“Wild guess, really, and because they’re running down the street behind us!” he shouted as he urged the horse onwards as fast as he could. “With Orfeo behind them!” he added.
“What about Vickers and McVale?” asked Yas, leaning around the side of the cab, and holding on tight. She bounced about more as Sam increased speed.
“Crap, they’re still with us as well,” shouted Sam as he ducked. An incoming word arrow missed his head and struck the wall of the public house they were just going past. It exploded into word fragments, transforming the wall around it.
Behind them, McVale had taken the lead. Vickers followed closely. McVale was still on horseback. Vickers was driving her cab and had a well-dressed gentleman as a passenger, a character from the realm. Orfeo was in yet another cab behind them. Peter had appeared and was climbing out of the side of the cab to trade blows with Orfeo, but Orfeo steered the cab close to the wall to block him. Peter had to move to the other side and try his luck there. Orfeo’s cab lost some speed as he moved left and right. Around them, werewolves leapt onto low rooves of buildings and ran along on all fours. Gargoyles launched into the air. Two wolves hitched a ride on either side of Vickers’s cab.
“I’ll drive,” Sam shouted from his position. “You shoot!”
“I’ll try,” replied Yas, getting up onto her feet and leaning awkwardly around the side of the cab. She held on firmly with one hand and then tried to repeat what she had seen of the arrows and word bombs sent their way by their pursuers. To her surprise, strands of words formed and twisted in the air in front of her and she was able to will those to fly backwards. She didn’t have the intent to maim or kill, but the arrows exploded mid-air, creating a dark cloud. It gave them enough breathing space for Sam to make a right turn.
“Why did you pick here?” Sam yelled as he ducked down to dodge another slew of word arrows overhead.
“I don’t know,” Yas replied honestly. “To try to lose them in the streets?”
“That’s all?” Sam yelled back. He was hoping that there was some grander plan in play. Fortunately, with Sam’s driving and urging onwards of the horse, it seemed that they had the fastest of the three cabs. The incoming arrows and word bombs were landing just behind them, for now. If anything, the word bombs and arrows being fired by Vickers were causing more of a problem for McVale who was the only one fast enough to catch them. McVale looked around behind her and seemed annoyed at Vickers. The younger lady was creating patches of inky fog that McVale had to deal with. It was taking all her effort to control the horse and she had to slow a little as a result.
“It was the only place I could think of quickly,” shouted Yas. Sam was right though, she reflected. This chase was getting them nowhere. She needed to change her thinking. Where did they need to get to in order to end this?
Sam turned a corner into another street, just as a werewolf attempted to leap down onto them from a roof. It missed and Yas was able to catch it with a word arrow, causing it to roll to the side of the street in pain. Yas switched sides to get a better view backwards around the corner. She spotted a gargoyle swooping down from over the rooftops and fired more arrows. She narrowly missed, her arrows hitting the building on the corner, causing more transformation to occur right in front of McVale. The gargoyle banked sharply and then gained height, disappearing over the top of the buildings as McVale veered sharply to avoid a newly forming shop front and lamp post.
Yas rolled word balls backwards, managing to explode one just to the left side of Vicker’s cab. The creature that was hanging on jumped off, growling and fighting the giant cobweb that had engulfed it. In response to the sudden change in weight distribution, Vickers cab’s wheel rose into the air. It forced her to have to take a much wider corner and she leaned the other way heavily to regain control. Vickers lashed out with a foot at the creature hanging on the other side. It growled at her but got the message. It jumped down allowing Vickers to regain control of the cab and start to pick up speed again.
Behind them, Orfeo and Peter continued their battle. Moving faster than the creatures, they were now behind Vickers’ cab but catching up. Peter had made his way up the side of the cab and was fighting with Orfeo on the roof. Orfeo caught Peter off guard with a word ball that wrapped around him, and Peter had just enough visibility of a hanging sign before he crashed into it. Instead of it throwing him off, Peter was able to twist round the side and grab it as they went past. The slender metal pole gave way, breaking off. The weight of the sign below it pulled Peter off balance. Both he and the sign went crashing down the back of the cab.
