Mist & Whispers (10 page)

At that moment, she felt a deeper sympathy for Harrion than any of the other Virtfirthians she’d met.

‘Excuse me,’ Michael said, rubbing his shivering arms. ‘What are we doing here?’

‘Can you see the city walls in the distance? Just past them is Castle Lake. The castle used to be there, on an island right in the middle.’

Beyond the forest and the villages, Anya could barely see the city, though from this distance, it didn’t look
big
at all. She watched as the lake flashed in and out of sight beneath the storm clouds, and as Theone had said, the castle was nowhere to be seen. How could something like a castle just disappear without a trace?

Sitting there on the edge of the hill with that question rushing through her mind, Anya heard a long, drawn-out wafting sound. She turned to look over her shoulder but before her eyes had a chance to scan the sky, Harrion was on her, snatching her up in his arms and dragging her beneath a nearby bush. ‘Get down!’ he ordered Michael. The urgency in Harrion’s voice was so alarming, Michael didn’t hesitate. He ducked into the crook of a large standing stone that stood on the top of the hill, his eyes wide with fear as he tucked his legs in tight against his body.

Anya held her breath when she heard the sound again. It was louder than before, and was followed by the only gust of wind she had felt since her arrival in Virtfirth. She tilted her head and stole a glance through the gaps in the bush. Something big and menacing flew overhead, casting a shadow so dark that every shred of light was blotted out.

The sound disappeared and after a few extra minutes to ensure the coast was clear, Harrion let go of Anya and they crawled out from the bush.

‘What was that?’

‘I don’t know, but it’s never got that close before. When I was a kid, I heard one of my father’s men tell him something was guarding the lake. That’s why we’re not allowed to fly the horses.’

‘Do you think it will come back?’ Michael asked, his voice shaking as he ventured out from under the stone.

‘I hope not. We’ll just have to keep our wits about us.’

Anya looked at Harrion, nerves crinkling her forehead. What could be worth risking his life to sneak up here for? Then she remembered.

‘What did you mean?’ she asked, sitting down much closer to the bush. ‘Before, you said we were going to see the castle. What did you mean?’

Harrion sat beside her. ‘I came here once, last year,’ he began. ‘I’d snuck out to hunt and thought I could scope out the land from up here. Anyway, I swear I saw the castle. I rushed back to the camp and got my father, but by the time we got back, it had gone. They thought I was imagining it, but I know what I saw. I got into so much trouble for leaving the camp on my own. My father had some of Faust’s men guarding my quarters for weeks just to make sure I wouldn’t leave again. He thinks I can’t handle myself out here. I worked out how to get passed them though, and I sneak out every time the camp sleeps. I know it will appear again and I don’t want to miss it when it does.’

‘So we’re just going to stand here in the cold, waiting for something that may or may not happen, whilst that
thing
is out here?’ Michael whined.

Harrion waved his hand, keeping his eyes fixed on the lake, and a blue sheepskin blanket appeared at Michael’s feet. Michael wrapped it around himself and wandered back to the crook in the standing stone, grumbling.

WITH EVERY HOUR
that passed, the longing in Harrion’s eyes grew more desperate. Anya could see how badly he wanted the castle to reappear and with its unlikelihood growing as time passed, she found herself wanting it for him.

When Harrion decided that their clandestine pursuit was over, he sighed. ‘Not this sleep,’ he breathed to himself. ‘Come on. We need to get back before the others rise.’

Michael, who had been pretending to sleep, was the first to start scrambling down the mountain side.

From the way he lingered, it was obviously difficult for Harrion to turn his back on the lake. She knew how that felt, to let go without being ready. She’d had to leave Iain’s house only a day ago, saying goodbye was the hardest thing she’d ever done.

She offered him her hand. ‘If I’m still here tomorrow, I’ll come back with you.’

Harrion looked disheartened but took her hand anyway, and together they walked down the hill.

By the time they had reached level ground, Michael was so far ahead that he dipped in and out of sight, bobbing through the trees.

‘He’s going the wrong way,’ Harrion told Anya.

‘Should I call to him?’

