Chapter 14: Levitonite

8 January, 2008 – 4:05 pm

Tobias rose just after dawn to check and re-check the field instruments that had been carefully packed into the old Volkswagen van: one digital video camera, a dictaphone, sketchbooks, notebooks, and a manual 35mm SLR camera with various rolls of film treated with special types of emulsion. With hands shaking and nervous, he pulled the camera from its case. He tried to load it several times with some film, but his hands were shaking so badly that he had to stop and take several deep breaths in an effort to calm himself down.

As he wound the film on, he remembered the last words of the old man who had saved him from that monster – or whatever it was – last night: Meet me tomorrow morning at the windmill at the edge of Ketton marsh.

His mind swam and stomach churned with all that had happened, and yet he still couldn’t be totally sure that it wasn’t just a dream. He hadn’t slept particularly well, especially as his brain kept telling him that he’d narrowly escaped being sliced into little pieces by a homicidal goblin – if there really was such a thing – but still he refused to believe it. It’s not that he was a naturally doubting person – the nature of his career path had precluded that – but he never dreamed that things would happen so fast. The rest of the events of that night were sadly a hazy blur.

Even so, he jumped into the driver’s seat and drove off heading out of Blakeby.

 

* * * * *

Scarlet awoke bright and early. Her hand was screwed tightly into a fist and when she finally uncurled it, the small brass key that she’d clutched all night dropped onto the sheet leaving behind a perfect imprint of itself on her palm.

She stared at it for a minute and then jumped out of bed and reached for the box that was hiding under there. She desperately wanted to open it, but resisted, remembering what Eliza had said.

Nevertheless, the box seemed to stare at her – the temptation almost too much to bear.

Instead she bundled it into her rucksack, and headed off downstairs.

After breakfast, Scarlet and Thomas left the cottage as they had done the previous day after the rains, until at last they found themselves in dense dark woodland once again. Most of the paths and trails looked familiar still, so they followed their instincts partly and guessed the rest of the way.

Before too long the trees started to thin out and, without knowing it, they found that they’d reached the edge of the wood again where a little brook ran through to the marsh.

Ahead, the mysterious white windmill towered above the canopy of trees. Little trails of smoke rose from the chimney: it seemed that there was someone at home this time at least.

As they made their way out of the woods, they noticed an orange campervan parked outside on the little-used dirt track.

They made their way up the track and across the garden. Again, the door was slightly open as it had been yesterday. Thomas pushed it open slowly, and they both entered, making their way up the spiral staircase.

Before long, they both stood at the top, waiting, listening carefully to the conversation coming from the room.

‘I can’t believe what you’re telling me though! A goblin? A faerie?’

Immediately they raised their eyebrows, their interest piqued by the slightest mention of those words. Although the voice was unfamiliar, the children continued to listen attentively and with curiosity.

‘Who’s that?’ whispered Thomas.

Scarlet moved her head closer to the door and put a finger to her lips.

‘All my life I’ve dreamed of this! To discover species that were just considered myths! No dead-ends this time! This will be one in the eye for the professors at college, I can tell you. This will definitely kick them into touch.’

The door creaked open suddenly without warning, forcing Scarlet to stumble forwards. Thomas tried to keep a straight face. Scarlet looked up embarrassed into the face of Hillary, whose eyes shone like fire.

‘Eavesdropping eh?’ he said with a frown.

Scarlet opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.

‘Well, don’t stand about.’ he said, beckoning them in with a wave of his hand. ‘Come on in.’

 

* * * * *

 

In the room stood a tall thin man with a smoking pipe hanging from the corner of his mouth. He seemed to be leafing through Hillary’s collection of books but didn’t saying anything, instead he quietly turned his attention back to the book he was holding. Eliza was in the background making a cup of tea.

Hillary turned back to the man.

‘I’m terribly sorry Tobias,’ he said, ‘but I’d rather you didn’t tell anyone about what happened last night…’

Wendle, who was curled-up in his wicker basket, yawned widely, smacked his chops and promptly went back to sleep with his paws over his head.

‘… or for that matter what is about to happen either.’ Hillary added.

Tobias took the pipe out of his mouth and turned, putting the book down.

‘But you can’t expect me just to come along with you and not say a word.’ he said. ‘To miss documenting this would be a tragic mistake.’

Hillary just glared at him.

‘That may be so. But I must stand by my words.’

Tobias popped the pipe back into his mouth. ‘Oh forget it.’ he said finally out of the corner of his mouth.

