“We’re all set,” Fafnir announced loudly when the wall had closed again. “No one outside can hear us. The door has an automatic latch, so I was able to open it for you. What do we do now?”
“Let’s see if I can remember what Sparrow told me,” said Cal.
He picked up the copy of Comparative Anatomy of OtherWorld Fauna and set it on the old wizard’s terribly cluttered desk. He opened the book and tapped three times on page 3, then ten times on page 20. At that, the desk moved aside, revealing a beautiful glass staircase.
Tara spoke up then. “Listen, Cal, I didn’t like what the Soothsucker said. I’m coming with you.”
“If you insist. But try not to distract me, all right? I have to stay focused. Blondin, you’re staying here. Chem said we have to act very fast once we’ve taken the book. Grab the flat stone hidden behind the pedestal and put it where the book was. Ready, Tara? Let’s go.”
Tara rolled her eyes and nodded, repressing the snippy remark on the tip of her tongue. When he was working, Cal was no fun at all. The little thief’s personality changed completely. He didn’t tell jokes; he scanned the darkness with rapt attention and was cold and concentrated.
Going down the staircase they skipped the fourth step, then the seventh, gradually disappearing from their anxious friends’ view.
Down below, as expected, they came out into a huge room that lit up the moment they stepped on the white sand floor. Runes written on the black walls seemed like warnings: DO NOT ENTER, OTHERWISE . . .
The Forbidden Book lay on a pedestal surrounded by six statues of fire snakes; the nearest two faced the staircase. Cal and Tara got down on their stomachs and began to crawl. They carefully watched to see if the stone reptiles reacted, but they remained still as statues. When the kids were able to stand again, the book was right in front of them, Cal gestured to Tara to go around the pedestal and get the flat stone so she could quickly put it in the book’s place.
Suddenly Cal stumbled backward. The sand under his feet had begun to shift. Under their astonished eyes, a hole opened up at the base of the stone column supporting the book. Before they had time to react, a blue gnome jumped up, grabbed The Forbidden Book, and dove back down into the hole.
Cal screamed: “Nooooo!”
He tried to seize the gnome while Tara raced around the column and grabbed the flat stone behind the pedestal, but she was too late—much too late. The defensive spell protecting the book had already been activated. A terrible tongue of flame shot from the fire snakes’ mouths and hit them. Tara and the stone resisted for a second longer than Cal, but then the pain was too intense, and the two spellbinders screamed in agony. That was all.
Up above, Manitou started. Gallant and Blondin had both screamed, then collapsed. Robin and Fafnir rushed down the glass staircase. The dog wizard moaned, hearing screams and terrible noises from underground. At last, the half-elf and the dwarf emerged, burned and pale, carrying their friends’ lifeless bodies in their arms. When they reached the top of the staircase a strange light briefly flashed.
“What in God’s name happened?” yelled Manitou.
“I . . . I don’t know,” stammered Robin, tears flowing from his crystalline eyes. “They were lying on the sand, and the book was gone. The fire snakes had been activated and tried to keep us from approaching. But that weird shield that protects Fafnir deflected their spells, and she was able to chop down the statues. Then we brought Cal and Tara up, and . . . Oh, Manitou! I can’t feel their pulse! They’re . . . they’re dead!”
CHAPTER 8
THE DEADLY SPELL
An alarmed Manitou put his cold nose on Tara’s neck, but got no reaction. Fafnir searched for Cal’s pulse, then shook her head gravely.
“I can’t find a pulse, either,” muttered the Lab. “This is unbelievable! They were struck by the deadly spell that Chem placed. We have to contact him immediately!”
“That won’t do any good!” yelled Robin, totally losing his cool. “They’re dead! We aren’t necromancers; we don’t know how to bring back the dead. And even if we did, they wouldn’t be our friends anymore, they’d be zombies!”
“By my pile of gold, what are you doing in my office?” roared a very familiar voice behind them. “Manitou, is that you?”
Master Chem had come in and was staring in astonishment at the glass staircase, the sprawled bodies of Tara, Cal, Gallant, and Blondin, and a despairing half-elf.
