Chapter 10

A Hard Day's Night

With every step closer they got to the Castle, the feeling of foreboding grew inside Presto. He, Ray, Bobby and Varla, with Tang the Bronze Dragon waddling along behind, had been walking since the early hours of the morning, and now the suns were starting to peak over the top of the ominous black mountains ahead, with Venger's Castle still hiding in the shadow.

Presto could see their destination getting closer and closer, and he knew that he would soon have to start up the conversation that he'd been dreading. Every time he tried to think about what to do next, his mind seemed to go blank.

For the most part he walked in silence. But he stayed close to Varla at all times, even though he was not in much of a mood to talk, to her or anyone else. Ray had realised this too, and he had determinedly engaged Varla in conversation, seemingly filled with curiosity about this new Realm. Presto was content to listen, as Ray asked all sorts of questions about the Realm and the people in it.

It was through Varla that they learned of the Great War between Venger and Kelek, and the way that war had destroyed half the Realm and poisoned most the other half.

'There are few left to fight, on either side,' Varla told them. 'There are few left in the Realm at all. We all must make whatever we can of the chances we get, to survive.'

'It must have been hard for you,' said Ray. 'For everyone.'

Varla nodded. But she couldn't meet Presto's eyes, and again he wondered what hardships she had endured, the ones that she wasn't telling them. She was the same on the outside but so different inside. He had thought he knew and understood her, and that they had a special bond that surpassed all of that. But after this meeting, he wasn't so sure of that any more. This Varla was different.

At last, the path they were following petered out, and they were left to make their way forward as best they could. The undergrowth grew thicker and their progress slowed. Venger's Castle loomed on the horizon like a bad dream. There was no getting away from it.

It took them most of the morning to trudge up as close to it as they dared, and then they stopped. They had reached the point where the Magician was going to have to make a decision. There was no more ground cover, and if they were going to continue, they would need something else to protect them.

Presto was of course thinking about the Hat, it was about the only thing that could properly distract his mind away from the mess they were all in. How was he ever in a million years going to get the Hat to cooperate for long enough to get them all safely inside? (He didn't even start to think about ho he was going to use the Hat to find the girls and Joseph, find Eric and Hank, and get everyone to the Kronos Crystal in one piece! That would have been too much to hope for!).

The five of them huddled together at the edge of the undergrowth, hidden by the blackened bushes and twisted trees. Bobby sat down on one of the chipped boulders that were strewn around, and Tang came up and sat beside him, mirroring the miserable look on the Barbarian's face.

They waited there in silence for a minute, looking at the Castle in front of them, the Magician with a growing feeling of sickness in the back of his throat. At last, he took a deep breath, forcing himself to say the words that had been lingering on the tip of his tongue since they had started walking.

'Do we have a plan?'

There was a pause.

'Don't you have one?' asked Ray, frowning at him. 'I thought you were the one who knew what he was doing!'

'Well…'

'I have a plan,' said Varla, with a slightly superior air that Presto didn't like.

Ray gave a sigh or relief.

'At least someone does!'

Presto scowled at him.

'That's not helping!' he turned to Varla, still standing there with her arms crossed and that smug air. 'What's your idea?'

'We just… walk in,' she replied. Before he could say anything in response, Varla suddenly changed from the beautiful woman he adored into a six-foot Orc dressed in a tunic, with green skin, blunt, yellowing tusks and a whip.

Presto gasped, instinctively looking round and Bobby and Ray. The same thing had happened to them. He looked down at himself, trying to keep firm control over his breathing. He was an Orc too!

'How did you do that?' the Orc that was Ray asked him in a tone of wonderment.

'It wasn't me,' said Presto. 'It's an Illusion!'

He stared at Orc-Varla, thinking that now she was starting to show off, and her smile grew wider until the Orc-face was virtually leering at him.

'So we're just gonna walk in, looking like this?' said Ray. 'You sure it's going to work?'

That question was addressed to Presto, not Varla, and Presto decided to nod, even though he wasn't absolutely sure himself.

'Yeah!' he said. 'It'll work. It'll be fine.'

'What about him?' asked Bobby, speaking for the first time in a long time. He was pointing to the baby Bronze Dragon that was still sitting on the rock next to him.

'Well, I couldn't change him into an Orc,' said Varla. 'It would never work. And he's too small!'

Presto was nearly going to argue the point about Illusions and size differential, but he didn't She knew what she was doing better than him. And who was to say that her magic worked exactly the same here as in the old Realm? Orc-Varla was staring at him, waiting to challenge anything he said. He closed his mouth.

'So what are we going to do with Tang?' Ray asked, his voice slightly slurred thanks to the tusks. 'We can't leave him here!'

'We need him.'

'We do?' asked Presto, that familiar fearful feeling returning to him. Why couldn't this be easier? Why did everyone have to ask so many questions? Why couldn't something be simple for a change?

