The Gorgons Gaze # 2 (Companions Quartet) (21 page)

The balance of the fight wavered. Who would prove the stronger?

Then the creeping paralysis stopped and began to recede. The gorgon redoubled her attack, hissing with anger as she felt her power leach away into the ground at Connie’s feet, petrifying the weeds that grew through the cracks in the concrete.

Now! thought Connie.

With an immense effort she thrust her mind-shield forward to throw back the gorgon’s gaze. The creature screamed as the cold fire singed her skin, freezing her hair in mid-air, so that the snakes stood out from her head like curling icicles. With a sob and a strangled cry she fell back to the floor, her sight temporarily blinded. Wounded, she slithered away to take refuge in an outhouse.

“What have you done to her?” shrieked Cassandra, pouncing on Connie and grabbing a fistful of hair to pull her head back. Connie’s eyes watered with the pain.

“Let go! I just did what she was trying to do to me,” Connie said, attempting to free herself.

Cassandra gave a whimper, released her hold on Connie and ran after her companion.

Connie turned to Col. “Right, let’s go while we’ve a chance.”

But he was not looking at her, nor at the building into which his mother had disappeared; he was staring past Connie’s shoulder with a nasty, greedy expression shining in his eyes. Hearing the steady beat of hooves behind her, Connie spun around, hoping that perhaps Skylark had ignored her advice and come to her aid. It was a pegasus she saw, but not Skylark: a great blue-black creature with mismatched fiery eyes and furled wings like those of a huge eagle. Connie was not fooled by outward appearances. She knew the beast for what he was the moment she felt his dark presence this close: it was Kullervo.

“Quick, Col, run!” she yelled, sprinting to the gate, but Col remained stock-still, smiling in a strange, lop-sided manner. “Come on!” she called.

He will not run
, whinnied Kullervo softly.
He does not want to. Come here, boy
. Col turned and walked with the jerky steps of a marionette to stand beside the pegasus.
Do you want to go with this girl?
Kullervo asked him.

No
, said Colin.

Do you want to stay with me and fight as a warrior by my side?

Yes
.

Do you want to taste blood again, to kill to save the creatures of this world from humanity?

Yes
.

Kullervo relished leading Colin through this vile litany in front of Connie, knowing that every word would be a torment to the universal that had so injured him on their last encounter.

“That’s not Col speaking,” Connie said fiercely as she hesitated by the gate, unwilling to leave without her friend. But what else could she do?

Oh, it is the new Colin speaking
, Kullervo said, shaking his mane carelessly.
Don’t you think I improved him?
His eyes sparkled with malevolence. She could feel their mesmerizing power pulling her in. She closed her eyes.

“No, I want the old one back,” she said. She couldn’t run for it and leave Col to Kullervo—she just couldn’t. But she also couldn’t make Col come with her unless this bond with Kullervo was broken.

And then she realized how to do it. Her reading over the summer had taught her this, though she had not had an opportunity to try the exercises out for real. Well, now seemed like a good moment to make the attempt. Keeping her eyes closed to concentrate, she looked inside herself for the tool in the universal’s armory that she needed. She found it, shining with a dull golden gleam just within reach. Buckling on the helm, Connie reached out to Col’s occupied mind. Given entry by Kullervo’s counterfeit pegasus bond, she found the way open and slid in, using the wave of dark energy connecting creature and Col to mask her intrusion. She then cast off her disguise and
called her friend’s name as she wandered through the echoing chambers of his being. His mind stretched in a bewildering labyrinth in all directions; she felt lost in a nightmarish crypt where all presence of Col had been nearly extinguished.

It did not take long for Kullervo to sense her trespassing on his shared thoughts with his prey. He immediately tried to evict her. She resisted. His malice beat harmlessly against her helm like water off a windowpane.

Col—I’m coming for you!
she called.

Kullervo attempted to drown out her voice, howling like a tempest in the empty places he had made for himself in Col’s mind. Driven by her love and concern for her friend, Connie faced into the storm and staggered on. Darkness whipped around her. She gritted her teeth, determined to find him, but Kullervo’s power was so strong, she began to fear she would not survive it. Finally, with the last of her strength, she stumbled upon a small child lying curled up in a corner, shaking and sobbing, an image of a younger Col.

Col, it’s me
, she said, stooping over him.

Connie?
The boy turned his head, his eyes igniting with his old self again.

She knelt beside him and raised him up.
Yes, it’s me. Let me put this on you
.

He submitted as she buckled her helm on his head. His connection with Kullervo was instantly severed, but
Connie, her mind no longer protected, was now caught in the link. She could hold Kullervo off with the shield, but she could no longer break the bond. All her force had been spent in saving Col. The storm consumed her.

Col came to and found that he was standing in a strange farmyard with a black pegasus by his side and Connie, crumpled to her knees in the mud, holding her hands over her head as if warding off blows. He staggered back in disgust from the creature. This was no pegasus; this was a counterfeit. He could feel its evil nature oozing from every pore as it concentrated its hatred on his friend.

“Stop it! Stop it!” Col yelled. He dashed to Connie, trying to protect her with his body from the presence of the creature. But it was futile. She was twisting in agony, shaking her head this way and that. The attack on Connie was happening in a realm far from the physical world, and he could do nothing to help.

His cry disturbed Kullervo from his assault. The shape-shifter relented a little, taking a moment to dispatch the boy he no longer needed.

“You can go. I have got what I wanted,” he said. Col watched with horrified fascination as a change swept over the pegasus, and he melted into a dark pool of matter. But before Col had time to pull Connie away, the blue-black substance began to coil and writhe into a new shape. A great hydra with nine serpent-heads rose out of the pool, nine black tongues hissing at Col, forcing him to back
away from Connie with their foul breath. The hydra coiled itself around the girl, binding her in its loops.

