Utterly gazed out into the dark and for a moment, she thought of another night – three years ago – filled with stars and comets and moonlight. A pain in her chest sharpened and tears burned behind her eyes, then she glanced at the dungeon tower and a familiar anger boiled inside her, drowning out everything else.
‘Stupid criminal,’ she muttered.
But as she watched the dark shape huddled against the dungeon grate, she couldn’t help feeling that capturing, arresting and handing over the criminal hadn’t felt quite as satisfying as she had expected. There had been Frostbite’s slightly odd behaviour, too. Why had he hidden Casper away from the other Lofty Husks? Utterly reached beneath her pillow and drew out the Neverlate note.
Busy cap turing criminal
There it was, confirmation that she had done the right thing – that she had saved the marvels from further meddling – so why did she feel so unsure about it all? She folded the note up, but just as she was about to shove it back beneath her pillow, she noticed something: there was writing on both sides of the parchment. She gulped as she realised that she had only seen half of the tree’s excuse earlier – and the full thing had very different implications.
Busy capturing criminal
creatures with Casper.
Back in a week or so.
Utterly gripped the note with shaking hands. The Neverlate Tree was one of the wisest magical creatures in the kingdom – she had heard the Lofty Husks talk of it giving messages to Unmappers when trouble was lurking – and trouble was most certainly lurking now: the marvels were in danger and, according to the note, there might even be more than one criminal skulking around the kingdom!
Utterly glanced out of the window again. The boy had said that his name was Casper. So the note implied that the person she had sent to the dungeons was in fact the very person she was meant to be capturing the criminal creatures with . . . Utterly’s skin tingled. A small part of her had wondered all along whether that timetable-clutching scaredy-cat could really be a criminal. But she had so wanted to make her parents proud and to be noticed by the Lofty Husks for the right reasons for once. Because maybe that would somehow undo what had happened . . .
Utterly reached for her dressing gown and bundled Arlo, and a spanner, into its pocket. Her mum hadn’t given quite the reaction Utterly had been hoping for earlier, but then again Utterly hadn’t quite captured the right person. So it seemed a journey beyond the castle walls to find the real criminals was the only thing to be done to make her mum and dad proud. But with Casper? He didn’t seem a likely candidate for an adventure at all. Still, Utterly thought, the Neverlate Tree doesn’t lie so perhaps Casper’ll be good for something. Like bait for the criminal creatures, if things get really rough.
She bent down towards her dressing gown pocket. ‘You know that boy that we thought was a criminal?’
Arlo poked his head up and blinked.
‘Well, I think we should just quickly take another look at him.’
Arlo covered his face with his wings. Utterly made it a rule never to admit defeat or apologise to anyone, but Arlo knew her inside out, so he could tell when she’d got herself into a pickle even if Utterly was adamant she hadn’t . . .
‘I don’t blame you entirely, Arlo,’ Utterly whispered. ‘I accept that a very small part of all this was my fault, too.’ She paused. ‘But now we’ve got a bit of sorting out to do. In The Beyond, I think. So I want your undivided attention.’
Arlo thrust his snout into Utterly’s hair and started chewing.
‘Good.’ Utterly crawled over her bed towards the ladder. ‘Let’s go.’
Casper stiffened at the sound of the footsteps pattering over the bridges. But these weren’t the lolloping strides of a Lofty Husk; this was a small-footed scurry. Casper recoiled from the grate. What was coming for him now?
‘Oi! Casper!’
Casper frowned. He recognised that voice, and as he edged back towards the grate, he saw a girl in a dressing gown standing on the bridge opposite the dungeon tower. A miniature blue dragon was hopping up and down on her shoulder.
‘If you’re hoping to watch me being eaten by dragons,’ Casper said miserably, ‘I think Frostbite has scheduled that for later tonight.’
‘Entertaining as that would be, that’s not why I’ve come.’ Utterly drew herself up. ‘After some careful thought, Arlo and I have come to the conclusion that—’
The bridge beneath her wobbled and Utterly clung to the stones as an enormous leg shaped from cloud stretched out, then crashed back down into the moat. Casper gasped but Utterly simply rolled up her pyjama bottoms, swiped her dressing gown into a knot at the waist then clambered off the bridge into the water.
