by Andrew Symon
27
The Green Man
Stegos quickly picked out Jack from the crowd.
“You have the Mapa Mundi, boy? Then hand it over.”
The Kildashie held aloft the fragment of Raglan stone, and although Jack shrank back, Stegos was swiftly on him. He gripped Jack by the throat – but his arm was immediately beaten down.
Jack had not even been aware of the half-giant’s movement from the fireplace; but he said a silent thank you as he dropped to the floor, rubbing his neck. Stegos was just as surprised, and he wheeled around in anger.
“I am Kildashie! We own the Shian treasures!”
The half-giant stared at him impassively.
“You deal with things that you do not understand,” said Phineas, positioning himself between Stegos and Jack. “Splitting the Raglan makes its power unpredictable!”
Stegos eyed Phineas warily. “But it’s part of the Destiny Stone; the rest has gone on to Edinburgh.”
“The Destiny Stone cannot work properly if it’s splintered. As the Raglan it was our best hope of uniting the treasures!”
“I don’t believe you. This piece is proof the Kildashie are in charge. And my friend here –” he waved at one of his comrades “– has your season-wheel.”
One of the Kildashie brandished a small wooden wheel which showed a winter setting.
“That’s our season-wheel!” shouted Magnus. “Without its turning we cannot survive!”
“One word from me,” said Stegos, “and he’ll shatter it. Your winter will last ten years!”
“You splinter the Raglan stone; and you would break the season-wheel. You neither understand nor deserve such treasures.”
“Enough with words! Give me the Mapa – or my friend here will bring a winter of death. Or maybe your children would rather have some heat?”
Several of the Kildashie now darted forward and grabbed prisoners – including Cleo, Rana and Fenrig. Igniting their sceptres, they held the burning end at each hostage’s face.
“This is the midwinter solstice!” shouted Magnus. “This violates all our laws and customs!”
“We will be gone once we have the Mapa,” said Stegos simply. “If you want to make sport, I will duel with the boy. This piece of the Raglan for his map!”
Phineas, Grandpa and the Nebula crew all moved forward to protect Jack.
“No!” said Phineas, withdrawing his sword. “You duel with me, not my son.”
“Dad,” said Jack hoarsely. “That’s a piece of the Raglan. It can make hexes ten times stronger.”
The splintered Raglan was erratic, yes – but not useless. Jack saw the wave of doubt spread over his father’s face. Duelling was one thing; swords against strong hexes, that was death-waiting-to-happen.
But nobody found out what Phineas would have done next. The half-giant pushed himself forward again.
“One hex for one blow,” said Magnus as the half-giant brandished his axe. “You go first, Kildashie.”
Stegos stared at the man, his jaw dropping.
“What makes him think he’ll get a blow in? I’ll take his brains out – if he has any.”
“One hex for one blow,” repeated Magnus firmly. “Ten minutes’ recovery time.”
Stegos chuckled. “All right. And to show I’m a sport, there’s the piece of Raglan stone.” He placed the sandstone on the floor. “Now, if the Mapa Mundi goes there too, you’re on!”
As the half-giant turned round to look at him, Jack could not read his face. It was impassive – almost dead. But looking at the hostages, cowering at the thought of their faces being scorched by the Kildashie’s sceptres …
Fenrig looks like he’s wet himself!
… Jack realised he had no alternative. Tugging Tamlina’s ring from his neck, he untied the flag, and laid it next to the splintered Raglan stone.
The crowd had split into two: the Kildashie with their hostages by the entrance, and everyone else facing them. Stegos and the half-giant stood in the middle, eyeing each other up.
Stegos looked carefully at the axe in the great man’s right hand; then at the switch of holly branch in his left. Then, with a chuckle and a shake of his head, he swiftly raised his sceptre, and aimed it at the half-giant’s face.
“Decapitis!”
There was a flash as the hex caught the huge man square in his face. An audible gasp ran round the chamber as the face burnt; and when the head toppled onto the ground, followed by the body, Jack felt an icy chill run through the room.
