Magic squares

Medulla left them, once again locking the door behind him.

‘It’s utterly impossible!’ stormed Bella, caring not a whit about possible microphones or eavesdroppers. She hurled her diary at the wall in frustration.

Felix stared moodily at the floor, and once again Myrtle began to whimper softly.

‘I hate this place,’ she sobbed. ‘I wish we’d never …’

Myrtle’s grizzling interrupted Felix’s dark brooding and he looked at her briefly. Suddenly he was reminded of something she had said just before Medulla had left them.

‘It’ll need magic,’ she had whispered.

The word magic all at once reminded him, and he looked around for Bella’s diary. He saw it half-opened under the right-hand bunk near the far wall where it had lain since Bella had tossed it in anger.

Felix hurried over and picked it up.

‘Bella,’ he whispered, with growing excitement, ‘when you mentioned the stuff you put into your diary, you mentioned magic-something … What was that again?’

Bella glanced at him, intrigued by his sudden animation.

‘Magic squares,’ she said. ‘Give me the book, I’ll show you. It’s just a silly word game.’

Felix handed her the diary and Bella leafed through it.

‘It’s just something to do when I’m bored,’ she said. ‘My grandmother showed me years ago.’

Bella found what she was looking for and held the page out for Felix to see. ‘Here it is. Look,’ she said.

Felix looked. Bella pointed to a word square:

‘I don’t get it,’ Felix said.

Bella grinned. ‘There’s not much to get. It’s silly, really. See, F A T goes across and down, and so do the other two words. It’s tricky, but it’s not really magic. Look, here’s another. See how it works.’

‘It’s not too difficult when you get the hang of it. It gets much harder with four-letter words, and five-letter words are quite diabolical.’

‘I reckon,’ said Felix.

‘Look,’ said Bella. ‘This is my greatest achievement.’ She flicked through the pages and pointed out another magic square.

‘Hey,’ whispered Felix. ‘Not bad!’

‘What’s “lichi”?’ asked Felix.

‘It’s some kind of fruit. I had to search for a word in the dictionary. It takes ages. You can only get longer words to work with really unusual words sometimes. Some words don’t work at all.’ Bella grinned. ‘Actually, I’ve been trying for ages to make a magic square with Felix, but the X is such a problem. There has to be a word starting with X.’

‘Xmas?’ suggested Myrtle.

‘A five-letter word,’ smiled Bella.

‘Xerox,’ offered Felix.

‘Yeah, right,’ said Bella. ‘That has two Xes.’

Suddenly, Felix froze. ‘Go back,’ he whispered.

‘Where?’ asked Bella.

‘To the second magic square you showed me.’

Bella thumbed back through the pages.

‘Well?’

‘Have you got a pencil or a pen?’ whispered Felix.

‘Yep,’ Bella fumbled in her jeans pocket and brought  out a biro. ‘Here.’

Felix was staring at the second magic square:

The last word was DOG. Bella had just said, Actually, I’ve been trying for ages to make a magic square with Felix …

After looking about him at the walls apprehensively, Felix found a blank page in the diary and carefully wrote:

Try to make a magic square with PIA.

Bella read the message, and then her eyes widened and she nodded.

‘Of course,’ she whispered.

Taking the pen from him, Bella carefully wrote PIA across the page, and then beginning with the letter P she added IA vertically. She thought for some seconds and then filled in the magic square:

‘That one doesn’t work,’ muttered Felix. ‘There’s no creature there. Have another go.’

Once again, Bella wrote PIA horizontally and vertically and then, after some thought began to fill in other letters.

They all looked at one another wonderingly.

‘Right,’ breathed Felix. ‘Remember the riddle? What three creatures are bound by Pia? One of the creatures must be …’

‘An ant,’ completed Bella.

‘Quick!’ ordered Felix, with growing excitement. ‘There must be another way of doing it.’

After some thought, Bella completed another magic square:

‘Bingo!’ whispered Felix.

‘Have we solved it?’ asked Myrtle in a hushed tone.

‘I think we have,’ whispered Bella, wonderingly. ‘But is an imp a creature?’

‘I don’t know what else it could be, if it’s not a creature,’ said Felix.

‘Yeah, but is it a real creature?’

‘I dunno,’ said Felix. ‘Is a twerp a real creature?’

They stared at each other. ‘It must be,’ whispered Bella. ‘The three creatures bound by Pia must be ant, imp and ape.’

