The Finisher

by David Baldacci

“I asked him to stay away. I didn’t think it would be … appropriate.”

  “Why is he even in the Duelum?” I asked.

  “Why shouldn’t he be?” she said warily.

  “He’s clearly older than twenty-four sessions, for starters.”

  “Not according to his records.”

  “I’d like to see those records. Just to confirm where the Hel he came from.”

  She looked at me with a degree of incredulity that I found pathetic under the circumstances. “He came from Wormwood. Where else would he have come from?”

  I shook my head again, plainly showing my disappointment with her response. “Well, if he is a Wug, he’s a most unusual one. I’ve never even heard him speak. And the rumor about him killing that Wug at Stacks … you have to admit, it’s all a bit dodgy.”

  “It is a bit dodgy” was her surprising reply. She had lowered her eyes again, but then she raised her head and looked directly at me, her green eyes glowing as though they had been ignited. “You don’t have to fight him, Vega.”

  “Then I’ll end up in Valhall, won’t I?”

  “I can meet with Krone. I can work something out. Any sentence in Valhall would be relatively short. But there would be another condition.”

  I folded my arms over my chest. “What?”

  “You know far more than is good for a Wug.”

  “You mean I know the truth,” I shot back.

  “The condition is that you will not be allowed to remember such things anymore.”

  “So the red light, then?” I remarked coolly. “I think I’ve figured that out. Red must be more powerful than blue. Delph was much bigger than me, even back then. The blue light was sufficient to wipe my thoughts nearly clear, although I could still remember the scream, Morrigone. And the blue light.”

  “What?” she said, clearly astonished by this.

  “I thought it was just a nightmare. And Delph eventually remembered, with a little help from me. That’s what I meant when I said he no longer stutters. He remembers, Morrigone. All of it.”

  We stared at each other in silence. I finally said, “So I’ll take my chances in the quad, thanks anyway.” I added firmly, “You’re not messing with my mind ever again.”

  “I am well aware that you dispatched your other competitors with relative ease.”

  “Except for Racksport. He shot himself accidentally. Or so they say.”

  “What do you mean ‘or so they say’?”

  “What I mean is that a suspicious Wug, namely me, would think that Racksport was got out of the way so I would have to meet Ladon-Tosh in the final bout.”

  She said, “If true, that would be a very evil thing to do.”

  “I completely agree,” I replied, staring back at her. “I also know that our last few encounters have ended badly, very badly.”

  “And I also know that you have visited my home twice now while I was away. May I ask why?”

  “Once to confirm something.”

  “What?”

  “Your taste in looking glasses.”

  We once more stared at each other in silence. I could tell that Morrigone was appraising me in a whole new light and she wasn’t sure what to do about it.

  “And the other time?”

  “To wish my brother a happy birthlight. And to give him a present.”

  She looked down. “That was thoughtful of you, very thoughtful, considering the circumstances.”

  “He is my brother, Morrigone. No matter what happens, he will always be my brother. And I love him. Unconditionally. Far more than you ever could.”

  I said all of this in a loud voice because I just knew that John was in the carriage listening intently.

  “I can understand that,” she said. “Blood is blood.”

  “As to the Duelum. Why are you suddenly so concerned about my welfare? You said I had to fight my best. Well, I’m fighting my best. And if I die, so be it. I die for the right reasons. I die with the truth in my heart. Not like the adars that Wugs have become, just parroting back what they’re told. Not understanding who they really are. Where we came from. What Wormwood really is.”

  “And what do you think Wormwood is, Vega?” she said, giving me a deadly stare.

  “Well, speaking for me — it’s a prison.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

  I cocked my head, studied her. I was comfortable doing so, because now, more than ever before, I was seeing myself in a different way. I was seeing myself — as her equal. Or better. “I saw you at the Hallowed Ground. I believe your tears were very real.”

  “They were. I was crushed by what happened. It was unthinkable.”

  “I’m curious that you had a chat with Ladon-Tosh, and you said he understands he was in the wrong?”

