by Lady Ellen
The clomp, clomp, clomp, shuffle resumed, coming down the stairs. “I’ve not seen heem in a day or zo. Hee never acknowledges me...just drags by...staring ahead of heemself. Very dull. Very dull indeed. I can never tell eef ‘e’s dead or alive,” said Natasha.
“Technically, yeah, you’re right, but a handy grunt,” Melanthios commented. She reached the entrance way and moved under the balcony, down a hall on the right side. Melanthios stopped a few steps in and pointed her wand. “Accoutos.” she called, then followed with “Gormund. That should get his attention.”
At the end of the hall, Persy and Thaddeus heard a heavy door open and a slow schlumping gait started toward Melanthios.
“Argh, Get the lead out, Gormund. Let’s not watch my hair grow,” Melanthios spat out, irritably.
Gormund finally arrived in the entrance hall, head bowed and would not look at Melanthios. He was exactly like those they had seen through Vadoma’s crystal ball, but this one had red hair, also matted and filthy.
“Come upstairs, Gormund. I need to talk to you about the placement of the other Gobbuskins around Bodesnoir. I want to know the first sign of anyone trying to get near us.” Melanthios turned to head back up the stairs, to her garret.
Just then, Benson had an overwhelming need to sneeze. It happened without warning and nothing could be done about it. Tiny as the sound is, it was not missed by Melanthios. Tash’s ‘spidey sense’ must have tingled, too, as she turned toward the alcove.
“What?” screeched Melanthios, swishing over to them before Persy or Thaddeus could react.
Persy pointed her wand, saying “Van...” but Melanthios was faster. “Disarm.” she shouted. A short, but quite effective spell. Persy’s wand tumbled from her hand.
“Fixatious.” Melanthios shouted on her backswing. No one in Persy’s group could move, not even Benson. Melanthios caught them all. She retrieved Persy’s wand.
Melanthios conjured up silver ropes and a small cage on the floor in front of her. “Gormund, use these to bind them and stick the bug in the cage,” she demanded.
“DON’T CALL ME BUG!” screamed Benson. Melanthios completely ignored him.
Gormund did as Melanthios instructed. When he was done he stepped back and she called out “Activius.” which gave them back their movement, although it was severely restricted by the bindings.
“Take them up to my room, Gormund,” Melanthios commanded. Gormund grabbed the ends of the ropes around Persy, Thaddeus and P-C; carried Benson’s cage up the stairs, dragging the others.
Melanthios noticed that Tash hadn’t said anything. “You’re unusually quiet, Tash,” Melanthios observed.
“I am just too deesgusted zat zees intruders got into ze castle. Ze trolls and Gobbuskeens need to be punished...or at ze least, be made to take ze refresher course in ze art of guarding. Zey steenk! Eez terreeble!” She clomped-shuffled back up the stairs, following Gormund. Melanthios grinned a little, looked around the entrance hall and went up last.
In Melanthios’ garret, Gormund flung Persy, Thaddeus and P-C on the floor and perched Benson’s cage near the shape-shifter who was curled in the same corner as Benson had last seen her.
Melanthios tried questioning them for hours. Where had they been? Who was helping them? What did Laurel and Angelica show them? What do they know about Melanthios’ plans? On and on it went. Tash settled in another corner of the room. Melanthios obviously preferred to do her own dirty work. She even tried to read their minds, smacking her hand on Persy’s forehead and then Thaddeus’s, concentrating on flushing out their thoughts. But the last few days, studying the “Secrets of the Stregheri” with Laurel and Angelica paid off. There, they learned to block their minds and thoughts. Melanthios got nothing. P-C was of no use to her, either. He simply knew nothing.
Frustrated, Melanthios stomped to the back of the room and slid a portion of the wall aside to reveal a secret doorway.
“Gormund. Chuck them all down here,” she shrieked. “A little waltz with my Energy Vampires will loosen their tongues. Either that or they can just waste away down there. At this point, I couldn’t care less which way it goes.”
Again, Gormund grabbed their ropes and the cage. As they got nearer to the door, Persy and Thaddeus could see a spiral chute which was just inside the doorway. Gormund pushed them through the door and down the chute, tossing the cage in after them, then slammed the door shut.
