Chapter 14: The Telallamorph King
To Stella, teleportation felt like falling in every direction at once. It took a while for the dizziness to clear before she was aware that she was lying on solid marble. The Telallamorphs sprang from her as she tried to sit up. She managed to focus her eyes in time to see Helix popping into the air, just above the floor. He fell on all four paws with a yelp and immediately started to shake his fur free of Telallamorphs. He didn’t need to tell Stella that he hadn’t enjoyed the experience of teleporting.
It seemed as if Wendell hadn’t liked it either. He was shivering directly above Stella’s head, whilst Prince Fawcus climbed down his string.
“Th-th-th-that was horrible!” Wendell stuttered, uncontrollably flashing into different vivid colours. “It was like I’d been stretched to cover the whole galaxy all at once.”
“I, too, felt a similar experience,” Fawcus said. “Not the usual feeling of travelling at all. I think perhaps it’s because you have no solid form.”
Stella managed to clamber to her feet and take in her surroundings. They had teleported into the middle of a huge courtyard. A set of columns spiralled around her, leading up to an open sky that was tinged a peach colour, with swirling streaks of magenta. In front of her stood a set of gates that dwarfed the Telallamorphs but were only as high as her shoulder. The gates were guarding a palace in miniature. Stella felt like she was a giant looking down upon the graceful minarets and marble walls.
Another set of Telallamorphs teleported out of mid-air, but without Doctor Dodds.
“Where is Dodds?” Prince Fawcus asked his people.
The Telallamorphs all started speaking at once.
“One at a time!” Fawcus ordered.
“I do not know,” one of the Telallamorphs replied.
“I felt as if something was tugging at me,” another said.
All the Telellamorphs started chorusing, “So did I! So did I!”
Fawcus shouted for order again.
“It was like I was being dragged somewhere,” one of them said. “Then suddenly, I felt as if I’d been let go, and we transported here.”
“Uncle Dodds has gone?” Stella asked, aghast.
She couldn’t believe it. First Tom had betrayed her, and now her great-uncle was missing. How could this have happened? A terrible thought entered into her head. “It must have been the Greddylick!” she exclaimed.
“How?” Wendell asked. “The Greddylick can’t teleport? Can it?”
“We do not know the full extent of the Dreadful One’s powers,” Fawcus said gravely. “We can’t discount the worst.”
They were interrupted by the sound of a high-pitched fanfare. Stella could hear Helix growl and followed his gaze to the palace walls. They were lined with Telallamorph faces peering at them in horror.
“Invasion!” a voice shouted. “Giants at the gates!”
“Look!” another voice cried. “It’s Sharptooth Whitefur! Run for your lives, he means to chew us all!”
This news bought pandemonium, and the sound of screaming and panic could be heard from behind the walls. Helix started barking back at the commotion, which made it worse.
The gates to the palace creaked open to reveal a large group of Telallamorphs. Each wore a helmet and carried a small spear. They marched grimly towards Stella, who started to back away from the needle-like points of their sticks. One of the soldiers, wearing an officer’s cap, shouted the order to ‘Attack!’ The soldiers gave a fierce battle cry and rushed towards them. Wendell hovered precariously above them, trying to avoid being pricked. A group of them surrounded Helix and started stabbing their spears menacingly whilst he snapped his jaws at each prod.
“Stop!” Prince Fawcus roared.
He strode forward and clasped at the Telallamorph captain’s arm, to stop him thrusting the point of his spear into Stella’s leg.
“Captain Nelkoo, I said stand down. These people are friends.”
Captain Nelkoo reluctantly lowered his spear, and the other soldiers warily drew back.
“Are you sure, sire?” Captain Nelkoo asked. “They look like evil minions of the Dreadful One to me. Especially that one!” he said suspiciously, waving his spear at Helix.
“I tell you, these aliens mean us no harm. We need an audience with my father.”
“All of you?” the captain asked incredulously, staring up at Stella, who towered over them.
“He can receive us in the great hall,” Fawcus said.
“If you say so, milord,” Captain Nelkoo replied, although the tone of his voice betrayed obvious doubts. “Inform the king,” he barked at one of the soldiers.
The soldier gave a hurried salute and disappeared.
“Form a guard!” Captain Nelkoo bellowed.
The rest of the Telallamorph soldiers formed ranks around Stella and Helix and started to herd them forward. Helix gave a yelp as he was prodded with a spear to get him moving.
“Only proper for a state visit to the great hall, sire,” Captain Nelkoo said.
“It’s all right, Helix,” Stella said to him, ruffling the fur on his head. “We need their help.”
She allowed herself to be ushered forward by the Telallamorphs at her feet. She surprised herself by how calm she sounded, as she still hadn’t got used to the shock of Doctor Dodds’s disappearance. She kept looking around her, expecting him to appear out of the air at any moment.
Stella, Helix and Wendell were led through the palace gates by the Telallamorphs. Stella, taking great care not to step on any of them by mistake, had to lower her head to avoid headbutting the archway. Stooping down, Stella walked through a very grand hallway. She had to weave between the intricate chandeliers that hung like clusters of tiny jewels from the vaulted ceiling. Wendell managed to find a way to deflate himself to a more suitable size, although the effort made him all wrinkled. When he spoke, it was as if he was holding his breath.
