Descent (40 page)

Slowly he trudged back to the path, his footsteps heavy. ‘Jane,’ he said to her back, but she didn’t turn at the sound of her name. She didn’t even move.

‘Jane,’ he said more loudly, reaching out to touch her. But something stopped his hand mid-air, as though
there was an invisible wall dividing them. ‘Jane!’ he shouted, pushing against the barrier. She turned this time, but her eyes stared straight through him as if he wasn’t there.

‘Fern?’ she shouted, looking into the forest behind him. ‘Where are you?’

‘Jane! I’m right here!’ he tried, a cold feeling making its way in to his stomach.

‘Fern?’ she cried again, and this time there was panic in her voice. Fern swore loudly, trying to beat his fists against the invisible wall. It was unbreakable, and no matter how much noise he made she could not hear him. It also, as he found out quickly, wrapped the entire way around her, blocking him from every angle.

‘Gods,’ he muttered, telling himself to stay calm. Clearly Jane was trying to do the same, taking deep breaths, but her eyes as they searched were frantic.

‘Don’t leave the path,’ he urged her softly.

Jane bit her lip, calling out to him again and again to no avail. Frustrated tears formed in her eyes, but she didn’t shed them—instead she gritted her teeth and stepped off the path.

‘No!’ he cried watching as she ran into the dark forest. Fern followed, trying again and again to get her attention. But as she came across the stag and saw the mess of its death, a sense of deep panic took over.

‘
Fern!
’ she cried, sinking to her knees. ‘Don’t leave me! Please! I can’t do this on my own!’

Fern could think of nothing. His heart aching, he sank to the ground next to her, wishing he could touch her, willing her to know he was there beside her.

‘I’m here,’ he whispered. ‘I’m not going to leave you.’

A tear seeped out of Jane’s eye, and he watched as she sat, terrified and alone. And then he watched as Jane
wiped the tear from her cheek angrily, her expression focusing into one of determination.

He moved around in front of her so that he could imagine she was looking at him and not through him.

‘If I have to do this alone, then I will,’ she whispered into the air, very softly, her jaw clenched fiercely. ‘I’ll do it for you.’

An unchecked, unhindered smile spread across Fern’s face. He’d never been so proud of someone in all his life.

It was in that moment that Jane gasped, her eyes focusing on his face.

He blinked. ‘Jane?’

‘Fern!’ she cried, flinging herself on top of him. ‘You’re here!’

‘Thank the gods,’ he sighed, hugging her. ‘I’ve been here all along. You just couldn’t see me.’

‘What?’

‘I’ve been watching you the whole time.’

She pulled away from him and blushed. ‘Great. That’s not at all embarrassing,’ she muttered, standing up briskly.

‘Both kinds of nightmares,’ he said softly. ‘Abandonment and powerlessness.’

She nodded slowly, taking a breath. ‘I think we should keep moving.’

They walked back to the path and set off once more, both wordlessly agreeing not to talk about what had happened.

After a while she took his hand in hers.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked, oddly startled. His thoughts had been miles away.

‘I don’t want us to get separated.’ And then she added with a gentle smile, ‘And to make sure you aren’t scared.’

Their eyes met, and after a moment he smiled in return.

They walked for a long time. Nothing changed: there was only darkness, red sky and the skeletons of trees. Finally Jane stopped, frustrated and very tired.

‘What are we supposed to do, Fern? I want to get out of here. I don’t like this place—it’s beyond creepy.’

He nodded. ‘I know. The point, I think, is to tire us out. To put us on edge. So we have to stay calm and keep going.’

When they turned back to the path they spotted a shape in the distance, running along the length of the horizon. As they walked closer they saw that it was a looming metal wall, with two huge gates in the centre. The gates were locked, and the wall seemed to stretch for miles on either side.

Fern tried knocking, then banging on the metal, but it was so thick that he doubted any sound could be heard on the other side. Then, from out of nowhere, a rope was in Jane’s hand. She showed it to Fern, and he was about to throw it over the wall when she had a thought.

