The Underground City (16 page)

In the huge cavern under Arthur’s Seat, time passed slowly and still there was no news of Neil and Clara.

“Every bird and beast in Scotland is on the lookout for them,” the MacArthur assured the Ranger. “The stags on the mountains, the grouse on the moors and the sea-birds round the coast. They’re all on the alert but nothing’s turned up so far.”

“I know you’re doing everything you can,” the Ranger said, “it’s just that Janet’s making herself ill. She didn’t sleep at all last night!”

“We’ll find them, don’t worry! Even Kitor and Amgarad are out searching for them. They’ve gone over to the west coast and are checking the mountains round Ardray. It’s only a matter of time before they’re found, believe me.”

Although his voice was calm, the MacArthur was
nevertheless
seriously worried and so, too, was the Sultan, who felt
personally
responsible for the danger they were in. They were all doing their bit, however. Jaikie, Hamish and Archie were taking it in turns to monitor the crystal round the clock and Casimir and the Sultan had gone to Morven with Lord Rothlan to visit the Lords of the North, hoping that with their help the children would soon be found. He sighed. It was difficult to know what else could be done!

Hope suddenly sprang in his heart, however, as he noticed two of the magic carpets unfurling themselves and setting off across the cavern.

“Whose are they?” the Ranger asked, turning his head to
watch them leave.

“One is Sir James’s,” answered the MacArthur, “and I think the other is the one we gave to Lewis.”

“Let’s hope they have some news at last!” the Ranger said, his voice lightening.

Sir James and Lewis arrived on their magic carpets at much the same time. Both had been watching lunchtime television and had seen the same thing. So excited were they that they almost fell off their carpets as they approached the MacArthur and could barely speak so full were they of their news.

“The Loch Ness Monster!” Lewis said excitedly.

“She’s on television!” added Sir James.

“What?” Arthur, the great dragon, sat up straight as the MacArthur leapt to his feet, relief sweeping through him.

“She’s on television,” Sir James repeated. “All the channels are full of it!”

“This morning,” Lewis said, “people driving along the side of the road saw her and phoned Sky News. They’re getting loads of pictures of her! And she
wants
them to see her! She’s cruising up and down Loch Ness like a … like a movie star!”

Sir James strode over to the Ranger. “That’s not the most important thing, though,” he said gripping him by the
shoulders
. “She’s got something in her mouth …”

“Purple and gold,” nodded Lewis, his eyes shining.

“It’s part of Neil and Clara’s costume, John. She’s showing us where they are!”

“Thank goodness!” the Ranger said shakily. “I … I must go and tell Janet!”

“Wait a minute, Ranger,” Hamish said, adjusting the crystal. “Don’t go yet. I can find her in a minute. There … there she is! Look!”

Even Arthur lumbered over, his head rearing above them as they crowded round the crystal. Sure enough, there was Nessie!
Urquhart Castle loomed in the background as she sailed up and down Loch Ness in all her majesty, carrying a floaty piece of silk in her mouth. Everyone recognized it. Striped in purple and gold, it was part of one of the pantomime costumes.

Jaikie then turned the eye of the crystal towards the shore. The mountains, covered in snow, gleamed in the pale rays of a winter sun and, as he focused on the road, they could see that cars were parked all along the edge of the loch. People swarmed along the shoreline and, not only that, several boats had taken to the water and were venturing up to her.

Lady Ellan, who had seen the carpets streaking through the cavern, now joined them. “Nessie!” she said with a snap in her voice, “and her fine friend, Grechan, I’ve no doubt!” She looked at her father angrily. “We should have guessed, father! They were always Kalman’s friends!”

“Let Nessie know we are watching her,” the MacArthur said. “Some of these boats are getting a bit too close for my liking and she only needs to flap her tail to sink half of them!”

Although it couldn’t be seen in daylight, Nessie felt the warmth of the ray of light from the crystal that held her in its beam and knew immediately that she had been seen by the world of magic. Hoping fervently that it was the MacArthurs who had homed in on her, she tossed her head once more so that the stream of purple and gold silk flew like a flag in the wind and then, in an almighty swirl of water that tossed the boats in a violent surge, she dived below the cold, grey waters of Loch Ness and disappeared.

The MacArthur looked round the gathering thoughtfully and addressed the Sultan. “I’ve had a talk with Arthur, your majesty. He says, quite definitely, that he has to be the one to rescue Neil and Clara. He … er, says that his Nessie sometimes gets into a funny temper but he thinks he can handle her.”

The Sultan cleared his throat. “Does anyone have any other ideas?” he asked, looking round enquiringly. Amgarad spread his great wings and looked at Kitor. Both birds knew that they could do nothing while Neil and Clara were under Loch Ness.

