A Witch Alone (The Winter Witch Trilogy #3)

by Ruth Warburton

  Smoke still swirled and gusted in eddies, but Abe, Em and Seth stood completely motionless, waiting for him to rise again. He didn’t.

  I closed my eyes, listening to the sounds that filled the room.

  The sound of Seth, Abe and Emmaline’s panting breath.

  The dreadful dry suck of the pump at my heart.

  And the noise of footsteps, terrifyingly close. Had the others even heard them? I tried to gasp a warning, but nothing came.

  Then the pump gave a gasping death-rattle and they all turned.

  ‘There’s nothing left.’ Em’s voice was full of horror. ‘There’s no more magic coming out. Oh God, Abe. We’re too late.’

  ‘What?’ Seth’s shocked voice. ‘She’s not dead! You’ve got to try!’

  ‘No one can lose that much magic and live.’ Abe’s voice, harsh. ‘I didn’t even give a tenth of that – but it nearly killed me.’

  ‘Get her off that thing!’ Seth shouted. ‘Or will I do it myself?’

  But before Abe could answer, the room shook with a deafening crash – Tatiana and Danya had reached the locked door.

  ‘I’ll hold the door for as long as I can,’ Seth said. I heard the rattle of the doors as he flung something across it. ‘Abe – for God’s sake, just do whatever you have to. Get her free.’

  ‘Abe?’ Em asked. ‘Can you do it?’

  ‘We’ve got no choice,’ Abe said. His voice was grim. ‘I’m going to pull it out.’

  Emmaline made a sound like a retch and then managed, ‘OK.’

  There was another crash and the sound of screaming metal.

  ‘Hurry up!’ Seth shouted.

  ‘Em – you hold the jar. For God’s sake, don’t let any spill. That’s her only chance.’

  And then something – somebody – seized hold of the pipe in my heart and pulled.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  I was gripped against someone’s chest, my head lolling against a shoulder. I tried to lift my head, to see who it was, but I was so weak I couldn’t manage it.

  ‘She should be dead!’ Abe’s voice was incredulous. ‘No one could survive that. No one.’

  ‘Does it matter?’ Em asked in an agony of impatience. ‘Let’s just get—’

  But she never finished. There was a shriek of warping metal and the huge double doors burst off their hinges and into the room.

  With an immense effort, I opened my eyes.

  Tatiana stood in the doorway. Flames seemed to crackle from her, rippling across her shimmering bone-white skin. Her inky hair had escaped its plaits and streamed out behind her, alive with electricity. A cold, harsh light blazed from her.

  ‘Og—’ she roared, but before she had finished the spell, Em screamed:

  ‘Stop!’

  She held up the jar, gleaming pearl-white in Tatiana’s blazing light.

  ‘If you take one step towards us – one step – this jar smashes on the floor.’

  ‘NO!’ Tatiana screeched and from beside me I heard Abe’s echoing gasp of horror:

  ‘Em, no! Are you crazy? That’s Anna’s only chance of getting any power back.’

  ‘It’s her only chance of getting out alive,’ Em snapped back. ‘What good is her magic if she’s dead, along with the rest of us?’

  She turned back to Tatiana.

  ‘You want this magic? Well, don’t come any closer. And tell your mates the same thing. One spell – one false move – this jar goes smash and so do your chances with that heap of firewood in the hall.’

  Tatiana’s face was twisted with hate, but she nodded, very slowly.

  ‘Walk,’ Em hissed to Seth. ‘Keep behind me. If they can kill us without endangering the magic, they will. Abe, can you manage to walk without me? I need both hands for this.’

  ‘I can manage,’ Abe said shortly. ‘Don’t worry about me. Concentrate on finding the way.’

  Slowly – very slowly – they began to walk. Into the darkness of the tunnels.

  I was a dead weight against Seth’s chest, my head lolling as he shifted me in his arms, trying to balance. I wanted to help – but I couldn’t, I couldn’t seem to lift a finger. The only thing I could move was my eyes, though they kept closing as I slipped in and out of the darkness. I dragged them open for a moment to see Em leading the way, turning, seemingly at random, down one tunnel after another. The jar of magic glittered in front of us, lighting up the caves we passed, filled with stalactites and witches. Their faces glimmered out of the darkness, a susurration of shock and anguish following us.

