Pocket Watch Tales
Escape from Minotaur Mountain
Hour 1

By
G.R. Boden

Copyright 2011 G.R.Boden

Smashwords Edition

Chapter One
Tick Tock
“Good bye, Mum! Good bye, Dad!” shouted Abby excitedly.  She raced across the snowy lawn, her suitcase bouncing against the back of her legs. Her grandmother had been setting empty milk bottles on the front porch when Abby dropped her suitcase and nearly knocked her over with a bone-crushing hug.
“Ethan and Robert, you keep an eye on your sister,” said Mr. Claybutton.  “You know how she—” 
“We know,” groaned Robert (who preferred to be called Robbie).
Robbie’s older brother Ethan nodded.  “It’s true, Dad.  You remind us every time.”  
Mrs. Claybutton turned to look at her two sons who were sitting in the back seat of the car.  “It’s just that Abby—”
“Finds trouble wherever she goes,” said everyone at the same time.
Mr. and Mrs. Claybutton smiled knowingly.  “And be on your best for Gran,” added Mr. Claybutton, his voice becoming stern.  “We want a good report when we come to collect the three of you on Saturday.”
Ethan and Robbie promised to behave (and keep Abby out of trouble), then removed their luggage from the trunk.  They waved goodbye to their parents, wrapped their scarves tightly about their necks, then joined Abby and their grandmother on the front porch.  The four of them watched the car rumble down Charring Lane, the tires spraying the frozen sidewalks with dirty, slushy water. 
When the car had disappeared round the corner, Gran asked, “What should we do?” 
Ethan was twelve, and being the oldest, he felt that he should get to choose what they did first.  From his coat pocket he pulled a shiny red pocket knife his father had given him for his twelfth birthday.  “Let’s look for sticks to whittle,” he said.
“I don’t want to search for ruddy ol’ sticks to whittle,” replied Abby. “I don’t even have a knife.”
Ethan knew he could easily find a proper-sized bundle of perfectly good whittling sticks by himself (Ethan had a peculiar knack for spotting hidden objects), but he had a better idea.  He grinned playfully at his sister.  “Gather the sticks for me, Abby, and I’ll whittle you a new wand.”
Abby was only eight, but she was the top reader in her grade, and she had read plenty of stories about clever characters who were up to no good.  “Nice try,” she said.  From out of her back pocket, she pulled a battered stick wrapped in fraying silver paper.  “I have a perfectly good wand right here.”  She swished it through the air, causing Ethan (and Robbie) to roll their eyes.  “I want to build a kingdom out of snow,” Abby declared, aiming her wand at the icicles hanging from the eaves.  “And then use my wand to make it real.”
“I’d rather collect sticks for Ethan to whittle,” said Robbie glumly, who being only ten, was too young to have a knife of his own, but preferred to do anything besides play make-believe with his little sister.  Unlike Ethan and Abby, Robbie was not pleased about coming to visit his grandmother.  It had been nearly a year and a half since his grandfather had left the house and never returned.  The London police had searched the surrounding burrows for months before finally giving up.  Now, whenever Robbie came to visit, he couldn’t help thinking about how much he missed his grandfather.  He stared at his shoes.
Gran noticed at once.  She quickly picked up a small plastic bow from off the railing and handed it to Robbie.  “Robert, you left this the last time you were here.  The arrows are still stuck to the mirror in the den.”
Robbie took the bow without looking up.
“Maybe we could make a target outside,” suggested Gran.
“And I could use my wand to turn your fake arrows into real arrows!” chirped Abby. She dashed into the house and returned a moment later carrying several plastic arrows tipped with rubber suction cups.  She set the arrows on the railing, pointed her wand at them and began to chant.  “Plastic toys may be for boys, but wood and steel are all too real!”  Abby waited a moment, then sighed.  “That’s odd. Nothing’s happening.”
“Something’s happening, all right,” said Robbie irritably, “I’m totally bored and I want to go home.” He stalked into the house and let the heavy screen door bang shut behind him.
“You two wait out here a moment,” said Gran.  She went inside and found Robbie sitting at the dinner table, absently plucking the string on his bow.  She went to the nearest cupboard and pulled out a shiny gold object with a glittering chain.  She sat down at the table across from Robbie.  “I know you miss Grandpa, Robert,” said Gran.  “So do I.”
Robbie looked out the window.
“I still remember how nervous he was the day he proposed,” said Gran laughing.  “You’d have thought he was asking the hand of the Queen of England.”
Robbie turned away from the window.  “Did you say yes right away?” 
“I did, though neither of us was quite ready for such a big step.”
“So why’d you agree to marry him?” asked Robbie, suddenly curious.
“Well, I loved him dearly,” replied Gran wistfully, “not to mention your grandfather had a way of persuading people to see things the way he saw them.  That man could convince an alley-full of cats to fancy a rat.”
Robbie smiled, and then frowned as his grandmother grew stern.  “Robert, you’re old enough to know that he may never come home.  But if he does, I know he’ll want this back in working condition.”
Robbie looked at the object in his grandmother’s hands.  “Is that some sort of watch?” he asked.
Gran smiled warmly.  “It’s called a pocket watch.  Long before you were born, the men used to keep these in their vest pockets with a chain attached so they wouldn’t lose them.”  Gran’s gray eyes suddenly grew misty.  “I purchased this from a pawn shop in Bristol after your grandfather proposed to me.”
“So the watch was a wedding gift?”
Gran nodded.  “Luckily the watch wasn’t very expensive because I had very little money.”  
“Why wasn’t it expensive?” said Robbie.  “It looks like it was a nice watch…in its day.”
Gran smiled sadly.  “Well, it wasn’t exactly working when I bought it.”
Robbie looked surprised.  “Why would you buy a broken watch?”
Gran shrugged.  “I thought we could fix it…and it really caught my eye.”  She reached across the table and placed the watch in front of Robbie.
Robbie stared at the watch.  It was made of brass but the brass was so old parts of it had turned a bluish-green color.  Robbie also noticed a tiny crack was spider-webbed across the glass face.  Just looking at the watch made him sick with grief.  The lump in Robbie’s throat made it difficult for him to talk.  “You want me to try to fix this?” he asked.
Gran wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her coat and smiled.  “No one can fix things as well as you, Robert.”
Robbie finally picked the watch up and turned it over.  He held it up to his ear, gently shook it, then studied the hands.  Of course they were perfectly still.  “It probably hasn’t worked for sixty years.”
“Or more,” said Gran softly.  
Robbie frowned.  “What if I can’t fix it?”
“Then just hold on to it.  Something tells me your grandfather would want you to keep it for him.”  She patted Robbie’s hand, then stood up.  “Now how about some hot chocolate?”
Robbie decided a cup of hot chocolate sounded brilliant.  He was starting to feel better already.  He watched his grandmother bustle about the kitchen, then smiled when she placed a steaming cup of cocoa before him.  He took a sip, enjoying the way it warmed his stomach.
“I’ll be right back,” said Gran.  “I’m going down the road to collect the mail.”
Robbie was about to slip the watch into his pocket when he noticed something very peculiar.
Not only was the pocket watch growing warm in his hands, but the little brass hands had begun to move.
Gasping, Robbie held the watch up to his ear.
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…

Chapter Two
A Change of Weather
Robbie couldn’t believe his eyes (or his ears).  His grandmother said the pocket watch had never worked—but now it was ticking softly, the second had sweeping around the face just like a second hand should!
“Gran!” blurted Robbie, jumping up from his chair.  “The pocket watch—”
But the kitchen was empty.  Robbie had been so excited (and startled), he had forgotten his grandmother had stepped out.  
Robbie dashed outside, but the porch was empty too.  “Eth—an!  Ab—by!” shouted Robbie.  His brother and sister came trotting around the corner of the cottage.  Ethan had already started to whittle a stick into a whistle and Abby was pretending to zap everything in sight with her wand.
“What’s wrong?” asked Ethan.
Robbie showed them the pocket watch.  “This used to belong to Grandpa,” said Robbie breathlessly.  “Gran gave it to him as a wedding gift when they got married.”
Abby glanced at it.  “Cool,” she said, turning away to find something to enchant with her wand.
“That’s great, Robbie,” added Ethan.  He began to whittle his stick again.
“Listen,” pleaded Robbie.  “When Gran handed it to me, she asked me to try and fix it.  She said it’s never worked at all!”
“Is it working now?” asked Ethan absently.
Robbie nodded vigorously.  
“Good for you, Robbie,” Ethan replied.  He took a seat on the porch step and tested his whistle. 
“You always were good at fixing things,” admitted Abby, rubbing the tip of her wand.
“You don’t understand,” said Robbie.  “I didn’t do anything.  I just held it, and it started to get warm and then…it just started working!”
“That’s impossible,” said Ethan.
Abby smiled.  “I think Robbie’s finally gotten an imagination.”
Robbie was feeling very frustrated.  “It’s not impossible, and it’s not my imagination.”  He tried to hand the ticking watch to Ethan, but his brother was too interested in his whistle.  He tooted the wooden instrument several times experimentally.
Groaning, Robbie pushed the watch into his sister’s hands.  “Look, Abby.  Feel how warm it is.”
“Wow,” said Abby.  “It’s almost too hot to hold.”
Ethan turned around and looked up.  “Let me see it.”
“Hold on a bit,” said Abby, her voice now filled with curiosity.  “There’s something written on the back…”
“No there isn’t,” said Robbie.  “I checked it in the kitchen.”
“Well there is now,” Abby replied.
“Give me that,” said Ethan.
Robbie nudged his brother.  “I thought you were too busy with your ruddy whistle.”
Abby was about to read the words on the back of the watch when Robbie snatched it out of her hands.  “You’re right, Abby!” he exclaimed.  Then he frowned.  “But I can’t read the words...”
“Did you forget how to read?” said Abby, reaching for the watch.
Robbie scowled.  “Of course I didn’t forget how to read.  It looks like a different language.”
Ethan was rather tall for his age, and his arms were long.  He reached over Robbie’s shoulder and plucked the watch out of his hands.  “Let me read it,” he said.  After a moment, he said, “Robbie’s right.  This is definitely not English.”  Ethan rubbed his fingers across the strange markings.  “They look like symbols of some sort.  Like Egyptian hieroglyphics, or something close to it.”  Ethan shook his head.  “Whatever it is, it doesn’t make sense.”
“Well it makes sense to me,” said Abby.  “If you two can’t read anymore, hand it over.”
“It’s gibberish,” argued Ethan, a little put out that his little sister claimed to understand something he clearly could not.  He handed the watch to Abby and began blowing on his whistle again.
Abby turned the watch over and began to read out loud.  “Keeper of time, enchanted brass, part this veil that I may pass.”
“You’re making that up,” said Ethan.  “But it did sound rather good.”
“I didn’t make that up,” Abby protested.  “I just—”
“Give it here,” said Robbie, grabbing the watch out of Abby’s hands.  He and Abby began to argue heatedly over whether or not the symbols meant anything.
Ethan, though, had dropped his whistle and stood up.  He was wearing a very puzzled expression.  “Do you two see this?” he said, pointing.
Robbie and Abby stopped their squabbling and looked but couldn’t see anything.
“I think we’re all going crackpot,” said Robbie.  
Abby laughed.  “You two went crackpot a long time ago.”
“I’m serious,” said Ethan.  He was reaching out his hand as if there was something hanging in the air that he could touch.  
“Quit goofing,” said Robbie angrily.  He thought it was mean for Ethan to tease him.
“Don’t you see it?” said Ethan, completely ignoring Robbie.  “It’s like a section of the air has…shifted out of place.”
“You’ve shifted out of place,” said Abby.  
“No, look,” insisted Ethan.  “See how the air is glimmering in just this one spot…?” Robbie and Abby watched as Ethan began to rub the invisible area with his fingers. After a few tense moments, Ethan’s jaw dropped.  “I can feel something!” he whispered.  “It’s like a tiny bump in the air…like the edge of a piece of paper curling up.”
Abby couldn’t stand it any longer. She stepped off the front porch and walked over to where Ethan stood.  She reached out and felt the air.  “Nothing,” she stated.  “I knew you were teasing.”
“You didn’t give it a fair try,” protested Ethan.
“You’re a git,” said Robbie, glaring at his brother.  “I’m going inside.”
“Robbie,” said Ethan.  “You may want to see this before you go in.”