‘What are you doing?’ Casper hissed.
‘Rescuing you,’ Utterly snapped.
‘Rescuing me? But you’re the reason I’m locked up in the first place!’
Utterly manoeuvred herself round a cloud giant’s excessively large bottom, then waded on through the water. ‘Yes, well. That was an . . . oversight. Arlo’s fault mostly.’ From her shoulder, Arlo let out an indignant squeak. ‘But we’re here now to break you out and that’s what matters.’
Casper clutched the grate. ‘So, you know I’m not a criminal?’
‘Yes.’ Utterly hauled herself onto the stone walkway surrounding the dungeon. ‘After some further –’ she paused as she searched for a convincing word ‘– calculations, Arlo and I decided you were innocent. And, well, there was also this –’ Utterly pulled the note from her dressing gown pocket ‘– from a tree that never lies.’
Casper shot a hand through the bars, snatched the note from the Neverlate Tree and read it. ‘But—’
‘So, you know what this means?’ Utterly said breathlessly. ‘You and me – on an adventure beyond the castle walls to save Rumblestar and restore hope to those in the Faraway!’
She paused for effect and Casper looked suitably horrified.
‘A week or so?’ he spluttered. ‘But . . . my parents will be so worried! And . . . and . . . just think of how much homework I’ll have to catch up on!’
Utterly grimaced. ‘You can’t let homework stand in the way of an adventure! If Arlo’s up for it, you should be, too.’ Arlo scrambled to his feet and made a frantic beeline for Utterly’s dressing gown pocket. ‘The Lofty Husks rule our kingdom and I know rules are there to be obeyed but I also know that something is going on. My dad was sent on a secret mission to investigate the magical winds at the Dusky Peaks – which means the Lofty Husks don’t think faulty pipework is the problem with the marvels, even if that’s what they’re telling us. And now there’s a ban on Ballooners flying anywhere and Mum told me Dad’s coming home – which means the Lofty Husks don’t think the winds are the problem, either! So, it must mean that they do now think someone or something is messing with the marvels, either in the Mixing Tower or outside the castle walls in the rivers, forests and valleys where the marvels themselves are conjured.’ She lowered her voice. ‘And it’s my bet Frostbite has something to do with all this. He’s been acting strangely for the past few weeks: locking himself away in his study instead of teaching classes, whispering into his mirror ring far more than normal and—’
‘Knowing that I was from the Faraway,’ Casper said eagerly, ‘but for some reason lying to the other Lofty Husks and pretending I wasn’t even there – then letting slip to me that he plans to tell the Lofty Husks that you were behind all the problems in the Mixing Tower . . .’
‘ME?!’ Utterly spluttered. ‘But . . . but . . . I was the one trying to help sort everything out – even if Arlo did go and arrest the wrong person.’ The dragon growled up at Utterly from her dressing gown pocket. ‘And why would I want to harm Rumblestar?’
Casper thought it best not to give the reason Frostbite had invented – that Utterly was always in some sort of trouble – because that was bound to end in him being throttled and at last he felt like he was almost getting somewhere. So, instead he said: ‘Ther
e’s more, Utterly. Frostbite asked me how I used the phoenix tear to cross the . . . link? He said I could be of help to someone he knew who wanted to find a way from Everdark to Rumblestar before severing the links between the Unmapped Kingdoms and the Faraway completely.’
Arlo gasped and Utterly tucked herself into the shadows cast by the dungeon walls. ‘Sever the links? You’re sure he said that?’
Casper nodded.
‘There is only one creature who wants to rise up out of Everdark and sever the links between our world and yours.’ Utterly’s voice was a trembling whisper now. ‘Morg. She’s the reason everyone’s so scared.’
The shadows seemed to swell and into the darkness, Utterly told Casper about Smudge and Bartholomew stealing the harpy’s wings in Everdark all those years ago. By the end of her tale, Arlo was shaking so violently Utterly lifted him into her palm and stroked his head.
