Vega jane and the end of.., p.26
Vega Jane and the End of Time, page 26
I raised my wand and said, ‘Rejoinda, timbertoes.’
They flew to me. I reduced them in size and placed them in my bag.
My last stop was the Hallowed Ground, where Wugs buried their dead.
It was here that I thought I had buried Thansius.
I had conjured and then carved his headstone. I read off the words that I had written with my wand.
‘Here lies Thansius, the best and mightiest Wug of all.’
And perhaps the one with the biggest heart of all too, I thought.
I tapped my leg and appeared back in the high street.
Under my armour was my cloak. And in my cloak pocket was the Seer-See.
I set it on the ground and manipulated the cup. As the flaming liquid seeped across the cobbles, he appeared in it.
Necro was roaming the village at the other end, near where the Council building used to be before the Maladons destroyed it. He was hunting me.
He had no idea that I was hunting him.
I studied him closely, something I had never had the opportunity to do before.
His terrible features seemed sharper in the bright sunshine.
There were several breaches in the wall. I don’t know what had caused them, whether beast, sorcerer or some other evil.
I continued to watch Necro as he walked, his wand always at the ready. In my mind’s eye, I saw him take Astrea’s magic for his own, which had rendered him infinitely more powerful.
All the same, I was sure I could defeat him.
The blow that hit me the next second was so stunning that my ring spun around, cutting off my shield of invisibility.
Barely ten feet from me stood Necro.
How was that possible? I looked down into the flaming liquid and there was Necro, still walking through the village.
Then it struck me.
He had conjured a doppelgang of his very own.
He had absorbed Astrea’s magic. Which meant he knew all that she knew.
Necro spoke. ‘I can see that the truth has occurred to you, Vega. Astrea was a brilliant sorceress with a far-reaching mind who could conjure things that even I could not. And for you, this is not a good thing.’
He hurled another spell at me, a killing spell that I managed to dodge by flying into the air.
Necro leaped into the sky and met me a hundred feet off the ground.
‘No doubt you thought it to your advantage to duel me in your old village,’ he said. ‘You know the “lay of the land”, as it were. But so did Astrea, and thus so do I.’
‘You will never know this place as well as I do.’
‘You were not a match for me even before I took her powers, Vega. You are overconfident. I have never truly unleashed my full powers on you. But take heart, I will not kill you immediately. I want you to suffer,’ he added, with a snarl. ‘Because you have taken much from me. And I will take as much from you.’
The air started to seize up around me. This time I could not escape its effects. I grabbed my throat because I could barely breathe. Right before my eyes closed, I could sense that I was falling . . . a very long way.
And then there was nothing.
49
DEATH FINALLY COMES
When I opened my eyes, I was bound head and foot by golden lashes. I struggled against them with all my might. With the strength that Destin provided me, I could feel them give, but only a little. Then I fell limp, exhausted by the effort.
I was at Steeples. The last time I had been inside our place of worship, the pretty glass had been melted and the building gutted by the Maladons.
I was up on a stone slab on the altar where Ezekiel, the Sermonizer, would preach to us, basically telling us that no matter what we did, we were doomed.
I could relate to that feeling right now.
I sensed movement to my left and flinched when I saw it. The jabbit was enormous. It had wings, like the kind I had seen long ago on the battlefield where Alice had been killed.
The creature sat coiled up barely ten feet from me, all of its hideous heads staring right at me. Hundreds of forked tongues slithered out of the serpents’ hundreds of heads. Their fangs were deadly.
To my right, I also sensed movement.
It was Necro, striding up the centre aisle of Steeples directly towards me.
‘Vega, I trust your rest has been pleasant?’
The fury in me overtook the fear and I glared at him.
‘I’ll take your lack of response as a no,’ he said.
He twirled his wand between his fingers.
‘Now, let me see. I have taken some items from you and would like an explanation.’
He flicked his wand and a series of objects appeared above of me.
They were the things I had collected around Wormwood. A brass candlestick, my father’s hat and Duf’s timbertoes. He also had taken the Adder Stone – and my wand.
‘Tell me what these mean to you,’ he said.
I looked away.
‘Ah, some prompting, then.’
He lowered his wand and pointed it at me. It was as though someone had set me afire. I had never felt such pain in my life.
I screamed and pulled against my bonds. Tears fell down my cheeks.
‘Please, stop,’ I cried out.
The pain did indeed stop.
‘Answer me,’ he said.
‘The candlestick represented things that I laboured for years making for no reason at all. A useless endeavour, because of you.’
‘Dear me. But that’s what those who lose wars do. They run and hide like the frightened little weaklings that they are. The hat?’
‘My father’s hat.’
‘Your dead father, let’s not forget. The other items?’
‘Duf Delphia’s timbertoes for the legs he lost.’
He laughed. ‘You truly are a lost cause, Vega. Such a shame. Still, there is your dear brother. I have high hopes for him, very high indeed, provided he swears his loyalty to me.’
‘He would rather die.’
‘Then I can surely accommodate him.’
