Tara Duncan and the Forbidden Book (41 page)

“You haven't been able to . . . possess my uncle and my aunt . . . You couldn't do it!”

With an enormous effort, Sparrow had spoken. She was clenching her paws so hard that her claws dug into her flesh, leaving a stream of red blood on her purple fur.

“That's not important!” exclaimed the Ravager, furious at Sparrow for rubbing his nose in his failure. “I don't understand how that family can resist possession when the supposedly powerful dragon succumbed right away.”

“You won't be able to ever possess them,” managed Sparrow, straining with all her might and drawing the strength to resist from her lacerated palms. “They're too strong for you!”

“Shut up, you idiot!” cried Angelica's mother, clearly afraid that the Ravager would lose his temper. She even ordered a black tentacle to wrap itself around Sparrow's mouth, muzzling her.

“Angelica is the one whose throat I should've slit!” said Robin angrily to Fafnir. “I wouldn't have hesitated for a second, believe me!”

The tall girl's attention suddenly came to rest on gorgeous Cal.

“Mister Bond!” she cried with delight. “What are you doing with this group of losers?”

Suppressing an urge to wring Angelica's neck, Cal gave her a charming bow.

“Miss, your skin is the color of the heart of a rose,” he purred, gazing deep into her eyes. “Amazing, how it sets off your beauty. I find it quite captivating.”

Angelica gave Cal a huge smile and took his hand. “Master, there must be some mistake. This one doesn't belong with those other people. May I have him?”

Speaking through the dragon, the Ravager chuckled nastily. “If you want him, you can have him. I'll make him your servant as well, as soon as I've possessed him.”

Cal quickly spoke up: “I'm not sure I could survive in prison even for a second without you. I can't endure not having your beautiful face before me.”

“Master, please!” cried Angelica, mesmerized by gorgeous Cal batting his long eyelashes at her. “Don't send him to jail. Give him to me now. I'll watch him, I promise!”

“Very well,” said the Ravager, who obviously didn't care one way or another. “You can put him with the others.”

Cal bowed and ran over to stand by Fabrice, who showed no reaction.

Robin wondered what was happening with the little thief, and Tara frowned. Is Cal joining the winning side to save his skin? She shook her head, uncertain. Then she turned back to Fafnir, who was standing motionless and staring anxiously at the black smoke.

“Fafnir, I'd like you to tell me exactly what happened,” Tara said, ignoring Angelica, her parents, and the Ravager.

The black smoke hung motionless in the air, giving the dwarf a chance to answer.

“We got close to the island,” said Fafnir, absentmindedly tugging on a strand of her red hair. “Too close. The black roses had grown tremendously since we were there last. Except for the center, the island's practically covered with them. The Ravager didn't give me a chance. He grabbed me, then the two wizards. I yelled, and I saw that my yelling kept the Ravager at bay. He didn't release me, but he couldn't get more of a hold on me. So I started to sing.”

“You sang for five days without stopping?” asked Robin, astonished at her endurance.

“We dwarves have lots of songs, and we're stubborn. Hanging on was the only way to warn you, so I hung on. At least that gave you a chance to get away!”

“Fat lot of good it did you!” cackled the Ravager by way of Shyblossomonthebankofaclearstream, the Cyclops. “You've only gotten a short stay of execution, my pretties. By tomorrow I should have digested my most recent possessions, and I'll take care of you. And now, off to jail you go!”

The last thing Tara and her friends saw was the monstrous black smoke swirling around Fafnir, and the look of despair in her beautiful green eyes.

The Ravager had been cautious. The cells were surrounded by a dense fog of black smoke, its tendrils drifting along the prison hallways.

Guards opened the cells and shoved Tara, Gallant, and Robin in. The heavy, magical Hymlia iron gates slammed shut behind them with a sinister clang. The guards resumed their monotonous rounds, walking through the pools of smoke as if they didn't exist.

Tara examined the cell, then stifled a shout of surprise. In the cell next to hers were King Bear and Queen Titania!

