Song of the Sword

by Edward Willett

  Aunt Phyllis pointed at the backpack. “Will you be able to...um...‘move’ all that?”

  “I think so.” I hope so.

  “Then go. I don’t know what our friend outside has planned, but he could be breaking down the door any minute now.”

  “We can’t leave you –”

  Aunt Phyllis cut her off. “Go!” She lifted the baseball bat, expression fierce. “I told you, leave him to me.”

  It didn’t feel right, but they had no choice. “Be careful,” Ariane said, then surprised Aunt Phyllis – and herself – by flinging her arms around her. “Don’t take any chances.”

  Aunt Phyllis squeezed her tightly with her one free arm. “Look who’s talking.” She pushed Ariane away. “Now go. Go!” She hesitated. “Um...how do you go, exactly?”

  Ariane laughed. She suddenly felt giddy with excitement and eagerness. It felt like...like the day she had finally mustered the courage to dive off the high board at the swimming pool. “We start by going to the bathroom.”

  Wally and Aunt Phyllis both laughed. Once in the bathroom, Ariane started the tap. Her heart pounded, and when she reached out and took Wally’s hand, she felt his pulse racing too. “Good-bye, Aunt Phyllis. I don’t know how long this will take –”

  “However long it takes, take it,” Aunt Phyllis said.

  Wally blinked. “I just thought of something. When I don’t come home tonight, Ms. Carson will –”

  “Leave her to me,” Aunt Phyllis said. “I’ll tell her you’re staying here overnight – and not to worry, I’m chaperoning. And I’ll make your excuses to the school tomorrow too. I can cover you for one day, anyway. Now, both of you, go! Just...be safe.”

  “I promise,” Ariane said, though they both knew it was a promise she couldn’t keep. She put her free hand into the stream of water falling from the tap, paused a moment to listen for the water’s call, and then...

  Plunged.

  The water embraced her instantly and warmly, but she could feel it resisting Wally and the backpack. Her power poured out and overcame that resistance. She couldn’t keep it up for long. But this time, unlike last time, she knew exactly where she wanted to go. Keeping her mind fiercely focused, she raced north, through pipes and ponds, rivers and rapids, creeks and cataracts, toward the shard of Excalibur.

  North. North. North!

  Though she had no way to measure time, the journey seemed to be taking far longer than the trip to Hudson Bay. Wally and the backpack dragged at her, and Ariane began to fear that the duration of the journey would exceed the limits of her power.

  All the time, the song of the sword sang in her head. She could almost see the shard, burning in her mind like a fiery beacon, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t reach it. It seemed to be in a tightly enclosed space, too small to accommodate them. All she could do was get as close to it as possible, and hope that was close enough. With the last strength remaining in her, she found a body of water that would serve, and released the magic.

  Water geysered as they materialized. With her power depleted, the cold lashed around her body and limbs like steel cables squeezing out her breath, and belatedly she realized their simple, deadly mistake:

  She couldn’t swim wearing a backpack.

  It pulled her under like an anchor tied to her back. She clutched instinctively at Wally’s wrist, even as she remembered that he couldn’t swim and she would pull him down with her. But he was holding her up somehow. Amazed, she quit struggling...and found that her feet touched bottom. Feeling more than a little foolish, she straightened up, and her head broke into the open air.

  The clouds glowed a sickly gray-orange, reflecting dozens of sodium-vapour lights hung on posts and buildings at least half a mile beyond the far shore of the large pond in which they’d materialized. The cloud-light cast a ghostly pallor across the snow-covered ground. Somewhere out of sight, machinery growled and grumbled like restless dragons.

  Ariane wrapped her arms around her shivering body and splashed toward the shore. “We’ve g-got to g-get warm!”

  ~ • ~

  Wally splashed onto the icy shore just ahead of Ariane, his teeth chattering so hard he thought the enamel would crack. Having to materialize in water really sucked. Especially for someone like him, who swam about as well as a rock. And especially when the first shard was in the Northwest Territories. Why couldn’t it have been in Florida?

  At least it was warm for the Northwest Territories: right around freezing, he guessed. Otherwise they might have materialized under ice too thick to break through. He shuddered (or shivered, it was hard to tell the difference) at the thought.

