White Heart (Merrydian's Gate, #1)

by A. E. Wright

  Chapter Ten - The Stalker

  AFTER THE INCIDENT with the Merrow on the Loch Du and subsequently having to camp out on the damp bank because I had been too weak to go on, the very last thing I wanted to do was trek through more woodland. Unfortunately, much like Thistlewick Marshes, the only way to reach Forge Gate was to pass through the woodland that expanded across the whole length of the island. Merl described it as somewhat like a belt, spanning from one end of the island to the other. At least this time we would not have to stay overnight in the Galdur Wood. According to Bettery, it wasn’t as dense as Thistlewick Forest and having Jestin as a guide was a major advantage. He knew the woods from childhood. At least Galdur Wood was much more pleasant a place to trek through.

  Unlike the damp heavy air in Thistlewick, the air in Galdur was fresh and clean. The huge trees were evenly spaced and allowed for enough of the morning sun to shine through, reflecting its radiant beam that bounced off the trees and around the wood. Bluebells sprung in early spring and now covered the forest floor creating a soft floral blanket beneath our feet. I couldn’t help but imagine the young Jestin in this picturesque wood but then how does a Worlen child play exactly? As if he could read my mind, Jestin began to speak.

  “This mark here,” he pointed to a huge abrasion that ran through the centre of one of the smaller trees. “This is where I practised battle techniques as a child.”

  Of course, that is what Jestin would do, even as a child he knew that he was destined to be a warrior, the General of an army. I did not want to look at the mark in the tree. It only served as a reminder that Jestin had been obedient, duty bound, even as a child, he had accepted what he must become and here I was tempting him away not only from himself but also the Worlen people who loved him. He belonged to them much longer then he had ever been mine but why should he belong to anyone? And if he was free to choose, would he choose me? I decided that I needed to clear my mind, to focus on the journey. Merl hadn’t revealed the reason for our journey to Forge Gate to me or to anyone else for that matter but he didn’t have to, it wasn’t coincidental that we were travelling to Forge Gate now. Rosamaylind predicted Agrona’s rising. The only logical action for Merl to take at this point was to go where Agrona’s body lay hidden. It was there somewhere, it had to be.

  We had been walking for around an hour and a half when I first noticed that, once again, we had followers. Every now and again I would see a flash of fur, hear the crackling of leaves under sets of padded feet. Were we being hunted? No one else seemed to pay any note to our stalkers and it didn’t make sense for them to be trailing us. Especially with Jestin as our guide. I hadn’t asked but I was pretty sure that these wolves would have some kind of affinity with Jestin, him being a werewolf and all. Even so, I just couldn’t escape the feeling that we were in mortal danger. Every now and again there was the flash of vibrant scarlet eyes, set back deep into the foliage. The eyes did not fit my expectation of what a wolves eyes would look like but what did I know? Since arriving on the island I had to let go of so many preconceptions about the world I lived in, perhaps these wolves were different to the ones I’d seen on trips to nature parks with my parents. I felt their presence acutely, something apex about these predators told me they were not to be trifled with as they followed our path through the wood. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end. My grandfather had told me once that this was an inbuilt reflex to make us appear bigger, a guttural reaction of prey when it senses its predator is close. My grandfather had loved nature, an avid bird watcher he used to go ‘twitching’ ever Saturday morning. The unspoiled beauty of this most natural woodland would have entranced him. Even I, who only used to pretend to be interested in wildlife to spare my grandfather’s feelings, found myself stopping to admire the flame coloured fox darting away from our path or the snuffling hog as it circled the mud for worms. On a couple of occasions Merl gave me a quick jab with the end of the large stick he foraged to use as a walking staff. I was foolish to let myself become so absent minded with a natural predator looming, advancing ever forward in the shadows of our party. However, with both Merl and Jestin as part of the group, even a predator as reputably fierce as the wolf was keeping a safe distance from us.

  GUURRRUMBBBLE it was so resonant even the birds took flight from the trees surrounding us. I drew my bow, still slightly on edge even at the smallest sound, and quickly circled on the ball of my foot. Surveying the area carefully, I pinpointed the source, an embarrassed looking Bettery.

  “Sorry dearys, but would you mind stopping here for a while. I’ll wager you three are hungry too.” She chortled.

