The Keeper (24 page)

Delph had his shirt off and Petra was rubbing his blackened arm with some stuff she had mixed in a small pail and was applying with a wet cloth. They were chatting amiably and she laughed at something he said.

I glanced over at Lackland to find his gaze fixed on the pair. He looked like I imagined I did. I didn’t know if he had any particular feelings for Petra, but they had been together for a while. Or maybe he was only having a difficult time adjusting to our presence.

I scrambled to my feet and walked over to them.

“Delph, aren’t you cold without your shirt?”

I expected him to look embarrassed and quickly don his clothes. But he didn’t. He looked up at me and said, “Pet’s been cleaning up me arm. Whatever that stuff is, it feels right good, Vega.”

I felt myself do a double take. Never in all his life had Delph called me simply Vega. It was always Vega Jane. But not this light.

And there was something else. “Pet?” I said.

She gave me a look that had a coy smile tacked on to it. It was all I could do not to pull my wand and turn her into a, well, I don’t know what, but it would be pretty disgusting.

“That’s what my friends call me,” she said. “Petra is a bit formal.” She looked around. “And I don’t think formal is what we are. Not me and Delph here.” She looked at her pail. “I could use some more water. Would you like to fetch some,
Vega Jane
?”

Okay, two could play this game.

I told Petra to hold her pail next to a nearby tree. I pointed my wand at a spot above the pail and said, “
Springato erupticus
.”

Water flowed into the bucket.

“That’s amazing,” said Petra.

I gave my wand a bit more of a flick and my mind, body, spirit a bit more of a kick and the water came out like a gusher, blasting her so hard she was knocked off her feet and doused.

“Whoops,” I said. “I’m so sorry.”

But she was laughing. “ ’Tis fine, Vega. Haven’t had a proper bath in forever.”

Despite how I loathed her, I had to laugh. It sounded like something I would say myself.

I glanced at Delph before telling her, “You need to take us to the hyperbores.”

This statement caused Lackland to join the discussion. “The hyperbores? Why?”

“We’ll need their help to make it through the Second Circle.”

“But how can they help us?” Petra asked.

“I won’t know until we meet with them. You said they live in nests?”

“Aye, way up in the trees,” said Lackland.

I said, “And
I
can fly. Now let’s get on with it, shall we?”

W
E MADE OUR
way through the denseness of the trees. Petra gripped her crossbow. Lackland was armed with his rough-hewn sword. Delph wielded an ax that Petra had provided him. And I had my wand.

Lackland held up a hand and we all stopped.

We drew together in a little cluster behind some bent trees. In a whisper Lackland said, “The nest is up that way about fifty yards. And they’re up there.”

“How can you be sure?” I hissed back.

In answer he cupped his hand behind his ear. “Have a listen.”

I cupped my ear too and strained to hear. What reached me was a low buzzing sound. I looked at Lackland. He nodded and attempted a smile, which faded quickly. “How they talk,” he said. “Like bees.”

I gripped his arm. “How do they defend themselves?”

Petra said in a low voice, “Amarocs were after some of them collecting water down by a stream. Came on ’em fast, no time to fly away. Me and Lack were watching from a stand of trees a little ways away. The amarocs were just about to reach their prey, when out of nowhere came a dozen fully grown hyperbores. They were on the bloody amarocs before they knew what hit ’em.”

“What did they do to them?” I asked.

Petra said, “They beat them all to death with their wings and then ripped them apart with their claws. Then they carried the carcasses to their nests.”

“Why?” I asked.

“To eat them,” she said simply.

“They … they eat meat?” I asked breathlessly. Petra nodded. “But they’ve never attacked you?”

Lackland said, “Well, we were never stupid enough to try and attack
them.
”

“But you take things from them,” I pointed out.

Petra said quietly, “But just odds and bits. Nothing they would truly miss. And like I said before, I think they feel sorry for us.”

“Do you think they know what the beasts did to your families?” I asked.

Lackland shrugged, but Petra nodded. “I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, Vega. I think they do know.”

This positive comment from her surprised me. But when I looked at her, she had already turned away. I would much rather have simply loathed her. If she was going to turn out to be all complex, that was going to make me even more ruddy upset!

Delph looked at Petra. “Do you think the hyperbores care about you and Lackland?”

“Why does that matter?” Lackland asked as I glanced at Delph in surprise.

“ ’Tis important. Do you?”

She said slowly, “Once when I was up there, one of them came back to the nest. I had just gotten hold of some provisions when it flew in. It was male and he was very large. He could have wrung my neck easily enough if he wanted.”

“Pet, you never told me that,” Lackland said sharply.

“The thing is, he just looked at me. It seemed that there was sadness in his eyes. He saw the things I’d nicked and then reached down and handed me a few more odds and ends.” She gazed earnestly at Delph. “So, yes, I’d say they
do
care.”

