When they saw him flying overhead, the creatures ran into their homes as fast as they could and locked the doors. They were terrified of him, and it made him feel powerful and yet lonely, both at the same time.
And then there was another dream. Of a stone tower, the four walls carved with open, staring eyes. It sat amongst a group of huts and outbuildings, all built on top of a hill at the edge of a forest.
While the first dreams had been strange and alien, this place seemed almost familiar.
There was someone, a presence, inside the tower. Uki couldn’t see it, not yet, but he could feel it there. It was searching, peering out across the treetops, looking for … something … with an overpowering feeling of hunger and need.
And then, in the few seconds before he awoke, he sensed the thing get a sniff of what it was after. A spark like lightning shot through the tower and a bell began to sound …
Uki sat up and rubbed his eyes.
The shadows of sleep hung in his head like sticky cobwebs. Those wings, those creatures on the islands … they weren’t a dream at all, he realised, but memories. Things Iffrit had seen during all those years inside the prison that had now been passed on to him.
But what about the last one? The vision of the tower he had seen just before waking? It had seemed so real, the trees of the forest so much like those surrounding him right now. He even thought he could hear a faint echo of the bell itself, still ringing somewhere in the distance …
Uki shook his head to clear it and had a good look around.
He had left the village last night and walked on through the darkness for several hours, no longer afraid of all the hoots and scratchings in the trees around him. Passing the Wall, he had made his way far into Icebark before finally curling up in the hollow of an old, fallen tree and slipping quickly into a deep sleep.
A frost had formed in the night; a light dusting covered the ground and was crusted over his cloak. He brushed it off, realising he didn’t really feel the cold at all. Just as well, he thought. Without Iffrit’s power and the crystal, he would probably have frozen to death.
He didn’t know the forest well but he could feel a pull coming from somewhere to the south. A feeling like an invisible thread was stretching from somewhere behind his eyes, off into the distance: tugging, tugging. The spirits, he thought. They are calling out to whatever’s left of Iffrit.
He knew if he followed that faint line, it would lead him out of Icebark and on to wherever the three remaining creatures had gone.
What would it be like out there, away from the Ice Wastes? His mother had told him stories about the rest of the rabbit world. There were five realms, he knew, and the closest one was called Hulstland. She’d said it was made up of lots of different kinds of places: wide open plains where rabbits rode on leaping rat-like creatures called jerboas; swampy fens full of snakes and frogs; hills, mountains, rivers, fields and farms. And not forgetting villages, towns and cities: great underground places where hundreds of rabbits lived together.
Uki couldn’t deny he was a little excited at the chance of seeing it all, but to think that his mother wouldn’t be there with him … A sudden wave of sadness overtook him and he had to sit on a tree stump and sob into his cloak.
After a few minutes he managed to calm himself, and sniffed away the last of his tears. Pull yourself together, his dark voice scolded him. You have to get out of this forest before you go anywhere.
Uki knew there were some ruins near the centre. His mother had often talked about going to see them someday. After that, there was a day’s walk to the forest edge and the start of the plains. There was a little town there, she’d said. A place called Nowhere or Nether or something. Uki thought that would be somewhere the spirits might head for. Somewhere they could find bodies to live in, like Iffrit had done with him.
‘To the ruins, then,’ he said aloud, making a blackbird fly off into the treetops, shrieking as it went.
*
It took him longer than he thought to reach the ruins. The forest was thick at its heart. The bare trees with their white bark were crowded together, branches mixed in and meshed with tangled snags of brambles and vine.
There was probably a path somewhere leading just where he wanted to go, but he couldn’t see it. He could only follow the invisible call of the spirits, a straight line that seemed to go through every single thorn bush it could find.
Dusk was falling by the time Uki finally saw an uneven block of stacked stones rising up above the treetops. In the failing light it appeared to be just a slab of darkness but its shape was unlike any of the natural ones around it. Two sides joined to form a corner of what must once have been a building, the rest of the structure having tumbled away long ago and been swallowed by the hungry forest.
