

The Chameleon Shop

Book One

Teresa Schulz
This novel is a work of fiction and any similarity of characters in this novel to actual people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

First Published by Blue Phoenix Publishers, NZ, 2015

This book is copyright. Except for the purpose of fair review, no part may be stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording or storage in any information retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Author.

Copyright © 2015 Teresa Schulz

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-0-473-31373-9

DEDICATION

To my children, with much love.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1: Unexpected Message

Chapter 2: Evil Step-Father

Chapter 3: Not in Feilding Anymore

Chapter 4: Pretty Smelly Place

Chapter 5: A New Companion

Chapter 6: Gypsy's Ball

Chapter 7: Boar's Head Inn

Chapter 8: Danger Lurks

Chapter 9: Gerard and the Wolf

Chapter 10: Down to the River

Chapter 11: Foot of the Mountain

Chapter 12: Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

Chapter 13: Opal and the Wind Realm

Chapter 14: Ruby

Chapter 15: Back at Home in Feilding

Chapter 16: King Mossbreath

Chapter 17: Riddles

Chapter 18: Wilfrey's Ballroom

Chapter 19: The Spirit Realm

Chapter 20: Lolita of the Water Realm

Chapter 21: Pearl and the Pirates

Chapter 22: A Close Call

Chapter 23: We Meet a Dragon

Chapter 24: Sweet Surprise

Chapter 25: The Crone Plots

Chapter 26: The Cottage in the Woods

Chapter 27: Giant Wasps

Chapter 28: To Climb a Mountain

Chapter 29: Masquerade Ball

Chapter 30: Willy Tries to Help

Chapter 31: Kaylee and Pegasus

Chapter 32: Going Home

Author's Notes

About the Author

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge J K Rowling for being the biggest inspiration to me, of what a great children's book should contain.

I would also like to acknowledge Sir Peter Jackson for bringing to the screens one of my other favorite fantasy stories, The Lord of the Rings.

Also Cornelia Funke the Author of Inkheart. Her love for books and magic truly mirrors my own.

1

Unexpected Message

Once upon a time ... in a little town called Feilding, there was a twelve-year-old girl called Kaylee Browne.

Kaylee hung upside down from her swing, her mousey-brown hair hung, dangling in the grass. Her head throbbed from all the blood rushing to it. The thick tree trunk beside her flowed down into a maze of branches, with the sky a sea of pale blue with white fluffy clouds peeking between them.

As she gazed vacantly, a strange piece of paper fluttered down between the branches to the grass at her nose. Eagerness and curiosity made her let go of the ropes she'd been holding and she slid ungracefully to the grass, bumping her head quite hard on the ground. She sat up rubbing it, annoyed and crossed her long gangly legs, only to have the wooden swing meet the back of her head rudely with a hard 'thunk'. She scowled and grabbed it, letting go once it was still.

Tuning out on the sounds of grown-ups shouting from inside her house, she began to read the old pale-brown looking paper.

NEW BOOKSHOP OPENING IN THE SQUARE TODAY. IF YOU FEEL LIKE GETTING LOST IN A STORY AND VISITING STRANGE LANDS, JOIN US.

FIRST BOOK FREE TO THE FIRST THREE VISITORS. WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE.

'Hmmm...' she said.

Kaylee listened to her mother's boyfriend, Paul, shouting at her mother, Trish, about the tea-set Kaylee had accidently smashed. It was a gift from him and he suspected she had done it on purpose.

Kaylee wished her father was still around. She still hadn't accepted he was dead after the explosion in the mine six months ago. They had never found the body after all.

She loved her mother dearly but felt so lost and alone sometimes.

With the old piece of paper still in her hand, she grabbed her backpack from where it lay on the lawn and began walking to town. It was only a small town, so fifteen minutes of pounding the pavements with her red Chucks and she would be there.

She had worked up quite a sweat by the time the quaint little shop came within sight. In a dark, narrow street it stood. It had an old stone exterior and looked squashed in there, like a skinny man wedged between two Sumo Wrestlers on a bus. She'd never noticed it before even though she'd lived in this little town since further back than she could remember.

A little bell somewhere out the back of the shop tinkled as she came through the door and that glorious smell of old books ─ organic compounds breaking down and releasing that intoxicating scent of ancient wisdom, paper, ink, glue and sometimes smoke ─ wafted over her, bathing her in its almond, vanilla and floral deliciousness.

As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she saw ahead of her tall shelves standing in three lines down the centre of the narrow shop, chock full with row upon row of books. She wandered in and gazed around the various spines of the books there. Many books were leather bound, mostly very old and intriguing.

Heaven!

There was no obvious order to separate subjects. Well this is going to be interesting, she mused.

Eventually, she reached up and grabbed the oldest book she could see. She loved ancient books, the ones where you could smell the old leather and the covers were a little cracked and rumpled round the edges, the writing usually in gold lettering and a fancy font.

The title on the cover said Journey to the Five Realms. The book was not overly large but was quite weighty. A musty smell wafted off the pages as she opened it. The first page said:

To find your heart's desire,

trust in the key of fire...

'Well, that's just weird,' Kaylee muttered to herself. She heard slow shuffling footsteps and looked up to see a hunched old man appear from somewhere out back of the shop. He had sparse wisps of grey hair, which seemed to float on top of his balding crown. Kaylee noticed he walked with a bit of a limp as he made his way towards the front counter ─ a thick dark brown slab, tucked away in the corner to her left.

He gave her the strangest of looks. A smile, but not just a friendly, how are you sort of smile. It was kind of an, I know you from some place, sort of smile.

That is just ridiculous she thought. She was about to say something to him, 'Ah, excuse m...', when a small breeze from somewhere out back blew open a few more pages in her book ... revealing a large ancient-looking key.

The key was a little rusty and made from a dark-brown metal, like her mother's cast-iron pans at home. It sat nestled in a groove cut into the pages of the book, made precisely to fit. The top of it was a beautiful intricate Celtic-knot pattern. No wonder the book had felt so heavy.

'Can I be helpin' you at all there, dear?' the hunched owner asked, causing Kaylee to start as though caught doing something bad. She slapped the book shut and looked up guiltily.

'Ah, no thank you. I'm quite alright.' She wanted that book. She couldn't precisely say why it was so urgent, but she wanted that book, badly. However, she had no pocket-money left to pay for one.

She approached the counter, raised the book above her head and said, 'First three people get their books free, the flyer said?'

He nodded, 'Yes, that's correct. And before you ask me, yes, you are the lucky third person in today. If that's the book you've chosen, there is no charge my dear.'

She smiled, 'Thank you.' Now that he had said she could have it, she was burning with unanswered questions about the key within those old pages. 'You don't by any chance happen to know what the key opens.'

'A key you say? No, sorry, can't really say that I do. But if you get your parents,' he paused and looked at her a little strangely when he said this, as though he knew she had no father now, 'to take you along to Mitchell's cottage on the weekend; the tour guide Fred is an old friend of mine. He's a blacksmith, familiar with old keys and such. He might be able to help you with it.'

Kaylee thanked the strange man once again, tucked the new, old book in her backpack and hurried home to ask her mother if they could go to Michell's cottage this weekend. She was sure her mother would take her. After all, the original owners of the cottage had apparently been some ancestor-or-other of theirs, way back in the 1800's.

She was in such a good mood now, she doubted even Paul could dampen her spirits when she got home.

How wrong she was.

2

Evil Step Father

'Where the hell have you been?' Paul roared when she walked in the back door.

Kaylee was bombarded with questions and accusations ─ mainly from Paul, about where she had disappeared to without telling them.

Her mother was also upset, but mainly more worried for her safety, than angry. Trish, Kaylee's mother, couldn't get a word in sideways with Paul ranting on and on.

Kaylee did what she usually did, when things got hairy at home. Without a word, she headed straight for her room and slammed the door, plonking down on the bed with her school backpack clutched under her arm. She lay there trying to calm her breathing, because if she didn't she'd probably end up screaming at Paul, which would only upset her mother even more. She put her headphones on and turned her favourite song up really loud.

Suddenly her bedroom door flew open so hard; the door handle dug a handle-shaped hole in the wall behind it.

Paul pointed his finger at Kaylee, about to start lecturing her again when she yanked the headphones off and shouted, 'Out! Get out of my room! You aren't supposed to come in here!' She was now doing some pointing of her own.

'I pay the bills and I'll go in whichever damn room I want to!' He thundered back at her.

Kaylee burst into tears and hid under the blankets trying to block out his yelling. From beneath the blankets, she heard a different muffled voice. Her mother's.

She slowly pulled the blankets down and was relieved to find that Paul was no longer there. She could hear her mother telling him off down the hall, 'That's her personal space, Paul. I know she was wrong in going off like that, but you will just have to talk to her later about it. Her room is the only place in the house where she can get away from....'

Kaylee was sure her mother had been about to say 'from you' meaning Paul, but that would have lit him up like a firecracker, so her mother tactfully changed it to '... from everything.'

Eventually the dust settled and Kaylee explained to her mother about the new bookshop. She apologised for worrying her so and asked if they could go see Mitchell's Cottage, without Paul. However, Paul was not one to be excluded from anything concerning her mother.

Still the weekend rolled around two days later and there they were.

The cottage was actually quite cool. It had been built way back in 1880, from a special rock called schist, by Andrew Mitchell for his brother John, his wife Jessie and their ten children.

Aye ... ten kids! Kaylee thought the woman was mad. One child gave her mother enough trouble.

Her mother and Paul were outside looking at some big rock sundial thing-a-me Andrew Mitchell had carved from solid schist, so rather than tag along where Paul could annoy her, Kaylee decided to have a nosey round inside the main house by herself.

The tour guide's name was Gerald. She had no idea what had happened to Fred, the bookshop owner's friend. Still, she had the mysterious key in her backpack, which she took everywhere with her. It usually carried a couple of books (yes, Kaylee was a bit of a nerd) and a snack or two, a warm jersey if her mother could force it on her and a drink bottle of water, among other things.

A very funny thing happened when Kaylee walked through the cottage doorway. She felt a strange vibration run through her, almost like a tiny electric shock; not the sort that scared the bejesus out of you, just the sort you get when you whip your polar fleece off too fast and all of your hair stands out crackling.

'That's weird,' she said to herself.

She wandered around inside the old stone cottage, rubbing her arms vigorously to generate a bit of warmth. It was exceedingly chilly out on the windy plains and not long past winter. She had unfortunately ignored her mother's request to stuff a jersey in her backpack.

All the while, as she wandered around, she could hear what sounded like a low humming noise; almost like a beehive somewhere. She hoped not. Flying bugs really freaked her out!

There were two large rooms and three smaller ones. Someone had put some plain furniture in there: a wooden table, four chairs and a few beds. They were there for the tourist's benefit, as the originals had perished long ago. The old hearth was still there though, undamaged by time although blackened by years of soot.

Mum should come and see this. Kaylee popped her head out the door to call her mother to come have a look. No one was there.

'What the bloody hell?' She said, confused and a little peeved. 'Well, that's just nice isn't it? Maybe they've gone to look at the chook-house or something.'

It was starting to snow lightly, so Kaylee sat on one of the old wooden chairs nearest the empty fireplace and closed her eyes, wishing there was a nice warm fire in that hearth.

She heard a whoomph! and felt warmth creep up her legs. She opened her eyes and there in the hearth, which had been previously damp, cold and most definitely empty, there now roared a hearty fire! Close enough to singe her socks, in fact.

Kaylee leapt out of the chair so fast it fell with a crash to the floor. 'Holy cow! Where'd that come from?' The humming she'd been hearing ever since she came through the doorway grew louder, as if it was coming from her clothes. Her backpack, that's where it was coming from she realised with alarm.

When she opened the backpack, she could see a green glow emanating from the dark depths within. With a bit of hesitation she reached in and gingerly picked up the glowing object, not surprised to find it was the key. It was an unearthly green, like a glow-stick and it was strangely warm, almost too hot to touch.

Standing in front of this fire from nowhere with a strange key, Kaylee wondered when her mother would come back because something really weird was going on and she didn't think she was capable of dealing with it alone.

Hot on the heels of thoughts of her mother, followed thoughts of Paul. She closed her eyes again and wished with all her heart she could get away from him, as far away as possible, so she never had to see his angry face again...

3

Not in Feilding Anymore

When Kaylee opened her eyes again, the cottage had vanished. Instead, she found she was now standing atop a mountain rather close, excessively close for her liking, to the crater of an active volcano. Smoke and hot steam rose up around her cheeks, making her break out in an instant sweat and she could hear the sounds of rumbling below her. It sounded like hot rock stew!

She leapt back again with a cry of absolute terror, clutched the glowing green key to the front of her sweatshirt and looked around in total disbelief.

What had happened? Where was this place? Surely it was not the top of a mountain; a live and very angry looking mountain. She must have fainted or something and be dreaming all of this.

However, as she gazed around her and saw the smaller hills surrounding her, the blue sea on the horizon in the distance, islands floating in front of the two moons up in the sky...

Wait, what? Two moons? Floating islands?

There was a solitary mountain in the distance, jutting out of the landscape, surrounded at present by a blanket of mist, but at its peak, she could just make out what looked to be possibly a castle.

To her left she could see floating islands, complete with grass covered hills. They had flowing waterfalls, tumbling over the sides until they vanished as mist. They were the shape of inverted teardrops, with dirt, rock and root covered points at the bottom, as if they had been plucked out of a giant's garden.

To her right, beyond the solitary mountain, she could see an ocean of dark blue, which led who knew where in these strange lands. White foamy waves lapped at the beaches of a few lonely islands, far out in the Bay. Near the shore of the mainland a row of galleon ships bobbed at a small Port.

We're not in Kansas anymore, Kaylee ... a line from The Wizard of Oz came to mind.

'Oh, hell, how do I get out of this mess?' Kaylee murmured. She turned to what appeared to be a shingle-covered path winding down the volcano to surrounding fields below. Fields bursting with flora and fauna, but oddly, becoming more brown and barren as they neared the distant Mountain.

Kaylee started walking, fast. That hot, bubbling rock stew looked set to bubble over and she didn't mean to be hanging around when it did.

She was glad she still had her backpack. At least she had some food and water for the walk. She realized she was still clutching the strange key, so stuffed it back inside the pack and set off.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed what at first appeared to be a black bird flying towards her. As it grew nearer though, she saw with complete amazement, it was a horse; a huge, black, flying horse, a Pegasus to be precise.

'Think I hit my head on that swing harder than I thought? Mum's never going to believe a word of this.'

The black Pegasus landed gracefully not far from Kaylee. His shiny muscles glistened in the sunlight and his beautiful ebony wings spread as wide as a truck. He trotted majestically up to her, lowered his nose and nudged her outstretched hand, snuffling a friendly 'Hello'. He knelt on one knee and waited patiently for her to climb on.

She did, of course, with great relief. He was obviously friendly and there to help and she might not have gotten off the path in time otherwise. As she climbed up and snuggled her knees in close behind his soft feathery wings, she wondered what kind soul had sent him, or whether he had just done it as a random act of kindness to help a fellow living creature.

She clung to his long black mane, as his trot quickly became a gallop. Within moments, he leapt up and they were airborne, with Kaylee enjoying the sun's warmth on her face and the wind whipping past and whistling in her ears. She watched the green fields below, flying beneath them as though she were in an aeroplane. Her stomach dipped as Pegasus dived suddenly, heading for two enormous iron gates.

They touched down with a small jolt to her backside and he let her off in front of the gigantic gates. These towered above them as high as a two-storey house, enclosing a beautiful hidden garden. Branches and flowers escaped to wave in the breeze between the bars, all the way along the fence, in opposite directions as far as the eye could see.

'What am I supposed to do here?' She asked the Pegasus, but she discovered he could not talk. He merely pawed the dirt with his hoof and shook his head up and down, seeming to gesture to her to go on, go that way.

'But I don't have a ....'

Ah! But she did have a key. With an excited smile, Kaylee pulled out the huge key and stretched up on tippee-toe to slot it into a lock in the left gate.

It fit easily. She turned it with a loud clunk and it swung inwards of its own accord. Beyond the gates lay the most wondrously amazing garden, she had ever seen. Filled with foxgloves, delphiniums, lavender, roses, gardenia's and some plants she didn't know the names of ─ oh what a gorgeous perfume! It was an absolute rainbow of colours.

Stretched up and over a massive arched walkway, were crisscrossed intertwining vines; thick with green leaves and purple wisteria. These hung down in long bunches like lace, for what looked like miles ahead.

The fragrances drifting round on the warm breeze were so intoxicating she almost forgot she was supposed to be looking for something. What that was, she was yet to discover but the urge to find it was growing stronger by the minute.

4

Pretty, Smelly Place

Kaylee wandered slowly through the purple wisteria archway, enjoying the deliciously fragrant breeze while trailing fingertips through the velvet petals dangling about her shoulders. Her sense of urgency was still there, but these flowers were almost hypnotic.

At one point, she thought she saw a butterfly dart between the flowers. It appeared again and landed on a big red and white spotted toadstool. Only it wasn't a butterfly.

'A fairy! Of course ... it's not a butterfly.' The fairy, which had a green suit, yellow slippers and golden wings that sparkled as he flitted about, hopped off the toadstool and proceeded to pick berries off a raspberry bush nearby.

'Oh! Oh, how sweet. That's so cute,' Kaylee whispered to herself. That was precisely when Kaylee saw the amber eyes glowing in the dark shadows of the bush. Large catlike amber eyes, though too large for your average house-moggy.

The eyes seemed focussed on the little fairy and Kaylee was about to shout a warning to it, not even realising that she herself was probably in equal danger, when a giant puma-like black cat erupted from the bush and pounced on the poor wee fairy, pinning him to the ground with a startled squeak.

Kaylee squeezed her eyes shut in horror, as she usually did when something horrifically terrible was about to occur. Not a great survival skill, but still, that was her first reaction.

'Oh lordy, Jett! Ya scared the bloomin' toothpaste outta me, ya big hairy brute.' The little man-fairy said in his tiny, high-pitched voice.

Kaylee opened her eyes and watched the big cat laugh at him. As he lifted his paw, she saw the only white spot on him, around his throat area. He gently helped the little madly blushing fairy back up on his feet again.

'Sorry, Benjamin. Sometimes you just make it too easy. I couldn't resist. Are you alright?' Jett said.

The fairy flexed his translucent gold wings a few times and shook his head banging first one pointy ear with the palm of his tiny hand, then the other. 'I appear to be. No thanks to you. One of these days, boy, you're going to squash me proper flat, you know.' He waved his finger and scorned the big cat that looked like a housecat, only jumbo sized.

'Never!' Jett replied. 'Who would I play with then?'

'Someone your own size, perhaps?' Benjamin suggested sarcastically.

Jett was about to reply when he finally noticed Kaylee standing there, giggling at them. He turned to face her, then began stalking towards her, as if she was a bird he had spied. She wondered if he was going to pounce on her too when he came right up to her, almost eye to eye and surprised her by hopping up on his back legs slightly and giving her a soft head-bump on the cheek. He began to purr loudly as he went smooching round her body affectionately, as if she was his best friend in the whole wide world.

'Ah, hello,' Kaylee said smiling.

Jett crooned. 'Hello, and who might you be?'

'My name is Kaylee Browne. I'm not sure how I got here, but I think it may have something to do with this,' she pulled the iron key from her backpack, noticing that it no longer glowed or hummed.

Jett sat back on his rump and tilted his head to one side in thought. 'Looks like the work of the gnomes beneath Mount Beaton.'

Kaylee frowned, 'Gnomes? Did you say gnomes?' She shook her head trying to clear it. 'Look, I'm from a little town in New Zealand and I'm not sure, but I think this ruddy thing,' she waved the key round irritably, 'somehow ... put me on the edge of a very frightening volcano.'

'Ah, I see. Well if it has magic powers, then I'd hazard a guess that the gnomes probably had a bit of help from the dragon for some reason. Although, she is a bit of a grumpy old thing, I can't imagine she would have done it for their benefit alone. How very strange.'

A DRAGON? Kaylee repeated the word under her breath, tempted to pinch herself, certain she must be asleep standing up.

Jett looked around for Benjamin but the fairy had grown bored with them and flown off somewhere. Several other fairies were flitting about the beautiful garden, in and out of the bowls and petals of flowers like large butterflies.

'Come along then, Kaylee,' Jett suggested. 'I'll find someone who might be able to work out why you're here.'

Off they toddled, on and on down the shaded path beneath the long purple arch, enveloped by its floral scent which the warm midday sun had intensified. They stopped twice while Kaylee sat on a tree stump for a drink of water from her pack.

After an hour or two of pleasant strolling and chatting happily, they reached a small log cabin nestled in among a little ring of evergreen trees. Two brown and white goats bleated a welcome from behind a wooden rail fence in the yard and smoke drifted heavenward from the chimney.

Kaylee looked at Jett. 'Who lives here?'

The sun was sinking low in the sky and nighttime's dark shadows were beginning to creep up from the ground.

'He's an old friend of mine. A hermit named Dougie. He's a nice fellow. But he prefers his own company to that of some of the local idiots in the village. Can't say I blame him for that really, knowing most of the villagers myself. He'll give us something to eat and a place to rest for the night.'

5

A New Companion

'Come in, come in. Welcome, welcome. Sit yerselves down.' The old hermit ushered them in warmly. He was roughly the shape of a barrel and not much taller, but had a kind laugh beneath that grey bristly beard.

Kaylee whispered to Jett, 'But I'm not supposed to go into stranger's houses?'

'It's alright. You're with me,' he whispered back.

She paused ever so briefly and then added, 'But you're a stranger too. '

Jett sat on his rear end and spoke plainly. 'My dear, this is going to be a very long night if we keep on like this, isn't it?'

Therefore, not having much of an alternative at present, in she went.

Inside the cabin was lovely, in an old rustic sort of way. A fieldstone fireplace took up almost one whole wall. In it was a big black cauldron, where rich brown gravy bubbled away with the most delightful savoury smells emanating from it. Gleaming copper pots hung from the ceiling and wrought iron candle sconces were in several corners, their stout cream-coloured candles shedding a soft glow across the room and the pleasant smell of warmed beeswax.

Kaylee sat down on a plain wooden bench, which sat behind a wooden slab table. It had beautiful wood grain patterns running through it.

With a friendly grin, Dougie shuffled over and plonked a pewter mug of some hot beverage in front of her, 'Get that into ya ...it'll put hairs on ya chest! Ha ha.'

He chuckled cheerily as he then shuffled over and put a big wooden bucket of milk down for Jett. 'You're lucky today, Jett. I just finished milking the goats.'

As the hermit fluffed about over the cauldron in his hearth, Kaylee peeked inside her shirt imagining hairs popping up on her chest and came to the conclusion eventually that perhaps the old man had just been having her on. The beverage smelled delicious; honey and spiced caramel smells wafted up from it. She took a cautious sip.

Yes indeed, pure ambrosia!

The warm sweet drink did much to calm her nerves from the unsettling feeling of having the rug of her normal world ripped out from under her and finding herself plonked into another completely unbelievable reality.

She left her denial at being in this incredibly strange world ─ with two moons, flying horses, floating islands and fairies ─ simmering somewhere off towards the back of her mind for now, because although she did not know precisely where she was, her stomach didn't care. All it knew was that it needed food.

As she sipped and enjoyed the warmth of the fire, a rattling noise from across the room caught her attention. She looked over at a tall wooden cabinet by the far wall. It rattled and shook again; something from its interior squealed like a child.

'Oh shut up, you!' Dougie turned from the fire with a dripping spoon and growled at it.

'That's not a child in there is it?' Kaylee asked, concerned.

'Not a human child, no.' Dougie said a little evasively.

The cabinet rattled and squealed again and it was getting too hard for Kaylee to sit and ignore it. She got up and wandered over to the cabinet while Dougie continued stirring his supper. Kaylee cautiously opened the latch of the cupboard door.

Immediately a little blur of hairy black arms and legs ─ which she later recognised as a spider monkey ─ jumped out and attached himself to her head. He proceeded to dig through her hair, probably for vermin to snack on she thought.

'Has he got fleas?' She asked Jett who sat watching amused, as he lay on the rug by the fire.

'Possibly, but he's not terribly good at sharing them. Best get your own,' Jett replied a little sarcastically.

Dougie turned around and she thought he might get angry, but he just shook his head as though to say to her, you really shouldn't have done that. 'Do you want him?' He said and went back to his stew.

'Excuse me?' Kaylee answered as the monkey continued to preen her hair.

'You can have the little blighter, if ya want. Might be a help on ya travels. He's a damn pickpocket, but some of its useful. Just watch out for the ripe bananas though. Like pickin' up slugs they are ... ugh!' Dougie told her.

Kaylee looked dubious at this offer but didn't offer a reply just yet. The monkey hopped across the dinner table, moving nearer the old gent. He then licked his tiny finger and poked it in Dougie's ear, emitting a startled, 'Huh' from the old man and causing him to spill gravy down his tunic.

'See now, why he was in that cupboard!' Dougie said irritably as he tried to rub the stain off but instead wound up smearing it into a bigger mess. His old grey eyebrows danced like insect antennae and his forehead wrinkled with annoyance. 'His name is Willy and if you don't take him I'm giving him to the scary Viking fella's in the village. They can do what they like with the damnable creature!'

Willy, the monkey, retreated to the middle of the table, took his own finger and poked it up his...

'Oh, EW! Hey, oh dude, that's really NOT cool,' Kaylee said.

He proceeded to put the same finger in his mouth and Kaylee continued in disgust, 'Ew, that's just gross, man! You go wash your hands.' She pointed towards where she guessed the washroom must be. The spider monkey jumped up and down on the dinner table screeching and tossing food around the place, while smiling and thinking he was clever.

Kaylee wiped mashed potatoes from her cheek and calmly said, 'Yeah, cool story, Bro, but you go wash those little hands or you're stayin' here with him!' She warned the spider monkey, pointing in Dougie's direction.

The monkey immediately sat down, lowered his head sadly and reluctantly sloped off to the washroom. Jett hissed at him as he passed the big cat.

'What was that for?' Kaylee asked, puzzled.

'He usually pulls my whiskers when he gets near enough,' Jett replied defensively.

'Supper will be ready any minute now,' Dougie stated.

Kaylee sat down again with her drink and began to think of home.

She knew her mother would be worried. 'Jett? How am I going to get back home?' she asked.

Jett stood stretching his long, sleek black body on the hearth in front of the low-burning fire and gave a jaw-cracking yawn that showed his huge fangs and some of his pink gum. 'We can stay here the night. I'll take you to the Fire Realm in the morning and show you around. There is a Gypsy woman there who has a crystal ball. She might have some answers for you.'

6

Gypsy's Ball

After an uncomfortable night on a cushioned seat near the fireplace, Kaylee woke, stretched stiffly and breakfasted on a muesli bar and apple she had in her backpack. She could hear Dougie snoring like an approaching train down the hall and didn't want to trouble him.

Jett, after a full body lick, was looking majestic, alert and ready to go. The monkey was actually sitting quietly and well behaved for a change. He was on the table, putting on his best cute Labrador face.

'Come on then, flea-bag.' Kaylee laughed.

What began as a trail through the most beautiful garden Kaylee had ever seen gradually thinned, becoming more and more dry and barren as they walked towards the land of the Fire Realm. Rivers had become mere trickles and only tough grass and weeds now grew and even those sparingly.

Kaylee carried Willy the monkey on her shoulder with his long tail wrapped snugly around her waist. He was only tiny, so didn't weigh any more than her backpack. She saw a shadow moving quickly across the grass in front of them and looked up in the sky to see the large white wings of a magnificent snowy owl.

What a truly beautiful creature it was. It must have been searching for mice or other small prey. It looked down and seemed to be staring unnervingly straight at her... but she was probably just imagining that, she thought

'What's happened here? Where have all the beautiful flowers gone?' Kaylee asked, feeling an incredible aura of sadness descend upon her.

Jett pointed with his nose to the distant, snow topped mountain, where she could just make out a dark and gloomy, gothic-looking castle near the top. 'Wilfrey!' he said in angry tones. Before she could ask who Wilfrey was, Jett pointed with his nose to the fields on their right. 'Except for that wide scorched black patch over there ... that was the dragon; I guess someone round here upset her one day. She usually keeps to herself.'

'When was that?' Kaylee asked.

'Oh must have been around six months ago,' Jett said.

Six months? Six months ago her father died. Is it just coincidence? Kaylee wondered.

'The stumps are courtesy of Wilfrey Hobbs,' Jett continued and Kaylee looked at him confused.

'He blocked off the main tunnel through Mount Beaton and now the only way we get water or anything else we need by trade, is by going through him! And he keeps more than he sells.'

'What a horrible, greedy ... man?' Kaylee said.

'Yes, I guess you could call him a man.' Jett replied.

'Why did he do it?' Kaylee asked as they plodded along the now dusty road towards the Fire Realm village.

'For power, dear child. He likes to be in control and make sure he has the most of anything we have. Some Guardian he turned out to be.' Jett turned away, as though bitter with disappointment.

'Guardian? What is a Guardian in this place?'

He turned back to Kaylee, having gained control of his emotions once more. 'The Guardian is supposed to help keep order among the people of the Five Realms and make sure everyone is managing alright, helping those who are not. The trouble is he's only interested in helping himself.'

'So you have the Fire Realm. How many are there, did you say... another four?' Kaylee asked.

'You're a very smart girl. See if you can guess?' He stopped walking and sat observing her, his tail slowly waving back and forth, in thought.

Kaylee tapped her chin, 'Let's see, you mentioned water, so I guess there must be a water realm?' Jett nodded. 'And I saw those amazing floating islands, so what would that be? Wind or air perhaps? Then you need food, of course? But no, you wouldn't have a food realm, what do you need to grow food?' she asked herself. Jett waited patiently as she tapped her lip and walked in circles as she sorted her answers out. She stopped and grinned triumphantly, 'Dirt! Or rather, Earth!'

'Ha, ha! I knew you were a clever girl. The last one of the Five is Spirit. The Spirit Realm is where I have my lair hidden.' Jett was impressed with Kaylee. He felt she was someone special and her presence here could be of significant importance to the Five Realms.

'What does spirit give us that we need?' Kaylee asked him.

'Well, lots of things really, but one of the most important ones is ... love. For although you might not think you can see it, there is hardly a stronger feeling than love ... except, sadly on occasion, perhaps hate. But most people here choose the lighter path, fortunately.'

The pair sat for a rest on a couple of tree stumps by the side of the road and breathed the fresh air of the countryside. They watched the sheep and cattle in the paddocks that surrounded them.

The animals looked a bit thin, Kaylee thought, compared to the ones at the sale-yards at home. The grass was a bit dry here, in desperate need of water. There were streams here and there, but they were low, barely flowing. Like someone had dammed them up somewhere. Wilfrey, the likely culprit, she presumed.

As they moved on down the dirt road towards the Fire Realm, Kaylee thought to herself of those at home whom she loved and how much it hurt losing her father. Yes, Jett was right. Spirit was a very powerful thing. Love could heal hurts or, on the other hand, hurt very deeply. She knew that from personal experience.

Up ahead of them, she could see a small clearing in the middle of a group of evergreen trees. It was the last large area of forested land they would pass through before the town. There were fields upon fields of stumps surrounding this. It looked very barren and sad. Kaylee thought if they kept on like this, they would run out of trees altogether before long. What would they then do for wood to build houses, or for fires to keep warm?

She shook off these depressing thoughts, as she could now smell the scent of fragrant pine carried to her on the gentle breeze. Beneath a particularly large conifer, there sat a lovely Gypsy Wagon, its curved roof painted bright reds, yellows and blues. Near that, hobbled and grazing peacefully, stood a beautiful black and white horse with long white fringes on its legs and a mane of such splendour a supermodel herself would have envied it.

There was a fire burning merrily in a circle of rocks and a pot of something hot steaming over this. It smelled like chicken soup. Kaylee's stomach rumbled loudly. All this walking had made her very hungry.