‘I wouldn’t. Shouting will draw the wrong sort of attention to us. That said, so will his clumpy footing.’ A small, silvery laugh escaped her. ‘Here...’ He held out his arm but Anya didn’t understand. ‘Well, do you want us to catch him or not?’ He fluttered his wings and instantly she knew what he meant. With her arms around his neck and his around her waist, gravity just stopped being. They lifted from the ground and rode the air between the trees.

Perhaps it was sheer coincidence, or perhaps it was the sight of her in the arms of another guy, but Michael lost his footing when they flew overhead, and fell right into a shallow swamp.

The language that followed as he pulled himself out was just as disgusting as the black, murky water he’d fallen in.

‘Are you ok, Michael?’ Anya asked as she and Harrion landed beside him, both trying their best not to laugh.

He stood with his upper body hunched forward, pulling sludgy dead leaves from his hair, and wringing the thick, sticky swamp water from his clothes. ‘Oh, nice, Anya. I’m sure this is dreadfully funny to you!
Stupid Michael, he’s not important, just someone to poke fun at!
I’m sure you wouldn’t be laughing if you’d fallen – OW!’ He raised his knee, desperately pulling up his trouser leg. There, stuck to his skin, were three slimy, black leeches.

‘Oh Michael, don’t be such a baby, leeches don’t even hurt,’ she said, but Harrion interrupted her.

‘Wait, Anya, they’re no ordinary leeches.’

‘What?’

‘They’re Vampyre Leeches!’

‘OW! It feels like they’re – AH – biting! How do I – YAOWW!
–
get them off?’

‘You burn them off, don’t you?’

‘NO!’ Harrion cried, his hands rising in alarm. ‘Just relax. Vampyre leeches have two tusk-like fangs that sink into their victim’s skin whilst they feed on their blood. If they feel threatened, they’ll secrete a venom from their fangs... and it’ll kill a fully grown man in about a minute.’

Michael paled.

Anya’s heart started to race. For the second time her wild goose chase had put someone in danger, and this time it was Michael. In the few seconds of silence that followed, every angry conversation and snide comment exchanged between them disappeared.  In Anya’s eyes, Michael was once again the boy she’d met at Scott’s. The boy that blushed every time she caught him looking at her. The boy who stuttered whilst asking her on a date. And the only person, other than Iain, that she’d ever let get close. She couldn’t watch him die like she’d watched Iain die. She couldn’t stand by helpless again. ‘What do we do?’

‘First; stay calm. They can taste the fear in your blood,’ Harrion said to Michael. Michael nodded; the rest of his body frozen to the spot. ‘They will stop feeding when they’ve had enough.’

‘How long will that take?’

‘Could be an hour, could be a few days. They’re quite big; it may take them a while before they feel full.’

‘A few days? He can’t have those things on him for a few days, anything could happen, what if they get scared? They’ll kill him!’

‘At least it would stop his whining,’ Harrion snickered, but he dropped the laughter immediately when he saw Anya’s face. ‘It’s not that bad, honestly. I’ve seen many soldiers come back to camp covered in Vampyre Leeches, and a good half of them survived,’ he said, quite calm.

‘HALF?’ Anya cried, her eyebrows practically lifting off her face. ‘Right, well if you’re not going to help us, we’ll just have to ask your father.’ She couldn’t believe his blatant disregard for Michael, so white and shaken he hadn’t managed to say a single word
–
just stare at the ground in shock.

Harrion let out a long sigh. ‘Fine! The only thing we can do is try to make his blood less desirable so they let go
–
that’s what they do back at camp. We need to find a Dryad Pad.’

‘A what?’ It dawned on her that she knew nothing of her new surroundings; nothing of the dangers in the forest waiting to take their lives, and nothing of the remedies it concealed either. Back home, she knew how to look after herself. There were doctors at the end of a phone, teachers around every corner at school and police on the beat in the town. And, if it came down to it, she knew how to handle herself in a scuffle, having been in many fist fights with bullies as she grew up. Back home, she was fearless. She was invincible. Now, here in this new world and standing next to Harrion, the same fearless look in his eyes, she realised everyone is invincible... until they’re not.

‘It’s a type of fungus. Horrid, putrid stuff! They’re really juicy and if they get into your bloodstream they make it taste foul. It used to grow on the trees, but when the trees died with the Darkness, the pads just fell off – that’s what they say, anyway. It still grows though. Fungus is about the only thing that did survive the Darkness. Start looking around the tree roots, they’re quite big and flat, with rough edges and a funnelled stem. They’re not hard to find.’

