Keeper of the Realms: Crow's Revenge (Book 1) (45 page)

The two shared another hug then hastened after Kelko and Jensen.

64

A Break Well Earned

Reaching the bottom of the staircase, they walked along the hallway, beneath the fearsome portcullis and out on to the drawbridge. Fireworks still whizzed and boomed overhead and in the distance Charlie could make out Sylvarisians partying wildly across the bridges and boulevards. She could hear joyful laughter and drunken, good-natured shouts. Obviously the Three Winds Festival was still in full swing.

‘Wot time is it?’ asked Jensen as he finally broke free from his terror-induced trance. Extended free-fall and repetitive screaming due to vertigo hadn’t agreed with him, but now that his feet were firmly back on familiar territory the jaunty, wise-cracking Treman was beginning to revert to his old self.

‘It must be about, wot, eleven? Say half past eleven,’ said Kelko as he stared thoughtfully at the angle of the moon and the stars.

‘Really?’ said Jensen. Perking up, he looked around with renewed interest. ‘That means there must be hours and hours left of the festival.’

‘I like the way ya think, me good friend!’ chuckled Kelko, giving Jensen a knowing look.

‘What?’ asked Nibbler. ‘What’s he thinking?’

‘Well, me fine young Winged One,’ said Kelko with a cheerful smile. ‘Wot Jensen is suggesting in his round-about way is that we go and have us a party! Paaaaaaarty!’

Kelko startled Charlie and Nibbler by breaking into an outrageous dance. Waving his hands in the air, he pulled the silliest of smiles and let his fat stomach jiggle from side to side to help keep the beat of his bouncing, rhythmic feet. Sic Boy ignored all the tomfoolery and turned his attention to scratching the sweet spot just behind his big ears.

‘Paaarrty!’ shouted Kelko, and waved to an enthusiastic group of Sylvarisians frolicking on a nearby bridge. With a good-natured roaring laugh, they all waved back. Kelko grinned and turned to the Hatchling.

‘So, wotcha say, me flying mischief-maker, wanna go party?’

‘Yeah! That’s a wild idea! Paaaaaaarty!’ hollered Nibbler, copying Kelko’s shout. ‘What do you say, Charlie? Oh, come on, let’s go out and party for a bit!’

Charlie thought about all that had befallen her since she had arrived in Bellania. All the hardship, the sorrow, the pain, the humiliation and not forgetting the tragic loss of her good friends Stotch and Azariah. It had been a long, painful and sometimes bloody uphill trek to get to where she now stood. But she had the bishop’s message, did she not? She could take the next step towards defeating Bane and any move in that direction would bring her that much closer to freeing her parents. Things were on the up and up, so surely she could afford to relax for a little bit? A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, the twinkle in her
eyes began to glitter and then, before she could help it, her face creased into a cheeky, impish grin.

‘Yeah, why not? What was that saying, Kelko? How did it go again?’

‘Er, let’s see now … methinks it went something like dis: “Paaaaaaarty!”’

‘Whoop-whoop!’ shouted Charlie, and waved her hands in the air. ‘Paaaaaaarty!’

‘Paaaaaaarty!’ shouted Nibbler. Standing on his back two paws, he blew massive jets of flame into the night sky.

‘Paaaaaaarty!’ hollered Jensen, finally letting Kelko’s party spirit get the better of him.

With big grins on their faces, they all turned to see what Sic Boy would do.

The large, brutal-looking dog stared back at them as though they were all a bunch of fools. He firmly turned his back on the lot of them.

‘Spoilsport,’ snorted Kelko.

‘So where do we start?’ asked Charlie, a look of wonder in her eyes. ‘Where’s the best place to go to enjoy the Three Winds Festival?’

‘I know just the street ta start on!’ Kelko laughed with childish delight. Reaching down, he slapped his stomach with wild enthusiasm. ‘It has the best Calice-Goldenberry Cakes and they give a discount on Threebird and Lazzery Pies if ya buy five of ’em at once!’

‘Bless me Leaf, Kelko! I’ve known ya since we were both little boys. Do ya think ya could maybe make it through one day without thinking about yer stomach?’

‘Hey, when ya’ve got something dis big walking around
with ya all day ya’ve got no choice but ta give it a lotta thought.’ Kelko grinned, grabbing great handfuls of his stomach.

Charlie smiled as her friends carried on with their good-natured joking. Shielding her eyes from a particularly bright display of fireworks, she gazed across to one of the nearby bridges. She could see jugglers walking on stilts, acrobats somersaulting through rings, fire-eaters spitting out great gusts of coloured flames, contortionists doing eye-watering tricks and strongmen bending lengths of steel into rude shapes. She could smell the delicious scents of lemon-roasted meat, vanilla, wild cherry, candyfloss and the strange aroma of aniseed intertwined with the bright smell of freshly cut grass. And rising above all the haphazard whoops, bangs and crackles of fireworks, she could hear the unusual dolphin-like whistle and hoot of the western winds joyfully rushing through the Whispering Heights. Summer had finally come and Charlie couldn’t wait to join all the partygoers and take part in the wild celebrations.

