The Keeper (14 page)

W
HENEVER
I’
D BEEN
knocked out before, Delph was always there.

This time he wasn’t.

Instead, Astrea stared down at me.

I blinked and slowly looked around. I was in my room on the bed.

Astrea didn’t look unduly worried. “I suppose you had to try it.”

I sat up and rubbed my head. “What happened?”

“You hit the dome and the dome did not give. You did.”

I said nothing to this, both my pride and a rising anger making me mute.

I wanted to ask her again about John. And Morrigone, why she looked so different. But I had a strong feeling that my questions would go unanswered. Before I could say anything, she broke the silence.

“I understand that you talked to Archie?”

“You said we could go where we wanted,” I said testily.

“And what did he tell you?”

Ignoring her query, I said, “I feel sorry for him.”

“Why? He’s lived a good, long life.”

“He’s lived a long life. I’m not sure how
good
it’s been.”

She looked like I’d slapped her, which bolstered my spirits greatly.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” she said icily.

“Archie spoke of sacrifice. Whose sacrifice? His? Because he didn’t really have a choice, did he? Or his father? You made the decision for all of them. Just like you’re doing with
us
.”

“You know nothing whatever about it, Vega. You’re throwing out words that make absolutely no sense because you are ignorant of the facts.”

“Well, they’d make sense to Archie, I’m sure. I mean he’s the one who lived all this time and never really lived at all. That’s probably why he’s so bitter. And who can blame him, really?”

I wanted to make her hurt. I wanted to make her feel … something for what she was doing to us. For her taking our lives away too.

“I thought I understood you, Vega. Now I know that I don’t a’tall.”

“It’s quite simple, really. You’ve taken my life away and I’m not happy about it. I’m sure you’d feel the same.”

“For the greater good, it —”

“Please don’t try and justify it. And I won’t believe you anyway. It’s like the lie about the Battle of the Beasts. What did Archie call that? Oh, right, piffle. So that’s what your greater good is. Piffle. I’m sure Alice Adronis would have seen it the same way. She died as a warrior. Not as a mouse in a hidey-hole. So that’s what you are, Astrea, despite all your grand power. A frightened mouse in a dirty little hole.”

I never took my gaze off her as I said all this. And I said it in the maddeningly calm tone she had employed with me the whole time I’d been here.

“You are a stupid Wug,” she snapped.

“Alice didn’t think so. She gave
me
the Elemental. She told me that
I
had to survive. If you call me stupid, then you’re calling your best friend stupid as well.”

Astrea got up and left without speaking another word.

Delph immediately burst into the room with Harry Two in tow.

“You okay?” he said anxiously while Harry Two leapt up onto the bed and licked my hand.

“I’m okay. What actually happened?”

“Found you knocked out on the ground, didn’t we?”

“I tried to get through the dome. I knew it was stupid. But I … I …”

“Just wanted to get out of this place,” Delph finished for me.

I sighed and lay back against my pillow.

I gripped Delph’s hand. “We will get out of here. We will. I swear it.”

He met my eye, but I could tell he didn’t completely share my optimism.

“Course we will,” he said, tacking a smile on to the end of his words.

I sat up and hugged him and felt his warm breath on my cheek. He hugged me back. It was just us against, well, everything. But for some reason, I felt like we had a chance, a fighting chance. I’d never asked for anything more than that.

I got off the bed and shook the collywobbles from my head.

“You saw what was happening?” I asked.

“What, you mean in Wormwood? Morrigone? John?”

I nodded. “Astrea was shocked by how Morrigone looked. Something is going on. But she doesn’t know what. And it’s scaring her.”

“Well, if it’s scaring the likes of her, we ought to be terrified, I reckon.”

I could always count on Delph for spot-on observations. But terrified or not, I didn’t come into the Quag to finish my life as a prisoner. Every part of my body was burning with one desire.

To be free.

T
HE NEXT LIGHT
,
we cornered Seamus outside of the kitchen. The little hob had kept his distance from us ever since Astrea declared us to be no longer free.

