Tara Duncan and the Spellbinders (16 page)

A harpy off to one side spoke to her.

“Yellow hair, white strand, watery eyes. You're the Duncan offspring, aren't you?”

Surprised, Tara nodded.

“Er, yeah.”

“I have a message for you from the Master of the Bloodgraves. Come closer.”

Tara stepped forward, while carefully keeping her distance.

“What do you want to tell me?” she asked.

The harpy looked her up and down scornfully.

“Can't you even talk properly, you spellbinder squirt, you sick traduc snot?”

Tara had no idea what a traduc was, much less a sick one, but she understood that she would have to swear back at the harpy if she wanted to communicate with her. And the swearing called for both style and rhythm.

“You moth-eaten hunk of carrion meat,” she shouted, “your breath would gag a hyena at twenty paces, and you reek worse than traduc turds!” (Hey, if it stinks, might as well use it.)

“I like your style, yellow head,” cackled the harpy. “So I'm sorry I have to do—
this
!”

With a violence that shook the whole cage, the bird-woman lunged at the cage door and popped it open.

Before Cal could react, the harpy flew at Tara, burying her under a mass of filthy feathers. The second harpy was about to escape when Fabrice reflexively kicked the cage closed, almost knocking her out. Then Sparrow welded the lock shut, yelling, “By Mixus quickly seal this cage, weld its bars against their rage.” Meanwhile, Cal rushed over to Tara.

On hearing the commotion, Masters Chanfrein and Dragosh burst into the room. The trainer fired a paralyzing Pocus, and the vampyr a deadly Destructus, but it was too late. When they lifted the dead bird-woman off Tara, they saw deep claw marks on the girl's body, oozing poison.

S
tunned by the harpy's assault, Tara didn't feel any pain until the poison reached her bloodstream. When it did, it felt like liquid fire coursing through her veins, and she screamed in agony.

First Counselor Salatar, who had witnessed the whole scene, now leaped forward. With Cal and Fabrice's help, the chimera gently eased Tara onto his back before she fainted, wrinkling his elegant cape in the process.

As the courtiers stared in amazement, Salatar nipped in the bud any possible comments about his role as a beast of burden.

“If I hear even one crack, that person will pay a little visit to the Castle dungeons. Understand?”

Deeply worried, the chimera bore Tara to the infirmary. It was actually a state-of-the-art hospital, where magic and earthly science combined to save people's lives. Shaman Night Bird struggled against the poison all night long, but despite his great talent, without success. It was slowly paralyzing the girl, and since no antidote existed, there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Interrogated by T'andilus M'angil, Cal told the grim-faced secret services chief what he had discovered. The cage holding the harpies had been sabotaged, and its lock filed through. Master Dragosh had unfortunately been too efficient. His Destructus spell had killed the bird-woman instantly, so they couldn't question her. The other harpies claimed not to know anything about the attack, and a Truth Teller brought in on an emergency basis confirmed it. Master M'angil was furious, and was interrogating every person in the Castle. The cages had been checked when they arrived, so only someone in the Castle could have sabotaged them.

By morning, tortured by a thirst that water couldn't slake, Tara began to feel she was dying. Their eyes red, Master Chem, Sparrow, Cal, and Fabrice had watched over her all night long.

As she sank deeper into unconsciousness, she suddenly heard a velvety voice that she immediately recognized. She struggled to open her eyes and was startled by what she saw. The mirror mask of Magister, the Bloodgrave master, had appeared on the white infirmary wall!

“Ah, Tara, I see you received my message,” chuckled the apparition, its mask turning blue with satisfaction.

Master Chem leaped to his feet.

“How dare you project yourself here, Bloodgrave!” he shouted, gesturing angrily at the apparition. “You'll pay for this!”

The image wavered briefly then spoke again: “Don't even try. You can't locate me. But I have a proposal for you, and I would advise you not to turn it down. Do you want this child to live? I can treat her; I have an antidote that can save her. But for her to get it, you have to give Tara to me.”

“Never!” roared the dragon wizard.

“Er, Master Chem, don't you think Tara should be the one to decide?” suggested Cal. “After all, it's her life.”

The old wizard glared at him, but Cal stood his ground.

