Cindy released the rope as his struggles weakened. The chair toppled over as it hit the ground. She pulled him up and hit him across the face with the staff. She winced as it connected, as it crunched.
Something had broken. Blood poured from his nose onto his lips making a slurping noise as he breathed heavily, trying to make up for the lost air.
“What’s your name?”
He spat blood out before he looked at her. “You’re going to die,” he said and he smiled. “Cindy.”
She took a step back. “You know my name?”
“I know more than just your name, Guardian, Other Sider, daughter of Demyan Melikov.”
“...How?”
“Untie me and I might tell you,” he winked.
Cindy didn’t move. She stared at him, trying to think. He had long scraggly hair, a youngish face, a tapered black cloak and his staff was made of the cheapest metals – there was rust around the edges.
He looked familiar. Was he the one that had placed the shadowing curse on Thomas? What had she learned from that? Nothing useful...
Cindy gripped her staff. The rope tightened around his neck again and lifted him up. Torturing information out of him suddenly became more important. She might even have to resort to the brutal methods she learnt in training.
He was only willing to curse as she released him for the second time. The chair legs caved in on the fifth drop. The ropes came loose; he was free of his binds. She hadn’t anticipated that. He had. He wasn’t at all surprised. He reached for his staff. It flew into his hand and he ran at her.
Cindy’s instincts kicked in. Her staff filled with magic. She blocked the first three strikes. As he came in swinging for another hit, she swung forward, aiming for his stomach. She was much better than him, much quicker. Her staff struck flesh unopposed.
He dropped to one knee, where he stayed as his eyes wavered. He let go of his staff and his hands reached for his stomach. He rolled to his side and scrunched up.
She hadn’t meant to do that. He came at her so fast; she didn’t have time to think. She reacted. And now she had destroyed his insides.
He started to laugh. Why was he laughing? And now he was cursing. Blood was leaking out from his stomach.
“I’m going to die, aren’t I?”
He was. This wasn’t supposed to happen. All she wanted was to talk. “I’m sorry... I d-didn’t mean to.”
He rolled onto his back and looked up at her, his breathing heavy, grunting. He held his stomach with both hands, trying to stop the bleeding. He wasn’t doing a very good job of it. Cindy knelt beside him. She put her hands over his and pushed gently. She couldn’t save him, but she could alleviate some of his pain.
“I wanted to be a Guardian... but my family... my dad died when I was seven... and my mum... she lasted a few more years... I was talented... I got noticed by the wrong people... I’m not trying to make excuses...”
He was blubbering now and she wanted to shush him, to let him rest. But he would be dead soon. It would be wrong to silence a dying man. His eyes closed, his breathing eased.
“...probably a good thing you accidently killed me,” he murmured. “I was supposed to do something bad tonight.” His eyes flickered as he looked at her. “I used to watch you sometimes...” He gave a weak smile. “You like treetops.”
She did like treetops. They were good places to sit and keep watch from – discreet too if you camouflaged yourself properly. She obviously hadn’t.
“How are you feeling?”
“Cold,” he whispered.
It wouldn’t be long now before he passed. What was she supposed to do then? Did he have any family or friends?
“Hey,” Cindy nudged him gently, “what’s your name?”
His lips moved, but she couldn’t make out the words, so she leaned in to listen.
“...run.”
“What’s your name?”
“...they can see.”
“Who can see?”
“You have to go.”
“What’s your name?”
“...they’re watching... shadowed...”
Cindy sat up straight. Shadowed – the word rung in her ears. Had he been shadowed? Who was watching? She forgot he was dying and grabbed him by the collar.
“Who’s watching?”
He didn’t reply. He couldn’t reply. It was too late. He had stopped breathing. She had killed her first person. Cindy slowly let go of him. She felt lightheaded, nauseated. She knew what was going to happen next. She threw up.
Chapter 24
Saafir and the twins usually went home for the weekends. They stayed back that Saturday. The twins spent the day in the library, studying. Tom took Saafir for a walk in the woods. He wanted to show him the house by the lake. They were behind the trees, about to step into the open, when someone walked out carrying what looked to be a body.
It was the evening now. The two of them stood at the bottom of the tree house with brooms in hand, waiting for the twins.
“That was a dead body,” Saafir said.
They hadn’t really spoken about what had happened that morning. Tom didn’t want to. He knew it was something terrible. And he had enough terrible in his life already.
“The red on the body... I think it was blood.”
Tom thought so too. He had caught a glimpse of their faces. One was a woman with red hair, the other was a young-looking man with dark scraggly hair. They both looked familiar...
He shuddered. “Let’s never go off wandering into that forest again.”
“Or into dark creepy houses,” Saafir agreed.
It was a good plan, except...
“Isn’t that what we’re doing tonight?” Tom asked.
“It’s different. We’re being called.”
Tom wasn’t reassured. They were being called by dead people... It was a good thing the twins showed up just then. Gemma unrolled a scroll she held in her hand. On it was drawn a map. A curvy line with two dots at either end cut across it.
