Talendia: The Lost Boy

By A. E. Colmer

The story began in Merrymead, a fictional town in Cornwall, where a young boy, Samuel Lucas, vanished after a stormy night chasing a cat in his uncle's garden and discovered a staircase in the trunk of an old mulberry tree. The only clue to his disappearance was his book "Tales from Talendia" that he had received from his uncle the same day.

Thirty years later, a young and troubled girl called Frida, who lives in London with her single mother meets a mysterious bookseller who sells an old book with the same title to her. Frida quickly notices that the book is dedicated to Samuel Lucas. The same night, Frida and her mother have strange visitors who can turn into birds and are seeking Frida out. She manages to escape from them through a small door under her bed that leads her to Talendia, a kingdom inhabited by wizards, witches, centaurs, dwarves and other fantastic creatures.

Frida quickly makes friends, but realises that Talendia must face a dangerous enemy. She comes to believe that Samuel also somehow got to this magical world. She is determined to find him before it is too late for all of them..

• Language: English
• Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Sep 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781788031028

A. E. Colmer

A. E. Colmer was born in April 1980 in Hungary and grew up in Nyíregyháza. She studied law and political science at the University of Debrecen. After qualifying as a lawyer she moved to London to practice English before becoming a junior lawyer in Budapest. She worked here as a lawyer for 4 years but moved back in 2010. She has lived in London ever since, now with her English husband, Thomas and their cats.

Book preview

Talendia

The Lost Boy

Illustrated by Levente Kocsis

A. E. Colmer

Copyright © 2017 A. E. Colmer

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

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ISBN 9781788031028

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To my Family

Contents

Chapter One

The Secret of an Old Mulberry Tree

Chapter Two

The Bookseller’s Cube

Chapter Three

The Dragon and the Witch

Chapter Four

News from Pitt Hill

Chapter Five

The Illuminating Dark Forest

Chapter Six

In the Village of the Dangerous Toads

Chapter Seven

The Rufus Sisters

Chapter Eight

Who Has Seen the Rabbit?

Chapter Nine

The Stinky Swamp

Chapter Ten

Morgh’s Kingdom

Chapter Eleven

Crystalcliff

Chapter Twelve

The Wizard of Rivergarth

Chapter Thirteen

The Griffin’s Riddle

Chapter Fourteen

The Road to Nowhere

Chapter Fifteen

The Tinkling Orchard

Chapter Sixteen

The Beast of Lake Momon

Chapter Seventeen

A Boat Called Marmarite

Chapter Eighteen

In Sybeth’s Cave

Chapter Nineteen

Meeting at the Great Oaks

Chapter One

The Secret of an Old Mulberry Tree

Merrymead, 1990

Those who lived in Merrymead, a small sleepy town in the heart of Cornwall, at that time would most likely agree that the summer of 1990 was an ominous one – and not in a good way. There were annoying, disturbing and even worrying events happening throughout the town that changed the lives of some of the residents completely.

It all started with Mr Mole’s bees, which had – collectively – decided, on a quiet and uneventful Tuesday afternoon in mid-May, to leave Mr Mole’s garden and fragrant flowers behind and fly to the town hall, interrupting an important meeting of the town clerk and causing several painful stings for the members of the meeting. Mr Mole was definitely in trouble. It took him two days to collect his adventurous bees and the cost of a big bunch of flowers and a few boxes of the finest chocolates for the victims of the attack.

Only a week after the bee incident, another unexpected thing happened, although at that time it was known only to a handful of people who lived on Finch Street. Mrs Milton’s cat, Max, a big black and white tomcat, disappeared. Mrs Milton was devastated and could not get the thought out of her mind that Max might have been hit by a car or had fallen into a deep hole somewhere. She asked her neighbours and the other residents of Finch Street, but none of them had seen Max. She put some posters on the lamp posts around the neighbourhood, but again, nobody seemed to know anything about Max. After two weeks, the mystery was still unsolved.

However, Max was not the only one who went missing from Merrymead that summer. There was somebody else whose disappearance provided much more excitement and worry for the residents of the town. His name was Samuel Lucas. Samuel was a twelve-year-old boy and the nephew of Mr Julius McMillan, who worked at Merrymead Library. He vanished from Mr McMillan’s house, Mistletoe Cottage, on the sixth of June after a stormy night, and despite the search for him by the police, the family and the local residents, his whereabouts remained unknown. Nobody, not even Mrs Milton, had connected the disappearances of Max and Samuel; two mysteries, neither of which had been solved over the years.

‘How did the whole thing happen? What did Samuel do before he vanished from Mistletoe Cottage?’

Mr McMillan tried to remember. He felt that it was somehow his fault. He was the only person in Merrymead who had an idea about Samuel’s whereabouts; an idea so fantastic that he did not dare to share it with either the police or anyone else.

* * *

The summer of 1990 had arrived with thunderstorms and hail. The sky was dark blue and grey, and there were muddy puddles everywhere. Mr McMillan was standing in his living room, looking through the window into the darkness. The night had wrapped itself around the garden. An old mulberry tree stood stooping but still proudly in the middle of the garden, lit up occasionally by lightning strikes, and the gentle monotone knocking of ice could be heard on the glass. Mr McMillan turned away from the window, leaving the poor mulberry tree struggling with the elements on its own, and turned his attention to his nephew, who was comfortably settled in a big red armchair drawing something in his notebook. He was the only child of Elena Lucas, Mr McMillan’s sister, and had lived with his uncle for five years.

