《WYld Book of Secrets》


 CHAPTER ONE

    WYLD BOOK OF SECRETS


    By


    Richard Jackson


    CHAPTER ONE


    Legend has it that a book written in the time of the Celtic Britons (a thousand years before the birth of Christ) holds the deepest secret to human nature. Legend has it that those who can read and understand the book, gain the power to control the thoughts of others. Legend has it that this book went missing in the dark ages of Europe, either secreted away by the last of the druids, or destroyed by the Catholic church. Legend has it that one day the book will be found, and then the world will change forever.


    While scholars say that the book is a myth, there are, in the twentieth century, some who still believe that the book exists, and will be found, and will be read, and will once again bring power to the person who can read and understand.


    Jane Pippin learnt about this mysterious book when she was a young girl living with her alcoholic father in a little house in the woods of Northern England. There was only one book in the house (left by her missing mother). The book was called: Myths and Mysteries from History. It was a large book with illustrations that Jane read over and over again. She was enchanted by every mystery in that special book (Atlantis, the Lock Ness Monster, the Bermuda triangle, Stonehenge) but it was the Wyld Book of Secrets that truly bewitched her. In her childhood life, so filled with sadness, the idea of a book that could change the lives of everyone around her became her holy grail.


    Now the year is 1953 and Jane is sixteen, and she has just heard about the Wyld Book of Secrets for the first time in many years. Quite randomly, a nun that taught Latin at the Sisters of Mercy Ladies'' College (The British public school that Jane attends) told Jane that she knew how Jane could find the mythical book.


    ''But surely the book doesn''t exist?'' said Jane, although she felt a surge of hope. Her heart still believed that the book existed, and her heart still believed that the book had the power to change her life.


    The nun urged Jane to leave school immediately, going so far as to tell her to sneak through the back fence. On the other side of a small hill was the brother school of the ladies college that Jane attended. In the school was a boy named Tom Forrest who would help her rescue the book from where it had been hiding for the past thousand years.


    Jane believed the nun.


    So, on Friday 6th March 1953, Jane went tardy from school for the first time ever and walked over the hill to the boys school. She wore her dour grey girls school uniform, and her hair long, honey coloured, hair was trussed up in a tight pony tail.


    She arrived at the back of the boys school near the end of lunch. In the distance were the Gothic halls and turrets and gargoyles and bell tower of the five hundred year old school. The rear playground in the boys school was alive with green blazers moving in random motion.


    Jane saw Tom Forrest, right where the nun said he would be waiting for her. He was sitting under an oak tree that grew close to the back fence of the school.


    Tom Forrest had intensely red hair. The kind of red hair that made you want to put on a kilt. He was so skinny he looked like he had been stretched. His neck, poking up from his green shirt looked as though it could be snapped like a twig. His green blazer billowed over his body. His hat sat beside him on the grass.


    Standing in the blue shadow of the oak tree, Jane thought about how to approach.


    Tom¡¯s head drooped over a maths book. Not a primary school maths book as would be befitting Tom¡¯s age of twelve, but one with the algebraic symbols of serious maths, like the advanced maths Jane studied at Our Lady of Mercy. On closer examination Jane recognised the book as the exact maths text that she used now. Tom must be advanced for his age. He brought his head up so she could see his white, almost pale blue cheeks. and he murmured ¡®X squared equals Y plus 4¡¯. He nodded, wet his finger, and turned the page.


    Jane transferred her weight to her left foot, and discovered her foot had been resting on a stick - a stick that broke with a satisfying crack that brought Tom¡¯s head up from his book. A blue vein ticked beneath the white of his jaw.


    He stared at Jane for exactly one second, then he snapped his book shut and scrambled to his feet.


    ¡®Finally,¡¯ He said. ¡®We must get going.¡¯


    ¡®Going where?¡¯ Said Jane.


    ¡®Into Miller''s Crypt.¡¯


    ''I''m not going into ¡­ ¡®


    Jane was about to add that she wouldn¡¯t go into a Miller¡¯s Crypt because one: the cave was famous for causing people to disappear; and two: she was claustrophobic, only Tom interrupted.


    ''If you are the girl who is interested in Wyld Book of Secrets, then you must come with me into Miller''s Crypt. If you are someone else then you can leave.''


    ''I am Jane Pippin and I hope that you are Tom Forrest ''


    ''I am Tom Forrest, and the first thing we must do is go into Millers Crypt, and we must ....''


    Tom''s eyes caught sight of something on the playground, and he said, ¡®bugger.¡¯


    Across the playground there were two boys walking in Tom''s direction. These boys were larger than Tom (which wasn''t hard given Tom''s stick like figure) and they had the posture and shuffle of losers. These were boys who didn''t do their hair, and didn''t shower, and and always wore their hats on stupid angles, and kept furry food between their teeth. The boys walked up to Tom. The first boy, a fat fellow with a belly that wobbled under his buttoned up shirt, said, ''What is that smut you are reading?''


    Tom didn''t say anything, and he didn''t look around at Jane who stood under the tree, unseen.


    ¡®I¡¯m talking to you git,¡¯ said the fat boy, and he bent over Tom.


    Tom remained still.


    The fat boy grabbed the maths book out of Tom¡¯s hands and turned to the second boy and said, ¡®Maths for perverts.¡¯


    The second boy was big, on his way to becoming a giant, and he had the dead eyed expression of a future murderer. The dead eyed boy didn¡¯t react, he just stared back with his heavily lidded eyes, like a crocodile coming out from the swamp.


    The fat boy threw the book at Tom¡¯s feet, and right then a school bell sounded from a distance.


    For no apparent reason the fat boy kicked Tom, the sound of his boot making a meaty thwack. Tom jerked his leg back and a small sound of pain came out.


    ¡®Bleeding gobshite,¡¯ said Jane from beside the tree.


    The boys turned: the fat boy opening his mouth in surprise.


    Jane strode toward the boys, only to trip over a root. She banged down on her knees, and her ankle twisted and sent up a shot of pain.


    A few things happened at once.


    Tom ran to the back fence, climbed over, and disappeared into the woods behind the school, leaving his hat behind. For such a skinny little kid he was fast, the way he leapt and scrambled and hippety-hopped into the brush. After a moment of consideration the fat boy took off after Tom, although it took him a moment to get over the fence with his groin straddling the top bar in an uncomfortable manner. He waded into the nettles beneath the woods like a homeward cow, yelling, ''stop you little twat.''


    At the same time the dead-eyed boy lunged at Jane who was still on her knees where she had landed after tripping. The boy fell on top of her, only she immediately rolled to the right and he bounced off. Before he could recover and get up and attack again, she scrambled to her feet and took three awkward, almost falling over, steps backward.


    The dead eyed boy rose to one knee, breathing slowly.


    Jane said, ¡®What are you trying to realise?''


    ¡®I want to hurt you.¡¯


    Shaking her head, Jane looked over toward the woods.She didn''t have time to research a psychopath.


    Hobbling on her now painful ankle, Jane went to the back fence, vaulted it, and ran into the woods. Forty feet in she came to a brook. To her left was the Miller¡¯s Crypt, a cave beneath Tawny Owl hill. The entrance to the cave looked like the gate to an ancient torture chamber, and Jane thought: no, I am not going in there.


    She could hear the echoing voices and splashes of Tom being chased by the fat boy. Then the noises grew faint, and finally stopped.


    Toss it ... she would have to go in after them.


    Beneath her feet was a slope of black dirt and rocks and rotting logs and sharp grass, dipping down to the brook. Jane hesitated, then squatted and held the grass and gently fed her feet down the bank. Only she began to slide. She grasped at grass which turned out to be razor sharp and sliced her palm. She fell onto her bottom and slid through sticks and rocks and black loam with her skirt riding up her thighs until she landed in the brook. She almost went completely under the water. She stood and the water came up to the hem of her skirt.


    She stood in the thigh high water, shut her eyes and thought: the Wyld Book of Secrets.


    After a moment she began to wade through the brook toward the cave, pushing aside waterlillies. A cloud of insects rose from the black water and bumped against her thighs. At the cave''s entrance Jane paused. The cave stank like dirt. A spider web was caught in her hair.


    Miller¡¯s Crypt was famous, and the stories told about it were legendary. Years ago, on a late night sleepover at the house of a church family that had taken pity on the poor orphan Jane, she had sat up in bed and listened to a girl named Martha speak in a whisper about killers who dragged victims into the cave and held them beneath the glooming water until they drowned. Martha whispered with that deadly serious tone of young-girl-trying-to-sound-like-an-adult about the ghosts that ate cave bats and waited for children to stray too close to the entrance.


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    Jane had been interested enough (or frightened enough) to do actual research on the subject. In the library¡¯s local history section, sitting on a beanbag, she read a staple bound book about half a dozen formally documented disappearances dating back one hundred years.


    The one that she remembered most was the most recent disappearance.


    On 6th March, 1942, a bush walker named Jackson had waded into the Fern brook at Greymill with the goal of walking the brook, through the tunnels under Tawny Owl hill to where it joined the larger river on the far side. Jackson intended to write of this experience as a piece of environmental journalism titled, ¡®The Romance of Water¡¯. He thought it would be a welcome distraction from the war, and in his stupidly optimistic heart he felt that it might be a gentle reminder of the more important things in life.


    He provided expedition details with a local search and rescue organisation, and when he didn¡¯t radio in as scheduled on the night of March 8 the search and rescue organisation affected a small-scale search, which ballooned into a large-scale search, that resulted in no trace of Jackson the bush walker ever getting found.


    In 1949 the local council erected a barrier thirty-five metres into the tunnel, to stop people wandering into the darkness and getting lost (the official ruling for Jackson¡¯s disappearance as well as the five others). Local children dared each other to go in as far as the metal barrier, and without fail the brave-enough-children emerged, blinking.


    The stories of ghosts and murderers sounded like a pile of tripe ¡­ unless you were about to go into the cave. Then they felt like they were true.


    ¡®Tom,¡¯ Jane shouted into the darkness.


    The brook snickered along the tunnel walls.


    ¡®Tom.¡¯


    She stepped forward and had hardly gone three steps when the claustrophobic darkness slipped over her. It was like the nights in the little house with her father when she was scared and starving hungry and she thought the night would wrap around her and strangle her.


    Wading slowly, she turned every few feet to make sure she could still see the cave''s entrance.


    She couldn¡¯t hear the boys now, neither their feet splashing nor their voices, and she wondered how far they could have got. Surely noise should be echoing and travelling through the tunnel. She turned to reassure herself that she could see the cave''s mouth, and she could, although it had shrunk into a small shape of daylight. If she went much further she wouldn¡¯t be able to see it at all and she was worried that once she lost sight of the light she could get turned around and lost. Still, she waded further, and the water rose past the hem of her skirt. She held her skirt up and took another step.


    How far would the boys have walked in absolute darkness?


    She stopped again and turned to make sure that the cavern entrance hadn¡¯t receded too far back, only to discover she couldn¡¯t see the entrance. She stared for a moment, completely bamboozled. She hadn¡¯t gone far enough from the last time she had looked for the cave mouth to have disappeared. Time had played some sort of queer trick on her. The second queer thing was that she could still see. There was a light source.


    Thousands of crystals lined the roof of the cave, the crystals producing tiny beads of cloudy blue light. Jane could see her surroundings. The brook was a flat black surface. Alongside the brook were ledges and rocky overhangs and off-shooting caves and stalactites and stalagmites. Jane waded to the water''s edge where a set of natural stairs rose from the water to a ledge. On closer inspection it seemed the stairs weren¡¯t natural. There were chisel marks.


    ¡®Tom.¡¯


    She noticed fading wet footprints, two different sets, ascending the stairs. She looked up into the jumble of rocks and tunnels to see if she could see the boys, but they weren¡¯t in sight.


    She called out Tom¡¯s name again, but there was no answer. He had moved fast the little buggar. And the fat boy had moved fast too.


    The stone stairs fed up into a dark crevice.


    Jane stepped slowly and carefully up the stairs, but as it got darker and she could no longer see her feet she found herself fighting for balance. She put her hand on the cave wall and felt something gooey and perhaps alive.


    She began to panic. She stopped and shut her eyes. She couldn¡¯t breathe properly, and the air didn¡¯t feel like it was filling either her stomach or her lungs. Her hand went to her belly, and she imagined her hand was breathing for her - sucking air from her throat, past her lungs, into her belly. After a while she calmed.


    Climbing the stairs into the darkness, the crevice curved and the darkness became complete. She stopped and leaned against the wall, her hand on damp rock. Okay, she thought, I will do ten more steps, and if I haven''t come across the boys I will turn back. She felt that if she concentrated and didn''t panic she would be able to find her way back to the entrance.


    After five steps, to Jane''s relief, a milky reflection appeared on the rock walls. Another entrance must lay ahead. This was an entrance she knew nothing about, but still at least she now knew where the boys had gone.


    Only the light wasn''t coming from outside. The light came from a doorway where a door lay partially open. The light coming from within the doorway had the steady consistency of light produced by electricity. This was a weird development, and Jane wondered if this was dangerous. Who would be running electricity down here in the middle of a mountain? This was the behaviour of a criminal, or a fugitive, or a crazy person. She should turn.


    She listened for a moment but couldn¡¯t hear the boy¡¯s voices or footsteps or anything resembling young male humans. Sound came from within the doorway. A hum of electricity, like the hum of a transistor tube. A hiss like steam running through a pipe. The slight clunk clunk of machine wheels, gears and cogs, meshing together. Also a beeping sound, like a distant tram.


    One sneaky look through the doorway wouldn''t be unsafe.


    She crept up to the door.


    Behind the door was a room as large as a garage, the kind of garage that could fit two cars and a little boat. It was filled with the kind of equipment you would find in a science laboratory. There were machines with dials, and flasks filled with liquid, and small metal wheels for opening and closing pipes, and clear tubes filled with coloured fluid. There were large brass kettle drums with smoky vapour coming from narrowed mouths. A glass globe sitting on a metal cabinet had an iron rod with two weighted balls spinning up with centrifugal force.


    In the room¡¯s centre was a circular platform, and on the platform was a dome that rose up several feet into the air. The dome was made of glass, or crystal, or perhaps some other clear stone. Above the dome was a metal arch that acted as a rail for a sphere that was attached to the rail with small wheels and a gear mechanism. The sphere glowed like a miniature sun.


    Jane was mesmerised by the dome. It sparkled, reflecting the light from above. Under the dome Jane could see vapour, like clouds. All the machines that surrounded this central dome seemed to be attached to the dome in some way. Copper pipes were plugged into the side, and electrical cable and smaller wires that might have been for information processing were attached in copper junction boxes.


    Jane looked around the room for the boys.


    She couldn¡¯t see them anywhere.


    Over to the right there was a metal cabinet with an open door. The cabinet was also attached to arrays of pipes and cables and on the left hand side was a security keypad, presumably for securing the cabinet shut when it wasn¡¯t in use.


    Somebody spoke from the corner, from out of sight behind the dome on the round platform.


    ¡®Don''t be startled.¡¯


    The voice was male and old, and gurgled with phlegm.


    Taking a step to the left, Jane saw an old priest seated in what looked like a dentist chair. Beside the chair was a pole with some kind of hand controller that held dials and red and green buttons. Jane recognised the priest. He was the local priest from the local parish, the one at the top of Shipley street where it joined the Mainway.


    Above the old priest''s head was a copper dome. Wires sprouted from the dome. It looked like one of the experimental machines for reading brains.


    To the priests left, on a table, was a typewriter with wires coming out of the typewriter going up to the copper dome. The priest was wearing his vestments, as though he was about to deliver mass.


    ¡®Father George, what on Earth are you doing here?¡¯


    The priest had his fingers up in a steeple, pointer fingers pressed to the point of his nose.


    ¡®I am here to help you get the Wyld Book of Secrets.''


    ¡®Do you have the book?¡¯


    ¡®Oh no ¡­ no no no.¡¯


    The old priest felt this was amusing and he laughed a little and shook his head.


    ¡®I¡¯m not that important ... I can''t read the book. It is not written for me.''


    The priest put his hands out, expansively, as though he was going to give a big explanation about the book, but then changed his mind.


    ''I don''t have time to explain things. It is very important that you, and only you, retrieve the book. It will become apparent why in due time.''


    ''What is Tom''s role?''


    ''I have no time to explain. Just go into the cabinet and ... soon you will understand.''


    The priest motioned to the cabinet with the open door.


    ¡®Tom has already gone into the cabinet, even though I didn''t instruct him to. He was being chased by a portly lad.''


    ''What is in the chamber?''


    Father George stood slowly, with effort, using his left hand as a lever off the chair''s arm, and using his right arm to maintain balance. His joints must have creaked like loose floorboards. When he got upright and stopped swaying, the priest took a step to the circular platform and put a hand on the glass dome.


    ''Come and look.''


    Jane stepped to the dome and put her hands on the glass. She peered through. Inside it was green and blue. The blue looked like water and the green looked like land. This was a model, or a diorama, of a country surrounded by water. The model was scaled down so far it was difficult to distinguish anything much besides the land and the water. There were lines of grey and white that could be mountains, and that thinnest of thin lines might be a river. A tiny, almost dot, could even be a town. You would need a microscope to see it properly though. Or maybe a telescope. Running across the dome was the mini orb that looked like a miniature sun.


    ¡®What is it?¡¯


    ¡®This is a miniature world named Paris.¡¯


    ¡®You have made a miniature world and named it after Paris.¡¯


    ¡®I didn¡¯t make it ¡­ and it isn¡¯t named after the city. The city of Paris is named after this miniature world.¡¯


    ¡®That doesn¡¯t begin to make sense.¡¯


    The priest stared at her for a moment, once again caught in a moment of indecision as to how much he should explain.


    Finally he said, ¡®Reality is not always what it seems.¡¯


    Between the land and the top of the dome there were clouds that looked real, like actual water vapour. The microscopic land seemed real, as though it wasn¡¯t just a model but something living and breathing. Just then the orb that was mounted on the metal track above the dome sent out a flare.


    ¡®That is actually burning,¡¯ said Jane, and she pointed to the flaring light.


    ¡®At a nuclear level.¡¯


    ¡®Is this an experiment? Is this a model biosphere?¡¯


    ¡®This is the world that you are about to enter. Go into the cabinet and it will bring you into this little world. I must give you one warning though ... a warning i was unable to deliver to Tom as he ran straight past me.''


    ''What is it?'' said Jane, suddenly worried.


    ''When you arrive in the next world, head straight for the woods where you will find a path up into the trees. Do not tarry. You will be in danger until such a time as you are on the path into the trees.''


    ''What if ...''


    ''No more questions. You must go now. Find the boys and find the path into the trees. Go.''


    Jane stepped up to the cabinet. She put her hand on the pressed metal door jamb and peered inside, but she could only see two feet then pure black. It was as though the light was being sucked inwards. As if in a dream, Jane stepped over the threshold. She looked back and the priest nodded encouragement, his eyebrows bumping up and down.


    Three steps into the cabinet things got really weird. The cabinet began to shake with a jolting arhythmic motion, like the shake of an earthquake. Then the sound of humming became terribly loud and Jane felt her skin shrinking around her face, and she felt intense pain in her stomach. The pain shot from her belly through her body. A pain like an electric shock. Her muscles cramped. She couldn¡¯t even call out because her throat and tongue and mouth were all cramped.


    The physical pain became unbearable, then suddenly ceased.


    Everything went silent.


    Jane turned, but couldn¡¯t see the entrance back through the cabinet into the room with the machine. All she saw was immense darkness. In the other direction there was light. The light moved, fading and growing, the way light does when clouds move across the sky, temporarily blocking the sun. Jane walked toward the light, and approached a fissure that opened to the outside world.


    A breeze blew in through the fissure, and the breeze smelled of sweet mint and fallen leaves.


    A moment later Jane stepped from the darkness into something wonderful.

 CHAPTER TWO

    CHAPTER TWO


    When Jane was young she visited the gardens of Chilham Castle. She walked between sandstone walls and across immense green lawns. Stone garden beds held snowdrops and daffodils and bluebells. Ducks waddled from a brown pond to a fountain beneath a set of marble statues. Pigeons flounced through pools of leaves. Twisted old trees grew along the edge of flagstone paths.


    The feeling Jane had that day rose again as she stepped through a fissure in the edge of a tall cliff, out onto a myrtle-green meadow that sloped to the edge of a giant woods. Sunlight drove deep green patterns into the woods. Red birds flew from the woods into the meadow and back into the woods, slipping between the shadows and the sunlight with their necks stretched for flight. Blue grey cliffs rose in a circle above the treeline, climbing from shadows to high snowy peaks. Overhead, clouds were creased against a blue sky.


    Jane saw Tom and the fat boy down the meadow a way, continuing the fight that had started back in school. How moronic.


    The fat boy held Tom by his green blazer and shook him, while Tom punched at the fat boy''s arm to break the grip.


    ¡®Let go moron.¡¯


    The fat boy stopped shaking Tom and took a hand full of Tom¡¯s red hair. He yanked Tom¡¯s head down, until Tom fell, then the fat boy shoved Tom¡¯s face into the dust. Jane broke into a run. The fat boy didn¡¯t notice Jane coming, until she grabbed him and dragged him off Tom and shoved him face first into a clump of yellow grass.


    ¡®Stop this stupidity.¡¯


    The fat boy got to his feet and stood in front of Jane, swaying, with his shirt out, and grass clinging to his pants. He grinned, exposing a mouthful of dust and blood.


    ¡®You bloody witch. You are going ...¡¯


    Whatever he was going to do to Jane was forgotten as he saw something over Jane''s shoulder. His mouth fell open and he put his hands up to his cheeks like he was a B grade actor showing distress.


    ¡®What buggary?¡¯ he squealed.


    Jane turned and saw that the fissure split in the cliff that she had emerged from a moment ago was closing over. The stone moved like fluid, with just a whispering groan, like some faraway earthquake. The stone, seemed to zip itself up across the fissure, leaving a smooth cliff.


    ''No,'' shouted the fat boy.


    He ran, wobbling and wheezing, up through the meadow and flung himself at the cliff. He smacked into solid stone and bounced off, landing in the dirt. He got to his feet, backed off, and (like an idiot) ran at the cliff again.


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    ¡®That boy is fried,¡¯ Jane muttered.


    ¡®His name is Andrew.¡¯


    Tom rolled onto his knees and stood.


    Andrew yelled from the cliff¡¯s base. ¡®We are stuck.''


    Walking back toward the cliff, Jane knew she would find a solution. There was always a solution. She stood beside Andrew and looked for the mechanism that caused the cliff to shut. She bumped her palms along the stone wall, feeling for a separation and feeling for solidness. A small rock bit into her palm.


    ¡®This is interesting.¡¯


    ¡®Can you open it?''


    There was panic in Andrew''s voice.


    ''I don''t know.''


    Jane took a step away from the cliff and looked to the left and right, looking for any kind of motor that may have been involved in the closing over.


    Suddenly Andrew shouted, ¡®What is that?¡¯


    He had his face pointed up, his neck creased at the back.


    A man was climbing down the cliff: skeleton skinny, elbows pointing, knobble kneed, hair matted and long, completely naked except for a square of fur covering his pelvis. The man scuttled like a spider, hooking hands and feet into wind eroded pockmarks. He arrived at the bottom of the cliff a few feet from Jane. He was ugly. His face was the shape of a crab claw, and his eyes were with deep set and his mouth opened and shut like a pincer. His chest reminded Jane of a picture she had seen of an Australian kangaroo: skinny but strung with muscles that looked as tough as piano wire.


    ¡®Run,¡¯ Andrew screamed.


    Andrew took off into the meadow, barrelling through tall grass and flowers that exploded into clouds of yellow pollen. Every part of him wobbled and shook. He kept making little yelps of fear.


    The man''s eyes followed Andrew. After a moment he spoke in voice that was high and sing song, like the voice of an alter boy. He said one word:


    ¡®Elion.¡¯


    Jane let her hands hang at her sides with her palms facing forward.


    ¡®Mister ... We are not dangerous.''


    The words seemed foolish.


    The man looked from Andrew to Tom, and he had a moment of uncertainty, as though he was making a decision between Andrew and Tom. A whistle of breath came out through his nose.


    ''Elion,'' he said while looking at Tom. He was looking for a reaction. Tom just stood in one spot, looking at the man with his two front teeth sitting on his bottom lip.


    Andrew fell to the ground, and shrieked with fear. He picked himself up and kept running.


    The man set off after Andrew.


    Roaring with fear, Andrew fell again. Yellow pollen pumped up into the air. He didn¡¯t have time to get up before the man caught him. Seemingly with no effort, the man scooped Andrew up under his left arm and, carrying him like this, he strode back to the cliff¡¯s base. Andrew''s body hung like an overfilled sack, and his belly came out below his shirt and hung like white rubber.


    The man climbed the cliff with Andrew flopping under his arm.


    ''Look at that strength,'' said Tom, watching Andrews fat belly jiggle as the man climbed, one armed and two footed, up the sheer cliff.


    ''I don''t understand,'' Jane said quietly, then she turned to Tom. ¡®What comes next?¡¯

 CHAPTER THREE

    CHAPTER THREE


    ¡®Let''s go,¡¯ said Jane. ''We must get to the woods.''


    Tom pointed up the cliff, ¡®What are we going to do about Andrew?''


    ¡®Nothing,¡¯ said Jane. ¡®Neither of us are capable of climbing that cliff. The priest told me to go into the giant woods where I would find a path up into the trees.''


    Just then the quiet of the meadow was interrupted by a strange howl, coming from the west. To Jane'' s ears, the sound was less than a mile away. She turned and gazed across the meadow to where the grass formed a horizon, beyond which she could only see the distant mountains. There were no creatures capable of making such a significant howl in sight.


    The howl came again, and this time it sounded more like a squeal, and it sounded furious and urgent, like the cry that comes from a wounded animal intent on hunting down the person that had wounded it.


    ¡®Let¡¯s go,¡¯ she said.


    Not needing to be told twice, Tom took off through the long grass. Because he was so skinny and small, he had to take big steps to get over the grass clumps and the stones and the stands of blue flowers. Jane had it easier, but her ankle ached as it rolled on the uneven ground.


    Another howling squeal ... closer.


    Jane began running.


    Then Tom stopped. He was looking up to where a bird was dropping from the sky. At first a small dark bundle, the bird got larger and larger and uglier and uglier. It plummeted toward the Earth with its feet drawn into its body and its wings folded back. Jane didn''t know what type of bird it was though it looked like a cross between a vulture and a bat. Fifty feet above the ground the bird spread its wings. The black wings buckled and writhed and fluttered and made a wumping sound like an unfolding parachute. A diamond shaped tail fanned out. The bird adjusted its flight so that it was soaring straight toward Tom. As it got closer its head came into view. It had a head like a monkey, with large round, front facing eyes. Its beak was wide and shaped like a grinning mouth.


    Tom put his hands up and held them to shield his face, and his voice squeaked up as he called:


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    ¡®Bugger off,¡¯


    A moment before the bird smashed into Tom¡¯s face it swooped up into an almost vertical climb.


    ¡®What the blimey rat was that?¡¯ sad Tom.


    The bird rose thirty feet with the feathery tufts that covered its head and chin sweeping back. It did a twisting somersault and dove again, bringing itself into a slow hovering flight ten feet above Tom. It held the position, its wings thumping the air, its back arched, its talons out.


    ¡®Bugger off,¡¯ Tom shouted again.


    The bird opened its grinning beak and let out a caw. Then it did something weird. It spoke - like a human.


    It said one word that Jane couldn¡¯t properly make out, although the first part of the word sounded like, ¡®El.¡¯


    Now the bird flapped its wings and its diamond shaped tail rose and fell and its monkey head pointed up toward the mountains. It climbed and climbed, beating its wings, and soon it was above the woods.


    Another howl came from the western meadow.


    ''Let''s run,'' Jane shouted, but Tom was distracted by something, and stayed rooted in one spot.


    Over to the left, down the meadow towards the base of the cliffs was a flock of geese being driven by a small plump girl wearing a white dress. The girl was looking up at Tom, and her face was tense with worry. She put a hand in the air and made a waving motion, summoning Tom to come toward her.


    Another terrifying howl came from the western side of the meadow and the geese flapped their wings and honked furiously.


    ¡®That girl wants us to come to her,'' said Tom.


    ''No,'' Jane answered, ''We must get into the woods. The priest said we must get into the woods to escape danger.''


    From down in the meadow the girl called, and her voice was small and faint. She said, ''Elion.''


    Jane looked back down at the gaggle of geese and the girl. For a moment the sunlight lit up the girl, and her hair shone gold, and her left cheek was flushed apple red. She looked angelic with the flowing white gown and a halo of sunlight inside a hazy cloud of microscopic dust. Again the girl waved her hand toward Tom in an urgent gesture, beckoning him to come.Tom turned toward Jane and he had an anxious, longing expression.


    ''She is calling me.''


    Tom sounded bewitched.


    ''The priest said we must go into the woods,'' said Jane.


    She began running through thistle bushes and yellow and blue flowers, past Tom and onward until she came lunging out onto a narrow path with a hard yellow surface. She turned and saw that Tom was following. She turned left on the path and kept running. Tom caught her just as she was entering the woods. Almost immediately the sunlight became dappled and green. Ferns grew between oak and maple and pine trees. Trunks as round as barrels held long crisscrossed branches that blocked out the sky. Waist high roots ran, exposed, along the ground. The soil was dark chocolate and covered with pine needles and nettle and fallen sticks and fungi and ants and spider webs.


    The howl came again, from the meadow behind.

 CHAPTER FOUR

    CHAPTER FOUR


    ¡®That bird back there in the meadow,'' Jane said, breathing hard. ''That bird spoke.''


    The path had narrowed and they were pushing past overhanging ferns and large-leaved grasses.Tom held his sides and breathed through a wide open mouth. Jane limped on her ankle.


    Jane shook her head and said, ''I think the bird said the word ¡®El¡¯ followed by something else.¡¯


    ¡®Perhaps ¡­ with imagination,¡¯ said Tom. ''It was hard to make out.''


    ¡®Do you think there was any meaning in it?¡¯


    Tom didn¡¯t answer for a moment, then he said, ¡®The priest told me that my name was Elion here in the world of Paris.¡¯


    ¡®The bird must have said your name.¡¯


    ¡®Perhaps?¡¯


    ¡®If that bird recognised you as Elion, it could mean trouble.''


    Tom shrugged. ¡®Really ... what can a bird do?''


    ''I don''t know, but this is a strange world.''


    They walked in silence for a moment, listening to the woodland sounds. The chirps and clicks and bird shrieks comforted Jane in a strange way, as though the woodfolk made her safe.


    The path twisted downwards, going up and down over monster tree roots. They passed a huge mushroom growing from the side of a massive tree trunk. The mushroom was as bulky as a telephone box, with a spongy pink underbelly. A butterfly as big as a hand and as blue as the vase where her foster mother kept her spare change, flitted between the trees and flowers.


    ¡®Everything is so large?¡¯ said Jane.


    A pile of stones made a path up onto a fallen tree. Climbing the tree was like climbing a small hill. Tom stopped on top and put his hands on his belly and drew in deep breaths. The air had a rich, acrid, scent, almost like that of cinnamon. Tom scrutinised Jane, then spoke in a matter-of-fact tone:


    ''Why are you so obsessed with the Wyld Book of Secrets?''


    ''Why would you think I am obsessed with it?'' Jane said between breaths.


    ''You are famous for your obsession. Even in the boys school we know about the girl who carried the book about monsters and myths everywhere she went. You used to tell everyone about the Wyld Book.''


    Jane didn''t say anything, but she wasn''t happy that the boys were talking about her. So what if she carried a book that was important to her? She had had her reasons.


    ¡®Do you think you will be able to use the book? Do you think it will give you power?¡¯


    Worry squirted into Jane¡¯s stomach. After being so excited that the fantasy she had entertained for her entire life might actually be true, she now wondered if the reality of the book would be meaningless. What if she couldn¡¯t even read the book?


    ¡®I just want to find the book,¡¯ said Jane. ¡®I wouldn¡¯t believe it when sister Agnus told me that I could find the book with your help. Of course I want to find the book.¡¯


    ¡®But why?¡¯


    Jane shrugged.


    ¡®I know that you killed your father,¡¯ said Tom.


    Jane felt that moment of fear she always got when somebody recognised her for the BIG event of her life. Somehow the row of reporters and the black eyed cameras and the shouted questions was, in her memory, the worst part of that horrible day. Perhaps it was the fame that those loudly clacking cameras brought, the newspaper headlines, the longer articles conflating the act of violence perpetrated by an eleven year old to social trends and the political missteps of a conservative government still run by Churchill. Hearing mention of that one awful day brought, again, the flood of shame and trauma that filled her belly like vomit.


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    ¡®I won¡¯t talk about that.¡¯


    Tom kept staring at her. He said, ¡®It¡¯s your big secret.¡¯


    ¡®It¡¯s something I am not going to talk about.¡¯


    Tom got his breath back and they set off again. Another pile of stones took them down the far side of the fallen tree. The path kept descending down stairs made of dark stone, descending into a canyon between two black cliffs.Tom bounded down the stone stairs with his school shoes clattering and his green blazer flying out like a cape.


    From somewhere behind came the wild shriek. Even though the shriek was a long way off, it ran into Jane¡¯s nerves like electricity.


    At the base of the cliff there was a dark green pool, catching water from a waterfall. The pool ran into a creek that trickled off into the black canyon. Across the pool was a steep bank of dense shrubs and ferns and lichen, glistening with spray from the waterfall.


    ¡®Look at the bees,¡¯ said Jane.


    Plump bees flying on glassy wings were burying their heads into giant orange flowers. The flowers were as fat as pumpkins and the bees came out with globules of ovarian pollen. Wings thrumming, the bees made heavy journeys from flower to flower.


    ''Those howls are a long way back ... I think we should rest a moment,'' said Tom.


    Tom sat on a moss covered stone and let his head droop. Jane squatted at the pool¡¯s edge, beneath the waterfall, and cupped her hands to drink.


    ¡®Elion,¡¯ said Jane, trying the word in her mouth. ¡®Elion.¡¯


    Tom leaned forward and swished his fingers in the water. Insects rose in a furry cloud. Then a rock dislodged and fell into the water, sending out a circle of ripples.


    Jane said, ¡®Did the priest say how far we had to travel to find this woodland King?''


    Tom didn''t answer. He thrust a hand in the air and spoke in a sharp but strained whisper.


    ¡®Quiet.¡¯


    Across the creek branches crackled as something large trod through the shrubbery. A creature snorted. A leg showed amidst the ground ferns, the leg skinny and pink and hairless, with muscles wrapping around a bone like ivy strangling a tree branch. Jane took one careful step away from the pool and her foot crunched on leaves.


    Tom stood, carefully, silently, quivering, on his skinny legs.


    The bushes shifted and the creature¡¯s leg disappeared. Then a pinkish ear with a sprout of pale bristles became visible beside a fern¡¯s frond.


    A voice came from the bushes, snuffling, phlegmy and garbled.


    ¡®I nain not scaredy of noghost.¡¯


    A swift movement unsettled the ferns across the creek and a rock streaked toward the teenagers, the rock sizzling with momentum. The rock was poorly aimed, however, and it missed the two by several metres and hit a tree branch with such force that it knocked a branch from the tree. The branch fell but swung as it was still attached by bark.


    A howl rose from behind the fern, and Jane immediately recognised it as being the same type of howl she had heard back in the meadow. Then the creature spoke again:


    ¡®Elion¡¯s ghost is ol nothing.¡¯


    Tom turned to Jane, and the sun ran through his red hair turning it into fire.


    ¡®Raise your arms and shout the name Elion ¡¯


    Jane opened her mouth to tell Tom that she would not utter such stupidity, when something strange happened: instead of saying ¡®The idea is madness¡¯, she shouted, ¡®Elion.¡¯


    Another animal scream came from behind the ferns, and through a gap in the greenery Jane caught a glimpse of a meat coloured torso with insect bite marks oozing with yellow fluid.


    ¡®Elion commands you to leave,¡¯ Jane shouted and she held her arms in the air.


    From the shrubbery came an unintelligible mutter, and a grunt.


    Jane clenched her fist and stepped toward the pond, as though she was going to walk into the water and keep on after the creature. Suddenly she was ridiculously angry and she yelled in a voice of rage.


    ¡®Leave us alone, you piece of shite.¡¯


    With a large crash the creature ran away, up through the steep greenery. It continued to shriek with the bone chilling sounds that the teenagers had heard back in the meadow. Ferns and trees swayed and crashed. Jane caught glimpses of grey skin and black bristles.


    ¡®What kind of creature?¡¯ asked Jane.


    ''I don''t know.''


    ''Did the priest tell you that the creatures would be afraid of the name of Elion?''


    ''No. I don''t know if they are. I just had a hunch that that one would be.''


    Tom put his hands on his hips and looked up to where the animal had disappeared. He turned to Jane. His ears were red and shining.


    ¡®Let''s keep going.¡¯

 CHAPTER FIVE

    CHAPTER FIVE


    Jane sat to take her shoes off to rub life back into her ankle.


    She peeled the shoe from her left foot. The ankle had turned into a purple and yellow balloon. She put her foot in the air and pain spread up her leg. She rubbed her fingernails over the swelling. There was a feeling of both relief and pain.


    She put her sock and shoe back on and took off after Tom, who had left a moment earlier, up the stone stairs cut into the cliff, rising toward the gigantic trees.


    Another wild animal call came from behind. The awful scream of a creature that sounded like a distressed pig. A second shriek sounded, then another. There was a group of creatures.


    The creek retreated beneath until it became a distant ribbon of blue and green. Ahead, Tom had slowed his pace, and was stepping carefully, looking at the drop just inches from his feet.


    A small breeze came funnelling up from the canyon and Tom¡¯s green pants flapped, and his blazer billowed out, and his orange hair lifted and swept around his stick-out ears.


    ¡®Don¡¯t look down,¡¯ said Jane.


    Eventually the steps reached the top of the cliff where the path ran onto a narrow plateau between the giant woods and the canyon. Tom took three running steps onto the flat and turned and put two fists in the air like he had just climbed Everest.


    The path travelled along the flat for one hundred feet to a giant door between two high fences that ran from one side of the plateau to the other. The door was big enough for a bread van to drive through without scraping its sides or top, made from thick slabs of timber and strapped together with iron bands. In front of the door and slightly to one side was a hut with walls made of pressed dirt, and a roof of matted grass. It had a metal door, perfectly round, and the door opened and out stepped an elf.


    He looked like an elf anyway, with green skin and stringy green hair and triangle shaped ears. Although, his eyes were emerald green and slitted like a cat''s eyes, and his nose was a moist little button. He wore a green hat that peaked and flopped backwards, a bit like a wizard''s hat. He must have been old because his neck skin was rolled up and the skin beneath his eyes hung loosely. He had a flowing beard streaked with grey and green, and there was a distinct stoop in his shoulders.


    The fellow put a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun.


    ¡®I think it''s an elf,'' Jane whispered.


    The elf jerked upright as though he had been struck.


    ¡®I am not an elf; I am a thrip. I mean ¡­ really. Why would you want to insult me?¡¯¡¯


    ¡®I didn''t mean to insult you,¡¯ said Jane.


    The thrip scowled.


    ''I am a the thrip that guards the entrance to the Wisting Woods, and under the authority of the King of Wisting Woods I command you to identify yourselves.¡¯


    Tom, standing behind Jane, said ''What is a thrip?''


    The thrip scrunched its eyes into the afternoon sun, and tried to see Tom, but couldn¡¯t see around Jane.


    Jane said, ¡®We are on our way to see the King of Wisting Woods.¡¯


    The thrip shook its head and said, ¡®I need you to identify yourself or ... ¡¯


    Suddenly, the thrip stopped talking.


    Tom had taken a step sideways and now stood in plain view. The thrip crooked his head forward, and squinted. ¡®Who are you?¡¯


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    Tom stepped closer.


    ¡®Oh drawp.¡¯


    The thrip dropped to the ground as though his legs had been knocked from under him.


    Tom stepped back.


    The thrip knelt with his hands forward, like he was praying, and he


    ¡®Who do you think I am?¡¯


    The thrip¡¯s eyes rolled up to Tom, but the moment his eyes contacted Tom¡¯s eyes he lost courage and dropped his eyes back to the ground.


    Tom stepped in close and leaned over.


    ¡®Do you know me as Elion?¡¯


    The thrip raised his eyes again, and he was crying. There were two large crystal teas sliding down his cheeks.


    ¡®Yes my Lord.¡¯


    ¡®How do you know me as Elion? Surely I don¡¯t look like this person you think of as Elion.¡¯


    ¡®You are testing me lord,¡¯ said the thrip and he laughed then stopped laughing abruptly ¡®It is your ¡®shine¡¯ my Lord. Your ¡®shine¡¯ hasn¡¯t changed.¡¯


    ¡®What do you mean ... shine?''


    The thrip was confused by this question as though he had been asked to explain something that was so basic to the understanding of life that he had never thought of the words to explain it. He stared at the ground and thought hard then said, ¡®It is just the ¡®shine¡¯ of you my Lord.¡¯


    Jane said, ¡®Elf creature. You seem quite overcome by my brother, but we have to hurry. There are wild animals behind and we have to go to the King of the woods to discover my brother¡¯s mission. Are you able to open this large gate to let us onto the path up into the trees?¡¯


    The thrip made slow, creaky movements to bring himself up from the prostrated position. He got to his hands and knees, with his beard dragging on the ground. Once again he tried to raise his eyes to Tom but once again he looked away.


    The thrip was about to answer when another howl rose up from the canyon the teens had just climbed out of.


    ¡®That is a swamp hog,¡¯ said the thrip.


    ¡®What is a swamp hog?¡¯


    The thrip pushed himself up so that he was squatting with his legs apart and the big weave tunic he wore dropped in a large fold between his legs.


    He shook his head and his beard made a waving motion.¡¯The swamp hog is a terrible beast. It is half man half pig and all bad. I will open the door, but first I have something for my Lord.¡¯


    The thrip reached into the top of his grey tunic and eased a leather strap up over his head, and dangling from the end of the strap was a black key - so black it seemed to suck in light. The thrip held the key for a pensive moment as though hesitant to give it up.


    ¡®As a low wood thrip nobody would think I held one of the three keys.¡¯


    Tom took the leather necklace from the thrip and held it up. ¡®What does this key do?¡¯


    ¡®It is not for me to say ¡­ only that I am glad I am rid of it. That key is dangerous.''


    ¡®It is heavy.¡¯


    The key spun slowly on the leather strap that hung below Tom¡¯s hand.


    A savage shriek of what Jane now knew was an approaching swamp hog, was followed by the sound of multiple hooves clattering on the stone stairs that rose from the creek.


    ''Time to leave,¡¯ said the old thrip.


    From a pouch in his tunic the thrip brought out a key ring laden with keys and searched amongst them. He found the right key and inserted it into a square lock on the giant door. Something clicked. There was a crunching, groaning sound as some hidden mechanism pushed the door out of its jamb and slowly swung it open.


    The sound of beating hooves came closer. The creatures were almost in sight.


    Jane grabbed Tom by the arm and pulled him through the door, but the thrip didn''t follow. He grinned madly and said, ¡®Go on without me. I will be safe in my hut.¡¯


    On the far side of the door the teenagers pressed their bodies against the door¡¯s immense weight.


    ¡®Push, push push,¡¯ said Jane as though Tom didn¡¯t get the pushing part.


    Another howl.


    The door had nearly snapped shut when a creature came into view. Jane got a fast glimpse of a bipedal creature, six feet tall, with greyish/pink skin and bristles and a head like a pig and two eyes that held such malevolence that Jane made a noise of distress without intending to.


    Then the door clicked shut.


    ¡®My goodness,¡¯ Tom said.


    ¡®Do you think the door will hold?¡¯


    The answer came a second later. The swamp hogs thumped into the door, the sound huge and sickening, like a shot bird thudding into a field.


    The teenagers backed away and Tom put his hands up as though he was going to catch the door if it should crash. His eyes were wide and pensive. The swamp hogs hit the door again. And again.


    Tom began to relax.


    ¡®The door will hold.¡¯


    ¡®Hallelujah.¡¯


    ¡®We must keep going.¡¯

 CHAPTER SIX

    CHAPTER SIX


    Tom immediately set off up the wooden walkway, which was suspended from cables attached to branches far above. He strode with purpose, his school pants bagging around his legs. Jane followed. She noticed that Tom kept his eyes ahead, and didn¡¯t look out at the woods that ran deep to either side of the path. He walked fast and stayed in the centre of the walkway, well away from the guide rope and the hundreds of feet drop to the forest floor.


    They passed birch and oak and pine and elm. The trees were at least five times larger and taller than the trees back in England. The suspended path moved from tree to tree, always climbing, always moving deeper into the woods.


    After a while Tom stopped for a rest. He turned back to Jane and grinned a toothy grin. ¡®I''m glad you came with me.''


    Jane leaned against the side of the tree they were currently straddling, perhaps 200 feet above the ground.


    ''Why is that?''


    ''I would never have got that door shut by myself ¡¯


    ¡®I''m glad I served a purpose.¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m just saying ¡­ you may have saved me from being killed by a swamp hog.¡¯


    ¡®While that is a cause for celebration I have to tell you ¡­ I am not here for you.¡¯


    ¡®I know ... you are here for the book.''


    ''Yes, The Wyld Book of Secrets. Apparently you know where it is.''


    Tom shook his head.


    ''The nun told me you would help me find the book. What were you told?''


    Tom put a finger under the collar of his blazer and scratched his neck.


    ''I was told to see the King of Wyld Fell and he would help us.''


    The path climbed from tree to tree, circling one massive trunk after another. The trees were covered with moss and lichen, and ferns grew in the deep crevices in the bark. Black ants marched in lines. A lizard turned a slow head and whipped out a strappy tongue to taste the air. A caterpillar, as big as a cucumber, was caught in a strand of spider web, while a spider, the size of Jane''s fist, took slow, deliberate steps toward its prey.


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    Occasionally a squirrel would pop its head out from somewhere.


    Growing from receptacles formed by crooked bark and forked branches and weep holes in the trunks of the trees were the large yellow flowers that Jane had seen down by the waterfall. Bobbing into the flowers were the fat, glassy winged bees, with legs bulging with pollen. Hundreds of bees, perhaps thousands, filled the woods with a loud hum.


    Tom pulled the key out from his shirt and inspected it while he walked.


    ¡®The thrip seemed to think this key was important.¡¯


    ''I don''t see how it relates to the Wyld Book of Secrets.''


    Tom shrugged and dropped the key back inside his shirt.


    ¡®Perhaps it doesn''t.''


    The boardwalk kept climbing, and the air grew colder. Still the treetops remained far overhead, where the sky could only be seen in temporary glimpses. These trees were even larger than Jane had first thought.


    ¡®I hope there is no problem seeing the King,'' said Jane.


    Tom shrugged again.


    Just then a large ripping sound rose up from a tree just across from the boardwalk. Jane went to the guide rope where she witnessed a giant mushroom breaking off from the side of a yew. The mushroom was as fat as a beach umbrella, turnip white, with a fan of underbelly brown. Instead of falling to the ground, as you would expect, the mushroom rose like a balloon, thrusting into the branch above where it caught for a moment before curling around the branch to bump and roll up and up through branches and leaves until finally it became obscured by leaves.


    Jane said, ¡®The mushroom is lighter than air ¡­¡¯


    Tom had also stopped and was staring up at the flying mushroom.


    ¡®It could be anti-gravity.¡¯


    The mushroom breaking from the tree had left a jagged hole in the yew, with black soil and crumbles of white mushroom stalk.


    Jane said, ¡®How could anti-gravity affect just one object?¡¯


    Tom shook his head and said, ¡®It seems to be rising with some force.¡¯


    Jane let go of the rope and whistled through her teeth.


    ¡®Things just keep getting stranger.¡¯


    Tom kept watching where the mushroom had disappeared, and his face was concentrated with thought, so Jane sidled past him and continued to walk.


    The boardwalk narrowed as the trees¡¯ circumferences got smaller. Night was coming, and still the path was inclining. How much further was this tree top city and the palace of the King? Finally, the sky began to appear between the leaves: deep purple with bands of pink and orange to the west. Birds swam down from the sky into the woods. The trees sighed as they moved in the breeze.


