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Prologue
Things can never be forgotten. No matter how deep you stuff them down to the back of your brain, how hard you try to erase it from your mind, it will stay there. Lurking. Waiting for the right moment, the right time, to pounce back into your brain. Like now.
Deep, deeeep under the State library of NSW, something stirred in the black catacombs of Know-how. Something that was meant to sleep forever, trapped. A case, laced with Qualkinite, shifted. Cracked. Splintered. Someone, no, something, rose from the debris. The Bane of Knowledge was free. And it was out…for revenge.
Chapter 1
Strange things had been going on in the large city of Sydney, and strange things were going to happen. Axel just knew it. it had started with the disappearance of creatures. Dogs, cats, horses. No one really cared except the people who owned them, and all the animal-lovers (Axel included). Then, people had vanished.
When 25-year-old Barry Baloney, 86-year-old Sarah Gregory, 5-year-old Teddy Smith, and 18-year-old Jemimah Barber had gone missing, it had caused an uproar. Everyone wanted to know what had happened. Detectives were out and searching.
Axel Delimand was sitting in the state library of NSW, reading through his homework, and groaning. He’d never liked math, and today, he had 50 questions to get through.
He was a tall, bulky boy, with black eyes, and straight hair, slicked right down. His jeans had tears in them, and his shirt, which used to pronounce, ‘I love soccer!’ now said, ‘I le ser!’ his long legs bounced up and down as he stared at the math problems.
Axel sighed, and put the math away. He’d do that later. Now, he had to walk, to run. He stuffed all his homework into his backpack, and walked out of the library. As he walked out of the doors, he had a strange feeling in his head, that told him not to leave, but to stay. He ignored the feeling. He’d been feeling it for days now, but it still felt weird. Why would he want to stay at the library? He lived somewhere else.
Once he was out, he pelted past the big sign in front of the library. He ran past the parked cars, the buildings, and the occasional man in a jumpsuit. Soon, he was at his home.
24 silver street was a comfy, rundown house. A large birch tree, shedding leaves all over the driveway, sat in the front yard. The garage was slightly rusted, but in pretty good shape.
Axel jumped up the steps to the door, and announced his arrival by stepping on the squeaky plank next to the worn rocking-chair. He opened the door, and stepped into the living room.
‘Hey mum!’ Axel called into the kitchen. ‘What are we having for dinner?’
‘We’ll have nothing if you don’t come in here,’ came the high and lilting voice of Lilly Delimand. ‘Abby’s causing chaos, and I can’t cook and watch at the same time.’
Axel walked into the kitchen, and was met with a sticky hug from Abby, his little sister. She had a round face, and the same black eyes that Axel had. Her face was pretty much always smiling, and her hands were pretty much always in, on, and around anything she could get at. Abby looked seriously at her older brother, and said, ‘you play with me?’
‘Alright Abby,’ Axel said. ‘Just let me put my stuff away, and I’ll play with you.’
‘Get her cleaned up as well,’ Axel’s mum said. ‘she’s a sticky mess!’ Lilly had the same round face as Abby, but she had brown eyes. She was plump, but not fat, and she usually wore a flowery dress and skirt.
‘Yes mum!’ Axel called, looking into the kitchen as he picked Abby up. It looked like it usually did, with pots on the stove, and food in the pots. One such pot that had not been put on the stove was lying on the floor, with golden sauce seeping out.
‘Well, there goes our sweet and sour sauce,’ groaned Axel’s mother, grabbing a cloth, and wiping up the mess.
After wiping up Abby, Axel played tag in the front yard with her. Abby loved running around the yard while Axel roared and chased after her. Soon, it was turning dark, and the two siblings waited for a small red Toyota car to appear in the street. Sure enough, a pair of headlights came rumbling down the road, and they came to rest at the garage. A tall, gangly man with slicked down hair climbed out of the Toyota.
‘Daddy!’ Abby yelled, and she ran at Gary Delimand, and hugged him around the legs.
‘Hello, my little princess,’ Axel’s dad said, picking her up, and squeezing her tight. He walked over to Axel, and said, ‘Hey Ax, how’s it going?’
‘Great!’ Axel said. He knew his voice sounded a bit too bright, but he just couldn’t help it.
‘You still thinking about my new job?’ Gary said, putting Abby down to run into the house.
‘Why do you have to go?’ Axel burst out. He knew he sounded selfish, but once he started, he couldn’t stop. ‘Why do you have to take the job, and move to freaking Brisbane? Why can’t you just decline the job?’
‘I know you don’t want me to go, and I don’t want to go either,’ Gary said, putting his hand on Axel’s shoulder. ‘But I have to go. I go where my boss sends me, and he’s sending me there. And I’ll be able to come back every so often.’
‘I don’t want you to go,’ Axel whispered.
‘I know, Ax,’ his dad said. ‘I know. We’ll talk in the morning, alright? Now, let’s go inside.’ They walked through the door, and into the living room.
Chapter 2
Axel lay awake in bed. Dinner had been a quiet business, with scraping spoons and forks. He had read for the rest of the time, and now he was supposed to be sleeping. But he wasn’t.
Suddenly, Axel felt a rustling at his sleeve! He jerked up, and grabbed at…a strip of old parchment. As he looked, words started appearing in the moonlight.
‘Human. Time is short. The Bane of Knowledge is free. And it wants revenge. Your ancestors used to be great. I just hope you are to. Come to the Mitchell library. More will be explained later. What are you doing, just lying there? Get up! The world and all in it are depending on you!’
Axel sat in the moonlight, contemplating his decisions.
‘Well, if this is true, and I don’t go, then we’ll all die apparently,’ he muttered. ‘If it’s false, and I go, then what is there to lose?’ Axel jumped out of bed, and ran to the window, and threw it open. Just before he leaped out of the window, he paused. He needed rope, and a torch. He grabbed them from his desk drawer, went back to the window. Axel climbed onto the gutter, and slid down. Soon, he was at the ground, and he was running toward something that would change his life. Forever. He knew the path to the library well, and he knew the quickest shortcuts there. Soon, he was at the library.
It looked different in the dark. The Mitchell library cast a deep shadow over everything around it. A shadow so black, that once he stepped into the shadow, he could barely see his hand in front of his face.
Axel sneaked up the stairs, and came to the door. He found it by bumping into it. Axel knew it must be locked, but he tried it anyway. Instead of opening, there was a sucking noise, and the doors seemed to disappear. He stepped through into the Mitchell Vestibule, and the door reappeared, putting him into complete darkness. Or almost complete.
A light was coming from the reading room, through the archway. Voices also came through; voices he didn’t understand. Then suddenly, the voices snapped into focus, and he could hear what they said.
‘E won’t come,’ a deep male voice said. ‘The big uman brute. All of em are like at. Brainless.’
‘Oh, he will Balg,’ said a higher male voice. ‘we’ve been sending him to many mind warps for him to not come.
‘I agree with Niggles,’ said a female voice, ‘the boy will come. In fact, he’s here now. Axel, come down please.’