  Still, even if their clothes weren’t freezing solid in the wind, it was plenty cold enough for him to sense Old Man Hypothermia lurking just around the corner. “C-can’t you w-wish the w-water off of us, l-like you d-did last t-time?”

  Ariane had collapsed on the ground, head down, and didn’t even look up. “C-can’t,” she said dully. “I’m u-used up. N-nothing left.”

  “G-guess we do this the old-f-fashioned way, th-then.” With clumsy fingers, Wally helped Ariane take off the backpack, opened it up, and started pulling out supplies.

  Everything was dry – the waterproof bags and backpack had seen to that. The tiny two-person pop-open tent went up without a hitch, and he had the space heater with its frighteningly small tank of propane running in moments. Wally stood outside the tent and froze for an agonizing additional five minutes while Ariane put on dry clothes, then it was his turn to strip and struggle into dry things while she waited outside. Shortly after that, though, they were both snug in their super-lightweight fold-to-next-to-nothing “space-blanket” sleeping bags. They sat quietly, warming up and munching on high-protein hiking bars.

  Wally licked the last crumbs of his bar off his fingers and crumpled the wrapper. “So far, so good. But what happens next? Do we try to find the shard tonight?”

  There was no reply. He glanced over at the other sleeping bag. Ariane had slumped over onto her side, eyes closed. Her mouth hung slightly open and something very close to a snore issued from it.

  I guess that answers that. Wally grinned. Wally’s Second Law of Sidekickery: Sleep when the heroine sleeps.

  If he could. Wally had learned tricks like making a fire and what to eat in the forest in his Outdoor Education class, but so far, they’d only made day trips, never slept outdoors. And for the Knights, “camping” meant a trip in the big silver motor home tucked away in the third bay of the garage. The thin floor of the tent wasn’t exactly the air mattress he was used to on those trips, and the ground felt hard as...well, as frozen ground, though the layer of snow helped cushion it some. Well, it’s just as well if I don’t sleep. Someone should probably keep watch...just in case.

  He lay back in his own sleeping bag, hands behind his head, resigning himself to a sleepless night.

  He woke inside a tent aglow in sunlight, just as the flap was flung wide from outside.

  “All right,” a man’s voice said gruffly. “Come out where we can see you.”

  From somewhere nearby came the roar of a low-flying airplane.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  A Pair of Lovebirds

  Rex Major gazed avidly out the window as the Twin Otter circled the Thunderhill Diamond Mine on a bright Monday morning. The blizzard had carried on through most of Sunday, but had finally blown itself out shortly after sunset. Over the engine noise, he only heard snatches of Ursu’s tour-guide patter from the seat beside him. “The largest building is the process plant...runs twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. That’s the main power station...diesel engines...exhaust heat recovered to heat buildings. And we call that the utilidor: it’s a covered walkway so workers don’t have to go outside during bad weather. The ore stockpile there lets us keep working even if regular ore supplies are interrupted...ammonium nitrate storage plant over there. We use ANFO – ammonium nitrate and fuel oil – for blasting...”

/>   He went on, but Major tuned him out. He still didn’t know exactly where the shard of Excalibur was hidden, but it was down there somewhere – he could feel it, a glimmering sliver of the power of Faerie that had once been his and would be again.

  A blue blotch on the far side of the small lake south of the mine drew his attention. A yellow pickup truck had pulled up not far from it and he could see four men approaching it on foot.

  “What’s going on there?” he said, interrupting Ursu’s glowing account of the workings of the mine’s environmentally friendly sewage treatment and disposal system.

  Ursu leaned over him to get a better look. “Probably hunters. We get them from time to time. Security is on it.”

  The pilot’s voice came on the intercom. “Making our final approach now, gentlemen. I hope you enjoyed your flight!”

  Major stared at the tent. Something about it bothered him, but he couldn’t figure out why. He put it out of his mind and settled back into his seat. Excalibur, or at least the first precious shard of it, was waiting for him.

  As long as they didn’t crash on landing.

  Stupid way to fly, he thought for the umpteenth time, gripping the arms of the chair as the air got bumpier closer to the ground. Give me magic any time.