Anya and Harrion set to work quickly, brushing away the debris that surrounded the stark remains of the trees. As they sifted through rotten bark and fallen branches, she kept looking back at Michael, checking he was still alive. He just stood there, staring at nothing.

After a few minutes, Harrion found what they were looking for. ‘Here you go.’ Michael stared right through him, as if he was made of glass. ‘Michael? I can use my magic to speed things up, just eat a good few mouthfuls and take my hand.’

Still, Michael did not move.

‘Michael?’ Anya’s voice wavered, and she reached for his hand.

He started at her touch, shaking and looking frantically from Anya to Harrion and back. ‘No. NO! Don’t come near me!’ He pulled his hand away from Anya and fled through the trees.

‘Michael!’ she cried and ran after him.

She could hear Harrion calling after them, but she didn’t care.

Michael was faster than she expected. A branch slit through the skin of her arm as she ran. She only took her eyes off the woodland for a second to look at the damage, but that was all it took. She felt something hit her shin, low and hard, and she fell to the ground with a thud. But there was no time to feel the pain and she was back on her feet in a flash, barely taking a second to decide which way to continue running. A warm trickle tickled her cheek and she knew she was bleeding, but she kept her focus on finding Michael.

She came to a clearing and spotted him ahead. Tearing towards him, she reached out to grab him when a voice bellowed inside her head.

STOP!

The voice was startling, and Michael must have heard it too, halting at the same moment Anya did. When it spoke again, she realised it was Harrion, only there was something different about his tone. There was no arrogance, no anger; not even panic.

Just sheer terror.

Don’t move. Don’t even breathe.

Heart hammering in her ears, she noticed tiny lights floating around a huge tree at the other end of the clearing.
Fireflies?

Then before she could take anything else in, something slithered around Anya’s foot and took hold of her ankles. A breath later, it pulled her down to the ground.

H
ER SCREAM PIERCED
the air. Something had a hold of her and was dragging her away. Close by, Michael screamed her name.

There was nothing to grab on to but the grass itself, and as she clawed at the ground, she realised what was happening. Her eyes bulged as the tip of each blade unfurled before her like waking hands, stretching after a long night’s sleep. They grew rapidly, up and over her head, until they were tall enough to wrap their spindly green fingers around her body
.

Fear dominated her, and with every attempt at a breath, Anya could feel her heart sink deeper inside her burning chest.

The five-fingered grass worked in perfect unison, carrying her towards the great, twisting tree. Barely six feet away and still approaching, the roots of the tree burst from the ground, launching dirt into the air as they unwrapped themselves from the soil.

Waving around her like the tentacles of a hungry octopus, one of the roots struck the side of her head, and her eyes closed for what she was sure would be the last time.

She felt the sudden, intense heat of fire all around her feet, and the vines that were locked around her ankles fell limp. Then, just as they melted away, another pair of hands took hold of her. They were coarse and rough to the touch.

They were rising in the air
–
the hands and her
–
and as she calmed, she thought Harrion must have rescued her, but when she opened her eyes, it was not butterfly wings she saw.

‘Lorcan?’ She tried to make sense of it, but the knock on her head finally took its toll and she lost consciousness.

She awoke in a hut with a very short and frail old man. He held out something for her to drink, and in no state to argue, she sipped at the tasteless liquid until it was all gone. She vaguely remembered the old man cleaning her face with a bloodstained cloth.

EVERYTHING WAS A
blur. Blues, greens, browns, hands, fish, bubbles. She realised she was totally submerged in water, yet it was no struggle to breathe. Nothing made sense. There was a clanging sound of steel on steel before fire erupted all around, separating her from life.

ANYA’S EYES OPENED
and instantly, her hands were at her chest. It had been at least twenty-four hours since the burning had begun and she was far from used to it.

She sat up and, swaying from side to side, found herself on a hammock. Next to her, Steph was asleep on a tree-trunk chair, arms folded and her head resting on her own shoulder. The room was dimly lit by levitating bowls of fire, and more hammocks lined the wall to her left. Despite her muddled head, she got the distinct impression that she was in the camp’s equivalent of a hospital.

