The Ironwood Tree
Page 4
“I’m trying! It was dark, and we were in a cage! What do you want me to do?” Jared kicked the base of the tree as if to emphasize his point.
The leaves quivered, clanging together like a thousand chimes. The sound was deafening. One of the copper birds fell to the ground, its wings still twitching and its beak opening and closing soundlessly.
“Oh, crap,” said Mallory.
Metal dogs burst into the room from several corridors, their sleek, jointed bodies effortlessly covering the distance between the entrance and the siblings. Their garnet eyes blazed.
“Climb!” Jared yelled, hooking his foot on the lowest branch and reaching back for his sister’s hand. Simon clamored up the rough iron bark. Mallory lifted herself dazedly.
Metal dogs burst into the room.
“Come on, Mallory!” Simon pleaded.
She swung her leg onto a branch just as a dog lunged. Its teeth caught hold of the end of her white dress and ripped it. The other dogs swarmed close, tearing the cloth.
Jared threw the stone that he’d been clutching in one hand. It flew past the dog’s head and rolled ineffectually against the cave wall.
One of the dogs bounded after the rock. At first Jared thought that maybe the stone was magical. Then he noticed that the dog had carried it back in its teeth, metal tail wagging like a whip.
“Simon,” Jared said. “I think that dog is playing.”
Simon looked at the dog for a moment and then started to shimmy down the tree.
“What are you doing?” Mallory demanded. “Mechanical robot dogs are not pets!”
“Don’t worry,” Simon called back.
Simon dropped to the ground, and the dogs stopped barking suddenly, nosing him as though deciding whether or not to bite. Simon stood very still. Watching him, Jared couldn’t breathe.
“Good boys,” Simon soothed, his voice shaking only slightly. “Want to fetch? Want to play a game?” He reached forward and gingerly took the stone from between the dog’s metal teeth.
All the dogs bounced in the air at once, barking happily. Simon looked up at his siblings and smiled.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Mallory said.
Simon threw the stone, and all five dogs bounded after it. One snatched it up in its jaws and marched back proudly, the others trailing eagerly. Simon leaned down to pet their metal heads. Their silver tongues lolled from their mouths.
Simon threw the rock three more times before Jared called down to him.
“We have to go,” he said. “The dwarves are going to find us if we wait any longer.”
Simon looked disappointed. “Okay,” he shouted to them. Then he took the stone and hurled it as hard as he could into the other room. The dogs thundered after it. “Come on!”
Jared and Mallory jumped down. All three of them ran to the small crack in the wall and squeezed inside, crawling rapidly on their hands and knees. Jared stuffed his backpack behind him, blocking the way. Already he could hear the dogs whining and scratching at the cloth.
They felt their way in the dark, but there must have been a fork in the tunnel that they’d missed earlier, because this time there was a soft, warm light at the end of the corridor.
They found themselves standing above the quarry on dewy grass. Dawn reddened the sky in the east.
“What happened?”
Chapter Seven
IN WHICH There Is an Unexpected Betrayal
Mallory looked down at herself in disgust. “I hate dresses. What happened? Why did I wake up in a glass box?”
Jared shook his head. “We’re not really sure—I guess the dwarves grabbed you somehow. Do you remember anything?”
“I was packing up my things after the match.” She shrugged. “Some kid said that you were in trouble.”
“Shhh,” Simon said, pointing into the quarry. “Get down.”
They knelt in the grass and peered over the edge. A horde of goblins poured out of the caves. They skittered and rolled, gnashing their teeth and barking before fanning out and sniffing the air. Behind them was a massive monster with dead branches for hair. It wore the dark, tattered remains of clothes from another time, and big, curving horns rose up from his brow.
From the cave entrance the Korting and his dwarven courtiers appeared. Behind them came more goblins, who were pulling a cart filled with shining weapons. With that last group a prisoner stumbled along ahead of them. The prisoner was the size of an adult human, a sack covering the person’s head, both wrists and ankles bound with dirty cloth. Something about the person seemed familiar. The goblins pushed the prisoner out into the quarry, poking the figure with sharp sticks, far from where the monster stood.
“Who is that?” Mallory whispered, squinting.
“I can’t see,” said Jared. “Why would they need a prisoner?”
The Korting cleared his throat nervously as a hush fell over the crowd. “Great Lord Mulgarath, we thank you for the honor of allowing us to serve you.”
Mulgarath stopped. The ogre’s great horned head loomed over the rest of the creatures as he turned back to the dwarves with a sneer.
Jared swallowed hard. Mulgarath. The word had never meant much to him before, but now he was afraid. Even though he knew the monster couldn’t see him, he felt those dark eyes sweep over the throng and wanted to duck down lower.
