The Keeper (25 page)

I looked at Delph, my heart hammering in my chest. I had no idea if the hyperbores were going to eat me or not. “If I’m not back in sixty slivers, just head on without me. I’ll find you.”

“If you’re not back in sixty slivers, I’ll find
you
,” he said.

I pushed off with my legs and rose quickly to join the two hyperbores aloft. A sliver later we alighted on the edge of the largest nest I had ever seen. It was not made of bits and pieces of twigs as normal bird’s nests were. It was made of logs chinked with hardened clay and packed leaves. I looked around and saw dozens of small encampments where groups of hyperbores, young, old and in between, were working, playing, talking. They all stopped what they were doing and stared at me.

Troy pointed to the far end of the nest, where I could see a large canvas tent had been erected.

“You will talk to Micha. He is the chieftain of our race.”

When we reached the tent, Troy called out, “Micha, we have one who seeks your counsel.”

“Enter,” said a powerful voice.

Troy pulled back the tent flap and motioned me in.

“Aren’t you coming?” I said.

Troy shook his head. “Micha will see you alone.”

The tent flap dropped, and I turned to find myself in a surprisingly large space. There was a sleeping mat on the floor. In one corner was a big wooden table with chairs around it. A huge tree trunk rose up in the middle of the space, and thick ropes tied to it supported the tent. Perched on a thick branch sticking out from the tree trunk was Micha. His feathery head was as white as his skin was blue. He peered imperiously down at me.

He said, “Your name?”

“Vega Jane,” I said, as firmly as I could.

With a leap and a short flap of his wings Micha descended smoothly to the floor and stood erect. His torso was still powerfully developed, but the muscles, I could tell, had passed their prime. Still, he was an imposing figure.

He motioned for me to sit at the table. I did and he joined me. He passed me a bowl of fruit and then poured out water into wooden cups. I contrasted this with King Thorne, who had servants do all this for him, and my impression of Micha became instantly more positive.

I bit into an apple and drank some of the water.

“What counsel do you seek?” prompted Micha.

“Passage through the Second Circle.”

Micha became instantly rigid and there was a guarded look in his features.

“You speak of circles?”

“Because Astrea Prine taught me of them. I want to pass through them so that I can leave this place.”

“Indeed?” He picked up an orange from the bowl and used his claws to tear it open before putting a chunk of it, skin and all, into his mouth. He chewed slowly.

“So Madame Prine wishes this?”

I pulled out my wand. “Yes. So you know her?”

Micha held his gaze on my wand. “Of course. She is the Keeper of the Quag.”

“We will accept all the risk. We only … we only seek to be better informed.”

“It is always a good thing, to be better informed.” He paused, seeming to choose his words carefully. “There are many challenges in this place.”

“Which is why I’m here.” I held up my wand. “Astrea has trained me up, yet I would never turn down either helpful information or any element or other tool that might prove advantageous to us.”

He considered my words carefully. “One hears of things that reside in the Quag. And I do not mean simply beasts.”

“What sorts of things?”

“Things hidden here and there that might prove useful to one such as you.”

This piqued my curiosity. Astrea had never mentioned anything like that. Perhaps this was why Silenus had directed me here. “Do you know of any specific things like that?”

He nodded slowly. “There is a magical element known as the Finn.”

“What does it do?”

“It can do a great many things. Useful things,” he added.

“Did Astrea create it?”

“No. Not all things in here were created by those who made the Quag.”

My spirits plummeted. “Are you saying that a Maladon created the Finn?”

“So you know of Maladons, do you?”

“As, obviously, do you.”

Micha said, “It could be that the Maladons created the Finn. I am not sure about that. But I am sure that it is heavily guarded.”

“By what?”

“A coven of alectos. Creatures with vile serpents for hair, and blood dripping from their eyes. They have the power to drive one to kill themselves through the hypnotic sway of the serpents upon their heads.”

Oh my holy Steeples
. “Where is this coven?”

“Two miles from here in a cave upon a knoll. I will take you, if you so desire.” He eyed me curiously, obviously awaiting my answer.

I was feeling confused and terrified that there were Maladons in the Quag. This made me suspicious. Of everyone. Voicing this thought, I said, “Why are you helping us, Micha?” I demanded. “You don’t know me.”

“But I do know Madame Prine. And I admire courage, particularly in one so young. To be frank, I doubt you will survive. But I admire your courage nonetheless.”

Why did that not make me feel any better?

We started to descend and when I looked down, I saw why.

There was the knoll. From here I could not see the entrance to the cave, but that was probably because it was also growing dark even though it wasn’t night yet. The bloody Quag! We landed gently and Micha set me down.

