As I drew closer, I saw the long, plain wooden box with Tilt’s remains inside. His mum and dad were sobbing next to it. Tilt had three brothers and one sister. They were all there, all crying just as hard.
I stopped drawing closer when I saw Morrigone sitting in a chair next to Thansius as he stood by the hole that would quite soon become a grave. She was dressed in black. I had to admit I had never seen a Wug look more stricken than Morrigone. Her face was a hard knot of rigid pain. She looked sessions older. Lines on her face I had never seen before now were bared to us all. Tears stained her cheeks and, while she was doing her best to hide it from us, every so often her body shuddered.
From time to time, Thansius placed a large, supportive hand on her shoulder and spoke quietly to her with words I could not hear.
As I continued to look around, I noted that Ladon-Tosh was nowhere to be seen. What he had done was murder in my eyes, plain and simple. He could have beaten poor Tilt easily and with no need to kill him. It was an evil act, but then again, I wondered if the rules of the Duelum exempted combatants from any such punishments. If they did, the rules should be changed. Everything had a moral hitched to it if one bothered to look.
I was surprised to see Delph slowly coming up the path. He was limping along supported by the cudgel. However, I was stunned to see Duf walking next to him, wearing his new timbertoes and using his new stick, which he gripped in his right hand. It was hard to tell who was supporting whom more, injured son or legless father, because each had an arm around the other.
I hurried over to them and hugged first Duf and kissed him on the cheek, and then I embraced Delph, who was as cleaned up as I had ever seen him.
‘Heard ’bout your last round, Vega Jane,’ said Delph. ‘But we need to talk,’ he added solemnly.
I shushed him as Ezekiel came forward, the only sparkle of white in a sea of dark.
He prayed out loud and then led us through another. We sang. He committed the body of Newton Tilt, a fine Wug struck down long before his proper time, to the dirt.
Then Thansius rose and said some comforting words, his huge frame quivering with emotion. All of Wormwood was distraught, but I had heard no protests that the Duelum should be cancelled before the last bout was held. Our collective empathy apparently had certain limits.
Later, as the crowd started to disperse, I was surprised to see Morrigone leave her perch and walk over to the Tilts. She put her arm around Tilt’s parents and started speaking to them in a low voice. They nodded and seemed consoled by her words.
I turned to Duf. ‘You seem to have taken to the timbertoes and stick very quickly,’ I said encouragingly. ‘You’re getting around like your old self.’
He seemed pleased by my words, but in his gritted teeth I saw the pain behind his smile. And I noted how his hands kept clenching and unclenching. ‘Takes a bit of gettin’ used to, I’ll grant you that. But I’m gettin’ there, I am.’ He added with a lifeless chortle, ‘And I’ll never have to worry ’bout me bad knees no more, will I?’
‘No,’ I said with a smile, admiring greatly his attitude but feeling awful at seeing his obvious discomfort.
‘Still, I probably should-a kept to me bed this night,’ said Duf, his face suddenly contorted in pain. He gasped and held on to Delph for support. Then he righted himself and added weakly, ‘But known the Tilts for ages. So sad. Couldn’t not come, could I? Wouldn’t be right. Can’t believe little Newtie’s gone. Held him in me arms when he was just a wee Wug. Never gave no one a lick of trouble. A good lad. A fine lad.’ A tear trickled down his face even as he gave a sharp cry and grabbed at his right stump.
I was becoming more and more bewildered by this. I thought with the legs gone and the timbertoes on, there would be no more pain for him. When I looked over at Delph questioningly, he explained, ‘They had to burn the ends of his legs, Vega Jane, to get the stumps ready for the timbers.’
His father said admonishingly, ‘This pretty female don’t need to hear no rubbish talk like that, Daniel Delphia.’ He smiled back another bout of suffering that crossed his face and said, ‘Now, that is the loveliest frock I believe I’ve ever seen, Vega.’ He nudged his son. ‘Ain’t it, Delph? Eh?’
Delph nodded shyly and said, ‘’Tis, Dad. ’Tis.’
