01 Wing Warrior (28 page)

Glass tried on a smile that didn’t quite mask her mixed feelings of sadness and fear. ‘Thanks, Sky,’ she said. ‘It’s dead obvious why Nimbus likes you.’

‘What do you mean, “likes me”?’

Cumulo blinked, and licked his nostrils.

Tidal reappeared out of the gloom. ‘Are you two coming?’ he asked.

‘Coming where?’ Sky asked, a little distractedly. ‘We can’t go back into the sewers, Sorrow blocked them off.’

‘There must be other routes down there we can take.’

‘The sewers are massive, we could be lost for days. We don’t have time for that. We need to get back to Landmark.’

‘What other option do we have? The guards are still in the guard room. We can’t go that way.’

‘I’ve got an idea,’ Glass said.

‘I think you’ve done enough damage,’ Tidal said.

‘At least she has an idea,’ Sky said.

‘She probably wants to shrink us all, or turn us into frogs, or make us vanish. Well, it’s not happening. I’m not letting her use any of her magic on me.’

‘I don’t know how to turn people into frogs.’

‘You didn’t know how to shrink dragons either, but you managed to do it anyway. Sometimes you just think things and they happen.’ Tidal was starting to back away. ‘You could be thinking about turning me into a frog right now. Stop it. If that’s what you’re thinking, just stop it.’

‘I wasn’t thinking of using magic to get out of here at all.’

‘Let’s just hear what she has to say,’ Sky said, putting a protective arm around Glass’s shoulders.

Tidal shrugged. ‘Fine, let’s hear the master plan. What do you suggest we do?’

‘I think we should just be children,’ Glass said. ‘That’s what we are, after all.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, follow me, and do exactly what I do.’

Glass headed down the corridor. ‘What’s she doing?’ Tidal asked Sky.

‘I don’t know, but we better go after her before she gets herself into trouble.’

They followed Glass to the guard room, moving as silently as wood spirits through the crackling light of the torches. Their hands touched, long enough for Tidal to realise it was not an accident; but not long enough for him to think they were holding hands.

Glass had one ear pressed to the door of the guard room. The gruff voices of four men could be heard coming from the other side.

‘We shouldn’t have played for money,’ one man said, miserably.

‘I’ve lost everything I earned this week,’ another said.

‘And last week,’ a third added.

‘Stop being such spoilsports. I’ll give you a chance to win it all back,’ the last man said. ‘It’s not my fault none of you are any good at playing cards, is it?’

‘So what do we do now?’ Tidal whispered, as the men continued to bicker and fight over how unfair it was, and how stupid they had been to waste their money on a card game. ‘They don’t sound like they’re in the best of moods, and I don’t fancy fighting our way out.’

‘We won’t have to fight,’ Glass said, pushing open the door.

The guards, who were sat at a round table examining their cards, looked up as the children came into the room. Glass was covered in mud and dirt and sewer slime, and she smelled terrible. She could only imagine what the guards must have thought of her, and her equally smelly companions.

The largest guard sprang up, sending cards flying everywhere. ‘What is this?’ he demanded. ‘Who are you?’

Glass immediately burst into tears. Tidal raised his eyebrows at Sky. ‘Great plan.’

‘What’s wrong?’ the guard asked. ‘Who are you?’

‘Must be some street kids,’ a second guard said.

‘I want my mummy,’ Glass wailed.

‘How did you get down here?’ the guard asked. ‘Are you lost?’

‘I want my mummy.’

‘Sewer kids,’ another guard grumbled. ‘Probably ducked down a manhole to get off the streets for a few days and got lost in the dark. That’s what they stink like.’

‘They could be on the run from the law. We should arrest them.’

‘I want my mummy,’ Glass howled.

‘Arrest them? I don’t know about you, but I don’t want screaming brats down here. I’m losing money, and I won’t be able to concentrate with all that going on.’

The guard who had first jumped to his feet was thoughtful for a moment before speaking. ‘You’re right. They’re just kids. I’ll take them up top. Don’t look at my cards while I’m gone.’

Glass stopped crying. She looked at the guard with big, watery eyes.

‘Come on,’ the guard said.

Glass took the guard’s hand. She looked over her shoulder and winked at Tidal.

