by Leyland, L J
He shook his fist at me but hope and optimism suddenly filled me up with a warm glow. It was amazing what a little Grimmy-baiting could do for my mood. Although we’d made a truce and I was now beginning to trust that he was wholeheartedly accepting of our plan, I still loved to rile him. It was like a sport.
I led the way, scrambling from the prow onto the rocks. It was hard going but at least we were avoiding the mysterious flags by choosing the most difficult and dangerous route onto the island. I wondered whether this was the purpose of the flags – to scare trespassers into taking the most dangerous route where they would fall to their death from the cliffs. The others followed me at a slower pace but I ignored them and kept my eyes on the prize – a pinewood forest further inland that provided shelter from the wind and, hopefully, shelter from the watchful eyes of the Highlanders.
I realised with a jolt of panic that I hadn’t actually bothered to use my binoculars to spy for signs of life before we landed. Preoccupied by trying to figure out what the flags were, I had completely neglected to fulfil even the most basic of survival necessities – scout out your terrain. Idiot. But it was too late now, we were all off the boat and the sooner we got to the shady shelter of the forest, the better. I didn’t like being exposed on the unsheltered rocks like a rat in a trap.
‘Come on, slow pokes,’ I hissed at the others and renewed my burst of energy. The ragged rocks cut into my hands and punctured my black trousers around my knees but I didn’t stop.
I ran the last couple of metres to the forest and felt the temperature drop about three degrees as I made it under the shaded canopy. It was as though all the colours and sounds had suddenly been muted. The weak winter sunshine passed through the filter of pine canopy and trickled through to the forest floor, a shadow of its former self. It was muffled and subdued. The thick carpet of pine needles acted as a silencer, absorbing the sounds of our footsteps and, worryingly, the footsteps of others. Everything just felt so dense. If I screamed, I doubted that anyone would hear it and it would just silently bounce off the ground and canopy like one of those old pinball machines, silent echoes bouncing but no sound.
But there were a few colours in there – the flags. I sighed in frustration – were they over the entire island? In the bleakness, it was difficult to see where they were. The white, yellow, and red ones managed to make themselves just about visible but the black ones were more coy; merging with the pine needles, sinking into the darkness. It would take forever for us to pick our way through here.
‘Let’s set up camp here for now and come up with a plan before we tackle what we are going to do,’ I called to the others.
Matthias and Noah swung the packs off their backs and began unravelling rolls of blankets to be spread on the ground. I gathered a few dry branches and collected some rocks to outline the campfire in order to keep the fire contained. The pine-needle carpet would go up like tinder if the fire was not properly enclosed. I didn’t think it would particularly endear us to the Highlanders if we were to arrive and immediately start torching their home. They would be even more likely to shoot us on sight if that happened.
‘Get the fire started,’ I said to Grimmy and threw my striking sticks to him.
I got out my binoculars and made a half-hearted attempt to make up for my lack of surveillance earlier. The shiny brass shone like fire in the gloom. Grimmy’s eyes glistened as he followed them. Turning my back on him, I remembered that I had pledged to corner him as soon as the time was right and grill him about all he knew about Regina. Now was not the right time. Perhaps once we had eaten and rested.
‘Pass the fish,’ I heard Noah call and I listened to the sounds of the newly born fire crackling around the skin of the saltwater fish we had caught on our journey today. The fish was large, fat, and had very hard scales, as though it was armoured. I had never seen anything like it before. Its eyes were mean and its jaw was rimmed with razor-sharp teeth; obviously a predator. The Flood had caused the old boundaries that separated the oceans and seas to disappear. No longer was there an Atlantic Ocean, a Mediterranean Sea, an Irish Sea, a North Sea, or even an English Channel. The waters around us had just become The Ocean. One vast ocean that spread across the globe, Pacific water mixing with Atlantic mixing with Indian mixing with Arctic.
