Curse of the Dream Witch (10 page)

Olivia looked Leo in the eye. ‘I don’t need saving, and certainly not by the likes of you.’

‘In fact, she needs saving
from
you,’ said Ephemia.

Leo’s eyes bulged. ‘It talks.’

The spunky mouse puffed up her chest. ‘
It
has a name and the name is Ephemia. I can do more than talk, too, in case you’ve forgotten.’

Leo raised a boot. ‘Another word and I’ll squish you.’

Milo picked up a pebble the size of a rock. ‘Stay where you are.’

‘Who are you to tell me what to do?’

‘The best aim in the county. Take another step and I’ll bop you.’

‘So you’re Olivia’s knight in not-so-shiny armour, are you?’ Leo sneered. ‘Little Sir Corn Cob?’

‘He’s a friend,’ Olivia said. ‘Treat him with respect.’

‘Oh, of course,’ Leo mocked. ‘How else to treat a peasant who broke into your chamber to steal you for the Dream Witch?’ He looked back at Milo. ‘How much is the witch paying you to betray the princess? What’s your reward?’

‘We might ask the same of you,’ Ephemia declared.

‘I’m a prince,’ Leo said. ‘I get what I want and always will. I don’t need rewards.’

‘How many others came with you?’ Milo demanded. ‘Where are they?’

‘It’s none of your business, but I came alone.’

‘You? Alone?’ Olivia frowned. ‘That’s hard to believe.’

‘How dare you question my valour? I’m Crown Prince of Pretonia!’

‘Yes, and you run from castle ghosts,’ Ephemia laughed. She put on her phantom voice, ‘’Tis I, Weaselkins, the Headless Hunchback of Horning!’

‘That was you?’ Leo flashed his sword.

Milo gripped his rock.

‘Enough,’ Olivia exclaimed. ‘This is no time to fight. The witch’s world can turn upside down in a second. So – both of you – put down your weapons. Now.’

The boys looked from Olivia to each other and back again. Then, wary as foxes, they disarmed.

‘Now, Leo, the truth,’ Olivia said. ‘Where are your troops?’

‘Back at the castle probably,’ Leo said. ‘I led some cavalry into the forest. But when we reached the witch’s cottage, we were attacked by demons. My men abandoned me. I hid behind the door of teeth.’

‘And got swallowed into this underworld,’ Olivia said.

‘Yes,’ Leo nodded. ‘I’ve no idea where I’ve been or how I got here. Things came at me out of nowhere. Then I heard your voices. And here I am.’

‘So, you
are
a liar. You didn’t show up to save the princess,’ Milo scoffed.

Leo hung his head. He hoped it passed for shame, for he realised that if he was going to destroy Olivia’s pysanka he had to gain their trust. And there’s nothing like truth with a dash of guile to grease the wheels of treachery.

‘It’s true,’ Leo choked. ‘I’m no hero. I’m a coward. A bully. A miserable failure.’ With great effort, he squeezed out a tear.

Olivia’s heart melted on cue. ‘Please don’t cry.’

‘Why not?’ Leo helped himself to a sniffle and sank onto a giant mushroom cap. ‘I was raised to be King of Pretonia: A warrior, hard and cruel. Well, now I have my reward. I’m alone, without a friend in the world. I don’t deserve any. In fact, I don’t deserve to live. Ask anyone. Even my father.’ He broke into sobs. To his surprise, some of them were real.

Milo turned away in embarrassment.

Ephemia wiped her eyes with her tail. ‘You poor, poor boy.’

Olivia ran and knelt by the prince; his stink was overwhelming, but it wasn’t the time to be unkind. ‘We didn’t get off to a good start,’ she said. ‘But I know what it’s like to feel trapped in a life that isn’t your own.’

‘You understand?’

Olivia struggled to find the right words. ‘Deep inside, I know you can’t be nearly as horrible as you seem.’

‘Thank you,’ Leo wept. ‘So, you forgive me?’

‘What else
can
I do?’

Leo kissed her hand.