They looked very pale, and the queen seemed to be breathing with difficulty. Every so often a black tentacle came to touch them, as if to test their resistance. They tried hard not to react, but you sensed it cost them a lot of pain. Though they had been stripped of their court robes and their crowns, they remained the king and queen. Showing the Ravager their distress was out of the question.

The king could see that Tara and her friends hadn't been possessed, since they were being locked up and their skin wasn't purple. He smiled weakly, both happy and unhappy to see his apprentice spellbinders.

“Tara! Robin!” he exclaimed. “I'd like to say it's a pleasure to see you again, but that's not exactly the case. I thought you managed to get away and had taken refuge far from this castle.”

“Well, that's exactly what we did,” answered Tara, who was trying not to cry, “at least in the beginning. Until the Ravager captured us.”

She took a deep breath, struggling with her emotions. In despair, she decided to try humor as a last resort.

“And this is the second time in ten days I've been thrown in jail,” she said, sighing comically. “Granted, these were imperial and royal jails, but I'd like it not to become a habit!”

“I hate jails,” muttered Robin. “They stink, and they're cramped, dusty, and skuzzy.”

He was exaggerating. Aside from the fact that the Lancovit cells had bars, unlike the ones in Omois, they were quite comfortable, dry, and spacious. There was no dust, and thanks to spells, no bugs. The king and queen didn't approve of substandard prisons, it appeared.

“Do you know what's going on upstairs?” asked the king. “We haven't gotten much information these last days.”

“What's happening,” said a voice they knew all too well, “is that idiot dwarf freed the Ravager, and he's slowly but surely conquering the world. He's already sent infected agents to Omois and Selenda.”

“Angelica!” exclaimed Robin, leaping up and grabbing the bars. “Did you come down to taunt us?”

“No, to save your miserable hides,” answered the tall girl with purple skin, keeping a safe distance from the angry elf. “Obviously, I don't much like it but if you have the White Soul, then you absolutely have to destroy the Ravager.”

The royal couple was confused. Whatever was she talking about?

“How are you able to do that, Miss Brandaud?” asked the king. “Aren't you under that monster's control?”

“My parents and I are just pretending to cooperate,” she explained contemptuously. “When the Ravager saw that we were prepared to help him, he loosened his grip on us, so he isn't constantly in our minds. This leaves him free to possess other people faster. And it gives us a big advantage: we can control the tentacles without being controlled by them.”

And in fact, in response to her silent order, the black cloud drifted away and the purple guards disappeared. They were now alone in the prison.

“There! Now we can talk at our ease,” Angelica said with satisfaction. “Tara, you have to tell me where the White Soul is.”

Robin was opening his mouth to explain the situation when Tara cut him off.

“We don't know, unfortunately,” she lied. “We've heard it's in Hymlia, in the Tador Mountain mine.”

“What mine?” asked Angelica nervously. “There are hundreds of them! That mountain's like Swiss cheese!”

“I'm telling you, we don't have any more information than that,” said Tara. “We were captured by the Ravager before we had time to locate it.”

The tall girl chewed her fist, visibly torn. “You don't understand! He's like gangrene, slowly spreading. If somebody doesn't stop him, he'll conquer the whole planet within a year!”

Since the tentacles had disappeared, Queen Titania was breathing a little more easily. In a weak voice she asked: “What can you do to help us? We can't find this famous White Soul as long as we're in prison. In fact, I'd like someone to explain to me what it is.”

“It's a weapon, Your Majesty,” answered Robin. “A small white statuette of a woman. It's said to be the only thing that can destroy the Ravager. We were searching for it, as you've no doubt figured out, when he captured us.”

“In that case you must free us, Miss Brandaud,” said the king firmly.

At that, Angelica seemed to completely lose her composure.

“That's impossible!” she moaned. “If I free you, he'll kill my parents as punishment. I can't do it.”

And before they had time to react, she turned and ran off.

Robin released the bars and fell back on his cot looking discouraged. Tara did the same. She felt pretty low, and Gallant came to stand beside her, stroking her with his wing to console her.