It suddenly struck me what this was all about.
‘You want him to replace Jason, you vile monster!’
He laughed. ‘And why would you want to collect these things?’ he asked.
‘I wanted to show them to you right before I killed you. I wanted you to see how much evil you had wrought. I wanted them to be the last things you ever saw.’
‘Hmm. Grandiose plans, Vega. Quite ridiculous, in fact. Now, your wand I know.’ Necro used his own wand to spin mine in a circle. ‘The Elemental. Alice’s old wand. A shame you were not worthy of it, Vega. Which only leaves us with this.’
With his wand, he made the Adder Stone spin around like a top in the air. ‘What does this do?’ he asked.
‘I don’t know.’
‘Come now, Vega, don’t be stubborn. It could be useful to me as I rebuild my empire.’
‘I’ll never tell you.’
He pointed his wand and the pain returned.
I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry. I didn’t beg for him to stop.
When I looked at him defiantly, he said, ‘You’re a bit tougher than I would have thought. We’ll see how you withstand the jabbit.’
He flicked his wand, and the creature unwound its coils, rose up fifty feet into the air and then descended over me, such that its hundreds of pairs of eyes and its lethal fangs were but an inch from me.
I watched as a drop of venom gathered on one of the fangs.
Necro said, ‘I will not let it kill you, Vega, not yet. But the pain it will cause will make my spell seem as nothing.’
I didn’t answer. I just stared up at all those eyes an inch from me.
I watched the drop of poison cling to that fang. It started to stretch as gravity pulled it downward, towards me. In another second it would break free and fall.
Wait, Vega, wait . . .
Right before the venom fell, I screamed out, ‘All right! Please, stop!’
‘Tell me!’ he barked.
‘It’s the torture stone! You wave it over the person and think bad thoughts. Whatever you think will happen.’
Necro flicked his wand, and the jabbit drew away from me.
‘Bad thoughts? I have a great many of them. What a useful object.’
He plucked the Stone out of the air and held it over me.
‘Shall we try it out, Vega?’
I braced myself.
He waved it over my body and no doubt thought the vilest thoughts he could.
There was an explosion of power that ripped me free from my bonds. I saw the jabbit hurled the length of Steeples.
Necro screamed.
As I rose off the stone slab, I snatched the Elemental out of the air.
When I saw Necro, I had to gasp. He was a skeleton, now. He cast his wand around, howling my name in fury. Now I had him.
Or at least I thought I did. My problem was, I kept underestimating him.
He waved his wand and a murderous swarm of creatures flew through the empty windows of Steeples.
I recognized them immediately.
A chontoo, an inficio, a manticore and a swarm of dreads.
‘Kill her!’ screamed Necro, as he stumbled around.
I shot into the air and zipped out of Steeples with the creatures right behind me. I tried to turn my ring to become invisible.
It wasn’t there.
Necro must have taken it.
I looked back to see the beasts gaining on me.
I had faced all these vile beasts before. I knew what they could do and couldn’t do. They had all nearly killed me before. Now they had a second chance.
The manticore could read minds. This gave me an idea. I flicked my wand back over my shoulder at the chontoo, a creature that consisted only of a head. It hunted prey in hopes of gaining the necessary body parts to make it whole.
What I had just done was transfer a thought of mine to the chontoo.
The manticore turned on its neighbour. They spiralled out of the sky, battling each other.
Now I was faced with the dreads and the inficio. Again, I had an idea.
The inficio breathed out poison. The dreads would simply claw me to death if they could catch me.
I shot upward and then flipped over and headed right for them.
The inficio opened its mouth.
Come on, come on, do it.
Poisonous vapour poured out.
I immediately conjured a stiff wind that blew the gas right over the dreads.
They fell from the sky and thudded to the ground.
I shot downward, pointed my wand up at the belly of the inficio and muttered, ‘Jagada.’
The foul flying beast grunted, turned over, banked to the side and plummeted downward.
I watched it until it struck the ground with an enormous crash.
Then I turned and headed back to Steeples.
And to Necro.
When I got there, I found the building demolished. I wasn’t sure how – but only had to wonder for a moment.
Rearing up from the back of the building was the largest colossal I had ever seen.
And in the grip of the brute’s right hand was a screaming Necro.
I hurtled forward, my wand ready. If anyone was going to end Necro’s life, it was going to be me, not some colossal.
I zoomed in low, aiming at the creature’s arm.
‘Severus.’
The forearm of the colossal came away and Necro plunged to the ground. However, I conjured the shield, and the severed limb landed gently on the dirt as the colossal thundered away.
I used my wand to free Necro, and then, as I zoomed towards him, I realized that this was the moment of truth. Soon, it would all be over.
I was right about that.
The light hit me straight in the chest.
I looked down and saw the mortal wound pierce my armoured chest, just like Alice Adronis.
And then, just like Alice Adronis, I died on a battlefield.
50
THE TRUTH
If this truly was dying, then it wasn’t so terrible.
I could remember what had happened to me.
Necro had tricked me with the colossal.
