Crik (39 page)

‘I know a lot more about Crik Wood than you two,’ she said. ‘Until you met me you had never heard of the Lindre. And let’s not forget, you had no idea about the Narmacil until I told you. You still don’t understand them.’

‘It seems,’ said Jack, ‘that the Narmacils have a few surprises that you weren’t expecting either.’

‘Everything has different sides to it. A dog might bite a stranger; does that make the dog mean? Or, was it protecting its master?’

‘A dog isn’t capable of turning into a monstrous spider,’ replied Jack.

Yang mirrored the form of the Wood Giant, only smaller than the one who stood beneath the falls. Jack’s shadow even mimicked the Giant’s gestures, throwing up his large hands. After waving at each child, Yang turned to indicate the far mountain.

‘We’re going to the mountain,’ said Inara. ‘Once Jack is through with this foolishness,’ she added under her breath.

Morning lapsed into afternoon, and evening threatened before the Giant finally turned from the wall. Both spiders taking the form of ravens perched themselves on the hunched shoulders of the Wood Giant.

‘Looks like it’s going,’ said Bill.

‘Let’s be patient a little longer,’ said Jack. Cramp had settled into his legs whilst the Giant conducted the strange classroom, and he took a moment to rub his muscle. ‘It’s taking the demons toward the mountain.’

‘Towards Knell,’ said Bill.

Jack remained silent. Was the hole behind Knell’s house, somehow connected to the hole the demons had vacated? If so, did the Giant’s move toward the mountain indicate it had business with the woman with the crying baby. Were the two, cohorts? Had the Giant risen from the ground to hurt him? He wanted Knell to tell him how to kill his demon, or at least expel it from himself. Something he doubted she would do, if she were friendly with them.

Bill jumped into Black, and took the wolf down to the river’s edge. Jack watched as the wolf entered the falls and appeared on the far side. ‘Make sure it is safe.’

‘Why do you think I’m doing this,’ said Bill, opening his eyes.

What seemed an hour of waiting, only took a few minutes, when Bill said, ‘The Giant is still walking. He’s not coming back.’

‘Then let’s go,’ said Jack, rising to his feet.

After waiting for Black to return to carry Inara, the three, led by Jack, walked down to the waterfall.

The sound of the crashing water was thunderous as they entered the falls. Deafened by the roar, the three approached the far wall, where the chalk shone brightly on the brown rock, which quickly revealed itself as a map. They knew many of the locations featured in the drawing.

‘It’s a map of Crik Woods,’ shouted Jack. ‘Look, there’s the Hedge Wall.’ He stabbed his finger at a large oval set in the middle of the drawing. The Giant had filled the inside of the oval with the broadside of the chalk. ‘We must be here,’ he said, indicating a series of three lines, which he presumed marked the waterfall.

‘Look up here,’ said Bill, moving forward. ‘That’s the mountain range, look how far it stretches.’

‘And there, at the base of the mountain,’ said Jack, ‘is that a house?’ A crude square stood where Jack looked. It was at the point where he expected to find Knell’s house.

‘There’re more over here,’ said Bill, indicating another three squares, with the third square being much larger than the others.

‘Is that larger square a town?’ Jack mused.

‘Look Yin, home,’ said Bill, hunching down toward the base of the map. ‘The Giant even drew the Hanging Tree; there’s the noose hanging from its branch.’

Jack looked with amazement; it even showed the marsh with its solitary abode. ‘This shows us the way home. Look, we don’t have to go back through the Wold.’ His finger traced a dotted path that connected each settlement on the map. ‘Krimble lied; we could have gone around the Red Wood.’ He saw how each dotted line gave the Wold a wide berth, with Knell’s house being the closest dwelling to that foul place.

Inara remained quiet, until, with a cry, she jabbed the map with her cracked fingernail. ‘I think this is my home.’ The square she pointed out resided to the east of the marsh. ‘It’s beside a river, and not too far from the marsh. This must be it. And these,’ she exclaimed with excitement, pointing at a series of sticks with round heads, ‘must be the pink blossom trees I tried to see from atop the Wall.’

