by Peter Wilson
His Grandmother had talked about ‘special responsibilities’ that came with being the Gregson heir and that she would begin to teach him what they were. He once again wished she hadn’t been so secretive about everything while he was growing up. Then he might have a clue on why he was being chased.
“I have no idea why they want him,” said Anthrow as he kept an eye on the street. “But we have to assume everything is related. Jack if Theorden is after you, it must have something to do with invading Earth. You must have some knowledge or power he needs.”
“But I don’t know anything!”
“Then as heir to the Manor, there must be something you can open, close or destroy…something! We must get you to safety.”
“We need to go to the first knot, to the lake.” Said Jack.
“It’s too dangerous. If the water of that lake is the only way to defeat the Horde at the manor, then it will be heavily guarded. It’s best we get you to safety, hide where they can’t find you.”
“No.” said Jack. “I’m not hiding. It’s my home in danger, my planet. If Theorden thinks I can help him with his invasion, then I have to do everything I can to prevent it.”
“We could be running right into a trap,” said David.
“Then we don’t run, we sneak. If there’s an obvious way to get there, we go the unobvious way. I’m sure if we continue on to Diamond Lake, we’ll find more clues as to who stole the Blue Emerald.” Jack said, looking at his cousins and waiting for them to respond.
“I’m coming with you,” said Rosie. “We need to stick together.”
“Fine! Let’s do this,” said David after a pause. “Where do we go first?”
“We need to return to the Grotto. Jack’s right, stealth is needed to get to the first knot. There is a portal that leads there that very few people know about. It puts you right near the lake. There’s just one catch though. In order to get to that entrance, you need to travel to Coran.”
“That doesn’t sound too difficult. Where is the portal to Coran?” asked David.
Anthrow looked at Jack and said, “We passed it on the way here.”
Jack swallowed hard, as he guessed what Anthrow was going to say next. “Coran is where Theorden lives, the portal we walked past that reeked of evil. We have to go through that, to his world.”
“Yes,” Anthrow said. “The only other portal there is months of walking away, and likely to be guarded. Also no one is willing to travel by sea on Bowlandose. There are a lot of very large beasts in the water on this planet. They’d eat a ship whole.”
“So let me get this straight,” said David. “In order to stop Theorden we need to travel to his home planet, which is probably overrun by the Horde. If we manage to avoid it, we travel to a portal there that will take us back to another part of the Grotto, where there is a secret portal to Diamond Lake, and quite probably a trap. If we manage to avoid the trap and throw the stone in the lake, we would have destroyed the Horde in the rear garden. We then have to travel back to the Grotto, to the one portal that goes back to Earth…One that we know has a trap waiting for us. And if we somehow manage to get past that and through the portal to home, we still are no closer to knowing who stole the blue emerald?”
“Sounds about right,” said Rosie smiling grimly.
“Does anyone else think that sounds completely impossible?”
“If we want to stop Theorden, we have to try,” replied Jack.
David sighed and then shrugged. “Well then. What are we waiting for?”
Chapter Twelve
Magic
“Now, Rosie!” said Jack.
Flames shot out of a fiery red ring Rosie was wearing, a massive fireball hitting a rocky wall in the Grotto.
“I did it!” she exclaimed.
“My Turn!” said David, as he balled his hand into a fist and aimed it at the same wall. Anthrow had given him a blue ring, and after a moment a bolt fired out, sending shards of ice flying through the air to shatter against the rock.
“Don’t do it again,” Anthrow said to Rosie as he saw her take aim. “Each ring only has three charges, so you only have two left. Best to save it.”
Once they had left the alley, the four of them had snuck back to the portal and returned to the Grotto.
Anthrow had then decided it was time to introduce magic to the three of them, in the hopes they could defend themselves if they encountered anymore of Theorden’s thugs.
“It’s better to spend an hour preparing than rushing in and getting yourselves killed,” he’d said.
Jack looked at the box of rings Vonsant had given Anthrow before they had left the shop. There was around twenty, each with different magical powers. Anthrow had explained that while there was a lot of magic in the Universe, not very many people were in fact capable of making it. The different worlds relied on people like Vonsant to imbue and create magical items for them, whether it be a tool a carpenter used to cut wood, or a weapon to defend your family home.
“This one makes the person you point it at fall in love with you,” said Anthrow after putting it to his forehead and closing his eyes. “It’s not very powerful though, would probably only work on the dumbest of maidens or thickest of gentlemen. It won’t be able to spare your life by making Theorden fall in love with you.”
“Ewww, gross,” said Rosie.
Anthrow said his magic wasn’t very powerful, but useful for someone in the guide profession. He was able to touch most magic objects and know what their power was. It was also how he knew what world each portal led to, as each of them had a different magic signature emanating from them.
“If that’s all you can do, then how did you take your knife back from me when we first met?” David had asked.
