North! Or Be Eaten (9 page)

When the trolls passed the shallow pool, schools of daggerfish leapt from the water. Their needle-sharp noses burrowed deep into the trolls’ coarse flesh. The trolls wailed and yanked out the fish even as more leapt from the water, and Janner was sick at how close he and his family had been to the same fate.

Everyone hustled nearer to the falls but Tink, who stood staring at the rocks.

“
TINK
!” Janner yelled.

Tink had one eye squinted shut and his head cocked sideways. He eyed the bank above the falls the same way he studied a tree he was about to draw.

“What are you
doing
?” Janner screamed. He yanked Tink’s arm so hard that his brother stumbled and fell.

“Ow!” Tink cried as he leapt back to his feet.

“Tink, they’re right behind us!”

“Do you think I don’t know that?” Tink said through clenched teeth, charging ahead of his brother.

“Then what were you doing?” Janner snapped.

Tink didn’t answer.

The boys skidded to a halt when they reached the others, who had come to the end of the road. They stood at the brink of a cliff. Below was a whirling murk of mist.

To the left sped the river, angry, white, and cold.

To the right, the steep wet slope of shale and boulders rose and disappeared in gray mist.

Behind them, the trolls and Fangs advanced.

“There’s no bridge, is there?” asked Janner.

“Not anymore, son,” said Nia. “If there ever was a bridge, it’s gone.”

S
o this is the end,” Janner said.

Nia smiled and pushed a lock of damp hair from his eyes. “I’m glad we tried.”

Janner rested his head on his mother’s shoulder, surprised he could find any amount of comfort when their situation was so bleak, all because he was near those he loved and who loved him.

Then he thought of Tink. Janner rounded on him and jabbed a finger in his brother’s chest.

“What were you doing back there? All day we’ve been in danger, but you keep standing around! Is this a game to you?”

“I wasn’t standing around! I saw something—”

“Oh, stop it,” said Leeli. “Now’s not the time.” She leaned forward and rested her head between Nugget’s ears. The dog whined and wagged its tail. “Why aren’t they coming?”

“Because they know we’re trapped, lass,” said Podo. “Look.”

The Fangs gathered at the bottom of the bank and ordered the trolls back. The Fangs seemed worried that the children might somehow get pushed over the falls in the fight if they advanced too quickly, so they proceeded with caution. More Fangs appeared, and they organized themselves into ranks. Meanwhile, the trolls knelt like children at the river’s edge and ran their fingers through the speeding water. When daggerfish leapt, the giggling trolls batted them out into the rapids.

“Where do we go now?” Oskar asked.

“Nowhere,” said Podo with a deep sigh. “We stand and fight.” He drew his sword. “We fight, and we don’t give up until the water’s lapping at our toes, eh? If something terrible happens and us old codgers don’t make it through this, then you kids stay together, hear? Fight with yer teeth if you have to, but
stay together
. I don’t know what old Gnag has planned for you, but you just trust the Maker and…and do like your father would have you do. Do like me and yer ma would have you do. Don’t just follow your heart. Your heart will betray you.”

“Tink, where are you going?” Janner asked. Tink was ten steps or so away, picking a path around a boulder that seemed to hover in the fog. “Tink!” Janner yelled, growing angry again.

“I told you, I thought I saw something,” Tink said without looking up. “An outline in the rocks, like someone had started to draw some stairs or a path down from the tree line but never finished. Look!” He kicked at some loose stones.

All Janner could see was more rock.

Tink rolled his eyes and brushed some more of the shale away. “Steps,” he said.

The squared hunk of rock was worn smooth from years of erosion, but it was clearly man-made, as wide as a sword length and cut from the bedrock.

“I don’t see what you’re so happy about. How does a step or two get us past the Fangs?”

Tink pointed below the cliff where the others gathered, and Janner understood. He saw buried beneath the pebbles and slate the faint outline of more steps, cut into the face of the cliff. Even now that he knew they were there, he had to squint and use his imagination to see the stairs, and he wasn’t sure anyone but Tink would have spotted them.

Janner laughed and clapped Tink on the back. “Stairs! Tink found stairs!”

The steps probably led to another dead end, but knowing their final stand wouldn’t be there on the bank, that it wouldn’t happen for a few more minutes, made Janner giddy.

