Hexult

by Perry Aylen

  From the decks of the pursuing boats, the delighted raiders saw Aulf’s entire mast topple backwards, and land in a confusion of ropes and spars on the cabin roof. The craft slid on, under its own momentum. A post must have been pulled from the ice or the trip rope snapped, but either way, the raiders had got their prize. The two pursuing boats sped up once again to overpower the stricken vessel before her crew had time to recover.

  Crawling around beneath the sails, Aulf was checking and sorting the stays and spars with practised speed and precision. He clambered forward and cleared the jib away, raising a pole in its place. Running the forestay over a pulley at the end of the pole, he ran back to the bow, pulled open a small hatch in the deck, ran the stay round a winding block and attached a handle. He drew a deep breath and waited.

  The raiding boats were bearing down on him fast. Too late, they saw the trip line still intact and realised their error, frantically throwing out their anchors and dropping their sails, but to no avail. The first boat hit the trip at full speed. The stays cracked like whips as they parted company from their fastenings. With a terrible groan, the mast came crashing down, splintering the cabin. Fortunately for Aulf, the trip line held firm. The second boat caught the trip at a gentler angle and sailed on down its length, its mast gliding along the line. But slowly the boat tilted, almost gracefully, and finally toppled. The mast hit the ice with a sickening crack, and the stricken craft slewed round, scattering its crew across the ice.

  Once he was certain the pursuers would hit the trip, Aulf had begun winding. His own mast hadn’t touched the stretched line. The red rope Aulf had tugged on was there for just such an emergency. It loosed the forestay and the two side stays that sat just forward of the mast. It was a rig designed by Aulf’s father and perfected by Aulf with the aid of precious Jakir rope, at least ten times stronger than other rope. It had saved Aulf’s skin on a number of occasions.

  With the stays reattached and tensioned, Aulf dropped the mainsail and pulled back to a safer distance. Only then did he stop again and reattach the jib, pausing to check that everything was working properly, while he kept a careful eye on the two stranded vessels. There was no doubt at all that the raiders were going to be limping home very slowly, unless they made for Pelago. He gave the two broken boats a wide berth, sailing back towards the jetty where he had moored earlier. He would have to pick up the others and leave swiftly. His boat would be too much of a target for the stricken raiders if they saw it again.

  Chapter 25

  Ingar rounded the hill, only to see an empty jetty below her. In an instant her excitement evaporated, and she broke into a run. Reaching the shore she scanned the horizon. Nothing. There was no sign of a boat anywhere. Where had Aulf gone? She pushed back the panic rising within her. The only reasons she could think of for Aulf’s disappearance were bad ones.

  At ice level, Aulf had told her, the horizon is always closer than you think. Remembering that, she turned and headed back up the hill at a breathless run. Scrambling the last few feet to the top, she peered anxiously around the rim of the horizon. There was something out there. Two shapes, in fact. They had to be boats, but they were too far away to make out if either of them was the Aurora. Neither was moving. She squinted hard against the brightness of the ice, but she could not make out any detail. If only she had had her skates, she could have covered that distance in no time, but her skates were on the boat.

  It had to be raiders. There was no other explanation. Somehow she had to get across the ice to help Aulf. She turned and scrambled hurriedly back down the hillside to the path. A movement below, to her right, caught her attention, partially obscured by a couple of trees. She spun round and glimpsed the Aurora. There was no doubt about it. The mail boat was moving fast, heading back towards the jetty.

  She raced back that way herself. Aulf was heaving to as she reached it. He leaned over the rail and shouted at her.

  ‘There are raiders out there! Run and get the others! We need to get out of here quickly before they come back!’

  Ignoring him, she sprang off the jetty, onto the deck, flinging her arms around his neck.

  ‘Calm down!’ he told her, surprised and a little alarmed by this unexpected storm of emotion from the normally reserved Ingar. He put his arm around her by way of reassurance, and gave her what he hoped was a comforting squeeze.

  ‘I thought that was you out there on the ice!’ she explained, still panting.

  Aulf told her briefly about the raiders. ‘But if they have skates, they could easily come after us again,’ he finished. ‘They’re desperate for a good boat now. That’s why we need to get a move on. Can you run up and get the other two?’