Persy, Thaddeus and P-C whooshed down the chute for about a hundred feet and Benson clunked and bounced all the way down. They landed together in a heap on a cold, damp stone floor.
“Oy,” groaned Benson. “I fink all me body parts are out of order. That Gormund, ‘e’s a right nutter, ‘e is.” He turned himself over onto his feet and tested each wing, leg and section.
P-C, Persy and Thaddeus untangled themselves as best they could with their arms tied to their sides. P-C stayed lying in his side, but Persy and Thaddeus managed to right themselves.
“Well, the good news is, Melanthios forgot to take my wand,” Thaddeus said. “The bad news is I can’t reach it. It’s in my back pocket.”
“Well,” P-C grunted. “I think I can reach it. Hold still.” P-C wriggled himself closer to Thaddeus and with his sharp dragon teeth was able to maneuver the wand from Thaddeus’ pocket and drop it onto the floor close to Thaddeus. However, P-C’s hot dragon breath gave Thaddeus a rather warm bottom.
“Thanks, ol’ buddy,” said a relieved Thaddeus. “I’m just glad you didn’t take much longer, I could have been dealing with toasted buns.” P-C giggled and blushed.
Thaddeus ‘bum-walked’ the few inches to his wand and reached for it. “Liberatum,” he called and all their ropes fall away. They got up and stretched. Persy ran over and opened the cage for Benson. He crawled out slowly, trying to get his body in working order again. It was then that they took note of their surroundings.
They were in a cave with moisture-slicked rock walls. It was high and large, about the size of a basketball court. In the centre was a dark, slime-coated pool. There was a dense, foot high mist hovering over the sulphurous, decay-filled water. The air was dank and quite frankly, smelled like an outhouse.
“Ugh,” P-C groaned, covering his nose. “What IS this place?”
“I dunno,” Thaddeus said, “but whatever lives here, either has no sense of smell or really gets off on dead stuff.”
Benson chimed in, “It sure does reek in here. How about we find a way out?”
“Good plan, Benson,” said Persy. She was concentrating on the mists over the stagnant pool. “Why don’t you check around where we can’t very easily, like near the top of the cave?” Benson flew off into the darkness of the cave’s ceiling.
“Thad,” Persy said quietly. “Watch the mists, they’re thinning out and kind of oozing this way.”
Thaddeus turned to see where Persy was looking. Not only were the mists thinning and moving, but they were dividing into separate clumps of mist. P-C, who was standing closest to the pool, was the first to be attacked. One hunk of mist enveloped P-C’s body from head to toe.
“Ahhhhhhhh,” P-C uttered as he fell to the floor once again.
“Energy Vampires,” cried Thaddeus. “This is what Melanthios was talking about. Persy. Take my hand.” Persy gripped Thaddeus’s hand and he put his leg out for P-C to grab. He yelled “Vanquesta!” touching them all with his wand. They vanished. But Energy Vampires suck the energy out of you, and unfortunately do NOT have to see the one they are attacking. An invisibility spell was of no use. They reversed the spell.
Two mounds of the infernal mist were oozing toward Persy and Thaddeus. Persy’s eyes were fixed on their approach, when they heard a very loud flapping from the ceiling of the cave.
“Yikes,” yelled Benson. “I’m going to be lunch.” and he zoomed down to sit on Persy’s shoulder. He now caught sight of the imminent mist. “What the...?” He wasn’t sure to watch it or follow the flapping above. His choice was quickly made for him. The flapping
ceased right beside Persy. A very cold aura surrounded them. The Energy Vampires stopped in their tracks. A loud ‘CRACK’ was heard and there, to their immediate right, stood Murph with Bran on his shoulder.
Murph’s face was not the thing of beauty Persy met at Vadoma’s vardo.
It was contorted in an evil grimace, teeth and fangs bared, eyes the colour of fresh blood and a very prominent, scowling forehead. Persy would not have known it was Murph if it wasn’t for his elegant suit and Bran.
Murph hissed and growled at the Energy Vampires. He raised his arms outward at a forty-five degree angle from his shoulders, holding the ends of his cape, making him look like a rabid bat. It was enough for the Energy Vampires. All three retreated back to the pool and settled down, hanging over its surface.
