Royal Institute of Magic: Elizabeth's Legacy (29 page)

“They are dangerous,”
Alex replied, shooting them a quick smile. “But so is a wyvern
and so am I.”

“You didn’t answer my
question,” Charlie said to himself.

Feeling the wyvern beneath him
and with Alex at the helm, Ben realised for the first time they were
going into this conflict with powerful allies.

Just how powerful he was about to
find out.

They sailed over a hill and the
wyvern dived into the valley like a hawk spotting its prey. The
acceleration was intense. Charlie screamed, but it was muted by the
whistling wind. Leaning to the side, Ben could make out the lake in
the distance and a handful of figures by the bank. They seemed small
and insignificant compared to the might of the wyvern. But they
weren’t small for long; the wyvern was closing quickly. Ben saw
something ignite by the lake and a moment later, a huge purple
fireball was coming right at them.

“Flatten yourselves!”
Alex cried.

Ben just had time to lean into
Alex, feeling Charlie cling to him from behind, when the wyvern
pitched left. The fireball missed them by inches, the heat warming
the air.

More fireballs followed. One
seemed destined to hit them until the wyvern fired his own to counter
it. Ben couldn’t help peering out from his covered position and
gasped when he saw how quickly the valley was rising up to greet
them. He could see the purple uniforms of the dark elves and their
extended arms, hands glowing. Alex had his Spellshooter out and was
firing peculiar, red and white, twirling missiles, which reminded Ben
of candy. They were effective, honing in on their targets and
knocking the dark elves for six. Several of them were already
fleeing.

“Get ready to land!”
Alex said, his voice wild with exhilaration.

The wyvern’s small legs
came out, it steadied its wings and with a small thump they landed in
the valley.

Many dark elves lay motionless on
the ground, but a few were still fighting. Ben leapt off the wyvern
and used it as a shield, putting the huge animal between him and the
elves. He saw several flashes and the wyvern roared in pain. It stood
up on its hind legs, extending to its full height so for a second
they were no longer shielded by its body.

There were few dark elves left,
but they were fighting gamely, duelling with Alex who was firing,
ducking and rolling with a speed Ben hadn’t thought possible.

The last one went down and Ben
ran round to join Alex. His smile was grim, triumphant, but his eyes
were focused on a couple of dark elves scampering through the valley.

“I need to finish them off
before they can call for back-up. I will meet you on the other side.
Don’t wait here, it’s too dangerous.”

Alex leapt back onto the wyvern,
looking every inch a Western cowboy.

With incredible speed, he fired
something at Ben and Charlie in rapid succession. Ben felt something
hit his chest and saw a thin film envelope him.

“That should help keep you
out of trouble,” Alex said, giving them a crooked grin and a
wink. He slapped the wyvern and took off, chasing the fleeing dark
elves and leaving the two of them alone in the valley.

Ben watched Alex fly away, his heartbeat slowly working its way back to
normal. Everything had happened so quickly; the raid had only lasted
minutes, but Ben remembered every second so clearly it seemed longer.
He felt breathless despite contributing very little to the action.

He shook himself into action.
“Let's get going. Where is the gateway entrance?”

The question snapped Charlie out
of his stupor. He searched the valley floor but saw nothing unusual.
He looked again, more thoroughly this time. Still nothing.

“I know hindsight is a
wonderful thing,” Charlie said, “but do you think we
should have asked Alex what we’re looking for? Because I can’t
see a thing.”

“There!” Ben said. He
was pointing to a spot of grass less than fifty yards away, next to
the bank of the lake. There was a peculiar ripple in the air about
the size of a doorway. They approached it cautiously.

Ben lifted a leg. He was going to
step through the gateway when Charlie grabbed him. “Hold on a
second!”

“What for?” Ben was
so eager to go through, it took considerable willpower to stop
himself.

“Once we go through, we
can’t come back.”

“I know that. So?”

Charlie’s eyes provided the
answer. This was the point of no return. “From everything we’ve
heard about the Floating Prison, it seems like it would make more
sense to wait here.”

“It won’t be safe for
long.” Ben replied. “If just one of the dark elves crests
that hill and spots us, we’re done for. They will follow us
through the gateway. We should go now, while nobody knows we’re
here.”

