‘What about her?’ she asked Kate, pointing at Rose. ‘She can’t crawl in a burrow with her hands tied.’
‘Oh good,’ Kate said in surprise, ‘you’re with us again. This escapade is much easier when I don’t have to think for both of us. Good point and we can’t leave her here either.’
‘Believe me, no one is more pleased than I am to regain some control over my mind, if not my body yet,’ Deelind said. ‘Let’s use the lock from the end of my chain. I still have the keys. We can lock the end of the chain around her neck. That way she has to follow.’
‘Sounds good. We need to be quick or Marvin’s burrow will start to close before we even get going,’ said Kate, who took the lock from Deelind and the end of the chain out of the bag. They put it around Rose’s neck, untied her arms but left the mouth gag in.
‘Undo the gag and I will put my smelly, sweaty sock in instead,’ Kate warned Rose.
‘Go, Deelind. Do not stop until you get to the other side,’ said Kate. Even though Deelind had regained mental clarity her body obeyed immediately, and she went down the burrow pulling Rose behind. The burrow was not much better than Mug’s, but she guessed that Marvin was in a rush and was tired from the marsh and his imprisonment. It was hard to crawl through the burrow. Her knees kept catching the bottom of the coat. The collar dug into her neck and pulling Rose along slowed her down. The thought of Rose made her think of IceFire. How was she ever going to quit using IceFire? She was already looking for the next high. Miserably, she admitted that she had come to enjoy the hot and cold pulses of IceFire.
Eventually the burrow headed upwards and with relief she popped out into the night air. Not that the air was pleasant. It was still thick and heavy with smoke. They were now halfway between the swamp and the hedge. Soon Rose and Kate popped out of the burrow. Kate immediately tied Rose’s hands behind her and pulled her to the ground by the chain, leaving it locked around her neck. Rose looked just as uncomfortable as Deelind did with her own collar and chain. They all kept low to the ground. The plants in the field around them were not tall and they did not want anyone from the town to see them. The soil was grey in colour. It felt like ash and smelt like a cigarette, making her nauseous. The rotvipers were flying around the town, clearly looking for them, but they hadn’t thought to look beyond the marsh. She wondered what had happened to Rudy. Was he still alive or had he been captured again?
Kate passed around biscuits to everyone except Rose. Deelind got the distinct impression Kate did not like Rose at all and felt a spark of grim glee.
‘When can you dig again?’ Kate asked Marvin.
‘I need about an hour or so,’ murmured Marvin, who was studying the soil. ‘This soil is not good. It’ll take me longer and it is much harder to navigate in.’
‘Whew. I thought you were going to say a day,’ said a fellow escapee.
A heatwave rushed over Deelind. Kate’s jacket was partially open. She crawled towards Kate and pounced. Kate flailed, trying to push her away. She dug in the pocket where Kate had placed the IceFire. Her fingers found the bag and she pulled it out quickly, hugging it to her chest.
‘Deelind, what are you doing? Give that here!’ She pulled the bag out of Deelind’s hand and put it back into her pocket. Kate zipped up her jacket.
‘Give it to me. I need more.’
Kate backed away. ‘No. No more IceFire for you.’
Deelind lunged at Kate, hating her with all her being.
‘Quiet and sit still!’ snapped Kate and again she found she had to obey.
They all lay watching the black creatures flying around the town while scratching away at their skin.
* * *
‘Quick, move,’ said Kate. Deelind realised she must have fallen asleep. ‘It’s coming this way,’ said Kate, pushing her into a new burrow that Marvin had dug. Her body was sore and stiff, the IceFire had weakened and she resisted Kate’s instructions.
‘Look!’ Kate pointed to the far side of the field. The creature was over the old sports field and marsh where they had parked the car. She did not need any more motivation. She grabbed the chain connected to Rose and pulled her into the burrow. The burrow was badly dug, and the sides started to fall down on them as they crawled through it. Deelind could see that Marvin was struggling and the tunnel soon ended. They had stopped just in front of the only two large trees left in the field. They all crawled on their hands and knees to the other side of the trees. Rose tried refusing to crawl and attempted to stand up. Deelind pulled hard on the chain, sending Rose flying into the first tree, hitting it with a crack. She gasped when she saw that Rose lay dead still.
