Sanctuary (Order of the Ring Book 1)

by Phil Maxey

She closed her eyes again, this time she tried to get an image in her mind of the young woman who always seemed to have a bow and quiver on her back.

  The first thing she noticed different was the smell. A damp, rotten aroma hit her senses and she opened her eyes. It was completely dark. She immediately crouched down, not having any idea of what was around her. Bringing her hand up she waved it around in front of her face but couldn’t see her fingers even when she touched her nose with them.

  Once again, the smell of something unclean washed up against her, and she almost vomited. Even though she felt like just teleporting back out straight away, she forced her arm outwards towards where she thought the smell was coming from.

  Her fingers touched a soft fabric. Trousers? She pressed harder and the thing in front of her moved, making her jump back raising her ring hand in front of her. “Sparrow? You there?”

  A low slurred groan drifted across the blackness.

  Screw this.

  Kat placed her hand back on what she hoped was Sparrow’s leg and concentrated on Justin and the entrance to the alleyway just outside. Instantly she felt the ice cold on her face.

  “Sparrow!” said Justin, who immediately took his jacket off and placed it on the black and blue half-clothed body of the woman he had come to care for.

  Kat went to move towards Sparrow to help, but her head started to spin and the world around her started to grow black. She fell backwards on the snow. “I don’t feel too good,” she said, trying to get back up.

  Justin swore under his breath, seeing Kat struggling to get to her feet. “Kat?” His head flicked between Kat, who was at least conscious, Sparrow who almost wasn’t, and the scary gothic house just a hundred yards away. He moved back to Kat. “Can you walk?”

  “I—I think so. I’ll try.” She went to get to her feet but wobbled and slumped back down again. “Just need—moment.”

  “Damn it,” said Justin, anxiously looking at the house. He pulled out the mobile phone and quickly typed. “Need help right now, come on foot. Alleyway at start of street, we at end.”

  “Coming,” came the text reply.

  “Darren’s coming to help, just try to get your energy back,” said Justin to Kat. He then moved back to Sparrow who was trying to move. “Sparrow, can you hear me?” His emotions were threatening to overwhelm him. He cleared his throat and continued. “Sparrow?”

  She murmured something in return. She was only wearing a bra and her cargo trousers when she and Kat spontaneously appeared next to him. He gently placed his hand under her hip and shoulder and lifted her up, so her back was up against the wheel of the car they were hiding behind.

  She was barely recognizable as the woman from the day before. Her left eye was twice the size of her right, and amongst the bruises which littered her face and upper body, were smatterings of blood. It was the second time in as many weeks that he had wished he had studied to be a doctor. “Sparrow? Can you hear me?”

  Her eyes fluttered and she gently nodded.

  “OK we’re going to get you out of—” a noise came from behind him and he turned around.

  Darren stood, red faced and bent over, “I’m … Is that Sparrow?”

  “Yes, quickly, help Kat, we’re going to have to walk back to the car.”

  The plan had been to teleport back, but that was now off the table.

  “What about the Scottish woman?” said Darren, pushing the words out between breaths.

  “We have to leave her. We’ll come back, come on, you help Kat.”

  “No—I can go back, just need—” Kat got up slowly, then wavered on her feet. Darren jumped forwards and grabbed her.

  “I got you girl,” he said, picking her up in both arms.

  A noise came from the large house.

  “Quickly, we need to get back into the alley!” said Justin. He glanced back to the sanctuary, the front door was open. He knelt next to Sparrow. “I have to pick you up. It’s going to hurt, sorry.” He placed her hands over his shoulders, then lifted her. She groaned in pain.

  Darren had already started off down the alleyway, and Justin quickly followed without looking back.

  CHAPTER 42

  An hour after rescuing Sparrow they were back cross the River Severn, reentering England. It was early afternoon and even though the sun was not directly visible, there was enough light to see for a few miles in most directions. Nobody had talked much as both Sparrow and Kat were sleeping, but they had decided to go a longer way back to avoid the same route that Jax had taken them.

