The Ark of Dun Ruah, Book 1 (7 page)

CHAPTER 8

Kerry and Simon in the Abbey

Kerry and Simon made their way through a chain of narrow tunnels until they found themselves in the musty cellars of the Abbey. They came to a heavy wooden door that Simon pushed open. Beyond it stood a narrow staircase. They climbed the stairs to a large cellar filled with caskets of wine. At the end of the cellar stood a wide staircase that was flooded with shafts of natural light, falling from above.

‘Follow the light,' said Simon.

They crept up the long staircase, into the brightness, through a vaulted hallway that led straight to an open door. Kerry and Simon stood looking through the doorway into a magnificent dining hall adorned with dazzling chandeliers.

‘I expect this must have been the place where the monks ate their daily meals,' said Kerry, ‘and now it's been converted into a great banquet hall.'

A huge ornate fireplace stood before her on the opposite wall. There was an arched doorway on her right. Narrow windows, placed high up on the stone walls above the doorway let shafts of coloured light through their stained glass. The room was also lit by small crystal lamps, recessed in little alcoves. Two high thrones stood side by side on the left side of the room. They were very elaborately carved and gilded in glittering gold. The room was filled with dark wooden furniture and the walls hung with tapestries.

‘What a stunning room!' Kerry exclaimed. ‘It looks more like a palace than an abbey.'

They crossed the room and stood before the two large thrones.

‘These are perches for eagles,' said Simon pointing at a metal bar on each seat.

‘The largest throne must be for Red Beak. The smaller one is for his wife.'

The sound of flapping wings brought their inspection of the room to an abrupt end. A breeze blew up the dust around them. It was coming from the open doorway through which they had entered. Simon scanned the room for somewhere to hide. A small door near the fireplace caught his eye. Grabbing Kerry by the arm, he rushed over and opened the door. They slipped through it and quietly closed the door behind them.

Kerry and Simon hurried down a stone corridor towards a descending staircase. When they reached the bottom they found a little scullery and off it stood a large kitchen. Just as they were about to enter it they heard the sound of some creature shuffling around inside. There was a clatter of dishes and then the sound of voices.

‘Hurry up with the owl's lunch,' said a voice, ‘And give him plenty to eat. Red Beak has sent orders to fatten him up.'

‘It's nearly ready,' replied another voice. ‘I'll take it straight down to the dungeons, sir.'

‘Then get a move on!'

More shuffling sounds came from the kitchen and then a door slammed.

‘After him,' whispered Simon.

They darted into the kitchen and through a door at the other end. They could hear the eagle scratching the floor ahead of them with his sharp claws as he moved down the corridor. Simon and Kerry followed him to a stone stairway and descended it into a dark passage.

Now they heard sounds approaching them from behind.

‘Quick, get behind those bags,' said Simon, pulling Kerry behind some soft brown sacks stacked high on the passage floor. They crouched down behind them.

Scraping and scratching sounds echoed across the floor. Heavy and raspy breathing filled the air. Another door was slammed. Kerry felt a sweat breaking out on her forehead as the scratching sounds moved closer. Suddenly, she felt a cold rush of air above her head. She looked up and screamed.

A Giant Eagle hovered above them. He was peering down at them with searing red eyes.

‘Run,' cried Simon. He picked up a brown sack and threw it at the eagle. The bag burst as it hit the bird and smothered it in flour. The stunned eagle fell to the floor in a great cloud of white dust. There was nowhere for Kerry and Simon to go but back up the stairs. They could hear the eagle screaming behind them.

They rushed on back to the kitchen and into the corridor beyond it. In her hurry, Kerry panicked. She lost her footing on the old flagstone floor and tumbled headlong into a hanging tapestry. To her shock, it gave way. She fell through the tapestry and landed on the floor of a small, dark room. Simon followed close behind her. He pulled the tapestry back into place behind them. They retreated from the doorway into a dark corner and crouched silently in the shadows.

Then they heard the sound of a great flapping of wings along the corridor and the echoes of eagles crying out. With a powerful rush of wind they felt the surge of a great flock of eagles passing the tapestry door. Kerry and Simon waited until the sounds died down.

It was evident that the room in which they found themselves was once a monk's cell. It was small and bare with whitewashed walls and a simple flagstone floor. Above them were dark wooden beams. A single window was set high up under the ceiling, way above their heads. It let a narrow shaft of light into the room. Simon climbed up onto the only piece of furniture in the room, a tall wooden table. From here he jumped onto the window ledge. He opened the window and looked out.

‘It's just big enough for us to get through,' he said, ‘but you'll have to climb up here to the window, Kerry. We can run across those lawns and find cover under the trees beyond. Come up and see for yourself.'

Kerry tried to climb onto the table. She whimpered in pain.

‘I think I've twisted my ankle.'

‘Take my hand.'

She took Simon's hand and tried to climb up to the window ledge beside him.

