The Magic Lands (29 page)

The room was almost bare save
for some storage boxes and a single chair, ornately carved and
embellished with precious metals. As Mo walked toward it, the heavy
body of the animal began to change, the skin and fur rippling as
the flesh itself transformed into something quite different. When
he came to sit upon the chair, settling himself against its high
back, the badger was no more. A man, neither old nor youthful, now
resided there,

his features thoughtful as he
waged a hard battle with the doubts that plagued him. His
silver-grey hair was long and tied with a bow behind his head. And
for his garments he wore battle-dress. And by his side, a curved
sword hung.

THE HUNT BEGINS

He would have liked to have
kissed her. Just once, full on the lips.

Strange emotions and desires
stirred involuntarily but powerfully within him. And he would have
done it too, if she had not awoken.

Her beautiful eyes regarded him
oddly, full and bright and Jack felt hypnotised. "Hello," she said
sitting up quickly, as if a little unsure.

"Eh, hello," Jack replied,
keeping his voice as even as he could.

"Should you be in here?" she
enquired with just a hint of suspicion, although she seemed less
apprehensive now she had heard him speak.

"Well," began Jack, stumbling
over his words, "well, you see, I didn't mean to, but, well, I'm a
guest here you see, that is, I'm here for the Ball!" He fiddled
with one of the drapes around the bed nervously.

The girl's blue eyes narrowed
slightly and she gazed at him for several moments, as if she were
deciding something. "I see," she said finally, "perhaps we should
introduce ourselves then." With this she got up from the bed and
faced him. "My name is Lisa Begierde and I'm very pleased to meet
you."

Jack eyed her sceptically. He
already knew this name from Tom's account of his ordeal in the
caves of Rith-ran-ro-en, and he wasn't really sure of the best way
to proceed. "So, you're Tom's friend," he said almost in a
whisper.

Lisa smiled brightly. "Do you
know Tom?"

Jack grunted. "Of course I know
him. He's my best friend." He paused for a moment and then added
rather reluctantly. "My name's Jack by the way."

At this, the girl chewed her
lip absently as if uncertain once more. Jack watched her very
closely, her large eyes like shining pools of blue light. "Is Tom
here too?"

"Well," Jack started awkwardly,
his ability to string sentences together in the presence of this
girl greatly impaired. "He is, yes, somewhere, but I don't know
what's happened to him. We got, sort of, separated. And now I can't
find him." For a few difficult seconds he considered telling her
everything that had happened since they came to the house, but then
quickly dismissed the idea. He didn't understand why, but this girl
put him on edge somehow. "What are you doing here anyway?" he
questioned, deciding he should find out how much she knew of what
was going on, and why she was alone in a house full of people in
wolf masks!

Lisa smiled as sweetly as could
be. "I didn't feel very well," she explained, "so I came to lay
down for a while. I'm feeling much better now though."

Jack shook his head slowly,
confused. "Are you a guest here then?"

"Yes, I was invited to the
Ball, just like you."

"But don't you know what's
going on here?" Jack blurted, his eyes wide.

Lisa stared at him blankly.
"What do you mean?"

Jack sighed. According to Tom
this girl had saved him in the caves and he seemed to think highly
of her, but could she be trusted? Or was it all just another trick?
"Listen," he said at length, trying to make the best of a bad
situation. "I've got to find Tom and someone else who's missing,
another friend of ours. Will you help me?"

With a full, open smile, Lisa
nodded enthusiastically. "Of course I will. It'll be just like hide
and seek!"

"That's right," agreed Jack,
becoming irritated, "but you'd better just watch out who you find!"
He walked over to the doorway and listened closely, still afraid
that the thing that had chased him might be lurking somewhere
outside. "Are you sure you haven't seen, well, anything unusual?"
he asked, glancing back.

"Nothing that shouldn't be
here," she told him with a casual air.