  ~ • ~

  Ariane, coatless, stood shivering in the snow beside Wally, facing the three men who had woken them up so abruptly. In the distance, the sound of the airplane engine changed pitch and then died away as the plane came in for a landing. Ariane wondered if Rex Major himself might be on that plane, arriving for his tour of the mine, but she didn’t take her attention off the three men. Each was armed with a pistol in a black leather holster, and two of them, standing next to a bright yellow pickup truck with an extended cab, also held rifles. Each wore a heavy blue uniform jacket with the Thunderhill Diamonds logo stitched over one breast pocket and a name over the other. Black letters on white armbands read SECURITY.

  “Anyone else in there?” said the man who had opened the tent flap. DREZNER, Ariane read on his jacket. He looked tall enough to play in the NBA and broad enough to be a professional wrestler.

  “N-no,” said Wally. “There’s just us.” With his head tousled and a big red mark on his left cheek from a wrinkle he’d slept on, he looked even younger than usual.

  “I’ll take a look anyway, if you don’t mind.” Drezner’s tone made it clear he didn’t care if they minded or not.

  Ariane and Wally stepped aside. The other three men kept a close watch on them while Drezner went inside the tent. They could hear him rummaging through their things. After a moment he came out again, carrying their coats in one hand and the backpack in the other. He put the backpack on the ground and held out the coats. As they gratefully pulled them on, he said, “All right, what are you two kids doing here? This is private property.”

  “We didn’t see any signs,” Ariane said truthfully. “We’re just...passing by.”

  “You don’t have enough supplies to be ‘passing by.’ We’re a hundred kilometres from the nearest village.” Drezner put his hands on his hips. “How did you get here?”

  Something in the man’s tone reminded Ariane of Mr. Stanton, the vice-principal. She could feel her temper rising, but she held it down, refusing to give in to the temptation to say, “We swam.” Instead, she said nothing.

  Wally wasn’t as reticent. “What does it matter? We’re just a couple of kids. You said so yourself. Surely you don’t think we’re here to try to steal your diamonds.”

  Drezner gave him a sharp look. Ariane winced. I don’t think that helped, Wally. She wished the Lady’s power included telepathy. Since it didn’t, she had to make do with a frown in Wally’s direction. He gave no sign he had seen it.

  “You don’t look like a threat,” Drezner said. “But whoever brought you here could be – and you couldn’t possibly have gotten here on your own. Maybe you’re just here to divert our attention from something happening somewhere else. So we’ll be detaining you until we figure it out.”

  “You’ve got no right to detain us!” Wally said. “We haven’t done anything!”

  Not yet, Ariane thought. She glanced over her shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse of the airplane they had heard. But the airstrip was out of sight on the other side of a low ridge. A road ran down from the ridge and past the east side of the lake to the main compound.

  Drezner followed her gaze and frowned. He pulled a walkie-talkie from his belt. “Security Five to Security One. Smitty, is everything OK at the airstrip? Over.”

  “Everything’s fine, Drez,” a voice crackled. “Mr. Ursu and Rex Major just landed. Why do you ask? Over.”

  “Got a couple of trespassers,” Drezner said, his eyes never leaving Ariane’s face. “Looks like a pair of teen lovebirds –” Ariane blushed, and Wally turned bright red – “but you never know. Keep me posted. Security Five, over and out.” He hooked the walkie-talkie back onto his belt. “Awfully big coincidence, you two turning up just when we’ve got a VIP visitor.”

  Ariane kept silent, but Wally heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Drez – can I call you Drez?”

  “No,” Drezner said.

  Wally barely hesitated. “OK. Well, uh...sir...we’re not, uh, ‘lovebirds’ – may I just say, ‘Yuck!’ – she’s my sister.”

  Yuck? Ariane thought with a touch of indignation.

  Wally waved one hand in a vaguely westerly direction. “Our folks are camping over there a...a ways. We just...snuck off. For fun. We planned to be back in time for breakfast. But we overslept.” His voice gained confidence as his story developed. “Thank goodness you woke us up! They’re going to be awfully worried about us, aren’t they, sis?”

  Ariane nodded. “Awfully worried.”