  Ingar shook her head. ‘No need. Listen, do you trust me?’

  Aulf looked puzzled and a little anxious. There was a dangerous glint in Ingar’s eyes. ‘Of course I trust you.’

  ‘Then do as I say now, and don’t argue. Sail round to the other side of the island.’

  He opened his mouth to ask a question, but she cut him short. ‘You said you trusted me, so just do it, and don’t argue.’

  He did as he was instructed, and when they had reached the far side of the island, Ingar asked to take the helm. He handed it over without a word. She immediately pointed the Aurora’s nose towards the island, heading directly for a group of trees at the water’s edge.

  Aulf fidgeted nervously. ‘The trees,’ he warned, unable to keep quiet any longer as the shoreline grew uncomfortably close, but Ingar did not flinch from her course. He lost his nerve and had just moved a hand towards the dragging anchor when he saw Elya and Jacob step out from between the trees. There was a man with them, built like a great bear, tall, broad and thickly muscled, and clad in a strange coat of patchwork fur.

  The Aurora hit the shore between the trees. Aulf closed his eyes just before it happened, but opened them again in surprise when he realised they had not come to a grinding halt. Instead, the boat seemed to rise up, continuing forward through the trees, slowing as it went. The big man stepped forward and attached a rope, as thick as Aulf’s arm, to the bow, then turned away and headed back up the hill.

  He could see now, ahead of the boat, a road of rollers disappearing upwards into the trees. Ingenious! He began to wind in the outriggers. Moments later there was a jolt, and the Aurora was pulled forwards again, nosing her way gently up the hill. Jacob and Elya walked one on either side of the boat to keep her steady on the path. Within minutes there was nothing to be seen from the ice.

  Jeremiah produced a jar of elderflower cordial and they all drank to Aulf’s escape from the raiders, and to the incredible wizards’ fire which Aulf had not yet seen. Jeremiah couldn’t wait to demonstrate the newly discovered magic, and Aulf was as stunned as Ingar and Jeremiah had been when they first saw it. He took the flint and steel from the blacksmith and tried it for himself, several times.

  When the initial excitement had died down, Elya said, seriously, ‘What do you think? Will people want to buy them?’

  ‘How fast can you make them?’ returned Aulf, enthusiastically. ‘I’d give fifty varins for one of those! You’ll make a fortune!’

  ‘We’ll make a fortune,’ Elya corrected him. ‘The five of us are in this together. Whatever we make, we share.’

  ‘I think the islanders are going to be fighting over these,’ Aulf told her. ‘It’s a brilliant idea, Elya. Enchanted stones, fire from ice, and now these, magical fire lighters! What next?’

  Elya looked anxious. ‘I realise that some of the things Jacob and I know about seem like magic to you, but, like we said before, it’s only science.’ She shook her head as she gazed round at them all. ‘There is nothing special about us, and we want you to remember that. However...’ She weighed her words carefully. ‘...I was thinking about what Jacob said yesterday, and what Gabriel said. If people are determined to think of us as wizards, it may be that we can use that to our advantage. If, for instance, it helps to sell these fire strikers, then that will ultimatel
y help us all.’

  ‘Excellent!’ said Jacob, a broad grin lighting up his face. ‘I’ve always wanted to be a wizard!’ Rising imperiously to his feet and puffing out his chest, he spoke in a voice several tones deeper than his natural one.

  ‘My name is Jacob, High Wizard of Hexult. All bow down for the wizard.’

  No one bowed, but Elya threw a cushion at him, and they all laughed.

  ‘We should start making our first batch of steels in the morning,’ proposed Elya, when they had settled down again. ‘Right now, I’m hungry. Let’s bring in some food from the boat. And the chief wizard can magic up a load of wood for the stove!’

  Chapter 26

  At Ingar’s suggestion, Jeremiah replaced the iron edge on the Aurora’s runners with the steel edges salvaged from the wreck of the Gem. Eager to test them out, Aulf and Ingar departed the next morning to deliver the mail around Pelago, leaving Jacob and Elya to work with Grim on perfecting their steel-making techniques.