Axel stepped into the light, and slowly walked past the bookshelves to the stairway. The rail cast a shadow that made Axel feel like he was in bars. Then, he looked toward the light, and his jaw dropped so far it could have fitted an adult human.
The light he had seen had come from a candle in what looked like a human’s skull. But that wasn’t what made Axel gape. There were three figures on the table…the ones that had been talking.
They were small, and bent over. Their hands were small, but their fingers and arms were long and thin. One of the little creatures had a long red beard, straight red hair, and bushy eyebrows. Another had a very droopy, long moustache, droopy, drawn eyes, and a hat with a bobble on the top the size of his head. The final one had blue eyes, a pink dress, and long, curly hair.
‘Well, what oe doing, boy?’ the red head said, his voice indicating he was Balg. ‘The world is at stake, and oe stand ere looking like the idiot you are. Come on en, the Bane of Knowledge is still out ere! Get going!’ Then, to the one in the pink dress, ‘e’s stupider an e looks, Kelk. Oe sure this is e one? I say we kill im.’ At that, Axel fainted.
When he came to, Axel found himself lying on the floor of the reading room, with Niggles leaning his head over him. Axel yelled, and scrambled away, knocking over a couple chairs and books.
‘Who are you,’ he gasped, pressing himself against the bookshelf behind him, and knocking over more books, ‘And what do you want?’ Balg laughed heartily, slapping himself on the belly.
‘E’s a scaredy hat!’ he bellowed loudly, rolling over.
‘I am not!’ Axel whispered, ‘and stop shouting! This is a library!’
‘OK, scaredy,’ Balg yelled.
‘Balg, for once be quiet!’ Kelk muttered. Balg mouthed all the words while rolling his eyes, but shut his mouth.
‘So,’ Niggles said to Axel, ‘I expect that you are wanting some explanation of what we called you for, and why you are so special.’ Axel nodded vigorously, not trusting himself to speak.
‘Well,’ Niggles began, ‘first, you must know what we are. In our language, we are known as, the Gentolandin, but in the common English tongue, we are what you call, elves.
‘Library elves!’ Kelk added.
‘Elves?’ Axel finally gasped. ‘You mean those – you exist?’
‘Course!’ Balg whisper-shouted. ‘Ow do oe think the ibrary is so clean? Oe umans are so clumsy in cleaning, oe can’t do all at. E take care of all at is uncared for.’
‘Back to the story,’ Niggles said. ‘The Bane of Knowledge. This is what is behind all this human disappearance. Now, I expect that you want the full story of the creature. Here is the story.”
Chapter 3
Niggles began.
‘It started like this. Long ago, before Australia was “discovered,”’ at the word discovered all three elves spat on the table, ‘a wiseman of a tribe brought to life a dark creature from the realm of madness.
‘It was like a shadow. It travelled faster than lightning. And it craved destruction. The last thing anybody saw who was trapped by the Bane of Knowledge was two, dark red eyes, containing nothing but anger. But the worst part was, the Bane consumed the creature. Drained all that made them who they were. And they were turned into mindless slaves.
‘It was said to have a true form, more terrifying than anything else. Two, long, clawed hands. Tendrils of destruction trailing from its back. The snout of a dragon. An inhuman call, which echoed across the plain at night.
‘Finally, young men from every tribe in Australia came together to fight it. there was a great battle, and it was sealed in a chamber by the “wise” man who had called him into existence.’ Axel, who had been listening intently, suddenly realised Niggles had left something out.
‘If the Bane of Knowledge was sealed, then how is it still around?’ he asked, suddenly less shy. Kelk took over the story from Niggles.
‘When the library was built, they dug down to make the archives of the library. They dug right into the chamber where the Bane was trapped. In 1826, the Bane of knowledge was free again. Angrier than before, it caused mass panic in Sydney.
‘Finally, a young boy, with the spirit of the not-so-wise man, defeated it, and trapped it in an obsidian coffin. The young boy was your great-grandfather. You are special, because the ‘Wise’ man’s spirit lives in you, protecting you from any harm. They put the coffin in the archives, in a secret room. And now it is free again, and its goal is to finalize the process it started centuries ago. To destroy the world.’ There was a deathly silence. And then the library doors started creaking open!
‘Hide!’ Kelk whispered, ducking under the table, and extinguishing the candle. Axel ducked down with her, and they hid their, as they watched a librarian watch-man walk into the reading room. The man stepped down the steps, and flashed his torch around. His nametag stated that he was Wally Eren Fredrich, and he was on night duty.
Wally walked toward the table where the skull candle had been. Niggles grabbed and somehow pocketed it before the man shone his torch to the table. But there was something else there. Balg stood on the table, his beard waving in an unseen and unheard wind, and smiled.
‘Ello, uman,’ Balg grinned impishly. ‘Oe have walked into private affairs ere. So, I ighly suggest at oe faint like a babby…NOW!’ and Balg yelled into Wally’s face, his yellow teeth dripping slobber. Wally screamed, fell backwards, and banged his head against the chair behind him.
‘Messy,’ grumbled Kelk as she and Axel dragged Wally into the nearest enclosed space, which happened to be a broom cupboard.
‘Now,’ Niggles said, ‘back to business. As you have agreed to fight the Bane of Knowledge,’ Axel made an indignant noise, ‘we will help you through all that happens. The first step is to get you down into the catacombs of the library. There the Bane was reborn. You might find some clues there.’
Axel finally burst out, ‘but I never agreed to do this! You can’t force me to!’
‘But you have to!’ Kelk said.
‘The fate of the world is at stake!’ Niggles said.
‘Is the fickle uman boy too scared?’ Balg said in a baby voice. ‘Does e want is mummy? Is e gonna go screaming back, scared of everything and anyones?’ It was this, more than anything else, that made Axel stop. He breathed deeply, in, and out.
‘Alright,’ Axel said slowly. ‘I’ll do it. Now, what do we do first?’
Chapter 4
Axel and the three elves walked down the corridor leading to the catacombs.
‘I still don’t get it,’ Axel said for the fourteenth time. ‘Why hasn’t the Bane destroyed everything yet?’
‘Because,’ Niggles said patiently, also for the fourteenth time, ‘the Bane of Knowledge feeds off fear. The disappearances haven’t caused enough panic to get the effect of the blind panic that it loves. We should use this time to find out the Bane of Knowledge’s weakness, and trap it.’ They arrived at the archives.
Metal shelves lined the walls, covered with interesting things like hair, death masks, a rifle, and what looked like an elephant’s bone. Axel admired the objects, but the elves walked straight past everything.
‘Where are we going?’ Axel asked nervously, his eyes darting everywhere.
‘We ain’t gonna go anywhere,’ Balg said. ‘oe’re the leader, so lead on!’
‘OK,’ Axel said. Then, they came to an intersection. Axel went right. Suddenly, he hit something with his foot.
‘OW!’ Axel cried, grabbing his foot. Balg laughed. Kelk, meanwhile, leant down to inspect the thing Axel had kicked.
