion for others.”
“From the time we are hatched, we are taught to believe that all other life forms are the enemy,” Zoot said. “Being reptilian, we do not have the same type of emotions as you warm-blooded creatures. It is hard for me to understand what compassion is.”
“It is having the ability to show pity and be helpful and merciful,” Magar said by way of explanation.
“This is getting us nowhere,” Gorf said. “What do you plan to do, Fig?”
“Magar has described the route we must take through an underground tunnel that will lead us to vaults beneath a temple inside the walls. We have drawn a map of―”
“You don’t need a map, now,” Zoot said. I can lead you through Ganzo’s fortress and help you to free the other fairies. All I ask is that if we escape with our lives, you allow me to go back with you to your land.”
“Very well,” Fig said.
“I thought there were three of you,” Sam said to Fig.
“There was.” Fig told them what had happened, and of how Squill had been weakened by the poison of the dart fired at him. And that while resting at the side of a lagoon, something had snatched him.
Sitting on slabs of rock around a fire, they all told their stories, of the dangers they had faced, and of the strange creatures they had met. Ramuf did not return.
“It’s time we got started,” Fig said. “It is almost dark.”
“At the rear of the cave you will find lengths of thick tree roots, like those I use on the fire. They are slow burning and will make fine torches,” Magar said. “And Juno will take you to the doorway of the passageway that leads under the walls.”
“I would enter the fortress with you,” Juno said. “But I am far too big to squeeze into the tunnel.”
“If you survive, return here” Magar said as they made to leave. “Do not attempt to use the route you took up to the top of the plateau. There is another trail at the other side of the mountain that the horgs have no knowledge of.”
Remaining visible to them, Juno led the way through the forest, to a place where the ruins of ancient stone-built buildings were now smothered by ivy and other vegetation. He gripped the edge of a pitted granite slab with his front paws, and using his enormous strength, pulled it back to reveal a stairway that led down into the pitch blackness.
The group stepped down below ground level, and after lighting several torches from the lit one that Gorf had carried, Juno pushed the slab over the entrance again, leaving a gap just wide enough for them to get back through.
“Good luck,” Juno said to them, before becoming invisible and bounding away.
― CHAPTER ELEVEN ―
SACRIFICE
Sam counted exactly one hundred steps before they reached the bottom of the stairway and entered a low, narrow passage that smelled of damp and rot. And where fungus did not cover the stone walls, they could see engravings of figures and strange animals that seemed to move in the flickering light of their torches.
They moved quickly along the cold tunnel for a long time, their footsteps echoing, sending large rats scurrying into crevices. Foul-smelling water dripped from the ceiling, and a living carpet of enormous cockroaches scuttled noisily ahead of them, legs click-clacking as they fled from the light. Eventually they came to the end of the tunnel, to be faced by a wall of stone slabs so perfectly carved that the seams between them could hardly be seen.
Protruding from the centre of the wall in front of them was a large circular stone with strange symbols etched around its edge. There were also markings on the wall around it.
“Now what?” Tommy said. “Magar didn’t mention this.”
“He must have forgotten about it,” Sam said. “He’s very old, and hundreds of years could have passed since he fled through this passage.”
“I think it’s like a combination dial on a safe,” Ben said.
“And we have no idea how to open it,” Gorf said.
“Just twiddle it and see what happens,” Tommy suggested.
“No, don’t do that,” Zoot hissed. “If you move it the wrong way, anything might happen.”
“Such as?” Tommy asked.
“There are some doors like this in the Pyramid of the Moons,” Zoot replied. “When one was tampered with, a slit opened in the ceiling above it, and a blade dropped down and sliced a soldier in two. And when another lock like this was turned, a spear shot out below it and impaled the horg standing in front of it. The only way in was to chisel out the entire door.”
“We don’t have chisels, and can’t just stand here and look at it forever,” Ben said.
Fig fluttered up and hovered in front of the granite disk. Reached out with his hand and drew a figure of eight in the air with his index finger. Sam remembered that this was how he had opened doors at the Oak Palace.
The seconds passed and nothing happened. Fig repeated the magical sign and the dial began to vibrate. Fig waved his finger once more, and with a puff of dust the circular stone moved to the left, then to the right, back and forth six times before coming to a stop.
They all stood back and watched as the blocks that made up the barrier before them parted in the middle, and with a grating of rock on rock, drew back into recesses in the walls at either side.
“Way to go, Fig,” Tommy said.
“How come you still have your powers?” Ben asked. “I thought the farther you travelled from home, the weaker they got.”
“It is because the crown is nearby,” Fig said. “Its energy is the source of our ability to perform magical feats. Those we have left behind, including my nephew, the king, will now be without any power, and will not even be able to fly.”
Before them lay another narrow staircase, leading deeper into the earth. At the bottom of it they came to an archway leading out into the vaults of the Temple of Urucuaro.
“We did not know that this underground place existed,” Zoot said.
“But you said you could guide us,” Speedy said.
“I can, from up above.”
