Discoucia Page 8

  “So, are you ready to go home?” asked Arthur.

  “Why would I want to go home?” he asked.

  “Well, to be honest I don’t know, I mean, you’re rich enough to do what you want so if you don’t mind, I’m going to relieve Commander Elsius of her command,” said Arthur.

  “She gave me servants, so I can’t allow that,” he said.

  “Fair enough,” said Arthur, who ran at Corlio, and Corlio ran at him. Arthur was surprised at how weak Corlio was, and he managed to subdue him quite easily.

  Arthur walked downstairs with Corlio on his back, and saw that the creepy looking girl was still stuck. He grabbed her as well, and she struggled as much as she did when she was stuck. Arthur took them out to the ship and he tied Corlio up first, and then with the help of Jo and Rhylia, they tied the girl to the banister, who Rhylia identified as Lady Tryssa, her younger sister and the really spoilt and stuck-up daughter of Lady Sylvia.

  “So we have all the kids, but what are we going to do now?” asked Arthur.

  “I think I’ll go and find out what Commander Elsius is up to, and you can keep an eye on everyone here,” said Jo.

  “If that’s what you want then you can go ahead, Rhylia and I will stay here,” he said. Jo took off her backpack and she took her two gold pistols and her hunting sword, plus something else, which she put into her pocket, and jumped over the banister, doing a tuck and roll as she landed.

  Arthur slowly moved over to Lady Tryssa and sat next to her, beginning a very interesting conversation.

  The Granite Tunnel

  Jo walked down to the cellar, and looked around for the sound of the humming. She saw that it was coming from behind a door at the far right of the room. Jo walked up to the door and tried it, and she saw that it was locked. Jo then pulled out her hairpin and began to move it around in the keyhole. After five minutes of fumbling with the lock, she still couldn’t open it. “Oh god help me,” she said, and sighed. The door then creaked open, and Jo looked around nervously. She then opened the door, and saw that carved into the back were two words: ‘You’re welcome’, it said. Jo was now quite worried, but continued on down the stairway. In here the humming sound was louder, that it was clearly audible. It was a rhythmic sound that continued to get louder as she walked further down the stairs. Jo saw a light at the end of the spiralling staircase, and had walked down about a hundred steps, so she knew that she was beneath the cliff.

  When she reached the light she had come to a door that was letting a bit of light in. She pushed it, and she was blinded by the light that poured onto her. “Good evening…wait a minute, you’re not Sir Pageon, who are you?” asked someone, a woman by the sound of the voice.

  “Who’s asking?” asked Jo.

  “Commander Elsius, head mistress of this school,” she said.

  “Could you turn the lights off, it’s a little hard to talk when you’re being blinded,” said Jo. The lights were turned down, and Jo saw three people, a woman in a purple and silver dress, and two others in normal purple guard uniforms.

  “Now, who are you?” asked Elsius.

  “I’m just a lost kid; I was out walking in the mountains when I came across this place. I heard the sound of humming coming from down here so I came,” explained Jo, who was amazed at how easily she could lie.

  “You weren’t attacked when you came here?” asked Elsius.

  “By what?” asked Jo.

  “Never mind, do you always carry two pistols and a sword with you?” asked Elsius.

  “Safest way for a woman to travel through the mountains,” she said.

  “What is your name?” asked Elsius.

  “Clarissa,” said Jo, remembering that that was the fake name Arthur used in Chene.

  “Very well Clarissa, allow me to show you around,” said Elsius.

  “If you insist,” said Jo.

  “What are you doing?” whispered one of the guards to Elsius.

  “If she sees nothing going on, then she won’t tell anyone,” whispered Elsius back.

  Jo was taken around the tunnel that was being dug, and she saw that it was very unstable, and if one of the supports were gone, then chunks of unbreakable granite would fall into the tunnel, blocking it forever. Jo felt the outside of her pocket, which was bulging from the object that she had taken from Arthur’s desk drawer. They reached the end of the tunnel, and Jo saw what the humming sound was. It was a complicated drilling machine, and the humming was coming from the generator.

