mirror of
https://gitlab.silvrtree.co.uk/martind2000/booksnew.git
synced 2025-02-15 11:59:17 +00:00
184 lines
8.8 KiB
HTML
184 lines
8.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
|
|
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
|
|
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>The Shadowmaster - Chapter 7</title>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="imperaWeb.css"/>
|
|
<link rel="stylesheet" type=
|
|
"application/vnd.adobe-page-template+xml" href=
|
|
"page-template.xpgt"/>
|
|
</head>
|
|
<body>
|
|
<div id="text">
|
|
<div class="section" id="xhtmldocuments">
|
|
<h1>
|
|
7
|
|
</h1>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack woke early from vague dreams where he hunted shadows. Kerry snored lightly, curled up beside the hearth. Corrie smiled in her sleep, hugging herself
|
|
tight. Jack wondered what she was dreaming of. He could feel her breath on his cheek.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In the quiet of the dawn he thought about what Megrin had told him. His father had been here - might still be. But first, Jack knew he had to recover the
|
|
Heartstone. It was the key to all worlds, and somehow Jack knew it was also the key in the search for his father.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry snorted and woke with a start. He looked around, bewildered for a moment, then got up and went straight for the cooking pot to help himself to a
|
|
ladle of broth.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Where's the wicked witch of the west?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Corriwen stirred, stretched and got up slowly. They breakfasted on the food while they talked about their next move. Jack was adamant.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I'm not going anywhere without what they stole."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It won't be easy," Kerry said.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Nothing ever is," Corriwen said thoughtfully. "But we have met worse difficulties. They might be many, but they are not fighters."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"They've got the weapons," Kerry countered.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Then we make our own," Jack said. "We got Corriwen out of Wolfen Castle, remember? We could sneak in to the village."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Rune's boots had magic then," Kerry argued.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Corrie clapped him on the shoulder. "If you don't want to come….," she teased.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry's face went scarlet. "I never said I wasn't coming! I was just pointing out that…oh, never mind. All for one and that stuff, right?"
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
By mid-morning, when Megrin had not appeared, they set out on their own.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
In daylight the forest was a haven of sun-dappled glades, a far cry from the threatening shadowed place it had been at night. Searched around a sapling
|
|
grove for material for weapons.. Kerry found three smooth stones in the stream and worked carefully to bind them together. Jack had seen him weave
|
|
fish-traps and snares back home but it still amazed him how clever and deft he could be. In less than fifteen minutes Kerry held up the stones for
|
|
inspection, each dangling from a stout braid of twine. They clacked together.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's what Connor used. Can't remember what he called it, but it works a treat."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
He grinned. "Although I still wish I had my sling."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Jack was working on his own weapon, bending a piece of ash-wood into a curve. He already had four good arrows made from straight hazel, and although he had
|
|
nothing to tip them with, he whittled their ends into points. They might do some damage if they had to. Corriwen had borrowed a big knife and used it to
|
|
cut a good length of timber for a staff. She left two stubs of branches at the forked end and cut the base into a point. Jack hadn't witnessed her first
|
|
fight on Eirinn when the horsemen had tried to capture Connor, the crippled boy who was the rightful king of Eirinn. When Connor had relayed the story of
|
|
how she had used a staff to unseat one of the hunters, he had almost burst with admiration.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Tooled up and ready for anything," Kerry said, swinging his make-shift bolas.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"We might not need it," Jack said hopefully. Corriwen spun her staff, said nothing at all, but she had a resolute look in her eye.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
They moved out from the trees and into rolling pastures. As they passed the first coppice into which they had fled, Jack saw the trees there were in a
|
|
sorry state. Leaves wilted, infested with galls and mildew. The smell of rot was rank on the air.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Did we do that?" Kerry asked.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Not us," Jack said. "We didn't know about the barriers, but they seem to work. Whatever these night-shade things are, I don't want them touching any of
|
|
us."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"At least we know how to protect ourselves," Corriwen said. "We should carry rowan with us always."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"And hopefully it works on humans," Kerry added.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
They made their way carefully until they came a hill from which they could see the village. Everything seemed peaceful and quiet.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"We should find somewhere to hide," Jack suggested. "Then sneak in tonight."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"How will we find our stuff?" Kerry asked.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"We scout around for the head man. He's got our weapons."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Silently they sneaked down the hill in single file. They pushed through a hedgerow.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
And the bull that charged out from a corner of the field put paid to all their plans.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p class="break">
|
|
***
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
All Jack got was a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye. He jerked around and saw pair of horns, sharp as daggers and as wide as a two-arm span,
|
|
were pointed straight at his chest.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Freak….." Kerry blurted. Jack slammed Corriwen with his shoulder, tumbling her off to the side. Kerry vanished in a green streak. Everything
|
|
blurred.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The bull hit the hedge like a train, snapping branches and twigs which flew in all directions. It bellowed as its momentum carried it forward, crashing
|
|
almost through the thorns.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Kerry was nowhere to be seen. Jack found himself twenty yards away with no clear idea of how he had got there. Corriwen was half-way across the field. The
|
|
last time Jack had seen her, she was rolling away on the grass. Now she was on her feet, staff held out and feet braced like a small warrior. Jack backed
|
|
towards her, eyes on the bull.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
It bellowed again, its feet ploughing the earth as it tried to free itself and come at them again, but somehow those big horns had wedged themselves behind
|
|
the branches of the thorn-bushes. It shook them in futile fury as it twisted its head from side to side, but stayed stuck fast.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"I'm up here," Kerry called. He lowered himself from a thin tree towering above the hedge and let himself drop a fair distance to the ground, bounced
|
|
lightly and came running across.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"What happened?" Corriwen asked. "You hit me and then I was….all of a sudden…here."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Rune's boots!" Kerry jumped up and down. "The old girl must have fixed them. magicked them back."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"But Rune didn't make a pair for me," Corrie said.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Maybe she did something to yours too."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"Good old her, then," Kerry's grin was truly ear to ear. "This is totally brilliant."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
Before he could say anything more, someone bawled on the other side of the hedge. Two men came clambering over a gate, big farming types. One had a
|
|
long-handled spade, and the other a hooked blade on a pole. It looked like some kind of harvesting tool.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
The three of them tried to make a dash for cover, but too late.
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"It's them <em>fiend-friends.</em>" One farmer cried. "They lived the night."
|
|
</p>
|
|
<p>
|
|
"So much for the element of surprise," Jack muttered. The villagers raised their tools and came charging at them. Flight was the only option.
|
|
</p>
|
|
|
|
</div>
|
|
</div>
|
|
</body>
|
|
</html>
|