The Finisher

by David Baldacci

  I had an instant to glance toward the platform and shuddered as I saw Morrigone staring directly at Ladon-Tosh, as though she were willing him to stand. And then I knew I couldn’t win. I knew that Ladon-Tosh had an ally I couldn’t defeat.

  He came at me again. With my right arm totally useless, but my senses otherwise intact, I easily sidestepped him. Instead of hitting him with my good hand — since it would be good no longer — I spun around, supported by my one able arm, and flicked my feet against his buttocks as he flew past me. This propelled him out of the ring and into the crowd. Wugs ran hither and thither trying to get out of his way. He was like an enraged creta, only a hundred times more powerful and a thousand times more murderous.

  Old Silas toddled forward and said, “Wug out of ring. Penalty against Ladon-Tosh. Free blow for Vega Jane. Well done, lass.”

  Fortunately, Delph snatched Silas out of the way before he was crushed by Ladon-Tosh leaping back into the ring to attack me.

  He was now throwing punch after punch with astonishing speed. I dodged them all and then I started to employ my other tactic. I started to race in a circle around him. He spun too, punching at me but landing nothing. I told myself that he had to tire at some point.

  When I glanced over at Morrigone, she still had her gaze fixed on Ladon-Tosh, yet I could see the rising panic in her eyes. She was upset that I was not yet dead. She was afraid I might win. Well, I just might.

  I ran one more circle around him and then leapt and kicked him in the head with my left foot. Again, the shattering pain swept down my limb. Again, he went down hard. I noted with satisfaction that he took longer to rise this time. But rise he did.

  And I had made another even more egregious mistake. I could run with one arm. I could not with one leg. “Damn!” I screamed, so furious was I with myself.

  Then I smacked myself in the head with my good arm.

  The Stone. The bleeding Adder Stone. I snatched it from my pocket and, concealing it in my hand, I swiftly ran it up and down my damaged limbs.

  They were damaged no longer, but I once more lost my focus. I heard the crowd collectively scream and I felt the blow hit me across my shoulders. I was knocked fifty feet into the air and crashed hard well outside the ring.

  Ladon-Tosh did not wait for me to reenter it. He leapt and came down hard with his elbow pointed downward right on top of me. Or where I had been an instant before. He struck the ground so hard, it dug a hole in the dirt three feet deep, and about twenty Wugs toppled over from the ground, shaking with the impact.

  I raced back to the ring, turned and breathlessly waited for him to come. I knew the only thing that had saved my life when the blow had struck was Destin. Its links still felt ice-cold to the touch as though it had absorbed almost all the energy of a blow that a few lights ago had easily killed a fully grown male Wug.

  If I couldn’t hit my opponent without crippling myself, how could I win? If this kept up much longer, one of his blows would land squarely on target and it would be over. Despite my tactics, he was not growing tired.

  But I was. My lungs were heaving and my heart, I believed, had reached its maximum pumping capacity. I could not last much longer.

  Ladon-Tosh stood there frozen, but I could sense the tremendous building up of energy coming from him. He was about to put everything he had into one blow that would hit me so hard, there might be nothing left. I felt my heart in my throat, and my stomach gave a sickening lurch.

  I glanced over at Morrigone. Her gaze was only on Ladon-Tosh. I had never seen her face look so hard, so … unrelenting. She had obviously made her decision. I was to die. And Ladon-Tosh was the tool with which she would kill me. Newton Tilt had doubtless been a mistake for which she had grieved mightily. I doubted she would be nearly as saddened by my passing.

  I looked back at Ladon-Tosh and knew the moment had come.

  And yet as he made his final charge, it occurred to me exactly what I had to do. I had to end this. And I had to end it now. He was trying to kill me. Well, that was a two-way path.

  Not a natural killer, I steeled myself to become one.

  I slipped off my cloak. Underneath I had on a shirt and trousers. But in my cloak was Destin. I gripped the chain at both ends and waited.

  When Ladon-Tosh struck with a speed that was beyond a blur, I had already somersaulted over him. When he sailed past me, I turned in midair and flung the cloak and with it Destin around his neck. I landed on the ground, set my feet and pulled with every bit of strength I had.

