by M S C Barnes
“Stop them, Seb. Stop the wolves; she is not,” he muttered, panting, “not —”
“I said, get off, you brute!” Nicole screamed at Moe, drowning Aelfric’s words out. She wriggled and squirmed underneath the wolf’s bulk and then, managing to work her hand free, captured light from the fireflies and shot a bolt of white light at him. He was thrown off her and she jumped to her feet, backing away from Cue and Pace who closed in, growling. She raised her hand and pointed at them. “Move away!” she ordered and, strangely, instantly, they turned their backs and walked over to join the circle around Seb and Aelfric.
There was no chance of Nicole striking at Seb or Aelfric while they were within the protective ring of these huge beasts and Seb peered between the animals’ backs, looking for Henri, worried that the wolves had left him vulnerable. He managed to catch a glimpse of him, sitting on the floor, clasping his arm, his head bowed. He was obviously in pain and, with relief, Seb saw that Moe, who had recovered from the vicious bolt Nicole had fired at him, was standing in front of him, flanked by two more wolves, blocking Nicole’s access to him too.
She stamped a foot.
“I don’t care!” she shouted. “Let the beasts try and protect you! Aelfric, you will bleed to death before their energy can heal you and Seb, I have just one more trick up my sleeve.” She said the words gleefully but Seb wasn’t listening. Aelfric had collapsed onto the floor and appeared to be unconscious. The pool of blood beneath him was spreading so rapidly it looked more like an arterial bleed. The wolves were whining, unable to help. Seb remembered Greg’s mournful statement on the boat: I was so wrong. These are not normal injuries; it seems he needed to draw the power of the wolf-stags into himself in order to heal them. To do that, he needed to be conscious …” So if Aelfric was unconscious now, he couldn’t use Cue, or any of the wolves, to help him get better.
“Aelfric,” Seb said, shaking him. “Aelfric! Use Cue.” But Aelfric didn’t respond.
Nicole was still gloating. “Have you seen this Seb?” she called. “Take a look young man. Go on, I promise not to attack you. Why would I? I still have hopes that you will help me.” Unable to suppress his curiosity, Seb did look. Above the high backs of the wolves he could see Nicole’s up-stretched hand. In it she held a small doll. “Do you recognise this, Seb? I am sure you do. I am sure you, of all people, are fully aware of what this is and what it can do.”
Seb’s first reaction on seeing the Voodoo doll she held aloft was fear and then he checked himself.
“I’m not afraid of that,” he shouted across to her. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the crude doll that Nat and Aiden had made for him, which he had tucked away safely after the episode with the golem in the mausoleum. He smiled at it and thought of Nat and the moment she had told him she loved him.
“Really? Really Seb?” Nicole said, surprised. “Oh, I see.” She laughed. “You think it is for you!” Now Seb jerked his head up. “Silly boy,” Nicole mocked him. “Look closer.” Seb couldn’t — he was way too far away from her. All he could see was canvas material, and black button eyes — and a glimmer of gold which twinkled at him from the doll’s face. And then he heard Henri let out an angry yell.
“You are evil Nicole! She is still so weak and she won’t know to protect herself!”
“Delightful isn’t it Henri?” Nicole laughed, turning to him. “So now you will help me persuade Seb and the others to tell me what I need to know and then you will also help me release my fallen hero. Because if you don’t,” she paused, lowering the doll, “Well, let’s face it, you will,” she finished.
By Henri’s reaction Seb guessed the Voodoo doll was an effigy of Lotty. He suddenly knew what the glittery gold object shining out from the doll’s face was — a gold hoop. Scarlet had, in her description of Lotty, told of her having a small gold hoop in a piercing in her right eyebrow. But now Seb recalled the brief glimpse he had got of Lotty, as Zach thrust her unconscious body onto the sloping grave surface, there had been no gold hoop in her eyebrow.
Henri was already staggering to his feet, his left arm hanging limp by his side. He cast an anguished look at Seb.
“I am not evil, Henri,” Nicole said. “I am simply trying to save someone I love. Heath was your friend — for centuries. They killed him; they banished him to the Soul Drop just because he wanted to bring back his twin soul. You can understand that need — the need to rescue — or to save — someone you love? Wouldn’t you do anything for Lotty? If you help me bring him back, things can be as they were before. You owe them nothing Henri!”