They walked slowly through the vast, circular chamber. Around the walls were enormous statues that acted as supporting pillars between the mosaic-tiled floor and the ceiling far above them. In the very centre of the vault was a round structure that reminded Ben of a cooling tower. It was made of smooth white stone, and there was no way of knowing whether it was solid or hollow. He touched it, and the stone was hot. Around it, resting on plinths in rows that stretched away into the gloom, were oblong blocks fashioned out of something similar to the lava glass they had seen in the Mountains of Fire.
“It’s creepy in here,” Pook said. “Let’s find the way out.”
Ben walked over to the nearest coffin-shaped block and held his sputtering torch up close to the mirror-like surface. “There’s somebody inside it,” he said, jumping back.
The others gathered round and peered through the dark glass. Inside was a body, trapped in exactly the same way an object is set in a lucite paperweight.
The figure was laid with its arms folded across its chest, and had the same pointy ears and blue skin as Magar, but was dressed in a gold-coloured tunic and wore a helmet similar to the one’s that were worn by Egyptian pharaohs.
Moving from one coffin to another, they saw that each one held a body dressed exactly the same.
“Who do you think they are...were?” Tommy asked no one in particular.
“Important,” Sam said. “Rulers, or maybe priests.”
“Then the sooner we get out of here the better,” Gorf said. “Remember that priest at the Temple of Kadu...Sharlo? If any of these come back to life, then I don’t want to be around when it happens.”
They hurried on and came to a flight of steps that led up from the vault to another door. This one had a lever, where on a normal door the handle would have been.
“What d
o you think?” Sam said. “Should I pull it down?”
“I’ll do it,” Gorf said. “Stand well back in case it’s booby trapped.”
Using both hands, Gorf eased the lever down, and they heard a rasping sound as the locking mechanism disengaged.
Gorf pushed the door open, but only a few inches. As he peered through the gap, what he saw made the fur stiffen across his shoulders, and he began to growl.
“What is it, Gorf?” Sam asked. “What can you see?”
Being so small, Fig squeezed between Gorf’s legs and gasped at the sight that met him.
The door that Gorf had opened appeared to be just one of many decorated wall panels in a large, round, high-ceilinged chamber. Within it, hundreds of horgs were assembled, chanting and looking inwards to where a line of shackled prisoners were standing at the edge of a pit.
Ben took a quick look. He now knew that the tower they had seen below in the vault was hollow, and that its opening was in the floor of the Temple.
“Close the door,” Zoot said. “And snuff out your torches. We must not be seen.”
Gorf pulled the door to, leaving only a narrow, finger-wide gap that would not be noticed in the shadows of the ill-lit temple.
“What’s going on out there?” Speedy asked Fig.”
“I don’t know,” Fig said. “But amongst others, I have just seen an old friend, Woodbine, standing with his hands bound together, and his wings clipped off.”
“Is that so he can’t fly?” Tommy said.
“It is because removing a fairy’s wings robs him of his ability to make magic, Tommy,” Fig replied. “We cannot harm the horgs; they are immune to our spells. But if Woodbine’s wings had not been clipped, he could change shape, to become an insect or some other creature that could escape from them.
“This is the night of the alignment of the moons, when all three moons are in line and appear to be one,” Zoot said. “It is when sacrifices are offered up to the Dark One, to show our allegiance to him and his son, our leader, Ganzo.”
“You mean that they are going to kill Woodbine?” Speedy asked.
“Yes,” Zoot said. “He will be cast into the lake of molten lava that lies deep under the temple.”
Only Gorf watched through the gap as, one by one, the tethered prisoners were forced at spear point to step out onto a plank, then off its end, to vanish into the pit. His hatred for the horgs grew. But it was a cold, controlled rage, which he determined to use to give him the drive to not only free any prisoners still alive, but seek out Ganzo and kill him.
After the last of the fairies was forced at spear point to jump to a fiery death, the horg soldiers filed out of the giant amphitheatre, and silence replaced the chanting.
“They’ve all gone,” Gorf said, and pushed the secret door open, closing it again after the others had followed him through it. He then took an arrow from his quiver and scratched a cross on the door with its point, so that they would be able to find it again if they returned the same way.
“There are too many of you,” Zoot said. “Some should stay here and wait.”
“Are you saying that too many cooks spoil the broth?” Ben said.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Zoot said.
“Humankind has strange sayings,” Speedy said.
“It means that too many people can get in each other’s way, and probably foul up,” Tommy said.
“Foul up?” Zoot asked.
“Forget it,” Sam said. “What do you suggest?”
“That Gorf, Fig, Speedy and I make our way to where I know the remaining fairies will be imprisoned in the dungeons under the Pyramid of the Moons.”
“That sounds like a real good plan,” Pook said. “In fact, we should have stayed with Magar and Juno.”
“How long do you think it will take you to free the fairies and find the crown?” Ben asked.
“How long is a lummox’s tail?” Zoot said, making up his own saying.
Sam smiled. “We say, ‘How long is a piece of string’, Zoot.”
“Then you know that I have no idea what will happen, or how much time might pass before we return. But if we are not back before sunup, then I fear we will have failed, and will end up being eaten, after first being put to the Test.”
