'We are not changing plans!’ Lara remonstrated.
She stood there with her hands on the oily scales of her hips, her bottom lip stuck out like a balcony. If she had feet, she would have stamped them. Sumi knelt on the ground cradling Tagtug in her lap. He had lost a lot of blood before Lara had closed his wound. He drifted in and out of consciousness, his breathing rapid and shallow.
Sumi had drawn a crude map in the dirt before her. Lara stood nearby with her arms crossed. They had been travelling slowly through the seemingly endless Scorian hills, but the time had come to make a decision about which direction to take. A constant wind buffeted them, whipping across the Wort River to their left, carving a veil of spray from the surface of its brown waters.
Sumi gritted her teeth. She had spent the better part of the last hour trying to convince Lara that to continue to Pelinore would be suicide, but Lara was being inflexible and refused to listen.
Lara’s tail drew vague shapes in the dirt as her mind toyed with the idea of taunting Sumi into seeing her point of view. ‘I didn’t think you’d be afraid of the Ghul,’ she muttered, so quietly Sumi hardly heard it above the implacable wind.
Sumi saw right through the ploy. ‘Lara, I am tired and in no mood for this argument. We are compromised. If we do not adapt we will die. We must turn north-east to Bregon and from there take a boat to Sessymir.’
‘No. We cannot enter Morae. We must push on to Pelinore. That is our mission.’ Lara turned her back on Sumi as if to say the matter was closed. Sumi looked up to the heavens in frustration.
‘No. No doubt Lokasenna has informed Caliban’s forces of our route. They will be waiting for us. We cannot risk it. We will strike through the Morae forests to Bregon.’
‘Then you will do so without me.’
Sumi gazed down at Tagtug’s shivering body. He was barely alive. ‘Look at him Lara. I can’t do this without you.’
Lara turned back and revealed a face full of tears. Her breath was punctuated by gulps for air.
Sumi tenderly lay the Mabbit’s head down on the earth and rose to face Lara. ‘What is it?’
Lara snorted back tears. She was still weeping violently, so much so that Sumi gently wiped her face in a gesture so out of character that Lara’s crying softened and eventually ceased.
Sumi softly placed a hand on Lara’s shoulder. ‘Why do you weep?’
‘Because I want to live, Sumi. Because I want to see my baby girl again, but if I return to Morae, I will be caught and taken to into the Endless. The marroks have my scent. As soon as I enter the forest they will know it and they will find me. If they don’t, the Ghul surely will. Sumi, these vermin took my baby away. If I am brought before Caliban, my child will never again see the light of day. It is the only thing keeping me going. I have no stomach for battle. I only fight to see my little Birren again.’
Sumi nodded. She understood. Had she been left with the opportunity to have children with Trojanu, she would have felt the same way. But she was also concerned that Lara was clinging to the hope that the Ghul would spare her child. She had seen nothing to indicate that the Ghul were capable of such restraint. ‘Lara, you must consider the possibility that your child is dead.’
‘No you don’t understand. She’s alive!’
‘I admire your faith but –’
‘No. I’m not delusional! I can feel her, Sumi. She’s still alive.’
Lara loosened her blouse and revealed her chest to Sumi. In her chest the blue stone embedded in the skin pulsed with an unearthly light. ‘All women in Morae who bear children develop the Birthstone. It grows whilst the child is in the womb and when the child is born is shines brightly. However, when a child dies, so too does the light of the stone.’
‘Caliban has taken your child as ransom? For your services? Is that why your child is still alive.’
‘Yes. He seeks to control all of us. Our bond with our children is particularly strong. He knows this. I fear since I left Morae many more witches have left to join him.’
‘But you remain.’
‘How can I trust a man who has done what he has done?’
‘But what of your child? By opposing him, don’t you put her at risk?’
‘Yes.’
‘Does that concern you?’
‘I think about it every night. I tell myself that she would not want to live in a world of darkness where evil thrives and good people submit to cruel, naked terrorism.’
Sumi nodded. ‘The good people will triumph, Lara.’
‘Will they Sumi? Do you really believe that?’
‘Not always,’ she admitted, ‘but often enough to keep going.’ She looked out across the lands to the north. ‘We must make a compromise Lara. We cannot go to Pelinore and we cannot go through Morae. What are our options?’
‘There are several small settlements that line the northern coastline, mainly abandoned Sessymirian outposts and Scorian fishing villages. If we follow the Wort River northwards we can make our way to one of these and from there find a way across the Oshalla Ocean.’
They made their way across the Hollow Hills, a labyrinth of steep conical hills that stretched across the highlands of Scoriath. The hills were completely brown, covered in a thick, dry moss that was almost a foot deep in places. This made going slow but Sumi told herself that the Ghul would find it just as difficult to traverse. As they walked over the hills, the spongy moss hid all signs of their passing. She was confident that their pursuers would not be able to track them down.
Night approached. ‘I think we’ll be safe to create a fire,’ Sumi said when they had decided upon a campsite nestled in the arms of a particularly steep hill.
Lara woke Tagtug who had slept most of the day on Sumi’s back. She fed him some berries she had picked that morning but he was not interested in eating and vomited the little he ate before returning to a restless sleep.
There were no branches to use to fuel a fire so Sumi ripped up a patch of moss and placed it a shallow bowl she had made in the dirt. Using a flint she had secreted in one of the pockets of her tunic, she lit the porous moss.
To her delight she found the moss was extremely flammable. With no more encouragement than a tiny spark, the brown mass before them burst into flame. Orange and yellow tongues of fire leapt into the air and embraced the trio with their warmth. The moss burned quickly and Sumi found she was regularly pulling out large clumps from the hillside to keep the fire going.
Darkness descended upon them. A thick band of clouds had settled overhead. The Myr’s moons would not shine upon them this night. A number of shatterbugs flittered about the dell where they set up camp, bathing the area in a soft yellow light.
Sumi brewed up cup of javo and shared it with Lara whilst Tagtug slept at their feet. ‘Tell me about your people, Lara,’ Sumi asked. ‘Tell me about these incredible powers you possess.’
Lara was a little surprised about Sumi’s conversational tone, but welcomed it. After days of sharing stories with Edgar, her silent trek across the monotonous landscape with Sumi and Tagtug had been hard to bear. Though she was desperately tired, she embraced the opportunity to talk.
‘The name Pryderi translates to the proud and it is an apt description of my race. Unlike the Morgai, the Pryderi do not inherit their powers. We have to work for them. Centuries ago when the world was much younger, my people delved deeply into the pagan lore of magick. They delved and they studied. They travelled to hidden temples and read ancient scrolls. They studied all that existed before religion and science tried to explain away everything. They watched and they listened, quietly discovering the secrets of the arcane arts. This mystic journey took many centuries and all the findings were written in a book called the Incanto. As time passed our powers rose to rival even those of the Morgai.’
‘Did you learn your skills from this book?’
‘Me personally? No. The little I know, I have been taught by the coven. The Incanto has not been seen for hundreds of years. It was stolen from us. ’
‘Who stole it?’
‘It was the Morgai, jealous of our increasing power. Without the Incanto, our talents faded. Secrets were passed down orally but many were lost and it became harder to acquire the magick our forebears enjoyed.’
