The Moon Stealers and The Children of the Light (17 page)

Joe was the first to wake. He opened his eyes. They
felt tired and heavy and he so desperately wanted to keep them closed and go
back to sleep, but there was something nagging at him from the back of his mind
telling him to wake up. His first thought was that he was at home in his bed in
Parsley Bottom, wondering if he had overslept and would be late for school. He
casually glanced around him. He was slumped awkwardly in the back seat of a
car, there were bags, food, paper, metal and glass scattered across his knees.
To his left Max was sitting, head hanging limply forward, with two lines of
blood extending from each nostril. The sides of the car appeared twisted and
buckled making the inside appear smaller and more compact than it should have
been. The glass from the windows was also missing and Joe could feel a slight
breeze blowing against his cheek. Outside, a rising wall of black rock obscured
the view from one side of the car, casting a long afternoon shadow across the
road. Then it all came flooding back. They were in the Snowdonia mountain range
when the car had flipped over and rolled.

Joe reached over to his friend and placed a hand on
his arm.

‘Max?’ he said. Speech seemed to take more effort than
normal; he could feel the tightness against his chest from the seatbelt that
had saved him from falling out of the car. He reached down to the side of the
seat and pressed the orange button. As soon as the seatbelt sprung out of the
lock he took a big lung full of air.

‘Max?’ he said again, this time with more confidence,
and accompanied by a shake of the arm.

Max muttered something and his head rolled slightly as
he began to regain control of his neck.

‘What happened?’ muttered Max in a fragile whisper.

‘Are you ok?’ asked Joe.

‘My nose hurts. What about you two?’

Joe looked to the front of the car; he could see the
tired eyes of Sir Edgar looking back at him through the twisted mirror.

‘I can’t move, I’m trapped,’ said Edgar. ‘We need to
get out of the car before night falls.’

Nestled within the deflated remains of a white air bag
was Edgar, his body appeared shrunken and weak. Joe noticed that the dashboard
had become detached from the main frame of the car and appeared to be resting
on the knee of the Knight.

Joe tried the door lock nearest to him. There was an
ear-splitting noise of metal against metal. The door opened slightly, then stopped,
but it left a gap wide enough for the two boys to climb out of the car and onto
the road. Behind the car they could see a trail of debris including the remains
of both wing mirrors and the thick black scars caused by the rubber tyres as
the car had skidded from one side of the road to the other. Small beads of
glass glittered in the fading light.

Both boys stretched themselves, trying desperately to
ease their bruised muscles and aching joints.

‘Help me with Edgar’s door,’ said Joe to Max. The door
on the driver’s side was already hanging at an awkward angle from its broken
hinges and didn’t take much effort for the two boys to pull it backwards and
expose Edgar. The air bag had taken the impact of the roll, protecting Edgar
from colliding with the front window, but the disjointed dashboard was pinning
his legs firmly to the seat.

‘Look in the back of the car,’ instructed Edgar with a
weak and breathy voice. ‘Find the spare wheel. With it there will be a manual
jack that you would normally raise the car with to put the wheel on. Find it
and use it to raise the dash off my legs.’

Max and Joe nodded, understanding what Edgar wanted
them to do. They both darted round the side of the car but stopped short when
they saw the bent and buckled rear end of the car. They tried getting their
fingers in through small gaps so that they could lift the twisted sheet of
metal that was wedged firmly inside the car, but it wouldn’t move. There was no
way they were going to be able to open the lid to the boot of the car.

Max had an idea. He suddenly left Joe and began
squeezing his body back through the small gap in the rear door that they had just
got out of.

‘What are you doing?’ Joe asked.

‘If the seats come down, I can climb into the back
from inside the car.’

Now kneeling on the back seat of the car, Max reached
up and unclipped the latch above one of the seats and pulled the seat towards
him. Halfway, the back became wedged and stuck on a buckled piece of metal
frame and wouldn’t come down any further. But the gap was big enough for Max to
crawl through. Joe watched through the glassless windows as Max’s feet disappeared
through the gap and into the boot. There were muffled noises now coming from inside
the car and sounds of exertion from Max who was obviously moving things around.

‘Got it,’ shouted Max. A hand pushed a red folded
piece of metal through the gap in the back of the chair, quickly accompanied by
Max’s head. He passed the jack to Joe who reached through the window, then
pulled his body back into the main part of the car. Joe immediately took the
jack round to the open driver's door and a patiently waiting Edgar. He slid the
metal contraption between the floor of the car and the dashboard, released the
clip and inserted a metal rod into a small hole. He pushed the rod down towards
the ground then allowed the spring to take it back up ready to be pushed down
again. With every push on the handle the top of the jack raised higher and
higher until it touched the underside of the dashboard. Pushing the rod down suddenly
became a lot harder and Joe was putting all his body weight on it to make it go
down. Max now joined him and gripped the rod as well. Eventually a creaking
sound came from the dashboard as it slowly moved upwards. With both Max and Joe’s
body weight on the handle, the jack lifted the end of the dashboard off Edgar’s
knees who began to manually pull his legs out with his hands.

Edgar tumbled onto the road surface and dragged
himself away from the car. The boys let go of the jack handle and rushed over to
him.

‘Are you alright?’ Joe asked.

‘I think so,’ replied Edgar massaging his legs. ‘Nothing
broken, but I’ve lost some of the feeling in my legs.’

‘Is there anything we can do?’ Max asked.

Edgar shook his head. He was now trying to raise
himself onto his knees.

‘We must keep moving. We have wasted too much time.
See how the clouds are beginning to turn grey. We must get to Avalon before
night descends. Collect the weapons from the car as well as water for the rest
of the journey. Bring some chocolate bars, but leave the rest of the food.
There will be more food than you can imagine when we reach Avalon.’

