03 Sky Knight (10 page)

‘You aren’t supposed to give voices to familiars either. Don’t make me regret giving you yours.’

‘Whatever. I’m sure you know best.’ The wolf raised his head and sniffed. ‘She’s hiding in the trees. The unicorn is there too. They don’t know what we are.’

‘But she will know we are magic users. If the unicorn has taught her anything, it will be to protect herself from potential threats. I do not expect to talk to her without a fight. There is a chance things could get ugly.’

‘I can sense how strong she is.’

‘Indeed. She is stronger than me.’

Light shook his head. ‘You have to keep getting us into these situations, don’t you? Would you like me to absorb her magic?’

‘No. Not yet.’

‘It might be the only way to –’

There was a flash of white off to their left, travelling around the perimeter of the clearing. After a few moments, the flash resolved into the figure of a magnificent unicorn. Tendrils of magic coiled around her horn as she reared on her hind legs.

‘The unicorn is channelling her power into the girl,’ Light said. ‘They are going to use something very powerful. Possibly death magic. How are you feeling?’

Moon was stood perfectly still, staring at the unicorn. Energy was wrapping around her fingers, and discharging in tiny stutters of multi–coloured light from the tips of her hair. ‘I’ve felt better,’ she said. ‘She has more power than anyone I have ever met. It is no wonder Crow fears her.’

‘So, have you changed your mind about me absorbing her magic yet?’

‘There’s far too much of it. It would tear you apart.’

Light’s mouth drew back into a snarl. It was the expression of a trapped animal ready to fight for its survival. ‘Where is she?’ he growled.

‘I’m right here,’ said a little, disembodied voice behind them.

Moon turned, but there was no–one there, just a very slight shimmer in the air: The faintest outline of something that was assumed rather than seen. ‘Invisibility?’ she said, arching one eyebrow.

‘Among other things,’ the voice said, from high in one of the nearby trees.

‘Sprite magic,’ Light said.

‘Just some things I’ve picked up,’ the voice said, from the other side of the clearing.

‘Everywhere and nowhere,’ Moon said, evidently impressed. ‘Not the work of an amateur.’

‘I have been learning quickly. Reflection has been helping me.’ The unicorn trotted across the clearing, ignoring Light’s menacing growls. ‘Reflection is going to test you both. If you pass, we will talk. If you fail, I will kill you.’

Light could not hold back a harsh bark of laughter. ‘So young, and so arrogant. Show yourself, Little Witch, and we will see who has the power to kill.’

‘Careful,’ Moon said. ‘We are here looking for an ally, not another enemy.’

‘It’s a unicorn,’ Light said. ‘She can’t expect you to be submitted to a test.’

‘It’s okay.’

‘It’s not right. You shouldn’t have to.’

‘I had expected this.’ She turned to Reflection, who was waiting patiently with her head bowed. ‘You may test me, if a test is what it will take to prove my intentions.’

The unicorn fixed Moon with a glassy stare. It felt like someone had opened up her head and taken a look in every corner. The mental connection lasted for only a second, but it took all of Moon’s willpower not to look away.

The air beside Reflection rippled, and a small girl appeared. Her wide eyes looked out from beneath a mass of long, brown hair, and her pale skin glowed as if she was made more of magic than she was of flesh and blood.

‘Hello,’ the little girl said. ‘I am Glass.’

‘I know who you are,’ Moon said. ‘I have travelled far to speak with you. Did I pass your test?’

Glass looked at Reflection, and idly ran her fingers through the unicorn’s mane. ‘Reflection says you did just fine, but I thought you would.’

‘Do you know who I am, Glass?’

‘A woman in my village told me about you. You’re Moon, aren’t you? The fairie princess with the sun in her eyes?’

Moon laughed softly. ‘Once all the world was sunshine, but those days are gone for me.’

‘You lost a unicorn, didn’t you?’

‘In the war. In the last great battle, when all seemed lost to chaos, when the legends were all but gone. When man tore apart man for reasons they could not even recall. On that last day, I faced Crow.’ Her gaze became distant.

‘Did you win?’

‘Even the most stubborn shadows burn away in the sunlight. But out of pity, I spared his life. He repaid my kindness in the only way a creature of pure cruelty could. He struck down my unicorn, my familiar. He took that which was most dear to me, that which was as much a part of me as my own spirit.’ She drew a long breath, and blinked as if to clear her eyes of tears she was unable to cry.

