Authors: Kevin Outlaw
He had to be patient.
Cloud had used the power of the Wing Warrior sword to tell Cumulo that they were coming to rescue him. He just had to wait.
Help was on the way.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The sound of huge wings flapping overhead was as deafening as it was terrifying.
‘Run,’ Cloud shouted.
There was a scream – a bellow of pure rage – and Sorrow swooped down so low the children were all beaten flat to the ground by the powerful wind created by her monstrous wings. They did not see her, but they smelled her deadly breath, and heard her claws scraping through the treetops.
‘Get up,’ Cloud said, grabbing Sky and dragging her to her feet. ‘Keep moving. If we don’t get into the sewer she’ll kill us all. Without the Wing Warrior sword I can’t fight her.’
Tidal was already on the move, with Glass clinging tightly to his back. ‘Hold on,’ he gasped, as he dived into the thick undergrowth. ‘I’m going to get you out of here.’
Cloud could just make out the grim shape of Sorrow turning in the air for a second dive. The dragon’s eyesight was so good she would be able to see exactly where they all were. It would be too easy for her to swoop in and pick them up one by one.
She screeched, and rushed down at him. The wind under her wings was as strong as a tornado, and it took all of Cloud’s strength not to be blasted off his feet.
‘I see you,’ she roared, as she approached.
Cloud drew a slow breath. His every muscle tensed, he gripped his sword tightly. Leaves swirled around him. Sorrow was so close he could see the fangs shimmering in her gaping maw. Still he remained perfectly motionless. Letting her get closer. Waiting for just the right moment.
It was just like fishing.
Sky watched, her eyes wide with fear, as the mighty dragon flew by.
‘I see you,’ Sorrow screeched.
Suddenly, when she was so close her wide mouth seemed to fill his entire vision, Cloud sprang to one side. It was too late for Sorrow to stop, and she ploughed into a mass of trees. Trunks cracked, and leaves shook down on her.
‘Didn’t see those trees though, did you?’ Cloud laughed, running over to Sky and taking her by the hand.
Sorrow thrashed around in the broken remains of the trees, hissing and spitting.
‘I think you made her mad,’ Sky said.
‘Don’t worry about that,’ Cloud said, dragging Sky along behind him. ‘Run. She’ll be after us again in a minute.’
They dashed through the undergrowth, following the trail of snapped twigs and brambles that Tidal had made, and emerged on the other side at the top of an embankment leading down to a vast clearing. In the centre of the clearing, surrounded by jagged shards of glistening rock, was a still lake.
‘There is a cave,’ Cloud said. ‘The sewer water comes out there and feeds the lake. Hurry.’
He dashed down the embankment to the edge of the water, with Sky slipping and sliding beside him. He could hear Sorrow just behind, her great fangs snapping and her nostrils snorting as she emerged from the shattered trees. ‘I’ll kill you,’ she was screaming.
There was the sound of wood splintering beneath the dragon’s weight, then the heavy, flat slapping of her wings as she climbed back into the sky.
‘Hurry,’ Cloud repeated, dragging Sky along the edge of the lake towards an ugly outcrop of stones. ‘Just past these rocks.’
Tidal came out of the gloom, running as fast as he could with Glass hanging on his back. ‘Thought I’d lost you both,’ he panted. ‘I can’t find the sewer entrance.’
‘It’s this way,’ Cloud said, sheathing his sword and scooping Sky up in his strong arms. ‘Try to keep up. The dragon is close at our heels.’
Pressing Sky close to his chest, he leapt the sharp rocks, landing with a muddy splash in a pool of stagnant water on the other side. Tidal bounded after him, staggering and spluttering, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
There was a cave entrance just up ahead, set in white rock. A sliver of dirty water curled out of the cave mouth, dribbling down through the stones and boulders until it arrived at the circular reach of the lake. They were so close, but Sorrow was already back in the sky, her gigantic silhouette expanding to swallow the universe.
‘Keep moving,’ Cloud said, grabbing Tidal’s shirt and pulling him along.
Sorrow touched the highest point of the sky, stopped, saw where her enemies were, folded her wings up behind her back, and dropped down on them.
With all the strength he had left Cloud threw Tidal and Glass inside the mouth of the cave, and then fell in behind them with Sky hanging off his shoulder. They all hit the ground together as Sorrow landed with a terrific splash outside.
