Crik (29 page)

‘I can feel it moving within me,’ said Inara. ‘It’s magnificent.’

When crossing the blue stones, Jack had felt the demon thrash about. The memory of the demon’s movements in his stomach made him feel nauseous. His eyes drifted to Inara’s top where the girl held her stomach. He tried to see if he could spy any movement under her hand, but saw nothing to reveal her demon.

‘What’s it doing?’ asked Bill.

‘It feels wonderful,’ she said. ‘I’m aware that I am part of something far greater than I ever thought possible.’

‘Remember, it’s your demon and Krimble who are making you feel so wonderful,’ remarked Jack.

‘I know exactly what’s happening,’ said Inara. ‘I would prefer Krimble to be nowhere near me. His presence is vile; his communicating with my Narmacil leaves me cold. That doesn’t stop me from recognising what is happening within me. It’s as if my Narmacil is only now waking up. We aren’t alone here; I hear bird song and the rustle of branches. If I close my eyes, I could be down by the brook near my home.’

‘You’re hearing ghosts,’ said Jack. ‘Everything is as dead as him,’ he pointed to Krimble. ‘Don’t be fooled. It’s not you who is hearing these things, it’s your demon. Everything is gone Inara. The Ghost Walkers and the Myrms ruined it all.’

‘You’re wrong Jack. They are all still here, and I know I can bring them back. I can restore the Red Wood. All I have to do is concentrate and the deer will run again, the owl will wake at night and the fish will once more swim in the streams.’

‘Not as they were,’ argued Jack. ‘The water is still poisoned by falling rust. What living thing could survive in that? No Inara, they won’t be alive. They’ll be like Krimble, shambling uncaring things.’

Inara’s head snapped around. ‘You know nothing. You don’t want your Narmacil. What is happening is glorious, a gift I can share. For the first time since losing my legs, I feel as though I can run. Everything is alive. My Talent did not warp Krimble. His evil predates Silver ripping out his throat. The stag means no harm. I can hear them in the ground, calling to me. Like me, they want to run again.’

‘The dead aren’t meant to leave their graves,’ continued Jack, recalling his vision of Grandma Poulis climbing out of her rosebush.

‘So you think I’m an abomination,’ accused Inara. ‘Should your village also hang me, as they had Justice?’

Taken aback by her words, Jack floundered. He did not expect such a venomous reaction. Couldn’t she see that Krimble was using her? A smile refused to leave Krimble’s crooked mouth since he started to talk with the demon. Who’s to say what they discussed. This was horrible; he won’t allow Krimble to conspire with his own demon. Horrified, he discovered Yang had taken the shape of a stag over the stretch of ground where the dead animal resided. Huge shadowed antlers forked out in all directions. Following them, he felt cold as the shadow continued to outline other animals on the ground. Rabbits, a fox complete with a bushy tail, and over there a hawk with outspread wings. Although tempted to ask Inara if his shadow had located more dead animals, he was afraid of the answer. Did his demon commune with the other demons? Were they constantly chatting away, scheming against them? Feeling numb, he sat down.

‘Don’t trust them,’ he meekly told Inara.

‘You worry too much,’ she said. ‘I control my Narmacil. Only I’m now aware that I can make it do so much more than I ever thought possible. Keeping Krimble alive is like having dirt caked under my fingernails. No matter how hard I try, I always feel dirty. This,’ her spread hands encompassed the valley with the shadowed outlines of the animals, ‘feels right. With this at my control I feel more than I am.’

‘You’re great as you are,’ said Jack.

‘Easy for you to say,’ said Inara. ‘In the marsh you didn’t so much as lose a finger.’

‘You understand now, don’t you girl,’ said Krimble. ‘When I told you every night and day that you were holding back, keeping your Narmacil imprisoned. You understand now, don’t you? I’ve opened the world up to you. Now concentrate girl, make the stag run once more.’

Inara looked at the ground where Yang had taken the form of the stag. Her eyes opened wide and her thin lips showed her astonishment.

‘It’s moving,’ she said.

‘Yes, the muscles are tightening. Focus, you have nearly got him.’

The sight of Krimble’s happiness appalled Jack. He wanted to hurl a rock at Krimble’s head, to make him remember his only reason for living was for punishment for his crimes.