‘That is exactly what I expect you to do.’ said Hillary. ‘But don’t give up so quickly. I’m offering you a chance to justify your career path first hand. I know you’ve had your doubts about things. Everyone does. But this will make them curl up into insignificance. But first you must promise to do it my way.’ he said.

Then Hillary spun round quickly as if he’d forgotten something.

‘Ah, forgive me children,’ he said, gesturing towards Tobias, ‘We have a new friend. Tobias here is an expert in cryptozoology and if we hadn’t been in the wood last night, I very much doubt he would still be here with us…’

‘The wood? Last night?’ muttered Thomas. Scarlet looked bemused.

Tobias nervously chuckled. ‘Hillary, I’m sure you’re exaggerating…’ he protested, modestly.

Hillary raised an eyebrow.

Tobias pointed to the children with his chestnut pipe.

‘Pleased to meet you.’ he said, bending down so that he was at their level. ‘And you are?’

Thomas half-closed his eyes and opened his mouth, ready to speak.

‘This is Scarlet and Thomas,’ shouted Eliza, from the back of the room. ‘Absolutely lovely children. You’ll really like them.’

Tobias popped the pipe back in his mouth. ‘Oh super!’ he replied with a grin and stood back up. For a moment he looked awkward, and then when he could think of nothing more to say, carried on browsing through Hillary’s library.

Scarlet frowned at the strange-looking man and gave him the briefest of brief smiles as she took off her rucksack and slumped down into Hillary’s comfy-looking armchair. She rummaged around in the bag and pulled out the stout wooden box and placed it on the arm of the chair, placing the brass key that she’d been given next to it.

‘So, what’s in this box then?’ she asked, looking over to Eliza.

Eliza shuffled back with a tray of tea and biscuits, which she offered around to everybody.

Scarlet took a sip from the mug. ‘So, what’s in this box then?’ she repeated. ‘I’ve fought all night not to open it out of curiosity. I only didn’t because you told me not to.’

‘Open the box.’ said Eliza. ‘You’ve got the key.’

Scarlet looked puzzled.

‘Open it…’

‘Really?’ replied Scarlet, surprised. ‘You’re not actually going to tell me what’s in it? You’re just going to let me find out by myself?’

‘Well I’m not going to open it for you if that’s what you think.’

Eliza took a sip of her tea and placed it on Hillary’s writing table and folded her arms. Hillary had done the same and was staring straight at her. She noticed that Tobias was becoming increasingly inquisitive and had at least stopped his book browsing. She felt herself blush, as everyone’s attention centred on her. Even Wendle was looking up in anticipation.

‘Staring’s rude.’ muttered Scarlet, half to herself.

She fumbled nervously for the key, took a deep breath, and placed it in the lock. She couldn’t help but feel excited and blew some hair away from her forehead. The box made a soft clicking sound as the key turned in the lock and she knew that it was now unlocked. That was easy, she thought. Her trembling hands started to open the stiff lid.

But at that precise moment something flew out of the box and sprang upwards and – thinking it was a flying insect or worse – she let out a terrified shriek and jumped back into the chair, knocking the mug of tea to the floor where it smashed.

‘What the hell was that?’ cried Scarlet in alarm.

She looked at Eliza who just stood there cool and calm. The old woman said nothing but instead pointed upwards to the ceiling where two objects were resting, too small to be identified.

Thomas squinted upwards. ‘What are they?’ he asked.

‘Rings.’ replied Eliza.

‘And what are they doing stuck to the ceiling?’ asked Scarlet in amazement.

‘Yes, well I can see why you’d ask that…’, mumbled Eliza, trying to figure out a reply. ‘It’s err… rather difficult to explain.’

‘Really?’ asked Scarlet, thinking how ridiculous that sounded.

‘Levitonite.’ said Eliza. ‘A special crystal which makes them very light.’

‘A crystal? But how can a crystal make something light?’, replied Scarlet, who liked to think that she actually knew something about physics and chemistry.

‘The rings were made thousands of years ago by a process called Alchemical Transition – something that has now been sadly lost in time. In the whole world, no book remains that documents this lost art.’

‘You mean alchemy? I’ve heard of that. Although isn’t it something to do with turning things to gold – the transformation of matter?’

‘Yes. Very good Scarlet. I’m glad you’ve been taking notice in school!’ said Hillary, reaching up and collecting the rings from the ceiling. ‘Although in some schools of thought Alchemy is really just a metaphor for turning something into something purer. Alchemy is a science, just as much as Chemistry and Physics is, although it goes a step further to reconciling science and magic as two branches of the same tree…’

He held one ring out for Scarlet and gave the other to Thomas.

