Wychetts and the Dungeon of Dreams

by William Holley

  “Magister worked for no one but himself,” said Maddy. “He wanted to usurp the Wise Ones and rule the Realm of Magic on his own.”

  “Wow. This is just like a story book plot.” Edwin was eager to find out more. “So what happened when he got his hands on the Tome? Did he fight the Wise Ones? Was there some sort of magic war?”

  “I don’t know.” Maddy looked at the table. “By then I’d transported myself to the future, and I’ve never tried to find out what became of Magister. In some ways I don’t want to know.”

  “Sure.” It suddenly struck Edwin that Maddy might not have wished to dwell on past events. “I’m sorry I brought it up. But if you told your family what happens, it could change everything for the better. Your family would be saved, and the Wise Ones could act against this Magister guy before he gets his hands on the Tome.”

  “So history would be changed.” Maddy’s eyes glistened with tears when she looked up at Edwin. “And we wouldn’t meet, so you’d never experience a magic party.”

  “Good point. And I’m grateful. But this is your family we’re talking about.” Edwin glanced at the other Maddergrubs enjoying their party. “Surely they’re more important to you than anything else?”

  “What’s done is done,” said Maddy. “Meddling with history can have all sorts of nasty consequences, which is why the Wise Ones banned magic time travel. I’ll find a way to be with my family again, but not like this.”

  Edwin considered Maddy’s words whilst she polished off the remains of her meal.

  “That was delicious.” Maddy lowered her knife and fork. “The sprouts tasted just like chocolate.”

  “Chocolate sprouts?” Edwin wasn’t sure if he’d heard her right.

  “Great thing about magic food, it can taste like anything you want. Plus the washing up takes care of itself.” Maddy clicked her fingers and the dirty plate vanished. “Now it’s time to cut the cake. Fancy a slice?”

  Edwin reluctantly declined the offer. “I haven’t had my first course yet.”

  “We’ll soon take care of that.” Maddy snapped her fingers again. A large dish with a domed silver cover answered her summons, gliding to a rest beside Edwin.

  Despite his hunger, Edwin was still thinking about Maddy’s story.

  “But don’t you ever wonder what happened to this Magister guy?”

  “Who cares?” Maddy shrugged with apparent indifference. “He’s history.”

  “Not now he isn’t. We travelled back in time, so he’s still alive at this very moment.”

  “Don’t worry.” Maddy smiled reassuringly. “He can’t get to us here. Nothing can spoil our magic party. Now have a savoury pastry.”

  Edwin switched his attention to the domed platter parked beside him. He smiled with anticipation, visualising a heap of perfect pastries all baked to a scrumptious golden brown. But when the domed cover lifted he found himself looking at a face.

  A familiar face of a pretty, dark eyed girl.

  Edwin gawped at the girl. The girl gawped back at him. Then she opened her mouth and screamed…

  20 Surpri-ise!

  “Edwin!” Bryony jumped from the platter, showering the floor with pastries. “You’re safe!”

  “Bryony!” Edwin sprang from his chair. “How did you get in that platter of pastries?”

  “I’m not sure,” admitted Bryony. “Guess it was down to magic.”

  Of course, Edwin should have known that. “So Inglenook sent you?”

  Bryony shook her head. “I haven’t spoken to him since I left home.”

  “So how did you get here?” Edwin noticed his stepsister’s bedraggled appearance. “And how come you look such a state?”

  “I look a state?” Bryony realised she might not look her best, but she was equally curious about Edwin’s strange appearance. “Why are you wearing a dress? And those awful yellow tights? They make you look like a herring.”

  “You mean a heron.” Edwin decided to change the subject. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re safe. Maddy reckoned you might have been kidnapped.”

  “Malady Maddergrub.” Bryony’s expression darkened when she spotted the bespectacled green haired girl sitting opposite Edwin. “What are you doing here?”

  “I should be asking the same of you.” Maddy returned Bryony’s hostile look. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “No.” At last Bryony realised who had kidnapped her. “I should be rotting away in your dungeon, huh?”

  Maddy’s scowl softened into a frown. “There’s no dungeon at Maddergrub Manor.”