Robbie turned around.  From across the snow-covered lawn, he saw that Ethan had peeled away a section of the air, revealing a gaping hole the size of a dinner plate.  Through the opening Robbie could see a bright blue sky, rolling fields of green grass and towering trees whose branches were waving gently in the wind.  The London sky around the hole was gray and dismal, making it very hard to look away from the beautiful weather on the other side. 
Abby dropped her wand in the snow.  “This time, I didn’t do it.”

Chapter Three
New Toys
“Now do you see it?” Ethan asked.
Robbie stayed where he was on the porch for several long moments.  He wanted to get a closer look, but he found that his legs weren’t quite working the way they should have.  After a time, he rubbed his eyes, then pinched himself.
“Already tried that, mate,” said Ethan.  “Doesn’t change a thing.”
Abby had scooped up her fallen wand and scurried over to the opening.  She peered through the hole, giggled uncontrollably, and looked at Ethan.  “Can I touch it?” she asked.
“Since when do you ask permission?” laughed Ethan.
Abby took hold of the edges and found that they were softer than she’d imagined.  “It’s rather like material,” she said.  “It stretches like the neck of one of my shirts.”
Robbie had finally wandered over.  He too peered through the hole.  Whistling softly, he looked at his older brother.  “Do we tell Gran?”
“I think we should,” replied Ethan.
Abby shook her head.  “You two have never done this before, have you?”
Robbie and Ethan stared at one another in puzzlement.  “Have you passed into another world before, Abby?” said Ethan.
Abby only laughed as she clambered through the opening.  Once she was through, she spun around and grinned at her brothers.  “The weather’s wonderful! Come see for yourselves!”  She pranced away, twirling and giggling, then performed several cartwheels in a row.
Robbie looked at Ethan, his face lined with worry.  “Remember our promise to dad?”
Ethan nodded solemnly.  “If we’re going to keep her out of trouble, though, we’ll have to cross over.”
Robbie sighed, but an impish grin turned up the corners of his mouth.  Ethan had already climbed through the hole.  Robbie was close on his heels.
“Robbie, wait,” said Abby.  She had returned to the hole in the air (after shedding her scarf and gloves) and was pointing at the front porch.  “Get your bow and arrows.  You never know what we might find.”
Robbie thought it was a ridiculous idea, really.  What was he supposed to do with arrows that were tipped with rubber suction cups?  He dashed over to the porch anyway, and grabbed his bow and a handful of arrows.  When he returned he found Ethan waiting for him on the other side.  He was smiling from ear to ear.  
Robbie looked apprehensively at his grandmother’s cottage, and then climbed through.  Immediately, his feet sank into ankle-deep grass.  “Is this really happening?” Robbie asked.
“I guess one of us could be dreaming,” answered Ethan.
The two Claybutton brothers gaped at their surroundings, which were very different from the gray-skied, bitter cold streets of London. Below their feet was a springy green turf of grass and overhead the sky was the color of sapphires lit with sun bursts. Off to their right was a large stand of swaying trees, and to their left was a winding river that looked more like a curling blue ribbon.  Directly ahead of them was an enormous mountain, whose snowy peak was lost in a cluster of billowy clouds.
For a moment, they had completely forgotten about Abby.
“Isn’t this brilliant!” Abby shouted, running up the hill towards them.  “Let’s go back to Gran’s and get food for a picnic!”  She began to describe in detail what lay on the other side of the hill, when she suddenly stopped and stared at Robbie.  “Robbie, what is that in your hand?”
“What?” said Robbie.  “Oh, it’s just my bow.”  He held the bow up, but everyone could see it wasn’t the same bow he had brought through the opening.  “Great Scott,” breathed Robbie.  “It changed!” exclaimed Ethan.
And it was true.  Robbie’s bow was no longer plastic.  It was made of a strong bendable wood that gleamed in the sun, and the grip was now leather and trimmed in silver.  
“And look at your arrows!” cried Ethan.
In Robbie’s other hand, he now held several long wooden arrows, each one polished to a glossy finish and tipped with a sharp iron point.  Robbie was at a loss for words.
“My spell worked!” whispered Abby.
“No,” said Ethan suddenly.  “It’s this place.  It’s enchanted somehow.”
“And how do you know it wasn’t my spell?” said Abby crossly.
“Because you never used your wand on my pocket knife, and look at it now.”
Everyone turned their eyes on Ethan’s knife.  Except that it wasn’t a knife.  It was a short sword with a gleaming steel blade and a shiny pearl hilt.  Ethan swished it impressively through the air.  “I could get used to this!” he said.
Abby’s shoulders slumped.  “So unfair,” she said softly.
“Abby,” said Ethan, “check your wand!”
Abby’s eyes suddenly brightened.  She reached into her back pocket and yanked out her wand.  She took one look and squealed so loudly Robbie and Ethan had to cover their ears.  “Look at it now!” she gushed.  The tattered silver paper was gone, but now it was covered in swirling blue markings that glowed faintly.
Abby pointed the wand at a nearby stump.  With a flick of her wrist, the wand’s tip sparked and a moment later the stump was replaced with a squashy looking armchair and a tasseled foot rest.  Abby gaped at the chair, then slowly turned around.  “I just thought of a nice place to sit…”
“Abby, you can do magic!” said Ethan.  “Real magic!”    
“It is all very wonderful,” agreed Abby, “though I suddenly feel a bit sleepy.”
Ethan frowned.  “My guess is doing magic makes one tired.  Saps your energy, so to speak.”
Abby nodded and yawned.  She looked at her new wand.  “Better to not use it too often.”  She plopped down on the squashy armchair and put her feet up on the foot stool.  “When I’m not so bushed, I suppose I could magic us up some food.”
Before Ethan or Robbie could put in a request, a voice behind the armchair said, “You can try, but you won’t get so much as a single chicken egg.”
Ethan drew his sword, and Robbie knocked an arrow.  Abby spun around, whipping her wand out at the same moment.  From behind the armchair came an ugly little creature with grayish-green skin, protruding fangs, a long hooked nose and large yellow eyes.  A fellow just like him appeared from around the other side of the chair.  Their lumpy heads barely reached Robbie’s waist.  The only difference between the two creatures was the first one wore a suspicious scowl and the second one looked as if he’d just woken up from a wonderful dream.
The suspicious, scowling creature hitched up a pair of filthy trousers and said, “Standard rules of magic.  No money making of any sort, no reversing death (at this the creature chuckled) no asking for true love (and here the creature gagged nosily) and certainly no food.  Not even a single chicken egg.”
His companion heaved a heavy sigh.  “Though a chicken egg would be nice,” he rasped dreamily.
Chapter Four
Lutin and Leon
“Who are you?” demanded Ethan.  He was certainly grateful to have his new sword, but he still felt very frightened.
“What are you?” said Abby.  She had slid out of the armchair and was flicking her wand from creature to creature.  
“We’re goblins,” said the kind-looking goblin.  “My name is—”
But before the creature could share his name, there was a loud pop and a blinding flash of light.  The air suddenly smelled like someone had ignited a dozen fireworks.  The goblins were gone, but sitting on the grass were two kittens with pink collars and shiny bells that tinkled when they moved.  
“You turned them into ruddy kittens!” exclaimed Ethan.  He lowered his sword.  “I suppose I won’t need this anymore.”
“Oops,” said Abby.  “I’m sorry, but it was the first thing that came to mind.”  She yawned and fell into the armchair again.  It was very hard for her to keep her eye lids from closing now.
“You’re going to have to—meow—gain control of—meow—your magic,” snapped the scowling kitten.  “Now change us—meow—back immediately!”
Abby sleepily pointed her wand at the kitten, but the other kitten said, “I think I rather like—meeeow—being a feline.  Does anyone have a spot of milk?”  The kitten began to lick his paws.
“Change us back!” repeated the first kitten, eyeing his companion disdainfully and swatting him in the back of his head with his paw.  Abby pictured the hideous goblins in her mind, then flicked her wand.  The kittens were suddenly gone and in their place stood the two goblins.  “Now watch where you point that thing,” grunted the more serious of the two creatures.  He puffed up his bony chest.  “We are goblins of the Everwood. My name is Lutin (Lutin appeared slightly embarrassed as he introduced his companion) and this is my brother…Leon.”
“Lutin and Leon,” mumbled Abby.  She smiled.  “I do fancy those names.  Especially Leon.”
“See!” said Leon, sticking a bumpy gray tongue out at Lutin.  “I told you!”
Lutin rolled his eyes.  “The three of you are obviously strangers to this land, and strangers are supposed to state their names first.”
“What land is this?” said Ethan.
Lutin shook his head.  “Sorry. Names first.”
“Oh, right,” said Ethan.  “My name is Ethan Claybutton, (at this, Lutin cocked a scraggly eyebrow and shot a glance at Leon) this is my brother Robbie and my sister Abby.”
Lutin sniffed arrogantly.  “Odd names, but we use what we’re given, right?”  He scowled at his brother.  “At least some of us use what we’re given.”
“Mother named me Lufus,” explained Leon, looking imploringly at the children.  “Wouldn’t you change your name too?”
“I don’t blame you at all,” replied Abby.  “Now please tell us where we are.”
“You are in the land of Ipsilund,” Lutin answered haughtily.
“I’ve never heard of it,” said Robbie.
“Well it wouldn’t appear on any map from your world,” snapped Lutin.  “Great stars! Did you knock your head this morning?”
“You’re a rude one,” said Robbie.
Lutin stepped forward and wagged a long, taloned finger in Robbie’s face.  “And you are the opposite of handsome!”
Ethan moved in front of his brother (who was knocking one of his arrows) and glared at the goblin (who was searching his tattered trousers for some sort of weapon, but produced only a badly bruised banana peel).  “We didn’t come here to make enemies,” said Ethan quickly.
Lutin stepped back and placed his gnarled hands on his bony hips.  “Then why exactly did you come here?”
Ethan did not have an answer, but Abby said, “We were curious.”
“I am just as curious of your world,” spat Lutin.  “But can you imagine what would happen if I were to satisfy my curiosity?”
Abby thought a moment, then frowned.  “You would be captured, probably put in some sort of zoo.”
Leon’s yellow eyes glowed happily.  “I would love to live in a zoo!” The goblin grabbed his brother’s shoulders.  “Let’s live in a zoo, Lutin!”
Lutin shook himself out of his brother’s grasp.  “My point is, the three of you do not belong here.  Bad things happen to people who do not belong.”
“Then we’ll leave,” said Ethan, deciding it was time to take charge.  He turned around and searched for the opening, but it was nowhere to be found.  His heart skipped a beat.  He spun around.  “The opening!  It’s gone!”
Lutin sighed.  “I’d say the three of you are the opposite of lucky.”
Chapter Five
Change of Plans
“I can’t believe it’s gone,” mumbled Ethan.  He plopped down on the grass and put his head in his hands.
“Well of course it’s gone,” said Lutin.  “You can’t expect it to stay around all day.”
“I expected it to,” said Robbie, fear causing his voice to tremble.  “How’re we supposed to get back?”
“How’re we supposed to get back?” repeated Lutin in a nasty mocking tone.  
“He doesn’t sound like that,” said Leon thoughtfully.
“You keep quiet,” growled Lutin, eyeing his brother dangerously.  “Or you’ll be the opposite of safe.”
Ethan decided Lutin was the type that only listened to cold hard steel.  He stood up and  drew his sword.  Abby, however, climbed groggily to her feet and stepped in-between her brother and the surly goblin.
“Lutin,” she said, her voice sticky sweet, “you look like a sharp goblin, not to mention the opposite of ugly.”  Lutin tried to hide his toothy grin, but failed miserably.
“It’s true,” said Lutin, patting down the few hairs he had on his head.  “You know me all too well.”
“Can you tell us how we are to find our way back again?” Abby asked as kindly as she could manage.
The compliments had apparently worked because Lutin immediately said, “The Great Clock, of course.”
The children stared at one another for a very long while, then Robbie clapped his hand to his forehead.  “The Great Clock! Of course!  The ruddy creature’s talking about Grandpa’s pocket watch!”
“Ruddy creature!” exclaimed the goblin.  “Now you listen here, you—”
But Robbie was so busy frantically searching his pockets, he was completely unaware that Lutin was huffing and puffing and stamping his hairy feet.
“Please tell me you have it,” said Ethan.
