Keys to the Demon Prison
Page 36

Now that they had the leprechaun, silence no longer mattered. Heedless of the leaves he rustled or the twigs he snapped, Seth dashed to join the satyrs. Now all they had to do was prevent the leprechaun from outsmarting them. Once he was caught, as long as they kept hold of him, Cormac's magic was useless. Patton had provided an extensive list of warnings and advice.
Doren opened the mouth of the sack just enough for Seth to reach in. Seizing the little man by his feet, Seth pulled him out. The leprechaun clung to the flask of whiskey.
"Unhand me!" the leprechaun demanded, upside down, squirming doggedly.
"Hi, Cormac," Seth said. "Patton sends his regards." The letter had promised this would quickly get the leprechaun's attention.
The little man stopped struggling. He looked stricken. "Patton, you say? He gave you my name? Who are you? What is this?"
Seth set the leprechaun on the sand, but kept hold of one arm. The little man used his free arm to hug the whiskey flask.
"The bag's empty!" Doren said, feeling inside.
Cormac scowled up at him. "Of course it's empty. It was empty when I found it."
"It was full of gold coins," Newel corrected.
The little man glowered. "I may be a clumsy dullard for getting caught, but I'm not so slow that I would miss the chance to pocket a coin or two."
"Or seventy!" Doren said. "And thirty along the bank of the stream. How many pockets do you have?"
The leprechaun permitted himself a cunning smile. "More than a trio of gangly criminals might expect."
"Criminals?" Seth challenged. "We weren't the ones stealing."
"Who was stealing?" Cormac protested in a hurt tone. "I find a coin in the woods, I pick it up. Any honest chap would do the same. There were no potential owners in sight. I was salvaging."
"This could have been our camp," Newel argued. "We could have been off hunting."
"Aye, but you weren't off hunting," the leprechaun corrected with a wink. "You were skulking in the bushes, professional villains hoping to entrap an honest citizen of Fablehaven and extort his wealth. You're con men. You're extortionists. I demand to be released at once."
"Sorry, Cormac," Seth said. "We need you to take us to your lair and give us some items Patton left with you."
The leprechaun huffed and shook his head. "I'm not in the habit of storing items for friends, let alone archenemies. Do I look like a warehouse foreman to you? Do I look like a cargo handler? It's like I said, you're extortionists, and I won't stand for it."
"Call us whatever names you like," Seth said. "We caught you, and you're going to do what we want."
"You can start by returning our coins," Newel pressed.
Cormac gave him a blank stare. "Coins, you say? My memory is faulty of late. I'm sorry, lads. I'm afraid you apprehended the wrong fellow. I am custodian of no items, I've seen no gold, and I have no lair. I'm a humble cobbler by trade. I could repair a shoe or two, I suppose, if you require recompense to spare my life."
"We don't have a lot of time," Seth said. "Maybe we should just take your coat and call it even."
Cormac glared, lips pressed shut, cheeks reddening. Seth could feel him trembling. "Very well," he said cordially. "I can see you're no novices. What would you have me fetch for you?"
"You won't fetch anything," Seth said. "You'll take us to your lair, give us what we want, then escort us back out. I'm not taking my hands off of you until all of that happens."
Cormac tugged at his beard with his free hand. "Patton Burgess," he spat like profanity. "Will the scoundrel ever quit haunting me? Even from beyond the grave he reaches out to take what's mine."
"No," Seth said. "We just want the items Patton left with you."
"And our gold back," Newel reminded everyone.
The leprechaun hung his head, his body limp. Then he jerked hard against Seth, who maintained a firm hold of his arm. Cormac bit Seth's hand, but Seth held tight and flicked the leprechaun sharply on his ear. The little man howled as if he had lost a limb.
"Enough," Seth said angrily, shifting his grip to hold the leprechaun's legs. "Take his coat off."
"With pleasure," Newel said, going to work on the tiny gold buttons.
Doren snatched away the whiskey flask.
"No!" Cormac bellowed. "Please! I submit! You'll have the bell, the call, and the music box."
