Zac and the Dream Stealers (16 page)

“I am growing a little tired of waking up with a headache,” said Tinn as Noelle untied him. He felt the bruise on his head. “Where are those goblins now?”

Noelle looked nervously at him. She produced the locator compass from her pocket. “I hope you ain't mad,” she said, “but I had to take it. I know you said you were the only one who could use it, but when they snatched you I didn't know what else I could do. So I snuck in and took it. I asked it how to rescue you. And it told me, Mr. Tinn! It worked! The compass told me to lead the goblins to the water, so that's just what I did, and they got eaten by the same demon that tried to have us for dinner!”

Tinn stared at her for a moment, then held out his hand. Noelle dutifully placed the compass back in his palm. He smiled proudly at her.

“Well I never,” he said. “You're a bit of a surprise, aren't you? Thank you, Noelle. Thank you for helping me.”

“Well,” she began thoughtfully, “I reckoned you'd do the same for me. I only wish I had more magic like yours.”

Tinn smiled. “Well, you do very well with your gift of invisibility,” he said. “And now you've shown you're special enough to work my compass, who knows what other talents we might uncover?”

“Yeah, but it must be great, having real magic powers. If I had magic like you've got, I'd have turned those goblins into slimy slugs and that would have been that.”

“It's not quite that simple,” chuckled Tinn. “Magic is not always the answer.”

“Why not? It seems pretty useful to me.”

“Well, you see, magic spills out from the Dream Plains — that's where it comes from — and it's shaped by imagination. To perform a spell correctly, you must have a clear picture in your head of what you want it to do. It requires extreme concentration, and it is unpredictable. It also saps your energy very quickly.”

Noelle arched her eyebrows. “Do you think I can do more, though? I mean, do you think I can do other magic as well as becoming invisible?”

“I think you have only begun to discover your magical talent,” said Tinn. “Although you would do well to remember that Knights judge others on how they choose to use their power, not by how much power they possess.”

“Will you teach me?” she said.

Tinn did not answer. He stood up and studied the dense forest surrounding them.

“Perhaps we need a little more light,” he said.

He clicked his fingers, and Noelle stumbled back, shielding her eyes from the dazzling fireball that had appeared in his hand.

“Ah, effective, isn't it? Now the way to create fire is —”

Thwack.

“What was that?” said Noelle. She peered at the ground, leaned over, and dislodged a large arrow from the earth.

Thwack, thwack, thwack!
Thwack!

Four more arrows were now lodged in the ground at their feet.

Noelle looked up. She screamed.

Dozens of pairs of huge green eyes were staring down at them from among the branches, all reflecting the fire in Tinn's hand.

“A goblin mob!” she said. “What do we do?”

Thwack! Thwick-thwick! Thwack!

Tinn pulled the locator compass from his beard again. “We ask for an escape route. Follow me!”

Zac shot a sideways glance at Granny. She hurriedly reattached her wand to her glasses, concealing it from the vampire.

“When you say you've been looking forward to tasting our blood, you mean to say that you've been expect-ing us?” she said.

Raven smiled, and Zac caught a glimpse of a huge set of fangs. He looked at Tom, who stared back, terrified.

“I was expecting only you, Mrs. Wonder,” said Raven. “The werewolves were meant to dispose of your friends in Port Town. No matter. I'll be happy to finish the job.”

“And what do you intend to do with me?” pressed Granny.

“A group of Dream Stealers arrived in the village this morning to collect you. I'll let them explain that to you.”

“What about us?” said Tom.

Raven flashed his fangs again. “Well, I'm sure you'll all be delicious.”

Tilly shrieked. Zac felt his throat closing over in fear.

Without warning, Cornelius lifted his arm and shot at Raven with a burst of magical fire, but the vampire vanished in a wisp of red mist and the spell hit the wall, leaving a scorching crack in the stone. Instantly, Raven reappeared, striking Cornelius across the face with the back of his hand, and the old man tumbled to his knees.

“The next person who tries anything like that will be dead before they hit the floor,” the vampire spat.

More footsteps echoed outside in the passage, and someone rapped on the door.

“Come,” said Raven, and the door swung open.

Zac gasped.

Four figures strode in, all cloaked in black. Their faces were hidden beneath terrifying silver skull masks, and their silver-plated arms crossed their chests. He'd seen an identical figure in the last dream he'd had in the Waking World!

Granny reached her arm around his shoulder and peered at him over her glasses. “It's OK, Zac,” she said softly.

She made to step forward.

“Oh, I wouldn't try anything stupid,” said Raven. “I'm just dying for an excuse to spill the blood of one of these children. Delectable, you know?”

He glanced hungrily at Zac, whose stomach did a somersault.

Tom and Tilly stepped protectively in front of him.

“How touching,” sneered Raven.

“Tom! Tilly! Stay still!” Cornelius yelled. “That's an order!”

Raven rolled his eyes. “Let's just get this over with, shall we?” he said. “This is Twist. He will escort you.”

He gestured to the tallest of the Dream Stealers, who stepped forward, removing his hideous mask to reveal a twisted face with lopsided eyes and a crooked nose.

“Mrs. Wonder,” said the lopsided man with a phony smile, “you will come with us. The leader of the Dream Stealers would very much like to meet you. She's gone to a lot of trouble to see that you end up here.” Then he turned his shifty eyes to Raven. “The rest are yours to pick at as you please.”

Zac looked at Granny, horror-struck. They couldn't take her away!

“I'll die before I leave my grandson,” said Granny stoutly.

“Mrs. Wonder, you are outmatched and outnumbered. We will remove you by force if we must.”

The other Dream Stealers stepped forward.

“Let me see,” said Granny, “there are six of us, four of you, and quite possibly dozens of vampires.” She shrugged. “I like our chances.”

