I didn’t think I’d ever admired Rae Wentworth more than I did in that moment – covered in blood, barely recovered from a wound that should have killed her and still determined to help.
“This isn’t going to make much sense,” I told her, “but you’ll have to trust me. There are bad Illegals here who work for former Prime Talbot. Um, he’s not dead, I don’t know if you’ve heard the rumours. Talbot is trying to derail the reform movement, stir people up against Illegals, and we think the Illegals who work for him are going to assassinate Prime Willis, or Neville. The one who hurt you has probably gone after Neville, and a member of my Tribe is out there too, and I have to go help.”
She nodded. “Then go, and I’ll follow as soon as I can.”
I ran, out of the hospital and into the centre. As I neared the cells, I could hear sounds of a struggle. I peered around a corner to see that the door to the cell block was wide open. An enforcer was lying on the ground with his skull caved in, by a rock this time instead of rhondarite. Didn’t even have time to draw his sword. I could make out a white-haired figure and a dark-haired figure huddled in the shadow of the next building, both dressed in the plain brown clothes of prisoners. Neville and Grey. And in the open space between the structures, Daniel was fighting with a sandy-haired boy.
The two of them were struggling for the stunner, and one of them must have their hand on the trigger, because every now and then a blast would shoot out. I gaped in surprise. Daniel’s so fast, how did the minion manage to get anywhere near him?
In a moment, I had my answer. The boy disappeared, just vanished completely, and reappeared behind Daniel.
I shouted a warning as the minion aimed two sharp, vicious blows at Daniel’s side. He staggered, and the boy grabbed the stunner. I sprinted over. Before I could tackle the minion someone slammed into me from the side, throwing me to the ground. I hit the dirt, twisted and struck at – Miriam Grey?
I’m trying to keep you from being killed, you idiot! Or at least keep Neville from being killed, although I doubted Terence would care if Grey was collateral damage. But there was no point in telling her that; she had always been crazy, and confinement clearly hadn’t agreed with Miriam Grey. Her green eyes were even more devoid of sanity than they’d been the last time I’d met her. She hissed and spat, clawing and scratching at my face. I flung up an arm to protect myself and punched her in the stomach – once, then twice. She gasped, and I threw her off me, aiming a last kick at her middle as I stood to make sure she stayed down. Grey howled, curling up into a ball.
A bolt from the stunner flashed past, forcing me to duck, then roll as another one sizzled by. Except the minion – the Blinker, I decided to call him – wasn’t actually aiming at me. In fact, he seemed to be shooting in all directions, following something around the space. It’s Daniel. He’s Running. And I was only going to get in the way. I scrambled for the shelter where Neville and Grey had been hiding. Neville wasn’t there any more, which was worrying. I tried to spot him amid the stunner blasts. He’s probably trying to escape in the confusion.
Daniel appeared out of nowhere, ramming into the boy and pushing him backwards so fast he dropped the weapon. I ran for the stunner as Daniel slammed him against a wall, holding a rhondarite collar to his throat. The boy struggled, trying to get away from the collar. Daniel was holding it in place, keeping it in contact with his skin. If I can stun the minion, I can end this!
I’d nearly reached the weapon when Neville darted in. He was carrying a sword; he must have taken it from the dead enforcer. What is he doing, trying to help us? I shouted at him to run. He ignored me, raised the sword – and plunged it into Daniel.
I gasped in shock as Daniel collapsed, the collar clattering to the ground. My hand closed on the stunner and I swung it up to fire at Neville. Only before the blast hit its mark the Blinker appeared, grabbing hold of Neville’s arm. They both disappeared.
The shot dissipated into the air just as someone crashed into my legs, knocking me over. I had barely enough time to register it was Grey before my head slammed against the corner of a wall, and for a second everything went black. I blinked woozily as the world returned, and scrambled to my feet.
Grey was gone. So was Neville, and the Blinker. A red-robed figure staggered out from among the buildings, and I almost shot her before I realised it was Wentworth. She stumbled to Daniel’s side, dropping to her knees and putting her hands on his chest. I backed up towards them, swinging the weapon back and forth, ready to fire the moment I saw danger.