‘I hope I haven’t killed her. I’m still learning my own strength as a featherlite. Add in the IceFire and I seem to be many times stronger than the average human.’
‘Pity you can’t dig,’ said Marvin ruefully. ‘I think you’re stronger than me right now.’
‘She will live,’ said Jan, who had been checking Rose over, and from her efficient movements seemed to have some sort of medical background.
Kate unlocked the chain around Rose’s neck and gave it to Deelind. ‘She will be out for a while and we have to make a run for it from here to the hedge. Marvin cannot dig any further.’
Marvin nodded in agreement. ‘We will start to hit the hedge roots and my burrow is no longer holding up. If it collapses while we are in it, it will kill everyone,’ he said apologetically.
‘You have done well to get us this far. We are grateful to have you with us,’ said Kate, patting his arm. ‘Deelind, give me the bag of dust you got from Spike’s room. It is time to put it to the test. If it fails, we are dead.’
Deelind pulled the bag out but held onto it. ‘Give me the IceFire and I will give you the dust,’ she said, hardly believing what she was hearing, but she was seemingly unable to withdraw her words either.
‘Deelind, this is not the time for IceFire, and you endanger us all. Give it or we die!’ snapped Kate.
‘No,’ she said helplessly. The IceFire had subsided enough that she was able to resist commands, but she was still in the powerful grip of the addiction.
‘Fine. Here.’ Kate threw the bag of IceFire at her and the crystals fell onto the floor. She dived for them. She was so focused on the crystals that she did not stop Kate pulling the bag of dust out of her hand.
To her horror, the crystals melted quickly on the ground, and the faster she tried to pick them up, the quicker they melted. She licked the ground. It tasted like an ashtray would – not that it mattered. Just the smallest bit of IceFire was all she needed but there didn’t seem to be any left! At that moment, a snippet of clarity filtered her thoughts. She spat the soil out of her mouth and sensed herself surrounded. Looking up, she saw everyone was watching her with pity and horror in their eyes. Shame crashed through her, embarrassment close on its heels. She sat back and hung her head, tears dripping freely onto the grey earth. Jan came up behind her, crouched down and wrapped her arms around Deelind.
‘It’s alright. We understand Deelind. This isn’t who you are. This is the addiction that was forced on you playing itself out. Let’s go now. The sooner we get you to the other side of that hedge, the sooner you will get help.’ Deelind nodded. Jan gave her shoulder a light squeeze and they stood up together.
‘Right. Is everyone ready?’ said Kate. ‘I will run first and throw the dust at the hedge. If it works, then everyone else can follow.’ Deelind saw them all nod.
‘Wait,’ Deelind said, ‘don’t get too close that the thorns can fire at you. Spike threw it from a distance and let the wind carry it onto the hedge. The wind always seems to be blowing into the hedge and then upwards.’ Kate nodded then turned and ran. They watched as Kate got close enough and threw the dust at the hedge. At first nothing happened and then the hedge parted. They ran.
Deelind had not taken two steps when she heard Rose behind her call out, ‘They’re here, they’re here!’ She ran to Rose and knocked her to the floor with the end of the
chain. Rose rolled a few paces then stood and ran, waving her arms at the rotviper. It heard and let out a roar, flying straight towards the running Rose. Deelind ran back towards the hedge but she could hear the rotviper getting closer and closer.
‘Go, go, go!’ she yelled to the others. ‘I can handle this.’ She took out the chain and started swinging it above her head. Deelind watched the rotviper, its stench unmistakable. With a flick of its tail the rotviper knocked Rose to the ground hard, where she lay crumpled and unmoving. As the rotviper got to Deelind she let the chain go. The chain caught it in the eye, sending it screaming away. It circled back, giving her just enough time to pull the chain back in and start swinging it again. Prepared this time, the rotviper caught the chain in its claws and began to fly upwards. Acting on instinct alone, she took the remaining chain out of the bag and sprinted for the tree. She circled the tree, wrapping the chain around it twice and then held onto the last bit attached to the collar around her neck and waited.
