Kill Fish Jones (28 page)

‘Dear father, who owns the world, all I ask of you is some land on which to build a house for my beloved wife and for my child who is yet to be born. Give me this and I will work hard for you and keep the land rich and beautiful.'

Again his father said, ‘No. You must stay here in my palace where you will want for nothing, but I will own you and your wife and your child who is yet to be born.'

So the first son went away. But his heart was filled with rage and so, as soon as the child was born, Imenga's son took a dagger which he concealed in his cloak and went to his father again and said, ‘Dear father, who owns the world, all I ask of you is some land on which to build a home for my beloved wife and my child who is just born. Give me this and you will have my sworn loyalty forever.'

And again his father said, ‘No. I will own the world and you and your wife and your child who is just born along with it.'

So the first son said, ‘Then I will take what I want, as you
have taken everything that you wanted,' and struck his father down with a blow through the heart.

And as Imenga died he spoke these words:

‘If I am to die and become ashes then all that I owned in life will die in terror and howling darkness and will become nought but ashes also.'

And then he died.

As everyone knows, a curse made with a dying breath is always kept, and this one was made of the dying breath of the greatest of all magicians. Even as Imenga spoke, the Mighty Curse was born from his mouth, and it was terrible. The body of Imenga was turned to ashes and a great pit was carved in the face of the Clouded Land and from it the Mighty Curse rose against the sky. It was so vast that it blotted out the sun, and as it spread its great wings of death a howling wind tore across the Earth, ripping up the forests and destroying all in its path. And yet it had only just begun.

And everyone ran before it in terror. But the first son's wife, whose name was Elonia, did not want her newborn child to die before it had even begun with its life. And so Elonia ran to the great pit where the Mighty Curse was rising in all its dreadfulness against the sky, preparing to turn the world and everyone in it to ashes, and she said:

‘Only great love can stop great evil, and you are evil. And my love for my newborn child and for my husband who is its father is far greater than my love for my life. So I will give you my life as proof of this, and I will have command over you and you will stop.'

And the Mighty Curse replied to her, ‘No curse can be
broken before it is complete, unless at the behest of the Greatest Love of all Great Loves. But to love something more than you love your life is great enough to stop me for a time. Give me your life as proof, and I will sleep and the world will be safe until I am awoken again.'

So Elonia threw herself into the pit and the Mighty Curse sank back down into the depths and slept.

And so, because he had freed the world from a tyrant, the first son got land on which to build a home for his child who had just been born. But because he had committed murder he lost his beloved wife. And every day for the rest of his life he went to the pit where Elonia had given her life for him and for her newborn child and cried. And he cried so greatly that his tears filled the pit and the deepest of all waters covered the Mighty Curse where it lay.

But nothing would bring Elonia back.

‘I don't know where
that
gets us,' said Alice, laying the book between them on the wooden slats of the bench. ‘I mean, all it says is that curses can't be broken, they can only be put off, and
that's
no help.'

She frowned. ‘Do you think it's all true? That this really happened all those years ago and the Mighty Curse is sleeping deep in the ground, waiting to be woken up? I suppose the thing that's sleeping is the Mighty Curse's demon, like your curse's demon only … well …
bigger
?'

Fish tilted his head and looked up at the sky, only half listening as Alice spoke. A train of thought was forming in his mind and he wanted to follow it.

He knew that he was next on the demon's list. He knew that it was having trouble killing him – after all, it had had a fair few cracks at it and yet he was still here. He knew that it wouldn't move on and kill Susan until it had dealt with him. So what was it up to now?

‘I s'pect,' murmured Alice, ‘that
your
beastly demon is off plotting something really big. I mean, it's not gonna
just keep on with the falling junk and car accidents, is it? It'll want something you
can't escape
…'

Fish found himself thinking about Imenga, who owned the world and would rather destroy it all than give away even a tiny part.

‘… I mean, something
nuclear
. Even if it means taking out other people …'

But, thought Fish, surely it would be crazy to wipe out everything just to get one insignificant little person. Bonkers.

‘Because let's face it, the thing must be barking by now. Mad as a hatter. You've cheated it at every turn …'

Only, went on Fish's head, to the demon, killing Fish Jones isn't insignificant. To the demon, killing Fish Jones is everything.

‘… so all it can do is play its trump card. And from where I'm sitting, that looks like …'

Fish swallowed hard, because if his thoughts followed their natural course back to the story they had just been reading, there was only one conclusion.

‘… the Mighty Curse.'

There was a moment of complete stillness. Fish and Alice locked gazes. All around them the world paused and even the birds stopped singing for one eerie moment. And then it all went on as before.

