by Jon Jacks
He probably hadn’t realised who I was, Beth thought bitterly.
‘Stop following me! I warn you!’
He was too far off to hear her.
She raised her arms as if she were about to conjure up a terrifying storm equivalent to the parting of the Red Sea.
Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.
I’ll be lucky if I manage to cause a mild shower of rain to fall on him.
Sure, she had managed to save the soldier at the garage with a vast plume of water; but she had no idea how she had done it.
It had just happened.
She had been as surprised as anybody when the waves had doused the flames.
Lynese; it could only have been Lynese who had made it all happen.
‘Lynese? Are you there?
She kept her voice low, so the boy wouldn’t hear.
He had ignored her warning, and was still drawing near.
‘What’s that me dearie?’
Beth spun around. Gerry was eyeing her curiously.
Increasingly unsteady on her feet, Gerry was pulling hard on Solly’s arm to stop herself tumbling off to one side.
‘No no, sorry Gerry. I wasn’t talking to you; I was just talking to myself.’
Solly’s legs began to crumple under Gerry’s extra weight.
He swayed, stumbled.
Suddenly, both he and Gerry were uncontrollably tottering towards the ditch running alongside the hedgerow. They plunged into the mass of twisted branches and sharp thorns.
Beth didn’t have time to worry about them just yet.
She turned back to face the oncoming Galilee Green.
‘I need your help Lynese – I need it right now!’
She didn’t bother murmuring it to herself this time. She said it loudly and clearly.
There was still no answer.
The boy had burst into an urgent sprint.
Beth whipped around, intending to warn Gerry and Solly to run or hide.
The warning never left her lips.
Gerry had peacefully fallen asleep amongst the nest of branches. But Solly was as shredded and torn as if he had just made his way through a whole field of brambles.
Beth shook her head, forcing herself to admit that she must be imagining things; Solly’s skin couldn’t really be hanging off in vast chunks like that, could it?
She whirled around again.
The boy was now half way across the field.
Worse, he was raising his hands, twilling them before him.
A whirlwind of air was already rapidly propelling towards her from each palm.
*
Chapter 38
Beth ducked.
She knew it wouldn’t’ do her any good, but she couldn’t think what else to do.
She shut her eyes tight, her ears tingling, the strands of hair hanging behind them twirling wildly.
The spiralling, whirling blasts of air emanating from the boy’s hands rushed by without harming her.
They passed on either side of her rather than striking her head-on as she had feared.
Behind her, there was an agonised growl. A frustrated roar.
Yet again, she found herself spinning around to see what was going on.
*
The squalling blasts of air were ripping up the hawthorns and brambles by their roots.
The gusts tossed and twirled them as effortlessly as leaves caught in a strong breeze.
Amazingly, the still sleeping Gerry was being carefully borne aloft and to one side on a bed of branches. But poor Solly was being completely enveloped by the whirling bushes and their frenziedly whipping branches.
He howled and snarled like a cornered beast.
He lashed out with arms and legs, trying to fight clear of the thorny strands tightening around him.
In his frantic struggle to free himself, great chunks of his flesh seemed to be tearing off.
Poor Solly!
Why is the boy attacking him?
‘It’s a holak – a demon!’
Beth could hardly hear what the boy was shouting.
‘Watch out!’
With a display of colossal strength, Solly finally ripped apart the churning bushes, scattering them like so many harmless twigs.
Like pieces from a butcher’s, parts of him fell away with the shredded branches, revealing glimpses of a dark, shadowy core.
What was left of Solly’s flesh abruptly cracked apart.
*
With a triumphant roar, the coal-black core unfurled and straightened up.
Growing phenomenally quickly, it threw off what little remained of Solly like a huge bear breaking free of constraining chains.
But although it was the size of a bear, although it had a head that could have been a bear’s, it also had the long tail, the powerful claws, and the thick scales of an alligator.
‘Run,’ Galilee screamed in warning. ‘It will attack you! I can’t stop it if you’re in the way!’
The beast – the holak – fought against the pummelling wind.
Somehow, it forced its colossal bulk through the spiralling, screeching tunnel of air, making its way towards the weaker edge.
It broke free of the whirlwind’s hold, jumping to the ground.
It cleverly kept Beth as a barrier between itself and the more powerful boy.
Glowing red eyes fixed on Beth. She didn’t know what to do.
Snarling hungrily, the holak bounded swiftly towards her.
*
Chapter 39
Hew! Come to me!
Momentarily dazzled by a flash of spiralling sliver, Beth jumped as something hard rested against the palm of her right hand.
She gripped it instinctively.
Without even the briefest glance, she instantly knew what it was.
It was the sword. It was Excalibur.
Hugh? Did Lynese just call the sword Hugh?
Move girl, just move!
The onrushing holak was almost upon her.
A thick, powerful arm was already raised, ready to smash down and separate her head from her body.
At the last moment, in a graceful, fluid motion, Beth calmly stepped back and off to one side.
The descending claw cleaved nothing but empty air.