  “That’s right.”

  “So he does talk, then?”

  She seemed caught off guard by this. “Yes, I mean, he … communicates.”

  “But only with … you?”

  “I can’t really speak to that. I’m not with him for much of the time.”

  “I see. Well, put in a good word with him for me, will you?” I said casually.

  She suddenly gripped my arm tightly. “Do not take this lightly, Vega. Please do not. If nothing else, think of your brother. You would not want to be lost to him, would you?”

  I glanced at the carriage. I thought back to my last encounter with John. To the things I had seen on the walls of his room.

  “I think he might already be lost to me,” I replied slowly. “So you see, there is really nothing left for me here. Nothing at all.”

  She released my arm, stepped back and looked down. “I see.”

  “Do you really see, Morrigone?” I asked.

  She glanced up sharply, her gaze probing, almost menacing. “I see far more than you realize, Vega.”

  I squared my shoulders and stared down at her. “If I fight, I was told I would be free. I intend to fight to the end. And if I survive, I intend to be free. Really free,” I added. Then I turned and walked off. As always, it was a good idea to keep moving in Wormwood.

  And so I did.

  I had two more lights. Perhaps to live.

  I WAS JUST THINKING of crawling into my cot and pulling the covers over me when someone rapped at my door. Harry Two barked and started clawing at the wood. I walked to the door and said, “Who is it?”

  “Wotcha, Vega Jane.”

  I opened the door, stepped back and let Delph pass through. He knelt to pet Harry Two, who was jumping all over him and trying to lick every exposed piece of skin Delph had. I closed the door and motioned him to the chair by the empty fireplace. I perched on the cot, my hands in my lap, and stared at him.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  He gave me a furtive glance. “You okay?”

  “Well, let me see. I just went to watch a Wug being planted at the Hallowed Ground. I no longer recognize my brother. My parents are gone. In two lights, I’m probably going to die in the Duelum at the hands of a murderer. So, spot on, I’m definitely not okay.”

  He bowed his head and I felt bad for having said what I had.

  “I’m sorry, Delph. None of this is your problem.”

  “But ’tis my problem. You dying? Can’t let that happen, can I? I mean, I just can’t.”

  “I have to fight Ladon-Tosh,” I said. “And nothing you say will make me change my mind.”

  He nodded at this, which surprised me. “So the thing is, you got to not get killed.”

  “Trust me, that point I understand.”

  “How you going to do it, then?”

  I stared at him. It had just occurred to me that as much thought as I had given to my upcoming bout with Ladon-Tosh, I had given no thinking time to how I was actually going to win. Or at least survive. “I’ve been thinking,” I said slowly, allowing myself time to actually “think” of something.

  “Well, I been thinking too,” said Delph forcefully. “And some blokes told me what he d
one to poor Tilt.”

  I sat forward, suddenly feeling engaged. “The thing is, Delph, I never even saw Ladon-Tosh strike. That’s how fast the blow was. It knocked Tilt completely out of the quad. He weighed over two hundred pounds if he weighed an ounce. He was dead before he hit the dirt. Killed with one blow. I’ve never seen anything like it.” This all came out in a rush of fear that had been welling up inside me ever since Tilt had struck the ground.

  “But look what you done to that cobble at Stacks,” he pointed out. “That thing weighed more’n Tilt, I’ll tell you that. And you didn’t just kill it. You exploded it.”

  “That was because I had Destin.”

  “And you’ll have Destin when you fight Ladon-Tosh.”

  “That would be cheating.”

  “Bollocks!! Do you really think Ladon-Tosh is a normal Wug? Something’s going on there, Vega Jane. You having Destin when you take him on won’t be cheating. It’ll be making the fight fair, way I see it.”

  I sat back and thought about this. What Delph was saying made perfect sense. I had won all my other matches on my own by a combination of luck, planning and instinct. But I knew in my heart that none of those would allow me to prevail against Ladon-Tosh. He had killed a Wug with one blow. That was not possible; only it had definitely happened.