‘It’s a lever!’ she said excitedly.
‘Let me,’ Balg muttered, shoving Kelk out of the way, and grabbing the lever. He pulled. Nothing.
‘A incy bit o elp ere?’ he said to Axel. Axel reached down and pulled. The lever gave way, and clicked. There was a silence. Nothing happened. Niggles groaned.
‘It’s a fake!’ he said. Just then, there was a rumble, and the entire corridor opened up under them! They fell, screaming, into the abyss.
They fell for a terrifying 2 seconds, until Axel hit something soft. Niggles landed on top of him, Kelk landed on top of Niggles, and Balg landed on all of them. Axel shook off the three elves, and looked around. He seemed to have landed on a huge cushion of foam. Around him was a smaller collection of stuff. But it seemed, that this was more rare, exotic things. A huge snake skull. A tablet covered with runes. A sword that seemed to whisper. Axel tried to see through the dark, but he couldn’t.
‘Wait,’ Niggles said. Axel turned to see him close his eyes, stick his fingers in his ears, and concentrate hard. Slowly, he started to float into the air. Then, with a loud pop, Niggles’ head turned bright blue, and he fell on the ground.
‘What…how…huh?’ Axel stuttered, staring at the bright blue headed Niggles.
‘It’s a trick that all elves learn from youth,’ Niggles said. ‘All elves have luminescent heads.’
They walked through the shelves, and they saw more and more strange objects. A digeridoo. A fish mask. Two flipflops shaped like skulls. Suddenly, Niggle’s head’s light sputtered, and died. Balg bellowed out in pain, slipped and fell onto the ground, clutching at his foot. Axel leant down to inspect the foot, and found a purple shard in it.
‘Qualkinite,’ Kelk hissed in repulsion. The shard was small, but it seemed to be giving Balg great pain. He hissed through his teeth, and his eyes rolled back.
‘What’s Qualkinite?’ Axel asked.
‘Qualkinite is a rare, rare mineral,’ Kelk said. ‘It drains any magical creature’s powers, and touching it is worse. Can you pull it out?’
Axel grabbed hold of it. Suddenly, he felt sick, like he wanted to throw up. Then, the pain started. It racked his whole body, shaking it with fear. Through the pain, he managed to pull it out, and throw it onto the ground. Instantly, the pain stopped.
‘What…what just happened?’ Axel asked.
‘I forgot!’ Kelk cried. ‘You have a magic in you as well. The Qualkinite must have a similar hold on you too. I’m sorry.’ Niggles, who was standing next to Balg, pulled him to his feet. Then, Axel smacked his forehead in frustration.
‘What?’ Niggles asked.
‘I had a torch in my pocket this whole time, and I didn’t even use it!’ he exclaimed, digging his hand into his pocket, and pulling out the torch. He switched it on, and stared at the ground in front of them. It was littered with the Qualkinite shards. And in the center, was a leather case.
Cracked Qualkinite lined the case. It was brown, and ancient. The case was ripped and torn, as if in fury. Balg, leaning against Niggles for support, gasped.
‘The tomb of the Bane of knowledge!’ he exclaimed.
‘This is what contained the Bane?’ Axel asked in amazement.
‘The Qualkinite kept it imprisoned,’ Kelk said, ‘but it must have failed under the fury of the Bane of Knowledge.’
Axel glimpsed something in the case, and moved forward. His shoes squeaked as he moved through the Qualkinite. He reached into the case, and pulled out…an old torn book. Axel made his way to the elves, and stared at the book. The title was, the diary of Terry Delimand. Everyone gasped, as the truth sunk in. The great capturer of the Bane had his diary in here.
‘This as to ave useful knowledge on ow to trap the Bane!’ Balg grinned excitedly. ‘Open it!’
Axel opened the book reverently. The pages were almost all ripped out, and the ones that remained were half filled. Axel read the parts he could.
‘The great battle…captured the Bane of Knowledge…buried safely…should not have done it…’
‘what does that mean?’ Axel asked.
‘I dunno,’ Balg said. Then he froze. Staring at something behind Axel. Axel slowly turned around. And stared.
A black shadow, with two, scarlet red eyes, stared at him out of the shadows. Tendrils of darkness coiled from the creature.
‘Peek-a-boo,’ it rasped.
Chapter 5
Axel tried to scream, but his tongue had gotten stuck to the roof of his mouth. The elves had no problem in doing that though. Kelk shrieked, Niggles yelped, and Balg yelled. The three elves backed off, moving away from the Bane of Knowledge as it approached. Axel felt rooted to the spot as the Bane swirled toward him. Then it was on him, enveloping him, sucking at him. Axel found himself face to face with it.
Its red eyes gleamed in the dark. There were no features other than the eyes. The eyes enveloped every sense, every feeling, every moment in his life. And the eyes contained anger. Pure, red-hot, furious anger, and surprisingly, sadness. The eyes spoke at him out of the darkness. And this is what they said.
‘Freedom,’ they seemed to say. ‘Freedom. Freedom. Freedom. Freedom! Your ancestors tore my freedom away from me. And you have come to do the same. I will destroy you, and I will be free once more. Free to reign. Free to go back. Free…to go home. Now, you will die!’
And the Bane of Knowledge struck out, wrapping Axel in a stranglehold. Axel struggled, but it was futile. The creature, though made of shadow, was stronger than anything that he had ever felt before. And he was forced to stare into its eyes.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Axel’s mind started going blank. His body went limp. He could hear Balg, Kelk and Niggles shouting in the background, but he didn’t care.
‘Death is sweet,’ the eyes said. ‘Welcome death.’ And Axel almost did. Almost. When suddenly, a blazing flash of light burst out of his body! it shone all around him, and hit the Bane of Knowledge like a brick wall, shoving it away. The Bane screamed, and vanished. Axel was released, and fell onto the stone floor.
Above him, he could see the ghostly image of an old Aboriginal man with war paint all over his body.
‘Eken revo xalatin!’ he said cheerfully. ‘gamnokb werrawerra yioup?’ Then, he looked down, and saw Axel lying at his feet.
‘Oh!’ he said in English. ‘I’m late! Quickly Balg, help me with him.’
‘Soup,’ Axel mumbled. ‘Creamy soup. 5 creamy soups.’ Then, he passed out.
Chapter 6
When Axel woke, the second time in the night, there was a clock above his head. The clock stated, 11:47.
‘Where…where am I?’ he muttered, staring up at the clock. His head throbbed painfully.
‘Oh good, you’re awake!’ cried a familiar voice from up above. Axel peered around the clock, to see the Aboriginal man again. The second thing he saw, were 5 creamy (and by creamy, there was a lot of cream on the top) soups. Axel peered around some more, and saw that they were still in the library.
This part of the library must have still been in the levels underground, as it was dimly lit, and the iron shelves were still there.
‘What just happened?’ Axel asked.
‘Wise Man just saved you from the Bane of Knowledge,’ squeaked Kelk, who was holding the clock. ‘It hates light.’
‘So, ave we found anying usfull?’ Balg asked, with his usual bad grammar. ‘Or was e entire missin usless?’
