The Skeleton's Knife (The Farwalker Trilogy)

by Joni Sensel

  "Better." Neela panted.

  Ariel opened her eyes, which had clenched shut by themselves. Neela bobbed in midair with her feet treading nothing. Ariel didn't dare look below. She didn't want to see how far above ground they hovered.

  "See how the wind lofts me, whether I want it or not?" Neela asked. "You, too. Like we walked through the storm."

  "Should have... warned me," Ariel gasped. Her heart banged so loud she barely heard her own voice.

  Neela shook her head. "Getting ready makes it worse. Believe me, I know. And don't mind my feet. They aren't helping. They just won't hold still without trying to swim." She played another note on her pipe. "What you'll feel next is--"

  Her instruction came too late. The wind slammed Ariel into Neela, and they tumbled head over heels. Ariel squealed and clutched Neela with both arms and legs. But although they were falling, they weren't falling down. They were falling forward, or sideways, perhaps even up--like tumbling in a wave without being slammed to the beach. Earth and sky traded places. Dizzying glimpses of color and shadow whipped past. The sail draped around Neela's neck flapped.

  Neela squeezed out a few words. "Ho! This is worse... with someone... banging against you."

  "When does it stop?" Ariel cried.

  "At the--"

  Air sucked at them, a sudden riptide that slowed their motion. They dropped to the earth, knocked about but unharmed, and Neela released Ariel's hand. The ground beneath them was cobbled, but a murky grey fog hovered everywhere else.

  "Bridge," Neela whispered.

  They untangled and got to their feet. Although the place was cheerless and dim, they could manage without lighting a lamp. Ariel rubbed a bruise while Neela gathered the sail more neatly around her neck. Mist curled around them in tendrils and swirls. Anything could've been lurking just an arm's reach away.

  "Scarl?" Ariel called. The fog muffled the sound.

  A dark shadow swooped up, far too small to be him. As Ariel shied from it, the crow's shape emerged. It perched on the water skin, which she'd dropped. Shooing the bird, she retrieved the bladder and slung it back over her head.

  "I expect if he's here, he'll be farther along," Neela said. "This is only the start of the bridge. I've gone a mite farther." The cobbled way beneath them arched gently upward, leaving no doubt which way it extended.

  "We should hurry," she added, starting off. "I've seen frights here."

  Ariel did not ask what kind. She remembered what Scarl had said when he'd first told her the bridge's story: The people put clever barriers on the bridge, hoping to keep the dead and demons where they belonged. She saw no barriers yet. After just a few paces, they came upon enormous black timbers inset parallel in the stone underfoot like a cart track of wood. Cracked and roughened with age, the dark wood made Ariel shudder. They say ebony wood forms the bridge, Scarl had said. That's why it looks blackened and scorched.

  She avoided the timbers, walking on the cobbles between. She would have preferred a bridge unlike the one in Scarl's story. Then she could've believed they wouldn't meet demons, either.

  Wary, she trailed Neela, alert to warnings from her feet. She didn't have many choices for where to place them--the pinched bridge was only a few paces wide. Drops yawned on both sides, and mist boiled up from below. She would have taken it for smoke rising from the bridge's fabled flames, except it was icy. Cold fingers of fog writhed around her, some glowing almost as if lit from within, others more like grey veils over shadows. Twice she thought snarling faces formed alongside her before melting away.

  Uneasy, she called Scarl's name. Her voice seemed to drop at her feet, felled by the fog.

  "Hush!" Neela said. "You might summon a fright!"

  "I don't want to miss him! Will we see his spirit, do you think, like a ghost? His body's not here like ours are."

  Neela pursed her lips. "I reckoned I'd recognize Dain in my heart. But I don't see or feel anything like Scarl up there--do you?"

  The mist revealed a black gate ahead. Its narrow metal bars stretched over their heads, too close to admit more than a rat between them. Rusty barbed wire, sharp against the fog, tangled around the pointed tips of the bars. Broad snarls spilled over the sides of the bridge to prevent daring trespassers from swinging around the gate at either edge.