“Now, I take the Mapa Mundi!” shouted Stegos triumphantly.
“No!” commanded Magnus. “Ten minutes, remember.”
“All right,” laughed Stegos. “Ten minutes won’t hurt.” He looked round in triumph at his comrades.
Jack was desperately trying to think. There must be something he could do here … Gosol had brought Grandpa back up at Dunvik; but he’d used the Chalice for that – and his grandfather hadn’t been in bits.
If I could get the piece of Raglan stone …
But Stegos was standing with his foot over the small fragment of sandstone, his sceptre still aimed at the giant’s recumbent body. The other Kildashie were laughing, and two had even freed their hostages, confident that they would soon be on their way. Fenrig, released by his captor, scurried away.
The minutes ticked by, and there was nothing happening except a growing pool of blood by the slain half-giant’s body. What had Magnus meant – ten minutes’ recovery time? How do you recover from a severed head?
The minutes
ticked
by.
In silence.
Stegos glanced round, then stretched and yawned, and bent down to retrieve the Mapa Mundi. But he was halted by a flicker of movement from the half-giant’s body.
Jack’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. There was no doubt – the body had moved. The arms bent, and the body pushed itself up into a kneeling position. Blood continued to drip from the open neck.
The arms swept the floor in front until they encountered the severed head. Then cradling the head, feeling gently for the face, the half-giant stuck it firmly down onto his torso again. Then he picked up the switch of holly and axe, stood up, and faced Stegos.
The Kildashie had watched this display with a growing sense of disbelief. Disbelief gave way to incredulity – and then terror.
“One blow for one hex,” stated Magnus firmly. “Stand ready. The ten minutes are not over.”
Stegos’ jaw moved up and down, but no sound came out. Whether he would have managed to say something eventually is a moot point, because the half-giant swung his axe, and cleaved head from trunk with a ‘Tchock’.
Jack hadn’t heard a ‘Tchock’ before; and he hadn’t previously heard the sound which followed it: a kind of splushing noise as Stegos’ head hit the floor, splattering out blood and brains. Next to those sounds, the ‘whump’ as Stegos’ body hit the floor was a bit of an anticlimax.
The remaining Kildashie stood, stunned. Then two made a break for it, and escaped through the doorway, pulling the entrance down behind them. Their comrades, if they had entertained thoughts of escape, now saw that this was impossible. They were quickly disarmed, and the season-wheel recovered. The prisoners were led away into the makeshift morgue next door.
“Shouldn’t we go after the others?” shouted Jack, stooping down and retrieving the Mapa Mundi. As he picked up the sandstone lump it burnt his hand – but only briefly. It felt sort of … zingy. The flag around his neck tingled.
When the treasures come together, their power increases … even if the Raglan has been broken, and it’s only a part of the Stone anyway …
“No,” said Phineas, going over to comfort Cleo and Rana. “It’s better if the story comes from them – that will put fear into the other Kildashie.”
“And what’ll happen to the others?” asked Jack, nodding towards the morgue.
“We can’t kill them: it’s the solstice, for one thing. And it’s like at D
unvik: Gosol demands that we spare them.”
“They were going to burn our faces off!” screamed Rana.
“But you’re safe,” explained Grandpa soothingly. He took the Raglan stone fragment from Jack, then knelt down and hugged Rana. “And we mustn’t sink to their level.”
Cleo’s eyes showed indignant fury at her ordeal. She strode over to the half-giant, whose face, though still disfigured, showed a trace of a smile. Cleo gave a short curtsey, then walked off towards the morgue.
“Wait! Where are you going?” demanded Magnus.
Cleo stopped abruptly.
“I want to see them punished.”
“Oh, they’ll be punished – just not killed. Trust us: we wouldn’t insult you by letting them off lightly. They abused all of us.”
“He’s right,” said Phineas, putting his arm around Cleo. “Let’s let them take care of the prisoners. Come on; the party’s getting going again.”
