Hidden Magic (8 page)

Francis felt uneasy as he flew solo, soaring above the frozen lake. He was used to being well camouflaged, protected by his powers and the woodland trees. But here in Winter Forest, his tawny brown feathers and dark eyes clearly stood out against the pure white snow, which meant that he was extremely exposed and vulnerable. He was having to conserve as much of his power as possible to ensure that he could keep the inhabitants of Bluebell Wood hidden from the Nomeds for as long as might be required, which meant that he was unable to camouflage himself against the whiteness of this wintry wonderland.

Why hadn't Ice come straight to the cabin? And why had she requested that I meet her at the waterfall,
he wondered? The cold, crisp air was exhilarating and it rushed refreshingly against his face feathers as he began his descent. Swooping down at great speed to land gently on the frozen lake, he slid on its sheer surface before gracefully coming to a stop in front of the waterfall.

“Here, Francis, up here,” a voice said.

Francis looked up and there, on a small icy ledge next to the falls, was Ice. Her yellow eyes were shining like the midsummer sun and Francis, who hadn't seen her for some years, was taken aback by her beauty, as if it were their very first meeting. He flew up and perched beside her on the ledge.

“What is it, Ice? Why did you request that I meet you here?” asked Francis.

“I requested that you meet me here because I knew that you would be the one most suited to take on what I am about to propose,” she said.

“And what might that be, may I ask?” asked Francis.

“Well, as you are aware, we are expecting an attack from the Nomeds sometime tonight and, due to their increase in strength and numbers, I fear that this attack may be much worse than any of us could have anticipated. And so I have a plan, that will ensure that we two are also bigger and stronger, thus enabling us to better defend those at the cabin. But in order for my plan to be a success, I will need your full support,” said Ice.

“And of course you shall have it. I will do anything to protect Liberty from this evil and tonight Zavier in particular is going to need our protection.”

“What do you mean?” asked Ice.

“Well, he's not aware that I know, but Chester told me that he overheard Preble and Zavier talking and it has been foreseen that blood will be spilt on the pure white snow of these parts and that this blood will be Zavier's,” replied Francis.

“Then in that case, I suggest we start straight away,” said Ice and she proceeded to explain her plan to him.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the cabin some of the forest and lake's inhabitants were beginning to arrive. Yas, Yapa and Yukiko, the mule deer family, were the most recent arrivals. Angelo, the harp seal pup that inhabited the breathing-hole area of the frozen lake, had arrived earlier and had been accompanied by many of the Ice Elves and snowflake butterflies. On his arrival, Hazel had rushed out to greet him. They were very good friends and always spent a little time together catching up whenever Hazel was in the area. Angelo was somewhat anatomically challenged when on land and in order to make his way up the stairs and into the cabin, he had required some assistance from Aaron. Truly, a sight not to be missed was that of the large, muscular black man cradling a cute little white seal pup in his arms as Aaron carried Angelo up the stairs and into the cabin. The Halfses had worked out a watch rota and had ensured that there were lookouts positioned at every window of the cabin. Starfish lanterns had been placed all around the circumference of the cabin to help illuminate the surrounding area come nightfall and Fire Fairy pods were placed as lookouts on each corner of the roof in case of an aerial attack. The Water Warriors were still at rest in the babbling brooks, but they were also on high alert and ready to emerge and defend the cabin if necessary. Everything was in place for the imminent attack; all except for the safe arrival of Ice and Francis, that is…

* * *

Ice and Francis began to put their plan into action immediately.

“The first enchantment required is the summoning enchantment,” said Ice. And so the enchantment began.

The summons enchantment:

“First of all it must be said that those you summon cannot be dead.”

“Take a piece of something good,”
Ice said as she pulled a feather from Francis, causing him to wince,
“and place it down beside some wood.”

“Say the name of whom you require.”

“The Hudor Drakos,”
said Ice.

“Then say a prayer and they shall transpire.”

Ice and Francis then began to pray:

“Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let us sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is discord, union;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy;

Grant that we may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying That we are born into eternal life. AMEN.”

Silence… not a sound… not a movement… so still… so quiet.