The woman had her back to them and was at this moment bent over the pot, stirring the soup with a huge wooden spoon. She stood up straight when she heard them, turning to greet them with a big warm smile.

'Ah, there she is,' Jett said, 'Betina, my friend. Hope I find you well, this lovely afternoon?'

Betina looked to be somewhere around her mother's age, (although anyone over twenty was old to Kaylee). She had long, thick, wavy black hair, tied back with a colourful lilac scarf and before Kaylee could stop her, Betina rushed forward and enveloped the surprised girl in a firm hug, smothering her cheeks with her ample bosom.

The spider monkey cunningly avoided the hug. When he saw Betina's impending smothering, he leapt off Kaylee's shoulder and onto the black and white horse, giving the poor animal a bit of a fright. However, the little creature on its back appeared harmless, so the horse ignored it and carried on munching grass. Willy began to pick through the horse's mane, searching for more tasty creepy crawlies.

'Hello, child. I've been expecting you. Come, come, sit and share a meal with me,' Betina said, as she finally let Kaylee ─ cheeks blushing crimson ─ free from her clutches. She quickly dished up a couple of bowls of soup for Kaylee and Jett then joined them by the fire.

When they had eaten, Betina led Kaylee and Jett up small steps into her pretty gypsy caravan. There were shelves on the walls, packed with an assortment of glass bottles; blue, green and yellow with round stoppers on top. 'Herbs,' Betina told Kaylee. 'I get them from the Spirit Lands to help people when they are hurt or sick.'

She ushered Kaylee to a big soft cushion on the floor and sat back down on her own cushion before her crystal ball on a box in the centre. The crystal ball looked like clear solid glass, but had a swirl of what looked like smoke drifting ghost-like within it.

Betina had known Kaylee had come to their lands, though not precisely why. 'You seek something very special, I can feel it in here.' She gently placed three fingers on Kaylee's chest around the place Kaylee's heart would be.

'Yes, I agree,' Jett said to Betina, as he sat on the cushion between them. 'I felt it too.'

Kaylee looked up and said, 'Well, now that you ask, yes, I do want something. I want my father back.' She blurted that out, surprising herself. 'But that can't happen, he...' She gulped back the tears. 'They told me he died a few months ago, in a mining accident.'

'Oh, I see. How very sad. I'm so sorry to hear that, Kaylee.' Betina said, patting the girl's shoulder gently. 'Yet, for some reason I feel he is still nearby, still close to you? Maybe his spirit is lingering – unfinished business? Or perhaps there is another purpose for your being here ... and it will become clear to us in time.'

'But my mother will be out of her mind with worry by now. I have to find a way to get back. Can you help me, please?' Kaylee remembered the iron key in her backpack. She slipped the pack off her back and dug it out handing it to the beautiful gypsy woman. 'I have this ... I think this is how I got here.'

Betina nodded, running her fingers over the delicate Celtic design admirably. 'Ah, yes this metal work looks familiar.' She looked up at Jett, her face serious, then at Kaylee. 'You must go talk to the gnomes of Mount Beaton. They should know how you came by one of their keys. But, heed my warning, Kaylee. You will have to go carefully, my dear, for there are dangers beneath that mountain which dwell in the honeycomb caves. The caves of the tunnel which Wilfrey's crone blocked with a giant wasp nest, years ago.'

Great! Giant flying bugs! Kaylee did NOT like the sound of that. Not one bit. Her face grew pale and afraid.

'Don't worry,' Jett put a comforting paw on her arm, 'I'll come with you.'

7

Boar's Head Inn

It had grown too late in the afternoon to set out on their quest. To get to the caves, first they had to travel for a day through the Fire Realm, then another day or so, through the Spirit Lands before they came to Mount Beaton where the gnomes lived. Those tunnels were creepy enough in the daytime, definitely not wise to take them on in the dark.

Betina set up a makeshift tent with sapling branches and some leather-hides near the fire for Kaylee and Jett slept at Kaylee's feet for added protection.

Willy the monkey did not feel inclined to try to sneak past Jett into the tent, so buttered up Betina with his cute Labrador face until she felt sorry for him and let him into her caravan. She lived to regret that softhearted offer.

The sound of a woman's screams pierced their ears sharply early the next morning, ripping them from the depths of sleep. The disturbing noise came from the small confines of Betina's caravan.

Kaylee shot straight up into a sitting position, still half-asleep and gazed around in the dim dawn light, disoriented. 'Wha...?' she muttered. She had absolutely no idea where she was.

In the small gap of daylight, which was all she could see through the entrance flap of the tent, Kaylee saw the caravan door burst open and Willy come flying out the door, screeching and flailing comically as he sailed through the air. He could have been hurt in the fall, had he not landed on something large and soft.

Like Jett.

Jett snarled at the monkey in warning, but kindly refrained from eating him. Kaylee grabbed the frightened little fur ball and clutched him to her chest. She looked over to the steps of Betina's caravan, where the dishevelled gypsy woman stood with hands on hips like a teapot and her hair sticking out all over the place, shining with something that looked very sticky.

'That little monster!' She pointed at Willy, 'Emptied all my herbs all over the place last night and poured honey through my hair! I'm happy to help you Kaylee dear, but keep that animal out of my caravan from now on ... or I'll ... I'll ... well I don't know what I'll do to him,. But I promise you,' her high voice dropped menacingly low, 'he won't be liking it much!'

Jett thought it best, given recent events, that they skip breakfast and just get on with their journey. Willy, still strongly smelling of honey even though Kaylee had helped wash some of it off, was riding passenger on the kind girl's shoulder.

They headed towards the Fire Realm's Viking settlement and could now see the great shadow of the distant Mount Beaton more clearly. There were several wagons, pulled by oxen, making slow progress up the mountainside on a narrow winding road up towards the snow line and the dark gothic castle near its peak.

'What is that they have in those wagons?' She asked Jett.

Jett looked up. 'Oh, that will either be livestock for Wilfrey, or fire-sticks.'

'Fire-sticks?'

'Yes, amber coloured things. They use them to start fires. You must have them at home, surely?'

'Not those, no. But we have something that does the same thing. Where do they get them from?'

'I believe they chip them from a special rock found somewhere around here. There's a mine near that volcano at the iron gates.'

Before long, they had reached the village. The grubby main street was lined with several shacks and lean-tos scattered beneath the tightly packed rows of medieval houses. In one of these lean-tos a blacksmith pumped air through a bellows into a forge. The flames roared higher as he heated the sword he was working on. The searing metal glowed orange as he held it up, examining his work.

Kaylee heard the hiss as he dipped the glowing blade in a water barrel and the steam rose up through the thatched roof. He paused to pull a dirty cloth from his leather apron to wipe his sweating brow and frowned at her curiously, as they went by.

It belatedly occurred to her that she had no weapons to defend herself in this strange land. She glanced at the huge Puma-like black cat walking beside her.

Ok, so she might have at least one good way to defend herself, after all.

Wrought-iron braziers, bigger versions of the one her mother had used at home, burned merrily at regular spots all round the village.

Many more vendors from the Fire Realm were selling their wares under these primitive lean-to's which seemed to be made from poles cut from young trees and covered with some sort of linen cloth, to make a tent. They sold things such as simple, yet functional, dull-coloured clothes and leather slipper-type shoes. There was a stall with large terracotta pottery jugs and bowls.

She smelled a strong ammonia rank scent before she saw the stand where a person was selling skins of things such as goats and other mammals and there was another stand with a stack of large woven baskets.

A gaggle of four white geese honked as they waddled around erratically dodging the feet of villagers in their panic.

Jett's nose was in the air, sniffing. A fish merchant had a small cart of fresh fish, which Jett deliberately bumped with his hip as they passed, causing a small cascade of slippery fish to slide down the front of the wagon. Jett timed it so perfectly that he neatly caught the cascade with his mouth. Kaylee wondered if he performed this trick every time he passed.

There was also a large stack of wooden barrels of 'Crystal-Clear Water' from the ports of the Water Realm. Kaylee knew this because the barrels had those words stamped on the sides of each one. She found it incredibly odd to have to buy such a natural commodity, which was usually free in New Zealand.

Further on down the dusty cobbled street some women and children sat at a wooden table eating bread, cheese and pickle. One of the children seemed very happy playing with her new straw doll.

Kaylee heard a loud cowbell clanging behind them; its echo seemed to bounce off the tall leaning buildings above. She turned to see a farmer shepherding sheep and goats through the village. Several wagons passed along the lovely paved street. Two oxen yoked to one of these were wearing the cowbells she had heard and there was a nanny goat tied to the back of the wagon, trotting along slowly.

'Meh-eh-eh-eh!'It bleated as it passed them and lifted its tail to drop a sprinkle of tiny round black marbles, which looked like raisins.

Another wagon passed from the opposite direction, this one smaller and pulled by a man instead of oxen this time. In the back, there were slatted wooden cages of white chickens, clucking and flapping loose feathers about. Sleeping among the piles of straw on the back, Kaylee noticed a boy with his wide-brimmed hat over his eyes, dozing, his arms beneath his head.

A baker called out 'fresh bread', though he needn't bother, the smell of the freshly baked loaves was very appealing. Her growling stomach and saliva filled mouth were proof of that. It made Kaylee very hungry, but she had no money with which to buy things. In any case, it would have been New Zealand money. She figured they might have a different currency in this place.

Jett and Kaylee passed old-fashioned, dome-shaped beehives, the clever busy wee bugs flying around lazily from flower to flower in the morning sun. Nearby stood a small wagon, which served as a wooden stall, displaying pottery pots of honey as well as some nice beeswax candles. Mum would have dived into those she thought with a pang.

A very large wooden shed housed a carpenter who seemed to be busy fixing wagon wheels and such. He hammered away, clang, clang, plainly too busy to be distracted by the many passers-by.

They eventually neared the centre of the village. Stepping onto the cobblestoned streets of the Fire Realm had felt like walking back in time, hundreds of years. The buildings loomed above them and felt like they leaned in towards each other like the drunken men who frequented the Boars Head Inn.

In the centre of the higglety-pigglety arrangement of medieval houses, which closely resembled a thirteenth century town, stood a wooden clock tower. Kaylee stared in wonder at its face and once again saw the beautiful, white, snowy owl that had flown over them a few days back. He perched near the clock face and his unusually coloured cerulean-blue eyes bored into hers. It made her feel a bit self-conscious. She began to think it was spying on her.

'I don't know about you child, but I am famished. Boar's Head does a nice roast quail, or possibly just fancy chicken, but I'm not particularly choosy this fine morning.' Jett headed towards the Inn, which had a top floor overhanging the lower one and slatted batons placed artfully around the white plaster of the structure. The Inn was topped off with a thatched roof, which reminded Kaylee of a bad hair style called a bowl-cut.

A fearsome looking wild boar's head stuck out above the doorway, yellow tusks grimy with dirt from the passing wagons and smoking chimneys and black beady eyes so real, she felt like they followed her as she passed beneath it.

Beside the door, there hung a green wooden sign which said:

BOARS HEAD INN,

NO SHEEP, PIGS OR GOATS ALLOWED,

CHICKENS ARE OK (but they may wind up on your plate)

Kaylee went ahead of Jett, a little unsure in this room crammed with strange people, but feeling safe with the huge black cat. As she passed through the entrance, a rugged man with a leather tunic and big blonde beard stopped her with both palms up and pointed to the sign.

Kaylee read it again and said defiantly, 'I think you'll find that the word monkey is not on that sign!'

The rough looking Viking man looked gobsmacked. Women here did not normally talk back. He checked the sign again himself, even though he had seen it every day for years.

'Hmph!' He crossed his arms and said, 'So it appears. Vel zen, I guess I aff to be letting you in. Mind it be-hafes!'

Kaylee walked cautiously into the crowded room, hearing someone greet Jett. 'Mornin' Jett.'

'Morning to you too, Sven,' Jett replied genially.

'Why do they let you in?' Kaylee asked the big cat, puzzled.

'I'm a Messenger Cat, an Ambassador if you will. To be treated with respect of my station. Besides, I could eat them if I chose to.'

'What do you choose to eat then?' She worried he might eat her if he got hungry, later on.

'Don't worry, Kaylee.' He answered.

Could he read minds?

'You're far too important to the Realms to be on my menu. Besides I prefer a nice roast quail.' He grinned charmingly, displaying those impressive fangs of his, 'or duck!'

Kaylee stood where she was, unsure where to sit in the crowded room, but Jett seemed to have a favourite spot eyed up in a quiet corner. She followed him and sat down on a wooden bench.

Willy perched on her shoulder, his tiny head flicking back and forth nervously looking around the room.

He saw several customers watching him. One had taken out his knife and was sharpening it, sweeping it back and forth across a stone. The large, hairy man viciously stabbed it into the wooden table and smiled a toothless grin at the monkey in a sinister way. Willy suddenly decided he had better things to do than to keep Kaylee's shoulder warm and scampered across the flagstone floor and out the open Inn doors.

'Willy!' she called out, a little distressed. Jett put his paw on her arm softly and said, 'Don't mind him. He will be all right. He'll find us later on, be assured of that.'

Another man, who had been doing something with a keg when they came in, approached them with a warm greeting. 'Mornin' Jett, will it be the usual?' He was clean-shaven with little hair on his cannonball head, wearing a white apron, which was surprisingly clean.

'Yes, thanks, Rollo. Better make it three chickens today, as you see I have a guest with me. This is Kaylee,' Rollo nodded hello to Kaylee, '... and we'll have some bread, a bowl of milk for me and a pint for Kaylee here.'

'Is that beer?' Kaylee whispered behind her hand to Jett.

'Yes dear, is that not what you want?'

'Ah, I'm not supposed to drink beer.'

'Oh? In that case, what would you like? Wine? Rum perhaps?'

'I'm not allowed any of it, but I'll have a glass of water maybe?'

'Trust me, dear; the beer is safer than the water, hereabouts.' He told her quietly as Rollo waited politely for their order.

'And a half-pint,' Jett looked sideways at Kaylee, 'of cider for Kaylee please, that will be all thank you, Rollo.'

The room was rather homely with a big stone fireplace and warm glowing fire in the hearth. Candles flickered in the many candelabras and torches hung from metal brackets on the walls about the room, so it was not as dark as she had thought it would be.

Before long, steaming plates heaped with chicken and bread were carried out by one of the serving girls. She put the larger of the plates down for Jett and the other in front of Kaylee.

In addition, Rollo brought over a big bowl of milk which he placed on the floor beside Jett and a small pewter tankard of cider for Kaylee.

Their meal was most enjoyable after which Kaylee, forgetting briefly where she was, burped loudly 'RHU-BARB!' which drew impressed stares from every man in the room. 'Pardon me,' she said in embarrassment.

They had nearly cleared their plates, in fact Jett was licking his with his huge pink tongue when Willy came tearing across the floor towards them, a small brown bag in his mouth and shot up Kaylee's t-shirt before she had time to blink. Outside they could hear shouting and it did not take a genius to tie the two events together.

'I think it is time we were leaving, young Kaylee. Keep that little cretin tucked up your shirt out of sight for now, there's a good girl.'

Kaylee thanked the door attendant, Sven, keeping her backpack in front of the wriggling bulge in her shirt. Once they were down the road and away from the village, she stopped, lifted her shirt away from her and shook the monkey until he dropped out on the grass.

It turned out he had stolen a small bag of gold coins from somewhere and she was about to tell him off and suggest taking them back when Jett stopped her.

Frowning at the disgraced primate Jett said, 'He probably stole it from someone who won it gambling anyhow, if I know that lot. In all truth, it may come in handy in your travels. Tuck it in your bag for now.'

8

Danger Lurks

There was a fork in the road up ahead. Two old signs sat at the top of a thin worn post, one pointing left, the other right. A few years ago the villagers had used the road they were on, which headed straight for the tunnels. However, Wilfrey's crone and her dark magic had blocked the tunnels. Now the Viking people had no choice but to take the left road of the fork, leading up the Mountain to Wilfrey's castle. They now had to settle for what terms they could.

Jett, Kaylee and Willy followed a road beside the river towards the lands of the Spirit Realm. Past the fork in the road, rows of grapevines lined the fences of paddocks they passed. As they crossed over a shallow part of the small river, they saw that the water had dropped so low that the bridge which crossed it, was no longer necessary.

The road they walked was a long one and Kaylee soon grew very tired, not being used to so much walking. She tried not to complain, but lagged behind a bit until Jett took pity on her and told her to climb on his back for a spell, now and then.

On and on down the road, over hills, through meadows, across streams and over stone fences they travelled the long, weary day. Kaylee's thoughts drifted to home and her mother.

Betina had pulled her aside before they had left ─ in a hurry, thanks to Willy ─ and told her that she had seen a woman (whose description had to be Kaylee's mother) in the crystal ball. She had been crying and talking to a man dressed in dark blue, wearing a strange flat hat.

Kaylee knew this was probably a Police Officer and she felt very guilty for worrying her mother so badly. She had to find a way to get home as soon as possible, whatever that took.

She looked around the barren landscape. It was growing a little greener as they neared the Woods of the Spirit Realm; beyond that stood the foot of the great looming mountain.

A dot ahead of them in the road, Kaylee had been observing, began to grow larger. It appeared to be a small cat walking towards them. However, as it got closer, the dot that seemed like a normal sized cat grew larger and larger.

Realisation finally dawned on her. Oh, wow! Another Messenger Cat, Kaylee thought, delighted.

This one was a fluffy ginger and cream colour, with striking green eyes. Remembering how smoochy Jett had been, Kaylee eagerly rushed forward to pat the huge fluffy cat.

She was not at all prepared when it lifted its paw, quick as a striking snake, and swatted her sideways into a bush before Jett could warn her.

Kaylee was more surprised than hurt and looked at Jett for an explanation, confusion all over her face.

'Not all of us are as good-natured as I, I'm afraid,' he explained a little sheepishly.

'Thanks for the warning!' she sulked.

The ginger cat paced back and forth, then growled at Jett, 'Who is that?' Meaning the slightly shaky girl, with an equally shaky monkey gripping her hair tight enough to bring tears to her eyes.

As Kaylee climbed out of the bush, she found her backpack had fallen off. She picked it up and bashed the dust off against her jeans, irritably.

'Now, now Topaz. We must work on your social skills some time. This is Kaylee. She has come here with a magic key, likely Dragon magic. We believe it was probably made by the gnomes of Mount Beaton. The reason for which, we are yet to discover, but it must be important to the Realms that we find out. So if you would please refrain from injuring the girl, it would be much appreciated.'

'I don't do nice,' Topaz snarled. 'Out of my way girly, I've got stoneys to track.'

'Stoneys?' Kaylee asked Jett, frowning.

'Gargoyles.' He replied, as though this would make any sense to someone not from these lands. Kaylee raised her eyebrows at him, in a 'huh?' gesture and turned to Topaz.

'Aren't they stone statues that don't move?'

'Not here. Thanks to Wilfrey, they move and spy and do nasty things to lost little girls like you. So quit wasting my time so I can find them,' Topaz said, her huge ginger tail flicking sideways and catching Kaylee in the eye as she passed. Willy the monkey screeched and shot down her leg.

Jett explained in more depth, 'Gargoyles are nasty creatures, with ears like bats and a smile of razor teeth that would make your hair stand on end. They're usually accompanied by the odd hagar ─'

'Odd what?' Kaylee began to interrupt but Jett raised a finger of his paw to silence her; he wasn't finished explaining.

'—Great, black, hairy beasts that would be doglike if they didn't have the face of a wild boar, tusks and all. Fearsome creatures which look as though they were spat up from the bowels of hell, created from spells cast by Wilfrey's crone.'

Kaylee's face froze as she looked past Topaz and she lifted her hand, pointing with a shaky finger. 'Something like those then?' She mumbled.

Jett pounced in front of Kaylee, eyes narrowed and growling deeply. Topaz had joined him to face three gargoyles, stone grey with pointed ears like a bats and sinister red glowing eyes. They flexed their long bony fingers, emphasizing the sharp talons on the ends of them. They were smiling in a very sinister fashion and making disturbing clicking noises with their razor sharp teeth.

'What do we have here?' one of them hissed and spoke as though his nose were blocked, which it may well have been, with cement.

Topaz stalked fearlessly towards them. She might be grumpy, but she was very brave and fierce. 'Three dead gargoyles if they don't start running. How fast can stone run?'

One of the other gargoyles raised a large bull horn to his hard stone lips and blew. The trumpeting sound rang out and bounced off the surrounding hills. They soon heard growling sounds emerging from the distant trees and a dust cloud began to rise as two hagars came running.

As they drew nearer, Kaylee saw with horror, they indeed had faces like wild boars. They were only half the size of the huge cats though and Jett and Topaz had little trouble in swiping them aside with their strong paws, or pinning them down to give a powerful bite.

The gargoyles, Kaylee soon learned, had a terrible design fault; they did not take sudden impact very well. A good hard hit to them and they shattered like a dropped light bulb. After the first one did this, slammed to the hard ground beneath the weight of Topaz and dissolving in a cloud of grey dust, the other two stoneys took off running awkwardly on bandy legs, leaving the hagars to finish the fight.

Kaylee hid trembling in a bush and wished she could do something to help, but she was unarmed and more likely to be in the way. She felt like crying or screaming, but eventually the hagars yelped and gave up, joining the now running gargoyles in their retreat.

Now that the immediate danger had vanished, Kaylee cautiously approached Jett, who seemed relatively unharmed, except for a small tear to his ear. It was bleeding a little. He licked his large paw and rubbed it over the tear a couple of times.

The monkey was now clinging even more fearfully round her throat, half choking her. She loosened Willy's grip and said to Jett, 'Are you alright?'

'Yes, yes don't worry about me dear. Those silly beasts are no match for us, more of a nuisance than anything. Stoneys only have a chance if you do not see them coming. But now they've seen you, it won't be long before Wilfrey knows you're here.'

'I'll follow them, make sure they keep running,' Topaz said. 'Maybe I can stop them before they get to him. Best you keep your pet close, Jett.'

9

Gerard and the Wolf

Jett and Kaylee continued their journey along the dirt road that led to the village of the Spirit Realm. Kaylee's eyes kept darting to the surrounding trees, on edge since their run in with the stoneys. Still accompanied by the river, they passed a picturesque watermill in a glade. The water level was so low the mill wheel wasn't moving. Tall weeds had grown up and threatened to engulf the sad little building entirely, should it sit neglected for much longer.

In the distance, the forest began to grow more plentiful. There were still many stumps visible, evidence of the greed of their supposed Guardian, but a few more trees lay untouched and towering above them in their magnificent splendour.

'We have reached the outer edge of the Woods of the Spirit Realm.' Jett said.

Over to their left, in the direction of Mount Beaton Kaylee could see the long carriage train of carts trekking up the mountain pass to Wilfrey's castle. They were loaded with fire-sticks and food. Another of these wagons passed them from the opposite direction and the villager at the reins stopped to ask where they were headed.

He explained to Kaylee that this wagonload, with barrels of water from the docks as well as firesticks, was part-payment to keep the killer wasps at bay. He gave Kaylee a firestick to keep; he was amused she had never seen them and could not stop turning the strange amber rod over in her hands in avid curiosity.

Wilfrey had abused his position of trust and ruled with greed and cruelty. Blocking their main route of trade through the mountain and taking control of the resources such as fire and water, he rationed them out to the other realms in minute amounts to keep the realms weak and under his thumb. If they did not obey, they had killer wasps and gargoyles to deal with.

The Fire Realm people had fought to defend the trees from Wilfrey's army but when he threatened to let the hagars loose on their children while they were away working in the fields, they felt they were left no choice and so buckled and agreed to give him what he wanted.

This Wilfrey person sounded like a scary man and Kaylee hoped she found her way out of this land before she ran into him. As she walked along, chasing thoughts around her head, Kaylee was flung abruptly back to her present situation when she bumped into a tree, banging her nose painfully.

Only it wasn't a tree; it was a leg. In fact a huge, hairy leg the size of a tree trunk. She looked up, a little frightened yet curious, into the smiling face of a giant. He had messy brown hair, which looked like it had a nest of some kind in it and was holding in his arms several white rabbits. The rabbits did not appear frightened. Their tiny pink noses twitched as they hopped along his massive arms to nibble at his shirt.

'I'm ... so sorry,' Kaylee said to him, palms up in submission, 'I wasn't watching where I was going.'

'Ha ha ha,' he laughed, in a deep booming voice. He bent down to see Kaylee better. 'I do that sometimes too.' He pointed to a row of trees behind him. Around eight trees leaned nearly horizontal, like a row of dominoes, knocked down by what she would have thought was a bulldozer. No bulldozers around here though. He extended a huge fat finger to Willy, who scampered straight up his arm and onto his shoulder – you guessed it, preening his hair.

'This is Gerard,' Jett explained. 'He is a nice chappy. A gentle soul with a kind heart, but do watch out for him ... he's a bit clumsy and may accidently sit on you, completely unintentionally you understand.'

A small 'quack!' came from above Kaylee's head. In Gerard's shirt pocket, they could see a curious yellow duckling peeking out. Above the giant's massive head, beautiful blue and green birds chirped their evening songs loudly in the treetops, flitting back and forth between the branches. Some brave fantails darted past their heads, as if daring them to give chase.

Jett watched, tempted, but the amount of space those little birds would fill in the huge cavern that was his stomach, would not make it worth the effort of trying to catch one of them. Admittedly though, the urge was still there.

As they gazed up at the playful fantails, Kaylee once again saw that familiar white owl perched on a branch high above them. It had its beautiful blue eyes glued to her, watching ... always watching her. She was seriously curious as to who would be interested in her presence in these lands. Surely, such a beautiful bird would not be slave to that horrid soul, Wilfrey.

Jett, Kaylee and Gerard sat down around a fire of pinecones. They had all helped collect them and Kaylee had volunteered to start the fire with her firestick, laughing with delight as she did so. She did it by scraping a rock against the smooth amber surface quickly as the villager on the wagon had showed her.

Gerard invited them to share a bite to eat with him. From the depths of his shirt he pulled out a bundle wrapped in red and white chequered cloth, all four corners tied in a knot to keep the contents from falling out. Once open this displayed his lunch of bread, cheese, cold sausage and raspberries.

The gentle giant sat in the clearing munching on his lunch while forest creatures such as ducklings and rabbits, tiny in comparison, climbed all over him without any fear. Birds even took to nesting in his hair. Kaylee could hear the tiny baby birds chirping loudly for food and saw the mother, or possibly father bird, come to land with a worm in its mouth.

The light had grown dim and shadows were forming under the trees, meaning it had to be late afternoon. They bid Gerard farewell, but Jett informed Kaylee they would not have time to reach the mountain before dark.

'We can find some place to stay with the people of the Spirit Lands to be on the safe side and set out for the caves beneath the Mount tomorrow.'

Kaylee was about to take the monkey from Gerard when a mournful howl pierced the air. Without hesitation Jett dove into the shrubs in the direction of the sound, bounding through long grass and bush in the shadows of the tall pine trees. Kaylee followed, running, but having a bit of difficulty keeping up as the big cat bounded through the bush. 'Do we really ... want to ... get close to ... wolves? That was a ... wolf, wasn't it?' She tried to ask his rear end between gasping breaths as she ran.

'Wolves are our friends here Kaylee,' Jett called back to her as he loped along. 'The Spirit people are a peace-loving folk. The animals in this land try to live in harmony, when we can. That animal is in pain. He needs our help.'

There at the edge of a clearing they saw him. A huge dark-grey wolf with his big paw caught painfully in between the menacing teeth of a large metal trap. He pointed his nose to the sky and howled again, sending shivers down her spine. He turned his pale blue eyes on them and whimpered pitifully.

'Oh! What a horrible trap! I thought these people were peaceful?' Kaylee asked confused.

'This trap was set by Wilfrey's evil-spawn. No-one here would do such a thing.' Jett said.

'Will he bite me if I try to help him?' Kaylee asked.

'No, I don't think so,' Jett said. 'He knows we want to help him.'

The wolf lay there, panting fast and whimpering every now and then. His eye's were half closed in pain with a slit of pale blue showing, watching her every move with nerve-wracking attention.

Kaylee pulled at the jaws of the trap as hard as she could, but it was no use. She was not strong enough to open the viciously clamped jaws. She cried out in frustration and bashed her fist on her knee. 'Oh bugger it! I can't get them open.'

The wolf whined and licked her hand. It was as though he was trying to say please don't give up, please help me. They heard a crack and branches breaking as something large moved toward them through the trees.

'I can,' said a deep voice above their heads. It was Gerard. He had come to see if he could help the poor animal. The wolf was frightened and Kaylee heard his deep rumbling growl in warning.

The monkey jumped clear; he did not fancy getting close to those powerful jaws, but Gerard was not afraid. 'It's alright boy,' he whispered softly.

With ease, Gerard pulled the clamps open and the freed wolf yelped and madly licked Gerard's hand in gratitude, then his face as Gerard crouched low to the ground. The gentle giant chuckled and easily lifted the injured wolf up. 'He needs a healer. Spirit people have plant magic. They help.'

10

Down to the River

They followed Gerard for a short way until he stopped in the middle of the woods and looked around. Kaylee wondered if perhaps he'd taken the wrong path.

'The village is here?' Kaylee asked, utterly confused as she looked at the empty clearing in front of her. She wondered if maybe it was there and perhaps it was just that the village and its people were invisible. She walked into the clearing, Willy wrapped around her neck like a scarf as usual, with her hands out in front of her like a blind person, to feel for objects that she might walk in to but could not see.

'What are you doing?' Jett asked.

'Nothing,' she said, dropping her hands quickly, feeling a bit stupid and feigning innocence.

'Up there is where you'll find them,' he chuckled. High above them in the treetops, at varying levels, were rows of magnificent tree houses of differing sizes and styles. Willy started to screech and wave his little hands. In approval, she guessed, because he leapt up a tree and disappeared to explore.

'The Shaman had never trusted Wilfrey or his crone. She convinced the villagers to build up there, because gargoyles found it very difficult to climb, as did hagars.' Jett told her.

There was a large central hut on the ground, a little further into the bush, with a cone shaped ceiling. Concentric patterns of beams fanned out around the central pole like the spine of an umbrella, with a hole to let the smoke out. This was where the villagers' shared meals and had meetings and such.

Someone must have informed the Shaman of their arrival, because they saw the white-haired elderly woman climb slowly down her ladder to come help Gerard with the injured wolf. 'In the meetinghouse, friend,' she told the giant, not wanting to waste time with introductions just yet.

His massive slow steps thumped through the village and with one hand he bent down and gently placed the wolf on a bed of straw inside. 'Hope he better soon,' he said to the healer and turned to go back to wherever it was he lived in the woods.

The Shaman spoke low and calmly to the frightened wolf. A leather bag hung over her shoulder from which she pulled out some sort of plant with a yellow flower. She chewed up the plant for a few minutes, then gently spread the masticated mix on the wolf's wound.

'That will help him heal?' Kaylee asked her.

She nodded and said, 'Nature gives us much medicine in plant form. But I caution you child, you must be careful, for some are poisonous and will kill. Stay away from those.' She pointed at some orange and white fungus in a wooden bowl on the table.

Without thinking Kaylee blurted out, 'If they kill, why have you got a bowl full in here?'

The shaman wrapped the wolf's leg with soft leather and gave him a sip of water, letting him lap it up from the palm of her hand before answering. 'We use the poison on our arrow tips to fend off the hagars.' She stroked the wolf under his chin. 'I'm thinking you won't need a blanket tonight, young one. Your coat will keep the chills away. Sleep. I will check on you soon.'

Jett led Kaylee to where the villagers had gathered around a central fire. One of the villagers started banging a drum with a small length of wood, rounded off at each end. The drum was a Bodhran he later told her. Someone else was accompanying the drum player; trilling a quick merry tune on a flute.

The villagers had lovely coffee-coloured skin and dressed in leather pants and tunics. Their hair was mostly dark, except for the shaman's whose hair was all white. They wore their hair long, some in plaits with shells and brightly coloured feathers for decoration.

As the music gained momentum, they began chanting, stomping their feet and dancing to the beat in circles around the fire. Smiling in a friendly manner one of the women came over to Kaylee with her hands out, coaxing her to join them.