“With this,” Anthrow said smiling as he pulled a necklace out from under his shirt. “It allows me to move at incredible speeds. It was a gift from somebody very special, a long time ago. Now, try this one Jack,” he said as he passed him a black ring that was looped on a silver chain.
Jack slipped the necklace over his head and held the ring in his hand. Anthrow had told them that while every ring had a different use, the way to use them all was exactly the same. The trick was to concentrate on the ring and imagine it releasing it’s magic. The object would then sense that you wanted it to dispel one of its charges.
Jack concentrated on the ring, not knowing what its power was, but wishing it to activate. Nothing happened for a nearly a minute as he focused more and more.
Just as he was about to give up and ask for another ring to try, his arm started to turn black and pull apart in small wisps of mist.
“What’s happening to him?” Rosie said, alarmed.
Jack held up both of his arms as he watched them dissolve into a dark cloud. His legs started to feel light and as he looked down he saw that the rest of his body was gone, black smoke stretching around him.
Soon he was floating, his whole body now black mist, something he could feel and move like it was fingers or toes.
“It’s a camouflage, designed to hide you in the Horde. But be warned, the black mist is like a living thing, and it would soon notice you were a separate being.”
“How long does it last?” Jack asked, his voice sounded like a deep hiss. He saw Rosie flinch in disgust.
“It can last three minutes or thirty. It depends what you do. While in mist form you can climb up walls, drift down mountains or manipulate the mist into shapes like you’ll often see happen. The more you do, the faster the magic will run out. If you want to end it now and return to your human form, concentrate on the ring and will the magic to end.”
Jack was confused at first as he no longer had a neck, and he therefore didn’t know where the ring could be on his mist body. But then he felt it, floating through the darkness, expelling magic to keep him camouflaged.
He concentrated on it, willing it to stop. He could soon feel his body returning to solid form, his body crashing to the ground as he formed upside down in the
air.
“Well done!” said Anthrow. “You’ll need to work on your transformation back if you don’t want to break your neck, but good effort. The more you activate rings the easier it gets.”
“That was disturbing. I didn’t know if you’d turn back,” said Rosie.
“It was a weird sensation,” Jack agreed.
“Now Jack. When we past Coran earlier today, you were able to sense the evil emanating from its portal. That means you must have inherited some abilities from the Gregson bloodline. Whether you’re as powerful as your grandmother or you just have a small ability remains to be seen. Who knows, you could be more powerful that Theorden himself! Of course he’s been practising magic for many years, so even if you are, I wouldn’t be picking fights with him anytime soon.”
“What about me? I could have magic ability,” David said, sounding a bit jealous.
“And me,” said Rosie.
“You all have Gregson blood running through your veins, so it’s possible.”
“How does someone find out how powerful in magic they are?” asked Jack.
“Well it depends on what species you are. If you were a Chaos Pixie, you’d be performing magic as a baby. As long as they have their magic dust, they can do near anything!”
“That thing was mental. Do you think we could get more?” asked David.
“More he says! Just be happy it didn’t turn you into a stack of cakes. Now humans, like many other people would usually go through a number of tests to determine what they’re capable of. We don’t have the time to do that now, so you’ll have to find out on the go.”
“How do we do that?”
“Study the rings I’ve given you. Within each is magic, moulded and created to do different things. Rosie the one you hold now creates a fireball, David yours is ice. Study it, reach out to it with your mind and see if you can understand how it works. Magic is like a language, but one you cannot force yourself to learn.”
“So if I can understand its language I can…create it?” asked Jack.
“Exactly! If you can feel the magic in this ring,” he said holding up one from the box, “and understand how it flows and modifies the world around it to create its magic, with practice you would be able to do it yourself, without the need of magic objects.”
“But you understand it. Why can’t you create it?” Rosie said confused.
“Imagine you gave me a book that’s written in English. I could look at the picture on the cover and get a good idea of what the book was about. I could see who the hero of the story was, maybe even the villain. Perhaps it shows me a location, some more little bits about what the story is about. But then I open the book, and the words on the page mean nothing to me. I just know what the cover told me, and hope I haven’t been deceived. Most of the time I get it right.”
“So you’re literally judging a book by its cover,” David said as he rolled his eyes. “The saying is ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. You’re doing the exact opposite!”
“That is an Earth saying and one I haven’t heard before. I don’t care for it. Now! Let’s give you all some rings for the journey. Don’t worry I’ll let you know what each of them does. I’ll also need to draw you a map so you can find the portal on Coran and of course the portal to the Lake…”
“You’re not coming with us,” Rosie said shocked.
Jack was also shocked. How could he not come? He had helped them get this far, guided them safely through Bowlandose and now he was sending them off on an impossible mission alone!
How could he leave them knowing what danger they were in? Did he even really care if they succeeded or would he just be happy to see the back of them?
Anthrow stared at the rings sitting in a box on his lap. Eventually he looked up and broke the silence by saying “I cannot. We had an agreement. I would help you discover the origin of the red stone. I’ve done that and more. It’s time for me to return home, my debt to the Gregson’s has been repaid.”