The blood had drained from Robbie’s face.  Very quietly, he said, “I must’ve dropped it as I was climbing through the hole.”
Lutin began to laugh (though it sounded more like a soggy cough).  “Welcome to Ipsilund!” he cackled.  “I do hope you will enjoy your new home, though I suspect you will be the opposite of happy.”
Both Ethan and Robbie groaned.
“I still remember the words on the watch!” exclaimed Abby.  
She began to recite the mysterious incantation, but Lutin chuckled and shook his funny-shaped head.  “The Great Clock has to be in your hands as you say the words.  Those are the rules.”
“I hate rules,” admitted Leon.
Abby pulled out her wand and began flicking it in every direction, her mind picturing a sizable opening through which they could squeeze.  The air was soon sizzling with colorful bursts of light, and everyone turned away for fear of getting burned.  When Abby could no longer stand, she slumped over into her squashy armchair and promptly fell asleep.  It appeared the only opening she’d managed to create was a decent-sized hole in the back of Lutin’s grubby trousers.  
Leon pointed and laughed.  “Tip-top magic!” he hooted.
Lutin scowled at his brother.
Ethan was beginning to feel that he had lost control of the situation, and being the oldest, he knew it was his responsibility to find a solution.  But first things first. He went to Abby and lifted her into his lap so that her head was lying on his shoulder.  She snored softly in his ear.  Ethan looked at Lutin.  “Isn’t there any other way?”
Perhaps it was seeing the young girl completely taken with exhaustion that made Lutin decide to tell them.  Or maybe it was something not so noble.  Either way, the goblin pointed at the enormous mountain and grinned.  “There is one other way, but it lies at the heart of Minotaur Mountain.”
Robbie knew something of mythical creatures from his studies at school.  “When you say Minotaur, are you talking about the monsters that are half man, half bull?”
Lutin nodded.  “Very good, Middle Child.  If you do not have the Great Clock in your possession, you will have to journey to the mountain and find the Fallen Horn.”
“The horn of a Minotaur?” Ethan asked.
“No, the horn of a goat,” snapped Lutin.  It appeared he was very much enjoying the children’s predicament.  “Yes, the Fallen Horn belongs to a Minotaur—the Minotaur queen to be exact.”  
“A queen?” said Robbie.  “Aren’t Minotaurs male?”
Lutin sighed and looked as though he were addressing a two year old child.  “Call her whatever you wish.  She looks just like the males, only no horns.”
“And longer eyelashes,” added Leon.
“So she’s more like a cow,” murmured Abby groggily.  
Before Lutin could reply, Robbie said, “If she doesn’t have horns, why does she have this Fallen Horn?”
“Do human offspring always ask questions before the information can be given?” said Lutin.  “Allow me a few moments of uninterrupted silence, and I’ll explain.  Many years ago the queen had a mate, who of course was the king of the Minotaurs—a very ugly beast.”
“Uglier than us,” Leon pointed out.
Lutin ignored his brother.  “The king won the favor of Anweir, a being of infinite magic.  As a reward, Anweir wrapped one horn in brass and coated the other in crushed rubies and emeralds.  The horn wrapped in brass was by far more valuable.”
“That wouldn’t be so in our world,” said Ethan.
“Would you like to tell the story?” said Lutin.
“No,” said Ethan.  “Go on.”
“The king fought many battles and finally fell at the hands of his greatest enemy.  His horns of course were taken as a trophy of war.  The horn encrusted with the jewels was quickly bartered and soon forgotten.  But the horn of brass…” Lutin whistled softly.  “This horn was placed in a secret vault, guarded by sentries night and day.”
“What’s the big deal with brass?” said Abby yawning.
“In Ipsilund,” said Lutin, “brass is the one element that makes it possible to pass between worlds.”
Robbie was nodding his head.  “That makes sense.  The pocket watch was brass.”
“There’s hope for you yet, Middle Child,” said Lutin.  Ignoring Robbie’s angry stare, the goblin continued.  “The Minotaur queen was devastated, as were her people.  After many years, she managed to recover her mate’s horn, which is now referred to as the Fallen Horn.  It is my understanding that this horn, wrapped in brass and guarded by six hundred Minotaurs, is the only object that can tear through the fabric that separates our worlds.”  The goblin’s smile showed every one of his grimy teeth.  “By the looks on your faces, I’d say that is the opposite of what you were hoping to hear.”
Chapter Six
Into the Mountain
Ethan and Robbie decided they had no choice but to make the journey to Minotaur Mountain (though they couldn’t begin till Abby had had a proper nap).  Just as the sun was setting in a blazing explosion of pink and purple and fiery red, she awoke feeling very rested, but thoroughly confused.
“What are we doing here?” she said, rubbing her eyes and looking around.  She spotted the two ugly goblins and yelped.  “Ethan?  Robbie?  You two look more awful than usual!”
Lutin scowled, but Leon chuckled.
“We’re over here, Abbey,” said Ethan.  He was seated on the grass, using a rock to sharpen the edge of his sword.  Robbie was standing with his back to everyone, staring into the distance at the mountain that loomed over everything else in Ipsilund.  His bow was slung over his back and his arrows were stuffed in his belt.
Ethan explained to Abby what had happened before she fell into a deep sleep.  It didn’t take her long at all to remember everything.  “So let’s discuss how and when you use your magic before you use it,” said Ethan firmly.
“We won’t have time for all that if we’re in a pinch,” mumbled Abby under her breath.
“And you owe me a pair of trousers,” called out Lutin.  “Don’t think my memory’s as short as my stature.”  The goblin had somehow managed to patch up the unfortunate hole with material from Leon’s pants, which left his brother with shorts that showed off more of his skinny gray legs than the children cared to see.
Ethan stood up, put his sword away, and called Robbie.  “Well,” he said heavily, “we’ll be on our way now.”  He looked at the goblin brothers.  “Any last words of advice?”
“Don’t get caught,” said Lutin.
“Great advice,” murmured Robbie sarcastically.
“Great advice indeed,” replied Lutin.  “Minotaur’s are nasty beasts.”
“Let me guess,” said Abby, “the very opposite of kind?”
“Precisely,” added Lutin, not at all pleased that someone had nicked his phrase.
“She’s got you pegged, brother,” said Leon, gurgling with laughter.
And then Abby did something none of them expected.  “Would the two of you care to join us?”  Ethan and Robbie were too stunned to object.
Leon immediately nodded his over-sized head, but Lutin cuffed him good.  “Allow us a moment to discuss this,” said Lutin, as he dragged Leon away from the group by one of his pointy ears.  The two goblins put their heads together and the discussion began.  There were a few bits of unsavory language, and lots of swatting and spitting.  Finally, the goblins returned.
“We’ve decided to go with you,” stated Lutin.  “It is not something we would normally agree to, but we want to be there when you get captured.”
“That’s not what you said,” said Leon.  “You told me—”
Lutin turned and glared at his brother.  Leon snapped his gray lips shut and shrugged his bony shoulders.  Lutin appeared extremely uncomfortable about something.  He cleared his throat and said, “Since I’m obviously the brightest one in the bunch, I will lead.”  The goblin turned and tramped off down the hill, muttering something about thick-headed brothers and hopeless humans.
“Do we have to follow that obnoxious toad?” whispered Robbie.
“I heard that!” called Lutin over his shoulder, “and believe me, you won’t be winning any beauty pageants either.”
Leon turned around and pointed at one of his large, bat-like ears.  “We can hear a grub sneeze with these things,” he said.
Robbie sighed and grudgingly followed Ethan and Abby down the hill.
It wasn’t long before night had fallen like a heavy shroud.  The children were grateful for the soft silvery glow of the moon that sat low in the western sky, and doubly grateful for a second moon (this one a brilliant shade of turquoise) sitting even lower in the east.  They were soon very hungry, but the only thing the goblins could offer was grubs.
“I heard them sneezing,” said Leon, the wriggling tail of one dangling from his mouth.
Robbie and Ethan made a face and turned away.  Abby said, “Cool.”
The further they traveled, the larger and more menacing the mountain became.  Soon it was all they could see, and the children wondered one by one if they had made the right decision to put their trust in a creature that admitted he wanted to be there when they were captured.
They finally reached the foot of the mountain.  The goblins led the children through a stand of towering oak, then stopped so suddenly Abby crashed into Leon and sent the little goblin tumbling through the brush.  Abby said she was sorry over and over again, but Leon just slapped the twigs out of his wooly shorts, grinned, and said he had been through much worse.
“Quiet!” hissed Lutin.  “We’re not alone.”
Ethan drew his sword.  Robbie knocked an arrow.  Both boys were trembling so badly, however, they could hardly hold their weapons.  Abby had her wand in hand, but in her fear she dropped it twice.  The second time, a spark shot out of the end and struck Lutin on the shin, causing the goblin to hop about with his clawed hands clamped over his mouth.
“Will someone control the Last Born!” Lutin rasped.
Ethan snatched the wand off the ground and tucked it in his coat pocket before Abby could get to it.
“I hope no one needs any magic tonight,” huffed Abby.
“We’ll call on you if any of us needs our limbs seared off,” whispered Robbie.
The goblins had begun to sniff at the air like a pair of hunting dogs.  They told the children to wait, then scampered off into the night.  Robbie made good use of their absence to question Ethan about Lutin’s story of the Minotaur king and the Fallen Horn.  
“I don’t trust Lutin either,” muttered Ethan out of the side of his mouth, “but I do trust Leon.  He seems too…kindhearted to let us walk into a trap.”
“But Leon’s not in charge,” whispered Robbie.
Ethan didn’t answer.  A moment later, the goblins returned.  They were breathing heavily and Leon looked frightened.  “There’s a small herd up ahead,” said Lutin softly.  “We will have to take another route.”
“A heard of cattle?” Robbie asked.
“Yes,” sneered Lutin, “we’re going to avoid the dangerous cows.  By the way, how’s that lump on your head?”
Robbie bristled.
“Easy,” whispered Ethan.  “Don’t let him get you riled up.”
“I’m talking about a herd of Minotaurs,” said Lutin.  “They roam in herds when they hunt.”  The goblin suddenly looked confused.  “Though they rarely hunt at night.  Very odd.”
Ethan was starting to feel anxious.  They had been gone all day.  What had Gran done when she had come back from collecting the mail and found them missing?  “Let’s get moving,” he said.  “I don’t care if the Minotaurs are hunting us, I want to find that horn and get home.”  Ethan decided he sounded a lot braver than he actually felt, but he was really beginning to worry now that they would never get back.
Robbie nodded.  “He’s right.  Let’s get this over with.”
Lutin and Leon cut across the base of the mountain in a northerly direction, then angled up a slope that became so steep they were forced to wait while the children clambered slowly over gnarled tree roots and sharp-edged rocks.
Robbie banged his knee hard against a stone.  “Worst day ever,” he muttered angrily.
“We wouldn’t be climbing this mountain if you hadn’t dropped the watch,” Abby pointed out.
“The Last Born has a valid point,” stated Leon.
“We wouldn’t be in Ipsilund at all, if you hadn’t jumped through the ruddy hole,” snapped Robbie.
“A point for the Middle Child,” said Leon.
Robbie and Abby stopped squabbling only after Lutin threatened to call in the herd.  “We’re here,” whispered the goblin finally, pointing at the dark yawning mouth of a small tunnel.
“That entrance looks too small for a Minotaur,” said Ethan.
Lutin shook his head.  “Did you knock your head too, or are you as thick as your brother?”
Ethan was getting used to the goblin’s insults.  He was pleased to admit they didn’t sting as much as they used to.  
“Minotaur’s don’t use this tunnel,” explained Lutin.  “My guess is they don’t even know about it.  Goblins know things many creatures do not.”
“We won’t be able to see where we’re going,” said Ethan.  “We’ll need a torch or something.”
Lutin shook his head.  “Bad idea.  Terrible idea.  Worst idea I’ve ever heard.  It’s obvious you’ve never entered a mountain crawling with Minotaurs.”
“You’re right, Lutin,” said Ethan patiently.  “This would be the first time.”
“First of all,” explained Lutin, “a torch would announce your arrival. You might as well shout, ‘Here I am!  I’ve come to steal the fallen horn of your beloved king!’ Second of all, the walls of these tunnels are rich with orin, a clay-like substance that glows in the dark and will give you plenty of light.  And fourthly—”
“Thirdly,” said Leon quietly.
