Chapter 30

The Second Task - Part 2

Inside the Cave

KIARA

I then looked around. I was in a dark cave, surrounded by flaming torches. I looked at the doorway to the river, which was black and murky. I tried to get back out, but I couldn't; it seemed that the invisible barrier that brought me inside the cave was not allowing me to leave. I then felt the cave tremble as something shot out of it, which meant that the time limit had begun. After the trembling stopped, I was going to have another go at moving the barrier, when a calm, soothing voice spoke from behind me.

"You will not be able to leave until you complete the task."

I gasped and turned around. There before me stood a witch with pale-blonde hair flooding down her back. she had a long face, pale blue eyes and a warm smile. She was wearing a dress of silver, and she had an ethereal glow around her.

"Who are you?" I asked the strange being.

The woman's smile widened, and she said, "I am your Guide for this task. I am here to help you find what you have lost. Just say the word, and we'll be on our way."

I stared at the Guide for a few moments, before I realised that there was no one else there to help me that I could trust, so I merely said, "Very well, Guide ... lead on."

My Guide turned on her heel and floated off down the cave, with me following behind her. When we turned a corner of the cave, I felt the floor change from stone to wood, which I found odd, for caves don't usually have wooden floors. I followed the Guide to the end of the long passage, which had flaming torches placed around the walls. As bright as it was in there, though, the middle of the room was pitch dark, and I was certain that some sort of ragged, eerie breathing came from the centre. I looked at the Guide when we were beside an iron grate at the end of the passage for further instructions.

"Light the fire," was all she said. Wondering what was going to happen, I pulled out my wand once more, pointed it at the grate and said, "Incendio!" And all at once, the room came alive.

"You have fifty-five minutes remaining to complete the task," my Guide said, as I looked around the room. It was then that I understood why the floor had turned from stone to wood, for I was standing in a large, magnificent chamber, which was covered in red bricks. There was only a few things out of place in this room: the first was that there was a large pile of shoes stacked in a corner; the second, a large table full of food and drink, which was empty - except for the chair at the head of the table, which my Guide and I were stood behind, and this was the third strangest thing about this chamber.

I walked cautiously around the table, careful not to knock anything over, in case I accidentally woke him (for I assumed the creature was a "he") up, and got a look at him. This creature still haunts my nightmares now, for I found him shocking to look at. He was completely naked, and from what I could see, his skin hung off of him and was stretched tightly across his chest and face, like he had lost a lot of weight. There were two little holes for his nose in his head, and his arms were placed either side of a plate, his fingers turning red and then black at the tips, along with his long fingernails, which were dirty white at the tips. Anyhoo, his hands were either side of a plate, as I've already said, and on this plate there was no food. Instead, there were two large, red eyes on it. The creature's mouth wasn't moving, and in case any of you are wondering, yes, the creature was breathing raggedly, and eerily.

"He is sleeping," my Guide said simply from beside me. I didn't know what this creature was, but a feeling of unease had settled around me. The sooner I found Chrissie and got the two of us out of here, the better.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at the creature nervously, as though I was afraid it would attack me at any moment.

"A Paleman," my Guide answered. "There is one for each Champion. This creature is not human, and is also what the merpeople are protecting."

"What does he eat?" I then asked. "I mean, there is plenty of food on the table, but I don't think he's eaten any of it. So what does the Paleman eat?"

"Study the walls around you, child," my Guide said, pointing to the paintings that were hung high over the fireplace. They hold the answers to your questions."

I looked at the portraits, and saw some truly disturbing images that still haunt my mind. Each of them contained the Paleman, and a child - or two, in some of them - and the Paleman was holding a child above his mouth, wanting to eat them. In some of the paintings, it looked like the Paleman ripped off a few limbs off a child, and would eat them before finishing the child off. They were truly horrifying images. I swear that I could hear the screams of the children that had been killed by that monster.

I took a few deep breaths after seeing these images, turned back to my Guide and said slowly, "It doesn't eat the food off the table ... because it eats children ..."

"Children of what, exactly?" my Guide asked pointedly.

I was confused by this, but my eyes were drawn to the pile of shoes in the corner, and I don't know how, but the answer came to me in an instant.

"Innocence," I answered. My Guide nodded solemnly as I looked back at the table, realising what it meant.

"The food is a temptation test for myself and my friend, isn't it? Even before I've rescued her, at any time we're in here, if either of us eat the food, we fail the task, don't we?"

"In a way you do," my Guide said, "but there is a way that I will be able to save you both if you are unlucky, but we'll get to that if the worst happens. Besides, you have your friend to find, and time's ticking, after all"

I agreed to this, for I didn't want to spend much time in the room with the Paleman, so I said to my Guide, "What must I do to complete the task?"