Ben felt Charlie’s unease
and he put an arm around his shoulder.

“As soon as we’re
through the gateway, we’ll find somewhere to hide and wait
until Alex shows up. I’m sure that spell he cast on us will
help somehow.”

Charlie finally nodded. “I
don’t like the way he just ran off like that.”

“He had to stop the dark
elves getting help,” Ben said.

“I know. I just wish he
could have warned us that this might happen.”

Ben felt some of Charlie’s
concern, but brushed it aside in his desire to get going. He walked
up to the gateway until his nose almost touched the ripples.
Tentatively, he poked a finger through. It felt cool – the
temperature was clearly colder on the other side. He retracted his
finger and inspected it. Everything looked normal.

“Here we go,” he
said.

He held his breath and stepped
through.

It felt like the first step off
an aeroplane when you leave the pressurised cabin and feel the
atmosphere of your new destination. There was a cold wind and his
enchanted jacket automatically adjusted to compensate. He turned
around and saw immediately why there was no turning back. The gateway
from this side didn’t exist; it was as if he had arrived by
stepping through nothing.

Ben took in his new surroundings
quickly and relaxed a fraction when he discovered he was alone. He
was on a winding dirt path bordered on the left by sparse brambles.
Beyond the brambles was a steep hill and on top of that Ben could
make out the prison. He gasped in wonder. It looked like a giant
hexagonal jewel made into a building. It was black and looked every
bit as majestic as the brightest gem. There were no windows or doors,
as if the designer knew such thing would detract from the prison’s
flawless beauty. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how you
would get in.

Ben eventually turned his
attention to the other side of the dirt path and gave a start. Thick
bog land stretched downhill for a short distance before ending
abruptly. Beyond the edge there was nothing. Thousands of feet below
Ben saw water. He was right on the island’s edge. Ben felt
dizzy and looked away, concentrating on solid ground.

Charlie soon appeared out of thin
air as he too passed through the gateway. “Is it safe?”

“Yes, we’re alone.”

The predictable gasps from
Charlie came as he saw the prison and the island’s edge. He
tore his eyes away and started looking nervously up and down the
path. It curved out of sight limiting their view.

“I don’t like it
here. We should find a place to hide,” Charlie said.

They found a ditch nestled within
the brambles close by where they could still see the gateway. It was
deep enough so only their heads were visible above ground, concealed
by the brambles.

Ben gazed at the sun on the
horizon and cursed. Wherever the gateway had taken them, it was later
in the day than Taecia. He estimated it no more than an hour before
sunset.

Despite the confined space in the
ditch, Ben kept bouncing up and down on his haunches, wanting to be
ready the moment Alex arrived. He wasn’t concerned when Alex
didn’t turn up after five minutes of waiting; after all,
several dark elves had escaped and chasing each one would take a bit
of time, especially if they put up a fight. But when ten minutes had
elapsed without any sign of Alex, Ben got his first twinge of
concern.

“Something isn’t
right,” Charlie said.

“He’ll be here soon.”

Fifteen minutes passed and Ben
cursed. He was now looking at the sun every thirty seconds, watching
its unrelenting approach to the horizon. With every passing minute,
Ben became more restless. Where was he? Alex knew the time crunch.
Could he have been caught? Having seen him in action with the
monstrous wyvern, he doubted it. He must still be tracking down the
dark elves. Ben waited as long as he could bear, but eventually he
was forced into a decision.

“We have to get going,”
Ben said.

“Are you mad? We might as
well jump off that cliff.”

Their argument was cut short by
voices. They flattened themselves against the ditch and peered
towards the gateway. Three figures appeared from nowhere, stepping
through the gateway and stopping on the path.

Ben’s heart sank.

Alex was flanked by two dark
elves. He had been caught.

“Why are we stopping?”
Alex asked. His voice was clear, for they were less than twenty paces
away. He didn’t sound scared, but then Alex didn’t strike
Ben as someone who was easily afraid.

“The children are here.”

