Alfie Bloom and the Talisman Thief (21 page)

Ashford's Question

An angry shout brought Alfie back to reality. “Release me!” a woman was screaming. He sat up to see Artan wrapped tightly around the Queen, who was trying to hop towards the portal in the oak tree.

“This one hitched a ride on the way down,” Artan grinned. “Want me to throw her in the lake?”

“What, and pollute it?” shouted Robin, who had run out of the castle doors followed by Amy and Ashford. “Why don't you find a nice hot volcano instead?”

“Happy to oblige,” said Artan, rising into the air.

“No you don't!” said Alfie, grabbing one of the
bear's
paws and pulling him back to earth. “Just set her down over there until we can figure out what to do.”

“I can't believe you got out of that, mate,” said Amy, looking up at the ruins of the eastern tower. “I thought you'd be… Well you could have been…” She gave up trying to form a sentence and flopped down on to the grass between Alfie and Madeleine, wrapping her arms around their shoulders. Even Robin and Ashford hurried over to join in the group hug. Artan looked very disappointed to be left out so they all ruffled his fur and scratched him under the chin, ignoring the bedraggled Queen in his grasp.

“I don't understand what happened,” said Alfie, finally escaping the scrum and pulling his empty talisman from his pocket. “Why didn't the lens work?”

“Because it wasn't your talisman he gave them,” said Madeleine. Alfie stared at her in confusion.

“She's right,” said Ashford, dropping something into Alfie's hand. Another talisman. “This one is yours.” Alfie turned it over, comparing it to the other talisman. Apart from the missing lens they were exactly the same, even down to a tiny scratch on the back.

“
You asked Orin to make a fake?” he asked Ashford as it dawned on him at last.

“I figured it out!” interrupted Madeleine, practically bouncing on her knees. “Ashford wouldn't wake up, so I had a brilliant idea! I got a pencil and rubbed it over the page under the one he had written on in the notebook. It revealed what he'd written. He asked Orin to replace the crystal lens in the talisman with coloured glass, and to hide it under the inkwell pot set into the desk in the study. And I found it. I knew it was safe to give it to them, because the lens wasn't real. Orin left the original lens in here with it!” Madeleine pulled the little velvet pouch that Alfie had taken to Orin from her pocket and shook it.

“Go, Madds!” said Amy, giving her a high five.

Alfie scratched his head as he stared at the two talismans in his hand. “I still don't understand. Why was there another talisman, and why did the lens need replacing? Wasn't the whole thing a fake in the first place?”

“No. It's just as real as yours.” Everyone looked at Ashford as he took the empty talisman from Alfie and the lens from the pouch Madeleine was holding and fixed the two back together. “This one is mine.” He fastened the repaired talisman around his neck.

Alfie
was confused. “How can it be? Emily told me mine is one of a kind.”

“And she was speaking the truth,” said Ashford.

Alfie continued to stare at him blankly. Was the butler still delirious?

“So you're telling us you're both wearing the same talisman?” said Robin slowly as he tried to work out the riddle. “And we know that you can timeslip—”

“And Caspian told us you're a thief,” interrupted Madeleine, jumping to her own conclusion. “So you slipped into the future and stole it from Alfie?”

“
Was
a thief,” said Ashford. “And no, I didn't steal it. I can't timeslip into the future, only the past, the late 1400s to be precise. Eighty-one years after the date my great-grandfather was born.”

“If your great-grandfather was born in the 1400s, then you
must
have travelled into the future,” said Robin. “How else could you be here?”

Amy felt the butler's forehead. “You're not making sense, Ash,” she said. “Why don't you have a rest while we call Caspian.”

“Caspian will be on his way. You can be sure of that,” said Ashford, watching Alfie carefully. A spark of comprehension was flickering in Alfie's brain, shining a light on all of the
unanswered
questions about Ashford.

“It's me, isn't it?” he said quietly. “Your great-grandfather … is me. Your talisman is mine, only a later version. You inherited it from me?”