  Drezner glanced to the west. “Over there ‘a ways,’ huh?”

  “Yes, sir.” Wally nodded.

  “And you ‘snuck off.’ For ‘fun.’”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “In the middle of a blizzard? Because until about seven o’clock last night, you could barely see your hand in front of your face out here.”

  Wally opened his mouth, then closed it again.

  Oops, Ariane thought.

  “Right.” Drezner unhooked his walkie-talkie again. “Security Five to HQ. Over.”

  “HQ here. What’s up, Drez? Over.”

  “Bill, our trespassers are a couple of kids. They claim they sneaked out of their parents’ camp somewhere west of here last night.”

  “Last night?” The voice on the other end sounded skeptical. “In that weather?”

  “That’s what they say.” Drezner watched Wally as he spoke. “Can we send the chopper up, check it out? If they’re telling the truth, their parents will be worried about them. Over.”

  “Sure thing. I think Carl is on standby...yeah. I’ll have him in the air in fifteen minutes. Over.”

  “Great. Over and out.” Drezner hung the walkie-talkie back on his belt.

  “Thanks a lot!” Wally said. He’d obviously decided it was too late to back down from his story now. “You shouldn’t have any trouble finding them – we can’t be more than five kilometres from the campsite.”

  “Uh huh.” Drezner did not sound convinced. “Well, until we do, you’re going to be our guests.” He turned his head. “Vasili, Tom, get the tent into the back.” The two guards by the truck slung their rifles over their shoulders and came forward. As they took down the tent with quick efficiency, Drezner put one heavy hand on Ariane’s shoulder and the other on Wally’s, and propelled them toward the truck. Ariane snatched up their backpack as they passed it. They waited by the vehicle until the tent had been loaded aboard, then Wally was placed in the front seat, between Drezner and “Vasili” (his name tag read MARAGOS), while Ariane got the back seat, directly behind Drezner and next to “Tom” (POITRAS).

  As Ariane climbed in, Drezner reached out and lifted Wally’s chin, revealing the band-aids she had put on his throat after the attack of the Lizardoid the
night before. “What happened to your neck?” Drezner said.

  “Shaving cuts,” Wally said. He rubbed his throat. “Tough beard. You know how it is.”

  Drezner snorted and turned the key to start the engine.

  As the truck rolled toward the buildings whose lights they had seen the night before, Ariane dug in the pockets of the backpack for a couple of granola bars, passing one to Wally before opening her own and munching on it as they drove. She needed energy, and it looked like a proper breakfast was out of the question.

  As they approached the road east of the lake, they slowed to let two other pickups zip past in a cloud of snow. Wally turned to look at Ariane, and she could read the question in his eyes. Rex Major?

  But Ariane couldn’t confirm either way. And what difference does it make anyway? Gloom gripped her. It wouldn’t take the helicopter pilot long to discover that no one was camped west of the diamond mine. Then there would be questions they couldn’t answer, a flight back to Yellowknife to talk to the Mounties, and who knew what after that. Even if they didn’t say anything, the Mounties would figure out who they were and trace them back to Regina. An eternity of questions, probably news stories, and a media frenzy would follow...

  And in the meantime, Rex Major would have the first shard of Excalibur, and would already be looking for the next one.

  They continued across a bridge over a rock-strewn stream, then turned left. Their pickup and the two that came from the airfield all stopped at about the same time in front of a two-story building covered in blue-green metal siding. Above a large porch enclosed in glass, big red letters proclaimed, WELCOME TO THE THUNDERHILL DIAMOND MINE.

  With Drezner’s massive shoulders blocking her view, Ariane couldn’t see the other two pickups, but apparently Wally could. He stiffened, then shot her a quick look and jerked his head toward the building. Rex Major, I presume, she thought.

  By the time she and Wally climbed out of their truck, everyone else had gone inside. Ariane could hear the throbbing sound of a helicopter warming up. She looked around helplessly. Even if she and Wally could outrun Drezner, Maragos and Poitras – fat chance! – there was nowhere to hide, not even a corner to dash around. The building stretched dozens of metres in both directions. And so she and Wally meekly followed Drezner up the steps, through a door onto the porch, and then through another door into a hallway.