by Dale Furse
A few more steps further on, a surge of fear swelled inside her chest. She ran, unfurling her wings at the same time. Even before her feet had changed, she left the ground. A small white form appeared in the air in front of her. Nell gasped and threw her arms out as she swerved and came to an abrupt stop, hanging in the air. The little, rat fairy-like Grarl moved closer.
‘Orenda,’ she berated. ‘You nearly scared me to death.’
Orenda landed on the path. ‘I must speak to you.’
Her squeaky voice was even higher in pitch than usual and tinged with an edge of hysteria. Her long whiskers twitched nervously and her fur-covered body trembled
‘What is it?’ Nell asked, gliding to the ground beside her tiny, one-time teacher.
Orenda lifted off the ground and hovered in front of Nell’s face. ‘I cannot find Dar-tern or Kandar.’
‘What do you mean? They’re on Grarlon.’
‘I know there’re supposed to be on Grarlon, but I cannot find them. I have used every enchantment known to me and still they don’t appear. Compore is rousing a rebellion against the royal family, that is where I last saw them, at the palace, but I cannot find them. I fear they are in danger.’
Orenda spoke so rapidly, Nell found it hard to follow. ‘Slow down, O, and tell me everything from the beginning.’
Nell sat on a fallen coconut palm and sent out her mind to her father. The distance was so vast she couldn’t bridge it. ‘I can’t find Dad either, but that’s because he’s too far away, not dead.’
Taking a deep breath, Orenda’s intense, azure eyes regarded Nell. ‘Dar-Nellen, Grarlon is on the brink of civil war. The king’s most senior advisor, Compore, has formed what he calls the republican army. He conspires to carry out an anti-royal coup and he has many loyal followers, not only on Grarlon, but across the known universe.’
‘I’ve read about coups,’ Nell said. ‘They can get nasty. Shouldn’t Dad and Kandar just leave and let them work it out?’
‘They were supposed to leave and report the rift to the United Council. Neither has returned to Corl and the United Council hasn’t heard from them. Although Compore has many alliances, I believe the majority of Grarls love the royal family.’ Orenda twitched her ratty pink nose. ‘I fear what Compore will do. I have to remove Dar-tern and Kandar from Grarlon.’
Nell stood up and held out her hand. ‘Well, come on then, what are we waiting–’
Orenda fell to the ground, a gasp of air exploding from her lungs.
Nell shouted, ‘Orenda!’ Something black and hairy had grappled her friend to the ground.
‘Get off me,’ Orenda grunted. She gave a mighty heave with her arms and legs trying to dislodge the dark ball.
A black, tailless, rat-like creature immediately scrambled up onto its feet. ‘I’m sorry, my sweet, but I had to target you precisely if I was going to find you.’
Nell frowned. He had said, ‘my sweet,’ as if it was almost habit.
‘Prince Ephry,’ Orenda muttered. ‘What are you doing here?’
Nell sat back on the fallen palm. She had heard about the royal Grarls being black but had never met one before. All the other Grarls had shades of white to grey fur. Nell eyed her friend. Orenda was annoyed at the prince for something more than landing on top of her.
‘Grarlon is on the brink of war,’ the prince said as if that explained everything.
‘War?’ Nell and Orenda exclaimed in unison.
Prince Ephry moved to take Orenda’s hand, but she pulled away and sat heavily beside Nell.
‘Explain,’ Orenda said without even the smallest hint of respect for his office.
The prince twitched his nose and lifted his top lip over his two large front teeth in what Nell presumed was a smile.
‘Oh, sweet Orenda, don’t be like that. Don’t you care that your Prince has just this minute escaped from certain death?’ Rising off the ground and crossing his short legs, he hovered in front of Orenda and Nell. ‘My first thought was to cast a spell to find you, my soon to be betrothed.’
‘Humph,’ was all Orenda replied, crossing her arms and glaring at the prince.
Nell looked from one to the other. She wanted to know more about Orenda’s apparent engagement, but there were more pressing matters to deal with. ‘We’ll worry about your personal lives later,’ she said. ‘But for now, let’s concentrate on why you’re here. Did you come straight from Grarlon, Prince Ephry?’