My Guide gave a curt nod, before she said, "In this room, there are three objects that you must find: the first is a key, which you must use the chalk to find; the second, a dagger, which you will find with the key; and the third is your friend, and to get her out of the wall, you will need to use the dagger. You will know when you've found the objects, do not worry," she added, before I could say anything. "After all, these walls have deep magic stored in them. Good luck, Kiara Pride-Lander." And with that, she stood back, and kept her eyes focused on the Paleman.

So, holding the chalk in my hand, I moved to the other end of the chamber, and started moving the chalk up and down the walls, hoping to see a sign. After about ten minutes, I saw a brick glow. I drew an outline around the brick that glowed; the brick dissolved, and I pulled out a long, silver key. I quickly and silently congratulated myself, before I moved on to find the dagger.

I did the same thing with the key as I did with the chalk. I kept moving anti-clockwise around the room, moving the key up and down, looking for a brick to shine to help me find the dagger, which I found inside a brick in the middle of the wall, above the fireplace. I had to brush aside a bit of dust to find the hole to fit the key in the bottom right-hand corner, and I carefully pulled the dagger out.

My Guide kept me aware of the time. I had about twenty-five minutes left to finish the task, as I was moving the dagger up and down the bricks, looking for a few of them to shine to reveal Chrissie's location to me, when I heard a deep rumble from somewhere close by.

"What was that?" I asked, startled.

"Nothing to worry about," my Guide said calmly. "Georgia Diggs has just completed the task, that's all. Now, stay focused. You have twenty-two minute left to complete the task."

I figured that Georgia's thing that was taken from her was Khan, but I hid my jealousy well, and kept looking for Chrissie.

I had reached the wall to the right of the entrance, when some bricks glowed. I felt pleased, but that lasted for a moment, when I realised that instead of the bricks flashing gold like the others had done, these turned red. I was confused for a moment, before I realised what the dagger was for. I took a deep breath, before I held the dagger in my right hand, shaking slightly as I did so, and then brought it down on my left hand, slicing through the skin on my palm.

Hissing from the pain I had just bought on myself, I wiped the blood into the stone, which turned into a kind of long, narrow locker door. There was a keyhole in it, so I stuck the key in, unlocked the door, and Chrissie came tumbling into my arms. I held her steady as I felt her move, and then we pulled away from each other slowly. Chrissie looked around, confused, and then she saw me and smiled widely.

"Kiara, you found me!" Chrissie said delightedly. I grinned at her, and we hugged.

"Well done, Kiara Pride-Lander!" my Guide's voice said suddenly from near me. Chrissie and I let go of each other and looked at her. Chrissie must have looked alarmed, for she said, "Do not be afraid of me, dear one. I have helped Kiara Pride-Lander find you, and now the task is complete. When you are ready, I shall lead you back to the doorway, and you shall leave here freely."

"Thank you," I said, smiling at her. I then looked at Chrissie, and I saw her heading towards the grapes in the fruit bowl on the table.

Panicking, I yelled, "Chrissie, don't! If you eat anything, you'll wake up the Paleman and I'll fail the task!"

"But I'm so hungry," Chrissie moaned, as she reached for a grape.

"Chrissie, we can eat back at the castle, but right now we have got to go!" I said desperately, as Chrissie snapped off a grape. "Chrissie, no!" I yelled, but it was too late, for Chrissie had already put the grape in her mouth.

As soon as she did that, I saw the Paleman's arms start to move and Chrissie froze, turning her head slowly towards the Paleman, who was waking up.

"Now you've done it!" I growled at Chrissie, frustrated at her - and her stomach.

"Come, children! Quickly!" my Guide called, pointing to the entrance of the chamber. "Hurry, now! Meet me at the entrance of the cave!" Chrissie and I didn't need telling twice; we ran as fast as we could towards the entrance to the cave, which had sealed itself. When we got there, we heard rumblings going on around us, and the ground started to move.

"What's happening?" Chrissie asked, as scared as I was.

"I'll tell you what's happening," my Guide said, standing in front of us, "because you ate a grape, Christina Dawson, you not only awoke the Paleman, but you have potentially made Kiara fail the task, which means that this cave is collapsing. I have placed a spell on the entrance to the chamber to keep the Paleman at bay for about five minutes, so that there may be a chance for Kiara to complete the task and not fail it, and thus ensuring your safety."

"What must I do?" I asked, as the cave walls shook violently, and the sound of the Paleman's shrieks reached our ears.

"I am going to ask you a question, Kiara, which you, and you alone, must answer. Bear in mind, you only have one shot to answer it, and you must answer honestly. Do you wish to answer the question?"