  “Maddergrub Manor?” Bryony’s expression mirrored Maddy’s again. “I thought the place got blown up. So how…”

  “We’ve travelled back in time,” said Edwin. “Eight hundred years to Maddy’s past. It was the only way to save Wychetts and everyone from the Vampi...” Still he couldn’t say the word, so looked at Maddy for help.

  “Vampiropteryx,” she clarified.

  “Vampiropteryx?” Bryony was none the wiser. “What are they?”

  Although irritated that Bryony could pronounce the word so easily, Edwin was happy to explain. “Evil bat creatures from another dimension that spit green fire and feed on magic. They lured you away from home, then used poisonous plants to drug Inglenook so they could steal Wychetts’ power. Luckily Maddy was visiting, or we’d never have stood a chance of beating them.”

  Edwin was convinced of his story, but Bryony was far from persuaded.

  “But if the Vampiropteryx kidnapped me, why would they have brought me back in time and thrown me into Maddy’s dungeon?”

  “We don’t have a dungeon,” insisted Maddy.

  “So I dreamed it all, huh?” Bryony snarled angrily. “I dreamed all the dank corridors and death traps and giant cockroaches. That’s why I’m covered from head to foot in troll snot and slunge.”

  Maddy wrinkled her nose. “What’s slunge?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough,” vowed Bryony. “When you land head first in the stuff from a very great height.”

  “Is everything all right?” A green haired woman hurried over, her eyebrows creasing as she studied Bryony. “And who is this young lady? Another guest?”

  “This is my Great Aunt.” Edwin answered Lady Maddergrub before Maddy could speak. “Baroness Bryony of, um…Blubberbum.”

  “Blubber-what?” Bryony glared at Edwin.

  “A small province in the east of my kingdom,” fibbed Edwin. “Baroness Bryony, may I introduce you to Lady Maddergrub and her family.”

  Bryony saw three children standing behind the woman. They were all similar to Maddy, with green hair and freckles, and all wearing the same dumb glasses.

  “Rosabella, Floriana, and Alphonsus.” Edwin introduced Maddy’s siblings in turn, before gesturing to a golden haired man with a cleft chin and bright blue eyes who came striding across the hall. “And this is Lord Maddergrub, Maddy’s father.”

  The girls curtseyed. Lord Maddergrub and Alphonsus bowed. Bryony ignored them, scowling at Edwin instead.

  “Blubberbum? Were you saying I’m f…”

  “You must excuse Aunt Bryony’s manners.” Edwin made an apologetic bow to his hosts. “The Baroness was captured by the Vampi… our enemies, and has just escaped their horrible dungeon.”

  “We understand.” Lady Maddergrub smiled sympathetically at Bryony. “And the Baroness is more than welcome to stay here.”

  Rosabella looked up from her hand mirror to smile at Bryony. “That would be lovely. I can give her some beauty tips.”

  Bryony wasn’t impressed. “Why should I take beauty tips from someone with bogey coloured hair?”

  “I apologise.” Rosabella pointed at Bryony’s head. “But you actually do have bogeys in your hair.”

  “Oh yeah.” Bryony remembered she’d been drenched in Globb’s snot. “Fair point, I suppose.”

  “You are indeed most welcome to stay here, Baroness Blubberbum.” Lord Maddergrub beamed at Bryony. “Why, your safe return is even more
reason to celebrate. Let us continue with the party.”

  “Party?” Up to now Bryony hadn’t registered the bright streamers and bunting hanging from the ceiling, or the long table lined with guests, including a monkey in a glittery sombrero, who were now all staring at her.

  “It doesn’t matter about all that.” Edwin reached out to take his stepsister’s arm. “The main thing is that you’re safe. I was worried sick about you.”

  “Sure.” Bryony pulled her arm away from Edwin. “Must have really taken the edge off your party.”

  “I…” Edwin realised what this must have looked like to Bryony. “It was just a little party.”

  “I can see that. Just several hundred guests and a cake the size of Canada.”

  “It’s fruit,” said Edwin, hoping to smooth Bryony’s demeanour. “Fancy a slice?”

  “I’m not hungry.” Bryony had secretly helped herself to a pastry whilst trapped in the dome covered dish. “All I want is to go home. So come on.” She beckoned to Edwin. “We’re leaving.”