  “Okay, I guess I can see that,” I finally said.

  He looked vastly relieved by my acquiescence on this critical point. “So it comes down to you landing your blow before Ladon-Tosh can land his.”

  “Like I said, I never even saw him hit Tilt. I might have killed that cobble with one blow, but I was nowhere near as fast as Ladon-Tosh.”

  “Then we have to come up with a way that you’re even faster. Or else you have to make him miss with his first strike and finish him off before he can try again.”

  “And how exactly am I supposed to do that?” I said incredulously.

  “’Tis why I’m here. Fought in enough Duelums, haven’t I? Know my way around the quad, don’t I?”

  “Okay, what suggestions do you have?”

  “Watched Ladon-Tosh’s second round. He dinnae kill no Wug that time, but there are some things I noted.”

  “Like what?”

  “He don’t move on the bell, not up or back.”

  “That’s right, he didn’t move against Tilt either.”

  “He lets you come to him, then he strikes.”

  “Faster than the eye can see,” I groused.

  “Where’s the chain?”

  “Why?”

  “Want to see something.”

  I fetched Destin from under the floorboard and put it around my waist. Delph stood and put up his hands. “Put yours up too.” I did so. “Now I’m going to throw a punch, and I’m not going to say when —”

  He snapped a blow at my head. I easily flicked it away.

  He smiled, but I didn’t. “That wasn’t nearly as fast as Ladon-Tosh’s,” I said.

  “Back up to the wall over there.”

  “What?”

  “Wanta try something else.”

  I did as he asked, reluctantly. From his coat he pulled out a long strip of rubber with a small square patch of leather attached. On the patch he placed a stone he’d taken from his trouser pocket. He started to spin the rubber, which I now saw as a shotslinger, faster and faster.

  “Can you see the stone?” he asked.

  “Barely.”

  He spun it faster. “How about now?”

  “Just a glimpse.”

  He whirled it even faster. “Now?”

  “Not at al —”

  Before I finished speaking, he had fired off the stone right at me. When I looked down a sliver later, I saw the stone cupped in my hand.

  I looked up in amazement. “How did I do that?”

  Delph grinned and pointed at Destin. “Reckon the answer lies there.”

  “But it lets me fly. And it gives me strength. But —”

  And now Delph was about to shock me.

  “I think what it does, Vega Jane, is give ya what i’tis you need at the time you need it.”

  I gazed openmouthed up at him. This was stunning. Not what Destin could do, although that was amazing. No, it was that Delph had thought of it and I hadn’t.

  “Do you really think so?” I asked hopefully.

  “Fly when you need to? Give a pasting to a cobble when it needs doing? Stop a stone from hitting you in the face?”

  I touched Destin. It felt warm, as though it had just had a bit of exercise.

  “But that’s not all, Vega Jane.”

  I looked at him with wrinkled brow. “What do you mean?”

  “Chain is a big help, no doubt. But you got to have more than one way to beat Ladon-Tosh. He’s big, strong, fast. Can’t count on taking him with just speed.”

  “What, then?”

  “You got to move. Wear him down. Let him punch.” He paused. “And if you got to take to the air, Vega Jane, take to the bloody air.”

  I stared wide-eyed at him. “Okay, up to that last statement, you didn’t sound mental at all. But you want me to fly? In front of Council? In front of every Wug?”

  “Would you rather be headed to the Hallowed Ground for all of eternity instead?”

  What irritated me most about this exchange was that Delph sounded the far more logical one of us. “A bit of me says yes. Most of me says no.”

  “Listen to most of you, then.”

  “What else?”

  “At the bell you don’t move either. It’ll confuse the lout. Make him come to you. He’ll throw a punch. Then you’ll move away. Hit him if you can. Taps at first. Let his confidence build.”

  “I think he has plenty of confidence already.”

  “You know what you done with that other cobble at Stacks?”

  “I didn’t know you were watching.”

