by Jon Jacks
‘Ferena!’ Carey cried out in shock as Ferena continued to rise.
Neris twirled faster and faster as her dress unravelled.
‘I don’t know why she’s doing this,’ she wailed, ‘but someone please get me a new dress before I have nothing to wear!’
‘And rope; bring back a rope!’ Ferena shouted back down to everyone. ‘I’m going to be the one who ties our rope!’ she added with a satisfied grin at Durndrin.
*
Chapter 30
By the time Ferena had reached and landed safely if a little ungainly on the balcony rail, she was exhausted. But she still had work to do. She had to haul in the long thread, gradually bringing up behind it the rope that Peregun had brought back from the caravan. As soon as Ferena was safely on the balcony, he’d tied the rope to his end of the thread, which he’d snapped off what was left of Neris’s kimono.
Neris had disgustedly cast aside the new dress he’d also brought back with him.
‘I’ll stick with the shorter version of the kimono, thanks,’ she’d declared haughtily. ‘Who knows, it might even set a new trend amongst girls who’ve got the legs for it?’
‘Done it!’ Ferena wheezed from the edge of the balcony. ‘The windows are open, and the rope’s firmly tied up here. You can climb up now.’
It wasn’t as easy climbing up the rope as Carey had thought it would be but, using first the wall and then the wall of the tower itself, she found it was easiest walking her way up towards the balcony. The far lither Peregun and Neris, who had both gone up before her, helped her clamber over the rail.
‘Er, bit of a problem here,’ Dougy barked up from below. ‘I’m not exactly built for rope climbing. As for Grudo’s suggestion that he can tie me to the rope and you can haul me up; well, is there anything more humiliating you can think of?’
‘Here’s another suggestion then!’ Grudo shouted up disgruntledly. ‘Peregun? You remember The Pirate and Fate’s Necklace?’
‘I most certainly do!’ Peregun shouted back gaily as, slipping out his samurai sword from its scabbard, he ran at, grabbed, and athletically swung up the long, flowing curtains. Although it wasn’t sharp, the sword’s blade was good enough to slash away the loops of material holding the curtains in place on the rail.
‘No no, wait, I remember that show too!’ Dougy protested as, down below, Grudo firmly took him by his front paws.
‘Aaaaahh! No no!’ Dougy uselessly pleaded as Grudo began to whirl him round and round in the air, as if they were both taking part in some bizarre version of the throwing the hammer.
‘Ready Peregun?’ Grudo cried out.
‘Ready!’ Peregun yelled back.
‘No no, what if you get – aaarrrggghhhhhhh!’
Grudo had let go of Dougy, sending him twirling through the air up towards the balcony.
‘Arrggghhhh!’ Dougy continued to cry in fear, even as he landed in the safety net that his friends had made of the curtains.
‘You next Grudo!’ Carey shouted down from the balcony as the shaken Dougy gratefully slipped down to the floor from the curtain’s being held by his friends.
‘The gates Carey!’ Grudo yelled back up towards her. ‘The gates are opening!’
*
Chapter 31
The huge gates opened silently, without even the slightest creak.
Grudo watched their opening apprehensively. On the balcony, everyone stopped what they were doing to stare worriedly at the opening gates.
Even before the gates were fully open, there was a thunderous clattering of hooves and iron-rimmed wheels on cobblestone. The black carriage hurtled through the widening gap, the dark horses’ pumping muscles glistening in the light like the finest velvet.
For a moment, as it pounded across the square, Carey feared that the carriage was going to career into their caravan. But without any change of course, it narrowly avoided any collision, rushing past the caravan close enough to send the theatre’s flags and pennants rippling in its passing wake.
As it continued on its way down the winding streets, townspeople suddenly finding themselves in its path nervously jumped aside. They stared after it in shock, shaking their heads as if they had never seen such a thing.
‘I thought the black carriage only came out to play at night?’ Peregun whispered in awe.
‘So did I,’ Carey agreed thoughtfully.
