Rue watches her go. His little heart is pounding in his chest, his whole body jangles with a mixture of terror and excitement. Part of him feels like burrowing under the bard’s cloak until all the fighting is done, but another realises he is going to miss the whole thing, stuck cowering in the tower.
This could be my first story, he thinks. My first tale. A clash between good and evil, and I was there to see it!
In his mind he sees himself on the stage at the Festival of Bards, telling a hushed audience all about the way a dusk wraith moves in battle. How arrows sound when they zip past your head. The Victory of the Foxguard, he will call it.
Before he really knows what he is doing, he darts out of the hole after Jori.
‘Rue, no!’ the bard shouts behind him and his paw clutches at Rue’s cloak, but the little rabbit is too quick. He slithers down the mound of rubble outside the door and runs into the ruins, following the sound of fighting.
There are more war cries, yells of pain and the sound of metal striking metal.
Just behind that wall, Rue thinks, and he clambers up the blackened brickwork of what might once have been a house.
Looking down, he spots Jori locked in combat with an Endwatch rabbit. Her sword is moving too fast to even see, forcing the Endwatcher backwards until his blade clatters out of his hands and Jori clouts him on the head.
Off to his left, Jaxom is fighting another, striking with his sword, kicking out with his feet. There is one more black-cloaked figure, tumbled at the foot of a crumbling wall, a red-fletched arrow jutting from its arm.
Is it dead? Rue wonders in horror. He has never seen a dead rabbit before. He has never seen such violence. He thought it would be exciting, but it isn’t. It’s brutal and scary and he suddenly wants to be with the bard again, safe in the tower.
‘Rue! Get down from there!’ He hears the bard’s voice from somewhere behind him and is about to turn around when the fallen Endwatch rabbit moves. There is a twang and something punches him in the chest, knocking him backwards off the wall. He feels himself falling, falling, and then the ground hits him from behind. He is lying on stones, on rocks, and there is something sticking out of his body. Long and thin with a tuft of black on the end. Is it a flower? Why is it making his chest burn? Why is everything turning wobbly?
Rue looks up and sees the sky beginning to circle around his head, spinning, spinning. The bard’s face appears, but it’s all stretchy and wrong. His voice is blurry and strange, like everything is underwater.
Help me, Rue tries to say, but his mouth won’t work properly. His sight is going fuzzy, dark round the edges. The last thing he thinks of is his epic story, the battle he was longing to describe.
I didn’t see it all, he thinks. I don’t know how it ends.
And then he is gone.
‘Rue!’ the bard screams. ‘Rue!’
He is clutching the little rabbit’s body, patting at his face, trying to wake him up. He hears a scream from somewhere behind the wall, then another. Feet scrabble amongst the rubble and then Jori is beside him, Jaxom too. A moment later, Nikku appears.
‘The little one!’ Jaxom shouts, and falls to his knees beside the bard. Jori is bent over, examining the arrow wound.
‘Is he breathing?’ she asks. Her eyes have begun to droop now the dusk potion has worn off and her body is paying the price. Her paws are starting to tremble, but she is fighting it, desperate to help Rue.
‘Yes,’ says the bard. ‘I think so.’
‘The arrow hasn’t gone too deep,’ says Jaxom. ‘His cloak stopped most of it. I think I can pull it out.’
‘What about the Endwatch?’ Nikku asks. She is standing over them, an arrow fitted to her bow.
‘I finished off mine, and the one who shot Rue,’ says Jaxom.
‘I knocked mine out,’ says Jori. ‘He won’t be moving for a while.’
‘I’ll make sure,’ says Nikku, and disappears before Jori can stop her. Jaxom has hold of the arrow and is about to tug it free.
‘Please be careful,’ says the bard.
Jaxom nods, then gives the arrow a yank. It comes clear, leaving a small hole in Rue’s cloak, just below his left shoulder.
‘Only a flesh wound,’ says Jaxom. ‘Why isn’t he awake?’
Jori takes the arrow from him and sniffs the end. It has a long, narrow bodkin point and is smeared with a black substance.
‘Poison,’ she says. ‘Crowsbane, I think. It’s found around here. I can make an antidote, but I need purple haircap moss and eagle mushrooms. They grow … high up in the mountains …’
Jaxom stands and shouts out across the ruins. ‘Search the Endwatchers, Nikku! We need the antidote!’
There is a moment before she returns. ‘Nothing on them except some dried turnips,’ she says. ‘And I’ve finished off the third one. They’ll not trouble us any more.’
