Vega Jane and the Rebels’ Revolt

by David Baldacci

  She self-consciously covered it with her other hand.

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t exactly agree with that.’

  The man did it so smoothly I almost missed it.

  ‘Subservio,’ he muttered. I saw the tip of his wand poking out of a hole in one of his pockets.

  Daphne and Russell instantly went rigid and their eyelids fluttered.

  ‘Now, Ms Daphne Lloyd, let’s go to the train, shall we?’ said the man. ‘We have a very special carriage for you. Your friend will be riding on another one. My mate will be along presently to escort him. Come along, now.’

  Daphne obediently followed him, while Russell simply stood there like a stone.

  I glanced at Russell, waiting, and my plan came together in an instant. I pointed my wand at him and said softly, ‘You will go back to Clarendon on Hillshire and tell them that the train is a trap, an evil trap. It carries folks to their doom. Anyone with a mark on the back of their right hand is at particular risk. You must all go into hiding after spreading the word to never come to this place, do you understand me?’

  Russell nodded dumbly.

  I looked around. The Maladons were all occupied escorting people on to the train.

  ‘Go now,’ I said. ‘As fast as you can.’

  Russell turned and raced off. He was soon out of sight.

  ‘Now what?’ asked Petra.

  ‘Now we get on the train and do what we can.’

  Because I knew that Daphne Lloyd and others like her were headed to one place and one place only.

  Maladon Castle.

  21

  CLARENDON ON HILLSHIRE

  We snuck on at the last instant and shrank back against the wall of the vestibule connecting one car to its neighbour. I watched as Daphne Lloyd and the others were led to their seats and shackled. Under the Subservio spell they could offer no resistance.

  This car had no windows, so no one outside could see what was happening. The passengers who were in other cars and not shackled were also under spells and could not fight back. The ones who had not been chosen had either walked back to the shacks or else started their journeys home.

  I had to admit it was all very well planned. The Maladons had had centuries to perfect what they were doing: unobtrusively enslaving an entire people while at the same time destroying all those who could rise up against them.

  I did wonder why some had been left behind.

  I took out my wand and muttered the magnification spell. Instantly, I could see up and down the train carriages.

  And now I knew how they chose whom they did.

  The ones on the carriage without brands were all young, most under thirty. There was not one old person on the train.

  Delph whispered, ‘They just take the young and healthy. They mess with their minds and put them to work. Everyone else gets left behind.’

  I nodded thoughtfully. I couldn’t understand why they’d gone to all this trouble just to separate those with a mark from those without – the magic from the non-magic. When I thought about it, though, it was fiendishly clever. The Maladons didn’t need to wage war or expend force. The magical simply came to them.

  Then they could be quickly and quietly got out of the way. And their families would just believe they had gone on to a better life and would never think of attacking those who took them.

  It really was quite brilliant. Not to mention, diabolically evil.

  There were two guards in our car, one at either end. As we pulled out of the station, the one nearest us moved down the car and towards his companion. They began to chat far enough away that I felt comfortable whispering my concerns to Delph and Petra.

  Petra hissed, ‘How can we be sure they’ll take all these blokes to Maladon Castle?’

  ‘Because they need to steal their magic. That’s where it happens,’ I said.

  ‘That’s terrible,’ she said in a hushed voice. She glanced at the shackled passengers. ‘We can’t let that happen to them.’

  I felt the same; but if we tried to free them now, we could all be killed and no one would be saved. I didn’t know how many Bowler Hats were on this train but we had seen at least thirteen.

  I said, ‘We can’t fight them all, Petra. We’ll lose. We need to keep quiet and see what happens.’

  Delph said, ‘Vega’s right, Petra. We just have to see what happens.’

  Petra scowled.

  I looked at her, forcing her to meet my eyes. ‘Do you want to win a single battle, Petra?’ I asked. ‘Or do you want to win the war? Because I don’t reckon we can do both.’

  She looked back at me. At first there was anger on her face. And then, surprisingly, understanding. ‘I can see that, Vega,’ she said. ‘You’re right.’

  I never knew which Petra I was going to get. Crazy Petra or Rational Petra.

  I said, ‘The first stop will be True, and those without magic will be let off to have their minds erased. After that will come Greater True, or perhaps the train will take us directly to Maladon Castle.’

  Delph asked, ‘When you were at the castle, did you see a train or tracks running up to it?’

  I shook my head. ‘No. But I wasn’t looking for them – I was keeping my eyes on Endemen.’

  ‘Funny you should mention him,’ muttered Delph. ‘Look who’s coming.’

  I stiffened and we flattened ourselves against the wall as the very man entered the carriage from the other end.

  Endemen was dressed in his usual attire, a pinstriped suit with a waistcoat, a bowler hat and shiny shoes. A stark contrast to his true being. I wondered if all Maladons had a hideous self under their outer layer.

  Endemen greeted each of the passengers in the carriage. Still under the spell, they mumbled their replies.

  He looked them over and then knelt down next to Daphne, who was seated at the rear of the carriage only a few paces from where we were standing.

  He pulled out his wand and gave it a little flick. Daphne blinked and focused on him.

