Swift (28 page)

As her form shifted, so did her balance. Her fingers slipped, and for one awful moment she felt herself start to fall – but then her piskey skin leaped into brightness, illuminating every feature of the surrounding rock, and she jammed her hands into a bigger crack just in time. Hanging by her fingertips, she slid her feet from one side to the other until she found a toehold. Then she inched her way over the rock to the tunnel entrance, swung herself past the iron railing, and dropped to the ground below.

She had made it. She was inside the Delve.

Dawn was coming, and soon the younger men would be heading outside – right into Gillian’s traps. Should Ivy warn Mica and Mattock and the other hunters herself? Or should she go to the Joan first? Ivy wavered, but only for an instant. By the time she convinced Betony to listen to her, it might be too late. She sprinted down the tunnel, heading for her home cavern.

As she skidded around the corner Mattock stepped out of the doorway just ahead, yawning and scratching sleepily at his ear. But he was fully clothed, with his hunter’s knife at his side, and Ivy knew where he must be heading.

‘Matt!’ she called to him. ‘Don’t go!’

He turned towards her, his face blank with astonishment. Urgently she went on, ‘You can’t go out of the Delve. It’s not—’ But she never got the chance to finish the sentence, because Mattock sprinted to her and snatched her up off the ground, whirling her around in an exuberant embrace. ‘Ivy! You’re alive!’

Crushed against him, Ivy could hardly breathe. Yet it was so good to see Mattock’s broad honest face that she couldn’t help hugging him back.

‘I missed you too,’ she said, but then she wriggled out of his hold and backed away. ‘Mattock, you have to listen to me. There’s a powerful faery up above who wants to capture all the men in the Delve, and if you go out you’ll fall right into her trap.’

Mattock didn’t even question her, let alone argue. He kept his mouth shut – he’d always been good at that, unlike Mica – and gave Ivy all the time she needed to explain. And by the time she’d finished telling him about Gillian and the Claybane, his expression was so bleak that Ivy knew he’d believed every word.

‘You tell the Joan,’ he said. ‘I’ll get up to the Earthenbore and stop anyone who tries to come through.’

She’d meant to warn Mica and the other hunters herself, but having Mattock do it would be even better. Especially since she wouldn’t have to waste any more time on explanations. She squeezed his arm. ‘I won’t forget this, Matt. You’ll be a hero to the whole Delve, when all this is done.’

‘I’ll settle for being yours,’ he said, and covered her hand with his own. Then, before Ivy could even think of a reply, he flashed her a lopsided smile and dashed away.

‘…And she’s up there with Cicely this very moment,’ Ivy said, pacing around the Joan’s stateroom. It had driven her nearly wild to have to wait until her aunt was dressed and ready to receive her, and now she was determined to make up for lost time. ‘Soon she’ll have sprinkled Claybane around all the exits, and if anyone so much as touches it they’ll be trapped. You have to tell the hunters to stay inside, or—’

‘Do not presume,’ Betony interrupted, ‘to tell me what I have to do.’ She slammed her palms down on the arms of the chair and pushed herself to her feet, wings stiff with irritation. ‘For a hundred years the Delve has been our refuge and our pride. I will not allow some upstart faery to turn it into a prison.’ She turned to her consort. ‘Gossan, how long will it take your knockers to open a passage to Wheal Diligence?’

That was the nearest mine to the Delve, its shafts and adits far enough away that Gillian probably wouldn’t waste her time trapping them, even if she guessed that they were there. A grudging admiration roused in Ivy at her aunt’s foresight, and she began to think that perhaps they’d be able to stop Molly’s mother after all.

But Gossan shook his head. ‘It’s below the waterline,’ he said. ‘Even with all the knockers working together, it’d take days to pump it out and clear away the debris.’

‘No chance of sending up a war party and taking her by surprise, then.’ Betony tapped a finger against her lips, eyes narrowed with thought. ‘Very well, there’s only one thing to do. I shall have to fly out and confront this Gillian myself.’

