Shadow Wrack (11 page)

Suddenly in the confusion the very sky seemed to shatter into pieces as the birds joined the attack. Little birds landed in Willa's hair and jabbed their bills into her head, larger birds beat at her with their wings. She threw up one arm to protect her face as she swung her sword at them. A raven grasped the sleeve of her sword arm, pulling her off balance just as a seagull barrelled out of the fog and thudded into her, knocking her off Robert's back.

She hit the ground and scrambled out of the path of Robert's hooves. She tried to stand, but a blow from a stork wing sent her sprawling once more. All was confusion, legs, shouts, and mud. She ducked her head as a large wing beat at her shoulders. Someone — whether it was friend or foe she had no idea — tripped and fell heavily on top of her. Winded, Willa curled up, clutching her stomach. The pain was so intense that she couldn't breath to shout, and she couldn't see to dodge feet or weapons.

Just then strong hands grabbed hold of her. The dwarves lifted her, handing her up to Robert, who settled her again on his back. She threw one arm around his waist, and with a great leap Robert pushed his way through the stork line into an empty, open space.

“Are you all right?” he panted.

The pain was fading, and she gasped for breath.

“Yes … just … winded.”

Robert turned about, gingerly picking his way back through the fog to the battle, and Willa thought again of Horace. Where could he be? She closed her eyes and thought a message:

Horace! Where are you? Come find us!

She sent the thought out and felt the usual
zap
! A blast of air hit her. Willa opened her eyes to see a dark shape rising in the sky in front of them, sweeping the fog away with its wings, its shape eclipsing the moon. Was it a dragon or …

“GRIFFIN!” hollered Robert as the shape swooped down on them.

Geez!
thought Willa.
Every time I send a message, that THING shows up!

Robert galloped at full speed away from the advancing claws of the griffin, but with another mighty flap of its wings it was on top of them. Willa felt the claws close in, clamping around Robert, pinning her to his back and, finally, lifting them into the air.

Facing the monstrous bird

A
s
they rose into the air, the griffin's wings swept away the fog and Willa could see the entire scene below. The fighting paused, and all faces turned upward. Mab and the fairies tried their best to fly after them, but they couldn't keep up and slowly fell from sight. Willa could feel Robert struggling against the foreclaw wrapped tightly around his arms.

“Robert! Are you okay?” she called.

“I hate birds!” he growled.

They rose higher and higher through the fog. The ride grew smooth and weirdly quiet as the griffin stopped flapping and began to glide. Then suddenly they lifted above the fog, which rolled beneath them, dully punctuated by the lights of the city. Overhead was nothing but blackness and stars. Such peace and silence after the fearful din of battle felt to Willa like a lovely dream. She nearly forgot how frightened she was.

Then they began to drop slowly through the night, down again into the layer of fog until the ground burst into view, rushing up to meet them. Willa shut her eyes tightly, but the griffin flapped once to slow its descent before letting them drop on the top of Hanlan's Hill.

Robert crumpled to the ground. Willa rolled off his back, her hand gripping her sword. They exchanged a brief look, a nod that they were both okay, and then the griffin was advancing on them, its raised wings filling the sky. Willa was filled with weari­ness, but she and Robert both pulled themselves to their feet, swords raised. Snarling, the griffin swept Robert aside with a wing and lunged at Willa, snapping at her with its beak.

Willa sidestepped and struck at the beak, her blade bouncing off harmlessly. The huge head came at her again. She put all her strength into the next swing, but again the sword bounced off the beak, which gleamed like steel. The effort made Willa stumble, and the griffin came at her again before she could recover her balance. She dropped and rolled to escape the snapping beak, but as she did so the sword slipped from her hand and clattered across the stone.

The bird paused, its head at ground level, one eye glaring at her but also squinting a little. It was looking her over with some curiosity, Willa thought. She stared up into the golden eye as she felt around for her sword. The eye filled her vision; Willa felt herself slip into it like a deep pool. As she reached the very centre, she saw and felt a presence that was somehow familiar to her. Willa was just reaching out to it with her mind when the great eye blinked and the head jerked away.

The griffin pulled itself up to its full, fearful height, glaring down at Willa and raising one foot to crush her, talons outstretched.

Just then a blast of flame hit the griffin full force. Willa rolled away from the intense heat, rolling over and over until she was out of range, and then looked to see the dragon emerging from below, blasting the griffin again with her fiery breath. The griffin leapt into the air, wingtips ablaze. The dragon launched into the air as well, and the two enormous beasts rose into the sky, slashing and biting at each other.

