The Watching Wood (7 page)

‘The training rooms can be very frightening, Rachel, I do
understand. I took fright during my introduction. But there is a warrior in you, I sense it – and I know you can stomach the rest.'

It was more than he'd said to her the whole day, and she felt light-headed with the attention. She allowed them to show her each of the rooms further down the clay tunnel. They were all similar – swash-buckling beauties fighting and defeating icky creatures – until they reached three smaller rooms at the end of the passage.

‘The Glamour Rooms,' Alinda said in explanation.

There were no weapons here, just faery creatures and … other faery creatures.

‘The faeries' cunning is what makes them so dangerous,' said Aruj.

‘In the wild,' Alinda continued, ‘they have learned to bypass every form of attack. We can fight, and cast spells, but the faeries' wiles will always find a way around them.'

‘All except glamour.'

‘Their one weakness: An innate trust of their own kind. It is something they cannot unlearn. And with this, the Hunters found their strength.'

Rachel took it that one of each pair of faeries in each room was, in fact, a Hunter or a witch in disguise. A blue-skinned goblin paced one wall, its yellow eyes glowing in the shadow of its hunched frame. It kept a suspicious eye on the wispy, brown-skinned faery at the opposite side of the cell,
who moved gracefully closer and closer. This watchful dance went on for some time until, finally, the goblin's shoulders relaxed in the gaze of the brown faery, and it allowed the other to approach. A flash of silver, and the dagger pierced the blue-skinned chest. Rachel cried out in horror, clamping her hands over her mouth.

‘A faery's cunning,' Aruj's low voice repeated, ‘is what makes them dangerous. They fawn and manipulate and win your pity; and that is how they make you weak. You must learn to look beyond the cunning to the cruelty; it is that, which will keep you safe.'

The blue-skinned goblin hadn't seemed cruel. And the tiny wood nymph Rachel had danced with earlier hadn't seemed cruel. But she trusted Aruj and his beautiful eyes, and decided she would never again be fooled by the play-acting of cute and cuddly faeries.

‘But the other three have already had a go. I'm just saying that I want to have a go as well!'

Una's black bob swayed from side to side as she looked between Jenny and Grace. Jenny stood firm, with her hands on her hips, looking down at the elfin-featured girl like a teacher instructing a toddler.

‘And all I'm saying is that we'll wait and see what the Trial is first, and
then
decide. We'll pick the best person for the job.'

‘But you'll never pick me. And I want a go!'

‘A Cloaking Trial, Una,' Jenny was drifting dangerously into a patronising tone, ‘if there's a Cloaking Trial, you'd be great at that.'

‘And what if there is no Cloaking Trial? You can't stop me doing the next one. I'm on this team as well, you know.'

Grace sighed as she slid into her half-hammock. They'd been arguing like this since dinnertime. It was near lights-out, Rachel still wasn't back and everyone was on edge.

‘Grace, can't I do the Trial tomorrow?'

‘Of course you can do it if you want to.'

‘No,' Jenny said forcefully. ‘We pick the competitor after the Trial is announced, and play to our strengths. How else are we meant to win?'

‘We're not here to win, Jenny, remember?'

‘I am.'

‘Yeah,' Una scoffed, ‘not that you're insanely competitive or anything.'

‘Look, I just want to show Meister and her snooty cows that they're not better than us. Because they're not. We're awesome. Look at what Rachel did today. And Adie and Delilah – well, I know we didn't win that one – but they showed off some serious skills–'

‘And I'd just embarrass you.'

‘No, it's not that …' Jenny's voice became low and serious as she changed tack. ‘These Trials are dangerous, Una.
They can be deadly.'

‘Deadly, schmeadly. I'm having a go.'

Grace raised her hand in the air.

‘I vote Una does the Trial tomorrow.'

Adie nodded and raised her hand. Jenny's determined gaze fell on Delilah, but the small girl just said, ‘I don't mind.'

‘Yay,' Una said with a grin, and crawled into her alcove.

Defeated, Jenny dropped into the canal bed beside Grace.

‘We're not here to win,' Grace whispered gently.

‘It's not about winning the whole thing, it's about us and–'

Grace was surprised to hear Jenny's voice crack, then her friend shook her auburn hair and turned away.

Grace awoke to a gentle prodding in the shoulder. The candelabras weren't lit yet, so it was still night.

‘Hey,' Una whispered, prodding her again, ‘you awake?'

Grace rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and stirred.