Newel kept working at the buttons, nimble fingers moving swiftly.
"And I'll return your gold!" the leprechaun promised glumly. "No more trouble."
"That's enough, Newel," Seth said. The satyr stopped unbuttoning the coat. Seth held up Cormac so they could stare eye to eye. "Any other trick, any other attempt to escape, the coat comes off, no questions asked. Then we'll shave your whiskers. And then I might go ahead and use you as a fishing lure. Don't test me. I've had a really bad week."
For the first time, the leprechaun seemed to stop acting. "You'll have no more trouble out of me, lad. You can't blame an old shyster for working a few angles? Tell me your name."
"Seth Sorenson."
"Well, Seth, for the first time since Patton Burgess, I seem to have met my match. I have not formally introduced myself. The name is Cormac."
"We're not doing this for fun," Seth said. "We really need those items. We don't mean to harass you."
"Which way to your lair?" Doren asked.
"Behind the waterfall," Cormac said.
"That one?" Newel asked, pointing upstream. "We've checked that waterfall for caves!"
The leprechaun gave him an exhausted stare.
"Right," Newel backpedaled. "Magic."
Seth carried the leprechaun upstream to where a curtain of water spilled over a twelve-foot ledge. Cormac tugged Seth's sleeve. "This is the tricky part, youngster. I need my magic to open the way, but your keeping hold of me inhibits my powers. Would you consent to let me go momentarily? I'll give you my word as a leprechaun not to slip away."
"Patton warned me that your promises mean nothing," Seth said. "And I warned you not to try any more tricks. I'll hold you by your beard. Patton said that will free you to open your lair without enabling you to use magic against me." Seth set the little man down on a rock, pinching his chin whiskers between thumb and forefinger.
The leprechaun snapped his fingers and the waterfall stopped flowing. A tunnel, square with rounded corners, appeared in the rock face behind.
Seth picked up the leprechaun and pulled out a flashlight. Treading carefully over loose rocks, he ducked into the tunnel. The low ceiling forced him to walk in a crouch. Newel and Doren followed.
The earthy corridor reeked of pipe smoke. Large, uncut emeralds lay scattered on the floor and embedded in the walls.
"Look at those stones," Newel said. "I know a jeweler who could make them sparkle."
"Who, Benley?" Doren asked.
"No, Sarrok, the troll. No one at Fablehaven has a keener eye or a steadier hand." Newel crouched to study a dull emerald the size of a new bar of soap.
"The instructions warned us to touch nothing in here," Seth reminded them. "We must only take what Cormac gives us."
"Waste of resources," Newel grumbled.
The tunnel broadened into a rounded room with several wooden doors. Casks and barrels were stacked against one wall. A low table sat beside a still pool of water in the center of the room.
"The items," Seth prompted.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have a crock of gold?" Cormac asked. "Much more traditional."
"We want the items Patton left with you," Seth said. "The whistle, the bell, and the music box. And Newel and Doren want their gold back."
Cormac brushed a finger along the side of his nose and gave the satyrs a wily glance. "Fauns have no business consorting with human youths," the leprechaun scolded. "Tell you what--free me from the boy, and I have a crock of gold for each of you!"
"Take off the coat," Seth ordered.
Newel hesitated. After Doren nudged him, he started unbuttoning the frock coat.
Cormac twisted and hollered. "Side with the humans, will you? This won't be forgotten! Mercy! Leave me my coat!"
"No," Seth said. "You had fair warning."
Newel tugged off the coat. The leprechaun was left pouting in a dark yellow shirt with a patterned vest.
"You'll get it back if you cooperate," Seth said. "Next step is we shave your beard."
"You've bedeviled me enough!" Cormac spluttered. "Set me down by that door." He pointed at the one he meant.
Keeping hold of his beard, Seth placed the leprechaun beside the door. Cormac knocked three times and snapped.
"Is that all?" Seth asked.
"Open it," the leprechaun said.
Seth picked up Cormac and opened the door, revealing a closet cluttered mostly with empty bottles.
