Crik (34 page)

The path declined, sending the group careering wildly down into a dark dell. Each amazingly held onto their mounts as the deer kept their feet. Jack heard Inara laugh as their speed doubled down the slope. They entered a passage where even the bugs refused to enter. The entwining branches overhead made a latticed roof. Only a few stray beams of sunshine got through the dense network. In the gloom, they relied on the instincts of the deer to keep them moving. Their momentum kept up well into the path. When their pace lessened, the sounds of pursuit had grown quieter. Sneaking a backward glance, Jack’s heart faltered as the sun spearing through the latticed roof flickered as bodies raced atop the canopy.

‘They’re right behind us,’ cried Jack. ‘They’re running on top of the branches.’

Instead of answering, all three dug their heels into the flanks of their mounts, demanding more haste. The end of the tree-lined tunnel came into view.

A Myrm leapt for Jack as he exited. The brute had come within arm’s reach of him when Yang batted the armoured figure away. Jack didn’t watch the Myrm crumple against the iron bole of a giant sequoia. Other muscled forms appeared on the lip of the tunnel exit. Each roared. They wore eagle or wolf masks, distorting their challenging cries.

The Hedge Wall rose ahead. Clouds eddied against the looming barrier, creating a layer of swirling mist. Beyond the thin cover, the wall continued to an immeasurable height. Bolstered, by finally seeing the wall, the group sped onward. The Myrms leapt after them. Jack counted at least twenty in pursuit, and he was sure more armour-clad figures followed.

‘We’re almost there,’ cried Bill, just as a thrown iron club missed his head by inches. Hugging his deer tighter, he squeezed his eyes shut.

Behind Jack Yang had spread himself out into a dark vapour, catching four of the nearest Myrms. The Myrms roared as the black mist enveloped them, bringing them crashing to the ground. Others leapt over, or skirted around Yang.

‘They keep coming,’ said Jack into the neck of his mount.

They could now see the individual leaves of the Hedge Wall. The triangular leaves with their serrated edges fluttered in the breeze. Brown wood peaked through the foliage, it was the first time Jack had seen the colours brown and green since entering the Red Wood, the sight made his heart yearn for the world on the far side. He missed Crik Wood; all he wanted was to hear birds sing in the branches of a normal oak tree. Instead, the sounds of struck metal and grunted cries entertained his ears.

Taking the form of an immense cat, with razor sharp claws, Yang sprang for the Myrms. The ferociousness of his attack slowed the pursuit. Dropping a mangled corpse Yang sprang for the foremost Myrm, tearing through its fox helm with foot long sabres.

Watching as his demon tore chunks from a pursuer’s arm, Jack could not hide his horror. Pained cries mingled with the angry calls around them. He had never seen his shadow kill. That it could scare him to his core, made him shiver despite his sweat. If his demon decided to kill his friends, or his mother, how could he stop it?

Another Myrm fell lifeless to the ground when amber light appeared amongst the metal trees driving Yang back.

When his shadow retreated to the deer, Jack shouted, ‘Ghost Walkers.’

Gossamer strands of light filtered through the tightly packed trees, illuminating all with sensuous ease. Remembering the love he had for Grandma Poulis, when her light had touched him, made Jack yearn to experience the spreading amber glow. Needing to recapture that feeling of protection Bill’s grandmother had given him, he slowed his mount. Quickly the radiance that had marked the Ghost Walkers’ arrival reached him. Frozen brilliance, like damp November air, struck him as the amber light travelled up his body. Any attempt to control his shaking fell apart with the Ghost Walker’s arrival. Twisting her lips into a cruel sneer, the lead woman shattered any hope he still had for mercy.

Rough hands forcibly spun him around from the stranger. Bill leaned across the gap between their mounts, screaming for him to flee. The spell broken, Jack pulled the neck of his deer away from the woman and galloped after his retreating friends.

The Hedge Wall darkened the world as they rode close to its base. Yang threw out his arm to the right, and they followed. Where was their escape? Despair started to seep into Jack, making his mind race with panic. They followed his demon here, yet the wall remained impenetrable. If a rhinoceros made from iron and steel could not barge his way through, what hope had they to get to the other side?