‘I brought the leather case and the diary,’ Wise Man (as apparently that was his name) said. ‘I am a ghost, so Qualkinite doesn’t hurt me.’
‘But since you’re a ghost,’ Axel said, ‘shouldn’t the things just go through your body?’
‘Nah,’ Wise Man said, ‘those ghosts are the fake ghosts. Real ghosts can hold things, but they can still go through things. Anyway, since you are the leader, lead on! What are we to do?’
Axel racked his brain for a solution, but couldn’t find one. It didn’t help that the elves and ghost kept giving outrageous suggestions.
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘I know! We grab it, and shove it down the toilet!’
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘We could send it back in time!’
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘Could we glue it to a wall?’
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘How about we ask it to go away?’
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘We can trap it with magic.’
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘Wait, what did you just say?’ Axel asked.
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite?’ Balg asked hopefully.
‘No, not that,’ Axel said. ‘The thing Niggles said.’
‘Trap it with magic?’ Wise Man said, looking thoughtful. ‘That is what we did before, but the Bane won’t fall for the same trick again. We’ll have to use the Qualkinite on something else. Empty your pockets!’
Axel had nothing, as his stuff had been taken by Balg. Kelk brought out a bone, a diary, and a beautiful green and red feather. Niggles had 2 bouncy balls, a lunch box, three batteries, and a pendant with a small emerald set into the end. Balg had to be turned upside-down to shake all the stuff out of his clothes. Out of his pockets fell the torch that Axel had brought, a snotty hankie, a library book that was about 20 years overdue, 3 empty candy wrappers, and the crust of a pizza. Out of his shoes fell a knife, another knife, a blow torch, 1 extra pair of socks, and a startled looking frog.
‘Well,’ Wise Man said, ‘let’s see. We could use the socks. No, they aren’t airtight. The frog? Nah, every time it opens its mouth the Bane will have a free exit. The lunch box…the lunch box. Airtight, made out of plastic, not much escape, yes, we’ll use the lunch box!’
‘Sure, it’s easy for you to say,’ Niggles said, ‘but we can’t touch the Qualkinite! You’ll have to make it on your own.’
‘Okay…’ Wise Man said, ‘it’ll probably take a while, but I think we…I can do it. Niggles, hand me the battery. We’re going speed mode!’
Niggles handed Wise man the battery, and he put it to his tongue. The electricity surged through Wise Man’s body, and he yelped, and glowed a bright blue, like Niggles had. Then, he got to it. His hands moved faster than light, faster than time itself as he worked. He was a blur, a fizz, a nothing. Every time he slowed down, he put the battery back on his tongue, and started working again.
‘What is happening?’ Axel asked in amazement, as he watched the whizzing blur that was Wise Man.
‘Ghosts ave a sorta special ability,’ Balg said. ‘lectricity makes em faster. Racts ith their brains. Dead still ave powers oe know!’
Even though Wise Man was literally moving at the speed of light, he was just one person…ghost, and this was a precariously hard job. It was like a jigsaw puzzle. The Qualkinite had to be placed in just the right spot to slip in with the other pieces, and then fused into the lunch box with the blow torch. There were continuous frustrated grunts, sighs, annoyed noises, and ughs. When the final piece had been slotted in, 2 entire hours had passed.
‘Well now, it’s finished!’ Wise Man announced, holding up the lunch box in triumph. The edges gleamed purplish in the light. ‘Now, let’s discuss the plan.’
Chapter 7
Axel wandered around the corridors of the State library. He kept his eyes on every shadow, every dark spot, anything that could be the Bane of Knowledge. Then, he found it. Axel caught his breath as he turned a corner in the corridor, and saw the shadowy form, slumped underneath a whole bunch of globe things.
‘Hey, you!’ Axel shouted, staring at the Bane. ‘Bet you can’t catch me!’ and he ran. The Bane of Knowledge started, stared around, and rasped, ‘bet I can.’ And they were off, Axel running like his life depended on it (which it actually did, once you think of the circumstances), and the Bane zooming off behind him, laughing maniacally as it went.
Axel ran into through the reading room, ran down the stairs to the catacombs, ran through the shelves. But as he ran, he could feel his legs tiring, his chest heaving, his brain roaring at him to just take a rest. And suddenly, Axel tripped. He fell, sprawled out on the floor, and looked up as the Bane of Knowledge swirled above him.
‘Time for death, little boy,’ it rasped. Suddenly, from one of the shelves came a blast of light, as Wise Man sped out of a teapot. The Bane of Knowledge shrieked, and stumbled (if moving backwards jerkily counts as stumbling) back…right into the lunch box which Axel had tripped on! Balg and Kelk jumped on either side to trap it, and Niggles jumped on the top. As Axel watched, he saw the eyes. they blazed out with anger, fury, and…was that sadness? Longing?
Something in those eyes made Axel pause. He raised his hand to stop the elves.
‘What do you want most in the whole world?’ he asked. The Bane stopped struggling. It paused, then said in a small voice, not at all like the voice it had been using, ‘I want to go home.’ Behind him, Wise Man yelped, and said, ‘of course! Let it go, elves.’ The elves reluctantly let go of the lid, and the Bane crept slowly out. It slowly shrank, until it looked exactly like a little girl.
‘Can you take me back?’ she asked. Wise Man made a frustrated noise, and smacked himself in the forehead.
‘Of course she wants to go home!’ he exclaimed. ‘she’s been separated from all she knew, and probably from her family to! That must have been why she wrecked so much havoc! She was angry at us for bringing her up to this world!’ and to the girl that was the Bane, ‘of course you can go home! I’m so sorry for bringing you here. We’ll send you back straight away!’
‘Call me Lilly,’ Lilly said. ‘Thank you.’
‘We have to go to the roof of the library,’ Wise Man said, can you take us there, Lilly?’
‘Alright,’ she said, and she transformed back into the shadowy mass that she had been all along. Everyone got on, and Lilly shot upwards. Axel felt as if he was water, as he seemed to slide through the ceiling time and time again, until they reached the roof.
‘Help me with this, elves,’ Wise Man said. The elves and Wise Man got in a square position, and started chanting in a strange language, getting louder, and louder, until their voices were booming across the air. Then, all of them raised their hands in the air, and a dark portal opened up in the centre.
‘Thank you,’ Lilly said again, and then she jumped into the portal. The last thing Axel saw before the portal closed, was Lilly’s happy face. Then, it was gone.
Epilogue
Axel sat, quiet, on the wall outside the State Library, as he watched the sun set. It had been several months since the Bane…Lilly, had gone back to her family. He sighed, and slid down, and yelped as he nearly landed on the head of a little elf, underneath him!
‘Balg!’ Axel said, looking at the little elf. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I’m ere,’ Balg said, ‘cuz the time as come. Omething big’s appening!’
‘What?’ Axel said.
‘Wise man,’ Balg said, ‘e’s done it again. We’re all going to die unless you come!’ then, the library exploded!
