Authors: Dale Furse
‘How do you know all this?’ he asked.
‘A bird showed me,’ Nell said, and instantly wished she hadn’t because Tanat didn’t look the least bit friendly anymore.
The rosy pink Corl morning paled. Nell moved her eyes to the ground. A row of long-legged red ants scurried under a rock. She felt Tanat tower over her and she waited for whatever cursed child comments he might say.
Tanat leaned close to her ear. ‘You must be careful who you tell of your growing abilities.’ His voice was low but harsh.
His words sounded like he was worried about her but his tone held menace. The last of the ants disappeared under the rock.
‘Do you hear me?’ Tanat continued and raised her chin up to his face.
She peeked and only saw concern in his eyes. He was warning her, not condemning her.
Tanat took his hand away from her chin. ‘Do you hear me?’ he asked again in a gentler tone.
‘I hear you,’ Nell said.
‘Good. You three will stay here until I return with Dar-seldra.’ Tanat looked at each one in turn.
An image of the wintar who guarded Dar-seldra erupted in Nell’s mind. He was big and strong, much more so than Tanat. If it was Brarb, he had already killed. Tanat needed help to free Dar-seldra. That would mean risking showing her abilities to the wintar. Not too many people would believe a girl her age would have her strength. She frowned then smiled. Ah, but there are other ways to catch a murderous bird.
Tanat unfurled his wings and was about to take off, but she quickly intercepted him. ‘No, we’ll all go together. You’ll need help with this one,’ she said.
‘No.’
Sam stepped forward or did Cay-meka step back?
‘Nell’s right,’ Sam said. ‘I know. He didn’t even feel anything when I pulled out his feathers. I had to push my thumbs in his Achilles tendon to make him let go.’
‘What does he look like?’ Tanat asked Nell. ‘What colour wings?’
She pictured him in her mind. ‘He was large, but not
fat. He has really big muscles and light blue wings.’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t remember if they said his name while they had us, but those other two mentioned Brarb more than once in the forest.’
‘Yes,’ Cay-meka said in a small voice. ‘That is what the other wintars called him.’
Tanat thought for a moment. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll fly low and slow. Follow me; and Nell, try not to do anything out of the ordinary in his view.’
She smiled and nodded. The smell of faint musk-lolly scent floated over her as he flapped his wings and sailed into the sky. She liked him and kept her smile for Sam and Cay-meka. ‘You coming?’
‘Yep. Let’s get going,’ Sam said.
Cay-meka backed away from Nell. ‘You are cursed. No one can do all that you can.’
Nell’s smile broadened as she said, ‘It’s your choice to feel that way, and you never know, maybe I am.’ She offered Cay-meka her most innocent expression. ‘You can stay here if you like, but those other wintars might escape and come after you.’
Sam laughed and started following Tanat.
Nell caught up with him and smiled again as Cay-meka flounced noisily after them.
The mountain was more like a hill of rocks when they finally reached it over an hour later. Tanat joined them and they rested, eating blackberries that tasted more like strawberries. Nell munched the berries and thought about what they should do next.
Disregarding Cay-meka, she decided to discuss her plan with Tanat and Sam. She was ecstatic when they agreed with her.
When Cay-meka and Sam looked rested enough, Nell
told Tanat to go. His look was one of admiration as he nodded agreement and left. She signalled to Sam to mount the hill from the other side and told Cay-meka to wait just below the top until it was safe. It amused her that a nearly seventeen-year-old girl could give such instructions, and even more so that the others listened to her. Especially instructions to enter a most dangerous situation. She sighed. Might as well start. She clambered up and over the rocks.
She wasn’t surprised at the sight of the sneering wintar hovering above her as she climbed over the top, because they weren’t trying to be quiet. Sam huffed, puffed and moaned as he scaled his side, and she was sure she had grunted more than once. Although only a hill, it was still a steep climb.
Coming face to face with the wintar, a new confidence bloomed within her. She narrowed her eyes at him. He wasn’t ever going to hurt anyone else.
The wintar’s scorn increased. ‘Cursed child.’
‘Are you asking a question or making a statement?’ she asked with a little smirk, as she wound her way through the clutter of junk spread over the site towards him. The thought crossed her mind that he was trying to build something with all the bits of metal. ‘You know, you should really have better manners.’ No. She realised he had already built something. The crate. Barrelling straight past him to Dar-seldra’s prison, she stroked the bird perched on top, and asked, ‘Dar-seldra. Are you all right?’