The boys ran back to the car and salvaged what they
could as quickly as possible and threw it into a small rucksack. When they
returned to Edgar he was standing on his feet, but moving like an uncoordinated
child trying to take its first steps.

‘That is Tryfan,’ said Edgar, pointing unsteadily to
the mountain that hung over the road they were on. ‘At the peak of the mountain
are the giant rocks, Adam and Eve, and on the other side,
lake
Idwal
.’

Joe handed Ethera to Edgar who strapped the belt
around his waist, letting the sword hang down beside one of his legs. Edgar
threw his coat over a small stone wall that bordered the road, so that it
covered the sharp chiselled edges of the upright rocks on the top, making it less
painful to climb over.

Away from the road the mountain immediately banked up.
The surface of the rocks nearest to the road was green with moss. Grey rocks cut
through the moss and reached up to the sky making sharp vertical columns. Edgar
had begun picking a route around some of the taller rocks, following the moss
as far as possible; knowing that it would have been the route water would have
taken as it drained off the mountain. Every now and again Edgar’s knees buckled
and he collapsed to the ground. He rested momentarily on one knee whilst he
allowed the blood to rush back to his leg muscles to regain control of them.
Joe and Max followed.

As the green mossy ground became overtaken by black tinged
boulders, the incline began to increase. Now they were picking their way
forward by using the rocks in front of them as ledges to help pull themselves
up. Sometimes a careful shuffle along a narrow ledge was necessary in order for
them to gain access to the next tier of rocks, but slowly they continued higher
and higher, breaking into the cloud that flicked off the top of the mountain.
When the boys looked back towards the tattered remains of the car they had left
behind it seemed like they were looking through a smeared window, aware of the
colour and shape of a car, but unable to make out any specific details. Occasionally
the cloud become denser as it drifted past them, obscuring their view
altogether, except for the stones that immediately surrounded them.

At a larger ledge, they all sat down and had a drink
of water and a square of chocolate, but Edgar was keen for them to continue.
Every time the cloud momentarily cleared they could see that the sky had begun
to turn darker.

‘Do you think the creatures would come all the way to
the mountains?’ asked Joe.

‘There wouldn’t be much here for them to hunt,’
replied Max.

‘Unfortunately there is,’ said Edgar. ‘The mountains
are populated by wild goats, as well as other animals. There wouldn’t be as
much food around here as there would be in the town, but wherever there are
animals, the creatures will not be far behind. That is why we must push on as
quickly as we can. We have no option but to continue. The top is not far now,’
he added reassuringly.

They all stood once more. Edgar reached up to the next
stone and began pulling himself up, grunting as the effort caused his body to
strain. Joe followed, placing his hand in the same gap in the rock that Edgar
had just vacated. The higher they went, the more they could feel a cool breeze
whipping up the mountain side and stinging their cheeks. Some time later Edgar
paused on a flat piece of black stone, worn smooth by numerous feet that had
stood in the same spot to admire the view. On either side of Edgar were two
tall stones. It seemed as if they were walking through a gateway at the top of
the mountain.

‘Look,’ said Edgar, pointing into the cloud. As the wispy
grey clouds dashed past them, whipped up by the wind, they caught a glimpse of
a lake that rested at the bottom of the mountain. ‘
Lake
Idwal
,’ said Edgar with a degree of pride. The adrenaline
caused by seeing the lake gave him a buzz of excitement. He had successfully
guided the boys to the entrance of Avalon. ‘And this is Adam and Eve,’ he
added, patting the tall stones on either side of them. ‘From the cup of Adam
and Eve the Elixir of Life flows to the gates of Avalon,’ he muttered,
recalling something he had read many years ago.

The boys took a cautious glance over the edge of the
flat stone platform they were standing on. The other side of the mountain looked
slightly easier to go down. A path, carved by the feet of numerous tourists,
seemed to follow a trickling path of water that increased in size as it fell
further down the mountain.

‘There will be time to rest in Avalon,’ said Edgar. ‘Night
is approaching and we still have to get off the mountain.’

Without a moments hesitation Edgar took the first step
down. In parts the path was narrow and they had to make small leaps of faith to
jump onto the next step that was lower than expected. Water flowed from every
crack above them and gathered into a single white line that weaved its way
around rocks then disappeared from sight before emerging over a ledge, stronger
than before. At times, where the path got too close to the falling water, the
rocks were slippy and covered in algae, making them progress with caution,
clinging to the side of the mountain and taking tiny baby steps until their
footing was more secure.

Half way down, the clouds began to clear. Max looked
across at the lake. It looked so peaceful and still. Hidden in the trough
between the mountains the water was motionless and reflected the sky like the
highly polished surface of a mirror. The only thing that disturbed the
reflection was the small black shadows that Max mistook for clouds passing over
the mountain.

They pushed on. Fingernails chipped, knees sore and
feet aching, but spurred on by the thought of Avalon waiting for them. Joe was
beginning to feel tired. The mountain walk had drained him of what little energy
he had. They had been eating a lot less food than normal and his energy levels
were low. He stepped down onto a ledge, trying to follow where Edgar had already
trodden, but the fading light was beginning to make it difficult. Shadows from
rocks hid parts of the path and he became unsure where to place his feet. With
his back against the side of the mountain, Joe nervously reached for the next
ledge with the toe of his right foot. As it touched the rock and he began to
feel confident, he loaded more weight onto it, but some loose gravel caused his
foot to slip forward towards the edge of the mountain.

‘Edgar!’ he shouted, trying desperately to grip hold
of the rock face. But his body weight was carrying him forward, closer to the
edge.