Rise of Allies (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 4) (2 page)

“I want to stop, too!” Jake seconded her.

“If you wish,” Aunt Ramona said. She leaned her head out the window and ordered her driver to take them closer.

As the coachman headed straight for the feet of the giant chalk figure, Jake noticed the mirthful glances that passed between his aunt and cousins and Henry.

He eyed them in suspicion. “What?” he prompted.

But even if they had told him, he would not have believed what happened next if he had not seen it with his own two eyes.

As they approached, a ponderous creaking sound filled the air like the groaning of a huge, old ship in a storm crossed with the scraping of fingernails on a chalkboard.

“What was that?” Jake started, but then his jaw dropped as the Long Man sat up slowly from the hillside, and rose stiffly to his feet, chunks of turf and dirt and chalk dust raining from his towering, lanky body.

“Who goes there?”
he boomed down at them.

Jake and Dani shrieked.

The others burst out laughing.

Archie nudged him merrily in the ribs. “We got you!”

“Good morning, Aelfric,” Aunt Ramona called politely through the window.

“Ah, Your Ladyship, good morrow!” said the giant, see-through, chalk-outlined man, leaning on his spear.

“Good to see you, old friend. Would you be so kind as to let us pass? We’re in a bit of a hurry this year, you see. My great-great nephew here is keen to get on with his Assessment.”

Aelfric let out a deep rumble of a laugh. “Oho, have we another brave stripling for the test, eh?”

I knew it was a test!
Jake thought, despite his heart-pounding shock at such a sight.

“He is to make a demonstration of his telekinesis
and
his mediumship,” Aunt Ramona said with considerable pride.

“Verily! A doubler, is he, now?”

“Yes, he inherited both his parents’ powers. We’re very proud. Jacob, don’t forget your manners,” his aunt said firmly. “Give a greeting to the Watcher on the Hill.”

Jolted out of his astonishment by her command, Jake craned his neck to peer out the window. “Er, good morning, sir.”

“Good morrow, young master. Fare ye well,” the Long Man said with a slight bow. “Maidens, masters,” he added, nodding to the others. Then he took a slight step back. “Go ye and make merry at the Gathering, and a blessed Beltane to ye.”

“Thank you, Aelfric,” Aunt Ramona replied.

And with that, the Long Man lifted the spear in his right hand upward, just high enough to reveal the opening of a carriage-sized tunnel hidden behind the chalk spear’s base.

“Drive on!” Aunt Ramona called to her coachman, who seemed quite familiar with this bizarre procedure.

The driver clapped the reins over the horses’ backs, and the carriage rolled on, toward the waiting hole in the hillside.

Archie and Isabelle waved cheerfully to Aelfric as they passed by his massive feet, but Jake and Dani could only stare up at the towering figure in open-mouthed shock.

“What a pleasant fellow,” Aunt Ramona said, leaning back in her seat. “He’s really very kind.”

“He’s, he’s, he’s—” Dani attempted. But no words followed.

Aunt Ramona smiled. “I told you Merlin Hall was well protected.”

“I should think so, with
him
on sentry-duty!” Jake burst out.

“And he really doesn’t like the Dark Druids,” Henry added with a wink.

“W-what about the White Horse of Uffington, then?” Dani stammered, finally finding her voice as they neared the dark tunnel. “Does it come alive, too?”

“Why, yes, dear. That’s been Aelfric’s horse for millennia. Stormwind is his name, and a trusty steed he is.”

They stared, agog, as the Long Man—obliging fellow—stepped back into his usual position after they had passed. When he lowered his spear, the tunnel closed behind them.

Underneath the hillside, things suddenly turned pitch dark. Jake was still in shock. He shook his head to clear it. “That’s…impossible.”

Aunt Ramona chuckled. “You’re going to see a great many impossible things over the next few days, my dears. Best prepare yourselves.” She murmured a magical command to the quartz crystal that hung from her necklace.

It began to glow with a soft, bluish light, enough to illuminate the tunnel, and the first thing Jake saw was Archie’s grin. “Ha, ha! We fooled you two! You should’ve seen your faces!”