The Ghost Walkers converged on them. Kyla led the chase, her features contorted into a mask of hate. Jack watched as her eyes sank deeper and deeper into her face to leave two tar pits peering out from a bleached skull. Her hair became lank, its golden colour bleached white.

She will kill us. While the terror commanding Jack’s mind took hold, Inara, with a scream, fell from her rearing deer.

In their way stood the Red Sisters. Both had their arms raised, holding aloft staffs with rattling bones. Jack had thought Kyla’s face showed hatred, yet the two women bathed in red light revealed a horror beyond anything he had yet experienced. Whereas Kyla chose to show her skeletal face, the two before them showed faces ravaged by time. Skin hung from them in sagging folds. Their cracked, sneering mouths, appeared like badly healed scars.

‘You dare try to escape,’ shouted Kyla as the group came to a hurried stop. ‘I’ll hang you. I’ll watch as your eyes bulge and your tongues loll from your mouths as you choke to death.’

‘You’ve no right to keep us prisoner,’ said Inara, pushing against the floor. Stumbling away, its legs flayed to the bone, went her deer.

‘We have every right,’ said one of the Red Sisters. ‘You came to our home, and you altered it. You have done more than trespass.’

‘We should take them back,’ said Justice, coming forward. Unlike the others, her face remained serene.

‘Tell us child,’ said the second Red Sister, ‘why should we let these three live?’

Ignoring the Red Sister, Justice stopped before Inara. ‘They are children. What happened to us was not their doing. Cadhla, if we kill them, then we’re no better than the villagers who carried me to the Hanging Tree.’

‘Children grow to become men and women who carry torches in the night,’ said the Red Sister named Cadhla. ‘If we let them go, they’ll return and destroy our home. We can’t allow them to leave.’

‘Then they remain with us, like Huckney,’ said Justice.

‘The blacksmith has his uses,’ said Cadhla. ‘This one,’ she said pointing at Inara, ‘has raised abominations throughout our wood. Who’s to say what else she will make happen if we allow her to live.’

The Myrms, keeping back from the Ghost Walkers, growled and beat the floor. No doubt, they want to kill us as well, thought Jack. A few of the beasts carried cuts and bite marks from Yang’s attack.

‘What else can she do,’ replied Justice. ‘Having already raised the animals buried in the Wold, she is powerless to make any more changes.’

Cadhla shook her head. ‘The Narmacils in these children are strong. Bring him forward,’ she commanded the Myrms clustered behind the group.

Jack’s heart faltered upon seeing Krimble stumble forward. The old man cackled as he approached.

‘You say you can speak with the Narmacils,’ said Cadhla.

‘Yes,’ replied Krimble. ‘They share their secrets with me.’

‘Then tell us,’ instructed Cadhla, ‘has this girl reached her full potential?’

Inara cringed as Krimble took a faltering step forward. ‘Each of them house a Narmacil of power,’ he said. His ruined visage crinkled back into a horrific grin. ‘They tell me much; yet even the Narmacil don’t know the full extent of their power. It falls to me to educate them. The children have no idea what lives within them, or the full capability of the Children of the Wood.’

‘You see Justice,’ replied the other Red Sister. ‘We can’t allow them to live. In time, they could wreak havoc on the Wold. I have run before, I will not flee again.’

Cadhla shook her staff, making the bones rattle loudly. ‘The sins of their fathers are on their head. Your innocence went unheeded. They took each of you to that wretched tree, and so shall we now take them.’

‘Let me talk to them,’ said Krimble, walking into the red glow of the sisters. ‘I can control the Narmacil, they are my friends. With me controlling them, I will do what you want. Let me free the Narmacils and you can then kill the children.’

‘We don’t trust you,’ said Justice. ‘You stink of deceit. We should bury you so that we don’t have to listen to your conniving tongue any longer.’

‘He can help us sister,’ said Kyla, from her bleached skull. ‘We can use him to spread our influence beyond the Wold.’

‘Which will only bring us more unwanted attention,’ argued Justice.

‘The Narmacils are dangerous,’ said Cadhla. ‘We can’t allow them to exist here amongst us. Justice is right; they will bring unwanted attention to our home. Even now the parents of the children hunt for them.’