    Jane was about thirty feet ahead of Tom who was tiring steadily. He had shrunk back into the darkness. Jane was about to stop and wait for him when she heard a nasally voice that sounded like the voice of somebody talking through a swollen throat.


    ¡®Elion¡¯s got to got the out.¡¯


    *

 CHAPTER SEVEN

    CHAPTER SEVEN


    ¡®Who is that?¡¯ Jane called.


    ¡®I aint no fear on,¡¯ came a warbled voice, and even though she couldn¡¯t see around the giant tree trunk to see what had spoken, Jane knew that she was dealing with another swamp hog. She immediately thought that she knew how to deal with this monster: she just had to use the name ''Elion''.


    Sure enough, a swamp hog slunk around the tree and here, finally Jane saw one up close. The creature had the head of a pig, with tusks thrusting up from either side of its snout. The tusks were slick with mucus. Its head was huge and bristly, and its eyes were bloodshot. It had a body like a human, or an ape, and it walked on two legs. It stood over six feet tall and its muscles were shredded, and rugged, like somebody had twisted up heavy ropes and made them into arms and legs. It wore ragged pants that split over its muscles, and a grey shirt that was torn and stretched and filthy.


    It sniffled and bubbles formed along its black flews.


    Jane clenched her fists, and breathed out slowly and took in a sharp breath. A shot of adrenaline ran up through her chest and neck and into her brain. A quiver started in her lower back and spread to her arms and legs. Every tiny hair on her body stood straight.


    ''In the name of Elion ... leave.''


    The swamp hog hesitated, suddenly suspicious that Jane might actually be dangerous. Its eyes crawled with indecision between being obedient to the name of ''Elion'' and what it meant, and between its wild desire to do something sick and violent. It coughed out a wad of phlegm that travelled several feet, then it took another decisive step toward Jane.


    She knew that this hog was different then the one she had chased away back down at the creek.


    The hog said, ¡®You gwin paint leaves red.¡¯


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    The swamp hog turned its snout to look out over the rope guardrail. It dripped mucous over the edge of the rail, and the mucous fell and flew apart. Jane read the hog¡¯s mind: it intended to throw her over the edge, where she would plummet a thousand feet through the huge woods to her death. She had no illusions about the creature¡¯s strength ¨C underneath the bristled skin it was wired with muscle.


    Immediately below Jane was a large branch with a dozen smaller branches hanging off it and fat leaves hanging off the branches. This might be just close enough to jump to.


    Without turning, she spoke to Tom.


    ¡®I am going to jump to that branch below and while I am doing it I want you to run.¡¯


    Tom didn¡¯t answer.


    Jane lowered her weight over her pelvis, putting a slight bend in her knees, and prepared for the hog¡¯s attack.


    The hog¡¯s eyes travelled to the branch and its slobbering mouth opened in a confident grin.


    Keeping her eyes on the hog Jane climbed over the guard rope and held it while she leaned out over the colossal fall.


    This move confused the hog and once again it strained to think about how to handle this new development. It suddenly strode toward Jane with a growl rumbling up from its chest.


    Just as the hog lunged Jane sprung into the air. She grasped the creature around the head and tipped her body over the guide rope with the hog¡¯s head smothered into her breast, tipped so that the momentum of her weight joined the creature¡¯s forward motion. The creature folded over the safety rope, dangerously off balance. Slowly, slowly, Jane¡¯s weight dragged the creature past the tipping point. The creature¡¯s legs rose from the boardwalk and its body teetered between life and death. Then, with Jane holding it by the head, it fell.


    Jane didn¡¯t fall.


    In something akin to an illusion, she released the creature¡¯s head and seized the supporting rope that ran under the walkway, and now she swung above the drop, supported by one arm and a shoulder that had just been wrenched. The squealing swamp hog plummeted from sight and after a long moment it thudded into the floor of the woods.


    Jane held the rope and rested for a moment, gathering her strength. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder she brought her right hand up to the lower rope on the walkway¡¯s guardrail, and swung her body sideways and clawed her feet up onto the wooden walkway. She rolled under the guide rope onto the boardwalk. She stood and shut her eyes and took two large breaths, and let the tension out with a hiss.


    She said, ¡®We¡¯re safe now.¡¯


    She turned.


    Tom was gone, replaced by another swamp hog, this one larger than the one that had plummeted.

 CHAPTER EIGHT

    CHAPTER EIGHT


    Tom had been lagging behind, and when the swamp hog confronted Jane, he stopped walking and watched the hog and knew that he was going to help Jane somehow. It seemed like an impossible situation. The swamp hog was huge. Tom felt this might be the end of the journey and the end of Jane¡¯s life.


    Before he had a chance to reflect on his life and the imminence of his death, a hand clamped his mouth. The hand stank and tasted vile against Tom¡¯s lips. He twisted his head to get the stinking hand away from his mouth, but the hand stayed powerfully clamped. He got lifted by a pair of strong little arms and shoved through a door into the tree trunk. The door was shaped and coloured the same as the tree bark, and had been invisible until it was open. Tom banged his head on the way through.


    Inside, Tom found himself in a warehouse carved into the centre of the tree. There were barrels stacked along a wall, each barrel dark and sticky with honey. Across the far wall were two wagons with metal wheels sitting on a rail line that ran from a timber platform into the wall of the tree, where a tunnel had been carved just a little larger than the width of the wagons.


    The hand over Tom¡¯s mouth was released. A dwarf stepped into view, a nuggety little fellow with a terrible scowl and arms bunched up in a threatening manner. He wore dirty pants with holes and rips. His face was dominated by his nose which looked like a dropped pudding.


    Another dwarf came into view, this one even hairier than the first. He had so much hair you could mistake him for a little bear if he wasn¡¯t dressed like a person. This one wore a leather tunic and leather pants, and the leather sat on him tight, as though he had got dressed a few years earlier then got fat inside his clothing. Both dwarves wore iron helmets


    Now a man stepped into view.


    This man wasn¡¯t much taller than a dwarf, and he was skinny. He looked like a primary school lad, yet he had the face of a man. He wore the most colourful clothing Tom had seen since that magician had turned up to his school last year in order to pull a dove out of a top hat. This man wore a purple coat and an egg-yolk yellow shirt with a design of purple peacocks. His pants were a shamrock green. He had on an orange top hat and a stripy bow tie. He was dapper, and whimsical, but when he smiled from beneath a moustache with curled up ends, Tom knew he was dangerous. A bow and a quiver of arrows were slung across his back.


    He walked lightly, almost dancing, and when he stopped in front of Tom he put his hands together before his pelvis, fingers splayed, and he pointed his index fingers at Tom.


    ¡®At last .. Elion.¡¯


    Tom said, ¡®Who are you?¡¯


    ¡®Of course ¡­ of course you don¡¯t remember me. Who am I to be remembered? We only met once, but that time you were so impressed by my knowledge of the southern realm I thought you would remember me. I am Silas Fox ¡­ but everybody calls me Fox.¡¯


    The dapper man known as Silas Fox beamed proudly. Then he asked:


    ¡®Who is that female we left out on the wooden walkway?¡¯


    ¡®Why ¡­ what are you going to do to her?¡¯


    ¡®The swamp hogs will get her,¡¯ said one of the dwarves, the hairy one that looked like a bear.


    ¡®The hogs will make her fly,¡¯ said the other dwarf. This dwarf


    Silas Fox furrowed his brow, and he shook his head and said, ¡®Is this girl someone close to you then?¡¯


    ¡®Not really,¡¯ said Tom. ''We just met.''


    ¡®Well that is okay then.¡¯


    The little man smiled. Whatever was going to happen to Jane made this little man happy


    The hairy dwarf crossed his arms over his chest and spoke with pride.


    ¡®We captured a couple of swamp hogs and brought them up here. It wasn¡¯t easy.¡¯


    ¡®I captured the hogs,¡¯ said Fox. ¡®You two little slabs of butter had nothing to do with it.¡¯


    Tom suddenly started toward the door, but Fox turned quickly and slammed the door shut. He moved with amazing speed with his coat sweeping out like a magician''s cloak. His feet moved like a dancer''s feet. The door clicked into place with a sound of resolution.


    Fox turned back to Tom and waggled a finger in Tom¡¯s face, as though Tom was a naughty little boy.


    ¡®You must be obedient.¡¯


    ¡®One of the dwarves said, ¡®Elion still thinks he is too good for us.¡¯


    Fox shook his head at Tom, leaned in conspiratorially and said, ¡®The dwarves are an aberration.''


    ¡®Feck off,¡¯ said the dwarf with the pudding nose, bunching his little fists.


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    Fox grinned at the dwarf, while adjusting his bow tie.


    ¡®¡®Let¡¯s take the wagon,¡¯ said the hairy dwarf and he stepped around a crate and walked toward the railway line and the wagons. His little bottom bumped up and down.


    ¡®Stop you little rotter,¡¯ commanded Fox. ¡®I take my seat, Elion takes his seat, then you two little bricks get in last.¡¯


    The hairy dwarf stopped as though frozen, one hand scissored up into the air, and the other hand behind him, holding the pose in a mocking way.


    ¡®First, can we check on Jane,¡¯ said Tom.


    Fox nodded like this was a reasonable request, but an instant later he had a bow in his hands with an arrow strung.


    ¡®Just to be clear,¡¯ said Fox. ¡®You are now my prisoner.¡¯


    After a tense moment Tom gave one small nod, and said, ''I guess we aren''t going to check on Jane.''


    Fox put away his weapon and stepped up to the wagon.


    Dirt and black soot encrusted the first wagon, and the bands of metal that bound the wooden structure together held large flakes of rust. The second wagon, however, had been constructed of white timber with golden bands, and egg-shaped lamps on each corner. It was a wagon fit for royalty.


    Fox brought out a kerchief from a pocket in his coat and bent over the front wagon and placed the kerchief on a wooden seat. He brought out another handkerchief and wiped his nose, and he coughed politely into his hands, then stepped into the wagon and carefully seated himself. He worked hard not to touch his fancy clothing against any part of the wagon


    He said, ¡®Dwarves ... get your wormy little selves into action and bring Elion to the wagon. I want to reach Rivertown before dark. ¡¯


    The hairy dwarf said, ¡®How the stonehell were we ever scared of Elion?¡¯


    ¡®Shut it dwarf,¡¯ said Fox. ¡®I don¡¯t pay you for your commentary.¡¯


    The dwarves took Tom by the arms, one on each side, and they bundled him, boots drumming, to the wagon. They gave Tom an almighty shove, and tripped and fell onto the wagon floor, banging his knees. His right hip bumped Fox¡¯s knee.


    Fox yelled at the dwarves, ''Be careful.''


    Tom got himself up off the wagon floor and sat on a wooden bench beside Fox, and the dwarves climbed in and sat on the benches opposite.


    ¡®A million rizers,'' said the hairy dwarf.


    The splodgy nose dwarf whacked Tom on the leg and said, ''The Emperor is going to pay us a million rizers for puny Elion.''


    ¡®Enough money to set up a small mining operation,¡¯ said the hairy dwarf.


    ¡®Stop rattling your jaw and get this wagon moving,¡¯ said Fox, and he took his hat off and held it on his lap.


    ¡®Hang on to your breadbasket,¡¯ said the hairy dwarf, and he took hold of a lever that came through the floor and clamped his thick little hand over the releasing mechanism. He thrust the lever to the wagon floor. With a rusting screech the wagon crept forward, its wheels clunk clunking, slowly accelerating. The dwarves braced against the wagon¡¯s wooden walls, and they nodded their heads in unison, up and down in an excited rhythm.


    Tom gripped his knees with his fingers, suspecting that this ride wasn¡¯t going to be pleasant.


    The wagon rolled out of the carved warehouse and into a curving tunnel where everything went black. A disembodied voice of one of the dwarves said, ¡®Let¡¯s hope we don¡¯t crash.¡¯


    Fox yelled to be heard over the clunking of the wagon. ¡®With any luck you will fall to your death, you ugly little rotter.¡¯


    The wagon accelerated through the tunnel, and with the G forces growing on him Tom wondered about the immensity of a tree capable of accommodating such a large piece of infrastructure. He brought a hand up to the key on the strap in front of his chest and he squeezed it through the fabric of his shirt, as though it were a good luck charm.


    The wagon banged along with its wheels clattering metal on metal, and the wooden structure squealing, The centrifugal forces grew and the tunnel stayed black, and the dwarves laughed, and the wheels screeched, and the echo off the tunnel walls grew louder and increasingly horrendous. Faster and faster they went until with a neck whipping motion the wagon straightened and burst from inside the tree into the deep green light of Wisting Woods, hundreds of feet above the woodland ground.


    At that moment Tom saw something that the dwarves and Fox missed: a swamp hog falling through the branches, its grey arms and legs pinwheeling. Although Tom was petrified of heights, this sudden, shocking image of the falling hog filled his mind in a way that made him forget about the sheer drop all around.


    The wagon streaked through the giant woods, still gaining speed. The rail line banked left and right through the monster tree trunks. Moss hung like green waterfalls. Branches and ferns and leaves and large pumpkin flowers streaked past. Tom nearly had his head taken off by a vine.


    Finally the track levelled off then, suddenly, they took a sharp turn up. Tom felt his spine puncturing the back of his skull. The wagon swooped up into an almost vertical climb, dropping speed until, on the verge of stopping, the wagon rolled over a cliff top onto a level plateau.


    The wagon coasted at a gentle pace across the plateau and Tom realised that he was gripping the side of the wagon so tightly his knuckles had turned white. The rail lines were heading straight toward a sheer cliff. Tom looked up. The mountain climbed up to a snowline that disappeared into the clouds.


    The wagon moved toward the cliff and Tom saw a tunnel entrance that grew larger until the wagon plunged into the darkness.


    ¡®This is more like it,¡¯ came the voice of the hairy dwarf.


    The tunnel was long and straight and the wagon moved steadily.Tom clenched his fists into his lap and attempted to draw his legs up so they didn¡¯t touch the bear-like dwarf seated opposite. The dwarf¡¯s dirty leg had been bumping Tom¡¯s leg ever since they had gotten into the wagon, and Tom was feeling squeamish.


    The dwarves started talking in grunty, disembodied voices about the gold in this mountain. Now that they were getting a share of a million rizers they were going to come back and mine the gold in this exact spot.They knew a dwarf that knew a dwarf that had a map and a mining licence. By the time the wagon was halfway through the mountain the dwarves were talking about fabulous wealth.


    Fox sighed with irritation, and finally told the dwarves to ''shut up''. The dwarves went silent for half a second then started blabbering again.


    The tunnel seemed endless, but eventually they emerged from the tunnel onto a wooded slope with grizzled looking pines that were much smaller than those of the Wisting woods. Tom turned and looked up at the mountains where high above the snow was litten yellow by the setting sun.


    Fox was also looking at Tom, and he was twisting the end of his moustache around his little finger. The wind blew across his face and bumped up against the orange hat that now rested back on his head. He said, ¡®I wonder how Elion can get murdered, then go away for thirteen turns, only to come back in the body of a puny little boy?¡¯

 CHAPTER NINE

    CHAPTER NINE


    Meanwhile In the Wisting Woods, on the wooden walkway Jane stood a dozen feet from the second swamp hog. This hog was larger than the one she had just thrown over the railing. It had a head like a picnic basket, and a snout like a dismembered rat. It wore no shirt and its upper body sagged like a blanket over a clothesline. Its arms were long and coiled with muscles. It showed no sign of fear. Instead it seemed to be seething with anger, as though it took the death of its companion swamp hog as personal.


    Jane lowered her weight over her pelvis.


    The creature snorted as though with derision. This creature knew it was going to get Jane, and it suddenly ran toward her, snorting and squealing with rage and strength and brutal intention.


    Only ¡­


    Just as the hog lunged, an arrow whistled past Jane¡¯s ear and struck the hog, so that it stumbled and pitched forward with an arrow protruding from its eye. Blood ran like tears.


    Jane turned.


    A female thrip was swinging through the branches, clinging to the end of a long rope. The thrip had one leg wrapped in the rope while her hands were free to hold a short bow with an arrow already nocked, even though the last arrow had just flown. This second arrow left the bow and whistled through the air to thud into the falling hog, catching the hog in the side of its sagging chest.


    The thrip now took hold of the rope with her left hand so that she could unravel her legs. She had long legs smooth as saplings and gentle green. She landed beside Jane, up on the guide rope where she balanced like a tightrope walker, legs swaying, green and brown skirt swaying, belly swaying. Her eyes were wide-set  and shining green, and the iris in the eyes was vertical like that of a cats eye. In fact, this elf-like creature looked like a cat, with her button nose and thin lips and ears close to the top of her head. Jane was surprised she didn''t have a tail.


    The thrip looked at the hog for a moment, analysed it, then nodded, satisfied that it was dead, and she slung her bow across her back. She looked down at Jane.


    ¡®Who have we here?¡¯


    ¡®Who are you?¡¯


    The thrip brought her bottom lip in with two sharp teeth, like fangs, pressing dents into her lip. She smiled like she had a secret.


    ¡®I¡¯m the thrip that just saved your life. My name is Trinket.¡¯


    ¡®Are you dangerous?¡¯


    ¡®I am a high thrip and all high thrips are always dangerous.¡¯


    Jane looked at the hog. Blood and grey fluid leaked from its eye and a group of ants were already showing interest.


    ¡®I think you killed the hog.¡¯


    Trinket put her arms out, light and breezy, and sprung from the rope to land on the boardwalk beside Jane. She immediately crouched and studied the hog. She put her head on an angle and leaned in close to study the wound.


    ¡®A particularly ugly hog,¡¯ she said. ¡®I find the uglier they are, the better they look dead.¡¯


    She looked at Jane and raised an eyebrow.


    ¡®How did a hog get this far into the Wistern Woods? Where were the city guards?¡¯


    ¡®I don¡¯t know what you are talking about.¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m talking about the fact that hogs are forbidden from these woods. There is no way a hog should have got this close to the city of Wyld Fell.¡¯


    Jane shrugged.


    The thrip stood, and suddenly she looked troubled.


    ¡®I have been away for a long time ¡­ I am sensing things have changed around here.¡¯


    Jane shook her head to say she didn¡¯t know.


    The thrip now took a curious look at Jane.


    ¡®I don¡¯t know you. And I don¡¯t recognise your type? Where are you from?¡¯


    ¡®I am from England.¡¯


    ¡®I haven¡¯t heard of England.¡¯


    ¡®Have you heard of Earth?¡¯


    ¡®Of course. It is the world of myth and magic.¡¯


    ¡®What does that mean?¡¯


    ¡®Earth is a land of myth and magic. Some people say it isn''t real, but you are now the third person I have met who claims they are from Earth, so I do believe.''


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    ''I don''t understand how you can''t believe in Earth.'' Jane felt that this was too silly.


    Trinket looked back down at the Swamp hog, and shook her head.


    ¡®We have to get this ugly beast off the path.¡¯


    Kneeling beside the head of the creature, Trinket put her green hands on its shoulder. Her fingers were long and thin, and her nails were sharpened into little spears.


    ¡®Help me.¡¯


    ¡®This is disgusting,¡¯ said Jane as she knelt beside Trinket and put her hands out to push the swamp hog. Only she hesitated. The hogs splayed legs were skinny and ridged with muscles, all buried under an avalanche of saggy skin. Spattered across this there were islands of crunchy bristles, disgusting little islands that Jane didn¡¯t want to touch.


    ¡®Come on,¡¯ said Trinket.¡¯Help push.¡¯


    Jane still hesitated, then she put her hands on the damp rubber skin, and the scabby feeling bristles.


    ¡®Heave,¡¯ said Trinket.


    As the hog came up in a roll the rubbery skin made a sucking noise.


    Far stronger than Jane, Trinket lifted the top half of the hog a foot into the air, while Jane was barely able to slide the hogs lower half across the wooden boardwalk. Finally the hog teetered on the edge of the path, and with one last shove the hog fell. .


    A long moment later there came a distant thud of the hog hitting the floor of the woods.


    Disturbed, perhaps, by the falling hog, a mushroom that grew out of a lower branch broke away from the tree and immediately began rising. It bumped the base of the boardwalk before curling around and rising.


    ¡®That¡¯s the second mushroom that has done that,¡¯ said Jane


    ¡®It is mushroom shedding season.¡¯


    ¡®But why do mushrooms fly?¡¯


    Trinket looked at Jane with a sort of incredulity, as though she thought the question was silly while the answer was obvious.


    ¡®Do you expect mushrooms to fall?¡¯


    ¡®Yes ¡­ that is how gravity works.¡¯


    ¡®Mushrooms don¡¯t obey gravity. They go against gravity and they always have. We even use the largest mushrooms to fly ourselves.¡¯


    ¡®Trinket sprung to her feet, and put out a hand to help Jane up.


    Jane took Trinket¡¯s hand.


    Trinket said, ¡®What are you doing in the woods ¡­ Earth girl? How did you get here?¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m here with a boy named Tom. He and I were going to see the King of Wyld Fell, only Tom disappeared just a moment ago.¡¯


    ¡®When did he disappear?¡¯


    ¡®Just now. While I was busy with the first hog.¡¯


    ¡®Is Tom from Earth as well?¡¯


    ¡®He is, but the people around here seem to know him as Elion.¡¯


    The name Elion had the same strange effect it had on the thrip at the bottom of the path. The pupils in Trinket¡¯s eyes widened, and she bit down on her lip, thinking. Then she put a hand to her chest and pressed it in against her heart.


    ¡®He has returned,¡¯ she said quietly. ¡®Did he mention me? Has Elion spoken about me?¡¯


    ¡®Why would he mention you? He doesn¡¯t know you.¡¯


    ¡®But he does know me. Surely he mentioned me.¡¯


    ¡®No.¡¯


    ¡®We were close ¡­ he and I. He must have been hurt by my ¡­ oh it doesn¡¯t matter. I can¡¯t believe he hasn¡¯t spoken about me.¡¯


    Jane said, ¡®I don¡¯t think he remembers any part of his time here in this world.¡¯


    Trinket lowered her voice.


    ¡®The name ¡®Elion¡¯ is dangerous now.''


    ¡®Why?¡¯


    ¡®Ever since the King of Coronet was murdered an Emperor has been running Coronet and the Ocean country. He is terribly afraid of Elion returning and he has made a law that the people of Coronet and the Ocean country are not to believe in the prophecy of his return.''


    A sudden thought occurred to Trinket, and she asked, ''Did you say Elion disappeared just now.''


    ''Yes.''


    Trinket went to the trunk of the tree and pushed her hand into a groove between two large triangles of bark, Her eyes moved slowly in thought as she felt around blindly. Then she found something, and her shoulder jerked. A small door opened with a rasp of metal on metal. The door was hidden in the side of the tree, its edges so well matched to the tree bark that the door was invisible until it opened.


    Through the door was a space that looked like a warehouse that had been carved into the massive tree. The room was illuminated by fire that burned inside recesses spaced around the walls. Stacks of wooden barrels oozed with honey. Behind the barrels was a rail track and a rail platform, with a single wagon standing beside the platform. The wagon was painted a glossy cream, with gold filigree, and bench seats of white leather. The undercarriage was polished bronze


    Trinket said, ¡®A wagon is missing. Elion has been taken.¡¯


    ¡®You mean Tom.¡¯


    Trinket glanced at Jane with a question in the thin line of her lips.


    ''Let''s call him Tom so that we don''t have to say the name Elion.''


    Trinket nodded. ''What a sensible suggestion.''


    ''Where does the wagon go if it is taken.''


    ''The rail line drops from the great woods down to Rivertown. We use the rail to transport yellow syrup.''


    ¡®So we take this wagon,¡¯ Jane pointed to the cream wagon with the gilt edges.


    ¡®No. We can¡¯t take that wagon. It is the King''s wagon and only he has the key to unlock it.¡¯


    ¡®We can smash the lock,¡¯ said Jane. She picked up a hammer that lay in a pile of metal tools on the edge of the railway platform. The hammer was heavy. She lifted the hammer and lined up the lock.


    ¡®Good luck smashing the lock,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®It is made of stonemelt mined from Coronet.¡¯


    Jane was hardly listening to Trinket. She held the hammer at an angle and traced the arc of it with her mind, then she swung. The hammer missed the lock completely and it hit the boards of the platform. The vibration of the strike went back up the hammer into her hand and hurt like a bugger. Jane looked at Trinket, and Trinket shook her head.


    ¡®What else can we do?¡¯


    ¡®The palace holds the key to the wagon. We must go into the city of Wyld Fell and get the key.''

 CHAPTER TEN

    CHAPTER TEN


    Trinket couldn¡¯t understand why there were no city guards as she and Jane approached the city of Wyld Fell. She remarked that something had gone terribly wrong. Was the King even in control? After having been away for three months, doing some secret mission that Jane didn''t ask about or show any interest in, Trinket said she didn''t know what was happening in her home city. Perhaps everything had changed while she was away?.


    The boardwalk widened and huts began to appear amongst the branches.


    Jane asked a question that had been bothering her, ever since she had set out on this mission to find the Wyld Book of Secrets.


    ¡®What if the King doesn''t give us an audience?''


    ¡®He will give us an audience. The King is my father.¡¯


    ¡®The King is your father! Then you are a ...''


    ''Yes, I am a princess.''


    They passed an elderly thrip who had his arm cranked back to tow a cart filled with pine cones. His green eyes looked lazily at Trinket, then suddenly came awake. ¡®Our princess ... You are back.¡¯


    She put a hand in the air and gave it a small shake of acknowledgement.


    The path went through a cave of foliage, and emerged onto another path crowded with thrips. All along this board walk were green tunics and green tights and pointy ears and blazing green eyes.


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    A thrip shuffled past banging a flute against her leg. When she saw Trinket she put the flute to her lips and played a merry little tune. Another thrip with smooth green shoulders in a nut coloured singlet, recognised Trinket, took a step back, bowed, then suddenly looked around as if afraid that someone had seen him show humility, as though ashamed of having bowed. A girl thrip carrying shoes made from loosely woven twine, nodded her head at the princess, the nod happening so quickly it could hardly be counted as respectful.


    Trinket got close to Jane, and leaned in so she could breath words in her ear.


    ''The thrips aren''t showing respect.''


    Now Jane noticed that the thrips were being careful when they recognised the princess, like they were all afraid to recognise her as being special.


    Trinket whispered, ''Something has gone terribly wrong since I have been away.''


    A thrip with dark hair and half lidded, brooding eyes must have heard Trinket''s whisper, because he came close and spoke in a low, guarded voice:


    ¡®Don''t you know?¡¯


    ¡®Know what?¡¯


    ¡®The King hasn¡¯t been seen for three turns. He is reportedly sheltering in the palace, and the Governor from the School of Alchemy is running Wyld Fell. The Governor is working with a division of Empire soldiers to keep order.¡¯


    Trinket sounded murderous.


    ¡®The Governor is working with the Empire?¡¯


    ¡®He is ¡®assisting¡¯ with the management of Wyld Fell until things get sorted out. The soldiers are assisting him.¡¯


    ¡®How long?¡¯


    ¡®The Empire soldiers arrived twenty days ago.¡¯


    After a moment Trinket hissed at Jane, ¡®This is terrible.''


    ¡®What does that mean for us.¡¯


    ¡®It might be difficult to see the King.¡¯


    ¡®But you said...¡¯


    ¡®Shhh..¡¯


    Trinket took her hand from Jane¡¯s arm. ¡®I will do what I can. I know that my father will see me if he is able to.¡¯ She leaned in close and whispered, ¡®You must promise me not to mention the name Elion to anybody, and you must not mention the key. There is a million Rizer reward for capturing Elion and delivering him to Emperor August. People will do a lot for a million risers.¡¯

 CHAPTER ELEVEN

    CHAPTER ELEVEN


    Suddenly the panorama of the treetop city of Wyld Fell came into view.


    Pathways and rope swings and suspended logs and netting and ladders and platforms ran in every direction between the branches and leaves of the giant trees. The city was lit by a thousand lanterns that seemed to float in the air.


    A crowded boardwalk ran in a semi circle from one giant tree to another. Around the biggest of all the trees the was a marketplace with stalls and shops and awnings and wooden signs. Higher and further away stood a palace, tall and thin, its base fifty feet higher than where the girls had emerged from the arch of vines. Balconies and turrets jutted out of the main structure.


    Everywhere were the green skinned thrips, swinging across yawning gaps on long vines, or climbing rope ladders to overhead buildings, or squatting on branches with their green eyes gazing about.


    A boy thrip with muscled arms and curly green hair seized Trinket by the belt that cinched in at her waist. She turned and, with a snake-like snap, she brought her arms down to break his grip.


    ¡®Borrowdale, You startled me.¡¯


    ¡®You walked straight past me without a greeting.¡¯


    ¡®I didn¡¯t see you in the crowd.¡¯


    ¡®Where have you been? I haven¡¯t seen you since the school of alchemy.¡¯


    Borrowdale had the look of injury, of someone who had been rejected for no good reason.


    ¡®I have been to the western realm at the request of my father.¡¯


    Borrowdale let go of Trinket¡¯s belt, and a cloud came over his face.


    ¡®Where is your father¡­ our King?¡¯


    ¡®I don¡¯t know Borrowdale. I have just returned, and I have yet to find out what has happened.¡¯


    ¡®There are Empire soldiers in Wyld Fell.¡¯


    ¡®I have been told.¡¯


    Borrowdale nodded at Jane.


    ¡®Who is this? Does she have anything to do with what is happening?¡¯


    Trinket paused, and Borrowdale watched her carefully, suspecting perhaps that she was about to lie. The pause would have told him that Jane was important.


    ¡®This is Jane and she is ¡­ my friend.¡¯


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    Borrowdale looked at Jane with eyes that were dark and intense. ¡®You are from the realm of men. Perhaps you have knowledge of the Emperor.¡¯ He spoke carefully, not knowing if he was talking to a friend or an enemy.


    Jane shook her head. ¡®I am visiting here from ¡­¡¯


    Trinket interrupted, putting a finger to her lips. ¡®Shhhhh.¡¯


    Just then a hush came across the crowd of thrips. Someone spoke in a whisper.


    ¡®Empire soldiers.¡¯


    Another thrip whispered, ¡®They are going to pass.¡¯


    Another thrip said, ¡®Continue to act normal.¡¯


    Borrowdale grabbed Trinket on the forearm and said, ¡®Don¡¯t do anything silly.¡¯


    Take your hand off my arm.¡¯


    The thrips along the boardwalk stopped walking, and stood still.


    The soldiers were walking on a path adjacent and parallel to the boardwalk. They were men in red and black coats with military insignias on their shoulders. Below their coats they wore tight black pants and black boots that rose nearly to their knees.


    ¡®Don¡¯t make a play of this Trinket,¡¯ said a thrip from amidst the crowd.


    It seemed that Trinket, the princess, had all the thrips worried.


    Too late though ¡­ Trinket was already on the way to ¡®making a play of this¡¯. She shoved a short thrip out of her way and went to the safety rope. She leaned over and shouted across the yawning gap, ¡®Empire toads, get out of my city.¡¯


    The soldiers turned. They were men, like human men, and their faces were white and angular and haughty.


    As if by magic, the bow that was slung across Trinket¡¯s back sprang into her left hand, with an arrow nocked and the string drawn. The soldiers stopped walking and one put a hand in the air and said, ¡®Lower your weapon thrip.¡¯


    Trinket answered by raising the bow and sighting down the shaft of the arrow.


    The soldier said, ¡®Threatening an Empire soldier is an offence under section 27 of Federated Paris¡¯s Policing Code. You are liable for trial by an Empire judge with a penalty of 300 days banishment to the Mudwash.¡¯


    The thrips along the boardwalk reacted to this threat by dropping their heads and maintaining a deathly silence.


    Trinket however, wasn¡¯t like the other thrips. Her indignant feeling had her raised up, her shoulders squared and her right hand pulling the strung arrow even tighter.


    Trinket¡¯s spoke in a tone like that of Sister Drury when she spoke to Lulu for blaspheming: indignant, enraged, and holy.


    ¡®I spit on your Empire laws. Get out of my city.¡¯


    The soldiers glanced at one other as though expecting the other to say something.


    Trinket continued, ¡®You are in breach of Wyld Fells¡¯ charter that says Thrips can only be policed and judged by other Thrips.¡¯


    The soldiers didn¡¯t reply, and for a moment it seemed like they might be working up a plan to arrest Trinket. If there hadn¡¯t been a dangerous gap between the path they were on and the boardwalk, they might have.


    Without lowering her bow Trinket climbed up onto the rope where she balanced and bent her knees as though she was preparing to launch herself across the gap between the two walkways. Jane wondered if Trinket could leap that far.


    Borrowdale and another thrip grabbed Trinket from either side and pulled her back off the rope.


    ¡®Let me go,¡¯ snarled Trinket as she twisted in the strong grip of the two males.


    ¡®Stop this Trinket. This isn¡¯t going to be a victory for you.¡¯


    ¡®I am not going to allow Empire soldiers to go unchallenged in my city.¡¯


    ¡®The soldiers are going to report what just happened to the Governor and it is going to lead to problems. This could be bad for you Trinket.¡¯


    ¡®I am not afraid of the Governor.¡¯


    ¡®He was always hard on you Trinket. He will  I don¡¯t think that will have changed.

 CHAPTER TWELVE

    CHAPTER TWELVE


    The soldiers moved off down the adjacent path, their backs stiffly upright, their grey uniforms slipping into the shadows.


    ¡®You must hide,¡¯ said Borrowdale.


    ¡®You are being dramatic.¡¯


    ¡®You need to hide until the Empire soldiers forget about what just happened and move on to some other problem.¡¯


    ¡®Who is standing up to the Empire soldiers?¡¯


    Borrowdale shook his head and his eyes almost disappeared behind the slits as he searched for an answer. Then his face twitched, and he looked ashamed.


    Trinket said, ¡®How did my father allow this to happen? We have a city guard that should have resisted the Empire soldiers.¡¯


    ¡®With all due respect to your father, our King ¡­ the people do not know. The King hasn¡¯t been seen and no statement has been given. The Governor from the school of alchemy ... our Governor from our school ... has taken charge and ordered the thrip guards to withdraw until a formal statement is given by the King.¡¯


    Trinket¡¯s mouth quivered and her cat''s eyes were narrowed and there was a resolve in her face. She wasn''t going to give in to Empire soldiers. She was going to come up with a plan.


    She spoke quietly, with menace. ¡®Is my father alive?¡¯


    ¡®We don¡¯t know ¡­ we pray he is. We have been praying to the departed Elion that he is.¡¯


    Trinket nodded at Borrowdale then said to Jane. ¡®We will continue to the Palace.¡¯


    ¡®Please hide,¡¯ said Borrowdale, and the worry in his face was of one who had already seen things that must be feared.


    ¡®We will continue to the Palace.¡¯


    The thrip and Jane left Borrowdale standing on the walkway amidst the crowd, and they walked the Wyld Fell marketplace.


    Above the city in the giant trees the night had turned deep purple. Candles and flaming torches lined the paths, and lanterns cast yellow box shapes from inside huts. Tiny grey birds flew through the cathedral of leaves and trilled to one another.


    Jane and Trinket walked into the crowded marketplace. Here all kinds of stalls were gathered under an awning of leaves. Cane benches held crates of fruit, oranges, lemons, brushed red apples, and baskets of herbs, mint and sage and rosemary, and barrels filled with potatoes and carrots and pumpkins. Tomatoes on green vines hung from hooks. Behind the benches sat large glass urns of honey filled with every shade of gold, some as dark as wood, others as light as lemon. Honeycomb was piled upon white cloth. Honey alcohol brooded in strange red bottles. Something named yellow syrup was in a small vial with a label depicting a young thrip with a strong face and dark eyes and an expression of power.


    Trinket took hold of Jane¡¯s arm to stop her and pointed at the label.


    ¡®This is Elion.¡¯


    Jane leaned in.


    ¡®Nothing like my brother.¡¯


    ¡®He will have changed, of course.¡¯


    ¡®What is yellow syrup?¡¯ asked Jane.


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    ¡®It is the drink of youth.¡¯ Trinket looked sharply at Jane. ¡®Only thrips are permitted to drink the drink of youth.¡¯


    Trinket suddenly changed subject. ¡®If things don¡¯t go as planned with our audience with my father then we may have to go into hiding.¡¯


    Jane was about to answer when Trinket put a hand up. She jerked her head to the left, and she sniffed the air, the way a wolf might sniff the wind for the scent of prey. Her eyes widened, and her nose twitched and flared. Jane noticed that the crowd in the marketplace fell silent at an unseen danger, in the same way the thrips back on the boardwalk had fallen silent when soldiers appeared on the adjacent path.


    Trinket moved quickly. ¡®In here,¡¯ she said. She pushed open a door that was carved into the central trunk of the giant tree. Jane followed Trinket through the door into a tavern. This was so like the taverns where Jane¡¯s foster carer would sit with her legs sticking out from a stool, while her cheeks shone as red as the wine she was drinking. There was always a group of men fighting over who would be standing her the next splash of red.


    The tavern was filled with patrons, and upon hearing the door open the eyes of the patrons turned. Immediately thrips called greetings. They shouted: ''Our Princess has returned.''


    Trinket shook her head, and glanced around the tavern, looking for danger, looking for somewhere to hide.


    Along the back wall was a bar and behind the bar was a female thrip and a male dwarf. They had the unafraid look of those who had seen the barrels bottom, the worst of behaviour, the most dangerous of ideas.


    ''Behind the bar,'' she said quietly.


    Only, the door to the tavern banged open.


    Two soldiers came in through the Tavern door and took positions either side of the door, with their hands on the hilts of their swords.


    Another soldier entered, and he paused and scanned the room, looking for weapons. He registered Trinket and his eyes paused for a brief second. This soldier took up a position several feet inside the room. He unsheathed his sword and held it up at an angle, gripping with both hands.


    Two more soldiers entered and took up position along the wall. These two had long spears, and they held the spears out at an angle. Near the tips of their spears were flags with the red and black symbols that looked like square spirals.


    Another soldier entered and marched past the first soldiers with the confidence that the room had been cleared of danger. He went to the far corner and stood with a sword held aloft. The mirror sharp blade hovered over the head of a thrip, in the stance of an executioner. The thrip ducked then carefully work his way out from under the sword by slipping off his stool onto the floor, where he proceeded to waddle away.


    The soldiers were men - like human men, only bigger. They wore grey coats with bands of red around their biceps, and embroidered into these bands of red were the same strange symbols as those on the flags.


    Finally, through the door came a diminutive thrip wearing the green outfit of the thrips. He had a shirt of green flax and a vest of green wool. On his legs he wore black tights.


    ¡®The Governor,¡¯ Trinket said so quietly Jane almost didn¡¯t hear her.


    The Governor was small enough to be a jockey back on earth. His eyes were beaded and his nose was long and he had green and grey sideburns that came down the side of his face almost to his throat. He had a slight hunch, with his shoulders up close to his ears, which were sharp triangles. He looked like he was about to pounce on something.


    A stony-faced soldier followed the Governor into the tavern. The soldier stood at attention. He brought his chin up and spoke in a rich and loud voice.


    ¡®The staff of Spill the Wine must go immediately to the kitchen area.¡¯


    Behind the bar, the dwarf and the thrip looked at each other, trying to read each other''s intentions. Do they obey or defy? Jane sensed that when there were no soldiers around, these two probably spoke boldly about taking on the Empire. But with the soldiers directly in front of them it was a different matter. The dwarf murmured and the thrip nodded. They went through a door into the kitchen.


    The soldier said, ¡®Now all patrons must exit the tavern and remain outside until the Governor¡¯s business has been completed. We will empty one table at a time.¡¯


    The soldier gestured to a table. Immediately, and thankfully, the thrips at that table stood and made their way to the tavern¡¯s entrance. The soldier pointed to the next table, only this table proved a problem.


    The solitary thrip stood with his hand in the air.


    ¡®This is offensive to thrips, to be ordered about by foreign soldiers, and it is a shame to all thrips who obey this order.¡¯


    He looked around for support, but there was no rallying effect. The patrons remained silent. The soldier hesitated while looking for a course of action. His hand went to his sheathed sword, and suddenly the solitary thrip realised where this was going, and he put his head down and shook at with disgust at those around him. He walked from the tavern.


    After all the thrips had departed there was only Jane and Trinket left.


    Trinket made to stand only the Governor put a hand in her direction, ¡®Not you Princess ... you stay in your seat.¡¯

 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

    CHAPTER THIRTEEN


    The Governor approached, and stood alongside Trinket. He was shorter than Trinket and his eyes had to roll up to her. It was immediately obvious that this height was a problem, something the Governor compensated for by being beastly to those around him. The beastliness was in every part of his bearing, and Jane knew that dealing with him was not gong to be easy.


    ''Take a seat princess'', said the Governor, then he pointed at Jane. ''You too.''


    Trinket and Jane sat.


    The Governor drew out a chair, a long green triangular finger nail tapping the wood. He brought the chair close to Trinket, and sat so that his knees were touching hers.


    Trinket said, ¡®So you have sold out Wyld Fell and my father, your King.¡¯


    The Governor smiled mirthlessly.


    Trinket continued, ¡®You were a terrible Governor in the school of alchemy. You always so oily. It makes sense that you are a traitor.''


    ¡®The smartest among us respect the changing winds.¡¯


    ¡®The puny man gets knocked over by every vulgar breath.¡¯


    Although he still smiled, the Governor''s snake eyes narrowed and his iris''s became single vertical lines.


    ¡®I have looked forward to this moment ¡­ seeing your reaction to my new role of leading Wyld Fell.¡¯


    The Governor wanted the princess to know that he had out-smarted her. Why? Had Trinket been disrespectful to the Governor? Had she been haughty, and royal while attending the School of Alchemy?


    ¡®Who are you?¡¯ The Governor asked Jane.


    ¡®I¡¯m Jane.¡¯


    ¡®No ... who are you in reference to the Princess and Wyld Fell?¡¯


    Trinket put a hand in the air.


    ''Don¡¯t answer that question.¡¯


    Without taking his eyes off Jane, the Governor said, ¡®Ignore the Princess ... she is irrelevant.¡¯


    Jane leaned over the table.


    ¡®I am on my way to see the King ¡­ he is expecting me.¡¯


    ¡®That is funny. In all my communication with him, the thrip King didn¡¯t mention a visiting white girl. Why would the King be interested in you?¡¯


    ¡®Don¡¯t answer?¡¯ Trinket commanded, her voice raising.


    Jane nodded and stayed quiet.


    The Governor leaned back in his chair and studied Jane, as though trying to see through her eyes into her mind.


    ¡®I can get you an audience with the King,'' he said. ''But only for you.''


    Before the Governor had finished the sentence Trinket was shouting, ''Are you trying to tell me I can''t see my own father.''


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    ''You have been away for three months,'' the Governor said, ''And a lot has happened in your absence.''


    Clasping Jane on the biceps, Trinket said, ¡®Jane and I are together. She will only see the King with me.''


    ''Is that the truth?'' The Governor asked Jane, ¡®Do you want to sacrifice your audience with the King to please this thrip?¡¯


    Eyes blazing with expectation, Trinket said, ''Tell him that we are an unbreakable team.''


    Keeping her eyes averted from Trinket, Jane answered, ¡®I can see the King alone.¡¯


    The smile that the Governor now turned on Trinket was evil and cruel and filled with menace.


    ¡®Don¡¯t trust him,¡¯ Trinket said and her voice was now flying with fury.


    ¡®I don¡¯t know whom to trust,'' Jane said quietly. ''It does seem the Governor can get me to the King.¡¯


    ¡®He is my father,'' said Trinket. ''Do you think he will not see his own daughter?''


    The Governor put his arm in the air and waved two fingers in a slow walking motion. A soldier stepped forward.


    ¡®My Lord?¡¯


    ¡®Have the King prepared for an appointment in the throne room.¡¯


    The soldier hesitated, as though this request seemed unusual. Finally he nodded and murmured ¡®As you wish.¡¯


    Now the Governor changed the gesture of two fingers walking, into a fist, that he pumped into the air twice.


    From the corner of her eye Jane noticed the soldier behind Trinket immediately break from his vigil to move forward. Trinket, who was facing the wrong way, saw the refocus in Jane¡¯s eyes, and she recognised danger. In a whiplash movement she had her bow off her back and alive in her left hand ¡­


    Only the soldier got to her.


    The soldier thumped into Trinket and threw his arms around her. Trinket tried to wrench herself away, she couldn¡¯t release the grip of the much larger soldier. She wriggled and screamed with her neck and face straining, and her eyes psychotic. Somehow she got her feet up onto the edge of the table and tipped her body back into the soldier, so that both her and the soldier were toppling. She brought her knees into her chest and went into a backward somersault. The soldier¡¯s grip was broken. She landed on her feet. Immediately she kicked, and caught the soldier on the side of the face. Only another soldier grabbed her from behind, his arms encasing her. She managed to plant her feet and push back again, and the second soldier fell to the floor with Trinket gripped against his body. For a moment she looked like a helplessly kicking overturned beetle.


    A third soldier threw himself on the melee and took a rain of thrip knees and elbows. Another soldier got his fingers around Trinket¡¯s arm. A fifth soldier held her legs, pushing fat thumbs into her calf muscles. The tavern floor became a heaving mass of bodies. Plates of food crashed from tables. Chairs fell.


    Somehow in the melee a soldier managed to get a loop of twine around Trinket¡¯s wrists, and the fight began to go out of her.


    Trinket hissed from beneath the pile of bodies, her mouth opened like a steam vent, her teeth white and sharp and savage.


    A moment later Trinket''s ankles were also secure.


    Trinket lay trussed, wild eyed and hissing on the floor.


    The soldiers rolled away and stood. One of them pulled Trinket up by the twine that held her wrists together, grunting as he took her weight.


    The Governor rose from his chair and stepped in front of Trinket who looked at him with poison spitting from her eyes. He put his finger on Trinket¡¯s chin, only she jerked her face away.


    ¡®The Princess with the smart mouth who always thought she was better than her Governor.¡¯


    The skin around Trinket¡¯s nose quivered, and she brought her head back, a small flex that signalled she would be ready to strike with her head. A soldier moved in and cupped a hand under Trinket¡¯s chin and wrenched her head up and back.


    Now, while looking into Trinket¡¯s eyes, the Governor slowly reached and took hold of the top button that held her tunic together at the throat, and he undid the button.


    ¡®What are you doing?¡¯ whispered Jane.


    The Governor undid another button ¡­ then another.


    Jane could see ¨C a key hanging from a leather strap.


    The key appeared identical to the key that the wood thrip on the Crackboard path had placed over Tom¡¯s head.


    The Governor reached between the loose buttons on the thrip¡¯s tunic.


    ¡®The dwarf King''s key,¡¯ he said.


    Trinket said nothing.


    The Governor yanked and the leather strap that held the key broke. He stepped away from Trinket and spoke to one of the soldiers.


    ¡®The thrip princess is to be placed under house arrest. I will deal with her in the morning.¡¯


    The soldier saluted.


    Jane stood and said, ¡®Wait.¡¯


    The soldier stopped.


    Jane spoke quickly, ¡¯Please don¡¯t hurt her.¡¯

 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

    CHAPTER FOURTEEN


    The wagon with its cargo of dwarves, a spritely dressed man named Silas Fox, and an orange haired boy named Tom Forrest, emerged from the tunnel into thick woods, with fir trees and oak trees and nettle and heath and ferns crowding up to the rails. A small animal, like a badger, ran for cover. A large flock of ravens flew overhead. The slope had levelled out and the wagon was moving at a moderate speed. It was possible to look around, absorb the sight of the woods.


    One of the dwarfs pointed at the sky and the other dwarf said, ¡®The birds of death are back.¡¯


    Tom wondered what that meant, but didn¡¯t want to ask.


    The wagon banked to the right and dipped under a fallen tree. Ferns brushed past the occupants. More ravens flew overhead, dark against the dark sky.


    Again the wagon picked up speed until it exited the woods onto a steep, grassy hill, dotted with large rocks. Brown sheep made long shadows as they chewed on thistle. The sun showed an orange peel slither behind the western mountains. The rail line dipped into a dry creek running through a black soil canyon, then up from the canyon into a grove of orange trees.