‘Wait! This is too easy, Fern. It doesn’t feel right.’

‘Why else would this be here if not to be used?’ he asked, looking speculatively at the rope, then the wall, then Jane.

She shivered slightly. ‘I don’t know.’

He frowned. ‘How else are we going to get past? There’s no other way.’

She shrugged but looked around apprehensively. Fern threw the rope with all his strength, and the first few times it fell short of the top. Finally, after he had cursed and sworn for a while, his fifth throw of the rope made it over the wall and snagged on something.

‘What’s holding it?’ Jane asked, straining her neck to see.

‘I don’t know,’ he replied, tugging on it. It seemed to hold, so he said, ‘Climb onto my back.’

Jane hesitated, but climbed on to Fern, holding on tightly.

‘This is very weird,’ she muttered

‘Jane,’ Fern said in a strangled voice. ‘Less tight around the neck!’

‘Sorry,’ she said, loosening her hold. Just then there was a strange, whooshing sound, and Jane had an odd sensation, as though she was falling. Looking down, she was horrified to see the ground fall away.

Fern gasped, his legs dangling precariously. His shoulders wrenched painfully as he clung to the rope, and Jane screamed, the movement shaking her grip on Fern’s neck. Unbalanced, she slipped down his back. Fern spun to catch her just in time, one arm holding onto the rope now, his other straining with the effort of hanging onto her.

Below them was a mighty chasm of fire, as if the core of the earth had opened up beneath them.

Sweat trickled from Fern’s brow as he heaved Jane up with as much strength as he could muster. She grabbed hold of his legs, latching on so that he could free his second hand for the rope.

‘Hold on!’ he yelled over the roar of the flames.

‘Go Fern! You can do it!’ she cried, closing her eyes and hanging on desperately. Slowly and agonisingly, he pulled the two of them up the rope, arm over arm, his muscles straining with the effort.

Jane looked up to see how far they had to go when all of a sudden a door appeared in the wall directly above them. The rope disappeared beneath the closed door, but Fern couldn’t get it open, both hands clinging to the rope. They were stuck, could go neither up nor down.

‘I’m going to climb up your back!’ Jane shouted.
‘Maybe I can get it open!’

She started scrambling up his legs, holding onto his waist. It was horribly difficult, as she’d never had much upper body strength. Vowing that if they ever got out of this alive, she was going to turn herself into a female body-builder, Jane heaved herself up to Fern’s shoulders.

Reaching wildly she hit the door, pounding against it with her fist. Miraculously, it slid open a fraction, and a head popped out.

‘Please!’ Jane cried. ‘Help us!’

The door slid open a little more, and the head popped out again, wide-eyed and wary. The face was unrecognisable—Jane couldn’t even tell if it was a man or a woman.

‘Password?’ it asked.

‘Are you insane?’ Fern gasped, grunting with the effort of holding on. ‘We’re about to fall!’

There was no response.

‘We don’t know the password,’ Jane whispered.

‘No password, no entry,’ it said, starting to close the door.

‘Wait,’ Jane cried. ‘We’re lost and we need help. There shouldn’t be—’ She didn’t finish because the door swung open wide, and tiny hands reached down and pulled them through as though they weighed nothing at all.

Jane and Fern fell to the floor, gasping as the sound of the flames was cut off with the closing of the door.

‘You okay?’ Jane asked quickly, rising to her feet. Fern nodded wearily, needing a few extra moments before he could stand.

They were no longer in a forest, but a huge stone hall, held up with pillars so tall they disappeared into darkness. They looked at the person who had let them in and Jane gasped.

It was a man after all, if such a thing could be called that. His chest was bare, and he had tight curly hair on his head. But below the waist he had goat’s legs, covered in tight, curly black fur, with a short stubby tail and joints in the wrong places. On his head were tiny white horns, and he had bright blue, staring eyes. Jane realised he was a satyr.

‘Where ... where are we?’ Jane whispered and even the softest of noises echoed throughout the enormous chamber. ‘And why did you let us in?’