“Chem!” exclaimed Manitou. “Thank Demiderus, you’re back! Cal and Tara were killed by your deadly spell! How could you put such a dangerous charm on The Forbidden Book?”
With surprising agility for his apparent age, the dragon wizard rushed to kneel by the two teenagers.
“There isn’t a minute to lose!” he yelled. “Luckily for these two young fools, they triggered an alarm when they opened the secret entrance to the underground room. It alerted me, so I immediately came back from Omois. The spell that protects the book is just an Inanimus spell. But if the bodies are moved or taken out of the Book Room, it becomes a Destructus. I got the idea from the Bloodgrave who combined Rigidifus and Carbonus spells. But unless I can reverse the process in the kids right away, we’ll be attending their funerals.”
Robin was aghast. “Do you mean that by moving them, we killed them?”
“You killed them, yes, but they’re not lost.”
“Not lost?” he blurted, wiping his tear-streaked face. “But they’re—”
“Dead? Yes, absolutely. But only for a very short time. All told, I have six minutes to revive them, and I figure that four minutes have already passed. After that, the brain is so starved of oxygen, it’s too late. Hand me the kalorna powder on that shelf there. And give me some stridule drool and some powdered gambole.”
Robin handed the powders to the wizard, who quickly drew a pentacle with them.
A very worried-looking Fafnir was fiddling with her axe, feeling totally lost.
“Stand back!” the old wizard ordered. “I have to revert to my natural body for this to work properly.” He intoned: “Chalidonrainchivorachivu, god of dragons, I turn to you. Return me to my dragon form, vital healing to perform.”
Chem’s god must have been standing by, because silvery blue scales promptly replaced skin, monstrous claws grew from fingers, and dorsal spines shredded his unprepared robe. Soon a majestic blue dragon was looming over them.
Without wasting a second, Chem bent down to Tara and Cal and began to chant, while his huge scaly body pulsed with a bright white light: “By Resurrectus, I conjure you, may the Destructus cease! May life shine through and bring our friends peace!”
The white light flowed into the two motionless bodies and enveloped them in an iridescent halo.
Suddenly, one of them stirred.
With great difficulty, Tara raised her head, opened a bleary eye, and saw the dragon. The living stone was still linked to her mind. The last thing the two of them had seen before passing out was a stone snake shooting fire at them. So, when they saw a glowing blue dragon at close quarters, Tara and the stone instantly combined their magic and fired a powerful ray. It hit the dragon with incredible force, sending him crashing into a wall. The entire castle trembled under the impact, and the office lights briefly flickered.
Blasted by Tara’s blazing riposte, the dragon didn’t have a chance. His consciousness winked out like a candle being snuffed. First his head gently hit the ground, then the rest of his body crashed down, causing a small earthquake.
“By my ancestors!” screamed Manitou, appalled. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Tara covered her ears, grimacing. “Stop yelling, Grandpa! And what do you mean, what are we doing? The snake fired a spell at us, so we fired back. What are you doing in the Book Room? This place is dangerous.”
“For your information, we aren’t in that room anymore,” Robin announced cautiously. “And I’m pretty sure you just killed Chemnashaovirodaintrachivu.”
Tara gaped to see the dragon’s mass sprawled on t
he floor. She struggled to her feet, helped by Robin, who couldn’t decide whether to yell at her for what she’d done, or to hug her because he was so glad she was alive. Gallant moved his wings as he gradually regained consciousness, and Blondin barked when he was back on his feet. The spell had caused Cal and Blondin to revert to their normal appearance, and the fox was pleased to see that his fur was red again.
Cal opened his eyes, but he was still dizzy. “Oh, my head! What the heck happened?”
Robin turned to him, while propping up a shaky Tara. “The fire snakes attacked you, the book seems to be gone—unless you’ve hidden it very well—and Tara just blasted Master Chem, who was trying to save you!”
“Nooooo!”
“Yesssss!”
“I mistook him for a fire snake,” stammered Tara. “There was the light . . . I didn’t do it on purpose. The gnomes . . . they stole the book. But I didn’t have time to put the stone on the pedestal, so the snakes attacked us! I—”
A warm, humid breath of air abruptly cut her off, followed by a deep, low rumble. It was the dragon—and he was snoring!