The ruins, Uki thought. His mother had said they were left behind by the Ancients. Just like Iffrit and his prison, Uki now knew. It made him wonder what other things might be scattered over the world. Bits and pieces of buildings and hidden secrets buried under the ground. How he wished he could have told his mother all about it.
Just thinking of her made the sobbing feeling start to rise up again, and he was about to sit down for another cry when his senses began to tingle.
Even though the forest all around was now just a dim shade of grey, Uki could feel that there was something – or someone – else in the ruins. Not quite hearing, not quite seeing – he just had a feeling that there was life pulsing away somewhere inside the stone structure.
A spirit? he thought at first, but this was different from the distant pulling at the back of his head. No, the spirits were far off now. Out of the forest completely, he was sure.
Stepping as quietly as he could, Uki tiptoed around the outskirts of the stones. The sense that someone was there grew stronger and stronger with each step. Sure enough, as he moved around the stone structure, he could make out a figure in the twilight.
It was a rabbit, a young one. Bigger than him, but not an adult. Huddled against the wall, it had its head buried in its paws, and appeared to be crying, just like he was earlier. Pricking up his ears, Uki could hear quiet muffled sobs. A girl’s sobs, lost and alone in the dark forest.
What do I do now? Uki wondered. Should he go and see if the rabbit was all right?
Mind your own business, said the dark voice. This has nothing to do with your quest. Best just carry on through the forest.
He was standing in the darkness wondering what to do, when he caught sight of a movement in the distance. Just a shifting shadow at first, but as Uki stared through the gloom he picked out an ear, then two. It was another rabbit. A way off yet but heading steadily closer.
Something about the way it moved gave him the feeling it was stalking, hunting. Was it a friend of the rabbit in the ruins, out looking for food? Or was it after her?
His answer came soon enough.
He watched as the stalker crept nearer. It was definitely trying not to let the girl in the ruins know it was there, which was a bad sign. Uki held his breath, curling himself as low as possible amongst the undergrowth so the stalker wouldn’t spot him.
Closer, closer he came, right to the far edge of the ruins. He’s going to hurt her, Uki realised, and with that thought came a sudden surge of anger. Another bully attacking someone weak and defenceless. A growl built up in his throat and, in the space of a heartbeat, he decided he was not going to stand by and let this happen. Uki was going to do something about it. He carefully reached out a paw, feeling around on the cold forest floor for something he could use as a weapon. His fingers closed over a hunk of old stone half buried in the forest soil.
The girl was still crying to herself, completely unaware of the other rabbits nearby. As Uki watched, the stalker began to draw a long, slim blade from a sheath at his belt as he stepped inside the shelter of the ruins. He was only a few metres from his victim now – ten from where Uki crouched. Any second he would pounce, his blade would flash and the girl would be badly wounded, or
worse.
Not if I can help it. Uki saw the stalker tense, ready to strike. There was no time to move closer, no way to block him. The only thing was to throw the stone he was clutching and hope it scared him off somehow.
Uki stood up, ripping the stone from the ground and hurling it in one motion. Except the small piece he was holding was just the tip of an enormous chunk of masonry, more like a boulder. It burst from the ground with a loud, tearing schlop! and sailed through the air, trailing clods of earth in a tail behind it.
The sound made the stalker leap up and the rock hit him in the chest, knocking him clean off his feet and back into one of the ruin’s walls, where he was sandwiched between the two hard pieces of stone. There was a horrible crunching sound, and then he fell to the floor in a limp heap.
Uki saw the girl had also jumped to her feet and, out of nowhere, a gigantic knife had appeared in her paws.
‘Who’s there?’ she shouted. ‘Who did that?’ She spoke in Lanic, a language different to that of Uki’s tribe, but luckily one his mother had taught him.
