Rise of Allies (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 4) (22 page)

“Whew,” said Maddox. Everyone knew that pyrokinesis was one of the most formidable abilities anyone could have.

“I know,” Jake agreed. “Only, Waldrick was too immature to handle it. The Kinderveil had barely lifted when he fried a local village with it by accident.”

Maddox winced.

“He was only my age and was terrified by what he had done, even though it wasn’t on purpose. To protect him, his big brother—my father—agreed to help Waldrick cover up his involvement in the fire on one condition: Waldrick had to agree to let my father perform the Extraction Spell on him. My father promised him he could have his power back when he was older and better able to control it.

“Waldrick agreed to this. He felt bad about the peasants he had burnt. Maybe at age twelve, he wasn’t so far gone. When my dad performed the Extraction Spell on him, his ability was distilled into a magical vial and stored in a great vault beneath our family castle. I’ve tried to find the vault,” Jake added, “but it’s too well-hidden by enchantments. Not even the castle ghosts can show me where it is.

“Anyway, the two boys stored it there until such time as Waldrick would be old enough to handle that huge responsibility. Thing is, he never got mature, at least, not in my father’s eyes. Waldrick grew up to be rotten and selfish and corrupt, and my father knew that if his brother ever got his power back, he would hurt more people and certainly use it for evil.

“So he destroyed the vial to stop Waldrick from ever reclaiming his pyrokinesis. That’s why Waldrick killed him, and my mother, as well, and even tried to kill me, though I was just a baby. For revenge.”

“How did you survive?” Maddox asked, marveling.

“My father was already shot, but somehow kept fighting, at least long enough to buy my mother enough time to run. Waldrick shot her in the back like the coward that he is, but at the last minute before she died, she was able to hand me off to the water nymphs in the brook nearby.”

“Water nymphs!” he murmured.

Jake nodded. “They were supposed to keep me safe, but they lost me. I ended up floating off down the Thames, and nobody knew where to find me because of the Kinderveil masking my location. You know, how it’s there to keep the Dark Druids from hunting us down when we’re small? Well, apparently, it also stops the Elders from being able to locate us, too. So that’s how I grew up in an orphanage. At least until I ran away,” he added.

Maddox pondered all this for a long moment. “I can’t believe they didn’t hang him.”

Jake shrugged. “They couldn’t convict him on the murders. Everything I just told you? Nobody could prove it. I found out most of this from the ghost of the man he used as his scapegoat. The poor fool who got blamed for my parents’ murders.”

“And you believe this ghost was telling the truth?”

“Oh, yes. He got to cross over after he helped me figure it all out, so there’s proof that he was clean, right? Waldrick was the one behind it, along with his helper, Fionnula Coralbroom.”

“Sea-witch, right? I think I’ve heard of her. Pretty nefarious reputation. You do know how to make enemies, don’t you? Isn’t she the one who tried to overthrow King Oceanus of the mermaids?”

Jake nodded. “That’s her. When she got banished to the land for that, my uncle found her and they joined forces. Fionnula’s in jail now, too, somewhere at the bottom of the ocean. They both got put away on charges of kidnapping, which I guess is better than nothing.”

“Kidnapping you?”

“Me, Gladwin the royal garden fairy, and my Gryphon, and some other magical creatures they were using for experiments, trying to steal their different powers. Gladwin almost escaped, too,” he added, “but Waldrick caught her and cut her wings off! We used one of my Gryphon’s magical healing feathers afterward to help her sprout new ones, though, so it all worked out.”

Maddox furrowed his brow. “What about the other magical creatures?”

“I rescued them,” Jake informed him rather proudly. “I just hope I don’t run into that grumpy cherub any time soon.”

“What?” Maddox looked askance at him.

“Oh, never mind,” he said wryly.

Charlie the sarcastic, cigar-smoking cherub had promised (or threatened?) to help Jake win any girl he wanted for his sweetheart in the future—a token of his thanks for freeing him from Uncle Waldrick’s cage.