There was no one to shoot. The dreadful truth sank in. Terence hadn’t sent the minion here to kill Neville.
He’d wanted to rescue him.
Everything seemed to be going a little blurry at the edges, and there was a ringing sound in my ears. I kept looking for a target, determined not to let Daniel be hurt again, as I struggled to comprehend what had happened. Neville wasn’t disposable to Terence after all. They’re still allies. Maybe Neville had something Terence wanted, or … I didn’t know, but I shuddered to think what a master manipulator like Neville Rose could accomplish with Terence’s support. And – wait, there they were!
Neville and Grey and the Blinker were standing on a rooftop, three buildings away.
I fired. The energy died out before it got anywhere close. I was too far away, and I couldn’t risk leaving Daniel and Wentworth unprotected to get any nearer. So I settled for glaring instead, especially at Neville, who was still carrying the sword wet with Daniel’s blood.
I aimed the stunner at him. He raised the sword, and for a second I thought he was going to throw it at me, which was about as useless as me pointing a weapon at him.
Then he twisted and stabbed it into Miriam Grey.
She didn’t even have time to scream before he shoved her off the roof, sending her tumbling downwards with the sword still sticking out of her. I shuddered at the sound her body made as it slammed into the ground. Why? Except I knew why, because it made a dreadful kind of sense. He didn’t need her any more. And she’d known too many secrets about him, secrets that someone as mad as she was couldn’t be trusted to keep.
Neville smiled. I couldn’t make out the details of his smile, but I didn’t have to. I knew it was the one that belonged to his true self, to the face kept hidden behind the pleasant mask he showed the world. The knowing smirk of a monster who understood exactly how monstrous he was, and took joy in it.
Neville pointed to his eyes, then to me and spoke. I couldn’t make out his words either. I still knew what he was saying.
I’ll be seeing you, Ashala Wolf.
He and the Blinker vanished.
I waited a few moments in case it was a trick, in case they came back to get us. They didn’t. I’d been too slow and too stupid and too late, and Neville had escaped.
I turned back to Wentworth. Daniel was lying on the ground with his eyes closed. He didn’t seem to be bleeding any more. “Will he be okay?”
“He should be.” Wentworth’s skin was sallow and she was sweating. “He’s not entirely out of danger yet, but I have to rest my ability a little before I can use it again.”
I kneeled down, handing her the stunner. “Take this. I think there’re other Illegals trying to get to the Prime; I’ve got to go try to stop them.”
She pushed it back at me. “No. You need it.” She stood up. “Help me drag him inside. We’ll hide until this is all over.”
Good suggestion. Wentworth was thinking more clearly than I was. I leaned down, and between the two of us we pulled Daniel into one of the nearby buildings.
“Stay here,” I told her. “Lock the door and don’t come out.”
She frowned, peering into my eyes. “Ashala, have you hurt your head?”
“Knocked it a bit. I’ll be okay.”
“I can try to help–”
“No. Save your strength for Daniel.” I gripped hold of her arm. “I’m counting on you to keep him alive. I know you won’t let me down, Rae.”
&
nbsp; She raised her chin and nodded.
I ran for the dining hall, stunner in hand. My balance seemed to be a little off, but I was confident I’d be okay. At least, I was until I tried to call Jaz so he could let Connor know I was coming. The message bounced back and forth inside my skull, seeming to scramble my brain. I leaned against a wall, waiting for the pain to pass. No mindspeaking with a head injury. Good to know. Maybe I should’ve let Wentworth help me. Only she’d looked bad, and Daniel had looked worse. And I was not leaving one of my own to die in this place.
The pain faded, and I righted myself, continuing my slightly shaky journey towards the dining hall. As I got closer I smelled the dreadful scent of burnt flesh. Firestarter. I slowed, and huddled between two buildings to spy out what was ahead.
Small fires were burning everywhere, and there were charred bodies strewn across the ground. It seemed as if a lot of enforcers had converged on this place, and died horribly for their trouble. The big doors to the dining hall were closed, but I could see odd flashes of light through the high windows. Connor was in there, I could sense it. And burned across the wall were words, the same ones that had been written in blood in the hospital. We are everywhere.