“I can’t believe this one actually kept his mouth shut,” Henry said, nodding at the boy genius in amusement.

Everybody knew that Archie couldn’t tell a lie to save his life. “I can keep a secret when it’s all in fun,” he insisted. Then he turned back to Jake and Dani, obviously relishing the prank they had pulled on them.

Not that Dani and he would have believed their companions if they had admitted in advance that the Long Man was actually a living
person
.

But then, why should they be surprised, Jake thought wryly, considering he was about to be interviewed at his Assessment by an ancient talking yew tree.

Archie beamed in the half-light from Aunt Ramona’s crystal. “Everybody thinks the Long Man’s holding up two spears, but he’s not, exactly. He’s standing in the outline of a doorway.”

“A doorway between worlds,” Aunt Ramona specified. “The veil is thinner on the quarter-days. With Beltane tomorrow, it’s easier for those without magical abilities to get through so they can join us.”

Up on the driver’s seat, the coachman urged the horses on through the darkness of the cold, clammy passage underneath the hill. Delicate sunshine beckoned to them from the end of the tunnel, the sprawling woods and ancient spires of Merlin Hall slowly rising into view.

Jake sat forward, his heart beating faster with excitement as the carriage moved quicker. The horses galloped through the darkness toward the opposite end.

All of a sudden, the tunnel spit them out on the other side, over the threshold between worlds…

Into the realm of the Fey.

CHAPTER TWO

Merlin Hall

B
rilliant sunshine blinded them as they burst out of the tunnel. The spring day was just as beautiful here as it had been on the other side of the hill, but Jake could instantly feel the tingle of magic in the air.

The horses also reacted to the sudden shift in the atmosphere as they moved onto supernatural ground. It made them buck and balk and whinny, spooked, but the driver soothed them with a cluck of his tongue. A moment later, the glossy team of bays settled down and trotted on, following the winding gravel road into the vast, green acreage surrounding Merlin Hall.

There were woods and fields, meadows and marshes, sparkling ponds and quaint stone caretaker cottages with thatched roofs dotting the grounds here and there.

Merlin Hall, the great palace itself, stood proudly in the distance with the Queen’s flag flying over the roof, a signal that the sovereign was in residence; Queen Victoria and her entourage had already arrived.

As they rode on, Aunt Ramona explained that the sprawling medieval palace had hundreds of rooms to accommodate all the dignitaries, guests, and VIP’s arriving for the Gathering—at least those who preferred to sleep inside. Not everybody did, like the pod of water nymphs they saw frolicking in the deep brook as the carriage clattered over an old, arching bridge.

The naiads—freshwater mermaids—were congregating around a half-submerged stone gazebo built for them in the middle of the small river, velvet moss creeping up its sides.

As they passed, Jake and his friends couldn’t help staring at the beautiful guardians of all the lakes and ponds and inland waterways.

Watching them in wonder, Jake was aware that long ago, a group of them had saved his life, though he could not remember it. He had been just a baby at the time.

They drove on, and Archie pointed out the stables and the menagerie of magical animals as they passed. Next, Jake pointed at the cluster of small, colorful tents, gypsy wagons, and wheeled market stalls gathered in the middle of a misty field. “What’s that?”

Her Ladyship eyed the camp in distrust. “That, my children, is the traveling fairy market, and I strongly advise you to stay away from it. Not all fairies are as beneficent as our dear Gladwin, nor as civilized as the royal garden fairies you’re used to.”

“Fairy market?” Dani stared at it in wonder. “What’s that mean—that you can buy magical stuff there?”

“Precisely,” said the baroness. “But afterward, the cost usually proves higher than one ever wished to pay.”

They weighed her warning with care.

The coach rolled on toward the wide, graveled courtyard outside the magnificent entrance of Merlin Hall, with its carved stone curlicues and soaring arches. As they approached, however, the carriage slowed. Jake saw they’d have to wait in line behind many other arriving guests. In the meantime, he craned his neck this way and that, for there was still a lot to see.

