The War of the Grail (15 page)

He shot back upright, whispering a Hail Mary. But the creature was large enough to reach right across the tree. It was already leering over the trunk and jabbing at him with one of its claws. The pincers were wide open and he could see the serrated steel along the inner edges.

He danced to the side and the claw slammed into a branch protruding from the tree trunk. The pincers snapped shut and sliced the branch clean off, despite it being thicker than a man’s waist.

The creature immediately swung its other claw down at Jack, using the outer edge like a mace. Jack stumbled back from the tree as the claw smacked into the trunk. Bark and splinters flew into the air and a crack snarled right through the wood.

The creature had almost cleaved the trunk in two.

Jack spun round and bolted into the forest. But he only managed to go a few paces before a tree root snaked out in front of him and tripped him up. He flew through the air, hit the ground and skidded along the forest floor. He dropped the musket and it spun away into the undergrowth.

The beast howled behind him.

He flipped himself over in time to see the creature leap over the tree and swing its claw at him again. He cried out and rolled to the side. The claw whistled through the air and thumped into the earth a few inches from his face, dashing soil in his eyes. He could feel the heat from the metal on his cheek.

He rolled into the bushes to his left and scrambled to his feet. He heard another whistle and ducked instinctively. This was just as well, because the claw whisked past above his head – the wind of its passing ruffling his hair – before thumping into the tree beside him. Chunks of wood went flying and fissures fanned out through the trunk.

Jack lurched forward and glanced over his shoulder. The beast towered above him, smoke and steam haloing its head. It whirled its claw at him again, smashing through a branch that blocked its path.

Jack staggered backwards and the claw bashed apart a shrub just in front of him.

He turned to run, but he found his feet skidding on a slope of damp leaves and soft earth. He flailed with both arms but could do nothing to stop himself toppling forward, crashing through a thorn bush that tore at his skin, then rolling down a short incline. He struck a tree, which sent pain shooting up one arm, before he hit the ground at the bottom of the slope.

The avatar screeched and flung itself down after him, battering through the bushes that clung to the scarp. Jack leapt to his feet, ready to run, but something punched him hard in the back. He flew forward and landed on the ground. Pain welled where he’d been struck. He tried to blot it out, gritted his teeth and spun himself over.

The beast stood poised above him. One of its legs hovered in the air inches away from him – the creature must have used the limb to knock him over.

He went to roll away, but the avatar slammed the base of its foot into his chest and pinned him to the ground. He grasped at the leg, struggling to move it aside. But it was locked in place.

He was trapped.

The avatar pressed down harder. Jack gasped. Pain racked his body and he felt as though his ribs were about to crack. He could barely breathe, could only gulp tiny strands of air into his lungs. Sweat dribbled into his eyes and he fought away a tide of darkness that threatened to sweep over him. He wriggled and kicked, but he couldn’t free himself.

The avatar’s head lowered until it was no more than a foot from his face. With a steely ring, its layered mandibles peeled open and a trickle of oil ran out of its mouth and pattered on to Jack’s neck. A gust of air issued from the maw, as if the creature were exhaling. Jack smelt ancient coal and sattva so strong that it made his nostrils burn.

The creature’s eyes glowed more brightly now. He could see they were made up of hundreds of beads, like the eyes of a spider. He had a strange sense for a moment that he was being observed by … what was it? A mind? That seemed impossible. An avatar was a living machine, but it was no more intelligent than an animal.

And yet this avatar seemed to be studying him.

He knew enough about these creatures to know that this one was different. The way it had pursued him, the way it had hunted him and attacked him, suggested a beast that was capable of more thought than the lumbering creatures he’d seen in the past.

The avatar observed him for what seemed like a minute but must have only been seconds. Then steam wheezed from somewhere along its abdomen and smoke welled from gills on either side of its face. It drew its head back and raised one of its claws. The pincers creaked open.

Jack stared up at the giant claw. Those pincers would be able to shear him in half without any effort.

The leg pinning him to the ground pressed down harder. His chest screamed with pain and all the air was forced from his lungs.

He could see no way out of this now. He was trapped, and all the strength was draining from his body. Black pools expanded before his eyes. He made one last attempt to free himself, gritting his teeth and straining to shift the ironwork holding him in place.

But his efforts had no effect at all. The beast was immensely strong. There was no hope.

With his eyesight fading, he took one last look at the massive claw. Soon it would strike. And that would be the end of it.

He wouldn’t reach the Great Yantra and he wouldn’t find the Grail …

He saw Elizabeth for a moment, standing on the edge of Folly Brook with Godwin, Saleem and Cecily. What was worse than the pain in his chest, and the fact that he would soon be dead, was that he wouldn’t be there to defend his family, or the village, if the Rajthanans came. He’d let Elizabeth and Cecily and everyone else down. They were waiting for him to return, waiting for him to come back with the answer to all their problems … and he wasn’t going to reappear. Not this time.

He saw Jhala striding down the trench at the battle of Ragusa, drawing his scimitar and stepping up on to the fire step …

Elizabeth as a child running towards him across a field, her long black hair flowing behind her …

Katelin on her deathbed, reaching out to him with her weak hand …

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of memories flickered before his eyes. He seemed to have been lying there for hours, when in reality it must have been less than a second.

The avatar squealed and whipped its claw down towards him. Though he could barely see through the black mist floating in front of his eyes, he could make out the shining steel of the pincers.