Then a sudden, loud, cracking sound and then another, as huge fracture lines appeared in the lake's frozen surface. The whole of Winter Forest seemed to creak and groan and the ground rumbled and shook as the ice continued cracking and shifting, creating vast expanses of open water as it did so. This water was deep and dark, and as Francis and Ice stood mesmerised by its commanding appearance, a massive dark green, almost black object exploded up out of the water: the Hudor Drakos! And as the huge Hudor Drakos hovered over the lake, beating its powerful webbed wings, Francis and Ice curled their own wings over their heads and tried to shelter from the huge droplets of water that fell from the giant dragon in the sky above them and the strong wind that the beating of its immense wings had created. The Hudor Drakos then landed, surprisingly gracefully for a creature of its size, on some of the ice that remained intact and, apart from the sound of air rushing in and out of its flaring webbed nostrils as it inhaled and exhaled, it was otherwise once again very still and very quiet. Francis barely had a chance to contemplate what had just happened when the ground once again began to tremble, this time more ferociously than before. Francis and Ice took flight to escape the quaking earth and as they did so, huge sheets of ice fell from the towering falls, crashing into the dark lake's water below, exposing a huge cavern that lay behind the falls. Then there was a familiar sound, one that they had only just heard, but this time much, much louder, the beating of those immense, huge and powerful wings. The noise grew louder, but the Hudor Drakos that sat on the ice in front of them remained completely still. Puzzled, they turned toward the direction of the noise, just in time to see a second Hudor Drakos, dark grey in colour and much, much larger than the first, bursting out of the cavern. It flew horizontally across the lake, spiralling its elongated body as it did so.

“And that is why I need you,” declared Ice and she turned to Francis, who at this point was only just managing to stay airborne, his eyes and beak wide open in awe of the huge, webbed, winged water dragons.

“Francis these are the Hudor Drakos. They live within the depths of the lake's dark waters and the huge chambers and caverns that are linked to it. Irini is the smaller female dragon and Dynatos is the mighty male,” Ice explained.

Ice had explained to Francis that her plan involved the use of enchantments to provide larger and stronger vessels for them to fly in and fight in, but he had imagined that she would conjure up a flying suit of armour for them to wear or something similar, not a giant flipping dragon each for them to ride on!

“I'm not riding on one of those things,” Francis said, shrugging and shaking his head.

“Oh, no, no, no, Francis,” Ice said, shaking her head. “You've completely misunderstood. We aren't going to ride on them, we are going to swap forms with them. The Hudor Drakos are surprisingly nervous creatures and do not like to leave their home and the only way to get them to leave the lake is to enchant them out, but even then they are strongly drawn back into its safety. I must quickly perform a second enchantment, the body-swap enchantment, thus enabling us to take on their form and them to take on ours. This will allow them to return to the caverns as us, and us to return to protect the cabin as them,” Ice explained.

“I like it!” grinned Francis. “And I especially can't wait for Aaron to see me when I'm in my new form. Let's see if he wants to call me Boogly Eyes then!” Francis said, with an obvious smirk on his face. “Come on then, Ice, what are we waiting for? Let's get on with this body-swap enchantment. Bagsy I'm the biggest one,” he said eagerly.

“Okay, Francis, but I must warn you, it will take a little while for you to adapt to your new form and the enchantment will only last for twenty-four hours before we are swapped back. Oh yes and firstly, we must acquire a piece of that whose form we wish to take on. I suggest we try and pluck one of the small hairs that grow from the dragons' ears. Due to their jumpy and nervous disposition, this will probably agitate them, so once we have managed to remove a hair from each of them, we must make a hasty retreat. We'll meet back on the ledge to carry out the next enchantment. Okay?”

“Let's do it!” replied Francis, keen to get back to the cabin as a mighty dragon. And so the owl pair beat their wings and flew upward toward the Hudor Drakos that were now perched at the very top of the falls, sitting either side of the cascading ice like gigantic gargoyles.