    Coming out from the orange grove Tom looked down and saw a town built on the bend of a river, where a single ray of sunlight reflected up a myriad of tiny diamonds.


    This was Rivertown.


    The town consisted of a few hundred cottages with thatched roofs and chimneys that sent curls of wood smoke into the air. The town formed a semi- circle around the bend in the river, with streets radiating away.The streets were narrow and steep, rising to a castle at the top of a hill. The castle was made of black stone, and it flew flags with designs that Tom could barely make out in the fading light.


    Down on the river, a wooden jetty jutted from a stone breakwater. A river ship was tethered to the jetty, while smaller boats were roped along the length of the breakwater. Waterbirds rushed into the river for landing. Fish flipped above the river surface, and shone for a moment before plopping back in the water. Two men fished with poles from a small wooden boat.


    ¡®Put the bag on our prisoners head,¡¯ said Fox.


    The hairy dwarf started undoing buttons so that his fat little chest and all the black hair that it contained came rolling out into view. Somewhere down the front of its leather vest the bear-like dwarf had stashed a hessian sack. He pulled the sack out and shook it, making the inhabitants of the wagon cough.


    ¡®Shake it outside the wagon,¡¯ said the porridge-nosed dwarf.


    A moment later the hairy dwarf put the bag over Tom¡¯s head. Tom didn¡¯t fight it. It seemed that people knew that he was Elion, because of the ''shine''. He didn¡¯t know how this ¡®shine¡¯ worked, but they mustn''t be able to see it if your face is hidden.


    The sack was worn, and in a few places it was split, and Tom found he could easily line up a split to his eye so that he could see a hazy view.


    The rail track went into town in the centre of a cobblestone street. The wagon rocked past crowds of men and women, who all had the tired expression of the finish of a work day. The men wore brown tunics and flapping pants and boots made from sheep leather, some with woollen inlays. The women wore longer tunics made of wool, dyed in bright yellows and greens, with hoods that covered half their hair, while the remainder of their hair fell long and dark around their faces and over their shoulders. They were all long haired and long faced with big mouths and long noses.


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    There were a lot of dogs scampering amongst the people, their noses quivering into corners and along lines of scent. Tom felt something releasing inside him at the sight of the men and women and dogs - so like the men and women and dogs of England.


    Conversations came sharp, then faded. Somewhere in the distance a bell rang. The wagon wheels groaned and clunked. The smell of the river came in gusts.


    The dwarves were thrilled by the women on the street.


    They watched one woman in a yellow tunic, with bare legs and bare feet. They watched a girl whose hair shone like metal. They got particularly excited by a girl who looked to be a teenager, with large blue eyes and black eyebrows that made dark arches across her forehead. Here came another girl with orange hair and a short spear strapped to her hip.


    ¡®Giddyup giddyup,¡¯ said the bear-like dwarf.


    ¡®No woman, ever, in her correct mind would consider spending time with either of you,¡¯ said Fox.


    The dwarves watched Fox with cranky little sultana eyes.


    ¡®It¡¯s Elion that will scare the women off. Shrunk the way he is.¡¯


    ¡®Shut the feck up,¡¯ Fox hissed. ¡®Do not say the name out loud.¡¯


    The dwarves stayed silent for a second, then giggled, snorting and spluttering, their hands going to their mouths.


    The wagon slowed and slowed and entered a dusty storehouse built on stilts that stretched out over the river. A wooden floor was piled with bags and boxes and rows of wooden pallets. A stack of apple crates leaned in the corner beside a pile of potato sacks. A sour smell of apple cider leaked from oak barrels, and piles of apple-wood kegs held honey. The storehouse had a thatched roof with fist sized holes letting through slithers of light.


    Lamps had been lit and workers moved between the barrels and bushels and sacks, pushing carts laden with providore and smallgoods.


    Tom fell forward when the wagon stopped. A little hand dragged him upright and shoved him from the wagon, then held him tightly when Tom, with limited vision, nearly tripped over a rope laying along the warehouse floor.


    All around was the noise of crates smashing into each other, and sacks thudding, and boots on the wooden floor, and the shouts of men. The dwarves¡¯ hauled Tom between cartons of vegetables, following Fox who looked completely out of place in his jaunty costume among the drab workers.


    The sounds and conversation paused as the dwarves and their prisoner moved through the storehouse.


    Then the noise of feet clumping and sacks dragging and crates thumping drifted into the rear and the dust gave way to fresh air.


    *


    On the street Tom lifted his feet high to remain steady on the cobblestones. The dwarves continued to talk about women, and Tom could hear the recoil of the women in the street reacting to the dwarves comments, Fox remained silent, but Tom could sense, even with the bag over his head, that Fox was extremely unhappy with the dwarves. Fox thought well of himself. He was like a front pew sitter in church.


    The group turned off the main cobblestone path onto a smaller alley, where the clatter of their feet echoed off the alley walls. The street conversations fell behind. The houses were tightly packed together. They passed an Inn with a metal sign hanging from two two rusting curleques of metal. The Inn¡¯s name was ¡®The Fluffy Duck¡¯.


    They walked past the front door of the Inn and turned left into a narrow lane. A vegetable laden wagon behind a tired horse was coming up the lane, and the hoof-beats of the horses and the metal rasp of metal axles, and the screech of wood on wood echoed off the stone walls. The air had a grassy odour of fresh vegetables and horse dung.


    The group came to a side door into the Inn where they waited until the horse and wagon had moved out of sight.


    One of the dwarves removed the bag from Tom¡¯s head, and Tom took a large breath of air.  He had breathed in a little too much dust. They were alongside a door made of thick slabs with black iron hinges and a black iron latch.


    Fox spoke to the dwarves, ¡®Remain here while I go in and conduct business. I don¡¯t want you two idiots being seen by respectable people.¡¯

 CHAPTER FIFTEEN

    CHAPTER FIFTEEN


    Fox was only gone a moment, but while he was gone the dwarves grumbled about the unfairness of Fox getting to do all the boss work. They were equal partners, after all. Fox came back with a bunch of keys in his hands.


    ¡®Come on.¡¯


    They followed him into the Inn. Immediately to the left was a large iron door with a lock that Fox opened. A stone staircase went down into the dark, between curved walls made of stone. This was like going into the basement beneath the Catholic church in Greymill, where the priest stored the candles and the spare chairs and the extra catechisms, and a statue of Mary that stood in the corner like a ghost.


    The group descended the stairs. The air smelled of mould.


    At the bottom of the stairs was a short corridor, and at the end of the corridor was the basement gaol. Here was a bed, with a single blanket humped on it. Tom wasn¡¯t sure, but he felt he could smell the blanket.


    Outside the cell, along one wall, was a bench for a guard to sit on, and a grey blanket the guard could put over himself for warmth. The blanket looked in far better condition than the one inside the cell.


    Fox rattled the keys in Tom¡¯s direction and grinned with pleasure, ¡®A little less salubrious than what you are accustomed to, no doubt.¡¯


    Tom didn¡¯t react.


    The hairy dwarf put a hand on Fox¡¯s shoulder, which Tom already knew was a stupid thing to do.


    ¡®Elion will be all locked up,¡¯ said the hairy one. ¡®Me and Grubby won¡¯t need to watch him.¡¯


    Fox stepped backward and swung a hand across the dwarf¡¯s nose, dragging sharp rings that dug into the dwarf''s wrinkled skin, leaving parallel scratches.


    ¡®Fecking stupid cave dweller. You and your brain rotted friend are guarding Elion. That is what you are being paid to do.¡¯


    The dwarf brought a hand up to his nose, which spurted with crimson. The other dwarf with the porridge nose (Grubby) laughed like an idiot.


    While the dwarves argued with Fox, Tom walked into the prison cell and dragged the door of iron bars shut. He thought that there was the slimmest chance that Fox would see the shut door and somehow get himself confused and think that it was locked.


    Only, on top of being as dandy as a sugar cane, Fox was an attention to detail man, which was evident in the exact way he wore his suit, and the exact angle that his orange hat sat on his head. He looked over at Tom inside the prison and studied him for a moment then nodded his head.


    ¡®Good work.¡¯


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    He picked through the keys on the large key ring until he found the one that locked the cell door.


    Tom took hold of the iron bars and stared out. He was a prisoner in gaol. Now that was something.


    Fox turned to the dwarves.


    ¡®Sit rock lovers.¡¯


    The hairy dwarf put his hands on his hips, meaning business. ¡®Now look here Fox ¡­ we are two fully grown ¡­ ¡¯


    ¡®SIT.¡¯


    The dwarves plopped down side by side on the bench, with their little legs swinging in the air. They looked miserable.


    Fox worked a key off the large key ring. He held it out toward the dwarves, unsure, it seemed, as to which dwarf to give it to. Finally he decided to give it to the porridge nosed dwarf known as Grubby.


    ¡®This is access to the door at the top of the stairs. If anything happens you come up the stairs immediately and go into the tavern. There will be a master on duty all night who will wake me immediately.¡¯


    Grubby closed his little fist over the key. He looked solemn in the moment, as though he had just received an award.


    Once Fox had departed up the dark staircase the dwarves immediately began grumbling again, in such an irritating manner that even the normally affable Tom shouted, ¡®Shutup.¡¯


    This perked the dwarves up. They raised their heads and stared at Tom for a moment, then burst into laughter.


    ¡®Listen,¡¯ said Tom. ¡®If you want to see some lady from the tavern, why doesn¡¯t one of you go up and bring the lady back here.¡¯


    The dwarves looked at one other, and you could see a greedy little thought developing between them. Then Grubby shook his head.


    ¡®She must not see Elion. That could get us in trouble.¡¯


    ¡®I will wear the sack,¡¯ said Tom.


    The bear-like dwarf, sounded as despondent as ever,


    ¡®We couldn''t trust you to do that.¡¯


    Tom reached his hand through the iron bars. ¡®Give me the sack and I will jolly well put it on now.¡¯


    The dwarves looked at one another again, and once again thoughts floated between them. They were very eager to see a lady tonight. They had obviously been planning for it.


    ¡®If Elion puts the bag on now it might be okay.¡¯


    These two were not your Disney dwarves.


    ¡®Give me the sack,¡¯ Tom said again.


    The hairy dwarf pulled the sack out from the front of his tunic and walked toward the prison bars. He stood back a little, almost as though he was afraid that Tom was going to grab him.


    ¡®What if Fox comes back while the lady is here,¡¯ said the hairy dwarf. He wasn¡¯t talking to Tom. He was talking to Grubby.


    ¡®He won¡¯t come back.¡¯


    The hairy dwarf handed the sack to Tom.


    Tom pulled the sack open and wriggled it over his head. The dust inside the sack got unsettled and Tom coughed. He wondered why the dwarves weren¡¯t enquiring what his motive was to do something so strange and foul as wearing a sack so that they could entertain a lady inside a gaol cell? He had a ready answer, but they didn¡¯t ask.


    Grubby stood.


    ¡®I¡¯ll go get her.¡¯


    ¡®Nah. ah. You are too dum. You¡¯ll bring back some fat girl from the kitchen.¡¯


    ¡®Go eat a fairy. I¡¯ll get better than you could. You look like a bear that fell off a cliff.¡¯


    Once again the dwarves were off on an argument that rose up into a shrill fight that looked like it was going to become physical. Then Grubby lunged at the hairy dwarf, only to fall with a meaty thud on the stone floor. This made the hairy dwarf laugh, then Grubby laughed, and everything became okay.


    Eventually Grubby stomped up the stairs.

 CHAPTER SIXTEEN

    CHAPTER SIXTEEN


    Tom sat on the cell floor with his knees up and his elbows on his knees and his chin resting on his elbows. He could see the hairy dwarf through the tear in the sack. The hairy dwarf sat on the bench with his feet out, wiggling furiously as though he was nervous and excited. He looked at Tom and said, ¡®Why are you looking at me?¡¯


    Tom looked away.


    ¡®I could see your beady eye through the bag.¡¯


    The dwarf crossed his arms. He seemed extremely pleased with himself.


    ¡®The Emperor is going to pay me and Grubby and Fox a million rizers, then do you know what the Emperor is going to do?¡¯


    The dwarf waited but Tom didn¡¯t answer. He sat there on the hard stone floor with the hessian sack making him look like a weird little ghost.


    ¡®He is going to kill you.¡¯


    Tom had to admit to himself: those words drilled. He had suspected that he was being delivered to the Emperor for some terrible purpose. But hearing the words, that he was being delivered to be killed, was another level of nasty.


    Floating down from above came the sound of a door scraping on stone, A moment later there was the little bang bang of boots as well as the whispery sound of light feet. Tom already knew that this wasn¡¯t Fox, whose jaunty boots jangled, like the rhythm of Irish dancers.


    The hairy dwarf stood from the guards'' bench, and he pulled out a knife and he mumbled something that sounded like ¡®This better not be a trick.¡¯


    Grubby came into view with his right arm trailing behind at an angle. He was holding the hand of someone much taller.


    The lady that came into view was hardly older than Jane. She was slender and barefooted, and she wore a yellow dress that flowed from her shoulders in waves that broke across her hips. She had rosy cheeks and pretty green eyes. Yet she looked sad. There was duty in the way she held the dwarves hand, like she had been ordered to do it.


    When she saw the hairy dwarf with his knife and his scowling face, she dropped her head onto an angle and smiled sadly, as though she was expecting something like this.


    ¡®What are you doing with the knife?¡¯ said Grubby.


    The hairy dwarf (so full of earlier talk) stared at the lady, and he didn¡¯t seem to be capable of speech. He opened his mouth, cleared his throat, brought a sleeve up across his nose.


    Tom called out loudly:


    ¡®Hello.¡¯


    As soon as he had seen Grubby and the lady appear at the bottom of the stairs, Tom had taken the sack from his head. He called ¡®Hello,¡¯ while looking straight at the lady. She looked right back at him.


    After a second of thought the lady gasped and put her hand over her mouth. Her eyes expanded like bubbles.


    Tom said, ¡®I am Elion ¡­ returned.¡¯


    The hairy dwarf ran at the prison bars, his eyes turned in across his fat nose, and his right hand up with the knife coming, blade out. He roared, something huge and unintelligible. Tom took a step away from the iron bars and the dwarf slammed into them, grabbing a bar with his left hand, stabbing with the knife with his right. His little arm reached and reached, and he squeezed his chest against the gap between the iron bars, trying to get into the cell. The little fellow had lost his mind and Tom was afraid for a moment that the dwarf was actually going to slip through the bars. He took another step away.


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    ¡®Traitor ¡­ you dirty stinking traitor,¡¯ screamed the hairy dwarf.


    Grubby dropped the lady¡¯s hand and ran at the bars, his legs swinging like little scissors. For a brief second the lady and Tom were looking into each other''s eyes, and in that instant the lady mouthed, ¡®I will go get help.¡¯


    Immediately the woman turned to run, only she took two steps then stopped, and her head went back, and her mouth opened, and her eyes widened.


    Emerging from the flickering darkness at the end of the corridor was Silas Fox, his thin lips smirking. In his left hand he held a short bow, and in his right there was an arrow, which he now strung.


    The dwarves'' spider senses picked up that something was going wrong behind them. They turned simultaneously, and immediately the hairy dwarf was talking:


    ¡®We are still on the job at least ¡­ we didn¡¯t know about the girl ¡­ ¡¯


    Only, before the dwarf could say another word an arrow whistled and thwacked and the dwarf fell, his little legs collapsing like jelly. Grubby immediately began to scream in a voice far higher and shriller than his talking voice.


    Fox, holding the short bow with a now vibrating string, wrinkled his nose as though some unpleasant odour had come his way. He sucked in his cheeks, and in a move so swift it had the appearance of magic he knocked another arrow against the bow string, and that arrow flew into Grubby¡¯s throat. Grubby pitched forward and fell to the floor beside his hairy little mate. Blood slowly leaked away from the two bodies.


    The orange hat on Fox''s head fell to a jaunty angle.


    The lady lady put a hand over her mouth as she stared at the dwarves laying dead on the floor.


    Tom could almost hear her fear, that she must be next. As a distraction he began to clap his hands, at first slowly, then with increasing vigour, as though clapping some wonderful speech, or a wonderful feat on the sporting field, or someone''s exceptional achievement.


    ¡®Please ¡­ can I leave?¡¯ said the lady.


    Fox turned to her.


    ¡®No my dear ... you can''t leave.''


    ¡®How did you know I was here?¡¯


    ¡®Your master belled me ¡­ told me that a dwarf had come and taken his prettiest girl.¡¯


    ¡®I didn''t know about Elion ... I thought it was just two dwarves.¡¯


    ¡®But now you do know about Elion, and that is a problem.¡¯


    ¡®I promise won¡¯t tell anyone.¡¯


    ¡®We both know that that promise is worthless.¡¯


    ¡®Are you going to kill me?¡¯


    ¡®Probably.¡¯


    The lady made a sound like the squeak of a mouse.


    ¡®What is your name?¡¯ asked Fox.


    ¡®Peta.¡¯


    ¡®Tell me Peta ¡­ do you know of any way I could save your life?''


    Fox took an arrow out of the quiver on his back.


    Watching the arrow, watching it''s nock find the string, watching the string being pulled back: Peta''s eyes expanded like green bubbles.


    Tom spoke quickly, voice shrill.


    ¡®Lock her in the cage with me.¡¯


    A single eye lowered over the shaft of the arrow, Fox thought about Tom¡¯s suggestion. He spoke to Peta:


    ¡®Who will miss you tonight?¡¯


    ¡®The master.¡¯


    ¡®Who else?¡¯


    ¡®My sister and my friend, but they will think I have been delayed by the dwarves.¡¯


    ¡®How soon until your sister and your friend come looking for you?¡¯


    ¡®Tomorrow morning.¡¯


    Tom gripped the iron bars and swallowed and tried to breathe normally. It was his fault that Peta was in danger. He had shown her his face.


    After a moment Fox said, ¡®Slowly move past me, Peta, and sit on the guard bench. I am going to unlock the cell.¡¯


    Peta tip-toed past the iron sharp arrow head to the guards bench. She held her yellow dress against her thighs and sat. Her bubble green eyes were soft with tears.


    Fox loosened the string and placed the arrow back in the quiver.


    ¡®Step away from the door.¡¯


    Tom took three steps back.


    With a flick of his fingers Fox gestured for Peta to enter the cell.


    ¡®It¡¯s okay,¡¯ said Tom when Peta came into the cell with tears spilling from her eyes.


    ¡®Okay, Elion, you can now leave the cell.¡¯


    Tom raised his eyebrows.


    ''Come,'' said Fox. ''You can''t stay in there with her.''


    With the sack held in his left hand Tom stepped out of the cell.


    ¡®What are we doing?¡¯


    ¡®We are leaving,¡¯ said Fox.


    He secured the cell, the key grating in the lock.


    Through the bars Peta still cried, shaking slightly, but now with the understanding that Elion had just saved her life.

 CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

    CHAPTER SEVENTEEN


    Back in the tree borne city of Wyld Fell, Trinket had been marched out of the tavern with six soldiers surrounding her, hemming her in like she was a dangerous monster.


    Jane stood to watch her go, and she felt sick about having denied Trinket so easily, considering Trinket had saved her life just an hour earlier. But Jane had two goals: find Tom and find the Wyld Book of Secret''s. She had to make decisions that best served these goals, and it seemed that the Governor could give her the help she needed.


    ¡®Sit,¡¯ the Governor said to Jane who was still on her feet, breathing hard like she had just run a sprint.


    Jane wanted to get going to the palace and the King, but it seemed the Governor wanted to go through some more hoopla, so she sat.


    The Governor sat opposite and leaned back in his chair like the boys did in primary school, with the front chair legs way up in the air.


    ¡®You have done right in trusting me. I can get you an audience with the King. Trinket was always trouble. She put too much emphasis on her status as Princess and has been bratish about it.¡¯


    Mirroring the Governor, Jane leaned back in her chair. She didn¡¯t answer and after a moment the Governor sighed and banged his chair back down on four legs and stood and brought his chair around the table so that it was inches from Jane¡¯s knees. He sat with his short legs apart so that Jane¡¯s legs were between his legs.


    The Governor leaned forward so that his face was uncomfortably close to Jane¡¯s face. His lips were an ugly red against the frog green backdrop of his skin.


    ¡®Let¡¯s talk for a moment before I take you to the King. Let¡¯s talk as though I am just a School of Alchemy Governor, and you are just an interested student.¡¯


    The Governor spoke condescendingly, as though Jane was a remedial student.


    ¡®Let''s not talk. Let''s just go and see the King, as agreed.¡¯


    ¡®It is interesting to me that you have such a desire to see the thrip King, considering he has been deemed unfit to rule by the Empire. His power and ability to help you have been taken away.¡¯


    The Governor put a hand on Jane''s knee, and she felt a revulsion. She slapped his hand off her knee and said, ''I have been told that the King is the only one who can help me.''


    The Governor held his hand up and stared at it, as though looking for an injury from Jane''s slap.


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    ''Help you with what?'' he asked.


    ¡®That is not your business.¡¯


    Jane had a sense that it would not be prudent to mention the Wyld Book of Secrets, or the fact of Tom being Elion.


    The Governor nodded slowly and although his face stayed marble smooth and green, his eyes showed the slightest hint of anger. He dropped his hand onto his own leg, and leaned in close to Jane.


    ¡®I will take you to the King.¡¯''


    It was a twenty minute walk up to the palace. Jane walked behind the Governor, with two Empire soldiers walking ahead and two behind. The suspended paths were less crowded than before, although the city of Wyld Fell was still warm with sound: voices drifting out of windowless huts, crockery clinking, a violin playing.


    The path to the Palace wound around the central tree, higher and higher through forks and turns and staircases. Beneath, the city of Wyld Fell became a bowl of flickering green and yellow light. Huts floated like balloons amidst the branches.


    Finally the group entered an arbour of vines that ran along, tunnel like, for fifty feet. The air smelled of mint.


    They came to a wall. On the other side of the wall the palace rose into the night. It moved with the tree, as though alive, and the lights from a hundred windows made yellow stripes on the dark leaves. A gate through the wall was protected by palace guards - thrip guards wearing chainmail, but holding no weapons. The guards'' faces were grim, and their green eyes tired, and their green hair dishevelled and their uniforms limp.


    Two soldiers approached the palace guards and one of them growled:


    ¡®Salute his excellency the Governor.¡¯


    One of the guards spoke through a sneer, ¡®He is the Governor of the School of Alchemy. What is that to salute?¡¯


    The other guard, suddenly alert to a hidden danger in not saluting, said, ¡®The Empire rules are new to us.¡¯


    He took a step toward the Governor, which was a mistake. An Empire soldier lunged and seized the palace guard''s hand and twisted it in such a way that the guard dropped to his knees. The soldier¡¯s left hand went to the palace guard¡¯s throat, and the guard opened his mouth but was unable to suck in air. The guard¡¯s eyes bulged and he strained against the soldier''s grip.


    The second palace guard came to help his mate, only another soldier rushed at him. This palace guard lowered himself and used the momentum of the attacking soldier to flip the soldier over his hip, landing the attacking soldier on his back with his head banging hard against the boards of the walkway.


    The two soldiers behind Jane drew their weapons.


    ¡®No blood,¡¯ said the Governor.


    The first palace guard had gone limp. His eyes bulged and his tongue, purple and fat, protruded from his mouth. When the soldier finally released his grip the guard slumped with knees buckling. He took a breath that sounded like a whistle of air from a car tyre, and he raised himself up into a crawl position and coughed into the boards, his back rising and falling.


    The Governor stepped around the wheezing guard. Jane followed carefully, catching the guards eyes on the way past.


    They went through the gate and arrived at the palace.

 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

    CHAPTER EIGHTEEN


    The words ¡®Wyld Fell Palace¡¯ were engraved above the palace doors. The door was opened by a palace guard who saluted with his arm out stiff and his eyes looking straight ahead.


    Walking into the palace proved a strange experience. It was like being outside and inside at the same time. The walls were formed by living branches, thick with berries and leaves. Lamps splashed yellow circles on the timber floor. There was a sweet smell, like crushed leaves. Jane¡¯s shoes drummed on the timber.


    A short hallway led to the throne room.


    Like the rest of the palace, the throne room had been lined with living branches trained to grow in a solid wall, the walls covered with a luxurious mat of ivy. The floor was wooden slabs, red in colour, smooth and polished to a gorgeous shine. The throne room was lit by candles in carved bone chandeliers.


    There were columns along both sides of the throne room, and behind the columns was darkness, and in the darkness Jane could just make out the shapes of Empire soldiers, their dark uniforms with the symbol of the Empire on their shoulders and breasts.


    The hairs on Jane¡¯s neck prickled.


    The throne sat on the raised platform at the far end of the large room. The throne was huge: a grand gesture. It was carved from a single slab of wood,


    Beside the throne a thrip sat at a desk, head down, quill on hand, studying a parchment and making notes, marks, dots and ticks and squiggles that had the semblance of something terribly important, and terribly urgent. The scribe wrote with nervous energy. He looked up and saw the Governor and made a squeaking sound and put his head back down.


    In front of the columns on either side of the long room were seats carved in the same manner and style as the throne, lacking only the grandeur.


    The Governor pointed at a seat and told Jane to sit.


    Jane sat, and two of the soldiers that had followed her up from the Wyld Fell marketplace, took up positions either side, as though she was dangerous.


    The Governor left the throne room by a side door that lay behind the columns, in the shadows.


    For several minutes all Jane could hear was the rasp of the scribe¡¯s quill. She looked around the room, trying to see the soldiers in the shadows, trying to assess their attitudes. It was dark behind the pillars and she could only make out the soldiers as vague shapes. Something metallic clanged. One of the soldiers coughed.


    The side door opened and a soldier walked into the throne room. He continued from the dark behind the columns out into the brightly lit centre. He was a short plump man with spindly legs and a face that wobbled. He wore a polished black breast plate with an etched symbol of the Empire.


    He looked at Jane with curiosity, then turned from her to the scribe.


    ¡®I need scroll H20738¡¯.


    The scribe took one of the rolled up parchments from a timber receptacle and handed it to the fat soldier.


    ¡®Long live the Emperor,¡¯ said the soldier.


    ¡®Long live the Emperor,¡¯ the scribe mumbled in return.


    The fat soldier turned to exit but ended up in a tangle with the Governor who was walking into the throne room. The Governor growled something and the fat soldier began apologising profusely.


    ¡®Salute me bag brain,¡¯ said the Governor. He raised himself up to his full height, and his pointy chin jutted toward the soldier, while his cat eyes blinked with fury.


    The fat soldier saluted then fled the room.


    The Governor strode up to Jane.


    ¡®The King is about to enter the throne room. When the King addresses a question to you it is thrip law that you must answer that question immediately and truthfully. The King has the prerogative of forcing you to answer. Do you understand?¡¯


    Jane nodded.


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    The side door opened again, and a footman walked into the room, followed by the thrip King.


    The King stood tall - a tower compared to the Governor. He wore a finely woven robe of shimmering green, the cloak shining as though it contained energy. A stole of white fur sat across his shoulders. while around his neck hung a necklace strung with small tooth-like blades of shining metal.


    He had a narrow head and a face made of acute angles, and his forehead was vast and noble. His hair stood up in spears and was as white as frost. His ears were tall above his head, and narrow and vibrant and green with small green hairs curling out. He looked at Jane then let his eyes travel across to the Governor who stood to Jane¡¯s left. The thrip King¡¯s mouth dropped fractionally.


    If she was meeting the new Queen of England Jane would had stood, and she would have curtsied. She wasn''t sure what to do in this situation, so she did nothing. She just remained seated. She wondered if the King thought of her as important?


    The King climbed the four stairs up the dais and seated himself on the throne. He leaned from the throne and said something quietly to the scribe with the quill, and the scribe nodded and searched among the scrolls for whatever the King had asked for.


    The Governor spoke in a voice that oozed with sarcasm.


    ¡®Our mighty King. Your business with a thrip scribe is not necessary to the matter at hand.¡¯


    The King breathed like a large animal. He ignored the Governor and kept speaking in a low voice to the scribe. The atmosphere became increasingly tense.


    Eventually the King¡¯s eyes came up and found their way to Jane. His eyes glistened emerald. A diamond shaped iris quivered.


    Finally the King said, ¡®So I understand you have sought an audience with the King of Wyld Fell.¡¯


    ¡®I have.¡¯


    ¡®And you have been intercepted by the Governor here?¡¯


    ¡®Yes.¡¯


    The Governor interrupted.


    ¡®This girl has arrived in Wyld Fell accompanied by the Princess Trinket.¡¯


    The King stared at the Governor, and Jane got a sense of his tremendous presence. Then the King spoke, and his voice was iron.


    ¡®Where is my daughter?¡¯


    ¡®That is not relevant.¡¯


    ¡®Where is my daughter?¡¯


    Now the King sounded dangerous, and even though the Governor obviously wielded power over the King due to his command of the Empire soldiers, he seemed shaken by the King''s tone.


    ¡®Your daughter has been involved in something.¡¯


    The King lifted his shoulders and the stoll rose like it had come alive.


    ¡®So you have arrested my daughter?¡¯


    The Governor¡¯s silence told the King all he needed to know. He sat on his throne as still as a rock with a look of held back power, like there were incredible forces just below his surface that were being held at bay.


    The Governor took a moment then gathered his composure and he stuck his chin out and tried to look tall. ¡®Ask this girl, Jane, the questions that we previously arranged for you to ask.¡¯


    From the shadows there came a sound of soldier''s boots adjusting positions on the wooden floor.


    The King shook his large head, then looked at Jane.


    ¡®What is the purpose of your presence in Wyld Fell, and why have you specifically requested to have an audience with the King of Wyld Fell.¡¯


    Jane said, ¡®I want to talk to you alone.''


    Silence fell, and stretched, and Jane watched the King with every piece of hope she could muster that the information she held, that of the secret book, and her companion being Elion, were things of such importance that she could somehow get some control of the situation.


    The Governor said, ¡®Nobody is leaving the throne room. Answer the King¡¯s question.¡¯


    Jane breathed out slowly then said, ¡®I will answer all questions, but only if I am alone with the King.¡¯


    The Governor seemed to be vibrating. His face was turning purple. His fist clenched beside his hips. Jane could hear the faintest sounds coming from the darkness behind the column, but all she could see was the light from the recessed torches wriggling against the walls.


    The King spoke to the Governor, ¡®Let me speak to the girl alone.¡¯


    Before he could answer the Governor was interrupted by a bird flying into the throne room through an impossibly high window. The bird was the same type of bird that had swooped Jane and Tom earlier, back in the northern meadow as they were entering the giant woods. The bird had the same big hunched wings, and the same bat-like face. Now it dipped a wing and flew in a spiral down from the ceiling. It spread its wings and slowed its descent, then extended its claws to land on the Governor¡¯s shoulder. It dipped its beak into the Governor¡¯s ear and Jane could hear the bird¡¯s uttering in a sibilant whisper.


    The Governor puckered his lips, and nodded his head, then his eyes opened wide as though he had heard something that made him afraid. He glanced at Jane with a look of trepidation.


    When the bird finished talking, the Governor reached up and grabbed the bird off his shoulder and held the bird so that the bird¡¯s beady eyes lined up with the Governor¡¯s eyes.


    ¡®This message does not leave this room.¡¯


    The bird hissed. The Governor squeezed the bird until it opened its beak wide, gasping to breath. It beat it wings against the Governor¡¯s grip. Finally the Governor let the bird go and it flopped and tumbled and landed on the tabletop, its beak open to draw a breath. After a moment it it squirmed to its feet, raised its wings and took flight.


    The Governor turned to Jane and his smile was dreadful.

 CHAPTER NINTEEN

    CHAPTER NINETEEN


    Half an hour later Jane was locked in a neat little room that doubled as a prison cell, in a tower that rose above the Wyld Fell palace. The bird with the bat face had informed the Governor that Elion was back in Paris. The bird informed the Governor that the girl who sat beside him was a companion of Elion. The bird informed the Governor that it had already flown to the city of Coronet to report all of the above information to Emperor August.


    The bird flew away and the Governor asked Jane: ¡®Where is Elion?¡¯


    When Jane didn¡¯t answer the question (asked over and over) she was arrested and escorted by five Empire soldiers through a maze of hallways and ladders and staircases and inclined pathways until she emerged at the tippy top of the palace into the little room that was was the palace prison.


    With the door shut and locked, Jane stood in the middle of the room and turned slowly. This little room did not feel like what Jane imagined a prison should feel like. Jane didn¡¯t know that in the world of Paris royal prisoners were held in luxury until their trial.


    Yellow flamed candles revealed a neat little room, with a desk, a set of draws, and a bed constructed of notched branches. A white blanket was spread across the bed, and a white cushion lay at the end. On the desk was a bowl filled with fruit: purple apples and yellow grapes and crimson bananas. The rug that covered the floor was woven with pictures of crops: corn and pumpkin and peas and beans. On the wall was a painting of a King and Queen, both thrips, strolling in a garden. The King wore a green robe that trailed in the grass; the Queen wore a similar robe, only hers was trimmed in silver while the King¡¯s robe was trimmed in gold. The Queen had her hand out, palm flat, and hovering just above her hand, as though it was about to land, was a fat bee.


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    Jane went to the door to inspect it for weakness. It was, however, built from thick planks and when she put her shoulder against the door she quickly realised that this door could not be broken or forced open.


    Across from the door a small window could be just large enough to squeeze through if it wasn¡¯t for a series of vertical wooden bars that were held fast by thick lower and upper beams. Because the bars were wooden Jane could cut through them if she found some kind of saw, and she was about to start a (what she knew would be fruitless) search, except she realised that even if she did cut through the bars and clamber through the window there would be a thousand foot drop to the floor of the woods. A brief plummet then death.


    The only way to escape this little prison would be to fight her way out, starting with the first person or creature that came through the door.


    She sat on the bed, then lay down. She put her head on the pillow which was deliciously soft. She shut her eyes.


    She thought of Tom, or Elion, and wondered what he was up to now? Was he also in a prison, waiting to be transferred onto a ship? Would he be able to escape and get himself into the machine? Would he find the Wyld Book of Secrets?


    Every part of Jane ached, particularly her ankle, but even with the pain she somehow went to sleep.


    For one hour, she slept.

 CHAPTER TWENTY

    CHAPTER TWENTY


    ¡®I don¡¯t like it,¡¯ said Fox, and Tom could tell that Fox was uncertain about his decision to leave Peta locked in the cell beneath the Fluffy Duck Inn ¡­ alive.


    They had just left the Inn where two dwarves lay dead on the floor with arrows sticking out of them. The woman named Peta was last seen sitting on the prison bed as far away from the bunched up dirty blanket as she could manage, and Tom had looked at her with apology in his eyes. She gave the tiniiest hint of a smile. Tom might have endangered her life by urging the dwarves to bring her into the gaol, but he had also saved her life by convincing Fox to lock her in the cell. She seemed grateful.


    Now, outside, Tom and Fox were walking silently down the alley away from the Inn. Fox suddenly paused, and he turned his eye back to the Inn. He had changed his mind, and he was going to go back to kill Peta.


    Tom said, ¡®If you go back now she will know what you are there for, and she will scream.¡¯


    ¡®Nobody will hear her scream in the basement and my arrows fly quickly.¡¯


    ¡®I will also scream,¡¯ said Tom quietly


    Fox looked at him and a look of derision slipped down his face. His moustache vibrated with contempt.


    ¡®Elion will scream? Like a woman? Like a baby?¡¯


    ¡®I will scream to save her life,¡¯ said Tom


    There was a pensive moment, then Fox made a noise of disgust in his throat.


    ¡®Come on.¡¯


    Tom followed Fox between the dark houses that crowded onto the cobblestone roads. Fox hadn''t put any restraints on Tom, and Tom thought about this. He considered how he might escape. He wouldn''t do anything stupid (he had seen Fox¡¯s prowess with a bow and arrow) but he thought that if he could scamper he might be able to hide somewhere amidst the dark houses and cellars and stairways they were walking past. He began to deliberately lag behind.


    ¡®Keep up,¡¯ said Fox.


    ¡®Where are we going?¡¯


    ¡®I have arranged with the captain of the Sweet Louise for you to be taken on board ship at middle night. He will be waiting.¡¯


    ¡®When was this arranged?


    Fox ignored the question. He seemed to be in a terrible mood, ever since Tom said he would scream to save Peta¡¯s life, as though the idea of Elion screaming was too much to bear.


    Tom realised that Fox had always been going to kill the dwarves and take Tom to the ship in the middle of the night. This arrangement with the captain hadn¡¯t just happened. There had been a deal between Fox and the dwarves to split the reward money, and Fox had obviously upped his share of the split to one hundred percent by taking out his little comrades.


    A criss-cross of lane ways and stone staircases descended between dark houses. A dog barked. A putrid smelling man lay beneath a stairway, snoring. Fox walked quietly. He was small so it was easy for him to shift his weight in such a way that his feet didn¡¯t make noise. Tom walked on his tip toes, but still his school shoes made little tap-shoe clatters.


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    Finally the lane ways fed onto a broader street that ran from the hilltop castle down to the Milkstone river. The river was smooth and dark and glistened in the moonlight. Occasionally a fish broke the water¡¯s surface. The street ended at the river where a wharf stretched out. Small boats were tied to the wharf. At the far end was a ship with the name, Sweet Louise, written along the bow. The ship had no masts, instead there were three large leather clad oar holes. The oars oars that emerged from the holes were as big as telegraph poles. They moved gently with the river current.


    Fox turned to Tom.


    In his hand he had the hessian bag that Tom had worn earlier.


    ¡®Put this on.¡¯


    Tom slipped the sack over his head and immediately coughed from the grain dust. He found the rip in the bag, and he could see along the wharf to the moonlit ship. Fox took hold of his arm and they walked along the wharf.


    The moored boats thumped against the wooden piers, and tugged against the bollards. In some of the boats there were sleeping men.


    At the end of the wharf a gangplank ascended from the wharf up onto the deck of the Sweet Louise. At the top of the gangway a man waited. This man was huge, six foot six if he was back on Earth, with arms crossed, the forearms like solid logs. His head was as big and round as a pumpkin, with a beard roaring around his chin. Fox walked up to him and stood as tall as he could, with his narrow chest pushing against his green shirt. The tippy top of his purple hat still only came to the bridge of the big man¡¯s nose.


    The big man¡¯s voice boomed.


    ¡®You are late¡¯


    ¡®Trouble with the locals,¡¯ said Fox.


    ¡®Why is your prisoner wearing a bag? Is he somebody important?¡¯


    ¡®He is a political prisoner.¡¯


    ¡®He must be worth something?¡¯


    ¡®Usual fee,¡¯ said Fox breezily.


    ¡®I¡¯ve transported you half a dozen times with fugitives and you have never put a bag over any one of your prisoners'' heads before.¡¯


    ¡®Like I said, captain ¡­ This is a political prisoner whose identity is a sensitive issue.¡¯


    The captain, barring the top of the gangway, with his arms still crossed, looked like he wasn¡¯t going to let Fox onto the ship. While holding the lapel of his purple coat with his left hand, Fox let go of Tom with his right hand so that he could be free to gesture.


    ¡®Actually, I will pay a little extra for a direct passage with my political prisoner.¡¯


    ¡®That goes against the law of passage. You know that I must stop for people requiring carriage.¡¯


    ¡®I will pay you a lot extra.¡¯


    There was a moment where nobody spoke, but Tom could hear jingling and jangling as Fox showed the captain some amount of coins. Whatever Fox showed the captain was impressive enough for the captain to say, ¡®It looks like we won''t be stopping between here and Coronet.¡¯


    Fox said, ¡®I will get my prisoner settled into the brig then I will take my usual quarters.¡¯


    ¡®Your usual quarters are taken. A town official is taking the room.¡¯


    Fox said, ¡®Has the official boarded yet?¡¯


    ¡®He will be boarding tomorrow morning.¡¯


    ¡®In that case I will take my usual cabin, and I will pay double to make any problems disappear.¡¯


    The captain laughed. This was turning into a very good night for him.


    Once Fox had paid the captain double for the room, the captain led the two across the deck toward the stern of the ship. The brig was tiny, and the inside was filled with various flotsam and jetsam: crates and metal lamps and coils of rope and metal tools.


    Fox gave Tom a little shove through the door, and Tom bumped his head against the low ceiling.


    ¡®Don¡¯t remove the bag until the captain shuts the door,¡¯ said Fox.


    The captain said, ¡®I hope you aren¡¯t afraid of the dark.¡¯

 CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

    CHAPTER TWENTY ONE


    A rhythmic rasping noise woke Jane. She had been dreaming about the Greymill cemetery where Lulu was leaning on a tombstone while talking to a boy with a cigarette in his mouth. The boy kept blowing smoke in Lulu''s face. Lulu kept giggling.


    Jane was rustled awake by the rasping noise, and she sat up in bed.


    At the window there was a green hand reaching in from outside holding a thin metal saw, working back and forth on the base of one of the wooden bars. The hand had long nimble fingers, and the arm behind the hand was sinewy and strong and female, and Jane knew it had to be Trinket.


    Swinging her feet to the floor, Jane went to the window. Trinket¡¯s face was just behind the window bars, smiling. She didn¡¯t say anything, just continued to work the saw, breathing with a slight whistling sound. A cold wind blew through the window and gave Jane goosebumps.


    Sawdust swirled in the candlelight.


    Trinket sawed through the base of all the bars, then went to work on the tops. Her two front teeth were poking out over her bottom lip.


    Finally Jane said, ¡®You escaped your house arrest.¡¯


    Trinket didn¡¯t answer.


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    After a moment Jane asked, ¡®What are you standing on?¡¯


    ¡®A mushroom.¡¯


    One of the bars fell from the window and banged against the floor.


    ¡®Why are you rescuing me?¡¯ said Jane. ¡®After I turned my back on you earlier?¡¯


    ¡®Because I had a stupid thought, as I was floating up on the mushroom, that you might be useful in my effort to rescue Elion.¡¯


    Jane crossed her arms.


    ¡®Of course I will help.¡¯


    Trinket continued to work the saw, and another bar fell to the ground.


    Jane said, ¡®A bird flew into the throne room and told the Governor that Elion is in Paris, and that I had been seen accompanying him. The Governor was very insistent that I tell him where Elion was.¡¯


    ¡®Did you tell him?''


    ''No.''


    Trinket stopped sawing.


    ''Did you see my father, the King?''


    ''Yes.''


    ''So he is alive?''


    ''He is, but it appears the King has lost control of Wyld Fell.¡¯


    Trinket sniffed with disdain, then continued sawing through the bars.


    Jane put her hand out to indicate her surroundings.


    ¡®The Governor had me arrested and sent me here. He told me he would talk to me in the morning.¡¯


    ¡®You won¡¯t be alive in the morning ¡­ if you stay here.¡¯ said Trinket.


    Another bar fell to the ground. There was only one final bar to remove.


    Jane made a small harumph. She wasn¡¯t entirely sure if Trinket was joking. She tried to think of something to say to lighten the situation, only a clicking sound came from the other side of the room. It was the sound of someone unlocking the door.

 CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

    CHAPTER TWENTY TWO


    The door opened and there stood Borrowdale, the thrip who Jane had met a few hours earlier before she went into the tavern with Trinket. Borrowdale stooped for the door, and when he straightened in the room his hair brushed against the ceiling. His eyes were flicking all over the place, like he expected to be attacked from any direction.


    ''Quickly,'' he said.


    Jane felt a surge of adrenalin. She kept her eyes fixed on Borrowdale, stopping herself from looking at the window, just in case Trinket wanted to remain anonymous.


    ¡®What is happening?¡¯


    ¡®I am rescuing you. Put on a thrip cloak and follow me.¡¯


    He held out a cloak, and Jane took it from him. The cloak was light and grey and silvery and smelled like metal. She slipped it on and immediately felt warm, as though the cloak had its own heat source.


    ¡®Borrowdale.¡¯


    This was Trinket, buzzing from the window.


    Startled, Borrowdale swung around at though he was under attack.


    ¡®Trinket. What are you doing at the window? I was told you were under house arrest.¡¯


    ¡®How are you going to rescue Jane? What is your plan?''


    ¡®I have a ¡­ ¡®


    Borrowdale stopped talking.


    Footsteps sounded outside the door that was still open from Borrowdale entering.


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    An instant later the Governor stood in the doorway. He looked between Jane and Borrowdale, and he held a look of contempt. He walked toward Borrowdale, and Jane saw (too late) something heavy in his right hand, and an instant later she realised it was a hammer. Borrowdale also realised and was bringing his hands up at the same moment the Governor was circling the hammer over his shoulder. Jane lunged, but she was too late to stop the hammer bashing into Borrowdale''s head, like an axe sinking into a log. Borrowdale¡¯s eyes melted into glass and his mouth formed an O.


    The Governor toppled beneath Jane, who had hit him with all of her body weight. For one second they were tangled on the floor, then Jane rolled away and sprang to her feet.


    Still on the floor, the Governor shouted, ¡®Sit down.¡¯


    Turning, Jane went to kick the Governor, but he held the hammer up, and she instinctively took a step back, lost her balance, and fell onto the bed.


    The Governor pushed himself up into a crouch while holding the hammer in the air. He stood and immediately kicked Borrowdale in the side, around the kidney area. The kick made a meaty thud.


    ¡®Are you dead, thrip bastard?¡¯


    Borrowdale didn¡¯t move or answer and Jane knew that he was dead. She knew about killing with hammers: that is how she killed her father. She brought a foot up beneath her so that her legs were bent in a position to launch, left or right, depending on what happened next.


    ¡®I know that the transport wagon is missing,¡¯ said the Governor. ¡®Which means that Elion has been taken to Rivertown, probably by a bounty hunter. Tomorrow he will be transported to Coronet to be executed.¡¯


    The words settled, then the green thrips thin lips came up at the edges, turning into a smirk.


    ''So as you can see, I Don''t need you anymore.''


    Jane was willing herself to not look at the window, where she hoped that Trinket was getting ready to intervene.


    ''What does that mean?'' Jane asked the Governor.


    ''It means I am free to kill you.''


    As soon as he said these words the Governor lunged, with the hammer coming up, and his shoulder rising.


    An arrow embedded itself into the Governor¡¯s throat.


    The Governor put his left hand up to his throat, and opened his mouth to say something, only all Jane heard was a gurgling hissing sound. Then blood came gushing from his mouth.


    He poked his tongue out, as though trying to eat some air.


    Another arrow came flying across the room, and this went into the Governor¡¯s eye. The Governor crumpled like a falling sheet, and fell onto Borrowdale¡¯s body.

 CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

    CHAPTER TWENTY THREE


    Trinket drew another arrow and put her eye behind it, ready. A moment later she released the tension and lowered the bow. The Governor (and Borrowdale) were bleeding out onto the floor. The Governor''s fingers twitched for a moment then became still. Borrowdale''s lungs sighed as they expelled dead air.


    Trinket re-slung her bow, and re-quivered the arrow then went back to cutting through the last bar. She worked furiously with her green hand shooting in and out of the window. Sawdust sprinkled in all directions. The Governor would have soldiers waiting, and they would arrive as soon as they suspected something had gone wrong.


    Jane put two fingers on Borrowdale''s throat ¡­ but there was no pulse. A large cavity, the shape of a diamond, was cracked into his skull where the hammer had hit.


    The final bar clattered on the floor and Trinket came through the window, head first with her hands out. She hit the floor and sprung off her hands, the spring going through her shoulders and torso, pushing her into spinning blur of green that landed her on her feet.


    Jane stood.


    Trinket said, ¡®We can grieve later. Now we must go.¡¯


    Jane said, ¡®This is how my father died. I did this to my own father.¡¯


    Trinket furrowed her brow as her mind ran around this information. ¡®I¡¯m sure there is a story here, but we don¡¯t have time for it.¡¯


    Crouching beside the Governor''s body, Trinket slipped her fingers across the back of his neck. She uncovered the leather strap that held the key that the Governor had taken from her in the tavern. With a yank the strap came free.


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    ¡®Let¡¯s go.¡¯


    Trinket went to the window, and she bounded up and landed on the sill, all bunched up. She rolled forward and sprang, uncurling through the window into the night.


    Jane wasn''t capable of this kind of gymnastic voodoo. She hauled herself up and turned so that her bum sat on the sill while her legs dangled inside the room. She did a swivel on her bum and got herself into several odd angles to get her feet outside the window.