The others landed next to us. When we were all gathered around, Micha warned, “Remember never to look the snakes in the eyes. That way you will not be fooled into killing yourself.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “Good luck.”

“Thank you,” I said.

He unfolded his wings, and the hyperbores soared upward.

“Okay,” I said, and turned to the others. “I’ll go into the cave while you stay out here and keep watch. If I get into any trouble —”

“Are you mental?” interrupted Delph. “I didn’t let you have a go at the colossals on your own. Do you really think I’m gonna let you go in there alone to face these alecto things by yourself?”

“There’s four of us,” added Lackland forcefully. “Better we all fight.”

Harry Two immediately let out a bark.

Lackland looked down at him and said with an amused expression, “All right, five, then.”

“I’ve got a wand,” I pointed out.

“And I’ve got me sword,” countered Lackland.

“And me my crossbow,” added Petra.

Delph hefted the ax and said, “And in a dark cave, you need someone good with directions and that’s me.”

I started to protest, but looking at their faces, I knew it would do no good. I would have to knock them all unconscious to keep them out of the blasted cave. And then another emotion hit me: gratitude. They were willing to risk their lives to help me do this. I should appreciate that, and I bloody well did.

“Okay, but when we run into these alectos, don’t forget what Micha said.” We headed to the cave.

“
Illumina.
” The inside of the cave instantly became lighted and I went first, looking in all directions for evil creatures with vipers for hair and blood for eyes.

“Stay close,” I said over my shoulder. “And stay ready.”

“What does this Finn thing look like?” Delph whispered. Still, it sounded like he had shouted as his words echoed through the confined space.

“I don’t know. Micha didn’t say. But I assume it will be pretty obvious what these alectos are guarding when we get —”

I couldn’t finish because we were tumbling downward; the once level floor had now become sharply angled. I hit something hard and stopped. Then the others crashed into me. We lay there for a few moments in a mass of arms, legs and torsos.

And then we heard it. I leapt up, my wand in hand.

The others scrambled to recover their weapons.

“
Illumina
,” I said again. When I saw what was there, my lungs seized.

A dozen figures surrounded us. They were all clad in black rags. But I didn’t really focus on that because of the swaying serpents astride their heads. And, as Micha had said, the creatures’ eyes were dripping blood.

Over their shoulders in a small niche in the rock wall, illuminated by a light source not readily apparent, was a tiny wooden peg with a loop of twine wound around it. The twine was knotted in places.

Was that the Finn? I wondered. The thing we had risked our lives coming down here for? A peg and string!
For the love of Steeples. Had Micha deliberately led us on a fool’s errand to our doom?

“Vega Jane!” cried out Delph.

I came around in time to see an alecto launch at me. At the very last moment, I remembered Micha’s words of caution.

Don’t look at the serpents. Look at the alecto’s eyes.

“Impacto!”
I cried, making the motion with my wand.

The alecto that had nearly reached me was thrown backward against the wall, where it slumped to the ground, its serpents dangling limply.

I turned in time to see Delph swing his ax and behead another alecto that had attacked him.

Petra fired an arrow into the chest of another. It fell dead at her feet.

Lackland swung his sword with surprising skill, taking out two more alectos with deft thrusts into their torsos.

“Delph, no!”

It was Petra screaming.

I whipped around, even though I had two alectos bearing down on me, to find Delph — his eyes full on the swaying serpents perched on another alecto’s head — raise his ax with the clear intent of plunging it against himself.

“
Lassado!
” I exclaimed. A rope shot from the end of my wand, spun around the ax handle, and I gave a tremendous pull. I ripped the ax from Delph’s hand and guided it smack against the neck of the alecto that had duped him.

The head of serpents fell neatly to the ground.

Then I felt the impact with my shoulder, turned and saw the serpent prepare for another strike against me.

An arrow hit the alecto square in the face and dropped it dead.

I flashed Petra a grateful look and then checked where the serpent had bitten into me. It had struck the leather harness, but fortunately its fangs had not penetrated my skin.

I spun around and leapt over three alectos who were at that moment charging me. As I somersaulted over them, I aimed my wand at their backs and said three times, “
Severus
.”

Their torsos separated from their legs and they all fell dead.

I looked around for something else to attack but found that the others had finished off the remaining alectos.

I ran to the niche and cautiously looked at the Finn. It glowed brightly under the light. Delph joined me and said, “You figger that’s it?”

“Has to be.”

I reached up and gripped the thing, half expecting something bad to happen to me. But nothing did.

I grinned at Delph. “We did it.”

“Vega!” screamed Petra.

I turned around. A section of wall had opened up. And charging through it were at least a hundred alectos.

Delph yelled, “We’re goners!”

