The Keeper (6 page)

“Why is that so important to you?” he asked.

“Because I don’t like unanswered questions. Thorne is evil. You saw how he was going to let that little ekos die.”

Delph nodded. “I guess royalty don’t care about ordinary blokes.”

“Well, Luc and the female cared.”

“Aye,” Delph said. “ ’Tis a bit comfortin’, though, ain’t it?”

I gave him a perplexed look. “What is?” I asked.

“Well, creatures what got grass growing on ’em and talk in grunts got feelings like us. Care ’bout each other. All I’m saying. Comfortin’.”

There was a lot going on in Delph’s head. And that, for me,
was
comforting.

I eyed the doorway, where I could now see Luc taking a peek at us. An idea struck me.

“I think this night would be a great opportunity for us to do a little exploring.”

“Exploring!” exclaimed Delph. “And how do you ’spect us to do that?”

“Like you said, we made some friends here.”

T
HE MOTHER EKOS
and Luc entered our chamber later to retrieve the meal tray.

I said, “I know you can’t understand me, but thank you.”

“It is we who need to thank you, Vega,” said Luc as the female ekos nodded.

“You can speak Wugish?” I asked Luc in astonishment.

“King Thorne taught me as a way to prevent him from losing the speech himself. And I taught my daughter here, Cere.”

Cere added, “We do not speak Wug to the others. King Thorne forbids it.”

“And it was your son that was nearly killed by the freks?” I asked.

She nodded, and tears clustered in her eyes. “But for you and Delph, Vega, little Kori would be no more.” She placed a grassy hand gently against my cheek. “Despite what King Thorne said, we knew that to be true.”

Delph said, “So what load-a rubbish did the mighty ‘king’ say then, eh?”

Luc answered, “That it was
his
idea to save Kori.”

“He tried to stop me from saving him. He’s an evil Wug.”

“Yet we all fear him too much to ever oust him,” said Luc.

Delph scoffed. “There’re lots of you blokes. And only one-a him.”

“But he is the king,” said Cere in a trembling voice. “And he sleeps behind a door made of iron. And he has recruited spies among us who report to him. Any signs of rebellion are quashed.”

“Surely the ekos would rally around you, Luc,” I said.

He lowered his head. “No, Vega. That would not happen.”

“Why not?”

He would not look at me as he said the words. “Thorne works us hard, no doubt. But he has taught us skills and he keeps us safe.”

“You could do all that without him,” I pointed out.

“Yet many ekos worship him,” added Cere. “I don’t know why, really, because he is a cruel one, but they would follow him anywhere.”

I looked at Delph and then back at Luc. “That seems very odd,” I said. “I mean, he’s not exactly lovable, is he?”

“Well, it is mostly because he has broken our will, our spirit,” Luc explained. “Such a thing is greater than any weapon.”

I thought about this but could think of no ready reply. I decided to change the subject. I said, “We must escape from here. But before we go, I would like to find answers to questions I have. Will you help us?”

Luc looked at Cere, who stared up anxiously at him. Finally, he nodded. “You saved little Kori, so we will come back this night. And then you will have your answers, Vega.”

L
ATE THAT NIGHT
,
we could hear footsteps approaching. And a sliver later, along the outer stone passageway, we could both see the shadows created by a light coming our way. Then Luc appeared in the opening to our chamber holding a flickering candle in one hand. Cere was behind him, looking pale and frightened.

He said softly, “Tread lightly. There are eyes in the least likely places.”

The guards that had been stationed outside our chamber were no longer there. I figured that was Luc’s doing. The three of us followed him back down the passageway. I had told Harry Two not to bark or otherwise make undue noise. I could have sworn he nodded his head at me as I finished speaking.

We flitted down the cold passage. I did have one comforting thought. I had on my cloak. And in my cloak were my glove and the Elemental.

We reached a spot where three corridors intersected and Luc led us down the one on the far left. We reached a wooden door, which Luc unlocked with a fat bronze key that he unclipped from a blackened iron ring on his wide leather belt. He pushed the door open and ushered us in before closing the portal behind us. The chamber was dark, but it brightened considerably when Luc used his candle to light the torches suspended on the wall.

I gaped.

And so did Delph.

And we did so for good reason.

The chamber was vast, with high ceilings. And strewn throughout were broad, scarred and stained wooden worktables overflowing with what looked to be intricate tasks in progress. There were old worm-eaten plank shelves, literally bursting with strange objects, and piles of parchment, scrolls and leather-backed tomes. And an old desk packed with drawers and cubbies that were, in turn, bulging with scrolls and parchment. And there was a wooden swivel chair tucked into the kneehole. And on a series of low tables were bottles, scales and other delicate instruments that I had seen and used at Stacks to do my job as a Finisher.

