The Finisher

by David Baldacci

  I screamed, “Mum! Dad!”

  They had to be burned to nothing by now, the heat was so intense. But still, I desperately looked around for something, anything, to use to defeat the flames. There was a stack of sheets on another table. I wrapped them in my arms, bent to the floor and soaked them in the spilled water from the pitcher.

  I charged the twin maelstroms of fire, whirling the cloths that were now heavy with water. I was going to beat the fire out and save my parents. Or what was left of them.

  I got no closer than a foot and a half when I was again thrown back toward the wall. I put out my hands to cushion the collision and they took most of the brunt of it, although my shoulder slammed into the hard wall an instant later. I slid down, dazed and sick to my stomach. As I staggered back up, it happened.

  And all I could do was watch.

  From out of the flames rose my parents. Into the air, up to the ceiling. They were not burned. They were not hurt in any way that I could see. As I looked at their faces, I fell back stunned. Their eyes were open. They seemed to be awake even as the flames devoured them.

  I screamed at them again, trying to get them to notice me, but they never looked at me. It was as though I didn’t even exist to them.

  And then came a blast of wind and a shriek that was so loud I covered my ringing ears. In a blink of my eyes, they were gone. So were the flames.

  I sat there slumped against the wall and stared at two empty cots that were not damaged in any way.

  And yet my parents were gone.

  I rose on legs that did not feel strong enough to hold my weight. I braced myself with a hand against the wall. My shoulder ached from where I had hit it. My hands were cut and bruised and my face and hair were wet with the water from the pitcher. The doused sheets lay on the floor. All of that had happened. But it was as though the fire had never occurred. I would have doubted that any of it had taken place, except for the fact that I was now alone in the room.

  I looked to the ceiling, expecting to see a hole there where my parents had escaped. But it was still simply a ceiling and completely intact.

  I bent over and sucked in long breaths. The room did not even smell of smoke. The fresh air quickly replenished my lungs. I kept a hand on the wall as I staggered over to the door, pulled it open and raced down the hall with renewed energy.

  I thought I might see my parents soaring through the air and, with the aid of Destin, I could fly with them to wherever they were going.

  I reached the front double doors, wrenched one open and hurtled outside. I looked to the sky, desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of them. Then something grabbed me and slammed me down to the ground.

  I had no idea how long I had been in my parents’ room, but first light was weakly managing to break through the clouds and the rain. Its dim illumination reflected off the raindrops, making them seem dirty, misshapen.

  Then I saw that hulking idiot Non standing there. He was the one who had grabbed me, pushed me down, cost me any chance of following my parents. Waves of rage swept over me, even as Non looked down at me, a malicious grin spreading over his face.

  He glittered in the rain, for he was wearing a metal breastplate. Over his shoulder was a long morta. In his belt was a short morta and a dagger. He must have been on patrol.

  “Caught you, didn’t I? Breaking into the Care. Valhall for you, female. That’ll teach you not to break rules.”

  I tried to get up and he pushed me back down.

  “You’ll stand when I say you can and not before.” He touched the barrel of his morta. “Official Council business, I’m on. Lucky for me I came round here to see that things were okay. What, were you stealing from the sick Wugs in there?”

  “You idiot,” I screamed. “Get out of my way.”

  I jumped to my feet and he tried to slam me back down.

  That was a mistake. An enormous one on his part.

  When I hit him with my fist, I felt the breastplate bend and then crack under my blow. The next instant, Non toppled to the dirt. I looked down at my hand. It was swollen and bleeding. The impact had carried all the way up my arm to my shoulder and borne with it searing pain. But it was worth it, to unleash my rage, because I couldn’t contain it any longer.

  Yet there was Non lying on the ground. He was injured, perhaps dead even. I turned and ran. And then I took a few steps and my feet lifted off the ground and I was flying. I did not really intend this, it just happened. The winds buffeted me but I kept on my straight course through sheer will.

