01 Wing Warrior (10 page)

After that, Hawk could only remember the horrified cries of the soldiers, and a suffocating darkness.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Back at the village a lot of people were gathered in the square for a meeting. The mayor was standing on a hastily constructed wooden platform, and everybody else was shouting and waving their fists angrily. It was all such a fuss that nobody noticed Nimbus arrive. He quietly sneaked into the crowd, pretending he had been there all along.

‘There’s no need to panic,’ the mayor was saying, but he was obviously finding it very difficult not to panic himself. There were beads of sweat glistening on his forehead and in his moustache.

‘Then tell us what’s going on,’ someone in the crowd shouted. ‘We have a right to know.’

Nimbus pushed his way through elbows and shoulders until he was right in front of the platform. There was a soldier standing on either side of the mayor. They were in full armour and carrying swords. They looked ready for a fight. The mayor didn’t look ready for a fight; he looked ready to crawl inside his coat and hide.

‘We don’t have a lot of information to go on at this time,’ he said.

‘What information do you have? Are we safe?’

‘Of course we’re safe.’

‘Can you guarantee that?’

The soldiers shifted nervously and looked out at the mob of angry villagers from beneath their helmets. The crowd was restless, full of farmers carrying pitchforks and fishermen carrying harpoons.

‘Listen,’ the mayor said. ‘Everybody just needs to calm down. Return to your homes, and let our soldiers do their job.’

‘These fat oafs,’ someone sneered. ‘They’ve been posted here for years and never had to do so much as rescue a kitten out of a tree. They’ve been sat in that garrison playing cards and getting lazy. What do you think they’re going to do?’

The soldiers looked at each other, perhaps wondering whether they should really stand for such insults.

‘No need for unpleasantness,’ the mayor said, hopefully. ‘Our men may not have been tested in combat like their colleagues in the city, but they are still trained professionals.’

‘Then maybe they can tell us what they intend to do.’

The soldiers cleared their throats and stared at their feet. Neither of them spoke.

‘See,’ one of the farmers in the crowd said. ‘They don’t know what to do. Nobody knows what to do. We need to call on Crystal Shine for assistance.’

‘And say what, exactly?’ the mayor said.

‘We need to tell them what’s happened here.’

‘And what has happened? There was a tidal wave. That’s all.’

‘Seven people are missing.’

‘It’s a terrible thing. But we don’t know what happened to those men yet. They may not be...’ The mayor paused, taking a deep breath before he continued. ‘They may yet come home.’

‘And if they don’t?’

The mayor looked out across the village square to the Everlasting Ocean. Soldiers on the beach were picking through bits and pieces of wood. The only two boats that had survived the wave were out on the water. Two men in each boat were casting nets, but they weren’t trying to catch fish in them.

‘Mayor?’

‘Sorry? What?’

‘What if we can’t find our friends?’

‘We can’t think about that just yet. We’ve got boats out searching, and more men on the beach. Three soldiers have gone upriver to see if they can establish the source of the wave. Maybe we’ll know more tomorrow. Maybe we’ll find them all.’

‘So we should just wait?’

‘That’s exactly what you should do. Wait, and pray for the safe return of our friends.’

‘And what about the wounded?’

‘They’re being cared for in the village hall. We have a number of very capable volunteers.’

‘Shouldn’t we get surgeons from the city?’ a woman asked. She looked more frightened than Nimbus had ever remembered a person looking before.

‘That won’t be necessary.’

‘And what if there’s another wave? What measures are you putting in place to stop something like this happening again?’

‘Look, really, be reasonable.’ The mayor mopped his forehead with a handkerchief. ‘You’ve all lived here as long as I have. You know that this tidal wave was just a freak occurrence, a one off. Nothing like this has ever happened before.’

Nimbus didn’t stick around to hear any more; it sounded like a debate that wasn’t going to end any time soon and he wanted to get home. He wiggled his way back out of the crowd and dashed up the street towards his house.

A huge black shadow – bigger than any bird – passed directly over him, but by the time he looked it was gone.

He hoped Cumulo wasn’t getting into trouble.

***

‘Mum?’ Nimbus shouted, as he burst through the front door of his house. ‘Mum, are you here?’

‘Nim?’ His mother was standing at the stove with a bowl in one hand. Her face was white as a sheet, and her eyes were red raw with tears.

