Seven Sorcerers (7 page)

‘It still got in?’

‘Believe me, this plague could get through any wall. And when it did, it destroyed them so fast that in the end the dead lay piled in the streets!’

Nin shuddered.

‘Oh, they fought hard to stay alive, but it was no use.’

‘They all died?’

‘They all died or ceased to be sorcerers, which is more or less the same thing.’ A shadow crossed Boneman’s face and he turned away, but Nin caught a glimpse of something in his eyes like an old, bitter rage. When he looked back it was gone. He smiled wryly. ‘And when the sorcerers met their end, Celidon ceased to exist.’

‘You mean like, it went back to being the Long Land?’

‘Oh it’s always been the Long Land. Celidon was what the Fabulous called it. Like the Quick call it the Drift.’

‘The plague can’t have killed all the Fabulous? What about the … the bogeymen?’

‘Some Fabulous survived, but not many. And although the worst is over, it’s still out there, slowly destroying the few that are left. Even the bogeymen are a dying breed.’

‘Doesn’t stop them being horrible!’ grumbled Nin.

‘What happened next? Is there more?’

‘Sure there’s more. There’s the tale of the Seven Sorcerers, for a start. About how they tried to cheat Death. But that’s not really the story of the Long Land. The story of the Land is still going on, because after the plague had taken out the sorcerers, something worse happened. Something far, far worse.’ Boneman paused and leaned towards her, his eyes turquoise again, bright in his brown face. ‘The plague began to kill the Land.’

‘The Land!’ breathed Nin. ‘How?’

oneman smiled slowly. He straightened up, taking a firmer grip on his staff. ‘It’s mid-morning, we should be getting on.’

‘What!’

‘Best tradition of storytelling, girl,’ he said evenly. ‘Get them hooked and leave them on a cliff. Right?’

Jonas was shaking his head. Nin burst out laughing. ‘OK! But I want the rest, you can’t just leave it. I HATE not knowing the end of a story!’

‘I’ll tell you on the road. Thought we might travel together a while.’ Boneman smiled, then turned to the mudmen.

‘Nemus, Enid, Senta, Crow, Dark, get moving.’

Underneath their burdens, the mudmen creaked into life, the reddish glow of their eyes brightening again. They shuffled forward and stood ready.

Jonas sighed. ‘Look, no offence, but …’

Boneman laughed and this time the chill was right there in his eyes. ‘Are you going to tell me that you prefer to travel alone? Well, I have other plans. You could be
useful. She could be useful.’ He nodded towards Nin. ‘A girl child lost in a strange land. Believe me, it will open doors. You’d be surprised how much more people trust you when you have a kid in tow. They think it shows a caring nature.’ He laughed and Nin felt her skin prickle with fear.

‘No,’ said Jonas in a voice like steel. He flicked a look at the ring on Boneman’s finger, then at the staff, then fastened his gaze on Boneman’s face.

‘Don’t anger me, boy.’ Boneman’s eyes turned the colour of dark water, his hand curled more tightly round the staff. He seemed taller suddenly, taller and colder. ‘Mind your manners and I might let you live. For now at any rate. I could do with a Quick servant. The mudcrea-tures have their limits.’

Jonas was slowly backing away, his eyes still fixed on Boneman, one hand stretched out towards Nin. She reached for it. Jonas pulled her towards and behind him.

Boneman whirled the staff, aiming the dragon’s head in their direction. Jagged, blue fire danced across Nin’s vision. She heard it crackle and a smell like scalding water filled the air. The lightning bolt hit the ground just in front of Jonas and he leapt backwards, forcing Nin to scurry out of the way. Jonas landed awkwardly, slipping to one knee and staggering up again. The grass at his feet was a mess of ashes. Nin gazed in horror at Boneman, now gripping the staff with both hands. He smiled. It was a playful smile. Dandy Boneman was having fun.

The staff twitched to the left, pointing at Nin and tilting slightly down.

‘Her leg first, I think. I can do plenty of damage without killing her. Then we’ll see how you feel, boy, when she’s screaming.’

Nin didn’t waste breath on a cry. She slithered backwards, turned and ran, hoping Jonas would follow. Blue light sent an eerie glow over the landscape, but Nin was gone. She hurtled down the hillside towards the concrete mound of the underpass, remembering what Jonas had said about it being a one-way gate. She didn’t care how unfriendly the thing was, it would get her home and away from this dream that was really a nightmare.

Its mouth loomed ahead, for once almost welcoming. She just had time to hear Jonas scream, ‘NIN – NO!’ before she was over the threshold and into the underpass.

As the sound of feet on concrete died away, a slender figure wearing a long coat and ringlets came to a halt a few feet away from the tunnel mouth. The mudmen, still carrying their burdens, clattered to a stop at his heels. The one that was crumbling had lost part of its leg by now and was lagging badly behind.

