Part Two
Chapter Fourteen
The Mapmaker.
The tunnel appeared to be stretching on and on. The faster the children ran, the further away their destiny became. Chase slowed the pace signally Amy to slow too. Then all of a sudden the creature was gone and the tunnel opened up into a huge cave with carved, decorated walls and arched ceilings.
Tall black candles dripping with hot wax and brass oil lamps let off a strange smoky vapour and lit up a magnificent cavern.
"What The Hells this!?" exclaimed Chase hardly believing what he was looking at.
It looked like a magician's lair, if ever there were such a place. Strange odours filled the room; coloured bottles of bubbling liquid hissed and steamed everywhere. Odd leather bound books reached the arched ceiling, either in bookcases or piled precariously on top of one another. Scrolls and manuscripts were scattered across trunks and large armchairs. Medieval tapestries and paintings hung from the walls.
There was a stuffed owl in a brass cage and bundles of peacock feathers and quills crammed into several tall silver topped jars. Maps, compasses and scales cluttered a gigantic desk. Strange globes floated unaided in the air. On the wall behind the huge desk was a very old drawing of a pentacle, very similar to what Chase and Amy had seen on The Wall in the cellar at Weir House. Next to this was a fat glass jar filled with yellowing liquid containing what looked like a two-headed pig. More glass jars of various sizes and colours containing other equally bazaar things were on shelves all around the cavern.
Then suddenly behind them in the distance came a sudden creak and then a loud crash! Invisible locks and chains could be heard flying into place, barring their way out! Amy leaped behind Chase as he turned, clinging tightly to his arm, just as a huge door, which they had obviously come through but not seen, also suddenly slammed shut. The key in its lock, turned. The echo thundered on and on through the cavern making all the glass jars shudder. The occupants inside appeared to wave eerily.
"Ooh Chase we're trapped! But what is this place?" whispered Amy waving her hand around the cavern. "It's well... it's like it was on earth... I mean the things... the paintings... of humans and I'm sure I've seen something like that," she pointed to a five legged lamb, "on the Isle of Wight," she looked at Chase, who seemed confused, "in a jar," she added, "not in a field."
Chase nodded towards the darkest corner in the room. It suddenly shimmered as the cloaked figure stepped into view again.
"What the bloody Hell's go on!? We could've been killed back there! Are yer The Mapmaker?" Chase asked angrily. The figure stood stiffly with its arms folded across its chess, the large hood still covering its face.
"Hmmm. That depends," answered a deep voice. "Do you want me to be The Mapmaker?"
"It would save a lot of time if yer just tell us," sighed Chase. He was beginning to think this was all some kind of joke.
The Cloaked figure laughed, "I like saving time!" then began talking faster and in a much higher pitched voice. "Oh! I can see I'm going to like you! I'll give you nine points for finding the right cave, even though I did make it extremely easy for you. Eight for not panicking too much when time shifted–although you should've done better there–"
"Time shifted?" Cut in Chase. "What y'mean?"
"Yes, yes time shifted. What else could it have been?! An illusion? Well, yes, I suppose some of it was– and don't interrupt me when I'm in full flow! I thought you'd be able to work it out far quicker than you did or maybe you didn't– or come up with something of your own. Tut tut tut, you should've done! Should've done! Seven for the finger trail– good idea, but quite useless here! We can't have every Tom, Dick or Harry following it, can we, thinking they can find me? Minus two for following a complete stranger into the unknown, but then again, if you hadn't, you wouldn't be here now, would you? And then you wouldn't have any points at all, would you, would you? No! Hahaha!"
"He's a looney!" hissed Amy close to Chase's ear.
"He talks faster than you do." muttered Chase back.
The cloaked creature waved at them to follow. "Come into my chamber–"
"–said the spider to the fly," cut in Amy, in Chase's ear again.
"–there's something I'd like you to see!"
"An axe?" she whispered. "He wants to chop us up for tea."
"Ever the optimist," grunted Chase. "In that case, we'd better follow."
The next chamber was in darkness except for tiny speckles of light that covered every wall. As Chase and Amy became accustomed to it they could see the tiny lights were in fact millions and millions of eyes!
"This is very similar to The Great Eye in the Village–minus the furniture, the wall hangings and the carpets of course and about a million times smaller but I believe The Overseer has one in his private rooms similar to this one. No? Have you seen it yet, The Great Eye?"
"No, not yet," said Chase, cagily. "We've seen an Orb but... no, we haven't seen it."
"Strange, you should've done, it's big enough. It's right next to The Great Hall of Mirrors. A big pointy shinny reddish building."
"We know where it is– we've seen it– just not bin in it."
Chase felt uneasy as every eye in the chamber opened wide and were suddenly staring in his and Amy's direction. He stepped slightly in front of Amy to protect her, but then noticed there were more eyes behind them, at their side, on the ceiling, in the furniture and even in the patterns in the carpet at their feet!
"Ah, never mind, never mind," continued The Cloak. "This one works very much the same way. And there is something I need you to see."
Still carefully keeping covered, The Cloak beckoned the children closer but as Chase still hadn't seen what this creature was or what it looked like, declined, shaking his head.
"Oh do come closer! Pick an eye," said The Cloak impatiently, gesturing to the wall.
"What?" Chase was horrified. What did this creature want him to do?
"Just pick an eye. It's not that difficult!" repeated The Cloak. Amy giggled, burying her face into Chase's back.
"What's so funny?" Chase hissed, slightly turning his head towards her. There was his heart pounding and there was Amy, in the face of danger–giggling!
"Pick an eye," she snorted out a laugh, "doesn't he mean, p-pick a nose!"
"Oh do hurry up, come along! Tut tut tut!" called the cloaked figure irritably. "Pick an eye!"
"I've got two of my own thanks!" said Chase, elbowing Amy to stop giggling.
"No, no, just pick one!" Chase reluctantly pointed to an eye just above his head. "Press it! Press it!" insisted The Cloak. "Put your finger right in and push hard!"
Amy turned away gripping her jaw with both hands in the vain attempt to stop herself from laughing out loud. Chase squinted and reluctantly did as he was told. There was an awful squelching noise and then suddenly one side of the chamber opened up like a huge cinema screen in the shape of a giant eye. It was too much. Amy burst into hysterical laughter!
"Oh my goodness, I'm going to pee myself!" hissed Amy, trying so hard not to laugh.
At first, as the eye opened, it showed nothing put space and stars and then a purple planet swirled into focus.
"Ah! Plotius... wrong solar system, too far south I think, try another."
"My turn! My turn!" said Amy, still giggling and quickly coming forward she pressed her finger right up to the knuckle into the eye nearest to her. "Yuck! It's cold!" she said taking her finger out along with a thick slimy line of mucus. She looked down at her hand "Yuh! There must have been one of these 'eyes' in that alcove!" She quickly wiped her finger down the back of Chase's trench coat.