  ‘I wish Aulf and Ingar would hurry up and get back,’ Elya announced at the end of their second busy day of steel-making. They had a small crate of finished strikers, neatly packed, and she couldn’t help feeling pleased and proud of what they had achieved. ‘I really want to see if these will sell.’

  ‘I don’t think you should have any worries on that score,’ Grim told her. He had only known Jacob and Elya for two days, but already he had grown fond of them. Despite their own unusual and unexpected store of knowledge and skills, they deferred happily to his greater experience. He was impressed by them both, but particularly by Elya. He never let it show in his face, but it constantly amused him to see her skinny arms struggling with the huge, heavy blacksmith’s tools designed for his own giant frame. Yet, Elya never gave up trying – in fact, she usually succeeded - such was her determination. Jeremiah watched her in quiet admiration, and never interfered until she asked for help.

  ‘Anyway,’ he went on with a little glint in his eye, ‘why should we have to wait for Aulf and Ingar?’

  Elya gave him a quizzical look. ‘Because,’ she replied, stating the obvious, ‘we really need to take these to Pelago Town, and you told us yourself you had loads more work to do on your boat before it was iceworthy.’

  Jeremiah smiled. ‘I don’t use a boat to get around Pelago. Why do you think I keep my dogs? I can take you on the dog sled.’

  Elya’s eyes widened. ‘I didn’t think anyone still used dog sleds.’

  ‘Not on the other islands, but it’s still the best way to get around Pelago,’ Jeremiah said. ‘We can go as soon as you like. First thing tomorrow morning, if you can get up with the dogs.’

  Elya and Jacob’s faces lit up at the prospect of riding on a dog sled, but then reality asserted itself and Elya said, ‘You and Jacob should go. I’ll stay here. Nobody will want to buy them if it’s the dark wizard selling them.’

  Over the past few days, living and working side by side, Jeremiah had heard much of the tale of Jacob and Elya’s time on Quayven. He sensed Elya’s disappointment.

  ‘Maybe things will be different in Pelago. I’ll vouch for you both.’

  Elya favoured him with a warm smile. ‘I know you would, Grim. Unfortunately, not everyone’s as generous as you. I think it would be wiser if I stay here and let you and Jacob go.’

  ‘We can test the ice,’ Jacob suggested, trying to be encouraging. ‘See how the people of Pelago react to a wizard turning up with a load of wizard strikers. If they’re as popular as we hope, maybe people will start to feel differently about having you here.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Elya agreed, but she still looked doubtful. ‘I guess you’ll find out tomorrow.’

  When Jacob and Elya rose the following morning, Grim was already long up and about, preparing his dogs for their trip. They put the crate of wizard strikers on the sled and pushed it down the rollers to the edge of the ice, and Jeremiah returned for the dogs. They bounded down the hillside, barking excitedly. Elya’s heart jumped when she saw them. They had thick, soft, silver-white coats, wide grinning mouths, and penetrating sky-blue eyes that held her spellbound. She had seen eyes like that before, she thought, puzzled, and then she realised where. It was Aulf. Aulf’s eyes were that same startling ice-blue. Aulf had ice dog eyes!

  Jeremiah showed them how to fit running spikes to the dogs’ legs, leather gaiters with laces, and a single iron spike that dug into the ice beside the dog’s paw to lend it traction. As soon as each dog had its spikes fitted, it trotted out onto the ice and stood, waiting expectantly, to be put into the traces.

  Jacob climbed into the sledge, and Jeremiah pulled the cover over him and the strikers, but Jacob stuck his head back out again so he could watch what was going on.

  ‘How do you get them to run?’ asked Elya, raising her voice to be heard over the dogs’ frantic barking. Her normally pale face was flushed and excited, her green eyes flashing brightly.

