The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen (20 page)

“
We
understand,” Jared said quickly. “We’re sorry about that
rabbit…” 

Hekima
interrupted him. “Your words are meaningless. What’s done is done.
Learn that not everything is the same wherever you
are.” 

In the distance they could see
the fire of the camp, maybe one mile distant.

 “
Farewell children,” the stag said and turned and bolted into
the woods, never looking back.

 
Jared
watched the plants and leaves wave in its wake and then whirled as
he heard Bue squawk triumphantly and pick up his precious bow from
the undergrowth.  

“
Found it,”
he exclaimed. “Come on, let’s go.” He looked at Jared grinning,
patting his jerkin pocket to show he still had his
quarrels.

 
Moving
together they made their way back to camp.

Chapter
13

They sat or
lay around the fire. Leppard had listened carefully to what Bue and
Jared had said and then told them not to tell the others. His
concern was clear and despite his initial anger that they had been
gone so long, he softened when he realised why.

 “
The
lands beyond our borders are unusual sometimes,” he noted gravely
and they had made do for supper with what little they had brought
with them. Plus some mushrooms that Challandra had found near the
old path. 

The fire was
warming and Bue sat with his knees drawn up to his chin and looked
across at Jared. “Something we don’t know is exactly why you’re
here. Where do you come from?”

  
Everybody turned to look at Jared who shifted uncomfortably,
the orange glow from the fire casting shadows across his face.
After a pause he looked at them. “To be honest I don’t know where
YOU come from.” 

There was more silence and he
realised he would have to continue. 

“
I’m from
Warwick in England. I was in hospital visiting my cousin a week ago
when I disturbed some kind of blind, scruffy guy who was trying to
hurt a girl named Sophie who’s in a coma. Mordalayn came and
stopped him and then threw a bracelet onto me that I couldn’t take
off.”

 
He
paused and saw that the group were listening intently to what he
said. “Then when me and my parents were about to fly to Malta for
our holidays these creatures attacked me. Mordalayn appeared and
stopped them, I think he killed them but then he took me and the
next thing I knew I was here. One minute I’m on the runway of
Heathrow airport and then the next I’m face down on a muddy farm
field God knows where.”

 “
What’s
an airport?” one of the boys whispered but he was shushed by
another. 

“
Why would
Takoba Mordalayn bring you here though?” Bue asked puzzled. “Your
land is obviously far from here…wherever err, Warrik
is.” 

“
I don’t
know, he said something about people wanting to hurt me and
Sophie.” 

“
Who’s
Sophie?” Bolla asked and a few others murmured their
curiosity. 

“
Mordalayn
said she’s the ruler here, he called her Our Lady.”

 
There
was a gasp of shock from everyone, including Leppard.

 “
Sophie
is the Queen of Alegria?!!” Bue said, clearly
astonished.

 “
I, I
guess so.” Jared replied.

 
Bue
whistled and there was excited murmuring amongst the others. He
turned to Jared once more. “What happened to her?”

 “
She
was hit by a car.” Jared saw the confused looks and tried again. “A
road vehicle.” There were nods of understanding. “She’s been
unconscious for about three months now.”

 
Leppard
then interjected. “The light of this kingdom has slowly faded in
the last year. We wondered why such a great loss of power had
befallen Alegria. Most believed the queen had gone and deserted us,
but now you tell us that she is hurt. That explains it.”

 
There
was a silence and Jared asked;” Has she always been the queen
here?” 

Leppard
laughed. “No my boy. Not by a long shot. She is the second ruler of
Alegria in my lifetime.” 

“
But,
how…what do…how does she get to be queen here?”

 “
That I
cannot tell you because I do not know. There are many secrets in
this world.”  

There was a
long silence and then one of the other boys spoke up. “We’ve heard
stories about Anghofio. That King James wants to invade us. Is that
true?” 

Leppard
looked around and said, “We believe so yes,” and there were shocked
murmurs in response. “But I am not privy to the knowledge any more.
My days as a soldier are over.” 

“
Did you
fight alongside Takoba Mordalayn?” Declain asked
excitedly. 

“
I had that
honour yes,” Leppard replied smiling.

 “
Cor!
What’s he like?”

 
The
others started firing questions at the old bow master.

 “
Yeah,
why’d he leave to be the Queen’s Sword?”

 “
Is he
scary in battle?” 

“
Did you see
him kill anyone?”

 
Leppard
smiled and when the excited buzz had died down he replied. “Takoba
Mordalayn was a general in the Enlightened Army. I had the
privilege of serving alongside him. Our army has not seen battle in
hundreds of years but I have seen him fight.”

 
He
paused. “The only threat to Alegria now is our own sense of safety.
Our army is small and we have little or no real ability to stand
our ground in the face of a direct attack. Our queen is powerful
but now she is gone…well, the future is uncertain.”

 
The
boys were all watching him intently in the firelight.

 “
Takoba
Mordalayn is an honourable and noble warrior. Our only threat in my
time in the army was from the velvet forests and forces from over
the Sea of Glass. Mordalayn is indeed an awe inspiring and
terrifying sight. Only King James himself is said to rival him as a
swordsman. Mordalayn is someone whose blades you want to protect
your back, but never facing you.”

 “
Why
did he leave?” the same boy asked.

 “
Something awful happened to him. I do not know the details
but it was apparently terrible. In the aftermath he volunteered to
be the new queen’s bodyguard when she was crowned. The ruler of
Alegria is always a child and always chooses their own Sword. Many
wanted the role but Queen Sophie selected Mordalayn.”

 
The
boys were silent, intently hanging on to Leppard’s every
word.

 “
She
has ruled for just over twelve years, but this past year no one has
seen her. We pray to our gods that she will return but we do not
know what the future holds for the Emerald Queen or
Alegria.” 

