Ferryl Shayde - Book 3 - A Very Different Game

by Vance Huxley

  He threw a big, quick-and-nasty fire glyph into the hole torn by Ferryl. Even as the fire glyph burned and died, Zephyr shot into the open wound, spinning in place to produce her patent firework display but not as a signal. The stream of fire glyphs ripped and tore away inside the hole, but it slowly closed as the fursomnium shrank away. Zephyr flew back out before being sealed in, straight into her tattoo. “Magic please.” Her magic met Abel’s and they connected. He used one hand to draw magic for her, and himself, from a belt before she broke the link again. Meanwhile his free hand threw reverse fire at a fresh crop of limbs, freezing them until they broke off, fell, and bubbled to nothing.

  ∼∼

  At the other end of the corridor, Kelis’s ice spear finally stopped deep inside the mass, then exploded into shards. Each shard drove into the gloop around it, then exploded into steam. The steam froze and spun, each shard now a sharp ice blade shredding anything nearby. Kelis had taken care over her first shot as well. Jenny stayed with simple and brutal. Windhammers smashed the limbs to bubbling goo, with Rob using his bat to clobber any that got through.

  Rob’s first shot had a double whammy. He threw a handful of what looked like pebbles boosted with wind, up at the top of the fursomnium. As they hit the mass, each one glowed and burned in, then warped. They became spiked balls, spinning madly as gravity pulled them through the creature from top to bottom. Rob reverted to plain glyphs, smashing at the limbs or freezing them off. He couldn’t use earth here without tearing lumps from Laurence’s house. Once she saw how well ice worked, Jenny switched to freezing the webbed limbs.

  “This is much bigger than expected. It must have spread into the attic as well as all those rooms and the walls.” Ferryl’s glowing web disintegrated after chewing off another lump so she switched to freezing off the nearest limbs. “Hit it hard, drive it downstairs because we don’t have enough magic to destroy it here.”

  For long moments the creature fought, reaching out again and again as everyone including Zephyr now concentrating on destroying limbs as fast as possible. Abel, Rob and Jenny used reverse heat, or Windhammers if a limb came too close. Kelis wrapped the base of each limb in frozen water, which contracted to nip it off. Ferryl cast out tiny ice particles as if she were throwing grain for chickens, but each sparkling shard tore into anything it touched. Despite her being careful, they occasionally scored the walls and ceiling of the passage.

  The creature no longer completely filled the corridor, so Rob began to throw carved hexes through any gaps. The rest did the same when they could, and room after room received one of the potent little creature repellents. Ferryl threw a few right into the glowing, billowing mass. “Keeping going. The hexes won’t kill it, but they’ll irritate and drive it away. Not long now, it’s had enough!”

  The heaving mound in front of them began to sink, swirling and draining away through the cracks between floorboards. Abel waited until Zephyr came back for more magic. “Warn the others it’s coming, Zephyr. Tell them to concentrate on freezing or cutting off the limbs.”

  Zephyr shot down through the cracks between floorboards, reappearing soon afterwards to fly back into her tattoo. “Could only reach the ones right below because it’s already filling the rooms in between. They are shouting to the rest.” Abel could hear raised voices below. Zephyr flew out again to shower the web on the end of a limb with reverse heat until it frosted and disintegrated. This time when she came home Zephyr connected for more magic.

  “Spread the hexes out. Quickly!” Ferryl darted forward to spread out the ones already thrown and to fill in gaps as the last of the creature oozed out of sight. There’d be no retreating back to its lair.

  “Are we done?” Kelis hesitated, torn between wanting to chase the fursomnium and worrying about it doubling back.

  “Go right down to the ground floor so it can’t break sideways to reach the sleepers. It won’t stop in the next two floors. Too vulnerable.” Ferryl dropped to one knee as the others headed for the stairs. “But I’ll make sure.” A cloud of those vicious ice shards spilled down through the cracks in the floor. “Just in case some is lurking.” She followed Abel down the corridor.

  ∼∼

  From the shouting and the thump of air glyphs, the fursomnium tried to break out into the other bedrooms. Only a half-hearted effort, because by the time Ferryl and Abel stumbled out of the door at the bottom of the servants’ stairs it had begun to ooze out of the dining room ceiling. Once again it tried to break out sideways, towards the sleeping staff in the rear of the house, potential victims whose dreams would strengthen it.