"Hey!!"
"You thought we were being watched, remember?"
Chase nodded, "Yeah, I guess we were."
The huge cinematic eye opened wider, darkened a little and then glowed blue. The inner sphere began to grow larger and floated upwards, taking on the appearance of an Orb as it filled the high ceiling of the chamber. Slowly, as the smoky mist within the sphere cleared to show a star speckled night sky, another smaller planet was visible.
"Ah! That's better...Terra-Tri, The Blue Planet. Earth... very pretty, providing you don't get too close!" The chamber darkened further as all the tiny eyes closed. "Sit down, sit down." The Cloak gestured to some chintzy armchairs that suddenly appeared below The Orb.
Chase was a little weary but Amy sat down and looked up into The Orb straight away. She turned to Chase and beckoned to him. Just as he sat down The Orb swelled again, appearing to hover over them like a massive bubble. Slowly it lowered and Chase and Amy became enclosed within it.
As they both watched the pictures unfold all around them, they had the weirdest sensation they were moving, as though they were sitting in a spacecraft and the Orb or The Great Eye or whatever it was, was some kind of optical window, and it was just like they were looking out over the universe!
Suddenly the Orb rolled sideways and they were off! Amy yelled as they sped at great speed towards the Earth, passing strange flying objects and swirling vapour, which suddenly scattered to reveal a blue sky all around them. As they flew down they could see land and sea spread in patterns far below. They dipped suddenly as though the craft was nose-diving, then straightened and swerved to miss low clouds and mountains. They skimmed across oceans and descended over Southern England. The Isle of Wight and the Needles lighthouse could clearly be seen. Wind whipped Amy's hair and Chase could taste salt on his lips.
A number of times Amy squealed and grabbed the sides of her armchair. Then they suddenly took another nose-dive towards the sea, turned sideways to fly between two of the tall white columned rocks of the Needles then skimmed across the sea, past yachts and a ferry boat just missing the whites of the waves as they headed towards land.
"Oh-wow!" gasped Amy, as she was pushed back into her seat, "Isn't that tower thing near home?" she called pointing to it as wind whipped her hair."
"We're back in The New Forest," called Chase but before he could say any more they where jolted up into the air, banking left to follow the moors, gorse land, woods and a winding river.
"Are we really flying? Are we really there?" called Amy. It felt so real. Chase prayed they didn't fly over Weir House, as he was sure Amy would leap from their illusionary spacecraft, thinking they were home. Chase felt the sea spray on his face again and now could smell the coldness of the clouds and the freshness of the woods below them as they banked round again. He turned to speak to the cloaked figure. Through the blur and sheen of the bubble encasing them, Chase could see it, standing a little way behind them, still being very careful not to reveal its face.
"We're not really movin' so how're yer doin' this–where are these images comin' from?"
"Everyone and everything leaves specks of themselves, their existence, everywhere they go... even you. We can pick up on the energy those specks generate."
"Is what we're seeing, happenin' now, or years ago?"
"You can choose. Then, now, or whenever. If the specks have seen it, we can see it also. It takes a lot of energy from the planet and as we are on reserved power, we must hurry. Not long now. Ah! This is where The Fire Stone is hidden– in full view of course. Always the best hiding place!"
"Stonehenge?" Chase frowned. He was sure, although never really knew why, that The Stone had once been hidden there but somehow, had removed itself to find another hiding place. Then the drawings on The Wall at Weir House and all those mystical signs and symbols suddenly came into Chase's mind, but he quickly dismissed them, eager to see where the Orb was taking them next.
The Orb was now banking round again and gliding over the top of Stonehenge scooting across farmland back the way it had come, leaving Stonehenge behind. Appearing out of the mist in the distance was a Cathedral spire. They circled quickly towards it, riding over rooftops and twisting through trees and fields, over roads and more rooftops. Then they dipped sharply down in front of the cathedral and across a short green.
Amy let out another gasp and then screamed as The Orb appeared to shrink, flip sideways and flew through a large half open wooden doorway, right into the heart of the cathedral itself and into the momentary darkness beyond.
Then suddenly light sliced its way in through the high cathedral windows. The Orb swerved and weaved its way through people, passing rows and rows of pews and chairs and flower arrangements. It banked over a stone font, just missed some sleeping stone statues lying on tombs, until, squeezing smaller still, it flew through a gap in a tall thin carved doorway and behind a decorated wooden screen. It passed over some iron curtain-covered railings, and then stopped dead, hovering in front of a brass cross and a silver candlestick.
"Oh wow!" breathed Amy, flattening down her hair. "It's a small stone altar," she let out a long breath, relieved the journey was over. "Is this where The Fire Stone is?" she sounded disappointed.
"Wait," said The Cloak, raising a long covered finger. "The images haven't finished." Then he walked through the walls of the Orb and stood close behind Chase and Amy's chairs. "Shhh! Someone is coming!" he whispered. He sounded very eager to see who it was.
Now the image was different. It was as though someone invisible was there, someone they couldn't see and Chase and Amy were looking through their eyes. They saw a pair of gloved hands and a cloth as someone polished a golden goblet. The goblet once clean, reflected a distorted face before it was very carefully placed back onto the altar.
"Ah!" whispered The Cloak pointing to the goblet, suddenly seeming very excited, "He doesn't know what that is! But it's so obvious! That's what will find you The Fire Stone!"
"The goblet?" said Chase. He too now sounded disappointed. "I thought it was a gemstone."
"No no no no! The goblet will help you to find The Stone– see! It has gemstones decorating it! You must be wearing the Key when you drink from the goblet and then The Fire Stone will show itself to you. Simple!"
As Chase and Amy stared hard at the imagines unfolding before them, they could see that the Goblet was in fact decorated with masses of small blue and green gems. In the middle on one side was a large bright blood-red stone.
"That's what you're looking for... something like that, but bigger!" said The Cloak. "You'll need that stone on the goblet to make the swap."
Chase turned frowning. "Make what swap?"
"It will be clear to you when the time comes! Safe guards! Safe guards!!"
"What? Kish never mentioned goblets or making swaps."
"Of course not!! How would he know?" The Cloak turned and walked back through the walls of The Orb again. "Kish, unbeknown to him, does not know everything! Chickens and baskets! Chickens and baskets!!"
"Doesn't he mean eggs?" whispered Amy, then, quickly turning to the cloaked creature she asked,
"Is that the size The Stone is going to be?" Once more she sounded disappointed, "I thought it would be much bigger and look more important. I mean... " she whispered to Chase. "That healing diamond was bigger than that! I'd excepted The Fire Stone to be much bigger. Prelli told me The Stones are the Hearts of the very first stars," she raised her voice and called, "Are you sure that's what it looks like?"