‘Now put them on.’ Hillary said, ‘Try them for size.’

Scarlet and Thomas eagerly pushed them on and almost at once they felt something that made them flinch. The rings were altering themselves to fit the their fingers! The rings tightened themselves until at last they stopped and Scarlet allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief.

‘They fit perfectly.’ said Scarlet. ‘Like magic.’

‘That’s because it is magic Scarlet.’ replied Eliza, dunking her biscuit into her tea and eating it sloppily.

Scarlet looked at the ring, marvelling at the intricate craftsmanship as it glinted in the light. It was metallic – probably gold, she guessed. It had a miniature bezel on the side that reminded her of the winder on a watch. The top of the ring, which resembled the wing casing of a beetle, sparked something in her memory.

‘It looks like a beetle – an Egyptian beetle – and the pictures on the box, they look like Egyptian hieroglyphics. Although they aren’t, are they?’ The words seemed to spill out of her mouth without any thought as she gazed in wonder at it.

‘Yes, you are quite right.’ said Hillary. ‘But the pictures on the box are not hieroglyphics, they are ancient alchemical symbols.’

‘What do they mean?’

‘Oh, they talk about certain things – you know, heirs to a royal line – that sort of thing.’ said Hillary mysteriously, dodging the question.

Scarlet let the words pass through her head without really thinking of them. She was far too fascinated by the rings, which had taken all her attention away.

Thomas fiddled with the ring.

‘I know you want to wind it,’ said Eliza, ‘but don’t do it just yet, at least not before I tell you what they do first.’

Thomas immediately stopped fiddling and looked up at her with the most innocent expression he could manage.

‘Just looking, that’s all…’ he lied.

Hillary continued. ‘The rings are ancient clockwork devices that allow the bearer to become lighter than air – that is, to resist the pull of gravity. When they are wound, the spring inside the ring exerts a tension upon the crystal which is released slowly. Because of the tension, the crystal takes on a bizarre property that makes it – and the ring – and everything it touches weightless.

‘They even retain a certain amount of negative weightlessness when they’re not tensioned, just enough to allow the ring to feel a repulsive force against gravity. The effect is that they float up into the air. That is why they need to be kept in something heavy, for example, like this stout wooden box.’

Scarlet looked incredulous. ‘So… what exactly are you saying? That we can fly with these rings?’

Hillary nodded whilst Tobias looked on, trying to take it all in.

‘Well, you can try…’ he said, grinning. ‘But I wouldn’t get any hopes up.’

‘Fan-tastic!’ hissed Thomas.

‘Don’t wind the ring too far though.’ warned Eliza, ‘You’ll know if you do because it will make a clicking sound. You see, it would be dangerous to wind them too far past a certain threshold.’

‘What’d happen if, say for example, someone was to wind the rings too far then?’ asked Thomas idly.

‘They’ll explode.’ replied Eliza, with no trace of humour in her voice, her face deadly serious. ‘Even though they are very small, the workings inside are incredibly powerful, and full of potential energy.’

Scarlet and Thomas listened but did not hear, for they were far too intent on trying to wind the rings. Eliza shook her head and watched, glancing at Hillary. After a while, the rings made a little clicking sound and they both stopped. Without any warning the two halves of the ring casings flipped open, exposing the intricate clockwork mechanisms inside that whirled and twirled, making high-pitched flickering sounds. And that was when something amazing happened.

First, Scarlet felt herself slowly rise into the air. It was a strange sensation, now that her feet were not actually touching the ground anymore. Thomas watched, entranced by Scarlet’s hair as it became wayward, and then he too started to lift off the ground. They both gave out little shouts of delight that were tempered with fear.

‘It feels so strange!’ shouted Thomas.

‘I think I’m going to be sick!’ cried Scarlet as she gulped down some air and held her breath, her cheeks puffing out like a beachball.

Hillary tried to stop himself from laughing.

‘That’s because you’re not subject to the effects of gravity anymore!’ he shouted. ‘You’re weightless! It’s like you’re constantly falling. You’re feeling exactly the same sensation as an astronaut or skydiver would feel.’

‘It feels so strange though!’ shouted Scarlet, staring with amazement at Thomas who was floating beside her in the air. ‘How do we fly around?’

She tried kicking her legs around trying to move, but it didn’t work. Instead she started to slowly wheel about a point. ‘Urgh! So sick!’ she shouted.

