Moments later James and Eligh were walking down the hallways from their classroom towards the main hall. James assumed that once they figured out how to do the job before them, it wouldn’t be that hard. Of course they would need a third person to complete the task. James had immediately thought of Elizabeth, but he was unsure if she shared the free period, or if she was assigned to the same task. James and Eligh rounded a corner, and walked through the doors into the main hall. James scanned the room; saw Elizabeth sitting at a small round table near the right wall. James led Eligh over to the table and they both sat down. Elizabeth looked up from a large textbook, and surveyed the two; James had forgotten – somehow – that Elizabeth didn’t yet know Eligh.

‘Oh, Elizabeth Hartwell this is Eligh Carrington,’ James said brightly. Eligh gave a half smile and waved, to which Elizabeth smiled back.

‘You two have a free period then?’ Elizabeth asked closing her textbook and placing it in her rucksack.

‘Yeah, but we have to go to the mountain,’ Eligh said dropping his bag to the ground and fishing out the piece of paper that Featherlox had given them and handing it to Elizabeth. James saw her read through it and pass it back to Eligh.

‘Well, I’m a bit more relieved now,’ she said, sagging her shoulders and slouching in her chair.

‘What do you mean relieved?’ James asked, astonished.

‘I got the same note. I have to go too. If we all go together, it’s safer isn’t it?’

‘Have you forgotten about the “friend” we made last time we were there?’ James asked. 

Elizabeth scrunched up her face, narrowing her eyes.

‘O forgot about that…’

Tyre presently crawled out of James’ shoulder bag and up onto the table. He looked drowsy and flopped down into a seated position to better hear the conversation. Eligh looked at Tyre in amazement for a moment; then pulled himself away to ask a question.

‘What friend? Is there a Warlock in the mountain? Is he dangerous? He’s dangerous isn’t he?’ he asked, looking between them excitedly.

James and Elizabeth recounted the story of their meeting with Horace Bleggard and his claims of being a Gatekeeper. Tyre grew more alert to the story as it progressed, as did Eligh. 

‘And that’s not all,’ James continued, looking at Elizabeth now. ‘The book I took from the sanctuary room has all sorts of mad spells I can’t understand; and they’re all signed by Horace!’ he finished.

‘That doesn’t mean he is a Gatekeeper… does it?’ Eligh asked, alarm filling his voice now.

‘I’m not sure,’ Elizabeth said. She too looked concerned.

‘Et’ll awl be fyne,’ Tyre piped up, smiling. The three turned to look at him as he brushed his hair out of his eyes.

‘How do you get that?’ Eligh asked.

‘Becus Bludstone es here, an so are lawts mare people fram te Majikal Prutekchun Agensee,’ he said, standing up, ‘an ter awl at te mounten,’ he finished

James felt a bit better at word of this, but didn’t want to have any possibility of running into Horace again.

‘Well, we might as well get it over with,’ Elizabeth said, climbing to her feet.

James and Eligh looked at each other, still a little wary, but they stood up and headed out of the main hall, Tyre hot on their heels.

‘Can’ eye ride en yer shulder beg?’ he pleaded, but James shook his head.

‘We’re going to put these away and then go straight to the mountain. Besides, you should get out and walk for a bit,’ he said cracking a small smile.

‘Eye new yer wem trubel ter secund eye laid eyes awn yem!’ Tyre complained.

*

Due to Tyre’s lack of help with directions, (he was still angry with James for not carrying him) it took them a bit longer to reach the mountain entrance. Once through the entrance, and inside the mountain, James placed Tyre on his shoulder so that they would be able to find their way through the caves with ease.

They made their way into the mountain, taking a side passage that worked down a lazy slope into a wide, round chamber. Once there, the work went easily. While it wasn’t a glamourous job, it was simple enough. They struggled as they removed the large sponge-like coral plants from the iron lanterns hanging about the room. Once that was done, they replaced fresh plants in the lanterns and take the used coral-like substances to the entrance of the mountain in large, wooden crates. Someone else would take back to the Orphanage.

James didn’t pretend to understand the process, but it had to do with the inherent magic of Shadow Mountain. Those sponges were, apparently, extremely important.

James, Elizabeth, Eligh, and Tyre passed the time by talking. James recounted to Eligh his amazement when he’d first learned about magic, and Elizabeth shared her first mischievous wishes after discovering the secret of magic.

‘I grew up in the Magic Community,’ Eligh revealed, removing a stinky sponge from a bright, red, lantern and placing it into a basket at his feet that contained dozens more sopping and smelly sponges. ‘I never got to learn much about it though.’ He became a bit quieter and turned slightly red. ‘But Dad taught me history,’ he declared, before trailing off and becoming silent for quite a time. 

James looked away, unsure of what to say. He had very little memory of his parents, and sometimes even forgot about the idea. Eligh’s confession threw him into remembrance of what little he knew of his own parents. As he looked up, James saw Elizabeth too, looking silently into nothingness. Tyre broke the silence by trying to do a tap dance routine on a lantern but ended up in the bottom of the basket full of the stinky sponges, causing laughter from everyone.

They finished up their work and carried the pungent crates out of the dim cavern room. By the time they had reached the entrance to the cave, they themselves were quite smelly. James, Elizabeth, and Eligh stacked the crates on top of each other and were getting ready to leave when they heard a tumble of rocks; and a quiet cackle that seemed to retreat into the distance. James spun around on the spot and drew his wand in one motion.