  For the first time Abel saw the hexed weapons at work. True to what he’d told her, Una’s sword cut straight through the heaving luminous cloud of stars. Not a clean cut, the magic in the blade left bubbling tears that grew into wide, ragged gashes. Better yet the blade glowed a deep red as it did, which probably accounted for Una’s “pow!” every time she swung. Abel took a moment to build another ice and fire ball to hurl deep inside, but nearly lost the glyph when he realised who wielded one sabre.

  Claris wore a crone’s outfit, so she must had been hidden behind a plastic witch’s mask. Abel had forgotten about her asking Laurence for an invitation. Now her face contorted in rage as she swung the glowing blade again and again, double-handed. Abel got a grip, finished his glyphs, and hurled the ball deep inside the monster. Fire exploded, gouging a hole out of the centre. “Careful of the drapes.” Laurence came past, his rapier flicking out to lop off a limb. He really could use the thing, and the hex meant it cut through like an axe. Two more flicks and the last two limbs reaching towards the sleepers in the ballroom, including Laurence’s parents, dropped and bubbled. “Not ready to inherit yet.” Laurence moved off towards where the creature still tried to get into the kitchens.

  A raging storm of red-hot sparks tore into it and the fursomnium retreated. Rob, Kelis and four others including Petra appeared from the kitchen area, releasing another cloud of very small, hot glyphs. Some Taverners only managed one or two, but the combined assault really hurt the monster and it recoiled. “Watch out, it dropped Tez. A web thing grabbed him though we lopped it straight off.” The teenager waved a sword. “He’s sat up again but he’s out of it.” The Taverners stopped going for the main body unless all the nearby limbs had been destroyed.

  At last the fursomnium stretched limbs out through the open front doors, and the rest of the cloud began to follow. More and more Taverners appeared in doorways to hurl glyphs into the sides and rear of the creature, or slash with magical weapons. “I’m done.” Warren reached out to Una. “Come on, give me that. I’m out of magic. Ugly please?” She hesitated, pouted and handed her sword over before building a cloud of ice shards.

  “You owe me.” Una drove her missiles into the target. “Pow doesn’t feel the same with ice.”

  Warren swung and the blade glowed red. “Pow! Try yelling ‘Cold as Ice’ or ‘Ice, Ice, Baby’ like the songs.” He swung and shouted again but then had to run to keep up as the monster decided on full flight.

  Behind him Una hurled more frozen shards, shouting “Ice, Ice, Baby” then shaking her head in disgust. As the last of the fursomnium flowed down and off the wide stone steps, over twenty Taverners poured out of the main doors and the French windows from the dining room. Some were definitely slowing now, and their glyphs weren’t doing much damage. One after another the youngsters were running low on magic while a voice warned them someone else had been tagged and was out of the fight. Justin staggered down the steps, a hand to his head. He’d been caught as well, touched briefly, which had dropped him in his tracks. The momentary contact had drained a lot of magic and left Justin with a banging headache, but he’d topped up from his lead bar.

  Abel still had plenty of magic because of his gold belts, but also because his hours of practice had made his glyphs more efficient. He looked around those who were faltering. “Warren?” The sixteen-year old looked over. “Catch. Lead bar plus.” Abel fumbled for a mom
ent before releasing one of his belts, a half-empty one. With a quick swing he threw it over. “Works like a lead bar. Find the bit with the glyph. Fill up and pass it on.”

  Warren turned the belt, saw the row of little gold bars joined by gold wire, and put his hand on the glyph. He jerked his head up and a big smile spread across his face. “Thanks, I’ll pass Una’s sword along.” Abel had already started running across the lawns. Somehow the fursomnium didn’t look as big out here, or maybe they’d trimmed a lot off it. At a quick estimate he thought if it pulled itself into a ball it might be the size of an elephant, but only an Indian one. At the moment the creature flowed over the grass like a giant animated cloud-duvet, still incredibly beautiful with all those sparks floating about inside it.

