Chapter 58
Blackfriars Wood, Wealdshire. Saturday 6 June 1998
Shadow spread the blanket on the grass and lay back on it. Misty joined him and the two lay looking at the sky through the shifting filter of oak and birch leaves. It was one of those June mornings when everything looks green, fresh and permanent. Neither spoke for a while, both of them content to feel the breeze caress their skin, watch the gentle swaying of leaf-bedecked branches, and listen to the sounds of summer.
The time gate was nearby, but Misty and Shadow weren't expecting to see Josie and Chris. The twins had said that they were having a rest from time travel after all their recent adventures. They'd taken all the necessary steps to ensure that Andrew Starling would be transported, and had visited the magistrate a few months later to hear that the convict had been tried at Kingsbourne Assizes before being sent to the hulks on the Thames to await his passage to New South Wales.
'I've . . . something to tell you,' Misty said.
She waited for a prompt to continue — just a grunt would have sufficed. When none was forthcoming, she turned her head to the side. And saw that Shadow was watching her lips, waiting for them to move.
'I saw Rupert last night,' she continued.
Shadow closed his eyes, ostensibly to shield them from the light. 'Did you decide on a date?' he asked.
Misty said nothing for a moment. 'There won't be a date.'
Trying to show no emotion, neither sadness nor relief, Shadow said 'Oh. Why's that then?'
'Why do you think?'
'Well — maybe Rupert has decided he doesn't want to marry someone who is always zooming off to live in woods — or he's a bit worried that if he crosses you, you'll magick him — or he's found someone else — or . . .'
'Or what?'
'Or . . . um . . . or . . . you've found someone else.'
'Yeah . . . maybe. Something like that.'
Shadow said nothing. He had a lot to think about. Was she trying to tell him something? When her fingers crawled across the blanket and found his, he thought he had his answer.
'What's that!'
They sat up and listened. No voices, just the sound of many feet trampling through the wood.
They looked round.
Yellow-jackets. Dozens of them.
And the sound of heavy machines starting up. Bulldozers?
Blackfriars Wood was about to be cleared. And Shadow, the battery for his mobile phone being flat, had no way of calling for support.
'Bastards!' Shadow bellowed. 'I thought they'd wait until they'd secured Stumblefrith before starting here. And I hoped Starling's letter would have put a stop to the whole project. If they demolish this wood today, and on Monday the work is called off, I'm going to feel very, very sick. There's nothing we can do.'
Misty gripped his arm. 'Stay cool. Just wait.'
Shadow looked at her. How could she be so calm when the wood was about to be ravaged and they could do nothing to prevent it? 'Misty — they're about to flatten Blackfriars. Those are bulldozers you can hear.'
'Just wait,' she whispered.
Shadow frowned. 'Have you got something up your sleeve?' he asked, doubting very much if she could allay his fears.
'No. I can do nothing. But wait and see what happens.'
What happened was that several hundred men lined the sides of a corridor through which the bulldozers would push their way, annihilating everything which lay in their path.
Two policemen approached Shadow and Misty and politely asked if they would leave the site. Having only two protesters to deal with, neither of them showing any sign of putting up a fight, the police could afford to be patient. Shadow slowly picked up the blanket, shook it to remove the odd piece of clinging grass, and folded it.
'This way, if you please, sir,' directed one of the constables.
'This way, miss,' said the other.
Followed by the two policemen, Shadow and Misty made their through the trees towards one of the lines of yellow-jackets.
Shadow couldn't stop silly ideas running through his head. Would the time gate still work when it had been scraped by a giant steel blade? What would happen if someone materialized through the time gate when a bulldozer was parked on top of it? Did he really care what happened to a few trees when Misty had hinted that she might want to spend the rest of her life with him?
As they reached the line of yellow-jackets, they expected to see dozens of pairs of eyes watching them. But no-one was looking at them. All yellow-jacket eyes were looking — no, they were staring — towards where the couple had been a moment ago. The eyes grew wider. Was something happening at the time gate? Mouths dropped open.
Shadow whipped round.
Misty turned slowly, a smile playing on her lips.
'Bloody hell!' cried Shadow.
'Our Mother the Earth has had enough,' whispered Misty.
All around the time gate was a shimmering haze through which the trees and yellow-jackets were vaguely visible as images in distorting mirrors at a funfair. Dead leaves whirled and twirled and then flew upwards from the ground in a violent, shrieking whirlwind. It sounded as if a thousand banshees were forcing their way upwards from the depths of the earth.