‘You are in the hall of the lost,’ the satyr replied and his voice was shadowed with age. ‘It is where everyone who loses their way in life ends up. I let you in because you said you were lost.’

‘Why is it empty?’ Fern asked.

‘It is only empty for those who cannot see what is in front of their eyes.’

Jane turned to look at the vast and definitely empty chamber, at the same moment that Fern realised he recognised this hall. It was the place in which he had battled the war god for two straight years. The inescapable place. A slow feeling of dread settled in his stomach, but he instinctively said nothing.

Jane walked a few steps into the space and craned her neck to try and see the roof, but all the walls disappeared into shadow. ‘So ... what do we do?’

Fern shrugged but the satyr walked forward, his hooves clicking on the marble floor.

‘If you can find your way out, you will never be lost again,’ it said.

‘All right,’ Jane said, turning back to the satyr. ‘Then we just start walking?’

‘If you want—though you cannot pass back through the door you came—it leads to a place that does not exist anymore.’

‘Where exactly is the hall of the lost?’ Fern asked slowly.

‘It is within your minds, its boundaries only those you can think up yourself. But beware—it holds every thought you’ve ever had.’

‘So if we get trapped we’ll never wake up,’ Jane said flatly.

‘I know nothing about where you came from—I only open the door,’ the satyr said morosely.

Jane nodded and turned to start walking.

‘But we have two minds—how are we in the same cavern?’ Fern asked, pausing.

‘I don’t know,’ the creature replied. He seemed truly baffled. ‘You might see things from both your mind and hers.’

Fern nodded, thanked the creature and ran after Jane. She took a torch from the wall as they walked, and soon they were surrounded by a mist of darkness. Not being able to see anything outside of their tiny circle of light was very unnerving.

‘What the hell is going on?’ she whispered. ‘Was that thing real? Is this place real? I mean, I thought we were within a nightmare that the Valkyries were creating for us. I didn’t realise we could be somewhere where other people have been!’

Fern frowned. ‘We don’t know that’s the case. It could be more illusions. A trick to scare us. Or it could be a real place that the Valkyries send everyone.’

More pillars emerged from the darkness. After a few moments, Jane whispered, ‘Should we start looking for a door, or another passage or something?’

‘I don’t think it will be that easy. Do you know how much could be in this hall? If it knows everything in both our minds, then we could be inundated with anything we have experienced, imagined, or even dreamed.’

Jane laughed nervously. ‘That narrows it down. It will only be things that frighten us. Things that make us lose our way.’

Fern felt a shiver run down his spine, and he moved slightly closer to Jane.

But just then, out of the air above, came a shadow, a cloud of growing, pulsing darkness, and it was descending on Jane rapidly.

Fern was paralysed from the neck down, unable to move and unable to stop what was unfolding.

He tried to call out to warn her, but his mouth froze and no words came out. She was going to be consumed, and she hadn’t even realised he’d stopped walking! All he could do was watch as it drew closer and closer to her. Then suddenly, as the edge of the blackness touched her skin, she twirled and banished it with a flick of her wrist. And he was free again.

‘What did you do?’ he asked, trying hard to slow his frantically beating heart.

‘What do you mean what did I do?’ she said, looking at him carefully.

‘The cloud of black! How did you get rid of it?’

‘What cloud? Fern, are you all right?’

He breathed in deeply and tried to think about what had just happened. The cloud had seemed so hurtful and dark. And yet she had dismissed it with a hand movement. Why had he been so frightened?

Because he had not been able to protect her.
It was the same thing again.

She looked at him slowly. ‘Another threat you couldn’t protect me from. You do understand what this means, Fern, don’t you? You have no faith in my ability to protect myself. You’ve got to put some trust in me, or it’s going to drive you mad.’

Anna, Harry and Luca stood atop the battlements of the palace in Amalia, staring down at the wall of the city. The sun was rising over the ocean, casting a beautiful orange light over everything.

It had been a very long night.

Their shoulders were slumped, and their eyes were circled by dark hollows. But they watched the wall unwaveringly.

It was too high for them to see the hundreds of soldiers that stood on the other side, readying themselves to remove the protectors.

