Shade and Sorceress (27 page)

“So the Mancers seek a second conflict with the Faeries?” mocked the King. “You are overconfident.”

“It is you who is overconfident,” replied Ka. “The days of Faery dominion are long past.”

For a moment, the King of the Faeries looked as stunned as if Ka had slapped him. Then he began to grow taller and taller, filling the hall.

“I could bury you in a forest of Illusion you would never find your way out of,” he spat. “How dare you speak to me in that way!”

“Do you threaten us?” Ka shot back. “We, who maintain the prison of the Sorceress? If she escaped, how long would it take her to break the spell of banishment keeping her from Tian Xia?”

“We defeated her once and fear her not,” said the King. Swarn had begun to spin her spear on her arm in a threatening way. The Oracle was laughing like a giddy child at a birthday party.

“I need to be able to reach the dragon claw,” Eliza whispered to the gryphon and Nell, confident that none of the other beings in the Hall would be able to hear her over their own noise. “If I can get it in my hand then I can cut us all free. We need to get the web to swing.”

“Count of three and we all push left then right,” suggested Nell. It took them a few tries to get the rhythm right but soon they had the web swaying slightly, a little more with each shove. The gryphon’s weight in particular helped to get the web moving. The dragon claw swung gently around Eliza’s neck. The great beings in the Hall were still talking back and forth, angrily. The claw swung sideways, almost as far as her left hand. They leaned right and then leaned left and the flexible web bent with their bodies. The claw struck her hand and she caught it.

In the Hall, Swarn took the barrier star Eliza had given her from a pocket and hung it around her neck. “My barriers might equal yours,” she told the Mancers. “Think well before you offend me.”

“That belongs to us, Witch!” cried Trahaearn, manipulator of metal, his eyes blazing. Swarn smiled and spun her spear again. Quickly, quickly, Eliza cut away at the cords binding her, freeing her arms and then the rest of her body. The dragon claw passed through the web as if it was water, and the taut, sticky strands fell away. Moving along the web towards her friends was a slow and difficult process, however, since whenever she moved she was stuck anew. She kept her toes and one hand on the web and cut them free again with every step to the side. She cut the gryphon free and he dropped, hovering just behind the web, his wings pumping gently to keep himself in place. Nell made an awkward leap as Eliza cut the last thread holding her, landing on Charlie’s back with a grunt. Eliza followed, but her satchel caught on the web and jerked her backwards so she was splayed on her back now, the dragon claw once more hanging out of reach.

“Stay still, Eliza,” said Nell, quite unnecessarily, since Eliza could not move. Charlie pumped his wings, venturing ever so slightly closer. Nell reached to the side and caught hold of the dragon claw around Eliza’s neck. She cut her friend free quickly and Eliza fell onto the gryphon, landing so awkwardly she almost slipped right off. She righted herself with a gasp.

“Charlie,
go!”

The wind that had carried them down to the Hall was against them now. The gryphon strained against it and the two girls pressed themselves flat against his back, the echoes of the angry and powerful beings in the Hall following them all the way to the top of the tower, where the stones grated apart to make way for them.

“Back to the Crossing,” said Eliza.

They shot out of the Hall of the Ancients and into a deep crimson evening sky. The moons were circling together just above the eastern horizon. The gryphon veered south, towards the bright lights of the Sparkling Deluder’s hanging gardens.

~

It was not long before Eliza saw the Mancers in pursuit, five black shapes against the night sky. Something larger and faster overtook the Mancers and was closing fast on the gryphon as he flew pell-mell over the snowy peaks. Swarn’s dragon. When the huge creature was nearly overhead a blade of green fire shot from its mouth. Eliza could feel the heat of it blazing past them as the gryphon dodged. The gryphon was flying for the mountaintops now, as if he thought their chances were better out of the sky, seeking shelter, but there was nowhere to hide. He skimmed a ridge of icy rock and another blade of fire nearly caught them. There was a whistling in the air, and an arrow hissed by Eliza’s neck. They could not evade the more powerful creature, the more powerful being riding it, for much longer.

