Silver Hill (27 page)

Cory didn’t reply but Jack knew Camelin was right. He’d been told the last time they’d visited the stone circle that it was a place of deep magic. It wouldn’t be difficult for Nora to hide the gateway from sight. If she’d wanted them to go they’d have been invited.

‘Could you put my clothes by the big stone?’ Jack asked Cory. ‘Please excuse us a moment while I change.’

It didn’t take Jack long to transform and dress. Although he liked being a raven it felt good to be himself again.

‘Are you going to come to see us soon?’ Cory asked Jack as he reappeared from behind the central stone, ‘We heard your wonderful voice. It reached the very top of Glasruhen, you’re welcome to come and sing with us anytime you like.’

Camelin humphed.

‘We’ll come back as soon as the Druids have been rescued.’

‘We!’ he grumbled.

‘I’ll come back,’ said Jack and gave Camelin a look before turning back to Cory. ‘But we ought to be going now.’

‘I’m off to bed, see you later,’ Camelin called as he took off in the direction of Ewell House.

Jack walked with Cory to the edge of the bushes that surrounded the clearing. When she touched one of the leaves, the tangled branches parted.

‘Thank you,’ he said before the bushes closed and Cory disappeared from sight.

Jack wasn’t in a hurry to get back to Ewell House. After all the excitement it felt good to be alone. As he made his way through the tunnel his mind was racing. He went over the events of the last week. No one would ever believe he’d been face to face with an enormous fire-breathing dragon. He wondered how things were going in Annwn. Had Ember managed to melt the ice sheet? Were the Druids awake? He was going to have to wait until Nora returned for the answers.

As Jack walked through the yew tree tunnel he caught glimpses of Dryads flitting from tree to tree. He felt so lucky – this really was a magical place.

When he got back to the house he went into the library. The map was still on the table. They’d all been in such a hurry he’d not had a chance to look at it properly. He recognised the outlines of the hills and Stonytop Ridge. Written around the sides, in Nora’s neat handwriting, was the information she’d been given by Norris, Snook and Pyecroft. A lot of tunnels, platforms and doorways had also been filled in. He followed the journey the train had taken from the platform underneath the Devil’s Chair to the bottom of Silver Hill. Their exit from the Barbecue Pit wasn’t marked. That would be something Nora could add when she returned. Jack would have liked to have seen where all the tunnels from the barbecue pit led. Their entrances were all different shapes and sizes. Two led to train platforms, another wound its way up to the great hall but the tallest tunnel of all didn’t go up or down. It travelled in a straight line to a door. Nora had drawn an arched doorway, just like Glasruhen Gate and next to it had written The Fifth Gateway. Jack blew out a long slow breath. This was the other portal into Annwn, which led straight into the Caves of Eternal Rest. It wasn’t like the other portals. It didn’t have two Hamadryad oak trees on either side to mark its position. Jack wondered why there was a gateway here at all. Even if you got into the caves, there was no way out into Annwn unless the gatekeeper awoke and opened the ice sheet. The other four gateways were able to move but this one obviously didn’t, it had its own tunnel. Jack wondered how it opened. It couldn’t be difficult if the Spriggans had been able to walk straight in and take the crystals. A sudden thought struck Jack. Instead of trying to melt the ice sheet, Nora and Elan could have entered the caves through the fifth gate. They could have returned the crystals, woken the Gatekeeper and the Druids who wanted to leave the caves and then left through the cave entrance. What could be simpler? Why hadn’t Nora or Elan thought of it?

There was a lot to think about but Jack was tired. He’d talk to Nora when she got back. He went to his room and checked his Book of Shadows for messages but none had come through. The whole house was quiet. He called Camelin but got no reply, maybe he’d taken a slight detour and wasn’t home yet. Jack decided to go up to the loft; if Camelin wasn’t there Jack would wait until he returned, he wanted to tell him the news about the fifth gateway.

The first thing Jack saw when he got to the ladder was the big
KEEP OUT
sign. Jack moved it to one side and pulled himself up into the loft. He smiled when he saw Camelin lying on his back in his raven basket. Jack flopped down on his beanbag.

