“Hughie’s all right,” Ian Ferguson said, coming back into the kitchen. “He wasn’t worried about the giants. Said that the mountain would look after its own.”
His wife shook her head at this remark. “Typical Hughie,” she said with some asperity. “And there we were, worrying our heads off about him!”
“I thought he was cutting it a bit fine, myself,” Ian agreed as he pulled out a chair and sat at the table. “He says he’ll bring Clarissa round tomorrow so that you can take the kids back to Aberdeen.” He smiled at Lewis. “We’ll phone your house this evening, Lewis, just to check arrangements with your mum and dad. Now, is there any tea left in that pot? I could do with a cuppa.”
The telephone rang and Mrs Ferguson went to answer it. “That was Jennifer’s dad,” she said when she came back. “He drove back to check on their house and he says it’s fine. No damage to speak of apart from giant footprints all over the hillside. And Jenni says to say goodbye to you two,” she smiled at Neil and Clara, “and says she’ll see you at school on Monday, Lewis.”
“School,” Neil groaned. “I’d forgotten all about it!”
“I’m not surprised,” Mrs Ferguson laughed. “You’ve had quite an exciting holiday what with the giants and all.”
The children smiled politely and eyed one another across the room. It was just as well, Shona reckoned, that she didn’t know just how exciting.
“How about taking a walk before dinner so you can say goodbye to the mountain,” Mrs Ferguson suggested.
“Great idea,” approved Lewis, “and we can see what’s left of the giants as well.”
A quarter of an hour later, they left the house and, crossing the burn, headed for the mountain. The scattered remains of the giants littered the slopes in a mess of smallish stones.
“The landslides are nothing like as big as I thought they’d be,” Neil remarked, casting an eye over the slopes. “When you think of the number of giants there were, you’d think the whole mountain would be covered in debris!”
“They grew smaller, remember,” Shona said. “Maybe that’s why.”
Suddenly, Clara grasped at her firestone. “My firestone feeeeeeels heavy,” she said looking at Neil in startled surprise. The words were hardly out of her mouth when she found herself inside the mountain, standing in front of the Lords of the North with Neil, Lewis and Shona, beside her.
“Bow,” whispered Lewis.
Lord Alarid beckoned them forward. “Welcome to Morven,” he smiled. “We thought we’d celebrate our victory over the Cri’achan by inviting you to dinner.”
Everyone was there. Arthur breathed a long sparkling burst of fire as he saw Neil and Clara and Archie grinned and waved.
It was Chuck, however, who caused the sensation. Lewis saw him first and grabbed Neil’s arm. “Chuck!” he gasped. “Look, he’s over there beside Lord Rothlan!”
Clara and Shona looked at the two boys in amazement. “Who’s Chuck?” they both asked together as Lord Rothlan, catching Lewis’s eye, brought him over.
Neil and Lewis had the grace to look slightly ashamed for on their return from the castle, they’d decided not to tell the girls of their visit. Although Shona’s anger at not being allowed onto Morven had drifted from her mind in the excitement of the past few days, it was still, Lewis had felt, simmering beneath the surface. Had Chuck agreed to let her onto the mountain it would have been fine but as he hadn’t … well, neither of them had wanted to stir up old grudges.
“He’s one of the Americans from the castle,” Neil muttered hastily. “I’ll tell you about him later.”
“Chuck has been absolutely wonderful,” Lady Ellan said, joining them. “He saved us from the giants!”
“And managed to zap the virus out of Firestar,” her husband added.
Chuck gave Lewis and Neil a very odd look. The last thing he had expected was to see them mingling with magicians inside Morven and he said so.
“It’s a long story,” Lewis admitted with a grin, “and quite unbelievable, really.”
“Try me,” Chuck answered. “I’m getting used to the unbelievable!”
Shona, meanwhile, gave a gasp of delight as she saw that Hughie had been invited as well. Indeed, he seemed to have been in the hill for some time as he was deep in conversation with Prince Casimir and the MacArthur. She was just about to rush over to talk to him when Neil grabbed her arm. “Not yet, Shona,” he warned. “Look at their faces. I think Hughie’s telling them about Prince Kalman. If I were you, I’d wait till he comes over.”
It was then that Amgarad landed, in a flap of wings, on Clara’s shoulder. Lady Ellan smiled as the huge bird bent its head and pulled gently at Clara’s hair. After Lord Rothlan, Clara was definitely his next favourite person.
“We’re so pleased to see you all,” she said. “We’ve had quite an exciting day what with one thing and another! Did you see the giants?”
“We were watching from that cliff at the head of the glen,” Shona confessed. “It was terrifying. At one stage we really thought that the giants were going to get into the mountain.”
“So did we,” Lady Ellan confessed and then broke off as Lord Alarid stepped forward and raised his arms. He murmured some magic words and before them appeared a long table covered in a pure, white cloth. Candles glowed, crystal sparkled, silver shone and a myriad of gleaming dishes appeared, laden with delicious food.
The Rumblegrumbles served the meal, resplendent in fine new clothes. Their waistcoats and trousers were of shiny silver cloth and they were so happy that Firestar had been sorted out that Clara wanted to laugh whenever she looked at them for they all wore their ridiculous goblin grins.
After they had eaten, Prince Casimir told them how Chuck had managed to get rid of the virus that it had picked up from Powerprobe. “It was responsible for the rise of the giants and, fortunately for us, he managed to neutralize it.”
There was an outburst of clapping at this. Chuck stood up and bowed, as it was a real tribute of gratitude for all that he’d done. Prince Casimir caught Lord Rothlan’s eye with a troubled smile. Malfior had gone and the world of magic had been saved but Chuck’s news of Lord Jezail had been devastating.
By the time they had finished chatting and speculating, it was getting late but Lord Alarid’s magic spell saved them the long walk back as it landed them just outside Glenmorven House.
“Well, did you say goodbye to Morven?” Helen Ferguson asked as they came into the living room.
“Yes, we did,” nodded Clara.
“And we saw what was left of the giants,” added Shona.
“And what was that?” her father queried, looking up from his newspaper. “Loads of rocks and stones?”
“No, not as much as I thought,” she said. “I was expecting massive landslides, but there were just drifts of small stones.”
“It was rather sad, really,” Shona added. “The giants must have been very small when they died.”
“Well, go and wash your hands, now that you’re back. Your mother’s made you a Chinese stir-fry for dinner.”
“How lovely,” Shona glanced at the others and, with an effort, managed to look enthusiastic. “My favourite food,” Neil said bravely, eyeing Clara and wondering how on earth he was going to manage to eat another meal.