    Midair, Trinket stood on the spongy underside of a giant mushroom tethered by a thin rope to a branch. The mushroom was huge, the size of a rowboat. It pulled against the rope in an anti-gravity effort to climb, the way a hot air balloon struggled against its tethers when the furnace was burning.


    Trinket held out her hand.


    Jane sat on the window sill and looked at the terrifying drop below.


    A voice came from behind, in the room:


    ¡®The Governor has been clipped.¡¯


    Trinket spoke with quiet urgency, ¡®Jump.¡¯


    For one instant Jane forgot about the huge drop and the weirdness of trusting a floating mushroom and the fact that she didn¡¯t really trust Trinket. She lunged across the gap and landed on the mushroom¡¯s spongy underside, her knees sinking into the foamy flesh.


    Behind, from inside the room, a man¡¯s voice shouted ¡®Stop.¡¯


    Footsteps clattered.


    ¡®Crawl to the centre and hold the stalk,¡¯ said Trinket.


    Jane crawled with her knees and hands sinking into the earthy flesh. She wrapped her arms around the stalk.


    Trinket un-tethered the mushroom just as a face appeared at the window. The face belonged to an Empire soldier. He reached through the window and managed to get a grip on the mushroom.


    Once again Trinket¡¯s bow jumped into her hands, and while the mushroom bucked and strained against the soldier¡¯s grip, she strung and let fly an arrow that embedded itself into the soldier¡¯s hand.


    The soldier yelped in pain, then let go.


    The mushroom bucked and swayed, then began to rise.

 CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

    CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR


    Jane hung onto the mushroom stalk, with her knees up against her chin. The mushroom bumped and dipped and made itself as unsafe as it possibly could. Trinket stood with her legs apart, and holding the top of the stalk she used her body weight to change the direction and climb angle of the mushroom. She moved with the stalk, like a dancer leading a partner.


    A bird, as dark as a bat, flew past. The air rushed and grew colder.


    Jane said, ¡®I am sorry that I didn¡¯t support you in front of the Governor .¡¯


    Trinket ignored this. She was busy getting the mushroom up through the remaining branches of the giant tree. The darkness beneath was like the throat of a monster. Finally the mushroom and its occupants rose above the canopy of the giant woods. On all sides now were snow capped mountains, hemming in the giant forest and the northern meadow. The mountains were dark and brooding and the snow on top was a mysterious grey colour, the snow slipping down the mountains like half melted icing.


    The lights of Wyld Fell became hazy below.


    As the mushroom climbed the air grew increasingly colder and Jane pulled the thrip cloak around her and thought of Borrowdale who had given her the cloak - Borrowdale on the floor of the strange little gaol, dead.


    A jagged line of orange flashed as lightning lit up the sky behind the snow capped mountains to the south.


    ¡®A storm is coming,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®Half a day away. It''s going to be big.¡¯


    The mushroom quivered on a current of wind and Trinket¡¯s legs bent into the movement.


    Jane thought about Borrowdale, and the way his woolly hair lay in the blood that seeped from the jagged cracks in his skull. She played the scene of the Governor entering the room, over and over in her mind, trying to imagine what she could have done to save Borrowdale''s life. The feeling of it was horrible. She pressed her face into the mushroom stalk. Her teeth chattered. She was too cold to talk.


    The air currents were becoming tricky as they neared the mountains. Wind blew Trinket''s hair sideways, like a green curtain.


    After a moment Trinket said, ¡®We are flying well. We will get to the river in plenty of time to intercept the ship.''


    Jane didn¡¯t reply. Her fingers were so cold she had trouble holding the coat shut against her throat.


    Trinket leaned to pull the mushroom over onto a steep angle. She didn¡¯t seem to feel the cold. There was not one goosebump on her bare legs or arms.


    ¡®I hope we don¡¯t crash,¡¯ Jane said, but her teeth chattered so much it was difficult to make out the words.


    Trinket pointed a toe out and tapped Jane lightly in the leg.


    ¡®Don¡¯t bother talking. Just appreciate my magical flying ability.¡¯


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    The pain in Jane¡¯s left ankle seemed to be freezing away. Her hips had stopped hurting. She was so cold now that she felt warm. This was a strange thing. Her nose bulged like a flower bulb. Her lips had hardened and were cracking. The air whistled a tune.


    The air beneath the mushroom became bumpy, and Trinket absorbed it all though her body, rising and falling like a Californian surfer working a wave. They were now really close to the mountain, alongside black rocks and snow, and dark purple shadows. The wind across the mountain moaned.


    ¡®Once we get over the mountains we will start a descent to the Milkstone River. We will have plenty of time to intercept the river ship from Rivertown to Coronet,¡¯ said Trinket.


    Jane didn¡¯t even know if she cared. Something about a ship. Something about Coronet. Her mind was made of honey.


    They crested the snowy peaks of the mountain range and the moon came into view, blue and white, bringing out an aqua reflection off Trinket¡¯s face.


    Trinket turned her head back and forth, looking for something, and a moment later she said, ¡®There it is.¡¯


    She stood on tiptoes like a ballerina, and she glanced at Jane then back at whatever she had just discovered.


    ¡®White Mountain,¡¯ she said , and her breath floated up in front of the moon like the outpouring of pipe smoke when the Chaplain came to school and decided to have a little Argentinian hooch.


    With a creaking turn of the neck Jane looked in the direction of Trinket¡¯s pointing. In the distance was a solitary, monolithic mountain. The mountain was enormous and conical, like an old volcano - like the picture Jane had seen of Mt Fuji in the book on Japan which the nuns used to explain the deviousness of the Japanese mind, and their ability to show no empathy to the human race due to their godless traditions and their worship of an Emperor.


    The Mountain reflected an eerie quality of light, like the blue green of a photographic negative. As the mushroom rose, more of the mountain came into view. Deep grooves formed by avalanches held large pools of moon shadows.


    Behind the mountain Jane could see the ocean, and the pale horizon beyond.


    The mushroom rose and fell on the curious winds that poured off in multiple directions. Trinket stared at the mountain as though trying to breathe it in. After a while she looked down at Jane and smiled.


    ¡®Im sad and happy and afraid and ecstatic.¡¯


    The updrafts and air sinks were colder than freezing and even the thrip coat couldn¡¯t stop the chill and Jane got blunter as the cold slowed her brain. Could the fluid in her brain be actually freezing? She felt as though her arms had seized around the mushroom stalk. She felt as though the cheek pressed against the stalk might be stuck, glued by the cold. Nothing mattered. If she could only let go of the stalk she would fall into that soft snow just below the mushroom, and she could lay down and sleep.


    Unaffected by cold, Trinket stood with her legs apart and guided the mushroom through the mountain peaks that slipped past a few feet beneath.


    Finally they made it through the peaks and troughs of the mountain range, emerging and disappearing in moonlight and moon shadow.


    Now the mountains fell away and below was a valley filled with utter darkness.


    With a dreamy smile Jane looked up and the sun was shining and she was holding tight to a beach umbrella, and because she was young she sang a little song to her doll while listening to waves crash onto pebbles. Maybe now her mummy would get her an ice cream from the man with the ice cream cart ...


    A hard stinging slap shocked Jane back into the moment. Trinket had slapped her across the face.


    ¡®Stay awake,¡¯ Trinket yelled.


    Jane tried to reply, but sound didn¡¯t come out.


    ¡®We can start our descent,¡¯ said Trinket, and she stooped and began tearing off spongy chunks of mushroom. The severed pieces rose into the darkness. Trinket crouched and tore off more mushroom, and the sound of it was like the tearing of sticking plaster coming off a smooth surface. The broken mushroom pieces kind of smelled like rotting eggs, and kind of like moss, and kind of like the ocean. One after another the shattered piece of mushroom flew into the night.


    The mushroom bumped over an air current, and Jane felt a grain of anxiety that something was going wrong.


    Trinket fell.

 CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

    CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE


    Jane went from freezing to death with her mind drifting into delirium to an adrenaline fueled wakefulness. The mushroom dipped onto its side so that the spongy surface where Jane sat turned into a sheer cliff. She clung to the stalk with her feet flailing beneath. The mushroom was falling from the sky, and Jane couldn''t see Trinket. Perhaps Trinket had fallen to her death.


    Only Trinket hadn¡¯t fallen. She was hanging from the edge of the mushroom, with one hand gripping a plump piece of mushroom flesh, and her body hanging from that single arm.


    ¡®Alive,¡¯ Trinket shouted, and Jane realised that Trinket was having fun.


    With a wild lunge Trinket reached up with her free hand and grabbed Jane by her bad ankle. Jane felt next level pain. She screamed an obscenity. Between her legs she could see Trinket with her thrip cloak billowing over the immense darkness.


    ¡®I can¡¯t hold on much longer,¡¯ Jane screamed.


    In less than a second Trinket came up Jane¡¯s leg, and with a nimble surge she grabbed the mushroom and brought her feet up. She scrambled up the spongy side, up to the mushroom stalk. Now she held the stalk and leaned far out, like a windsurfer, to bring the mushroom off its sideways slip, back onto a stable sailing plane.


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    For a moment Trinket worked hard on the stalk, then she said, ¡®We¡¯re still going down ¡­ we have lost too much lift.¡¯


    Trinket thumped a foot down on the spongy outside part of the mushroom, getting the mushroom to rock so that it could pump the air beneath it, but more mushroom chunks broke off and bobbed up into the night. They were crashing, and Jane had hot tears of rage.


    ¡®I can¡¯t save it,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®We are going to land in the high timbers and this will be a hard landing.¡¯


    ¡®So this is death,¡¯ Jane yelled.


    ¡®Perhaps not. Stand up on the mushroom to help cushion the landing.¡¯


    Jane stood and put her legs apart and hugged the stalk and tried shutting her eyes but found that was more frightening than having them open.


    ¡®Move with me,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®We might be able to slow the descent.¡¯


    Working their bodies up and down Jane and Trinket pumped the mushroom against the air. The mushroom''s descent slowed. Only there were air pockets all along the sharp ridges of the mountain, and the mushroom got caught in a cold draught and suddenly dropped fifteen feet.


    ¡®We are crashing.¡¯


    The fact that she was about to die had put Jane into a rage. She was too angry to be afraid.


    Trinket swung on the central stork like a pilot wrestling a joystick to get a plane into control. Then the mushroom descended into the canopy of trees.


    Trinket flung her body left and right, guiding the mushroom through craggy branches and dark blue leaves. She had her cheeks pinched in, and her eyes were bulging and she whooped with delight.


    Jane bent her knees and shook her head at the stupidity of death.

 CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

    CHAPTER TWENTY SIX


    The mushroom hit the ground and Jane went flying. She bounced off the flesh of the mushroom and speared down a steep slope, her shoulder smashing against a large rock. She slid for twenty feet through rocks and stones and spiky bushes and sticks and leaves and animal droppings before finally coming to rest against a boulder. She lay for a moment, gathering her wits, then sat with her back against the boulder. Lines of blood ran from her hands and knees, and her shoulder felt like something important had come unstuck. She lifted her left arm and moaned with pain. She was alive though - if pain can be used as proof of life.


    Had Trinket been killed?


    From somewhere up the slope, hidden by rocks and trees and darkness, there came a grunt of someone exerting energy.


    Jane opened her mouth to call out, and found there was all sorts of pain around her jaw, which she must have banged along with everything else.


    Trinket¡¯s voice drifted, disembodied: ¡®I can hear you.¡¯


    ¡®I am alive,¡¯ said Jane. ¡®Are you hurt?¡¯


    A moment later Trinket emerged from the dark, picking her way down the steep slope, over rocks and around branches, appearing to be as nimble as ever.


    ¡®Are you hurt?¡¯ Jane said again.


    Trinket came right up to Jane, and said, ¡®I had a piece of luck on the landing, and I seem to be fine.


    ¡®You can¡¯t kill evil,¡¯ Jane muttered.


    Trinket smiled and her teeth were light grey in the dark.


    Jane said, ¡®I have pain everywhere. I hope I haven''t broken something.¡¯


    ¡®Try and stand.¡¯


    ¡®What if I have hurt my back?¡¯


    ¡®Just stand,¡¯ said Trinket, with a kind of weariness.


    Jane rolled around and struggled to her feet. Her left knee had pumped into a balloon of pain. Her left hip hesitated before consenting to support her. Her left shoulder was something else.


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    ¡®I can keep going,¡¯ said Jane. ¡®But I will be slow.¡¯


    ¡®Can you ride a horse?¡¯


    Jane wanted to explain that she came from the North of England where there was a lot of horse riding to be done along with a few things that Trinket may not be capable of. But Trinket wouldn¡¯t care, and she wouldn¡¯t be impressed.


    ¡®I can ride a horse, but where can you get a horse up here on the side of a mountain in the middle of a wilderness.¡¯


    ¡®There is a man named Strapper who lives not far from here. He owes me a favour.¡¯


    Jane put weight on her left leg and although her knee screamed out, resisting with pain, it seemed to hold, and she took two halting steps that kind of worked.


    ¡®I lost my bow and arrows in the crash,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®I will borrow a set from Strapper.¡¯


    A slight wind moaned up through the trees and around the dark cliffs.


    They walked for half an hour, and every step that Jane took sent ripping pain through her body. The skin around her knee was stretched so tight you could play it like a drum. Her left ankle kept rolling on the rocky surface. The ground fell steeply, and Jane slipped and slid into rocks or trees. Things would loom up suddenly, like ghosts. One branch, white and crooked, got Jane in the eye so that her eye stung and began to water.


    Trinket didn¡¯t fall once, and made impatient noises when Jane fell, and when Jane moaned Trinket spoke sharply, ¡®Think tough thoughts.¡¯


    Jane thought, ''Cow.''


    They had discovered a thin animal path that moved across the steep slope, and were now following the path, which made travelling easier.


    ¡®Strapper drives his goats along these trails,¡¯ said Trinket.


    The path emerged onto a level clearing, where there was a bark hut sitting on a foundation of stones. It had a stone chimney that sent up a thin curl of smoke, a remnant of a dead fire. Behind the house was a fenced patch, where dozens of little moon reflections came from the eyes of goats, quietly watching the approaching females.


    They went up onto a narrow verandah. Weeds grew up between the sagging deck. The air smelled damp and rotten. The front door was made of jagged planks.


    ¡®This does not look habitable?¡¯ said Jane.


    ¡®Well there is a tiny chance we will be murdered.¡¯


    Trinket lifted the latch and pushed the front door open.


    She yelled into the black interior, ¡®Strapper, wake up you little weed.¡¯


    ¡®What the clinking feck,¡¯ said a high pitched voice from inside.


    ¡®Don¡¯t stab me Strapper ¡­ it''s Trinket.¡¯


    A moment later a skinny little fellow came shuffling into view. He had a hunched back, and silver hair roughed up by sleep. He wore a night shirt that dropped to gnobbly knees.


    The man¡¯s eyes twitched land squinted, and he made a mucous sound. He looked at Jane and shook his head with distaste. He put a hand on the door frame and growled:


    ¡®What hog rot are you up to ... princess?¡¯


    ¡®Strapper, my mountain friend ¡­ I am here for that favour you owe me.¡¯


    ¡®Well you can leave immediately, because I owe you nothing.¡¯

 CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

    CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN


    Trinket and Strapper walked down to the fenced patch at the back of the house to fetch two horses while Jane waited at the hut, resting her injuries. It had taken Trinket ten minutes to convince Strapper to loan her the horses. It was only when Trinket said the name ¡®Elion¡¯ that Strapper had begun to take the concept seriously. Strapper stomped off through the long grass in a pair of boots, his night shirt swirling around his legs, while Trinket followed with her fast, triangular movement.


    Jane leaned on a porch post, and let her sore shoulder hang. In the silence she could hear all kinds of strange noises coming from inside the hut. It sounded like little creatures mumbling to each other, having actual conversations.


    In a short time Trinket and the mountain man came up through the herd of goats leading two horses. The first horse was bluish-white in the moonlights. It shook its head nervously. Its eyes were open too wide. A brown horse followed sullenly, its head down, not paying attention to the goats.


    Jane stepped out into the long grass in front of the hut and took the reins holding the white horse from Strapper. The horse looked at her, and assessed her. Jane put a hand against the side of its head and whispered hello. The horse made a nervous snort.


    ¡¯You won¡¯t make it in time,¡¯ Strapper said to Trinket.


    ¡®Yes we will,¡¯ Trinket retorted. She was checking the halter and the saddle.


    ¡®Speckled duck landing is a half day ride and you ¡­¡¯ Strapper stopped talking. He had just realised some dark truth. ¡®You are fixing to take my horses through the Frogswamp, aren¡¯t you?¡¯


    ¡®I wouldn¡¯t be that stupid,¡¯ Trinket answered.


    ¡®I know you Trinket ¡­ I know what a sneaky elf you are.¡¯


    ¡®Don¡¯t call me an elf.¡¯


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    ¡®The lunatic swamp hogs will tear the horses to pieces.¡¯


    Trinket shook her head, but didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡®Are you listening to me ¡­ elf?¡¯


    Trinket swung on the little man and pointed a long, sharp finger at him. ¡®Stop calling me elf.¡¯


    ¡®Don¡¯t take my horses through the frog swamp.¡¯


    The little man narrowed his eyes and stared at Trinket, and for a moment Jane thought that he was going to rescind his offer to loan the horses.


    Changing the subject, Trinket¡¯s voice became a little sing-song. ¡®Could I borrow a bow and a quiver from you?¡¯


    Something murderous came into Strapper¡¯s voice. ¡®NO.¡¯


    Trinket waved a hand in the air as though she didn¡¯t care.


    ¡®When you get to Speckled Duck landing,¡¯ said Strapper. ¡®Slap the horses and they will find their way back to me.¡¯


    ¡®Let¡¯s go,¡¯ said Trinket. She compressed then sprang into the air, and swept her long green right leg over the horse. Her green hair swept.


    ¡®Baaah,¡¯ said Strapper, unimpressed by Trinket¡¯s spectacular mount. He turned and wander past Jane, back to his hut.


    *


    Trinket and Jane rode as fast as they dared in the dark through the thick woods. The movement of the horse beneath Jane brought on new pain, but also relief. Finally her tired muscles could slump, hanging like butchered meat beneath her skin.


    The trail descended the mountain in a series of steep traverses, switching back on itself over and over. The horses knew where they were going and all Jane had to do was clamp her knees, hold the pommel and grit her teeth.


    A full moon cast a strong blue light that put moving shadows of horses'' legs across the ferns and shrubs and boulders and trunks of trees.


    Lightning flickered way down to the south.


    Occasionally Jane stood in the stirrups to stretch the bouncing pain out of her hip. The horse between her legs moved with a deep rhythm. They moved quickly without galloping, and Jane wondered if they were making good enough time.


    The animal track that had been switching back all the way down the mountain finally began to widen, and the stick and stone strewn surface turned into a smooth wide surface of sand.


    The horses settled into an easy canter.


    Presently they came up on two large boulders on the left of the path, the boulders as big as haystacks. Chiselled into the boulders were the words ¡®Bleached Bone Trail¡¯. Beneath these words was the single word ¡®Frogswamp.¡¯ A narrow path emerged from between the boulders to join the main path.


    Trinket reined in her horse and turned to Jane with a mischievous look on her face. She said, ¡®So it turns out ¡­ we are going through the Frogswamp.¡¯

 CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

    CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT


    Jane couldn¡¯t believe the treachery. Trinket had promised the halfy that they would take the Silver road, and that they wouldn¡¯t go through the Frogswamp. She told Trinket, that no, she wouldn¡¯t follow her into the swamp, but Trinket kept insisting. They argued back and forth until Jane raised her voice.


    ¡®We promised the little man.¡¯


    ¡®I don¡¯t care about that promise. I have only one goal, and that is to rescue Elion. I¡¯m surprised you don¡¯t care more.¡¯


    ¡®What an awful thing to say.¡¯


    Trinket suddenly got very serious, and a strain came into her voice. ¡®The Silver road goes west for several hours to get around the Bearded canyon, and if we go that way we will not make it in time.¡¯


    ¡®No.¡¯


    Trinket made a noise of disgust and thumped her heel into the horse''s left flank, and pulled down on the right rein. Her horse kicked out its front feet, surged to the right, stopped, reared, and whinnied. Trinket kicked her horse again, but it balked, not wanting to go into the Frogswamp. Trinket leaned forward and murmured something into the horse¡¯s ear, and the horse dropped its shoulders and with grave, slow movements, it stepped down between the two large boulders onto the Bleached Bone trail.


    Skittery and tense, Jane¡¯s horse stepped left and right. Steamy breath drifted into the air. Jane swore under her breath. She thought of Tom and she thought of the Wyld Book of Secrets, and she felt helpless and confused. She realised that she was afraid.


    The Silver road drove straight and wide off into the distance.


    Jane held her reins in the air and kicked with her left shoe, showing her horse that she meant to continue along the Silver Road. A vibration of relief rose through her horse¡¯s shoulders. The horse fell into an easy trot along the wide and safe Silver road.


    A second later Jane pulled back hard on the reins. She swore again.


    For a moment she and the horse were paused in the middle of the Silver road, waiting for something to happen.


    ¡®Buggar this.¡¯


    Jane pulled the reins hard to the left, and the horse''s head came around. Its left eye shone with betrayal.


    Urging, urging, the horse cantered back along the Silver road and down between the two boulders onto the Bleached Bone trail. Scrubby, stunted trees, reached out with stubby branches that were devoid of leaves. Swamp algae hung in beards from dead branches


    The air smelled of decay.


    A moment later Jane caught up with Trinket


    Trinket just nodded her head, as though she had been expecting Jane to change her mind. Jane had an urge to shout ¡®shut up¡¯, even though Trinket hadn¡¯t said anything.


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    The path became increasingly muddy. The horses¡¯ hooves made sucking sounds. A creek appeared between the black trees. The creek was wide and divided by isthmus and islands and muddy bars. The horses slurped up over an island of glassy sand and came to the main width of the creek. Here the water was dark and covered by dark green algae.


    Trinket reined in her horse, and Jane reined in beside. For a moment they stayed quiet and listened to the noises of the swamp: the plop of a frog, an owl somewhere in the trees, a crack of a branch. Trinket turned in her saddle. Her face was broken with hard green shadows.


    ¡®Thank you.¡¯


    Jane wanted to tell her to go to hell, but she stayed silent.


    ¡¯The path crosses the creek here, so ride close behind,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®If you stray off the path you will fall into deep water.¡¯


    The river was black with a wavering line of moonlight. Bubbles formed then burst on the surface. The stench that rose from the bubbles was powerful and offensive.


    Trinket¡¯s horse put its head up and sniffed the air, then neighed nervously. Trinket placed her hand on the horse¡¯s neck and clicked her tongue, and dug her heels into the flanks, urging her horse into the ford. Jane followed. Shallow water splashed around the horses¡¯ legs.


    Eventually the rocky ford gave way to mud. The swamp trees looked dead beneath old-man beards of algae. Arteries of roots ran across the mud. Lily pads moved away from the horses¡¯ legs.


    All sorts of strange clicks and rustles and splashes and bubblings and hisses came from amidst the scrub and vines. A larger plop might have been a surfacing alligator. Jane felt her nerves bundling and releasing. She pressed her lips together. The rotten smell gathered strength. A weird slug-like creature slipped over a tree root.


    ¡®We are now in the Frogswamp,¡¯ Trinket whispered.


    The horses slopped forward past the twisting skeletal trees. A giant spider web shone in the moonlight. A narrow path ran through ferns and long grasses. The trail appeared moonlight white. The horses walked with mountain bred instinct. Their hooves thudded.


    After several moments of walking the horses paused and they snorted and Jane could tell that they had picked up on a scent that she couldn¡¯t yet smell. Their eyes opened impossibly wide, the pupils becoming marbles and the whites like saucers. They whinnied in unison.


    Jane squeezed with her knees and whispered to Trinket, ¡®What is wrong?¡¯


    ¡®The horses have picked up a scent.¡¯


    The horses waved their heads. Their ears twitched to catch sounds.


    ¡®What do we do?¡¯ asked Jane.


    ¡®We keep going,¡¯ said Trinket.


    Trinket kicked her heels into the horse''s flanks and it surged forward with obedience, only to stop short again, stopped by some immense fear. It swayed. It shook its head. Its eyes flared white.


    Jane spoke from behind, ¡®The horses know something we don¡¯t.¡¯


    Trinket tried to urge the horse forward again, but it resisted.


    ¡®Frick,¡¯ she said.


    A sound came from ahead that was different from the night sounds. It was a phlegmy snuffle. Then a scream shot into the morning, like a woman¡¯s scream.


    Trinket¡¯s horse reared and Trinket went up with the horse, balancing on the vertical cliff of its back. The horse''s teeth were out, its mouth open with a scream that sounded like the scream of the hogs.


    Jane¡¯s horse bunted into the rump of the rearing horse.


    Up ahead came two swamp hogs, uglier than those Jane had witnessed earlier, running like rag dolls out of the long swamp grass, with sheets of skin flapping off their bodies, and their heads so raw and scratched it was possible to see their skulls through the sores.


    The hogs stopped, about fifty feet ahead, cautious, trying to read the situation in a stupid, primaeval way. You could almost smell their desire to kill. Their eyes roved over the horses, Trinket and Jane, looking for danger, looking for a moment to attack.


    The horses¡¯ mouths stretched open, their teeth bucked out, and whinnies screamed up their throats. They reared into the moonlight and their hooves slashed out.


    When their hooves hit the ground the hogs began their run.

 CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

    CHAPTER TWENTY NINE


    The hogs came fast, their dead eyes flushed with anticipation


    At the same time Trinket shouted ¡®Charge.¡¯


    She slapped her feet against the flanks of her horse and as though it had been waiting for this signal, Trinket¡¯s horse bared its teeth, and opened its eyes into large round ponds of determination, and made a sound like a bugle call to war, and jumped.


    Without thought, Jane kicked her horse¡¯s flank. Her horse jumped, and a moment later it followed Trinket¡¯s horse into a gallop, nose to bum, their hooves thundering against the narrow path, straight toward the attacking hogs.


    The hogs slowed, confused by the reversal of normal attack procedures where they got to do all the attacking and the prey got to be frozen with fear.


    Trinket pulled a leg up onto her horse''s withers, then she sprang up and landed with one foot on the horse¡¯s back, and one foot on the loin. She made a warbling sound and waved her arms and looked crazy and haphazard. Her thrip coat poured out into the air behind her.


    The eyes of the shuffling hogs were drawn up to the thrip. They stepped one either side of the path, and a change came into their faces, and Jane could see they were getting ready to attack Trinket. The hogs shrunk into themselves, coiling up like springs, ready to release. Their dead eyes moved in the arc of Trinket¡¯s approach.


    With bared teeth, Trinket''s horse thundered between the hogs.


    The hogs burst upwards and threw themselves across the rump of the horse. Their long fingers, bristled and grey and weeping fluid, swiped to grab Trinket around the ankles and calves. They were going to drag Trinket over the rump and tail of the horse, dragging her to the ground.


    Except, just as the hogs lunged, Trinket stepped back and sprung into the air. The hogs hands swiped underneath her rising feet, and grasped at nothing but air.


    The hogs slumped over the back of the lead horse while Trinket flew backwards through the air, one leg extended, one leg up, her arms out like a ballerinas. She landed, legs akimbo, across the withers of Jane¡¯s horse. Her shoulder blade hit Jane in the face so hard that Jane¡¯s nose spurted with blood.


    For a moment the two hogs squealed and bounced on the croup of the front horse. Their snouts were in the air and their rubbery black tongues were lolling, and their voices were raised in squeals that sounded like confusion. Their long fingers dug into the hide of the horse, tearing at the hide, drawing out lines of blood.


    They were slowly sliding from the horse, and their hooves swung in under the horse and clumped against the horse''s legs. The horse began to stumble. Somehow the horse stumbled on and kept its feet. Then, still galloping, it bucked so that its body mushroomed into the air, bent legs, arched back, head down, like a rodeo mustang.


    The hogs were strong and savage and stupid, but they weren¡¯t dexterous and they weren¡¯t nimble and they couldn¡¯t hold the bucking horse.


    Down they went, with nails tearing strips into the flesh. They fell into the dark swamp, and although they tried to keep their feet they were travelling too quickly and they landed sideways amidst the ferns and mangroves and sharp sticks and stinking mud.


    An instant later both horses were past the fallen hogs and galloping through the silent forest of paperbarks and dead oaks and ferns and paddle weed.


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    Jane pressed herself up hard against Trinket¡¯s back and wrapped her arms around Trinket¡¯s middle.


    Over Trinket¡¯s shoulder Jane could see the rump of the lead horse and she could see the open wounds where the Swamp hogs claws had dragged. She had a horrible feeling that the claws of a Swamp hog might contain poison.


    The path meandered through the dry forest and the horses finally slowed, at first into a canter, then suddenly, with no real prompting, they dropped back to a walk.


    They were on a straight stretch of wide sandy path, and the trees were sparse so that the horses walked through a spill of moonlight.


    It appeared that hogs either hadn¡¯t given chase, or if they had they were a long way behind. This didn¡¯t stop Jane from suddenly turning, imagining that she could feel them approaching. The hairs on her neck were standing up, and her nerves were jangling.


    The path ran along a rocky ridge before descending toward the Milkstone river. The eastern sky was becoming lighter with the approach of dawn and Jane looked over Trinket¡¯s shoulder at the giant monolith of White mountain. It was a dark triangle against the brightening sky, and it was so big it filled Jane with a feeling like worship.


    ¡®Not long now,¡¯ said Trinket, ¡®and we will be at Speckled Duck landing.¡¯


    Somewhere, a long way to the south, lightning slipped across the sky, lazy, and without sound.


    ¡®We will send the horses home once we get to the landing,¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®Will your horse be alright?¡¯


    ¡®I will treat the cuts with yellow syrup.¡¯


    The morning kept rolling in until overbright sunlight filled the east, while the sky to the south was filled with a blackness of storm clouds.


    Soon Jane and Trinket arrived at the Milkstone river. The river was a mix of murky brown and deep blue water. Trees and white clouds reflected on the river¡¯s surface. On a stretch of meadow beside the river, Jane almost fell from the horse into the meadow grass. Never had she experienced this level of exhaustion.


    Trinket alighted from the horse and immediately went to the first horse. Gently, she ran her fingers around the wounds. The horse stood still with its head up, and it seemed to be listening to Trinket working on the wounds.


    Reaching into her thrip cloak, Trinket took a small flask from an inside pocket. Jane recognised the flask as being the same flask she had seen back in the marketplace in Wyld Fell, just before she had the first encounter with the Governor.


    Trinket poured the yellow syrup down the length of the slashes, and when the syrup touched the hide of the horse it made a sizzling sound. A trail of steam rose from the wound.


    The horse became very still.


    When she was finished with the yellow syrup Trinket went to the head of the brown horse and worked her hand up and down its neck. The horse bent its head toward the ground and Trinket whispered in its ear.


    After a moment she let the horse be, and she sat beside Jane who was laying amidst a stand of blue flowers.


    ¡®They will need to rest for a moment,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®Then I will give them a slap to send them home.¡¯


    Jane shut her eyes.


    She was almost asleep when she heard a noise, like wind rushing through branches. She opened her eyes and saw, straight overhead, a flock of ravens. There were hundreds of ravens. Perhaps thousands. They were flying in a large slump, an unkindness of purpose.


    ¡®The birds of death,¡¯ Trinket said quietly.


    ¡®What does that mean?¡¯ asked Jane.


    ¡®There is always a raven present when someone disappears. We call them the birds of death.¡¯


    The flock of birds continued for several moments, then the sky cleared.


    Trinket squatted in the grass, and doodled in the dust. Using a stick she drew a star, then a moon, then a small girl with an angel''s wings. She didn¡¯t even seem tired.


    Laying with her cheek in the dirt, Jane watched an ant climbing a stalk of grass, its six black legs gripping the grass like pincers, its antennae pushing up and down. Flying insects droned and moved through the grass in brown clouds. The heat in the rising sun stung Jane¡¯s bare legs.


    Jane shut her eyes. Her eyelids were leaden.


    When Trinket spoke Jane heard her voice as though it was coming through in a dream. Trinket said something about the storm in the south, and how big it would be later that day.


    Jane breathed out, and dust skittered away from her nostrils.


    It seemed only a moment later when Trinket shook Jane awake.


    ¡®The ship is arriving.¡¯

 CHAPTER THIRTY

    CHAPTER THIRTY


    Instantly, Jane came awake with her cheek pressed hard into the dirt between two tufts of grass. She lifted her face and there were pinprick dents on her cheek where tiny rocks had embedded themselves.


    Getting into the upright position after sleeping on hard ground brought pain as fresh as sap. The pain ran from her ankles to her neck. She stood and rubbed her face to get rid of the tiny rocks. Fatigue sat like lead in her muscles. She rocked on her feet with her eyes half open and the fold of skin under her eyes felt bruised.


    The sun shone from the east at a gentle angle.


    Trinket was halfway between Jane and the edge of the river. She looked over her shoulder, her green eyes urging Jane to snap into wakefulness. She pointed down the river, and said, ¡®The ship has just come into view.¡¯


    Down the river someway, the river ship¡¯s foredeck had appeared between the river gums and willows. The ship moved swiftly, leaving a V shaped wave that rolled against the river bank. Four monstrous oars, like telegraph poles, came from oar holes in the ship''s hull. When the oars rose from the river, water poured from the blades. When the oars swung forward there was a groan of distressed timber.


    Putting a hand in the air, Trinket waved in a pendulum motion, This must have been the accepted signal for stopping a ship. The breeze lifted her hair and swirled it into a wicker basket.


    Jane wondered if the ship would stop? Probably not, with luck that she was having. Expect the worst.


    The ship continued to rush through the tunnel of trees, slipping between shades of yellow and green, growing larger as the oars pushed hard against the brown river.


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    After a moment Trinket said, ¡®They don¡¯t seem to be slowing.¡¯


    ¡®Of course they aren¡¯t,¡¯ said Jane in a tone of resigned sufferance.


    The boat streamed toward the two females, the oars ticking metronomically. On the deck, a forward deckhand who had seen Trinket called out something that Jane couldn¡¯t hear.


    Trinket turned and said, ¡®He called for the glass. Once I am seen and recognised as the princess of Wyld Fell, the boat will stop.¡¯


    A second deck hand came to the prow and lined his eye up behind a telescope. He moved his view between Trinket and Jane.


    After a moment Jane said:


    ¡®The boat isn¡¯t slowing.¡¯


    Along the port side of the ship were four armed men. The men raised longbows and pulled arrows into a position of half tension.


    Trinket brought a hand up to shield her eyes. She watched the men along the gunwales, assessing their intentions. Her lips moved silently. She seemed confused as to what was happening.


    ¡®The ship guards don¡¯t normally draw like that.¡¯ said Trinket.


    Out of habit she reached for the bow that was missing from her back.


    Jane knelt down amidst the grass. She didn¡¯t want to stand there like an idiot for the marksman to have an easy shot at her.


    Trinket said. ¡®They won¡¯t fire.¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m not taking a chance.¡¯


    Trinket waved her hand furiously toward the ship and muttered, ¡®Slow you stupid mud hogs.¡¯


    ¡®The oars are going harder than ever,¡¯ said Jane. She felt spiteful toward Trinket and her cockiness.


    Trinket thundered. ¡®Stop you hog slappers.¡¯


    The boat not only didn¡¯t stop but began to go faster as some unseen task master gave an order for the rowers to row harder.


    Suddenly Trinket began running, her feet whipping through the blue flowers and yellow grass. She ran out onto a rocky beach to the river''s edge. She took three splashing steps and dove, fully clothed, into the river. She disappeared underwater to emerge a dozen feet further along. She immediately began swimming toward the passing ship.

 CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

    CHAPTER THIRTY ONE


    In the brig of the ship known as the Sweet Louise, Tom crawled in amidst coils of rope, and with an oily tarp pulled across his shoulders and back for warmth, he slept through the night.


    He was woken early by a dozen angry voices demanding that Elion be released. He stood with a slight stoop in the low ceilinged brig, and walked to the door that led onto the afterdeck. Although the door was locked, it had a square window with slats to allow in light and air. Tom could see through the slats. There were six ship guards on duty, three on the port side and three on the starboard side. Something was happening port side and the starboard guards crossed the deck. The guards crowded the gunwales and three of the guards unslung bows and nocked arrows against strings. They drew to half tension and sighted down the shafts.


    A crowd was on the dock shouting and waving their hands and their fists. The crowd were calling for the gangway to be lowered so they could board the ship and take Elion back. The guards didn''t reply. They just held their weapons and waited.


    Presently the captain, who was a huge man with a pumpkin sized head, came marching out from his quarters at the prow of the ship. He wore black pants and a long blue coat, and on his head was a hat that looked like a boat. He yelled for the crowd to disperse, but this only made the crowd more boisterous. They demanded that Elion be released immediately.


    The captain shook his head.


    ''You are all mad ... Elion is not on this ship.''


    ''We know that he is,'' yelled a woman wearing a yellow dress. She had her chest out and the tendons in her throat were bulging.


    Just then Silas Fox came mincing along the ship deck wearing a purple coat and an orange hat. At the sight of the dapper little man, the crowd grew even more agitated.


    ''You have taken Elion for the bounty,'' they shouted at Silas.


    ''You should be ashamed,'' they shouted.


    ''This is not true,'' Silas shouted back. ''I have an important prisoner, but it is definitely not Elion.''


    ''Liar,'' shouted the crowd.


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    ''We need to go,'' Silas whispered to the captain. ''We need to depart before this gets ugly.''


    The captain didn''t argue. The crowds anger was bludgeoning the quiet of the morning. The captain sensed it was only a matter of time before the crowd managed to board the ship.


    Under the captain''s orders the deckhands threw off the mooring ropes, and immediately the river''s current caught the ship and pushed it away from the wharf. The townspeople roared and ran along the rivers edge, but soon the ship was travelling too fast for the runners to keep up. Wood groaned. Deck hands shouted. Ropes zipped through blocks. Huge oars were lifted and pulled by beasts that were chained up in the hold of the ship. Tom had overheard one of the deckhands refer to the rowers as Bearded Grogans. From the way the sailors had talked, Tom got an image of creatures as large as elephants, with bodies shaped like gorillas, and heads that looked like a hippopotamus.


    Soon the town fell behind.


    Tom shuffled over to the rear of the brig, to a small stained glass window. He wondered if he could open the window, but it became apparent that the window was locked from the outside. He might be able to smash the window and reach through to unlock it, but that was something he could consider later if a purpose for escape came to him. He found a piece of clear glass amidst the stained glass and he looked through. The river unwound behind with a v shaped wake slapping against the river banks. The sun reflected silvery squares of the brown water.


    For a time the river wended through lazy U turns that took the ship past farmland. Cows and sheep grazed in paddocks surrounded by hedges of nettle. Soon, though, the river left the farms behind as it worked into a hilly area covered with woods. Along the edge of the river were weeds and wildflowers and logs and earthen banks and storks with long grey legs and long grey beaks.


    The breeze brought the smell of weed and wood rot and insects.


    The light was yellow and gold, and Tom felt quite optimistic. He had accepted that he was on some sort of pre-ordained mission to take a seat inside a machine, and Jane had her heart set on finding the book. Tom felt that the strength of both his and Jane''s ambition would see that everything would work out just fine.


    Out to the south, very very distant, came the occasional low rumble of thunder.


    Tom stepped away from the window and sat on a coil of rope, and soon he was starting to drift back off to sleep. Then he heard commotion from the guards on deck. He promptly woke up and went to the brig door. The guards had their bows up and arrows nocked. They were lining up their arrows on someone that Tom couldn¡¯t see out on the riverbank. Then the guards suddenly lowered their bows and one of the guards said, ¡®She is swimming. Does she think she will catch a Grogan rowed ship?¡¯


    Tom scrambled across the brig, stepping over ropes, to the back window. Out the window he only saw the receding river and the willows along the river banks, and the bow waves slurping into the muddy overhangs, and a brace of ducks rolling up and over the ship''s wake.


    Then they passed a meadow and Tom saw Jane crouching in the meadow amidst the grass. He called her name, but his voice sounded as thin as a reed, and she showed no sign of having heard him.


    In the water were the sleek green shoulders of a thrip, swimming behind the ship, powerful and fast.

 CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

    CHAPTER THIRTY TWO


    The ship surged on, its brig high above the brown water. For a moment Trinket gained on the ship. Her body seemed to float above the water, and her swimming strokes were powerful and crazy fast. But the ship was accelerating as whatever beasts that rowed the ship thrust the pole sized oars into the water, harder and faster. Trinket began to slow and the ship began to draw away. She gave up the chase. She turned and swam to the shore and came up with water running down her green skin and from her tunic. She shook in a way that sent a shiver down her body, and water droplets flew off in an emerald shower.


    The ship continued, the giant oars pulling relentlessly, until it disappeared amongst the river trees on a wide bend.


    Standing in the grass and thistle, Jane¡¯s mouth was turned down, and her forehead was creased with a single line, and her eyes were filled with displeasure and resignation that all was failing. She crossed her arms.


    Trinket strode across the meadow with an energy that indicated that she had already moved on from the setback of not catching the ship. She vibrated with anticipation of some new idea.


    She marched up to Jane.


    ¡®Let¡¯s go.¡¯


    ¡®I thought the ship always stopped.¡¯ Jane¡¯s sounded sarcastic and weary. ¡®I thought it was in the constitution of Paris or some such thing.¡¯


    Trinket put her hands in the air and let them drop, as if to say, no big deal.


    ¡®We can still get the ship, but we will have to hurry.¡¯


    ¡®How?¡¯


    ¡®The ship now travels south for many miles where it goes through a large bend to come north again. I know a place we can get hold of more horses. We can ride the horses across the cornfields to intercept the ship at a place called Grime¡¯s crossing.¡¯


    Just then an almighty rumble came from the south. Dark clouds were boiled up high into the air. A craze of lightning ran through them.


    ¡®We will have to go now.¡¯


    ¡®Which poor fool are we going to steal horses from now?¡¯


    ¡®His name is Gibor. He is only young. His father was murdered.¡¯


    Despite her weariness, Jane was interested.


    ¡®Why was his father murdered?¡¯


    ¡®The Emperor murdered the heads of all the major houses after they refused to cede to his authority.¡¯


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    Jane tried to think of something to say that didn¡¯t sound stupid but when she opened her mouth the stupidest thing came out.


    ¡®I killed my own father with a hammer.¡¯


    Luckily Trinket had already turned away and was putting her hand above her eyes to shield the angle of sunlight that poured down from the top of a nearby hill.


    ¡®Come.¡¯


    Trinket took off, thrusting the long grass and yellow flowers aside with her hands, until she came to a single hoof-wide animal track that ran up the hill. Jane hobbled behind.


    Because she had rested, Jane¡¯s ankle and her hip and even her shoulder had all stiffened up, and now the pain of muscles trying to unstiffen ran right up to the threshold of tolerance. She stumbled on a grass clump, and swore quietly.


    Trinket looked back and saw that Jane was in pain.


    ¡®I am running out of energy,¡¯ said Jane.


    ¡®You need to eat,¡¯ said Trinket.


    Jane stopped walking and put her hands on her hips.


    Trinket watched Jane for a moment then she said, ¡® You can have one sip of yellow syrup.¡¯


    ¡®I will need more than one sip of yelp our cordial.¡¯


    ¡®Here.¡¯


    Trinket thrust out the uncapped flask for Jane to take. A curl of vapour circled up from the open mouth.


    ¡®This is better than any food ¡­ but only one sip.¡¯


    ¡®What happens if I have more than one sip? Will it kill me?¡¯


    Trinket looked deathly serious, and she nodded once and said, ¡®If you have too much yellow syrup, it will kill you.¡¯


    If she hadn¡¯t been so energy depleted Jane would not have drunk the syrup. Too much would kill ¡­ what kind of voodoo poison.


    ¡®Just one sip now.¡¯


    Jane tilted her head back and tipped the flask up. The syrup was sweet, like Turkish delight, and creamy like eggnog. And it burnt, but not in a painful way. The syrup heated the whole way across the tongue, and the whole way down the throat.


    ¡®Stop,¡¯ Trinket said, and she put her hand into Jane¡¯s face, and grabbed the flask.


    Jane could have kept drinking. It was like eating fairy floss. You think, just one more bite. Then. Just one more bite. Next minute there is fairy floss in your eyebrows and fairy floss between your fingers, and your head is spinning like an egg beater because of all the sugar.


    Jane burped quietly, and said, ¡®My goodness.¡¯


    Trinket recapped the flask and slipped it inside her coat.


    ¡®What is it doing?¡¯


    ¡®It is like fire. It is pure heat.¡¯


    Trinket smiled. Her teeth were pure white behind her green marble lips.


    ¡®Oh, my,¡¯ Jane put a hand to her face. ¡®I must be red as a beetroot. I feel like I am flushed.¡¯


    ¡®Come,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®Let¡¯s hope that Gibor is still on our side.¡¯


    ¡®Is it possible he won¡¯t be?¡¯


    ¡®We will see.¡¯


    They continued to walk. Jane felt the yellow syrup spreading heat through her legs. She felt warmth going into her hip.


    The wind had risen in strength and there was a cold note that had been missing earlier. To the south the sky was one huge bruise of storm clouds.


    The animal path zig zagged up the side of the hill, and Jane bounded behind Trinket. The yellow syrup coursed through her body, a nuclear explosion of energy in her muscles. The sunlight made ribbons of light and dark across the thistle and black rock, and clumps of yellow flowers.


    Trinket reached the top of the hill, and stopped. She made a funny meowing sound, then said, ¡®So we have a little problem.¡¯

 CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

    CHAPTER THIRTY THREE


    Reaching the top of the hill Jane paused beside Trinket.


    The first thing Jane saw was the monolithic White mountain: a single volcanic funnel streaked with deep fissures and white lines of snow. The mountain was so singular and large it could be a god, out there leaning against the horizon.


    Closer, beneath the hill and spanning for miles toward the base of White mountain were fields of corn. These were the fields of the Middle River landholdings of Gibor. The corn was in season, and the fields were green with stipples of yellow. The fields were bent before the wind that came hard from the south. Men with scythes and buckets were pouring from the fields, along with brutally loaded carts dragged by donkeys. They were hurrying to shelter before the storm hit.


    A road as wide as a horse cart came from the north through the fields of corn. It passed beneath Jane and Trinket and travelled up an incline before crossing a moat with a drawbridge, where it stopped at the gates of a castle. The castle gates stood open to allow the workers and the donkeys and the carts filled with corn to enter quickly. The castle walls rose tall and dark. On the castle turrets Jane could see through arrow slits the dark helmets of men-at-arms.


    Flying from the tallest turrets were two flags.


    Trinket gestured toward the flags.


    One of the flags was blue and yellow, embroidered with the head of a dog wearing a crown. The flag fluttered manically in the wind. The other flag was red, with a black insignia, and a square, rotating pattern in the centre. Jane recognised the symbol as that of the Empire.


    ¡®The Empire flag is flying,¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®What does that mean?¡¯


    ¡®It means that the Emperor has taken control of the Middle River castle.¡¯


    ¡®What does it mean ¡­ for us?¡¯


    ¡®I don''t know.¡¯


    ¡¯Bother.¡¯


    They set off down the hill following a single-file animal trail, through whiskery heads on long grass. The wind blew cold from the south. Trinket¡¯s hair lifted into a green funnel


    The animal path joined the roadway, and the two females were able to walk much faster. Jane felt fearless and oiled with the yellow syrup driving through her muscles. The thrip coat was being buffeted in the wind.


    The road ran a line between the flat field of corn to the left, and the rock strewn hill to the right. The castle grew larger. The sky behind the castle had turned deep black.


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    Trinket spoke sideways, her voice thin in the wind.


    ¡®There are soldiers at the castle gate.¡¯


    ¡®I can see.¡¯


    ¡®Let me do the talking.¡¯


    They walked up to a drawbridge that crossed a narrow moat surrounding the castle. On the other side were two men-at-arms wearing chain mail and leather vests and iron caps that wrapped leaves of iron across their cheeks and down their foreheads. They held battle axes across their shoulders. Beside these men at arms were two soldiers dressed in the uniform of the Empire .


