The Catastrophe of the Emerald Queen (7 page)

 
Mordalayn ducked a blade aimed for his head and, holding his
sword in his right hand, grabbed the man's sword arm and kicked his
legs out from underneath him. He put his right foot on the man's
neck, the soldier gasping as his throat was constricted. The final
of the four hesitated, unsure of whether to proceed or not. Siavy
looked bored and as the soldier glanced at him he jerked his head
angrily. "Take him down! Unless you want to face me
later!"

 
The
soldier lunged at Mordalayn who brought the flat sides of his huge
tri-blade down across the man's head, simultaneously dodging the
blow aimed at his own neck. The man fell to his knees and then
pitched forward in the mud face down. Mordalayn contemptuously
flipped him over onto his back with his foot.

 
"Hmmm....impressive. I was thinking maybe you'd got rusty
after so long babysitting" Siavy said, adjusting his
cloak.

 
"Count
yourself lucky I didn't kill them" Mordalayn growled.

 
"Whatever" Siavy said waving
his hand dismissively and looking
with
disdain
at the prone and
groaning figures scattered like fallen dolls. Mordalayn turned on
his heel and marched quickly to the boat, not sparing a backwards
look to where he had wrought so much chaos. Jared stood transfixed,
still unable to comprehend exactly what he was seeing. The cat man
strode towards him, then took him firmly but gently by his shirt
and turned him towards the boat. “Come” he said. “We need to go,
mind your step as you get in.”

 
The
boat was green and red, the paint chipped and flaking in many
places. It was big enough for about four people to sit comfortably,
with two benches with purple cushions across the middle of the
boat, one behind the other. The cushions were also faded. Mordalayn
gestured for Jared to sit down and then stepped into the boat
himself, the small capsule rocking slightly as his weight
momentarily upset the balance. He turned and began unlashing the
oars, the knots undoing easily under his strong fingers. He
released them with a grunt and dropped them into the boat, turning
his attention to the mooring rope. Jared glanced around. The had
cleared the horizon. Jared saw it was a gorgeous red colour. As he
stared colours and ripples danced across the surface, reflected in
the blue water.

 “
Who
were those men?” Jared asked glancing back across the bridge to
where the leader could be seen attempting to stir one of his prone
men by kicking him.

 “
Mercenaries” Mordalayn
replied. “Their commander is Galfront Siavy
.”

 
He
turned and extended his left foot, pushing against the dock hard so
the boat moved away from the bridge and the water lapped against
the sides. He picked up one oar and pushed against the wooden
surface, the boat turning slightly with the pressure. He then
slotted the oars in place and sat down, begining to haul on them,
pulling clear of the dock. Then both he and Jared turned to the
unexpected sound of running feet thudding hard on the wooden boards
of the bridge.

Galfront was furious that Mordalayn had bested his men so
easily. It was bad enough he’d been forced to cover so much land
tracking this child. To add insult to injury Mordalayn, once a
general, had for the last twelve years been the personal bodyguard
to the Emerald Queen of Alegria. Yet it didn’t appear to have
dulled his fighting abilities. He had needed to be sure of the
Caracalic’s skill so ordering his men to attack had been
informative to say the least. Still, he had to admit that
he’d proved his mettle.

 
Angrily Galfront kicked the
man nearest to him to wake him up. The soldier groaned and grabbed
his sore head. “Get up you mangy dog!” he cursed at the man, who
winced in fear and staggered to his feet. “Get after him and stop
that boat
.”

 
The man saluted, knowing
better than to argue, even on the rare occasions when Siavy was in
a good mood. He turned to the boat in the distance and winced as
Siavy barked
. “I said stop
them, don’t dawdle man!.”

 
The
soldier bent down and picked up his mud spattered sword and then
ran towards the boat. Galfront folded his arms and leaned on a tree
to watch, as one of his other men slowly made it to his feet and
shook his head groggily.

Mordalayn couldn’t understand why the man was running at
them. They were already clear of the dock and the distance was
increasing with every passing second. The mercenary hurtled towards
them. Mordalayn stared at him and shouted
. “Stop man, you won’t make it.”

 
The
soldier paid no heed and with a roar leapt the distance from the
bridge to the small boat. He fell short by a foot and splashed into
the water. His hands scrabbling for purchase on the side of the
craft. Mordalayn stepped back putting one hand on Jared’s shoulder.
Puzzlement crossing his features as the man floundered, his sword
slipping from wet fingers and clattering into the boat.

 “
You
fool, don’t you know how dangerous these waters are?!!” Mordalayn
shouted angrily.

 
The man
snarled and his back legs kicked frantically as he tried
unsuccessfully to heave himself up. Jared watched
mesmerised.

 
Mordalayn reached down to the
man and grabb
ed his arm,
kicking his sword out of reach.

 “
Stop
struggling and I’ll pull you in” Mordalayn told him
firmly.