‘Oh bum,' said Alice quietly. ‘
Your
demon's going to wake
its
demon up!'

As one, they scrambled off the seat and began to
move. By the time they reached the edge of the village, they were running.

‘I would have thought,' snapped Tun, gazing down at Grimshaw with his piercing eyes switched full on and his arms folded, ‘that you would be searching Real Space for the Mighty Curse, not playing in the books, as usual.'

‘Like I care what
you
think,' muttered Grimshaw dizzily. He was sitting on the ground outside the house trying to get his breath back. Having chewed him up, the story had spat him out on the library floor. After the whirling cacophony of the Mighty Curse Grimshaw's head was spinning, but he had had the presence of mind to reset his chronometer before the other books worked out that he was free. He was glad to be outside again, taking in deep breaths of old socks and waiting for his brain to calm down.

Tun went on glaring. ‘Really, I thought you had more backbone!'

Grimshaw glared back. It was clear that Tun didn't yet know what Grimshaw had found out. But the Acts and Facts operated like a grapevine. Any significant deed done or word spoken soaked through the dead air like ink through blotting paper, alerting demons everywhere. Although there was always a delay, any moment now Limbo would know exactly what Grimshaw had been up to.

Because he had been inside the story, Grimshaw had
seen the place where the Avatar of the Mighty Curse had risen like a dark cloud against the sky. He knew where it had fallen to sleep and where the waters had closed over its head. All he had to do was get there fast, before anyone worked out where he was going. Quickly, he fiddled with his chronometer.

‘Off now, are you?' said Tun. ‘About time. But then it is a big task for such a minor demon and I suppose a little cowardice can be forgiven.'

‘Thanks,' sneered Grimshaw. The dials were all aligned correctly.

Tun turned to survey the Limbo landscape, his eyes raking over its grey greyness. He waved an arm expansively. ‘Remember, small one,' he boomed, ‘all this will be gone if you succeed.'

Grimshaw's finger paused over the send button. Was that a touch of fear in Tun's voice?

‘You're chickening out, aren't you?' he said scornfully.

Tun ignored him. ‘But can such a miserable creature as you find the strength and determination to wake the most fearsome curse demon in history from its sleep? Hmm?'

‘You bet,' snapped Grimshaw, and hit send.

Tun spun around, his black cloak sending ripples of darkness into the grey light. He gaped. And then the grapevine reached him.

Limbo was normally silent anyway, but for one eerie moment even the silence was silent.

‘Satan's rump!' murmured Tun as he gazed at the space where Grimshaw had been. ‘He knows where it is!'

In the room with the sunlight on the walls and the smell of antiseptic, Susan opened her eyes. She had been asleep and dreaming of the old days, before she had disturbed the remains of Lampwick the Robber. She woke suddenly, feeling as if someone had called her name.

For a second everything was still. It was an eerie stillness and it seemed to Susan that even the birds outside her window fell quiet. And then everything was normal again.

She lay for a while, thinking about it. She was not a superstitious person, but there were things in her life that took more explanation than logic could provide. Fish was one of them. He had always been different, and although Susan loved him with all her heart, there were times that she didn't like to think about when she found him a little frightening. So, even while she told herself that the moment of eerie stillness was merely a lull in the birdsong and the sounds of the ward that coincided with a gap in the traffic, the part of her that knew better than to trust mere logic was going into overdrive. She thought that maybe, when …
if
… she got to Crow's Cottage, she should have a long talk with Fish and find out the truth. Even if it terrified her, it was time she
knew about her own son. She was ashamed that she hadn't had the courage to do it before.

She drew in a slow breath and tried sitting up. It hurt in places she didn't know she had, but it didn't kill her.

‘Oh my rear,' she groaned quietly, and reached for her clothes.

‘Mrs Jones,' said the doctor, appearing in the doorway with a disapproving frown, ‘you have a broken rib and leg, extensive bruising and some bad lacerations. I really wouldn't recommend—'

‘Question,' said Susan patiently, ‘if I walk out of here now, am I going to drop dead?'

The doctor looked bewildered. ‘Well … no.'

‘There you are, then!' She smiled. ‘You see, there is somewhere else I have to be, and provided I can get there alive, then that is where I'm going.'

He opened his mouth and then shut it again. He knew determination when he saw it. He cleared his throat.

‘Well, Mrs Jones, you'll need antibiotics and some painkillers. I'll make you up a prescription now, if you'll give me a moment.'

‘You've got as long as it takes me to get dressed and ring for a taxi,' she said, and gave him a smile that made his day.