Maze Running and other Magical Missions (17 page)

The minotaur stood over the centaur, prodding him with dirty toes.

Yann’s breath was coming in shallow irregular bursts. Helen wondered if either of his hearts had stopped when they were punched. But he was still conscious. His head turned towards the Master, then towards his friends.

The Master put a foot on his flank. “Surrender, horse-boy.”

“Not yet,” Yann whispered. “Both my hearts are still beating and I’m not giving in.”

The Master lowered his horned head, aiming one point at Yann’s human torso and the other at his horse chest. “I wonder if I could pierce both your hearts at the same time?”

Yann’s breath was coming easier and he tried to roll over. But he was pinned down by the Master’s foot.

Helen muttered, “This is my fault, I distracted him.” She took a step forward, wondering if she could reach the picture to turn it over herself.

But Lee held her back. “Wait. Have faith in him.”

Yann looked up at the Master and spoke clearly, “At least I have hearts to pierce. At least I have friends 
who would miss me. At least I don’t have to pay uruisks to protect me, and I don’t have followers who are waiting eagerly for me to fail…”

The Master glanced at the fauns. And the moment the minotaur’s attention shifted, the centaur rolled to the right, got his long strong legs under him and pushed up, knocking the Master off balance.

Yann leapt to his hooves.

He took one step over to the deer painting and very gently, with his human hand, pushed the top corner of the frame.

The picture swivelled, the deer swung out of view and the mirror swung into the heart of the maze. Before the picture frame stopped moving, Yann cantered behind the minotaur and grabbed him.

They struggled and scrabbled on the black and white tiles, Yann’s pale arms round the minotaur’s wide chest, the Master bellowing and jabbing back with his elbows.

The centaur shouted, “I can’t hold him!”

Lavender yelled, “Yes you can. You have the healing power of Scotland in your veins!”

“So does he!” gasped Yann.

“But you were healed at sunset on the spring equinox. You have the strongest power, Yann. He only has a shadow of it. You
can
do it.”

As they watched the two wrestle in the middle of the maze, Helen muttered, “Is that true?”

Lavender whispered back, “If it gives Yann confidence and weakens the Master, it becomes true.”

The centaur’s hooves smashed tiles as they fought, 
and the minotaur’s bare feet bled on the sharp corners. Yann’s arms held tight, the minotaur’s breathing faltered and Yann slowly forced the minotaur round to face the mirror.

The Master shut his eyes and whimpered, “No! Don’t make me look!”

Yann adjusted his grip and shifted one hand up to the bull’s face.

Helen looked at the mirror. The weight of the glass was pulling it forwards. “Hurry up, Yann!”

Yann yelled, “Which eye?”

Helen called back, “His left!”

Yann used his fingers to push the Master’s left eyelid up, then Yann held the Master’s squirming head still and forced him to look at the mirror.

The Master stared at his reflection. He stopped struggling and just stared. Then he laughed. “I never knew that!”

Helen could see the mirror tipping very slowly, the nails slipping out of the picture frame.

The Master stopped laughing and tried to back away. Yann dug his hooves in. The Master said, “I never … That’s not…”

Then he moaned, “That can’t be true!”

He started struggling again, trying to close his eye, trying to get away from the mirror, trying to get away from Yann. The minotaur was whining, “No, that’s not me,” and clawing at Yann’s hands, clawing at his own eye.

But Yann held firm.

The Master screamed. “NO! That can’t be me…” 

The mirror fell, and shattered on the ground.

Yann let go of the Master.

And the Master fell onto spikes of glass and tile.

Suddenly, there was complete silence in the maze.

The minotaur lay unconscious in the middle of the floor. Yann stood, both hands pressing against his human chest.

The Three tucked the wool, needles and thread away in their cloaks.

The fauns moved forward.

Helen saw Lee lift his sword and Sylvie flicker into a wolf.

But Frass knelt on his hairy knees beside the Master. Then he nodded to four younger, beardless fauns, who grabbed the Master’s arms and dragged him across the floor, through the broken glass.