‘Mum?’

For a second his mother was rooted to the spot, like she was frozen behind a sheet of glass. The bowl fell out of her hand and smashed, sending jagged shards of pottery skittering across the floor.

‘Mum, what’s wrong?’

‘Nim.’ Suddenly, as if a spell had been lifted, she was free to move. She catapulted herself towards him, throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing him so hard he thought his head might pop right off. ‘Nim, you’re okay.’

‘I’m fine. What’s wrong?’

‘You stupid boy. You stupid, stupid boy.’

‘Mum?’

She looked him straight in the eye, and he could see how frightened she was.

‘You’ve been crying,’ he said.

‘Where have you been? And don’t tell me you’ve been with your sister because I know you haven’t.’

‘I... I went to the woods again. I’m sorry.’

‘Why?’

‘I just...’

What could he say?

I just found a dragon in a cave under Sentinel Mountain. He told me I was a Wing Warrior. He gave me a suit of armour and a sword, and told me I had to get ready to fight for my life against a great evil that has come into the world.

Oh, and I think I woke up a sea monster too.

How could he tell his mother that?

‘Nim?’ she said.

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I just wanted to get away from Glass for a while.’

‘Why are you so selfish?’ The relief in his mother’s voice was gradually being replaced with a stony anger. His mother very rarely got angry. When she did, she was scary enough to make a dragon turn tail and run. ‘How could you do this to me and your father? How could you do this to your friends? We’ve been worried sick. Glass hasn’t stopped crying since your dad went out.’

‘Went out where?’

‘Looking for you.’

‘Why was he looking for me?’

His mother took a deep, shuddering breath. ‘Oh, Nim,’ she said, and there was a painful sadness in her voice. ‘You really are too young to understand these things.’

‘What things?’

‘All the big things that are facing you.’ She wiped her eyes, and looked around at the mess of broken pottery. ‘My goodness, this will never do. I’ll have to clean this up before he gets home.’

She took a broom from the corner of the room.

‘Why’s Dad looking for me?’ Nimbus asked, uncertain if he really wanted to know the answer.

‘The world has changed, Nim. Very suddenly, and very unexpectedly. It isn’t the safe place it once was. Didn’t you see what’s going on out there? There’s been an accident. A bad one. We thought...’ She began to frantically sweep the floor. Nimbus had seen her act like this before. When she was really upset she would always start cleaning. He wasn’t sure why; he guessed it just made her feel like things were still normal. ‘Your father thought you may have been involved in the accident.’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.’

‘Tidal was injured.’

‘Is he okay?’

‘He’ll be fine. He’ll be sore for a few days, but he’ll recover. Sky’s a good nurse.’

‘Sky?’ Nimbus felt a glimmer of anger flare in his gut at the thought of Sky and Tidal being together while he wasn’t around. ‘Why was Sky looking after him?’

‘They’re friends, aren’t they?’

Nimbus started chewing on his bottom lip. He certainly didn’t like the sound of all this. ‘Where’s Dad now?’

‘Probably in the woods. He knows you like it there.’

Nimbus’s heart leapt into his mouth. ‘Is he on his own?’

‘Yes.’

‘But the gob...’ He drew a sharp breath. He couldn’t tell his mother about goblins; he’d have to tell her everything else, and she was already worried enough. ‘It could be dangerous,’ he said.

‘I’m sure your father will be fine. He’s big and strong, and cleverer than a lot of people think.’

‘He’s just a mill worker. He doesn’t know what the woods are like. He might get hurt.’

His mother stopped sweeping and looked at him carefully. There was a neat pile of pottery pieces by her feet. ‘Nim, is there something you want to tell me?’

‘You said yourself, the world has changed. I don’t think the woods are safe any more.’

‘You’re probably right, and I don’t want you going back there. You understand?’

Nimbus nodded. ‘I understand.’

‘Good.’

He looked out of the window. The crowd was still in the square, shouting and waving pitchforks.

‘What happened today?’

‘There was a tidal wave.’

Nimbus tried his best not to look as guilty as he felt. ‘How many people got hurt?’

‘Not many. But some others have gone missing. If I were you, I’d go and see your sister. She really thought something awful had happened to you.’

‘Where is she?’

‘At the village hall, with Sky.’

