The Magic Lands (22 page)

"Follow me," directed Tom and
started off along the tunnel.

"Are you sure this is the way
out?" Jack called from behind.

"Trust me," his friend replied
and moved quickly forward.

Tom searched the darkness for
the doorway, fearful that he might miss it in the murky shadows but
after only a short distance, there it was, a bizarre but welcome
exit, or at least that was what he hoped. Without any discussion he
grasped the handle, pulling it open to reveal a dazzling world of
brightness that momentarily blinded them, their eyes accustomed to
darkness now. Shielding their eyes, the three stepped out into a
clearing in the midst of a wooded area, Tom slamming the door shut
behind them.

"Fresh air at last!" Jack
exclaimed, taking deep breaths.

His eyes adjusting, Tom glanced
around. "I don't suppose you know where we are?" he said to the
badger.

The animal shook his head.
"Another path," Mo said amiably, "but there will be time enough for
such concerns later. For now, I think it best if you tell us of
your meeting with Rith-ran-ro-en."

"Are you sure it's safe here?"
Tom said, looking over at the strange door built into the rock of
the mountain, imagining it bursting open, the mouldering, diseased
features of Rith-ran-ro-en leering at him as she came to claim her
prize.

"Quite safe," Mo assured him.
They walked over toward a small mound, thin trees forming an
enclosure around it and at the badger's direction, settled
themselves down on the grass. "Tell us all that you know," Mo
said.

In the clear sky a white dove
flew, its diminutive form the only thing in the great, all
encompassing domain above. Unseen, the bird circled around the
group of tiny figures below, once, twice, three times and then with
a graceful movement of its snow feathered wings, it made off toward
the distant horizon.

PART TWO

The finding of the way is easy
enough,

but it is best remembered that
we are often led

to places that it would be
better we never go.

1. BLAKESTONE'S HOUSE

2. THE HUNTSMAN'S BALL

3. CONFRONTATION WITH THE
BEAST

4. SECRET DELIGHTS

5. THE HUNT BEGINS

6. THE BLACK TREE

7. THE UNDERLAND

8. REFLECTIONS OF TRUTH

9. DREAM DEEP

10. ANGEL TOWER

11. A TEST OF CHARACTER

12. THE HEART OF DARKNESS

13. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

BLAKESTONE'S HOUSE

The two uneasy companions sat
beneath a large tree of unknown origin.

"The vegetation does not fare
well here," commented Geheimnis.

With a curt nod, his self
confidence now fully restored, Dredger agreed. "What could thrive
in this limbo between the desert and the Land of Scars?"

"Nevertheless," observed the
masked man, "there is enough water and edible fruit here to serve
our purpose."

"Barely edible," the warrior
complained, "but as you say, it will serve a purpose."

They sat there for some time
after this exchange, both men with their own thoughts. Geheimnis'
mask was blank once more and it occurred to Dredger that neither of
them had slept since they began to cross the treacherous sand, his
own mistrust of his companion precluding such luxuries.

In this brief time of calm and
quiet, in a middle ground between two barren, uninhabitable lands,
both men paused before they would again walk a road of certain
evil.

To Dredger, it was a dark
quest, where many lives were in the balance. And yet, to Geheimnis
it was something quite different, an intricate design, moving
meticulously toward a pre-ordained conclusion, at once a game and a
necessity.

Tom ended his tale with a smile
that betrayed a certain amount of embarrassment. He had realised he
could no longer keep Lisa a secret and had told his friends of her
part in his exploits as best he could. While he spoke, Jack had
stared at him with a look of stunned surprise, although Mo's
expression, as always, remained neutral.

"So what
was
Rith-ran-ro-en?" Jack asked
slowly, glancing oddly at Tom, the revelation about the girl
leaving him rather bemused.

"A cursed creature," the badger
told them both, "but always remember that evil comes in many guises
and few realise that the most common is that of beauty."