  Kat and Sparrow were in the back, with Darren driving and Justin keeping an eye on their passengers and the roads around them. Chip was in the area behind the rear seats and was mostly quiet.

  “I’m sorry for what happened to Sparrow,” whispered Darren.

  Justin looked pensive. “She’s alive, that’s what matters.”

  “We should get her to a hospital.”

  “We just need to get her to London. Hopefully before then Kat can heal her while we’re at Glastonbury.”

  “I don’t think she knows how.”

  “Then she needs to learn. I’ve seen others do it.”

  Darren nodded, his eyes flicking at Justin, then back to the road. “How we planning to get past the things outside the Glastonbury sanctuary?”

  “Same as before.”

  “But Jax took us through there, it was his secret tunnel, which means—” he looked up slightly realising everything Jax did was for show.

  “Which means, they know about the tunnel.” Justin rubbed his chin, realising the same thing. “When Kat wakes, we’ll talk with her, but maybe we just go straight for the front of the shop.”

  “And if we run into those troll things?”

  “Let’s try not to do that,” said Kat from the back seat.

  “Hey kiddo, how’re you feeling?” said Darren quietly.

  She sat up more. “Parched, any water?”

  “Yeah.” Justin passed her his small bottle, which she took a few good gulps from and handed it back.

  “I should have been stronger, I should have got Eden out as well,” she said angrily.

  Justin turned around in his seat. “We got Sparrow, that’s a result. I bet they weren’t expecting us to come back. If—” he sighed. “—when we go back, it will be with reinforcements and get Eden.” He looked at the other young lady sleeping. “We need to help Sparrow. Can you heal her? Darren said you haven’t done that before?”

  Kat looked across at the frail beaten up figure sleeping next to her, and gently placed her hand on her shoulder. “I don’t know how it works, it’s like I’m a battery and when I do things, it drains me. How long until we’re back in Glastonbury?”

  “Maybe another hour,” said Darren.

  “Maybe I should wait a bit longer to recharge to give it the best chance of working?” She looked at Justin.

  His eyes switched between Kat and Sparrow. “OK, but I don’t think we should wait too long, we don’t know how badly hurt she is, other than the obvious.”

  Kat nodded. “OK. Where are the lunches?”

  Justin passed one to her, and she got stuck into the roll as if it was the first meal she ever had.

  An hour later they were approaching the outskirts of the town that had come to tentatively feel like home to Kat and Darren. The sky above them was overcast, and looked like more snow was about to fall.

  Darren slowed as they arrived at a lonely roundabout. “Which way?”

  Justin had his head in the road atlas of the area he picked up earlier. “Right. Don’t go left, it takes us back near where we were last time.” He looked up at the sky. “So far, no flying creatures.”

  Darren drove as ordered and soon there were snow covered hills and trees on their right, and the town of Glastonbury to their left.

  “Try the next left,” said Justin looking between the street guide and scanning the gloomy houses and fields around them.

  Darren slowly turned as told and they contin
ued for a few more minutes, until they had to stop. A metal gate stopped any further progress. He looked across to Justin.

  “I thought we could get through, OK, umm.”

  Kat noticed a small path. “Look, there’s a pathway there, can you see where it leads?” She quickly glanced at Sparrow who was still sleeping. Throughout the journey she had been checking her pulse without the others knowing. Sparrow was still alive, so there was that, but when Justin talked about seeing other Magi heal people, her stomach turned over. She had no idea if she could do that and she couldn’t face failing again.

  “Doesn’t really show on the map, but I think it heads where we want to go.”

  Darren turned the engine off and looked around outside the car. “This is a good place to stash the car anyway, and we could maybe walk from here to the front of the shop.”

  “Glad you said walk and not the other thing, I’m kinda drained still.”

  “I’ll carry Sparrow, let’s get her wrapped up,” said Justin.

  Darren looked in the rear mirror at Kat. “You sensing anything?”

