All of a sudden though, shots were fired in her direction from behind her. Instinctively, she ducked and looked around.
“What the hell?” she shouted at Eddie, seeing that the shots were coming from him. For a split second she wondered if he’d misfired, but in the light of a fresh word ball he was conjuring, she caught a glimpse of the change in his face. She veered violently left and right, backing away from Orfeo’s raft.
Orfeo, down below laughed. She realised that he was controlling Eddie again.
“You’ve got to fight this,” she shouted to Eddie. She slowed her carpet enough so that she moved next to his. The two of them collided, Eddie reaching out to Yas to steady herself. It caught her unawares.
“Let go!” she shouted to Eddie.
She tried to move her carpet away from his, but Eddie pulled her towards him and across the gap that now existed between them.
She shouted at him, angrily. “Get a grip, Eddie! He’s controlling you.”
Sam could see what was happening above. He brought his carpet upwards rapidly, then reached up with his hands to separate Yas and Eddie. He forced their carpets apart by putting his in between.
Suddenly there was a massive shake in the tunnel. The whole fabric of the realm seemed to move around them. The side of the tunnel moved closer to them, and Sam used the opportunity to slam Eddie into the wall, his carpet rubbing along the dirt.
Unseen down below and ahead of them, Orfeo steadied himself and looked about crossly as he too felt the tremor. He dropped his control of Eddie.
Eddie found himself sandwiched between the uneven sides of the tunnel and an angry Sam.
“Sam! Stop!” he pleaded, as he traded word magic with him. Sam conjured a baseball bat that he used to swipe at Eddie, while continuing to squash him against the side of the tunnel.
Yas had dropped back down behind and then sped up. She moved up behind Sam, shouting.
“Sam! Stop!” she repeated. The sides of the wall were peeling away as Eddie’s carpet scraped along. It threw out more soil and dust and made it hard for them to see. Eddie spat out dirt, while continuing to fend off Sam.
Sam dropped the bat and opted for his fists as Eddie was forced to come closer to him to avoid the wall. Eddie threw up plate sized word shields to defend but was still thrown backwards from the force of each hit. He figured Sam would run out of energy soon.
Yas moved her carpet forward and rammed into the back of Sam’s, then leapt onto the back of his. The collision and momentum flung her faster forwards than she was anticipating, and she found herself nearly going over the top of him. She landed awkwardly, throwing her arms around him.
“This is not helping!” she shouted. “And they are going to get away!”
“I know!” Sam replied, angrily. He breathed, relenting, and moved the carpet away from Eddie’s. Eddie moved parallel to them but stayed apart in case of further retaliation.
“I’m sorry!” Eddie shouted. “He’s just too powerful!” He hung his head in defeat. “I tried to resist.”
“Your strongest defence is that you have to know who you are,” Yas replied. “You have to really feel that sense of you!”
“You make it sound simple,” Eddie replied. “I have no idea how to do that!”
“You will,” Yas replied, positively.
“What do we do about Orfeo?” asked Sam, looking ahead, still irritated by Eddie.
Yas looked across at Eddie.
“Do you think you can try again?” she asked, as gently as she could. “We need to try to get to Akoni and Prana.”
Eddie looked nervous but nodded.
“Okay,” Yas said, still holding onto Sam as if riding pillion passenger on a motorcycle. “Sam, you and Eddie distract them. Then if we move up close, I’ll jump down.”
“Okay,” agreed Sam. He looked across at Eddie, taking a deep breath. “You okay?” he asked, trying to make peace more than checking on how he was.
Eddie nodded.
“Let’s do this then,” he said. He urged his carpet forwards again and started forming word arrows. Yas and Eddie each created word balls and threw them forwards also, keeping the soldiers fully occupied.
“You’re doing okay,” Yas urged to Eddie, telepathically. “Keep the link open to me. I can help you.”
“Okay,” he replied shakily.
They looked down below. Orfeo was watching the carpets moving about behind. Yas waited for him to assert more control over Eddie, but he didn’t. Instead, he turned and looked forwards again.