Silence.

James was now flanked by Elizabeth and Eligh, who both had their wands drawn as well. Tyre shivered at James’ ankles. James scanned the dark, craggy openings in the rock ahead of him; the creeping feeling that something was watching them. Another bit of rock tumbled from a different direction, and James spun with Elizabeth and Eligh to point their wands toward the source. Silence fell on the cavern again.

‘What do you figure it is?’ Eligh questioned bravely. 

James didn’t answer; he was staring at the spot the sound had come from, a barrage of hexes and curses on the tip of his tongue. 

‘Dant ye thenk wer shud be leavein rie no?’ Tyre asked exasperatedly from his hiding position behind James’ leg. James wanted to agree; after all, their job was done and Bloodstone’s men could surely take care of anything that was lurking in the mountain that ought not to be. Besides, who was he to worry about what lurked in the caves? James didn’t have to deal with this; he was, after all, only a student. 

He nodded and started to put his wand away when a bolt of deep, purple light flashed passed him and his friends, smashing into the wall behind them and blowing apart the rock, sending jagged shards everywhere. There were rapid cracks of sound – James thought it sounded like gunfire. The four recoiled as they heard a blood chilling scream; then, all too quickly; the sounds drew nearer to them. 

Again the crack of sound. Something like a machine gun. More screaming echoed loudly, and a blue bolt of light flew past James’ head, blasting apart the rocky wall.

‘Form up!’ ordered a stern voice as a group of tall men hurried into view. There were five of them, all dressed in black robes, bulky helmets covering their faces. One of the men stepped forward, pulling the helmet from his head and scanning the surrounding cave. He was larger than the others, and under his black robes, James could see torn military clothing.

The five men moved forward, halting, suddenly, as they noticed James and the others.. The five men raised their automatic rifles, preparing to fire.

‘Magicians cannot be trusted,’ the leader snarled, levelling his weapon on James. ‘Not even children!’

James didn’t know what to do. He and his friends could produce some protective spells, and maybe a few painful or disarming curses. But these were grown men, who looked highly trained. James wasn’t even sure they could get a spell off before he, Elizabeth, Eligh, and Tyre were shot.

Before James knew what was happening, Tyre darted out from behind his leg, scurried across the entrance on all fours, and leaped onto one of the soldiers legs, biting furiously.

‘Get the wretched thing off me!’ the soldier yelled, stumbling backwards into the cave wall. The other soldiers turned from James and his friends, to face the companion who was panicking and yelling in pain. James didn’t even think about what he was doing; it seemed more like a reflex than anything else. He levelled his wand at the first soldier, shooting curses, hoping that something would stick, that something would stop the soldiers so James and his friends could escape!

James shot another hex at one of the soldiers, but it bounced off, smashing into the ceiling. He saw other magic blasting into the soldiers, he looked to his left and right; Elizabeth and Eligh were both firing off hexes and curses. Not many of their attacks effected the soldiers; they would just bounce off. Although, the odd spell would connect, sending the soldier to the ground, buckling in pain. 

One of the soldiers was finally able to get Tyre off of the other man, who was now laying on the ground, flopping around and foaming from the mouth. The conscious soldier kicked Tyre hard, throwing the small Stone-Hound across the room, and into the cave wall. Tyre flopped to the ground, and lay motionless.

‘NO!’ James yelled, pointing his wand at the soldier. ‘BYRNAN!’ he cried, and a bolt of brilliant flame flew from the end of his wand and hit the man in the face, burning away his helmet. The man recoiled, screaming, as his skin burnt, flames crawling over his exposed face. He fell to the ground, beating his face to extinguish the flames.

James saw the leader of the group double over in pain as one of Elizabeth’s spells made its mark. The soldier recovered, turning on James and firing off a volley of bullets from his machine gun.

‘Beorgan!’ James was able to yell. The bullets screaming toward him smashed into a glowing, semi-transparent, blue barrier of air emanating in front of his wand. Upon hitting the barrier, the bullets dropped to the ground in a smoking pile. 

With two of their men defeated, the remaining soldiers snarled and advanced. They began firing their weapons wildly; the bullets ricocheting off the stone walls. Something slammed into his middle and James’ legs fell out from under him.

Pain, unlike anything he’d ever felt before, burned through his body. He looked down at his shirt as it grew red before his eyes, his blood flowing out of a hole in the side of his stomach. As he hit his knees, James’ vision became blurred; the sounds around him became distant. 

In the frenzy James thought he saw a skinny-limbed man jumping from the shadows, a twisted old stick in his hand. 

James fell sideways. 

The thin-limbed man slashed his wand, and the remaining soldiers flew viciously into the wall, slumping down onto the floor, unconscious.

Sounds became even more distant. James figured he had already lost quite a bit of blood. The thin limbed man was gone, disappeared back to the shadows. James thought he heard a far away laugh; a disconcerting, familiar laugh. Blackness started to encroach in the corners of James’ mind. He couldn’t see Tyre or Elizabeth. He couldn’t move. 

The last thing he saw was the face of a scarred man looking down on him with a horrified expression. Then, the pain became too great. James gave into the encroaching blackness and all was quiet.