‘Do you know where is the book now?’
‘It was rumoured to be hidden on the Isle of Grisandole but that proved to be false. Some believe the Morgai still have it. Others believe it has been lost to the ravages of time.’
‘If – somehow – the book could be found, the Pryderi would be a formidable force. They could take this fight to Caliban, burn the Endless and every Ghul with it.’
‘My coven sent me to Grisandole with much the same thing in mind. But all I found was the Ghul.’
Sumi thought deeply about the Ghul’s presence on Grisandole as she sipped at the hot mug of javo. ‘Lara, you don’t think Caliban seeks this book too do you?’
‘It would make sense. With so many Pryderi at his command, he would be unstoppable if he had possession of the Incanto. It contains many powerful spells.’
Sumi passed the mug to Lara and asked, ‘What other spells can you perform?’
‘Not many. Apart from the creation of small spheres of fire and light, my talents are limited to simple healing incantations and some other completely useless spells.’
‘Useless?’
‘I can change the colour of my fingernails.’
‘What else?’ It seemed Sumi agreed that changing the colour of one’s nails to be a waste of time.
‘I can take the very air from around us. It only takes a moment to conjure, but I’ve never really found a use for it.’
Sumi was much more impressed by this spell. ‘That is a special power indeed! You could suffocate our enemies. You could steal the very air from their lungs.’
‘No, it doesn’t work like that. Such spells form a nexus around the creator. I would rob myself of the air I breathe. Pointless magick, really – unless I wanted to kill myself. And I don’t. Not yet anyway.’
‘Does it have a name?’
‘It’s called En Ayra.’
‘En Ayra,’ repeated Sumi, copying Lara’s inflection perfectly.
‘There is one other spell I have been learning. I am yet to master it – En Pyrrha. The incantation is very quick but it is complex and subtle. Very few Pryderi have been able to master it.’
‘What can it do?’
‘It draws on primeval arcane forces that permeate the world around us. The spell-caster can shape this energy into a cannonball of mystical fire. It is the most aggressive spell we know of. I think I’ll be dead before I master it. I never saw a use for it back in Morae, but I’d dearly love to know it now.’
‘So would I,’ said Sumi mournfully as she looked up at the hills surrounding them. In the faint glow of the shatterbugs’ light, she could see countless Ghul coming towards them.
They cascaded over the hills like a poisoned stream. Within moments, Sumi, Lara and Tagtug were encircled by the pale warriors. The Ghul had their weapons drawn but were clearly under instructions not to attack unless provoked. Sumi slowly drew her sai but made no attempt to engage the throng.
Suddenly, the thick crowd parted on one side as Lokasenna made her way down the hill.
The Sessymirian eyed Sumi with callous regard. They were worlds apart, one an abandon child who had lived a hard, lonely life and the other a diminutive princess from Susano who had lived a life surrounded by family and friends. Although she hardly knew her, Lokasenna despised Sumi. It was an animosity infused with her contempt for all Myrrans, but Sumi’s pretty face and confident air gave the Sessymirian’s hatred a focus.
Without so much as a spiteful word, Lokasenna stabbed at Sumi who easily parried the stroke. Out of the corner of her eye Sumi could see the phalanx of Ghul soldiers pulling back their crossbows. Lokasenna thrust out with her spike a second time and followed up with her sword. Sumi anticipated the move and easily avoided it. Lokasenna was strong but she was no warrior. The collective sound of crossbows being armed highlighted the fact that whether Lokasenna could fight or not was irrelevant. Sumi was outnumbered, Lara was exhausted and Tagtug was helpless.
She knew she had to do something unexpected to shift the balance of the situation.
In an entirely unexpected move, she jumped away from Lokasenna and tumbled into the midst of the Ghul who had encircled them. She quickly grabbed the forearms of two of the Ghul and pulled down hard. Following the distinct sound of their fingers clicking the triggers of their crossbows, two bolts of bone shot out from the crossbows and pounded into the flesh of Lokasenna’s shoulder.
‘You idiots!’ Lokasenna hollered. ‘Leave this one to me. Take down the other two!’
But Sumi had no further interest in combating Lokasenna. She dived towards her companions. Lara was huddled protectively over Tagtug who was awake and in a state of confusion regarding what was going on around him.
‘Lara!’ Sumi screamed. ‘En Ayra – cast it now! Just do as I say. Do it!’
Lara’s eyes closed and the incantation began. Sumi reached into the fire and pulled out a thick clump of burning moss and hurtled it over Lokasenna’s head. It sailed through the air in a fiery arc.
A mirthless grin appeared on the Sessymirian’s face. ‘You foolish girl. You’ll kill us all.’
Sumi rolled close to Lara as she concluded the spell. As the last words left Lara’s mouth, Sumi said, ‘Tagtug, hold you breath.’
The fiery clump of moss hit the ground behind Lokasenna, and in an explosion of light and heat, everything was on fire. Everything, that is, except Sumi, Lara and Tagtug who were enveloped in an airless bubble. The searing flames could not penetrate this sphere where no oxygen existed to fuel their combustion. The Ghul surrounding the trio ignited instantly. Only a few feet away Lokasenna was burning, her screams unable to be heard inside the vacuum. All around them swords, shields and spears of bone fell to the burning ground as the Ghul were incinerated. The north winds pushing across the land stirred up the conflagration, sending it high into the sky above and all was red and orange.
Inside the bubble, Lara’s eyes closed in concentration as she tried to sustain the incantation as long as she could. Sumi peered out of their airless cocoon watching the flames rapidly spread across the distant hills.
Fortunately, the fire ended as quickly as it had started. Once the moss had been consumed, the fire had nothing else to feed upon. Small flames danced across the charred soil, but it was nothing that posed a threat to Sumi, Lara or Tagtug.
Charred corpses covered the land but Sumi could find no sign of Lokasenna. ‘I hoped to find something – bones, her spike, her sword. But there’s nothing.’
Tagtug scrambled up onto his haunches. ‘Greh!’ he grumbled to himself. His long ears swivelled around and his nose twitched. He was anxious about something.
‘What is it Tagtug?’ Sumi asked, unsettled by the Mabbit’s skittish behaviour.
Suddenly the burnt bodies on the ground near Sumi exploded upwards as Lokasenna thrust herself out from underneath them. She was a terrifying sight. Her long, blonde hair had been burnt off in the conflagration and her skin seared so savagely that where it wasn’t black, it was raw, pink and moist. Lokasenna’s smouldering robes had protected some of her body from the blaze, but her arms were burnt so dramatically, Sumi was amazed to find her actually holding a sword.
She swung the sword at Sumi who had her own weapons sheathed. Managing to twist her body so that it was out of Lokasenna’s reach, Sumi tripped on one of the Ghul corpses at her feet and fell to the blackened land.
Seeing Sumi’s vulnerable position and Lokasenna’s purposeful approach, Lara quickly slithered between the two, without any idea of how she would halt the Sessymirian. As it was, she didn’t have to do anything.