Things can never be forgotten. No matter how deep you stuff them down to the back of your brain, how hard you try to erase it from your mind, it will stay there. Lurking. Waiting for the right moment, the right time, to pounce back into your brain. Like now.
Deep, deeeep under the State library of NSW, something stirred in the black catacombs of Know-how. Something that was meant to sleep forever, trapped. A case, laced with Qualkinite, shifted. Cracked. Splintered. Someone, no, something, rose from the debris. The Bane of Knowledge was free. And it was out…for revenge.
Chapter 1
Strange things had been going on in the large city of Sydney, and strange things were going to happen. Axel just knew it. it had started with the disappearance of creatures. Dogs, cats, horses. No one really cared except the people who owned them, and all the animal-lovers (Axel included). Then, people had vanished.
When 25-year-old Barry Baloney, 86-year-old Sarah Gregory, 5-year-old Teddy Smith, and 18-year-old Jemimah Barber had gone missing, it had caused an uproar. Everyone wanted to know what had happened. Detectives were out and searching.
Axel Delimand was sitting in the state library of NSW, reading through his homework, and groaning. He’d never liked math, and today, he had 50 questions to get through.
He was a tall, bulky boy, with black eyes, and straight hair, slicked right down. His jeans had tears in them, and his shirt, which used to pronounce, ‘I love soccer!’ now said, ‘I le ser!’ his long legs bounced up and down as he stared at the math problems.
Axel sighed, and put the math away. He’d do that later. Now, he had to walk, to run. He stuffed all his homework into his backpack, and walked out of the library. As he walked out of the doors, he had a strange feeling in his head, that told him not to leave, but to stay. He ignored the feeling. He’d been feeling it for days now, but it still felt weird. Why would he want to stay at the library? He lived somewhere else.
Once he was out, he pelted past the big sign in front of the library. He ran past the parked cars, the buildings, and the occasional man in a jumpsuit. Soon, he was at his home.
24 silver street was a comfy, rundown house. A large birch tree, shedding leaves all over the driveway, sat in the front yard. The garage was slightly rusted, but in pretty good shape.
Axel jumped up the steps to the door, and announced his arrival by stepping on the squeaky plank next to the worn rocking-chair. He opened the door, and stepped into the living room.
‘Hey mum!’ Axel called into the kitchen. ‘What are we having for dinner?’
‘We’ll have nothing if you don’t come in here,’ came the high and lilting voice of Lilly Delimand. ‘Abby’s causing chaos, and I can’t cook and watch at the same time.’
Axel walked into the kitchen, and was met with a sticky hug from Abby, his little sister. She had a round face, and the same black eyes that Axel had. Her face was pretty much always smiling, and her hands were pretty much always in, on, and around anything she could get at. Abby looked seriously at her older brother, and said, ‘you play with me?’
‘Alright Abby,’ Axel said. ‘Just let me put my stuff away, and I’ll play with you.’
‘Get her cleaned up as well,’ Axel’s mum said. ‘she’s a sticky mess!’ Lilly had the same round face as Abby, but she had brown eyes. She was plump, but not fat, and she usually wore a flowery dress and skirt.
‘Yes mum!’ Axel called, looking into the kitchen as he picked Abby up. It looked like it usually did, with pots on the stove, and food in the pots. One such pot that had not been put on the stove was lying on the floor, with golden sauce seeping out.
‘Well, there goes our sweet and sour sauce,’ groaned Axel’s mother, grabbing a cloth, and wiping up the mess.
After wiping up Abby, Axel played tag in the front yard with her. Abby loved running around the yard while Axel roared and chased after her. Soon, it was turning dark, and the two siblings waited for a small red Toyota car to appear in the street. Sure enough, a pair of headlights came rumbling down the road, and they came to rest at the garage. A tall, gangly man with slicked down hair climbed out of the Toyota.
‘Daddy!’ Abby yelled, and she ran at Gary Delimand, and hugged him around the legs.
‘Hello, my little princess,’ Axel’s dad said, picking her up, and squeezing her tight. He walked over to Axel, and said, ‘Hey Ax, how’s it going?’
‘Great!’ Axel said. He knew his voice sounded a bit too bright, but he just couldn’t help it.
‘You still thinking about my new job?’ Gary said, putting Abby down to run into the house.
‘Why do you have to go?’ Axel burst out. He knew he sounded selfish, but once he started, he couldn’t stop. ‘Why do you have to take the job, and move to freaking Brisbane? Why can’t you just decline the job?’
‘I know you don’t want me to go, and I don’t want to go either,’ Gary said, putting his hand on Axel’s shoulder. ‘But I have to go. I go where my boss sends me, and he’s sending me there. And I’ll be able to come back every so often.’
‘I don’t want you to go,’ Axel whispered.
‘I know, Ax,’ his dad said. ‘I know. We’ll talk in the morning, alright? Now, let’s go inside.’ They walked through the door, and into the living room.
Chapter 2
Axel lay awake in bed. Dinner had been a quiet business, with scraping spoons and forks. He had read for the rest of the time, and now he was supposed to be sleeping. But he wasn’t.
Suddenly, Axel felt a rustling at his sleeve! He jerked up, and grabbed at…a strip of old parchment. As he looked, words started appearing in the moonlight.
‘Human. Time is short. The Bane of Knowledge is free. And it wants revenge. Your ancestors used to be great. I just hope you are to. Come to the Mitchell library. More will be explained later. What are you doing, just lying there? Get up! The world and all in it are depending on you!’
Axel sat in the moonlight, contemplating his decisions.
‘Well, if this is true, and I don’t go, then we’ll all die apparently,’ he muttered. ‘If it’s false, and I go, then what is there to lose?’ Axel jumped out of bed, and ran to the window, and threw it open. Just before he leaped out of the window, he paused. He needed rope, and a torch. He grabbed them from his desk drawer, went back to the window. Axel climbed onto the gutter, and slid down. Soon, he was at the ground, and he was running toward something that would change his life. Forever. He knew the path to the library well, and he knew the quickest shortcuts there. Soon, he was at the library.
It looked different in the dark. The Mitchell library cast a deep shadow over everything around it. A shadow so black, that once he stepped into the shadow, he could barely see his hand in front of his face.
Axel sneaked up the stairs, and came to the door. He found it by bumping into it. Axel knew it must be locked, but he tried it anyway. Instead of opening, there was a sucking noise, and the doors seemed to disappear. He stepped through into the Mitchell Vestibule, and the door reappeared, putting him into complete darkness. Or almost complete.
A light was coming from the reading room, through the archway. Voices also came through; voices he didn’t understand. Then suddenly, the voices snapped into focus, and he could hear what they said.
‘E won’t come,’ a deep male voice said. ‘The big uman brute. All of em are like at. Brainless.’
‘Oh, he will Balg,’ said a higher male voice. ‘we’ve been sending him to many mind warps for him to not come.
‘I agree with Niggles,’ said a female voice, ‘the boy will come. In fact, he’s here now. Axel, come down please.’