‘But that’s exactly what she wants you to do!’ Ivy protested, as Betony strode forward. ‘The Claybane doesn’t only work on males, it works on
any
piskey who steps into it. If you—’

‘I said
fly
,’ retorted Betony. ‘I understand why such a solution would not have occurred to you, but a trap on the ground is no threat to someone who can hover in midair.’ She turned to add, ‘Gossan, set the knockers to work on a new passage to the surface, and warn the other males to remain underground until I give the word. Nettle, send a runner to tell the women and children to remain in their caverns for the time being. I will call a meeting in the Market Cavern when I return.’

‘My sister’s still out there,’ said Ivy. ‘I’m coming with you.’

‘Cicely has already suffered enough because of your foolishness,’ Betony replied icily. ‘As have your father and brother. You are far too reckless to be any use to me, even if I thought I could trust you. You will stay here.’

Ivy turned a pleading gaze to Gossan, hoping he would intervene. But he didn’t even look at her. He walked to the doorway where Betony stood, and took his wife’s face in his hands. ‘Be careful, my love,’ he said, and kissed her. Then he slipped out.

Betony tightened her belt and smoothed back her hair, a high colour in her cheeks. ‘I will return,’ she announced, ‘with this so-called Gillian Menadue as my prisoner. She will regret that she ever dared to threaten my Delve.’ And she too walked out, slamming the door behind her.

‘Don’t take it to heart,’ said Nettle to Ivy. ‘She’s worried, and that always makes her sharpish.’ She reached for the cord of the message bell by the door and gave it a tug, sending a metallic jangle echoing down the corridor. ‘But never you fear. Our Joan’s more than a match for that Gillyflower.’

‘Gillian,’ said Ivy dully. She sank into the chair by the fire, wondering why she felt so cheated. Surely she ought to be grateful that Betony had taken over? Surely she didn’t imagine that she, a mere piskey-girl with no authority and no great share of magic, could protect the Delve better than the powerful Joan the Wad herself…

Yet Ivy couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d missed something important, and that stopping Gillian couldn’t possibly be that easy. Yes, they had the advantage of surprise: the faery woman couldn’t have anticipated that Molly would resist her sleeping spell, much less rescue Ivy from the Claybane. But even so, Ivy feared Gillian had more than one plan in mind, and that if her first assault on the Delve failed, it wouldn’t take her long to launch another.

Either way, Ivy couldn’t just sit idle – not when Cicely was still in danger. She had to do something to help her sister, or at least find out what had happened to her. But how could she get away from Nettle without the old woman getting suspicious?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a rap on the knocker. ‘Reporting for duty,’ chirped a boy’s voice as Nettle opened the door. ‘What’s the message?’

It was Quartz, Jenny’s little brother and the fastest runner in the Delve. And just like that, Ivy knew how to get out of the Joan’s stateroom, and back to where she wanted to be. She got up quickly and laid a hand on Nettle’s shoulder. ‘There’s no time to lose,’ she said. ‘I’ll go with him, and tell him everything he needs to know.’

The old woman gave her a sidelong look, and for a moment Ivy feared she would refuse. But then she nodded.

Ivy grabbed Quartz’s arm and pulled him into the Silverlode. ‘Come on,’ she said, and they ran down the corridor together.

As they headed towards the main staircase, Ivy explained to Quartz that there was a dangerous threat outside the Delve, the Joan had gone out to deal with it, and the exits were off-limits to all piskeys until further notice. At first the boy could only gape at her, so astonished to see Ivy again that he barely seemed to hear the message. But Ivy kept repeating it until she was sure he understood, and then urged him to run off and spread the word.

‘And don’t waste time telling them about me,’ she said. ‘Just pass on the Joan’s orders and keep moving. My story can wait.’

Quartz looked ready to explode with curiosity, but his runner’s training won out; he saluted her with a fist against his heart and sprinted off, already trilling the high-pitched call that would bring the other piskeys out to hear his message. Ivy headed in the opposite direction, resolutely ignoring her weariness as she darted up a side tunnel and took the stairs two at a time. She’d have to climb up the Great Shaft before she could turn into a swift again, but—

‘Mattock? Matt! Hey, you down there – have you seen Mattock?’

