Vega jane and the end of.., p.11
Vega Jane and the End of Time, page 11
All eyes in the room passed from me to Astrea.
‘Mum,’ snapped Archie. ‘Tell her—’
She held up a hand and he was instantly silenced.
‘I have spoken with Alice since I have come here, Vega,’ Astrea said. ‘She remembers you well from that battlefield. She gave you the Elemental, her most cherished possession, for which she sacrificed much, because she saw in you something that she no doubt saw in herself.’
‘What was that?’
This question came from none other than my mother.
I glanced at her, but my mother’s gaze was upon Astrea.
‘Indomitability,’ said Astrea simply, now staring directly at me.
‘Surely, there are many with that trait,’ said my mother.
‘Vega has suffered,’ Astrea said softly.
I said, ‘We have all suffered, Astrea. Everyone around this room, yourself included.’
Astrea nodded. ‘All that you say is true, Vega. But I must ask. Why did you leave Wormwood? Why did you fight your way across the Quag? Why do you fight still?’
I thought for a moment. ‘Because I wanted the truth,’ I said. ‘Because I wanted to make things right. I wanted to take back what had been so cruelly taken from our kind. And now I want everyone here, and all those out there whose lives have been stolen by the Maladons, to have those lives back!’
‘Exactly. You suffer not simply for yourself, as most do. You have placed the suffering of all those here, and all those others of which you speak, upon your shoulders. For every one of us who falls on the battlefield, for all the souls lost in Wormwood, for every life that is snuffed out by the Maladons, you blame yourself. You wonder how you could have prevented it. You wonder how you can keep us all safe.’ She shot Delph a glance. ‘You take risk after risk, alone, not wanting to enlist your friends for fear that they will not survive. You fight not for yourself, Vega. You fight not for personal glory, as others of our kind undoubtedly did.’ She paused and when she next spoke, her voice rose higher. ‘You fight for us all. And that is why you lead us, Vega. Because you have taken our pain, our suffering, our loss . . . as your own. Peace. Hope. Freedom.’
I felt dizzy at her words. Dizzy and stunned. I would never have expected Astrea, of all people, to defend me like this.
All I could think to say was, ‘Peace. Hope. Freedom. Precisely in that order.’
Astrea smiled benignly. ‘Precisely in that order. Although I have always considered hope to be the strongest among them. Because without that, we cannot have the other two. And that’s what you do, Vega. You give us hope.’
Now my mother did look at me. Her lips trembled, and I saw tears in her eyes.
She abruptly rose and hurried from the room.
‘Go after her, Vega,’ Petra whispered. ‘She’s your mum, and she needs you. As much as you need her right now, I reckon.’
I gave her a grateful look, excused myself, and rushed from the room.
I ran into Pillsbury in the hall.
‘My mother?’ I began.
He pointed down the hall towards the rear door.
‘I hope it goes well,’ he said kindly.
I hurried to the door, and a few moments later I was rushing down the path.
My mother was sitting on a bench among the roses. It was the same bench where I had comforted the young Miranda Weeks, seemingly centuries ago.
Lurking in the background was the same horse statue that had spoken to me earlier but I gave him a look that made him clear off.
I stopped in front of my mother. Her head was bent.
‘Mum?’ I said tentatively.
She did not look up. But she said, ‘Oh, Vega, how very sorry I am.’
I sat down next to her and put an arm around her quivering shoulders.
‘It’s all right.’
‘No, it’s really not. I have acted appallingly to you. My own flesh and blood.’
‘It’s not easy. And you’ve been through so much.’
She wiped her eyes, sat up and took my hand. She managed a brief smile before her eyes welled up once more with tears, matching my own. ‘I have thought about you every day since we parted ways in Wormwood, Vega.’
‘It was the same for me. Every day.’
My mother suddenly looked wistful. ‘We were wrong, Vega. To leave you and John. No matter what we thought we could accomplish here, to abandon our children . . . it was inexcusable.’
‘You wanted to change things. You wanted to fight the Maladons. I’m sure you would have come back to get us.’
She gripped my hand more tightly. ‘We would have, Vega. But I am your mother and I had a choice. And . . . the choice I made was the wrong one. There is nothing more important to me than you and your brother. Nothing. Your father and I gave you both life. We had a duty, bound from love. And we abandoned that duty.’
‘For something perhaps greater,’ I said, trying to make her feel better.
‘There is nothing greater, Vega, or at least there shouldn’t be.’
We sat there in silence for a few long moments. All I could hear was our breathing. It seemed that nothing else existed but the two of us.
Finally, I held my ring up. ‘I will find John.’
‘No, we will find your brother.’
‘But what about Dad?’
‘Your father is alive and surrounded by those who love him and will care for him. Our son may not be. We have to find him, Vega. We must.’
‘We will.’
My mother smiled sadly at me.
‘What?’ I asked, confused by her look.
‘My little girl is all grown up.’
‘I had no choice,’ I replied.
Her smile faded. ‘I know, Vega.’
She slowly reached out and held me in her arms. I felt the tears slide down my face. And I held on to my mother with all my strength.
