Half Discovered Wings (50 page)

‘
That’s why you have to come with me.’

‘
I can’t leave Mister Cleric.’

‘
Rose, didn’t you hear me? He’s been erasing my memory to keep
me here! Each time I decide I want to leave, that it’s time to save
this boy, he
knows
somehow, and he puts me in that booth and he wipes my
memories!’

‘
Johnmal, that’s rubbish.’

‘
If he can read minds like a book, why can’t he tear out a few
pages?’

‘
Rubbish, Johnmal!’ she cried, and she actually covered her
ears. ‘I can’t believe you’re saying this, all this nonsense … The
boss has done nothing but look after you; he raised you, he
raised
me
…’

‘
I have to go. You still have time if you want to come with
me.’

There were
tears on her face; she shook her head no.

She felt
invisible lips kiss her neck and shoulder. ‘I love you.’

And then he
was gone.

~

Running, glancing down at his hands –
I can see something
– down the
stairs, down the ramp, then slowing and stopping for Cleric’s
office. The boss wasn’t inside.

Probably at the pen
, he thought,
walking slowly past, then going back into a sprint as he made for
the prison cell that held his son.

‘
Isaac,’ he hissed. No reply. ‘
Isaac!
’

A whisper:
‘Father?’

‘
I’m here,’ he said, putting his hands on the energy field,
making it buzz. ‘Come here, quickly!’

‘
What’s happening?’

‘
It’s time. Hold on.’

Johnmal opened the field, then reached in. Isaac jumped when
he felt the invisible hand, at the edge of a hovering sleeve, take
his. They ran together, past Cleric’s empty lab, back up the ramps
–
for the final time
, Johnmal thought – and then down the horrible, scentless
corridors.

‘
Can’t you change back?’ Isaac said, breathless.

‘
I’ll try…’ Slowly, a form began to appear within the clothing.
‘It takes longer each time. Next time, I don’t think I’ll be able
to … Am I back? Am I visible?’

‘
Yes.’

They arrived at the lounge. It looked cold and desolate to
Johnmal, who saw it with the eyes of someone departing.

‘
Quickly.’ He pulled Isaac toward the door and wrenched it
open.

Rosanna stood
before them. She hefted the scy-staff onto her shoulder.

‘
Johnmal,’ she said.

~

‘
Rose, you don’t have to do this.’

‘
Johnmal,’ Rosanna said again, ‘don’t try to—’

‘
You don’t have to stay here with him.’

‘
I do have to.’

‘
You can come with us,’ he said, glancing at a confused
Isaac.

Rosanna’s grip
tightened on the handle of the weapon. She looked down, and her
eyes closed softly. Her long ponytail swung down past her
elbow.

‘
Let Isaac go, Rosanna,’ he said. ‘Cleric doesn’t need him
anymore. He was going to let him go or kill him anyway.’

‘
The boss is going to kill
everyone
anyway!’ she scowled. ‘And
only we’d be left. The strongest. The most fit. So why are you
trying to save
him
?’

‘
He’s
…’ Johnmal faltered.

She shrugged. ‘The boss isn’t concerned with him. He can
leave, but seeing as I’ve stopped you…’

‘
Go,’ Johnmal said quietly to the boy. ‘Head east. There’s a
clearing in the forest, a hill, with a tower of rock. Light a fire.
Your mother waits for you near there.’

Isaac nodded,
and stepped cautiously past Rosanna and through the doors. Johnmal
heard them hiss closed.

‘
Rosanna, you know if I get out those doors, get outside,
you’re not going to be able to follow me.’

‘
I know that,’ she said. The weapon swung down off her shoulder
and rang like an anvil on the floor.

‘
I don’t want to fight you.’

‘
Of course you don’t,’ she said, and with her foot kicked the
end of the scy-staff into the air, spun the shaft and dug the metal
into the wall and inch from Johnmal’s face. ‘So let’s finish it
quickly.’