Olivia wiped it on the back of her coat and turned to Ephemia and Milo. ‘What do you say? Prince Leo needs our help and can help us in return. Can we let bygones be bygones?’

‘Of course,’ Ephemia said. ‘As long as we keep our eyes open.’

‘Milo?’

Milo wanted to spit. Instead, he shrugged. ‘Sure. Why not? He’s got a sword at least.’

‘Good,’ Olivia said. So now –’

But before she could ask which way they should go, the company heard a delicate whirr in the air over by a stand of tulips. Then silence.

‘What was it?’ she whispered. ‘What
is
it?’

Leo frowned. ‘There’s nothing there but those flowers.’

‘But I heard something.’

‘So did I,’ Ephemia said.

Olivia squinted hard, but whatever it was seemed invisible.

Milo glanced at Leo. ‘Shall we take a look?’

Leo shook his head so fast it nearly flew off his shoulders. ‘If there’s something there, we should leave it alone.’

‘Whatever it is, it’s watching us,’ Olivia said. ‘I can feel it.’

‘I feel it too,’ Milo nodded. He took a step towards the tulips. ‘Who’s there?’

Whatever it was stayed still.

‘You three stay here,’ Milo said. ‘I’m going to investigate.’

‘Let me,’ Ephemia offered. ‘I’m smaller.’

Milo shook his head. ‘You need to protect Olivia.’

‘Oh really? I’m not a baby,’ Olivia shot back. ‘If there’s danger, I need to take my share.’

‘There’s enough danger here for all of us,’ Milo said. ‘This one’s on me.’

‘Yes, this one’s on him,’ Leo agreed, and dived under the mushroom cap.

‘So much for brave Pretonian princes,’ Ephemia muttered.

Milo picked up his rock and approached the giant tulips. Thick, green leaves thrust out of the ground, rising halfway up the mighty stalks before collapsing backwards under their own weight. Dewdrops the size of bowling balls clung to their surface. Towering above the leaves, massive cups of red petals perched at the tips of the stalks, every tip a perfect lookout.

Milo peered up at the flower heads, searching for a sign of the unseen presence. Nothing: every petal was perfectly in place. His neck prickled. Whatever was spying on him wasn’t watching from above. It was over by a leaf to his right.

Two droplets on the leaf caught his eye. At a glance, they looked like all the others, each as big as his head. But instead of being clear, they were a pale green.

Milo realised, to his horror, that the droplets weren’t droplets at all. They were eyes on a monstrous green head, camouflaged against the leaf. Milo stared as the creature’s hideous shape emerged. Now he could see the long green body. The grisly mandibles. The spiked forelegs raised as if in prayer.

Milo struggled to stay calm. ‘It’s a giant praying mantis.’ 

The mantis flickered its papery wings.

‘Stay absolutely still,’ Ephemia warned. ‘If you move it’ll strike.’

‘Talk to it,’ Olivia whispered urgently. ‘Make it leave us alone.’

‘I can’t,’ Ephemia said, eyes riveted on the mantis. ‘Meat-eaters don’t listen when they’re hungry.’

‘Leo,’ Olivia begged. ‘Help us.’

Leo shrank behind the fungal stem. ‘How?’

‘Wave your sword.’

‘And draw attention? Are you crazy?’

‘Then give your sword to me.’

‘No.’

‘Fine, be that way,’ Olivia said. She slipped off her cloak, and held it in front of her. ‘Milo, I’m going to make a distraction. When I say Go—’

Too late. The mantis pounced. Milo was hurled to the ground. He smashed the rock on the insect’s mandibles. It reared in fury.

Olivia roared forward waving her cloak. The mantis twisted its head to the flapping cloth. It flew to attack the intruder. Olivia unfurled her cloak to protect herself. The mantis caught it in its claws and tossed it towards a jungle of weeds. A flash of silver fell from the pocket.

‘The pysanka!’ Ephemia cried, as the mantis toppled Olivia. It held her fast, one foreleg on her chest, the other on her stomach.

Milo jumped on its back and pounded its steely thorax. The mantis ignored him and prepared to chew off Olivia’s head.

