The Lost Tohunga (12 page)

He didn't take his eyes off the newcomer, but he was terrified at the sudden silence behind him. ‘Mum?' She didn't reply as he backed down the hallway. The oncoming goblin kicked its fallen colleague aside, patu slicing the air. He parried, reversed the taiaha and thrust the handle at his foe, catching it in the throat. The sharpened tongue of the taiaha struck the tipua's throat and tore. It dropped, gurgling, spraying blood between its fingers. Mat spun, sensing movement on either side, dark shapes pouring into the lounge and his bedroom. ‘Mum, the phone!' He retreated past both doors, putting himself between the goblins and his mother. But he couldn't be on both sides of her. And where was Cass?

The glass panel in the front door shattered as a fist punched a hole. There was no option: he spun, pushing against the wall, reaching inside himself. His mother stared as a narrow stream of fire poured from his fingers and burst about a pale arm that was reaching through the hole in the glass. Something female shrieked and the arm snatched back, charred.

‘Mum — call the cops!' He saw her shake herself, and begin to dial again. Then he spun as wiry shapes poured through from the lounge, where a series of strange sounds suddenly broke out, like a giant aerosol discharging, and tipua shrieked angrily.
Cassandra! Where was she?
He met them head on, swung overhand and felt a satisfying crunch on the skull of a goblin. Another grabbed at his weapon, and he swatted the hand, shattering the fingers against the wall. He blocked another blow, and let fire pour along the blade of the taiaha and into the largest goblin so far, a gruesome creature with a scarred face; it staggered away clutching its face. He felt a wave of dizziness from the exertion of magic. That amount
of fire was far beyond what he had practised. Another goblin pushed through and swung. Its blow was fortunately obvious, and Mat blocked and jabbed, swiping it across the temple. It fell, fading into thin air as it did so. The remainder of the goblins scuttled backwards, eyeing him malevolently.

His mother shouted down the phone. ‘WE'RE BEING ATTACKED! GET SOMEONE HERE!!!' Then she dropped the phone as a thin blackened arm reached through the broken door again, and twisted the handle. Mat felt a wave of dizziness as he tried to summon more flame, feeling the sudden backlash of the energy he had already expended. He couldn't do too much more of that.

‘Cassandra?' he called despairingly. No reply came. His throat tightened.

The door opened, and a different type of creature stepped into the light. It was female, clad only in a thin, dirty shift. Her face was half-lost in the thick red hair that fell to her waist. His mother edged back down the wall. ‘Matty,' she gasped, ‘Matty, watch out.'

‘Yes, watch out, Matty,' smirked the newcomer, pulling the hair from her face, like opening a curtain. Her face was thin and pointed, like an albino rat. ‘I've come to get you.' Her teeth were fanged like a snake.

He stepped between her and his mother, and set his jaw. ‘Patupaiarehe: get out before I burn you up!'

‘Oooo, big scary boy,' the patupaiarehe giggled. ‘My mistress, Donna Kyle, sends her final respects. She says I can eat you, and your mother, too.'

He shouted defiantly, and slammed the blade of the taiaha at her face. Her hand blurred and caught the weapon, while
her other hand smacked across his face, throwing him against the wall. He staggered, wrenched the taiaha from her grip, and backed away. Beside him, Mum clutched the wall, staring in mute horror. Behind him, more tipua growled. They were trapped, and doomed unless he did something fast. He threw everything into another burst of fire, but the patupaiarehe somehow half-faded, as if moving partially to Aotearoa, and it washed through her harmlessly. He reeled, almost utterly spent.

‘Is that all you've got, boy?' she taunted, stalking forward.

Her name is Shonagh
, Ngatoro murmured into his mind.
Bind her!

I don't know how!
But he tried. ‘Shonagh, stop!' he shouted, hefting his weapon again.

For just an instant, she froze, her eyes suddenly afraid. He slammed the tongue of the taiaha at her, and it punched into her chest. He felt more than heard her shriek as the wood pierced flesh, and then the creature flew backwards, smashing against the inside of the door.
Got you!

Something exploded behind his left shoulder, an arc of pain as an edged patu cut through cloth and flesh. He heard himself cry out, and then his mother shattered a vase over the skull of the tipua who had hit him. It faded as it fell, glassy-eyed. Mum looked around for another weapon. He snatched the patu from the grasp of the fading goblin, and put it in her hand, then turned back to the patupaiarehe at the front door. Shonagh had her back to the door, and a look of shock on her face. Her hand was pressed to a wound below her left breast, thin red fluid on her hands and chest.

