Venom and Song

by Wayne Thomas Batson

  “That might take forever,” said Jimmy.

  “Not if I’m pulling it,” replied Autumn, a sparkle in her eye.

  Tommy set to tying the rope onto the trolley and then asked who wanted to go first. The only person to volunteer was Jimmy. “I got nothing to lose,” was all he said, which no one really understood at the time. He stepped in front of the post and grabbed the handle. He tested the strength of the zip line with his weight a little, then lifted up his legs. A breath later he was sailing down the rope and vanished out of sight. The others heard a loud “Woohooooo! ” echo out into the room as the pulley whizzed faster down the line. Autumn held the tail of the trailing rope, watching the coil unravel over the side of the platform like an endless snake hurling itself into midair.

  All at once Jimmy’s progress seemed to slow as the whizzing of the zip line decreased in pitch. His course was bottoming out, reaching the end of the line. And then, silence.

  Everyone held their breath.

  “I’m here!” Jimmy yelled. “And Grimwarden is, too!”

  “Autumn!” Tommy yelled.

  “I’m on it.” It was just that fast that the pulley suddenly appeared back at its starting point, the line and wheel smoking.

  “Who’s next?” Tommy asked.

  “Might I suggest two at a time?” Kat said, stepping forward. “We’ll never make it in time.”

  “Good thinking.” Tommy looked over. “Ladies first.”

  Kat stepped up, followed by Kiri Lee. Kat didn’t even look up. Once situated on each side of the handle. They were off and flying.

  Next came Johnny and Jett, Johnny handing Tommy the candle.

  Jimmy went by himself as Tommy insisted that Autumn not go alone. Then Tommy and Autumn leaped out into total pitch black, hollering all the way down.

  When all Seven were at last assembled on the landing far below— having traversed nearly the entire hall—Grimwarden produced a brilliant flash of light that settled into the steady blaze of a torch. And beside his smiling face he held a timing glass . . . the final few grains of sand slipping through the narrow center.

  “Who’s hungry?”

  15

  The Scarlet Raptor

  ON THOSE rare occasions when he was free from the brutal training schedule, Tommy spent nearly all of his time exploring the labyrinthine passages of Whitehall Castle. The intricate network of corridors, keeps, tunnels, and towers was an irresistible puzzle waiting to be solved . . . and Tommy loved puzzles. Most often, he’d make a wrong turn and wind up at a blank stone wall or, worse, right back where he’d started. But every once in a while he’d follow a passage and discover spectacular settings like a chamber full of sunlit water fountains or a hall strewn with intriguing artwork. Or, like yesterday, a secluded balcony high on Whitehall’s central tower. Why he hadn’t found it earlier, he wasn’t sure. But Whitehall was vast indeed.

  Tommy had spent several hours reclining on the balcony’s curving stone bench and quickly made it his own. Eyes open or closed, he found the spot relaxing and entertaining. Colorful birds crisscrossed in the air and disappeared into the dark green shadows under the canopy. Braided mimots—the striped, ghost-faced monkeylike creatures that lived in the treetops—hooted and cackled as they leaped branch-to-branch after each other. And numerous driftworms— thumb-sized, fuzzy purple caterpillars—descended from the upper branches on gossamer parachutes of silk to land wherever the breeze carried them. It was as peaceful a place as Tommy had yet seen in Allyra.

  After a particularly exhausting long sword session, Tommy couldn’t wait to get back to his new special escape. Traversing several large halls, climbing two flights of stairs, and racing blindly down a dark passage, Tommy turned a corner and . . . came to an abrupt stop.

  Kat was sitting in his spot.

  She looked up at Tommy, her bluish skin purpling with a blush. But there was no smile. Just a sigh.

  “You’re kidding,” they both said.

  “I just found this place yesterday,” said Tommy.

  “I found it a month ago,” said Kat. She saw his shoulders fall and didn’t even need to read his thoughts. “It’s okay,” she said. “There’s room for two.”

  Feeling somewhat disappointed and very awkward, Tommy sat. He crossed his arms and leaned on the balcony rail. He didn’t look at her but could feel Kat’s stare. When she finally looked away, Tommy felt somehow lighter. He relaxed a little and absently watched the driftworms.