“Okay, whew! Everything’s fine!” exclaimed a very relieved Manitou. “Chem was just knocked out! I suggest we let him rest now. We can talk things over with him later.”
“Isn’t that a little cowardly?” asked Fafnir doubtfully.
“Absolutely,” the Lab admitted. “But we can be brave some other day, can’t we? Right now we have too much to do—you know, saving the world, not to mention the universe—and facing a very angry dragon isn’t on the list.”
With his muzzle, Manitou pointed to the way out.
In the hallway, they encountered the castle guards, who had come running to find out what had caused all the ruckus. In a lordly way, Manitou pointed at the dragon cave-office and told them that someone had broken the door and stolen something. Oh, and had knocked out the huge reptile in the process.
Before anyone could ask any awkward questions, the group hurried off to pick up Sparrow at the infirmary. The girl barely restrained a shout of surprise when they told her everything that had happened. She was feeling better and was able to quickly dress with Tara’s help and go with them.
When a worried Cal asked about her concussion, Sparrow whispered, “It’s fine. I just shape-shifted into the beast, and poof! It disappeared instantly. The shaman couldn’t believe it. He kept me in the infirmary to be on the safe side, but believe me, I feel great! Let’s leave before my parents show up and make me stay in bed for the next six months!”
They were silent as they made their way to the gnome embassy. OtherWorld’s twin moons cast their silvery light on a world that except for the stridules’ cree-cree-cree! chirping, seemed to be enjoying the sleep of the dead—except for those things that move in the night, of course.
They had nearly reached the embassy when Master Dragosh suddenly came stumbling out of a side alley, looking dazed. Clearly visible in the twin moonlight, the vampyr was wiping his mouth, and his red eyes looked wild. He didn’t have time to hide his hand, which was spattered with blood!
“There’s been . . . There’s been a terrible accident,” he explained shakily. “I have to go tell Their Majesties.”
Then he caught sight of Tara and glared furiously at her.
“This is all because of you!” he blurted.
Then, before they had time to say a word, he ran off. Manitou and the five friends gaped at each other, speechless.
The Lab took a deep breath and said: “This alley reeks of death. Stay here, children; I’ll go take a look.”
“I’m not a child!” complained Fafnir, who was 250 years old, after all. “I’m coming with you.”
When they returned a few minutes later, the dwarf was frowning and the dog looked ready to pass out.
“There’s a guy in there who’s been bled like a crouicc,” Fafnir calmly informed them, “with two nice fang marks on his neck. I think our friend the vampyr has some explaining to do.”
“I hate to say this,” said Robin, whose elf hunting instincts were immediately roused by anything out of the ordinary, “but we just don’t have time to deal with him right now.”
Tara was feeling very uneasy. What the heck is that blasted vampyr accusing me of now, she wondered.
Cal shrugged, and said: “Dragosh said he had to talk to the king and queen. They can work it out. Ah, here’s the embassy.”
Despite the late hour, all the building’s lights were lit, oddly enough. Gnomes on geometer moths guarded the embassy gardens, and praying mantises patrolled watchfully. Two large centipedes with poisonous mandibles flanked the entrance, so Manitou and his group were careful not to make any sudden movements.
Ambassador Bulul Bulbul was waiting and greeted them with urbane politeness. “Welcome back! Were you able to get everything you needed?”
“Yeah, and even more,” grumbled Cal, rubbing his head, which still felt sore.
“A number of events have occurred that would justify a modification of our agreement,” began Manitou very diplomatically, “and—”
“You stole The Forbidden Book!” yelled Fafnir, for whom the word “diplomacy” didn’t mean much. “Give it back!”
Manitou glared at her.
Though startled by the harsh accusation, the imperturbable ambassador quickly recovered. “A dwarf! How interesting! I don’t remember seeing her with you when you came through.”
“She’s one of the tools I need,” Cal said quickly. “If she doesn’t go, we don’t go, worms or no worms.”
