The Witch's Revenge (6 page)

Deflated, Morag looked at her friends.
Go on
, their faces urged, so she placed her hand on the metal handle. It felt ice-cold and hard. “Here goes.” She turned it and the door swung away from her. Without looking back, Morag stepped inside. “Oh my goodness!” she said. The others jostled in behind her. They were standing on a broad stone ledge over a canal in a dim cave. Moonstones in the ceiling sent shadows across the water, which glowed blue and clear. Moored to the ledge was a wooden dinghy bobbing below them.

“To the boat,” Henry ordered. “Hurry, we don't have much time.”

Morag jumped in first, followed by Bertie and Aldiss. They had to hold on as the boat rocked dangerously when Shona climbed aboard, almost tipping them out into the water.

Brrrrring!
came a noise from the stern. They all looked round to see that a green elf with webbed feet had appeared. He was munching on a huge sandwich.

“Behold!” said the elf wearily between bites. “I am the Whitewater Boatkeeper. Or the Elf of the Punt. Whichever you like. Where to?”

“Can you take us to the town gates?” Bertie asked. “We shall be most grateful,” he added when the elf frowned at him.

“And what shall be my payment, guv'nor?” the creature said, casually flicking a lettuce leaf into the water.

“How about a sandwich of your choice, O elf person!” Bertie replied.

“
Anything
I like?” the elf asked. He eyed the dodo suspiciously. Bertie nodded.

“Nice try,” the little man said. “But I don't smell bread on any of you.”

Bertie patted his magic satchel. “This bag can produce anything I ask for. Test me!”

“It'll cost you a pickled-Orlan-fish-with-Brussels-sprouts-and-marshmallow sandwich,” said the elf. He waited for the dodo's reaction.

“Consider it done!” said Bertie, triumphantly removing a steaming, gold-crusted sandwich dripping with melted marshmallows. “Now please, let's get going.”

The elf grabbed the sandwich and tucked it into his short green jacket. Without another word, he leapt onto the ledge and untied the mooring ropes. Giving the boat a nudge from the shore, he jumped back on board and took hold of the rudder. Aldiss rushed to the bow. “Charge!” he squeaked, whipping his tail excitedly.

The boat began to drift leisurely down the canal.

“I thought you said this was the
quick
way?” Morag hissed to Henry. The medallion harrumphed.

“It ought to be. Point me to him,” he ordered. Morag swiveled round in her seat and held up the medallion. “Boatkeeper, can you please increase the speed?” said Henry. “We can't waste time. We must reach the gates quickly.”

“Ah, what's the hurry?” grumbled the elf.

“A friend's life depends on it,” said Shona.

“The express service will cost you another sandwich.”

“Now, wait a minute! That's not fair,” protested Bertie.

“Ooooooh!” replied the elf theatrically. “Well, maybe I like to take things slow and maybe I'll just keep going at this speed and maybe you'll just have to deal with it. Unless your little magic bag has something else in there for me …”

Before Bertie could answer, Morag stepped in. “Didn't you hear what the dragon said? Our friend's life is in danger. Now, unless you want yours to be in danger too, you'd better step on it!”

The elf looked Morag up and down, his eyes wide with surprise. He could see she meant what she said. “Hold on tight!” he cried. He let go of the rudder and swung his legs out of the boat and into the water, then he began to paddle with all his might. The boat plowed forward, faster and faster, until the walls and the canal became a long blur of blue-gray. Seconds later they arrived, with a lurch and a huge spray of water, at another dock.

“This is the nearest port to the gate,” the elf informed them as he climbed back into the boat and gave his dripping feet a shake.

“Thank you,” said Morag, jumping off onto the stone floor. The elf gave her a quick nod. Once all of his passengers had disembarked, he swung the boat out into the water again and sailed off down into the tunnel, singing loudly between bites of his hard-earned sandwich.

“
He
was a strange little man,” Morag remarked as the elf's voice was finally swallowed up in the darkness.

“All Whitewater Elves are like that,” Bertie replied. “They're a peculiar lot. Only live for the fun of tearing down fast rivers. Can't understand what that one is doing here. I wouldn't have thought it was his sort of place.”

