03 Sky Knight (11 page)

Furrow dashed off, moving silently through the trees.

‘You two, find a high place with a good view of the surrounding area. Set up a watch point, and be ready for anything. Don’t fire unless you’ve checked your target. If you give away your position, those spider–soldiers will be all over you in a second. You know how quick they can be when they want.’

The other two boys nodded and disappeared into the woods. Moments later, Autumn glimpsed them again as rapidly moving shadows, climbing one of the trees.

She edged along the bank, then settled into a hollow, partially concealed by a clump of hazel and an outcrop of stone. From here, it was just possible to see the path that the caravan of Landmark villagers had trodden down less than an hour before.

A tremble of fear passed through her as she thought about how close behind the villagers the enemy were. If Hawk couldn’t stop those two scouts from reporting back to their boss, then there might be no chance of getting the caravan up into the mountains before it was caught. A stretched out line of tired travellers wouldn’t stand a chance against even a handful of trained enemy soldiers. Men, women, children: they would all be torn apart mercilessly, and then raised again to swell the ranks of Crow’s army.

Autumn’s grip on her bow tightened, and she tried to keep her breathing under control.

She needed to be calm. For everyone’s sake.

She needed to concentrate on...

A sound. Up ahead, around the bend in the path. A tremble of motion vibrating through a small, bud–covered vine. The soft pat pat pat of someone running through fallen leaves.

She bit her lip, and drew back on her bowstring. Her arm was shaking so much she didn’t think she would be able to hit the broad side of a giant; but she started saying over in her head the lessons that Hawk had taught her. Just thinking about his voice was calming, and made her feel stronger. Hawk had faith in her as an archer, and that gave her faith in herself.

A shadow stopped on the path.

Hawk.

She cupped one hand around her mouth, doing her best impression of a hooting owl. Hawk glanced in her direction, took a quick look behind him, and then scampered over, bent almost double so that he was virtually impossible to see in the undergrowth. He dived into cover beside her.

‘What have you seen?’ he whispered.

‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘I’ve sent Furrow back to the caravan. The others are in the trees, just ahead. What about you? Have you tracked the soldiers down?’

‘They’re like ghosts.’ The agitation was evident in Hawk’s voice. ‘Almost impossible to track. I thought I heard something back this way. I was worried they might have followed you.’

‘Are we hunting them, or are they hunting us?’

There was the snap of a carelessly placed foot splintering a twig, and they both jumped into action together, readying their bows.

Hawk peered out of their hiding place, squinting as he scanned the trees for any approaching threat.

Nothing.

‘Like ghosts,’ he muttered.

There was another crack, much closer, and then a scream. Something fell out of a tree just a short way down the path, landing with a heavy, unpleasant thud. The leaves shook, there was a second of frenzied scuttling, and then another twisted form dropped to the ground.

Autumn stared at the two shapes on the path.

Her friends.

‘The soldiers are in the trees ahead,’ Hawk said, emerging from the hollow and dragging Autumn behind him. ‘Come on. They’ll be after Furrow next. We need to reach him first.’

As he started to run, a spindly shadow – a floating cloak with wiry limbs – came leaping towards him from the darkness. He threw himself forwards, pulling Autumn down so that the spider–soldier hurtled over them both; and then he was back on his feet and running, holding Autumn’s hand firmly. There was the familiar, itchy–sounding scuttle behind them as the spider–soldier rearranged his limbs.

‘We can’t outrun it,’ Autumn said, yanking her hand free and turning to face the threat.

The soldier was only a few strides away, sword a lightning flash in his right hand, his ghastly legs a blur of alien movement. Autumn notched an arrow and loosed it in one swift motion. The arrow punched straight through the soldier’s throat, stopping him in his tracks. He swayed slightly, and then dropped to his knees.

‘Good shot,’ Hawk said. ‘Now come on. We have to reach Furrow. He isn’t as good with a bow as you are.’ Something bounded through the trees above them, moving at dizzying speed. ‘Come on. There isn’t much time.’

They dashed along the beaten path, careless now of how quiet they were, filled only with the desire to get to Furrow and protect him from the approaching enemy. Shapes moved in the gloom all around them; some were real, some were imagined. Every twisted tree trunk appeared as a demon, with withered claws and dark, glaring eyes; every sound was a potential threat. The wood was a world of nightmares.