Mr McMillan felt these last five years had passed very quickly. He still remembered the day when Elena and Samuel moved into his house. He had never seen his nephew before and hadn’t seen his sister for many years. He’d known that she had got married and lived with her husband somewhere in rural Scotland, but had no idea that she had a child. He had never met her husband, Sean Lucas, either. All he knew about him was that he was a thin man with ginger hair and a matching beard, based on a photo Elena showed him, and that he was a geologist. He left his family one day, leaving only a strange note behind that nobody seemed to understand.

When Mr McMillan received Elena’s letter asking if she and her young son could stay in his house, he hesitated. He was a bachelor with a quiet, somewhat boring life, but he considered it a rather pleasant one. He wasn’t sure he was prepared to take care of a young mother and a schoolboy. After a day of thinking and considering, he finally made up his mind and said yes. A week later, Elena and Samuel arrived. He still clearly remembered the first night when he and his sister were sitting in the kitchen after they had unpacked the few boxes she had brought and she had put Samuel to bed. Elena told him everything about their life in Scotland and her decision to move to England. She was tired and sad but full of plans for the future. Plans that had never been fulfilled. A year later, he was left alone with Samuel.

Mr McMillan was very fond of his nephew, so he felt extremely guilty for leaving him for a few days just before his birthday. He hadn’t told him yet because he was a man who considered everything carefully first. He had secretly hoped that his trip could be postponed, but unfortunately that had not been the case.

‘I have to travel to London tomorrow,’ he began slowly. ‘Sir James Monroe – you may remember him as we met him once or twice in the British Library – asked me to examine some books he recently bought at an auction.’

‘For how long?’ Samuel asked without looking up from his drawing.

‘Maybe three or four days. No longer than that, but it means I will miss your birthday.’ Mr McMillan paused and then added, ‘I’m sorry. We will celebrate it when I am back, promise.’

Samuel looked up at him. ‘May I go with you?’

‘Not this time I’m afraid,’ replied Mr McMillan uneasily. Then he continued, ‘I asked your Aunt Lidia to collect you tomorrow morning. You will spend the weekend with the Moles.’

Mrs Mole was not a real aunt to Samuel but had been his mother’s best friend.

‘Great,’ said Samuel – not very enthusiastically, but his uncle did not notice Samuel’s lack of enthusiasm.

‘Very well,’ Mr McMillan said, relieved. ‘And now it’s time for bed, Samuel. We’ll have an early start tomorrow.’

After his nephew left him alone, Mr McMillan walked up and down the living room, lost in his thoughts for a while. He finally came to a decision and went to the hall, put his coat on and went to the back door, which led to the garden. He opened it and vanished into the darkness.

* * *

The following morning was dry and sunny as if the previous night’s storm had never happened. Samuel was woken by the sound of knocking on his door. It was his uncle. He was holding something in his hand that he gave to Samuel.

‘Here you are, something for you,’ he said.

‘What is it?’ Samuel asked with curiosity.

The something was a black canvas bag that smelled of rain and leaves.

‘Open it!’ his uncle urged without answering his question.

Samuel opened the bag carefully, as he was afraid that a mouse or a lizard would run out of it, and put his hand into the black hole. His fingers touched something soft and velvety. It had a rectangular shape. He quickly pulled out his hand, clutching the object.

‘A book!’ he looked at his uncle, surprised.

‘A book indeed,’ Mr McMillan replied with a smile. ‘I won’t be here to celebrate your birthday with you so I wanted to give this to you beforehand.’

‘What is it about?’

‘Adventures, knights, magic. You have to read it to find out.’

Samuel opened the book. ‘Tales from Talendia’, he read the title aloud then noticed something else. ‘It’s dedicated to me!’

‘Really?’ his uncle asked with a mysterious smile. He did not seem to be surprised.

‘Yes, look, it says "to Samuel Lucas from A. F. B."’

‘You’re right. How strange!’

‘Didn’t you know that?’ asked Samuel.

Mr McMillan did not reply. He glanced at his watch. ‘I must go, I have to catch the train to London. Lidia will be here any minute. Please get dressed and pack your rucksack.’

‘Do I really have to go with her?’

‘Why, of course! I thought you got on with Matthew and Sybill.’

‘They are all right, just a bit boring,’ Samuel said, sighing.

‘They are good kids so please be nice to them.’

After saying goodbye Mr McMillan left the room and five minutes later, Samuel heard the front door closing.

He was alone in the house.

After finishing his breakfast – a slice of toast with marmite and a cup of milk – Samuel waited in the living room for the sound of the doorbell warning him of the arrival of Mrs Lidia Mole. His rucksack was lying at the bottom of the staircase, containing all the important things a twelve-year-old boy might need for a long weekend.

One minute passed after the other, but Mrs Mole was nowhere to be seen. Samuel settled himself in the red armchair with his new book. He enjoyed reading it more than any other book he’d ever had in his hands before, and only stopped when his belly growled. It was twenty minutes past twelve. He went to the kitchen, searching for something to eat. While he was making a sandwich, the phone in the living room rang. Before