Worlyn was striding up and down his jumble of a living room, ranting and raving, supplicating his hands to the sky. ‘No respect, that’s what it is, me a thousand year old wizard, you, still wet behind the ears. Me, the wizard that amalgamated the three continents, you, a whippersnapper. Me, that brought peace and prosperity, you, an inexperienced scallywag. Me, worshiped and adored, you, a kid with no magic whatsoever.’
Elijah sat and drank the wonderfully tasting water, feeling better by the moment, listening to the ranting of Worlyn with some amusement. Muppy had curled up on his lap, looking wonderfully satisfied and relaxed.
‘Me, who brought democracy, you who won’t even tell me what happened with the Three Sisters.’
Elijah shook his head
‘You with a face like a colander. Me, whom the gods had invited to become a god, you...’
‘What?’ Elijah interrupted, suddenly taking notice, ‘What did you say?’
‘The gods, well, Bearbert to be exact, had invited me to become a god, he said I only needed to win the Centuria one more time, and he’d make me into a god. He’d tell me the secrets of the universe. But, alas, I lost. Don’t know how, well, I have an inkling of how, Zanatos the upstart, Zanatos the usurper. It pains me. He didn’t seem to have that much magic, just into power spells. I beat him the first time, my second time, I may add, and yet, the second time, my third time, at the Centuria, he beat me hands down. None of my spells seemed to affect him.’
‘Couldn’t he have been helped by one of the gods?’
‘No, no way, Bearbert would’ve told me. The gods have given a pledge they’ll never try to influence the Centuria.’
‘And you believe that?’
‘Don’t criticise the gods, they’ll turn us into worms on the end of a ten year old’s fishing hook.’
‘Worlyn, listen to me, the gods have abandoned us, they’ve become our enemies, they wish for our destruction. Remember they sent the Twanguine.’
‘Elijah,’ Worlyn shouted, ‘don’t say such things.’
‘The gods are liars.’
Worlyn clamped his hands over his ears and began humming and singing loudly, dancing around the room.
Elijah made himself more comfortable, drinking more water, stroking Muppy’s ears, and watching Worlyn with great amusement as he skipped around the room, singing like a demented dervish.
Worlyn kept looking at Elijah, and when their eyes met Elijah mouthed the gods, which only made Worlyn dance faster and sing louder.
After ten minutes Elijah tired of the show, and feeling somewhat guilty for tantalising Worlyn, kept his mouth shut, which made Worlyn stop dancing and taking his fingers out of his ears, stand and look at Elijah. For some moments they stared at one another, then Worlyn said, ‘You still haven’t told me about the Three Sisters.’
Elijah told him what had happened and Worlyn sat, not moving a muscle, not even twitching until Elijah came to the three things the Sisters wanted him to procure for them. Worlyn began a nervous twitch in his neck and shoulders when Elijah said ‘The Probability Feather of Zeus’ and began shaking and slobbering when Elijah said ‘The Pyramid of Phoebe’ and nearly fainted when Elijah said ‘The Sacred Book of Aphrodite’. Elijah stopped and looked at Worlyn, with his mouth hanging open in shock, his head shaking in disbelief, muttering about being dead. Elijah continued, best get it over with, he thought, and told Worlyn about the shadows behind the pillars.
‘Shadows,’ repeated Worlyn, in a frightened whisper.
‘Do you know what they are?’
‘I’ve a good idea, not shadows, spectres, creatures of the night, of the dark, they don’t have a corporeal form, they’re assassins, sent by a god or wizard to kill rivals, but they’re too unpredictable. I thought the gods had destroyed them. They kill by absorbing your shadow, once you’ve lost your shadow, you die.’
‘How, a shadow’s only a shadow?’
‘I don’t know, but it sounds like the Three Sisters have brought them back.’
‘How do you fight these spectres?’
‘You can’t, weapons can’t harm them, spells are useless.’
‘What about light, that light you created?’
‘That would keep them back until you escaped.’ Worlyn stood and began pacing around the large room. ‘That’s it, we’re doomed.’