‘Yes,’ the prince replied, still regarding Orenda with a silly smile on his rat-like face.
‘Then you know where Dad and Kandar are?’
‘Yes.’
‘Will you stop looking at Orenda and concentrate on me?’
‘My apologies; Dar-tern and Kandar are with Father and Mother.’ Ephry shook his head. ‘They have all been imprisoned.’ He looked back at Orenda. ‘Please, my sweet, we must help them.’
‘Why didn’t you say that in the first place?’ Orenda asked acidly.
‘I’m sorry, my love. You know how you affect me?’
‘Only too well. And stop apologising.’
‘Both of you stop it,’ Nell demanded, standing up. ‘We have to go Grarlon this minute.’
‘No,’ the prince said as he pushed his face within a hand’s breadth from Nell’s nose. ‘The revolutionaries will kill anyone who approaches the planet.’ He turned to Orenda. ‘We must come up with a plan, my love.’
Nell wanted to argue, but the prince didn’t look the type to exaggerate danger. Unfurling her wings, she said, ‘Follow me to the house.’ She soared away without looking to see if the two Grarls followed.
CHAPTER TWO
BEFORE ORENDA AND THE PRINCE ENTERED THE HOUSE, they stood in silence with their arms above their heads and palms to the sky for several moments.
‘What did you do?’ Nell asked when they had finished.
‘We strengthened Orenda’s enchantment with a spell,’ the prince said. ‘No one will get through.’
‘Why?’
‘Because,’ Orenda replied. ‘The rebels will pursue Ephry.’
‘But my cousin is supposed to be arriving tomorrow. How will she get here?’
‘She can’t,’ Ephry said.
‘She has to.’
Orenda touched Nell’s arm, and said, ‘She will die if she tries to travel through the barrier.’
Nell gasped and rushed into the kitchen, letting the screen slam behind her. She didn’t care that the Grarls were right behind her. Orenda and the prince walked through the closed screen door as if it wasn’t there.
‘Orenda,’ Lesel said, standing up. ‘Prince Ephry. What are you doing here?’
‘There’s a revolution on Grarlon,’ Nell said. ‘The rebels have imprisoned the royal family and Dad and Kandar along with them. They’re okay, but they,’ Nell pointed a finger at the Grarls, ‘have done something to the force field and nobody can get through. Mekie might try any minute. She will die if she does.’
Nell bent around Annet so she could collect the communicator from the shelf.
‘Why didn’t the rebels let Dar-tern and Kandar leave?’ Lesel asked.
‘No one can go in or out of Grarlon,’ the prince said. ‘Be assured, they will come to no harm.’
Nell punched the buttons, sending a message to Mekie. ‘I just hope she gets it before she leaves,’ Nell said, glaring from Orenda to the prince. ‘I’ve asked her to reply, but if she doesn’t, you’ll have to remove the spell.’
The prince said, ‘I can’t do that. I am my family’s only hope and I can’t risk the rebels finding me.’
Nell couldn’t believe he could be so callous. ‘If Mekie comes, the skark will crash into the field. She’ll be killed, you…you rodent.’
Orenda’s eyes flew wide as she gasped. ‘Dar-Nellen.’
The prince clamped his mouth shut and he raised his pink palms in challenge to Nell.
Nell glowered at him and held her position.
Annet stood up and Lesel jumped between the
m. ‘Stop!’ she shouted. ‘There will be no fighting in my kitchen.’
‘Nell,’ Orenda said. ‘The royal family are the most potent spellbinders on Grarlon. No single person can best them.’
‘Oh?’ Nell didn’t back down. ‘Why are they imprisoned then?’
‘I said no single person. Only hundreds of Grarls, working collectively, could have overcome them.’
Nell’s bravado faltered at that. Lesel nodded to her to apologise. ‘Okay, okay,’ Nell said to Prince Ephry. ‘I’m sorry I called you a rodent. But if anything happens to Mekie, we’ll find out which one of us is more powerful.’
Ephry lowered his skinny arms. ‘I accept,’ he said, his eyes cold.
He might have meant he accepted her apology, but Nell had a hunch he had meant her challenge.