On the sunny, green lawn beside the palace, some servants were putting up a maypole. May Day was tomorrow. Its old name was Beltane, the great celebration of spring and all the new life it unleashed.

It also happened to be Jake’s thirteenth birthday.

He couldn’t believe it had been almost a full year since his relatives had found him. He had just turned twelve when his magical abilities had started coming out, much to his bewilderment. How his life had changed since then!

Dani suddenly poked him in the arm and beckoned to him to look out the window on her side. He leaned closer, staring at the massive garden maze she was pointing to.

Its thick green walls towered over twenty feet high. Newly arrived guests were streaming into the opening of the maze. Jake turned to Aunt Ramona in amazement. “Is that the entrance to the Yew Court?”

She nodded. “The Old Yew lives in the center of the maze. He’s well protected there. That’s also where the Assessments take place—on the Field of Challenge.”

“So that’s why everybody’s going in there,” Dani remarked, watching the parade of guests heading into the maze.

That’s a lot of people.
Jake gulped at the crowd, the Assessment never straying far from his mind. “Do I have time to visit Red before I have to do this?”

Being with his Gryphon always helped to calm him down.

The baroness shook her head. “Afraid not. You’ll only have time to change into the Assessment uniform and freshen up before we must appear.”

“Poor Red,” Isabelle remarked. “I wonder how he’s feeling.”

“Not happy, I should think,” Jake replied.

The Gryphon had departed from their company a week ago to take shelter at Merlin Hall once he had realized that he had started molting.

Poor thing. It was very embarrassing for such a noble beast, but it was merely a consequence of his being half-eagle. Aunt Ramona had explained that though gryphons could be deadly when angry, they were at their most vulnerable when they were going through that miserable process—couldn’t fly, couldn’t really fight, and certainly couldn’t heal anyone with their magical feathers, once they all started falling out.

When Red had realized it was time for him to go through this again, he had flown off at once to Merlin Hall to wait out the uncomfortable process in a safe place. The last Jake had heard, all Red wanted was to be left alone until his unpleasant ordeal was over.

Jake wondered
where
exactly his poor, balding Gryphon had chosen to take shelter here.
Perhaps some high, rocky section of the magical zoo,
he mused, anxious to check up on him.

Then, at last, the coach ahead of them pulled away, and it was their turn to get out. Eager to be freed from the cramped confines of the vehicle, Jake and Archie jumped out first. Henry stepped down after them and turned to assist the ladies.

Aunt Ramona emerged grandly, looking every bit as regal as her old friend, Queen Victoria. Isabelle and Dani followed, while the coachman took their baggage down from the roof and handed them to the rugged gnome servants of Merlin Hall, each clad in little red hats and blue coats.

Scores of the sturdy little fellows scurried about at knee-level, attending the throng of arriving guests. Jake and his friends followed Aunt Ramona, who walked ahead proudly, her chin held high.

Tall and silver-haired, the Elder witch did not look a day over seventy, though rumor had it she was about three-hundred years old. Of course, a lady never told her age, so no one knew for sure.

Hurrying on through the massive front doors, Jake found the crowded, soaring entrance hall abuzz with activity. Excitement hummed in the air. The din of countless voices all talking at once echoed under the high, painted ceiling.

Knowing his Assessment was closer by the minute, he could barely focus amid the noisy hustle-and-bustle all around him. His pulse felt fluttery. His mouth was dry. His palms sweated; he wiped them on his trousers in case Aunt Ramona introduced him to some important person and he had to shake hands.

To be sure, there were all sorts of strange folk in the busy crowd around them. Robed wizards greeted tall, mysterious wood elves with long, sleek, shining hair.

Half a dozen dwarves in kilts recounted some recent, merry adventure to a friend they apparently hadn’t seen in a while—a Green Man with a leafy beard and bark-like skin.

A few ghosts glided over the heads of the people streaming into the next room, some sort of fine art gallery. Jake wondered if the paintings in that collection were magical, as well. Maybe they moved, like the portrait of Queen Elizabeth back at Beacon House, the Order’s base in London.