  “I come up here to work on my First Voice studies,” Kat said, trying to think of something interesting to break the awkward silence.

  “You and Kiri Lee with your First Voice stuff,” said Tommy. “Beats me.”

  “Languages can be a lot of fun.”

  “I suppose,” he looked away. “If you’re smart.”

  “I’m sure you could learn quickly, Tommy. You’re smart.” But Tommy didn’t answer, and another awkward silence filled the time.

  “Oh, look,” said Kat. Tommy turned. A small purple piece of fuzz was crawling down her forearm. “It tickles.”

  “Reminds me of woolly bears back at home,” Tommy said. “Except they’re not so purple.”

  Kat smiled and held up her hand. The driftworm traveled the length of her index finger and seemed perplexed as to where to go from there. “Have you seen the moths that these things turn into?”

  Tommy shook his head.

  “Claris says they’re as big as both your hands . . . and they glow.”

  “Cool,” said Tommy. He envisioned the forest canopy at night, alive with hundreds of luminous moths. “Way cool.”

  Suddenly Tommy and Kat stiffened and looked up. They had heard a sound, a haunting . . . alien sound. Like a bird’s cry, but it gradually phased into a screaming voice. It trilled and then faded.

  “What was that?” Tommy asked.

  “Shh, there it is again!” Kat looked at him wide-eyed. “Did it . . . did it speak?”

  “So you heard it, too?” Tommy gasped. “It said—”

  “CoO-oMmMm-mme.”

  “It’s in the castle somewhere!” Kat said.

  “Where?”

  “This way!” Kat leaped from the stone bench and tore through the doorway. Tommy sprinted after her. Hearing the sound again, they followed the echoes farther into the castle, and then veered off down a passage they had never taken before. The haunting call led them deeper and deeper into the mountainside. Several twists and turns later, Kat held up a hand for Tommy to stop. The passage they were in was lit only from windows at either end. They stood in the shadows between.

  “Why’d you stop?”

  “That last—whatever it was—it’s here. I feel like we should see it.”

  Tommy pointed to the far side of the corridor . . . a dead end. “Maybe you just heard it echo.”

  “No, it was right here.”

  “But it’s just a wall.”

  Kat let out a yelp and jumped back. Something moved at the base of the wall.

  Something with eyes.

  Tommy and Kat edged backward, squinting in the dim light. It was hard to see whatever it was, but something snakelike emerged, apparently squeezing between two stones just above the floor. It slithered toward them and squeaked.

  “Oh, it’s a frake!” said Kat. She stepped forward and, to Tommy’s astonishment, picked the thing up.

  Tommy looked at it curling around Kat’s wrist and up into her hand. “A what?” he asked.

  “A frake. Well, that’s what I call it at least.” She gave him a goofy smile. “It’s like a furry snake. Fur-ake—get it? Nelly called it some Elven name I can’t remember. So I just call it a frake. Here, hold it.”

  She let it slither into Tommy’s cupped hands. Indeed, its body was like a snake’s, but completely covered in soft, shorthaired fur. It had huge eyes and a small pink nose. It squeaked again and then emitted a low purring sound. Tommy looked at Kat. “No chance this is what made that sound.”

  “No,” said Kat. “No w
ay.” She walked over to the wall, eyeing the stones. “But that little guy just came out of the wall. Which means . . .” She pressed her palms flat against the stone. “I bet there’s something behind here.” She pushed in several places.

  “Yeah, right, Kat,” he said. “That only happens in the mov—”

  “Ah! This one.” Kat found a stone that slid inward and then fell, revealing a gaping black hole.

  “I don’t believe it.” Tommy stepped forward. “What’s in there?”

  “I can’t tell. Hey, put the frake down and help.”

  “Oh . . . right.” Tommy placed the still-purring creature on the passage floor and pulled at the edge of the hole until he dislodged another stone. It was no little effort, but soon Tommy and Kat had an opening they could crawl through.

  Kat looked at Tommy. “Think we should?”

  “Why not?” he asked, sarcastically adding, “I mean, if you hear a scary bird-scream-ghost-voice coming from a black hole in a stone wall, the only thing to do is investigate.” Kat whacked him on the shoulder and then disappeared through the wall.

