02 Unicorn Rider (6 page)

Why was there never a third option?

As the monster came ever nearer, Cumulo grabbed one of its wings, dragging it away from Nimbus. The creature dug its claws into Cumulo’s flank, but couldn’t hold on and was yanked backwards with a squeal. The dragon clamped his jaws around the creature’s neck with all the force he could, and his powerful teeth crunched through scales, flesh, and bone.

The creature went limp, and Cumulo had just enough time to change the angle of his descent to perform a perfect landing on the beach.

As he triumphantly stood on his enemy’s crumpled body, looking proud and majestic in the sunlight, Nimbus dismounted and heaved noisily.

‘I think that went rather well,’ Cumulo said.

 Nimbus wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, took a few deep breaths, and then ran to where Tidal was curled up on the beach. Hawk was huddled close by, with his arms wrapped over his head. He was repeating the same word over and over again.

‘Dragon, dragon, dragon.’

Nimbus went to touch Tidal’s arm, but Tidal jumped up with an angry shout. ‘Why did you do that?’

‘Do what?’

‘You always get to be the hero, don’t you?’

‘I was just doing my job.’

‘You were sticking your nose in, as always. I was doing okay before you got here.’

Nimbus pointed out a long, bloody scratch on Tidal’s arm where the creature had nicked him with its vicious talons. ‘Doesn’t look like you were okay.’

‘I was fine.’

‘And what about him?’ Nimbus asked, pointing at Hawk. ‘Was he fine too?’

Hawk continued muttering to himself. His hands were over his face, and his knuckles were white. His bow had been discarded in the sand.

‘Why didn’t he shoot?’ Nimbus asked.

 ‘He thinks it was a dragon,’ Tidal said. ‘He’s scared of dragons. Did you kill it?’

Cumulo was still standing over the broken remains of the creature, examining it carefully. ‘It looks like me,’ he said, with just a hint of sadness in his voice. ‘Just smaller, and with only two legs. I have never seen anything like it.’

‘Is it dead?’ Nimbus asked.

‘I believe so.’

‘You believe so?’ Nimbus remembered what his father had said about the dryads and how even fire had not been enough to kill their spirits. ‘Can you double check? I don’t want any nasty surprises.’

Cumulo leaned closer, sniffing the creature cautiously. Its eyes were still open and staring, but they were dead eyes now. Its tongue was hanging out, and its long neck was twisted out of shape. ‘I‘m pretty sure we got it,’ Cumulo confirmed.

Nimbus turned back to Tidal. ‘Are you badly hurt?’

‘I’m fine,’ Tidal said, irritably. ‘Quit treating me like a kid. Stop trying to save me.’

‘But that’s what I do.’

‘Not with me.’ Tidal jabbed a finger in Nimbus’s ribs. ‘You don’t do that with me. I can handle myself, and if I need your help, I’ll ask. If you want to help anyone, help Hawk.’

‘Have it your way. But let someone back at the village look at that scratch on your arm. We don’t know whether that thing was poisonous.’

‘Whatever. I’ll get Sky to take a look at it.’

‘Sky?’ Nimbus’s heartbeat sped up dramatically, but he did his best not to let his agitation show. He took a deep breath. ‘You two seem to be spending a lot of time together.’

‘I guess we are.’

‘Well... Okay then. That seems reasonable. I haven’t been spending much time with her recently.’ His forehead furrowed as he thought about it. ‘It makes sense,’ he added, unconvincingly.

Tidal grinned unpleasantly. ‘Are you going to see if Hawk is okay? That’s what a hero would do, isn’t it?’

‘I... That is to say... I mean... Would you stay with him, please? I need to go back to the village.’

‘Why?’

‘There’s somebody I need to see.’

‘Sky, you mean?’

Nimbus licked his lips. His cheeks flushed red. ‘What happened between us, Tide? Weren’t we better friends than this once?’

Tidal shrugged dismissively. ‘I suppose we were. But then you lied to me about finding a dragon.’

‘Are you still going on about that? I apologised, didn’t I?’

‘Maybe an apology wasn’t good enough.’

‘Fine.’ Nimbus threw his hands up. ‘Be like that. Be an idiot. I’ve got things to do.’ He turned away, thousands of angry thoughts buzzing in his head.

 ‘You don’t seem to be in anyone’s good books at the moment,’ Cumulo pointed out.