  A movement flickered on the far side of the gate. Ariel opened her mouth with a hail--and then went stiff. What she'd thought was a person obscured in the mist was only age-darkened bones, held together in places by small knots of wire. The skeleton tottered and hopped, plucking at a length of barbed wire out of reach. The lengths of the skeleton's limbs did not match, and its movements jerked in a way that suggested they hurt. Of course, any motion from a creature without flesh was a wonder. A low keening started in Ariel's throat.

  It couldn't be Scarl. And though the next name in her mind froze her heart, Elbert's bones were now nothing but dust. So it wasn't him, either. Still, his bones had been back in the world. Did the dead have a second set once they got here?

  The bone-man's skull turned, its empty sockets staring at her through the bars. Ariel clutched Neela.

  The smaller girl nodded furiously. "Like I said--frights!"

  But the bone-man merely jumped again for the wire. Some bones were missing, including a shoulder blade and most of the ribs. Nothing but mist filled their places. And what Ariel had taken for one thighbone was actually a broken length of the gate's metal bars. She saw the narrow gap where it'd been.

  "I don't see Scarl." Ariel fought to control her quivering words. "Maybe he woke up at Cassalie's." They'd been gone for well over an hour.

  "I hope so," said Neela. "No help if he chose to cross over, I guess. Just one more that's my fault. We can keep looking, though. You could at least say goodbye."

  Ariel winced. Goodbye was not an option she was ready to face. "How do we open the gate to go through?"

  Neela slipped the sail from around her neck. "Far as I know, we can't. But I bet we can fling this up, snag one end on the top, and climb it like--"

  Something hit Ariel's shin. She jumped, choking on a scream. A length of wire lay at her feet. The skeleton on the far side of the gate clacked its teeth at them and waved its own piece of wire.

  Neela and Ariel exchanged an uncertain look. Was the tossed wire a threat?

  With a clatter of bones, the skeleton crouched at the gap in the gate to wrap the wire behind the next bar. It pulled the wire back and forth, sawing as if through a sapling. The wire scratched on the metal with a grating that hurt Ariel's teeth.

  Her hands flew to cover her ears. She crept closer. Thin fragments of wire littered the ground where the skeleton worked. It must have taken forever, but the bar had already been worn through in one place, an arm's reach above where the bone-ghoul sawed now. When its work there was finished, the length of bar would drop out. Alongside the gap that already existed, the space left would be big enough for bones to squeeze through.

  "It's trying to get to our side," whispered Neela.

  "And we're trying to get over there," Ariel said. Sawing the bar would take far too long. But someone with more weight than mere bones had might be able to use it.

  Rather than getting within reach of the bone-ghoul--which may have been what the macabre thing really wanted--Ariel slipped Elbert's knife from its thong on her leg. She banged the blade on the gate near the skeleton's skull.

  "Get away!"

  The skeleton's teeth clacked as though it might bite, but it drew back into the mist, taking its wire with it.

  Ariel handed the knife to Neela and grabbed the bar near the break to test its stiffness. It gave.

  "Help me." She propped one boot on the gate for leverage.

  Neela set down the knife to join her, and they pulled hard on the bar. Slowly it bent until they could use their feet, too, stomping it horizontal and finally jumping on it.

  The bone-man dashed up. Before Ariel could do more than snatch her knife from the ground, the skeleton thrust its
skull through the gap. Ariel and Neela jumped back. The skull dropped with a crack on the cobblestones and rolled a short way by itself as the rest of the bone-ghoul jammed through behind. Its larger bones rattled and jumbled together. Smaller ones split away and slid fast between the bars. As the girls stared, jaws agape, the bone-ghoul reassembled, collected its skull, and galloped away into the mist.

  "We've let something horrid into the world," Ariel murmured.

  Neela's face pinched. "Best make it worth it, I guess." She thrust one leg through the gap and wiggled through sideways, dragging the sail behind her. Ariel followed, afraid she'd get stuck. The cold bars banged her hipbones and scraped her backside and ears, but she forced herself through.

  Soon she and Neela stood on the far side. The cobblestones and timbers of the bridge stretched before them, still arching up.

  "Do you know what's ahead?" Ariel's feet were willing to show her.