Seb couldn’t see Nicole, but he could see Henri. He watched as his shoulders dropped, and then his head, and he stared at the floor, caught in a dreadful dilemma — save his wife — who meant everything to him — or save Aelfric and Seb — who meant little or nothing to him.
Seb wondered, if the Voodoo doll was an effigy of Nat, and he were in Henri’s position, what would he do? He was distracted as he heard Aelfric suddenly draw in a deep, torturous breath and then heard it rattle in his throat as he exhaled. He looked so pale he appeared to be dead. Seb tried to see if he was still breathing; he dropped his ear to his chest and was relieved to hear the faintest sounds and see the slightest rise and fall. He knew, though, that time was short.
“Well, Henri? Will you help me?” Nicole asked, ignoring the rising noise of unrest from the wolves. “Call the pack away. Let me have Seb. I actually believe that, right now, The Caretaker and Dierne will tell me exactly what I need to know. Then I only have Seb and Zach to deal with.” She turned to the ice window, behind which The Caretaker and Dierne stood. Seb glanced back, looking over the wolves to see them. They had been joined by Reynard and the look of despair on their faces matched his own feelings of desperation and sadness. They, like he, knew that Aelfric was moments away from death; his aura had shrunk away to just a thin line and the floor around him was swimming with his blood. Every rasping breath he took sounded like it would be his last. “Dierne, he is your twin, how can you bear to watch him die like this?” Nicole shouted at Dierne who lifted his chin, set his jaw and said nothing. “Caretaker, I can save him you know? But I need that information from you both. Come on, one word, one location, that’s all I need — in a minute it may be too late!”
The Caretaker didn’t even make eye contact with her but stared at Seb and gave a small shake of the head as though acknowledging it was the end.
Now Henri interrupted, “You are right, Nicole,” he said, “I will do anything for Lotty.” Seb felt his heart pound. Was Henri going to betray them? He shook Aelfric again.
“Wake up!” he hissed. “Aelfric, we are in big trouble!” But Aelfric’s aura had waned to virtually nothing.
“Excellent!” Nicole snapped. “Bring me the boy then.”
Alarmed, Seb didn’t know what to do. He did know that he would never tell Nicole what she wanted and he believed that, in spite of their anguish and grief, neither would Dierne or The Caretaker. He stared at Aelfric, noting how irregular his breathing had become and glanced back at those watching from the other side of the ice window. And then, like a revelation, it struck him. Aelfric had refused to call more than two wolves to help him because he didn’t have the strength to control them, to prevent them from transferring the injuries to someone else; and, for the same reason, he had refused to let Seb use the power of all the wolves at once to heal him. He had said, instead of healing him, they would pass these injuries to the nearest living thing that wasn’t a Custodian. Well there were only Custodians within this Sanctum. Not even the Dryads could pass through to it; they, along with the Guardians, were stuck in the Bastion Ring. Feeling a surge of hope, he looked at the circle of wolves around him. Surely he could use them now? Unable to transfer the wounds anywhere else, they would be forced to heal. But then he lost heart; there were no fairies. What do I do without fairies? I need them to link the wolves.
Henri, yards away, spoke again, “I am not finished, Nicole,” he said to her.
“I will do anything for Lotty, except betray my role. That is the mistake Heath made, and that is the mistake you are making. Our gifts are given to us for one purpose only — to uphold Nature’s laws — not to use them for our own selfish ends. Have you seen what you have become? You are not a —”
He was unable to finish. A bolt of white light skimmed over the backs of the wolves in front of him and he was forced to leap sideways. It missed him by inches and he cried out as he landed heavily on his injured arm.
Nicole screamed at him. “You are a fool Henri! I gave you a chance and now your dearly beloved will pay for your misguided decision!”
Seb’s brain was racing; Aelfric was dying — he could save him if he used the wolves, but he had no way of channelling their energy without the fairies’ chains linking them all together. And Henri’s wife was at risk too now. Frustrated and desperate he glanced at Henri; his face was the picture of despair.