Lokasenna stopped and stared strangely at Lara. There was no malice in the gaze. She dropped her sword to the ground and reached into her robes. Though they were shredded by the fire, one object she had in her pocket remained unscathed. It was a glass cube. ‘I know why you fight, Lara Brand,’ Lokasenna rasped. ‘Familial ties. You seek to free your daughter. I understand that. I am here for similar reasons.’
‘Caliban has your daughter hostage?’ Lara remarked as she watched tiny figures form in the cube. She had seen such an object in her youth. It was a memory cube.
‘No, but I do fight for family.’ Three tall figures appeared inside the glass. A baby in a bassinet slept in front of them.
‘Really?’ said Lara sceptically.
‘I seek to free my father.’ Lara peered into the cube. She could tell by the distinctive birthmark covering the child’s left eye that she was looking at a tiny Lokasenna, not long after her birth. She also recognized one of the men in the cube – it was Maeldune Canna, the Minister for Justice. Standing next to him was a flaxen-haired woman she took to be Lokasenna’s mother. The third figure was a gaunt man with dark hair and pale skin.
‘Your father?’
‘Caliban Grayson. I am his daughter.’
Distracted by the revelation, Lara, Sumi and Tagtug were unprepared for what happened next. Lokasenna burst past Lara and jumped upon the fallen Sumi. The Sessymirian’s attack was brutal. She drove her spike hard into Sumi’s shoulder. It tore through skin, sinew and bone until it burst out the other side; lifting her shoulder blade up at a terrible angle. With her other hand Lokasenna twisted Sumi’s face around so that it lay upon the smouldering remains of the scorched moss. The ground was still hot from the brief but intense fire and Sumi could smell her flesh burning as her face was pressed against the ashes.
Suddenly Tagtug sprang forward baring his teeth. Despite his terrible injuries, he was too fast for Lokasenna and sank his claws and teeth into the burnt flesh of her neck. She screamed in agony and rammed her spike into his stomach. He yelped with pain and fell backwards, clutching at the spike. His scrambling hands dug into her brittle skin and the spike was ripped from her wrist. Lokasenna howled, clutching the stump of her forearm with her good hand.
Tagtug clutched at his belly but the blood just seeped out through his fingers. He rolled onto the small patch of moss that had been protected by Lara’s spell and curled up in a foetal position.
Lokasenna continued to shriek in pain. Grabbing the opportunity Lara hurtled herself at the Sessymirian, knocking her to the ground. Using her momentum, Lara slid behind Lokasenna and in an instant had entwined her serpentine coils around her enemy’s torso. Lokasenna flailed at the air but without her sword or her spike she was no threat to the witch.
Sumi ran to Tagtug and held his stomach to stem the release of blood. She looked up at Lokasenna who was still struggling trying to break free from Lara’s maddened embrace. ‘You monster! How could you betray your own people thus? Have you no shame?’
‘Don’t speak to me of betrayal,’ Lokasenna spat. ‘I know what betrayal feels like.’ She held up the blackened stump of her left arm. ‘This is what my people did to me. All because my mother had a child out of wedlock.’
Neither Lara nor Sumi knew what to say. Lara hated Lokasenna and placed the deaths of Stoops and Edgar at her feet. But as she watched the Sessymirian examine her severed arm, another emotion rose up in her. Something akin to pity.
Lokasenna twisted her torso around in Lara’s coils so she could see the witch’s face. ‘I won’t give up Lara,’ she said solemnly. ‘Just as you won’t abandon your daughter, I won’t forsake my father.’
‘Then you are a threat to her and I must do what I can to stop you,’ Lara replied. She tightened her clasp and Lokasenna grunted as two of her ribs snapped under the pressure.
‘Go on!’ the Sessymirian taunted. ‘You don’t have the mettle to do it.’
Lara did not need any goading. She looked at Tagtug and Sumi’s blood-soaked bodies. Crack! She thought of Stoops’ valiant stand at the Assipattle. Crack! She could still smell the stench of the dead children in the Scoriath orphanage. Crack! And she felt the silent slaughter of dear Edgar. Crack!
In the midst of her coils, Lara felt Lokasenna’s body go limp. She unfurled her tail and the blackened body of Caliban’s daughter slumped forward across the burnt earth.
Lara slithered over to her companions. Tagtug was curled around his wound and Sumi lay on her back staring up at the thick layer of clouds above.
‘Your face Sumi…’
‘It’s not my face that hurts.’ She raised her head so that she could see the wound in her shoulder. Blood was streaming out across her chest. Underneath her, a pool of blood had also gathered where it had run from the hole in her back.
Lara placed a healing hand over the wound. ‘I can heal this, but I can’t do anything about your face. It is too…’ Lara was struggling just to look at her companion. The right side of her face was a calloused mess of cauterised skin. The smell alone was disturbing, but the blackened crust that lay across Sumi’s burnt cheek and forehead made Lara want to vomit. ‘You poor thing.’
‘It doesn’t hurt me. Truly.’
‘You’re being stoic,’ Lara said as she wiped away the blood from Sumi’s shoulder. ‘I know you must be in agony.’
Sumi smiled. Only one half of her face lifted; the burnt side stayed fixed, like a mask. ‘I promise you Lara, I do not feel my burns. I know they exist – I can smell them – but I feel no pain. I suffer from thermanaesthesia.’
‘What’s that?’ asked Lara as she closed her eyes and spoke the simple incantation that would mesh together Sumi’s skin where Lokasenna had pierced her shoulder with her spike.
‘I don’t feel heat or cold. It’s a rare disease.’
Lara finished the incantation and opened her yes. ‘Right now, I’d consider it a rare gift. I would like to know more of your condition but we have no time for talk. We must leave this terrible place.’ She looked over at Tagtug, a bloody figure of fur and rags sprawled upon the moss. ‘If we don’t find a place to tend to him, I fear he will die.’
Lara lifted Sumi to her feet then quickly slithered over to Tagtug. She looked forlornly at his frail body, knowing that she could do little more than patch up the hole Lokasenna had made in his stomach.
‘Little Mabbit,’ she said, ‘I would dearly like to mend you properly, but I lack the skills to do so. So sleep for now and dream of briars and boomberries.’ She invoked a delicate piece of magick and put him too sleep. Gathering him into her arms, she thought of Birren and a great sadness filled her heart.
Sumi shouldered their supplies and gear. She hung Tagtug’s hempen sack over her damaged shoulder – it was light and did not trouble the injury – and her own belongings over her left shoulder. She strapped their water bottles to her waist along with the mug she and Lara had shared.
The pair of them quickly left behind the ill-fated campsite, hoping that the worst of their journey across Scoriath was behind them. They were wrong.
The Myr’s three moons wheeled overhead but could not penetrate the blanket of clouds that lay across the smoking remains of the Hollow Hills.
A blackened body lifted itself out of the ashes. Eyes white with fury flared out of a face of charcoal. Thin, cracked lips parted and from them wheezed three defiant words: ‘Not… dead… yet.’
After three hours of slithering up and down the seemingly endless hills, Lara had to stop. She was exhausted carrying Tagtug and had to rest.
‘Let me take him,’ Sumi said. ‘We can’t stop here.’
‘You’re in no shape to carry him.’
