Chapter seven
Sonic maintained his grip on Gethin whilst the other moles decided what to do. After a few moments the female mole who had emerged from the ground first motioned to the others and they all lowered their weapons. Sonic noted that many of them still maintained their grip on the hilt of their spears.
"Perhaps you could release my husband now." The mole woman said.
Sonic relinquished his grip on the Moles scruff. Gethin straightened his robes and turned to thank his wife.
"Cheers Myfanwy." The round creature nodded and she smiled back.
All of the moles seemed to be wearing the same robes. As black as their fur and dangling down to their feet. In the dark it was hard for Sonic and Tails to see them all. Sonic supposed that was the point. The only thing that stood out on their clothing was a golden emblem emblazoned on the robes which occasionally caught the light of the moon and glittered like the twinkling stars above. It appeared to be an eye shape with the lid half closed. For most of the moles this emblem was delicately stitched just below their right shoulder but Gethin and his wife wore it proudly on their chests. Sonic guessed that it marked them both out as senior members of their group. Myfanwy confirmed this theory as she formally introduced herself and her followers.
"I am Myfanwy, high priestess of the Mystic Forest protection league." She said solemnly.
"That's a mouthful." Sonic whistled.
"We sometimes call ourselves the Mystic Moles." Gethin explained.
"We'll stick with that." Sonic said. "So mystic moles, why were you trying to turn us into pin cushions?"
"It is our sworn duty to protect the forest from harm." Myfanwy said stiffly.
"We gathered that from 'Mystic forest protection league' Sonic sighed. "We're not a threat though."
"You've just attacked my husband." Myfanwy pointed out with a raised eyebrow. Sonic saw the moles tighten their grips on the weapons. He edged a little closer to Tails. His buddy seemed to have picked up on the change in mood and shifted into a fighting stance.
"He attacked us." Tails said and pointed out the scrape on his arm. "Anyway like Sonic said, we're not a threat. Something from this graveyard is terrorizing our village. We've come to try and stop it."
The moles shifted uncomfortably and turned their attentions to their high priest and priestess. Gethin and Myfanwy pursed their lips. Sonic could see that they knew more than they were letting on.
"Tell us about the troll." He said calmly. The panicked look Gethin shot his wife told Sonic all he needed to know.
"Not much of a protection league if you've let the thing go." He smirked trying to goad the little moles into giving up their secrets. It worked like a charm.
"It wasn't our fault" Gethin spat. "That yellow idiot let the damn thing out of the vase." He pointed to Cubot who shrunk behind Sonic. Myfanwy looked furious with her husband and jabbed him hard in the ribs.
"You should probably tell us everything." Tails said calmly to the assembled Moles. "If we're going to stand any chance of sorting this out it's best we do it together. Believe me, we're on your side."
"You're the ones who let it out!" One of the bolder moles snapped.
"He let it out." Sonic said, standing aside and revealing a cowering Cubot. "But not on purpose… I think… he's not a bad guy… although he does work for an evil genius…"
The moles did not look impress. "He's just an idiot." Sonic said simply.
Orbot and Cubot nodded emphatically.
"It's true." Orbot told the assembled crowd.
Cubot tapped his head for dramatic effect. There was a loud hollow clang. "Nothing in there." He insisted.
The Moles continued to glare at them. Sonic stepped in.
"Whether you believe Cubot or not, we're her to put things right." He said. "My name is Sonic the hedgehog and this is my buddy Tails. We're heroes. Please tell us everything you know and we'll make things right. I promise."
Myfanwy and Gethin seemed to consider this for a moment. Eventually Myfanwy nodded to them. A whine of protest erupted from behind them. Sonic and Tails turned to see a small mole throwing his spear petulantly into the ground.
"No!" The mole protested. "They must pay for releasing the evil one. scriptures are very clear on this!"
Sonic mouthed 'evil one?' to Tails who shrugged.
