Wildfire

by Lene Kaaberbøl

  “The second trial is Waterfire,” Mr Malkin said. “You’ll walk through a pool full of stinging jellyfish. Their tentacles are very long and their fire will burn and paralyse you. If you can’t make them retract their tentacles, then turn back. Their venom can kill you, if you get too much of it.”

  “Now don’t scare the girl,” Mrs Pommerans said, giving him a stern look.

  “I’m not saying this to scare her. But she needs to know the truth. Surely living as Chimera’s slave for a while is preferable to being dead?”

  “I’m not sure about that,” Shanaia said grimly. “Personally, I would rather die.”

  Kahla shot up from her seat. “Don’t say that!” she hissed, pointing a gloved finger at Shanaia. “You mustn’t ever say things like that!”

  Shanaia looked a little stunned. I, too, was surprised. Was that Kahla leaping to my defence? It didn’t seem like her. There had to be more to it.

  Master Millaconda had stood up as well and he put his arm around Kahla.

  “Hush, Kahla. Calm down.” He wasn’t telling her off, he was consoling her. Why? What did Kahla have to be upset about? Surely I was the one most in need of comfort right now?

  “If I turn back, does that mean I’ve lost?” I said.

  “Yes.” Aunt Isa nodded. “That’s the law.”

  I lost my temper.

  “Law! What kind of law is that? I never asked to be a wildwitch and now I suddenly have to sit some lethal witch’s exam – and if I don’t pass, Chimera can do with me as she pleases. Do you call that justice?”

  Aunt Isa stroked my hair.

  “Poor Clara. It’s hard, I know it is. The wildworld isn’t a nice, easy place to live, for humans or animals. It’s dangerous. Deadly, sometimes. And the laws of the wildwitches may resemble the laws of nature more closely than the ones you’re used to. However, the strange thing is that justice, in some form or other, nearly always triumphs in the end.”

  “Not always,” Shanaia said bitterly.

  “No. Not always. But often. Trust in nature, Clara. And trust the wildwitch I know you have inside you.”

  As far as I knew, nature was a place where big animals ate small animals. Chimera was much bigger than me. I had no wish at all “to trust in nature”.

  “The third trial is Earthfire,” Mr Malkin said. “That’s where you walk through a cave where—”

  “Stop it,” I said. “Enough! I don’t want to hear any more. It’s not like I’m ever going to get through that… jellyfish pool.”

  “Clara…” Aunt Isa began.

  “No. That’s it. I’m going home!”

  I stormed out and slammed the door behind me. The cat made it through just before it got its tail squished. It hissed angrily at me.

  “Don’t you start,” I snapped at it. “This is all your fault, do you hear? If you’d left me alone then…”

  Then none of this would have happened. I would still be Clara Ash from Year 7, a shy, ordinary girl with a few too many freckles, who lived with her mum in Jupiter Crescent and whose best friend was called Oscar.

  Perhaps I should run away? Yes! Leave without telling anyone. Keep going until they stopped looking for me and then try to find my way home. Not using the wildways, I was too scared to use them, but even Raven Kettle had to be a place on a regular map, on the same planet as our flat and my school and the town I lived in. It might take me longer than travelling by the wildways, but sooner or later I’d come across normal people who would help me get home in the traditional way, by train or by bus or by plane, if necessary.

  I ran across the circle towards Raven Kettle’s entrance and the sunken road that led back to the forest. But before I got as far as that the cat blocked my path.

  No, it said, inside my head.

  “Go away,” I said. “Move!”

  But it stayed put, as big and immovable as on that very first rainy morning. It refused to let me pass.

  Don’t ever run before you have fought, it whispered. Losing a fight means only that your opponent was stronger than you. But if you run without even trying… then your enemy is better than you. And then you’ll never win anything again. Never ever.

  I had never heard the cat say so much before.

  “You’re just a cat,” I said. “What would you know about that?”

