On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (22 page)

41

A Rumble and a Screech

I
t was as if Janner had run into a blur of hissing, claws, teeth, and pain. He felt his wrists tied, then the world turned upside down as he first was shoved to the ground and then jerked to his arms and feet by cold hands. He could hear Tink screaming. But all Janner saw was a sea of scaly faces and black, red-rimmed eyes. He felt the flick of forked tongues and smelled the rot of Fang flesh.

The air was full of howling and snarling.

Then he realized that the sound was coming not just from the Fangs, but from someone else too. He strained his neck to see out Books and Crannies' front window, where his grandfather's white hair whipped about in the center of a circle of Fangs. Podo was in the middle of the street waving a sword and keeping a host of surrounding Fangs at bay. The Fangs seemed to be enjoying it, cackling and jabbing at him with the butts of their spears.

Janner was carried outside and thrown to the ground, relieved to find Tink, Leeli, and Nia lying beside him. The sense of comfort at their presence, even in a sea of evil, was more than his heart could take, and he cried. Janner wished his hands were unbound, not so he could run but so that he could embrace the ones he loved.

Then, without warning, Nia was jerked from the ground.

“Enough! Or the woman dies!” called a lithe Fang who appeared to be in command. He lifted up Nia by her waist and drew his sword. Podo's fury disappeared like the snuffing of a candle. He looked across the sea of scaly heads at his daughter and his bushy eyebrows trembled. The only sound was of the old pirate's heavy breathing. At his feet lay several dead, already-decomposing Fangs.

“No,” Podo breathed, his voice cracking.

“Lay down your sword, then, old man, or sssay good-bye to the woman.”

Podo, full of sorrow, looked long at his daughter. Nia was silent, her jaw set and her eyes closed.

“General Khrak,” one of the Fangs said.

“Not now, you fool,” said Khrak, lowering his voice. “Can't you see I'm lifting this human? This is harder than it looksss.”

“Nia girl? Are ye okay?” Podo called.

“General Khrak,” the lesser Fang repeated.

“Silence, worm!” Khrak snarled.

“Yes, Papa,” Nia said. Podo's face softened. He lifted his sword above his head in a gesture of submission, about to lay down his arms.

“General Khrak.”

“What?”
Khrak said, and he turned on the soldier as he dropped Nia to the ground again.

“Something coming, sir.”

“Eh?”

“Something coming this way. Look.” The Fang pointed.

Khrak looked, and every eye in Glipwood followed. Something certainly was coming—a speeding, bounding shadow across the field, and no one had the slightest notion what it was—but it was big. And in the light of the fat moon, they could see that someone was riding it.

Two sounds split the air and sent a shiver of panic through the whole regiment of Fangs. A rumble like the explosion of close thunder, together with the soaring cry of a bird of prey, crashed over the Fangs of Dang like a mighty wave.

Podo's jaw went slack at the sight before him.

Peet the Sock Man, arms wide and talons bared, was riding on the back of a giant black dog the size of a horse.

“What in the deep…?” Podo breathed.

The last Podo had seen of Nugget was a motionless mangle of fur with a spear run through his side near the cottage when they'd first been captured. The beast that bounded toward him, however, was like nothing he'd ever seen.

Thirty Fangs were flattened to the ground like weeds in the wind when Peet and the giant Nugget creature slammed into them. The Fangs were so transfixed by the huge black thing in their midst that Podo was able to push his way through in an instant to the children and Nia.

Even Khrak was immobile, gawking at the wild-haired Sock Man who was tearing into his army with talons and a giant dog.

“Crawl!” Podo said. “I'll cut you loose when we're clear of the Fangs!” They wriggled and wormed their way between hundreds of Fang legs while the soldiers emerged from their surprise and began an attack on the beast and its rider. By the time General Khrak noticed they were gone, the Igibys were climbing into the wagon at the edge of town, giddy at the very breath in their lungs.

Podo turned the wagon north toward Anklejelly Manor and urged Danny the carthorse, “Like lightning, Danny boy!”

“What was that, Grandpa?” Janner asked as they jostled north past the Blaggus Estate.

“Was that Peet doing all the screaming?” Tink asked.

“Aye,” Podo called back from the front of the wagon.

“What was the other noise?” Janner asked. “The growling, I mean.”

Podo hooted and slapped his knee. “Leeli girl,” he called over his shoulder. “You ready for this?” Podo turned and leaned close to Leeli's face. He took her chin in his old gnarled hand. “It was Nugget. That little dog of yours is
alive.
Aye, and he may be more than that.”

Leeli's face was a perfect picture of wonder. Tears rose to her wide eyes and her mouth hung open and begged to smile. “But…how? All those Fangs! How can you be so sure he's alive?” she asked, feeling deep inside her that what Podo said was true. The deep roar she'd heard had sounded wonderfully familiar to her.

Janner smiled to hear Leeli's strong voice come back to her.

“Oh, I'm sure Nugget's fine,” Podo laughed. “There's not much a Fang could do to him now, I tell ye. Wait and see, lass. I reckon Nugget'll pick up our trail and be with you shortly.”

As Danny the carthorse pulled the wagon along at a trot, the Igiby children began to feel the weariness of their travails. So much had happened since they had followed Peet the Sock Man to his tree house in the forest, and it didn't appear that any rest was in sight.

