Alfie Bloom and the Talisman Thief (2 page)

“Ashford! Look out!”

Another figure had appeared in the doorway: a woman. She was tall, with a coldness to her
angular
features, and she stood with a bow raised to her shoulder. Ashford hadn't seen her; his face was turned up towards Amy. Alfie joined Amy in screaming and pointing towards the door. Ashford turned and two of the men leapt at him, trying to pin him down. He fought his way out of their grip, but it was too late. The second his eyes met those of the woman at the door, she released her arrow. It tore through his clothes and thudded into his shoulder, the sheer force of it knocking him to the ground.

“No!” Alfie and Amy screamed as one. Alfie ripped the spear from his dad's hand and hurtled down the stairs, screaming at the top of his lungs, his dad and Amy following close behind.

A sack was pulled over Ashford's head as his attackers dragged him towards the doorway where the woman with the bow stood, her pale face lit up with cruel delight.

“Stop! Leave him alone!” Alfie yelled, hurling the spear in fury. It clattered uselessly to the ground behind the intruders as they disappeared through the door. He leapt down the last few steps and charged across the hallway.

“Alfie, wait!” called his dad, but then he let out a cry of pain. Alfie looked back to see him tumbling
over
the armour that littered the stairs. Amy stopped to pull him to his feet as Alfie sprinted out into the courtyard, leaving them behind,

The oak was lit up again with the weird blue light. This time Alfie could see that it was coming from a gaping hole in the tree's trunk – it was some kind of portal. Ashford's captors stepped through into the light, dragging Ashford with them.

“Stop!” Alfie shouted as he ran. He reached the tree just in time to see Ashford's feet disappearing through the portal. With barely a thought, Alfie thrust his arms into the light. It felt cool and rippled like water around his arms as he grabbed hold of what felt like a leather waistcoat. He planted his foot against the tree trunk and pulled as hard as he could, staggering back as a figure emerged. It was the woman who had shot Ashford. She was smiling, her beautiful green eyes glittering with malice as she grabbed his wrists in a vice-like grip and twisted until he let go of her clothing. Alfie cried out in pain, struggling to free himself.

“Get off him!” screamed Amy, racing towards them. Alfie's dad followed, limping badly. Just as Alfie's wrists felt like they were about to snap, the woman released her grip with a cry of rage. Amy had batted one of her baseballs through the air to
smash
into her cheek. A purple bruise blossomed instantly on the woman's luminous white skin. She snarled something at Alfie in a language he didn't understand. Amy threw herself on to the woman like a wildcat but was swept aside with an effortless blow that hurled her across the courtyard. The woman turned and stepped back into the tree.

“Alfie, stop!” called his dad as Alfie lunged towards the portal.

He could barely see anything through the light that suddenly surrounded him. He tried to take a step forwards, but his dad's hands grabbed at the back of his pyjamas and he felt himself being dragged back out of the tree.

“No!” he screamed, straining to move forwards, the portal crackling around his ears as his legs were pulled back into the night air. “We've got to stop them taking Ashford!”

He could hear his dad and Amy screaming his name as he held on to the sides of the portal and struggled against their grip, willing all the strength he could muster into his arms. Straining to pull himself forwards, his fingers appeared to twist into claws, and scales ran up his arms, just like in his dream. Was the portal doing this to him?

As he tried to blink away the image, a figure
materialized
through the blinding light. It was the sharp-faced man who had threatened Ashford. His cold eyes were emotionless as he stared down at Alfie. His foot snapped out to kick Alfie in the chest, sending him flying back through the portal, where he landed in a heap on top of his dad and Amy. Struggling to catch his breath, Alfie watched the portal shrink back into a long blue line before its light winked out completely.

Staggering to his feet, he frantically pounded his fists on the bark, but the portal was gone. And so was Ashford.

The Stolen Lens

Alfie gazed at the threadbare arm of the sofa he had slumped on to – each loose thread jarringly clear. They had gathered in the Abernathy Room, in which Alfie's dad had recreated the living room of their flat in Abernathy Terrace. Their old furniture felt comfortingly familiar now.

It hurt each time Alfie took a breath but the shock of Ashford being torn from them was more painful than his bruised chest and wrists. Amy was sitting next to him and his dad was holding an ice pack to her eye, which had already started to swell.

“Are you OK, Dad?” Alfie asked, breaking the
numb
silence they had fallen into since the portal closed.

“I'll live.” His dad left the ice pack with Amy and limped painfully over to his armchair. “But what have I told you about leaving things on the stairs?” Alfie couldn't even muster a smile at his dad's weak attempt to lighten the mood.

“Are you going to call the police?” asked Amy.

“That's what I'm trying to figure out. What would we tell them?”

Alfie knew his dad was right. Caspian Bone, their strange solicitor, had worked some kind of magic over the whole village – no one remembered that a dragon had nearly destroyed the town before Christmas. Inspector Wainwright would think they were nuts if they told him that Ashford had been dragged through a magic portal in the oak tree.

The old brass telephone in the hall began to ring. Alfie jumped to his feet, glad of an excuse to get out of the room, which seemed to be closing in around him. Crossing the silver shafts of moonlight cast down into the entrance hall through the landing windows, he picked up the receiver. A sweet voice spoke with a serious tone.

“Alfie, it's Emily Fortune, senior administrator
at
Muninn and Bone. Our ravens have told us what has happened. Don't try to follow Ashford. Close the doors and keep out of the courtyard until the phone rings three times. Caspian Bone is sending a carriage for you.”

Emily's voice made Alfie feel calmer. Caspian might be odd but Alfie was sure he would know just what to do in a situation like this.

