The Boys of Fire and Ash (31 page)

There was a calm to the darkness. Maybe it was the sound of the water, or the shadows that made it hard to see the ugliness around me, or maybe it was the knowledge that Cubby was safe. They'd come for me soon, and when they did, I'd be ready. With nothing but the quiet and hours of struggling against the restraints, I knew the only time I'd have a chance at escape was when they came. They'd drag me to my death, and I'd fight them the whole way. I had to. I had to get back to the Pit to warn them. But how? I could hear the crickets laughing at me, my plan suddenly ridiculous, even to me. They'd come, I'd fight, and if I was honest with myself, I'd die. I'd never fight another Tunrar. I'd never have to take any verbal abuse from Fiver. I felt a pang of sadness in my heart at the thought of never hearing him call me Useless again. There were a lot of things
I'd never get to see or do again. I'd never see Lussit again. Never see Cubby.

And Krepin would come to the Pit. What would happen to the Brothers? Would they fight? How? A bunch of boys against Krepin's legions of followers? They'd be slaughtered. Unless they fled. But where could they go? The world outside the Pit was not one they were ready for, not one I was ready for. Everything would change.

The lump in my throat came back, and this time I didn't fight it. I cried quietly, mourning all the things I wanted to do again and wouldn't.

And then I heard a noise, like a bird chirping from the open windows. I craned my neck upwards and saw the outline of a little head. Too small to be a Tunrar. It was a boy. He waved.

“All right,” I whispered to myself, “all this water has driven you crazy.”

Another head popped up beside the first.

“Useless!” It was Fiver's voice. Another head popped up beside his: Av's. “They manage to kill you yet or should we come back later?”

One, two, and three. Fiver, Av…and the little waver: Cubby.

Before I could smile, the withered old prisoner began to scream again. I was learning she startled easily.

“Shh!” I begged her.

She kept right on wailing, staring up at the three dark shadows of my friends.

“Shut her up!” whispered Av. “There's a thousand sleeping Tunrar up here!”

“Quiet, lady!” I begged.

She ignored me and kept right on crying.

Terrified and angry, I kicked my bound legs wildly, spraying water from the floor at her. The splash barely reached her, maybe only a drop or two made it all the way across the room, but it had got her attention. She looked at me with a frightened face.

“Be quiet!” I begged her.

She smacked her cracked lips and bobbed her head up and down, suddenly no longer afraid and more interested in an unattainable drink.

At the window, Cubby and Av were climbing their way in. Av moved carefully, clinging to the vines growing up the wall, Cubby slowly copying his every move.

When they made it down, I thought my heart would burst if I didn't get to hug Cubby in that instant.

He hopped off the vine and ran over to me, turning off the spout and flinging his arms around my neck.

“I knew you'd come back for me!” he whispered, barely able to contain his excitement. “I knew it, Urgle!”

I cried, overjoyed to see him, to feel his boney arms around my neck, to smell his fuzzy blond head. I wanted to hug him, to squeeze him as tight as I could, but my arms were held by the hoops.

Somewhere outside, the sound of a growling Tunrar broke the stillness of the night.

“Come on, you two,” whispered Av. “We don't have a lot of time.”

“Where's Fiver?” I asked as he and Cubby began working on freeing me from my golden shackles.

“Distracting Tunrar, hopefully. Where's Lussit?”

“Urgle?” Blaze was awake and groggy. Cubby and Av jumped at the sudden voice. “What's going on?”

“It's Blaze,” I told Av.

Av stood rigid, unsure of what to do.

“Help him,” I said. “It's our fault he's here, Av.”

With nothing but a harrumph, Av hurried over to where Blaze hung, and using vines for support, he boosted himself up to undo his bindings.

There was the scream of Tunrar, more than one now, and I glanced up at the windows, worried I'd see them crawling in. Cubby wasn't bothered, and he kept trying to break open the hoop around my torso.

“Shh!” I told him.

Cubby stopped and stood up, staring at the windows. We watched and listened until the crouched, naked form of a Tunrar Goblin showed itself in the window. It sat there, trying to see into the dark with no success. It sniffed the air and growled. We were caught.