The orders were given, and the tiny threads of sparkling Elvish mesh whipped through the air, retracting from every side of the city, shrivelling down to tiny lengths that could be held in one hand. Even though they had hardly been visible, the sky now seemed empty.

Anna shivered. Harry and Luca both reached out and put their arms around her, encircling her against the cool air that brushed through their hair. The three of them stood, waiting, watching, hoping.

‘We’ve got one last chance,’ Harry said softly.

‘I just hope she can do it,’ Luca replied.

A long way away, in a distant country wreathed in sand, Mia stood at her balcony, staring out into the desert, her thoughts exactly the same as those of her friends, wishing there was something she could do to help, knowing that all she could do was wait.

And even further, far out past the waters of Paragor in the realm of the unknown, there sailed a ship, shrouded in mist. And on that ship sat Jack, chained to the oars, being whipped until his back was raw and bloody, his eyes staring out to sea, his gaze unwavering, knowing that what he was doing was right, and believing, even more than they did themselves, in the people he’d left behind.

Jane shook her head and tried to ignore Fern’s strange behaviour. He was walking too close to her and it was making her distinctly uncomfortable.

She sped up to try and create some distance between them, but in her distraction she walked straight into a great hole that had appeared in the floor.

Jane screamed and clung wildly to the edge, catching herself just in time. ‘Fern!’ she screeched, her arms burning.

‘
Jane!
Jane are you there?’

‘Fern help me!’

‘I can’t!’ he called down to her. ‘I can’t get close enough! You’re going to have to pull yourself up!’

‘What?’ she gasped.

‘Pull yourself up!’

Jane groaned. Looking down, all she could see was blackness, for the torch had fallen from her hand and she had yet to hear it land. This was not the moment for Fern to have acquired a fear of heights. She hung, trying to calm her hysterical mind enough to let her function. Her arms were still tired and sore from the last time she’d had to climb.

Suddenly she heard a yelp from Fern.

‘What’s wrong?’ she shouted but there was no reply. This scared her more than anything.

With a great scream she wrenched herself up, arms
trembling. Finally, gritting her teeth, she pulled her hips onto the edge of the hole and sagged onto the floor, breathing heavily. Quickly she scrabbled over to where she thought Fern had been but nearly bit her tongue off in fright as she realised the floor had dropped away again. There was a chasm in the ground, just as big as the one she’d fallen into. Halfway down, hanging on desperately, was Fern.

‘Fern!’ she screamed, kneeling down and leaning over the edge. ‘Are you okay?’

He didn’t reply. His lips moved, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. And he wasn’t trying to climb up.

‘What’s wrong?’ she called. ‘Climb!’

Fern didn’t move. Jane broke out in a cold sweat. Why wasn’t he trying to save himself? Granted, it was a very sheer drop, and there didn’t seem to be many hand-holds in the wall. But he was strong!
So why the hell wasn’t he moving?

‘Oh Christ,’ she whispered, realising what she had to do. Her hands started to shake. Carefully she edged her feet over, turning around so that she was on her stomach. ‘Dear god, please don’t let me fall,’ she prayed aloud, even though she didn’t actually believe that any gods were going to help her now. She reached around with her feet, trying to find a foot-hold, but the cliff crumbled where she touched it. Gritting her teeth, she took a different approach and jammed her toes into the surface, hoping it would be soft enough to burrow in. Her feet made slight grooves in the wall and she managed to get a shaky hold. Holding her breath, she eased off the edge, hoping like crazy that they wouldn’t slip.

As soon as she lowered herself below the level of the floor, it became difficult. There was nowhere to put her hands. She scrambled desperately, trying to find something to hold on to. Her fingernails started to bleed
and her shoulders ached. Her strength was already failing her and she’d only gone about a metre down.

Sweating and swearing she looked down to see how far she had to go and felt giddy with the length of the drop.
Don’t look down you stupid idiot!
she told herself. Fern was still a long way away, staring up at her apprehensively.