‘Then we hang them from the Hanging Tree,’ cried Kyla with cruel glee.

‘No sister,’ said Cadhla, ‘we won’t hang them from the Hanging Tree.’

Kyla swung around to face the Red Sister. ‘I want them to die,’ she cried.

‘They wanted to reach the Hedge Wall,’ said Cadhla, ‘and they have. We will hang them in its shadow.’ As she spoke, she pointed to a gnarled iron tree set a few feet from the group. ‘Bring us rope.’

Turning, Jack watched with dread as Raglor, wearing his owl helmet, carried forward a length of rope.

When Raglor pulle
d
the rope taught, the iron branch refused to break. It creaked and groaned, the iron limb bowed under the pressure. The reprieve Jack sought evaporated as the chieftain let go of the thick rope. Counting the seconds in conjunction with the swinging rope, drove home his despair. Looking down he saw Yang huddled close to his leg, hiding from the Ghost Walkers’ light. Where was his shadow when he needed him the most? Disgust rose up his throat like steam. Transforming into the giant cat, Yang, baring long sabres, snarled. Positive the demon wanted to bite him, made Jack flinch away. The change lasted mere seconds, yet his shadow’s threat left him shaken. Yang wanted to kill him. Well, let the demon do its worst, he will be dead within minutes anyway.

‘The girl should die first,’ said Kyla. ‘She brought the decayed things into our garden. Everywhere I turn, there’s another pitiful creature wandering across my path. Yesterday a duck with half a bill swam across the Rainbow Lake. The golden swans scattered from it, and have yet to return to the water. Kill her, and all those things will return to the ground where they belong.’

‘They look horrible to you,’ said Inara, ‘because you put them in the ground. Why don’t you die, and see what returns to the Wold.’

‘You would be such a pretty girl if you had legs,’ said Kyla, with a sneer. ‘I would’ve guessed a cripple like you, would welcome the noose. What’s a moment of pain against the anguish of living as you are?’

‘Enough sister,’ said Justice. ‘If we’re to do this, then let us do it quickly. I will not taunt them as the villagers mocked me. Raglor, take the girl. Only,’ she added, her features softening, as a golden light spread from her, ‘be gentle with her.’

Laughing, Inara said, ‘How can a rope, snapping the bones in my neck, be gentle? I misunderstood, all this time I thought you wanted to hurt me.’

‘Let us go,’ repeated Jack, looking up at the looming Hedge Wall. Crik Wood lay on the other side, with clear streams, and animals that didn’t limp and claw their way out from the dirt. Most of all, on the other side of the wall he wouldn’t have to see metal everywhere he looked.

Cadhla drifted over to the gnarled tree, bathing the crooked metal in her fell light. Kyla joined her on the other side of the tree. ‘We have wasted enough time with these children,’ said Cadhla. ‘Foolish things, did you truly believe you could escape? The Wall surrounds the Wold. You cannot dig under it; you cannot wriggle through its barbed fence. Knowing you had no way through the hedge, why bother to come here? Were you hoping to find another tunnel? Are you hiding other gifts from us? Can that shadow of yours do more than attack my Myrms?’

Krimble shuffled forward, until the red light from the two elder sisters covered him. ‘Let me talk to them,’ he said. ‘In her attempt to ruin your home, the bitch went against your wishes. I can talk to the Narmacil, coax them out and let them live inside me. Within me, their powers will serve you.’

‘Listen to him sisters,’ said Kyla. ‘Krimble told me that the fat boy can control animals. With such a gift we can go out into Crik Wood, and widen our influence.’

‘The Wold is our home,’ said Cadhla. ‘If these children had somehow managed to escape we would not be safe. Others would discover our secret sanctuary. The life you seek sister, the life beyond the Hedge Wall, is not for us. We burnt the trees to stop you from remembering the life they ripped from you. Fixing her stare on Krimble she continued, her voice a whispered threat. ‘Your pet, Kyla, is no different to one of those wretched husks that now contaminate the Rainbow Lake. He is a deceased creature that is better off dead.’