I reached in the pocket of my frock where the Adder Stone lay. After having it taken by Morrigone, I’d decided to always keep it with me. I palmed the Stone so it could not be seen by either of them. Maybe it could not regrow limbs, but I knew it could make pain vanish. When they turned and spoke to some other Wugs who enquired how Duf was doing, I surreptitiously waved the Stone over what remained of Duf’s legs and thought as good thoughts as I could. The change in Duf was almost instantaneous. I had just put the Stone back in my pocket when Duf turned to look at me, the most serene expression on his face.
‘Are you OK, Duf?’ I asked innocently.
He nodded, looking surprised. ‘OK? Yes. I do seem to be.’ He cautiously tapped his thigh. Then, he slapped it.
Delph saw this and exclaimed, ‘What the . . . Don’t do that, Dad.’
Duf slapped his other thigh and then stood totally erect without his son’s help. ‘Look’t that, Delph. No more pain. It’s a miracle, i’tis.’
Delph eyed his father’s legs and then he turned to me, suspicion all across his features. He knew. I could just tell he knew what I’d done. When Delph glanced away, I passed the Stone over him too. He turned once more to stare at me. His leg was now fine. His arm no longer hung funny. He was healed too, and some of my guilt at what had happened to father and son melted away.
We parted company on the high street. Delph and Duf were headed back to the Care. But Duf felt he could go home soon, especially with the pain gone.
I heard the carriage wheels long before I turned. I was on the Low Road now and the carriage shouldn’t have been. I finally looked back to see Bogle pulling his sleps to a halt next to where I stood.
As she stepped from the carriage, Morrigone still looked awful, which made me feel immeasurably better, despite the grief she had shown at the Hallowed Ground, despite her consoling words to the Tilts. Her gaze searched mine. I merely stared back quizzically. I did notice with unconcealed relish that I was now taller than her. She had to look up to me.
She said, ‘I was glad to see Duf here this night. The timbertoes seem to be working for him.’
‘I think they’ll work just fine now,’ I replied tersely, watching her closely.
‘And I have spoken with Delph recently. He . . . he seems far more assured in his speech than he once did.’
‘He is,’ I said. ‘It simply took him remembering something that others did not want him to recall.’
‘I see.’
‘So you can stop paying him coin, Morrigone. He doesn’t need it any more to recompense for what you did to him.’
I had finally figured that one out too.
‘You have much to learn, Vega. However, I came not to speak of Delph but of the Duelum,’ she began.
‘What about it?’ I said.
‘You versus Ladon-Tosh.’
‘That’s what the competition board says.’
‘He didn’t mean to kill poor Newton Tilt.’
I shook my head stubbornly. ‘He didn’t need to hit him that hard.’
She looked down and I thought I saw her lips tremble. She looked back up and her features were tight and composed. ‘I think he sees that now.’
‘Lucky for me, since I’m next. Where is he, by the by?’
‘I asked him to stay away. I didn’t think it would be . . . appropriate.’
‘Why is he even in the Duelum?’ I asked.
‘Why shouldn’t he be?’ she said warily.
‘He’s clearly older than twenty-four sessions, for starters.’
‘Not according to his records.’
‘I’d like to see those records. Just to confirm where he came from.’
She looked at me with a degree of incredulity that
I found pathetic under the circumstances. ‘He came from Wormwood. Where else would he have come from?’
‘Well, if he is a Wug, he’s a most unusual one. I’ve never even heard him speak. You have to admit, it’s all a bit dodgy.’
‘It is a bit dodgy,’ was her surprising reply. She had lowered her eyes again, but then she raised her head and looked directly at me, her green eyes glowing as though they had been ignited. ‘You don’t have to fight Ladon-Tosh, Vega.’
‘Then I’ll end up in Valhall, won’t I?’
‘I can meet with Krone. I can work something out. Any sentence in Valhall would be relatively short. But there would be another condition.’
I folded my arms over my chest. ‘What?’
‘You know far more than is good for a Wug.’
‘You mean I know the truth,’ I shot back.
‘And what do you think the truth is?’
‘You have powers, Morrigone, that other Wugs don’t. And you said you have your duty. Well, I think that duty is to keep Wugs from finding out where they truly came from.’