An Our Father tumbled unbidden from his lips …

And then suddenly a brilliant light burst in his head. He jolted. He felt as though he were rushing up into the stars.

The Lightning yantra was burning in his mind. Somehow he’d thought of it without meaning to and … it had worked. The knowledge of how to use the power flooded into his mind.

All this happened in an instant, even as the pincers were plunging towards him. The metal was less than two feet away from him. In a second he would be dead.

He reacted with incredible speed. He raised his hand, barked words in a language he didn’t understand and shuddered as a pulse of lightning forked from his fingertips. His hand went numb and his arm tingled. The lightning shot up, smacked the avatar in the head and formed a sizzling web about its face for a second. The creature jerked backwards, dropped its claw and slipped its foot from Jack’s chest. It lifted its face to the sky and howled, as if in agony, the sound so loud it shook the leaves and sent dirt trickling down the slope behind it.

Jack’s mind was ablaze. His skin rippled with a strange energy. The pain in his chest was gone and he could breathe freely once more. He clambered to his feet, took one last look at the bellowing avatar, and then sprinted off into the forest.

Avenues of trees led off in every direction and he had no idea which way to go. He just ran straight ahead and hoped for the best.

The avatar stopped wailing and he heard its feet drumming on the forest floor. He risked glancing back and saw the beast bowling towards him again, crashing through branches that got in its way. Its mouth was wide open and its eyes burnt in the gloom.

Damn. The lightning had only stopped the beast for a few seconds. He might have broken the law of karma again, and he might have learnt a war yantra for the first time, but the avatar now seemed entirely unharmed. If anything, it appeared enraged and more determined than ever to hunt him down.

Sweat poured down his face and his breathing became laboured again. His lungs felt as though they were about to burst.

How long could he keep running? How long would the beast keep chasing him?

The ground turned boggy beneath his feet. Water seeped up through the earth and reeds sprouted everywhere. He found himself floundering through increasingly deep ponds.

He shot a look over his shoulder and saw the beast was gaining on him. It splashed through the pools without slowing its pace at all. He could hear the creaking of its joints, the rasp of the iron plates as they shifted about its body. A jet of steam screamed from its side and smoke frothed from its head.

He tried to will himself to move faster.

But the weed was snaring his legs and the mud was clotting on his boots so that it was as though he were shackled in irons.

The beast sloshed through the water right behind him. A cloud of smoke from it whirled about him. He could feel the heat of its breath on the back of his neck. It was so close now that it would surely be able to strike him with its claws at any moment.

He was considering whether to dive to the left or right, when he suddenly shot out of the forest and found himself charging across open marshland. The moon hung in the sky directly ahead of him and traces of mist clung to the ground.

He battled his way forward, but the pools were even deeper here than in the woods. He was wading through water that came up to his knees.

He couldn’t run fast enough. The beast was going to catch him.

Should he turn round now? Try to use Lightning again in order to buy himself some time?

He was still thinking about this when he slipped, fell forward and splashed into a pond.

J
ack flailed about in the water. He was certain the avatar would strike him at any moment. He tried to stand, skidded over again and finally dragged himself onto an island.

Gasping for breath, he spun round, flicking water from his sodden tunic. He held his hand out, desperately tried to recall the Lightning yantra and prepared to voice the command to activate the power.

Only the avatar wasn’t there. He’d expected to find the contorted mass of iron towering over him, but instead he saw the reeds and ponds of the marshes, all veiled by tendrils of mist.

He was panting heavily, but he was catching his breath. He looked around him in every direction.

And then he saw it. The avatar had only made it a few yards out of the forest. It was so heavy it had sunk into the marsh up to the bottom of its abdomen. It stood still for a moment, smoke wafting about it, but then it screeched and thrashed its legs. It tried to haul itself out of the mud, but that only served to make it sink further. The water hissed, bubbled and steamed as it touched the creature’s hot metal carapace.

Jack whispered a Hail Mary. The avatar appeared to be trapped – but for how long? If it managed to haul itself out, he was certain it would waste no time in pursuing him again. He had to get as far away from it as he could. And find Kanvar.

Wincing at the pain streaking down his back and the aches from the numerous bruises covering his body, he waded back towards the line of the forest. The hills swelled up to his right, and from this angle he could see the fortress of the Mad Sultan clinging to the summit of the nearest slope.

The avatar lifted its head and bellowed at the sky. It struggled more vigorously, the water frothing about it, but it remained trapped.

Jack scrambled more quickly. He slipped over a couple of times and was covered in filth and slime by the time he reached the trees. He scanned the way ahead, staring into the whorls of leaves and shadow. If he were going to make his way back, he would have to find his own tracks and follow them.

He was about to walk along the edge of the forest towards where he’d first burst out of the trees, when he heard footsteps. Twigs snapped and leaves crackled as boots tramped across the forest floor.

He dashed behind a clump of brambles and scoured the woods. Who could be walking about in the forest at this time of night? He’d been wondering whether the avatar could really be acting alone. Perhaps there’d been a siddha nearby giving it commands.

He listened carefully. The person wasn’t walking ahead confidently, or even creeping stealthily. They were shuffling and dragging their feet.

Strange.

Then he saw Kanvar limping out of the shadows. The Sikh seemed on the verge of death. He was so weak he had to keep stopping and leaning against trees in order to rest.

Jack scurried out from the brambles. ‘Kanvar!’

Kanvar paused, put his hand against a tree trunk and raised his head. ‘Ah,’ he managed to say in a feeble voice.