'Jett, what are they doing?' Kaylee whispered loudly out the side of her mouth.

Jett was lounging in front of the meetinghouse, conveniently near some meat roasting on a couple of green sapling branches above the fire pit. Willy was nowhere to be seen, but he was an accomplished thief when it came to food, so he would be all right.

'I believe it is a dance to scare the evil spirits away and help the wolf heal. They are inviting you to join in; they think you carry strong magic,' Jett told her.

'They don't know the half of it...' she muttered to herself. Still, it looked like fun so she shrugged and got in there among them to give it a go.

She stuffed up the dance moves quite a lot, but Jett got up on his rump and pawed a salute in the air, shouting encouragement and praising her efforts. At the end, the Spirit people laughed while they placed a shell necklace around her neck and an impressive feather hat on her head.

The light had completely faded away now and thousands of stars sparkled like glitter up there in the cloudless sky. The two moons, side by side, shed a glow that was almost as bright as daylight. There were also torches lit and poked into the dirt on long poles around the camp, like a Survivor Island television series.

Kaylee was thoroughly out of breath by the time the music stopped, but the laughter had done her the world of good. A kind village woman handed her a horn of something to drink. It tasted pleasantly of warm honey and spices.

When the festivities died down, villagers slowly drifted off towards their own beds. The Shaman showed Kaylee to a most impressive tree house, where she could sleep for the night. Tarzan himself would feel at home here, she thought.

The homely smells of wood smoke and warmed greenery filled the crisp night air. A short time after she retired for the night, she heard scratching sounds as Willy's tiny form came clambering up the wall and slinked up under her furs. She giggled, 'What time do you call this? Hmm?'

She got no reply of course. Merely felt the fury little body snuggle close to her thigh and relax himself completely as one does when falling into a deep slumber.

The conical shaped meetinghouse where the wolf slept was nearby and as she lay on her back beneath warm furs, staring up at the stars and moons out her open window, she heard a mournful howl call from miles away. The injured lone wolf's sorrowful cry in return, from so nearby, sent shivers up her spine.

She found herself wanting to go and comfort him and after tossing and turning for some time, she decided she was not going to be sleeping much unless she did. She climbed down her ladder and crept through the moonlit night, over to the meetinghouse.

The door stood open and she could see the huge grey shape lying still on the pile of straw on the floor. She was about to chicken-out now that she was so close to him and so reminded how very big he was, when a cloud moved in front of the moons, leaving her momentarily in near darkness. The wolf disappeared, transformed immediately to a dark-haired boy who looked near her age. He lay there naked with his knees curved to his chest, but with a bandage on his arm in the same place the wolf had.

She knew she should look away, but was unable to move. He raised his face to look at her with those pale blue eyes. The cloud passed and he was once again the wolf, with the lonely boy within. Her mouth dropped open and stayed that way.

'I knew you would come to him.' From nowhere the Shaman appeared at her elbow and smiled kindly. 'You must wish to bathe after all that dancing. There is a safe spot down by the river. Come, follow me.'

'Did you see that? You must to have seen that. What was that?' Kaylee rattled off to the Shaman who was either deaf or simply ignoring her as she followed the old woman down to the river. She guessed she would find out when the Shaman was good-and-ready to tell her. So as she followed through the trees and shrubs on the soft dirt trail to the river, she willed herself to try to relax.

As soon as they reached the riverbank the Shaman showed her where the best swimming spot was. She peeled off the sweaty clothes she had been wearing for days, eager to climb into the inviting warm waters. There was a little eddy-pool there beneath a small waterfall where the current was a lot slower.

The cool freshness of the slow flowing water gave her a feeling of drifting along like a piece of waterweed, as in a dream. Little frogs 'ribbited' away to each other and various other small animals such as squirrels and rabbits popped out from the low shrubbery from time to time for a drink. They didn't seem afraid of her, just curious. The cruel hand of a hunting man was foreign to these creatures. Sure the Spirit people hunted now and then, but only for food they needed and clothing to keep warm; never in excess, out of greed. Kaylee loved that about them.

While she washed, the Shaman collected cattail reeds and other plants in her large willow basket and began telling Kaylee the sad tale of how the boy was turned into the wolf, for having the courage to stand up to Wilfrey.

'He was a brave lad.' The old woman carried on her conversation, 'Knew what was right and wrong and couldn't help giving that wicked man a piece of his mind. He must have hit a sore spot, because next thing you know, the old Crone who lives with him was there with one of her vile potions and she threw it on Paedro. Now he spends his days as part of a wolf pack.' She straightened slowly and stared off towards the distant hilltops. 'I think he is their leader, judging by how much they miss him tonight.'

Kaylee had washed her face and body and climbed out to dry off with soft leather the old woman had placed nearby on the edge of the bank. She had found a fresh set of clothes waiting on the bank as well, a gift to her from the women of the village.

'That's so unbelievably sad,' she said from behind the bushes, shivering a little as she dressed quickly. Kaylee already felt protective of the injured wolf. This made her feelings all the stronger. 'Is there no-one who can help change him back?'

She heard branches move on the other side of the clearing and covered herself alarmed, but saw no one there. However, as she looked away, out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a white horse pass through the forest. She continued pulling her leggings up, jumping up and down as she did when her jeans were too tight or her legs were wet and when she looked back, could now see that the white horse had a single horn on its head. It spiralled like a pretty shell.

The unicorn looked at her unafraid ─ in fact he appeared to be just as curious of her and she was of him. As she stood there dumb-foundered, he moved off before she gathered her wits together enough to tell the Shaman what she had seen. The old woman had been talking the whole time, but Kaylee had completely lost track of what she was saying, after the vision of mystic beauty she had just had the privilege to witness.

'What? Sorry, what were you saying just then?' Kaylee felt surreal and frazzled.

The Shaman stared at her for a time, silent ... deciding. 'I was saying that if you follow this river to the edge of the Fire Realm, you will find the Tree of Life. The white snowy owl is her messenger.'

'Ah!' Kaylee said; unicorn forgotten as another mystery unravelled. 'I wondered who that beautiful bird belonged to.' She emerged from the bushes feeling strangely exotic and wonderful.

The Shaman whistled at her new get-up and they both laughed. Gathering herself together the old woman told her, 'Legend says, the Tree of Life hasn't spoken for over a thousand years... I would try though, if I were you.'

'Jett was telling me about her, on our journey here. He told me the legend says, she holds incredible power and wisdom, but no one has heard from her for over a thousand years and they think that maybe it was just a story told by some bored Bard one evening, to pass the cold winter's night?'

They heard the sound of soft padding footsteps approaching, crunching through the leaves on the forest floor. They both turned in the direction of Paedro limping along on three legs, holding his sore paw up.

'Good to see you up my friend. You should join us if you feel up to it.' Shaman told him.

Wandering along at an easy pace, to allow the wolf to keep up while limping and holding up his injured paw, the three made their way a mile or so up river. There at the river's edge stood a number of very large and gnarly ancient-looking willow trees. Their vast drooping canopies trailed delicate branches in the water's edge, like a mother's loving caress.

The Shaman pointed to the middle one, 'The Tree of Life is over there Kaylee.' As Kaylee moved closer, she could see in the moonlight the twists and turns in the trunk had grown to resemble the wrinkled face of a very elderly woman.

Paedro the wolf limped over to the ancient tree and placed his wounded paw on the trunk. A glowing blue dot appeared in the bark, growing until the glow flowed from the trunk and down through his paw, until his whole body glowed blue. When the glow left him, he moved his paw away again. He put it down and walked on it experimentally. There was no more flinching or limping. There was no indication that the paw hurt at all, anymore.

From the upper branches of the ancient tree that looked like a very old woman, a beautiful majestic white snowy owl with piercing blue eyes, screeched at her. Kaylee thought it was trying to tell her something and wished desperately that she could understand.

She looked to the Shaman for instruction and received a shooing gesture towards the giant ancient willow. She moved closer to the tree, feeling that overwhelming dreamlike sensation again that she had felt at finding herself atop a volcano, a few days ago. On impulse, she placed her own hand beneath the face in the trunk, in the same place the wolf had, then closed her eyes ... and waited.

She heard the tree speak, in an old woman's voice inside her head. It said, 'Yes, Kaylee, I know who you are. Your heart is pure and kind. You are stronger than you think. You will not fail, at what you seek, child.'

The magical powers and very real voice of the willow tree astounded Kaylee and she withdrew her hand as though burned.

Kaylee turned and walked up to the Shaman, flashing awed glances back at the tree as she did, 'Did you just do that?' However, even as she asked the question, she knew the Shaman had not and the medicine woman just smiled, pulling Kaylee close in an embrace. She laid her head on top of Kaylee's, 'I knew you were someone special,' she said.

11

Foot of the Mountain

A gentle rain was falling when Jett, Kaylee and Willy set out the next morning. After being in them for days, Kaylee's clothes did not smell the best. In fact, the smell of them this morning had closely resembled her father's old socks, so she was glad to leave them with the villagers who had kindly loaned her a tunic and some leather pants. They left the Spirit Realm in happy moods, but these dried up with the rain, as the menacing threat of the caves grew nearer.

They followed the river which had grown a bit more vigorous as they neared Mount Beaton. In fact vigorous enough now to boast the occasional glorious waterfall. There were natural wonders Kaylee could never have imagined. Rock formations thrust from the ground and straight up for hundreds of feet, like rocket ships, as well as gracefully arched stone bridges, which looked like they could only have been made by fairies. At that moment, Kaylee laughed to herself. In this place, fairies or some other magical creature, likely had built them.

Dodging falling pinecones from the giant conifers above them was amusing at first, until a few scored direct hits with Kaylee's head. Willy jumped off her shoulders to go exploring now and again, but would always catch them up.

Jett was as curious about her world, as she was about his.

'Am I the first person from my world to come here, or have there been others?' She asked him as they walked under the shade beneath the giant trees and then out into grassy sun filled patches of meadow.

'Oh, no there have been a few others over the long years.' Jett told her. Kaylee looked excited by this revelation.

'Do all animals in this world talk? I know the Pegasus didn't.' She said.

'No, only the special ones ... like Messenger Cats,' he grinned, huge glistening white fangs in the pink gums of his ebony face; his large amber eyes creased in merriment. 'I take it cats do not speak in your world?' Jett asked Kaylee.

'No, sadly, they don't. And they are quite a lot smaller than you lot. But you'll be pleased to know that they are as loved and spoilt as Gods, by some people.' She laughed thinking of her dotty elderly neighbour who had four grossly overfed cats.

The sky darkened to violet, edged with a brilliant crimson sunset, as they approached the foot of the mountain. They had been walking along a wagon track next to a low fieldstone fence, for quite some time.

On the old stone fence, Kaylee saw someone sitting there. She had to take a second and even a third look. She wondered if the Shaman had slipped some funny mushrooms into her dinner because she could swear that the thing sitting on the low stone wall was the round egg-shaped body of Humpty-Dumpty, only he was more of an orange shade than white.

She found herself humming that familiar childhood nursery rhyme and didn't mean to speak aloud, but slipped out the last part '... all the kings' horses and all the kings' men ─'

'What's that dear?' Jett asked her.

Kaylee felt embarrassed and changed the subject, 'Who is that sitting on the wall, he looks familiar?'

'Oh, that looks like Bruce. He's one of the Pumpkin People.'

When he noticed them, Bruce waved cheerily at them with his pewter mug. 'Ello,' he said and took a swig from his mug, dribbling the liquid carelessly down his tight-fitting shirtfront. Judging by the old stains on it, he did this often.

'Hello Bruce. Fine evening for it?' Jett replied.

'That it 'tis.' He smiled. 'Ere, where you two off to then?' Bruce asked.

'We're going to the caves to talk to the dragon.' Kaylee replied.

Bruce's eyebrows shot up in shock and he wobbled precariously before yelling 'Ahh!' as he and his mug toppled backwards over the fence, landing with a dull thud and leaving a pair of holey striped socks, one with a huge toe poking out, sticking up in his place.

Kaylee could not hold back the laugh, as she sang '... and couldn't put Humpty together again!' Jett stared at her as if she had two heads, until she ran to the fence to make sure Bruce was all right. She lent him a hand back up.

'You want to be careful, you know,' she told Bruce, who had cider dripping from his rather fat nose and the near empty tankard still clutched in his sausage-like fingers. 'Most accidents happen within ten minutes from home.' She was grinning wickedly.

Instead of getting mad though, Bruce cracked up laughing, 'Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!' He paused to catch his breath, slapping the thigh of his trousers in silent mirth with his free hand, as tears leaked from the creased corners of his eyes. Then off he went again with another burst. 'Aha! ... aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!'

He perched precariously on that stone fence, laughing so hard that he spilt whatever cider had remained in his mug and more tears overflowed his eyes. Eventually he laughed so long, Jett frowned and said, 'He appears to be alright. Let us move on shall we, while we still have light.'

'He appears to be totally nuts, if you ask me.' Kaylee said smiling and shaking her head.

As they walked away, Bruce eventually quietened down. He muttered to himself, 'Me? Nuts? I'm not the silly sod going into those caves though, am I?'

Not far past the wall where Bruce had his fall ─ Oh dear, Kaylee thought, I'm never going to get Humpty-bloody-dumpty out of my mind now ─ she saw at the base of the mountain, dozens of little round grass-covered hills, where smoke was rising from little chimneys protruding from the mounds. There were homes beneath the turf with round windows and doors, along with pretty little gardens behind picket fences.

'These are the gnome men and women of the Earth Realm,' Jett told Kaylee. 'Stay close now. They are a little wary of strangers ever since a rogue group of men from the Fire Realm decided to play a game with a few of them, tossing them to each other like a ball.'

There were dozens of these little people, engaged in various activities outside of their quaint little homes. They looked similar to humans except more stocky and compact, only about the height of an eight-year-old child. They wore simple homespun clothing in browns and greens, topped off with pointed hats like the kind Kaylee had had at her five-year-old birthday party, only ─ not shiny.

Most of the gnome men had beards and were busy at the moment with rakes and forks, tending garden patches and milking goats. A few of them pushed wheelbarrows of fruit and vegetables, to-and-fro, between their homes and sizeable garden patches.

Kaylee thought they were simply delightful.

Willy had caught up with them but with such an array of food in sight he was immediately off again, helping himself to one of these barrows of produce, unobserved by the busy lady-gnome working nearby.

The wheelbarrows were being trundled towards their little homes, which from what Kaylee could tell, looked as though they might possibly lead directly into the mountain. She wished she could traipse through to check, but was brought up with better manners than that.

'Oh, Willy,' she scorned, watching him insolently pilfer fruit from the barrow.

'Leave him be,' Jett said. 'It might pay for us to accidently leave him there for the time being, anyhow. If he comes with us, he'll probably end up as bug-bait!'

The Gnome people watched her suspiciously, as she wandered past, but did not trouble her while she was with a Messenger Cat.

The more she looked around at their little houses, the more Kaylee laughed. She slapped her hand over her mouth, realising it probably sounded a bit rude to the Gnome people.

'Do tell, what amuses you so?' Jett asked her. She was still bubbling on the inside about the Pumpkin person, but she could not help but notice that the houses round here looked very familiar.

'Well,' she explained to Jett, 'in my world a famous movie maker did a film of a story with houses and small folk quite similar to these ─'

'Oh, you mean young Master Tolkien?'

Kaylee gasped, 'You've heard of The Lord of the Rings?' she was very surprised.

'Oh yes. Young Master Tolkien visited us many years ago, when he was just a small lad, near the age you are now. You'll find many of your great story tellers have been temporary visitors in the Five Realms, at some time in their lives.'

The rounded turf houses of the Gnomes of the Earth Realm were scattered over both sides of the old tunnel. The tunnel that had in the past, been the main trade route through from all the realms on this side of the Byagal Sea, to the Water Realm on the other side.

They could see the honeycomb shaped caves, where the entrance used to be. The dark holes in the combs which looked as big as a car were terrifying. Betina had told Kaylee they were home to nests of evil things, nasty, creepy, crawly things. Fear seemed to waft off those eerie caves along with the smell of rot and decay.

Kaylee adjusted her backpack a little, as it was rubbing her shoulder a bit raw. She looked at Jett and gulped. 'We have to go through there?' Her voice disappeared in a high squeak at the end.

'Through those combs and beneath the Earth Realm is where the Dragon chambers are. If you want to know why you are here, that is the best place to find your answers. However, I will not lie to you. It will not be easy. In fact, it is likely to be very dangerous. Hopefully, if we are very quiet, we can sneak by and escape notice from the evil eyes that dwell within.'

'And if we do attract them?' She asked dubiously.

'Well, we will perhaps pray .... and very likely fight. Or possibly ... die.' He said quite matter-of-factly and started walking into the caves.

His confidence was reassuring, but as she followed him in she said, 'I've got a bad feeling about this.' She wondered if she should just turn around, return to the iron gates and try to find some other way back from the volcano.

However, she knew that was taking the coward's way out. Her father had not been a coward and she did not want to shame his memory. Therefore, swallowing her fear, she bravely followed the huge black cat into the towering honeycomb of caves.

Her courage lasted precisely until they left the sunlight and the darkness swallowed them, its breath of dampness and rot seeping into their very skin. Kaylee clutched Jett's tail, scared to death she would lose him in the maze of combs, making him jerk with fright. He relaxed with a chuckle. He had forgotten she did not see in the dark as well as cats could.

At first, it was very quiet. However, before long, they began to notice small scratching sounds. Like something crawling along the walls and over the papery shell of the combs. It sounded like fire crackling or a bowl of Cocoa-Pops when you first poured milk on them.

First, she heard it on one side of the cave and she drew closer to Jett. Before long, she could hear the sounds on the other side of the cave. When she could finally hear them above her, she stood bravely fists clenched, swallowed and said naively, 'Ok I don't know much about praying but I'm ready to fight.'

To her surprise, Jett answered, 'Well I'm not!' and under his breath he said, 'God, I hate bugs! We are outnumbered here a-hundred-to-one. Sometimes you have to run away and fight another day. Climb on my back!'

Gasping for breath and bent over her knees with a painful stitch in her side, Kaylee looked at Jett lying, panting in the long grass. They were just inside the woods of the Spirit people, where they'd run from the creatures in the cave.

'What ... were those ... things?' Kaylee panted.

'Giant spiders, scorpions, wetas, snakes, bats even ... creatures of the night and dark places.' He stared at the tunnel with loathing and a solitary shiver travelled all the way down his spine.

She looked back to the entrance to the caves. It was at least a couple of sports fields away. Above the entrance, she could see a few of the creature's long feelers poking out the upper levels of the papery nest. They twitched, tasting the air, searching for them, but they quickly shrank in fear from the sun's light, back into the dark interior of their combs.

'They do not like the light, so we are safe for now, but come nightfall ...' Jett did not need to finish this statement.

'But the sun is going down; it's almost night time now.' Kaylee clutched his fur, pinching his skin slightly.

It hurt Jett a little but in his nice-natured way, he did not complain. He was just about to suggest approaching the Spirit people for help when a dark-winged horse dropped gracefully down from the darkening sky. He trotted up and down the wood's edge, searching.

He spied Kaylee waving to him and galloped towards them. When he was near, he shook his head up and down in their direction. A silver bell round his neck tinkled as he did so. 'He wants you to go with him.' Jett said. 'Opal is the ancient and wise one in the Wind Realm. She must wish to speak with you. You will be safer there for now.'

'Ancient? Is she like your grandmother or something?'

'More like my grandmother's grandmother.' He said.

'What about you?' Kaylee asked, concerned for her new friend's safety.

'I've been here all my life. This is my home Kaylee. I will find help with the Spirit people. We will meet again.'

12

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble...

Up near the clouds...

The castle of Wilfrey George Hobbs perched precariously at the uppermost point of Mount Beaton. It was built in the gothic style with arched ceilings, stained glass windows, ridiculously tall pointed turrets and a multitude of massive staircases throughout.

Stone miniatures of the dreadful gargoyles that enjoyed harassing the rest of the realms augmented the simple stone guttering system. However, these ones never moved. Instead, they merely stared at you with glowing red eyes, spouting dirty fountains on occasions when the rain fell.

Surrounding the castle grounds, behind tall spike-topped fences, were hagars; horrid black beasts the size of a hyena, with faces somewhere between a wild dog and a Russian boar, including tusks and little black piggy eyes.

They prowled the grounds until required by the gargoyles, from time to time, to cause mischief wherever Wilfrey felt like directing it.

Behind and beneath Mount Beaton lay the Byagal Sea. It was a beautiful dark blue expanse reaching as far as the eye could see ─ except for the Bay directly below the cliffs.

At the bottom of the cliff was where Wilfrey ordered his servants to dump all their waste. They thoughtlessly tossed it out the kitchen windows overhanging the cliff top. Many innocent sea creatures suffered from this mess, but the people of the Water Realm, like the Fire Realm, were relatively powerless against Wilfrey, as long as he had the Crone working for him.

The sea was dotted here and there, with the odd small coconut-tree covered island. The ferrymen (aka Pirates) of the Water Realm collected natural spring water from these small islands, sealing it in large oak barrels to trade with the other realms.

Wilfrey, via his gargoyles, was notorious for taking most of this and selling it off at ridiculously high prices to everyone else who needed it.

The water was brought to the mainland by ferrymen, who liked to pretend they were pirates because it was ... well fun was what it was. Boys were sometimes just dorks like that, weren't they?

Beneath the castle, in the outside bailey ─ a type of courtyard ─ there were endless stacks of firesticks and felled trees from the Fire Realm, barrels of water from the Water Realm and fruit and vegetable produce from the Earth Realm. Greedy should have been Wilfrey's middle name, not George.

One miserable evening, deep in the castle dungeons, Wilfrey stomped across an untidy walkway of wooden planks, across the waterlogged flagstone floor. Candles guttered and flickered in the draughts on the dank dirty walls. He kicked out at a frog in his way, which croaked annoyance and dove into the shallow, murky water with a plop.

The Crone's big black crow cawed sharply, announcing Wilfrey's arrival. He turned to it and glared it into silence, grinning with satisfaction at its fear.

The Crone was busy with something, her back hunched over as she muttered to herself. He approached and rudely peered over her shoulder as she broke a blue egg into a pewter dish on the floor. She then threw in some bones that had rune markings on them. After that, she spit in it, swirled the odious globule round the pewter dish, scraped her long hideous fingernail through the gruesome mixture and looked up at him, waiting for him to speak.

'What is it now, Hag? You interrupted my milk bath ... so it better be important!' He snarled.

'Forgive me, Wilfrey; I have seen something in the bones,' she said in her creaky old voice and she laid the dish on the ground at their feet.

'Oh prey-tell. What prize am I in for next then?' He smugly admired himself in a shiny platter that leant against the wall and picked something green out of his tooth with a grubby fingernail. He frowned at the red scar on his cheek; a little memento from an enemy he had rubbed up the wrong way. He swept back his wavy black locks and stroked his black beard.

'No, this is not a good omen. Your rule is under threat from a young girl, a newcomer to this place.' She looked up at him, with one of her wonky eyes, face grave between long straggles of wispy white hair.

His face contorted in anger, 'Let her try! You think I'm not enough of a man to outwit a child!'

'I only say, what I see in the bones. She will bring about the end of you ─ the end of us!' She shuffled over to her jars, tipped out a palm-full of slaters then tossed them into her bubbling cauldron, followed by an orange and white spotted fungus, which produced a hissing red cloud.

Wilfrey followed her, waving away the smelly red vapours, which rose to sting his eyes. 'What does she want from me? Send those useless stone soldiers and those hairy mutts out there to bring her to me.'

'What she seeks is not yet clear, but I will find out ... in time. My mirrors sometimes show me things, but something shields her from my view.' Wilfrey scowled at this less than satisfactory answer.

'See you do. I have more important things to do than babysit a lost child!'

The crone smiled showing pointy black teeth, 'One would think you might have more care for an orphan? Given you were one when I found you on that hillside freezing to death.'

He flew towards her in rage, stopping nose-to-nose, 'You are NOT to mention that to ANYONE! I am the Guardian! Heir to the throne from the last Guardian ─'

'... Who I got rid of, putting you there in the child's stead,' she said snidely without missing a beat.

'Be that as it may, Crone, you're lucky I put up with you. You'd be burned at the stake if I tossed you out there,' he snarled, pointing to the Fire Realm. She shrank from his anger and continued with her brewing.

Without further ado, he spun on his boot heel and made his way back along the slimy planks. His eye caught sight of something distasteful on a nearby bench and he paused to pick it up gingerly with his fingertips. It was a dismembered eyeball of some large mammal. 'Ugh! Is this entirely necessary?' He looked at her scornfully and threw it over his shoulder before he stormed off as it plopped into a puddle somewhere in the dark corners of the room.

13

Opal and the Wind Realm

Like a wraith Kaylee soared through the night, clinging tightly to the mighty Pegasus. They flew up through the deep purple night sky to the floating islands of the Wind Realm.

Opal's Palace was on the largest of the floating islands. The two magnificent moons side by side gave a truly spectacular backdrop to the islands. Misty clouds shrouded their green hills and gushing waterfalls tumbled into sparkling rivers below them.

It looked as though a giant had plucked each island from the earth as if it were a weed for the base of each one was a dagger-shaped spear of dirt, its roots exposed and raw.

There were five floating islands in total, each joined by long swinging rope-bridges. Opal's palace had a domed roof reminding Kaylee of the Arabian ones in the Middle East back home, but inside customised to suit its feline charge. A gigantic maze of carpeted tunnels ran everywhere, through the halls, rooms and walls; a giant cat's toy.

Opal's ethereal helpers greeted Pegasus and Kaylee as they landed softly before the grand entrance at the bottom of the staircase. There were lights all along the handrail of the staircase and the windows of the palace glowed invitingly.

Opal was a large white Messenger Cat with a grey rainbow shape across her forehead. She had a grey tail, amber eyes and unusually short-cropped ears like a Lynx. She was very old and stiff and rarely moved from her throne unless the palace was on fire or her dinner-bell chimed and even then a servant came bearing her meal on a silver platter; or (ahem!) the litter box, though we don't mention that.

Her helpers were elflike. They had pointy ears and were very peaceful and graceful. Nevertheless, they were very tall and ethereal looking. They wore Grecian clothes and carried long bows and arrows, which would shoot bolts of actual lightening! There were men and women, all with blonde tresses. Their hair was long and straight and glowed like rays of pure sunlight.

When Kaylee first saw Opal, the large elderly cat was trying to reach behind herself to scratch an itch on her back. She no longer had much flexibility and couldn't quite do it by herself anymore. Impatiently Opal ordered one of her Elflike minions to do it for her with a special back-scratching instrument fashioned like a big-clawed hand.

Her helper didn't mind scratching Opal's back, as Opal was a very revered and respected figure. The old cat's eyes turned to slits of ecstasy and her back foot tapped slowly at first, then faster as the helper got exactly the right itchy spot.

Kaylee felt a little awkward, as if she was intruding and turned away politely to look around the beautiful domed ceiling. Up there were lovely paintings of little cherubs and kittens playing with balls of brightly coloured wool. Beautiful chandeliers hung in three places and the room was so pristine white Kaylee thought it had an otherworldly, almost 'heaven-like' feel to it.

The tall figure next to her cleared his throat, 'Ahem, Your Eminence?'

Opal stopped and stared at them. She shooed off the backscratcher person and sat up in her usual formally dignified manner.

'Yes?' she spoke in a creaky sounding voice.

'You summoned the girl-child, Kaylee.' he said with his right arm outstretched, introducing Kaylee and moved aside to give her centre stage.

'So I did,' Opal replied. 'Could you go find Kaylee some supper Marcus? She's looking a bit peaky.' Marcus bowed respectfully and headed to the kitchen to find Kaylee some warm food.

'Now Kaylee, you have my full, undivided attention. Sit child and do tell me your story. I am extremely interested.' Opal listened patiently to Kaylee's tale, as the girl sat in a white padded chair near Opal's stand. Kaylee thanked Marcus when he returned bearing sumptuous savoury dishes and continued telling her story between spoonfuls of delicious chicken soup, bread and fish fillets.

When Kaylee had come to the end of her tale, Opal lifted her noble face and said, 'I agree with Jett. There is some important reason for your being here. The Dragon does not waste her magic without good reason. Here ...' from a fur-lined cubbyhole along one wall, Opal used her mouth to pick up a stick with a shiny red ball at the end of it, which tinkled a little when it moved. She dropped it on the soft rug near Kaylee's feet. 'Take this rattle and shake it at the entrance to the cave. Ruby, messenger of the Earth Realm, will come. She will help you get through the combs and take you safely to the Gnome King, Mossbreath.'

'But won't the bugs and other creepies get her? Kaylee was honestly frightened and not afraid to show it.'

The regal old cat chuckled, 'They don't bother with Ruby. You'll soon see why.' Following this Opal moved forward, creeping stiffly down the steps closer to Kaylee; that in itself showed her affection for the girl. She came to sit beside Kaylee, wrapping her tail around the child like a comforting arm. 'I'd offer you a bed to rest for the night my dear,' she said quietly, 'but I'm sure you're anxious to finish this quest of yours, so you can return to that poor worried mother of yours?'

A tear slipped silently down Kaylee's cheek as she nodded in agreement. She had been trying to keep thoughts of home and her mother pushed to the back of her mind, but they all came flooding out with the tears and Opal's kind words.

The grand old cat, who was still a massive size even at such a staggering age, asked Layla, one of her minions, to take Kaylee back to the Pegasus. 'He will fly you back down to the caves. Have courage young Kaylee. You are stronger than you think.'

There was something about being in the Wind Realm Kaylee adored. Maybe it was the elf-like, gracefully gorgeous minions in the palace, who jumped to Opal's every whim. Perhaps it was the fact that this realm floated serenely above the world, weightless as a hot-air balloon in the clouds.

Maybe it was just the smell of rain in the air, fine delicate misty droplets caressing your cheeks and coating your windpipes. It summoned images of lush green trees and sparkling streams flowing over majestic waterfalls and crashing on the glistening rocks below where rainbow trout leapt as if they desired capture. And many of them got their wish. The whole place cried out in melodious tones, 'I am alive!'

Layla escorted Kaylee through the palace halls. She was a friendly and very pretty, but also frighteningly tall, woman with flowing white robes and a bow that must have been as tall as Kaylee herself. They were heading for the glorious white stables where the Pegasus rested when the servant spied something through one of the open, arched windows.

The window looked out over the fields many miles below and Kaylee could see one of Wilfrey's gargoyles beating some poor donkey with a whip. The animal was hitched to an overloaded wagon. It now sat on its rump; suggesting the exhausted and stubborn creature did not have the strength to go on.

Layla shook her head, 'Those abominations of Wilfrey's! That simply will not do!' She notched her lightening arrow in place on her bowstring, aimed and fired the lethal bolt, blasting the unaware gargoyle to bits in a bright flash of light. Seconds later what remained of him, rained down on the earth like dust. The donkey 'ee-ored' joyously showing its approval.

'You didn't see that, did you?' she whispered aside to Kaylee.

Kaylee smiled and shook her head. Layla grinned back and patted Kaylee affectionately on the head.

Upon reaching the stables, Layla gave the rest of the Pegasus herd orders from Opal. They were to take their magical paintbrushes out, to paint a rainbow across the sky. The drizzle of the afternoon had ceased and rainbow painting was an important part of their duties.

Eight more of the big black winged horses came thundering out of the stables, golden brushes in their mouths of all the colours of the rainbow. The ground shook beneath her feet as they thundered past and took flight, one after the other, painting an arc like none she had ever seen.

Another duty they had, Layla explained to Kaylee, was to stir up the winds when there was a storm coming. A very impressive sight it was to see, the whole herd flying in formation. Round and round in circles, so fast they became just a grey blur, spiralling up the wind-funnel.

'Why do you need to make storms?' Kaylee asked. 'Are storms good for anything? I think they're really just a nuisance, where I'm from.'