The house was like a
maze.
I might never get out of
here,
Tom decided, tired and dejected. He was making
his way downward as best he could, although stairs leading either
up or down were difficult to locate. He had just descended a flight
of steps, but he had no idea of how many floors the house might
have. Also, his memory concerning the layout of the place was very
hazy and he couldn't even recall if they had climbed any stairs at
all when he and Jack had been taken to their room.

Wearily, he turned another
corner and there in front of him, after what seemed like hours of
aimless wandering, was something that looked very much like an
elevator, the numerals one to six displayed above two large
metallic doors. Almost without thinking, he pressed a rounded black
button on the wall and waited.

What if, when it stops,
someone's inside?

A humming noise from above made
him squirm with indecision. If someone was inside, could he
possibly bluff his way through? After all, he was supposed to be a
guest. But hadn't all of the other so-called guests been wearing
the mask of a wolf? No, they were all in it together and if he was
caught they wouldn't let him go.

But the Wolf let me go.
Why?

Had he really faced the White
Wolf and escaped? Nothing seemed to make any sense.

With a soft thud, the elevator
came to a halt and with a low hiss, the doors slid open to reveal
an empty compartment.

And what if
someone had been inside?
he asked himself
again.
I could always have run!
But the truth was he had lost control of the situation and he
couldn’t allow that to happen again. He might not be so lucky next
time.

Stepping inside quickly,
he scanned the buttons to the right of the doors and pressed the
one marked G. He hoped it stood for Ground floor, but in this world
nothing was ever as it seemed. The automatic doors shut and he
began a slow descent, a tingling sensation passing through his
body. More quickly than he expected the elevator came to a dead
stop and he stepped out into a large foyer which to his relief was
quite deserted.
I'm really pushing my
luck
he told himself ruefully, but his position left
him with almost no alternative. A forlorn hopelessness tormented
him, the knowledge that both Mo and Jack could be absolutely
anywhere in the enormous house making his erratic search to find
them seem almost pointless.

He hesitated before
electing to go to his right, neither direction revealing anything
to favour one above the other.
Is the Wolf
still here?
he found himself wondering. Tom knew that
the Beast was quite merciless and that it would do anything to win.
But what was the game?

Moving as swiftly and as
quietly as he could, he turned a corner into another hallway,
although this one was much shorter and wider than the others he had
encountered, velvet cushioned chairs lined along both walls.
Distantly there was the sound of many voices and Tom realised he
must be close to the great hall he had seen with Jack. He went on
more slowly and as he came to the end of the passage, he
tentatively poked his head around the corner and saw to his left a
massive archway only a few yards further on, protected by two vast
white doors. To his right there was a smaller doorway which was
slightly ajar.

From the commotion that came
from beyond the huge entrance, this was definitely the location of
the Huntsmen's Ball and standing in front of it, as if on guard,
was a very tall man, his ebony skin highlighting large blue eyes.
Tom withdrew his head sharply, fearful of being seen. But really,
whatever he did he was likely to be discovered, either by someone
approaching from behind or by someone coming through the door to
his right. He shot another quick look at the man and noted his
peculiar clothing; long white socks up to his knees with green
pantaloons, a richly embroidered blue waistcoat and most striking
of all, a white wig like judges might where upon their heads.
Before the man was a small wooden table on top of which was a
neatly stacked pile of objects, but Tom couldn't tell what they
were.

As he stood there debating his
next move, two figures emerged from the smaller doorway and
squatting down quickly, Tom watched them pass directly in front of
him, but their eyes appeared to be set straight ahead, so he went
unnoticed.

It was an elderly man and a
boy, perhaps a year or so older than himself, and he peeked around
the corner to watch them come to a halt before the tall man at the
door, who bowed before handing them both an object from the table.
Tom watched with fascination as both the man and boy placed what
they had been given over their faces and tied a cord behind their
heads.

So that's what they are. Wolf
masks!

