Banished (31 page)

‘Let’s go,’ Crow says, slipping sideways past the fern and waiting for me to do the same. ‘Try and keep your magic awake,’ he tells me quietly. ‘Let it guide
you through the forest.’

‘I can’t,’ I say in frustration as I follow him. ‘My magic is . . .’ I gesture in frustration. ‘It works only in short bursts. Anything more than me using my
sight and I get sick. If I overdo it, I feel like I’ve got the flu for several days.’

We’ve walked a few paces only when Crow says, ‘Down.’

I drop into a crouch and a group of chittering goblins run past, carrying something between them.

‘They’re hunting,’ he says. ‘An army that size needs a lot of food.’

We wait a few minutes before we’re off again. I’m sure it’s my imagination but I’m moving as fast as Crow now, and as quietly.

‘You have no casting abilities?’ he asks over his shoulder and when I shake my head he continues, ‘You can’t propel magic in some form?’

‘Thorn can do that but, no, I can’t.’

‘Have you ever tried?’

I think about it. No. I’ve never tried; I wouldn’t know how. I tell Crow as much.

He looks at me curiously but doesn’t say anything further. It’s strange, talking to him about my magic when it’s not something I’ve been comfortable discussing with
others. But somehow, walking in this ancient forest, I feel relaxed about it – more relaxed than I’ve been since it manifested on the night my nan died.

I draw a deep breath and listen to the forest around me shift and creak. As we move on, Crow spends less time watching out for me and more time keeping an eye out for passing patrols. I can
smell their cooking fires on the night air and occasionally the sound of music and revelry drifts towards us.

The closer we get to the lake, the more patrols there are. We hurry through the night, one time hiding inside a giant oak tree and stepping out the other side to let a patrol of feral Fae run
past us.

I’m finding reserves of energy I had no idea I had, but even so I’m dead on my feet when we eventually stop. Crow instructs me to climb a tree, which I manage without breaking an arm
or falling on my back. He shimmies up after I do and once I’m sure of my seat so far up, he shows me the shores of the lake in the distance. It’s maybe three in the morning and the sun
hasn’t risen yet. There is a greyness to the sky, though, and a soft creeping mist covers most of the forest around us.

I fall asleep for a few minutes and when I wake up Crow hands me a cup with a spicy drink that tastes of coconut and chillies. He’s cut slices of dried meat for me and I fall on it with
gusto. We eat in silence and I like our quiet camaraderie.

‘You’re one of the people who’s been telling Aelfric about Eadric’s movements,’ I say after a while. ‘Have you met my cousins?’

‘I have seen a human boy and a human girl clattering about the forest, playing at spying.’ He frowns. ‘I had to kill three redcaps who were setting an ambush for them. So, if
that’s who you are talking about, then yes, I have seen them.’

‘Why has Aelfric sent them when he has you?’ I ask him. ‘And how many of you are there?’

Crow’s teeth flash in a smile towards me. ‘There are only nine foresters in all of Alba. Our roles are hereditary.’ He hands me something else. ‘Bread and
conserve,’ he says. ‘I can only guess why Aelfric sent your family into the forest. Maybe it was a way to test their abilities and their loyalty.’

‘Huh,’ I say. ‘Maybe he hoped they’d get killed and he wouldn’t have to worry about having humans in his camp.’

‘Dangerous talk.’ Crow’s voice comes from slightly above me now. He’s standing against the trunk, looking towards the lake. ‘Come, we need to go.’

‘How do you get word to the king about Eadric’s movements?’

‘I send a rook to Petur. He handles all war communications.’

‘How do the rooks get to Petur if the gateways don’t work?’

‘Some creatures, like rooks and crows, don’t need gateways. They don’t belong to either world and so move freely between them.’

This is the first time I’ve heard anything like this. ‘Maybe you should tell Aelfric where we are and what we are planning to do in the morning.’

‘What are we doing in the morning?’

‘Saving Thorn, killing Istvan and banishing these Elder Gods back to their prison where they belong.’

Crow’s face is thoughtful in the half-light.

‘I think I like you,’ he says, his tone serious. ‘Are you sure you aren’t part Sidhe?’