‘What am I doing wrong?’ Nimbus said, poking the dead creature with his foot. The horrible, gaping wounds in the creature’s throat oozed green blood. ‘I never asked to be the Wing Warrior, but that’s what I am. I haven’t run away from my responsibility, and yet, all I seem to be doing is making mistakes and turning people against me.’

‘Did you expect this to be easy? It is hard to have the weight of the world on your shoulders.’

‘I’m not sure my shoulders are wide enough.’

‘You are still young, Nim. But you are growing every day. You will be the hero these people need. It just takes time.’

Nimbus tried to smile. ‘I’m glad you’re here. As long as we stick together, I feel like I could take on anything. Even things like this.’ He pointed at the ugly dead thing. ‘Whatever it is.’

Cumulo looked towards the village. His eyes became burning orange slits. ‘Get on,’ he growled.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘There are more.’

Nimbus followed Cumulo’s gaze. Three angular shapes were twisting and diving over the village. Distant shrieks carried on the wind.

Nimbus vaulted onto Cumulo’s back. ‘Fly as fast as you can,’ he said.

Cumulo reared on his back legs, then thrust himself up with one great flap of his wings. Nimbus gritted his teeth as the world raced by so fast that everything lost its definition, blending into one big, multicoloured streak.

‘Can we beat three?’ Nimbus asked.

‘I may have to perform some complicated movements in order to fight them. I will set you down in the square. Find cover, but be ready if I need you. Make sure none of the villagers are caught in the open.’

‘I can’t leave you up here with all of them.’

‘You have no choice. If you stay you will just be a distraction to me, and do more harm than good.’

Cumulo turned his flight into a dive, and landed just at the edge of the deserted village square. Nimbus reluctantly hopped down, and then covered his face to protect it from the swirl of dust generated by Cumulo as he took off again.

‘Be careful,’ Nimbus shouted, as he scurried across the square and ducked into the front porch of the nearest house. The shapes in the sky weaved and spiralled as Cumulo raced to meet them. Nimbus drew the Wing Warrior sword and watched nervously.

With a furious bellow, loud enough to shake the foundations of Flint Lock Fort, Cumulo barrelled headfirst into one of the creatures, knocking it senseless. The creature wailed pitifully as it plummeted to the ground with a bone–cracking thud.

Nimbus cautiously approached. He didn’t think anything could have survived such a long fall, but he intended to stab the horrible thing anyway, just to be sure. He lifted the sword above his head, and tried his hardest to convince himself that stabbing a defenceless creature was the right thing to do.

Suddenly the creature’s head snaked out and snapped at him angrily. One of its wings flapped in a hopeless attempt to get back into the air, and one leg scrabbled in the dirt.

Nimbus ducked away from the biting, hissing head, and without another thought he plunged the Wing Warrior sword into the creature’s exposed stomach. Stinking green blood pumped out of the deadly wound, making Nimbus cough and retch as much as his victim did.

Far overhead, Cumulo breathed a gout of fire, singeing the wings of the other two creatures as they fled into the West, disappearing even from Cumulo’s excellent sight beyond the ice–crusted spires of the Sanguine Mountains.

Nimbus stared at the creature he had slain with the Wing Warrior sword. As a living thing it had been terrible and terrifying. Now it was dead, it seemed rather sad and miserable. He couldn’t help thinking he was too young to be deciding which creatures in the world got to live and which ones got to die.

‘I stabbed it,’ he muttered, as Cloud appeared beside him.

‘You did a good job,’ his father said. ‘You protected the villagers from harm. And it was an excellent plan to allow Cumulo to fight in the sky while you remained on the ground. You are learning well.’

‘Actually, that was...’ Nimbus stopped. In the most part, he was an honest boy. He only ever lied when he thought it was absolutely necessary, or when he thought it would help keep someone out of danger. But this was the first time his father had complimented him in months.

‘What’s wrong?’ His father looked at him seriously.

‘Nothing,’ Nimbus said.

Cumulo circled the village twice, to be sure no other creatures were lurking nearby; then he landed next to Nimbus.

‘You sure showed them,’ Nimbus said.

Cumulo puffed his chest out. ‘We didn’t do too badly. I saw you stab this one. You did the right thing.’

‘It was already wounded.’