Stegos’ body had been dragged away, and his head removed. As the music restarted, fresh earth was spread around to cover the blood. NorShian carried trays of food and drink around, and the atmosphere quickly returned to party mode.
“This place is amazin’,” said Ossian. “You’d never think they’d just been attacked. It’s like nothin’ even happened.”
Kedge, however, was not sharing the jollity. In fact, he was shaking.
“It’s all right,” said Lizzie soothingly. “They’ve gone. The ones who escaped aren’t coming back.”
Kedge’s eyes showed that, however much he wanted to believe he was safe, the thought of Kildashies and beheadings chilled him to the very bone.
“Come on over to the warm,” said Armina, taking Kedge over to the fire. “And we’ll get you something to drink.”
Jack watched as Kedge was led away. Painful memories had clearly been stirred.
That was just a taster, thought Jack. When we take on Boreus and the rest of the Kildashie, we won’t have a green man to save us. He walked up to Magnus.
“You knew he would do that, didn’t you?”
Magnus looked down kindly at Jack. His face was flushed; and it wasn’t just from the roaring fire.
“As I recall, we haven’t gone through the formalities yet. Did you have a request you wanted to make?”
Jack felt hot tears welling up inside.
“This isn’t a game!” he shouted. “We’ve travelled hundreds of miles, some of us have died, and you want me to play?!”
“Jack.” His father’s voice was soothing. “They didn’t know the Kildashie were going to attack. The green man is their totem. He’s the sign that the year does turn.”
“We’re at the depths of midwinter,” explained Magnus, cradling the season-wheel. “We have to believe that the dark days won’t last forever.”
“We know your green man is proof to you that winter will pass,” said Phineas. Turning to Jack, he added, “He killed Stegos with an axe, but did you see what he held in his other hand?”
Jack thought. It was odd that the half-giant had held a switch from a bush.
“The holly bush is green isn’t it? Even at midwinter?”
“Exactly. It’s a sign that spring will return. If the green man hadn’t got up, winter would have lasted forever.”
“And if you knew our islands then you would know that that is what we fear most,” said Magnus. “We would never survive that.”
Iain Dubh had silently joined the group.
“Jack, you remember how bad things were at Nebula? After the Hallows’ Eve party?”
Jack thought back to the grimness of Nebula. Thin-faced creatures, only just surviving the hardship of cold and near-starvation. He shivered.
“Well, Novehowe’s much like that. It’s a long hard winter. Only the prospect of spring returning makes it bearable.”
“I’m sorry if making you wait a few hours to put your request was troublesome,” said Magnus. “But we have waited months to share this time of festivity.”
Jack looked down guiltily.
“So,” continued Magnus generously, “I gather you have a request to make?”
“He does,” said Iain Dubh. “And I promised Jack that the Nebula men would join him if he could persuade Magnus of Novehowe to do so. So, Jack, plead your case.”
“We … we wanted to ask if you would help us stop the Kildashie. If they get the Destiny Stone and the King’s Chalice, they’ll be able to control everything. It’s freezing cold everywhere; and there’s floods, and the woods are all getting burnt, and the waters are being poisoned …” Jack heard his voice getting faster and faster.
“The Kildashie believe they can do whatever they like,” added Phineas. “We’ve always known they could be infama; but from all we’ve heard, they really don’t care.”
Magnus looked across at the half-giant, who had resumed his place near the fire.
“For the Kildashie to challenge the green man and threaten to break our season-wheel was infama. But we are not so reckless as to join a battle without knowing what we fight. How big is the Kildashie force?”
Jack looked at his father and grandfather.
“The Kildashie and Thanatos occupy Edinburgh and most of the lands north of Keldy. The Boabans – well, they have Tula, but nowhere else. The Red Caps are in the Borders; and there’s various Unseelie in the west.”
“But how many Kildashie are there?” insisted Magnus.
“There were only thirty or so at the Oestre festival …” began Jack.
