CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Cricket bats and broom-handles.
The people of West Haven were standing around in shock; unsure what was happening and what to believe. They had seen what looked like an explosion at the nuclear power plant, and a green light had zapped through the town, leaving everything dark. Many people had prophesied that they were going to die the power plant had blown up; they were fools to ever have let it be built. But no one had died, no one had got sick. They couldn’t see any flames or anymore smoke in the direction of the power plant. But the continued darkness was very unnerving. People were hanging around wondering what to do, should they try and get as far away from here as possible, was it already too late, or was nothing wrong. Those that had erred on the side of caution and leaped into their cars had found that they were unable to get past a mysterious shimmering green wall. Their cars had stopped, unable to start again and they were unable to push through it on foot. Whatever had happened they were stuck in West Haven.
When the face of a strange-looking man with pointed ears had appeared on every television screen, regardless of whether it was switched on or connected to a television service, they were confused further. Could they trust this, Elf he styled himself? They had all felt the desire to trust him that what he was saying was not lies. But what he had told them so simply was so fantastical, it couldn’t possibly to true, could it? It was surely a trick or a prank, but in co-ordination with the explosion, it was a strange time to play a trick. They stood about indecisive; discussing what it could possibly all mean. What was happening? The police station, the Town Hall and anyone in any authority was deluged with questions, but they were all just as confused and unable to advise anything other than to keep calm.
This state of confusion and indecision continued until the first Orcs started to show their ugly faces, creeping out from the sewers and under passes, with gleeful sneers on their faces and brutal weapons in their hands. At first glance the people of West Haven were in no doubt anymore. They ran in horror and they hid, doing their best to barricade themselves into homes, offices and shops. People rummaged around for anything they could use as a weapon to defend themselves, kitchen knives, cricket bats, broom handles, frying pans, anything they could get their hands on. They hoped that, as the Elf had not lied about the monsters, that what he had said about helping them was also true. Then the Elves started to reveal themselves to the people of West Haven, they emerged from the woods and from places where they had hidden themselves in readiness for the attack. They emerged from parks and gardens and from behind hooded coats. People stared in wonder at their beauty and elegance, and then in awe as the Elves drew their weapons. The Elves engaged the Orcs silently with graceful movements of their bodies and swords. The Orcs fell before them. The Sprites emerged from tree tops and bushes with bows and arrows and sling shots; they were a deadly shot and many an Orc fell to them without any idea of what had hit him. The Elves, even with superior skill in combat over the Orcs, were outnumbered. The heroes amongst the people of West Haven and those who liked to think of themselves as such joined the fight with the Elves. The police came forth dressed in body armour, mostly armed with trungens, but some had guns. The fitter and more macho members of the gym, kitted themselves out with cricket bats. The local Martial Arts club was meeting that day and came forth to practice their skills on a real enemy. They came forth to defend their town.
Elves and humans side by side engaged the Orcs in combat; the town centre became a battlefield. But the Orcs were too many and continued to come. The Elves had great stamina, but the humans were tiring quickly under the onslaught. They were being driven back, out of the town centre. It looked like this was a battle they were beginning to loose. The Elves and humans were driven back to the edge of the town centre and were now close to an underpass. If they were driven into it they would be trapped in the narrow space and the Orcs would have a much easier job slaughtering them all.
Suddenly fearsome shouts were heard from deep within the underpass, they were caught in a trap, more Orcs were coming up from it, and they were surrounded. The heavy tramp of running feet could be heard echoing up from the underpass and more gruff shouts. But from the underpass opening sprang broad figures dressed in chain mail with long beards and bright axes raised. The Dwarfs charged towards the Orcs uttering their fearsome battle cries their axes swinging. They ploughed into the Orcs swinging their axes joyfully right and left through the Orcs, who could not stand under the onslaught. The Orcs fell back in terror at this fresh attack, just when they were confident of vanquishing the Elves and Humans.
The four-race army of Humans, Elves, Sprites and Dwarfs then swept through the town ridding it of any Orcs they found. The Orcs were no match for the army. They saw that the battle have turned against them and did not put up much of a fight. Many fled back to the sewers and towards the industrial estate rather than stand and fight the fearsome army before them.