“Watch this!” Nicole shouted and Seb looked up. He could only just see the top of her head and suddenly her hands appeared above it. In one she held the Voodoo doll, in the other a needle. The expression on Henri’s face changed from despair to horror as, in a swift movement, Nicole jabbed the needle towards the doll.
Seb knew the devastation that act would cause; the pain and injury it would inflict on Lotty. Feeling a rush of anger, he acted on impulse. He stood, raised his hand and pointed the palm at Nicole’s hands.
“You will not!” he shouted.
A tremendous thunderclap sounded and a pulse of energy charged from his hand, sending a blast of air towards Nicole. She was knocked off her feet; the doll went flying in one direction and the needle in another and she slammed against the small table, smacking her head on its edge, and then collapsed on the floor, moaning.
Henri stared at Seb, looking stunned. Seb ignored him. His mind was suddenly clear — he knew what to do. With just a thought from him, Cue turned and stood facing him, his head inches from his hand. The fourteen wolves forming the circle, in unison, took one pace outwards, turned and faced inwards. Moe, with the other two wolves that had protected Henri, joined them and they all reformed the circle, facing Seb, with Cue as a marker. Now they bunched together so tightly that their bodies were in contact — and Seb had the complete chain he needed.
Kneeling, he put his left hand on Aelfric’s chest then reached behind him with his right, placing it on Cue’s forehead. As soon as he made contact with the wolf, a surge of power charged into him; it was so strong he cried out and struggled to remain upright. As it filled his body, he tried to focus on it, direct it, and then he realised, he didn’t have to. The overriding instinct of the wolves was to save the Custodian and so he simply had to relax and let them do just that. Now their energy flowed through him as though he were a channel, he felt it pour into Aelfric — but then, to his dismay, he understood what Aelfric had meant. As that healing energy charged one way, into Aelfric’s body, Seb could feel an overwhelming drag the other way — the wolves pulling at the foreign injuries they detected, drawing them out of Aelfric. There was no way he could control — or resist — the combined power of two complete packs of wolf-stags and he screamed as he felt the injuries from Aelfric’s body rip through his own. Blood started to pour from his side and the front of his chest and now the wounds in his head and back also began to haemorrhage.
He was aware of Aelfric sitting up and then heard him shout, “Seb!”
Panic suddenly filled Seb’s mind. The wolves had saved Aelfric, but in doing so, they hadn’t healed the injuries, they had passed them, along with the effect of the willow resin, on to him. Through the pain and fear he felt confusion. Why? Why would the wolves not save him too — not heal him? He was a Custodian! Did they not care about him? And it was only then that he realised — as that agonising pain entered his body, he had recoiled and inadvertently withdrawn his hand from Cue. He was now lying on the floor, curled up in a ball, in a spreading pool of his own blood and Cue was nudging him with his nose, whining, wanting to help him.
… he needed to draw the power of the wolf-stags into himself in order to heal …
Aelfric had been healed because Seb had channelled the power of the wolves into him, but Seb couldn’t now heal himself because he had lost contact with the wolves.
He felt Aelfric scoop him up into his arms and instantly, surrounded by his aura, the pain stopped. The blood, however, still poured from his body.
“Seb,” Aelfric groaned, placing his hand over Seb’s chest. “I must take these injuries from you. The wolves will not heal them, they will —”
“Henri!” Reynard suddenly shouted, banging on the ice window. Nicole had struggled to her feet and, darting behind the large chair, lifted her hand, preparing to strike at Henri, who was running over to the small Voodoo doll which lay on the floor nearby. Without the wolves to protect him he was an easy target.
Aelfric, still holding Seb, knelt up and lifted his left arm. The wolves instantly parted, giving him a line of sight to Nicole.
“Stop, Nicole!” he shouted. She span and, with a bestial yell, screamed at him.
“You are the cause of all this!” She tilted her hand and fired a bolt of white light at him. Pace leapt forward, closing the gap and just managed to block it. But he was knocked backwards and slammed into Aelfric, whose hold on Seb was broken as he was sent flying across the slippery floor and underneath the legs of the other wolves, to end up beyond their protective circle.
Pain flooded back into Seb’s body and he screamed in agony.