    As Trinket approached, the first of the two guards took a step forward, obviously recognising Trinket. Trinket shook her head with a small, almost imperceptible shiver that told the guard to pretend that she was a stranger.


    The Empire soldiers were standing back from the guards, in the deep shadows of the wall. One of the soldiers stepped toward Trinket. He put a hand in the air and said, ¡®Are you a vassal of the Middle River Landholding?¡¯


    ¡®No¡¯


    ¡®What is your business with the house of Gibor?¡¯


    ¡®My companion and I seek shelter from the storm.¡¯


    There was silence for a moment while the soldier stared at her.


    ¡®Are either you or your companion carrying arms?¡¯


    Trinket put her arms out, and palms forward. ¡®Search me.¡¯


    ¡®I can see that you are not carrying iron. Your clothes are flat. Turn slowly.¡¯


    Trinket stepped around and the soldier studied the shape of her clothing.


    Now you,¡¯ he said to Jane.


    Jane turned slowly while the soldier inspected her.


    The soldier spoke to Trinket


    ¡®Follow me.¡¯


    Jane and Trinket followed five paces behind the Empire soldier. They went thirty feet beneath the castle walls where they came to a courtyard paved with moss coated flagstones. In the centre of the courtyard was a garden with carpeted lawn and plum trees and a fountain with a marble carving of a naked female thrip pouring water from an urn into a round pond.


    They walked across the courtyard, skirting the garden area and the plum trees and the fountain, coming to the main castle that stood a hundred feet high, made of black stone.


    A gust of wind came over the castle walls and swept across the courtyard and slammed into Jane, pushing her skirt and coat hard in against the shape of her body.


    A great front door led into a great room, dominated by a shaggy bear''s head mounted on a backing of marble. Along a wall was a tapestry depicting a man on a horse, the man as round and large as a bear with a huge head and the most savage chiselled cheeks. He held a spear to ward off a lion that was crouched before him, belly low to the ground, back legs bunched and ready to spring.


    Across the great room was a long hallway with shields spaced along the wall, each shield showing a different coat of arms. Halfway along the hallway was an alcove, and in the alcove was a pile of weapons: swords, lances, spears, axes, crossbows, longbows, shortbows, daggers.


    The soldier kept marching past the alcove filled with weapons, but a few paces behind, Trinket grabbed Jane¡¯s arm and pulled her in close. Jane could smell the spicy aroma of Trinket¡¯s body. Trinket must have some new plan, and whatever that plan turned out to be, Jane sensed there would be danger.


    Trinket whispered, ¡®Run past the soldier and distract him.¡¯

 CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

    CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR


    Jane broke into a skipping run that took her past the soldier, startling him, making him jump and yell, ¡®Stop.¡¯ .


    He lunged after her, only Jane skipped ahead and turned with her hands out.


    ¡®I need to use your toilet.¡¯


    The soldier lunged and went to grab her, but suddenly pulled his hand back, as though grabbing a girl who needed to use a toilet was a boundary that he wouldn¡¯t cross.


    He scowled, and spoke gruffly.


    ¡®You are to follow me to the dining hall where I will announce your arrival to the sergeant at arms. It will be up to him what happens next.¡¯


    Jane put a hand on her belly and bent over her hand while assuming a pained expression.


    ¡®You don¡¯t want me having an accident do you?¡¯


    This made the soldier extremely uncomfortable. A blush crept up his face and drifted across his bald head.


    ¡®I will present you to the sergeant at arms and he will decide what you can and can¡¯t do.¡¯


    Jane spoke low, ¡®But it is urgent.¡¯


    The soldier was caught between stamping his authority on this strawberry haired girl, and a desire to be seen as a nice fellow.


    The soldier spoke softly.


    ¡®I am sure the Sergeant at arms will accommodate you.¡¯


    Just then Trinket stepped up beside the soldier. She didn¡¯t pass the soldier and Jane saw the slightest crease where Trinket had secreted a weapon under her cloak.


    Trinket said, ¡®Present us to the Sergeant and then we can use the toilet.¡¯


    The soldier grunted with a measure of gratitude.


    A slash of lighting lit up the corridor. Thunder roared.


    The soldier moved on down the corridor to an iron door. He opened the door and turned back.


    ¡®Wait here. I will speak to the sergeant at arms about accommodating you for the duration of the storm.¡¯


    He stepped through the door and turned to the left. Jane could just see past the soldier to a dining room where men were crowded around a table eating their midday meal.


    A moment later the soldier came.


    They followed the soldier into a great hall beneath a cathedral ceiling. A long dining table held a spread of food: meat and vegetables and grapes and nuts and bread, all in a blowsy litter as though attacked by wild animals.


    Around the table were rugged men all trying to talk over each other. The men quietened as Trinket and Jane passed. One of the men held up a bone with meat hanging from it. He pointed the bone at Trinket.


    ¡®¡®The princess of Wyld Fell.¡¯


    Fifty feet along the table was a huge man sitting between three empire soldiers. Although the man was young, perhaps just out of his teen years, he was already battle scarred. The young man¡¯s head was a boulder that looked like it had been beaten on to the neck using blunt force trauma. The young man¡¯s face was a landscape of scars. One of his cheeks was scarred so badly it looked like a pile of worms. His left eye had been gummed half shut, with a large white scar crossing from his eyebrow to his cheek. A beard grew like a thick brush from his jaw and cheeks.


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    The young man opened his mouth and revealed long and crooked teeth. He roared across the room, ¡®The princess of Wyld Fell.¡¯


    There was emotion in the greeting, partially joy, and partially distress.


    ¡®Hello Gibor,¡¯ said Trinket.


    The soldier who had escorted Jane and Trinket from the castle gates called to the sergeant at arms, an Empire soldier.


    ¡®I didn¡¯t know that I was accompanying a princess.¡¯


    Seated directly beside Gibor, the sergeant said, ¡®The princess withheld that information.¡¯


    ¡®Hello Princess,¡¯ said Gibor as Trinket drew close.


    The sergeant at arms put a hand in Gibor¡¯s direction to stop him talking.


    It was obvious that the sergeant at arms held the power in the room. He had tiny, cruel eyes that sat deep in a very dull face. He had a splodgy beard that grew with reluctance beneath his chin. He slouched in his chair, one leg sticking out, the other leg folded under.


    The seated sergeant and the two soldiers who stood behind him were heavily armed. They wore short swords, hilts protruding from scabbards. They wore daggers sheathed in leather holsters across their chests. They wore iron armour that covered their chests and shoulders. The standing soldiers had quivers and bows slung across their shoulders.


    The Empire sergeant spoke to Trinket as though she was lacking intelligence:


    ¡®I was told that two females were looking for shelter from the storm. Now, seeing that one of the females is Trinket, the princess of Wyld Fell, I no longer believe that this is an innocent request. I believe that you have come to see Gibor with deliberation. And that makes me wonder ¡­ why?¡¯


    Gibor¡¯s men watched, eyes gleaming, violence lurking in their scar riddled faces.


    Jane noticed that the men at the table were not armed. Gibor¡¯s men had not even as much as a small dagger. Gibor himself wore no weapons and no armour. They had been enfeebled. The Empire soldiers held the weapons and the power.


    Staring directly at the sergeant at arms, Trinket said, ¡®I need to speak to Gibor alone.¡¯


    The sergeant crossed his arms and leaned further back in the chair, so far that the front legs of the chair came off the ground. He shook his head, and a sound of derision came out as a snort.


    Again, Trinket said, ¡®As the princess of Wyld Fell, I need to speak to Gibor alone.¡¯


    The sergeant leaned forward and the chair''s front legs banged against the ground. ¡®You will NOT speak to Gibor alone. Acting for the Emperor I will attend all meetings.¡¯


    The elation of yellow syrup running through Jane¡¯s muscles had subsided, and she felt like she was slumping. She needed more yellow syrup. One sip. She craved one more sip.


    Gibor addressed the sergeant:


    ¡®Accompany me and the Princess to the chancery. Let us see what news she brings.¡¯


    The sergeant stood quickly, and nodded at Gibor.


    ¡®Let us go and see what the princess has in her mind.¡¯


    Gibor stood, and he was huge. He was seven feet tall and as wide as a table, with a head that would have trouble fitting through a narrow door.


    ¡®Come,¡¯ he said to Trinket.


    Because nobody had mentioned Jane in their negotiations, Jane wasn¡¯t sure if she should also attend this meeting in the chancery, but when Gibor and the sergeant moved off, Trinket turned and murmured, ¡®follow.¡¯


    Lightning crackled and hissed and the thunder that followed sounded like the end of the world.


    From the dining room they entered a narrow corridor with walls made of enormous, irregular stones. This corridor led into a wider corridor where the walls were mud packed. A shelf held metal helmets and earthen dishes. Along one wall hung a large map. At the end of the corridor they came to stone stairs that coiled up into the keep of the castle tower.


    Halfway up the stairs it happened.


    In a flash of blue and green, a short bow appeared in Trinket¡¯s hand.


    Gibor, who walked just ahead, sensed the movement and turned and a look of horror came into his face. He was shaking his head to tell Trinket to stop, but he was too late, because she nocked, drew, and released an arrow that flew and embedded itself in between the shoulder blades of the sergeant at arms.


    The sergeant bellowed and turned with the stuck arrow following him. Trinket strung and drew and let fly another arrow that found the sergeant''s throat. His eyes went wide, and his mouth opened, but no words came. He crashed to the ground.

 CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

    CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE


    Tom was asleep with his head on a coil of rope and his neck twisted at an extreme angle, and his body curled up like he had been in an accident. He woke when a crash of thunder sounded in the distance. He got on his knees and he walked on his knees to the small window, and saw the river below was brown and hot with the sun boring down. The boat was slowing.


    ¡®What is happening?¡¯ he murmured to himself.


    He waddled on his knees from the window of the brig to the door, and he put his eye up to the slats. The light streaming in hurt his eyes.


    Up ahead on the riverbank, was a centaur and two swamp hogs. The swamp hogs had shackles around their throats with chains attached to the shackles and the chains fed back to attach to the rear of a saddle on the centaurs back. The hogs surged against the chains, only to be wrenched back. They wore ragged clothes and their eyes were bloodshot and rolling with fear. They were looking up at the large ship as though it was a monster.


    One of the hogs opened its snout and let out a whistling scream, and immediately the other hog joined in. They continued to scream until the centaur got hold of a fist full of chain and reefed the chain so that it bit into the hogs necks.


    The centaur was as tall as a small tree. His human chest and stomach, connected to the body of a horse, was naked and hairy and knobbly with muscle. His face was wide and his mouth wore a grimace, as though the centaur was somewhere in the middle of some unpleasant task.


    Even more interesting, perhaps, than the sight of a mythical beast (Tom knew about centaurs from his dictionary of fantastic beasts) was that Andrew was seated on the centaurs back.


    Tom felt his heart sink. He had been glad when Andrew was taken by the skinny man, knowing that, while on this adventure, Andrew wouldn¡¯t get to bully him.


    Peering through the slats of the brig door, Tom watched as four of the ship''s hands unstrung their bows and drew arrows on the pigs. This seemed unnecessary considering the pigs were tethered to the centaur.


    The captain strode across the deck from the forward cabin. He was a head taller than his sailors. His massive head seemed to be entirely beard.


    The captain leaned over the bulwarks and called to the centaur.


    ¡®Braidor, who have you scavenged up for me¡¯.


    ¡®A boy who has made a big claim.¡¯


    The centaurs voice was rich like loam, filled with a gentle humour.


    ¡®What kind of claim?¡¯


    ¡®He has claimed that he is Elion returned.¡¯


    At the mention of ¡®Elion¡¯ all the men on the boat burst into laughter. The centaur laughed too, his voice like a choir.


    ¡®This is how he introduced himself,¡¯ said the centaur. ¡®He claimed he was Elion, the greatest leader that Paris has ever known.¡¯


    ¡®Where did he get that idea?¡¯


    ¡®From the Creeper. Who tried to sell him to me. The Creeper claimed that this boy was worth a million rizers if I could get him to the Emperor.¡¯


    ¡®How much did you pay the Creeper?¡¯


    ¡®After I convinced him he didn¡¯t have Elion he was happy to hand the blighter over.¡¯


    ¡®So the Creeper believed the little dung monkey when he said he was Elion.¡¯


    ¡®The Creeper can¡¯t see the ¡®shine¡¯. He captured the boy in the northern meadows, mistaking him for Elion. Apparently the boy and two others came through the cliff.¡¯


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    ¡®Why have you bothered taking the boy, once you discovered he wasn¡¯t Elion?¡¯


    ¡®I owed the Creeper a favour, so I told him I would get rid of the little slab of turtle fat.¡¯


    ¡®Well I don¡¯t want him,¡¯ boomed the captain.


    ¡®Put him in the brig and drop him off at the capitol. I¡¯m sure they will find something for him down there.¡¯


    This was horrible news for Tom. He had actually been enjoying the solitude of the brig, even with the spectre of danger that was just around the corner. If Andrew joined him in the brig there would be no escaping. There had been too many occasions when Tom had been stuck, either in the canteen or the lockers, cornered by Andrew and his taunting or his punching or his remarks. Tom took a deep breath and tried to rid the feeling he had of suffocation.


    It looked like Andrew had been through hell. His hair was dishevelled and his St Dominics uniform had been torn and was smeared with dirt and blood, and his face was as dirty as a chimney boy''s face. His eyes were red, like he had been swimming in the ocean.


    The centaur turned, one large arm stretched back and a thick finger poked Andrew in the chest.


    ¡®Time to get off my back.¡¯


    The centaur knelt. Andrew managed to scramble off, although when he tried to stand he wobbled like jelly and fell to his knees.


    By now several deckhands had leaped ashore and secured the ship to a tree stump that stuck up from the brown water. Other deckhands were lowering a gangplank. One end of the gangplank was on the ship while the other was stuck in the reeds, the end of it sinking into mud. Water frothed, and a tree stump drummed the hull.


    The captain walked down the gangway, the board bending under his weight.


    The swamp hogs seemed terribly afraid of the captain, and they scrambled to get as far away from him as the chains allowed.


    The captain walked across the mud until he was beside the centaur, and even though the captain was seven feet tall, he had to rotate his head back to look up at the centaur who was several feet taller again.


    ¡®Good to see you Braidor ¡­ It has been too long.¡¯


    Braidor reached down with an open hand and the captain reached up and slapped it.


    The captain said, ¡®Does the boy still think he is Elion?¡¯


    ¡®I think I ridiculed him enough so that he understands that he doesn¡¯t have Elion¡¯s ¡®shine¡¯.¡¯


    The captain reached a hand into the vest and brought out a leather bag that he handed up to the centaur.


    ¡®My debt,¡¯ he said.


    ¡®The centaur took the bag and opened it, and peered inside with his eyebrows bunching over his eyes.


    ¡®You are a good man, Captain.¡¯


    The captain took a step backward and motioned for Andrew to follow him onto the ship.


    ¡®I must get going,¡¯ said the centaur. ¡®I have a man near the ocean who is looking to buy a couple of hogs.¡¯


    The centaur reefed the chains around the hogs necks so hard they nearly fell over. One of the hogs squealed and the centaur yanked the chain again.


    The centaur turned his human body and leaned his horse body to the left, muscles bulging and rippling. Without saying a word to Andrew who was back on his feet with his arms hanging at his sides, the centaur set off along the river bank with the two hogs shuffling beside in an awkward gait, swaying and bumping up and occasionally stumbling as the neck shackles bit.


    ¡®Follow,¡¯ said the captain, and Andrew followed the captain up the gangway.


    Just then Tom noticed Fox emerging from the forward quarters. He came across the deck with his arms swinging theatrically, and his purple coat wafting back like a cape, and displeasure running through his eyes.


    ¡®I need a word.¡¯


    The captain shook his head at Fox. ¡®I''m not dealing with a little fellow wearing a purple jacket right at this moment.¡¯


    ¡®You cannot put this boy in the brig with my prisoner.¡¯


    ¡®I can do what I like.¡¯


    ¡®I paid you for direct passage.¡¯


    ¡®That may be, but if a person sees Braidor the centaur on a river bank ¡­ he stops.¡¯


    ¡®I don¡¯t want this ¡­ boy ¡­ in the brig with my prisoner.¡¯


    ¡®Too bad ¡­ he is going in the brig.¡¯


    Fox seemed to be jittering, and he put a hand out indicating the brig. ¡®Let me take the prisoner to the brig.¡¯


    ¡®My ship, my prisoner,¡¯ the captain boomed, and continued walking toward the brig with Andrew who  looked surprisingly positive, considering his dishevelled appearance.


    Just then a huge gust of wind came roaring across the deck, and Fox¡¯s coat whipped out and got twisted up, and the captain jammed his hand on his captains hat, and Andrew nearly lost his footing and took two wild steps sideways while the wind pressed his pants and shirt and blazer hard in against his portly body.


    ¡®This storm might end us all before we get much further,¡¯ said the captain.


    The gangplank got hoisted up and the deck hands poled the ship away from the riverbank. There was a sucking sound of mud. The telegraph pole sized oars reared into the air, then came down with a splash.


    Tom watched with terrible foreboding as Andrew got led to the door of the brig.

 CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

    CHAPTER THIRTY SIX


    Andrew blocked all the light as he came through the door into the brig.


    Tom had sat down on a coil of rope, with his hands folded and squeezed between his legs. He didn¡¯t know where to look. At school, if you looked at Andrew, he would accuse you of staring. He would make out that you were the aggressor and use that as justification for bludgeoning you. On the other hand, if you ignored him, Andrew might leave you alone, or he might not. Coin toss. With just the two of them in this tiny prison, what was the bully to victim protocol? Should he look at Andrew or avert his eyes?


    When the door opened, letting in the rectangle of light, Tom couldn¡¯t help but look. Andrew stood in the doorway, blinking his eyes to adjust them to the sallow light.


    Adjusting, Tom moved his legs and Andrew saw the movement.


    ¡®Who is in here?¡¯


    From outside the brig came the voice of Fox.


    ¡®You don¡¯t need to know who is in the brig. Just go in and mind your own business.¡¯


    ¡®Who is there?¡¯ said Andrew.


    Although Tom didn¡¯t want to answer, he knew that Andrew''s eyes would adjust shortly, and he would recognise Tom, and he would be cranky as shite that Tom hadn¡¯t identified himself.


    ¡®Its Tom in here.¡¯


    ¡®Tom, from school?¡¯


    ¡®The same.¡¯


    Andrew took a stumbling step into the brig after someone (probably Fox) shoved him, and he bumped his head on the roof, then fell on his knees against a coil of rope. He swore.


    Tom remained silent, waiting for Andrew¡¯s next move.


    The door to the brig slammed shut and without the light pouring in, the sudden dark meant that Tom couldn¡¯t see a thing.


    Andrew said, ¡®It¡¯s bloody dark.¡¯


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    ¡®It is,¡¯ said Tom, cautiously.


    ¡®Look squire,¡¯ said Andrew. ¡®Let¡¯s make the best of a bad situation.¡¯


    Tom stayed silent.


    ¡®Let¡¯s not have any hard feelings about the joking around I did back at school.¡¯


    Tom couldn¡¯t believe his ears. Andrew was reaching out. He was apologising? No, he wasn¡¯t apologising, but he was definitely moving on from the ¡®joking around¡¯ as he called it (one of Andrew¡¯s jokes was to punch Tom in the stomach until Tom couldn¡¯t breathe).


    With eyes adjusted to the dark, Tom saw the hulk of Andrew two feet away.


    Andrew reached with his right hand for Tom to shake.


    ¡®No hard feelings,¡¯ said Andrew


    Although Tom didn¡¯t want to, he shook hands with Andrew. Could this be a genuine attempt at fellowship?


    Settling back, leaning against a rope and a box, Andrew said:


    ¡®So I might need your help on some shit ¡­ I¡¯ve got a bit of a job going on.¡¯


    ¡®What have you got?¡¯


    Andrew waited for a moment, as though considering whether or not to reveal his idea, like he was guarding some valuable secret. Then he looked straight at Tom.


    ¡®Have you ever heard of a book called the Wyld Book of Secrets?¡¯


    What the hell!


    ¡®I have heard of it.¡¯


    Asking about the Wyld Book of Secrets was obviously meant to be rhetorical so when Tom said he knew about the book, Andrew was temporarily flummoxed. But he quickly moved on.


    ¡®Yeah, well I heard all about it from the Creeper. He was the geezer who took me up the cliff. Mistaken identity. He thought I was this great leader named Elion, but turns out I wasn¡¯t, I looked like him or something.¡¯


    Just then there was a flash of lightning that lit up the brig, and immediately a clap of thunder roared around the boat. The storm was close, and the wind had picked up.


    ¡®So there is a book that the Creeper has been trying to get his hands on for years. He came from Earth just like us, to get hold of the book. He has tracked the book down to the city of Coronet, but apparently you need three keys to access the book.¡¯


    Another flash of lightning was followed by a roar of wind that seemed to lift the back of the boat.


    ¡®So I am going to get hold of the three keys, and this is where I might need your help ¡­ squire.¡¯


    There was something sparky about Andrew. Even though his clothes were dishevelled and his hair a mess, and his face all grotty, there was an energy coming through that made him more ¡­ attractive?


    Tom felt the key against his chest, and his only thought was to keep the key a secret from Andrew.


    Just then a huge roaring noise sounded from outside, and then a sound of groaning timber, and the ship tilted and tilted and Andrew fell sideways, while Tom scrambled to grab something solid. The ship rolled to an impossible angle as a storm hit with the ferocity of a German bomb

 CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

    CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN


    ¡®What did you do that for?¡¯ said Gibor.


    His voice started quiet but crept up into a booming resonance of anger and shock. ¡®You have put us into incredible danger.¡¯


    ¡®I know,¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®Why? You must know that the Empire soldiers have special protection, and that killing them is treated as an act of war?¡¯


    ¡®So now you are in danger which means you have to change course. The option of appeasement has been taken away.¡¯


    ¡®I could hand you to the Emperor, as the villain.¡¯


    ¡®You aren¡¯t going to do that,¡¯  Trinket purred through a twitching mouth.


    ¡®Of course I¡¯m not going to do that,¡¯ Gibor growled. ¡®I hope you have killed the soldier with a plan going forward. My men are already mutinous and if I don¡¯t present them with a solid plan I am afraid they will rebel against me.¡¯


    ¡®I have a plan,¡¯ said Trinket.


    Gibor looked from Trinket to Jane, as though she might have something to add.


    Jane shrugged, and said, ¡®I don¡¯t know what is happening.¡¯


    Gibor said, ¡®Let us all go into the chancery and talk. There is no immediate reason for the Empire soldiers to come looking for their fallen comrade, so we have some time to discuss this plan.¡¯


    ¡®Okay,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®But just you and me.¡¯ Trinket whipped a hand out in Jane¡¯s direction. ¡®For your protection, Jane, it is best that you do not know the plan?¡¯


    ¡®How does this protect me?¡¯


    ¡®If you get captured you can¡¯t be compelled to tell the details of a plan you don¡¯t know.¡¯


    ¡®That protects the plan ¡­ it doesn¡¯t protect me.¡¯


    Trinket raised her shoulders and eyed Jane with suspicion. Then she nodded and said to Gibor, ¡®Let¡¯s go.¡¯


    Up the stone stairs from where the Empire soldier lay with blood still trickling from his throat, was an iron door through which Trinket and Gibor disappeared, leaving Jane alone with the dead soldier. There was a mineral smell, and a dank biological smell.


    A rat came nosing down the stairs and sniffed its way up to the soldier. The rat tiptoed around the soldier until it came to the large pool of blood where it stopped and sniffed, then dipped its nose in for a drink.


    Jane sat on the bottom step, which was hard and cold, like blue, under her bottom. The stone vault that soared overhead was filled with troubling echoes, like whispers. Then thunder crashed and the storm exploded. Rain smashed against the roof with a deafening sound.


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    After a long wait the door above opened and Gibor came out, followed by Trinket. Gibor pounded down the stairs past the fallen soldier, and Trinket followed, her body moving like fluid.


    ¡®Follow,¡¯ said Trinket to Jane.


    The length of the corridor was filled with the roar of the rain. Hurrying behind Trinket, Jane wondered how difficult it would be to ride a horse in this weather, if indeed it was still part of Trinket¡¯s plan to take two horses to intercept the ship.


    As the group approached the door into the dining room, Trinket unslung the bow she had taken from the armoury and strung an arrow.


    ¡®There will only be two,¡¯ said Gibor quietly as Trinket came alongside.


    ¡®I have two arrows,¡¯ said Trinket.


    Gibor leaned on the door that fed into the great dining room, pushed it open and stood aside for Trinket to pounce through, the bow up, her eye behind an arrow, and the arrow flying.


    Through the door Jane could see a soldier with his eyes just turned to the door. She watched an arrow splash into his right temple. She watched his eyes widen and his mouth fall open.


    With the whip speed of a cat Trinket strung a second arrow, and this arrow flew toward the second soldier who was turning with a sword in his hands. The arrow punctured his shoulder, and he cried out and immediately rose to his feet.


    Trinket¡¯s quiver was empty, so no more arrows.


    The first soldier crumpled to the floor, and Jane could tell by the glassy look in his eyes that he wasn¡¯t going to get up again.


    With one huge arm, Gibor shoved Trinket aside. He strode past the first soldier and approached the second soldier with the arrow in his shoulder. Although the soldier was obviously in pain, he was still in the fight. He held a heavy sword in his right hand. He dragged the sword into a slashing arc, aiming to get Gibor in the neck.


    The soldier¡¯s face was a distorted elongated grimace of exertion and fear. The sword was starting low and coming up, with momentum in the swing, momentum that took it in a direction that couldn¡¯t be changed in any sudden way.


    Gibor lowered his body, and threw his head back so that the blade that should have struck the top of his shoulder before sweeping into his throat whistled an inch past his nose.


    The sword was heavy with momentum and it yanked the soldier off balance. He let go of the sword and it flew through the air and slammed, metal on stone, into the corner.


    The soldier stumbled. Gibor threw himself at the soldier and both of them fell. The soldier bellowed in a voice that alternated between a guttural roar and a shrill cry.


    Suddenly the soldier went silent.


    Gibor had an elbow pressed across the soldier¡¯s windpipe.


    A look of utter panic in the soldier''s eyes slowly subsided into a marble nothingness.


    Everything became silent. The men surrounding the dining table were watching with shock - the death of an Empire soldier representing the summoning of peril.


    The men at the far end of the table murmured to each other, but the men closest to Gibor remained silent.


    Gibor turned to the table and a flash of lightning threw shadows across his face. The landscape of scars flashed white like distant ridges catching the last light of a sunset.


    ¡®We have gone past a point where we cannot return,¡¯ Gibor said.


    This was met with more murmuring. There was something dangerous in the tone of the men. Something mutinous.


    ¡®Now we must fight,¡¯ said Gibor quietly.


    The grumbling grew louder. Gibor was losing his men. He looked to his left where Trinket stared back with her green eyes narrow and hungry for action. Jane had weary eyes and a downturned mouth.


    A hint of a smile creased Gibor¡¯s lips and pushed up a fat scar that wriggled down his cheeks. He turned back to his men.


    One of the men, an old battle scarred warrior, rose. A flare of lightning ran demonic shadows over his old warrior¡¯s face. He put a fist in the air and Jane heard the words, ¡®Gibor is weak ¡­¡¯


    Only a drum roll of thunder smothered the remainder of his sentence.


    When the thunder rolled away it was Gibor¡¯s voice that roared over the men.


    ¡®It is time to fight ¡­ Elion is back in Paris.¡¯

 CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

    CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT


    Gibor¡¯s personal butler was instructed to escort Jane and Trinket to the stables where the stable dwarf was preparing horses for a journey. The butler led the girls through a twist of corridors that ran to the castle square. Outside, black clouds had descended like an army. Lightning lit up the clouds, again and again. Across the square the massive huge timber doors into the stables lay open, with rain sheeting in to soak the sawdust floor. The trio ran through the rain and into the stables. Here the sweet smell of horse and leather was mixed with the smell of dung and straw and oats. Rain thundered against the roof. All down a long row of stalls were anxious horses, whinnying and thumping hooves against timber.


    Jane stood just inside the stables door and shivered, cold even though she still wore the thrip cloak.


    Gibor¡¯s men were roaring about the business of routing the remainder of the Empire soldiers.


    After Gibor¡¯s speech with his voice so loud and furious, the men had rallied. They called the name ¡®Gibor¡¯, and they called the name ¡®Elion¡¯, over and over until the names turned into a wild chant. Then, with the roars of murder and retribution, the men retrieved their weapons and went into the rain.  They cut down the Empire soldiers with a fury and a bloodlust unlike anything Jane had ever witnessed.


    While she waited for her horse to be brought to her by the stable dwarf Jane watched an Empire soldier running across the castle square with seven of Gibor¡¯s men in pursuit. When the men caught the soldier they struck him over and over with swords and daggers and axes, while the rain fell.


    The butler, standing beside Jane and Trinket, advised: ¡®For your safety and the safety of our horses I urge you to wait until the storm passes.¡¯


    Right then the storm increased, and the rain now made a roar that shut out all other sounds.


    The butler shouted to be heard.


    ¡®This is insanity. Your mission will surely fail in the face of this weather. These winds will bring tornados.¡¯


    Trinket shouted back, ¡®We are going.¡¯


    The wind suddenly shrieked over the castle walls, pulling rain into a spinning column that stood for a moment in the castle square before moving across the square, past the stable doors where it suddenly disappeared, the column being subsumed by the general storm, disappearing like a ghost.


    Inside the stables, a dwarf walked from the darkness, his little legs scuffing through the hay on the floor. He had squared shoulders and a crazy beard that tore sideways in the wind.


    The dwarf led a stallion, a huge black beast that strained against the bridle. The horse took large billowing breaths, and its chest heaved and its eyes were round and white with fear.


    The saddle on the stallion¡¯s back sat above Jane¡¯s forehead.


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    The dwarf handed the reins of the two mares to Jane and Trinket.


    ¡¯Give me the stallion,¡¯ Trinket said to the dwarf.


    The dwarf looked up. His eyes could have been made of iron. He didn¡¯t answer. Instead he went to the side of the stallion and reached up to a rope that trailed down from the saddle. With fast, chunky movements, the dwarf climbed the rope, up past the horses belly, until he was able to seize the saddle and swing his little legs over. Now he towered.


    ¡®Are you our escort?¡¯ Trinket shouted up to him, with a note of derision.


    The dwarf ignored her. He made a sound in his throat, and the stallion moved forward to the stable door, where it baulked at the sheets of water. The stallion reared, pawing at the rain with its front legs, and the dwarf moved with the horse.


    Walking to the head of the mare that she was to ride, Jane pulled the reins so that the horse lowered its head. She put her face up against the horse¡¯s cheek.


    ¡®Hello horse ¡­ I am Jane.¡¯


    She felt the tremor of presence in the horse¡¯s cheek.


    ¡®We will do this together.¡¯


    Jane drew away, and the horse¡¯s large eye watched her.


    At the stable door the black stallion reared several times, and the little dwarf moved with a fluid mechanism to stay mounted. Streams of water ran through the creases around the dwarf¡¯s eyes and mouth. Kicking his little feet into the horse¡¯s back, the dwarf urged the stallion into the rain.


    Jane mounted her horse. The saddle was slick and slippery. Her knees gripped just above the shoulders. She slapped the rains and her horse followed Trinket, on the other mare, into the furious rain. Immediately she became drenched.


    Her vision was blurred, and she could hardly see Trinket on the horse ahead. The horses¡¯ hooves clip-clopped on the cobblestones, across the courtyard and through the castle wall. After crossing the drawbridge they came out onto the road. Here the  dwarf urged his horse into a gallop, and the mares followed. The horses¡¯ thundered down the road through the corn fields.


    Jane leaned forward behind the rise and fall of her horse¡¯s mane, but the rain still belted her. Trinket¡¯s horse kicked up clumps of mud that hurtled into Jane¡¯s face and neck. Except for the occasional glimpse of Trinket¡¯s horse with its rump lifting and dropping, Jane had lost all vision.


    The horses kept up the gallop, their large bodies splitting the storm. Jane tried to keep her eyes open, but the rain and mud filled them, and she blinked and squinted.


    The rain increased and the wet and cold seeped through the thrip cloak Jane wore, and as her body chilled Jane began to feel a peaceful rhythm and a blanket of tiredness.


    The road made slight turns, but for the most part it went straight between endless rows of corn. The rain that hit the horses turned to steam.


    Suddenly the rain stopped. One second the horses were pounding through a solid sheet of water then the next minute there was nothing. The sun had burst into the western sky, watery and pale and cold.


    The horses stopped running, bringing their speed down so quickly Jane fell forward against her horse¡¯s neck.


    The dwarf on the stallion was a hundred yards ahead. He turned his head, and there was distress in the iron of his eyes.


    The day had become eerily calm.


    Trinket¡¯s horse stopped and Jane¡¯s stopped as well. A long tremor moved through Jane¡¯s horse, its muscles firing and twitching. It threw its head into the air and whinnied.


    ¡®Something is very wrong,¡¯ said Trinket.

 CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

    CHAPTER THIRTY NINE


    Then Jane heard it ¡­ a roar from the south.


    A pillar of twisting air raced across the fields of corn, a funnel that bounced on the ground and bounded into the air. As it moved it pulled up fists of soil and stalk and grass and rodents, gathering them into a wrenching howling twist of pure terror that roared toward the trio on the horses.


    Trinket shouted ¡®Ride!¡¯


    An almighty whoomp of wind shoved Jane, and nearly dropped her from the horse. She leant with her chest hard against the horse¡¯s withers. Trinket had urged her horse into a furious gallop and Jane¡¯s horse followed unbidden. The snout of the tornado bounced against the ground, and tore the soil like an iron share. Behind the tornado, another twister moved faster than the first, as though racing.


    The horses ran, their manes streaming, their heads lowered, their bodies flattened out, their legs blurring.


    The dwarf¡¯s horse pulled away. The large black stallion had power that the mares couldn¡¯t follow.


    For a moment the twisters moved adjacent to the horses and at roughly the same pace. The horses leaned against the vortex, their legs skating out sideways, straining to stop the apocalypse from inhaling them.


    A sound as large as an exploding bomb was made by a farmhouse losing its gravitational grip on the land. The house lifted as the big tornado paused and thickened, its black wind belly bloated with debris. The tornado swayed and heaved as it sucked the farmhouse into its guts, spitting out timber and tiles.


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    Still the horses ran.


    The rain had started again and Trinket appeared and disappeared in the intermittent sheets of grey, rocking in the saddle, shifting her weight across the horse for balance.


    Jane had a different technique. She hugged the horse like a person drowning.


    Lighting flared.


    The large tornado lifted again, its spinning tail momentarily losing touch with the ground. Now the dwarf on the stallion was directly in its path.


    The dwarf flattened his little body and kicked the stallion repeatedly, his feet in a staccato of motion. Then the tornado stabbed its tail down and the dwarf and the black stallion disappeared.


    The tornado moved on, a roiling mess of destruction. It bounced like a ball until suddenly, as if by magic, the tornado stopped spinning and began to dissipate. A moment later the twin tornados vanished into the black clouds.


    For the next few minutes the clouds rained debris. Soil and corn-stalk and grass and timber and stone and a cow and hogs on hogs on hogs. So many swamp hogs fell, most of them still squealing on the way down, the sound even more horrifying than the shriek of the storm.


    The dwarf and the stallion had disappeared.


    The clouds fell apart now and long strands of sunlight reflected off the waterlogged world, big lemon slices of overbright light.


    The sky remained black to the east, where a long rainbow stretched thinly, one end in the cornfields, the other end crossing the Milkstone river and bouncing on into the scrubby area to the north.


    Ahead in a misty line of willows and horse chestnuts was the Milkstone river.


    Jane wondered about the ship they were meeting. How had it fared in the storm?

 CHAPTER FORTY

    CHAPTER FORTY


    The ship listed until every thing in the brig had shifted and fallen hard against the timber hull. Just when Tom thought the ship was going water-over-wheel (into the river to drown Tom and Andrew) it paused in the roll and began the groaning roll back to starboard. For a moment the floor was level and then it began its starboard descent. The contents of the brig slid back across the floor. Tom got jammed between a coil of rope and a crate that smelt like rotting oranges.


    A slash of lightning lit up the brig and flared on the quivering white face of Andrew.


    Suddenly the rain started, and within seconds the window became a sheet of water. The river churned, and the boat kept up its huge sway.


    The storm roared but there was another sound that rose above the din, and it took Tom a moment to place this new sound. The sound was even more terrifying than the storm. This sound was like murder.  Tom held his body still and tried to discern between the clashes and thumps and thundering rain, just what this noise was and where it was coming from. Then he realised ¡­ it was Andrew screaming like the damned on their way to hell.


    While Andrew howled the fear out, Tom held it in, hugging his knees up to his chin, while murmuring to himself: ¡®Hail Mary, mother of God.


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    Something large hit the boat.


    Surely they would sink.


    The boat rocked and lurched in the roiling river, but it didn¡¯t sink, and the oars kept groaning as whatever large beasts performed the singular task of rowing. Rain poured across the wooden decks, and the wind howled.


    After a moment Andrew stopped screaming.


    In a flash of lightning Tom saw Andrew with his head between his knees, shaking violently.


    For some reason Tom was becoming deeply relaxed. The worse the storm became, the calmer and more relaxed Tom felt. This (here in the storm battered gaol on a ship in a fantastic land) this was life in a way that Tom had never felt life before.


    Then the storm ended.


    The brig¡¯s window became filled with queer light, the light almost like a foreshadowing, a harbinger. It was coloured a holy orange and a sickly green. Tom walked on his knees to the window and stared out, and felt the sky rolling into him, like a drug. He suddenly turned to Andrew, thinking he might also be absorbing this sudden change, and this strange but beautiful light.


    Andrew was still crying, like a child who had lost sight of his mother. He had his head in his hands and he shook.


    Tom turned back to the window, only the queer sky had already been replaced by a mist that darkened the window. He sat back down, and put his back against a crate. It was barely possible to make out the coils of rope, and the hard lines of crates now laying at odd angles all over the brig. What next, he wondered.

 CHAPTER FORTY ONE

    CHAPTER FORTY ONE


    The sight of the dwarf and the stallion being wrenched up into the cyclone had ruined Jane. Stunned and numb, she rode up abreast of Trinket who had dropped her hard breathing horse into a walk.


    Trinket didn¡¯t care to talk about the disappearing dwarf. She was focused on getting to the river. There was no time to search for a dwarf. Trinket sounded flippant and brutal in the way she dismissed the idea. Although Jane understood this, from a practical position, she still felt an immense responsibility toward the dwarf and the horse.


    A few moments of riding and the horses and their riders moved from the weird lemon sunlight and rode into a thick, almost solid, mist that continued to Grime¡¯s Crossing. Here, below overhanging willows, the Milkstone river turned through an elbow bend. The river was a sullen and furious giant, roaring and punching fists of water into the riverbank.


    Trinket wheeled her horse. She swung a long leg over the head of her horse and landed on her feet.


    Jane¡¯s horse had a vibration running along its back, and steam rising from its hot skin. It snorted and swung its head up and down, straining at the bit. Jane could hardly move, welded to her horse by fatigue and aching bones. The yellow syrup that had kept her going for the past few hours had worn off. She felt like a fossilised stump.


    Presently, with stiff movement, Jane dragged a leg over the horse¡¯s shoulders and slid down its belly to the ground. Her ankle creaked and groaned.


    The earth steamed and the leaves drooped. Water  droplets made sad lines down the long grass.


    Through the mist Jane could see a suspension bridge spanning the river. The bridge had a narrow timber walkway suspended from grey ropes.


    ¡®Tether the horses to this log,¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®Shouldn¡¯t we send them back to Gibor?¡¯


    ¡®Not yet ¡­ in case we have a problem boarding the ship.¡¯


    ¡®How are we boarding the ship?¡¯


    ¡®From the bridge ¡­ We centre ourselves and drop down onto the roof of the brig.¡¯


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    Jane must have had a look of disbelief because Trinket laughed, right in her face and said, ¡®I have done this before.¡¯


    They looped a rope around a gnarled root of a willow, then tied the rope to the horses¡¯ neck straps.


    Then they heard the sound of the approaching river ship: the thrum of oars splashing and the creak of big timbers shifting against one another and the gurgle of water parting from a bow and roiling into riverbanks.


    A moment later the ship emerged from the mist, its prow standing high above the flood, its bow slicing the water with two bulbous waves. Lanterns swayed along the gunwale, their light making halos against the mist.


    The ship ran forward on the powerful thrust of oars, and the swift moving water.


    Jane slumped. They were too late.


    ¡®Run,¡¯ said Trinket, and she took flight, her legs like wings, her feet barely brushing the ground. Water slapped into the air around her as she burst through the grass.


    Jane took three running steps, but a splintered pain ran up her left leg and she fell and landed on a sharp stone with her knee. A bone pain drummed her kneebone, a boss of pain that ran hard over the top of the pain in her ankle.


    She rolled to her side and groaned. Will power brought her stumbling back to her feet. She could see that there was no way she would hit the suspension bridge before the ship got there. Trinket wouldn¡¯t either.


    But Trinket didn¡¯t stop running, as though she didn¡¯t accept the laws that governed time and motion. If she had been back on Earth she could win the sprint race in the olympics, running right past that Australian, Marjorie Jackson.


    The nose of the river ship went under the suspension bridge, and it slipped past, squeezing through the turgid waters at an alarming pace. The ship had nearly cleared the bridge when Trinket arrived at the entrance to the bridge.


    Jane could see, on board the ship, figures crowding the main deck and peering into the gloom. Near the stern of the ship, standing high above the raised quarterdeck, the helmsman was spinning a giant wheel, trying to control the ship against the straining river. The helmsman had soil coloured hair that struck out in every wind blown direction.


    Looking back at Trinket, Jane was captured by a sight that brought dismay to her heart.


    Although a lifetime''s worth of savagery had happened since Jane had arrived in Paris, there was a part of her brain that justified the violence as being necessary. She felt it could be explained through the principles of right and wrong; attack and self defence; evil versus good. But her heart sank when she saw Trinket stop at the entrance to the suspension bridge. With the swift movement that Jane had now seen on multiple occasions, Trinket unslung her bow and fitted an arrow and pulled back.


    Jane¡¯s sense of right and wrong reared inside, and she shouted ¡®no.¡¯ She looked across at the ship and saw that Trinket had a line on the helmsman. An innocent man.


    With her right arm cranking back an inch more force on the bowstring, Trinket breathed out, and her green eye squinted and held solid. The arrow leapt.

 CHAPTER FORTY TWO

    CHAPTER FORTY TWO


    The arrow swam through the mist and found a spot between the shoulder blades of the helmsman. He fell onto the ship¡¯s wheel where he balanced for a moment. Then the wheel became unbalanced, and the helmsman slipped with the wheel spinning beneath him. He fell to the floor and the wheel kept spinning. The  stern of the ship began pitching outwards, until it got caught in a flow of water that was moving faster than the flood beneath the body of the ship. The stern came around wildly until the ship was completely sideways to the river.


    On the other side of the river the prow of the ship was aimed straight at a rocky outcrop, and a second later there was a crunch as the ship¡¯s bow smashed into the far cliff. The front of the ship  crumpled, and splintery boards sheared into the air.


    The ship¡¯s stern floundered toward where Jane stood on the riverbank. Jane stood still, transfixed by this slow moving disaster. The ship¡¯s aft ploughed into the river bank, pushing hard into the black soil, tearing out soil and grass, shoving over a river pine so that its root ball lifted into the air dropping black soil and webs of fungi. The ground trembled beneath Jane¡¯s feet.


    The flood thumped against the ship¡¯s side, heaving and pushing and trying to lift the ship up and over.


    Back up the river¡¯s edge Trinket ran, a green streak, from the suspension bridge toward where the ship had struck. She waved at Jane, and shouted, ¡®Unlock the brig before the ship sinks.¡¯


    The roof of the brig rose above the river bank, and had levered into the bank, holding the ship back from pitching right over into the flood. In the rear of the brig was a small window, directly level to where Jane stood. She would have to work her way around the root ball of the river pine that had fallen.


    Carefully, she negotiated the root ball, grasping handfuls of wet roots while digging her feet into the clumps of black soil. One limb at a time she shifted through the roots, getting scratched on her cheek and legs. Water boiled up between the rear of the ship and the riverbank. There was a gap she would have to jump. She bent her knees and straightened her arms and, using the root as an anchor point, she leaped.


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    She landed against the back of the ship with two hands on the railing that protected the narrow passageway behind the brig. She landed with her right knee on the walkway and her left foot bouncing in the flood. She paused for breath, then pulled her left leg up. She scrambled upright.


    She looked through the window but could only see darkness. The window was held shut by a bolt that went from a metal holding clasp into a brass eyelet. Jane took hold of the bolt and slipped its eye down and pushed hard. At first the bolt resisted, then it leapt and the window sprung open.


    Jane didn¡¯t stop to consider there might be danger inside the brig. She put her face into the square of darkness and called:


    ¡®Tom.¡¯


    From the darkness, Tom¡¯s voice came back, ¡®How the bother did you get here Jane?¡¯


    ¡®No time a€| quickly a€| take my hand.¡¯


    Jane put her hand through the window into the darkness, and she heard a thud and sound like timber falling on timber. Then she heard another voice.


    ¡®Me first.¡¯


    Into the sallow light cast by the window came the boy, Andrew, who had been taken up the cliff in the northern meadow.


    ¡®Me first,¡¯ he said again, his face looming, beetroot skinned, beady eyed. His mouth wobbled like a groping fish.


    Jane drew her hand back, then thrust it forward again. It would be easiest to quickly get Andrew out of the brig.


    Andrew took her hand, but just then the door between the brig and the deck opened. Through the door came a huge man with a head like a crate, and hair that whipped around like mad animals. His face was like hammer beaten metal.


    ¡®I knew it was you,¡¯ said the big man, looking at Tom in the light cast by the door he had just opened.


    ¡¯Are you the captain?¡¯asked Tom.


    ¡®I¡¯m the captain,¡¯ said the man. ¡®Now we have to get you off this ship before it sinks.¡¯


    The captain lunged across the brig and reached out, his long arm wound tightly with muscle. He grabbed Andrew and dragged him away from the window, wrenching Jane¡¯s arm as Andrew¡¯s grip got broken. He threw Andrew like a discarded blanket, and Andrew fell hard into the crates and ropes.


    Andrew yelled something unintelligible.


    ¡®Who are you?¡¯ said the captain to Jane.


    Tom answered, ¡®She is a friend.¡¯


    Just then the boat bumped onto a steep angle as the river thumped the side, and tried to roll the ship up and over.


    ¡®Elion, take the girl¡¯s hand,¡¯ said the captain to Tom. ¡®This boat is going under.¡¯

 CHAPTER FORTY THREE

    CHAPTER FORTY THREE


    Seeing Tom again was awkward after experiencing a day of people referring to him as a god. Jane felt incredibly inferior when he stepped onto the riverbank beside her. He stood in the mist, blinking to adjust his eyes after being locked in the darkness of the brig. His orange hair looked like a warning device in the mist.


    ¡®What is happening?¡¯ He asked, and his voice chirped upward.


    Jane hesitated. She couldn¡¯t think of something to say.


    Meanwhile Trinket dropped to a knee in front of Tom and put her head down. She murmured, ¡®This is an honour.¡¯


    Tom was nonplussed and he sort of swept his hand in Trinket¡¯s direction, and asked, ¡®Are you an elf?¡¯


    ¡®I wish you didn¡¯t ask that.¡¯


    ¡®No ¡­ I remember, you are a thrip. Is that right?¡¯


    ¡®That is right. We don¡¯t like being associated with the elves.¡¯


    Trinket bounced to her feet. Her green eyes glistened.


    The captain was working his way around the rootball of the tree, his muscles bunched, his feet breaking branches.


    Jane noticed that the captain had shut and fastened the window to the brig. Dismayed, she went to the rootball, intending to clamber back across the river to reopen the window. She shook her head at the captain, and set her face in a snarl.


