The Magic Lands (34 page)

He smiled as he moved through
the forest kingdom, his lips curled back to reveal

unusually prominent teeth, his
pupils clouded red, an insatiable lust for death inflaming his
demonic heart.

The shrews were closing in on
them and Tom seriously doubted if they would have any chance of
survival if it came to a fight. He didn't have a weapon to hand but
he was ready to use his fists and his feet if necessary. He
wouldn't fall easily, of that much he was determined.

He had changed a lot since he
and Jack had found their way into this new realm, so much so that
he hardly knew himself sometimes it seemed. Strange thoughts and
ideas arrived inside his head as if delivered by some outside
intelligence, an almost entirely

alien personality gradually
emerging. Was this what growing up was like? He had been

forced to leave his childhood
far behind, as far as his own world seemed to him now. And now he
faced death once more.

"Around the next bend," called
the voice of Elrin Jinn as they raced along the narrow tunnel.

Tom prayed that the man meant
that a place of safety was close by, but as they turned a corner
both came to an abrupt halt, their way blocked by a small wooden
door.

Very close behind them now the
squealing had become deafening and Tom's head was filled by the
sound, the creatures rushing toward them, an army of wriggling
bodies.

"Open it!" Tom shouted, his
fear potent, a helpless dread threatening to override his
senses.

Elrin Jinn reached out and
turned an ornate bronze handle but the door remained closed.
"Locked," he said off-handedly. "And now the shrews have us." Tom
couldn't believe it. Was this really going to be the end after all?
"We must make our stand," uttered Jinn, producing a modest sized
dagger and offering it to the boy. "Are you ready to battle for
your life?" Taking the weapon without a word, Tom glared angrily at
the man. "Kill the first that comes," Jinn told him with a casual
wave of his hand, "if you are swift and accurate, it may deter the
others." Tom could only shake his head slowly as if in a daze. "Do
not hesitate," instructed the man fiercely. "Unless you welcome
death."

The cries of the shrews had
grown so loud that they seemed to ring through the tunnel like a
single hideous voice and Tom barely had time to turn and see a long
pointed

nose above cusped incisor
teeth, bared to strike, an awful hissing evoked from within as it
bore down upon him.

REFLECTIONS OF TRUTH

Tom thrust the blade forward in
terror as the creature descended upon him. Behind it, there were
many more, fighting to get at him.

An appalling shriek came from
the animal's gaping jaw as the dagger penetrated its chest, barely
inches from Tom's face and he collapsed under the weight of its
lifeless body as it crashed heavily into him. And though he tried
with desperate strength to get out from underneath the thing,
scrambling with hands and feet in an effort to free himself, he
found that he was pinned to the ground. Now he was easy prey he
realised, caught in a trap of his own making.

The noise of the shrews was all
around him, the scraping of sharp claws loud in his ears, the
shrill hissing of the creatures revolting him and he was sure he
was about to die. But just as his last hopes were fading, as he
squirmed vainly in an attempt to escape this certain death, strong
hands pulled him away and out of the reach of the deadly animals
that now swarmed about the corpse, momentarily confused by its
death and held at bay because the carcass partially blocked the
narrow passageway.

At Tom's shoulder, Elrin Jinn
chuckled mildly. "I think the time has come for us to go."

Throwing an exhausted glance at
the man, Tom felt a combination of utter relief and all-consuming
fury, for Jinn leaned nonchalantly against a wall, indicating the
now open door. "Come now, master Tom," he chided almost playfully,
"we do not have all day!"

With the shrews' cries of rage
still assaulting his senses and realising that it would only be
moments before he was attacked again, Tom threw himself headlong
through the

opening, hoping as he did so
that he would at least find some form of sanctuary beyond and not
simply deliver himself into more danger.

Stepping through casually
behind him, Elrin Jinn swiftly closed the door, shutting out the
advancing shrews who battered and scratched frantically at the
wooden barrier.

"Are you mad!?" Tom burst out,
scrambling to his feet but Jinn just smiled at him, making the boy
even angrier than he already was. "Well?" demanded Tom, brushing
dirt from his soiled clothing and glowering furiously at the
man.

"You are safe, are you
not?"

"Yes," Tom bellowed, "but no
thanks to you!"

Elrin Jinn regarded the boy for
a few seconds before offering a reply. "You have a short memory,
master. Was it not I who pulled you free?"

Tom knew this was true and was
grateful for it, but his anger did not subside. "Just what kind of
game are you playing with me?" he questioned and saw the man's eyes
widen a little, his demeanour becoming more serious than
before.

"We are all a part of a
game, Tom," he uttered, "but some are pawns and
some
are knights."

"You made me kill that creature
when there was no need," stormed Tom, ignoring the strange remarks.
"Why!?"

"A test," stated the man, his
expression impartial. "A test, a game. It's all the same."

Tom's hands were crushed into
tight fists. All he wanted was to grab hold of Jinn and knock him
to the ground and with this in mind he took a step forward.

Elrin Jinn wagged a finger at
the boy. "Do not be foolish," he said in a low voice. The

two eyed each other for a
moment and then the man nodded as if having decided something.
"Perhaps it is time that we came to…an understanding. You have your
doubts about me and that is well. But I am not your enemy. I am
merely...a teacher. And whoever said that learning was an easy
thing." Tom just looked at him, not knowing what to think. "You
must know by now," Elrin Jinn continued, "that reality is but a
dream here. You have come from a world where most do not believe in
such things, but as you have learnt, they do exist. Magic surrounds
every living being, but few have the courage to see that it is
there. You must be taught to look deeper into the pool of life,
even though you shall see things there that will threaten your
sanity."