“He couldn’t have brought all this with him from Wormwood,” I said.

Luc said, “He did some of the parchment, ink, scrolls and a few of the instruments and tools you see. The rest came later. And the furniture we built according to his design after he showed us how. Thorne taught us a great deal. All he asked in return was our freedom.” Luc finished in a resigned tone.

As my gaze spanned the place, it came to rest on something suspended from a long metal chain affixed to the ceiling in one far corner. It was a skeleton. And next to the skeleton and attached to the wall was the outer layer of the thing — the skin. And now I believed I knew how Thorne had made it from the cliff down to here.

“That’s an adar,” mumbled Delph.

“
Was
an adar,” I corrected. “That’s how Thorne managed the cliff. He
flew
down like we did.”

“It’s a big ’un,” noted Delph. “Bigger’n I’ve ever seen.”

I turned to Luc. “This is his … what, workshop?”

“Well, he calls it a
laboratory
,” said Luc. “He spends most of his time in here, working away, talking to himself, sometimes cackling like he’s gone barmy.”

“I think he
has
gone barmy.”

I walked around the chamber and eyed some drawings that had been fastened to the walls. These were maps of Wormwood, down to the smallest details. In the precision of the words and pictures I sensed cunning and genius, but also a sickness of the mind. It gave me chills just to look upon the parchment and to envision the mad Wug bent over his terrible obsession for the destruction of his former home.

These maps had been drawn for a very clear reason. They were going to be used as the basis of attack. I noted Thorne’s scribbles and margin notes all over the parchment pages. There was an area noted as the landing place. He would probably send out his aero ship at night and make his landings at that spot while Wormwood slept. Then when his army was fully on site he would attack and take them all by surprise.

There were arrows pointing at Stacks and Steeples and the Council building, with references like “first target” and “use for prisoners,” and with a shiver I read the word
Destroy
written over both the Care and hospital. I wondered why, but then it occurred to me that in a war, the side that could not take care of its citizens or treat their wounds would likely not be victorious.

I looked at Delph, who had been peering over my shoulder. He looked sickened by all of it.

“A nutter, Vega Jane, a nutter who wants to kill. We got to stop ’im.”

I looked at Luc. “Can we go to the aero ship now?”

We made our way quickly through a number of passageways until I was hopelessly lost. But when I looked back at Delph, he nodded.

“I know where we are,” he whispered. “It’s just up there on the left.”

Sure enough, Luc and Cere stopped and turned to the left and passed through another opening in the wall. The aero ship towered over us like an enormous beast waiting to strike and then devour. There was no one else here.

We drew nearer to the huge wooden carriage that would hold both troops and their weapons. It was then that I noted the series of holes in the sides.

“What are those for?” I asked.

In answer, Luc pointed against one wall. “How he plans to steer it. Look.”

Delph and I saw the long oars with large, flat rectangular ends neatly stacked there.

Luc showed us how they worked and then took us through the rest of the aero ship, pointing out the contraption that filled the huge bladder with heated air, and the steering mechanism. And how vents in the bladder released air and allowed the aero ship to descend.

I nodded in understanding. “And what’s the cause of your reddened eyes?” I asked.

“Mixing the morta powder,” he said. “Powder dust gets in ’em.”

“But Kori has red eyes too. Surely he doesn’t make —”

“Thorne don’t care how old or young one is, Vega,” said Luc. “We all have to work.”

My blood boiling at this revelation, we went back out in the passage. I said expectantly, “The grubbs?”

He nodded wearily. “Aye, the grubbs.”

And I observed, as he said this, that he placed one large hand on the hilt of the short-barreled morta that rode on his belt. He turned to Cere and said, “You best head on back. Kori will be missing you.”

Cere gave him a worried look. “Luc, think what you’re doing. If Thorne finds out!”

“You just go on, Cere. Go on now,” he added sternly.

With a baleful glance back at us, she quickly disappeared down the tunnel.

“Let’s be off, then,” Luc said firmly, but I could see the fear in his eyes. Not because of the grubbs, I didn’t think, but because of the king.

I glanced at Delph. I could tell he was thinking exactly what I was.

Luc could be killed for helping us. But I didn’t know any other way to do this. And I did have a plan. Well, part of one anyway.

Delph was expecting me to lead. Hel,
I
was expecting me to lead. I just hoped I wasn’t leading us to our doom.

