Chapter Ten. View Halloo The forest was not as dark as it appeared from outside the canvas. Thick, leaf-laden branches arched overhead, blocking out any daylight, but the whole forest seemed to be imbued with its own inner light. It was impossible to tell exactly where it was coming from. Underfoot, the forest floor was carpeted with dark, soft grass peppered with tiny purple and blue flowers. Echoing birdsong filled the air and, somewhere out of sight, a fast stream flowed. Apart from the crepuscular light it seemed almost normal. ‘I guess we won’t be needing this.’ Ludo took the spark-ball from Mel and threw it. It left a meteor-bright trail before silently exploding against a tree trunk in a shower of sparks. ‘Bull’s-eye!’ Mel consulted the luck-compass. ‘Looking good,’ he said. ‘This way.’ They set off into the forest. After they had gone a short distance, Ludo asked, ‘How do you suppose the whatsit works? I mean, how does it know what we’re after? We might think it’s directing us towards luck that will save Wren but it could be pointing us towards luck that will save Nephonia all the time.’ ‘Well, it worked back in the room. It hasn’t led us to Nephonia.’ ‘But do you think we can trust Cassetti? What if he’s primed the whatsit to always point to his, you know, Nephonia’s luck, rather than ours? And another thing. Why didn’t the whatsit chime when Green and Blue came for us? Being rescued from the Ters murdering us is about the best luck you could have. It should have chimed the happy tune. It’s as if –’ ‘Shhh! Did you hear that?’ said Mel. It was a deep, melodic phrase that rose and fell in pitch. ‘There it is again. It sounded like a hunting horn. Look. ’ In the depths of the forest they saw a tiny group of lights move from right to left and then vanish. They heard the hunting horn again but fainter. Then silence. ‘What was that?’ asked Ludo. ‘No idea. But according to the luck-compass we’re headed that way.’ ‘Can we stop for a bit first? I’m feeling really tired,’ said Ludo as the exhaustion of two sleepless nights finally overtook him. ‘Me too.’ They sat down with their backs to a tree trunk. ‘Just five minutes.’ ‘Yeah, just five minutes.’ *** Mel awoke with a start. Ludo was fast asleep at his side. ‘Ludo.’ He shook him. ‘Ludo, wake up.’ His voice had an echo. Ludo sat up and rubbed his eyes. ‘What?’ ‘We’ve been asleep.’ ‘Asleep? How long for?’ ‘I don’t know. We’re in the Mirrorscape, remember. That’s funny. What would you say these trees are made of?’ ‘Custard? Wood , of course, stupid.’ Ludo turned to look at the trunk. ‘It’s. . . it’s made of stone. And it’s carved with grooves to look like bark. There’s even mortar between the blocks. They were made of normal tree-wood when we came in. And they were when we sat down. I’m sure they were.’ Ludo looked up. ‘It’s. . . scrot!’ ‘Exactly,’ said Mel. The branches had changed into vaulting. There was a ceiling above them and the grass had become flagstones. Although there was still something of the forest in the way the irregular vaulting resembled branches, they now appeared to be in some vast crypt. ‘How did it do that? The Mirrorscape’s never done that before,’ said Ludo. ‘The forest couldn’t have, you know, petrified?’ ‘That takes millions of years.’ ‘We were pretty tired.’ Mel and Ludo looked at each other. ‘ Nah .’ They shook their heads. They looked back the way they had come and it appeared the same. In fact, it looked the same in every direction. Just a forest of equally sized, equally spaced columns that receded in geometric progression into the darkness. There was no more birdsong, just the echoing plip plip sound of water dripping on stone. ‘What now?’ said Ludo. ‘The luck-compass still says this way.’ They got to their feet and set out once more. After a moment, Ludo stopped. ‘Mel, can you feel that? It feels like the ground’s trembling.’ ‘Yeah, and it’s getting stronger. Maybe it’s an earthquake.’ Something fluttered across their path. Then came the sound of the hunting horn. It was very close. ‘Quick, Ludo. Hide behind this column.’ A swarm of lights appeared in the darkness ahead. They were coming towards the boys – fast. Then the horn blew very loud and a shout was heard. ‘View Halloo! View Halloo!’ From out of the murk of the crypt thundered a strange hunt. The noise was deafening. Mel and Ludo were frightened and amazed and confused and delighted – all at the same time. Dozens of tiny, human-shaped figments wearing scarlet coats and wielding huge, fine-meshed nets attached to long poles were mounted on a bizarre assortment of beasts. There were giant scaly sloths running on their hind limbs, transparent jellyfish with ostrich legs, and huge half- crab, half-scorpion creatures that scuttled sideways with surprising speed. Most of the mounts were warty-skinned dinosaurs of all shapes, sizes and colours with lanterns slung around their necks or hanging from their horns. Alongside them flew an assortment of weird creatures – some like long- necked vultures and others that appeared to be more nest than bird – while weaving in and out of the stampeding feet darted dozens of small yelping creatures that seemed to be a cross between weasels and spiny lizards. Leading this strange company was a tiny, scarlet- coated huntsman mounted on a peacock-hued elephant whose impossibly long trunk coiled round and round and ended in a trumpet-like bell. As it passed, it blew another of its melodic hunting calls. The hunt galloped by, crashing into the columns and shattering the flagstones as if they were sheets of thin ice. They passed Mel and Ludo and disappeared into the gloom of the crypt, leaving a cloud of stone dust behind them. The shout of ‘View Halloo’ and the notes of the horn grew fainter and then vanished. ‘What the skeg was that?’ Mel shook his head. ‘Let’s get out of here in case they come back.’ ‘Hang on,’ said Ludo. ‘What’s that on your sleeve?’ ‘It looks like a leaf.’ But as Mel moved his hand to brush it away it unfolded to reveal itself as a very large and very strange butterfly. On each wing, as clear as the finest painted image, was a human eye. As Mel looked at them, they blinked. Then the eyes turned to regard Ludo. Ludo looked closer. It stared right back. ‘So what is it?’ asked Mel. ‘No idea. How about you?’ Mel shrugged. ‘Do you suppose that the hunt was after it? They had butterfly nets.’ The eyes blinked once. ‘All those monsters after this little thing?’ The eyes blinked again; once and very deliberately. ‘I think it’s trying to tell us something,’ said Mel. ‘ Are you trying to tell us something?’ The eyes blinked once more. ‘Is it one blink for “yes” and two for “no”?’ asked Mel. One blink. ‘Are you a cucumber?’ said Ludo. Two blinks. ‘Scrot,’ said Ludo, ‘a talking butterfly.’ ‘Talking?’ ‘You know what I mean. We should leave it here.’ ‘Leave it? With the hunt after it?’ The eyes were blinking rapidly. ‘I think it wants to come with us,’ said Mel. ‘We’ll take it along.’ The eyes blinked once. ‘With that lot after it? I’m sure they didn’t want to catch it so that they could tuck it up in bed and read it a bedtime story. If we take it with us it’ll be like trying to swim in a pool of piranhas with a pork chop hung round our necks.’ ‘We can’t leave it, Ludo. It’ll be OK. Come on. The luck-compass says this way.’ *** ‘I’m sure we’ve passed this way before,’ said Ludo after they had gone some distance into the forest of columns. ‘It all looks the same.’ Mel glanced at the luck-compass. ‘It’s been pointing this direction all along. We must be getting somewhere.’ The ruby looked unnaturally bright. ‘My legs ache. Can’t we sit down for a bit?’ ‘We’d better not. Look what happened the last time. We’ve got to get on and rescue Wren.’ ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ Ludo looked at the butterfly that rested on Mel’s shoulder. ‘How about you; do you know where we’re going? Hey! It blinked “yes”, Mel.’ ‘Really? Ask it some more.’ ‘OK, Blinky, where are we going?’ ‘No; it has to be something simple. Something it can answer yes or no.’ ‘Are we going to find Wren?’ ‘What’d it say?’ ‘Nothing. I think it’s trying to stare me out.’ ‘It probably doesn’t know who Wren is,’ said Mel. ‘Do you know who Wren is? It says “no”. Well, she’s our friend and she’s been –’ Ludo was interrupted by the luck-compass’s sad chime. ‘ Uh-oh . I told you we shouldn’t have let Blinky hitch a ride. It’s the piranhas back for their pork chop. Hide!’ The lights were heading their way. The hunting horn. The thundering of many, many feet. ‘View Halloo! View Halloo!’ Suddenly, the hunt was upon them again. The ground shook and huge clouds of dust were thrown up as the monstrous herd charged by, pulverising the flagstones. Several of the larger and less agile dinosaurs failed to turn as tightly as the others and collided with one of the columns. It crashed to the floor with a shudder. The noise of the pursuit died away. ‘That was close,’ said Mel, peering at the retreating hunt. The boys got to their feet and dusted off their clothes. Just then there was a loud groan and the ceiling above the shattered column fell in with a crash. A huge cloud of dust rose up and bright light streamed down into the crypt. ‘Where’s Blinky going?’ said Ludo as the dust settled. ‘He’s flying up into the light,’ said Mel. ‘Come on.’ The boys climbed over the fallen column and stood for a moment beneath the gaping hole, blinking at the brilliance above. The luck-compass chimed happily. With a glance at his friend, Mel clambered on to the pile of rubble and hauled himself upwards towards the light. Ludo grabbed the sack of provisions and followed. *** ‘I won’t! You can’t make me!’ shouted Wren. ‘Oh, I think you’ll find we can.’ Ter Mudge bent and picked up the white garment from the floor where Wren had flung it. ‘We can make you do anything we want. Tunk?’ The big Ter moved towards Wren. ‘You won’t get away with this. My father knows I’m here. He’ll come looking for me.’ ‘Your father’s away in Monder, installing one of his clocks for a rich client,’ said Ter Mudge. ‘We checked.’ ‘My master will know I’m missing by now. He’ll go and see the Maven. They’re friends.’ Wren backed into the corner of the room. ‘I don’t think the Maven will be helping you, Miss Pretty-Pretty. Now, are you going to stand still for your fitting? No? Perhaps we should go and get the Morg to help. He’ll make you stand still. Would you like that? We know how much you adore your fiancé.’ ‘We can’t do that, Mudge. It’s bad luck for the groom to see the wedding dress before the marriage.’ ‘Bad luck, Tunk? I think that’s the least of Miss Pretty- Pretty’s problems.’ Wren stared at the two Ters. What could she do? Mel and Ludo would rescue her. She was sure of it. Even if they were only two boys against the might of the Ters and their Fa allies, she knew they would find a way. She’d do as her captors asked. For now. She held out her hand. ‘Ah, that’s better. Now slip off your clothes like a good girl. You and the Morg are going to make an extraordinary couple. Extraordinary .’