Jane took another breath and set off again. Each step was like a death sentence; every time she found a safe hold it became a mental battle to will herself to let go again and inch downwards. Twice her footholds slipped and she scrabbled downwards, frantically gripping onto anything she could and gasping in pain as her arms strained harder than they’d ever had to before.
Keep going,
she told herself.
Just keep going. You’re almost there.

It wasn’t really a question. She didn’t know what would happen to Fern if he fell—didn’t know if he would just wake up or if he would actually die, but if there was even a slight chance that it would be the latter then she would keep going forever. Sobbing now, she finally managed to make it down to Fern. She had not yet let herself think on what she was going to do once she reached him.

‘I can’t move,’ he whispered. ‘I can barely speak.’

‘What do I do?’ she cried, tears of exhaustion and fear sliding down her cheeks.

‘I don’t know,’ he said slowly. ‘I think ... you just have to go back up.’

‘What? What are you talking about?’ she asked through gritted teeth.

‘I tried to tell you not to come down here. There’s no way for me to get back up. You have to let me go.’

Was he joking?
This was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do in her whole entire life, and he expected her
to just turn around and go back? He expected her to let him die?

‘Climb onto my back,’ she snapped, her tears gone.

‘What? Jane, no!’

‘Fern,’ she whispered, and now there was something in her voice that made him fall silent. ‘
Get on my back right now or I swear to god I will fling myself into the abyss without you.
’

Sighing like he thought this was the end of them both, Fern tried to move and found that he could just manage to grab hold of her shoulders. His weight on her exhausted body was terrifyingly unexpected. She’d never been a very physical person. At school she had been picked for teams somewhere in the middle. She’d never had any reason to think overly about her body and its capabilities.

Jane struggled not to whimper as Fern held onto her. He swore under his breath, apologising quickly. ‘I can’t move again. I can climb onto you, but I can’t help in any way.’

Jane didn’t bother to reply. Instead she thought about how Luca had been tortured. She thought about how he had endured it. All she had to endure was this cliff. Just a cliff.

With a scream of determination she started climbing. The only way she could keep going was to do it one bit at a time, inch by inch, and to try and block out the pain in her body.

And, finally, she made it.

Jane slumped, only half her body over the edge, utterly spent, beyond thought. She must have passed out because some time later she opened her eyes and Fern was kneeling over her. Her body ached in places she hadn’t known existed.

She was too exhausted to even speak. Fern stroked
her hair, letting her rest. After a while he gave her some water and she didn’t care at all where it had come from. Slowly she started to feel her strength come back to her, and with it a sense of astonished accomplishment.

‘Are you all right?’

‘I think so. Actually, yeah. I’m better than all right. I just climbed up a cliff with a giant man on my back!’

‘Giant?’

Jane grinned tiredly and struggled into a sitting position. ‘Wow. I never knew how extremely unfit I was. But I did it!’

‘You did it,’ he agreed with a smile that brightened the darkness. ‘I’m
so
proud of you! It was incredible!’

She climbed shakily to her feet. ‘But now we have no light.’

‘Take my hand,’ he said and she felt around for it in the dark. Her mind was too tired to think about the fact that they were holding hands again.

She shut her eyes briefly, then started walking again, her legs shaky, feeling in front of her, stepping carefully.

‘I’m so sick of being powerless,’ Fern murmured. ‘What is the point of making you do everything?’

‘In combat you are probably the greatest fighter in the world,’ Jane said slowly. ‘But sometimes even you need help. And you have to start realising that I can give it to you if you’ll just let me. I’m not made of glass. I’m not going to break.’

He sighed gently. ‘I’m sorry, Jane. I know you aren’t made of glass. I know probably better than anyone what you are capable of—and I daresay it’s a lot more than me. But I’ve always thought that with all the things you have to do, all the burdens you carry, all the people you feel you need to protect, maybe ... maybe you just need someone to protect
you
for once.’

Jane felt a lump rise in her throat. She nodded quickly, squeezing his hands. ‘Okay,’ she said, laughing shakily. ‘Maybe we’re both a bit crazy, and also a little bit right when it comes to each other.’