Creatures once bounded by depth, temperature, and currents were now free to roam as they pleased thanks to the Metropole’s deliberate meddling in the Arctic. The fishers of Brigadus would sometimes haul in a weird snub-nosed dolphin or a strange shark with whisker-like feelers on its snout and hang them by the tail in the docks for all to gawp at. On these occasions, the catch was divided up amongst the people before the Parrots found out, first come first serve, and I always made sure I was near the front of the queue. I had tasted the flesh of the Pacific, the meat of the Mediterranean, and the fruits of the Indian Ocean. I wondered where the fish we were eating today had once called home.
Musing about the origin of the fish, I was only half-heartedly paying attention to what my eyes were seeing through the binoculars. My eyes were glazed when I suddenly registered movement. Not fast, not urgent. But it was definitely the indistinct blur of a shape passing before my eyes and disappearing behind a clump of trees. What on earth was that?
I took the binoculars from my eyes to gain a larger perspective but there was nothing. Everything looked calm, silent, and unmoving. Perhaps I’m going mad, I thought. But as I was half-way towards raising the binoculars to my eyes again, I saw it.
A fluid motion as the blur emerged from one tree to disappear behind another group of trees. And it was huge. Even from this distance, I could tell that it towered over all of us, including Matthias who was part-man/part-giant anyway. I backed towards the others, my eyes on where I last saw it disappear.
‘Noah,’ I hissed.
He instantly tensed at my strained tone. ‘What is it? Are we being watched?’
‘You’ve seen it, too?’
‘Seen what? I’ve not seen anything but I can sense that we are being watched. Where is it?’
I pointed carefully towards the trees and Matthias stood up to get a better view. ‘I see nothing,’ he said.
‘Noah, pass me my gun from my bag,’ I hissed.
He hesitated.
‘Noah, please. We need that gun.’
I watched him flinch as he reluctantly pulled the golden gun from the bag and passed it to Matthias, who passed it to me. I clicked the safety catch off and inched forward.
‘Come out,’ I called. ‘We’re not trespassers; we’re not here to harm you. Come out, now.’
There was a brief shuffling, as though the thing behind the trees was shy and was deciding whether or not to come out. I advanced further, being careful to skirt the flags, most of which were yellow and red, although a few black ones were nearly hidden some ten metres away.
‘Come out!’ I called again. ‘We’re not going to hurt you!’
I bit back a grimace as I realised how hypocritical this was, considering that I had a gun in my hand.
I saw the shadow of the hider peep out and, encouraged, I changed tack. ‘I’ll put the gun down, see? The gun is going on the floor, I won’t use it.’ I hesitantly bent down to place the gun on the floor but the moment that I did I knew, regrettably, that it was a mistake.
An animal cry broke the muted air, but not from the direction I expected. It came from the side of me and galloped through the trees, hurtling towards me before I had time to turn. The full weight of a one-tonne stag hit me and I was catapulted through the air, ragdoll arms and legs swinging as though on hinges. As I slammed into the ground, my surroundings lurched dizzyingly and there was a ringing in my ears that was tinny and shrill.
From my position, I saw that the creature that had been hiding behind the trees was in fact another stag and had emerged to join the fight. I tried to get up but my body failed me. My arms and legs would not obey my commands. Panic rose in me as I realised that I was a sitting target. I raised my wooz
y head and looked for the others to signal for help. My world spun in loopy swirls and I could hear shouts but could not make out what was being said. Forcing my eyes to focus, I saw Grimmy attempting to clamber up a tree, his sinewy arms and legs hugging the trunk with a determination that was most impressive. Nothing was going to prompt him to come down from his safe hiding place. That man could take care of himself but would take no care of others. So much for him being part of our team. I looked around for Matthias and Noah.
Matthias was lying on the floor. I could see blood flowing freely from a gaping wound on his side. I was surprised by how quickly he had changed colour; only a few minutes ago he was pink with the effort of climbing up the cliff but now he was icy white. He had been gored by the stag’s massive antlers and knocked unconscious by the weight of the blow when he landed. At least, I hoped he was just unconscious. His eyes were closed and his mouth open. A trickle of blood tracked a path down his forehead. I could hear a commotion on the other side of me but I could not stop looking at him.
‘Matt,’ I croaked and tried to drag myself towards him. ‘Matt?’