‘I can serve you,’ cried Krimble. ‘Look.’ Straightening his crooked back, he pointed to the clear sky. Within moments, threatening clouds gathered, billowing together as though caught in the eye of a storm. When the heavy clouds burst, a torrential deluge descended. Rain drummed off the metal armour of the Myrms in a jarring musical litany. ‘This is but one of my Talents,’ he cried, triumphant. ‘Give me a chance to extract the Narmacil from the girl. With her gift, I will continue to live beyond her death.’

‘He will be of use to us,’ said Kyla. ‘Give him what he wants.’

‘No Kyla,’ said Cadhla, ‘I will have the Wold back to the way we envisaged.’

‘You allow the blacksmith to live,’ said Krimble. ‘Why not me? With my babies, I can swell your lakes with the rain. I can have you bask in the heat of the sun. Let the girl die without me taking her Narmacil and you will lose everything.’

‘What use is the sun to us, when we cannot feel its warmth,’ said Cadhla. The downpour that soaked Krimble slipped through the Ghost Walkers. ‘The blacksmith continues to build our Wold. Huckney’s father,’ she studied the bent branches, dotted with rust, ‘created these trees. They are rotten. Like so much of his work. Seeds sown by the son grow without risk of rust. Same with the creatures he creates.’ 

The noose swayed, buffeted by the storm. ‘By killing us you only prove the villagers were right,’ said Jack. ‘They feared you, believing that you were unnatural creatures from the darkest wood to steal their wives’ souls. Bill’s grandmother is one of you. She hides in her house. If you hang us from that branch, you are only confirming the villagers’ suspicions of you.’

‘Justice has told me of your grandmother,’ Cadhla told Bill. ‘Sons have turned against their mothers before. Amongst us, some have learnt that hard lesson first hand. I will not give you the chance to do the same to your grandmother.’

Bill strode forward, splashing mud up his leg, and scaring the one remaining deer into the wood. ‘I would never hurt my grandmother. Anyone who tried to hurt her would have to come through me first.’

‘Cheap words.’ Cadhla scowled. ‘Raglor take the girl.’

‘No,’ both Jack and Bill screamed as the massive chieftain grabbed Inara’s shoulders and hoisted her over his head.

‘Leave her alone,’ said Jack, running toward Raglor.

The Myrm chieftain causally knocked Jack back with his free hand. Jack landed hard in the mud. Paralyzed by the ghost light, Yang could not aid Inara.

‘Get off her.’

A wolf’s howl answered Bill’s shout, and from behind the tree leapt Black. Black attacked Raglor, knocking the Myrm and Inara to the ground. The ferociousness of the wolf attack tore the owl helmet from the chieftain, exposing the older Myrm’s white hair and wide eyes. Huge gnarled hands tore hunks of hair from Black’s back. Snarling, the wolf clamped its long fangs onto his prey’s neck. Immediately a fountain of red blood met the rain, swelling the puddles with its crimson tide. Raglor, killed by the bite, collapsed to the floor.

Black released his hold. Gore dripped from his open maw as he circled Inara, staring at the other Myrms with his blue eyes. The wolf, leaner since entering the Wold, remained a formidable hunter. Steam rose from his raised back.

‘Black,’ cried Inara, reaching a hand up to pet the wolf’s shaggy coat.

‘Kill the wolf,’ said Cadhla.

‘Rip it to shreds,’ cried Kyla, turning to the Myrms with her skeleton face.

The reluctant Myrms roared and beat the ground with their fists. One with an eagle helmet charged. Holding a metal club, he brought it down to strike Black’s head. The large wolf, evading the cumbersome attack, bit into the arm of his attacker, severing the limb in two.

Inara crawled away from the fallen Myrm. Mud covered her from head to foot, and her clothes became paper thin in the downpour. When she reached Jack, they clutched each other, shaking as the other Myrms leapt forward in attack.

‘He can’t take on five at once,’ said Jack, as Black barrelled into the chest of the first Myrm.

A silver streak came from behind the group as Silver, with teeth bared, entered the fray. Quicker than the larger black wolf, she tore into the legs of the attacking Myrms. Pain filled cries answered her snapping jaws.

‘Kill the boy,’ cried Kyla. ‘He is controlling the beasts.’

The metal face of a snarling dog fixed Bill with a deadly stare. Leaving the group to fight the wolves, he ran toward Bill. He held a cruel metal shard in two hands. Its jagged edge, capable of cutting Bill in two, came up as he reached the cowering boy.

