02 Unicorn Rider (30 page)

For an instant the rage in Tidal’s eyes died out, and his expression softened. ‘Well...’ His gaze drifted across the village to where Sky was heading back towards her house, no doubt in a hurry to make sure her father was safe.

A fresh wave of anger rose inside him, erupting like a volcano. ‘Well, what does it matter? What good did I do? I was here the whole time, risking my life, protecting people. But you... You just swan in at the last minute with that unicorn and save the day, and you’re the hero. What recognition do I get?’

‘It’s not like that, Tide.’

‘It’s exactly like that. I risked everything over the last few days.’ He took another look at Sky. ‘I lost everything. Well I’ve had enough of it, Nim. I’ve had enough of playing second fiddle to you and that dragon. I’ve had enough of living in the great Wing Warrior’s shadow.’

‘Tide, don’t be this way.’

‘Oh, shut up. I don’t want to hear it.’

Tidal stormed off, heading down to the beach and the lapping, hungry waves of the sea.

Nimbus shook his head sadly. As he walked the streets, the gathering crowds burst into applause, and even Glass was clapping. The unicorn bowed her head in a show of respect that filled Nimbus with more pride than he had ever thought it possible to feel.

‘Hello, Glass,’ he said, helping his sister off the back of the unicorn, and holding her close. ‘I’ve missed you.’

‘I missed you too, Bog Breath,’ she said, with a giggle. ‘Did you see me freeze all the soldiers?’

‘I sure did.’

‘The unicorn helped. Did you know she’s the same one we saw in the mirror?’

‘I’d guessed.’

‘She says she’s my familiar.’

‘I know.’

Strata pushed her way through the crowd, and ran to her children, putting her arms around both of them.

‘Mum,’ Nimbus said, ‘there are people watching. Cut it out.’

‘The great Lord Nimbus isn’t too big for a hug from his mother, is he?’ Strata teased.

‘Well, maybe not, but I’m in public here. I have an image to protect. How’s your face?’

Strata touched the bruise that ran along her cheek. ‘Those spider things pack quite a kick,’ she said, with a slightly lop–sided grin.

‘I was about to make them all disappear,’ Glass said, excitedly.

‘No,’ Nimbus said. ‘I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. I fought one of these while I was freeing the unicorn, and I know what they are. They’re dead bodies.’

‘Yuck,’ Glass said.

‘Crow has reanimated them in some way. He probably stole them from graveyards and battlefields.’

‘How vile,’ Strata said.

‘I know of at least one ghost who is waiting for his body to come back to him, and what if there are more? If we make these bodies disappear, then maybe we’ll be damning some unfortunate spirits to an eternity roaming the earth.’

‘I wouldn’t like to do that,’ Glass said. ‘But what else do we do? They can’t stay here. They’re scary.’

Nimbus thought for a moment. ‘Well, you made them stop against their will, so maybe you could make them leave. Do you think you could ask them to go home?’

Glass smiled. ‘I think they’d like that. Would you put me back on the unicorn, please?’

Nimbus lifted Glass onto the unicorn, surprised at how less fragile and delicate his sister now seemed. The unicorn snorted, flicking her mane and allowing spirals of magic to glitter around the tip of her horn. Glass clasped her hands together, and closed her eyes. There was a long pause when it seemed nothing would happen, and then somebody in the crowd screamed.

The spider–soldiers had started to lurch into motion again. Nimbus made a grab for his sword, but Strata put her hand over his. ‘Look,’ she said. ‘There is nothing to fear.’

The spider–soldiers were sheathing their swords, and then reaching around to grab the horrible spider–legs that protruded from their backs. To the accompaniment of horrible sucking, popping noises, each soldier pulled on the hairy limbs until they ripped free completely and fell wriggling and jerking on the floor.

‘That is just gross,’ Nimbus said.

‘They’re leaving,’ someone in the crowd shouted.

Sure enough, the soldiers, now free of their monstrous extra legs, were streaming out of the village in every direction. Some were heading west, some north, some east, and some were even walking off into the sea. Even the soldiers that had been hacked down by Obsidian and his men picked themselves up and wandered away.

Within just a few minutes the only evidence that there had been any invaders at all were the writhing spider–legs, but even those had now started to crumble to dust.

‘Do you think the soldiers will be okay?’ Nimbus asked.

Glass opened her eyes. Her pupils glittered like tiny specks of sunlight trapped in a crystal prism. ‘They’ll be okay. I told them all to seek out their spirits.’