'My dear child, if you get targeted by that swarm of giant wasps, you'll be glad of them for one thing,' Layla replied. 'But the wind and rain are all necessary for blowing seeds around and spreading the plant life in the realms.' She reached inside a closet at the stables and handed Kaylee a dark-green cloak with a hood, 'You'll need this, it's very cold out there at this hour.'

Kaylee slipped the heavy cloak on. It was a little large, but deliciously warm. 'Thank you Layla. I enjoyed meeting you all.' Kaylee reached out and shook the surprised woman's hand. She tucked the rattle Opal had given her down the front of the cloak and climbed on a step and onto the back of the huge black Pegasus again.

14

Ruby

Pegasus galloped along a grassy verge of the island for a short way, then Kaylee's stomach dipped sickeningly as he dived off the island in the sky and down through the clouds. She was thankful for the heavy cloak because the frozen wind in her face was numbing.

They landed softly outside the cave. Kaylee felt as though the gaping mouth of it was preparing to devour her. It was now fairly dark and she felt more nervous and frightened than ever, but Pegasus nuzzled her hand gently, his nose hot and warm in her palm.

She felt rather hesitant to let go of the warm horse now; she had felt so secure in his powerful presence. Nevertheless, he gave her a gentle nudge towards the cave entrance. She summoned her courage, lifted her shoulders and with head held high and, rattle in hand, walked toward the entrance. She averted her eyes from those creepy wasp-combs towering over her head like windows in an abandoned haunted house.

With a loud sigh, she began to shake the rattle and hoped like hell, Ruby found her before anything else did. Talk about poking the hornet's nest. She wondered why she hadn't thought to ask Opal for one of those awesome lightening bows to go with the rattle. That would have given her some confidence, for sure.

She stood shivering in the dark, from cold as well as fright, straining her ears towards any sound which might alert her of many-legged things approaching. Eventually what appeared to be a large round snowball came hurtling toward her. She shut her eyes (which she did a lot when scared, much to her annoyance and shame) and held out the rattle for Ruby. Shaking it wasn't a problem. The terrified girl hadn't stopped trembling since she set foot in the dirt outside the cave.

It was as though the mysterious trinket had bewitched the enormous fluffy cat. The shiny red ball seemed to be singing to her, though not in any words Kaylee could hear. Ruby's momentum was that of a freight train. To stop she had to dig her front paws into the cave floor and skid on her backside for a while, barely coming to a stop face to face with Kaylee.

'You have a message for me?' She asked. She listened to the ball and tapped it lightly with her paw. Ruby's eyes were muddy-brown and kind. 'Wise Opal tells me I must help you safely through the caves so you may speak with the Gnome King, Mossbreath.'

Kaylee nodded, a little stunned at the nearness of the huge fluffy messenger cat.

'Of course, I will help you through the caves, Kaylee. However, it grows very late and you look about to drop from weariness child. Come, I will keep you safe and warm in my lair until morning. Have you eaten?'

'Yes I have. Opal fed me well, thank you.' Kaylee thought the belly full of chicken soup and fish fillets would have made her feel relaxed enough for a nap but she found the feeling of satisfied comfort had deserted her and her belly now felt hollow as a drum as she stared at the dark cave surrounding her.

She could not tell how big it was, but the echo of their voices suggested very high ceilings indeed. It was what she could not see in the dark, that frightened her more and what her mind invented instead, which was enough to give her the sudden urge to turn and run back. However, there had to be a very good reason for her presence in this weird and wonderful place. She had to stay strong and have courage.

Still, she did not expect to fall asleep in this scary place any time before morning. Let alone trust her slumbering body to the care of another monstrously big cat who she had only just met, in the animals own lair of all places.

But then again, she had trusted Jett, had she not?

Cats were considered a powerful totem animal in ancient Celtic legends, she had read somewhere online. They were strong protectors, especially in situations of confrontation. She should therefore, still be alive when morning rolled around.

Then again, her mother's voice drifted back in her mind; don't believe EVERYTHING you read on the internet Kaylee.

She sighed again. Were mothers' truly always right?

'You have eaten? Well that's good then. Come along Kaylee. My lair is not far.'

A series of dim lights set in the wall of a narrow passage, lit the path. These lights were oil lanterns, which sat in little alcoves chiselled out of the rock wall, placed there by the gnomes whose homes speckled the lower hills surrounding the tunnel. Ruby told her they had a large gathering hall deeper within the cave.

The light threw their shadows across the opposite wall, making Ruby's size even more magnified. Kaylee began to tremble from fear as well as the chill from the cold stone walls, even with her green cloak. She pulled the hood up, suddenly imagining all too vividly the thought of some creepy crawly dropping down her neck. An instant shiver ran through her body from head to toe. 'Brrrrr!' she shook it off. Get a bloody grip, Kaylee Browne!

Crunching over things in the dark that sounded disturbingly like small bones, she tried to pretend they were just sticks or shells. Kaylee followed Ruby through the comb-like caverns of the cave, hearing the occasional scamper of many legged creatures along the walls, but nothing came near enough to identify, though she was sure she could feel eyes boring into her back in the dark. There were shadows that looked like bats above her, but nothing seemed inclined to swoop down and give them a welcome, not with the massive ball of fur, Ruby, by her side. Opal was right about that, at least.

Within a short while, Ruby stopped at a smaller cave off to one side of the passageway. Ruby's lair was a cosy nest of furs on top of a thick layer of bulky pillows. The big cat climbed in, turned in a circle, then again and finally settled plucking at the furs beneath her until she was comfortable. Then to Kaylee's amusement, Ruby began to purr like a tractor, rumbling loudly in content. The purr echoed in the cavern sounding like there were twenty Ruby's, instead of just the one.

Kaylee stood awkwardly looking about the lair, wondering where she was supposed to sleep. There appeared to be no other beds or blankets in the little cavern. Then again, why would there be? She thought stupidly.

'Ah ... Ruby? Where should I sleep?' She slipped her backpack off her shoulder, letting it slide lazily to the floor and rubbed her arms. She was feeling very cold and tired and could have dozed off right where she was, even on the cool stone floor.

Ruby stopped purring, 'Oh you poor furless wee poppet. Your pelt was not made to sleep in Mountain caves, I would guess. You're frozen, aren't you?' Kaylee nodded silently holding back tears that threatened to fall whenever someone spoke kindly to her since coming to this place.

'Well as you can see, I have fluff and fur to spare. Come sleep next to me little one, do not be frightened. I will keep you safe and warm. You need not fear me. Rest your weary head and sleep. You cannot succeed in your quest, if you do not give yourself time to rest and recharge.'

A dim light was given off by the few lanterns hung on the cave walls. It lit the honeycomb as if they were Chinese paper lanterns. Kaylee could barely see Ruby, although thousands of glow-worms twinkling like stars in the cavern ceiling above them helped a little.

She had to admit, that white and grey fur looked incredibly soft and inviting. Kaylee was so tired she didn't think she would have noticed if the big cat mistook her leg for a chicken drumstick in the middle of the night. She crept forward slowly, climbed up and snuggled in close, feeling immediately warmer. The soft rumbling purr of the big teddy bear-like cat was guaranteed to lull her into a deep sleep.

She was feeling drained, not just physically but emotionally as well. She missed her mother.

Paul ─ her mother's boyfriend ─ not so much.

In fact, she would be pleased if he would just crawl back under whatever rock he crawled out from under and she planned to tell him just that, as soon as she got home ... if she ever got home.

She missed her home and their little town. She had never stayed away from home much. Their relatives lived out of town, or even worse, out of the country. This place was nothing but strange and unexpected. Still, 'some' of its people and inhabitants were friendly and Ruby seemed to be one she could trust.

She began to weep in release of the anxiety that had been gnawing at her subconscious all day. Completely without warning, little shaking tremors began to run through her body. She sniffed back the tears and used her sleeve to wipe that darn drippy-nose that always appeared like magic whenever she began to cry.

Ruby noticed the little girl's distress and curled her big fluffy tail round Kaylee's body snugly, then leaned over and licked Kaylee's head, as a mama cat does to her kittens. The tongue rasped roughly but the kind gesture warmed Kaylee's heart, not to mention also pasting her brown locks firmly to her head.

'Thank you,' she whispered to Ruby and sunk her head into the pillow of fur, finally surrendering to exhaustion and sweet slumber floated her away.

15

Back at Home in Feilding

Trish sat at the table, staring at her plate of dinner, gone cold and the empty seat opposite her where Kaylee usually sat. Her mind was so desolate it couldn't even register what food was on the plate. Instead, her thoughts kept replaying the events of yesterday, when Kaylee had disappeared. She was repeatedly seeking some clue, something she had missed that would lead her to her daughter.

Memory kept going back to where Trish was left standing forlorn on that freezing, snowy plain in front of the stone cottage, after going inside and finding the building empty. Calling out to Kaylee, her voice fighting the howling wind until it was too hoarse to hear any longer, as she frantically searched all the other buildings, even the chicken house.

She snarled at Paul when he told her to, 'calm down, she would be all right. People don't just disappear.'

Well he was wrong. Her daughter had.

Finally, she had broken down in tears pole-axed with shock, suffering the most unbearable of pains over the disappearance of her only child, her little girl.

They had called out the local Search and Rescue team, who had gone over the whole district thoroughly on the ground. They even brought in a helicopter, searching a radius for as far as a girl that age could have travelled on foot in that time, and then some.

They found nothing.

The police officer had tried to reassure Trish by saying at least there were no obvious signs of foul play; no blood, no items of clothing or signs of a struggle anywhere.

Kaylee was just ... gone.

His words did nothing to detract from the agony tearing at her heart, the loss of her peace of mind. She had to have answers. Where was her little girl? Was she cold, alone, hurt? Was she even still alive? Had she run off on purpose because of their arguing? Was this Trish's fault?

With no one around to direct her anger at ─ Paul had had enough of it all and gone off somewhere, leaving her alone to cope with her sorrow ─ Trish angrily swiped the plate of food across the table and sent it crashing to the floor. Mashed potato and peas splattered the cupboards and floor.

'Oh. That's what I was having.' She spoke numbly. Then she quietly and thoroughly, went to pieces.

'Please come home Kaylee, I need you baby girl.' She sobbed into her arms, pillowed beneath her head on the tabletop and clutched Kaylee's favourite teddy bear to her heart, soaking its furry head with her tears.

16

King Mossbreath

The Kingdom of the Earth Realm

Early the next morning Kaylee awoke and sat up suddenly, cold and disoriented. Ruby, her fluffy feline comforter, had gone.

She began to panic, expecting to find a vampire bat chomping on her neck at any moment. She was frantically searching the lair for garlic or wooden stakes when the big ball of fluff reappeared seemingly from out of nowhere, with a limp animal in her jaws. A huge dead rat, which she dropped at Kaylee's feet.

Kaylee jumped backwards a step. 'Ah!' she cried, startled and staring at the body in the dirt. Then she looked at Ruby, 'Um, what's that?'

'A rat. Have you never seen a rat before?'

'Well, yes I know it's a rat,' Kaylee said sarcastically, 'but ─'

Ruby interrupted, 'I caught it... for you... breakfast!' Have you ever seen a cat smile? Ruby sounded so proud and pleased with herself Kaylee didn't have the heart to say what she really felt, like saying, which was somewhere along the lines of 'Argh! Dead rat! Eww, get it outside!'

She took a deep breath, and then stopped because the rat smelled really bad. 'Thank you, Ruby, that's very kind of you. But ... ah, I'm feeling a bit ... off ... this morning. Maybe you should eat this one yourself and perhaps Ill have something for lunch later on?'

'Don't mind if I do.' Ruby polished off the rat as well as a few crunchy bugs, which had the misfortune of becoming stuck to her fur on her travels. Then she hacked up a truly disgusting hairball, retching so much Kaylee had to put her fingers in her ears to keep from wanting to throw up herself.

The big cat apologised for her shameful show of manners. She said, 'Cats are clean animals and as you can see, I do have an awful lot of fur to clean.'

Ruby led them off another side tunnel near her lair and through the enormous black caverns, dimly lit by lanterns here and there. If Kaylee could put aside her fear for a time, it was actually a very interesting and beautifully mysterious place.

There was a part where white crystalline stalagmites jutted up from the floor of the cave taller than she was. Stalactites, which hung down from the ceiling so low, she had to watch she did not bang her head. Formed by calcium salts from dripping water over thousands of years, Kaylee remembered from her Science lessons. They occasionally met and in fact passed each other, like giant gnashing teeth.

Well, that's a helpful thought to summon up when on a quest to chat with a dragon.

By mutual unspoken agreement, they both kept their voices low. It seemed a wise idea not to go shouting in such places. Avalanches came to mind; Kaylee did not fancy becoming part of the attraction in the caves ... permanently.

Other parts of the caverns flowed out onto precarious looking stone bridges which could have leapt right off the pages of a Dr Zeus story. These were so narrow in parts she wondered how they didn't just crumble under their own weight.

Occasional rocks or pebbles would roll over the edge as the pair made their way gingerly across the spindly bridges. The echo of the pebbles falling and bouncing and then falling some more, went on and on for a seriously concerning length of time. She could not help but peek at the flight path of one such plummeting stone and had to pause for a minute, gripping Ruby's fur for security; the giddiness was somewhat similar to what you get going down an elevator quickly.

They seemed to be travelling downhill mostly. She was not wearing a watch but it felt like their journey to the Gnome King Halls took about an hour and throughout their journey the smell of damp moss was getting stronger.

King Mossbreath, hmm? The name was appropriate, she supposed.

'So, let me get this straight,' Kaylee asked her guide, 'the wasp combs were put here by the Crone's black-magic, to keep the dragon trapped?'

'Not just for that. It was to make trade harder for the Water Realm and the rest of the realms. No one can survive long without water. Wilfrey makes them use the ferrymen, who grudgingly do as he tells them because his spies watch the mainland docks closely. He has more control that way.'

'So then ... how does the dragon get food, if she can't get out?'

'The gnomes kindly bring her some, so she, equally kindly, chooses not to eat them. But she is very large, as you will see.'

Kaylee swallowed hard. What the bloody hell do I think I'm doing, trying to talk to a 'very large' fire breathing, grumpy dragon?

Ruby continued, 'I believe the dragon gets out somewhere else, though only under cover of darkness. The where of it, she keeps secret. But I've seen her a few times, flying out over the Byagal Sea.'

'That must be incredibly lonely,' Kaylee remarked.

'I guess it must,' Ruby replied.

With a feeling of entombment, Kaylee followed Ruby ever deeper into the darkness of the mountain. She became aware every now and then, of a faint clink-clink sound, which she heard echoing from other parts of the tunnels.

'What is that noise I keep hearing?' Kaylee asked Ruby.

'That chinking sound? Oh, that will be the gnomes at work digging for gold, jewels and such. They don't really need it for themselves you understand, or the dragon believe it or not. She is not as materialistic as one would think, you know. It's to keep old Pretty-Boy up the hill happy,' Ruby told her.

'Pretty-Boy? You mean that nasty man, Wilfrey?'

'Yes, him!' Ruby spat the words out as though they were poison on her tongue.

Before long they heard the sounds of raucous laughter from a large gathering of men. They were almost at the Gnome King's Halls. The jovial sounds helped ease Kaylee's nervousness at meeting them.

Up ahead, she could see two very ornate carved wooden gates. These had to be the grand entrance to the hall of the Gnome King. The gates were very solid and must have been at least four inches thick. They stood about her height, made of a dark wood of some sort, with nice Celtic carvings in them. One gate displayed a very accurate likeness of a dragon, the other, a multi-faceted jewel. Two square-shaped stone posts, which had large flat unimposing tops, supported the gates.

Two bored looking gnomes, who must have been guards as they had iron helmets on in place of their usual floppy hats, were perched atop these solid gates. Their long spears leaned sloppily against the posts on which the gates hung. The guards obviously felt no urgent necessity to defend their King's Hall at the moment.

The gnome with a wild bush of red hair was actually fast asleep, snoring his fuzzy head off. The other dark-haired one was digging for gold alright, his finger was halfway up his nose. When he spied Ruby approaching, the one with his finger up his nose jumped off the post and stretched his hand out behind him, giving his sleeping companion a rough shove. His companion, in turn then fell off and clambered to his feet, fists clenched ready for a fight and looked about for the culprit who attacked him in such a cowardly fashion.

'Ow! What'd ya do that for, ya ....Oh, morning Ruby.' He said acting as though they had been paying attention all along.

'Resume your slumber, lazy beasts. I need you not!' Ruby scorned them. She nudged the wooden gates open easily with her nose and strode through regally, fluffy tail raised high like a banner. Kaylee smiled awkwardly at the surprised look the gnome guards gave her, as she tagged along nervously in Ruby's wake.

The gates led to a short corridor, which then opened into a large, well-lit room. Down the centre of the room ran several rows of long tables lit with countless golden candelabra. A glorious variety of gnomes sat before a banquet, their plates piled high with sumptuous smelling food that tickled Kaylee's taste buds.

The gnomes laughed and tossed food at each other, having a ball of a time. Kaylee's mouth watered at the thought of sitting down to that banquet, after turning down rat for breakfast over an hour earlier. The gnomes were happily clanging pewter tankards of whatever they were drinking between bouts of singing and laughing.

Kaylee wondered idly what the cause of their celebrations was, or perhaps they simply dined in this fashion all of the time, but she doubted she would be around long enough to find out.

A separate small group of them sat round a small table and appeared to be having a farting contest. As Kaylee watched with amusement, at the musical sounds emitted from beneath their seats, it appeared that the one with the weakest sounding fart had to go get the next round of drinks.

They were not exactly your garden-variety gnome; some had pointed hats like the garden variety at home but more often, they wore floppy hats that accentuated their large ears. However, there were enough similarities to make Kaylee smile. Their floppy or pointed hats were all sorts of colours including ochre, brown, green, blue and yellow ─ not just red. Then of course, another similarity to the garden one's at home, most of them had lovely long beards.

There appeared to be a couple of female gnomes present. Buxom, friendly lassies that were not sporting beards, Kaylee was pleased to see. Other than this, they wore plain homespun clothes like a medieval peasant would wear. Their shoes were either boots or wooden shoes somewhat like clogs.

One of the gnomes at the far side of the cavern stood out as unique. He wore a funny hat with three droopy tips with little bells on the end of these, reminding her of court jester. He sat on a wooden stool by the impressive stone fireplace, near the King's throne, playing a harp and singing in a surprisingly deep baritone for such a small fellow.

On a stage, not far from the enormous roaring fire, King Mossbreath sat. He had a definite regal presence. On his chin, he had a bizarre purple beard, for instance. Billy Connolly, one of her mother's favourite comedians had one just like it. The King was a lot shorter than Billy though and a lot bigger around the belly. He had pointy leather boots and a simple crown of woven willow branches with the occasional dried flower poked in for decoration.

It made her like the King before even meeting him, to know that he did not feel a need to display himself in all the jewels his workers mined.

Her mother had taught her very young to be careful in choosing her friends. Dishonest, selfish, cruel people, Trish had taught her, we should avoid. Honest, generous, kind-hearted ones we should cherish. The trick was, working out who belonged in which group. It was not always obvious to the person doing the choosing.

'What do we do now?' Kaylee asked Ruby. She sat for a moment on a nearby wooden chair and tugged the green cloak Layla had given her, snugly to her body. She was feeling a little cold without Ruby's fur to shelter in.

'Someone will come to ask what we want.' Ruby sat and proceeded to lick her fur, chewing out seeds, twigs and bugs. Before long, she heard footsteps and looked up to see a gnome approaching. 'Here comes Ricky. I know him, friendly fellow, but a bit of a sneak. Watch that one won't you.'

Kaylee tried to make a mental note of this.

Ricky was a tubby little gnome with the same floppy hat as the others though his was brown and he wore pointy shoes. He was munching on a wedge of cheese in one hand and chicken drumstick in the other as he approached them with a greasy grin. 'What do you have there, Ruby?'

'This is Kaylee. She wishes to talk to the dragon. She needs one of you to take her down to her cavern.'

'Oh, she does, does she?' Ricky tossed the chewed chicken bone over his shoulder, which landed with a thud on the head of a sleeping hound-dog. The hound sniffed it and woke up straight away to chew on it enthusiastically. After Ricky finished wiping his hands on his trousers he said, 'Well she'll have to ask Himself, first. Follow me if you would.'

He strutted up the aisle in the middle of the hall between the rows of tables, full of self-importance, receiving jests and jokes from his friends and firing them back with ease. The occasional onion or bun also went flying in his direction, sometimes hitting Kaylee and Ruby by mistake.

Ruby was not impressed and snarled at a couple of gnomes near her. They ducked under the table. She could have pursued them, but then it occurred to her that she could always nibble on whatever food stuck to her fur later, so she decided to let it slide.

Ricky bowed before the King and turned to shush the crowd. The room fell promptly silent. He then put out his hand in pompous introduction, 'I give you Messenger Ruby and her companion, Kaylee from ...ah, lord-knows-where-but-I-believe-you-are-about-to-find-out.' He rattled of quickly.

Introduction taken care of, he smiled cheekily and stepped aside, leaving Ruby sitting calmly and Kaylee standing ─ not so calmly ─ in front of the Gnome King.

King Mossbreath smoked a long pipe. Puffing on it, he squinted as the smoke drifted up towards his eyes, while he thought things over. He blew cleverly shaped smoke rings in her direction.

In the awkward silence between, Kaylee vaguely remembered that it was polite to curtsy before royalty, so she did her best impression of a curtsy, but stumbled a little when she tried to stand gracefully. The King laughed a kind belly-laugh.

'You want to talk to the dragon, you say?' King Mossbreath asked and Kaylee nodded.

'What on earth for? Do you like pain or something? Grown tired of living, then?' He jested and the rest of the room erupted in laughter along with him.

Hoping the King was only kidding she fiddled about in her backpack and eventually dragged out the iron key, which she held up like a talisman. Seeing this, the room fell silent again, with a few quiet 'Ahh's' of curiosity.

'No, I haven't grown tired of living. It's just ... well,' Kaylee stammered. She drew her shoulders up and tried to speak with more confidence. 'This brought me here. I'm told it must have been dragon magic.' She lowered the key and tucked it safely back in her bag. Then she looked pleadingly at King Mossbreath. 'I need to know why it brought me to this place and especially how I am to get back home again.'

'Oh, aye?' He puffed on his pipe some more. 'I suppose you would, wouldn't you?' Then he turned to whisper to Ricky. Kaylee could not hear what it was he was saying, though Ricky had a very serious expression on his round bearded face.

What she could not hear the King whispering was, 'She seems a nice enough wee girl, but Wilfrey will set his damnable wasps on us if we take her to talk to that dragon. Don't know what his problem is, but you know what to do?' He raised his fuzzy grey eyebrows in question and Ricky nodded.

Kaylee waited nervously. The King clapped his hands together twice and cleared his throat. 'Right! Ricky here has volunteered to take you. Good luck, young Kaylee. We here in the Earth Realm hope you find the answers you seek.'

'Thank you,' she beamed, bowing appreciatively. With that, the music resumed along with the rumble of many voices in the hall, as everyone continued in their festivities.

Ricky rubbed his hands together as if he meant to be getting down to business. 'Righty-o then! The King said I could show you the way, to the ah ... yes ... follow me then. You can go back to bug hunting if you like, Ruby. I'll take care of wee Kaylee, here.'

Ruby circled him unnervingly close, 'Be sure you do, Ricky. Because if I find out you haven't, I'll be crunching on something a bit meatier than bugs. Safe travels, Kaylee.' Ruby turned to go and as she did her fluffy tail flicked round Kaylee's face and making her go 'pfff ... pfff' to get the hair out of her mouth.

17

Riddles

Ricky led Kaylee through more tunnels and bridges heading ever deeper into the base of the mountain. The little gnome was a chunky chap, but moved along at a hearty pace. She discovered as she followed him, that he was quite humorous to talk with.

He told jokes, cackling at his own hilarity and started out in a cheerful mood. However as they got deeper into the cavernous tunnels beneath the mountain, his mood grew more and more serious and the friendly banter ceased.

They were both panting with exertion before long. He had set quite a quick pace, as if the Devil was on his tail or something. The sweat ran in beads down his brow and his breath grew more laboured by the minute.

What is up with him? If Kaylee had not been a little taller than he had, she would have been feeling breathless herself.

Eventually they came to a dead-end where there stood a pair of arched wooden doors with big brass rings in the centre of them for knocking. The left one had a painting of a male-gnome dressed like a motorcycle rider, in black leather clothing and wearing dark sunglasses. The one on the right had another biker-gnome, this one female, dressed in black bikini top, leather pants and dark shades.

It reminded her of the cute signs on the restrooms for boys and girls toilets at home. She grinned at Ricky.

The tubby gnome farted about, sighing and muttering. He put his palm on his chin, head tilted to the side as he strained his memory to solve the puzzle. Finally, he said, 'Ok, now which one is it again?'

Kaylee was thinking to herself, please don't ask me, please, please don't ask me... I HATE riddles!

Ricky seemed rather irritable and impatient. He sat down on a large rock to rest and pulled out some dried herb from his pocket, stuffed this in the chamber of the bowl, then lit his pipe to think. 'Oh, wish I was 'ome,' he whined. 'The missus is makin' Bundt cake for supper, you know? 'Ere, Kaylee, you don't know which door it is? Do you?'

Kaylee shook her head and heard a deep 'Ribbit' from the ground around her ankles. Two large warty toads she'd not noticed before, sat there in the dark shadows; one at the base of each door.

The toad on the left, in front of the male biker-gnome said, 'one door leads to ze chamber,' in a French sounding accent.

Then the other toad added, 'and ze other one to certain death.'

'Not much of a choice then, is it?' Kaylee muttered, annoyed with hands on her hips.

The first toad said, 'you may ask us which.'

The second toad added, 'but one of us always lies!'

'Well that's just marvellous, that is.' She sighed loudly and kicked a random rock off in the opposite direction. 'Oh, darn it! I can never get this one!' Kaylee frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. She began to pace back and forth in front of the doors.

After an interminable wait, where the silence was deafening Kaylee looked to Ricky for an answer. He just shrugged, answers as lost to him as they were to her. Finally Kaylee snapped, turned to the toad on the left and said, 'Oh come on! Can't you just tell me?'

'Times up! Make your choice now,' croaked the toad on the left, 'or ze door will seal shut for eternity!'

'Oh 'eck!' said Ricky. 'That could be a problem.'

'I've made my decision,' Kaylee said, completely out of patience with the toad.

'Oh yeah?' Ricky asked clambering off the rock, looking hopeful. 'What's that then?'

She bent over and picked up the surprised Toad on the left. 'I've decided you are the most annoying slimy, warty little creature I have ever come across and you've now forced me to do something I really didn't want to do!'

'Hey?' cried the toad, long legs dangling as she hoisted him up in the air. 'What are you doing?'

She pulled the latch on the left door, the one with the male-biker-gnome on it.

'You cannot be doing zis! Zis is un-acceptable be-aviour!' The toad cried.

Kaylee pulled open the door with a loud screech from its rusted hinges and tossed the toad in, slamming it shut. She leant against it with her arms crossed defiantly and glared at the shocked Ricky, daring him to object.

'Ahhhhh! ... Ahhhhhhhh!' Went the toad's terrified screams from the depths of the darkness below. Another long 'ahhhhhh!' then ... 'ang on a minute, ha ha, I zink, it might be alright, ha ha.'

BOOM! The ground shook and pebbles, dust and webs tumbled down the walls. Grey smoke clouds wafted up and out from beneath the crack at the bottom of the door.

'Nope,' said Kaylee coughing and waving away the smoke. 'Not that one!'

'Yes, now I remember,' Ricky said belatedly, 'it's the one on the right.'

'Oh, do you now? Why do you say that?' Kaylee said sarcastically.

'I know, because my missus tells me all the time... women are always right!' He grinned and laughed.

She found she was beginning to like Ricky ... at least then she was.

Kaylee pulled the latch and they entered the door on the right. It led to another tunnel where they walked up and down hills several times before eventually splitting into two tunnels again.

Kaylee sighed loudly again. She was getting a little bit tired of these darn caves. She put her hands on her hips and looked at Ricky, questioning.

'She will roast you, you know?' The gnome said, meaning the dragon. 'You sure you wouldn't rather join me and the missus for Bundt cake? Must be hungry by now?' He raised his eyebrow, making one last effort to change her mind.

Her stomach growled traitorously reminding her she had had no breakfast, but no. She had to see the dragon.

The split caves had one going up and one sloping down. Surely, he knew which way the dragon's cavern was.

'Do you ever think of anything besides your belly?' she asked him.

'Well I must get going home or I will be sleeping on the sofa tonight ...' He turned to scamper away, very hesitant to linger.

'But which way is it?' Kaylee asked, panicking a little.

'It's logical innit?' He called back as he scurried away. 'The dragons cavern is a long ways beneath us. Hardly gonna want to take the up ramp are you?'

Jett

A ghost drifting through the trees, creeping silent as a shadow, Jett placed each paw with the utmost care as he stalked his prey. It was grazing beneath him, upwind.

His powerful muscles bunched in his thighs, tail still now and he shot from the rock, coming down hard and lightening fast on the unsuspecting young buck beneath. He sank his fangs deep in its neck and held firm until the fallen animal stopped struggling, stopped breathing.

He let go and uttered, 'Thank you for giving your life, that I might feed mine.' Then he grasped its neck in his powerful jaws and dragged the limp body through the long grass on a trail, very familiar to him.

He could hear the tiny mewling sounds from inside the mound of earth. It was behind the bush that his mate had used to camouflage the opening. Shoving it aside with his paw, he quietly poked his head in and with his excellent feline eyesight, could see in the dim light his mate, a female of the giant cat breed, called Selene.

She was lying on her side as she smiled up at him. Their three-week-old cubs massaged her and drank greedily lying side-by-side, two short-fat sausages.

Looking at him adoringly, 'Daddy's home,' she whispered.

'And he's brought you some supper,' he whispered back and crawled into the confined space so he could affectionately smooch faces with her.

18

Wilfrey's Ballroom

Wilfrey was oblivious to what this troublesome girl the Crone had warned him of, was up to. He was only vaguely aware that she was out there ... somewhere.

Instead, he immersed himself and everyone else in the castle, in preparations for his upcoming Masquerade Ball. Any opportunity to dress up and parade around like a peacock in full plumage always got his blood pumping.

He was a bit annoyed to hear from the Crone, that one of the stoneys had been blown up by one of Opal's archers. It wasn't that he cared for the gargoyles; he thought of them as stupid thugs and no great loss to him personally.

No, it wasn't that.

It was because it dented his own reputation as the Big Cheese of the Five Realms. He strongly objected to being humiliated.

Sitting bored on his grandiose throne, he waited impatiently for the tailor to arrive from the Fire Realm's village.

The tailor appeared and bowed respectfully to Wilfrey then began his preparations. The slight and snappily dressed fellow whipped out his tape measure with a flourish. He politely instructed Wilfrey to hold out his arms so he could measure them, then Wilfrey's waist and round his neck, all the while with Wilfrey giving him the evil eye; very unnerving for the poor tailor.

However, when the tailor got to the bit where he had to measure Wilfrey's inner-leg, Wilfrey took umbrage and picked the man up by the scruff of his shirt.

'NEVER ... TOUCH ME ... THERE!' Wilfrey punched him on the nose and tossed the unfortunate fellow to one side like a dirty dishcloth. 'Nobody touches me there!' He snarled, 'Peasant!'

He looked around for his servants who had frozen and gone dead quiet at his outburst. 'Someone bring me a new tailor. This one is ... useless!'

Now, that he'd dispensed with his tailor, he strutted round throwing about orders for music he wanted played, food that had to be prepared, barrels of grog and wine to be brought in from the Fire Realm, artistic displays ─ such as one of himself, well of course, who else? ─ carved from ice and standing six feet tall, (and woe betide the fool who mentioned that Wilfrey barely reached five foot nine in truth).