“I’m not leaving without her!” Col shouted.

“It is what she would want.” Kullervo laughed, each of his nine snakes’ jaws split wide open, displaying white fangs and a cavernous mouth. The horrid bubbling noise of his laugh burst like poisoned gas from his gut. “She would beg you to take your chance. You will find a pegasus, a real one,”—one head darted forward and smiled at Col, tongue flickering lazily in the slack line of its closed mouth—“waiting for you in the trees up the track. You had better go—that is, unless you want to join us. You made a very good warrior, Colin.”

Col shuddered. The events of the recent days came back to him as if he was watching flashes of a movie with an actor playing his role: the kestrel, the training, the gorgon.

A door banged behind him.

“You!” Col spat at his mother, who had just emerged from the nearest building. “You let him do this to me! You’ve betrayed both Connie and me!” He advanced on her, his fists balled by his side, longing to hurt someone for all the pain he had been through. Cassandra fell back, feeling the heat of his anger bearing down on her.

“She has not betrayed Connie. You did that,” Kullervo hissed wickedly, enjoying the scene of pain and treachery that he had concocted.

“No!” Col turned back to the serpent in disbelief.

“Oh, yes. It’s her love for you that brought her here. With that, and a few pieces of choice information that I allowed to be passed to the Society, I have been expecting her for days.”

“You used me as bait,” Col said in a hollow voice.

“Exactly. Though there was always the chance that you might really join us. Your mother certainly hoped so. You could not truly be my companion, of course, only the universal can be that,”—the hydra’s coils tightened around Connie’s chest causing her to gasp for breath—“but the simulation I devised for your training worked almost as well as the reality. A good soldier doesn’t need a soul.”

Cassandra strode to her son’s side and took a tight grip of his forearm. “Join with us, Colin. Don’t disappoint me. The gorgon will die if we don’t stop humans bulldozing her nest. The Society is useless as usual, and those eco-warriors won’t stop the road with their protest. We need to fight for what we want. If you really care about mythical creatures, about their fate, then you’ll stay with us willingly. If you don’t, then go—we have no further use for you.”

Shaking her off, he said savagely, “I’m Col now. It’s about time you learned to call me by my name.” Mother and son glared at each other.

A weak voice interrupted them, barely rising above a whisper:

“Go, Col. There’s nothing you can do for me.”

“Connie!” Regardless of the hydra’s fangs, Col scrambled
to her side. Her eyes were closed, her face pale and skin clammy. She seemed to gleam with a silver light, but it was fading fast.

“I’m caught in darkness,” she moaned, wandering off into incoherence. Her mind was bending like a tree before the onslaught of a hurricane—any moment it might crack and leave her helpless, roots splayed in the air.

“Connie!” Col tried to pull her from her living prison, his touch returning her to the present.

She opened her eyes briefly. “Please, go!” she begged. She had little energy for speech. She only knew that Col should escape from this mess.

Col had never been good at knowing when to give up, rarely recognizing that a battle was lost, but for once in his life, he realized that he could do no good here. He needed help if he was to save Connie. He jumped to his feet and began to sprint up the track; every step that took him away from his friend was like a stab in his stomach, but he did not look back.

Col stumbled up to Skylark who had been waiting anxiously in the trees. The pegasus whinnied with pleasure but broke off when he saw the state of his companion.

Where’s Connie?
Skylark asked as Col fell against him. He looked down the track but could see no sign of her.
Where’s the universal?

It was a trap
, said Col.
We must get help!

He pulled himself clumsily onto Skylark’s broad back and slumped over his mane, allowing his mount to read all that had happened, glimpse all the pain he felt, in the sparking connection that ran between them. The horse neighed with anger and began to canter back to the farm, set on revenge and rescue.

No, no!
Col shouted.
We can’t save her that way! We can’t take on Kullervo alone!

Brought to his senses, Skylark whirled around and galloped to take off.

It’s broad daylight, Col
, Skylark said as they strode into the air.
What if we are seen?

Col swore.
Who cares? We’ll fly in the cloud as much as possible, but so what if every person between here and Hescombe sees us? We’ve got to get help. Connie’s in pain
.

Skylark whinnied his agreement and kicked hard against the wind, determined to fly the fastest he ever had in his life.

Four hours later, Col left Skylark imperfectly hidden with Mags at the allotments and ran, half-staggering, back to his home. He tore into the kitchen to find his grandmother sitting at the kitchen table, her eyes wet with tears. Dr. Brock and his father stood on either side of her. They looked up in astonishment when Col burst in.

“Col!” shrieked Mrs. Clamworthy, jumping up to hug him.

“Is Connie with you?” Dr. Brock asked, relieved to see
him. “We thought she must have gone to look for you when we heard she’d run away.”

“Where’s your mother? I want a word with her,” growled Mack, thumping Col on the back.

“Shut up! Shut up, all of you!” Col gasped, struggling to free himself from the tangle of his grandmother’s scarves. “It’s Kullervo—he’s got her. He had me and now he’s got her. It was all a trap.”

Dr. Brock’s face drained of color, and Mrs. Clamworthy collapsed into a chair. Mack was the first to move.

“Where’s he got her?” he asked, guiding Col to a seat. “Tell us everything.”

“Kullervo was trying to get her in Mallins Wood but caught me instead. He…he took over me. Connie must’ve known something was wrong—she came to rescue me from Mom’s cottage in Wales. She seemed to be able to break the link he had bound me with, but ended up caught herself. It was…”—he choked on his words—“…terrible. It was like she was being drowned, and I couldn’t do anything to pull her out.”

Dr. Brock pulled on his motorbike gloves. “We need a search party. We must find out if he still has her there. Are you coming, Mack?”