Annet let out an audible sigh and dropped into the chair. Lesel waved the Grarls to the table. ‘Sit down,’ she said. ‘Tell us what has happened.’
Orenda glided purposefully to the chair the other side of Annet. She sat on the edge of the chair dangling her short legs. Ephry had no choice but to sit at the other side of the table opposite her. Nell leaned against the sink, checking the communicator every few seconds for the red light that indicated a message.
‘The rebels have been working towards revolution for some time now,’ Orenda began. ‘And another rejection by the United Council was the excuse they needed to stage a coup.’
Nell noticed her old teacher refused to look at her prince. He was gazing at Orenda with a puppy-dog face.
When she wouldn’t acknowledge him, he gave up, and said, ‘Yes. Compore is leading the revolution. I believe he intends to make himself emperor and after that, who knows how far the mad spell-binder will go.’
‘Are there still royalists on Grarlon?’ Annet asked.
‘Yes,’ the prince replied. ‘But the revolutionaries’ numbers are great. Many Grarls loyal to Compore are on Grarlon. However, there are many more royalists off world, so they could outnumber his followers.’ He paused.
‘That is where we start,’ Ephry said as if his decision was final. ‘We will collect every off world royalist before we mount the campaign against Compore,’
Orenda nodded, but still didn’t meet her prince’s eyes.
‘Oh, Nell,’ Annet said as if just remembering why she was there in the first place. ‘Did you find whatever was under my house?’
Nell checked for a red light on the communicator for the hundredth time before answering, ‘Yes. It was a crocodile, he—’ she bit her lip. ‘That’s why,’ she said in realisation.
‘That’s why, what?’ Lesel asked.
‘Why all the animals and birds have gone and why the horses are scared. They know something is going to happen.’ She looked at Orenda. ‘The rebels are coming.’
‘We were right to strengthen the field,’ the prince said smugly. ‘You agree now, Nell?’
‘Only if Mekie stays safe,’ Nell said, staring with hard eyes at the prince.
‘I’m sure she will be, Nell.’ Annet stood up. ‘I’d better see to the horses.’
‘You can’t leave,’ Ephry said.
‘Why not?’ Annet asked.
‘Yeah. Why not?’ Nell said, raising her eyes from the communicator.
‘We had to lessen the field’s cover to strengthen it,’ Orenda said. ‘It only surrounds this house now.’
‘You can stay here until Carl and Sam return, Annet,’ Lesel said. ‘I’m sure Orenda and the prince will be gone before then.’
‘And me,’ Nell said. ‘I’m going with them.’
‘No,’ Ephry said. ‘You cannot be involved in Grarlon politics.’
‘I don’t care about Grarlon politics,’ Nell said. ‘If you lot want a civil war, that’s up to you, but I am going to get Dad and Kandar.’
‘Nell,’ Lesel said. ‘I agree with the prince. The rebels would not hurt your father, and especially not a Corl. However, your interference might jeopardise their safety.’
Nell opened her mouth to argue, but closed it again and looked at the communicator. No red light. Where are you, Mekie? They could say what they liked. As soon as she knew Mekie was safe, no one could actually stop her from going to Grarlon. She had decided long ago, she could do what she wanted after her eighteenth birthday. If she was considered an adult in Australia, she was old enough to be considered an adult everywhere else too. Please Mekie, answer your communicator.
A deafening blast sounded above them. The walls and ceiling shook rattled with the vibration as light filled the kitchen. Lesel’s face distorted into a silent scream of horror as Nell pressed her onto the floor. ‘Under the table,’ Nell screamed. ‘You too.’ She said to Annet. Annet didn’t move. Instead, she stared at Nell as if she were asking what had happened. Nell jumped to her feet and pushed her back down. ‘Get under,’ she shouted.
Orenda and Ephry hovered above the table with arms stretched to the roof.
‘What’s happening?’ Nell demanded. Her heart raced. She didn’t have to ask. The Grarl rebels were attacking.
Another blast, a flash of light, and then another and another. The house trembled repeatedly.
‘The field is holding,’ Orenda screeched. ‘We are safe.’
‘If the house stays put,’ Nell muttered.
Ephry mumbled something at the ceiling then smiled at Nell. ‘Just another spell for good measure,’ he said, gliding to the floor.
