Vega Jane and the Maze of Monsters Page 9

  He seemed surprised by my request but nodded, reached in his pocket and pulled out another little blue ball of fire.

  ‘Climb on my shoulders,’ I said.

  He drew back. ‘I’m too heavy.’

  I hoisted him up effortlessly.

  ‘Now, when we fly you can hold on to the straps of the harness, OK?’

  ‘Up there is where we’re going?’ he said fearfully.

  I nodded and said, ‘But don’t worry, I’ve never had a crash that killed me.’

  I stepped out into the rain, slid my goggles on, kicked off, and we went in search of the one Wug I could not live without.

  13

  THE COTTAGE OF ASTREA PRINE

  The storm had grown in intensity. Even with my goggles, I was flying half-blind. Yet Seamus was holding the ball of blue fire out in front of us, and the rain and wind had no effect on it.

  ‘That way!’ roared Seamus over the fury of the storm that caused me to roll uncontrollably every half-sliver. He pointed to his left and I veered that way.

  ‘How much further?’ I yelled. From his earlier words I imagined the cottage to be far closer and yet we had been flying for quite some time. And my mind was as weary as my limbs.

  ‘Well, it’s moved, ain’t it,’ said Seamus.

  ‘That’s wonderful!’ I shrieked.

  ‘Down there!’ he suddenly shouted.

  I looked through my fogged and smeared goggles and beheld a sight that even in the Quag seemed extraordinary.

  It wasn’t a cottage. It was a dome of emerald green. And it didn’t seem solid. It was . . . well, it looked to be simply a glow, like the pulse of a huge emerald heart. But it was unmistakable and it shone clear through the utter madness of the stormy darkness. I shot downward and saw a landing path next to a small stand of ash trees. I swung my legs down and touched feet first.

  I could hear Seamus mutter, ‘Never again will me feet leave the ground, so help me, hobsey.’

  I freed Harry Two from the harness as Seamus gingerly climbed down from his perch on my shoulders. We three stood there staring at the green glow. I looked at the hob.

  ‘So, how does one get in?’

  ‘Tricky, tricky, dearie, dearie.’

  I whirled on him. ‘If you start that load-a tosh with me again, you’re going to see a hissy fit, Seamus the hob, that you will never forget!’

  His face fell and he said tersely, ‘All right, all right. Follow me.’

  We strode single file towards the glow. We stopped within a foot of it and even in the dark I could perceive the outline of a structure within.

  ‘The cottage?’ I said, glancing down at Seamus.

  He nodded and said with a heavy breath, ‘The cottage.’

  ‘What now?’ I asked.

  I watched as Seamus took a tentative step forward, but then he stopped and turned to look back at me.

  ‘Well?’ I said expectantly. ‘Budge along.’

  ‘Give me a mo’,’ he said. ‘Why are you in such a hurry anyways?’

  ‘Oh, I dunno, maybe because we’re standing in the middle of a raging storm IN THE QUAG!’

  ‘OK, OK, I sees your point.’ He took several deep breaths.

  ‘Oh, I’ll do it myself.’ I walked straight into the green glow.

  ‘Oi! Wait!’ he shouted.

  Harry Two instantly followed and we passed clean through. I turned and looked back at Seamus, who was jumping up and down and gesticulating madly. I reached back through the greenish glow, gripped his hand and pulled him through so he stood next to us inside the emerald dome.

  I let go of his hand and stared down at him. His eyes were scrunched closed and he was shivering like he’d been pitched into icy water.

  ‘Uh, Seamus?’ I began.

  He made a frantic motion for me to shush. Then, little by little, he opened his great, bulbous eyes and stared around. When he realized where he was, he exclaimed in a scolding tone, ‘Now look what you gone and done.’

  ‘You brought us here.’

  ‘But I didn’t tell you to just barge right in. Why, when I think what coulda—’

  ‘What exactly was I supposed to do?’ I interrupted sharply.

  ‘Why, wait while I got things sorted out, that’s what.’

  ‘Well, they’re sorted out. We’re inside. Now, where’s the cottage?’