Then he had killed me.
I would see Astrea and Archie. So many who had fallen fighting with me.
I would see my father.
But then I thought about those I would be leaving behind. My mother and John, Delph, Petra, Harry Two and the others.
Necro had sworn to go back and kill them.
Could I warn them somehow?
But I was dead; I could help no one.
The mists were thick here, but then they cleared and I saw that it was calm and peaceful here.
I saw a bench up ahead that was set by a pond of still water. I suddenly felt tired, so I sat down. I looked down at the wound in my chest.
I was in no pain. But I was still dead. I had failed everyone. Necro had won.
I frowned as I stared at the still water.
‘Vega?’
I looked around.
I saw no one, but the voice calling out to me was familiar.
‘Vega Jane?’
I rose and looked in all directions.
A figure appeared from out of the mists and started walking towards me.
I flinched when I saw who it was.
‘Jasper?’
Jasper Jane drew close. He looked as he had when I had seen him in the Quag.
‘You told me you saw me in the future,’ I said. ‘You saw me when I was dead, didn’t you?’
He nodded. ‘That is true.’
‘You said you couldn’t tell me because something bad would happen to me,’ I said angrily. ‘What’s worse than being dead?’
‘Many things,’ he replied matter-of-factly. ‘A great many things.’
‘That doesn’t help me,’ I shot back.
‘Then perhaps this will. Is that your mortal wound?’
I looked down at my chest. ‘Undoubtedly.’
‘Do you feel dead?’
‘No, but I am. I know I am.’
‘Yet you are in your original form?’
‘What do you mean? Alice and Uma are in their original form.’
‘No, they are no longer flesh and blood. They are spirits. In Uma’s case, she is regret. Yet you are flesh and bone. Don’t you see?’
I slowly reached out a hand and touched my leg. I could feel it.
I glanced up at him. ‘How can that be? Necro killed me.’
‘Petra too was killed. And yet she rose again, did she not?’
I stared at him. ‘That’s because she only thought she was dead. She was stunned, that was all.’
‘No, she was dead. The spell that hit her was a killing spell. When Petra died, did you feel anything?’
‘No, I—’ I paused, because I had felt something. ‘I . . . yes, my chest hurt.’
‘That would make sense,’ Jasper said. ‘You made the Oath of Oblivion to each other did you not?’
I drew in a sharp breath. ‘The Oath of Oblivion?’
He pointed to my forehead. ‘There is a solemn vow, an exchange of blood, a pact that one will die for the other. If not, if the pact is broken, then terrible consequences will follow. But on the other hand, good can come from the oath. It can offer extraordinary protections that can be found nowhere else in the magical world.’
I tried to follow what he was saying, but it was difficult.
He explained. ‘A bit of you and a bit of Petra were exchanged when you made the promise to each other. That bit of you and that bit of Petra served to protect you against the most dire of consequences.’
‘Death?’ I said in a hollow tone.
He nodded. ‘Petra lived because the killing curse hit that bit of you, Vega. That part of you absorbed the full force of the spell. It killed that piece of you, but it allowed Petra to survive.’
‘So Necro’s spell . . .’
‘It killed that bit of Petra.’
‘Then why am I here if I’m not really dead?’
‘A part of you is dead, Vega. Death requires you to come here. But unlike most others who arrive at this place, you will not be required to stay.’
‘Petra didn’t mention this happening to her.’
‘You are not Petra. Her coming here would have garnered the barest of recollection. Perhaps she would not remember it all. But you, you are different.’
‘Why am I different?’
‘You are Vega Jane, and with that comes with complications. Right now, for instance, you have a choice to make.’
‘You mean I can leave and go back to the living?’
‘Yes. But should you die once more, it will be final.’
I nodded; that made perfect sense. ‘By taking that oath, we saved both of our lives? I guess it was lucky we made it.’
‘Oh, I think luck had little enough to do with it.’
‘Did you know I would triumph over Necro because you saw that in the future?’
‘No, Vega, but having met you, I thought it a pretty good bet.’
I smiled at his confidence in me.
I wish I could have known him when he was alive. I think he would have been quite wonderful to have been around.
‘I’ve made my choice, and I have to get going, Jasper. But I would like to ask you one more question.’
‘Yes?’ he said.
‘How did you die?’
‘What does it matter? Life and death are just states of mind, Vega. I will see you again at some point, but not for a long time, I suspect.’
The mist swirled around me so fiercely that I had to blink to be able to see.
The next moment the image of Steeples appeared before me.
The colossal lay dead in the field next to the building. And at the doorway to the building stood Necro.
He appeared to have healed himself, for he was nearly back to his original form.
His voice boomed out. ‘I have won, Elythia. Fair and square. And now it is time for you to set me free to do as I wish. I demand that. Now.’
‘I don’t think so,’ I cried out.
He turned slowly to face me.
‘This cannot be.’
‘It certainly can be,’ I said, as I started walking towards him. He shot a spell at me that I flicked away with my wand. He fired another and another. I deflected them with ease.