Dandy Boneman stared thoughtfully into the darkness. After a moment, he shrugged and switched his attention to the mudmen. He frowned. Then he took
the bundle of clothes and the large saucepan away from the damaged one and divided it between the others, heaping their burdens even higher.

And then he turned and walked away.

The four laden mudmen trotted after him. The fifth stayed where it was as the light faded from its eyes and it began, quickly, to crumble back into the earth.

Nin kept going. Ahead she could see the blank wall where the tunnel turned sharply to the right. In a heartbeat she was there and round the corner.

Where she stopped dead.

The bull turned its head and looked at her.

It was huge. It filled the tunnel. Its black hide was glossed with sweat and its hot breath steamed on the air. The smell was like the zoo only hotter, richer.

‘Don’t move,’ said Jonas softly from over her shoulder.

Nin had no intention of moving and didn’t think she’d have been able to anyway, so she nodded.

The bull pawed the ground with one coarse hoof. It snorted, blowing jets of steam though its flared nostrils. Its head swung slowly from side to side as if trying to get her properly in its sights.

‘Back off slowly. We’ve got until it lowers its horns. When it does that it’s going to charge.’

Around the bull, splintered bones lay scattered and a skull watched with empty eyes, half crushed at the back. Something old and dark stained the tips of the bull’s
yellowed horns. Bizarrely, in the background the steps still ran up to the High Street and Nin could hear the murmur of traffic. It sounded a universe away.

‘Then we run,’ went on Jonas.

‘I can’t move,’ said Nin, her voice faint, hanging at the point of dread.

She felt Jonas put a hand on her shoulder and squeeze. ‘Yes, you can.’ He pulled her gently backwards. Her feet resisted for a moment then fumbled into life. One step. Another.

‘When I say go, run. OK? And keep running. Don’t stop or look back until you’re out. It won’t cross the threshold. Once you’re out of the tunnel you’re safe.’

The bull snorted again. The slow swing of its head stopped. Red eyes fixed on her.

‘And, Nin …’

‘Uh?’

‘If I should fall or anything, don’t stop.’

‘Don’t you dare!’ she hissed.

She couldn’t see him, but she knew from his voice that he was smiling. ‘I’ll stop for you, but don’t you stop for me. That’s an order, kid. I can move faster than you. You can’t afford to waste time, got it?’

The bull lowered its head.

‘GO!’

Nin turned and ran. She got around the corner and nearly stopped from the shock of what she was seeing. But Jonas was yelling at her so her feet just kept going, taking her with them. The underpass had changed.

Around the corner, what should have been a few yards back to the entrance had become a long, dark tunnel, stretching on and on to a dot of light far in the distance. The bull reached the corner. Nin heard the thud of its heavy body as it turned its bulk too late. It bellowed and the sound was huge. Nin would have screamed, but she didn’t have any breath to spare.

Then it was around the corner and on the move again, its hooves filling the tunnel with thunder.

If it hadn’t been for Jonas behind her she would have given up. She would have collapsed in a sobbing heap and let her bones join the ones crumbling under her feet. But Jonas was there so she kept running. Sweat misted her eyes and her chest hurt with the effort. She couldn’t feel her legs.

Behind her the thunder drew closer as the head start they had on the bull was eaten away. It seemed like the distant point of light would never get any nearer, but just as she thought her lungs would burst they plunged out of the darkness and into the light.

Nin dropped like a stone.

She lay on the grass, red mist clouding her vision, blood pounding in her ears, her lungs full of hot coals. Jonas stood over her, gasping.

After a minute she heard him say, ‘Get up, Nin.’

She raised her head, remembering Dandy Boneman and his fire-spitting staff. There was nobody there.
Silence stretched out as Jonas scanned the scene.

‘He’s gone. Probably thought we were as good as dead.’

‘Charming,’ muttered Nin to the grass.

‘We better get out of sight, come on.’

She pulled herself up, hanging on to Jonas, her chest still heaving. Together they stumbled down the slope, turning away from the tunnel, until they reached more woodland.

‘What was that?’ gasped Nin. ‘I mean, in there. I know it was a bull, but it was … so …’

‘Ectofright. It’s part of the Quickmare, it couldn’t exist outside.’ Jonas was scanning the hillside carefully, looking for any sign of life. Then he pointed to a gap between some bushes on the edge of the wood. ‘Stay there.’

‘But …’

‘My pack. I need it. I won’t be long.’

Nin waited, in knots of fear, for him to come back. She didn’t like to think what might happen if he ran into Boneman again. Both to him and to her. Without him she would be lost in this strange world with its unnatural ways. She shuddered, remembering the blank, mindless mud things. Of course, she could always go back to the Widdern, but without home and family, would that be any better? And what about Toby?