Chapter 10
Bodesnoir Castle

They’re all up and ready to go at first light the next morning.  Laurel packs bread, cheese and fruit in a knapsack for them.  Fresh water is easy to find in the forest. 

“Persy,” she says, as they stand at the edge of the Forest of Depravation, “I’ve enchanted your wand with the Energy Veil.  Just before you approach Bodesnoir, simply incant ‘Tegos’ as you tap everyone and your energy fields will be hidden.  But I remind you...move quickly past the Trolls and get inside the castle, as you will feel weak in a short time.  Once inside, again tap everyone and declare ‘Laxos’ and the Veil will be removed.”

“Got it,” says Persy.  She’s ready, full of confidence now.  She knows she can do this.  Persy has a huge heart for all of nature and its beings.  There’s nothing more she wants at this moment, than to free the Fairy Folk.

They bid Laurel good-bye and start on the path into the forest.  It’s true; it’s much darker in there than it should be.  The sun is bright and hot in the meadow, but here, not a ray breaks through the trees.  Very strange, indeed.

Fifteen minutes hasn’t passed before an ugly gnome jumps out on to the path.  He has incredibly large ears, a great hooked nose and his face is dotted with warts, spewing out long hairs.

“Not so fast, my fine looking troop!” he sneers. “Just where do you think you are going?”

“Can’t see where that’s any of your bother,” states Thaddeus. “What’s it to you?”

“No one passes here without answering a Truth Test.  Mine are tests of wit, which will decide whether you are worthy to continue through my forest,” says the gnome.

“Your forest?” exclaims Persy. “I’d think it would be referred to as Melanthios’ forest if anyone’s.”

The gnome smirks, “Think of me as one of her ‘agents’, then.”

‘Oh goodie...a puzzle,’ P-C says.

‘Oh, brother!’ sneers Benson.

“Well get on with it,” demands Persy. “We haven’t got all day!”

(Note from Lady Ellen:  Kids, see if you can answer the puzzle before our heroes tell you the answer!)

“Patience, my pretty,” says the gnome, teasingly.

“Here’s your question:  There are five wizards walking along a pathway in the meadow.  All of a sudden it starts to pour rain.  Four of the wizards start to hurry to get to their destination as quickly as possible.  The fifth wizard does absolutely nothing to hurry at all and is present through the whole journey.  They all arrive at the same time and the fifth wizard is completely dry. There are no carts, wagons or carriages involved. How did this happen?”

The four of them stand in a huddle and begin to exchange ideas.

“Maybe the fifth one has an umbrella,” says Thaddeus.

“Yes, but that doesn’t explain how he gets to the destination at the same time.  He doesn’t hurry,” adds P-C.

“H-m-m-m-m-m,” says Benson. “Maybe he Time-Linxed to where ever they are going, he can get there at the same time--and he’d stay dry.”

“No, the gnome said they are all present throughout the journey,” says Persy, thoughtfully.

“Well to stay dry, he’s covered with something,” says P-C.

“Right you are, P-C,” Thaddeus agrees. “But what?”

“How about a covered wagon?” asks Benson. “Maybe he’s in a wagon and the others are pulling him; that’s how he arrives at the same time without actually changing his speed.  And they can have covered him which would keep him dry.”

“But he said no carts or wagons are involved, Benson,” states Persy, bursting Benson’s bubble.  He really thinks he solved it.

“Hey, Benson!” says Thaddeus, jumping in, “I think you’re on to it!  If they can’t use a cart or anything, they must carry him, because it only makes sense if he manages to stay with them and not change his own speed!”

“Of course!’”cries Persy. “And why would four wizards be carrying a fifth?”

“Because he’s dead!” returns Thaddeus.

“Oh, and being in a coffin would keep him dry!” says P-C literally doing a jig on the pathway.

“Perfect!” says Thaddeus grinning from ear to ear.

They turn to the gnome in complete synchronization and tell him their solution.

“Rats!” he pouts. “Smart-butt, rotten kids...and whatever,” scowling at Benson and P-C.

“You may pass,” the gnome says, begrudgingly.

The group run down the path, in fear the gnome will change his mind. 