‘Yes,’ said Dar-seldra. Her eyes looked over Nell’s shoulder.
A snigger sounded behind Nell. She turned. The wintar seemed to be trying to make up his mind about something. When he curled up his legs and bent forward, she realised what that something was.
She fell flat on the ground as Brarb whistled past. A dull thud sounded above. She risked a look and spied Tanat and Brarb fighting, dislodged feathers floating about them.
‘Wo!’ Sam declared, coming to a sliding stop beside Nell. ‘They’re going hammer and tongs, aren’t they? My bet’s on Tanat, he’s—’ Before he finished the sentence, the wintar sliced into Tanat’s stomach with his claw. Dar-seldra screamed.
Drops of blood plopped to the ground. Tanat fell back and looked at his stomach. Brarb’s laugh was pure evil as he lunged forward, one claw raised ready to strike. Tanat twisted and caught the outstretched leg. He continued twisting and Brarb was forced horizontal to the ground. His blue wings quickened, pushing the top of his torso aloft. When he was close enough, Brarb punched Tanat in his right kidney. Tanat gasped and let go of the leg. The bird joined the fray and snatched at the wintar’s full head of dark brown curls, forcing Brarb lower. Recovering, Tanat spun and crashed the side of his leg into Brarb’s chest. The oaf looked surprised. His wings stilled and he fell, but soon regained their use and ascended once more into the bird’s path. The bird managed to cut Brarb’s face with his claw. The wintar’s hand reflexively flew to the wound and Tanat hovered above, driving him lower.
Nell realised they were trying to push Brarb to the ground. She hit Sam’s arm. ‘Get something to tie him.’
Tanat’s blows weakened, and the bird’s strikes seemed to only make Brarb more aggravated, though some of those strikes drew more blood from his forehead and shoulders. The bird had to keep breaking off the attack to fly up and circle before re-entering the conflict again.
Nell was terrified Tanat might be killed. ‘Sam,’ she screamed.
Tanat swung his leg around, his talon poised to gouge Brarb’s side out. Brarb ducked. His claws were so close, Nell could reach out and grab them. No. She needed a rope. He’d still have his hands to fight with and she’d have nothing. But no vine-covered trees grew on the hill. She wished she could change into wintar at that moment.
‘Here,’ Sam said, as he dragged over what appeared to be a roll of heavy rope.
She grabbed the end and began unwinding it. It wasn’t rope at all, but some kind of pliable light metal. She gazed up at Tanat just as Brarb’s talon sliced into one of his wings. Tanat let out an agonizing groan, exhaling loudly, his body thumped hard against the rocky ground. There was blood all over him. Brarb followed and kept clawing at him. Tanat was going to die.
Holding the cable behind her back, she shouted at the wintar. ‘Hey, you big oaf! Leave him alone. It’s me you want.’ She wagged her head and sang, ‘Come and get me.’
She must have caught his attention because he stopped lunging at Tanat and turned on her. ‘So we meet again, cursed child.’
‘You will be cursed, you and your children’s children.’ Nell knew she was raving but she wanted to keep his attention averted while she pulled the cord into a loop behind her back. ‘Through the generations, a blight will set on your family. I have cast this spell and none can un-cast it.’ She tried to sound like one of the many witches she’d seen in movies. It seemed to be working until the wintar, a vile cast on his face, darted forward.
Tanat managed a cry of anguish. ‘No, Nell!’
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sam’s horrified face. If she had time, she would have laughed. She would never have thought a brown person could turn so white.
She stood her ground as the wintar leapt into the air and brought his talons down on her. She flung the noose as hard as she could. It met his claws. Nell pulled so hard, she lost her footing and fell back. Dozens of small sharp stones jabbed her back but she didn’t care. The oaf dropped hard at her feet. Reminding herself that he still had hands, she jerked her feet up under her and scrambled to stand before he regained his senses. Hauling at the wire, she yanked his hands together and twisted the metal as tightly around his wrists as she could. She didn’t care if it blocked the flow of his blood.
Sam came alongside, looked at her as if he’d never seen her before, and took the wire off her. ‘Help Tanat,’ he said urgently. ‘I’ll finish up here. Cay-meka. Get over here and help me.’
N
ell was so focused on the wintar, she’d almost forgotten about Tanat. He moaned and Dar-seldra shouted at Nell to free her. She hesitated, unsure whom to go to first.