‘Una? What's wrong?'

‘Nothing. I can't sleep, it's too cold.'

‘I've a couple of extra jumpers if you need them.'

‘Nah, I've loads of clothes to lie on. The cold from the stone just gets through.'

‘Oh, Una, would you not try the hammock again?'

Una shook her head but stayed sitting on the ledge.

‘Grace. What if I'm rubbish?'

Grace rubbed her eyes again.

‘What?'

‘Tomorrow. What if I'm rubbish and I lose?'

‘You won't be rubbish, Una.'

‘What if I lose?'

‘Then you lose. Who cares?'

‘Jenny does.'

Grace pulled herself onto the ledge and put a hand on Una's arm.

‘You'll be great tomorrow, no matter what happens. And don't worry about Jenny. I think she's going through … I don't know, something. She's not always as tough as she seems, you know?'

Una nodded.

‘Okay. Thanks. And sorry for waking you.'

‘Anytime.'

‘Grace?'

‘Yeah?'

‘Wanna play I Spy?'

‘Not really.'

‘'Kay. Night night.'

‘Night.'

7

Dragon Fodder

Exquisite; that was the only word Rachel could use to describe the banquet. Like Marie Antoinette, she sat at the head of the table, a row of golden candelabras perched amongst plates of glorious-looking food in front of her. Roasted chickens, drowning in juices, crunchy potatoes and honey-roasted carrots. In the centre of the table there was even an entire roasted suckling pig with an apple stuffed in its mouth. It grossed her out to look at it, but the two rows of glamorous Hunters on either side more than made up for it.

For dinner, they had all dressed to impress. The garb was still pirate-like, but the leather jerkins and loose blouses were draped in jewels and fine accessories. Some had close-cut or shaved hair, others long plaited styles like that of Alinda. She noticed a few other pearl-eyed diners, and presumed
them to be more members of the Morgane tribe. Everyone appeared to be clear-skinned and glowing with health, and everyone looked wealthy and sophisticated – they were like a band of aristocratic adventurers, rich with unburied treasure. Rachel sighed in contentment, cutting elegantly into the small pieces of chicken on her gold-plated dish.

‘This evening’s banquet is in honour of Rachel of Dunbridge,’ Aruj said, raising his glass and bowing at Rachel. ‘To this year’s victor of the Glamour Trial.’

There was a warm, but refined, cheer of congratulations, and the clinking of glasses, and Rachel blushed fiercely.

She spent the evening listening to stories of adventure and terror; the vanquishing of the most evil and brutal of creatures, and the heroism and bravery of the Hunters. They were hair-raising stories that scared her, but they also sparked a fire in her soul. This life of beauty and grandeur, but full of excitement and valour, was one she could never hope to experience. It was like something out of another time, when there were still new lands to explore and people were noble and full of courage. She wished she could stay longer than just an afternoon.

‘It is late,’ Alinda said to her towards the end of the meal. ‘Perhaps you would like to stay the night? Your accommodation would be more than comfortable, I promise you.’

Rachel could have kissed her.

‘Origination!’

Grace’s eyes remained fixed on Lady Hecate’s figure perched high on the scaffolding opposite, but she could almost feel Una’s face turn scarlet. The bleachers had resumed their position outside the barriers of the arena, making way for a number of wooden structures and tunnels randomly erected on the dry muck. On one end, to Grace’s left, there was a break in the barrier that left a pathway out of the stadium, through the bleachers and the castle.

‘The primary competitor,’ Lady Hecate’s voice echoed, ‘will originate a creature to do battle in the outdoor enclosure.’ She waved her hand indicating the pathway through the barrier. ‘The remaining competitors of each team will survive within the battle area, and may protect themselves only with basic charms. Use of more complicated magic for protection or attack will result in immediate
disqualification
. This is a battle like no other, and you
will
respect the rules.’ She eyed the Dunbridge team pointedly. ‘Originated companions will fight to the death, victory going to the team with the surviving companion. Your creatures may attack witches of opposing teams, though not the primary competitor. All teams will now take their places, with primary competitors along the barrier.’

‘No way,’ Jenny whispered urgently to Grace, ‘it’s far too
dangerous. Una can’t handle this. Rach still isn’t back, so we’re one down–’

‘Then Rach is safer than we are,’ Grace interrupted.

‘Yeah, I guess. But I don’t know what these basic charms are, do you? We’ll be defenceless against any other companions. You or I should be doing the origination. It’s for Una’s own good.’

