01 Wing Warrior (7 page)

He tied the last knot in his net and gave it a good, hard tug to make sure it wouldn’t come loose. He was finished, and there was still plenty of daylight left to get out in his boat.

At that moment, he became aware of a distant rumbling sound, as though a thousand horses were charging on the village of Landmark. The pier trembled beneath him, and the water along the shoreline began to splash and froth.

Fishermen on the beach were shouting and pointing. A gigantic wave, as high as a city wall, was rushing down the Forbidden River.

Before Tidal even had a chance to fully appreciate what was happening, the torrent of angry water crashed into the pier and smashed him off his feet. It was like being punched with a stone hand, and all of his breath was knocked out of him as the wave carried him off the pier and out into the ocean.

He was completely swallowed by the swirling water, and he could feel the terrible drag of an undercurrent trying to pull him down. He attempted to swim back to the beach, but the water was moving too fast and he was disorientated, unable to tell which way was up and which way was down. Frightened fish, nothing more than tiny flecks of gold in the dark, darted past him as he spiralled and twisted in confusion, his lungs screaming for oxygen.

Suddenly something huge, bigger than anything he had ever seen in the ocean, swam out of the gloom. In the dark and bubbles, he could barely make out what it was, but he could see sharp teeth in an open mouth rushing at him.

Frantically splashing, using every last ounce of strength he had, Tidal tried to swim clear of the advancing fangs. He felt something sharp rake across his chest, and then something heavy bashed into him. He spun around and around, screaming silently in pain and fear; and then, with no energy left, he gave up his fight to swim against the current and allowed himself to be dragged along with it.

As the frightening blackness of unconsciousness dimmed his vision, he just caught sight of what had hit him.

Scales glimmered on the creature’s long body as it headed farther out to sea. Then it was gone, and Tidal remembered no more.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Leaf’s house was a peculiar place; it smelled of ink and leather and ancient knowledge, and was as quiet as any graveyard. There were rumours that it was haunted, but Leaf always said the only things haunting her house were the memories of great minds recorded in the pages of the books she had spent a lifetime gathering.

Leaf had lived in Landmark for as long as most people could remember, and since her arrival she had done everything within her power to pass on knowledge to any children who cared to receive it and more than a few who didn’t.

‘Legends?’ she asked, as Glass pointed to one of the books on her shelf. It was the book Nimbus had wanted to borrow; a very old and dusty volume that had an awful lot of words in it and not many pictures.

‘They sound interesting,’ Glass mumbled.

‘I love reading about legends.’ Leaf flicked through the pages of the book, nodding her head approvingly. Her friendly eyes glittered as they scanned the pages. ‘I used to sit for hours and read about the dragons and unicorns.’

‘I think it’s sad.’

Leaf smiled, her usual friendly smile, and passed the book to Glass. ‘It might seem sad,’ she said. ‘Most legends seem that way. But legends are full of hope, they live forever. Every time someone reads this book the legends live on.’

‘But they’re gone.’

‘They may be gone from the world, but not from our hearts. And never from our dreams. Not even from the dreams of the people who claim they don’t even believe in them.’

‘I’d like to meet a legend.’

Leaf laughed, and it sounded unusually loud in the stillness of her house. ‘Who knows, Glass? Maybe tonight, when you close your eyes and go to sleep, you will.’

‘That would be nice.’

‘What would you like to meet?’

‘Gosh, I don’t know. I think I would be frightened of a dragon. Mermaids are beautiful, but I can’t really swim. It would be nice to ride a pegasus, or feed a unicorn.’

‘Unicorns were always my favourite. They’re the most magical of all the legends. They were some of the very last to disappear, and it’s said there was even a unicorn in the great magical war, ridden by a fairie princess with the power of the sun in her eyes.’

‘Is magic really bad?’

‘It certainly became that way. The unicorn was defeated in battle, and after it was gone, there was no balance to the magical forces of the world. Magic became something evil and uncontrollable, something that could only hurt and kill.’

‘So magic was banned.’

‘That’s right. And over time it faded out of all knowledge completely. With no legends, all magic slowly left the world, like a lake drying up in the sun. It is probably for the best.’

