‘The blind rabbit?’ Vetch asked, with a tilt of his head. ‘Is he your father?’
‘My father’s dead,’ said Podkin, the words as hard to say as ever. ‘Crom was his friend. He looks after us now.’
‘Oh, I am sorry.’ Vetch looked mortified at his mistake. ‘Please do forgive me. I had no idea …’
‘It’s all right,’ Podkin began, when he noticed Crom’s head had turned in their direction. Crom scowled at Vetch, then gave a growl, which sent the ginger rabbit scurrying. Podkin looked back and gave him an apologetic smile. He understood why Crom wanted to be cautious, but at the same time felt sympathy for Vetch. Everyone seemed to be unkind to him. Was it because he wasn’t much use as a fighter, or was it some other, grown-up reason Podkin didn’t understand? He scratched at his missing ear and wondered about it as they marched on.
They walked like that for what felt like hours, through a grey, lonely landscape. Clouds covered the sky, and it seemed like they were lost in a world of nothing. Only the occasional shadow of a hunting owl, gliding overhead, broke up the emptiness.
The silence, the blankness: Podkin had begun to wonder if he wasn’t stuck in a dream, his body still back in Dark Hollow, curled up in his little bed. The illusion was only broken when Zarza suddenly dropped to the ground, hissing an alarm call back to everyone else.
Crom dropped too, reaching out a hand to pull Podkin down next to him. Within seconds, everyone was pressed flat to the earth, blades of grass tickling their noses.
‘What is it?’ Podkin whispered in Crom’s ear. ‘Is it the Gorm?’
‘Hush,’ Crom whispered back. ‘There’s voices.’
Podkin strained to listen, pricking up his one remaining ear, but he couldn’t hear anything except the gentle rustling of wind in the grass and the breathing of the rabbits in his party. He noticed Zarza and Paz had started to inch forwards, staying close to the ground, and he began to follow them.
They crept along, painfully slowly, until they reached the top of a slope. Beyond it, the land dropped away into a valley, which had been completely hidden in the darkness. There were copses of trees down there, freshly ploughed fields and the glowing light of lanterns.
Podkin held his breath and edged next to Paz and Zarza, keeping his ear tucked down as he peered over the edge.
The light came from the open door of a small burrow. A little family farm, probably. It was too tiny to be a warren of any kind. Podkin could hear the voices now, although they were nothing more than murmurs. Someone was whimpering or crying – and was that a shout?
There was a sudden crash that made Podkin jump, and something came flying out of the burrow door, smashing it wide open. It rolled on the floor, then began to twitch and tremble. A rabbit.
Cries and screams came from the burrow then, and a figure stepped out into the night, walking towards the fallen rabbit. A bulky, hunched figure, studded all over with twisted shards and spikes.
‘Gorm!’ Podkin gasped and snatched at Paz’s arm. He hadn’t seen them since they had rescued their mother, and now all the terror of that night came rushing back at once. He felt himself beginning to tremble and shake, his fur standing up on end.
‘Shh!’ Zarza hissed. She had silently drawn her weapon: a thin, wicked-looking thing with a curved bronze blade and handle of carved bone. Podkin looked to Paz for comfort, but she was just as scared as him, unable to take her eyes off the armoured shape in front of them.
As they watched, the Gorm heaved the fallen rabbit up by its ears. It said something in a harsh, grating voice, and a second figure stepped out of the burrow and into the pool of yellow light cast by the open door. Behind them they dragged another rabbit, who was desperately trying to cling to three crying little children.
‘I know what you’re thinking, Zarza,’ came Crom’s voice. He had edged up to the brow of the slope along with the rest of the party. ‘But we can’t risk getting involved. Our mission is to get to Applecross.’
‘I can get involved,’ whispered Zarza. ‘They are Gorm, and my goddess demands that they be stopped.’
‘Are you mad? I can hear at least two of them. You’ll never bring them down by yourself.’
‘I have to try,’ Zarza replied. ‘That is why I am here.’
To his horror, Podkin realised she was going to charge at the Gorm – all by herself. Yarrow was watching with wide eyes, drinking in every detail for a story or song, should he survive.