After a while the half-elf raised his head and saw how upset Tara was. Their cells were next to each other, so he could reach out and touch her hand.

“Don't worry,” he said tenderly. “I'm sure we'll figure something out.”

“You're right,” said Tara, abruptly sitting up. “Can we practice magic here, or is it like in Omois?”

“You can use magic inside the prison,” the king answered, “but if you change shape, for example, you can't go through the bars. The whole building is built of magic iron from the Hymlia Mountains, and it's impervious to magic, like the dwarves and giants.”

“Okay, got it,” said Tara. “We'll have to try something else. This iron, can it be melted?”

The king rubbed his head, then shrugged. “Melt it? I suppose so, since the dwarves were able to shape it in their forges.”

“Perfect!” said Tara with a little grin. “Let's see how it stands up to dragon fire!”

“Are you going to shape-shift?” Robin asked in alarm. “You don't have the living stone anymore.”

“I know it, but we don't have any choice. You have any other ideas?”

“No, it's just that this castle is fragile,” he said. “The city too; the whole continent, in fact. So be careful!”

The king assumed Robin was joking.

“I doubt Miss Duncan has enough power to endanger the castle. My ancestors built it to be very strong.”

“Don't speak too soon, Your Majesty. Tara's power is way beyond anything you're accustomed to. And when the time comes that she can control it, the Ravager will look like a little boy by comparison.”

“You're exaggerating,” said Tara, nervously touching her white forelock. “All right, let's do it before the black smoke and the guards come back.”

“This'll certainly be the first time we can thank Angelica for helping us,” said Robin darkly.

Estimating the size of her cell, Tara figured she could change into dragon shape without any problem. She took a deep breath and summoned her magic.

In the adjoining cell, the king and queen stiffened. They were extremely sensitive to magic, and when Tara's power hit them like a burning wave, they exchanged astonished glances.

Tara could feel the transformation about to occur when an angry yell stopped it cold.

The next moment Angelica burst into the prison, screaming with rage. Behind her, tentacles were hissing like poisonous snakes.

“I'm going to kill you!” she screamed.

T
ara struggled to breathe as Angelica tightened the tentacles around her throat. Gallant reared and tried to slash them with his claws, but in vain.

Thanks to his elf agility, Robin was able to avoid the ones grabbing for him.

“Angelica, stop!” he yelled. “If you kill her, the Ravager will make you eat your own heart!”

He had found the only argument that might make the tall girl yield. The red haze of fury lifted from her eyes. She made a gesture, and the tentacles released Tara, who fell to her knees, clutching her throat and gasping.

“You're lucky!” spat Angelica. “Very lucky. As soon as the Master is finished with you, I'll ask him to make you my servants as well. You'll be cleaning my things and living on your knees for the rest of your days!”

Like a fury, she spun or her heel and stormed up the stairs.

A few moments later the guards opened another cell and tossed in Cal and his red fox.

Gone was gorgeous Cal's manly beauty, his shock of blond hair, his brawn and his pectorals. Cal the little thief was back, but he looked pale, and for some reason kept wiping his mouth.

“Cal!” exclaimed an astonished Robin. “What happened to you?”

“Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!” he cried, wiping harder than ever. “Angelica kissed me!”

Tara started to laugh, choked, and had a coughing fit instead.

“What are you talking about?” asked Robin.

“I was in her rooms, wondering how I could knock her out and come free you, when she walked in. Before I knew it she grabbed me and kissed me. It was such a shock that I shape-shifted, and instantly reverted to my old body. At exactly the wrong moment, of course!”

“So you weren't the only one to get a shock,” said Robin with a chuckle, who could well imagine the scene. “She must have been really surprised!”

The little thief finished wiping his mouth and nodded.

“She was actually so surprised that she thought she was hallucinating. I guess I spoiled the illusion by spitting.”

This time Tara managed to laugh without choking. Robin chortled to imagine Angelica jumping gorgeous Cal, passionately kissing him, and winding up with the little thief in her arms. His laughter got to Cal, and within seconds they were all on the ground howling with laughter under the somewhat surprised eyes of the king and queen.