  ‘It’s getting them to stop that’s the problem!’ laughed Jeremiah, walking round to the rear of the sled. Elya could sense the dogs’ anticipation as Jeremiah picked up the reins. He gave a low whistle and the dogs leapt in their traces. In his seat on the sledge, Jacob was showered with ground ice as the dogs’ spikes ripped it up in a spinning frenzy of enthusiasm. Engulfed in a mini ice storm, the sledge accelerated away, the frozen cloud subsiding as the dogs found their feet. Elya was left alone on the shore, with only an elderly ice dog called Biscuit for company. She fondled the old dog’s ears while she watched Jacob and Jeremiah disappear swiftly across the ice. As the sled vanished beyond the horizon, she felt suddenly, inexplicably small and lost. After the energetic bouncing and barking of the dog pack, the deserted island seemed doubly still and silent. Into her mind, without apparent reason, came the vision of her father’s body, lying alone on the ice.

  ‘Don’t get morbid just because you’re on your own,’ she scolded herself.

  She walked briskly back towards the house, chatting to the old dog to keep her mind from her solitude, and opened the door to the forge, feeling the warmth of the furnace envelop her the instant she crossed the threshold. She had it in mind that she could do something useful while she waited for Jeremiah to return but she wasn’t sure how capable she would be at managing on her own. Grim’s tools were so huge and heavy. And then she saw it. On a hook in the wall, next to the hook that held the blacksmith’s giant pair of tongs, was a second pair, newly made, much smaller and lighter.

  She was glad she was on her own then, as the tears rose unbidden to her eyes. She brushed them away impatiently and smiled as she pictured Jeremiah’s meaty fists secretly shaping the perfectly crafted tongs, and grinning to himself as he hung them up for her to find.

  She set to, making steel needles, fiddly work for a blacksmith, but suited perfectly to her abilities. She made two kinds, a few normal sewing needles, and the rest with holes in the middle. These they would use to make compasses. It had been Jacob’s idea, the day they left Ma’s. Anyone who had to sail across the open ice would surely find such a tool a useful companion. If the wizard strikers proved a hit with the people of Hexult, they planned to make and sell compasses too. They would call them Wizard Hands.

  Chapter 27

  As the late afternoon melted into evening and the evening deepened into night, and still there was no sign of Jacob and Grim’s return, Elya’s impatience became edged with concern. It tightened inside her as the stars appeared and the temperature outside plummeted. She had kept deliberately busy all day in the forge and, anticipating the return of Grim and her brother before nightfall, had made a meat and vegetable stew, knowing they were bound to arrive home cold and tired.

  She tried persuading Biscuit to keep her company in the kitchen, but the old dog was uncomfortable with the heat of the stove, and preferred to lie out on the hilltop, her nose towards the open ice, from where her master would come. Even though Elya knew the dog’s senses were hundreds of times sharper than her own, and would give her ample warning of the arrival of
anyone on the island, she still jumped at every small rustle and creak, and the night seemed unusually full of such little disturbances.

  Finally, she fell asleep, curled in one of Grim’s comfy chairs by the stove, and dreamed she and Jacob were on a dog sled, being chased over the ice by a whole fleet of ferocious raiders, led by Gabriel. She was holding the reins but Jacob kept trying to snatch them from her, insisting they had to turn round and go back because they’d left the wizard strikers behind. Try as she might, she could not persuade him that they would both be killed if they went back. She had just reached the point of total desperation when she jumped abruptly awake and realised the sound that had penetrated her nightmare was the sound of Biscuit’s excited barking. Before she could cross the room to grab her coat, the door burst open and Jacob bounced into the warmth of the kitchen. He was so heavily muffled against the cold that all she could see of him were his eyes, and they were gleaming brightly.

  ‘Where have you been?’ Elya’s voice erupted almost in a squeal. Jacob tugged energetically at his multiple layers of wrappings, and with his face uncovered, Elya saw the enormous grin he had been hiding.

  ‘Sorry, sis. Everyone on Pelago was so excited about the strikers, and wanted to know all about the two new mysterious wizards. Grim and I have been the centre of attention all day! I knew you’d be worried, but travelling on a sled is far more flexible than travelling on a boat across the ice. Dogs can travel at night, even when there’s no wind, and they know their own way home. The mayor came to meet us - Ben Thorn he’s called - and invited us to supper with him, so we could hardly refuse! We’ve had an amazing day.’ He gestured behind him. ‘Grim’s just putting the dogs to bed. Is there any tea going? I’m so cold, I think I might snap if I try and sit down.’