“That was just their advance party,” added Armina. “When they attacked the Congress, Boreus brought in many more.”
“You see what we have here,” said Magnus, “and this is us at our best, until spring at least.”
“But we must defeat the Kildashie before the new year. That’s when they’ll try and get the Destiny Stone.”
“By Hogmanay?!” laughed Magnus. “That’s out of the question. We have no fighting force to lend you.”
28
Stalled
Jack felt he was drowning. He struggled to take in a breath, and his head swam.
“Magnus,” pleaded Phineas, “you know that we have come far to ask for your help. It is imperative that we stop the Kildashie from taking the Destiny Stone.”
“It is not that we do not wish to help you, but see for yourself what we have here. A dozen fighting men, at most. Our community has not had the benefit of being near the Stone, like you have. And midwinter is hardly the time for such excursions.”
“But we were told that many others would be here at midwinter,” exclaimed Jack. “We have to join forces.”
“The low road is open today,” replied Magnus, “which is why you see some of our overseas friends here.” He indicated small groups dotted around the chamber: Grey Wolf and the other Cree; a group of short painted men, who crouched low beside the fire; and the McCools.
“Then you can call others to join you,” said Jack simply.
“But this is our solstice festival: a time for celebrating the passing of midwinter.”
“Magnus, I do not doubt the integrity of these mainlanders,” added Iain Dubh. “The boy has found the Mapa Mundi; they have retrieved the Shian flag from Ardmore, and even rescued the Gusog feather. I promised HebSeelie support if they could persuade you to join.”
“Your honour is not in question, Black John. But our forces, even combined, are not enough to take on the Kildashie and all their allies. And especially not in winter.”
“But if the Kildashie get the Destiny Stone, they could control the weather: and then it would be winter forever,” pleaded Jack.
Magnus looked keenly at Jack.
“You mean they really control the seasons? And the weather?”
“We don’t know how; but wherever they’re in control, it’s freezing. They’ve cut down most of the Shian woods, and they’ve caused flooding, even in the human places …”
Magnus looked down at the NorShian season-wheel.
“We’
d heard that things were bad in some areas,” he admitted. “But it’s all so distant.”
“It won’t stay distant if they get the Stone,” said Phineas firmly. “You saw the power this fragment of the Raglan gave to Stegos; the whole Raglan will be giving them much more. If they get the Destiny Stone itself – well, it’s unimaginable.”
“I suppose …” said Magnus; “I suppose I could call on our friends from the fjords. But there’s time yet. The low road will be open for most of the next ten days.”
“But we need to be in Edinburgh by Hogmanay. Otherwise the Kildashie will win.”
“I can send a message to the fjords; but there’s no guarantee they’ll come. If they do, we can join you. If not, then attacking the Kildashie is suicide. I won’t waste my men on a mission that’s doomed to fail.”
“D’you think they’ll come?” Jack turned to a NorShian beside him.
The man shook his head slowly.
“Only if they think one of their own is in danger.”
“What d’you mean, ‘One of their own’?”
“The fjordsmen left traces wherever they sailed; including people. They look out for those who are still there. That knife on your leg is Norse, isn’t it? It’s an old one.”
“An old soldier gave it to me; on Ilanbeg.”
“Well, if an old Norse remnant like him was in danger, or harmed, then the old earls would come.”
“Old earls?”
“Oh, Harald, and Rognvald. They used to bring warriors over here, back in the old days.”
The man wandered off, leaving Jack feeling low; the NorShians’ lack of enthusiasm was depressing. Spying Ossian talking with a group of Cree, he moved over.
“This guy’s amazin’,” said Ossian as Jack approached. “The stories he tells about huntin’. Three days goin’ after a moose. I’m goin’ over for a visit when all this is done.”
Jack sipped a goblet of juice. That seemed like an optimistic assessment based on what he knew. If only there was some way of speeding things up.
Rana approached frowning.
“I thought Mum and the others were going to join us.”