His shouting sent his servants scampering like mice to please him before he lost his cool again. Eventually he grew tired of dishing out orders willy-nilly and rubbed his aching forehead where a headache was forming. He plonked down in his throne and demanded, 'Where is my scribe? Someone bring me a cold drink and something sweet and dripping with fat!'

He needed his scribe, Meister Nobblesocks, to write down some agreements for trade which he was to discuss later on with those realm leaders invited tonight.

The scribe was a small hunched old man with a creased, grey wizardly hat, dark robes and a scraggly white beard. He carried beneath his arms scrolls of paper, ink and quills. Shuffling along as quickly as he was able he reached Wilfrey's side, panting out of breath, 'Yes, Excellency, you summoned me?'

'Took your time about it. Move a little faster next time!' Wilfrey barked at him.

Nobblesocks nodded like a trained poodle, eager to please. Even though he had only a donkey for transport and it was a long four-hour hike up the cold mountain.

'Now, write this down. Fire Realm: we will need double the trees and firesticks this year for my huge exploding-lights display and ─'

Nobblesocks unwisely interrupted, 'but, don't we already have more wood and firesticks than we can use in the next ten years, Sire?'

Wilfrey smiled an evil smile. Nobblesocks shook in terror and gulped as Wilfrey's hand circled his voice box and squeezed hard. 'Interrupt me again, worm, and I'll cut out your tongue!'

'Yes, of course,' he wheezed back through his strangled vocal chords.

'I know we have more than enough already. The point is to make them go without until they are struggling and weak, isn't it? Ensuring they are unable to rise up against me, IDIOT!

'Now, where were we? Oh that's right, Water Realm: double the barrels of water ...yes, I know that doesn't leave enough for everyone else in the Five Realms' he stated derisively, 'but that's just the point of it all, isn't it?' The silent scribe nodded and scribbled for all he was worth.

'Wind Realm has the advantage of being out of my reach, but if we squeeze the other realms hard enough, they'll feel the pinch too!' Wilfrey smiled, satisfied with the evil orders he had dished out today.

He picked up a chocolate éclair, brought in earlier by one of the servant girls and sank his teeth into it, carelessly letting whipped cream ooze out the sides to drip onto the floor. A servant girl rushed in with a cloth and wiped it up before he had time to call for her.

'Earth Realm: I will have ALL their jewels, or I shall set the wasps on them and the usual vegetables – even though I don't eat that rubbish. More tools and so on too, you make up the numbers, just so long as you're leaving them barely enough to do their work and make me some more food.'

Nobblesocks stopped to look at Wilfrey. He felt sickened by the selfishness and greed of the man, but he alone was in no position to make a difference and he was rather attached to his tongue.

Wilfrey noticed his scribe had stopped writing frantically, 'You have something to say? Is there a problem, worm?' He asked in a snide tone.

'No sir, just cramp in my fingers. I'll stretch them a bit and be back to it right away, Sir.' He grovelled shamefully.

'Deal with it, wimp! I don't have time for cramps. Now ... where was I? Ah, Spirit Realms, hmm? That could be a bit difficult. That Shaman gives me the creeps. She knows things, her and that old willow tree, whatever it's called ─'

Nobblesocks interrupted cautiously, 'The Tree of Life?'

Wilfrey frowned but said, 'yes yes, whatever. No one has heard from it for thousands of years though; I doubt it's even real. Still, I don't like the smart look that Shaman get's on her face when she sees me. It's as if she knows something and I don't think it's something I'm going to be too happy about.'

He took another chocolate éclair from his plate and took a greedy bite, shooting whipped cream directly into the scribe's beard, which then slid off to plop onto his scroll of paper. Nobblesocks could not risk stopping his writing, so just sighed and ignored it. He would just have to deal with the mess later, so he patiently carried on writing industriously around the blob of cream on his scroll.

Wilfrey continued, 'Tell those stone idiots to lay some more traps for the wolves; the skins do make lovely bedcovers. But tell them to keep clear of the Spirit Village, or they might not come back in one piece.'

'Yes, yes of course,' Nobblesocks nodded, scratching away with his quill. His fingers ached but he caught up, then dipped the quill in the ink again and paused ready for the next orders.

'That's all I think.' Wilfrey rubbed his hands together and the scribe began to pack his things into his satchel. 'Wait, one more thing before you slither off.'

The scribe patiently unpacked his ink and paper again, 'Yes of course Sir, what else would you have me write?'

'Tell Rollo, that fellow who runs the Pigs Head Inn down there ─'

'Boars Head Inn Sire ─' Nobblesocks said then cringed defensively like a head-shy dog as Wilfrey shot him a warning glare.

'Whatever the hell it is. Something to do with bacon. Tell him he is to bring that Gypsy woman, Betina, as his partner. I desire to see her again and the rude woman won't reply to my invitations for some strange reason.'

19

The Spirit Realm

A small boy, barefoot and brown skinned, ran like the blazes through the trees and up to the Shaman. He tugged on her tunic urgently. She turned patiently, 'what is it child? Something wrong?'

'Come, there's a sick chog in the garden. Mother say's it might die.' The old woman could see by the way he was hopping from foot to foot, that he was anxious to be off running, so she sent him on ahead of her, pausing only to grab her medicine bag and a shawl.

The village had one big communal vegetable and herb garden, which they fenced off with sapling logs to keep out deer and rabbits. Hedgehogs, however, helped the garden by keeping the numbers of snails and slugs low, so they were welcome guests in the garden. The villagers even made them cosy little shelters of branches and leaves to sleep in during the cooler winter months when they hibernated.

The Shaman bent stiffly, knees popping and crouched down beside the very still little hedgehog.

'Mother thinks it might be poison. Do you think he ate the orange fungus?' Said the little boy crouched beside her, mimicking her.

'I can't be sure. There is no foaming at his mouth; could be possible though. Maybe some horrid person has kicked him. I'll take him back to the village and see what we can do to help him.' She wrapped him in her shawl, careful of his spikes and cradled him as they wandered back to the village.

'This mother of yours ... what is her name?'

'Mother?' he answered frowning as though she were a bit slow.

The Shaman laughed at his honesty, 'Yes, that is also true. I mean her other name. She is the one they call Cherish, is she not?'

'Yes.' He said, feeling a little foolish when he realised his goofy mistake.

'Tell her I wish her to go to the Masquerade Ball at the castle, in my place. She can take whoever she wishes as her partner.'

'You do not wish to go to the party then?'

'No. I have little tolerance for idiots and a bigger idiot than Wilfrey Hobbs you will not find in the whole of the Five Realms. Crowds of noisy people tend to get on my foo foo's a bit. I feel my mouth might say things that my backside has to answer for, if I'm forced to be in that man's company.' She smiled at the boy, tweaking his nose and he laughed at the thought of the elderly woman getting her bum smacked for mouthing off.

Deep in the Caverns of the Earth Realm ...

Kaylee took the down-road as suggested by Ricky. She tried to ignore the tiny glowing eyes she saw now and again on the cave walls, as well as the far off roars from large creatures unseen and hopefully, inaccessible to her.

She was giving herself little encouraging pep talks as she walked along in the dark. She had grabbed the last lantern she came across. She was certainly not brave enough, nor stupid enough, to keep walking in this place in the pitch darkness.

'I can do this. Piece of cake! Tree of Life said I can do this, so do this, I shall. I'll be home again by tomorrow sometime and ... Well, maybe not tomorrow, possibly the next day, but still ...' She walked steadily and bravely through the dark damp creepy tunnels for around half an hour, with only the light from her lantern for company.

She began to get excited when up ahead she saw another two doors. It wasn't until she got close enough to recognise it was the exact same doors she'd already been to, that she became incredibly ticked off. The down-road had actually taken her on a wild-goose-chase, only to wind up straight back at the doors where the biker-gnomes were.

One toad remained there, guarding the doors. The previous toad might possibly have been blown up, from what a little bird had told her.

The toad said, 'oh no, not you again! I'll save you za trouble, its za door on za right...'

'I know, I know.' She couldn't be bothered arguing with it, impatient to be on the correct path this time. However, as she stepped through the right door expecting a solid road, this time for some magical reason unknown to her, she dropped straight down and kept on falling.

As she raised her arms, her green cloak flew upwards and stayed up there for a time floating on the air like a kite.

She fell and fell, through the cold dark, her fingers clawing at the dirt walls, thinking that this is the end of Kaylee Browne. I'm actually plummeting to my death. The nerd part of her brain was working double time, this must be an Oubliette, I think; she had learned about them in History at school. A place for forgetting.

Which in plain kid talk, is a dark hole in the ground where you can't see your hand in front of your face, let alone anything else creepy hiding in the dark, waiting to devour you and leave your bones in a huge heap on the floor!

'Mind you,' the rude little toad called from way above her, laughing as she continued her long fall, 'I could be ze one who tells lies.'

She looked up at him and a hot stream of rage gushed up into her head. She swore to herself he was in BIG trouble IF she made it out of here alive. She knew she must hit the bottom soon and braced her arms over her head as school had taught them to do for earthquakes, not knowing what she was supposed to do when heading towards the bottom of an Oubliette at breakneck speed. They did not teach that in disaster training at school, unfortunately.

Unexpectedly, her momentum suddenly changed directions as her bum thumped an extremely hard surface and she began a rapid and horizontal slide to the left. It whooshed her round and round, like a water tunnel at an amusement park. It was not as smooth as she would have liked, but was very wet which helped some with combating the friction.

With her increasing speed, her hair trailed behind her and the water occasionally found its way up her nose. It was so dark she couldn't have seen her hand in front of her face, had she been able to raise it ... which she wasn't, hooting along on her back like a tobogganist ─ minus the toboggan.

Another unwelcome scary thought had just occurred to her. She hoped that there was not something large with sharp teeth waiting to catch her at the other end of this, like a cat outside a mouse hole.

She was sure she must have screamed but was moving so fast she must have left the panicked scream floating about lost, somewhere back up the slide. Suddenly the tunnel ended and daylight blinded her as she became temporarily airborne. She shot out into nothingness, doggy paddling the air.

Once she could focus, again she saw the sea below her, approaching at a terrifying speed. Kaylee dropped bum first, covering her face with her arms just before landing with a huge splash into a polluted bay, filled with rubbish such as plastic bags and Styrofoam cups. If she hadn't been so concerned with the immediate possibility of drowning, she might have wondered what on earth man-made plastic was doing in this realm. But then again, that stuff hangs around a very long time, so... go figure?

She went under the water and cold slapped her brutally, everywhere at once. The sudden shock of it stole her breath away. Her nostrils filled with water again. While floating about down there in a daze, amongst the floating plastic bags and rubbish, she saw in front of her the sad face of a trapped turtle. The poor creature had unfortunately gotten plastic fishing line stuck round its flipper, cutting painfully into the delicate skin. Unable to free itself, it had grown too weak to fight it anymore and had a sad look of desperate resignation on its face.

It knew it was going to die.

Kaylee could not let that happen! She was getting dizzy, seeing spots before her eyes and her lungs were bursting, but she pulled and unraveled and pulled on the fishing line until finally, it came free. The turtle, sensing freedom, got a second wind and tried to join in the fight to save its life.

Kaylee was unbelievably overjoyed to have freed the beautiful turtle, but realised with regret that she'd left herself too weak and dizzy to swim to the surface. Her backpack and wet jeans dragged her down and the darkness and stream of tiny bubbles took her.

20

Lolita of the Water Realm

In the darkness, Kaylee drifted in a most relaxing sleep. She felt neither the cold, nor the panic she had felt a short while ago; rocked by the graceful movements of a giant turtle, who was determined to repay the kindness, Kaylee had shown to her.

As Kaylee's body had begun to sink lifeless beneath the waves, the huge turtle swam beneath her body and lifted her up to the surface, swimming with her face just above the water line. Kaylee coughed up some seawater upon breaking water's surface and passed out again, sleeping with her cheek pressed to the turtle shell and the sounds of the wind and sea in her ear.

She dreamed of mermaids singing, dolphins leaping way up in the air and whales splashing giant rolling waves all over her. Salty water was in her ears and up her nose, making her cough so hard she almost threw up. Distorted images of her mum, her dad, Paul and Jett drifted through her mind. She even wondered randomly where it was that Jett disappeared to now and again. Images of the wolf boy, what a sad tale that was and feeling terribly sad she was dying and would never get to find out how it ended ... all drifted through her half conscious mind. Delirium mixed with reality until she couldn't recall any longer which was which.

Kaylee's knees dragging in the sand eventually woke her. Wet through and freezing cold, she squinted into the blinding sunlight to see sandy beaches all around and in the distance, a few palm trees. The tide came crashing in from behind without warning and drenched her again. It left her retching up seawater, the horrid stuff burning in her nostrils.

She made several failed attempts to stand up, eventually managing on legs now turned to rubber. She rubbed her numb cheek with chilled fingers and felt ridges in the skin there where she had lain on the turtle shell. Turning in all directions, her world spinning and tilting on its axis, she found the sea. There in the surf, she saw the turtle waiting patiently a little way off. Waiting, to make sure that Kaylee would be all right.

'Thank you,' Kaylee croaked through her aching throat. The turtle nodded goodbye to her before it sunk beneath the waves.

She stood shivering as the sun made its descent on the salmon-pink horizon above the dark blue line of the ocean. She could see the Mount on the other side of the bay. It would have been a pretty sight if it were not for the circumstances. She gazed across the sandy beach and to the palm trees beyond.

Not far away she saw a small grass hut. A stocky little woman in a white dress covered with yellow flowers, waddled towards her.

'Dear, dear what have we here then?' Before Kaylee could answer, the woman kept talking. 'Lolita will make everything alright, my dear. You look like you could use some warm food, dry clothes and a bit of tender loving care. You're not from these parts, are you?'

'No, I'm not. I was ─' Again, Lolita talked over her but Kaylee was too drained to put up a fight.

'Come along sweetheart, Lolita will sort you out, there's the girl.' She dragged the surprised but very weary Kaylee towards the cute little grass hut. Kaylee wasn't sure if it would be safe, given she'd never met this woman, but she seemed like someone's Grandmother and it was not as though Kaylee had many other options other than to sit in the sand shivering and hungry.

At the door they were greeted by a yapping but friendly little white dog with brown spots who bounced off her wobbly legs like a diving board, nearly taking her knees out from beneath her.

'Sit, Rosie, you greedy thing. No need for all this fuss! You only saw me five minutes ago,' Lolita chastised the small dog, while patting her head.

She plonked Kaylee at the table and whipped away returning minutes later with a fluffy towel, with which she began to roughly towel-dry the girl's soggy hair. The room was furnished with just the basics; a wood fire-cooker, a kitchen bench atop a few door-less cupboards and a cane shelf with plates, cups etc on it. There was a lantern in the middle of the table, which the woman lit before she left the room again through a doorway down the hall. This short hallway was a sort of connection between two other smaller huts where the bedrooms must be, Kaylee presumed.

Kaylee was in a bit of a daze, but starting to make thoughts that were more coherent when Lolita returned seconds later with a white fluffy bathrobe.

'You can pop that on and put your clothes and little bag in front of the fire to dry for a while if you like.' She continued fluffing about selecting buns and things. While Lolita busied herself making them a hot pot of tea, Kaylee put on the warm dry robe. She sat back down at the table, taste buds excited as she smelled the yeasty scent of freshly baked bread.

The food tasted delicious although it had a strange taste and scent that she could not identify. She must remember to ask Lolita what it was. It was not quite aniseed or cinnamon but something unique, perhaps some foreign spice, native to these realms.

They sat and drank cups of citrus and rose petal tea with honey and Kaylee told Lolita of the garbage chute Ricky had tricked her into taking, before slipping down and out into the ocean.

She also told of the turtle she rescued and who rescued her back, when she almost drowned.

Lolita 'tsk-tskd' and told Kaylee about how useless a guardian Wilfrey was with his polluting habits, greedy nature and evil minions: hagars, gargoyles and those horrid giant-wasps.

'It used to be wonderful when our Water Realm was able to trade through the tunnel with the other realms. I had lots of visitors then.' She looked very melancholy all of a sudden. 'But thanks to Wilfrey and his crone with her spells blocking it off, now ferrymen ─ oh sorry, they're pirates, so they tell me,' she chuckled and said, 'silly men and their silly games ay? Boys will be boys won't they. Any road, now we have to go the long way round to the Spirit Realm docks to deliver water for trade. Now nobody comes to see us out here anymore.'

As they talked, Rosie sat at Kaylee's feet panting and whining, a tiny paw on her knee begging for some food. Kaylee smiled at the dog and went to hand her a little tid-bit from her plate.

'Ah, ah! No lovey! Mustn't do that,' Lolita halted her action. Kaylee looked confused. 'Don't be feeding that fat thing. Makes her fart up a storm all night.'

'Oh sorry,' Kaylee said to Rosie. She ate the food herself. 'Mmmm, this is very tasty, but I don't recognise the taste. What's in this?' She asked Lolita.

Lolita's smile dropped and she ignored the question, immediately changing the subject. Instead, she began talking of her grandchildren.

'My little Daniel got a new pair of shoes one spring. Blue they were, isn't that strange? Oh how he loved those shoes. Would sleep in 'em he would.

'And little Janie wouldn't be parted from her toy giraffe ...' She rambled on and on and Kaylee tried to listen respectfully, but her mind began to tune out.

She did not remember much after that stage because she became suddenly very drowsy. She half-pie recalled being led gently to a pretty girl's room and a comfortable bed. The last thing she recalled seeing before her head hit a soft pillow with eyes half-closed, was a shelf on the wall. On it sat a row of very life-like dolls. Something about those dolls made the hairs on her arms prickle, but only momentarily, before she was snoring in the land of nod.

As worn out as she was, you would have assumed that she would have slept like a rock. Instead, Kaylee found herself tossing and turning with strange dreams flashing through her mind. She woke often and noticed at one stage, Rosie curled up asleep at the foot of her bed, letting off the occasional 'pop-pop's' of tiny machine-gun dog farts.

Have you ever noticed how problems you had while awake, have a funny habit of unravelling themselves in your subconscious mind, while you are asleep?

Kaylee's dreams that night were very odd. That was not so unusual, most dreams were. However, what really bothered her and made her brain work overtime, was recalling the conversation with Lolita, before she became so tired.

Lolita had talked about her grandchildren, how one of them had loved his blue shoes. Kaylee recalled the dolls on the shelf. She was certain one of them had blue shoes.

Another grandchild, Lolita had said, was always carrying a little toy giraffe, would not go anywhere without it.

Kaylee lit the lamp next to her bed with the firestick there, got out and wandered over to the shelf. Sure enough, one of the dolls had a toy giraffe in her arms.

Rubbing her eyes, she fought the drowsiness and muzzy feelings in her head, chasing details from the talk with Lolita round and round. Somewhere in the conversation, she thought she had heard of another grandchild who apparently had these 'hideous dreadlocks' that Lolita detested. Sure enough, when Kaylee looked up on the shelf, there was a little boy with brown dreadlocks next to the other dolls...

Kaylee sat down suddenly on the end of the bed, very alarmed. She had a sudden urge to run; the little voice inside her head was screaming, get out of this place, now!

She lay awake in bed, eyes flicking nervously to the door, for the rest of the wee small hours until morning. Weariness had been replaced by fear and uncertainty.

As the early morning light began to creep in between the cracks in the sheer lemon curtains, she could hear banging sounds coming from the little kitchen area of the hut. The smell of bacon cooking wafted into the room. Bacon and that extra something-else ingredient, that strange taste and scent that Kaylee had asked Lolita about, but never did get an answer to.

During the long sleepless hours spent lying there scared stiff and staring at the door, Kaylee had come up with a plan. She climbed out of bed and headed for the kitchen.

'Morning, Kaylee,' Lolita smiled warmly. 'Hope you have a good appetite this morning. I've cooked us up a feast!'

'I have, thank you. It smells lovely,' Kaylee forced a smile and she shed the robe by the fireplace and put on her now dry sweatshirt and jeans. She sat at the table and Lolita placed a plate before her. She leaned close to inhale the smell of it. Bacon, yes, but there it was again, that strange smell. Not horrid but certainly something she had never come across before.

She thought it best not to ask directly though. She had a sneaking suspicion she was next in line to become one of the dolls on Lolita's shelf. Kaylee had no plans of joining them.

As she poured a little honey into her teacup, she casually asked Lolita, 'Tell me more about your grandchildren. Do they live nearby? I'd love to meet them.'

Again, Lolita's smile disappeared. She suddenly became very cross. She had hardly touched her own breakfast. 'Eat up dear,' she said sharply, 'before it gets cold. I might just go and have a wee lie down, I feel one of my 'heads' coming on.' She frowned. Putting her hand to her forehead Lolita shuffled off down the hall without another word.

'Yes, I will. You go rest, Lolita.' As soon as the woman had left the room, Kaylee put her plate down on the floor and let Rosie eat her breakfast. She felt a little guilty doing it, but then again, she could not afford to risk the dog barking and ruining her get-away plan. Therefore, it was somewhat necessary.

Watching the bedroom anxiously in case Lolita should return and catch her out, Kaylee sat and waited impatiently as the dog quickly polished off the bacon. Then, she waited some more for what she suspected would happen.

Within a short time, Rosie sprawled out flat and froglike on the floor. She wasn't dead though, which Kaylee was very relieved about, but Rosie was extremely relaxed; everything loose and floppy, including her lips.

Kaylee was glad that simply being asleep was as bad as it got for poor old Rosie. She faked a loud yawn and then called softly down the hall, for Lolita's benefit, 'I'm feeling a bit tired myself. Think I will have a bit of a lie down too.'

She slipped her half-dry backpack on her back, went into her room, closed the door gently and ran to open the window. It hadn't been opened for quite a while judging from the stiffness of it and it creaked loudly making Kaylee's heart skip a beat. She couldn't stop now though so she forced it open and quickly climbed out. A short drop to the sand and she was off running, adrenaline pumping wildly through her veins, as she tore down the beach towards the Ferryman-Pirate's dock.

21

Pearl and the Pirates

Running in sand is almost as bad as running in water. You put immense effort into it, but get very little result. Kaylee could see the huge old galleon ship up ahead, but by the way men were shouting and throwing off ropes, it looked like it was going to be setting sail very soon. She had to catch them. She couldn't bear the idea of dodging Lolita on this small island. She liked the idea of becoming a cute doll with red Chucks, propped up on Lolita's shelf, even less.

'Hey,' she shouted between her cupped palms, but she was almost out of breath. 'Hey, wait!' She waved her arms and one of the men noticed and waved back. She stopped running and bent over her knees, panting and dying of thirst, a painful stitch in her side and heart pounding in her eardrums. After she'd gotten her breath back a little, Kaylee half-walked, half-jogged up the beach towards the galleon ship. Her jeans were now full of sand and chaffing every nook and cranny, but she felt sure that they would wait for her.

She marvelled at the size of the huge wooden vessel as she walked alongside it. Huge white sails flapped loudly, smacking the breeze like wet tea towels. A black flag flew from the highest mast decorated appropriately with white skull and crossbones which stared down on her with menace.

The combined smells of wet wood, seaweed and fish were almost overpowering in the morning heat. She noticed the figurehead on the bow of the ship was your typical beautiful and busty woman. 'Pffft!' she said. 'Men!'

It occurred to her briefly that she could be leaping from the frying pan, into the fire. If that were the case, then she guessed she would just have to be leaping off the ship, taking her chances with the sharks and praying that her turtle friend was still nearby.

There was a rope ladder hanging down the side of the old wooden galleon and a smiling, bearded man with a black eye-patch waiting at the top. He gestured with his hand ─ she half expected it to be a hook ─ for Kaylee to climb on up, helping her over the rail when she reached the top. It was a long way up, at least two stories above ground. She looked across to Lolita's hut, but there was no sign of the woman. She hoped the old woman was still fast asleep.

'Well hello. Who would you be then, young lady?' He asked Kaylee as she stood feeling rather stupid and vulnerable, but also relieved to be leaving the island.

'My name is Kaylee. I need to get off this island. There's a woman ...' she looked back towards Lolita's hut, leaving the explanation hanging. She gave the sailor an earnest look, 'Where does this ship sail to?'

'It sails to the dock at the borders of the Spirit Lands, love. You're a very smart girl getting away from Lolita. Many before you were not so lucky, so we've heard. Come along with me. Meet Captain Riordan. We call him Pinky.'

Kaylee raised her eyebrows, 'You do? To his face?'

'Ha, ha. You'll see why when you meet him. He is a good Captain and a fair and genial chappy to boot. We'll see if he'll give you a nice cool cider and find a safe spot for you to sit and enjoy the fresh sea air while we finish casting off.'

The pirate who helped her up the ladder introduced himself as Bob. Bob was tall and gangly, with tanned brown skin like leather and had a blue scarf tied round his head in lieu of a hat. As they walked across the slightly bobbing deck, which made Kaylee feel a little bit woozy, he pointed out several other pirates. However, Kaylee had never been good at remembering names, forgetting them almost as soon as she was introduced to the next man. She smiled nicely and nodded, hoping they would take pity on her and let her sail with them to the ports of the Spirit Lands, even though she had no money with which to pay them.

Bob also pointed out the barrels of Pure Crystalline Clear Water, filled from the crystal springs on many of these islands.

'We're forced to sell it all to Wilfrey, who adds his share to the price before he robs the other realms, at a great profit to himself. '

'So I've heard. That's so unfair. Is there nowhere else they can get water?' Kaylee asked him.

'There was 'til he started messing with the land, blocking up dams and such. Now with the droughts and such ... well, people gotta have that water don't they. He's got 'em by the ... Oh look, here's Pinky now.'

'Well, well, who've you got here, Bob?' Captain Riordan smiled at Kaylee, his rosy cheeks reminding her of Santa Claus.

Bob said, 'This would be Kaylee. She almost ran afoul of ol' Lolita on the island and needs to get back to the mainland. Somethin' about urgent business with the Dragon she was telling me earlier.' He looked very serious and important, acting as though they were transporting an important Royal Dignitary.

Captain Riordan was completely white ─ white hair beneath his black tricorn hat and white skin glared out from his uniform where the sleeves ended; everything except his eyes. These were a very odd pink colour. Albino, Kaylee believed was the name for it. Sometimes even animals were albino with odd colourings like this.

Kaylee put her hand out respectfully, 'Hello.'

'Hello there, Kaylee. You want to see the dragon you say?' He was smirking as if she was having a joke with him.

'Yes, Sir. Yes I do.' She grinned. She was used to everyone in these lands thinking she was crazy by now and just smiled along with them because she simply did not care anymore what anyone else thought. It was something she must do. Fate and that key of course, had brought her here. Her and nobody else, so it simply had to mean she was someone special for some reason and destined to be here.

The Captain erupted with a loud booming laugh that echoed off the cliff tops of the small islands they were sailing past. He laughed until he was out of breath, then paused smiling broadly and when he looked at Kaylee, off he went again, with that loud booming laughter. It was very contagious and Kaylee giggled a bit in response. Bob shook his head and smiled, obviously familiar with the Captains laugh.

'Ah boy! I can't breathe ... I can't breathe ... ha ha ha.' He bent over holding his belly until he gained control of himself again. With a little difficulty, he pulled a serious face, 'Well, young Kaylee. Who am I to reject such a request from such a brave young adventurous soul? Yes my dear, we have room to take you to the docks of the Spirit Lands. Bob, take her to my cabin and give the girl some refreshments. I'm sure we can find her a safe place to sit and see the sights on our journey.'

'Aye, aye Captain!' Bob replied, saluting.

The other pirates had been singing a merry song to help the work along as they hoisted sails and ropes, rolled barrels up ramps, scrubbed the decks and numerous other nautical chores she did not understand.

One pirate, not watching where he was going, stepped backwards into someone else's bucket where his boot became stuck. He clanged noisily around the deck, in an unsuccessful attempt to remove it.

All the noise he was making caught the attention of the Captain. Captain Riordan approached with a stern face and the crew fell quiet.

'Barney, you Wally!' Captain Riordan shouted. 'I think you deserve the Frock of Shame? What do you say pirates?'

'YEAH!' they shouted rather ominously. Barney looked sheepishly annoyed but resigned to his fate.

Kaylee was a bit worried for poor unfortunate Barney with the bucket still stuck to his foot. She watched as two pirates emerged from below deck with a bundle of lacy pink material. Barney blushed crimson to match the woman's pink frilly dress they pulled over his head and topped it off with a wide brimmed sun hat, along with some red lipstick.

Not satisfied with that level of humiliation, they also pulled the bucket off his foot, and then picked him up, dumping him feet first and neck deep in a large barrel of fish and water. He gasped at the sudden cold wetness and shook his head like a dog, spattering anyone close with droplets. Now the men took turns at throwing fish at him, as well as the occasional octopus and even a few smelly socks some mischievous pirate had dug up.

Oh well, Kaylee thought, if that's the worst he is getting, that's not so bad. 'At least he didn't have to walk the plank.' She said, quietly, but one of the pirates still heard her.

'Good idea, Kaylee,' he shouted, 'the guest of honour says make 'im walk the plank! Come on lads!'

Kaylee felt awful, she couldn't let them do that and blurted the first thing to enter her mind, 'No, I didn't say that. Isn't it bad luck to make someone walk the plank before you cast off? Besides, that dress is too pretty to ruin. I say get him to sing us a song instead?'

They were a genial crew and easily persuaded to her idea. With relief, Barney avoided another cold dunking.

Kaylee was sitting at the Captains table sipping cider and munching on a nice cheese stick Bob had given her, laughing along with the men still pelting Barney with smelly fish; his singing was pretty awful!

She saw out of the corner of her eye, a sleek brown shape swimming towards her side of the ship. She thought at first that it was a seal. However, as it began to claw its way up the big chunky, seaweed-covered rings of the anchor, she could now see it was a large, wet cat. The cat crawled easily up the anchor, all the way to the rails at the top, which it then sat on, tail twitching and turquoise-blue eyes creased in mischief.

The big cat was watching the pirates, like they were little birdies on the lawn but before Kaylee could think what to say or do, the huge black and brown moggie flew through the air, pouncing on one of the pirates and pinning the surprised man to the deck.

Now given Kaylee's first meeting with Jett and the wrong impression he had given her, she shouldn't have worried. That said, in the heat of the moment, she let out a very girly squeal and dropped her pint of cider, splashing it all up her legs.

'Oh gerr-off Pearl! Or no bloody fish for you today!' Evidently, he was used to her pranks, but she was too big and powerful to argue with, as well as being another Messenger Cat and therefore very important in the Realms. They had no choice but to tolerate her idiosyncrasies.

Pearl smelled the fish all over the deck. After forcing Barney, very apprehensively to submit to Pearl licking the fish-oil off his face, she lifted her front paws to the rim of the barrel and tipped it over the deck scattering Barney and fish everywhere.

Barney was cold and feeling a bit ill by now, so he was actually rather grateful to the Messenger Cat for causing this distraction. He scrambled to his feet, dropping his wide-brimmed sunhat, slipping and sliding in the oily water and finally waddled off to his quarters in his sopping wet, fishy-smelling, pink frilly dress suffering more jeers and laughter from his comrades as he did so.

Pearl had scoffed down quite a few of the scattered fish before noticing Kaylee watching from the door of the Captain's cabin. She popped her head up alert and curious, before she slinked up and around Kaylee, thoroughly checking her out. This routine was now becoming all too familiar to Kaylee who had already met the other four Messenger Cats. 'Hello, Pearl?' Kaylee said 'Is that what they call you?'

'It is, among other things not fit for a young girl's ears. Nevertheless, you may call me Pearl. And you are?'

'My name is Kaylee. You're another Messenger Cat, aren't you?'

'I am ... and what would you be? Which realm are you from?' Pearl hopped up onto the cabin roof in one bound with another large mouth full of fish and continued her snack.

Keeping it brief and to the point Kaylee filled Pearl in on her adventure so far ending with her recent close call with Lolita on the island they'd just set sail from. As they chatted, from time to time a pirate would wander beneath the roof of the cabin Pearl was lying on. She could not resist casually reaching out her paw, delicately plucking their hats from their heads and flicking them overboard into the choppy waves several feet below deck.