Glass watched Light sniffing around the base of a tree trunk. ‘But now you have a new familiar. I didn’t think that was possible.’

‘It is uncommon. I was not looking for a new companion, but Light found me. After my loss, once I had become Moon, I travelled into the Spine Mountains. I was expecting to die, and I had no desire for anything else. The pain in my heart had made me a shattered mockery of the fair princess I used to be, and I saw no further purpose in my existence.’

‘Stop talking like that,’ Light snapped, without looking up from his investigation of the shrubs around the tree. ‘You know I hate it when you talk like that.’

Glass giggled, hiding her mouth behind one hand. ‘He’s quite moody, isn’t he?’

‘I have a right to be,’ Light growled. ‘One day, I’m just a wolf howling at the moon, and then I see this star flash across the skies. Next thing, I’m full of magical powers and I’m compelled to find Moon. Now I’m stuck with her, and she is such depressing company.’

‘It seems that when my unicorn passed away, she was able to transfer some of her magic into another being. Even as she died, she ensured that I would not.’

‘And I have to live with the consequences,’ Light added.

‘He wouldn’t have it any other way,’ Moon said.

‘How come he can talk?’ Glass asked. ‘Reflection talks to me, but,’ she tapped the side of her head, ‘I hear her in here. I can talk back to her too, without moving my mouth or anything.’

‘At the point a magic user discovers her power, a familiar is born. The two are one, a single spirit split between two bodies, and they can communicate as such. But Light was not born a familiar, he had the position thrust on him rather unceremoniously. We do not share the connection I shared with the unicorn.’

‘Thankfully,’ Light muttered, curling up in a patch of long grass. ‘I don’t want you poking around in my head anyway. I’d end up as depressed as you are.’

‘He cannot communicate with me psychically, as your unicorn can communicate with you, so I had to give him a voice. I only regret it sometimes.’

‘I only regret it sometimes,’ Light mimicked.

‘He’s funny,’ Glass giggled.

‘Great. Now Short Stuff thinks I’m a comedian.’

‘You get used to him,’ Moon said.

Behind her, the trees rustled, making the sound of a thousand whispers. Reflection pricked her ears, flaring her nostrils in alarm.

‘Soldiers,’ Light said, jumping up. ‘Don’t worry. They haven’t followed us. They are moving in the other direction.’ He sniffed the air. ‘Something else, too. Something far more evil. Something...’ His eyes widened. ‘It’s time to leave.’

‘What is it?’ Glass asked, but the wolf was already rushing across the clearing into the scraggly trees beyond.

‘Do you have a camp nearby?’ Moon asked.

‘Just on the other side of the clearing, hidden in the brambles,’ Glass said.

‘Good. Take me there.’

Glass held out her hand for Moon to take. Moon hesitated.

‘It’s okay,’ Glass said.

‘You don’t understand. My presence is painful for most people. My touch is deadly.’

‘It’s okay. Really.’

Glass’s face was open and honest, and there was a look in her eye that made Moon realise this small girl knew exactly what the risks were, and she had no fear of them.

Cautiously, she accepted Glass’s hand. Glass winced, but then put on a smile. ‘You are very sad,’ she said.

‘You are the first person to have been able to survive touching me in the many years since my unicorn was slain. If only we could all be as you are.’

Glass shrugged, then looked off into the woods, where the shadows were every creeping nightmare that she had ever feared was real. ‘What’s out there? What was it that scared Light so much?’

‘The thing we all most dread in these hard days is on the move, marching out from Crystal Shine to survey his new dominion. The thing out there is Crow.’

***

Onyx watched from the cover of the trees as the last spider–soldier unceremoniously stuffed Sky into a sack and dragged her away. She wriggled and squealed, fighting to break free with every last bit of her strength; but gradually her muffled screams faded away and there was only the horrid scuttling of the departing soldiers. Then that too was gone.

Onyx cantered out of hiding, shaking leaves from his mane. He was seized with the urge to chase after Sky, to run down every last one of those evil soldiers and smash them into dust; but as he prepared to set off, he briefly looked back at Private Silver. The brave soldier had not moved since he had been cut down, but what if he was still alive?

