“Look here, mister,” I say, fear and frustration making me raise my voice. “I don’t need you to be all attitude-y because I can’t just call on fire like Fey do!”
I punctuate my outburst with a snap of the fingers and a flame bursts to life above them. I swallow back a shout of surprise.
“You couldn’t have done that sooner?” Nibs asks, spitting at my feet in disgust.
“I didn’t,” I start, my mouth suddenly dry. “I’ve never…. It isn’t….”
Nibs snickers. “Well, that’s all well and pretty,” he says, “but can’t you do something more useful, like whisk us out of here, by any chance?”
It’s my turn to glare at the clurichaun.
“Then I suggest we keep running,” he says, bolting, Puck and the black cat on his heels.
Holding my hand as far away from myself as possible to avoid burning my head off, I run after them.
◆◆◆
“Shhh,” Nibs says, skittering to a stop at another fork in the tunnel.
Breathing heavily, I perk my ears up. Over my heavy panting can be heard a faint, rhythmic buzzing as if thousands of bugs are trapped inside the walls and desperately trying to fly free. Nibs shudders visibly and I’m about to ask him what he thinks it is when the cat meows loudly, startling us.
“Where the hell did that thing come from?” Nibs asks, looking more and more frightened.
“Relax,” I say. “It’s just a stray that’s been following us.”
Nibs throws me a murderous look. “Just a stray, huh?”
The cat purrs loudly, circling my ankles, then heads down the right-hand passage where the buzzing is distinctly louder.
“I think it wants us to follow it,” I say.
“I’m not going anywhere near that beast,” Nibs says.
The cat comes padding back for us, then meows questioningly before trying to herd us down its chosen path again. But for once I agree with Nibs: We need to avoid people and eerie, unknown thingies trapped inside walls, not run headlong into them.
To the cat’s frantic hisses, we engulf ourselves into the left tunnel and run until the cat and the freaky buzzing are but distant memories. After what seems like hours, Nibs finally stops.
“What is it?” I ask, holding a stitch in my side.
Nibs sniffs the air then his lips thin out, stretching his scarred face outward, and I realize with a mixture of disgust and guilt that he’s smiling. “Up,” he says, pointing with his finger.
I lift my hand higher so the flames can illuminate a greater portion of the underground corridor and find a ladder has been carved into the stone wall leading to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
“What do you think is up there?” I ask.
“Only one way to find out.” Nibs jumps onto the first rung and, nimble as a monkey, makes his way to the top.
My arm shakes with the effort of keeping my hand up to light his way. But the moment Nibs pushes the trapdoor open, I hear him squeal and a gust of wind rushes inside to snuff my flickering flame out.
Chapter 4
“Nibs?” I call out tentatively after the clurichaun has disappeared through the trapdoor.
I wait for an impossibly long minute, anger broiling within me as the seconds tick by. Finally, I’m forced to come to the only conclusion left: The little rat’s run away without me!
“I should’ve known he’d betray me,” I say through gritted teeth as I grip the ladder’s rungs and start climbing, “that’s what he was locked up for to begin with.”
Heart pounding somewhere in my throat, I crack the trapdoor open and momentarily close my eyes to bask in the last rays of the sun, breathing in the scent of wildflowers carried over by the playful breeze.
I hear a sharp ring followed by the clatter of wood and I quickly duck back into my hole before I realize the sounds are coming from the reconstruction site at the landing docks five hundred feet away.
I peer through the gap, the rung’s metal digging into my hand, as one of the workers bellows a shout and another pan of the burnt-out pier comes crumbling down.
I let out a breath of relief—it appears the general alarm hasn’t been sounded yet and the construction team is too busy working to notice one student wandering about the school grounds, even if she does pop out of the earth like some gigantic mole.
I carefully hoist myself into the open air then let the trapdoor close behind me, its grass-covered panel merging seamlessly back into the hillside. I take one quick look around: Behind me is the school, tall and foreboding, a machine to crank out soldiers in the knights’ ongoing war with the Fey; left of me are the landing docks; and to my right are the yet untouched remains of the asylum with, behind it, a tall mound of bones and ashes, the burned up remains of our enemy fallen in battle.
