by C. J. Busby
Getting out of the Great Forest, however, proved to be an almost impossible task. Whatever path they took just seemed to lead round in circles – and leaving the path and trying to push through the trees and undergrowth was worse. It was as if the trees moved, thought Cat. As if they were herding them back towards the centre.
After an hour or more of slogging through brambles and following twisting tracks that never seemed to go anywhere, Cat gave up, flung her backpack on the ground, and sat on it firmly.
“This is ridiculous,” she said. “We’re never going to get out.”
Simon slumped down next to her.
“You’re right. I’m sure we’ve been down this path twice already.”
“If not three times,” said Cat. She thought about what Dad had said, about not trusting the forest agents. Did that mean not trusting the tree guardians, too? Could their magic be preventing her and Simon from leaving?
She shook her head, trying to clear her mind, and glanced round at the trees. “We need to find some way to break the power of the forest. I’m sure it’s trying to keep us here …”
Simon stood up, and as he did so there was a faint call from a long way behind them.
“Simon! Cat! Come back! What do you think you’re doing?”
They looked at each other.
“It’s Caractacus!” said Simon. “Run!”
Cat grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder, and they pelted into a gap between the trees, twisted round a huge oak and half slid, half ran down a muddy slope. At the bottom, Simon hesitated, then slipped sideways between two thorny brambles and along what looked like a dried-up stream bed. Cat followed, stumbling on the stony ground and having to duck as trailing brambles and wayward branches whipped across in front of her. It felt as if they were alive, catching in her hair and her clothes, pulling her back. She could hear Caractacus shouting after them, his voice closer now.
“Simon! Cat! It’s dangerous! You mustn’t leave!”
Cat put on a burst of speed and caught up with Simon just as he reached the end of the little stream bed they were in. They both stopped, shocked. At their feet the ground fell away steeply, narrowing far below them into a rocky valley, while on either side dense thorny bushes closed in. The only way out was back the way they had come, and that was the direction from which Caractacus was coming.
“It’s the forest,” said Simon, panting. “It’s got us trapped.”
Cat bent over and held her knees, catching her breath. “I think – I think I know what to do,” she gasped. “The amber …”
“Of course!” said Simon. “Genius! It can take us anywhere! Quick – Cat, get it!”
Cat reached up and pulled the amber jewel out from where it had been tucked inside her jumper. She could feel it, slightly warm, glowing between her fingers, but she had no idea whether she could make it work. “Albert said you just have to tell it where to go – but we probably have to be quite specific. And I don’t know where in the palace we’re meant to be going.”
“The south-west tower,” said Simon instantly. “Dad told me. There’s a drain, and you can creep up it into the castle cellars. That’s where there’s the connection to his prison.”
They could hear a crashing noise behind them now. It was almost certainly Caractacus, and he was very close.
“Cat – quick!” said Simon, grabbing her hand. “Now!”
Cat held the amber firmly, and tried to focus on the power she knew was in the jewel. “We want to go to the south-west tower of Queen Igraine’s palace, where the drain comes out,” she gabbled, feeling a little foolish. She could hear Caracatus fluttering out of the trees behind her, shouting, and she thought they had probably failed. They were going to be caught.
But then she gasped, because she felt as if she’d been immersed in cold water. The trees all around them disappeared in a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes, and the next second, the whirling shapes around her resolved into grey stone walls and hard ground, and there was the unmistakeable smell of sewers.
Next to her, Simon was on his hands and knees being sick onto the cobblestones. Cat felt slightly queasy herself, but being the one holding the amber seemed to have saved her from the worst of it. She knelt down by Simon and put her hand on his shoulder.
“Are you all right?”
He spat, wiped his mouth on his sleeve and sat up, his skin tinged green.
“That was awesome!” he said, and grinned. She rolled her eyes, and then looked around them.