  I had been looking around, but the outline of the structure I had seen from outside the green glow was no longer evident from inside it.

  He pointed to his left. ‘Let’s try over there.’

  ‘Try over there?’ I said blankly. ‘I thought you’d been here before.’

  ‘Well, I have. I mean I been to the green glow, o’course.’

  ‘Wait, are you telling me you’ve never been inside the green glow?’

  ‘G’on with ya, what cheek. Why, I ask you.’

  ‘I am asking you. How many times have you been inside the green glow?’

  He looked up and seemed to be counting off something in his head. He held up a solitary finger. ‘Well, countin’ this time, it comes to, um, one.’

  ‘One!’ I roared.

  He leaped back at my shout. ‘Well, did you give me a chance? No. You just charged on in. Coulda killed us all.’

  ‘So, when I walked through the green glow, I could have been killed?’

  ‘And on your head it would have been too.’

  ‘Oh, clear off!’ I cried out, and went in search of a cottage that may or may not contain a ‘nice’ female who might or might not eat us the sliver she laid eyes on us. Then I stopped. I had just realized something. It was not raining in here. I looked up. There was no storm. No wind. I felt like I was walking along a heated path. It made me feel . . . comforted. We kept walking and cleared a knoll. When we raced down its other side, I saw it.

  The cottage. It had a thatched roof, mortared stones for walls and an oval solid-wood door with a light shining through the small square opening at the top of it. There was a short, crazy-angled flagstone path that led to the door.

  Gathering my courage, I stepped up on to the block of old blackened stone that formed a rough porch and looked cautiously through the window in the door. Then I suddenly leaped back off the stone and stood there shivering. The door had opened, apparently all by itself.

  When I thought things could not get stranger, I heard an imperious voice.

  ‘You may enter,’ it said.

  I looked around for the source of the voice, but saw nothing. Still, the voice hadn’t sounded particularly threatening. I looked behind me once more and there was a goggle-eyed Seamus standing barely ten feet away.

  ‘It said to enter,’ I told him nervously.

  ‘W-well, then y-you b-best do what it s-says, eh?’

  ‘Are you coming?’ I demanded.

  He puffed out his chest and said in a strident voice, ‘I think I’ll keep watch out here, dearie, dearie. Don’t want nothing sneakin’ up on you, does old Seamus.’ He gave a crisp little salute.

  ‘Coward,’ I muttered under my breath, and then I let out a long, resigned sigh. Of all the hobs I could run into, I had to run into this one.

  I stepped forward into the cottage, Harry Two right next to me. As soon as we had done so, the door swung closed and I heard a lock click into place. I grabbed at the door handle and tried to open it. But even though I had Destin around my waist and my strength was greatly enhanced, the door wouldn’t budge.

  I turned back around. ‘Hello?’ I said, first in a low voice that could barely be heard even by me. Then I said more loudly, ‘Hello!’

  Nothing.

  I looked around. The furniture I saw – a table, a chair and a cupboard – was all small and low to the floor, which was wooden and looked about a thousand sessions old. There was a large clock on the wall whose hands never stopped moving. They whirled around and around the face of the clock. I drew closer and saw that the hands were actually two black snakes inexplicably hardened. Then, when I saw that the face of the clock
was actually the flattened countenance of a garm, I leaped back and nearly upset the table, on which was a plate, a cup and utensils all made from tin.

  Maybe the female here was actually evil. Maybe Seamus had tricked me. I promised myself if I got out of this cottage alive, I would strangle him.

  Gathering my nerves, I said sharply, ‘Is anyone about?’

  I nearly jumped to the ceiling when it, or she – I wasn’t exactly sure what – appeared directly in front of me.

  Harry Two barked once and then went silent.

  ‘Holy Steeples. Where the blazes did you come from?’ I panted.

  She – now I was sure it was a she – looked back at me. She was small, barely taller than Seamus, which put her at right about my belly button. She was young, maybe twenty sessions, and her black hair hung limply around her shoulders. Her face was oval and her nose, eyes and mouth all small and finely drawn. Her expression was one of mild curiosity mixed with indifference, which struck me as quite odd. I mean, how many Wugs did she have turn up in her digs with a canine in tow? She wore an emerald-coloured shawl over a long black cloak.

