03 Sky Knight (14 page)

‘You had the Wing Wimp in your house,’ Crow said. ‘Am I to believe you couldn’t have killed him? You could have broken him like a twig. If you do not intend to betray me, why is it he still breathes and continues to be such a pain in the neck?’

‘Vampyr humour, how droll. I did not expect the boy to be able to enter my domain. I underestimated him, just as you underestimate me if you think I would willingly add to the collection of spirits already haunting me.’

‘If it is so terrible to be haunted, then surely I have done you a favour by taking Rose away from you? One less spirit to moan at your window shutters. One less phantom to stalk the corridors of your mansion. Finally, you are free of that wretched girl.’

With a roar, the vampyr swooped from the trees, momentarily becoming a shapeless, black cloud before completing his transformation into a gigantic wolf.

The beast threw itself at Crow, but the necromancer simply held out one hand. ‘Stop,’ he said.

The wolf stopped.

‘Turn back into your human form. The slavering wolf thing is far too theatrical to be taken seriously.’

The wolf champed its jaws a few times, then black smoke gushed out of its mouth, completely obscuring the animal from view. A second later and the swirling fog had reshaped into the vampyr’s elegant form. His hands were trembling, and his jaw was set in a straight line as every muscle in his body desperately fought against Crow’s will.

‘That’s better,’ the necromancer said. ‘We are both civilised men, and we should face each other as such.’

‘You know nothing of civilisation.’

‘Oh, do be quiet. I’m thinking.’ Crow smiled wickedly. ‘I have the mighty vampyr completely under my control. What should I do now to amuse myself?’

The vampyr strained to move his hand to the ornate dagger he was wearing on his belt, but his hand refused to move even an inch. A tear formed at the corner of his eye, welled up, and then rolled down his ice cold cheek. ‘Just give Rose to me,’ he said.

‘I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill you.’ The necromancer drew nearer. ‘But before I do, there’s one thing I think you should see.’ He held up his left hand to display the ring he was wearing. ‘Do you like it?’

‘Should I?’

‘I think so, yes. You see, what a lot of people don’t know about the human body is it’s just a vase, something to pour a spirit into. The truth is, there’s absolutely no reason at all that a spirit can’t be put into any other object.’

‘What are you trying to tell me?’

‘Do I have to spell this out?’ Crow moved the ring, making each of its perfectly smooth sides glimmer. ‘This ring is made of quartz. Rose quartz.’

The vampyr’s lip quivered, and a small trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth. ‘You put her in a ring. What kind of monster are you?’

‘You have the nerve to call me a monster? Take a look at yourself sometime.’

‘Why are you doing this?’

‘You don’t need to worry about things like that. Not any more.’

Crow advanced on the vampyr, raising his walking stick like a club. Dark magical energy crackled around his hand, and what could be seen of his face beneath his hood seemed suddenly demonic.

‘Wait,’ the vampyr said. ‘Hold on. There’s something else I need to say.’

Crow paused. ‘You should know, I don’t do last requests.’

The vampyr smiled. ‘And you should know, I’m not that easy to kill.’

Before the necromancer had time to react, something charged into him from behind, dragging him to the ground. There was a moment of frantic wrestling as slippery hands pawed at him, and strong fingers attempted to wrench the ring away; and then as quickly as it had started the struggle was over. Crow was left alone in the clearing.

As he got to his feet, he caught a fleeting glimpse of two glistening creatures loping off into the thick dark of the trees.

Of course, the ghouls!

He clamped his hand to his chest, relieved to find they had been unable to prise the ring from him.

That had been a stupid mistake. Ghouls were living animals, despite their appearance, and not something he could bend to his will.

‘This isn’t over, Birdy,’ the disembodied voice of the vampyr said. ‘I may not be able to face you in combat, but I have other ways. My every thought now is of your destruction, and when I set my mind to something, it will be done.’

Crow glanced at one of the flat surfaces of his ring, and thought that he could just make out the screaming face of a beautiful young girl reflected there.

‘Well,’ he said, to nobody in particular, ‘now things are starting to get interesting.’

There was a rustling and crashing in the undergrowth and dozens of spider–soldiers poured into the clearing, their swords drawn, their monstrous legs twitching in anticipation.

‘Where were you five minutes ago?’ Crow shouted.

Of course, none of the soldiers answered him.

