by Luca Tarenzi
Thaw must have seen it as well because he looked at her again, but once again she refused to give the signal. They were still too far away. If the guards sounded the alarm now, the three of them wouldn't be able to reach the battery.
As she was thinking about the mound of boxes, she failed to watch where she put her foot and stumbled. The Boggart behind her went straight into her back, and she turned around sharply, bearing her teeth. The Boggart looked at her wide-eyed, unmoving and then fell face down.
Needleye watched uncomprehending for a second before realizing an arrow was sticking out from the top of his back. Chaos followed.
Three arrows came out of nowhere. Two fell into empty space, but the third hit the guard behind Thaw, leaving that Boggart screaming and trying to pull it out. The shaft came out, but an instant after he threw it away, he fell on his side like a giant statue being toppled over.
Thaw reacted with lightning speed. He grabbed the spear from the guard before he even hit the ground, whirled it around and drove it into the stomach of the nearest Boggart, the one holding the weapons. Another arrow hissed millimeters by Needleye, who divided and then rolled to reach the body of the Boggart felled by Thaw, all the time looking for Verdigris.
In the same instant, Verdigris threw herself to the ground and, when the guard behind tried to smash her with the back of a spear, she shifted to the side and tried to kick his legs out from under him. The Boggart lurched and braced his spear, but then an arrow struck him in the thigh. Verdigris wasted no time watching him fall, choosing instead to take cover under some plasterboard. In an instant she was gone. An arrow smacked into the slab just behind her.
Still on the ground, Needleye grabbed the first sword she could get hold of and was able to see that Thaw had recovered his two modified cog blades before a new volley of arrows forced him to take cover beside her, behind the paralyzed guard.
"What the hell's going on?" he hissed in her ear.
"I don't know!"
Needleye looked up. The final Boggart was also trying to escape, but before he managed to find cover behind a beer can, an arrow struck him on the heel, sending him sprawling.
In the ensuing silence, excited voices could be heard coming from the tents.
Needleye gritted her teeth. "They saw us."
"Maybe not."
Needleye twisted her neck and looked up, but she couldn't see the camp from that position.
Thaw also looked up, but he was focusing on the boxes covering the battery. "It's not too far."
"Are you kidding?"
Needleye tried to gauge how far it was. Ten feet? Twelve? Plus it was uphill.
Thaw shook his head. "I can get there."
"You'll be alone, without any cover from us." Needleye spoke more loudly. "Verdigris! How are you? Are you injured?"
"No! I'm fine."
Her friend's voice was clear and firm, reassuring Needleye.
"Can you get here?"
She waited a moment before replying. "If I'm not hit by an arrow."
Needleye scanned the opposite side of the valley, but saw nobody. Who the hell was firing these arrows? It must be an exceptional archer to be able to hit a Moryan at that distance.
Who was he trying to hit anyway? It seemed like they were meant for both them and the Boggarts.
"Verdigris is the slowest of the three of us," hissed Thaw. "If you get her into the open, our attacker will definitely finish her off."
Needleye thought for a second. "Okay, we'll go to her. She has found better shelter."
"Better than a Boggart having a nap?" said Thaw, prodding the guard with one of his cogs and causing him to groan with his mouth closed.
"We'll go at the same time. It doesn't matter how good he is, he'll never be able to hit us both in such a short space."
Thaw nodded.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
"Go!"
They darted out together and headed down to the piece of plasterboard. Two arrows whistled by them, but they were both too late, the archer seemingly unable to decide who to hit. It was just what Needleye had hoped for.
They dove under the piece of board, tumbling on top of Verdigris.
"So far, so good," said Thaw. Verdigris glared at him. "Now what?"
Needleye opened her mouth, but in that moment a chorus of whistles came from the encampment.
15
"Needleye." Verdigris' cloud vibrated like a beetle's wings. "We have to retreat. This is madness."
Needleye looked at the yellow boxes and pursed her lips.
"We've been through this before." Her friend grabbed her arm, squeezing it hard. "Please. That battery has already cost too much blood."
"It will cost a hundred times as much if we leave it where it is," mumbled Needleye. "Goblin blood."
Verdigris was silent, but her Glamour vibrated even more furiously.
Needleye closed her eyes. She was under no illusion; it was now or never. If they withdrew now, there wouldn't be another chance.
Verdigris was also right. There was no way they could make it. The distance was too great and the Boggarts were coming. Plus, the mysterious archer was out there, somewhere.
It was one thing to risk one's own skin to destroy the battery, it was quite something else if there was no hope of success...
Thaw was propped up on his elbows, one of his cogs raised. "Are you still willing to run?"
Verdigris swallowed. "Thaw..."
"We must be swifter than the wind." Thaw put his weapon on his wrist and pressed. "All three of us."
Needleye opened her eyes wide. "What are you doing?"
Thaw raised his arm, now streaked with a line a blood. "It is not enough if I run fast. You said it yourself. Not this time." He held his wrist out to them. "Drink."
Needleye opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.