Another half hour passes as they trudge along their route to Bodesnoir.  Thaddeus and Persy share stories of their lives and where they grew up. Thaddeus tells Persy that he’s been with Laurel since he was three and really doesn’t remember much before that.  Evidently his parents vanished in the Witch Trials and of course aren’t dead, but to protect him, haven’t made any contact.

“I know they aren’t dead or that I’m actually an orphan, but I may as well be,” Thaddeus sighs sadly.

Persy’s heart goes out to Thaddeus.  As much as she, too, wishes she knew her biological Dad, she at least has one true parent and in James, one can’t wish for a better father figure.

Benson flies back and forth, exercising his ability up to warp speed and to check out where they are going.  P-C lumbers behind, simply enjoying the tales of the kids’ pasts.

Suddenly Benson zooms back and says, “It’s just up there--the castle--about ten minutes at the rate you lot are going.  Very dark and creepy if you ask me.  Think I’ll stay with you...um....you may need my protection.”

Persy grins.  “Oh, sure, thanks Benson.”

In less than ten minutes, they come to a clearing, about an acre in size.  They stand at the edge of the forest in the shadow of a great oak and study Bodesnoir Castle in detail.  It’s still about five hundred feet away.

The castle is built of stone and huge heavy wood.  The front doors are about twenty feet high, comprising of massive beams, brass strapping and hardware.  A dozen stone steps lead to the landing before the doors, where two immense and very thick-looking trolls stand, drooling slightly down their hairy chests.

“Okay, this is it,” says Persy. “Benson, I don’t have to charm you. Once we get through the doors, you just zoom by the trolls.  You fly too fast for them to detect you.  As for us,” she says to Thaddeus and P-C. “Here goes.” Persy taps each of them, and herself, repeating ‘Tegos’ each time.

Almost immediately they feel their energy start to sap; they go as quickly as they can across the open area to the castle and up the stone steps.  Halfway up, Persy feels like she’s walking through quicksand, that something is pulling on her legs, making every move an effort of a lifetime.  She glances behind her and by the look of things, Thaddeus and P-C are having the same problem. 

Persy calls to them in Silent Speak, thank goodness Thaddeus is a wizard.  “Come on, we’ve got to get by the trolls before we are overwhelmed by this lack of energy...put everything you have into it!” she encourages them.

By the time Persy’s on the landing, she’s crawling to get to the door.  She glances up at the Trolls, who are both dozing against the stone walls, thinking good thing they’re so useless, I was wondering how I was going to open the door, unnoticed.

She drags herself up to the door, presses down on the latch and very gently, but firmly, pushes it open, just enough to let the three through.  Benson zooms past her as she slips in. 

Thaddeus, too, is pulling himself along by his elbows, while P-C half crawls and half uses his wings in slow oscillation to help drag his bulk through the door.

The three of them collapse on the floor. 

I......must......do......the.......counter-charm...., Persy sluggishly thinks. She tries to take her wand from her pocket and finally succeeds in extracting it, but then drops it on the floor from exhaustion.  It rolls out of her reach.

“Persy,” whispers Thaddeus with what seems like his last breath.

“Un....do....the....Veil.....p-l-e-e-e-e-z-z-z-z-z-e-e-e-e,” and his air runs out.

Benson seeing what’s happening, practically jumps out of his skin, ‘er...exoskeleton...whatever!

He speeds down to Persy’s wand and tries with his little legs to lift it to give it back to her.  “A-a-a-a-a-r-r-r-r-r-r-g-g-g-g-g-h-h-h-h!” he spews.  No good...too heavy.

A light-bulb moment strikes Benson!  He turns around and uses his butt end to edge slightly under the wand to flick it up.  It rolls toward Persy.  He only needs to repeat this three times and it’s within her reach.  Persy slowly wraps her fingers around the wand and lifts it as if it weighs four hundred pounds.

“Push!” she says to herself weakly.  She has to free herself from the Veil to help the others.  At a snail’s pace, she curls her arm up and taps her own head.  “Lexos!” she grunts more than speaks.

Whoosh!  In a millisecond, she can feel the blood circulate through her limbs, then her body.  Although for a few minutes more, she feels like she hasn’t slept in a week, she has enough ‘umph’ in her to sit up, reach Thaddeus and P-C and perform the same counter-charm.