~

He took the shaft of the weapon in his right hand and spun,
bringing his left elbow around, but the weapon was too long and he
fell short of Rosanna’s face; it glanced off the shaft and it
vibrated in his hand. Rosanna pulled back, rotated on her toes and
brought the weapon up under Johnmal’s feet. He jumped and landed on
the brass blade, which was pulled out instantly from underneath
him.

‘
You can’t really want to hurt me, Rose!’

She fell back against the wall. ‘Of course I don’t!’ she
spat. ‘You’re
making
me do this.’

‘
Cleric
is making you do this,’ he said, and leapt at her, sweeping
with his leg and knocking her back again. ‘Did he put you in his
machine too? Breed out all the undesirable impulses and thoughts?
Did he trick you into loving me, to keep me
here?’

Her hand shot out like lightning and she brought it up,
gripping his face. She began to squeeze
… As he looked down at her he saw a
tear in her eye, but the rest of her face was a visor of
determination; her jaw set, teeth clenched. He choked and kicked
her legs, brought his boot down, scraping the skin from her shins.
Still she held tight.

‘
Rose!’ he said, and he heard a tiny crack from inside his
face. ‘Don’t…’

He brought his
fist up under her chin, once, twice, then grabbed her wrist and
pulled her hand away. Staggering, he fell into in a half-tackle,
sending her against the wall a third time—

The r
oom was so
small
, making the fight difficult, almost
impossible. No room to manoeuvre, no space to think…

He thumped her
hard in the stomach and, as she doubled over, slammed his elbow
into her back. She fell and he dove on top of her, wrenching back
her arm and gripping her skull; with tensed muscles he rammed her
forehead into the floor.

He had underestimated her. He thought this as he felt her
spine bend, her thighs gyrate, and saw her feet appear at each side
of his field of vision. She wrapped her calves around his neck and
wrenched him backward, twisting his spine. It forced him to rise
from his knees and stand as she slipped out from under him and hit
him in the chest with the palms of her hands.

He slammed into the
wall with absurd force. He’d known Rosanna had strength, but never
to that extent. He was winded and dazed by the blow, but had no
time to think about it. She got her foot underneath the rod of the
scy-staff and kicked it into the air, catching it in her right
hand. It spun, as if alive, and the scythe end went for his
throat.

‘
Wait,’ a voice said, and the blade bounced off the wall
instead. Rosanna turned and saw Cleric.

‘
Don’t kill him; we can still use him. Bring him
downstairs.’

~

Hands were holding him, dragging him … where?

Downhill. Was
he outside?

He couldn’t think, couldn’t comprehend what was happening …
What had he been doing? Had he been asleep? Walking? Talking to the
boy?

Isaac
.

He’d escaped, and then … Rosanna.

She was pulling him. Downhill, but
where
…? Down … Down a
ramp.

They were going deeper into the facility. But why? What was
down there…?

The booth
.

‘
No,’ he tried to say, but he heard it come out as an
inarticulate groan.

‘
Quiet
,’ hissed a voice in his ear. Rosanna’s
voice.

‘
I love you,’ he croaked, feeling the ground move underneath
him.

Then another pair of hands, around his waist, pulling him
up, making him stand
… Cold metal against his back, against both his
arms … He was inside the booth, hearing humming electrical
equipment.

‘
No,’ he whimpered, but he didn’t think anybody
heard.

A sudden pain ricocheted through his body. Cleric had plunged
something into his chest. It was the screw-lined horn that Rosanna
wore around her neck …
Why?
… Fluid was slopped over it, and Cleric
brandished the broken end of a live cable.

‘
You broke the cables leading into the other room,’ said
Cleric’s voice. ‘Now I’ve had to take a more direct
approach.’

The live cable was pressed against the screwed, and Johnmal
spasmed as energy surged into his flesh, his organs, something
arcane and wonderful and deadly. It spattered across his nerves,
blinding him with pain.

