`My, my,' she mused while petting her favourite bull terrier. `Who'd believe Sebastian Ull would still be alive. Such a nice-looking young man and a good sand reader.' She shook her head and rapped Swift hard on his knee. `So Master Arrow what is the reason for this unwanted present? Come now. Speak up. You'll be wanting something in return, for sure.'
Before an indignant Swift could argue that Snow was not useless and that he didn't want anything, Chad told her, `It's about the third journey in The Three Moons Song. We don't know where to find the poisoned tree.'
`That's easy Master Tree, and I don't even have to read your hand to tell you. You travel along Belem Road till you reach Babylon Forest, then you take the short road that leads through the forest to the Maze.'
Swift edged closer. `If it is a forest, how will we know which is the poisoned tree?'
`Now you waste my time tree-talker,' she grumbled. `You and Tree can ask the trees. But be warned. Babylon Forest belongs to the High Enchanter, so his trees will most likely lie to you. And Babylon Maze will want to keep you, as it keeps most travellers who enter it.'
She glanced over at Snow and her tone turned mildly sarcastic. `I suppose I'd best see what I have to help you, as I'm being paid so handsomely with such a useless present.'
Edith searched her chests and returned with a wooden plate covered in criss-crossing lines. `Cacti wood,' she explained to them. `Tree and Arrow, place your right hands on the plate and count to twenty.'
After Chad and Swift had done as she ordered, she held the plate up and read the lines as if they were words. `This line says only two can leave Babylon Maze. Should more than two enter, one must remain inside. This line says that to touch the maze's gold means enslavement forever. And this one says fire.' She frowned at the plate. `This is a very difficult task. I must find something to help you.'
Lyla leant towards Celeste. `They can't go alone. I felt sick when I lost you. This time I will be more careful. We have to go with them.'
`Sekcap wasn't your fault. And remember only two can enter the maze,' argued Celeste.
`I don't care. I'm not letting them out of my sight.'
They were still arguing and Lyla was winning when Edith returned and handed Swift a rolled parchment tied with yellow ribbon. `Read it before entering Babylon Maze and don't forget to chew the lavender and repulsata seeds if you need to repulse someone.'
She turned to Chad and reminded him about the packet of Finders Keepers petals that she'd given him. `They will lead you through the maze but they die quickly so you must move fast.'
Finally she handed a rolled parchment, tied with a purple ribbon, to Lyla. `Do not read it until you start your journey, which you must do alone.'
`Now go to sleep. When you awake go into my new storeroom and choose weapons, clothes, boots and a ball of yellow string for the maze. Do not wake me and do not return. I will be leaving soon after you, it being no longer safe to reside here.'
Swift glanced worriedly at Snow.
`Your present will stay with me, Master Arrow, until you come to fetch him from Sebastian's home in Mussel Cove, which is where I will be. And all of you remember the Belemite shape thieves. They can steal your shape without you knowing it.'
Chad looked worried. `How do you get your shape back if it's stolen?'
`Put your hands on the thief's shoulders and shout "Return my shape, thief" then hang on until they do.'
Lyla edged closer. `Can I ask a question?'
The old woman's eyes closed wearily. `If it's about your journey you must seek out San Jaagiin the birdman of Belem. Tell him his sister sent you and make him tell you my full name in case his shape has been stolen. My full name is Edith du Lac du Mont, which means Edith of the lake of the mountain. Now sleep!'
Lyla woke first. She'd had a restless night worrying about Swift and Chad and she'd had a dream that upset her. Swift woke next, and rolled over to check on Snow. The leopard was sleeping with his paws wrapped around a bowl of stew given to him by Edith during the night. Lyla woke the others and they all crept into the storeroom.
Hanging from nails in the walls were dozens of rusty swords, spears, soldier's bags and clothing. They each chose a soldier's bag and sword and Chad added a curved-end bow and quiver, both engraved with strange runes that made no sense to him. Next they tried on coats and boots. None were small enough for Swift so he found a pair of socks to wear under his sandals and a belt to hitch up his farmer's jacket. Celeste, who'd developed a sniffle, wrapped a scarf around her head and another around her neck, and then pocketed a ball of yellow string.