“So can you leave if you want, Seamus?” I asked, as Delph and Harry Two hovered in the background.

He looked at me nervously, his huge eyes twitching.

“I don’t knowsey what yousies is talki —”

“Seamus!” I said warningly.

Harry Two gave a low, throaty growl that I could tell was making the hob very anxious.

“I can go if I want to,” he said warily. “But you can’t.”

I studied him closely. “Seamus, why do I think that meeting you in the cave was not a coincidence?”

I could tell right away from the look on his face that I was right. He blustered and denied and blustered some more, but I persisted and would not let him leave.

“Well, it might’ve not been,” he finally conceded.

“Because Astrea sent you?”

He looked around cautiously before giving a brief nod of his large head.

“And the flying creature that made me run into the cave?”

“Well, she might have sent that too.”

“And the cloud that took Delph away?” I added bitterly. “She conjured that too, didn’t she? Didn’t she!”

Seamus slowly nodded, though I had never seen him look so frightened.

Delph said, “But why?”

I glanced at him before looking back at Seamus. “Because Astrea saw us in the Seer-See. She was afraid we might make it across the Quag. She manipulated things so Seamus and I would meet. And one thing led to another and then here we are — prisoners forever.”

Seamus gave a resigned sigh. “She is very powerful, is Madame Prine.”

I leaned in closer to the hob. “Well, you know what?”

“What?” he said, his eyes as huge as supper plates.

I snarled, “I’m powerful too.”

L
ATER
,
I
LED
Delph to the library. My thought was that in some of the books, we might find things that would better explain what Archie had already told us. If there was a terrible war between our kind and the Maladons, someone had to have chronicled it somewhere.

I told Delph to start at one end and I would begin at the other. However, it was not to be.

I reached for a book and tugged. It would not come out. I tried with both hands. The same result. I looked over at Delph, who had one big foot placed against the front of the shelf as he pulled with all his might on one thick volume.

“Blimey!” he finally cried out, sounding winded and letting go of the book.

“It’s Astrea’s doing,” I said, my fury rising. “She doesn’t want us finding out anything else from the books. Which of course means that these books
do
explain things.”

I gazed longingly at the thick tomes. Just inches from my hand and they were of no use to me. Their pages might as well have been blank.

We went to Archie’s room. When I tried to open the door, it screamed at me, “GO AWAY!”

“Holy Steeples,” said Delph, who had jumped nearly to the ceiling, though I didn’t because I was used to this “greeting,” though not at Archie’s door.

“Well,” I said. “It seems that Astrea is certainly limiting our run of the cottage. Which is actually a good thing.”

“Why do you say that?” asked a stunned Delph.

“She’s afraid we might find something useful. Which means there’s something useful here.”

But as much thought as I had given to this, the way we would get out was one I had never even considered.

Morrigone nodded and lowered her hands.

Now I understood.

They were communicating. And then I knew that Morrigone must have told Astrea all about me and to be on the lookout. That I could do a bit of magic, that I had learned some of the truth about Wormwood and that I had escaped from Morrigone and Wormwood. My anger at Astrea increased a thousandfold. She had led me right into her trap.

The next thing I knew, Astrea had turned and was looking up at me, her wand uncomfortably pointed in my general direction.

“What are you doing here?” she asked sharply.

“You said I could go where I wanted in here,” I said innocently. “So did you have a nice little chat with dear Morrigone?” I said acidly.

With a flick of her wand the images were gone and the wood was now simply wood once more.

Astrea and I locked gazes.

“You really should keep your nose out of things that do not concern you,” she said in a tone that managed to send chills up my spine.

However, I stiffened my resolve and snapped, “Well, it is my business if the consequences will affect me. And Wormwood. It might not be your home, but it is mine. Did you know that bloody King Thorne intended to invade and destroy Wormwood? Do you even care?”

“I would not have allowed —”

“Bollocks!” I shouted out. “You don’t care!”

