Jack Shian and the Destiny Stone (24 page)

Rana looked at him reproachfully.

“That’s a bit mean, considering Cosmo’s been holed up in Cos-Howe for months.”

“I didn’t mean that … I just meant …” but Jack got no further. Rana stalked off haughtily.

“Jack, have you still got the
Mapa Mundi
?” asked Petros. “Didn’t the Boabans try and get it from you?”

“Papa Legba kept it safe while we were on Tula,” he explained.

“You mean you let someone else take it?!”

“I knew he’d keep it safe. He’s got a ring like Tamlina’s.” Jack showed the ring that once more kept the
Mapa Mundi
around his neck. “I figured, if he’s got that, then he’s on the right side.”

“Malevola had that ring for a while, so that doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, something just made me trust him. And he
did
give it back to me when we got here.”

“Where’s he gone? I haven’t seen him since yesterday.”

“He took Hema away. Whatever she gets, it serves her right,” said Lizzie. “From what Cleo’s said, she was a right old witch.”

“Not a witch,” said Cleo. “The Boabans turn into witches when they don’t get enough blood. She was still Boaban.”

“The dancing and singing will go on for a while,” said Phineas, joining the group. “People have come from all over, because the low roads are working again today.”

Jack looked round the chamber. It
was
more crowded. And with people he’d never seen before.

“Where are
they
from?” he asked, indicating a group who were conversing with Iain Dubh and Ishona.

“They’re from across the ocean,” said Phineas. “These islands are a crossroads, you know. People have passed through this place for centuries. That’s ‘Grey Wolf’; and the one next to him is ‘He Who Waits’.”

“Are they Shian?” Jack couldn’t be certain: Grey Wolf was quite a bit taller than the other.

“I think so. But remember what John told us: the Shian and human worlds are not so separate. This is a strange day: all sorts can end up here.”

“You mean like him?” Jack pointed to a large figure who stood alone by one of the fireplaces. “He’s enormous – almost like Caskill.”

Clad in green, the half-giant held an axe in his right hand, and clutched a holly branch in his left. The flames from the fireplace crackled and spat as the figure leant against the mantelpiece.

“He looks like he could take anyone on,” said Jack in awe.

“Looks like he might be about to,” muttered Petros.

A cold blast blew through the large chamber, and Jack felt an icy chill grip his guts. Turning round he saw … No, it couldn’t be.

“Good of you to open the low road for us today,” proclaimed a figure at the entrance. He moved quickly into the chamber, followed by a dozen others, all holding their sceptres at the ready.

“I am Stegos, of the Kildashie. And this,” he brandished a triangular lump of granite, “is part of the Raglan stone. We know the
Mapa Mundi
is here; let us have it, and we’ll be on our way.”

Stegos quickly picked out Jack from the crowd.

“You have the
Mapa Mundi
, boy? Then hand it over.”

The Kildashie held aloft the fragment of Raglan stone, and although Jack shrank back, Stegos was swiftly on him. He gripped Jack by the throat – but his arm was immediately beaten down.

Jack had not even been aware of the half-giant’s movement from the fireplace; but he said a silent
thank you
as he dropped to the floor, rubbing his neck. Stegos was just as surprised, and he wheeled around in anger.

“I am Kildashie! We own the Shian treasures!”

The half-giant stared at him impassively.

“You deal with things that you do not understand,” said Phineas, positioning himself between Stegos and Jack. “Splitting the Raglan makes its power unpredictable!”

Stegos eyed Phineas warily. “But it’s part of the Destiny Stone; the rest has gone on to Edinburgh.”

“The Destiny Stone cannot work properly if it’s splintered. As the Raglan it was our best hope of uniting the treasures!”

“I don’t believe you. This piece is proof the Kildashie are in charge. And my friend here –” he waved at one of his comrades “– has your season-wheel.”

One of the Kildashie brandished a small wooden wheel which showed a winter setting.

“That’s our season-wheel!” shouted Magnus. “Without its turning we cannot survive!”

“One word from me,” said Stegos, “and he’ll shatter it. Your winter will last ten years!”

“You splinter the Raglan stone; and you would break the season-wheel. You neither understand nor deserve such treasures.”