  It was a little more awkward a fit for Tommy. When he was through, Kat said, “Stairs.”

  Still wiping dust from his tunic, Tommy looked up. About seven feet away, just visible in the inky dark, gray steps spiraled up and to the left.

  “Come on,” Kat said.

  Placing each foot carefully and bracing themselves on the cold, dusty walls, Tommy and Kat began their ascent. “Phew! There’s a ton of dust,” Tommy said.

  “Been a long time since anyone’s gone through here.”

  “I wonder why it was bricked up.”

  None of the answers that suggested themselves were very comforting. They continued to climb in silence, Tommy assuming the lead and Kat right on his heels. Up and up and ’round and ’round it went. Ethereal, gray twilight filtered down from somewhere far above.

  The dust was powdery and thick. How many years had it built up? Tommy wondered. But he noticed that there weren’t any cobwebs . . . not a single one. That was good. Tommy had had enough of spiders. In fact, he— Kat squeezed his shoulder like a vise. “Did you hear that?”

  “No,” he whispered back, his heart kicking into thrash-metal mode. “What?!”

  “It sounded like . . . scratching.”

  “I don’t hear any—” He stopped short. He did hear something. A scraping . . . or a scratching sound but not very loud. What it lacked in volume it made up for in creepiness. Tommy pictured a zombie locked away in a stone crypt and, though the flesh of its fingers had worn away long ago, it still kept scratching.

  “Stop thinking stuff like that,” Kat whispered. “Yikes.”

  “Sorry.”

  The scratching grew louder as they climbed. Tommy went around a bend and stopped. Kat bumped into his back. Tommy whispered urgently, “STOP, don’t move.”

  “What?” Kat looked over his shoulder. The spiral staircase ended at a tower chamber, the entrance of which had once been bricked up like the opening far below. Now it was a jagged hole and on the other side, with the Allyran sky darkening behind it, was a large solitary window. In the window was an immense bird. At least nine feet tall, the avian creature had a raptor’s profile, like a hawk or an eagle, only it was covered in brilliant scarlet feathers, and its fierce eyes were gold. It stood on a dark marble dais in the middle of the room with a small curved set of stairs leading up to it. The dais itself was strewn with countless parchments that spilled all over the chamber floor. Aside from the window and the perch, the only other feature in the room was a stone bookshelf behind the bird, filled with very dusty, very large books.

  Tommy blinked. It seemed to be staring directly at him.

  “I think we should go back,” Kat whispered from behind.

  The bird screamed. Every tiny hair on Tommy’s neck and arms stood straight up. And it was so loud it made both their ears ring.

  The bird released Tommy from its gaze. It hopped down onto the floor and lifted one of its long, taloned claws and began scratching at the dark stone of the chamber wall. Its talons had to be ridiculously sharp to gouge the stone like that. Several strange symbols, scratched in white, were already there, and the creature was finishing another. It almost looked like a language of some sort.

  Screech! The bird had apparently finished writing on the wall, and it turned its golden eyes on Tommy. It made a kind of deep chirp and bobbed its head in the direction of the symbols on the wall. It chirped again, louder and more urgent this time.

  Tommy took a step forward.

  “What are you doing?!” Kat clutched at his tunic. Tommy didn’t answer, but she knew what he was thinking. “Tommy, come back! I don’t think you should get near it!”

  Tommy looked back over his shoulder. “I think it wants me to look.”

  “I think it wants to eat you! Tommy!”

  But Tommy didn’t listen. He turned and kept going. As dangerous and strange as it appeared, there was something about the bird that felt . . . right. The creature watched Tommy intently, staring down its beak with unblinking eyes.

  Tommy stepped through the ruined entrance to the chamber. It happened too fast for him to react. The bird’s claw shot out and raked Tommy’s forearm. Kat screamed and watched him fall backward, blood dribbling from the new wound. She reached Tommy’s side just in time to see the fierce scarlet raptor spread its vast wings and leap toward them.

  “Anyone seen Tommy?” Jett asked as he walked into the study.