  One witch reached out as if to stop us, but Em raised the jar above her head and shouted, ‘Tatiana, I will drop it!’

  Tatiana’s voice came from a long way back, shrieking a command in Russian. The witch fell back and let us pass.

  My eyes slid closed again. I could hear Abe’s tearing breath behind us as he forced himself onwards, in spite of his injuries, and I could feel Seth’s limp in his halting, painful progress. Holding me, he had no hand for his crutch, no way to spare his bad leg, and I could feel the pain in every step, hear it in the catch of breath each time he put down his foot.

  At last the echoes changed and I opened my eyes. We were in the great hall, the cave they called the Cathedral.

  ‘Stay close,’ Em whispered under her breath. ‘This is going to be the most difficult part.’

  They began to edge across the vast shadowy space, Em holding the jar of magic – my magic – high, so that she could see if anyone was casting a spell.

  ‘Abe, can you manage any extra light?’ she whispered. Abe shook his head.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ His voice was clipped and curt with pain. ‘I’m barely keeping myself upright.’

  ‘OK, don’t worry. Just keep your eyes open in case they try something – that goes for you too, Seth.’

  I felt Seth nod.

  We were almost at the centre of the hall now, close by the stones they used as seats. After that, the long walk upwards, to the exit, to the outside of the mine. And after that … But I couldn’t think about that. If I saw daylight again before I died, that would be enough for me.

  ‘Keep going,’ Em whispered. Her voice was shaking. ‘Come on, you can do it, I know you can. It’s only a few hundred yards after this.’

  And then – a shadow darted from behind one of the huge stones, straight into our path. It was a young witch – thin as a skeleton, pale as death. She stood, poised for a second in front of Em, and then she flung herself towards us, screaming a spell.

  I heard Tatiana’s shout of panic from far back across the cave.

  I heard Em’s cry, her voice shouting, ‘Shield! Abe, help me shield!’

  A huge shield sprang out to encompass us – Em’s? Abe’s? Tatiana’s? It no longer mattered.

  Everything seemed to happen very slowly.

  The witch’s spell ricocheted off the shield and flew upwards, into the vaulted space above our heads, where it exploded with a burst of white light and a sound like thunder.

  For a moment nothing happened – and then there was a scream of rending rock and salt-crusted stalactites began to rain down around us like murderous, glittering spears. One crashed into the ground to our left, another exploded in our path, sending shards of salt spraying into our faces.

  But it wasn’t just stalactites. Rocks were following – enormous chunks of stone crashing down, skittering across the vast chamber. A great rent was opening in the rock above our heads and daylight glittered through – faint and pale and grey, but light.

  Around us the witches screamed in horror, as if the light would burn them. Another huge piece of roof crashed down, so close I felt the blast of air as it smashed into the rocky floor. Only Em kept her head.

  ‘Run!’ she shouted at Seth and Abe. ‘Run for the exit! We’re going to die if we stay here.’

  They ran – though it wasn’t much like running, more like an agonising, hobbling limp. Em had one arm wrapped around the glass jar, the other round Abe’s shoulder. Seth’s hands grippe
d me painfully; his breath was hot against my forehead, his heart pounding beneath my cheek.

  Over his shoulder I saw a piece of rock the size of a small car smash down on to the pile of bones at the centre of the hall. Thick, acrid smoke began to pour out from beneath it. It smelled of burning tyres, of industrial pollution, of charred meat and chemicals all mixed into one foul, black, choking stench. Screams went up from the witches around the cave – and suddenly they were running too. Not towards us, but towards the bones, hardly even noticing the murderous hail of rocks. One witch after another went down, smashed by the falling stones, but they didn’t stop for each other. It was as if nothing else existed, nothing else mattered, but the bones crushed beneath the boulder.

  And then we were in the tunnels beyond the Cathedral, inching painfully upwards, and the only thing left of the terror inside the hall was the sound of screams and the stench of burning bones.

  ‘Come on,’ Em said, her voice a sob. ‘We’re nearly there!’