  She lightly rubbed her ring. “Just a mild sensation, but nothing major.”

  “Good,” said Darren, getting out of the car.

  Soon they were making their way as best they could through the snow along the alleyway. Darren had Chip’s leash, while keeping an eye on Kat, and Sparrow was being carried by Justin.

  They came out onto a road, with turn of the century brick houses on both sides. Silence hung in the air as they moved along the pavement, past small gardens and windows which looked dark and forgotten.

  The frozen man that she found in his home days before flashed into her mind. She had no idea if it was like that in all the other houses around her, but she wasn’t stopping to find out.

  Picking up their pace they tramped through the loose snow until they got close to Benedict Street.

  Kat looked at the sky, then at the others. “Wait here, I’m going to go on ahead and see if there’s any sign of something out of place.”

  Darren went to say something, but then nodded in agreement.

  She quickly moved off, then slowed as she got to the junction, keeping herself close to the wall at the corner. Peering around it, she looked to the right, towards where she knew the shop was, some hundred yards farther ahead. Apart from even higher mounds of snow, it looked as it should. No Wyverns, Trolls, or anything else she didn’t want to encounter. She badly wanted to teleport into the safety of the sanctuary, but still didn’t feel a hundred percent. She smiled to herself. It was amusing how quickly she had become used to something so strange.

  She ran across the road to be on the same side as the shop, then kept going, keeping low and watching for any sign of movement, even from within the homes and shops around her. There was none.

  She pulled the phone out of her pocket, and typed a text message to Darren. “All clear, come here.”

  It wasn’t long before they were all with her. “The shop is just around the—” Before she could finish a huge shadow moved across them and the road. They all instinctively looked up and Chip started barking.

  “What …” came from Sparrow’s lips, while her eyes remained closed.

  Hundreds of yards above them, what looked like a huge winged lizard swept across the sky and over the nearby rooftops.

  “Is that a Wyvern?” said Darren, his eyes full of panic.

  “Nope, that’s something much bigger,” said Justin.

  For a moment Kat wasn’t sure what to do, push on or return to the car. “Run for the shop!”

  She set off the fastest, hopping as best she could over the mounds of white ice and snow around her.

  Just behind her was Darren with Chip, who kept barking at the air above them. Last came Justin, one arm on Sparrow and the other spread out to keep him balanced as he ran over the crisp snow.

  An intense shriek echoed around the street hurting their ears.

  It’s clear! A relieved Kat ran up to the front door of the shop, fished her keys from her pocket, then started unlocking the door. She pushed the door open then looked back.

  “No …” she said under her breath, as the huge winged beast grabbed hold of Darren’s shoulder and with a huge swoop of its wings began to ascend. Chip barked and snarled into the sky above them.

  She could feel the fury rise inside her. Running towards him, she pointed her ring up at the creature and let her anger find expression. A burst of blue light flew from her hand, hitting the creature square in its torso and making it shriek and drop Darren the ten feet back down to the snow-covered road.

  She ran to him, passing Justin, who kept on moving towards the open doorway with Chip following.

  She looked up to see where the creature had gone, but couldn’t see it. “Darren!” she shouted as he tried to get to his feet. Spots of dark red started to appear on the shoulder of his coat. “We have to get inside!”

  He nodded as she helped him to his feet.

  They staggered forwards towards the open front door just yards away, when she felt the air pressure around them change, and she threw herself forwards while pushing Darren to the ground.

  Black polished talons a foot long scythed through the air where they were just standing.

  “Come on!” she shouted as they both scrambled to their feet and dived through the doorway. Throwing the door shut behind them, they ran to the basement entrance and descended the stairs, not bothering to check if they were alone in the shop or not.

  Soon they were at the bottom of the stairs, and Kat was opening the large wooden door to the sanctuary.

  They all bundled inside, and she closed the door behind them.

  Justin laid Sparrow down in front of the fire which had already started burning.