‘You evil little boy,' she hissed. ‘Look what you've done!'

He reversed the taiaha again, and readied himself. ‘Get out,
Shonagh!
Get out or I'll do it again. Only I'll split your heart next time.' He advanced slowly down the hallway, praying the thing would run, because his last burst of fire had just about done for him.

She hissed and raised her talons.

She's going to come straight through me …

Sirens blared in the distance, filling him with sudden hope. ‘Get out, Shonagh!'

Almost involuntarily, she half-turned away. He swung at her skull, an all-or-nothing blow that would have had Jones cursing him, because if he missed he would be off balance and dead meat. But before the weapon struck, there was a sucking sensation. Shonagh exploded backwards through the door, howling dismally as she went, a banshee wail that echoed in the suddenly empty hallway. He overbalanced and fell against the wall, barely keeping his footing.

He turned tiredly, but the goblins were fading, slipping back into Aotearoa, hissing disappointedly. He stared dazedly into the silence, and then abruptly staggered into the lounge. ‘Cass! Cass?'

Every window was broken, the curtains half-torn and flapping in the breeze. The corner suite was covered in white foam. Everything else was utterly still. ‘Cass!'

A red-topped head poked up from behind the corner armchair. ‘'S okay. I'm here.'

He ran to her, staring at four parallel slashes on her right arm. ‘What happened?'

She shrugged, although her face was white. ‘When they came through I grabbed the fire extinguisher, and I kept
squirting any that came near me. I had to bash a couple with the canister, too. Then they ran away.' She panted, and forced a grin. ‘Are you and Colleen okay?'

‘Yeah.' He threw his arms round her bony frame and squeezed. ‘I thought when I couldn't hear you that …' He swallowed, and released her. She seemed suddenly fragile and precious.

Mum came in, looking pale and furious. ‘Little buggers,' she kept muttering, her hands shaking as she sat down heavily, all the vigour going out of her at once. ‘That was my best vase,' she whimpered, as if that were the worst thing that had happened.

She's in shock
. Mat wrapped his arms round her.

By the time the police burst in, the tipua were long gone. The thin blood of the patupaiarehe woman had soaked in like a tea stain, and the blood of the goblins had faded to smears of ash. The violence done to the house remained, but the attackers were gone without trace. The police milled about, with looks of bafflement, staring at the burn marks on the inside of the door in confusion. Neighbours had heard violence, seen shapes moving. ‘Was it Evan Tomoana?' a policewoman asked.

Mat shrugged as nonchalantly as he could. ‘Maybe.' He glanced anxiously at his mother.

For a moment he thought she would tell the truth. She seemed to waver, then met his eyes and swallowed, before turning back to the cops. ‘It was a gang of kids, with hoods and balaclavas,' she told the policewoman. ‘We'll go to my friend Sue's place. Can someone guard the house, please?' Security guards were called while they packed bags. Mum talked to Sue
on the phone, and yes, it was okay for them to stay.

Mum pulled him and Cassandra aside. She was visibly struggling to keep herself calm when all her nightmares were coming true. ‘Mat, what's happening?'

‘I don't know, Mum. I have to warn Jones, and see what he says.'

‘I'll come too!' Cassandra said determinedly.

Mat bit his lip. ‘No — please! Could you stay with Mum? Please?'

Cassandra looked at him hard. ‘The danger's passed here. You don't know what you're going into.'

He leant close and whispered. ‘Mum needs someone with her, Cass. Please?'

The girl stiffened. ‘Okay,' she relented. ‘Just this once.'

Mum looked like a frightened girl, but she didn't argue over it. ‘Then you must go,' she said, in a sombre voice. Her eyes were moist. ‘You were very brave, Mat. I'm proud of you. But if this is something that Welsh bastard has brought on us, I'll kill him myself.'

Mat shook his head, aching to be gone. ‘Jones is one of the good guys, Mum. If he hadn't shown me what he has, I'd never have been able to protect us.'

Colleen nodded reluctantly. ‘If he'd not, maybe they'd have left us alone. I'm so scared I'll lose you. Ever since that dreadful man and that Kyle woman came. Is she behind this, Matty?'