Axel stepped into the light, and slowly walked past the bookshelves to the stairway. The rail cast a shadow that made Axel feel like he was in bars. Then, he looked toward the light, and his jaw dropped so far it could have fitted an adult human.
The light he had seen had come from a candle in what looked like a human’s skull. But that wasn’t what made Axel gape. There were three figures on the table…the ones that had been talking.
They were small, and bent over. Their hands were small, but their fingers and arms were long and thin. One of the little creatures had a long red beard, straight red hair, and bushy eyebrows. Another had a very droopy, long moustache, droopy, drawn eyes, and a hat with a bobble on the top the size of his head. The final one had blue eyes, a pink dress, and long, curly hair.
‘Well, what oe doing, boy?’ the red head said, his voice indicating he was Balg. ‘The world is at stake, and oe stand ere looking like the idiot you are. Come on en, the Bane of Knowledge is still out ere! Get going!’ Then, to the one in the pink dress, ‘e’s stupider an e looks, Kelk. Oe sure this is e one? I say we kill im.’ At that, Axel fainted.
When he came to, Axel found himself lying on the floor of the reading room, with Niggles leaning his head over him. Axel yelled, and scrambled away, knocking over a couple chairs and books.
‘Who are you,’ he gasped, pressing himself against the bookshelf behind him, and knocking over more books, ‘And what do you want?’ Balg laughed heartily, slapping himself on the belly.
‘E’s a scaredy hat!’ he bellowed loudly, rolling over.
‘I am not!’ Axel whispered, ‘and stop shouting! This is a library!’
‘OK, scaredy,’ Balg yelled.
‘Balg, for once be quiet!’ Kelk muttered. Balg mouthed all the words while rolling his eyes, but shut his mouth.
‘So,’ Niggles said to Axel, ‘I expect that you are wanting some explanation of what we called you for, and why you are so special.’ Axel nodded vigorously, not trusting himself to speak.
‘Well,’ Niggles began, ‘first, you must know what we are. In our language, we are known as, the Gentolandin, but in the common English tongue, we are what you call, elves.
‘Library elves!’ Kelk added.
‘Elves?’ Axel finally gasped. ‘You mean those – you exist?’
‘Course!’ Balg whisper-shouted. ‘Ow do oe think the ibrary is so clean? Oe umans are so clumsy in cleaning, oe can’t do all at. E take care of all at is uncared for.’
‘Back to the story,’ Niggles said. ‘The Bane of Knowledge. This is what is behind all this human disappearance. Now, I expect that you want the full story of the creature. Here is the story.”
Chapter 3
Niggles began.
‘It started like this. Long ago, before Australia was “discovered,”’ at the word discovered all three elves spat on the table, ‘a wiseman of a tribe brought to life a dark creature from the realm of madness.
‘It was like a shadow. It travelled faster than lightning. And it craved destruction. The last thing anybody saw who was trapped by the Bane of Knowledge was two, dark red eyes, containing nothing but anger. But the worst part was, the Bane consumed the creature. Drained all that made them who they were. And they were turned into mindless slaves.
‘It was said to have a true form, more terrifying than anything else. Two, long, clawed hands. Tendrils of destruction trailing from its back. The snout of a dragon. An inhuman call, which echoed across the plain at night.
‘Finally, young men from every tribe in Australia came together to fight it. there was a great battle, and it was sealed in a chamber by the “wise” man who had called him into existence.’ Axel, who had been listening intently, suddenly realised Niggles had left something out.
‘If the Bane of Knowledge was sealed, then how is it still around?’ he asked, suddenly less shy. Kelk took over the story from Niggles.
‘When the library was built, they dug down to make the archives of the library. They dug right into the chamber where the Bane was trapped. In 1826, the Bane of knowledge was free again. Angrier than before, it caused mass panic in Sydney.
‘Finally, a young boy, with the spirit of the not-so-wise man, defeated it, and trapped it in an obsidian coffin. The young boy was your great-grandfather. You are special, because the ‘Wise’ man’s spirit lives in you, protecting you from any harm. They put the coffin in the archives, in a secret room. And now it is free again, and its goal is to finalize the process it started centuries ago. To destroy the world.’ There was a deathly silence. And then the library doors started creaking open!
‘Hide!’ Kelk whispered, ducking under the table, and extinguishing the candle. Axel ducked down with her, and they hid their, as they watched a librarian watch-man walk into the reading room. The man stepped down the steps, and flashed his torch around. His nametag stated that he was Wally Eren Fredrich, and he was on night duty.
Wally walked toward the table where the skull candle had been. Niggles grabbed and somehow pocketed it before the man shone his torch to the table. But there was something else there. Balg stood on the table, his beard waving in an unseen and unheard wind, and smiled.
‘Ello, uman,’ Balg grinned impishly. ‘Oe have walked into private affairs ere. So, I ighly suggest at oe faint like a babby…NOW!’ and Balg yelled into Wally’s face, his yellow teeth dripping slobber. Wally screamed, fell backwards, and banged his head against the chair behind him.
‘Messy,’ grumbled Kelk as she and Axel dragged Wally into the nearest enclosed space, which happened to be a broom cupboard.
‘Now,’ Niggles said, ‘back to business. As you have agreed to fight the Bane of Knowledge,’ Axel made an indignant noise, ‘we will help you through all that happens. The first step is to get you down into the catacombs of the library. There the Bane was reborn. You might find some clues there.’
Axel finally burst out, ‘but I never agreed to do this! You can’t force me to!’
‘But you have to!’ Kelk said.
‘The fate of the world is at stake!’ Niggles said.
‘Is the fickle uman boy too scared?’ Balg said in a baby voice. ‘Does e want is mummy? Is e gonna go screaming back, scared of everything and anyones?’ It was this, more than anything else, that made Axel stop. He breathed deeply, in, and out.
‘Alright,’ Axel said slowly. ‘I’ll do it. Now, what do we do first?’
Chapter 4
Axel and the three elves walked down the corridor leading to the catacombs.
‘I still don’t get it,’ Axel said for the fourteenth time. ‘Why hasn’t the Bane destroyed everything yet?’
‘Because,’ Niggles said patiently, also for the fourteenth time, ‘the Bane of Knowledge feeds off fear. The disappearances haven’t caused enough panic to get the effect of the blind panic that it loves. We should use this time to find out the Bane of Knowledge’s weakness, and trap it.’ They arrived at the archives.
Metal shelves lined the walls, covered with interesting things like hair, death masks, a rifle, and what looked like an elephant’s bone. Axel admired the objects, but the elves walked straight past everything.
‘Where are we going?’ Axel asked nervously, his eyes darting everywhere.
‘We ain’t gonna go anywhere,’ Balg said. ‘oe’re the leader, so lead on!’
‘OK,’ Axel said. Then, they came to an intersection. Axel went right. Suddenly, he hit something with his foot.
‘OW!’ Axel cried, grabbing his foot. Balg laughed. Kelk, meanwhile, leant down to inspect the thing Axel had kicked.
‘It’s a lever!’ she said excitedly.