"I do," I said, without hesitation.

"Very well. My question for you is this: Who in your family do you feel the most connected with?"

I was about to open my mouth and say, "My father", for every obvious reason you can think of, before I gave it some deep thought. Yes, my father had given me a protection which had saved me from Zira's clutches, but that had been when I was a baby don't forget, and yet, I had only met him when I was thirteen, because he had been stuck in Azkaban with my mother. The more I thought about the question, the more my mind searched through my memories - and then it hit me! Who had been my one constant connection to the wizarding world throughout my childhood?

"Grandmother Sarabi," I answered clearly.

My Guide suddenly vanished, and I thought that we had lost, when the entrance of the cave opened, and the invisible force that had dragged me inside, was dragging Chrissie and I back out. I quickly drew out the box of Chewy Breathers, took two of the sweet capsules out and handed one to Chrissie, as we were forced back into the water, with the big green bubbles around our heads. Once we were in the water, we then watched the cave's entrance become solid rock once more, before it crumbled into pieces, which floated slowly to the ground.

As Chrissie and I breathed with relief, we heard muffled banging from two doors down. I exchanged a quick glance with Chrissie, who was looking longingly at the surface, but when she saw the desperate look on my face, she reluctantly nodded, and we swam over to the cave.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten about the merpeople standing guard around the caves, but was harshly reminded by half-a-dozen merpeople pointing their spears at us.

"Your task is to retrieve your own friend ... leave the others ..." a merman said in a harsh, croaky voice.

"But they could be in danger in there!" I yelled, gesturing towards the cave. "And I don't want whoever's in there to die!"

I looked down for the chalk, but the only things I had in my hands were my wand, the box of Chewy Breathers, the key and the dagger from the cave chamber; the chalk must have dissolved. I looked at Chrissie, desperate, but she just shrugged, as the merpeople closed in around us. Out of ideas, I directed Chrissie's attention to my wand, and then nudged my head at the merpeople. Chrissie nodded her head, pulled out her own wand, and we both pointed our wands at the merpeople. "Get out of the way!"

No sound flew out of the giant green bubbles around our heads, but we heard our voices inside them. I got the feeling that the mermen understood us, because their yellow eyes were fixed upon mine and Chrissie's wands, and they looked scared. There ight've been a lot more of them than there were of us, but I could tell, from the looks on their faces, that they knew no more magic than the giant squid did.

"You've got until three!" I shouted; Chrissie seemed to agree with me, as I held up three fingers to make sure they got the message. "One ..." (I put down a finger) - "two ..." (I put down a second) -

They scattered, as out from nowhere, a form emerged from beside Chrissie and I. He had a giant bubble around his head, which made his features look oddly wide and stretched. I saw the cloths covering his face, apart from his eyes. It was Kopa, Outsider's brother, who was hovering just behind him in the water. Kopa heard the banging that was coming from the cave, then reached out, took the dagger from my hands, sliced my left hand (which had magically healed itself in the chamber), grabbed my arm, dragged me over to the cave where the banging was coming from, put my left palm on the rock, which dissolved, to reveal a small boy with black hair that had flecks of gold in, which made me think that he was Ferdinand's brother. Chrissie and I helped the boy out, and then Kopa handed me the dagger back. He looked at me gently, with a smile in his familiar, light amber-coloured eyes, before he swam back to his brother, and they rose up together, as the rock that the boy was in that we had just rescued him from, and the rock that Outsider and Kopa had come out of, crumbled and disappeared before our eyes.

Chrissie and I then took an arm each of the boy, and together we swam slowly back to the surface ... I didn't know about the other two, but I fixed my eyes skywards. I knew that we were very deep, the water around us was so dark ...

Merpeople were rising with us. I could see them swirling around with ease, watching us struggle through the water ... I wondered whether they would pull us back down to the depths after we had risen, seeing as Chrissie and I had threatened them with magic? Or did they perhaps eat humans? My legs (as well as Chrissie's, I imagined), were seizing up with the effort to keep swimming; it was hard to swim upwards, when my robes were dragging me down.

I kept breathing with difficulty as I neared the surface ... the bubble around my head was growing slowly smaller as I got closer to the surface ... the darkness was definitely thinning ... I could see daylight above me ...

I kicked hard with my feet ... the bubble was turning into a sweet again ... water was flooding through my mouth into my lungs ... I was starting to feel dizzy, but I knew that light and air was only ten feet above me ... I had to get there ... I had to ...