“This dot here is where we are, this dot here is where we need to go,” she said. “I’ve drawn a line on the map that avoids all the towns and villages, so if we follow it,” she paused to look up at Saafir, “we shouldn’t run into anyone. Oh, and this dot will move as we do so we won’t lose our way.”
Tom nodded knowingly. “Like a Sat-Nav.”
“A what?”
“Tom-Tom?”
Gemma stared at him densely. “You’re repeating your name.”
“We’ve got these devices on the Other Side called Sat-Navs. Satellite navigation,” Tom explained. “You put in where you need to go and it tracks you and tells you which way. Your map’s similar.”
Gemma looked down dejectedly. “Mine doesn’t talk.”
No it doesn’t, Tom smiled smugly. How does it feel being outsmarted by an ape? He wondered if he should say out loud some of the things he thought. Gemma always did.
Jenna held the map out to Saafir. “You’re leading.”
“Of course,” Saafir said.
He took the map from her, attached it to the front of his broom and shot off into the sky, quickly disappearing from sight. The twins stared after him, mouths slightly open. A minute passed, and they still stared.
“So...” Tom began, “should we follow him then?”
They both turned to look at him, mouths still open.
“The idiot's not coming back is he?” Jenna finally spoke.
He wanted to say yes, but flying off leaving the twins behind to annoy them seemed like something Saafir might do. He had a sense of humour like that. Tom shrugged. It was the wrong thing to do. The twins mounted their brooms and shot off after him.
“What a team,” Tom muttered.
He mounted his broom and kicked off from the ground. His legs tightened around the wood as he waited for the inevitable moment where he would flip over and hang upside down. It came a little later than expected. Maybe he was getting better at flying. He could see the twins ahead
and as he caught up with them, another broom flew in sharply, stopping just inches away from Jenna.
It was Saafir.
“You left us!” she shouted.
“No I didn’t.”
“Yes you did.”
“No-”
“YES!” Jenna shouted. “You flew off. We all saw you. Why are you denying it?”
“I flew off to see which way the dot would move. I went back for you, but there was no-one there,” Saafir said. “You should have waited for me,” he scolded. “You could have been going the wrong way.”
“Oh...” Jenna’s face dropped. “Sorry,” she said meekly.
They settled into a speed they felt comfortable with. Tom flew in front, the twins side by side behind him. Saafir flew on his own accord. Sometimes he would be behind, sometimes above, other times below and when they needed to change direction, he would move in front and lead the way.
At one point, he flew in a circle around the twins, going up and over and down and under as he flew forward. Because he could, he said when Jenna asked him why he was doing that.
First time off school premises since he had arrived, Tom was excited. He had heard a lot of stories about Atlantis. The City of Giants; an entire city carved into the mountains where the Flying Swordsmen lived. The Dragon Riders; men made of fire, born in active volcanoes who rode on the backs of dragons. The women of the Silver Lake; they left the lake only once a year to move around the towns of wizards glowing like diamonds.
But he was to be disappointed. They were headed for Camelot, land of the Zarlocks. The only thing on their way was towns and villages. And the route they were travelling avoided all of those.
As the hours passed, the thrill of flying wore off. It became a chore and after that, a struggle to hold on. A fall from this height would surely end in his death. He wondered why they had never spoken of the risks of flying.
Saafir suddenly appeared in front of him and pointed ahead. “The House of Zarlock is on top of that mountain.”
Tom could only see the lower part of the mountain. The top was covered in mist. Saafir signalled down and he followed, wondering why. They weren’t planning on walking up, were they?
The land below was dotted with hills, each growing in size as they neared the mountain. Saafir landed on a clear patch of grass at the top of one. Tom came in behind and landed roughly on his back.
“What do we do about the Nagruki?” Saafir asked once the twins had landed. The three of them looked at him expectantly. Tom had a bad feeling about this. Nagruki, they didn’t sound pleasant. And they probably weren’t if something had to be done about them. “You don’t know what they are, do you?”
“No idea,” Tom said honestly.
“They’re flying beasts that slice your head off with their tails before they reach in and pull your heart out,” Saafir said cheerfully.
Why wasn’t he surprised?
“Or they stick the spikes on their tails into your chest and bleed you dry.”
Oh joy.
“Or they take you to their nests and feed you alive to their babies. The mountain’s full of them.”
Of course it was.
If he had to pick, and this was if he absolutely had to pick, he would go with the first option – have his head sliced off and his heart eaten. Sure it sounded pretty bad, having your heart eaten, but you would be dead by then, so it didn’t matter as much.
“Should we turn back?” Jenna asked.
That wasn’t an option for Tom. This was their only plan. If it didn’t work, he would be stuck with the dreams for the foreseeable future. He couldn’t handle that. Sleep did not come easy, and when it did he woke up screaming, paralysed with pain. He was permanently exhausted of late and exhaustion killed. He had seen it on the news.
“How did the Zarlocks get past them?” Tom asked.
“It’s their mountain. The Nagruki would never attack them.”
“Maybe they’ll let us pass because we’re being called by the Zarlocks?”
He didn’t really believe that, but he didn’t believe the Nagruki existed either. They sounded too horrible to be true, like stories a mean parent would tell a child before bed for odd amusement.
