Lazar (21 page)

“She’s putting up one hell of fight.” Hal’s
father was providing an agitated commentary. “Damn! I think they’ve knocked her
down. I can’t see a thing. No, hold on … My God! What the hell is
that
?” He grabbed the helmet with both
hands.

“And that, and that …” he cried out in amazement,
as he span around in fits and starts. “What in heaven’s name is going on?”

Suddenly she was aware of a commotion. The fists
and feet that pinned her down were removed within an instant. At first she was
unable to take advantage of this sudden release – if anything she
collapsed further into the mud, utterly exhausted. And then she heard the
screams.

The howls of terror and cries of disbelief
galvanised her into action. She leapt to her feet immediately, eyes staring,
pulse racing. She felt a breathless hollow where a heartbeat should have been. She
span round. Behind her stood a skeleton, hollow-boned and hardly visible. It
stared with eyeless sockets, it intoned through lipless jaws – “Hell-o,
Jan-net, well-come to Wick-witch” – and every time it spoke another
spectre joined it, rearing up out of sea or breaking through the soil like
dragons’ teeth. They were all identical; their chant a dreadful unison.

She stood and crossed herself. An atavistic dread
had risen to a deafening roar and drowned out every single thought … but one.
They don’t exist, they don’t exist!
the
thought called repeatedly, struggling to be heard above the maelstrom of
emotions.
Listen to me! Just get away.
Ignore them, they’re not real. If you can make it back to dry land…

She turned and ran.

The skeletons turned with her and followed her as
she pushed aside her captors and set off swiftly down the spit. The mob
recoiled in horror from the young witch and her entourage. Some of them fell to
their knees, praying fervently. Others turned and stumbled into the sea –
the same sea in which, seconds earlier, they had meant to drown the girl who
now struck them with mortal fear.

Oblivious to this irony, their intended victim
continued blindly along the fast-eroding seafront, her diabolic retinue dancing
all around. She turned and headed up the street as scattered thatch and
shattered walls were strewn in all directions. She dodged and dived and battled
on, a single thought to guide her.

I’ve
got to reach the church. I have to make it to the cliff edge.

“What cliff? Which church? The one
near West Gate – All Saints? But that was by the dyke. There were no
cliffs in Wickwich.”

“She’s escaped!”

Father and son each thrust a fist high into the
air.

The icon had coordinates again. They watched it
move determinedly in a straight line down the screen. Hal scrolled the map to
keep up with its progress. The red line, which marked the position of the
present-day coastline, slid into view. The icon was approaching it at a steady
pace – but not quite fast enough for Hal.

“Come on, come on,” he shouted. “As soon as she
reaches the cliff top I’ll take my finger off the switch and turn the computer
off,” he told his father, without taking his eyes off the screen.

“I’ll get the car out right away and go and pick
her up.”

In one swift move Hal’s father snatched the
helmet from his head, clicked off the switch and hurried from the room.

The circle of cadavers, which gibbered in a reel
around the girl, convinced her persecutors more than ever that she was a witch
– a sorceress who could summon up the denizens of hell. But it also gave her
protection. Like a skeletal talisman, it kept the fearful inhabitants at bay.

Until it disappeared.

Immediately
the cry went up from the far end of the street. “The fiends have gone –
the witch is unprotected!” Those of her persecutors who had kept their nerve
were once more in pursuit. Other townsfolk, outraged at the witch’s shameless
flaunting of her powers, responded to their call. People were coming at her
from every corner of the square. Before they reached her, she was halfway down
the street toward West Gate.

I
can see it. It’s so close, so close. I’ve only got to reach the tower. Once
there I’m at the cliff top.

“What cliff?” She hesitated. She had lived in
Wickwich all her life and never heard of any cliffs. And why All Saints? She
had passed a dozen churches since fleeing from the drowning post. She could
have taken sanctuary in any one of those.

In that moment’s hesitation she lost what little
advantage she had over her pursuers. They were almost on top of her before something
deep within her compelled her to continue her vital dash toward the tower.

The
church loomed high ahead. As she ran alongside the graveyard wall the nearest
person in the mob reached out and snatched her sleeve. She plucked her arm and
twisted free, then sped onward with even greater urgency.