  “Edwin’s going nowhere,” said Maddy. “He’s having a great time, with people who love him. Isn’t that true, mother?”

  “We love Prince Edwin as our own,” said Lady Maddergrub.

  “He is the elder son we never had,” Maddy’s father agreed.

  “I thought he looked weird at first,” admitted Alphonsus. “What with his silly hair and his heron legs. But now I look up to him as an older brother.”

  “I love Prince Edwin with all my heart.” Floriana held up a little ginger haired dolly. “And I cannot wait for him to marry Maddy.”

  “You’re going to get married?” Bryony looked quizzically at Edwin.

  “She’s only joking.” Edwin looked pleadingly at Maddy. “Tell her that Floriana is only joking.”

  Maddy looked hurt. “Oh Edwin. Are you having second thoughts? I’ll let you wear the dress if that’s what you want.”

  “He’s not marrying you.” Bryony grabbed hold of Edwin’s arm and dragged him from the table. “He’s coming home with me. That’s after we’ve found Boney.”

  Edwin was going to ask who Boney was, but then the hall doors slammed shut of their own accord.

  “I can’t let you take him.” A stern faced Maddy was suddenly standing in front of Bryony. “Edwin must stay here.”

  “But Edwin doesn’t want to stay,” argued Bryony. “Tell her, Edwin. Tell her you don’t want to stay.”

  Edwin gazed into Maddy’s eyes. He’d never totally trusted her, yet he’d been willing to believe. Firstly, because Maddy’s family had been his only hope of saving Wychetts. And secondly, because he’d felt so happy here with them.

  “Tell them.” Bryony jabbed Edwin’s ribs with her elbow. “Tell them you want to go home.”

  “He’s already told me what he wants,” said Maddy. “To stay another week.”

  “A week?” Bryony couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “Oh sorry, I got that wrong.” Maddy smiled. “It was actually two.”

  Bryony glared at Edwin. “How could you have agreed to stay here for two weeks if you thought Wychetts and the family were in danger?”

  “Well…” Edwin squirmed under his stepsister’s challenging gaze. “Maddy said the Vampi…”

  “Vampiropteryx.” Bryony helped him out. “What about them?”

  “Maddy said they were defeated, and that you were all OK.”

  “And you believed her?” Bryony gasped in amazement. “You trusted her, after what she did to you before?”

  “Of course he trusts me,” said Maddy. “We’re friends.”

  “Plus,” added Edwin, “the thing with magic time travel is that you can go to any point in the past or future at any time you want, so there was no real hurry.”

  “Obviously not for you. But then again you’ve been having a party whilst I’ve been trying to escape a horrible dungeon.” Bryony gripped Edwin’s arm more tightly. “Maddy tricked you. She locked me in a horrible dungeon. She’s been playing a game all along. But now it’s over.”

  “It’s my game,” said Maddy. “Played to my rules. And only I get to say when it’s over.”

  “You can’t tell me to do anything,” sneered Bryony. “I’m a Guardian of Wychetts, and I can do magic.”

  “Not here you can’t.” Edwin wondered if Bryony’s experience in the dungeon had affected her mind. “Not without the Wychetts Key.”

  “That’s what I thought,” said Bryony. “But I’ve been doing magic ever since I arrived in the dungeon. I wouldn’t have got out otherwise. And if I can do magic, you can too.”

  “You did magic,” Floriana squealed at Edwin. “When you saved us from the Vampiropteryx.”

  “He flew,” added Alphonsus. “Prince Edwin flew like the wind. He did magic. We saw it. He’s…”

  “Be quiet.” Maddy raised her hand, and the children fell immediately and uncharacteristically silent. “They’re silly kids,” she told Edwin. “Can’t tell fantasy from reality.”

  “But they’re right.” Edwin now remembered. “I did do magic. But Maddy said…”

  “It doesn’t matter what Maddy said,” hissed Bryony. “There are two of us and only one of her. She can’t stop us leaving.”

  “Maybe you’re right,” conceded Maddy. “I can’t stop you leaving. But we can.”

  “We can’t let Prince Edwin leave,” boomed Lord Maddergrub, suddenly by Maddy’s side.

