Zal and Zara and the Champions' Race

by Kit Downes

  “Twelve thousand,” said Sari.

  “Four,” said Zara.

  “Twelve.”

  “Four.”

  “I don’t work for less than twelve,” said Sari.

  “That’s good because this isn’t work,” said Zara. “We’re hiring you to ask around for us, not to do anything difficult or dangerous. Three thousand if you can find who the thieves are and four if you can get their address.”

  Sari looked at Zara for a moment, chewing thoughtfully. The tigers watched her. Zal and Rip waited.

  “OK. We have a deal,” said Sari. “Four thousand it is. I’ll find out who it was and where they are. Don’t worry, you don’t have to pay me in advance.”

  “Great,” said Zara, as Sari stood up. “How long is this going to take?”

  “About five minutes,” said Sari, as the tigers flowed off the benches. Zal and Rip jumped out of the way. “Come on.”

  “Where are we going?” said Zal.

  “Upstairs,” said Sari, with a smile. “The best information trader in Shirazar lives on the top floor.”

  “Couldn’t you have mentioned the trader earlier?” said Zara, as they followed Sari up the narrow backstairs of the inn.

  “Sure,” said Sari. “But why would I? You’d have paid less.”

  “We still might,” said Zal. He was walking behind the tigers, trying very carefully not to step on their tails and carrying Rip, who had refused point blank to walk on the floor with them.

  “Too late. A deal’s a deal,” said Sari. “Now be quiet.”

  She led them along a narrow corridor under the inn’s roof. The doors were all numbered and Sari stopped outside number thirteen. She knocked three times, paused and then knocked twice more. She listened and then nodded to Zal and Zara. She took out a key, unlocked the door and opened it and motioned for them to go in.

  “Good evening,” said Zara, as they walked in. “My name is…”

  She stopped as she saw the room was empty. The tiny bedroom had a wardrobe, a table and chair, a washbasin and one unmade bed.

  “Where’s the…?” said Zara, as Sari pushed Zal inside and kicked the door shut behind her. Her tigers lowered their heads and growled. Sari picked up a spear that was standing in the corner.

  “I stole the box from the museum,” said Sari, “and I’m standing right here. That’ll be four thousand gold pieces.”

  Everyone moved at once. Zal’s sword shot out of his scabbard and knocked the head of Sari’s spear aside as she stabbed at his stomach. Zara jumped backwards, filling her hands with magic, just as the tigers slammed into her. Zara cursed as she landed hard on the floor with Cloudclaw, Jeweltail and Sheertooth pinning her arms and making sure they were pointed away from Sari. She struggled, but the tigers were too heavy.

  “WRROOOOAAAR!” Cloudclaw suddenly leapt into the air, roaring with pain and knocking his brother and sister off. Zara slid across the floor underneath him, unsure what had happened, and saw Rip flying through the air, hanging onto Cloudclaw’s tail by his teeth.

  “Good boy!” Zal shouted over his shoulder, as he fenced against Sari’s spear. She was a very good fighter, wielding the weapon that was far too long for the small room with speed and skill. Zal whipped his sword back and forth, keeping the point at bay.

  “GGGRRRAARGH!”

  Sheertooth skidded backwards with his fur smoking as Zara hit him with a spell. She dropped to one knee and ducked as Jeweltail lunged for her again, sailing over her head and landing on the bed. Zara quickly threw out a green spell, aiming not at the tiger, but at the blankets. The bedclothes rose up like waves in the sea and wrapped around Jeweltail, trapping the struggling tiger on the bed.

  Cloudclaw, thrashing and roaring with rage, finally shook Rip off. Rip landed on his paws and scurried straight under the bed. Cloudclaw surged after him, but his head was too large to follow. As he tried, Sheertooth collided with him as he charged back at Zara. Zara jumped out of the way as they rolled past in a tangle of legs and paws. Zal knocked Sari’s spear point aside and lunged forward, but she kicked him in the chest with her heel and drove him back beside Zara. Sheertooth and Cloudclaw rushed to Sari’s side as Jeweltail tore her way out of the blankets. Rip peeped out from under the bed. The two sides faced one another across the room.

  “OK,” said Zal, panting. “We know it was you.”

  “Really?” said Sari. “Maybe you’re not as stupid as you look.”