  “We’re just mining; this academy doesn’t get much in revenue, so by mining we get more money to improve the conditions for our students,” said Elsius.

  In a split second, Jo now finally understood the mystery. The kids dressed as monsters, they were just guard dogs, to keep people away from what was really going on down here. Elsius was obviously unhinged to do that to kids, but she obviously wanted to get something down here. Diamonds or gold would be pointless; there’s plenty more places to mine for those in Discoucia, and they’d be easier too. If she remembered right, they were about 100ft down, and the tunnel went even further down than that, and the cliff was about 50ft high, so what are they trying to reach? The Green Coven, the richest one of all four and it has the greatest collection of land holdings and documents too; so it’s a robbery and a big one too. They must nearly be there by now, Jo had to something about it.

  “So, that’s all you need to see,” said Elsius. Jo then came up with a plan, completely stupid, but she was back to being a child, so she could get away with it.

  She started to shake, and then shouted, “I have claustrophobia; I have to get out of here!” Jo then ran back down the tunnel so fast, that for about a minute the guards didn’t know what to do.

  Jo ran to a pillar that was out of sight, and pulled the object out of her pocket. It was a bomb, with a 30 second fuse. She hid it behind the pillar, and carried on running until she reached the entrance, where she stopped and stood with her hand on a table, catching her breath. The two guards came running, along with Elsius. “I’m sorry, I just couldn’t stay, it was getting to me,” said Jo.

  “That’s OK, what did you think of our tunnel?” she asked.

  “It was lovely, I hope you find what you’re looking for,” said Jo.

  “KABOOM!!!” the bomb detonated.

  The guards jumped behind the light with Elsius as the whole tunnel collapsed, and when they got up Jo had disappeared.

  Jo ran up the stairs as fast as she could, and when she nearly reached the door, she said a prayer. “Please god, lock the door after I leave” Jo ran out and the door swung shut and clicked. Jo saw that there was something carved into the front of the door that wasn’t there before.

  “’Once again you’re welcome, but don’t refer to me as god, who knows who else might be listening’,” she read aloud, then the door began to shudder, and she saw that it was locked.

  Arthur and Rhylia were looking around for what caused the small earthquake, but couldn’t find anything at all. Jo ran out of the academy, and shouted something that the two couldn’t hear.

  “Are we ready to go?” asked Arthur.

  “Go, go now!” shouted Jo.

  Jo jumped on and the ship lifted off. It flew across the rooftops of Gard, and when they picked up Corky from a rooftop pub, they headed straight for the royal palace.

  The royal palace was huge beyond reckoning and would take a whole chapter to describe, however it was a small balcony that the ship was heading for. They stopped just outside, suspended in mid-air. They were here to take Corlio back, and he walked off the ship still tied up.

  Inside there was a party going on, and the whole room was lit up brilliantly. “Off you go, Corlio, and tell your father Sir Arthur Pageon sent you,” he said. Corlio had no idea who Arthur was, and when he heard this he stood staring in disbelief. The ship pulled off to its next destination, the outskirts of Cesta.

  When the ship had reached Cesta, it was lit up too, and looked beautiful next to the sea
. They dropped off Lady Susan in a clearing on the other side of the Sky River and she walked home. They then flew past Evermore, and Arthur carried a still asleep Faltaine and placed him in the windowsill of his mother Kate’s house. And after giving a letter to the White Guard about what was going on in Starfall Academy, they continued to drop the children off. They then flew along to Adlin, where they dropped off Gregory, who was happy to be home, and with only Lady Rhylia and a still-foul-tempered Lady Tryssa left, they set off for Seraphale Island, which was empty apart from Alectrona Castle.

  “Before we get there, do you think we should return to normal?” asked Jo.

  “Good idea, I’ve never met Lady Sylvia before and I want to give her a good impression of me,” said Arthur.

  “We’ll take turns, you go first and I’ll wait here,” said Jo.

  “What are you two talking about?” asked Rhylia.

  “How old do you think we are Rhylia?” asked Jo.

  “Just a bit older than me?” she asked.

  “I’m 219, and Arthur is 220,” said Jo.

