The Wildkin’s Curse (43 page)

For a moment, Zed hung in the air, Rozalina in his arms, his eyes wide as he saw the waterfall of broken glass roaring towards him. Then he dived.

Down they plunged, fast as an arrow. The glass tinkled and sang as it fell. Zed tried to spring free of the weight of its fall, but the wind created by the explosion sucked at his heels. He felt sharp cuts and stabs in his legs and feet, and kicked as if he was swimming.

He and Rozalina shot out from under the waterfall of glass, and saw the sea springing towards them, a wrinkled cloth of silver. Zed spun, trying to regain control. The sails of the ship hurtled towards them.

Suddenly a shriek filled the night. Enormous white wings tore apart the wind. Zed caught a glimpse of curved beak and fierce eye, a flash of cruel claw, and a white, sneering face he knew all too well. It was Zakary, astride the back of his sisika bird. Zakary reached out and slashed down with his dagger. The blade of his knife hacked through the collar and tie of the cloak of feathers, and cut deep into Zed's shoulder. Zed cried out in terror and pain as the cloak of feathers was dragged free from his shoulders. At once, he and Rozalina began to freefall, plummeting head over heels, down, down, down.

‘Open the window! Hurry!' Merry commanded.

Liliana supported him as Mags swung open the casements. ‘What do you plan to do?' she asked breathlessly.

‘Call,' Merry said briefly, and leant out into the night.

Silently he called,
Come to me! Help me! Birds of the air, come to me!

From over the ocean they flew, vast-winged albatrosses and grey-backed gulls, stormy petrels and the great snow goose. From the harbour they rose, pelicans and herons and black terns and sandpipers, and a flock of white swans, trumpeting loudly. From the mountains came the eagle and the kestrel and the red-tailed hawk, and from the forest came sparrows and curlews and nightingales, blackbirds and the sweet-throated starling. Hens rose from their roosts, and doves from their dove-cotes, and little songbirds from their cages. Their wings shadowed the stars and blackened the moon.

‘I must have been calling all this time,' Merry thought with wonder. ‘The birds were waiting for me.'

Save them!
He commanded.
Catch them as they fall!

The birds gathered around the tumbling couple, breaking their fall with their wings. At first Zed and Rozalina just smashed through, dropping hundreds of feet every second, but gradually, as more and more birds joined the throng, their precipitous fall slowed. Still more birds came, so that Zed and Rozalina rolled and reeled through feathers, soft and warm and pale, till at last they were caught in the billowing sails of the ship, slid and rolled again, dropped through a tangle of rope, and fell headlong towards the deck. At the very last moment, with a massive wrench of muscles, Zed twisted his body so that he fell first, Rozalina hurtling upon him.

They lay spread-eagled on the deck, unmoving.

T
OM
-T
IT
-T
OT SWOOPED DOWN UPON
Z
AKARY, BITING HIS HAND VICIOUSLY.
The sisika rider squealed in pain and let fall the precious cloak of feathers. At once the omen-imp caught the cloak and flew up to the window where Merry leant, one hand outstretched.

Thank you,
Merry said bleakly as he took the cloak, his eyes on the smashed bodies of Zed and Rozalina. He swirled the cloak about his shoulders and clambered up on the windowsill, cradling his broken arm against him.

‘Don't you dare even think about going without me!' Liliana cried, and leapt up onto the sill. She wrapped both arms about his waist, and pressed her cheek against his. He held her close with his one good arm, overcome with joy and anguish.

‘We won't know until we go and see,' she said gently. ‘Come on, Merry.'

He looked back at his mother and Palila. Mags smiled at him. ‘Go! I'll be all right. I've got my own ride.' He looked a question, but she flapped her hand at him to go, fumbling in her pocket and withdrawing a wooden whistle. ‘Go on, go! I'll meet you at the ship.' She blew a shrill blast on the whistle.

Merry lifted a hand in farewell, then together he and Liliana leapt from the window, and flew down through the storm of bird wings towards the ship. Tom-Tit-Tot flew ahead of them, as noisy as an enraged bee, shrieking, ‘I'll beat you, black and blue!'

Zakary saw them coming and flew towards them, his dagger held triumphantly high. Tom-Tit-Tot flew straight at Zakary and punched him hard on the nose. He flinched, wrenching Sugar's head around, and struck out at Tim-Tot-Tit, who somersaulted midair and changed shape to a black eagle that slashed at Zakary's face with its beak. Zakary whipped Sugar around, and they dived and swooped among the birds, slashing out with beak and claw and dagger, so that small feathered bodies began to fall from the sky.

Then came a blood-chilling cry. The shadow of immense black wings crossed the moon. Sugar screamed in terror, beat his wings frantically, and fled away from the grogoyle flying in from the west. Zakary shrieked and tried to wrench the sisika's head around again, but Sugar paid him no heed. In blind terror he flew right into the path of the waterfall of glass roaring down from the ruin of the Tower of Stars. Zakary screamed, high and thin, and flung high his arms as sharp slivers of glass stabbed him, one through the eye, one through the heart, and one right through his tongue.

He fell backwards and went tumbling down to crash into the sea, Sugar plummeting after him. Seconds later, the avalanche of broken glass plunged into the water, burying Zakary and his sisika bird deep.

Gradually the roar of the broken glass faded away, and all that could be heard was the waves, the wind, and the exultant call of the thousands of birds wheeling overhead.

Merry and Liliana landed lightly on the ship's deck a few seconds later. Merry cast off the cloak of feathers, and they ran to where Zed lay. Rozalina and Priscilla knelt on the deck on either side of him, weeping, as Pedrin very carefully examined Zed's shattered body.

