The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen (21 page)

After a long pause Mordalayn
spoke again. This time more softly.

 “
Bullying is vile. Would you have liked it if he’d taken
something you loved?” 

Stone shook
his head mutely. Blautin sat down, putting his prized flute in its
silk cloth and wrapping it carefully before putting it in his pack.
He sniffed the last of his tears away and looked at Mordalayn, at
the same time frightened and reassured. 

The Caracalic had everyone’s
attention and he spoke calmly and quietly, the only other sound in
the forest the crackling of the fire.

 “
To
make someone weaker than you a victim only for your own pleasure is
beyond vileness.” He glanced around slowly at everyone as he said
this. No one could meet his eyes, even Bue and Leppard lowered
their gazes. 

“
Recently I
saw this.” 

Mordalayn had
been shadowing Jared for four days in Warwick. The spell he’d
placed on Queen Sophie would prevent their enemies from finding her
now. However, she was still vulnerable and as long as Jared was
trackable they could, if they could get to him before she came out
of her death sleep, use him to find her
.
Mordalayn had followed him and his parents this night to a house
where a woman holding a baby had answered the door. The house was
in an area that Mordalayn had not explored before. He looked
around. The sun was going down and he glanced at his wrist band.
The crystal was still a murky shade of green. He needed to eat.
He’d smelled food about quarter of a mile east from here and
decided to break off to find rations. Drawing his hood over his
face and pulling his robes tight around him, he leapt from the roof
he was on to the adjoining one and then shimmied down the drain
pipe to a path between two houses. Behind them was some coarse
ground and he vaulted the fence and ran along the edge of the copse
of trees, keeping to the shadows. Shortly he came to a junction and
turned right keeping his back to the walls. Leaping up again he
climbed silently and fluidly to the roof of a detached house and
ran soundlessly across the tiles to the peak. He knew the stores
here would certainly have bins out the back for disposing of
unwanted food that he could forage for. He was about to move along
the roof when he looked down and something caught his
eye.

“
Oooh sissy
dolly,” Aiden snapped at Maria nastily.

 
Maria
was scared. She’d gone to the shops to buy some milk for her mother
and Aiden was there. She didn’t like Aiden. He was older, bigger
and bullied her and the other small kids at every chance he got.
The shops were only round the corner, she could see the front
garden of her house from here. She hoped someone would help her but
there was no one around.

 
Aiden
grinned at her, his smile not even remotely reassuring and held out
his hand. 

“
Give it to
me and let me look at it.”

 
Maria
gripped the doll even tighter and shook her head. She knew that if
she gave it to him, even for a second, she’d never see it again or
he’d break it. 

Aiden moved forward, backing
her up against the wall and looked both ways in case any adults
were around or that nosey Community Support Officer who
occasionally wandered round the estate.

 “
Let me
hold it for a second and I’ll let you have it back,” he
said. 

Maria was on
the verge of tears and didn’t want Aiden to see her crying. “Let me
go Aiden,” she pleaded. “My mummy will be wondering where I
am.”

 “
Best
give me the doll then you stupid cow,” he said trying to snatch it
from her. 

Maria bolted
and ran and Aiden followed her laughing. “Go on run little cow!” he
whooped, easily catching her up in about three
steps. 

Maria
screeched as Aiden tripped her up, pushing her down on the paved
slabs outside the shops. She skidded and fell, the milk carton
going flying and bursting open.

 
Aiden
reached down and grabbed her doll in his grubby hands. She screamed
as he tore it free from her grip and shook it in front of her
triumphantly. 

“
See what
happens when you don’t do what you’re told?!!” he shouted at
her.

 
Maria
had skimmed her knees as she fell and she started to cry. Aiden
grinned and grabbed the head of her doll and pulled
hard.

 “
No!”
Maria screamed at him as the head came free with a pop. Aiden
laughed and dropped it on the floor and put his filthy trainer on
it, stamping up and down on the plastic body and twisting his
foot. 

Maria bawled
loudly, looking on helplessly as Aiden ruined her toy. The doll was
a present from her nana, who had died last year, and it was her
favourite. Giving the doll one last twist with his foot Aiden
turned around and walked off laughing.

