Rachel Golden and the Retriever of Sin (21 page)

‘We have this globe, right, and we found out that a hero party had ported into this world. So we were concerned. We, I,’ he corrected himself, ‘thought, gosh, I wonder why the Council have sent a Hero party in? Something must be up. So I sent Toby and his friends to meet you, see if you needed anything. See if we could help you.’ He left the sentence hanging in the air, almost holding his breath, wondering if she would buy it.

‘Bullshit,’ Rachel said, clearly not buying it. ‘You didn’t send them to meet us. You sent them to trap us using unicorns as bait. One of them gored me.’ As she spoke the words she glanced over at the two feral unicorns (who had calmed down after the gunshot), and saw that they were both looking her directly in the eye. The piebald one’s eyes widened a fraction, then flicked sideways at El for the briefest second.

Rachel was momentarily thrown off. Were these the
same
two unicorns? The unicorn gave a very slow and slight nod of its head. Oh great, she thought. I’m a racist. All unicorns look alike to me, and I didn’t even recognize the two who had saved our lives out in the forest. But he really didn’t seem to want El to know that. Understandably. Rachel cleared her throat to buy some time.

She tried a different angle. ‘So, assuming for a second that I believe you were trying to offer us help—which I don’t—you can help now by telling us what we originally came to find out. Why are all the feral unicorns being summoned here to the castle?’

El was gaining confidence. ‘I really wouldn’t know, I’m afraid. You’d have to ask the Overlords.’ He paused and swallowed. Had he said too much? Did they know about the Overlords? Surely they had to.

Rachel and Kel exchanged a glance, which was unreadable to El. Alright, she thought, so he’s not going to tell us what’s going on. And I have no way to force him to, short of torturing him. She could try getting AC to get him to talk. That had worked before, on Toby. No. She’d save that for a last resort.

‘Tell me about the Retriever of Sin,’ she said.

At those words El swallowed, and fear showed in his eyes. ‘The…?’ he began, raising his eyebrows as if to get her to repeat her request, but Rachel pointed the gun at his head in warning. ‘The Retriever of Sin, yes,’ he said, deciding not to push her. ‘Well, legend has it that it was created by some Guide years ago to be able to go back and fix mistakes made in the Altworlds.’ He licked his lips again.

‘And what do you want with it?’ Rachel asked.

El swallowed. He was nervous of pushing his luck with this Hero girl. Especially since she was holding a giant revolver. He needed to lie; he needed to buy time. But he could tell she was losing patience. ‘Me?’ he asked. ‘I don’t want it. I don’t even
believe
in the Retriever of Sin. No one has seen it in years. And apparently it never really worked anyway. It’s just a fairy story.’

‘A fairy story…’ Rachel repeated, slowly. El nodded, smiling sycophantically. ‘Kinda like unicorns and castles then?’ The color drained out of El’s cheeks. She was bored of this now. Time to play her ace. ‘Get him AC,’ she said.

Assorted Colors jumped down from the tabletop and ran at the man with his toothbrush-razor held high. But he didn’t make it even halfway to El. In her peripheral vision Rachel saw Kel rising impossibly out of his seat. She spun around on her barrel and saw that he was dangling by his shirt. On the tip of a massive black horn.

‘Hello, kids,’ a whiny, British-accented voice said. An Overlord strolled cockily into the hall. Damnit! Rachel cursed herself. The gunshot must have deafened them sufficiently to allow them to be sneaked up on. She jumped to her feet, levelling the Magnum at the Dark One holding Kel dangerously close to the ceiling on its shining onyx horn.

‘Drop him,’ she commanded.

‘What’s this? Some shiny human toy?’ the Overlord wheedled. ‘Do show us how it works.’ Rachel swallowed hard. What’s that thing the kids say these days? she thought. Shit just got real? Yeah, that’s it. And now she had to pop a Dark One. There was really no backing down now. If she gave up her gun everything would be lost. She pulled the trigger. It went click.

Rachel blinked at the lack of a deafening explosion from the gun’s muzzle. What? She knew there were four rounds left in the cylinder. The powder! Some of the powder must have still been damp. Before she had a chance to cock the hammer again she was knocked sideways by the charge of a second Dark One. Its horn had missed her—luckily, otherwise she’d be dead—but the creature’s massive shoulder had connected with her chest and sent her flying across the room. The gun slipped out of her grasp and skittered across the stone floor as she rolled to cushion her landing.