‘Cloud?’ the dragon hissed. Her voice was thick with menace. ‘Come out of there, Cloud, or I’m going to go back to your village and eat everyone.’
Cloud rose. Looking out of the narrow mouth of the cave he could see Sorrow hunched over the rocks, her broad wings folded up in jagged spikes behind muscular shoulders. Her eyes were glimmering wax candles, burned too long.
‘Come out,’ she said.
Sky grabbed Cloud’s hand. ‘You can’t go out there. She’ll eat you.’
The dragon’s tongue flicked, tasting the sadness in the air. Her long fangs dripped saliva, and poison puffed from her nostrils.
‘She’ll kill everyone,’ Cloud said.
‘If you go out there, she’ll kill you, and then she’ll go back to the village anyway,’ Tidal said.
‘Come out, or I will destroy everyone,’ Sorrow said. ‘Come out, or I will kill... your wife.’
There was a pause, during which time the only sound Cloud could hear was the thundering of blood in his ears.
Fear pricked at his heart with its cruel barbs, injecting him with a paralysing venom.
‘Don’t do it,’ Sky whispered.
‘I have to,’ he said.
‘We need you,’ Sky said. ‘We’ll never be able to free Cumulo without you.’
‘But...’
‘If you go now, we’re all lost. It won’t just be the end of our village. It will be the end of the whole world. Please don’t go out there. Please.’
Cloud swallowed. He stared at Sorrow, and she stared back. Water dripped from the roof of the cave as though the rock itself was crying for the terrible things that would befall Landmark.
‘If I go, maybe it will buy you some time,’ Cloud said. ‘Enough time to free Cumulo.’
‘And maybe it won’t,’ Sky said. ‘Maybe she’ll fly right back to the village and destroy everything anyway. Maybe she’s already destroyed everything, have you thought of that?’
‘But Glass’s mother,’ Cloud said. ‘How can I..?’ He wiped his eyes. He couldn’t speak any more. The thought of something happening to Strata was almost too much. He knew he had to be strong, for the sake of the children; but how could he be strong in the face of such terrible evil?
‘Please. You have to come with us. We can’t do it alone,’ Sky said.
‘I’m sorry. I always feared this time would come. I knew as soon as I revealed my true identity the trouble it would cause.’
‘Come out,’ Sorrow growled.
‘For years I have hidden what I am. To protect Strata. To protect my family. And... And, yes, to protect myself. But when I saw Nimbus fighting Sorrow, wearing armour he should never have been forced to wear, I knew I couldn’t hide any longer. My doom was sealed at that moment.’
‘Please, Cloud,’ Sky said.
‘I really am sorry. I can’t run from what I am. I have to face her.’
‘She’ll kill you.’
‘She might, but at least you will be alive. You still have a chance to free Cumulo, and stop this before things get any worse.’
‘Daddy, please don’t go,’ Glass said. Her eyes were full of tears that reflected the terror he had hoped would not be visible in his own eyes. ‘I’m scared. I don’t want you to go to the same place Nimbus has gone.’
‘Glass...‘ He stopped, almost choking on his words.
‘Daddy?’
He forced himself to go on. His heart was breaking, but there was only stern authority in his voice: the authority he knew his daughter expected. ‘You have to be strong for me. You told me you’d be strong.’
‘Come out,’ Sorrow said. Her claws scraped along the wet rocks. ‘Come out, or I will blow poison into that cave until none of you can breathe.’
Cloud licked his lips. His knuckles were white. ‘Okay, Sorrow,’ he said. ‘I’m coming out, but you have to promise me you won’t pursue these children any more.’
‘I promise,’ Sorrow chuckled.
‘You can’t believe her,’ Tidal said. ‘She’s nothing but a big, lying lizard. She’ll get us anyway.’
‘I want you to run on now,’ Cloud said. ‘Run back into the sewer and just keep going. If she breathes her smoke down here, the tunnels will fill up quickly, so you can’t stop, not for anything.’
‘We aren’t going to leave you,’ Sky said. ‘If you go out there, we’re going too.’
‘No. I have to face her alone.’
‘I won’t let you,’ Sky said. ‘It’s suicide.’
Cloud took hold of Sky’s arm and led her to one side. ‘Listen to me,’ he whispered, glancing over his shoulder at Tidal and Glass. Glass watched him quietly. ‘Listen. I need you to stay here, to look after my little girl. She’s a magic user, and she’s going to need you.’
‘Why?’
