The Witch's Revenge (21 page)

“The photo booth?” cut in Montgomery. “Yes, it is reserved for emergencies.”

“Marnoch Mor is being destroyed as we speak,” Morag said, “and I don't know if we'll get home in time to stop it.”

Montgomery's face was grave. He rubbed his eyes wearily.

“Well,” he said, “we'd best get back as quickly as we can.” He looked around him. “How are we getting off this island?” he asked.

As Bertie opened his beak to speak, he was interrupted by a sneering voice from behind.

“You're not going
anywhere.
” They turned round and saw Mephista standing before them, hands on her hips and a triumphant smile on her lips. Tanktop was at her side, sniggering. “And I'll have the tooth back, if you don't mind,” she added.

She stepped forward and snatched the tooth from Morag before she could do anything about it.

With a twisted smile, Mephista took a wand from her left sleeve and tapped it thoughtfully on her chin before she spoke again.

“You,” she said, pointing to the dragon. “You will make me a pretty penny at the market. Dragon meat is so rare these days.” She looked at the others. “I suppose I could make slaves of you, but that would really be too much trouble. No, I'll leave you to Kang. He can decide what to do with you.” To Montgomery, she added: “I was going to offer you up for ransom, but I heard you say Marnoch Mor is falling to pieces anyway, and the Queen is dead. We need a new kingdom, a better Queen. So why don't you join me and my father in creating a new Marnoch Mor? With your wisdom and my magic, just imagine what we could accomplish together!”

The wizard furrowed his brow and shook his head. “I will
never
join you,” he growled.

“Not even to save Marnoch Mor?” she said slyly.

The wizard flinched but did not answer.

“As you wish.” Mephista smirked. “Then you might as well be with your friends when I hand them over to the Girallons. Such a pity. I thought you had more ambition than that, Montgomery.”

She raised her wand and flicked it at them menacingly.

“Let's go. Back to the castle with you,” she said. “Come along, hurry up, I haven't got all night.”

“Do as she says,” Montgomery instructed.

Shona started to protest, but was silenced by a warning look from the wizard. Morag saw it and was puzzled.
Isn't he
even going to fight?
she wondered.
Is he so weakened that he is going to allow Mephista to hand us over to the Girallons?
Aldiss scrambled up onto her shoulder and hugged her neck, his soft fur tickling her skin. She stroked him gently, glad of his company, as she reluctantly followed the dragon.

Aldiss whispered to her as she pushed through the undergrowth. “Why aren't we trying to escape?”

“I know, it's not like Montgomery to give in like this,” she replied. Then she had a thought. “Get Bertie to create a distraction,” she whispered. “Don't ask me to explain. I've got a plan and I need your help. Trust me.”

The rat nodded. Without another word he scampered down her body and leapt onto the path. Soon he caught up with the dodo.

Mephista forced them on toward the castle. It was dark now and their only light came from the dull Moonstone Bertie had pulled from his satchel. He went in front, holding it up in his beak as high as he could. Perhaps this was why he did not see the tree root that tripped him and sent him crashing to the ground. Shona and Morag rushed to him immediately.

“What's going on?” barked Mephista. “Why have you stopped? Tanktop, go and see them.”

Morag heard the great lolloping strides of the Klapp demon as it hurried toward them, smelled its rank breath as it ran, and turned her head as it pushed her out of the way to get to the front of the small crowd.

“Stand!” Tanktop yelled at the bird.

“I can't move. My leg is broken,” Bertie squawked
pitifully. Mephista shoved through to the front and looked down at him.

“Get up, you stupid bird!” she demanded. She raised her wand angrily against the terrified dodo and … that was when it happened. Morag jumped up and snatched the wand out of the startled witch's hand and gave her a shove that sent her flying to the ground. It was a foul-tempered, glaring Mephista who pulled herself out of the mud and rose to her feet.

“How dare you!”
she hissed, brushing the dead leaves from her dress.

“Stay back!” Morag warned, waving the wand. “We're far enough out of the woods for this to work.”

“You don't know how to use that,” Mephista sneered. “Now give it back to me and I'll go a bit easier on you.”

“You're right. I don't know how to use this,” Morag admitted. She didn't take her eyes off Mephista. “But
he
does.” She handed it to Montgomery.

“No!” screeched Mephista.

Montgomery smiled, pointing the wand at her pocket where he had seen her slip the tooth. “Hand it over.”

Mephista folded her arms and pursed her lips. She glowered at him defiantly. Montgomery, in no mood to take any nonsense, flicked a small firebolt at her. It glanced off the ground near her feet in a bright shower of multicolored sparks. She did not flinch. He sent another, closer. This time she jumped.

“Give it to me, Mephista,” he said, and held out his hand.

At first it did not seem like the witch would obey, so Montgomery raised the wand at her once more. With a
disgruntled sigh, she slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out the tooth, throwing it at him. Montgomery caught it and passed it to Morag, who put it in the pocket of her dress.

“Well, Mephista, it looks like you are now
our
prisoner, you and the … Where's that Klapp demon?” he asked, searching the darkening forest. He sniffed, but no telltale dead fish smell could be detected on the wind. “He's probably headed back to the castle to alert the guards!” he said. He glanced around anxiously at Morag, Bertie, Aldiss and Shona and made a quick decision.

“We need to get off this island fast!” he said urgently. “You still haven't told me how we are getting off.”

“Kyle is waiting offshore in the
Sea Kelpie
,” said Morag.

Bertie showed him the small radio the fisherman had given him so he could tell their friend when they were ready to leave.