‘Furrow!’ Hawk roared, his voice echoing. ‘Furrow. Find somewhere to hide. They’re coming.’

There was no response. There was no telling how far ahead Furrow was. He might already be clear of the woods completely.

The idea that Furrow was already safely back at the caravan filled Hawk with hope, but after just a few more paces he was suddenly struck by a thought that stopped him dead in his tracks.

‘Oh no,’ he said. The blood was thumping in his temples, and his breath was coming in hard, straining gasps. ‘What have we done?’

‘What’s wrong?’ Autumn asked.

‘Don’t you see? They’ve tricked us. They wouldn’t have gone after Furrow. There was no need. They made us think they were going this way, but they’ve turned back.’ He pointed along the path, into the ugly heart of the Forbidden Woods. ‘They’ve gone back to Crystal Shine, or where–ever it is they came from. Back to Crow, to tell him exactly where we are. By this time tomorrow, there will be soldiers crawling all over the place. The caravan will never make it into the mountains. We’re all going to die here.’

***

Cloud was sitting in the corner of his tower prison, staring at the flickering lines of text written on the singed parchment that Lady Citrine had been hiding. The spell was a very old example of a glamour that could cause a person’s appearance to be altered either on a temporary or permanent basis. Traditional fairie magic.

Very dangerous.

‘You do not approve of my actions, do you?’ Lady Citrine asked, who was wrapped in a blanket on the other side of the room.

‘I do not.’

‘Well it is lucky that I am still Lady of this realm, and the last time I checked I did not need your permission or approval to look after the people the best way I know how.’

Cloud shook his head. ‘I don’t like it. We don’t know who wrote it.’

‘Does that matter?’

‘Of course. Writing magic is a fine art that only few ever managed. A spell is not simply words, it is something far more dangerous. It is magic that anyone can use.’

‘I didn’t think I would be able to make it work, because I’m not a magic user. But it did work. It did everything I wanted it to.’

‘No. It didn’t do what you wanted. That’s the problem. A spell is written by a magic user who has managed to project magic into a written form. The spell will only ever work in the way that magic user wanted it to work. The reader has no control over the results.’

‘I don’t really understand.’

Cloud sighed heavily, folding up the paper. ‘And that’s why people who are not magic users should not meddle with this sort of thing. Magic users access stores of internal power to manipulate the environment in the way they desire. They don’t have to recite incantations, or read chants, they just think of something, and it happens. When a magic user writes down a spell, he is storing in those words the power and desire to make the spell work. If someone then reads the words, the store of magic is opened, and the spell operates exactly in the way the writer wanted it to.’

‘What are you trying to tell me?’

‘Perhaps an example will help. You see, most magic users can create fire. One could create it, and keep it contained in a single candle flame, while another could create it as a gigantic flaming sun that will obliterate all life on the planet. They could both put the power and desire required for those two outcomes in two identically written spells.’

‘Oh.’ Lady Citrine fidgeted uncomfortably.

‘Do you see now? Two spells written the same way. Both create fire. One helps you see in the dark. One destroys the world. And there is no way to tell them apart.’

‘But the glamour worked fine.’

‘It appears so, but we do not know with what intention the spell was written. Anything could happen.’

Lady Citrine wrapped the blanket more tightly around her shoulders. ‘I still think I did the right thing,’ she said, although there was little conviction behind the words. ‘I had to protect my people, and so far I have been able to do that.’

Cloud crossed the room, and handed back the parchment. ‘Keep this safe,’ he said. ‘Put it back into the compartment in your bracelet, and don’t show it to anybody else. If this spell was written to do the work of evil then I do not want anybody else using it.’

‘Of course.’ Lady Citrine hid the paper away. ‘I didn’t mean to cause any harm.’

Just as she slid closed the compartment in her bracelet, there was a jangle of keys outside. Cloud moved to stand between her and the door. He was still incredibly weak, but he was not going to let anyone harm the Lady without a fight.

The door swung open with a creek, and one of the spider–soldiers came in with a sack over his shoulder.

‘Why are you keeping us this way?’ Cloud demanded.