Ben’s stomach did a
somersault. Elessar’s soft, compelling voice was unmistakable.
He turned, his purple eyes scanning the brambles. They were well
concealed, but Ben ducked anyway.

Alex didn’t turn round.
“Are you sure?”

“I can see the orange
beacons from your spell. I told you they would wait.”

Charlie gasped, giving away their
position completely. Ben’s mind felt sluggish; he was confused.
Alex was one of their only allies. He was a close friend of his
parents; he couldn’t be a traitor.

“Pick them up,” Alex
said. He sounded almost bored. “I will meet you on the hill.
Make sure you bring your side of the bargain with you.”

“You will get it after the
execution, not before. I will not sacrifice the pouch before I am
certain we have the Greenwoods.”

“Really?” Alex
finally turned around. His face was contorted with such anger, he was
unrecognisable. “I can stop Ben’s heartbeat with the
spell I have on him, so don’t mess me around.”

“You do that and you won't
leave here alive.”

“Maybe not, but neither
will you,” Alex said, his face twisting into a nasty smile.

Elessar narrowed his eyes. “I
thought we had an agreement. It was you who came to us, remember?”

“Wrong. I never had an
allegiance. I worked at the Institute because the pay was good. But
when your armies started consuming the Unseen Kingdoms, I needed dark
elf cooperation to maintain my lucrative trade routes. That’s
all this is –
business
.
Now, are you in or out?”

There was a moment’s
silence as the two faced each other in a stand-off.

“I will give you the pouch
when we reach the hill,” Elessar said finally.

Alex nodded and, without further
ado, marched up the winding path, away from them and out of sight.

Elessar watched him go and then
turned back towards them. Ben was barely peeking out of his hiding
place, but Elessar’s eyes somehow found him and he smiled.

“I see you,” Elessar
mouthed.

“Oh crap,” Charlie
whispered.

For an instant Ben was paralysed
with shock. Elessar and the other dark elf were walking towards them
in a slow, unconcerned fashion that implied they had all the time in
the world.

“Move!” Ben shouted,
pushing Charlie who was doing a creditable impression of a rock.

Charlie jumped and then thrust
himself through the brambles and out of the ditch. Ben followed, but
as he clambered out he knew they were too slow. The dark elves were
almost on top of them. Charlie turned to run, but Elessar raised a
hand and sent a spell in the shape of a swirling boomerang that
tripped him up and roped his hands and legs. Charlie fell face first
onto the dirt path, having run no more than a few paces. Ben
anticipated the same spell and tensed himself, but it never came.
Elessar drew a sword and with inhuman speed thrust it at Ben’s
neck. Before Ben could blink, the sword was at his throat.

“Good evening, Ben
Greenwood. Let us get the pleasantries out the way. Your friend has
no purpose here. If you put so much as a foot out of place, he dies
and we get to see if your protective spell can stop me beheading you.
Do I make myself clear?”

Ben nodded, or tried to, as it
was difficult with the sword pricking the skin of his Adam’s
apple.

“Excellent. Well, we should
get going. You wouldn’t want to miss your own execution, would
you?”

Charlie and Ben were marched
along in front of the dark elves. Charlie was still bound and was
reduced to shuffling forward; Ben could feel the dark elf’s
sword in his back every time he slowed.

He felt so confused his head was
spinning; only the pain from the sword kept him steady. It didn’t
make sense. It wasn’t possible, but the change in Alex was
unmistakable.

“Why?”

It was Charlie who asked the
question. Ben couldn’t offer any explanation and so they
continued in silence. With great effort, Ben attempted to take his
mind off the betrayal. They had left the prison behind and were now
walking inland, up a gentle slope. The landscape was wild, the long
grass wet and muddy. Huge boulders were sprawled across the hillside,
some of them as big as houses and carved into shape by the relentless
wind.

They entered a clump of trees,
and the moment they came out the other side, Ben saw their
destination. It was a much larger hill, dwarfing everything around
it. The top was a plateau and on it were several huge boulders. One
lay on top of two others, creating the impression of two walls and a
roof. There were people on the plateau: dark elves, though just how
many was difficult to tell at this distance. Underneath the “roof”
was another figure, who stood out because of her small size and wavy
hair.