“I would remind you —”

But I was not to be denied my say. “You may be safe under your emerald dome; not everyone has that opportunity, Mighty Keeper of the Quag.”

“You are safe here,” she retorted.

“Not by my choosing,” I shot back. I had anticipated her response. “And I did not enter the Quag to be safe. Only a fool would do that. And I’m no fool.”

The door was thrown open and Delph and Harry Two appeared. Behind them I could see Seamus’s huge eyes peering at me.

They came fully into the room and Delph shut the door.

“Everything okay?” he said nervously.

“No, everything is
not
okay,” I barked, keeping my eyes on Astrea.

“You’re acting very foolishly, Vega,” she said darkly.

“Oh, so it’s foolish in your eyes to care what happens to others? I suppose you didn’t care when Alice Adronis died in battle, then? I did. I cared. I was there. I guess you were already in your hidey-hole here by then, were you?”

“Better to hide than die!” she retorted.

“Better to fight and die than live as a coward!” I screamed in her smug face.

“Fight!” She chortled. “You wouldn’t last a sliver.”

“I
can
fight!”

“You are nothing! Even your grandfather understood that. It’s why he didn’t bother with the likes of you. He left you behind. Where you belong!”

I pointed a finger right in her face. “I am more than you will ever be, you insufferable cow!”

Her wand moved so fast I barely followed the motion. She said something I couldn’t quite catch and then I was catapulted across the room, slammed against the wall and fell to the floor, bleeding from innumerable slashes and cuts all over my body.

“Vega Jane,” screamed Delph as he raced over and knelt next to me. He looked up furiously at Astrea. “What did you do to her? What!”

Harry Two barked and growled and looked like he was about to attack her.

Delph held my head up. “Vega, the Adder Stone, where is it? In your pockets?”

I was in so much pain that I couldn’t tell him that the Stone was back in my room. I could see my blood pooling on the floor. I felt sick and light-headed.

Delph screamed at Astrea. “Help her!”

“Madame Prine,” said Seamus in a pleading voice.

Through my half-closed eyes I could see the horror-stricken look on Astrea’s face. To her credit she seemed unable to comprehend what she had done to me.

“Help her!” yelled Delph. “Please.”

But then something happened inside of me that I couldn’t fathom. It came from a place apparently so deep inside me that I had never before visited it. I had no idea it was even there. The pain was gone. My head cleared. Everything I had been feeling, all the anger and loathing, seemed as nothing to what was now swelling inside of me. It was as though I was no longer myself. I was someone else.

I easily threw Delph aside, rose on steady legs, waved my arms and screamed, “You will not beat me!”

Waves of light came out of my hands and exploded across the room. Everything seemed to have slowed down such that I could see exactly what was happening although it was occurring at tremendous velocity.

Astrea was lifted off the floor and thrown across the entire width of the room. She crashed into the wall and slid down battered and bruised, her wand falling from her fingers.

The vortex of light waves emanating from my hands engulfed Delph, Harry Two and Seamus. They were blown off their feet, sailed across the room and landed hard against the wall, crumpling to the floor. Every stick of furniture in the room, including the Seer-See, was blasted into smithereens. Wood and glass swirled around the room like confetti.

And then, as quickly as it happened, it was over.

I stood in the middle of the room, my wounds healed, my hands now at my sides. I gazed around at the devastation I had involuntarily wrought.

“Delph, Harry Two!” I screamed.

I was at their side in moments. I gripped Delph’s arm and Harry Two’s front paw. “Tell me you’re okay. Tell me, please. Oh my holy Steeples, what have I done?”

Tears poured down my face until first Delph and then Harry Two stirred.

My canine licked my face, and Delph gripped my arm, his smile crooked, but leaving me vastly relieved. I helped them up.

“Cor blimey!” exclaimed Delph. “Where did THAT come from?”

Tears still sliding down my cheeks, I said, “I don’t know. I just don’t know, Delph.”

