Vega Jane and the Rebels’ Revolt

by David Baldacci

  ‘And my parents? I know you summoned them. I was there when it happened. I could have gone with them,’ I added, with a trace of bitterness.

  ‘But I did not summon them, Vega.’

  I stared at him. ‘What! But if you didn’t, how did they leave Wormwood?’

  ‘I do not know. I had no idea they had left Wormwood. I have not seen them here. I hope with all my heart that they are safe.’

  I took out the picture. ‘I think they’re out fighting the Maladons too,’ I said proudly. ‘I found this in a Maladon’s pocket.’

  His face crinkled into a smile. ‘I am so pleased.’

  ‘How were you captured?’ I said. I had so many questions, and less time than I had hoped.

  ‘I have spent the sessions since I left Wormwood collecting information, making contacts where I can, and causing as much strife for the Maladons as possible. Because of my efforts I believe they have given the insurrection a name.’ He pointed to the wording on the back of the picture.

  ‘The Campions?’ I said.

  He nodded. ‘Of which your parents are apparently now members. I only wish I had been able to join them.’ He paused for a moment, as though gathering his thoughts. ‘Well, my efforts came with more and more risk. Finally, I found myself surrounded by fifty Maladons. While I am, or rather was, extraordinarily powerful, the odds were against me. I managed to kill a dozen of them before I was beaten.’

  ‘Was Endemen there?’

  ‘Yes. Him and his hatted men. They are the most elite fighters of the Maladons. They and I have spent much time together since I was captured. They lavished considerable attention on me,’ he added drily. ‘I am sorry I will not be able to return the favour. They wanted information. Information that I would not give them.’

  ‘What information?’ I asked.

  Delph spoke up. ‘They wanted a way through the Quag. So they could finish the job.’

  Virgil glanced at him. ‘It’s Daniel, isn’t it? You’re Duff Delphia’s son?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  Virgil studied Delph for a bit before saying, ‘You’re quite perceptive, Daniel. I remember you being the same way as a young.’

  Delph gulped and said, ‘Thanks.’

  Virgil next turned his attention to Petra.

  ‘And I don’t believe we have met.’

  Under his gaze, Petra flushed.

  ‘I’m . . . I’m P-Petra , M-Mr Jane. I l-lived in the—’

  ‘In the Quag,’ Virgil finished for her. ‘Yes, I have heard of such cases. The process was messy at the end. People were trapped between worlds, as it were. I’m very happy that you’ve survived and have joined this lot.’

  ‘Are my parents Excaliburs, like you?’ I asked.

  ‘No. But they are magical. I shared much knowledge with them.’

  ‘Which is why Morrigone cursed them into the Care,’ I said spitefully.

  ‘I did not know that.’ Virgil studied me closely. ‘If I had the power to summon Wugs from afar, Vega, I never would have left you behind. Do not believe for one sliver that I would have.’ He paused. ‘You were only six sessions old when I left. You needed to discover things on your own. As I did. I knew you were special, Vega, but it was the only way to see if you had the heart as well.’

  ‘But the Maladons beat our ancestors in the war,’ I noted.

  ‘Evil can triumph over good. But that often has more to do with the failings of the good than the successes of the bad. Now,’ he said briskly, ‘I must convey to you what I know and what I have discovered.’

  I noticed that his voice was growing weaker. We all of us drew closer to him.

  ‘You’ve been to True and Greater True, then?’

  I nodded.

  ‘True is the place where they alter the minds of all who are non-magic. Then they labour there with smiles on their faces until they die.’

  ‘We’ve seen how they do that,’ I said. ‘But can you explain Greater True? The young soldiers they have? And the arrogant people with the slaves?’

  I saw my grandfather’s face turn to a furious scowl.

  ‘That is the genius of it, Vega. The pure genius of the Maladons.’

  ‘What is?’ I said breathlessly.

  ‘The Maladons were very quick to see that there were relatively few of them, while there were a great many nonmagicals, or “Ordinaries”, as they derisively refer to them. So they came up with a diabolical plan.’