Of course, Jake’s reaction to the thought of a girlfriend had been about the same as his reaction to the dragon poop.

But Charlie the Cherub, laughing at him, had promised he was setting aside one of his silver love arrows anyway to help Jake win his chosen lady when the time came.

The time most definitely had not come yet, but the thought of all that disgusting love stuff made him send Maddox a shrewd, sideways glance. “So you have no interest in my cousin, Isabelle, eh? Could’ve fooled me.”

Maddox colored, but he was saved from having to answer by a sudden outburst from the back of the line.

“Whoa, Nelly! Would ya look at that!”

Everyone stopped and turned to find Tex marching off the path toward a large tree. On the branches, some twelve feet above the ground, hung a torn length of shed reptilian skin with orange-colored scales. A few more pieces with discolored scales littered the ground around the bottom of the trunk.

“Don’t touch those!” Dr. Plantagenet called. “That orange color signifies the dragon pox! Obviously, we’re getting close. The infected dracosaur must have rubbed against the tree trunk to try to get some relief. The pox can make them itchy—like the chicken pox for your kind.”

“This sickness turns them orange?” Jake asked as Tex returned to the path.

“In places, yes. The dragon pox presents as blistering spots, and rusty orange patches of discoloration, as you can see in those shed scales. It’s quite painful for them.”

“No wonder they get grumpy,” Jake mumbled. He’d had the chicken pox himself when he was little.

“Fortunately, the disease doesn’t usually kill them,” the doctor said. “But when aggressive predators like dragons are uncomfortable, they’re more likely to get into fights with others in their colony, and that can lead to needless dragon deaths. We’re almost at the lookout point with a view of their main basking area,” he added. “Once we reach it, I’ll tell you all how we shall proceed.”

“Sounds good,” Tex said. “You boys holdin’ up all right?”

Before they could answer, a ferocious roar blasted out from a peak in the distance and echoed down the valley.

Jake gulped. Even Maddox flinched at the sound.

The Green Man froze with a terror-stricken stare and started to go into motionless tree mode—a natural defense—but Derek turned and continued down the trail, fearless as ever.

“Gentlemen,” he summoned them.

Maddox quickly followed. Striding after them, Jake glanced back to make sure the other two were coming. He saw Tex poke the Green Man in the arm, then point toward the path.

Dr. Plantagenet’s barky camouflage quickly softened back into his usual brownish skin. Tex clapped him on the shoulder, and the veterinarian nodded, gathering his nerve.

Then they all hiked on into ever-deepening wilderness.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Great Minds Think Alike

M
eanwhile back at Merlin Hall, Archie hoped Jake remembered to take pictures.

The girls had gone off to watch the Morris dancers, but Archie, still bothered by the unprovoked attack from Ogden Trumbull, found himself brooding on Maddox St. Trinian’s advice.

Maddox was right. A bully like Ogden Trumbull would be back. And if he didn’t bother Archie, next time he’d simply go and bother someone else. The brute was dangerous.

Something had to be done.

Archie knew that, obviously, he didn’t have Maddox’s physical prowess with which to face the threat, but he
did
have an oversized brain, and that he resolved to put to work on the task for the rest of the afternoon.

There had to be some sort of useful invention to keep the half-troll in line…

Though it was scary, he forced himself to go back into the library where he had been attacked. He had to do some research there to develop the idea brewing in his head. Plus, he simply refused to cower and hide, refused to be chased off from a place that he thought of as
his
territory. After all, Derek’s glare had run Troll Boy back to the zoo where he belonged, at least for now.

Nevertheless, Archie felt nervous, jumping at any small sound in the library around him. He wasn’t used to having enemies. He did his best to get along with everyone and treat others the same way he wanted to be treated.

Ah, well.
He collected a few useful reference books and then sat down to consult them at a table with a good view of the door. If the half-troll came back, he wanted fair warning.