Ashford beamed at him. “Along with a few other gifts. I was the only one of your descendants to inherit the timeslip ability. Just as you can travel back nearly six hundred years to the lifetime you would have lived in the 1400s, I can travel that same distance back from my own birth, eighty-one years after yours.”

“You're … from the future?” gaped Robin.

If Alfie wasn't already sitting down he would have fallen over.

Ashford nodded. “I am able to live here in this time period because Muninn and Bone have their own ways of manipulating time and sent me here to protect you.” He looked down. “I haven't exactly done a great job of that so far.”

“Hey, we're here, aren't we?” said Alfie. “And the elves would still be here if you hadn't had that idea about the talisman.”

Amy, Robin and Madeleine were looking from Alfie to Ashford as though they had just found out the two of them were aliens.

“When was the last time you went back home –
back
into the future?” Robin burst out. “Could you take us with you?”

Ashford was silent for a moment. “I can never go back. Mr Muninn made sure of that when he played with the threads of time to keep me here. It's part of my punishment, or so they thought.”

Alfie hoped he'd never have to meet Mr Muninn. By the sound of him, he made even Caspian seem friendly by comparison.

Ashford twisted the talisman around his neck. “At first I thought it was an insult to be sent here to work for you, but I see now that it is the greatest thing that could have happened to me. I am proud to be of your family line, Alfie Bloom.”

“All the amazing things you do around the castle – that's all with the magic you inherited?” asked Alfie. “The magic Orin hid inside me?”

“The magic was greatly watered down through the generations,” said Ashford. “It is stronger in me than any of your other descendants, but it isn't close to what you hold.” He shook his head. “I don't know how you do it – how you keep it from consuming you. I ignored the warnings you gave me when I was a child. I gave it far too much freedom and ended up serving out my punishment under Caspian's thumb.”

“
No,” said Alfie. “You ended up at home. With family.” He clasped Ashford's hand in what he felt was a manly shake.

The moment was broken by loud cawing as Caspian's ravens returned to the walls of Hexbridge Castle. The largest swooped straight down towards them, growing larger and changing in form until it was a man clothed in black.

Caspian Bone.

The solicitor's clawed feet turned to polished black shoes as they hit the ground mid stride. His huge wings folded and transformed into arms as he walked towards Alfie.

Caspian's head twitched quickly from side to side as his obsidian eyes took in the imprisoned elven Queen, the trees that had torn the castle entrance apart, and the ruins of the tower.

“You are unharmed?” he asked curtly.

“We're fine,” said Alfie. “They tried to—”

“The crown?” said Caspian.

“Destroyed,” replied Ashford, standing firm as Caspian marched over to stand toe to toe with him.

“You did not keep to the terms of our agreement,” said the solicitor. “Not only did you travel beyond this village, you opened a portal to
another
realm and led
an army
straight to the child. You failed in your duty to protect him.”

“That's unfair,” said Alfie, stung at being called a child. He pointed at the Queen who was sitting quiet and still in the presence of Caspian. “If it wasn't for Ashford, Hexbridge would be in
her
realm and
we'd
all be slaves.”

“If it wasn't for Ashford, Hexbridge wouldn't have needed saving,” said Caspian without taking his eyes off the butler. “Your parole is over. You will return to our offices and we will discuss your punishment with Mr Muninn.”

“He's not going anywhere,” said Alfie. He wanted Ashford to say something, to fight back against Caspian, but he just stood there in silence.

“He feels guilty,” whispered Robin. “He wants to be punished.”

“Hey, look up there!” said Madeleine suddenly.

A strange black shape broke through the silvery moonlit clouds and hurtled down towards them. There was a loud whinny as the Muninn and Bone coach thundered down out of the sky to land beyond the castle walls. They heard twelve pairs of hooves hit the hillside one by one as six horses slowed to a canter.

“I knew it,” shouted Amy, punching the air. “I
totally
knew that thing could fly!”

“Quick, lower the drawbridge,” said Madeleine, hopping from foot to foot. Alfie pulled out his key ring and pressed the remote control tag. The portcullis rattled upwards and the drawbridge clanked down to bridge the moat just in time for the steaming horses to clop across into the courtyard. Johannes, the driver, tipped his hat to Alfie as the coach rolled to a stop. The doors flew open and Alfie's dad, Granny, Aunt Grace and Uncle Herb leapt out and raced towards them.