Leeli leaned on Janner and was soon fast asleep. He put an arm around her, then felt a weight on his other shoulder. Tink had fallen asleep too, his head unconsciously resting on his brother. Janner thought with a smile how horrified Tink would be to know that he had snuggled up to his big brother.

Nia leaned forward and kissed Janner on the head.

As they climbed the long, steady slope north, away from Glipwood and the cliffs over the Dark Sea of Darkness, they could see the warm lights of the town's streetlamps twinkling in the distance, an irony in light of the evil that swarmed the streets there.

Janner said a silent prayer for Oskar, then for Peet, who had once again swooped in out of darkness and saved their lives when all was lost. Janner wondered why Podo hated him so much. What secret history did they have, and how could Podo not replace that anger with gratitude when Peet had not once, but three times, rescued them?

“Mama?” Janner could stand no more silence.

“Mmm?”

“Where will we go?”

Nia looked troubled. She brushed at her dress and looked up at the moon. “I really don't know, son. The Ice Prairies, for now. Oskar told us that the Fangs are sluggish in the cold and they avoid it when they can. He told us there's an outpost of rebels there, those who would drive the Fangs back across the sea to Dang. Oskar said he knew some of them, so your grandfather plans to seek refuge there. But getting there…”

“Is it far?”

“Very far. But we first need to live through this night. Don't worry. Your grandfather has a plan.” Nia laughed, a welcome sound in the dark. “Or at least he's in the process of making up one.” Nia stroked Janner's head. “You should rest your eyes now. We won't be there for a little while yet.”

His mother's voice soothed Janner and his eyes drooped.

A thumping in the darkness behind the wagon startled Janner awake. He braced himself as a dark shape approached the wagon, moving faster than a horse at full gallop.

Podo, hearing Janner's gasp, raised his sword in one hand and held the reins with the other. But when he saw in the moonlight what was approaching, his manner lightened and to Janner's surprise he reined up Danny the carthorse.

The wagon stopped, and Leeli and Tink stretched and rubbed their eyes. A black shadow bounded toward them—a shadow oddly familiar to Janner. Astride it and covered in dark patches of green Fang blood was the white haired, lanky figure of Peet the Sock Man.

With sleepy eyes, Leeli peered into the moonlit night, trying to understand what she was seeing. She leaned over the edge of the wagon as the dark creature approached and Podo climbed down with open arms.

The creature let out a deep, happy noise—like a bark, only much, much larger.

“Nugget, lad,” Podo said, reaching up to scratch the creature behind a big floppy ear.

Leeli's eyes widened, unbelieving.

Peet slid off Nugget's back, slinking away from Podo, who hadn't even acknowledged the Sock Man's presence.

“Nugget?” Leeli ventured timidly, afraid to believe this was really him.

The giant dog yipped, if it could be called that, as it was a sound that shook the air and made birds scatter half a mile away. Leeli let out a happy squeal and tumbled out of the wagon. She crumpled to the ground, forgetting in her elation that she had only one good leg.

Nugget bounded over to her and set to licking her with a tongue nearly as big as she was. She squealed with delight and disbelief. She was sure she had seen a Fang kill her dearest companion, and now he was alive and as big as a horse. Nugget crouched his bulk low to the ground, and Leeli laughed as she climbed onto his back. She sat astride her dog, burying her hands deep in his soft fur. Nugget stood there panting, tail as long as a broomstick and wagging dangerously.

From the tall grass several paces away, Peet the Sock Man cleared his throat.

Janner wanted to run to the strange man and hug him, but he was wary of it. Podo had made it plain that Peet was to stay clear of the children, and Janner was afraid of bringing more of his grandfather's wrath down on the poor man. He was also unsure of the lethal talons that served as Peet's hands.

Had Leeli not been so enraptured with Nugget, she would have reached out to him with her typical compassion and typical disregard of Podo's gruffness. But as it was, the family stood in a cluster around the giant dog, and Peet stood alone.

“Peet,” Janner asked with a cautious glance at Podo. “How did Nugget get so big? How was it he came back to life?”

“Nuggy and I made it out,” Peet said, ignoring the question. “But only barely, bonely. The snakes. They're coming. Coming fast. You've got to hide the pewels, Jodo. Jewels, Podo. You can't let them fall to the Fangs.”

“Don't tell me what I've got to do,” Podo growled. The children were startled. Even Nugget whined and buried his face under his giant paws. “I reckon I know how to keep things safe better than
you.
”

“Father,” Nia said, placing a hand on Podo's arm. He glared at his daughter and seemed about to retort, but with a great will he held his tongue and stomped away to the wagon.

So the jewels are here somewhere,
Janner thought. He tried to imagine what the jewels were and whether or not they were wrapped in the bundle Podo had brought with him out of the cottage, the bundle lying in the wagon just behind his grandfather.

“Back in the wagon,” Podo said, trying to speak calmly. “Somebody's led the Fangs right to us.” He seemed ashamed at the unfairness of his own remark. “Either way, we've got to get a move on. The manor is just ahead, and it's our only hope of making it to mornin'. Now listen. Ye children are gonna wait inside while I try to find the weapons Oskar told me about. He never had a chance to give me the map.” He looked back down toward the glow of town where he had last seen his old friend.

“We know where they are, Grandpa,” Tink said.

“Do you now?” Podo said, his eyes narrowing. “You boys have been right busy, I'd say.” Tink started to respond, but Podo cut him off with a quick cut of his hand.