Chapter 52: New arrivals
20 March, 2008 – 4:11 pm
‘Where the hell are we?’
Tobias scanned the horizon, hoping to find something that would reveal a clue as to where they were, but nothing was familiar to him anymore. Everything seemed new; the calls of the birds and animals sounded different, and even the air didn’t smell the same. It unnerved him that he’d found himself in such an alien land that looked so ordinary but at the same time plainly wasn’t.
To either side of them was carved a little dirt track that looked to have been seldom used. It carried on from East to West in a higgledy-piggledy line that separated them from the tree-line of the dark forest in front of them, which sprawled as far as the eye could see. It was vast and dark and full of foreboding. In short, not very inviting.
Behind them lay the ruin of the house that they’d just emerged from. The house — or maybe cottage (becasue it was just impossible to tell) — was a complete shell, run down and ramshackle, and no doubt had been for countless years previously. The roof had long ago collapsed; its burnt timbers rotten, resigning it to the merciless ivy and nettles which were slowly taking hold.
He looked back to the cottage. He couldn’t tell where they’d emerged from; for there was no doorway or archway to tell them there had been a gateway there. It was as if they’d appeared from nowhere, out of thin air.
‘And how do we get back?’ he muttered.
‘This place looks so familiar,’ said Scarlet, whose attention was drawn to the dark wood beyond.
Thomas shook his head. ‘But it isn’t though.’
Scarlet nodded. ‘I know what you mean. It’s bizarre.’
Hillary took out the compass again and looked at it.
‘Broken.’
Scarlet pulled Hillary’s hand down to her level, so that she could see for herself. The compass was, indeed, broken; the glass had cracked awkwardly, and the needle lay loose inside the case.
‘But how?’ she asked, disappointedly.
‘When we passed over the threshold, it tried to turn itself inside-out,’ he said. ‘I think it did a pretty good job, don’t you?’
She recalled her talk with Hillary while they were aboard the flying carpet.
‘So we’re in Faerie then.’ she said. ‘It’s just that - I’m not sure how to say it - but everything here looks so, well, normal. No, that was the wrong word. I mean, just looking at the wood, I could swear that I’ve been here before.’
Hillary nodded.
Well maybe you have: in your dreams? Or maybe you encountered a part of our world that fades into this world. But you see that’s the danger,’ he said, tossing the useless compass away into a pile of dried leaves. ‘I cannot stress this enough: be careful where you tread, for things which may at first seem mundane, ‘ he said, gesturing towards the forest, ‘will turn out to be anything but. You must learn to trust your instincts more.’
Scarlet’s ears pricked up.
‘Is it dangerous here then?’ she said, clearly intrigued.
Hillar snorted. ‘Oh, very,’ he said. ‘Just try not to take things for granted anymore. Make no assumptions. Don’t promise anything. And definitely don’t make any wishes.’
Scarlet nodded.
‘Is that all?’ she asked, cheekily.
He glared at her with a look that forced her to look away.
‘Oh, there are other things child, but those should stand you in good stead,’ he said, looking around warily. ‘Oh, and try not to make any enemies — or friends for that matter. The people you meet may be demanding of certain things, but if you keep yourself to yourself, you should be fine.’
‘We’ll try to remember that, won’t we Thomas?’ she said, nudging her brother, who looked decidedly distracted.
‘What? Oh, yes. Definitely. We promise.’ he said.
Hillary took his staff, and rammed it into the ground to try to get his point across.
‘Look, I’m being deadly serious! Because if you don’t heed my advice, there’s no telling what may happen. While Faerie is a land full of magic and breathtaking beauty, it is also filled with its fair share of treachery and spite. You can rest assured that anything that could happen, will! What would you think if you were turned into something; maybe a frog, a beetle, a slug, or worse. Would you like that?’
‘Worse? What could possibly be worse than a slug?’ Scarlet asked, slightly bemused.
‘By worse,’ said Hillary, his eyes full of sparkling intensity, ‘I mean dead.’
Scarlet’s eyes opened wide. She wanted to say something, but just couldn’t get the words out.
‘Of-course, you may just get away with being cursed,’ he added.
‘Well, thank God for that then,’ said Scarlet, rolling her eyes. ‘Sounds like a close escape – just being cursed. Sounds wonderful in fact.’
‘Oh believe me, a curse can be much, much worse.’
There was a pause, before Scarlet spoke again, this time much more seriously.
‘Why are we here Hillary?’
‘This is your land. This is where your ancestors came from.’
‘Yes, I realise that now, but why have we been brought here?’
‘Firstly, a matter of survival. Because life on the other side - in England, or anywhere else for that matter - will be like living in an ice box. And secondly, magic on earth is dying,’ said Hillary, ‘and the only alternative available to us is to try to find a way of reversing the spell that the Fiery Brand has cast. That is why we have come here. No, it won’t be easy, and we’ll need to find a way to Talistay first, but I have much hope in us succeeding.’
‘Why are we going to Talistay though? Isn’t it just a city?’
Hillary nodded.
‘Yes, you are correct, but it was also the capital of a vast empire that stretched across the lands of Faerie. As such, all literature including any magical manuscripts were stored there in a vast library. Therefore, it stands to reason that whatever we’re searching for will, most likely, be there. That is if whoever has power here now hasn’t discovered them, or destroyed them. Let us hope not.’
There was silence for a few moments, before Wendle held his head up and sniffed the air a few times.
‘Don’t like the forest,’ he said. ‘It smells of death. There’s something not right about it.’
Hillary reached down and patted him on the head.
‘Don’t worry Wendle. That’ll probably be the Dire Wolves then…’ he said, with a sly wink. ‘They’re notoriously big around here. So try not to draw too much attention to it.’
Wendle snorted, and padded off sulkily.
‘You know? You have a knack of making me feel so much better.’ he said.
Hillary walked off to the far side of the dirt track. Something had caught his attention, and he needed to find out what it was.
Nearby, obscured by the branches of a tree, was a little wooden sign post, which read:
Lesser and Greater Winding
Solace
Port of Tankard
Cinnabar
He frowned and rubbed his bearded chin; there was another place name just under the other three, but it had been crudely burnt out.