No reply, not even a flicker of his eyes. He needed the blood flow to be stemmed quickly or else … what? Death? I felt sick. I couldn’t even bare to think of it so I focused on giving myself small commands. Now you will sit up. Now you will wiggle your toes. It was painful but bearable so I figured that my legs were not broken, just battered and temporarily stunned into immobility.
A cry wrought the air and I turned to see Noah leaping out of the way of a stag just in time for it to crash into a tree trunk. The stag stumbled and tottered, on the verge of concussion, so great was the force with which it slammed into the tree. Noah grasped the opportunity to make a plan whilst the stags were temporarily recovering. I watched his stern face scan his surroundings for an advantage but really, I could see none. Optimism is usually my default mode but, at that moment, I experienced nothing but despair. My right-hand man down, myself immobilised, and my other ally scarpering up a tree … well, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that I genuinely feared for us.
I couldn’t watch as Noah became our last line of defence. If I have to lie here and watch him die … I pushed the thought from my head. I felt a hot tear run down my cheek but the pain in my arms and ribs prevented me from wiping it away. I was sure my ribs were broken. I watched the life slowly ebbing from Matthias and cursed Grimmy for thinking only of himself.
Noah’s expression was pained. But he was not beaten yet. I watched him straighten to his full height, draw a deep breath, and close his eyes. The panic I felt fell off me like I was shedding a skin. He was magnificent. I suddenly saw a flash of the man he would become when it was demanded of him; brave, loyal, heroic, and calm. He would save us; I knew it now, I had always known it, I had always known that he had bravery that I hadn’t. I had the fighting spirit; the bluster, the temper, the spontaneity – the things that look impressive but are really cover-ups for my lack of control. Surface things. Whereas it ran through his every vein, quietly but stoically.
He ran towards Matthias and hooked his arms under Matthias’s shoulders. Slowly and with Herculean effort he began to drag him away from the where the stags had gathered, poised for another charge.
Matthias moaned pitifully and I yelled, ‘Noah! Don’t drag him, he’ll lose too much blood!’
‘He needs to be behind the fire!’ he called back.
‘The fire? Why?’
But he didn’t answer. He carefully let Matthias come to a rest beside me and deftly swept down to kiss my forehead.
‘Are you OK?’ he asked swiftly. Before I could answer he said, ‘Of course you are, you’re Maida, and that’s why I love you.’ His kiss tasted of sweat and smoke and fear but it was soft and determined at the same time.
He sprung up and called over his shoulder, ‘Cover his wound,’ as he sprinted towards our camp fire. I felt a tightening in my chest which was not related to my broken ribs but came from my heart. He loved me. And I felt nothing but all-consuming love for him, for always, forever, I knew. He was heroic and graceful and clever and caring and mine.
The stags were fully recovered and were scraping back earth, as though to charge. Noah grabbed a burning branch from the fire with his bare hands. I cringed when he cried out in pain, but he didn’t let go. He dragged the flaming branch across the pine-needle floor. The fire took to the needles like a tinder box going up in smoke. A line of red hot fire began to blaze and separate us from the stags. Noah kicked the stones surrounding the camp fire and the fire spilled out from its enclosure like a wild animal released from a cage. The wall of fire and smoke grew taller, obscuring our view of the stags.
I could hear them whinnying and braying as the smoke choked their lungs and the heat prickled their skin. Matthias began to cough, the smoky air acting like smelling salts, prompting him to wake in a daze.
‘Lie still,’ I commanded him as I used a blanket to stem the blood flow, wrapping it around his torso like a corset.
‘Fire?’ he asked, looking at the dancing flames. ‘Did we really need such a big fire for such a small fish?’
‘Very droll,’ I replied. ‘He’s saving our lives, no thanks to you, getting yourself injured in the opening scenes. What use is that?’
‘Just giving him a chance to prove himself; selfless of me really, can’t hog all the glory all the time.’