They never did.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

As dawn broke, Sky soared across the vast expanse of the Everlasting Ocean astride the magnificent starlight pegasus.

Without the threat of a pursuing wyvern to worry about, she was beginning to enjoy herself a bit, and her stomach had stopped getting that horrible sick feeling every time the pegasus banked, rose up higher, or dived low to drag its hooves across the surface of the sea. She now sat tall upon the legend’s back, thrilling as the wind rushed through her hair and the world sped by in a blur; and at one point she even started to laugh gleefully despite all the terrible things that were happening in the world.

‘This is so much fun,’ she giggled, leaning over to watch the merfolk swimming in the clear waters. ‘This is just how I imagined it would be.’

The pegasus rolled its eyes and then thrust itself up through the clouds. It paused there with its wings spread wide, drifting weightlessly, then jutted its head forwards and streamlined its body to dive again. For a second Sky was completely surrounded by clouds so thick she felt as if she could have climbed down from the pegasus and walked among them, but then the clouds were far above, and the pegasus was making a very neat and very precise landing on the sandy shore of Serpent’s Coil.

‘Nice landing,’ Sky said, patting the pegasus on the head before climbing down.

As her feet touched the sand, the light of the morning sun grew brighter, bathing everything in a warm glow. The pegasus reared up, whinnied as if it had been startled by some fast approaching doom, and then with a peculiar popping sound, folded in on itself. All that was left behind was a sparkling shard, half–buried in the sand.

Sky approached cautiously, touching the star with one finger. It was cold.

‘I should have known,’ she said. ‘You’re a creature of the night. Guess that means I’m on my own again.’

She put the star back in its pouch, and then took a look around: Nothing but water behind her; nothing but an imposing cliff ahead. To her right, the beach curved out of sight among a maze of fang–like rocks, while to the left, there was a cave with a massive chain trailing into the dark interior. Whatever kind of creature needed a chain of such size to control it, Sky was pretty sure it was not the sort of creature she had any desire to meet.

There was no sign of Cumulo, no sign of Nimbus or Tidal, and no sign of any way off the island.

‘Now how am I supposed to get back home?’

She winced at her own use of the word “home.” She didn’t have a home any more, and maybe she never would again. Crow had made sure of that.

Suddenly the terrible events of the last few days came back to her in a maddening rush: Flint Lock Fort being destroyed, her father being arrested, Lady Citrine and Lord Cloud being imprisoned at Crystal Shine, and Private Silver...

Poor Private Silver.

As every horrid moment played out in her mind, something inside of her snapped, and she dropped to her knees, bursting into tears. What could she do? What could anybody do? Even those who survived this stupid war would be doomed to spend the rest of their lives scraping together a living in the mountainous wastelands of the East. What kind of life was that? What kind of hope was there for the future?

Huge sobs shook through her body as she cried like she had never cried before, pounding the wet sand with her fists, completely lost in fear and frustration.

‘Sky?’

She looked up at the familiar voice, clutching the pouch at her waist protectively. Her heart wedged in her throat as Tidal strolled down the beach towards her. He waved, but there didn’t seem to be anything friendly in the motion. His shirt was flapping open, and she could see the scars running across his chest.

‘Sky, what are you doing here? What’s wrong?’

She got to her feet. ‘Didn’t Nimbus tell you?’

‘I haven’t seen him. But I’m sure he’s off somewhere saving the world, like usual.’

‘He was coming here, to warn you not to return to the mainland.’

‘Sure. Bet he was. He would have hated it if I had come back. I’m such a nuisance, aren’t I? Always needing to be saved, always getting in the way of the heroes.’

Sky shook her head sadly. ‘Nothing changes with you, does it, Tide? I don’t know what your problem is, but now isn’t the time for squabbling. Crow has a massive army of spider–soldiers. He’s invaded Landmark.’

‘That’s terrible. But why should it bother me in the slightest when I am all the way out here?’

‘I was... I mean, we were worried about you. We thought...’

‘You were worried?’

‘We were all worried. Everything is so crazy at the moment. We didn’t know where you were, or what you were doing, and we wanted to make sure you were safe.’

‘Because I can’t look after myself.’

‘No. Because we used to be friends. It wasn’t that long ago, Tide. You must remember. You, me, Nim, Glass. We would have done anything to protect each other.’