Ivy stiffened, her hand tightening convulsively on the rail. Of all the bad luck, it was Mica. He must have wakened on his own, and wondered why Mattock hadn’t come to fetch him. And he’d already seen Ivy’s glow, so it was too late to make herself invisible, or run away.

‘He’s up by the Earthenbore,’ Ivy called, dimming her light and trying to sound raspy and old so he wouldn’t recognise her.

‘No, he isn’t. I looked there a few minutes ago.’ His voice hardened with suspicion. ‘Who’s that?’

She couldn’t deal with Mica, not right now. First he’d get angry and demand to know where she’d been, and then he’d try to keep her from leaving the Delve. And if Mattock wasn’t in the Earthenbore after all, then something was badly wrong – she had to get up there right away. Ivy took a step backwards, then whirled and dashed back the way she had come.

‘Hey!’ Mica pounded down the stairs after her. ‘Stop!’

This was a disaster. She couldn’t let him chase her all over the Delve; she was still tired from battling the Claybane, and she needed to save her strength. But he was too close for her to get away with turning herself invisible, and there was nowhere to hide…

‘Ivy?’ asked Mica, faint with disbelief, and then louder, ‘Ivy! It
is
you!’

She spun to face him. ‘I don’t have time to explain, Mica! The Delve’s in danger and there’s nobody to keep the hunters from going out! Cicely’s alive but I still have to rescue her, so whatever you want from me, it’s going to have to wait!’

He stopped and gazed at her, his eyes deep-set and haunted. Ivy readied herself to flee – but then her brother said quietly, ‘All right. What can I do?’

‘Mattock told me he was going to guard the Earthenbore,’ Ivy panted at Mica as they raced through the tunnels together. ‘Are you certain he isn’t still up there? Did you go and look?’

‘I went halfway up the Hunter’s Stair and yelled his name,’ said Mica. ‘There’s no way he wouldn’t have heard me.’

A shiver ran over Ivy’s skin. Something was wrong, badly wrong. Mattock would never have been foolish enough to go outside, not after she’d warned him of the danger – and especially not when he knew she was counting on him. She put on another burst of speed as they turned into the Narrows, shouting, ‘Mattock!’

‘I told you,’ Mica said irritably from behind her, ‘he’s not up there.’

Ivy didn’t bother to argue. She dodged down the corridor and up the steps, made a sharp turn – and stopped, grabbing the wall for support. In the middle of the Earthenbore, only a few paces from the top of the stair, stood the clay-covered form of Mattock.

‘What the—’ Mica caught Ivy as she stumbled back. ‘What
is
that?’

‘Something terrible,’ whispered Ivy. Her legs were shaking, but she pulled herself upright and rounded on Mica. ‘Aunt Betony. Did you see her, when you were looking for Matt? Where was she going?’

‘I – yes. She was heading for the Great Shaft. But—’

He hadn’t even got the last word out before Ivy was off and running. Every footstep sent a jolt of terror through her body – for all she knew, she might run into another patch of Claybane at any moment. Yet she and Mica had already covered this ground, so she had to trust that the path was still safe, at least for now.

‘Keep your distance!’ she shouted to Mica as he ran after her. ‘Stay back!’ Then she hit the junction, turned into the tunnel that led to the Great Shaft…

And her foot skidded out from under her.

It was too late to catch herself, impossible to stop. Ivy gasped, flailed, and sat down hard, right in the middle of a newly laid patch of Claybane.

And she wasn’t the only one. Right ahead of her, frozen in mid-stride, was a perfectly formed statue of Betony.

Mica started forward to help her, but Ivy flung up her clay-smeared hands in warning. ‘Don’t!’ she cried. ‘Stay where you are!’ She could barely speak, her throat was so choked with terror. Any second now the Claybane would come slithering up her body and she’d be trapped again, this time with no hope of ever getting out. ‘Find Gossan. Tell him…’

And then words failed her, because what could she say? Even if Mica managed to warn the Jack that the enemy was inside the Delve, there was nothing he could do about it. With Cicely to guide her the whole Delve was open to Gillian, so her traps might be anywhere – and everywhere. And the Claybane dust was so fine it would be practically impossible to see until the spell took effect, so Ivy couldn’t even tell her fellow piskeys what to watch for…