“He was banished,” replied Henry from Morag's neck. Before they could ask any more questions, he added, “Now can we stop jabbering and get on?”

A stairwell rose from the dock in a tight spiral, reminding Morag of stairs in a castle tower. They climbed until they came to a trapdoor in a low ceiling. Morag placed both hands against it and pushed, but it did not move. Bertie and Aldiss ran to help her and together they pushed some more.

“Let me try,” said Shona.

It was a tight squeeze, but somehow Morag, Bertie and Aldiss got out of the way to let the dragon past. She put her great green shoulder against the trapdoor and …

“Nggghhhhh!” She shoved with all her dragon-might. “Oh, this is no use! Stand back and cover your heads for this bit.”

Unsure of what she planned to do, Morag, Aldiss and Bertie jumped down a few stairs and ducked. Shona inhaled deeply, blowing a blast of fire from her mouth, the flames licking greedily at the old wood. After a few seconds of white heat, the trapdoor creaked, buckled and disintegrated, leaving behind a smoking pile of cinders.

“Told you I'd get it open.” Shona smiled as she cleared the remnants of the door and climbed into the chamber above.

One by one they clambered up and found themselves in what appeared to be the cellar of a pub. There were
large barrels of ale lined against one wall; another had shelves filled with packets of Snap Crack Cauldron-Boiled crisps and tiny bottles of Human Style soda; a third wall was propped up with wine racks and beer bottles; and the fourth was empty save for a wooden staircase leading upward. Without a word to each other, they climbed it and opened the door at the top. Morag glanced out. “I'm not sure where we are,” she said.

“Let
me
have a look,” said Aldiss. He peered out, then smiled. “We're in the Gallipot Inn at the bottom of Merlin's Walk. We're minutes from the gates. Come on.”

Before they could stop him, Aldiss threw open the door and scurried past the astonished faces of the handful of customers and an indignant barman. Sheepishly, the others followed and skipped outside into the cold winter's day before anyone could ask why they had been in the cellar. Morag pulled the door shut behind her just as the barman shouted “Hoi!” They raced down the street and round the corner, all panting hard. They soon stopped to gather their breath.

“There's the gates!” they heard Aldiss shout excitedly.

“Aldiss! Wait for us!” Bertie called as he waddled after him, face red with exertion. But the rat was already hurtling toward the gates. Shona, Bertie and Morag could do nothing but follow.

When Marnoch Mor was built, a wall was erected around the kingdom to keep the townspeople safe inside. Over this a huge dome was created by the Eye of Lornish to make Marnoch Mor invisible to the outside world. The townspeople had always felt safe inside—until now.

As Morag ran after the rat, she realized the streets were full of worried people scurrying here and there as if the end of the world had come. She was so distracted that she did not look where she was going and ran flat into a gate guard. The impact sent her flying backward onto the cobbles. She winced as she hit the ground, but the guard did not move and stood to attention.

“What are you doing here, Miss?” he said as Bertie and Aldiss helped the winded girl to her feet.

“We need to leave Marnoch Mor,” Morag replied breathlessly. “Please, will you open the gates for us?”

The guard sniffed and looked down his large nose at her. “Sorry, but I can't do that,” he said. His eyes snapped front again. “They are locked until further notice.”

“You must let us out,” Shona said before Morag could get a word in. She stood close to the guard, staring at him intently. There was only one word for her manner toward him and that was “intimidating.”

“Can't,” he replied testily.

“You can,” she said, eyes glaring. “As Marnoch Mor's Special Chief Constable, I order you to open the gates!”

“I can't!” he said again, this time a little more forcefully. He glared back at her.

“If you don't then I will!” growled the dragon. She dug her claws into the thick wood and tried to prize the gates open, but they did not move. Then, as her astonished friends watched, the angry dragon pushed the guard out of the way and punched at the multicolored buttons on the control panel. Still the gates stayed closed.

“Just a minute!” protested the angry guard. “Get away from there.”

“Look,
why
can't you open the gate?” Morag asked.

“Marnoch Mor has been shut down,” he said. “All of us are locked in. And that means no one goes in and no one goes out. That's the way it is!”