I kicked my legs so hard and fast it felt as though my legs were screaming in protest; my very brain felt water-logged, I couldn't breathe, I needed oxygen, I had to keep going, I could not stop -

And then I felt my head break the surface of the river; wonderful, cold, clear air was making my wet face sting; I gulped it down, feeling as though I had never breathed properly before, and, panting, I looked over at the boy and Chrissie, who were panting just as hard as I was, but they were both smiling at me.

The crowd in the stands was making a great deal of noise, as Chrissie and I ate our lime-flavoured Chewy Breathers; shouting and screaming, everybody seemed to be on their feet; I had the impression they thought Chrissie and the boy might be dead, but they were wrong ... Chrissie and the boy were both grinning wildly.

"Why didn't he wake up?" I asked Chrissie. "I thought he would've still been asleep, seeing as Ferdinand didn't - "

"Oh, Kiara," Chrissie sighed exasperatedly, "you didn't take that song seriously, did you? Ma wouldn't have let any of us die!"

"But the song said - "

"Only to make sure you found us!" said Chrissie. "As you saw, there was another way out! Besides, the reason why he woke up was because that just in case none of us were found, because those who were meant to rescue us were dragged down by Grindylows or something, then the spell would wear off, the door would unlock, and we would come out and be fine, and we would be brought back later. I think he must've been very hungry and woke that monster up. No wonder he was so scared! As you see, Kiara, you didn't have to spend your time down there playing the hero!"

I felt both stupid and annoyed at myself; how could I have been so stupid as to take that song seriously? Why couldn't I have just got Chrissie and gone when I had the chance?

"C'mon," I said shortly, "help me with him, I don't think he can swim very well."

We pulled Ferdinand's brother through the water, back towards the bank where the judges stood watching, twenty merpeople accompanying us like a guard of honour, singing their horrible, screechy songs.

I could see Matron fussing over Kopa, Outsider, Georgia and Khan, all of whom were wrapped in thick blankets. Crighton and Lynn Baxter stood beaming at Chrissie and I from the bank as we swam closer, but Sian, along with Chris, who had clearly rushed over from the opposite bank, both came splashing out to meet us. Meanwhile, Monsieur Legrand was trying to restrain Ferdinand Desjardin, who was quite hysterical, fighting tooth and nail to return to the water.

"Simon! Simon! Is 'e alive? Is 'e 'urt?"

"He's fine!" I tried to tell him, but I was so exhausted I could hardly talk, let alone shout.

Sian had seized Chrissie and was dragging her back to the bank ("Gerroff, S.D., I'm all right!"), Crighton and Baxter were pulling Chris and I upright; Ferdinand Desjardin had broken free of Monsieur Legrand and was hugging his brother.

"It was ze Grindylows ... zey attacked me ... oh, Simon, I thought ... I thought ..."

"Come here, you," said Matron's voice; she seized me and pulled me over to Kopa and the others, wrapped me so tightly in a blanket that I felt as though I was in a straight jacket, and forced a measure of very hot potion down my throat. Steam gushed out of my ears.

"Kiara, well done!" Sian cried, running over to me and hugging me tightly. "You did it, you found out all by yourself!"

I was about to ask what she was talking about, but she nudged her head pointedly in Kula's direction, who was watching us closely. Getting the point, I said, raising my voice slightly so that Kula could hear me, "Yeah, that's right!"

Sian pulled back from me slightly, before she hugged me again and said, "Thank you for saving my sister, Kiara! You truly are a good friend."

"Any time," I said. Sian smiled at me, before she turned her attention to Kopa, as did I. By the looks of things, Outsider was trying to draw Kopa back into a conversation, perhaps to remind him that he had just rescued him from the river, but Kopa wasn't interested. I could see a smile in Kopa's eyes as he stood up and walked towards Sian and I. Kopa put an arm around Sian's waist and held her close. She smiled at him, and I saw a smile in his eyes when he looked at her. They truly were made for each other.

"Oh, you have a water beetle on your cloths, Kopa," said Sian. Kopa brushed it aside impatiently, before he turned to me and said, "You did well down there, Kiara. I'm sure your parents would be proud of you if they saw you now."

"Thanks," I said. "Oh, and Kopa? Thanks for helping me get Ferdinand's brother out of the cave. You didn't have to do that."

"I know," he said, "but I saw how much you wanted to help him, so I helped you. I couldn't resist helping you, just as you couldn't resist helping him."

My feeling of stupidity was growing. Now that I was out of the water, it seemed perfectly clear that Crighton's safety precautions wouldn't have permitted the death of a hostage just because their Champion hadn't turned up. Why hadn't I just grabbed Chrissie and gone? I would have been the second one back ... Georgia and Outsider hadn't wasted time worrying about anyone else; they hadn't taken the mersong seriously ...