‘Perhaps but it is the logical thing to do. I can’t defend us from the Ghul. You can. If you are too weak to cast your magick, we’ll all die.’
‘But…’
Lara tried to present an opposing argument but Sumi was right. There was no way they would survive another assault without the use of magick.
So Sumi carried the Mabbit on her back whilst Lara shouldered some of the supplies.
Tagtug knew he was close to death but he felt disassociated from the knowledge, as if it was someone else whose life was slowly ending. In his delirium he dreamed of being surrounded by his family back in the Briar Patch where he had never heard of the Ghul or the man they called Caliban. He was in great pain but Sumi’s soft footfall on the charred earth was smooth and soft. It was silent – conversation between Sumi and Lara ceased as each struggled to cross the hills – so his mind played snatches of the Spriggan songs he had heard when he sat on his boulder above Kishe. That seemed a lifetime ago, and yet a lifetime did not seem that long at all.
For Sumi, an internal dialogue began, encouraging her to keep going. The pain from her shoulder was excruciating. Though Lara had sealed the wound, the internal damage was extensive. She was sorely needing rest but would not let any hope of it tempt her mind away from her objective – to keep walking until morning. Although Tagtug was half her size, he was still an extra burden and after an hour of walking across the undulating mounds of the Hollow Hills, she began to struggle. She kept shifting the Mabbit’s weight from shoulder to shoulder but it never gave her more than a few seconds of respite from the pain she felt shooting down her spine. She wanted to cry, wanted to place the Mabbit under a bush to die while she curled up on the ground pretending all of this had never happened. She had never felt so low. Her eyes focussed on small milestones in the landscape ahead, and once she had talked herself into reaching one – ‘Just ten more steps to the rock on the left, nine more, eight, seven…’ – she would look for another. Anyone looking at her would not easily perceive any sign of struggle, just a steady north-westerly gaze and the occasional whispered word escaping from her mind and mouth.
Although Lara had not taken the battering Sumi had, her body sang for respite. The burnt ground had singed her scales, her head throbbed and she found herself constantly out of breath. From her abdomen down to the tip of her tail were hundreds of tiny muscles that pushed her forward and every one of these ached. She looked over at Sumi, burnt and bruised, her eyes staring straight ahead. She marched with such confidence and steely determination that Lara felt guilty about any doubts that had crept into her own mind. The only thing keeping her from giving up was Sumi’s steadfast demeanour.
A few hours before sunrise, they arrived at the Wort, the river they would follow all the way to the Oshalla Ocean. It was a wide brown river framed by the melancholy shapes of willoo trees that lined the banks on both sides. It meandered through rolling meadows, slowly making its way through a gentle valley which marked the border of Scoriath and Morae.
Sumi, Tagtug and Lara slowly made their way through the land. The Wort bent westward for a time. Imperceptibly, the world around them grew lighter and they left the Hollow Hills behind them as the sun came up on their backs. Sumi was so fixated upon putting one foot in front of the other, she was surprised when Lara mentioned the fact that morning had broken. The young sun illuminated meadows of long green grasses rippling under the constant wind blowing in from the Oshalla Ocean. On their left, the river widened and swept around a long, gentle bend before returning to its northward path. On the far side of the bend, the steady circular motion of the blades of gigantic windmills stirred something in Lara’s mind.
‘I know this place,’ she said to herself as old memories nudged the horrific events of recent days and nights out of her mind. ‘There should be a bridge about two leagues ahead, where the road from Pelinore crosses the Wort.’ Lara turned to Sumi, and for a second glimpsed the pain her companion was in. ‘We can rest here for a moment. The sun is up so we are in no immediate danger.’
Sumi put up no argument as she knelt down and tenderly laid Tagtug down on the soft grass. She went to stand but her legs gave way under her and she found herself in a prostrate position beside the Mabbit. Her face was flat against the ground and her arms lay loosely by her side. Lara put a hand on Sumi’s head and was surprised to find it was wet with perspiration. Sumi made no attempt to lift herself, and Lara could hear her laboured breathing.
‘Are you alright Sumi?’ Lara asked, her voice quivering with concern.
Sumi did not lift her head from the verdant cushion supporting it. ‘Don’t mind me – I’m just smelling the flowers.’
‘Flowers…’ Lara muttered to herself. ‘Now you’ve just reminded me of something.’ She rose high up on her tail scanning the land before her and spying a band of young willoo trees on the bank of the river only a short distance ahead, she nodded with tentative satisfaction. ‘That should do it.’
‘Do what?’ Sumi asked without even turning her face from its grassy pillow.
‘Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back shortly.’
Without waiting for a response, Lara slithered off towards the trees. Sumi opened one eye to see her companion disappear into the grasses, and sardonically said, ‘So we’ll just stay here then, shall we?’
It was over an hour before the Lara returned. Sumi had fallen asleep and Tagtug remained in a semi-conscious state. Lara flattened some grass and threw some twigs she had gathered upon the ground. Into the centre of this small pile she placed three small stones. She closed her eyes and began an incantation. In the midst of the grass a small spark flashed and a gentle blue flame grew around the stones. A delicious aroma climbed up into the air. Sumi inhaled this sweet smell in her sleep. A smile formed on the side of her face that had not been burnt and she opened her eyes.
‘What is that smell?’ she said drowsily. ‘It’s wonderful.’
Lara muttered a short phrase and the flames licking at the stones disappeared. Her hand darted into the embers of the small fire and withdrew the three blackened pebbles. Still warm, she dropped them into her lap. ‘I’m sorry I took so long. They were very hard to find.’
‘What was hard to find?’
‘These.’
‘What are they?’
‘Veganistones. I’m sorry – these are very small. They’re out of season. I was lucky to find what I did.’ She took one of the stones from her lap and presented it to Sumi. ‘Here, eat it.’
‘What – this stone? I’ll break my teeth on it.’
‘No you won’t. Trust me.’
Sumi bit down hard on the stone and her eyes widened further when she tasted the meat underneath its charcoaled surface.
‘It’s delicious!’
‘How do you feel?’
‘Like I’ve just been recreated!’ She lifted her left arm and flexed her muscles. ‘My shoulder! It doesn’t hurt anymore!’
Lara smiled nervously. She watched Sumi’s eyes inevitably drift to the other two stones.
‘I’d like another if I may.’ It was more of a demand than a request.
Lara was prepared for this. She wrapped the remaining veganistones in the folds of her dress. ‘No – the others are not for you.’
Sumi’s eyes narrowed.
Lara whispered an incantation and with some urgency. Sumi looked at the witch’s hands tightly clutching her dress where she had secreted the stones and then gazed contemptuously at the Mabbit who was probably going to take them. But they were not his. They were hers.
The fleshy side of Sumi’s face became scarlet with rage. Her hand went to her side and drew her knife. ‘He’s just an animal, Lara!’
Lara ignored the comment and continued with her spell.
Sumi raised the knife and bared her teeth. ‘Just an animal like you!’ The blade sliced through the air towards Lara’s skull.
But it never hit. The blow glanced off an invisible shield. Lara had constructed a barrier to protect her and Tagtug from the post-consumption frenzy that had overtaken Sumi. It was an adequate defence but only temporary. Lara was a novice in the incantation and could not sustain it beyond a few seconds. Fortunately, she did not have to.