‘Look, the ground is cracking,’ said Bill, pointing. ‘It’s coming.’

‘Don’t let it go,’ commanded Krimble. ‘One more push and you will have done it.’

Sweat beaded Inara’s brow, plastering her hair in darkened swirls. ‘It’s hard,’ she said.

‘Only because you’ve never done it before,’ said Krimble, his rushed tone betraying his excitement.

Inara grunted, and Jack, believing her to be in pain, rushed to her side. ‘Are you alright?’ he asked, putting his arm around her, but she shoved him off.

The red earth split; Yang withdrew.

A spear of bone pierced the crust of earth. Barbed antlers materialised from the cracked ground like a magician’s trick. Dirt and stone flew in the air as the stag broke the surface. The stag’s horror-stricken scream hushed the morning. Its bleating call spoke of its outrage; its sunken sockets dripping soil-filled tears told its own story.

The breath caught in Jack’s throat at hearing the anguished cries of the stag, and knew what Inara had done was an abomination.

What fur remained,hun
g
from the stag like a tattered cloak. The once proud animal struggled from the mud, its cracked hooves seeking purchase. As it rose, the meat hanging on the skeletal frame clung to the dirt, as though shamed by the watching eyes. Its bleats, more pitiful for its tongue had rotted away, could not articulate its horror. Sinew, like white jelly, still covered rounded joints, though this did nothing to dull the noise of the scraping bones. Taking its first steps in years, the stag brought Inara to tears. Limping, it moved from the gaping hole in the ground.

Staring in horror, Jack tried to turn away, yet the stag’s tail, still white after all this time, held his attention.

‘Magnificent, isn’t it,’ said Krimble, moving to the beast and laying his bone fingers on the bumps of the stag’s spine. ‘I’ve never seen anything more beautiful.’

‘Beautiful?’ said Bill, his face blanched white. ‘It’s horrible. It can barely walk on those sticks of bone.’

‘The first steps are always the hardest,’ said Krimble. ‘This is his second birth, first a hind pushed him from her loins, now the earth has given him up to us. Look how he’s taking in his new surroundings. When he last stood here, the Wold still had green leaves on its branches. You’ve brought life back to the Red Wood,’ he said, turning to Inara.

‘I know you aren’t speaking to me,’ she said. ‘You’ve used the Child of the Wood that chose me. The sounds of the deer, the stag, and the other animals laid to rest here, weren’t anything like the sounds this poor animal is now making. I don’t want this, and I will return him to the ground.’

‘The cries you hear are the same birthing cries you hear from any new-born,’ argued Krimble. ‘Air is swelling lungs that have not expanded in years. If you return it to the hole in the ground, you’ll be killing it.’

‘It’s already dead,’ said Bill.

‘You’re wrong,’ said Krimble. ‘I have free choice, to say what I want.’ The zombie clicked its fingers. ‘She didn’t tell me to do that; did it myself.’

‘You’ve wanted nothing more than for Inara to let you die,’ said Jack. ‘Why the change of heart?’

Smiling, Krimble circled the stag, brushing clots of soil from its hide. ‘All I’ve ever wanted was to serve the Narmacils. When I took them in, I opened them up and showed them all what they could do. The girl is right when she calls them the Children of the Wood; they are children, and like all children, they need guidance. I can talk with them; I can teach them how to reach their full potential. They need me.’

‘You tortured and cajoled to get them,’ said Inara. ‘Then held them imprisoned inside your black heart and used them for your own ends. You have no interest in helping them, you just want their Talents.’

‘The Narmacils live far longer than any of you know. Hundreds of years, living without realising all what they can do. Think of what I offer them. Your Talent has grown this morning, and with it so has your Narmacil. You’ve connected with a world you didn’t know existed. Listen, you can still hear the beat of bird wings; grounded for far too long.’

‘I hear nothing but the screams of the stag,’ replied Inara.

‘Concentrate,’ urged Krimble. ‘They are all waiting for you to release them. Every one of the animals here died before their time. Populate the Wold like the Ladies desire. See life come back to the Red Wood.’

‘I can’t,’ said Inara.