  Endemen said, ‘Your village is Clarendon on Hillshire, correct?’

  Daphne nodded. ‘Yes.’

  Endemen gripped her hand and held it up. ‘Are there others who live there with this mark?’

  Daphne looked at her hand as though seeing it for the first time.

  ‘Yes. A few. I don’t know how many.’

  ‘Any in your family?’

  ‘No. I’m the only one. What does it mean, this mark?’

  Endemen smiled in a way that seized me with terror. Like a jabbit about to eat its dinner.

  ‘Well, at the very least it means the end of you.’ He let her hand drop and said, ‘Now you will tell me exactly how to get to the village of Clarendon on Hillshire.’

  She spoke the directions as Endemen used his wand to write her words visible in the air. Then he flicked his wand again and the images went directly into his head.

  Without another word, he turned and walked over to one of the Bowler Hats.

  The man said, ‘Do you want to leave immediately for this village, Mr Endemen?’

  ‘There’s no particular rush. When we’ve finished what we need to do here.’

  ‘Hel,’ said Delph. ‘The Maladons are going to that village and they’re going to kill everyone there!’

  ‘We have to stop them,’ I said. ‘Now.’

  Petra said, ‘You already sent that bloke Russell to warn them. What happened to winning the battle but losing the war?’

  ‘I have no idea if the folks in the village will listen to him, or if they do, how fast they’ll flee. Besides, I have my reasons.’

  And my expression was so ferocious, I suppose, that Petra turned away.

  ‘We don’t know how to get there,’ said Petra.

  ‘Yes, we do,’ said Delph.

  We both looked at him and in unison said, ‘We do?’

  He nodded. ‘She told that bloke Endemen. Didn’t you hear?’ He tapped his head. ‘All up here.’

  Petra looked at me.

  I smiled.
‘Delph has always been good with directions.’

  ‘OK, so how do we get off the train?’ asked Petra.

  I had no choice but to try the spell with all of us together. It would either work, or we’d be lost in oblivion. I didn’t really have time to think about it.

  I tapped my wand against my leg, thought of the train station at Bimbleton, and said, ‘Pass-pusay.’

  In an instant we were back at the train station.

  From there we rose into the air and headed west, following Delph’s instructions.

  It took us a while, because there were four of us.

  At last, I looked down and saw it. A tiny hamlet set on the side of a grassy hill.

  ‘Is that it?’ I called to Delph, who nodded.

  We alighted silently a bit to the east of the hamlet and looked around.

  ‘Do you see anything?’ I asked, my wand at the ready.

  Petra had her wand pointed ahead of her but shook her head. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘I don’t see no bodies lying around, or houses blown up,’ added Delph.

  Petra hissed, ‘Look.’

  It was Russell, sprinting through the streets, pounding on doors. When they opened, I heard him telling the people there what I had told him to say. The fear in their eyes told me that his warnings had been believed. People were already emerging from their houses, holding bags.

  ‘I wonder where they’ll go that will be safe?’ asked Petra.

  ‘It’s too late. They’re here,’ exclaimed Delph.

  Endemen and five Bowler Hats had appeared on the edge of the small village square.

  The villagers looked back in terror.

  Endemen smiled and raised his wand. In unison, so did the other Maladons.

  The villagers were so stunned they were rooted to the spot.

  ‘Embattlemento,’ I said, my wand pointed between the Maladons and the villagers.

  Their spells hit my shield and the explosion was so fierce that all the villagers were nearly knocked off their feet.

  ‘Run!’ I shouted.

  Russell echoed this command. ‘Run. Run!’

  The villagers turned and raced off, fleeing towards the woods beyond, dragging their children and hastily gathered belongings behind them.

  Endemen was not focused on them. He was looking around for the source of the spell that had blocked his.

  I lifted off the ground, pulling the others with me as Endemen and his men spread out and charged ahead.

  They passed directly underneath us.

  We followed the path of the villagers down below as they raced towards the dense forest that we had passed on our way here.

  I looked back in time to see Endemen and his men take to the air and give chase.

  I glanced at Petra and we both raised our wands.

  ‘Impacto,’ we cried out at the exact same time.

  Our combined spells hit the blokes with a thunderous blow; they were all blasted out of the air and landed unconscious in a massive heap.

  We landed next to the fallen Maladons.

  ‘Help me search them,’ I said to Delph and Petra.

  Delph said warily, ‘But what if they wake up?’

  I raised my wand and made whirling motions with it around the fallen Maladons. ‘Ensnario.’

  Thick golden cords spilt from my wand tip, and soon all of them were bound tightly. Then I used my wand to drive the ends of the cords deeply into the ground.

  We all worked fast, searching the pockets of the Maladons. I searched Endemen. In his hat I found a bit of looking glass attached to the very top of the interior. This must have been what he was looking at back in Greater True when he said he’d been summoned. It somehow allowed communication from a great distance. I pondered whether to take it, but then thought better of it. They would know it was gone and might use it to track us somehow.

  As I stared into the glass it became smoky and an image started to appear. The foulest face I had ever seen. I dropped the hat.

  It wasn’t a person. It wasn’t even a corpse. It was worse than dead, if that was possible.