‘It's no use Simon. My ankle is killing me. I can't climb up. The place is probably crawling with guards and it won't be long before they'd catch up with me out there. You'll have a better chance of making it to the trees on your own.'

‘I can't leave you here alone,' said Simon.

‘But I should be safe in here. I don't think the eagles can come into this room. The doorway looks too narrow. Remember Grinwick saying the eagles hate enclosed spaces? And I now know that Pod is somewhere down that dark passage where we saw the eagle. It must lead to the dungeons. I want to stay near him. When things quieten down, I'll go and look for him again. You go and get help.'

‘I'll have a look outside,' said Simon, ‘to see if the coast is clear. Then I'll be straight back to get you out. I'll carry you if I have to.'

‘No, Simon, I'd only slow you down,' said Kerry. ‘You've got to get help. Find some of the islanders and raise the alarm. It's our only chance.'

‘I'll be back as soon as I can,' said Simon. ‘I promise you Red Beak won't get away with what he is doing on this island. Kerry, you've got to be brave. Stay in this room and I'll be back for you as soon as it's safe. And here, take these. You will need them if you go looking for Pod.'

Simon produced a large box of matches from the depths of one of his pockets. He placed them in Kerry's hands.

‘Remember, the green ones are for fire and the white ones for light. Eagles hate fire. So if you meet one, be sure to use the matches. Hide them in your jacket.'

‘Don't be long,' said Kerry.

She watched Simon's legs disappear through the window. The cries of eagles rose in the distance. The light coming from the window faded as the skies darkened.

A sharp hissing startled Kerry. She had a horrible feeling that she wasn't alone in the room. She looked around at the bare walls. The room seemed empty. But she could feel something breathing close to her skin. She edged towards the tapestry. The hissing started again. It was louder now and seemed to be coming from the ceiling. Kerry trembled. She felt she was trapped in a room with some horrible creature. She pulled back the tapestry and limped out into the corridor. A hideous cackle broke out above her. She looked upwards and found herself staring straight into two piercing red eyes. They bored right through her insides, chilling her to the bone. Then she saw the long, protruding red beak, which curved into a mean-looking hook. She screamed in horror but then the eagle leaned his long neck forward and gave a deep and menacing sneer.

‘So you thought you could hide from me, did you? Nothing escapes Great Red Beak, King of the Eagles.'

The creature was at least four feet tall with grey and gold feathers. His breast was a paler shade of grey tinged with red flecks. Huge yellow claws curled around the ledge above the doorway. On one of his claws he wore a ring with a large dazzling sapphire. ‘You and your brother have been prowling around my palace,' snarled Red Beak. ‘Did you think you'd get away with that? Nothing, absolutely nothing, goes on in my palace without my knowing it, do you hear?'

The eagle's red eyes bored through her. Kerry retreated towards the tapestry. She looked back at the tiny room searching for a way out, but a strong eagle guard stood behind her and barred her way.

‘Don't even think about escaping. My guards have you surrounded. There's no way out for you. And that brother of yours won't get far either. My guards are after him. You are all alone on my island without a hope of escape. And tears will do you no good. I have absolutely no sympathy for emotional outbursts!'

‘You won't get away with this,' said Kerry, finding her voice in her rage against the monster that ranted before her. She could feel his cold breath on her face.

He fluffed up his feathers.

‘You try to sound brave but I can see through you. And I know you have come all this way to look for your friend, the Blue Owl. Well, he's safely locked up in an iron cage, which has been welded shut and cannot be opened. I think he's feeling a bit lonely. I want him to be happy so he'll produce a beautiful crop of feathers for me. So I'm going to put you into another iron cage beside him in the dungeons, to keep him company. As you can see, this has worked out perfectly for me as, of course, everything does.'

‘Don't be so sure,' interrupted Kerry, her angry eyes flashing at the eagle. A new fire in her heart gave her the courage to tackle him. ‘My friends know I am here on Eyrie Island. They'll come looking for me.'

Red Beak gave her an icy glare.

‘You don't know what you are dealing with, you stupid child. Guards, seize her. Take her and lock her up in the dungeons.'

By now a flock of twenty eagles had surrounded Kerry and one of them grabbed her shoulders in his long claws. Swiftly he lifted her up into the air. They flew down a long corridor and through a maze of passages. Finally, they arrived in the dungeons.

Pod let out a loud hoot when he saw Kerry. He flew at the bars of his cage trying to break free. To Kerry's relief, the Blue Owl was still in one piece. His full coat of feathers seemed to be intact.

They flung Kerry into a cage beside him. Then one of the guards produced a blow torch. He sealed the cage door shut and checked that it was secure. The flock departed the dungeon, slamming its great wooden door behind them. Kerry heard the key turn in the lock.

CHAPTER 9

Simon goes Underground

Simon climbed through the Abbey window into the bright sunshine. He stood transfixed as he gazed at the most beautiful garden he had ever seen. A wide pathway of shimmering white pebbles led to silver gates in the distance. Flowers of red and yellow lined the pathway. On either side, cascading fountains plunged into large blue ponds. The perimeter of the garden was planted with trees and shrubs, which ran up to the great walls of the Abbey.