  Darren began to sag as he walked forward. Kat ran to him, propping him up so he could make it to one of the chairs near the large table.

  “We need to get the coat off, so we can see the damage,” she said to Darren.

  He grimaced while pulling his coat off his shoulder. “I can’t handle blood, just tell me if I’m going to die or not.”

  “Be quiet, you’ll be fine. Now lift your arms.” He did and she helped him remove his jumper. It and the t-shirt beneath were torn and deep red with blood. “And the t-shirt.”

  He scrunched up his face once more, and she peeled the cotton shirt from him, and pulled it over his head. He had four, three-inch puncture wounds, two on his front and two on his back. Blood was weeping from them all, and the skin around was blue.

  She went to say something to him, when he could hear a commotion behind her near the fire.

  “Kat, she’s shaking, there’s something wrong!” shouted Justin.

  Kat ran over to him. Sparrow was convulsing on the ground. “I—I don’t know what to do,” she said as her mind froze with fear.

  He looked up at her. “Please try, she’s going to die if you don’t!” He looked back at the shaking young woman. “I think we need to turn her on her side, so she doesn’t swallow her tongue!”

  Kat took a deep breath, then knelt next to Sparrow, helping Justin shift Sparrows position. “In the kitchen area, get some towels, make them damp, then bring them over.”

  “How’s that going to help her?”

  “Just do it!”

  He sprang to his feet and ran to the kitchen area.

  She looked at the young custodian in front of her and felt a mixture of fear, pity, and guilt. OK I can do this. She placed her hands on Sparrow’s thigh and shoulder and thought about how the young woman had looked a few days earlier. Full of fight for what came next. Her shaking stopped.

  “It’s working!” said Justin, standing behind with the required items in his hands.

  “Quiet!” Kat said, picturing Sparrow healthy and happy, and a white light started to emanate from her hands, flooding over the body in front of her. Sparrow’s bruises started to change from a dark blue to a mild yellow then were gone.

  Kat stopped out
of breath, feeling disorientated. “I need to stop for a short while.”

  Justin hugged her. “You did it, I knew you could!”

  She smiled. “Yup, thanks.”

  He then knelt next to Sparrow, whose eyes were open. “Hey, you’re back.”

  “Where am I?” said Sparrow, her voice coarse.

  “I’ll get you some water,” said Justin, placing the damp towel across Sparrow’s forehead, then getting up and running to the kitchen.

  “Good to have you back,” said Kat with a tired smile.

  “Umm, if you got any juice left, could you maybe patch me up,” said Darren, looking a bit wobbly on the chair.

  Kat got to her feet and sat next to him. She steadied herself then placed her hands on his wounds then repeated the same procedure she did a few moments before. When he was healed, she leaned back in the chair. She was beginning to get a handle on this magic business.

  * * * * *

  The welcoming fire burned bright in the Glastonbury sanctuary. Outside, night had fallen, and the snow that had been infrequent for the past day went back to constant heavy clumps.

  Kat had spent the past hour feeding more tinned pies to Hack, who on seeing her got to his feet flapping his burgeoning wings and squawked. She also spent the time going over the craziness of the past few weeks. Was I always like this? Her grandfather had spent his entire life in a world completely divorced from her own, or even her mother’s. Did my father know?

  Hack squawked and she smiled in response. “How big you going to grow? Eh?” She saw her reflection in the griffin’s large eyes as he looked back at her, not knowing the answer.

  She looked at the ring on her finger. She could do amazing things with it, but was it changing her in other ways? Was she still Kat Ambrose, computer hacker and occasional web developer? Or … she wasn’t sure what to call herself. She heard the others mention Magi, but when she thought of her grandfather the word ‘wizard’ came to mind. She laughed. Am I a witch?

  Hack squawked again. “Hell, no, I’m not a witch, maybe a sorceress, that sounds more hardcore,” she said.

  She heard a noise from behind and turned around. It was Sparrow, with a blanket around her shoulders. “Hey stranger, how are you feeling?” Kat said.