As part of a step forward and a spin, Beth lifted the sword above her head in a two handed grip, whirling the blade like a viciously revolving circular saw.
The blade carved across the holak’s chest, finding little resistance.
Even the creature’s armoured scales and rib cage sliced open as if by magic.
Howling in a mix of agony and surprise, the holak pulled back.
It swiftly ducked, crouching low to present less of a target. Once again it swung out at Beth, this time with its other arm.
Having spun completely around, Beth was facing the beast once more.
Throwing her whole body into a standing jump, she somersaulted sideways over the powerful arm, letting it swing uselessly beneath her.
Utilising the momentum of the leap, she thrust upwards with the sword as she landed.
She plunged it as deeply as she could into the holak’s stomach.
The holak staggered back, the sword’s bloodied blade withdrawing from its gut as Beth kept a tight grip on the hilt.
Its roaring groan mingled with the whirring screech of the armoured car.
Careering through the gap
created in the hedgerow, the heavy vehicle bounced wildly over the ditch and what was left of the hawthorn.
The holak juddered in time with the rhythmic, harsh rap of machinegun fire.
The beast’s eyes blazed with astonishment and fury.
It whirled around, bellowing vengefully. It charged towards the armoured car as it slewed to a halt.
The soldiers on the back of the vehicle fired at the furious beast. Kneeling behind the turret, one soldier rested his gun on its edge, aiming carefully. The other leapt to the ground, slowing moving forward to ensure every bullet stuck home with the maximum damage.
The bullets tore at a fantastic rate into the holak’s swiftly shredding chest.
The holak should have fallen. Instead, it hurtled on.
A wounded, bloody arm still possessed more than enough power to lift the nearest soldier high into the air, ripping his flesh deeply with its sharp claws.
The soldier’s torn and broken body smashed into the armoured car’s side. But the turret’s gunner at last had a clear shot of the beast.
The turret’s heavy machinegun spat and spat ferociously.
The holak shuddered under the onslaught of heavy, explosive bullets. Suddenly, it burst apart, disintegrating into a mass of bloody parts and finely powdered flesh.
Everyone instinctively ducked, instinctively groaned as they were splattered with gore.
Even Galilee Green, who had at last appeared alongside Beth, moaned in disgust as he received a light spattering.
The soldier crouching on the back of the armoured car had taken the worst of it. He ran the back of his hand across his eyes, wiping them clear.
‘What the heck was that?’
‘It was a hol–’
‘You! Stay where you are!’
Galilee’s explanation was cut short as the sergeant threw open the turret’s hatch.
The turret’s gun was now pointing directly at Beth and Galilee.
‘And you young lady. Put that sword down; now!’
Beth glanced down at the sword. It felt so light, so much a part of her.
She had forgotten she still held it.
Lynese had called it. And, magically, it had simply flown into her hand.
What would a water fay need a sword for?
And what sort of name was ‘Hugh’ for a sword anyway?
She let the sword slip to the floor, the blood on the blade splashing across the grass.
*
The holak had bled, had splattered them with blood when it had disintegrated.
Normally, there wouldn’t be anything unusual about a creature bleeding.
But Solly hadn’t bled.
The injured soldier wasn’t bleeding either. The skin revealed through his torn uniform looked like it had partially melted.
The same way Solly’s had.
‘There’s no blood! Perhaps he’s all right!’
The wounded soldier’s friend was inspecting him. He looked up at the sergeant.
‘He’s still breathing! We need to get him to hospital, quick!’
‘Okay Ed.’ The sergeant shouted to someone inside the armoured car. ‘Tom, get out here and help Ed put Will on the back.’
With a nod of his head, the sergeant indicated the still slumbering Gerry.
‘And you two had better help sleeping beauty onto the back too I suppose,’ he said to Beth and Galilee.
*
‘Why are you after me?’ Beth hissed at Galilee as they turned and made their way towards Gerry.
‘After you?’ He genuinely sounded surprised. ‘I tried to help you! I just haven’t got full control over my powers yet.’
It wasn’t easy helping Gerry to her feet. She wasn’t in complete control of her body. And she was heavy.
‘Yeah, like you tried to help me at the fire you mean?’
Beth bit her lip.
How can I just talk about the fire like that, like it’s just some small, unimportant event in my life?
How callous, unthinking, can I be? Mum died in that fire!
Do I believe Lynese, do I want to believe her, when she says I’ll meet mum again?
‘I sensed magic was being used.’ Galilee said.
He groaned, taking most of Gerry’s weight as they began to stumble across the uneven ground.
‘When I was there, I immediately sensed a threatening magical presence.’
‘Foley? You mean Foley?’
‘That the guy controlling the fire?’
His eyes sparkled with curiosity. He pouted as if he was considering this new information, as if it was all beginning to make sense.
‘Yeah,’ Beth said. ‘Foley has always been, well – not exactly in control of his temper, if you know what I mean?’
‘It made you easy to follow. Good job I did too, eh?’