  “Wouldn’t you be taller if that was true?” asked Rhylia.

  “They’re lying, sister,” said Tryssa.

  “Honestly, what is your problem?” asked an older Arthur who walked down the stairs.

  “I don’t believe this!” said Rhylia.

  “We didn’t either but if you could keep it yourself, Rhylia, we would be very grateful. I know Tryssa won’t, but then again nobody will believe her,” said Arthur, as Jo went upstairs.

  “I won’t say a word, you saved me from hell so it’s the least I can do,” she said.

  Tryssa was just sat on the settee getting madder and madder.

  “Though to be honest, she does have the handicap of being implicated in kidnapping,” said Arthur, sat at his desk.

  “What do you mean?” asked Rhylia. Tryssa now stopped trying to break out of her ropes and listened.

  “Well, you were being held against your will and Tryssa here, your own sister did nothing to free you,” said Arthur.

  “That’s true,” said Rhylia, staring at her sister.

  “So if she says one thing about it, she will then have to tell the whole story and if she does she’s only making it worse for herself,” explained Arthur.

  “I never thought about it that way,” said Rhylia, looking at Tryssa angrily now.

  “I’m done, how far are we from Seraphale?” asked Jo.

  “We’re nearly there actually, how much of the potion is left?” he asked.

  “About half the bottle. I think we should keep it, in case we need it again,” said Jo. They were flying across the sea, and they had thankfully avoided strafing the Icicle Mountains, because there was a particularly nasty storm brewing, and Jo was telling Rhylia about the creature in the snow.

  “I don’t believe that,” said Tryssa.

  “They were just our age, and in a second they aged 100 years, what is there not to believe anymore?” asked Rhylia.

  “There is no snow creature living in the Icicle Mountains,” said Tryssa.

  “Quiet, we’re here,” said Arthur.

  Alectrona Castle had been finished, and it looked amazing. It was huge, and sat beneath a massive mountain range that was fogbound even in the summer. The castle was built from pink bricks, and the windows were letting out yellow light, which made the whole scene look like a fairytale. “Here you go, home time,” said Arthur.

  “Please meet my mother, she would love to thank you personally,” said Rhylia.

  The ship landed outside the huge doors, and the whole outside beyond the castle walls was wasteland, until it reached the trees of a large forest. Rhylia ran over to the door and banged on it. It opened and a guard appeared.

  “Can I help you Miss?” he asked.

  “Could you get Jeffrey, the head butler and tell him that Lady Rhylia and Lady Tryssa have come home,” she said.

  “Very well. If you could wait in your ship I’ll get him for you,” he said. Rhylia ran back to the ship, and she packed her suitcase ready to go. Arthur carried Tryssa and they were met at the gate by Jeffrey, a man of about 500 who wore a black tuxedo.

  “It’s lovely to see you home my Lady, but why may I ask have you come home early?” he asked.

  “It’s a long story, I’ll tell you about it later, and where is my mother?” she asked.

  “She is in the Fantasy Room since it’s Tridark, and she doesn’t like the dark,” said Jeffrey.

  “Then take us to her, and don’t mind Tryssa she will be carried by Sir Pageon,” said Arthur.

  As they walked into the grounds, Arthur and Jo didn’t realise that Lady Rhylia had taken the blue bottle, and she had revenge on her mind.

  The castle was brilliantly lit inside, and the main colour scheme seemed to be pink, purple and dark red. They were being led to the centre of the castle, and they walked along a corridor that had paintings of all the children that Lady Sylvia had brought with her to Seraphale. They came to a large door that was made of dark wood, and Jeffrey knocked on it.

  “Enter,” said a voice from within. Jeffrey opened the door and he saw why it was called the Fantasy Room.

  They walked into a forest, though the trees were not real, and there were waterways that had bridges over them. The room was like a landscaped garden, and there was also a large lawn area where a group of children and one woman were having a picnic. It was a stark contrast to the horribleness of Starfall Academy, and it was so light here that it was like daytime. The woman waved at the group, and Rhylia ran to her. Arthur and Jo followed with Jeffrey, across the bridge and onto the lawn.

