I spent the next few nights practising flying with Destin and throwing the Elemental. During the lights, I kept the Adder Stone and the Elemental hidden under a floorboard at my digs. Destin always rode around my waist. I would never dream of removing it at this point because I never knew when taking to the skies might save my skin.
The next light, I was walking along the forest path to my tree before Stacks when I was confronted by Non wearing his battered metal breastplate. I looked behind him and there was Nida, who no longer guarded Valhall. The prisoners had been bound into servitude to help build the Wall. Nida had his shuck with him, and the huge canine was growling and snapping its immense jaws.
Harry Two started snapping his jaws and growling right back. My canine had grown surprisingly fast since I had taken him in. His chest, neck and legs were thick and powerful. I put a hand down in front of his face and Harry Two immediately sat on his haunches and grew silent.
Non and Nida paired together were bad enough. But next to Nida was Cletus Loon holding his morta and sporting a malevolent grin.
Non held out a hand. ‘Pass parchment.’
I gave it to him. He flicked a gaze over it and then flung it back at me.
He leaned down and said, ‘What are you doing, female?’
‘What I’m doing is I’m going to my tree to eat my first meal,’ I said, holding up my battered tin box. ‘Would you like to see for yourself?’
I shouldn’t have made the offer because Cletus snatched the tin from me and opened it.
‘Good stuff in here,’ he said. He pulled out a hard-boiled egg, popped it into his mouth and swallowed it whole. The next instant, he was on the ground holding his belly because that’s where I kicked him.
Non snagged my arm to hold me back. ‘We’ll nae have that.’
‘He just stole my food!’ I shouted.
Cletus was on his feet now and appeared to be about to point his morta at me. But Nida smacked him in the head and sent him sprawling again. Nida never said much, but when he hit you, you knew it.
Cletus moaned in pain and grabbed his head. ‘What’d you do that for?’
‘Simmer down, Loon,’ advised Non. ‘Or he’ll have the shuck on you.’
Cletus stood, looking embarrassed, his cheeks red. I didn’t feel sorry for him. I snapped, ‘I’ll be coming round and taking that egg from your meal portion at the Loons.’
‘You will not,’ he shot back. ‘I was testing it to see if there was something in it what shouldn’t-a been.’
I pulled my little knife and smiled wickedly. ‘You want me to check your belly, then?’
Cletus leaped back, got his feet tangled and fell on his head. Non roared with laughter and the shuck growled at the sudden noise, but Nida held him back on the chain. I grabbed my tin off the ground where Cletus had let it fall.
Non gripped my arm and leaned in close. ‘One lucky strike nigh means nothing, female,’ he whispered in my ear. I glanced at the dent I had made in his breastplate the other night but said nothing. He continued. ‘Krone has told me the lay of the land. You and Morrigone. She will nae always be there to protect you.’
I ripped my arm free. Around my waist Destin felt on fire. ‘I didn’t need her to do that, did I?’ I shot back, pointing at the dent.
I hurried on my way. I didn’t like being stopped by Wugs with mortas. I didn’t like having my stuff male-handled and my food eaten. I didn’t like that lout Non threatening me. But that seemed how Wormwood was going to be from now on.
I reached my tree, gave a searching look around to make sure no one was watching, picked up Harry Two, gave a great leap and landed neatly on my planks.
We sat and I divvied up our meal. I had to protect myself from discovery because I intended to keep practising with Destin and the Elemental. I had studied the map of the Quag on my skin every night. I now knew it by heart. I had to keep the Adder Stone and the Elemental a secret, obviously. Unless they saw me flying around, there was no cause to throw me in prison.
That’s when I sat bolt upright.
The book. Quentin’s book of the Quag. I had forgotten about it. I needed to study it closely if I were to survive even one light in the Quag. It would give me valuable information about the creatures. Without the book, I could not flee this place. And, I now promised myself, I was going to flee.
This decision had not come swiftly or easily. But Wormwood was unrecognizable to me now. And the more I had thought about it, the idea of Outliers coming for us seemed like rubbish. I wanted the truth and had concluded that I would not find it here. And the only other place was the Quag.
That night after I finished work, I snuck from my lodgings, leaving Harry Two sleeping. I entered the forest, looked to make sure no Wug was around, and then I started sprinting and leaped into the air. I caught an updraught of wind and soared high. The breeze sailed through my hair and over my body. It felt cleansing, like I was taking a long bath under the pipes.
I reached the Delphias’ property and dropped to the ground with little sound. The creta Duf had been working on was gone now, taking its muscle to the building of the Wall. The whist hound was nowhere to be seen. The young slep was still here being trained up proper for a place on Thansius’s carriage. And the adar was also here and asleep, its leg still attached to a peg in the ground.
In the darkness, I suddenly realized I had a problem. I couldn’t remember where I had buried the book. I walked past each pine tree, examining the ground underneath for the little pile of needles I had placed over the hole I’d dug. Of course, after all this time, the little pile of needles had been blown away by the wind or else carried off by creatures to construct their nests. I was cursing myself again for being so blindly stupid, when I heard it. Or rather, heard him.
‘Wo-wo-wotcha, Vega Jane.’
I turned slowly around and saw Delph standing there. ‘Hello, Delph,’ I replied.
He drew even closer and held up my book.
I stared at it and then at him, unsure whether I should claim ownership.
‘C-c-can I c-come t-too, Ve-Vega Jane?’