“Enough with words! Give me the
Mapa
– or my friend here will bring a winter of death. Or maybe your children would rather have some heat?”

Several of the Kildashie now darted forward and grabbed prisoners – including Cleo, Rana and Fenrig. Igniting their sceptres, they held the burning end at each hostage’s face.

“This is the midwinter solstice!” shouted Magnus. “This violates all our laws and customs!”

“We will be gone once we have the
Mapa
,” said Stegos simply. “If you want to make sport, I will duel with the boy. This piece of the Raglan for his map!”

Phineas, Grandpa and the Nebula crew all moved forward to protect Jack.

“No!” said Phineas, withdrawing his sword. “You duel with me, not my son.”

“Dad,” said Jack hoarsely. “That’s a piece of the Raglan. It can make hexes ten times stronger.”

The splintered Raglan was erratic, yes – but not useless. Jack saw the wave of doubt spread over his father’s face. Duelling was one thing; swords against strong hexes, that was death-waiting-to-happen.

But nobody found out what Phineas would have done next. The half-giant pushed himself forward again.

“One hex for one blow,” said Magnus as the half-giant brandished his axe. “You go first, Kildashie.”

Stegos stared at the man, his jaw dropping.

“What makes him think he’ll get a blow in? I’ll take his brains out – if he has any.”

“One hex for one blow,” repeated Magnus firmly. “Ten minutes’ recovery time.”

Stegos chuckled. “All right. And to show I’m a sport, there’s the piece of Raglan stone.” He placed the sandstone on the floor. “Now, if the
Mapa Mundi
goes there too, you’re on!”

As the half-giant turned round to look at him, Jack could not read his face. It was impassive – almost dead. But looking at the hostages, cowering at the thought of their faces being scorched by the Kildashie’s sceptres …

Fenrig looks like he’s wet himself!

… Jack realised he had no alternative. Tugging Tamlina’s ring from his neck, he untied the flag, and laid it next to the splintered Raglan stone.

The crowd had split into two: the Kildashie with their hostages by the entrance, and everyone else facing them. Stegos and the half-giant stood in the middle, eyeing each other up.

Stegos looked carefully at the axe in the great man’s right hand; then at the switch of holly branch in his left. Then, with a chuckle and a shake of his head, he swiftly raised his sceptre, and aimed it at the half-giant’s face.

“
Decapitis!
”

There was a flash as the hex caught the huge man square in his face. An audible gasp ran round the chamber as the face burnt; and when the head toppled onto the ground, followed by the body, Jack felt an icy chill run through the room.

“Now, I take the
Mapa Mundi
!” shouted Stegos triumphantly.

“No!” commanded Magnus. “Ten minutes, remember.”

“All right,” laughed Stegos. “Ten minutes won’t hurt.” He looked round in triumph at his comrades.

Jack was desperately trying to think. There must be something he could do here … Gosol had brought Grandpa back up at Dunvik; but he’d used the Chalice for that – and his grandfather hadn’t been in bits.

If I could get the piece of Raglan stone …

But Stegos was standing with his foot over the small fragment of sandstone, his sceptre still aimed at the giant’s recumbent body. The other Kildashie were laughing, and two had even freed their hostages, confident that they would soon be on their way. Fenrig, released by his captor, scurried away.

The minutes ticked by, and there was nothing happening except a growing pool of blood by the slain half-giant’s body. What had Magnus meant – ten minutes’ recovery time? How do you recover from a severed head?

The minutes

ticked

by.

In silence.

Stegos glanced round, then stretched and yawned, and bent down to retrieve the
Mapa Mundi
. But he was halted by a flicker of movement from the half-giant’s body.

Jack’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. There was no doubt – the body had moved. The arms bent, and the body pushed itself up into a kneeling position. Blood continued to drip from the open neck.

The arms swept the floor in front until they encountered the severed head. Then cradling the head, feeling gently for the face, the half-giant stuck it firmly down onto his torso again. Then he picked up the switch of holly and axe, stood up, and faced Stegos.

The Kildashie had watched this display with a growing sense of disbelief. Disbelief gave way to incredulity – and then terror.

“One blow for one hex,” stated Magnus firmly. “Stand ready. The ten minutes are not over.”

