So, Dame Dally!’ the ogre bellowed, snatching Spoiler from the ground and shaking him like a rag doll. ‘You are just like all the rest. You have deceived me! You have broken my heart, and now I will have to –’
‘Quick,’ Conker muttered, picking up his pack and edging towards the door. ‘While he’s busy with Spoiler.’
‘We can’t leave –’ Leo began. But as it happened he didn’t have to argue.
Spoiler’s terrified, bulging eyes fastened on them. ‘Do something!’ he bawled. ‘What are you waiting for?’
The ogre swung round, panting and glaring, and the chamber door slammed shut.
‘You cannot escape,’ the ogre roared, his great voice echoing around the chamber. ‘Thieves do not escape the Castle of Cruelcliff. Cage! Open to receive the prisoners!’
The door of the iron cage creaked open.
Bertha lowered her head and bared her blunt teeth. Conker drew his dot-swatters. Freda sharpened her beak rapidly on the stone floor.
The ogre laughed savagely and moved his huge hands to Spoiler’s throat. ‘Get into the cage, thieves!’ he ordered. ‘Into the cage, or I will snap Dame Dally’s neck like a twig!’
‘Snap away,’ quacked Freda. And she, Conker and Bertha charged.
The ogre’s tiny eyes widened in shock. Before he could raise a hand to defend himself, Bertha had slammed into him, hitting him full in the belly. He dropped Spoiler and doubled up, groaning and wheezing, Freda flew at him, jabbing his head and neck and Conker attacked his arms, legs and chest. Her trotters scrabbling on the hard stone floor, Bertha wheeled to charge into the fray again.
‘Help me, my little ones!’ bawled the ogre. ‘The Ogre of Cruelcliff needs your aid!’
With a clatter, the six black chests rose from the table. Treasure scattered as they hurled themselves at their master’s attackers. Two hit Conker, knocking him sideways. Another hurtled towards Freda, who dodged it but hit the wall and slid, fluttering feebly, to the floor. The remaining three crashed into Bertha with such tremendous force that she staggered and fell.
‘Mimi! Leo! Run!’ Bertha squealed, struggling to get up.
It didn’t even occur to Leo to obey her. The chests had swooped in formation up to the ceiling. They were looping, preparing to dive at their helpless victims again.
He grabbed the straps of Conker’s abandoned pack and threw himself forward, swinging the pack with all his strength. He batted one chest away, and then another, and heard the first crash into the door, and the second smash a window. He swung again and with fierce satisfaction felt his arms shudder as the pack connected with a third chest and dashed it, clattering, to the floor. He heard the ogre roaring in rage, and out of the corner of his eye saw Mimi by the table hurling every hard piece of treasure she could lay her hands on at the three remaining chests.
Mimi’s aim wasn’t very good. But what she lacked in accuracy, she was making up for in energy, and the black chests were weaving wildly off course, trying to avoid flying jugs, bowls, necklaces and goblets.
Leo ran to help Conker, who had crawled to his knees.
Conker waved him off feebly. ‘Freda,’ he groaned. ‘Help…’ Abruptly his dazed eyes widened. He pointed at the air behind Leo. ‘Look – out!’ he croaked.
Leo spun round. He saw a black blur spinning towards him. He yelled and ducked. Something pounded into the side of his head. Pinpricks of light exploded in front of his eyes. He felt a split second of excruciating pain. Then the lights went out.
The first thing Leo knew when he woke up was that his head was throbbing, and filled with dull, echoing sound. The second was that he was lying on something that was hard, cold and ridged, like an iron-framed bed from which someone had removed the mattress. The third was that someone was shaking his arm and calling his name.
‘Leo! Leo!’ It was Mimi’s voice, low and trembling.
After a couple of failed attempts, Leo managed to open his eyes. Mimi’s face was very close to his. It was pale and pinched-looking. Her eyes were red and swollen and there were dark grey smudges beneath them.
As Leo looked at her, she caught her breath and her face lit up as if a light had been switched on inside her head. But at exactly the same moment – and Leo thought this was very strange – tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Angrily she dashed them away.
Leo moved his head, and winced.
‘One of the chests hit you,’ Mimi said. ‘You just – dropped.’
