Hidden Magic (9 page)

Aaron entered the room and stood beside Zavier at the window.

“How's it going?” he whispered, so as not to disturb those whose turn it was to rest.

“I haven't seen or heard any Nomed activity for at least an hour,” Zavier whispered back.

“That's good,” said Aaron. “Why don't you let me keep a watch here and you go get some rest?”

“No, Aaron, it's not good at all,” Zavier pointed out. “The night is still young and the Nomeds are strong and determined. They wouldn't just quit now, they must be up to something. Maybe they are waiting for us to weaken. I don't know what it is, Aaron, but I have a very bad feeling that things are going to get a whole lot worse tonight before they get any better and I will not be able to rest until I'm satisfied that it is one hundred percent safe to do so. There is too much at risk, too many lives are threatened,” Zavier sighed.

“Okay, Zavier, you're the boss but make sure you holler if you change your mind. I'll be downstairs keeping watch till you do,” Aaron said.

* * *

“Hey Zek, have you seen Angelo anywhere? I can't find him and I've looked all over the cabin.” Hazel's voice was full of panic.

“Oh, erm… yeah, yeah, he's fine, he's in the kitchen,” Ezekiel said, suddenly realising that he'd forgotten all about the little seal pup. He quickly scurried off to the kitchen to retrieve him from the cupboard under the sink, where he'd squashed him a couple of hours earlier.

“Angelo, I'm so sorry, let's, er, keep this between ourselves shall we? Hazel will kill me if she finds out I forgot about you and left you squashed in here for hours,” Ezekiel pleaded, as he lifted Angelo out of the cupboard. The cute seal pup looked up at him in agreement.

With the barrier glowing powerfully and no sight nor sound of the Nomeds, the cabin had taken on a slightly more relaxed feel. Most of the forest's creatures felt safe enough to rest and, having swapped watch duty with Lettitia and Jazmine, Hazel and April were also catching up on some well-needed sleep. Zavier was the only one unable to allow himself to rest. He was still standing on guard at the window with Chester perched faithfully on his shoulder.
Still no sight of the Nomeds and still no sight of Francis and Ice
, he thought.
Let them be safe
, he prayed.

* * *

Once again, Francis found himself in darkness, but this time there was no strange floaty feeling, just the thud, thud, thud of his head as it pounded with pain.

“Francis, Francis, can you hear me?” asked Ice.

“What's going on, what happened?” Francis replied, slowly managing to open his eyes. Ice was standing over him in Irini's body and suddenly it all came flooding back to him as he recalled that he, too, was now in the body of one of the Hudor Drakos.

“Let's put it this way. You need a few more lessons in how to fly in your newly-acquired body. Then maybe you won't do a loop the loop before crashing into me and pushing me into the trees, where my wing has been trapped up until a few seconds ago,” she said, looking down at the abrasions she had suffered all along her left wing after trying to pull it free. “And that, Francis, is all before you plummeted headfirst into the ground at one hundred miles an hour, rendering yourself unconscious,” she said. “The problem is, we have no time for you to brush up on your flying skills. The night is getting on and we must return to the cabin. Do you think you're up to it?” Ice asked.

Francis dragged himself to his feet and shook his head in an attempt to shake off his headache. “I have to, Zavier needs us!” he replied and the pair of dragons took off over the tree tops, with Francis felling a few of the trees as he crashed into them on his way.

* * *

“Chester, they are back,” said Zavier.

Chester looked out of the window to see that the Nomeds were now boldly standing in front of the barrier. They were looking directly up at the window, straight at them, as if demanding Zavier's attention.

Aaron appeared in the doorway. “They're back,” he said.

“I know, but what on earth are they doing?” Zavier asked, puzzled.

The Nomeds turned and looked toward the forest. There, emerging out of the dark shadows, came Daray. His white, pupil-less eyes, cold and soulless, were looking straight at Zavier. They bore directly into his heart like a cold dagger, causing Zavier to give an involuntary shudder.

“What has he got? He's dragging something,” Zavier pointed out to Aaron, who was now standing beside him.

“Is… is that a goat?” asked Aaron.

“Oh my God! Yes, I think it is and it's still alive!” Zavier exclaimed in horror.