Then he got to work, sketching his plans bit by bit on a notebook as he figured out the specs for his device.

Soon he was engrossed—until the library door banged as somebody came in. He jumped again, jolted out of his concentration. Then he looked up from his work and drew in his breath.

Nixie Valentine!

She padded past the snoozing librarian’s desk without noticing Archie, moving as silently as a little black cat.

Archie tucked his pencil behind his ear and watched her disappear into one of the aisles. A moment later, she reemerged, glancing left and right and looking every bit as suspicious as before. Without a sound, she climbed over the chain that was supposed to stop unauthorized persons from going up the spiral staircase to the gallery above.

It housed the restricted section of the library.

Well, well.
Archie lifted an eyebrow. What wouldn’t that girl try? She was ever so amusing, but he still thought Jake was daft to think she was a spy.

Of course, she
was
sneaking now…

He watched her scale the clunky metal staircase without a sound. When she reached the top, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure the librarian was still comatose, then stole into the aisle marked “Grimoires.”

Archie was usually pretty content in life to follow the rules; breaking them was Jake’s territory. Still, curiosity about this puzzle of a girl made him get up from his chair and stroll casually after her.

There were dangerous books up there, and if she really was a spy for the wicked Dark Druids, someone probably ought to stop her before she did something rash. Besides, after all the unpleasantness with Ogden Trumbull today, the prospect of chatting with the intriguing witch prodigy again already had him feeling more cheerful.

Archie found he was not as good at sneaking as Nixie was. The spiral stairs creaked halfway up, and he paused, wincing. But the librarian merely snorted in his sleep.

Whew
. He tiptoed on. A moment later, he arrived in the forbidden gallery, his heart pounding over this act of rebellion.

He stepped into the “Grimoires” aisle and saw Nixie, kneeling on the floor, poring over a couple of huge, ancient books she had lying open. One leaned against the shelf, another on her knee, another on the floor; she was leafing through the pages, obviously looking for something in particular.

“You’re not supposed to be up here,” Archie whispered with a grin.

She glanced up, then blinked when she saw him. “Oh. It’s you again.”

“Just me.” Hands in pockets, he sauntered over. “You’d better hurry before the librarian wakes up. What are you looking for?”

She hesitated, fear flickering in her night-dark eyes. “None of your business.”

“Maybe I can help,” he said, crouching down to her eye-level.

She eyed him warily. “No, thanks. You should go.”

“You’re trying to find a spell, right? What’s the name of it? Don’t worry, I know Latin.” Latin was the favored language of many of the old spells—
and
most of the antique works of early science. Many times both topics occurred in the same books! Wizards and the scientist-philosophers of old were frequently one and the same.

Nixie let out a sigh when she saw that he wasn’t going away. “Thanks, Mr. Bradford, but I don’t even know what I’m looking for.”

“Please call me Archie.”

She frowned at him uncertainly, and then continued flipping through the pages. “What are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn’t you be outside with everyone else?”

“I’m working on something,” he said.

“I heard you got beat up by the troll kid,” she said glancing at him.

Archie winced. “Does everybody know?”

She sent him a regretful look.

He scowled to hear that his humiliation by Ogden Trumbull was now the talk of the Gathering. She must think he was a weakling. “Well, he’ll be sorry.”

“You’re not hiding from him in here, are you?”

“Certainly not! I’m working on an invention to put him in his place.”

“Really?” This got her attention. “How?”

“Mind your own business,” he replied, giving her back her own prickly words. “Besides, it’s technical. I wouldn’t want to bore you.”

“You just assume it’s too hard for me to understand?”

“Do you think I’d understand your advanced spells?”

She looked at him. “Ah.”

“Let’s just hope it works before that monster attacks somebody else,” Archie said.

“Are you all right? I hope he didn’t hurt you.”

Archie sighed. “I’m fine. Just a little embarrassed to have to be rescued yet again by my cousin, Jake.”