Thanking Emily, Alfie put down the receiver and noticed his cat, Galileo, prowling the area where Ashford had been attacked. He was sniffing the ground, hackles raised as he emitted a low growl.

“It's OK, boy.” Alfie reached down to stroke him, but Galileo slipped out from under his fingers, crouching low to the ground as he darted outside, following a scent to the courtyard.

“Leo! Get back here.” Galileo was sniffing around the tree. Alfie called again but the cat paid no attention to him. After pretending to close the large castle door several times Alfie gave up and closed it completely. He guessed Galileo would be able to look after himself.

“Caspian is sending a carriage,” said Alfie as he rejoined his dad and Amy. “We've got to stay inside until the phone rings.”

“
In case they come back?” asked Amy. “Do you think they will?”

“I don't know. They wanted something from Ashford. I think they've taken him to get it for them.”

“What if he refuses?”

Alfie didn't reply. He didn't want to think about the danger Ashford was in.

Twenty minutes later the phone rang three times. “That's the signal. Come on.” Alfie hooked his arm around his dad and helped him limp to the door.

Amy's jaw actually dropped as she saw a polished black coach sitting in the courtyard. Alfie recognized it as the very one that had taken him and his dad to Muninn and Bone's offices nearly a year ago, where he had first learnt he was to inherit Hexbridge Castle. Six midnight-black horses steamed in the moonlight as they stamped on the cobbles.

Johannes the driver nodded to them. The coach door clicked open. Two short, stocky, bearded men in leather overalls and stout boots jumped out and grabbed a heavy black bag from the back of the coach. They dragged it towards the oak and then circled the tree, tapping it and scratching their beards while making tutting noises.

Leaving
the two men to examine the tree, Alfie climbed into the velvet darkness of the carriage, followed by his dad and Amy. He felt out of place in the elegant interior and wished he had changed out of his pyjamas first.

“You are hurt.”

They jumped as a voice sounded from the shadows. The oil lamps in the carriage dramatically flared to life to reveal Caspian Bone sitting opposite them. “Your injuries will be tended to at our offices.”

“Caspian!” cried Alfie, his chest hurting as he shouted out with relief to see the solicitor. “Someone took Ashford. They dragged him into that portal thing in the oak tree. We've got to get him back!”

“They shot him with an arrow,” burst out Amy. “They were really tall and strong; we couldn't stop them.”

“I didn't know whether to call the police,” said Alfie's dad. “I mean, what would we say? What
could
we say?”

Caspian listened to their wild ranting in impassive silence, and then rapped the wall behind him with a black-and-silver cane. The coach began to move. “Your police cannot be of help. I will deal
with
this matter alone.” Over Caspian's clipped tones Alfie could hear the horses clatter over the drawbridge, their hooves pounding the ground as they galloped down the hill. As they reached full speed the coach tilted back as though the horses had leapt into the air and were galloping into the sky. He noticed Amy straining to see through the black glass windows.

“Are we fly—” began Amy.

“Not important,” interrupted Caspian. He twitched his head back to Alfie, who noticed Amy raise an eyebrow at being cut off so sharply. “The talisman – is it safe?”

Alfie pulled it from his pyjamas and showed the solicitor.

“Good. They still think it is at our offices. We have arranged for the oak to be bound with iron so that the elves cannot return through that portal while we negotiate Ashford's return.”

“Wait …
elves
?” asked Alfie. “Those people were elves? Are you serious?”

“Do I ever joke?”

Alfie thought that would be too much to hope for.

Amy's other eyebrow joined the first as Caspian casually confirmed the existence of a supposedly
mythical
race. “What did they want from Ashford?” she asked.

“I suppose it serves no purpose to keep the information from you now that they have found him again.”

Alfie was even more surprised that Caspian was about to give him some answers than he was about the revelation that elves exist.

“The lens in the talisman,” continued the solicitor. “They wanted it back.”

“My talisman?” asked Alfie, automatically reaching for the golden disc hanging from his neck. He ran his thumb over the spiralling runes that encircled the purple lens fixed into its centre.

“Alfie's talisman belonged to the elves?” asked his dad.

“Not the talisman itself – the lens that sits within it. It is made from a rare gemstone, one of a kind. It can focus and control other powers and energies. The lens was designed to focus the powers of a crown the Queen of the elves had been developing for centuries. She intended to use it to expand her realm, enslaving other tribes and races. An elf close to her warned us of their plans and my partner, Mr Muninn, enlisted Ashford – a
talented
thief who was duty-bound to us – to take it from them. Ashford agreed when he heard that the druid Orin Hopcraft needed a lens such as this to create a talisman – the talisman that controls the magic he hid within you, Alfie. When Ashford returned, we sent the lens back to Orin. Much as I detest thieves, I will acknowledge that this theft saved many lives, as well as protecting yours. But it appears that the elves never gave up hope of retrieving the lens. How they found Ashford, I do not know.”

“Ashford stole it … for
me
?” said Alfie, holding the talisman tightly in his fist. “He didn't even know me!” The only thing that had been making him feel a bit better was the fact that the kidnapping wasn't related to his inheritance, and now Caspian was telling him that it was. He could hardly breathe.

“Believe me when I tell you that it was as much in his own interest as yours.”

“Are you saying that you sent a wanted thief to work for us?” asked Alfie's dad incredulously.

“Yes,” said Caspian coldly. “But a thief who has pledged his loyalty to your family. You may trust him completely.”

It wasn't like Caspian to praise Ashford. Alfie
had
always suspected there was some unspoken history or rivalry between the two.

“Why is the talisman so important to them? Enough to half kill him for!”