Vega Jane and the Rebels’ Revolt

by David Baldacci

  ‘Yes, Mistress Vega. I daresay there will be.’

  ‘I can’t guarantee the outcome. I don’t know that we won’t be beaten a second time, and utterly destroyed. But I can tell you that I will fight to the death. I don’t want peace with the Maladons. I’ve seen what they’re like. I’d rather die than have anything to do with that lot.’

  Now he looked at me. I mean he really looked at me.

  ‘If you’re not the spitting image of Mistress Alice, then I don’t know what you are.’

  He left me on that note.

  I sat back down and stared at the fire for a while. I thought about all that he had told me. It wasn’t that I needed more reasons to hate the Maladons, but if I had, Pillsbury had supplied me with plenty more.

  They had an army of well-trained sorcerers who could fly and fight and kill.

  I had Petra, Delph, Harry Two and a bunch of bottles with dust in them.

  Some army.

  What I needed, I decided then and there, was my grandfather. A mighty sorcerer, an Excalibur.

  I knew exactly what I had to do.

  I had to travel back to Maladon Castle and rescue him.

  27

  A LOSS OF ONE

  Maladon castle was directly in front of me.

  Harry Two hung in his harness. I had ventured here without Petra and Delph. I had brought Harry Two because he seemingly had a connection with the creature in the Tower Room. Inside my pocket was the bottle with my grandfather’s magical dust.

  The castle rose from the darkness like a hideous mass.

  As I drew even nearer, my jaw dropped.

  I had assumed the castle would be quiet at night.

  Instead I saw a scene of activity. Figures in cloaks were hustling to and fro. The castle was ablaze with light. The front gates were open.

  What the Hel was going on?

  I supposed that the chaotic scene I was witnessing did provide certain advantages.

  I unbuckled Harry Two and attached him to me with a magical tether from my wand.

  OK, here we go.

  We set off at a trot towards the castle.

  We quickly reached the circle of light thrown off by the entrance. To the left and right of us were Maladons in long red cloaks. I couldn’t see their faces because their black hoods were drawn up.

  For some strange reason I felt no fear being in the midst of my enemy. I felt, instead, a certain inexplicable calm.

  We were ten feet from the open gates when I saw him.

  Endemen burst forth from the entrance to Maladon Castle like a raging storm.

  His hood was down and I could see his true, evil features. He had transformed into what he really was: that creature I had seen before. It was far more terrifying than the conjured face he normally wore.

  He shouted to his fellow Maladons in some language I could not understand. His voice sounded urgent, but also strangely jubilant.

  My feet started moving and I was past Endemen and through the open gate.

  Harry Two and I darted off to a side corridor as I frantically tried to remember the directions to the Tower.

  Oh, to Hel with it.

  I drew my wand and muttered, ‘Pass-pusay.’

  The Tower Room corridor was firmly in my mind.

  An instant later we were outside of it.

  The first thing I noted: There were no jabbits stationed outside.

  The second thing I noted: There was no door.

  They knew someone had been in the Tower Room before. So they had walled it up.

  Now the question became: Was the prisoner still in there?

  I pondered this for a few moments even as the sounds of whatever was going on down below reached my ears.

  I drew close to the wall and put my ear against it. I could hear nothing.

  But that wasn’t good enough.

  I pointed my wand and whispered, ‘Crystilado magnifica.’

  Now I had my answer. The room was completely empty. Even the slits in the walls were gone.

  They had moved him elsewhere. I frowned, thinking. They had kept him in the highest point of the castle. So what if they had moved him to the lowest? I turned around, and Harry Two and I made our way back down.

  The activity had diminished quite a bit, and we didn’t have to dodge Maladons flying through the corridors.

  I spied the stairs heading down into the bowels of the castle. They didn’t look the least bit appealing. Then I spotted someone familiar walking past me and carrying something.

  ‘Victus,’ I hissed.

  He turned and looked around with his all-white eyes.

  ‘It’s me, Vega. I asked you before about the Tower Room, remember?’