Creeping past Snow's lolling head they tiptoed around the wide-awake dogs and out into the fog.
`We'll have to find a sharpening stone to sharpen our swords and Chad's arrows,' whispered Lem as they crept past the stone angels.
The others didn't answer. Celeste now had a headache to go with her sniff; Lyla was going over her dream; and Chad was comforting Swift over his loss of Snow by promising to share his parrot, and let him name it. Swift called it Rosie.
On reaching the hanging tree, they found it so engulfed in a clinging green mist that, as they passed beneath it, they couldn't see the swinging bodies a mere hand's length above Lyla's head.
With a shiver Celeste linked arms with Chad. `I wonder what they did to be executed?'
`Or who it is that hangs them?' answered Chad.
`That is easily answered,' said a loud voice. `It is I, Hanging Hannah who does the hanging and Master Wartstoe who did the capturing of the criminals who stole his chickens. How do you do?'
The children froze where they stood, while their eyes darted back and forth in search of the owner of the voice.
Swift was whispering to Chad that the voice might have come from one of the bodies when the fog parted and they saw an incredibly tall woman with a triple chin, round doughy-white face, a fat neck, and shoulders as wide as a wrestler's. Under her cape of potato sacking she wore a man's overcoat buttoned across her large hips, a skirt made from a grey blanket and a pair of men's boots, unlaced so that they would fit her big feet. On her back she carried a sack from which swung saucepans, a lantern, an axe and a hangman's noose.
Speechless with surprise at seeing someone so big, the children didn't answer her loud greeting, so she moved closer. Grinning down at them with huge tombstone teeth, she said, `I be a travelling hangwoman, waiting here for a companion to travel with. This weather being unfriendly to lone travellers.'
She prodded Celeste's shoulder with a large finger. `What say you? Will we travel together? That way, if there be bandits, or families of the recently-hanged waiting to ambush us, we can fight them off together.'
`Edith didn't mention bandits or families ambushing us,' whispered Celeste, rubbing her aching shoulder.
`Even so, we can't very well say no,' breathed Lyla. `She's a lot bigger than any of us.'
`Than all of us put together,' added Chad.
In the end they all agreed that if there were bandits about, then travelling with this large woman and her axe, was a very good idea - even though they felt sure that the families of the recently-hanged would only have a problem with Hanging Hannah, not them.
`Good decision,' bellowed the giant travelling hangwoman, who seemed unable to speak in a normal tone. `And so we don't become lost in this green mist we should hold hands. Whose hand will I hold?'
The fog settled back around them, like a mourning sheet for the hanging dead, as each of them shivered at the idea of holding the hand of a hangwoman.
Swift stepped forward. `My hand, Miss Hannah.'
The huge woman chuckled as her enormous hand swallowed his. `Miss Hannah indeed. I be just Hanging Hannah to my friends.'
Lyla pressed her lips up against Celeste's ear and breathed, `I don't trust her. I'll tell you why later.'
The soupy fog lasted well past noon. When they crested an extra high hill, the thick mist disappeared as quickly as a silk handkerchief blown away by the wind, leaving Hanging Hannah
staring down at them with a disappointed look on her face. `I had hoped you'd be bigger. Especially your dog.'
Lyla, not liking the calculating look in the hangwoman's watery blue eyes, asked why.
`Bigger fights better! Bigger dogs scare more. So are you off to Belem to see the fair or to see the hangings? There are always plenty of hangings in Belem.'
Lyla made a face at the idea of watching hangings. `We're going to Babylon Forest.'
Hanging Hannah looked astounded. `Why ever for?'
`Why not?' sniffed Celeste, who really didn't want to go anywhere but home to their Forest cave where she could lay under her warm covers and sleep.
Scratching the pile of reddish hair that she wore twisted into a topknot, Hanging Hannah frowned thoughtfully. `I suppose it's because those who enter it are seldom seen again.'
Swift gazed up at her. `What about Babylon Maze, Miss Hannah? What do you know about that place?'
`It's rumoured that it has gold piled up in its centre! But I'd not be going after gold. Not if I can't get out again.'