A shiver smelling like pungent alcohol – Was it doubt? Urgency? The realization he'd passed a point of no return? - ran through Thaw's cloud. "I don't know how long it will last on you. I've never done this before." Needleye remained still, so he shook his wrist in her face. "Drink, for heaven’s sake, before I change my mind!"
Needleye withdrew and turned to look at Verdigris. "It has to be all three of us."
Verdigris looked back at her, her eyes larger than ever.
"It's not an order. I couldn't even if I wanted to. I'm no longer a princess. I'm an exile, like you. Like all of us."
Verdigris' Glamour stopped vibrating, taking on a cold, unmoving sensation. "They'll kill us."
"Better here than elsewhere," said Thaw quietly. "I'd rather go in battle than die of hunger or become seagull food."
Without uttering a word, Verdigris took his wrist and drank first.
Needleye looked at the drop of blood on the corner of her mouth, black on light blue. Then Thaw removed his arm and pushed it at Needleye. "Hurry! They're nearly here."
Needleye drank.
This strange Glamour seemed to fill her insides like an icy waterfall and made it feel like a million pins were touching her skin. For a second, in total silence, she watched as Thaw withdrew his arm and brushed the blood away with his other hand, a gesture that looked impossibly slow. In normal time, it couldn't have taken more than a second.
Thaw's Glamour altered time.
Then the world came back into focus, sounds exploding in her ears.
"We must go now!" hissed Thaw.
Needleye gripped the handle of her sword and looked at Verdigris, recognizing the same sense of astonishment in her eyes that was, she was sure, written on her own face.
"We go together to the battery. Then, Thaw you go ahead and we'll cover you."
Verdigris took the sword Thaw held out to her and nodded, just once.
Needleye darted out from behind the plasterboard, her companions right behind her.
It was like running in a dream. The trash slipped away under their feet, like a stream swollen by the rain, but ten times faster. The B
oggart warriors were rushing down the slope, but Needleye realized instantly they'd never cut them off before they reached the battery. Even the three or four arrows the invisible archer got off seemed to slip away, only moving slightly faster than a leaf falling from a tree. It took a mere instant to be out of their range as no archer - no matter who it was - could reach them that far away.
The ten feet between them and the battery disappeared in a flash, swallowed up by time that didn't exist. Needleye reached the mound of cardboard before she realized it.
Thaw jumped on the boxes, knocking them away to find the white and blue plastic side of the battery. He sawed at it with both modified cogs, his hands moving so fast that Needleye couldn't make them out, even with the senses she possessed in that moment. The air filled with the stench of burnt metal and plastic.
Needleye placed herself in front of him and pointed to Verdigris. "Protect the other side!"
Needleye waited just long enough to check that she obeyed and then turned to face the first Boggart that reached her, brandishing a sword.
She'd never fought like this before. Her opponents were incapable of avoiding her blows, seemingly unable to even see them most of the time. Needleye struck the first Boggart with a cross blow, easily parried the counter-attack and finished him off by stabbing him in the stomach.
The next two opponents were seen off with equal ease and, for the first time in her life, she found herself smiling in the heat of battle. This was really happening. We might win.
It was then that she saw the rat.
The approaching warriors stepped aside to let it pass and, as Needleye realized what was in front of her, she failed to block a spear blow from the nearest Boggart.
It was clearly a rat, but such a large one had never been seen in the Landfill before. Its head was crooked and lumpy, as if bumps were protruding from the inside, trying to escape. Its mouth had monstrous, distorted fangs. A Boggart wearing armor sat on its balding back, gripping a tuft of fur in one hand and holding a sword in the other - a sword Needleye recognized immediately. It was a sword made from a flick knife, the same one wielded by the warrior she'd faced two days earlier in front of the very same battery.
She felt like an invisible circle was closing in on her.
The Boggart she was fighting moved aside, leaving the enormous rat before her, its empty, pale eyes staring like tiny moons. Its odor was rancid; old meat and blood.
Needleye attacked without thinking, trusting in her unnatural speed as she darted forward, aiming her sword at the creature's neck. It did nothing to avoid her. The blade cut through the fur and skin, but the wound was almost invisible.
Needleye opened her eyes wide; it was like trying to cut a piece of dried leather!
The moment of surprise turned out to be critical. The mounted Boggart swiped at her from above. She managed to dodge it just in time, but couldn't do anything else. The rat bashed her side with its snout, knocking her to the side.
For an instant, the pain blocked her vision. She rolled, crashing into a pipe poking out of the trash. She instantly tried to get up, but the rat thumped one of it is legs onto her chest and drove her against the ground with immense force.
Needleye tried to scream, but nothing came out. The creature pressed down until her ribs began to creak. All she could see was the rat's fanged mouth, its breath filled with the odor of poison. It was disgusting and she would have thrown up had she not realized, in that terrible instant, that those were her last breaths...
Suddenly, the monster let out a splitting squeal and jumped to the side, freeing her.
Needleye gasped for breath, struggling to get out of the way. As her lungs filled up again with air, she realized that everything was covered with the intense smell of the acid pouring out.