***

The guard led them up a huge, winding stone staircase, down a maze of identical corridors, and out into one of the many filthy back streets of Crystal Shine. The shining towers of the palace loomed up, a few streets to the North.

‘So how did you kids get in anyway?’ the guard asked.

‘We’re not sure,’ Tidal lied.

‘Well from here on you’re on your own. I’ve got a card game to win.’ The guard gave the children one last look, perhaps considering whether he should really leave them alone in the street; then he went inside, closing and locking the door behind him.

The pale sun burned lazily without heat. The alleyway was completely empty.

‘This is my first time in the city,’ Sky said. ‘It’s my first time anywhere, really.’

Tidal squinted up at the palace towers. ‘It’s so big.’

Sky looked around at all the rubbish spilled on the dirty street, and the grime on the walls. ‘It’s not what I expected.’

‘I bet you can see the whole world from up there.’

‘But not from down here.’

They both fell silent; both looking in different directions.

‘So what do we do now?’ Tidal asked, eventually.

Glass took Cumulo out of her pocket. Her eyes narrowed, and her forehead creased with concentration.

‘What are you doing?’ Sky asked.

‘Well, when I thought about a rat, Cumulo shrank to the size of a rat,’ Glass said.

‘So?’

‘So now I’m thinking about an elephant.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

It was late afternoon when Sorrow descended upon the village of Landmark with the fury of ages.

She swooped down low and fast, and houses crashed to the ground in piles of stone and wooden splinters. The few people who still remained at the village ran screaming as the mighty dragon breathed clouds of poison into the streets and uprooted trees with her terrible claws.

‘What will we do?’ the people wailed. ‘How can we fight this monster?’

Sorrow landed in the village square with a ground–shaking thump. Her head swung left and right, flaming eyes seeking out any person foolish enough to fight back.

There was nobody.

The last of the Landmark soldiers watched in horror from behind their shields as the dragon bellowed and her smoke blackened the sky.

‘What do we do?’ one of the soldier’s said, so scared he could barely speak.

‘We hide, and hope that Cloud comes back,’ a second soldier said.

At that moment, Sorrow screamed triumphantly and let something human—shaped slip out of her talons.

‘I think,’ the first soldier said, ‘Cloud’s already here.’

In the dust, where he had been dropped, Cloud coughed and groaned. There was dirt in his eyes and up his nose, and every part of him ached worse than if he had been pulled apart and then put back together again. He tried to rise, but he didn’t have the strength.

‘You can’t do this,’ he gasped.

Sorrow lowered her head. Her tongue tickled his face when she spoke. ‘And why not?’

‘These people are innocent.’

‘You say that as if I should care in some way?’

‘These people have never hurt you, not like I did. Take me, but let these people go.’

‘No,’ Sorrow said, after a thoughtful pause. ‘No, I think not. I think, instead, I will destroy this village and everybody in it. And what’s more, I think I will make you watch. That would be a fitting punishment for the way you treated me all those years ago.’

‘Please,’ Cloud said.

Sorrow chuckled deep in her throat. ‘Keep begging, Cloud. It won’t help, but I like it.’

‘You won’t be allowed to get away with this, Sorrow. Someone will stop you. ’

‘Really? And who might that be?’

The air was filled with the thundering of horses’ hooves, and as if in answer to Sorrow’s question, Captain Obsidian, who had only just that minute returned from Crystal Shine, came galloping down the street with two of his men close behind.

Sorrow tilted her head to one side inquisitively. ‘What is this?’ she asked.

‘Steady men,’ Obsidian said, drawing his sword. ‘Stay away from its head and claws. Strike for its belly.’

Sorrow reared up and gave a single flap of her wings, causing such a powerful wind that Obsidian and his men were blasted right out of their saddles. The horses turned tail and ran.

‘Is that the best this village has to offer?’ Sorrow laughed. ‘Is there no–one else who will challenge me?’

Cloud watched, horrified, as Obsidian staggered to his feet just in time for Sorrow to swipe at him with her claws. He flew through the air, spinning wildly, and slammed into the wall of a nearby house. When he hit the ground he did not move again.

Any thoughts the other soldiers might have had about continuing to fight were quickly forgotten.

‘These people are so weak,’ Sorrow hissed. ‘So fragile, so easily crushed. Yet you protect them, Cloud. Why do you do that? Why would you die for these people?’

‘Because they’re good people.’