‘Incredible,’ Captain Obsidian said, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘I’ve seen everything now.’ His men gathered around. They were bloodied and beaten up, but thankfully they were all still alive. ‘And you...’ Obsidian said, addressing them all. ‘I have never seen a finer group of men in action. Have no doubts, you are as well–trained and professional as any soldier at Crystal Shine. You have made me proud today.’

Private Silver nodded. ‘Thank you, Captain. Permission to take medical supplies to the garrison?’

Obsidian slapped him on the shoulder. ‘Of course, get out of here. All of you. Tend to the wounded.’

As the men from the garrison set about treating their injured colleagues, Glass and the unicorn cantered off towards the northern border of the village.

‘Wait up,’ Nimbus shouted. ‘Where are you going?’

‘It’s okay, Nim. I need to go away for a while,’ Glass said.

‘Go where?’

‘I’ll be back, I promise.’

‘When?’

‘I’m not sure. I just need to spend some time with the unicorn. She has so much to show me.’

‘But...’

The unicorn reared up, pawing at the sky with her forelegs; and then she was gone, speeding out of the village in a flash of blinding white light.

‘But...’ Nimbus said again. ‘Wait!’

Strata put her arm around him. ‘It will all be okay,’ she said. ‘She’ll be back soon.’

‘I know,’ Nimbus said. But he didn’t know. He didn’t know at all, and as the light of the unicorn faded into the distance, he wondered if he would ever see his sister again.

***

All around the village, people were coming out of their houses. They were laughing, crying tears of joy and relief as they hugged one another and cheered for the brave children who had used their bows to protect them. Up on the roof, Hawk allowed a self–satisfied smile to creep across his face. He may not have been here during most of the invasion, but he had helped anyway. He had passed on his skills to these people, and they had used those skills to save lives.

It felt good.

It felt, he realised, like he didn’t need to be afraid any more.

As he climbed down into the street, he was surprised to find a girl waiting there for him. She had a broken bow slung over her shoulder, and when she smiled her eyes twinkled. Hawk was absolutely certain that, as the recipient of that wonderful smile, his eyes twinkled in exactly the same way.

‘You were magnificent,’ the girl said.

‘I was just doing my bit.’ He shrugged, not really comfortable with receiving any praise after the way he had acted.

‘We had a chance to fight back, because of you.’

‘You’re in my class, aren’t you? Your name’s Autumn.’

Her smile widened. ‘I didn’t think you’d remember my name.’

Hawk cleared his throat awkwardly, and shuffled his feet. ‘You... I mean, all of you... You were brilliant. You are all fine archers. You really put up a good fight.’

‘We can be better though. We all want to be better. We need a lot more lessons.’

‘Ah, well, you see, I wasn’t really planning on staying here any longer.’

Autumn’s smile cracked, and the twinkle in her eyes died. ‘You’re leaving?’

‘Well, I mean, I didn’t think...’ He felt the blood rushing to his ears. ‘Maybe I can stick around for a bit.’

Suddenly Hawk caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and he thought he saw someone he recognised ducking around the back of the tavern.

‘Wait here,’ he said to Autumn. ‘I’ll be right back.’

He followed the shadowy figure, and was surprised to come face to face with an old colleague from Flint Lock Fort.

‘Clay,’ he said, noticing with distrust that Clay was wearing a black cloak like those the spider–soldiers had worn. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I was just... That is to say, I mean...’

‘Clay?’

‘Bye.’ Clay turned tail, and dashed down the alleyway, kicking up a trail of dust in his haste.

Hawk sighed, pulling an arrow from his quiver and notching it in his bow. ‘Clay,’ he shouted. ‘You know I can kill you from this sort of distance. Stop running away.’

Clay glanced back over his shoulder, but he didn’t stop, and that was how he managed to run straight into an empty beer barrel. With a grunt, he flipped over the top of the barrel and landed with a thud on the other side. The barrel wobbled, and then fell on top of him. ‘Ouch,’ he groaned. ‘That’s really going to be sore in the morning.’

Hawk returned the arrow to his quiver and strolled down the alley. He grabbed Clay from underneath the barrel, and dragged him round into the street.

‘Lord Nimbus? Captain Obsidian?’ he shouted, as the slightly dazed Clay made a feeble attempt to get free. ‘I’ve found someone I think you may want to talk to. He’s wearing one of their cloaks.’