She used the pipe to pull herself up and look at the battery. A long hole ran along the side of the battery and liquid spilled out, smoking and bubbling as it hit the trash. All around, the Boggarts were madly trying to escape. One of them tripped and fell, ending up in the path of the acid. When it reached him, even the sound of the hissing liquid didn't cover his horrific cries.
Thaw had done it...
He'd done it!
The monstrous rat squealed again, rising on its back legs as the rider tried desperately to regain control. The animal's tail had been attacked by the acid and it was now thrusting it wildly, spreading the fumes that came off of it.
Needleye got to her feet and looked for the others. Verdigris was no longer visible, hidden by all the enemies on the other side. Thaw was hanging onto the battery, obviously trying to reach her, but his movements were the slow, imprecise movements of someone exhausted.
It was then that Needleye realized her own unnatural speed was also gone. The Glamour from the Sirens had lasted no longer than a few seconds and now every last drop had been consumed.
She felt as if the land was giving way beneath her feet.
"Thaw! Wait!" Needleye moved this way and that, trying to find some way around the crazed rat.
The rat, with the rider pulling furiously at it, moved backwards sharply, its hindquarters crashing into the battery and knocking it slightly.
For a second, Needleye was unable to move. It was like she was watching some fatal recording of what had happened before...and what would keep happening.
Thaw was clinging with one hand, grappling for some grip with the other. He looked down at the stream of acid below, realizing that if he fell or jumped, he'd end up in there.
The rat crashed back into the battery, by now half-empty and much lighter. As Needleye watched, it toppled over and began to tumble down the slope in an avalanche of garbage and fumes and Thaw.
In the ensuing seconds of unadulterated chaos, Needleye tried desperately to reach Verdigris, swinging wildly at anything in her way and not caring about any blows she received. When the rider on the rat came up beside her, she just had time to see the giant sword as it smacked her flat in the face before she was engulfed by blackness.
The Boggart with the giant sword threw her down in front of a large tent with a strange diagonal roof made of cardboard.
Her hands and legs had been tied with wire, like a beast to be slaughtered. In truth, there was little need for such precautions as her head was so sore she couldn't move. The short ride on the back of the rat had been agony.
Verdigris was flung next to her, remaining completely still for a few seconds before raising her head slightly. As Needleye couldn't even prop herself up on her elbows, she couldn't see her face, but she could see that her mass of curls was caked in blood.
She tried to call her, but only managed an incomprehensible sound. Part of her face was so swollen she couldn't open her mouth properly or see out of one eye.
Then the Boggart with the giant sword stood next to her, kicking her in the stomach so hard she curled right up.
"Stop, Vanadium. That's no way to treat something valuable."
Needleye was engulfed in a cloud of Glamour thick with ozone and static electricity, like the air just before a storm. She blinked the one tear-filled eye she could use and eventually managed to see reasonably well. The entrance to the tent was now open. In front stood a tall, wiry Boggart in dark robes.
His face wasn't soot-colored like the warriors and his skin looked like the bark of an old tree. His hair was incredibly long and powder colored, tied into three braids that fell down over his shoulders like a cloak.
Needleye had only seen him once before, as a child, and from a distance. Still, she instantly recognized him.
Waspider.
"Princess Needleye." His mouth wasn't smiling, but his words were. "This is an unexpected visit. Especially in such....informal circumstances." He moved towards her, bending down to look carefully at her but making no move to touch her. "You really have grown a lot. I almost didn't recognize you. It's amazing how quickly time rushes by! Still, I never forget a face. But, tell me, who's your escort?"
He moved across to Verdigri
s and Needleye tried to move positions, but merely managed to fall onto her back. A striking pain shot out from her temples.
Waspider bent down towards Verdigris, but she didn't even lift her head so he pushed her hair aside with his hand.
He bent right down to her, smelling her with his long nose. His eyes shot open in surprise. "A Sluagh!" He bent down again to look at her even more closely before standing up and clasping his hands to his face, his fingers fidgeting restlessly. "A true seer. Born without breathing. Born dead. But returned to the living, bringing with her the vision of the dead, a vision that sees the truth beneath all tricks."
Needleye really wanted to close her good eye, but forced herself to keep looking. Something in the king's voice gave her goose bumps. It was his unspoken promise of unknown horrors.
"What could one do with such Glamour? What could one see? For how long? How much could one extract from her and give to someone else?" Waspider indicated two of his Boggarts. "Lock her up, but look after her." Then, he turned to Needleye and, for the first time, he really did smile. "Don't worry, we also have plenty to speak about, princess. Just as soon as you are better, of course. You are my guest, for now." He bowed his head in a sign of goodbye. "Believe me, you'll receive all the attention these circumstances demand."
He turned to move off.
Needleye used all her breath to produce a sound that almost resembled a word.
"Oh… giv…"
The king turned back. "Yes?"
Needleye muttered something, then stared at him as she gasped between her swollen lips.
Waspider bent down to her, engulfing her in his ozone cloud. "Sorry, I didn't quite understand."
Needleye breathed in again, carefully, and spat in his face.
Waspider stood still for at least three heartbeats, his face a mask without expression. Then, he broke into a fit of laughter.