‘Let me,’ Balg muttered, shoving Kelk out of the way, and grabbing the lever. He pulled. Nothing.
‘A incy bit o elp ere?’ he said to Axel. Axel reached down and pulled. The lever gave way, and clicked. There was a silence. Nothing happened. Niggles groaned.
‘It’s a fake!’ he said. Just then, there was a rumble, and the entire corridor opened up under them! They fell, screaming, into the abyss.
They fell for a terrifying 2 seconds, until Axel hit something soft. Niggles landed on top of him, Kelk landed on top of Niggles, and Balg landed on all of them. Axel shook off the three elves, and looked around. He seemed to have landed on a huge cushion of foam. Around him was a smaller collection of stuff. But it seemed, that this was more rare, exotic things. A huge snake skull. A tablet covered with runes. A sword that seemed to whisper. Axel tried to see through the dark, but he couldn’t.
‘Wait,’ Niggles said. Axel turned to see him close his eyes, stick his fingers in his ears, and concentrate hard. Slowly, he started to float into the air. Then, with a loud pop, Niggles’ head turned bright blue, and he fell on the ground.
‘What…how…huh?’ Axel stuttered, staring at the bright blue headed Niggles.
‘It’s a trick that all elves learn from youth,’ Niggles said. ‘All elves have luminescent heads.’
They walked through the shelves, and they saw more and more strange objects. A digeridoo. A fish mask. Two flipflops shaped like skulls. Suddenly, Niggle’s head’s light sputtered, and died. Balg bellowed out in pain, slipped and fell onto the ground, clutching at his foot. Axel leant down to inspect the foot, and found a purple shard in it.
‘Qualkinite,’ Kelk hissed in repulsion. The shard was small, but it seemed to be giving Balg great pain. He hissed through his teeth, and his eyes rolled back.
‘What’s Qualkinite?’ Axel asked.
‘Qualkinite is a rare, rare mineral,’ Kelk said. ‘It drains any magical creature’s powers, and touching it is worse. Can you pull it out?’
Axel grabbed hold of it. Suddenly, he felt sick, like he wanted to throw up. Then, the pain started. It racked his whole body, shaking it with fear. Through the pain, he managed to pull it out, and throw it onto the ground. Instantly, the pain stopped.
‘What…what just happened?’ Axel asked.
‘I forgot!’ Kelk cried. ‘You have a magic in you as well. The Qualkinite must have a similar hold on you too. I’m sorry.’ Niggles, who was standing next to Balg, pulled him to his feet. Then, Axel smacked his forehead in frustration.
‘What?’ Niggles asked.
‘I had a torch in my pocket this whole time, and I didn’t even use it!’ he exclaimed, digging his hand into his pocket, and pulling out the torch. He switched it on, and stared at the ground in front of them. It was littered with the Qualkinite shards. And in the center, was a leather case.
Cracked Qualkinite lined the case. It was brown, and ancient. The case was ripped and torn, as if in fury. Balg, leaning against Niggles for support, gasped.
‘The tomb of the Bane of knowledge!’ he exclaimed.
‘This is what contained the Bane?’ Axel asked in amazement.
‘The Qualkinite kept it imprisoned,’ Kelk said, ‘but it must have failed under the fury of the Bane of Knowledge.’
Axel glimpsed something in the case, and moved forward. His shoes squeaked as he moved through the Qualkinite. He reached into the case, and pulled out…an old torn book. Axel made his way to the elves, and stared at the book. The title was, the diary of Terry Delimand. Everyone gasped, as the truth sunk in. The great capturer of the Bane had his diary in here.
‘This as to ave useful knowledge on ow to trap the Bane!’ Balg grinned excitedly. ‘Open it!’
Axel opened the book reverently. The pages were almost all ripped out, and the ones that remained were half filled. Axel read the parts he could.
‘The great battle…captured the Bane of Knowledge…buried safely…should not have done it…’
‘what does that mean?’ Axel asked.
‘I dunno,’ Balg said. Then he froze. Staring at something behind Axel. Axel slowly turned around. And stared.
A black shadow, with two, scarlet red eyes, stared at him out of the shadows. Tendrils of darkness coiled from the creature.
‘Peek-a-boo,’ it rasped.
Chapter 5
Axel tried to scream, but his tongue had gotten stuck to the roof of his mouth. The elves had no problem in doing that though. Kelk shrieked, Niggles yelped, and Balg yelled. The three elves backed off, moving away from the Bane of Knowledge as it approached. Axel felt rooted to the spot as the Bane swirled toward him. Then it was on him, enveloping him, sucking at him. Axel found himself face to face with it.
Its red eyes gleamed in the dark. There were no features other than the eyes. The eyes enveloped every sense, every feeling, every moment in his life. And the eyes contained anger. Pure, red-hot, furious anger, and surprisingly, sadness. The eyes spoke at him out of the darkness. And this is what they said.
‘Freedom,’ they seemed to say. ‘Freedom. Freedom. Freedom. Freedom! Your ancestors tore my freedom away from me. And you have come to do the same. I will destroy you, and I will be free once more. Free to reign. Free to go back. Free…to go home. Now, you will die!’
And the Bane of Knowledge struck out, wrapping Axel in a stranglehold. Axel struggled, but it was futile. The creature, though made of shadow, was stronger than anything that he had ever felt before. And he was forced to stare into its eyes.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Axel’s mind started going blank. His body went limp. He could hear Balg, Kelk and Niggles shouting in the background, but he didn’t care.
‘Death is sweet,’ the eyes said. ‘Welcome death.’ And Axel almost did. Almost. When suddenly, a blazing flash of light burst out of his body! it shone all around him, and hit the Bane of Knowledge like a brick wall, shoving it away. The Bane screamed, and vanished. Axel was released, and fell onto the stone floor.
Above him, he could see the ghostly image of an old Aboriginal man with war paint all over his body.
‘Eken revo xalatin!’ he said cheerfully. ‘gamnokb werrawerra yioup?’ Then, he looked down, and saw Axel lying at his feet.
‘Oh!’ he said in English. ‘I’m late! Quickly Balg, help me with him.’
‘Soup,’ Axel mumbled. ‘Creamy soup. 5 creamy soups.’ Then, he passed out.
Chapter 6
When Axel woke, the second time in the night, there was a clock above his head. The clock stated, 11:47.
‘Where…where am I?’ he muttered, staring up at the clock. His head throbbed painfully.
‘Oh good, you’re awake!’ cried a familiar voice from up above. Axel peered around the clock, to see the Aboriginal man again. The second thing he saw, were 5 creamy (and by creamy, there was a lot of cream on the top) soups. Axel peered around some more, and saw that they were still in the library.
This part of the library must have still been in the levels underground, as it was dimly lit, and the iron shelves were still there.
‘What just happened?’ Axel asked.
‘Wise Man just saved you from the Bane of Knowledge,’ squeaked Kelk, who was holding the clock. ‘It hates light.’
‘So, ave we found anying usfull?’ Balg asked, with his usual bad grammar. ‘Or was e entire missin usless?’