  Then I became worried. If Endemen didn’t answer what might have been a command from this bloke, legions of Maladons might start popping up all over Clarendon on Hillshire.

  ‘I’ll be right back,’ I told the others.

  I soared into the air and towards the woods, where I found the villagers shaking and whimpering. I landed in their midst.

  ‘You!’ exclaimed Russell.

  One man raised a knife and started towards me. ‘You’re one of them lot.’

  ‘Kill her!’ screamed several others together.

  Russell got between us. ‘No. She was the one who warned me. You saw what happened back there. She protected us.’

  The man with the knife lowered it. ‘Sorry, missy.’

  ‘You need to keep going,’ I said. ‘Those blokes back there are the Maladons. They use Bimbleton Station and others like it to entrap and then enslave all who board the trains. They take mostly young people.’ I looked around. ‘Who here has a mark on the back of their hands? Of the three hooks?’ When none stepped forward, I urged, ‘Please. It’s important.’

  Two men and a young woman stepped forward. ‘We three do,’ said the woman. ‘But we don’t know what it means.’

  ‘It means you are magical, like I am. And it also means you could be tracked by it. Hold out your hands.’

  They did, and sure enough, there was the faint mark.

  I raised my wand, pointed it in turn at their hands and said, ‘Embattlemento.’

  A glow covered the mark and then sank into their skins.

  It might hide them for a while, I thought. But as they grew older, their marks would become stronger and more visible.

  I looked at all of them. ‘You must warn everyone you come across of the Maladons’ plan. They want to rule all of you. And they will kill anyone who tries to stop them.’

  Russell looked at me. ‘They . . . they took Daphne. She had that mark on her.’

  I nodded. ‘I know. She’s on the train right now. And I promise I will try to save her, Russell. I give you my word.’

  He nodded, tears in his eyes.

  The man who had held the knife said, ‘You’re going to try to stop them?’

  ‘Yes, I am.’

  ‘If it’s just the one of you, what chance have you got?’

  ‘I’m not alone,’ I said. ‘But one day I might come and find you and ask for your help in defeating them.’

  Russell glanced at his mates and then back at me. ‘And we’ll be willing and ready when you do.’

  I thanked him with a smile. ‘Now go. Quickly!’

  They all turned and raced away.

  I returned to the others. ‘Did you find anything?’ I asked.

  ‘Nothing of interest,’ Delph said.

  ‘Right. Well we need to get going,’ I said. ‘We need to try and help the ones on the train.’

  ‘So we kill ’em, right?’ said Petra. She held her wand at the ready, her expression steely.

  I shot Delph a glance, then back at Petra.

  ‘Like they wouldn’t kill us given the chance,’ she snapped.

  Petra was right. We might never get another chance like this again. I took a deep breath and pointed my wand at Endemen’s chest. It would be over in a sliver, and would mean one of our strongest enemies had been vanquished.

  But, as I stood there I realized I could not kill someone in cold blood. If he were trying to kill me, yes. But not this way. I lowered my wand.

  I glanced up. Delph looked relieved; Petra, simply disappointed.

  ‘So what, then?’ she demanded. ‘Just leave them here so they can wake up and keep killing?’

  ‘I have another idea.’

  I snatched up all their wands and blasted a deep hole in the ground, dropped the wands in it and then used another incantation to cover the hole back up such that the ground looked completely undisturbed.

  ‘All right?’ I said.<
br />
  Petra nodded grudgingly.

  I tethered us together, tapped my leg with my wand, said, ‘Pass-pusay,’ and we were instantly transported back to the train, roaring on its way to True.

  We had done a right good job back there, I thought.

  I didn’t yet understand how far out of my league I truly was.

  But I would, soon enough.

  And then I would very much regret not taking Petra’s advice and killing Endemen while I had the chance.

  22

  THE BATTLE BEGINS

  The train pulled into True as it had before, in the middle of the darkness with a belch of smoke and a rasp of brakes. We were all alert as the train came to a full stop.

  We heard the sound of doors opening but not in the car we were on. This did not much surprise me. I didn’t expect any of the ‘branded’ ones to get off here.

  Petra and Delph looked at me questioningly.

  I was torn. I knew that the people taken off here would have their minds altered by the Mesmerizer. But I also knew that whatever happened to the people getting off in True, it would pale in comparison to what would happen to the poor devils who would continue on to the castle.

  There were no windows on this train car, so I couldn’t tell if it was still night or if the sun had come up. I wondered whether Endemen and the others had woken up yet and managed to retrieve their wands.

  You should have listened to Petra, you fool.

  I shook my head, trying to clear it. Obviously I could do nothing about Endemen now. Instead, I turned my attention to the other passengers in the car.

  There were five of them, including Daphne. They all sat rigid in their seats, staring at nothing, oblivious to the awful fate that awaited them.

  I looked behind us. ‘Come on. I want to go into the next car and see what’s happening.’

  We rose quietly, and I led the way towards the car attached to this one.

  We passed by the guard at that end. He made no sign of having seen or heard us. I looked over my shoulder to make sure the other guard wasn’t looking and then I quietly opened the door into the next car. We passed through and Petra closed it behind us.