Crik (22 page)

On his return, Yang did not share Inara’s mirth; he looked worried with his head bowed. Did Yang want Krimble out of the group? Perhaps his shadow regretted his choice to remain with him. After all, Jack mused, he wanted freedom from the Narmacil, whereas Krimble had begged for a union.

‘Let’s go before he has a chance to climb the hill.’ Bill threw an uneasy glance at Inara as she sniggered into her cupped hands.

Taking a last look, Jack wondered whether Krimble knew something more about Knell. Jack had seen another home in the Lindre’s vision. Again, the awful spectre of the figure rising from the hole threatened to eclipse his rationale. Having kept the figure a secret from the group, he now regretted his decision. If anyone could shed light onto the menacing shape, he was no longer part of the group.

Knee high copper swirl
s
snagged Jack’s woollen trousers, their sharp edges left shallow cuts on his skin. Thankfully, only a few bled, nothing serious. Yang pushed the more dangerous protrusions out of his way. With ferocious strength, Yang drove a silver shard, the size of a broadsword, into the ground.

The Red Wood continued to dazzle with unexpected beauty. The metal forest had more variety than Criklow Wood could ever hope to equal. Here the land ignored the laws of nature. Shards, sticking from the ground, did not vie for the sun’s attention. Iron mixed with veins of copper, zinc-splashed colour on steel. Big spires, and aged shavings, shared the same hillside. No two things looked alike. Whether the shapes were marvellous or muted, it did not matter as the next view held more wonders to behold.

‘Look what I found,’ said Bill, rushing from behind a stone boulder, that looked out of place amongst the sea of red, brandishing a long spike. Cloth torn from his sleeve bound the base of the two foot long weapon. ‘We could equip an army with what’s left here to rot.’

‘It’s no good,’ said Jack. ‘It’s covered in rust, one smack and it’ll break.’

‘It’s strong, and sharp. I’d like to see the Vestai try clawing at me with their dirty fingernails now.’

Even rusted it looked a fearsome weapon when Bill, with bravado, sliced the air. Since leaving Krimble, they had travelled for hours, and Jack saw the confidence, Bill had gained with his Talent, return. Allowing him his fun Jack turned and saw Inara some way off gripping Yang’s hand. She smiled at his shadow, and confided with the demon in a conspiratorial whisper. His good humour evaporated.

He walked under rusted blades, not letting Inara know he had seen her clandestine meeting. How she kept overlooking the cunning demon’s true nature frustrated him no end. Her deliberate disregard for his warnings would eventually land her, and probably each of them, in trouble. Rust clogged water trickled alongside his route, reminding him sharply of arterial blood.

He wanted nothing more than to be in his room, playing toy soldiers. A sudden jolt of pain hit his chest. Clutching his ribs, he expected to find the Narmacil trying to break free. Only after his initial panic subsided did he realise the pain he felt was brought on by homesickness. Thoughts of his mother sparked new aching waves. Things had happened so fast since leaving the hunter’s path that he had given his mother little thought. Shame bowed his head. He hoped, though he knew it to be futile, that she did not worry overmuch. A weak smile parted his lips as his attention reverted to the Red Wood. What was there to worry about? He almost laughed aloud at his own absurd question. Yang, sensing his shift in mood drifted closer, falling back into his accustomed role as silent companion, of protector, and friend.

‘Get away,’ Jack barked, waving his arm in a furious strike that passed through Yang. ‘You aren’t part of me. You never were!’

Instead of hunching his shoulders as Jack expected, Yang stood tall, then gave a stiff nod. He pointed first at himself and then at Jack.

‘Why lie, I know what you are. As soon as I find Knell, you’ll be gone for good.’ A wolfish grin, that would have made Black proud, accentuated his threat.

‘You shouldn’t talk to him like that,’ said Inara. ‘He has always been there for you. Without him we would never have escaped Krimble’s house.’

He looked over at the girl perched on a grey arch, banging her mutilated legs against the metal. ‘If we didn’t have demons inside of us we wouldn’t have been imprisoned in the first place. The false path that took you away from your parents, or the reason why Bill and I went into the woods to look for a wolf, would not have happened. Krimble’s mind was like an apple left to rot in the sun, but the Narmacil gave him the tools he needed to capture others.’

