Everywhere I looked, something was attacking something else. From the air and the ground, powerful streams of light whizzed by at unfathomable velocities. If the streams managed to hit their targets, they simply exploded. If they missed and hit the ground, the concussive force lifted me off my feet. Suffice it to say, I was off my feet just about all the time.
Then it occurred to me that this was identical to the scene I had observed on the wall in the cavern at Stacks before the river of blood had come to nearly hurl me to my death. A fully fledged battle was raging and now I was right in the middle of it.
As I watched, there came a slight lull in the fighting. I took the opportunity to run full out, with Harry Two slightly ahead of me. I knew if I stayed here, I would die. As a silver beam ricocheted off a boulder, it struck the ground a glancing blow barely five yards from me. I was thrown into the air and came down hard on something. When I rolled away, I saw that that something was a body. It was the female rider in the chain mail, the one who had destroyed the male bearing down on me.
She had evidently been blasted out of the sky. Yet even as I started to get up, her hand reached out and gripped my arm. A strange, near-terrifying sensation went through my entire body at her touch. My mind clouded over. I felt cold, then warm, and then cold again. An instant later, my reason cleared, but I couldn’t seem to move.
‘Wait,’ she said breathlessly. ‘Please wait.’
Again, I was struck by the utter absurdity of all of this. How could she possibly see me?
As I looked down at her, she touched the side of her helmet. It took me a moment to comprehend what she wanted. I carefully lifted it off and her long auburn hair swirled around her metal shoulders. I could now fully see her face, and her features were beautiful. As I stared down at her, I was certain I had seen her before, somewhere. Then my gaze went lower and I saw the hole in her chain mail dead centre of her chest. Red blood just like mine flowed from this wound. She was dying.
I had a sudden thought. I whipped out the Adder Stone and waved it in front of the wound and wished her to be healed. But nothing happened. I supposed that although – contrary to what Eon had said – I had been seen, touched and almost killed – the law against intervening stood true. There was nothing I could do to help her.
I slowly put the Stone away and gazed down at her. She was tall, even taller than I was. I had felt the immense strength in her grip when she grabbed my arm. And she must be extraordinarily powerful to have wielded the sky spear the way she had, and to wear the chain mail while astride a steed.
The spear! It was lying beside her. I reached for it. But as I did, she spoke again.
‘No, wait,’ she gasped, but with urgency in her tone. She struggled up a bit and held out her right hand. On it was a glove made of a bright silver material.
‘Take . . . this . . . first,’ she said, each word separated by a gurgling breath.
I hesitated, but only for a moment as the battle raged with increased ferocity all around us. I took the glove off and slipped it on to my own hand. It looked like metal but was as soft as leather.
She dropped back to the ground. ‘Now,’ she said breathlessly.
I reached over and picked up the spear. It was lighter than it looked.
‘The Elemental,’ she said in a low voice that I had to bend down to hear.
‘What?’
‘The Elemental.’ She took a long burbling breath that I knew heralded the end of her life. ‘When you have . . . no other friends . . . it will be there . . . for you.’
I couldn’t think how a spear could be a friend. ‘Who are you?’ I said. ‘Why are you fighting?’
She was about to say something in reply when a sound came that shook the very ground. When I looked up, I saw to my horror that advancing upon the battlefield were three gigantic figures, each standing at least twenty yards tall, with huge, muscular bodies and small heads. They were grabbing flying steeds and riders out of the air and crushing them in their grasp even as they galumphed across the ground.
I looked back down when the dying female grabbed my cloak. ‘Go!’
‘But—’
‘Now.’ And what she said next shocked me more than anything ever had in my life.
She took a shuddering breath, gripped the back of my head and pulled me so close I could see that her eyes were so brilliantly blue they made the colour of the entire sky look insignificant. Those eyes bored into me. ‘You must survive, Vega Jane.’ Her body shook violently and her hand fell away. Her eyes glazed over as she stared upward.