Nimbus hugged his mother. ‘I’m sorry, Mum.’

She kissed his head. ‘It’s okay now.’

He smiled, but it was a thin smile, in danger of shattering at any moment. ‘I’m not so sure,’ he said.

***

The village hall was quite large, and hardly ever used, so it was the perfect place to set up a temporary hospital. Beds with clean blankets and comfortable pillows had been put up in neat rows and eleven of them were already occupied. Nine more waited expectantly.

Tidal was sitting on the bed closest to the door. His chest was tightly bandaged, and he looked uncomfortable as he talked to Sky.

Glass was curled up on the pillow, sobbing quietly.

Nimbus stood, unnoticed in the wide entrance to the hall, and felt his stomach twist with anger as he watched Sky touch Tidal’s hand. He had obviously missed a lot while he had been away.

‘Hello,’ he said.

Sky looked up, startled. ‘Nim.’

Glass lifted her head. Her bleary eyes shone out through tangled hair. ‘Nim.’

‘Guessed you’d be okay,’ Tidal said. ‘Never were one to put yourself in the thick of the trouble, were you?’

Glass hopped down off the bed and threw herself at Nimbus. He picked her up, ruffling her hair and trying his best to ignore the twinge of guilt he felt for having made her worry so much.

‘Did you miss me?’ he said.

‘I thought you’d gone into the water like the others,’ Glass said.

Sky touched Nimbus’s arm gently. ‘You okay?’ she asked.

‘Fine.’ His eyes narrowed as he looked at Tidal. ‘What happened to you?’

‘It bit him,’ Glass said.

‘The girl’s off her rocker,’ Tidal said, getting more comfortable on the bed. ‘She thinks there was some kind of monster in the water.’

‘Like a snake,’ Glass said. ‘Only bigger. Much, much bigger.’

‘Are you sure?’ Nimbus asked.

Tidal snorted a thoroughly unpleasant laugh. He sounded like a pig with mud stuck up his nose. ‘Oh, come on, you don’t believe all this, surely? She’s obviously imagining things.’

‘But something made the water rise up, and something took a chunk out of your chest,’ Nimbus said.

‘The pier was smashed to pieces. It’s not surprising I got a few scratches.’

‘So you didn’t see anything in the water?’

‘No. Nothing.’

Glass pressed her lips to Nimbus’s ear. ‘He’s lying,’ she whispered. ‘He saw it too.’

There was a man lying on the next bed to Tidal’s. His eyes were closed and his face was deathly pale. His chest rose and fell with his impossibly slow breathing.

Nimbus shivered.

‘Your dad’s out looking for you,’ Tidal said.

‘Where were you, anyway?’ Sky asked.

Nimbus looked at the floor, in case something in his eyes gave away the truth. ‘Nowhere, really.’

‘You went back to the cave, didn’t you?’ Tidal said.

‘Don’t be ridiculous. That’s the craziest thing I ever heard.’

‘You did,’ Tidal pressed. ‘You went back. Why? What did you find down there?’

‘Nothing.’

‘There must have been something.’

‘There was nothing. You went down there with me.’

‘Not all the way.’

‘I hate that place. Why would I want to go back?’

‘You tell us.’

‘I didn’t go back.’ Nimbus had started to raise his voice, and his words were loud enough to wake the sleeping man in the next bed. Other people in the hall were watching, tutting disapprovingly at all the commotion.

Nimbus took a slow breath before continuing in a calmer tone. ‘There’s no big secret about where I was today. I just didn’t want to go to Leaf’s class, so I went for a walk instead.’

Glass tugged on Nimbus’s tunic to attract his attention. Her eyes were full of tears. ‘You aren’t allowed to do that again,’ she said. ‘You aren’t allowed to go anywhere without me.’

‘You can’t always go where I go.’

‘Yes I can. From now on, no matter where you are, I’ll always be there. We have to stick together.’

He tried to smile, but couldn’t quite manage it. He could feel an evil shadow looming over him like a hungry vulture, waiting to peck away at him until there was nothing left.

‘We’re a team,’ Sky said.

‘Yeah,’ Glass said.

‘And you know you’re too much of a wimp to do anything by yourself,’ Tidal added.

Nimbus appreciated what his friends were saying, but he knew in his heart that no matter what they said or did, there was only one suit of armour and there was only one sword.