ISOF (23 page)

‘Where?' Mak asked with a wink at Ben. ‘We've only met three ravishing creatures that gave Ben the glad eye!'

‘They're sirens,' explained the girl. ‘Didn't you hear tunes, music that made you feel elated, so happy to be alive?'

‘Well, yes,' began Ben.

‘Exactly,' said the girl. ‘What you saw and heard were illusions, images and sounds to make you want to stay. And then, before long…'

The girl shook her head sadly. Ben, seeing that the girl was becoming upset, touched her arm.

‘We're fine now,' he said encouragingly. ‘Even Trep's OK, but that's mainly because he didn't see or hear anything with his head stuck under a pillow.'

‘So how did we…?' Noj started to ask.

‘The bell,' interrupted the girl. ‘The bell chimes reality. It was the only way to rid your sense of those lies.' She smiled at Ben. ‘You would have become their obedient slaves, happy to do their bidding.'

‘They are rather beautiful,' said Mak with a shrug.

The girl turned angrily towards him.

‘They are centuries old and literally suck the life-force out of young girls.' She snapped. ‘That would have happened to me too if I had been a little older. I was locked away in that building until I was of an age that was of vantage to those creatures.'

Suddenly, the girl pointed urgently towards the buildings. ‘Talking of creatures,' she cried.

Instantly, all eyes were looking at three, ragged beauties bearing down upon them with some urgency.

The girl looked at the boat, which was still some way from the shore. ‘Please, hurry,' she implored the vessel.

‘You're crazy,' said Trep harshly. ‘That's an inanimate object, it can't understand what you say.'

‘For someone with many seasons written on his face, you have harvested very little knowledge,' replied the girl passively.

Noj placed his arm across Trep's chest.

‘Enough with the exchange of pleasantries,' he said firmly. ‘But we have more urgent matters to attend to.' He indicated the three girls hurrying forwards. ‘For instance, avoiding a confrontation with those three charmers.'

The three faces, once so beautiful, were now ridged with fury. As they hurried forward, a strange thing happened. Almost with every step, their faces appeared beautiful one moment and then spinning around to reveal faces ravaged with age.

The boys stared in amazement. Beauty one instant and the next, three faces that seemed to have the hatred of humanity etched into their features. The three heads changed constantly, leaving their observers mesmerised.

Fearing what might happen if they stood and waited for the three girls to arrive, the girl pushed the others into the lake and then jumped in herself and began to swim towards the rapidly nearing boat.

Noj, being the taller and by far the strongest swimmer, reached the boat first and helped each of the others into the vessel. Mak was the last to arrive at the boat and had to be hauled aboard by his breeches. He lay in the bottom of the boat gasping for air.

Meanwhile, the three creatures now stood at the edge of the lake, each with their hands raised high above their head. For a moment, nothing happened. The creatures stood motionless, their faces full of fury and hatred. Suddenly, the wind seemed to intensify dramatically, causing the little boat to rock violently as each wave hurtled into the boat with force.

Clinging to the gunwales of the boat, Ben appealed to Noj.

‘Do something, for goodness sake, before we are drowned or worse!'

Without a word, Noj raised his walking stick and fired a thunderbolt into the air just above the heads of the creatures standing on the shoreline. Instantly, the wind subsided and the waves returned to something resembling normality for a lake.

‘Now,' yelled Noj. ‘Row for all you are worth before they recover.'

Mak was the first to state the obvious.

‘We can't,' he replied. ‘There aren't any oars.'

It was the girl who spoke into the despair that filled the boat.

‘The boat comes when beckoned by the bell,' she explained. ‘There is no-one to steer nor row.'

‘So what…' began Mak.

‘We get wet,' replied the girl and immediately flung her arm over the side of the boat and began paddling. ‘Come on then, don't sit there letting a girl do all the work!'

Five pairs of arms worked frenetically at trying to propel the boat towards the distant shoreline. It wasn't a moment too soon, as the three creatures had recovered from their surprise at the earlier explosion of thunder and once more raised their arms into the air, causing the wind and waves to batter the boat once again.

After a few moments the girl's words proved to be true, as everyone was thoroughly soaked through to the skin. It seemed that the harder they paddled the more intense the wind and waves buffeted the boat.

With the waves clawing at their faces and threatening to tear the boat apart, the group dug desperately into the water to move the boat ever nearer the relative safety of the shore.