They were in some kind of narrow alley, with grey stone walls stretching up on both sides. To their left, the wall continued up and then became a tall white tower – to their right, they could see a jumble of roofs. Most of the width of the alley was taken up with a deep open channel, with grey water running down it, and leaves and twigs and some things Cat didn’t want to think about swirling around in the flow. The channel led all the way up to a dark archway cut into the stone wall of the tower. The cobbled path they were standing on accompanied it to the wall and then stopped – after that, the only way forward was to wade upstream, through the archway and into the palace drains.
“Uurgh,” said Cat, looking at the water.
Simon shrugged. “It’s fine – come on. Dad said you only had to wade for a short section.”
Cat made a face and started to take off her trainers and socks and roll up her trousers. The drain was about half a metre deep and she’d almost certainly end up with wet jeans, but at least she’d have something dry to put on her feet when they got to the other end. If they ever did. Trying not to look at the bits floating past her, she eased one foot gingerly into the swirling grey water and took her first step up the drain.
Chapter Thirteen
Once she got over her disgust, the palace drain proved easier to negotiate than Cat had expected. It wasn’t long before they found the small, secret door Dad had told Simon about, and it opened exactly as it was supposed to, into the cellars. Simon led them confidently through a series of small storage chambers and then down two flights of stairs, but at that point he slowed, less sure of himself. He took a left turn, and then another.
“How much further on do we have to go?” said Cat, as they reached a divide.
“Until we get to where we need to be,” said Simon shortly. He was feeling responsible for finding the right place and unsure whether he’d properly remembered the instructions for how to get there. Besides, there was something nagging at the back of his brain, a small voice that wondered if he hadn’t, after all, made a terrible mistake. Was it madness, walking into the palace like this? Were they really going to be able to rescue Dad from his icy prison? He tried to push the voice away. Whatever they were risking, it had to be done. They had to try.
“I think it’s this way,” he said, gesturing to the right this time, and sounding altogether more confident than he felt. They set off along the corridor and at the end, to Simon’s immense relief, they found a spiral staircase, going down. Seeping up the stairwell, from the chamber below, was a very pale blueish light.
“That’s it!” said Simon. “It’s down there!”
He looked at Cat, her face just faintly visible in the reflected light. She was holding the amber protectively, and Simon found his own hand moving to the hilt of the sword tucked into his belt. She nodded, and they started to descend the stairs.
As they did so, the light got stronger, and when they got to the bottom they could see the outline of an arched doorway leading into another chamber. The blueish light was coming from beyond the arch. Simon felt Cat take hold of his arm. As they emerged into the chamber, they could see that the stone floor ended only a few metres from the doorway, and beyond that was snow and ice and the dark outline of a cave.
“Dad?” called Simon softly. “Dad – we’re here!”
“Excellent,” came a voice from the shadows behind them – but it wasn’t the voice of their father.
Simon felt as if his feet had been glued to the ground. He rec
ognised the voice. It was the very last one he’d been hoping to hear. It was the voice of Lord Ravenglass.
“Took you rather longer than I expected,” drawled the voice, and then Lord Ravenglass himself emerged from behind them, shaking out his lace cuffs and pushing a stray curl of black hair from his face with an elegant white finger. “But better late than never, as they say.”
He held out his hand to Cat, who appeared to be frozen, and touched her lightly on the shoulder.
“Welcome to my palace,” he said, and then turned to Simon. He smiled, his white teeth gleaming, his long face lit up with pleasure, the rings on his fingers sparkling in the cold bright light of the chamber.
“My dears,” he said. “So good of you to come to help us. Just what your dear father and I were hoping you’d do.”
Lord Ravenglass gestured into the chamber, to the line of ice and snow that started halfway across the floor. The gaunt figure of Gwyn Arnold was standing just beyond the barrier, smiling at them. Ravenglass laid his hand gently on Simon’s head, and Simon felt as if he’d been wrapped in a warm blanket. He could move again, and the cold dread that he’d felt when he first heard Lord Ravenglass’s voice melted away as if it had never been. A sense of relief came over him, a sense that it was all going to be all right. Lord Ravenglass was on their side – he would help rescue their dad. They were in exactly the right place and with exactly the right person.