Uki paused before responding. The girl wasn’t crying any more. In fact she looked quite frightening with that blade and, worse, the terrifying scowl on her face. It made Uki think he might have been wrong about her being poor and vulnerable.
But he had saved her after all. And she deserved to know who was out there, hiding in the bushes. He raised his paws and stepped out of the undergrowth. The girl peered at him through the gloom.
‘Why is there only half of you?’ she said.
Uki wondered what she meant for a second, and then realised his white fur was the only part showing in the gathering darkness. ‘It’s my fur,’ he called back. ‘I have different colours.’ He turned his head so she could see his blue eye, an icy chip amongst the black velvet of his left side.
The girl cocked her head, her ears twitching. ‘Are you a … child?’
‘I’m eight.’ Uki had no idea what else to say. It was unusual enough for him to meet a new person, let alone one whose life he had just saved. What were you supposed to say in this situation? He thought it might be a good idea to introduce himself.
‘I’m Uki, by the way.’
The girl ignored him and turned towards the fallen stalker. In a few steps she was by his side, her blade still drawn.
‘Is he … dead?’ Uki asked.
The girl poked him with her foot a few times, then knelt down and listened by his head. ‘No. Still breathing. You hit him with a boulder. How under earth did you do that?’
Uki didn’t know where to start explaining, so he just shrugged. He took a chance and moved closer, into the clearing around the ruins. The girl had turned back to the unconscious rabbit and was rummaging for something in the pouches at her belt.
‘I think he was going to hurt you,’ Uki said. ‘Do you know who he is?’
‘He’s one of my family’s men,’ the girl replied. ‘And he was probably going to kill me, not just hurt me.’ She had taken a vial from her belt and was tipping something into the rabbit’s mouth.
‘Are you making him better?’ Uki asked. It seemed a strange way to treat someone who might have been about to murder you.
‘No. Just making sure he doesn’t wake up. Not for a couple of days, at least.’
The girl finished dosing her attacker, then stood to face Uki.
She was a good head-and-a-half taller than him, Uki now saw, which would make her quite a bit older. Twelve or thirteen, maybe, and she held herself high with the confidence of someone strong and important.
She wore leather armour, dyed black. It was snugly fitted to her body with buckles and belts all over, hand-stitched with twining patterns that made it look beautiful and very, very expensive. There was a row of pouches at her waist and a flask of carved white wood, stoppered with a silver lid. A cloak of soft, dark wool hung from her shoulders, clasped at the neck with a brooch in the shape of a coiled snake.
Her fur was light grey with a white patch over her nose and mouth, and black tips on the points of her ears. She had fierce, stony eyes, and a deep frown that she was currently using on Uki, as if questioning how he dared to be in the same forest as her, let alone having the cheek to save her from certain death.
He looked down at his own clothes: poorly stitched rat-leather trousers, a patched and darned shirt of hemp cloth he had outgrown last summer, and half an old blanket for a cloak. He felt like some kind of beggar in comparison to her. The thought almost made him want to kneel and apologise for being so scruffy.
‘It would appear that you have saved my life,’ she said, after the pause was starting to become awkward. ‘The blood honour of my clan means that I am now in your service.’
She wrinkled her nose as she spoke, as if the words themselves smelt terrible.
‘Oh,’ was all Uki could say. ‘Thank you. I think.’ And then, ‘What does that mean, exactly?’
The girl rabbit sighed. ‘It means, exactly, that I owe you a debt of honour. I have to help you out in some way to repay it before I can get on with my life and forget you even exist.’
Uki blinked up at her for a moment. It was clear he had annoyed her quite a lot, although he had only been trying to help. ‘That’s very nice of you,’ he said. ‘But I don’t really need any help. I just heard you crying and then that rabbit was about to hurt you …’
‘I was not crying!’ The girl slid her big knife into the sheath at her belt with a snap, and then stormed back to the corner of the ruins with a swish of her cloak. She knelt down and began striking sparks from a flint so hard they zipped and flew everywhere.