“I'll be right back,” whispered Cubby.

“What? No! Be quiet.”

“Don't worry, Urgs,” Cubby giggled, and grabbed my face in his little hands. He was grinning and I noticed his adult tooth was replacing the empty space where his baby tooth used to be. “They can't catch me now!”

“What?”

Before I could stop him, Cubby yelled a big “Hello!” and waved his arms, jumping up and down.

The Tunrar sure saw that. It let out a scream, and a second popped its head in the window.

“Cub!” My heart was pounding, the Tunrar coming for him all over again. “Cubby, hurry. Get out of here!”

He ignored me and kept on waving his arms.

“Come and get me!” Cubby taunted.

The Tunrar didn't need an invitation. They barreled down the wall like spiders and Cubby squealed and ran off into the dark hallway.

“Cubby!” I yelled, but he didn't answer. All I could hear was the pitter-patter of his bare feet slapping the wet hallway as he ran.

I tore at the bindings, pulling and tugging even though I knew they wouldn't give.

“Av!” I shouted. “Av, go get Cubby!”

There was a loud clamoring of chains as Av let Blaze down.

“He's all right, Urgs,” said Av, having difficulty supporting Blaze's weight. “He told us he does this all the time.”

“Does what all the time?” I said. “Runs from the Tunrar? Are you insane!”

Av dropped Blaze and leaned him against the wall before hurrying over to work on my bindings. “He said he makes them mad for fun. They chase him but they never hurt him 'cause of the blue mark thing on his forehead.”

I wasn't convinced. Today was different. Today Cubby was with the enemy. He was their target. I was squirming to run after him.

The tight hoop around my torso gave out when Av released the latch that kept them locked, and my arms were free. I frantically pulled and tugged to free my wrists, but Av was still working on them.

“Take it easy!” he ordered, but I couldn't. Cubby needed me and I couldn't let him down again.

My hands were free and I reached for my bound legs, tearing each hoop off with Av's help.

“Urgle, wait!” he said, grabbing me by the shoulders. “Lussit. Where did they take her?”

“I don't know,” I admitted.

The sound of bare feet smacking wet tile echoed from the hallway and Cubby trotted in, out of breath and wheezing, sporting a proud grin that stretched from ear to ear. “See?” he said. “They're not that scary. And they're dumb too.”

He ran over and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards the exit. “Now let's go, let's go! Take me home!”

My eyes were watering again and I kneeled down just to look at his face. Moments ago I was sure I'd never see it again, but it was here, right in front of me.

“Not yet, Cub,” said Av. “We need to find our friend, remember?”

“But it's just a girl!” he whined. I had to smile. I would have told Av the same thing before this all started.

“Cubby,” I said, squeezing his hands in mine, “she's our friend and she's in a lot of trouble.”

“Do you know where Krepin would keep her?” said Av.

Cubby shrugged. “This is where he takes all the blasphemers….” He trailed off and his brow knotted into his classic “thinking hard” face and I wanted to hug him again.

“But there's a room,” he said, finally. “It's up near the north side of the Temple. That's where the devoted go to pray before…Aju Krepin sacrifices them.”

“Take us there!” said Av.

Blaze stumbled into our huddle and waved his hands in our faces.

“No!” he said. “No way, Urgle. I am out of here.”

“Will you go back?” I asked him.

Blaze scratched his neck and I knew he didn't want to. He only wanted to run. After everything, I couldn't blame him.

“Back where?” said Av.

“Home,” sighed Blaze.

“The Pit?” Av was fuming. “You've already brought enough trouble there, don't you think?”

“No, Av. There's a problem.”

He looked at me like I was crazy.

I sighed. “Krepin plans to invade the Pit.”

The color drained from Av's face and I thought for a moment he'd faint.

“Without Cubby, he's going to be looking for another Brother.”

Av swallowed, and I knew all that he could think about was Goobs.

“He'll take someone, and destroy the rest of the place until he finds his Abish shroud,” I went on. “Blaze hid it there.”

“Where?” said Av, doing his best to stay composed.

“In the Pit.”

“No, I heard you. Where in the Pit?”