‘Oh Lara, forgive me. I don’t know what came over me.’
‘I do. The medicinal properties of the veganistones are most powerful – but at a cost. You acted exactly as I expected. Your body’s reaction is typical. Fortunately, the desire is fleeting. I do not fear you anymore.’
‘But I called you –’
‘I’ve been called worse. And it was the stone speaking. It was not you.’
‘I’m so sorry.’
Tagtug’s eyes flickered open and Lara slithered across to him. ‘You’ll have to help me here. I haven’t the energy to create another barrier. You’ll have to hold him down.’
‘Very well.’
Lara slipped the stone into Tagtug’s mouth. His pained face softened and he looked up at her with innocent eyes. Then, like an approaching storm, like pupils darkened and flashes of uncompromising desire lit up his irises. His padded hands reached out for another stone. Sumi pressed him back down into the grass. And then the mild creature fought back.
His teeth bit down hard into Sumi’s arm. The pain was extraordinary but she did not let go. Tagtug showed a surprising amount of energy for one who had been so close to death. His eyes were fixed upon the one stone clenched in Lara’s hand. He kicked and clawed, his entire body contorting to free himself from the grip of the women who held him down.
Suddenly, he relaxed and his eyes left the stone. His muscles went loose and his face lost the maniacal stare that typified a recipient of the veganistone’s potent properties. Tagtug turned to Sumi and smiled. She released him and placed a tender hand on his head to indicate that everything would be okay. Lara’s face dropped when she saw Sumi’s trusting gesture. ‘No, Sumi, look at his eyes – he’s –’
But she had no opportunity to finish her sentence. Tagtug sprung at her, kicking Sumi aside as he shot forward, his arms outstretched for the last remaining stone. One hand grabbed Lara by the wrist and the other sunk long, dirty nails into the scaly flesh of her throat. She was caught off balance and toppled backwards.
Sumi clambered to her feet as Tagtug and Lara rolled down a short slope, the Mabbit desperately trying to free the stone from Lara’s grasp. Blood seeped out under his fingernails, and Lara’s face grimaced as she vainly tried to tear herself away from her crazed companion.
Sumi cried out to her. ‘Just give him the stone, Lara. We don’t need it.’
‘No!’ the Moraen screamed defiantly.
Tagtug released her wrist and his hand ploughed into Lara’s face, gouging her skin. She instinctively closed her eyes as his long fingers hovered above the eyeballs he fully intended to remove.
And then, as swiftly as it had come upon him, the desire for another stone passed, and he fell to the ground, exhausted by his attack upon the very person who had pulled him back from death. He lifted his head to look at Lara, and his eyes were awash in guilt and shame.
‘It’s okay, little one,’ she said maternally. ‘You could not control yourself.’
Tagtug held her hands to his lips and kissed them, his sorrow evident in his humble gesture. Her forgiveness was absolute.
Sumi looked quizzically at the Lara. She had watched her closely over the past few days and had realised that the Moraen had a lot more strength than anyone realised – including Lara. When they first set out, Sumi had the distinct impression that the witch felt that her presence was more of a hindrance to the company than a boon. But now their company was no more – Bannick, Stoops and Edgar were dead – and upon Lara hung any chance of survival, let alone success.
Sumi looked over at Tagtug. Whilst he was not fully recovered – even the veganistone could only do so much – he was not going to die. It was Lara who had saved them from Lokasenna’s ambush and it was Lara who had brought them back to health. And here, when she had been insulted and attacked by her own companions, the witch had shown more compassion and decency than one could expect in any race, let alone the much maligned Pryderi.
Sumi sat down beside Lara, took a cloth from her sleeve and gently wiped away the grime encasing the witch’s face.
Lara smiled at the tender act. ‘Thanks.’
‘Lara, the last veganistone. Why did you not give it to Tagtug?’
‘He did not need it.’
‘But you received a beating when you could have given it to him and avoided the attack.’
‘We do not have time to look for more and who knows when and where we made need to use another one.’
Then Sumi realised – she was saving it for her daughter. Just in case.
Lara pointed to the north. ‘Beyond the windmills there should be a bridge where the road from Pelinore crosses the Wort. The Pryderi village of Coldbrook is not far from here. When I was young, my mother would take me there late autumn to harvest the veganistones. It was a long way from Bregon Grove.’ She gazed across the river. ‘Seems even further away now,’ she murmured plaintively to herself.
‘We need to go to the village to rest and get supplies – we have no food left. We should also dress our wounds properly.’
Lara shook her head slightly. ‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea.’
‘Why not? If your people won’t help us, who will?’
The Ghul have been occupying Morae for many months now and Caliban has gathered many of my people to his side. We cannot entreat the Pryderi for assistance. It’s too dangerous.’
‘We need help Lara. We must risk it.’
Lara thought hard about Sumi’s proposition. ‘There is one who would help us. She is highly regarded amongst the Pryderi. Perhaps the greatest witch alive today.’
‘What makes you think she is above Caliban’s influence.’
Lara did not want to consider it. If Arinna Brine faltered, how could anyone else expect to triumph? ‘You don’t know her, Sumi. If you did, you wouldn’t even suggest such a thing.’
The town of Coldbrook could be seen through the leafy tendrils of the willoo trees. Its quaint buildings hugged the far side of the river.
A hundred warm memories gently blew across the landscape of Lara’s mind: the day she found her first veganistones, sitting in the meadow making flowerfall chains with her mother, chasing Arinna through the trees bordering the village, hiding in the windmills when there were chores to be done. When Lara looked back on her childhood, her fondest recollections were based in Coldbrook.
The thought of possibly seeing Arinna again after so many weeks and hardship and pain was invigorating. Arinna would know what to do next. Her advice had never faltered.
The smell of barga turning on a spit was intoxicating. Lara looked across the lively courtyard and was overwhelmed by the smells, the conversations and the slightly chaotic ambience of Smithy’s Bar.
‘Look at you Lara! About to go on a great adventure,’ Arinna said proudly.
‘Perhaps you should be going in my stead. I’m not like these warriors. I will end up getting someone killed. Most probably me.’
Arinna laughed and looked over to where Pylos and Bannick were seated by the balcony. They relaxed over a beer as if tomorrow was just another day. Similarly, the Tethran Gunther Ross seemed to have little concern over the mission that had been laid before him. Gunther had just thrown a friggu into his mouth and after a moment’s pause broke out into convulsion as an electrostatic shock coursed through his nervous system.
The applause that broke out around him confused Lara. ‘Why were they clapping to see a compatriot in pain?’
‘It’s a strange world, Lara.’
‘It is indeed. We are a long way from Morae.’
‘What did you think of the Assembly?’
‘It was exhilarating and terrifying. So many great people in one room. I felt like I didn’t deserve to be there.’
‘Lara, we have every right to attend the Assembly and our need is greater than most.’
‘But the weight of responsibility, Arinna. I do not believe I am the right person to represent our people.’
‘You survived the attack upon Grisandole.’
‘I was lucky.’