‘Come on,' yelled Noj above the roar of the wind and waves. ‘We're nearly...'

His last words were drowned out as a huge wave crashed over the boat and, with a heart-wrenching screech, the boat yielded to the superior force and scattered itself over the surface of the lake. Already soaked, the ice-cold water still took their breath away as the occupants of the boat were flung into the seething water. Nobody had any other thought or care than to reach dry land and escape the clutches of the lake.

After swallowing copious amounts of water in their efforts to swim, five bodies finally lay facedown on the scree that formed the meeting point between the mountains above and the lake below.

Ben, his lungs aching, turned over onto his back and looked across the lake at the three creatures standing menacingly on the far shore.

‘Are we safe?' he coughed.

‘Doubt it,' replied Trep spitting out the last dregs of water. ‘Those three hardly look the type to give up easily.'

‘You have no idea,' began the girl. ‘They have hearts of ice. Absolutely nothing comes between them and whatever they have set their mind on acquiring.'

‘So?' asked Ben. ‘What are they after, you, me, us or the…' He stopped mid-sentence as he suddenly remembered what had once been in his possession. Ignoring the looks of the girl, Ben thrust his hands deep into the pockets of his cloak and then gave a satisfied smile. ‘They're still here,' he said with a grin. He drew out the book and diamond. ‘But how did they manage to wash my cloak and not find these?'

Noj smiled.

‘Put them back in your pockets,' he instructed.

Without a word, Ben obeyed. Once he'd replaced the objects he looked at Noj.

‘Now,' said Noj. ‘Pat your cloak, can you feel the book or the diamond?'

Ben did as he was asked and then looked at Noj with astonishment.

‘I can feel them,' he replied. ‘But there again, I can't
feel
them, if you get my meaning.'

‘I do,' grinned Noj. ‘Once inside the cloak, any object appears weightless,' he explained to the blank faces around him. ‘Neither do they give themselves away by producing a visible profile once in the cloak. To a casual observer the cloak looks and feels just like a cloak, nothing more and containing nothing even if someone puts their hand inside a pocket.'

‘Impossible,' said Ben producing the book from within his cloak.

‘Put the book back into your pocket,' instructed Noj. Ben did as he was told. ‘Now,' said Noj to the girl. ‘You've seen the book go in, so why don't you take it out again?'

The girl plunged her hand into the pocket of Ben's cloak and then looked enquiringly at Noj.

‘It's not there,' she said. Grabbing hold of Ben's throat, she gave him a shake. ‘Are you trying to make me look a fool?' she spat.

Noj quickly removed the girl's hands from Ben's throat.

‘It's still there,' he said with a smile. ‘Ben, take the book out of your pocket.'

‘But she said…' wheezed Ben.

‘Please?' said Noj.

‘Get on with it,' snarled Trep. ‘At this rate those creatures will soon be part of the audience.'

Ben dug into his pocket and pulled out the book. The girl instantly made a grab for Ben's throat.

‘Don't make me look stupid,' she shouted angrily as Noj once again removed her hands from around Ben's throat.

‘There's no need to get so worked up,' replied Noj calmly. ‘The cloak only yields its contents to whoever placed them there in the first place. Pretty neat eh?'

‘You won't be saying that in a moment,' said Trep pointing across the lake.

No matter how much they scanned the far shoreline, the three Creatures were nowhere to be seen.

‘They were there a moment ago,' gasped Ben, still trying to get accustomed to air going in his mouth rather than water. Noj stood up and took a deep breath.

‘Wherever those Creatures are, you can be sure that they haven't given up.' He jerked his head towards the mountains that dominated the skyline. ‘Up and over, I think is the phrase.'

Mak, resting on his knees, looked at the towering rocks and shook his head.

‘You are joking,' he said. ‘If I'd known we'd need wings I would have packed them,' he added sarcastically.

At that moment, an ear-splitting screech filled the air. Immediately the group looked skywards to seethe three creatures, each sitting astride a bird-like form consisting of intertwined Whispers. Instantly, Mak was on his feet.

‘It doesn't get much better than this,' he quipped.

Ben, who was already scrabbling up the scree slope, didn't pause to reply.

‘You do live a dull life,' he called over his shoulder.

Noj braced himself against the nearest boulder and, levelling his walking stick at the closest Creature, urged the other three to follow Ben's example.

