The Wildwood Arrow (7 page)

Fletcher led them deep into the forest, stopping now and then to check the lines on a tree trunk. Each time the crows broke into their rough chorus, Claudia paused, looking into the treetops and listening intently. As they walked on, the channels of sunlight coming through the branches began to fade.

“Right. If we start from this log, we can check a small area at a time and then come back here before we search the other way.” Fletcher pointed to a huge fallen tree covered with moss and fungi. In the half-light it looked like a resting giant.

“Searching here will be harder than it was in the fields,” said Laney. “We need to circle round every tree and bramble patch so we don’t miss anything.”

“We can mark the trees so we know where we’ve checked,” said Claudia.

“No, we can’t!” Fletcher said sharply. “Not unless you want the whole Thorn tribe on your case.”

“All right!” Claudia rolled her eyes. “Chill! It was just an idea.”

“I’ll start.” Laney took the adder stone from Fletcher. “We’ll have to stop once it’s dark. I know we can see in the dark better than a human, but we don’t know how clear the signs will be. We could miss something.”

“Actually, I took this from my dad’s shed.” Fletcher drew what looked like a white china globe out of
his pocket. “I figured I could put it back before he realises it’s missing.”

“Sweet.” Claudia nodded. “Can you light it though?”

Fletcher shook the orb and a pale glow flickered inside it. “It’s got a little bit of power left. That’ll have to do.” He released the orb into the air, where it floated just over their heads.

Laney put the adder stone to her eye and began scanning the forest carefully for the telltale shimmer of spell vibrations. The orb followed her and so did Fletcher, marking things off on the map.

Suddenly he put his ear to a tree trunk. “I don’t get it. Today there’s nothing. It’s like the trees don’t want to talk.”

“It isn’t just the trees that are acting weird.” Claudia jumped down from a high branch where she’d been sitting. “The crows were making warning calls when we ran into the wood and now they’ve gone completely silent.”

“They were making warning calls?” Laney shivered. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”

Claudia raised her eyebrows. “You were the one who was all
we have to check the forest sometime.”
She put on a mimicking voice.
“We should get it over with.”
A tree branch behind her whipped against her legs and she leapt away. “Hey! Stop it!” She glared at Fletcher.

“I didn’t make it move, I swear,” he said.

There was a scraping above their heads and another long branch shifted downwards to point at them like an accusing finger.

“OK, this is freaking me out now.” Laney looked at Fletcher and his worried expression made her even more nervous. “Why are they—” A rustling noise began near her foot. Heart jumping, she grabbed the orb from the air and shone it on the ground. At first all she could see was earth. Then she caught a small movement among the fallen leaves. A knotted brown thing was creeping along, slowly pushing twigs and leaves aside.

“What is it?” said Claudia with a shudder. “It’s disgusting!”

Two more knotted brown things crept over the ground like ancient crooked fingers. Laney took a sharp breath. She recognised their twisted shape. “They’re tree roots. I saw one move like that on my way to Mist training three nights ago. I told you, remember?”

“You’re right – they are tree roots,” said Fletcher. “But what are they doing out of the ground? Only really high-level Thorns can do something like this and I’m sure there’s no one else around. Pass me the adder stone a sec.” He held out his hand for the stone.

Laney threw it to him and he looked at the roots
through the hole. “There’s no sign of a spell,” he said at last. “At least, nothing I can see with the stone.”

One of the roots climbed on to Laney’s trainer and as she kicked it off she heard a faint, far-off scream.

Claudia’s eyebrows shot up wildly. “That’s a human!”

“Are you sure?” Laney said quickly.

“Yes. Come on!” Claudia flew up through the tangled branches.

Leaving the orb behind, they soared into the night sky. Air streamed past Laney’s wings and the forest blurred beneath her, turned silver by the half-moon.

The cry sounded again. It was closer now.

Claudia hovered above a tall beech tree and Laney knew she must be using her Greytail tracking skills. Suddenly she pointed down through the branches. “There!” she said. “Right below us.”

Laney plunged downwards, leaves and branches scraping against her wings. She landed and changed back to human form instantly. It was dark without the orb and her eyes took a moment to get used to the blackness. Claudia landed behind her, then Fletcher.

“Help!” yelled a boy. “Help, somebody!”

“That sounds like Craig Mottle,” said Laney.

Claudia sniffed the air delicately. “Yep,
that’s Craig.”

“I didn’t know you could tell people apart by smell,” muttered Laney.

“I can’t always,” said Claudia. “But Craig is truly unmistakable.”

Fletcher pushed through the trees in the direction of the shouting. “Hi, is that you, Craig?” he called. “Can you stop shining that thing in my eyes?”

Laney followed the waving beam of torchlight through a gap in the trees. Fletcher crossed the clearing in a few strides and knelt down next to Craig.

“I’m stuck, man.” Craig’s voice shook. “I can’t move.”

“Give me the torch,” said Claudia, and the torchlight stopped swaying.

Craig lay flat on his back with long knobbly roots wound round his arms and ankles. He was bound tight to the earth, only able to move his head. Laney gaped at the tree roots. There were so many of them.

“How did this happen?” cried Fletcher.

“I don’t know! Just help me, man.” Craig struggled. “I can’t get these things off me.”

Fletcher took hold of the root that was curled round Craig’s ankle and yanked on it. His face grew red as the stem pulled away but as soon as he let go it snapped back into place.

Craig groaned. “These things are tight. I can’t feel my right foot any more. I don’t understand how they got so twisted.”