  I searched the skies for my parents but they were not there. Where they had gone after leaving their room at the Care in a vortex of fire, I knew not. I just understood that I had lost them, probably forever. What I had seen was not something a Wug would return from. I sobbed even as I flew.

  Slivers later I landed on the outskirts of Wormwood. I didn’t want to add flying to my assault against Non. Surely Council would have me in Valhall for a long enough time as it was.

  Yet I was still thinking of my parents. How could two Wugs be engulfed in fire and not die? How could the fire transport them from where they were to somewhere else? And do so through a solid ceiling of stone? I could not think of a single answer to those questions. I just knew that my parents were gone and there was nothing I could do about it.

  I set out for Wormwood proper and soon reached the cobblestones. I was not looking where I was going. In truth, I was so wonky that I was unsure whether all I had just witnessed was simply a nightmare.

  When I heard a low growl, I froze on the spot. Though first light was breaking, the clouds and rain made it still seem dark and the gloom was thick upon Wormwood. The growl came again and then I heard a sharp voice.

  “Who is there? Speak now or suffer the consequences of your silence!”

  I stepped forward and saw him. Or rather them.

  Nida and his black shuck, from whence the growl had come.

  Nida was one of the few Wugs belonging to what are known as the Pech race. He was thus short and thick with heavily muscled arm and legs. For sessions I had thought Duf Delphia was a Pech, but he wasn’t. Nida was dressed in corduroy trousers, a leather coat, a wide-brimmed hat to keep both sun and rain away and a pair of amaroc-skin boots. It was said that before he was hired to guard Valhall, he and his shuck had killed an amaroc on the edge of the Quag. If so, I did not want to tangle with either of them, for amarocs are fierce beasts with many ways to kill. Some say they can even shoot poison from their eyes.

  “It’s me, Vega Jane.” I had apparently wandered near the prison in the village center.

  Nida gazed up at me while his shuck sat next to him, as tall as Nida. He clenched a wooden club in one thick hand. “Leave here, female, now.”

  He turned and marched off, his shuck, a canine as large as a calf, obediently following.

  When I emerged from the gloom, I could see that only four prisoners were currently being held at Valhall, which had a wooden roof, and bars all around and a dirt floor. Having the prison open to the elements was deemed to make it even more depressing. And being in public, one’s shame was complete.

  As I passed by the bars, a Wug slid forward on his belly and spoke to me.

  “Cuppa water, female. Mouth’s so dry, feels like sand, don’ it? Please, female, please. Cuppa water. It can be from the rain. Just a cuppa, luv.”

  A crash came and I jumped back as something shot past my head. Nida had smashed his club against the bars with such force, part of the wood had splintered off and nearly impaled me.

  “You’ll nae speak to lawful Wugs, McCready,” he screeched. “Silence or the next blow will be to your head.”

  McCready retreated to a far corner of the cage like a wounded beast.

  Nida looked at me. “On your way, female. I will not say again.”

  The shuck barked and snapped its jaws. I ran for it.

  And something was running after me. I turned and looked back, prepared to run faster or even take flight. But it wasn’t t
he shuck. It was Harry Two.

  I stopped and bent over, panting. Harry Two caught up to me and jumped around my legs, his tongue hanging out. He must have gotten out of my digs somehow and come looking for me. I knelt down and hugged him, and Harry Two calmed as quickly as I did. He licked my face once and then sat on his haunches, gazing up at me.

  “You must be hungry,” I said.

  We walked back to my home and I fed Harry Two with the last bit of food I had. As he ate by the fireplace, where the flames had long since expired, I sat drenching wet on the floor, my knees to my chest, and gazed around the room. This was all I had now. John was gone. And now our parents were gone too. And with a sickening feeling, I realized that I would have to tell John about our parents. How would he take it? Not well, I thought.

  And what would happen when Non told what I had done? Would I end up in Valhall like McCready? Begging for a cuppa water?