Jude and Ruby were stood side by side before the monitors in silence watching Branwell and the Elves advance through the Orcs to the battering ram, which gave another deafening thud as it struck the doors again. But that was the last time they heard that sickening thud, as at that moment, Branwell and the Elves had cut down the last Orc between them and the battering ram. The Orcs manning the battering ram had to drop it, draw their weapons and turn and fight or be cut down. They sprang, with blood curdling cries, towards Branwell and the Elves who advanced towards them swords blackened with Orc blood raised.
So intent were Jude and Ruby on watching the screens that they were unaware of a faint grey mist forming behind them, it drew itself together gaining in intensity and started to take form. It came together into a solid shape, that of a hooded cloaked figure. It stood as silently behind Jude and Ruby as a morning mist. Jude and Ruby slowly felt a chill at their backs, they shivered and turned around. They sprung back in horror at the ghostly grey figure in front of them as it raised its arms, hands glowing green. They had nowhere to escape too, the figure stood in-between them and the door and there was nothing to even hide behind in the room.
“Jude.” Adzaq said in a sneering ghostly voice. “I never thought you would cause me any trouble.”
He raised one hand further, the green glow intensified and he pointed it at Ruby. Jude did the only thing he could think of, he threw himself at the figure. Jude was half expecting to go right through Adzaq, but found that he had hit something solid. Solid and very sturdy, his weight hitting him did nothing more than knock Adzaq slightly, but enough to effect his aim and the green fire bolt intended for Ruby went wide, just missing her. After he had dived at him, he’d bounced off and fallen to the floor with a groan. But Adzaq was solid; there was someone or something under the swirling misty cloak. He tried to scramble to his feet, Adzaq grabbed him round the throat and hauled him up.
“You don’t think you have a hope of defeating me, do you boy,” he sneered. “You’re one of the insignificant worms.”
Jude clutching at the hand holding him, tried to gasp for breath. The hand holding him felt solid and even normal, what was under the cloak? Jude reached out with a flailing hand while Adzaq was busy sneering and quickly pulled back the hood. The face he saw underneath the hood he stared at in shock. It was familiar. The face stared back at him, equally shocked and furious that he had been unmasked. The human eyes seethed and the mouth twisted in anger.
“You would dare,” he spat at him.
“Doctor Anderson?” gasped Jude. “You’re Adzaq?”
“I am and will kill you both for interfering with my plans, how dare you. My patients too.”
“But why the day job?”
“Day job? Ha, ha. The perfect facility and opportunity to imprison whoever did not fit in with my plan. You have been nothing but a nuisance, both of you.”
He flung Jude into the corner beside Ruby and pointed both of his hands at them glowing with green light.
“Hold my hand, quickly,” whispered Ruby.
Jude held her hot hand
tightly as the green light intensified and Adzaq cackled with laughter at them trapped, crouched in the corner holding hands. Jude became aware of Ruby’s hand becoming so hot it was burning him and her nails feeling needle sharp. Adzaq had still not released his fire bolts and he had stopped laughing. Jude tore his eyes aware from him and looked at Ruby. He gasped; she had turned a shining red and was radiating a red hazy glow. Through the haze he saw that her body was lengthening and growing a tail, her face was elongating forwards into a snout and wings were sprouting from her back; he remembered the tattoo he’d seen previously. She shook herself and looked around serenely, confident in herself. Jude let go of her hand, which was now a claw. Adzaq was still staring at her.
“Right under my nose,” he said quietly to himself.
Ruby looked at him and her brows drew together. Adzaq’s face twisted, he made an angry hissing noise and the green fire in his hands glowed stronger than ever. He drew his hands back and threw crackling green fire at Ruby. She drew her head back and shot a flame of red fire to meet the green. Jude dived for cover as the green and red met in the middle of the room in an explosion of crackling green and red sparks. The noise was deafening and the heat coming off it was intense. The window and monitors around them exploded and shards of glass were sprayed over the room. When the noise had ceased, Jude risked looking up; both Ruby and Adzaq were still standing. Adzaq had taken a step backwards and looked slightly shaken. He raised his hands surrounded by green light with a grim expression on his face and spoke dark incantations. Ruby was looking unfazed, she tilted her head to one side looking at Adzaq as if he was some sort of curiosity. Just as he was about to unleash another more fearsome fire bolt, she gave him a smile as if she was patronising a child. She let forth a red mist from her mouth and said softly, “sleep.”