Stegos’ jaw moved up and down, but no sound came out. Whether he would have managed to say something eventually is a moot point, because the half-giant swung his axe, and cleaved head from trunk with a ‘Tchock’.

Jack hadn’t heard a ‘Tchock’ before; and he hadn’t previously heard the sound which followed it: a kind of splushing noise as Stegos’ head hit the floor, splattering out blood and brains. Next to those sounds, the ‘whump’ as Stegos’ body hit the floor was a bit of an anticlimax.

The remaining Kildashie stood, stunned. Then two made a break for it, and escaped through the doorway, pulling the entrance down behind them. Their comrades, if they had entertained thoughts of escape, now saw that this was impossible. They were quickly disarmed, and the season-wheel recovered. The prisoners were led away into the makeshift morgue next door.

“Shouldn’t we go after the others?” shouted Jack, stooping down and retrieving the
Mapa Mundi
. As he picked up the sandstone lump it burnt his hand – but only briefly
.
It felt sort of …
zingy
. The flag around his neck tingled.

When the treasures come together, their power increases … even if the Raglan has been broken, and it’s only a part of the Stone anyway …

“No,” said Phineas, going over to comfort Cleo and Rana. “It’s better if the story comes from them – that will put fear into the other Kildashie.”

“And what’ll happen to the others?” asked Jack, nodding towards the morgue.

“We can’t kill them: it’s the solstice, for one thing. And it’s like at Dunvik: Gosol demands that we spare them.”

“They were going to burn our faces off!” screamed Rana.

“But you’re safe,” explained Grandpa soothingly. He took the Raglan stone fragment from Jack, then knelt down and hugged Rana. “And we mustn’t sink to their level.”

Cleo’s eyes showed indignant fury at her ordeal. She strode over to the half-giant, whose face, though still disfigured, showed a trace of a smile. Cleo gave a short curtsey, then walked off towards the morgue.

“Wait! Where are you going?” demanded Magnus.

Cleo stopped abruptly.

“I want to see them punished.”

“Oh, they’ll be punished – just not killed. Trust us: we wouldn’t insult you by letting them off lightly. They abused all of us.”

“He’s right,” said Phineas, putting his arm around Cleo. “Let’s let them take care of the prisoners. Come on; the party’s getting going again.”

Stegos’ body had been dragged away, and his head removed. As the music restarted, fresh earth was spread around to cover the blood. NorShian carried trays of food and drink around, and the atmosphere quickly returned to party mode.

“This place is amazin’,” said Ossian. “You’d never think they’d just been attacked. It’s like nothin’ even happened.”

Kedge, however, was not sharing the jollity. In fact, he was shaking.

“It’s all right,” said Lizzie soothingly. “They’ve gone. The ones who escaped aren’t coming back.”

Kedge’s eyes showed that, however much he wanted to believe he was safe, the thought of Kildashies and beheadings chilled him to the very bone.

“Come on over to the warm,” said Armina, taking Kedge over to the fire. “And we’ll get you something to drink.”

Jack watched as Kedge was led away. Painful memories had clearly been stirred.

That was just a taster
, thought Jack.
When we take on Boreus and the rest of the Kildashie, we won’t have a green man to save us
. He walked up to Magnus.

“You knew he would do that, didn’t you?”

Magnus looked down kindly at Jack. His face was flushed; and it wasn’t just from the roaring fire.

“As I recall, we haven’t gone through the formalities yet. Did you have a request you wanted to make?”

Jack felt hot tears welling up inside.

“This isn’t a game!” he shouted. “We’ve travelled hundreds of miles, some of us have died, and you want me to play?!”

“Jack.” His father’s voice was soothing. “They didn’t know the Kildashie were going to attack. The green man is their totem. He’s the sign that the year does turn.”

“We’re at the depths of midwinter,” explained Magnus, cradling the season-wheel. “We have to believe that the dark days won’t last forever.”

“We know your green man is proof to you that winter will pass,” said Phineas. Turning to Jack, he added, “He killed Stegos with an axe, but did you see what he held in his other hand?”

Jack thought. It
was
odd that the half-giant had held a switch from a bush.

“The holly bush is green isn’t it? Even at midwinter?”

“Exactly. It’s a sign that spring will return. If the green man hadn’t got up, winter would have lasted forever.”