“Tara?” asked Chem very gently. “Caliban is right. This has to be your decision.”

“I . . . I don't want to die,” she mumbled, confused and feverish.

“We don't have the antidote,” he said. “If you want to live, we have to hand you over to Magister.”

“Whatever . . . whatever you say,” she said weakly, and passed out.

“Very well, Magister, you've won,” said Chem darkly. “I won't play games with the girl's life. Tell me your conditions.”

“Having you bow to my demands will be one of my life's great joys,” he gloated. “Bring the girl to the Transfer Portal room in an hour. I will send one of my assistants to pick her up. Oh, and one more thing. Don't try to use him as a bargaining chip in exchange for the antidote. It won't work. I will abandon him without a moment's hesitation and the girl will die. Is that clear?”

“Quite clear.”

The image vanished in a peal of scornful laughter.

Chem waited cautiously until he was sure that the apparition could no longer hear or spy on them. Then he turned to the young spellbinders.

“This time, we don't have any choice,” he said calmly. “We're going to have to use forbidden magic!”

Sparrow, Cal, and the shaman turned pale.

“What's forbidden magic?” asked Fabrice.

“The magic of Limbo. We're going to need the help of a demon. It's extremely dangerous, so you should all leave now.”

“Out of the question,” countered the shaman brusquely. “She's my patient. I managed to keep her alive all night and I'm not going to abandon her now.”

“We won't leave her either,” said Cal. “Tara's our friend, and she would do the same for us. Tell us how we can help.”

The old wizard seemed about to object, but he realized that he had very little time. Besides, Tara's friends' help could be valuable. He sighed.

“Caliban, you're a good thief, aren't you?”

“Yes, I am,” he said without false modesty. “Why do you ask?”

“One of the harpies has laid an egg. It's immature, but she kept it. Do you think you could steal it from her without getting scratched?”

Cal smiled broadly.

“Do you mean can I fool those stupid, greasy things? You must be joking, Master. You'll have your egg in two minutes.” He rushed out of the infirmary.

“Perfect,” said Chem. “Now it's your turn, Sparrow. You know where my office is, don't you?”

“Yes, M-M-Master.”

“I can't leave Tara's side, so I'm going to give you a difficult mission. I want you to get me a cursed book the Bloodgraves have been after for years. It's called
The Forbidden Book
. Here's what you're going to have to do; listen carefully. First, I'll reprogram your accreditation card so my wall-door will let you in. On the upper left-hand bookcase you'll see a book called
Comparative Anatomy of OtherWorld Fauna
. Take it down and put it on my desk. Tap three times on page 3, and then ten times on page 20. Be careful not to make a mistake.”

Sparrow nodded, looking serious.

“My desk will shift aside, revealing a glass staircase,” Chem continued. “Go down it, skipping the fourth and seventh steps. At the bottom you will see two fire serpents. Crawl between them on your hands and knees. Whatever you do, don't walk between them standing up; they'll cut your head off. This passageway will bring you to
The Forbidden Book
, which is on a pedestal. Walk around the pedestal and pick up the flat stone hidden behind it. Quickly replace the book with the stone; you'll have less than a second. When you've done that, climb the stairs, this time skipping the second step from the bottom, then the fifth. In the office, pick up the anatomy book without touching its pages and put it around the forbidden book to hide its cover, and bring all this to me. Do you need me to repeat that?”

There certainly was no risk of anyone stealing Chem's forbidden book!

“No, Master, I understand,” Sparrow said firmly. She was so frightened, she had lost her stutter. “Tap three times on page 3 and ten times on page 20, skip the fourth step and then the seventh, replace the book with the stone, bring it upstairs skipping the second and fifth steps, put the anatomy book around the forbidden book, and bring them to you. Got it! I'm on my way.”

As Sparrow ran off, Chem turned to Night Bird and to Fabrice, who wasn't quite sure how he could help.

“Take Fabrice to the forest and dig up three Kalorna roots,” said Chem. “Use the boy as bait.”

“Exactly what do I have to do?” asked Fabrice a little nervously.

“Not a thing,” said the shaman with a faint smile. “Kalornas hide underground when they sense danger. But if you sit quietly without threatening them, their curiosity will bring them back up and I'll be able to capture them. Let's go.”