“Right, thirdly…Leon and I will be with you.  We see in the dark a far sight better than you three see in broad daylight.”
“Lead on, then,” said Ethan.
Lutin turned and headed for the dark opening.  “Stay behind me, touch nothing and listen for my directions.  One wrong move and you’ll all be trussed up for the queen’s feast this evening.”
“Or a lovely breakfast,” said Leon wistfully.  “Breakfast sounds good, doesn’t it?”
Abby caught up to Lutin.  “I thought you wanted to see us get caught, Lutin.”
The goblin suddenly looked very uncomfortable again.  “Please do the opposite of talk,” he growled.
“Fine,” said Abby.  She looked back at Ethan.  “Can I have my wand back?”
“NO!” whispered everyone at once.
As Abby quietly fumed, the five travelers passed through the tunnel’s entrance.
Chapter Seven
Mud Bath
“You see?” whispered Lutin as the little company entered the tunnel.  “Without orin, you humans would be up a tunnel without a light.”  The goblin chuckled at his joke.
It was true.  Traces of orin covered the walls of the tunnel like bright jagged cracks of silvery light, allowing the children to make their way through the darkness.  
“Is this stuff worth money?” asked Robbie, reaching out his hand.
“Don’t touch it!” warned Leon.  
Robbie frowned and pulled his hand away.
From over his shoulder, Leon said, “If collected properly, Orin can be used to cure warts, head lice, skin rashes, and minor bouts of love sickness.”
“Love sickness?” giggled Abby.
“Minor bouts, mind you,” added Leon.  “I once had a serious case, thanks to Glumnak and her bewitching eye, and the orin did nothing for me.”
Ethan laughed, though he stopped when he realized Glumnak the Goblin had only one eye.
“Why can’t we touch it?” Robbie asked.  “It looks harmless enough.”
“Not everything dangerous looks dangerous,” snarled Lutin.  “Take me for example.”
Everyone hid their grins.
Leon fell back so he could amble along beside Robbie.  “Straight out of the rock, orin can cause warts, head lice, skin rashes and love sickness.”
Robbie looked down at the little goblin.  “But you just said it cures those things.”
“Only if you’ve already got them,” explained Leon.
Robbie shook his head.  “That doesn’t make a bit of sense, but then hardly anything at all makes sense in this world.”
The company pushed on, always towards the heart of the mountain.  There were times the tunnel divided into three separate passages, but the goblins would sniff the air before choosing a course, and lead on as confidently as could be expected.  When they crossed over a bridge that spanned a river of dark rushing water, Lutin turned around and said, “The way ahead will be without the light of orin.  You will have to watch your step and be the opposite of careless.”
Robbie stopped before the dark tunnel entrance.  He could barely see Lutin in the gloom.  “How can we trust you, Lutin?”
“You can’t,” replied the goblin simply, “but you really have no other choice, do you?”
Ethan suddenly moved forward into the tunnel, then returned practically bubbling with joy.  “Robbie, Abby!” he whispered happily.  “I can see through the darkness!”
“Let me try,” said Abby, stumbling into the tunnel.  She came back almost immediately.  “Nothing,” she replied sadly.  “How can you see, Ethan?”
“I don’t know,” Ethan said, grabbing his sister’s hand.  “Hold on to my hand and I’ll lead you through.  Robbie, you take hold of Abby’s hand and don’t let go.”  Together, the children walked into the orin-less tunnel.  Lutin and Leon scampered after them.
Robbie and Abby were very grateful for Ethan’s night vision ability, as they were able to avoid steep drop-offs, low hanging rocks and a wide pool of cold bubbling mud.
Just after skirting the mud pool, Lutin called for a halt.  “We need to stop here,” he whispered softly.
“Is it time to eat?” asked Leon.
“No, you ninny, we’re close to the enemy.”
Leon sighed.  “I like the idea of eating much better.”
“Should we draw our weapons?” said Ethan.
“You can, First Born,” said Lutin, “but it’ll take more than what you have to prick those thick-skinned Minotaurs.”
Ethan drew his sword anyway and urged Robbie to knock an arrow.  Against his better judgment, he gave Abby back her wand.  “Don’t use it unless we have no other choice.”
“Of course,” whispered Abby, eagerly plucking her wand out of Ethan’s hand.
A moment later, the children froze.  The ground was suddenly trembling beneath their feet, and there was a distant rumble like thunder.
Robbie could barely grip his bow and arrow.  “Is that an earthquake?”
“It’s a herd of Minotaur,” replied Lutin, looking much too frightened to insult Robbie.  “Nearly as powerful as an earthquake, though.”  
“They’re coming this way, brother,” warned Leon.
“We can run back the other direction,” Ethan suggested.
Leon shook his head.  “No good.  Another group is coming up the tunnel behind us.”
“We’re trapped!” squeaked Abby.
“Everyone up against the wall!” hissed Lutin.  “Don’t make a sound.  Their sight is poor even in daylight, but their sense of smell is excellent.”
“The Minotaurs are going to pass right by us,” said Robbie.  “We’re done for.” 
“I’m going to miss you,” sniffed Leon.  He pointed one clawed finger at Robbie.  “Even the Middle Child.”
“We’re not done for,” said Abby.  “Follow me.”  Before Ethan could grab her, Abby dashed back to the mud pool and threw herself in.  She rolled around till she was completely covered in the thick dark sludge, then pulled herself out.  She looked like a monster herself.  Robbie was the only one that couldn’t see his sister’s bright white smile in the inky gloom.  “The mud will cover up our scent,” she said excitedly.
“It’s worth a try,” said Ethan.  “Come on, then.  Everyone in!”
In no time at all the three children and the two goblins were pressed against the tunnel wall, dripping mud from head to toe.  A moment later, the shadows of flickering torches could be seen bobbing along the passage.  Loud grunts and angry snarls echoed through the tunnel, and the horrifying sounds only got louder as they drew closer to the little company.  Then the same awful sounds came from behind them, and the children gripped each other’s hands and closed their eyes.
Leon reached up and took Abby’s hand.  “I’m having the opposite of fun,” whispered the goblin.
Chapter Eight
Gold Ring and One Ear
The little company held absolutely still as the first company of Minotaurs rumbled up the tunnel.  Their stamping and clomping and snorting and grunting seemed much worse than an earthquake.  And all of this horrible noise was bad enough, but then came the odor.
“What is that awful smell!” whispered Abby, reaching up to cover her muddy nose with a muddy hand.  It was like hundreds of old fur coats had been soaked in dirty water and left to rot in a garage over summer.
“Keep quiet!” hissed Lutin.  “They’re upon us!”
The children held their breath (the goblins didn’t mind the smell at all) and tried to push themselves back into the wall (which they couldn’t do because walls are solid).  As the first torch-carrying Minotaur lumbered around the corner, Abby couldn’t resist taking a tiny peek.  She gasped.
The Minotaur was at least eight feet tall and shaped like a man, except that it had far more muscles than any man could ever have.  It was also completely covered in shaggy brown fur, and its head was that of an angry bull.  Abby cringed when she noticed the creature had a pair of very sharp horns curling up behind its large floppy ears, and nearly fainted when she spotted an enormous ax strapped to its back.  
As the beast drew closer, Abby saw that it was wearing a pair of tattered trousers, a leather vest and large hobnail boots.  Who makes their clothes? she suddenly wondered.  The Minotaur snorted loudly causing steam to puff from his wide nostrils.  Abby snapped her eyes closed and stopped wondering about his clothes.  She felt Robbie’s hand tighten around hers.
A large group of Minotaurs followed closely on the heels of the first, each of them carrying sputtering torches (and some of them carrying their axes!).  The first Minotaur, who had a large gold ring through his nostrils, held his furry hand up and all the Minotaurs behind him came to a halt.
“We wait here for the approaching party,” Gold Ring snorted loudly in a very deep voice.  The rest of the herd grumbled angrily, but obeyed the order.
If Abby had tried (and she were crazy), she could have reached out and touched the furry leg of the closest Minotaur.  But of course she didn’t.  Besides, she was too busy using her hand to cover her mouth, just in case the smell made her sick. 
Abby decided the mud must be covering their scent because none of the creatures were sniffing in their direction.  But then she felt a chunk of mud ooze down her leg.  It made a wet PLUNK! when it hit the stony ground but the Minotaurs were snorting and grumbling so loudly, they didn’t hear a thing.  Abby was afraid, though, that if the mud continued to slide off, the monsters would smell them, and then they would no longer need to look for the Fallen Horn because they would all be dead.
Lutin stepped away from the wall and was about to address the nearest Minotaur, when suddenly the floor was trembling again.  From the other direction lumbered the second party of Minotaurs.  Lutin cursed quietly and stepped back against the wall.  
The newest group of Minotaurs seemed even more ornery than the first group.  A huge Minotaur with one ear missing stepped up to Gold Ring.
“Any luck?” growled One Ear.
Gold Ring shook his furry head.  “Nothin’!  I think we’ve been lied to.  There are no human children anywhere close to the mountain.”
Ethan, Robbie and Abby gasped all at once.  Luckily, the commotion covered the sound.
“Aye,” said One Ear, “nothin’ near the River either.”
“Any reports from the herd that was sent to the Everwood?” Gold Ring asked.
At this, Leon gulped loudly and Lutin kicked his shin with a muddy foot.
“Nothin’ but miserable gobblers,” grunted One Ear.  “I’m leadin’ my men home for the night.”
Gold Ring shook his great shaggy head again.  “Orders are to hunt till dawn.”
“The Queen, bless her mangy flea-bitten head, will forgive us,” replied One Ear.
“The Queen, may her fur continue to grow naturally curly, didn’t give the order,” snapped Gold Ring.  “It came from Beyond.”
“The Beyond is leagues from our mountain,” said One Ear.  “We’ve never even seen the one who rules there.  I’m through obeying orders from someone or something that might not even exist.”  The Minotaur turned on his heel and stomped away.  “I answer only to the Queen, may her nostrils flare eternally.” 
Gold Ring did not like being ignored.  He grunted and pawed at the ground like a…well, like a charging bull, and rushed after One Ear, pulling his ax off his back as he ran.
Of course One Ear would have none of this, nor any of his fellows, so they turned and braced for a fight.  And what a fight it was!  The two herds collided with a thunderous crash that shook the walls and knocked loose most of the mud still clinging to the children.  The little company turned away as Minotaurs of every size and shape went hurtling by, their torches knocked from their hands and tossed to the ground (though some of them were used as weapons!).  
“We’ll be trampled to death!” whispered Robbie fiercely.
“No we won’t,” said Ethan.  “Don’t let go of Abby’s hand.  Follow me!”  Ethan then dashed forward, using his night vision to dodge the stampeding Minotaurs, all the while dragging Robbie and Abby (and Lutin and Leon) through the flickering darkness.  Ethan ran for several minutes before someone back in the line stumbled and fell.  It was Lutin.
“My leg!” squealed the goblin.  “It’s broken and it will have to be removed and then I’ll be a one-legged goblin and everyone will laugh!”
“I won’t laugh at you,” promised Leon.  “The hole in your pants is much funnier.”
“And I can’t run any longer, either” said Abby, grabbing at a stitch in her side.
“Jump on my back,” said Ethan.  He stooped low and Abby clambered up.  Ethan listened, but couldn’t hear any of the Minotaurs following them.  He knew, however, they had to keep moving.  “Leon,” said Ethan heavily, “I’m sorry, but we have to keep going.  You should stay with your brother.”
For several long seconds, no one said anything.  Then from out of the darkness, Robbie said, “I’ll carry him.”
“Very well,” said Ethan, extremely surprised (and proud of his brother).
“Climb up,” said Robbie, squatting down as low as he could.
“Just this once,” mumbled Lutin.  He scowled at his brother.  “Not a word of this to anyone.”
As Robbie trundled after his brother down the dark, sloping tunnel, he thought he heard Lutin whisper, “Thanks,” into his ear.

Chapter Nine
Eves-dropping 
After a time, the little company stopped to catch their breath.  Ethan allowed Abby to slide off his back.  Robbie did the same with Lutin.  Both Robbie and Abby were happy to see that this section of the tunnel was lined with large amounts of orin, which illuminated the passage with a soft silvery glow.