While Podo lowered an eyebrow and Oskar raised both of his, Nia, Leeli, and Nugget sprang to where Janner and Tink stood. Nia saw the steps at once. She gasped, kissed Tink’s forehead, and led Nugget down. Janner, after giving Tink a look of apology, followed his brother down. Podo and Oskar went last. In moments they disappeared below the lip of the cliff and into the mist.

The stair was treacherous, no more than a narrow ledge cut into the wall of rock. The wall curved away from the bank and seemed to lead straight into the waterfall, while on the right the ground fell away and vanished into the void below.

Over the noise of the falls, Oskar and Podo could be heard just behind Janner and Tink, huffing and grumbling things like “blasted wet clothes” and “my spectacles are so fogged up I can hardly see a thing” and “speed up, ye old bag, they won’t be far behind.”

Just in front of Janner, Nugget kept as close to the wall as possible, his tail between his legs. The ledge took them behind a rush of water, a passageway of thunder, spray, and stone. When they emerged, the stair descended more sharply into the mist.

Nugget stopped, and Janner bumped into the dog’s rear.

“What is it?” he called to Nia and Leeli as he squeezed past Nugget.

“The steps end here,” Tink said, pointing at a fall of white water hissing through a gap as wide as the lane that led from the Igiby cottage. Had it been a stream in the forest, they might’ve jumped across with little trouble.

Janner crept forward and stuck his hand into the rushing water, and it was jerked downstream as if someone had slapped it. There was no way they could wade or swim across without being swept away.

“What’s holdin’ us up?” Podo asked from behind Nugget.

Janner turned to answer and saw Fangs descending the steps behind them.

“Grandpa!” he cried.

In one fluid motion, Podo drew his sword, spun around, and put an end to the nearest snake man. It took a few moments for the second Fang in line to understand what had happened, but when it did, it snarled and waved its sword at Podo.

“Hurry!” Podo roared, parrying a blow and kicking the second Fang over the side. Another was close behind.

“Tink, can you make it?” Janner yelled.

“Make what?”

“The jump! It’s our only chance. Can you do it?”

“But then what? What about Oskar? What about Grandpa?”

Janner’s temper flared again. “I don’t know! Even if you’re the only one who makes it over, that’s better than all of us being caught! Can you do it?”

Without another word, Tink backed up, took a deep breath, and jumped. He landed on the other side of the gap and rolled to a crouch.

“Leeli, can you get Nugget to jump over?” Nia shouted.

“I think so,” Leeli said. She leaned over and whispered into Nugget’s ear.

“Here, boy!” Tink called. He clapped his hands and whistled.

Janner saw Podo struggling with another Fang, this one wielding a spear. Podo danced back from the point of the spear and bumped into Nugget’s rump. Nugget yelped and leapt to the other side of the gap.

“Good boy, Nugget!” cried Nia.

“Mama, you’re next,” Janner said. “Go!”

Nia grabbed Janner’s elbow. “No, son, you should—”

“Go!” Janner screamed, and Nia went. She was thin and strong, but her feet didn’t reach the other side. Nia landed with her waist at the edge, her hands flailing to find purchase on the rock. Her legs disappeared into the rush of water and whipped her sideways.

“Mama!” Leeli screamed.

Tink grabbed her hands and pulled with all his might, but he could feel his mother slipping away. Nia didn’t scream. She clenched her jaw and set her gaze on her son and daughter, her eyes burning into them so that veins stood out at her temples.

Nugget took a fold of Nia’s blouse in his teeth, lifted her from the rapids, and set her down. She rolled onto her back, gasping.

Janner wasn’t sure what to do next. He knew he could make the jump, but what of Oskar and Podo? Someone would have to hold off the Fangs to allow the others to escape, and if Nia had barely made the leap, then Oskar was certain to perish.

Janner drew his sword.

He wanted to be strong and brave enough to push past Podo and fend off the Fangs so that his grandfather could escape, but he knew he was no match for the Fangs. Though they had shown themselves poor fighters, they were still venomous and strong. Much had happened in the weeks since the Dragon Day Festival—he had helped Podo defeat Commander Gnorm, and he had grown used to the heft of a sword—but he was still only twelve.

Janner told himself he wasn’t being cowardly—he was being realistic. Gnag wanted the Jewels of Anniera, not Podo or Oskar. Wouldn’t it be right to escape while he could? Wouldn’t Oskar and Podo tell him to do the same?

