Chapter Twenty

‘So that’s it,’ Arthur said, admiring the round tower on the island. The great moon reflected in the still waters – now long defrosted. A few minutes beforehand, they’d arrived at the lake and parked the car in a lay-by off the main road, then warily crossed over the train track and onto the red shore. The first thing that had caught Arthur’s attention was the flames burning in some of the narrow tower windows. There was no doubt that this was the place they were looking for.

‘What’s it?’ asked Ellie, who was standing next to him along with Ex, taking in their new surroundings.

‘The tower.’

‘What tower?’

‘That tower!’ He pointed at the island.

Both Ellie and Ex looked confused. She raised an eyebrow at Arthur. ‘There’s nothing out there except an overgrown island.’

‘You mean …’ Arthur stuttered, ‘you don’t see it?’ He looked again. There it was. Right in the middle of the island. His eyes couldn’t be lying to him, could they?

Just then, he had an epiphany. He pulled the pendant over his head, and as soon as he did the tower and the torches disappeared from sight. He smiled to himself then handed the pendant to Ellie. Still confused, she took it and put it on. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when the tower blinked into her own vision.

‘Yup,’ she said, ‘that’s definitely where we should be headed. But how will we get out there?’

They searched around the shore, looking for a way across. Finally, Ex emerged from some nearby trees carrying a row boat over his shoulders. It covered the top half of his body and made it look like his head had been transformed into the little vessel. They watched silently as he dropped the boat into the water with a splash. He smiled at them, pleased with his find.

‘Look,’ Arthur said before they all boarded, ‘we’ll go across quietly. We just need to find Ash and get her out. Any sign of danger and we’re back on the boat. Got it?’

‘Of course,’ Ellie said cheerfully. ‘Let’s go.’ They climbed into the boat, with Ex getting in last and sitting at the stern. He took an oar in each strong hand. Arthur could tell from the way the paint had worn off the hull that it was an old vessel, but it felt sturdy enough as the boy started to paddle across the quiet lake. None of them said anything as they made their way towards the island. The atmosphere in the boat was tense. They didn’t know what awaited them on the island, but they did know that it was down to them to save Ash. No one else would have believed them. Arthur watched the silent tower and clutched the pendant on his chest.

As they got closer, he could make out the beams of some flashlights glinting through the thick bushes that surrounded the edge of the island. He quietly attracted the others’ attention, simultaneously putting his finger to his lips, and pointed at the shafts of light. They nodded in understanding and sat absolutely still, breathing as quietly as possible so as not to alert the people on the island to their presence. Ex rowed the boat carefully, breaking the surface as gently as he could so there would be no splashing sounds.

The closer they got to the island, the more each of them wanted to turn back. It was more than intuition: there was a building sense of dread with each stroke of the oar.

‘Do you feel that?’ Arthur said quietly after a while. The others silently nodded at him, both of them pale in the blue moonlight.

‘We should go back,’ murmured Ellie, staring at the island. ‘We could just get in the car and drive home, snuggle into bed and shut our eyes.’

Ex’s rowing had slowed down now and Arthur looked from one Lavender to the other. They were right, of course. It would be so much nicer to go home. He could see Joe and they could go to the cinema. They could even bring Max and–

‘Ash,’ Arthur whispered. He shook his head defiantly. ‘No. We have to go on. The island is trying to push us away.’

‘You’re right …’ Ellie shook the cobwebs from her own mind. ‘It must be an enchantment of some kind. Anyone else would just turn back, but we can’t.’

‘We have to keep going,’ added Ex with a grunt.

He rowed in a wide arc around the island, taking care to avoid the area where they’d spotted the lights, and eventually ran the boat aground. They found themselves in some thick and wiry bushes on the south shore of the island. They helped each other out of the boat and Ex hid the vessel securely in the dense bush. Arthur grabbed his – or rather Thor’s – hammer and looked up at the tower. Both Lavender siblings were also staring up at it.