In less than a second she had thrown her legs back and sprung to her feet. Six unicorns were in the room: Two Dark Ones, two feral ones, and two Overlords. One of the Dark Ones was occupied with Kel as he struggled to free himself from the creature’s horn. As she calculated her next move El screamed and fell to the floor. Bright red blood was flowing freely from his ankle. AC had slashed his Achilles tendon with his razorblade.

As one of the Overlords charged and snapped at Rachel with its needle-like teeth she dropped and rolled effortlessly out of its way. The unicorns were huge and immensely strong, but had so much weight that they couldn’t easily change direction once they were moving. Momentum, bitches, she thought as she sprang to her feet again. She scanned the floor for the gun but it was nowhere to be seen. A charge from the second Dark One and Rachel leapt up onto the long banquet tabletop. She cleared its length in three huge strides and launched a flying kick at the head of the second Overlord. It dropped like a sack of potatoes.

Interesting, she thought, as she landed cat-like on the floor. The white unicorns were as big as horses, but seemingly much more delicate. She had knocked it unconscious with one kick. Though she had a feeling the Dark Ones would take much more than that…

From her crouching position Rachel could see Ros cowering beneath the table. ‘Stop, stop, stop,’ the dog was saying, his paws over his eyes.

‘Ros!’ she cried, over the clatter of hooves and the screams coming from El. ‘Find the gun!’ She couldn’t tell if he’d heard before she spun around and swept the back of her ankle into the fetlock of the first Dark One. She caught the joint just right and the midnight beast dropped to its knees.

Rachel was back on her feet and bouncing easily on her toes, barely out of breath. She was amazed. What had looked like impossible odds were turning out in her favor. By
herself
she had already floored two of their attackers. Assorted Colors had taken care of a third. The two feral unicorns had backed into a corner and didn’t look like they were eager to join in the fight. One Overlord and one Dark One remained standing.

Rachel grabbed Kel’s sword from where it had fallen to the floor and slashed at the shoulder of the Dark One that had her Safeguarder pinned to the ceiling. The animal bellowed and breathed a huge jet of flame from its nostrils as a wide gash opened up in its flesh. The movement caused Kel to drop to the ground beside her. Now it was three on three.

‘Thanks,’ he said breathlessly, grinning at Rachel, then lunged at the last standing Overlord. Grabbing the creature’s horn he swung around its head and connected his knee with the side of its skull. This animal was tougher than the last—or possibly Kel’s blow hadn’t connected as well—but it staggered groggily instead of dropping. Rachel turned her attention to the first Dark One.

She could see AC trying to swipe at the unicorn as it struggled to its feet, but he was having to be careful of the massive hooves. One misstep and he would be flattened. Rachel raised the sword in both hands and brought it down in a stabbing motion at the creature’s fat black side. And the blade broke. The sword was a rapier, a thin, needle-like stabbing blade, but Rachel was still amazed. Were these things
armored
? She stared in disbelief at the shattered blade.

‘Nobody move,’ a pained voice said through gritted teeth. Against the command Rachel looked around. El, pale and glistening with sweat, looking like he was about to pass out with pain, was holding the gun to Kel’s head. His other arm was around the Safeguarder’s throat. Rachel felt the bottom fall out of her world and she dropped the broken blade she was holding. The clang echoed in the sudden silence.

While they were busy fighting the unicorns none of them had been paying attention El. No one even thought he could walk with a slashed tendon. The pain of standing alone looked like it was going to make him black out. He must have sneaked up behind Kel as he grappled with the Overlord.

So this was why Heroes and Safeguarders weren’t allowed to be in love, Rachel thought. She probably should have attacked anyway. That’s what she
should
have done. But no. Not when there a gun at Kel’s head. She felt a hot breath on the side of her cheek.

Wrenching her gaze away from Kel she turned to see the Dark One she’d slashed glaring down at her, his face just inches from hers, teeth bared in pure hatred. Oh crap… she thought, as the animal turned and belted her in the chest with both back hooves. The impact sent her 20 feet across the room before she hit the opposite wall. Hard.