“Are these all the weapons I asked for?” Mulgarath’s ringing tones echoed through the quarry. He pointed to the cart.
“Yes, of course,” said the dwarf lord. “A show of our loyalty, our dedication to your new regime. You will find no finer blades, no better craftsmanship. I would stake my life on it!”
“Would you?” asked the ogre. He drew Jared’s fake field guide from a large pocket. “And this—would you also stake your life that this is the book I asked you to obtain?”
The dwarf lord hesitated. “I . . . I did as you asked. . . . ”
The ogre held up a battered book with a laugh. Jared realized it was the same laugh that the Not-Jared had made in the hallway at school.
Jared gasped and Mallory elbowed him hard.
“You have been duped, dwarf lord. No matter. I have Arthur Spiderwick’s Guide,” Mulgarath said. “The final thing I need to begin my reign.”
The dwarf bowed low. “You are great indeed,” the Korting said. “A worthy master.”
“I may be a worthy master, but I am not at all sure that you make worthy servants.” He raised his hand, and his goblins stopped their scuffling and scrabbling. “Kill them!”
“Kill them!”
It happened so fast that Jared couldn’t follow it all. The goblins seemed to surge forth as one, some stopping to pick up the dwarf-forged weapons, most just attacking with their claws and teeth. The dwarves hesitated, shouting, and that moment of panic and confusion was enough for the goblins to be upon them.
The goblins bit, clawed, and slashed until not a single dwarf was left standing.
Jared felt sick and numb. He had never seen anything be killed before. Looking down, he felt like he might throw up. “We have to stop them.”
“There’s no way we can do this alone. Look at them all,” Mallory said. Jared glanced at the sword still clutched in Mallory’s hand, its fine blade gleaming in the rising sun. It would never be enough to take on all of them.
“We have to tell Mom what’s going on,” Simon said.
“She won’t believe us!” Jared said. He wiped the wetness from his eyes with his shirt sleeve and tried not to look down at the broken bodies in the quarry. “What if she doesn’t believe us?”
“We have to try,” said Mallory.
And so, with the screams of dwarves still echoing in their ears, the three Grace children started toward home.
About TONY DiTERLIZZI . . .
A New York Times bestselling authorand illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi has been creating books with Simon and Schuster for over a decade. From fanciful picture books such as Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-of-This-World Moon-Pie Adventure, The
Spider & The Fly (a Caldecott Honor book), and those in the Adventure of Meno series (with his wife, Angela) to middle-grade fiction like Kenny and the Dragon and The Search for WondLa, Tony has always imbued his stories with a rich imagination. His middle-grade series the Spiderwick Chronicles (with Holly Black) has sold millions of copies, been adapted into a feature film, and been translated in over thirty countries. You can visit him at www.diterlizzi.com.
and HOLLY BLACK
Holly Black is the author of bestselling contemporary fantasy books for kids and teens. She is the co-creator and writer of the Spiderwick Chronicles and the author of the Modern Faerie Tale series, the Good Neighbors graphic novel trilogy (with Ted Naifeh), the Curse Workers series, and her newest novel, Doll Bones. She has been a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award, a finalist for an Eisner Award, and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award. She currently lives in New England with her husband, Theo, in a house with a secret door. You can visit her at www.blackholly.com.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Tony and Holly would like to thank
Steve and Dianna for their insight,
Starr for her honesty,
Josh and Lisa for their attention to detail,
Myles and Liza for sharing the journey,
Ellen and Julie for helping make this our reality,
Kevin for his tireless enthusiasm and faith in us,
and especially Angela and Theo—
there are not enough superlatives
to describe your patience
in enduring endless nights
of Spiderwick discussion.
The text type for this book is set in Cochin.
The illustrations are rendered in pen and ink.
Production editor: Dorothy Gribbin
Art director: Dan Potash
Production managers: Chava Wolin
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2004 by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
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Book design by Tony DiTerlizzi and Dan Potash
This Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers hardcover edition May 2013
The ironwood tree / Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi—1st ed.
p. cm.— (The Spiderwick chronicles ; bk. 4)
Summary: After Mallory is kidnapped at her fencing meet, Jared and Simon search for her near an old quarry and find themselves amidst dwarves and goblins.
ISBN 978-0-689-85939-7 (hc)
[1. Dwarfs—Fiction. 2. Goblins—Fiction. 3. Brothers and sisters— Fiction. 4. Twins—Fiction. 5. Caves—Fiction.] I. DiTerlizzi, Tony, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.B52878Sp 2004
[Fic]—dc22
2004007426
ISBN 978-1-4424-8702-4 (jacketed hc)
ISBN 978-1-4424-8701-7 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4424-9624-8 (eBook)