While Ethan huddled with Lutin to discuss their next move, Abby used a small stone to chip a few chunks of orin off the wall, then caught the pieces in her coat pocket.  She was very careful not to touch it.  You never know when something like this will come in handy, she thought, zipping her pocket closed.
Abby heard Ethan say, “The path divides into three different directions.  Which route do we take to reach the Queen?”
Lutin rose to his feet and limped into the gloom.  When he returned, he appeared very doubtful.  “It has been many years since I have been this deep in the mountain.  I’m not sure how to tell you this…”
“We’re lost,” said Leon.  “Which isn’t surprising, as minotuars are famous for living in mazes.”
Lutin nodded.
Robbie was about to get angry and spout a few choice words, but wisely held his tongue.
“I hear something in the left tunnel,” whispered Leon, his gray ears twitching.
“It could be Minotaurs,” suggested Lutin, “separated from the herd.  Or it could be something else…”
“If they’re Minotaurs,” said Ethan, “could they lead us back to the Queen?”
Leon held up a grubby clawed hand.  “I choose not to be the one to ask them to lead us to the Queen.”
“We won’t ask them anything,” said Ethan.  “We’ll follow behind them without them knowing.”
“It may work,” said Lutin thoughtfully.  “Unless whatever is down that tunnel is something far worse than a Minotaur.”
Ethan glanced at Abby, then Robbie.  “We have to find the horn and get back home.  If we don’t do something (Ethan whispered the last part of his sentence so that Abby wouldn’t hear), we may never get out of this mountain.”
“Very well,” said Lutin.  “Lead on.”
Robbie scooped the injured goblin up onto his back, but Abby said she was ready to walk.
“Everyone draw your weapons,” whispered Ethan as he advanced into the left-most tunnel.  “And Abby, be careful with that wand.”
Abby sighed.  “You act as if I’ve already turned everyone into chickens.”
“The evening’s not over,” murmured Robbie.
The company tip-toed through the passage for several minutes.  It wasn’t long before the noise became clear: at least two Minotaurs were arguing loud enough that their gruff voices echoed down the tunnel.  Ethan followed the passage as it curved to the right.  He peeked around the bend and looked upon the pair of ugly creatures.  One wore a patch over his left eye and the other had his shaggy hair braided into filthy dreadlocks.  They seemed to be fighting over a dark piece of cloth.  Ethan squinted, then gasped.
“That’s my jacket they’re fighting over!” he whispered, gesturing for the others to join him.  He pointed.  “I took it off near the opening this morning because it was too hot.”
“But why would they care about a ruddy ol’ jacket?” asked Robbie softly.
Ethan shrugged, and turned back to watch.  Together, he and the rest of the company  listened attentively to the heated debate.
“It was me who found it,” snarled Eye Patch.
“And I led us to the place where you found it,” barked Dreadlocks. 
Eye Patch hauled back on the jacket, nearly ripping it in half.  “I know what you’re up to!  You just want it for yourself.  A pretty prize to show the Queen, may her human feet grow into hooves one day!”
“And you want it for the same reason!” growled Dreadlocks.  He bared his enormous fangs.  “The Queen, bless her bullish ancestors, wants to know about the girl-child and her sniveling brothers. I aim to be the one to inform her, as reports are delivered by herd captains.  Now hand it over!”
“Captain or no, you’ll hafta kill me first!” replied Eye Patch.  He shoved the other Minotaur roughly in the chest and the creature toppled over backwards.
Dreadlocks’s black eyes blazed with rage.  “May your calves’ horns whither and fall off!” he shouted.
Apparently this was the worst insult you could aim at a Minotaur because Eye Patch threw back his head and let loose an ear drum-shattering bellow that caused the very ground to tremble.
“What should we do?” asked Robbie.
“We’ll wait for one of them to do in the other, then follow the survivor,” said Ethan.  “You heard them, they’re both real keen to take my jacket to the Queen.”
“May her fur retain its glossy sheen,” said Leon.
Lutin cuffed his brother on the head, and told him to keep quiet.
“It looks like we won’t need our weapons after all,” said Ethan, turning back to watch the erupting battle between the Minotaurs.  It appeared Ethan was right; the two monsters were now rolling back and forth on the ground, punching and kicking and jabbing with their sharp horns.
“You may want to rethink that,” came a deep grumbling voice behind the company.  
Ethan was the first to turn around.  Towering over him was an enormous Minotaur holding a giant ax.  But Ethan surprised the creature (and himself) by thrusting his silver sword at the Minotaur’s muscled belly.  For a brief moment, the monster’s black eyes went wide, then his body disappeared in a swirl of glittery black smoke.
“What just happened?” panted Ethan, looking down at his sword.
Lutin and Leon stared at Ethan, then at his sword.  Neither goblin seemed able to speak.  Then Leon finally mumbled, “I think we chose good traveling companions.”
But the company’s troubles were far from over.  One Minotaur was gone, but the two who had been locked in a deadly battle over Ethan’s jacket heard the commotion and turned around to glare down the tunnel.  Even in the shadowy gloom, the monsters spotted the children and their goblin guides.
Of course the Minotaurs promptly forgot about their quarrel.  Yanking their axes from their backs, they charged the company, snorting and puffing great puffs of steam.
“Now would be a wonderful time to use that bow of yours,” advised Leon, glancing at Robbie.
“Or run,” said Lutin, climbing up onto Robbie’s back.
Robbie chose to listen to Leon.  He aimed and let fly his arrow, watching as it struck Eye Patch in the shoulder.  Again, the Minotaur’s dark eyes widened in dismay a moment before he disappeared in a vortex of black smoke.  Robbie yelped triumphantly, but realized he’d never get a second arrow knocked before the other Minotaur reached them.
Ethan jumped in front of the company, brandishing his sword (though this time his eyes were tightly shut) and shouted something about the honor of the Claybutton family.  The Minotaur grinned (as much as a bull can grin) and raised his huge ax.
At the last moment, Abby flicked her wand and thought of a chicken.
Chapter Ten
Late for Dinner
One second the furious Minotaur was crashing down on the company like a dark wave of smelly fur and bulging muscle, and the next moment the creature had transformed magically into a  brown-feathered chicken.  The chicken tried to peck at Ethan’s trainers, but Ethan just brushed it to the side with his foot.
“What is it with you and animals?” said Robbie.
“We’re alive, aren’t we?” replied Abby.
The chicken darted down the tunnel, squawking loudly.  “We have to go,” said Ethan.  “That dumb bird’s going to have every Minotaur in the mountain looking for us.”
Leon bent low to the ground and came up grinning.  He held up an egg.  “Who said magic can’t produce food?”  He popped it into his mouth, shell and all.
Abby looked miserable, but Ethan patted her on the shoulder.  “You did good, Abby.  We wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for you.”
Abby smiled.  “So can I—”
“No,” said Ethan quickly.  “Emergencies only.”
“Speaking of emergencies, we may have one coming up very soon,” said Leon, wiping egg yolk from his lips.  When the children turned to look at him, he said, “The First Born was right—the chicken gave us up.”
“The Minotaurs are coming?” Abby squeaked nervously.
Before Leon could say yes, everyone felt the ground trembling.
“Run!” whispered Ethan fiercely.  He grabbed only Abby’s hand, as Robbie had to scoop Lutin up off the floor and deposit the goblin on his back.  The tunnel was lit with orin, but it suddenly branched in many different paths.  Lutin started shouting directions from Robbie’s back.
“Left!  Right!  Right again!  Up that ridge!  No, not that ridge, the other ridge!”  When the little company took Lutin’s advice and slid down a steep slope instead of running up a broad passageway well-lit with orin, Ethan knew their days of running had more than likely come to an end.
At the bottom of the slope was a wide cavern, illuminated not with orin, but with large cauldrons filled with fire.  At the far end of the cavern sat an enormous Minotaur (more enormous than any the children had seen so far) on a huge wooden throne.  The children knew at once that it was the Queen, as she had no horns to speak of, making her head look more cow-ish than bullish.   She was wearing several dusty pieces of mismatched armor and a tattered leather skirt.  
It was impossible for the children not to notice the large sturdy tables that were scattered about the room.  Sitting at the tables were at least five dozen Minotaurs, each of them making enough noise to wake the dead.  In the center of the cavern was a huge fire pit with a fire whose flames were licking the cavern’s lofty ceiling. Suspended over the fire and turning slowly on an iron spit was an enormous side of meat.  None of the children recognized the animal, as it had spiky ridges (now charred) down its spine and a long snake-like tail (now smoldering).  
All of the monsters, including the Queen, turned as one to look at the party crashers.
“We have visitors,” boomed the Queen.  She rose from her throne, and if the children hadn’t been so terribly frightened, they might’ve wondered how the throne could possibly hold her colossal weight.  She lumbered towards the company, her strides carrying her across the cavern floor in no time at all.  The other Minotaurs stayed seated, but began to grunt and growl and smash their large furry fists on the tables.
Much to the credit of the children (and the goblins) the company chose not to embarrass themselves by crying or darting under a table.  The Queen snorted a great puff of steam into the air, then looked her prisoners up and down.  Her ugly cow-like face broke into an ugly grin, and her large black eyes focused on the children.  “Since we don’t see many paper-skins this side of the veil, I’m betting you three are the Claybutton offspring.”
“Anyone outside of Ipsilund is considered a paper-skin,” explained Leon, forgetting for the moment that he was supposed to be terrified.  “It’s a negative term to describe your weakness.”
“Very good, gobbler,” said the Queen, barely looking at Leon.  “I’m sure the humans will be happy to know the last bit of knowledge they will ever learn came from a miserable goblin.”
Leon looked down at the ground.
Ethan was so frightened his knees were trembling, but he tightened his jaw and said, “How do you know who we are?”
“I don’t know who you are,” grunted the Queen, “but I know that two human boys and one human girl are wanted in the Beyond.  And then you three walk right into our mountain.  We don’t see many humans—especially newborns.”
“We’re not newborns,” said Abby, placing her hands defiantly on her hips.
The Minotaur queen bent down low so that her wide nostrils were inches away from Abby’s upturned nose.  “You are to me, paper-skin.”
Ethan was suddenly afraid the Queen was going to open her huge mouth and snap up his litter sister in one gulp, so he stepped forward and said, “And what is the Beyond?”
The Queen straightened back up and grinned darkly.  “Nosy one, aren’t ya?  The Beyond is a place beyond the Mountain, beyond the River, beyond the Everwood, beyond everything we know of.”
Abby was fingering her wand in her pocket.  “Why are we wanted in this…Beyond place?”
“I don’t ask questions of those from Beyond,” growled the Queen.  Everyone in the company could see that it greatly angered the proud Minotaur to follow someone else’s orders.  “My responsibility was to capture you, which I have, and deliver you without questions.”
“You didn’t capture us,” said Abby.  “We took a wrong turn and ended up her by mistake.”
Everyone in the company stared open-mouthed at Abby.
“That was brave,” said Leon.
“And foolish,” said the Queen, eyeing Abby dangerously.  “I might’ve given you and your pathetic friends food before the journey tomorrow, but not now.  You would do well to hold your tongue in the future, paper-skin.”  The giant Minotaur pointed at the magnificent bow that was slung over Robbie’s shoulder, then at Ethan’s glittering sword at his hip.  “Word has traveled to me that your weapons are enchanted.  I’ll need you to drop them to the ground.”
Robbie removed his bow from off his back, but instead of dropping it to the ground as the Queen had demanded, he pulled an arrow from his belt and began to knock it.
“Don’t, Robbie,” whispered Ethan.  “You may manage to kill her, but her followers will then tear us limb from limb.”
“Not completely true,” grunted the Queen.  “First they would use their horns to toss you around for sport, then they would tear you limb from limb.”  She broke into a terrible rumbling laugh that echoed about the cavern.  She looked at Ethan.  “A pity you are to be taken to the Beyond, boy-child.  You might’ve made a worthy leader.”
Robbie and Ethan reluctantly dropped their weapons on the ground.  “You too, girl-child,” grunted the Queen as she turned her shaggy head to stare at Abby.  “Drop your pretty stick.”
Abby sighed and fished her wand from her pocket.  She entertained the idea of turning the Queen into a car salesman, but then decided against it when she saw Ethan glaring at her.  She dropped it and a spark shot out of the tip as it hit the ground.  The spark struck Lutin on the foot.
“That can’t be an accident!” howled the goblin as he began to hop about on one foot while clutching the other.  The Minotaurs laughed and pointed at Lutin.