This was Uki’s first experience of a teenager and he didn’t know whether to try and calm her down or run for cover as fast as his paws could carry him. Instead he stood fixed to the spot, frantically trying to think of the right thing to say.
In the meantime, the girl got her campfire going and then pulled a metal tripod and a pot from her pack. The firelight made her grey eyes gleam even more when she finally looked up at Uki again.
‘Well?’ she said. ‘Are you going to come and have some supper or not?’
‘Oh. Um … yes. Thank you.’ Wondering (and hoping) this might count for repaying the honour debt, Uki crept over and took a seat on the other side of the fire. The girl was putting chopped vegetables and spices into the pot, and the smell was already delicious. It made Uki’s tummy rumble and he realised that he hadn’t eaten anything for days now. The power of the spirits had kept him going somehow, without the need for food.
As the pot began to bubble and clouds of spice-scented steam started to rise, Uki racked his brains for something to say. This was nothing like being with Nua, whose flurry of questions had almost overwhelmed him. Now it seemed up to him to break the silence. But what with?
She clearly didn’t want to talk about being upset, and it seemed nosy to ask why someone had wanted to kill her. She didn’t seem at all interested in Uki’s unusual fur (which was a huge relief), but then she didn’t care about any other part of him either.
Should he talk about the weather? The forest? Compliment her lovely armour? In the end, he was trying so hard to think of something to say that he ended up being silent.
‘Here.’ The girl spooned some stew into a bowl and handed it to him. Uki blew on it, then began to tip it down his throat with relish, enjoying the warming heat that spread through his chest and marvelling at all the new flavours and spices he’d never tasted before.
‘Hungry little thing, aren’t you?’ The girl was dipping a spoon into her bowl and sipping from it with great grace and control.
‘Sorry,’ said Uki, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. He couldn’t help feeling that everything he did or said around this girl made him seem more and more stupid.
The girl just raised an eyebrow and carried on sipping until her bowl was empty. She placed it beside the fire to which she added a few more twigs, then sat back to stare at Uki. It was a look sharp enough to chop turnips with.
&nb
sp; ‘Well,’ she said, leaning forward, curious. ‘Are you going to tell me how you managed to crush a grown rabbit with a rock that weighed twice as much as yourself?’
Uki felt a sudden swell of panic. The very first encounter with another rabbit and he had revealed his powers. He really should have been more careful. Cross with himself more than anything, he answered her question with a rude one of his own. ‘Only if you tell me why that rabbit was trying to kill you, and what you’re even doing out in the forest on your own at night.’
He cringed as soon as the words left his mouth but, to his surprise, the girl gave a flicker of a smile. ‘My name is Jori,’ she said. ‘I am the granddaughter of Toxa, Lord of Clan Septys.’
She paused, waiting for a reaction from Uki. When he didn’t show the slightest bit of awe, she frowned and carried on. ‘As you clearly don’t know, Septys is one of the Shadow Clans of Hulstland. Of all the many clans, there are three who are well known for their skills in silent killing. They are used as assassins throughout the Five Realms. All deal death in different ways: Clan Septys are famed for their use of poison.’
‘You kill people?’ Uki asked.
‘Not I,’ said Jori. ‘And that’s the problem.’ She looked away, out towards the dark forest, and Uki thought she might be crying again, although this time, silently.
‘I was supposed to join the family business,’ she said. ‘They’d been training me since I could hop. But I never wanted to kill anybody. All the knowledge and skills of the Clan – they could be used to help people instead of hurt them, you see. That’s what I discovered years ago, although I didn’t dare tell anyone.
‘And then the time came for my trials. The tests to become a true assassin. The first parts were easy: our clan style of fighting, identifying deadly plants, mixing potions. Until it came to the final task. They wanted me to actually, really kill someone.
Uki and the Outcasts Page 6