“Murph! Bran!” cried Persy. “How did you find us? How did you scare the Energy Vampires? Do they know you? What?”
“Hang on, sweet-cheeks,” Murph smiled. “One question at a time. Those Energy Vampires and I, well we kind of run in the same circles. But honestly? They’re puppies. When it comes to sapping blood or energy, ya just can’t beat a three hundred year old blood-sucking vampire. I may be a poof, but I can out-bitch the best of them and don’t they know it. And how? Vadoma saw this starting and sent us. There’s an opening at the top of the cave which your bug here hadn’t reached yet.”
“NOT a bug!” growled Benson. Murph turned to him and waggled his eyebrows.
Thaddeus, in the flurry of events, barely having time to think, now reacted, slightly shocked at Murph’s appearance. “But I thought no one is allowed to help us. How do you plan to answer to the Magical Council?” he asked Murph.
“I don’t have to answer to any Council. I’m not really a Magical Folk, am I?” His gorgeous face was back and he eyed Thaddeus up and downed with a silken sideways glance.
“I live in another dimension from you, and live a long, long time. But have few magical powers to speak of. I mean, I’d be very little threat to Melanthios, would I? I’d never get close enough to bite her, so not much help. Except in a situation like this, with my own kind, so to speak.”
“Ah, I see,” said Persy. “Well, thanks a bunch for showing up when you did.”
“Ah-hem,” said Thaddeus clearing his throat and desperately wanting Murph’s attention diverted away from him. “OK, back to finding a way out.” Thaddeus started walking away from the pool to check the walls for doorways. P-C followed him while Persy and Murph checked the other side of the pool. Benson flitted back and forth, trying to be with whoever found something first.
As luck would have it, it was Thaddeus. Along the side of one of the walls he was searching, was a semi-circular step; the other half of it appeared to have been built inside the wall. On the step was a stone pedestal basin, again only half of this could be seen. Over the basin was a very dark, smoky mirror in which shadows were definitely moving. Thaddeus stepped up onto the dais to have a closer look at the basin and into the mirror. He called to Persy and Murph.
“Hey, you guys, come have a look at this.” They turned just in time to see Thaddeus disappear into the wall, as the step he was on, grated on the stone below it and turned into the cave wall, leaving nothing but a flat surface where the step, basin, mirror and Thaddeus had been.
P-C stepped back when the stone started to move. Benson was over with Persy and couldn’t make it back in time to go with Thaddeus. It all happened too quickly. Persy and Murph came running, but the wall was completely closed.
“Oh, no,” cried Persy. “Where’s he gone?”
“Who knows?” Murph said. “Let’s see if we can find a trigger to rotate the basin back to us.” He started palming his hands all over the wall where the step and basin had been a few seconds ago. Persy followed suit, as does P-C, while Benson crawled over the surface, looking for cracks to indicate where the doorway was. They patted, pushed, scraped and clawed at the wall. Nothing was there. It was as if it never existed in the first place. After about forty-five minutes, they stopped, frustrated and peeved.
“There has to be a way,” declared Persy.
“Yep,” agreed Murph. “But darned if I can see it.”
“Yeah, and the thing is, Thaddeus has the only wand. Melanthios took mine,” said Persy, sitting down on the cave floor with her knees bent as she put her head on her knees to think.
“You know,” Persy said thoughtfully, “I don’t know where Thaddeus is or how to find him; or where in this granite loony-bin Melanthios is and I don’t have my wand. So the only thing I can think of is to use the Sapphire of Truth which the Magus gave us. What do you think, Murph?”
“Sapphire away, my pretty,” said Murph. “Sapphire away.”
Persy stood, feeling hopeful. She took the Sapphire of Truth out of her pocket, slipped it from the little black velvet bag it was in. She held it to her forehead and turned in a slow circle, and was able to see everything going on in the castle. She stared at the wall where Thaddeus had vanished. On the other side was a vast cave, like an underground cemetery with hundreds of Gobbuskins, standing, sitting or leaning on tombstones as if they were waiting for something. Gormund had Thaddeus held around his neck with a knife poised across his throat; Gormund too was waiting for something. Persy could sense he was not going to harm Thaddeus, for now. Persy noticed a glint in the wall just over where the hidden door was located. It was golden in colour, similar to fool’s gold. She assumed it was the trigger to get into the room Thaddeus was in, but before she pressed it, she wanted to know where Melanthios was.