  "I've never got past the gate."

  Wings flapped above them, hidden in the mist. Ariel hoped it was only the crow.

  She secured Elbert's knife at her leg again and stepped forward. "Let's hurry. I don't like how the mist collects around us when we stop. Did you see the faces back there?"

  Neela followed. "Spooky hands, too."

  A small cluster of golden sparks, stunningly bright, zipped out of the colorless fog and between them. The girls flinched apart. Both turned to watch as the lights flew through the gate and beyond.

  "Baby stars!" Neela said. "Or ball lightning?"

  Ariel had been reminded of burning flies, but Neela's words changed her mind. "Maybe sparks of the Essence. I wondered if-- oh! Look."

  A shadow slipped toward them through the bars of the gate. Taller than Ariel, it fluttered like a dark flame, one moment squeezed narrow, and the next, broad as a man. A smear of light glowed where a heart might have been.

  Neela twitched to flee.

  Fear numbing her tongue, Ariel held her in place. "Scarl?"

  Giving no sign it heard, the shade passed them and headed on up the bridge. Ariel couldn't justify her relief, but her heart said it hadn't been him.

  "I wondered if we'd see the dead crossing," she whispered. She hadn't noticed any on the other side of the gate, but more shades appeared soon, slipping in and out of sight and all gliding in the same direction. None struck Ariel as someone she loved.

  "And the sparks?" Neela asked as they trotted forward.

  "The Essence of those about to be born? Without the shadows of bodies they haven't got yet?"

  "The spirits of babies?" said Neela. "I like that."

  As they progressed up the arch, which was gentle but long, Ariel and Neela grew used to both shadows and sparks. Wings beat overhead in both directions, too, sometimes too thickly to be only one crow. Ariel tried to pretend it was the passage of angels, but vultures or demons seemed more likely.

  To keep fear from pressing too close on her neck, she fell back on her farwalking song, though she whispered so the sound wouldn't draw attention. New words flowed to her tongue, as they so often did.

  "Crossing the bridge with Dain--

  She's really Neela--

  Hoping to find a friend.

  We'll turn him back.

  "We'll turn him back, and then

  Seek out a brother.

  Dain, do you wander here

  Lost in the mist?

  "Mist-bound, but never lost,

  We'll just keep walking

  Over the bridge and back,

  Thinking of fr-- oh!"

  Suddenly wracked by a shiver, she stumbled aside from a hunched shade she'd walked into. "Sorry!"

  The shadow wavered forward as if she'd never touched it. Its disinterest reassured her, since any demons they met here might also ignore them. Still, passing through the same space as a spirit had stolen her breath. She didn't want to repeat it.

  "That's a good song," said Neela, who'd tipped her head close to listen. "Keep singing."

  "No. I'd better pay more attention."

  Her decision paid off. She noticed immediately when the cobbles finally began to slope downward.

  "We've passed the top of the arch," Ariel whispered. "Halfway."

  "You going to throw the knife off now?" Neela asked.

  Ariel struggled, reluctant without knowing why. "What if we need it?"

  "For what? Everything here that might bother us should be already dead. You suppose it would work anyhow?"

  "I don't know."

  Flames leapt from the fog just a few feet ahead. The girls froze. Heat washed over their faces and shriveled mist all around before the fire receded through a hole in the cobbles.

  Scarl's words echoed in Ariel's mind. The hole couldn't be fixed. Anything near it fell in and was lost. Flames boiled up through the breach, and demons sometimes rode on those flames.... Those who claim to have ventured partway on the bridge always mention a light--the glare of flame through that hole.

  So this part of his story had also been true. Ariel edged closer to the gaping hole. Nothing living was said to be able to cross.

  Chapter 24

  A cobblestone fell away just ahead of Ariel's toes, dropping silently into the void. She scuttled backward.

  "Think we could run and jump across?" Neela asked.

  Even Ariel's sure feet balked at that. "No." The gap ahead could have swallowed a boat. She scanned the mists beyond for Scarl. The empty fog mocked her. If she knew he'd turned away from the bridge and had awakened again in the world, she could bear being turned back by this hole. But she knew no such thing.