He looked back through the mist and saw Tink, Nia, and Leeli watching, none of them sure what to do. Podo raged on, cursing the Fangs amidst the clang of swords and the rumble of the Mighty Blapp. Oskar pressed a hand to his wounded side and sank to the ground.

Janner stood between those he loved with his sword drawn, wavering between two terrible choices: flee and hope Podo could hold off the Fangs long enough for him and his siblings to make their way across the falls—if indeed there was a way—or throw himself into a fight he couldn’t possibly win.

Then Janner remembered his uncle. He saw in his mind the way Peet the Sock Man had soared through the air into the rockroach gully with that fierce look in his bloodshot eyes.

Protect. Protect. Protect
.

Janner was no longer just Janner Igiby of the Glipwood Township. He was Janner Wingfeather, Throne Warden of Anniera, protector of the throne, and protector of those whom he loved. He imagined Peet—Artham Wingfeather—hair jet black, eyes clear, sword arm strong. Artham reminded him that royal blood pumped through
his veins, royal not just because of ancestry but because of the love of those who had gone before him and laid down their lives for him.

A battle cry rose up from within him like a fountain. He pulled Oskar to his feet and half-carried him to the water’s edge.

On the steps above, another Fang appeared beside the one with the spear and aimed a crossbow at Podo. Just before it fired, Podo seized the end of the spear and slammed one Fang into the other, knocking them both over the edge. The bolt shot away into the mist. Before the old pirate had time to catch his breath, two more Fangs emerged from the fog. Podo groaned.

“Tink! Help Leeli down!” Janner ordered. “Nugget, come here! Here!”

With a whine, Nugget hopped back across the gap.

“Come on, Mister Reteep,” Janner said. “I need you to get on Nugget’s back.”

“Oh my,” wheezed Oskar. “I don’t think this is a good idea, young Janner. In the words of the poet Shank Po, ‘I’d rather not. What else have you got?’”

Janner smiled in spite of himself. “Come on, sir.”

He pulled Nugget’s head to the ground, and the dog’s body followed. Oskar limped over to the giant dog and fell upon it gracelessly. Nugget whimpered and strained to his feet beneath the weight of the big man. Oskar wrapped his arms around Nugget’s neck.

Nugget, strong as he was, had never carried anyone as large as Oskar. The dog nosed at the edge and whined at Leeli. She smiled and clapped her hands twice.

The dog crouched, flexed the great muscles of his legs, and sprang. He landed well, but Oskar lost his grip and tumbled off onto the ground.

Janner turned to Podo.

“Lad, ye better go! Old Podo’s not got much left in ‘im. You’ve got to get safe away!” Podo thrust the spear at another Fang. “I’m in a good spot. No more than two can attack at a time. Somebody’s got to stay here and hold ‘em off.”

Janner saw the reason in Podo’s plan. It made sense.

He stepped past Podo and raised his sword. He wasn’t sure how to place his feet or hold his weapon for the coming attack, but he knew that if Artham Wingfeather, Throne Warden of the Shining Isle, could see him now, he would smile.

J
anner never had a chance to swing his sword.

The two Fangs at the steps retreated into the mist and left Janner and Podo dumbfounded.

“Come on, lad!” The old pirate wasted no time scrambling down the steps. He skidded to a stop at the edge of the rushing water. Without being told, Nugget hopped across again and crouched so Podo could climb on. The giant dog barked and carried him over.

Janner was the last to cross.

They pushed on, still unable to see more than a few yards ahead. The rock ledge widened and allowed them to move at a quicker pace. Then, above the rumble of the falls, came the familiar, chilling sound of the troll growl-moan. Beneath it was a vibrating
thud-thud-thud
, as if the river had a beating heart. Janner realized the troll was running down the steps behind them.

“Hurry!” Janner screamed. He moved to the front of the procession to find Tink taking the first step down another narrow length of stairs.

“I’m hurrying!” snapped Tink. “I just can’t see what’s ahead!”

Janner barreled down the steps past Tink, hoping they didn’t end abruptly as the last ones had, or his momentum would carry him straight over the edge. Immediately the mist lightened. Sunlight broke through in places, and he caught sight of blue sky.

Janner’s heart pounded in time with the
thud
of the troll footsteps. “It’s clearer down here!” he called over his shoulder. “We might be getting close to the other side!”