‘We haven’t had any messages.’

‘Didn’t you see the sign?’

Jack decided to ignore the question.

‘How long do you think they’ll be?’

‘Hours, with any luck. I want to get some sleep. If you’re going to stay you’re going to have to be quiet. It’s my loft.’

Jack was about to tell Camelin about the map when Timmery flitted in through the open window.

‘Noooo!’ groaned Camelin.

‘Oh Jack, I’m so glad you’re here!’

Camelin turned noisily until his back faced Jack and Timmery.

‘Is everything alright?’ asked Jack.

‘No it’s not. Motley sent me, he wants to know if he can climb up the ivy and come in, it’s urgent and he needs to see you right away.’

‘Of course he can.’

‘May I remind you whose loft this is? Some of us are trying to get some sleep.’

Timmery was gone before Camelin could say anything else. It wasn’t long before Motley appeared on the window ledge. He paced up and down a few times before speaking.

‘Don’t know how to tell you this, we’ve searched everywhere and he’s nowhere to be found.’

‘Who isn’t?’ asked Jack.

‘Raggs. You haven’t seen him have you?’

‘He was next to me when we carried the tail shield in.’

‘That’s what Podge said but nobody’s seen him since. What if he’s still in there? Everything happened so fast. I was concerned about the new recruits, I expected the Night Guard to be able to look after themselves, didn’t get a chance to check they were all aboard the tail before we took off. You’d have seen him if he’d been left though, wouldn’t you?’

‘We all got blown down one of the tunnels when Ember beat her wings,’ said Jack slowly as he recalled the sequence of events. ‘But it was dark in the tunnel. If Raggs was blown in there too we wouldn’t have seen him and he’d probably have ended up further down than we did.’

‘What do we do?’ groaned Motley.

‘You say you’ve searched everywhere?’ asked Jack.

‘Everywhere,’ confirmed Timmery. ‘We’ve searched every inch of ground between here and the Standing Stones.’

‘Maybe he fell off,’ said Camelin. ‘He’ll have a long walk but he should be back by morning. I told you it was the Day of Bad Omens. Bad things can happen to anyone.’

‘I don’t think he got on the dragon’s tail,’ sighed Motley. ‘I’ve questioned all the rats, no one saw him.’

‘We’ll have to go back,’ said Jack.

‘Noooo!’ wailed Camelin. ‘I’m not flying all the way back tonight.’

‘You know you don’t mean that,’ said Jack. ‘If you were in trouble everyone would help you.’

Jack looked over to the window. The light was beginning to fade. Everyone waited expectantly for Jack to speak. Motley slumped down on the window ledge.

‘What if he’s caught and they want to eat him?’

‘If he’s been caught they’ll more likely want to question him to find out what’s been going on. They’ll know by now that something’s wrong. At the very least they’ll want to know where their rats and dragons have gone, not to mention their lights.’

Motley stood to attention.

‘Raggs would never talk, he’d never betray us.’

‘I’m sure you’re right but that makes his rescue even more urgent. Hopefully he’ll have managed to hide somewhere. Do you think we’ll be able to find him before the Spriggans do?’ Jack asked Motley.

‘It’s not the Spriggans I’m worried about, it’s the Draygull. He can see in the dark and has a very powerful sense of smell. He found your hiding place and made a grab for you, didn’t he?’

Jack felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

‘They’ll know it was us, won’t they?’

‘Course they won’t. We were ravens, remember?’ said Camelin.

‘I wasn’t, we’d transformed, remember? Motley’s right, he definitely saw me.’

‘He’d only have seen your shape, not your face. He probably thought you were an overgrown Hag or a Bogie.’

‘Let’s hope so because I can’t go back inside as a raven, we’ll have to transform outside like we did before and I’m going to need my wand.’

We’re going to need a light too,’ said Motley. ‘It’s going to be dark inside the tunnels.’

‘We!’ croaked Camelin. ‘What d’you mean,
we
?’

‘I’m definitely going, he’s my responsibility,’ added Motley. ‘I can’t leave a man in enemy territory.’