‘Crom,’ said Mash. ‘We can’t just leave those rabbits down there. The Gorm will slaughter them.’ Podkin noticed that the dwarf rabbit had his blowpipe ready, his fingers pulling a dart from the pouches on his chest. He had once been part of a travelling troupe of acrobats that hunted Gorm in their spare time, and Podkin wondered how many times Mash had been in this sort of situation.
‘I know it seems harsh,’ Crom hissed. ‘But we have children to protect. We also have a mission to complete. If we die here, who will get the hammer?’
‘This won’t take long,’ said Zarza, and before anyone could stop her, she was up and running, down the slope towards the Gorm.
‘Sorry,’ said Mash, and then he was up too, scampering into the dark with his blowpipe at his lips.
‘Hern’s antlers!’ Crom cursed. He grabbed Yarrow by the shoulder. ‘Keep the children safe,’ he said. ‘If anything happens to us, run south.’ With Tansy by his side, the blind warrior jumped up and charged after the others.
‘Podkin!’ Paz cried. ‘What do we do?’
Podkin couldn’t answer. His eyes were fixed on the battle down below, his breath caught in his throat.
*
The Gorm had been too busy to hear the approach of their attackers, caught up in the screams of the poor farmer, his wife and children. Zarza was upon them first – grey flowing robes melting out of nowhere, as if the twilight itself had come to life.
She cartwheeled into the first Gorm, striking him in the head with both feet. He staggered backwards, but then brought his weapon up quickly, ready to fight, and that was when Podkin understood why Zarza’s order were called bonedancers.
She flowed and streamed around the massive Gorm, who swiped and slashed at her in a frenzy. He might as well have been fighting a plume of smoke. Zarza flipped and twirled – in the air, on the ground and everywhere in between. It was more of a performance than a fight, and Podkin was transfixed.
While that was going on, Mash had reached the second Gorm. The tiny rabbit began darting around its feet, trying to get a clear shot at the open eyeholes in the Gorm’s helmet.
The creature threw down the farmer’s wife and began to swipe at Mash with its sword. It only managed a few swings before Crom’s spear hit it in the chest, denting the armour then bouncing aside. It was followed a second later by Crom, flying in with a double-footed kick that sent the armoured monster smashing through a wooden fence and into a field.
Now the quiet night was full of clashing metal. Fast-moving iron and bronze glinted in the burrow’s lamplight
‘Podkin!’ Paz was calling him again, shaking his arm. ‘We have to do something!’
‘Oh no you don’t,’ said Yarrow. ‘You children stay right here with me. And get yourselves ready to run.’ The confident smiling bard was gone. Yarrow’s voice was strained, his eyes wide and scared.
‘The Gifts, Podkin. Can we use them?’
Podkin looked at his sister. Starclaw was useless against the Gorm armour. He had once used it to chop a tree down on to their heads, but there was nothing around them now but open farmland. He thought of the brooch, but there wasn’t even a sliver of moon in the sky. All he could do was stare at Paz, shaking his head, helpless.
‘I can’t just sit here!’ Paz shouted, and before he or Yarrow could stop her, she pushed herself up and ran towards the fighting.
‘Paz!’ Podkin shouted. He went to follow her, but Yarrow had tight hold of his cloak. He looked around for Vetch, thinking the ginger rabbit might help him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
‘I’m sorry, Podkin,’ Yarrow said. ‘I can’t let you go down there. You’ll be cut to pieces, or I will, if your big friend survives.’
Podkin struggled for a moment, but the bard would not let him go. Pook was crying out for him. All Podkin could do was to take his little brother from Yarrow’s shoulders, and hold him tight as they both stared down in horror at the farm.
*
Zarza was still somersaulting and twirling around the iron Gorm, like ink dropped into water. Now she threw things as she danced: bone darts with black-feathered flights. They peppered the Gorm’s head, some thudding into the flesh of its open mouth, some slipping through the holes in its helmet to the soft red eyes beneath. The thing gave a horrible scream and then collapsed with a crash of tearing metal.
The others were not doing so well. The second Gorm had picked itself up, and was furiously swinging its broadsword in wide, sweeping arcs. Mash was firing dart after dart at the Gorm’s helmet, but they all seemed to be pinging off. The iron-clad warrior was keeping his head moving, making the weak spots in his armour as hard a target as possible.