‘So it is solved,’ whispered Myrtle. ‘And we’ve saved Moonface?’

Bella looked at her, and then shook her head. ‘Not by a long way, yet,’ she said grimly. ‘In fact, if we have solved it, it could mean we are in serious danger, especially if the ever-smiling Count Cava suspects we have.’

‘So, what’ll we do?’ asked Myrtle.

‘The first thing we do is this,’ said Bella decisively. She carefully ripped the page with her workings on out of the diary and then systematically tore it into small shreds. Keeping some for herself, she gave a handful of the now cornflake-sized pieces of paper to Felix and Myrtle.

‘Breakfast,’ she said, with a tight little smile. Then she lifted her own handful of paper scraps to her mouth and began stolidly to chew.

‘Delicious,’ she murmured.

Realising the point of what she was doing, Felix and Myrtle followed suit.

‘What now?’ asked Felix.

‘Well,’ said Bella, ‘if Medulla is right, we now must somehow get to Princess Pia, and as quickly as possible.’

‘No problem.’ said Felix. ‘Any idea how?’

Bella shrugged. ‘I have no idea,’ she said. ‘But I think that, if we are going to get to her, we are going to have to find out something first.’

‘What’s that?’ asked Myrtle.

‘Whether we can trust Medulla or not,’ said Bella.

‘But he brought your diary back,’ said Myrtle.

‘Exactly,’ said Bella meaningfully.

The startling coincidence that within ten or so minutes Medulla himself unlocked their door seemed, to Felix, evidence enough that, whether he were trustworthy or not, Medulla had probably been eavesdropping on their whispered conversations.

‘What time is it?’ asked Felix suspiciously. ‘I thought you’d said goodnight to us hours ago?’

‘It’s actually two o’clock in the morning,’ said Medulla.

‘It’s the middle of the night!’ exclaimed Bella.

‘This is the middle of an emergency,’ said Medulla grimly. ‘Have you anything to tell me?’

‘Like what?’ asked Myrtle.

‘You’ve been listening in on us, haven’t you?’ said Felix.

Medulla didn’t deny it.

‘Please!’ Medulla implored. ‘I must know!’

Bella seemed to make up her mind.

‘We just might have something,’ she said carefully.

Medulla’s face relaxed a little and he seized her hand.

‘You must tell me what you have,’ he insisted. ‘Then I must fly to the princess.’

‘We might have something,’ said Bella, ‘for Princess Pia.’

Faintly, but meaningfully, she had stressed the final two words.

As her meaning sank in, Medulla stared at her. Bella met his stare challengingly.

Clearly conflicting emotions were working on the young man. Finally, though, he broke the impasse. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘You are quite right … and right to be so cautious — even though I swear to you that you are wrong. If you’d trusted me and were wrong, I could easily have run to the regent and betrayed you. But, of course, I could do that still. Believe me, the regent has all kinds of ways to extract information from those reluctant to give it.’

‘I do believe you,’ said Bella soberly.

‘But you have already hinted at too much.’

‘We have no choice,’ said Bella bleakly. ‘Still, if you don’t mind, we would prefer to say what we know to the princess directly.’

‘But why?’

Bella stared at him. ‘If for no other reason,’ she said, ‘it’s because it’s the only way we can get out of the palace and just a little further away from Count Cava. Being this close to him is frankly terrifying.’

‘But,’ protested Medulla, ‘it will be so much more difficult and there will be so much more risk. There are three of you. Alone, I could get to the princess—’

‘Sorry,’ said Bella firmly. ‘Prove we can trust you. And you must trust us.’

Medulla looked at her helplessly.

‘That’s pretty much it, Medulla. It’s our way,’ Bella said, ‘or the highway.’

‘You do have the answer to the riddle?’ asked Medulla.

‘We believe so,’ said Bella.

‘It does make sense,’ added Felix. ‘It must be the answer.’

Medulla searched their faces and must have found sufficient certainty there, for he said, ‘Let it be,’ then, ‘I will accept you on trust.’ But he added quietly, ‘I hope in Fortuna’s name you are right, though, for if you are wrong and I have spirited you out of the palace then I have forfeited my life.’

‘If we are wrong, Moonface has lost his,’ said Bella. ‘It is — as you’ve said — our only chance.’

‘Right, it is decided!’ said Medulla.

