by M S C Barnes
terrifyingly loud. Sinking to the ground he felt little stabbing sensations on his head and back. He curled into a ball and heard Scarlet shouting, “Get them off him!”
He looked up at her. She stood, with Nat, watching helplessly. He was the only one being attacked. He felt a couple of barbs penetrate the skin of his back before the creature inflicting the attack was grabbed by one of the girls.
The Caretaker and Miss West now joined Zach, striking at the bats, sending them in every direction, as far away as they could. The little brutes didn’t seem to die. They simply regrouped and attacked again.
Hands over his head, Seb dared not move but in a gap between his elbow and his head he saw a leaf flutter to the ground; pale yellow, it was visible against the darkness. He looked up worried now about Alice.
“Alice, are you okay?” he called.
He couldn’t see the Dryad. He could see the frantic efforts of the Guardians as they continued to punt away as many bats as they could. One creature jabbed its claws into Seb’s cheek and then another landed on his scalp. He felt blood trickle into his hair.
More leaves floated out of the sky and landed on the ground nearby. Seriously concerned for Alice now, Seb raised his head again in time to see a mob of bats tumble to the ground, landing with a thud about ten feet away, very near the black void on the opposite side to where Mr Duir was still battling with the ghostly shape. Then Seb realised this mob was covering a larger, moving object. Through the mass of bats he could see greenery, leaves, and then a hand – Alice!
Seb felt a surge of anger. Standing up he shouted, “Get off him!”
Another bat struck him on the forehead. He flicked it away and stumbled through the host of flapping creatures. As he got closer more and more bats descended and joined the swarm that was tearing at the Dryad’s body, sending leaves upward in their frenzy. Seb was now covered in the creatures too and could barely see. He could feel hundreds of agonising pinpricks all over his body and he could hear Miss West shouting at him to stand still and let them get rid of the beasts. He ignored her and the pain. Reaching a hand out, trying to sweep a path through the manic throng, he shouted again, “I said get off him!”
As he did there was a massive blast from his palm: a bolt of white light exploded outward from him and then contracted, dragging every single bat with it and casting them into the gaping hole at the centre of the circle. Then the light was gone and so too was the gap, leaving just the mirrored tower.
Seb felt energy coursing through him, a far cry from the weak dizziness he had felt just moments before. He stood in the meagre moonlight, gazing around at the stunned faces of his friends and the teachers.
Zach was first to speak. “Whoa, Seb. What was that?”
Seb wasn’t sure what it had been and he didn’t care. He rushed over to Alice.
“Are you okay?”
Sitting up, Alice was surrounded by a pile of leaves and broken twigs. He smiled slightly, checking himself over.
“Pretty sure I am. Though I can’t look that good!” He seemed embarrassed.
And then Seb felt the steely touch of ice on his neck at the same time as he became aware of the change in expression on Alice’s face and the sound of running footsteps that came too late.
Retake Them All
Near the base of the tower, Seb fell to the ground, the icy grip around his throat preventing him drawing breath or even crying out. He felt a bitter chill inside which spread to form cold fingers that crept down his left arm.
Time seemed to slow. In what he believed to be his final moments he found it curious that there were so many little points of light, so many jewelled deposits in the earth he lay on.
Scarlet screamed, “Someone get it out of him!”
Coldness spread into his brain and still the little jewels in the earth twinkled cheerfully at him. He could hear words in his head.
“Seb, fight him!” Alice encouraged. “Seb, can you hear me? Fight him!”
Fight who? Seb lifted his eyes and stared at those around him with a feeling of detachment. Aiden was speaking quickly to Mr White. Seb heard only some of his words, “… quartz crystals … their optimum …”
Mr West became animated. “He’s right, Dom. The crystals …”
Then Seb noticed Heath moving towards him and there was something about the look on his face that made Seb watch him more closely. Kneeling, he reached a hand out to Seb.
“Do not, Heath!”
Seb turned his head awkwardly. With Dierne’s help Mr Duir had got to his feet. He stood shakily, eyes glaring at Heath. There was no sign of the spectre that had enveloped him before, though the damage it had caused was obvious; there was bruising around his neck and his face was covered with scratches and grazes.
Heath moved his hand forward again.
“Do not!” Mr Duir snapped and Heath retracted his hand, smiling in an effort to placate him.