Crighton was crouched at the water's edge, deep in conversation with who seemed to be the chief merperson, a particularly wild and ferocious-looking female. she was making the same sort of screechy noises that the merpeople made when they were above water; clearly, she could speak Mermish. Finally she straightened up, turned to her fellow judges and said, "A conference before we give the marks, I think."

The judges went into a huddle. Matron had gone to fetch Chrissie, who was standing next to Chris and talking with him, after Sian had finally let go of her sister; she (Matron) led Chrissie over to where myself and the others were, gave her a blanket and some Pepper-Up Potion, then went to fetch Ferdinand and his brother. Ferdinand had many cuts on his face and arms, and his robes were torn, but he didn't seem to care, nor would he allow Matron to clean them.

"Look after Simon," he said to her, and then he turned to me. "You saved him," he said breathlessly. "Even though 'e was not your 'ostage."

"Yeah," I said, and I heartily wished that I'd left all three boys down in their caves.

Ferdinand bent down, kissed me twice on each cheek (I felt my face burn and wouldn't have been surprised if steam was coming out of my ears again), then said to Chrissie, "And you, too - you 'elped - "

"Yeah," said Chrissie, who looked extremely hopeful, "yeah, a bit - "

Ferdinand swooped down on her, too, and kissed her. Sian rolled her eyes, as Chris looked on, furious, but just then, Lynn Baxter's magically magnified voice boomed out beside us, making us all jump, and causing the crowd in the stands to go very quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have now reached our decision. Merchieftainess Mercruss has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the river, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the Champions, as follows ...

"Mr Ferdinand Desjardin, though he demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows as he approached his goal, and failed to retrieve his hostage. We award him twenty-five points."

There was applause from the stands.

"I deserved zero," said Ferdinand throatily, shaking his magnificent head.

"Miss Georgia Diggs, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with her hostage, though she was the second person to arrive, and returned within thirty minutes after entering her cave." Enormous cheers from the Badger-Stripes in the crowd; I saw Khan give Georgia a look full of pride. "We therefore award her forty-seven points."

My heart rose at this. If Georgia had been inside the time limit, then I most certainly had been.

"Mr Kovu Outsider used the Bubble-Head charm also, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

Kula clapped particularly hard, looking very superior.

"Miss Kiara Pride-Lander used a Chewy Breather, which is a sweet that performs a sort of Bubble-Head Charm, to great effect," Baxter continued. "She returned last, and even though her hostage ate a piece of fruit, she managed to save her hostage and come out of the cave inside the time limit. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Miss Pride-Lander was the first to reach the hostages, and that part of her delay in entering her cave and rising to the surface once she had saved her hostage was due to her determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely her own."

Chris, Sian and Chrissie gave me half-exasperated, half-commiserating looks.

"Most of the judges - " and here, Baxter gave Kula a very nasty look - "feel that this shows moral fibre and merits full marks. However ... Miss Pride-Lander's score is forty-five points."

My stomach leapt. I was tying in first place with Georgia. Chris, Sian and Chrissie, caught by surprise, stared at me, then laughed and started applauding hard with the rest of the crowd.

"There you go, Kiara!" Chris shouted over the noise. "You weren't being thick after all - you were showing moral fibre!"

Ferdinand was clapping very hard, too, but Outsider didn't look very happy at all. He attempted to engage Kopa in conversation again, but he was too busy cheering to listen.

"The third and final task will take place on the twenty-fourth of June," continued Baxter. the Champions will be notified of what is coming, precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the Champions."

It was over, I thought dazedly, as Matron began herding us Champions and our hostages back to the castle to get into dry clothes ... it was over, I had got through ... I didn't have to worry about anything until June the twenty-fourth ...

As I passed Sian and her mother, I saw Crighton trying to embrace her eldest child, but Sian avoided it. I saw Crighton look startled and stared confusedly at Sian's actions, but Sian just smiled apologetically at her mother, before she turned on her heel and walked hand-in-hand with Kopa back to the castle. I looked back at Crighton, and noticed a sadness in her eyes - even when Baxter called to her, and she tried to hide her sadness, I still caught a glimpse of it in her eyes.

My thoughts then turned to Dokey, and I made a promise to myself, which I kept; for the next time I went into Dragsmede, I was going to buy Dokey a pair of socks for every day of the year (well, they were for every day of the week, but at least they were socks!).

AN: For those of you who are wondering, this task was inspired by the task in Pan's Labyrinth, which is a great movie that you should see - but only if you are ABOVE the age of fifteen! I hope you enjoyed these chapters, and I will be posting again on Sunday.