‘Things are different now. We aren’t four stupid kids any more, are we? Glass is a witch, Nim is a Wing Warrior,’ Tidal spat the words as though they left a bad taste in his mouth, ‘and as for you... What have you become?’

‘I’m still me. Just the same as always.’

‘Of course you are. Of course.’ He started to come nearer. ‘How did you get here, Sky? This island is at least twenty miles from the mainland. It’s a long way for a girl on her own to row, and I don’t see any boat.’

‘I...’ She gripped the pouch in which she had concealed the star. Tidal noticed, and stopped in his tracks. A sly smile spread across his face, and suddenly Sky was more afraid of him than she had ever been afraid of anything in her life.

‘Or maybe your boat was attacked by a nasty sea creature, and it sank.’ He laughed, and there was a cold, mocking edge to his tone. ‘So you swam here, to the closest dry land. The waters are quite calm today, so I’m sure you could have made it. But wait, that can’t be right. You aren’t wet. Your clothes are all dry, and your lovely hair too.’

‘I...’

‘Just the same as always, you said. Just the way you’ve always been. So tell me, have you always flown around at night on winged horses?’

‘You saw?’

Tidal pointed to the rocks near the cave mouth. ‘I was sitting over there, having breakfast. Watched you swoop in like a demon from the dark. Are you a Wing Warrior too?’

‘What? No! Of course not. I wouldn’t ever... I couldn’t. I needed a way to get over here, and I was lucky enough to find the pegasus. I’m not a hero like Nim. I only wanted to make sure you were okay. I was trying to be a good friend.’

‘Well, if that’s so, and you really want to be a good friend, then you’ll hand over the star.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘As my friend, you will want to stay here, as my guest of honour. And you won’t mind giving me the star.’

‘I’m sorry, Tide. I can’t. It was a gift to me from someone very special.’

‘Sorry, Sky. I don’t think you understand what’s going on here. I wasn’t asking you to give me the star. If you don’t hand it over, I will have to take it.’

Tidal began to advance again. Sky held her ground defiantly.

‘Did Nim come here?’ she asked.

‘Do you think he did?’ Tidal’s hand dropped to the hilt of a sword that was strapped to his belt, and Sky’s breath caught in her throat as she recognised it as Venom, the spirit sword Nimbus had brought back from the realm of the vampyr.

‘Where is he?’

‘That’s just typical of you, isn’t it? Here we are, having a nice chat. Just the two of us, on this romantic beach, watching the sun rise on a new day, and all you can do is talk about Nim.’

‘I need to find him.’

‘It’s always been Nim, hasn’t it? He’s always been the one you’ve liked the most. Even though I was the one protecting you. Even though I was the one who cared.’

‘Tide, stop this. You’re scaring me.’

‘Is that so?’ He was only a few strides away now. ‘A girl in distress is just the sort of thing that’s likely to bring Nim wriggling out of the woodwork, isn’t it? I wonder if he will save you.’

‘Save me?’ Sky’s voice cracked. ‘Do I need to be saved, Tide?’

Tidal stopped, with a puzzled expression. ‘Of course not. I’m not going to hurt you. We’re friends. We’ll always be friends.’ He touched his scarred chest. ‘You helped me when I was hurt.’

‘Then help me now. Take me to Nimbus. Help me protect my father and all the others back on the mainland.’

‘The mainland doesn’t concern you any more, Sky. There’s nothing back there for you. A ruined village. A drunk of a father.’

Sky smacked him across the face, stunning him to silence. ‘Don’t you dare ever call my dad names again. He’s not perfect, not by a long shot, but he’s my dad, and he’s a better man than you’ll ever be.’

Tidal rubbed his jaw, and a smirk spread out from the edge of his bleeding mouth. ‘I know, Sky. I’ve always known. Your dad is a drunk and a loser, and he’s violent, and he treats you badly. I’m offering you a way out from all that.’

She lowered her head and shuffled her feet in the sand. ‘You don’t understand.’

‘You don’t want to spend the rest of your life running around after him, cooking and cleaning for him, living in fear of the next time he’s going to come back from the tavern and get angry with you for not washing the dishes. You don’t want that, and I don’t want that either. Look around you here. Look at how perfect this little island is. You and me, we could live here quite happily. I’m a really good fisherman, and I know you’re a good cook.’