  ‘They put some blokes on the top and other blokes on the bottom,’ said Delph.

  We all turned to him.

  ‘Yes, Daniel,’ replied Virgil. ‘That is precisely what they did.’

  Delph added, ‘If some blokes have it better than others, with slaves and coin and all, they’re content-like. They feel like their lives are good, so why would they want to change them. Eh?’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Virgil, looking pleased.

  I looked at Delph with even greater respect. ‘That’s brilliant, Delph.’

  ‘Yeah, brilliant,’ echoed Petra.

  Virgil said, ‘Mark this carefully. True and Greater True are the largest towns I have been able to locate, and I have searched high and wide. The rest of this world is made up of smaller establishments, scattered villages, small homesteads, where those who live there labour hard for little. Word of these train stations is slowly spread among them. Trains that will take them to a better life.’

  I nodded. ‘We’ve been to Bimbleton Station. It was awful.’

  ‘There is also a befuddlement incantation around the areas monitored by the Maladons. True, Greater True and the other towns of some size. No one unauthorized can ever find their way to any of those places.’

  ‘Which means folks have to take the train,’ I said.

  ‘The Maladons didn’t stop there. No brainwashing plan is perfect. People marry and have youngs and they grow up with certain independent thoughts in their heads. They might have grown up to resent those with more than them, or even the Maladons, though their presence is not widely known. So the Maladons came up with another plan.’

  ‘What was that?’ I asked.

  ‘You mentioned the young soldiers with their uniforms and marching?’

  I nodded.

  ‘Well, aside from the Maladon army, they have a regular army as well, composed of males; the Elite Guard they’re called. Male youngs are compelled to be part of military training as well, from an early age, until they are ready to serve their time in the ranks. To prepare to fight their enemy.’

  ‘But who do they think their enemy is?’ Delph asked.

  ‘When you don’t want those you rule to revolt against you, you have to give them something else to fear, to hate. Everyone under the rule of the Maladons has been taught from a young age that there is a great enemy out there just waiting to invade them. They focus all of their hatred and attention on that imaginary foe, and thus they never realize that they have already been enslaved.’

  ‘But surely folks notice the enemy never attacks,’ interjected Petra.

  That was a good point, I thought.

  Virgil responded, ‘Oh, but they do attack. It’s not the “enemy” of course, because there is none. No, the Maladons accomplish that any number of ways. They take innocent folks and implicate them in attacks that they themselves have performed. Or they use their magic to perform attacks against the people. These attacks are then repelled by the military might, and everyone ends up feeling absolutely wonderful at such grand victories. The Maladon parade those who have been enslaved as war criminals. They are dealt with summarily.’

  We all fell silent. This was a great deal to take in, and I noted with growing alarm that my grandfather was looking weaker by the moment.

  I held up my gloved hand. ‘Underneath here is the mark that is on your hand. It was the Maladons’ doing. It was burned into my flesh the instant I neared the end of the Quag. I keep the glove on it, otherwise the Maladons can track me.’

  He nodded, his features sombre. ‘I found that to
be the case too. I had no glove. But I managed a particularly complex spell that rendered any Maladon who saw my mark temporarily blind.’

  That was rather smart, I thought.

  He pointed at the ring on my finger. His ring.

  ‘Has this served you well?’ he asked.

  I nodded. ‘Without it we would all be dead. So yes, it has served us very well. How did you come by it?’

  ‘I travelled back in time through the portal at Stacks. Eon gave me a choice: the past or future. I chose the past. The ring was given to me by an interesting fellow: Colin Sonnet.’

  We all gasped. I shot Petra a glance, to find her staring wide-eyed at my grandfather.

  ‘How did you come to meet him?’ I asked.

  ‘When you go back in the past, there is not always rhyme or reason where you land. He owned a small shop with many interesting articles. He had also penned several books on sorcery.’

  I know of at least one, I thought.

  ‘But why did he give up the ring to you?’ I asked, still watching Petra.