The Queen allowed her herd to laugh for a while, then ordered one of the Minotaurs to gather the weapons.  The same Minotaur then led the company to the far side of the cavern where a bedroom-sized cage awaited.  “In,” grunted the Minotaur, “before I ignore my Queen, may her ears never fail to wriggle, and add you to my dinner.”
Everyone in the company entered the cage, heads bowed, shoulders slumped.
Except for Lutin.
The cage door clanged shut.  Leon and the children turned and stared at the goblin.  The children had half-expected Lutin to betray them, but Leon was stunned beyond belief.
“Lutin?” said Leon, his ugly bat-like face contorted with confusion.  “Why are you out there…and we’re in here?”
“I’m sorry, brother,” said Lutin.  “Business is business.”
It took Leon a few moments to understand, then he said, “Please don’t call me brother.”
Chapter Eleven
A Change of Heart
The company watched Lutin limp away.  Leon slumped to the floor of the cage.  “I never saw it coming,” said the goblin sadly.
Robbie struck the bars of the cage with a balled fist.  “I never trusted the ugly lizard, but I thought after I carried him halfway through this miserable mountain, he would’ve thought differently about us.”
“I’ve known Lutin for seventy two years,” replied Leon.  “You think you know someone…”
They watched as one of the Minotaurs tossed Lutin a small sack.  Lutin eagerly dumped the sack’s contents onto the nearest table, grinning as several gold coins bounced and rolled around.  He counted the coins rapidly, then put them back into the sack.  He looked over at the cage briefly before joining a group of rowdy Minotaurs at another table.
“Do you think there’s any chance of escaping?” said Ethan.
“Probably not,” replied Leon, eyeing the thick bars of the cage.  “You’ll be delivered in the morning and that will be the end of that.”
“And what about you?” asked Abby.  
“Who knows?” mumbled Leon.  “I suppose they’ll keep me around for entertainment, then dispose of me when they grow tired.”
Tears sprang suddenly to Abby’s eyes.  “They can’t.  They won’t.”
Ethan decided it was time to change the subject.  “Leon?  Do you know anything about the pocket watch?”
“Eh?” said Leon, barely looking up.
“I mean the Great Clock,” said Ethan.  “How does it work?”
But Leon’s reply was quickly drowned out, as the Minotaurs leapt to their feet and started to pound the cavern floor with the great handles of their axes.
“What are they doing!” shouted Ethan.
“Honoring their queen for her victory!” yelled Leon.
“What victory?” said Ethan.
Leon pointed at Ethan, then Robbie, then Abby.
It was impossible for Ethan to respond because now the Minotaurs had started grunting in unison and thumping their great hairy chests with their great hairy fists. The children watched as a dozen muscled Minotaurs lumbered over to the Queen and lifted her throne up on to their broad shoulders.  Like a horrible parade, the Queen was carried around the cavern, her followers ambling after her like a pack of dogs after the hunter.
The children couldn’t help but notice Lutin limping along as he tried desperately to catch up.  He pleaded for one of the Minotaurs to carry him, but the creature laughed and shoved him to the side with one enormous boot.  Lutin rolled across the floor, then sat up rubbing his backside.  He climbed unsteadily to his feet, glanced back at the cage, then staggered over to one of the tables.
“I’d say Lutin’s the opposite of loyal, wouldn’t you?” said Leon miserably.
No one said a word.  Each of them slumped to the ground.
“If only I had my wand,” said Abby softly.  “I’d change these bars to soda straws.”
Robbie smacked an open palm with his fist.  “I shoulda’ put my arrow between the Queen’s ruddy eyes when I had the chance!”
Ethan was shaking his head.  “None of us would be alive if you’d done that.”
“What good is it being alive?” said Robbie, turning to glare angrily at his brother.  “We’re to be taken to this Beyond place in the morning, and I’m sure it’ll be far worse than this dark, smelly cave.”
Abby scooted close to Ethan and let her head fall onto his shoulder.  “What are we going to do, Ethan?”
But before Ethan could tell her that he hadn’t the slightest idea, the Minotaurs called loudly for more food and drink, and Ethan’s voice was lost in the awful racket.  Dozens of the shaggy creatures were now lumbering in and out of the cavern carrying enormous wooden trays piled high with the mysterious roasted creature and rotting fruit buzzing with fat black flies.
Robbie felt his stomach rumble with hunger.  He turned to scowl at Abby.  “Thanks to our big-mouthed magic-user, we won’t be eating tonight.”
“So you’re fine with dragon meat?” said Abby.  “I’m not surprised—you’d eat anything that wasn’t moving.”
Robbie was about to trade another insult with Abby, but he saw that Leon was pointing through the bars of the cage.  Everyone turned and watched as Lutin ambled across the cavern floor in their direction.  It was quite obvious his limp had gotten worse.  He was clutching his bag of gold coins to his skinny chest.
Robbie stood up.  “If he gets close enough I’ll pull the miserable rat through the bars and—”
“Let’s find out what he wants,” said Ethan cautiously. 
Lutin finally reached the cage.  His ugly gray-green face was even uglier, as it was twisted in pain from his turned ankle.
“Did you come back to laugh at us?” asked Ethan.
“I haven’t laughed in thirty years,” growled Lutin.  
“That’s true,” said Leon.
“Then what do you want?” snapped Ethan.
“I thought you might be interested in this,” replied the goblin, reaching into his money sack.  Instead of shiny coins, however, Lutin pulled out a large horn.  The base was splintered and spotted with dried blood, but the tip was wrapped in burnished brass. 
Leon jumped to his feet, his lamp-like eyes staring through the bars of the cage.  “Is that… the Fallen Horn?”
“Well it ain’t Uncle Upluck’s loin cloth,” snapped Lutin.  “Of course it’s the Fallen Horn.”
“I’m just happy to say I saw it before the Minotaurs mash me up and make me into gobbler soup,” said Leon.
“No one hurts you but me,” boasted Lutin.
“It’s a trick,” said Robbie.  “We can’t believe a word he says.”
Lutin shook his head.  “You think I’d risk my life to play a trick on you?  You’re the opposite of rational, Middle Child.  Plus, I dumped the gold so I’d have room for this blasted horn.”
But Robbie wasn’t satisfied.  “Why would you suddenly decide to help us after turning us over to the Queen?”
Lutin glared through the bars of the cage.  “Because I’m fed up with these flea-infested turncoats!”
“No,” insisted Robbie, “it’s more than that.  You’re up to something.”
Lutin sputtered and spit and stamped his feet, but in the end he sighed heavily and said, “If you have to know, I had a…a…”
“A what?” prompted Robbie.
“A change of heart,” mumbled Lutin, suddenly fidgeting and staring at his flat feet.  For a moment it appeared the goblin was smiling, but it was quickly replaced with a scowl.  “Now do you want the horn or not?”
“Of course,” said Ethan, “but how do we get out of this cage?”
Lutin reached up and scratched his head with one clawed finger.  “Hadn’t thought of that.”
“If you’re sincere,” said Robbie quickly, “pass the horn through the bars and we’ll tear an opening right here.”
Lutin was shaking his head.  “It’s not that simple.  You have to be outside where the air is thinner.”
Robbie huffed in irritation.  “Can you get our weapons?  Maybe we can—”
“No,” said Lutin heavily.  “The Queen’s got your weapons now.”
“My wand?” said Abby hopefully.
“Queen’s got that as well,” said Lutin.  “She’s unable to do anything with it, but she’s sure giving it a go.”
Abby gritted her teeth in frustration.  She turned away, then spun back around.  “Wait a moment,” she said excitedly, reaching into her coat pocket with a gloved hand.  She pulled out a handful of the glittering orin.  “I think it’s time for the Queen to fall in love again.”
Chapter Twelve
Jail Break
“Abby, what are you talking about?” said Ethan. 
Abby was grinning from ear to ear.  “Remember what Leon said about orin?”
“It can give you head lice?” said Robbie.
“Yes, but it can also make you fall in love,” replied Abby.
Everyone stared at Abby, thoroughly bewildered.  It was Leon (who had used the orin as a love potion once before on a female goblin with one eye) who finally understood.  “Excellent idea!” he said excitedly.  He looked up at Abby.  “Do you mind, Last Born?”
“Be my guest,” said Abby.
Leon turned to look at his brother.  “Lutin, you will need to take the orin and find a way to slip it into the Queen’s drink.  The Queen will swallow the orin and one of us will quickly call to her. She will be unconditionally smitten when she sees me.”
“You?” said Lutin, squinting his beady eyes.
Leon suddenly looked shocked.  “Did I say me?  I meant any one of us.”
Robbie looked like he’d just eaten a rotten fig.  “You fancy the Minotaur queen?  Gross!”
“I never said that,” protested Leon.  “I simply said that—”
“This isn’t the best time to argue about who Leon fancies,” said Ethan impatiently.  “So what happens once the Queen falls in love?”
“Just follow my lead,” said Leon, winking at Abby.  Leon moved close to the bars of the cage.  “Lutin, the first part of this plan depends on you.  Leave the horn here with Ethan, then get the Queen to swallow the tainted drink.”
Lutin looked very doubtful.  Shaking his head, he passed the horn through the bars of the cage.  Ethan took the horn and tucked it under his shirt.  Abby then dumped the glittering orin into Lutin’s empty sack and passed it back to the goblin.
“If I don’t return,” muttered Lutin as he turned and hobbled across the cavern floor, “someone smack my brother on the back of the head.”
The others held their breath as they watched Lutin disappear into a rowdy group of dancing Minotaurs. A moment later, they spotted him approaching the Queen’s throne, the sack of orin clutched tightly in his gnarled hand.  The goblin leaned casually against the throne, then appeared to say a few words to the giant Minotaur.  The Queen, however, was too busy gnawing on a dripping piece of meat to notice.  Lutin glanced at the huge wooden mug perched on the arm of the throne.  With a last desperate look around, the goblin slipped behind the throne.
Leon and the children waited for what felt like an eternity, then they saw a skinny gray arm reach upwards from behind the throne and tilt the contents of the sack into the mug. 
“He did it!” whispered Leon breathlessly, gripping the bars of the cage.  “He really did it!”
Ethan opened his mouth to ask a question, but Leon held up a crooked finger.  “Wait…wait…”
A moment later, the Queen belched loudly, wiped her mouth with the back of her hairy hand and reached for the mug.  Lutin, meanwhile, was limping as swiftly as he could through the celebrating Minotaurs.
The Queen belched again, then lifted the mug to her lips.  Throwing her head back, she emptied the contents into her mouth and called for more.
“My Queen!” shrieked Leon, standing on his tip-toes.  “My Queen! Look this way!”
The Minotaur Queen turned and stared at the cage, her large brown eyes falling on Leon who was now jumping up and down and waving his skinny arms.  For a brief moment, her eyes narrowed in suspicious rage, but suddenly she stood and the anger melted from her face.
“It’s working!” whispered Leon.  “Now to pour on the charm.”
Robbie nudged Ethan in the ribs.  “I would take notes.”
The Queen rushed across the floor of the cavern, throwing aside any Minotaur unlucky enough to stand in her way.  She halted just feet from the cage, her eyes seeing nothing but the little goblin on the other side of the bars.
“Tell me your name, tiny gobbler,” gushed the Queen, “that I may whisper it in my dreams.”
“The name’s Leon,” said Leon, bowing low and bumping his head on the wooden bars.
“Very charming,” murmured Robbie.
“Leon,” purred the Queen thoughtfully.  “A most handsome name for a most handsome creature.”
Leon gripped the bars of the cage.  “We can’t be together, my Queen, if I am in here and you are out there.”
“Then I will come in,” said the Queen quickly.  
“No!” blurted Leon.  “No, allow me to leave this prison, along with my friends.”
The Queen barely glanced at the children.  “Very well,” she said, reaching out and grasping the large padlock.  With a violent tug, she wrenched the lock from the cage, and threw the door open wide.  Before Leon could slip out, however, the Queen reached inside the cage, grabbed the goblin around his waist and pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.  When she finally lowered Leon to the ground, she said, “Without you by my side, Leon, I feel like I am the one in prison.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” squeaked Leon as he checked for any broken ribs.  He felt Robbie elbow him in the back.
“We’ve got company,” whispered Robbie.