Cat was puzzled. She felt she ought to be worried by the presence of Lord Ravenglass, but oddly it didn’t seem to bother her. She looked across at the man standing on the other side of the cellar, in the snow and ice. He was very still, his eyes on her and Simon, his expression hard to read.
Cat moved forward till she was prevented by what felt like a wall of solid air. She put her hand up against the barrier. On the other side, the man moved towards her and delicately touched the edge of his world with his fingertips. Their hands appeared to be only a small distance apart, but Cat could not reach across the gap to touch him.
“Dad!” she said. She could see him so much more clearly now. As she looked at the deep lines in his pale face, his ragged clothes and matted hair, she felt a twist in her stomach.
He smiled. “It’s me, Catrin. I’m here, in the cellar … or rather, part of my world is here. Where I am – this prison – it touches a part of every world. But you can’t reach me fully. No one can come here without the power to travel to all the worlds at once.”
Simon came over, his voice eager. “But how did you end up there? And how do we release you?”
For a moment the man’s face tightened, in pain or anger, Cat wasn’t sure. He almost looked like a different person. And then he relaxed, and he was their father again – Gwyn Arnold, the man they’d always been told had died in a car crash.
“I was betrayed,” Gwyn said. “I was imprisoned here, using all the power the forest could muster.”
“Betrayed?” said Cat. “Who betrayed you?”
Gwyn looked across at her, his expression bleak, his voice full of pain. “Lou,” he said. “I thought he was my friend. But I was wrong. The forest was trying to gain complete power over all the worlds and I was trying to stop them. I thought Lou was, too.” He punched the barrier with his fist and his voice cracked as he gave a great shout of rage and frustration. “Lou sold me to the forest, and they imprisoned me here. Only Ravenglass stayed loyal to me.”
Cat and Simon looked at each other, shocked.
“Uncle Lou?” said Cat, in disbelief. For a moment she felt utterly bewildered. But then she felt Ravenglass’s reassuring hand on her shoulder and she realised that it made total sense. Uncle Lou was one of the forest agents – they called him the Druid. He was Dad’s cousin, and for a while he’d helped bring Cat and Simon up after Gwyn had died. But he must have just been trying to keep an eye on them, make sure no one suspected he’d been responsible for Gwyn’s ‘death’. She caught her breath.
“Simon! That’s what the row must have been about! Mum and Uncle Lou! When she made him leave … She must have realised he’d had something to do with Dad’s death!”
“Undoubtedly so,” said the smooth voice of Lord Ravenglass behind them. “An astute woman, your mother. You would do well to follow her lead as far as the Druid is concerned.”
He moved closer, and put a fatherly hand on each of their shoulders.
“My dears,” he said gently. “It’s been quite a shock for you. To realise you’ve been on the wrong side all this time.”
Simon nodded slowly, as if trying to take it all in. Then he pulled out the sword from his belt and held it out in front of Gwyn.
“This is yours, then,” he said. “Mum said it was yours. But it’s made from parts of all the worlds. Could we use it to get to where you are?”
Gwyn shook his head regretfully. “It’s not powerful enough on its own. But it’s good you have it, Simon. I’m gad you have my sword.” His expression softened. “Perhaps Ravenglass can teach you to use it. And when I’m released, I’ll give you a few lessons myself. What do you say?”
“I’d – I’d like that,” said Simon. “Very much.”
Cat reached out and squeezed Simon’s hand. She took hold of the bronze chain round her neck and drew it over her head, holding the glowing amber jewel in front of her. She watched the flecks and whorls of orange and brown at its heart, moving ceaselessly. Then she took a deep breath and held it up to Lord Ravenglass.
“Use it,” she said. “Whatever you need to do. Use it to release him.”
Lord Ravenglass held out his elegant white hand and Cat dropped the amber into it. He stared down at it for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then his long white fingers closed over the jewel and he slipped it into one of the pockets of his rich velvet coat.