"Quite sure, but it will be bigger. This particular Stone has had many hiding places. Drink from that goblet– and you'll find where the The Fire Stone hides."
"But it hasn't actually told us where it is yet."
"Yes it has," said Chase. "I know where that is, I've been there before. It's Salisbury Cathedral."
"Salisbury? Oh, that's not too far away from home. I thought it was going to be thousands of miles away, in another country or something. In Egypt or Azerbaijan or–"
"Where?"
"Or China...umm– well didn't you Chase? Oh how disappointing!" moaned Amy.
"Amy we've only got twenty-four hours to find the damn thing, don't wish it further away!"
"Some of The Stones are," cut in The Cloak, "but not The Fire Stone. Its powers are stronger the closer it is to its portal home."
The Cloak waved its covered hand and touched the side of The Orb for a few seconds. It shimmered, then it rose high up into the ceiling again leaving Chase and Amy sitting in their chintz armchairs then melted into the screen of The Great Eye and disappeared, as did the armchairs.
Chase and Amy quickly scrambled to their feet, having lost their balance as the armchairs evaporated. Then, seemingly from nowhere the cloaked figure produced a folded yellow parchment. He gently rolled it up and tied it with red ribbon. Where that came from neither Chase or Amy saw.
"Here's your map, yes, I am The Mapmaker." He handed the scroll to Chase. "It'll show you the quickest way to get there and the safest way back. When do you go?"
"For The Stone? Years yet," sighed Chase taking the scroll.
"Years?"
"He means days," exhaled Amy rolling her eyes.
"Oh! Good. Good Luck," laughed The Mapmaker, "You're going to need it! Ah! Now, you'll need nourishment– then you'd better be on your way."
Chase thought for a bit and then said, "Thanks, but... is that it? The Stone's just gonna be hidin' in some dusty old Cathedral in Salisbury, and we've just gotta go in and get it?"
"Well, where'd you expect to find it? Sainbury's?"
"Sainsbury's?"
Chase gave Amy an odd look. 'Why would an alien creature say Sainsbury's?' Amy shrugged as Chase looked back at her again. She'd heard his thoughts! For the first time since the boys toilets Amy had really heard his thoughts! Chase wasn't sure if Amy realised but just then he had another thought in his head and quickly turned back to The Mapmaker before he forgot it.
"I hadn't actually thought about where it would be but... can this thing..." Chase gestured his hand towards The Great Eye, "Can this show us what the curate or the vicar of this cathedral looks like?"
The Mapmaker was very still for a moment. Chase had a feeling he was trying to read his mind. He could feel the backs of his eyes tingle. Chase forced himself to stare back at the hooded figure, into those strange sparkling black eyes, which he could suddenly see and felt he'd seen them before, but where? Suddenly the crawling feeling behind his eyes stopped.
"Yes, of course," answered The Mapmaker slowly, turning away. "Why do you need to know?"
"I think yer know why I need to know." Chase took a few steps closer. Even the cloak the creature was wearing suddenly appeared different, not so ragged, but had it been ragged when they first saw it? Chase shook his head, no, it had been smooth and velvety like the darkest night, or had it been grey...or..?
"What is it?" whispered Amy.
'Nothing,' said Chase but not out loud. He looked back at her and this time knew for sure she had heard him. Her eyes widened as she suddenly realised. 'Ssshh! I don't want him to know we can do this!' said his voice inside her head.
Amy's lips quickly tightened as if to stop herself from talking. Instead, she nodded, hardly moving her head and a weak 'Alright' came into Chase's mind.
"You saw someone in The Great Hall of Mirrors, didn't you?" said The Mapmaker in hushed tones. "And you want to see if he's the vicar! How marvellous! Or perhaps it's the cleaner! He seems very good with a duster! Ha-ha! Or the organist maybe, eh?"
"He might be." shrugged Chase. "He'll be wearing a dog collar I know that. We've just seen some one clean a jewelled goblet and yer said, 'He doesn't know what it is'..." Chase tipped his head and smiled.
"So I did! You are going to be a tricky one Chase Martin. Good! Clever! I'll give you eight points for that!"
Amy frowned. She turned to Chase and whispered rather than thought, "What are you on about and why do you need to know what the vicar looks like?"
"Like he said," whispered back Chase, "I saw someone when we were in The Great Hall of Mirrors. I think he might've been the vicar. I'm sure he was wearin' a dog collar. That face we saw just now was distorted, but it was definitely wearin' a clerical collar and Kish said he'd be close to The Stone. What better job than bein' the vicar of the church it's hidden in, but yer must've seen him too Amy, try and remember."
"You said I could forget what I saw, so I have!" she retorted back not bothering to lower her voice. "I saw moving stone men waving stone swords at us, a headless woman and fairies too!! Surely none of that can come true!"
The Mapmaker waved his covered hand again and all the little eyes opened. Chase distinctly heard him singing a rhyme as he walked away from them.
"Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy. What can I see through my little eye? If I poke it, will it cry? Now show me my future right up till I die!" Then the creature pressed its finger hard into the last eye. SQUIDGE. All the other eyes closed and another picture appeared floating in a smaller orb in front of Chase and Amy. It showed a man's face...
"Nooo, that's not him." said Chase at once shaking is head, "That's not the man I saw in–"
"Ssshh!" said The Mapmaker. "He has many faces and you must keep what you saw in the Mirrors to yourself."
"You're the one who mentioned it first," said Amy turning to face him. "Why can't we talk about what we saw? Why can't we discuss it? You lot can read minds and–" grinning suddenly because she'd just heard Chase yell inside her head, telling her to shut up. She stopped talking and looked back at Chase and thought...
'Can you hear me Chase? We can really do it! We can read each others minds!' We can talk to each other!' she sounded so excited.
'It appears we can!' nodded back Chase.
"–because it's just not done, that's why!" continued The Mapmaker, who hadn't heard any of this, "and you two should be practising this ability! You should be able to read each others minds by now, what have you been doing with your time? Playing games, Figgie hunting and..." The Mapmaker turned to Amy, "...dancing?"
"Dancin'?" frowned Chase looking back at Amy, "when have you been dancin'?"
"What? oh! Well, umm–" she stammered. "Well, you leave me on my own so much, what am I supposed to do? Learn to knit!?"
"Such time wasters when there's so little time!" exclaimed The Mapmaker.
"We've got eight bloody years! Look," interrupted Chase sensing Amy was about to start an argument, "We know someone's goin' to try an' stop us. I've got this image in my head but I just can't quite see it– I know that's not the man," he pointed back to the orb, "that's not who Kish calls Grey Skull." 'Dancin? Who the Hell with?'"Chase frowned at Amy again. Amy poked her tongue out.