Whoosh again!  All three can feel the energy emanating from them.  They sit for a few minutes and then stand...ready for action.

“Wow, that was weird,” says Thaddeus. “I can see why you won’t want to do that very often.”

“That’s for sure,” agrees Persy, slowly looking around the entrance hall.

Before them is a round area about fifty feet in diameter.  Like the outside, everything is made of stone and wood.  On each side of them is a semi-circular staircase leading up to a balcony about thirty feet above them.  On the back wall in the centre of the balcony is a huge pentagram, hung upside down.

Persy studies it carefully.  “It’s a sign of Black Magic to hang it like that.”

“Well that fits,” states Benson, “considering where we are.”

“Laurel told us to look for something out of place,” says Thaddeus. “See anything?”

They all look around. Benson flits up and down the staircase.  Candles are all along the walls, lit and burning, there’s a small table at the back of the entrance area, but on examination, there’s nothing unusual about it. 

After several minutes Persy decides, “Well, the only strange thing to us would be the upside down pentagram.”

“But it’s not strange to Melanthios, that’s the way she would have it,” replies P-C.

“Yes, but I doubt the key will be giving clues to the likes of Melanthios, it’ll be addressing someone like us and that is odd to us.” Persy’s becoming more and more sure that the symbol is the hot item.

“Well, no sense arguing, you lot,” says Benson. “Let’s go see!” And he buzzes up to the pentagram while the others scamper up the stairs.

They all stand, except Benson, he’s on Persy’s shoulder, in front of the pentagram.  Persy steps up to it and pushes on it, feels around the edges for hinges, pulls on it...nothing happens.

“Hey,” says Thaddeus. “If it’s upside down, maybe we should try rotating it!”

He grabs it by the sides and pulls in a circle to the right--nope! Then to the left and over it goes.  When the star’s top point is at the twelve mark on a clock, something clicks and a drawer opens just beneath the pentagram.  Persy cranes her neck to see inside, along with Thaddeus, and there lies a small, six inch scroll.

Thaddeus takes it out and hands it to Persy.  “Here,” he says, “you should be the one to read it.  After all, they’ve dragged you here all the way from your world.”

“Thanks,” smiles Persy as she unwinds the scroll and reads:

“Three sets of pacings must thee do – and in good order
Face Magic’s symbol before you commence -
10 paces sinister – half turn thee hence -
12 paces again – and not many more –
10 paces dextro – in the wall a hidden door –

When all is done and in good order –
In view a red lever on said door’s border –
Depress seven times to pass thee through –
For your quest continues –
See what thee must do – “

They read the scroll over several times, each pitching in what they believe each line means.

“Sinister is left and dextro is right--that’s pretty straight forward,” offers Thaddeus.

“Face Magic’s symbol has to be the pentagram,” states Persy.

“Right, then,” declares Benson. “Start pacing this off...obviously my steps won’t mean a diddly”.

“Mine either,” notes P-C. “Far too big!”

So it’s up to Persy and Thaddeus.  They stand together facing the pentagram and pace off ten steps to the left.  Their counting ends at a hallway which goes left and right.

 “Turn thee hence,” queries Persy. “Does that mean left or right?”

“H-m-m-m-m, good question,” Thaddeus responds. “But I think ‘hence’ is kind of like ‘as before’ so let’s try left.”

And left they go...twelve paces more.  Then turning to the right, do the last ten.  The walls are of solid wood planks, but nowhere can they see a red lever on the border of any of the planks.

“Maybe we counted incorrectly,” suggests Persy.

“Or if they think grown-ups will be finding the clue, maybe our paces are too short,” says Thaddeus.

Meanwhile, Benson and P-C are buzzing and stomping around respectively and generally getting in the way.

“Listen you two,” says Persy, “Could you just go sit somewhere, evaporate or something?  You’re making this harder for us to concentrate and figure out!”

“Well! Pardon me for breathing!” scoffs Benson flying off down one of the hallways to explore on his own.  P-C tries to keep up, but winds up meandering around alone at his own pace.

“Ok. Let’s start again and take big strides and see what happens,” says Thaddeus.

Back they go to the pentagram and re-do the whole process six or seven times before sitting down on a bench in one of the hallways to re-think their attack on this puzzle. 

