Mumbersons and The Blood Secret, The (12 page)

‘What are you doing?’ asked Billy. ‘You’ve got my blood. Let me go!’

‘We’re not quite finished yet,’ Ligula hissed, right in his ear, and he flinched at the sound.

Venska continued. ‘You have very special blood, William Dylan Mumberson. Very special indeed. You can thank your mother for that.’

‘My mother? What do you mean?’

‘Everyone gets their blood from their mother and father. Your father’s is nothing special, but your mother’s...now
her
blood is a different matter altogether.’

‘How do you know my mother?’ Billy felt sick again. Surely they hadn’t done something terrible to her.

‘You can stop pressing on him now, Lavitch,’ said Venska. ‘He isn’t going anywhere.’ Billy could barely move under all the straps, anyway. ‘Your mother has an interesting ancestry. Once upon a time, hundreds of years ago, her ancestors and my ancestors - in fact the ancestors of all my sisters here - were part of the same family.’

‘I don’t believe you.’ How could his mother be related to such horrible women?

‘Your mother’s forebears decided we weren’t good enough for them...’

‘She was right about that!’ said Ligula, laughing again. She seemed to have an odd sense of humour. Several of the other witches laughed as well, their laughter echoing around the depths of the vast hall.

‘Your mother’s family only wanted to do
good
for people,’ continued Venska.

‘Do good!’ sneered Ligula. ‘Can you imagine witches doing
good?
’ The other witches edged closer to Billy.

Venska ignored Ligula. ‘They had an enormous quarrel with my ancestors. After that they never spoke to each other again.’

‘Which was a relief - for
us
!’ said Ligula. Everything she said now amused the other witches, and their enjoyment increased.

‘There was only one problem - and that’s where you come in, Billy,’ Venska said. ‘Before they parted for the final time, one of your mother’s family, Magminia, laid a curse on some treasure we’d acquired.’

‘
Honestly
acquired,’ added Ligula. ‘Those blasted dwarves dug right under our property and hauled out loads of treasure that belonged to us!’

‘And then tried to tell us it was theirs!’ interrupted Necessita.

There was a lot of shouting from the other witches, until Venska told them to shut up. ‘Yes, the dwarves tried to claim the treasure was theirs. Of course it was ours, so the easiest way to deal with the problem was to banish the dwarves to the ends of the earth!’ The witches whooped at this. ‘We’ve never seen them again!’

‘You horrible witches!’ yelled Olivia, who up to this point had been remarkably quiet. One of the witches holding Olivia put her hand over her mouth. She squirmed and wriggled and tried to bite the witch’s hand. The other witch used her wand and temporarily sealed her lips together.

‘And do you know what the curse was?’ Ligula leaned in close to Billy again. He shook his head. How was he supposed to know?

‘Be quiet, Ligula,’ snapped Venska, who wanted to tell the story. ‘The curse, William Dylan Mumberson, was that the treasure which belonged to us was made completely invisible and inaccessible. Forever.’

‘Except...’ began Necessita, so carried away with enthusiasm that she forgot to keep quiet. Venska looked as though she was going to slap her.

‘Except that after innumerable years, during which we made hundreds of attempts to reverse the curse, we happened to discover the Blood Secret.’

‘The blood secret?’ repeated Billy, his heart beating very fast.

Ligula said, ‘
Discover
might not be quite the word. Someone told us the secret...with a little persuasion!’

‘
Lots
of persuasion, you mean,’ said Necessita.

Venska tried to take control of the story again. ‘It turned out we only had to find the male descendant of a good witch... ‘

‘And take his blood,’ interrupted Necessita.

‘
All
his blood,’ whispered Ligula.

Slaggard lifted up the large needle. It was attached to the tube, and the tube to the blood bag.

Billy hoped Ligula didn’t mean what she said. But then she shouted to all the others, ‘Every last drop of it!’ and he knew she did mean it. She began to laugh, dancing up and down on the spot.

‘But I’m not the son of a witch,’ shouted Billy, trying to think of anything but losing all his blood.