  The giant Ladon-Tosh was lifted off his feet, flew backward over me and, as he went past, I crossed my arm and thus the chain, as I had with the maniack in the looking glass.

  The result was not the same as in the glass. In fact, it was not anything like it.

  I heard the screech before I saw anything.

  I was instantly paralyzed with fear by the sound. But what I then saw made the sound seem as nothing.

  Ladon-Tosh was rising slowly. Actually, Ladon-Tosh was coming apart at the seams. His head was gone but his body was now upright. Bloodcurdling screams came from up and down the crowd. Both females and males fainted at the sight.

  “Bloody Hels” cascaded through the air like flocks of frightened birds.

  But that was not the worst part. I knew the worst part. It was about to happen.

  Ladon-Tosh’s body burst open, half his torso going left, half to the right.

  “No,” screamed a voice. I looked up in time to see Morrigone yelling this over and over. “No! No!”

  I searched the crowd and saw Krone. He was racing away with Dodgson, his face filled with panic and dread. Krone even ran over a very young in his escape. The bloody cowards.

  The crowd had turned as one to run. Now they turned back for an instant to see what Morrigone was screaming at. I already knew. The screeches were ear-shattering.

  The two jabbits that had nearly killed me at Stacks catapulted from the husk that had once been Ladon-Tosh. How creatures so large had been compressed into the space of one Wug, albeit a big Wug, I couldn’t fathom. They hit the ground so hard that the pitch seemed to whipsaw under our legs. Then five hundred heads and with them one thousand eyes looked at all the Wugs so perilously close, and I could almost see the lustful hunger in the monsters’ sinister orbs.

  Every Wug ran for his or her life. Parents snatched up their youngs and very youngs. Screams kept coming, but they came nowhere near to drowning out the screeches that heralded a slaughter of Wugs about to occur.

  I glanced once more at Morrigone. To her credit, she had not run away. Indeed, she was waving her hands and it looked like, as difficult as it was for me to believe, she was trying to will Ladon-Tosh back together again. But it was clear that she had not been able to control the creatures with Tilt and it was just as clear that she would not be able to stop them now. As I watched, she glanced at me. Tears were in her panic-filled eyes. She looked desperate.

  Cries of “Outliers, it’s the Outliers come” sprang up and were repeated from Wug mouths everywhere.

  I looked for Thansius and found him trying to fight his way forward through the sea of Wugs and toward the jabbits. He drew something from under his robe. It was the same sword he had used at the Council hearing. He said he had no special powers, but what the Wug did have in abundance was courage. Yet I didn’t think he would get a chance to use his blade in time.

  I thought this because both jabbits had risen up, their innumerable fangs exposed, and they were just about to launch themselves against the nearest Wugs. It would be a bloodbath not seen here for hundreds of sessions.

  I looked back once more at Morrigone. She was staring dead at me. Her mouth was moving. She was yelling something. Finally, I could make it out over the screams of the crowd.

  “Help me, Vega! Help me!”

  I don’t remember reaching in my pocket and slipping on my glove. I really don’t. I willed the Elemental to full size, sprang upward into the air, twisted my body to the left — and
the golden spear launched from my grip with as much torque as I could place upon it.

  It shot through the air just as the jabbits struck. They attacked in parallel, as I knew the beasts did, which made it perfectly perfect for me. The Elemental hit the first jabbit, passed through its body and collided with the second jabbit a moment later.

  There was a tremendous explosion and the shock wave struck me while I was still sixteen feet off the ground. I was propelled forward like a fish by a great wave. It seemed that I flew a long, long way before hitting something extraordinarily hard.

  And then everything was gone.

  I OPENED MY EYES quite suddenly and tried to sit up, but a hand pushed me back down. I looked to my right and was not unduly surprised to see Delph there.

  “Wotcha, Vega Jane?” he said, his voice weary but now filled with relief.

  I blurted out wildly, “Where am I? Hospital? The Care? The Hallowed Ground?”

  He touched my forehead as though to test for its warmth. “You jargoled?”

  “Where, Delph?” I persisted.

  “Your digs.”

  I looked around and saw that this was so. “How did I get here?”