‘Our world and yours depend on a new phoenix rising and us Unmappers passing on its magic in the form of weather scrolls to the Faraway,’ Utterly whispered. ‘We may have got the dragons on side to scatter moondust to keep the old magic going, but one day that will run out and we will be at the mercy of Morg and her dark magic! If she finds her wings and leaves Everdark, she will command the sun to scorch, the rain to unleash mighty storms and the snow to cast the fiercest blizzards . . . We’ll all be doomed!’
Casper thought back to the mirror ring Frostbite had been wearing. ‘I . . . I saw something inside Frostbite’s ring. Something dark and feathery with a skull for a head.’
Utterly’s face drained of colour. ‘The Lofty Husks use their mirror rings to communicate with the rest of their kind in the other kingdoms. Only it seems Frostbite is using his to speak to –’
‘– the harpy,’ Casper finished.
‘Morg might not have found her wings yet but somehow she’s worked out how to twist someone from our kingdom into her control, someone who’s now laying the blame at my feet! So, does that mean Morg is planning to steal the magic in Rumblestar first?’
Casper was silent for a moment. ‘Could damaging the marvels break the link between Rumblestar and the other three kingdoms?’
Utterly nodded. ‘Marvels are only found here in Rumblestar and the other kingdoms need them to write the weather scrolls. So, if Frostbite is somehow damaging the marvels then not only will the links between the kingdoms die but the Faraway will perish, too.’ Arlo appeared to be on the brink of fainting now so Utterly rocked him back and forth in her palm. Then she glanced at Casper warily. ‘Before this conversation, you didn’t seem to believe anything I said, but suddenly it seems like you’re not as freaked out by what’s going on. How come?’
‘I had a chat with the Grave Stones, who politely informed me that the only way I’d get home was if I believed all of this was really happening. So, I drew up an extremely detailed to-do list, made an even more detailed action plan and now –’ he took a deep breath ‘– I am setting events in motion.’ In reality, Casper had considered little more than his three-point to-do list, but saying all that to Utterly made him feel that he did, at least, have some control over the situation.
Utterly wrinkled her nose. ‘I suppose you want to save the Faraway and be crowned a hero?’
‘Oh, no. I could never be a hero,’ Casper replied. ‘I’m not brave enough. But the more I think about it, someone needs to at least try and sort out the weather back home – and if what you’re saying is true, my world won’t exist soon if things carry on as they are here.’ He paused. ‘And if there’s a chance that trying means seeing my parents sooner and checking that they’re all right, I’ll help – provided we get some sensible grown-ups to help us.’
‘Hmmmmm.’ Utterly tightened her dressing gown cord. ‘Well, I suppose it’s good to know you put your dungeon time to practical use. But you can forget about the grown-ups.’
‘Couldn’t we just tell the other Lofty Husks about Frostbite though?’ Casper asked. ‘They can sort it all out, then it’s job done and I can go home.’
‘But by now Frostbite has probably told them all that I’m to blame for everything so there’s no way they’d listen to what we have to say!’ Utterly scowled. ‘And besides, that’s not what the Neverlate Tree told me to do. The note mentioned criminal creatures, as in more than one, and the two of us working together, but nothing about telling the Lofty Husks, or any other grown-ups for that matter.’ She pulled up her dressing gown hood. ‘It really does look like Frostbite is working for Morg, but it’s our word against his and the other Lofty Husks would never listen to us without proof. We need to be clever. We need to find out more about Frostbite, then capture all the criminal creatures lurking in The Beyond.’
‘The Beyond?’ Casper asked nervously.
‘The Beyond is everything outside the castle walls – all the mountains, rivers, forests and valleys that make up the kingdom of Rumblestar.’
Casper shuddered at the thought of so much outdoor space.
‘The Neverlate Tree note says we’ll be away for a week or so, so it has to be The Beyond we want; there’d be no point sniffing around inside the castle walls for days on end. But once we’ve found the criminals, put an end to them and made sure the marvels are okay, I’ll help you get home. I promise.’
‘But who knows what might happen at home while I’m gone if it’s going to take us weeks to find the criminals!’