‘Carey, I thin–’
Ferena sound so weak and terrified that everyone whirled around to see what was troubling her. She was moving slowly, an expression of deep regret on her face.
‘…used up too much fuel…’
Her voice was faint and fading. Her moves were so slight now, they were hardly noticeable.
Carey fell to her knees by Ferena’s side.
‘Ferena, I filled it only–’
‘…my flying, it–’
Ferena abruptly froze.
‘Ferena! No! This can’t be–’
‘Look out!’
With the angry snap of splitting wood, a large table leg came flying towards them all from somewhere inside the darkened room. As Carey protectively wrapped herself around Ferena, everyone else ducked. The leg whirled harmlessly across the balcony, the rope tied to it writhing in the air like a frenzied serpent.
‘Grudo!’
Rushing to the balcony’s rail and staring down towards the square, they were horrified to see Grudo spread-eagled across the cobblestones. The rope lay coiled about him, the wooden leg lying off to one side.
‘He was trying to climb up! It couldn’t take his weight!’ Durndrin howled anxiously.
‘Grudo!’ Carey screamed.
‘It’s all right, it’s all right Carey!’ Grudo shouted out reassuringly, rising to his feet and shaking off the rope snaking about him. ‘I’d only got a few feet when it snapped!’
He looked down despondently at the broken leg and the rope tied to it.
‘Looks like you’ll have to go on without me,’ he cried out resignedly.
Carey sadly glanced back at the frozen Ferena.
‘He’s right; we’ll have to come back for them.’
She leaned over the balcony rail, shouting out to Grudo once more.
‘We’ll be back, once we’ve sorted all this out!’
Grudo gave them a gloomy wave; then they disappeared into the room.
He was left standing on his own by the bare, white wall, looking lost, worried and forlorn.
*
Chapter 32
‘Watch out for moving floors!’ Carey warned as soon as they entered the room.
Carefully, they all placed their feet tentatively down on the floor, ready to snatch then back as soon as the floor began to try and whisk them away. After a while, after they hadn’t encountered a single section of moving floor, they all began to feel just a little foolish.
‘You’re sure about this, Carey?’ Peregun asked doubtfully. ‘Moving floors?’
‘Well every time I’ve been here, they’ve moved!’ an embarrassed Carey insisted indignantly.
‘Shhussshhh!’
Neris was glaring at them with wide, chiding eyes, her finger up against her mouth in a sign to stop talking. She pointed off to another part of the large room.
It took Carey a moment to realise what she was pointing at. It was the Princess, slumped lifelessly in a chair, her white dress making her look much like the white lace upholstery of the furniture, the large flower displays of blinding white blooms.
‘We’ve already made enough noise to wake the dead!’ Peregun irritably whispered back. Yet, like the others, he was tiptoeing as quietly as he could towards the Princess.
Carey nervously reached out to tou
ch the Princess.
‘Perhaps she’s also run out of – yaarrghh!’
Everyone instinctively jumped back as the Princess abruptly sat up in her chair.
‘Sorry, sorry,’ the Princess exclaimed breathlessly when she saw how she had shocked them all. ‘I just needed a nap; I’ve been so busy lately, what with – well, I’ve been so busy for years and years, come to think of it!’
‘Princess, I’m sorry for waking you up like this,’ Carey stated firmly. ‘But none of us want the Illuminator to publish a book about our visit here!’
‘Oh, but didn’t you see the carriage leave?’ The Princess seemed a little puzzled. ‘It’s already on its way; I can’t think of anything that can stop those horses once they have a task to complete!’
‘The carriage was taking our book?’ Carey wasn’t sure whether to be outraged or amazed. ‘But…but that’s ridiculous! What sort of book ends with me in the porcelain room with you, or with our play?’
‘Besides,’ Durndrin added, trying to find a fault in the Princess’s reasoning, ‘I thought the horses didn’t leave until midnight with any book!’
‘Normally they don’t; but the Illuminator realised you’d refuse permission to publish if he waited.’
‘We don’t give our permission!’