With a gurgling, sludge–filled laugh, the soldier dropped the sack and then backed out of the room, locking the door behind him.

‘Not very talkative, are they,’ Lady Citrine said, getting to her feet. ‘Shall we see who our new guest is?’

Cloud motioned for her to stay at a safe distance. He would not put it past Crow to introduce a sack full of snakes just to liven things up a bit. ‘Let me handle this,’ he said.

Whatever was inside the sack started to jump about excitedly, and there was a muffled scream. A human scream.

Cloud quickly untied the string, allowing the contents of the sack to spill out.

‘Sky?’ he said.

‘I could hardly breathe in there,’ Sky said, sitting up. ‘Stupid spider–soldiers. Treating me like an animal. I wish I could...’ She stopped grumbling for a moment as her gaze fell on Cloud’s smiling face. ‘You’re... I mean... Cloud!’

She threw her arms around his neck, squeezing him as hard as she could.

‘Steady,’ he said. ‘Go easy on me.’

‘I was coming to get you. I was on the road, and look at this, they’ve brought me straight to you. I knew you were still alive. The skeleton told me where you were.’

‘The what? Hold on, slow down.’

There were tears coursing down Sky’s cheeks. ‘I wanted to help Nimbus,’ she said. ‘I wanted to find you, so he wouldn’t be worried any more.’

‘Is the Wing Warrior still alive?’ Lady Citrine asked.

Sky’s eyes widened with alarm. ‘My Lady,’ she squeaked, dropping to one knee. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t see you. Forgive me.’

‘Get up, Girl. This is hardly the time for ceremony. Tell us what’s going on?’

‘Yes,’ Cloud said, gripping Sky’s shoulder. ‘Tell me about my son. And my daughter. Are they well?’

Sky smiled broadly. ‘You would be so proud of Nim. He has become a mighty Wing Warrior in the short time since you saw him last. He found the unicorn and saved Glass’s life, and then he rescued the village from those spider–soldiers. We all owe our lives to him. He even mounted a rescue mission for you, and reclaimed the fort.’ At this she paused, twisting the sleeve of her dress nervously. ‘But he saw an army approaching from the mountains, so he burned Flint Lock down, and then he ordered all the villagers to abandon their homes and flee into the mountains for protection. Our homes are gone.’

Cloud nodded sagely, as if this was not all totally unexpected news to him. ‘It is as I feared. Crow has amassed an army, and he intends to rule this realm. Where is Nimbus now?’

‘He flew out to Serpent’s Coil.’

‘The old home of the leviathans? Why would he do that when his home is under attack?’

‘I asked him to. Tidal has been living out on the island. He has become... strange. He doesn’t like us any more. I think he hates Nim. But I still wanted to warn him about the danger. He used to be our friend, and I thought we should.’

‘When you say strange, what do you mean?’

‘Angry. Bitter. He spends all his time on the island or in the water. He can swim really far now. And he frightened me by coming to my house one night.’

‘Have you noticed any physical changes?’

‘No. I don’t think so.’

Cloud stalked away, heading out onto the balcony. Stars were glimmering in the night sky, picking out the edges of buildings with silver light. The city looked like a gigantic spider had spun a web over it, trapping everyone inside.

‘Serpents,’ Cloud muttered. ‘I hate serpents.’

‘Do you know something?’ Lady Citrine asked, following him out with Sky by her side.

‘Just educated guesses. My son may be in more danger now than he has ever been.’

‘What do you mean?’ Sky said. ‘What danger?’

Cloud noted the fear in her expression, and realised she was going to blame herself if Nimbus was in peril. He forced himself to smile. ‘Nothing. I’ve just been locked up for a long time, and I don’t like not knowing what’s going on.’

Sky studied the city thoughtfully. It was totally devoid of any life, and there was utter silence. ‘What can we do? Crow is so powerful now. Even if all the dragons were here, could we really hope to win?’

Lady Citrine placed a blanket around Sky’s shoulders. ‘Be strong,’ she said.

‘I really messed up this rescue, didn’t I?’ Sky laughed.

‘You got here. That’s more than most would have managed,’ Cloud said.

Sky winced, and her vision smeared with tears. ‘Private Silver. He was with me. He tried to protect me from those soldiers.’