“I think I should go,” Casimir stood up and bowed to the Sultan and the MacArthur. “Prince Kalman is my son and I must try to make him see reason!”

Lewis dropped his eyes. From what he’d seen of Kalman, he didn’t think old Casimir had much of a chance. No one spoke but their silence was eloquent. Casimir flushed and Lewis sprang to his feet.

“I’ll go with Casimir,” he said, “it’s his right to see his son even if he might not be able to persuade him. I can be the Shadow again, Casimir,” he said, going up and looking into his eyes. “Come on, we make a great team! Remember the Forth Bridge? What a day that was!”

Casimir was touched and smiled wryly. “I couldn’t have chosen a better person to rescue me from the well at Al Antara, Lewis,” he said abruptly. “Thank you, but I don’t want you to be put at risk. The Sultan will tell you that the situation is
dangerous
.”

The Sultan, his brown eyes watchful, leant forward in his
chair. “I think Arthur is right,” he announced. “He should go to see Nessie first and then you, Casimir, should talk with your son. As Lewis says,” he said, smiling approvingly at Lewis, “you are his father and it is your right.”

Sir James rubbed his chin. “Loch Ness is heaving with TV crews and reporters,” he pointed out. “Arthur will be seen.”

The Sultan smiled. “We’ll get the storm carriers to take care of them,” he said, “and with any luck, it won’t be long before you have your children back, Ranger!”

The storm swept in from the north on a roaring, tearing wind. The skies above Loch Ness darkened swiftly from a steely grey to a brownish purple and, given the sudden, total lack of
visibility
, the TV crews grimaced, packed up their cameras, and, lashed by the storm, headed for nearby Drumnadrochit while the many small boats on the lookout for Nessie, hurriedly made for safety as the waters of the loch rose in black, threatening waves around them.

Arthur came in on the skirts of a black cloud that quite
successfully
hid him from view and, taking his bearings from the ruins of Urquhart Castle, swooped swiftly down into the icy waters of Loch Ness. Deeper and deeper he dived until he saw the grim, dark opening of Nessie’s caves loom black before him. After that it was easy and swimming strongly he negotiated the series of passages that ran steadily upwards until he finally surfaced in Nessie’s lair.

The water goblins that were there to see his arrival almost had heart failure. Another monster! They streaked into the tunnels and passages for safety and then crowded the entrances to peek out and see what this fearsome new creature was like. Hearing the shrieks and screams that accompanied Arthur’s arrival, Neil and Clara ran to see what was happening, pushing their way through a mass of excited, chattering goblins who by
then had recognized Arthur as a friend.

“Thank goodness,” Neil said, relief ringing in his voice, “Arthur’s arrived!”

“It’s all right, Kabad,” Clara said reassuringly to the little
goblin
who clung to her hand, “it’s Arthur. He’s come to see Nessie! Didn’t we tell you he would?”

Watching from the side of the cave, Neil and Clara saw Nessie and Arthur meet. Arthur flapped his wings and seemed truly delighted to see her again while Nessie, who had forgotten her anger, waltzed about delightedly. The goblins, however, weren’t quite so happy. Accustomed as they were to keeping well out of the way of Nessie’s massive bulk, they were quite frankly finding two monsters a bit of a nightmare to cope with. In fact, they had to be pretty nippy on their feet to avoid being trampled on.

“Neil and Clara said you would come, Arthur!” Nessie said happily. “And here you are!”

The celebrations came to an abrupt halt, however, when a sudden crack and a puff of smoke announced the arrival of Prince Kalman. One look at the prince was enough. He was in a towering rage.

“You fool!” he snapped at Nessie, “you complete and utter fool! Don’t you realize that you’ve given the game away
completely
?”

“I hope I can invite my friends to visit when I wish,” Nessie said sulkily. “I happen to live here, you know.” Then she added in a stronger voice. “These are
my
caves, after all! Why shouldn’t I invite Arthur to visit me when I please?”

“That’s why you were out there then, was it?” the prince ground out, disbelief colouring his voice. “Attracting the world! Behaving like a lunatic! Waving a flag! What on earth’s got into you?”

“How dare you speak to my Nessie like that, Prince Kalman,” Arthur said hotly.

Nessie batted her long eyelashes at Arthur and Kalman, to give him his due, winced noticeably at this display of affection. It was really too, too much. Monsters were bad enough at the best of times but there obviously wasn’t a lot one could do with this pair of love-sick loonies! Added to which, he thought warily, one of them was a dragon and although he would have like to have said a great deal more, caution prevailed. He took a deep breath and curbed his tongue.

“Where are Neil and Clara?” he snapped.