I gaped. I had no idea what to do. I looked at the Finn. My hand was trembling so badly that I nearly dropped it.

Petra raced over and snatched the Finn from me. She undid one of the knots.

The next moment, I was hit by a force of wind so powerful that it lifted me off my feet and knocked the senses clean out of me. I closed my eyes and saw nothing but a swirl of darkness.

I thought I must be dead. Because this must be what death looks like.

Nothing.

V
EGA
J
ANE?
V
EGA
Jane?”

I heard my name and slowly opened my eyes.

I had expected to see the darkness of the cave or the black of death, but I saw neither. Instead I saw light.

I looked up at Delph, who hovered over me with such a look of fear that my heart went out to him. I gripped his hand.

“I’m okay, Delph.”

I sat up and looked around.

Petra was tending to Lackland, who had a gash on his head.

Then I saw with a rush of fear that Harry Two was covered in blood.

“Harry Two!” I cried out and tried to jump up.

“ ’Tis okay, Vega Jane,” said Delph, pushing me back down.

“It’s
not
okay. He’s covered in blood.”

“Used the Stone on him. He’s fine. His chest got caught on some rock when we got blown from that place. But he’s all healed up.” He looked over at Petra and Lackland. “Tried to use the Stone on him, but Pet wouldn’t let me. Don’t trust it, I guess.”

I rose gingerly. “How did we get out of that place?”

In answer, Delph held up the Finn and handed it to me. I could see that the twine was once more tightly looped around the peg, but the first knot was still undone.

“I ’spect it has something to do with this.”

I looked down at the Finn and thought back. “The wind that blew us out of there and saved our lives. It came from this?” Then I remembered something else. I stared over at Petra.

“You undid the knot and that caused the wind. How did you know to do that?”

She looked at each of us nervously. “I don’t know. I was just fumbling with it. To make it do something. I was just lucky.”

I glanced at Delph. He was nodding. “Right glad you did, or else we’d be dead.”

Lackland too was nodding and grinning. “Pet keeps her head when things get rough, I know that.”

But I wasn’t smiling. I didn’t believe her. Even if Delph and Lackland hadn’t seen it, I had. Petra wasn’t “fumbling” with the Finn. She knew exactly what she was doing. But how? I was still staring at her when she glanced at me. She could easily read the suspicion in my eyes. And I didn’t care if she did. Because I
was
suspicious.

“Yeah … lucky,” I said slowly, before putting the Finn away in my cloak pocket.

Delph said, “But how will a big wind help us get through the Second Circle?”

“No idea,” I said quite truthfully. I looked at Petra. “Any thoughts on that,
Pet
?”

“No,” she said, staring right back at me.

“Close enough call,” said Lackland, rubbing at his injury while Petra was trying to swipe his hand away.

I took the Stone from Delph, rose, walked over to them, waved the Stone over the injury, thought good thoughts and the wound vanished.

“Bloody Hel,” exclaimed Petra as Lackland ran astonished fingers over the now repaired skin.

He looked at the Stone and said, “What is that thing?”

“In this place, it’s our best friend.”

I put the Stone away and said, “We need to push on before it gets much darker. Then we can camp for the night and get an early start.”

Lackland eyed the dense trees that lay ahead. “What do you think is in there?”

“Ruddy things that can kill us,” said Delph. “That’s what.”

We grabbed our tucks and trudged on. I would have liked to fly, but while the hyperbores apparently could do so with no storms to trouble them, I knew what would happen if we took to the air.

We wended our way through the trees and forest paths so dark that I was compelled again and again to illuminate our way with my wand. Finally, when our legs could carry us no farther, we settled in for the night in a tiny clearing.

Petra and Delph gathered some wood, which I then lit with my wand. Lackland used an iron skillet he had brought to cook up some of our provisions.

I filled the goblets that Astrea had given us and then poured some water into a bowl for Harry Two.

We had escaped death from the alectos by such a slim margin, yet I was also heartened because we had all fought well together. But then a depression set in and all I could see were dismal outcomes, all of us lying dead while a herd of ugly creatures hovered over us, eagerly awaiting the coming feast. And what if these awful beasts ever invaded Wormwood? My brother and every other Wug would die. I shivered at the thought and tried my best to think of other things.

Later, after everyone had settled down — Delph had drawn the first watch — I slipped over to Lackland and sat cross-legged next to him where he lay on a bed of leaves.

“You fought well,” I said.

“But that wand-a yours. ’Tis quite a weapon, it is.”

“Have you ever been this far before?”

He shook his head. “Never needed to, never wanted to, till you lot came along.” He grinned, though the look died on his lips as he gazed over at the fading fire. “Scary thing to leave what you know.” He glanced at me. “But look at me telling you that. You left everything behind to come to this place.”

