Black Knight

by Christopher Pike

  “Someone has to decide,” I say.

  We set off, the four of us walking close together. Kyle talks openly about his abilities. He admits to having strength/speed, intuition, healing, and the cloaking gene.

  “But the only one I can heal is myself,” he says. “That might be because I’ve never practiced on anyone else. And intuition—I think with me it’s more like being a crafty little bugger. I almost always can tell what other people are thinking, and I know how to get out of a tight spot.”

  “You sound like a guy I know,” I say, glancing at Marc.

  “I’ve just begun to get a feel for the cloaking gene,” Kyle continues. “I feel when I’m on stage I can make the crowd fall in love with me. I’m serious. I just look into their eyes and wish for their love. It’s got to be more of a magnetism thing with me.”

  “The charisma just drips right off you,” I say.

  Kyle laughs. “True! But it don’t do me any bloody good in this place.”

  “What else do you have in your little bag of tricks?” I ask.

  “I’m not sure. I’ve been scanned by a bigwig Lapra but all he’d do was confirm the powers I already knew about. But I know I have more, he told me that much. He said I’d pick them up as I went along.”

  “How many did he say you have altogether?” I ask.

  Kyle brightens. “Six! That’s a pretty fair number, don’t you think? How many do you have?”

  “I don’t know,” I lie. “The Tar scanned me but they don’t give out that kind of information.”

  Kyle nods. “I’ve heard their rules. ‘Your abilities have to mature naturally, in the fullness of time.’ What a load of crap. I felt like strangling the Tar twat who told me that shit.”

  “Tar twat?” I ask.

  “That’s what the Lapras call them in London,” Kyle says.

  I’m not so worried about revealing the location of our cave now that we’re abandoning it. We find Chad and Li waiting inside, huddling around a dying torch. Li looks better from the healing we did earlier; the energy boost seems to be holding. When I explain about Kyle’s wounded team members, she quickly volunteers to go with him before I ask. She’s such a giving person—I wonder if that’s why she’s such a gifted healer.

  We part with Kyle and Li minutes later, after agreeing on a clear rendezvous point. Yet just before he leaves, Kyle pulls me aside.

  “I know I kept saying that we’ve got to start trusting each other,” he says. “I don’t know how we’re going to survive unless we do it. But I’ve got a problem with Sam I’ve got to tell you about.”

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “He told me how he lives with his mom. He said he’s studying to be a fashion designer and spends Monday through Friday at Parsons College. On the weekends he volunteers at a shelter for disabled children.” Kyle groans. “Do you see what I mean?”

  “You’re worried he sounds too good to be true?”

  “Aye. He sounds like a goddamn saint. Now, to his credit, I had to drag this information out of him. He didn’t brag about it or nothing. But that thing about his arm bugs me too.”

  “Why?” I ask, although I can guess what Kyle’s going to say.

  “How many witches do you know who don’t have the healing gene? I’ve never met one. I mean, how did he survive the dying-and-coming-back-to-life rite?”

  “Half the people who lack the healing gene survive the rite.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  “My father told me that and he wouldn’t have lied to me.”

  “Right, your father the doctor. It’s true, half the witches without the healing gene survive if they’re in a hospital with a heart surgeon and cardiologist looking over them. When you come from the poor side of town, that fifty percent drops to less than ten. Trust me, I grew up broke.”

  Kyle’s info is disturbing but enlightening.

  “Sam might have had outside help,” I say. “Is his mother a witch?”

  “According to him she’s an ancient witch. But that raises another question. If she’s so old, why did she wait so long to have him?” Kyle pauses. “I swear to you, Jessie, I’m not the least bit homophobic. I have plenty of friends who are gay. Only I don’t know anyone who’s as perfect as Sam.”

  “You’re the one who proposed the alliance.”