‘If that’s your house,’ said Bill, ‘it’s close to our village. The line that follows from the Hanging Tree, that’s Brandy Road, which connects directly to your house.’

‘It must only be a day’s ride from your village.’ A shadow of concern swept aside her broad smile.

Jack held her shoulder and gave her a warm smile. ‘They’ll be happy to see you,’ he said.

Inara nodded.

‘I don’t understand these markings.’ Bill indicated what he could only discern as letters above three disparate squares. A fourth lay closer to their location, near the edge of a lake. ‘Did the Giant name something?’

‘How many broken eggs did you see in the hole, Jack?’ The roar of the cascading water smothered Inara’s words.

About to answer three, Jack stopped himself. Two belonged to the spiders, another to the centipede, but four sets of tracks led from the hole. Above the sound of the waterfall, he heard something scrape along the stone roof.

A golden ey
e
, peering down from a sail of black barbs and flapping skin, twitched from Inara to Jack. Nests of bubbling worms tethered the sail to the roof of the waterfall with little hooks that found even the smallest cracks in the rock. Moving, the creature’s hooks scraped the ceiling, emitting the tell-tale sound that had first alerted Jack to its presence.

Black snarled up at the Hatchling, showing his long fangs. Inara wrestled with the wolf to stop it from leaping for the Narmacil.

‘What’s it supposed to be?’ asked Bill, craning his neck.

‘I guess, a mixture of things it’s seen,’ said Jack. ‘Or perhaps something it conjured in its sick mind. Before the one that jumped into you took the shape of a two-legged demon it looked like a dragon. Only it then had two mouths. That night, the demon copied Yang.’ He looked at his shadow, who studied the demon clinging to the ceiling. ‘Yang decided to play with it. Though I now believe my demon taught the Hatchling.’

‘We know the Narmacils are old,’ said Inara. ‘What makes you think Yang had to teach it anything?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Perhaps, when they go into the egg, they forget things,’ said Bill. ‘When I wake up, I always forget my dreams. When the Narmacils find someone new to join, they may draw a blank when it comes to their past lives.’

Pulling itself along, the Hatchling stopped above Yang. An incomplete hand separated itself from the canvass of skin.

‘It’s waving at Yang,’ said Bill.

‘They’re saying hello to each other,’ said Inara.

‘Let’s hope my shadow doesn’t decide to transform into a bear, or we’ll have a real problem on our hands.’

Jack wished he had kept quiet. Instead of a bear, Yang took the shape of the ferocious cat it had used to thwart the Myrms’ ambush. The razor sharp claws, the long muzzle filled with curved sabres that snapped at the air, were enough to entice the Hatchling to follow Yang’s example. Instead of worms with their little hooks, the Hatchling now dug into the rock with nine-inch long claws

‘That’s wonderful,’ said Bill. ‘Now we’re screwed.’

Skin bubbled as the Hatchling formed the cat’s tail and a mane of hair that writhed as though brushed by a gale.

‘Don’t mention anything else Yin,’ said Bill, backing away from the cat. ‘I don’t want you giving this thing the idea to bite us.’

‘That isn’t a thing,’ said Inara. ‘The Narmacil is copying Yang; it doesn’t mean us any harm.’

Jack detected a quiver in her voice. The demons were showing Inara a side of themselves that she never knew existed. She still fought against the idea that the demon inside her could be evil. He only hoped that it wouldn’t be too late when she understood the threat the demons posed. Looking at the cat, with its switching tail, he hoped that time wasn’t now.

‘Do we run?’ asked Bill.

‘We won’t outrun that,’ replied Jack. ‘But I think we best get back to the trees. Eventually the Giant will notice he’s missing one demon, and come back for it.’

‘Wait,’ said Inara, pointing up at the Hatchling.

Turning from Bill, Jack saw the demon waved at them with a hand extending from its chest.

‘It’s saying hello,’ said Inara. She enthusiastically returned the wave.