Daray dragged the huge white mountain goat, pulling it around in front of himself. Gripping it by its horns, he lifted its front feet up off the ground. The goat writhed in a desperate attempt to free itself from Daray's clutches, but its attempts were futile and with one sudden snap of its neck, the writhing stopped and Daray threw the goat's carcass to the ground. The Nomeds swamped the carcass immediately, ripping the goat limb from limb, in a mass feeding frenzy. Daray did not join in; instead, he stayed put, his eyes now boring even more deeply into Zavier's soul. With his glare fixed on Zavier and with an obvious smirk on his face, Daray ran his pointed tongue across his rotten teeth and licked his lips. Then he turned and looked towards the forest, gave a beckoning signal and then another mountain goat was dragged out of the forest shadows by Kern.

It had all happened so quickly that Zavier and Aaron were stunned!

“They are trying to draw us out,” Zavier said.

“We can't go out there, that's what they want us to do,” Aaron whispered.

“I know but they won't stop until we do go out,” Zavier sighed. “They have obviously been hunting in the mountains, that's why they were gone for so long. Who knows how many more innocent creatures they have caught, solely for the purpose of slaughtering them in front of us. We have to do something!” Zavier exclaimed and he marched out of the room stripping off his clothes and dropping them to the floor as he did so. By the time he had reached the bottom of the stairs, he was completely naked and heading for the front door.

“Don't go out there, Zavier,” Chester begged. “I heard what Preble said to you. This will not end well. Please, please, Zavier, stay in here.”

But it was too late. The front door was flung open and Zavier leapt over the balcony, transforming into his huge, grey shire horse form as he did so. He charged across the deep snow, broke through the barrier and stopped abruptly, directly in front of Daray and Kern. Rearing up onto his hind legs and thrashing out with his front legs, he frantically kicked out at the evil pair that stood before him. Then, baring his teeth, Zavier screamed a piercing scream that was powered by immense anger and an intense emotional pain.

“Zavier, please save yourself!” cried Jael, the mountain goat whom Kern was now holding up above his head, parading him in the air like a trophy. The other Nomeds had started to gather around Kern, eagerly awaiting their next meal.

“Ah, ah, ah, reivaZ t'nac eb devas, eh si enim dna I t'nevah netae tey,”
spat Daray, in his malevolent, demonic, backward tongue.

The rest of the Halfses had now transformed into their horse forms and along with Chester, they were anxiously monitoring the situation from behind the barrier. Not only had Zavier put the barrier around the cabin to keep the Nomeds out, but with his additional power obtained from Pelagia's orb he was now also able to use it to keep the Halfses in, thus ensuring that they would not come to any harm. This safety measure had already been discovered by Ezekiel and Tobias. They had reached the barrier first but, instead of being able to rush to Zavier's aid, they came to an abrupt halt and despite their very best efforts and those of the rest of the creatures at the cabin, they were unable to penetrate it. All Zavier had ever wanted for the good creatures of Liberty was to protect them, to ensure that they were safe and weren't hurt in any way.

Daray sprang into the air over Zavier's thrashing front hooves and gnashing teeth. Then, landing on the huge shire horse's muscular back and wrapping his arms around Zavier's throat, he sank his rancid, jagged teeth into the taut flesh on Zavier's neck; gritting his teeth he pulled out a huge chunk of Zavier's flesh, causing deep lacerations and the severing of his carotid artery. Zavier, now screaming with both emotional and physical pain, slumped to the ground.

Those that loved and respected Zavier were imprisoned, helpless and unable to save him. They watched with dread as the pure, crisp white snow on the ground around him turned claret. Zavier's life slipped away as the pool of blood spread, hurting each of them far more than anything else ever could.

With Zavier slumped on the ground and the pool of scarlet blood spreading through the snow, the Nomeds that had previously been focused on the goat had turned their attention and were now focusing it all on him. They made excitable spitting and clicking noises as they prepared for another feast. Cricking their necks and pulling their lips back over their sharp teeth, they tilted their heads and went in for their first bite… A bite of a Berthold… A bite of Zavier, Berthold of Maytime Meadow!

