THE MUSIC BOX, THE STAFF AND THE MIRROR
CHAPTER 6
Two days later the pair in the boat arrived at the lake. Belladonna steered it towards the deepest part.
"My mirror is in there," she said. "Please, please, get it for me, my love. It belonged to my grandmother and my mother gave it to me."
"I will, my darling," said Marc and disappeared in the water.
Though the water was fairly clear the bottom of the lake was so overgrown with plants that it could not be seen. The movement of the growth in the water made it difficult to focus.
After a short time Marc had to come up again to breathe. He hadn't found the mirror yet.
"Try again, go now, try again," said Belladonna. Marc went down again.
This time he stayed down longer. He swam straight for the bottom of the lake and, moving the plants out of the way, looked and felt around but did not find what he was looking for. When he came up again without the mirror Belladonna shouted at him, "Try harder! Use your eyes! Go on! Get going!" Again Marc dived down to the bottom of the lake.
Hannah's had just arrived in time to see this. She waited and waited but Marc did not come up. Hannah bit her knuckles in fear.
In the lake Marc was searching a particularly dense patch of water plants. He swam right among them and felt them gently brushing his legs. Then he saw something. Just a bit deeper was a patch where no plants grew. March thought he'd seen a flash of light in the middle of it. He swam towards the spot where he'd seen the flickering, dug his hands into the sand and felt something hard. He had found the mirror. He wanted to kick off from the bottom of the lake but plants had suddenly shot up from where the mirror had been. They curled around his legs, tugging at him, holding him while he tried to get away. Marc tried to kick harder but his legs were tied together. He realised that he had to get to the surface fast. He would not be able to hold his breath much longer. With his free hand he clawed at the plants, pulling them up. He had loosened his legs a bit and kicked in all directions to break the plants. One last tug and he was free, swimming as fast as he could to get out of the water, into the air. His lungs were nearly bursting.
On the boat Belladonna was raging with anger.
"I nearly had them all. Just the mirror to go and now the idiot has drowned without finding it. Why did I have to rely on that fool? Now they'll all disappear again, back to where they were hidden and I'll have to start all over again with another idiot. "
Then, some distance away from the boat, Marc came to the surface, took a deep breath and called Belladonna's name, waving the mirror.
"He's found it," said Roughus to Hannah. "I wish that hellish thing had disappeared forever in the mud of the lake. As soon as Marc hands it over to the witch he'll change into an old man, wrinkled and grey."
"No," said Hannah, "let it happen to me."
Marc reached the boat and gave the mirror to Belladonna. To her astonishment he didn't change but Hannah saw how her hands became wrinkled and crooked. Her reflection in the water showed she had become old and grey.
Roughus flew low across the water to the boat to hear what Belladonna was going to do next. Her back was turned towards him so she didn't see him landing on the boat. Marc, who was facing the right way, was too exhausted to notice anything. Belladonna kissed Marc.
"Now we're going to my castle," she said. "When we are there my possessions will get their true size again."
She caressed the small box, the short staff and the miniature dress mirror lying at her feet.
"We just have to cross the lake and follow the river for a while. We'll soon be there," she added.
As soon as he had heard this the little bird flew back to Hannah. He didn't want to stay any longer near Belladonna and risk being seen by Marc who was recovering from his exertion.
"You'll like my castle, my love," Belladonna purred. "It will be our love nest. Just the two of us. Won't that be lovely, my darling?"
Marc didn't answer. He wondered why Belladonna didn't look so attractive anymore. Why did he think she was hard and uncaring? She loved him, didn't she? And surely he loved her. What was different then?
These thoughts didn't last. A few more kisses from Belladonna, a few more smiles and caresses enchanted him again. He became enslaved to her once more.
While Marc and Belladonna went on their way to her castle, Hannah cried for her lost youth; she cried for Marc and the love she still felt for him. She didn't care anymore what happened to her, so she just lay across the tree trunk. Roughus didn't know what to do. He saw the boat with Marc disappear down the river and they weren't following. It was not over yet, Marc was not safe yet. He cried out, "Hannah, Hannah, we have to go on. Our task is not finished yet. Come on, Hannah!"
Finally, the bird's calls got through to Hannah. The thought that Marc was still in danger gave her strength. She managed to steer her makeshift craft towards the place where the river left the lake again. Then she lay on the tree trunk, letting it float along on the current. Not only did she look and sound like an old woman, she felt weak and powerless as well. Only with the help and guidance of Roughus, was Hannah able to track the boat with Marc and Belladonna. Neither of them noticed that they were being followed.
Lying on the tree trunk, drifting along, Hannah thought about the three objects Marc had to find for the witch. She remembered Roughus calling them cursed so she asked him what they were and why he had called them accursed and hellish.
"They were made by the cruellest and darkest witch that ever was, Belladonna's great-great-grandmother, Acatea. The Magic Council found out too late what these things could do. They were still working out how to get hold of them when Acatea died. Her daughter didn't seem to be aware of them. She didn't use dark magic and the Council had no excuse to search her home to try and find them. Not until Belladonna did Acatea have a descendant who matched her cruelty and Belladonna loved to use them."
"What do they do, these things?"
"The music box allows her to steal voices, leaving people dumb. Or it can duplicate or change voices, like it did with yours. It can also take a person's breath away, literally. They die. The staff takes speed, giving it to the witch. It can also cripple somebody. The crystal on the top can throw lightning and kill. Like the music box the mirror can duplicate so the witch looks like someone else. Not only can it steal somebody's looks, making them appear old or ugly, it can actually age them … beyond life. All three together enhance Belladonna's power of deception."
"So they can be used to kill. But how did Belladonna lose them if they are meant to make her more powerful?"
"When they came in Belladonna's possession The Magic Council decided unanimously they should never be hers. Thieves were sent to steal them from her. Against all odds they succeeded and the most powerful wizard hid them where Marc found them. When Belladonna heard what had been done, she located the thieves. She charmed two of them to do her bidding but they failed to get the items back. It is said one succumbed to the lure of gold and the other one drowned in the lake."
"And the third thief? What happened to him?"
"Nothing. She could not get to him. The only person that man loved was himself. He went away one day with a group of pilgrims and nobody knows where he went to and how he fared. She has tried ever since to get those three objects but every man she sent failed, until today."
"Why didn't she ever try to get them herself?"
"She was rightly afraid of traps and spells so she started using innocent people. The Magic Council had put its best and brightest on this job to prevent her from entering the hiding places and retrieving those objects. Eventually it was decided to capture her and render her harmless. They sent their best sorceress to do this, reasoning they should not send a man because of Belladonna's tricks. An apprentice of the sorceress who was devoted to her followed her. She saw how the witch changed into a man. They now think the sorceress must have had a secret love and the witch lured her away. The apprentice trailed them but eventually lost them. Nobody knows what happened to the sorceress but she hasn't been seen since."
"She could have used me if she had seen me first."
"Not really. She would have felt Marc's presence. She always preferred men. It's easier for her to change into another woman than to change into a man. It weakens her powers."
"Are you a wizard or sorcerer, Roughus, that you know all this?"
"No, I'm neither the one nor the other."
"What are you then? Not an ordinary bird, that's for sure. They don't talk."
"Please, Hannah, don't ask anymore. I'm your friend and I'll help you. That's all I can tell you."
Hannah kept quiet after that. She thought about what she'd just been told and wondered what Roughus really was … or more likely who he was.