Ever tried conjuring a spirit? No, me neither. I watch Crow as he builds a very small fire at the edge of the forest. There’s about a hundred yards of low shrub, then
there’s the beach, and beyond the beach is the lake and in the middle of this great lake lies the island. Even from here I can sense the watchfulness of the island. I shiver in my jacket and
hunch forward in an attempt to keep warm.

‘Have you done this before?’ I ask Crow, as I keep watch.

‘Once, a very long time ago.’

‘Did it end well?’

He holds out his hand and wiggles it from side to side, indicating a little yes, a little no. I groan. ‘Why do we need this spirit?’

‘It will grant us safe passage across the lake to the island.’

‘And we definitely need its guidance?’

‘Yes.’ He says it so firmly I don’t doubt him. ‘We’re ready.’

From one of his pockets he withdraws a small pouch. He sprinkles the contents into the fire. The smell is strong but not unpleasant. He takes a jagged piece of clear crystal on a leather cord
from around his neck. This he dips into a shallow nutshell. It comes out glistening dark.

He holds it over the fire, as you would a pendulum to do scrying. Slowly but surely the crystal starts spinning and, although I watch closely, there is no way to see if Crow’s spinning the
crystal or if it’s spinning of its own accord.

I know, I know, after all I’ve seen and been through, I still have doubt. Maybe it’s a human thing, this not being able to believe in the other world a hundred per cent.

A light breeze stirs, lifting my hair away from my face, and I shiver slightly, moving closer to the fire.

The crystal is a blur above the fire, emitting a pleasant humming noise.

‘Shade of time, guardian of the lake, hear our plea. We come humbly before you to ask you to guide our way. A favour given, a favour returned, as it has always been.’ He takes out a
very small knife and it glints in the firelight. He raises his hand to make a cut across it, but I lean forward and shake my head. No, this is on me, my eyes tell him. I hold out my hand to him and
for a second he hesitates, but then nods. He slides the blade across my palm. It’s not a big or very deep cut, but the blood pools rapidly. Crow takes my hand and turns it so that the blood
drips into the fire. ‘We conjure thee, guardian. By earth, air, fire and spirit.’

There’s a soft
snick
and I feel a gust of air on my cheek, then tickling my ear, as if someone was whispering to me. Then, without warning, a slender cloaked figure is standing
behind Crow. The cowl moves towards me and it raises a skeletal wrist.

‘You.’

I swallow against the rising scream in my throat. I know – very stupid of me. What was I expecting? Casper?

‘You dare disturb my rest?’

Crow is standing now too. He edges around the fire so he stands next to me. We both face the wraith. I realize it’s not actually standing on the ground, but is hovering a few centimetres
above it.

‘We seek your assistance, spirit. To cross the lake, to the island.’

‘It is forbidden,’ the spirit counters before Crow’s even finished speaking. ‘Forbidden.’

‘We know it’s forbidden, but we have to find a way to cross.’

‘The living cannot pass.’ There is a sibilant hiss at the end of the last word. ‘Lives will be lost.’ Lossssst.

I shudder and look at Crow. ‘Is there any other way we can get there? Fly?’

‘Can you fly?’ he asks me and I have to shake my head. ‘So this is the only way.’

‘Please.’ I don’t notice it, but I’ve moved closer to the wraith. ‘Please, we need your help. It is a matter of life or death.’

The cowl moves to face me and the shadows within seem to writhe. ‘Whose?’

Not what I expected to be asked. ‘All of ours.’ I gesture out to the lake in the direction of Eadric’s army. ‘Please, you must know what’s going on there, why you
have an army camped on your shores. They are planning something bad. Really bad.’

The breeze shifts, fluttering the shade’s tattered robes against its slender figure. The gust toys with my hair, tugging hard. I hear giggling and frown at Crow. He looks pale and awkward
in the presence of the spirit he’s conjured.

‘Say something,’ I say to him. ‘Help me convince it to help us.’

‘Yes, forester, help convince me.’ Something in the wraith’s voice makes me shift and lean forward. I stare hard at Crow then back at the cloaked figure.

‘Please, Eilian, don’t do this.’ Crow’s voice holds a world of pain and misery.

‘No, we
will
do this, Crow. Tell me why I should care, why I should help you and the Blackhart, whose quest is being sung of by the West wind itself.’