  Everything, it said. And then it moved out of my way so I could get past it, if that was what I wanted.

  The choice was mine.

  “That’s not fair,” I whispered. “Now I’ll have to stay.”

  Because I knew it was right. If I left without even trying, then Chimera’s victory would be complete. I would always know that I’d chickened out. That I was no good. That she and everybody else really were bigger and better and smarter than me, that I was a worthless loser.

  I would rather die.

  I hardly knew whether it was me or the cat who thought that, or both of us. But it was true.

  The others sat together, looking at the door when I came back, as if they’d expected me. Kahla’s eyes were big and as black as ink, and I could see that she’d been crying. But Aunt Isa smiled and gave me a little nod of approval.

  “Right,” I said. “Tell me about the last two trials.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Skyfire

  Torches flickered in the darkness and the moon hung large and pale above Raven Kettle. The ravens were now perched quietly in the trees, flapping their heavy wings only occasionally. The Raven Mothers stood on the ground below and there was a small crowd of spectators who had come to see how little Clara Ash would handle her trial by wildfire. Only Kahla hadn’t been allowed to watch. This time she had argued and protested so long that her dad had eventually pulled her to one side and spoken to her through clenched teeth.

  I wondered why it was so important for her to be here. She who hated the cold. Was it to support me or was it simply because she didn’t want to miss seeing me fail?

  Chimera was standing a short distance away, so close that her wings would touch me if she unfurled them.

  “I hope you’re ready, witch child,” she whispered icily. “Too late to run away now…”

  I glanced furtively at her. Did she know… did she understand how close I’d come to doing just that? I could see from her triumphant look that she didn’t expect me to succeed.

  I hoped she was wrong, but I had a horrible feeling that she might be right.

  “Let the trial commence,” Thuja announced.

  The night sky filled with tiny, glowing dots. They whirled around us in an amazing aerial display like living fireworks.

  “Oh!” I couldn’t help exclaiming. I hadn’t expected it to be beautiful.

  One of the fire dots hovered briefly in front of my nose, so I could see its delicate wings and its large, blinking and golden body. Then it was gone. But one of the others had touched my hand.

  “Ouch!” I just about managed to suppress the outburst and Chimera smiled scornfully. She caught one of the blinking fireflies in her hand and held it, just to show me that she could. I heard it hum and buzz inside her taloned fist. Then she let it go again.

  My own hand still stung. The pain was mild, but then again there had only been one firefly. What would happen if they all settled on me? There were thousands, possibly millions of them.

  All seven Raven Mothers started to hum and the fireflies instantly stopped their dance and started to fly in circles so that their fire created a kind of whirling tunnel in the air.

  “Am I meant to go through this?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Aunt Isa said. “Let them see you. Let them come to you. If you let them come close and you’re not lying, they won’t burn you.”

  It was easier said than done. I knew now how much it hurt when just a single firefly burned me. I reminded myself that the fireflies were the easiest trial. It would get much worse after this one.

  I took a step towards the firefly tunnel. I had a strong urge to race through it as fast as I could, but I knew that
wouldn’t be a good idea. Mrs Pommerans’s advice had been: “Give them time to get to know you.”

  I stepped in among the dancing fireflies. There were so many of them that all I could see was their light. Raven Kettle disappeared. Chimera, the Raven Mothers, Aunt Isa and everyone else… they were all gone now and only the fireflies and I were left behind. And one other being.

  Stand still, the cat whispered silently in my mind.

  It was with me. I couldn’t see it, it must be creeping around in the darkness outside the circle, but it was in my head and I wasn’t alone.

  I stood still. It was hotter here than outside the tunnel, much hotter. I started to sweat. But although the fireflies flew past me and circled my face, my hair and my hands, they didn’t land on me. And neither did they burn me.

  They didn’t burn me…

  “I’m not lying,” I said in a low and cautious voice. “Chimera is the liar.”