His lips were turning pale and he had closed his eyes sleepily. That worried me more than the blood loss. I had to keep him talking. ‘Remember last year when we siphoned off the petrol from one of the Parrot’s trucks? You said you were going to build a fire big enough to roast a whole hog on, despite us only having a rabbit to eat, and you poured the petrol on the fire? That was the biggest explosion I’ve ever seen. You’re quite the pyromaniac, aren’t you?’
He smiled lazily. ‘… wasn’t bothered about the fire, just wanted to see the Parrot get rollicked by the Mayor for losing the petrol. His face when he tried to start his engine … classic.’
The wall of fire grew taller and I began to feel slightly safer as it shielded us from the stags, although I knew that we would have to leave pretty quickly and venture deeper into the forest if we were to avoid getting burned or overcome by smoke. My limbs were slowly recovering from their shock and I felt as though I would soon be able to limp about on them, but I failed to see how we could get Matthias out of here quickly. There was no way he could walk and even with all three of us dragging him, our progress would be slow. Perhaps even slower than the fire …
Noah returned to us and lay panting on the ground next to me. I turned over his hands to see his palms. They were mottled red and black, scorched flesh and ash creating a sickening pattern. I gasped and swallowed back bile.
‘It’s not too bad,’ but he was cringing as he said it. Sweat carved out pale rivulets down his ash blackened face. ‘Where’s the gun?’ he asked.
I pointed towards where I had foolishly placed it on the ground. He stood up and reached for it. He yelped and immediately dropped it. ‘The metal’s really hot,’ he said. He took off his sweat-soaked jacket and picked the gun up in it.
At that moment there was a yell; I couldn’t tell whether it was animal or human or devil but it frightened me to my core. In slow-motion horror, I watched helplessly as the stags appeared, blazing and terrible, leaping through the fire. Howling they emerged, bearing down on us with their antlers burning like torches. A shot rang out and the stag nearest to me almost collapsed back into the fire as Noah’s bullet lodged in its shoulder. The other stag cried out in pain as an arrow pierced its flank. An arrow?
The stags swerved and stumbled through the line of fire. They took off at full gallop away from us, careering into trees and, I saw with horror, flags. The sound of an explosion ripped through my body. It was ear-splitting. And it was close. Another one. Explosions rang through the air like a peal of bells. Explosions setting off other explosions, a chain reaction. The smoke was invading my
lungs despite my best efforts to keep it out. The heat was unbearable; I felt like I was roasting alive. My vision blurred and my head swam as the explosions became too loud for my concussed head to cope with. The last thing I saw was Noah’s face hovering like a guardian above me. Bright blue eyes, before the darkness took me.
Chapter Twenty-five
The Mayor was there again. He was always there. Always somewhere in my night terrors. Always at the back of my mind, conscious or unconscious, he was there. I could never get away from him. This time it was fire he was controlling.
‘Think that I only command the sea? Stupid girl. I command everything. I can make you drown or I can make you burn.’ A red flame danced on his palm which he held out to me. The smell of burning flesh was overpowering as he came closer. ‘Managed to escape my Flood? Well, see if you can escape my inferno.’
His wicked laugh rang in my ears as he stretched his fire hands around my neck, strangling and burning all at once. I was thrashing, crying, threatening, but still he would not let go. Fire took hold of my hair, spreading to my scalp. My neck blackened and blistered as he held on … until … no more air …
I screamed as my eyes flew open. An antlered head loomed down on me and I screamed once more and shot up, running with what strength I had until I bounced off something and landed painfully on the floor.
‘Well, at least we know her legs work,’ said a strangely accented voice.
I closed my eyes and prayed to wake up, unsure whether this was a dream within a dream. A hand touched me softly, brushing the tender skin of my inner arm.
‘Maida, it’s OK, we’re safe. You can open your eyes.’
His voice was as warm and comforting as tea, making me relax. ‘Noah,’ I breathed.
‘We’re OK. We escaped the explosions. We’re with a Highland clan.’
I looked sideways at my surroundings from my position on the ground and saw that I was in a square, wooden room which was draped with furs, antlers, and tartan cloth, all lit by candle light. The world up-righted itself as I came into a sitting position and stretched my stiff neck and back.