Then he forgot all about the paintings when he saw a pair of well-dressed centaurs clip-clopping down the grand, curved staircase. Centaurs, of all things! He stared. Then,
whoosh!
A djinni went sweeping by on a flying carpet in a great hurry. Jake turned to his friends in astonishment and saw Dani staring at the crowd with her mouth hanging open.

A giant passed, bending low to fit under the ceiling. Pixies scampered up the bannister of the grand staircase, and an angel leaned casually against the wall some twelve feet off the ground, arms folded, watching over everyone with a slightly bored smile. There were Magic-folk that Jake couldn’t even identify.

And of course, all races of men visiting from every corner of the earth—even those few parts that did not belong to the British Empire. Jake marveled at them, studying all the strange varieties of foreign dress.

Archie and his sister knew all sorts of people, human and otherwise, and greeted them politely. They seemed unfazed by all the strangeness—though Isabelle was looking a little overwhelmed.

The highly sensitive empath avoided crowds whenever she could, but of course, this wasn’t always possible. Fortunately, even as Jake watched her, she seemed to steady herself, shaking off the onslaught, refusing to absorb other people’s emotions.

He smiled, proud of her.

Having just turned fifteen, the Keeper of the Unicorns was much stronger now than she used to be. He liked to think he had been a good influence, helping to toughen up the sheltered aristocratic girl; but a lot of the credit had to go to Dani, who was always looking after her.

Dani O’Dell had no magical powers to speak of, but was blessed with superb common sense, not to mention the most unshakable loyalty. She had been Jake’s friend through thick and thin when he had needed one most—during his years as a penniless orphan in London.

Once his rich, highborn relatives had found him, Dani had been hired on to serve as a lady’s companion to Isabelle.

Her rookery toughness balanced out the older girl’s gentle ways. Though the little Irish redhead was even shorter than Archie, she wasn’t afraid of much. Back in the rookery—a place where Archie’s colleague, Mr. Darwin, could have well studied his notions about survival of the fittest—Dani’s wild tribe of brawling elder brothers had taught the wee lass how to defend herself.

In any case, she was even more protective of the tenderhearted Isabelle than she was of Jake.

As for Archie, though he shared the same magical bloodlines as his sister, his brilliant scientific mind was all-natural.

Of course, Archimedes James Bradford had only just turned twelve himself, so it was possible that the Kinderveil might still be on him, masking some dormant magical ability yet to emerge in the boy genius.

Jake thought that might be pretty funny, especially since Archie wanted no part of magic for himself. He was a
scientist
. Instead of spells, Archie loved his gadgets, and if he could not find a tool he needed to build some new invention, then he invented the tool, too.

Just then, a familiar face appeared, albeit a very small one. Everyone exclaimed with delight, greeting Gladwin Lightwing as she came zooming over to them. The little fairy’s sparkle-trail was particularly bright that day, betraying her excitement over the Gathering.

“Oh, my friends are here!” she said in her tinkling voice. She hovered before them, her iridescent wings beating too fast for the human eye to see. “Have you been assigned your rooms yet?”

“No,” they said.

“Henry, you have to go over to the butler’s table set up over there to get your room keys,” she informed him.

“Oh, very good. Thank you, Gladwin. I’ll go, my lady,” he said to Aunt Ramona before turning to the children. “Don’t you lot go wandering off. I don’t want anyone getting lost.” The tutor then left them, squeezing through the crowd to join the queue of guests waiting for their room assignments.

Gladwin beamed at them. “I’m so happy you all are here at last. We’re going to have such fun! Jake, are you nervous about your Assessment?”

“No! Well—yes. A little,” he admitted. Frankly, he didn’t even want to think about the ordeal ahead.

He brushed the reminder of it aside, longing for the stoic, patient presence and steadying words of his rugged mentor, Guardian Derek Stone, who had been helping him get ready for the test for some time. “Gladwin, have you seen Derek?”

“Hmm. No.” The royal garden fairy fluttered up a little higher and glanced around at the crowd. “Actually, I haven’t. I’m not sure if he’s here yet.”

“He is coming, though, right?”