Jake's War, Book Two of Wizards (14 page)

“You need to calm down, Jake. You can do anything if you're calm enough to think.”

My heart rate began to drop. If Mr. Griffith could be calm on a coach racing between universes then so could I. We needed to stop. It didn't really matter where so long it had a breathable atmosphere and the ground was flat.

“You take the wheel and I'll try and find somewhere to land. Be prepared for anything.”

When Mr. Griffith put his seat belt on, I said, “Ready,” and put us down.

The bus swung wildly along a wet rock surface in total darkness. Rain drummed on the roof hard enough to sound like it would break through at any moment. I heard a tire burst as it hit a rock. Mr. Griffith switched the windscreen wipers on as water covered the glass making it impossible to see where we were going. He turned on the headlights and I saw we were driving along a flat plain. We were slowing but there was no grip for the tires in the torrential rain. It was then I noticed we were running out of road. There was nothing ahead.

We almost stopped before we went over the cliff, but almost is not good enough. I took the coach back into hop-space as the front of the vehicle began to tip. Hop-space was beginning to feel like home and I saw we were barely moving through the mists.

“Well, that wasn't so bad,” Mr. Griffith said.

“The coach must carry its momentum into hop-space. That's why we've travelled so far. If I'd hopped the coach when it was stationary I expect we'd have been fine.” I smacked myself on the forehead as there had never been a reason to move while hopping. It just seemed the right thing to do.

“What do we do next?”

In answer I brought the coach down onto a world experiencing the first rays of dawn. I chose a flat dessert and the coach ground to halt after a few feet. I got out to inspect the damage. You don't need to be an expert on vehicles to know when a tire has been ripped to shreds and an axle broken. Nor, if you're a wizard, did either problem take more than a few seconds to fix.

Mr. Griffith looked round in delight.

“I name this world, Griffworld,” he said imperiously.

“Better get back in the coach before the locals take umbrage,” I suggested. A black cloud on the horizon was beginning to look suspiciously like a thousand flying machines. They were heading our way and I could already hear the drone of their engines.

“Any plan, Jake?” Mr. Griffith said as he restarted the coach.

“Turn around and head off slowly in the opposite direction. Don't go faster than ten miles an hour.”

I kept a close watch on the cloud behind us as the coach turned. The flying machines looked vaguely like helicopters and I saw metallic glints from the bottom of the vehicles. When they shot bursts of flame at us I hopped the coach.

My theory was that we must be heading back the way we came and if I waited long enough I'd see somewhere familiar. What I didn't expect was that the first place I recognized would be the Dragon World. The coach came to a halt in the arena and Mr. Griffith turned on the headlights. It seemed this world was in perpetual darkness. A new and equally strange set of galaxies could be seen in the sky above.

Mr. Griffith was fascinated and we spent an hour looking up at the sky. The dragons were gone. I doubted they used this world very often.

I tried hopping with the coach stationary and discovered I couldn't move it at all.

“It's probably all the iron and steel in it,” Mr. Griffith confided. “You need it moving to be able to hop.”

I said a couple of very rude words and Mr. Griffith grinned at me.

“Now there's no call for that sort of language, boyo. There's plenty of fuel in the tank. Enough to get us to the Morning Star and back.”

It took a couple more hops before we materialized in front of the Palace gates. Mr. Griffith brought the bus to a halt and pressed a button causing a bell to ring. He picked up the intercom and addressed the empty coach.

“End of the line, all change. Don't forget to take your luggage with you. The Dragon Bus Company wishes you all a pleasant holiday.”

I gave Mr. Griffith a pained look and he laughed.

“Come on, Jake. Show me around. And don't forget to teach me the language.”

And older people are always going on about how teenagers don't act mature.

Our arrival caused some consternation. The guards at the gate must have called for reinforcements because twenty or thirty jittery armed men surrounded the bus. I recognized the Captain of the Guard and waved at him through the windscreen. He shouted to his men and I saw them relax. I got Mr. Griffith to hold out his hand and taught him the language.

Captain Cari banged on the coach and Mr. Griffith pressed the door button. The Captain jumped back at the unexpected noise as the pneumatic doors folded open.