“What do you mean ‘locked in'?” snarled the dragon, turning on him. Her scaly brow was almost touching his. The guard ignored her and appealed to Morag. “Miss, please ask your dragon to remove herself. I'm just carrying out orders from higher up.”

Morag glared at Shona, and with a nod of her head indicated for her to join Bertie and Aldiss. Turning back to the guard, she said in her most reasonable voice, “Sorry about that. Now, why has Marnoch Mor been shut down?”

“If someone interferes with the Eye, the security system goes into defense mode. It locks the gates and seals the invisible dome above us to keep out any villain who is trying to get in. And keep in any villain who is trying to get out! No one can open them again except for Mr. Montgomery. The last time it happened was when the Eye of Lornish was stolen.”

“That's all very reassuring,” squawked Bertie from the side. “But the Eye of Lornish hasn't moved. Look—it's where it should be.”

Morag turned round, and there, standing above all other buildings—and still in its place on a huge spike on top of the clock tower of the Town Hall—was the bright Eye of Lornish. As she watched, its normally steady light flickered like a candle about to go out. In her short time in Marnoch
Mor, Morag had never known it to do anything but dazzle like a star. It had certainly never failed before, not even for a second. This was worrying.

“It's Montgomery …,” she whispered, remembering what Henry had told her earlier about the pair being linked.

“Eh?” asked the guard.

“Oh, nothing,” she replied. “Thanks for your help anyway.”

She turned to the others. “Bertie, how did you and Aldiss get out before?” she asked.

“Before?” The bird looked puzzled.

“When I first met you. You and Aldiss were trying to find the Eye of Lornish, but you came up through a tunnel into my basement by mistake. How did you get out of Marnoch Mor then?”

The dodo looked at the rat and they both shook their heads. “Aldiss and I took the Underground as far as possible, then tried to find our way along the old tunnels,” said Bertie. “But
someone
got confused.…”

“The Underground is the last thing to close after an emergency shutdown to let in any approaching trains,” Henry piped up.

“And Montgomery was still here to keep everything going for a while after the Eye was stolen,” added Aldiss.

“Do you think the Underground will still be running this time?” Morag asked.

“If it is, we can't have much time left before it shuts down too,” said Shona.

“Well,” said Morag, “there's only one way to find out. Let's go.”

As news of the lockdown spread, the streets of Marnoch Mor filled with witches, kelpies and all manner of strange animals. They streamed like a swarm of bees to the town square, where they hoped someone would tell them what was going on. Morag, Bertie, Aldiss and Shona were swept along on the tide of anxiety and fear.

Rumble, rumble, rumble
.

The ground began to shake and shudder. Buildings rocked and buckled, chimneys toppled and slates fell from roofs like leaves from a tree. The people screamed and ran for cover as a large jagged crack tore up the middle of the street. As the rumbling grew louder and the shaking more violent, the crack raced toward Morag, Shona, Bertie and Aldiss like a plow tearing through soil, spitting up cobblestones along its way. Barely able to stand, the horrified friends could only watch.

Then the rumbling stopped as abruptly as it had begun. The crack was halted and the earth was still. An eerie silence fell as everyone waited. Minutes passed and no one moved.

“I think it's safe,” Morag whispered to Bertie, who was standing closest to her. The dodo, wide-eyed with fear, could only nod dumbly.

“We have to get to the station before another quake hits,” Shona said abruptly, causing Aldiss to squeak in fright. “Everyone climb on my back. It'll be quicker if I carry you all there.”

“Good idea,” agreed Henry.

As Shona squatted, Morag climbed on first, followed by the dodo and the rat. The dragon heaved herself to her feet and began to walk. She allowed herself a few moments to get used to the additional weight of her friends; then, spurred on by the dread of another tremor, she began to run. Morag and the others held on for dear life.

Everywhere they went they ran into more townsfolk emerging from doorways. Initially, they seemed stunned by what had just happened, and were walking around dazed, staring at the vast chasm in the road. An oppressive sense of urgency hung in the air, an underlying panic fueled by the rising dust from fallen masonry. Nymphs and dryads began to talk and cry, dwarfs to shout and fairies to wring their hands as they all hurried to the town square. Soon unicorns, elves, witches and wizards joined them as they strode to the only place they knew they might find an answer: Marnoch Mor Town Hall.