  We reached a crossroads I remembered, five tunnels all meeting, and Em pointed to the one that led upwards.

  ‘This is it!’ There was a terrified hope in her voice. ‘This is it, the last tunnel!’

  Something would stop us – wouldn’t it? There would be a door, a guard – something.

  But the door opened at Em’s touch, yawning outwards – and we stumbled out of the black mouth of the tunnel, into the cool whiteness of the snow-covered forest.

  Seth fell to his knees in the snow, his breath coming hard against my cheek, and then he laid me gently on the ground.

  ‘Give me a moment,’ he said, his words like ragged gasps.

  Beside him I saw Abe slump against a tree trunk, a hand pressed over his stomach.

  ‘I know you’re tired,’ Em said. There was a crack in her voice. ‘But we’ve got to keep going. They still might come after us.’

  ‘I know,’ Abe said croakily. He drew his knees up to his chest, his face sick with pain. ‘Anna, can you hear me?’

  I tried to speak. No words came out and Abe glowered at me from beneath his black brows, as though he could bully me into surviving.

  ‘You’re going to be OK, Anna. D’you understand? We’re going to get you home and get your magic back into you somehow.’

  ‘Can they do that?’ Em asked. ‘What if it doesn’t take? Don’t all the rules say that once you’ve gone past a certain point … ?’

  ‘All the rules say that Anna should be dead right now,’ Abe said angrily. ‘Anyway it’s the only chance we’ve got; it’s better than nothing. Once we get home—’

  ‘But how can we get home?’ Em said despairingly. She’d been so strong inside the caves – now her hot determination seemed to have evaporated.

  ‘I can get us out of here.’ Seth’s voice was hoarse. ‘If we can get down to the shore – that’s where they left my boat – I can sail us. Maybe not home – but somewhere with an airport.’ He turned to me, pushing the damp, matted hair off my face. ‘Anna, can you hang on that long?’

  I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t even nod. I just looked at him, at his wide grey eyes, his face cut and bruised and bloodied.

  ‘Anna …’ His voice cracked and he stroked my face. I saw there were tears in his eyes. ‘All that stuff I said in that room – it wasn’t true. It wasn’t.’

  But it was. Not the whole truth, maybe. But a part of it. Marcus had pulled out part of Seth’s soul, in that room. Abe’s guts would heal, with luck, but Seth – nothing could force those truths back where they came from. They’d always be there between us, dark and bloody.

  ‘Come on,’ Emmaline said. ‘I’m sorry, Seth, Abe. I know you’re both hurt but we’ve got to keep going. Seth, which way’s your boat?’

  Seth pulled me into his arms and then stood with a gasp of pain. He scanned the forest.

  ‘It’s hard – it was night when we came. Everything looked different. But I think –’ he nodded towards a track in the forest ‘– I think it was that path. It’s the right direction anyway – and if we can get to the shore, we can probably find the boat, so let’s head down and worry about it when we get to the beach.’

  ‘OK,’ Em said. ‘Abe, can you manage?’

  ‘Yep,’ Abe said. He heaved himself to his feet using Em’s arm and I saw her face crumple as he began to hobble through the snow, towards the forest track. I recognized the look in her eyes: love, helpless in the face of suffering. How had I missed it for so long?

  Then she turned and followed him, the heavy glass jar full of my life and magic clutched in her arms, and we began to walk…

  ‘Stop.’ Seth’s voice cut through the night air, above the pounding of his heart beneath my cheek. As he spoke, something glittered through the trees ahead, and at first I thought it was the moon, strangely low in the sky, but then I realized it was Em, turning with the jar of my magic in her arms.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I can’t go on.’ His tearing breath made white clouds in the darkness. ‘You have to give me a minute.’

  ‘Come on, we must be nearly there,’ Em pleaded. She came back up the track. ‘I’m pretty sure I can hear the sea – can’t you manage a few more metres?’

  ‘I just … I can’t. I need a second.’ Seth let me slide awkwardly to the ground and then he slumped beside me, groaning with pain as he straightened his leg.