  “Carried you.”

  “I remember hitting something really hard.”

  “Spot on, that was me you hit.”

  I sat up slowly to see a welt on his forehead the size of a hen’s egg.

  “How did I hit you? I was thrown far away from all Wugs.”

  “Well, I sort of ran to … to catch you when you got blown.”

  “The jabbits?” I said, my face paling at the mention of the name.

  “Dead and gone. You took care-a that.”

  “No Wugs hurt?”

  “Just the ones who trampled each other getting away like. They’ll be okay.”

  “Ladon-Tosh had jabbits inside him,” I said slowly, as though trying to make myself understand what I was saying.

  Delph grimaced. “Well, what I’d say is jabbits had Ladon-Tosh outside of them.”

  I turned on my side, rested my head on my arm and gazed at him. “I guess that’s one way to look at it.” Something else came back to me. “My cloak? The Elemental?”

  “Don’t wad your knickers. There and there,” he added, pointing.

  On a peg on the wall was my cloak. I could see the bulge of Destin inside it. Standing in one corner was the full-size Elemental.

  Delph said, “Almost forgot to put the glove on before I picked it up.”

  My next words carried a heaviness that I found nearly unbearable. “Delph, Wugs had to see what I did.”

  “What Wugs saw was two jabbits coming out another Wug. After that, they didn’t see nothin’. ’Cept you killing the pair of ’em. And they ain’t too clear on how you done it. But I don’t see no Wug holding that against ya.”

  “So what do the Wugs say about it all?”

  “Outliers. They was shouting it when it was happening. ‘Outliers got Ladon-Tosh. Got inside-a him.’ That’s what they said.”

  “That’s mental!”

  “Course i’tis, but that don’t mean they don’t believe it.”

  I sighed and sat back. I was just so tired.

  “You feeling up to snuff, Vega Jane?”

  I glanced over at him. “Why?”

  “Well, they’re waiting, ain’t they?”

  “Who’s waiting?” I said suspiciously.

  He held out a hand, which I slowly took and rose off the cot. He led me over to the window. I peered out and my jaw dropped.

  “They are,” said Delph, smiling.

  When Delph opened the door to my digs and I stepped out, the cheers started and hats were flung high into the air. It looked like every Wug was in attendance.

  “Ve-ga Jane. Ve-ga Jane,” they started chanting over and over.

  I heard a canine bark and looked down to see Harry Two next to me. He apparently had been guarding my privacy. I stroked his head and then gazed up at Delph.

  “What is all this?” I asked in bewilderment.

  “Are ya serious? Time for the prize. You’re champion, you silly goose.”

  I had forgotten that with the defeat of Ladon-Tosh, I was the champion.

  “Quiet, please. Quiet.”

  The voice belonged to Thansius. As the crowd parted and became silent, he came forward holding two objects. One was a metal figurine. The other a woolen bag with a cord tied firmly around its neck.

  Thansius motioned to me. “Vega, please step forward.”

  I let go of Delph’s hand and walked toward the Chief of Council with hesitant steps. I was still a bit wonky, but I couldn’t not go, could I?

  Thansius turned to the crowd and proclaimed, “I officially declare Vega Jane the champion of the Duelum.”

  A cheer went up again. As I looked out on the masses of Wugs, I saw many tears and smiles and only the very occasional sour look from the likes of Ran Digby, Ted Racksport — on sticks because of his morta-shot foot — and Cletus Loon, who, as usual, looked murderously at me. And when I glanced to the right, I saw Krone and Dodgson staring daggers.

  As the crowd quieted, Thansius said, “I now present you with the trophy.”

  He handed me the figurine. They must have made it special because it was a female holding a male over her head. Thansius bent down and said in my ear, “The young Dactyl Jasper Forke, one of your fellow Stackers, made that for you. Just in case,” he added.

  I took it and held it and my smile widened to my ears. I looked and found Forke in the crowd and thanked him with my eyes before he glanced shyly down at his feet.

  I held the figurine over my head, and the crowd cheered again.