“Good old Miss Trang!” breathed Willa.

Finding her sword, she ran back to Robert, who was staring up at the battle overhead.

“The griffin's bigger, but the smart money's on dragon cunning,” he observed, and he was right. The dragon was only about one third the size of the griffin, but she had more speed and agility. Willa watched them, but her mind was elsewhere, on something she had seen deep in the eye of the griffin…. Her thoughts were interrupted by loud crashing in the brush below them.

Willa and Robert spun around, swords ready, as dark shapes stumbled towards them. Tengu fell at their feet, gasping for breath. Behind him the dwarves staggered up, wheezing and holding their sides. Baz stalked out next and sat, primly licking her hand.

“You found us!” exclaimed Willa. Mab landed on her arm.

“Miss Trang flew up right after the griffin took you. She followed you and we followed her, up and up. Left the birdbrains back there somewhere.”

Tengu was gesturing, still fighting for air. “We … we need to … work on … our cardio….”

“Miss Trang is fighting it,” Willa said, gesturing toward the pitched battle behind them.

As dragon and griffin lunged back and forth, circling each other, the light from the dragon's blasts of fire gave Willa a chance to study the griffin. It was weirdly unbalanced, with its long body stretching out behind the head, wings, and front legs, which were definitely
eagle-like
. The back half of the body was smooth, with golden fur and a long tail twitching behind.

“Griffins are half bird and half what, exactly?” asked Willa.

“Lion, I think,” answered Tengu.

Willa stared at the huge bird, and the pieces started joggling into place.

“You know how it keeps finding us? Every time I try to send a message to Horace …”

Robert looked at her in surprise. “A message?”

Willa blushed a little. “I think I can send messages with my mind. It seems like I can anyway. It's worked before, but tonight every time I try to send Horace a message,
it
shows up instead.” She gestured up at the griffin as it ducked a blast of flames and swooped toward them. They scrambled back across the rock, but the griffin wasn't after them; it had turned to face the dragon again.

They sheltered behind a large boulder. Tengu looked at her quizzically.

“Are you saying the griffin is intercepting your messages?”

Willa shook her head. “Not exactly. Look, the griffin is part
lion
, right? Well, I got a good close look into its eyes and I saw something ... some
one
I recognized.”

“You're going to have to be more specific,” snapped Robert.

Willa stared out at the battle, at the massive, golden griffin.

“I looked in the griffin's eyes and I saw Horace.”

Fire and chasm

“W
hat
?” Tengu's eyes almost popped out of his head. The others, too, were staring at her in disbelief.

“Horace? That
thing
is Horace?” squeaked Mab.

“How? And … why?” sputtered Robert.

“I don't know how or why, but it
has
to be him!” Willa was certain now, and the words poured out. “We haven't been able to find him, right? I saw him earlier, but he disappeared about the same time the griffin appeared. And every time I call Horace, the griffin comes. I think Horace went into the black crevice and … changed.”

A roar jolted them back to the moment. Flames licked around the edges of their rock. Willa peeked around the boulder to see the two beasts up on their hind legs, their forelegs locked together. The griffin had his beak around the dragon's neck, and the dragon was trying to twist around to blast the bird with fire but couldn't quite reach.

Finally the dragon twisted free and spun around to face the griffin. Lit by the bushes burning around them, they circled each other, hissing and growling.

Willa jumped to her feet. “I have to tell Miss Trang!”

“No, Willa! Don't!”

Before Tengu could grab her, she shot out, running toward the battle, shouting.

“Wait! Wait! STOP!”

The sheer madness of the move halted both combatants in their tracks. They stared as she ran up with her friends close at her heels.

“STOP!” Her heart was beating so hard, she could barely speak, but she managed to stammer, “Miss Trang! Listen to me! You're fighting
Horace!
That's Horace! I'm sure of it!”

The griffin took advantage of this lull in the action to lift off, disappearing into the darkness. The dragon watched him go and then lowered her head until she was eye to eye with Willa on the ground. The great mouth opened, and out came a dry, creaking voice.

“What of it?”

Willa was taken aback. “You knew?”

The dragon snorted a little. Smoke curled around Willa's feet. “He must be stopped. He's gone rogue.”

“He's still Horace!”

“He's a menace.”

“You sound like Hacker!” Willa shot back.

The dragon raised an eyebrow and then continued patiently. “Willa, no matter who he is, if he's lost control and poses a danger, he must be removed.”

“But we can help him! We can get him back!” Willa faltered a little. “Can't we?”