Ice went first, swooping over Irini's head with such stealth that the dragon didn't even notice when she plucked a hair from the top of its left ear. Francis tried to follow suit and extract a hair from Dynatos, but the male dragon's hair was much coarser and stronger than that of the female dragon's and as Francis frantically tugged at the hair, which was the size of a large broom's bristle, with his beak, Dynatos became irritated, as if being troubled by a bothersome fly and he shook his head from side to side, causing Francis to grab onto the edge of Dynatos' ear with his sharp talons. Big mistake! Dynatos let out an almighty roar and leapt headfirst from the top of the waterfall, spiralling his way down to the deep, dark water below. Francis firmly grasped the hair and with one final tug he managed to dislodge it and fly off just as Dynatos smashed into the dark water. Francis mustered up one last bit of energy and flew to the ledge where Ice was waiting. He placed the hair down beside the one that Ice had pulled from Irini. Ice then tugged a feather from her chest and then turned and tugged one from Francis.

“Will you
per-lease
stop doing that!” he screeched and then the second enchantment began.

“A piece of you and a piece of me united and ignited equals YOU ARE ME!”
said Ice and the dragon hair and owl feathers in front of them spontaneously combusted.

Where am I?
Francis thought…
Am I dreaming?
He felt weightless yet somehow suppressed, floating around in a dark place full of unfamiliar and muffled sounds. He stretched out his wings and tried to fly, tried to escape this strange darkness and, as he did so, he felt himself surge upward and so he beat his wings again and again, feeling a little less suppressed each time, until the darkness gradually thinned and above him he could see a reassuring and glowing white light.
Am I dead?
he wondered.
Is this the light that everyone talks about?
Not fearing this light but instead feeling strangely drawn to it, he willingly headed toward it. As his wings reached above his head in one final push towards the light, he was able to see more clearly and he realised that these were not his wings at all, they were huge and scaly, dark grey in colour and webbed. Enchanted with his new mighty and mysterious body, he left the depths of the lake's waters behind him and, residing in Dynatos' body, he spiralled upwards and out of the darkness of the lake into the glowing whiteness of the Winter Forest, where Ice, now in the form of Irini, was gracefully hovering above the treetops, waiting for him.

“Anyone for seconds?” asked Jazmine, as she held out a ladle containing the last of the stew.

“Oh yeah!” Tobias said, rushing over to her with his arm outstretched, handing her his bowl.

Jazmine tipped the ladle and as she did so, Ezekiel side-barged Tobias out of the way and positioned his own bowl directly under the falling stew, catching the last of the tasty meal.

“Hey, seriously, not cool, dude,” grumbled Tobias.

“Survival of the fittest,” Ezekiel chuckled with his mouth full, as he returned to the table.

“Don't you mean survival of the fattest?”

“Here, Tobes,” Jazmine said, glaring at Ezekiel as she passed Tobias the stewpot and ladle so that he could scrape the pot clean of any last remains.

“Thanks, Jaz.” Tobias smiled and as he walked back to his seat, he clonked Ezekiel on the head with the ladle and gave him a cheeky wink.

Feeling full after their meal, the boys could quite easily have shut their eyes and had a snooze, but twilight was definitely no time for resting and the young Halfses had been given the first watch. Zavier was sitting on the front porch looking out over the snow-covered treetops, wondering where Ice and Francis had got to.
They are both very wise and will keep themselves out of harm's way
, he thought to himself, as the last of the sunlight faded to darkness.

Zavier went back inside the cabin, bolting the door behind him. The group heard it and, without a word from Zavier, they knew it was time and automatically assumed their lookout positions. The cabin was subtly lit by the glow of the starfish lanterns and the blaze of the fire. Outside, Fire Fairy pods and starfish lanterns had been strategically positioned to help illuminate the perimeter of the cabin. Zavier was positioned upstairs. He sat on a small wooden chair that he had placed in front of a large window. This position allowed him a good view out across three sides of the cabin and towards the snow-covered forest. Chester was perched on the back of the chair. He now considered himself and Zavier to be somewhat of a special team after their time spent travelling together. He admired all of Liberty's Berthold, but he and Zavier had formed a special bond and after overhearing Preble telling Zavier that his blood would be spilled in this very forest, there was absolutely no way Chester was going to leave his new friend's side; not tonight, not even for one split second. Ezekiel and Hazel were positioned at the other windows upstairs, while Aaron, Tobias and April, were all on watch downstairs. Lettitia and Jazmine were attempting to sleep for a couple of hours before swapping watch duty with Hazel and April.