A change had come over him with the decision made. He was at once brisker, once again more in command. He regarded them speculatively for a moment or two and then said, ‘The corridors in the palace will be all but deserted at this time of the night and the lights out or dimmed. All the same, it would be best if you were in some sort of disguise against the possibility of a guard being abroad. Luckily you are of a size. I will lay my hands on some tunics, so that if we are seen you will be taken for a company of twerps.’

Bella and Felix exchanged glances and couldn’t help but smile.

‘I’ll be right back,’ said Medulla. ‘A quick trip to the palace laundry, I think.’

And then he was gone. This time either as a signal that they could trust him, or a measure of his haste, he did not lock the door.

True to his word, he was back within a few minutes. In his arms were draped three of the characteristic yellow tunics the twerps wore.

‘Sorry,’ he muttered. ‘These came out of the dirty laundry baskets. There were none in the clean …’

Felix sniffed fastidiously at the tunic he had been given, relieved that it smelled no worse than the grey stew Medulla had delivered for their dinner.

After they’d shrugged the garments on, Medulla examined them critically.

‘You’ll do,’ he said, ‘especially with these …’

He handed them each a yellow balaclava.

‘Pull them on.’

They did so and stood before him. ‘Not bad,’ said Medulla, much relieved. ‘Especially in the dim light and if you’re following me with your heads down.’

They looked at each other and it was difficult not to laugh. Felix and Bella’s tunics looked as though they’d shrunk in the wash and Myrtle’s hung so low and was so spacious that it appeared as though she were wearing her mother’s. The balaclavas, though, completed the deception. They did look like twerps, albeit clean-shaven twerps.

Finally, Medulla handed them each a pair of dark glasses.

‘Right,’ said Medulla, swiftly ushering them out into the half-lit corridor. ‘Let’s go!’

‘Where are we going?’ asked Felix.

‘To the stables,’ said Medulla.

‘But,’ protested Bella, ‘I can’t ride a horse.’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Medulla. ‘You’re not going to ride a horse. A horse couldn’t get to where we have to go.’

It seemed to take forever as they wound their way through the labyrinthine corridors and stairways of the castle, although it was probably not all that long. What stretched the time into an eternity was the ever-present possibility that they might be met and challenged by a palace guard or by some twerp on an errand.

To their immense relief, when Medulla finally ushered them into a grimy corridor in the far reaches of the castle, they had encountered no one. It was a relatively short passage and was sealed at the far end by a heavy door with iron studs, large decorative iron hinges and an iron-framed keyhole.

Medulla inserted a large key into the keyhole, and twisted it.

The door opened into darkness and a star-speckled sky.

‘This way,’ said Medulla, leading them down a flagstoned pathway between raised beds of silhouetted plants. Felix realised that Medulla was guiding them through the palace kitchen gardens.

They smelled the stables before they reached them. Felix was familiar enough with the smell of horses. His grandfather used to drive him to a local horse stud where the owners let them shovel horse manure into sacks for his grandfather’s garden. It was a not unpleasant smell: rich, almost earthy, and promising fat cabbages and bright carrots. But the smell of the stables they were approaching was not like that. It was flatter, sourer, pungent. It was not pleasant at all.

‘What’s that?’ asked Myrtle, screwing her nose. ‘Ugh!’

Medulla, without comment, opened the door of a low stone building and beamed a torch about. There were stalls in the building, but lower than the stalls Felix was expecting. The smell here was even stronger, and more acrid.

Finding what he was looking for, Medulla gathered an armload of bridles, and thrust them into Felix’s arms.

‘Now saddles,’ Medulla muttered.

Suddenly, Bella said urgently, ‘Medulla! Your torch!’

‘What is it?’

‘But these are pigs!’

‘Of course they’re pigs,’ said Medulla mildly.

He stood beside Bella, leaning over the nearest stall’s double gate. Myrtle and Felix hurried to join them. Medulla directed the beam of his torch. There, looking up at them placidly, was a very large, very black pig.

‘Oink,’ it said good-naturedly.

It was not the size of the pig that was astonishing, however, nor its surprising good temper, given that it had probably been woken up in the dead of night.

It was the fact that, folded into its flanks, as if it were an oversized blackbird, were two giant black wings.

