The Promise (The Seekers Book 1) Read online

  Millie couldn’t care less, “Dunno, but it’s a bit “creepy castle” in this weather!”

  Thrusting out of the overgrown garden was a huge dark green conifer of some kind. It completely dominated the right hand side of the house and seemed to ascend forever. The trunk was enormous and gnarled branches twisted and turned in all directions, even spreading along the floor. Millie was getting a new respect for trees.

  As she walked towards it she began to experience a familiar sensation, was the tree getting bigger or was she getting smaller? She could hear Winston barking and he was getting very excited about something. Just as she got within striking distance, his stumpy tail wagging at her like a metronome, he ran straight at the tree and disappeared.

  15

  Oliver stared at the tree, “How did he do that?”

  Millie chased around the base of the tree but it was too entangled to see all the way round, “I don’t know do I! Can you see him?”

  Oliver shook his head, big drops of rain were now falling on his hood and little streams were running down onto his shoulders. He tapped the bark, “Look, do you think this is like the other trees?”

  Millie thought about it, “Well I can’t see a normal way in. I have the crystal in my pocket, but how did he open it?”

  Oliver grinned at her from under his soggy hood, “Only one way to find out I guess.”

  Millie stuck her arms out in front of her, “Well I’m not getting a headache just for him, stay close to me and we’ll take a look.”

  Walking like Frankenstein’s monster did nothing to improve Millie’s mood, especially when the inside of this tree contained exactly what you would expect. Yuck! It was cold, damp and smelly and a mass of tree roots twirled round and round the inside of the small chamber. What was worse, there was no sign of Winston. Before Millie could complain, however, the ground began to move under her feet and she was grabbed with lightening speed. Both of her legs were tightly trussed together and she watched in horror as the embalming process continued. Oliver landed beside her with a heavy thud and began struggling to get free. He pulled desperately at the seething mass of spaghetti-like roots that spun around his legs, but he too was quickly overcome. Millie began to panic. What if it didn’t stop? They would be completely cocooned in seconds!

  A booming baritone voice pierced her fears. “Who dares disturb the sleep of Endor?”

  Millie turned in the direction of the voice, but before she could reply the roots were withdrawn just as quickly as they had appeared, and they lay together on the dusty floor.

  “Forgive me Your Highness, you are the second intruder we have had tonight and in my haste I had not observed your crown. What is your command?”

  They both scrambled to their feet. In the gloom and dust it was hard to see, but Millie was fairly sure an eye was talking to her! Suspended above them was a large black iris, dark green muscle-like fibres extending to the left and the right. Grey concentric circles pulsed within it, expanding to the edges and disappearing. The effect was quite hypnotic. Oliver beat her to it, “Do you mean Winston?”

  The eye continued to pulse, “We are not aware of travellers’ names, but he has been forwarded as requested.”

  “Forwarded? Where to?” Millie demanded, brushing down her jeans.

  “To Avalon, Your Highness.”

  She threw up her arms, “Oh great, we’ve only gone and lost the stupid dog.”

  Oliver addressed the eye, “Look, can’t you bring him back?”

  “I am afraid not.”

  Oliver was disappointed, but practical as ever he turned to Millie, “Right. We will go home, have tea and come back later, after all time is suspended in the portal.”

  “I am afraid that is not possible either,” explained the voice.

  Oliver frowned, “What do you mean, not possible?”

  The eye continued in the same monotone fashion. “This is not a portal, Your Highness, I am a pathway only.”

  Millie interrupted, “What do you mean a pathway?”

  The eye pulsed, “I simply send you further along your chosen route.”

  Millie had heard enough. “Fine, let’s get out of here. If Winston wants to play Indiana Jones he will have to wait for us to catch up with him.”

  Oliver sighed, “Don’t be rash. If we are still in real time, better to be a little late now than try to get back here later. Besides, how would we explain where Winston was?”

  Good point. Millie was still not convinced but the all seeing, all knowing eye had it in for her anyway.

  “This is a forwarding pathway only. Once you have entered here you cannot leave. You can only go forwards.”

  Oh great, dad will ground her for a month and her netball team will never speak to her again!

  16

  Samael absently twisted the gold seal on his finger, at least these two juveniles were amusing! He had enjoyed their bickering. After all he had spent thousands of years observing mortals and he was well practised in the art of understanding their nature. He was a senior manipulator when all was said and done. But could these two really be that important?

  He gestured to his subordinate, “Follow them and report back.”

  The dark shape faded from the upstairs room. Samael looked over the now deserted garden and sighed. The battle was no longer challenging. Modern man was so ... pathetic. He knew the price of everything and the value of nothing. Thousands daily in the valley of decision. They just walked right on in. No fun at all.