Shivering, I shift my gaze to the empty fields ahead of me and, lying beyond them along the hazy horizon line, Avalon’s forest.
My key to freedom.
“OK, keep your cool, Morgan,” I tell myself as I set off, my heart speeding up, urging me to walk faster. “You’ve gotta keep your cool or you’re gonna look suspect.”
But my legs won’t listen to me and I’m soon tearing down the hillside at full speed. As I round a small copse of trees, a loud blast shakes the ground and I duck behind an oak’s large trunk, scanning the area for any sign of pursuit. A second later, I spot Nibs’s small figure rolling down the hill, his red jacket now ripped to shreds. He gets back up with obvious difficulty, then starts running again as half a dozen guards appear from around the construction site.
There’s a shout and the guy in the lead lifts his arm, sending a beam of green, sylphid air shooting through the air. The bolt hits Nibs in the back and the small clurichaun falls sprawling to the ground.
“Come on, get up,” I mutter under my breath. “You can’t let them take you like this. Not after all the trouble I went through to get you out!”
But Nibs isn’t moving and the knights are closing in on him. With a loud swear, I sprint out of my hiding place towards the clurichaun.
“There she is!” a girl shouts, and I speed up.
“After them!” someone else yells, sounding closer, as I stoop down to help Nibs up.
“Get away from me, wench,” Nibs spits, feebly batting my hand away. “From here on out, we’re going our separate ways.”
“Don’t be stupid,” I retort, pulling him after me despite his objections. “There’s only one way out of here, and it’s the same for both of us.”
I glance over my shoulder to find the group of guards has doubled in size and, with a burst of fear, spot Percy and the cousins in their midst.
“Crap!” I say, redoubling the pace. “Here comes the cavalry.”
Nibs and I scamper away as if our bums are on fire. Already I can distinguish the large shape of one of the school’s markers detaching itself from the darkening sky.
“Keep running,” I tell Nibs who sounds like an old steam engine running out of fuel. “Just a few more fields, then we’ll be safe inside the forest.”
If you can call ‘safe’ a place crawling with Fey avid for my blood. But I don’t voice my concern; that’s something I’ll worry about when I get there.
A bolt of fire hits the ground in front of us, leaving a wide crater in its wake, and I swerve around to avoid it.
“They’re catching up!” I yell, panting.
The tall standing stone quickly grows larger, dwarfing all in its surroundings. But just as we’re about to reach it, a sentry appears from behind the monolith, sparks of fire blooming from her outstretched hands.
“Down!” I scream.
I throw myself to the ground as a ball of fire detonates above our heads, showering us with embers.
“They certainly aren’t playing around, are they?” I say, sweat dripping freely down my face.
“Great observation, Sherlock,” Nibs retorts, spitting mud back out of his mouth.
I flatten myself down as another flaming missile flashe
s past my head, singeing my hair in its passage.
“Are you trying to kill me?” I cry out to the guard.
“That’s what knights are for,” the woman says, “to kill demons like you two.” She flings her hand again and a third flaming ball hurtles straight at me.
I instinctively raise my hands before me and my stomach heaves in response. A glowing orb the size of a soccer ball blazes into existence from the tip of my fingers then shoots out towards the oncoming projectile. The two spheres of power collide in a sizzling explosion that knocks me backward.
“Wendy’s down!” someone shouts in the distance, the voice breaking through the ringing in my ears.
Blinking tears out of my eyes, I get back up into a low crouch, expecting another attack. But I find the sentry lying on the ground, knocked out cold by the force of the blast.
A fat ball of red rags moans a few paces away.
“Nibs!” I shout, rushing to his aid.
The clurichaun emerges from under the remains of his large jacket, sputtering.
“That bitch is gonna regret it!” he snarls, pumping his fists at the unconscious knight.