  “Why is my daughter tied up?” asked the woman. Rhylia whispered in her mother’s ear, and she nodded. “Thank you for bringing my daughters back. Please, Sir Arthur, walk with me, and bring my daughter,” she said. Jo was left with Rhylia, and she met all of the children, all seventeen of them.

  “So, Sir Pageon, if you could please not let this get out I would be most grateful,” she said.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t say a word. You have a lovely home here,” he said.

  “Anything to get my children away from my ex-husband,” she said.

  “Yes, I would think so, but you seem to have everything you need here,” he said.

  “With a fortune of three hundred and ninety seven trillion, I can afford to,” she said.

  “Ah, right, well you definitely have a pleasant colour scheme,” he said, as they ascended the stairs. Lady Tryssa wasn’t saying a word, and she remained silent as her mother carried on talking.

  “We’re nearly at my daughter’s room; she will stay in there until daylight,” said Sylvia.

  “I’m sure she’ll be fine with that,” said Arthur.

  When they got to the door, Sylvia opened it and Arthur saw that it was huge. There was a large bed, and he laid Tryssa on it. There was a red drink sitting on the table, and when she was untied she ran for it. Arthur watched as she downed it in one go. “What is that?” he asked.

  “Strawberry juice, she loves it,” said Sylvia.

  “Pardon the question, but how old is Tryssa?” asked Arthur.

  “She will be 114 in November,” said Sylvia. Then something happened that defied belief. Tryssa began to shrink. Arthur then instantly thought of the potion, and he did the maths in his head, and Tryssa was now back to being 14.

  “Oh dear, this is terrible!” he said.

  “What have you done?!” shouted Sylvia.

  “Not me, but I know who,” said Arthur. He opened the door, and all of the children who had been listening in fell onto the floor. “Rhylia, why did you do that?” asked Arthur.

  “She left me manacled to a wall for a week, she deserved it!” shouted Rhylia.

  “Look, Lady Sylvia, I am so sorry, but a new experimental potion that I have been tinkering with causes a person to become 100 years younger, and it seems that Lady Rhylia here has given some to Lady Tryssa and now she’s 14 again,” said Arthur.


  “Funnily enough, I always wanted to go back in time with this one, I’m sure that she’s such a monster because I was never there, so I should thank you. I could do with being 100 years younger” she said.

  “Pass me the bottle, Rhylia,” said Arthur. She handed over the bottle to Arthur, and he saw that there was a teaspoon left.

  “Here, consider it a gift from a friend,” he said, handing it to her.

  “Thank you, I don’t know how I shall ever repay you,” she said, downing the bottle, and then picking up the now much smaller Tryssa. Sylvia then became much younger, she was about 350, and now she was 250.

  “You’ll find a way,” he said, and walked off with Jo down the corridor and out of the castle. On Tryssa’s balcony, all of the children waved goodbye to the two travellers, who made their way south to Evermore, now having met the Four Commanders of Queen Lilia.

  “This has been a strange adventure hasn’t it?” asked Jo.

  “Stranger than most, but what did you think of Seraphale?” asked Arthur.

  “I liked it, it seemed like a nice place to live,” said Jo.

  “Maybe one day I’ll retire there,” he said.

  “When do you think you’ll be doing that?” she asked.

  “I don’t know, in the future some time,” he replied.

  “You’re going to have a stately home or a castle right?” she asked.

  “That’s the plan,” he replied.

  “A big old house, sounds quite lonely,” she said.

  “Do you want a drink?” he asked. “Go on then, I’ve had enough of running away from monsters” she said, and they settled down to a comfortable return to Evermore.

  “Now that we’ve been on four missions, can you tell me something?” asked Jo.

  “Ask away,” he said.

  “Have you ever had a girlfriend?” she asked.

  “I have never had the time,” he replied.

  “Oh, I always thought that you were the dashing explorer,” she said.

  “Well I kind of am, sorry for sounding big-headed,” said Arthur.

  “I know that now, but I thought hundreds of girls were on your arm all the time,” she said.