  ‘He insisted that I take it. He seemed to think that a great war with the Maladons was nearing and he did not wish the ring to fall into their hands.’

  ‘What was he like?’ This came from Petra. She added nervously, ‘See, my surname is Sonnet. Colin was . . . was my ancestor, I guess.’

  ‘He was a good fellow. Solidly against the Maladons, though they had not yet adopted that name. Back then they were merely referred to as the worshippers of Necro.’

  ‘Solidly against the Maladons,’ repeated Petra.

  Virgil nodded. ‘He told me that the ring’s origin was not incantation by sorcery, but rather the confluence of mystical powers coming together at just the right moment. Quite a phenomenon of serendipity, but magic is often that way.’

  A silence followed. Petra was now looking down at her bare feet.

  I finally said, ‘Alice Adronis gave me the Elemental as she lay dying on the battlefield. It’s now my wand because we were family. But I can make it the Elemental whenever I want.’

  ‘Transform it for me,’ he said quietly.

  I reached into my pocket and drew out my wand, then willed the Elemental to its full, golden size.

  My grandfather stared at it reverently.

  ‘I never met Alice Adronis. But I have learned of her past from various sources, and it was a tortured one. Her father was hard and cruel; he wanted only sons and never loved the daughter he had instead. He cast her out on her own one night and told her never to return. Between you and me, it seems that her father, even though a Jane, had more than a bit of the Maladon blood in him.’

  Petra glanced at me. I could read her thoughts: So how does it feel to perhaps have a bit of Maladon blood in you too?

  I turned back to my grandfather. ‘What did Alice do?’ I said breathlessly.

  ‘One night, a terrible storm raged. She climbed to the highest peak in the land. On that peak was the tallest tree. She climbed to the very top of it, held out her hand as far as she could to the storm raging above and swore that if she was granted the wand she felt she deserved that she would always use it in defence of good, and to battle evil.’

  Petra gasped, ‘What happened?’

  ‘A lightning spear shot down from the heavens and struck her right at the point of her finger. From that finger grew the Elemental. I don’t know if you ever noticed that Alice only possessed four fingers on her right hand.’

  I shook my head. ‘She gave me her glove, which she said I had to wear in order to touch it. But Astrea Prine told me I needn’t do so, and she was right.’

  ‘Then you are the true inheritor of the thing,’ pronounced Virgil. Next he groaned and clutched his head.

  I knelt beside him. ‘Is there nothing that can be done? I have a stone that heals almost all injuries.’

  He looked up at me and managed a tortured smile. ‘Nothing. Dear Vega. How I have thought about you all these many sessions. And to now be reunited for such a short period of time. It is hardly fair.’

  ‘It’s not fair,’ I said, blinking back fresh tears.

  ‘Such is life, I’m afraid.’ He drew a long breath. ‘The Maladons are everywhere. Of course at the castle, but also in True, Greater True and other places. They will look just like anyone else if they so desire. When they are at the castle they can revert to their natural form.’

  I shuddered, remembering.

  He sighed. ‘I pity them, I do indeed.’

  I said incredulously, ‘You pity the Maladons? After all the evil they’ve done? After their leader has killed you?’

  ‘Yes, Vega, I do. I suppose that is what separates us from them. We can feel compassion for others, whoever and whatever they might be. Regardless of what they might have done.’

  He had now grown so pale that it was difficult to see him.

  ‘’Tis very near the end,’ he said in a weak voice.

  ‘Grandfather,’ I cried out. ‘I don’t want you to leave me. I need you.’

  ‘All you need, Vega, my dear child, you already possess. Please know that above all else, you will carry my love for you wherever you go. For I have loved you with all my heart, dear, dear Vega, since the moment of your birth.’

  And with that he was gone.

  29

  FAREWELL

  I did not come out of my room for the next two days.

  When I finally did come downstairs with Harry Two by my side, Mrs Jolly had made a scrumptious breakfast, which Pillsbury served despite my protests that I could serve myself.

  I was halfway through my meal when Delph and then Petra made their appearances. We sat and ate for a while in silence.

