Fireblood, p.14
Fireblood, page 14
As if in reply, there was another barrage of sound from the balcony as the Venomous lifted their faces to the roof and howled with everything they had. Craven added his keening shriek to the mix and then there was a most definite cracking sound. Tula jerked upright, her eyes drawn to the topmost branches of the yew tree that had grown through the window. Finn followed her gaze and saw a strange pulsing energy there, visible in an oily spread of pus-coloured yellow, and Craven began moving rapidly towards it.
‘No,’ breathed Finn.
With a low growl, the banister dragon twisted, turned and shut its jaws, enclosing the hydrant within its mouth once more.
Tula sprang to her feet, throwing her arms up high in front of her. There was a rushing noise, as if a thousand small streams were hurtling to her aid, and then a CLAP! as ice bonded in a sheet up against all the windows before them, frosting thickly around the tree.
‘Oh, thank the forces,’ muttered Errol, his shoulders sagging slightly as he came towards Tula. ‘Activate the bioluminescence again so the banister dragon releases the hydrant again, and let’s get out of here!’
‘Wait,’ said Finn, watching his sister sign. ‘She says it’s not enough.’
‘They’re gearing up for another howling session,’ said Charlie, turning back to face them. His voice was hoarse and his eyes red. He looked exhausted. ‘And I don’t think even the ice can stop them.’
‘We have to try,’ said Errol. ‘If they get in through here, they’ll overrun the entire fortress!’
‘Ha ha haaaa!’ The manic laughter from the balcony drew all the children closer together. Gathered around Charlie, they peered out through the icy sheet that Tula had thrown up. Even though it was frosty and misted over in large patches, they could make out Craven still balanced on a Venom’s shoulders.
‘Ready to run, boy?’ he taunted, the reflection of his goggles shifting and moving as if seeing things within their minds. ‘Run, run, run, RUUUUUN? Ha ha! Yes, you should, just like your father before you, and his father before him, and we shall not –’ he paused to assume a mimicry of Charlie’s voice, though all he managed was a strange growling rage that did not do the boy’s fury any justice ‘– LEAVE THIS PLACE! Instead, we shall come here in our hordes and wipe you out for all time. We shall do what we do best – incite the volcanoes, stir the levels of the planet to its very depths, exult in tornados, in the mile-high waves of the oceans, in the ash clouds that have obliterated the world before and which will obliterate it again, leaving us to command the precious metals and reach out beyond the stars. We shall rule the world in all its true glory!’
‘Can you breathe more ice, Tula?’ murmured Finn, and in reply he felt Tula grow cold.
Outside, the Venomous drew breath and began to howl again, with less power this time. Craven lifted his whip high, like that of a cruel circus master from times long ago, and he slashed it down, across the heads, necks and backs of the creatures around him. They screeched and yowled, and he yelled something at them that was hard to hear through the thickening ice. Up went his wicked whip again, and when it came down the Venomous voices were a union of terrible rage and pain.
‘It’s the opposite of fireblood melody,’ croaked Charlie. ‘That sound is built for breaking.’
Again came a cracking noise high above them, and Craven screeched in triumph. He leapt from the shoulders of the Venom and grabbed hold of the very tip of the tree that grew from the inside of the turret to the outside. It was as if an invisible gap had opened up around the leafy twigs, which still wasn’t big enough for him to get through, and he scrabbled at the invisible edges like a demented starving dog, frantic to get in to satisfy his hunger.
‘Tula,’ whispered Errol. ‘Tula!’
She had sunk to her knees, her arms poised just above the ground, her fingers still stretched out. Her skin had gone as white as snow and charcoal crescents furrowed beneath her blue eyes.
Finn placed his hands upon her shoulders and after a moment she threw her arms out again with a desperate force, her fingers splayed, her eyes wide. Finn felt as if the blood were rushing from his veins and pounding hard towards his fingertips, pushing, shoving, hurtling energy towards her outstretched hands. The sound of streams ran clear again, for just a moment, followed in a split second by the rush of rivers, the crash of racing ocean waves, and this time the CRACK of the ice forming was of Arctic proportions.
