The Seventh Tide (13 page)

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Waking up was hard for all of them. Jay plied them with more hot drinks with something in to help. Then they headed out into the city night. Jay coded in a roundabout route that would take them away from the places where people would still be around – clubs and bars and theatres – and instead past empty workplaces and sleepy home pods.

They were cutting it fine. As the minutes ticked by, her band of weirdos was becoming more and more uncomfortable.

‘We’ll
get
there – don’t worry!’Jay insisted, though she was feeling a bit sick herself. ‘It’s not a problem.’ She paused as a thought struck her. ‘Hey! What would actually happen if you
didn’t
go and meet the whirlpool thing?’

‘If we didn’t go to it, it would come to us,’ said Professor Hurple. The ferret hunched his shoulders and shivered as he looked out at the homes they were currently passing. ‘The Traveller has immense destructive power.’

Jay shuddered too. ‘Forget I asked,’ she said. ‘Anyway, we’re here.’ They left the train pod, hustled down the side tube and up the ladder to the hatch…

It was cold on the platform. There was a mean, biting wind, and the flat glare from the lights blotted out any view of the night sky. Jay redirected the housing for one of the lights till it was pointing at roughly the same place that the Traveller appeared before. The sea heaved and churned, inky black and revealing nothing. Fingers of spume seemed to be reaching blindly towards the lights.

Something wasn’t right! It made the hair on the back of Adom’s neck stand up. Something was
wrong…

‘The tide!’ he yelped. ‘Why isn’t it lower? It should be practically on the turn –
low tide! –
but the water hasn’t dropped.’ He grabbed her sleeve in a panic. ‘What’s happened? You’ve tricked us – you’ve made us miss the Tide – we’re trapped here forever!’

Jay detached him from her sleeve. ‘Stop that! You forget, our pods aren’t rigid. They’re designed to rise and fall with the tides. The water’s lower – and so are we!’

Adom stepped back from her abruptly. ‘I… of course… I’m sorry’.

Jay gave him a half-grin and rubbed her arm. ‘Forget it. Nothing wrong with us all that a piece of patch won’t fix…’ Her voice died away as she realized, with a cold horror, what she’d forgotten to bring.

Patches
!

You couldn’t get more than your immediate needs from the wall dispensers but she knew where her father kept the supplies he took with him to work out in the forest. She’d completely forgotten! How did she think she was going to manage without patching?!

‘I have to go back!’ she cried, but Hurple shook his head.

‘No time,’ he said.

‘Now, you won’t be able to feel my hand, but I’ll still be there so don’t let go,’ said Eo in a rush.

‘What do you mean? Why won’t I be able to feel your hand? What –’

‘There’s no time to explain –just trust me!’

Jay made a rude noise. ‘Yeah, like I’m really going to trust somebody who says, “Trust me.’ ”

‘She’s right, you know,’ Hurple commented. ‘That’s just what I say. Smart girl!’

Eo rearranged the Professor forcibly round his neck and glared at Jay. ‘Just hold on,’ he grunted.

‘It’s almost here,’ said the ferret in a strangled voice. ‘Can’t you feel it?’

Jay stared wildly about, seeing nothing, then…

‘Urg!’ she groaned, clutching the sides of her head. ‘My ears!’

Eo pulled at her arm. ‘We need to hold hands,’ he said urgently.

Adom’s eyes were squeezed shut and he appeared to be praying.

‘Come on, boy!’ Hurple barked at him. ‘Wake up and grab hold – unless you want to get left behind!’

Adom’s eyes snapped open and he grabbed frantically at Eo’s hand. Jay quickly took the G’s other hand.

‘Now what?’ she tried to say, but a sudden silence ate her words –just before the Traveller exploded noiselessly out of the sea. It took them where they stood, and disappeared.

It was a moment before the lighting sensors on the platform realized they were no longer serving a purpose. They shut themselves down, and then there was nothing left – no trace under the dark, distant sky.

7
The Throw of Market Jones

The G couldn’t make up their minds whether the Second Tide was going to be a success or a failure. The revelation that Eo had ended up with just some unknown boy from the First Tide, rather than the formidable skills of a demon-slayer and saint, had been bitterly disappointing.

‘Maybe there’s more to him than he looks,’ suggested Interrupted.

‘He
looks
like a yokel,’ grunted Market.

‘But maybe he’s
a famous
yokel?’

The three G searched their memories for any reference to ‘Boy Wonder Adom’ or ‘Young Adom the Demon Destroyer’. But they didn’t find anything.

The Gift of the First Tide was
exactly
the way he looked… just another boy.

So… would the situation improve this time round? Could the Kelpie Queen
possibly
have been too clever for her own good and sent the boy (the boys) to a place and time so advanced or powerful or wise that equipping
them for the Final Challenge would be a doddle? Hope flared any number of times as the hours passed – even the fact that Eo and Adom had met up with any people still alive at
all
was a bonus.

It was a bit disconcerting, though, the way everything seemed to be taking place
underwater.

As the darkness deepened on the beach, the G built themselves a fire, for light and warmth, but even more so for comfort. The world of the future was coming across as a very confusing place. They didn’t recognize many of the things they were seeing, and they weren’t all that sure what was being talked about a good part of the time, especially when Eo’s attention wandered – which it did rather frequently. He seemed to be randomly focused on the most unuseful items, like food and interestingly complex but obviously firmly attached wall panels. There certainly seemed to be a
lot
of technology about, though.

‘There’s bound to be
something
to kill Kelpies with among it all, don’t you think?’ muttered Market Jones.