Then: blessed darkness. He was being pulled toward
unconsciousness. He’d felt this before, he realised, but never
remembered it afterwards. This was where Cleric—

‘
Johnmal,’ said the boss’ voice. ‘Listen to me.’

The thought
occurred to him that he should fight it, try to block it, but he
could not. It was absurdly powerful.

‘
Listen. You are my son. You are my warrior. You will help me,
and you will help Rose. Rose loves you. Won’t you help her? She
can’t go out. She is afraid to go outside. But you: you can. You
can find the boy. You’ve told him a little too much. You have to
find him and kill him…

‘
And the other one,’ Cleric’s voice said, becoming like a kind
of drill, a screw burying into his mind, blocking out all other
thoughts and noises. ‘The other one you are helping, who you told
the boy to meet. His mother, you said. Find his mother and kill her
too.’

‘
Sarai,’ Johnmal muttered, feeling his eyes roll back into his
head and his tongue loll from his mouth like it was trying to crawl
away, ashamed.

‘
Yes, Sarai. Find her, and her son, and kill them
both.’

*

Twenty-Eight

BURIED IN
MUD

Gabel was slumped amongst the dully-coloured forest flowers,
blood-caked and confused. Nausea washed over him again, making him
gag, and he leaned forward for a second to let it come, tired of
fighting it. He vomited into the soft fern between his legs,
splattering his already wet clothes and boots. His trousers were
plastered to his legs with hot blood, and he could feel his feet
getting cold from the dampness that seeped in through his
boots.

Rowan was
crying hysterically, the magus holding her but staring unblinkingly
at Gabel, hat low over his face. The hunter could see a glint in
his eye, a shine that he was sure no-one else could see. It wasn’t
a glint of happiness, but the shine of a half-formed teardrop.

Sarai and Colan seemed to have been in a state of shock, but
were now moving. They clustered around Caeles, whose skin was white
like marble. Gabel could see, even from this distance, how his eyes
were wide and the pupils dilated, and how his pale lips were
murmuring something.

Gabel tried to speak but couldn’t. He tasted blood in his
mouth, the nasty tang of iron on his tongue. Why couldn’t he
remember what had happened?

He attempted
to stand and succeeded only in slumping from a sitting position to
kneeling. He looked upward at the great green canopy above him,
felt the odd tiny droplet of moisture fall and glance off his
skin.

He was sick again, soaking the foliage. He coughed violently,
felt a numbing pain shoot from all his limbs and permeate his
bones. He struggled against a sudden weakness throughout his body.
He was defeated.

~

Sarai saw the
hunter fall, but only glanced at him. She suggested to Colan that
he watch him, in case he tried to move any further.

‘
Caeles,’ she said, kneeling and taking the man’s hands. They
were slippery and cold. His eyes were wide and itinerant inside his
sockets. ‘Caeles,’ she said again.

‘
Hey,’ he croaked.

She leaned a
little closer. ‘Do you know what happened?’

His head slumped to the side, chest heaving. His insides were
out, and the barrel of his torso had been torn violently open.
Thick metal twisted outward, stiff and sharp as broken glass. He
sighed.

‘
You changed your hair again,’ he said quietly, and reached up
to stroke a strand of it. ‘So dark…’

Sarai only nodded, trying to keep hold of his hands, but they
kept slipping from between her palms. They had a bloody sheen to
them. His clothes were black with it.

‘
You—’

He coughed tremulously and his breathing became stertorous.
More blood appeared suddenly on his white lips. His voice was just
a cracked whisper, still fractured as if there were two voices
speaking.

‘
Listen,’ Sarai said, voice quiet and desperate, ‘listen, what
happened? What did he do?’

‘
Gabel,’ Caeles growled suddenly, rising and grabbing her
shoulders, pulling at her clothing, ‘is a fucking
monster
.’