Zavier was no longer screaming. He lay still, cold and silent in the thick snow, his life slowly ebbing away and yet the great leader still somehow managed to maintain the protective barrier around the cabin. The cold snow had numbed his body considerably and he felt no physical pain as the Nomeds began to feed from him, but the immense emotional pain that he felt was unbearable. He closed his eyes and began to pray, for he knew that as soon as he had taken his last breath and his life had ceased, so, too, would the protection of the barrier, leaving those that he loved open to an attack. Zavier finished his prayer. “Amen,” he whispered and as he opened his eyes, the evil darkness, created by the cloak of the feeding Nomeds that had surrounded him, suddenly lifted. He found himself gazing up into the night sky just as a hissing and screeching Nomed shot overhead like a missile. It was raining… raining Nomeds. They flew in all directions, smashing against the barrier, landing in the treetops and hurtling through the air at great speed.

“No one harms one of mine and gets away with it!” a soft, calm and saintly female voice said.

It was the sort of voice that you would expect to come from an angel. Zavier mustered up enough strength to lift his head a little and there beside him stood, not an angel at all, but a ten foot tall, huge and mighty Meh-Teh, or Yeti, with the facial features and furry coat of a snow leopard.

“Hi, I don't believe that we've met, my name's Aurora, Berthold of East Fishtail Mountain, pleased to meet you,” she said, whilst holding Kern out at arm's length by his throat.

Then, with a flick of her huge paw, she tossed Kern into the treetops like a rag doll. Zavier tried to say ‘thank you' to the strangely angelic beast, but the words just wouldn't come out. His head fell back to its resting position in the claret snow, his eyes closed and the glowing power of the orb-strengthened barrier began to fade.

As Zavier weakened, so did the barrier, allowing those that had been imprisoned behind it to pass through and rush to his side. Jazmine, now in her Human form, immediately began to tend to Zavier's wounds. She spoke no words, just tended to him in a very practical manner, ensuring that pressure was applied to his wounds to stem any bleeding, hoping that her sensible and practical approach to things would maybe, just maybe, help to save his life.

Chester perched on Zavier's head and spoke gently into his ear. “Hang on in there, Zavier, you're going to be okay. We're here now and we're gonna make sure of it,” the little robin said, with strong conviction.

Zavier was now unconscious.

“We're losing him!” Jazmine wept.

“No, that's not an option. I won't allow it,” Shannon said. “I can help, but only temporarily,” she stated.

“Help, but how?” asked Jazmine.

“I'm going to freeze him,” Shannon replied.

“You're what?” hollered Aaron angrily.

“Listen to me! If we do nothing, Zavier is going to die, but if I freeze him, it buys us time to find help and hopefully enough time to save him,” she hollered back just as loudly at the bolshie stallion.

Jazmine held Aaron's face in her hands. “We have to try,” she said softly and then she kissed him gently on his nose.

“Okay, whatever you have to do, do it,” Aaron mumbled.

Shannon laid her body, that was made up of hundreds of the tiny Ice Elves and snowflake butterflies, on top of Zavier. She wrapped her arms around him, pursed her lips and began to blow softly. Ice-cold wind whistled through her lips and as it rushed through Zavier's grey coat, parting his fur and breezed against his skin, he began to freeze. Soon, his body had become completely covered in a thick frost of sparkling ice particles that glistened in the moonlight, like thousands of tiny diamonds.

Distracted by their concern for Zavier, not a single one of them had noticed the regrouping of the Nomeds. Suddenly, Daray leapt from the dark shadows and charged, screeching and spitting, towards Zavier's shimmering body. The Halfses and Aurora responded quickly to the attack and took a protective stance around Zavier, while instinctively ordering the others to get back inside the cabin. But Chester would not leave his trusted friend and remained faithfully at Zavier's side, refusing to budge. Daray was soon joined by Kern, who still had Jael firmly in his grip. Then, in a sudden and frenzied display of anger directed at Aurora, Kern glared at her with his bloodshot, pupil-less eyes, grabbed Jael by the horns and rotated the goats head with such speed and force that within a second the poor goat was completely decapitated. Kern held the goat's head up, blood pouring from it onto the snow below, tilted his head back and began to drink the blood that poured from Jael's severed neck and then he licked his bloodied lips, turned and smirked at Aurora. The huge Meh-Teh pushed her head and chest forward, opened her mouth, exposing her very large, sharp teeth, snarled, crinkling the skin around her nose and let out a fierce and almighty bone-trembling roar that reverberated throughout the forest, expressing her pain and anguish to all. Aurora lunged toward Kern but was instantly knocked clean off of her feet and sent sprawling through the thick snow.