She continued to turn and looked up as she knew she would find Melanthios on an upper level of the castle. Persy located her in her garret, quietly poring over a mound of books on her table. The room was permeated with a thin black fog, much stronger around Melanthios, which Persy took to indicate the Sapphire’s depiction of the evil energy in that room. Persy continued to look around picking out the varying levels of this black fog.
Willow (Persy assumed, as she never met her) was in a tower room sorting through herbs. Persy caught the shape-shifter down in one of the dungeons, talking with the spider. The Sapphire picked up so many persona’s for her that they flitted through Persy’s vision lightening fast, so none could be completely discerned. There were several incidences of very black mounds, as if some other creatures were about, but curled up sleeping.
Murph looked at her when she put the Sapphire away. “And Survey Says?” he quipped.
“I’ve found the trigger to the door, I think.” Persy rubbed her eyes, dry from staring so long.
“Melanthios is up in her room, but she’ll be down in heartbeat if we create a ruckus. So we’re going to have to be quick. Gormund, the head Gobbuskin has Thaddeus in a head lock with a knife across his throat. He’s standing just to the right of the doorway. Let’s focus on surprising him and hopefully he’ll drop his grip on Thaddeus. P-C, when we go through, stand in front of us; and just breathe fire, to scare the rest of the undead in there. Benson, fly over to the staircase at the front of the room and look for Melanthios. I’m sure that’s the way she’ll come down.”
Persy walked over to the wall and slowly dragged her forefinger along the wall to find the depression where she had seen the golden glint. She connected and pushed. The wall swung around and the basin/mirror and dais came back through to their side. The three of them jumped on the step and Benson sat on Persy’s shoulder. In seconds the whole structure turned back into the wall.
Murph was the first through and sprung off the dais with his vampire face on, growling to shock Gormund, who jumped back dropping his knife, but not before he nicked Thaddeus’ throat. Persy was next, saw the blood trickling down Thaddeus’ neck, panicked and let out a small scream. Murph’s eyes shone disturbingly, focusing on Thaddeus’ throat as he lunged toward Gormund. Persy jumped off the step, following Murph, while P-C stood between them and the rest of the Gobbuskins, breathing out warning puffs of fire. Benson soared to the front stairs.
“Tha
r she blows,” Benson called as Melanthios appeared at the top of the front staircase.
Persy watched Melanthios literally fly down the stairs, but out of the corner of her eye, saw Gormund recover and reach forward for Thaddeus. Murph ran in front of him, throwing a handful of what looked like sand at Gormund’s chest. Gormund stopped cold in his tracks, turned and walked toward the cemetery, leaving Thaddeus standing there holding his throat.
Melanthios screamed from the bottom step, “Attack them! Catch them!” She waved her wand at the mass of Gobbuskins.
The undead creatures turned toward Persy and the gang as they were high-tailing it for the back steps to get out of the room. Murph was in the rear, turning and throwing handfuls of salt at the oncoming Gobbuskins. The ones he hit, turned and went back to the graveyard area...some were even crawling into the graves.
“Don’t let them get away, you fools!” bellowed Melanthios. Then she raised her wand and was about to throw some curse at them, when Thaddeus turned back just in time to shout, “Fixatious!” The spell mostly missed Melanthios, except for her left leg which seemed to freeze in place as she started to chase them. She fell over with a thud, giving the group time to make it up the stairs and start along the hallway to her garret.
“Just a sec,” panted Thaddeus as he momentarily stopped. “Join hands.” They held hands and he did a “Vanquesta” on them collectively, making them invisible while they were running along the halls. They made it to Melanthios’ room. Persy whipped out the Hagstone, looked through it at the mirror and was able to see the Cimaruta. She pried it out with her fingers and handed it to Murph.
“Here,” she panted, “do your bat thing, take this to Vadoma. We’re going to have to figure our way out.”
No need to tell Murph twice. He morphed into a bat with the Cimaruta slung around his neck. Bran and he flew out the same window Benson had hidden in on his last visit. They were specks in the sky in seconds.