Biting her nails, with a series of ferocious snicks, stretched out Jack’s observations, lending them both time to digest what he said. Spitting the half-moon slivers into her dirty palm, Inara said, without looking up, ‘You can’t blame the Sprites for what he did. If a dog bites you, do you then distrust all dogs? Or do you see just one mean mutt with a foul temper? The way I understand things,’ she continued, moving the cut nails around the lines of her hand, ‘the Narmacil within us follow our actions, our choices shape them. Have you ever witnessed Yang do anything mean, or criminal?’

‘Of course, he got me into trouble daily.’ His arms came up in exasperation. ‘Grandma Poulis grew hoarse shouting our names. Once he stole half the town’s clothes. Everyone came to our house in the rain, wearing nothing but his or her bedclothes. When my mother found the clothes stuffed in my cupboard she grounded me for two weeks.’

To his consternation Inara laughed.

‘It’s not funny,’ he told her. ‘My mother was furious. To teach me a lesson she took away all my clothes; I could only wear pyjamas for days on end.’

‘You see,’ she said as her shoulders shook with laughter, ‘there was nothing evil in what Yang did. I guess you’d call it a prank, nothing more.’

Fine for her to say thought Jack, crushing rust beneath his heel, she didn’t have the entire town blame him for everything that went wrong. He almost told her about the time Yang had dyed the river red making it look like a ribbon of blood. He bit his tongue, no doubt that would make her laugh harder and she’d fall off her branch. Besides, he thought looking down at the discoloured stream; if that was a prank, it was a prophetic one.

‘You and Bill seem to be better friends than when we started out.’

‘Hmmm, we have a common goal. He still doesn’t want me along though,’ she observed.

‘Why’d you think that?’

‘Quite simple Jack, he wants to ride his wolf by himself. I take up too much room for both of us to ride comfortably. It doesn’t worry me, he needs the exercise. Walking instead of riding will get rid of his belly quicker than any diet.’

‘He’s not fat.’

‘No,’ Inara agreed. ‘I’d call him podgy. Look.’ She held her hand out to Jack, showing the nails she had bitten off arranged into the shape of a man. ‘It’s you,’ she said, ‘as you are right now.’

‘It could be anyone,’ said Jack, cocking an eyebrow.

‘No it’s you,’ said Inara checking her palm. ‘Look.’ She offered her hand once more. ‘I gave him an unhappy mouth.’

Jack saw the downward facing nail. Tilting her hand Inara stretched the small crescent shadows across her lifeline. Unnerved, Jack moved back from the darkening image.

‘What’s the matter?’ she asked.

‘I don’t like pictures,’ he replied, remembering the pictures in Mr Hasseltope’s tomb. ‘Especially ones of me,’ he added when he saw the question in Inara’s silent stare. ‘I read that if someone had a picture of you they could harm you.’

‘You think I would harm you Jack?’

He shook his head. It was a silly thing to say, he once read a comic in which an old witch killed a man by just having drawn his face. Absurd. Yet Inara watched him with such an earnest intent that he felt obliged to answer. ‘Not yet, but another weeklong trek and you just might.’

He meant it as a joke, but it felt stiff and awkward on his tongue, robbing it of its intended wit.

‘That depends on where your quest leads us next.’

A pretty turn of her mouth put Jack at ease. What a remarkable girl she was. If he had gone through half of what she had, if Krimble had so much as cut a toe from his foot, he would be as bitter as a dry tablet. Walking over he sat beside her, letting his legs dangle above the ground. He wanted to hold her hand, to let her know through action how much he appreciated her company. He started to reach across when he lost his nerve; instead, he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets. Finding a piece of string, he wrestled it between his fingers. Her eyes reflected the sun’s bathing glow like a spring brook, only deeper inspection betrayed no light of their own.

‘Is everything alright?’ asked Inara. ‘You’re looking at me like I’m a porcelain doll.’