‘But still a threat. You did what had to be done.’

‘Perhaps.’ Nimbus looked moody and thoughtful. A mixture of emotions surged in his belly. ‘But what gives me the right?’

Other villagers had started to emerge from their hiding places, including Sky and Glass who rushed over to Nimbus and threw their arms around him.

‘You’re safe!’ Glass squealed.

‘It’s good to see you again,’ Sky added, hugging Nimbus tightly. ‘What are those things? They look like dragons.’

‘They aren’t dragons,’ Cumulo sniffed. ‘Far too small and weak to be dragons.’

‘I’ve heard stories about them. They’re called wyverns,’ Glass said.

‘That’s not possible,’ Cloud said. ‘Wyverns don’t exist.’

‘Most people were saying that about dragons until a few months ago,’ Nimbus said.

‘You don’t understand.’ Cloud crouched beside the slain creature, examining its teeth and its blood–crusted claws. ‘Wyverns have never existed. Not ever.’

CHAPTER SIX

It was early evening by the time Sky finally returned home. Even then she had not managed to speak to Nimbus properly. After the attack on the village, he had been far too busy to talk. He had to organise a messenger to ride to Crystal Shine with word of the new threat, dispose of the foul–smelling bodies of the two monsters, have a meeting with the mayor, hold a much larger meeting with members of the community to discuss their fears, have another meeting with Captain Obsidian to ensure the village garrison was well prepared should there be another attack, and even talk to Leaf, a local teacher, to see if she knew anything more about the fictitious creature known as the wyvern.

Sky had been worn out just watching all the work Nimbus had to do, and for the first time she had really started to understand the responsibility he had been given. He was not just a silly care–free boy any more. The safety and security of all the people in the realm was his main concern, and he no longer had any time for her.

She wiped a tear from her cheek as she pushed open the front door and went in. The house was quiet and gloomy. The shutters were closed. A poor, bent candle, made from the remains of other used candles, stood unlit on the kitchen table.

‘Dad?’

No answer.

He was probably still at the tavern, drinking with his stupid friends and discussing the wyvern attack. He would come back stinking of beer and would expect the dinner to be ready for him. It would probably be best not to upset him; the day had been bad enough without getting yelled at as well.

She hated it when he drank too much.

‘Dad?’

Still no answer.

She pulled back the shutters, allowing in the last light of the day, and then lit the candle. The spluttering flame cast monstrous shapes on the walls, like shadow demons that watched as she took out a big pan and started to slice mushrooms.

Eventually, the silence of the house was filled with her quiet sobs.

***

After the wyvern attack, Hawk was a shivering mess, and it was several hours before he was calm enough to hold a sensible conversation. By that time, he had returned to his little room at the inn with Tidal, where they ate dry bread and listened to the noise of too many men drinking too much beer and singing too loudly in the bar below.

‘I’m finished around here,’ Hawk said, glumly. ‘I’m never going to be able to show my face again after this.’

‘It’s not like people didn’t already know you’re scared of dragons.’

‘There’s a difference between being scared of something, and being so paralysed with fear that you stand by and do nothing while one of your friends is almost killed.’

‘The people around here are a lot more forgiving than you might think. Besides, it wasn’t so bad.’ Tidal looked at the scratch along his arm. ‘I’m getting quite a collection of these. Don’t worry about it.’

Hawk said nothing.

‘It’s a shame about the wyvern attack. I would have liked to have seen you win that archery competition. I guess they ruined everything, didn’t they?’

Still no response.

‘Well, I can’t stay around here all evening chatting. I’ve got to go. Things to do. Are you going to be okay?’

‘I guess.’

‘Good.’

Tidal left, closing the door carefully behind him.

Hawk stared at the wall where the plaster was crumbling. He could hear laughing from downstairs, and imagined somebody was telling jokes about him.

‘Hey, did you hear about Hawk?’

‘What a coward.’

‘What a good for nothing wimp.’

‘It would be better if he just left.’

‘It would be better if he had never come here at all.’

He opened the drawer by the side of the bed and removed the few possessions he had. He would try to get some sleep and then he would leave first thing in the morning. He had no money, and nowhere to go; but anything had to be better than staying here and having to face the smirks of the villagers every time he walked down the street.

Maybe somewhere out there was a place where nobody knew him: where he could blend in and lead a simple life without fear.