"If Lisa hadn't pulled me
away," admitted Tom with a confused shrug, "I would have stayed
there. The worst thing is, I
wanted
to stay…that is until I saw what she really looked
like."

Mo looked hard at him. "And
what of your task?"

Tom scratched his head and
concentrated. As he had related his story he had deliberately left
out the part when he had actually asked his question, for the
simple reason that he had absolutely no idea what the woman had
told him. He had completely forgotten, what with all that had
happened. He eyed the badger uneasily. "I...I'm not sure I can
remember."

Mo came over close beside Tom,
brushing the boy's legs with his body. "You must, Tom. All is lost
if you do not." With a quick thrust of his nose the animal pushed
Tom gently backward.

"What…what are you doing?" the
boy asked, struggling to keep his balance.

"Remember," Mo instructed him,
pushing him again.

"I know she said something," he
muttered hesitantly.

The badger pushed harder and
Tom nearly lost his footing. "Remember," Mo commanded. Jack stood a
few feet away and watched with dumb fascination.

As ridiculous as it seemed,
when the badger had pushed him a picture had formed in

Tom's mind. He saw a beautiful
woman, her face very close to his, her lips moving. What was she
saying? He strained to hear but the sound of her voice was like a
whispering wind, her words unintelligible.

Mo pushed again and this time
it seemed certain that Tom would topple over but he barely managed
to steady himself, the woman's voice suddenly ringing out clearly
inside his mind. "Take just seven steps," she intoned in a voice
much like his own.

"Seven steps," repeated the
badger, his voice seeming far away to Tom.

"To find your heart’s desire,"
continued the woman in Tom's mind, "a promise of regret to lay
within the fire." The picture appeared to waver, threatening to
dissolve into nothingness. Tom's mind reeled with a tangled web of
emotions. Fascination, desire, revulsion. His heart beat very fast
and his brow ran with sweat. Gripping his hands tightly, his fought
to hear her words, her face shimmering ghost-like before him, her
mouth much too wide. "On to the very edge and claim a blighted
kiss,” she murmured, the words slurred. "There to meet your match,
beyond the dark abyss.”

Tom slumped to the ground, his
eyes glassy and instantly Jack was there, kneeling over him. "Tom,
are you all right?" he asked urgently, glancing quickly from the
boy to Mo. "Is he all right?"

Tom's eyes flickered and he
slowly sat up. "How do you feel?" Mo enquired.

"All right, I think," the boy
said getting to his feet.

"I wish I knew what was going
on here?" Jack grumbled, helping his friend.

"The way of the dark road is
hard," the badger voiced sternly, "and the Beast has many

tricks and many faces. But now
we know the way we must travel to find the end of this grim tale.
With courage and wisdom who can say that we will not succeed."

The Land of Scars lay before
them. It was a sterile, lifeless place, much like the desert they
had journeyed across such a short time before.

"It would seem night has been
banished from these lands," uttered Geheimnis, peering up at a
radiant sky.

"Darkness will return only when
it suits the white dog best," returned Dredger with a growl.

They looked out across the
terrain that stood between them and the lost city and saw a
ruptured landscape, thousands of cracks puncturing the earth, the
smallest of them perhaps only two or three feet in width, but
others were immense chasms, deep and forbidding.

If only we had some rope.

Dredger was about to voice this
when Geheimnis turned and spoke himself.

"Here," he announced, his mask
displaying a wide smile. "I think we may be needing this."

Catching Dredger by surprise,
the masked man tossed a coiled length of rope into his arms. With a
grunt, the warrior stared incredulously at his companion. "How…" he
started, "how could you have carried this across the desert without
me knowing."

Geheimnis seemed to regard him
as if he were a foolish child, his smile mocking. "You still have
much to learn, my friend. But I am willing to be your teacher, if
you let me. Learn quickly though, before you fall too far
behind."

Dredger threw the rope
violently to the ground, hate blazing in his eyes, their colour
altering rapidly until they became a vivid green. "You are so very
clever, masked man," he ranted, "but I tire of you and your petty
displays. To me, you are nothing. Just a tool to be used and then
discarded when it has served its purpose. I would kill you without
hesitation, without regret. Indeed, I begin to relish that
prospect."