She was gone.
I stared down at her. She had called me Vega Jane. She knew who I was. But who was she? And how did she know my name?
When I looked down at her right hand, my heart nearly stopped. On one of the fingers was a ring, with the same three hooks that my grandfather’s held. I reached out to touch it. And then take it. But it would not come off. I would have had to cut off her finger to leave there with the ring. And I could not do that, not to a brave female warrior who had saved my life.
I took a moment to close her eyes, gripped the Elemental, scooped up Harry Two in my free hand and ran for my life.
While the giants were now the focal point on the field, the battle raged on, both on the ground and in the air. As I turned back once to see how close they were, a steed and rider swooped low, wielding a great sword nearly as long as I was tall. He ducked under the outstretched arms of one of the giants, and, using both hands, he swung his great blade with incredible force. It sliced the giant’s head clean off its shoulders.
‘Take that, you bloodthirsty colossal!’ he screamed before he swooped safely away.
A colossal?
As the colossal started to topple, it was clear that his massive bulk was about to crush me and Harry Two.
I ran as fast as I’d ever run, even as I could see the shadow of the colossal blocking out the light and reaching ahead of me by a handful of yards. I was never going to make it, not while carrying both the Elemental and Harry Two. And I was unwilling to sacrifice either one.
And then it occurred to me. ‘You fool,’ I told myself.
As the shadow of the falling colossal engulfed me, I lifted off the ground and soared straight ahead, barely a yard in the air. I needed distance now, not height. I half closed my eyes because I was still unsure if I was going to squeak past. A thunderous crash right behind me jarred my eyes fully open. I glanced back. The dead colossal had missed me by less than two feet.
I soared upward, but this only made me more of a target. Streams of light were coming at me from all directions. Harry Two barked and snapped at them, as though his teeth could defeat them all. I used the only tool I had: the Elemental. I found out quickly enough that the lights ricocheted off it. One deflected blue streak knocked a rider clean off his steed.
I wanted to get out of here. But to do so, I had to find the gates. And I had no idea where they were.
As I flew, I looked ahead and saw my own death speeding towards me. Six abreast they were. All huge males wearing chain mail. They were riding steeds with withers as wide across as I was tall and they carried unsheathed swords. Yet they didn’t wait to get close enough to swing them at me; they brought them down in a slashing move and out of each sword blasted shafts of white light. I gripped the Elemental like I had seen the dead female do. In my head I knew what I wanted the thing to do, but I had no idea how to make it happen.
I hurled the Elemental with all my strength, but I didn’t throw it straight at the oncoming shafts of light. I threw it to the right side of the shafts with as much backspin torque as my poor arm could muster. The spear turned to the left, gained speed and shot straight across the air. It hit the first white shaft, then the second, the third, and then the remaining three. It caused them to bounce off and head in reverse, like an orb thrown against a wall.
When the deflected shafts of light struck the wall of riders and their steeds, there came the loudest explosion I had yet heard on the battlef
ield, even louder than when the first colossal had fallen. Harry Two and I were knocked heels over bum as the shock waves pummelled us. When the smoke and fire cleared, the riders and their enormous steeds had vanished. I did not dwell on my improbable victory. I had righted myself in time and had caught the Elemental squarely in my gloved hand as it reversed course and soared back to me.
As I pointed downward and looked towards the ground, I saw it in a valley, miles away and partially obscured in a sea of mist. But it was still unmistakable to me: the flaming-red gates. I went into a dive. I had to. For a new peril had emerged from the heavens. Right behind me was a creature I can only describe as a jabbit with wings. And if it were possible, the vile thing was even more terrifying than the dirt-bound variety. And as fast as I could fly, the winged jabbit was swifter.
I looked at the Elemental. The chain-mailed female had said that, when I had no other friends, it would be there for me. Well, friends are supposed to be good listeners. I looked back at the jabbit. It was now or never.