A loud cackling sound rose from inside the Abbey behind him. He turned to see the door of the Abbey burst open. Dozens of eagles soared up into the sky. Simon knew they were looking for him. He searched for somewhere to hide. Running towards the trees, he spotted a gate in the Abbey wall and got through it. Before him, there stretched dense woodlands.

The screaming cries of flocks of eagles were getting louder. Simon looked back to see a dark cloud of eagles flying over the Abbey wall. They were making straight for him through the trees.

‘I've got to find cover,' he muttered as he searched for someplace to hide.

Simon ran for the undergrowth. He knew that the eagles had seen him and were closing in. If he was caught there would be no hope for Kerry and Pod. They would all be trapped in the Abbey and be at the mercy of Red Beak and his minions. Simon sensed that the woods behind him were thick with eagle flocks hunting him down. They were closing in fast.

‘There he is,' he heard an eagle cry. There was no escape. Desperately, he plunged deeper into the undergrowth. Then the ground gave way. He fell.

‘Wooooaaaaa …'

Down, down, down. Simon fell through a deep, dark hole in the ground. On and on he went until he realised that his body was touching the sides of a steep shaft. Careering downwards at top speed, his heart raced. The sides of the shaft were smooth and he sped onwards deep into the earth. Then he landed with a heavy thump on what felt like a soft bed of leaves. He sat for a moment in total darkness wondering if he was dead or alive. A gentle breeze cooled his face and the faint sound of trickling water stirred him to life. Simon reached inside his jacket and rooted around for one of his many boxes of matches. He fished out a long, narrow match and struck it. To his relief it flared into a bright beam of light. He looked around and gasped.

‘It's a labyrinth of caves!'

Simon stared in amazement at the glistening walls that surrounded him. He could see little waterfalls cascading down one end of the cave while the gnarled roots of old trees twisted around the other walls in interwoven patterns. The waterfalls flowed into a pond, which joined a stream and disappeared into an enormous white marbled archway leading on to other caverns beyond. Simon got to his feet and started following the stream. He went through the arch and on into a lofty chamber of sheer white marble, keeping to a narrow ledge just above the water level. Many other caves and passages branched off this one.

‘If I stay beside the stream,' Simon reasoned, ‘it will lead me towards the sea, where I can try to find help.'

The stream gradually grew wider and the ledge he trod on became narrower. He was afraid that the ledge would become too narrow to balance on and that he would have to turn away from the watercourse.

Suddenly, he came upon a boat. It was sitting on a tiny ledge that appeared just below the ledge he walked on. The boat was old, with the paint falling off but it looked intact. Simon jumped down to the lower ledge and hauled the little boat into the water, testing it for any sign of leaks. It had no oars and there were none to be found anywhere around it. But it looked dry and solid. He stepped into the boat and let it drift down the stream.

As the boat moved forward the stream broadened into a river. Other streams fed it from adjoining channels and it began to pick up speed. In the distance he became aware of a gurgling sound and a loud swishing of water. The boat moved swiftly as a current began to gather. Before he could think of a way to steer it to safety the boat was in the centre of the rushing current.

‘It's out of control,' Simon gasped. ‘I've got to hang on to this boat or I'm done for. And I'll do it if it takes every ounce of strength I've got left!'

The boat rushed on down a long, narrow tunnel and through more caves. The roar of water was almost deafening as it plunged through a huge circular cave. To his horror, Simon saw that the boat was skirting around the edge of a whirlpool.

‘Help, someone help me!' Simon shouted over the noise of the rushing water.

He was swirling around the whirlpool faster now and getting dangerously close to the centre. He knew that when he hit the eye of the whirlpool the boat would be pulled under with the strength of the current. Simon realised he was now in serious trouble. The boat was falling apart. Bits of painted wood flew everywhere.

Simon felt his legs being pulled down as the water sucked him under. He was dragged underwater with the torrential current until he felt himself being flung to the bottom of the pool. He had a terrible urge to breathe but he held on, dying for air and hoping that he would be released from the great surge of water. Just when he thought he couldn't bear it any longer, his body rose to the surface and he gasped for air.

‘Oh my God,' he roared.

He was quickly pulled down again with another rushing current. The second time he came up he sensed that the water was flowing less urgently. He kept his head above water for several breaths.

He was approaching a low archway in the tunnel. Quickly he dived underwater and when he came up he saw another arch straight ahead. He took one deep breath before ducking again. When he surfaced, he saw a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. The roar of tumbling water was deafening. He knew that there must be a huge waterfall ahead.

Again Simon felt the tug of the current as it picked up speed. Dazzling shafts of light blinded his eyes. The end of the tunnel was in sight.

The roaring waterfall grew even louder. It was unbearable. Over the edge he sailed into dazzling light going into free fall with thousands of tons of water plummeting down behind him.