Up ahead of Yas and Sam was London traffic, moving at a more sedate pace than theirs. Sam hoped that he could use these to his advantage. Before he had a chance to do so, a gargoyle swooped down and tried to grab the cab with its talons.
“Crap!” shouted Sam. “Yas, are you okay?”
Yas turned and fired, hitting the gargoyle in the chest and causing it to crash down onto the ground.
“I’m okay!” she shouted, breathlessly.
“This is getting crazy! We need to lose them!” shouted Sam. “Hang on. I’ve got an idea.
“What?” Yas shouted back.
“When I say now, fire as much as you can,” he said, pointing to the nearest cab. “Aim for the wheels!”
“Okay!” replied Yas, seeing what he was thinking.
Sam overtook the first Hansom cab and then moved diagonally across the street to pass the other cab. Vickers followed his manoeuvre and cut across McVale’s path, forcing her to move behind.
Sam had just drawn level to the second cab when he shouted “Now!”
He threw a word bomb downwards and to the side, Yas doing similar to the cab they were passing. Both shots found their mark. Sam’s word bomb hit the ground just behind the horse and split the bottom of the cab along its middle. Yas’s shot blew apart the cabin and driver’s area, sending large fragments up into the air. Vickers’ cab collided with the debris, the horse rearing and moving sideways. McVale steered her horse around to avoid the debris.
Vickers saw that her cab was about to be destroyed and leapt upwards, pointing the palms of her hands downwards. She muttered incantations as she did so, turning the exploding fragments into stepping-stones, ones which she ran along to then leap onto the back of the horse that had broken free.
No longer being pulled, and coming apart, the remnants of Vickers’ cab became an issue for those behind. The horse stopped, Orfeo standing up to try to urge it on. Peter, who was still hanging on the back of the cab, jumped up and speared Orfeo from behind with the remains of the signpost that had broken off. The vampire looked down in shock at his wound. His cab started to come apart as it collided with the debris in front of it. In response, Orfeo closed his eyes and split apart into words, dissolving the cab around him also. Peter swung down to the ground, as the remains of the cab slewed to a stop. He pulled the horse free of the cab and mounted it quickly. A werewolf leapt through the wreckage and grabbed the back of his horse, causing his horse to rear up. Peter turned and fired a word arrow, causing the creature to explode, then he leaned forwards and chased after Vickers and McVale
Up ahead, Sam and Yas now had two Controllers to fend off. A gargoyle flew close overhead, Sam firing a word arrow at it. The distraction gave Vickers and McVale time to close on the cab, each of them taking separate sides. Sam steered left and right to try to fend them off, while Yas was doing her best to fire to keep them at bay. She could only focus on one at a time, and it gave the other the advantage. While Yas was firing at Vickers, McVale was able to get alongside and tether Yas with a word hook that dug into her right shoulder. She yelled out in pain. “Sam!”
McVale pulled which made Yas scream again. Sam fired a word arrow back at McVale, but she saw it coming and had time to move backwards, pulling on Yas more. Yas screamed again as she was pulled off balance and around the side of the cab. She hung on with her other arm.
“Oh God, Yas!” Sam shouted down, try
ing to reach for her. He knew McVale and Vickers had the advantage for the moment but could also see his dad approaching from behind.
“Dad! Help!” he shouted, pointing quickly at Vickers. His father nodded in reply. He understood what Sam was asking.
Sam swung himself down over the front of the cab into the passenger seating area. He hoped that the horse would just continue on without anyone in the driver seat. He leaned around to Yas and grabbed her arm. Then, remembering what he had done back at the country mansion, he sent healing to her. Words crawled up Yas’s arm and across her shoulders to the injury. The hook dissolved, causing the cab and her to jerk forwards suddenly. She spun forwards into Sam’s arms, and he pulled her inside.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “How bad is it?” He hadn’t seen that the words had started to reknit her injury. Colour returned to her cheeks and she felt instantly better.