  “Vega Jane!” the voice called out from the other side of my door.

  I turned at the sound of my name. I also recognized the voice. It was Jurik Krone.

  I OPENED THE DOOR, revealing Krone standing there. I could see that he was armed with a long-barreled morta and a sword.

  “Yes?”

  “You were at the Care this light?” he barked, the anger clear on his features.

  “Was I?” I said dully.

  He drew closer. I felt Destin tighten and turn hotter around my middle.

  “You were,” he said firmly.

  “So what if I was?”

  “Non has accused you of attacking him.”

  “Why would I attack Non? He’s three times my size.”

  Krone looked me up and down. “But that is not all.”

  I knew what was coming. I waited for him to say it.

  “Your parents are gone from the Care.”

  He leaned in closer so his face was nearer to mine. “What did you see, Vega? You need to tell me. What did you see there?”

  I felt my fingers curl into a fist. I squeezed it so hard I felt the blood stop flowing to my fingers.

  “I don’t have to tell you anything.”

  “That answer is not good enough,” he snapped.

  “Go to Hel!”

  “Do you want to go to Valhall for this?” he asked with maddening calm. “Or worse?”

  He put a hand on his sword. I felt Destin turn ice-cold against my skin.

  “Krone,” a voice said.

  We both turned at the same time.

  It was Morrigone.

  I looked around for the carriage but did not see it. It was as though she had materialized in our midst on the Low Road.

  Krone looked perplexed by her appearance.

  “Madame Morrigone,” he said stiffly. “I was just about to arrest this female for criminal acts against other Wugmorts.”

  Morrigone drew closer, her gaze fully on Krone.

  “What criminal acts?”

  “She has attacked Non outside the Care. He has given evidence of this. And Hector and Helen Jane have disappeared from the Care. These are serious matters that must be brought before Council.”

  “Have you spoken to Thansius about this?” she asked.

  “I have only just been made aware —”

  She interrupted him. “What does Non claim she has done?”

  “He caught her leaving the Care. He was about to arrest her for that when she attacked him for no reason.”

  “Attacked him? How?”

  “Non says that she struck him a terrific blow and knocked him out.”

  “A Wug as large as Non was knocked out by a fourteen-session-old female,” she said skeptically. “I find that very, very difficult to believe, Krone. And you simply accept Non’s word for this?”

  “You say that Non is lying?”

  “You’re saying that Vega is a criminal based only on Non’s statement.”

  “Did you know she has taken up residence here, in her old home? A Wug under the age of fifteen cannot live by herself, but she does not care for rules, do you, Vega?” He glanced menacingly at me.

  I didn’t answer Krone because I was unsure how to. I looked at Morrigone, whose gaze held steady on Krone.

  “I am aware of it, Krone. As is Thansius,” said Morrigone in a low, even voice that still managed to carry more menace than his louder words. She stared at Krone for a few moments longer. “Unless there is anything else, Krone, I think you may safely leave us.”

  Krone stared at me and then Morrigone. He bowed curtly. “As you wish, Madame Morrigone. But I trust this will be followed up appropriately.” Then he turned and marched swiftly away.

  Morrigone waited until he was out of sight before turning to me.

  I started to say something, but she held up her hand. “No, Vega, I do not need to hear anything. I will speak to Non. He will not refer charges.” Her gaze dipped to my hand. I looked down and saw that it was swollen and cut from where I had struck Non. I hastily slipped it into my pocket.

  “I am sure you had good reason,” said Morrigone quietly. Then she added, in a more heated tone, “For Non is a git.”

  I was about to smile when I found her piercing gaze upon me. Neither of us spoke for at least a sliver.

  She finally said, “I know there has been much change in your life, and that this change has been difficult.”

  “Do you know what could have happened to my parents?” I blurted out.

  “I could not possibly know, Vega, since I, unlike you, was not there.”

  This statement split us like a wall of blood.

  “What exactly did you see, Vega?”