‘And what happened to the fairie?’

‘When the unicorn was slain, she crouched over its body and wept for it. She wept so hard the sunlight drained from her eyes, so instead her eyes were cold pools of blue moonlight. She changed her name to Moon, and she vanished into the West, beyond the borders of mankind, never to return.’

‘Why did she leave?’

‘Moon was a magic user, a great enchanter, and the unicorn was her familiar.’

‘What’s a familiar?’

‘Whenever a magic user was born, a legend would also be born, a creature that would be forever connected with the magic user and bound to the same fate. When the unicorn died, Moon too, began to die. She left this world, perhaps to find a new familiar, or perhaps more likely, to fade away into the night.’

It was at that exact moment that Glass and Leaf heard the rumbling. At first it was a very distant sound, but it quickly got louder, until it seemed to be bearing right down on top of them.

Outside, several children who had lingered after Leaf’s class were standing and staring with open mouths. Other children were running around excitedly, screaming and crying.

The ground shook violently, and several books fell down from the shelves.

‘What’s going on?’ Glass asked.

‘I’m not sure,’ Leaf said, ‘but let’s go outside where nothing can fall on us.’

She quickly pushed Glass out of the house. The air was filled with a rushing, screeching noise, and a wave of water came crashing down the river.

Glass watched with wide–eyed terror as two men were sucked off the riverbank and into the foaming water, their arms waving hopelessly as they disappeared from sight. For a moment she thought she could see the arching, scaled back of a giant serpent in the middle of the wave, but it was gone before she could be certain. She held Leaf’s hand tightly.

The tidal wave burst out of the river mouth, exploding into the ocean with a final roar and splash.

Moments later, two fishing boats, just visible on the horizon, were pulled under the water. After that, the sea was calm again, as if nothing had ever happened.

***

By the time Sky found Glass, the village was in chaos. People were screaming, and the twelve soldiers from the garrison had strapped on their swords and were running down to the seashore.

The tidal wave had left behind a terrible trail of destruction. Fishermen’s huts and boats were broken, and the pier was destroyed. Worst of all, there was no sign of the people who had been dragged into the water.

‘Hey,’ Sky said, standing beside Glass. ‘Did you see that?’

Glass nodded.

‘What do you think it was?’

‘A wave.’

‘I know that. What do you think caused it?’

‘A snake.’

‘Don’t be silly, Glass. How could a snake cause that?’

‘It was big. As big as the river.’

‘You can’t get snakes that big.’

‘I saw it.’

‘If it was a snake, where did it come from?’

‘Maybe it came from underneath Sentinel Mountain.’

Sky thought of the dark cave where they had spent the night, of how they had laughed at Tidal when he emerged from the darkness, soaking wet and filthy.

It was possible that something had been down there, under the mountain. The Forbidden River was fed into by so many other streams, most of them with unknown sources. It was possible that something could have swum down, looking for a way out to sea. But a giant snake was ridiculous.

She put a hand on Glass’s thin shoulder. ‘Do you think you could have been mistaken?’

‘I didn’t get a good look.’

They both stood in silence, watching the soldiers on the beach running backwards and forwards among the shattered remains of houses and boats. Seagulls circled like white pieces of paper floating on the wind.

‘What are they doing?’ Glass asked.

The soldiers were lifting wooden boards and pillars, looking under everything that was washing back up on the dirty sand. Sky knew exactly what they were doing. They were looking for bodies.

An evil–spirited dread clutched at her heart. ‘Where’s Tidal?’ she said.

***

Tidal’s first indication he wasn’t dead was the sound of seagulls cawing. To begin with, as confused as he was, he couldn’t figure out how the seagulls were managing to make quite so much noise at the bottom of the ocean; but then he became aware of the heat from the sun, and distant voices, and it slowly dawned on him that his assumption that he had drowned was perhaps a little premature. When he finally opened his eyes to see threads of cloud drifting across the blue canvas of the sky, there was no room for doubt. Somehow, against all the odds, despite everything he understood about the sea, he was still alive.

