Chapter 25- You Will Never Leave!
Edwin grimaced, his arms feeling the strain as the Terrible Fang hoisted him higher and higher. The snake seemed oblivious to his presence; which Edwin felt was just as well, because he knew she could easily shake him off if she wanted to.
“Inglenook,” he cried, staring imploringly at the Key’s metal face. “Can you hear me?”
Those iron features remained lifeless, and Edwin realised the Key was recharging. Inglenook had warned that saving Moll would require a lot of magic power. If only he’d listened! He had no idea how long the Key would take to recharge; it could be minutes or hours before he could use the power again. But however long it might take, Edwin feared it might be too long…
A piercing shriek interrupted his thoughts, and Edwin saw something white and angular darting across the circle of blue sky at the top of the Pit.
A seagull.
Of course, thought Edwin. The seagull sentries wouldn’t let the Terrible Fang escape from the Isle of Lost Souls!
The seagull dived at the Terrible Fang, who veered sharply to evade the attack. The sudden change in movement threw Edwin sideways, but he managed to keep hold of the Key.
More seagulls joined the fray. One in particular seemed more interested in Edwin than the Terrible Fang.
“Hold on!” screamed a voice. “I’m coming to save you!”
Edwin thought he was hearing things. That voice sounded familiar.
He saw a figure astride the seagull. A slender, tanned woman dressed in rags, her tousled auburn hair streaming flame-like behind her. She brandished a twig sharpened into a spear, and looked like some fierce Amazonian warrior.
“Edwin,” yelled the woman, pointing the spear at him. “I’m going to fly close. Be ready to grab my arm.”
And then Edwin recognised the woman. “Mum?”
Jane’s seagull flew closer to Edwin, but the Terrible Fang made another sharp movement, and Jane had to abandon her approach. “I’ll try again,” she shouted, as her seagull wheeled away to commence another pass.
Suddenly the air was filled with seagulls, the echo of their cries magnified into a deafening cacophony. The Terrible Fang snapped furiously, but was struggling against the sheer number of her enemies.
She’s finished, thought Edwin. There was no way the Terrible Fang could escape.
Then the Terrible Fang opened her mouth and exhaled a long hiss. Her eyes flared brighter, and then a plume of orange flame shot from her gaping jaws.
The seagulls dispersed with a chorus of terrified squawks, some with their tail feathers alight.
“Look out, Mum!” Edwin screamed the warning at the top of his voice, but he was already too late. The Terrible Fang breathed more fire, and Jane’s seagull had to veer sharply to avoid the searing flames. Jane was thrown from the bird’s back, and Edwin watched in horror as his mother went plummeting to earth.
Another seagull flew down and grabbed Jane in its beak. Edwin emitted a groan of relief as he watched the bird carry his mother to safety. But his relief was short lived.
“No one can stop me,” hissed the Terrible Fang. “I shall escape this prison and take revenge on the world!”
Edwin realised the snake was right. If the seagulls couldn’t stop her, no one could.
Especially not him. He’d been an idiot. He was way out of his league. And he was about to drop out of that league altogether. Probably literally.
The Terrible Fang had almost reached the top of the Pit. Edwin looked down, but he was too high up to discern any figures below. He wondered if Bryony could see him up here. He wondered if she cared whether he lived or died. He wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t. This was all his fault. He hadn’t wanted to share the power. He thought he was using it for good, but Slinker had been right: he was being just as selfish as Bryony. Perhaps even more…
Then Edwin caught sight of movement below. There was a web strand attached to the Terrible Fang, and something was climbing nimbly up it.
That something was a spider. A very large spider. A very large, very dusty, very angry looking spider.
In a heartbeat, the Widow Splicefinger’s spidery face was right in front of Edwin. “We made a deal,” she rasped, her eight eyes glinting with fury. “You gave me your word as Principle Guardian that you would help the Sisterhood.”
“The deal still stands,” shouted Edwin. “I have the Key and I will help you.”
“No, little grub. It is I who will help you.” The Widow Splicefinger leaned forwards, and Edwin noticed someone clinging to her back. Another face stared at him; a human, dust caked face framed by a writhing mass of matted black hair.
“Let go of the Key,” cried Bryony, reaching out a grimy hand towards him.