Despair crashed over me. People would see those words and come after Illegals, after the Tribe … no. I hadn’t failed yet. Wentworth would speak for us, and as long as we could keep the Prime alive, there was hope. I had to find the Firestarter. Maybe in the dining hall?
I was contemplating a dash across open space to the door when a fireball came flying towards my head.
I hit the ground. It sailed over me and set my hiding place alight. Can’t stay here! I ran out, shooting the stunner in the direction the fireball had come from. I caught a glimpse of the Firestarter – a tall, skinny boy – two buildings away. He was laughing as he lobbed more fireballs. I dodged, and kept firing as I weaved my way closer, trying to get a clear shot. But my head was spinning, and all my movements were a little off. Fire caught the edge of my arm and hand, burning me and the weapon. I dropped it, rolling back and forth across the ground as I tried to put out the flames. I expected to be incinerated at any moment.
The fire went out, and I staggered up, in terrible pain from my burnt arm, but miraculously alive. Then I saw why. The Firestarter was down, flat on his back with a sword in his side. Jeremy Duoro was sprinting away. “Run!” he yelled. “Take cover!”
I didn’t need to be told twice. The Firestarter was badly hurt, and when one of them died, their body released an inferno that reduced everything in the immediate area to ash. I had no idea if having rhondarite in him would prevent a death inferno or not, and I wasn’t prepared to put it to the test. I stumbled away, collapsing into the shelter of a wall, and looked back.
Just in time to see the Firestarter yank the sword out of his body, and send flames blazing at Duoro.
I screamed a warning. Duoro flung himself to the ground. Not fast enough! The fire caught him across his shoulder and left side. The Firestarter collapsed again, and I lurched out, throwing myself on top of Duoro to smother the flames. Then I grabbed hold of what remained of his shirt and dragged him into a corridor between buildings, ignoring his screams of pain. I had to get him away from the Firestarter and out of the vicinity of another attack or a death inferno, whichever came first.
I crouched at his side, trying to assess how seriously he was hurt. It’s bad. A significant amount of Duoro’s body was burned. Too much of it. He needed more help than I could give him.
He blinked, staring at me out of unfocussed eyes.
“Jeremy, it’s Ashala. I’m going to get Doctor Wentworth.”
Even as I spoke I knew it was useless. I doubted Wentworth had the power to save another life, and I’d never get her back here in time even if she did.
Duoro seemed to understand that he didn’t have long. “Please …” he whispered. “Don’t leave. Stay with me.”
I slumped, reaching out to take his uninjured right hand.
“Got him, didn’t I?” he rasped. “Saved you.”
“Yes.” I wanted to cry; I held the tears inside and kept them out of my voice. “You saved me.”
“Always wanted … to do something that mattered. Couldn’t save … the others.”
He was dying and there was nothing I could do about that. But there was something I could say. Leaning over, I hissed fiercely, “The children are alive. Do you hear me? The detainees weren’t eaten by saurs. It was a trick, a way for us to save them without anyone knowing the Tribe was involved. They’re alive and they’re free.”
His face changed, shifting into an expression of incredulous joy. I’d never seen anyone look so – hopeful.
Then the light vanished from his eyes, and his stare became blank.
Jeremy Duoro was dead.
I’d thought only moments ago that I wouldn’t leave one of my own to die in this place. I felt as if one of my own just had. I wanted to sob and to shout and to scream at the injustice of it. I wanted to rip Terence Talbot and Neville Rose and everyone like them to pieces. Instead I hauled myself to my feet and peered out into the centre. The Firestarter wasn’t there any more. There was only the sword, lying where he had been.
I could easily track where he’d gone by the blood trail he’d left behind – not towards the dining hall but away from it, around a corner and out of sight. It didn’t matter; he wasn’t going to last long. I went for the sword, picking it up. It wasn’t much of a replacement for the stunner, but it’d do. Then I started towards the dining hall, and Connor.