‘Just relax. Concentrate on the ring and then point it in the direction you want to fly and it will happen.’

Eliza shouted. ‘The trick is to relax…’

Thomas nodded and pointed his ring towards the open window. No sooner had he done that than he was speeding towards it with alarming velocity. And, in no time at all, he was outside the safety of the windmill, shouting in alarm as he darted about in the air seemingly out of control.

Eliza rushed over to the window.

‘Wait! Thomas! I didn’t tell you but the effects of the ring don’t last long! Try to get back inside, now!’

But Thomas couldn’t hear her.

Apart from the deafening rush of the wind in his ears, he was far too concerned with his new-found flying ability as he soared into the air, wheeling and swooping like a bird, pointing the ring where he wanted to go and making circles and cutting neat figures-of-eight in the sky. He made a low pass along the roof of the windmill, scaring a family of crows that took to the air cawing in protest.

After a minute or so, the ring stopped making its familiar flickering sound, and snapped its wing casings shut. Thomas started descending to the marsh below wailing with fright.

‘Oh dear,’ muttered Hillary, looking out of the window at Thomas who was falling to earth slowly, ‘Well at least he’ll have a soft landing…’ He nodded to the marsh just below. ‘I must say though, considering it’s the first time he’s used the ring, he’s managed to control it quite well hasn’t he?’

Scarlet landed on the wooden floor and raced down the stairs and out into the garden outside. Thomas had already landed and was standing up to his middle in the marsh, looking very wet and very sorry for himself. He waded over to the fence and climbed over it, making little squelching noises as he walked towards Scarlet.

‘Well, I didn’t quite mean for that to happen…’ he said.

‘You shouldn’t have pointed the ring out of the window!’ she said. ‘The ring stopped working in mid-air. Anything could have happened! You could have drowned!’

Thomas looked at himself, wringing out a soggy sleeve.

‘I did.’ he said, miserably.

 

* * * * *

Thomas sat in the armchair trying to get warm wrapped in a towel as his clothes slowly dried over the fireguard. He took a drink from a mug of hot chocolate and sat there, eyes glazed over thinking about the possibilities of the ring.

‘So what’s all this about then?’ asked Scarlet, suddenly remembering something. ‘You said something about heirs didn’t you? Heirs to what?’

‘Talistay.’ said Eliza, immediately.

‘What’s Talistay?’ asked Scarlet.

‘It doesn’t exist anymore.’ Eliza explained. ‘Talistay was a city a long, long time ago. It had a royal family. Not just any royal family mind you - they were masters of dragons. And dragons and wizards flocked there from all over the world.’

‘Just like the dragon that you’re looking after then?’ said Thomas, suddenly snapping out of his daydream.
Instantly Tobias’ ears pricked up. ‘Erm, excuse me, but did you say Dragon?’ he muttered, trying to interject.

‘Yes, exactly like that Thomas.’ said Eliza.

She sighed and sat down.

‘You see, a long time ago, there were a great many dragons in the world, much more than there are now, and they were very magical creatures that were products of nature and yet who controlled nature at the same time. Nothing has changed today. It is exactly the same you see, except now dragons are all but extinct.’

Tobias’ mind was still reeling from the display of aerial showmanship earlier, but the merest mention of dragons was enough to rouse his interest and wake his shell-shocked mind. He stared in wonder as Hillary took up the reins.

‘You see, a long time ago, many thousands of years after the last ice-age, the first dragon whose real name is unpronounceable to man, laid a thousand eggs in secret places all over the world. These eggs eventually hatched into the dragons of legend.’

‘It is a closely guarded fact that dragons only lay a single egg, which can take hundreds upon hundreds of years to hatch. Once hatched, the parent dragon flies off one last time to find somewhere out of the way of prying human eyes, to lay down and die. There is even talk of a legendary dragon graveyard somewhere.’

Tobias felt inside his coat and secretly switched on his Dictaphone.

‘Dragons? I would love to know more Hillary.’, he said, ‘Purely for research you understand.’

‘There are more to dragons than research Tobias. I will tell you all you need to know, but for now we need to go deep into the forest to meet an old friend…’

Hillary made a sign behind his back and without Tobias knowing, the Dictaphone switched itself off.

Hillary went to his desk and pulled out an old book, which he handed to Scarlet.

‘You see, there is more to the world than what you can see around you.’

Scarlet took the book. It looked like most of the pages had been ripped out.

She opened it at the bookmark and started to read the passage out aloud.

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