by C. J. Busby
Simon looked at the gleam of the bronze chain around Cat’s neck. He was only just getting used to the idea that he had magical abilities, but he was determined to make the most of them. If he wasn’t going to have the amber, he was going to make sure he had the strongest magic, and the best sword-fighting skills.
He reached out and picked up the shining broadsword that was lying in the middle of his carpet, running his fingers down the engravings along its length. Of all the strange and astonishing things that had happened to him over the last week, the thing that had meant the most to Simon had been finding the sword. The sword had belonged to his dad, Gwyn, and it was what Simon had been using to conjure the portal to the kingdom. Simon was full of curiosity about the kingdom, eager to see it for himself. But there was more to it than just wanting to go to the place where his dad had grown up. Even though he knew it was mad, there was a tiny part of him that hoped his dad hadn’t really died in that car crash. Maybe, just maybe, he’d gone back there, to the kingdom. Maybe he was alive somewhere, trapped, unable to return.
It was Dora, from the kingdom herself, who had shown him how to make a portal. “You need an object from the world you want to go to,” she’d whispered as they slipped behind a sofa while everyone else was talking. “Then you can use it to make a link to that world, the one the object came from.” It was a complicated spell, but Simon had concentrated very hard. And even though his first attempt hadn’t gone quite as he’d planned, at least he’d made a portal! He’d done magic!
Simon grinned up at Cat, and had just opened his mouth to say as much, when there was a loud chirruping sound, and Simon’s hoodie, on the floor, started to bulge in a rather peculiar fashion.
“Simon!” said Cat, startled, and stepped backwards. Simon suddenly remembered the small furry creature that he had been protecting. It had got left behind! He gave Cat an apologetic look, and picked the hoodie gently off the floor.
Sitting on the carpet, looking up at them with two dark eyes, was something that resembled a brown furry ball. It chirruped, and then bounced onto Simon’s lap and chirruped some more. Then it snuggled up into his jumper and started to make a tiny purring sound.
Cat raised her eyebrows.
“It came through the portal,” said Simon, picking up the small creature and stroking it. It blinked at him and chirruped a couple of times, flapping two stubby, furry wings. Now it was closer, he could see that it had two short legs and delicate feet like a chick, but with its round head, fat body and deeply ruffled feathers it closely resembled a fluffy pom-pom. “That other – thing – was chasing it, and now it’s got left behind. We’ll have to look after it till we can take it back.”
Cat rolled her eyes. “What are we going to tell Mum?” she said. “And where can we keep it? And what – oh!” She broke off as the creature, which had turned its head at the sound of her voice, flew over to her and snuggled onto her lap. Now it was looking up at her with its dark eyes and chirruping gently.
Cat put her hand out and stroked it, and it started to make a throaty, purring sound. She smiled in delight and tickled it under the chin.
“See?” said Simon, “It’s sweet. We should give it a name. And we can keep it in the old hamster cage – Mum’ll never notice it’s not a hamster. I’ll say Jake at school gave me one of his.”
Cat sighed. “OK. It is very sweet. And I daresay we can take it back with us eventually.”
She pushed the creature off, onto the floor, and then lay on her stomach watching it preen itself and bob its head up and down at them both. Then she looked up at Simon, her expression serious.
“But if you ever do anything like this again – if you ever try to conjure a portal without me – I’ll go straight to Mum and tell her everything. It’s too dangerous! You could end up anywhere! Lord Ravenglass is out there somewhere – and so are those horrible crow men! Smith and Jones. If we’re going to do anything, we do it together, OK?”
Simon nodded. He definitely didn’t want to meet Lord Ravenglass. The thought of his elegant black ringlets and his lazy drawl made Simon shudder. And he could feel a cold finger tracing itself down his spine as he thought about the tall, thin men in black suits, Mr Smith and Mr Jones, with their shiny black eyes and their bird-like way of walking.
“OK,” he said. “I promise. We’ll stick together. Whatever happens.”