"Close it," Cormac instructed. "Then open it again."
Seth complied. When he reopened the door, the closet was gone. Instead he found himself looking down a long tunnel.
"One more time," Cormac sighed.
Seth closed the door again, then opened it to reveal a large room full of shelves, crates, and chests. Sundry treasures crowded the shelves, including fine porcelain figures, strands of pearls, enameled urns, ivory carvings, jeweled goblets, and an extensive collection of snuffboxes. Old paintings hung on the walls in gilded frames. Three heavily ornamented suits of plate mail stood together in a corner beside a rack of halberds.
"Where are Patton's items?" Seth asked.
"The case on the bottom shelf," Cormac said with a gesture. "Help yourself."
Keeping a hand on Cormac, Seth crouched and pulled the wooden case from the shelf. Unfastening the catches, he opened the case to reveal a handbell, a music box, and a slender whistle, each housed in a velvet-lined compartment contoured to match its respective shape. Satisfied, he closed the case and exited the room. "Success?" Doren asked.
"Looks like it," Seth replied. He gave Cormac a squeeze. "If you cheated us, we'll be back."
"I never lie when I deliver on a captor's request," Cormac said. "That's what keeps my kind alive. Those are the items Patton left with me."
Seth pointed at the satyrs. "Return their gold and we'll leave you alone."
"I brought the sack," Doren said, shaking it open.
"I'll need my coat back," Cormac said. "The coins are inside."
"I couldn't find any," Newel said, handing the dapper coat back to the leprechaun.
Raising his eyebrows, Cormac slipped his arms into the sleeves. "Hold me by my feet and shake me over the sack."
Seth turned the leprechaun upside down and began bobbing him up and down above the open mouth of the bag. Cormac's deft little hands reached into the coat, and a cascade of gold coins began to pour into the sack with a musical shimmer of clinking. The cascade eventually slowed, a few final stragglers plunking onto the rest.
"Feels about right," Doren verified, hefting the sack.
"Tell you what," Newel said, extending the flask to the leprechaun. "Keep the whiskey."
Cormac brightened. "That is right neighborly of you." He accepted the flask. "I'm sure you three can find your way out."
"You need to escort us out," Seth said. "Patton warned us. Then we'll quit bothering you."
"Fine, let's get on with it," the leprechaun groused.
Seth went down the corridor toward the waterfall. At the end they reached a blank wall. Seth held Cormac's beard, the leprechaun snapped his fingers, and the wall folded open to reveal a light rainfall.
Seth stepped out and hurried to the side of the streambed. Newel and Doren paused at the mouth of the tunnel.
"What's the holdup?" Seth asked.
Newel eyed the sky. "This rain is going to mess up my hair."
"Your hair?" Seth cried incredulously.
"He wants to look good for Vanessa," Doren explained.
"So do you!" Newel shot back.
"I could provide a proven love tonic for a hundred gold coins," Cormac offered.
"You guys are starting to act like Verl," Seth said.
Newel and Doren shared a disgusted glance, then hurried out into the rain. Newel raked his fingers through his hair, messing it up. Doren rubbed some mud onto his arms.
"Are we finished?" Cormac asked, exasperated.
"Yes," Seth said, setting him down.
The leprechaun sprang like a toad to the mouth of the tunnel and snapped his fingers. The waterfall began to spill over the ledge again, masking the disappearance of the tunnel.
A sudden flurry of hoofbeats made Seth whirl. Six centaurs cantered toward them, led by Cloudwing and Stormbrow. Cloudwing held an arrow nocked to his bowstring. Stormbrow clutched a huge mace. The other centaurs carried weapons as well.
The centaurs had evidently been waiting for them. Where were Vanessa and Hugo? Seth had a sword at his waist and a shield over his shoulder, but he did not want to test them against centaurs. Cloudwing had given them until nightfall. Hopefully he could talk his way out of this.
"You lied to us," Cloudwing accused without introduction. "You are in league with darkness."
"Did you have trouble trying to claim our property?" Seth asked innocently.