The forest's inhabitants that had made it to the safety of the cabin were scattered around downstairs, quietly anticipating the Nomeds' first move. Although the Fire Fairy pods and starfish lanterns were gently lighting the perimeter of the cabin, there were still many dark and shadowy areas within the surrounding forest that could easily be concealing any number of Nomeds. The mood within the cabin was one of foreboding. There had been Nomed attacks in these parts before, but they were infrequent and usually the Nomeds would come in pairs to hunt and then promptly return back to the swamp with their kill. Preble had said that there were many more this time, a group of ten to fifteen within the forest, with the sole purpose of finding and destroying the Berthold of Liberty.

The forest was quiet, the only sound being that of the gentle babbling of the brook's water over its rocky surface. Zavier sat in his chair in darkness, methodically scanning the area outside. Chester, who was still perched on the back of Zavier's chair, was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open. All of this travel, danger and excitement were way too much for one tiny passerine bird to cope with and despite his very best efforts to stay awake, his eyes closed and he drifted away from all of the stress and into Bluebell Wood's beautiful, warm, dappled sunlight as he entered a dreamy state of peaceful sleep.

Chester gasped.

He had woken with a start.

The chair that he was perched on had suddenly jolted back, sliding across the wooden floor, as Zavier bolted upright and stood looking outside, both hands pressed firmly against the cold glass window pane.

“Get ready!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Chester flew over to the window and looked out. He saw movement in the forest. The highest branches bounced and snow was falling from them like mini avalanches and then the unmistakable glowing eyes of the Nomeds could be seen shining from within the treetops. The gentle babbling of the brook's water increased in ferocity and it began bubbling furiously, as if it were boiling. One by one, the Water Warriors rose from within the turbulent water. Zavier used his powers and placed a protective field around the cabin and the Water Warriors formed the first line of defence around the outer perimeter of this barrier. Within the cabin, the Ice Elves and snowflake butterflies merged together to form a Human-sized image of their Isumataq, Shannon, allowing them to remain as a unit and communicate with the Halfses. The Fire Fairies that were in the fireplace used all of their energy to create an intensely roaring fire which would hopefully prevent any Nomed from entering via the chimney stack, should Zavier's barrier fail or weaken. The deer parents were huddled together, encasing their young fawn Yukiko in an attempt to hide and protect her. Angelo coiled and stretched his body as fast as he could across the wooden floor, until he reached the bottom of the stairs where Hazel was now standing. He looked up at her with his huge, sorrowful dark eyes.

“It's okay, Angelo, we won't let them harm you,” she said, then she turned to Ezekiel who had now joined her on the stairs, “Zek, please can you find somewhere safe to hide Angelo?” she pleaded.

“Okay then, little fella, where shall we put you?” Ezekiel puzzled, as he spun around slowly with the seal pup in his arms, looking for somewhere suitable. Then he opened up a cupboard door and shoved the seal pup under the kitchen sink.

The first Nomed to let his presence be known was Nicor. He boldly drifted down to the ground from the treetops and then sprang forwards, heading at speed towards the Water Warriors that had now formed a huge wall of water around Zavier's barrier. Nicor stopped suddenly, just twenty feet away from the Warriors and then he began to levitate. His electric blue eyes shone like lasers across the snow-covered ground. He held out his arms and pursed his lips, cricked his neck from side to side and began to blow. The air hissed and howled through his rotten teeth with might and very quickly built up into a hurricane-force wind that ripped through the trees and whipped up the snow to make a powerful blizzard. This force was so strong that the Water Warriors were unable to maintain their solid wall of water. The wind and snow howled through it until eventually, the wall of water weakened and fractured. Dorien was pulled away from the safety of the other Water Warriors. Dorien's body of water was usually smooth and calm, defined and toned. But in times of conflict, times such as this, his body would change, exposing a raging and angry force. This anger was normally hidden behind his calm exterior, but now it emerged. Dorien spectacularly transformed into an immensely powerful jet of water, then, with the force and speed of one hundred firemen's hoses, he jetted towards Nicor. He smashed into the Nomed's body, forcefully pushing him back a good hundred feet, until he slammed with great force into a tree. Nicor's body was now soaked with Dorien's sea salt water and as the salt corroded Nicor's slug-like skin, he began to sizzle and steam. His skin blistered and oozed a foul-smelling, slimy substance. Spitting through his rotten and jagged teeth, Nicor let out a blood-curdling, evil hissing sound and then he dropped to the ground. Dorien promptly returned to the rest of the Warriors and they quickly reformed their protective wall.