At that moment, something huge jumped under the boughs of the peony bush. A long red carpet shot through the air and lashed around the mantis’ abdomen. In a flash, the force threw Milo off the insect’s thorax and tore Olivia from its grasp. The mantis snapped back under the bush.

‘What was that?’ Olivia gasped.

The visitor leapt forward. It was the biggest frog she’d ever seen. Bits of the mantis clung to its rubbery lips. Its glassy eyes extended out of their sockets and shoved the leftovers down its throat. Then it blinked blankly, gave a satisfied croak, and hopped away.

Leo scrambled out from under the mushroom. ‘Well done,’ he said. ‘I guess we showed that mantis who was boss.’

Ephemia ignored him. ‘Olivia, your pysanka. When the mantis tossed your cloak, it fell out of your pocket. I saw the silver case.’

Leo pricked up his ears. ‘Where did it land?’

‘In those weeds, by the grove of dandelions.’

If ever there was a time to destroy Olivia’s talisman, this was it, and Leo knew it. He imagined the Dream Witch’s treasures pouring down around him; heard the cheers of the court; saw the pride in his father’s eyes.
I’ll never be mocked again
, he thought.
The world will do as I say.

Leo ran to the giant weeds and swung his sword at a sprawl of crabgrass. Olivia and Milo scrambled in his wake. Together they dodged the toppling purple seed heads, pausing only for Leo to sneeze and itch.

Ephemia suffered no such delay. She zipped over and under the jungle of stems. The dandelions were just beyond the next rock.

‘Over here,’ the mouse squeaked. She leapt on the stone. ‘Oh no.’

Leo, Olivia and Milo carved through the undergrowth.

‘What is it?’ Olivia demanded.

‘There, where your pysanka landed . . .’ Ephemia pointed to a hole, six-feet wide, that descended deep into the ground. A few feet below the surface, thick dandelion taproots broke through the earthen side and dangled like vines into the subterranean dark.

Olivia ran to the opening. ‘How are we to get the pysanka out of this hole?’

‘Stay back,’ Ephemia cried. ‘It isn’t an ordinary hole.’

‘What is it then?

‘A mole’s burrow.’

Olivia leapt back. ‘But moles are tiny,’ she gasped.

‘Not in this world.’ 

Olivia’s palms went moist; her flesh crawled. She’d first seen a mole when she was three, playing in the castle garden with the servants’ children. The mole had poked its little head out of a hole in the grass and quickly disappeared. Olivia had laughed at the sight of its furry snout, teeny red eyes, and clownish paws.

The royal gardener, a rough-hewn stump of a man, hadn’t been so amused; he’d cursed the pest who’d potted his carefully tended lawn, and thrust his spade into the earth. Olivia’s heart filled with pity that the creature might have been killed, but her pity soon turned to terror. The gardener had unearthed the vermin’s pantry, a tiny cave it had hollowed out and filled with worms and beetles. They all looked dead, but the gardener knew better.

‘These poor things fell into Mr Mole’s burrows. He freezed ’em with a poison in his spit. Then he dragged ’em to his larders to feed on at his pleasure. That’s right, little Princess, he eats ’em alive. Slowly. Bit by bit.’

Olivia pictured a giant mole.
What if it does that to us?
she wondered.

‘Milo and I can take care of this,’ Leo said gallantly.

Milo gave him a funny look. ‘You want to brave danger?’

‘Indeed,’ Leo said slyly. ‘I need to prove myself worthy of your company.’

‘There’s hope for you yet,’ Ephemia exclaimed.

‘But
I
should go,’ Olivia insisted. ‘It’s my pysanka.’

‘No. You helped with the mantis. Me, I need to redeem myself,’ Leo said.

‘He’s right,’ Ephemia agreed. ‘You mustn’t deny him. It would be cruel. You and I can help from above. We’ll hide under that dandelion leaf and guard the burrow entrance, in case some creature comes sniffing.’

‘Please?’ Leo wheedled. He put on his best pleading face, the one he used to lure milkmaids close enough for a pinch.