‘I brought the leather case and the diary,’ Wise Man (as apparently that was his name) said. ‘I am a ghost, so Qualkinite doesn’t hurt me.’
‘But since you’re a ghost,’ Axel said, ‘shouldn’t the things just go through your body?’
‘Nah,’ Wise Man said, ‘those ghosts are the fake ghosts. Real ghosts can hold things, but they can still go through things. Anyway, since you are the leader, lead on! What are we to do?’
Axel racked his brain for a solution, but couldn’t find one. It didn’t help that the elves and ghost kept giving outrageous suggestions.
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘I know! We grab it, and shove it down the toilet!’
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘We could send it back in time!’
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘Could we glue it to a wall?’
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘How about we ask it to go away?’
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘We can trap it with magic.’
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite!’
‘Wait, what did you just say?’ Axel asked.
‘E could blow it up ith Dynimite?’ Balg asked hopefully.
‘No, not that,’ Axel said. ‘The thing Niggles said.’
‘Trap it with magic?’ Wise Man said, looking thoughtful. ‘That is what we did before, but the Bane won’t fall for the same trick again. We’ll have to use the Qualkinite on something else. Empty your pockets!’
Axel had nothing, as his stuff had been taken by Balg. Kelk brought out a bone, a diary, and a beautiful green and red feather. Niggles had 2 bouncy balls, a lunch box, three batteries, and a pendant with a small emerald set into the end. Balg had to be turned upside-down to shake all the stuff out of his clothes. Out of his pockets fell the torch that Axel had brought, a snotty hankie, a library book that was about 20 years overdue, 3 empty candy wrappers, and the crust of a pizza. Out of his shoes fell a knife, another knife, a blow torch, 1 extra pair of socks, and a startled looking frog.
‘Well,’ Wise Man said, ‘let’s see. We could use the socks. No, they aren’t airtight. The frog? Nah, every time it opens its mouth the Bane will have a free exit. The lunch box…the lunch box. Airtight, made out of plastic, not much escape, yes, we’ll use the lunch box!’
‘Sure, it’s easy for you to say,’ Niggles said, ‘but we can’t touch the Qualkinite! You’ll have to make it on your own.’
‘Okay…’ Wise Man said, ‘it’ll probably take a while, but I think we…I can do it. Niggles, hand me the battery. We’re going speed mode!’
Niggles handed Wise man the battery, and he put it to his tongue. The electricity surged through Wise Man’s body, and he yelped, and glowed a bright blue, like Niggles had. Then, he got to it. His hands moved faster than light, faster than time itself as he worked. He was a blur, a fizz, a nothing. Every time he slowed down, he put the battery back on his tongue, and started working again.
‘What is happening?’ Axel asked in amazement, as he watched the whizzing blur that was Wise Man.
‘Ghosts ave a sorta special ability,’ Balg said. ‘lectricity makes em faster. Racts ith their brains. Dead still ave powers oe know!’
Even though Wise Man was literally moving at the speed of light, he was just one person…ghost, and this was a precariously hard job. It was like a jigsaw puzzle. The Qualkinite had to be placed in just the right spot to slip in with the other pieces, and then fused into the lunch box with the blow torch. There were continuous frustrated grunts, sighs, annoyed noises, and ughs. When the final piece had been slotted in, 2 entire hours had passed.
‘Well now, it’s finished!’ Wise Man announced, holding up the lunch box in triumph. The edges gleamed purplish in the light. ‘Now, let’s discuss the plan.’
Chapter 7
Axel wandered around the corridors of the State library. He kept his eyes on every shadow, every dark spot, anything that could be the Bane of Knowledge. Then, he found it. Axel caught his breath as he turned a corner in the corridor, and saw the shadowy form, slumped underneath a whole bunch of globe things.
‘Hey, you!’ Axel shouted, staring at the Bane. ‘Bet you can’t catch me!’ and he ran. The Bane of Knowledge started, stared around, and rasped, ‘bet I can.’ And they were off, Axel running like his life depended on it (which it actually did, once you think of the circumstances), and the Bane zooming off behind him, laughing maniacally as it went.
Axel ran into through the reading room, ran down the stairs to the catacombs, ran through the shelves. But as he ran, he could feel his legs tiring, his chest heaving, his brain roaring at him to just take a rest. And suddenly, Axel tripped. He fell, sprawled out on the floor, and looked up as the Bane of Knowledge swirled above him.
‘Time for death, little boy,’ it rasped. Suddenly, from one of the shelves came a blast of light, as Wise Man sped out of a teapot. The Bane of Knowledge shrieked, and stumbled (if moving backwards jerkily counts as stumbling) back…right into the lunch box which Axel had tripped on! Balg and Kelk jumped on either side to trap it, and Niggles jumped on the top. As Axel watched, he saw the eyes. they blazed out with anger, fury, and…was that sadness? Longing?
Something in those eyes made Axel pause. He raised his hand to stop the elves.
‘What do you want most in the whole world?’ he asked. The Bane stopped struggling. It paused, then said in a small voice, not at all like the voice it had been using, ‘I want to go home.’ Behind him, Wise Man yelped, and said, ‘of course! Let it go, elves.’ The elves reluctantly let go of the lid, and the Bane crept slowly out. It slowly shrank, until it looked exactly like a little girl.
‘Can you take me back?’ she asked. Wise Man made a frustrated noise, and smacked himself in the forehead.
‘Of course she wants to go home!’ he exclaimed. ‘she’s been separated from all she knew, and probably from her family to! That must have been why she wrecked so much havoc! She was angry at us for bringing her up to this world!’ and to the girl that was the Bane, ‘of course you can go home! I’m so sorry for bringing you here. We’ll send you back straight away!’
‘Call me Lilly,’ Lilly said. ‘Thank you.’
‘We have to go to the roof of the library,’ Wise Man said, can you take us there, Lilly?’
‘Alright,’ she said, and she transformed back into the shadowy mass that she had been all along. Everyone got on, and Lilly shot upwards. Axel felt as if he was water, as he seemed to slide through the ceiling time and time again, until they reached the roof.
‘Help me with this, elves,’ Wise Man said. The elves and Wise Man got in a square position, and started chanting in a strange language, getting louder, and louder, until their voices were booming across the air. Then, all of them raised their hands in the air, and a dark portal opened up in the centre.
‘Thank you,’ Lilly said again, and then she jumped into the portal. The last thing Axel saw before the portal closed, was Lilly’s happy face. Then, it was gone.
Epilogue
Axel sat, quiet, on the wall outside the State Library, as he watched the sun set. It had been several months since the Bane…Lilly, had gone back to her family. He sighed, and slid down, and yelped as he nearly landed on the head of a little elf, underneath him!
‘Balg!’ Axel said, looking at the little elf. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I’m ere,’ Balg said, ‘cuz the time as come. Omething big’s appening!’
‘What?’ Axel said.
‘Wise man,’ Balg said, ‘e’s done it again. We’re all going to die unless you come!’ then, the library exploded!