“What is the ‘Test’?” Ben asked.
“Ganzo enjoys his sport. There is an arena in which many prisoners are forced to fight each other to the death, or are made to face all manner of ferocious creatures.”
“This creep Ganzo is seriously not right in the head,” Tommy said. “Are you going to take him out, Gorf?”
“If I get the chance I will, Tommy,” Gorf replied.
Tommy grinned. To him, Gorf was a furry version of the Terminator; unstoppable, once he had locked-in on to a target.
“Rescuing our friends should be easy,” Fig said. “Being so near to the crown, Speedwell and I still have our powers. My plan is that we shall change our shape, and yours, Gorf, to appear as horgs.”
Before Gorf could argue, Fig reached out and touched his leg. Gorf’s body twisted and began to alter. His fur disappeared and scales formed in its place. He grunted as his bones reformed, and he shrunk a few inches. When the transformation was complete he looked almost identical to Zoot.
“That feels extremely peculiar,” Gorf said to Fig. “I don’t think I like being a horg.”
“You aren’t a horg,” Speedy said as he and Fig changed to become lizard men. “You just look like one, as we do now.”
“Are you absolutely certain you can change me back?” Gorf asked.
“As certain as I am of anything in an uncertain world,” Fig said.
Gorf tried to growl, but it sounded more like a hiss.
“Follow me,” Zoot said. “We should be able to move freely now, without raising suspicion. But should we be stopped, let me do the talking.”
With Zoot in the lead, they skirted the sacrificial pit and crossed the temple to a set of double doors that led out into a large courtyard. Directly opposite was a building that looked like a medieval castle, almost silhouetted in the multicoloured light of the three moons, which had now passed each other and appeared to be side by side, although they were at a vastly different distance from each other. The castle was unlike the other buildings, and had been built by the horgs after they had invaded and taken over the city on top of the Black Tower.
Head over towards that doorway to your left,” Zoot said to the others. “It leads to the dungeons.”
The spiral staircase inside the door led both up and down. They made their way down and came to a barred gate. Zoot rattled it and shouted, “Javek, stop drinking that rot-gut brew of fermented fruit and let us in.”
A horg much taller than Zoot appeared from a doorway, belched, and wiped the pink froth of the strong ale from his mouth with the back of his clawed hand. He only had one hand. His left arm was missing from below the elbow, and the sleeve of the loose garment he wore was pinned up to where the limb ended.
“Greetings, Zoot?” Javek said. “What brings you down here at this time of night? Have you brought more prisoners to fill up my cells?”
As Javek reached for a bunch of keys that jangled from a large steel ring that was attached to his belt by a chain, Zoot told him that they had been sent by one of Ganzo’s captains to collect a fairy for interrogation.
“Then I should cross one off my board,” Javek said, swinging back the gate to let them in. “For none that are taken from here to the Pyramid ever come back.”
Followed by the others, Zoot walked along a dimly-lit landing with oak doors to either side of it. Each door was fitted with a hinged flap at the bottom – which could be opened to pass food and water through – and a small circular spy hole at head height for the gaoler to look in and check on the prisoners inside.
Javek selected another key from his bunch and unlocked a door that led into a dungeon. There were at least ten fairies inside, all chained up and hanging from a wall by manacles fastened
to their wrists.
As Zoot, Gorf, Fig and Speedy stared at the helpless fairies, a dozen horg soldiers ran into the dungeon, aiming crossbows at them.
“What is the meaning of this?” Zoot asked the captain in charge of them.
“Do not waste my time by trying to lie your way out of the trouble you are in, Zoot,” the captain, whose name was Meeva, said. “Your intentions are known to us. You and these others, that I believe to be fairies masquerading as horgs, are here to set the prisoners free. We knew that you were coming.”
“How?” Zoot said, knowing that the game was up.
“You were betrayed. A lummox by the name of Ramuf was captured near the fortress. The soldiers were hungry and decided to kill and eat the beast, but it told them it had knowledge of a plot, and was brought to the pyramid.”
Fig was about to change himself, Speedy and Gorf into flea-sized insects that could escape unseen in the gloom. But Meeva said something that stopped him.
“And if you fairies with Zoot turn into anything other than your true forms, then I will have these and all the other prisoners beheaded. Now show yourselves to me as you really are.”
With a pop and a flash, Fig, Speedy and Gorf appeared as themselves.
“What are you?” Meeva asked Gorf as two of his soldiers drew sharp knives and quickly lopped off Fig’s and Speedy’s wings, rendering them totally powerless.
“I am Gorf,” he replied. A hunter from the Desert of Storms.”
“Well, Gorf, you appear to be a fearsome creature,” Meeva said, having to crane his neck to look up into Gorf’s face. “I should think that our master, Ganzo, will decide to put you to the Test in the arena. Although, big as you are, I fear you will be no match for the opponent you will be pitted against.”
Fig and Speedy were chained to the wall with the other fairies, and Gorf and Zoot had their weapons taken from them and were locked in another cell, to be shackled and left in the pitch-blackness.