“To come
through
this place,” I amended.

“Aye,” he agreed.

We both grew silent, listening to the soft pops and crackles of the dying fire.

“Do you think we’ll really make it?” asked Lackland in a resigned tone. And it was then I fully realized that he was not that much older than I was.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, Lack.”

He nodded and idly rubbed at his beard. “What do you think is beyond here?”

“I just hope whatever it is, it’s better than this place.”

He chuckled. “Well, it would have to be, wouldn’t it?”

I wasn’t nearly as sure as he was about that.

I bid him good night and went over to sit next to Petra.

She gazed up at me from her bed of leaves. I wanted to broach the subject of the Finn again, but she probably sensed what I was going to do and was quicker.

“You say there are three more circles after this one?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She let out a breath and looked toward where we had come.

“Having second thoughts?” I said.

“It was only a matter of time before me and Lack were killed back there. So if we die here, what does it matter?” She paused and said, “So are you and Delph … just friends?”

Were Delph and I more than friends? In some ways we were like brother and sister. In other ways? Well, we had kissed.

“What does it matter to you?”

“I like him.”

“I like him too.”

“So I guess that answers my question,” she said, eyeing me steadily.

I rose and looked down at her. “I guess it does.” I felt cold chills in my belly.

To ward them off, I took the Finn out. “I never would have thought to undo the knots, and yet I’m a trained sorceress.”

I let that statement hang there like a storm cloud between us.

“Well, maybe you need to be trained up better.”

I almost smiled at her sarcastic remark. Almost. Because again Petra’s words reminded me of something
I
would have said.

I left her and lay back on my bed of leaves with my tuck under my head. I didn’t drift off to sleep. My mind wouldn’t allow it. I plucked the parchment from my pocket, made sure no one was watching and then tapped it with my wand.

An instant later the image of Silenus faced me once more.

I said quietly, “We befriended the hyperbores and managed to get the Finn from the alectos.”

He looked at me with raised eyebrows and an expression of surprise.

“The Finn. Did you indeed?”

“We know if you undo one of the knots, it makes a big wind. What else does the Finn do?”

“It will defend you against the greatest threat you will face in the Second Circle.”

Okay
, I thought,
that was a little vague
.

“Do you have it with you?” he asked.

I pulled it out and held it up for him to see.

“Very good,” said Silenus. “Now, there are three knots.”

I looked at the twine. “I know. Undoing one knot created a mighty wind.”

“The Finn is a particular magical element with a specific power. As you discovered, undoing one of the knots creates a powerful wind. Undoing the second knot produces gale force winds.”

Well
, I thought,
if it were much stronger than the first wind, that was something indeed
.

“And the third knot?” I asked.

“A wind of unimaginable strength, equal to many times that of the most powerful storm you have ever encountered.”

I looked down at the peg and twine.
Blimey.
All that from something so small and simple? And if undoing the first knot had been what had blown us out of the cave, I couldn’t imagine ever undoing the third one.

“So it will save us from the gravest danger here. What might that be?”

“Alas, you ask something to which I do not know the specific answer. But I do know that the Finn will be very helpful to you.”

I looked over at Lackland and Petra.

“Where do they come from?” I asked. “The Furinas we came upon in here?”

Silenus took some time considering my question.

“When Wormwood was created, so was the Quag, surrounding it certainly and completely, making escape impossible.”

“
Nearly
impossible,” I corrected. “But go on.”

“There was a transition from the great battlefields to the village of Wormwood whilst the surrounding territory representing the Quag was being conjured. One could not have expected a totally seamless migration.”

“Meaning what, exactly?” I said.

“Some were trapped in here and never made it to Wormwood.”

“Trapped in here?”

“Yes. And no doubt some were killed. But some survived. And they bore descendants. And some of those survived and some didn’t. So really the very fittest, or perhaps the luckiest, are still with us.”

I was horrified. “How could they be left behind?”

“It was a time of great chaos and confusion, Vega Jane.”

I decided to ask him something that had been bothering me. “Could there be descendants of Maladons in here?” The image of Petra held steady in my mind.

“I cannot say for certain. If there are, they may not even know it.”

“Tosh! How could they not know it?”

“Well, you didn’t know you were a sorceress, did you?”

Okay, he had me there.

I slowly put the parchment away in my cloak, rolled over and stared at Petra. I could tell she wasn’t asleep. She was staring upward, apparently lost in thought.

I lay back and closed my eyes. But I knew I could not sleep. I understood quite clearly that there were creatures in here that would kill me simply because they were wild beasts.

But if Petra was a Maladon? What if she was leading us into some sort of trap?

It seemed my most dangerous enemy could be right here beside me.