The men looked quite annoyed as they climbed down the ladder into a dingy to rescue their hats back, but did not dare say a thing. Some just gave it up and waved it off as their loss; easier to buy a new one once they reached the village.

The men began to sing a song and Kaylee's ear caught the familiar name so she listened in.

"Wilfrey, Wilfrey, what a man is he,

Won't find another, in the deep blue sea,

'E runs like a fairy and smells like Pearl" Pearl snarled 'Hey!'

"Dresses like a dandy and he hits like a girl!" To which Kaylee also shouted, 'Hey!'

The pirates laughed and smacked each other on the backs as they climbed up the riggings, enjoying their work. 'Why don't you go deliver some messages, Pearl?' one cheeky bugger with his shirt off, called out.

'Why don't you go put a shirt on, before you poke somebody's eye out?' Pearl called back to him. There was never a dull moment on this ship.

Pearl talked with Kaylee, who climbed up to join her on the cabin roof, about her escape from the woman Lolita. 'Funny one, that one,' Pearl said.

'Yes she is a bit odd. Are those children, the dolls I mean ... are they all dead then, do you think? Is there nothing we can do for them?' Kaylee looked sad, thinking of how close she came to becoming one of them.

'Who knows? One would hope they might still be saved, somehow. As to the how of it ... we shall have to wait and see, wont we?' Pearl said.

Then Kaylee told of the naughty gnome Ricky sending her down the wrong tunnel, which led to the polluted part of the Bay.

Pearl laughed as she picked her teeth free of fish with a sharp bone. 'Don't you be scared of those gnomes. Annoying little buggers, they are. I will take you back to the cave entrance and when you find that Ricky, you kick his butt for me.' She did a jaw-cracking yawn and stretched, arching her long sleek back which had dried considerably in the warm sun. She jumped down to the deck with a thud and plodded off into the Captain's cabin. Kaylee lay on her stomach and peeked over the edge curiously to see Pearl on the captain's bed plucking his quilts and purring, settling in for the duration by the looks of things.

Kaylee giggled but was certain the Captain was not going to be very pleased. She turned to see the man himself approaching and cringed.

'What the ...? Where? Oh no!' he fumed, grabbing his black tricorn hat and crushing it in frustration, but had to stifle his complaints. 'Pearl, you're gonna make my bed smell all fishy again, darn it!'

He noticed Kaylee hanging upside down from his cabin roof. Resigning himself to the fact that his bed was Pearl's for now, he said to Kaylee, 'Would you like to have a go at the helm, Kaylee?'

She smiled, 'Sail the ship you mean?'

'Sure, why not? It's my ship isn't it?'

She swung down from the cabin roof as if it was a monkey-bar at school and followed the Captain up the front of the ship where the helm stood.

The helm was a beautiful piece of woodturning. It was worn smooth from all the loving hands that had steered the ship. She held it where the Captain showed her and would adjust it slightly in directions as he instructed. The feeling of exhilaration in controlling this large glorious vessel helped Kaylee understand why these men behaved the way they did.

'Good girl, Kaylee, you're doing well. There's only one thing you're not doing right,' Captain Riordan told her.

'What am I not doing right?' She was puzzled. She'd listened carefully and was sure she'd followed everything he had said.

'You've got to yell at the men now and again, like this, "Get to work ya worthless seadogs! Scrub those decks again or ye'll be walking the plank!" See them scurry about like wee mousies.' He laughed heartily slapping his thigh in his mirth.

'I can't do that,' Kaylee said, shocked. 'They'll get angry at me.'

'No they won't.' He smiled. 'They love it. Makes them feel like genuine pirates ya see?'

Kaylee said, 'Alright, I'll try it then.' She hollered out in her best Shepherds voice, 'What are ya looking at, ya lazy buggers! Get back ta work!'

The pirates stopped silent and stared at the twelve-year-old girl and for a moment, she felt like she had suddenly shrunken to the size of a pea, about to be stepped on and squashed. Nevertheless, it was all right, because they burst out laughing and carried on with their work, saluting and waving to the Captain and Kaylee.

The Captain nodded, 'See, I told you. Feel free to have a wander around deck. Watch out for that lot though. They throw things around the place; you're likely to get skittled by something if you aren't paying close attention.'

Kaylee headed further towards the front of the ship. At the bow she gripped the railings tight, looked down and was delighted to see a pod of dolphins playfully racing the ship, diving in and out of the bow waves. She was struck by an idea.

Grinning mischievously, she climbed to the railings as close as possible to the bow of the ship. Gripping her thighs tight around the railings, she then put her arms out like wings, shouting at the top of her lungs, 'I'm the King of the World!' Dramatic Titanic music by Celine Dion, nobody else could hear, was playing inside her head.

This was fun for a short while until, strangely, the ship felt as though it was slowing down and coming to a stop.

'Is something broken?' Kaylee called out to a pirate on deck, grateful there were no icebergs in this tropical part of the realms.

'No love, just,' he waved randomly about, 'there's no wind. No wind means we 'ave to just ... wait I s'pose. Unless you feel like coming down 'ere and givin' me a hand scrubbing these decks?'

'Nah, I'm good.' She grinned cheekily back at him.

She climbed down from the dangerous place she had just been, thinking her mother would've had kittens if she'd seen her up there and grateful that she'd been safe back in New Zealand.

Only, she wasn't truly grateful about that. She was sad to be honest. It would have been worth a telling off to have her mother with her right now.

The wind picked up again within the hour and they were sailing along at a good speed. The sea air was wonderful, but did make her tired not to mention ravenously hungry. Kaylee was sitting quietly by a brazier, finishing a plate of hot fish and some baked potatoes the Captain had sent out for her, waiting for them to arrive at the docks.

On impulse, she pulled the iron key from her backpack. Next to the fire burning in the brazier, she thought of her poor worried mum. 'I'm sorry, Mum, please forgive me. I didn't mean to worry you.' The key began to hum and glow green, as it had at the stone cottage. 'Hey, I wonder if ─'.

Fate intervened at that very moment when a whale decided to surface alongside the ship. It sent up a waterspout, high into the air. The fountain of seawater washed over the railing, flooding and extinguishing the fire in the brazier.

As it hissed, red coals dying in the steam, Kaylee was beginning to have an idea of how she 'might' be able to return home.

From high above her head a pirate in the crows-nest yelled, 'Land Ho!'

She jumped up to the railings to see the dock closing in fast, beyond that, the familiar luscious forest of giant trees. With the ominous Mount Beaton brooding to their right.

'Here's our stop,' Pearl rubbed affectionately passed her legs. 'Grab your things, Kaylee; the small boat will take us out to the docks. The cave is not far from here. You'll want to get there before dark, won't you?'

22

A Close Call

Enthusiastically waving, Kaylee bid Captain Riordan and the other pirates a fond farewell. She turned to follow Pearl along the short dirt road to the cave entrance.

After an hour or so, they stood outside the cave. A giant dragonfly swooped low in front of them, distracting the black and brown tabby Messenger Cat. The dragonfly had purple-blue iridescent wings, which glinted in the sunlight.

Unable to resist, Pearl leapt into the sky like an Olympic gymnast, trying to catch it. She barely missed, landing with grace on all fours.

'Good luck, Kaylee, maybe we shall meet again one day,' she said and tore off into the woods after the dragonfly.

In her naive foolishness it did not occur to Kaylee that this time on entering the cave she no longer had the rattle to summon Ruby. She had left it in Ruby's lair that night. She crept in looking for her fluffy friend and timidly calling, 'Ruby? Are you here?'

Wicked eyes that had observed her from afar, unable to make their moves until now, crept closer. She did not see the large arachnid looming up behind her until it was almost too late.

She heard a tiny sound, just a few pebbles rolling, disturbed by movement. Kaylee spun around just in time to jump aside as the giant spider landed where she had been standing, barely milliseconds ago. It was as big as a horse! And had way too many legs, in Kaylee's opinion.

Kaylee screamed. It echoed through the roof of the cavern, startling bats that took flight and flapped around in panic. Before she could move, it had sprung directly over her glaring at her with all those beady black eyes and threatening her with its pinchers.

She had seen how spiders wrap up their prey with those spinnerets at their rear end. She had thought them rather clever, at the time.

However, just now, she didn't fancy being rolled up tight like a sushi-roll and slowly digested at the creature's leisure. She screamed again, covering her face with her arms, wishing desperately that she had something sharp to poke it with.

She rolled to the side, just as it nipped at her and felt the sharp pinchers hit her backpack. The bag hummed. It must be the key, she thought and was surprised when the spider squealed and jumped back as though burned.

Kaylee tried to crawl away as fast as possible, hoping the pack would give her some cover and saw the hairy legs of the beast plant themselves either side of her. She cried out in pain at the sting of the spider's fangs piercing the skin on her arm.

'Ruby, HELP!'

Ruby was outside the caves for once, enjoying some sunlight near the gnomes quaint little turf houses. She was rolling in ecstasy on her back, enjoying the warm pebbles on the road that led away from the mountain, when she heard a scream pierce the air, echoing from within the caves. Ruby knew at once that it was Kaylee.

She leapt up and went tearing through the open door of one of the tiny gnome houses. Dishes and chairs went flying as she bolted through. The resident gnome-wife, who had been holding a tray of baking, fumbled and lost her tray then glared in Ruby's direction. Ruby barged straight through the 'closed' back door, blasting it off its hinges, into the tunnels where a terrified little girl was in grave peril.

Arriving just in time to see the giant spider perched above Kaylee, Ruby flew through the air and pounced on the spiders back, rolling with it squealing in her mouth as she crunched it just behind its head, in a death grip. She held it still in her mouth, kicking the hell out of it occasionally with her back legs, until it gave up the fight and died. In a fit of horrid screeching its legs curled up tight with finality.

When it was still, she abandoned it and came over to Kaylee who she found sitting, stunned, on the dirt floor of the dark cavern. She was clutching her slightly wounded arm and had tears on her cheeks.

'How did you know I was here?' Kaylee asked, wonderfully relieved to see the huge fluffy Messenger Cat.

'I licked you,' Ruby noticed the frightened girl's cut and sighed, then laughed, 'which I'll have to do again!' It was not a deep cut, more a scratch really, lucky for Kaylee.

Kaylee flung her arms around Ruby's leg and cried with relief. 'God, I really thought I was a goner that time.' Ruby patted her with her other paw until the tears ebbed.

When she was calm again Kaylee told her how she had ended up in the polluted bay and her narrow escape from Lolita, as well as how the pirate-ferrymen helped bring her back, along with Pearl.

Ruby agreed, again, to take her to Ricky. Even so, she suggested, 'Are you sure you don't just want me to eat him for you? It would be no trouble. King Mossbeard would probably thank me for it, to be honest?'

'Tempting,' Kaylee laughed. 'But, no thanks, Ruby. I'll deal with the little garden ornament myself.'

By the time Ruby and Kaylee emerged from the cave entrance, the sun was high in the blue sky. It must have been getting on towards lunchtime and Ruby politely acquired a basket of berries, bread and cheese from the gnomes.

They ate out on a garden bench in front of one of the turf houses. Kaylee needed a bit of sustenance, not to mention time to regroup and gather up her courage again before heading back into the tunnels.

She was biting into a crunchy roll when she spied the traitorous gnome Ricky, outside the cave near a vegetable plot. She handed the roll to Ruby without looking and stomped towards him, fists clenched and face set hard.

Ricky saw the angry look on her face as she approached and tried to make a run for it. Instead, he turned and stepped on the forked end of a rake carelessly left on the ground. The rake stood up as he set his shoe on it and smacked him solidly in the nose, knocking him silly for a bit. Well, sillier than he usually was, that is.

Kaylee picked up the stunned gnome by the front of his vest and gave him a little shake to get his attention.

He pulled his hands up in front of his face in defense, 'Don't 'urt me, please.'

'Take ... me ... to ... the ... Dragon!' Kaylee threatened, 'and any more tricks and I'll feed you to her myself!'

He apologised profusely as he led Kaylee through his own gnome house.

' 'ello love' he said casually as he passed his surprised little dumpling of a wife, who was carrying a basket of laundry. Then he continued to grovel to Kaylee. 'I'm sorry. So, very, very sorry, really I am. It wasn't my decision it was the ─'

Kaylee could not take any more grovelling and finally said, 'Ok, ok! You can stop sucking up to me; you know I actually liked you until you did that.'

He looked ashamed, 'I liked you too. Was just followin' orders from above, nothin' personal. The King ...' He explained about the wasps and Wilfrey. He said they were sorry but worried that Wilfrey would destroy them and their realm, if they helped her. Ricky pleaded, 'We 'ad to do it.'

Kaylee was determined. She just pointed in the direction of the caves and stared at him intensely.

'She will eat you up you know?' he said in one final attempt to stop her as they reached the point of no return.

'Then you won't have to worry about Wilfrey, will you?' She put her hands on her hips, defiant. She was frightened, but not about to stop her quest here.

Ricky handed Kaylee the green cloak. It had floated up through the doorway like a departing spirit after she had fallen down the oubliette.

'Thank you,' Kaylee said and stroked the soft velvet; feeling touched that he had kept it safe for her. He must have been hopeful of seeing her return again, alive.

Ricky then took her out the back door of his little turf home. As she had guessed, the back door led into a large corridor within the tunnels of the cave. It would take them directly to the King's Halls. With an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu, Kaylee trekked through the tunnels following her gnome guide.

From there they went through the familiar Royal Hall, empty apart from a few gnomes who were asleep, their heads on the tables. They continued out into the main tunnels again, crossing bridges, climbing up and down steps, until after another couple of hours they came to the two doors with the biker gnomes on them.

The same toad saw her angry face. Wisely it turned and hopped away quickly, croaking as it went, 'To 'ell wiz zis! I'd ra-zer face za Crone's wrath, zen you again.'

Kaylee couldn't help yelling, 'Yeah buddy! You better keep running! Or ... hopping!' She took a few deep breaths.

Ok, which door do I use this time?

They were both locked. Her mother had told her, if you keep doing things the same way, you will keep getting the same results. So, Kaylee decided to try something new and pulled the magic key from the bottom of her bag. When she held it before the left door, nothing happened. However, when she held it in front of the right door, the key glowed bright green. 'Right door again, huh? Not too sure about this?' She said.

She snapped her fingers at the reluctant Ricky, to follow her. He sighed, frowned and shrugged his little shoulders but followed obediently. They travelled the tunnels that led to the next fork in the road where she had been misled by Ricky the first time round, ending up on a slippery ride to Stinkville!

The long tunnel split in two again, but this time Kaylee knew which road to take. She took the up cavern ramp – bidding Ricky a bittersweet farewell. He blew her a kiss and smiled sadly, 'You're a brave wee thing. Good luck Kaylee.'

She started climbing up and up and farther up the trail, doubting with each step that it was going the right way. It was very dark as the lanterns were spaced out farther and farther apart. She was beginning to brace herself for the next misfortune when she screamed as her feet slid out from beneath her in the dark. Before she could stop herself she was on a scary slide again. This time when she finally came to the end, she dropped into a pile of half chewed bones ... possibly from the dragon's dinner.

'Nice!' she muttered. She wiped her hands on her pants and adjusted her backpack, which was rubbing on her aching shoulders beneath the cloak. 'This must be the place.'

23

We Meet a Dragon

Kaylee sat breathing rapidly with her brain still spinning, in a rotten-smelling pile of what appeared to be animal (at least she hoped only animal) skeletons, at the bottom of the tunnel opening. A huge cavern now lay before her in all of its sparkling glory.

She was scared to death the dragon would appear and incinerate her any second. Her hands and fingers were stinging from the slide down the tunnel. She had grazes from pointlessly trying to hold on to the walls to slow down. She began to tremble, a cold sweat breaking out all over. Her ears were ringing in the silence, her own breath sounding too loud. The rock walls beside her were damp, but glittery. Dragon's loved gold and riches didn't they? This had to be the place then.

Kaylee clumsily crawled out of the pile of bones and cautiously took a few steps. A large mirror hung on the wall near her, edged with an ornate silver frame. She froze, heart lodged in her throat, because the mirror was no ordinary mirror. It was magic, for right at this moment it showed The Chameleon Shop, where she had found the key. Kaylee's mother was there, talking to the shop assistant. She looked tired, dishevelled and so very worried. She must have been frantically searching for Kaylee.

Kaylee could hear the tiny snap of her own heart, as it broke in two.

'Mum! ... Mum!' she cried out, surrendering to her fear and so desperate for her mother to hear her, but it was no use. She could not hold back the loud sob of frustration, which escaped.

Kaylee pulled the iron key from her pack, to hold as a bit of Dutch courage. She began descending the steep winding steps.

Someone in the dark had seen Kaylee's not-so-graceful entrance.

On a narrow rocky peak, jutting up from the depths of the cavern, sat the dragon. The dragon who had waited for this moment for months. She flew towards the terrified girl, swooping in to land in front of Kaylee, wings spread wide and growling ferociously.

Kaylee almost filled her pants and she shut her eyes, terrified, expecting to be fried on the spot. After trembling for several very long moments, curiosity got the better of her and she opened one eye a crack.

Face to face, Kaylee thought the dragon resembled a sea-horse, with aquamarine scales, pointed horns similar to a goat's and wings that stretched out like a Pterodactyl from the Stone Age.

From the view Kaylee had, the whole room appeared to be filled with the dragon's head. It opened its jaws letting out a roar that rattled Kaylee's bones and blew her hair back; though luckily, no fiery breath ... this time. She was acting fierce but Kaylee did not know that it was just for show.

When Kaylee thought she was in for a painful death she rattled off quickly, 'Please, don't eat me. This damn key brought me here and they all tell me it must be dragon magic. Did you bring me here?'

'Ah, you must be Kaylee?' The dragon finally spoke. She had a kind of stern older schoolteacher's voice.

'Excuse me?' Kaylee was so surprised by the mention of her own name she almost forgot to be scared. 'How do you know my name?' The dragon folded her wings neatly to her sides and sat like a statue, content to let Kaylee rant for a while.

'Would you tell me what's going on? I've been swatted, attacked, almost eaten, half-drowned and my mother will be going insane wondering if I'm dead or alive, especially since Dad ─'

'Your father is alive,' the dragon interrupted calmly.

'Wait, What?' Kaylee was astounded and way too scared of being disappointed to believe her.

'Your father is alive and well. Well, he whines a lot, but well enough.'

Kaylee looked all around the huge cavern. When she peeked nervously over the edge she could see a deep gully of darkness, where absolutely anything could be hiding. She searched the rest of the cavern, as far as her eyes could see, but the outer corners were dark and filled with shadows. She could not see where her father might be. 'Where is he? Can ...,' she gulped back a sob, 'can I see him please?'

'First I have a request of you,' the dragon replied, ominously.

'I miss my dad. I love him ... I just ... I need him,' she sobbed absolutely beside herself with emotion. 'If you haven't eaten him, can I have him back please? There's loads of annoying gnomes out there if you're hungry, after all?'

That last bit actually made the dragon laugh. She lowered her immense face and loomed right in front of Kaylee whose eyes were squeezed shut tight, waiting to be turned to ash. The dragon blew a harmless smoke ring in her face. 'Gnomes talk too much and taste like dung. Sit girl, I'll make you a deal.'

The dragon explained she did not like to eat humans either, 'You have to be careful what you eat, I have found. I try to avoid humans. For your information, they give me terrible gas. However, I discovered I had a better use for him.'

Kaylee more fell to her bottom than sat. Shock does that to you. She stared at this magnificent mythical creature that loomed metres above her, blowing smoke rings in her face and giving her grief and then pinched her own arm because she was certain she had to be dreaming. Stuff like this just did not happen. Not to her.

The pinch hurt and Kaylee sighed again. 'Look, what do I call you? Do you have a name? They all seem to just call you DRAGON and that seems a bit ... well a bit rude really?

'No one has ever asked me that before. To tell you the truth my name would be unpronounceable to you. What do they call strong females deserving high respect, in your land?'

Kaylee thought for a minute, and then smiled, eyes glistening. 'Mum or Mama,' she said.

'You may call me Mama then.'

In a very odd sort of way, Kaylee quite liked this. She was not so sure Trish would find it as amusing, given that Kaylee had called her a dragon from time to time. Irony was a funny old thing.

'That might get a little confusing though,' Kaylee said, 'how about another word, for freedom – Saorsa is a word my mother taught me. Seems to fit?'

'Seer-sha,' the dragon rolled her r's mimicking the sound of the word perfectly. 'I like that,' she said softly.

24

Sweet Surprise

Kaylee's mind was racing ahead with plans of how to get out of there; she had had quite enough of the tunnels and Ricky's directions. She boldly asked Saorsa 'Is there another way out of here? How do you get out of the caves to hunt?'

Saorsa pointed to the wall far to Kaylee's right. 'There is a secret opening behind the waterfall on the cliffside of the Byagal Sea. The gnomes bring me what they can, but it is nowhere near enough. I use the secret entrance hidden behind a waterfall on the side of the cliff to fly out at night, while the wasps sleep. The crone would love to finish me off if she could find a way to get to me with those vile insects of hers.'

Finally, the Dragon revealed the cell where her father was. Saorsa lit torches along the wall with her own fiery breath and moved aside. In a dark, previously hidden part of the cavern, now only bars stood between Kaylee and her father's face.

'My God, it's true ... you're alive,' Kaylee cried.

Running, tripping and stumbling, Kaylee made her way across the stone path and a small arched bridge to the cell where her father stood clutching the bars. His eyes held a look of such loving longing. Tears of joy overflowed.

He was not as badly off as Kaylee's imagination had painted him. He still looked about the same size, eyes still bright in his handsome face. His brown beard and hair had grown quite a bit longer and was not brushed. His clothes were a bit grubby, but not in rags; he looked well enough, at least physically.

In his cell Kaylee could see a bed, blankets and even a small desk and chair. There was a stubby candlestick on the table as well as a meal and mug of something. The dragon had treated her prisoner with respect by the looks of things. What a relief that was for Kaylee to see.

'Kaylee? How did you? Oh God ....' Greg was too overwhelmed for words.

She ran to the bars and grabbed his hands and they pressed noses. 'Man, I can't wait to see Paul's face when you get home,' Kaylee said to her father.

'What are you talking about? He's my best friend. He wouldn't steal my girl,' Greg said to her.

'Ha! Nonsense!' Saorsa burst out rudely.

Greg turned to the dragon, angry, 'What?'

'He did,' Saorsa said bluntly.

'You knew about that?' Greg was astounded.

'Of course I did,' she said. 'The mirror shows me whomever I wish to see.'

'And you didn't tell me!' He said incredulous, his voice disappearing in a high squeak at the end.

'Well, I was not about to let you go until your daughter got my egg back. Would you rather I had tortured you with that information as well?'

'Egg? What egg? Whose egg is this?' Kaylee did not like the sound of this.

'Why that dirty, little ... we've got to get back home,' Greg said to his daughter, menacing and determined.

'And home you shall go, just as soon as your daughter steals back my egg from that prat Wilfrey and his crone,' Saorsa told him.

'Oh boy!' Kaylee said feeling faint again. She sat down again in the dirt suddenly, put her head between her knees and then muttered to the dragon. 'I knew that's where you were going with this!' Then she popped her head up, 'Hey? But you're a huge, terrifying, fire-breathing dragon.'

'Aye, and your point?' Saorsa answered sarcastically.

'Why didn't you just fly up there to his castle and burn him out?'

'That's exactly what I wanted to do ... what I tried to do.' Saorsa's eyes glazed over as she remembered the horrible events which led to the loss of her egg that fateful day.

'Wilfrey needed to make life harder for the realms to give him more control over them. No-one respected him as a man, so he had his crone put a spell on the caves. She created the wasp honeycombs, blocking off the main tunnel through from the Fire and Spirit Realms to the Water Realm. The magic on those combs meant I could not burn them away and those damn giant wasps almost killed me when I ...' she grew emotional and had to regain her composure a bit before going on, 'when I tried to get my egg back.

Wilfrey wanted my egg to gain a way to inflict more terror and control over the other realms, so when the Crone told him of the egg I possessed, they wanted to try to get to my baby and train it. There was no way I was going to bargain with that evil man.

I was out hunting for food when it happened. That crone came right into my den and took the egg, brazen as anything. She flew like the wind across the fields on the back of one of those evil, devil pig-dogs and was well back at the castle by the time I returned.

I went berserk and almost roasted a few gnomes and several acres of wheat fields before learning who had stolen it. I flew straight for the castle ready to burn it to the ground, even if it was made of stone.

However, the whole swarm of giant wasps flew out to greet me. I can still feel their stings, must have got me at least a thousand times. Even the largest of prey can be brought down, if it is outnumbered.' Saorsa flew up into the dark heights of the cavern and swirled around a couple of times, letting off steam. She eventually slowed and soared back down to pad slowly towards Kaylee.

'My only hope was to become invisible, but that left me deathly weakened. I plummeted to the ground, crawling to my chambers, almost dead. The gnomes felt bad for me, as the crone had barged in and bullied her way past them. Still, they had less chance against Wilfrey than I had.

They kindly brought me food. I did not want to eat, but had to get my strength back if I was going to get my egg back somehow.

I grew more depressed by the day, moping about the tunnels. Did not want to eat, did not want to live really, without my baby ... and one day while away in my own thoughts, I must have ventured down deeper than I ever had. I was a bit lost when I came across the mining tunnel where your father worked.'

Kaylee began to get the picture of what really happened in the mine the day the explosion had supposedly killed her father.

'If I had not been so sad and weak I probably would have roasted him on the spot, but I was more curious than threatened, so I did not. However, I heard the other men coming and panicked. I swept your father behind me with my wing and roared flames, destroying the tunnel where he worked, before any other human could discover my existence.'

'We thought he was dead,' Kaylee's voice was small and filled with pain.

'I am truly sorry,' Saorsa said. 'I spared no thoughts for anyone else but myself in those days.' She continued with her story.

'Your father begged me to spare his life. "I can't die. My daughter needs me,"' He cried.

There was a tiny ember of hope glowing deep in my heart that one day, I would get my egg back. At that very moment, your father's cries gave life to that ember and it flared up. I thought that his daughter might be able to achieve, what a dragon, in all my massive flaming glory, could not.

I questioned Greg about this little girl and learned that his girl would probably never give up searching for him.

I had the gnomes make the iron key. With nearly all my remaining strength, I imbued it with my heart-magic and firepowers. I transformed one of your human shops, creating The Chameleon Shop just so you, Kaylee, could travel to The Five Realms.'

Saorsa shook off her recollection and focused her attention directly on Kaylee. 'I know somehow, someway, you can get my egg back, Kaylee. Your father was begging me not to kill him, because of his love for you. You may be able to achieve, what I could not. Instead of strength, it will take cunning to beat this man.'

'Because ... Wilfrey won't be expecting to be beaten by a little girl?' Kaylee guessed.

The dragon turned to Greg, 'You were right, she is a smart girl. Very smart.'

'Well, she takes after her father.' He looked proudly at his offspring. 'Don't tell your mother I said that though.'

'I thought all dragons were mean and bloodthirsty?' Kaylee asked Saorsa, feeling tired as she sat cross-legged on the hard rock.

'Lies! All lies invented by the world of man to cover their own evil deeds. They always try to pin the blame on someone else. What they don't understand, they fear and what they fear, they kill.' The dragon slowly circled her, as a shark would a turtle in the sea and Kaylee gulped audibly.

'Do you not think that if I could have flown in there and torched his castle, destroyed everything important to him, I would have?' Saorsa said.

Kaylee cowered a bit but looked up at her, 'That sounds like all he deserves? I get the feeling you're going to say, BUT... though?'

'But ... if I destroy everything dear to him, do you not think he would take revenge by destroying that very precious thing I desire the most?'

'Ah! Your baby. He would kill it if you did that, wouldn't he?'

'I believe he would. So now you see why I had to create The Chameleon Shop and bring you here using your father as ... motivation.'

'You mean as bait!' Kaylee argued. She watched the silent, sorrowful dragon for a moment, then sighed loudly, 'Ok, I'll do it. Now if it's not too much trouble, could you let my father out, please?'

25

The Crone Plots

At the Castle on Mount Beaton

The Crone was poking morsels of raw meat, on the end of a sharp stick between the bars of a cage, in which one of her wild ferrets lived. The ferret snatched it quickly and ripped into the meat, ravenous.

She returned to her table, cut open a carcass of some small creature recently dead and pulled out its innards. The old crone threw these into a pewter dish adding some vile green goo from a glass bottle. It hissed and bubbled. She pulled her rune bones from the pocket in her ragged dress and tossed them into the horrible concoction, swirling the plate and its contents round and round in circles.

When she stopped to read the prophecy she screamed in horror and dropped the plate to the floor with a crash.

'No! It can't be?' Her rune-bones had predicted her death, you see. Death by fire! 'The White Witch shall be to blame?' She muttered, 'It has to be that girl!'

She rushed over to another table where small globes, of varying sizes, of a planetary model stood. 'Blood moon, in two days. All I need is the heart of a white witch and I can make the spell to protect me from fire. Kill two birds with one stone, ha ha ha!' She cackled high-pitched and shrewish.

She grabbed her wand from the table and pointed it at her face. The wand looked nothing more than a gnarly pile of sticks, roughly tied together with twine. However, when she pointed it at herself, a silver flash shot out, transforming the crone into an eagle. The eagle hopped to the arched window of the dungeon and soared up into the blue sky, then down to the border woods of the Spirit Realm.

There the eagle became the crone once more. She began casting more spells, more evil magic, waving her arms about in wild patterns. She left two gargoyles waiting inside to grab the White Witch when the innocent young thing wandered back through the woods.

How could the girl resist entering the irresistible candy-cottage sitting in her path?

In the Dragon's Chambers

The bars that held them apart vanished like smoke and Kaylee stepped into her father's loving arms. His kind eyes filled with tears anew, spilling down his cheeks as he hugged her so close she could hardly breathe.

Kaylee's hand trembled as she lifted it to touch his face, fearing it would disappear just before she could touch him, as good dreams always did when it was time to wake. Upon finding him real live flesh and blood, she crumbled back into his arms and sobbed her little heart out on his big warm chest, releasing so many months of hurt.

She turned suddenly to go, 'Right then,' she sniffed loudly and wiped a drip from her nose with her sleeve. 'The sooner I leave, the sooner I can come back and get you out.'

'Wait! Where are you going?' Her father asked.

'To get this bloody egg, I guess,' she replied rebelliously.

'But, it's night time. You can't do it in the dark, sweetheart.'

'How do you know its night time, after being held prisoner here twenty-four-seven?' She aimed an accusing stare at the dragon.

'I've been here a long time you know,' he replied quietly.

'Yes, I do know.' With tears in her eyes she said, 'you have missed my birthday and Father's day ... and ... and,' she sobbed incoherently and he pulled her back into his arms, letting her go to pieces again.

'You may rest here the night,' Saorsa said. 'Begin the search fresh tomorrow. Wilfrey will not harm the egg; he wants my baby ... alive!'

'But,' Kaylee said, hysterical with fatigue and worry, 'What about Mum? She is going to kill me for disappearing on her like this. She will be half-mad with worry. I have to return. I've been gone for what? How many days ... five?'

'No. The clock and the shop both reset, each time you go back, give or take a day or two. Your mother will only think you have been gone for a short while.' The dragon stared intently into Greg's cell. Moments later a fluffy brown fur pelt appeared before their eyes. 'All will be well,' she said. 'Sleep child. Tomorrow, Wilfrey will meet his match.'

Now that Kaylee knew the whole sad tale, she sort of understood the dragon's reasons for what she had done. A mother will do anything to be reunited with her child, just as Kaylee would do anything to get her father back.

Saorsa had looked after him reasonably well. Greg shared his dinner with Kaylee and the dragon went off, presumably to hunt for her own, or perhaps to be alone with her sorrow.

'Use the key,' Saorsa said to Kaylee, the next morning as she prepared to leave for the castle. Kaylee had no plan in mind, but trusted something would reveal itself in time. It always seemed to in this place. 'Use the key,' the dragon had told her, 'It will hide you when you need to disappear and it will disguise you when you need, not to be seen.'