‘It’s trying to keep us here,’ said Jack, moving toward the curtain of water. ‘It wants to delay us, so that the Giant can catch us.’

‘It’s trying to communicate with us,’ said Inara.

‘There’s only one person that I know of that can talk with the demons,’ said Jack.

‘Krimble would be evil with or without his Narmacil’s Talent,’ said Inara.

‘You can’t be certain of that,’ said Jack. ‘If we stay here and try to play pantomime with this thing, we’ll get caught. I don’t fancy escaping the Ghost Walkers, to just get captured by the Wood Giant.’

‘I think Yin’s right,’ said Bill.

‘Stop calling me that. My name’s Jack. Now come on, before we run out of time.’ He leapt through the curtain of water to the other side of the falls.

Bill left without taking his eyes from the Hatchling and his steps were ponderous as he passed through the water.

‘Is Inara coming?’ asked Jack.

‘She was still waving her hand when I left. She waved so fast; you’d swear she was trying to fan a fire.’

Great, now she’s trying to befriend the demon. Through the falling water, Jack saw her silhouette atop Black. He couldn’t see the demon, its black skin blended perfectly with the dark roof of the falls. He noticed, without surprise, that Yang had also remained behind. The only thing he could see of his shadow was its two legs extending before him. No doubt, Yang enticed the Hatchling with the delights it would enjoy when it found a host. The demon may grant a little girl with the Talent to make her dolls move, or give a boy the power to breathe under water. Who would care where they got it? Would they be troubled if they knew that spiders as large as dogs could jump into their sleeping mouths? Disappearing like a puff of smoke in a blizzard. Until now, Bill couldn’t care less where he got his Talent to command animals. Looking at his friend, he knew Bill’s attitude had changed since seeing the demons for himself. Inara’s hadn’t, the demon excited her.

‘Inara, come on. We have to go.’ The roar of the falls drowned out his words.

‘She’s not going to leave,’ said Bill. ‘She thinks it’s wonderful.’

‘How wonderful will she think it is when it jumps down and bites her?’

Each minute Inara remained behind the falls the more impatient Jack became. First, he tapped his palm against the side of his leg, and then his foot kicked the wet stone. ‘You’ll have to bring her out,’ said Jack. ‘The Wood Giant will be here any minute.’

‘How can I bring her out if she doesn’t want to leave?’

‘She’s riding Black isn’t she,’ said Jack. ‘Command Black to follow us, and he’ll carry her with him.’

‘She’s not going to like that.’ Bill looked worried.

‘I don’t care. Just do it.’

‘Ok, but when she starts shouting I’m going to tell her you made me.’

Still flapping her hand Inara came closer to the falls. Jack realised, to his horror, that Inara wasn’t waving at the demon, she was beaconing for it to follow her. Beyond her, a dark outline dropped to the ground.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ said Jack as Inara joined them.

‘It’s by itself,’ said Inara, looking back as the large cat followed her through the water. ‘We can’t leave it here.’

‘Yes we can,’ said Bill.

‘The Wood Giant will come looking for it,’ said Jack. ‘We can’t have that thing with us.’

‘Can’t Jack?’ said Inara. ‘When have you ever listened to us when we told you that you couldn’t do something? We entered the Wold for you. We’re here now because of your hunt to discover more about the Narmacil. Well, we have one.’

Jack shook his head. ‘It’s too dangerous. We can’t go up against the Wood Giant. By drawing that map, it showed it knows Crik Wood better than anyone.’ He pointed back into the falls. ‘And remember, Yang guided us to Huckney, by talking with the other demon. They’re connected. The other three will always know where this one is. We can’t take it with us.’

‘This is your chance to see that the Narmacil aren’t something to fear,’ said Inara. ‘If the Narmacil wanted to hurt us, all it had to do was attack us when our backs were turned. Look at it, it hasn’t even growled.’

Looking at the Hatchling, with its gaping mouth, showing rows of fangs, made Jack believe the demon was grinning at them. He had no doubt the demon had enough intelligence to follow the argument, or at least understand that they talked about it. The demon hadn’t formed any eyelids, making its stare unbearable.

