Sorry … it was getting too long to wrap up, and too easy for our adventurers, so I’ve thrown them another challenge.
Last time Janet was here, it had been snowy, and gloomy under the trees. Today, the gloom prevailed again, despite it being summer. She gazed at the trees, frowning. The leaves which should have been a rich green were pale, translucent. The whispers which had followed them last time, were silent.
‘The trees.’ Sophie, walking behind, nudged Janet’s shoulder. ‘They’re fading, like Mum.’
‘Yes.’ Janet hefted her sword. ‘There’s little time left. We need to find this spell and return it to the other world.’
‘I hope we’re not too late,’ Simon said. He walked beside Dragon, who carried Pixie and Fairy. He held his new sword as if he’d carried one all his life.
‘We approach.’ The Goblin King’s voice rang through the forest. He stood before a tall, narrow, black split in the rocky cliff face ahead. ‘Let none stand in our way.’ He scowled his challenge and turned to Janet. ‘It is centuries since I was here, but I believe I can find where the Green Giant hid the stolen spell.’
‘Then you must lead,’ Janet said, grateful for the chance not to be first.
The Goblin King slipped into the crack, Janet followed, and behind her came Sophie. Janet looked back to see Dragon coiling his long body through the gap, Pixie and Fairy on his neck.
She had expected darkness, and she and Janet both carried lamps, but the caverns were lit by a greenish glow which cast shadows among the rocks, their own shadows dancing as if urging them to hurry.
‘This way.’ The Goblin King led them into a wide tunnel and through a high arch carved with runes and images of sprites and goblins and both hideous and beautiful creatures.
Who had done this work? The Green Giant? Janet stared at the arch, and shivered. Ghostly figures hovered in the entrance, silently menacing. The cold air chilled further. The Goblin King stood, feet planted wide, surveying this shimmering obstruction.
‘Do you see them?’ Simon glanced at Janet. ‘Are they really ghosts?’
‘Ghosts, yes, but can we pass them?’ Sophie whispered into Janet’s ear.
Somewhere from deep within her, Janet knew what had to be done. ‘This is where I need your help,’ she whispered back. ‘It will take the magic of the two of us to cleave our way through these guardians of the stolen spell.’
The cousins looked into each other’s eyes, and Janet saw that Sophie also understood. They stepped either side of the Goblin King, leaving Simon behind them.
‘Follow after us,’ Janet instructed him.
Ignoring his protests, she and Sophie held their swords high, and with eyes straining to peer beyond the ghostly figures, to not catch their gaze, they strode shoulder to shoulder to the entrance.
‘We will pass, in the name of magic, we will pass,’ they murmured.
Janet felt Sophie tense as they reached the eerie curtain but neither of them hesitated.
A cold tickling down her spine, the touch of some gelationous substance on her face … an icy resistance …
‘Push,’ Sophie murmured … and they were through. By the end, she was smiling … but her smile was brief.
Janet whipped about. The Goblin King and Simon who had rushed after Janet and Sophie, now fought the ghostly figures, which writhed around them as if they would add the two to their number.
Janet and Sophie rushed to help, but suddenly, with a loud cry of ‘Take that, you evil ones,’ the Goblin King sprang free. He cut through the wraiths which writhed now in what seemed to be silent agony, grew dim, and faded, soundlessly.
Simon lurched back, into Janet’s arms. He blushed furiously, exclaiming his apologies. Janet set him hastily back on his feet, feeling her face heat.
‘Now you must follow me,’ a happier Goblin King cried.
He strode towards the centre of this vast cavern, which Janet recognised as that in which the king and queen had been imprisoned. The two huge stone thrones stood there, with the remains of the iron cages which Dragon had melted with his fiery breath.
‘There.’ The Goblin King pointed to the top of one of the thrones, where a large green gem glittered. ‘There’s your spell.’
‘But there’s a second one in the other throne.’ Sophie pointed.
The Goblin King turned to Simon. ‘You’re the expert planner,’ he rumbled. ‘Which of these is the spell we need to return?’
‘Umm, can we take both?’ Simon stroked his thickening beard.
‘No.’ Janet spoke before she thought. ‘One is a destruction spell, held at bay by the correct gem. We must render the destruction spell worthless.’ She gazed at Simon. ‘Touch them both, and you will know which is which.’
Simon drew in a breath, walked to the thrones and climbed one. He stared at the stone, lifted his hand and touched it. And quickly withdrew it, as a blister formed on his finger. He held the finger out to Janet to show her, jumped to the second throne, and laid the same finger on it. The blister healed, as if it had never been.
‘There’s our answer,’ Janet cried. ‘Dragon, we need your fiery breath, to render this false stone harmless, and then we can take the healing spell with us.’
But at that moment, a great clamouring arose from the entrance to the cavern. Pixie and Fairy screamed, and were suddenly, awfully, silent ….
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BY THE END SHE WAS SMILING
Sarah woke anxious. Today was the “big presentation” – the culmination of a project she had been working on for months with a team of five others in the office.
They all agreed it would be Sarah who would do the pitch as she was by far the most eloquent and, every time she smiled, she set the room alight.
However, the potential new client had not been easy – grumbling and complaining every inch of the way and seemingly never satisfied with any of the proposed steps to reach their goal of dramatically increasing market share.
Sarah believed her team should never have allowed them to become involved in the development of the marketing strategy.
“Better to give it to them as a fait accompli,” she had said to her colleagues. ”That way, we would have been able to impress and surprise them all at once.”
The others agreed but were powerless to prevent client company representatives turning up unannounced to check on progress.
“We should have a company policy that bars anyone from seeing the work until it is finished,” they had said.
But the ageing managing director Joe Schwartz hailed from an era where everything was an open book and saw no reason to change his tune at this late stage of his career.
“They’re not mushrooms, you know,” he would say. “We don’t have to keep them in the dark, etc.”
Sarah was not so sure. This latest effort had drained them all emotionally and, win or lose, in some ways she would be glad when it was over.
She continued to think about her presentation while she showered, dressed and ate breakfast – meticulously planning the approach she intended to take.
It could not be the sort of effort she had taken in the past with other clients. This one would have to be something out of the box – so stupendous that their company representatives would be left open-mouthed and gasping in wonder.
During the entire train journey to the office Sarah’s heart would not stop palpitating. She knew she had to nail this or possibly be facing the sack. Sweaty palms did not help the situation.
Everyone was waiting when she strode into the conference room and she could feel all eyes upon her as she moved to the rostrum.
“Good morning, ladies and gentleman,” Sarah began, giving them all one of her famous smiles before launching into her dissertation.
On and on she went, keenly pointing out the major initiatives she and her team believed were needed to achieve the client’s goals.
The more she talked and the more she gesticulated, the more enthusiastic she became until, finally, she delivered the coup de grace that she hoped would permanently seal the deal.
Silence filled the room as Sarah gazed anxiously around. Suddenly, everyone was on their feet their applause ringing loudly in her ears.
By the end, as the clapping subsided, she was smiling. They had pulled it off – after all these months her team would now taste the ultimate success.
The smiling turned to laughter as peal after peal filled the room and her colleagues rushed to hug her in total gratitude.
Goodness what disaster now befalls them??😖
I’ll let you know when I find out … 😀