  “But we also know someone hired you to steal it,” said Zara. “You’re not important. You’re just a thief-for-hire. All you care about is where your next payment is coming from.”

  Sari’s green eyes darkened even more, but she didn’t say anything.

  “We’re interested in the people who hired you,” said Zara. “If you tell us where to find them, we’ll still pay you.”

  “Yes. Our fathers need the casket,” said Zal.

  “Our uncles, Zarl.”

  “Don’t bother with the stupid fake names, Azamedians. I know who you are,” said Sari, glancing at the door. “OK, city-dwellers, we have a deal – a new one. I won’t just tell you where they are; I’ll take you straight to them. But we need to leave right now.”

  “Why?” said Zal.

  From somewhere downstairs, they heard a door crashing open.

  “ROYAL PROTECTORS! NOBODY MOVE! WE HAVE A WARRANT TO SEARCH THESE PREMISES FOR AN INTERNATIONALLY WANTED THIEF!”

  “Oh, camelpat,” said Zal.

  “You’d better be able to keep up,” said Sari, opening the room’s window and letting cold air rush in. “Don’t worry. They’re not far.”

  “Wraff, wraff!”

  “Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!”

  Water dripped from stalactites as Rip chased several rats along the tunnel. Cloudclaw watched him and growled, swishing his still-crumpled tail.

  “How long have they been hiding down here?” whispered Zara, trying not to slip on the wet moss that covered the rocky floor.

  “How should I know?” said Sari. “I respect my clients’ privacy. That way, I get more clients.”

  “Why did you take us upstairs if you knew who we were?” said Zal.

  “Why did you come upstairs to find out who the thief was if you knew it was me?” said Sari. “I just wanted to see if you were really that stupid.”

  “We came because we wanted to know where the Shadows are. We don’t care about you,” said Zal.

  “Shsssh!” said Zara, holding up her hand. “Listen.”

  Zal and Rip froze. Sari rolled her eyes. From further down the tunnel, voices drifted towards them.

  “What do you think, sir? Should we do it?”

  “I’m not sure, Hara. I’m just not sure. It would certainly be entertaining…”

  Zal and Zara crept forward. Zal wrapped his fingers around his sword hilt. Red magic glowed in Zara’s hands. Around the next turning, the tunnel ended in a ledge that overlooked a large cave. The orange light of a campfire glowed on the ceiling.

  “But there are thousands of Azamedian spectators here in Shirazar right now. If we do let our demonic piece of cutlery loose on the Champions’ Race—”

  “Oh! Word might get back to Azamed before we do, sir?”

  “Don’t interrupt, Etan.”

  Zal and Zara slid forward on their stomachs and peered over the ledge. Below them, sleeping bags and haversacks were set out around the campfire. A cooking pot was boiling above it. Four Shadows were present, two women – Zal and Zara both blinked, having never seen a female Shadow before – and a boy sat near one young man, who was reclining against a comfortable, chair-shaped rock. Zal shivered. He had known they were back, but seeing them and their brown uniforms again was still enough to make his blood run cold. But the Shadows had not noticed them. All four were completely distracted. He and Zara looked at each other and nodded. They were never going to get a better chance than this.

  “One,” whispered Zara. “Two. Three!”

  She and Zal sprang to thei
r feet. Zal’s sword rang against the lip of his scabbard and the warmth of combat magic filled Zara’s hands.

  THWACK!

  “AAAAAHH!!!”

  Something hard had come from nowhere and struck the back of Zal’s head. He plunged forward over the stone ledge, losing his grip on his sword and landing on his front on the cold stone floor. As he gasped in pain, Zara landed beside him, having been hit as she tried to turn around.

  “What the Vulture!” yelled the Leader, falling backwards over his stone chair.

  “Holy Cosmos Vulture! It’s them!” cried Etan.

  Hara and Mira leapt to their feet, drawing their swords. Zal lunged forward across the ground, reaching for his.

  “GRRRR!”

  “OOOMPH!”

  Before Zal could grab hold of his sword, Sheertooth landed on top of him, pinning him down with heavy paws. Zara cried out as Jeweltail landed on her, breaking her concentration as she tried to form new spells. She pulled one arm free and pointed it at the Shadows, just before Etan leapt in front of her, holding out a metal talisman on a long chain. He quickly looped it over Zara’s head.