  When they had settled down, Thansius said, “And now the one thousand coins.” He handed me the wool bag. “As the first female champion in the history of the Duelum. And on a job exceptionally well done.” He peered at me. “Exceptionally well done. Where not only a prize was won but many Wug lives were saved.” He put out his hand. “Thank you, Vega Jane. All of Wormwood thanks you.”

  As I shook his hand, the crowd truly went mad this time. I looked over at Delph, who was smiling, it seemed, with his whole body. A tear trickled down his face.

  When I looked back at Thansius, he was smiling broadly as he turned to face the crowd. “Drinks are on me at the Witch-Pidgy. And for those younger wugs, there will be pink ginger ale. And food for the bellies all around. Off you go.”

  A great cheer went up from the Wugs as Thansius finished and a stream of them headed off to the pub, with the very youngs jumping and twirling and making noise.

  When we were alone, I touched Delph on the arm. “Can we go see your dad?”

  “Don’t you want to go to the pub and celebrate, like Thansius said?”

  I looked down at the bag of coins in my hand. “Let’s go to see your dad first.”

  DUF DELPHIA HAD stayed at his cottage because one of his timbertoes had developed a crack. This Delph had told me on our walk there. Duf was sitting out on the steps with the bad timber off and a stick bowl between his teeth when we appeared in his view. He knocked the dottle out, replaced the smoke weed and lit the bowl. He hailed us as we walked up to him. I saw that his corral was empty of beasts.

  Duf grinned and pointed at me. “I knew it,” he said. “You done did it. You won the bloody thing, didn’t-cha? Course you did. Knew it, didn’t I?”

  “How did you know?” I called out, though I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.

  “’Cause you ain’t dead, that’s why.”

  “Dad!” exclaimed a mortified Delph.

  “He’s right, Delph,” I said. “I’m not dead, ergo, I won.”

  “What you be doing here, then?” asked Duf. “Should be, I don’t know, celebrating, eh?”

  I walked up to the steps and sat next to him. Harry Two, who had come with us, let Duf scratch his ears.

  “Right good canine there,” said Duf. “He was here this light, weren’t he, Delph?”

  “He was,�
� said Delph. “But now he’s back with Vega Jane, right and proper.”

  I said, “How are the timbers coming? Delph said one has a crack.”

  “Aye, but it’ll be fine, don’t you know. Getting used to the things, I am.”

  I took the bag of coins from my cloak and held it up. “The winnings,” I said.

  “Har,” he said. He pointed the lip end of his stick bowl at it. “Now, that’s some winnings, I tell you. Thousand coins. Right, Delph?”

  “Right.”

  “Well, it’s our winnings,” I said.

  “What?” said Delph, looking gobsmacked.

  “Delph helped train me up, Duf. Never would’ve won without his help.”

  “G’on with yourself,” said Duf. He puffed on his stick bowl and studied me curiously.

  “And since I’ve no head for coin, I want you and Delph to take it.”

  “Vega Jane, are you nutters?” exclaimed Delph.

  “You’d be doing me a favor, actually,” I said. I looked around the land. “Where are the beasts?” I asked. “The adar and the young slep?”

  Duf slapped his timber and for the first time, I saw the hopelessness in his expression. “Gone, ain’t they?”

  “Gone where?”

  “To a Wug can train ’em up proper, that’s where. And that Wug ain’t me.”

  “What Wug?” I said.

  “Crank Desmond.”

  “Crank Desmond! He doesn’t know a slep’s arse from the other end, does he?”

  “Be that as it may, he got two good legs and I got none. Har.”

  I held up the bag of coins higher. “Then what we’re going to do is bring a young Wug here, pay him a proper wage and train him up.” I looked around at the empty corrals. “And we can turn it into a business.”

  “Bizness? What’d you mean?” asked Delph.

  “I already talked to Thansius about this. I gave him a name of a Wug who I know likes beasts. He said he was all in favor of it.” I paused, thinking through my next words as Duf and Delph continued to stare at me, openmouthed. “They sell beasts around here, young ones, don’t they? Cretas and sleps and whists and adars and more. And Wugs with coin want them. Need cretas and sleps at the Mill and the Tillers. Wugs like Roman Picus need the whists. And who wouldn’t want to pay good coin for an adar that can keep ’em company and carry messages and the like?”