‘Steph,’ Anya whispered, nudging her friend’s arm.

Steph’s eyes flickered open and she let out a sigh of relief. ‘Anya! O. M. G, girl! You were so lucky! Are you ok? How do you feel?’

‘A bit confused,’ she replied. ‘What happened? Where are Michael and Harrion? And how did Lorcan get there?’

‘Well,’ Steph began, her eyes glittering with gossip. ‘Me and Tim woke up to hear Lorcan going crazy in his cell. He was screaming that he had to
“get to her”
– which, now we know, he meant you
–
so Barlem went in to the cell to calm him down, but he must of broke free because by the time we got there he was flying off! Next thing we know, the soldiers were dragging him back, Theone and Harrion were arguing in the King’s quarters, and you and Michael were being brought back covered in blood!’

‘Is Michael ok?’

‘Yes, he’s fine; he’s resting in our hut right now. You weren’t the only one Lorcan saved. Apparently, that
Potentilla
-stuff got Harrion when he was trying to get Michael out of there. Lorcan grabbed them both and flew them to safety, and then he rescued you.’

‘Potentilla?’

‘Some kind of crazy
Little-Shop-of-Horrors
-style grass. It eats anything; animals, humans
–
sounds ghastly! You were lucky to survive! You all were by the sounds of it!’

‘But I thought grass and trees couldn’t grow here?’ The image of green hands clawing appeared and a tingle climbed her spine.

‘Theone said that when the Darkness came, it brought with it some evil things, set around the land like traps. The closer you get to Castle Lake, the scarier and more dangerous they get. He said that’s why the Potentilla can grow here. It feeds on death.’

‘Pleasant,’ Anya said wryly.

‘The Vampyre Leeches are another one of the Darkness’ bright ideas,’ Steph continued.

Anya remembered the leeches Michael had found on his legs. ‘Did they get them off him? The leeches off Michael, I mean?’

‘Yeah, Grinling fed him something
–
dried-out pad
or something like that. They fell off pretty damn quick. They put them in a jar over there, so they can’t hurt anyone else.’ She pointed over to a row of shelves on the farthest wall, filled with all sorts of strange looking things in jars and glass bottles.

Anya felt even more confused than when she woke. Usually, fashion and reality TV aside, the only thing Steph knew that Anya didn’t was what the next week’s rota at Scott’s looked like. Now, there was so much new information, it was difficult to follow. ‘Who’s Grinling? And why didn’t they just kill the little blood suckers?’

‘Grinling is the doctor. And they can’t kill the leeches because they are undead, or, like, resonant.’

‘Revenant?’

‘Yeah, that’s it. Kind of creepy if you ask me!’

A FEW HOURS
later, Grinling returned and gave Anya the all clear, so she and Steph made their way back to their hut where they found Michael and Tim sat outside waiting for them. As the girls approached them, Michael rose from his seat, pained and stiff, as if he’d gone three rounds in a bull riding arena. Anya flung her arms around him and, despite him wincing, he gave her a sincere smile.

‘I’m glad you’re ok,’ she said as he pulled her close to his chest. It had been so long since she had felt his embrace. ‘Friends?’

He nodded, his smile widening across his beat-up face. ‘Friends,’ he agreed.

They joined the soldiers for a humble meal of stewed honeysuckle roots and yellow capped mushrooms. Most of the soldiers had gone to bed by the time the King finally came to visit Anya. She was sitting by the fire with Michael, Steph and Tim.

‘Please accept my apologies for my son dragging you into his misguided adventures. He should never have put you in that kind of danger.’

‘No, it was my fault, really. I didn’t listen when he told me to come back to the camp.’

‘I appreciate your honesty, Anya, but he shouldn’t have been out in the forest beyond the safety of the camps enchantments. I trust you are feeling better now?’

‘Much, thank you, sir,’ she replied with a smile, though her body ached like she’d been through several spin cycles at a dry cleaner’s.

Theone turned to Michael. ‘And how about you, my boy?’

‘I’m fine now, thank you. But I don’t think you’ll catch me in the forest again anytime soon.’ His old, charming simper appeared and in that moment Anya found herself staring at him. It was almost as if she was seeing someone else. He hadn’t smiled like that or engaged in light-hearted conversation with anyone since they’d split up.

