03 Sky Knight (15 page)

‘So I’d be running around after you instead?’

‘No. No. But we could help each other. I’ve got a nice place all set up just away from the beach. Somewhere to sleep, where it’s nice and dry. This is a chance for a new start.’

‘Do you really think we can shut ourselves away from the rest of the world? Terrible things are happening to our friends and our families, and we can’t sit here pretending otherwise.’

‘I don’t have any family, and all you have is a dad who’s as much use as a one–wheeled cart. And if I had you here with me, I wouldn’t need any other friends, I’d have everything I wanted.’

Sky chewed her bottom lip nervously, aware of fresh tears trickling down her cheeks. ‘When did this happen to you, Tide? And why didn’t I see earlier?’

‘See what?’

‘I never knew how lonely you were. I never realised. Not even when you were taking it all out on Nimbus, getting frustrated because he was having all the attention.’

‘I wondered how long it would be before you brought up him again. You can’t forget him even for five minutes, can you?’

‘Of course not.’

‘But I’m the one giving you a way out of your boring little life. He doesn’t know you like I know you. We’ve got a connection.’

‘That’s just it. We don’t have a connection. I don’t think you’ve had a connection with anyone.’

‘You’re talking nonsense.’

‘Has it always been this way for you, since your parents drowned?’

‘This has nothing to do with them.’

‘I’m so sorry, Tide. I’m sorry I let you feel this way for so long. I thought you were just being a spoiled brat.’

Sky looked past him, in the direction of the cave. The thick chain was moving, like whatever it was attached to was clambering out of the darkness. She drew in her breath sharply, feeling every muscle in her body go tense as she waited for a sight of whatever the horrible inhabitant of the cave might be.

The chain clattered, and something gigantic filled the cave’s entrance. Moments later, a rather battered–looking Cumulo wriggled into the open.

Tidal glanced over his shoulder, saw the dragon slump among the rocks with a groan, and then turned back to Sky. ‘You weren’t supposed to see him,’ he muttered.

‘What have you done?’

‘I’ve done what Sorrow couldn’t, and what Crow couldn’t. I’ve killed the last of the Wing Warriors.’

All the blood in Sky’s face drained away. ‘No,’ she whispered.

‘I had to.’

‘No.’

‘But it doesn’t matter. He doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except you and me.’

Sky could see Tidal’s mouth moving, but she couldn’t hear the words. Everything had gone silent.

Numb.

‘In time you’ll understand why I had to do this,’ Tidal said. ‘In time, you’ll be happy.’

Without warning, Sky lunged at him, dragging her fingernails down his face. ‘I hate you,’ she screamed.

Taken completely off guard, Tidal lost his footing and fell. Sky went with him, slapping and scratching and screaming as he desperately tried to fend her off.

‘I hate you,’ she wailed.

Tidal grabbed her wrists and wrenched her around so that he had her pinned in the sand. ‘Stop it,’ he shouted. ‘Stop that right now. You’re acting crazy.’

‘You’re hurting my arms.’

He immediately let go and backed off. ‘Sorry. I didn’t want to hurt you. I only wanted you to calm down. If we’re going to sort this out, we need to talk to each other. We can get over this, I know we can.’

She held her hands over her face, and drew her legs up to her chest.

‘Sky?’

‘Go away.’

‘Why can’t you understand? I’m doing this for you.’ He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her up. ‘Everything I have done since all this started has been done for you.’

‘I never asked you to.’

‘You didn’t need to ask. I could see you needed to be rescued. I wanted to rescue you.’

‘It wasn’t your job.’ She thumped him in the chest. ‘I didn’t want to be saved by you.’

Tidal stepped clear of another punch, shaking his head disappointedly. ‘If this is really how you feel, I guess I’ve wasted a lot of my time.’

‘It didn’t need to be this way, Tide. It shouldn’t have been this way.’

‘You’re right.’ He moved quickly, hitting her in the stomach just below the ribcage. As she doubled up, he grabbed her wrist and started dragging her down to the water.

‘What are you doing?’ she screamed, struggling hopelessly to break free from his iron grip.

‘Something I should have done a long time ago.’

‘Tidal!’