  Finally, I said gloomily, ‘Well, it’s just us now.’

  Delph laid aside his fork and looked at me. ‘Virgil told us helpful things.’

  ‘He prepared us, best he could,’ said Petra. ‘And it was good to know that my ancestor helped him.’

  ‘Yes, it was,’ I said.

  If only I had managed to save my grandfather in the Tower. I had failed. And he had been finished off by the murderous Necro. How could I expect to lead others into a war when I couldn’t even save one person?

  Delph put a hand on my shoulder and said, ‘I’m really sorry, Vega Jane. Virgil was a great Wug.’

  Petra put her hand on my other arm. I was surprised to see that there were tears in her eyes.

  ‘I know what it’s like to lose family, Vega,’ she said slowly. ‘And I know what it’s like to . . . to not be able to save someone.’

  I thought of her family being slaughtered by creatures of the Quag. Losing her uncle to a lycan attack and being unable to save him. I thought of her guilt in losing Lackland, of not being fast enough to use her wand when she could have done.

  I had always thought that if I found my grandfather, he would lead and I could simply follow. That had always been in the back of my mind. Now, that was not possible. It all came down to me.

  Petra said, ‘You can’t save everyone, can you? But the thing is, if you don’t try, then you’ll save no one. I’ve seen what you can do, Vega. I’ve seen how many times you’ve saved us. From jabbits and the Soul Takers and the like. I wouldn’t be alive but for you, and neither would Delph. So if you’re thinking you can’t save blokes, well, you’d be wrong. Because you already have.’

  She fell quiet and removed her hand.

  We all sat there in silence for a time, not looking at one another.

  Finally, I rose and said, ‘If we’re going to make a go of this, we need to make plans. We’ll be surprised, no doubt, by what we’ll be faced with, but we have to plan for that too. We must never again be so surprised that all we can do is flee.’ I swallowed. ‘We must never again leave someone behind.’

  They both mutely nodded at this.

  ‘Virgil told us a lot about this world. Some we knew and a great deal we didn’t. The Maladons are well organized and powerful sorcerers. We can’t underestimate any of them.’


  ‘Vega Jane,’ began Delph. ‘Why do you think they picked now to . . . to kill Virgil?’

  ‘I don’t know, Delph. I suspect it had something to do with what was going on at the castle. There was a great deal of activity. We need to find out what it was about.’

  ‘How do we do that?’ asked Petra. ‘Go back there?’

  I shook my head. ‘We’ve risked going back enough as it is. I think there might be a better way. We can find out more in Greater True.’

  ‘Why?’ asked Petra.

  ‘Because that’s where our army lies.’

  ‘Do you want to leave now?’ asked Petra.

  ‘In a bit. I have a few things to do first.’

  I marched up the stairs. There was nothing I needed to do, but I needed an excuse to gather myself. I couldn’t fathom that my grandfather was gone.

  I couldn’t see how I would ever find my parents.

  The thought of me leading an army to defeat the Maladons was ridiculous. I imagined telling Cletus Loon what I was expected to do and hearing him roar, ‘Barking, you are. Why, you’re only a female!’

  I opened the door to my room and then looked behind me.

  Harry Two had not followed me up. I wondered what that was about.

  I closed my door and lay on my bed, looking at the ceiling.

  It seemed like I had been running for my life ever since I stepped into the Quag, with no time to think things through.

  Only, now I had to. I had to think.

  I had set out from Wormwood – escaped, really – fought my way across the Quag, survived Endemen and his men, to find the truth. I had found it. And now I had to somehow fix it. But how?

  My head was swimming. I closed my eyes and then reopened them.

  And there she was.

  Uma Cadmus was hovering right above me.

  I sat up. ‘My grandfather is dead,’ I said. ‘Virgil is dead.’

  She nodded slowly.

  ‘I’m expected to defeat the Maladons, but I don’t know how to do so. My grandfather told me a lot, but he didn’t tell me how to do that.’

  Again, she nodded knowingly. ‘He wouldn’t have, would he?’

  ‘Why not?’