‘Why?’
‘Why he says, ha, why? In case you haven’t noticed, the gods are against us, they’ve taken all my magic away, they want us dead. Right above us is Zanatos and his multitude of wizards, his vast armies, and his god-created rotrobbers, wanting us dead. The Three Sisters, with their three impossible tasks, have surely condemned us to death. And why? Why? The gods were the ones that said you had to enter the Centuria Tournament. I told you not to destroy their things. And we’re supposed to just walk into the Great Hall of the Gods, pick up the Probability Feather and walk back out again, blowing the gods a kiss on the way. How did I ever get myself into this?’
‘You promised you’d be with me, whatever we may face.’
‘Elijah, Elijah, reality check, haven’t you been listening? Whatever happens we’re dead, d, e, a, d, dead, dead, dead.’
‘Right, first, we go back into the god’s junk room and collect the scimitars.’
‘You’re not listening, we’re dead.’
‘We should leave the Probability Feather till last, that sounds the most difficult.’
‘You’re still not listening. WE’RE DEAD.’
Muppy raised her head at Worlyn’s shout, but Elijah continued to stroke her ear and she settled again with her head on his lap. ‘We’ll go for the Pyramid of Phoebe first.’
‘LISTEN TO ME, WE’VE GOT NO CHANCE.’
‘How do we get to Lemeno?’
Worlyn breathed a deep sigh, ‘I give up. Through the Corridor of Shadows. But it won’t work.’
‘Why?’
‘Why, why, why? Typical, you haven’t been listening. You have to have magic to use the corridor. My magic’s been taken away from me. You’ve no inherent magic whatsoever. We’re stuck, doomed, doomed I say.’
‘I can find it.’
‘Oh right, oh great magical being, you can’t even snuff out a candle.’
‘I can lift the White Shield of the Realm.’
‘Yes, so?’
‘I can handle the scimitars.’
‘And? Can you create bright lights? Can you make things levitate? Can you cast spells? No, no, no.’
‘I found the door to the Three Sisters.’
Worlyn pulled a face as though he was sucking on an under ripe lemon, his lips making impossible contortions, and began nodding, ‘Yes, I’ll give you that.’
‘Although, I wasn’t looking for the Three Sisters.’
‘What?’
‘I was looking for somewhere to hide, this door was open and I just went through it, and found myself in this big hall, with the Three Sisters sitting on their thrones.’
‘So,’ Worlyn said, his jaw sticking out aggressively, ‘you didn’t know that door led to the Three Sisters?’
‘No, but what difference does it make?’
‘The door was open, and you just went through it?’
‘Yes. But I can’t see what difference that makes, it still led to the Three Sisters.’
‘The difference is you didn’t find it, someone, something, some god led you to that door. The door was open, the door enticed you inside. You didn’t find it. Someone wanted you to go inside. Someone wanted you to meet the Three Sisters, probably them.’
‘It couldn’t have been them,’ Elijah said shaking his scarred head, ‘they said their magic won’t work outside the mountain.’
‘Oh, you’re awfully naive, they were lying.’
Suddenly Elijah stood, making Muppy’s head flop onto the bed, she jumped to her feet, sensing her master was going somewhere and ready to follow him. ‘The scimitars first,’ said Elijah, and a thought powered into his mind. ‘What did you want the little silver acorn for?’
r /> Worlyn stood slowly and unsteadily, as if he had a sack of floomore beans on his shoulders, reached into his robes and pulled out the silver acorn. He looked at it for a moment, holding it between his thumb and forefinger. ‘This was given to me by the Kentauros Grifted as a gift, many centuries ago, he said if I ever was in real need or serious danger to kiss the acorn and he would come.’
‘Why didn’t you use it with the Twanguine?’
‘Because it was knocked out of my hand and lost.’
‘Are you going to use it now?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Have you ever used it?’
‘No.’
‘Kiss it now, we could use his help.’
Worlyn was hesitant, looking undecided.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘The Kentauri, although a powerfully magical race, can be, at times, unpredictable.’