    ¡®You have locked Andrew in the brig. He will drown in there.¡¯


    ¡®He is not my problem,¡¯ said the captain, and he grinned, his mouth a huge cavernous opening.


    The ship got hit by a pressure wave and a floating tree. The ship reared up and the roof of the brig pushed into the wet black dirt of the riverbank. The wave roared over the deck.


    From inside the ship came massive thumps of gigantic feet kicking the ship¡¯s hull, accompanied by the bovine groans of Grogans. Mad with fear and frantic for escape, the Grogans began bashing their chains and their feet into the hull, and the sound of them filled the air.


    Jane took hold of the rootball, but the captain put a big hand on her arm.


    ¡®That boat is going to go over. Do not get on board.¡¯


    ¡®Why did you shut the window?¡¯


    ¡®That boys will be of no help to you.¡¯


    The boat kept digging into the black dirt, making the sound of crumbling and rending and tearing. Clumps of bunch grass and switchgrass got knocked over.


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    Just then, along the boat''s trembling deck, came a strange looking man wearing a purple hat and an orange coat. He emerged from the mist, running at an angle on the deck toward the ship''s rear. The rest of the ship''s crew had gone forward and jumped from the ship onto the cliff that had caught the ship¡¯s bow.


    Jane was transfixed. The purple coated man could be a carnival spruiker, or a ringmaster under a circus tent, or a magician at a child''s party.


    The coated man arrived at the brig, and disappeared behind the bulk of it.


    Jane turned to Trinket.


    Trinket muttered, ¡®Silas Fox.¡¯


    Tom was also watching the man, and he shook his head, and made a small harumph in his throat. Then a smile formed.


    ¡®He will be going to the brig to get me. He wants his money.¡¯


    ¡®He will be furious,¡¯ said Trinket. She giggled in a girlish way. She looked at Tom as though starstruck, as though Tom was a movie star, or a King. Tom didn¡¯t notice though. He was just looking out at the ship¡¯s brig, waiting to see what happened.


    The captain stood tall with his arms crossed, watching the ship, like he was watching a movie with an expectation of an unfolding plot. There was a tension in his face. The ship that he had been captaining, for who knows how long, would soon be no more.


    The thunder of water smashed the ship¡¯s hull, pushing it so that the ship listed.


    The sprightly man in the purple coat came back out from the brig. Now the deck was at such an angle, he had to carefully walk up the slope to the gunwales.


    Andrew emerged from the brig. Andrew didn¡¯t have the balance of the purple coated man. He managed, with lunging steps to get up to the gunwale, then followed the purple coated man along the gunwales toward the bow. Andrew supported himself by holding the gunwale, and lumbered forward.


    Jane caught movement out of the corner of her eye, and without realising what she was doing she lunged across Trinket¡¯s line of sight. If Trinket hadn¡¯t been quick in her thinking, the arrow that she had drawn and sighted along the ship''s gunwale toward Fox, would have gone through Jane.


    ¡®Stop,¡¯ Jane shouted, jiggling back and forth in front of Trinket, with her arms out. She was furious, and her face was stricken and her eyes were intense with distress.


    ¡®Just stop shooting people.¡¯


    ¡®Get out of the way,¡¯ Trinket murmured, her voice low and filled with menace.


    ¡®No. I want you to stop shooting people.¡¯


    ¡®They are dangerous to our cause. They will get to the Emperor before we do and alert him of our presence.¡¯


    ¡®Does that matter?¡¯ Jane continued to stand squarely in front of Trinket.


    Tom took two steps toward Jane.


    ¡®We are in a different world with different rules.¡¯


    ¡®The rules that I live by are in here,¡¯ said Jane and she pointed to her chest.


    The captain said, ¡®It doesn¡¯t matter if the Emperor knows or doesn¡¯t know about you arriving. You will not get in through the city gates.¡¯


    ¡®Now we won¡¯t be able to go through the dock either,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®Once Fox informs the Emperor of our presence he will seal the dock up like an oubliette.¡¯


    Jane saw that the purple coated man had made it to the far bank and was standing, almost invisible in the mist, on the far cliff. He looked across the river at the group.


    Trinket said, ¡®We will have to go through the catacombs.¡¯


    ¡®How will you do that?¡¯ said the captain with complete disdain.


    ¡®We take the horses,¡¯ said Trinket.


    Jane gazed out at the ship where Andrew stumbled the last few feet toward the prow, walking in the channel between the forward cabin and the gunwales. Just then Jane noticed the danger, but too late.


    ¡®Arrow,¡¯ she yelled while falling as fast as she could to the ground.


    An arrow swiped through the mist spinning inches past her ear, heading directly for Tom.

 CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

    CHAPTER FORTY FOUR


    Laying face forward on the ground, Jane turned her head and saw that the arrow had missed Tom by a millimetre. Through a husky piece of fortune Tom had been in the process of stepping sideways when the arrow took flight. The arrow continued past Tom and sideswiped the captain¡¯s thigh before continuing on into the long grass where it got lost.


    The captain, who was trying to steal a horse (borrow it was what he was going to say a little later when the matter all came to light) was walking right behind Tom when the arrow came spearing past.


    He yelled, ¡®Buggar.¡¯


    He reacted instinctively and dropped to the ground, making a meaty thud as he hit the soil. He made a sound like a quiet roar as his right hand went to his thigh where the arrow had sliced past.


    There was a whistle of another arrow in flight and Tom dropped to the ground just before this second arrow flew through the sphere of air where his head had been a moment before.


    Trinket rolled so that she was partially on her side with a knee crooked up for support. She held her bow horizontal to the ground with its ends in large clumps of grass. She nocked an arrow and rolled her eyes sideways to look at Jane. Her lips made the shape of a blade, and she spoke with utter sarcasm.


    ¡®Permission to return fire.¡¯


    Jane felt stupid after telling Trinket not to release an arrow a moment earlier. The idea of putting an arrow into a brightly dressed little man (named Fox) who looked harmless and sweet, seemed like a terrible idea. But, now that the man had sent an arrow across the river, Jane felt a titanic sized wrongness.


    She should shut up.


    Trinket put her green slit of an eye behind the arrow, held for the barest second, made a miniscule adjustment, then let the arrow fly.


    The arrow disappeared into the mist on the far side of the river. The arrow missed the sprightly man. There was a sound of reed sliding on leather. Trinket sent another arrow, which also missed. Meanwhile Andrew had made it to the bow of the ship. He jumped across to the plateau atop the cliff. Mist swirled, blotting the figure of him.


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    Trinket nocked her last arrow and pulled it tight, but didn¡¯t release. The mist had thickened and now you couldn¡¯t see Andrew or Fox.


    For a moment there was silence.


    The ship¡¯s stern bumped and groaned and ploughed through the black soil, gouging out reeds and shrubs in large clumps. Finally  the stern came free and swept out into the main flow of the river. Now the force of the flood wrenched the ship¡¯s bow free of the cliffs, and the ship immediately rushed away. The bearded grogans, still chained to the thwarts, were smashing their bodies against the sides of the ship in an attempt to break free. This brutal sound of their  terror was not something Jane would forget easily.


    Her legs unfolding, Trinket sprung up from the grass. She hopped across and positioned herself behind the root ball of the fallen tree. She looked through the roots. The mist, which waxed and waned with the breeze, cleared enough to get a proper view across the river to the far cliffs. Fox and Andrew had disappeared from sight.


    ¡®They have gone,¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡¯Where?¡¯ Asked Jane.


    ¡¯They will go to the city of Coronet. That is the only path they can take.¡¯


    ¡®What happens then?¡¯


    ¡®Then the Emperor finds out that Trinket, the princess of Wyld Fell, is with Elion and that we are on our way to Coronet. The Emperor will seal up the city. We won¡¯t be able to access the city via the service entry beside the shipping gate, which was my plan. The Emperor will swarm the entry with soldiers.¡¯


    Jane stood. The front of her dress was wet and covered with grass seeds and black dirt. She stepped sideways to stand with Trinket behind the root ball. Tom did the same.


    The captain stood up, but didn¡¯t hide. Wet and slightly angry he gazed at the river where his ship had disappeared. He crossed his arms. He had a  look in his eyes of purposelessness and grief.


    Then his eyes went slightly glazed, as new thoughts crowded in. He was already planning.


    He looked at Tom and lowered his head, his chin tucking into his chest. Then he brought his head up, and said, ¡®My Lord.¡¯


    Tom shook his head, he opened his mouth, Two bucky teeth went over the top of his lips. His freckles were bright red cold spots actress his cheeks. He didn¡¯t speak.


    The captain spoke to Tom. ¡®I will help you but I will not go through the catacombs. You should urge the princess not to take that route.¡¯


    ¡®You aren¡¯t invited to join us,¡¯ said Trinket..


    ¡®You need me though,¡¯ said the captain. He bent to rub his palm over the blood spreading across his pants.


    ¡®No,¡¯ said Trinket and her triangle eyes locked down on the captain. ¡®I don¡¯t trust you. I don¡¯t need you.¡¯


    ¡®You may not trust me a€| But what about Elion?¡¯


    Trinket and the captain both looked at Tom.


    Tom said, ¡®What is wrong with the catacombs?¡¯


    ¡®Do you not remember,¡¯ said the Captain. ¡®The silent children.¡¯

 CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

    CHAPTER FORTY FIVE


    The captain and Trinket stared at each other, waiting for the other to explain the ¡®silent children¡¯.


    Tom broke the moment, ¡®What are the silent children?¡¯


    Trinket looked at him, and her green eyelashes blinked.


    ¡®Do not concern yourself ¡­ We might still be able to go into the city without going through the catacombs.¡¯


    ¡®But that doesn¡¯t explain ¡­¡¯


    ¡®I am the only one who can get you into the city of Coronet without going through the catacombs,¡¯ said the captain. He grinned, then let his grin drop. ¡®The princess cannot.¡¯


    This was something Tom hadn¡¯t experienced before ¡­ to be in a tug-o-war between two people who wanted to claim him.


    The captain grinned again, ¡®As I saw you with that bag over your head I suspected you were Elion.¡¯


    ¡®You are worth a million risers to the captain,¡¯ Trinket said. ¡®You are nothing more than a payday to this man.¡¯


    ¡®I can walk right up to the front gates of the city of Coronet,¡¯ said the captain to Tom. ¡®I can bring you right in through the front gates. The princess will be intercepted long before she gets to the gates. Your only hope is with me.¡¯


    ¡®Why would he want to go through the front gates?¡¯ said Trinket. A spike of derision pressed a spot of dark green on her top lip. ¡®He will be handed over to the Emperor who will execute him.¡¯


    ¡®Why do you suppose the Emperor will execute him?¡¯ asked the captain, sounding reasonable.


    Trinket didn¡¯t answer his question. Instead she said, ¡®What do you want the rizers for, captain? A new ship? Do you want to sell Elion out for a new ship?¡¯


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    The captain shrugged.


    ¡®Okay, so I get the reward. That doesn¡¯t mean the Emperor wants to execute Elion. I am sure that the Emperor wants to see Elion back inside the machine as much as everyone else in Paris.¡¯


    Trinket exploded, her mouth opening so wide it seemed to split her face.


    ¡®Hogs¡¯ mud! You know that the Emperor will have him killed. All the Emperor wants is the key.¡¯


    Tom looked at Trinket, and he put his two buck teeth over his bottom lip.


    ¡®The thing is, Elion,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®I know you have one of the three keys. The Emperor just wants the key.¡¯


    Trinket spoke quieter now, urgently. ¡®All he wants to do is access the machine. He doesn¡¯t want you back inside the machine. He will execute you.¡¯


    ¡®He will not be able to access the machine,¡¯ said the captain. His voice had risen in volume and temperature. ¡®He will still only have two keys. If he executes Elion what hope will he have of the person with the third key coming forward?¡¯


    After a moment of silence Jane knew that Trinket was not going to reveal that the third key lay beneath her tunic.


    Trinket said, ¡®I forbid you to take Elion into your custody.¡¯


    The captain took a step toward Tom, and he now spoke with a tone of quiet menace.


    ¡®I do not take orders from the princess of Wyld Fell, I will take Elion with me.¡¯


    ¡®Stop,¡¯ said Trinket.


    In the usual blur of motion she had an arrow nocked and drawn with her cat¡¯s eye lined up behind it.


    ¡®You only have one arrow,¡¯ said the captain. ¡®You will have to get lucky with your shot.¡¯


    ¡®There will be no reason for luck. I suggest you turn and take yourself off down the path to Coronet ¡­  alone.¡¯


    The captain turned and looked down through the mist toward the south, as though reasonably considering Trinket¡¯s suggestion. He looked back at Trinket and grinned.


    ¡®Why don¡¯t we let Elion decide who he feels is best trusted to keep him safe.¡¯


    The captain reached as though he was going to take Tom¡¯s hand.


    ¡®Leave him,¡¯ said Trinket.


    There sounded a high note of straining wood as Trinket pulled more pressure back into the bow string.


    ¡®You can decide to come with me,¡¯ said the captain to Tom. ¡®This overgrown elf will not be able to stop you.¡¯


    ¡®You will die if you go with the captain,¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®You will die if you go into the catacombs with the princess,¡¯ said the captain.


    Tom turned to Jane


    ¡®What should I do?¡¯

 CHAPTER FORTY SIX

    CHAPTER FORTY SIX


    The decision between trusting Trinket or trusting the captain wasn¡¯t something Jane felt she could make. She hardly knew Trinket and she didn¡¯t know the captain at all. Tom shouldn¡¯t ask her opinion, because she didn¡¯t have the experience to form an opinion. But Tom was staring at her with a sort of innocence that could break your heart, with his two buck teeth sitting on top of his bottom lip.


    ¡®I would suggest Trinket, but really, there isn¡¯t any good reason for that suggestion.¡¯


    The captain cleared his throat, as though trying to clear the airways of some distasteful idea that got stuck down there.


    ¡®What a sad day for Paris, when a respectable merchant ship captain is treated with disrespect by a prejudiced thrip and her ignorant sidekick.¡¯


    ¡¯You have your answer,¡¯ Trinket shouted. She pointed off toward the south, her finger waggling in the air. ¡®Be gone.¡¯


    ¡®I need to hear the answer from Elion.¡¯


    Tom answered immediately, ¡¯I¡¯m going to go with Trinket.¡¯


    The Captain stared at Tom for a long moment before grunting, turning, and walking off through the wet grass. After a moment his wide shoulders and huge head disappeared into the mist.


    Trinket slackened the arrow and put it back into the quiver.


    ¡¯Are we actually going into the catacombs?¡¯


    Trinket ignored Jane. She walked to where the horses were tied to a fallen log and untied some complicated knot that she had tied earlier. Jane followed and took the reins of the beautiful little mare that had shouldered its way past two tornados with Jane clinging to its back. She put her hand up to the mare¡¯s cheek.


    Tom watched, with his hand in his pockets, and his blazer bunched up around his hands. He shuffled from one foot to the other.


    Handling horses wasn¡¯t natural to Trinket. She had no real affinity for the beasts. She treated them as though they were useful tools devoid of souls; as though they were just hide, hair, and strong legs. She walked ahead of her horse, hauling it with the lead rope. She strode along the riverbank with her thrip coat billowing behind, to where the wooden stairs lead up to the swing bridge.


    Tom followed. His ears were red with cold.


    Jane put her head against the side of her little mare¡¯s head, and whispered into its ear. She crooned non words, and the mare stood still with its head bent toward Jane. After a moment she began walking, holding the halter with her hand against the side of the mare¡¯s face.


    ¡¯Will the bridge hold a horse?¡¯ Tom asked.


    The bridge was narrow, and the ropes that held it seemed as thin as spider web. The boards looked fragile.


    ¡¯Yes,¡¯ said Trinket, with supreme confidence; the kind of confidence that Jane had begun to distrust.


    Trinket went up the five wooden steps onto the suspension bridge and turned and swore at her horse. It was pulling back on the lead rope, one hoof braced against the bottom stair. Trinket bunched her green arms and gave a violent tug that jerked at the horse¡¯s mouth. A moment later the horse surged forward and clattered up the stairs. Tom followed.


    The river thundered beneath the bridge. The water pounded at the pylons. The ropes that knotted everything together were humming, as though alive.


    Trinket moved quickly, dragging her horse which pulled back on the lead rope, its eyes like moons. The earlier courage that had driven this horse through the tornado had fled. With the river roaring beneath the slender bridge, the horse was terrified.


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    Tom stepped onto the bridge, then stopped. He clung to the guide ropes. His skinny legs shook. The bridge swung like a hammock. Brown water roiled beneath and dirty foam swilled against the river bank.


    Through the mist, Jane watched how quickly Trinket got to the other side of the bridge. She was a pencil thin stick of green, with the horse a bulk of matter behind. She turned and beckoned to Tom, her green hand making swift and sharp movements in the air.


    Tom wasn¡¯t going so well. He pressed himself against the safety rope, and for a moment it appeared as though he had frozen and was not capable of moving. Eventually, though, he pushed one foot forward, then shifted his weight and pushed his other foot forward. With a slow doggedness he shuffled his feet. He moved along, past the centre of the bridge, then after an eternity he reached the far side.


    Standing at the entrance to the bridge, Jane shivered, unsure if she was shivering from the cold, or from the tension of watching Tom. It was her turn. She guided her little mare up five wooden steps. At the threshold of the bridge the little mare stopped and gave one whinny, distress jumping from its mouth. Jane clicked her tongue and ran her hand up the side of the horse¡¯s face, and almost miraculously the horse nosed out onto the suspension bridge, keeping its head up and its eyes on Jane. Despite the roar and the flooding savagery, the eyes that rested on Jane were large and trusting.


    Because Jane was so focused on the gradual movement of the mare along the narrow boards, she barely registered the river that leapt ten feet beneath. The river was still rising from the rain dumped upstream into the feeder streams. The bridge trembled and the walkway moved in a slow pendulum. The mare made small snicker sounds of stress, but continued to step forward, following Jane.


    At the far end of the bridge, wooden stairs dropped down onto a rock shelf that traversed a canyon of sheer cliffs that ran into White mountain. The canyon had filled with a raging torrent of water. Through the mist Jane could make out a waterfall coming down the side of the mountain.


    The white of the stone and the river and the mist were like ghosts hiding behind ghosts.


    Tom was halfway along the rock shelf with the canyon of water beneath his feet. He leaned his skinny body against the cliff, and gripped the moss and dirty plants that grew from pockets of soil. His feet kept slipping, and his legs were trembling from fear. He crabbed along while water roared inches away. A log thumped past, making a drumming sound on the rocks. Further along the shelf there was an entrance into a cave, where Trinket waited with a hip out and her arms crossed.


    Tom only needed to creep a little further forward. He put a foot sideways and it slipped and gripped on wet algae and moss. He transferred his weight, then shuffled his other foot sideways.


    ¡®Come on,¡¯ said Trinket, impatiently.


    With only three feet to go, Tom lunged, and landed on his knees in the wide and accepting mouth of a cave. Trinket leaned over him and said something that Jane couldn¡¯t possibly hear.


    After whispering encouraging sounds to the little mare, Jane stepped down the stairs to the ledge. The ledge was awfully slippery, and Jane¡¯s foot skated then caught. How had Trinket done the traverse with a horse?


    Only, there was no need to worry about the horse. The mare was sure footed and obedient and trusting. While Jane crept forward with her feet carefully feeling for slipperiness and slope, the little mare followed with calm surety.


    Unhelpfully, Trinket called, ¡®The water is still rising.¡¯


    Edging along the canyon Jane realised that if the water rose another three feet there would be nowhere for her to go - other than into the stream, into the river, then beneath the river. Drowning was inevitable.


    A wave of water surged up and grabbed at her legs. She pressed herself against the cliff and shut her eyes. The little mare let out a nervous sound. She opened her eyes and saw that there was only a few feet to go. She took in a breath, let it out, and walked quickly. A shrill sound of fear rang in her throat.


    A second later she entered the cave. The little mare stepped around her, the clatter of its hooves falling dead against the irregular stone of the cave walls.


    ¡®Look,¡¯ said Trinket.


    The water in the canyon had risen in a thunderous ascension, up over the shelf Jane had just stepped off, swills of it coming into the cave¡¯s entrance.


    ¡®We must go now,¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®Where?¡¯ asked Tom.


    ¡®Into the catacombs.¡¯


    Trinket turned to her horse and fixed the halter and adjusted the bit in her horse¡¯s mouth and tightened the saddle strap. The horse whinnied and flicked its head up and down. In the sallow light of the cave Trinket was green and solid and shiny, like a cut and polished emerald. Her hair slung in wet braids down her back.


    Jane looked out of the cave''s entrance to the water roaring down through the canyon. She shivered.


    Trinket turned to Tom and lowered her eyebrows. She had something to say and she suddenly seemed nervous. She opened her mouth, then shut it, and pressed her lips together.


    Tom said, ¡®What is it?¡¯


    Putting a finger up to Tom, Trinket turned to Jane, and spoke quickly with a harshness in her tone.


    ¡®I only want Elion to accompany me to Coronet. You must stay behind.¡¯

 CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

    CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN


    Jane went into a mild state of shock after hearing that Trinket didn¡¯t want Jane to come to Coronet. Two years ago Lulu had invited three out of four friends to a birthday party. Jane had been the fourth. The feeling of missing out on that enormous occasion had been terrible.


    This felt the same.


    ¡®So, now that you have Elion you don¡¯t need me anymore?¡¯ said Jane.


    Immediately impatient, Trinket looked at Tom, expecting, perhaps, that Tom would back her up. Only Tom had a blank expression. Trinket turned from him, her cat¡¯s eyes twitching, and her mouth as thin as a pencil.


    She spoke with a low voice, meant to be gentle but filled with slinking menace.


    ¡®Don¡¯t forget ¡­ I saved your life.¡¯


    ¡®I understand ¡­ but ¡­ tell me why you don¡¯t want me now? Why save my life just to abandon me in a cave about to be flooded by a river.¡¯


    ¡®I''m not abandoning you here. I will take you into the catacombs where there is an Inn. You can rest in the Inn until Elion and I have completed our business in Coronet.¡¯


    ¡®But why?¡¯


    ¡®Because the path from the Inn to Coronet involves going past the silent children. To get past the children we will have to move fast, and that means keeping the horses light.¡¯


    ¡®So Tom will ride the horse by himself?¡¯


    Looking at Tom, Trinket nodded and smiled with her lips drawing green lines up her cheeks.


    Tom shook his head, distrustful.


    Speaking brightly, Trinket said, ¡®It will work better with just the two of us, my Lord.¡¯


    ¡®I think I want Jane with me,¡¯ said Tom.


    Reaching into the top of her green tunic, Trinket brought out the leather strap with the iron key, identical to the one that Tom wore.


    Tom scratched his ear and leaned toward Trinket to view the key.


    ¡®How do you have this? I understood, after talking to the wood Thrip at the Silver Tongue creek that only the three King¡¯s held keys. I have the thrip King¡¯s key, and the Emperor has a key. To whom does your key belong?¡¯


    Trinket raised her eyebrows. ¡®It is a queer time when neither the man king, nor the thrip king, nor the dwarf King are holding the keys.¡¯


    Tom brought his lip in under his two teeth.


    There was silence for a minute.


    Finally Tom said:


    ¡®I want Jane with me.¡¯


    Trinket nodded, as though she understood that people can hold different (but wrong) opinions from her. She spoke abruptly. ¡®We must get moving.¡¯


    She mounted, throwing her body over the back of the horse so that she lay flat against its shoulders and neck. Her head would have bumped into the roof of the cave if she sat upright. She put a hand down for Tom to take, to help him onto the horse behind her, but he had already turned away.


    ¡®Ride with me,¡¯ Trinket called.


    ¡®No ¡­ I will ride with Jane.¡¯


    In a crisis of faith Jane didn¡¯t even want to go with Trinket, but she didn¡¯t know what else to do. Why was Trinket so intent on getting Tom into a machine? She didn¡¯t seem to care for Jane¡¯s desire to find the Wyld Book of Secrets.


    Jane mounted her horse and leaned forward over the horse''s spine with her nose in a mane that smelled of hay. She put her hand down for Tom to take. Tom held her hand and placed his foot in the left stirrup, his skinny leg way up so that he looked like he was doing the splits. He came up the side of the horse and his momentum nearly pushed him right over the horse and down the other side. He stopped himself from falling by grabbing Jane¡¯s shoulders.


    Trinket made a clacking sound in her throat, and her horse jumped, and cantered into the cave, hooves banging and falling flat. There was something aggressive and final in the way Trinket left, as though she was leaving Jane and Tom behind.


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    ¡®Hold on,¡¯ said Jane


    Tom gripped her around the waist, until Jane told him to ¡®loosen off a little.¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m not comfortable with heights,¡¯ said Tom. ¡®Nor am I comfortable with horses.¡¯


    ¡®I could tell.¡¯


    Jane clicked her heels into the side of her little mare and the mare broke into a trot. The mist and water from the floods outside didn¡¯t make it far into the cavern, and the air quickly became dry.


    Strange torches were spaced at intervals along the cave walls, casting a gentle radiance. It was possible to pick out the shape of the cave, and the blot of the objects within the cave. The light of the burning torches was queer, as though the flames weren¡¯t made from chemical reactions, like a burning wick or burning fuel. These torches burned with something deeper.


    The cavern narrowed and the roof got lower. And Jane and Tom flattened themselves hard along the spine of the horse.


    They came to a grotto where several caverns split off.


    Waiting, sitting stolidly on her horse, Trinket wore an expression of patience-for-the-idiots.


    ¡®This way,¡¯ she said, and she urged her horse to the right into an upward sloping cave. Jane followed. A moment later they entered a giant underground chamber, so large it could have held a small cathedral. Jane looked up and around with a sense of awe.


    Trinket sat upright and turned.


    ¡®This is the Gathering Hall.¡¯


    Tom spoke from behind Jane. ¡®What kind of gatherings happened here?¡¯


    ¡®There used to be a religious group that lived inside the catacombs. The Castions. They lived here for a thousand years before the twelfth King of Coronet defeated them in a battle.¡¯


    The chamber was well litten by torches that were constantly changing colours, sliding from red to pink to purple to blue to aqua to yellow. Embedded in the walls were crystals that shattered the light into tiny pulsing rainbows. Huge boulders and stalactites were strewn across the chamber''s floor. Shadows made unsettling shapes amidst the rainbows.


    They rode through the cavern and into a maze of tunnels, taking lefts and rights and staircases in a bewildering cascade of decisions that left Jane completely befuddled. They were truly in the catacombs now and even the horses had lost all sense of direction.


    Sometimes a path might straddle the edge of an enormous drop with darkness laying far beneath. Other times the path would climb steep stairs that circled up around columns. Sometimes the path narrowed so that the walls squeezed Jane¡¯s legs against the side of the horse.  Sometimes there would be a corridor wide enough for two carriages to drive side by side.


    The only one who knew where they were going was Trinket, and she changed direction with little thought. Jane wondered how much time the princess had spent in the catacombs to give her such an unerring sense of direction.


    After, perhaps, an hour of riding, Trinket said, ¡®We are nearly there.¡¯


    ¡®Nearly where?¡¯


    Tom seemed bright and interested in what was going on. His voice shouted in Jane¡¯s ear every time he asked Trinket a question.


    ¡®Nearly to the Cave Spiders¡¯ Inn in the town of Grinstone.¡¯


    ¡®What kind of creature lives underground ¡­ in a town?¡¯


    ¡®The Drizzles.¡¯


    ¡®What is a Drizzle?¡¯


    ¡®In a moment you will see.¡¯


    Presently they emerged into a long and wide and high corridor. On either side of the corridor were small huts. Outside the huts were dozens of rugs all laid out across the road so that it was necessary to walk on the rugs to proceed. The rugs were so colourful and beautiful Tom felt the horses shouldn¡¯t be walking down the centre of them with their filthy hooves.


    As they walked slowly along, the residents of Grinstone came out of their little huts, curious. These were the Drizzles. They were little people with wide bodies and hair all over, giving them the appearance of little bears. They had the faces of people, with features bunched together like they had been squashed.


    At first the Drizzles didn¡¯t notice Jane and Tom. They  were tremendously excited to see Trinket. They milled around, and touched her legs and put their hands on her horse, and they kept praising the ¡®Royal Princess¡¯ in the same way that the common people lined the streets and called good wishes to England''s young queen.


    One of the Drizzles kissed Trinket on the leg, and she gently pushed out and said, ¡®That is enough now.¡¯


    The kissing Drizzle stepped away from Trinket and looked around with faded blue eyes, until his eyes came to rest on Tom. The Drizzle called with a voice like a little blasting trumpet above the hubbub of Drizzle voices.


    ¡®Silence everyone ¡­ look who it is.¡¯


    A moment later every Drizzle erupted with joy, like children on Christmas morning.


    ¡®Elion ¡­ Elion.¡¯


    A small Drizzle with a giant wart on his nose, said, ¡®You are worthy of our praise.¡¯


    All the praising and ballyhoo continued until it was interrupted when, three huts along the path, there arose a disturbance. A female Drizzle emerged from a hut to stand on a yellow rug that lay outside her door. A wave of silence moved across the Drizzles.


    The female Drizzle scowled through a parting in the long hair that dangled across her face. The hair from her head was so long it cascaded across her body and pooled around her feet. If this Drizzle was wearing clothing you wouldn¡¯t know.


    She looked at Tom, uninterested in anyone else.


    One of the other Drizzles said:


    ¡®Now isn¡¯t the time Demurmur,¡¯


    Demurmur put a hand up to stop this Drizzle from saying another word.


    She said, ¡®I¡¯ll just say one thing.¡¯


    ¡®Please choose another time ¡­


    ¡®Let her speak,¡¯ said a third Drizzle.


    Tom, leaning out so that he could see around the bulk of Jane, looked into the eyes of the Drizzle named Demurmur. Jane wondered if Tom had picked up on the fact that this Drizzle was harbouring some kind of distress, and that she was about to direct the nature of this distress at Tom.


    Tom seemed like the kind of boy who would try and make other people feel better.


    Demurmur crossed her furry little hands across her belly, and cast her eyes down for a moment while she thought. Eventually she brought her eyes up, and they were large and glistening, like the eyes of a surfacing otter.


    ¡®I think it was you who made the people of Paris disappear.¡¯

 CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

    CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT.


    There was a moment of silence, then Trinket did what Jane had noticed she always did: she stared the problem right in the eyes. Wheeling the horse so that it stood sideways to this little Drizzle named Demurmur, Trinket raised herself up into full princess mode, tall with posture and arrogance. She towered over the little Drizzle, who drew back.


    Speaking with command (and menace) Trinket said:


    ¡®Do not throw mud at our Lord.¡¯


    Demurmur grunted and, ignoring the Princess, she  stepped toward Jane¡¯s horse. Tom was leaning out, watching Demurmur, his two buck teeth sitting on his bottom lip. His ears were red with the flush of the attention he was getting from these Drizzles.


    Demurmur said, ¡®Was it you my Lord?¡¯


    Tom said, ¡®Because I don¡¯t remember my past I have to ask: What exactly are you talking about?¡¯


    ¡®I think it was you that made people disappear. I mean, of course the crows were there when my sister disappeared. I blamed the crows like everyone else. But then I thought about things, and I asked questions, and it seems that the crows only came when you were in the machine.¡¯


    Tom smiled and a dimple popped out on his cheek.


    ¡®I don¡¯t remember.¡¯


    ¡®He doesn¡¯t remember ¡­ you hairy pomble,¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®He didn¡¯t send the crows,¡¯ said another Drizzle,


    Demurmur thrust her hands through the curtain of hair falling to the floor from her head. An accusing finger unrolled and pointed at Tom.


    ¡®But now you are going back to the machine.¡¯


    ¡®I will not make people disappear.¡¯ Tom had a shrill voice.


    ¡®Enough¡¯, said Trinket. She called out to the crowd. ¡®Move aside, we are in a hurry.¡¯


    She dug her heels into the side of her horse, too aggressively, as though trying to inflict pain. The horse stepped sideways, heels clopping, then it leaned back, the muscles in its chest ballooning. The Drizzles parted, and Trinket¡¯s horse surged through their midst.


    Jane touched her heels against her horse¡¯s belly, and her horse fell in behind the heels of Trinket¡¯s horse.


    Tom kept watching Demurmur, and as the horse moved away he turned his head and spoke the way a teacher might speak, with authority and instruction.


    ¡®I will not make people disappear. I will not make Drizzles disappear.¡¯


    He smiled and Dimples pressed into his cheeks.


    Demurmur bowed her head then turned so suddenly her hair whorled out, like an opening umbrella. She scurried back into the open door of the little hut she had emerged from a moment ago.


    As the horses moved through the crowd the Drizzles reached up to touch Tom¡¯s leg. Finally the horses and their riders had passed the hairy little folk and were moving along the road lined with the colourful rugs.


    From the town the travellers continued into a blue walled cave where thousands of tiny glow worms cast a faint light. The air smelled faintly metallic.


    The path struck up a steep staircase and dipped through an arch that had been lined with marble blocks. Here was a short corridor tiled with red and green stones, then a wide staircase of marble, with stone hand railings on either side. At the bottom of the stairs the carved hand railing continued through a bend.


    Around the corner the riders came to an enormous chamber. This chamber was milky and bright. The floor of the chamber was strewn with boulders and stalactites and crystals, and along the side of the chamber was a building carved into the white stone. This was the Cave Spiders Inn. The Inn was three stories high with stained glass windows. Orange light flickered from within.


    A cobblestone courtyard ran along the front of the Inn. Benches and chairs were arranged beneath green and white umbrellas that shaded the benches from the milky light.


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    Dwarves and Thrips and Men and Drizzles sat around the benches with their voices loud. A shabby man with a pock marked face was showing off a knife to another man, who was nodding in agreement to whatever was being said about the knife. One fellow had two little horns protruding from a mop of wildly thick hair. This was a fawn, and under the bench his hairy legs and hooves were tapping a percussion against the cobblestones.


    Plates of food and mugs of ale were scattered across the tables.  Ragged bread and fried onions and stewed mushrooms and blackened tomatoes.


    As the horses clip-clopped up to the courtyard the men and creatures fell silent. Several hands rested on the handles of various weapons, as though the patrons recognised that something substantial and dangerous was arriving. In this time of political uncertainty, hands were never far from weapons.


    A tall thrip with ears like green spears, stood from the table where he sat with three other thrips. He adjusted his green tunic, pulling it down to remove the creases, and he put his chin up and cleared his throat.


    ¡®Our Princess.¡¯


    He suddenly turned and pointed at the seated patrons. ¡®Stand for our princess.¡¯


    Chairs scraped and the men and the Drizzles and the thrips all stood. The dwarves didn¡¯t stand. They stayed seated, and smirked at one another.


    ¡¯This is an honour,¡¯ said the tall thrip. He dropped his chin into his chest. ¡®What brings you into the catacombs?¡¯


    ¡®A great secret.¡¯


    ¡®Who are your companions?¡¯


    Trinket ignored this question. Instead she asked, ¡®Is there a horse groom in this Inn?¡¯


    ¡®We don¡¯t get a lot of horses,¡¯ said one of the dwarves, a smirk in his tone, one of his eyes squinting.


    The tall thrip turned his cat¡¯s eyes and gave the dwarf a wild look.  ¡®I have had enough of you. You are as stupid as the rocks you dig.¡¯


    The dwarf stood so quickly his chair fell over. Although he was tiny, he took a chunky little step toward the tall thrip and raised a fat little fist.


    ¡®For the love of Elion,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®Sit down dwarf. I don¡¯t need nonsense ¡­ I need a groom.¡¯


    Shrugging, the dwarf spat.


    The tall thrip turned to a skinny thrip who wore square framed glasses that looked like windows.


    ¡®Go get Gallor.¡¯


    ¡®Gallor isn¡¯t a groom,¡¯ said the squinting dwarf, who still stood.


    ¡¯She knows horses,¡¯ said the thrip with the glasses.


    The thrip with the glasses went off into a dark doorway near the corner of the Inn.


    While all this was going on Tom had been hiding behind Jane. He had his forehead against her back, between her shoulder blades, not showing his face. He was getting tired, and he didn¡¯t want attention.


    Trinket alighted from her horse and handed the reins to the tall thrip. She turned and spoke to Jane.


    ¡®I have been thinking about our situation going forward. Because you have refused to remain here until Elion and I have completed our mission ¡­ and because you have decided to make it dangerous by putting two people on a horse ¡­ and because you have put your interests ahead of those of the people of Paris, we must come up with a plan for how we can get three people past the silent children with only two horses.¡¯


    Jane was just suspicious. She didn¡¯t trust Trinket, especially with the oddly stiff manner that Trinket now spoke. Tom was also listening, and he looked concerned, and thoughtful, like he was calculating logistics. The dwarves were listening attentively, with sceptical lines across their foreheads. The standing dwarf put a hand in the air.


    ¡®Whoa whoa whoa. What is this about Elion?¡¯


    ¡¯Shut your mouth half pike,¡¯ said Trinket mildly. She spoke to Jane again, ¡®I will ride ahead, and Elion will ride with me. You will ride behind, alone.¡¯


    Before Jane had a chance to answer the tall thrip said:


    ¡®Elion is on the horse.¡¯


    The tall thrip stepped around and was staring up at Tom who still had his face against Jane¡¯s shoulders. Tom slowly sat up straight and turned to the thrip.


    ¡®Hello,¡¯ said Tom.


    Still holding the reins of Trinket¡¯s horse, the thrip suddenly knelt and put his head down. The fawn with the little horns in his head did likewise. So did the men. Even the dwarves stood and dropped their heads in a sign of respect.


    ¡¯Okay,¡¯ said Tom, and he waved his hand to tell everyone to be at ease.


    Trinket made an exasperated sound in her throat. Jane got a sense that she didn¡¯t have as much respect for Tom (Elion) that everyone else did. Trinket said:


    ¡®Thrip, have the groom rub the horses down and prepare them for a run past the silent children. I have some business to attend to.¡¯


    She turned on her heels and walked up to the Inn, disappearing through the front door.


    The dwarf closest to Jane and Tom, raised his face and looked up at Jane, and said, ¡®How much do you trust the Princess of the thrips?¡¯


    The fawn must have sensed that the dwarf was about to say something embarrassing, and spoke with a hiccup, staccato voice.


    ¡®Leave the girl alone.¡¯


    The dwarf put his chubby hand up in the direction of the fawn, then pointed his fat little finger at Jane.


    ¡®The Princess is trying to get you killed.¡¯


    ¡®How?¡¯


    The dwarf squinted his left eye, and suddenly there seemed to be treachery swirling in the air. He stepped close to where Jane¡¯s leg dangled against the side of the horse. He put a hand around Jane¡¯s ankle. He squeezed her ankle.


    ¡®The silent children almost always kill the second horse.¡¯

 CHAPTER FORTY NINE

    CHAPTER FORTY NINE


    It was almost an hour before Trinket came back.


    While she was away the horse groom had arrived, a woman who looked like a witch. She came from the side door of the Inn. She had a big evil nose with a snag at the end, and a weird smell like boiling nettle. She shuffled and spat and shook her hair and glared at everyone. Then she saw Tom. She stared at Tom, then dropped her eyes and muttered, ¡®My lord.¡¯


    She shuffled up to Trinket¡¯s horse then squatted and slung an old sack from her shoulder, slumping it onto the ground. She analysed the horse¡¯s legs as though she could see past the sweaty hide, right through to the muscle and bone. She muttered to herself and reached into the bag and pulled out a jar filled with a rub that looked like urine coloured ghee. With three fingers she scooped out a slump of ghee and proceeded to rub it into the horse¡¯s tendons. She worked the front legs then moved to the back. The ghee smelled like a cross between charcoal and pine.


    After rubbing the front and back legs of the horse, the horse groom went back to her bag and brought out a pail filled with what looked like small pebbles, or sheep droppings. The horse groom placed the pail in front of Trinket¡¯s horse, and the horse immediately dove its nose in, and came up chewing with big white teeth. The horse food smelled rich, like molasses and bark.


    Meanwhile Jane dismounted, almost falling from the saddle. She landed on legs as stiff as twigs. The pain of everything kicked from her ankles up to her hips. She took two disabled steps then lowered herself to the ground where she lay with her legs out and spread slightly. Her muscles slumped like lead.


    The witch was about to start on the second horse when she looked at Jane laying on the ground. She considered Jane for a moment, then she packed her unctions back in her dirty sack and came over to Jane.


    Jane had her eyes shut, and if she wasn¡¯t feeling so much pain she might have gone to sleep. The horse groom spoke under her breath. She brought out the ghee, and opened the lid, and scooped three fingers of the clob. She began to rub the ghee into Jane¡¯s legs, and Jane¡¯s legs jumped as the nerves became agitated. The witchy groom crooned, and Jane settled.


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    The  ghee ran heat into Jane¡¯s legs, heat that immediately penetrated the skin and permeated deep into the muscles. Her feelings seemed to whoop. She started to tremble and the witch scooped more ghee and started on Jane¡¯s other leg. Jane breathed out and her breath rushed.  She felt like she was getting younger.


    Meanwhile, Tom had lowered himself from the horse to land lightly on the cobblestones. He walked toward where the fawn was standing behind the far table. When he approached, the fawn stepped back. The fawn looked horrified. Its hooves clicked against the cobblestones. Its eyes darted about as though looking for a way to escape this encounter.


    ¡®I¡¯ve never seen a creature like you,¡¯ said Tom.


    The fawn started nodding its head as though it had just realised something.


    ¡®My Lord, I know I accused you ¡­ but I didn¡¯t know all the facts.¡¯


    Tom said ¡®What now?¡¯


    The fawn shook its head to tell Tom to stop being kind.


    ¡®You don¡¯t have to pretend. I know what I believed and I know now that I was wrong.¡¯


    Tom was about to answer when Trinket returned, stepping around her horse. Her voice rang out.


    ¡®What exactly is happening?¡¯


    The witch turned her head. Her mouth was mooned down and icy.


    Trinket said, ¡®I have just paid the Innkeeper for your services ¡­ horse groom. I have paid for you to attend to the horses, to prepare them to pass the silent children.¡¯


    The witch spat and she shook her head as though she was listening to stupidity.


    ¡®That feels wonderful,¡¯ said Jane to the horse witch, without opening her eyes. ¡®You can leave me now.¡¯


    The witch moved herself and her paraphernalia to the second horse, and started working the ghee into the horse¡¯s legs.


    Trinket stepped over and crouched beside Jane. She put a hand on Jane¡¯s arm.


    ¡®We are friends.¡¯


    Jane kept her eyes shut and didn¡¯t answer.


    Trinket said, ¡®I want you to trust me.¡¯


    Jane opened her eyes.


    Trinket said, ¡®I have been in with the Innkeeper, and amongst other things I have organised for you to stay here, with all comforts and luxuries provided until Elion has taken his seat in the machine.¡¯


    Jane shook her head. ¡®I am here to get the book.¡¯


    Trinket smiled sadly.


    ¡®Jane, you will be staying here.¡¯

 CHAPTER FIFTY

    CHAPTER FIFTY


    Although she acted calm and polite, Trinket seemed particularly agitated, with her green hair frizzing like she had been rubbing it with her fingers. Her little pyramid nose, and her green kite shaped ears were twitching. The vertical ellipses that were her irises expanded and contracted wildly. She pretended to be calm, but she was worked up.


    Jane noticed the quiver of arrows and the bow slung across Trinket¡¯s back. The quiver was a beautiful red leather, and the flight feathers were berry red.


    When Jane didn¡¯t answer Trinket¡¯s request that she go into the Inn, Trinket suddenly stood and looked back at the dwarves, as though she was expecting the little beggars to attack her. Perhaps they were planning to. The one dwarf on his feet was in the process of gesturing to three other dwarves to stand with him. Trinket glared, her vertical irises folding in and out. Behind the dwarves stood the tall thrip who, earlier, had gone to find the horse groom.


    Trinket looked down at Jane.


    ¡®So, I will get you to make your way up to the Inn. The Innkeeper is expecting you.¡¯


    Jane rubbed the back of her hand over her nose, then stared straight up at the ceiling of the huge cavern, at the milky stone, and the block shaped shadows. Her eyes shone gold.


    Trinket continued.


    ¡®This is not a thing to be discussed.¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m not discussing it,¡¯ Jane murmured.


    Trinket stared at Jane, as though trying to see through her facade to Jane¡¯s underlying intention. After a moment she clicked her tongue, and her narrow mouth turned down. She put a hand on the saddle of her horse, hooked her toes into the stirrup and sprang up. Her leg swung over the rump. She sat tall.


    The dwarves now stood in a group of four, with their arms crossed. The closest dwarf uncrossed his arm and pointed up at Trinket.


    ¡®Behold the thrip is making demands of a human as though it considers itself an equal to the human.¡¯


    Trinket looked at the dwarf, and she smiled weirdly.


    ¡®As I was riding up through the catacombs,¡¯ she said, ¡®I noticed a snail on the path. I watched this horse step on the snail. I watched the horse squash the snail into oblivion. I felt nothing.¡¯


    The dwarf put his hands up to his face and smacked his cheeks twice.


    ¡®Oh my, isn¡¯t that scary?¡¯ The dwarf turned to his fellow dwarves. ¡®The princess is threatening us.¡¯


    ¡®Be respectful of our princess,¡¯ said the tall thrip who was towering over the dwarves like some giant stick insect.


    The thrip shut his mouth when one of the dwarves turned and glared, one eye squinting, the other eye as round as a dish.


    Tom said, ¡®Why do dwarves dislike the princess?¡¯


    ¡®Good question Elion,¡¯ said the squinting dwarf. ¡®The thrips have a deep history of betrayal. Just ask the elves who were supposed to share the Wistern Woods with the thrips. A deal was made ¡­ but what happened to the deal?¡¯


    The dwarf shouted the last part up to Trinket.


    Ignoring the dwarf, Trinket reached down and said, ¡®Come on Elion.¡¯


    ¡®Do you want me to ride with you?¡¯


    ¡®Yes.¡¯


    ¡¯You said that two on a horse would be dangerous while passing the silent children.¡¯


    ¡®I have a bow made by Grange elves, and a full quiver of arrows. You will be safe.¡¯


    The witchy horse groom stood. She removed the feed bag from the second horse¡¯s nose, and she turned and sank her grey eyes into Jane¡¯s eyes. A moment later she turned and walked back toward the Inn.


    Jane immediately stood and placed her hand against her horse¡¯s shoulder. The horse lifted its head and a snort vibrated through its ears and mane and neck muscles. Jane mounted.


    ¡®I will ride with Jane,¡¯ said Tom.


    ¡¯Jane isn¡¯t coming with us ¡­ she is staying here at the Inn.¡¯


    Jane¡¯s mouth quivered.


    ¡®I am coming.¡¯


    ¡¯Then you will die while passing the silent children,¡¯ said Trinket, and she no longer sounded like the green creature friend that Jane had met just over a day earlier.


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    ¡¯Not if she rides ahead of you,¡¯ said the talkative dwarf. His little barrel chest burst up from his leather vest. ¡¯You ride behind, Princess, and protect the girl with your arrows.¡¯


    Trinket made a motion in the air, the gesture directed at the front door of the Inn, where a stone carving of a vine made an architrave over a heavy door, the door shining like polished obsidian.


    Two men, armed with short swords, came out of the doorway and down pink marble steps. They wore  leather vests and iron rings around their biceps.


    Trinket called to the men.


    ¡®It is as I feared.¡¯


    ¡¯You hired the Innkeeper¡¯s guards.¡¯


    The dwarf in the leather vest put his hands up toward Trinket in a gesture of outrage.


    ¡®Shutup dwarf,¡¯ said Trinket, then she turned to Jane. ¡®Go with these men.¡¯


    Tom tapped Jane on the ankle and said, ¡®I need a hand up.¡¯


    Jane leaned back and reached down. Tom took her hand with one hand and squeezed her arm with his other hand. He braced a foot against the back of her leg, then paused. The talkative dwarf came jigging over and put his hands out in a cup. Tom put his foot into the cup of the dwarf¡¯s two hands.


    A moment later Tom was seated behind Jane. He placed his hands on Jane¡¯s shoulders and looked into the vertical skeets of Trinket¡¯s eyes and said:


    ¡®I will ride with Jane.¡¯


    The Innkeeper¡¯s guards stopped walking. They looked at Trinket for instruction.