“Oops, I'm so sorry!” echoed a voice from the sky. It was Francis. He had inadvertently bowled the massive Meh-Teh over in an attempt to get to Kern.

“What the hell was that?” Aaron asked.

“It's me, you big buffoon!” Francis shouted down from the sky, as he soared over the stallion's head.

“Boogly Eyes? It can't be!” Aaron exclaimed, completely perplexed.

Then came another noise from the sky, similar to an eagle's cry but much, much louder, and out of the darkness, with her dark green scales camouflaged in the night sky, came Ice.

“Sorry we're late!” she yelled, plucking Kern off the ground with her huge talons. She soared upwards, spiralling towards the moon before dropping him to the ground from an almighty height.

Daray was now joined by the rest of the Nomeds. He tossed Jael's decapitated corpse to them and said,
“Ekat siht laem kcab ot eht retsam, rociN dna I lliw lead htiw eseht selicebmi!”
And with that, the Nomeds took Jael's body and climbed back into the trees, clicking and spitting as they did so. The Halfses were now torn between fighting the Nomeds and standing strong to guard their Berthold.

“I know it's hard, but we must stay and protect Zavier,” Hazel said. Then, turning to Aurora, she declared, “Aurora, it's down to you, the Warriors and those… those…?”

“Awesome dragons!” Tobias piped excitedly.

“Yes, Tobes, I suppose they are awesome dragons,” she replied.

Aurora, still angry and vengeful, charged at Daray. Nicor positioned himself on all fours, put his mouth to the ground and blew with tremendous force, whereupon the snow lifted and separated into millions of swirling particles, creating a spiralling blizzard. Aurora gritted her teeth, squinted her eyes and attempted to push her way through the snowstorm, but the wind and snow hammered against her huge body, pushing her a good two steps back for each step forward that she attempted to take.

“Francis, we must help them!” Ice cried, above the blustery noise of the blizzard. “If we roar from the deepest depths of our stomachs, we should be able to produce fire,” she declared, “but you must focus and fly straight, as we have to aim the flames on either side of Aurora without burning her. Do you think you can manage that?” she asked, concern in her voice.

“Sure, I can manage that!” Francis said, trying to convince himself that it wouldn't be a problem.

The huge Hudor Drakos circled the night sky, then, soaring at high speed, they approached either side of the swirling blizzard. The wind was getting stronger the closer they got to it, causing Francis to be knocked off balance and he began to wobble rapidly from side to side in the turbulent air. At the very last second, he managed to right himself and, in sync with Ice, he took a deep breath in and then exhaled a huge fireball of flames with such power that he sent himself flying backwards and plummeting to the ground.

The blizzard petered out, the swirling snow clearing to expose a retreating Daray and a cursing and sizzling Nicor. His burnt skin had begun to slough and he shrieked with pain as the evil pair disappeared back into the dark shadows of the forest.

Ice landed gently beside Zavier. “I'm so sorry that we didn't get here sooner,” she wept.

“Ice, Zavier is badly wounded, he has lost a lot of blood and I fear that he was seconds from death,” explained Jazmine.

“
Was
?” asked Ice.

“Yes, Shannon has frozen him to preserve him until we find help! Is there any way of saving him?” Jazmine pleaded.

“Yes,” replied Ice. “There is a recovery enchantment, but to perform it I have to have a piece of one of those that has caused him harm,” she said sadly.

“So let's get this straight, are you saying that in order to save Zavier's life, we need a piece of a Nomed?” asked Jazmine nervously.

“Yes, I'm afraid so,” Ice sighed.

“Hey guys, I think I can help,” Francis called out. They turned to where his voice was coming from and there in the thick snow lay the huge Hudor Drakos, still sprawled out on his back in the exact spot in which he had landed after producing his huge fireball.

“Agh, shut up, Boogly Eyes. How on earth are you going to help?” Aaron grumbled.

“Well, I suggest you get your skinny little horse butt over here and see what I've got underneath my big fat dragon butt,” Francis said, beaming with pride.