Twist laughed. “I admire your courage, Mrs. Wonder, but you should count again. There are only five of you.”

Granny shot him a puzzled look. “What are you talking about?”

The Dream Stealer reached into his cloak, pulled out a large velvet bag, and tossed it across the room. It arched, just missing the ceiling, and fell neatly into the bony hands of Gideon Small. Gideon untied the end of the bag and looked inside.

“It's all there,” said Twist. “Five thousand teeth.”

Gideon nodded, ignoring the stunned faces of Cornelius, Granny, and the children, and took his place behind the Dream Stealers.

“Gideon,” said Cornelius, his eyes wide. “What's this?”

Twist snickered. “There are only five of you,” he said, “because
he
is with
us
.”

Noelle ran as fast as she could through the labyrinthine forest. Tinn was ahead, taking care every now and then to check the locator compass. They'd made so many twists and turns that Noelle was beginning to wonder if they were going in circles.

“This way,” shouted Tinn. He swung past a tree and headed up a steep slope, turning briefly to check on Noelle and what might be behind in the darkness. For a fleeting moment, fear clouded his face, then he composed himself.

“Noelle,” he said, “whatever you do, don't look back.”

After being warned explicitly not to do something, Noelle did what everyone else in the entire universe would do: exactly the opposite.

She immediately regretted it.

The goblin horde was gaining, panting like ravenous dogs, their eyes shining through the blackness like beacons of evil.

And then Noelle noticed something else, and terror gripped every part of her.

Some of them were wearing human skins.

She'd heard stories about how goblins liked to keep the skins of their human victims as trophies. Her stomach heaved, and though her lungs burned and her legs ached, she forced herself to run faster.

Thwack!

Something walloped violently into a tree beside her.

“More arrows!” she said. “Mr. Tinn! They're firing at us again.”

Thwack, thwack, thwack!

Three arrows narrowly missed her.

Tinn, a few paces ahead, wheeled around, the fireball in his hand reflected in his eyes.

“What're you doin'?” screamed Noelle. “They'll catch you!”

“Keep running!” said Tinn.

Noelle passed the old man, who headed back toward their pursuers. Arrows rained down on him as he walked, but none seemed to find their mark. Noelle slowed. A choking feeling rose in her throat. She couldn't leave him. She stayed rooted to the spot as Tinn stood his ground.

He threw his hands in the air, and Noelle felt the wind pick up in answer to his spell. It whistled through the trees, and the fallen leaves at her feet began to swirl. As the leaves blew in the air, they gathered together, forming a huge shape — the shape of a man! Tinn had conjured up a giant, and now he stood at its feet, the wind whipping through his beard. As the goblins approached, Tinn pointed forward, and the leaf man began to charge, thundering through the darkness.

The giant collided with the horde. Leaves flew and goblins screamed.

Tinn dropped to his knees. Noelle ran to him and helped him stand.

“You OK?” she asked.

“I'm fine,” replied Tinn breathlessly. “But there's no time for talking. We have only seconds before —”

Thwack!

From nowhere, an arrow plunged into the old man's back.

Noelle screamed in horror as Tinn slumped against her, shock etched into the deep lines of his face. They fell to the ground together.

“Mr. Tinn! Oh, Mr. Tinn.”

“Run,” he whispered. “Take the locator compass . . . it will lead you out of goblin country.”

Hot, stinging tears filled Noelle's eyes, and she could taste them as they ran down her face. He couldn't die. Not now. She looked sternly at him.

“I ain't leaving you,” she said. “No way. We got this far together, and we're gonna get out together.”

She wrapped his arm around her shoulder and heaved, struggling under his weight.

“Noelle,” he said, “I don't know how far I can go.”

“Just a little farther, Mr. Tinn, I can feel it. Come on, I'll help you.”

She glanced at the arrow sticking out from his shoulder. A spreading bloodstain soaked his white robes.

“Shouldn't we pull that out?” she asked.

“We don't have time,” Tinn said. “Let's get moving. We can take care of that later.” He sparked another fireball in his hand, but this one was much smaller and dimmer than before, and it only partially lit the way. When they reached another clearing in the forest, they stopped to catch their breath. A thick layer of cloud lay heavily across the sky.

“Which way?” said Noelle.

“The compass,” wheezed Tinn. “Here, ask it.”

He thrust the small copper instrument into her hand.

“Which way to escape?” she asked. The little dial pointed straight ahead. Noelle looked at Tinn. She knew that he wanted her to take the compass and run, but she still gave it back. They began to move again.

“Noelle,” he said, struggling for breath, “thank you.”

She smiled kindly at him. “You know, Mr. Tinn, it's strange, but I reckon I was meant to meet you.”

“Really?” said Tinn, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. I mean, all those years I was trapped by the Dream Stealers, I think I was meant to wait and help you, and maybe you were sent to help me.”

“Such things wouldn't surprise me, Noelle. I for one am very glad that we met.”

“Mr. Tinn?”

“Yes, Noelle?”

“I want you to know that I believe what you said about the Knights. They ain't just a fairy tale, they're real.”

“Ah, so I have made a believer of you?”

“You bet. I'd give anything to be a Knight, and I ain't just sayin' that, honest. You said I only know a little bit of what I can do. So you gotta teach me the rest, right?”

A tremulous smile broke across his face. “You don't give up easily, do you?”

“Nope.”

“First of all, we must get out of here,” continued Tinn. “Then we'll see about your training.”

Noelle grinned. From somewhere behind them came the distant sound of goblins chanting.

“We should try to move faster,” she said, taking more of the old man's weight.

Tinn groaned with the effort, and they hurried on, the cries of the goblins growing louder behind them.