Chapter Four
It was a few days before Simon and Cat got another chance to try portal magic. In the meantime, the small, furry ball from another world had started to make himself at home in the old hamster cage – although where he preferred to be, if possible, was in Simon’s pocket or down the front of his jumper. Simon had named him Frizzle, and although Cat wasn’t generally fond of animals, even she was coming round to the idea that they should let him stay.
“He’ll only get eaten by one of those dinosaur things if we take him back,” Simon argued. “He’s much better off here, with us.”
“He does seem quite happy,” Cat agreed, stroking the top of his furry head while he purred noisily. “But I’m still not sure … Doesn’t it cause some kind of imbalance – things being out of place like that?”
Simon frowned. “Albert said something like that, when all those objects got swapped between here and the kingdom. But it can’t be too terrible or they wouldn’t have let us keep the sword. And anyway – Dad and Uncle Lou and Great-Aunt Irene lived here for ages, and they’re all from the kingdom originally.”
Cat hesitated, then nodded. “OK, we’ll let him stay. But we’d better check with Albert or Uncle Lou, when we see them next.”
Simon tickled Frizzle under the chin. “Hear that, Frizzle? You can stay! Nice sunflower seeds and chocolate drops and no nasty dinosaur things!”
Frizzle chirruped, blinked his dark eyes and then flew to Simon’s shoulder and burrowed down happily into the neck of his jumper.
“Right,” said Cat briskly, clearing a space in the centre of Simon’s bedroom. “To work! Mum’s not back from the museum till six, and we’ve done all the weekend chores, so we’ve got hours. Let’s explore a bit of the kingdom at last.”
Simon pulled the sword out from under his bed, and held it out in front of him. He glanced at Cat.
“Are you ready to deal with one of those creatures, if we get another coming through?”
Cat waved a large bath towel in front of her and flourished the wooden toilet brush, like a matador ready to deal with a charging bull.
“All set,” she said cheerfully. “Breakables away, door shut, weapon at the ready.”
Simon took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the portal magic. It had taken ages to work out exactly how to access the magic inside him, even with Dora’s help – a bit like trying to work out how to waggle your ears or flare your nostrils. Even after days of practice it still took a few moments to get the right bit of his brain working – but he could feel it now, beginning to bubble up inside him. He ran his fingers down the sword and started to say the words of the spell. Wisps of white mist began to form in front of them. Simon focused hard on the portal magic and the mist started to firm up. Then suddenly there it was: a white doorway, in the middle of the room.
He looked at Cat triumphantly and saw that she had her mouth open. She shut it hurriedly. Then she took a firm grasp of the towel and started to walk forward.
“Stay this side,” she said. “And keep hold of my jumper. We don’t want it to close behind us till we’ve had a good look – checked there’s nothing too nasty on the other side.”
Simon nodded, and took hold of the back of Cat’s jumper as she tentatively poked her head through the white mist. He could hear her voice, the other side, calling back to him, but it sounded a little as if she’d wrapped the bath towel round her head – muffled and far away.
“Uurgh! It’s raining! And – it doesn’t look like I thought it would.” She stepped back into the bedroom. Her short blonde hair was plastered to her head and water was dripping down her nose.
“It’s like a swamp. With all these peculiar trees. No castles in sight.”
“Here – let me look,” said Simon, and pulled her out of the way. Cat started to rub her head vigorously with the bath towel.
“Be my guest,” she said, gesturing at the portal.
Simon moved forward warily and stuck his head into the mist. There was a slight resistance, and then he was through, looking out on a whole different world. Cat was right – it was wet and swampy, and the trees were tall and sinuous, their branches flame-red with spiky purple leaves. There was a splash nearby, and Simon realised that what looked like swampy ground was actually some kind of green algae or pondweed covering an expanse of brown peaty water. Ripples ran out from where the splash had created a dark pool. Then, from the middle of the pool, a head emerged. A large head, a little like a crocodile’s but covered in silvery scales. It had a wide mouth and alert, hungry red eyes. The eyes focused on Simon, and the creature held still, regarding him. Simon could see spines on the back of its head. A dragon? he thought. Some kind of sea serpent? Then the creature seemed to gather itself together, and the next moment it was shooting towards Simon like an express train, a vast expanse of silvery body emerging from the lake behind it.