  Twice the fursomnium changed direction, but the five figures spread across its path ran to block it. The creature couldn’t swerve too much because it only moved just above walking pace and the Taverners were right on its heels. Some were already running up both flanks and more glyphs flew from behind, burning or freezing lumps off, goading the monster onwards. The front thickened and produced dozens of limbs, then it surged towards the five people in the way. They didn’t flinch. Abel saw the axe and two swords go up, ready.

  The webs on the limbs were only a couple of metres away from the first target, shy nervous Sarah who’d worried about approaching Frederick in the park. Now she put her wrists together and thrust out her hands, cupped as if to catch. A flamethrower erupted from between her cupped palms! Sarah swivelled at the hips, playing the stream of fire glyphs along the front of the fursomnium like a fiery water hose and it recoiled. Limbs quickly retracted or shrivelled and burned, and for a moment none reached for anyone.

  The other Taverner without a weapon, Eric, spread his hands apart, palms almost facing down. A line of glyphs scattered across the clear space between the five defenders and the monster. With an audible scratching, rustling sound the lawn surged up, growing higher and thicker than grass ever should. The fursomnium lunged, its limbs pushing through but jerking back as stumps as the swords and axes did their part. With a crackling noise, frost spread along the luxuriant growth, thickening to ice as the creature pushed against until it recoiled. Another storm of glyphs tore into the amorphous mass from behind and now each side as well. “Don’t let it get round the end!” Other voices took up the call and some of those still running up burned or blasted the bulge each side, forcing the fursomnium back behind the barrier.

  Rob staggered past Abel, panting, and dropped to his knees about halfway along the beast. He put both hands flat on the grass and hunched his shoulders, while Ferryl dashed down the other flank and copied him. “Now!” This time earth surged up, a wall from Rob to Ferryl two metres high. For long moments the creature draped over the wall, but then began to thin and flow down each side until the new barrier cut it clean in half. “Harden!” The soft crumbly brown barrier smoothed out, looking almost glassy.

  Abel stopped building yet another fire glyph. “Anyone who can, make it rain on the back half. Weapons, keep the front half trapped. Those with just air glyphs, make the rain fall harder.” He drained magic from a belt and copied Sarah’s pose, but aiming into the air and with his hands opened up further. A sprinkler this time, not a hose. Clouds formed above the rear half of the fursomnium as glyphs sucked moisture out of the air, forming raindrops. The front half of the monster kept pushing limbs over the ice wall, but they came back as stumps. Swords glowed red as others stopped it getting out from between the earth and the frozen grass.

  A small concentrated rainstorm began, turning to a savage downpour as wind glyphs drove it down. Abel let his glyphs go, a continual stream of reverse fire that turned each drop into a tiny ice missile. With more wind glyphs driving them downwards harder and harder, everyone could see the ice chewing away the top of the fursomnium, lower and lower until it began to fray. Larger and larger holes appeared, and then it broke apart! Smaller bits tried to escape, but the rain and wind stopped as everyone switched to hunting them down.

  “I’m out.”

  “No magic.”

  “I’m done.” At least half of the Taverners were out now, though the rest of the monster stayed firmly trapped.

  “Extras, anyone?” Kelis held up a belt. “Fill up for one last push.” Jenny raised a belt, and Abel calculated what he’d used. He could manage with what was left in one belt. He held up the other partly used belt and his emergency lead bar. No matter how hard he tried to use them in order, Abel ended up partly draining each one. While the best glyph users sucked up magic, Zephyr came back from hunting down any remnants. She flowed into her tattoo to fill up.

  “Sarah has collapsed. The ice wall will fail soon.”

  Abel raised his voice. “Listen up everyone. Don’t waste magic. Take it in turns to use really tight hot or cold glyphs and eat it away. Those with weapons can stop any attempt at a breakout.” He waved to Ferryl. “Fay, will you go round and help Sarah keep the ice strong, please?” He didn’t want the rest to know she’d collapsed, though looking around Sarah wasn’t the only one. Even as Ferryl disappeared around the end of the frozen grass, he could see the top begin to crumple. Eric was getting low as well, despite bringing extra lead bars. Frost reappeared on the melting parts, then ice, so Ferryl’s diamonds were holding up.

  “I know what Kelis meant when she made that veil.” Rob rubbed his forearms. “That hurt.”

  “Yeah, but can you imagine Creepio’s reaction.” Abel sniggered and pointed to the grass and ice wall. “To both of them.”