“You have brought your caravan with you, Wizard Morrissey. Can we expect giant horses to follow or is it pulled by dragons?”

I grinned. The Captain was a good guy and I liked him a lot.

“It pulls itself and you'd better get used to it because I'm going to be moving a lot of wedding guests in it.”

Captain Cari gave me a sympathetic look. “My wife invited everybody but the beggars in the street to our wedding, and that was only because she didn't have their addresses.”

“Aren't you going to introduce me, boyo?”

I smiled at the eagerness in Mr. Griffith's voice. He sounded like a schoolboy on a trip to the seaside.

I stepped off the coach and bowed low as Mr. Griffith came to the steps.

“May I introduce my good friend, Mr. Daniel Griffith? Mr. Griffith, this is Willem Cari, Captain of the Palace Guard.”

The Captain and Mr. Griffith bowed to each other. I should carry a camera because that was something special to see, let me tell you.

“Jake!”

Only one person can sound so happy and annoyed at the same time. I turned to see Esmeralda hurrying towards me, hands on tummy to keep the bounce down.

“Mr. Griffith can I introduce Princess…”

“Later,” Esmeralda said, sounding worried. “Hop to Urda's room. Something's happened to Anna and we think she's dying.”

Chapter Twenty-One: Death

Urda's room was bathed in sunlight and all the windows were wide open creating a hell of a draft. Urda knelt before her bed where the frail form of Anna lay. Behind Urda, Wenna stood wringing her hands nervously and looking upset.

“What happened?”

Urda turned to stare at me. Her face was stained and dripping with tears. She gulped and turned back to her sister.

“I came looking for Urda and found the child on the floor,” Wenna said. She sounded close to tears.

I stepped past her to the side of the bed and knelt beside Urda. She held her sister's hand and I put my hand above hers so I touched Anna's arm. Her little body was burning up. I looked inside her and saw damage everywhere. Every organ in her body was dying. I could sense Urda repairing the damage at a frantic rate, but even so it was a losing battle.

“I can't do it, Jake,” she whispered in despair. “It's happening everywhere too fast.”

Joining in the battle with Urda wasn't going to help. I needed to find the cause.

“Carry on with what you're doing. I need to think.”

Sunlight covered the bed, revealing how emaciated Anna was. I used my magic sight but could see nothing magical on her. Then I remembered something.

“Shut the windows and close the curtains!” I shouted at Wenna.

She stared at me blankly and then looked stubborn. “Sunlight and air are good for a sick child.”

I waved my hand and every window in the room slammed shut, I heard glass shatter. I waved again and the curtains wrapped themselves to the frame of the windows blocking out most of the light. Wenna grabbed me by the arm.

“What are you doing? Stop.”

I didn't have time for this. “Leave this room now.” Wenna turned and sleepwalked out of the room. I hate using compulsion, but I didn't have the time to explain. I'd apologize to her later.

Urda was far too wrapped up in keeping her sister alive to notice anything around her. I stared into Anna in the reduced light and saw exactly what I'd feared. The almost invisible glow of
The Eating Death
spell was upon her.

“I know what it is, but it's gone so far I don't know if I can fix it. You have to keep her alive while I take the magic off her.”

Urda nodded, her eyes focused inside her sister and not seeing me. I started to move my hand across Anna's face, removing the despicable magic killing her. It wasn't easy. The magic had travelled inside her and what worked for Fluffy would not work for me now. If I didn't get all of it I might as well not bother.

I heard the door open behind me, but ignored it. Someone knelt beside me and spoke softly in my ear.

“What is it, Jake?”

“The Eating Death.”

Esmeralda sighed. “I'll secure the door. Good luck.”

The world around me faded as I moved my hand slowly down Anna's body. We would need to turn her onto her side soon as I had nearly finished all the skin I could reach. Urda was working less effectively as she tired, but on the upside the amount of healing she needed to do was steadily decreasing. It was becoming a tortoise and the hare race. Could I destroy
the eating death
before Urda ran out of magic to keep Anna alive?