High above, Craven screamed in pain as the ice froze round the hand attached to the tree branch. He snatched it away and fell down, scrabbling for grip as he went. The biggest Venom of all, standing just to the left of the mob on the balcony, grabbed hold of him and set him down carefully on the balustrade.
Finn watched Craven catching his breath with great heaving intakes of air, inaudible through the ice sheets.
‘Oh no,’ he murmured as the evil man reached for his whip again.
Instinctively, he pulled Tula behind him, just as Charlie went, ‘Brace yourselves.’
‘Stand back,’ said Errol. ‘If he—’
The whip slashed down, the tip of it a red-hot laser, and it sliced neatly through Tula’s ice. Instead of slamming it down again, Craven twitched it this way and that in a strange dance of pinprick light. Finn blinked, feeling dizzy, and hugged his sister to him.
‘Don’t look at it,’ he said, though he could not explain why.
‘Come on, Shen. Hurry, Simon,’ murmured Charlie. ‘We’re not going to be able to hold them off much longer.’ He pressed his fingers to his chest to activate his gift of endurance and his fingers grazed the firefly mark. The room lit up again, and the dragon on the banister slowly opened its jaws.
‘The hydrant!’ yelled Errol. Before anyone could see what was happening, he dashed up the stairs and snatched the glowing bottle of hydrant from the dragon’s mouth.
‘What?’ exclaimed Charlie. ‘He can just take it?’ His voice had gone high and a little hysterical. ‘What about precedents, like Excalibur, for goodness’ sake?’
Errol held up the precious bottle and called out, ‘I think we should use this. We could throw it at the wall like Augustus used to throw it into the volcanoes, and all the Venomous would be obliterated.’ He turned to glance at the ice where Craven whirled his whip, and could not look away.
‘NO!’ Charlie’s voice was hoarse, and he ran to Errol. ‘The hydrant doesn’t work like that. Give it to me, Ezza. You know how dangerous it is!’
Errol jumped on to the back of the banister dragon to get closer to the bright red orb of the demonic whip.
‘No, Charlie, no, no, no,’ he murmured. Then, more quietly, ‘No, no, no.’ His gaze was still fixed to the Venomous on the other side of the ice, and in particular on that fiery tip of the whip.
It’s the whip, signed Tula frantically. He’s hypnotised by it.
‘ERROL, NO!’ yelled Finn. ‘Quick, Charlie!’ but before Charlie could reach the boy there was a groaning sound and the banister dragon began to move, writhing its coils back into position, turning its head and closing its mouth. Charlie, already dizzy and faint from his fireball battle, lost his balance and fell to the floor, four metres below, landing awkwardly.
Leaving Errol all alone, completely exposed, holding the only thing that could save the world from total destruction.
27
rrol leapt on to the banister before Finn had even blinked. In a broken heap, Charlie yelled, ‘Stop him!’ and Finn sprang into action, Tula still facing the Venomous on the balcony. Finn was already moving in a race of tangled arms and legs to get to Errol when his friend unstoppered the phial and drew back his arm.
‘ERROL, NOOOO!’ yelled Charlie and Finn, while Tula shook with the exertion of holding up the ice.
‘Come and get it, you stinking invaders!’ called Errol in an entranced voice quite different from his own, but before he could hurl it towards their attackers there was a blinding flash and Craven was in the room, snatching the phial from Errol’s grasp. He danced in spinning leaps down the stairs to land on the big table, scattering papers and breaking glass.
‘Thanks for the invitation,’ he hissed, his ruby eyes alight with triumph. ‘My happy helpers will join me soon, little boy.’
‘GET OUT!’ yelled Charlie, now at Errol’s side, grabbing his friend back by the collar of his shirt.
‘Too late!’ laughed Craven. He snatched at the air, and Finn saw clearly – though he was moving at warp speed – that he’d retrieved the stopper of the phial from Errol’s outstretched hand. With glee he sealed the liquid safely inside and laughed again, slashing his whip from left to right. It caught Errol round the neck and spun him in a tumbling cartwheel to the floor where he landed, unconscious.
Finn rushed to his side, pulling him to safety under the table, while Craven spun high again, jumping to the floor directly in front of Charlie’s bent-over body.