Concussion, Leo thought. He tried to remember what he knew about concussion and dug his nails into his fingertips. His fingertips didn’t seem to be numb. That was a good sign. He narrowed his eyes and tried to focus on the black stripes he could see swimming above him. After a while, his vision cleared and he realised they were bars.
‘We’re in the cage,’ he said slowly, taking it in. ‘The ogre got us – after all that.’
Mimi nodded, and glanced fearfully over her shoulder. At the same moment, Leo realised that the rattling sound he could hear was not in his own head, but real.
‘He’s cleaning up,’ Mimi said. ‘Well, the chests are doing it for him, really. He’s just watching to see that every bit of treasure gets picked up. He says he’ll deal with us when it’s done.’
Leo frowned. ‘How long have I been out to it?’ he asked. It seemed important to know.
‘Only a few minutes.’ Mimi swallowed and put her hand to her throat as if it hurt her. ‘After you got knocked out it was all over, really. The ogre grabbed me and threatened to snap my neck like a twig. And Conker and Bertha – gave in.’
Tears were filling her eyes again. ‘They really couldn’t fight any more anyway. They were hurt. But – they were trying. Then he got me, and they stopped. We’re all in the cage. Spoiler too.’
The tears ran down her face and dripped onto Leo’s shirt. This time she didn’t try to wipe them away.
She hadn’t mentioned Freda. Leo wet his lips.
‘Freda?’ he asked.
‘She’s – she hasn’t woken up,’ Mimi whispered. ‘Conker says she’s breathing but – but I don’t know.’
Ignoring her restraining hand, Leo rolled onto his side. His head pounded and he felt sick. He shut his eyes till the pounding and nausea subsided, then slowly opened them again.
Bertha was lying not far away, her hat crushed beneath her head. Her eyes were closed and her skin was covered in darkening bruises. Beside her sat Conker, cradling Freda’s limp body in his arms. One of Conker’s eyes was blackened and closed, and blood was running into his beard from a cut on his cheek. At the back of the cage Spoiler slumped against the pack, his face blank with despair.
Leo felt something digging uncomfortably into his stomach. He looked down and saw that it was the handle of the silver-backed mirror. He realised that he must have stuck the mirror into his belt without realising what he was doing when Conker had yelled that he’d found the heart-shaped box.
Slowly he pulled the mirror out. Amazingly, it hadn’t broken. He stared into it, hardly recognising the haunted face that stared back at him.
He’d seen Hal in the mirror. He’d seen the witches and wizards of Rondo, swearing to do what had to be done to save the land.
Mimi’s plan was under way. The Flitters were weaving the magic web. The witches and wizards were preparing themselves for their great effort. Soon everything would be ready. Then everyone would await Hal’s order to begin. But Hal would do nothing until he heard from Conker, Freda, Bertha, Leo and Mimi.
And here we are, Leo thought grimly. The big heroes. Trapped in an ogre’s cage with a silver box of face cream, knowing nothing at all.
Except that the Blue Queen is collecting wind and seawater, a voice said in his mind. Why is she doing that? What’s she trying to do?
The reflection in the mirror blurred and changed. And suddenly, Leo was staring into a room filled with flickering blue light.
It was a room he knew – the Blue Queen’s tower bedroom. The very sight of its silken walls, its elegant furniture and the black marble fireplace in which blue flames leaped, chilled him to the bone.
The Blue Queen was standing in front of the fire. She was wearing a loose satin gown that was the blue of the deep sea, and her hair hung over her shoulders, smooth as pale gold silk. She was gazing at some containers that stood in a line on the mantelshelf. The blue bottle and the jar of seawater were at one end of the line. Further along stood a small gold box, a black bowl with a lid, and a round silver tin.
The queen stretched out a long white finger and touched the containers one by one. Her finger paused longest on the lid of the gold box. It seemed to Leo that she wanted to look inside it, but was resisting the temptation.
Open it! he urged her silently. Let me see what’s inside! And suddenly, as if she sensed that someone was watching, the queen swung round and glared straight at him.
Leo’s heart gave a tremendous thud. He flipped the mirror over and pressed it hard against his shirt, trying to make his mind blank.