The black monolith of the ruined tower rose up
immediately before her.

Hal watched the icon slide toward the tower. It
could only be a matter of seconds before it crossed the line that marked the
boundary between pursuit and safety. He concentrated hard upon coordinating his
hand and eye – his finger on the on/off switch, the hairline on the
screen.

“Come on, come on. You’re almost there…”

The
flash of lightning stunned her and the thunder stung her ears. In that same
instant the world about her disappeared.

The electricity went out. Hal’s computer went
down. His finger was still pushing on the switch.

“You must be Hal.”

The young doctor rose up calmly from one of the
desks at the entrance to the Accident and Emergency unit. Hal stopped abruptly
and turned toward her as the swing doors banged shut behind him.

“My Mum’s just parking the car,” Hal explained as
he got his breath back. “She’ll be here in a minute.”

“Your father’s just gone down the corridor to
phone Jan’s parents,” the doctor informed him and then smiled kindly. “I’ll
find a chair for you while we wait for her and your father to arrive.”

The doctor came out from behind the desk and
began walking down the ward toward the furthest corner, which was closed off by
a square of unattractive patterned curtains. Hal caught her up and limped
alongside. The doctor turned toward him.

“Before you go in to see her I ought to warn you
that she’s been very badly injured.”

Hal stopped and stared, his mouth half open as
though trying to ask a question that he could not formulate.

“I’m sorry, I’ve startled you.” The doctor placed
her hand gently on his arm. “It’s alright. She’s not in danger, although she is
extremely lucky to be alive. She slid down the cliff rather than fell off it,
and because of all the heavy rain the cliff face was quite muddy and her
landing very soft. As far as we can make out she hasn’t broken any bones
– although I’m waiting for the x-rays to confirm that.”

“So what’s wrong with her?” Hal enquired
agitatedly.

“I’m afraid she’s suffered some very heavy bruising and
severe lacerations to her face. We’re hoping that it won’t require plastic
surgery, but until the consultant’s seen her we cannot know for certain.”

 
Hal
rocked back slightly on his heels and turned his head away.

“I’m sorry,” the doctor apologised quietly,
almost whispering. “I had to let you know before you saw her. It’s important
that you don’t look surprised in any way when I show you in. Jan has no idea
just how extensive her injuries are just yet. We haven’t allowed her to have a
mirror. I should also point out that she’s still suffering from concussion and
is very confused as to where, and even who, she is.”

The doctor resumed escorting Hal toward a row of
plastic chairs next to the square of curtains. He lagged behind, not because of
the pain in his ankle but because of the trepidation in his head.

Just as they came up to the plastic seating the
curtains parted slightly as a nurse came out and pulled them to behind him. He
looked at Hal and then turned to the doctor and exchanged a glance. The two of
them took a couple of steps up the ward before engaging in a whispered
conversation. Hal looked on trying hard, but unsuccessfully, to overhear what
they were saying.

After a minute or two the doctor turned toward
Hal.

“I’m sorry,” she explained, “but apparently we’ve
not dressed Jan’s wounds yet as the nurse has just been told that the
consultant is on their way over. They will want to see the full extent of Jan’s
injuries before we cover them in bandages.

“I’m afraid you and your parents will have a bit
of a wait.”

As she spoke the doctor’s pager buzzed.

“Excuse me,” she said as she read the wording on
its screen. “Please take a seat, I’ll be back in a minute” she suggested
distractedly as she turned and hurried up the ward quickly followed by the
nurse.

Hal looked at the seats, and then at the curtains
and then back up the ward. The doctor and the nurse’s attentions were
elsewhere. Nobody else appeared to be around.

He turned back toward the curtains, then looked
down and took a deep breath.

“Right, if I’m going to do this I must remain
impassive,” he told himself insistently. “I mustn’t give her any clue as to how
she looks from my reaction.”

Hal took another breath and then swiftly slipped
inside the curtains. The bed was immediately in front of him and straight ahead
was a girl propped up on a white cliff-face of pillows.

He betrayed his shock immediately. But so did
she. Instinctively, she snatched a knot of her unkempt hair and pulled it diagonally
across her face as quickly as she could.

But not before Hal saw.