  “What was I supposed to do? The guy can see for miles and he’s got the equivalent of X-ray vision. He proved it to me and you’ve got to admit those are pretty handy powers to have when you’ve got a bitch like Viper stalking you. I want Sam to be as pure and holy as he acts. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. All I’m saying is keep an eye on him.”

  “And on you,” I add.

  Kyle nods. “Point taken. I’ll be keeping an eye on you as well. One thing you’ve got to admire about Nordra. He puts it to you straight. Maybe none of us is going to get off this island until there’s only one of us left.”

  I flash a grim smile. “It’s something to think about. Maybe it will be just you and me at the end, going at it.”

  Kyle looks me over and grins. “With a body like yours— I’ll bet you know how to kill a boy and still leave him smiling.”

  Kyle leaves with Li. Marc, Chad, and I—we gather together our spears, torches, and water bottles and set off for Sam’s camp. Sam gave me precise instructions. Follow the base of the hill two miles west of the hot springs, until we see a large white boulder in the center of the river, then go a quarter of a mile farther and search the rolling terrain for his gray cell. He told me it was lodged behind a lonely cluster of thick trees.

  Sam warned me the two miles would be mostly uphill and I am prepared. But Marc and Chad start complaining not long after we pass the hot springs.

  “You’d think after having so many fights to the death here, there’d be a few well-worn paths,” Marc says. “I’ve almost twisted my ankle a dozen times.”

  “I don’t think the Field’s been used in a while,” I say, scanning the area for even a hint of a shadow. Since hearing from Cleo about Viper’s powers, I feel like my paranoia has increased a dozenfold. I find I can never relax. But I try not to let my fear show. I add, “At one time there must have been trails. But they got overgrown.”

  “I don’t know,” Chad says. Next to Li, he’s the weakest one in the group. Sweat pours off his brow and he’s breathing hard.

  “Why do you say that?” I ask.

  “Just an observation that nothing on this island is the way it should be,” Chad says. “Remember the jungle we landed in? It was like the deepest, darkest part of the Congo. But then we hike over a single hill and suddenly the jungle thins out and we’ve got trees on the other side of a magnificent river—trees that look like the sort you find in North Carolina. Maple, oak, walnut, olive. I didn’t see any of those trees in our valley.”

  “What are you saying?” I ask.

  “That this island is a bizarre collection of various ecosystems,” Chad says. “Yet each ecosystem is incomplete because there are no bugs or land animals.”

  “None that we’ve seen,” Marc says. “I’ll bet we run across a squirrel or a rabbit any minute.”

  “I’ll take that bet,” Chad says.

  “You sound so confident,” I remark. “Why?”

  Chad stops and gestures to the wide expanse below. “This island reminds me of the old simulations the Pentagon used to do in the event of a nuclear war. They believed the first thing to be wiped out by a radiation blast would be people and large animals. The last land creatures would be insects, especially cockroaches. A cockroach can take twenty times the radiation of a human being. But even a cockroach would not outlast a tree.”

  “That’s crazy,” Marc says. “In a nuclear war the trees would immediately catch fire.”

  Chad nods. “They’d catch fire and burn to the ground. But their roots would s
urvive because they’re underground. Over time, as the background radiation declined, they’d start to grow again. In the same way millions of species of fish would survive because they’re underwater. Sure, certain species might die off, but many years after a full-fledged nuclear war it’s easy to imagine you could have a planet where not a single land animal walked the ground but the seas were still full of fish.”

  “Sort of like our river,” I say, feeling a creepy sensation as I contemplate what he’s saying. It’s almost as if I sense the truth of his wild scenario.

  “Yeah. Like our river,” Chad agrees.

  “So what are you saying?” Marc asks.

  Chad shakes his head. “I need to see that wall Sam talked about.”

  Marc waves a hand. “I think our buddy Sam had too much smoke in his eyes when he ran into that wall.”

  “I hope so,” Chad says, giving me a dark look.

