“Let us continue.” The Matriarch led the way.
“Has anyone ever escaped from here?” Damselfly asked.
“Only once.”
As they turned a corner, Damselfly heard a terrible wailing sound. The noise pierced her skull, and no matter how hard she tried, it was impossible to keep the sound out.
“That is a siren,” the Matriarch explained, bolstering the magic shield to quieten the torturous cry. “They are mute but have telepathic abilities. Many men have voluntarily gone into the water hoping to save a siren and never resurfaced.”
“Can we please find Buttons and go?” Damselfly asked.
Moving deeper into the gaol, they found the path narrowing. A prism loomed above them offering superficial light that turned the black to grey.
“This is the sanctum,” the Matriarch stated. “No magic exists beyond this point.”
Without the sorceress’s magic, they would be vulnerable to whatever nightmares waited ahead of them. Thankfully, the Matriarch never hesitated, and Damselfly followed in her wake. It was hard to believe Buttons would voluntarily enter such a terrifying and dangerous place, though whatever reason he had they could not leave him here.
“Don’t touch anything,” the Matriarch warned.
This instruction was slightly harder than may be imagined, because Damselfly could not make out anything in the complete darkness. She followed the sorceress blindly, staying so close they almost collided several times.
“I see him,” the Matriarch alerted.
Damselfly stepped out from the sorceress’s shadow to catch a glimpse of her friend. Instead, her eye espied a sinister creature climbing a wall that was indistinguishable from its’ own body.
“He has come across the Golem’s Heart,” the Matriarch gasped. “An artefact with the power to bring statues to life.”
Damselfly’s entire attention was taken up by the insect-like form that was creeping closer to the unsuspecting Buttons.
“Up there.” She pointed, grabbing hold of the Matriarch’s abundant skirt.
The Matriarch looked in the direction indicated and immediately saw the problem.
“It is a ghoul,” she hissed. “They are extremely vicious and are only afraid of sunlight.”
“How do we save Buttons without alerting the ghoul?” Damselfly asked.
“We must move swiftly,” the Matriarch commanded.
The ghoul was slowly detaching itself from the wall, revealing long, spindly limbs with sharp needle-like talons that were silhouetted against the minimal radiance coming from the artefact. Buttons, who had been entranced by the Golem’s Heart, suddenly looked upwards and caught sight of the predatory shadow looming above him. With a terrified start, he attempted to flee. The ghoul grabbed hold of his waistcoat and prepared to strike, just as the Matriarch appeared in the fray. The sorceress received a series of razor-like scratches across her defensive forearm as she managed to pull Buttons from the creature’s grasp and then all three of them were running. The ghoul shrieked as it perceived the opportunity to feed slipping away. It immediately leapt from the wall and pursued them on all fours.
“Once we are out of the sanctum, we will be safe,” the Matriarch cried.
In his haste Buttons tripped, sprawling head over heels before Damselfly picked him up and continued to flee from the approaching ghoul.
“We’re nearly there,” the Matriarch encouraged.
Damselfly dared not look back though she could hear the ghoul’s dreadful chatter as it clicked after them with surprising rapidity. Buttons glimpsed the monster over Damselfly’s shoulder and his hair stuck out like he was in the middle of an electrical storm. He tried to warn them of the ghoul’s immediate proximity, but his voice would not work properly and all he managed was a strangled cry. As the ghoul reared back to strike, they exited the sanctum, and the Matriarch produced a bolt of light that sent the evil creature scurrying back into the dark recesses.
“That was close,” the Matriarch sighed.
“Why did you go in there, Buttons?” Damselfly demanded angrily.
The normally cowardly rabbit looked sheepishly at his feet, avoiding the princess’s anger.
“I thought the Matriarch would use her magic to make me brave,” Buttons revealed.
“I’m afraid that’s not how it works,” the sorceress explained.
“You could have died,” Damselfly condemned.
“Actually, I don’t feel very well,” Buttons declared, slumping to the ground. Damselfly was very concerned for her friend’s health, especially after giving him such a hard time. The Matriarch discovered a small incision amongst his fur and concluded that the ghoul must have penetrated his skin.
“Will he be all right?” Damselfly questioned.
“He will be fine,” the Matriarch confirmed.
“What happened to him?”
Eloise appeared behind them with her hair constantly changing colours in the sequence of the rainbow; it started bright red then changed to orange and yellow.
“He just needs a rest,” the Matriarch answered. “Could you take him back to the Guild while I show Damselfly the museum?”
“Of course,” Eloise replied, her hair spiritedly going green then blue before changing to shades of purple.
“She is really cool,” Damselfly commented.
“It has been hard for Eloise since Uriel left. She has nowhere else to go and would not leave this place even if she did,” the Matriarch told. “The Magic Quarter is everything to Eloise; she will probably remain here long after I am gone.”
Damselfly felt a stab of homesickness for her own home before remembering the reason she was on this mission and her deal with Death.
The museum was their final destination on the tour of the Magic Quarter. It was another grand stone building though with little external adornment. Inside, the ceilings were high, allowing great spaces for some rather unique objects, the centrepiece was a fifteen-foot giant’s cudgel that dominated the main atrium.
“These items are not dangerous,” the Matriarch guided. “However, they all have significance.”
Damselfly wandered around the museum, looking at all the