‘We can see the tower now,’ Ellie whispered to him. ‘Whatever magic is hiding it must be disabled once you’re on the island.’

‘That feeling of dread is gone, too,’ Arthur murmured. ‘You were right. It must have been some sort of intruder trap.’

He peered over the top of the scrub at the tower. It soared straight up to the sky, reaching for the moon, and was much larger than it had appeared from the shore – at least two hundred feet high. The torches flickered in the narrow windows peppering the sides of the building. These had been used in olden times for spotting approaching enemies. He hoped no one had spotted their approach.

Ex tapped Arthur on the shoulder and pointed to a door at the base of the tower. It was the only entrance that they could see: a small archway with a simple wooden door. There was a single man standing guard in front of it. Just then a pair of wolves padded from around the far side of the tower, their ears pricked, their eyes watchful. Arthur watched in awe as the man nodded a greeting at the canines and the wolves nodded back. When they were gone, Arthur crouched back down and faced the others.

‘Those were wolves, right?’ The Lavenders simply nodded, as surprised as he was. ‘I was hoping there’d only be one wolf. Did you see the way they nodded back to the guard? Who knows how many there are!’

‘What now?’ Ellie whispered urgently, as the pair of wolves circled around again on another slow circuit of the island.

Arthur waited until they were gone to answer. ‘I’m thinking this is too dangerous for us. We need to go back and get proper help.’

‘Arthur,’ Ellie said seriously, ‘Ash is probably in there.’

‘I know. Don’t you think I know that! But what can we do?’

They fell silent, weighing up their limited options. Ex just kept watching as the wolves came around for a third time. His eyes never left the beasts, narrowing. His fingers felt along the ground, running over different sized rocks. Finally, he picked up a stone about the size of a tennis ball.

Ellie noticed the movement. ‘Ex?’

Arthur turned, too, just as the wolves prowled out of sight again.

Ex swung back his closed fist. Arthur tried to stop him. But it was too late.

He launched the rock at the tower and Arthur felt like he was watching everything in slow motion.

The stone hit off the high wall, several metres over the sentry’s head. The guard stepped away from the tower and turned to look at where he’d heard the knock.

Ex was on his feet with an oar gripped between two strong hands.

‘Ex, no,’ hissed Ellie, but he ignored her and ran towards the tower.

The sentry heard the boy’s footsteps crunch on the gravelly terrain and turned, but Ex was already swinging the oar. It connected with the guard’s head with a painful-sounding thunk and the man collapsed to the ground. Ex turned and beckoned urgently to them. Ellie was on her feet almost immediately.

‘Wait!’ Arthur reached out and grabbed her arm.

‘No, Arthur,’ she said snatching her arm away. ‘We need to move now. Before the wolves come back.’

‘It’s dangero–’

‘I know it is. But no matter what we do now the wolves are going to find us. Ex has left us with no choice.’

‘We could go back to the boat–’

Before he could go any further she cut him off. ‘I won’t leave my brother.’ With that she ran towards Ex, reaching into her trench coat pocket as she went.

For a second Arthur stayed in the undergrowth, conflicted. The situation was spiralling quickly out of his control. Why would Ex do something so rash? Could he really trust the Lavenders or was this a ploy to force him into entering the tower? Yet he was sure that their surprise had been genuine when he had pointed out the tower to them and Ellie had seemed as taken aback by Ex’s actions as he had been. Whatever he was going to do, he would have to do it now, as the wolves would be back any minute. He still needed to find Ash and that tower was their only lead.

He made up his mind, grabbed his hammer and sprinted to join the others. The guard was out cold. Ex was tightening some cable ties from Ellie’s pocket around the man’s wrists and ankles, while she planted a strip of black tape across his mouth. Arthur put his ear to the tower door. All he could hear was the beating of his own heart. He pushed the door open a fraction and peered inside. The coast appeared to be clear. Together the three of them dragged the unconscious guard into the tower. Then they quickly shut the door and leaned the sentry against it as an added barrier to anyone trying to come in from outside.