Unnoticed by the creature, the chain suddenly went taut, jerking the rotviper downwards. It let the chain go but a claw got caught in a link as the chain pulled. Deelind was slammed hard against the tree. Just as she felt she could hold on no longer, the creature hit the ground with a loud thud and the chain loosened. Quickly unwinding herself from the tree, she tugged the other end to her. Spotting the beast’s claw, she pulled it out of the chain and pushed it into a pocket. She looked up from the pile of chain at her feet and saw the rotviper running towards her with its mouth wide open. A featherlite dived down at the rotviper, which was getting close enough to decapitate her. It was Rudy! He hit the black creature in the same way that Captain Roeland had killed the rotviper at her gran’s cottage. It split in half but as the rotviper was already on the ground and Rudy had come in at a great speed, he crashed through the creature and into her, knocking her to the ground and winding her.
‘Run!’ he shouted in her head. Deelind gasped for air and had to crawl out from under Rudy’s neck to get to her feet. The hedge was starting to close, and she tried to pull Rudy with her, but he was a massive featherlite.
‘Quickly! Before it’s too late for you, too!’ he yelled. She let Rudy go and ran for the hedge with the chain dragging behind her. She was too late. The hedge had closed. She turned to see Rudy standing looking towards the other end of the field as six rotvipers flew towards them. She walked up to Rudy, collecting her chain on the way and popping it in the bag.
‘That was too bad. See if you can hide,’ he said grimly, his voice filled with the sound of a tree cracking under the force of gale-force winds and crashing to the ground. ‘I will take down as many as I can.’
‘No! They will only hunt me down. What can I do to help?’
‘You can’t change but you could catch a ride on me. Quick, jump on. It is just as well no one will see this otherwise I’d have to kill you,’ he said with a broad dragon smile as she scrambled up the wing he had lowered for her and onto his back. Rudy struggled to take flight but once he got going, they climbed high and entered the black clouds. ‘I will use the cloud to lose them. Hold your breath. This is going to burn your skin.’
They entered the cloud and she gasped. She had to close her stinging eyes, her skin burning where it was exposed to the air. She was grateful to be wearing the thick and now muddy coat Kate had given her. They dipped out of the cloud just long enough for them to take a breath of air, and each time she managed to get a glimpse of the situation. The rotvipers had spread out looking for them. They were all waiting for them to appear as if they knew that Rudy would not be able to fly up and out and would have to come back down.
‘Hold your breath,’ Rudy said as he took them back into the cloud. ‘Next time I hope to attack one from above, so hold on tight.’
She thought her lungs were about to explode when Rudy dived out of the cloud, above and behind one of the rotvipers. He pointed his wing tips and cut the beast’s left wing, sending it spiralling downward. She never saw what happened to the creature because Rudy swooped back into the cloud. She didn’t think she could handle another stint in the clouds. When they came out again the rotvipers had teamed up, but once again, Rudy was above them. It appeared the creatures did not like the clouds either.
‘Looks like we will only be able to take one more down,’ said Rudy as he dived for the creature on the left.
‘I can’t go back into those clouds, and besides, the other rotviper will attack us while you attack its partner. When you are above the rotvipers, I’m going to jump onto the back of the one on the right. I will try to distract it somehow,’ she said.
Not arguing, Rudy said, ‘Okay, let’s do it now!’
Deelind stood, feeling Rudy compensate for her movement. She sprang, the air rushed past her and she hit the beast hard, just where the wings joined onto the back. It flung its head around to see what was on its back. Its hideous face was black, with a deformed mouth and rotting teeth. It had holes for ears and its eyes were the same fiery eyes all Blackthorn’s creatures seemed to have. As it turned to look, she stabbed its eye with the claw she had ripped from the other rotviper. Gotcha! She felt it cut into the creature’s eye and then there was chaos. The creature went mad. It flung her from one side to the other but did not turn to look at her again with the other eye. The claw was now stuck in the rotviper’s eye. She hung on for dear life.
The brief ride on Rudy had taught her how to hold on without using her hands. She let out some of the chain and swung the end in front of the Rotviper’s face on its blind side. The chain wrapped around both eyes of the creature and Deelind caught the loose end with her other hand. The rotviper could no longer see as she pulled the chain tight behind its head. Rudy had disabled the other creature and made his way back to her.