  17

  Oliver was his usual calm and unruffled self, “Right. We have no choice then but to go after Winston now. Can we return here from Avalon and then exit?”

  “Of course, Avalon is a high energy field you can travel in any direction you wish.”

  “Then take us to Avalon please. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can return.”

  “Travelling” in the pathway was practically instantaneous. There was the usual bright light and slightly dizzy feeling but no sensation of movement at all. As the light receded Millie looked across at Oliver but he was already searching for a way out. This place looked just like the other one but without the “ever helpful” tour guide. Millie scanned the floor but all she could see were the usual roots and foliage.

  “What are you looking for?”

  Oliver was succinct, “ Well, Winston didn’t have us or the crystal, so you must be able to exit without any special arrangement so I am looking for anything at ground level that might push open. Ah – here’s something.”

  Oliver had noticed a clear patch on the floor. “See – a star like Michael’s.”

  He put his foot on it and a portion of the trunk slid to one side revealing a small opening. As they tumbled out Oliver took out his mobile phone, “I’ll text mum and say we will be a bit late.”

  Millie surveyed the tree, it was just like the last one, but the trunk was split in two and then rejoined higher up.

  “Good idea. Take a picture of that while you’re at it, we can look it up later.”

  They walked on a little way and emerged into some kind of public garden. Luckily for them it seemed to be closed so they wandered the lawns and flower beds without being challenged. Millie started to wander off down a narrow pathway but Oliver called after her, “We stick together, we find Winston, we go home. Okay?”

  “Sure.”

  They turned a corner and were confronted by two more enormous conifers. At their feet was a small pool of two intersecting circles, water flowed in and out through narrow channels. The water looked clean enough but everything was stained red. As they explored they discovered more pools and small waterfalls, but no sign of Winston. They decided to turn around and make their way up the gentle incline, eventually reaching a small well. The cover to the well was protected with iron railings but you could hear the water gushing below. The heavy lid was decorated with some intricate design and there was a notice for visitors, explaining all about the site. Oliver read out loud,

  “The Ch
alice Well is among the best known and most loved Holy wells in Britain. In the past it was known as the Red or Blood Spring because of the red iron deposit the water leaves on everything it touches. The water flows ceaselessly at a steady rate of 25,000 gallons a day, at a temperature of 11 degrees Centigrade and has never failed, even in drought.”

  Millie wasn’t really interested in a hole in the ground, “Well Winston is hardly likely to be down there.”

  Oliver wanted to know more anyway, “Hmm...people come here from all over the world to drink this water. It’s got healing properties apparently.”

  Millie sat down on a little bench, “Yeah, well I reckon a Mars Bar would provide me with some healing properties right now! I’m starving.”

  Oliver looked at his watch, “We need to get a move on.”

  Millie was reluctant to get up, it was strangely peaceful being all alone in the garden and it wasn’t raining here, but then a familiar bark broke into her thoughts.

  “Here he comes.”

  Sure enough it was Winston hurtling up the hill, his stumpy legs working hard to push through the long grass. But Winston was not alone. As he came to a halt looking hopefully, and Millie thought rather stupidly, for a treat, she grabbed him roughly by the collar and put the lead on him. Oliver, meanwhile, had turned to face their visitors and he couldn’t believe his eyes. If he had seen them in one of his nursery books he would have called them fairies. They were no bigger than his hand and had large delicate wings on their backs, but their hair was most unusual. It was intertwined with flowers and foliage and seemed to corkscrew down the entire length of their bodies. There must have been a dozen of them and they formed a semi circle in front of him. One stepped forward, “Greetings Your Highness.”

  Instinctively Oliver did not trust her. “Er...greetings.”

  “Were you seeking something special in the garden? Your friend here was having a good look around, so we tried to assist him.”

  Millie gave a tug on the lead, “Thank you but our friend was just lost, he’s always running off.”

  “Who are you?” asked Oliver.

  The leader spoke for them all it seemed, “My name is Freya, my sisters and I are responsible for the well.”

  Millie felt a great comfort in that she could probably squash her instantly with her size 7 wellies, but she was beginning to feel more and more anxious. “Well, thank you for returning him, but we really must be going now.”

  Oliver sensed it too, moving towards Millie he took the lead from her hand and positioned himself in front of her, but as Millie started to get to her feet she watched in horror as a collection of tiny silver arrows arced gracefully through the air. One struck her on the cheek and then everything went black.