After taking a minute to catch their breaths, they looked around them for the first time. There wasn’t much to see. It was just a round, bare room, with a low wooden ceiling and a couple of lit torches in iron brackets on the walls. There was a cast-iron spiral staircase running up the centre of the tower. From its design and construction, Arthur guessed it was a twentieth-century addition to the medieval tower. The steps ran around a wide central iron column, complete with a door in one side. Arthur tried the door only to find it locked. He looked at the stairs leading both up and down into more gloom.

‘What now?’ asked Ellie, still panting.

‘We don’t have much time,’ said Arthur. ‘Those wolves will notice the guard missing and will raise the alarm if they can’t find him.’ He turned on Ex. ‘What were you thinking pulling a stunt like that?’

Ex stared stolidly back. ‘We needed to get inside. Here we are.’

Arthur reached for the pendant around his neck. He could feel a distinct warmth from it, but when he pulled it out it was only glowing faintly. He took this as a good sign – it meant he wasn’t in immediate danger. He looked back at the staircase. He was overwhelmed by a strong feeling that he should go up the stairs. He didn’t understand why but he sensed that it was important.

‘OK, I need to go upstairs. You two wait here.’

‘But–’

‘Please, Ellie. You’ve both done enough. Just wait here, keep an eye on him,’ he indicated the still unconscious guard, ‘and yell if anything happens.’

As Arthur cautiously disappeared upwards, Ellie turned to her brother.

‘I don’t care what Arthur says,’ she whispered, ‘someone should check downstairs.’

‘Naturally,’ he said.

And with that, they descended quietly to the basement of the tower.

Ash was trying to think of an escape plan, turning the little webcam over and over in her hand to help her concentrate. Fenrir was hunched silently in his own cage, quiet again now that he had finished his story. Ash could hardly believe all that he’d told her. Part of her wondered if it had been a lie, one of Loki’s tricks maybe. But she doubted it. It all seemed so plausible. And Fenrir really had given her the impression that he was genuine. After all, he’d saved Drysi from that collapsing building. And he’d saved his–

‘Wait a second,’ she said out loud, thinking as she spoke. ‘You said you brought your sister here. Do you mean Loki’s third child?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Well, where is she now?’

‘Ah,’ he said. ‘I’ve hidden her.’

Suddenly there was a noise outside the door, which sounded suspiciously like a cry of triumph.

The door swung open to reveal Drysi. She wheeled forward into the room and right up to Fenrir. Ash put the webcam back in her pocket before the gloating girl spotted it.

‘I knew it!’ Drysi crowed. ‘I knew she was alive all along! And I knew you’d eventually confess, Father!’

‘Drysi,’ Fenrir muttered weakly, ‘please don’t.’

‘Don’t what? Tell the Wolf-father? I’m sorry, but that’s exactly what I’m about to do!’

And with that, she pivoted her chair and wheeled back out the entrance. But she failed to close the door properly and Ash had a clear view of what she did next. Drysi went straight for a central column in the adjoining room. Steps wound up around the iron pillar, but she ignored them and opened a warped wooden door in the column. She wheeled herself inside, shut the door behind her and, shortly afterwards, Ash heard the sound of grinding, ancient clockwork gears. That must be the elevator Fenrir mentioned, she realised, as the sound receded upwards.

Ellie and Ex were surprised to find that the stairwell went down further than they’d thought at first glance. Ellie had been counting in her head as they went and reached seventy-eight by the time they arrived at the first lower level. This was essentially just a small landing with a single door in the stone wall. She put her ear to it and listened to the chattering from within. By the sounds of murmuring and general hustle and bustle, there was a large crowd inside. She really hoped Ash wasn’t in there. She shook her head at Ex and the pair of them continued further down the stairs. Eventually the steps came to an end. The room they found themselves in was similar to the one they’d started in – a circular stone area with torches flickering on the walls. There were two aged wooden doors here, though, opposite each other – and one of them was open.