“Stop,” shouted Eliza. The gryphon swerved and landed suddenly on a plateau that broke off into a dizzying chasm. Eliza and Nell tumbled off his back into the snow. Swarn was standing over the girls before they had a chance to get to their feet, another arrow in her bow already, pointed at Eliza’s heart. Her dragon loomed behind her. Around them mountaintops blanketed in snow were swallowed by the night.

Eliza shut her eyes and threw her arms up before her face. Snow swirled about her, stuck to her cheeks. The wind howled. She could hear Nell weeping raggedly. But nothing happened. She opened her eyes slowly, lowered her arms. Swarn stood unmoving, her bow still pointing at Eliza. Her hands trembled ever so slightly.

“Twice now I have almost killed you and failed,” said Swarn. “I wonder if the universe wishes you to live. Or has Rea found some way to protect you even beyond her death? If I release this arrow, will it find its mark or will the fates intervene again?”

Eliza’s mouth was dry and her voice trembled when she spoke.

“You can help us,” she said to Swarn. “Please.”

Swarn shook her head. “I cannot.”

Over the witch’s shoulder, Eliza could see the shapes of the Mancers approaching in the dark sky.

“If you’re one of the Triumvira, then you fought the Sorceress before and defeated her!” she cried. “You can do it again!”

Swarn shook her head once.

“What if it was somebody you loved?” Eliza begged. “You wouldnay care about anything else except saving them!”

“At the cost of the worlds!” said Swarn in a low voice.

“How can you know what the cost will be? You cannay tell the future! All I know is she has my da and I have to help him. It’s what my ma would have wanted me to do, I’m sure of it.”

Swarn’s face twisted painfully, and tears froze in the corners of her eyes at the mention of Eliza’s mother. Nell had stopped crying and was looking from the witch to Eliza with a desperate slow-waking hope.

“You promised my ma,” Eliza pressed on, the words pouring out of her now. “You told her you would help me, aye, but now you’re going to kill me on a mountain. What would she think if she could see you? Abandoning her husband, murdering her daughter! I can
save
him. I know I can.”

It happened so quickly that to Eliza and Nell it was just a blur. Swarn spun away and arrows were flying from her bow upwards. The gleaming dragons of the Mancers, who had been almost upon them, were veering to avoid the deadly arrows. Swarn leaped onto her own dragon and gave Eliza one dark, fierce stare.

“Let the worlds rot then,” she said. “Go.”

Swarn’s huge rust-red dragon with its battered wings and scarred body lunged into the air to face the smaller green-gold dragons of the Mancers. A spear dove into the throat of one dragon, and then another. Dragon blood drenched the snow as the gryphon took flight with Eliza and Nell clinging to his back.

~

The gryphon flew south over the Irahok mountains and then over the sprawling, turreted fortresses of the Giants, which smoked and flamed from ceaseless battle in the plains. He flew without pause as the moons made their dancing journey across the sky and the hanging gardens of the Sparkling Deluder brightened and then faded. The sun rose and cast its red light over the unwelcoming landscape. In the distance Eliza saw the Temples of the Faithful, great red mounds on the horizon, and beyond them, the black cliffs around the lake of the Crossing. The green plains became barren earth riddled with dry gorges. The gryphon flew straight for the cliff and the Steps opened before them. Down he flew, towards the lake, landing clumsily at the bottom. He lay there panting, his great eagle head resting on the black stone. Dizzy, parched and exhausted, the girls climbed off and fell, their legs too cramped to stand on. Eliza dropped her satchel and staff and for a brief moment pressed her face to the stone.

“Eliza!” cried Nell. She lifted her head.

The ghostly boat was taking shape on the lake, sailing towards them, and sauntering down the Steps with hate-filled eyes was the King of the Faeries.