“Why’s he not retaliating?” asked Yas to Sam. “He did before.”
“Let’s just take it,” urged Sam. “Don’t jinx it!”
Yas checked in again on Eddie and he nodded at her. Sam motioned to him to move up next to his carpet and he then motioned to the riderless carpet which had been trailing them to move ahead.
“How did you do that?” asked Yas, impressed.
“I didn’t know if that would work actually,” replied Sam. “Let’s see if I can create a distraction.”
He thought about sending the carpet in a suicidal run to the two guards. It dropped down lower and accelerated, the soldiers completely disregarding it because no-one was on board.
Yas watched wide-eyed as the carpet sailed straight towards the two soldiers then started to unknit just as it reached them. Strands whipped outwards and around the men and pulled on them, disrupting their defence.
“How are you doing that?” she asked Sam again.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “It’s working though, isn’t it?”
“Keep doing it,” she said, kissing him gently on the cheek.
Eddie moved forwards, continuing to drop word balls down onto the raft. He managed to land one on the rear section and it split the back, causing the soldiers to lose balance. Sam asked the carpet to pull them backwards at the same time and it yanked the two soldiers off the back and into the tunnel.
“Get closer!” Yas instructed Sam. He commanded their carpet forwards and down, readying themselves to drop onto the raft. They started to conjure blue word balls to throw at Orfeo as a distraction.
Orfeo chose that moment to glance behind. He saw them and raised his arm. Something started writhing its way from his fingertips.
“Uh oh!” said Sam, readying himself for whatever Orfeo might throw at them.
He and Yas jumped down onto the back of the raft, throwing word balls.
“Yas! Lookout!” Akoni shouted, seeing what they couldn’t.
A twisted rope of black words had snaked its way along the raft, past Akoni and Prana. The ends whipped and grabbed Sam and Yas by the ankles before they had time to react. Orfeo shot his hand upwards sending the other end of the word rope into the ceiling.
“Oh crap!” Sam shouted.
The raft dropped downwards, away from Yas and Sam who were upended and lifted into the air.
“Aargh!” Yas cried out as she twisted and fought to keep Orfeo in sight.
Orfeo smiled cruelly in response and dropped away into darkness.
“I’ve got you!” shouted Eddie from behind, slamming into both of them. He cut the word rope and they dropped down onto his carpet.
“The wall! Eddie!” Sam shouted.
They had no time to avoid it. The dark wall loomed quickly, and they braced themselves for impact.
“Arrrrgh!” they all shouted.
Instead, though, the wall gave way and they passed through. It was a doorway into another place. The carpet unknitted and they dropped out of a storm pipe, rolling onto a wet muddy shore.
“Ewwh!” Yas moaned, coming to a stop. She slapped her hands into the mud in frustration.
It was dark and they were on the banks of a river. Ahead of them and behind was a city, with its man-made lights and sounds. Yas vaguely recognised the skyline, but it was difficult to place.
She tried to prise herself up and fell back down again.
Sam got to his feet and squelched over to her. He leant
a mud-covered hand to help pull her up. She looked at it ungratefully for a moment, but then pulled her hand out of the mud and grabbed onto him. He pulled, but lost his balance, falling down beside her.
“Arrgghh… Great!” she said, frustrated, as he splashed her with more mud. “Are you freaking kidding me? How are we going to save them now!”
She looked at Sam, annoyed and frustrated and then turned away, emotion overcoming her. She started to tear up, frustration bubbling to the surface. She tried to wipe her face with the back of her muddy hands, smearing more mud across, instead.
“Sam, what are we going to do now?” she moaned, defeated. “We’ve lost them!”
Sam sat himself up and looked at her. Then he tried to wipe her face too with his hand, clearing mud away, but ending up smearing more of it across her face.
He smiled and then started laughing.
“What?” she asked testily, a little indignant.
“I’ve never really seen you lose it, or not know what to do next,” he said, calmly. “All the time I’ve known you, you’ve known what to do. What to say.”