When the red mist hit Adzaq in the face, he seemed to gradually relax, the green light faded, his arms fell to his sides and he slowly collapsed at the knees, sinking to the floor with a gentle smile on his face. Ruby turned to Jude who was still crouched on the floor covered in glass. She bent down and rubbed the side of his head with her cheek.
“Are you alright?” she asked.
“I’m okay,” he replied. “I think.”
Jude got slowly to his feet and started brushing glass from himself, he flinched when he used the hand that had been holding Ruby’s and saw that it was red and burnt. She looked at his hand too and a sad expression came into her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Hey, you saved me again, a burnt hand is a small price to pay for not being zapped by green lightening bolts.”
She smiled at him.
“How did you do it?” he asked. “Turn into a dragon when you needed to?”
“You know when we were together we felt the dragon begin to rise?”
Jude nodded.
“I just tried to remembered that time and let it happen, and it worked.”
“Just as well really,” he said with relief.
He looked at Adzaq curled up asleep on the floor, snoring gently.
“How long will he be out for? Should we tie him up?”
“We would have to use something pretty strong to secure him. But no need he will not wake up for quite a while.”
“What did you do to him?”
“I put him to sleep.”
Ruby turned to the monitors to see if any were still broadcasting a picture. Jude stared at the sleeping wizard on the floor. He couldn’t believe how much he had been in this man’s clutches and how close he had been to him killing him. He didn’t know if he felt good about being underestimated or not.
“All of the monitors are out. We should try and find out what’s going on at the bunker,” said Ruby turning back to him.
Jude took a deep breath and turned away from Adzaq.
“Yes, we should see if we could help…well if you can help.”
They left the room and headed for the bunker. Jude felt confident walking through the power plant; he wasn’t worried about Orcs or any other monsters, not with a dragon by his side. He looked at the shining red dragon walking by his side on all fours, her body gracefully swaying backwards and forwards and her tail swinging out behind her. She turned to him, held her head high and puffed up her chest; she could tell he was admiring her.
“There’s no need to show off,” he said.
She laughed a rumbling laugh.
As they got closer to the bunker doors they had not heard another thud of the battering ram and were hopeful. They turned the corner into the corridor to see the Elves, none of whom had sustained any serious injury and Branwell, the last of the Orcs at his feet. At the sound of clawed footsteps behind them, the Elves nearest them spun around in alarm, weapons raised, bodies ready to spring. Ruby had turned into the corridor first with Jude behind her and all they could see was a shining red dragon, unsure what its intentions were. Jude registered their alarm and stepped quickly forwards.
“It’s okay, she’s with us.”
Branwell stepped forwards.
“Ruby?” he asked.
She put her head on one side, looked up at him and gave him a quizzical smile. “Yes. How perceptive of you.”
“I am glad you have found yourself.”
“We came across Adzaq and defeated him…well Ruby defeated him by putting him to sleep,” said Jude.
“You are a dragon of many talents,” he replied.
“Would you believe that Doctor Anderson was really Adzaq? I pulled back his hood and there he was.”
“I would.” Branwell did not look surprised. “The Orcs had nearly got through the doors. We’ll need you Jude to talk to the people inside. We don’t want a panic and you’ll be the best of us to reassure them.”
Jude looked around at the others, a dragon, Elves, particularly Edrea and even Branwell himself, no; he didn’t think they would really help allay any fears they might have. He hoped his Mum was safe.