‘What was that…that thing?’
Beth continued to keep her voice low so the soldiers wouldn’t hear her.
‘You said it was a demon?’
‘Well, it was the best word I could think of to warn you that you were in danger.’
Slowly and painfully, they made their way back to the armoured car. From the soldiers’ agitated conversation, Beth picked up that they had rushed over after seeing the ‘weird storm’ uprooting the hedgerow.
They treated their wounded friend with incredible care as they laid him on the back of the armoured car.
‘So that’s what we’re like inside? These creatures inside us are like that…that demon?’
‘No, no,’ Galilee replied to Beth’s question. ‘We’re the, well, the lucky ones.’
‘Lucky? Having someone, something inside you, is lucky?’
‘Yeah, considering some poor guys – and women – have creatures like holaks and frags inside. All just itching to get out.’
Ahead of them, the blood splattered solider picked up the sword.
‘It’s too heavy. Poor balance too, sarge. A fake!’ he shouted back towards the armoured car.
‘Toss it away then!’
With a casual flip of his wrist, the soldier threw the sword aside. It landed with a dull splat in the mud churned up by the armoured car.
‘There are more of them?’ Beth was horrified by Galilee’s nonchalant comment. ‘More demons?’
‘More than enough to cause us real problems. But they’re not in everyone, thank goodness. We’d be in real trouble if they were.’
As they helped a dazed Gerry to unsteadily climb onto the back of the armoured car, Beth took a look at the badly injured solider.
As she had thought she had spotted earlier, his damaged skin was just as Solly’s had been.
It wasn’t real flesh any more, but a tangled mess of what could have been solidified fluids.
Beth swapped anxious glances with Galilee.
‘So he’s not…?’
Galilee saw she was terrified that the soldier might crack open to reveal a demon, just like Solly. He shook his head.
‘It’s not likely.’
The soldier groaned and shifted painfully.
‘You’re sure he…?’
Galilee shook his head once again.
‘I said it wasn’t likely. I didn’t say I was sure.’
*
Chapter 40
‘We need to get away!’ Galilee whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
‘Why? They’re not harming us. And I feel safer with them around anyway.’
Beth glanced back, giving the soldier following on foot behind a pleasant smile.
He grinned.
But the sergeant, perched in the turret of th
e armoured car trundling along in the rear, gave her a warning grimace.
‘They’re working for the authorities; and most people in authority were corrupted long ago, Beth.’
Beth had told Galilee her name as their small column had set off towards the farm.
She had also asked him if his family, like hers, had used biblical and religious names to ward off the sense that they were possessed.
Yes, he had answered: perhaps some families were more sensitive to the presence of these magical spirits than others; perhaps they just felt there was something about themselves that wasn’t quite right.
Some of the spirits had probably experienced brief periods of awareness too. Waking up in a body they knew wasn’t their own, couldn’t control, and in a bewilderingly different time.
It would all add to a sense of confusion.
Recognising the sergeant’s displeasure, Beth turned back to Galilee.
‘All our politicians, our judges,’ Galilee continued, ‘our higher-ranking police, our town councillors – none of them can be trusted.’
As he said the words ‘higher-ranking police’, Beth thought of Frobisher.
Yes, he looked sneaky, acted arrogantly. But did that mean no other Police Commissioner could be trusted?
No! Surely things couldn’t be that bad?
‘Can’t you just knock them out or something? Use your magic?’
Galilee chuckled ruefully.
‘Like you, I’m still learning how to use my powers. So as guns are involved, someone could end up getting killed.’
He looked about him, a bemused expression on his face.
‘Besides, it’s odd round here; like someone’s already soaked up all the energy and – leave that wasp alone Beth!’
Beth was idly attempting to shoo a bothersome wasp away.
‘It’s just a wasp, silly little thing!’
‘If you kill it Beth, it won’t be replaced.’
‘And that’s a bad thing?’ Beth giggled.
‘I think so. Just as I think we’ll miss that field of corn when they harvest it and it never returns.’
He pointed off towards the slightly higher field where he’d had the argument with the farmhands. The harvester had gone back to carving its dark track through the golden waves of corn.
‘Never returns?’
Beth looked at the muddy brown strands feeding out from behind the harvester.
‘That’s why you were arguing with them? You wanted them to stop?’
With a nod of agreement, Galilee pointed down to the areas of grass that had already been flattened and churned up into a muddy track by their earlier passing.
‘See this grass? It’s not going to grow again – there’s no reproduction, no germination, taking place.’
Beth thought of Gerry’s phantom pregnancy, and Foal’s. And what had farmer Hayart said? Something about his cows and pigs, and the calves and piglets that never came?
‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’
With a wave of his hand, Galilee drew Beth’s attention to their almost perfect surroundings.
‘Nature at its most ideal; abundant, flowering, blossoming. The perfect spirit of nature. The downside of it all, Beth, is that like this muddy track, once it’s damaged it will just continue to deteriorate. And it won’t recover unless somebody uses their powers to help it.’