Urda helped me roll the child on her side and the disease got ahead in the short time that took. From some hidden reserve, Urda beat the illness back. Her breath sounded ragged as though she was running a marathon and I knew she was close to collapse.

I slid my hand slowly down Anna's spine. Every vertebra stuck out, she was more skeleton than child. It was all so unfair. I called up my reserves; this child had a right to live. How dare somebody take that away from her? Time rolled on, uncaring and remorseless.

I went over Anna for the third time to make absolutely sure I had got it all. Urda lay on the bed beside her sister, unconscious. I wondered what Inspector Thomas would think if he burst upon this scene. Two unconscious girls, one of them naked and a child, lying helpless as I ran my hands all over her body. They'd probably lock me up and throw away the key. I needed those sorts of thoughts to keep me awake. I giggled insanely as I discovered a small piece of the eating death lurking between Anna's toes. The tiniest sliver of it would kill her. I had to get it all.

Then it was done and I slumped against the side of the bed and fell asleep.

“Jake, wake up!”

I didn't want to wake up. In my dream I stacked piles of wood in Mr. Griffith's woodyard. It was pleasing to see the stacks rise, every plank put exactly where it should be and no one to know it was right but me.

“Wake up!”

“Okay, no need to shout.” I fought to open my eyes as Esmeralda leaned over me to get at Urda.

Esmeralda ignored my protest and shook Urda urgently. We were still in Urda's room, the curtains drawn and from the small gaps between them I saw the sun shining. I couldn't have been asleep all that long.

Urda struggled to wake up and rubbed at her eyes. Esmeralda seemed satisfied with her efforts and sat down on the only chair in the room.

“We have only a little time in which to decide what to do. Jake, you told me Anna's sickness was caused by
the eating death
, which can only be put on someone by a wizard. It makes me shudder to think it could be any one of us next.”

“No, it's easy to block. I protected everyone in Salice the day we came back from Dragon World.”

“But not Anna,” Urda said as she stroked her sister's brow. Anna slept peacefully, a half-smile on her lips.

“Anna wasn't here. It never occurred to me to protect her. I wish I had though.”

“Then you're wishing her dead,” Esmeralda said sharply. “She knows or has seen something that someone doesn't want us to know. If
the eating death
failed to work on her, they would have found some other way. This way she has survived.”

“It must be the Valhallan wizards.” I stood up with my fists clenched. It was time to take care of those bastards once and for all.

“I wish you would learn to think.” Esmeralda said angrily and gestured I should sit back down. She's a bit of a control freak. “It's highly unlikely the Valhallans were involved.”

“Give me any good reasons,” I suggested, well snapped at her if truth be told. I felt so angry with them I could burst.

Esmeralda held up a finger. “One, because what they do on Anna's world is none of their business.” She put up another. “And two, because everybody here would approve of their actions if they knew. However, the only reason anyone could have for killing Anna must relate to that world. That's all she knows.”

That made sense. I started to calm down. There's little point in anger if you don't know who to be angry at.

“Then she's still in danger,” Urda said, and Esmeralda nodded.

“Exactly. We have a short time to make a plan to protect her and keep our enemy off guard.”

I don't understand girls all that well, but I do know Esmeralda.

“Why don't you just tell us what the plan is?”

Esmeralda grinned and leaned forward.

“We tell everybody Anna is dead and Urda is weak and distraught from failing to save her life. I've already arranged for a child's coffin to be delivered to the corridor outside. We'll tell people that Urda will only let me and Jake touch Anna's body. Jake can hop somewhere and bring stones back to make the coffin the right weight. He can also seal it so no one can look inside.”

“What do we do with Anna?” I asked. Word would soon get out if food for two was taken to the room.

Esmeralda pursed her lips. “I thought you could take her to Wales. Either your parents or Jenny's could look after her for the next few days.”

Urda looked worried. “I'm not letting her out of my sight.”

Esmeralda smiled at Urda. “I wouldn't expect you to. You'll go together. It will be easier to maintain the illusion that you won't come out of your room if you're not here. You'll have to attend her funeral though. It's arranged for the cathedral at noon tomorrow.”