  Merl huffed, wanting to continue to Forge Gate as quickly as possible but as close as Bettery was to him, he would never deny her anything.

  “Jestin, why don’t you take Violet out to hunt? It may do her some good to learn. Both Myself and Bettery here will start a fire.”

  Jestin didn’t object although I felt the delegation of tasks was just a little unfair considering Merl could conjure fire in a split second. However, Bettery was only small and I could tell that she was becoming slightly unsteady on her legs at this point. Not that she had complained about it at all.

  Jestin explained that there was a small stream nearby that always had plenty of wildlife grazing around it, so we set off. Knowing that Jestin would want to impress with his excellent hunting skills, I began my own private competition in my head. I would catch our dinner before he could. I needed to prove that I could provide food for us just as well as him, that I belonged in this world too, or at least that I could belong here for as long as necessary. Two sets of padded feet broke from their own group and followed us down the grass bank. I noticed Jestin had changed into one of his more regal cloaks for our trip to Forge Gate. The cloak he was wearing today was leaf green with a silver emblem of a crescent moon and fang stitched into the left breast.

  “Is that the Worlen symbol?” I was making casual conversation to try to distract him to my advantage.

  “It’s the symbol of Worlen royalty. I don’t like to wear it but the king disapproves if I show up in court without it present somewhere on my attire.” He replied, a slight amount of distaste was detectable in his tone.

  “Talk about fashion police.” I laughed. Jestin looked perplexed at my comment. He turned to survey the woodland behind us, smiling into the brushy undergrowth. He was finally showing some recognition of our pursuers. My curiosity got the better of me,

  “Why are they following us?” I questioned. Jestin simply shrugged.

  “I may be as closely related to them as I am to you Violet but unfortunately for me, I cannot read their thoughts, much like I cannot read your own.” The last part of his sentence was a frustrated afterthought.

  “I’m an open book, what would you like to know?” I asked, laughing casually.

  Jestin’s mood quickly turned from nonchalant to serious.

  “I want to know how you feel about me Violet? I NEED to know.” This comment threw me, the way he had emphasised the word need expressed my feelings for him perfectly but how could I translate that into words? I wasn’t nearly as eloquent as he was so I decided that I would show him instead. I stepped closer toward him pulling him into me. Looking into his emerald eyes, I ran one of his perfectly curled ringlets through my fingers, reaching with my other hand to touch the soft skin of his face. The suppleness of his smooth cheek contrasted with the sharp bristles on his lower face. He was the perfect equilibrium of innocence and experience, man and beast. I balanced delicately on the balls of my feet and kissed his soft lips lightly before taking a step back to assess if I had successfully transmitted the message or left him more confused than ever. The bolder more blissful smile he wore at our exchange told me he understood. We stood there for a few brief moments enjoying the privacy and serenity of our private exchange.

  Suddenly his head quickly swung to the side, taking in the gentle breeze, he started again in an easterly direction towards the stream. He had sense
d there was game afoot and set off sprinting in its direction. I set off after him but at a greater pace eventually going from a steady jog to an all-out sprint. He wasn’t going to win the competition that I had devised. Of course, he won the race to the stream. One of his strides was equal to three of mine, even when I was in full flight. However, I could hit the boar from a greater distance than Jestin, who had to get up close to kill. He hadn’t even cleared the stream before I had hit the boar with a fatal arrow to the neck. He finished it off, putting the creature out of its pain with a blow to the heart with his small hunting knife. He looked over to me laughing and clearly impressed.

  “You stole my kill!”

  “We make a good team.” My reply was both honest and playful. I was expecting some similar lighthearted exchange from him. It was the tone the afternoon had taken. Instead he seemed unsettled, his expression was odd, concerned almost. To my horror I realised that he wasn’t looking at me anymore but beyond me, into the undergrowth behind me. Something was there, something had been stalking us, the crimson eyes flashed menacingly from the foliage but it was not the wolves. I could hear the shifting sound as a large body meandered across the mudded ground behind me. No, not meandering, a large body was slithering from the undergrowth behind me. A hiss as loud as the full forces of the changelings erupted in my ear. I spun around to face two enormous fangs protruding from a ludicrously pink gum line. The snakes face peeled back from its gums almost as if in a sneer. I had seen this snake before in one of my grandfather’s television programmes. Although the Black Adder was the most poisonous snake in Britain, it was responsible for precious few deaths. This one however was at least twenty meters long and it was bearing down to attack.