  “Creepio is swinging Una’s sword. He’s run out of magic.” Rob headed for the last of the fursomnium. “Some of the swords look less bright so they’re running down as well. Let’s put this thing out of its misery.” Rob more or less summed it up. The creature was trapped and now the Tavern executed it, a piece at a time. Several times the fursomnium lunged to try and get free, and even managed to get a web onto one of the weapon wielders but the advance always shredded away or fell back. The girl it webbed collapsed, holding her head, but once the limb had been sliced off she sat back up.

  As the fursomnium shrank, the Taverners began to relax, but the creature must have reached some critical point. It burst into a cloud of smaller pieces, each containing one bright spark, surging outwards like a huge, slow-motion firework. Just for a moment the Taverners were stunned, pausing their attack, then the first few pieces struck and three people crumpled. “Hit it! Hard! Get every bit!” Laurence sounded desperate, probably because even one piece might eventually grow big enough to threaten his family again. The Taverners responded, a blizzard of small glyphs tearing into the rapidly spreading fragments to destroy them one by one. The youngsters spread out in every direction, running down every scrap they could see. At least that pale, luminous blue and the spark in the middle made it easier to find fragments in the dark.

  If the fursomnium could have truly flown, some would have got away, but it seemed incapable of getting more than about three metres off the ground. Zephyr zipped back and forth, dodging stray glyphs and picking off any mini-monsters blown up higher than the rest. As Abel staggered across the lawns, panting as he caught the last couple of bits escaping this way, he could feel the strange itch in his head fading. When he turned round only six people were still chasing blue sparks, and one by one they hit their targets and staggered to a halt.

  An echoing silence heralded the final destruction of the fursomnium. Complete silence, as everyone put a hand to their heads because the scratching inside finally stopped. Heads turned, smiles broke out, and the cheering started. Not for long, the exhausted Taverners scattered across the huge lawns didn’t have the breath to keep it up for long. As silence fell again they began to trudge back towards the house.

  ∼∼

  Laurence hadn’t joined in with the cheering. He stood with a hand on his hip, swishing his rapier with the other, a worried look on his face. “The gardener will be upset.” He pointed his rapier at Rob’s
earth wall. “The gardener will have a shrieking fit, father will do the stiff-upper-lip disappointed-in-me thing, and mother will probably need a week shopping in Harrods to recover.” He glanced at Abel with a half-smile. “Not really but we can cancel any future parties. We haven’t enough magic to fix this, have we?”

  “I’ve still got some, but probably not enough to fix the lawn, let alone any damage inside.” Kelis looked around at the Taverners, her hand inside the leather to hold her diamond. “I’ll be using what magic I’ve got on anyone who collapsed. I think most of it is magical exhaustion.” She turned back to Laurence. “Did you manage to bribe any of those dryads in the woodland?”

  “For magic? No. They’ll answer questions for honey, or some of them will, but that’s it.” He scowled at the wood behind the house. “I’d need a truckload of honey, but it would be worth it. Was the monster supposed to be that big?”

  Abel felt a hand slip into his. “No it wasn’t. Half of it must have been above us in the roof spaces. It must have lived here for centuries, feeding from all the servants. I wouldn’t be surprised if it killed residents in those bedrooms at some time.”

  “Can I come home now please? Ffod needs to be Zephyr again.” Zephyr flowed into Abel’s arm and extended her magic. “Shake hands please.” Abel did, then asked her to pass on Ferryl’s assessment.

  Once he’d heard the explanation, Laurence looked back and up at his ancestral home. “It might have killed people, if it did so by sending them crazy. There’s a history of mental instability in the family but it’s not talked about much. Stiff upper lip, never admit there’s a problem or lock it in the attic and all that, and mental problems weren’t really understood back then.” His face hardened as he gestured with his rapier towards the mess where the fursomnium died. “Though maybe it wasn’t really instability, just the monster in the attic, and the last victim might not have been that long ago. A great-aunt died in one of the bedrooms just before I was born. It’s supposed to be haunted. I wonder how many of my ancestors or their servants died in the upper floors?” He rounded on Abel, looking at the tattoo. “Why weren’t they hexed like the lower rooms?”