Jack knew if she had legs Inara would have fled from the valley, and kept running until the cries of the stag faded. Whatever Krimble had unlocked within her would forever haunt her, and no matter how far she ran she would always hear the sounds of those buried beneath her feet. Knowing she would never have a moments respite from that awful truth brought a lump to his throat. She had suffered enough.

‘This place needs flesh and blood,’ said Krimble, licking his lips. ‘Bring life back and the Wold won’t be such an empty place, filled with only metal and bugs.’

‘You can’t possibly be contemplating doing what he wants,’ said Bill, having noticed how Inara struggled with herself, like a recovering alcoholic outside a pub’s door. ‘The stag can barely stand, it’s a ruin. Look at it Inara.’

‘I know that Bill,’ she said. ‘I can hear them all around me. Like phantoms, whispering to me from beneath the earth. I’ve seen so much death since leaving my home; this is my chance to bring something into this world.’

‘Those cries aren’t natural,’ argued Bill, indicating the stag with a trembling finger. ‘It doesn’t want to be here.’

‘Krimble didn’t want me to raise him, only look at him now.’ She drew quiet. ‘Life will adapt.’

‘It’s not life,’ said Jack. ‘All I can see through its exposed ribs is dirt and stone. There’s no beating heart. You raised Krimble to punish him. He’s only happy now that he can control you through your demon, as he attempted to do back at the Marsh House.’

Snapping her head back, her eyes blazing, she said, ‘He’s not controlling me. I brought back the stag, not him.’

‘At his urging,’ said Jack. ‘Don’t you see he’s using you?’

‘I don’t want to listen to you Jack. You don’t like it that I’m not afraid of my Narmacil. Wanting to discard the companionship of Yang is a mistake. Don’t throw away your bond as though it were one of his,’ she jerked a thumb in Krimble’s direction, ‘rats in a cage. We’d all now be home safe, if you only knew how good the Children of the Wood are. We’d be less than we are without them.’

He was the only one who had seen one of the forked tongued devils. It had changed shape back in his room, yet its eyes always remained cold. ‘If they are so good then why do they slip into you without your knowing? I followed the demon into Bill’s room; I saw it jump into him.’

‘I’m glad it did,’ said Bill. ‘I wouldn’t have had Black if it hadn’t. Yin, you have no idea how horrible it was being the freak of the village. Everyone else had their Talent long before I had mine.’

‘You all blame me for being here, but if you didn’t want to show off and get yourself a wolf we never would’ve left the village in the first place,’ said Jack. ‘If we had,’ he said to Inara, ‘you’d never have escaped the room without windows.’

‘I’m sorry Jack. This,’ she pointed at her chest, ‘is who I am. My Narmacil chose me, recognising something that was within me. The child is with me. As Yang is a part of you.’

His shadow moved over to caress the stag. Every one of Yang’s strokes pulled loose another clump of hair. Couldn’t his friends see how perverse this was? Black tears tumbled down the stag’s rotted cheeks. Frustrated, he bit down on his tongue. The stag, like the stuffed animals back in his bedroom, was just another plaything for the demon.

‘It isn’t who I am,’ he said. ‘How many demons live inside Krimble’s crooked body? Ten, fifty, a hundred, it doesn’t matter. Inara, you say you and your Narmacil share a bond. We all live with that connection.’

Inara nodded. ‘That’s right.’

‘An unbreakable bond,’ said Jack. His hand’s became animated, making his point as much as his mouth.

‘Where are you going with this?’

‘Every Narmacil, but yours, abandoned those imprisoned at the Marsh House. Left them to die. There is no special relationship between you and your demon. It will leave you as soon as it finds a better host.’

‘You’re wrong Jack,’ said Inara. Her fingers raked the ground, making four parallel lines either side of her. ‘If you placed your hand over a flame, would you be able to keep it there? No,’ she said. ‘The pain would get too much, eventually you’ll flinch. The Narmacils endured far more pain than that before they recoiled from the torture inflicted upon them. Look at me. Krimble used a rusted saw to cut my legs. My Narmacil screamed with me, yet it refused to leave me alone. I’ll let the stag live, and do what the Ghost Walkers want of me, not for them, for the child inside me. I owe it that much.’