  I dived out of the way in the very last instant before the fang came down on where I was. Snarling, Jestin leapt across the bank landing on the flat base of the snake’s skull. I fought to regain my footing in the confusion. By the time I was back on my feet, Jestin had produced his sharp claws and embedded them into the slight brow over the snake’s eyes. I pulled my bow but even my arrows, which usually proved so deadly, were useless against the snake’s thick skin. My only chance at killing it would have been a clean hit to the head but there was too much risk involved in shooting at the now thrashing snake with Jestin hooked at such close proximity to its weak spot. I looked on helplessly as Jestin bravely inched in closer to the snake’s eyes with his claws. I understood that he was trying to pierce each eye. If a snake is injured near fatally or fatally, it will retreat, looking for somewhere quiet to die and if not, at least we would be facing a severely debilitated foe. With every centimetre Jestin gained, the snakes thrashing became more erratic. He was nearly there, one more time of unlatching his claws and edging himself forward and he would be close enough to take the snakes eyes to pierce them. The adder let out an almost scream-like hiss, a mixture of agony and anger as it lost its first eye to Jestin’s razor-sharp claw. This wasn’t enough to encourage the snakes retreat and instead it made the unexpected move of rotating it’s head a full one hundred and eighty, this action threw Jestin from his position and the snake bore down on him, its fang embedded in his abdomen.

  “NOOOO!” I screamed loud enough that it echoed through the trees and into the distance, I pulled back the string of my bow and discharged two shots in quick succession into the snakes head. A gush of blood surged from Jestin as the snake released its deadly grip on him. The adder turned its attention to me, its good eye filled with every intention of murder. I didn’t care, I was ready, filled with a boiling hatred I was going to destroy this evil creature. I tensed my every muscle in defiance standing firm against my foe. I would rip out its heart with my bare hands if I had to. I readied myself, not noticing the wolves emerging from the shadow of the undergrowth until they leapt in unison and with fierce velocity onto the adder’s long body. There were five in all, every one of them the size of a small horse, each biting, tearing and ripping at the snake, which was now, overwhelmed. I regained my composure and pulled back my string for a final time. This time my arrow hit the intended spot. The huge adder was now outnumbered and effectively blinded, it thrashed with increasingly less vigour until it eventually gave up its fruitless fight for life and laid its giant head on the grass for a final time.

  I darted over to Jestin putting my hand over the deep puncture wound to try and stem the pouring blood. The veins around the wound had turned a strange purple colour, I followed them as they made their way toward his heart. Not knowing how to save him, I put my hand beneath his head in an attempt to make him more comfortable.

  “Please Jestin, Please don’t leave, don’t give up.” I sobbed. The wolf pack gathered around us circling protectively. It seemed I was in that horrifying moment for a thousand years although I’m sure it must have been mere seconds.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder as Merl softly edged me backwards away from Jestin’s convulsing body, gently touching his outstretched palm to the place above Jestin’s heart and he whispered an ancient chant until the convulsing stopped. The relief I felt was short lived. Jestins chest had stopped rising and falling, he was no longer breathing! Motionless, he had become a void where a person had, just seconds before, existed.

  “What have you done to him?” My words came out as more of a screech than a fathomable sentence. I lunged to take my place back at his side, I knew a little C.P.R, but Bettery grabbed my hand, shaking her head she pulled me back.

  “I have suspended his animation. It will stop the venom from reaching his heart before we have time to treat him.”Merl didn’t sound confident.

  “So he’s alive?” Relief once again washed over me, he could be saved, there was still time.

  “For now.” Merl looked from Jestin to me, pity reflected on his features.

