Free Glasruhen Gate by Catherine Cooper Page A

it doesn’t work the first time we can try again. It’s not like the window in time. Now you’ve found it we can keep trying until it opens.’
    ‘Now if you don’t mind Jack, can you ask my Book of Shadows for the instructions to get this gateway open?’
    Jack’s wand felt familiar in his hand now. He pointed it at Nora’s book and commanded: ‘Show me the instructions for opening Glasruhen Gate.’
    The pages turned. Eventually they lay still and Jack read:
    Instructions for opening a Portal into Annwn To open up a Portal wide,
Into Annwn’s fair countryside,
The sacred Treasure must be sought,
Then before the Sentinels brought.
    ‘We’ve done all that,’ complained Camelin. ‘What’s next?’
    ‘It’s alright Jack, don’t take any notice of him. What else does it say?’
    First put five branches in a row,
And say the ritual words you know.
Hold the Treasure from the shrine,
Then let the golden acorn shine.
    Jack felt worried.
    ‘I don’t know any ritual words…’
    ‘I do,’ interrupted Nora. ‘All you have to do is will the gateway to appear, I’ll say the right words. Just keep concentrating and pointing your wand at the archway. We only want light, no sparks, is that clear?’
    Jack sighed.
    ‘I’ll try my best.’
    ‘Now Elan, take the five branches and lay them in order, starting from the other side of the sentinels, oak, beech, willow, birch and lastly the pine.’
    Elan laid the branches in between the two trees, making a green carpet on the bare forest floor. Nora passed Elan the acorn and she laid it in the centre of her open palm.
    ‘All is ready,’ announced Nora. ‘Let us begin.’
    Jack pointed his wand and willed the gateway to appear with all his might. Nora whispered some words Jack didn’t understand and a soft golden light began to glow from Elan’s palm. The harder Jack concentrated the brighter the acorn grew. He tried to keep a steady light at the end of his wand, but his hands were trembling. Without warning it seemed to erupt and a blinding light forced Jack’s eyes to close. He blinked then opened them again. Before him rose a pair of tall green doors. They were covered in golden carvings, which gleamed as brightly as the acorn.
    ‘You did it!’ cried Camelin. ‘You did it!’
    ‘What a welcome sight,’ said Nora. ‘I’d begun to worry that we might not see Glasruhen Gate again.’
    ‘At last!’ sighed Elan. ‘Well done Jack, now there really is hope for us all.’
    Jack couldn’t take his eyes off the doors, which filled the archway between the two Sentinel Oaks. He’d never seen anything like them before.
    ‘What happens now?’ he asked.
    ‘We go through into Annwn,’ replied Elan.
    ‘We won’t be long, we’ll be back in a flash so you can wait here for us and then we’ll get you back home before 10 o’clock,’ fussed Nora. ‘I think we’ll take your wand with us too Jack, just in case. We don’t want any accidents, you really shouldn’t use it unsupervised.’
    Nora and Elan picked up the cauldron and stepped forward. As Nora passed Jack she paused and waited while he put his wand and her Book of Shadows inside the cauldron, next to Camelin’s wand.
    ‘Be good,’ she said as they stepped onto the first branch.
    A low rumbling noise filled the forest. The two doors parted and a green glow shone through the crack. When they stepped onto the second branch the doorway opened wider, then it creaked loudly, and finally swung open completely. Nora and Elan stepped onto the beech branch then disappeared.
    ‘Where’d they go?’ asked Camelin.
    ‘They just vanished.’
    Camelin hopped over to the first branch and peered into the greenness. Jack couldn’t move. He was still shaking.
    ‘What can you see?’
    ‘Nothing, come on, let’s go and have a look, just a quick peek, it won’t do any harm.’
    Jack wasn’t happy.
    ‘We can’t, we promised.’
    ‘Now that’s where you’re wrong, we didn’t promise anything.’
    ‘Weren’t