“I'll call him right now and get him to meet us,” he said. The radio crackled. “Where will he be able to pick us up? There's no jetty other than the one in front of the castle.”

Montgomery turned to Shona. “Is there a cove or somewhere out of sight of the castle where Kyle can bring his boat?”

“The island's changed a lot since I grew up here,” she replied. “But there's a place a few miles from here, back in the direction of Dragon's End.”

“Bertie, let's get him to meet us there,” Montgomery instructed. The dodo nodded and spoke into the radio.

“Now, Mephista,” said Montgomery. “There's something you must know about your father.…” But he got no
further. Suddenly he cried out in pain and crumpled to the ground.

“Montgomery?” Morag squealed. She knelt beside him as he contorted in agony. He moaned and his breathing became shallow.

“Aldiss, get me a light!” she cried.

The rat found the Moonstone and brought it over. Morag knelt in the cold earth and held Montgomery's weakening hand. When Aldiss held up the Moonstone he squeaked with shock. Even Mephista gasped. Montgomery's face had suddenly transformed into that of a tired old man, lined and pale. His normally dark and shining hair was white and falling out in clumps.

“What's the matter?” Bertie cried, dropping the radio on the grass and flapping over.

“Something's seriously wrong with Montgomery,” Morag replied, tears welling.

“It's the Eye.” The wizard's voice was thin and strained. “It's dying. And so am I. I … need … to get home. We need to be … together again.”

Morag looked at the others. The Eye was dying and now Montgomery's life was draining away before their eyes. But he was not the only one in peril. “Stay with him,” she said. “I have to go back to the castle.”

“Whatever for?” asked Bertie.

“I promised Chelsea she could come with us. I can't go without her, after all the help she's been.”

“But there's no time!” Bertie protested. “You'll have to leave her behind.”

“I can't just run away!” the girl sobbed.

“Morag, listen to me,” said Shona, shaking her by the shoulders. “You can either save Chelsea or you can save Montgomery. But there isn't time to save both. Go back to the castle and find Chelsea if you feel you have to. But there will be no home to take her to if Montgomery is dead when you get back. No home for her, you or us. Marnoch Mor will be gone.”

“Who are you going to save, Morag?” asked Aldiss after a pause.

Morag chewed her lip until it bled as she mulled one of the most difficult decisions of her young life.

“Help me get him to his feet,” she said eventually.

Although Shona was able to support him, it took Montgomery a great effort to rise from the ground and stand again. The attack had come so swiftly that it had drained all the energy from him. He was shaky, but able to straighten up after a few moments. His expression, in spite of the newly appeared wrinkles, relaxed a little. He managed a smile and nodded when Morag asked him if he was able to walk.

“We need to get away,” he said, “before the demon gets help.”

On seeing Morag's worried face, he added mysteriously: “You, of all people, mustn't worry. The pain has gone. I promise.”

The band of friends and their prisoner moved slowly through the dark forest, stumbling over large rocks and gnarled tree roots sticking out of the ground. They kept off the path in case they were seen by the Girallons, but stayed close to it so as not to get lost in the wood's eerie blackness. The hunting horn had sounded shortly after their departure from the clearing, and they knew it was only a matter of time before the Girallons appeared.

Aldiss scampered in front, followed by Bertie, who kept Mephista's wand firmly fixed on the flame-haired sorceress, while Shona and Morag held up Montgomery. Morag could feel him wince and twist as spasms of pain shot through his body.

After they had walked for half an hour, Aldiss waved them to a stop where the trees petered out into blackness.

“Wait! I can smell the sea,” he said.

“Is this really where we've to meet Kyle?” Bertie rasped at Shona.

Shona placed a claw firmly around Mephista's waist to stop her from trying to escape, and craned her neck to look around. The witch folded her arms and rolled her eyes. It was dark and it was hard to see anything in front of them.

“I can't be sure if this is the right spot,” the dragon said. “It feels different.”

A thin, eerie call came from somewhere in the woods behind them. It was closer now than before, and when Morag looked back between the trees she saw the tiny flickers of flaming torches a few miles away and felt sure she heard the sharp yelps of hunting dogs, slavering at the scent of their prey.

She looked at Montgomery. His eyes were closed and his lips tightly drawn but he was still breathing.

“It'll have to do,” she said, guiding the stricken wizard through the undergrowth in the direction of the cliffs. “Come on, let's go. We'll find a way down to the shore.”

With the others following, Morag led Montgomery into the damp undergrowth. Ferns, long grasses and trees sought to stop her, but although she was exhausted and cold, Morag was determined. Ignoring the heaviness of her legs, which were shaking with tiredness, she pushed on through the wet grass until the ground fell away from her and she stumbled onto a high ledge, about ten meters above
the sea. In the dull moonlight, she could just see the spiky waves smack against the foot of the cliff, throwing up wild froth and freezing spray.

As the others followed, Morag felt herself being pushed forward and it was all she could do to stop herself from toppling into the icy black waters below. She looked along the cliff side, searching out across the horizon, but saw nothing but a dark, troubled sea under a black sky.

“What if something's happened to Kyle?” Morag wondered out loud.

“Now, now, we mustn't worry about him,” hushed Bertie. “He won't let us down.”

The Girallons” hunting horn cut through the air again, closer this time, keener than before. Although she was still gripped by Shona, Mephista looked as if she had already won. “If I were you I'd worry about yourselves,” she said with a smirk.

“Look! There he is!” cried Aldiss, pointing.

A little way out, bobbing gently in the water, was the sanctuary of the
Sea Kelpie
.

Morag cried out with joy, but was cut short by Shona. “He's too far out,” she said. “There's no way to get to him.”