The Last Dragon Chronicles: The Fire Ascending (43 page)

And at last he understood what she

planned to do. “Rosa?! No!”

But she was already running.

Zanna, by now, was bent but on her feet. Hearing someone approaching, she turned and saw Rosa standing over her. “Need a hand?” Rosa asked, extending hers.

Without thinking, Zanna gripped it.

Above and below their hands, avertical flash of light emerged. Then theuniverse hummed and their bodies came

together as the timeline moved to heal the paradox. A pressure wave pulsed in all directions. The light contracted to a single point. And when it was done, there was only one girl left in the chamber.

Zanna.

16. Of Bears and Darklings

In the early stages of the battle at sea, theconflict between the bears and the

Shadow had gone very much the way ofthe bears.

Another lone darkling had raised thealarm. From a height well above themotionless water, it had seen the bearsforming like giant blocks of ice andwitnessed the ease with which Kailar had

dispatched   its   reckless   companion. Straightaway it had turned and headed for the island, calling out a warning that had initially gone unheeded. Then the first snowflakes began to fall around the chain of rocks to the north and west of the main

isle. The brood of darklings nestling there was immediately scattered by the roars of the bears that materialised among them. Many were cut down before they could fly. One of those that got away badly mauled was the one that had made it to the

chamber, and David. The shock of surprise had given the bears an early advantage, which could be measured by the carcases strewn across the sea and the

trails of black fluid running down the rocks. But it wasn’t long before Voss’s creatures began to hit back. Only then did the battle begin in earnest.

In theory, everything favoured the darklings. They had the medium of air. They had greater speed and better manoeuvrability,   complemented  by  a

startling array of claws, stigs, toxins and teeth. Their ability to paralyse the nervous systems of organisms such as bears or humans was known to cause instantaneous

blindness, and several other forms of sensory disarray. Plus they had the option of self-division. Their rapidly-developing genetic footprint supported a form of selfcloning called ‘budding’. Ten darklings could become twenty in minutes.

Despite their early losses, they were confident of victory.

So they attacked with arrogance at first, strafing the bears with jeers and hisses and gobbets of vile acidic spit, aimed at delicate parts of the body: the eyes, the shells of the ears, the tail. Then the first darkling landed on the hump of a running

bear’s back. It rode along for a few rough strides, gaily swinging its ugly head to the scooping rhythm of the ice bear’s gallop. It goaded the enemy with taunts of a terrible, agonising death. Yet the bear made no attempt to throw it off. Annoyed by this haughty show of indifference, the darkling decided to move to the kill. It cranked its jaws and sank its numerous retracted teeth into the scruff of the bear’s

thick neck.

Crunch
 
.

There was a nauseating crack of bones. White spikes sprang out of the darkling’shead, as if it had swallowed a ball ofthorns. Black stains flooded its bulgingeyes. Spittle trickled from the sides of itsjaws. Its vicious hooked claws relaxed

their grip. A few seconds elapsed before its lifeless body leaned sideways into the wind. Then it tumbled down the polar bear’s shoulder, falling away to be kicked aside and trampled to mulch by the next set of paws that came pounding along. Those   darklings  that  witnessed  this bewildering fatality swept down and attempted to exact revenge. The outcome for most of them was the same. One by one they fell away dead or injured, or leaped off their victim, screaming in pain. In one spectacular case, a rider exploded. This pattern was repeated all over the sea, and many more of Voss’s multitude perished before he could transmit the vital information that the bears were protected by some kind of magicks. In fact, the truth

was more straightforward than that.

The bears had been taught to imagineer.

On Earth, in the dominant timeline that had seen them evolve from the brown

bear, Thoran, on a bed of frozen water made by Gawain, bears had ruled the Icelands for thousands of years. When the risk of dark fire had become a real threat, the Higher had removed this iconic species into the safety of the thought plane of the nexus they called Ki:mera. There the bears had remained in stasis, ready to return when the threat was removed and

the timeline was stable. One of them, however, proved a little troublesome. The bear known as Avrel refused to cooperate. Despite the Higher’s most intensive efforts, the self-styled ‘Teller of Ways’

would not (or could not) close down his mind. The Higher subjected him to rigorous testing. Avrel’s capacity for information storage amazed the Fain beings, who had only ever noted this level of ability in Collectives such as theirs (or the Ix Shadow). The ice bear was carefully nurtured. His extraordinary mind was allowed to move freely within the Is. In time, certain
 
developments
 
were noted. Interesting constructs began to appear, unlike anything the Higher had seen before. The entire history of the Icelands of the North began to float out of Avrel’s memories and take physical shape as it span around his head. This went on for as long as it needed to, until one exceptional memory stood out: the shedding of

Gawain’s fire tear. As it dripped from thedragon’s eye, the image froze and the tearhung in the Is like a jewel. The Telleropened his eyes and squinted. Somethingcould be seen inside the teardrop. Asculpture, in ice, of a woman holdinghands with a boy. A bear was spread-eagled at their feet. The Teller blinked. The scene in the fire tear instantlychanged. Suddenly, a girl with wingsappeared, sitting cross-legged on a staticsea. In her hands was a small greendragon that was constantly blurring itsshape, moving quicker than light itself. “It’s time,” said the child. The dragon inher hands opened its enormous paws andhurred. Avrel blinked again. To the Higher’s astonishment, a fire star opened

in Ki:mera. Even more bizarrely, they were helpless to stop the ensuing exodus. Polar bears drifted to the Earth as

snowflakes, led by Avrel and the fighting bear, Kailar.

