The Last Dragon Chronicles: Fire World: Fire World (45 page)

circular device in its hand. I knew straight away it was a bomb and I was doomed. But before I could even close my eyes, Hugo had pushed me aside and thrown himself over the hand. This brave, peaceloving, elderly man moved me as if I was his only child and sent himself to a certain death. The weight of his body carried the hand down just far enough to deaden the explosion in the mire. But I can feel it now just as much as I felt it then. A man’s life, shuddering away inside me. A scar far worse than anything visible on my skin.”

“And the other men?” David prompted

gently.

Somewhere behind them an animal gave out a plaintive cry. A slender creature called a ferret sniffed at David’s feet, slipped under his knees and continued on its way.

Harlan looked up at the stars. “The Re:mover chasing Mat was avoiding the wet areas with ease. But what its scan had

failed to tell it was that some solid areas were not reliable. So when it tried to cross a bridge that we had built of light wood and marsh mud, it went in and its momentum took it under easily. That one didn’t respond. But by now we had a greater threat to deal with – the taxicar. It was equipped with a laser head. Its infrared detectors picked up any signs of body heat and the lasers did the rest. I hope I

never live to see another man fatally shot by a weapon like that. The body blanches before it disintegrates. I can’t begin to tell you what it’s like to see the victim’s horror frozen in mono:chrome on their

face before they die.”

“How did you defeat it?”

“I stole the other car. I’d driven them manually in the days when you still could. It was equipped with a laser as well. I simply blasted the first car out of the sky. Nothing so destructive has ever filled me with such satisfaction.

“So we had our victory and we had our ride home. It took some time to work out the navigational aids because the routers for the cars are implanted into the Re:mover’s heads. But eventually we were able to set a course for Bushley. By

then the flood had started and we could see the ark on all our displays. I knew it had to be connected with you. On the approach we began to lose grav. So I ditched the taxicar onto the water and we

pooled our auma to make two boats from it. Myself, Bernard and Mathew took one. Terance skippered the other. And that was that. The next thing we knew we were trying to save the life of that evil witch, Gwyneth. Of all the boats she could have landed beside, it had to be ours.”

David raised his head and looked into

the night. “I think you’ll find that wasn’t a coincidence.”

His father threw him a quizzical glance.

“It was a test to see if you’d show her mercy.”

“Test? Who could set a test like that?”

“She could.”

Angel suddenly appeared before them. Wings spread, she glided into view and landed softly on the deck beside David.

Harlan stared at the girl in awe. It was the first time he’d seen the mysterious flying child that Penny had not stopped talking about. She walked up and studied the burns to his eye. He held his breath as she reached out a hand and placed it over his  thumping  heart.   Her  blue   eyes sparkled. “Hugo is very happy,” she said.

And for the first time in his life, Harlan Merriman unleashed his emotions and

cried. And as the tears rolled out of his damaged eye, so it healed and he could see clearly once more.

“I thought you had to go?” David said to Angel.

“I did,” she said, brightly. “But I came back again, because we’re almost here.”

“Here?” said Harlan, looking for a landmark. “Where are we heading?”

Angel pointed to a light in the distance. David stood up and went to the rail. Further along the deck, several animals had come out to stare across the water just as David was doing now. “If ever we’re separated, I want you to pass on a message for me, Dad. When people talk about this flood, they will say that it’s come to destroy us. It hasn’t. It’s here to make us think about a better way of life. One in which we can still imagineer, but where our ability to do so is balanced by our willingness to care for the creatures on this ark. This is the new directive from

the Higher. Wherever these animals

choose to land, wherever they migrate to, wherever they settle, the humans will respect them and their habitats, or lose their power to create form from thought. And it all begins here – in what used to be called the Dead Lands.”

Harlan got to his feet and squinted at the light. “Is that—? No, it can’t be. It must have gone out by now.”

David put an arm around Angel’s shoulder. “There may be dark days ahead of us. More conflict with the Ix. Maybe a twist or two with the Aunts. But the only thing that matters for now is that beacon. This is the legacy your tribe left behind. Welcome back to Alavon, where the fire of Agawin will never die out… ”

5

By morning, the ark had drifted alongsidethe southern edge of Alavon and foundwaters deep enough in which to anchor. Inkeeping with its programme of self-sufficiency, a sturdy wooden drawbridgeswung out from the central section of thehull and dropped down to make firmcontact with the land. The great
 
whump!
brought scores of animals to the windowsand all the humans, bar Rosa, to the decks. David, giving orders to monitor theanimals but not impede them in any way,hurried down to check it out. He arrived atthe   opening  to   find  Rosa   on  thedrawbridge sitting astride Terrafonne. Alittle posse of animals had already stacked

up in the hold behind her. “What’s this

place?” she asked.

“The Isle of Alavon.”

“Isn’t that where… ?”

“Dad was taken to, yes. See the

beacon?”

“It’s kind of hard not to.” Even in daylight the flames were inspiring.

“Strange to think Agawin lived there once.”

Rosa gulped and steadied Terrafonne’shead. The unicorn, his hooves clip-clopping on the bridge, seemed anxious toexplore the land. She looked back overher shoulder at the hold. “The animals are

restless.   Are   they  allowed   off  to

exercise?”

“Those that need to leave at this point,

will.”

“Leave?”

“It’s part of their programme of survival – to return to the land, where they can thrive.”

“That’s the Dead Lands they’re going to. There’s nothing out there.”

David squinted at Alavon’s kind, green slopes. “They’ll have water. And lots of willing hands on the boats. The followers are looking to the ark for guidance. It just needs someone to show them the way.” He reached out and stroked the unicorn’s neck.