I
COULD BOTH FEEL
and hear my heart pounding as we walked down that long, dark passageway. We had gone far enough, perhaps a half mile, that I could just tell we were entering areas that were far removed from the life of the Kingdom of Cataphile denizens. Luc was walking in slow, measured strides, his gaze swiveling from side to side. When I looked at Delph, he was glancing over his shoulder.

“Luc,” he said, turning back around. “Do grubbs attack anything?”

“No. Not without a reason.”

I looked at Delph. “So let’s not give them a reason.”

Luc’s steps slowed as we neared what looked to be a blank wall. I thought perhaps Luc had taken a wrong turn down here, when I heard it. I suppose that’s when we
all
heard it. And then felt it.

Rumblings, and the ground under us starting to shake. Dirt and stone dust from overhead cascaded down. We started to cough and gag. I had turned to run back the way we had come when I felt a hand on my arm, holding me in place.

Luc said, “It’s all right. Just their way is all. They’ve heard us approach.”

The next moment, the wall in front of us collapsed, revealing a hole. In the hole was a face, which took up the entire opening. A pair of dull yellow eyes was staring at me. When the mouth opened, I could see enormous jagged teeth far more lethal-looking than any knife I’d ever seen.

Luc looked at the creature and said some words that I had no way of understanding. They appeared to be a cross between grunts and hisses. Then he turned to look at us. “They know Thorne’s not with us. No need to worry now.”

I looked down at the morta. “Then why do you have that out?” I asked.

“Well, grubbs might’ve struck first and
then
found out Thorne wasn’t here. Pays to be cautious when dealing with anything as big and unpredictable as a grubb. That one there weighs about a ton.”

I crept forward and rested my gaze on the grubb. It gazed back at me.

“Why is the grubb staring at me like that?”

“Well, you look like Thorne. A Wug, I mean.”

“Can you tell it that while I am a Wug, I’m not a Wug like Thorne?”

“Already did, Vega. It’s why it hasn’t tried to kill you.”

My stomach lurched and I found myself backing up a pace or two.

“Its name is, well, no use saying it, you won’t be able to pronounce it, much less remember it. We’ll just call it Grubb.”

“Hello, Gr-Grubb, sir,” said a panicky Delph.

“Matter of fact, ’tis a female, Delph,” said Luc. “You can tell by the eyes. Yellow for the females and blue for the males. Don’t know why, just the way it is.”

Luc marched forward and patted the grubb on its, or, rather,
her
head. The grubb let out a sound that I had heard before. But then it had been a feline purring.

“Peaceful creatures,” said Luc. “Keep themselves to themselves. They tunnel down here. Can eat through rock faster’n gnomes with their claws can.”

“They eat rock?” gasped Delph.

I watched as Harry Two sidled over to the grubb and sniffed it. My canine was perilously close to those enormous teeth and I was about to call him back, when Harry Two licked the thing.

Before I could move, a long, slithery tongue appeared between the jagged teeth and the grubb licked Harry Two back. I moved forward and cautiously put out a hand, stopping and looking questioningly at Luc.

“G’on, then,” he said encouragingly. “Grubb knows you’re okay.”

I patted the grubb’s head and then Delph joined me in doing so. It was far softer and not nearly as slimy as I thought it would be. It was like touching a cattail down by the pond back in Wormwood. I could see that it was about twice the size of a creta, which was very large indeed. It must eat a lot of rock.

As we were petting the grubb, Delph’s and my fingers touched. I looked up at him and he down at me. We smiled at the same time.

“Like being down at the pond in Wormwood,” he said. “You remember?”

“I was just thinking of the cattails we used to rub,” I said, blushing a bit.

The grubb licked Delph’s hand.

“She’s taken a right shine to you, Delph,” said Luc.

“What?” gasped a thoroughly wonked Delph. “No, I don’t think … why, what business is it of yours if Vega Ja—”

I felt so badly for Delph that I interrupted him and said, “I think he means the
grubb
, Delph.” I could feel my cheeks afire.

Delph stared openmouthed at me for what seemed ten slivers. His face held so many different expressions, one tracking another, that it was all I could do not to laugh, though I was as embarrassed as he.

“Oh, right, o’course he does,” he said in a voice he was trying so hard to make firm that it wobbled badly.

“Um, why do they hate Thorne so?” Delph asked, keeping his gaze away from me.

“Well, they have good reason.” Luc pointed to the creature’s skin and then rubbed it. “Its hide is strong. But it can also do something else.”

“What?” I asked.

“It can expand. Big as you want it to. It’s why Thorne kills ’em.”

“He kills them?” I exclaimed.

“Slaughters ’em, more like it. Least he did.”

