Matthew looked around him in fear as he nearly got up from his chair. The room was now much colder than before, even though the fire had recovered to burn strongly.
But he was interrupted by a voice coming from the seat opposite him, which he had thought was empty. The voice was cold and a little whiny but with power. He looked over at it. There was a hooded figure seated in front of him. ‘Hello, Matthew. I’ve been waiting to meet you,’ the voice said in a charming but sly way.
‘Who are you? What am I doing here?’ asked Matthew, almost stammering, feeling very scared in his tired emotional state.
‘I think you know the answer to the first question. As for the second, I have brought you here to help me and my family get back something that belongs to us,’ said the person who Matthew now realised must be the Baron.
‘You brought me here?’ asked Matthew.
‘Yes, I used a little of my family magic to bring a young, brave man to help me return an heirloom to my family,’ replied the Baron.
Matthew remembered the picture at the Kunsthistorisches, drawing him towards it. ‘What heirloom is that?’ he asked nervously.
‘In your world in a place you call a museum there is a small relic which I believe you name “The Spear of Destiny.” It is not an important thing but to us it is a symbol of our family,’ replied the Baron.
Matthew then remembered seeing this object among many others in a museum in the Hofburg. ‘But how can I do that? I don’t even know exactly how I can return to my world,’ said Matthew, feeling that he had to keep the conversation going or he would fall to pieces in fear.
‘I can help you do this,’ said the Baron. ‘And once you have returned it to me I will return you back to your world.’
‘But how do I bring it to you?’ asked Matthew. ‘It is locked in a case and there are security guards.’
‘I can give you some tools to get past these things,’ said the Baron.
Matthew was tired, scared, and confused but he knew he had to go along with the Baron, at least for now, if he wanted to return to his own world. Yet he also felt some concern for Hannah and the others, though they seemed not to care for him. ‘But what about my new friends here: why have you imprisoned them?’ asked Matthew, surprising himself with such a challenging question.
‘Your friends!’ the Baron said a little too sharply.
Matthew felt his body freeze with fear.
‘They will be released,’ said the Baron now calm again. ‘It is just a little misunderstanding I have with some of my people. Once I get this “Spear of Destiny”, everything in my land will be perfect and every one of my people will be happy.’
‘But they said you were evil and after you returned your family disappeared,’ Matthew suddenly said, surprising himself again.
‘They are lying!’ the Baron snapped back. Matthew gulped with fear. The Baron then recovered his composure again. ‘Since my return to my land, my people have misinterpreted my actions. My family went away to visit some relatives but they will soon return...And they will be happy that you have brought back our symbol, the Spear.’
‘So, if I return to my world and bring you this spear you will release my friends?’ asked Matthew, still scared but thinking that he could achieve something for Hannah and the others before he returned to his own world.
‘When you return they will be waiting for you to say goodbye to you before I return you back to your world,’ answered the Baron.
‘What if I don’t?’ asked Matthew, surprising himself again with his final piece of courage.
‘If you don’t...If you don’t,’ said the Baron a little angrily. Matthew gulped with fear, thinking the Baron would now do something horrible to him.
‘If you don’t...’ the Baron then said with his charming voice, ‘then, I will tell your friends that you did not want to help us and you decided to return to your world without saying goodbye to them.’
Matthew knew the Baron was blackmailing him. He was also certain that even if he did what the Baron wanted he would not let him go – or Hannah and the others. But for now the best thing to do was to appear to agree to his request. ‘Ok, I’ll do it. But first I’ll need some sleep. I am exhausted. I also want to see if my friends are ok,’ said Matthew.
‘Your friends are sleeping now so they will not want to be disturbed. But you will see them before you go and when you have completed your task,’ said the Baron whose eyes Matthew still could not see in the darkness under his hood. ‘In the morning Eustace will give you the necessary instructions and tools. I will see you – with your friends – when you return.’
The Baron then seemed to get up and leave. The fire again nearly went out and Matthew felt a shiver. After a minute or so a servant and two guards came in to show Matthew to his bedroom a few rooms away. After he had drunk some water he found in a jug on a table, Matthew went straight to the bed and instantly fell asleep, unable to do anything else.
The Baron was now happy. Yes, it seems that fate is indeed on my side, he thought, as he left the room Matthew was in. He had been angry when he realised that Matthew had managed to enter the Land and make friends, and therefore know too much. He was also a little taken aback by the boy’s courage and his being more intelligent than anticipated.
But these things now seemed to be to his advantage. The boy had to bring him the Spear or else his friends would suffer. He would also need less guidance than anticipated. These things also meant that he did not have to use any magic, which would take much of his energy, to bend the boy’s will - not yet; though this would have to be done later. In any event, he thought, the boy seemed even weaker-minded than he had wanted. Yes, it’s all going to plan.