 
The
soldier reached behind his soaking cloak, scrabbling
for something.

 
Just then Jared heard a new
sound. Whispering on the air, similar to the sound of leaves
rustling in the trees mixed with chattering. Mordalayn glanced up
at the noise and winced. “Quickly you fool, take my
hand
.”

 
The
whispers got louder and sounded closer. Jared looked around quickly
but could see nothing. Two of the other soldiers ran up the bridge.
The distant figure of Galfront stood motionless, watching what was
happening.

 
As
Mordalayn moved to take a firmer grip on the man’s arm to pull him
up the soldier brought out a dagger from his belt and swung wildly.
Mordalayn contemptuously grabbed the knife arm with his other
hand.

 “
Let
the blade go” he hissed in the man’s face.

 
The
whispering got louder as the boat rocked wildly, water spilling
into the vessel as the two figures struggled. Jared fought to keep
his balance on the bench, moving back further from the entwined
figures.

 
Jared glanced past the two
struggl
ing men to see they
had made some distance from the dock and shapes were forming in the
water. Something was underneath the surface.

 “
For
the love of the sun man, LET THE BLADE GO!!!” Mordalayn shouted,
finally losing his composure as he tried to prevent the man from
sliding into the water yet fighting to keep the dagger away from
his face.

 
The whispering now had a
sinister edge to it, a noise like a child chuckling. Not sweet like
a baby’s giggle but dark and horrible. The soldiers on the dock
were gesturing frantically at the boat, while the disturbances in
t
he water became more
numerous, the motions and ripples getting nearer to the
vessel.

 “
Soooooo sweeeeeeet” a voice said on the breeze as Mordalayn
finally succeeded in twisting the man’s knife hand far enough to
make him drop the blade into the water.

 “
Nauuughty!!!” the voices echoed, seeming to come from
everywhere at the same time.

 
The man
kicked and struggled and Mordalayn tried in vain to pull him into
the boat.

 “
Sooooo
looooovely” the voice snickered as the water rose and
fell.

 “
For
the love of life you imbecile, STOP STRUGGLING!!!” Mordalayn
shouted in exasperation.

 
The whispering
was intrusive. Jared could feel
shivers running down his spine and clapped his hands over his ears
to shut out the sound.

 
A hand
suddenly appeared at the far end of the boat, reaching over the
stern. White as bleached bone with long pearl coloured finger nails
it drummed gently on the wood. Drops of water fell from the
fingertips.

 “
Oooursss” the voices cooed, the sound of leaves blowing in
the wind was now matched with what sounded like birds’ wings
beating madly and frantically.

 
Jared
watched terrified as the hand moved slowly along the side of the
boat towards Mordalayn and the soldier, steam rising in wisps from
it. Further back you could see the two men on the dock pointing
madly and shouting.

 
The
hand was connected to a wrist which wore a bracelet made of pearls,
the same colour as the nails on the hand. The middle finger was
wearing a large pearl ring.

 
Mordalayn saw the hand approaching and with a look of regret
let the man go, who slumped back and fought to retain his
grip.

 “
It’s too late. You’re beyond
help now
,” he said solemnly
shaking his head. He stood near Jared as the thrashing soldier
finally realised his danger and turned round as the hand reached
his shoulder.

 “
Soooo
taaaasty!!!” the voice whispered again and then giggled like a
little girl. The fingers on the hand pinched the flesh of his upper
arm through his leather tunic.

 
The man shrieked in fear and
pleaded
. “Please, don’t leave
me.” Mordalayn shook his head as other arms came sliding from the
water and took grips on the man’s upper body. He kicked and
screamed and with one final burst of energy managed to half heave
himself into the boat. Jared then saw something that frightened him
more than anything else that he’d seen. The arms were not attached
to a body, they were just loose, the sleeve of a gown that appeared
to be made of sequins covering each one. As Jared reacted in fear,
one of the arms paused in its approach. The hand turned towards
him, the palm raising itself upwards, rearing back and the fingers
flexing like spider legs. Then it turned to the soldier who was
screaming in a high wail that carried over the lake, his two
colleagues frantic on the bridge but powerless to help
him.

 
Suddenly the thrashing
stopped. A yellow light emanated from the heavy pearl ring on the
middle finger of every hand holding the man. Jared couldn’t tell
how many, maybe seven or eight, the last one slithering over the
man’s wet forehead from behind and grasping his face. The light
gr
ew until the different
points merged and the soldier was coccooned in light. He went rigid
but his eyes still moved between the fingers, darting wildly to
Mordalayn and Jared.

 “
Strength in the next world” Mordalayn whispered as the light
completely covered the man’s body and suddenly, without any warning
he tipped backwards, his grip on the boat gone and was pulled
beneath the surface. There was not even a ripple in the wake. Only
a yellow light that faded slowly until the waters were calm and
blue.