‘So you say,’ said Venska. ‘You think your precious mother that you miss so much is an ordinary everyday person like your boring father. I’m sorry, or rather, I’m happy to tell you, she’s anything but ordinary.’

Jerry gave a terrible cry. ‘No!’ He pulled with all his might against the cords binding him.

‘Not only is your mother a witch, but she’s descended from those stupid witches who decided to do...
good.
Which means that you, being a male, have the blood we’re looking for. ’

Ligula, determined to get a word in, interrupted again. ‘That wretched mother of yours put all sorts of confusions in our way.’ She leaned over the trolley and whispered in his ear again. ‘Nevertheless, here you are. And
here’s
your blood! Let’s see what it can do!’ She snatched up one of the capsules, much to Slaggard’s annoyance
, and ran away from the other witches, towards a large open area further down the enormous dungeon.

But Venska wasn’t prepared to let her steal her thunder, and nor were the other witches. They all gave chase, screaming - piercing, awful screams; the worst thing was the humans couldn’t cover their ears. Venska caught up with Ligula very quickly. Next thing they were fighting with each other, scratching at each other, pulling each other’s hair and much worse.

Metabola ran as fast as she could towards them. ‘Don’t drop the blood!’ she yelled. ‘You can’t afford to lose any of it!’ The two witches ignored her. ‘Lavitch!’ she shouted. ‘Pull them apart!’

But he wouldn’t do it. ‘I’m not getting magicked by them!’ he yelled back.

‘How dare you disobey me!’ shouted Metabola. She waved her wand angrily at him. He crumpled, and his great bulk seemed to shrivel. He crept away on his hands and knees towards the side of the dungeon, as far away as possible from the witches.

Slaggard of course was no help. Featherweight that he was, he’d been knocked aside by Ligula’s elbow as she grabbed at the capsule, and had gone slithering across the floor, where he sat stunned, the large needle, the tube and the blood bag spread around him.

Olivia had been left standing on her own, forgotten by the two witches who’d been guarding her in their haste to get involved with the fray. Still unable to open her lips, she ran across to Billy, and tried to undo the straps with her hands as best she could. It was much more difficult than she expected because they’d been pulled so tight by Lavitch.

‘Don’t worry about the straps! Grab the other capsule!’ hissed Billy. ‘Hide it somewhere. Quick!’ Olivia grabbed it and hid it so quickly Billy didn’t even see where she’d put it. Then she pulled at the straps again, and with great determination managed to get one undone.

Ligula and Venska were still squabbling and screaming, and not even Metabola’s threats to use her magic made them stop. Ligula managed to hold the capsule of blood high above her head with one hand while fending off Venska with the other. She had extraordinary strength, most probably helped by her desire to be the first to use some of Billy’s blood.

Necessita offered to take it from her to stop it falling, and got spat on.

Now Olivia had another strap undone and then a third, and finally Billy was free. He slid down off the bed as quietly as he could, so as not to attract any attention. Lavitch was squatting on the floor hugging himself and moaning, and Slaggard was still dazed.

They ran towards the three prisoners. Jerry whispered, ‘Leave us, Billy. Get out of here.’

‘I can’t leave you, Dad.’ He and Olivia tried to undo the cords. It was hopeless: the magic strength holding the adults’ bonds in place was far too strong for any human fingers. ‘Dad, I can’t loosen them.’

‘Billy, get away!’ said Jerry.

A piercing scream made them all look towards the witches. Venska had torn a great gouge in Ligula’s cheek with her fingernails. Necessita grabbed Venska, and held her back from doing more damage, but then Venska turned on her, pulling her hair hard down over her face so that she couldn’t see. Her arms flailed. Ligula drew her wand and aimed it at Venska. Metabola also had her wand out, aiming it at Ligula. It was an impasse.

‘Give me the blood, Ligula, and your stupidity will be forgotten,’ snarled Venska, holding Necessita, frustrated and kicking, at arm’s length.