“Me?” Rosa said, pointing to herself.

“All I want to do is mark this occasion with an image the people in the boats won’t forget. We both know Terrafonne is quite a performer.”

Rosa guided the white horse further

onto the bridge and looked around at the bobbing boats. Nearly all had a lens trained on the ark. “You could always waddle ashore in your ice bear form and show them some flakes of…  What was it

you called that white stuff?”

“Snow.”

“That would be pretty.”

“It would, but it wouldn’t be right. It’s not time for Co:pern:ica to learn about ice – or the bears just yet.
 
And
,” he stressed, before she could follow up the point, “this will launch my idea about the books.”

“Go on,” she said, “I’m all ears.”

“How many firebirds were you able to call?”

“A few.” She pointed to the upper decks. Several hundred were perched on the rails.

“Perfect.”

“For what?”

He looked into her spirited eyes andsmiled. Despite the air of indifference, heknew she was curious. He raked his

fingers through Terrafonne’s mane and said, “Do you remember how Mr Henry used to tell us that books were our true and most dedicated friends? How one

well-written passage of words could not only melt the heart of a reader but stay with them forever?”

“Of course I do,” she said. Her gaze began to soften as her eyes grew moist.

“I think if the circumstances were right Mr Henry would have liked everyone on Co:pern:ica to experience that feeling. We could start it, Rosa. Here. On the waters of Alavon. Today.”

“Start what?” she said. “I don’t

understand.”

“Start sharing the books.”

“Sharing them? How?”

“We ask the firebirds to pick them up and fly them to the boats—”

“David, don’t be dumb. We’d lose them all.”

“—Not as gifts, as
 
loans
,” he said, “to be read and brought back and freely exchanged for others. In that way, the books belong to the librarium
 
and
 
to the people. The really sweet part is this: as the people return them, you’ll be able to put them in order and keep them in order – until they’re ready to go out again.”

“Me?” she said. “What are you going to do?”

David smiled and thought about the

claw in his pocket. “I’m going to write

new books,” he said.

Over the next few days, a steady stream ofanimals  disembarked  as   David  hadpredicted and began to meander across theland. There was no selection process. Those which chose to go simply steppedonto the bridge or flew across the wateror swam, if they were already in thewater, away from the vessel. None, Harlan noticed, climbed the hill where thetower stood and the beacon still burned.

But it gave him an enormous sense ofpleasure to watch two animals that Pennydescribed as ‘cows’ grazing on one of thebright green fields.

Many boats, by now, had mooredthemselves at imagineered jetties or been

driven aground by the lapping tide. And thanks   to   Rosa,   who   had   ridden Terrafonne ashore in a spectacular leap full of rainbows and stars, people were testing the land as well, following her to Alavon in small parties. By the afternoon of the third day, the first simple dwelling place had sprouted from the minds of those able to imagine a life among the crops they’d found. For Mathew Lefarr, this was difficult to watch. The more he

saw of the infant colony, the more he knew he ought to be a part of it. And so, at a carefully-selected moment, he approached his fellow travellers and made an announcement, “Friends, I will be leaving you here.”

“Oh, Mathew?” said Eliza.

“What?” said Penny, who looked as if a

limb had been torn from her body.

Even Rosa cast her eyes down.

He raised a hand before anyone else could speak. “I’m going to go ashore. Much of my time in the Dead Lands was invested in making the Isle of Alavon a comfortable place to live. This water, these animals, are a new and exciting development. It casts no reflection on any of you when I say I want to be part of that. There is probably about a minit before the ark moves on and one of you tries to change my mind. So I will wish you all safe travels and slip away before the drawbridge lifts. Come and find me when your journey is done. Wherever I make my home, any of you will be welcome in it.”

Penny rushed forward and clamped her arms around him.

“Be a good friend to the animals,” he whispered. “One day, I’ll breed you a goat.” (Out of all the many animals they’d logged together, the goats were her favourite.) He planted a kiss on the top of her head before moving her into Eliza’s care. He shook hands firmly with Harlan and Bernard, both of whom were swift to pledge their allegiance to any just cause he might fight for again. He turned next to Rosa. Poor Rosa, she had no idea what to do. She liked Mathew, though she had made a deep secret of it. She admired his honesty and hard work and plain-speaking ways. True, she had hardly said a kind word to him, but that was because his good looks unnerved her. She stepped forward and offered her hand (from a distance). He picked it up and kissed it.

She almost melted.

And lastly there was David. No doubteveryone present expected a brief, if well-meant, thank you from the son of Harlan Merriman before he all but imagineered Mathew to a distant place. Instead, Davidasked Lefarr to stay. This might have beentaken as a gesture of friendship were it notfor the slight cut of authority in his voice. When challenged, David would only saythat the ark had gathered Mathew in and agreater purpose awaited him. Harlan, wellaware of Mathew’s disappointment and David’s abruptness (and the creak of theclosing drawbridge), drew his son asideand quietly asked him to reconsider. Theargument was weak, he said. Mathew hadan independent, pioneering spirit. It waspoignant that he should desire to have a

foothold in the reborn farmlands of Alavon. There was no better place for him to form a new tribe. Also, on a more personal level, surely David had noticed the way Mathew admired Rosa? Granted, he had made no move on the girl for he clearly saw her fondness for David. But it was a possible source of tension all the same. Mathew was young, intelligent and not exactly ‘unhandsome’. Even Penny, of all people, had remarked as much.

David accepted this advice, which he knew   was   well-intended,   but   then revealed to his father the real reason he