‘Maybe that luck will serve you well. I know a little girl who is waiting for you somewhere in the Endless. She has faith in you… as do I. Just do your best.’
‘I will try. I will find her and I will find Pippa. I will bring our babies home.’
Arinna looked over at the array of soldiers and statesmen in the bar. ‘It looks like you have plenty of assistance.’
‘They are an inspiring lot aren’t they?’
‘Not all of them, but generally speaking, I think you’re in good hands.’
‘I think so too. Although I’m a bit scared of our leader.’
Arinna nodded. ‘Watch yourself around that one Lara. She is hard to read. Sleep with one eye open.’
‘That’s comforting.’
‘Just be careful who you trust.’
‘What about Bannick?’
‘Oh you can trust him. He’s a rogue and hero in a beautifully wrapped package. If he is sober enough to join you tomorrow morning, he will be a great asset.’
‘Edgar?’
Arinna took a sip of her beer and smiled mischievously. ‘Ha! He’s an odd one that one. Did you notice how he kept picking off the lint from his cloak?’
‘I thought he was like something out of an old storybook. He seemed… honourable.’
Arinna softened. ‘I’ve been too harsh. He is a decent man. I felt his heart. It is as pure as his armour is clean. I have met him before, you know.’
‘Really?’
‘It was two years ago. He was searching for his brother who had gone missing whilst travelling in the highlands of Scoriath. At that time, a band of thieves – escapees from the Hulks – had been attacking villages across Scoriath and Morae. Unfortunately for them, Edgar Worseley arrived in town an hour before they did. When the thieves made their intentions clear, Sir Edgar came to our defence and by the time the sun set on Coldbrook, our attackers lay dead in the main street and Edgar had wiped all traces of their blood from his sword and armour. The following morning, he said farewell and continued on his way.’
Lara sat thinking over the story and smiled.
‘Lara?’
‘Hmmm?’ she replied absent-mindedly.
‘You’re not enamoured with him are you?’
Lara felt the blood rush into her face even before she could mount a defence. ‘Enamoured?’ she laughed tremulously. ‘I wouldn’t know what to do! And somehow, I don’t think we’re biologically-compatible anyway!’
They both giggled. ‘I’m not so sure Lara. Stranger things have happened.’
‘I just feel safer, knowing the knight will be there,’ Lara confessed. ‘The Mabbit on the other hand…’
‘The Mabbit is even more nervous and scared than you are. It has been an overwhelming experience for him and he does not understand most of what is going on, but he has his part to play. I think you will find before this story ends that he will surprise you.’
‘What do you think of the SusaneseConsul? She’s very impressive, isn’t she! A bit intimidating though.’
Arinna nodded. ‘Underneath Sumi’s stoic exterior is a young girl still dealing with a heart filled with grief. Her pain is such that she will be a formidable ally – she will fight with the fury of one who had nothing to lose.’
Lara heard a hearty laugh and turned to see who had made it. It was Will Stoops, the rather rotund man from Tuirren, standing by the spit instructing the chef to put some more meat on his plate. The plate was already overflowing, but Stoops kept insisting.
‘And him?’ Lara asked.
‘Will Stoops is in many ways the day to Sumi’s night: vociferous, social, light-hearted. But both would lay down their lives to ensure the mission’s success.’
There was movement in the booth next to theirs. Maeldune Canna, his wife Jehenna and the portly bureaucrat Porenutious Windle were leaving. Lara waited for them to go before whispering to Arinna, ‘I don’t like that one.’
‘Maeldune Canna?’
‘Yes. I didn’t like the way he treated Tagtug in the Assembly.’
‘I know what you mean. The waters of his heart are deep and treacherous. Like many of his kind, he has much ambition.’
‘His wife is beautiful,’ Lara observed.
‘You are not the only one to think so,’ Arinna mused as she nodded her head towards the figure of Pylos who was staring at Jehenna Canna, despite the presence of her husband.
‘What did you hear?’ Lara asked conspiratorially.
‘Just a few stray thoughts. But he will never do anything. He is far too honourable.’
‘Arinna, I’m not sure how to take all these consuls and ministers. There seems to be a lot more to what they say than what is spoken.’
Arinna’s face darkened. ‘The noise in my head during the Assembly was almost unbearable. So many intense emotions in one place. I need time to reflect on all I heard. So many conflicting thoughts.’ She paused as if considering what to say next. Lara had the feeling Arinna was holding something back.
‘Is there something you’re not telling me?’ Lara asked suspiciously.
‘Now is not the time, Little One. But there are some things that we need to discuss when next we meet.’
‘Who knows where or when that will be?’
‘Probably where you’d least expect it.’ Arinna looked over at where the barmaid was in conversation with a burly Tethran and gestured to her to bring two more tankards of ale. The barmaid simply returned to her conversation, pretending she didn’t see anything that would require her to move. ‘One thing is clear Lara – some things never change.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘They hate us Lara. They’ve always hated us.’
‘Who?’
‘The other Myrrans. Even here on the balcony. They have so much animosity towards us, it’s virtually palpable.’
‘Perhaps we are to blame,’ Lara suggested tentatively, scared that Arinna would savage her for embarrassing naiveté.
‘Go on.’
‘Maybe it’s time we came down from the trees and became part of the world beyond. Perhaps they mistrust us because we have not let them know us.’
‘If only it were that simple. Sometimes, I think we would be better allied with the Ghul than these Myrrans.’
‘You can’t be serious!’
‘Of course I’m not. We should go to bed now. You have a big day before you.’
‘It would seem I’m not the only one going to bed,’ Lara observed.
Arinna smiled when she understood Lara’s meaning. Bannick stumbled by, barely able to walk, his drunken frame supported by the beautiful Kompiran waitress at his side. But as she stared at the Kompiran her smiled faded.
Lara picked up on her friend’s shift in emotion. ‘What’s wrong Arinna?’
‘The barmaid. She’s keeping her thoughts close to her. She’s hiding something.’
‘I don’t like her,’ Lara conceded, still annoyed over the poor service the pair had received that night, ‘but she’s just a barmaid. What could she have to hide?’
Arinna shrugged as Bannick Landen and his Kompiran escort stumbled out of Smithy’s Bar.
‘I wish you were coming with me, Arinna’ Lara said earnestly. ‘What will you do now?’
‘I will return to Coldbrook. Tonight. I fear for my mother. Lately there have been rumours of Ghul appearing on the eastern reaches of the woods.’
A look of concern passed over Lara’s face. ‘Why are you still here then?’
‘I wanted to make sure you are okay, Little One. I know a spell that will spur on Viola and she will not stop until the journey’s done.’
‘I hope I don’t have to ride a snorse!’ Lara mused as she slithered out of the booth. She did not want to delay Arinna a moment more. Mothers and daughters should not be separated. It was time for Arinna to return to Coldbrook. They hugged one another by the stairs.
‘Do you think we have a chance?’ Lara asked nervously.
Arinna put her hand affectionately across Lara’s chest. She could feel the warmth of Lara’s Birthstone drifting up through her blouse. ‘When all hope seems lost, Little One, look to your heart.’