Fern smiled and nodded.

It had grown cold, and Jane shivered. Their bodies came closer together and she felt him shiver too.

It seemed that they walked for hours, and all the while their discomfort grew. Shadows and flames flew through the air, seen only in the corners of their visions, startling them, making their hearts pound.

And the whole time, what Jane thought about was the same thing she’d been thinking in the forest when Fern had disappeared. She thought about how unhealthy it was to rely on one person for everything. It was ridiculous and unrealistic. Everything in this dream world was pointing to the fact that she had to do things herself. Fern had told her that they were over, and she simply hadn’t believed him. She’d thought he was just being a coward, and selfish. But what if he was right? What if there was just too much past for them to be able to salvage anything good? Was his guilt about what happened truly so debilitating that he’d never be able to give her what she needed?

In which case, there was only one answer. One course of action. She had to face life without him. Jane had to find enough courage to be able to do this all alone.

Looking up, her heart leapt into her mouth.

Athena was standing in front of them, bathed in an unnatural light, looking more beautiful than Jane could imagine. Fern looked up and froze. Jane felt his hand go limp in her own, and tightened her grip on it.

‘Athena,’ he whispered, his voice haggard. And hearing the affection in him made Jane feel sick. She’d
been jealous when the woman was alive, but right now, in this dream world, she was overcome with a furious envy that threatened to overwhelm her. As she watched, Athena moved forward and kissed Fern on the lips. And, to Jane’s horror, Fern started to kiss her back.

Wrenching her hand out of Fern’s, she stumbled away, unable to tear her eyes from the torturous sight of their embrace. Eventually Athena turned to Jane, walking over to her, cold anger in her eyes.

‘Do you feel that?’ Athena whispered, her voice achingly melodic. ‘Do you feel the agony of losing him to another woman?’

Jane couldn’t look away from her, trapped in her gaze.

‘That’s exactly what you made me feel,’ Athena said. ‘You deserve this pain, Jane, because you inflicted it on someone else. And now you must suffer forever, because he doesn’t love you—he loves me. It just took my death to make him realise it.’

Jane’s heart was thumping and every inch of her hurt.
Face this,
she told herself.
Face this, or it will haunt you forever.
Jane took a breath and reached out to place her hands on Athena’s shoulders. And then, not looking away from the naked agony in the woman’s face, she said, ‘I’m sorry. Athena, I’m
so
sorry for all the hurt I’ve caused you.’

The woman’s pretty face shimmered and then Athena disappeared. Jane sagged in relief and looked at Fern quickly. He was kneeling on the ground, his eyes closed.

‘Fern!’ she cried, hurrying to his side. ‘What did you see?’

‘I saw her,’ he told Jane, his voice deflated. ‘I saw Athena dying. Over and over again I watched her die, and I wasn’t able to do a thing to stop it.’

Jane sank to her knees next to him and held him tightly, realising then that even if you faced your fears, you never stopped being frightened of them. You just learnt how to bear the fear and keep moving.

Anna wriggled uncomfortably on the couch. No matter how she sat, she was still sore. Her whole body ached. Locktar was standing directly behind her, watching her constantly. She wanted to talk to him, to ask him a million questions—was he a human or a dragon? Had he been a man once before? If so, how and why did he turn into an animal? But she needed privacy for that, and now was not the time.

Sighing, Anna dragged her eyes away from the window, and the orange light that seemed to be darkening quicker than she imagined possible. Everyone had gathered to wait together in one of Elixia’s private chambers. It was a huge room, its walls lined with thousands of books, its floors adorned with deeply coloured rugs. In front of them was a huge fireplace. Harry sighed and moved to light the fire. Almost an entire day had passed, spent doing nothing but worrying. Night was growing closer.

Luca was seated beside Anna, and next to him, close but not touching, was his new friend Tzenna, whom Anna had yet to decide if she liked. Sitting at a small round table was Ria, the red-haired Captain Bayard and Satine, who were talking quickly, their voices soft. The High Queen stared out of the window, her face impassive, and it was she who Anna’s eyes kept being drawn to.