She wiped her face again with the back of her hand. “Really?” she asked. “Because it generally feels like I’m winging it.”
“Well, you make it look so… thought out,” Sam complimented, smiling at her.
She relaxed and smiled back at him. “Thanks!” She leaned forwards for a hug. He returned it.
“Don’t worry,” he said, reassuringly. “We’ll sort this out together.”
Knowing that they had lost in the chase actually helped. Bizarrely, Yas could let go of that and be more in the moment.
“Where do you think we are?” she asked.
“I don’t know for sure,” replied Sam. “But we’ll find them. I promise.”
She nodded.
They sat and listened to traffic and sirens in the background for a moment.
“We’re in some kind of city,” Eddie said, stating the obvious. He had just got himself to his feet and was making his way towards them, struggling against the mud.
“Really, Sherlock?” replied Sam, sarcastically.
“I’m sorry,” Eddie said. “I lost it there for a moment. Orfeo managed to get in my head again. It’s hard to stop him.”
“Yeah, well,” replied Sam, not really sure what to say. Eddie still irritated him and he wasn’t prepared to accept the apology.
Yas was, though. She tried to get herself up. “Eddie, it’s okay,” she said, reaching out for him. She half stepped, half tripped and fell towards him. Eddie half caught her but then he lost his balance and slipped. Skidding around for a moment and trying to keep their balance, they laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation.
Sam stared, annoyed. He felt as though Eddie was the main attraction again and he didn’t like it.
Then, he caught sight of something which jolted him from his green-eyed reverie. A luxury motor yacht was making its way up the river in front of them. He wondered whose it was.
“Ssh,” he called behind him to Yas and Eddie. He didn’t want to give away their position until he knew more. It was too late though.
“Hello!” echoed a familiar voice.
“Orfeo!” seethed Yas, slipping and falling again.
“Oh for…!” she exclaimed in frustration. She started to push herself up again.
Sam got to his feet, in readiness for whatever Orfeo might do next.
“Who did you send?” Orfeo shouted. “Tell me now!”
“What?” replied Sam, cupping his ear, not sure what he’d heard. “What are you talking about?”
“In the tunnel,” Orfeo continued. “The tremor. Who did you send?”
“What did he say?” asked Yas, now back on her feet, looking confused.
“He said… who did we send?” replied Sam, shrugging his shoulders.
“To where?” asked Yas.
Sam looked at Orfeo. “To where?” he shouted.
Orfeo gestured back angrily to them. “Meddling kids!” he shouted. “Just stay out of my way.”
“What?” shouted Yas. Then to Sam, she asked, “did he just say, ‘meddling kids’?”
“Yup,” confirmed Sam. “That’s really weird. Like I already feel like we’re having some sort of supernatural chase. When do we get to unmask the villain?” he grinned.
“You look like drowned rats!” Orfeo gloated, changing his tune. He was clearly able to make out where they were and what state they were in.
“Stay out my way and you may live another day,” he baited.
In the dark, Yas could only just about make out his outline. She wiped her face again to try to help clear her view more. It didn’t make any difference.
“What’s he doing?” asked Eddie.
“Rubbing our noses in it,” said Yas. “He’s still got Akoni and Prana.” She strained her eyes to see if she could spot either of them. She figured that he would have them in plain sight, to make it clear he had won.
She watched as the yacht started to move away and spotted something in front of it. Whatever it was, its silhouette was visible against the white hull.
“What’s that?” she said quietly.
“What?” asked Sam.
“In front of the boat?”
“A dolphin, or something?” rationalised Eddie. “No wait! That’s the worm! Wow!”
“If only we had a flashlight or something,” Sam muttered to himself. He felt a tingling sensation in his hand and looked down. A flashlight finished forming and switched itself on. He understood what that meant.
“Yas! Guess what?” he said, shining the beam in the direction of the creature.
“What is it?” asked Yas, squelching her way over to Sam, for a better look.
“We’re still in a realm,” said Sam.
“What? How d’you…” Yas looked down at Sam’s hand. “Where did you get that?” she asked.