With a wave of his hand, Chem levitated Tara in the center of the room, floated several finely engraved goblets around her motionless body, and put burning herbs in them. Though unconscious, the girl softly moaned in pain, and each moan made the old dragon wizard tremble. He began his preparations by magically reinforcing Tara's defenses.

There was a sudden commotion outside, and Cal burst into the infirmary carrying a large gray egg.

“Hooo-boy!' he crowed gleefully. “The harpies didn't like that one bit, but I was able to get the egg. Anything else I can do for you?”

“No, thank you,” said the wizard. “This is perfect. Are you sure you want to stay, Caliban? It will be terribly dangerous, you know.”

“The question is, do you need us?”

“To be honest, yes, I do,” said Chem with a sigh. “You are Tara's friends, and I'll need you to hold her hands as tightly as you can, and not to let her go for any reason. Think you can do that?”

“I can't speak for the others,” said Cal, “but as far as I'm concerned, I won't let her go.”

The shaman, Fabrice, and Sparrow returned at the same time. The Kalorna roots were wriggling in a jar, and Sparrow had successfully retrieved
The Forbidden Book
, though her singed hair suggested that it hadn't been easy.

To Chem's question, Tara's other two friends answered the same way Cal had. They wouldn't abandon her, they said, and would stay no matter the risk.

“Very well,” said the wizard approvingly. “So let's begin. Shaman Night Bird?”

The shaman indicated that he was ready. Chem opened
The Forbidden Book
and put the Kalorna roots in the goblets around Tara. As a ring of red smoke rose around them, they all chanted together: “By
The Forbidden Book
, we seek your aid. Allow us to cross through Limbo unscathed. Guide us through the demonic sphere. Our hearts are pure, we have no fear!”

The room disappeared in a deafening thunderclap, and they all found themselves floating in a vast, empty gray plain. There was nothing to see except for a sickly purple sky, a few clouds wondering how they wound up there, and rocks that seemed to have been abandoned millions of years before. The whole scene was so depressing that the travelers felt their morale sink.

When they'd started out, Cal had been holding Tara's right hand, Fabrice her left, and Sparrow her head, but they now found themselves empty-handed. Their bodies had lost all substance—they had turned into ghosts!

“What's going on, Master Chem?” asked Cal in a voice verging on panic. “What do we do now?”

The old wizard looked annoyed.

“Drat! I assumed that our bodies would follow us, but apparently only our minds made the trip. Be very careful. Whatever happens to our minds here will also happen to our bodies back on OtherWorld. All right. According to the book, we will soon encounter the ruler of this part of Limbo. His mansion should walk by in a few minutes.”

“Hey, where am I?” asked Tara, who had suddenly woken up and couldn't understand why she was floating in empty space. “I don't hurt anymore. Did you cure me?”

“No, unfortunately,” said the old wizard. “We don't have an antidote to the poison. Our minds are in Limbo, which is why you aren't feeling any pain, but our bodies are still back in the infirmary.”

He paused and looked around.

“Aha! Here comes the Demon King's mansion now. Watch your step, everyone, and don't respond to provocations.”

Yikes! thought Sparrow. What kind of provocations?

Borne on four gigantic legs, a huge, black basalt mansion was striding toward them. As it got closer, they could tell it had been built by someone who had seen a house only once and tried to replicate it without understanding what the openings were for. The doors were up high, and the windows down low. The roof had been mounted on the side of the walls, leaving the upper floor exposed to the elements.

The old wizard nodded at the group to follow him, levitated, and without hesitation flew through the mansion walls, followed by the shaman and the four friends. Despite the grimness of the situation, Tara loved being able to fly, even though passing through the wall really did make her feel like a ghost.

Once inside, they were seized by terrible vertigo. All the colors that had been stripped from the gray plain were locked in a terrible battle with each other. On the left-hand wall and part of the floor, a brilliant yellow was trying to sneak up on the adjoining wall's vivid red. On the right-hand wall, a tough blue was launching an offensive against a fearful white, which retreated before the threat. The black ceiling extended tentative tentacles that sometimes got drawn into the other colors' skirmishes.