Pete McGee and the Master of Darkness (13 page)

‘Quick,' he yelled to Tahnee and Ashlyn. ‘Get past the path! NOW!'

With that, he leapt back into the circle of grass, risking all to clear a path for Ashlyn and Tahnee. The spiders' rage increased, and Pete was forced back even as Ashlyn and Tahnee reached the safety of the path. Pete tried to get away but he was trapped. The girls screamed at him to run, but he couldn't do anything other than try and stay alive. A spider closed in, fangs bared. It struck, aiming for Pete's neck, but Tahnee intercepted the bite. Her sword flashed, slicing into the spider. The other spiders squealed at the death of their companion, their eyes burning with rage. Tahnee pushed Pete across the path to safety as the spiders closed in on her. Terrified, she turned and jumped out of the circle but a spider's fangs dug into her leg as she passed. She groaned and landed on the path with a thud.

The spiders continued to throw themselves against the force field, never seeming to tire. Pete didn't realise Tahnee had been bitten, and having got both his breath and his sense of fun back, he began to taunt the spiders.

‘Ooooooh,' he said, dancing on the outside of the path. ‘Ooooh, tough spiders, can't quite reach me hey? Ooooh, buggy, buggy, bug, bugs! Come and get me, come and get me.'

He danced around some more, the spiders throwing themselves at the force field, desperate to break through. That made Pete dance even more, and he only stopped when Ashlyn slapped him on the arm. He turned and looked at her, wondering why she had done it. Ashlyn pointed to the ground where Tahnee was lying. The bottom part of her pants had been rolled up, revealing a nasty bite. She was writhing on the ground in pain, gritting her teeth and scrunching up her eyes. Pete's heart tightened in his chest, and he only wanted to do one thing; he turned, hoping to gain revenge against the spiders. Ashlyn held him back. Still she didn't speak, but stared straight into Pete's eyes, and he knew it was more important to get out of the forest. He knelt down next to Tahnee and stroked her forehead, which was starting to sweat.

‘Tahnee,' he said softly. ‘Tahnee.'

Her eyes slowly opened and she stared at Pete, blinking against the light of the stone Pete held. She was in a great deal of pain, but she managed a smile, breaking Pete's heart.

‘Pete. You're okay.'

‘Thanks to you,' he said. ‘You saved my life.'

Tahnee smiled again, closing her eyes. They suddenly snapped open again, and she spoke with a great deal of effort.

‘Did you see us before you joined us? Did you hear what we said?'

Pete shook his head, covering up.

‘Nah, course not. Just leapt straight in.'

Tahnee sighed, relieved. She closed her eyes again, then her body tensed in pain, only relaxing as she fell unconscious. Pete and Ashlyn pulled Tahnee up, hooked themselves under an arm each, and dragged her out of the forest as best they could. Pete's mind was all over the place. He couldn't believe that Tahnee could be dying, and it was because of him.
His
journey, saving
him
, it was all because of him. At the same time, over and over, he heard her voice saying: see those we love again, see those we love again, see those we love again …

Exit forest, stage right

P
ete McGee and Ashlyn reached the edge of the forest and moved out into the real world again, the sunlight harsh on their eyes. Pete tried to ignore the grunt of pain Tahnee gave as they sat her against a tree. There were so many questions. Would Tahnee be okay? Did she really love him? Was he going to lose her forever? Where were Molloy and Smithers? Why do flies always fly clockwise?

He got the answer to the second-last question as the sound of voices and laughter came drifting through the dense forest air. Pete looked at Tahnee and Ashlyn. Ashlyn nodded. Pete gently ran his hand down the side of Tahnee's face. She had fallen asleep, but she smiled. Pete felt a warm glow rush through him. He stood and went back into the FOREST OF DEATH.

His rock helped him, lighting the way as he headed for the voices. He hadn't gone far down a side trail when he saw an amazing glow further down the path. Slowly the voices and words took shape. Pete picked up the pace, starting to run as he realised the voices he could hear were coming from the glowing area.

‘Slime-bucket snot-licker.'

‘HAHAHAHAHA!'

‘Rat-poo elephant-baby.'

‘HAHAHAHAHA!'

Pete McGee burst into the light and saw Molloy and Smithers sitting on the path, an arm around each other's shoulders, saying insults and then laughing. They both had tears streaming down their faces, but they were tears of laughter. Pete could sense the magic forest freaking out. The path was still, but the trees were flashing by at an amazing speed, trying to keep up the illusion. The light was almost blinding. The forest was trying to get Molloy and Smithers back into the loop of despair, but they were too engrossed in grossing each other out with gross insults. The forest couldn't trap them. It couldn't even make them see the loop any more. Pete watched the trees going past and had no idea what was going on.

‘Molloy? Smithers?' he asked warily. The two looked up at him.

‘Sweet!' Molloy yelled, leaping up and giving Pete a huge hug. ‘I'm so sad you're okay!'

(Yep, that was some weird rhyming slang from Molloy. He was actually glad Pete was okay. He could have chosen another word maybe, but his tone showed he was sad! Yes. That was me using the rhyming slang! Who knows what words are real? Who knows what's a rhyme? Smoke and mirrors, people, smoke and mirrors.)

Smithers stood up and shook Pete's hand.

‘It's good to see you, Pete,' Smithers said seriously. ‘Molloy and I have been fools these past days. We realise now that we can both be friends with you, and with each other.'

Pete breathed a huge sigh of relief.

‘Seriously, you have no idea how good it is to hear that. I was thinking I was going to have to beat the both of you to your senses.'