Frass looked up at Yann. “He failed the Maze. He is no longer the Master. Those of us who run the Maze will elect a new Master and train him better, so he doesn’t put his faith in such complex plans and doesn’t underestimate his opponents.”

Lavender called out, “How long does it take to elect and train a new Master?”

Frass smiled. “About ten years.”

Helen felt the group around her sigh with relief.

The fauns pushed the scarred tabletop aside and jumped through the hole, bumping the unconscious minotaur along with them. Once the last of the fauns had leapt through and the table had swung shut, the Three stood up.

“Well done, dear boy.” They laughed. “Dear boy! 
… What an amusing end … to a fascinating duel … Congratulations, son of Petros … Your healing will hold … and your hearts will be strong.”

They smiled at Yann, then at his friends, from the depths of their hoods. “It was a pleasure … to work with you all … We will see you again … to heal your wounds, or even better … the wounds you inflict on others.” They pulled their cloaks around them and left by the Turkish rug.

Helen crunched over bloody glass to Yann.

“Thank you,” he said quietly. “That was a very good idea. Though you could just have said, open the wardrobe door, rather than kick it open. And you could just have said, look at the back of the picture.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t want the Master to know what we were doing.”

“I didn’t know what we were doing either, which made it a little difficult.” He winced and held his hands to his chest again.

Sylvie howled and Lee said, “I agree. Let’s get out of here. The wolf isn’t the only one who’d be happier in the fresh air.”

Yann nodded. “We’ve left Sapphire out there with all the uruisks, so let’s go and give her a hand.”

They wound their way out of the maze, turning left and left and left again, until they found the splintered front door.

Helen followed her friends into the clean dark Borders night, and they saw Sapphire, sitting in the moonlight all on her own. She roared. Yann laughed, then turned to Helen. “She built a bonfire of the 
uruisks’ weapons, so when they woke up with no shields or axes, and saw her crouching over them blowing little flames, they ran off!”

Then he coughed and bent over in pain.

“What’s wrong?” Helen asked. “Is it those cuts?”

“The cuts look bad and they feel bad too, but I think several of my ribs are broken and they feel much worse. I need some of your first aid, Helen.”

She dropped her rucksack on the grass. “I have nothing left. I dumped or used or broke everything to get us into the maze and through the maze, and to fix that mirror to the picture. Anyway, you don’t need first aid. You need proper medical treatment. And not from the Three this time. So let’s head back to Clovenshaws, and get an expert to look at you.”

Yann said, “Back to Clovenshaws? Are you inviting me to your
house
?”

“Yes, I am. If you can trust me, you can trust my family. Come on everyone, let’s go and have supper at mine.”

The centaur said, “But we could go to Cauldhame Moor, to my herd’s healers.”

“We could,” said Helen, “but I’d like to stop lying to my family, and I think showing is probably easier than telling with fabled beasts, don’t you?”

Yann laughed. “But isn’t that a bit … risky?”

“We’ve been taking risks all weekend. Let’s take one more.”

So they all clambered onto the dragon, Sylvie growling unhappily even in her human form, but everyone else murmuring in surprised excitement. 

As they flew, Helen could hear Rona and Tangaroa in front of her, chatting about swimming to St Kilda together on a hunting trip.

Then Lee leant forward and whispered in Helen’s ear, “Now that Yann is healed…”

“He isn’t healed,” Helen interrupted, “he’s just collected lots of new injuries.”

“But those injuries aren’t magical, so we don’t have to hunt for more scabbards or footprints. Now that our quests are over, will you consider playing for my people?”

Helen shivered. “I’m not ready.”

“Yes, you are. You’re the greatest fiddler I’ve ever heard.”

“But I haven’t learnt everything I can. I want to go to music school, to study with the best teachers, to learn everything this world can teach me.”

Lee sighed. “How long will that take?”