“How would the Nagruki know we’re being called?” Gemma frowned.
“Maybe Lord Zarlock told them in their dreams.”
He knew it was a stupid thing to say, but he was tired and sometimes they asked too many questions. They shot off into the sky, satisfied with his answer. Tom stared after them, a little confused. Had he said it wrong? He was quite tired. Or maybe they didn’t know what sarcasm was?
Oh well.
He kicked off after them.
The mountain loomed large ahead, the forest below thickened, the trees grew close, branches pushed against each other, leaves fought for sunlight. If there were Nagruki below, he would never see them. Not until one reached out and grabbed him. He should have asked what they looked like.
Saafir signalled up. It was time to climb, to fly through the mist. They soared up, flying blind. And then it cleared. They were at the top of the mountain, flying over flat forestland. There was a faint rushing noise that grew every second.
What was that noise? Was it a Nagruki? Were they heading for one of their nests? Tom froze as he came upon the reason.
“Quite something, isn’t it?” Saafir shouted in his ear.
It was indeed...
At the centre of the mountain was a large depression. And around it, in a perfect circle, was a complete waterfall. That was what the noise was, of water gushing down. At the bottom was a lake, and on that lake was an island.
He already knew the House of Zarlock was big. He had run through countless doors in his dreams to know it wasn’t your average three-bedroom house. But there was more than just a house on the island – there was a whole array of buildings beyond it.
“Shall we go?” Saafir asked.
Tom nodded, only to realise Saafir wasn’t talking to him but the twins who were also gawking.
“We can land there.” Saafir pointed to a gap in-between the waterfall where a bridge crossed the lake. They touched down on a patch of grass. Before them was an iron gate of rods. Two large unicorns stood on their hind legs on either side of the gate, facing each other with their front legs raised, as if on guard, ready to strike.
“Are those sleeping unicorns?”
“Sleeping?” Tom wondered.
“They come to life if someone tries to force their way through.”
“How do we know if they are?”
“Try and open the gate,” Jenna said. “See if they come to life.”
“There has to be another way.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No.”
“What do we do then?”
“You go,” Gemma said. “If they are sleeping unicorns, I’m sure the Zarlocks will have told them about you in their dreams.”
He wondered if she was being serious. If she was, it was one of the stupidest things he had ever heard. As stupid as when he said the same about the Nagruki. Maybe they did understand sarcasm... Tom begrudgingly walked towards the gate going as slowly as his feet would allow him.
“Good luck,” Jenna whispered.
“Thanks.”
“Be careful.”
That was the plan, to be very careful.
The unicorns were large to begin with. But they seemed to grow ever larger with every step. He was at the gate now and they hadn’t come to life yet. But if they did, he was in the perfect position to be trampled to death. All they had to do was bring their feet down.
Tom took a deep breath and tore his eyes away from their hooves long enough to give the gate a quick push before his eyes shot back up to them. The gate didn’t budge. But neither did the unicorns.
“It’s locked,” Tom whispered. There was no response and he was immediately annoyed. But then he realised why there was no response. They hadn’t heard him. He had barely heard himself
. “It’s locked,” he repeated, louder this time.
“There’s no need to shout,” Gemma hissed.
The twins came forth timidly, holding each other’s hands. They stared up at the unicorns for a good while before they began work. It happened as Gemma began to chant her spell to open the gate.
The unicorns came to life.
Their front hooves crashed down upon the earth. The ground beneath them shook, knocking Tom and the twins off balance. In unison, the unicorns' heads turned, their eyes glowed red and they came forth with their horns, stopping inches away from impaling him.
Tom remained rooted to the ground, staring up at the eyes, his heart thumping. He wanted to scream, to turn and run, but he managed to stay still and silent. The eyes watched him. The horns were so close.
He didn’t know how much time passed before the glow in the unicorn's eyes began to dim. Tom began to crawl back once the redness had completely faded from its eyes. He was joined on either side by the twins. Only when they reached Saafir did they stand up.
“What now?” Tom asked warily.
“We could try flying over?”
That was an option? “Why didn’t we start with that?”
“Sleeping unicorns are rare but every house is protected with anti-flying charms. Brooms just stop working and you drop,” Saafir said. “Unicorns seemed the safer bet.” He shrugged.
Tom wasn’t sure about Saafir, but he would take falling off a broom any day over being speared through the guts by a unicorn.
“Off you go,” Jenna said to Saafir.
“Why should I go?”
“You’re the best broom-flyer here.”
“So? I’m still going to fall if my broom stops working.”
He had a point, though the twins probably knew that. There could be only one person to go first. Tom mounted his broom and kicked off. Leaving them behind to bicker, he soared into the sky. He wanted some distance between him and the unicorns before he crossed over.
As he flew over the lake, he closed his eyes.
Nothing happened. His broom didn’t stop working. The unicorns didn’t come after him. He opened his eyes. There was a large pillar right in front of him. He swerved to the left, skimming the side. Flying with his eyes closed, what was he thinking? He scolded himself mentally.
The Other Side (Thomas Skinner Book 1) Page 12