"Grey Skull? Ha! Now there's a name I haven't heard in many life-times and such a stupid name... don't you think? He probably does have a grey skull seeing how old he really is... I believe he quite likes to go by the name of Nah'te."
"Nah'te? But, that's... that's Ethan, backwards!"
"Yes, quite right, very quickly spotted! I'll give you another six points for that!" He gestured towards the Orb again, "Are you quite sure that's not the man?"
"Positive."
"I see. Then perhaps I can help you in another way..."
There was a long silence. Both Chase and Amy moved closer together to see what The Mapmaker was doing. Suddenly The Mapmaker bent over and began to bulge and quiver. In what little light there was, it looked as if he was changing shape beneath his cloak! He folded an arm over his hooded head and turned away. Then very slowly and very dramaticallyhe allowed the hood to fall back off his head and as he gradually straighten up and turned towards them, Chase and Amy saw the creature's face for the first time– only there wasn't a face there at all! Just horrid grey skin stretched tightly over a featureless face with sunken eye sockets and a deep hole for a mouth!
Amy screamed. Chase quickly grabbed her hand as the face began changing into different people. Human people. Amy screamed again. Chase pulled her behind him, then as another face was forming, it glared at them with fiery red eyes! Chase instantly recognised it as the face he'd seen in The Great Hall of Mirrors. It was a wizened old face with hollow bloodshot eyes, sunken cheeks, a long bony-bridged nose, a pointed chin and a mournful mouth full of grey decaying teeth.
This was the man who would do anything to stop them bringing back The Fire Stone. The Mapmaker threw back his head and laughed hysterically then wrenched off this glove, raised a long fingered knurled human hand and cackled like an old hag.
"How about this face then children, eh? Pretty don't you think?"
"Uh-oh! He is the axe murderer after all!" screamed Amy.
"No, it's him, he's Grey Skull! Run Amy! Run!"
Both she and Chase tried to make a dash for it. They ran back into the first chamber but then realised the opening where the large door had slammed shut had disappeared! They were trapped!
As Chase turned back, he noticed a small opening beneath the desk in the far corner of the room. It glistered as though it was calling to him. Holding tightly to Amy's hand he pulled her towards it.
"Wait!" yelled the creature and a wave of green energy came gushing out from the tips of his bony fingers towards them! "Wait, I say!"
"Hells Bloody Curses!! Quick Amy! This way!" screamed Chase as he pushed her under the desk and through the opening. The bolt of green energy hit the top of the desk and tipped a large bottle of bubbling liquid towards Chase. He caught it and threw it over the advancing creature, then dived under the desk and through the hole after Amy.
They slid down a long twisty chute into another dimly lit cave. From here they ran along a narrow tunnel and then another. It grew slowly darker and darker. Chase clicked on the torch. As they ran, the beam of light darted everywhere.
"Chase I'm sure he's still after us!" called a breathless Amy as she looked over her shoulder. "We'll never find our way out!"
At the end of the tunnel was another smaller cave. Running into it they skidded to a halt waving their arms to keep their balance as they nearly toppled over the edge of a shear drop. Chase just managed to grab Amy's arm and swing her back onto firm ground. About eight metres below them were the white rapids and the wild roar of a fast flowing river as it gushed and bubbled into a tight underground tunnel. There was no other way out but back the way they'd come. Behind them they could hear the slow thud thud thud of footsteps as the thing in the cloak advanced down the tunnel after them!
"He looked human Chase, a mummified corpse! How can he be human?"
"I don't know. Maybe he's not. None of this makes any sense."
"W-What could he be then?"
"Maybe it's another bloody illusion! D'yer wanna stay and ask him?"
"No!"
"Fancy a swim?" said Chase looking down into the chasm.
"Not really."
"How long can you hold yer breath under water Amy?"
"I-I don't know, ten, twenty seconds, maybe."
"That'll have to do. C'mon, we're followin' the river– it must go somewhere– hang on to me and I'll pull yer through."
"Down there!" screamed Amy, "You're joking! I-I-I- NO!"
"Amy, there's no time! Jump!!"
Chase grabbed Amy's hand and they jumped down into the foaming water. It was freezing! It took their breath clean away as the air in their lungs appeared to freeze and their stomachs tighten painfully. Hardly able to breathe as they tried treading water, the icy river swirled them round and round. They thought their bodies would burst with the cold as the current sucked them under. The pounding water squeezed into a narrow underground passageway sweeping Chase and Amy along with it.
Chase led the way, swimming or rather, being dragged along on his back, with Amy hanging on for dear life to Chase's hand and the belt of his jeans. The underwater tunnel was very dark except for the occasional dashes of bubbling light from the torch, which Chase still had strapped to his wrist. But it wasn't long before the torch started flickering, as it smashed against rocks and went out.
The force of the current dragged them along bashing and scrapping them over more rocks. Amy began to panic as the last bubbles of air slipped through her lips and from her nose. Chase reached out for her with one hand and with the other was feeling along the roof of the tunnel for any small pockets of air. Rapping his knuckles on the jutting rock, he felt cold air suddenly catch the back of his hand and pulled himself and Amy quickly to the surface. There was just enough room to get their faces up against the jagged cold roof of the tiny tunnel and gasp in air– stale bitter air! Amy coughed and splattered and then screamed,
"Aaarrrgghh! C-Can't c-catch my b-breath! C-Chase! We-we're going to die!"
"No we're not! Breathe Amy. Breathe deep. NOW!"
And they were off again. The water in the narrow tunnel was rushing faster and faster, tugging and pulling them along swirling them round and round, beating the air out of their lungs. Amy began panicking again. She'd already run out of air. Chase had her closer to him this time. He reached for her face, pinching her nose with his fingers; he placed his mouth over hers and breathed air into her from his own lungs. At last, just when they both thought their chests would burst and their heads felt heavy and nauseous, their brains frozen blocks of ice, they spurted out into a cold darkened open space.
At first there was an empty cold silence as they fell down, down, down, then suddenly the thunderous roar of violent white water filled their ears, as they plummeted into a deep black round pool, with tons of white frozen water falling over them. All around were high slippery mossy walls. The force of the tumbling water pushed them under deep into more blackness. They had to fight with every ounce of strength to reach the surface. Chase was there first. He took a gulp of air and dived back down to help Amy. They both broke the surface gasping for breath that burned painfully into their deprived lungs.
"A-are you okay?" faltered Chase, but Amy was too shocked to speak.
There was dull flickering light coming from somewhere and as Chase looked up, he could see three flaming torches jutting out of the walls about ten metres above them. Above the torches was blackness. The roar of the water as it plunged into the well over their heads was deafening and freezing.