“Oh, this might work!” she whispered all of a sudden as she turned a page.

Archie looked down and read the name of the spell in Latin:
Vindico.
“What’s it for?”

“Pest removal,” she muttered. Nixie took a piece of paper and a pencil stub out of her pocket and quickly started copying it down. “Would you put those other two books back on the shelf for me?” she whispered, writing at top speed.

“Sure. Nixie?”

“Hold on…I have to get this spell down exactly right.”

His frown deepened, for he had read the Latin title of the spell. “Nixie, I know perfectly well that
vindico
means to liberate, avenge, punish, or deliver—which would make that some sort of protection spell,” he persisted. “What do you need protection from?”

He could see that his question startled her. She turned to him with an unguarded stare, a sudden rush of tears flooding into her eyes.

“It’s all right,” he offered. “You can tell me.”

“No. I can’t,” she said in a taut voice, turning away. “I really can’t.”

“Nixie, if somebody’s bothering you—”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle! Leave me alone!” she said fiercely. Finished copying the spell, she jumped to her feet and dashed off, leaving him to put away the book she had been using.

He glanced at the page with the
Vindico
spell again, but there was no time to lose. Nixie was already pattering down the spiral stairs.

Archie closed the heavy grimoire and slid it back up onto the shelf before hurrying after her. “Nixie, come back!” he insisted in a loud whisper. “Tell me what’s wrong. Maybe I can help you.”

“Just leave me alone, Archie! It’s for your own good.” She braced her hand on the banister and jumped over the chain at the bottom of the steps to escape him.

“Nixie! Protection from what? Or whom?”

“Good
bye!
” she said angrily. Then she ran to the heavy front door of the library and used all her strength to haul it open.

He jogged after her. “Nixie, please—wait!”

“Shh!” the librarian scolded him, finally waking from his nap.

Archie stopped and looked at the glaring old man, then lowered his head.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, both worried and confused.

He hated being confused, and girls were possibly the most confusing thing on earth.

Pushing his spectacles back up onto the bridge of his nose, he lifted his head and looked at the door again, his gaze troubled.

With every fiber of his chivalrous nature, he wanted to help this mysterious damsel in distress; Jake wasn’t the only one, after all, who dreamed, deep down, of being a hero.

But the girl herself had said flat-out that it was none of his business, so what was he to do?

He blew out a long sigh. Well, she was pretty dashed good at magic. Maybe the
Vindico
spell would free her from whatever pests in her life needed removing.

He hoped she’d be all right.

Wish Jake was here,
he thought. No doubt his cousin would’ve had some idea about how to help her. Well, provided Jake was not still convinced she was a spy.

Of course, even Archie could admit that her behavior just now had seemed slightly suspicious. But try as he might, he could not think ill of her. Nixie was obviously in some sort of trouble. He just wished he could help.

He resolved to speak to Jake about the matter when he returned from dragon country. For now, his chief worry was taming Ogden Trumbull.

With that, Archie went back to his table and continued working on his new invention.

He was soon engrossed in his figuring once more, calculating and recalculating the amperage, checking his work against Ohm’s Law, looking up different types of conductive materials in his reference books to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. The gadget was coming along well.

He resolved to call it the Bully Buzzer, and it might well change the world for weaklings everywhere.

With a draft of his design plans complete, at least on paper, it was time to focus on step two: building his crafty little device.

A short while later, Archie left the library with ink smudges on his fingers and a mischievous gleam in his eyes. He couldn’t wait to get down to the fine work of wiring up the circuitry.

Long ago, King David had beaten Goliath with five stones and a slingshot. Their mismatched sizes were roughly equal to his and Ogden’s, but Archie’s weapon of choice for slaying
his
giant would be a few thousand volts of electrical current delivered through a couple of brass nodes.

Indeed, once his Bully Buzzer was ready, Ogden Trumbull had
such
a surprise in store. Make that, a shock.

Literally.

Archie smiled.

Brains beat brawn every time.