‘Errol?’ said Finn urgently, his hands shaking his shoulders. ‘Errol!’
Craven leapt back as Charlie vaulted up, his fists lashing out in a right hook, a left hook, so fast that Finn wasn’t certain he’d actually moved, except that the man had sprung out of reach, laughing his mocking laugh, taunting Charlie with the precious bottle, and making his whip dance in a mesmerising sequence of glowing light.
Outside, the Venomous howled, desperate to get in.
Charlie sank to his knees and Errol blinked, as if coming out of a strange hypnosis. He took in the scene with one frightened glance. ‘No…’ he whispered. ‘What did I do? No no nonononono.’
‘It’s the whip, Errol!’ hissed Finn. ‘Not you! We need to think! Milady,’ he ground out, ‘if ever you had a suggestion as to what to do next, now would be good.’
His back warmed, and Errol placed a hand on the bag as if to add his plea to Finn’s.
‘Erm…’ went the Stone. ‘A lot of peril here. Not many options.’
‘Please advise of perilous options,’ said Errol, his face still wet with desperate tears. ‘Please.’
Freezing air blasted in with a whirl of icy pinpricks, and the whine of the wind was loud and ferocious. There was a cracking sound from behind as a Venom smashed at the ice.
‘Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy,’ went the Stone.
Tula sagged, totally spent, and rolled beneath the table with Errol and Finn.
Nothing left, she signed. So sorry.
‘Milady,’ whispered Finn, holding Tula’s shoulder to send her what little warmth he had left. ‘What would my father do? I am not asking advice. I am asking for information.’
‘He would get you to safety.’
Finn drew breath for an angry retort, but Errol held up one hand to stop him and dashed the tears from his face with the other. ‘And then what would he do?’ he asked.
‘He’d rip the goggles from that evil man! He’d disarm him with a flourish! He’d retrieve the phial of equaliser hydrant! He’d kill all the Venomous! He’d—’
‘Here I am!’ screamed Craven, cracking his whip around Charlie’s head. ‘In the heart of the fortress! Never again will you have the power to stop the forces beneath!’
Finn could hear Charlie whimpering, curling over on himself. His pain and vulnerability sparked that white-hot heat inside Finn that he swallowed down every day, but this time he knew he needed it. The angry red pulse at the end of the whip pulled pictures from the walls, books from shelves and smashed more glass from the big table to pieces. Plants withered and crumpled and died. Outside, three Venoms were struggling to clamber up and over each other to reach the broken ice at the top of the tree where Craven had come in, and they were getting higher and higher. It wouldn’t be long before they figured out the mechanics of a Venomous stepladder.
Finn bent his head to think, but snaking into his ears came Craven’s voice, speaking more loudly to Charlie now as his words dripped with menace: ‘Poor little bereaved boy, bent on revenge. Everything about you is useless, you antisocial little freak. Everything. Where are your little minions when you need them? Tucked up in bed with their mothers and fathers who despise who you are and what you stand for?’
No, thought Finn. Charlie is NOT useless.
He is trying to break Charlie! signed Tula furiously. Help him, Finn!
‘You are a drain on this island,’ continued Craven, gathering his whip behind him. ‘A blight on the efforts of these silly firebloods. Even the mythics shy away in fear and loathing when you enter the labyrinth. You are our strongest tool in this place for all the damage you wreak!’ He raised his whip above his head, and Finn felt a frightening rush of intense heat powering up his insides.
He sprang to his feet and crept up on Craven from behind. For once, he felt no urge to swallow down his fury, no fear of what might happen when he vented his rage.
‘Nobody loves you,’ said the human, drawing back the whip, and his voice seemed to echo again and again and again in Finn’s head.
Nobody loves you.
Nobody loves you.
Nobody loves you.
The words brought such an uprising of emotion in Finn that he felt he could hold his breath no longer.
As Craven brought his whip slashing down, Finn leapt into the air and the end of it sliced the front of his legs – back, forth, back. Finn bit back a scream of pain and spun right towards the man, leaping high to catch the razor-sharp whip before it could do any more damage. He timed it just right, grabbing the tip in his fist. Craven shrieked with delight, but Finn felt every one of the marks on his chest pulse on his skin as they’d never done before. He clapped a hand to the most painful of them, and a flash of extraordinary bioluminescence pulsed from him, encasing him in a bright blue light.