  He slowly nodded.

  ‘I . . . I can’t see you,’ he said.

  ‘I know. I’m invisible. What’s going on around here? Why all the activity?’

  ‘I do not know. Master has simply told us to prepare some things. Provisions and the like, for a journey.’

  ‘A journey where?’ I said.

  He shook his head. ‘Master has not said.’

  I eyed him closely. ‘Victus, do you remember who you used to be?’

  He flinched for an instant.

  I added, ‘Because you were not always Victus. You were someone else entirely. And you were magical. Just like your masters.’

  He shook his head sharply, but I could see in his tightened features that there was . . . something.

  ‘No. I am simply Victus.’

  I said, ‘Will you be going with your master on this journey?’

  He shook his head. ‘Only the masters will go. We will remain behind.’

  I nodded, thinking this over. ‘Victus, the prisoner who was in the Tower Room. Do you know where they took him?’

  ‘I cannot say.’

  ‘Can’t, or won’t?’

  ‘’Tis the same to me.’

  ‘I think not,’ I said sharply.

  He flinched once more.

  I gripped his hand with mine. He instantly became invisible along with me. His skin was icy, but it began to warm under my touch.

  ‘I think you could tell me if you really wanted to. That person is my grandfather, Victus. He is a prisoner here. I want to help him. But to do that I need your help. You helped me once before. Will you do so again?’

  ‘You were very kind to me before, miss. You thanked me. I have never before heard those words here.’

  ‘That’s because your masters are evil and they don’t care about you. But I do. I want to free you, Victus. And all others like you. I hope you can see that.’

  A moment passed as innumerable emotions seemed to flit across his sightless features.

  He said in a hoarse voice, ‘The person you require is not down below.’

  ‘Where, then?’ I asked.

  ‘He is in the Great Hall with our one true master.’

  My spirits collapsed. Necro. ‘What’s he doing in there?’

  ‘I do not know. But I saw him there.’

  ‘Is he in chains?

  Victus shook his head.

  ‘Thank you, Victus. You’ve been very helpful.’

  He bowed his head. ‘I wish you luck, miss.’ He paused and then added, ‘Was I really magical, once?’

  ‘You all were. And if I have anything to say about it, you’ll be magical again.’

  I let go of him, turned and rushed towards the Great Hall with Harry Two right next to me.

  We finally reached the grand doorway leading into the even grander room, even if it had, at its epicentre, such a foul thing.

  The one true master?

  Rot. I gingerly put a foot over the threshold, and my dog followed.

  I looked up and saw that the glass ceiling I had smashed through previously had been repaired.

  The room was vast and empty.

  Well, nearly so.

  Up at the front I saw something. Something quite odd.

  There was the throne. Seated in it was the ancient Necro.


  In his hand was a wand. It was the blackest thing I had ever seen. It reminded me of the darkness I associated with Orco, of the world of the dead.

  The wand was pointed at the pitiful person from the Tower Room. Something was emanating from the wand and piercing the body of the other. A ray of darkness, black as the wand and mostly hidden in the shadows of the room.

  I drew my wand but was unsure what to do. As I hesitated, Necro lifted his wand and the black beam vanished. The poor faceless creature toppled from its stool and fell to the floor. With a flick of his wand, Necro vanished. I rushed forward and reached the spot where the creature lay. When I touched the skin it was cold and clammy.

  Could this be my grandfather? Harry Two brushed past me and sniffed at the creature. Then he pushed his nuzzle against the cold hand, and I saw one finger twitch.

  Harry Two stepped back and looked up at me as if to say, There you go, mate – it’s him.

  ‘Thanks, Harry Two,’ I murmured.

  I had Destin around me, which meant my strength was greatly multiplied.

  I lifted the figure gently, and he became invisible.

  ‘Grandfather,’ I whispered into his ear. ‘Are you OK? What did he do to you?’

  I got no answer to my questions.

  Carrying my grandfather, I hurried from the room.