‘Hold on! I will cut its wing. You jump and I will catch you,’ said Rudy. In a blink of an eye and with no time to wait for her consent, Rudy cut the wing of the creature, she released the chain around its head and jumped upwards, pulling the chain with her. She landed hard on Rudy’s back and, struggling to hold on, she slipped and fell. Rudy was being attacked by another rotviper and they were locked in each other’s claws. She had no time to turn before she hit the ground. She landed with a splat and realised she was back in the marsh. With her body spreadeagled she did not sink into the mud. There were small mercies after all. As she lay for a moment, sucking in deep breaths, she could hear voices coming from the old sports field and saw what had to be the flickers of flashlights. It was still night, and they didn’t have her excellent night vision. A faint glow on the horizon let her know that dawn was fast approaching.
‘Master Blackthorn said they were here, so we look for them,’ snapped a voice that sounded a lot like Spike. Oh no, not Spike again!
‘Look, this is Dad’s car. They did come this way. Let’s check and make sure no one is still around.’ Deelind could hear Spike’s gang walking around the field kicking and breaking the cars but they seemed to stay away from the marsh.
‘Dog, look out there. I think that could be someone’s body.’ She heard Dog grunt and groan as he waded out into the marsh.
‘Ugh, it’s a human body. One of them that was in Master Blackthorn’s cage,’ coughed Dog.
‘Check for more bodies. Dad says they have cornered some of them at the hedge. Master Blackthorn is angry, and we must look thoroughly. You carry on looking here. We will go look in the fields.’
‘Thanks,’ said Dog in disgust. She heard the others disappearing and Dog slowly moving around. She needed to get out of the marsh soon before she sank into it. She slowly started to move towards the edge of the marsh, but she made too much noise.
‘Got you,’ said Dog, swaying over to her. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the edge of the marsh.
‘What has happened to your skull?’ she asked, struggling to see it through the mud.
‘Good question. The mud seems to have hidden it,’ said Dog. ‘I hate the thing. Well, it seems it’s your luc
ky day. If the skull had been here, I wouldn’t have been able to do this. Here. Take it.’ She pulled her head away. She did not want any more IceFire and to become Spike’s prisoner again.
‘No, it is Blackthorn powder. Not IceFire. It will get you through the hedge,’ Dog whispered urgently and pushed a small bag into her hand.
‘Why not hand me in?’ she said but Dog was already walking away.
‘No one else. They must have all got away,’ Dog called out to Spike.
‘Dad said that someone was with the Dragonknight!’ said Spike.
‘Well, they’re not hiding here. No one is going to be able to survive in the black pit swamp anyway. It was hard for me to walk through, never mind someone smaller. That mud suction is strong, but you’re the boss.’
Hearing them walking away, she slowly rolled over and took stock of where she was. ‘Rudy?’ she called mentally. ‘I have more powder to get us out of here. I will wait here.’ Her message was interrupted when she saw Spike walking her way without his gang. His skull seemed to be pulling him back her way. Ah, time for a little payback and hopefully some answers. She scooped up a handful of mud and a stone and scrambled into the old school bus. Hiding under the back seat, she threw the stone at the front window.
‘I know where you are. Come out, now!’ he said. Spike did not seem comfortable coming into the bus on his own and the rest of his gang had not heard him shout. She guessed that Dog must have led them away from the marsh. She just lay there in wait. Spike would have to come in and check at some point. Pretty shortly she felt the bus tilt slightly as Spike slowly climbed into it.
‘I can see you,’ he said in a sing-song voice and then chuckled menacingly. ‘Come out now and I will go easy on you.’
She kept quiet. She could see Spike’s shoes walking slowly towards the back of the bus, but he was not looking under the seats. As he got near her there was a loud boom from the town centre. Just the distraction she needed. She sprang up, hitting Spike with the end of her chain and he dropped to the floor. She quickly smeared the mud on his arm to cover the skull. She pulled Spike to the front of the bus, put him into the driver’s seat and went to find something to tie him up with. It was easy with so much junk lying around. She gagged and tied Spike to the steering wheel and took a moment to rest. This had to be the longest day of her life. She rearranged the bag carrying the chain. The collar was really digging into her neck, but there was nothing she could do about it. Honestly, she didn’t think she would ever be able to wear anything around her neck again. She closed her eyes and dozed. She woke to the rising dawn and Spike going mad next to her. He was desperately trying to get free.
Deelind and The Icefire Page 26