‘Count me in too,’ said a tiny voice from Motley’s fur.

‘Oh no! Not the Dorysk as well!’ grumbled Camelin.

Motley looked embarrassed.

‘He won’t take up much room. I don’t mind him travelling around in my fur.’

‘You don’t?’

‘He helped us search and he’s really useful in a tight corner, a brilliant impersonator and master of disguise too. I’m thinking of recruiting him into the Night Guard.’

‘Well I’m not leaving my comfortable basket, if you want my help you’re going to have to make it fly over there.’

‘I wish I could,’ said Jack.

‘You made the boat go over the lake so why can’t you make my basket fly?’

‘That was different.’

‘Why?’

Everyone looked at Jack.

‘I don’t know. It might be dangerous. What if it worked for a bit then stopped? What would Nora say?’

Motley leapt off the windowsill and bounded over to Jack.

‘If you can make the raven basket fly we’ll all be able to go.’

‘All!’ said Camelin.

‘I want to help too,’ said Timmery. ‘The others have gone off into Annwn without me so I don’t see why I can’t come with you.’

Jack concentrated hard and pointed his wand at Camelin’s raven basket. It rose off the floor and hovered.

‘Fly,’ Jack commanded and made a sweep with his wand around the loft.

‘Whoa!’ cried Camelin as the raven basket sped around the loft in a wide circle. Jack had to duck as it rushed passed his ear.

‘Oh Jack Brenin, you’re the best,’ Timmery called as he flew after the basket.

‘Well, that was a surprise,’ said Jack. ‘I really didn’t think I’d be able to do it but the basket isn’t going to be big enough for all of us.’

‘If you go and get my wand I can
big
it,’ croaked Camelin.

‘You could tell me the
bigging
spell and I could do it,’ replied Jack.

‘My spell, my basket.’

Again everyone looked at Jack.

‘Alright, we’ll try. I’ll go and get your wand.’

Jack rushed down to the herborium. He pushed the stool under the cupboard so he could reach the door and took off the silver chain. He pointed the key at the cupboard on the wall. It grew immediately to the size of the keyhole. The wand was propped up inside with a lot of other things so Jack relocked the cupboard before shrinking the key back down. He was halfway up the stairs when he remembered the map. It would be invaluable if they knew where they were going. He didn’t want to take Nora’s map so he decided to magic a copy. Part of the wart spell he’d used contained the word to
create
, if he used the word on its own and concentrated all his attention at the map it might work.

‘
Creo
,’ he commanded.

Nothing happened at first then a sheet flew off the top of the map and landed at his feet. It was an exact replica of Nora’s map. Jack picked it up and was about to leave the library when another map rose from the table, and another, and another.

‘STOP!’ yelled Jack and breathed a great sigh of relief when the map stopped duplicating itself. He wished his knowledge of magic were better. He was really going to have to be careful when he gave the basket directions, he didn’t want any accidents. With the map safely rolled up under his arm, Jack ran up the stairs. He was out of breath when he reached the loft. Camelin was waiting expectantly and looked really excited when Jack handed him his wand.

‘Here you are, please be careful.’

‘Stand back,’ Camelin ordered as he pointed it at the basket.

The tip of the wand glowed with a soft yellow light that travelled rapidly towards the raven basket. The sides grew as the bottom expanded. Jack was impressed, Camelin was not only doing the spell carefully but it was working really well.

‘It’s still not big enough,’ said Motley.

‘Leave me alone,’ grumbled Camelin, ‘I’m doing my best.’

He pointed his wand for a second time but instead of the soft yellow light, orange sparks flew out of the tip. The basket rapidly doubled in size before exploding with a bang. Oversized round polystyrene balls filled the loft as the bottom of the raven basket erupted.

‘Oops!’ said Camelin. ‘That’s what happened to the cake on the third
bigging
.’

‘Try it again on my basket,’ said Jack.

Camelin looked surprised, and said, ‘That was your basket.’

‘It doesn’t matter. If you want to fly to Silver Hill keep the light from the tip of your wand yellow and hold the spell until the basket’s big enough for all of us.’