  I don’t know if they understood me. But at one stroke they were gone. The tunnel dissolved and the fireflies took one last, wild swoop across the circle before they disappeared.

  I caught sight of Chimera’s face again. Expressionless. Possibly no longer quite so sure that I would fail?

  “Clara Ash has passed Skyfire,” Thuja said, and I told myself that there was a hint of satisfaction in her voice.

  Valla sighed.

  “Oh well,” he said. “Then I suppose we’ll all have to plod down to the jellyfish pool. And in this weather…”

  CHAPTER 18

  Waterfire

  The ravens followed us. Squawking, they flitted past us in the moonlight like shadows, landed on trees and waited for us to catch up before taking off and flying on again. They quite clearly knew where we were going.

  Because of my bad knee I was allowed to ride on Star even though I think it was against the rules. Everyone else was walking, even Mrs Pommerans. The forest around us was so big and dark that our torches and lanterns looked like tiny fireflies. I shuddered, and suddenly thought I could hear something rustle in the thicket behind us. A fox, maybe, or a bigger animal? I wondered if there were wolves in a place like this.

  Then it struck me that a wolf or two would be nothing compared to what awaited me, and I stopped looking over my shoulder.

  The jellyfish pool lay in a valley surrounded by snow-topped rocks. There was, however, no snow near the pool and the dark water was steaming slightly.

  “How deep is it?” I asked Mr Malkin, who was walking on one side of Star. “I won’t drown, will I?”

  “No,” he said. “Not if you stay on your feet. I think the water will come up to your chest at its deepest point.”

  Chimera was there, too, of course. Her wings cast blue shadows across the snow in front of us.

  “You know this can kill you, don’t you?” she said. “They say people scream for hours while they try to scratch off their own skin. And then they die. Why don’t you just admit that you lied? Then you won’t have to endure that kind of pain.”

  Mr Malkin turned around.

  “Be quiet, Chimera,” he said. “The law doesn’t allow you to threaten and intimidate a witness.”

  But it was too late. The words had been spoken and I couldn’t get them out of my head.

  Star carefully descended the last stretch of the slope, which was clear of snow, and stopped. I patted her and thanked her for the ride, sincerely hoping that it wouldn’t be the last time I sat on her round back.

  I was supposed to take off almost all my clothes. My fingers were shaking so badly that Aunt Isa had to help me with the buttons on my raincoat and again I heard a snort of derision from Chimera.

  “The girl’s terrified,” she announced. “Let’s put an end to this ridiculous performance so we can all go home.”

  No one responded. But Aunt Isa kissed my cheek and whispered into my ear. “Trust in nature – and in yourself. They won’t hurt you.”

  Thuja and the other Raven Mothers formed a circle around the rock pool and again started humming monotonously, as they had done with the fireflies. Something in the water began to glow. It was the jellyfish. I could see them now. And they weren’t the clear little blobs of jelly I’d imagined. They looked like large, transparent church bells floating through the water, their tentacles as long, fat and knobbly as those of an octopus.

  “Let the trial commence,” Thuja said.

  Steps had been carved into the rock and I was supposed to walk down them. As I stepped onto the first one, I was shaking all over and couldn’t feel my legs at all. They won’t hurt you, I kept whispering to myself, but it was hard to believe it, and when the water touched my ankles at the first step, I stopped. It was warm. Not as warm as bathwater, but after the cold, frosty air it almost felt like it.

  I looked up. Chimera was standing at the edge of the pool, right behind two of the Raven Mothers. Her yellow eyes met mine.

  “They scream for hours,” she said in a low voice, just loud enough for me to hear.

  Now that ought to have terrified me even more. But it didn’t. I think I was already as scared as a human being could get. And it was then that I realized she didn’t want me to go into the water. That was the reason she was intimidating me, the reason she was trying to frighten me into giving up.

  She thinks I can do it.

  The thought came out of the blue, or rather, out of her menacing, yellow gaze: if she was so sure that I didn’t stand a chance, why was she trying so hard to make me give up?

