Going Pear Shaped. A tale of wizards, lizards and galvanised tubing salesmen.

Chapter 14: 'Do they come with a holster?'

Going Pear Shaped: Chapter 14: 'Do they come with a holster?'

The library of Bludd Castle was once a grand affair with a mezzanine balcony complete with balustrades running along three sides of the spacious hall.  It had suffered more than its fair share of damage when the Castle took off on its impromptu vertical relocation.  The scrolls and ancient volumes had left their shelves in a rush and had been hurled violently around.  The result was more of a soggy paper mountain than a library.  Several shelves had collapsed into one another and loose pages now littered the ornate tiled floor.  The tall windows in the end wall had shattered and the years of winds and storms had entered unabated and wreaked havoc.

'What a mess!' exclaimed Norris.  'The last time I saw anything as bad as this was at the Women's Institute Half Price Book Sale.'

'Such a waste, too,' said Sister Rosehip, sadly.  'All this vast storehouse of knowledge lost, rare books ruined, precious papers destroyed...'

'What's the matter with you lot?' spluttered Cadmus.  'They're only books.  The next thing you know, you'll be wanting to give the ones with broken spines a decent burial...'

Thump!  A thick, leather-bound volume bounced off Cadmus's head causing his pointy hat to cave in.  He collapsed into a pile of wet manuscripts and slid to the floor with a grunt.

'Oops, sorry!' called a voice from above.  Garstang's face appeared over the balcony.  'Er...  look out below!'

As Cadmus lay sprawled out on the soggy heap, he could hear the others talking.

'It's a journal.  I found it in a secret compartment behind a sliding partition in a wooden panel,' said Garstang, as he descended the staircase.  'That's one of the first places my Primer said to check out in old libraries.'

'What's it contain?' asked Sister Rosehip.

'It's written in the Baron's own hand.  It shows that he was searching for the Pearl of Wisdom, too - just like his father and his father before him – it goes back for generations.  This Castle was built on an ancient magical site thousands of years old.' 

'Does that help us?'  Norris asked, puzzled.

'It says here, that the last resting-place of the Pearl was reputed to be somewhere deep in this mountainside.  They were close to a breakthrough.  They thought they had finally located the part of the subterranean chambers in which the Sanctuary of the Pearl was supposed to be hidden.  They found scraps of old parchments down in the tunnels below here - something about needing only a pair of keys to get the final door open – it's all in here, see?'

Garstang held the book open to show them.  His hands were trembling.  Mr Diamond was right, he thought.  He had never experienced such excitement before.  It was more than just a legend - it was real - exhilaratingly real.  This was his best chance to show them what he could do.  'I am going to lead us right to that Pearl,' announced Garstang, proudly.

Cadmus sat up and groaned.  'What hit me?'

Sister Rosehip slipped a hand under his arm as he staggered to his feet.  'We're running out of time, Cadmus.  I can sense the fluxes in the psionic waves.  They're getting stronger.  We must find a way down to the cellars before...'

'That's what we came to tell you,' said Norris.  'We know the way into the underground passages.'

Cadmus groaned again and slumped back onto the heap of soggy papers.

* * *

'Now listen up, men,' said Captain Wetherspoon, 'this here is Mr Longbottom.  He has something very important to explain to you.'