“Aelfric, he needs help.”
“Who does?”
Heath froze, turning pale. He made no new attempt to reach towards Seb, whose world was gradually turning black. Aiden, a few feet away, inched closer.
Again Seb was aware of the tentative movement of those cold fingers along his arm but then there was another sensation. He glanced down at his hand to see Aiden piling a mound of sand and crystals over his open palm. Suddenly a beam of light fell near it. Seb followed its track back to Mr Duir who, leaning on Dierne, was focusing moonlight, reflected from his own palm, onto the soil near Seb.
Heath pushed Aiden to the side just as the creeping coldness of the unseen fingers finally reached Seb’s palm and one digit touched his birthmark. As it did so Mr Duir shone the light full onto Seb’s hand. He felt searing, burning pain and the icy fingers retracted as if scalded. The touch inside him recoiled and the grasp around his neck loosened. Seb drank in several lungfuls of air.
“No!” Heath shouted and yanked Seb by the underarms, pulling him out of the beam of light. Seb had no strength to resist.
“Heath! Do not!” Mr Duir’s warning was grim. “This must stop!”
Heath stood in front of Seb, hands on hips, and let out a harsh laugh.
“Why, Aelfric? Why must it?”
Alice flitted over and now planted his feet firmly on the ground in front of Seb. Heath spun around. “Oh, young Dryad,” he laughed. “You believe you can defeat us?” His voice was so cruel and patronising, Seb was shocked. “You who could not even defeat a colony of bats! Stand aside and let Braddock through!”
Braddock, that name again. Who is Braddock?
There was a rush of movement as Zach ran, leapt a good ten feet, and landed beside Alice, staff at the ready.
“Children. Ha, ha! You who know so little; we who have centuries, millennia nearly, of knowledge and experience. Juveniles! You have no role to play here.”
Seb barely recognised Heath; there was no light-hearted mirth, no friendship, no joviality, just a harsh, brutal arrogance.
Now two more figures rushed in from left and right: The Caretaker and Miss West, covering ground so fast their movement was a blur. But Heath’s reaction was quicker. He lifted his hand.
“Aelfric, hold your comrades! You know what I can do,” he shouted.
Miss West had reached Seb and swung her staff as she landed but a barked word from Mr Duir stayed her strike. The Caretaker stopped abruptly.
Seb watched the scene play out, concentrating on simply trying to breathe now the hold around his neck had loosened.
Heath stood facing Mr Duir in a stand-off.
Nat crept over to sit beside Seb. She grasped his hand as The Caretaker spoke.
“Heath, this is not the way.” Heath twitched slightly. “Braddock was lost. There is no return for the Dryad. We knew that.”
Dryad? Braddock was a Dryad?
Heath rounded on the hooded figure. “We? We? You mean you? You were supposed to be our Guardian!”
Seb glanced up at the barely visible aq
uiline features.
“Your Guardian, Heath. And I fulfilled that role.” There was a pause as The Caretaker pulled down the jacket hood and stared Heath in the eye. “Braddock made his choice. He knew the consequences.” Seb hadn’t a clue what they were talking about. More quietly now, The Caretaker continued, “And you knew too.”
The cold presence inside Seb seemed to be recovering its power. As if responding angrily to the conversation it began to constrict other parts of his body, tightening around his waist until he felt his backbone being crushed from inside, gripping around his arms and stopping the blood flow until he had pins and needles in his wrists and hands. He winced in pain.
Alice put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Fight him, Seb. Everything he is doing is in your mind!”
The tingling in his arms grew stronger. Actually not my arms, my palm. Seb felt a jolt of hope. Tingling was good, wasn’t it?
Heath obviously had an indication something was up as well and spun round angrily.
“You delay me. Well, your tactics won’t work.” Still holding his hand up, he tilted it. Seb looked on in horror. There were lines in the skin of Heath’s palm, just like those in his own and Mr Duir’s, only these weren’t straight, they were jagged, ripped, bloodied. Silver still shone through but the edges were blackened and the lines unclear, as if they had been distorted, deformed.
As he tilted his hand back Heath was knocked sideways. Zach barged into him with his shoulders and sent him tumbling to the ground.
Standing over him he laughed, “Children?”
Angry, Heath lurched up and jarred his shoulder into Zach’s