  The corridor outside was empty.

  In my mind I assembled the floor plan for the castle and my method of escape. We hurried along the long corridors until we reached the main gate.

  Two Maladons were stationed there, obviously guarding the exit.

  I slipped past them, ran further on and then lifted into the air.

  When I looked back down, the castle was as dark and silent as death.

  Where had they all gone?

  I had a sudden terrible thought. What if they had discovered Empyrean? When I returned home, would I find it destroyed? Delph, Petra, Pillsbury and Mrs Jolly and all the others dead? Was that where the Maladons had gone?

  I tapped my wand, incanted my spell, and the next moment I was standing in front of my ancestral home. To my relief, it looked as normal.

  Carrying my grandfather, I went inside, with Harry Two right behind me. I laid my grandfather down and turned my ring back around so that we became visible once more.

  Pillsbury appeared in front of me, looking quite normal and unsurprised that a wretched, faceless creature was lying on his polished floor.

  ‘Mistress Vega, can I be of assistance?’

  ‘You can fetch Delph and Petra for me.’

  ‘Of course.’

  He vanished.

  A few moments later I heard two pairs of feet hurtling down the stairs and the next instant Delph and Petra, still in their night things, were standing in front of me.

  ‘Where have you—’ Delph stopped when he saw the creature on the floor.

  Petra gasped. ‘You . . . you went back and got him?’

  I slowly nodded. I could hardly believe that had all happened.

  ‘How did you manage it?’ spluttered Delph.

  I ignored them. This was no time for questions.

  I pointed my wand and said, ‘Rejoinda bottle of Virgil Alfadir Jane.’ I curled my hand towards me and the next instant the large bottle came hurtling into the room. I neatly caught it in my free hand.

  I looked at Delph. ‘I have no idea how to get his magic back to him, but we need to figure it out, and fast. Maybe that book with the dark spells will have something about reversing it?’

  Delph nodded and turned to get the book when Harry Two did the most extraordinary thing. He leaped up and knocked the bottle out of my hand.

  We all watched, too stunned to move, as the bottle fell right towards the crumpled figure on the floor. At the last second, the stopper came off the bottle and the dust cascaded out, covering the body underneath it.

  The dust didn’t simply land on the body and stay there. It was absorbed into the skin. It was as though the thirsty body was greedily sucking up every last drop of it.

  We all waited for what seemed like forever, but could have been only mere moments. Then a blinding flash of golden light seared across the room.

  I shut my eyes. When I opened them, there was no huddled mass on the floor.

  Standing in front of me, nearly as tall as Delph, and robust in every way, was a man I had not seen since I was six years old.

  My grandfather, Virgil Alfadir Jane, stood before us. He seemed not to have aged a jot since I had last seen him.

  My spirits soared. I wanted to leap into his arms.

  ‘Grandfather, it’s me, Vega!’

  He looked at me. In those eyes I saw many things: love and sadness chief among them. I couldn’t understand why he would look sad. Not now. Not when we had been reunited at last. Not after all that had happened in between.

  He was here at last. My grandfather and I had been reunited.

  He reached out his hand and took my fingers in his. They were cold. Yet the look in his eyes was full of warmth.

  He smiled at me.

  ‘Oh, Vega, my very, very dear grandchild.’

  His words were faint, like a wisp of smoke, when I remembered his voice as a deep, powerful baritone. But I didn’t care. A single tear emerged from his right eye and slid down his cheek.

  ‘How I have longed to see you, Vega, over these many sessions.’

  His hand went to my chin and stroked it. I gripped his hand with both of mine, the tears spilling on to my face, and I made no effort to wipe them away. I knew that Petra and Delph were waiting at a respectful distance and could see me crying, but I didn’t care.

  This man had been gone from my life for so long. Yet looking up at him, feeling his hand upon my skin, it was as though we had just recently parted.

  ‘I . . . I missed you so much,’ I stammered. ‘I’ve been trying to find you for so long. And now . . . now you’re here. We’re together.’