‘How so?’
‘They’d as soon crush your head beneath their hooves as help you.’
Elijah was confused, why give Worlyn the acorn just to crush his head if he asked for assistance. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘They’re not like humans; they don’t have the same feelings, the same rules and regulations, the same moral code of obligation, honour, or duty. Even the gods avoid them except when necessary. For example, you could say “pass me the butter please” and they’d kill you because you’d broken one of their fundamental laws.’
‘What, just for asking for the butter?’
Worlyn showed his impatience, ‘No, I’ve just said that’s an example. What I’m saying is they have laws we know nothing about, laws that we’d probably find incomprehensible. You’ve got to be very careful around Kentauri.’
‘Right, firstly, we go and retrieve the scimitars, then you kiss the acorn.’
‘What about food?’
‘What about it?’
‘Don’t you want any? I got no fruit left, or berries, but still got some floomore beans.’
‘No.’
‘When was the last time you ate?’
‘Donnow.’
‘Aren’t you hungry?’
‘No. Come on, Muppy come.’
Elijah went to the door, Muppy, and Worlyn followed.
‘Mind you,’ Worlyn muttered, clicked his fingers and Twinkle flew off her shelf and landed on his shoulder, ‘I don’t suppose I’d want to eat if I had a big hole in my cheek, all the food would come slobbering out, run down your chin onto your clothes, not that it’d make much difference to your clothes. We should get you a change of clothes and go to the waterfall, you’re a bit stinky, well more than a bit, you smell like a pigmoor that’s been rolling in its own sh…’
‘Worlyn,’ Elijah interrupted as he opened the door, ‘we’re not going on a social visit, this isn’t a pleasure trip. Stop moaning, you’ll get used to it.’
They began walking along the Corridor of Shadows, Muppy keeping close to Elijah’s heels, occasionally growling at the flickering shadows.
‘What’s wrong Muppy?’ Elijah asked.
‘She’s been like that ever since you disappeared, growling at anything. It’s a wonder she hasn’t got a sore throat. Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat, it’s near lunchtime? Then we could have an afternoon kip, a nice rest, Muppy appreciates her afternoon nap, then tea, then a rest, some reading, plan what we’re going to do tomorrow, start afresh, straight after breakfast.’
Elijah continued marching on.
‘And whilst I’m cooking breakfast you could go to the waterfall, have a good soak, it’d help your scars as well, put some clean clothes on, see if any gods turn up.’ Worlyn glanced behind, then pirouetted, stumbling and nearly falling over his own shoes in the process. Twinkle flapped her wings to steady herself, slapping Worlyn in the face. ‘Ouch.’
Elijah turned, ‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
Elijah continued then stopped at a large dark boak door that was studded with hundreds of black, pyramid-shaped, wrought iron nail heads, three large black hinges, and an ornately scrolled circular black handle. He reached forward to turn the handle.
‘Stop,’ Worlyn shouted, ‘what’re you doing?’
Elijah turned and faced him. ‘Going to get the scimitars.’
‘Oh, are you sure this is the room? Last time I came the gods’ room had a different door.’
‘I’m sure, I can hear the scimitars singing to me.’ Elijah turned the scrolled handle and the door opened.
It was dark inside, with only the flickering torches from the corridors illuminating the room.
Muppy gave a deep growl, and the fur on her back stood to attention.
‘This isn’t the room,’ Worlyn whispered, but Elijah had already entered.
He marched straight to the centre and picked up the scimitars. They felt so good in his hands, they sang to him, they welcomed him, they were happy, and he was happy as he swung them about, marvelling at their beauty.
Muppy jumped up into Worlyn’s arms, she was quivering uncontrollably, and Worlyn knew why, circling them were shadows, the shadows of spectres, closing in, tormenting them, readying themselves for the right moment when they would swoop into their shadows and strangle them and claim their lives. Twinkle could also sense them and she began to crawl into Worlyn’s robes.
‘ELIJAH,’ Worlyn shouted.
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