  “Oh, I was. You spun him like a top. Got him all jargoled, didn’t ya?” He pointed a finger at me. “Now, I reckon with Ladon-Tosh, you do the same. You’ll get one shot to get ’er done. You got to bring all ya got. All you and the chain got.”

  I looked down at Destin and felt once more guilty.

  Delph must have read my look, because he snapped, “Don’t be barmy. Like I said, you think something dodgy’s not going on with Ladon-Tosh? Bloke don’t even talk. And he ain’t younger’n twenty-four sessions, I’ll tell you that. I’m not sure he’s even a Wug, tell the truth. Har.”

  “I guess you’re right,” I said slowly.

  “Course I’m right. Now, what we’re going to do is practice right and proper every sliver we can till it’s time to fight.”

  “You really think I can beat him, Delph?”

  “You’re going to beat him.”

  “Thanks, Delph.”

  “Thank me after you win the Duelum, Vega Jane.”

  EVERYWHERE I WENT the next lights and nights, Wugs came out of all corners of Wormwood to wish me well or, in some cases, to say their good-byes. Pieces of parchment were slipped under my door. Most were kind and encouraging. However, one was particularly nasty. But I recognized Cletus Loon’s poor scrawl and I didn’t take any heed.

  Delph and I had practiced his strategy over and over until I could do it in my sleep. It lifted my spirits. I felt as if I had a fighting chance, which is all one is entitled to in my view.

  Thansius visited me on the night before the Duelum’s final bout. He came not by carriage; I would have heard that. He simply walked up to my humble door and knocked. I of course asked him in. Harry Two let Thansius scratch him on the head before settling down by my cot. I insisted Thansius take the more comfortable chair while I perched in the other. At first, Thansius remained silent, his face brooding and his long fingers slowly stroking his beard. Finally, seeming to have reached a decision, he leaned forward and focused on me.

  But I broke the silence first. “I’m fighting Ladon-Tosh. So please don’t bother trying to talk me out of it.”

  “I never intended to. I
believe you must fight him.”

  This stunned me. I sat back, gaping at him.

  “You’re surprised by my statement?” he said unnecessarily, for my mouth was still hanging open.

  “I am.”

  “So many of our fellow Wugmorts never manage to see past the sole light facing them. Past the borders of Wormwood or their own narrow minds. For our borders are indeed narrow, Vega.”

  “You put it far more eloquently than I could have, Thansius.”

  “I understand that you and Morrigone have had words on a number of occasions. Harsh words.”

  “If she said so, I don’t deny it.”

  “You believe her to be evil?”

  “No. I know her to be evil. What do you consider her to be?”

  “Her history is an interesting one. A sterling Wug family. Good upbringing. Brilliant at Learning.”

  “She has lots of books. Most Wugs don’t.”

  “That is very true.”

  “And her house is probably the most beautiful home in all of Wormwood.”

  “Doubtless it is.”

  “And the things she can do? Where did that come from?”

  He paused and gave me a stare so sharp that I thought I would bleed. “You mean the things you also can do?”

  “How did you —”

  He waved away my surprise. “Every Wug has a job, from the lowest to the highest. Now, my job is to know things, Vega. I don’t know all, but I know close to all. And I know that the powers with which Morrigone has been endowed are showing themselves in you. There is, however, a critical difference, I think.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Simply that your powers are greater.”

  I turned away from those penetrating eyes. “I have no idea what I’m doing. She does.”

  “On the contrary, I think you do. You recall your tree?”

  I turned back to him. ”What about my tree?”

  “It wasn’t petrified of course,” said Thansius matter-of-factly. “But I knew that explanation would suffice for the likes of Non and his followers.”

  “Didn’t you harden my tree and protect it?” I asked. Because this is what I had thought had happened.

  “No, indeed. I don’t have the means with which to do so. You, Vega, you saved your tree.”

  “How?”

  “By, I believe, simply willing it to survive. I saw your face. I could easily realize what was in your heart. Thus, your beloved tree became hard as rock. And it survived.”