  “He is our honoured guest.” Lady Maddergrub appeared next to her husband. “Without him there can be no party.”

  “No fun, no games.” Rosabella now stood next to her mother. “Only darkness and despair.”

  “We can’t let you take him.” Alphonsus emerged from behind his parents. “He belongs here now.”

  “He must stay with us,” said Floriana, completing a wall of Maddergrubs blocking the doors. “We must have our family wedding.”

  “See?” Maddy smirked at Bryony. “Edwin is loved in Maddergrub Manor. He has a family here. Brothers and sisters who don’t just care about themselves or their stupid mothers who ran out on them years ago.”

  “How dare you.” Bryony gritted her teeth. “You don’t know anything about my mum or why she left me.”

  “I know enough,” said Maddy. “I know that you care more about her than anyone else. And I knew what it would take for you to abandon Wychetts.”

  “You knew?” Bryony realised what Maddy had said. “What do you mean by that?”

  Maddy bit her lip, as if she’d said something she shouldn’t have. But Bryony was in no doubt what had been meant.

  “Maddy sent the letter. It was her all along.”

  “Don’t be silly.” Edwin dismissed the notion with a shake of the head. “Why would she have done that?”

  “Why?” Bryony thought it was obvious. “To lure me away from Wychetts so she could kidnap me and lock me in her stinky slunge filled dungeon, that’s why.”

  “We don’t have a dungeon.” Maddy groaned as though tired of repeating the fact. “I never meant to send you there.”

  “But you sent the letter?” Suddenly Edwin realised that Maddy hadn’t denied Bryony’s first accusation. He sensed she was hiding something, that she’d been hiding something ever since they’d arrived at Maddergrub Manor. “Did you send the letter?”

  “Of course I didn’t,” insisted Maddy. “Trust me, Edwin, You have to trust me or…”

  “Did you send the letter?” Edwin’s shout echoed through the silent hall. The candles guttered, and a deep rumble sounded from somewhere. It could have been thunder, but Bryony was sure she felt the floor tremble.

  She’d never seen her stepbrother so mad; even Maddy seemed to lose her usual cock-sure demeanour in the face of his anger.

  At least for a second or two.

  “OK. So I sent the letter.” Maddy shrugged in a matter-of-fact way. “But I didn’t mean it to end up like this. I only wanted her out of the way for a while.”

  “There you g
o.” Bryony nodded, her suspicions proven. “Knew she’d be behind it all.”

  But Edwin was struggling to absorb this revelation. “So if you sent the letter, you must have sent the Hypnoflax seeds too?”

  “They’re only a weak strain.” Another careless shrug from Maddy. “The effects will wear off in a couple of hours. I only wanted to see my family for a while. I meant no harm to anyone.”

  “No harm?” Now Bryony was doing the shouting. “I nearly got killed in that dungeon of yours.”

  “There isn’t a dungeon.” Maddy fixed her pleading stare on Edwin. “You must believe me.”

  “How can I believe you?” Edwin stared back at Maddy. “How can I believe a word you say about anything?”

  The party guests vanished in a puff of smoke. The candles guttered once again, and the floor trembled as a deep rumble sounded from below.

  “Now see what you’ve done.” Maddy pointed at Bryony. “You’ve spoiled everything.”

  “We need to get out of here.” Bryony dragged Edwin to the doors, but the Maddergrub family stepped forward to bar her path. Their faces were stern, eyes staring glassily into space, as though they were in some sort of trance.

  “We won’t let you take him.” Maddy stood beside her family, her pointed finger trained on Bryony. “You go, but leave Edwin with us.”

  “No way.” Bryony pointed at Maddy. “I’ve been through hell to find him, and I’m not leaving him behind.”

  “Everyone lower their fingers.” Edwin feared the situation was about to turn ugly. “We can work this out between us.”

  But even as he spoke the Maddergrub family raised their right hands, all pointing at Bryony.

  “I’m sorry,” said Maddy. “But you leave us no choice. We’ll try not to hurt you.”

  The Maddergrub’s pointed fingers glowed bright green. Bryony panicked, and discharged a bolt of magical energy from her finger straight at Maddy and her family.

  The Maddergrub’s spread their palms, forming an invisible shield which deflected Bryony’s magic missile straight back at her.