“But we need you. How are we supposed to do this without you?”
“How are you supposed to do it with me! It’s Theorden! This isn’t a game, and I am just a guide. I will happily take you anywhere in the opposite direction of where you are asking me to go. You can even come back to my home world with me where you will be safe. But I can’t follow you to Coran and risk my life for people I only met yesterday! There is no price you could pay me to do that.”
“I thought you cared about us, about our family. I thought you were a good person,” David said angrily.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover, David.” Anthrow shot back at him. “I owed your family a debt and that’s the only reason I’ve helped you.” He then pleaded, “Walk away. This fight is too big for three as young as you.”
“I can’t do that,” said Jack, grabbing his pouch from the ground and putting it on his shoulder. “If we have to do this without you, we will.”
He looked at his cousins and flicked his head, indicating they should leave. “Thankyou for your service Anthrow. Your debt to the Gregson household is repaid.” Jack said the words firmly and then walked away, hoping they didn’t hear his voice trembling.
For the first time in his life he felt truly betrayed.
Chapter Thirteen
Coran
Jack walked in silence beside his cousins as they approached the portal that would take them to Coran.
After he had walked away the others, Anthrow had again suggested to Rosie that they come with him. When she refused, he had hastily drawn them maps that he said would guide them to Diamond Lake.
“I can’t even work out which way I’m meant to hold this damn thing,” David said as he tried looking at the map from different angles. “How the hell are we supposed to do this on our own?”
Jack didn’t have an answer to the question, so he didn’t bother replying. He was still angry with Anthrow, but was starting to wonder if he’d been too hasty leaving him. Could they have convinced him somehow to come with them?
He felt the portal to Coran before he saw it, the low hum that had previously overrun his senses creeping into his mind.
Rather than concentrate on it like last time, he tried to ignore it, like you would the pain of a burnt finger or a stubbed toe. The sound didn’t go away, but he was able to focus on what they needed to do.
“This way,” he said as he turned into the pathway towards the portal.
As they entered, Jack stopped in shock. The clearing was the same size and shape as all the others they had been to, but it looked poisoned. The grass was dead and the trees leading to the caverns looked diseased and in distress.
“What could have done this?” asked Rosie
“If you could hear and see what I can, you’d know. It’s like evil is seeping through the portal.”
“And we’re about to walk through it,” said David.
“Anthrow said it will take us to a part of Coran that is far from Theordan’s home. Once we get there, the area should be clear and we can make our way through some marshes to the second portal. It should only take us an hour…that’s what he said when he was drawing the map anyway,” said Rosie.
“A map I can’t read.”
“We’ll work it out,” said Jack determined.
He looked at the door, and took a deep breath. He then reached out and grabbed the knob, pulling it open to reveal the passageway leading into darkness.
Here goes, he thought as he took the lead and stepped through.
“Gregson!” a large deep voice roared as Jack arrived at the other side of the portal.
He stared in horror as an army of beasts, monsters and men standing less than thirty metres in front of him turned to look in his direction. There were at least a hundred of them, all holding weapons, all ready for a fight.
The Horde carpeted the ground around them, dark animal shapes coming to the surface to look in his direction. The sky above was dark grey, full of angry clouds swirling as lightning burst out in all dir
ections. The landscape beyond was desolate as if all life had been drained from the earth, replaced with mud, sludge and water surrounding the dead remains of trees that were once part of a forest.
David and Rosie appeared beside Jack as the large group of Theorden’s followers started their way towards them, battle cries filling the air.
“We need to go back through the portal now!” yelled David.
“They’d just follow us,” replied Jack as he continued to watch the army approach.
“Well we’ve got a mountain of rock behind us and all of them in front! At least through the portal we’d have a chance!”
Jack knew David was right, but if they left now, then what? They had to get to Diamond Lake, and unless they went this way it would take months. Months Theorden would use to start invading Earth.
“They’re coming! Jack, David, we have to do something now!”
Jack suddenly had a thought. “Quick, grab on to me!”
David and Rosie didn’t question him but immediately grabbed an arm each.
He concentrated on the black ring hanging from his neck, willing it to activate.
A large green beast of a man was the first to reach them, wearing a grin as he casually stopped and stood metres away, a massive spiked club gripped in his right hand.
“Gregson’s must die,” he said in a deep, drawn out drawl.
“Jack,” Rosie said.
“Just hold on.”
The magic in the ring came to life as all three of them turned to mist. It worked! Soon all three of them were as one, black mist resting low on the ground.
The green beasts grin turned to a frown as he saw his enemy disappear before his eyes.
Quickly Jack thought as he willed his mist body towards the Horde that was closing in on them. He felt resistance from within the cloud, David or Rosie not agreeing with what he was doing.
“We must,” he hissed. The resistance stopped and he led them to the large black cloud ahead.