  Closing her eyes, she asked her feet to take her to him, berating herself for not trying that sooner. They failed to answer, neither turning her back nor urging her in any direction at all--as if he didn't exist or had moved forever beyond her reach.

  "Can the wind help us?" she asked Neela.

  "Carry us over? I'll ask." Neela blew gently on her pipe. No sound came. Her face cramped in disbelief.

  "Uh-oh. No wind here?" Ariel gripped the strap of the water skin she carried. The clammy fog did make even the air feel dead. But they might need the wind to get back to the world.

  "There must be! Like fire and stone." Neela blew harder. Her face flushing, she forced a low moan from the pipe.

  "It sounds nasty," she said. "The wind might not like it."

  "Well, don't make it mad."

  Neela inhaled deeply and played on, the groaning notes unlike any she'd played before. The mist near their feet stirred and slipped into holes, draining like water. More fog rushed behind. Creating a current, it rose up their legs. The river of mist pulled Ariel's right boot forward.

  She jerked it back. "Stop! This won't lift us over, it'll suck us down."

  Neela lowered her pipe, but the pressure around their legs swirled and grew. "Wind? If that's your doing, what do you mean?"

  "Oh, it might be a demon!"

  Ariel's feet whisked from beneath her. She slammed onto her back. The water bladder slung on her shoulder bounced alongside her.

  The river of fog dragged her over the bridge toward the hole. With a cry, she threw her arms wide to grab Neela, the cobblestones, anything. Her fingers found no hold she could keep. Digging in her boots only wrenched her ankles. Feet first, Ariel slid toward the edge of the hole.

  The mist sucked her down. Several loose cobbles went with her. She gasped one last breath, expecting to fall.

  Instead, the current tugged her forward, stronger than before. She felt only its pull and the space all around her. One heart-stopping breath, two.... The whirling river of mist swept her up in an arc. Her body smacked stone and timbers again. More cobblestones broke away as the current scraped her up and over the far rim.

  It dumped her on the bridge where the cobbles held firm. Aching, she opened her eyes and lifted her head.

  Nearby, Neela groaned. "Must not be dead. My skin hurts too much to have lost it."

  Ariel pushed herself upright. She was surprised to find th
e water bladder still twisted around her. She and Neela stared back over the huge, jagged hole. They must've looked like flapping fish being reeled in through a stream.

  "I guess not even the wind can pass over the hole," Ariel said shakily. "Only below it." She wondered if the crow had gotten this far and if it'd flown underneath, too.

  "I sure don't want another go of that." Neela inspected bruises that were already blooming. "Even knowing the wind wouldn't drop us. I hope you can lead us back some other way, Farwalker girl."

  Ariel was starting to doubt they'd survive even one crossing, let alone a trip back. But the wind had helped them. Other forces might, too. At least her feet were willing to move forward again.

  They sipped their water and moved on. Fog knotted around them again, but the path slanted downward, speeding their legs and encouraging their hearts that the end of the bridge must be near. Ariel kept noticing groups of two or three cobbles, apparently broken loose from the edge of the hole, playing leapfrog--or that's how it seemed. They tumbled along purposefully like empty boots walking. The first time, she stopped to watch. When the rocks changed course toward her, she hurried onward again.

  "Rock monsters," said Neela. "Zeke could keep 'em as pets."

  "Too creepy." Wistfully Ariel hoped Zeke was still warm and safe.

  A few paces later, two oblong stones loomed through the mist. They marked the edge of the bridge like gateposts with no gate. The gap between was just wide enough for the girls to pass shoulder to shoulder.

  She and Neela had just slipped between them when Ariel sensed somebody watching. She whirled. Only tendrils of mist trailed behind. The two stones were not blank, though. Complex symbols were etched on them both.

  "What do they mean?" Neela asked.

  "I don't know. And I'm not sure I want to." There were only five marks, in different combinations and sizes, sometimes upside down or sideways. Ariel didn't recognize any. Perhaps it was only their tangle, compared with the neat rows Scarl had taught her, but they had a sinuous cast that made her uneasy.