Utterly shook her head. ‘Time doesn’t work the same way here as it does in the Faraway. It passes much, much more slowly over with you. One day in your world is a month in the Unmapped Kingdoms – how else do you think we manage to complete the marvelling process and write the weather scrolls in time for the dragons to deliver them at sunrise each day in the Faraway?’
Casper was silent for a moment. If time moved more slowly back home, then perhaps his parents hadn’t noticed he was gone yet and perhaps the afternoon was just as windless as it had been when he’d left. He held on to that thought as Utterly pointed to the lever on the dungeon wall.
‘I’m afraid the Lofty Husks have hexed that lever so that only they can operate it.’
Casper’s face fell.
‘But I’ve got a knack for picking locks. Even enchanted ones.’
Utterly lifted the spanner out of her dressing gown pocket, slotted it either side of the lever then began twizzling it this way and that. To Casper, there didn’t seem any sort of method to what Utterly was doing but he kept quiet, just in case it worked.
Utterly had loosened the lever now, it seemed, and was twisting it round and round in circles. ‘Important to turn anticlockwise for this bit,’ she explained. ‘It’s the only way to undo the magic.’
After several minutes, there was, finally, a crunch, just like the one Casper had heard when Frostbite locked the grate earlier. He peered out through the bars eagerly.
‘And now –’ Utterly yanked down on the lever with her hand and the grate lifted up ‘– you’re free.’
Casper felt suddenly light and hopeful as he stepped out onto the stone walkway – but at exactly the same time a very tall, very thin figure strode out from the castle.
Casper seized Utterly’s arm. ‘Frostbite!’
Frostbite’s parchment cloak glittered in the moonlight and despite the fact that there were many bridges between him and the dungeon tower, Casper knew that the Lofty Husk could bound over them in moments.
‘What do we do?’ Casper hissed.
Utterly scanned the moat. ‘Swim towards the arches?’
‘And take a chance on the sky-tumbling waterfalls?’ Casper bit down on his blazer. ‘Any other ideas?’
On seeing the dungeon grate open, Frostbite lurched over the bridges towards them, and just as Casper was closing his eyes and wishing with every fibre of his body that he was back in Little Wallops, there was a noise – a yawn, it sounded like, only this yawn was deeper and louder than any Casper had ever heard before.
‘Hold on!’ Utterly cried, flattening herself against the d
ungeon wall. ‘One of the cloud giants is stirring!’
Casper clung to the stones, and just as Frostbite placed his boot on the bridge nearest the dungeon, the whole thing reared into the air. The Lofty Husk leapt back onto safer ground as the stones crashed into the water, and Casper felt sure that the whole castle would wake, but this was a kingdom used to the stirrings of cloud giants and they slept on as the colossal figure rose up from the rubble.
The giant was as large as the castle itself, with a mane of silver hair and knuckles the size of bowling balls. His body had been carved from the clouds, and round the edges trails of mist unfurled. But this was not to say the giant wasn’t solid. He was. He wore a silver breastplate decorated with ice-white patterns and an enormous belt buckled over his tassets. Casper swallowed. This giant was unmistakably armed. And only then did Casper notice that the air smelt suddenly different – of rain and thunder and very much of fear.
‘It’s Sl . . . Slumbergrot!’ Utterly stammered.
And she shot back into the dungeons, dragging Casper with her. But the giant didn’t turn his attention to the children. Instead he swung one arm towards Frostbite, who ducked just as the giant’s fist careered over his head. For a moment it looked like Frostbite might retrace his steps and dash over another bridge towards Casper but then Slumbergrot growled – a sound so low it might have come from the depths of a volcano – and thrust out his other fist towards the Lofty Husk.
Frostbite didn’t look for a way towards Casper then. Instead he rushed back over the bridges, and just as Slumbergrot was about to close a fist around him, Frostbite flung himself through the nearest arch. Seconds later, all that could be heard was the thrum of beating wings and then that, too, disappeared into the night and Slumbergrot turned to face Casper and Utterly.
Rumblestar Page 6