I spun in the air, faced the oncoming jabbit and threw the Elemental. In my mind, it flew straight and true at the target.
The jabbit exploded and the Elemental flew in a graceful curve right back into my gloved hand. I landed, set down Harry Two and we ran full tilt towards the gates. I’d had quite enough of the past. As soon as I passed through the portal, everything became black.
I could feel the grass around me. I heard Harry Two’s yips, the impact of his four paws on the ground near me. Part of me just wanted to lie there with my eyes closed for the rest of my sessions. But I slowly sat up and opened my eyes. Stacks was in the distance. The only things to tell me I had not imagined it all was the glove on my hand and the Elemental gripped in it.
And the small bulge in my cloak pocket was the Adder Stone.
I rose and held the Elemental tighter. What was I to do with the thing? It was as tall as I was. I couldn’t carry it around Wormwood. I couldn’t really hide it.
And as though it could read my mind, it shrank down to the size of an ink stick. I stared at it, dumbstruck.
It occurred to me that I had not returned to Eon even though he had said time travellers did. Then again, he had also said that I would not be seen, heard or harmed while I travelled back in time. I looked at a burn on my arm. Well, I had been seen, heard, injured and nearly killed. It made no sense at all.
I touched the burn and pain shot all the way down my arm.
I took out the Stone, waved it over my wound and thought good thoughts. The pain eased a bit, but the burn did not heal fully. I sighed resignedly and put the Stone away.
I walked along, trying to take in everything that had happened, but it was impossible. My head truly felt like it would burst at any moment.
Who was the female? How did she know my name? And perhaps most importantly, why did I have to survive?
All good questions and I had no answers to any of them. Yet despite that, I had a really vivid feeling that my life would never be the same.
28
SECRETS
I spent the next few nights practising flying with Destin and throwing the Elemental. During the lights, I kept the Adder Stone and the Elemental hidden under a floorboard at my digs. Destin always rode around my waist. I would never dream of removing it at this point because I never knew when taking to the skies might save my skin.
The next light, I was walking along the forest path to my tree before Stacks when I was confronted by Non wearing his battered metal breastplate. I looked behind him and there was Nida, who no longer guarded Valhall. The prisoners had been bound into servitude to help build the Wall. Nida had his shuck with him, and the huge canine was growling and snapping its immense jaws.
Harry Two started snapping his jaws and growling right back. My canine had grown surprisingly fast since I had taken him in. His chest, neck and legs were thick and powerful. I put a hand down in front of his face and Harry Two immediately sat on his haunches and grew silent.
Non and Nida paired together were bad enough. But next to Nida was Cletus Loon holding his morta and sporting a malevolent grin.
Non held out a hand. ‘Pass parchment.’
I gave it to him. He flicked a gaze over it and then flung it back at me.
He leaned down and said, ‘What are you doing, female?’
‘What I’m doing is I’m going to my tree to eat my first meal,’ I said, holding up my battered tin box. ‘Would you like to see for yourself?’
I shouldn’t have made the offer because Cletus snatched the tin from me and opened it.
‘Good stuff in here,’ he said. He pulled out a hard-boiled egg, popped it into his mouth and swallowed it whole. The next instant, he was on the ground holding his belly because that’s where I kicked him.
Non snagged my arm to hold me back. ‘We’ll nae have that.’
‘He just stole my food!’ I shouted.
Cletus was on his feet now and appeared to be about to point his morta at me. But Nida smacked him in the head and sent him sprawling again. Nida never said much, but when he hit you, you knew it.
Cletus moaned in pain and grabbed his head. ‘What’d you do that for?’
‘Simmer down, Loon,’ advised Non. ‘Or he’ll have the shuck on you.’
Cletus stood, looking embarrassed, his cheeks red. I didn’t feel sorry for him. I snapped, ‘I’ll be coming round and taking that egg from your meal portion at the Loons.’