Lara’s heart seemed pulled in separate directions. She was energized at the thought of seeing her people again, but the overwhelming hopelessness of their situation was almost paralysing. They had so far to go it was impossible to imagine an end to their journey.
Under the shade of a willoo tree, Lara stood on the eastern bank of the Wort and looked across the river at the town of Coldbrook. One look was all it took to realise the Ghul had visited the town. A number of bodies lay in the street, Pryderi who thought they could oppose the will of Caliban. They’re bodies had been torn apart and if it weren’t for their distinctive serpentine tails, it would have been difficult to even identify their race. But there was one body that was recognisable. It lay by the bridge and the entrance to the town. It was the body of a white snorse with dark brown bands running across its back. ‘It’s Viola – Arinna’s snorse!’ Lara gasped.
‘I’m sorry, Lara’ said Sumi as she drew alongside Lara and looked upon the bloody carnage of Coldbrook.
Tagtug hopped up beside them and took Lara’s hand when he saw the first of her tears fall. His mind went back to the day he had discovered the destruction of Kishe. That was the day he had embroiled himself in the affairs of the world beyond the Briar Patch. He knew he was now paying the price for his curiosity. He hoped he would not have to die for it.
Lara dropped her head into her hands but Sumi continued to scan the town, trying to piece together what had happened. ‘They’ve been mauled by marroks.’
Lara looked up at the terrible scene, her face reflecting the despair that was cascading through her veins and pooling in the cavities of her heart. ‘The Ghul who occupied our the Bregon Woods – they used marroks to keep us contained.’
‘It would seem they have expanded their territory to include Coldbrook.’
Lara fell in a heap on the bank of the river. Tagtug slung his arms over her shaking body, trying to comfort her but she was inconsolable. Her crying got louder and her body rocked dramatically, as if it could not contain the pain that swirled inside it. ‘I can’t do this!’ Lara howled. ‘I can’t go on!’
Sumi knelt down beside the Moraen. She could feel Lara’s hysteria building, and whilst she understood why she felt the way she did, it looked as though the witch’s grief might bring them the sort of attention they were trying to avoid.
‘Lara, you’ve got to be quiet!’ she urged her companion. ‘If the marroks are still about –’
‘They will smell me out.’
She said it as if she didn’t care. Sumi could feel Lara’s resolve crumbling.
‘Lara, now is not the time!’ she whispered harshly.
‘No. It is the time. Arinna’s gone. I will follow shortly.’
Sumi had never heard a voice so steeped in despair. ‘Lara, I know this must be hard for you, but you’ve got to remember – you have a little girl waiting for you somewhere in the dark beneath our feet. You’re her only hope.’
‘There is no hope,’ thought Lara cynically, and then Arinna’s words floated into her head:
‘When all hope seems lost, Little One, look to your heart.’
The memory of Arinna’s parting comment prompted Lara into unravelling her torn, burnt cloak and peering under her shirt. A soft blue light emanated from under her skin. Birren was still alive, waiting for her mother to pull her out of a world where the sun did not shine. No-one else was going to save her.
‘We have to go.’
They ran by the side of the river where the willoos hid them from sight. They pushed through strings of leaves, staying close to the boles of the trees where the shadows were darkest. To their left, the wide brown river wandered past the old town where the Pryderi of Coldbrook had lived without a care. But that, like most things in the Myr, had changed.
‘Look!’ said Sumi with surprisingly happy note in her voice.
They stopped. Lara followed the direction of Sumi’s pointing hand to where a small wooden pier jutted out into the Wort River. Moored to this pier was a small raft. Sumi’s face beamed. ‘We can take the raft downstream to the coast.’
It wasn’t hard for Lara to understand Sumi’s joy. For the first time in a week they would have a respite from the dangers and hardships that had rained down upon them. Or so she thought.
Tagtug cocked his head up. His eyes darted around and his brow furrowed. He sniffed and wheeled around so that he faced southward.
Lara followed his gaze and her heart sank. Beyond the curtain of willoo leaves, not one hundred yards behind her, was largest pack of marroks she had ever seen. The animals were sliding across the grass purposefully, their eyes fixed upon the trees where the trio stood.
Sumi looked down at the raft and back at the snarling beasts. Even if they bolted for the raft, they wouldn’t make it. The marroks would be on them in seconds. Sumi thought of standing her ground, but the rising wave of teeth and claws quickly dismissed that idea.
Tagtug’s large, placid eyes scoured the pack. Acutely aware of the deadly situation in which they found themselves, he shifted his weight from foot to foot as the marroks closed in. His ears twitched nervously and turned outwards as the marroks spread out to surround their quarry.
‘Well,’ sighed Sumi, as if resigned to the sharp, pointy fate that awaited them, ‘at least it couldn’t get any worse.’
Lara face blanched as the pack of marroks parted to let its leader slither to the fore. ‘Sumi, it just got worse.’
At the front of the pack was a massive white marrok with red eyes.
‘Sumi, the albino at the head of the pack. He is after me.’
‘After you?’ Sumi asked as she backed away with Lara, pulling out her sai.
‘On the night the Ghul took my baby from me, that beast’s jaws were at my throat. It has my scent.’
The quivering in Lara’s voice alerted Sumi to the fact that her companion was finding it difficult to speak. She could see the fear in Lara’s eyes. The witch’s hands shook and her breathing had accelerated. ‘There’s something else, isn’t there?’
Lara swallowed hard. ‘It killed my mother.’
Sumi stepped out of the green shroud of the willoo to face the beast. ‘Maybe it’s time we balanced the scales. If we take out the leader, we’ll be in a much better position to deal with the rest of them. I think it’s time you attempted the En Pyrrha spell you told me about.’
‘Now?’ Lara exclaimed. ‘I’ve never successfully completed it!’
Sumi nodded towards the approaching marroks. ‘Now would be an excellent time to try!’
Lara stepped out into the sunlight and the albino howled in delight when it saw her. Lara closed her eyes and started an incantation.
The marrok stopped and hissed to its companions. It was clear it was communicating with the pack, giving out orders. Three marroks slithered forwards. They bared their teeth and their long forked tongues flickered out in unison.
Lara broke off her spell and looked up. ‘Sumi I don’t have enough time,’ she cried apprehensively. Her voice trembled wildly as her innate fear of the marroks swelled up in her throat.
‘Then I’ll give us time.’ Sumi threw herself forward and unexpectedly rolled before the three approaching marroks. Her hands flicked out, a blur of movement launching three metal stars that buried themselves in the guts of the beasts. All three animals reeled back, alive but in no condition to continue their attack. Behind her, Sumi could hear Lara’s renewed incantation growing in volume.
Twenty feet in front of them, the albino was hissing out more instructions to his followers. Three more marroks slithered out but stopped five feet in front of their leader.
‘Come on Lara,’ Sumi urged, her eyes on the serpentine forms before her.
Suddenly Lara’s voice stopped. She had finished the spell. White flame erupted from her palms and shot like a burning cannonball at the heart of the huge white marrok. But before it could reach him, the three marroks before him lined up in front of their leader. The bolt of fire blasted a hole clean through the first marrok it hit and it was dead before its burning body touched the ground. The second one was seared across its chest and fell forward across the dead beast in front of it. It convulsed twice before death claimed it as well. The third marrok felt the heat of the spell, but was unharmed. It stood in front of its leader, panting.