Geheimnis' smile was gone. "The
rope will be useful, will it not?" he breathed.

After a long pause and with a
scowl that exposed the loathing and anger that he felt toward the
man, Dredger finally snatched up the rope and slung it over his
shoulder. “Useful it may be,” he grunted, “but do not expect me to
applaud your sleight of hand. Save your trickery for children who
are easily impressed.”

Geheimnis gave a short bow and
turned away, although Dredger still caught the sound of a soft
chuckle as he went.

Tom stood in a forest glade and
knew that he was quite awake. It was definitely not a dream this
time, that much he was sure of.

Above him in a dull sky, an
aeroplane buzzed through the heavens like some enormous bird with
metal wings. He peered up at it, watching it slowly disappear
within distant clouds.

My name is Tom and I'm fourteen
years old.

Other than this, he knew
nothing about himself. He had no idea of what his past had been or
of what might be waiting for him in the future, and yet amid this
confusion there was one small detail that he did know for certain.
He had just killed somebody.

It was another boy, about his
own age. They had been fighting, a long, furious battle that had
exhausted them both, until in a last desperate bid to claim
victory, he had grasped a jagged rock as they rolled over and over
on the ground. He had struck the other boy's head again and again,
possessed by a fury that at once elated and terrified him.

Now alone with the broken body,
Tom stared down at what had once been a young boy's features, much
like his own, but was now a sickening, bloody pulp.

The best man
won!
said a jubilant voice inside his head and he
smiled crookedly. Tom felt very strange. He was experiencing a deep
sorrow that cut into his heart like a poisoned blade, but there was
also a peculiar sense of power surging through him, a twisted pride
at what he had done.

What's wrong with me? I don't
understand.

The sound of footsteps nearby
caught his attention and he waited guiltily as three men marching
in single file and dressed in blue uniforms approached. They were
policeman, he realised with a sudden, rising panic.

"Hello, hello, hello," said the
first of the men as they came to a halt, standing side by side
before the boy.

"Hello," answered Tom politely,
giving the policeman his best, more innocent smile.

"What's all this then?" asked
the second man in line, who Tom noticed looked remarkably like the
first.

"Eh," fumbled Tom, "it's a dead
body, I think."

"Why, so it is," confirmed the
third of the party.

"I found him!" Tom blurted,
red-faced.

"Well, well," responded the
first officer. "Would you believe it?"

"No," stated the second, eyeing
Tom very suspiciously.

"It isn't the way it looks,"
began Tom, "I was just..."

But the third policeman put up
a white-gloved hand, cutting him off in mid-sentence. "Silence in
court," he commanded.

"But we're not in court," Tom
argued, becoming more and more bewildered.

"The Lady wants you," declared
the first man with an official nod and a knowing smile.

"Lady?" Tom repeated, "what
lady?"

"She's a real good-looker,"
confided the second policeman with a wink.

"A
real
good-looker!" endorsed the third, leering
at his fellows.

"What does she want me for?"
Tom asked, looking up at the men with wide eyes.

"She wants you for her own,"
the first man told him in a hushed voice.

"That's right," the second
agreed, "only you. No-one else will do."

"But I don't want to go,"
moaned Tom with a despairing shake of his head.

"No choice," the third in line
informed him with a grim expression. "No choice at all."

"Is this a dream?" enquired Tom
hopefully.

The first man merely smiled at
him, baring perfect white teeth. "Who can tell."

Tom woke up with a start and
looked quickly around. Jack was by his side and just a short
distance to his right, Mo sniffed at some long grass. "Hello," he
said, sitting up and yawning.

Jack turned over onto his side
and smiled. "Have a good sleep?"

Tom frowned. "I don't even
remember going to sleep in the first place. How long have we been
here?"

"Only a short time," the badger
advised him.