He remembered what the patupaiarehe woman had said. ‘It looks like it,' he breathed. ‘Jones and Hine might be in trouble. I've got to go and see them.'

Colleen's eyes narrowed. ‘This Hine is mixed up in this, too?'

‘Jones is looking after her, to protect her from her ex. Mum, I've got to go!'

She pulled him into a hug, and then pushed him away. ‘Then go, Matty. Go as fast as you can, and then come home faster, you hear? Come home!'

‘I promise, I promise,' he said. He snatched up his taiaha, walked through the debris to the door, and out into the shadows. The policemen stared at him curiously, and one started towards him, but he turned a corner, and let himself fade into Aotearoa before he could be stopped. Then he ran.

 

The kitchen window shattered, smashed by the butt of a gun. Hine flattened herself against the cupboards as glass sprayed the room. Then the gun was reversed, while massive blows shook both back and front doors. Godfrey snarled and ran to the front door, while Jones cursed and raised his flintlock. Before he could fire, the gunman at the window vanished.

The lock shattered and the back door swung open. A Roadhawks man in a leather jacket whirled into the room, pulling the trigger of the gun cradled in his hands, even as Jones corrected his aim. The mobster's gun clicked impotently.

‘Wrong toy, boyo,' snarled Jones. An explosion boomed in Hine's ear as Jones's pistol spouted fire. Blood erupted from the biker's chest, the impact throwing him backwards out the door. A second man came through, bellowing in rage as his gun also failed. Jones placed his smoking pistol on the table, his hand waving, and drew the second pistol. The second man tried to turn, but Jones's shot shattered the side of his skull. He pitched sideways and fell to the floor.

Another gun roared, but this one was in the hallway. There was a canine howl, and a thump. Hine realized what it was instantly, and gasped. She stepped towards the door, her hand raised, a kitchen knife in it. Jones grabbed her. ‘No! It's too late. Stay with me!'

He stepped to the back door, his hands a blur as he gestured and a cloud of fine dust and ash flew from the barrel, then gunpowder streamed into the weapon, followed by a lead ball. She looked back at the table and saw that the first gun was also loading itself. Jones waved a hand and the door to the hallway flew shut and locked. The first pistol finished loading itself and flew into his grasp. He gave it to her.

A voice called from behind the hallway door. ‘Hine! Where are you, bitch?' Her legs nearly gave way.
Evan!

Jones blew out the kitchen lamp, sidled to the back door, and aimed the reloaded second pistol towards Evan's voice. His sword was in his right hand. ‘Come through that door and you're dead, Parukau.'

An evil laugh sounded from the hallway. ‘Dead like this mutt, Aethlyn?'

A tiny sob bubbled from Hine's mouth, and she clenched the pistol and knife tight. They felt alien, but by God she would use them!

‘Dead like your friends out the back here, Parukau,' said Jones, gesturing Hine to his side.

‘I have plenty more, old man. And you know me: I can't die at all. So why don't you just throw down your arms and surrender. I might even let you live. You can watch me take Hine back.'

She raised the pistol, pointing it at the hallway door. ‘Not
yet, lass,' murmured Jones. He peered out the open back door. ‘There's more of them out here, and others in the real world,' he told her, biting his lip. ‘But I've got a few tricks up my sleeve.' He winked at her. ‘We're not done yet.'

The handle of the hallway door turned. Jones nodded urgently, and she backed towards him. ‘At my word, follow me out, lass. Don't shoot until you can't miss. You'll only get one shot, so make it count.'

He murmured something that made all the lights dim and the air fill with misty smoke, then pulled her out onto the back porch, over the two bodies that lay there. Both were Roadhawks, young men she half-recognized from around town. More stupid than evil. A strange haziness filled the air. She expected a burst of gunfire, but none came.

She heard the kitchen door rattle, and then there was a storm of shouting, and dark shapes erupted from both sides. She whirled in time to see Jones empty his pistol at a man whose face exploded like a rotten pumpkin. Then the old man's sword flashed out in a straight-arm thrust. The man he had stabbed stared in disbelief at the thin metal blade in his chest, then slid sideways to the earth. All about them, the trees seemed to come to life, wrenching and tearing at the intruders. Men shouted, scattering.