Nicole strode towards Aelfric, her arm raised. As he got up, she shot another bolt of light. One of the other wolves jumped and landed in front of him. The bolt struck it on the side and now three more left the circle, leaping at Nicole. The remaining animals, with Cue, regrouped around Seb, closing in so close to him that Cue’s huge paws were only inches away.
… draw the power of the wolf-stags … in order to heal …
Seb, trying to ignore the crippling pain, mustered all the strength he had and reached a hand out towards Cue.
“I’ve got her! Help Seb,” he heard Henri shout.
“LET ME GO!” Nicole screeched.
Seb, stretching to reach Cue, was vaguely aware that Aelfric was running towards him.
“Wait, Seb! You can’t use the wolves; let me help you!” he called.
He doesn’t realise that there are only Custodians in this sanctum, Seb thought. The wolves can’t pass the injuries anywhere; they can only heal them.
“You’ll die if you take these injuries back,” he groaned. “And there’s nowhere for the wolves to send them. I can do this.” Confident he could help himself, Seb placed a hand on Cue’s leg, immediately drawing in the power of all the wolves. He felt one more second of agonising pain before the gaping wounds in his body were torn from him. Feeling instant relief, he jumped as he heard a sudden, ear-splitting scream.
The wolves parted and Aelfric dashed to him. He looked upset.
“Are you okay?” he asked urgently, and Seb, confused, nodded. “Good; stay here,” Aelfric said, then ran out of the circle towards the middle of the room.
A Choice
The energy of the wolves was still flowing through Seb’s body. It filled him with strength and he was elated to be pain and injury free — but that scream! Its echoes still rang through the air, and the agony and fear it conveyed sounded so primeval that it chilled his heart.
Standing, he saw Aelfric crouch down beside Henri who was sitting on the floor, holding Nicole in his arms. With Aelfric blocking his view, Seb could only see her legs which were writhing; a small puddle of blood had formed beneath her feet. She was moaning and Aelfric, speaking quietly to her, lifted her from Henri and into his own arms. Now, as he turned, Seb saw the full extent of the horror his body had been shielding. Nicole’s hair was matted with blood which flowed freely from huge gashes across the top of her head. Her clothing was drenched in blood too and he could clearly see more of it oozing from her
chest and dripping through her boots.
Aelfric mumbled something Seb couldn’t hear to Henri and suddenly every wolf in the room leapt over to them and formed a semi-circle behind Aelfric, with Cue and Moe in the centre.
“Why, Aelfric?” Henri hissed at him. “Is there not justice here?”
Aelfric shook his head.
“Her soul,” he said.
Seb took a couple of tentative paces towards the group. Nicole had stopped wriggling and seemed to have little awareness of her surroundings. Her eyelids fluttered and then closed.
“But, I, I don’t understand,” Seb stammered, guilt and confusion crowding his thoughts. “She’s a Custodian. Why would they transfer the wounds to her?” He was nearly crying as he realised what his actions had caused.
“She is not a Custodian, Seb,” Aelfric said, glancing up at him. “And this is not your fault. Henri,” he said, looking at Henri, “you will need to move back.”
“Will it work?” Henri asked.
“I don’t know,” Aelfric said.
Nodding, Henri stood and moved away, pulling Seb with him, to the left of the semi-circle of wolves.
“I don’t understand,” Seb said to him.
“Her aura is white!” Henri said, and turned to face him, wincing as he accidentally moved his left arm. Seb felt his stomach lurch. Of course! In the mausoleum he had noticed it and he had been seeing it all the while they were in the Sanctum — White! — Nicole’s aura was white — but he had just never made the connection. Custodians’ auras were blue. Seeing the consternation on his face, Henri continued, “Her dark acts are an affront to Nature, and Nature has removed her status as Custodian. Her birthmark, and some powers she can use through that, remain — temporarily — but eventually those too will go. Essentially, she has become just a normal, human soul.”
So that was why Aelfric had been so insistent no more wolves came; that was why he hadn’t tried to use the wolves to heal himself when he could and should have; that was why he had tried to tell Seb that the wolves would transfer the injuries. He had seen what Seb had seen, but he had understood what it meant. Nicole, to the wolves, was just another living soul nearby and, therefore, use-able as a vessel to transfer the injuries into, taking them away from the Custodians — saving them in the quickest and most effective way they could.