Crom had short swords in both hands now, and was blocking blows as best he could. Tansy was lying on the floor nearby, clutching her left leg and grimacing. At least she was still alive, but for how much longer?
As Podkin stared helplessly, he saw Paz run into the scene, holding something in her hand.
‘Get back!’ Zarza shouted, on the way to help the others. Paz ignored her. She held the thing she was carrying up high.
Ailfew. The sickle, Podkin realised. Paz dropped to both knees, the magic sickle held out before her. She’ll have her eyes closed, Podkin thought, focusing on the growing things around her.
But what was there apart from grass? How could that stop an armoured warrior? He had visions of the Gorm spotting his sister – cutting her down and taking Ailfew.
‘Come on, moon!’ he shouted up at the sky. ‘Goddess, where is the moon?’
It didn’t matter, though. Paz – or Brigid’s – magic had found something to work on. The farmer must have planted pumpkin seeds in his field. Beans too, and perhaps the tiny, weedling sprouts of brambles. Tendrils and shoots of all kinds began to burst out of the soft, open earth and creep their way towards the Gorm.
The warrior didn’t notice at first, it was too busy closing in on its victims. The twining pumpkin and beanstalks began to wind their way up its legs, around its body and neck, growing thicker and tougher by the second.
Before Zarza could even join the attack, the Gorm was held in place. It hadn’t realised until too late. Now it couldn’t even swing its sword to free itself because its arms and body were choked with thick green ropes. Podkin watched as it struggled and cursed, trying to break free, but the vines were pouring from the ground now, looping over each other in a tide of leaves that seemed as if it was never going to stop.
At last, there was silence. The battle had frozen mid-flow, the Gorm, Zarza, the farmers … everyone was staring at Paz, who was still kneeling on the ground, holding out the sickle.
Silently, she stood up, tucking her Gift back into her cloak – but it was too late now. Everyone had seen the magic, and they all knew what it meant.
Podkin didn’t care, he was just glad his sister was safe. Finally breaking free of Yarrow’s grasp, he ran down to her, still holding Pook in his arms.
*
Afterwards, they all gathered in the tiny farm-burrow. It was just a small room, hollowed out of the earth and filled with simple wooden furniture. A stove, a table, some chairs, a family bed, and now several stunned rabbits.
The farmer and his wife were huddled in a corner, trying to comfort their children. Across the room, Paz was talking to Yarrow, while Crom and Mash were tending to the wounded Tansy. Vetch had appeared from nowhere, and Podkin wondered where he’d come from. He definitely hadn’t been amongst the fighting, but there had been too much going on to notice. Hiding, maybe? Waiting for a chance to help out?
Zarza was the only one still outside the burrow. She had sent them all away while she finished off the trapped Gorm. ‘You don’t want to see this,’ she had said to him, and she was right. He’d had a glimpse of the captured monster, even seen her prise its helmet off. What was underneath was no longer a rabbit. The toxic metal of their god Gormalech had spread through its body, taking over every cell. Podkin had seen a flash of rust-red eyes, bulging veins turned black with poison and bare patches of fur where the skin underneath looked almost scaled, like a metal lizard. Even the briefest sight had made his stomach churn, and he had hurried inside as quickly as he could.
The thing hadn’t screamed or shouted for help in the end. It just stood there, bound with vines and leaves, panting and gnashing its teeth. Like some horrid version of the Green Rabbit of Lupen’s Day. Podkin wondered if perhaps the power of the plants was hurting it? Maybe it poisoned them like their iron poisoned the Goddess?
He would never know. There were some quiet, gurgling noises from the night outside, and then Zarza stepped in through the door, wiping her blade clean with a black silk cloth. She silently surveyed the room, and Podkin wondered what would happen next.
‘It has to be,’ Yarrow was saying. ‘But the sickle of Redwater was lost years ago! How did you find it? You simply must tell me!’
Paz was ignoring him, looking over instead to where Tansy was having her injury bound. It looked very serious: a deep slash to her left leg. She had her eyes tight shut as Mash cleaned the blood from her fur and wrapped her leg in some of the cloth bandages they had brought with them.