  “WAAAAAHH!”

  The magic vanished from Zara’s hand. She felt like she had been wrapped in a dozen blankets soaked in freezing bath water. Her skin crawled away from the cold and the blazing fire of her magic was suddenly only smouldering inside her. It was a spell-suppression talisman, enchanted to stop her using her magic.

  “Wraff, wraff, wraff!” Rip barked and struggled as Cloudclaw picked him up by the scruff of his neck. Sari strode up onto the ledge beside him.

  “MISS STORMSTRONG?!” said the Leader.

  “Hi, Mr Leader,” said Sari. “Sorry to barge in. But I remembered how much you said you wanted revenge on these two.”

  “You camelpat!” yelled Zal, struggling under Sheertooth. “You sold us out! We had a deal!”

  “You don’t need to thank me, Mr Leader,” said Sari, jumping down from the ledge into the cave. “A small delivery fee will be just fine. Let’s say … twelve thousand gold pieces?”

  The Leader’s eyes moved slowly from Zal to Zara to Rip and then to Sari. They were stretched wide with horror.

  “You … brought … them … to me?” he said. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

  The Leader fell to his knees, clasping his head with both hands. His eyes behind his mask were filled with anguish.

  “Sir!” Hara and Mira rushed to his side.

  “How could you?!” the Leader shouted at Sari. “This completely ruins my own plans for revenge!”

  “It does?” said Sari. “Oh. Sorry.”

  “I needed surprise!” said the Leader. “I needed to spring out of nowhere and tear them limb from limb! I wanted to leave them as smears on the pavement with their last thought being that they had not defeated the Shadow Society!”

  “We’ve known you were here since this morning!” said Zara, struggling under Jeweltail.

  “You have?” said the Leader. “NOOOOO! Miss Stormstrong! You Vulture-cursed mercenary! You’ve spoiled everything!”

  “Sorry. I was just trying to be helpful,” said Sari. “So there isn’t a finder’s fee?”

  “No, by Salladan’s slippers, there isn’t!” said the Leader. “You’ve ruined a plan for vengeance I’ve spent six months working out to the tiniest detail! I spent hours choosing between the most gruesome methods of death! I’m not paying you a single bronze piece for this!”

  “Oh, well. You win some, you lose some,” said Sari. She rested her spear over her shoulder. “They’re here now. You can do whatever you want to them. Come on, Cloud, Jewel, Sheer. Let’s go.”

  “Not so fast, my dear!” said the Leader. “I was planning to leave this until later. But you are a loose end my plan can do without.”

  Hara and Mira raised their swords. Sheertooth and Jeweltail roared, almost shaking the cave, and sprang at them, releasing Zal and Zara. Cloudclaw dropped Rip and charged. Hara and Mira ran forwards and leapt into the air, meeting the tigers with acrobatic jump kicks, knocking their teeth and claws aside. They had learnt from their last encounter.

  “Leave them alone!” shouted Sari. She ran forwards, jammed the end of her spear against a rock and pole-vaulted through the air, kicking Hara in the chest with both feet.

  “Etan! Kill Miss Stormstrong!” shouted the Leader, digging through one of the packs.

  “Trying, sir!” said Etan, struggling to fit an arrow into his crossbow. “Waaah!” he added, as Hara flew backwards from Sari’s kick and crashed into him.

  Zal scrambled across the floor and grabbed his sword. Zara was trying to pull off the spell-suppression talisman, which Etan had been smart enough to wrap twice around her neck. Zal scurried towards her across the cave.

  “Wraff, wraff!” Rip skidded up beside him as they reached Zara, just as she had the talisman half untangled.

  “Let’s get out of here!” said Zal, as Sari fenced with her spear against Hara and Mira’s swords.

  “Great idea!” said Zara. They turned around and ran for the tunnel ledge.

  “NOT SO FAST!” yelled the Leader.

  He threw the pack aside and turned around, pointing an old green glass bottle towards them. It was a secret heirloom of one of the oldest, richest families in Shirazar, which they had kept hidden for generations, knowing how dangerous it was. The Shadow Society had learnt of it one night when the head of the family had been drunk in a tavern during a visit to Azamed.

  “Hara! Mira! Get back here!” the Leader shouted. He grabbed Etan by his collar and pulled him beside him. “She can share their fate!”