  She kept staring at me with that same curious yet ambivalent expression.

  ‘I’m Vega,’ I said. ‘This is my canine, Harry Two.’

  She looked first at me, then at Harry Two, and then her gaze returned to me.

  ‘I am Astrea Prine,’ she said, in the same commanding voice that had told me to enter.

  ‘Seamus the hob told me about you and your cottage. I need you to help me find my friend, Delph.’

  ‘Delph?’ she said questioningly.

  ‘His full name is Daniel Delphia but everyone calls him Delph. He’s out in this storm. There was this dark cloud and it covered us and he was gone and . . .’

  ‘Why did you venture here?’ she said sharply.

  ‘I don’t have time to explain. Delph is out in the storm and I’m worried about him. I don’t want anything to happen to him.’

  She suddenly turned and left the room, this time using her feet.

  We hurriedly followed her into the next room, which was far larger than the first and, indeed, appeared much bigger than the entire cottage had looked from the outside. In the very centre of the room was a round table.

  Astrea strode over to it with quick, short steps and then stopped. We followed. On the table were two identically sized pewter cups. And in each cup sprouted an emerald flame.

  ‘What’s that for?’ I asked curiously.

  She pointed to the cup on the left. ‘The Quag,’ she said, and then she took from her pocket what looked like sand and threw it on the flames. They instantly shot much higher. Then she tipped the cup over and the flaming liquid spread across the tabletop.

  ‘Look out!’ I exclaimed, reaching out to smother the fire with my cloak.

  A moment later, it was as though I had run into an invisible wall. I was frozen, my outstretched hands inches from the molten liquid.

  ‘There is no need, Vega,’ she said, pointing to the tabletop.

  The flames had vanished and the water had spread to engulf the tabletop, with the exception of the other cup, which the water did not touch.

  ‘This is a Seer-See,’ she said. ‘A prophetical eye.’

  Confused, I looked down at the tabletop and my breath seized in my lungs.

  It was as though a picture, a moving picture, had formed on the table. I scanned it frantically for Delph.

  ‘Amarocs,’ I said sharply. There was a herd of them in full gallop. They jumped and leaped and swerved around obstacles with a grace I could barely imagine. They would be beautiful to look at if they weren’t so murderous.

  ‘Can you see what they’re after?’ I was terrified that the something was Delph.

  She waved her hand once more and the image leaped ahead of the amarocs. It was a herd of deer. But they were all as white as snow. They were fast, but the amarocs seemed to be gaining.

  ‘The amarocs are swifter than the deer,’ I said worriedly.

  She nodded. ‘But as you can see, ’tis no matter.’

  I glanced back at the Seer-See and gasped. The deer were no longer there. In their place were little bits of light that flew into the air and then disappeared, leaving the amarocs rushing around in all directions and roaring in fury.

  ‘What happened to the deer?’ I said.

  ‘They were not deer.’

  ‘Then what were they?’

  ‘Fairies having a bit of fun at the expense of the amarocs. And more’s the better, I say.’

  ‘Can you see Delph on this thing?’ I said impatiently.

  She waved her hand over the tabletop once more.

  I caught a breath when I saw him, but then let it out slowly and with relief.

  Delph was fast asleep in the huge crook of a towering tree whose canopy was so thick that not one drop of rain could penetrate it. I could see that he had used a bit of rope to secure his perch. That way he could not turn in his sleep and tumble down.

  ‘Is he safe?’ I asked worriedly.

  In answer, she reached in her cloak pocket and drew something out. She lifted up her hand and let the things she’d drawn out fall on to the tabletop. They looked like grains of rice. They hit the water without making a splash. But I could see the ripples caused by the tiny collision of rice and water. These ripples carried over Delph and formed a circle around him. And then they hardened, becoming still and fixed in the water. It was like he was now in a cage.

  ‘He is free from harm now.’ She turned once more. ‘Please come with me, Vega Jane.’