‘Should he be spending so much time with the young female?’ worried Interrupted. ‘Surely nothing really powerful would be
available
to a child like that?’

‘On the other hand, a child might be willing to
give
him something, when a more cautious adult might not,’ said Hibernation.

‘He’s barely even
met
any adults!’ snorted Market. ‘Does the boy think he’s looking
for playmates?!
’

It was maddening.

It was hard to tell what the Queen herself thought of her throw and its outcome. She spent most of the Tide staring into her personal viewing disc. The way she was standing – weight on one leg, one hip relaxed, head hung
down – seemed very peculiar, until they remembered she was part equine.

‘
That’s
what it is – she’s standing like a horse!’ whispered Interrupted at one point.

‘They can sleep like that too, can’t they – horses, I mean?’ said Market – not quietly enough.

The Queen’s eyes swivelled round. Without shifting her stance, she gave them an evil sidelong stare, drawing her lips back a little over her teeth.

It was the G who looked away first.

The hours wore on, the confusing images and unrevealing words passed before them as they bent anxiously over the disc and the weight of worry grew greater all the while.

Finally, according to the Tide Turn Calculating Device, time was almost up. The girl of the future led Eo and Adom back up to the surface, ready for the return of the Traveller – and still the G couldn’t tell
what they had been given
!

‘I’m sure we don’t need to worry – even the most basic bit of kit from a time like that would do the trick,’ said Interrupted.

‘That’s right. If the girl’s understood
any
of what she’s been told she’ll realize how important it is,’ said Hibernation. ‘She seems bright enough…’

‘I like the way she’s done her hair,’ murmured Interrupted.

Are you kidding? She’s practically
bald
!’ snapped Market Jones. Anyway, that’s
hardly
relevant!’

‘No… but I do anyway. Like it, I mean.’

The tide was fully low again, and from where they were standing on the shore, the G could see the white
line of the waves showing a long way off. The moon appeared and disappeared behind racing clouds, pushed by winds high in the sky. Down at the level of the beach, however, the air was dead, and the giant vortex still made its presence felt.

Market Jones’s head ached. He moved away from the fire and stared into the night, needing to think, needing to make up his mind what he should do. The others had both had suggestions about what time he should aim the Traveller at, and whether champions, equipment or wisdom was what the lad needed most if he were to stand even a
chance
of saving them all. His own inclination was to have another try at finding a hero or heroine who could take over the mission – practically
anyone
would do – anyone with more credentials than a sixth-century nearly novice and a G child who clearly didn’t have the sense he was born with. How hard could it
be
, finding someone to fit that bill?

The Western Isles had produced any number of fighters, over the ages, who had routinely made short work of encroaching demons. It had to be so – otherwise the fabric between the worlds would have been ripped to shreds long, long ago. It
had
to be possible that they were going to win. It
had
to be. Didn’t it?

‘Interesting, don’t you think,’ the Queen’s voice sounded in his ear, ‘how every age has its weapons against us, and yet –
we’re still here.
’

Market lurched back with a strangled squawk. She was so
sneaky –
he hadn’t heard her coming at all! ‘What – have you found a way to read my mind?!’ He tried to make it sound like a joke. He didn’t really succeed.

The Queen didn’t answer, but her teeth glinted briefly
in a bit of moonlight before the clouds obscured it again. It was still covered when the Traveller reappeared and sped to her hand, flying like a white ghost through the darkness. Market braced himself for tricks, but the Queen made the handover at once in a way that was almost tender.

‘She’s psyching him out,’ murmured Interrupted, watching from beside the fire. ‘Shouldn’t we help?’

‘I’m right, aren’t I?’ the Queen was saying. ‘All those champions, all those eons, and what have you achieved? You haven’t won yet. You aren’t looking at all likely to win now. We’re always there, just out of reach, just around the corner, ready to come in the instant your back’s turned. You’ll never win. Never.’

The Traveller in his hands was becoming heavier and heavier with each word. Market could feel his courage seeping away and his worst fears gaining strength. There was only so long you could hold off despair with jokes and smart-aleck remarks. There was only so long… what
was
that noise?

It was the government of his people.

The Head of the G and the Designated Companion were
dancing
, prancing about the fire like happy idiots, singing, ‘I say I say I say!’ When they were sure of their audience’s attention, they stopped and turned to face one other.

‘Did you hear the one about the two G who walked into a bar?’ said Hibernation.

‘No – tell me the one about the two G who walked into a bar,’ said Interrupted.

‘Two G walked into a bar,’ said Hibernation. ‘The third one ducked.’

‘Ah, but what do you get if you cross a shape-shifter and a blender?’ said Interrupted.

‘I don’t know – what
do
you get if you cross a shape-shifter and a blender?’ said Hibernation.

‘A G Whiz!’ shrieked Interrupted.

‘OK, but where does a G keep his armies?’ countered Gladrag.

‘I don’t know – where
does
a G keep his armies?’

‘Up his sleevies!’ said the Head of the G.

‘Boom-boom,’ said Interrupted.

Market couldn’t help himself – he started to snigger. Then he caught sight of the outraged expression on the Kelpie Queen’s face and he burst out laughing…

Hibernation scooped up the Calculating Device, took one look at the dial and cried,
‘Now
!’

Market Jones made his throw with a light heart and a smile.

Inside the Traveller…

I want to scream – why can’t I scream? – am I screaming? –just a bad patch – hang on, then – everybody knows, you just wait out a bad patch – they don’t last forever – everybody knows that –just a bad patch –just a bad…

8
The Third Tide