The dragon's eyes narrowed, but her answer was interrupted by a shattering scream as the griffin dropped onto her back, digging in with his cruel talons. The dragon rolled away, growling and snapping, but the bird held on, and they tumbled across the plateau in a ball of flames and feathers.

Willa watched with tears in her eyes. Robert offered her his hand and swung her up onto his back. They retreated to a safe distance. Willa wiped her eyes.

“We can help him. We've got to.”

“The darkness got a real good grip on the old boy,” Robert mused.

“But can't it be chased out again? Somehow?”

She looked around. No one answered. Willa sat up tall, strength returning to her voice.

“I am positive there's still a tiny bit of Horace in that —
thing
. And as long as he's still in there, I'm going to try and help him, with or without you. Like it or not.”

“Then I'm afraid you'll have to do it
with
us,” Robert said quietly. The others were nodding.

“Like it or not,” added Tengu with a grin.

“All right,” said Willa, her spirits rising. “We've got to separate them. I will work on Horace if the rest of you can keep
her
occupied.” She looked around at all of them. “You're going to have to fight
against
Miss Trang.”

“Oh dear,” muttered Tengu. Baz smiled mischievously.

“Without hurting her,” added Willa.

The dwarves eyed their battleaxes and scratched their heads. Mab flew up with her fairy band.

“We'll handle her.”

“That leaves the rest of you to watch out for the storks and anyone or
any-
thing
else who might show up,” directed Willa.

The dwarves liked this assignment. They chuckled and hefted their axes.

“Just keep them out of the way!” Willa added. “I'll take on Horace.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Tengu.

“I have no idea,” she sighed.

The battle was turning in the dragon's favour. She had the griffin pinned to the ground, lying on his back. The griffin's talons were clamped around the dragon's jaws, holding them shut, but flames shot out her nose, scorching feathers and setting more shrubs on fire. The dragon shook her head free, but just as she took a deep breath to incinerate her foe, she was distracted by tiny shapes glimmering around her head, whizzing around and around. Willa could just make out Mab, who had landed on the dragon's brow. As the fairy swung her arms out, a shimmering net, like a liquid spider's web, appeared in the air and drifted down across the dragon's eyes and snout. The other fairies drew back as Mab clapped her arms together above her head. The web suddenly tightened across the dragon's eyes and mouth, pulling them closed. Unable to see, the dragon thrashed around, arching and twisting, but the fairies kept out of her reach.

The dragon stumbled away from the griffin, but the fairies weren't finished yet. They dropped low, flying in circles until a similar silver web appeared in the air around the dragon's legs. Mab clapped again above her head, and the web pulled up like a drawstring bag. The dragon lost her balance and crashed to the ground.

During all this the griffin rose to his feet, calmly patting out the sparks in his feathers. He now advanced on the helpless dragon, but Robert galloped up to block the griffin's path, with Willa on his back.

“Stop!” bellowed Robert.

“Horace, please!” Willa looked up at the creature, trying to catch his eye. “We're your friends!”

The griffin's eyes narrowed. Both wings swept out and down, creating a hurricane blast and sending Willa and Robert rolling across the ground.

A sudden clatter arose. Before she even looked, Willa knew the storks had arrived. They were watching and
clacking
their bills in approval. The griffin turned to acknowledge the applause. As he did so, he flapped again, sending the cats flying one way and the dwarves another. Each time they got up, the griffin knocked them down again, and the storks
clacked
uproariously, as if they were at some kind of sporting event.

Willa saw Baz land on her feet and spring around to face the griffin, her face contorted with rage. As she spat and hissed, she stepped forward, leaving her shadow behind … Willa blinked and looked closer. It wasn't a shadow, it was a black stain.

A few feet away, the dwarves were in a heap, untangling themselves and roaring with anger. As they charged the griffin, they left a dozen black stains on the ground behind them. Willa stared in astonishment as the stains grew stealthily larger, and small, hairy creatures began crawling out of them.

She backed away in horror. Tengu was nearby. She grabbed his arm.

“We're doing it! We're creating the spots!” she gasped.

“What?”

“The black spots. We're causing them….” She suddenly remembered the crevice and how she had felt as she stared into it. She'd felt angry, angry at everyone: angry at Belle for leaving, angry at her mom, dad, and grandpa, angry at Miss Trang. She gripped Tengu's arm.

“Tell the others! Our anger creates the black spots! Anger makes them grow!”