He pulled her into the sea, forcing her to her knees. The water gurgled, splashing and bubbling playfully as it rushed around her. ‘It’s time I got you out of my life. I moved out here to the island, and you came after me. So I guess the only way to be rid of you is to kill you.’

‘You can’t be –’ Her words were cut short as he thrust her head under.

‘You should never have come here.’

She flailed her arms frantically, pulling at his shirt, screaming silently as cold water rushed into her lungs. Her vision started to go cloudy, and she knew then that he was deadly serious about this. He wasn’t just trying to scare her, he was really going to do it. He was going to kill her.

Suddenly her head was dragged above the surface.

‘I hate that things ended up this way,’ Tidal was saying, but she was barely able to concentrate on his voice as she spluttered and choked to get a clean, water–free gasp of oxygen. ‘We could have had a nice life here. I don’t know why you can’t see that.’

She coughed violently, gagging on the salty sea water. Tidal took a firm hold of her hair, and she knew he was getting ready to dunk her again. ‘Wait. Please, wait,’ she sobbed.

For a moment, Tidal hesitated; and that was when Sky punched him in the groin with as much force as she could muster. He immediately let go of her, made a whimpering sound that would have been comical under any other circumstance, and then dropped in the surf clutching his hands between his legs.

Sky quickly got to her feet, but she had only taken a few steps before a strong hand grabbed her from behind and span her around.

It was Nimbus.

‘Sky,’ he said, his mouth curling into a weary smile.

All the fight went out of Sky, and she fell against him, sobbing uncontrollably.

‘There’s no time for this,’ Nimbus said. ‘You have to get away from here as soon as you can.’

‘He said he’d killed you,’ she said, holding him as tightly as if she expected him to suddenly be spirited away, far beyond her reach. ‘I thought I’d lost you.’

From down by their feet, Tidal chuckled horribly. ‘I didn’t say I killed him. I said I’d killed the Wing Warrior. And I have. I have taken his sword, his dragon, and his dignity. What is a Wing Warrior without those things, if he is not dead?’

Nimbus removed himself from Sky’s embrace, and crouched beside the thing that had once been his friend. ‘You really are a nasty piece of work, aren’t you?’

‘You made me what I am, Nim.’

Sky pulled on Nimbus’s hand. ‘Come on,’ she said nervously, ‘you said we had to go. We need to find a way off this rock.’

Nimbus shook his head, and there was a look in his eyes that Sky had never seen before; something hard and bitter, forged in the flames of anger.

He stood, taking both Sky’s hands in his. ‘I said you had to go, but not me.’

‘I’m not going anywhere without you.’

‘Tidal and I have unfinished business to attend to, and it will be best if you aren’t here. I need to get back what he’s taken from me. My dragon. My sword.’

‘Your dignity,’ she hissed.

‘He’s going to kill me,’ Tidal groaned.

‘Are you?’ Sky asked.

‘That’s not your concern,’ Nimbus snapped. ‘I’m going to do what needs to be done. Now go. I’m not asking you as a friend, I am commanding you as the Wing Warrior.’

Sky’s bottom lip trembled slightly. ‘Nim?’

‘I said get out of here.’

Without another word, Sky fled, heading for the jumbled stones in the shadow of the cliff, and what she hoped would be a way off the beach.

As she ran, she heard Nimbus say, ‘Let’s talk about how I get Cumulo out of those chains,’ but his voice sounded odd, full of growling menace and dark intentions.

A moment later, Tidal cried out in pain.

With tears blurring her vision, Sky ran even faster, uncertain now whether she knew either of the boys she was leaving behind.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Captain Obsidian approached the western edge of the ruined watchtower in a less than heroic manner, scurrying from cover to cover before stopping behind a wind–blasted buttress to regain his composure. His sword was shaking in his hand, and his heart was drumming frantically; every fibre of his body was screaming at him that this was a really bad idea. Coming out here with no support, to scout the area for signs of the enemy, was just plain stupid.

But what else could he do? All those people in the caravan needed his protection.

Trying his best to ignore the screaming of his fibres, regardless of how noisy they were being, he pushed on.