  I hugged him tightly, burying my face in his chest, breathing his scent in, squeezing him so hard that he couldn’t possibly ever leave me again.

  He embraced me back with those strong arms that I remembered enveloping me when I was a child. When I was scared, he would comfort me. When I was joyful, he would rejoice with me. Every such memory came flooding back to me.

  Then his grip suddenly weakened, and I felt him tremble.

  ‘Grandfather?’ I said, alarmed.

  Gently, he guided me away from him, so we could look at each other. ‘I always knew you were special, from the very night you were born,’ he said quietly. ‘You above all others. I knew it and felt it and I have not been disappointed in those beliefs.’ His face crinkled into a smile.

  I smiled up at him. ‘Together, Grandfather, together we can manage this. We can defeat them. I know that we can do this. You’re an Excalibur. And I’m, well, I can fight too. I think that—’

  He held up a hand to quiet me.

  ‘But our time together will be very short, I’m afraid, my dear, dear Vega.’

  I froze. ‘What? No! I just found you. You can’t leave me. You can’t!’

  He paused for what seemed like an eternity as I stared up at him.

  ‘I must. For you see, Vega, I am, unfortunately, already dead.’

  28

  LAST WORDS

  There are times in everyone’s life when loss strikes.

  When one’s heart breaks.

  There are times when you truly feel as though you have no heart left, so shattered is it.

  This was such a time for me.

  I stared at my grandfather.

  ‘You’re . . . you’re . . .’ I could not say it. I could not say that word.

  ‘He killed me, Vega,’ my grandfather said simply.

  ‘Necro,’ I said, my eyes brimming with fresh tears.

  I glanced back at Delph and Petra. They appeared to be cast in stone.

  ‘He is a very powerful sorcerer,’ said my grandfather. ‘Who knows things that we never will
. But we cannot dwell on that. We have things to discuss. You must have questions. Even as a young, you had more questions than every other Wug. So please, ask away, Vega.’

  This was like a bad dream. Haltingly, I said, ‘What . . . happened . . . after you left Wormwood? Where did you go?’

  ‘I left to lead an uprising against those who had destroyed our ancestors.’

  Now I said what I had to say. ‘You . . . you left me behind.’

  He reached out a hand for me but I stepped away from it.

  There was a sound behind me. I looked around and noticed that Pillsbury and Mrs Jolly had entered the hall and were staring at us.

  Pillsbury took a step forward. ‘May I get you some refreshment, sir?’

  Virgil glanced at me, and his eyes carried a twinkle. He turned to Pillsbury. ‘I have quite enough refreshment being with my granddaughter, thank you, upset though she may be with me right now.’

  ‘Your granddaughter? Then you are a Jane, sir?’

  ‘Virgil Jane. I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but there you are.’ He glanced around the room once more and said, ‘What is this place?’

  ‘It’s our ancestral home, Empyrean,’ I said. ‘But surely you know of it. You’re an Excalibur. You know all.’

  ‘I know a great many things. But I do not know all, Vega. I never knew about this place.’

  He looked at my pocket, where the end of my wand was sticking out. He pointed to it. ‘Is that how you came to know of it?’

  ‘Yes; it sort of pointed the way for me.’

  ‘And how came you by your wand?’

  ‘Alice Jane Adronis, the last Jane to live here. It was the Elemental and then it became my wand. Astrea Prine trained me up in the Quag. Do you know her?’

  ‘Alas, I do not, having not gone through the Quag myself.’ He eyed my finger. ‘I see that my ring made its way to you.’

  ‘It was at Quentin Herms’s cottage. Thansius gave it to me before I fled Wormwood. Quentin also left me a map and a book.’

  He nodded. ‘I know. Before I left, I asked him to do so, when you were of a proper age.’

  I gaped. ‘You . . . you asked him?’

  ‘Yes. Herms was my trusted friend. Quite magical as well. On my instructions, he ventured into the Quag as far as possible and mapped it and took notes of all he saw.’