  From somewhere further back up the track I heard a halting crunch, crunch of twigs and Abe came into the clearing. He slid to the ground beside Seth. His face, beneath its black stubble, was completely white, his eyes were closed, and his cheekbones were sharp and shadowed.

  ‘Please!’ Em begged. She set the jar of magic on the ground and knelt beside them, stroking Abe’s hair back from his face. Then she took Seth’s hand and squeezed it. ‘Come on, I know you can do this, both of you. When we get to the boat we can rest—’

  She broke off as a low howl echoed through the forest.

  ‘Jesus, what was that?’

  ‘Wolves,’ Seth said hoarsely. ‘They were howling on our way up too.’

  ‘Great. Something else on our track.’ She stood, scanning the forest, then crouched back down. ‘Abe, I’m going to try to heal you again.’

  ‘No,’ Abe said, his voice short with pain. ‘Not me – Seth. He’s got to sail.’

  ‘I don’t want to be healed!’ Seth snapped out. Then he spoke more calmly, but just as sure. ‘I know you mean well, but I’ve had enough of magic. Never again.’

  ‘You’d rather let us all die?’ Em said angrily.

  ‘I’m tired,’ Seth said. ‘And I’m in pain. But I can sail. Heal Abe. He needs it more than I do.’

  Em looked at Abe, who shrugged as if to say, What can you do? Em nodded and lifted his shirt.

  What she saw made her suck in her breath and Seth made a noise like a choke and turned away. There was a half-healed split across Abe’s stomach, black and gummy with congealed blood.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Em managed. ‘And you walked all this way – with that?’

  Abe said nothing, he just closed his eyes. Em laid her hands on the oozing, gaping wound and I saw her lips move in silent pleading incantations.

  I found I was cold, lying on the ground – cold, and wet, and there was a rock digging into my cheek. It was the first time I’d felt anything but numb since leaving the cave. Snow had melted on my cheek and was trickling down my face. It tickled unbearably and I wished I could move to wipe it away. If I could have cast a spell to stop the feeling I would – but there was nothing there. Nothing. Just a terrifying hollow emptiness. My whole body yearned towards the jar that Emmaline had put down the ground. It felt like my heart had been pulled out of my body and imprisoned, just metres away, where I couldn’t touch it.

  I made a sound – a mew of despair – and Seth turned towards me, his face suddenly alight with a fierce hope.

  ‘Anna?’

  ‘S … Se …’ I managed. His hands gripped my shoulders and then he pulled me on to his lap and int
o his arms, in a heavy, slithering rush.

  ‘Anna!’ He cupped my face with his free hand, the other arm holding me against his chest so hard I could barely breathe. ‘You said something. You said … Did you say my name?’

  I couldn’t nod, my head lolled heavily against his chest, but he hugged me fiercely.

  ‘Hey, Em!’ he called hoarsely. ‘Abe!’

  ‘What?’ Em turned from kneeling over Abe. Her face was white and drawn. I could see she was as tired as Seth, almost ready to drop.

  ‘She said something.’

  ‘What?’ Her dark eyes stared into mine, full of hope. ‘Anna, can you hear me?’

  This time I managed a nod, just the smallest movement possible, but she caught it and her tired face broke into a smile.

  ‘Abe,’ she said over her shoulder, ‘she’s still there – Anna’s still alive.’

  ‘I never doubted it,’ Abe croaked back. He stood, shakily, but his face was a better colour than before. ‘Anna – we’re going to get you back home and get your magic back. Do you understand?’ Then he looked at Em. ‘Thank you, Em,’ he said quietly. He took her hand in his and pulled her to standing, bringing her clenched fingers up to his face. For a minute I thought he was going to kiss them, but he didn’t, he just touched her knuckles gently to his cheek.

  They stood for a moment, silent, Em’s hand against his face, then there came another howl from the woods, a long drawn-out sobbing noise, and Emmaline shivered and dropped her hand from his.

  ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘I can hear the sea – can’t you?’

  ‘I can see it,’ Seth said. ‘At least I think I can. See that glimmer through the trees?’ He pointed towards a gap in the forest. It looked like every other gap to me, but Emmaline craned and then nodded her head excitedly.