‘What do you think Bill?’ asked Inara, turning to face Bill. ‘Do you think the Narmacil is a demon? Should we fear what’s inside us? Remember, before the Giant brought the Narmacil to you, the village regarded you as a freak. Do you want to go back to having no Talent? Without it, you’ll lose Black.’

‘I don’t fear the Narmacil.’ Bill took off his glasses, and busied himself by wiping the lenses on his shirtsleeve, which left them more smeared than before. ‘Yin is right about one thing. Why have they kept themselves secret? By hiding from us, they make me suspicious of what they’re doing.’

‘What they are doing,’ said Inara, ‘is helping you. Jack doesn’t want to see how Yang has helped us. Krimble would have killed us all back in his house if Yang hadn’t struck him. If you didn’t control Black, Silver wouldn’t have been in the marsh when we needed her. Without his Narmacil, Huckney couldn’t have made Gashnite, leaving us to fend for ourselves against the Ghost Walkers. At every turn, our Narmacils have helped us. Can you tell me of one occasion where they have not been there for us?’

‘What of the Giant?’ said Jack. ‘Do you trust that as well? By taking that thing with us, we run the risk of angering the Giant. Do you want to invite more danger, after everything we’ve gone through?’

‘If the Giant is helping the Narmacil, then the Giant is helping us,’ said Inara. ‘Why didn’t the Giant attack you Jack? We’ve all seen it now; your front door wouldn’t have stood up against one blow from the Giant’s hand. If your knowing was so dangerous, it would have silenced you that night.’

Jack knew Mr Dash knew about the demon. He had seen that too, though he hadn’t told the others of his vision. Everyone and everything had secrets, even him.

Yang played with the other demon, tugging on its wriggling mane. The two demons acted like children, playing in the garden. The Hatchling now ignored the conversation, giving Jack’s shadow its undivided attention. Looking at them, Jack almost smiled. No, he thought, they are acting innocent to fool me again.

‘It can’t come,’ Jack said again. ‘I’m trying to find Knell, for the reason of getting rid of my demon. I’m not going to invite another one into my life.’

‘Getting rid of,’ said Inara. ‘That’s so final Jack. Do you want to kill Yang?’

‘If that’s the only way to be free,’ replied Jack.

‘And you Bill?’ asked Inara. ‘You’ve only had your Talent for a short time. You remember how excited you were when you discovered you could control an animal. How excited you must have felt to tell Jack, and to show the others in the village what you could now do. Without the Narmacil, none of that would have been possible.’

‘If the demons didn’t exist,’ said Jack, ‘Bill wouldn’t have ever felt singled out in the first place. Tommen Guild wouldn’t be able to ice things by just touching it. Tracey wouldn’t dance in the air.’

‘Why would that be a good thing?’ asked Inara. ‘She must love the feeling of rising in the air. Your Talent is not what defines you. I see you Jack, not what your shadow is doing. Bill,’ she said, focusing on Bill, ‘when I think of you, I think about how smart you are. The books you’ve read. The relationship I know you have with your grandparents. Your grandmother is a Ghost Walker, yet she isn’t evil like Kyla, or the Red Sisters.’

‘No, she’s not,’ said Bill.

‘It’s you who defines who you are. What you chose to do with the gift that the Narmacil has given you, not what it does.’

‘This is nonsense,’ said Jack. ‘We’re wasting time here. Bring the demon if you must. But, at the first sign of the Wood Giant, we’ll leave the demon behind. Agreed?’

‘Ok, Jack, that sounds fair,’ said Inara. ‘Which way do you want to go? The Giant set off in the direction we need to follow. Do you want to set off after it, or should we head back into the woods and hope to find our way through the trees?’

‘We follow,’ said Jack. ‘Only this time, we keep far back. I don’t want any more surprises.’

Taking the lead, Jack skipped over the wet stones to the other side of the river. Looking behind he watched as the demon, with a forked tongue dangling from its black lips, followed him across. He didn’t trust the demon, it would betray them the first chance it got; of that he had no doubt.