Persy pores over every word of the message, trying to decipher hidden meanings, plays on words ...anything which can give them insight on how to do things differently.

“Wait!” she yells out.

Thaddeus rockets three inches off his seat, “Good grief!” he says, “I just about swallowed my tongue....what?”

“Sorry, but look,” says Persy as she points to the wording.

“It says twice in the rhyme ‘in good order’ which normally one would think means something like ‘right away’ or ‘in good time’.  But what if it’s not that?  What if it’s more literal? In-good-order...meaning ‘a certain order of doing the instructions’ and we have to choose that order correctly?” Persy explains.

“Hey,” says Thaddeus as he jumps to his feet.  “That’s the twist!  Let’s go back and try doing it in reverse!”

They run back to the pentagram and begin.  They take ten paces to the right, turn right again, take twelve paces and then to the left for ten more.

There’s quite a commotion from their excitement.  Benson comes drilling down the hall where they’ve stopped, P-C stomps up behind him. 

“What’s the hub-bub, Bub?” asks Benson.

The kids don’t answer right away.  They spot the red lever together and run over to it. 

“This is it, Persy,” cries Thaddeus.

“Ok,” she says, as they each put their thumbs on the lever. “Count!”

“One, two, three, four, five, six, SEVEN!” they call out.

A loud ‘thunk’ is heard and a door which takes up five planks in the wall slowly swings inward.

There in front of them is an enormous room, finished with a rich green marble floor and golden light fixtures.  It’s the largest and most impressive house library Persy’s ever seen.

When they enter the room, the four can take in the details even better.  There are eight centre stacks of bookshelves within the room and all the walls are lined with more shelves, except the wall on the left side of the room.  That wall is covered with three oversized mirrors, about five by six feet each. The mirrors all have a centre glass and two side panels. There are three high arched windows in the walls between the mirrors, which make the room bright and welcoming. These windows are about fifteen feet high and stretch high above the shelves.  The whole room must have twenty-five foot high walls and a richly embossed ceiling.

As the four stand there with their jaws slack, they hear a loud clang.  The door closes itself.  Thaddeus runs over to try to open it, but it’s securely locked with no handle or latch to be seen.

Persy, Benson and P-C stand watching Thaddeus and can’t believe their eyes. 

“Great!” sighs Benson. “At least we can be well-read in our dying hours!”

“Relax, Benson,” grumbles Persy. “We’ll find our way out.  I can’t help but believe there’s a plan to this whole quest for the key.  Something about this smells of pre-planning....I think in the vernacular, one can say, ‘I smell a rat and methinks her name begins with a big black M’.”

Screening every shelf, fixture, and mirror with great scrutiny, they knew somewhere there are clues to the location of the key, or even the key itself is in this room.

“The scroll wouldn’t have led us here, if the next hint or the key isn’t in this room,” Thaddeus states.

“I agree,” says Persy. “Only it sure isn’t making itself known, is it?”

After an hour or so, they begin to get tired, so they sit down and open the backpack Laurel sent along with them.  Persy, Thaddeus and P-C share the food while Benson flies around the windows and mirrors looking for tempting morsels of small insects.

He perches lightly on top of one of the mirrors and notices that even with his small weight it moves slightly.  Intrigued, he gently slides behind the mirror and spies rows of small hinges along the inside back border.  ‘H-m-m-m-m-m-m....,’ he thinks to himself.

Benson quickly checks out the other mirrors...lo and behold! All of the mirrors have the same hinging along their back, inside borders.

“I say, Perse,” yells Benson. “Come here a mo’ will ya?  I think I’m on to something.”  He knows in his exoskeleton that there must be a reason for this.

Persy jumps up, walks over to Benson.  Thaddeus and P-C follow, curiosity getting the better of them.

Benson shows them all what he found and Persy and Thaddeus grab the outside panels of the mirrors and try to move them back and forth.  It’s plain that the middle mirrors’ panels don’t move, but the two on the outside definitely do and very easily.

“Look what happens when I move them,” says Persy, “the light from the windows is bounced off one mirror to another and then travels in light beams to the books.”

Thaddeus has the bright idea to check the books or points where the beams end, thinking maybe they indicate a hiding place or a clue.