  How strange that Chimera apparently had more faith in me than I did.

  This realization made me walk down the next steps, deeper into the water.

  I waited for the pain, but it didn’t come.

  The jellyfish floated around me and one of them softly bumped against my leg, a strange rubbery sensation. But they didn’t sting me. Aunt Isa was right. I could trust nature – and possibly myself a little bit.

  Slowly I waded across the pool and out the other side.

  I got soaked, but that was all.

  “Clara Ash has passed Waterfire,” Thuja announced.

  “You’re halfway,” Aunt Isa said while she dried my shoulders with a towel. “And you’ve done brilliantly. Here, put this jumper on before you freeze to death.”

  I pulled the jumper over my head with shaking arms. And this time it was because I was cold. Winter bathing was definitely not a sport I would ever want to take up.

  I felt very odd. Almost as if I could never be scared again. Or at least, not as scared. At long last I felt just as big on the inside as everybody else. It was wonderful.

  “They didn’t hurt me,” I said, probably for the fifth time. “They actually didn’t hurt me.”

  “No,” Aunt Isa said and smiled. “I told you so.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Earthfire

  I was only halfway, but it felt like more than that. And the thought of the third trial, Earthfire, frightened me much less than the stinging jellyfish.

  I would have to walk through a cave. Fire lizards that looked like small dragons lived inside it, Mrs Pommerans had explained. They would spew clouds of flaming gas into the air and that might be uncomfortable, obviously, but in my opinion not as bad as the venomous tentacles of the jellyfish. And since the jellyfish hadn’t hurt me, why would the fire lizards be more hostile?

  Chimera glared at me and I thought I could already see defeat in her scowl.

  Just you wait, I thought to myself. You’ll be the loser and I’ll win this trial. Because I really am a wildwitch. I might not be the best wildwitch in the world, but I wasn’t lying. They’ll let me pass.

  I actually believed it.

  The entrance to the cave was a hole in the ground, not much bigger than one of the basement windows at home.

  “This time you’ll be on your own,” Mrs Pommerans said. “We won’t be able to see you until you come out on the other side. And this trial is a little harder because it’s not enough that the fire lizards don’t hurt you, they also have t
o help you. Their fire is your only light down there and, without that, it’ll be difficult for you to find your way out.”

  “Yes,” I said. “I understand.”

  “In that case, there’s nothing more I can tell you, little witch. Good luck.”

  No one was humming this time. Was that because I had to rouse the fire lizards myself, if I wanted their help? I couldn’t help feeling a little cheated. All the wildwitches did was tie a rope around my waist and lower me into a hole, and it felt rather unceremonious. It was nowhere near as stylish as the first two trials.

  But then again it isn’t about style, I told myself. It’s about survival and proving that Chimera is lying and not me!

  As I’d expected, it was dark inside the cave. Dark and damp as in a basement. I landed awkwardly and felt a twinge in my knee – not a sharp pain, just a gentle warning that I couldn’t be sure how long it would support me.

  I wondered how far it was to the exit. No one had told me anything about that. What if I couldn’t walk that far?

  I untied myself from the rope they’d lowered me down with. It disappeared up into the air and soon afterwards a cover was pushed across the opening so that the last remnant of moon and torchlight disappeared.

  Now it was properly dark. Pitch black.

  And that was when I got scared.

  I realized that I hadn’t thought this trial through. How would I make the fire lizards light up the cave? I guess I’d imagined that I could fumble my way to the exit without any light if they couldn’t be bothered to help. But as soon as I took my first, tentative step, I knew that wouldn’t work. I stubbed my toe on something hard, I stumbled and only avoided falling because I bumped into the rough wall of the cave and was able to hold onto it.

  I couldn’t risk a fall. I could break both arms and legs, even my neck, and my knee wouldn’t tolerate many more knocks on top of the ones it had already got.