At the bottom of the next hill, Hanging Hannah asked them if they were hungry. When they said they were, she slung down her sack, handed a saucepan to Swift and a pan to Chad, and told the others to find firewood.
`I've a jar of soup, a string of sausages, a loaf of bread and an empty belly,' she boomed.
When they were out of Hannah's earshot, Lyla told Lem and Celeste about her dream.
`I was flying so high I became caught up in some pine branches that were hidden in the clouds. I tried to escape but the trees tore at my face and clothes. And then one of them slapped me and I fell to the ground beside a long prickly wall.'
`Were you hurt?'
`It was a dream, Lem!'
Lem rolled his eyes at her. `Only asking!'
`Did you see the maze?' asked Celeste. `Did you see Chad and Swift inside it?'
`No. I saw a woman running out of the maze. When she reached me, she dropped her sack and out rolled Swift.'
Celeste's hands flew to her mouth.
`Then what?' demanded Lem.
`I heard Chad shouting that he couldn't leave the maze because two had left it already and he was imprisoned there forever.'
Celeste stared at Chad who was helping Hanging Hannah prepare the food. `We have to warn him.'
Hanging Hannah fed them that night, the next morning after they'd slept in a mouldy haystack, and again the next evening once they'd set up camp behind a flagpole stuck into a large pyramid of rocks. Not once did she mention that they hadn't contributed any food. Finally Lyla apologised for them not having any.
Hanging Hannah handed her a slice of bread, told her not to worry as she had plenty of food and she was sure they would pay her back when she asked them to.
Still embarrassed, Lyla changed the subject by asking about the flagpole and rocks. `Is it a border marker? Or a memorial?'
`It's an Oom,' explained the hangwoman. `Wind Horse Riders, whose land this is, believe that the rocks and the flags keep the Raiders away. They don't. The Wind Horse Riders still forfeit their horses to General Tulga's Raiders. Not the white ones - they are true Wind Horses that can fly - just the brown ones that can't.'
Lyla looked around at the rolling green hills. `We haven't seen any flying horses.'
`You'll not see them. They and their Wind Horse Riders gallop faster than the wind. But they've seen us, you can be sure of that.'
The next day as they walked along the road with Hanging Hannah and Swift in front, Lem mentioned how he'd never seen Hanging Hannah actually eat any of the food she gave them. `She always says she was too hungry to wait for us. Haven't you noticed?'
Lyla and Celeste said they hadn't but that they'd watch from now on.
That evening they heard the sound of horses coming along the road from the direction of Wartstoe Village.
They hid behind an Oom and watched as a troop of Raiders galloped by. After them came 24 horses pulling two enormous cages. Inside the cages lay four blindfolded creatures with long furry under-bellies and large folded wings.
`Bulgogi,' breathed Hanging Hannah. `But don't worry, we're safe. Bulgogi can't see in the daytime and the Raiders look as if they are in a hurry to reach Ulaan.'
`What is Ulaan?' asked Swift.
`Ulaan is General Tulga's largest Raider camp. It is rumoured the General is searching for more recruits to cross the Cornelius Sea to make war on the Gigantium.'
Swift looked puzzled. `I know what a Gigantium is. The women have butterfly wings growing out of their heads. But where is the Cornelius Sea?'
`You don't know much, do you young Arrow,' chuckled Hanging Hannah, slapping Swift on the back affectionately. `The Cornelius Sea is the largest sea in the known world. It's green in the middle and red on the edges, or so I have been told.'
`Red on the edges?' mouthed Swift to Chad, rolling his eyes in disbelief.
That night while they prepared to sleep Lyla told Swift and Chad about her dream. `So we have to be extra care-' She stopped speaking, as Hanging Hannah bedded down beside them.
`Lovely night isn't it?' she said, as she arranged her sack cape over her hips. `I could do with a good sleep.
All that walking wears me out. Now that we're warm and comfy I would like to suggest something. As you five are without parents or means of making a coin or a decent living, I was wondering if one of you might like to work for me. Hanging's a growing trade and I need an apprentice. Young Arrow would be my choice. What say you, Arrow? Want to be a hangman?'