"W-We c-can't get out C-Chase– t-the walls are too high and s-slippery– w-we're trapped!" gasped Amy, frantically scraping her freezing fingers on the mossy walls and flailing her numbing arms and legs to keep her head above the foaming water. "I'll get c-cramp– I-I k-know I w-will!"
"S-Someone had to light those t-torches," breathed Chase, looking up at them.
Neither of them saw him. Like a human bungee a grey figure came shooting down from out of the blackness above them with toes, legs, body, arms and fingers fully extended and scooped both Chase and Amy out of the water and catapulted them back up, past the flaming torches and right to the very top of the well. In one easy springy movement he landed them safely onto dry rock, like a fisherman landing his catch of the day.
"Silly children! Silly silly silly children!" He snapped, wagging his long grey finger. "Silly silly silly children!" He was grey and very old. Older than anyone they had seen in the village, including Talmeron Don. Chase quickly checked he still had his knife and the ring. He did. The torch was smashed.
Like everyone else this grey creature had long dreadlocks, his eyes were grey, his teeth and tongue were a light grey. But unlike everyone else, where you couldn't always tell where skin and clothing met, on him you could. He was heavily wrinkled round his wrists, neck and ankles and there were folds and creases where his joints moved and bent.
"We-we're being chased!" gasped Amy. "We-we-we thought we- we would– die!"
The grey creature had shrunk to a reasonable height and was still tutting and mumbling under his breath as he pulled and pushed on his fingers and toes and adjusted his neck. It looked painful.
"I can't remember the last time I had to do that! Silly silly silly silly children!"
"I thought yer could n-never get hurt here!" coughed Chase spitting out water and then sucking on his bleeding knuckles.
"That's up there!" pointed the grey creature, "Not down here! No one ever comes down here! And what happened to heal before you feel, boy, huh? What happened to that? I thought you had sense!" The creature shook his head disapprovingly. "Come! Follow me– follow me! Let's get you dry! Dear dear dear dear, dear dear dear!"
They walked through the tunnels, round, down, down, round, down, up, up up and then through a small opening in the wall, with the grey creature muttering all the time under his breath, their teeth chattering all the way.
"Quickly quickly in here, in here!"
They were now in a darkened warm room. Slowly, as the lights came up, Chase and Amy realised they were back where they'd started, in the first Chamber next to The Great Eye.
"Amy it's him, he's the-the-" Chase made a grab for Amy's hand. "He's the... you're the..." but Chase wasn't really sure who the creature was.
"Silly silly silly children! Stay there! Of course it was me! I was just showing you what he looks like! Or could look like. I wasn't chasing you! I wasn't going to get you! He's the one who's going to get you! Not me! Not me! Minus four for that! Minus four! Tut tut tut! Why didn't you use some of this power you're supposed to have boy, before you got so cold? You're holding back! Not thinking! Well I guess that's one thing Kish is right about!"
Chase blew hard on his cold hands, hoping his healing powers would soon stop the pain.
"Yer changed into some monster and shot a green fire-bolt at us! Course we're gonna run!" he shouted back.
"It wasn't a fire-bolt boy, call that a fire bolt? It was a retaining beam! You're too cold to heal yourself now, aren't you? Silly boy!"
Chase suddenly realised the creature was right. His knuckles were still sore and bloody and both he and Amy were bruised and cut and shivering uncontrollably.
"Remember that–" added the creature turning quickly on them again, "he will! He'll have you before you have time to say crocodile sandwiches! It'll have to be minus six for that– shoot first– ask questions later! Don't run! They can't chase you if you don't run! And never never get cold! You'll be dealing with a killer! Your powers don't work when you're cold! Didn't you know that?"
"N-no." shivered Chase "N-no, I-I didn't."
"Oh!" stammered Amy suddenly realising, her teeth chattering. "You're the c-creature in the c-cloak!"
"Oh bless my soul! The child's a genius! Of course I am girl!! Two points for observation!" He slowly clapped sarcastically. "Is she usually this slow?" he asked looking at Chase. "Tut tut. I thought I was dealing with intelligent life forms here!"
"B-But y-you looked so-so-so h-human! And and and and-mum-mummi-"
"Don't stammer girl, it makes you sound stupid and very nervous, one point away! Well at least we know you'll be able to run if he chases you. What a palaver! But good teamwork, yes, good teamwork. I'll give you five for effort I think. Good good good!"
"What–" breathed Chase, still out of breath. "What are the points for?"
"Because it's a test. Eight points for being inquisitive but minus three for being too open to suggestion. You must trust what you feel not what you see. Or is it trust what you see not what you feel? Oh no matter! I always get that one muddled. Anyway, Amy put the thought into your mind and you just ran with it. Axe murderer indeed! Do I look like an axe murderer, hmm, hmm? Of course not– but that doesn't mean I'm not one! And never, never, never run! Well, hardly ever nearly never. They can't chase you if you don't run! Why didn't you use your powers boy– why didn't you open up a nice big door, a way out? Hmm, hmm?"
"Open up a door?" Chase was clearly confused and turned to Amy. "That was yer fault, tellin' me he was an axe murderer. I didn't stop to think."
"My fault? You just dragged me off– no stopping to ask questions just run Amy run! Jump Amy jump! I nearly drowned!"
They argued and then argued some more, all the time stamping their feet and rubbing themselves in an attempt to get warm. They hadn't noticed the grey creature disappearing and then returning with two thick blankets. He insisted they removed all their wet clothing so he could dry them. The arguing stopped at once and they both turned to face him.
"You want our clothes? What, now?" they both said together. "All of them?"
"Yes, yes, quick quick quick! Off off off! Can't go around in those freezing wet things you'll die of ammonia."
"Pneumonia," corrected Amy.
The creature threw the blankets over them gesturing impatiently for their clothing.
"Hurry up, I haven't got all day you know, let's have those wet things off, they won't take long to dry."
Amy made a face and folded her arms. "I'm staying as I am!" she stated flatly.
"No you won't. You'll both start itching any minute–" A strange watch appeared on the creature's wrist. "Now! ...Ladies behind the green screen and gentlemen behind the red one if you please!"
Suddenly it was as though a whole army of ants armed with stinging nettles and itching powder and tiny little needles had invaded their clothing and were biting, stinging and pricking them. They both grabbed a blanket quickly disappeared behind a screen, fighting with their clothes to get them off.
The Mapmaker laughed. "There! I knew that would do the trick! Now, rap those blankets tightly around you then go and sit down by the fire." He pointed through an archway, which appeared in the far wall.
The next room was wallpapered and decorated in Victorian memorabilia. Chase and Amy sat themselves down in front of the huge log fire in two high backed velvet armchairs. The creature opened a door drawn in a tall picture on the wall and disappeared through it, then returned moments later, with two large mugs of hot steaming cocoa and some chocolate digestive biscuits.
"It probably won't be as nice as your father's cocoa Amy, but it should warm you up."