He moved out from behind the buttress, took two long strides up a steep incline, and then ran along beneath the remains of a defensive perimeter wall.

Still no sign of life among the rubble. Perhaps the ruins really were as dead as they looked. But if that was true, why was he so afraid? Why did he feel like someone was watching him? What was it about the shadows here that seemed so... solid?

He stopped again, drawing a calming breath. This was stupid. He was being stupid.

Of course he was being stupid.

There was a clatter from somewhere inside the crumbling tower: A small stone being dislodged by a bird or rat. Obsidian nearly leapt out of his hiding place in fright, slapping one hand over his mouth to stop himself from screaming in a fashion that was not becoming of a man in his position.

Stupid.

He rounded the corner of the wall, hopped over a rock, awkwardly thrashed through some brambles, and emerged in a concealed nook close to the tower and the central area of the ruins where he had once fought Cumulo. There was no dragon here now though.

There was nothing here.

He poked his head into the dark interior of the tower.

Nothing.

Feeling slightly more confident, he doubled back to the wall and then skirted around the entire ruins, looking for any sign that someone or something had been here: perhaps some chewed bones, or the smouldering embers of a campfire.

When this investigation revealed nothing, he moved up under the wall of what once might have been a store room, and spoke as loudly and clearly as possible.

‘The place looks deserted, Private Silver. I’m going to go on in, but you head on back to the platoon and get them all over here. And you two men, you’re the best archers I know, cover me with your bows. If you see any sign of trouble, don’t hesitate to use lethal force.’ Under his breath he added, ‘I hope that sounded more convincing than I think it did.’

He paused for a moment longer, sheathed his sword, licked his lips, thought about it, drew his sword again. Finally, he marched out into the clearing, half–expecting to be shot down mid–stride.

No shooting.

He stopped in the middle of the ruins, studying every cracked, sun–blistered rock; looking for the gleam of sunlight on metal that would indicate a concealed soldier.

Slowly, he let out a long breath, and put his sword away.

Fairly sure he was not in any immediate danger, he took a second look around the whole area, this time trying to gauge the best way to turn a spooky relic into a well–defended fort.

From the edge of the woods to the ruins, there was a good wide field: A killing ground that an enemy would need to clear before reaching the defenders. In the time it would take the average warrior to cross that field, Hawk and his team of archers would be able to fire off as many as three arrows each. Not a bad start, but if Crow had an army of hundreds, it would be like spitting into the heart of a storm.

What else? After the killing field, the ground rose quite steeply, and there was plenty of hawthorn and nettles to get tangled in. After that, there was just the sad remains of the defensive wall, which any spider–soldier would be able to scramble over in seconds. Not nearly enough protection. They were going to be overrun in a matter of minutes, and then it was going to be down to Obsidian and his few men to fight. They might end up being outnumbered, five or even ten to one. How could they possibly expect to win against those odds?

He removed his helmet and wiped the sweat from his brow. There had to be more they could do. There had to be somewhere they could conceal all of the villagers so they would be safe throughout the fighting.

But where?

He climbed over the wall, and slid down the embankment to the killing ground beneath. Perhaps they could sharpen stakes here, to break up the enemy’s charge, or dig pit traps.

He shook his head, dismissing the ideas as soon as he thought of them. It would take too long. By the time the caravan arrived, the enemy would be virtually upon them. He couldn’t even bring himself to imagine how horrible it would be to see waves of spider–soldiers descending on villagers as they frantically dug out the pit traps that would become their graves.

Maybe the undergrowth would burn. Maybe Crow’s undead army were scared of fire.

Maybe...

But he couldn’t gamble the lives of everyone he knew on a plan made out of maybes. There had to be something else.

He scrambled back up the slope, timing himself as he went. With just two legs, he made the ascent in six seconds.

Crow’s soldiers had six legs.

Another walk around: Checking the wreckage of the tower carefully, then the store room, then everything else. Hoping upon hope for something; anything.

It was during this last walk that Obsidian started to be aware of the sound of his own footsteps on the stony ground, and how, within certain areas, that sound changed. Not far from the watchtower, his footfalls became distinctly hollow, and he finally found the tiny glimmer of hope he was looking for.