“Thank you.” She kissed him quickly on the lips. It was instinctive to her and surprised them both.
Meanwhile, McVale had come alongside and was reaching across, using another word hook to try to lock onto the cab. Sam was ready for it this time and reached around Yas, catching it and yanking it forwards. It made McVale lean across awkwardly, but she was able to regain her balance and pulled back on it. Sam and Yas slid across to the side of the cab, and the cab went up onto one wheel as a result.
Then, as they passed a side turning, another figure appeared on horseback. The woman fired at McVale, catching her by surprise and causing her to release the hold she had on the cab. The cab wheel slammed down onto the ground and they continued onwards, gathering speed downhill. The woman moved right up beside McVale and threw a fist sideways, hitting McVale and causing her to slump over her horse. Yas looked across.
“Mom!” she called in delight. “What are you doing here?”
“Go Yas!” her mom replied. “I’ve got this.”
McVale sat up again and opened a portal immediately ahead of her. She and Yas’s mom disappeared through it.
“Mom!” Yas called in alarm.
Vickers glanced behind her and saw Peter closing fast. She leapt from her horse onto the side of Yas’s and Sam’s cab as they turned a corner onto a cobbled street. To their left was water, the river Thames. They continued racing along the embankment as Vickers hung on.
Just as Sam was about to form a word ball, Vickers shouted “I need to tell you both something.” Yas and Sam looked at each other in surprise. Sam leaned around the side of the cab. He could see Vickers hanging on the side of the driver seat, her clothes billowing behind her.
He sat back down and looked quickly at Yas. “I don’t trust her,” he said. “We need to take her out.” He held out his right arm, words starting to bristle, into a weapon.
“No,” replied Yas, touching him. “I think she’s actually been trying to help us.”
“What?” he said incredulously, looking at her and allowing the magic to dissolve. “You have to be kidding me?”
“At the stadium, she took out the guards.”
“That was to save her own hide,” Sam shot back. “Not us!”
“Then here,” Yas continued. “I think she was trying to slow down McVale’s cab.”
“You think?” denied Sam. Then as he replayed the memory in his mind, he reluctantly added, “Maybe. But I still don’t trust her.”
“Think about it,” Yas said. “And just now, she could have easily finished us off, but she didn’t.”
“I don’t know,” he shrugged. He looked around the side of the cab again. He saw Vickers’ face. She looked vulnerable, fragile and tired.
“We don’t have time for explanations,” Vickers shouted. “Many are watching.”
“Who?” challenged Sam. “And how?”
Vickers slipped and instinctively Sam grabbed her, helping her get a better hand and foothold.
“Its your pendants” said Vickers. “The labyrinth symbols are trackers in the realms.”
“Holy crap!” exclaimed Sam, starting to reach inside his T-shirt and pulling his necklace off. “So that’s how you knew where we were?”
“Don’t take them off,” said Vickers bluntly, changing her grip on the cab. “If you destroy them or leave them behind, they’ll know you know.” She was out of breath and ducked to avoid word arrows being fired by Peter, behind her. He clearly still considered her to be a threat.
“No Dad,” Sam called behind them. He couldn’t see his father but hoped he could hear. Unfortunately, he could not, and he continued firing.
Vickers continued. “You need to get to the meeting place of the realms. Where they connect and intertwine. Its like the central nervous system for knowledge.”
“Where knowledge meets,” said Yas aloud in reply, remembering what the Fates had told her.
“I’m sorry,” Vickers continued. “You became targets when you were both observed in Ancient Alexandria.”
“You helped us escape, back through the portal?” Sam asked. In addition to what Yas had said, Vickers’ story was building credibility for him.
“Yes,” replied Vickers. She said little to explain her own actions. “The peacekeepers have to be tasked with protecting truth and transparency. The initial command they are given is key.” She yelled out in pain as one of Peter’s shots caught her in her arm. She swung around towards Sam to make herself less of a target from behind. Sam reached out and sent an intention of healing in her direction. It worked and she was able to lift her hand and create a word net behind them as a shield.