‘Una would be safest as the primary competitor.’ They both looked surprised at the tiny girl that suddenly stood between them. Delilah had been in her quiet funk for so long, it was strange to hear her voice. ‘She can’t be attacked by any other team. I can do a few basic charms to protect the rest of us. All we have to do is hold out until the game is over.’

‘Then that’s the plan,’ Grace said firmly.

Grace, Jenny, Delilah and Adie were shuffled through the arena out into a huge pen that stretched to the farthest of the castle walls. It was enclosed by a short fence, only waist high, that was splintered and broken by the twisting roots and branches of a soot-coloured ivy that grew over it and through it. The black ivy sported flame-coloured leaves, and stretched three stories high, forming a massive dome over the enclosure. It kept out much of the daylight, and made Grace feel like they were underground.

Her heart went out to Una, who stood at the edge of the enclosure, taking deep breaths with an expression that was
somewhere between scared and shocked. Grace smiled at her and Una suddenly brightened with fake enthusiasm, giving a double thumbs-up.

‘Witches and witches,’ Madame Three’s voice squawked throughout the enclosure, ‘ready your souls and your magic fingers. Begin origination. One, two, and three and … begin!’

There was an uncertain start to this muddled instruction, but Hawk Falls were quick as ever. The purple-haired girl was their originator, and she conjured a silver-furred bear, large and fierce, with canines that dripped with black saliva. The Raven team wasn’t far behind with a vicious-looking crow the size of a car, with red eyes and horrible talons. Grace’s heart thumped in her chest as, all around her, terrifying animals leapt into existence. She thought of the mangled monkey-deer that Una had conjured during their first lesson in origination and despaired. But the creature curled at Una’s feet was no mangled anything. Its scaly tail unfurled to reveal a pointed head and a long, graceful neck, covered in sharp barbs. It planted its reptile feet, letting out a piercing shriek, then lowered its towering gaze to its master below.

‘
Una
!’ Grace was filled with pride.

‘Grace,’ Una cried out as if her friend hadn’t seen. ‘Look at what I did!’

‘I know, it’s unbelievable!’

Una beamed as her friends cheered, until her dragon companion shuffled forward, leaning its face close to hers. Una’s
expression turned to horror.

‘It’s gonna EAT me.’

‘What?’ said Grace. ‘No, Una, it just wants to know what to do. Just tell it what to do.’

Una scrambled away from her dragon that loyally followed as she sprinted towards the girls.

‘Una!’ Jenny cried. ‘It’s your companion. It’ll do what you want, just concentrate.’

‘It’s gonna EAT me!’

‘It can’t eat you,’ Grace yelled as Una barrelled through them. ‘It is you.’

‘It can eat us though, right?’ Jenny said.

Grace glanced up at the scaly creature that had now taken flight, confused and agitated by its lack of instruction.

‘Yep.’

‘Fudge.
Run
.’

Racing through the dimness the girls tried in vain to turn Una back. She was leading the pack and, as long as she ran, the dragon followed. Grace’s foot snagged on a root and she fell face-first into the mud. She rolled over, stunned, and her view was filled with the head of a giant praying mantis. Its mandibles worked like it was already chewing as it dove towards her face. But powerful jaws immediately clenched around the mantis’s head and ripped it clean off.

Grace squealed as she was wrenched to her feet by Adie and Jenny. Una’s dragon had saved her life, but the animal
seemed as eager to bite her head off as it had the insect’s head.

‘Run,’ Delilah said, swiftly clenching a fist to her mouth, kissing her fingers and splaying them at the dragon. Little bursts of silver stars swarmed the companion’s head, making it sniff and snort and then sneeze.

‘Run!’ Delilah said again.

‘That won’t stop it for long.’ Jenny’s breathing was laboured. ‘Can’t you do something stronger?’

‘Basic charms only,’ Delilah reminded her. ‘That’s as strong as they get.’

‘Great.’

Through the dappled daylight they hurried on. The noise of the place was immense with companions battling each other, huge bodies occasionally slamming to the ground as, one by one, the giant animals fell and evaporated into nothing.

‘C-caw, c-caw.’

Grace was too slow to react, and the Ravens’ giant crow swooped down, gripping Delilah in its savage claws and taking off. But the dragon already had eyes on the tiny girl that had made it sneeze. It crashed into the bird mid-air, and Delilah was dropped to the ground, struggling to remain conscious. Adie covered her as the two animals scrapped, showering those below with feathers and scales. Just ahead, beneath a low canopy of flame-coloured ivy, Grace spied the
Raven team, hiding.

