I touched their world
Like a comet
Sean
Pain flashes through me, and again I see black. I’m so sore everywhere that I can’t tell where this new agony comes from. I realise that something is stuck inside me – close to my hip. I look for it with my fingers, and there it is. I feel sick as I realise I’ve done this to myself. In a flash, I remember. Harry wanted me to kill Sarah. No, not Harry. One of the Guardians.
Sarah. Where is Sarah?
Screams and howls hit my ears. I don’t know who’s screaming. I’ve lost so much blood, I feel dizzy, but I drag myself up and kneel on the long grass. My side is killing me with every movement. I curl my fingers around the handle of my sgian-dubh and pull. Somebody screams again, and I realise it’s me. I see black for a moment, blood gushing from the wound along my leg – and then, I’m not sure how, but I rise on my feet. Everything around me is shining blue. Lightning keeps hurtling from the sky. I take a few steps in the electric light, and the first thing I see is Nicholas and Elodie, holding their heads and screaming, blood flowing out of them. The brain fury. That monster is taking Elodie to hell with him!
And then I see her. My Sarah. She’s lying on the ground, her face up. Her hair falls around her in waves, her face as white as alabaster, lips black. I take another few agonising steps until I reach her. I let myself fall on the grass beside her and touch her face, kiss her black lips, stroke her hair.
It’s over. It’s all over for me.
But if Nicholas and Elodie are being punished with the brain fury, it means that the King of Shadows is alive. So there’s something left for me to do. I drag myself up and raise my sgian-dubh, dripping with my own blood.
“Where are you? Where are you!” I scream, my sgian-dubh beginning its deadly dance.
Who’s looking for me? Oh, it’s the little Gamekeeper, says a disembodied voice. I turn around. Where is he? I don’t even know what he looks like.
The soil itself rises in front of me, and within the mass of earth I can make out a burning heart of embers. The rippling mass takes different shapes. I can see different animals, horns and claws and muzzles, but no shape is held for more than a few seconds. I blink many times, squeezing my eyes shut. The fluctuating shape is confusing my sight to the point that the whole world seems to sway.
There must be a mouth in there somewhere, because a growling voice speaks to me. Here you are. The one who thinks he has powers.
I try to steady my gaze. His only vulnerable point is right between his eyes: that is what Nicholas had told us. Was it the truth, or was he deceiving us all along, inventing a weakness that doesn’t exist? It doesn’t even matter at the moment, as I can’t make out a forehead, or a head at all. My hands trace slow runes.
Let me tell you the truth, Sean Hannay. You have no powers. Your blood is as common as dirty water. Your runes are a joke. You are a joke. It’s pathetic how you want to be a Secret heir, when you never can be and never will be.
Does he think this is going to hurt me? Sarah is dead. What do I care whether I have Secret powers or not?
Deadly ribbons appear in the air. The King of Shadows laughs again. Dirty water! That’s what you are! Blood as common as muck.
But his words can’t touch me. I don’t care about dying, not with Sarah gone, but I’ll do my duty as a Gamekeeper as long as I draw breath. In spite of what this devil is saying, without Gamekeepers there would be no Secret heirs left alive. I’ll do what I was trained to do, what I swore I’d do.
One of my red ribbons ties itself around the King of Shadows’ swirling mass, wrapping itself around it, slowly caging it. All of a sudden, the mass shudders and shakes and solidifies into a weird shape: a bull’s head over a human body – a minotaur. Its horns shake and dance as he tries to get rid of the scarlet ribbon, to no avail. I feel sweat roll down my forehead and fall into my eyes, and I’m suddenly aware of the blood trickling down my side. My life force flowing out of me.
The King of Shadows growls in fury. I am hurting him. It’s my runes doing this to him, the runes he said were a joke. I trace another ribbon, murmuring the secret Ancient words, and it ties itself around the King of Shadows’ body. As I try to sustain both ribbons it feels like my body is going to snap in two with the effort, all my muscles hurting and stretching. The ribbons expand and flow until they join, tying his arms together. The King growls, and more blue lightning falls from the sky, all around me. I don’t stop. I don’t move. I don’t waver. I pray I don’t die before I can kill him – that’s all I want. After that, I hope I go up in blue flames until there’s nothing left of me but ashes, and my spirit joins Sarah’s.
The scarlet ribbons tighten around his wrists and cut into them. With one last effort that makes me roar in pain, I tighten the runes even more. We both fall to our knees. The minotaur’s body lands on the ground with a thud that resounds in the sky and echoes in the earth. I create one more ribbon, and tie it around his throat this time, but the King of Shadows throws back his face and opens his mouth. It all happens very fast: blue lightning comes rolling out of his eyes and mouth and envelops me, blinding me. I can’t see and I can’t hear anything. A burning smell fills my nostrils. It’s my own flesh, I realise. Everything sways, and I feel the soft grass under my cheek.
It’s the end.
The blue light fades, leaving dots dancing in front of my eyes, and I can make out the King of Shadows towering over me, the red ribbons still tied around his wrists, black blood seeping from his wounds. He raises a fist, and I close my eyes . . .
But the blow I was expecting never happens. Something holds him back. Something stops him from hitting me and smashing my skull, but I can’t see what. I can make out a pair of white hands on the King’s shoulders, as if someone has jumped on his back – black liquid seeps from where the hands are touching. The King of Shadows collapses face down, and finally I can see what is hanging onto his back.
It’s Sarah. Sarah is alive. Her lips are still black, her face so white it glows, her hands sunk deep inside the King of Shadows’ skin, dissolving him as he yells; echoing screams and yelps fill everything around us. And then there’s someone else there – Nicholas. My heart sinks as he raises his hands, flaming blue. He’s going to set Sarah alight, and I can’t move. I can’t save her . . . The pain in my side is so bad it’s started affecting my eyes. Black dots shiver through my vision.
Nicholas cries out, something I can’t decipher. In response, Sarah leaps away from the King of Shadows.
She stands and watches as Nicholas sets his father on fire.