It did. Chase gave it ten out of ten, but only because he was so cold.
"How do you know my daddy makes cocoa?" asked Amy, munching on a biscuit. Chase was staring at his, frowning.
"The Eyes see everything. Now, drink up, your clothes will be dry as soon as you finish your cocoa and then you can be on your way. I'm expecting visitors– only nosey ones; they don't need a map they just want to see what I look like. Or maybe hoping to see where you two have got to? Hmm? Were you followed I wonder? Anyway, no one knows what I look like, so don't you go telling anyone, especially about what colour I am. It would only cause... urmm, confusion."
"Why?" Amy asked, "Why would it cause confusion?"
"Have you seen any 'Greys' in Ishmirban or anywhere else?" Chase and Amy eyed each other over the rims of their mugs, then shook their heads. "No, of course you haven't! They know when I'm in because I allow them to see the smoke from my chimney, that's all they need to know. Now, you'll need another map, the one I gave you earlier will be ruined. In fact you'll need a Multi-Jewelled Map, won't you, hmm, hmm?" He scratched his head. "I'd forgotten that! I'd better go and fetch one. Oh and um, give me your torch, I'll mend that too."
He took the torch from Chase, opened it up, emptied out some water, stuck two fingers on either end of the battery then put it back inside the torch. A strong beam of light suddenly glared out. The smashed glass and bulb now mended.
"Ah! That's much better! It's a wonder Kish hadn't already done that!"
"Why are yer grey," asked Chase thoughtfully, "when none of the others are?"
"It's living down here for so long. I don't need to be any other colour and it helps me blend in with the rocks and the shadows," said the creature, turning to tidy books on a nearby table. "Keeps me illusive. I can be any colour I want to be you know! Oh....don't tell them that either!"
"They don't like Greys...They think Greys walk at night, they think Greys are Traitors."
"Traitors, twarqs even? Silly people! Superstitions! As if a colour could predict what or who you are or were."
"You were there!" said Chase suddenly sanding up from his chair. He quickly tightened his blanket around him. "You were at that council meetin' in the Great Auditorium, I saw yer! You were there but not wearin' any colour just... there..."
"Really?" grinned The Mapmaker. "And did anyone else see me? No. Heard me though, didn't they! Ha! The meeting needed speeding up, they aren't used to talking about things, just mind melding and I had work to do," he said trying not to smile and creased his brow into a forced frown. "Very theatrical; the stabbing of your hand with that knife but you made your point very well. Be very careful where you allow your blood to fall young Chase, it might get you into a lot of trouble, or then again, it might not!" He laughed louder. "Oh well, that's for you to find out!"
"Did yer put that thought into my mind, to stab my hand?"
"No, of course I didn't! Where's that knife now?" he asked trying to see if Chase was concealing it under the blanket. Chase let out a sigh and then showed him the knife.
"Good, you hid that well! Keep it safe, it's very sharp. Now, will you keep my secret? After all, I did save both your lives. If I wanted you dead, I could've just left you there."
Chase gave a shrug. "Hmm... okay we won't tell but we can't stop Kish from readin' our minds," he stared hard at the creature. Somehow he knew his excuse about being able to 'blend into the rocks and being illusive', wasn't entirely true.
"Ah– but you can stop him, stop anyone reading your mind, with practice. When you learn to feel it– it's like shadows... like something very small is walking behind your eyes. Yes, that's what it's like. You've felt this feeling?" Chase nodded. The creature nodded too. "Imagine the mind is full of millions of little rooms. Now, the one you're using at this very moment, wondering if I'm telling you the truth, is the easiest one to open and get into– all the others are locked tightly shut. You'd have to have a brilliant mind to get into one of those. Now, as soon as you feel anyone walking behind your eyes you can distract them by asking about their Jezzles or the weather or turning quickly away from them, or staring them straight back in the eyes and doing the same!"
"Which I've just done." said Chase coolly.
"Which you've just tried to do...yes..." the creature smiled. "Once they've lost that tiny room you were using, it takes a very clever master in deed to find it again. Hmm, yes and rooms inside your head can be very useful too! Remember that young Chase, won't you? Remember, rooms inside your head! Yes!"
"Rooms in my head? Sure, I'll remember that." Chase shrugged and raised an eyebrow at Amy. 'Weirdo. I don't trust this creature'. Amy smiled, hearing his thoughts.
"Trust?" grinned The Mapmaker broadly, looking at Chase, "We shall see, now, drink up, I can get you tea if you prefer. Don't forget to eat your biscuits. I'll fetch your clothing and the new map. Stoke the fire if it goes down."
"Will our clothes be dry already?" asked Amy.
"Of course they will, silly girl! Didn't I say they would be once you've finished your drink?" The grey creature disappeared down another tunnel that hadn't been there before.
"That sounded disgusting!" hissed Amy, "shadows moving behind your eyes and walking about in rooms inside your head. Yuck! Have you felt that?"
"Yeah...ssshh! There's something odd here Amy," whispered Chase. "Somethin' really odd."
"Yes! Of course there's something really odd! Even I can see that!"
"Chocolate digestive biscuits for a start– where the Hell did he get them from? And where's all this stuff come from?" said Chase still whispering and gesturing around the room, "It's all from Earth. How'd he get it here? And don't yer think he talks a little too well– even better than Kish? I mean, he takes shortcuts, he says don't, doesn't and can't. Kish's never got the hang of that."
"Very odd, but he did save our lives. We'd never have climbed out of that well if he hadn't bounced down from nowhere and pulled us out. And you Chase Martin...you saved my life too...you-you breathed for me. How did you know how to do that?"
Chase raised and dropped his left shoulder, hugging the blanket tightly to him.
"Ah...seen it on telly...James Bond I think."
"So, that was all you– you didn't use any of your powers?"
"I didn't think about my powers– it all happened so fast. And he's right." He looked at his knuckles as they started to heal. "My powers don't work when I'm cold and that water was freezing."
"I know! I was there! But you still saved me without your powers!"
Chase nodded, "I guess I did." Chase really hoped he had. He didn't want to think about The Id. Where had it been when they really needed it?
Pulling the blanket tightly around him again, Chase got up and stood by the entrance to the tunnel where the creature had gone, listening. He could hear two voices. There was somebody else here. Meanwhile Amy had untied the ribbon around the damaged map and unrolled it.
"Chase!" she hissed, "Chase look at this!" She held up the yellow paper. It was blank.
Chase sighed. "Oh great! We've come all this way to be given a blank bit of paper. And now we're stuck in some labyrinth in the middle of a mountain range, at the end of a desert with some shape-shifting weirdo who's taken all our clothes!"
"Oh my goodness! The Ring, have you still got The Ring!?"
"Yes, of course I have." said Chase unfolding his fist.