“They’ve done this place out quite nicely. I could do with something like this back at home,” he said.
On either side of the corridor, small archways led into smaller passageways. Helix couldn’t resist putting his head through some of them to see what was there. Once he sniffed at an unfortunate maid, who gave a shriek and threw up the bundle of sheets she was carrying and ran back down the corridor.
Stella almost had to crawl through the doors to the great hall. Groups of gaudily coloured courtiers huddled together nervously, as the aliens were squeezed in. At the far end of the room, a small throne was set upon a dais. On it sat a rotund mauve-coloured Telallamorph who was wearing a crown. He was staring at them all intensely, but didn’t say a word. Although the room was vast by Telallamorph standards, with huge windows and tall columns that coiled upwards, it wasn’t quite tall enough for Stella to stand, and her neck was starting to ache from her holding it at a strange angle.
When Helix entered, gasps of fear could be heard amidst the fevered muttering of the court. Prince Fawcus strode forward to the throne.
“Father. May I introduce these foreign guests? Friends who have agreed to help us in our direst of needs. The Nebuloid Wendell.”
Wendell gave the king a bob.
“The fierce protector, Sharptooth Whitefur.”
Helix whined at the tremor of fear that followed his introduction.
“And holder of the Key to the Doom Gate, Stella Mayweather.”
A wave of dismay swept across the hall. The Telallamorphs started to cry out in anger, waving their fists at Stella. The king stood up from his throne and bellowed.
“Silence!”
The hubbub died down, and the king asked Fawcus in a stern tone, “My son, you have long been my source of greatest pride, but what madness has possessed you to bring those who would bring about our doom to the very heart of our realm?”
“We’re not your enemies,” Stella pleaded. “You’re thinking of the Greddylick, or Dreadful One, or whatever you call him. We’re trying to help.”
“Help?” the king roared.
“You wield the seven-pointed star, do you not? The Key to the Doom Gate. Your coming heralds the destruction of Telallamorph!”
“She speaks the truth, my liege,” Fawcus shouted. “I have seen her battle with the Dreadful One. It took the Doom Key from her, and she wishes to retrieve it.”
This news fell heavily on the king. He slumped back onto his throne as if he had been struck.
“The Dreadful One has the Doom Key?” he murmured. “A bleak day for us all.”
“Yes, but he can’t use it!” Stella blurted out. “Doctor Dodds said so.”
“Dodds? Does she mean Doctor Dodds?” the king asked his son.
“Yes. The Key Holder was under Doctor Dodds’s protection. We brought him with us, but he disappeared whilst transporting,” Fawcus explained.
“Disappeared? I’ve never heard of such a thing,” the king said thoughtfully.
Fawcus shrugged. “I can think of no explanation, although I suspect that the Dreadful One may be involved.”
“Hmm. There is nothing mentioned in the sacred texts about the Dreadful One being able to transport,” the king said. “The name of Dodds is held by many in great regard, and his loss is grievous indeed.
“Can’t we find him?” Stella asked. “Please, Your Majesty, if we could just find him, I know he could help.”
“But where should we look, Stella Mayweather?” the king asked.
“What about at this Doom Gate place? If it was the Greddylick that captured him, that’s where he’d be.”
“Father. It is possible. If there is a chance that Dodds is being held there, I would like to go back and try and release him.”
“My son, you have courage, and that is good, but you must know the difference between bravery and recklessness. You only just made it back from the Dreadful One’s lair before, and since you have been away, the evil shrouding that place has thickened. Remember that we cannot transport to a place unless we recognise it or someone who is already there. You have seen yourself the terrible alterations that the Dreadful One is making to that land, and we no longer can reach those poor souls it has imprisoned to do its foul bidding. Your duty is here, with your people. If the Dreadful One has the Key to the Doom Gate, I fear the worst. We must prepare. All of Telallamorph must prepare. For the last battle will soon be upon us.”
After this pronouncement, the king called an end to the audience. Stella, Wendell and Helix were politely, but firmly, escorted out of the great hall. The king had offered the gardens beside the palace for them to rest in. Fawcus had assured them that the weather on Telallamorph at that time of year was quite mild and they should be quite comfortable there for the night. He also said that he would arrange for some food to be sent to them.
Stella found that Fawcus was right about them being comfortable in the gardens. An emerald-coloured brook ran through them, and there was soft russet moss underfoot. Captain Nelkoo led them to the side of a large hill. An airy structure stood on the top, and Stella could see that a number of Telallamorphs were housed in it. A lot of them appeared to be on crutches, though, and some had their arms in slings.
“What is that place?” Stella asked.
“That’s the hospital,” Captain Nelkoo curtly replied, obvious that he still viewed them with distrust.
Although she was curious, Stella didn’t want to move any closer, for fear of disturbing the patients. However, she could see rows of beds through the windows. Each one held a Telallamorph figure, swathed from head to foot in a kind of plastic sheet.