‘How bad is it?’ Zarza asked from the doorway.
Tansy just groaned.
‘Bad,’ Crom said.
‘She won’t be able to walk very far for a good while,’ added Mash.
Zarza growled in frustration. Did this mean the mission was over?
‘We thank you for your help.’ The farmer rabbit spoke up. He was a little brown-furred lop with timid, watery eyes. ‘You’re welcome to rest here until your friends recover.’
‘Nobody can stay here,’ Crom said. ‘The Gorm will be back, maybe even tonight. You must pack your things and get your family to safety.’
‘But where will we go?’ The farmer’s family had begun weeping again at Crom’s words. ‘All the warrens around here have been taken over. This farm is all we have!’
Crom stayed silent. He was being a soldier again, Podkin knew. It wasn’t that the farmer’s fate meant nothing to him, it was just that their mission meant more. Pod’s mother, his aunt, all the rabbits back at Dark Hollow … all the rabbits in the Five Realms. Everything hinged on them getting the hammer and fighting back against the Gorm. Even so, it just didn’t seem fair. They had saved the farmer’s life, but couldn’t do anything else to help him. Unless …
‘I know where you can go,’ said Podkin. The idea had come to him the same instant he opened his mouth. ‘There’s a warren to the south, deep in Grimheart forest. It’s called Dark Hollow, and the Gorm don’t even know it’s there. Your family are welcome to stay. It’s warm and safe and there’s food …’
He tailed off, realising he should perhaps have asked Crom’s permission first, but the blind rabbit was nodding. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘You will be safe there.’
‘Safe?’ said the farmer, gaping. ‘In Grimheart forest? Don’t you know the place is full of vicious wolves? And what about the Beast? We’ll be eaten in our sleep! Why would you crazy rabbits go making a home there?’ His wife and the little ones squealed and tried to hide behind him.
‘There’s no Beast,’ said Podkin, his feelings a bit hurt. ‘And we haven’t seen any wolves or anything. It’s actually quite a nice place to live.’
Zarza spoke up next, giving the farming rabbits a steely glare from behind her mask that scared them even more. ‘The forest – Grimheart, as you know it – is a good place. It belongs to Hern the Hunter. The Gorm will not want to go there if they can help it.’
Podkin raised
his eyebrows in surprise. Maybe that was why they’d never seen a Gorm patrol inside the forest? It made him want to go home all the more. That, and having just thought about his mother. A huge feeling of missing her swept over him like a wave, making him blink away tears.
‘I don’t know about Hern scaring off the Gorm,’ said Crom, ‘but I grew up in the forest. I’ve never seen the Beast, and the wolves prowl much further in than our warren. You should definitely head there. Tansy should go back too. She can’t come any further with us, and she can keep you safe on the way.’
‘But you can’t send me back!’ Tansy shouted, her voice cracked and broken with pain. ‘Who will show you the way into Applecross?’
Crom put a hand on her shoulder. ‘You can describe it to us. We will manage. You’ve brought us this far, and fought bravely too. There’s no shame in going back now.’
She hung her head, knowing Crom was right. They couldn’t slow their pace just for her. They were rushing to get to Applecross, after all. Brigid had said there’d be a little time to reach Comfrey before she either died or became Gorm, but there wouldn’t be long enough to wait for Tansy to heal.
‘We should send the children back too,’ said Zarza. ‘This is no place for them.’
Pook, still curled in Podkin’s arms, took a deep breath, ready for another scream, but Crom spoke first.
‘No. The children stay with us. Paz just saved all our lives, in case you hadn’t noticed, and Podkin has done the same for me in the past. We need them with us. Besides, who made this your mission? What if we don’t want you to come with us?’
Zarza laughed, as though this was the most stupid thing she’d ever heard. She was right, of course. They needed her more than anyone else. Her fighting skills were incredible.
‘I’m coming too,’ said Yarrow. ‘I’ve already got three stanzas worked out about this escapade, and it’s shaping up to be the song of all songs. Wild polecats couldn’t drag me away.’
The Gift of Dark Hollow Page 9
