The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen (24 page)

 “
Don’t
worry young friend, you’ll be with me,” he said winking and once
Jared was in the water and swimming to his side with his other five
team mates Jeejoh addressed them all.

 “
Right,
normal sized missile. No curving and no aiming for the face.
Clear?” 

Everyone
except Jared murmured understanding and then the fairies suddenly
glowed with bright orange light and one by one the boys rose in the
air, some giggling, one or two kicking their legs and rose to about
four metres above the water. Jared felt himself rising and fought
the panic in his chest. “It’s ok, just relax,” Jeejoh said
quickly. 

Once everyone had arrived at
the same height Indira flew up to join them and floated in the
middle.

 
Jared
glanced around. There were five people on his team and a short
distance away, facing them were Bue’s. They were all floating in
the air, dripping wet. The fairies at their shoulders glowed
brightly, the orange light casting bright patterns on the boys’
backs. Jared was intrigued as to what would happen next.

 
Indira
waved her tiny hand and a hexagonal shape of light appeared next to
her. It glowed then flashed red and blue, faster and faster. She
looked at Bue. “Call.”

 “
Red,”
he replied quickly and the hexagon blurred so it was impossible to
see when it was one colour or the other, then suddenly stopped…on
red. 

“
Get in!” Bue
said laughing as the hexagon vanished. Indira glanced down and
extended her arms to the pool. A ripple of activity disturbed the
surface and a ball of water erupted from it and made its way up. It
slowed and paused, hovering near to her and she gently moved her
hands in a circular motion one over the other. The water formed a
perfect ball and then moved towards Bue who held out his hands and
it hesitated just beyond his fingertips. 

Jared watched
puzzled.

 “
Your
call Bue,” Indira said and took a tiny whistle from her blouse
pocket and put it between her lips. She blew it and a high, shrill
note fluted out over the pool.

 
Bue
looked at Jared and grinned. “Now to show you how it’s done” he
shouted and drew his arms back over his head then hurled towards
Stone, next to Jared. The ball of water followed the motion of his
hands and then launched straight. Stone yelled and threw out his
arms, but a second too late. The ball of water hit his chest and
exploded, soaking him. The light from the fairy died out just after
the ball hit and he plummeted downwards. As he reached the surface
of the water Jared winced expecting a splash but instead there was
a brief flash of bright yellow light and the boy vanished. Jared
looked around dumbfounded.

 
He
glanced behind him and saw the large wooden cage had Stone in it,
dripping wet and waving madly. “Thanks Sharpeye,” he yelled at Bue.
“You wait till next time.” 

Bue grinned
back and yelled. “In your dreams;” and Indira blew her
whistle.

 “
One
to…what name do you want for your team?” she said looking
concerned.  

Without
hesitation Bue replied. “Sharpeye’s Shooters.”

Indira nodded
approvingly. She turned to Jared’s team. “Five points to Sharpeye’s
Shooters. What do you want your team to be called?”
Jared thought for a minute while the remaining four players on his
team threw out suggestions. 

“
Alegrian
Amphibians,” one shouted.

 “
Aquarate,” another said.

 
Jared
listened and then smiled. “We’re Jared’s Javelins”

 
Bue
laughed and one or two others too. Indira turned to Bue again.
“Your point, your turn to launch.”

 
For the
second time she drew a ball of water from the large pool and sent
it spinning to Bue who stopped it by raising his hands and this
time passed it over his shoulder to Jethrul.

  “
Cop this” he said to the other boy. “Give ‘em what
for.”

 “
You
got it,” Jethrul responded enthusiastically and raising his arms
hurled the ball of water as hard as he could at Jared.

 
Jared
yelled and hurled up his arms. He fully expected to find himself
falling, but after a pause opened his eyes and saw that the ball of
water was paused, rotating slowly just beyond his
fingertips.

 “
Well
caught mate,” Bue shouted and turned to his team. “Ok, spread out,
don’t bunch together. Make it hard for him.”

 
The
fairies beat their wings and the boys were pulled along as they
relocated to a wider spread. Indira watched and waited until they
had stopped moving. “Enough? Good. When you’re ready
Jared.” 

Bue’s team
paused and Jared brought his arms above his head like he’d seen Bue
do and launched the ball at Jerean near the front. The boy caught
it effortlessly and smiled at Bue as he raised and lowered the ball
as if bouncing it.

 “
Any
one you’d like to see fall skipper?”, he asked Bue as the fairies
on Jared’s team spread out and then paused.