But they were changed, these bears. On their journey, through a kind of morphic resonance, Avrel had taught them how to use their minds like his. Their first test

was to protect themselves against Voss and his darklings. Temporarily hardening their fur into spikes was a tactic adopted by most of the pack. And even when the darklings   learned   to   avoid   making physical contact, the bears grew more ingenious   again.   They   imagineered blizzard ‘nets’, which could freeze a wing and make the creatures drop from the sky.

Once a darkling was on the surface, oneswipe of a bear’s paw did the rest. Ofcourse, there were losses on the bears’side, too. Sometimes, out of fear orrecklessness, a bear would forget the Teller’s training and revert to brutestrength   alone.   On   one   distressingoccasion, Avrel witnessed a hot-headedyearling underneath a skriking cluster ofdarklings. For that bear, there was nohope of survival.

On the island itself, opposition wasminimal. This was partly due to confusion. Even as news of the bears began tospread, men could be seen wanderingaimlessly about, examining their skin ortheir companions’ eyes. Something wasdraining the Shadow out of them. They

were becoming human again. Snow fell on every shoreline all the same, greatly outnumbering the men who were there. They were faced with simple choices: fight a physically superior opponent, hide where they could, or lay down their weapons. Under Avrel’s orders, those that fought were dealt with mercifully. Those that surrendered – the vast majority – were shuffled into groups and guarded. Those that hid were simply ignored.

One of those who managed to escape the roundup was the man who’d been ordered to hold Lucy hostage. His plan had been to keep her in a cave at sea level. She was a feisty, kicking wretch and a journey to the windswept higher ledges with an ex-commander who was

constantly spouting all the different, colourful ways she could kill him was deeply unappealing.

The arrival of the polar bears changed his mind.

“Up,” he ordered, jabbing her ribs with the butt of his sword. Though wary of her old authority, he was still far broader and stronger than she and there was little she could do to resist – except talk.

“Let me go, you idiot! Voss needs me to fight.”

“There ain’t no fighting.”

“Let me see!”

He allowed her to stop and shuffleround. Sure enough, he wasn’t lying. Voss’s men were being herded into groupsby bears. One bear, a young-looking

animal with a deeply intelligent air about him, was set apart from the rest. He was scanning  every  dent  in  the   lower escarpments. A sudden rumble drew his gaze to the peak of the island, offering Lucy a better look at his face. “I know him,” she murmured.

“’Course you do,” the guard said. He bundled her round and forced her up the slope. “I was very good friends with the fish I had for lunch.
 
Walk
.” They had gone ten steps when another rumble sounded, causing a quake that chased a flurry of rocks into their path. The guard slipped and cussed as he tried to avoid them.

“What’s wrong with that idiot dragon?”

Lucy’s reply was to turn and kick him under the chin. She heard the crisp smack

as his jaw snapped shut. He staggered backwards,   swimming   in   air,   then eventually lost his balance and fell. Lucy scrabbled down to finish him off. One

more kick, she hoped, would knock him out. But the guard was more shocked than hurt. He caught her foot and with a roar upended her, leaving her close to a serious drop. She wriggled away from the draw of the edge, desperate to find a snag of stone she could use to cut the bindings from her hands. But he was up again, dragging an arm across his mouth. He spat out a tooth and picked up his sword. “You’ll wish you ’adn’t done that.”

He taunted her with a sweep of the blade. Instinctively, she scrabbled away. But as she swapped her gaze between the

drop  and  the   sword,  she  saw  an opportunity to reason with him. “Your hand. Look at your hand.”

He snorted with laughter. “I ain’t falling for yer tricks. You ain’t livin’ to tell no tales. When I’m done here, trust me, no one’s gonna find yer.”

“I mean it. Your hand. You’re changing. We all are.” She could feel it – and

definitely see it in him. The web-like patterns of the Shadow were fading.

Still he ignored her and whirled the sword. He might have been approaching humanity again, but he was dredging up the very worst side of it. “Never liked taking your orders, neither.”

Then a new voice said, “You should be careful, soldier – making admissions like

that.”

The   guard   whipped   around   andimmediately took another blow to the chin,this time from the end of Tam Farrell’s

fist. The man pirouetted once and fell without a sound, into the maw of rocks below.

On the distant clank of the sword, Lucysaid,   “Technically,   that’s   treason, Commander.”

He knelt and untied her. “Correct me if

I’m wrong, but don’t I have a history ofsaving your life?”

She gripped her wrist and flexed somebright red blood into her fingers. Greenveins. Pink skin. Red blood.
 
Red
 
hair.

“What happened to us?”

“Don’t know exactly. Maybe these guys

can tell us.” He showed her the polar bears glowing in his palms.

Before she could comment, the ground around them juddered and the sky was set alight by a plume of flame. “Look out!” cried Tam, as a shower of ash and whitehot debris came fizzling down like angry rain. He grabbed Lucy and flattened her against his chest.
 
If I’m going to die, let it be now
, she thought.

“Cover your mouth. The fumes are getting worse.” He tore a strip off his shirt and offered it to her. She almost fainted at

this act of mild heroism. Had she really been this crazy about this man before the Ix had got to her? He was, after all, mouth-meltingly handsome.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, seeing

her looking.

“Me and you. Do we go out together?”

“
 
What?
” he coughed. The thickness of the air was pressing on his lungs. “Do we what together?”

She covered her mouth with his shirt

piece. “Nothing.”

“Come on.” He pulled her down the mountain, with nearly as much intolerance as her previous captor. Only this one she would have stayed with for ever.

They reached sea level in minutes, met right away by four large bears.

“Okay,   this   is   scary… ”   Lucy whispered, nudging right up to Tam’s shoulder.

The leading bear rolled its lip back and

growled.

Tam showed it the images in his hands. “I need to speak with Avrel and Kailar.” No human present could have understoodthe grunt, but the bears around him did.