Delph turned to me. “Then we might have a chance.”

I nodded and said, “Okay, but we need a plan.”

“Oh, a plan, eh?” said Lackland sarcastically, eyeing me severely. “You just thinking-a that now? What a leader you turned out to be, you useless twit!”

I bit my lip and with it my tongue. I was so hotheaded sometimes and Delph was calm. If I was going to be their leader, I wanted to be more like —

WHAM!

Delph had slammed Lackland against a tree. He put his face to within an inch of Lackland’s and snarled, “Was it my imagination or did you not beg Vega Jane to ‘lead’ you out of this here place? And just so you know, she’s ‘led’ me and Harry Two all the way through to this very spot. And case you forgot, Vega Jane saved your arse from those colossals. So if you ever talk that way to her again, I will rip your bloody head off.”

I stood there and stared at Delph, my heart fluttering weirdly, and my mind all jargoled.

Delph let Lackland drop to the dirt, but he quickly scrambled up, looking both angry and embarrassed. He scooped up his sword where he had dropped it, and for a moment, I thought he might be contemplating something very stupid. I stepped forward and said, “If you’re not with me and Delph, then just say so and we can go our separate ways. No hard feelings.”

I glanced at Petra to let her know she was definitely included in this ultimatum as well. She took a step closer to Delph as her answer.

Figured.

I turned back to Lackland. “And you?”

Rage and calm seemed to compete across his features. Finally, the latter won out. He lowered his weapon. “So what’s the plan?”

Delph answered, “To begin with, Pet has to climb a tree.” He looked at me. “And you, Vega Jane, have to fly.”

T
WENTY SLIVERS AFTER
Delph explained his plan, Petra had climbed sixty feet up the massive tree where the hyperbores had one of their nests. Then she stopped and looked down at me. I looked up at her. We waited for a count of five. I could see in her eyes a wariness that I would have felt too if I was in her position.

She screamed. Another forty feet above her I saw three blue feathery heads poke out from the branches.

I gave Petra the signal. She drew a quick breath, closed her eyes and let herself fall. I pushed off the ground and shot upward.

Up above, I could see two hyperbores fling themselves from their perch and soar downward. Their wings were surprisingly compact and did not spread very wide from their lean, muscled blue torsos.

They were fast.

But I had the advantage that Petra was falling
toward
me.

I saw Petra open her eyes. She looked dead at me as she plummeted.

I saw fear in her eyes, which was to be expected when one was falling a long way to, potentially, one’s death. But was she afraid for another reason? Namely, that I was going to let her die? And what was I feeling? Well, I wasn’t feeling so much as I was
seeing
her and Delph together. I held on this image for a moment too long.

“Vega!”

I had let her pass right by me. I turned in midair and shot downward. The image of her and Delph had been replaced by one of her lying crumpled and dead on the ground, due entirely to me. I was not about to let that happen.

I passed her, swooped back underneath and caught her smoothly in my arms.

I looked at her and she looked back at me. Fear receded and gratitude returned to her features.

For my part, I felt incredible guilt.

“I’m … I’m sorry about that, Petra.”

She studied my features, and in her look I thought I could see that she knew exactly what had happened. “ ’Tis okay, Vega. I might have done the same if I’d been you.” Was it my imagination or did I see something in her eyes that told me she would not have chased after and caught me?

As I carried her in my arms to the ground, the pair of hyperbores caught up to us and landed. I put Petra down and looked at them.

They were both males. Their skin was the blue of water when the sunlight hits it just so. Their heads were lightly feathered. Their wings, when not in use, retracted nimbly behind their shoulders. They wore tight leggings and no shirts. Their torsos were heavily muscled.

One of them looked at me. “You can fly? How?” he asked. I was both stunned and immeasurably relieved that he could speak Wugish.

I pointed to my chain. “This is how. My name is Vega Jane. This is Petra Sonnet.” I pointed over at Delph, Lackland and Harry Two as they emerged from the trees, and introduced them too.

“I am Troy. This is Ishmael,” said the larger of the two.

Troy looked at Petra. “Were you coming for food?”

She nodded. “And then I fell.”

Troy looked at me. “And you saved her.”

“She’s my friend,” I answered. “Friends have to help each other, especially here.”

Troy said, “You speak wisely for someone so young.”

Ishmael said, “We have not seen you before. From where do you come?”

“A village. Wormwood.”

Troy said, “We do not know this place.”

“Most don’t. We left Wormwood and entered the Quag.”

“Why?” asked Ishmael.

“In order to travel through it.” I paused. “And beyond it.”

“Beyond it,” repeated Troy. “And what do you think lies beyond it?”

“I want to find out. Can you help me do that?”

The hyperbores exchanged a glance. Then Troy pointed up. “Come with us.”

Without another word, they spread their wings, kicked off and soared straight upward.