He smiled at them both. “Excellent. Excellent. But one is not enough. I’m afraid we need all four to release your father. Only the amber crown can dissolve his prison. If we can find the other two before the forest puts them out of reach, then I will have enough power to take the final amber from the queen. And then … we can release your father.”
He beckoned to the two children, and gestured up the stairs out of the cellar. “Come, my dears. Your father’s not going anywhere just yet. You need to rest, and we need to make plans. Only a few hours ago I was informed that my accomplices have located one of the missing bits of amber. In Akkadia. They may in fact have it in their grasp as we speak.” He rubbed his hands happily. “Things are going our way, I do believe. Things are finally going our way.”
PART FIVE
Chapter Fourteen
The headquarters of the Most Illustrious Company of the Thieves of Ur was a veritable treasure house of old documents, ancient maps and guides to the more obscure secret passages that riddled the city of Ur-Akkad. The entrance was a small obscure cave in the hills to the south of the city – no one entering it would ever know that behind an apparently solid rock-face was a whole set of interconnecting caverns furnished with every luxury and stocked with enough food and drink to last a hundred years of siege. But here the Thieves had kept their most treasured possessions for generations, and here secret information on every building in the city was to be found. It had taken the Druid most of the day to find the map he needed, but now it was in his hands – the map that revealed the layout of the labyrinth under the Sargon’s palace.
“There!” he said, putting his finger on the central chamber right at the heart of the labyrinth. “It will be there – I’m sure of it.”
Nasir Hunzu, Lord Commander of the Thieves of Ur, pulled at his square beard thoughtfully.
“The labyrinth is somewhere we avoid, my friend,” he said. “You know the rumours – it’s said that deep in the heart of the labyrinth the empire has a source of mighty power. It’s what they have used to subdue and capture magic for generations. Every man who has tried to find that source of power has died.” He leant over the Druid and said, with low emphasis, “There are dragons in that labyrinth.”<
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The Druid shrugged, and gave Nasir a wry grin. “I know. But I need that source of power – it’s what I came for. So I’ll just have to take my chances.” He clapped Nasir on the back. “You don’t need to risk any of the thieves,” he said cheerfully. “The map is what I needed. I can go alone.”
Nasir frowned at him. “The Thieves of Ur are their own masters,” he said. “They will come or not as they please. But I shall come with you.” He grinned, revealing a fine set of teeth stained reddish-brown with betel nut juice. “If we can steal the dragon’s stone, the heart of the empire, the fame of the Thieves will last forever!”
The Druid sighed. “If we manage to steal the dragon amber, then Ur-Akkad might just survive, along with all the other worlds. If we don’t, Nasir, there may be no one to remember the Thieves of Ur at all.”
Nasir laughed, and clapped the Druid on the back. “You are too gloomy, my friend. Come, we will drink to the endeavour, and then we will set off. There is an entrance to the labyrinth just off the Kallaba Canal, a little downstream of the temple. We can be there in less time than it takes to drink a good bottle of Sumerian wine.”
As he ushered the Druid towards a low table set with pastries and goblets, he caught the eye of a thin man with a straggly beard, leaning against the wall nearby. Unseen by the Druid, Nasir made a slight gesture with his hand, and the man nodded and slipped away into the shadows.
The entrance to the labyrinth off the Kallaba Canal was less of an entrance and more of an accident. Water seepage had caused subsidence and one wall of the tunnel had collapsed. Because it had happened in rather an out-of-the-way corner of the labyrinth, Nasir said, no one had yet seen fit to repair it.
The Druid clambered over the rubble that half obscured the entrance and stuck his head into the labyrinth.
“It seems deserted,” he said, turning back to his companions. “Shall we?”
Rahul, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the tail end of his shirt and glancing nervously behind him, nodded. Nasir gestured to Ishmel to follow, and then climbed across the rubble after him. As they all clambered down into the darkness, the Druid conjured a werelight and they looked around them in wonder.