 
Staggering to her feet Maria looked around and ran wailing
into her home, shouting for her mother.

 
Aiden
walked down the alley between Maria’s house and the precinct of
shops. Whistling a happy tune with his hands in his tracksuit
bottoms he failed to notice the cold, furious eyes that watched him
silently from a rooftop across the square.

When Aiden
got home his mother was in front of the huge plasma screen TV in
their lounge. She turned as he came in, her half smoked cigarette
clutched in her fingers. “Get yourself some dinner, there’s
microwave corned beef hash in the freezer.”

 “
Whatever!” Aiden said disinterestedly and slunk off upstairs,
leaving his mother in a cloud of smoke watching
television.

 
He went
up to his room and opened the door with the sign, “Aiden’s Den.
Keep Out or be Dead,” on it with a black skull and
crossbones. 

He switched on the TV in his
room and turned on his games console. He fell back onto his bed and
picked up the control pad while a war game started to load. As the
game began he became engrossed in the action, not noticing the
squeak on the stairs that meant someone was coming up. 

As his door
opened he hit “pause” on the pad and cursed loudly. “Mum! I told
you to knock when you….” then looked up and his voice trailed off
abruptly.  

Mordalayn stood glaring at him
in the doorway. His rage at what he’d seen the boy do to the little
girl was barely controlled as he silently closed the
door. 

Aiden
stammered. “What, wh..who are YOU?” 

Mordalayn moved forward and
stood towering over him silent and terrifying, his hood thrown back
to reveal his face. Aiden gulped, the game controller forgotten in
his hands, his eyes flicking over the huge sword on the stranger’s
back and the figure’s cat face, whiskers bristling angrily.
Glancing around the room Mordalayn saw the chaos of a young boy’s
bedroom with old sweet wrappers and magazines on the floor amongst
old clothes. He looked around slowly and his eyes finally rested on
Aiden.

 “
The
necklace you’re wearing. Give it to me,” he said flatly.

 
Aiden’s
hand went up to the chunky, gold necklace he wore. It was a present
from his father for his tenth birthday. “What? No way. Get
lost!” 

He scrambled to his feet and
made for the door but Mordalayn grabbed him by the collar and
hauled him back, clamping his gloved hand over Aiden’s mouth to
stifle the boy’s yell of fear. He tugged hard at the necklace which
snapped free with a jerk, two of the links clattering to the floor
and Aiden yelped. 

Casually placing the chain into
a pocket of his robe Mordalayn tossed Aiden back against a pile of
dirty clothes in the corner of the room. As he reached for the door
handle Aiden found his voice.

 “
Don’t
take that. Please! My dad gave me that.” He started to
cry. 

Mordalayn
paused for a second then turned. He glared at Aiden and his green
eyes narrowed. “You laughed at that little girl’s tears today,” he
said slowly. “Remember how this feels.” Then he opened the door and
closed it behind him. He lithely crept down the stairs and walked
past the lounge doorway, Aiden’s mother was still engrossed in her
TV show and never noticed as Mordalayn made for the open kitchen
door and vanished into the back garden.

Maria’s
mother Sylvia kissed her forehead as she slept, heartbroken about
what had happened. She’d disinfected Maria’s grazed knees and
cuddled her while she cried herself to sleep. “
That boy Aiden is utterly vile”
she
thought, but the police either couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything
about his behaviour. Each time they either failed to return her
calls or simply sent that useless community support officer round
to deal with it. The officer had tried to visit Aiden’s home to
discuss the matter with his mother but she had simply screamed at
her to go away. The only advice the police were willing to give now
was “tell Maria to keep away from him.” 

She stroked
Maria’s hair and pulled a stray lock away from her face, tucking it
behind her ear. Sighing, she stood and pulled the door half closed,
the landing light casting a subdued beam into the room. Taking one
last look at her sleeping daughter she went downstairs into the
kitchen. 

Making for
the rubbish bin Sylvia pulled the white bin liner free and checking
there were no holes in the bag she tied the yellow string tightly
at the top and opened the kitchen door. She walked the ten or so
yards to the large wheelie bins on her driveway and opening the
nearest one she tossed the bag inside. Before she could close it a
thick voice spoke quietly. “Don’t be frightened but please don’t
turn around.”