“Oh, for heaven's sake,” groaned Aaron and he, Ice and Aurora went to find out what Francis was going on about.

“Okay, you larger than normal annoyance, what is under your huge arse?” grunted Aaron.

“Have some respect. Haven't you noticed the size of my new talons?” smirked Francis, waving his enormous, sharp-tipped claws at Aaron.

“Oh, just explain what you're on about, would you?” Aaron asked impatiently.

Francis rolled, gently lifting one side of his dragon butt and there in the snow, looking up at them all, was the snarling and hissing vampire Nomed, Kern! Aurora, insane with fury, could not control her loathing, for he was the Nomed that had killed Jael in front of her very eyes. She instantly leapt on Kern, growling, clawing and biting at him viciously, but the evil Nomed, although injured, managed to fight free of Aurora and fled screaming toward the forest.

“There you go, Ice,” Aurora said and she held out a torn, slimy, stinking piece of Nomed flesh. “NOW you can do your enchantment,” she smiled.

Ice hooked the reeking Nomed flesh onto the end of one of her huge dragon claws, made her way over to where Zavier lay and dangled it over his frozen body.

“Thank you, Shannon,” she said. “You have undoubtedly saved Zavier's life by preserving him in this frozen state. But now you must stand aside while I perform the recovery enchantment and attempt to bring this noble Berthold back to us.”

Shannon dispersed back into her smaller form and that of the hundreds of tiny snowflake butterflies and Ice Elves that had previously formed her, creating a gentle fluttering of snow around all those that watched and waited anxiously for Zavier to recover.

Ice began the recovery enchantment:

“With this flesh I right the wrong and as it dissipates, the harm that was previously caused shall be undone.

“Stand back!” she ordered.

Everyone took a step back. Ice took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Then, opening her eyes and outstretching her massive scaly neck, she exhaled a short burst of flames, causing the stinking flesh that she was dangling above Zavier's body to incinerate. As the flesh turned to ash, it scattered and fell over Zavier's frozen body and the icy frost that had been covering him and conserving him melted, revealing a lustrous silver-grey coat that shone in the crisp moonlight. Zavier's wounds had gone! In fact, he looked even healthier and more radiant than he had done before the attack. His chest rose and as he took in a deep breath of nourishing air, his nostrils began to flare. Then, as he exhaled into the cold night air, warm, moist clouds of misty breath billowed from his mouth and nose. It was only then that the group sighed with relief, knowing that Zavier was indeed going to be okay.

Zavier sprang to his feet and shook his silver mane. Chester took up his travelling position on top of Zavier's head, hopped over to his ear and whispered softly, “Good to have you back with us, my friend.”

“It's good to be back,” Zavier said, glancing up at his faithful friend.

Zavier addressed the group. “I thank you all for your loyalty, you are strong and kind. I wouldn't have made it through this ordeal without the support of each and every one of you. But we still haven't completed our task and we may still be faced with many more dangers along the way. The sun should soon begin to rise and we must continue on with the journey to West Fishtail Mountain to find its Berthold, Takoda. Let's get packed up and get moving,” he neighed, then cantered back towards the cabin.

The group respected Zavier's dignity and they knew that the great Berthold did not want a fuss, so there were to be no tears or rejoicing. Instead, he would want them to regroup and get on with the task at hand, the very important task that may just help them to save Liberty. Jazmine and Hazel had transformed into their Human forms in order to pack the essentials from the cabin and then they loaded them along with the Fire Fairy pods and starfish lanterns onto the rest of the Halfses.

Zavier walked through the thick snow and stopped in front of Aurora. He had to lift his head to speak to her. This was something of a novelty as the nineteen hands high shire horse rarely had to do this, because he towered over most of Liberty's creatures, but Aurora stood ten feet tall and on this occasion she was the one towering above him.

“It's an honour to meet you, Aurora. I'm very sorry that you have lost some of your mountain's creatures and I thank you for staying with us and helping us to fight against the Nomeds. I must say, though, I was a little shocked when you arrived. I have heard much about you, the mysterious Berthold of East Fishtail Mountain, but I was under the impression that you were a snow leopard and not a huge and mighty Meh-Teh.”