His chest was burning, and it hurt when he breathed, but he was alive.

For a while he remained where he lay, unable to move. He could hear the lap of the sea, and feel the suck of gentle waves rolling over his feet; but he couldn’t lift his head to see where he was.

He tried to remember what had happened. It was all hazy, but he could recall a wall of water rushing over him. Golden fish. Something else too. Something large, with scales and pointy teeth.

He sat up suddenly, despite the protests of almost every muscle in his body. He was on the beach, only a few feet from the crushed remains of the pier, surrounded by driftwood and seaweed. His feet were still in the water.

A terrified scream wedged in his throat as he dragged himself farther up the beach.

The sea looked calm and unthreatening, but there was something in it now. Something horrible.

‘Hey, you!’ a voice said from behind him.

One of the village soldiers was approaching through the mess of splintered wood.

‘Captain Obsidian,’ Tidal said. ‘Glad you could make it.’

‘What happened?’ Captain Obsidian asked, as he slipped and slid over the hull of a smashed boat, sword in hand.

‘Didn’t you see? A huge wave came down the river and knocked me straight into the sea.’

‘What happened to you? You’re injured.’

Tidal looked down. There were three long cuts running diagonally across his chest. He had a momentary vision of teeth looming at him out of the murk of the turbulent water, and remembered his desperate attempt to get out of the way. He obviously hadn’t been quick enough.

He touched the cuts cautiously.

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure what happened. I guess I got hit by some of this driftwood.’

‘Can you stand?’ The captain helped Tidal to his feet. ‘Good lad. We should get the doctor to take a look at you. Do you think you can walk?’

‘I’m fine.’ Tidal paused, swallowed carefully. ‘Did anybody see anything? I mean, did anyone see what caused the river to rise up like that?’

‘Probably a dam burst. Must have been a pretty big one though.’

‘There was nothing else?’

‘Nothing that I saw.’

A second soldier was walking along by the sea, squinting at the horizon.

‘What’s he looking for?’ Tidal asked.

‘There were two boats out there earlier.’

‘The fishing boats. I was watching them from the pier. Where have they gone?’

‘That’s what we’d like to know.’

‘They can’t have just disappeared. Is a search party being organised?’

‘We’re getting together all of the boats that are still seaworthy, but not many survived.’ Captain Obsidian removed his helmet. He had a sharp, angular face, black hair, and stern eyes beneath heavy eyebrows. He was named after a type of naturally occurring glass, which seemed perfectly fitting for such a hard and uncompromising man. ‘I understand you have a boat?’ he said.

‘I did. I think it’s gone the same way as the pier.’

‘That’s too bad, we could have used your help.’

Tidal glanced at the water, imagining what might be just below its innocent surface. ‘I don’t think I can help you,’ he said. ‘Sorry. I hope you find them.’

Obsidian put his helmet back on. ‘Never mind. You should get your chest seen to anyway. You don’t look too good.’

Tidal headed up the beach, as far away from the shore as he could get. Sky and Glass were walking down to meet him and he was more than slightly pleased to see Sky’s look of concern. She had been worrying about him.

‘Hello,’ he said, when they were close enough to hear.

‘What happened?’ Sky asked. There was as much concern in her voice as there was in her face.

‘I got blasted off the pier. Thought I was a goner for sure. Check this out.’ He gestured towards the cuts in his chest proudly. ‘I guess I managed to swim back to shore despite the pain.’

‘Does it hurt much?’ Sky asked.

‘Sure does. But I’m pretty strong, I can take it.’

‘Do you want me to clean the cuts? They look sore.’

‘I...’ Tidal flushed red, perhaps for the first time Sky could remember. ‘I think... I mean, I don’t...’

‘You don’t need to be the big hero all the time, Tide. Come on back to my house and I’ll put a bandage on for you.’

‘Your house?’

‘Yeah, you know, the place where I live? Walls, roof, front door, all that stuff?’

‘But, your dad...’

‘He won’t be there. He’s probably at the tavern, discussing all this mess with the landlord. Come on, it’ll be fine.’

‘No, really. I’m okay. I’ve had worse injuries.’