    Just then Trinket screamed out a furious command to her horse, and jabbed her heels into its side. The horse jumped and roared into a canter, running around the back of the courtyard and back out to the road, between the scattered rocks and the blocks of crystals, past stalactites that formed giant spun columns.


    The two guards watched her until she was out of sight, then turned and walked back to the Inn.


    ¡®Let¡¯s go,¡¯ said Jane.


    Jane and Tom fell into an easy canter around the courtyard and onto the path. The minerals gave off a smell like oil and hard candy. The path was dark blue and speckled with deep emerald, and the metal horse shoes clattered. The path left the large chamber and went into a narrow cave. Soon the cave tightened up into a tunnel, its floor worn uneven and strewn with rocks.


    Complicated caverns wove in and out, entrances and exits pouring into every direction. Stalactites shone orange in the light of flaming torches. An underground precipice presented dreadful darkness just inches from the horse¡¯s feet.


    Ahead, Trinket guided her horse with confidence, sure of every turn and every climb and every decision between a dozen caverns that might be heading off in various directions. Following as close as she could, Jane lost all sense of direction.


    They passed creatures that Jane couldn¡¯t identify. Creatures with flat noses, or with spikes around their eyes, or with fans across their heads. They passed an old, withered woman, with a snake curled around her neck. They passed a fawn with a head of curly hair and small horns. They passed a woman wearing shells strung together to form a dress. They passed a gleaming eyed man in a black helmet with a knife in his hands. They passed a pale skinned woman seated on a stone bench.


    They crossed a railway track where a group of dwarves were rolling slowly along in a mining wagon, their arms hanging and their fists clenched as though ready for a fight.


    ¡®Dwarves seem to carry a generalised hatred,¡¯ said Jane.


    They continued on into a narrow tunnel that grew so tight the horses had to push past the leaning stone. Jane and Tom curled their knees up to stop their legs getting crushed.


    In a cavern litten by milky light they came across a group of marble-faced men walking in  formation like a dance troupe, with their chins up and their eyes straight ahead. The men didn¡¯t turn their heads to look at Elion - they just continued to march straight, their arms swinging in rhythm.


    The light alternated between the misty light that came from the milky walls, and the blue light from phosphorescent biology.


    The two horses approached another underground town where a short woman with milky skin in a chalk dress walked toward them. She had a flat face and an honest mouth and buggy eyes that followed the passing horses.


    The town was made up of thirty or so houses carved into the stone. There was a shop with goods stacked on shelves, and women sitting on a bench outside, with the same honest faces as the bug eyed woman, eating bread. In between the stone houses there were gardens, with flowers and trees and tomatoes on vines and carrots and peas and some very large zucchinis.  There was a huge pumpkin that lay on the roadway at the end of its stripy green vine.


    Two white skinned women saw Tom, recognised him as Elion, and fell to their knees, and put their heads down. Other white skinned women approached, with their eyes down, as though intimidated.


    They left the town behind.


    Now Trinket pulled her horse back into a slow walk and Jane drew adjacent to her.


    ¡¯You and Elion go first,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®There is only one path from here, so you won¡¯t get lost.¡¯


    ¡®Would you have gone first if I was riding alone?¡¯


    Trinket grinned and looked like the fun loving thrip from back in the WisternWoods. She looked like the thrip that had saved Jane¡¯s life as if it was no big deal.


    ¡®Just let your horse walk so that it is rested when the time comes for it to gallop like its life depends on it.¡¯


    ¡®What does that mean?¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m saying ¡­ oh don¡¯t worry, just have fun.¡¯


    Jane¡¯s horse began to walk.


    They walked into a tunnel that was almost like the inside of a pipe, smooth and round and with a manufactured look. The tunnel glowed with the faint white light given off by the milky stone. Then the tunnel grew darker, and soon it was impossible to see. Jane put her hand in the horse¡¯s mane.


    Finally the dark cave opened up into a truly stupendous underground chamber. The vault soared above like the vault of the sky. A thousand feet above was a ceiling made of blue ice. Light filtered through the ice, casting the huge cavern in dull blue. A cloud hung in the sky beneath the ceiling, and flakes of snow floated down from that cloud. The snow landed in deep drifts that covered the steep slope that made up the floor of the cavern.


    ¡®Now,¡¯ said Trinket quietly from behind.


    The lead horse sensed the meaning in Trinket¡¯s now, and it leaned forward, and pushed out with its bottom and thighs, pushing into a gallop that had Jane and Tom clinging with their knees and hands. The horse ran on a thin path that rose between deep drifts of snow. Its nose pushed forward, and its mane lifted with the wind of its speed.


    Jane leaned forward and hung on, while Tom gripped her at the waist.


    Then Jane saw a tiny footprint in a snowbank, and she caught a glimpse of a shadow that moved across the snow like a child.

 CHAPTER FIFTY ONE

    CHAPTER FIFTY ONE


    Children played, all across the snowy mounds. There were children on sleds bucketing down the slopes, and there were children dragging sleds up the slopes, and there were children forming snow sculptures, and there were children jumping off a large boulder to land in a snow drift. The children were white, almost blue, and although they played like children, with vigour and intention, they were silent. They were so intent on their own activity that they didn¡¯t turn toward the horses whose hooves were muffled and deadened by the snow.


    The first horse with its passengers, Jane and Tom, leapt as it ran to get through the deepening snow. Jane kept her eye on the children moving silently across the slope.


    Then something went wrong.


    The horse sprang but landed awkwardly on a rocky ledge. It sent a small boulder skittering off the ledge, and the boulder fell several feet before landing in the snow with a deep phlump. Immediately several children turned, their blank faces incurious, yet somehow hungry.


    They saw the horses.


    More silent children turned from their activities, their faces deathly white, their eyes blank, their mouths slowly opening into dark little caves.


    A moment later there were hundreds of silent children moving across the ice. They were white faced and white limbed, and they (boys and girls) wore little skirts the colour of sheets in a morgue. They ran with a swishing, raggedy, bumping rhythm, converging toward the second horse. The one ridden by Trinket. They opened and shut their mouths in an eating motion.


    Trinket whooped and there seemed to be genuine joy in the sound. She stood on her horse, bent her legs, lowered her hips, and she drew and shot the approaching children, one after another.


    The children, winged by Trinket¡¯s arrows, dropped into the snow where they lay still, for a moment, as though dead. Then they rose again, their little hands pulling the arrow out of wherever it had embedded itself: the shoulder, the chest, the eye.


    Their eyes settled on Trinket and they resumed their ragged run.


    Trinket drew and fired, drew and fired.


    This was a game and Trinket was flushed with the excitement of playing. Her green face blazed, like the sun against a green pond. Her legs were bent and strong. This was living to her. This was seizing life by the maw. Her arrows were slowing the children.


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    Jane was concerned about four children who were above Jane¡¯s position, pushing a sled up the slope. The child at the back of the sled heard the commotion and turned and pointed at Jane and Tom. Immediately all four of the children let go of the sled and began a shambling run across the snow. They had their mouths open and their teeth were like tiny little blades of glass, shining blue.


    The first child, a small girl, with bone white skin and eyes the colour of old sheets, led the way with a fast and awkward gait. She seemed to recognise Tom (as Elion)  and an atavistic gleam came into her eyes - an ancient understanding of the  importance of that boy. There was no mistaking her intention, with her mouth opening and closing, and her glass teeth gleaming blue.


    She swung her arms and legs, and her bare feet skimmed across the snow. She leapt a wall of ice and landed in a crumple as though she were made of paper. She sprung back to a stand and kept coming.


    Jane knew that they had to get away from this silent child and her companions, who were all on a trajectory to intercept Jane¡¯s horse. Jane dug her heels into the belly of the horse and slapped the reins across the horse¡¯s shoulders. Tom leaned across Jane¡¯s back and clung like a leech. The horse put its head down and surged. Its eyes were round mirrors of fear.


    The child ran then flung herself at the horse and managed to grab Jane¡¯s leg. Her fingernails, which were long and sharp, sliced into Jane¡¯s calf muscle as easily as a surgeon''s scalpel. Jane shook her leg but was unable to dislodge the girl. The girl dragged herself up Jane¡¯s leg and opened her mouth. Her glassy teeth were razor sharp.


    She sank her teeth into Jane¡¯s leg, and the pain was otherworldly. Jane must have screamed, because she heard a scream that swirled into the falling snow. The scream sounded as though it came from someone else ¡­ from somewhere else.


    Trinket loosed an arrow, and the arrow sped forward, barely missing the rump of Jane¡¯s horse, barely missing Tom¡¯s heel, and finally punched into the side of the silent child¡¯s face. The child immediately let go, and opened her mouth so wide it seemed her lips would snap like a rubber band. She dropped, soundlessly, into the snow.


    Bounding and leaping the horses were finally leaving the children behind, and so the children stopped their flopping run. They stood still and their eyes watched, without expression, the retreating horses.


    Now the path got hemmed in by high cliffs before bursting from the cathedral of snow into a narrow cave with a dry floor and crisp cold air.


    Jane was slumped forward over the horse¡¯s neck, her cheek in the mane. The pain had knocked her down. The pain sobbed. She was twitching. Her mouth was opening and closing.


    Tom squeezed her on the side.


    ¡®Are you really hurt?¡¯


    She didn¡¯t answer.


    The horse began to slow.


    Jane was crying, but now from sorrow or self pity. These were tears of extremity ¡­ of a body breaking down.


    The horse slowed to a walk. Then stopped.


    Trinket rode past and wheeled her horse sideways in front of Jane¡¯s horse. Trinket¡¯s horse stepped left and right and snorted and raised its head up and down.


    Trinket¡¯s eyes were dancing and alive.


    She stared at Jane for a moment, then said, ¡®Sit up my lady.¡¯


    After a moment, Jane crawled her way into a sitting position. Her eyes were red. Her breath sounded like she was trying to drag oxygen through oil.


    Trinket spoke strong. She spoke with authority.


    ¡¯There has been a change of plans.¡¯

 CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

    CHAPTER FIFTY TWO


    Much to Trinket¡¯s exasperation, Jane was in no state to respond to Trinket¡¯s change of plans. Jane was sitting upright on the back of the horse, swaying. Her eyes were glassy and opened too wide. Her left leg ran with blood, from just above the knee all the way into her sock. There was a jagged canyon of missing flesh where the silent girl¡¯s teeth had sunk.


    Trinket stepped close and put a hand up to Jane¡¯s hip to support her as she came down off the horse. Jane raised her right leg and laid it across the back of the horse. She was weak from blood loss. As soon as Jane¡¯s feet were on the ground she collapsed.


    Trinket whistled between her teeth, and said, ¡®You are worse than I thought.¡¯


    Laying on the limestone floor, Jane murmured nonsense words as her energy ran away with the bleeding.  Trinket squatted beside Jane and leaned down to speak.


    ¡®I will have you back on your feet in a speck.¡¯


    Tom slipped from the horse and stood beside Trinket.


    ¡®Give me a percentage,¡¯ he said.


    ¡®Give you a what?¡¯ Trinket asked. She reached into her cloak and brought out the small vial with the picture of Elion on the outside, the vial that held the yellow syrup.


    ¡®Give me a percentage for the likelihood of Jane¡¯s recovery.¡¯


    Blood streamed from Jane¡¯s leg and ran onto the stone. Her breathing had slowed and become shallow. Tom was interested as to how far down the path to death Jane had travelled. He wondered if she was going to make it back.


    The thrip princess hummed while uncorking the vial of whatever.


    ¡®I don¡¯t know what you mean about percentages, but you will be amazed at Jane¡¯s recovery,¡¯ she said.


    Trinket balanced on the front of her feet and inspected the nail scratches and the bite mark. She regarded the gushing stream of blood. She swayed on her feet and brought herself closer to Jane, then tipped up the little vial over the wounds. Yellow syrup poured. Vapour whispered up around the pour. When the syrup hit Jane¡¯s leg there came a sizzling sound.


    Tom crossed his arms and thrust a foot forward and lowered his eyebrows. He watched Trinket with a gruesome interest.


    ¡®What is the active ingredient in the jungle juice you are pouring?¡¯


    ¡®Who knows,¡¯ said Trinket, offhandedly.


    The syrup bubbled.


    Jane lay silently with her eyes opened too wide, like those of a deer that had just been shot. Her breathing vibrated. As the yellow syrup got drawn into her wounds she began to twitch. A sigh leaked from her nose. Trinket kept pouring. Life tipped back into Jane¡¯s eyes.


    After slipping the vial of yellow syrup back into her cloak, Trinket bandaged Jane¡¯s legs with two strips of fabric that she had torn from her own undershirt. Within seconds the bandage became damp with red and yellow fluid.


    ¡®The bleeding will stop in a moment,¡¯ Trinket said to Jane.


    Tom almost seemed disappointed that everything had been resolved so easily. He took a step backward and changed the subject.


    ¡®Why are cannibal children living inside a mountain, playing in the snow?¡¯


    Trinket didn¡¯t answer immediately. Finally she looked up at him and said, ¡®What now?¡¯


    Tom repeated, ¡®What is with the children in the snow? What is their story?¡¯


    ¡®They are old ¡­ very very old. They play because they have nothing else to do and nowhere else to go.¡¯


    Incredulous, Tom shook his head. Even with everything that had happened this seemed too much to believe.


    ¡®I don¡¯t understand how they can be old ¡­ they are just children. Why do the authorities of Paris allow these savage little children to live? Why doesn¡¯t one of the administrations eliminate them?¡¯


    ¡®The children are troublesome,¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®Well eliminate them,¡¯ said Tom, almost sounding impatient.


    Jane was getting better in an unnatural way. Her breathing had normalised. She shut her eyes and her face softened. She moved her leg, the one that had been bitten by the silent child. Her muscles flexed and contracted, and the pain was only minimal.


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    Trinket leaned back on her haunches and admired her work.


    Jane raised her leg, and bent her knee, and brought her knee up, almost to her chin. She did the same with her other leg, the one that had been bandaged. It came up to her chin, miraculously easily. She opened her eyes.


    ¡®Thankyou Trinket.¡¯


    It was hard to thank Trinket who acted only out of self interest. Trinket only helped Jane to help Tom (Elion), Trinket only helped Tom to help Trinket.


    Jane said, ¡®That was the most evil, horrible thing that has ever happened to me.¡¯


    Impatient, Tom said to Trinket, ¡®Tell us the plan?¡¯


    ¡®The plan is to enter the palace.¡¯


    ¡®That was always the plan ¡­ but what is the change of plans?¡¯


    A switch flicked. Trinket straightened and brought her shoulders back, and immediately she looked like a princess, and an archer, and a soldier, and a maker of plans.


    ¡®Coronet is now under attack. An hour ago Gibor¡¯s army would have commenced an attack on the city of Coronet from a position across the river. This will have drawn the palace soldiers and the palace guards to the walls.¡¯


    ¡®How did this happen?¡¯


    ¡®Because of you,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®When Gibor learned that Elion was back in Paris he was eager to play his part in getting rid of the Empire. I gave him a promise that you would assist his ambition of becoming the King of Coronet when you take a seat inside the machine.¡¯


    ¡®How will I have the power to accomplish that?¡¯


    ¡®The machine gives you the power.¡¯


    ¡®How?¡¯


    ¡®I don''t know.¡¯


    Trinket put a hand under Jane¡¯s elbow, and dug her fingers around the knob. She applied pressure and Jane came up into a sitting position. Jane rubbed her eyes. She said, ¡®What is the change of plans?¡¯


    ¡®We were going to access the palace through the needle gate, just a short ride from here, but I have decided that that is a bad idea.¡¯


    ¡®Why?¡¯


    ¡®The Emperor and his guards will be waiting at the needle gate.¡¯


    ¡®Is that why you mentioned the key to the captain, to entice the Emperor up to the gate?¡¯


    ¡®Yes.¡¯


    ¡®But won¡¯t the Emperor be distracted by Gibor¡¯s attack from the river?¡¯


    ¡®Elion and the key will be far more important to him.¡¯


    ¡®So why have you changed your mind? Did you realise that it was a stupid idea mentioning the key?¡¯


    Trinket had put up with Jane not treating her like a princess because of the circumstances under which they had met, but she wasn¡¯t going to tolerate the disrespect much longer.


    ¡®Jane, you must understand. I am working at a higher level. I see things in a way that it is impossible for you to see them.¡¯


    Jane had a microexpression of distaste, as though she had just taken a sip of the sour wine that the wild grape growers were pressing down in the south of England.


    Trinket continued, ¡®The Emperor will have an advantage if we meet him at the needle gate. He will have arrived before us with a cohort of palace guards, and will have had time to prepare to meet us under his term. I think it is better that we sneak in another way and lure him to us where we have the advantage.¡¯


    Tom said, ¡¯So if we aren¡¯t going through the needle gate, how are we getting into the palace?¡¯


    ¡®We will go in through the air vents.¡¯


    ¡®Where are the vents?¡¯


    ¡®There is one right there.¡¯


    Trinket pointed at a stone shelf.


    ¡®The palace is vented into the catacombs, so that air flows from the gardens beside the river up through the palace.¡¯


    Tom motioned around the chamber they had stopped in. It was dimly litten by recessed torches, thirty feet apart.  Stones and rocky outcrops ran wavering shadows over the top of each other.


    ¡®Where is the vent?¡¯


    ¡®You cannot go first.¡¯


    As she spoke, Trinket brought the yellow syrup back out from its place inside her cloak, and she held it in Jane¡¯s general direction.


    ¡®After Jane has some yellow syrup and gets a boost of energy, she will go first.¡¯


    Jane paused in her stretching and looked at the small vial for a moment. She took it from Trinket and put it to her lips. She upended the vial and took a large, delicious swig of yellow syrup. Immediately the fire of the syrup went down her throat and lit up her belly. Her face relaxed and a smile tickled her cheeks. The lines along her forehead turned to jelly.


    ¡®Why does Jane have to go first?¡¯ said Tom.


    He had stepped around a boulder that had a stalactite growing from its top up to the ceiling. He was running his hands along the cave walls. Suddenly he stopped. He had found the vent. It was a rectangular opening, with a vertical channel going down about ten feet. The rectangle was as long as Tom was tall, and the same width as an apple box.


    ¡®I want Jane to go first in case there is someone waiting, she can alert us.¡¯


    ¡®So you want Jane to go down as a canary to check for poison.¡¯


    ¡®Yes.¡¯


    Trinket took the vial of yellow syrup away from Jane.


    Jane had shut her eyes again and was smiling as though she had just taken a bite of a nice piece of pie. She was having a moment of bliss, her mind riding up into cloudland.


    Trinket took hold of Jane¡¯s arm and rubbed her green nails up Jane¡¯s white skin.


    ¡®When you are ready I will help you to stand.¡¯


    ¡®When I am ready,¡¯ Jane murmured.


    ¡®I think you are ready now,¡¯ said Trinket, and she gripped Jane around the elbow again.


    ¡®I am not going to leave the horses,¡¯ said Jane.


    Irritated, Trinket said, ¡®Who cares so much about horses?¡¯


    ¡®I do,¡¯ Jane murmured. ¡®I care about horses.¡¯


    ¡®When we have got Elion into the machine and you have got the Wyld book and the Emperor has been dealt with ¡­ I will come back for the horses.¡¯


    Jane was about to answer when Tom¡¯s voice came from the bottom of the air vent. While Trinket and Jane had been distracted by the concern (and lack of concern) for horses, Tom had shimmied down the ventilation shaft, bracing himself between the stone walls. Now he called up from the bottom.


    ¡®Um, Trinket. We have a problem,¡¯

 CHAPTER FIFTY THREE

    CHAPTER FIFTY THREE


    The reason Tom called up a warning to Trinket from the bottom of the vent was because he had run into Silas Fox. There he was, the dapper little fellow in his green jacket and purple hat, with his moustache shining like oil. Silas Fox had his bow up and drawn, and an arrow trained on Tom.


    Fox whispered, ¡®Step away from the air vent and don¡¯t say another word.¡¯


    Tom stepped away from the air vent.


    Fox watched him down the length of a steady arrow while glancing at the bottom of the vent as though expecting someone else to emerge.


    Helpfully, Tom said, ¡®The other two aren¡¯t coming just yet,¡¯


    Still Fox kept his arrow drawn and ready. If Trinket came down the vent, Fox couldn¡¯t risk giving her even a second to draw. She was a better archer than Fox, and if she got even a moment she would get an arrow off.


    Up in the catacombs Trinket put a finger to her lips to tell Jane to be quiet. Jane¡¯s eyebrows lowered and came together in a look of irritation at being treated like an idiot.


    Trinket sidled over to the top of the vent, and hesitated. An arrow would find her quickly, if there was someone at the bottom of the vent who was even halfway proficient in archery. She listened. Silence. With the speed of an unfolding slingshot she put her head out above the column, and just as quickly drew it back. There was nothing in the vent other than the light streaming in from the room at the bottom. She put her head back over the vent, and now she saw a shadow, moving in a menacing way.


    Trinket called, ¡®What is happening down there? Who is with you Elion?¡¯


    A man answered, his voice high and simping.


    ¡®I recognise the sweet little voice of Trinket the Princess.¡¯


    Trinket had heard this voice before, but she couldn¡¯t quite place it.


    She said, ¡®Identify yourself.¡¯


    The man laughed, a lips-pressed together laugh that sounded like bubbles.


    Jane stood. She felt wonderful, with the yellow syrup pouring through her veins. Her leg, where the silent child had bitten her, felt brand new. She moved over to the vent and stuck her head over the edge and spoke with the authority of someone with yellow syrup clouding her brain.


    ¡®The Princess has asked you to identify yourself.¡¯


    Mumbling came from below. Jane got a sense of someone speaking to Tom, enquiring about this latest voice that he didn¡¯t recognise.


    After a moment the voice said:


    ¡®This is Silas Fox.¡¯


    Trinket muttered something to herself. She seemed annoyed.


    Jane said, ¡®Silas Fox, what are you doing?¡¯


    ¡®I am taking Elion to the Emperor to collect my million risers.¡¯


    Trinket put a hand out to stop Jane talking. Her lips were pressed together, and her vertical irises folded in and out like the beating of a butterfly¡¯s wings.


    ¡®I will deal with this.¡¯


    Trinket called down the vent, ¡®I can negotiate a better deal than the one the Emperor is offering.¡¯


    ¡®Don¡¯t even attempt to seduce me with your ideas Princess. I only have one desire, and that is to be rich so that I can live in a beautiful house filled with beautiful things.¡¯


    ¡®I can give you that ¡­ once I have taken control of Coronet.


    Taking control of Coronet.


    Jane wondered what the blimey this meant. Trinket had failed to mention the goal of becoming the ruler of Coronet.


    ¡®I thought you were only here to help me and Tom,¡¯ Jane whispered.


    Trinket ignored her. She spoke down the air vent.


    ¡®With Elion back in the machine, he will have the power to raise new leaders. I will form an agreement with Elion that I will supply my key, essential for accessing the machine, only if he gives me the throne of Coronet. When I have assumed control of Coronet I will then give you two million rizers, double what the Emperor is offering. That is more money than you will know how to spend for the rest of your miserable life.¡¯


    ¡®A wonderful sentiment,¡¯ said Fox. ¡®Except I don¡¯t believe you. The Emperor also has a key, and you are yet to negotiate with the Emperor. That negotiation could lead anywhere. On the other hand, if I sell Elion to the Emperor I get a guaranteed million risers.¡¯


    Trinket shook her head but didn¡¯t counter further. This wasn¡¯t the time or place. Instead, she changed the subject.


    ¡®How did you know we would be entering the Palace through the vent?¡¯


    ¡®I have a functioning brain.¡¯


    ¡®Did you speak to the captain?¡¯


    ¡®The captain of the Sweet Louis is floating down the river with an arrow through his eye.¡¯


    ¡®You killed the captain?¡¯


    ¡®Of course. He would have told the Emperor that Elion was coming through the catacombs. I couldn¡¯t have that information reaching the Emperor.¡¯


    ¡®So you killed the captain to shut him up?¡¯


    ¡®In a very easy shot across a narrow part of the Milkstone river.¡¯


    ¡®But how did you know I was going to come through the vent instead of the Needle gate?¡¯


    ¡®A hunch. You have always been a sneak.¡¯


    ¡®I am coming down.¡¯


    ¡®NO!¡¯


    ¡®Yes ¡­ I¡¯m coming down.¡¯


    ¡®I will be waiting here with an arrow.¡¯


    ¡®You better be fast and accurate because I also can shoot.¡¯


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡®Except you will be busy climbing.¡¯


    Trinket stayed in place and after a moment Jane realised that Trinket was not willing to climb down into a situation where she was at a horrible disadvantage.


    ¡®We are leaving,¡¯ Fox called from below. ¡®Count to one hundred before you come down the vent, or you will risk a flint of steel through your eye.¡¯


    Trinket turned to Jane, and whispered, ''Once they leave we will make our way to the machine. Its time I explained exactly what it is that Elion does in the machine, and why it is important that we get him there.''


    *


    Tom walked ahead of Fox along narrow stone corridors and down steep stone staircases. The caverns were dark, barely litten by sconced candles that spluttered with vague light. The air was acrid with mould. The walls were made of grey stone blocks, streaked with black. The floor was paved with black flagstones. Down the left side of the path was a gutter holding a thin line of putrid water. A rat came running along the gutter and stopped and sat up, its long tail trailing in the water. Its mouth twitched, and its beady eye locked onto Tom. Its eyes widened with fear, and it dropped to four paws and ran away. Its little feet skittered and splashed.


    Soon they came to a wider corridor, litten by large burning torches, and lined with woven tapestries. Between the tapestries were arches that led into a purple room where tables were stacked with silverware. The plates and bowls and goblets were stacked in large, haphazard piles, covered with cobwebs and dust.


    Down another staircase they came to a room shaped like a star. A chandelier made of black stone burned with a myriad of candles.


    Tom wondered where everyone was. Although it would be late at night he felt that there should be people around: maids doing midnight chores, guards doing guarding, maybe a chamberlain rushing off with a silver bucket. But there was no one, and the palace was silent.


    As if reading Tom¡¯s mind, Fox said:


    ¡¯The upper palace has been evacuated. Everybody who isn¡¯t required to fight has made their way down to the fortified area beneath the palace. As I am sure you are aware, we are under attack from an army led by the landholder known as Gibor.¡¯


    Tom said nothing.


    After a moment Fox said:


    ¡®Since he can¡¯t see the ¡®shine¡¯, the Emperor will want you identified. When I took the fat boy to him earlier, hoping to pass him off as you, he ordered three separate witnesses to identify him. All the three confirmed the fat boy wasn¡¯t Elion. The Emperor was displeased and I had to make some fast thinking arguments to save my own life.¡¯


    ¡®Is Andrew dead?¡¯ asked Tom.


    Startled by Tom¡¯s matter-of-fact tone, Fox looked at Tom, as though trying to read whatever emotion lay behind his innocent face.


    ¡®No he isn¡¯t dead.¡¯


    They came to the end of another corridor and there was a large black door made of some kind of stone, with a stone handle and a locking mechanism that Fox spent a moment unscrambling. The door opened onto a balcony, high above the city of Coronet. Cool air rushed at them.


    They stepped out and went to the balcony railing.


    Beneath were the spires and turrets and flags of the palace. Further beneath, so far down it was like looking into a deep valley, were gardens and roadways and village houses, and the city wall running along the banks of the Milkstone river.


    Inside the city walls, was a long garden that formed a main courtyard for the palace. An elephant walked along a broad road, and on its back was a beautiful rug, and on the rug sat three women. The elephant was flanked by soldiers carrying spears.


    Alongside the road was manicured lawn and shrubs and pools and statues and waterfalls. Flaming lanterns spilled light between the trees.


    Over to the right, a waterfall fell from an invisible height, from some mountain stream shrouded by mist. The water fell into a white viaduct that ran through the palace and into the city.


    Along the city wall were towers spaced out about one hundred feet apart. Flags were raised above each tower, the flags emblazoned with the Emperor¡¯s insignia: hard red background with a black symbol.


    The wall waved in and out following the course of the Milkstone river. The river was as black as spilled ink. Ships were docked on the river, lined up with their noses in hard against the city wall.


    From far away there came the sound of men shouting. A thousand or more voices rose in a roar. Across the wall, across the Milkstone river, on the plains that ran into the farms of Gibor, there was a ragtag plague of warriors. This was the army raised by Gibor. They roared then fell silent. They roared and fell silent again. There were archers and spear wielders. There were men on foot, and men on horseback.


    The horses were restless, almost dancing. Even from this distance, Tom could feel a sense of anticipation, and a promise of violence.


    All along the walls were the soldiers of the palace. They were in formation, standing three deep on the wall walk, taking protection between the crenels. On command, archers would send an arrow out into the dark. In reply, a flurry of arrows would come winging back. Sometimes a palace soldier took an arrow and fell over the wall into the roiling river.


    Fox turned from the wall and went through another door into the palace, and Tom followed. They went along a corridor beneath architraves of gold with evenly spaced columns all wrought with depictions of angels and monsters. The floor was laid in a checkerboard pattern with white and pink marble. The floor was dented from the wear of feet.


    The corridor ran into the grand reception hall: a long cathedral-like room with a vaulted ceiling perhaps a hundred feet high.


    Tapestries hung from the walls depicting the history of Coronet. Woven images of men on horseback, holding spears; images of women fishing; images of stone masons with raised hammers; images of gardeners pushing fingers into soil.


    Across the grand reception hall a set of double white doors reached fifteen feet into the air. Here were two palace guards, standing either side of the door. The guards were dressed in red uniforms that swept from their shoulders to their knees. Dangling from necklaces were red and black pendants, bearing the symbol of the Emperor.


    ¡®Behind that door is the throne room,¡¯ said Fox quietly.


    They approached.


    If the guards saw him, Tom knew he would be recognised as Elion. He wondered if he could trust these guards to act decently. Should he hide his face? What would the guards do with information that some great hero from their deep past had come back. Would they love him or hate him?


    Did Fox intend to kill the guards?


    Fox walked ahead of Tom, and approached the first guard.


    ¡®I am requesting entrance.¡¯


    The guard eyeballed Fox. He had a fat red face and thuggish eyes. There was a moment of silence while the guard considered the request. Fox tapped his foot impatiently. His pond green jacket and his purple hat and yellow shirt, and the twilling moustache that ran out from his mouth, had a touch of ridiculousness. The guards were formal and large and proper.


    The closest guard sneered.


    ¡®You have been forbidden entrance.¡¯


    Because Fox¡¯s licence for entrance stood one pace behind, Fox stepped aside and gestured to Tom. The guards noticed Tom. Like rain drops turning into flood water, they reacted. Their eyes widened. They dropped their heads forward.


    ¡®My Lord.¡¯


    ¡®Hello,¡¯ said Tom and he smiled. His cheerful dimples rolled into his cheeks.


    ¡®So,¡¯ said Fox to the guards. ¡®Do you still want to refuse me entrance?¡¯


    The closest guard shook his head, and his red cheeks wobbled.


    ¡®You will not be allowed entrance. Our Lord Elion will have entrance under the care of the Emperor¡¯s personal guards.¡¯


    In an instant Fox wielded his bow and drew an arrow so quickly, it distorted the room. The guards¡¯ hands went to their swords. Compared to Fox they were slow and clumsy, and Tom was sure the Fox could put an arrow through both of the guards if he so chose.


    The closest guard said, ¡®You are mad, little man.¡¯


    Fox answered, ¡®Yet you stand back. The world has moved past you. The army is at your gates.¡¯


    The guard whistled, and the sound pierced the air.


    Fox said, ¡®You whistle for reinforcements against one lonely archer!¡¯


    The closest guard spoke to Tom:


    ¡®Come, Elion, and I will deliver you safely to the Emperor.¡¯


    Fox¡¯s left eye squinted, while his right eye became filled with an unholy light. This was the expression of someone who had decided that he was at the end of ideas, and was ready to die for a cause.


    Fox turned the arrow toward Tom. The arrow head, deadly, was pointed straight at Tom¡¯s eye. Tom looked into Fox¡¯s eyes, and after a moment he murmured:


    ¡®He will kill me.¡¯


    The closest guard said, ¡®He won¡¯t kill you.¡¯


    ¡®Five,¡¯ said Fox with strange glee.


    ¡®What is that?¡¯


    ¡®Four.¡¯


    The guard asked, ¡®What are you doing?¡¯


    ¡®When I get to zero the arrow flies, and Elion dies.¡¯


    Fox adjusted his eye down onto the arrow, and his mouth settled, and his face firmed up. He was as serious as a war.


    ¡®You will not kill your pot of gold,¡¯ said the guard.


    ¡®I will kill him before I let you take him to the Emperor without me.¡¯


    ¡¯You are being reckless and senseless. If you kill Elion you will forfeit your own life.¡¯


    ¡®Three.¡¯


    ¡®Stop. I will put your request to the Emperor¡¯s butler and he can decide whether you will be allowed an audience with the Emperor.¡¯


    ¡®You best hurry.¡¯

 CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR

    CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR


    The guard returned with the Emperor¡¯s personal Butler.


    The Butler ushered Tom and Fox into a vestibule where Fox discarded his sling, and his bow, and his quiver of arrows, and his dagger, and a skewer that he had hidden up his sleeve. The Butler gave Tom a mask, that he insisted that Tom hold up to hide his face.


    ¡®For your protection,¡¯ the Butler explained.


    The mask was white-faced, with a long nose and elongated eyes and wide, fat, red lips. It had a stick at the bottom for the wearer to hold.


    The throne room was long and high and made of giant rectangles of cream coloured marble. A crimson rug ran down the centre of the room to a raised dais, where three steps went up to where the throne was positioned between two statues of naked men. Although the Emperor was seated on the throne, Tom couldn¡¯t see him between the crowd of men who were jostling around the front of the dais, all seeking an audience with the Emperor.


    Between the entry where Tom stood, and the throne at the other end of the long hall, there was a lounge area, with chairs arranged into intimate spaces. On little metal tables were glasses filled with red wine. These spaces were filled with reclining men and perching women, all immersed in hazy puddles of smoke that came from long cigars. The men wore colourful coats and colourful hats. The women wore shining gowns (pearl coloured, strawberry coloured, cream coloured, sugar coloured, liquorice coloured) that hung from bare shoulders.


    One woman crossed her legs, and a split ran up the side of a thick white thigh. She pointed her toe and trailed it up the back of a man''s calf.


    These people reminded Tom of the club that his father belonged to down in London, where the aristocrats came to drink and make deals.


    Sounding impressed, Fox pronounced:


    ¡®There is an army at the city wall, and still the fancy people do their fancy things.¡¯


    The butler said, ¡®Our people are safe ¡­ the walls will not be breached.¡¯


    Walking ahead of Fox and Tom, the butler held his chin high and forward. Around his neck was a white frill, like a Christmas decoration.


    They followed the crimson carpet, and the conversations hushed as they passed. The lounging aristocrats knew that something unusual was about to happen. Tom could feel the eyes of these privileged people watching him. Although they didn¡¯t know he was Elion (because of the mask) they must have expected he was someone important, to be walking with the Emperor¡¯s butler on the approach to the throne.


    Tom pressed the mask hard against his cheeks and nose.


    They approached the crowd of men jostling for access to the throne. Judging from the deep blues and the sharp collars and the stiff lapels and embroidered armbands, these were all military men of high rank.


    Tom could now see Emperor August seated on his golden throne. Finally the Emperor. Actually the Emperor wasn¡¯t sitting as much as lounging, slumped with one leg up on the throne¡¯s golden arm. He had an insolent expression, like he was the schoolyard bully ready to fight anyone who looked at him wrong.


    The Emperor¡¯s face was round like a dish, and his hair lay across his forehead in bow shaped strands, trying to hide the baldness that shone through like a lamp behind a tree. And he was short. It was hard to tell his exact height, but perhaps not much more than five feet.


    He wore white pants and gold shoes, and a white shirt and a dark blue coat, with the Empire insignia on his right breast. The suit had buttons that might have been made of pure gold.


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    A man was exiting the dais, stepping down on the crimson steps. The Emperor spoke after him:


    ¡®This must remain confidential.¡¯


    The man turned back. ¡®It will remain private, your excellency.¡¯


    Now the Emperor¡¯s eyes flicked across the group of waiting men. The eyes found Tom and Fox and the blue uniformed Butler. The Emperor stared at Tom in his mask, then looked at Fox.


    A General, who must have been next in line to have an audience with the Emperor, took two steps up onto the dais. The Emperor turned to the General and said something quietly, and the General shook his head, as though this was something unusual; something he didn¡¯t want to accept. The Emperor looked sideways where a red-coated palace guard stood at attention, and the General read something in that look and stepped back down off the dais.


    The Butler, still standing with Fox and Tom, was rocking back and forth on his feet, and making a sound like the meow of a cat waiting for his master to feed him. Tom sensed that the Butler got into a wobble when he was in the orbit of the Emperor.


    The Emperor put his white-gloved hand toward the Butler, and waggled fingers like he was playing piano in the air. The Butler nodded and let out a sharp breath and began walking toward the dais.


    The Emperor turned to the palace guard and said something quietly. The guard nodded and immediately started walking around the outside of the crowd. Immediately Fox got a sense of a looming problem. His moustache twitched, and while not looking at the approaching guard, he concentrated on the motion of the guard¡¯s approach from the corner of his eye.


    ¡®This might get ugly.¡¯


    Tom stayed hidden behind the mask, and the guard ignored him. The guard sidled up and took a position beside Fox, standing so close that his large arm brushed Fox¡¯s shoulder. This agitated Fox, and he snarled, ¡®You are a poor excuse for a fighting man.¡¯


    The palace guard didn¡¯t reply, and Fox stared at him, trying not to be insignificant.


    The Butler approached the Emperor with his hands out, like he was walking toward a loved one. The Emperor was inscrutable and he watched the approaching butler through heavy black eyes that had sunk into puffs of flesh. When the butler stopped in front of the throne, the Emperor extended his hand for the butler to kiss.


    ¡®You have brought Fox back,¡¯ said the Emperor.


    ¡®It is not Fox that is interesting ¡­  It is the boy.¡¯


    ¡®It is HE, isn¡¯t it?¡¯


    ¡¯Yes.¡¯


    ¡®Have them approach,¡¯ said the Emperor.


    The Butler turned. He seemed to be filled with joy. He stepped lightly down the stairs and moved, almost with a skip, between the military men.


    As the Butler approached, the guard stood to attention. He had a hand inside his coat where his dagger was kept, and his red uniform tightened around his balloon shaped biceps. He was ready for action in case Fox made a problem.


    An old military man, with long hair and a long fur coat said, ¡®The mask wearer is just a boy.¡¯


    ¡®He must be royalty,¡¯ someone else said.


    ¡®Follow,¡¯ said the Butler.


    Fox stepped ahead of Tom. He was so close to the million rizers he could almost smell the money. He needed to exercise some caution as it had only been an hour earlier that the Emperor had told Fox to leave and never return to Coronet or he would likely end up dead. But Fox was excited and he couldn¡¯t contain that excitement.


    The Emperor swung his legs around and put his feet on the ground. He sat up straight and reached for the sceptre that rested against the side of the throne. Although Fox was desperate for the Emperor¡¯s attention, it was Tom that the Emperor looked at.


    For one moment Tom and the Emperor locked eyes, and although the Emperor¡¯s blue eyes searched, trying to see into Tom¡¯s ¡®shine¡¯ Tom could tell that the Emperor didn¡¯t recognise him as Elion.


    Fox raised a hand to get the Emperor¡¯s attention. The Emperor brought his eyes away from Tom. Fox walked up the stairs onto the dais. The Emperor put his hand out for Fox to kiss. On his middle finger was a large royal ring, the one that had once been worn by the man King of Coronet. Fox bent his knees and put his lips close to the ring, but he didn¡¯t actually touch the ring with his lips. A dozen dirty men would have already kissed the ring this evening.


    ¡®I have brought the prize,¡¯ said Fox.


    ¡®And you will be paid,¡¯ said the Emperor. ¡®Go with the butler for a payment of half a million rizers.¡¯


    ¡®Half a million ¡­¡¯ Dismay ran over Fox¡¯s face. His moustache drooped and his eyes widened, and although he managed to speak his voice was strained and halting. ¡®The price was a million rizers.¡¯


    ¡®You brought two boys. One boy was a lie. You get half or nothing.¡¯


    Fox spluttered but his words came out nonsensical. His outrage had blotted his ability to think or form a sentence.


    The Emperor repeated:


    ¡®Go with the butler for half a million rizers.¡¯


    ¡®I believe that you are reneging on a royal contract.¡¯


    This made the Emperor laugh, with a sound like a snort.


    ¡®Perhaps if you had kissed the ring I might have considered giving you the full amount, but now it is too late.¡¯

 CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE

    CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE


    Fox took a moment to consider his options. He couldn¡¯t accept this outcome. He stood at the bottom of the dais and appeared as though he wasn¡¯t going to move.


    ¡¯Follow me,¡¯ said the Butler in a rigid tone.


    Still Fox didn¡¯t move. He watched as the Emperor summoned Elion to ascend the stairs to the dais. He watched the Emperor whisper to one of his aids. He watched the Emperor gesture to a guard. It seemed that the Emperor was finished with Fox and there was nothing more that Fox could do other than follow the Butler and collect his much diminished reward.


    Half a million rizers could work?


    As Fox left with the Butler the military men began to clap. At first it was just the mean-spirited men who clapped - the men who knew Fox by his reputation (men who didn¡¯t like a renegade ... men who couldn¡¯t cope with a free spirit),, then suddenly all the men were clapping.


    Someone called, ¡®The Little Fox is leaving.¡¯


    The dapper little man tried to keep his head up, and his chin out, but there was an obvious slumping as the jeers poured over him.


    Tom now stood in front of the Emperor. He continued to hold the mask up to cover his face, unsure whether it was time to reveal himself. The Emperor had to weave his head to line his eyes up with Tom¡¯s eyes. He stared into Tom¡¯s eyes for several seconds. The Emperor had dull blue eyeballs that held no great depth. They were the eyes of a ruthless man ¡­ but not an intelligent one.


    The Emperor didn¡¯t recognise Tom as Elion.


    He gestured to a red coated palace guard who stood at attention on one side of the dais. The guard turned, with a stiff formality, to face the Emperor. The Emperor gestured for the guard to scan Tom¡¯s eyes. Tom remembered the that Emperor couldn¡¯t see the ¡®shine¡¯.


    Tom turned to the guard and had a sudden feeling that he may have miscalculated things, and that the guard wouldn¡¯t recognise him as Elion. What then?


    However, the look came over the guard¡¯s face, the same as the looks that had come over the previous residents of Paris when they had stared into Tom¡¯s eyes. For a moment it seemed as though the guard was going to fall to his knees, the way the Thrip had back on the boardwalk, so long ago now. Only the guard faltered as though realising that bowing would be the wrong thing to do. He looked to the Emperor for guidance, but the Emperor ignored him.


    The Emperor leaned toward Tom. He put a hand up to shield his mouth and whispered. His voice was high and breathy.


    ¡®Keep the mask up to your face until we are out of the Throne Room.¡¯


    Tom nodded.


    The Emperor sat back and thought for a moment before leaning forward again.


    ¡®Do you have the key?¡¯


    Tom put his hand up to the leather strap at his throat, but the Emperor spoke quickly:


    ¡®Leave it ... Don¡¯t,¡¯


    Standing behind the Emperor was a man with long curly hair. He wore a red uniform, similar to that of the Palace guards, but without the look of a warrior. He had bulging eyes and a big mouth. This was the Emperor¡¯s Public Proclaimer.


    The Emperor whispered an instruction into this man¡¯s ear.


    Stepping forward to the front of the dais, the long haired man put his hands into the air.


    ¡®Silence.¡¯


    The crowd of men, and the lounging socialites gradually fell silent.


    ¡®The Emperor has business to attend to in another part of the Palace. He will return shortly.¡¯


    One of the Generals erupted, ¡®Coronet is under attack ¡­ this is not the time for other business.¡¯


    Another man yelled, ¡®Gibor will come through the gate while we are playing like fools.¡¯


    The Emperor stood from the throne. He paid no attention to the lack of confidence displayed by his military leaders. He walked down from the dais.


    Keeping the mask over his face, Tom followed.


    Two Palace guards walked ahead of the Emperor, clearing a space between the military men for the Emperor and Tom to follow.


    Tom could hear the fighting men grumbling, confused at the sight of the Emperor leaving the seat of council in the middle of a crisis, all because of some boy wearing a mask.


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    Even though he was obscuring his face with the mask, Tom still kept his eyes averted from everyone. The ¡®shine¡¯ seemed to come through his eyes and face, so he had to keep his eyes away from the fighting men and the fancy people.


    As they moved through the great throne room Tom could see the white blobs of the socialites faces, and the strips of silver light reflected off diamonds, and the whitewashed colours of ladies dresses. Everyone quieted as the group passed, and Tom could hear tiny whispers: what is happening now? Who was behind the mask? A large woman wearing what might have been a Paris version of taffeta, reeked of perfume. For a moment the oxygen seemed to get sucked from the air, replaced by the scent of lavender and sandalwood.


    Finally the group exited the throne room and the door was shut behind, and the noise of the great room subsided. Now there was only the Emperor and Tom and four guards (the two escorts and the two guards protecting the Throne room door). The Emperor relaxed. He to Tom.


    ¡®Remove your mask.¡¯


    The four guards watched as Tom slipped the mask up from his face.


    The two guards who had seen Tom earlier when he had arrived at the Throne room with Fox, were not surprised at the reveal of Tom as the fabled Elion. Their expressions were impassive as the real identity of the boy behind the mask suddenly became apparent. The two guards who had accompanied the Emperor and Tom from the throne room were impacted though. They opened their mouths and widened their eyes, and one of them gasped, ¡®My Lord.¡¯.


    The Emperor spoke to Tom.


    ¡®I can see by the guards¡¯ reaction that you have the ¡®shine¡¯ of Elion.¡¯


    ¡®Apparently.¡¯


    ¡®Show me the key.¡¯


    Tom took the key out from under his shirt and the Emperor stepped close. He took the key into his hand and while he studied it he asked:


    ¡®Where is Trinket?¡¯


    ¡¯Why Trinket?¡¯


    ¡®Your fancy dressed kidnapper told me that you were accompanied by the Thrip princess.¡¯


    Tom wondered how much to tell the Emperor. Would talking about Trinket and Jane harm the goal of getting to the machine? Would it harm the goal of finding the Wyld Book of Secrets? How would this all play out?


    Without any better idea, Tom decided to tell the truth.


    ¡®We entered the Palace through an air vent, somewhere near the Needle gate.¡¯


    ¡®She won¡¯t be there now,¡¯ said one of the guards.


    ¡®She will have moved,¡¯ said the other guard.


    ¡®She will make her way to the machine,¡¯ said the first guard.


    The Emperor asked Tom, ¡®Did the Princess negotiate with Gibor to mount an attack tonight?¡¯


    ¡®I don¡¯t know,¡¯ said Tom. ¡®I only just joined her yesterday after the big storm.¡¯


    ¡®Did she know that you were in Paris before you met with her?¡¯


    ¡®Yes.¡¯


    ¡®Then she organised the attack.¡¯


    The Emperor had his hands crossed beneath his belly, and he rocked back and forth on his feet.


    ¡®I don¡¯t know,¡¯ said Tom.


    ¡®Do you know your role? Do you understand that you are the only one who can operate the machine?¡¯


    ¡®I have been told,¡¯ said Tom. ¡®I don¡¯t know the details.¡¯


    ¡®I thought I could operate the machine without you ¡­ that is why I had you killed.¡¯


    ¡®Did you have me killed?¡¯


    ¡®You don¡¯t remember?¡¯


    ¡®No. I don¡¯t remember anything from before. I don¡¯t remember Paris.¡¯


    One of the Palace guards looked at the Emperor with horror. His hand went instinctively to the sword at his side, but his fellow guard whispered ¡®Don¡¯t¡¯


    The Emperor ignored the guard.


    He said, ¡®Come. Let us go.¡¯


    The group set off.