Are they not the same thing? Kaylee wondered to herself.

'How does the key do these things?' Kaylee was very curious about the dragon's magic.

'My egg has been stolen. I have been living with half a heart since that terrible day.' She rose up and peeled back some scales in her chest to show a red glow, where indeed half her heart was thumping away. 'Half my heart has been put into that key, so I can do all in my power to help you get my baby back.'

'I'll try, I promise you. I will try my very hardest,' Kaylee said earnestly, feeling the incredible weight of responsibility settle on her shoulders.

'That is all I can ask of you, child,' Saorsa whispered softly and turned away as her emotions welled up. Then she turned back, 'Mind you. If you fail ... I might be inclined to want to kill you.'

'Right,' Kaylee said a little stunned. 'So, no pressure then.'

Greg helped Kaylee adjust her backpack over the green cloak. 'I wish I could do this for you instead. Please be careful out there, my big brave girl. I am so very proud of you darling.'

26

The Cottage in the Woods

Kaylee carried a lantern her father handed her as she left the dragon's chambers. Saorsa had showed her another passage to get back to the Gnome King's Halls. She knew there were bugs watching her, but she also knew just how much power the key held and was confident that Saorsa was not going to be letting her succumb to a bug's appetite.

The hall was empty as she walked through, apart from an old hound snoozing in the straw on the floor. She came across the guards at the gates to the Earth Realm. They were lounging about, bored as usual.

'Ahem!' Kaylee cleared her throat, trying to give them a little warning she was there. True, they were supposed to be guarding the place, but in their defense, invaders were normally coming at them from the opposite direction.

' 'Ere, where'd you come from? Weren't you that girl what came in here a few days ago with Ruby?' The red-haired guard asked.

'Yes, that was me. Kaylee,' she put out a hand for him to shake. He looked at her strangely, not understanding what to do with it. Impatient, she put her hand back down.

'I came to see the dragon.'

'Ha ha, yeah right!' He laughed, 'Pull the other one; it's got bells on it.'

'I did you know.' She felt a little insulted, after all her trials and tribulations to get to the dragon, only to have nobody believe her.

'Then how come you aint toast?' He interrogated her.

'Because, she needs me to help her with something.'

'Oh yeah?' The other guard who had darker hair, jibed. 'And what the devil would a big old, powerful fire-breathing dragon need help with, from a little girl? You must think we're stupid. You're havin' us on.'

Kaylee was about to defend herself, but then thought the less people who knew about her quest, the less likely her quest would get back to Wilfrey and the less likely she would fail. Thinking quickly she pointed a finger at him and said, 'Ha ha, almost got ya didn't I.'

They all laughed and agreed, yes, she was very funny. However, after she said, 'Bye, bye then,' and walked off to find Ruby, the two gnome guards realised that they never did find out why she came back out of their caves after several days. They looked at each other with a wary fear in their eyes and decided, by mutual unspoken agreement, to let the subject bide for now.

Kaylee sniggered to herself about the confused gnome guards as she pulled the iron key out of her backpack. She liked to hold it out in front of her to ward off any other potential spiders who wished to make sushi of her.

She was delighted to find Ruby in her lair, snoozing away with a loud rumbling purr. Kaylee felt like running and jumping into that fluffy fur, but suspected that surprising a huge carnivore while asleep was probably not a good idea. 'Ruby!' she called. The cat continued purring loudly. She called again, louder this time, 'RUBY!'

The purring stopped immediately and Ruby opened one eye, staring her down with it. Kaylee felt fearful for a split second until Ruby flew awake and bounded over to smooch around her.

'I found him Ruby. My Dad, he's alive! He's with the dragon.' Kaylee told her friend.

'Oh, so that man is your father. I had no idea, thought she just kept him around as a pet for amusement value.'

Kaylee told Ruby about how Wilfrey's crone took the dragon's egg and she had kidnapped Greg in order to persuade (more like force) Kaylee to help get the egg back.

'Ah, I wondered what the Crone was doing in here, all those months back. She came flying past on one of those darned hagars. I would have attacked but they were already heading for the way out, so I didn't bother. Never saw the egg you mention, though I'm sure the old bat had it stashed somewhere.'

'So that's where I'm headed now, I guess? The castle.'

'Don't go alone will you lovey? Find Jett, he will be somewhere in the Spirit Realm. He will go with you, most of the way at least.'

Why not all the way? Kaylee thought that seemed a little odd, but it was her quest after all. The dragon's magic was in the key, so if she had to do it alone, then that is what she would do. No longer the shy, easily intimidated little girl she was merely days ago. Kaylee felt like she had lived and matured by a good ten years since coming to these lands.

Ruby escorted her out of the honeycomb caves of Mount Beaton and gave her a snugly cat cuddle before saying, 'Farewell, safe journey.'

Kaylee headed off with a confident stride towards the woods which led to the village of the Spirit people. She knew the way now, so was a bit surprised to find something new had appeared since her last time travelling through these parts. She stopped and stared in disbelief.

'Oh no! You have GOT to be kidding me,' Kaylee said to herself when she spied a delicious looking candy-cottage, as if it was straight out of a fairy-tale book. Complete with a gabled roof, dripping with snow-like white icing and a round rainbow-striped candy door, like the Christmas candy canes she had had in her stockings. The wall tiles looked like they were made of chocolate Orio cookies and the windows had leadlight looking windows made with black liquorice straps.

'What was that my mum said? If it seems too good to be true, it usually is,' Kaylee mumbled to herself, all the while creeping a little closer, keeping a watchful eye on anything that moved near her. She smelled a proverbial rat and knew this had to be a trap set by Wilfrey or his Crone.

She looked all around, expecting stoneys to jump out from somewhere, but all she saw was a black crow up a nearby tree, its beady eyes following her everywhere she went.

She crept up to the wall nearest the corner of the candy-cottage. Keeping one eye on the door, she snapped off a piece of cookie tile. After a nibble just to confirm that it was actually cookie, she said aloud, 'Pity I'm not really as fussed on lollies as I used to be. And I really HATE liquorice!' She grinned at the crow, winked and saluted him saying, 'Tally-ho old sausage.' Then jogged away smartly down the road to the Spirit Realm, before anything unnatural could jump out of the candy-cottage to grab her.

The crow flapped off, heading for the castle to, reluctantly, inform its mistress that her cleverly laid plan had failed dismally.

From the dungeons of a gothic castle, whose pointed turrets pierced the clouds, high up on Mount Beaton ...

The Crone, a decrepit old hag of unfathomable years, chanted a spell over a bubbling cauldron of toxic substances. Green vapours filled the dungeon, choking her pet crow so that he squawked loudly and flapped his wings in distress.

'Quiet you!' She screeched at the bird in her creaky voice. 'Shut your beak, or you'll go in the pot too!' She cackled in glee.

The bird was not so sure she was joking; he had been the bearer of bad news after all. He made a quick exit through one of the narrow slit windows high up the wall. Here several bats hung like rows of black flags, waiting for the light outside to fade to black, so they could venture out in search of prey.

The Crone continued her chanting until she heard a low humming noise within the very walls themselves, growing louder and louder. It came from the nests which filled every nook and cranny about the place. The hum grew so agitated it felt like they were inside her head, boring into her skull.

Suddenly, she stopped chanting and the swarm of giant wasps burst forth from the castle walls. The humming sounded like a full squadron of fighter planes now, which soared over the rooftops in a gigantic ominous cloud of wings and stings. They were on a flight path to the unwary inhabitants of the Spirit Realm and the girl whose destiny, even though she did not know it yet herself, was to destroy them.

27

Giant Wasps

Listening to an eagle's solitary cry, high above her in the endless blue sky, made the hairs on Kaylee's neck bristle. It felt odd, this time, walking through the woods towards the village of the Spirit people.

I do believe this is the first time I have really been alone since I got to this strange place. That candy-cottage had to be a trap set by the Crone to catch me. Well, the old witch is not fooling me that easy.

The sudden weight of loneliness overwhelmed her. The warmth of the sun on her back vanished, as though a cloud had moved across it.

'I know,' she said aloud to herself, 'whenever I was scared at home, I'd hum or sing a song to myself, and it didn't seem so scary.' She began to hum the first silly song that came into her head. The wheels on the bus go round and round. Humming along to herself loudly, she did not at first notice the massive swarm of pigeon sized wasps approaching her, until she stopped humming to have a sip from her water bottle.

The humming was still going and it was growing louder and louder. She thumped her ears, thinking for the moment that they were malfunctioning. However, above her and all around her, the humming grew nearer and she looked up just in time to cover her head with her hands as the deafening roar surrounded her. Massive flapping wings batted her ears and struck the top of her head, as a magpie had done once at home on her uncle's farm. She hated flying insects more than crawling ones and was seriously freaking out. After her first painful sting, which felt like a whip crack across her arm, she cried out and thought her number was up.

She gripped her backpack firmly and swung it at the wasps. The bag began to glow green.

She had forgotten about the key!

Kaylee bent down, crying out in pain as she received another whipping sting across the back of her neck while unzipping the pack. She brought the glowing key up and held it out front of her, like a fiery torch.

Suddenly, the wasp swarm parted to fly around her, every one of them, as if she were a boulder in a stream. It was as though they could not see her anymore, as though she had become ... invisible.

She realised Saorsa's Dragon magic was protecting her and she kneeled low to the ground, heart going dangerously fast and skin stinging in several places. While crouching low to the ground, her line of vision showed her something in the grass that made her heart leap into her throat.

It was one of the Messenger Cats, Topaz. The wasps must have attacked her. She had not been lucky enough though, to possess the magic key to make herself disappear.

'Oh no! Oh please don't be dead ...' Kaylee ran over to the still body in the grass and cautiously put her hand in front of the cat's mouth. The big cat's pink gums were very pale, Kaylee observed, as she felt for the hot moisture of her breath. It was there, but very faint.

Topaz opened one eye. Kaylee jumped back with fright, expecting to be bitten. 'Help ... me,' Topaz whispered barely loud enough to hear. 'Please.'

Kaylee looked around the clearing for help. The wasps had gone for now, thank God. She remembered the plants the Shaman had used sometimes grew down by the riverbank. She strained her ears, listening. There was the sound of rushing water, a river nearby. Kaylee ran to look for the plants. She was very relieved to find that there were some of the special plants growing there. She quickly snatched a few handfuls and raced back to Topaz.

The Shaman had said they were very good for healing cuts, burns and stings. Kaylee chewed some as the Shaman had taught her. They were horrid and bitter tasting but she kept chewing until she was able to spread the masticated plant on the swelling red stings all over the poor cat's body. The flash of pain across the back of her neck, reminded Kaylee of her own stings. She chewed up some more to rub on her own wounds while she was at it. They burned like the worst case of sunburn she had ever had.

No wonder they brought the dragon down. Imagine thousands of those stings all over your body. She felt quite a lot more sympathy for the dragon now.

To begin with Topaz growled and twitched in pain, but after a long while, the plants began to ease the stings and the big cat was breathing more steadily and able to talk more easily.

'I would have died if Opal hadn't sent the Pegasus herd down to help me, the whole lot of them. They came thundering down and flew round in circles making a whirlwind that pushed the swarm back. But the wasps knew I still breathed ... they wanted to finish me off! Payment for all the stoneys I've killed, I guess. They were set to come back for me when you came along. Why didn't they manage to kill you?'

'Saorsa saved me.'

'Seer-who saved you? Is that your mother? Is she here?'

'I wish my mother was here. The dragon saved me; Saorsa is the name I've given her. It was she who sent me the key and the key ... well it glowed. The wasps flew right over me, like I wasn't there anymore?'

'Why? What is it she wants from you?' Topaz asked shrewdly.

'What makes you say that?' Kaylee asked.

'Nobody gets something for nothing; not in these lands, they don't.'

'Alright, yes she does want something. She wants me to get something back from Wilfrey. Something precious he stole from her,' Kaylee said quietly.

'And you're ok with that?' Topaz asked her. Kaylee nodded silently. 'Well, Good luck with that then. You're a lot braver than I thought,' Topaz said.

'It's not bravery that's making me do it,' Kaylee replied honestly. 'She has my father prisoner.'

'Ah! I see. It is as I told you. No one gets something for nothing.'

Kaylee gave the big cat some of her water and offered some of the food she had in her pack ─ cheese and cold roast meat ─ but Topaz just wanted the water. Kaylee sat with her until she could regain enough strength to ward off any more dangers that might come along.

After a couple of hours, Topaz pulled herself up and shook all over, from her head to the tip of her tail, like they do when they get all wet, trying to shake every last drop off. 'I will be alright now Kaylee, thanks to you. I am forever in your debt.' She put her big paw on Kaylee's shoulder and touched her nose to Kaylee's, a cat's version of a kiss.

'Are you sure you will be all right now? I can stay with you longer, if you need me to?'

'I'm sure. That rest helped and those yellow plants did too. You need to meet Jett. He told me to tell you where he was, if I saw you.'

'He did?' Kaylee smiled, she had missed Jett, even Willy, to her surprise.

'He went this morning to get that annoying little fur ball you had with you. I'd have left it with the gnomes, but Jett thought you might want him back.'

They parted ways, Kaylee heading towards the Spirit Village and Topaz back towards the Fire Realm, sticking to the cover of the tree canopy, where she had a lair in a safe cave of her own. Kaylee wandered down the road, feeling a lot more confident now, knowing the power the key held and having used it to save her own hide a few times now. Before long, she saw Jett coming the other way, with Willy riding beside him on the back of a brown and white pony.

The monkey leaned across the pony's neck, in an attempt to pull Jett's whiskers but the big cat was ready for it and batted him away before he could.

'You really ought to be careful who you annoy you know,' Jett stated, unimpressed.

Willy sat on the placid pony's back, scratching his ear with his back leg like a dog, completely ignoring Jett.

'Where did you get that little tunic from then?' The big cat asked.

Willy screeched at him and turning away, put his little palm up as if to say stop!

'Talk to the hand, huh?' Jett sniggered. 'Alright, don't tell me then. Nevertheless, mark my words, one of these days your bad habits are going to turn out very poorly for you, wee fellow. Take those gnome wives, for example. If I hadn't come to reclaim you when I did, they'd have trussed you up like a turkey ready to feed to the dragon!'

The monkey screeched excitedly jumping up and down on the pony's back. Jett thought he was just being rude again, until he looked ahead up the road.

'Kaylee!' He bounded up to her and gave her an affectionate head-boomp.

Kaylee laughed and wrapped her arms round his neck, giving him a firm hug. 'I missed you too, Jett.' She looked at the monkey who was running up and down the pony's back trying to attract her attention. 'And you too, Willy.'

'This pony was sent along for you to ride. From the Shaman of the Spirit people,' Jett told her.

'What for? Not that I mind, she is lovely, but ...?' Kaylee asked.

'I'll tell you that in good time,' Jett said. 'She said to tell you, Paedro, that's the wolf you recall, is healing well.'

'Oh wonderful,' Kaylee cried. 'I was really worried about him.' Kaylee had hoped to see that wolf-boy once more before leaving these lands. 'Thank you for going back for Willy, by the way. I know he's a pain, but I really would feel bad if we let him get into real trouble and didn't help him out of it. I feel sort of responsible for him since taking him from Dougie's place.'

'Not to worry, my dear. It was not terribly difficult to retrieve him. This time at least.' He neglected to mention the fact that the gnome wife had grown very tired of Willy's high jinks and had him trapped in a Dutch oven. She was angrily sitting on the lid, waiting for her husband to go get a rope. She was about to tie him up and send him along nicely gift wrapped to the dragon.

Jett sat on his rump; this was to be an in depth conversation. 'Now, about this pony, it's to take you to the castle.'

'Wait, you know about the dragon's egg?' Kaylee was surprised.

'I didn't before, no. However, I am a Messenger Cat. It is our job to know what is going on everywhere in the Five Realms. We have our ways of learning these things. Besides, the Shaman told me. She saw it in a dream.'

'Wow. That woman has some serious gifts. What else did she see? Do I get it, without getting myself dead?' She said matter-of-factly and sat on a large fallen log by the side of the road.

'Would I be sending you up that mountain, if you didn't?' Jett answered logically.

'Ok, that's a relief then. I suppose I'll believe you.'

'Still ...' Jett added.

Kaylee tensed up. 'I don't like the sound of that.' She said, suspicion growing.

'You'd be surprised what you can live through.' He replied, his face quite serious.

'What?' she almost shouted.

Jett chuckled and stood up, indicating it was time they continued with their journey to Mount Beaton. Kaylee smacked him on the rump as he passed her. 'Don't tease me, cruel thing. This is a very scary quest for a twelve-year-old girl to try to achieve you know.'

'I know my dear. Ah, but you are not just any twelve-year-old girl. The Shaman has told me about your visit with the Tree of Life. That tree knows everything and she has found you worthy of the task. I'm sure you will come out of this alive.'

'Hmmm.' Kaylee wished she believed in herself as much.

Jett told Kaylee that every year Wilfrey had a Masquerade Ball to try to butter up the realms, before giving them his trading terms. There was to be a Ball tonight, Friday the 14th. It would be her best and possibly only, opportunity to get in there and steal the dragon's egg.

Kaylee used the fallen tree to mount the painted pony. With Willy behind her they rode on, wandering through streambeds, trees and plains, ever aware of the looming shadow of the mountain falling across their path.

As they reached the outer limits of the Spirit Realms, they could see the old bridge that crossed the gully. The gully was a deep divide cutting between the road and Mount Beaton.

There sitting by itself, out in the middle of nowhere like a bird-poop on a car-bonnet, was a wishing well. It was made from stone with a tiled roof in a sad state of disrepair. There was a crank-handle for winding up the rope and bucket. On closer inspection, they could see the jagged end of the rope hanging forlornly where an earlier visitor had cut the bucket away.

Kaylee gulped. It felt as though the well was saying, 'All the best. Hope you return, but we don't really like your chances ...'

She remembered the coins Willy had stolen back in the Fire Realm and fished out the little brown leather bag. She tipped the gold coins into her palm and threw them into the well, making wishes for her safe return and that of her father. Kaylee needed all the luck she could get.

By the sounds of things, the well was dry because instead of the expected plop or splash she heard the coins tinkle all the way down inside the stone well.

That is not a good omen, she thought.

When she gave her pony a gentle kick to walk on, Willy jumped off the back unnoticed and climbed down into the well. His tiny agile hands were able to grab at holes in the stonework, easily clambering all the way down. Within moments, he reappeared at the lip of the well, patted his little jade-green pockets to hear a satisfying chink, chink sound.

He lollopped up the road to his friends and clambered back up the pony's stirrups. His absence was hardly even noticed by the others, deep in conversation about Kaylee's plan of attack once inside the castle.

'You must find a way to get down to the dungeons unnoticed. That will be where the Crone is. Look for the egg near a warm fire. Dragon eggs need a lot of heat to hatch,' Jett explained. 'DO NOT let the Crone catch you! It will not be pretty. Wilfrey is cruel, but she is the brains behind that pair.'

28

To Climb a Mountain

Jett and Kaylee neared a deep gully that carved through the road and encircled the base of the mountain. A river ran through this gully and the only way to cross was an old worn-looking wooden bridge.

'Is that safe to cross?' Kaylee asked Jett dubiously.

'Must be? The Fire Realm uses it all the time,' he replied.

'Well, that's very reassuring, I must say,' Kaylee answered sarcastically.

There were two butt-ugly trolls leaning lazily on the posts on either side of the bridge. They were around six feet tall with flabby bellies hanging over their trousers and very unintelligent faces; dull and slack, the goofy look one gets when waking up after having a tooth out at the dentist.

They reminded Kaylee of some of the council workers she had seen leaning on shovels on the roadside at home, directing cars around road works. At this moment they were blowing spitballs at each other through pieces of bamboo.

Kaylee moved her pony forward, intending to just go ahead and cross the bridge, without saying a word to them ─ and see what happens.

'Four knuts, if you want to cross,' the one on the left of her growled.

Kaylee felt quite brave with her key in her backpack and the huge Messenger Cat in her company. She didn't see why she should feel threatened by these two wallies and so just laughed the comment off and kept riding past.

She said, 'I'm not paying you anything. You can't make me!' She edged the pony forward but it began to jump around nervously at the edge. It resolutely did NOT want to cross for some reason. It was dancing about and hopping backwards. Kaylee almost found herself sliding off.

'Ah, Kaylee, you might want to pay the, ah ahem ... gentlemen,' Jett began but Kaylee was determined.

'I can't,' she whispered to Jett, out of the corner of her mouth. She was about to explain when the other troll spoke.

'No, maybe we can't make you,' he said rather casually. Then he banged his gnarly old wooden staff on the bridge three times, like knocking on a door. They could hear the water below, bubbling and churning in the river. A massive pair of heads broke the surface of the water. Long muscular necks supported the two-headed beast which shared the same body. It rose up out of the river, hideously ugly, like a mutated rhinoceros that has run up the back end of a bus and squashed its horn almost flat against its skull. It had beady little eyes and huge sharp teeth, gnashing and slobbering saliva.

'But he can!' The troll said and smiled at Kaylee smugly.

At this Kaylee dropped the reigns giving the pony its freedom. It immediately backtracked smartly off the edge of the bridge and a lot further than that to where Jett was standing. All of them visibly frightened.

'So,' Kaylee said, her casual mask poorly hiding her fear, 'how many knuts or whatever, did you say? Four was it?' The trolls nodded, arms folded over their plump chests, bristly hairs poking out of their black tunics and gloating their unfortunate-looking faces off.

She groaned, climbed off the pony and gave it a pat to calm down. She paused to rub her aching backside. Unused to spending so long in a saddle it felt a bit bruised. She was frowning at the thought that now; she would have no choice but to traipse all the way back to the well. As she was standing there fuming, the monkey had been fiddling about in the tiny pockets of his tunic. He put his little hands out front of her. Four gold coins lay there sparkling.

'Where did you? Wait ... you took these out of the well back there, didn't you?' She plucked the coins from his tiny palms.

The monkey put his hands over his eyes, hiding from the telling off he thought he was about to receive.

'Well, I'll forgive you this time. You're lucky,' Kaylee grinned down at him.

She dumped the coins rudely in the gloating troll's hand, giving him a filthy look as she did so and he banged the bridge with his wooden staff again. The gruesome two-headed beast growled low, likely disappointed at not having new bodies to tear to pieces for dinner. It sank slowly back to the cavernous depths of the deep waters, making it steam and boil like a kettle on the surface and the smell of stagnant swamps drifted up to them.

'Now my wishes won't come true,' Kaylee worried.

Jett replied calmly, 'I don't know how things are done where you come from, but here in The Five Realms, we make our own luck?' He stopped and sat looking at her.

'Maybe you should tell that to Topaz,' she replied.

'Maybe I should,' he said kindly. 'I am afraid this is where I must leave you Kaylee. Wilfrey may not recognise you in your ball-gown and mask but there is no mistaking the big black Messenger Cat.

He and I have a history, I will not go into just now, but I will not be a welcome guest in his castle. Have faith in yourself. You can do anything you believe in your heart and put your mind to.'

'Will I see you again?' she was incredibly sad at the thought of a final goodbye to her good friend.

'You think I would abandon you in the final hour? Never! I will wait for you in the woods. Search for the dungeons and fire. That is where he will have the egg hidden, trying to get it to hatch in secret, away from prying eyes. Don't forget though; keep out of sight of the Crone.'

'Do you really think I can do this Jett?'

He put his paw on her leg, 'Stranger things have happened in this place. Safe journey, Kaylee.'

He turned and headed back towards the forest. The pony edged on to the rickety bridge cautiously and tip-tapped across, each step fearing that it would crumble and fall into the abyss, into the mouths of the monster beneath.

The monkey clung to her head like a hat; she removed his stubbornly gripping hands from her eyes gently, to focus on her goal. The steep road to Wilfrey's castle lay on the other side. She just hoped they would get to the other side.

29

Masquerade Ball

Mid-afternoon, Friday 14

Still half expecting to be devoured mid-crossing by that horrid primeval looking monster in the river, Kaylee had finally persuaded the pony to begin walking over the rickety wooden bridge. In reality, the bridge was more solid than it looked at first glance ─ it had to be, for the ox-drawn wagons from the Fire Realm to cross regularly. Even if the safety of the bridge itself was questionable, there was no other option presenting itself, so across they must go.

From the bottom of the mountain it did not seem too much of a hike up that long winding road. This thought lasted until approximately two-thirds the way up where she hit the snowline and a head wind. That icy wind swirled the snow around, biting her nose with needle-sharp teeth. It howled through her eardrums until they ached. The poor pony beneath her shivered as did the monkey tucked down the front of her jade-green cloak. She lowered her hooded-head trying to shelter him from the worst of the blast.

Most of the other guests would already be there but she was considering turning back to save the poor animals and herself from hypothermia. She did not believe it had been Jett's plan to send his friend up the mountain to become a Popsicle.

Kaylee had not seen the large black-winged horse drop from the sky and land in front of them, but felt it when they were sprayed with a flurry of new fallen snow, which his hooves stirred up. Her pony whinnied a greeting to the Pegasus. His deep-chested reply seemed to perk up the half-frozen pony.

The Pegasus had a big locket about his neck. He moved closer to Kaylee so the locket hung directly in front of her face.

'Do you have a message for me? Is it in here?' She picked up the locket and opened it. Sure enough, inside was a note from Opal. Written in gold lettering it read:

Your courage and determination are admirable but I fear you may freeze to death before reaching the castle. Pegasus will fly you to the castle gates. He will not enter, but will wait nearby for your return. Send your cold pony home. With love,

Opal.

Kaylee smiled and looked up to the floating islands in the sky. 'Thank you!' She called out and blew a kiss through the snow flurries to Opal, hoping someone would see.

Pegasus knelt on his front leg so she could climb up behind his wings.

The pony caught onto the idea quite quickly, that his services were no longer required. He was more than happy to about-turn and head back down the mountain pass for home.

Pegasus leapt into the air. Kaylee grabbed his mane quickly to avoid sliding off his back as they soared upwards in a big spiral which led to the mountaintop in next to no time.

He would not go through the gates, however; there was far too much evil behind those for him to be willing to risk his magnificent hide. In the air, he felt safe, in the hours between dusk and dawn when the wasps slept. But he would not walk into the lion's den. A horse's instinct was too deeply ingrained for that.

Not to worry, Kaylee had the dragon's key and she assured him she would be fine from here. At least she hoped she would.

She stood in awe of Wilfrey Hobb's castle gates. Towering black wrought iron bars topped with spikes. At present, in aid of the Masquerade Ball, they were open.

She slid off her pack and opened it to search for the dragon's key. She dug about and moved things, searched and cursed and began to become seriously worried that she had lost it. Then a thought occurred to her and she looked at the shivering monkey sitting on the snow-covered road. He had his hands behind his back and was looking guilty again.

'Hand it over you!'

Willy handed it over, smartly.

'You're pushing your luck mate! I don't like you that much.'

He screeched and smiled at her with a disturbing grin and she shook her head at him in frustration.

With her eyes closed, she took the key and waved it around her body, starting at her head, then front and back as Saorsa had told her to. She imagined a beautiful dress like the ones that her music dolls at home wore, from the days of Knights and Princesses. Ball gowns with lace, silk, tiny waists and big hips. She felt a heavy weight drag on her body and opened her eyes, almost not believing what she saw.

The gorgeous dress was a deep-purple satin, just like the ones on the dolls. With such a tight waist she found it difficult now to draw a deep breath. It also had a huge bustle on the back.

'Guess where you're going to be hiding?' she smiled at the monkey.

With his other hand, he pulled out a beautiful purple and black mask, glittering with what looked like diamonds. He handed this to Kaylee and she held it up to her face, feeling rather lovely. Thank God, she still had her red Chucks on though. After all, if she was careful, no one could see them under that dress, could they? And she would hate to try learning to walk in her first heels on a mountaintop covered with a layer of slippery ice and snow. That would just be stupid.

She could see the guests from other parts of the Five Realms. They were making their way along the path lit by many flaming torches, leading to the main doors and the castle foyer. Daylight had all but gone and it was now dark enough that a few stars were visible in the indigo sky.

Part of the path wound closer to the fenced grounds where the hagars were kept. They roamed free in there, prowling up and down the high fence, growling at people and baring their teeth.

When Kaylee happened to walk past, two of the hagars seemed to recognise her scent. They began to get over excited, barking, snarling and foaming at the mouth. They were drawing attention she really didn't need right now.

Her heart sped up and a nervous sweat broke out on her forehead when from within the bustle Willy surfaced with a handful of bacon rashers.

Sometimes it was useful having a kleptomaniac for a companion.

He extended his little hand from the edge of her skirt and dropped the bacon beside her dress, as near as he could reach to the hagar's fence. It did a marvellous job of distracting the slobbering, mangy, hairy beasts.

They immediately lost interest in Kaylee and attacked each other, fighting to be first to get to the rashers, which none of them could as they were behind a strong fence. It distracted them until well after Kaylee had made her way into the entrance foyer of the castle and past the stoneys guarding the entry door.

The gargoyles shouted at the hagars to 'shut up and quiet down before the master hears you!' As Kaylee passed through the door behind the other guests the guards had given her a look of deep suspicion; but she was a tall girl, of similar height to most of the other women.

She was walking comfortably in her concealed red Chucks and then of course they could not see her face behind that lovely glittery black and purple mask. She glided past without a hitch, very tempted to high-five the first guest she came across, but instead settled for a well-earned sigh of relief.

Candelabra were everywhere and flaming bowls of oil hung on walls, shedding a romantic light. There were mirrors on every wall, suits of armour in most corners, lethal medieval weaponry on display, tapestries, rugs, statues ─ a glut of riches. This place was a stark contrast to the simple existence everyone else in the Five Realms led, royalty or otherwise.

Kaylee came across a tall ice-sculpture of Wilfrey. She felt naughty but could not resist moving one of the candelabrum closer, positioning it between the ice legs where it would melt his crotch over time. Chuckling to herself she followed the line of guests towards the main ball room.

She could hear the music, smell the roast meat and feel the excitement in the air. So mesmerized by it all, she nearly forgot her mission ... to steal a dragon's egg.

Kaylee had never seen Wilfrey before, but he was not hard to single out from the crowded room of people. She had pictured him in her mind as a dark-haired, greasy looking, smarmy Sales-Rep type of person, who was dressed pompously with more hair-product and makeup on than most women in the room would wear. The guy who laughed louder at his own jokes than anyone present and had to pause and check himself out at every mirror or shiny surface he walked passed.

Actually, he could have been Paul's evil twin, she noted.

Of course Wilfrey had never set eyes on Kaylee either. So initially, he did not recognise her. In any case, he was too full of his own self-importance, lapping up all the attention from the representatives from the Five Realms to take much notice of an unfamiliar young woman in a purple satin gown.

The Boars-Head Inn owner, Rollo from the Fire Realm, was present. He wore a mask but his thick Scandinavian accent was easily recognisable. Betina was his escort this evening, at Wilfrey's request, she told Kaylee.

Betina knew it was Kaylee beneath that purple mask, but she kindly did not let the girl's secret slip. Her thick wavy black locks were elegantly wound up in a silver hair net which sat upon her head like a crown.

Kaylee picked up some savoury item from the buffet table nearby and nibbled at it absentmindedly, while surveying the room out of the corner of her eye. She was near enough to Betina that when Wilfrey approached the lovely gypsy woman, Kaylee could eavesdrop on their conversation. Wilfrey was at present asking Betina 'did she have any idea who the strange girl was?'

Kaylee nearly choked on her chicken kebab. Never fear though, Betina feigned ignorance of this girl of whom he had spoken. Wilfrey then kissed her hand, lingering way longer than is polite and looked up at her with his seedy goo-goo eyes. When he finally turned and ponced away, she wiped her hand on her skirt in disgust.