Orenda joined him. Lesel’s head emerged from under the table. ‘No,’ Orenda said. ‘Stay there.’
Lesel moved back and put her arm around Annet. Nell bent down and gave them a comforting smile. She turned to the Grarls, shouting over the noise. ‘Are you sure the field will hold?’
‘Certain,’ the prince said. ‘They will soon realise they can’t penetrate it and leave.’
Nell sat, wondering if the prince’s certainty was ill-founded. Flinching at every blast, she waited for the quivering plasterboard ceiling to give way.
After a full thirty minutes of booms and flashes, the attacks abruptly ceased. She listened and wondered what the attackers were planning next. Before she finished the thought, Ephry had risen above the table. Orenda immediately followed him. Both raised their arms and began to mumble under their breath.
Nell bounded to her feet. ‘What’s going on?’
‘They … have joined minds … they are strong,’ Orenda managed to say between mumbles. ‘Join … with us.’
Nell jumped on the table and placed a hand over Orenda’s tiny shoulder. ‘I don’t understand.’
Plasterboard shook and broke away in jigsaw pieces around the centre ceiling light and fell to the floor.
‘The blasts … were individual spells and … enchantments,’ Ephry said. ‘Now listen … they have combined … their might.’
‘We must also combine … our power,’ Orenda said, quickly pressing her white furry shoulder against Ephry’s black one.
They were right. The earlier blasts had changed to rat, tat, tat sounds. It was as if they had swapped rifles for machine guns. The glasses on the sink exploded. Nell started. Annet screamed. The scuffling under the table told Nell they were huddling closer to the wall. Nell closed her eyes and tilted her face up at the ceiling. Incessant shafts of light attacked the shield. One zinged past her ear. The assailants had broken through the shield. But where?
The ceiling light swayed frantically dislodging the light bulb. It shattered on impact with the floor. Annet shrieked. Lesel shouted, ‘Nell.’
‘We’re fine. Just keep Annet there,’ Nell roared back.
With her heart beating wildly, Nell merged her mind with the prince’s and Orenda’s minds. Drawing in some of their strength, Nell sent her thoughts over the shield. As if she was there, she found the spot they had been targeting. The aggressors’ blasts cracked through the air. ‘There,’ she thought-spoke to the Grarls. Like many hundreds of steel threads, their minds sewed the fracture layer by layer until the shield’s previous strength ret
urned.
Sending a thought past the shield to the source of the shots, Nell found the Grarls. ‘There are five of them. Two are using enchantments to weaken the shield and three spellbinders are shooting energy bolts at it.’ She frowned. The enemy was too strong.
‘Keep concentrating,’ Ephry said.
The marauders moved on to assault another part of the field, but, time after time, the defenders tracked their movements and blocked their attacks.
Nell sensed the sun slip behind Mount Grief. They’d been at it for hours. A fear the assailants were playing with them, weakening them, began to grow in Nell’s heart. They had to do more than block them.
Shattering glass sounded above them. Annet moaned. Lesel hushed her as she would a baby.
After stopping the enemy’s access through the shield once again, Nell decided to end the farce before her house crumpled. She needed more of the Grarl’s power. Orenda was already weakening, so, figuring the all-powerful prince should be able to cope with less power; she turned so she could put her hand over his and Orenda’s shoulders. She withdrew some strength from Ephry.
Nell concentrated all her energies into a shaft of power and, like firing a missile, she cast it. It whirred through the enchantment field. The attacking Grarls’ machine gun blasts flagged. The spellbinder in the middle lit up like a light bulb and fell out of the formation.
‘Yay,’ Nell cheered, as a Grarl disappeared. ‘Is that easier?’ she asked her companions.
‘Whatever you did,’ Orenda said. ‘Do it again.’
Using all her inner strength, she used a little more of Ephry’s power. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t say anything so Nell continued to harness her energy and fired her beam through the shield.
Uh oh. Two other Grarls had taken the place of their injured comrade. She threw the fierce light at one of them. It ricocheted back through the shield and whizzed so close to Orenda that she fell back, breaking contact for a moment. ‘They’ve got more help,’ Nell said with a moan, letting her arms fall to her sides.