Rachel’s mouth was bleeding freely when she woke. She lifted her head just slightly, and coughed and spat onto the straw-covered stone floor. Contrary to what some writers may have you believe, blood does not taste like copper. It tastes like blood. Her tongue flicked over her stained teeth and found the gap where an incisor used to be. ___king Dark Ones, she thought, and spat again.

It took her a while to sit up, dazed and in pain, and slid a hand up under her shirt. Her fingers probed gently at a rib she thought was cracked. The skin and muscle above it were hot and puffy and a little torn. Getting hoofed in the chest by a unicorn will do that.

Standing up was hard, and when she’d managed it she swayed on her feet, feeling like she was drunk or drugged. Probably just concussed. There was an egg-sized lump on the back of her head, and the hair covering it was sticky with congealed blood.

The door to the cell was thick wood, and a small barred hole in it let in occasional flashes of orange light. She crossed the floor on unsteady feet and rested her forehead against the metal bars. She felt an urge to throw up, but fought it down, the coolness of the metal settling her and making her sleepy. No. No sleep.

‘Kel?’ she called through the bars, her voice no more than a ragged whisper. She could kill for some water. She breathed in deep through her nostrils, swallowed and tried again. This time her voice echoed down the long dark corridor. ‘Kel…? Are you there?’

Nothing. No response from her Safeguarder. She turned her back to the door and slid down onto her haunches. What had happened before the kick? She rubbed at the knuckles of her right hand. They were cut and bruised. She remembered… What?

The kick. A Dark One had turned and let her have it with both back hooves. It was like being hit by a truck. She was lifted off her feet and thrown backward through the air. That’s all she remembered.

She let her head sag against her chest and felt hot silent tears spilling down her cheeks. By touch her fingertips found the plastic nametag pinned to her chest and closed around it. She pulled, and this time the badge came free, ripping the fabric of her shirt. She turned it in her hand and read the word ‘Trainee’ where her name should have been. Of course it had come off. She had failed.

SITTING THERE, ALONE IN THE DARKNESS, RACHEL FELT A WARMTH AGAINST HER CHEST. It was the necklace the rabbit Crown had given her. She pulled it out from beneath her shirt and held it in front of her eyes. The two butterfire eggs glowed softly in their glass vial. She wondered what the rabbit would think of her now. Or Crabs, for that matter. Or Sinbad. Or… her father. She wondered if any Hero had ever failed this spectacularly on their first mission.

Her eyes hot and prickling with tears, she unclasped the chain from around her neck and let it dangle in front of her face. It spun back and forth, the golden light from within sparkling on the glass. She closed her eyes, and as she did so one end of the chain slipped from her fingers. She opened her eyes and watched in horror as the vial slid down the length of the chain and shattered on the stone floor.

That was it. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks and she felt worse than she’d ever felt in her life. She knelt down in the straw and gently brushed the strands aside, looking for the eggs. Perhaps she could save them. They weren’t difficult to find, as they glowed in the darkness. She picked them up, and at the contact with the heat of her skin the eggs began to shiver. Rachel panicked, wondering if they were dying outside of their glass home. But what could she do?

As she watched, one of the eggs cracked open and a tiny butterfire larva emerged, glowing softly green/gold. It’s twin soon joined it, and the small caterpillars crawled around her palm, stretching their new bodies. This made Rachel smile, a smile that turned into a sob, and then into a laugh. So maybe things weren’t so bad after all.

She placed the two larvae gently onto the straw-covered stone floor and watched them exploring their new world. She wondered if they would find anything to eat in this dungeon. ‘Sorry, kids,’ she said quietly, ‘I guess you’re gonna be on your own soon.’ She had no idea what El and the Overlords had planned for her, but she imagined it wouldn’t be good.

Then something strange happened. One of the larvae found a crack between the paving stones, upended itself, and with a wriggle vanished into the ground faster than she could blink. Then she
did
blink. Could that have really happened? It had moved faster than she thought possible. ‘Where’s he going?’ she asked the other butterfire larva, who turned its little caterpillar face up to look at her. Then in a second he performed the same move as his brother and vanished beneath the floor.

Rachel sagged, feeling defeated. Now she was back in almost total darkness and feeling more alone than ever. Maybe they had gone to find their mom, she thought sadly. Her mom! What must her mom be thinking? She’d been gone for five days now. Did time move the same back on her world? Then she remembered Ros saying something about her world freezing relative to this one. If they made it back it would be at the same moment they left.