  As I followed her, it occurred to me that I had never told her my last name was Jane.

  14

  A ROOM WITH A VIEW

  Astrea used a large iron key shaped like an arrowhead to open a door and led me into a room that was clearly a library, for every inch of wall was taken up by books in large, ornately carved cases that rose all the way to the ceiling a good fifteen feet above us. In the centre of the room were lumpy chairs and scuffed tables scattered hither and thither.

  As I gazed around, there was a distinct click. A section of the bookcases had opened, revealing a patch of darkness beyond. We entered the space, which had been completely black until we moved into it. Then the huge room was awash in light that cast the objects within into exaggerated relief.

  There were comfortable-looking overstuffed armchairs and small tables upon which rested contraptions unrecognizable to me. There was a large wooden desk cut from timber so aged that it looked petrified. Behind the desk was a leather chair with a high wooden back with gleaming nail heads visible. On the desk were papers and parchments and scrolls, stacks of books and glass inkwells and a rack of old-fashioned quills that I had once seen my grandfather use to write a letter.

  There was a small fireplace surrounded by brick, with a thin copper-edged chimneypiece upon which sat a clock that, thankfully for my nerves, had no serpents or garms on its face. In front of the empty fireplace were two equally decrepit-looking chairs with the stuffing falling out and tiny footstools in front, where one’s feet could draw closer to the warmth if there had been a fire burning.

  The next instant, Harry Two and I jumped back as the fireplace, which had been empty not only of fire but also of logs, sprang to life and roaring flames leaped forth. The room, chilly when we had entered, quickly became warm and comforting and, despite my excitement, I felt my eyes droop a bit. I suddenly realized that I was beyond exhausted.

  My eyes snapped wide open when I glanced at the floor. It was wooden, the boards worn down over the sessions from the tread of innumerable footsteps. But I was not focused on the planks. I was looking at the square of tattered rug upon it.

  More to the point, my gaze held on the images on the rug.

  ‘What are those creatures?’ I asked breathlessly.

  Harry Two went to stand on the rug, and I watched as he reached out a tentative paw and touched one of the figures woven into its surface.

  Astrea pointed to the
one on the left. ‘That’s a unicorn. Its horn, of course, can cure all known poisons.’

  I had never heard of such a creature. ‘And the other?’ I asked, looking at it. Though undoubtedly aged, the colours of the rug’s images were extraordinarily bright, more vibrant than anything I’d ever created at Stacks.

  ‘A firebird,’ she said casually. ‘So named because of its exceptionally brilliant plumage. The feathers of the actual bird can be used to light the way and also for warmth against the cold.’

  ‘Wait a mo’, I’ve seen one,’ I said. ‘It chased me into a cave.’

  ‘Indeed? ’Tis not usually dangerous.’

  ‘Are you sure Delph is safe?’ I blurted out.

  ‘He is safe. You care much for your friend?’

  ‘I care everything for him.’

  ‘It is a dangerous thing to place so much of one’s self in another.’

  I ignored this and, summoning up courage, I said, ‘How did you know my surname was Jane?’

  Instead of answering, she seized my hand with surprising strength and exclaimed, ‘That mark? How did you come by it?’

  I looked down at the inked three hooks, which I had drawn there.

  I jerked my hand free from her grip. I had just endured imprisonment from Thorne. I was not going to make the same mistake with her. Until I knew she was a friend, she would be considered a potential enemy.

  ‘It’s the same mark as on this ring.’ I took it from my cloak pocket and showed it to her. ‘It belonged to my grandfather,’ I added warily.

  ‘So, he had this ring? You’re absolutely certain?’

  ‘Yes.’ I wasn’t about to tell her that it could make me invisible.

  She studied the ring for a few more moments before pointing at my hand. ‘That’s only ink.’

  ‘I know, because I inked it,’ I replied promptly. ‘My grandfather had the same mark on the back of his hand, though it wasn’t simply inked.’

  She waved her hand over mine and the mark vanished. I stared down at my clean skin and then back up at her. ‘Do you know what it means?’ I asked.

  ‘No.’