Chapter 22 - Between a Rock and a Hard Place.
Llewel leered a sardonic smile, "Did you really think it would be that easy? The Master, the new Elder of Elders will return soon with his hoard. Then you may wish the boy had not been so quick to help my compatriots as you called them.”
“Shut it Llewel and leave my Tom out of it. Tryg is still here, and I think he may be hungry after all the excitement.”
Llewel blanched at the thought and stopped grinning.
“Right, we do it the hard way, back to the surface.”
They turned and walked up toward the blocked exit of the cave, as they walked the torches before them lit and the torches behind extinguished.
“Are we going the right way,” asked Jon, “this seems a lot longer than when we came in?”
“Of course, Tryg knows the way, he set the torches to go out in sequence as he walked down to the cavern and to re-light as we exit. He is a fire master don’t forget.”
They rounded the last bend. They were back in the cavern; they had somehow gone round in a circle.
“What the...," said Flintock, "how did we do that?”
“A little trick of the Master I expect," said Llewel, animated again and almost giggling with excitement.
“Shut it Llewel, we weren’t talking to you!” Llewellyn said firmly, “when we want your opinion, we’ll ask for it, but don’t hold your breath.”
There in the centre of the cavern stood a single figure. Dressed in black, hood up and no visible features to recognise.
“It’s the Elder,” said Jon, “he’s come to rescue us.”
“I think not," a voice said, it was a deep disengaged Afro-Caribbean voice that filled the cavern without any discernible direction from where it came from, "I am not the Elder. But you may refer to me as the Master.”
“Who are you and where do you come from.”
“Good question Llewellyn the Brave, but I will answer neither. My real name does not matter, I am just the Master, you also need not know where I come from, but this I tell you; it is not from this stinking hole of a land you call Trymyll but from another land. Far away and beyond your reach or knowledge.”
“Why are you here?”
“Now that I will answer. I am here to take you over and take you down. This land will bend the knee to me and my will or I will destroy and lay waste to every square inch of it. It will become a barren land where there will be no life, not a blade of grass or even an ant will live.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because it gives me great pleasure to punish those who disobey.”
“Llewel said you would return with a hoard, an army. Did you forget something?”
“Llewellyn the Brave, I do like a sense of humour. I need no army. No army can stand against me or ever has. I will rule this land unopposed until I get bored with you, then I will destroy you all and move on to another. I am omnipotent. Nothing and no one can stand against me.”
“We will fight you until there is not one of us left standing!” declared Llewellyn.
“Oh, I’m sure you will, and believe me, not one of you will remain standing. Those who do not bow the knee will be utterly and ruthlessly destroyed.”
His voice swelled and filled the cavern. As he spoke louder and louder the walls began to shake and small rocks rattled down from the roof of the cave.
He had no staff or wand. He just held out his hand towards Llewellyn and a bolt of power shot out. It was met by one of equal power from Llewellyn’s wand. The two streams of pure energy crackled and bent, connected in the middle by a bright ball of light, a solid ball of energy. The Master’s power was blue and Llewellyn’s pure white. They arced off each other like a massive electrical charge. Llewellyn pushed forward, then the Master gained a little. Back and forth they went while circling around the floor of the cavern. They rose into the air and began to spin round and round each other like a couple of aircraft having a dogfight. On and on the energy continued to flow. The others had never seen anything like it, such power, such pure raw energy pouring out of the two wizards, meeting between them crackling and sparking as pure energy hit pure energy and sheer power hit sheer power.
“What is this? No one has ever stood against me and lived!”
Then, as suddenly as it started, it ended. Both men disappeared.
“Dad! Dad!” shouted the boys, "where’s me dad gone?”
They had barely finished shouting when Llewellyn re-appeared in the same mid-air position he had just left and fell to the floor. He was blackened with soot, and he had burns on his hands and face. Tom ran to him and enclosed him in his healing power. He was alive.
“Quick, we have to get dad out of here, let’s try for the surface again.”
As they turned towards the exit tunnel Howel appeared in his guise of a dog.
“How did you get in?” asked Tom.
“Well, it wasn’t easy, but I’m in, so let’s get us all out again.”
They rushed for the surface; Tom noticed that Howel was limping. It must have been quite a fight, this time a proper one, not just mind games.
When they reached the end of the tunnel, it was still blocked by the now dead and roasted Blue Dragons, dried and congealed blood splattered all around and again the putrid stink of burning dragon flesh.
“How do we shift that lot?” asked Flintock to no one in particular.
Without comment, Jon stepped forward and held out his wand towards the blackened remains of the Blue Dragons. He let out a blast of energy which literally vaporised them before their eyes. It shifted them, but the smell was even worse, and now there was a thick red mist from the vapourised blood of the dead dragons. They all stepped out onto the ledge at the entrance to the cave, the ledge was slippery with blood and the air was filled with hundreds of Blue Dragons, attracted by the smell of their burning brothers. They were not above a bit of cannibalism if the opportunity arose.
The prisoners were all bound in magic manacles, not that any of them were capable of escape. Llewel still wanted to defy whatever was coming. He was still proclaiming his innocence and the injustice of all. Flintock huddled them all together, then, just as the Blue Dragons dived down and fell upon them, ‘Pop’ and they were gone. The boys left next closely followed by Howel and Tryg who were apparated by and with Llewellyn.
The Blue Dragons crashed against the mountain, and as usual, began fighting amongst themselves. Trymyll would be no worse off for the loss of a few more Blue Dragons.
The dungeons at Blaenoraid were rarely used, so to have this many ‘visitors’ was going to cause some inconvenience and not a little work for the guards. They were however clean, well-lit, and free of vermin, not like all the other dungeons in the land which were typically rat-infested hell holes. Most times the guards had so little to do that they cleaned and painted all the cells just to relieve the boredom.
This was good for the injured among the visitors as the hygienic conditions would be better for healing and warding off infections. A couple were in an induced coma brought on by Tom so that the body’s natural healing powers could act more quickly. The walking wounded, for want of a better term, were all housed in single cells and the more gravely injured in a sort of hospital dormitory. Llewel was taken to a special high-security cell on another and lower floor. His cell had no natural light but was still well lit, bulbs were strung across the ceiling with no visible source of power, the cell was clean, and comfortable, which was more than he deserved. Bangers was taken to the Residence with strict instructions that no one, not even the Elder was to visit, and special elite wizard guards were put in place around her room and in the grounds.
There was an immediate call for a full meeting of the council. Llewellyn, Flintock and the boys were to attend and give an explanation as to what they had found.
Llewellyn decided he was too injured to attend.
“Sorry folks, you go on ahead, I took quite a battering down there and now need to go and rest up for a while. I’m utterly drained and exhausted. I’ll brief the Elder before the meeting and see you all later.”
Flintock, again speaking to no one in particular, "I wish I knew how your dad did it. He seems to have unfettered access to the Elder. I’ve never seen him once. Well, I’ve seen him, but never had a conversation or even a single word to pass between us. Yet he and your dad seem the best of mates. He definitely knows how to network and reach the right people.”