  Hara and Mira backflipped away from Sari and the tigers and landed at the Leader’s side. Zal and Zara ran towards the tunnel as Sari and the tigers ran towards the Shadows, just as the Leader pulled the cork out of the bottle.

  A whirlwind of sand spewed from the mouth of the bottle. It formed a giant spinning cone of dust that filled the cave like a horizontal tornado. Sari yelled and shielded her face with her forearm. Zal cursed as the grains bit the back of his neck and Zara felt magic, a powerful spell like a heartbeat echoing from deep in the depths of an ocean. Rip yowled and the tigers roared as the sandstorm enveloped them.

  “Yes! It works!” cried the Leader.

  The whirlwind suddenly changed direction. The sand that had been swirling out of the bottle started swirling back in. Zal was lifted up off his feet and carried backwards through the sandstorm. Rip flew past him, barking with terror, followed by two of the tigers, tumbling heads over tails. Zal flailed, trying to find something to grab on to, but the sand flowed between his fingers.

  “HA, HA! AT LAST!” shouted the Leader. “VENGEANCE IS MINE!”

  Zara felt the ancient spell echo again, pulsing with energy. This time, she recognized the shades. Indigo, violet and blue were mixed together in it and she realized it was a powerful shrinking spell. The cave faded away and then there was nothing but swirling sands as they were sucked backwards into the bottle.

  Eight

  “YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH … OOOOMMMPH!”

  Zal fell head first out of the storm and landed with a thump on top of a low sand dune. He raised his head, blinking dust from his eyes, and looked around. Somehow, he was outside. He was lying in the desert under an open sky, in the ruins of an ancient palace. Crumbling stone walls rose out of the sand and fallen columns and broken statues lay half buried on the ground around him. A ghostly wind whistled through the ruins, blowing the loose sand around in small whirlwinds. The roof had fallen in long ago and overhead the sky was a strange dark shade of green that he had never seen before. It was night time and everything was dark and shadowed.

  “Zal?”

  “Zara?”

  Zal twisted his head around and saw Zara ten feet from him, picking herself up beside an old, broken fountain. Its cracked stone bowls were filled with sand.

  “Are you…?”

  “Yes, I’m OK.”

  “Where th
e Stork are we?” said Sari, who just walked up behind him.

  “YOU!” Zal’s sword was lying beside him on the dune. He grabbed it and rolled over. “You total camelpat! You sold us out… OWW!”

  He broke off as Sari jabbed him in the nose with the end of her spear.

  “Oh, like you weren’t going to turn me over to the Royal Protectors?” said Sari. “Anyway, what is this place?”

  “I don’t know,” said Zara, dusting herself off. “All I know is it’s your fault we’re here.”

  “You’re the one who wanted to find Mr Leader,” said Sari. “Come on, Cloud. Let’s go… Cloud? CLOUD!”

  Sari looked round. Arched doorways and gaps in the walls led off what must have been some kind of courtyard with the fountain at its centre. There was no sign of the tigers.

  “CLOUDCLAW!” shouted Sari, spinning in a circle and gripping her spear. “SHEERTOOTH! JEWELTAIL! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

  “They’re not here,” said Zara, frowning at Sari’s spear. It was an amazing coincidence that it had landed right beside her, just as Zal’s sword had fallen beside him, or that they had all landed in the same place after being swept through the whirlwind. Zara looked down and found the spell-suppression talisman was glinting on the sand between her feet.

  “Wait a minute,” said Zal, looking around. “Where’s Rip? Rip! RIP! WHERE ARE YOU, BOY?”

  They listened as his shouts echoed away across the ruins. There was no answer.

  “Oh, monkey droppings!” said Sari, gripping her spear. She started towards the nearest doorway.

  “Where are you going?” said Zal.

  “Where do you think?” said Sari. “They could be hurt. I’ve got to find them.”

  “No, I mean where are you going?” said Zal, grabbing her shoulder. “We don’t know where we are or where they are. We need to stay togeth—  OUCH!”

  He fell over as Sari spun around and punched him on the nose.

  “Do not touch me!” said Sari. “I do not need help from city-dwellers to find my family!”

  “Your family?” said Zara. “Look, Zal’s right. We should stay together.”