“Aaarghh!” yelled Simon as he shot out of the portal. He threw himself backwards so fast that he fell over, sprawling on the floor of the bedroom and waving frantically at the misty doorway.
“Close it!’ he shouted.
“What? How?” cried Cat, flapping her towel at the portal as a long scaly snout started to quest through the mist, nostrils flared, sharp, curved teeth visible in its mouth. “Simon! How do you close it?”
Simon couldn’t think. Dora hadn’t said anything about closing a portal – you just went through it. Once someone had gone through it, it seemed to just close on its own. Would throwing an object through have the same effect? The snout was further into the room now, weaving from side to side as the creature tried to work out what this strange white mist was.
“Hit it!” Simon yelled, and cast around for something he could throw through the portal. Cat whacked the creature hard on the nose with the toilet brush. It withdrew – and at the same moment Simon hurled one of his slippers through the portal. The misty doorway disappeared with a pop! and they were left looking at each other with a mixture of relief and horror.
Cat sat down on the floor, hugging the towel to herself.
“What was that?” she said in a faint voice.
Simon made a face. “Horrible, whatever it was. I can’t believe that was the kingdom! Surely someone would have mentioned there were swamp monsters and red trees …”
“But I thought you said objects open a portal to their world – wherever they came from? Maybe they do have swamp monsters. Maybe they’re just so used to them they didn’t think it was worth mentioning?”
Simon swallowed. His eagerness to see the place where his dad had grown up was starting to diminish. No wonder Dad and Uncle Lou had decided to stay in this world, once they found it, he thought. Central heating, computer games and no evil red-eyed serpents with a mouthful of knives for teeth.
“Shall we – er – do you want to try again?” he said, looking at Cat doubtfully.
She considered. “I’m beginning to wonder whether I should try to get the hang of the spell myself – maybe you’re doing it wrong. I mean, you’re obviously making a portal. But I don’t think Frizzle came from that swamp place – he’s too furry, and he was dry when he arrived. So that means you’ve opened a door to two separate places so far, and neither of them looked much like the kingdom …”
“They must be the kingdom,” said Simon defensively. “That’s how it works! But just – I don’t know – different bits? Maybe we should try one more time?”
Cat rubbed her nose thoughtfully. “OK. But we need some way to shut it quickly if it’s at all dangerous.”
Simon waved his other slipper. “Throwing the slipper through seemed to do it last time. It obviously closes automatically after it’s been used. And I’ve lost one – may as well use the other one now. They’re getting a bit small, anyway.”
Cat looked at his rather ragged tartan slipper and giggled. “I wonder what the swamp monster is making of it.”
“Hope he chokes,” said Simon.
“Right,” said Cat. “One more go – but then we have to think of something else. Mum is going to get a bit suspicious if too many things go missing.”
Simon picked up the sword again, rather gingerly, and started to feel for the portal magic. Maybe if he really focused on the kingdom, he thought. If he imagined the castle, swords, knights and … normal trees. Gradually the white mist started to appear, and the wisps became firmer. Cat stood ready, and when the doorway seemed to be complete she handed the slipper to Simon, took a firm grasp of the bath towel and stuck her head into the mist.
“Hey! This is much better,” she called. “It’s sunny – and green – and … well … it’s not exactly a castle but …”
She brought her head back in. “I think it’s safe. Have a look.”