‘I would like to arrange for you all to have some training. If the prophecy is to play out as it was foretold, then you will all benefit from knowing your way around a sword. I’ll assemble my best men, and Grinling can work with you so that you can learn how to take care of dangerous wounds should your quest leave you stranded.’ The Four all agreed and the King ordered Barlem to see that they had everything they needed to begin training
–
armour, weapons, boots and more suitable clothing.

‘So, this business of yours that brought you here, tell me how we can help you see that it is done? Barlem mentioned that when they found you in the woods you were looking for something?’

The riddle!
With everything that had happened, Anya hadn’t had a chance to even think about the Weaver and his riddle. Compared with what the Virtfirthians had faced for the last eighteen years and everything they had lost, her quest to find the books felt trivial.

‘Well, we are looking for...’ Steph began, but Anya cut her off.

‘It’s nothing you have to worry about Theone, honestly. Helping you is our main focus right now.’ She could feel the others looking at her, and she knew what they were thinking.

Why not just tell him?

When it came down to it, Scott’s was just a bookshop and just a job. Harrion had lost his mother. The King had lost his wife and unborn child, his brother and his sister. The soldiers had all lost wives, daughters, sisters and mothers, as well as their brothers and fathers in the fight to free their land. Those people were irreplaceable. Considering their own quest as important as the Virtfirthians’ would be selfish. They would still try to find the books and a way home, but from now on it would have to come second.

She thought about the riddle. Despite her hazy head, she was sure the next part was about a peacock’s tail, but if all the animals of the land had turned to bone, how would they possibly find a peacock, let alone take a look at ones tail?

‘Theone, there is one thing,’ she called back to the King after he’d said goodnight.

‘Yes, child?’

‘You said the Darkness has turned all the animals to bone, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘Even the peacocks?’

The King laughed heartily, which took Anya aback. It was a valid question, surely?

‘Peacocks, child? They are but myth. A bird that exists only in the minds of man,’ and he returned to his quarters, chuckling to himself all the way.

The Four looked to each other in disbelief.

‘How far from home are we?’

BACK IN THEIR
hut, the Four discussed their situation. They’d been gone for nearly two days and wondered if anyone had noticed yet. Everyone agreed that Michael’s mother would probably be beside herself by morning, and it was her they worried about the most. His father had left when Michael was only a toddler, and as an only child, Michael was all his mother had.

As they all talked about who would miss them, Anya learned that she had more in common with Tim than she first thought. He hadn’t known his real parents either, and had a hard time growing up, hopping from foster home to foster home without anyone wanting to adopt him. He blamed it on the
“luck of the draw”
, though Anya felt like he wasn’t being quite honest with them. He confessed that he’d thrown himself into his studies to distract from the constant rejection of his youth.

‘What about you, Steph?’ Anya thought she’d better ask, even though she knew what the answer would be. Steph was one of those popular sorts of girls, the kind who travelled in packs, adorned head to toe in the most uncomfortable looking ensembles, all hot pink, animal print and sparkles. Even her tanning spray would miss
her
.

‘I think it’ll be a while before my parents realise I’m gone. I don’t see them much since I moved in with Tim.’

‘What about your friends?’ Michael asked.

‘Oh, yeah,’ she remembered, waving a hand dismissively. ‘They’ll all be like
“where’s Steph, where’s she hiding?”...
LOL!’ She actually said the word
LOL
.

‘Everyone loves Steph,’ Tim said, looking to her with the utmost admiration. ‘They’ll all be pulling out their hair extensions worrying where you are.’

‘Aw, Timmy-Button,’ she said, rubbing the end of her nose on his. ‘That’s sweet, but I’m sure they’ll all forget about me once the next episode of
Essex Girls
is on. Actually...’ Pausing, she turned her attention to her fingers. One by one she tapped them on her palm, appearing to count. ‘No!’ she cried, pouting. ‘I’m going to miss it! Now I’ll never know if Mia stays with Ricky.’

‘I don’t think anyone will miss me,’ Anya said, barely audible. ‘The only people I ever talked to are either all here or...’ She thought of Iain and stopped herself. She couldn’t cry, not here.
Here
she needed to be strong.