“Tools?” began Fafnir indignantly. “What do you mean by—”
Fortunately, the gnome interrupted her.
“I am not authorized to discuss this,” he said. “My government and your friend are waiting for you in Smallcountry. Let me show you the way to our portal.”
Having none too subtly reminded them that the gnomes were still holding a hostage, Bulbul led them to the transfer tapestries.
The tapestries glowed, and the guardian mantises disappeared. In their place stood monstrous arachnes that clicked their mandibles and stared at the new arrivals with their large round eyes. Sparrow and Tara shuddered with revulsion, and Fafnir gripped her axe. One of the arachnes bowed, gracefully bending her eight legs.
“Our government awaits you, and in good time, too,” she said in the melodious voice that had so startled Tara when she first heard it.
They followed the giant arachnid to a large hall. Whereas most gnome facilities are underground, official Smallcountry buildings are erected on the surface. In addition to the gnomes, this is also the land of the P’abo imps and the Lilliputian fairies. It’s said that other fairies live in the far north, near the border with Gandis, the land of giants. These are evil fairies, who feed on travelers heedless enough to cross their lands, but no one has ever returned to confirm or rebut that.
The group of friends silently crossed a hall that was as elaborately decorated as the facilities underground. The walls displayed a good cross-section of OtherWorld’s flora and fauna: fantastically colored flowers, birds, insects, and animals. The floor was not stone but covered with soft blue grass from the Mentalir plains.
The inhabitants of Smallcountry apparently hadn’t always lived harmoniously together. Dozens of tapestries portrayed the bloody wars that had preceded the three races’ surprising alliance.
Parti-colored fairies perched comfortably on floating bleachers and gossiped shrilly as they watched the arriving guests. Lemon-yellow imps, dressed all in green, also observed the meeting. Suddenly one of them yelped. A huge, hairy wart had just appeared on the tip of his nose. The other imps laughed, and he scowled at them as he made it disappear with an irritated wave. Then one of those laughing almost choked when a pair of wings sprouted on his back and flew him zigzagging through the air. His howls of protest only made the other scamps laugh all the harder. A third imp suddenly found himself with a mooouuu head on his shoulders and started bugling in terror—to general hilarity.
>
Tara couldn’t help but laugh. So, these were the famous playful P’abo imps.
Glul Buglul was present, accompanied by a half-dozen other gnomes whose pale skin and nearly white quiffs revealed their great age. Next to them lay The Forbidden Book, carefully guarded by two enormous arachnes. Cal frowned and Sparrow nodded. Fine, she thought, at least everything’s out in the open.
An arachne scuttled over to an enormous gong and rang it with a mallet. Sparrow grimaced when the sound hit her ears, but the imps immediately fell silent and the fairies stopped chattering.
“This noble council is now in session,” the arachne announced. “May wisdom attend each intercession!”
Tara studied Buglul, who was sitting on a chair a little more ornate than the others. Partly hidden by his orange quiff, a gold crown rested on the gnome’s head. Let’s see what happens if I take the initiative, she thought.
“Thank you for receiving us so promptly, Your Majesty,” said Tara in a clear voice, bowing to the gnome.
Buglul smiled slightly at being thus unmasked. Cal’s eyes widened. So, the gnome who had infected him was a king.
“I see you retrieved The Forbidden Book,” she continued, avoiding an argument that might erupt over a less diplomatic term.
“Yes, we decided to put it in a safe place,” he answered smoothly. “Pul Pupul, who borrowed it, as it were, told us of your presence in the underground room. What do you have to tell us about that?”
Tara repressed a very disrespectful shrug, but again avoided an argument.
“Nothing at all. All we have left to do is to find out where your wives and children are held prisoner and to destroy your enemy’s power, if we can. You will then give Cal the antidote and we will bring the book back to Master Chem in Lancovit.”
On his throne, King Buglul bowed slightly in homage to the girl’s skill.
“We would be delighted to give the book back to you,” he said in a silky voice. “The antidote too, just as soon as our wives and children are out of danger. Does your dwarf friend know the entire story?”
Tara Duncan and the Forbidden Book Page 14