Sumi’s face dropped – their only hope for survival had just been destroyed by the marroks’ suicidal loyalty to their leader. If this realisation was disappointing for Sumi, it was absolutely crushing for Lara. Her heart sank, and her hands started shaking uncontrollably. She had seen the white marrok tear apart her mother and now her life was about to end the same way. There was nothing she could do to stop it. Her mind felt as if it were freezing. Her body fell into an apoplexy.
The albino howled triumphantly. It knew it had won the day. He could smell the fear emanating from the three cowering figures before him, and he savoured it. There was no need to rush upon them. The Pryderi witch would not be able to summon another spell and the other Myrran now held two small weapons against the pack of fifty. As for the Mabbit, the small, weak creature would prove a tasty appetizer for the greater feast.
‘What do you want to do?’ Sumi whispered to Lara. ‘If we race for the raft, they’ll attack us from behind. I’d rather die facing my killers.’ She held her sai defiantly ready to meet her death with in the same proud manner her husband exhibited that fateful day aboard The Princess Orani.
The albino’s lips lifted in an obscene smile that revealed needle-like teeth. Its tail thrashed the long grass, as the creature savoured the delicious smells that were flowing out of the pores of its prey. There was nothing to be done now but eat.
Suddenly a hand wrapped itself around the handle of one of Sumi’s sai. It was Tagtug. Sumi was startled by this but let the Mabbit take the weapon. It seemed fair that he – the most defenceless of the three – should be armed. He lifted the sai up and looked at it with inquisitive eyes, holding the weapon the way a child would, surprised by its weight. And then he did the last thing anyone would have expected him to – he ran the blade along his forearm, slicing deeply into his own flesh. Blood spurted out across the grass and Tagtug did nothing to stop it. Almost as one, the marroks inhaled the sweet smell of blood and howled like a demonic choir.
‘What are you doing?’ Sumi cried at Tagtug who was now ripping the shirt off his back.
Tagtug wiped the tattered shirt up and down his arm, smearing the blood all over the coarse fabric. His self-inflicted wound was so deep that the shirt was a sodden, red lump of cloth within seconds. Before Sumi or Lara could say or do anything, Tagtug wrapped the bloody cloth around a rock and hurled it over the head of the albino marrok, deep into the pack behind him. The marroks became a mindless throng of snapping, sniffing beasts. They were incensed by the smell and there was not one among them that could resist the allure of the blood-soaked package Tagtug had hurled into their midst. Even the albino took its eyes off Lara as it twisted around to tear off a chunk of Tagtug’s garment. The seraphic smell of the bloody object drove the pack into such a frenzy that once the cloth had been torn apart, the only thing on their collective mind was to taste more of the same.
Tagtug leapt away from Sumi and Lara and sprinted across the grass to their right, away from the river and the raft.
‘No Tagtug!’ screamed the Sumi who understood immediately what he was trying to do.
But Tagtug just kept running into the deep grass, until Sumi could see him no longer. The marroks raised themselves on their tails, and burst forward after him, the albino at the head of the surging pack. The scent of their prey was like a well-paved pathway. It would not be long before they would be feasting on Mabbit flesh.
‘Why did he do that?’ Lara said incredulously as the throng of gnashing teeth and claws disappeared over the grassy hill.
‘To save us. Come on!’ Sumi strode off down the line of willoos towards the pier but Lara just stayed looking eastward in the direction of the marroks. She could still hear them baying for Tagtug’s blood.
‘But we can’t just leave him!’ she protested.
Sumi just kept walking. ‘We have no choice,’ she said solemnly. ‘Tagtug did what he did to save us. We will not dishonour his sacrifice by wasting it.’
Lara put her hands on her hips and snarled, ‘There is nothing honourable about leaving him to die.’
Sumi stopped. Lara had touched a nerve. ‘What would you have me do, Lara? Well?’
It was abundantly clear to Lara that Sumi did not like leaving Tagtug anymore than she did. ‘I’m sorry Sumi, it’s just we a running out of martyrs. Look at what has happened to our squad: Bannick, Stoops, Edgar and now Tagtug – all dead.’
‘Tagtug isn’t dead yet.’
‘But he will be. I’m not sure I can bear any more sacrifices.’
‘And yet each one brings us closer to your child Lara.’
She was right, but it would not be long before the marroks, having caught and eaten Tagtug, would turn their attention back towards the two remaining members of Lokasenna’s squad.
The pair made it to the raft without seeing any sign of the marrok. They could no longer hear the sinister baying of the beasts and knew that this did not bode well for Tagtug. Sumi untied the rope that had kept the raft moored to the pier. She pushed off from the pier with a longer wooden pole that the boatswains of Coldbrook used to steer their humble craft downstream. The raft drifted off into the middle of the Wort where the deep waters thrust them northward towards the wide bridge that linked Scoriath to Morae. The air was still and she could hear nothing but the anarchic swirls of the river lapping around the raft.
The bridge came closer. It was at least three hundred yards long and fifty yards wide, a beautiful structure, made from wide arcing beams and blocks of Sessymirian marble. It was adorned at regular intervals by exquisitely wrought, iron lampposts that had been crafted by the Kobolds. But all this was lost upon Sumi and Lara. Coldbrook was not a place of beauty anymore.
Sumi’s ears picked up the frenzied sounds of the marroks. She twisted her head around to pinpoint the direction of the noise.
Lara looked over at her companion. ‘You hear them?’
‘Yes and they’re getting closer.’
It wasn’t long before Lara could hear them too. The feverish yelping and baying rose as the pack drew nearer. Lara, being the taller of the two, craned her head up to scan the eastern bank but could see no sign of the marroks through the willoo trees lining the Wort. It seemed the pack was running parallel to the river and the raft travelling upon it.
Sumi realised what was happening as they neared the bridge. ‘I know what they’re going to do. We’re not out of this yet.’
‘What are they going to do?’
‘They’re heading for the bridge and then they’re going to jump.’
‘But marroks hate water.’
‘I don’t think they’re planning to swim to us. They’re going to leap onto the raft.’
As the waters around them were divided by the arches of the bridge, Lara scanned the structure above them. There was no sign of the beasts, but the sounds of them seemed horribly close.
Sumi pushed at the pole as the raft disappeared into the shadows under the bridge. The archways formed narrow tunnels, fifty yards deep. The brown waters carrying the raft picked up speed under the bridge and as they rushed towards the light at the other end, Lara could do nothing but hold her breath.
Sumi held her sai aloft, ready to stab at whatever jumped down upon them. It was a strange place to make a last stand – on a raft in the middle of a river – but she was ready to make her final moments the stuff of legend.
They shot out from under the bridge and were momentarily blinded by the light. As Sumi expected, a dark shape leapt from the bridge and hurtled towards the raft. It pounded into Lara’s back sending her forward into the deck. Her head hit the wooden deck so hard, she lost consciousness. The last thing she saw was Sumi’s sai flash in the sunlight as the creature that had leapt from bridge tumbled into her.