“No time,” I say, dragging the dazed clurichaun after me.
But the closer we get to the forest, the more Nibs keeps tripping over his own two wide feet, robbing us of precious seconds.
“Come on,” I urge him as I backtrack to help him up again. “We’re almost there!”
I shield my eyes as a sudden beam of light flashes in front of us then fades away, leaving a soft, glowing circle in the ground behind, runes twinkling along its circumference.
And, standing next to it, is a small boy. “Over here!” he shouts, waving at us excitedly.
The gleam of the magic circle reflects off his sharp teeth and I instantly recognize him: The Fey boy who took me to Avalon.
“A portal!” Nibs wheezes, finding the energy to wrench himself from my grip.
He sets off towards the Fey child at a hobbling run. I hesitate for a second before rushing after him.
“Hurry!” the Fey boy says, his big eyes flashing in the light of the bright runes. “They’re almost—”
A blast of wind rips through the earth, gouging a deep trench between us. As I drop to my knees, I watch Nibs disappear down the wide furrow with a cry of terror.
“Hold on!” I huff, crawling rapidly up to the edge of the long ditch.
The chasm is as deep as it is long, gaping like a ravenous maw below me. It takes me a while to spot Nibs, clinging to the side of the ditch several feet down. I reach for him, feeling the upturned earth under my fingers until they brush up against a head of greasy hair.
“Got ya!” I say, my hand closing around the scruff of Nibs’s shirt before pulling him up.
“Stop right there!” a guard shouts, his voice shrill.
Still holding onto Nibs, I crane my neck around and swallow with difficulty—a line of guards is closing in on us, weapons out, ogham-encrusted hands sparkling with energy.
“Just leave him and come with me,” the Fey boy says from across the ditch, his voice squeaking with fear.
I watch wearily as the knights inch closer, their eyes cold and unforgiving. I bite down on my lip hard, straining not to drop the clurichaun.
Two familiar faces appear in their midst, their heads towering over everyone else’s, and I feel all hope drain out of me.
“Bonsoir, Morgan!” Gauvain shouts, his French accent heavy.
“We’ve come to fletch you!” Gareth adds, his bright smile beaming in the early night.
“Just a second,” I mutter, sweat falling into my eyes.
It may be too late for me to run away, but I can still keep my word to Nibs. With a loud grunt, I swing my arm out and toss Nibs towards the Fey boy and his magic circle.
“Get him out of here!” I yell, turning to face the guards.
“I can’t leave without you!” the Fey boy says, sounding panicky.
“Just go!” I shout back, flexing my fingers, wondering if I can bring back that ball of fire. “I’ll keep them busy.”
“Then remember this,” I hear the Fey boy say over the crackling sounds of elemental magic being called upon by the knights. “When you can, call my name three times and I’ll come fetch you!”
But as he tries to tell me his name, two knights pump their fists in our direction and a gale of wind roars to life, eating up the Fey boy’s words. The mini-tornado spins around me then slices towards Nibs and the Fey boy, ripping the ground in its passage and threatening to cut them to ribbons.
I throw my hands up in a desperate attempt to shield them. The ground shakes in response, the tremors amplifying until it splits open and a wall of earth rises around Nibs and the Fey boy.
The column of wind hits the barrier with a deafening crash, sending debris flying in all directions, pelting the gathered knights with rocks and dirt. Shielding my face, I barely have the time to see the glowing circle wink out of existence before I’m blasted off my feet by another attack, my chest burning in protest.
I land on the packed earth, jarring my teeth.
“Lower your weapons!” Gauvain shouts.
“Or Arthur will extract revenge from all of you,” Gareth adds.
“It’s to ‘exact revenge,’ you dunce,” Gauvain says.
“I really don’t know why you want to dance now,” Gareth retorts, sounding frustrated. “Are you sure the battle with the Fomori didn’t wreck havoc with your brains?”
“I believe you meant ‘wreak havoc,’ dunghill,” Gauvain says, sounding mightily offended.