Then silence.
The leaves, mere specks against the blue, fluttered and twisted and turned as they tumbled downwards.
What had happened? Was the show over — or was this merely the prelude to some fantastic, orchestrated, paranormal spectacle?
The whirlwind had ceased but the haze persisted, now pulsing as if connected to a giant heart. The heart of the Earth? Shadow wondered.
A hand slipped into his hand. He gripped it tightly. He wondered if the yellow-jackets were holding hands.
It was a prelude. Something else was happening.
With each pulse now, the ground was vibrating. Rumbling. Louder and louder. Faster and faster the haze throbbed and the ground tremored until it was a continuous blur of light and sound.
It stopped. All was still. No-one spoke.
Shadow realised that he was laughing quietly. This was so unbelievable, so incredible, so impossible — but not in the least frightening. At least, it wasn't to him. Behind him, however, a row of strong men were slowly backing away from the nightmare, each hoping that he would not be the first to turn and run.
Shadow jumped, as did everyone else, when a horrendous roar slashed through the silence.
Over the time gate, a thin cloud of mist began to form. Through it, the yellow-jackets on the other side could be clearly seen — backing away.
At first, the mist swirled haphazardly this way and that as if at the mercy of the breeze. Gradually, though, it became more substantial and less erratic as it billowed upwards. Colours appeared in the mist, which was now more like a fog, reds and greens predominating. The coloured cloud began to coalesce. It took on a form. A solidity. A vastness. Until . . .
Shadow found himself staring up at a mighty dragon.
He didn't need to look round to know that the yellow-jackets were now at the very edge of the wood, peering out cautiously from behind the biggest trees they could find.
The dragon had a rider.
Sitting at the base of the dragon's long and sinuous neck was a girl.
Josie, appearing to be twice her normal size, sat astride the dragon and held a fist to the sky. Brilliant beams of light shone stroboscopically from her golden bracelet. They shot into the sky like searchlights and lit up the shade beneath the trees as powerfully as shafts of sunlight. She was dressed in a plain white gown which fell almost to her bare feet. Her hair, as golden as the bracelet, shone more brightly than in any TV advertisement for shampoo.
Shadow was too bewildered to ask himself why Josie would be sitting on a dragon. For the moment he just accepted what his eyes told him. He turned his attention to the dragon. The iridescent body shimmered between green and red, a small pair of wings protruding from the sides providing footrests for Josie. The tail curled over the back and ended, as one would expect of a fairy-tale dragon, in a barbed point. To see the head clearly, Shadow had to shield his eyes against the glare of the sky. Large yellow eyes, a bearded lower jaw, huge cavernous nostrils, and a mouth which drooled saliva from between rows of short, pointed teeth.
The head suddenly lowered, the mouth opened, and a fiery blast was discharged amongst the trees. Shadow expected to see a conflagration but there was no sign of even a singe or a scorch. A dragon that breathes cold fire, eh? mused Shadow. I wonder what other tricks it can do.
As if it had read his thoughts, the dragon swung its head around and zoomed in on Misty. If dragons can smile, this one certainly did. Then, it opened its mouth and stuck out its tongue. Gently, it licked Misty's face.
And vanished.
Shadow and Misty stood in stunned silence for some minutes, waiting for the extraordinary experience to be assimilated by their minds.
'Some show, huh?' Shadow said quietly, squeezing Misty's hand. 'Did that really happen?'
'Yes. It happened,' Misty whispered.
'Any ideas?'
'About what? About who or what was responsible?'
'Yeah. Who do you think put that little show together?'
Misty released Shadow's hand. 'I don't know that I want to be with someone who wants answers to everything,' she teased. 'Can't you just accept that what we saw was magic? Just appreciate what you saw and stop asking questions. Do you remember Twyford Down? We talked about a dragon being unleashed. I think we just saw it. We need a little mystery in the world. Think about the Loch Ness monster. The day that some prat of a scientist catches it, studies it, and makes a documentary about its life — the world will become a drearier place to live in. If you want to be with me — please never stop seeing fairy palaces in the sky when the sun sets.'
Shadow put his hands on Misty's shoulders, looked deeply into her eyes, and said, 'When I'm with you, the world can't be anything other than a magic place.'
Misty looked around her. 'We seem to be alone,' she said. 'I wonder where everyone went. Do you think they'll come back?'
Shadow shook his head. 'Never — I hope.'