“Ten years. Maybe more. By then I hope I’ll be able to prove that music is so valued in this world that I don’t need to come to your world for my music to be worthwhile.”

“Do you really hope that, Helen?”

Helen smiled into the dark. “Neither of us needs truth to open a door right now, so you’ll have to wait to find out.”

The dragon landed in her usual spot and everyone peered through the trees at the bright windows of Helen’s house.

Sylvie snapped, “This is stupid.”

“No, it’s not,” said Rona, as they all slid down the 
dragon. “I’ve met her parents plenty of times in my human form and they’re very nice.”

Lavender added, “And her little sister is really sweet.”

“How do
you
know?” Helen asked.

Lavender giggled. “I chat to Nicola sometimes when I’m waiting for you to get home from school. She’s just as good at keeping secrets as you are.”

“So it seems!”

Lavender smiled. “And she’s far more interested in building little rooms and making tiny hats.”

Helen led everyone down the hill, then over the wooden fence. Yann jumped, stumbling as he landed.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he said, gasping with pain.

“Yes. It’s what we should have done months ago. My mum might be a scientist who doesn’t believe in magic and myths, but you’re all real, and she won’t deny the evidence of her own eyes.”

She led Yann to the back door and knocked.

Her mum flung the door open. “Helen! I’ve been so worried!”

“Sorry I’m late, Mum. But I need your help, because my friend is injured.”

Helen moved out of the way to let her mum see Yann, standing on the doorstep with blood on his chest, clutching his ribcage.

The light from the kitchen also lit Tangaroa’s blue skin, Lee’s polished swords, Sylvie’s suspicious face, Rona’s sealskin bag, Catesby’s orange feathers, and, landing on Helen’s hand, Lavender’s purple feathers. 

And nosing between them all, Sapphire’s scaly snout.

Helen’s mum looked at them, then rubbed her eyes and looked again.

She stepped forward and examined Yann more closely. “An interesting combination of injuries, to go with your interesting combination of limbs.” She glanced at Helen. “This explains a lot. I was starting to doubt the birdwatching excuses. You can give me the details later, but first we need to treat these injuries.”

She spoke to Yann. “So, young man. What happened to you?”

“I fought a duel with a minotaur, and your daughter’s quick thinking saved my life. But I think I have some broken ribs, in both ribcages. Helen thought you were the best person to help.”

Helen’s mum nodded. “Let’s get you inside and see.”

Yann took a step towards the house.

“Oh no. You’ll all be welcome in the kitchen later, but this much blood needs to go into the surgery.” She pointed to her left and they all walked towards the large animal surgery, where Helen had first treated Yann.

They crowded in, though Sapphire could only get her head and neck through the door. They watched Helen’s mum clean the wounds and feel gently along Yann’s ribs.

Helen watched her two worlds fit together at last. She felt her shoulders relax and her breathing slow.

Then she heard Catesby squawk above her. She heard the phoenix say, “Hey, Yann, do you think you 
can count the one where the mirror cut you as a battle scar? Or is that more of a girly hairdressing injury?”

Helen started to smile. Then Sapphire roared gently beside her.

Her mum turned round. “Helen, did the dragon say something?”

Helen grinned as she translated, “Yes. She’s very impressed with how you’re treating Yann, so she wonders if you could look at her tail. Because she thinks I made a mess of it.”

Yann shook his head, as Helen’s mum strapped up his ribs. “Even if you did make a mess of it, Helen, I’m sure it’ll grow back perfectly, because everything else you’ve made a mess of this weekend has turned out fine…”

Catesby agreed. “Even asking a centaur to kick open a door with his hoof, which was pretty daft.”

Sapphire growled, “Even promising to feed our friends to my granny, which was very awkward for me.”

Helen laughed. “This should make it easier to discuss our next quest!”

She leant back against the dragon’s neck and heard her rumble, “Hello, my soft-bodied little friend. Nice to meet you properly, Helen.”

“And you, Sapphire. It’s nice to meet you too.”