While Felix held the torch, Medulla swiftly fitted the leather bridles over the snouts of three of the pigs he had led out of their stalls, and then expertly secured the saddles with stirrups attached. The three pigs seemed quite accustomed to this procedure, obediently lifting their wings to enable the girths of the saddles to be attached. Medulla buckled the girths firmly enough so that the saddles would not slip, and then, asking Felix to extinguish the torch, opened the stable door and encouraged the pigs outside into the garden.

Bella, Felix and Myrtle watched these proceedings with growing apprehension. Now that they were standing beside them, they could see just how big the pigs were.

‘We’re going to ride these things?’ asked Bella.

‘You and Felix are,’ said Medulla firmly. ‘I will ride this one with Myrtle in front.’

‘But what will we do?’ asked Bella.

‘Have you been on a merry-go-round at a fair?’ asked Medulla, and then, not waiting for a reply, continued, ‘It’s just the same. Hold tightly to the reins and lean forward. The pigs will follow me and because they’ll be flying you won’t be bounced about as if you were on a horse. Okay?’

Bella was very unsure whether it would be okay or not, but said, ‘I guess …’

‘It will have to be,’ said Medulla. ‘Remember what you said: your way or the highway?’

Bella nodded.

‘This is your way, the only way, the sky way.’

‘How do we get on?’ asked Felix.

‘Easy,’ said Medulla. ‘One foot in the stirrup and throw the other leg over. The pigs are super-bright. Once you’re in the saddle, they’ll know exactly what to do. But we must hurry.’

‘Here goes, then,’ said Felix. He did as he was instructed, seized the reins and leant forward. Over his shoulder, he saw Bella do the same. They waited — or rather their pigs waited — until Medulla had organised Myrtle and climbed up behind her on his own pig.

‘Let’s go,’ hissed Medulla.

In the darkness, Felix could just make out the dark shape of Medulla’s pig as it ran down the garden path, trotters clattering on the flagstones. To his astonishment the pig accelerated away from them and then leapt into the darkness as if it were jumping a fence, but instead of describing an arc to land on the other side, the pig spread its great black wings rather like a seagull and kept on rising, rising. As if on cue and without her prompting it, Bella’s pig did the same, and within seconds it, too, was disappearing into the sky above.

As soon as Bella and her pig had disappeared, Felix’s pig gave a little grunt and began moving. After a few hesitant steps it broke into a lumbering run, clattering down the garden path gathering a surprising amount of speed. Felix leant low in the saddle, readying himself for the inevitable leap, which was signalled by the pig’s lifting its wings and the sudden silence as the pig left the ground. Felix was aware all at once that they were rising high into the air. There was no let-up in speed, and he could feel the wind ruffling his hair. As Medulla had told them, it was a smooth ride with none of the jarring bouncing he associated with horse-riding, only a not unpleasant rolling motion as the pig barrelled through the night sky.

Felix knew that for as long as he lived, he would remember that incredible flight through the night over Axillaris. When he looked down, his head tucked beside the pig’s dark flank, he could see the shadowy shapes of the town, the square, the stately buildings surrounding it looking as though they were made of black Lego. When he lifted his head and gazed above, he could see the great bowl of the sky, dusted with glittering stars presided over by a white crescent moon. Ahead and alongside he could see Medulla and Myrtle leading the way, and Bella crouched low in her saddle.

It was utterly exhilarating and he desperately wanted to shout Yahoo! like a demented cowboy, but worried that such a wild shout might alarm the pig. The exhilaration was the freedom of it all, of course. Not just the freedom of flying, but also the freedom and relief of having escaped from the palace and all the dread it contained.

Dawn was still some time off, but there was enough moonlight and starlight to indicate that they had left the town behind them and were flying up the contours of a hill, presumably the hill they had descended in the cable-car. All at once Felix could see that the lead pig with Medulla and Myrtle had adjusted its wings and was embarked on a descent. Shortly afterwards he realised that his pig and Bella’s pig were following suit.

The descent was rapid. Felix could just make out a building on a large terrace near the top of the hill, and then within moments the pig had leant back with wings lifted high and outstretched to brake its landing. Moments later, there was a thump, the clatter of trotters on stone again, and then the pig folded its wings once more against its flanks.

Even before he had climbed off his pig, a little groggy still with the exhilaration and amazement of it all, Felix heard Medulla’s footsteps as he raced towards the building.

Next he heard a furious banging on the door.

‘Let us in!’ shouted Medulla. ‘Let us in! It is vital you let us in!’