Edrea stepped up to the doors, so battered that they would not be able to be opened conventionally. Green light pulsed from her hands as she said an incantation to open the doors. Jude standing near her noticed that the light from her hands was not the same green as Adzaq’s had been but was a much lighter, more pleasant shade, as she completed the spell, the light was almost white. The doors looked almost liquid as they slowly flowed open. Jude stepped between the doors and into the bunker, unsure what to expect. The large concrete room was crowded with people all crammed at the far end, the men at the front of the crowd trying to shield the women behind. They had all been staring in terror at the doors as they were battered down and listening to the muffled but unearthly shrieks and hollering coming from outside them. They did not know what was going to come through that door when it opened, their imaginations running riot. What they did not expect was a teenage boy with spiky blue hair looking at them all uncertainly.
“Hello,” he said. “Everything’s okay now. The reactor didn’t really blow up and you…”
He was interrupted by a woman pushing through the people in front of her and running towards him shrieking, “Jude.”
It was his mum. He was so relieved she was all right. She engulfed him in a hug. After this everyone else seemed to relax a little. Perhaps everything was all right after all. They started to make their way towards the open door. Jude looked around the room quickly, no televisions, they wouldn’t have heard Taule’s speech. He pulled away from his Mum.
“Erm, before you go outside, there’s something you should know.”
They all turned back towards him, suspicious of what might be outside. Jude explained the best he could about Adzaq, Orcs and Elves. They all looked at him as if he was mad, luckily his mum was able to back him up, but most of them looked incredulous and walked past him through the doors. Where their jaws dropped when they were confronted with the tall Elves stood amongst the grotesque green bodies of the Orcs. They stared in disbelief at what they saw around them and when they got a glimpse of Ruby
in her dragon form they were astounded.
Jude and Ruby led Branwell to where Adzaq was still sleeping peacefully.
“What are you going to do with him?” asked Jude. “Are you going to kill him?”
“Have you learnt nothing from your few days with the Elves?” Branwell asked reproachfully. “There is only one place for him.”
Jude was sat in the front seat of his Mum’s car, Branwell and Ruby now in her human form in the back with Adzaq curled up in the boot. He told his Mum as much of his adventures that afternoon as he dared without worrying her too much, leaving out any reference to green lightening. Ruby had sneaked off to a ladies changing room and found some clothes there to turn back to her human form. Jude wasn’t sure if his mum was suspicious or not. There had been a dragon and no Ruby and now there was Ruby in different clothes that didn’t quite fit and no dragon. She didn’t say anything; if she was suspicious she might not want to know. She just kept shaking her head and saying “Doctor Anderson.” Apparently the reason he’d been able to get into the power plant so easily was that he was their psychiatrist and he’d obviously been treating the man he’d enchanted.
They arrived at their destination, Ravenscar Mental Institute. They parked next to the imposing building. Branwell lifted Adzaq, now divested of his misty robe and in his usual grey suit, out of the boot and put him over his shoulder. They walked into the reception, which was deserted. Taule with two other Elves were waiting for them there. Branwell led the way; he certainly seems to know this place well thought Jude as he led them, without any hesitation, along corridors and down flights of stairs. Eventually they ended up in a corridor, which Jude thought familiar. One of the Elves opened a door and Jude saw a padded cell inside. Branwell laid him down on the floor. Taule and the two Elves gathered around him, one of them produced a small stone vial, which he placed above Doctor Anderson’s head. They placed their hands above him; which started to glow with white light, and then began an incantation. Doctor Anderson opened his eyes wide and started to writhe on the floor, trying to shout out but no noise came from his mouth and he was unable to move from the floor. Bright green light started to pour out of him and into the stone vial. He struggled even more but it was in vain, he was unable to rise from the floor or make a sound. When the green light stopped flowing from him into the vial it glowed green. He now stopped struggling and lay still, his body limp and his eyes closed.
“He’s not dead is he?” whispered Jude to Branwell.
“No, just resting. His dark magic has been transferred into the stone vial.”
An Elf reached down and picked it up with a cloth wrapping the vial in it.
“He will not be able to do any more dark magic, but we cannot erase his memories of what has happened to him. He will be safe here and unable to do any harm.” Branwell continued.
As they were leaving they met a confused nurse in the corridor. She opened her eyes wide at the sight of them, but when Taule raised his hand in front of her and spoke to her she became calm.
“Doctor Anderson is in room 13, he is unwell, ensure he is taken care off.”
The nurse nodded mutely and continued on her way.