  We reach Sam’s home base after a ninety-minute hike. His two remaining team members are brother and sister—Billy Bob Kelly and Mary Jo Kelly. Billy is eighteen, Mary is fifteen. Both have red hair, green eyes, a ton of freckles, and strong Kentucky accents. Billy appears in good shape when we arrive but Mary is lying down. Sam explains how she got knocked on the head when Nordra’s people attacked.

  “She has signs of a concussion,” Sam explains. “Billy stayed up with her all night to make sure she didn’t slip into a coma. She’s better off today than yesterday but I’m not sure if she can climb to the top of the volcano. Not unless Li can fix her.”

  “You didn’t mention that you had wounded,” I say.

  Sam nods. “When we first met, before I knew you better, I didn’t want you to avoid us because of Mary. So I kept my mouth shut.”

  I squeeze his good arm. “I would have done the same thing. Let me work on Mary and see what I can do. Kyle and his people have got to be at least an hour behind us.”

  “You know he wanted to rendezvous with us higher up on the volcano,” Sam warns.

  “He’ll have to wait,” I say.

  Mary has a lacerated left side, probably a few broken ribs. Nordra’s people did not only cut her with their machetes, they pounded her torso. Yet the blow to her head is clearly more serious. She hardly responds when I enter their cell and examine her. I wish Li were present. Not only is she the more effective healer, using the healing ability doesn’t seem to drain her the way it does me.

  Still, I can’t let the girl lie suffering.

  As usual I place my left hand on Mary’s forehead, my right over her heart. Closing my eyes, I pray for the magic to come and help the girl, and it’s not long before heat begins to flow through my hands. Yet the light doesn’t come, and when I try to make it come, the current pouring out of my fingers begins to fade. I try not to try, the old paradox I face every time I heal, but it’s hard because even though I’ve only just met Mary, connecting to her in this way makes me feel close to her.

  Definitely I feel her pain. My head aches as I work on her and when I’m finished I have to sit for several minutes with my eyes closed before I have the strength to stand.

  Mary’s fallen asleep but I sense it’s a good sleep so I let her be. Stepping outside in the sun, I find Sam waiting by the door. I felt his eyes on me the whole time I treated Mary but didn’t mind. Had the positions been reversed, I would have kept an eye on him.

  “How is she?” he asks.

  I shrug. “Better than before. But well enough to hike to the top of the peak? I doubt it. Hopefully, Li can do more for her than I can.”

  “You don’t need to do that,” Sam says.

  “Do what?”

  “Feel guilty about what you have no control over.”

  “An old habit, I guess.”

  Sam gestures to the landscape below. Even though we’re a lot farther from the shore, I can still see the waves breaking against the dark rocks, and wonder what it would feel like to dive in that water and swim out past the swells and just float on my back and stare up at the blue sky. It seems forever since I totally relaxed.

  Sam speaks. “On the way here, I got to know the people in my group. We had a whole day to talk about our lives. And when we landed here and I read the plaque, I swore I wasn’t going to let anything happen to them. I’d die first before I’d let one of them get hurt.” He pauses. “Then Nordra came and suddenly half my family was gone.”

  “Your family?”

  “It’s silly, I know, but that’s how it felt. They were each special in their own way.” He stops and sighs. “They were here one moment and gone the next. I blamed myself for taking the route I chose. For taking them with me. For not killing Nordra when we were face-to-face. It ate at me all night, and then again all day, in witch world. But then my mother told me something about the Field that helped me accept what was happening. She said, ‘The Field is like life itself. It forces you to face your fears. Only, in the Field you face them in days rather than in years.’”

  “Your mother sounds like a wise woman.”

  “She’s the greatest person I’ve ever met.” Sam pauses. “She knew I’d end up here.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. But that night I went to bed, the night I was taken, she kissed me good night and I saw tears in her eyes.”

  “Kyle told me she’s been around for a while.”

  “Thousands of years. She’s one of the oldest witches in the world.”