‘She’s just discovered something about herself that’s going to change her life forever, and I can’t be there for her. She’s going to need her friends, to help her understand the power she has. Without you and Tidal, she’s going to tear herself apart.’
They exchanged a look of such seriousness that Sky knew it was pointless to argue further. ‘I’ll look after her. I promise,’ she said.
‘I am growing impatient,’ Sorrow said. ‘Stop your useless plotting, and come out, Cloud.’
‘I have to go now,’ Cloud said.
‘Daddy?’ Glass said.
‘It’s okay.’ He hugged his daughter briefly, not risking holding her any longer for fear he might never be able to let go. ‘All of you run along now. I’ll keep Sorrow busy for as long as I can.’
‘And what do we do?’ Tidal asked, hoisting Glass up on his shoulders.
‘Follow the sewer. Eventually you will reach a fork in the tunnel. Go left until you reach an iron ladder. The ladder leads right into the dungeons of Crystal Shine.’
‘And you think we’re going to be able to break Cumulo out?’
Cloud drew his sword. ‘I hope you can, because you’re all that’s left now.’
‘Cloud,’ Sorrow said, and black smoke puffed in the mouth of the cave. The smell of dirt and rotten vegetation filled the air. ‘It’s time to play.’
‘Run,’ Cloud said. ‘And don’t look back whatever you do. Just keep running.’
‘Come on, Sky,’ Tidal said.
Sky wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. ‘Okay,’ she said.
A silent look passed between Cloud and Glass. They both knew what chance there was that they would ever see each other again.
Tidal grabbed hold of one of Sky’s trembling hands, leading her farther into the tunnel.
Cloud waited until the children were nothing more than echoing footsteps in the deep, and then he turned to face the dragon. Sorrow’s eyes glowed like two dying suns as she watched him.
‘I’m still waiting,’ she hissed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
A terrifying scream that sounded neither human nor animal echoed across the wilderness, and instinctively Nimbus looked into the purple sky for signs of a winged menace.
‘Don’t fear,’ Guide said, leaning on his walking stick. ‘It’s nothing that can hurt you.’
Nimbus shivered. Goosebumps had sprung up all over his skin. ‘What was it?’
‘Just the echo of a spirit passing over. Leaving the world of the living.’
‘Coming here?’
‘There are new spirits arriving all the time.’
‘That one sounded in pain. It didn’t even sound human.’
Guide sniffed, then coughed into his cupped hand. ‘It was human,’ he said.
Nimbus strained his eyes to see as far as he could. They had been walking for hours, but they seemed not to have travelled any distance at all. In every direction there was nothing except the endless expanse of craggy plains.
‘Will you help the new spirit?’ he asked.
‘I need to help you first,’ Guide said.
‘But we’ve been walking for so long.’
‘It’s not much farther.’
‘Can we sit down for a moment?’
Guide indicated a flat rock beside him. ‘Of course. We have all the time in the world.’
Nimbus sat, resting his head in his hands. ‘Why is it so far?’
‘Did you expect a journey into death to be easy?’
‘I suppose not. But why does everything here look the same? And where are all the other spirits?’
‘No more questions now. Rest for a minute.’
Nimbus’s eyelids were heavy, so he let them close. A gentle breeze flicked playfully at his curls of hair. When he finally opened his eyes again the Wing Warrior sword was lying on the ground between his feet. His sad reflection looked at him from within the sword’s blade. He seemed very small.
‘What’s that doing here?’ Guide asked, agitatedly.
‘I don’t know,’ Nimbus said.
‘I told you to leave it behind.’
‘I did.’
‘Then why is it here?’ There was a strange tone in Guide’s voice, something more than just annoyance.
‘I don’t know, I haven’t touched it.’
Nimbus reached for the handle of the sword, but Guide rushed over and kicked the sword away. ‘No. You mustn’t touch it.’
‘Why not?’
‘That’s all in your past now, it doesn’t affect you any more. Just think about where you’re going, not where you’ve been. It’s no wonder this trip is taking so long.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘If you insist on thinking about that sword all the time then you will never be able to leave the world of the living behind and we’ll be stuck here in this limbo forever, just wandering around like two prize fools. You don’t want that, do you?’
‘I guess not.’
‘Remember, you’re dying. It’s an all or nothing deal. You can’t go picking and choosing bits of your life to take with you.’
‘But...’
‘Trust me. It’s that sword that got you into this situation in the first place.’