Torchlight flickered through the door, but it wasn’t bright enough to make out anything beyond, apart from shifting shadows. Ellie started to move towards the door but Ex held her back. He shook his head, held up his hand to tell her to wait, then proceeded cautiously himself. She followed, keeping two steps behind her older brother at all times and peering around his bulky frame.

‘Ex?’ she heard a startled voice say from the room. Ash!

‘We found you!’ Ellie exclaimed, racing into the gloomy little cellar then stopping in surprise when she saw two cages. Ash was on the ground, sitting in what looked like an old dog cage. There was a hefty man hunched in another cage next to her, gazing up with surprise at the Lavender siblings. She looked at Ash’s face, expecting to see gratitude, but was met with pure distaste.

‘I knew you two couldn’t be trusted as soon as I saw you snooping round Arthur’s room. Don’t tell me – you’re another of Loki’s little pets, aren’t you,’ sneered Ash, turning her head away.

‘Not at all,’ Ellie said coldly, stung by Ash’s accusation. ‘We’re here with Arthur. We came to rescue you.’

‘Arthur’s here?’ Ash turned back. She felt like whooping but kept her composure. ‘And the Viking army too, right?’

‘Uh no … no army this time.’

‘What? So it’s just you?’

‘Just us.’

‘You mean to tell me that you two and Arthur came here to rescue me from an army of crazed wolves led by a Viking god and you didn’t think it would be sensible to bring along some help?’ cried Ash, her voice rising in pitch with every word.

‘Look, I don’t think you’re in any position to object to your rescue party. Arthur was frantic with worry and thought the sooner we could get to you the better.’

Ash drew in a breath, secretly pleased that Arthur was so worried about her and aware that now was probably not the time to be quibbling over their rescue plan.

‘OK, so where is he?’

‘He went upstairs while we came down.’

Ash’s momentary euphoria vanished. ‘He shouldn’t have gone off on his own like that. If Loki finds him … get me out of here, quickly!’

‘We will if you tell us where the keys are.’

‘They’re in the room opposite,’ the man in the cage said. ‘We keep them in a cabinet there. But be warned, there are other prisoners in there as well and there may be guards.’

‘OK, thanks.’ Ellie turned and took a step towards the door, then suddenly turned back to the man. ‘Wait, what do you mean we? Who are you?’

‘It’s a long story, but we don’t have time to go into it now.’ Ash rattled the bars of her cage impatiently. ‘Just hurry!’

Ellie left the cellar and crept across to the opposite door, with Ex on her heels. She put her ear to the door and could hear faint whispers but nothing too loud. Shaking, she swung the door open slightly and peered in. This was a much larger room, except it was long as opposed to round. It was full of tired, frightened-looking people all locked up in one big cage. Their eyes widened with apprehension when they saw her, but when they realised she was not one of Loki’s servants they started calling to her, pleading for help. There was nothing else in the room apart from a small wooden cabinet fixed to one wall. She opened the doors, but in her haste used too much force and managed to yank the cabinet off the wall completely. About thirty keys – all identical – clattered onto the floor. Frantically, she flung them all back into the cabinet and carried the whole lot back to the little cellar.

‘I had an accident,’ she said apologetically, holding up the cabinet for all to see. When Ash saw the mess of keys she groaned loudly and turned to the man.

‘Any idea which is the right one?’

‘Haven’t a clue, sorry.’

‘All hope may not be lost,’ Ellie said, falling to her knees by Ash’s cage. ‘Ex, will you go and listen by the stairs to make sure no one is coming?’ As he did as she asked, Ellie pulled two hair clips from her bob. Using her teeth, she straightened them out and pushed them both into the padlock on the cage at right angles to each other.

‘You can pick a lock?’ Ash asked.