‘You have no authority over me,’ said Ligula. She lifted the capsule even higher above her head, taunting Venska. ‘And you have no right to be the first to undo the curse.’ Venska threatened to attack her again, but now three or four other witches held her back.

Ligula let go of the capsule at the same time as she waved her wand at it. Instead of dropping to the floor, it floated up, high above her head, well out of anyone’s reach. Everyone watched spellbound as it moved gently away, further down the room. At first it drifted this way and then that way, and then finally, to Ligula’s great delight, it hovered in one place and began to twist and shiver.

She gave a howl of triumph and flicked her wand at the capsule. It burst open. Billy’s blood flew out, then hung in the air, spread like a tiny red cloud. It broke apart into hundreds of droplets and splattered itself over one particular area of the room. The droplets began to drip down on invisible shapes, and then moment by moment objects became visible. Beautifully crafted goblets and silver plates appeared; stacks of large gold bars with strange writing on them; chests of different sizes with innumerable jewels glittering and sparkling; ugly but perfectly formed statues of all manner of unknown creatures. There was an enormous hoard of the stuff, enough to satisfy thirteen thousand witches, let alone thirteen.

The witches swarmed greedily around the treasure, and before they’d even begun to admire what was in front of them they were fighting over who should have what. Billy, Olivia and the three prisoners watched in astonishment as the smartly-dressed women in their corporate suits became raging viragos. Even Metabola joined in.

‘Dad, we have to get away!’ said Billy.

‘I can’t get out of these blasted cords!’

‘Use your pocketknife, Billy!’ said Olivia, the spell on her lips having suddenly run its course.

Billy could have kicked himself. How had he managed to forget the knife?

‘But the cords are magic,’ said Adiblo, gloomily. ‘Cutting them will never work.’

‘I have to try.’ Undeterred, he had began to cut away at the cord binding his father. At first it held its own against the blade, unwilling to be severed, and he wondered if this idea would work. Then without warning the knife bit into the fibre and went cleanly through to the last strand. The cord burst apart, whipping loose so violently that it stung Billy’s arms in passing. Olivia laughed with delight. As Billy cut through the other two cords they responded in a similar frenzy of whiplashing, making everyone duck. The prisoners were free.

But now the cords took on a life of their own. Instead of falling to the floor and lying there, they raced away from the former prisoners and slithered like snakes across the room at a terrific speed - towards Lavitch. He saw them coming, and tried to stand. One of the cords put on even more speed and wrapped itself around his feet, tying them together tightly. He toppled to the ground. Another cord flung itself around his upper body, rolling him over and over, making his head bang on the stone floor.

Slaggard had not long got up and begun to tidy up the trolley. Ligula’s grabbing of the capsule had left things in a mess. He saw what happened to Lavitch, and began to run. But the remaining cord chased him, and lassoed itself around him. Next thing he was an absolute tangle of knots on the floor.

Venska had been absorbed in the treasure, like all the other witches. But when she heard Lavitch’s cries, she turned to see what was happening, and noticed the five former prisoners sneaking towards the huge door.

With her wand at the ready, she approached them, step by step, her attention focused in particular on Billy. ‘Where do you think you’re going? We haven’t got all your blood yet.’

Billy caught sight of Olivia holding her hand tight against her stomach, where presumably she’d hidden the second vial under her t-shirt.

‘Oh, pifflewash!’ roared Mr Mumberson. ‘You don’t even need it. You’ve already got your treasure!’

Venska was startled by his vehemence. She collected herself, and said with her usual snarl,

‘So it seems, but...’

‘There’s something I would like to sort out,’ he interrupted, straightening his shoulders, seemingly oblivious of Venska’s wand.

Venska sneered at him. ‘Who do you think you are?’ A few of the other witches glanced over their shoulders, listening with one ear, but staying intent on their treasure.

‘You took my diamonds off me today because - you said - they belonged to your sister. You claimed I’d stolen them.
Stolen
them? I’ll have you know your sister never paid me a penny all the time I worked in the mine. She never paid my wife either, nor any of the other workers. She owes us twenty years’ wages.’