The whip warmed Finn’s palm, nothing more.
He pulled on it with all his might, and it flew out of Craven’s unwitting grasp smashing the lenses of his night goggles. Craven shrieked again, this time in surprise, and pain, whirling to face Finn, his face a mixture of confusion and darkening anger, his eyes squinting blindly into the glare.
‘Charlie has more love than you will ever know!’ shouted Finn, flicking the whip so that the handle flew across the room towards him. He hefted it in his other fist, keeping the dangerous tip clutched in his left hand. ‘And you do not come uninvited to our home!’
Craven’s eyes had narrowed to slits. ‘Give that back to me!’ he hissed, his teeth glinting in the gloom. His face flickered with a fear that Finn had not expected. He released the tip of the whip and swung it gently back and forth. The man watched it and his jaw went slack.
‘Get out,’ said Finn, gesturing to the balcony where more Venomous were climbing over the balustrade and beating at the ice with their massive, clawed hands. ‘Go back to your twisted creatures.’
Charlie coughed and pushed himself up on one elbow. ‘The bottle…’ he groaned.
Craven tried to take a step towards Finn but seemed to be fighting against an invisible force. His eyes were still fixed on the laser light at the end of the whip.
‘Rrrreeeeaaarrrrgh!’ he growled.
‘Give me back the bottle,’ said Finn, feeling a strange surge of electricity zinging to his outstretched fingertips. ‘Now.’
Craven’s arms clenched and shook. It seemed almost as if they might break. For a split second he was frozen absolutely still, until at last he screamed out a strangled, high-pitched sound, and flailed his arms helplessly. The liquid inside the little bottle bubbled and frothed.
‘Stay back,’ warned Finn. ‘Throw me the bottle, and get out of here.’
Craven’s eyes bulged, and his legs moved in reverse, his unwilling feet dragging on the floor. Again he windmilled his arms, as if struggling to keep his balance, and then suddenly the hydrant flew from his grasp into Finn’s waiting hands. With eyes stretched into an expression of furious pain and agony, Craven screamed once more. Saliva flew out in speckles that seemed to hang in the air for too long. It was a high-pitched wail of such intensity that Tula’s wall of ice cracked in several places. One of the Venomous raised his mighty fists and slammed them against the icy wall, again and again, until at last it shattered. With a guttural grunt of triumph he stepped over the threshold, shaking glittering shards from his greasy form and clenching his fists. The rest of the Venomous from the balcony hurled themselves, howling, at the fragile barrier and in an explosion of icy dust, sharp shards and demon stink, they staggered into the room.
‘Tell us what to do, boss,’ growled the biggest of them, the one with headphones seared to his head. ‘You want us to squish them?’
Three stood behind Craven now, side by side, steaming in the icy darkness, their scars glinting in evil patterns across their warped and swollen bodies. Behind them was a heaving force of many more enormous figures, dwarfing the man with their hulking proportions, saturating the room with their stench, staring stupidly around them with a drooling rage that struck horror into Finn’s very soul.
‘Attack them!’ croaked Craven, and the huge Venom tugged on his master’s arm, shoving him out of his path to safety on the balcony outside, where he collided with the other monstrous creatures crowding there.
‘Finn,’ rasped Charlie. ‘Wave the whip! Tell them to leave!’
But before Finn could say a word the first Venom hurled an enormous wooden mallet towards him and, though the boy had the lightning reflexes of a puma, the weapon still caught him square in the guts.
‘Oof,’ he gasped, and crumpled down on to Charlie, winding them both.
‘FINN!’ yelled Errol. ‘Come on!’
But Finn could not for the life of him draw breath or speak or even stand up.
‘Tula!’ called Errol. ‘Tell them to go!’
Tula stared ahead at the Venomous, more and more of them advancing with a slow, stupid tread, her hands signing the command for them to leave, but to no avail. What was needed was voice, and she could not speak.
Finn found himself flapping like a fish on the floor with Charlie, watching the Venomous horde advance four metres into the room, now five, now six. His legs were not healing, and blood leaked slowly to the floor.