“It’s one in the same,” Gareth says. “And I don’t appreciate being insulted all the time.”
“One and the same,” Gauvain says through gritted teeth, “just as you and a donkey’s ass are apparently one and the same!”
Head spinning, I push myself back onto my feet just as Gareth punches his cousin in the stomach. The other knights use this opportunity to surround me and, out of the corner of my eye, I see one of them fling his hand towards me.
“Laguz,” he intones.
There’s a shout as a torrent of water bursts out, rearing overhead like a leviathan.
“Morgan!” the cousins shout in unison.
But it’s too late.
I watch with growing horror as the massive wave crests then comes crashing down into me. I gasp as the water sweeps me up into its freezing embrace, tumbling me over and around like a washing machine. Finally, when I think I’m about to drown, the stream subsides and leaves me hacking back water in the middle of a miasma of mud and cow manure.
Coughing, I look up as a dozen salamander lights flit into existence in the sky, casting wide shadows on the guards’ angry faces. Hands suddenly grab me, forcing my head down into the mud. I wince as a knee digs into my back.
“You’re going to pay for this, traitor!” a girl hisses in my ear, yanking my head back by the hair and placing a sharp blade against my exposed throat.
“Well that was an interestin’ show,” I hear Percy say, before he pushes his way to the front of the crowd clapping his hands together slowly. “But the spectacle’s over, boys and gals.”
He nods to the cousins and I notice Gareth has the knight who tried to kill me locked in a tight choke hold.
“That means droppin’ your new toys,” Percy tells them.
With a frown, Gareth unclenches his solid arm from around the knight’s neck and the guy drops to his knees, wheezing heavily.
“Especially when they’re not yours to begin with,” Percy adds with a significant look at the knight pinning me down.
I feel a tremor course through the girl and I try to push the knife away before she accidentally cuts my throat open, but the guard pulls harder on my hair and I bite back a sharp yell.
“Release her!”
The knights suddenly stand at attention as Arthur and Lady Ysolt make their way over, both looking extremely annoyed.
“I did warn you about playin’ with other pe
ople’s belongings,” Percy says, blowing on his fingernails.
“This Fey escaped from prison and attacked me,” the girl retorts, her knife digging a little deeper.
I feel the familiar pinch of skin breaking open and blood trickles down my neck, warm against my cold skin.
“That makes her a traitor, and a dangerous one,” the knight continues. “And traitors are to be killed!”
“That is not for you to decide, Lady Wendy,” Lady Ysolt says. “The Board rendered its judgment, you should follow its orders.”
“But did they know what she was capable of?” the knight asks, her knee pressing down harder into my back.
“Are you implying the Board is incompetent?” Lady Ysolt replies coldly, her hair looking like fire in the floating salamander lights.
The seconds lengthen, increasing the tension etched in every knight’s face. Finally, the girl speaks up.
“They weren’t in possession of all the facts,” she says, but she doesn’t sound as sure of herself anymore.
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Arthur warns, his voice getting dangerously low.
The guard holding me down grows very still and I catch myself holding my breath in fear.
“Unhand my squire before I have you expelled for breach of duty!” Arthur snaps.
After another long, painful minute, the knife finally leaves my throat and the girl shoves me away with a growl.
“That’s right,” I say as I slowly get up, shaking like a leaf. “You heard the man, now shoo.”
The girl looks at me in disgust, her dark curls stuck to the side of her face with blood. I eye her knife wearily as she clenches its hilt, wondering if she’s going to throw it at me.
“Let’s have Dr. Cockleburr take a look at you,” Lady Ysolt says, steering her away from me and back towards the school, Percy and the cousins doing the same with the rest of the knights.
But as I watch their backs disappear into the night’s shadows, I wish I had been taken away too—anything to avoid having to face Arthur. Not after everything he’s done to me.
“I didn’t need you to step in,” I say, “I’m entirely capable of handling things myself.”
Morgana Trilogy Complete Series Page 44