“Why is the skin so important to Thorne?” Delph asked.

“For the bladder,” answered Luc.

“The bladder, on the aero ship?” I said. Then I realized what he meant. “He uses the grubb’s skin to make the bladder?” I added, horrified.

Luc nodded. “Has ’em stitched together. And the grubb’s blood? It hardens good and stout when you mix it with a few other ingredients. Where the needle holes are in the bladder when they stitch the hides together? Thorne uses the blood concoction to seal ’em so no air leaks out.”

I turned to look at the grubb. While I knew it probably could not understand us, I sensed a deep misery in its eyes.
Her
eyes.

Why did there have to be Wugs like Thorne? Whose only interest was furthering their own goals and not caring a whit about the effect on others? I whispered this thought to Delph.

He nodded and said quietly, “ ’Tis a good lesson for us all, Vega Jane.”

Luc said, “But he hasn’t caught a grubb in a long time now.”

“Why?”

Luc said his next words in a low voice. “ ’Cause I come and warn ’em and they go hide.” He shook his head sadly. “They might not be much to look at, I know. But underneath that hide, they’ve a heart as big as any you’re likely to ever see.”

I looked back at the grubb and could see that her yellow eyes were filled with moisture. When I shot a glance at Luc, he had anticipated my question.

“A grubb can sense things like we never can. They can feel what we’re feeling. I don’t know if we give off a scent or what, but they know. They just know. She understands that we’re sad. And so she’s sad too. And with that sadness, it also tells her that we’re, well, that we’re good creatures, not bad.”

I had never been referred to as a creature before. But then again, a Wug was just one thing among many other living things, I reckoned.

I turned to look at the grubb and gently rubbed her face.

I said, “I think you’re very beautiful.” And I smiled.

The purring sound filled the passageway again.

I smiled even more broadly, and though I couldn’t be sure, it seemed that she was smiling back at me.

“Now she senses happiness,” explained Luc.

I said, “Thorne said they’ve tried to kill him, many times. How?”

“They can tunnel through anything. Never know where they might pop out. Only thing gives ’em away is the sound of their tunneling.”

“So I’m sure Thorne, being as cunning as he is, takes precautions?”

“Patrols down the passageways and has things on the wall that measure the smallest of vibrations. Gives him early warning when and where they might be coming. And his sleeping chamber is lined with iron. Grubbs can work their way through iron, but it takes a while. Plenty of time for Thorne to get away, but even so, early on, they came close to getting him.”

He looked at the grubb, and his face became embarrassed. “Right more courage than I got.”

“But you warned them against Thorne,” Delph pointed out. “That takes courage.”

“Not the same, is it?” said Luc. “No, not the same.”

“It’s Cere and Kori, isn’t it?” I said. This statement made Luc glance at me. I continued. “He’d hurt them, right? If you turned against him? She was worried that you were showing us these places. She’s afraid Thorne will find out.”

Luc slowly nodded. “He has ekos fiercely loyal to him. They’d kill their own flesh and blood. I think he’s done something to their minds, but I have no proof of that.”

A great many thoughts were swirling through my head. I turned to Luc, my determination resolute. “How long did it take Thorne to build the aero ship?”

“Ten or more sessions, close as I remember. Lot of work.”

“Ten sessions,” I repeated, and then smiled. That was a good thing, I thought. “And if he can’t catch any more grubbs, he can’t build another bladder or aero ship.”

Delph whispered in my ear, “What are you planning to do, Vega Jane?”

“Escape this place
and
make sure he can’t attack Wormwood,” I said flatly, as though it were obvious. And it was to me.

I had expected Delph to simply nod in agreement. Only he didn’t.

“ ’Tain’t that simple, Vega.”

“What?” I said, startled.

“What about the ekos and gnomes?” He rubbed the face of the grubb. “And these here creatures?”

“I don’t understand you, Delph.”

“You heard Luc. Thorne has spies. Those loyal to him. If we escape and ruin his plans, you think he won’t take it out on them? On Luc, and Cere and little Kori?”

I couldn’t look at Delph because I knew he was right. My heart was being torn in half with this dilemma. “We … we can’t save everyone, Delph. It’s impossible.”

“Well, we can try,” he replied matter-of-factly.

I started to snap something back at him, but then I realized that he was entirely in the right. I felt both relieved by this but also like a mountain had settled upon my shoulders. We had come in here with the goal of surviving the Quag. Now we would be committing to saving a bunch of others as well. But Delph was right. We had to at least try.

I said slowly, “We
can
try, Delph. But I’m going to need help. I can’t do this alone.”

“That’s why ya got me, Vega Jane.”