‘Well, there you are, you see,’ the Princess said breezily. ‘And now, as for Carey’s question – about it being ridiculous to end the story on our meeting in the porcelain room – naturally, I completely agree!’
‘Then why has it gone?’ Neris asked. ‘You’ve sent out a book that you admit ends ridiculously!’
‘Oh, it doesn’t end there of course!’ The Princess gave a grin that implied it would be crazy to think otherwise. ‘It ends sort of happily, of course! Otherwise, it would have been called The Porcelain World!’
‘A “sort of” happy ending?’ Peregun frowned quizzically.
‘Even I don’t know how he’s ended it exactly,’ the Princess admitted, adding with a sad bow of her head, ‘and I’m afraid that many of these stories don’t always end up how some people would like.’
‘I suppose she means that even a happy ending isn’t a happy one for the bad guy,’ Neris observed with a scowl.
‘So now we’re the bad guys?’ Carey frowned petulantly.
The Princess looked appalled.
‘Oh no no; you’re the good “guys”, if that’s the way you want to put it!’
‘Erm, she’s the one dressed in white,’ Peregun pointed out.
‘None of this makes any sense anyway,’ Dougy growled. ‘I mean, how does he create an ending to something like this, something that’s really happening?’
‘That’s right,’ Durndrin snapped accusingly at the poor Princess. ‘It’s going to be the wrong ending, no matter how he ends it!’
The Princess smiled, totally unfazed by Durndrin’s aggression.
‘He’s amazingly good at guessing the right ending!’
‘Guessing?’ Carey laughed bitterly. ‘So now he thinks he can predict our future?’
‘But we all see into our future just a little bit Carey! Whenever we start to say a sentence, we don’t have to stop and think about what we’re going to say, yet we always begin it with the right words and make it all come out sounding right. The Illuminator just stretches that ability, anticipating our regular patterns of behaviour.’
‘So you’re saying we’re all “Oh so predictable”?’ Neris stepped closer to the Princess. ‘You know, I’m not sure we can believe a single word you say. You say you’re just like us, a flame-driven puppet; but I’ve been watching you, and you move as smoothly as a ballet dancer, girl!’
‘I assure you, Neris,’ replied the Princess, at last sounding affronted by the accusation, ‘that I do have a flame, just like you.’
To prove that she was telling the truth, she was already opening up her dress, together with the compartment where her heart should be.
‘There!’ she said proudly, displaying her flame to the curious Neris. ‘Now do yo–’
The Princess froze as Neris blew out the flame.
‘Hah, didn’t I always say I was the greatest living actress?’ Neris declared confidently as she stood back from the motionless Princess.
‘Depends on what you mean by living I suppose,’ Dougy said drily.
‘Neris!’ Carey exclaimed when she had finally gotten over her shock.
‘Look, sorry,’ Neris said, ‘but we’ve come a long way for this, haven’t we?’
*
Chapter 33
Out in the corridor, it dawned on them that no one, not even Carey, knew the way around the palace.
‘So, which way to this Illuminator’s gallery?’ Neris asked as, like the others, she pondered whether they’d be better going left or right.
The floor started moving, taking them all off towards the left.
‘Hah, all you had to do was ask!’ Dougy said with obvious satisfaction as they were swiftly carried along the long hallway.
It was a journey every bit as astounding as all the ones Carey had been on so far, taking them through colourfully tiled courtyards, overgrown cloisters, and seemingly endless rooms, usually decorated in some particular way, such as purely in wondrously grained wood, or entirely of glass.
Eventually, the moving floor came to a halt outside a door that Carey immediately recognised.
‘Wait!’ she declared urgently, holding out her arms on either side to stop everyone from heading towards the beckoning door. ‘Beyond this door, there’s a long hallway guarded by soldiers!’
‘Soldiers? Now you tell us!’ Durndrin breathed nervously.
‘Soldiers? Now that sounds more like it!’ said Peregun, stepping forward, rolling up his sleeves.
Carey held him back.
‘Heavily armoured soldiers, who just pop out of the wall as anyone enters.’