  It turned out the wolves hadn’t been hunting us at all. They were stalking the snake, which obviously had been stalking us. Initially unnerved by them, I was now more grateful than ever at their presence. Sensing one of their own was in danger, they attacked the snake. If they hadn’t I didn’t know if Jestin would have been saved in time. No matter how angry I had been in that moment, how ready I was to fight, in hindsight I was no match for the snake. The wolves had certainly saved my life too. They proved even more useful, allowing us to ride on their backs. The largest of the wolf pack had Jestin strewn over his back, his skin had lost its usual virile glow and he was gradually turning an alarming blue colour. We shot like an arrow through the woodland, my stomach tying itself in knots at the image of a grievously wounded Jestin. I wouldn’t allow myself to throw up, there was no way I was going to delay the journey any longer. Whenever we had run over a particularly uneven patch of ground, I forced back my stomachs demands to bring up my breakfast and swallowed as hard as I could.

  After a couple of hours of persistent and thunderous running by the wolves, we cleared the wood and were deep into the moors. The evening air was turning colder. We climbed a hill, descending the other side at the sight of a thin brook that ran from the mountains. We stopped at a spot where the water had filled a small pool, allowing the wolves to catch their breath and re-hydrate. The wolf carrying Jestin didn’t shake him off. Instead, it went to the water’s edge, lapping up the water with Jestin still slouching motionless across its vast back. He was so defenseless, such easy prey for the huge creatures but they had already proven they were not here to attack.

  “Why are they helping us?” The question not directed at anyone in particular.

  “They’re choosing their side.” It was a simple answer and Merl didn’t elaborate any further. I didn’t ask. I walked over to Jestin, still suspended not fully alive but not yet dead either, he looked peaceful. Running my fingers through the curls of his hair and placing my hand on his cheek the way I had in the woods. He was cold; I pulled my jacket from my back covering him as best I could.

  “Is he going to make it?” There was only one answer to the question I would accept but I asked regardless. Merl was thinking, stroking
the bristles of his long thin beard all the way to his stomach.

  “Bettery, your wolf hasn’t much weight to carry with you and the wolf carrying Jestin is both the largest and the fastest.” Bettery nodded in agreement, understanding something that I hadn’t quite grasped until they were already heading off, without myself and Merl, into the sunset.

  We chose to camp next to the brook for the evening. Merl decided we should take advantage of our unfortunate situation by teaching me another spell.

  He taught me a shielding spell that cast a translucent circle of energy around me. This was performed by stating the word scaith and allowing the hands to relax at the side of the body, Merl said this was important, as you must trust the energy to protect you. I learned the spell so quickly that Merl taught me a more advanced spell. He placed a small rock on the ground in front of us.

  “Now Violet, run your hands over the object slowly and whisper the word ‘cela.’ It is imperative that you remember to whisper or your enemy might become aware of what you are attempting to do.” He instructed.

  I did as Merl had taught although on the first couple of attempts nothing happened. I inspected the rock to see if it had become animated in some way, it hadn’t. I couldn’t understand exactly what was supposed to be happening, judging by Merl’s reaction I had not achieved it, whatever it was. I concentrated on breathing more steadily, drawing energy from the earth as I had been instructed and tried again. This time the rock disappeared before me. I pressed my hand to ground and felt its form but it wasn’t visible. I threw it into the water where it made a splash upon impact, confirming that I had been holding it in my hand and now it would sit at the bottom of the brook forever, undetectable. I could have used this spell to my hide my wicker necklace I thought, the necklace! I hadn’t told Merl.

  “How important is the key to the gate exactly?” I tried to sound nonchalant but it was obvious I had lost it. Merl wasn’t as angry as I had thought he would be.

  “It isn’t important that the necklace is lost, the gate can only be opened by myself or my heir, and due to the fact that we’re both here on this ruddy moor, miles away from Blossomdown and the belfry, I think the people of Falinn Galdur are safe for now.”

  Although it was summer, the night was becoming increasingly cool. The three remaining wolves settled in a protective circle around us, their body heat was radiating from their warm hides. So much so that I was warm enough to sleep. At least Bettery and Jestin would have arrived at Forge Gate by now and they would be treating Jestin’s wounds. I crossed my heart that they would be able to bring him back from the brink of death. Back to me? Probably not, we would be in Forge Gate and Jestin had to be careful not to be seen as romantically linked to anyone there. A human like me was out of the question. What kind of an uproar would that cause? It didn’t bear thinking of. He would probably be stripped of his title and cast out of the pack. I couldn’t let him do that for me. I had lost my family, albeit temporarily, when I passed through the gate. I couldn’t allow him to lose his too.