Moving the mirrors one at a time, they do just that but find no book or concealed compartment behind any book with anything in it. When Persy decides to move both outside mirrors on each side toward their respective middle one, they hit pay dirt!

“Look!” she exclaims.  The light pours in through the window, hits the one side of the middle mirror, bounces around all mirrors in a very symmetrical pattern, converges and zaps over to hit the middle stone of an archway embedded into the back wall of the room.

“Humph!” grunts Persy. “Should have seen that coming...that stone is the keystone of the arch!”

They run over, but of course it’s too high for Persy or Thaddeus.  Benson flies up and lands just beside the marked stone and says, “Yup, something unusual about this one. It has no filler of any kind around it like the others.  It’s just sitting in there.” Unfortunately, it’s far too heavy for Benson to do anything about.

P-C begins to ‘hum’.  Everyone turns to look at him and quickly realize it’s his wings, revving up.  He rises bit by bit vertically until he’s at eye level with the stone.  Digging his talons into the edges of the stone, he manages to extract it with ease.  Peering inside, he squeals, “There’s something in here!” He’s losing his balance and descends a few feet.  Persy and Thaddeus gasp.

“Hang on, there ol’ chap,” calls Benson. “Don’t want you splatting yourself on the floor like some great melon!”

P-C grins, rights himself, reaches into the cubby-hole and extracts a key.  He allows himself to descend and gives the key to Persy. 

“This has to be it,” she cries, “look at the top of the key.”

There’s a knotted piece of rope at the end of the key and nothing says ‘binding’ more than that!

Persy pockets the key.  She then picks up her backpack and heads for the door.  Their short-lived delight quickly vanishes when they realize they are still locked in the great marble library.

“Nuts!” says Thaddeus. “Now how do we get out of here?”

Immediately, they all start to look around the edges of the door for lever, buttons, pulls, and loose stones, anything which can ultimately lead to tripping the door open.

When nothing can be found after a half an hour or so, they begin scouring all the walls. 

Persy’s walking in deep thought between the rows of bookshelves, thinking, playing out ideas in her mind.  Unaware of what she’s doing, she drags her fingertips across the face ends of the free standing bookshelves and suddenly becomes aware that each has a light switch embedded in it.  H-m-m-m, she thinks to herself, a little Time-Linxed technology was swiped and brought home, got to love modern comforts like electric lights. 

There are two small levers on each plate which turns the individual lights for its respective shelf on and off.  Under each lever, she feels the rune script for ‘On’ and ‘Off’...which look like this:

All but one, that is; the switch plate on the end bookcase, the one furthest to the right of the doorway as one comes into the room has only one lever and its rune reads ‘Out’!

“YES!” she cries. “I’ve got it!”

Persy pushes down on the switch and the heavy door creaks open.  They charge outside into the hallway and down to the entrance way.

Thaddeus carefully creaks the front door open a titch and peeks outside.  Luck is with them, the trolls are still dozing.

“Ok,” says Persy. “I’m putting the Veil back on us, so use your energy carefully.  It’s all downhill from here so we won’t totally exhaust ourselves this time.  Be quiet and be steady, and get to the edge of the forest as quickly as possible.  No talking.”

She taps herself and then Thaddeus and P-C, saying ‘Tegos’ at each tap.  Benson silently flies out the opened door as the others follow. 

They creep past the trolls, down the steps, which is very much easier than coming up, and skulk along to the first trees in the forest to hide from view.  Persy then removes the Energy Veil from the three of them.

An unexplained uneasiness settles over Persy.  Although this was quite the adventure, she can’t shake the feeling that it’s meant to succeed.  And why would Melanthios do that?

“Oh, well,” she mutters to herself. “We’re out...let’s just get back to Grandmother’s.” She sets off after the others, who have already started down the pathway.

From far above, in the highest tower, a silent dark figure with flowing lush black hair stands in the shadows of a window.

Melanthios watches the foursome leave Bodesnoir, in apparent success, for the Forest of Depravation.

“Run, my little ones,” she murmurs to herself. “Believe you have won. Go free to your fairy friends.  But know this, my dear niece--YOU possess the first of my nine magical objects...and we shall meet again...soon...very soon!”

XXXXXXX

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