‘All right,’ Olivia said. ‘But if there’s trouble, I’ll be there.’

Leo and Milo lowered their legs down the burrow. Each grabbed a taproot, tested his weight, and began the descent, as if rappelling down a rope.

Milo was faster. In fact, he was soon so much further down that he wondered if Leo had returned to the surface. He looked up and saw Leo’s feet. The prince kicked the side of the burrow. Loose dirt fell into Milo’s face. He coughed, swinging blindly on the vine.

‘You idiot,’ he exclaimed, wiping his eyes with a forearm. ‘I could have broken my neck.’

‘Sorry,’ Leo lied. ‘I’ve never climbed down a mole hole before.’ His breath caught in his throat. ‘Look. Do you see that sparkle?’

Milo squinted. Not twelve feet below, the silver sheath of the pysanka lay glinting on the ground. His heart pounded with excitement and fear. ‘We’ve reached the floor of the burrow. I can see tunnels opening in three directions.’

A low, snuffling sound echoed out of the dark. Milo held his breath. He heard steps, padding up the tunnel, and the sucking of lips and spit, the chitter of teeth.

He tried to scramble up the root. ‘Quick, Leo! The mole! It’s coming!’

‘Not for me,’ Leo smiled and sliced Milo’s vine with his sword.

Milo tumbled to the ground. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Why, waiting for the mole to carry you away, stupid. There’s only room for one hero in this story. You, my friend, are an accident paving my way to glory.’

The vermin pounced. It clutched Milo in its scaly paws.

Milo saw its snout. He smelled its breath. He fainted.

Leo watched the mole drag Milo away to its larder. Then he slid down and grabbed the pysanka. He wanted to pry open the silver case and smash the egg then and there. But what if other moles were lurking? Why risk becoming a vermin’s lunch?

Leo slipped the talisman inside his breastplate and shimmied up the vine, determined to smash the egg when he was out of the burrow and alone. As he neared the surface, he planned a simple story.

‘Help!’ he shrieked as he climbed over the lip of the burrow. ‘Help!’

Olivia and Ephemia ran out from under the dandelion leaf.

‘What’s the matter?’ Olivia cried. ‘Where’s Milo?’

‘Milo! Poor Milo!’ Leo wailed. ‘The mole! It was terrible!’

Olivia grabbed him by the shoulders. ‘What happened?’

Leo howled piteously. Olivia slapped his face to bring him to his senses. Leo almost slapped her back, but remembered he was supposed to be in shock.

‘W-we reached the bottom of the hole,’ he stammered. ‘The p-pysanka was nowhere to be seen. We searched down one of the tunnels. The m-mole surprised us. It grabbed Milo in its claws.’

Olivia clutched her chest. ‘Oh no.’

 ‘Oh, yes, Princess. Milo is dead. I saw him in the vermin’s grip. I saw it drag him off to its larder.’

Without thinking, Olivia dropped to the ground and swung her legs over the hole.

‘What are you doing?’ Ephemia gaped.

‘Going for Milo, what do you think?’

Leo blinked. ‘But he’s dead.’

‘You don’t know that. You only saw him carried away. Maybe I can save him.’

‘From the mole’s larder?’ Ephemia gasped. ‘You’ll only get
yourself
killed as well.’

Leo’s mind raced; the witch would not be amused if Olivia’s heart was eaten by a mole. ‘Your mouse is right,’ he said. ‘Would Milo want you risking your life for him? Think of your friend – and those children trapped in the witch’s spice grinders. You need to stay alive to rescue them. Don’t be selfish.’

‘I can’t help it,’ Olivia said. ‘I can’t leave my friend to be eaten alive. I just
can’t
!’

‘Then let me go in your place,’ Ephemia pleaded.

‘No. People have gone in my place too often already. Besides, I’d be left alone with
that
one.’ She glanced at the prince. ‘Sorry, Leo, but I don’t exactly trust you.’ She grabbed a tap root. ‘Wish me luck.’

Ephemia raised a paw. ‘Olivia—’

But the princess was already sliding down the root-vine.