20
NOTHING
The next morning, Astrea summoned me to her room before breakfast.
I knocked on her door and Archie answered. He scowled at me and then stepped back, allowing me to pass by.
Astrea was sitting at a large table with books and parchment scattered across it.
She barely looked up when I walked in.
‘Yes?’ I said expectantly.
Astrea glanced up from a piece of parchment on which she was scribbling with an ink stick.
‘How did things go with your mother last night?’
‘They went fine,’ I said tersely.
‘Now, Vega, there’s no reason to take that tone or attitude.’
‘You summoned me,’ I retorted. ‘Was it just to hear how it went with my mother?’
When Astrea didn’t answer immediately, I turned towards the door.
‘I’m very glad things went well with your mother.’
I turned back. She sounded genuine – and besides, I was tired of being angry.
‘What you said last night at dinner was . . . helpful,’ I conceded.
‘It was also the truth. Isn’t it nice when the truth also can be helpful?’
‘I suppose it is,’ I agreed, smiling.
Astrea pointed to her books and parchment. ‘I have interviewed your mother most carefully about the exact circumstances leading up to your father’s . . . transformation.’
‘And what were the exact circumstances?’ I asked.
‘I will show you. It’s so much more instructive that way.’ She took out her wand and pointed it against one wall. Three figures appeared there.
‘Your father and the two Maladons with whom he was fighting. According to your mother, the Maladon on the left fired off a Jagada spell, whilst his mate hurled a Paralycto curse.’
She moved her wand around, and the figures moved as well. Light shot out from the two Maladon silhouettes.
‘What caused them to collide?’ I asked. ‘My mum never said.’
‘Ah, well spotted,’ said Astrea. ‘Now, your mother, in an attempt to assist your father, set forth a shield spell, but the two spells hit it at a heightened angle. So, instead of absorbing the twin blow, the shield spell caused the two Maladon curses to meld together, and thus entwined, they deflected off and, unfortunately, hit your father.’
She flicked her wand, and I watched as this very thing happened with the figures on the wall.
I shuddered at the impact of the commingled spell on my poor father.
‘But how did they get away?’
‘Before the spell hit him, your father managed to get off a spell of his own. He had a bare second whilst the two Maladon curses were encountering your mother’s shield incantation. And he made good use of it, sending off a spreading Impacto spell that caught both of the Maladons full on. With them both incapacitated, your mother was able to get to your father and extricate them before Maladon reinforcements arrived.’
‘So, how does that help you?’
Astrea sat back in her chair and surveyed the mass of materials in front of her.
‘It is devilishly tricky, Vega. Devilishly tricky.’
‘So, there is no hope?’ I exclaimed.
She smiled encouragingly. ‘There is always hope, my child.’
‘It can be done, then?’ I cried out.
She nodded, but her expression was grim. ‘In attempting to reverse the effects of such a thing as this, I only have a single chance to get it right.’
‘What happens if you don’t get it right?’ I said, though I thought I knew the answer.
‘The commingled spells are in your father’s body, and while they have injured him greatly, the rest of their magic is actually still intact but has not yet fully deployed upon him.’
My spirits sank to my knees. ‘You’re saying that the two spells are like some sort of potential explosion waiting inside him?’
‘Yes. And if we get it wrong, those spells will almost surely be fully unleashed. The effects cannot fail to be deadly.’
I glanced over at Archie. I’d never seen him so serious. I looked back at Astrea. ‘But we can’t leave him as he is,’ I said.
‘I thought you would say that,’ she said. ‘Which is why I have been working so diligently on the anti-incantation.’
‘How long will it take?’
‘I don’t know, Vega. But when I am ready to proceed, I will inform you and your mother of everything I have learned and what I intend to do.’
I slowly nodded.
‘I do not know your father of course,’ continued Astrea. ‘But I do know you, I daresay. And if father is anything like daughter, he would be willing to take the risk of death over remaining as he is now. But I will leave that decision up to you and your mother.’
I slowly nodded once more. ‘I appreciate you doing all this.’
‘Of course. And I will do it to the best of my ability. But you have pressing matters before you. You have an army to command, Vega. The Maladons to defeat.’
‘Do you really think—’
She held up her hand. ‘You bested me at dinner last night. That’s not easy to do, is it, Archie?’
I looked at Archie, who smiled and said, ‘Rather impossible, Mum.’
I turned to him. ‘I thought you were angry with me,’ I said.
‘I’m just angry in general, Vega. I’ve missed a lot in my life, no matter how long it’s been. I don’t blame Mum any more,’ he added quickly, as Astrea seemed about to speak. ‘And I can’t say I was happy about you being allowed to escape the Quag when I hadn’t been. But I understand the choices that were made.’
Just when you thought you had someone figured out . . .
‘I understood one thing, when I met you in the Quag, Vega Jane.’ Astrea’s voice was soft.
‘What was that?’
‘The same thing that Alice recognized when she saw you on that battlefield. That you were a force to be reckoned with. A force of good. A hope for all of us.’
I swallowed. ‘Thank you.’