‘Get yourselves up the slope as quickly as possible. Try and find a cave or something to shelter you.' He released a thunderbolt, which narrowly missed his intended target. ‘Shift,' he cried. ‘I'll do my best to hold them off.' He released a second thunderbolt, which grazed the shoulder of one creature. Instantaneously, a hideous scream erupted. ‘Go,' shouted Noj. ‘I'll catch you up.' Without further comment, Noj began sending a series of thunderbolts into the air, caring little whether he hit a Creature or the Whispers, but more intent on distracting them to give the others a chance to escape.

Ben led the scramble up the rock-strewn slope. The sharp fragments of rocky splinters tried their best to hinder and injure as four desperate figures climbed frantically. Below, Noj was doing everything he could to occupy the crazed Creatures but, before long, a pair of clustered Whispers carried two of the Creatures away from the lightening assault and towards the little group of escapees.

Looking anxiously over his shoulder, Ben saw the two Creatures begin to circle overhead.

‘We've got company,' he warned.

With his hands bleeding from their battle with the rocky shards, Trep waved a desultory fist at the sky.

‘Do I care anymore?' he yelled. He picked up a jagged stone and threw it in the general direction of the two Creatures. The gesture was futile and he knew it. Trep sank onto his knees and bowed his head in defeat.

‘Get up,' urged Mak. ‘You can't give up.'

Trep was silent. His whole body sagged, apparently resigned to whatever the Creatures might inflict upon him. The girl turned to Ben.

“Can't you do something?' she cried. ‘Anything?'

In one sweeping movement, Ben withdrew the book from deep within his cloak and flung it open at whatever random page it cared to choose. Immediately, a huge shaft of brilliant white light leapt from the book. The effect was startling. The Whispers hurled themselves away from the light carrying the Creatures with them. The intensity of the light threw everything into stark relief making the landscape look even more barren and desolate than before. Within moments Noj had joined the group and, pushing and cajoling, managed to persuade the rest of the group to continue their hurried climb towards the mountains.

Somehow, Ben managed to stumble his way upwards by walking backwards and holding the book at arms length, allowing the shaft of light to blind and confuse their pursuers.

Several times Ben looked up towards the mountains. His arms ached with holding the book, his legs hurt with the effort of walking backwards while his feet felt as if they had met with a cheese grater. Suddenly, the light from the book began to dim and lose its brilliance. The Creatures were quick to take advantage of the failing light and, urging the Whispers forward, raced towards the struggling group on the mountain slope.

‘What are you doing?' Trep yelled. ‘Open the book again.'

Frantically, Ben turned the pages of the book but the only result was to lose the shaft of light altogether.

‘Oh well done,' shouted Mak. ‘Always knew I could trust you.'

‘It's not my fault,' yelled Ben. ‘The book has a mind of its own.'

‘Come on,' urged Noj. ‘We've only a little way to go, come on.' Bracing himself once more, he raised his walking stick skywards and released a volley of thunderbolts. The Creatures reacted by shielding their eyes from the lightening glare.

Taking advantage of the temporary halt to their pursuit, the group covered the short distance to the shelter of a large, rocky outcrop. With his hands on his knees and gasping for breath, Ben nodded at the barren wall of rock.

‘Well?' he enquired. ‘Any ideas?'

The girl shook her head in disbelief.

‘You males are useless,' she spat. ‘You're constantly complaining and hardly know what to do from one moment to the next.' Ignoring the wheezed comments, the girl took one look at the wall of rock and then quickly followed the curvature of the mountain until she disappeared out of sight. The rest of the group looked on in amazement and, before they had managed to put their thoughts into words, the girl returned.

‘This way,' she hissed. ‘And be quick.' Without waiting to see if anyone followed, the girl ran out of sight.

Above the Creatures continued to circle, gradually working their way lower and lower searching for where the group had disappeared. Needing little encouragement, the rest of the group ran after the girl.

A few moments later, the four of them stopped and looked along the narrow ledge that followed the curve of the rock face. The girl was nowhere to be seen. Even in the half-light that now existed, it was obvious that no other being was on the mountainside.

‘Well,' sighed Trep. ‘That was either clever or clumsy.'

‘What do you mean?' shrugged Mak.

‘She's either hidden herself particularly well or lost her footing and fell to where she started,' replied Trep.

‘I don't think she has fallen,' said Ben thoughtfully. ‘I think she…'

His final words disappeared in a strangulated cry as an arm reached out from the rock face and dragged him into darkness.