    One of the guards spoke quietly to the Emperor:


    ¡¯The bulky boy who tried to say he was Elion is currently being held in the machine receptacle.¡¯


    The Emperor sniffed, but didn¡¯t answer


    They took a different route than the earlier route that Tom had followed with Fox. They went through a rabbit warren of turns and intersection, the tunnels tight and dark. Water dripped from the walls into gutters that ran along the ground beside the paths. The guard¡¯s boots clumped, and the Emperor¡¯s slippers whispered. Tom counted steps. He was up to three hundred and ninety four when they arrived at a lift.


    The lift was a little cage of wood and copper with grids of crisscross iron. The cage had a locked door. Above the lift was an enormously fat rope that disappeared up into an unknown void of darkness that terrified Tom with his fear of heights. How did the lift work? Back in London, at the big shopping centre where Tom¡¯s father sometimes took Tom, there was a lift attendant who drove the lift with a wooden handle. There was no lift attendant and there was no device to drive the lift.


    Four torches sent a warm yellow light across the timber and copper inside the lift.


    A guard produced a spider shaped key, which he pushed into a strangely patterned lock. He turned the key and the lift door swung outwards.


    The Emperor stepped into the lift, followed by Tom. Inside, the lift smelled of grease. It was a tight fit, and when the first guard followed Tom and the Emperor in it was almost impossible to move. The second guard began to shove his way in, when the Emperor said, ¡®No.¡¯


    The second guard protested, ¡®It is not safe to only have one guard.¡¯


    ¡®I will be safe,¡¯ said the Emperor. ¡®The boy Elion is too small to be dangerous.¡¯


    The guard¡¯s eyes flicked from the Emperor to Tom, and it suddenly became apparent to Tom (and the Emperor) that the guard was actually talking about the safety of Tom (Elion). He was hinting that Elion would be in danger from the Emperor.


    The Emperor stared at the guard in a way that would have left the guard in no doubt as to the inevitability of future punishment.


    ¡®I will remain here, your excellency,¡¯ said the second guard, and he stepped back and shut the lift door.


    Inside, the first guard pulled on a chord that hung from the ceiling of the lift. From somewhere, quite distant, there came a sonorous gong, like the deep bell tolling for the dead. This was the signal to some distant operator to start raising the lift.


    The lift creaked then began a slow ascent into the dark. The thick rope overhead strained against the weight of the three occupants. The journey was slow, with the rope going through a pulley that geared down whatever was the motive power.


    Tom shut his eyes.


    The Emperor reached up and pulled the chord that had started the lift on its slow ascent.


    Shuddering, the lift stopped.


    The Emperor turned to Tom.


    ''We have things we must discuss.''

 CHAPTER FIFTY SIX

    CHAPTER FIFTY SIX


    Trinket led Jane through a series of stone corridors to a door into a courtyard. The courtyard was surrounded by a wall with six sides, and in the middle of the courtyard was a tower. The six-sided wall was made of black and grey stone, and it stretched a hundred feet high into the night. There was no roof here, just the cold night. Jane could look up and see the hulking side of White mountain, and the full moon casting sallow light, and the inky sky, devoid of stars.


    The tower was surrounded by a moat, and crossing the moat were three separate bridges. The bridges made a triangle, crossing the moat to three separate doors that fed into the base of the tower. The three separate entrances were equidistant from one another, and this seemed significant, somehow.


    The tower was constructed of red bricks. It rose above the height of the wall, and at its top was a copper and glass clock. The tower was shaped like an obelisk, and was constructed of red bricks, and it looked like a six sided version of the Washington monument that Jane had seen in a book in the library. Water ran from three spillways near the top of the tower down the bricks to the moat. The moat must have had a way of emptying out, although Jane couldn¡¯t see where or how. There must have been an underground water chute somewhere that released the water that was flowing in.


    Jane was in pain. There was her ankle, still swollen and aching from the fall she had back on Earth. There was her shoulder, belted and cranky from the heavy landing after crashing the mushroom. There was her lower back, wrenched from her flip over the railing, throwing the Swamp hog to its death in Wyld Fell. There was her stomach, filled with nausea. There was her leg which stung and itched where the silent child had bitten her, and the yellow syrup had healed.


    Jane was over this adventure. She just wanted to get the Wyld Book of Secrets and escape this crazy world of Paris.


    Once inside the courtyard Trinket shut the door and locked it by pushing on a small black contraption that released a sprung pin into the stone floor. The door was now sealed from anyone wanting to enter from the outside.


    A wind-rushing sound came from overhead. Through the rim of the crater Jane saw a conspiracy of ravens, flying on deep blue feathers. They came over the wall and flew to the central tower, which they entered through a dark, paneless, window. The blue feathers glimmered for an instant, then were swallowed by the darkness on the inside of the tower.


    ¡®What are they doing?¡¯


    ¡®They are ravens returning. It has been many years since they have been back to the tower.¡¯


    ¡®Why are they returning?¡¯


    ¡®They know that Elion is back. When Elion sits in the machine the crows fly to the tower.¡¯


    ¡®Why?¡¯


    ¡®I don¡¯t know,¡¯ said Trinket, although there was something suspicious in her tone, as though she did know but didn¡¯t want to say.


    A breeze blew down, and dust sprang up from the courtyard floor.


    ¡®Cover your head,¡¯ Trinket said suddenly.


    A spider-sense told Jane to react. She threw her arms up just as ice rained down from the night sky. Shards of ice cut into her skin. The ice fall lasted for several seconds.


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    ¡®We are beneath an ice field,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®White Mountain is topped with ice.¡¯


    ¡®I¡¯m bleeding,¡¯ said Jane, inspecting her arms. Then she noticed movement from the corner of her eye.


    Across the far side of the courtyard, someone had stepped out from behind the tower. It was Andrew.


    Andrew¡¯s plump body looked fatigued. His green school shirt was untucked, and his pants were dirty with a tear near his left thigh. He walked with a stoop, like his back was damaged. His shadow wavered in the light of the torches.


    Trinket took her bow from its sling and nocked an arrow, but kept the arrow pointed at the ground without tension. She leaned in and whispered to Jane:


    ¡®Do you know if this boy is dangerous?¡¯


    Jane shook her head and smirked at the thought of Andrew being dangerous. She had experienced danger in the last two days, and Andrew just didn¡¯t make the grade.


    ¡®He isn¡¯t dangerous ¡­ but he is annoying.¡¯


    Trinket relaxed, no longer caring about Andrew. She slung her bow and quivered her arrows.


    Andrew stalked slowly around the moat with his hands up in a karate stance and his narrowed eyes locked on Trinket. He was watching her the way you might watch an alligator in the grass. He called out:


    ¡®Are you a Thrip?¡¯


    Trinket didn¡¯t answer. Instead she spoke quietly to Jane:


    ¡®That little fat boy thinks he is important.¡¯


    ¡®He does have a high opinion of himself.¡¯


    ¡®You are a Thrip,¡¯ Andrew said, and he walked past Trinket in a wide arc, watching her bow and arrow as though it was alive.


    He sidled up to Jane and asked:


    ¡®Where is Tom?¡¯


    ¡®He isn¡¯t here,¡¯ said Jane. ¡®What are you doing here?¡¯


    ¡®I am Elion. The Emperor knows it so he put me in here close to the machine.¡¯


    Trinket screwed up her face. She was both amused and irritated. For a moment it looked like she was going to say something cutting to Andrew, but she stopped herself. She seemed to already be completely irritated by Andrew, so she walked over to the moat to get away from him.


    Andrew turned to watch her leave, and said, ¡®I don¡¯t like that Thrip. She thinks she is better than the Emperor. And she is an Elf hater.¡¯


    ¡®Who told you that?¡¯


    ¡®The Emperor.¡¯


    ¡®The Emperor said that to you?¡¯


    Jane knew she sounded incredulous.


    ¡®Yes ¡­ I mean. He said it and I know about it.¡¯


    Jane nodded and breathed out with an exasperated sound. She walked over to where Trinket crouched beside the moat, hoping that Andrew wouldn¡¯t follow. He was one of those people you could tolerate for exactly ten seconds, and then you wanted to stab him in the eye.


    Andrew called, ¡®The Emperor is going to kill the Thrip.¡¯


    Trinket¡¯s shoulder twitched and Jane hesitated before turning.


    Andrew was right behind her, fat, red faced and grinning.


    ¡®He is going to kill her dead.¡¯


    ¡®What did you ¡®overhear¡¯ the Emperor talking about that made you think he wanted to kill Trinket?¡¯


    Andrew shrugged, pretending that the question was unimportant, only Jane realised he didn¡¯t know the answer. He probably didn¡¯t even understand the question.


    Jane said to Trinket, ¡®So the big fellow here thinks the Emperor wants to kill you.¡¯


    Trinket shrugged.


    ¡®He wants the key and he thinks he has to kill me to get it.¡¯


    ¡®He has an assassin.¡¯ Andrew spoke with the nasty tone of gossip. ¡®It is one of his guards.¡¯


    Trinket reached down and traced her fingers in the water of the moat. Jane could see that Trinket was thinking through this information.


    ¡®He will get you,¡¯ said Andrew gleefully.


    ¡®He wants the key,¡¯ said Trinket again. ¡®I didn¡¯t think his mind would go straight to murder.¡¯


    ¡®What will you do?¡¯ asked Jane.


    Trinket shrugged.


    ¡®I have to hide the key.¡¯


    ¡®Where will you hide it,¡¯ said Andrew, pretending this was an innocent question.

 CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN

    CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN


    A moment later there came the oiled purr of a key slipping into the door and the mechanism inside the door snaked open.


    ¡®They can¡¯t get in,¡¯ said Trinket, and she laughed with a harsh sound. ¡®The foot lock is in place.¡¯


    Andrew must have thought that the person on the other side of the door was there for him because he rushed to the door, wearing an expression of righteous outrage at how atrociously he was being treated. His shirt hung from his pants and his hair flipped up and down.


    ¡®Just wait,¡¯ he shouted. ¡®The door has been locked from the inside.¡¯


    He stooped to where the small black contraption had released the locking pin into the floor and he got two fat fingers to the base of the contraption, ready to lift. Trinket. took two steps and spun on the ball of her left foot. Her right heel arched through the air like a cricket bat and thwacked the side of Andrew¡¯s face. It was an ugly move, like the sudden limb-flay of an insect.


    Andrew fell sideways and thrust out a hand, and when he bounced against the ground his hand bent back at the wrist and made a crack. He brought his hand up and let out a cry of pain.


    ¡®Stay away from the door,¡¯ Trinket hissed at him.


    From the other side of the door came a hollow voice, like a deep-voiced woman speaking into an empty soup can.


    ¡®Princess Trinket ¡­ I recognise that voice.¡¯


    Trinket put her hands against the door and leaned in aggressively, like she was a vicious dog pounding itself against a locked gate to get to an intruder. She snarled:


    ¡®The great Emperor.¡¯


    After a moment the Emperor spoke in his hollow voice.


    ¡®As I suspected. A scurry into the sanctum of the machine. Exactly where a treacherous Thrip would run.¡¯


    ¡®Is Elion with you?¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®I¡¯m here,¡¯ said Andrew from the floor where he sat with a hand up to his cheek. He was working his mouth open and closed. His eyes were red. ¡®I¡¯m here and I am being assaulted.¡¯


    ¡®Shut your muck, you little swamper,¡¯ Trinket hissed through clenched teeth.


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    ¡®Elion is with me,¡¯ said the Emperor.


    Jane moved up beside Trinket and spoke through the door.


    ¡®Is he okay? Is he harmed?¡¯


    ¡®I do not recognise this voice.¡¯


    ¡®This is Jane,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®She is also from Earth ¡­ like Elion ¡­ like you.¡¯


    ¡®I am here for the Wyld Book of Secrets¡¯ said Jane, then immediately regretted the words.


    The Emperor ignored her. He spoke to Trinket.


    ¡®Elion is safe. Elion is also far more reasonable than I remember him. He and I have come to an agreement.¡¯


    ¡®What agreement?¡¯ asked Trinket, suddenly suspicious.


    ¡®Have you got the dwarf king¡¯s key?¡¯


    Trinket¡¯s jaw clenched. ¡®What is the agreement you think you have made with Elion.¡¯


    ¡®I will discuss it once I am inside with you.¡¯


    ¡®Will that discussion happen before or after your assassin kills me?¡¯


    ¡®You don¡¯t have to die. I am not here to challenge you for the key. I don¡¯t care if you access the tower.¡¯


    This surprised Trinket and she stood still for a moment, staring at the door. She suddenly stood up straight, and thrust her chin up to a royal degree, and she said:


    ¡®You must know, or at least suspect, that I intend to become Empress of Coronet, and that I will eventually become Empress of all of Paris.¡¯


    ¡®I gathered that from our last meeting.¡¯


    ¡®But I was only young at our last meeting.¡¯


    ¡®Not so young that you didn¡¯t have a look of lust for power in your little green eyes.¡¯


    ¡®What do you want?¡¯ said Jane through the door. Her eyes were filled with suspicion. Her mouth had a rigid anger running through. ¡®If you don¡¯t want to be Emperor, then what do you want?¡¯


    ¡®I don¡¯t want to be the Emperor ¡­ I am the Emperor.¡¯


    ¡®You are an Emperor that hasn¡¯t been verified by Elion,¡¯ said Jane. ¡®I understand that now. Paris is run under the legal authority of Elion, and the proclamations he makes in the machine.¡¯


    ¡®I just told you that,¡¯ said Trinket, scowling at Jane. ¡®You make out as though you understand things when all you have is information that I have just given you.¡¯


    This was true. While Trinket and Jane had made their way from the side of White mountain to the machine inside the tower, Trinket had explained to Jane the role of Elion in the workings of political power throughout Paris. She explained how Elion provided the legal authority for Kings and Emperors to assume government.


    ¡®The point is,¡¯ said Jane, breathing heavily, talking through the door. ¡®You are willing to allow Trinket to become Empress of Paris, which leads to the question ¡­ what do you want from Elion and the machine?¡¯


    ¡®I want the Wyld Book of Secrets.¡¯


    Now the silence became densely woven and dark.


    ¡®What will you do with the book,¡¯ said Trinket. ¡®It has no value in this world.¡¯


    ¡®I have already made an agreement with Elion. He will take his seat in the machine, and he will unlock the book for me to take back to Earth. The book is powerful on Earth. That is where I will rule.¡¯

 CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT

    CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT


    Jane grabbed Trinket¡¯s arm and spoke through a jaw so filled with tension it was sending shockwaves up into her skull.


    ¡®This is not going to happen.¡¯


    Trinket jerked her arm away.


    ¡®Do not touch the princess.¡¯


    ¡®You are a terrible princess. What happened to you supporting me in my quest to find the Wyld Book of Secrets.¡¯


    ¡®Your quest is not my priority.¡¯


    Jane spoke in a loud whisper through clenched teeth.


    ¡®Make it your priority.¡¯


    ¡®No.¡¯


    Trinket turned back to the door and spoke in a wild tone, her voice raised up suddenly like it was bucking.


    ¡®I don¡¯t trust you ¡­ Emperor.¡¯


    ¡®Emperor¡¯ came out like a swear word.


    ¡®You need my key,¡¯ Trinket continued. ¡®So before I have this door opened I am going to set up a little insurance.¡¯


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    ¡®What do you mean ¡­ insurance?¡¯ The Governor¡¯s voice had the high tinny wind.


    Andrew stood with an authority of movement, and he aimed a beady eye at Trinket, the enemy to  be vanquished. Although he was trying to be bold, he could not stop shaking, like he was having a fit. Trinket¡¯s slap to his face had rattled him, sent him a bit silly, damaged his ego.


    He yelled toward the door, ¡®I can prove I am Elion.¡¯


    ¡®Shut your meatbox,¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®What do you mean by ¡®insurance¡¯?¡¯ said the Emperor.


    ¡®I will prove it,¡¯ Andrew shouted again.


    ¡®I will have the door opened in one minute,¡¯ said Trinket, and she began walking toward the central tower, which rose sheer from the moat, its red bricks covered with a scum of purple moss. The only way into the tower was through the three doors at equal distance apart.


    Trinket approached the moat. She walked like a stick insect, with large precise movements. The moat was bordered by a circle of chiselled stones, running in a circle about 150 feet in circumference. The moat was twenty feet across and unfathomably deep.The water in the moat was an aqua and deep in the water there was submerged ice in blocks of darker blue.


    The bridges over the moat rose in steep arches to a central peak before falling down to where the doors were shut. Jane now knew (after the conversation she had had with Trinket on the journey from the catacombs) that the three doors that accessed the tower could only be opened when all three keys were turned at the exact same time.


    Still at the door, Andrew said, ¡®I will fight Tom. I beat him at school and i¡¯ll beat him here.¡¯


    He slapped his hands against his chest.


    The Emperor said, ¡®No more talking.¡¯


    Andrew stepped back from the door and scowled. He nearly said something else but Jane said, ¡®Don¡¯t.¡¯


    Jane¡¯s face was long with worry, and her mouth was downturned. This adventure was not turning out. When the door was opened she would appeal to Tom to help her get the book. That was if Tom was even on the other side of the door.


    Trinket mounted one of the bridges. She stopped in the middle of the bridge and took the key from where it hung at her throat and slipped it over her head. She held it in two fingers and reached out over the moat. The key made a pendulum motion beneath the leather chord.


    ¡®Now,¡¯ she said to Jane. ¡®Open the door for the Emperor to enter.¡¯


    Andrew started sniggering, and he crossed his arms and positioned his body in such a way that it would impede Jane from stooping to release the bottom pin that held the door shut. He had lost control of the situation and now all he could do was make derisive noises and roll his eyes and stand in front of Jane.

 CHAPTER FIFTY NINE

    CHAPTER FIFTY NINE


    Jane shook her head at Andrew, and she shooed him away by waving her hand.


    ¡¯Get out of the way.¡¯


    ¡®Make me.¡¯


    ¡®A minute ago you wanted to open the door to let in your ¡®supposed¡¯ friends. Now you are blocking that very same door.¡¯


    Andrew opened his mouth and it hung slack as though the rubbery substance that supported his mouth shape had collapsed. He made a fist with his right hand.


    ¡®You open the door,¡¯ he snarled.


    ¡®With pleasure.¡¯


    ¡¯Once the door is open, I am leaving.¡¯


    Andrew stepped away and positioned himself so that the moment the door opened he could bound through. He obviously thought the Emperor would look after him, which seemed delusionally optimistic. His belly wobbled over his embossed private school belt.


    Jane pulled up the black contraption that released the spike from the stone floor. The door opened.


    Immediately, through the door, an arrow flew and struck Andrew, just above the left knee. The arrow burrowed through the muscle and emerged from the back of the leg. Blood poured around the arrow shaft and ran in a rivulet down Andrew¡¯s leg.


    A moment of silence followed. Then there came a cry so high and lonely it was like the call of a llama lost in the wilderness. The howl filled the room and held, then stopped, replaced by a whistling sound of drawing breath.


    The howl came again.


    Andrew, mouth wide open in the god-awful scream, wobbled on his feet. A second later he crashed to the ground.


    Jane stepped back and was about to drive her body into the door to shut it, only the palace guard (the Emperor¡¯s assassin) stepped through the door. He had another arrow loaded.


    The assassin released the arrow, just as the body of Tom flung against the assassin¡¯s arm. The arrow leapt away, just off its mark. It seared past Jane¡¯s right hip.


    Tom had saved Jane from being pierced by an arrow, and now he was all tangled up with the assassin. The assassin twisted and beat down with his right arm, so that Tom was flung away.


    The assassin drew another arrow.


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    He yelled to the Emperor who was out of sight behind the door.


    ¡®Call back your killer.¡¯


    The assassin sighted down the shaft of the arrow and slowly raised it, trying to find a shot over Tom¡¯s shoulder.


    Then the assassin brought his head up, and his eyes opened from the concentrated squint. Something behind Tom had caught the assassin¡¯s attention. A moment later the assassin lowered his weapon.


    ¡®What is it,¡¯ Jane said, and she turned.


    Trinket stood, legs apart, on the bridge over the moat. Her robe flapped in a burst of wind that curled over the stone walls. She had her bow raised, with an arrow strung and aimed at the assassin.


    The voice of the Emperor came from behind the door. A squeaky voice that sounded like the voice of the fellow that Jane had seen last year, who had been nicked by the police for loitering outside the girls toilets at ¡®Our Lady of Mercy¡¯ school. The Emperor was talking to Tom.


    ¡®The girl must be hurt so that she cannot move on us.¡¯


    Tom spoke back through the door.


    ¡®Our deal is off if the girl gets hurt.¡¯


    ¡®But the deal is done and has been sealed.¡¯


    ¡®I am adding a clause.¡¯


    The assassin had backed out of the room, and out of sight of Trinket¡¯s carefully aimed arrow.


    Jane now heard the Emperor murmuring to his assassin, and she heard the assassin answer in a growling voice.


    Meanwhile Andrew howled and held his hand around the shaft of the arrow embedded in his thigh. Blood was now running down his leg and dripping onto the floor. There was a lot of blood and Jane sensed that Andrew could be in a bit of trouble with this injury, although she had other priorities than Andrew¡¯s plight. She spoke to Tom.


    ¡®What is the deal you have made with the Emperor?¡¯


    ¡®Trust me.¡¯


    ¡®I need to get the book, so please tell me the deal.¡¯


    Tom whispered, ¡®No time ¡­ just trust me.¡¯


    Now Tom called to Trinket, ¡®The Emperor won¡¯t enter the room until you have put away your weapon.¡¯


    Trinket smiled in a weird way, ¡®This weapon will remain lifted until the assassin has departed, and I am given assurances of such.¡¯


    Tom turned to Jane.


    ¡®Accompany the assassin to a distance of one hundred feet away from this chamber. I will then have Trinket lower her weapon.¡¯


    ¡®Is this part of your deal?¡¯ Jane¡¯s tone dripped with sarcasm.


    Tom shook his head.


    For a long moment Jane stood and stared at Tom. She tried to see through his eerily powerful expression. She tried to see through to his thoughts, and his intentions, but she couldn¡¯t tell exactly what he had in mind. He was now firmly in control.


    Jane sighed.


    She moved through the door, out into the corridor, and saw the Emperor for the first time.


    The Emperor was shorter than Jane. His face was round. He wore a funny hat that looked like a high-ended sailing ship. He was dressed completely in blue.


    He looked up at Jane and snorted, like he didn¡¯t think much of girls:


    ¡®You are nothing to fear.¡¯


    Jane said, ¡®Can you have your assassin follow me to the end of the corridor?¡¯


    The Emperor smirked, and at first Jane thought he was going to refuse her request. Then he made a gesture with a white gloved hand, and the assassin nodded. The assassin walked away, down the corridor, his shoulders rising and falling, his boots drumming the stones.


    Jane hesitated, before following.


    ¡®Now,¡¯ said the Emperor, speaking into the chamber. ¡®I need the Princess to surrender her weapon.¡¯


    ¡®Not likely,¡¯ came Trinket¡¯s reply.

 CHAPTER SIXTY

    CHAPTER SIXTY


    Tom stood still for a moment, pressing his tongue between his teeth, thinking, with his eyes rolled up. He now had to get the Emperor into the chamber without Trinket doing him harm, considering that she knew he had come with his assassin, fully intending to harm her.


    Trinket stood tall on the bridge over the moat and although her bow dangled at her side, thumping against her thigh in an innocent way, she had an arrow loaded with a half tension held by two fingers against the string  With a small movement she could raise the bow, draw full and lethal tension, and send the arrow toward the Emperor. Or Tom.


    Tom, halfway between the tower and the door, spoke to Trinket.


    ¡®The Emperor cannot enter while you hold a weapon.¡¯


    Trinket smiled savagely, like a bare-toothed dog.


    ¡®This is my insurance.¡¯


    ¡®Your insurance is your key, Princess.¡¯


    Trinket shook her head.


    Tom, standing straighter and taller than he did when he was a middling school boy back on Earth, walked slowly toward Trinket, who tensed at his approach.


    ¡®You will not become Queen of Coronet without the Emperor¡¯s key.¡¯


    ¡®The Emperor brought his assassin to assassinate me


    ¡®That isn¡¯t going to happen. The Emperor wants the book and he needs your key to make that happen.¡¯


    ¡®Why does he want the book?¡¯ said Trinket.


    ¡®He is going to take it back to Earth, where the book has real power.¡¯


    Although the side of her top lift arched up into a sneer, Tom could see that Trinket had softened. After a moment she placed the bow onto the stone wall that guarded the edge of the bridge. She took hold of the key and held out her left hand with the key clasped between two fingers. The key dangled over the moat. Trinket nodded, and said, ¡®Okay, if the Emperor tries anything, the key drops.¡¯


    Tom circled around and mounted the arched bridge where Trinket stood.


    The bow sat on the wall of the bridge, and although Tom knew that Trinket could pick the bow up, and fit an arrow, and fire the arrow before he could take two steps, he felt that he was safe, due to his unique position of being the only person who could take a seat in the machine. The Emperor had explained that when Elion sat in the machine, he had the power to seat and unseat rulers without war, and without repurcussion.


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    Just then Andrew called out and Tom looked over to where Andrew lay, his face white in the faint moonlight.  Andrew¡¯s chest rose and fell in an exaggerated way, as though he was having difficulty breathing. He pushed his tongue in and out of his mouth. His tongue was purple. He scrunched and released his fist. He screamed again. Blood made a puddle under his thigh where the assassin''s arrow was embedded.


    He was dying.


    Tom wondered if taking a seat in the machine would mean that he would be able to stop Andrew from dying?


    ¡®I don¡¯t trust the Emperor,¡¯ Trinket muttered to nobody.


    Tom walked up and took the bow from the top of the wall. Trinket watched him as he backed down the arched bridge. Tom carried Trinket¡¯s weapon across the courtyard and met the Emperor who was waiting just out of sight behind the door. He passed Andrew who lay flat on his back and was visibly losing energy. Andrew howled again, but this howl was weaker than the previous one. It was more of a murmur. His body was losing the energy required to make the noises. A bubble came up to Andrews lips, the bubble glistening. His eyes were wide open and staring into the night.


    Tom had no time to spare for this dying school bully. A day ago Tom might have paid more attention. He would have been moved by the humanity of this, his enemy. But that time had passed. There were larger things at stake.


    The Emperor stood behind the door with his shoulders thrust back and his belly hinting at his blue shirt. His hat ran across his head like a ship grounded on the rocks. He wore a haughty and arrogant expression.


    ¡®You have relieved her of her weapon,¡¯ the Emperor said as a statement.


    Tom placed the bow on the ground near the Emperor¡¯s feet, and said, ¡®The Princess is holding the key to the tower. If she senses you endangering her, she will drop the key into the moat.¡¯


    The Emperor didn¡¯t acknowledge this. He stepped over the bow and entered the courtyard, though when he saw Trinket his face hardened and he made a noise in his throat of disgust.


    Trinket stood with her arm out, like a stiff German salute, dangling the key to the tower beneath her fingers.


    ¡®Don¡¯t even look at me Emperor, or I will drop the key.¡¯


    The Emperor folded his hands in front of his belly and stopped for a moment, leaning back so that his shoulders were over his heels, and his hat leaned back like a tilting ship. He looked at Trinket with hooded eyes, then he made a smacking sound with his lips that sounded like derision. He walked toward one of the remaining two bridges, and when Tom saw which direction the Emperor was heading, he began a walk around the tower to the third bridge, keeping his corner-eyed concentration on the Emperor and the Thrip princess. He knew the Emperor would be sensible, but the princess was a maniac.


    Walking quickly, Tom was acutely aware of the key bumping against his chest. He hummed the song Over the Rainbow, which was strange because he didn¡¯t even like that song, and he hadn¡¯t seen the movie that it came from.


    On the far side of the tower Tom lost sight of the Emperor and Trinket. He mounted the bridge and walked over the moat, and looking down he saw that the water¡¯s surface was a midnight blue, as though the water was wildly cold. Deep beneath he could see jagged mountains of ice. The lake smelled like moss and snow.


    Stepping off the bridge Tom was faced with the final of the three doors. The door was yellow, made of what looked like a single stone that had been cut and polished. In the centre of the door was a keyhole.


    Tom put his hands on the bricks and leaned forward to get a closer perspective of the tower. From in close, looking up, the tower seemed impossibly high, like looking up the side of a skyscraper in a city. The bricks felt hard like candy. They were shiny black and almost edible.


    Tom pushed the key into the lock and turned. The lock resisted, then gave way as the keys in the other two doors synchronised. To open an individual door it took all three keys being turned at the same time.  The bolt slipped from its hasp and the door released and swung inwards into the tower.

 CHAPTER SIXTY ONE

    CHAPTER SIXTY ONE


    The door opened to darkness. A box of light fell through the doorway onto the ground, but the light stopped dead. The surface inside the tower didn¡¯t reflect the light in any direction. The light from the doorway fell on a paved floor of irregularly cut stones, and a sill of red bricks. Tom heard the whir of birds'' wings and he looked up. A conspiracy of ravens flew overhead, flying into an upper window of the tower.


    Although the idea of stepping in and letting the door shut behind him was troubling, Tom knew that this was the only way forward. He could feel the door trying to shut, being weighed in some way. He gave the door a shove, hoping it would catch in some way and remain wide open, only the door immediately came back to his pushing hand. There was a large handle on the inside of the door which Tom tested. It worked in the same way as the key from the other side: releasing the locking mechanism from the floor. Tom took careful note of where the handle was in relation to the door, in case it was too dark to see it.


    At the edge of the box of light was the bottom step of a stone staircase that rose into the inky darkness. This must be the way forward. Tom felt that he could slowly work his way up the stairs, even if there was darkness.


    He stepped into the tower and let the door swing shut behind.


    Everything went black.


    Tom waited for his eyes to adjust. He waited. He waited some more. Only even when his eyes widened into night mode, he still couldn¡¯t see. There was no light.


    He noticed that everything had become muted. No sound entered this dark chamber from outside, and nothing inside made a noise.


    The darkness wasn¡¯t just dark - it was dark in an existential way, like it had taken everything that was alive or could be alive and completely obliterated it. It was the blackness of absence. Although Tom could feel his heart beating, he couldn¡¯t hear his heart beating. The sound wasn¡¯t transferring. He shuffled a foot forward in the direction of where he remembered the stairs were before the door had shut behind him. He paused. He took another step. Paused again. He called out, wondering if the others were near, but his voice fell dead. It was as though the sound didn¡¯t get past his lips.


    Stay calm, Tom told himself.


    The air was thick and waxy and it was incredibly difficult to breathe.


    Carefully moving forward his feet found the stone steps. He put a hand out to feel the wall.


    For the next few minutes, as Tom slowly, carefully, climbed the stairs, he found himself in a world of hysterical madness. He experienced such overwhelming claustrophobia that he began to scream with fright and abandonment. Although he felt his throat straining with the force of his screams, and although he felt the screams vibrating across his tongue, and although the screams sounded inside his own head, the screams became soundless as soon as they exited his mouth.


    Even his thoughts seemed to be suffocating, as though his thoughts were being smothered by a blanket. Was this what it felt like to die? Was this how it felt to cease to exist?A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Pushing into the dense fog of his brain, came a vision.


    Tom recognised, almost immediately, that this vision was of a time from before he was born, when he was this great man Elion who ruled the world of Paris from a chair inside a machine. In this vision he was in a bright and holy place, with birds flying around, and noises of steam hissing and gears clunking. Then he heard screams and he saw the world outside. He was compelled to look up, and he saw strange objects flying at speed up into the cloudy daylight. The objects were blazing with light, and were round and spiky like little suns.


    Suddenly Tom understood what he was seeing, as the knowledge and memory of that once great Elion flooded back.


    The spiky balls of light were the souls of those people and creatures that had died in Paris. These souls flew as though to heaven - only it couldn¡¯t be heaven because Tom knew that these souls were trapped under a dome in a tiny world. The only place for these souls to fly was to the top of the dome that sat inside a machine, inside a mountain, in a town named Blackheath in the northern part of England.


    The vision faded, and once again Tom became aware of the immense darkness that pressed into his brain, a hot blanket of darkness that squeezed as though trying to strangle the life from his brain.


    Still he climbed the stairs, one slow leg raise at a time, moving like a slug, until he took a final step and got flooded by light.


    The light hit his eyes like the first breath after nearly drowning.


    He had landed in a room filled with the most interesting gadgets and devices. In the centre of the room was a large machine that was nothing like anything Tom had seen in Paris. It was similar (in some non-similar way) to the machine that Tom had gone through in the cave known as Miller¡¯s Crypt. It had the same tubing and dials and flasks and copper and iron. The machine had iron gears and silver springs and pulleys with greasy chains, and cast levers, and glass vials filled with liquid, and a huge copper tub that seemed to shimmer with impossibly fast vibrations. The copper tub was the shape of a large egg.


    The gears moved and the levers travelled up and down. Keys of metal moved in and out and up and down and light struck the machine from a weird angle, the light coming from the ceiling where mirrors were angled to distribute the flickering of a dozen lamps.  The light found the metallic gears, found the copper and the gold and the silver and brass.


    The room was noisy with clunking and hissing and a rat-a-tat-tatting. Steam spurted from a pipe making a hiss and a whistle, and the steam rose in a small cloud that quietly dissipated as it rose to the ceiling.


    Tom was meant to take a seat inside this machine, and yet there didn¡¯t appear to be a seat. The egg that was sealed shut had a small crease that ran around its middle, as though the egg would separate. Perhaps the seat was inside the egg.


    Looking down the egg Tom saw a control panel with arn area that held a lock where a key could slip inside. Perhaps the key that Tom still had attached to a leather strap at his neck.


    Tom heard another, familiar sound, which turned out to be Trinket, cursing loudly as she emerged from a far staircase at a triangular angle from where Tom stood. Trinket looked as though she was in a rage. Whatever had happened to her in that dark ascent had been far more disturbing than what had happened to Tom.


    The Emperor stepped out from the final staircase. Tom could see the Emperor through the grinding edges of steel and brass and gold. The Emperor straightened and looked across the machine to Tom. He had a haunted look in his eye, as though a vision had taken him somewhere sinister.


    The Emperor immediately headed toward a rectangular box, similar to the telephone booth that Tom had seen when he took a trip to London with his school. Inside the booth there was a metal plate, and in the centre of the metal plate there was a spot to put a key. It looked identical to the lock in the control panel at the base of the egg.


    Trinket headed toward another booth on the far side of the machine room. Both she and the Emperor moved with confidence, as though they had been taught exactly what to do in this situation. And they were enthusiastic, like both of them had been dreaming of this moment, like both of them had been plotting for this moment.


    They placed their keys in the locks of their respective booths, and turned to look at Tom.


    Tom stepped toward the egg.

 CHAPTER SIXTY TWO

    CHAPTER SIXTY TWO


    The three keys turned and the machine released steam and the huge copper egg began to open. A seam that ran around the middle  of the egg split and the container opened like a bulb, the top circle of metal pulling away from a rubber membrane. There was a slick sound of heavily creased joints and hinges. Two steam rams pushed, and steam leaked from pressure release valves. The top of the egg rose until it hit a trigger point that shut off the steam rams, and locked them in place.


    Inside the egg was a throne made of gold. The throne had a low back, with a head piece of gold cast in the shape of a bouquet of roses.


    The arms went out into small buds, also in the shape of roses, also made of thin gold leaf.  The throne had crimson upholstery, and crimson cushions, and on the cushions were needlework images of Elion from before, the same Elion that Tom had envisioned in the unsettling darkness of the tower.


    The throne sat on a metal platform, a cast iron checkerboard.


    A sound tinkled from somewhere inside the egg, the sound almost a song, but not quite, like somebody riffing the high notes on a piano in syncopated jazz notes.  SOmething whirred behind the throne, and steam squirted. Two more steam rams opened the checkerboard plate at the feet of the throne, and from the receptacle that lay beneath the checkerboard, a set of stairs moved on a ratchet system, up over the lip of the lower half of the egg, so that the bottom part of the stairs went to the ground. The stairs were structured from a skeleton of iron, with treads of gold. A railing folded out, this also made of gold and moulded into interwoven vines of gold with gold leaves sprouting.


    Tom held the railing and climbed the stairs. At the top of the he turned and looked around and saw both the Emperor and the Princess watching him from their respective booths. They stood at attention with their palms crossed below their bellies, and expectant looks on their faces. Trinket was readying herself to become the ruler of Coronet and the Emperor was preparing to receive a book that would give him immense power once Elion had sent him back to Earth. The Emperor raised a hand and made a motion telling Tom to hurry. Tom couldn¡¯t hurry ¡­ he still hadn¡¯t worked out what he was doing.


    Tom lowered himself onto the seat and gazed around the room. He had this distant look in his eyes, like he was creating destiny. His mouth was stretched thin, almost grim. A moment of accomplishment.


    A glint of mirrored light caught his hair ¡­ as red as an autumn fall.


    All around the throne there were knobs and buttons. Inlaid in the arm of the throne was a plate with eight switches. Slightly to the front of the throne there was a gold control panel with four emerald knobs cut in the shape of hexagons. On a metal wall to the left of the throne there was a highly polished plate with a large red button in the middle.


    Tom leaned forward and his feet supported him on a checkerboard of iron. He didn¡¯t understand any of the controls, and he wondered how he would go about learning the job of being Elion. He shut his eyes and breathed out but before he had time to consider the problem of the controls.


    He suddenly felt at peace.


    Tranquility soaked into him like the warmth of the sun on a spring afternoon in the large gardens behind the girls school in Blackheath. It soaked in like the green of the trees and the blue of the sky and the yellow and red of the flowers. It soaked in the way golden sap soaks a tree.


    He felt older. He felt like he was being imbued with wisdom.


    Just then an alarm sounded, and a whistle shrieked as steam got driven into a brass trumpet.


    A silver dome that was planted high up inside the top of the egg, began to lower. There was an arch of mesh, and small cogs ran down the mesh, lowering the dome until it came to rest on Tom¡¯s head.


    Tom could hear music, and it was as though the pulsating light from the torches being reflected about with all kinds of mirrors was creating music in the air. The music was that of a choir, like the boys choir from Tom¡¯s school. It sounded like a thousand boys singing, or maybe ten thousand boys.


    The ravens were now thick in the air. They flew above the machine, dropping down from some upper part of the tower. They flew around the machine and out the window, and it was like they were dancing to the music.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Once again Tom had a vision. This was deeper than the vision he had experienced on the dark staircase. This was a fugue. This was a movie, except with sight and sound and smell and taste. This was a sensory experience so overwhelming it seemed stronger and more real than the reality that could be touched.


    The movie was set in the world of Paris, and Tom quickly realised it was unveiling events that were happening in this exact moment.


    Tom could see and feel what was happening to the citizens and creatures of Paris, right now.


    He saw swamp hogs looking around as though startled by some loud and strange noise. Tom realised that the hogs had become aware that Tom was sitting on the throne.


    Tom felt the dull hum of hogs¡¯ thoughts - the slow frequency of their brains ticking through treacle. The hogs, all across Paris, turned to one another, then turned to their surroundings. Their mouths opened with surprise, and slowly they turned their eyes toward the Mudwash. Zombie-like, they started walking, in silence. Their hooves struck stone, or sunk into mud, or splashed across shallow streams. They made gentle plopping sounds in their throats, like the belly flop of frogs into mud.


    They walked toward the Mudwash where turtles could be pulled from the swamps and clubbed and cooked, and where the female swamp hogs lulled in the sun with half-lidded eyes and mouths toothy and expectant.


    Now another movie tugged and Tom felt himself travelling, the air around him wizzing. He descended into the Wisting Woods, through the canopy, falling gently like a fuzzy dandelion pod. He came to the city of  Wyld Fell. Once again he could sense a great change in the right here and the right now. The Thrips were looking at one another with wonder in their eyes. They too knew that Elion was seated back inside the machine. Suddenly, things that mattered no longer mattered, and things that had been neglected now mattered very much. Some of the Thrips were crying. Crying like elves, thought Tom and he smiled slightly. An orchestra played gently into the stillness. The orchestra came from the insects amidst the bark and leaves. Grasshoppers played legs like violins. Ants walked like drummers across the hard ground. Bees blew notes like those of saxophones in a giant hall. Spiders played cymbals on fallen leaves.


    The movie shifted and now Tom hurtled toward the Western Mountains. He descended toward a city high in the mountains. This was the city of dwarves, an ancient city built stone block by stone block high in the mountains. A giant conspiracy of ravens flew above the city. The dwarves gazed from the city wall toward the east, where White Mountain stood with its spectacular singularity, overlooking the holy city of Coronet, and the machine that lay inside its walls.


    They too knew that Elion was in the machine, and that Elion was watching them. They began to clap. They held their thick hands above their heads and clapped in unison.


    Now, the knowledge of Elion began to return. Tom saw how he had once shaped the world of Paris through the power of his mind. He saw how he could not compel change, but could speak to a mind, whisper the truth directly into someone''s thoughts. Like a whisper to a friend.


    Now the movie took him back toward Coronet where Gibor and his army had arrived at the Milkstone river opposite the city of Coronet. Gibor wheeled his horse, which stamped its hooves and wrestled against the bit. Gibor addressed his men, and Tom heard the words. ¡®The men were to enter the city of Coronet and only fight where they found active resistance.¡¯


    Tom whispered into Gibor¡¯s thoughts.


    ¡®The city is yours. The Emperor is gone. I am anointing you as the new Emperor.¡¯


    A strange look came over Gibor. His eyes raised, and his lips moved slightly, as the strange words formed in his mind. After a moment he smiled, and the scars that lined his cheeks lifted. He breathed in and out and in and out.


    ¡®My lord,¡¯ he said.


    Now Tom left Gibor, and the movie ran into the city of Coronet, then onto the road going south. Here there was a man in a colourful suit running in a nimble, light footed gait. Although it was dark the man moved with the speed of good sight.


    Tom interrupted.


    ¡®Are you my friend, Fox?¡¯


    The words ran into the thoughts of Fox who was travelling swiftly, with half a million rizers in a leather satchel banging against his hip..


    ¡®Go away, go away,¡¯ said Fox, and he hit himself on the side of the head.


    ¡®I have taken the seat, Fox.¡¯


    ¡®Stop it,¡¯ said Fox, and he hit his head again. ¡®Go away.¡¯


    ¡®Do you not want to listen to me?¡¯


    ¡®No.¡¯


    ¡®The rizers are going to weigh you down until you can no longer function.¡¯


    ¡®Go away.¡¯


    Tom left Silas Fox running along the south road with his money banging around.


    The machine was clogging and humming, feeding ideas and information. Tom knew what each button on the control panel did, and how he could use them. Tom knew where the book was kept, and how he was going to reach it. Then, like a slap to the face, Tom suddenly realised what his primary  purpose was:


    He had to make the people and creatures of Paris disappear.

 CHAPTER SIXTY THREE

    CHAPTER SIXTY THREE


    So three immediate jobs to undertake: make people disappear; retrieve the book; deal with the two so-called rulers who were currently simmering in the phone shaped booths.


    ¡®Hurry up, new Elion,¡¯ said the Emperor from his booth. His voice was shrill and lady-like, ¡®Release the book and send me to Earth.¡¯


    ¡®Yes, hurry,¡¯ said Trinket from her booth. ¡®The City of Coronet needs a ruler. Gibor is at the gate and he must be defeated.¡¯


    Tom glanced at them then looked back to where the ravens were now roaring around the machine, flying so fast they were black blurs against the torch light.


    A single raven broke away from the flying flurry of raven¡¯s and descended to hover just above the throne, its black eyes just inches from Tom¡¯s eyes.


    ¡®I know,¡¯ said Tom to the bird. ¡®I know what I am here for. The helmet has made me remember everything.¡¯


    Tom reached over to the left where the metal plate held the single red button. A plate slowly began to lower on a set of hinges. Down and down until it formed a shelf. On the shelf was a book. The book was beautiful. It had a deep green cover, and its pages were made of thin gold. The cover was embossed with whorls, and a raised portrait of a naked man (with a cloth tied in pleats around his most private parts). The name of the book was Wyld Book of Secrets.


    Tom reached over and took hold of the book. It was incredibly heavy. He had to prise his finger under the book, then grip with both hands to lift it. The pages must be made of pure gold. The man on the cover was mystical and noble, like a god or a demigod. He stood on an angle with one hand on a cane. He had his head back and face angle toward the sky. His nose was long and noble and his ears were small and his hair was dark and curly. There seemed to be a halo around him, a lighter green to the darker green of the background. He wore an expression as though he was listening to someone speak from the sky.


    Looking closely, Tom saw that what he had thought were random designs and whorls on the book¡¯s cover were actually vines and trees and owls and bees, and in the background there was something that looked like a dinosaur, or a dragon.


    Tom placed the book back on the shelf, and then looked behind the shelf. A whole system of mechanical complexity had been exposed when the shelf folded down.


    Here was a dish, and in this dish were dozens of small metal spheres, like ball bearings, only manufactured of something that might have been metal or might have been stone (or might have been something else entirely). Feeding the small balls into the dish was a series of tubular openings, the tubes running up vertically and wrapping around each other until they got inserted into another strange machine, this one looking biological, like the interwoven strands of an alien brain.


    The raven that had been hovering in front of Tom¡¯s face cranked its head down and to the right and, with its wings doing advanced aeronautical adjustments, the raven went into a stall, then rolled, then reached with its claws to grip a metal bar that ran like a perch across the top of the bowl of mineral balls. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    The raven dipped its beak into the dish and raised its head with a ball in its beak. It swept its wings up and with a few powerful thrusts it flew straight up and out from the machine, then up and up until it disappeared out of the tower through one of the arrow slit windows.


    With a jolt, Tom realised he was flying with the bird. He wasn¡¯t physically with the bird (he remained sitting in the chair inside the copper egg inside the machine) but he was sharing the bird¡¯s awareness. He saw what the raven saw, and he heard what the raven heard. Not only that, it appeared that the bird was linked into Tom¡¯s thoughts, and it obeyed the commands that Tom gave through his thoughts.


    Tom flew with the bird, out through the stone girt window, and into the night. Tom knew exactly where the bird had to fly, and what the bird would do when it got to its destination. He was swimming in information.


    On Tom¡¯s instructions the bird flew straight up into the night.


    The wind ripped, and the mountain smelled of ice and moss. Eventually they were above the snowline on White mountain and Tom was shivering (even though he still sat in the machine in the warmth) because he could feel what the bird felt, and see what the bird saw, and hear what the bird heard.


    Suddenly, the bird went into a dive, then banked right and brought its wings into its body and tucked its talons hard into its belly. It flew through a slit in the stone straight into White mountain.


    Tom and the raven were now in the catacombs.


    They flew down through the tunnels at a speed that beggared belief. The raven flew with precision, its wings tucked in tight against its body, directing itself with the slightest adjustment on the tips of its wings.


    They flew through tight tunnels, then out into a wide and vast cavern, and Tom recognised the cavern from his earlier trip on the horse behind Jane. For a brief second the bloodless children appeared on the slope beneath. They looked up and made strange squeaking sounds, then they were far behind.


    The bird flew through a cavern of stalactites coloured like lollies, then down a milky passage with marble stairs.


    Down and down, twisting through the piping caves and the craggy rocks, and the lumps of coloured minerals. Everything rushed, like being flung through a thick forest.


    Finally they came to the underground town of Twillydown. The Drizzles were outside their little huts, dancing on their woven rugs and singing praises to Elion who was back in the machine.


    The raven slowed, its wings buffeting as it gathered air to decelerate. Tom saw Demurmur just as she stepped from her hut onto the yellow rug that lay before her door. Her body was short and stumpy and thick with hair. She wore a crimson dress, and her eyes were glazed. She obeyed Tom¡¯s silent command to look up at the approaching bird (Tom could speak to Demurmur with his mind).


    Demurmur put her hands up to the bird, as if she knew that this was her fate, and that she was ready to receive it.


    The raven thrust its claws forward and lined up the Drizzles shoulder with its beady eye. It landed, grabbing with its talons. The raven opened its beak against Drizzle''s ear and the ball bearing that it had dragged from the dish in the machine rolled forward and dropped into Demurmur¡¯s ear canal.  She shut her eyes, and smiled. She took a step forward, and another Drizzle called:


    ¡®Demurmur, are you okay?¡¯


    Demurmur sang a song:


    ¡®And from the field was taken ¡­ a woman from her plough.¡¯


    She began to run, and suddenly she became hazy, and then she disappeared.