‘You will not,’ he shot back. ‘I was testing it to see if there was something in it what shouldn’t-a been.’
I pulled my little knife and smiled wickedly. ‘You want me to check your belly, then?’
Cletus leaped back, got his feet tangled and fell on his head. Non roared with laughter and the shuck growled at the sudden noise, but Nida held him back on the chain. I grabbed my tin off the ground where Cletus had let it fall.
Non gripped my arm and leaned in close. ‘One lucky strike nigh means nothing, female,’ he whispered in my ear. I glanced at the dent I had made in his breastplate the other night but said nothing. He continued. ‘Krone has told me the lay of the land. You and Morrigone. She will nae always be there to protect you.’
I ripped my arm free. Around my waist Destin felt on fire. ‘I didn’t need her to do that, did I?’ I shot back, pointing at the dent.
I hurried on my way. I didn’t like being stopped by Wugs with mortas. I didn’t like having my stuff male-handled and my food eaten. I didn’t like that lout Non threatening me. But that seemed how Wormwood was going to be from now on.
I reached my tree, gave a searching look around to make sure no one was watching, picked up Harry Two, gave a great leap and landed neatly on my planks.
We sat and I divvied up our meal. I had to protect myself from discovery because I intended to keep practising with Destin and the Elemental. I had studied the map of the Quag on my skin every night. I now knew it by heart. I had to keep the Adder Stone and the Elemental a secret, obviously. Unless they saw me flying around, there was no cause to throw me in prison.
That’s when I sat bolt upright.
The book. Quentin’s book of the Quag. I had forgotten about it. I needed to study it closely if I were to survive even one light in the Quag. It would give me valuable information about the creatures. Without the book, I could not flee this place. And, I now promised myself, I was going to flee.
This decision had not come swiftly or easily. But Wormwood was unrecognizable to me now. And the more I had thought about it, the idea of Outliers coming for us seemed like rubbish. I wanted the truth and had concluded that I would not find it here. And the only other place was the Quag.
That night after I finished work, I snuck from my lodgings, leaving Harry Two sleeping. I entered the forest, looked to make sure no Wug was around, and then I started sprinting and leaped into the air. I caught an updraught of wind and soared high. The breeze sailed through my hair and over my body. It felt cleansing, like I was taking a long bath under th
e pipes.
I reached the Delphias’ property and dropped to the ground with little sound. The creta Duf had been working on was gone now, taking its muscle to the building of the Wall. The whist hound was nowhere to be seen. The young slep was still here being trained up proper for a place on Thansius’s carriage. And the adar was also here and asleep, its leg still attached to a peg in the ground.
In the darkness, I suddenly realized I had a problem. I couldn’t remember where I had buried the book. I walked past each pine tree, examining the ground underneath for the little pile of needles I had placed over the hole I’d dug. Of course, after all this time, the little pile of needles had been blown away by the wind or else carried off by creatures to construct their nests. I was cursing myself again for being so blindly stupid, when I heard it. Or rather, heard him.
‘Wo-wo-wotcha, Vega Jane.’
I turned slowly around and saw Delph standing there. ‘Hello, Delph,’ I replied.
He drew even closer and held up my book.
I stared at it and then at him, unsure whether I should claim ownership.
‘C-c-can I c-come t-too, Ve-Vega Jane?’
29
THE WALL OF LIES
I stared at Delph, dumbfounded.
He drew closer and held the book up even higher. ‘To the Quag, I’m meaning, eh,’ he said in a too-loud voice.
‘I know it’s the Quag,’ I said fiercely, finally finding my voice. ‘Where did you find it?’
‘Box in the ho-hole you d-dug.’
‘How did you know about that?’
‘Wa-watched you, di-didn’t I?’
‘Have you read it?’ I asked in a whisper.
‘N-not all. But it don’t s-say h-how a Wu-Wug gets th-through it,’ he said.
Vega Jane and the Secrets of Sorcery Page 13