Read Online Back To The Divide by Elizabeth Kay - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Elizabeth Kay
Tags: Fiction, Humorous stories, Children's Books, Fantasy, Juvenile Fiction, Action & Adventure - General, Magic, Fantasy & Magic, Ages 9-12 Fiction, Science Fiction; Fantasy; & Magic, Children: Grades 4-6, Pixies
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wasps weren't white. He rummaged in his briefcase for his glasses, and by the time he'd found them another wasp had landed on the plum. He bent down to look, and as he did so the second wasp crawled across the first one.
After a moment it froze, and the color seemed to leach away from its body as though it had been dunked in bleach. In less than a minute, it looked exactly like the first one. Someone's been spraying their plums with a very effective insecticide, thought Rutherford. I wonder what it is?
He wasn't a man to take chances with potential poisons, however, so he wrapped up both the wasps and the plum in a
77
handkerchief and put them in his briefcase. He'd ask someone at work to do a quick analysis for him. Doctor Emily Parsons, maybe.
When Felix left Bedstraw's lodging house a little later, he took everything with him in his backpack -- he didn't know what the outcome of his trip to the beach looking for secret passageways was likely to be. On his way out he sneaked into the garden shed and found what he wanted quite quickly -- a ball of twine, just like the one Theseus had used in the minotaur's labyrinth. He was going to make sure he didn't get lost in the caves.
He walked off down the road and bumped into Bogbean, one of the japegrins he'd been speaking to over lunch.
"Guess what?" said Bogbean. "Someone messed up the incendiary spell this morning. They couldn't get into the library for ages, the doors were glued shut with super-molasses. Eventually they found a locksmith who knew the melting spell, and when they got in there it was chaos."
Felix fought to keep the anxiety from his face and said, "What sort of chaos?"
"Couple of the militia blinded -- not permanently -- and several more glued to their mattresses. Plumbing's all bunged up, and some of the prisoners have disappeared. But that's minor stuff...."
"Which prisoners?" interrupted Felix.
"Dunno exactly -- a brazzle and a tangle-child, I think. Just
78
vanished, apparently. No one saw them leave -- and you can't really miss a brazzle, can you? But that's nothing -- Harshak has been resurrected. Can you believe it? I never realized Harshak was a real sinistrom; I always thought he was just a folktale."
"They don't even know where he is," said another japegrin. "He could be anywhere." He glanced nervously behind him.
"Harshak ..." said Felix, as though the significance had momentarily slipped his mind.
"Harshak," said Bogbean. "Sinistrom to the king of the nomads, five hundred years ago. The biggest, fiercest shadow-beast there's ever been. Killed a brazzle in single combat, and when the king ordered him back to his pebble as a punishment he actually refused, turned on the king, and ripped him to pieces. But the king's daughter was as bright as a riddle-paw, and she picked up the pebble and dunked it in her glass of fertle-juice. She presented the nugget of molasses to the library, where it supposedly remained on show for a couple of centuries. Then it was presumed lost, and my history teacher told me it probably never really existed."
"Your history teacher will be lighting the wrong end of his candle now, won't he?" said the other japegrin.
Bogbean laughed, but Felix was feeling more depressed by the minute. Thornbeak and Betony had disappeared. Were they dead, or in hiding, or had they escaped somehow? And now there was a new menace -- Harshak. And then he remembered that brittlehorns had ways of dealing with sinistroms, and he cheered up.
79
When he reached the seafront, he recalled the last time he'd been there. It had been night, and he'd been carried there unconscious. He'd been dying. And then Thornbeak had worked her magic, and he'd been cured, and everything had been wonderful. Perhaps he'd be able to repay her a little. He took a deep breath, but suddenly it didn't feel quite right -- the air in his lungs was sharp and salty, like blood. The fear flooded back. Then he realized it was just the sea air, and he felt foolish.
After a moment it froze, and the color seemed to leach away from its body as though it had been dunked in bleach. In less than a minute, it looked exactly like the first one. Someone's been spraying their plums with a very effective insecticide, thought Rutherford. I wonder what it is?
He wasn't a man to take chances with potential poisons, however, so he wrapped up both the wasps and the plum in a
77
handkerchief and put them in his briefcase. He'd ask someone at work to do a quick analysis for him. Doctor Emily Parsons, maybe.
When Felix left Bedstraw's lodging house a little later, he took everything with him in his backpack -- he didn't know what the outcome of his trip to the beach looking for secret passageways was likely to be. On his way out he sneaked into the garden shed and found what he wanted quite quickly -- a ball of twine, just like the one Theseus had used in the minotaur's labyrinth. He was going to make sure he didn't get lost in the caves.
He walked off down the road and bumped into Bogbean, one of the japegrins he'd been speaking to over lunch.
"Guess what?" said Bogbean. "Someone messed up the incendiary spell this morning. They couldn't get into the library for ages, the doors were glued shut with super-molasses. Eventually they found a locksmith who knew the melting spell, and when they got in there it was chaos."
Felix fought to keep the anxiety from his face and said, "What sort of chaos?"
"Couple of the militia blinded -- not permanently -- and several more glued to their mattresses. Plumbing's all bunged up, and some of the prisoners have disappeared. But that's minor stuff...."
"Which prisoners?" interrupted Felix.
"Dunno exactly -- a brazzle and a tangle-child, I think. Just
78
vanished, apparently. No one saw them leave -- and you can't really miss a brazzle, can you? But that's nothing -- Harshak has been resurrected. Can you believe it? I never realized Harshak was a real sinistrom; I always thought he was just a folktale."
"They don't even know where he is," said another japegrin. "He could be anywhere." He glanced nervously behind him.
"Harshak ..." said Felix, as though the significance had momentarily slipped his mind.
"Harshak," said Bogbean. "Sinistrom to the king of the nomads, five hundred years ago. The biggest, fiercest shadow-beast there's ever been. Killed a brazzle in single combat, and when the king ordered him back to his pebble as a punishment he actually refused, turned on the king, and ripped him to pieces. But the king's daughter was as bright as a riddle-paw, and she picked up the pebble and dunked it in her glass of fertle-juice. She presented the nugget of molasses to the library, where it supposedly remained on show for a couple of centuries. Then it was presumed lost, and my history teacher told me it probably never really existed."
"Your history teacher will be lighting the wrong end of his candle now, won't he?" said the other japegrin.
Bogbean laughed, but Felix was feeling more depressed by the minute. Thornbeak and Betony had disappeared. Were they dead, or in hiding, or had they escaped somehow? And now there was a new menace -- Harshak. And then he remembered that brittlehorns had ways of dealing with sinistroms, and he cheered up.
79
When he reached the seafront, he recalled the last time he'd been there. It had been night, and he'd been carried there unconscious. He'd been dying. And then Thornbeak had worked her magic, and he'd been cured, and everything had been wonderful. Perhaps he'd be able to repay her a little. He took a deep breath, but suddenly it didn't feel quite right -- the air in his lungs was sharp and salty, like blood. The fear flooded back. Then he realized it was just the sea air, and he felt foolish.
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