"Oh. Good. Where on earth did you have that hidden?" Chase just grinned at her. "Perhaps we ought to try and make a run for it? Can't you magic up something? "
"Like what?"
"Like he said– a way out– a door! Perhaps The Ring will make you invisible if you wear it, like The Lord of The Rings and all that!" said Amy joining Chase by the passageway. She too, listened to what was being said.
"So what am I now, Harry Potter meets The Hobit?" hissed Chase.
"Sssh! They're talking in their own language aren't they? I can't understand any of it. I wonder what they are saying."
"Sit back by the fire!" bellowed a voice from the other side of the room. "You'll catch your deaths over there!" Both Chase and Amy jumped.
It was The Mapmaker again. He'd come out of a tall grandfather clock behind them this time, but the children could still hear the voices at the end of the passageway.
"Who else is here?" said Chase firmly.
"No one," said the Mapmaker smiling. "The voices you can hear are what's already been said by you and me earlier. They echo everywhere and come back sounding a little distorted and backwards! But it's good you're cautious and curious. No flies on you, or is that fleas?" He scratched his head, "No matter! I'll give you... six points for that one. Here's your clothing."
Their clothes looked as if they'd been freshly laundered. Chase took his and after Amy nudged him hard in the ribs with her elbow, he held up the blank map and asked,
"Why is this map blank? What use is a map with nothin' on it?"
"That map's been damaged. Anyway it won't show you were to go until you start off on your journey. What's the point of showing you where to go if you're not going there yet, hmm, hmm? You're not even on the right planet! Goodness me! Things change you know! Don't you know anything about maps? Waste of time and energy! Dear me! Maps showing you where to go before you're even ready to go? Whatever next!! Here, take great care of this one."
The Mapmaker handed Chase the new map. "If you open this one now, it will also be blank! Don't lose it! This is quite a special map– it will not only show you the way to The Fire Stone but when the time's right– and of course, you do actually manage to find The Stone and bring it back– this map will also show you where to find all the other stones– but there's a time limit on it of course. The map has a life span of about eight Earth years for each stone and will give you approximately the same amount of time for each stone you find after that. Is that clear?"
"As mud," said Amy.
"Tut tut tut!! It means, once The Fire Stone is returned you'll have another eight years– eight Earth years– to find the next one– and then another eight years and so on and so forth– if the map hasn't been activated in that time, it'll fragmentize–"
"Wah-huh! Hang on a minute! I never said I was gonna find all the bloody stones!" yelled Chase.
"Didn't you? Are you sure? Well I never! Well, in that case the map will just disintegrate eight years after you've found The Fire Stone, won't it?"
"I won't be around to see," scolded Chase.
"So," frowned Amy, "does that mean we have to hang on to this map and won't be able to get another one even if we lose this one? Not even if we were to look for the other stones?"
"No."
"No?"
"No! Is there an echo in here?"
"Why not?" said Chase. For the first time The Mapmaker looked genuinely sad and sighed softly.
"I won't be here. Anyway, what's it to you, you've just told me you weren't going to find the other Stones. Now, have you understood everything I've said? No? Good! Now then, you wanted to know where all this stuff came from?" He waved his hands at the things in the room. "Promise you won't tell?" he smiled.
"Can't promise," said Chase very suspiciously,
"Yes we can!" said Amy quickly. "Yes, tell us!"
"Nah nah! He was right, you were wrong young lady!" said The Mapmaker pointing at Amy.
"You should never promise something you don't know you can keep... ten for him, nothing for you." He pulled on his ear and then said. "All this comes from Earth."
"Well that's obvious," snorted Amy.
"Ethan, one of the guardians of The Great Gateway was my... umm..." he scratched his nose this time, "umm ...my... let's say a relation– part of my umm– unit– a member of my House, yes that will do." he said hesitantly. "No one knows this of course, because they don't know who I am. Some would be a little...peeved if they knew I think, rattled, yes that's a good word. Rattled. A Mapmaker related to the notorious traitorous Ethan. "
"Father of this Nah'te?" said Chase thinking hard. "The one yer said would get us."
""Hmm? Did I? Well, that will never do! The first Ethan was stealing long before he disappeared and not just from your planet. His death was a painful one." He laughed as though he admired or was impressed by the late Ethan.
"So he's definitely dead? He's not the one who's goin' to try and stop us?" asked Chase confused. Why were his thoughts disappearing from his mind before he could see them clearly?
"Isn't he? Oh I see, you're asking me! I thought we'd already discussed that! Ha! Of course not, Ethan has been dead for eons. Everyone knows that! Fell in love and bonded with a human, a woman of course, thank goodness! But not a lot of people know that. In fact, I doubt anyone does."
"I've kinda guessed it," said Chase not sure if he should share this tiny bit of knowledge.
The Mapmaker turned to him and smiled, "Yes, yes, of course you have– obvious when you know the guardians didn't have Jezzles, other wise they couldn't have been away for so long and of course the drawing on The Wall at the House... babies!" The Mapmaker laughed at this, and shook his head. "Now where was I? Oh yes, he fell in love and went the same way as Marius, I believe. Fell in love and Joined with a human. One should stick to one's own kind you know. Stick to ones own kind! It's a lot safer, less chance of sudden death! It's no easy task one of us Joining with a human."
"Ugh-yuck!" muttered Amy. "Is that really possible?"
"Apparently," nodded Chase, remembering Kish's words about A'Leea.
Suddenly The Mapmaker's cloak appeared to be there again and he pulled it around him. "Of course it's possible, don't you know anything? How long have you two be living here?" He spoke very fast and abruptly. "You should know. Now, listen very carefully, I shall say this only once..." then the creature smiled stupidly. "I love that, don't you? One of my favourite programmes."
Chase raised both eyebrows and looked at Amy, once more confused.
"Now where was I? Oh yes. Humans and ummm– well, both parties must be one hundred percent sure– no room for ditherers– it's about the only thing on Tak'heynie that could cause an untimely and very painful death– all that mashing of bodies and swapping of souls and inter thoughts and bodily fluids! And of course, no going on to the Afterlife if it all goes wrong. Humans won't look any different but you would be different and you'd need each other to survive and of course the Ishmirban would become permanently human. You swap Osh'lahs you see."
The children stared blankly at him. "Osh'lahs?" Chase shrugged. He remembered the word, but hadn't understood what it meant.
"It's the outer rim or skin, for want of a better word, that protects the soul so it can hold its shape when The Great Absorption travels to the Afterlife. When one of us bond, Join, we swap our Osh'lahs and the same would happened if we Joined with a human. Then we'd be able to create our own human body or form one from the memories of the intended Jezzle. A kind of cloning takes place– no, no not cloning– " He tapped his head with his knuckles, "Oh some other multifusion duplication, oh anyway, the woman concerned had no idea Ethan–the guardian Ethan of course, wasn't human and was only in human form. Probably on his thousandth body and held in place by the power of the Time Jewels I should think. When the two lovers, umm-er-umm- how old are you two again?"