“Hurry,” gasped Eliza, struggling to get up. In a flash the King was at her side. He stepped on her arm, pinning her, and flung his hand towards the gryphon. A golden net burst out of his palm, enmeshing the exhausted creature entirely. Between the King of the Faeries’ legs, Eliza saw Nell’s white face staring at her. She was untying Eliza’s staff from the satchel.

“Swarn has much to answer for,” said the King of the Faeries, stepping harder on Eliza’s arm, making her cry out. From his belt he drew a tiny, jeweled dagger. Nell got unsteadily to her feet and swung the staff at the King of the Faeries’ head as hard and fast as she could, but it was not fast enough. Without turning or flinching he reached behind him, catching the staff in his free hand and wrenching it from her. In one fluid motion he used it to strike her to the ground. In the same moment Eliza took hold of her dragon claw and drove it hard into the foot on her arm. The King roared, dropping her staff, and kicked her in the face with his other foot. Everything was black for a moment. Eliza tasted her own blood, thick and salty, filling her mouth. She forced her eyes open. Splintered through tears of agony she saw the Faithful pouring down the steps. The King of the Faeries spun to face them, meeting their angry voices with his own. Eliza crawled forwards with the dragon claw, bright with the King’s blood, and tore open the golden net that held the gryphon.

“Come on, Charlie,” she said, tugging at him. Nell grabbed the satchel and staff and staggered towards the boat as the Faithful spilled around the King, surrounding him. The three battered travelers boarded the ship.

“And for passage?” asked the Boatman. Charlie was still in gryphon form, collapsed on the deck. He couldn’t help, and they didn’t have much time. She would have to give the dragon claw.

Nell understood instantly what she was thinking. “You might need it,” she said.

“We dinnay have anything else,” said Eliza helplessly.

“Charlie said it didnay have to be a
thing,”
said Nell. “It can be something else, nay?”

“Indeed,” said the Boatman. “Hope, the ability to laugh or dream, love, memories, all of these are things of great value that I will accept as payment.”

“Memories,” said Nell. “You could have one of my memories.”

The Boatman regarded her for a moment. Eliza saw that the King of the Faeries was driving back the Faithful. They were backing up the steps reluctantly.
Quickly,
she thought,
quickly.

“Your memories of Tian Xia,” said the Boatman.

“Done,” said Nell without hesitating.

The King of the Faeries turned and cast his golden net towards them, but the boat had moved away from the stone, the Crossing had begun, and the net melted to nothing over their heads. All the way back Nell wept, knowing she would remember none of it.

~

Eliza dreamt and woke. The mist closed over them and she stared into the white blindness. She heard Nell whimper, felt some movement as Nell or Charlie changed position, but they did not speak. They were weary, but above all terribly hungry and thirsty. Eliza’s thoughts were vague, nebulous things, shadowy fears like a baby might have, unformed.

“Where do you go?” the Boatman whispered in her ear.

“Home,” said Eliza, flinching away from him. The word was a dry croak.

The mist lifted slowly and the boat pulled into a dark cavern. Far overhead was a circle of light. The three passengers disembarked, weak-limbed and trembling. The boat melted into the dark behind them.

“Eliza?” Nell’s voice rasped, barely audible. “Where are we?”

“Almost home,” said Eliza, though she couldn’t be sure if this was true.

Nell’s eyes were wide and frightened and full of questions she could not give voice to. “What’s happening?” she managed to say.

“I’ll explain later,” said Eliza. She asked the gryphon gently, “Can you get us out of here, Charlie?”

He raised his head ever so slightly.

“Come on,” said Eliza to Nell. “You need to get on his back.”

“By the Ancients,” Nell murmured, looking at the gryphon. “What...?” But she didn’t finish the question. She climbed onto his back with Eliza.

The gryphon was breathing in short, strained pants, but he managed to take off with the two girls sprawled on his back, spiraling upwards so the light overhead grew wider and brighter. They flew out of the top of a volcano and over the sea, into the beautiful blue sky of their own world. In the distance, the archipelago shimmered green, like dropped emeralds on the bright water.