“No,” yelled Edwin, after recovering from his shock. “The Key is mine.”
“Let go,” repeated Bryony, her cracked lips quivering. “It’s our only chance. We can use this web strand to get down.”
Edwin shook his head. “It’s a trick. You only want the Key for yourself. But you’re not having it. You’ll never have it. It’s mine, forever.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” said Bryony. “The Key is recharging. It could take hours before you can use the magic again. And we only have seconds before the Terrible Fang reaches the top of the Pit.”
“And then the web strand will break,” said the Widow Splicefinger, “and it will be too late to save yourselves.”
Edwin knew they were right. But he wasn’t going to surrender the Key, not after all he’d been through to get it. “Save yourselves,” he shouted. “Leave the Key to me.”
“I don’t care about the Key,” growled Bryony. “I came up here to get you!” She leaned over to grab Edwin’s arm, but he twisted his body round and pushed her away with a raised foot.
“Leave me alone,” he snarled.
“No,” said Bryony. “I got you into this mess, and I’m going to get you out of it.”
Balancing on the Widow Splicefinger’s back, Bryony lunged at Edwin again. This time she missed her target, and went tumbling over the spider’s head.
Edwin didn’t see what happened, but he felt a sudden weight pulling on his body as the plummeting Bryony grabbed his ankles.
“Get off,” he grunted, scowling down at Bryony. “You’re too heavy. And yes, I am saying you’re fat.”
Bryony held on to Edwin’s legs for dear life. “Help us,” she begged the Widow Splicefinger.
“We are almost out of time,” replied the Great Mother. “I gave you the chance to save yourselves. You still have that chance.” The spider raised a foreleg and pointed at the dangling web strand. “I am beyond saving, but I shall redeem my crimes with my final act of sacrifice.”
The Widow Splicefinger hoisted herself up onto the snake’s tail, and scuttled up the winding serpent body. “You shall never leave,” she cried in her ancient, desiccated voice. “You are doomed to die here like the rest of us!”
The Terrible Fang emitted a startled hiss, but in a flash the Widow Splicefinger was at her throat.
A mighty gale buffeted Edwin and Bryony as they neared the top of the Pit. Edwin clung on to the Key, ignoring the pain as Bryony’s weight threatened to tear his arms from their sockets. Like Bryony, he watched transfixed as the Widow Splicefinger sank her mandibles into the Terrible Fang’s throat.
There was a hiss, sharp with pain, and the Terrible Fang’s body twisted violently. Flung in all directions by the snake’s lashing tail, Edwin managed to keep his grip on the Key, with Bryony still locked around his ankles.
The Widow Splicefinger took another bite, pumping more venom into her victim. The Terrible Fang writhed in agony, flames spewing from her opened jaws, her eyes ablaze with pain and fury.
And then the snake’s body went limp, and her tail uncoiled…
And suddenly the Key, Edwin and Bryony were falling. The rushing air forced its way into their mouths and noses. A terrible howling noise rang in their ears, masking their cries of terror.
But now Edwin realised that even magic couldn’t save him.
The force of rushing air tore Edwin’s hands from the Key. He tried to grab it back, but he was blown out of reach by a sudden blast of turbulence.
He glanced round and saw the Terrible Fang’s body spiralling past, her lifeless wings fluttering like broken umbrellas in a gale. The Widow Splicefinger still clung to the serpent’s back, unwilling to relinquish her final victim.
Then Edwin glimpsed a silver thread, fluttering in the air like a streamer from the Terrible Fang’s tail. The web strand! He reached out and grabbed it, his hands fusing to the sticky strand on impact. He looked over his shoulder and yelled to Bryony to do the same, but her arms were still wrapped around his ankles, and she dared not let go in case the buffeting air blew her away from Edwin.
Looking down, Edwin saw the Key tumble into the giant crack in the middle of the Pit. The Terrible Fang followed, with the Widow Splicefinger clasped to her throat. A plume of orange flame leaped up from the crack, and Edwin felt a blast of heat against his face. The flame died, and he saw those red eyes flare for one last time before they faded into darkness.
The web strand had broken, but Edwin and Bryony were headed for the crack, whose jagged sides gaped like a hungry mouth to swallow them…
Wychetts and the Key to Magic Page 26