Leon looked around and saw that many of the Minotaurs had come over to see what was happening, the majority of them obviously wondering why their queen had just torn the lock from the cage.
Leon looked quickly up at the Minotaur, who was towering over him and batting her long lashes.  “My Queen, allow me to show my friends out of the mountain, then I will return.”
“Hurry back,” purred the Queen, blowing Leon a kiss.
Leon snatched the invisible kiss out of the air and tucked it safely down the front of his filthy tunic.
“What is the meaning of this!” bellowed one of the Minotaurs, pushing his way roughly through the gawking crowd.  He stared at his Queen.  “Your Highness, may the fleas in your coat shrivel and die.  Why are you freeing the prisoners?”
“Leon should never have been imprisoned in the first place,” replied the Queen, never taking her eyes off of Leon.  “He is going to take his friends out of the mountain, then return.”
“But, your Highness,” said the Minotaur, “you’ve been bewitched! Someone has cast a spell on you so that you have fallen in love with a…a…gobbler!”
“I know,” said the Queen dreamily.  “Isn’t he wonderful?”
The Minotaur shook his head and yanked the ax off his back.  “I won’t stand here and allow—”
But the creature never finished his threat because the Queen back-handed the Minotaur so that he flew backwards as if struck by a thunderclap.
“Thank you, my Lady,” said Leon.  Lutin had arrived and he was staring at the spectacle even more incredulously than the other Minotaurs.
“Let’s go,” said Leon, looking at the children.  He scuttled across the cavern floor, herding his friends and his brother towards the gaping tunnel that would lead them out of the mountain.  
“Hurry back, Leon!” called the Queen.  “I can’t wait to start the rest of our lives together!”
“Neither can I!”  shouted Leon, casting an uneasy smile over his shoulder.  A moment later, the two goblins and the Claybutton children disappeared through the mouth of the tunnel, each of them hoping that the orin would last.
Chapter Thirteen
The Mine
Luckily, the only thing the children heard as they scurried down the dark tunnel was the Minotaur Queen’s echoing proclamations of love for Leon.
“I’ll be counting the seconds till you return!  Don’t forget me!  I can’t wait to start a family!”
Everyone in the group shuddered, and everyone was happy (and relieved) to see that Leon shuddered right along with them.
“How long do we have before the orin wears off?” panted Ethan, scooping the injured Lutin up off the floor and depositing him on his back.
“About an hour,” replied Leon.
“We may not have quite that long,” said Lutin.
Everyone stopped and looked at the goblin.  “What do you mean?” asked Robbie.
“Well, I meant to empty the entire sack of orin into the Queen’s mug…but I was afraid I was going to be spotted…so I only poured in a drop or two.”
“A drop or two?” repeated Leon softly.
“So how much time do we really have?” said Abby.
“About three minutes,” answered Leon.  “Give or take ten seconds.”
“Three minutes!” blurted Ethan as he grabbed Abby’s hand and yanked her down the tunnel.  “Run, everyone and don’t stop for anything!”
The children and the goblins fled down the twisting tunnel, Lutin bouncing on Ethan’s back and Leon casting nervous glances over his shoulder.  
“How much time do we have now?” shouted Robbie.
“Very little!” hollered Leon.
“How do you know?” squealed Abby.
“Because I just heard the Queen say she wants to remove my arms and legs.  I don’t find that romantic at all.”
And now everyone in the company could hear the awful sound of the Minotaurs running through the tunnel behind them.  The sound was like a stampede of elephants, only it was far worse because mixed with the thudding of giant feet, they could hear the Minotaurs bellowing furiously, no doubt pulling their axes from their broad hairy backs and imagining horrible ways for the escaped prisoners to die.  The company had no choice but to stop when they came to a fork in the tunnel.
“Which way do we go?” said Robbie, bending over double to catch his breath.
Lutin was still perched on Ethan’s back.  “I don’t know this part of the mountain,” admitted the goblin.  
The Minotaurs were definitely getting closer.  Everyone heard the Queen scream something about the Fallen Horn, and how the thief would pay with his life.
“She knows,” said Ethan, reaching up to feel the horn beneath his shirt.  “I bet she’s in a murderous rage.”
“A wonderful observation,” said Lutin scowling.  “No wonder you’re the leader.”
“Look!” said Robbie, pointing at the wall between the two tunnels.  “There’s a sign, but I can barely read it in the gloom.”
“It wouldn’t matter anyway,” said Leon sadly.  “It’s written in ancient Minotaur.”
Everyone crept closer to the sign and stared at it.
“I can read it!” blurted Abby, startling everyone.  “It says the left tunnel leads to the sleeping quarters and the right tunnel goes to the mine.”
Leon turned to Abby.  “You read ancient Minotaur?”
“Apparently,” said Abby.  “I don’t know exactly how it happened, but—”
“Can we make a choice here!” said Robbie fiercely.  
“Our only choice is to take the right tunnel,” said Lutin, “as it leads to the mine.  The mine will have at least one tunnel that empties out of the mountain, whereas the sleeping quarters will be a dead end.”
“Any place that has the word ‘dead’ in it is not a place I want to be,” observed Leon.
“Then the mines it is!” said Ethan.  He grabbed Abby’s hand again and raced into the tunnel on the right.  It wasn’t long before the passageway was lit with large hanging lanterns that flickered with dancing fire.  They sped up, grateful for the light, but the angry Minotaurs were still behind them and gaining.
The company rounded a corner, then slid down a slope made slippery with loose gravel.  At the bottom of the slope they found the beginnings of a large track, which reminded the children of the train rails back in London.  Sitting on the track was an enormous wooden cart with iron shod wheels.
From the awful sounds ricocheting off the tunnel’s walls, it sounded like the Minotaurs were nearly upon them.  The Queen shouted something about feeding the children to a pack of hungry wolves and the rest of the Minotaurs shouted their agreement.
“Everyone in!” yelled Ethan, flinging Lutin into the cart without a second thought.
“Ouch!” moaned Lutin.  “Don’t mind the poor goblin with the wounded foot!”
Ethan then grabbed Leon and tossed him in with his brother.
“Ouch!” groaned Leon.  Then, “I’ve always wanted to ride in one of these.”
 Abby was next, though Ethan was careful not to throw her. Once she was safely inside the cart, Ethan gave Robbie a boost, then climbed in himself.
Lutin stared at Ethan.  “I know I’m the only one with a brain in this group, but how are we supposed to move without you pushing us from the outside?”
“I can’t think straight!” said Ethan, reaching up to grip his hair with both hands.  “We’re about to be—”
“Hold on a second,” said Robbie suddenly.  “There’s some type of gear system on the side here…” Robbie reached over the edge of the cart and merely touched a complex set of metal sprockets.  Instantly, a heavy rusted latch slipped off the largest sprocket and fell away.  To everyone’s surprise (and delight) the sprockets began to turn!
“We’re moving!” squealed Abby.  She hugged Robbie.  “You did it, Robbie!”
And it was just in time, because the Minotaurs were sliding down the gravelly slope like an enormous wave of fur and muscle.  Ethan and Robbie were the only ones tall enough to see over the edge of the cart.  Their eyes widened as the enraged creatures streamed into the mine, grunting and cursing and snorting so loudly the walls trembled and the ground shook.  Ethan and Robbie were so paralyzed with fear they couldn’t look away.
“Can’t this thing move any faster!” shouted Robbie.
They watched in horrified fascination as one of the Minotaurs (clearly faster and stronger than the rest) surged ahead of the herd and came rumbling down the track after them, the light from the lanterns reflecting off the giant blade of his ax.  The monster’s eyes were red with fury and his flaring nostrils were puffing great streams of smoke.  Ethan and Robbie both wished they had their weapons, but of course they didn’t, and all they could do was watch as the Minotaur shouted, “For the love of the Queen, may her pungent odor attract flies forever!”  And with that, the creature lunged and grasped the cart’s edge with both hands.  One hand slid off as the Minotaur struggled to keep his feet from slipping on the tracks, but the other held fast.
Robbie immediately started pounding on the Minotaur’s huge hand, but it was like pummeling a furry rock, and it didn’t do a bit of good.  “He won’t let go!” screamed Robbie.
Slowly but surely, the crazed Minotaur was pulling himself up.
“Oh yes he will!” shouted Ethan, yanking the Fallen Horn from his shirt.  With a loud cry, Ethan brought the brass tip of the horn down hard on the monster’s hand, and with an agonized grunt, the Minotaur released his grip on the cart.
The children and the goblins cheered and pounded Ethan on the back, but they stopped when they felt the cart speeding up with frightening velocity.
“This could be a problem,” said Leon thoughtfully. 
Chapter Fourteen
A Close Call
Because Robbie was supposed to be handy with all things mechanical, everyone turned and looked at him expectantly.
“What?” said Robbie.  “Just because I got this ruddy thing going, doesn’t mean I know how to stop it!”
Lutin shook his fist at Robbie.  “This is the last cart ride I go on with you!”
Ethan stood up on his tip-toes and peered through the gloom.  Sections of orin in the passing walls glinted off the metal rails of the track ahead of them.  They were moving so fast now, Ethan’s hair was whipping around his face and the flickering lanterns on either side were nothing more than tiny blips of light.
Robbie climbed up beside him.  “If I didn’t think we were going to smash into a wall at some point, I might actually enjoy this.”
Ethan smiled, but it was a sad smile.  They had made it all the way through the mountain, obtained the Fallen Horn, escaped the Minotaurs and now they were going to die in a mine cart in a dark tunnel beneath a mountain far from home.  “You did good,” said Ethan, looking over at his brother.  
“So did you,” replied Robbie.
“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about the watch and all.”
“It’s okay.  I wouldn’t have believed me either.”
“Are you two seriously having a heart-to-heart?” said Lutin.  “You do know that we’re hurtling through a mountain in a mine cart, seconds away from a horrible death, right?”
As if to emphasize Lutin’s point, the cart suddenly began to swerve back and forth, and the wheels started wobbling crazily.  To make matters worse, the light from the lanterns and the silvery glow of the orin disappeared completely so that the children and the goblins were plunged into darkness.
Abby was about to say something, but all at once the track took a steep dive, reminding the children of a roller coaster they rode at the London fair, only they knew all too well that at the end of the frightening ride, the coaster always came to a slow and gentle stop.  This ride would end much differently.  
Everyone screamed (Lutin by far the loudest) then the cart leveled out and swerved to the left so that everyone slid to the right and smacked painfully against the side of the cart.
“I’d rather be in the hands of the Minotaurs!” shouted Lutin as he tried to extricate himself from the group.
“We can arrange that!” yelled Robbie, pushing Leon’s skinny rump out of his face.
Ethan had managed to stand up and was now peering over the edge of the cart.  “Oh no!” he said, pointing straight ahead.  “There’s sunlight at the end of the tunnel, but the track ends.”
“That’s a good thing!” screamed Lutin.
“No!” shouted Ethan.  “I can’t see the ground…”
“No ground!” hollered Lutin.  “We’ll be smashed into a million pieces!”
“A million is a bit much,” observed Leon.  “Thousands, possibly, but not millions.”
It appeared Abby had finally found her voice.  “I wish we’d never come looking for that ruddy horn in the first place!”
“The horn!” shouted Ethan excitedly.  “That’s it!”
Ethan yanked the horn from under his shirt, then began to climb out of the cart.  
“What are you doing, Ethan!” yelled Robbie, as he tried to drag his brother back into the cart.
“Let go, Robbie!  I have a plan!”
“Your plan’s going to get you killed!” argued Robbie.
“Doing nothing’s going to get us all killed!” countered Ethan.
No one, including Robbie, had a decent response, so they watched as Ethan disappeared over the edge of the cart.  A moment later they heard a terrible, ear-piercing screech, and of course they thought the worse had happened to Ethan.  But the cart was slowing down, and Ethan was suddenly whooping and cheering and whistling so loudly everyone started pleading to know what was going on.
The cart finally came to a stop.  Robbie helped Abby and the two goblins climb out, then jumped out himself.  They found Ethan standing there, the horn in his hand and a Minotaur-sized grin plastered across his dirty face.
“What did you do, Ethan?” said Robbie, his eyes wide with wonder.
“It was the horn,” said Ethan proudly.  “It saved our lives.”  He demonstrated how he had wedged the brass tip at the end of the horn between the cart’s front wheel and the metal rail of the track.
“I would say you saved our lives, First Born,” said Leon. 