‘I think he's broken his back,' Pedrin said, looking white and stricken. ‘And look! His leg.'

Merry knelt, gulping as he saw Zed's leg. It was bent sideways at a terrible angle. Two shards of broken bone protruded from a bloody wound in his thigh. More blood ran from a crack in his skull, and pooled under his shoulder.

‘I don't think there's anything we can do,' Pedrin said, smoothing his son's blood-matted hair from his face. ‘No-one can survive a fall like that.'

Merry turned and looked at Liliana. ‘Can you help him?'

‘I don't know. I don't know what to do. What if I touch him, and heal him, but the bones are all wrong inside? I don't know what to do!'

‘I do,' a quavering old voice said. Merry turned in surprise, and saw Palila of the Birds limping towards him. Mags hurried forward by her side, while above the ship the grogoyle wheeled high in the sky, illuminating the scene with a blast of fiery breath.

‘Did I hear you say you can heal by the touch of your hand?' Palila asked Liliana, who nodded, saying breathlessly, ‘But I don't know what it is I do, I've only just discovered it.'

‘A great Gift,' Palila said. ‘I'll have to teach you all I know, once we are safely away from here. One day, maybe, you could even be one of the Crafty, of which there are far too few. Now come and help me straighten his leg and see if we can knit those smashed bones back together again.'

Liliana looked shaken and surprised, but did as she was told.

Merry sank down onto the deck, watching intently as the young and the old wildkin women worked together to try to heal the broken pieces of Zed's body.

‘Next shall be the king-breaker, the king-maker, though broken himself he shall be
,' Merry murmured, reaching out to touch his friend's limp arm. ‘Oh, Zed.'

‘So will he live?' Pedrin asked, his big hands cradling his son's head.

‘He'll live,' Palila said. ‘Though it'll be a while before he's up sword-fighting again. And I'm afraid we may not be able to save the leg. We'll have to see how well he heals.'

‘As long as he's alive,' Rozalina said. ‘Did you see how he twisted as we fell, to make sure I was not hurt? He's so brave.'

‘Thank Liah he's alive!' Merry said.

‘I've given him a potion to help him sleep and to numb the pain. I'll give you some too, young man, for that broken arm of yours. I can see by your face that you're in pain.'

Merry nodded and drank the sweet liquid Palila gave him. He was feeling very tired, he had to admit. He sat for a moment, head resting against the mast. Liliana sat beside him, wearily trying to wipe the blood from her hands. The ship plunged through the waves, while overhead a hundred birds flew still about the ship, their wings pale against the dark, starlit sky.

‘I can't believe we did it,' Liliana said. ‘Is it true?'

‘It's true,' Zed's voice said. They turned and saw him leaning up on one elbow, his head and chest and leg heavily bandaged, Rozalina hanging on to his hand. Joyously the friends greeted each other.

‘I was afraid you were dead,' Merry said to Zed.

‘I was afraid you were dead!' he retorted. ‘What happened to you, squirt?'

‘I did die,' Merry said hesitantly, ‘but then I came back.'

Behind them, the whole palace was on fire, flames leaping high into the sky, smoke billowing in the wind. Merry wondered how the fire had begun, and heard, far away, the triumphant bugle of a grogoyle.

‘This place shall fall into desolation, and none shall dwell here but owls and bats
,' Zed quoted. ‘I think your curse has begun to work, my wildkin witch.'

Rozalina bent her head down so that her face was pressed against his hand, her black hair flowing across his bandages. ‘I will never curse again,' she whispered.

‘You won't have to,' Zed said drowsily. ‘Blessings only from now on!'

‘Curse?' Merry said.

So the whole story had to be told, much slowed by exclamations and explanations from all sides. Priscilla had her own adventure to tell, and Tom-Tit-Tot kept repeating at the top of his voice, ‘I punched and crunched, I smacked and cracked, I beat him black and blue!'

‘Well, at least I am free now,' Rozalina said. ‘I flew like a bird over the wave, just as I wished.'

‘All will be well now,' Zed said.

‘Do you really think so?' Merry said. ‘Because it was the blood of all of us you cursed, as well as the king's, Rozalina. My blood and Zed's blood and yours, we are all kin.'

‘I know,' she answered, very quietly. ‘I'm sorry. But a Teller must speak, you know.'

‘What will happen now?' Liliana wanted to know.

‘We will have to fight,' Pedrin said. ‘Lady Vernisha has seized the crown, and I fear she will be even more of a tyrant than her uncle was, since her claim on the throne is shaky at best.'

‘Merry is the true king,' Liliana said passionately. ‘You should have seized the crown from Lady Vernisha when you flew overhead, Zed. The crown is rightfully Merry's!'

‘What?' Rozalina cried. ‘Whatever do you mean?'

‘Merry is the grandson of Princess Druzilla,' Liliana said. ‘She was the elder sister. Rightfully she should have been queen herself, if it was not for the stupidity of the starkin law.'

Merry shook his head. ‘It was a long time ago, and the law had not yet been changed.'

‘It doesn't matter anyway,' Zed said. ‘You are still the true heir. By rights, you are king, Merry. And a very good king you would be too.'

‘I doubt whether the starkin lords would think so,' Merry said bitterly. ‘My grandfather was a bellringer, my mother the daughter of a bandit.'

‘Your grandmother was a princess, and your father a prophet. I can think of no better lineage,' Liliana said stoutly.

Blood is blood, duty is duty.
Merry remembered Liliana's words. He shrugged, looking back to where the palace burnt upon its headland.