I looked at Blaze, who was wincing with pain as he held his arms close to himself. “In the Platform,” he grunted. “There was a loose floorboard.”

My hand flew up and hit my forehead.

“Third from the left, two up,” the words came out of Av and me in sync. Everyone knew about that floorboard. It was not a good hiding spot. Not to the Brothers.

“Urn…” Cubby was pulling on his thumb nervously, and his big green eyes looked at me the way they did when he'd done something wrong. “It's not there anymore.”

“What?”

“I moved it.”

“What?” Blaze stumbled, and I thought for a minute he'd wring Cubby's neck. “When? How?”

“I—I just wanted to play with it.” He took a couple steps back from us, afraid he was about to be punished, but all I wanted to do was hug him, kiss his fuzzy head, and make that scared face go away. “I took it out to show Goobs, but Wasted saw me and wanted me to hand it over.” His lip quivered and his eyes refused to look at us. “So we ran from him, but he chased us.”

My stomach churned. “Cubby, are you saying you had the Abish shroud the night they took you?”

He nodded.

“Do they have it now?” said Blaze frantically.

“No! No!” he cried. “I hid it! So Wasted wouldn't take it, I hid it.”

“Where!” Blaze demanded, his voice echoing off the walls.

Av dived onto Blaze and covered his mouth as a screech rang out overhead.

“My special place,” Cubby said quietly. He looked at me quickly, then went back to pulling his thumb, waiting for me to yell. I'd told him not to go there, that I thought it was too dangerous. Cave-ins happened all the time on the slopes of the Fire Mountains. But right now, I didn't care about any of that. I just wanted to keep him safe.

The four of us watched the windows as several deformed shadows poked their heads in for a look.

We were running out of time.

So was Lussit.

“Cubby,” I said quietly, “we have to get to our friend.”

“This way,” he whispered, heading for the corridor.

Av and I followed, and after a moment's hesitation, Blaze fell in behind. Just before we left, the withered old woman moved in the water and I could hear it splash as she propped
herself up. She was dying, I knew that…but somehow, I couldn't bring myself to leave her there, all by herself, with no hope at all.

I rushed over to her, with Av growling at me to hurry up. I crouched down in front of her and she was shaking with fright, doing her best to shield herself from whatever horrible thing she expected me to do to her.

Her legs were so thin, I slid the gold hoops off them easily, the same with her torso. I unhooked her hands and she sat there, dumbfounded, slowly waving her arms back and forth, trying to remember how they worked. Then her glazed eyes wandered up to my face and I gave her a smile, a part of me certain that in this moment, I would see that glimpse into her old soul, the core of her that was still a human being. There was nothing. She just smacked her cracked lips and then slowly brought her head to the floor and slurped at the water.

Sad for her, I got to my feet and rejoined Cubby and Av. There was nothing else I could do.

“Through here,” whispered Cubby. He was barely able to contain his excitement, thrilled to be the leader for the first time. I felt myself standing a little straighter. If only Fiver could see. Would a scroungee be able to outwit the Tunrar?

“How did you get him?” I asked Av, keeping my voice so low I could barely hear it over the trickling of water.

“Farka,” said Av.

I knew she was with them, but the thought of her really helping us, of
saving
Cubby, made me nearly stop in my tracks.

Av grinned. “She helped us track you down. We got here just as Lussit was being dragged inside. We wanted to come after you but we weren't sure how to do it. It was her idea.
She watched the Tunrar on the rooftop and she pointed out how they were doing it.”

“Doing what?”

“Getting on the roof. We figured it'd be our best bet for sneaking in.”

“But it's crawling with Tunrar!”

“Yeah, well, that's where Farka came in handy. She said she'd distract them for us if we let her go so she could get back to her Sisters.”

“You just let her go?”

Av shrugged. “She was kind of panicking about Lussit. She wanted to go back for help and I figured more help couldn't hurt.” He was right about that. “Anyway,” Av went on, “before we went for it, we were watching the place pretty closely, trying to figure out where Krepin might be keeping you. That was when Fiver spotted Cubby walking across some bridge towards one of the towers with a whole pack of little guys. There were only three windows on that tower, all opening to the same room, so we figured we might as well try and grab him while we knew where he was.”