Tom relaxed his hands, his
nails leaving painful indentations in his palm and once more was at
the mercy of confusion. He had been told so many lies, so many
half-truths that it was impossible now for him to be sure of
anything. His limbs felt heavy but he took another step forward,
coming close to the strange man and he realised that whilst they
had been speaking all had grown deathly quiet.

"This part of The Underland
will doubtless prove rather interesting to you," Jinn said with a
good-natured smile. "There are many treasures here. And many
dangers."

Tom made no reply. He
understood dismally that he had entered another stage of his
journey and he knew also, really knew for the first time, that to
reach the end of it he would be called upon to do things he had
never even dreamed of.

He prayed that Jack and Mo were
safe. But he suspected that they too were being tested in some
arcane way, and it was up to each of them to pass beyond the
limitations they had always believed held them back, to enter into
a new state of being where they would either triumph as a part of
tomorrow or fade as a memory of yesterday.

Where are you Tom?

Jack tried to imagine where his
friend might be, what he might be doing at that very moment, but he
found it difficult to even form a picture of the boy's face.

As long as you're safe. That's
all that matters.

A loneliness haunted him but
this was something he had always known, sometimes even when he was
with Tom. Whilst other children seemed happy and contented, with
things to look forward to, he had often found himself dogged by a
hopelessness that he could not shake off. He had worked hard not to
let it show in his attitude or actions, creating for himself a mask
of jokes and laughter, but it persisted, sometimes retreating to
the back of his mind, even to the point when he had believed it had
gone for good, only to re-emerge abruptly all the more powerful and
compelling. And here in this alien place, he still was lonely,
lonely and afraid and he knew in his heart that nothing was really
any different.

Tom was all he had. His one
true friend. But now it seemed, even Tom had abandoned him.

Jack glanced over at Mo
as they walked. At least he had the old badger with him and was not
completely alone.
If I was I'd be dead by
now.
The truth of this sobered him and he turned his
thoughts to their quest. The quest! He had almost forgotten all
about it. In fact, he seemed unable to recall so many of the things
that had happened since their arrival in these perilous lands. He
had no such difficulty in remembering his own world, the
experiences that had shaped his life, but details became hazy and
faint when he searched his head for memories since he and Tom had
climbed the oak tree at the end of the garden. It was not that he
couldn't remember anything at all, but his recollections were
selective, as if some intelligence other than his own was keeping
things from him, keeping them secret, hidden. However hard he
struggled, his mind remained stubborn. It would not tell him the
answers to his questions.

Gazing down at the badger, a
headache beginning to throb dully against his temples, he asked.
"Are there ever any answers?"

Mo turned his big face slowly
upwards and displayed his sharp teeth, but something in the
animal's eyes told Jack that this was indeed a smile.

"Jack," he said gently, "see
how you have changed. You came here as a child and now you have
grown. You seek the high purpose and ask it to name its reasons,
you have come to a point when a boy's dreams are no longer enough.
Now you want something tangible, something that will make sense of
all the mysteries you have uncovered. I wish I could give you a
simple answer, but I suspect you already know that’s not the way
things work, here in this world or indeed in your own. But there is
always a meaning, even though the answers may remain unknown, at
least until he who asks the question discovers the answer for
himself."

Jack smiled briefly as he
looked into the eyes of his friend. "You're talking in riddles
again," he said, but the badger went on unperturbed.

"The purpose of our existence
is not to be told, but to seek. We all must find our own way. To
learn, to discover, to choose is the basis of life. If you are
hoping for a great revelation or an ultimate truth, I can’t help
you. But remember this, every part of the whole has value and when
finally all is said and done, the meaning lies with the one and not
the many, for a single virtuous deed can purge a thousand that are
evil, but legion can never destroy one who is truly good."

Jack walked on in silence after
listening to this, lost deep in thought.

Somewhere close by, moving with
stealth, stalking them, the Jagaren crept, drawing ever nearer to
his unsuspecting prey. In his mind, the Master dwelt and spurred
him on with soft words. The Master watched everything through his
eyes and smiled at what it saw, and almost involuntarily Jagaren
smiled too.

Go
now.
The Master's voice rang inside his head.
Fulfil your purpose. Do this for me, my little
one.

Jagaren’s eyes flashed with a
savage longing and instantly he burst through the shrubbery that
until now had concealed his presence. He came out into the open,
delighting in the shock and fear he saw in the face of the child
whose blood he would soon spill. And yet in the eyes of the other,
the half-one, he saw no such alarm, only a patient anticipation of
what must come, as if he had known all along and had resigned
himself to the inevitable.

They faced each other beneath
black and ancient trees, neither of them moving now, as if frozen
in time. The forest was silent for a moment, nothing stirred, but
then Jagaren spoke. "Do not be afraid," he called sweetly, his
voice deep and sonorous. "It has been a good chase, but now I have
you. The hunt is all but ended." He held out his arms and stared at
Jack. "Come to me. Do not make this harder than it has to be. Come.
I will give you a new life, one where you will never be alone
again."

As Jack looked into the man's
black eyes, he felt a compulsion to do just as he had been told and
he had taken a step forward when the badger's low growl made him
hesitate.

"I am not afraid, Jagaren," Mo
said quietly, "I have been waiting for you to show yourself."

"So you know my name," the man
smiled, his teeth glistening unnaturally. "Then you know what I am.
Are you so certain that you have nothing to fear?"

Again, as if pulled by some
invisible thread, Jack took another step toward the man, but Mo's
voice roared a command greater than the hold Jagaren had over him.
"STOP!"

Jack turned back toward the
badger, a nausea overcoming him and he rocked very slightly, his
head swimming. Mo's gaze never left his enemy. "You have made an
error and now you must bear witness to your own folly."