Bowing once more, the tall man
then took hold of two large golden handles and pulled the doors
open, momentarily releasing the tremendous buzz of the congregation
within. The hallway seemed to become full of light, flashing and
dancing across the walls and Tom had to blink as the doors were
closed again, the new guests eagerly received.

For a few long moments he
deliberated, wondering what he should do. But again he soon came to
realise that he had few options.

So with his heart beating very
fast and giving himself no chance to change his mind, Tom casually
stepped out into the open, in full view of the guardian of the
doorway.

Are all girls as slow as
this?

Jack marched briskly along a
dim hallway with Lisa dawdling along behind. He was beginning to
wish he had left her where he had found her. Briefly, he recalled
his first glimpse of her, sleeping peacefully on the bed, her
beautiful face serene and beguiling. It would have been nice to
have kissed her. Jack shook his head and increased his speed. "Come
on," he called gruffly over his shoulder, not bothering to look
back.

Lisa had to almost trot to keep
up. "Don't worry," she said, a little out of breath, "I'm still
with you."

"I wish you wasn't," muttered
Jack, not really understanding why he was so annoyed with her.

They made their way along yet
another corridor, Jack striding purposefully, trying to appear calm
and in control, though really, in his heart, he was both lost and
very afraid.

I'm never going to find them. I
don't even know where to start looking.

"Jack," Lisa said at his side
now and he stopped, turning impatiently toward her, his face
flushed, his frustration obvious. "Where are we going?" She spoke
very softly, her eyes showing concern.

"I'm looking for Tom, I already
told you that!" Jack said, more angrily than he had intended. He
looked at her for a moment and turned away. "What did you think I
was doing?"

Lisa touched her lip with a
finger. "Where do you think he is then?"

Jack became angrier still, a
hot sweat breaking out over his body. "How should I know?" he said
shortly, "if I knew that, I wouldn't be looking for him, would
I?"

Lisa smiled good-naturedly.
"Well, I think I know where he might be."

Jack gave her a sharp glance.
"Oh," he uttered caustically, "well, that's all right then, isn't
it?"

Whether the girl recognised the
sarcasm in his voice he couldn't say, for she showed no sign, one
way or the other. Suddenly, taking his hand in hers, the contact
sending a peculiar sensation running through him, Lisa began to
lead him back the way they had come.

"What are you doing?" he
objected.

"If I were playing
hide-and-seek, I know where I would hide."

With a tired sigh Jack allowed
her to pull him along, his hand snugly in hers, the softness of her
skin against his making him feel suddenly timid. He could have
argued with her, but then, what was the point? He had no idea where
to look or what to do. Going with her couldn't do any harm, and a
part of him, a new, alien part of his being, told him with absolute
authority that he was entirely content to go wherever she led, as
long as his hand was in hers. "Where are we going anyway?" he
questioned without any real conviction.

Lisa squeezed his hand and
smiled. "Deep into the heart of dreams," she whispered gently.

Jack said no more. It didn't
really seem to matter.

They came to a staircase that
wound deep into the house and just for a second, he wondered if
this was such a good idea, the notion passing like smoke across his
mind.

Lisa's grip tightened and then
she was leading him down, to where he supposed Tom hid from them,
all part of the game.

Impassive eyes were upon him.
Trying to appear both formal and yet friendly, Tom walked toward
the dark skinned man and as he did, his composure slowly began to
desert him. He felt absolutely positive that the man knew full well
who he was, that at any moment those massive hands would reach out
and grab him. And then it would all be over. No more subterfuge. No
more Tom.

But surely if the Wolf had
wanted him dead, it would have already done that itself when Tom
had been at its mercy. No, the Beast had other plans for him.

He faced the towering figure of
the man, his palms sweaty. The urge to turn and run was becoming
too powerful to ignore, anything to escape the man's forbidding
stare. But to run, he knew, would be to admit his fear and that he
would not do, for his friend's lives might depend on him now. So
boldly, he took a step forward and nodded, hoping he gave an
impression of confident assurance.