Hughie shut the door against a swirl of driving rain and took their wet coats from them.
“I hope you don’t mind,” Lewis apologized, “but Neil and I felt we had to come and see you on our own. Clara and Shona are helping Mrs Ferguson in the kitchen so we slipped off without them knowing.”
Both boys moved over to the fireplace, holding their hands out to the warm blaze of logs in Hughie’s kitchen.
“We couldn’t tell Shona we were coming,” Lewis confessed, “because she doesn’t wear a firestone and she doesn’t know that you’re … well … magic, like us.”
“So you felt that, did you?” Hughie looked at them shrewdly. “I sensed it in you, too,” he admitted, “and I asked Prince Casimir about you. He told me that you wore firestones and knew Lord Rothlan and Prince Kalman.”
“Prince Casimir?” Lewis looked thunderstruck. “He’s here?”
“Well, he’s in Morven,” Hughie answered.
“But … why would he be in Morven?” Lewis looked puzzled.
“Does Morven have magic people inside it, like Arthur’s Seat?” guessed Neil.
“Well, there are the hobgoblins, I suppose …”
“Hobgoblins?” Neil repeated, startled, as he remembered the little creatures they had seen on Morven.
“Do they have faces like goats and slanted yellow eyes?” interrupted Lewis.
Hughie nodded. “Nice little things,” he said with a smile. “The Lords of the North call them the Rumblegrumbles.”
“So that’s what we saw when we were on Morven,” Lewis said, looking at Neil as another piece of the mystery fell into place, “hobgoblins!”
“What have the Lords of the North got to do with them?” Neil asked curiously.
“Well, they live together in the mountain. Didn’t you know?”
Neil and Lewis looked at one another. “We knew Morven was a magic mountain,” Neil said slowly, “but we didn’t know it was the home of the Lords of the North.”
“Then,” Hughie said, seriously, “you won’t have heard of the attack on Firestar?”
“Firestar?” Lewis looked puzzled. “What’s Firestar?”
Hughie told them and both boys looked horrified as he filled them in on what had happened in the mountain.
“Are the Americans involved?” Neil asked. “Is that why they’re here?”
“Shona took us along the secret passage and we heard them talking,” Lewis admitted, looking slightly shamefaced. “We’ve been trying to find out what they were up to on the mountain.”
“And I saw ghosts,” Neil added. “Two of them. They looked quite … er, fearsome.”
“The Americans were talking about the giants,” Lewis continued. “They wanted to use them as an excuse to blow up Morven.”
“Shona,” Neil said with a grin, “was furious.”
“Aye, she would be,” Hughie answered, “but you don’t need to worry about that,” he smiled. “It’ll never happen. The ghosts you saw — Red Rory MacGregor and the Black MacTavish — they passed the news on to Prince Casimir. So if, by any chance, the Americans do try to blow up the mountain, they’ll find that their explosives won’t work. The hobgoblins told me that Prince Casimir’s hexed them already.”
“Cool,” Lewis said, grinning at the thought of the useless explosives.
“But what was it that attacked Firestar?” Neil asked.
Hughie frowned. “It seems to have been an American satellite that did the damage,” he observed, “but from what the ghosts say, they don’t think the Americans know that what they did harmed anybody. They want to get into Morven to find out what’s inside it. They never will, of course. The Lords of the North put a protective shield round it that they’ll never be able to break … unless …”
“Unless there’s another attack on Firestar,” finished Lewis.
Hughie nodded. “And there will be,” he said gravely. “Quite soon, too. The ghosts say that the Americans are waiting for their satellite to lock on to Morven again and the Lords of the North aren’t sure if Firestar will be able to withstand another attack. It’s quite an anxious time for them.”
At that moment, there was a tap on Hughie’s kitchen door. Lewis and Neil looked up as it was pushed open and two little hobgoblins trotted confidently over the tiled floor towards the fire. Then they saw Hughie’s visitors and froze, their tendrils curling out from their heads.
“It’s all right, Rumbletumble,” Hughie smiled. “Lewis and Neil are wearing firestones and they can see you.”
The hobgoblins tendrils positively shot out of their heads at this alarming news and it was only when Hughie rose to his feet and took their hands in his that they trotted forward and bowed gravely, still looking apprehensive.
“You’ve arrived just in time to have some tea and cakes with us,” Hughie smiled, laying a couple of cushions on either side of the fire. This was obviously their favourite spot and as they plumped themselves down and warmed their little hands, they looked at him expectantly, smiling with funny, toothy grins that made Neil hide a smile.
“We saw you on Morven, didn’t we?” Lewis said gently for the hobgoblins looked so nervous that he thought they might take to their heels and run if he spoke any louder. Their attention, however, was fixed on Hughie as he brought over a plate of tiny cakes and laid it between them. Their eyes positively shone and, oblivious to everyone else, they started to eat the cakes, taking little, delicate bites to make each one last longer.
Hughie regarded them with an indulgent smile, knowing that until they finished, conversation was impossible.
“Well, now,” Hughie asked, once they’d worked their way through half the plate, “what’s the gossip from the hill?”
“There’s just been the most awful row at the castle,” Rumbletumble said, gleefully.
Hughie raised his eyebrows. “What about?” he asked, interestedly.
“Shane wants to go on a giant hunt,” Rumbletumble said excitedly.
“They want to go into the glens to find the giants and see what they’re made of,” added Rumbletummy, words spilling out of him. “They’re all mad keen on the idea — except Chuck, that is. He thinks it’s too dangerous!”
“And,” Rumbletumble added excitedly, “they’ve just this minute left the castle. It’s true, Hughie,” he assured him. “Red Rory MacGregor and the Black MacTavish have just finished telling Prince Casimir so we came down to pass on the news. They say that Chuck’s as mad as fire!”
Lewis looked at Neil at the mention of Casimir’s name and fingered the magic ring that Casimir had given him in Edinburgh. It’d be great to see him again …
“I think the scientists have been a bit bored,” Rumbletumble explained. “They’re more or less just hanging around waiting for their satellite to come back again.”
“They’re really excited about the giants, though,” Rumbletummy pointed out. “They didn’t believe in them at first, but now that they’re in all the newspapers … well, they’re determined to go out looking for them. You should see the Great Hall. The dining table is covered with maps and they’ve been glued to the radio all day. Shane’s worked out that the giants will appear in Glen Crannach next.”
Neil and Lewis looked at one another in horror for Glen Crannach was very near Jennifer’s glen.
“I don’t think I’d like to go out on a night like this with giants around,” Neil shivered. “It’s pouring with rain and the thunder’s dreadful.”
Hughie frowned. “It’s stone-giant weather! Just the kind they like!”