  “Does she have much contact with the Council?”

  “She belonged to it a long time ago. But now she keeps to herself.”

  “And your father?”

  “She’s never spoken about him.”

  “That’s odd.”

  “Not if you know my mother.” Sam pats the granite boulder we’re leaning against. “She’s like this rock, nothing touches her. She just watches the days go by.” He stops and corrects himself. “At least she used to.”

  “The plaque could be wrong. We might be able to get out of here.”

  “Do you believe that?” he asks.

  “It’s easier to believe it than to accept that we’re doomed.”

  Sam nods. “You sound like my mother. I wish you two could have met.”

  “Maybe one day we will. While we’re waiting, let me take a look at your arm.”

  “Bad idea. I saw you staggering when you stood up after working on Mary. Save your strength. I can wait for Li.”

  “You still think she’s a witch?”

  “I think they’re all witches. It’s just a question of whether they know it or not.”

  I hesitate. “Have you thought about connecting one of your people?”

  Sam considers. “Billy’s the only one left I could try to convert. But this is a far from ideal environment.”

  “How about in witch world?”

  “I’ve got his address. I thought about going to see him. But he’s going to school in North Dakota. It would take time to get there, and then what would I say? ‘Hi, my name’s Sam. If you let me kill you in this world, it might help save your life in another world.’” He shakes his head. “How about you?”

  “I suppose I feel the same way you do,” I lie.

  I’ve already warned my people not to tell Sam or Kyle where they live, or even to give out their last names. If Sam and Kyle are not who they’re pretending to be, they could wipe out my gang by killing them all in witch world.

  Sam isn’t put off by my vague answer. He smiles faintly, to himself, and I get the distinct impression Billy has never been to North Dakota in his life.

  We spot Kyle and his group two hours later, a mile above us. I’m not surprised that he’s crossed onto the volcano where he has. The cliff that houses our old cave runs into the ground near where he’s led his people, and it tells me that Kyle, like Sam, knows the island a lot better than I do.

  I’m dis
turbed when Sam tells me that Kyle has only two guys with him, and one short Asian girl.

  “Odd he’d leave his girls behind,” I say.

  “Maybe Li wasn’t able to help them,” Sam says.

  Mary is feeling better and is able to hike, although at a slower pace than we’d like. Her brother, Billy, carries her pack for her and holds on to her hand, practically dragging her up the side of the mountain. Already the two merged groups are feeling the effect of the thin air. Except for Sam and myself, everyone’s panting.

  With no cliff left to hug, we’re far more exposed. The trees are few and the grass is sparse. The higher we climb, the more often we cross over large black plates of frozen lava. The rock is actually easier to traverse. But to our dismay we spend most of our time trudging through a loose mixture of gravel and dirt. Kyle and his people patiently wait for us, yet it takes us over an hour just to climb up one mile.

  Half the day is gone and the peak is still far off when we finally do reach Kyle and his people.

  Li sits with her head hanging as we approach. She doesn’t even look up to say hello. I order Kyle to tell me what happened. My tone is demanding. He raises his hands defensively.

  “It wasn’t Li’s fault,” Kyle says. “I watched her work on them. She did everything she could and they seemed better. But when we set off, Teri’s wound reopened and she bled out. Then, half an hour later, Nicole complained of chest pains so we sat down and took a break. She closed her eyes and seemed to doze off for a few minutes. But when we tried to wake her, she was dead.”

  “What was wrong with Nicole to begin with?” I ask, studying Kyle’s two male partners. Both are dark, black as Ora, but smaller, skinny. One has a French accent, the other sounds like Kyle. Pierre and Keb. They stand near Li as if protecting her. For some reason, Li refuses to look at me.

  Kyle speaks with bitterness. “Viper struck Nicole’s side with a staff. The bitch must have cracked her rib cage. Nicole probably got a punctured lung. During the night I know she was spitting up blood.”