“I slowed down the cart is all,” insisted Ethan, “but every one of us did something that helped us survive.”
For a moment, no one said anything, but each of them (even Lutin) smiled.
“I’m tired of this mountain,” said Abby.  “Let’s go home.”
“I’ve never agreed with you more,” said Robbie.
“You’ve never agreed with me at all,” Abby said.
The children and the goblins eagerly walked out into the open air.  Dawn was just breaking over the world of Ipsilund.  With bright sunlight bathing the side of the mountain, the little company managed the steep climb much easier than the previous night.  By the time they reached the bottom they were scratched and bruised (on top of their other scratches and bruises) and hot and sweaty, but thoroughly relieved to be out of the clutches of the Minotaur queen and her horrible soldiers.
Ethan began at once to search for the tell-tale patch of glimmering air that would allow them to return home.  Everyone tried to help Ethan, but they all knew inside that he alone had the power to find what they were looking for.
After several tense moments of searching, Robbie began to grow nervous.  “We’ve been gone from the mountain for a while now. Maybe we should move deeper into the forest before a search party of Minotaurs finds us.”
“Robbie’s right,” said Abby, glancing at the trees around her.  “We’re not safe so close to the mountain.”
“We won’t need to go into the forest,” said Ethan, pulling the horn from his belt.  “I’ve found something!”
Everyone crowded around Ethan, trying to see what he was pointing at.  “Am I really the only one that can see this?” said Ethan.
“I’ll be jealous later,” said Robbie.  “Cut that thing open.”
Ethan nodded and with the brass tip of the horn, he began to sever the invisible seams that held the patch of air in place.  “Almost,” said Ethan softly, wiping sweat from his brow.
“I hope ‘almost’ means right now,” said Leon, “because there is a small group of Minotaurs heading our way.”
“Hurry!” squealed Abby.
“Faster!” shouted Robbie.
“This isn’t like cutting paper!” Ethan shot back.
“I knew it was a mistake to take up with the three of you!” cried Lutin.
Half way up the mountain, five burly Minotaurs were sliding through the undergrowth, leaping over rock and stump, and barking an angry war cry that shook the small valley.  They were less than a hundred yards away when Ethan finally pulled back triumphantly on the patch of air.  “It’s open!” he shouted, standing clear so that Abby could tumble through.  Next went Robbie, then Ethan looked at the two pathetic goblins, standing before him with their knobby gray knees trembling and their wide lips quivering.  “You’ll have to come with us,” said Ethan.
“Away from Ipsilund?” asked Lutin.
“It’s better to be alive in our world, than dead in yours,” replied Ethan. “Hurry!”
The goblins took one last look at the darkening forest, then leaped through the opening.  Ethan followed close on their heels.  Just before he pulled his arm through, Ethan dropped the horn onto the ground.  “It was never ours to keep,” he said quietly.
The Claybutton children and the goblins looked back, watching as the opening shrunk before their eyes.  A moment before it disappeared, the shaggy muscled arm of a Minotaur reached through and clawed at the air.  With a strangled cry of fury, the creature yanked his arm back out and the opening snapped shut.
Leon looked at his brother, who was on the verge of fainting.  “I think we should wait a few minutes before returning, don’t you think?”
Chapter Fifteen
The Other Side of Ipsilund
For a long while, no one said a word.  They had reappeared in a wooded area of a large park, not far from Gran’s little cottage.  London was just as they had left it—cold and gray and noisy with traffic and barking dogs and children playing in the snow.
“I guess we should hide the goblins,” said Ethan, reaching down to his hip, and missing his sword already.
“What do you have to eat around here?” said Leon hopefully.  He spotted a woman across the park walking a small black poodle.
“Don’t even think about it,” said Abby quickly.
Leon sighed.
“We’ll have to bring food to you,” said Robbie.  “I don’t think Gran would like to find two goblins in her kitchen.”
“He’s right,” said Ethan thoughtfully.  “We’ll have to decide how we’re going to tell her.” 
Lutin and Leon were instructed to climb the nearest tree.  The children were relieved to note that the goblins’ grayish-green bodies blended in among the twisting branches so well you couldn’t see them unless they moved.  
“Stay here till we get back,” instructed Ethan.
“See that you hurry,” growled Lutin, who was quickly returning to his old ornery self again.  “Leon and I have much to do in Ipsilund.”
“We do?” said Leon.
Lutin glared at his brother.
Ethan, Robbie and Abby walked across the park, and hurried down Charring Lane.  When they arrived at the cottage, they were fairly surprised (and a little hurt) that there seemed to be no one searching for them.
Robbie looked around.  “I thought we’d find the neighborhood crawling with police cars.  We’ve been gone for more than twenty four hours, haven’t we?”
“Maybe they’ve given up hope,” said Abby.
“Maybe we haven’t been gone for as long as we think,” replied Ethan.
“I almost forgot!” exclaimed Robbie, racing across the snowy yard.  He spent a few frantic moments searching the ground near the back porch, then stooped over and snatched something out of the snow.  “Grandpa’s pocket watch!” he said happily.
“Is it working?” asked Ethan, jogging over to stand beside his brother.
Robbie nodded.  “According to the watch, only one hour has passed.  Brilliant!”
“Let me see,” said Ethan, taking the watch from Robbie.  As soon as he looked at it, however, he frowned.  “The hands stopped moving the moment I touched it.”
“Robert?” came a frightened voice from the back porch.
The children turned and found Gran standing in the doorway, her eyes red and rimmed with tears.  “Where’ve you been!” she said, rushing down the steps and through the snow in her tartan robe and slippers.  “Abigail, Ethan!” she gushed, enveloping the three of them in a hug so powerful it would have impressed a Minotaur. 
When she finally released them, the children looked at one another, wondering where to begin.
Being the oldest, Ethan decided it was his responsibility to take the blame.  But before he could say anything, Abby looked up at Gran and said, “It’s all my fault, Gran.  I wandered off and Ethan and Robbie were worried about me.  They had to follow me, didn’t they?”
Well, it isn’t really a lie, thought Ethan.  
How clever she is! thought Robbie.
“I suppose you’re right,” said Gran, “though you should lose dessert privileges tonight for leaving without telling me.”
“Fair enough,” said Abby, winking at her brothers.
“I have lunch on the table,” said Gran, ushering the children into the warm house.  “Though it’s been sitting out while I drove myself crazy looking for the three of you.”
Ethan, Robbie and Abby apologized over and over, each of them wondering what Gran would do if she knew they had narrowly escaped a horde of blood-thirsty Minotaurs.  The children discovered they were famished, and they gobbled down their lunch in no time at all. They were also very eager to return to the park and see how Lutin and Leon had fared so far from Ipsilund.  Ethan quickly stowed several ham and cheese sandwiches into an old back pack, along with a few bottles of water and a handful of chocolate chip cookies.
After enduring a stern (and lengthy) lecture on rules and consequences from Gran, the children were allowed to go to the park.  They ran down Charring Lane, sprinted across the park and found Lutin and Leon still clinging to the leafless branches of the tree.
“We figured you forgot about us,” grunted Lutin.  “Just like a human to feed and warm themselves before seeing to the needs of the less fortunate.”
“I think they’ve been very kind to us,” countered Leon, grinning down at the children.  “I would say they represent the human race very well.”
Lutin dropped from the tree and landed in the snow.  Leon landed beside him.  They ate the sandwiches and the cookies very fast (Leon swallowing the paper wrapping as well), then they guzzled the water in a single gulp.
“I bet you two eat your weight in food every day,” observed Robbie.
“Every two days,” said Leon, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.  “We’re not gluttons.”
Lutin belched.  “As much as we enjoy your company, Leon and I really do need to get back.”
“So soon?” said Abby.  She bent down and wrapped her arms around Lutin.  The goblin squirmed beneath her embrace, then when he found that it was hopeless, he reached up and patted her on the back.
Leon was next.  “I’m going to miss you, Leon,” said Abby, stooping to hug the goblin. 
Leon hugged her back and began to sob.  “I will miss you too, Last Born.”  When Abby finally let go, Leon looked at Ethan and Robbie.  “First Born, Middle Child…it has been a pleasure.”
“Likewise,” said Ethan.  He reached out his hand and Leon grasped it and shook it very hard.  He did the same to Robbie, then turned away so that he could blow his nose nosily on his arm.
Lutin nodded at Ethan, then turned to stare sheepishly at Robbie.  For a long moment, the two of them looked at each other.  Something powerful passed between them, though neither one of them was quite willing to admit it.
“It’s time,” said Ethan.
Robbie pulled the watch out of his pocket and instantly it was warm in his hands.  He flipped it over and Abby stepped close to read the inscription on the back.
“Keeper of time, enchanted brass…part this veil that I may pass.”
It took Ethan only a few seconds to locate the irregular patch of glimmering air.  Once he had pulled back the invisible covering, he used his fingers to stretch the opening to a size that would accommodate the goblins (which wasn’t very big at all). 
“One more thing,” said Ethan.  Lutin and Leon paused.  “Robbie seems to be the only one who can make the watch work.  Any ideas?”
Leon was about to explain, but Lutin cut him off.  “It so happens that the Great Clock will not work at all unless a Wanderer is holding it.  That same person will also have the ability to read the words inscribed on the back, which are written in a very ancient language, understood by no one but a true Wanderer.  Once the words have been read, a rift opens up in the veil, but only a Wanderer can see it.”
The Claybutton children looked at one another for several long moments.  It was Robbie who first found his voice.  “When were you going to tell us this!”
“You never asked,” said Lutin simply.
“So that makes us Wanderers!” exclaimed Robbie.  
Ethan and Abby looked at their brother doubtfully, but Robbie was on a roll.  “It all makes sense.  If what Lutin says is true, the process takes three steps.  We just divided the three steps up between the three of us!  I’m known for fixing things, right?  Well, the watch started working when I held it and when we were in Ipsilund the gears on the cart started turning as well.  Abby is the reader in the family, making her the only one able to read the inscription on the watch, as well as the sign in the mountain that was written in ancient Minotaur.  And Ethan,” continued Robbie excitedly, “no one has a sharper eye than you.  You are the one who can spot the openings, and you were also able to see in the dark!  Each of us has a special power and that power is magnified in Ipsilund!”  
“Don’t get such a big head,” warned Lutin, hoisting his skinny leg into the opening.
“But wait!” said Ethan, grabbing the goblin’s arm.  “What does it mean to be a Wanderer?”
“Who knows?” said Lutin.  “I’ve told you everything I know.”
Leon looked at the watch, still glowing faintly in Robbie’s hand.  “You will still have the Great Clock.  Ipsilund will have answers if you’re willing to look for them.”
“Wonderful,” growled Lutin.  “They’re coming back.”
Leon apologized for his brother by shrugging his bony shoulders.  He waved a final time and followed Lutin through the opening.  A moment later, they were gone and the children were  alone.
“I miss them already,” sniffed Abby.  “Even Lutin.”
“I’m happy to be back,” said Ethan heavily, “but I still have so many questions.  Who was it that wanted us from Beyond and why were they willing to side with the Minotaurs to find us?”
“Leon did say the answers are in Ipsilund,” said Abby.
“Don’t get any ideas,” Robbie replied.
“Well, that rotten queen has my wand.”
Robbie nodded.  “We all lost something.”
“Let’s go home,” said Ethan.  For a while, no one said anything as they strolled across the snow-swept park, each of them lost in their own thoughts.  Suddenly, Robbie stopped.  Ethan and Abby turned.
“What’s wrong?” asked Ethan.
Robbie looked like he was trying to solve a really difficult math problem in his head, but eventually he said, “I think I know what happened.”
At first, Ethan was very confused.  But then he was shaking his head.  “No.  No, Robbie, it’s not possible.”
“What?” said Abby.  
“Forget it Robbie,” said Ethan firmly.  “You’re getting your hopes up.  I told you, it’s not possible.”
“And why not?” said Robbie, his voice rising with excitement.  “We’re here, aren’t we?  The three of us opened that rift!”
“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” Abby demanded.
Ethan turned and looked at his sister.  “If I’m guessing right, Robbie thinks that Grandpa was a Wanderer.”
Abby stared at Ethan for several seconds, then she turned to look at Robbie.  For the first time in her life, she was speechless.
Robbie’s smile was barely visible, as if he were too afraid to hope.  “I think I know where Grandpa is.”
The End