Jack felt his face grow numb. Bill’s grandmother had dolls with eyes just like hers. ‘Don’t be silly,’ he mouthed, unsure whether he spoke or not. For a moment, he had the temptation to reach out and touch her skin, to see whether it would dimple under his finger or remain firm. Don’t be stupid, he told himself, she isn’t a bloody doll.

Yang reached out and pinched Inara’s arm, causing her to cry out.

‘Hey, what’s the deal?’

‘I don’t know why he did that,’ said Jack when Inara rubbed her arm.

His gaze shifted to his dark twin. Had Yang pinched her to satisfy his curiosity? Or just to get him into trouble? If the former, then it proved the demon could read his thoughts.

‘That wasn’t very nice of you Yang, it hurt,’ said Inara with rising colour in her cheeks.

‘I told you, he has a mind of his own,’ Jack said meekly. ‘Doesn’t seem so funny now, does it,’ he whispered.

‘Not at all,’ agreed Inara. ‘Bill,’ she called out, waving to him through a gap in the iron trees. ‘Call Black, I think we’d better be off.’

‘He’s hunting,’ Bill answered. ‘He’s caught the scent of his prey. He won’t be long.’

‘Prey?’ Jack looked around. ‘Apart from these blasted bugs I haven’t seen a single living thing since we entered the Wold. What has he found?’

‘Beats me,’ said Bill coming closer. ‘It’s got him pretty excited whatever it is. Poor thing is almost as hungry as I am. And I’m starving.’

‘Let’s hope the wolves have some luck, just make sure Black doesn’t eat it all.’

‘We also need clean water,’ added Inara.

Where can we find clean water here, pondered Jack as flakes of rust drifted past his nose from an overhead branch?

‘It’s a problem for another time,’ said Bill in alarm.

‘Why, what’s happened?’ asked Jack looking around, but saw no threat.

‘Whatever Black was hunting,’ said Bill, gripping Jack’s shoulder, ‘is now hunting the wolf. They are coming this way.’

‘Black wouldn’t run from anything,’ said Inara, lending voice to Jack’s reaction.

‘I can feel Black’s terror. Whatever follows him is something that he has learnt to fear.’

Even the constant buzz from the insects seemed muted as they waited to hear signs of pursuit. Black had been gone for at least twenty minutes, at a gallop the wolf could arrive back at any moment. Bill, still gripping his makeshift weapon, trembled with his legs apart. Inara gripped the iron branch she sat upon, her cheekbones etched sharply under her drawn skin. Jack saw all this while his pulse pounded away unchecked.

‘We have to draw the enemy away,’ said Jack, licking his lips. ‘Make Black run away from us.’

‘I won’t let Black face whatever it is alone,’ cried Bill. ‘He’s always been there for us. He’s our friend.’

‘We have no weapons,’ said Jack. ‘At least Black has a chance to outrun his pursuer. Keep hold of your connection with him, when he escapes bring him back to us.’

‘We have to leave as well,’ said Inara. ‘If the thing hunting Black follows his back trail he will follow it back to us.’

‘How?’ asked Bill, turning on her. ‘You have no legs to run with, Black always carried you. Without him you can’t go anywhere.’

‘We’re going to carry her,’ said Jack.

‘You’re crazy Yin, bang out of your head. How’re we going to carry her through this metal forest by ourselves?’

‘We haven’t got a choice.’

‘Yang can carry me without much effort,’ said Inara.

‘Ok,’ said Bill. ‘We’ll have to leave you behind if you slow us down though. No point in all of us getting caught, you understand.’

‘Shut up Bill,’ said Jack. ‘We aren’t leaving anyone behind.’

‘Tell that to Black.’

Ignoring Bill, as Yang lifted Inara from the branch, Jack looked to the north where something pursued the wolves. What could scare them so much? The wolf was a predator, they ran from nothing. The Red Wood had turned nature on its ear. Not even seeing a bird burrowing into the hard ground would surprise him now.

Scores of cuts criss-crossed their arms and legs as they ran through the metal twigs. One long metal thorn struck Bill above his eye; the resulting blood blinded him, forcing them to halt to wrap the wound.

‘I haven’t heard anything behind us,’ said Inara, sweating despite Yang carrying her. ‘Are the wolves far away?’