‘I will not debate with you, Vega.’
‘Then what do you want?’
‘The condition is that you will not be allowed to think such things.’
‘So the red light, then?’ I remarked coolly. ‘I think I’ve figured that out. Red must be more powerful than blue. Delph was much bigger than me, even back then. The blue light was sufficient to wipe my thoughts nearly clear, although I could still remember the scream, Morrigone. And the blue light.’
‘What?’ she said, clearly astonished by this.
‘I thought it was just a nightmare. But Delph eventually remembered what had happened to him, with a little help from me. That’s what I meant when I said he no longer stutters. He remembers, Morrigone. All of it.’
We stared at each other in silence. I finally said, ‘So I’ll take my chances in the quad, thanks anyway.’ Then I added firmly, ‘You’re not messing with my mind ever again.’
‘I am well aware that you dispatched your other competitors with relative ease.’
‘Except for Racksport. He shot himself accidentally. Or so they say.’
‘What do you mean, “Or so they say”?’
‘A suspicious Wug would think that Racksport was persuaded to get out of the way so I would have to meet Ladon-Tosh in the final bout.’
She said, ‘If true, that would be a very evil thing to do.’
‘I completely agree,’ I replied, staring back at her. ‘And so might be trying to kill someone in a mirror.’
We stared at each other silently. I could sense the tension between us; it was like a wall of fire.
Morrigone finally spoke. ‘I know that you visited my home while I was away. May I ask why?’
‘To wish my brother a happy birthlight. And to give him a present.’
She looked down. ‘That was thoughtful of you – very thoughtful, considering the circumstances.’
‘He is my brother, Morrigone. No matter what happens, he will always be my brother. And I love him. Unconditionally.’
‘I can understand that,’ she said. ‘Blood is blood.’
‘And if I die in the Duelum, so be it. I die with the truth in my heart. Not like the other Wugs, who don’t understand what Wormwood really is.’
‘And what do you think Wormwood is, Vega?’ she said, giving me a deadly stare.
‘Well, speaking for me – it’s a prison.’
‘I’m sorry you feel that way.’
‘You say you had a chat with Ladon-Tosh, and that he understands he was in the wrong?’
‘That’s right.’
‘So he does talk, then?’
She seemed caught off guard by this. ‘Yes – I mean, he . . . communicates.’
‘Well, put in a good word with him for me, will you?’ I said casually.
She suddenly gripped my arm tightly. ‘If nothing else, think of your brother. You would not want to be lost to him, would you?’
‘I think he might already be lost to me,’ I replied slowly. ‘So you see, there is really nothing left for me here. Nothing at all.’
She released my arm, stepped back and looked down. ‘I see.’
I squared my shoulders and stared down at her. ‘If I fight, I was told I would be free. I intend to fight to the end. And if I survive, I intend to be free. Really free.’
49
A HODGEPODGE PLAN
I was just thinking of crawling into my cot and pulling the covers over me when someone rapped at my door. Harry Two barked and started clawing at the wood. I walked to the door and said, ‘Who is it?’
‘Wotcha, Vega Jane.’
I opened the door, stepped back and let Delph pass through. He knelt to pet Harry Two while I closed the door and motioned him to the chair by the empty fireplace. I perched on the cot, my hands in my lap, and stared at him.
‘What do you want?’ I asked.
He gave me a furtive glance. ‘You don’t look good.’
‘Well, let me see. I went to watch a Wug being planted at the Hallowed Ground. I no longer recognize my brother. My parents are gone. In two lights, I’m probably going to die in the Duelum at the hands of a murderer. So, spot on – I’m definitely not OK.’
He bowed his head and I felt bad for having said what I had.
‘I’m sorry, Delph. None of this is your problem.’
‘But ’tis my problem. You dying? Can’t let that happen, can I? I mean, I just can’t.’
‘I have to fight Ladon-Tosh,’ I said.
He nodded at this, which surprised me. ‘So the thing is, you got to not get killed.’
‘That point I understand.’
‘Some blokes told me what he done to poor Tilt.’