‘Those sneaky bloody Ravens,’ Jenny snarled. ‘Why did they go for Delilah?’

‘She’s good,’ said Grace. ‘And they know it.’

There was a final screech, and a feathered black body smacked to the ground, then popped into nothing. The dragon hovered above them, staring down, angry and perplexed.

‘Una!’ Grace could see a bouncing black bob not far ahead as her friend ran back to them. ‘Dismiss it.’

‘No,’ Jenny said.

‘Dismiss it,’ Grace shouted again as Una got closer.

‘No.’ Jenny gripped her arm and pointed to their right. ‘It’s all we’ve got.’

In the distance, the Hawk Falls girls stood together, unafraid of attack now there were so few animals remaining. Victoria Meister mouthed instructions to her purple-haired team-mate, a cruel smile playing on her lips. Their bear’s silver fur rippled in the faint light, its powerful muscles so apparent as it pounded towards them.

‘She’s going to kill us,’ Grace gasped.

Now Una had re-joined the group on the ground the dragon paused, still frustrated, still without its master’s command.

‘Take control of it, Una,’ Jenny said, her eyes on the advancing beast. ‘Stop the Hawk Falls’ bear.’

‘Stop the bear!’ Una shouted.

The dragon didn’t move.

‘Don’t tell it what to do,
will
it. It’s a part of you, it is you. Will it to do what you want.’

‘I don’t know
how
.’ Tears streamed down Una’s face.

‘You do,’ Grace said, ‘just imagine it’s you up there. You stop the bear. You save us. Please, Una.’

Una stared up, her face crumpling, but it was like she was trying to read a foreign language.

‘I don’t know how,’ she sobbed.

‘Please, Una,’ Grace squeezed her shoulders. She could hear the huffing breath of the beast that was nearly upon them. ‘Please, Una,
try
.’

But Una’s shoulders sagged beneath her fingers. To use bigger magic was to risk disqualification; for Grace to originate a new beast was to condemn them all to the dungeons. But what choice did she have?

What happened next seemed to occur in slow motion. Mist billowed from the bear’s nostrils. It was so close she could feel the thump of its feet through the ground. Her hands trembled as she pictured the creature she would soon bring to life but, in that instant, a sticky whiteness wrapped around her, snapping her and her friends together in a tight bundle, and leaving them hanging from the flame-leaved dome. Spindly legs crept over them, revealing the body of a gargantuan spider. They all shrieked in fright, but the
arachnid slinked over them, shooting more sticky web at the growling bear beneath, until the silver-furred creature had rolled and grappled itself into a tacky ball of gossamer. Only when the beast was completely immobile, did the spider creep down and give a venomous bite through its own web. The bear writhed for a few seconds, before there was a popping sound, and the ball of web deflated.

‘Everyone okay?’

‘Gaukroger!’ Adie squealed.

Boy-Adie tickled his spider under the chin and smiled up at the girls with his too-wide smile.

‘That was close, huh?’

‘I love you.’ Una sounded utterly sincere.

Adie’s nervous laughter was full of embarrassment.

‘She just means … she means thank you. That was so nice. Una, your dragon.’

Una nodded sharply to dismiss her companion, leaving Gaukroger the winner of the Trial.

‘Yeah, cheers for that Boy-Ad– … eh, Gaukroger,’ Jenny said, trying to wriggle her way out of her web trap. ‘That was very cool of you.’

‘No problem,’ Gaukroger replied. ‘Anything for … well, you all seem okay, so that’s … that’s good. If you just hang on there, I’ll get him to cut you down.’

Grace couldn’t help feeling trepidation as the giant hairy body stood over them with skinny legs, biting at the sticky
strands of white. The web pulled painfully at the hairs on her skin, and she had a sudden rush of inspiration. She whispered something in Jenny’s ear, and the other girl smiled and nodded. As they were hoisted to the ground, both held on to as much gossamer as they could carry.

‘Stop the press!’ Eder Verzerrt strode towards them, his eyes impossibly large behind his milk-bottle glasses. Peach trotted behind him, her smile as big as her lovely round face would allow. Eder grasped Una’s hand and bowed until his forehead touched her fingers. ‘The news story of the century: Dunbridge and their meteoric rise through the Trials.’