  Johnny and Autumn were deep into a game of Tawlbwrdd—an ancient Elvish version of chess, but with two unequal teams both with different objectives—so their eyes never left the board.

  Jimmy peered over the edge of a book called The Precepts of Vexbane. “No, why?” he asked.

  “I carved a football out of that spongy wood they call celura, and I wanted to see if he’d throw it around.”

  “Football?” Jimmy’s coppery eyebrows rose comically. “Yu carved a football? I canna’ believe it. I love football. I’m a striker, yu know. I can bend the ball and—”

  “Not that kind of football,” said Jett. “I mean my kind of football.”

  “Oh,” said Jimmy. “That American rubbish.”

  “Harrumph,” said Jett. “Don’t knock it till ya try it.”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” said Jimmy, closing the book.

  Kiri Lee entered the study next. “Have you seen Kat?” she asked.

  “No,” said Jett.

  “Nay,” said Jimmy.

  Johnny and Autumn said nothing, but Johnny moved one of his assailants six spaces to the north.

  Jimmy looked from Jett to Kiri Lee and said, “We canna’ find Tommy or Kat, huh? A wee bit odd, don’t yu think?”

  This time Johnny and Autumn did look up. They filled the study with a chorus of “Awwwwwwwwwww!”

  RaaaAAAA! The fierce scarlet bird bore down on Tommy and Kat as if they were two helpless hares hiding at the base of a shrub. The raptor’s wings spanned the entire tower chamber. It wheeled about at the last second but extended a talon so that it sliced across Kat’s shoulder.

  “Kat!” Tommy yelled, drawing his sword.

  She yelled and fell to one knee. Blood ran down her upper arm. Meanwhile, the huge raptor landed back on its perch among the parchments.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “It stings,” she said. “But it’s not deep. C’mon, let’s go while it’s not looking.”

  “How do you know it’s not looking?” asked Tommy. Even though it was clearly focused on something in the bed of scrolls, Tommy thought it very likely that those huge golden eyes could still easily track their movements.

  “I don’t know,” she replied. “But we’ve got to try. That thing will kill us.”

  She pulled Tommy toward the stair, but again, he stopped her. “Wait,” he said. “Look at it. What’s it doing?”

  “Who cares what it’s doing?” But even Kat, scared as she was, couldn’t help but be cap
tivated by what she saw. The towering scarlet bird of prey stood, balanced upon one foot, on an outstretched scroll. It bowed its regal head low and stared as if concentrating. Then it stretched out its other foot, extending first one talon and then the other, daubing blood from each in turn on the scroll. Once there were two small blots of blood on the parchment, the raptor lowered its head even more, and the whole creature became stone still.

  Tommy and Kat couldn’t help but stare. Birds weren’t supposed to act like this. Of course, they knew very little about birds in Allyra. But this creature seemed so focused, so . . . knowing. The way it scrutinized the blotches of blood, it seemed to be thinking about them, thinking carefully . . . deciding.

  The raptor looked up suddenly. Tommy and Kat stepped back a pace. It screeched, but it was no mere caw or cry. It was something with syllables, something spoken. In an instant, the great bird turned its back on the two teens and mounted its perch. When it turned around again, it had a large book clasped within one of its clawed feet. It held the book out toward Tommy and Kat.

  “Are you kidding me?” exclaimed Tommy.

  “I think it wants us to have the book,” said Kat.

  “Not sure if that’s a good idea,” said Tommy. “The last time I took a strange book from someone, I found out I’m an Elf and ended up in another world.”

  Kat almost choked with laughter. “Be serious,” said Kat. “I’m going to get it.”

  “You were the one just telling me to stay away.” He shook his head. “Take my sword!”

  “No, I don’t want to look like a threat.”

  Look like a threat? Tommy didn’t understand girls at all. “Just be careful.”

  Eyes locked on the bird, Kat stepped forward. It made no move but held the book out with seeming ease. Three wide, rounded steps led up to the perch. Kat climbed them very slowly. She stood now within reach of the book, but being so close to the creature, she realized just how large it was. It towered over her. Its thick, tufted breast and shoulders were well muscled, and its wings—even while folded—looked massive. Its beak was long and curved down at the end, finishing with a sharp point.