‘Nell! Quickly,’ Dar-seldra called, ‘I am a physician.’
With a sigh of relief, Nell went to the crate. She inspected what she thought looked like locks.
Dar-seldra said, ‘Brarb has the key.’
Sam was already wrapping their prize as Nell joined him. She glared at her mother’s murderer. ‘Where’s the key?’ she demanded. In another place and time, the wintar before her would have been almost as handsome as Tanat. His dark caramel hair was just as long but not as curly as Tanat’s. A nice, ugly scar would suit his nature. She fought to control herself from kicking him in his unblemished face. Instead, she hissed, ‘Where’s the key, you murdering pig.’
Sam said, ‘He’s not too talkative. I’ve been trying to have a chat with him.’
Brarb turned his head away. A metallic rope hung from his neck.
She pulled at it. An oval-shaped piece of gold metal dangled from it. The key. ‘Roll him over, will you? I need to reach the clasp,’ she asked Sam.
Cay-meka finally arrived on the plateau. She ran a wide arc around Brarb to Dar-seldra’s prison.
Nell took the necklace off and threw it to Cay-meka. ‘Here, make yourself useful.’
‘I don’t know how to open it,’ Cay-meka said.
‘Slide it in the side of that square,’ Dar-seldra said. Her eyes were full of admiration when she gazed at Nell.
A flush of hot blood prickled Nell’s cheeks.
Once freed, Dar-seldra hugged her daughter before she ran to Tanat’s side. ‘He’s lost a lot of blood,’ she said after examining him. Directing her words to Nell, she almost whispered, ‘I will need falchors if I am to save him.’
‘What are falchors? Nah, don’t tell me,’ Nell sighed. ‘Whatever they are, they’re in a hospital in the city?’
‘I’m afraid so,’ Dar-seldra said, her sad face gazing down at Tanat.
Sam took the gate off the crate and hauled it to Tanat’s side. ‘Here. It won’t be too comfortable but we should be able to carry him on it.’
It took all four to manhandle the injured Tanat onto the gate. He clenched his teeth in a grimace and beads of sweat formed along his forehead but he never made a sound to indicate they hurt him.
Sam stood with his back to Tanat’s head. ‘You help me,’ he said to Nell. He spoke over his shoulder to Dar-seldra. ‘You and Cay-meka take that end.’
Although it was awkward lifting the gate from behind, once they raised it into position, Nell could carry it easily.
Sam glanced at Nell. ‘How are we gunna get him down from here?’
Nell was puzzled for a moment. The only suggestion that came to mind was to tie him onto the gate and push him down the steep embankment. Even if they were able
to get Tanat down somehow, no one knew the way to the city. She spun her head around and saw the bird was still there, perched on the crate. Were they still connected?
As if answering her unspoken question, the bird took flight, circled above them and flew to the side of the hill.
Might as well give it a go. ‘That way,’ Nell said with a nod in the bird’s direction.
‘What about Brarb?’ Dar-seldra said.
Glancing at the wintar, Nell said, ‘He can stay and wait for the police to pick him up.’
Although she didn’t look too happy about it, Dar-seldra didn’t say anything.
They had to walk up a small slope to get there. A narrow path wound its way down to the bottom. The hill was higher on that side and it would be a long, hard hike, but they had no choice. On the horizon, the city’s walls were just visible. Nell sighed. Tanat would die for sure before they made it even half the way.
No one talked as they negotiated the path. It was a steep decline and they had to concentrate because the track was really only wide enough for the laden gate to pass. Nell and Cay-meka were on the upper side and Sam and Dar-seldra were on the side that dropped away sharply. One wrong step and they would fall, taking Tanat with them.
It took over two hours to inch down the mountain. Once on even terrain, Nell was surprised her arms didn’t ache at all and she was eager to go on.
‘We have to rest,’ Sam said, lowering Tanat to the ground.
Nell was about to disagree but she noticed the strain on his face. Veins throbbed in his neck and she supposed the other two were as exhausted as he looked. She groaned
and pretended to be just as tired. ‘Yes, let’s rest.’ Nell had decided to keep any new abilities to herself.
After Tanat was deposited on the grass, the others collapsed beside him. There were fewer trees and shrubs that side of the mountain, and the grass was thick and soft. Nell found a small tree nearby. It was similar to a mulberry, with large green leaves and awash with black, green and red berries. The leaves were sticky to touch and the fruit was bland, but her stomach had again let her know she must eat.