  “I saw nothing,” I lied. “I went to visit my parents.”

  “At night?” she said sharply.

  “Yes. I wanted to see them. I … I was … sad.”

  “And?” she said expectantly.

  “And when I got there the room was empty. I ran outside and that’s where Non grabbed me and pushed me down. I struck him to defend myself.”

  She considered all this and then said, “I ask you not to tell your brother about your parents, Vega.”

  “What?” I said, gaping at her. “He has to know.”

  “His knowing of their disappearance cannot help in any way. And it will distract him from his duties on the Wall.”

  “His duties on the Wall?” I cried out. “So we keep him ignorant of his mother and father being gone?”

  “I can assure you that he is indispensible. I have given instructions to Krone and others on Council to say nothing. And all Wugs involved at the Care have been similarly cautioned. I would ask that you keep this information to yourself as well. Please.”

  Something struck me. “But if you’ve done all that, you knew that they had disappeared before Krone told you.”

  She looked a bit chagrined that I had deduced this, which boosted my spirits just a bit.

  “It is my job to know such things, Vega. Will you not tell him?”

  I couldn’t say anything for a sliver while she and I stared at each other over the width of my doorway.

  Finally, I nodded my head. “I won’t tell him.”

  Her next words truly astonished me.

  “I admire you, Vega. I really do. I can even say that I envy you.”

  “What?” I said. “Envy me? But you have so much. And I have nothing.”

  She said wistfully, “I have things, possessions only. You have nerve and courage, and you accept and take risks like no other Wug I know. All these things come from within you, which is the most important place of all.”

  I stared at her blankly. She was both looking at me and not looking at me. As though her words were directed at a distant place that only she could see.

  Then her gaze settled squarely on me. “You are sure your parents were gone when you arrived at the Care?”

  I nodded my head, not confident of my tongue to deliver another lie in a convincing way.

  She nodded, sighed and looked away. “I see.”

  And I could tel
l that she did see, quite a lot, actually.

  She said, “I hope, after all this darkness, that good fortune shines on you, Vega, indeed I do.”

  Then she turned and walked away.

  I watched her until she disappeared from view. Then I looked to the sky. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe to find answers I could never hope to discover down here.

  I CONTINUED ON TO Stacks, walking, not flying. I didn’t care if I was one or even ten slivers late. If Morrigone was right, it seemed that I would stay out of Valhall. But I didn’t really care about that. My parents were gone. They had left wrapped in a ball of flames. I had never seen anything like that in all my sessions. I was now really questioning who I was. And who they were. And what really was this place I called home. I suddenly felt that nothing about anything around me was true.

  I had promised Morrigone that I would not tell John, that I would not tell anyone. Thus I had no one to help me with the grief and the confusion I was feeling.

  At my table I took up the first strap that I would work on this light. It was many feet in length, very rough, and its edges would slice through bark, leather and certainly skin. My job was to smooth out the roughness. Then I would work in holes toward the ends of the metal. That would allow tethers to be used to hold both ends together after the straps were wrapped around a stack of planed timbers. It was difficult, tedious work and I found that even with my thick gloves on, my hands became cut and scarred as the strap’s edges on more than one occasion tore through the glove’s leather and reached my skin.

  Roman Picus’s taunting words came back to me. How I would never amount to much. How Stacks was all I would ever have in the way of accomplishments. How John had so much more potential than I. It seemed a trivial, even absurd grievance on my part after what had happened last night with my parents. But I apparently could not will my mind to focus solely on that. Emotions were difficult things to corral, like a herd of cretas with a fierce desire for freedom.

  I sanded down the strap’s edges and smoothed out the surfaces. I created holes near the two ends of the strap, using my drill punch, hammer and other tools. I knew tethers would be inserted in the holes to tie the ends together for stability. How it would all come together to complete the Wall, though, I didn’t know. I was sure no Wugs knew except for a very few like Thansius and Morrigone. And now John.