Simon took hold of her arm to steady himself and then pushed his top half through the mist. Cat was right – it was sunny. It was pretty warm, in fact, and the sky was a fierce blue. A level green lawn stretched in front of Simon and at the end of it a huge building rose up, sheer and flat and shining in the sun. It appeared to be made of some kind of dark reflective glass, with strange metal struts extending outwards at intervals. Beyond it Simon could see other buildings made of similar shining glass or metal and bright lights winking on and off. He heard a faint buzzing sound and looked up to see small metallic eggs whizzing past and weaving between the buildings. He pulled his head back.
“That is definitely not the kingdom,” he said with conviction. “It looks like Star Fleet Academy or something. It’s way too futuristic to be the kingdom.”
Cat shook her head. “There’s something really wrong with your magic, Simon. It’s not getting us anywhere near the right place. We need to rethink.”
“So, shall I close the portal?” said Simon, slipper at the ready. “Or shall we explore anyway?”
“Close the portal,” said Cat firmly, looking at Simon’s expression. “We have no idea what that world’s like. Anything could happen.”
Simon sighed, and threw his slipper at the white mist. But just as the mist popped out of existence, a small blue creature flew through it and into the bedroom.
Quick as a flash Cat threw the towel over it and then forced it to the ground, holding the edges of the towel firmly as the creature underneath it wriggled and flapped its wings.
“Simon!” she yelled, as one edge of the towel was pulled out of her grip and a round blue head with two tentacles attached forced its way out. Simon reached down to grab the loose bit of towel, but as he did so, the creature extracted what looked like a blue arm and waved it at him imperiously. Simon found himself unable to move.
“Fools!” said the blue creature, as he wriggled out from under the towel and shook his wings crossly. “Opening rifts to here, there and everywhere! What in the name of the Great Forest did you think you were doing? You might have caused a major disaster!”
Chapter Five
The imperious blue creature was about the size of a small dog, but with his wings folded away what he most resembled was a large blue caterpillar. He was, he explained, a forest agent called Caractacus.
“One of their oldest agents,” he continued, releasing Simon from the immobility spell he’d put him under with a wave of one leg. “Retired – supposed to be, at least. But you’d think they hadn’t noticed. ‘Oh, Caractacus, if you could just pop over to sort out this little problem in the Aragon?’… ‘Ah Caractacus, could we just ask you to run a little errand to Chandos?’… It never stops!”
He looked round at Cat and Simon crossly. He had a round, wrinkled blue face with a rather long nose and slightly bulging eyes. Two tentacles, protruding from the top of his bald head, were w
aving at them impatiently.
“Now,” he said, giving them both a hard stare. “I think we need to have a little talk. All this opening of ways to other worlds is not on.”
“But – how did you know we were …?” said Simon. “And how did you get here so quickly?”
Caractacus snorted. “Opening a way between two worlds rips a hole in the boundary of both of them. And you’ve opened three in quick succession! Did you think that was the sort of thing the forest folk wouldn’t notice? The Great Tree feels every shiver in the fabric of the worlds. That’s why we have agents – so we can direct them to deal with any untoward rips or tears. It just so happens that your particular agent is currently absent.”
“You mean Albert Jemmet,” said Cat. “He went to the kingdom, last week.”
“He did indeed,” said Caractacus. “And just now he’s on another errand. So they sent me.” He bowed.
Cat returned a rather apologetic sort of half bow. She wasn’t quite sure what to do next, so she said, tentatively, “Um, can I get you something to eat or drink?”
Caractacus nodded and looked a little more friendly. “A few leaves and some water would be most appreciated. And then we really need to have that little talk.”
Cat hurried down to the kitchen. She scavenged in the fridge for some leftover salad and got herself and Simon a drink. Just as she left she grabbed a packet of biscuits. She had a feeling they might need some sustenance to get them through Caractacus’s ‘little talk’.
She was right. Caractacus insisted on taking them right back to the beginning – of all the worlds.
“The Great Tree grew out of the endless ice and darkness,” he said, as if reciting from a story. “And around it grew the forest, and in its branches grew all the many worlds of light. And many and marvellous those worlds were – worlds of deserts, worlds of snow-topped mountains and deep valleys, worlds of little islands –”