Why argue, Jack could see by the set of her mouth that she would refuse to listen to him. Although Bill remained quiet, he could see that his friend agreed with Inara. For the chance to control more than just a wolf, he knew Bill would sit for hours in front of Krimble. Well he had no intention of allowing Krimble anywhere near Yang. His shadow had shown him more than enough surprises already, without entertaining anymore.

‘What are you going to do Inara?’ asked Bill, edging closer to the stag and the two figures already smoothing its fur.

‘I’m not going to control it,’ she answered. Instead, she looked farther afield. ‘Other animals are waiting their turn to feel the breeze again.’

Shuddering, Jack remembered the bodies Yang had sketched on the valley floor.

‘The stag has stopped screaming, perhaps Krimble was right when he said the screams were nothing more than birthing cries,’ said Bill.

The screams had stopped; however, the quivering in its limbs had not abated one-bit.

‘See,’ answered Krimble, ‘I told you. Give it time to regain its strength and it will run for you.’

‘Only to get away from you,’ said Jack.

Iron shards and dry earth layered the valley floor. Not even one weed took root in the jagged splits in the crust of the ground. Ringing the valley loomed silver and copper trees, mimicking those that had once stood in their place. Looking at the metal constructs turned Jack’s stomach. The animals Inara wanted to raise would also parody what had come before. How could they ever look on that stag with the same sense of wonder as seeing a living animal? Justice and her sisters destroyed the Wold; they could not use them to rebuild it.

‘If I close my eyes I can hear the rabbits thumping the ground.´ Excitement laced her voice like rum in a cake. ‘They still want to scamper around.’

Jack knew Yang heard them too, his shadow had moved away from the stag to stand expectantly over a patch of ground. His shadow sat on his haunches to study the bare earth between its feet.

‘Do you think you can control anymore?’ asked Bill.

‘I don’t know,’ said Inara. ‘Up until now I only thought my Talent only allowed me to bring back one thing. Whatever Krimble showed my Narmacil, made it stronger. I’ll try.’

They all looked at the ground under Yang, waiting for some sign of movement. A layer of sweat glistened on Inara’s brow and upper lip. Licking the salt from her lips, she narrowed her eyes and leant forward. She focused so hard on the valley floor that Jack expected her to clench her fists, or grit her teeth, and then the floor split. Small pockets along the length of the valley floor tore open. Some ruptures were close, others opened up yards away.

‘What’s happening,’ said Bill, jumping back from a patch of vibrating earth.

‘I can hear them, they’re all so excited,’ said Inara, who still only looked at the ground by Yang.

Most of the disturbed patches of ground formed triangles as the dirt rose. A few larger areas shook more violently, throwing up loose stone and shards of metal as far as the huddled group. Running to Inara’s side Jack shielded her from the falling debris.

A rabbit with missing ears bounded from the ground first, making Yang jump back from the hole. Its mewling cries, though quieter than the stag’s, wrenched at the heart. It jumped around on browned bones. Not much fur or flesh remained. Sitting tenaciously on its skull was a thick thatch of hair, looking like a wig. Flexing its hind legs the rabbit scampered, with a series of awkward jumps, to a wire bush. They watched the fleeing rabbit pass the bush and disappear out of the valley.

Other cries soon rent the morning, taking the place of the departed rabbit. Other rabbits, in varying states of decomposition, left the ground of their dead warren. One unfortunate rabbit dragged itself from its hole. A predator had cracked and gnawed at its bones to get at its marrow, leaving little left of the rabbit. Only a few still had their ears intact, and they stabbed at Jack’s heart the most.

‘So many rabbits,’ said Bill. He shook his head annoyed. ‘I can’t feel any of them. Not like I could with Black.’

‘Your Talent only works on the living.’ For now, Jack almost added. Who knew what feats their demons were capable of? Turning from Bill’s disappointment, he followed his wandering shadow as his twin ran after the dead rabbits with a worrisome fervour.

The largest animal since the stag’s rebirth scrambled out of its grave. The once bushy tail of the fox, now hung limp and sodden between its trembling legs. It yelped constantly, ignoring the fluttering of a bird who tried to take flight on broken wings.