Nicor, now enraged and ready to retaliate, rose above the treetops and threw his head back, snapping his neck as he did so. His laser-blue eyes projected up into the night sky and he let out an almighty
screeeeccchhhh
! As he did so, the screeching, screaming, blood-curdling noise grew louder and louder, increasing to a deafening level as he was joined by twelve other screaming Nomeds.

Zavier looked through the window at the multiple laser beams of assorted colours from the Nomeds' shining eyes, as they sliced through the darkness and up into night sky. Once more, he pressed his palms against the cold glass window “God help us!” he sighed and the screaming continued.

The light projection quickly changed in direction and also in strength. Instead of beaming vertically into the night sky, the lights now shone horizontally, beaming across the forest. They were rapidly growing brighter and brighter as the Nomeds advanced toward the cabin, launching themselves forwards in a screaming frenzy. The Nomeds reached the cabin within seconds. They collided with the Water Warriors' wall, causing an explosive eruption and the dissipation of the protective wall of water that the Warriors had formed. Zavier momentarily allowed the barrier to become permeable, which enabled the Water Warriors to pass through it. Once inside the protective barrier, the Water Warriors ran to the cabin, altered their form, changing themselves into shallow sheets of water and they retreated by pouring themselves fluidly underneath the front door. Once inside the cabin, the Warriors rose from the floor and took on their Human shapes.

“Where is Zavier?” Pelagia demanded, his voice booming even louder than normal, his body of water raging furiously.

“He's upstairs,” Tobias replied promptly, feeling a little intimidated by the godlike commander of the Water Warriors.

Pelagia made his way upstairs and found Zavier standing at the window, with his palms still pressed firmly against the glass. He was fighting with all of his strength to keep the protective barrier around the cabin.

“Can we hold them back?” asked Pelagia.

“I'm not sure,” Zavier sighed, “I can feel my strength weakening and the night is still young, I'm not sure if I will be able to keep us all protected until dawn.”

“Then let me help,” Pelagia said and he held his arms out in front of his body, palms facing each other. As he stared directly at the empty space between his hands, a torrent of water suddenly shot from each palm. The twin torrents forcibly collided and together they formed a rotating orb of glowing water. Pelagia cupped the orb in his hands and then, grasping it with his right hand, he launched it at Zavier, narrowly missing Chester who was perched on his shoulder. The orb smashed into Zavier's torso and as the orb exploded over Zavier's body, its power was transferred within him and he, too, began to glow, as did the reinforced barrier that now surrounded the cabin.

“Thank you, Pelagia,” Zavier said gratefully as the commander made his way back to his Warriors. Then Zavier took a deep breath and sighed with relief, knowing that he would now be able to see the night through and maintain the barrier until morning.

The Nomeds circled the glowing barrier, hissing, spitting and contorting their bodies in a display of frustration at not being able to penetrate its protective force.

“There are at least thirteen of them, Daray, Fala, Kern, Nebula, Nicor and then there are a further eight that I have never seen before. They must be breeding within the swamp… they are breeding an army!” Zavier realised. “We must find a way of stopping them.”

“And how do you suppose we do that?” asked Chester.

“Now, that I don't know yet, but I can assure you I will find a way,” stated Zavier, as he looked out past the barrier and directly into the pupil-less white eyes of the malevolent Nomed known as Daray.