That was when my battered, half-scrambled brain kicked into gear. The blood trail. There was only one thing the Firestarter could be heading for in that direction. The main gates, and then … the grasslands.
From what I’d seen of the minions, it would be about right for one of them to want their death to cause as much damage as possible. He couldn’t pick a better target for fire than grass, and he had a strong ability. The fireball in the sky … all those burned bodies outside the hall … His death inferno would be nearly impossible to put out, even for the saurs with their armoured scales.
If he reached the grasslands, everything would burn.
Jaz? I yelled. The mental shout seemed to bounce off the walls of my skull, sending pain shooting through my head. I couldn’t reach him that way. The saurs will stop the Firestarter before he gets to the grass. Only – would they? All they’d see was one injured boy limping towards them, and it took exceptional circumstances for the saurs to step off the grasslands. They might not recognise the nature of the threat until it was too late, and while Jaz and the saurs might be immune to fire, the rest of the kids in his Tribe were not. How many of those wild children were hidden in the grasses today? A lot, they’d been out in force to keep watch on the Adjustment. Not to mention all the animals, the pretty speckled snakes and spiky hedgehogs and furry hopping dunnarts and the hundreds of others that made their home in the grass.
I wanted to run to Connor. Whatever he was dealing with must be bad, or he would have defeated it by now, besides which I could feel a faint sense of exhaustion tugging at my senses. He needed me. But I had to make the right choice, the choice he would want me to make. We stood between our Tribe and Jaz’s Tribe, and the trees and the grasses, and danger. He is of the forest. I am of the forest … I had to take care of this first.
I snarled and sent Connor the only help I could. I sent him my faith, my absolute confidence that there was nothing he couldn’t do, casting that belief out into the air and hoping he received it. You are Connor, and you can do the impossible.
Then I went after the Firestarter.
THE BATTLE
When I rounded the corner I could see two charred bodies ahead of me. The gate guards must have still been at their posts. Now they were dead. They were away from the gates too – they’d clearly run towards the Firestarter, either because they’d seen him as a threat or because he’d fooled them into thinking he needed help. He was only a skinny kid,
after all. Jeremy Duoro’s voice echoed in my head: “But they’re teenagers – surely they couldn’t be assassins.” Oh, Jeremy. I warned you. This teenager was able to kill without a moment’s thought, as if it was nothing. As if life was nothing.
And he was headed for my friends.
I hurried to the gates, which had been pushed open just enough for someone to get through. The boy was about three quarters of the way over the long stretch of gravel that separated the front of the centre from the grasslands, where saurs were stalking about in the distance. Some of them watching him but none of them seemed overly concerned. As I’d feared, they didn’t understand the danger.
I’d never get to the Firestarter in time. But I didn’t have to. All I had to do was warn the saurs, and their hearing was exceptional.
I clung to the gate and screamed at the top of my lungs, “Firestarter! Firestarter! Firestarter!”
Reptilian heads swiveled towards the boy, and scaly bodies began to move in his direction. He reacted, flinging three fireballs ahead of him in quick succession. Flames tore across the grasslands, licking at the sky. The boy began to run to the grass. Even in his injured state, he was fast.
The smallest of the saurs was faster. Hatches-with-Stars came hurtling through the fire with Jaz clinging to her back. She raced across the gravel, skittering towards the Firestarter. He tried to dodge. He wasn’t quick enough; her clawed feet trampled right over the top of his body. It was enough to kill him.
I knew it by the sudden, massive storm of fire.
The heat was so intense I could feel it from where I stood. I huddled behind the gate, hoping desperately to see Hatches and Jaz emerging from the blaze. Only they didn’t. Come on, come on … Firestarters didn’t burn, and saur scales were so tough they were immune to pretty much anything. But a death inferno incinerated the body of a dead Firestarter. Would it destroy them too?
My heart thumped against my ribs, every beat more painful than the last as anxiety constricted my chest. Out on the grasslands, the saurs rolled, trying to put out the fires started by the fireballs. And, gradually, the inferno began to die.
The Disappearance of Ember Crow Page 24