“Thank you,” she said to Sam. “There’s little time!”
“What command do we use?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know,” replied Vickers. She turned to look behind her. Peter was fast approaching. The word net wouldn’t hold for long.
“There will be a battle over the peacekeepers. I can guarantee that. But it needs to happen, otherwise the chance we have will be spent.”
“A battle?” Yas said to herself. The words of the Fates came back to her. ‘Be careful of those you trust’ they had said. More pieces dropped into place. She looked at Vickers in a different light.
“We need to help Vickers,” said Yas quickly.
Sam heard Yas and reached over to Vickers to pull her into the front of the cab. Vickers initially reached towards him, but then paused and looked behind. She saw Peter approaching alongside quickly and could see the hatred in his eyes. She realised that he still thought she had betrayed him and that it was a matter of seconds before he injured her again.
She looked at Sam.
“Its okay,” she said, looking back at Peter. “I just hope he understands. Then, looking at Yas, she added, “Find the meeting place.”
Vickers let go of the cab and hung in mid air for a moment. Then she fell towards Peter, conjuring a doorway at the same time. She disappeared through it, along with Peter, who had no time to react.
“Dad!” Sam shouted out, but he had already disappeared.
Sam looked behind them. No one else was following, and there were no werewolves or gargoyles in sight. He slumped back down in the passenger cab.
“He’ll be okay, Sam,” reassured Yas. She could see he was worried.
Sam nodded at her. He looked ahead. The horse in front was still pulling them along the embankment, next to the river.
“So, what do we do now?” he asked.
“We need to get to the meeting place,” she said. The trouble was she didn’t have the faintest clue how to. She replayed the images in her mind that they had been shown in Alexandria. None seemed to fit. Then, bizarrely, the last thing the Fates told her popped into her mind, ‘Remember things that go bump in the night.’ A memory that she’d long forgotten surfaced briefly, then a changing scene ahead of her grabbed her attention. A brick wall was constructing itself, changing from a bridge that it had been just moments before. The path they were moving along dropped down, away from the road beside them, boxing them in. Sam reached for the reins to try to bring the horse to a
stop, but the reins had gone. The horse too was dissolving in front of their very eyes, leaving just the cab around them gathering speed downhill towards a now very solid brick wall.
“Jump?” suggested Sam, standing and grabbing Yas’s hand.
“No Sam,” she replied, smiling and pointing ahead. “Look. Its a door.”
Sam looked where Yas was pointing. Sure enough, there on the wall ahead was a black shape that looked like a doorway. They were headed straight for it.
“Please tell me you created that,” he said.
“I think so,” she said. At least, she believed something had responded to her memory.
The door was approaching, but the cab was also dissolving around them. The passenger seat and the cab wheels were still intact, but the roof and the driver’s seat had gone.
“Its going to be close!” yelled Sam, holding onto what remained of the passenger seat around them and readying himself to jump. Yas stood up and did likewise. Then the cab wheels dissolved enough that the remaining parts of the wheel jammed and came apart. Time slowed around them as the passenger seat jolted forwards and threw them headlong at the black doorway. They instinctively put their arms ahead to shield themselves. They crashed through a more solid doorway than the others, but not enough to cause injury.
‘Where the hell are we going now?’ thought Sam.
Chapter 11
Bump in the night
Yas and Sam fell out of a book and onto the rug of a living room. The room was dark. They got to their feet, a little unsteady, and looked around. It was eerie. They had just enough light to make out different shades of grey, but not much more.
Dimmed streetlight reached in around the edges of the window blinds. They were in the downstairs front room of a house in an urban street. It was a modern room, with hardwood flooring, a television in one corner, two display cabinets of books set either side of a neat fireplace, and a sofa and two matching chairs. They both felt the need to be quiet.
The Word Guardians: and the Battle for the Peacekeepers Page 24