Chapter Seven – They Move the Gold (Lost Rainbows – Serial)

By Connie Cockrell

Shamus O’Malley is on a quest to recover the Leprechaun Kingdom’s magic rainbows and gold before the rainbows are lost forever. To do so he must travel to the new world where he finds the evil wizard, David Bannon, intent on using the magic from the rainbows and the gold to conquer the Leprechaun Kingdom. He also finds an ally, Becca Bannon, the wizard’s niece. Can Becca and Shamus recover the rainbows and gold and defeat her wizard uncle?

This entry is part 7 of 16 in the series Lost Rainbows

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They Move the Gold

They ate the sandwiches Becca brought without conversation. The only surprise was the soda. Shamus sniffed the glass full of brown liquid with suspicion.  He drew back when the bubbles tickled his nose. “It’s good,” Becca told him, eyes twinkling. “Try it!”

He took a sip. The fizzing in his mouth made him spit it out. Becca laughed until tears ran as Shamus used his napkin to mop the stuff up off of the carpet. She took a drink of hers. “See, it’s fine.”

He nodded but continued to scowl. She got up and brought him a glass of water. “It’s good, Shamus, really.”

He drank the water.

When they finished, he said, “I haven’t thought of a thing. Have you?”

She shrugged. “I could try to turn the mirror on.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You know how?”

“No. But there’s nothing else to try.”

They went back to the lab and uncovered the mirror. Becca looked all over it. Wires ran from it to the wall. “Well,” she told Shamus, “it takes power. For most machines, the on switch is near the equipment.” She walked over to the nearest machine. The face of it had little lights, all off. There was a switch under each light. One rocker button was at the right side of the board. Becca took a deep breath and hit the button.

When she did, they could hear the whine of a generator ramping up to speed. “I recognize that sound.” Shamus slapped his hands together and began to grin. “You did well. Try another button.”

Becca turned on the switch farthest to the right. The little light over it came on. They both looked around the room but nothing seemed to have changed. “Try another.” Shamus pointed to the next switch.

Becca flipped that one. Again, the light came on, but there was no other obvious result. She flipped each switch on. It wasn’t until the last one that the generator noise grew in volume and intensity. Shamus, standing to Becca’s left, noticed the dials on the next machine. They had little arrows, all jiggling, pointing at numbers half-way or all the way to the right side of the dials. “What do these mean?”

She looked over at the machine. “They tell us that something is working but none of them are labeled. I don’t know what they indicate.”

Shamus walked over to the mirror. It had changed. Its original dull, slate-gray surface was now shiny. The whine was at its peak, just as Shamus remembered from the day before. He looked back at the girl. “Is there something I can toss at the mirror?”

Becca looked around the room. She hurried to one of the lab tables and picked up a clean beaker. “Will this work?”

“Yes.”

She hurried over to him and handed him the glass. Shamus took a deep breath and from three feet away, gently tossed it at the center of the mirror. It disappeared into the surface and a flash of red light filled the room. “Ha!” he yelled and danced a little jig. “It’s working.”

Becca laughed with him. “What will you do now?”

Shamus began putting the pots on the empty cart. “I’m going to take these across, unload the cart and come back for the rest.”

Becca nodded and stood back as Shamus worked. When the cart was full he got behind the handle and took a deep breath. “I don’t know how long this will take. Can you stay and wait for me?”

“Of course. Good luck.”

He nodded and pushed the cart forward. As the front of the cart touched the mirror, it sucked it right in. Shamus hardly had to push. Like the last time, it didn’t seem to take any time at all to reach the other side. He and the cart were in the ruined castle. He wiped the nervous sweat from his face and unloaded the cart as fast as he could. He didn’t even hesitate when he pushed the cart back into the mirror. Becca looked relieved when he came through.

“You’ve been gone half an hour,” she told him. “Did it feel like a long time to you?”

“No, just long enough for me to unload the cart and come back. It seems to work in real time.” He began putting the next eight pots on the cart. “When will your uncle be home?”

Becca looked at the large clock on the side wall of the lab. “Any time now.” Her forehead furrowed. “Quite often he comes straight down here.” Her voice was close to panic.

“I’ll hurry, Becca.” Shamus put the last three of the eight pots on the cart and immediately pushed it through the mirror. By the time he came back he was breathing hard. “Last batch,” he told her as he began putting the pots of gold on the cart. He had two left when the door at the other end of the lab slammed open. Becca whirled around in fright to face what was coming. Shamus hurried to put the last pots on the cart.
“Who are you?” David bellowed across the lab. “Becca! What are you doing in my lab?”

Shamus stood up straight. “I’m Shamus O’Malley, representative of King Mac Shadenan, the rightful owner of this gold.”

David laughed. “A leprechaun? Your magic won’t work here.”

Shamus grew angry. He was a warrior and proud of it. He would not let this mere human belittle him or his race. “Yes, a leprechaun. A warrior for my people, sir. You would do well to remember that.”

 

~~~~~

 

Lost Rainbows

To be continued…

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© 2015 Connie Cockrell