  18

  Millie knew she was dreaming when the tall tumbler of water sprouted legs and ran away. She was so thirsty she ached to go after it but her legs felt like wobbly jelly and wouldn’t do what she wanted. When she did eventually wake up her head was so painful she thought she might be better off asleep after all. She was alone. Somehow she knew she was underground. She could smell the earth at her feet and the small cell had no natural light. The walls were wet and slimy and for a second Millie was tempted to lick them, so great was her thirst.

  She got up and tried to open the metal gate that barred her way. It was firmly locked as she suspected, but worth a try anyway. Where was Oliver? She sank back to the floor and tried her pockets, but found to her dismay that the crystal was gone too. Now she was really cross, how was she supposed to get out of here without Quark? And why was he never there when she needed him? “Well this is just great.” she moaned.

  “Do you really think so?”

  Millie spun around, she could see nothing, but she had certainly heard a voice. “Who’s there?”

  “Depends what you mean by there.”

  Millie stood up, “Where are you?”

  “Depends what you mean by where.”

  Millie huffed but just at that moment the gate opened behind her so she assumed she was on a camera of some kind and she would meet her captor this way. There was a slight pause then Millie was confronted by her worst nightmare – a spider! Except this one was the same height as her – double nightmare! Millie backed away.

  The spider held a flaming torch in one of its hairy legs, “Give me the Orb and we will spare your life.”

  Millie wanted to bat it with a rolled up newspaper, but fear made her bold, “I don’t know what you mean.”

  A large drop of something gooey fell to the floor from the spider’s mouth and it scuttled another couple of steps towards her, “The nymphs searched you but couldn’t find it, so I ask you again, where is the Orb?”

  Millie shook her head, “I still don’t know what you mean. What is an orb?”

  The spider was not convinced, “We know you have it so if you just give it to me, you can leave.”

  Millie was feeling bolshie now, “Look if you searched me and couldn’t find it, how am I supposed to know where it is when I don’t even know what you are looking for?”

  If it was possible for a spider to look confused, this one did, but it continued to threaten anyway, “If I leave now I am afraid that someone, more er ... persuasive, will take my place. If you wish to forego that unpleasantness, you will tell me now. This is your last chance.”

  Millie could think of nothing else to say.

  “Have it your own way then.”

  Millie watched the hairy bully leave and she was glad to be alone again, but how long did she have to find a way out of here? She decided to be methodical and work her way around the small cell searching every wall in order. She ran her hands over the slimy walls, reaching as high as she could. When she got to the back wall again she spotted an unusual patch that resembled a palm print. Instinctively she placed her own hand over it and the voice said, “Depends what you mean by hand...”

  19

  Oliver was frantic. He had rung home again to say they had stopped off at a friend’s house, but was refusing to answer their call backs. He had paced the same piece of ground for ten minutes now. He had seen the flying arrows, of course, but they had not touched him. Millie on the other hand had literally vanished before his eyes. What could he do?

  Feeling dejected, he flopped onto the bench. He would wait a little longer, at least Millie had the crystal, and Quark would find her.

  20

  Now this was getting silly ... Millie could see the old man in front of her grinning like a wild thing, he didn’t look dangerous at all, but the spider had said it would be unpleasant.

  “Welcome my dear, forgive my hesitation, but I wanted to see how much they knew. Clearly, not a lot!” he rubbed his hands together in childlike glee, which was an odd gesture for someone who appeared to be about 100 years old. His long, grey robes floated around his skinny frame, his silvery beard reached practically to his knees and his blue eyes twinkled mischievously. It was impossible not to like him.

  “Can I get you something?”

  Millie suddenly realised she was somewhere completely different. The room was pleasant and airy but crammed with an odd assortment of books, folders and parchments.

  “I am very thirsty.” Millie croaked.

  “Poor you, no manners those arachnids.”

  He wandered over to a large, round table in the middle of the room and poured some liquid from a flagon. It was pale green but tasted delicious!

  “You may have another goblet if you wish, but most people find one dose lasts them several days.”

  “Several days ...?” Millie looked at the odd shaped vessel, but did indeed feel very refreshed.

  He pointed to an old wooden bench covered in velvet cushions, “Now my dear, shall we begin?”

  Millie sat down, but then stood up again, “What about Oliver? I have to find him!”

  The old man was puzzled, “Who is Oliver? You were quite alone when they brought you to their lair. We monitor them you see. Of course when I saw your cr
own I knew at once you didn’t belong there, but we have learnt to be very cautious over the centuries.”

  “Centuries? How old are you?”

  The old man was clearly pleased to be asked this question, he puffed his thin chest out as far as it would go, “Why, I am now 567 years young.”