  When I awoke in the morning Merl was still asleep, snuggled into the belly of his wolf as if it were a teddy bear. I decided to hunt for breakfast for all of us. I would need to bring down bigger game than the small hares that were cautiously crossing the moor. At the sight of the wolves, they were bolting at amazing speeds into the safety of their underground dens. I could see a small shape about half a mile into the distance, nuzzling into the ground was another wild boar. I approached cautiously, not wanting to frighten it away. This one was much larger than the one I had shot in the wood yesterday. I was sorry I had to waste its sacrifice but we hadn’t had the time to eat when Jestin was in such grave danger of dying. This boar would not go to waste. There were three hungry wolves and a grumpy wizard to feed. I was unbearably hungry myself. I pulled up my bow, took aim and shot. The arrow hit the boar directly in the heart killing it instantly, it keeled over into a large rock that had been directly behind it which shattered. I had not expected this. The wild boar couldn’t have been dense enough to shatter a rock when my arrow had so easily penetrated it skin.

  I covered what was now the small distance between us quickly surveying my prey. The boar had shattered the rock sure enough, only it wasn’t actually a rock. It was a grey coloured eggshell, like the one depicted in Bugul’s den. I took a deep breath in shock. His egg had hatched here in the moor! But what of his child? This shell must have been here undiscovered for centuries Bugul’s child was either dead, killed by Agrona at its moment of birth or the child had escaped, maybe it had hit the ground when it hatched. If it was being carried, this was quite possible. If it had hit the ground, it would have been invisible to its assailants. I hoped this was true, I hoped Bugul’s child had gotten away. My best guess was that if it had it would be living somewhere in the wood. A solitary yet safe existence just as Bugul had in Thistlewick. When this was over, if I was still alive. I would somehow get this message back to Bugul. I took a broken piece of the shell and stuffed it into my sack. I decided that the next time I saw Bugul I would show it to him.

  Encouraged by my discovery in the morning and renewed with new energy provided by the boar I set out for Forge Gate, hopeful that Jestin had made it through the night.

  We travelled until what I assumed must be early afternoon. I noticed that the sky had become darker, I couldn’t understand. I was sure it was afternoon and the height of summer, darkness should not be upon us until at least late evening. Had we lost more time than I had assumed? Had it taken Bettery and Jestin this long to reach this place where the moors gave way to rocky waste lands? If it had, there was no way that Jestin would have made it. As the thought occurred to me, my heart ceased to beat, my lungs struggled for air gasping now, I began to lose my grip upon the large grey wolf that was carrying me. I wanted to let go. I wanted to disappear off into oblivion. In this moment, I finally understood the extent of Merl’s pain at the loss of his family. I couldn’t face the witch, not without Jestin by my side. I couldn’t. Merl seemed to have noticed my wavering determination and looking surveying my desperation with confusion.

  “What on earth is wrong now? Don’t like the dark? Well tough, we are in the shadow of the mountain. We will be at Forge Gate very shortly and you will need your wits about you. Not all of the Worlen are as receptive to humans as Jestin has been to you.” Merl responded to my sudden panic in his usual passive aggressive manner.

  I turned my gaze upwards and saw that he was right. We were rounding the enormous mountain. Forge Gate was so large we could see it, even though we were still around half an hours travel away from actually being there. It was magnificent to behold. If I hadn’t been distraught at the thought that I might have lost Jestin, I may have been impressed by the way a whole city had been built, ascending into the side of the mountain. There were hundreds of stone houses, with a thick black smoke bellowing from almost every chimney, winding up the mountain toward the grandest house, this must be the Royal home. In the moment though I just wanted to get there as fast as possible, to see Jestin to make sure he was still alive.

  When we finally reached the enormous wooden gate structure that separated the Worlen community from the rest of the world, the wolves allowed us to disembark. Even in my current emotional state, I wanted to show my appreciation to the pack that had saved Jestin’s life at least twice. I stroked the head of the grey wolf and it responded by pushing it’s nuzzle into my hand. Witnessing the wolves attack the adder had given me a new appreciation of how powerful these creatures truly were. Today I was glad that they had included us as part of the pack. It was a feeling I wouldn’t be experiencing again in Forge Gate.

  “Thank you.” I whispered as they disappeared off over the horizon, back toward Galdur Wood.