‘Can you save Rue?’ the bard asks Jori. ‘Is he going to die?’
She looks up at him, her eyes beginning to drift shut. Each word is an effort for her. ‘Depends … how much … poison he took. Without … antidote … doesn’t look good.’
‘Curse it!’ the bard shouts, tears spilling down his cheeks. ‘I was too slow to stop him! I should never have brought him here in the first place!’
‘It’s our fault as well,’ says Jaxom. ‘We should have got here quicker.’
‘We rode as fast as we could,’ says Nikku. ‘But we met another Endwatcher on the path. It took us some time to deal with him.’
‘Did you get my message?’ the bard asks, remembering why they were here. ‘Did you raise the Foxguard? They have to get to Thornwood. As many as possible. The Endwatch will be going after Podkin.’
Nikku nods. ‘I travelled to Melt soon after you, and was at Gant’s when the sparrow arrived. He has sent out word to every Foxguard in the Five Realms. Podkin will be protected, don’t worry.’
As Nikku speaks, Jori reaches across a shaking paw and grabs the bard’s cloak.
‘I have just thought. There may be hope … in the mountains … not far from here … an Arukh tribe. Uki and I … met them once …’
‘And they’ll have the antidote?’ The bard grasps Jori, suddenly hopeful.
‘They might.’ She lets out a groan. ‘The ingredients, at least. But we must … be quick …’
‘I know the tribe she speaks of,’ says Jaxom, his face grim. ‘They’re as likely to skin us as help us.’
‘But we have to try,’ says the bard. ‘I can’t let anything happen to Rue. I can’t.’
‘Then we will go,’ says Nikku. ‘We can ride in Jaxom’s cart through the foothills, then continue on foot. Rue is Foxguard now. He must be saved.’
‘Thank you,’ the bard sobs. Jaxom and Nikku help the staggering Jori stand and begin to limp over to his cart. The bard scoops up the almost lifeless body of Rue and cradles him, one paw keeping pressure on his shoulder wound.
‘You’re going to be all right, little one,’ he whispers. ‘By Clarion and the Goddess, you’re going to be all right. Please. Get better and you can ask me all the questions in the world. I won’t complain once, I promise.’
Carrying him oh so gently, the bard follows the others, out of the foothills and up into the cold stone peaks of the Arukh mountains beyond.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kieran Larwood has loved fantasy stories since reading The Hobbit as a boy. He graduated from Southampton University with a degree in English Literature and then worked as a Reception class teacher for fifteen years. He has just about recovered. He now writes full-time although, if anybody was watching, they might think he just daydreams a lot and drinks too much coffee.
ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR
David Wyatt lives in Devon. He has illustrated many novels but is also much admired for his concept and character work. He has illustrated tales by a number of high-profile fantasy authors such as Diana Wynne Jones, Terry Pratchett, Philip Pullman and J. R. R. Tolkien.
THE FIVE REALMS SER
IES
The Legend of Podkin One-Ear
The Gift of Dark Hollow
The Beasts of Grimheart
Uki and the Outcasts
Uki and the Swamp Spirit
PRAISE FOR THE FIVE REALMS SERIES
‘Will entertain everyone: Podkin One-Ear
already feels like a classic.’
BookTrust
‘The best book I have ever read.’
Mariyya, age 9, Lovereading4kids
‘Jolly good fun.’
SFX
‘I just couldn’t put it down.’
Sam, age 11, Lovereading4kids
‘Five stars.’
Dylan, age 12, Lovereading4kids
‘Great stuff and definitely one to watch.’
Carabas
‘An original fantasy with … riveting adventure,
and genuine storytelling.’
Kirkus
‘A joy to read and absolutely world-class.’
Alex, age 10, Lovereading4kids
‘A great bit of storytelling.’
Andrea Reece, Lovereading4kids
‘Rich with custom, myth, and a little touch of magic.’
Carousel
‘A story for children who enjoy fantasy, quests
(and of course rabbits).’
The School Librarian
Copyright
First published in 2020
by Faber & Faber Limited
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2020
All rights reserved
Text, map pp.viii-ix, illustrations pp.337-338 and chapter head illustrations © Kieran Larwood, 2020
Internal illustrations © David Wyatt, 2020
Cover Illustration © Fernando Juarez, 2020
The right of Kieran Larwood and David Wyatt to be identified as author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
978–0571–34284–6
Uki and the Swamp Spirit Page 18