Tengu nodded and ran off. Willa stared at the black creatures coming out of the new holes. They were birds — at least they were shaped like birds and had wings and beaks, but they were covered in long black hair. They dragged themselves along, skittering weirdly along the ground. The griffin was watching them too, grinning evilly. He lifted a wing, and the hairy birds were swept up together, like leaves in a storm. They rose in a black whirling cloud and, with a gesture, the griffin flung them at the dwarves. The dwarves staggered back, swinging their axes, but the birds covered them like a blanket.

“NO!” screamed Willa, and she ran at the griffin, dodging the black holes scattered everywhere. The griffin had turned once more to face the dragon, still on the ground and bound in fairywebs. The dragon snorted smoke and writhed violently, trying to stand. Willa could see another large black hole on the ground behind her, with more hairy black birds climbing out of it.

Baz and the cats fell on the birds, sinking their teeth into them and rolling on the ground, while Tengu
single-­handedly
took on the griffin. Howling a war cry, he ran at the griffin's right foot, hopped onto it and hung on, valiantly stabbing at the ankle with his daggers. The griffin growled in annoyance and hopped about, trying to shake the little man off.

Meanwhile, Willa ran to the dragon, ducking under her flailing wings.

Stop! Miss Trang, be still!
she thought wildly, and miraculously, the dragon stilled. Willa held her breath as the head lowered and came to rest on a rock. Willa approached, her heart pounding, and she pulled aside the silken fairyweb strands to stare into the dragon's eyes.

The black holes are opening up because of our anger. That's where the birds are coming from,
thought Willa.

After a moment the dragon nodded.

I will free you if you promise to help us. And help Horace.

For a very long moment, the dragon did not move. Willa held her breath. Then the great head nodded.

But you can't be angry at him. That will just make things worse. Just try to remember it's Horace. Our Horace.

The dragon snorted. Smoke curled out of her nostrils, but after a moment she nodded again. Willa ran to the bound legs, slipped her sword under the webs, and cut them. Then she ran back to the head and cut the webs around the snout. She looked in the dragon's eyes once more.

Lift me up.

Willa climbed onto the snout, which was smooth and slippery, but the dragon rose very carefully so she wouldn't slide off. The dragon crept stealthily toward the griffin, still occupied in trying to shake Tengu off his foot. Robert galloped around the hopping foot, smacking it with the flat of his sword to keep the great bird
off-balance
. Willa could also see the cats leaping to the rescue of the dwarves, who were still buried in hairy black birds.

On the dragon's nose, Willa was very high off the ground now, and she was stiff with fright. Mab and the fairies appeared and quickly fashioned a fairyweb strap for Willa to hang on to, which made her feel a little better. The dragon approached the griffin. When the griffin spotted them, his eyes burned and he batted his wings. Willa gripped the strap tightly through the blast of wind.

Stop! Please, stop!
she thought, but the griffin kept flapping, hitting her with blast after blast. Glancing down, Willa could see that with every step the griffin took, he left behind a black hole.

Willa thought hard.
He's angry too. But at who? At what?
She tried to remember Horace in the last few weeks. Who was he angry at? Hacker? Yes, but Hacker wasn't here now.

The next gust of wind caught Willa
off-guard
. Her feet slipped off the snout, her hands yanked free of the strap, and she fell for a
heart­-stopping
moment before landing on a leathery dragon wing. The wing lowered and tipped her gently onto the ground. The griffin had turned his attention to the dwarves and cats, so the dragon moved off to help them.

Willa looked at the large holes the griffin was leaving behind.
Snake-like
creatures with tiny wings were wriggling up from the darkness.

“What now?” she moaned. Tengu appeared at her side.

“They're basilisks!” he yelled. “Just babies though, fortunately. Their eyes are still closed. Once they open them, those peepers will turn us to stone!” He dashed over and gave the first one a little nudge with his boot. The baby basilisk, its wings too small to use, fell back into the hole and dropped from sight.

“Easy peasy,” grinned Tengu. “I'll take care of them, you work on Horace!” He dashed about, tipping basilisks into holes.

Willa turned to see the dragon boldly shielding the small band of dwarves, cats, and Robert. Every time the griffin advanced on them, the dragon would blast flames at his feet to keep him back. The griffin let out a tremendous roar, and the ground between them cracked open. Hairy birds and basilisks poured out. They rose in a swarm. The dragon incinerated some, but they just kept coming, and began to swarm over her as well.

NO, Horace! Stop, please stop!
Willa cried out with her mind.

This time it heard her. The griffin whipped around, pouncing savagely. Willa didn't have time to react. The beast's front feet came down on top of her, and everything went dark.