"Eleven next week."
"I'm eleven in two weeks," added Amy.
"Eleven? Very young in human years I'm guessing, so I won't go into detailed details, but anyway, when the two of them... er, Joined, his body crystallised, leaving him with his new body. At first, quite featureless."
"That sounds disgusting!" said Amy. "Yuck!"
"Disgusting? There's more!" he laughed. "She died of shock, killing his Osh'lah of course. Ethan had chosen someone, a memory, deep in the woman's mind and started to resemble, started to look like this person, a loved one, someone she was very fond of– unfortunately, someone she knew to be dead... The shock killed her. Ethan died a little later...after of course their children were born. His body would have survived long enough for that. We can not kill, even in death!"
"Children? The babies I saw drawn on his arm?" said Chase, "Where are they now?"
The Mapmaker shook his head keen to continue with his story, "You must listen, now imagine, the poor woman, even if she was human, waking up to find bits of the old Ethan plus bits of nearly everyone he'd ever been and this new man... a man she knew to be dead– in her bed! How utterly delightfully horrid!! Yes, yuck indeed! We can't survive without our Jezzle. We become each other's power source and with out it, we die."
Chase remembered Kish impaled on the tree. Amy remembered Prelli screaming in pain from a wound that wasn't there.
"He may have become completely human after the Joining but he was still one of us with her Osh'lah binding his soul. He still needed power from his own Osh'lah which died with her and the Time Jewels were of no use to him as a human, well, they could've been–if legends are to be believed but he obviously didn't– so, once she was dead, die one, die all, understand? No? Oh who cares! It was so long ago."
"Kish told me Ethan was still alive, but different," said Chase.
"Well, of course he did! We've just talked about all that! Ethan and now his son, Nah'te. Whta's the matter with you boy? You must have banged your head harder than I thought! He is alive, in a way; you can't really call this existence living can you? Umm, he has umm– oh it doesn't matter!" He waved both hands dismissively. "Enough of this waffle and history lesson! I'm obviously confusing you!"
"So it's one of his children, this Ethan backwards, this Nah't'e," said Chase cutting in, "he's the one who's gonna get us?"
"Really? Finally! We shall see! This was all her stuff. The woman. Well, the nicer stuff was. He smuggled it through the portal before their Joining– he was hoping to make a home from home for her here."
"Even though The Stones are on earth?" said Amy puzzled.
"Oho clever! Another six points to you young lady! I believed he thought there was a way of living on both worlds."
"And the pig, the sheep and three eyed baby?" asked Amy, remembering the things in the jars.
"Oh no, they're mine, I like to collect bazaar things. Now hurry up. Get dressed– get dressed! Can't stand chatting to you for eons! I have things to do!"
Both children disappeared behind their respective screens again and as soon as they were ready, he beckoned to them to follow him. In the next room he unlocked and opened a large wooden door, which had been concealed behind a thick orange velvet curtain covered in hundreds of tiny round mirrors.
"Turn left when you get out. You scored sixty-two, or seventy-one I think. Nothing for the cocoa– you shouldn't have drunk it– it could've been poisoned! Definitely the best score in ages though, if ever! But I would've preferred a score of ninety or more, still, no problem! Now, my tip is– always beware of men offering gifts and free drinks, don't put light bulbs in your back pocket, don't run, walk backwards very slowly and never believe everything you see! Right, that's it! Good luck! Oh, and young Chase, remember what I've just told you about bonding with one of us, won't you, and little rooms inside your head? Okay? Good! You never know what you might get branded with." He added this very deliberately, as he ushered them towards the door. "So, don't bond– stick to your own kind, there's a good chap! But on the other hand, bonding could be very useful...Hmm...Yes," He frowned thoughtfully, pulling on his chin. "Yes, very useful indeed! But in any case, don't make any deals! Good bye!"
He pushed them both out of the door and slammed it shut. They heard bolts being pulled across and a key turning in a lock but when they turned back the door had gone! There was just the strange yellowish grey stone of the cliff wall. They were back in the canyon, the suns blazing down with no cave in sight and for that matter, no keppet's either.
"He's worse at maths than I am!" said Amy pulling off her jacket. "So, that was The Mapmaker and he was at that Great Council meeting?" She added. "You saw him?"
"Yeah, he arrived late. He was the one who said, put the boy to the test... he must've known before I did, what I was goin' to do. I think he put the thought in my head." Chase thought about this for a few seconds. It could've been the Id... "yeah, I think he put the thought in my head."
"And what was all that about you bonding?" said Amy with her hands on her hips.
"D'know," Chase shrugged. He pulled off his trench coat. It was far too hot to wear that out here. "What's all this about you dancin' and who with? Kish hasn't got an older son, has he?"
"Huh, he has older daughters," snorted Amy angrily, "you go off gallivanting across the country and I can't even dance! And I still don't know what that was all about!"
"What was any of it about– he's totally mental! Where's the damned keppets?" said Chase looking around. They were nowhere in sight.
"We must have tied them else where," sighed Amy, also searching the surrounding landscape.
"Nooo, we left 'em tied up here, there's no cave but there's still the landslide and there's their saddles." Chase whistled through his teeth. The shrill noise echoed around the canyon.
"Oh fat chance!" spat Amy. "Prelli has already told me there's more chance of a tribe of chocolate monkeys and me wearing pink tights, winning the lottery five times in a row than a keppet ever coming to call. If they're out in the desert and get the chance, they go off in search of... love, evidently." Amy blushed.
"Love? Really?" chuckled Chase. "Love, huh? Perhaps we'll find them when we find those fairies!"
"And we could read each others minds!" she added quickly, changing the subject.
"Yeah, for a bit," said Chase. "He's was right about one thing, we do need to practice."Amy screwed up her face as though trying to get into Chase's mind. "Coz we can't now though, can we?" he added, oddly relieved they no longer could. He was thinking about who Amy had been dancing with.
"Damn it!" said Amy fiercely, "Now we're going to have to walk miles and miles through a hot desert– It'll take weeks. I've got no hat to protect me from the suns– no factor one thousand and fifty-five– no water– no–"
She stopped in her tracks as she noticed a smile creeping across Chase's face and heard the gentle thud of hooves on sand. She quickly turned to see their two keppet's cantering towards them. Chase raised an eyebrow and an even smugger smile curled the corners of his mouth.
"Looks like we've won the lottery five times in a row.... What were you sayin' about wearing pink tights little missy?"
"Oooh! You can be sooo arrogant sometimes!"
"Only sometimes?" smiled Chase.