Watford Tales

The Battle of the Pink Hotel

Simon

Below us the battle is already joined. I hear shouts, spells, curses. I see streams of fire shooting from wands. The Mage's forces are pouring out the gate and down the long narrow drive. Baz, directly below me, shoots a flame from his wand as he descends. He misses one of the goblins narrowly, but a purple flame, shooting out from under Penny's parachute, finds its mark. The goblin gives a horrible scream as he catches fire. I pull out my wand and start aiming fire at the army pouring down the road.

The first of the advance guard have landed and they're already fighting the goblins, swords and daggers glinting in the sunlight filtering through the trees. The next minute a group of wraiths flies up from the roof of the hotel. One dives for Penny and I flap my wings furiously to get to her but Johnny Depp is there ahead of me, slashing at the wraith with his beak and talons until the black creature gives an unearthly shriek and goes scudding away.

Baz gets two wraiths in a row with fire from his wand, and I get a third. We're getting close to the ground now. Some of the Mage's men have joined the fight. There's more of them than there used to be. He must have been recruiting. They've got wands and they start shooting flames and curses at us as we descend. One of the flames catches Baz's parachute and it bursts into fire. I dive for him and catch him before he hits the ground.

He's in my arms and the sky is full of fire. The battle below is heating up. We look into each other's eyes and, for a moment, I think he's going to kiss me. Then we both look away.

"All right?" I breathe as I come gently to earth and set him down.

"Yeah," he says, and without missing a beat he pulls out his sword and stabs the goblin that's coming up behind us right in the throat. The goblin falls backward with a scream as a great arch of blood spurts from his neck. A second later Penny lands beside us. Her sword is already out.

They keep coming at us. There's two more goblins. Penny gets one and I get the other. Then there's a vampire, snarling his way toward us and Baz, fangs popped shoots a bright orange flame at him. He goes up instantly. There's nothing left behind but ash.

"Come on," I shout, seeing an opening through the trees where no one is coming to attack us. "Let's go get Mordelia!" We're supposed to be part of a larger group, but it's complete chaos on the ground, screams, flames, smoke. I nearly trip over a dead goblin lying face down in the dirt. I hear the sound of the sea, waves crashing, off to my left and head toward it. Baz and Penny come scrambling behind me. The woods descend to a narrow shingle beach, closed in by a cliff. At the top of the cliff sits the big old fashioned hotel, painted pink. The same one I saw through the enchanted magnifying glass.

"Mordelia's up there," I say pointing. "Third floor, One of the windows on the left."

"How do you know?" breathes Penny.

"The halal man showed me," I say. "He had an enchanted map."

"Get down," shouts Baz and pulls us back into the cover of the trees as two wraiths dive bomb us. The cold chill of them goes right through me and their frustrated screams echo through the forest.

From behind the trees we look up at the hotel. The wraiths are circling the sky, guarding the third floor where Mordelia is being held prisoner. They are going to be a big problem. I don't know how we're going to get past them

Then, with a scream of fury, Johnny Depp is there, talons out, beak slashing. It seems like he rips the first wraith right in half. It falls through the sky with a terrible shriek and splashes into the sea, where the waves are pounding the rocks below the cliff. The other wraiths are all trying to bring the gwythaint down but he dives and and pulls back, lashing with his talons and his beak, beating his wings like a furious black tornado. The wraiths are no match for him. Another one falls from the sky, it's shrieks echoing crazily over the rocks.