Gethin sighed heavily. "Dylan. Times have moved on a bit now lad. We don't take smite our enemies anymore."
"This isn't some minor misdemeanor." The mole continued to argue. "The whole purpose of our society is to…"
"Dylan don't answer your father back!" Myfanwy scolded the young mole.
Dylan hung his head and avoided the other moles eyes. "But mam.." He started to argue.
Myfanwy didn't strike Sonic as the kind of woman you argued with. She took in a deep breath and drew herself up to full height. Admittedly that wasn't very high at all. Even so the other moles seemed intimidated enough to back away. Sonic wouldn't like to by young Dylan right now. The mole shrunk so low he seemed to be burrowing back down into the earth.
"Don't you answer me back either my boy! You're going to be high priest one day so you'd better learn some respect. No ones going to follow a petulant child into battle. It's high time you grew up and out of all of this vengeance nonsense. There's more to being a leader than driving fear into the heart of your enemies." Myfanwy shouted at her cowering son.
Sonic felt a tug at his elbow. "This may take some time." Gethin explained. "There's no stopping her when she gets going. Sometimes it's just best to let her get it all out. Still, got to love a fiery woman eh?"
"Tell me about it." Sonic laughed.
Tails shot him another quizzical look.
"So, about this Troll ghost?" Sonic said quickly changing the subject.
"Troll wizard ghost." Gethin corrected him.
Sonic shook his head exasperated. "Of course." He groaned. "Because a normal troll ghost would be too easy."
Gethin led Sonic, Tails and the two robots to the large structure in the middle of the graveyard where Cubot had knocked over the vase. It's fragments lay where they had fallen, mixed in amongst the earth and grass. Gethin tutted and carefully picked up the pieces in his paws before placing them back on the raised tomb.
"As you may have already gathered the mystic moles were created to prevent such a thing from happening." Gethin explained. "We have watched over this grave for centuries now."
"You weren't here the other night" Orbot pointed out. "I did not detect any lifeforms in the area. Aside from doctor eggman."
Gethin looked uneasy. "Dylan SHOULD have been here that night." The mole explained. "But you know what teenagers are like." The two teenage heroes stared blankly back at him.
"He's got a young lady you see." Gethin explained. "Been a little distracted lately. You know how it is."
Sonic stared firmly ahead of him to avoid Tails eye.
"He arrived just as your yellow friend smashed the vase. Poor boy panicked and ran to get us. By the time we all got back it was too late. I think that's why he was a little hard on you all back there." Gethin continued. "He's trying to make up for not being here. He's a good lad really."
"Back to the ghost." Sonic said impatiently.
"Oh yes." The mole replied. " The ghost has been trapped in that vessel for hundreds of years. Sealed in by my ancestor, a great high priest of his time. You see our people have lived in this forest for hundreds of years. Or under it I should say." The mole chuckled to himself. Sonic and Tails remained impassive.
"We were a peaceful people who mined these mountains and never bothered anyone else." Gethin explained. "But we were somewhat naive. We had gold and diamonds to spare so did not see the true value of what we were digging up."
"But others did." Sonic gave an educated guess. The mole nodded.
"A Troll came to our mines, keen to hoard the treasures for himself. Cythraul the wizard. He promised our ancestors luxuries from the surface in exchange in exchange for the diamonds. To our people even an apple seemed like an exotic prize as they were not so readily available beneath the earth. By contrast the diamonds were so abundant that to us they seemed like silly rocks." Said Gethin. "Our ancestors happily handed over whatever they could to Cythraul. The Trolls offers seemed so generous to them. Soon the Cythraul demanded more and more of my ancestors. He grew greedy and drove them deeper and deeper into the earth. He controlled them with his magic and flayed anyone who opposed him alive."
"Easy!" Sonic warned. "This is a kids show."