‘Ahh!’ Peregun grinned doubtfully as he studied his stage sword.
‘Now this is where a small dog always comes in handy,’ Dougy said brightly. ‘I’m too fast and too small for them to catch; let me in first, and I’ll lead them away from you. Carey, are there any doors I should head for?’
Carey wanted to ask Dougy if he was sure about attempting this, but she could see from the determined look on his face that there wasn’t any point trying to talk him out of it. Besides, what other option did they have?
‘On your left, Dougy. We head to the right, a door leading into the Illuminator’s tower.’
‘Got it; exit, stage left,’ Dougy said, preparing himself. ‘Let me at ’em Carey!’
Carey threw open the door and Dougy rushed in, barking and yelping the loudest he could manage. Whenever he passed one of the flaming lights on the walls, it would instantly slip out of its alcove and smoothly take the shape of an armoured knight that, raising its spear, would chase after Dougy. With a chaotic clattering of iron plates and clumping boots, the soldiers sprinted along the hallway, with little hope of catching the far faster and playfully weaving little dog.
Glancing over his shoulders with a taunting bark, Dougy ducked through the doors on the left, the much more cumbersome armoured men tearing after him as fast as they could manage. In a moment, the hallway was as silent as it had been only moments before.
‘Was it just me, or did Dougy seem to be enjoying that?’ Peregun asked mischievously as he peered around the door to make sure the way was clear.
Everyone rushed towards the door that opened up into the Illuminator’s tower, clambering up the stairs as quickly as they could. It should have been dark on the spiralling staircase, but every so often a blazing flame lit their way.
‘Er, I might be being overly anxious here,’ Durndrin admitted a little anxiously, ‘but didn’t you say it’s the lights that change into soldiers?’
On the stairs behind them, they heard the heavy clanking of armoured men rus
hing up after them. Whirling around, they all saw the light just behind Peregun coming from out of the wall and transforming into one of the small knights.
‘I’ll take care of them!’ Peregun declared confidently as he withdrew his sword once more. ‘You go on; but blow out the flames in front of you!’
Neris, who was leading the way, had already figured that out and was swiftly blowing out each flame as she came across it. Carey and Durndrin each blew out the flame nearest to them, catching each of the soldiers in mid transformation. The little knights instantly froze, partially remaining as a part of the wall.
‘Peregun, do you need any help?’ Durndrin shouted back down the tower through the cacophony of clashing swords and armour.
‘Never better, my friend!’ came the reassuring reply.
Although he was using the flat of his curved blade so he wouldn’t cause the little men any permanent injuries, Peregun was using all the tricks he’d learnt in his many swashbuckling roles. Every now and again, he’d kick out at the lead solider, sending him flying back into and knocking over his own men in the stairwell’s cramped confines.
‘I’ve got the blood of pirates, of musketeers, flowing through my veins! No one can – ooopppss!’
As he kicked out once more, the knee of his other leg locked. Completely out of balance, he tumbled forwards down the stairs.
He crashed into the oncoming men, bowling them over. They all tumbled down the stairs, the horrendously loud noise of falling knights mingling with Peregun’s own cries.
‘Ouch!’
‘Oww!’
‘Ouch!’
As they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, a slightly dazed Peregun looked about him at the tangled pile of groaning men he’d landed on.
‘Hah! Works every time!’
‘You sure you’re all right down there?’ one of his friends called out from somewhere higher up the tower.
‘Fine, fine! You go on!’ Peregun yelled back in-between swiftly blowing out all of the flames that had been powering the knights.
‘Opps!’ he said, as every one of his limbs locked in position, leaving him stranded on top of the lifeless knights.
*
Chapter 34
Neris was fiercely gasping for breath by the time she reached the top of the stairs.
‘I’m…I’m all…all right,’ she breathlessly reassured a concerned Carey, standing aside to wave Durndrin through towards the great doors. ‘Though goodness…knows…what I’d…be like…if I…I didn’t do…my ex…exercises – ohh!’