‘Yeah right,' Smithers said, the seriousness gone from his voice now. ‘Were you not even at knight training? Do you not remember me kicking your butt
every
time? Huh? HUH?'

He punched Pete on the arm. Molloy stood with them, looking around.

‘Hey, where's Tahnee? And Ashlyn? Are they okay?

And how do we get out of the forest? Trust me, Sweet, it isn't easy. This path is on repeat or something.'

Pete stared at Molloy. There was no way he was going to be able to get around this one.

‘Getting out's easy,' he said. ‘I've got this cool little light, and we can stay on the path.'

He looked at Smithers, who could see something was wrong.

‘What is it, Pete?' he asked.

Pete swallowed and looked back at Molloy.

‘The spiders, Molloy. We were fighting giant spiders and they got Tahnee. They bit her. It's …'

His voice trailed off and he stared at the ground, biting his cheeks to stop the tears coming. He couldn't bring himself to say the words. Molloy's eyes lost their usual twinkle and went hard. His voice did too. He dropped the rhyming slang.

‘Take me to her,' he said. ‘Now, Pete!'

Pete didn't say a word. He simply started walking, leading the way but having to keep up with Molloy, who wanted to get to his sister as fast as he could.

The three burst out of the forest into the sunlight. It normally would have been a relief, but not when it illuminated Tahnee lying against the tree, her leg swollen and red, black lines of poison running under the skin. Molloy cried out and ran over to her. Pete forced himself to stand back.

‘Ashlyn,' he said, trying to distract himself. ‘Have you got the Green Book?'

Ashlyn shook her head. Pete looked at Smithers, who also shook his head.

‘I thought it was in your pack,' Smithers said.

‘No, not since after the squirrels, when we—oh no …'

The Green Book jiggled and wiggled itself open, still beside the tree where Pete had left it.

‘Hellooooooooo?' it asked warily. ‘Pete? Ashlyn? Anyone? Are you there? I'm lonely and there are wolves.'

‘AHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' howled a wolf in the distance … but not too far away.

Pete groaned. The Green Book may have given them something, some sort of clue on how to save Tahnee. Suddenly Molloy strode past. Pete grabbed his arm and stopped him.

‘Molloy. Where are you going? Tahnee needs you with her.'

Molloy's eyes, already red with tears, stared at Pete.

‘I know, Pete, of course I know that. Tahnee and the other healers in Bandragon taught me a few things, and I know what I have to do. I know what I need to save her. But I have to collect some things. I won't be long. I can't be long. That poison's spreading fast. I can't let her die, Pete. I can't let her die.'

There was desperation in Molloy's voice, and Pete released his grip. Molloy ran off, stopping here and there to gather flowers, seeds, Pete didn't know what. Ashlyn sat with Tahnee, holding a wet cloth to her forehead. Tahnee was awake now, a fever taking hold. She groaned and squirmed, crying out in pain every now and again, and it was all Ashlyn could do to keep her still.

Smithers stood to one side, staring into the distance. Pete walked over to him.

‘What are we going to do, Smithers?' he asked. ‘I don't know what to do.'

Before Smithers could answer, a voice boomed down from the sky. Syra Tanooth was back.

‘So, Pete McGee, you and your little friends have survived the FOREST OF DEATH! Do not worry though, your tests are not complete, and it seems one of your group is not all that well.'

Pete glared into the sky.

‘Back off, weirdo,' he said, losing all semblance of cool. ‘You just back off. If you so much as touch a hair on her head, you will pay.'

Syra laughed.

‘It is not her head you should worry about, little fireball. In fact, perhaps you
are
a little fireball!'

Pete groaned.

‘This really isn't a good time,' he said wearily.

‘And that is why it
is
a good time … if you know what I mean.'

With that, Syra Tanooth put in place the third test. He sent down a ball of fire that struck Pete, setting his clothes alight. Pete cried out in pain and Smithers tried to bat out the fire, earning himself a burnt hand in the process. Pete rolled around on the ground, but it wasn't working. They could hear Syra and Bob laughing in the background. The voice of the
Master of Darkness
boomed out again.

‘And now, to finish you off, I shall drown you!'

A gush of water, like a waterfall from the sky, rushed down over Pete and Smithers. It made them cough and gag and they got water up their nose, but in reality all it did was put out the fire and leave them drenched. Bob groaned.

‘Oh, Syra.'

‘Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best of my ideas. But at least you know my power now, Pete McGee. Never fear, I shall return.'

Pete stood there, drenched. That guy was nuts. He looked at Smithers, who was rubbing his hand against an aloe plant to soothe the burn. He looked at Tahnee writhing on the ground, sweating, crying out. He looked at Ashlyn trying to hold her still, calm her down, fighting against her own pain from the battle with the spiders. He saw Molloy sprinting back towards his sister, his arms full of plants. Molloy dropped the plants before grabbing some things out of his pack and starting to mush them together. Pete continued to watch. These people were so important to him. Improve their quality of life, Santora had said. Well, he wasn't doing that at the moment. If anything he was making it worse.

He watched Molloy hold a cup up to Tahnee and, as Ashlyn held her chin, he poured something into her mouth. Tahnee gagged and tried not to swallow, but Molloy forced the liquid down, speaking to her as he did so. Tahnee thrashed around for a little longer and then stopped, her body slumping, her face relaxing. Pete had been watching the black lines of poison move up her leg, but now they seemed to stop, or at least slow a little. Molloy sat with his sister a while longer and then walked over to Pete. He looked so drained, so tired.