The Crowmaster (14 page)

‘No!' he howled. ‘No, no, no, no!'

The fire caught hold properly, forcing me to pull back from the sudden searing heat. The movement tore his arm in half and he gave a scream – not of pain, but of shock and fear.

I pulled the hand with its burning stump from my head and hurled it away from the mast, towards where the huge cloud of crows was almost upon us. I watched them for a moment, mesmerised by their sheer number.

When I turned back to the Crowmaster the right side of his body from his shoulder to his hip was aflame. He twisted and writhed on the ladder, as if trying somehow to shake the flames away.

‘Get me out, get me out,' he cried, but his voice sounded different – not just his tone, but the actual voice itself. ‘Get me out of this thing!'

Strands of burning straw were carried away on the wind, drifting off into the darkening sky. The fire consumed the scarecrow's entire body, swallowing his head and his chest, before spreading down to his legs.

As the straw was eaten away, it began to reveal another figure lurking within the Crowmaster's frame. He was much smaller than the Crowmaster had been. Smaller than me, even, but with the wrinkled face of an ancient old man.

His hair was black and oily, like the feathers of a crow. He wore a white shirt and a red waistcoat with matching red trousers, all of which seemed completely unharmed by the fire.

He kicked and thrashed the last of the burning straw away, then grabbed for a rung of the ladder with both pudgy hands. ‘My costume,' he wailed. ‘My favourite costume.'

I looked down at him, too shocked to respond.

‘My costume! You ruined my favourite costume!' he screamed, froth foaming on his cracked and withered lips.

‘Wait, so you're… you're Joe Crow,' I realised. ‘The
real
Joe Crow. And that was Marion's missing scarecrow outfit.' I shook my head. ‘I've been running from a midget in fancy dress.'

‘Shut up!' he snarled, opening his mouth to reveal two rows of shark-like teeth. ‘I'll rip your heart out and swallow it whole!'

‘OK, a
grumpy
midget in fancy dress.'

‘I'm the Crowmaster!' he howled, stamping his stubby foot on the ladder like an angry toddler. ‘I'm the Crowmaster!'

I looked behind him. ‘You told me you controlled the birds through fear,' I said.

‘That's right, that's right!' he spat. ‘So?'

My grip on the ladder tightened. ‘I don't think they're afraid of you any more.'

And at that, all hell broke loose.

The birds howled around us, swooping and banking and dive-bombing with outstretched claws and snapping beaks. This time, though, it wasn't me they were targeting.

‘Get them off, get them off!' Joe Crow pleaded. He swung out with an arm, trying to scare them away, wailing, ‘Make them stop, boy! Make them stop.'

‘You should never have come to my world,' I told him, shouting to make myself heard above the racket of the birds and his own screams.

I could barely even see him beneath the thrashing mountain of feathers. The birds were relentless in their attack, taking their bloody revenge on the man who had manipulated them. I couldn't have stopped them, and after everything he'd done to me and the people I cared about, I wasn't sure I wanted to.

‘You should have stayed in the Darkest Corners,' I shouted, just before his grip finally slipped and he plunged backwards towards the ground. A cloud of birds swallowed him before he was even halfway down, and, with a sudden jolt, his howls of agony abruptly stopped.

‘I mean, didn't anyone ever tell you?' I spoke into the wind, ‘there's no place like home.'

‘Good grief, that was insane! In. Sane.'

Ameena had finally joined me at the top of the ladder. We stood on the same rung, leaning towards opposite sides, our arms wrapped around the ladder's frame. I was exhausted, but with my injuries healed up I was feeling stronger than I'd felt in hours. Even my shattered nose had repaired itself, although the five deep scratches on my scalp where the Crowmaster's claws had caught me hadn't gone anywhere.

Ameena and I had watched the birds drift off one by one, until there was barely a handful of them left. Of Joe Crow there was no sign, but even from up here the grass looked slick with puddles of red.

‘Tell me about it,' I nodded, suddenly feeling very queasy.

‘I'd like to see him try to get up from that!'

‘I wouldn't.'

Ameena nodded. ‘No, suppose not.'

We stood way up there for a few moments, not saying anything, just lost in our own thoughts. When Ameena did speak again, her voice was light, as if the past few hours were already forgotten. ‘So,' she began, ‘what now?'

‘I need to go and see Mum. Make sure she's OK.'

Ameena nodded again, but didn't say anything. We both looked over to the smouldering remains of Marion's house. For a long time all we did was watch the embers burn.

‘People are going to ask questions,' she said, at last.

It was my turn to nod and stay silent.

‘They're going to place you at the scene.'

I gave another nod and scratched one of the claw marks on my head. It was starting to itch.

‘I don't think they'll believe the evil imaginary friends thing.'

‘Doubt it,' I agreed.

‘You might end up doing bird,' she said, and then broke into a laugh. Only the puzzled expression on my face stopped her. ‘
Doing bird
,' she repeated. ‘As in
going to jail
.'

I winced, more at the joke than the thought of prison. ‘Oh.'

‘Get it?'

‘Got it, thanks.'

‘Genius,' she grinned. ‘Right, let's go.' She moved to take a step down the ladder, but stopped with one foot in mid-air. When she raised her head to look at me there was still a smile on her face, but it was an uncertain one. ‘Oh, and… um… thanks.'

‘For what?'

She glanced down at the ground, then back up to me. Her eyes were narrowed and her brow was creased, as if she was doing some tricky mental calculation. ‘You know, for the…' she paused and gave a slight shake of her head. ‘That thing that caught me,' she frowned, ‘that
was
a flying monkey, right?'

I gazed past Ameena, down to where I'd seen the winged figure snatch her from the air. My stomach tightened, ejecting a snort of nervous laughter out through my nose.

My powers were growing, that much was clear. But my control over them wasn't keeping pace. The abilities were unpredictable – maybe dangerously so. I had no idea what I was doing half the time, never mind how I was doing it. That was worrying.

But still, a flying monkey. Marion would have been proud.

‘Any time,' I said, and together we began the long, tiring climb back down to Earth.

Also available in the INVISIBLE FIENDS series:

MR MUMBLES

BAGGY MAGGIE

Coming Soon:

DOC MORTIS

Text copyright © Barry Hutchison 2011

ISBN 978-0-00-731517-8

EPub Edition © 2011 ISBN: 9780007427260

Barry Hutchison reserves the right to be identified as the author of the work.

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