‘I know this man,’ Captain Obsidian said. ‘He was stationed at Flint Lock, wasn’t he?’

‘With me,’ Hawk said.

‘Does he have the legs?’ Nimbus asked, his finger resting on the hilt of the spirit sword.

Hawk took a look. ‘No legs.’

‘Of course I don’t have the legs, Idiot. I’m not dead like the others, am I?’ Clay snarled.

‘So why are you wearing the cloak?’ Nimbus asked.

Clay laughed. ‘You really don’t get it, do you? You’ve beaten the soldiers here, but there are hundreds more of them. Lord Crow has been building his army for years.’

‘Lord Crow?’

‘Yes, I call him Lord. And you will too, sooner or later. He can’t be stopped. His army is an army of the dead. He can recruit more troops from any graveyard. After any battle you have with him, your armies will grow weaker. But he will take your fallen warriors, and he will become stronger still. There is no hope in fighting him. The only chance we have is to join him.’

‘So you’ve joined him?’ Hawk said.

‘I didn’t exactly have a choice. They were going to kill me. If they’d done that, they would have taken my body anyway, so I thought I’d join of my own free will and stay alive for a little bit longer. You would have done the same.’

‘No, I wouldn’t.’

‘You’re a far bigger coward than I am. You would have joined in a second.’

Nimbus put his hand on Hawk’s shoulder. ‘It’s okay, Hawk. You’ve proven your valour to me. What this turncoat thinks doesn’t matter.’

‘I wouldn’t have joined. I would have rather killed myself,’ Hawk said.

‘If you don’t join, you might as well,’ Clay said. ‘This is a war the living cannot win.’

‘So, when exactly did you join?’ Nimbus asked, crouching beside Clay.

‘The other night. They invaded the fort.’ He laughed bitterly. ‘There was only a handful of them. They infiltrated the ranks, killing those that would not join them, and then bringing the dead back to life with those horrible spider things.’

‘Has the fort fallen?’

‘They took control within hours. It was terrible to watch.’

Nimbus glanced at Obsidian. ‘We need to get that fort back. It’s too important to leave in the hands of the enemy.’

‘I agree,’ Obsidian said. ‘We will need troops from Crystal Shine, and the dragon, of course.’

A look of regret passed across Nimbus’s face. ‘Cumulo has been poisoned. I don’t know when he will come around.’

‘We must wait for him. He will be critical in taking the fort,’ Obsidian said.

‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ Clay chuckled. ‘I don’t know how long Cloud will be able to live down in that prison cell.’

Nimbus turned on Clay and grabbed him by the throat. ‘What do you know about my dad?’ he growled.

‘Oh, didn’t I mention before? Your father has been taken prisoner.’

‘How do you know this?’

‘Because I was the one who set the trap. That’s why I was here. I only came for him, but then I saw all the fun with the wyverns and the soldiers, so I thought I’d stick around to see how things turned out. I’m sure that by the time he got to the fort the place would have been totally overrun with those dead spider–men. He wouldn’t have had a hope of getting out again.’

Nimbus squeezed Clay’s neck harder. ‘Is he still at the fort?’

Clay gasped, and clawed at Nimbus’s hand. ‘I don’t know,’ he wheezed.

‘What do you mean, you don’t know?’

‘I don’t.’

‘Were they going to move him somewhere?’ He squeezed tighter still. Clay’s face started to turn purple.

‘I... don’t...’

‘Let him go, Nimbus,’ Hawk said.

‘Nimbus,’ Obsidian said, grabbing the Wing Warrior’s arm. ‘Don’t do this. Don’t kill him. That’s not what you are.’

‘This scumbag has got my dad in trouble. I’m going to squeeze him until his head pops.’

‘Stop, Nimbus,’ Hawk said.

‘I am still the law in this village, and I will not stand by and watch you kill him,’ Obsidian said.

With a growl Nimbus threw Clay down, kicking him once when he was on the floor for good measure. ‘He’s lucky you’re around,’ he said to Obsidian. ‘Lock him up, and keep him out of my sight.’

Seething with anger, he began to walk away; but Obsidian put a hand on his arm. ‘Where are you going?’

‘To the fort. To free my dad, if it isn’t already too late.’

‘Don’t be a fool. If you go out there now, without the dragon, then you will be killed.’

‘My dad needs me.’

‘Don’t forget who you are.’ Obsidian leaned in close, so that only Nimbus could hear him. ‘There is more at stake here than your father’s life. These people need you too.’