“We’re still in a realm,” he said, smiling at her. “And we can wield word magic.”
“Awesome,” commented Yas. She tried to think about different magic they could create and throw. A word ball partially started to form in her palm, but she was unfocussed. The boat was moving further away from them. The magic spluttered and winked out, dropping back into the mud where it sent a ripple around their feet. The surface of the mud changed for a moment, becoming drier.
“How can we stop them?” Yas asked, feeling a little defeated.
“I’ve got an idea,” Sam said, noticing what had happened. He crouched down and put his hands into the mud. In response the mud transformed around them. They were lifted up onto a wooden jetty. Water flowed in where they had been standing and two jet skis started to form against the dock.
“Oh, my god!” shrieked Yas, wide-eyed. “Sam! I love you!” She hugged him and kissed him again on the cheek.
“Well,” he said, playing false modesty. “I try my best.”
“We’re still covered in mud, though,” moaned Eddie, looking down at himself.
Sam raised his eyes to the heavens in exasperation.
Yas put her hand on Sam’s shoulder to placate him. She could sense his growing frustration with Eddie. Instantly his clothes transformed into a wetsuit.
“Awesome!” approved Sam, looking down at his skin-tight outfit. He looked at Yas. “What about you?”
He touched her on the shoulder and her clothes transformed into a matching wetsuit too.
“Oh my god,” she said, feeling the warmth of the suit around her after being wet and muddy. “I wish we could do this outside of the realms!”
She reached out to Eddie also and very soon he was wearing wet gear too.
“I can’t go out there on that!” moaned Eddie. “I can’t swim well.”
Sam created a water ring and threw it towards Eddie. “There you go!” he said, mockingly.
Yas sent magic to intercept it though and transformed it into a life jacket.
She gave Sam a look as if to say, ‘don’t be mean!’ He underst
ood and smiled in response.
“Let’s go!” he said.
He and Yas mounted the larger jet ski and Eddie awkwardly tried to mount the other. He was caught unawares by its buoyancy on the water and nearly fell off. He hugged the body of the jet ski to recover his balance, then sat up slowly.
Sam, meanwhile, had started his jet ski, gunned the engine and roared off out into the water, with Yas as pillion passenger behind him.
He looked behind to see a huge flume of water shooting up into the air, spraying Eddie. Eddie emerged out from the spray looking wide-eyed and manic, fighting to control the jet ski.
“Now this is what I’m talking about!” Sam shouted behind to Yas. “Like spies, right?”
“Let’s just catch up to Orfeo,” said Yas, trying to calm Sam’s excitement. She didn’t doubt that Orfeo would still have tricks up his sleeve. After all, they were in a realm and he had much more experience of word magic then they did.
Eddie, being on a lighter jet-ski, gained on Yas and Sam and then moved out to their left. He looked across, a mix of thrill and fear on his face.
Yas laughed at the sight but checked in with him.
“You okay?” she shouted.
“Yes!” Eddie shouted back, excited. “I’ve never done anything like this before!”
“It’s awesome, right?” agreed Sam, smiling across at Eddie. Whatever frustration had been there before had been forgotten. Yas was again reminded how quickly Sam could shake off negative feelings, as he had when his dad had been kidnapped.
“Yours is faster,” Sam shouted to Eddie, starting to think of a plan. Orfeo’s luxury yacht was ahead and they were catching up, for now. “You go to the left and see if you can get alongside. We’ll distract them this time.”
Eddie nodded and gunned the engine again on his jet-ski. He bolted ahead, his wake causing Sam and Yas’s jet-ski to jump slightly.
“Yas. You fire magic,” shouted Sam over his shoulder. “So we can see how many others there are. Then maybe the three of us can get on board.”
“Okay,” agreed Yas. She readied herself.
Ahead, Orfeo looked out the back of his yacht and spotted the two jet-skis approaching. It looked like he was talking but they couldn’t hear above the noise of the jet-ski.
The Word Guardians: and the Twisting Tales Page 21