Advancing, Yang enveloped the Myrm. Raising his hands to his face the Myrm dropped its weapon.

Kyla drifted toward the struggle. Spreading her light she touched Yang, who shied away to reveal the Myrm. In despair, Bill picked up the weapon, and with a cry, stabbed upwards, spearing the Myrm through its stomach.

A pained yelp, high and pitiful, rent the air. Another cry, torn from the throat of a wolf, stole the groups’ attention. Behind them lay Silver. Blood coated her white and grey coat. She yelped again as another strike from a cudgel broke her back. Lying in a pool of rainwater, the female wolf lifted her head toward Black.

Jack, trying to raise himself, cried, ‘No,’ as Silver’s attacker smashed his weapon into her skull; instantly killing the wolf.

Disengaging from the fight, Black, tilting back his head, gave a long mournful howl. When his cry went unanswered, the black wolf rolled back his lips exposing his red sabres.

‘He can’t fight them all off,’ said Bill. ‘He’s so wild; I’m finding it hard to control him. They killed Silver,’ he whispered, falling to his knees.

‘So this is how we die,’ said Inara. ‘Better than dying alone in the windowless room. Thank you for taking me from there.’

‘Anytime,’ said Jack, holding Inara firm as Black attacked the four remaining Myrms.

Jack at first mistook the loud booming for thunder. A second crash, closely followed by a third, rolled out from the Red Wood. The ground shook each time the sound came. ‘What’s happening,’ he said, as in the distance the sound of a falling metal tree punctuated the steady rumble.

‘Look,’ cried Inara, seeing the top of a silver oak shake.

Everyone watched in awe as the tree toppled. Spectators to the frightful display, all fighting had ceased. After witnessing another tree crash to the floor, the Myrms scattered into the wood. What followed was a series of ground shaking impacts that grew more forceful as it approached. Wary of what would appear from out of the Red Wood, the Ghost Walkers drew together. Another tree crashed to the ground. The solid thud of the copper smacking the earth sent forth a powerful shudder, rippling the pools of water. Snapping iron retorted piercingly, jarring the ears of the listeners.

‘What’s coming?’ said Bill.

Black, nuzzling Silver’s body with his wet nose, paid no attention to what approached. He lay down beside his fallen partner. The only sign he showed that he heeded the world around him were his pricked ears.

Through the rain, an indistinct shape began to materialise. As tall as the highest tree, the creature strode on purposefully. The rain drubbed the skin of the metal giant, as with one hand it uprooted the rusted tree that held the hangman’s noose. Tossing it aside the giant stepped into the Ghost Walkers’ light.

Immensely broad, the giant turned its boulder-sized eyes to the Ladies drifting close in blooms of colour. The two feet supporting its weight, had three toes, two to the front, and another growing from its heel. Its bowed legs were as powerful as the trunk of an oak tree.

‘Look at the size of it,’ said Bill. ‘Its hands are bigger than the three of us.’

Jack had noted the hands of the giant were disproportionate to the rest of its immense body. Like his own, the Giant’s hands contained four fingers with a thumb, which took root further from the fingers than Jack’s own. Extending from thick wrists extended arms bristling with coarse copper swirls. Arching upward its mighty biceps led to powerful steel shoulders, where dark metal strips hung from it like coarse hair. Rain swept over its bare chest, and distended stomach, in glistening rivulets. Unhurried, the giant placed its arms on the ground, resting its weight on its knuckles.

‘Look at how high its forehead rises above its face,’ said Bill. ‘And see how its mandibles protrude. I’m sure this is a gorilla.’

‘You’ve seen one of these in your book?’ asked Jack.

‘Not quite like this, but pretty close. The hands are far larger than the pictures I’ve seen, and the giant only has three toes on each foot; but the rest of it matches.’

‘Well I don’t care if you’ve seen it in one of your books,’ said Inara. ‘Can either one of you tell me what it’s doing here?’

As though to answer Inara’s question, the metal ape extended a hand out to the children. Everyone froze; with the hollow clang of the torrent sweeping across the enormous palm the only intrusion on the prevailing stillness.