Lyla pinched Lem, who pinched Celeste, who pinched Chad, who wrapped his arms around Swift's neck so tightly that Swift had to whisper for him to stop choking him.
Hanging Hannah rolled over so that all they could see was her enormous back, and added, `You don't have to answer now. Tomorrow will do.'
Next morning they told her she could not have Arrow.
The hangwoman's triple-chinned, fat face turned motley red with anger. `Why not? Haven't I been kind to you? Feeding you and lending you my sharpening stone for your swords and arrows? Is this how you repay me? Especially you, Arrow, I thought better of you. Seems I was wrong.'
With her big teeth snapping together like she was imagining biting off of their heads, she snatched up her sack with all its swinging implements and marched off. When she reached the bend in the road, she turned around and yelled at the top of her voice, `You're ungrateful and you'll be sorry! Because I will have Arrow. I will!'
They soon lost sight of her but remained alert in case she decided to return.
Babylon Forest came into view around noon, first as a hazy green smudge on the horizon and then as an enormous forest stretching as far as they could see. They finally reached two signposts that told them which way to go, and six warning signs that told them not to go along the short road.
`Long Road to Belem,' read Lem.
`Short Road to Belem,' read Swift.
`Beware! Not safe! Death ahead. Travel at your peril. Danger ahead. Go back before it's too late,' read Lyla.
`Time to talk to the trees,' said Chad, handing Rosie to Swift.
He stepped up to the nearest pine, wrapped his arms around it and asked, how far it was to the Babylon Maze. He leapt back, shaking all over.
Celeste hugged him. `What happened?'
`It told me it hated me and it would kill me if it could.'
`Let me have a go,' said Swift handing Rosie to Lem, who'd promised to look after the parrot while he went into the maze.
Swift wrapped his arms around a smaller tree and asked it if it knew where the poisoned tree was. With a yelp he fell backwards.
Lyla pulled him to his feet. `What did it say?'
`That it would sting me with its sap, then it did and it hurt!'
Lyla rubbed his arms where he'd been stung. `You don't have to do this alone. We can come with you.'
Swift took over rubbing his own arms. `No. You can't. This is our journey, isn't it Chad?'
Chad slung
his bag, bow and quiver over his shoulders, checked his sword and stood beside Swift. `It has to be us because we are the ones who can talk to the poisoned tree and ask it where its talisman is.'
Celeste coughed and said, `They'll be fine.'
Even so, the older three watched anxiously as the white-haired boy and his slightly-taller cousin, both wearing jackets too big for them, march confidently along the short road to Belem. They were followed by a small black-and-tan dog.
As Chad, Swift and Nutty reached the first bend in the short road and waved back at them, Lyla was sure the pine trees had bent menacingly towards them. She turned to ask the others if they'd seen it too, but Celeste was already lying down behind the skull-and-cross bones sign with her head on her soldier's bag and her eyes closed. `I feel awful, Lyla. I'm cold all over, my eyes and throat hurt and my head aches.'
Lyla placed her coat over her shivering cousin. `You'll feel better by the time they come back. Rosie and Lem will keep first watch, then me. Just rest, Cel. You needn't watch tonight.' She lay down beside Celeste, to help keep her warm, as pine needles began falling all around and over them.
14
The Poisoned Tree
After crossing the first stone bridge beyond the second bend in the road, Chad and Swift's confident stride slowed to a cautious walk.
It wasn't just the heavy silence of the forest or its tightly-knit branches blocking out most of the sunlight that bothered them. It was the uneasy feeling that a malignant and violent presence was breathing down their necks, watching their every step, waiting to pounce. Even Nutty, who was skittling along beside them with his tail between his legs and his ears flat against his head, felt it.
`I wish Snow was here,' whispered Swift. `Snow would protect us, I'm sure of it.'
Chad took a quick look behind them and nodded in agreement. Snow's presence would have made him feel a lot better, that was for sure.
`It's getting dark and it's too quiet,' continued Swift, kicking a stone into the trees.
Chad was about to agree that he thought so too, when Swift's stone came hurtling back followed by a shower of pinecones that pelted their unprotected heads.
Legend of the Three Moons Page 13