‘I hope so.’ Ellie’s face was tight with concentration. ‘I’ve never actually tried it before, but I’ve read enough about how it’s done. This looks like a pin and tumbler lock so if I just push this in here …’ she twisted the upper clip slightly, ‘and raise the tension with this one …’ she jammed the other clip in tighter, ‘and I think I’m at the last pin now …’ With one final screw, the lock clicked open.

She stood up triumphantly, lifted the lid and helped Ash step out of the cage.

‘Do you think you can open the other cage?’ asked Ash.

‘No problem!’ Ellie crouched down by the man’s cage and jammed the clips in his padlock. ‘It was actually much easier than I expected. I should be able to do this one qui–’ There was a loud snap as one of the clips broke off inside the lock mechanism.

‘Can you get it out?’ Ash leaned over her shoulder to get a view of the lock.

Ellie’s fingernails clawed at the broken clip but she couldn’t get a good grip on it. She looked up at Ash.

‘I’m sorry …’

‘You go!’ said the man in the cage. ‘Quickly, children. Get to safety.’

‘No,’ Ash said resolutely. ‘We’re not leaving you here.’ She turned to the pile of tools. ‘If we can just find a pliers or something to pull the clip out …’ Suddenly, Ex pushed past her and picked something up from the pile. He took a firm stance by the cage and started swinging at the broken lock with the hammer he’d just picked up. The clang of metal on metal rang around the room. On the first blow, the lock bounced around but held fast. With the second, there was a distinct kerrunking sound. The third strike sent the lock clattering to the stone floor.

Fenrir stood up inside the cage to his full height, knocking the lid to the ground. Even though he was clearly malnourished, with black bags under his eyes and ripped clothes, he was still a sight to behold. He took the hammer from Ex and stepped out of his prison.

‘Thank you,’ he said to them. ‘But you need to go. Get out.’

‘But what about the others? We can’t just leave them there,’ Ash said, heading towards the door.

‘I’ll free the others.’ He held up the hammer to demonstrate how he intended to do so. ‘Just get out! This place is too dangerous for you, especially tonight.’

They didn’t need to be told again and the three of them bounded back up the steps together. They had just reached the next landing when they heard footsteps clattering down the stairs towards them.

They must have found the guard, Ellie thought.

The footsteps were just above them and approaching rapidly. They looked around desperately for somewhere to hide. Suddenly, Ash bounded forward a couple of steps.

‘In here!’ she whispered. Before Ellie or Ex could stop her, Ash was pulling open the door on the midway landing, only to find herself facing a room full of men, women and wolves. One by one they stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Ash, who was taking in the room before her. It was more of a hall really, she thought – circular-shaped, with time-ravaged tapestries hanging from every wall. Fires roared in hearths encircling the room and candlelight shone brightly from a priceless-looking chandelier. There were long banquet tables set for dinner but no one was dining right now. Some of the people were tending to their weapons: tightening or replacing old strings in their crossbows, oiling the workings, and sharpening daggers and swords on whetstones. Others were working out: weight-lifting or doing push-ups or giving some punching bags a seeing to. The rest were poring over huge maps of Ireland and the world. Ash took a wild guess at what they were doing: planning a war. Or, more correctly, they had been planning a war. Now they were all staring right at her.

Unaware of what was going on below, Arthur made his way slowly up the tower. He was halfway up when he heard the sound of rattling and rusty gears grinding. It started below him, then rose slowly past him and upwards, coming from inside the central column. He guessed that it was an elevator of some sort, but hadn’t a clue who could be inside.

He proceeded up the stairs, taking care to keep his footsteps light on the metal. Every time he passed one of the narrow windows, he looked out at the island. He could see a few watchmen on the ground below, walking the perimeter with their flashlights, along with even more wolves. This is a mistake, he thought. But it was too late to turn back now, and that strange sense persisted that he needed to continue upwards.

As he got closer to the apex of the tower, the spiral stairwell narrowed slightly. He could hear voices now, echoing back to him from the floor above. He made sure to be extra quiet, holding his breath as he neared the top.