Sorrow’s wings snapped back together as she prowled around the square hungrily.

‘You don’t need to do this, Sorrow,’ Cloud went on.

‘I know that... But it’s so much fun.’

She threw her head back, and the sound that came out of her was the scream of all the world’s victims. A jet of thick smoke gushed from her throat, blasting up into the sky and then drifting down over the surrounding houses. What few green things remained – some grass, a leafy plant – shrivelled up and died, and Cloud began to cough violently. The world suddenly seemed very dark.

And then the world was darker still, as a massive shadow fell over the village.

Cloud looked up. ‘Cumulo,’ he said.

Sorrow half–turned, but Cumulo, now restored to his proper and impressive size, was already barrelling into her, a roaring mass of talons and fangs. The two dragons rolled together, rending and snapping and biting. Sorrow breathed smoke, and gouts of flame burst from Cumulo. The ground was scorched where they fought.

As the two monstrous titans tumbled and wrestled, smashing flat buildings and fences, Cloud started making his way across the village square, dragging himself with trembling arms, his fingers clenching in the mud, his exhausted muscles groaning with the effort. So intent was he on putting some distance between himself and the dragons that he barely felt it when someone started to pull imploringly at his shoulder.

‘Come on,’ a voice was saying by his ear. ‘Try to stand. You can lean on me.’

He looked up into Tidal’s filthy, determined face, and for a second it felt like his heart had stopped beating. ‘You did it,’ he said. ‘You brought back the dragon.’

Tidal beamed, his teeth flashing through caked–on mud. ‘Was there ever any doubt?’

‘I can’t believe...’

‘No time for that. You can tell us how great we are later.’

‘Daddy!’ Glass squealed, launching herself at Cloud and wrapping her arms around his neck. ‘You’re okay. I knew that mean old dragon couldn’t hurt you.’ The tremor in her voice made it obvious she had been no way near as confident as she claimed to be.

‘I’m okay,’ Cloud said. He was too tired even to hug his daughter back, and he sounded no more convincing than she did. ‘I’m okay now you’re here.’

‘We’re going to move you,’ Tidal said.

Sky appeared beside him: a slight, beautiful creature of calm and purity, moving silently amidst the chaos.

She gently lifted one of Cloud’s arms while Tidal gripped the other. ‘We can’t lift you,’ she said. ‘You have to help us.’

With their assistance, Cloud half crawled, half stumbled, towards Captain Obsidian, who was now sitting against the wall, completely dazed and in no fit state for a fight.

Behind them, Sorrow growled, slashing out wildly and striking Cumulo on the snout. It was a powerful blow that spun him right around; then he steadied himself, spread his wings for balance, and braced himself just in time for Sorrow to pounce on him. Her weight smashed him down, and her bone–crunching jaws clamped around his neck.

He cried out in pain, his tail thrashing violently. Sorrow was bigger and heavier than he was, and he knew he couldn’t win this way. He needed to break free from her grip and keep her at a distance with his fiery breath.

‘So you’re what Cloud was hiding from me, what he was prepared to die for,’ she sneered.

Cumulo twisted and wriggled but he couldn’t escape, she was far too strong.

‘They pinned all their hopes on you,’ she said, toothily. ‘And this is all you are?’

With all her strength, she scooped up Cumulo and hurled him into a building. Stones fell down on him, and the wooden rafters broke on his head. Dizzy and confused, he lumbered out of the wreckage, covered in grey stone–dust. His scales glowed blue underneath. ‘That was a silly mistake, Sorrow,’ he said.

Wreaths of poison hung around Sorrow’s vile head, so it seemed that her red eyes floated in a murky shadow as she approached once more.

Cumulo arched his neck and took a deep breath. The temperature dropped a few degrees, as though he was drawing the warmth out of the air. Sorrow hesitated for a split second, then lunged to the attack. Cumulo snapped his head forwards, hacking up a stream of ice crystals that whipped into her face.

He backed away. Freezing cold vapour rose from his nostrils. Where had his fire gone?

He needed his fire.

Sorrow blinked her vision clear.

Now she was mad.

Cumulo showed his claws. His scales continued to glow blue.

***

Tidal, Sky, and Glass watched the fight from the far side of the square. Sky was clinging on to Tidal’s arm, and Glass was clinging on to Sky’s.