'We might be Orcs, but they don't just let anybody walk into their Castle,' replied Varla in such a reasonable tone that Presto almost apologised for thinking differently. But as she spoke, Tang hissed and glared at the Illusionist, its yellow eyes narrowed with suspicion.

'That doesn't explain why we need him,' said Ray.

'He will get us in,' replied Varla.

Having been around Eric for so long in the other Realm, Presto could recognise an evasive answer at fifty paces. And so, it seemed, could Ray.

'Yes, but how?' insisted the Sage. Suddenly the Staff in Ray's hand began to glow red at the tip. Presto looked in surprise as Ray's expression changed from one of curiosity to horror.

'That's your plan?' asked Ray incredulously. 'Just hand him over to Venger's Orcs and let them take him away!'

Varla gave Ray a venomous look, all the more potent coming from the face on an Orc.

'What else do you suggest we do, Sage?' she replied. 'If we don't prove we are trustworthy to the Orcs on guard, we'll be in the dungeons before we can draw our weapons, before we even have a chance to step inside. We won't have a chance to do anything, or find anybody.'

Ray looked away, frowning at the ground.

'Let me get this straight,' said Presto. 'To get us into the Castle, we have to give them Tang?'

Varla nodded.

'Venger has been searching for the Dragon for a long time,' she said.

'That plan sucks!' the Barbarian chipped in loudly. 'You can't do that to him!'

'What else do you suggest we do, little boy?' asked Varla. 'Besides, that creature can take care of himself!'

Tang hissed at her again.

'This is not a good idea,' said Ray.

'We don't have any time to debate it,' replied Varla. 'Either we get in to the Castle or we don't and any chance of getting your friends back will vanish. It's simple.'

It did sound straightforward enough, but Presto still didn't like it.

'But he's just a baby Dragon!' protested Bobby. Varla snorted.

'That little creature has been evading Venger for years! He's more than capable of getting himself out of any situation that we get him into.'

Presto opened his mouth to argue, and as he looked at Tang, he saw the contrite, innocuous expression on the Dragon's face, an expression that reminded him of Eric trying to get out of doing any washing up.

'That's true,' he said to Tang. 'What she said, that's true, is it? If there's trouble, you can get yourself out of it?'

Tang looked shiftily from side to side, and his snout twitched. After a moment more, the Dragon nodded.

'That's just great,' muttered the Magician, the only real objection to the plan now gone.

'Presto! You're not going to go along with her plan?' demanded Bobby. 'You're not going to hand him over?'

'Well…'

'That's cruel! Venger's evil!'

The Magician didn't like to even think about it, but he didn't see what else they could do. However, Bobby hadn't finished.

'How do you know he'd be safe?' the Barbarian demanded.

'I don't, but…'

'How do you know nothing would go wrong?' Bobby continued.

'I…'

'Just 'cos you don't know him! Would you do the same if it was Uni?'

The final word clearly stung to say, and the Barbarian lapsed into a sulky silence.

At a loss for words, Presto stared blankly at the Barbarian-Orc and shrugged. How did Hank cope with all these questions and arguments? He didn't know the right thing to do, he was just making this up as he went along! He was doing the best he could!

'I have the solution,' said Ray suddenly. He knelt down beside Tang. 'Look, we're in a jam. We need to get into that Castle, and you're the only way we can do it.' Tang watched the Sage-Orc, his eyes bright with interest. 'Will you help us? Please?'

Tang cocked his head to one side, then the other, Presto held his breath, the question of what they were going to do if Tang said "no" filling his mind.

Tang's little pink tongue appeared, and he licked his lips, appearing nervous. His gaze hadn't waived from Ray, and he had given no sign that he understood, but suddenly his nose twitched again and he gave a vigorous nod. With that, he leaped up onto the Sage's shoulder, chirping.

'I think that's Dragon for "ok"!' said Ray.

'So that is settled then,' said Varla. She looked straight at the Magician, expecting him to answer. In spite of the sinking feeling inside his stomach, Presto felt he had no choice but to agree. He nodded.

'Then we should go now,' she said. Without waiting, she turned and started to walk.

Every step towards the Castle made Presto feel that little bit more ill. There was no comfort from the others; they all looked like Orcs, and were keeping their heads down, and at that moment Presto felt impossibly lonely. He couldn't help doubting what was going on; he was nominally the leader here, but he didn't feel like he was doing a very good job.

He thought of all the times that this must have happened to Hank, though he hadn't realised it at the time. How many times had Hank and Eric argued, and Hank been forced into making a decision? Did he feel like this, so anxious and unsure? Presto doubted it, Hank had always been so good at leading them, and dealing with other people's opinions and ideas and balancing everything out.

Whatever else Hank would have done in this situation, it wouldn't have been this.

And that thought made Presto just feel even worse.

But he was committed now. They were half way across the wide, open space that was before the Castle moat, he could see Orc's at the gate shifting around and the group had clearly been seen, and preparations were being made.

They couldn't back out now, even though he desperately wanted to. All he could do was grin like an Orc and hope it was all over soon.