 “
Save
Jared for me,” he said with a laugh and the lad hurled the ball at
Bolla who, with a howl deflected it back with a curving sweep of
his arm. The ball shot back at Jerean, who barely had time to
register his astonishment. It smacked him full in the face and then
he was falling to the water below. Like before, he blinked out of
existence just as he reached the water’s surface and reappeared in
the team’s wooden cage a split second later. He was shaking his
head and wiggling his finger in his ear. 

“
Five points
to Jared’s Javelins,” and the fallen boy’s fairy flew to the side
to watch the game.

 
Another
ball of water was summoned up from the depths of the pool and
before Jared could try and reach for it he found himself rising
up.

 “
Five
metres, any quitters?” Indira asked and paused for only a split
second before she turned to Jared. “Your throw young
man.”

 
Jared
watched the boys opposite him and trying not to look down he hurled
the ball at Bue who simply leaned out the way and the boy behind
him caught it. He tossed it sideways to the lad next to him who
then threw it as hard as he could back at Jared’s team. The lad it
was aimed at caught it, revolved the ball rapidly between his hands
and then threw it back. It caught Mispyn in the stomach. He pulled
a face of annoyance as he fell then burst into light and
materialised in the cage.

 “
Ten,
five. Your throw Jared,” Indira said flitting between the
teams. 

As the ball
of water appeared Jared tossed it over his head to the boy behind
him who caught it, weighed up his targets and then hurled it
straight at Blautin next to Bue. The lad caught it easily and threw
it up and sideways to the boy on his right who tossed it to his
neighbour. After four or five passes the final boy hurled it at
Jared who frantically ducked and the ball smacked into Getruhl
behind him. The team were down to three.

 
Once
again the players rose another metre. “Six metres, any quitters?
No? Good,” Indira remarked and some of the boys looked down and
began to get nervous. The height was looking more and more
fearsome. 

Bue had the
ball in one hand. He grinned as he looked at Jared. “You
ready?”

Mordalayn, Madame Veer and the
other adults sat or stood in Maximo’s large kitchen.  

“
Whoever
attacked you was trained well,” Maximo said as he made tea from an
enormous, black kettle. The smell was sweet and little green herbs
floated as he poured in the hot water. 

“
They were
going to kill anyone who got in their way,” Challandra said
solemnly. “The Vagthunder stopped them.” 

Maximo started handing out
mugs. Mordalayn shook his head at the one offered to him. 

“
What’s so
special about this boy?” Maximo asked curiously. 

“
It is best
you do not know,” Mordalayn replied curtly. 

Maximo looked
puzzled. “Who were the men that attacked you?” 

Leppard spoke
up. “They had no markings that I could identify. Most likely hired
mercenaries from Flintor. Two got away, the rest were
caught.” 

“
They knew
the boy was with us,” Madame Veer said. “As he had only arrived
hours before we can assume there is a traitor in the higher reaches
of Alegria’s council.” 

“
Until Our
Lady returns to us, he is to be kept out of harm’s way,” Mordalayn
said. 

“
He can stay
here as long as you need him to,” Maximo replied. “My house has
protection, the plants and flowers are able to detect and subdue
intruders.” 

“
I appreciate
your generosity Maximo,” Mordalayn said. “Let us just say that this
boy must be protected at all costs.”

They were
down to two players each at seven metres and Jared’s stomach was
doing flips and somersaults. He dodged the ball aimed at him and
Bolla caught it then shouted “CATCH!” Jared fumbled it and the ball
fell, spreading out and pattering as water droplets into the pool
below. 

Indira blew
her whistle. “Free shot to Sharpshooters.” 

A blob of
water rose up and Bue reached down to grab it. He grinned wickedly
at Jared. “Time to go mate,” he said and hurled the ball at him.
Jared tried to throw up his arms but the water hit him full on and
he felt himself plunging down. He opened his mouth to scream but
suddenly the world flashed white and he was in the team cage with
the others. 

“
Hey, hey!
Told you you’d be mine,” Bue said looking down at him and laughing.
As the ball rose up he squared up to the one remaining boy on
Jared’s team. “Your time too Makeo,” and span the ball at the
lad. 

The lad contemptuously caught
it and then hurled it back almost too quick to see. Bue caught it
at chest level and plunged down, blinking out and then reappearing
in his cage. 

“
In YOUR
dreams Sharpeye,” he shouted and prepared to take on the last lad
facing him.

When the game was finally over
the boys made their way smiling and breathing heavily to the house,
still dripping wet and carrying their clothes.  

“
Fun isn’t
it?” Bue said to Jared, clapping him on the back.