‘So I will focus on your father, and you can spend your time and energy on how we defeat the Maladons.’
‘I would still like to seek your counsel.’
‘And you are very welcome to it. I understand the Maladon are now led by Necro’s second-in-command – Endemen. I wonder from whence he came.’
‘I’d much prefer to focus on where he’s going.’
She looked at me quizzically.
‘To extinction,’ I finished.
21
THE END OF ENDEMEN
When the darkness came that night, I had one compelling thought: It was time to use my ring to look for my brother.
I used a wand wire to talk to Victus, the slave who resided at Maladon Castle, and our ally. He had not seen anyone matching my brother’s description, but he also told me that there was a great deal of activity going on at the castle.
‘Something is happening, Vega,’ he said, his tone low and anxious. ‘I know not what, but something is in the works.’
This troubled me greatly, for when there had been such activity in the past, Wormwood had been destroyed by the Maladons.
The next question was who I should take with me. I couldn’t go alone. I had promised Delph that I would not.
Then I remembered our discussion. My mother.
I immediately went to her room and explained what I wanted to do.
‘I will have Mrs Jolly look after your father,’ she said immediately. ‘And I will be ready in five minutes, Vega.’
I descended the stairs, so absorbed in my thoughts that I bumped into Archie on the way down. ‘I was coming to find you,’ he said.
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘I guess I’m eager to show that I can help in the fight against the Maladons. I certainly never thought I would have the chance.’
‘But you and Astrea have been fighting them, ever since you left the Quag.’
‘It’s been more her than me. I mean, I can fight. She trained me up as she did you. But there’s a difference between training for something and actually doing it.’
‘I know that well enough.’
I studied Archie for a long moment, and a thought entered my head that surprised even me.
‘Archie, how would you like to accompany me and my mother on a trip to Maladon Castle?’
He looked as surprised at hearing my request as I had felt making it.
‘When?’
‘Now.’
To his credit, he just nodded.
‘I’m ready, Vega.’
‘Blimey, is that it?’
We had just landed in front of Maladon Castle when Archie spoke.
I nodded as I surveyed what was going on in front of us. Victus was right; there was much activity, with Maladons running hither and thither.
My mother eyed the castle with interest. She and my father had seen the castle, but never been inside. Well, that would change tonight.
‘The gates are open,’ I whispered. ‘Let’s slip through, but keep close to me. If you must speak, keep your voices low. We’re invisible, but they can still hear us.’
We made our way forward and managed to ease through the gates after a column of cloaked Maladons. Once inside, I led them down a side passage.
‘You know your way around here?’ Archie whispered, as we stopped at the intersection with another corridor.
‘Somewhat,’ I said.
‘Where shall we start?’ my mother asked.
When I looked at Archie, he was as rigid as a tree, with his wand gripped so tightly in his hand that I was afraid he might snap it in two.
I smiled and said, ‘First, Archie, relax, before you keel over.’
He let out his breath, and I could see his body loosen. ‘Sorry, Vega.’
‘No need to apologize. I was the same way on my first visit here.’ I looked at my mother. ‘Are you OK?’
She nodded. ‘I’m not afraid, Vega, though I guess I should be. I just want to find John and get us all back safely.’
‘That’s the goal. Keep your wands at the ready at all times.’ I led them through a series of corridors. We occasionally passed a Maladon or two, but luckily no garms and jabbits, who could smell us.
‘Where are we going?’ Archie asked.
‘There’s a room here where they stripped our kind of their magic. John might be there.’
We reached the room where I had found people trapped behind mirrors while their magic was sucked from them and collected as dust in bottles.
I used a magnification spell to see behind the door. There was no Maladon keeping guard inside.
I opened the door, and we stepped through, closing the door behind us.
I heard the moans instantly. I shot a glance at one of the mirrors and was struck dumb by what I saw.
The wall was full of mirrors, far more than had been there before.
When I saw the figure inside the first glass, I nearly screamed.
My mother didn’t have the same restraint. She gave a sharp howl before she collected herself. ‘Roman Picus?’ she said, rushing to the glass.
Roman Picus, my old landlord from Wormwood, was indeed inside the glass. I had never been an admirer of Picus. He and I had been on opposite sides of every argument. But still, finding him here turned my stomach. In another mirror next to him was Cletus Loon. Next to him, in another glass, was Domitar, who oversaw my work at Stacks. He and I had reached common ground before I left Wormwood, and he had told me some important things that had aided me on my way across the Quag.
I gave a little cry when I saw who was inside the next glass.
‘Duf!’
It was Delph’s father, Duf Delphia.
I tapped the glass. ‘Duf? It’s Vega. Delph is safe. I . . .’ Duf didn’t make any sign that he could hear me.
Every inch of the walls was covered in mirrors. And behind each was someone who had lived in Wormwood. In fact, I saw every Wug I’d ever known who lived in Wormwood, except for Morrigone.
And John.
But how could this be? These folks were dead and buried.
‘Do you . . . do you think these are their souls perhaps?’ said my mother in a hushed tone. ‘Or – are we sure they were killed?’