I sat forward, suddenly feeling engaged. ‘The thing is, Delph, I never even saw Ladon-Tosh strike. That’s how fast the blow was. It knocked Tilt completely out of the quad. He was dead before he hit the dirt. I’ve never seen anything like it.’ This all came out in a rush of fear that had been welling up inside me ever since Tilt had struck the ground.
‘But think what you could do if you had Destin when you fight Ladon-Tosh.’
‘That would be cheating.’
‘Rubbish! Do you really think Ladon-Tosh is a normal Wug? You having Destin when you take him on won’t be cheating. It’ll be making the fight fair, way I see it.’
I sat back and thought about this. I had won all my other matches on my own by a combination of luck, planning and instinct. But I knew in my heart that none of those would allow me to prevail against Ladon-Tosh.
‘OK, I guess I can see that,’ I finally said.
‘So it comes down to you landing your blow before Ladon-Tosh can land his.’
‘I’m nowhere near as fast as Ladon-Tosh.’
‘Then we have to come up with a way that you’re even faster. Or else you have to make him keep missing till you can finish him off.’
‘And how exactly am I supposed to do that?’ I said incredulously.
‘Fought in enough Duelums, haven’t I? Know my way around the quad, don’t I?’
‘OK, what suggestions do you have?’
‘Watched Ladon-Tosh’s second round. He dinnae kill no Wug that time, but there are some things I noted.’
‘Like what?’
‘He don’t move on the bell, not up or back.’
‘That’s right – he didn’t move against Tilt either.’
‘He lets you come to him, then he strikes.’
‘Faster than the eye can see,’ I groused.
‘Where’s the chain?’
‘Why?’
‘Want to see something.’
I fetched Destin and put it around my waist. Delph stood and put up his hands. ‘Put your hands up.’ I did so. ‘Now I’m going to throw a punch, and I’m not going to say when—’
He snapped a blow at my head. I easily flicked it away.
He smiled, but I didn’t. ‘That wasn’t nearly as
fast as Ladon-Tosh,’ I said.
‘Back up to the wall over there.’
‘What?’
‘Wanta try something else.’
I did as he asked. From his coat he pulled out a long strip of twine with a small square patch of leather attached halfway down it. On the patch he placed a stone he’d taken from his trouser pocket. He started to spin the thing, which I now realized was a shotslinger, faster and faster.
‘Can you see the stone?’ he asked.
‘Barely.’
He spun it faster. ‘How about now?’
‘Just a glimpse.’
He whirled it even faster. ‘Now?’
‘Not at—’
Before I finished speaking, he had fired off the stone right at me. When I looked down, I saw the stone cupped in my hand.
I looked up in amazement. ‘How did I do that?’
Delph grinned and pointed at Destin. ‘Reckon the answer lies there.’
‘But it lets me fly. And it gives me strength. But—’
And now Delph was about to shock me.
‘I think what it does, Vega Jane, is give ya what i’tis you need at the time you need it.’
I touched Destin. It felt warm, as though it had just had a bit of exercise.
‘But that’s not all, Vega Jane.’
I looked at him with wrinkled brow. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Chain is a big help, no doubt. But you got to have more than one way to beat Ladon-Tosh.’
‘What, then?’
‘At the bell you don’t move either. It’ll confuse the lout. Make him come to you. He’ll throw a punch. Then you’ll move away. Hit him if you can. Taps at first. Let his confidence build.’
‘I think he has plenty of confidence already.’
‘Keep moving. Spin him like a top. Get him all jargolled and tired.’ He pointed a finger at me. ‘You’ll get one shot to get ’er done. Then you got to bring all ya got. All you and the chain got.’
‘You really think I can beat him, Delph?’
‘You’re going to beat him.’
‘Thanks, Delph.’
‘Thank me after you win the Duelum, Vega Jane.’
Everywhere I went the next lights and nights, Wugs came out of all corners of Wormwood to wish me well or, in some cases, to say their goodbyes. Pieces of parchment were slipped under my door. Most were kind and encouraging. However, one was particularly nasty. But I recognized Cletus Loon’s poor scrawl and I didn’t take any heed.
Vega Jane and the Secrets of Sorcery Page 26