"My people were near exhaustion. Thats when my ancestor, Gwain the great started this organization." Gethin said proudly. "He and some rebells stole Cythrauls book of magic spells. Gwain used the Trolls flaying spell against him and burnt him to cinders. But the wizard fought hard against Gwain and as his body burned the creatures spirit clung to this earth. The Troll tried hard to posses Gwain and swore that once he had a corporeal body he would seek his vengeance not just on my people but on the whole world. Gwain resisted and trapped the wizards spirit in this vase."
Gethin waved vaguely at the broken shards of pottery. Sonic and Tails glared at Cubot who shrank back behind Orbot once again. Sonic sighed and turned back to Gethin.
"So we just have to get a pot and trap him inside?" He checked.
The mole shook his head. "It's not that simple."
"It never is." Tails sighed.
"This vase was enchanted." Gethin explained.
Sonic poked at the shards. "Can you repair it?"
Gethin looked doubtful. "Myfanwy might be able to. I'll need to perform the spell to trap the ghost though." The mole stuck his chest out pompously. Sonic indulged him.
"Shall we ask your good lady wife to fix the vase then?" He said, trying hard to keep the bite of impatience out of his voice.
Gethin lead Sonic, Tails and the robots back to the other moles. Things seemed to have calmed down somewhat and Dylan was looking less sheepish.
"We've reached a compromise." The high priestess explained.
"Thats good." Tails nodded.
"We wont be sacrificing all of you." She smiled.
"That's go… wait. What do you mean all of us?" Sonic spluttered.
Dylans eyes lit up. "The one who released the Troll must pay for his crime with his life." He smiled. "He MUST lose his head."
Sonic shrugged and turned to Cubot who was backing away.
"Save me Sonic! You're the good guy." Cubot wailed. "You're meant to help."
"Relax." Sonic said quietly. "You get your head taken off all of the time. Just play dead and we'll get you back to Dr Nosehair for repairs."
Cubot brightened up. " Oh yeah." He smiled." Dr Nosehair will fix me."
The square yellow robot floated over to the Mystic moles. "I am ready to accept my fate." He said dramatically. The moles nodded. Myfanwy whistled and a particularly small mole came forward with a very large axe. Cubot seemed a little more nervous about accepting his fate.
Sonic turned to Tails who seemed lost in thought.
"Don't worry buddy."Sonic said reassuringly. "He'll be fine."
Tails snapped out of his reverie. "Hmm? Oh no it's not that." The fox said. "It's just… I was expecting something to be here weren't you?"
"Aside from the secret ancient society?" Sonic quipped.
"I meant something paranormal." Tails sighed. "Dash said there was a power surge here like there was the night Eggman and the robots came up here."
"You cant always rely on technology." Sonic pointed out. Behind them Cubot was dramatically hamming up his execution. "Maybe Dash needs a tune up."
Tails looked uncertain. He pulled out his tablet and examined the data again. Dash was beaming a live readout which clearly showed a mass over where Sonic and Tails were stood.
"It doesn't make sense." Tails muttered. "I'd better check he's ok."
Sonic rolled his eyes as Tails dialed Amys communicator, however the hedgehog felt a little flutter in his stomach as Amy smiled back from the screen.
"Hey boys." She said brightly. "You all done?"
"Can you do me a favor please Amy?" Tails asked. "If I guide you through it can you hook Dash up to my computer and run a diagnostic check?"
Amy looked confused. "Dash?" She answered. "Your little dog thing? I've not see him since you left."
It was Tails turn to look confused. "I sent him back hours ago." He said. "His readout says he's right there."
Sonic watched as Amy turned away from the screen. She settled her laptop down on the desk which unfortunately for Sonic and Tails meant that they could not see what happened next.
There was a loud metal clang before Amy called out.
"What have you done? No! Stay away. NO!"
"Amy!" Sonic yelled.
He grabbed Tails by the arm and yanked him along behind him as he ran through the forest back to Hedgehog village.
In the graveyard the moles all stood confused for a moment.
"Hey!" Cubot called as the axe slammed down on his neck. "How are we meant to get back."