“Why are they wrapped up like that?” Wendell asked.
Stella wished that he hadn’t. None of those Telallamorphs were moving, and she worried what the answer may be.
“Don’t you foreigners have plasters where you come from?” the captain asked.
“Not like that,” Stella replied.
“Morphplast we call it,” one of the escorts said. “I had a nasty run-in with Scissorpinchers a few years back. Vicious little beggars they are. Got myself sliced clean in two. They wrapped me in that stuff for a couple of days, and I was right as rain. O’course, I’ve still got a scar. It runs right through my–”
“Silence in the ranks!” Nelkoo barked. “No fraternising with the priso…er, I mean, guests,” he said.
Nelkoo left them, but stationed guards a discreet distance away, and Stella sat down wearily on the moss. Fawcus had arranged for stacks of Telallamorph cakes to be left for them, and Stella nibbled at one of the saucer-sized tablets. They were very sweet, and it felt like she was chewing through a tough type of jelly. Leaning on her arm, she looked up at the sky that was fast darkening into a purplish dusk. Everything from the strange cries of the brightly coloured birds to the breeze rustling plastic-looking leaves made Stella feel even more away from home.
She supposed that this wasn’t the first time that she had spent the night on another planet. Her uncle had said that she had not been found on Earth. Maybe her real home looked just like this, or maybe even stranger. It was like she didn’t belong anywhere. Uncle Dodds might have told her, but he wasn’t here, and she didn’t know whether she would see him ever again. ‘My life has been taken away from me, a bit at a time,’ Stella thought. ‘First it turns out I’m not a Mayweather at all. I’m not even human. Then my parents get taken away, or their minds do, anyway. Then Uncle Dodds, even Tom.’ She felt a choking in her throat. It felt difficult to breathe. What was she going to do? How was she going to get home? Where was home? The urge to cry out was almost irresistible, and she even clapped her hand over her mouth to try and stop it escaping. ‘Stop it!’ she scolded herself. ‘I won’t panic.’
Helix had noticed that something was wrong. He scratched at her arm with his paw and asked whether she was okay. She forced herself to drop her palm away from her mouth and noticed a faint outline of her pendant still traced onto her skin. ‘I won’t panic,’ she repeated to herself. ‘I’ll be strong. As hard as stone.’
“Grandas!” she murmured. “Grandas and his cousins will help us get to that Doom Gate and save Uncle Dodds,” she shouted and jumped to her feet.
“I don’t know, Stella,” Wendell said. “We don’t even know where Doctor Dodds is.”
“The Greddylick must have captured him,” she said firmly. She had to believe that she could still find her uncle. He was her only chance to get her parents back and find some answers. “Besides, that’s the only place we know where to look. Uncle Dodds asked Grandas to steer a course from the Phantom Quadrant. Do you know how long it’ll take the Attic to get to Telallamorph, Wendell?”
“How should I know? I don’t even know where this planet is.”
“You’re a navigator, aren’t you?”
“A trainee navigator,” Wendell said sourly.
“Please, Wendell, give it a go. Nebuloids can always find out where they are. Anywhere in the galaxy. You told me that.”
“A pity humanoid females can always remember what someone says. When it suits them,” Wendell muttered, but he whizzed up into the air and started to bob around in the air currents.
He spent a lot of time drifting over a large ornamental lake on the other side of the hill. Stella could make out the balloon hovering over the reflection of the two Telallamorph moons shining in the water. After he had studied them intently, Wendell shot into the air and disappeared into the night clouds. Stella strained her eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of him. She thought she could make him out, only to be disappointed by it being a wisp of cloud. He was out of sight for so long that Stella began to get worried that he might have left her as well.
Just as she had decided to try to find Prince Fawcus and say that another member of the Attic’s crew had disappeared, she spotted a balloon-like shadow on the horizon. As he got closer, she noticed that Wendell’s colour was more muted than usual, and she resigned herself to the thought that it meant that Wendell was dejected. Wendell sped closer, his string fluttering behind him like a streamer.
“Wheeeeeeeeee,” Wendell squeale
d and proceeded to do a loop-the-loop in the air.
“It worked! It worked! It worked! It worked!” he whooped, zooming around Stella’s head until she felt quite dizzy.
Stella grabbed Wendell’s string to try to calm him down. He jerked backwards as Stella tugged him towards her, and he started to bounce up and down.
“I’ve never been able to do that before! Never!”
“So you know where we are now?” Stella asked.
“Course I do. I told you. I’m a trainee navigator.”
“Okay. So how long till the Attic gets here?”
“Two days!”
“Two days?” Stella repeated in dismay.
“If they take the most direct course, that is.”
“But that’s too long. Who knows what the Greddylick would have done by then?”
The news seemed to dampen Wendell’s enthusiasm, and he deflated a little.
Helix licked Stella’s hand and reminded her that they were all tired and there was nothing more they could do that night. Stella reluctantly agreed with him. Although the temperature was still very mild, Stella felt a chill. She curled up next to Helix and cradled her head on her arm. She thought that she would be too uncomfortable and worried to sleep, but weariness overtook her and proved her wrong.
***