With six separate clatters, the re-filled treasure boxes bounded onto the long table. The Ogre of Cruelcliff paced across the floor to grin into the cage.
‘Soon,’ he said, ‘we are going to play my favourite game. The rules are very simple. I take you out of the cage one by one. You return the treasures you have stolen, and give me anything else of value that you have. Then I bite off your heads.’
He ran his thick tongue over his lips and grinned.
‘It should be ladies first, I think. That is only proper. But which lady shall I choose to begin the game? The scrawny serving wench? The pig? Or Dame Dally, who broke my heart? The duck would be no sport, because by the looks of her she is dead already. A hatchet will do for her neck. Then she can be plucked and baked, to grace my dinner table tonight.’
Conker clenched his fists. The ogre laughed and turned back to his treasure chests, which had begun arranging themselves in a row.
Helpless rage boiled up in Leo. His head began to pound again. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself, forcing himself to think.
It would be pointless to try to bargain with the ogre. Promises wouldn’t work. Neither would explanations, threats, or pleas for mercy. The ogre had them where he wanted them, and he wasn’t going to let them go.
That left trickery and force. The ogre was going to unlock the cage and take them out one by one. So the first thing they had to do was follow Spoiler’s example and get as far away from the cage door as they could.
That would force the ogre to reach deep into the cage to grab his first victim. He would have to bend over to do this, so he would be off-balance. As he thrust his head, shoulders and arms into the cage, they could attack him.
Attack him with what?
Rope! The rope in Conker’s pack! They could try to loop it round the ogre’s neck – maybe tie him to the bars of his own cage, while they made their escape. And, of course! Conker had a knife, too! The ogre’s skin was thick as hide, but surely the knife could do some damage.
It was a desperate plan. Even as it formed in his mind Leo knew it had little chance of success. But anything was better than doing nothing, and simply waiting to die.
He opened his eyes. ‘Help Conker and Bertha get to the back of the cage,’ he said to Mimi. ‘Get the rope and the knife out of the pack. Quick as you can.’
She nodded shortly and moved over to the other side of the cage. Leo saw her whisper to Bertha and Conker, saw them both stir. He began slowly to push himself back, trying not to jar his head.
They were all huddled together beside Spoiler, with the rope and the knife hidden behind them, by the time the ogre turned from his treasure chests and saw that they had moved.
He grinned. ‘Oh, what a pity!’ he said. ‘It is time for my game, and now it seems that you do not want to play! But I do not give up my pleasures so easily.’
He raised his voice. ‘Cage!’ he thundered. ‘The Ogre of Cruelcliff needs your aid! Send the prisoners to me!’
The back of the cage jerked up. The cage floor tilted steeply. Leo, Mimi, Conker and Spoiler yelled in shock and instinctively grabbed the bars to stop themselves from falling. Bertha began sliding towards the door, her trotters pedalling uselessly in the air.
‘So, it seems the pig is to be my first playmate,’ jeered the ogre as Leo, Mimi and Conker lunged at Bertha, trying to catch her and hold her back. ‘The choice has been made for me. I hope the rest of you will enjoy seeing what is in store for you.’
The back of the cage rose a little higher. Bertha tumbled, shrieking, down to the cage door. Smacking his lips, the ogre turned the key in the lock.
Then, suddenly, he paused. His low brow wrinkled slightly and he cocked his head as though listening.
The light dimmed. It was as if a cloud had blocked the rising sun.
And the next moment, there was a thunderous crash of smashing glass and breaking stone. A vast, glittering shape seemed to fill the room. Huge jaws snapped, and fire roared. The ogre fell to the floor, bellowing in shock.
‘Dragon!’ howled Spoiler, clawing at the bars of the cage.
‘Dragon!’ squealed Bertha, struggling to get to her feet.
The cage rocked violently as the dragon seized it in its talons. Bertha, and everyone else, slid helplessly into one corner, screaming and struggling. They felt the cage leave the ground, swinging wildly in the dragon’s grip…
And in an instant, the ogre’s forbidden chamber had disappeared. The dragon had turned and soared back through the gaping ruin of the window wall. Now all that was around them was the pink-stained sky, and all that was below them were jagged rocks, and the crashing, churning sea.