He could see moonlight glinting off the metal of the top steps and he could feel a cold breeze now. He crawled up the last few steps on his hands and knees. Keeping low, he raised his head slowly over the top of the stairwell and peered onto the top floor.

He’d reached the open roof of the tower. A low stone parapet encircled the floor, above which was nothing but the wide, black sky. A single iron pole rose out of the floor. It was about ten feet high. The top of the pole was carved into a crooked claw, with fingers made for gripping. A series of small steps spiralled around the pole, also of iron. He could see a girl in a wheelchair whom he didn’t recognise and a man he did – Loki. He was wearing the green coat that he’d stolen from the museum over a pin-striped suit and he was in the middle of saying something to the girl. Arthur kept low in the stairwell so they wouldn’t see him.

‘–cellent help, Drysi, just excellent, but time is moving fast.’

‘Thank you, Wolf-father. Now please listen to me. I have important info–’

Loki turned on the girl. He was smiling sweetly although Arthur could read the anger in his beetroot face. ‘Don’t interrupt me when I’m pontificating, Drysi dearest. It’s rude.’ He moved away from her and continued speaking.

‘We’re so close now,’ he said looking at the moon, the white disc reflecting in his eyes. ‘Mere minutes until the moon’s power is at its strongest. Midnight. The witching hour, when the real mischief begins.’

Suddenly, Loki burst into flames. His arms were outstretched and he just stood there calmly on fire. Arthur could see his grinning features through the blaze. The coat burned off and fell around him in snowflake-like ashes. He was now burning so brightly and so quickly that Arthur and the girl had to squint against the glare. As suddenly as it had come, the fire was gone. The god’s skin was a horrid, deep red, with creamy pus bursting out of blisters and sores all over. His clothes had been almost totally destroyed and his hair was all gone, leaving a scarred, bare skull behind. Loki, who seemed utterly unperturbed by his changed appearance, cracked his neck as if he’d just woken up. For a second his green aura enveloped him. When it was gone, he was whole again, as good as new and wearing a fashionable grey suit. He bent down to the ashes of the coat at his feet and picked up all that was left: a single glass-like stone. Hati’s Bite. He rubbed it between his fingers before climbing up the little steps and placing it in the claw at the top of the pole.

‘When I first got here,’ he said, descending again, ‘I was almost overwhelmed by my disappointment in your father, Drysi. He hadn’t created an army like I’d ordered. But then I saw the great possibilities. This tower – so close to the centre of Ireland – and home to all of you for almost a century …’ He paced around the floor, gazing over the edge of the parapet. ‘This tower would prove so useful. Then you told me where Hati’s Bite had ended up.’

‘Father thought he was so clever, hiding it as a button on his coat.’ The girl Drysi smiled. ‘But I always recognised it for what it was.’

‘That’s because you take after me, Drysi. You’re wily. You will get your reward.’

‘Truly? Because I hate being cooped up here, Wolf-father,’ she said, looking around her at the sky, at the tower. ‘All those years, I hated being cut off from the outside world in this tower. My only glimpse of civilisation was when some of the hunting wolves would bring back newspapers and books for me.’

‘But those newspapers led you to the coat, my dear.’

‘True. I remember the day, last year, when I read about a new exhibition in the museum and I recognised a certain coat.’

‘And getting it was so easy. So much fun, too! Which brings us here, to this point. So very close to the moon being ready and to me enacting my greatest plan.’

‘And what’s that, Wolf-father?’ Drysi asked.

Without warning, Loki spun around, walked to the stairwell and looked straight down at Arthur. ‘Why, hello, Arthur. Did you really think I wouldn’t sense you there wearing that blasted pendant? I’m so glad you’re here, though, just in time to see my triumph.’ Loki turned back to the girl and continued in the same even tone. ‘In answer to your question, Drysi, I intend to do what Fenrir failed to. I’ll create the perfect army.’