I move back in surprise. Gone is all pretence of ghostliness or etherealness. The ‘wraith’ Eilian stops hovering, planting her feet solidly on the ground as she pulls her hood
back.

She is frighteningly beautiful. Wild strong features with eyes like ice regard us intensely. The wind dies down and two small children scamper from the undergrowth to cling to her. She presses
them against her and angles their faces so Crow and I can both see them.

In my mind they look exactly how I expect Sidhe children to look. Tiny delicate things with golden curls and wide slanting eyes. Pointy ears are just visible above their curls. The girl giggles,
shyly trying to hide her face in her mother’s robes, and as she does so, she shifts and bright butterfly wings flutter from between her shoulder blades.

The shade Crow addressed as Eilian watches him intently.

‘See this man, children? He is one of King Aelfric’s favourite foresters. He could ask any boon from the high king and it will be granted. Don’t you think that’s
amazing?’

I’m watching this, my mouth open. What is going on here? The little boy bravely moves forward to look up at Crow.

‘He’s fierce, Mother,’ he says clearly, pointing a sticky wet finger at him. ‘Do we know him?’

‘We know him very well, children. His name is Crow and he’s your uncle.’

A pin could drop and be heard in the clearing. I feel my eyebrows rise in surprise. Not what I expected to hear at all; I wonder if I actually need to be here for this right now. All I wanted
was to cross the lake, not watch this family melodrama, however compelling. Crow and his sister look nothing alike. Although he is all dark, dressed in greens with lively eyes, he has a calm about
him that settles my nerves. Whereas Eilian looks mercurial and palely beautiful.

‘Don’t do this,’ Crow pleads of her. ‘Now is not the time.’

‘Why would you not want your niece and nephew to know, brother Crow, that all you have to do is ask Aelfric the boon you swore you’d take to him?’

The little girl claps her hands together and jumps up and down. ‘What boon, Mother? What boon?’

‘The thing your uncle Crow promised to ask Aelfric the Wise is a simple thing,’ she says, waving her hand airily. ‘All I want him to ask is for your mother to be released from
the geas.’ Her smile as she looks at her children is sweet. But the gaze she directs at Crow is cold. ‘This cursed hell of ferrying the souls of the dead.’

‘Eilian, you know I cannot do this.’ Crow’s face is a picture of misery. He moves closer to the woman, his arms wide. ‘It is your birthright.’

‘Then you won’t be ferried across,’ she says decisively, moving away from him and turning to me. ‘You, human girl. Why do you have to go? If I agree to do this forbidden
thing, you must know that you will not be able to come back alive.’

With my heart thudding in my chest at the way all of this is playing out, I nod. ‘I understand and I agree.’ I look over to the island, wreathed in mists at the centre of the vast
lake. ‘I need to save someone dear to me from harm, and from being part of something that will destroy our worlds.’

Eilian tilts her head and considers my words. Her nod is swift and sure. ‘I will do this.’

‘Kit, no! You don’t understand what she means. You will die on the island.’ Crow’s grip on my shoulder hurts.

‘I understand clearly enough. I actually died earlier because Istvan attacked me. And I had thought dying would be a final forever thing, but I know I came back because I have to do this
– help Thorn and stop the madness. And what I can say is that I’m so scared that I feel ill, but I must see this through. You probably think I’m mad and stupid but I promised to
keep him safe and protect him and he was taken right in front of my eyes. I can’t not go, Crow. Do you understand? I have to bring him back.’

Eilian’s smile is triumphant as she turns to look at her brother. ‘See, baby brother? Some people know what to stand up for.’

She hunkers down beside her two children. The boy – no older than seven – is staring at his uncle with a fierce look. ‘Stay here with Uncle Crow and Mummy will be back in a
bit.’ She presses a kiss to each of their foreheads before standing up. ‘Look after them for me, Crow. I’ll be back shortly.’

I hear a soft rumbling sound and turn to see a small coracle making its way across the smooth surface of the lake. It docks lightly against the sandy shore and cants to one side.

Crow moves forward and gives me a quick hug, placing feather-light kisses on both my cheeks. ‘Be safe, Kit. May your blade strike swift and true.’