No one could hold a conversation for several minutes with all the hugging and tears and a hundred questions all at once.

“Two days!” Aunt Grace kept crying. “Two days of not knowing what was happening in here.”

“We couldn't break through the mist,” said Alfie's dad, holding him tight around the shoulders. “We tried, but we kept forgetting what we were trying to do.”

“And we couldn't get help,” added Uncle Herb. “All the folks down in the village seemed to have forgotten there was ever a castle here. We were starting to find it difficult to remember too, but your dad finally managed to contact Caspian.”

“I must have tied notes to the legs of ten
different
ravens,” said Alfie's dad. “One of them must have got the message to Caspian and he sent the coach for us. We've been at Muninn and Bone's offices since morning, waiting for the mist to fade.”

“All of them brought your message, Mr Bloom,” sighed Caspian. “Not that we needed it. They were most aggrieved at having notes tied to them like common homing pigeons. Simply telling them would have been enough.”

Aunt Grace began to fuss over everyone again, but a strange silence fell as someone else stepped out of the coach.

“Emily,” Ashford whispered under his breath.

“Ashford,” Emily stood nervously by the coach, her long green dress flowing over the cobbles. “It's really you.” She took a step towards him and then faltered, as though unsure whether to go to him. It was all the encouragement Ashford seemed to need. He ran towards her, swept her up into his arms, and buried his face in her hair.

“So, who'd like a nice cup of tea?” Aunt Grace said brightly, trying to distract everyone from the couple wrapped tightly in each other's arms.

“I'll give you a hand, love,” said Uncle Herb gruffly. He followed her through the ruined doors of the castle, carrying a large picnic basket.

“
I
knew
something was wrong when you wouldn't see me,” said Emily. “But Caspian just said that at least one of us had come to our senses.” She turned to the solicitor. “See, you're not always right. Just because
she
can't bear humans doesn't mean I can't choose who I want to be with.” Caspian pretended not to hear as he walked away to inspect the damage to the castle.

“Who does she mean by
she
?” asked Granny.

“
Her
,” said Madeleine, as Emily walked over to the Queen.

Artan realized everyone was looking at him. His eyes went dull and he let himself slip from the Queen's shoulders as if he was nothing more than a rug. The Queen stood up and brushed down her robes indignantly.

“That's her? The one behind all of this?” said Granny. “Who does she think she is? Sitting there wearing Alfie's rug like she's the Queen of Sheba!” She rolled up her sleeves and began to march towards her. Alfie's dad grabbed her quickly around the waist.

“Hold on, Mary. There's something going on here – better not get between them.” Granny straightened her jumper then crossed her arms and watched the Queen like an eagle, as though
daring
her to try something. But the Queen only had eyes for Emily, staring down at her with a strange expression on her face. She began to speak in Elvish, but Emily shook her head.

“English,” she said sharply. The Queen stiffened, but continued in English.

“Why do you wear this glamour? If we are to talk, take on your true form.”

As Alfie watched, something seemed to shimmer around Emily, and suddenly she was taller. Her face mirrored the Queen's own beauty, but her features were softer and kinder.

“Happy now, Mum?” she said.

“Mum?” gasped Amy looking to Alfie. “Did you know?”

“Not a clue.” Alfie's head was reeling. Emily Fortune, Caspian Bone's administrator, was the daughter of the Elven Queen? And she was in love with Ashford? So
she
was the other thing the Queen thought Ashford had stolen from her.

“Was it worth it?” sneered the Queen. “Helping a thief steal from your mother, your Queen? Was it worth being banished from your home? To work for a crow?” Caspian was still examining the damage to the castle, but Alfie saw him stiffen at her words.

“
Banishment was the best thing to happen to me,” said Emily. “You used the lens exactly as I knew you would. It should never have been in your hands. I
had
to call on Ashford's help to take it, for your own sake. You saw how Merioch turned your soldiers against you for its power. Its purpose now is far more noble.”