Beevor
suddenly burst from the trees about ten metres back from the camp
fire and screamed “HELP!” and ran past Leppard and the others to
the other side of the fire. They all whirled round to where he was
standing, knees shaking and pointing terrified at the trees he’d
just come from.

 “
What’s
wrong?” Challandra said concerned, jumping to her feet.

 “
L..l..look!” the boy stammered and at that moment the
undergrowth scraped noisily and the branches of the nearest trees
bent outwards. A huge fat creature emerged from the darkness. It
was a pale grey colour and hugely flabby and obese. It had legs
like lobster claws, at least four on each side and it chittered in
a noisy clicking pitch. The boys all jumped up, yelling. The
creature waddled forward, its body sagging against the ground and
antennae on its head waved.

 
Leppard
grabbed his pack and bow, Bue the same and they were trying to
crank them while moving back to the other side of the
fire.

 “
Get
behind me!” Leppard shouted to the frightened boys, who were
scattering like leaves on the wind. The creature chittered again;
the sound high and threatening. It moved forward, the screams of
the boys ringing in the air as they made their way either into the
overgrowth or behind Leppard and Bue.

 
Bue
succeeded in cranking his bow and was fumbling for a bolt when a
voice shouted:

 “
WAIT!”

 
Challandra turned and shouted over the noise. “It’s cold,
it’s attracted to the fire, it means no harm.”

 
As the
monstrous creature shuffled towards the campfire Challandra turned
and grabbed a large burning branch and turned to face the intruder,
waving it in front of her.

 
She
stepped forward and the creature chittered in fear and with a noisy
rustling of foliage managed to back off into the woods behind it.
Challandra pursued it slowly as the frightened beast backed away.
Then it turned and with lots of crashing and crunching of
vegetation manoeuvred itself off into the dark depths of the
forest, chittering loudly.

 
When
she was sure it was gone Challandra lowered the flaming branch and
walked back to the others. Frightened eyes peered at her along with
the shocked and surprised eyes of Bue, Leppard and Jared. She
placed the branch carefully back in the fire and looked at Bue.
“You can lower your bow, the animal is gone.”

 
Hesitantly he did so and said, “what, what was
THAT?.”

 “
Slythid” she replied. “They live in the forests. They are
harmless herbivores.” She looked up. “It won’t come back now, you
can relax.” 

Challandra sighed in relief and
slowly the boys returned to the fire and sat back down, most
looking over their shoulders into the darkness beyond the
trees.

 
After a
few minutes one of the boys said, “so tell us more about Takoba
Mordalayn please,” and the others relaxed, looking eagerly to
Leppard.

 
Leppard
looked up and surprise registered on his face. Then he smiled and
said, “I think you can ask him yourself.”

 
There
was a crunch of leaves and twigs and the boys turned to see
Mordalayn emerge from the shadows between two large trees. He was
dressed as he was when he left Jared and his huge sword was
sheathed. He looked around the group and then moved forward. “My
apologies for the unannounced return,” he said to Leppard. He
looked across at Jared who smiled nervously, unnerved by the
warrior’s silent return.

 
Leppard
extended his hand which, after a moment’s hesitation Mordalayn
shook. “It seems we need to sharpen our ears somewhat Takoba, you
came just after the right time I think,” and gestured for the
Caracalic to sit down next to him. “Please join us, we have food
and water.”

 
Mordalayn did not return the smile but said, “I have my own
rations, yours you should keep for yourself.”

 
Leppard
looked around at the ashen, shocked faces of the boys. “Very well,
but I believe Master Blautin was going to play us a delightful tune
on his flute was he not? Nothing like some good music to aid the
digestion.” He glanced at the boy who beamed proudly and reached
for his backpack. Inside was a silk cloth which he withdrew with
tender care and unwrapped slowly to reveal a polished silver
flute.

 “
Yeah,
go on Blau,” another boy said. “Play us a tune.”

 
Blautin
blushed and after carefully inspecting his prize instrument with
eyes and fingers he raised it to his lips and began to
play.

 
Jared
was impressed with the tune and the boy’s ability. The music was
sweet and uplifting. Despite their tiredness and fear of the last
day or so, they felt their worries fade slightly. As if the music
was massaging their spirits. He played well and after a few minutes
stopped to applause from the others, Challandra was smiling
happily.

 
The
little lad smiled back, raised the flute to his lips and began to
play once more. 

Chapter
14

As they began
to bed down for the night Stone spied that Blautin hadn’t put his
flute in his backpack. He made a snatch for it and Blautin span
round. 

“
Give it
back,” the younger boy snapped angrily as the older child grinned
and held on to the flute, dangling it out of reach of the frantic
swipes of its owner. 

“
Come and get
it,” Stone said, jumping up and dancing around. The others barely
took notice but then Blautin stood still and started to cry.
 

Stone didn’t
stop and instead started to laugh. “Hey, what are you? A
little…” 

“
ENOUGH!”
 

Everyone
jumped and looked at Mordalayn who was sitting opposite the two
boys across the fire. There was a horrible silence and Stone stared
at the warrior, embarrassed and scared. Blautin stopped crying and
wiped his wet cheeks with the back of his sleeve. 

“
Give it to
him,” Mordalayn growled.

 “
I was
just messing…” Stone began but was interrupted.

 “
You
are a bully and bullies are despicable,” Mordalayn said with
limitless menace. Everyone was looking at him. Challandra was
scared, knowing the Caracalic’s reputation. Leppard glanced from
Mordalayn to the boys and then back. Stone handed the flute back to
Blautin and then sat down, his cheeks burning with shame. He hugged
his knees and looked away.