The representatives from the Water Realm were there. Even though he was wearing a mask, it was obviously Captain Riordan. They did not call him Pinky for nothing. Through his arm, was the arm of a vivacious and buxom lady-friend. Kaylee kept up her mask to hide from him, but he seemed rather distracted by his lady-friend so she escaped his notice for now.

Kaylee grabbed a goblet of some red liquid from the tray of a servant man wandering about the ballroom and sipped experimentally. 'Wine, yuck! Why do grown-ups drink that rubbish?' She put the goblet back down on the tray of the next servant who came along.

The Wind Realm had sent two lovely Elvin people Kaylee had not yet met. Wearing masks was like putting a red nose on an elephant. Those angelic people would stand out in a crowd no matter what mask they wore. She caught their eyes as they passed, but they just smiled at her kindly and carried on their conversation as they towered above the shorter people in the hall. Which was pretty much everyone.

Speaking of shorter people, the Earth Realm's gnome King, Mossbreath, was there laughing and joking with his partner, a sweet little gnome woman with wavy red hair and a pleasant smile. His purple beard was a lovely accessory for the event. He recognized Kaylee and smiled, eyes creased mischievously.

However King Mossbreath was not one to be anyone's puppet. He did not go out of his way to do Wilfrey any favours. It was King Mossbreath's opinion that if the vain twaddle was too much a fool to see an enemy in his ballroom, then the man deserved whatever mayhem the girl brought to him. He winked and played along with it to see how far she could get with her crazy plan ... whatever that may be.

'Hello, I don't believe we've met. What is your name dear?' He asked politely as they approached.

Kaylee hoped that the King wasn't going to blow her cover. 'Ah, it's um, Joan?' She was freaking out; Joan of Arc was the first medieval woman she could think of. Mossbreath could expose her easily, but did not. Perhaps he felt bad for sending her down the garbage chute. Well, and so he should.

'Good evening, Joan,' he gave Kaylee an exaggerated wink, 'this is my good friend Rose of Bracken woods.'

Rose put her hand out to Kaylee, 'Pleased to meet you, Joan. I loooove that gown you have on. Purple really is my favourite colour.' She beamed an affectionate smile at King Mossbreath and gave his purple beard a friendly scratch under the chin.

'We hope to see some more of you tonight then.' He put his arm through Rose's and they moved on to mingle with the crowd some more. Kaylee let out a relieved sigh.

There was a group of musicians playing in the corner. One had a strange medieval guitar, one a flute and the third a type of drum. The music was a bit naff Kaylee thought, but ok once you got used to it. She boogied a little to herself where she stood, while looking about for the best place to begin the search for the dungeon rooms. Also deciding how best to make her exit with the minimum of notice from everyone, especially their host, Wilfrey the Vain!

The Shaman had told Jett that she would not be coming to the ball. In her words, she told him, 'She couldn't stand the idiot and was planning on sending Cherish in her place instead.'

Cherish was dancing with a handsome young gentleman, both in their traditional leather clothes; pale white in colour with tiny shells and beads sewn into the tunic in wonderful geometric designs. The man wore leggings and Cherish had a longish dress, but her lovely brown legs were still showing from the calf down, drawing many an approving stare from the men. She wore white moccasins to match her dress, with tiny silver bells on them. These tinkled wondrously as she danced.

She saw Kaylee but pretended not to recognise her.

When the music stopped, Cherish came over to get a drink from the table where Kaylee stood.

'Hello, Cherish. I hope Paedro is still doing well?' Kaylee asked her quietly, though there was much chatter in the room and no one could have overheard their conversation unless they were right in front of her.

'Yes, my son is doing well now, barely a limp. Thank you for your kind thoughts.'

'Your son?' This revelation was a surprise to Kaylee.

'Yes, he would be about your age now.'

Kaylee looked at the man with her. 'Is this his ─?'

'No. No it's not. His father could not deal with what happened to our son. He went away one evening and we have not seen him in years.'

'Oh, I'm sorry, that must have been hard on your family,' Kaylee replied.

'We fear he may have fallen prey to the stoneys or hagars. This is my cousin, Dante,' Cherish said, not wanting to dwell on sad days.

'Hello, Dante,' their tribe didn't shake hands so they just nodded to each other respectfully. 'Well you two have fun tonight. I must be going. Things to see, places to be,' Eggs to steal she did not say, but was anxious to get the darned thing and get out of here, before she was caught.

As she mingled, observing all the colourful clothes and strange people, Kaylee proceeded to have a sneaky nosey about the castle. She could rule out the need to venture up the large stone staircases, much as curiosity tempted her to do so.

But then again ... the night was young, she was twelve and a bit rebellious. She was about to venture up the stone staircase when a tall, cadaverous looking man stepped out of the shadows.

'Oh, Hello,' Kaylee said realising right away that she should never have spoken to him. No one ever spoke to him and now that she had made the effort, the blighter would not shut up.

'I am Edmund, the Master's manservant of course. I have been in the Guardian's employ for forty odd years now. Master Hobbs would be lost without me, yes sir. He couldn't find his left hand with his right if you laid it out on the bed in front of him ...'

Kaylee was polite to start with saying the occasional 'Mmm hm' and 'Aha' in the appropriate places of his endless dribble. In her mind, the clock was ticking, ticking and although this was not a Cinderella deal and she did not plan on turning into a pumpkin at midnight or anything, she still wanted to just get the darned egg and get the heck out of that castle.

He was still talking about 'starching undies' or some rubbish when she finally ran out of patience, 'Alrighty then! Cool story bro!' She fist-bumped the stunned manservant, then toddled off up the staircase as though she lived there.

She went about six steps then glanced back, but he was not following her. Instead he was wandering into the ballroom shaking his head from side to side, confused, and muttering the words cool story bro?

Everyone else seemed otherwise occupied so she carried on up the stone staircase, all the way to the top where pictures of only Wilfrey hung on every wall space. Sheesh, man. Someone has self-esteem issues.

Lighting the way were long handled torches flaming in iron brackets attached to the stone wall. She could see from the doorways of the many, many bedrooms beautiful four-poster beds, lavishly draped with heavy burgundy velvet canopies. Each room had a massive fireplace, many of them with the fire lit in preparation for guests who would stumble into them later on.

One room was a little smaller and filled with wardrobes. She ducked in and opened the door of one with a loud intrusive 'creak!' It bulged with men's clothes and shoes in the fashion of the age.

Over by the wall stood a duchess with rice powder and white wigs on hat stands. Yes siree, a dandy Wilfrey was for certain. No wonder he had no wife. There was no place in his heart for anyone but his own fine self by the looks of things.

Satisfied with her little look around, although she would love to have gone out on the roof to see the stars and two moons, Kaylee knew she was just procrastinating.

Who wouldn't, she thought.

Not like it was a nice thing to have to go down to a dungeon, dodge a witch and steal a dragon's egg without being caught by hideous stone gargoyles or their horrid pig-dog pets, was it? All armed with nothing more than an iron key, which possessed powers ─ some of which she was not even aware and a mischievous little spider monkey.

Oh, heck! She'd managed to lose Willy. Where had the little bugger disappeared to now? 'Oh dear,' She said. Not much to be done about it right now. Kaylee just hoped she found the dragon's egg before Willy got up to his usual tricks.

She descended the staircase feeling rather grand in her lovely dress. She passed through the foyer again and into the ballroom. The long rows of tables were bursting with delicious food; roast vegetables, chicken, pork steaks and lamb shanks.

There was a massive fireplace which had a whole side of beef roasting on a spit inside. A servant stood there turning the handle slowly and basting it with some delicious looking red substance, which smelled like Barbeque Sauce.

Her tummy rumbled as she passed pewter dishes filled with corn, breads, gravy jugs and even a large dish with a pheasant nestled in the centre of its own eggs. There was a suckling pig with an apple in its mouth and a huge fish surrounded by Caviar, called a Sturgeon, somebody told her.

An impressive stack of wine glasses was displayed along one side of the room. Numerous wine glasses were stacked in a tall, intricate pyramid shape which was balanced precariously. Each wine glass half full of red wine, very striking.

There was a big space in the middle of the room for ballroom dancing. High above them Kaylee stared in wonder at the arched gothic ceiling. From this several gigantic candelabra were hung with what must have been at least thirty candles each. The wax from these would often drip onto an unsuspecting passerby.

Wilfrey was not a king but that did not stop him from possessing a very grandiose King-like throne. He sat in this at the top of the hall, staring about the room in his patronising way.

Kaylee ducked into the crowd, trying to avoid his attention as much as possible.

Colourful leadlight windows were everywhere. Their arched shapes threw colourful crisscrossed patterns of moonlight across the flagstone floor and walls. Arched doorways led to side rooms, many with more large fireplaces. Castles were obviously rather difficult to keep warm. Now she understood the barren forests of stumps in the Fire Realm down below.

Kaylee's thoughts turned to her good friend Jett. She hoped he was all right down in the woods, awaiting her safe return. With a bit of luck, all the stoneys were up here for the night.

Forbidden to enter the ballroom, still they were standing guard at all exit and entry points around the castle.

That is going to make things a little tricky, Kaylee thought.

Jett had told her to search for the dungeons and a fire ─ the egg needed somewhere warm to hatch ─ all the while avoiding Wilfrey, the crone, the stoneys and hagars.

'No pressure, Kaylee,' she told herself once more.

Kaylee slipped between people dancing, drinking and generally acting the goat and headed directly toward the lower level hallway. She passed a room that appeared to be the kitchen, judging by all the servants rushing round with trays, mixing bowls of batter and kneading dough on enormous floury tables.

From within the kitchen Kaylee heard a rather plump older woman say, 'Ah, ah! Not for Wilfrey. Do not put any greens on his plate for heaven's sakes! He's likely to throw it at you.'

She wore a white apron and had her grey hair tied up tidily in a white cap. She had been scolding a young servant girl. The girl pulled the greens off the plate and tossed them aside to the dogs on the floor.

The dogs did not want them either.

The plump woman noticed Kaylee hovering in the doorway. 'Can I be helpin' ya dear? You're lookin' a bit lost.'

'Oh, sorry. I am. Where's the ah, you know, the ladies?' she whispered. She had no dratted idea what to call toilets in these times.

The woman looked very puzzled. Then it dawned on her, 'Oh, you'll be meaning the gardy-loo then? It'll be on the corner, first floor up dear. Hold your breath and breathe through your mouth for a time, if ya get my drift.' She whispered kindly.

'Thank you, I'm in a bit of a hurry really,' Kaylee said.

The plump woman's smile turned to a frown. 'Oh dear, I hope the pork's not gone bad. They'll be droppin' like flies,' she muttered and waddled out to the tables presumably to test the pork.

Keeping well out of the way of the guards, was going to be a bit of a mission, Kaylee realized, when she found herself following a pair of them at a discreet distance. The two gargoyles were ambling along the passage like a couple of hired thugs. One stopped and turned aside to a Knight's suit of armour, 'What you lookin' at?' he snarled at it, then punched it in the face. The pair laughed as it tumbled in pieces to the floor.

They turned the corner where moonlight fell in a slant through the tall narrow slit of a window. It showed the opening of a narrow staircase, spiralling down to a lower level, on the corner. A turret, Kaylee thought they were called. That is what I want, she thought both scared stiff and excited.

She hung back until the stoneys had turned into another passage. Then she tried to negotiate those tiny little steps, where only the narrowest slit of moonlight shone through to light the dark staircase. After immediately tripping on her dress in the dark, she about-turned back up the stairs, grabbed a flaming torch from the wall in the upper level, in order not to break her neck, and headed back down the spooky spiral into the darkness.

At the bottom, everywhere was black except for one room. Noises and horrid smells came from that room. Delightful ... must be the place I am after, she guessed. She crept forward, almost rigid with fear and realized that the light she carried would likely give her away.

She dumped the torch in the water that trickled across the floor wetting the hems of her skirts, before she got close to the Crone's dingy room. Ghastly smells assaulted her senses, triggering a gag reflex. She had to pause and swallow a couple of times, you can't throw up, nope, just cannot do it!

There were cages of ferrets and other small animals hanging from the roof beams. She had to dodge these and watch where she stepped, trying not to slide off the slimy planks beneath her chucks. Again, she was pleased she did not have heels on.

The Crone stood, hunched over a bubbling cauldron with her back to Kaylee. She had messy long white hair and a ragged dirty dress.

The main fireplace in the room was off to the side, thankfully. Kaylee had to creep closer to see if the egg was there. It had better be, because she had no plan 'B' if it were not!

The Crone's pet crow sat on a shelf in the shadows, unseen by Kaylee. It was near the door and had seen the girl enter. It cawed a loud warning to the Crone.

Kaylee had to think quickly and shut it up before the Crone noticed her. She grabbed a bucket from the floor nearby and slapped it over the bird, adding a goatskin she yanked off the wall. The crow still cawed but the noise was muffled enough to be hidden by the various potions and pots bubbling and gurgling in the dungeon chamber, as well as the crackle and hiss of the fire in the hearth.

Hiding as best she could Kaylee crept toward the fireplace. She was doing well until she spied the shining large rocklike egg sitting in a wrought iron cradle. It was very close to the fire, almost touching the flames. In her keen haste to get the egg, her wide skirt snagged the edge of a broom leaning against the wall. It hit the floor with a loud 'BANG!'

Kaylee ducked beneath a sturdy bench next to the wall. 'Fudge nuggets!' She hissed at herself in frustration and shivered in the dark, expecting to be discovered any moment now.

The Crone looked around with that creepy, white wonky eye, her long fingernails gripping the neck of a dead bird. She was short with a hunched back and shuffled in Kaylee's direction a little, then paused and looked suspiciously from side to side around the dungeon. 'Is someone there?'

Kaylee was well hidden but sweating buckets.

Finally, the Crone lost interest and went back to what she had been doing; tossing disgusting things into her bubbling green cauldron.

Kaylee summoned all her courage and crept out from beneath the shelf, more careful of her large skirts this time, over to where the egg sat in a cradle made from metal.

It was pretty dark even in the firelight, but she could just see the golden gleam from the scale-like shell. When she picked it up, it felt like she imagined snakeskin might feel like. However, it was too dark to see the true depth of all its colours yet. Then the scolding heat in her fingertips made it through to her brain.

Smothering her urge to cry out, she quickly slipped it into the special heat-resistant cloth the dragon had placed in her backpack. Unable to zip it completely closed she tucked it back in the bustle. Sucking her burned fingers and with a last check to make sure the Crone was distracted, she snuck out of the dungeon, tip-toeing silently down the hall and up the spiral stairs again only to bump straight into Wilfrey at the top.

'Oh dear,' she gasped, clutching her hand to her heart dramatically. 'I seem to have gotten a little lost, thank heavens you found me,' she blurted out the big fat lie.

30

Willy Tries to Help

Wilfrey knew he had not seen this young lady before, but had his suspicions about who she must be. He could not believe his luck. The girl he had been trying to find had fallen right into his lap. He wanted to know why she was here in the realms and how she came to be there. 'Come, my dear, join me for a dance. I do not believe we have met. Tell me, what is your name?'

'Ah ... Joan,' Kaylee lied. 'I've been meaning to ask you about this old key I found. I was told you were a very wise and powerful man and might be able to help me find out who made it.' Flattery was her best weapon against this conceited man.

'You were well informed, my dear. I am the very man to help. If you would be so kind as to let me see the key, I could possibly ─'

Kaylee was not that silly. If he got his hands on it, she would never get it back. 'I can't just now, I'm afraid. I left it with friends in the Water Realm. I'd be glad to show you later sometime, perhaps.'

'Certainly. I must say, I am wondering, why is this key of such importance to you?'

He had looped his arm through hers, the action making her skin crawl and led her to the dance floor. Oh Lordy, I don't know how to dance ...

She'd never been good with lies, but he was awaiting her answer. 'No reason really. I just like it and wondered where it came from. I'm going home soon and ... um,' Kaylee was scared she had said too much, but was a bit caught short by his quick-fired questions. She avoided mentioning the dragon though.

'And where, pray tell, would home be?' Wilfrey asked, leading her around the dance floor in simple moves that she managed nobly to bluff her way through.

Oh, bugger! Not prepared for that one she had to make an excuse to leave and regroup. 'Do you know, I find I need to use the, ah, where one goes to be in private? Girly stuff, you know?' She knew that would make him uncomfortable. It always did with men.

'Yes, of course, right over that way on the corner. Follow the smell.' He pointed in the direction of the gardy-loo; suspecting the girl was stalling.

Kaylee hurried away, every step conscious of the light thump of the egg in her backpack, clipped to her waist beneath the bustle.

Wilfrey watched her leave, his eyes fixed on her back. Without looking, he picked some food off a passing tray and nibbled it, holding his goblet in the other hand. Part of his nibbles broke off and plopped into his glass. Wilfrey muttered annoyance, 'Oh, what the ...?' He fiddled about fishing out the soggy nibblet. When he looked up, the girl Joan was gone from sight.

He was planning on what he would do with this girl when he had gotten the truth from her, how to make her disappear. Maybe he would get the Crone to turn her into something ... unnatural.

When Willy the monkey finally made an appearance, he did it in true simian style by creating a perfect diversion. Whether deliberate or just as was his usual habit of attracting mayhem. In the Ball Room, he had been stealing food as usual. He had grown bored with this and discovered the pretty pyramid of fancy wine-filled glasses. It was their fault for making it so tempting, really.

Willy crawled along unseen beneath the tablecloth, tying shoelaces he came across as he went. When he reached the wine glass display, he stretched his skinny arm up and pulled out one of the bottom glasses. All came crashing down in a loud smashing pile; red wine splattered dresses and tablecloths. Women screamed at the ruining of their lovely gowns and men yelled at the women who were screaming.

This caused more chaos and commotion with people jumping out of the fray and others unhelpfully cramming up closer to see what had caused it. Several men found Willy had tied their bootlaces while they had sat dining and when they jumped out of their seats to see what all the commotion was about, they tripped and stumbled into each other.

Willy ran from the scene; his work here ... was done.

Unfortunately, Wilfrey grabbed him as he scampered past and held him up eyeball to eyeball, literally shaking with fury.

He held him at arm's length, fist tightly clenched in the little monkey's tunic. He moved swiftly and dangled the monkey threateningly out the nearest castle window. Beneath it was a perilous drop. Wilfrey snarled, 'Tell me primate, how do you think your head is going to look on one of the spikes on top of my castle!'

Wilfrey had heard from the Crone that the girl travelled with a monkey. He was not the sharpest tool in the shed but he had put two-and-two together. It was obvious that the strange girl called Joan he had met earlier was here with the little fleabag. 'Guards, find that girl! The one in the purple dress!'

The monkey jutted his arms straight up above his head and in the wriggling struggle, managed to slip free of his tunic. Screaming pitifully, he fell down ... and down ...

Meanwhile, Kaylee, who had been frantically searching for a way out, heard the uproar behind her. In her blind panic, she had run for it, up the stairs. Up and up, as high as she could. She didn't know where she was heading; it was just a fight-flight reaction to her fear to climb when scared of pursuit ... particularly with a now twice stolen dragon's egg on her person.

She heard gargoyles coming up the hall. She could not yet see, but knew it was them by the horrid clicking sound they made with their stone fangs and scraping of their concrete feet on the smooth flagstone surface.

Desperate, Kaylee climbed to an arched window, gripped the sides and poked her head out looking for some way to climb down. However, outside the window was just a dizzying drop into nothingness. She panicked, heart rate beating flat-out in her ears and temples. She looked back to the hallway, sure she was about to be caught. When she swung her eyes back to the open window, she spied the wide black wingspan of the Pegasus flying towards her.

She took a deep breath and then made a huge leap of faith out the window. She barely had time to scream in the few terrifying seconds before she landed securely on his back. She closed her eyes in relief as they flew down to the safety of the woods where her friend Jett waited.

It was not until she was safe on the ground again that it occurred to her that Willy was still somewhere up at the castle.

'He'll be alright,' Jett said. 'Go take that egg back to its Mama. I'll wait for Willy.'

'Right! Out! The party is over, you can all get out!' Wilfrey shouted.

The guests were leaving now anyway; they had had quite enough of Mr Hobb's company for one evening.

Wilfrey had realised what the girl was after and stormed down to the dungeon to check on the egg. The Crone saw him coming and her eyes darted to the fireplace. Her face froze, 'It's gone ...' she said under her breath.

Sure enough, Wilfrey saw the cradle by the fire was empty. Stolen! By a girl. A cunning little girl!

Blood boiling he grabbed a knife from the table and went stab, stab, stab randomly on a pewter plate, then again into the table surface itself, venting his frustration. He stopped and gave the Crone a terrifying stare that would make others shrink to their knees.

'Something vexes thee?' She answered in an annoyingly calm tone, as though he was a three-year-old toddler packing his usual tantrum.

He almost had steam coming out of his ears, 'YOU... LET... HER... STEAL... MY... EGG! THAT'S WHAT!'

'Don't worry Junior,' she had not called him that in years and MAN did he hate it. 'You're going to get it back.'

He was about to nut off at her again, but those last words brought him up short.

'I am?' He narrowed his dark eyebrows at her suspiciously. 'How?'

Last thing we saw of Willy was when he was dangling precariously outside the castle window and then slipping through his tunic, presumably plummeting down the mountainside to a grizzly death on the snowy rocks below.

However, Willy proved to be a little harder to get rid of than that. He slipped through his tunic and was falling alarmingly but managed to reach out and grab hold of one of the castle's real stone gargoyles on the way down.

It was a simple matter from there to swing his way down the castle wall. He hid from the falling snow in a wagon belonging to one of the guests at the Ball.

Willy fell asleep waiting for them to leave and when they did begin rumbling down the mountain trail again, he waited until the woods were in sight and jumped ship.

31

Kaylee and Pegasus

Oh how Kaylee looked forward to the day when she never had to venture near those dreaded caves again. Ruby was waiting for her this time, but Kaylee was utterly exhausted. She needed rest. It was after midnight and although she had not turned into a pumpkin, the inside of her head felt like one ─ all thick and mushy, with her brain refusing at this late hour to function properly.

She snuggled close to Ruby, wrapping her chilled body in the fluffy fur and dropped, almost instantly, off to sleep. As she slumbered with the beautiful egg in her pack, clutched in her arms tight, the egg began to crack, just a little.

Ruby purred loudly and Kaylee slept on.

Saturday 15 November

Kaylee was alarmed when she woke up early the next morning to find cracks all over the egg. She wanted to get the egg to its mother, before it emerged completely. Together with Ruby, she raced through the tunnels, unimpeded this time by gnomes or frogs. With Kaylee clutching both the egg and Ruby's fur, she clung to the fluffy cat's back, shouting 'Baby coming through!' to get the egg to Saorsa before it hatched.

Once in the dragon's cavern where it was lighter, Kaylee was utterly mesmerized by its beauty. She had seen a pretty stone in a Hippy shop once, Fire Agate. The egg was exactly like that. It looked like it had scales like a snake ─ gold yes, but also stunning iridescent green, red, orange and brown. That was the rare beauty of the dragon's egg.

They all heard scratching sounds coming from inside the shell and it rocked around the ground a bit, almost tumbling over the edge, but Saorsa caught it protectively with her pointed tail.

Suddenly it cracked open, the shell splitting into three pieces and the head of a gorgeously cute, clumsy baby dragon popped up. He was a softer, rounder version of his mother. The baby was more green than blue though and his nose was not so long ─ more chubby and rounded. Nevertheless, they both shared the same pointed tails.

The new mother dragon seemed a little unsure of how to handle her new baby, but was literally purring with pleasure the whole time. She snuggled her nose in close to the little guy, who freaked out at her size and hid. However, after a short while he decided he quite liked this Mama creature and the two shared a very tender moment, which brought joyful tears to everyone's eyes.

The bars on Greg's cell disappeared and Saorsa looked at him, 'Greg, you are free to go. Kaylee, I can never thank you enough. Thank you both.'

When the little dragon had curled into his mother's feet and fallen asleep, Saorsa the Dragon said to them both, 'To get home again, go back to the Iron Gates. Hold the key and think of your mother. Say these words, "To find your heart's desire, trust in the key of fire." The key will take you home.'

'Ah! So that's what those words in that old book were for?' Kaylee said grinning madly.

32

Going Home

Elated beyond words, Kaylee walked hand in hand with her father, down the road to the Spirit Realm. She noticed with a chuckle that the candy cottage had disappeared again but it did provoke a slight foreboding unease, wondering what the old bat had planned next.

She left the beautiful purple gown with the villagers in exchange for another set of leather leggings, these being more comfortable and suited for travelling in. There they met up with Jett and Willy, who Kaylee was so happy to see, was safe.

The Shaman was there holding the lead ropes of two brown ponies. She gave Kaylee a hug and said, 'Take these ponies. They will get you there faster. Jett will bring them home.' Jett had agreed to accompany them, to see they made it safe to the Iron Gates.

Their journey back to the beautiful gardens was relaxed and filled with excitement. They had stopped at Betina's caravan to thank her and say, 'Goodbye.'

Betina embarrassed Greg and made Kaylee laugh when she said, 'Oh, he is very handsome, your father. I think I would fight a dragon to be getting him back, also. Hmm?'

The people of the Fire Realm were busy with scythes, gathering hay in their fields. They waved out to the small group as they walked by. Jett suggested they stop at Dougie's to drop Willy off.

Dougie was somewhat pleased to see Willy; at least for the first five minutes or so.

The corn stalks were growing taller in the fields, reminding Kaylee summer was in full swing and it was nearing Christmas time in New Zealand.

She chatted to her father happily about their plans for a real Christmas tree this year. She had grown to love the pine scent in the Spirit Realms and wanted to have that scent all through the house.

Greg asked his daughter how she had been doing at school. To which Kaylee told him she had been doing all right, but would have been doing better if he had been around. She looked sad and he pulled her close for a comforting hug. Then she brightened up and said, 'I'm sure going to have some good ideas to send in a story for National November Writing Month though!'

'You will at that,' her Dad smiled back.

A few crows in the field suddenly took to the skies, squawking in annoyance. The small group of travellers thought nothing of it, until a few of the corn stalks moved. Greg stopped, his hand shot protectively out in front of his daughter right before a snarling black face burst forth from the cornfields and stood, feet spread and baring its teeth.

Jett leapt in front of them prepared to attack the hagar, but there was never only one. He looked around for the others and sure enough, two more of the huge black creatures slinked from the cornfields, slobbering, snarling and snapping at their feet.

They turned to run, not expecting to get far, but not wanting to wait around to be torn to shreds either. However, it was no use. Wilfrey emerged, riding on the back of a black horse with several gargoyles that had now come out of hiding in the cornfield to reveal themselves.

They cocked their heads to the side, grinning evilly, flexing their bony-clawed fingers and clacking their teeth ─ the sound made your blood run cold.

Jett was strong and brave, but he was also practical. They were outnumbered and there was no way his sacrifice could do any good at this time. Better to wait and try a different plan at a more opportune time. Still, he moved closer to Kaylee, growling menacingly at the hagars. He was not about to stand idly by and watch his new friend be maimed, either.

Wilfrey stood looking smug. 'Thought you were so smart girl, didn't you! Taking advantage of my good nature and hospitality, to steal from me!'

Kaylee, like her new friend Paedro the wolf-boy, could not hold back the truth, 'Steal? From you? You stole that egg,' she dare not tell him it had now hatched, 'from its mother! You are the thief! Good nature my butt ... you're a ... vain, arrogant, egotistical ─' She had a whole line-up of insults ready for him.

He interrupted her tirade, not even slightly bothered. He knew he had the upper hand now.

'Return the egg in seven days and you can have your father back. If you fail to return it to me, your father will die.' He shot a glare at Jett. 'And your pet puss won't be able to save you.'

Jett snarled, 'Ye of little faith, Wilfrey. I think you need another scar on your face, like that one I gave you. Even them up a bit. Hmm?' He knew this would anger Wilfrey, but he would rather Wilfrey directed his anger at him and not the helpless girl.

'But ... Dad?' Kaylee was heartbroken. 'How do I? I can't ...'

She was really torn. She had only just gotten him back; she just couldn't be losing him again so soon.

He hugged her to his chest, furious and wanting to protect her. Nevertheless, now that she was so close to the gates, they both realised she desperately needed to get home and see her mother.

'Go, honey. It will be alright,' Greg spoke softly into the hair on top of his daughters head.

Wilfrey nodded to the gargoyles and they rushed forward to pull Greg away from his daughter. Kaylee cried out, hands outstretched as her father was wrenched from them, 'Nooooo! Please, don't do this!' she sobbed.

Grabbing him roughly, they tied Greg's hands and feet together. They dumped him on the back of a small wagon one of the gargoyles was dragging along.

Lying in the wagon Greg shouted out, 'I will be ok, won't I, Wilfrey? Because if I'm not ok,' he winked at Kaylee to warn her to keep silent on that one, 'then you are not going to get that egg unless I am in one piece!'

Wilfrey did not say a word, just grinned that evil fake smile of his.

'It's alright; I have faith in you Kaylee.' Greg called to his daughter as the gargoyle dragged the wagon away. 'You can do this. Go see your mother. She needs you too. I know you'll come back.'

Her heart dragged on the ground along with her backpack. Kaylee trudged like a prisoner condemned, up to the iron gates with faithful Jett still at her side. The day had started so happily and now here she was, watching Wilfrey's hoard of evil take her father away in ropes on a wagon.

She took out the iron key at the huge gates and turned to her loyal friend Jett, to say a tearful goodbye.

Jett put his heavy paw on her arm, 'I'll be seeing you again my dear. Take care, little one.'

She sniffed back the tears and nodded, trying to give him a positive smile.

Closing her eyes Kaylee conjured up all the loving images of her mother she could; baking muffins, reading stories, cuddling her, putting plasters on her stubbed toe ... many, many memories. She could feel and hear the key humming as she said the incantation Saorsa instructed. "To find your heart's desire, trust in the key of fire."

When she opened her eyes again, she took a deep, relieved breath.

She was home. In addition, the clothes she had been wearing had gone, replaced with exactly the grey sweatshirt and blue jeans she had been wearing the day she disappeared.

She sniffed the air in the dark recesses at the back of the Chameleon Shop, expecting to smell that addictive scent of old books, but was surprised to smell chocolate instead and maybe spices. She reached out a hand to feel the shelves and there were large glass jars and tins of things. Next to them there was what felt like a cold marble mortar and pestle.

Saorsa had told her that hadn't she. The shop and the clock will reset every time you return home.

She could hear a woman humming a pleasant tune and for a second dared to hope it was her mother, but she knew in her heart it wasn't. She eagerly walked towards the sunlight coming through the windows at the front and discovered the shop was now a Chocolate Shop!

'Hello Kaylee, I've been expecting you.' The beautiful dark haired woman at the counter smiled.

How does she know my name?

'Come sit, take a load off. I have made you some hot chocolate, with just a pinch of chilli-powder in this one. You look like you could do with a good pick me up...'

End of Book One
Author's Notes:

This book is the first in the Chameleon Shop Series. Keep an eye out for Books Two and Three, coming soon.

Anyone interested in visiting Mitchell's Cottage, New Zealand, it is actually in the South Island, near Alexandra, Otago.

The little rural town of Feilding where Kaylee was from does exist but it is not actually near Mitchell's Cottage, being in the Manawatu, North Island of New Zealand. Blame it on an Artistic License, the freedom to tweak things a bit to make a better story.

There are many positive themes running through this book. Children are our future. Teaching them is the key to a better world.

About the Author:

Teresa Schulz (Author) has a Diploma in Science and Technology (Massey University, Palmerston North) and a Certificate in Freelance Journalism (NZIBS).

She lives in Feilding, New Zealand and is a mother, a rescuer of stray animals who follow her children home, a collector of dragons and anything Celtic.

Teresa loves to lose herself in the fantastical worlds of her stories. She tries to find a little humor in every day, or a unique soul to use as inspiration for characters in her next novel.

Keep a lookout for The Chameleon Shop Book 2 out now

You can find Teresa at her website

<https://teresaschulz.com/>

On Twitter <https://twitter.com/vetgirl4>

Or facebook https://www.facebook.com/Teresa.M.SchulzAuthor