I turned to see Astrea still lying on the floor, but conscious. She was staring up at me with emotions so complex flitting across her face I had no way of interpreting them.

She slowly rose, as did Seamus across the room.

Astrea took a few halting steps forward, her gaze never once leaving my face.

I walked over to her so that we stood toe-to-toe.

I was determined to let her speak first.

“How did you do that?” she demanded.

“I
can
fight,” I said quietly. “All I need is the chance.”

Her face sagged and I saw her eyes blink rapidly. Her free hand went to her trembling mouth. And before I could get out another word, she had rushed from the room. We heard her clattering down the hall.

I raced after her, but she was already out of sight.

She wasn’t in her room. She wasn’t in any room of the cottage to which I had access.

I finally found her outside. She was over by the dome, sitting on a large rock, her wand held loosely in her hand.

I slowly walked up to her and sat on the ground next to her.

She had heard me approach but didn’t look at me.

I said, “I hope I didn’t hurt you. I didn’t intend to.”

“You very clearly did,” she replied calmly. “But then I certainly hurt you first.”

“It just came upon me,” I said slowly. “I still don’t understand it.”

Our gazes fixed on each other. “Don’t you, Vega? Well, I understand it quite clearly.”

A few slivers passed before she spoke again.

“I do care, Vega. I care very much. I have spent the last eight hundred sessions of my life caring about others.”

“I know,” I said quietly.

“Do you know why I’m so small even though I take the elixir?”

I shook my head. “I just assumed that you were always short.”

“I was nearly as tall as Alice once.”

“What happened?” I said in a perplexed tone.

“Eight centuries of responsibility have literally weighed me down, Vega. And taking the elixir, while it gives one life, robs you of other things, important things.”

“Like what?”

“Perhaps compassion. Perhaps understanding of others’ points of view. Perhaps things that I need more than ever right now.”

I said nothing because I sensed that she just needed to get this out.

“And I also know that one can reasonably dispute my methods, even my goal, as you did.”

“But I did it in the wrong way. I shouldn’t have used the words I did.”

“You were actually quite eloquent, Vega. Perhaps more than you know. And my words to you were equally harsh.”

She gazed up at the sky again.

The next words I said, though, got her full and rapt attention.

“The Maladons?”

She turned to look at me. “Archie told you?”

I nodded.

“Yes, the bloody
Maladons
.”

She said the word as though it were the most disgusting one ever conceived.

“They are powerful, I take it.”

“Yes, so much so that they destroyed us and everything we believed in. Utterly and completely.”

“Maybe not so completely,” I replied.

She gazed at me. And I thought I saw just a hint of a smile.

“What can be done?” I asked.

She considered this query for a bit. “You said you want to fight?”

“Yes.”

She looked back at the cottage. “What you did in there, Vega?”

“I don’t know how I did it.”

“Doesn’t matter. You did it; that’s what counts.”

“Well, my grandfather is an Excalibur. And you said that power follows the line.”

“It is actually more than that. Much more.” She turned on the rock to face me and her tone became quite deliberate. “An Excalibur is born with everything he or she will ever have in the way of power. That made your grandfather very mighty indeed. But there is a greater power even than that.”

“What?” I said breathlessly.

“For those who are not so powerful when young but grow into more formidable power as they become older. With such power so deeply rooted in them that they can sometimes perform large feats of magic without a wand. Without actually uttering a spell. You have no idea how remarkable that is. I think that you are one of those. And they are even rarer than the Excaliburs. They are so rare, in fact, that we do not even have a name for them. Perhaps I will commence calling such a phenomenon … Vega.”

With that, Astrea fell silent and I could think of nothing else to say. I thought we would simply sit together under a beautifully clear sky, apparently contemplating the absolute worst of futures. I was about to be gobsmacked as I never had been in my life.

“If you want to cross the Quag and take up the fight once more, you will need to be trained up,” she said. “We will commence at next light.”

Before I could say anything, she rose and walked back to the cottage, leaving me sitting there, alone.