As everyone turned to look at them, a horrible silence fell.

“It was a plot, wasn’t it,” he grated, looking furiously at Arthur, “it was all a plot to get the children back!”

It was when Arthur blew a gentle stream of fire as a warning that the prince realized he had been defeated; for over the years he had seen smaller dragons than Arthur in action and had no wish to end up as a burnt-out cinder!

Even as he swallowed this bitter pill, however, there was another crack and a puff of smoke. The water goblins who hadn’t had this much excitement in years, screamed and clutched at one another in alarm. Neil and Clara scanned the cave; they knew that another magician must have arrived, but who was it? Prince Kalman, too, swung round, a hex at the ready, half expecting it to be the Sultan, himself.

“It’s Prince Casimir,” Neil said, gripping Clara’s arm.

“Father,” Kalman gasped.

“Kalman,” Prince Casimir’s voice filled with emotion as he gazed on his son. “Kalman, we must talk.”

“Speak! I am listening,” Kalman threw up a hand, his voice hard and unfriendly.

“The Sultan …”

“Don’t talk to me about the Sultan.
You
might be his vassal but I’ll never bend my knee to him! Never!”

“Kalman! You are my son! The past is over. Please, I beg you
… forget your enmity towards the Sultan.” Casimir held out his arms in silent appeal but the prince stood rigid and unbending, his face a cold mask.

“
Your
enmity might have changed,” Kalman said coldly, “but mine has not. Don’t forget that
I
found the crown! It was mine! I had such power … and he took it from me! I will never forgive him and nor should you!”

Hopelessly, his father dropped his arms by his side, looking devastated.

Neil looked at Kalman with complete contempt, knowing full well that the crown had belonged to the Sultan and that he had no claim to it.

Kalman must have read his thoughts for his eyes shone with such fury that Neil stepped back startled and Casimir flung out an arm to protect him.

Seeing Kalman’s rage, Arthur thought it time to intervene. Indeed, the blazing stream of fire he sent curling across the floor of the cave, quite successfully stopped the prince in his tracks and did much to remind him of the delicacy of his situation.

Taking a deep breath, he looked round grimly as he realized that given the circumstances, there wasn’t a lot he could do. His face, however, betrayed no emotion and, deciding then and there to cut his losses, he bowed low to his father and then, rather mockingly to Arthur and Nessie. No one moved to stop him as he murmured the words of a hex and in an instant, disappeared.

There was an awful silence that nobody dared break. Casimir put his hands over his face and stood perfectly still, looking totally bereft.

“We’re very sorry, Prince Casimir,” Neil said quietly.

“Really sorry,” added Clara.

Casimir dropped his hands and looked at them both
steadily
. He sighed and gave a somewhat shaky smile. “Come,” he
said as calmly as he was able, “I can do no more here. I must take you back to the hill. Your parents are anxious to see you.”

Clara felt Kabad tug desperately at her tunic and looked down at him. Her face softened. She knew that she couldn’t leave him behind. The other water goblins had turned out to be little more than particularly horrible bullies. Really nasty creeps, she thought. They’d been jealous of him when they’d found out what he’d done and from then on had made his life miserable, sneaking up on him and pinching him when they thought she wasn’t looking. Indeed, they’d been so horrible to him that in the end he hadn’t dared leave her. As she prised his frantic fingers from edge of her tunic, his face crumpled in an agony of fear and apprehension. “Don’t leave me here,” he pleaded desperately. “Please, Clara!”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you, Kabad,” she said reassuringly. “Neil and I would like you to come home with us, wouldn’t we, Neil?” she said.

“Yes, of course,’ he said, smiling. “There’s a nice loch quite near our house. You’ll like it there.” There were hisses of anger and envy from the other water goblins but Neil ignored them and looked hopefully at Nessie. It was up to her. What if she wouldn’t let them take Kabad?

“Is that all right, Nessie?” Clara queried. “Can we take Kabad with us?”

Nessie, totally taken up with Arthur, nodded quite happily. What was one water goblin, after all? As far as she was
concerned
, they could take a couple of dozen. One would certainly never be missed.

Neil met Casimir’s eyes and grinned. “Is that all right with you, Prince Casimir?” he asked.

Despite himself, Casimir smiled as he saw the ridiculous grin that had spread over the little water goblin’s face.

“Quite all right,” he said.

Clara turned to Nessie and Arthur. “Goodbye,” she waved, “and thank you both!”

“Bye, Arthur!” Neil said. “Bye, Nessie! Take care!”

Casimir then held his hands over them, murmured the words of a spell and a startled Arthur and Nessie suddenly found that, in the twinkling of an eye, all their magic visitors had left.