In the morning Charlie would have to resume the burdens of being a Keeper but for now … it was time to party.

65

The Next Step

The silence of the stony plain was broken by the harsh sound of broken glass. Cursing and whimpering in pain, Mr Crow stepped down on to the rocky floor. Holding his hand up to the light, he was shocked to discover that he could see through his flesh. He could see the horizon through the palm of his hand and, looking down, he could see the craggy and dust-strewn ground through his feet. He had become shadowy, almost transparent, like a ghost. Mr Crow held back a sob of fear as he realized that he was no longer complete, no longer ‘real’.

Whimpering with terror, he bent down to grasp a rock. He half expected his hand to pass through the stone, but to his surprise he managed to pick it up. A puzzled look flashed across his face: what did this mean? Was he still alive? Did he still possess his amazing strength? There was only one way to find out. Clenching his hand into a fist, he attempted to crush the rock. He tensed his muscles and focused everything he had on the stone.

CRACK!

With a tooth-rattling crunch, the rock burst apart in a cloud of dust. Shards of stone stuck to his clothes and the
rest fell with a tinkle around his feet. Mr Crow let loose a long, juddering sigh of relief. Shadowy and indistinct he might be, but he was still alive, still strong and powerful, and not the ghost that he’d feared he had become. He grinned and with a slight twitter and shake of his head he stared up into the sky.

He still had purpose.

Charlie Keeper hadn’t heard the last of him, not by a long shot.

‘Oh no, my filly,’ he whispered, ‘you don’t get off the hook that easily! I shall punish you for all the wrong that you have done. You and yours shall pay, my filly. You and your friends shall pay with blood and life and pain.’

Crouching down, he tensed his skinny thighs and sprang, leaping up into the air. With a wild caw, he burst apart into a shrieking pack of crows. Smaller than before, it was still a terrifying sight to behold. Fluttering their wings, the birds flew westward.

‘Are ya quite sure yer up ta dis?’ asked Lady Dridif.

Charlie resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. She’d already said yes a hundred times, but the old Treman lady seemed determined to mother her.

‘Yes, Lady Dridif, I’m sure. Don’t worry. I won’t be gone for long. Like you said, all I have to do is open the Portal, show Mr Darkmount the pendant, listen to his advice and then come back. Simple.’

The First Speaker looked pensive. ‘Young Keeper, surely
ya should know after all yer experience that nothing is ever simple, especially in Bellania.’

‘I know that, but what can really go wrong? Nibbler will be with me, as will Jensen and Kelko, and I’ll have all those guards that you promised to send with me. So even if there is trouble, we’ll be ready for it.’

Dridif sighed. ‘Charlie, yer confidence is a great thing ta see, but nevertheless I wish that ya would display a little more caution.’

‘I promise to be careful.’

‘I know, Charlie, I know,’ said Dridif, rubbing wearily at her forehead. ‘Are ya sure that ya don’t want me ta go over dis one more time? Ya feel confident about opening a Portal all the way ta Alavis?’

‘Yes.’

‘And I must warn ya that opening a Portal over such a long distance will be a great strain. It will greatly wear ya out.’

‘I know, Dridif, you’ve already told me about twenty times!’

‘I’m sorry. I do not mean ta nag, but I feel terrible sending ya all the way out there on yer own.’

‘I’m not on my own! Look at everyone else that’s coming. Besides, I’m the only one in Sylvaris at the moment that can open a Portal and we both know it needs to be done if we are going to defeat Bane, right?’

Dridif’s large, wise brown eyes stared into Charlie’s. ‘Just be careful.’

‘I will.’

Dridif nodded. ‘OK, then.’ Standing up, she led Charlie from her study and together the two of them went to meet the others.

‘Are you sure that this is such a good idea?’ rumbled Stones.

‘What other choice do we have?’ rasped Stix. ‘This is the only way we can be sure of claiming our revenge.’

Stones was silent for a while. He stared moodily off into the distance while his fingers absently stroked at the tattered remains of his mother’s dress. Finally he laid the shred of cloth on the ground before standing up. ‘Very well, then, let’s do this.’

Stix’s yellow eyes blazed with a terrible anger. ‘Yes, let us do this. For Mother.’

‘For Mother,’ repeated Stones as the light in his eyes blossomed just like his brother’s.

The two of them turned their backs on Deepforest. With a fearsome rage flickering between them like a small thundercloud, they began to march towards the Western Mountains to offer their services to Bane, the Stoman Lord.

66

The Portal

The room that Dridif led them to was near the very top of the Jade Tower. Although the wide, circular space was magnificent, with hundreds of roaring dragons carved across every available surface, it was also very dusty and clearly hadn’t been used in some time. The Treman guards who were to accompany Charlie to Alavis illuminated the windowless room with flaming torches that they then slotted into holders around the walls.