If Onyx left, then he would be condemning the private to death. If he didn’t leave, what terrible fate was in store for Sky?

Whatever he did, he was letting someone down.

He stamped his hoof agitatedly. He was only a horse. He was supposed to carry people around, eat grass, and occasionally win a race. He wasn’t supposed to make this kind of decision. Lives weren’t supposed to depend on him.

Silver groaned faintly.

Onyx made his decision. He nudged the private with his nose.

No response.

He thought for a moment, and then he licked Silver’s face.

Silver groaned again, half–opening one eye. ‘Your kisses are sloppier than my grandmother’s,’ he said. His voice was weak, but there was just enough life in it for Onyx to realise the private was not going to die just yet. He snorted, and nuzzled Silver’s cheek to show his happiness.

‘What do you think you’re doing? Get off me. Where’s Sky? Did she get away?’

Onyx shook his head and then indicated the way in which Sky had been taken. The shadows were growing longer by the second as night swooped across the land. It was already too dark to track the spider–soldiers. There was a chill in the air that had not been there before: a sense that things had changed for the worse.

‘We have to go after her,’ Silver said, through gritted teeth.

Onyx shook his head again. He was only a horse, but even he could tell that Silver was in no fit state to be going off on a rescue mission.

‘Don’t shake your head at me. I’ve not had a good day, and I’m in no mood to be arguing with a horse. Bring those reins around so I can get myself up.’

With a good deal of huffing and panting and imaginative swearing, Silver heaved himself into the saddle, where he slumped against Onyx’s neck, breathing heavily. ‘Sky is in trouble,’ he said. ‘We’re the only ones who know about it. We have to go after her. I need you to run as fast as you can. Can you do that for me?’

Onyx started off in the direction the spider–soldiers had gone, but after less than a dozen strides, Silver slipped out of the saddle with a groan. Onyx rolled his eyes, and started nudging the unconscious soldier. It was several minutes before he got any kind of reaction.

‘I think I fainted,’ Silver muttered, propping himself against a mossy bank. ‘Give me a minute to catch my breath and then we’ll move on.’

Onyx stamped angrily. It was so annoying not being able to communicate with humans. If he could, he would have been able to tell Silver he was being an idiot. At this rate, it would take them a year to catch up with Sky and her kidnappers.

‘Well then, what do you suggest?’ Silver snapped, holding both hands over the wound in his stomach. ‘I can’t just let those things take her away without a fight. She trusted me.’

Onyx pawed the ground. He knew how Silver felt, but what could they do? What hope did a dying soldier and a horse have of finding Sky out there in the blackness of the night, let alone rescuing her? They needed help.

To the north of the Forbidden Woods, a single star hung low in the sky, illuminating a small section of the tree line. At first Onyx didn’t think anything of it; but then he remembered what the fairie had said: ‘Should you need me, you only have to look.’

‘Time to get moving,’ Private Silver said, pulling himself back into the saddle.

Onyx hesitated for a moment, then turned away from the route he was on, and headed in the direction of that glimmering star.

‘Where are you going?’ Silver muttered.

Onyx shook his head sadly. He was only a horse. He didn’t have a clue.

CHAPTER TEN

For a long time, there was only the perfect silence of the night; but then a faint crack sounded in the undergrowth, and there were signs of movement in the gloom.

Hawk motioned for Autumn to keep quiet, and then wriggled off on his belly through the rotted vegetation and tree roots. Autumn went the other way, sliding down an embankment to where another three children from Hawk’s archery class were waiting nervously.

‘What is it?’ whispered one of the boys.

‘Scouts,’ Autumn hissed.

‘Here in the woods? How is that possible? Crow’s army must still be a day’s march from Landmark. There’s no way they could have got scouting parties this far so quickly.’

‘Maybe they aren’t from the army. Maybe the stories about Crystal Shine falling to the enemy are true. Where–ever they’re from, Hawk’s about to teach them not to follow us.’

‘What does he want us to do?’

Autumn swept back her hair, tying it into a ponytail with a strap of leather. She notched an arrow to her bowstring. ‘Furrow, go back to the caravan. Let Obsidian know that we’re being followed. There are two soldiers, and they’ve seen our tracks. There will be more.’