Laney, Claudia and Fletcher retreated to the other side of the clearing. “Those roots – it’s like they worked together to tie him up,” whispered Laney. “How can they do that? Roots can’t think!”

“Someone could think for them,” said Fletcher.

Claudia shone the torch back at Craig lying immobile on the ground. “The way the trees are acting tonight, I could believe anything.”

Fletcher looked through the adder stone. “I can’t see any spell shimmer and why would anyone want to capture Craig anyway?”

They exchanged looks and Laney said what they were all thinking. “Maybe the Shadow doesn’t need a reason. And maybe there’s no spell shimmer because his dark magic doesn’t leave that kind of trace.”

“But if the Shadow had been here, we’d see withered leaves and dead branches – remember how he turned the plants brown before, as if he sucked the life out of things?” said Claudia.

Laney gripped her hands to stop them shaking. Suddenly the wood seemed thicker and every pocket of darkness was filled with something that lurked. “What about hobgobbits?” she suggested, thinking of the fierce creatures that lived in
the forest. “They don’t exactly like people walking through their parts of the wood.”

“No, they wouldn’t have left him like this,” said Fletcher.

“Let’s untie him and get out of here,” said Claudia.

“We can’t let Craig see our powers and I don’t know how we’re going to free him without using them,” said Fletcher.

“There’s a trance spell I’m learning at Greytail training.” Claudia’s eyes gleamed. “I’m not great at it, but if I manage it it would knock him out nicely. After the human comes out of the trance they forget what happened just before the spell.”

“It’s too risky,” said Fletcher.

“It’s all we’ve got,” said Laney sharply. “Do it! We need to get out of here.”

“What are you guys doing? Stop talking and help me – there’s something crawling over my neck!” yelped Craig.

Laney rushed back across the clearing. A long gnarled root had coiled itself round Craig’s throat. He struggled, his face pale in the torchlight.

“Stop moving. You’re making it pull tighter.” As Fletcher spoke, the earth underneath Craig’s leg cracked open and another root emerged, curling round his knee.

Claudia let out a faint hiss. “I swear it’s trying to pull him into the ground.”

“What! What do you mean? They’re just brambles, aren’t they?” Craig’s voice rose in panic and the crack in the earth opened wider.

Fletcher grabbed the nearest root and shot a warning look at Claudia. “Calm down, Craig. We’re not going to let anything happen to you. Just try to lie still.”

Laney’s heart thudded erratically. This had to be the Shadow’s work – it was like he was showing off his strength. “Do that thing you talked about, Claudia!” she said. “We need to make this quick.”

“OK.” Claudia handed Laney the torch and knelt down next to Craig, her face frozen in concentration.

“What’s going on?” Craig moaned. “Stop staring at me.”

“Be quiet if you want us to free your useless lump
of bones!” snapped Claudia. Then with an effort she softened her voice. “Now … relax and look at me.”

Laney tried to hold the torch steady. What if the Shadow was close by? She tried to concentrate on Claudia, who was performing a complicated series of blinks, as if she was sending a message with her eyes. Craig began blinking too and at last his eyes turned glassy even though they remained wide open.

Claudia waved a hand in front of his face but he didn’t react. She sprang up. “It’s done, but it won’t last long. Your turn now, Thorn Boy.”

Fletcher started trying to untangle the root coiled round Craig’s neck. The wind moved the branches overhead. From the corner of her eye, Laney thought she could see a dark shape near the top of one tree. It hung from a branch, moving as the tree swayed. Her skin prickled and she pointed the torch upwards to find it was only leaves. A shiver passed across her skin again. She couldn’t do this any more – getting shivers at every patch of darkness, jumping at every noise. She had to do something. Throwing down the torch, she held her hands above the ground. She would use Mist power – produce water from the earth to blast the roots away. She closed her eyes and focused.
Water come out – break the roots…

“Laney, what are you doing?” said Fletcher.

She opened her eyes, her concentration broken. “Just trying something with Mist power.” She took hold of a root and scrunched up her face as she tried to focus again. Her hands grew hot and the root darkened from brown to black. Then it pinged loose and uncoiled from Craig’s arm before slithering away across the ground.

Fletcher’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

Laney seized the root round Craig’s neck. That blackened too before unravelling completely.

Claudia stared. “Who knew Mist power would work on roots! Keep going; get rid of all of them before he wakes up.”

Laney grasped each root one by one. Some of them tried to cling on to Craig but once she tightened her hold they gave in. Craig stirred and gave a moan, but his eyes stayed glassy. At last all the roots had released their hold on him.

“He’s still in the trance,” said Claudia. “Let’s go now and when he wakes up he won’t remember we were here.”

“We should stay close enough to make sure the roots don’t get hold of him again,” said Laney. “I know he’s annoying but—” She broke off as a root looped around her ankle and pulled tight. A second root coiled around the other ankle, digging in viciously. She lost her balance, falling flat on the ground.

“Stay still!” Fletcher crouched down. “I’ll try and grab them.”

“Yeah – well, I can’t move much anyway!” Laney managed to reach the tough roots entangling her legs and pull them off. They wriggled in her hand and, disgusted, she threw them across the clearing where they slithered over the earth like huge worms before burying themselves into the ground next to a tree trunk.

“Fly, Laney!” Claudia changed to faerie form and soared upwards.

Laney transformed too and hovered in the air, but Fletcher stayed in human form, staring around in bewilderment.

Claudia pulled Laney behind a tree. “Craig’s coming out of the trance,” she whispered.

“Hey!” Craig staggered up. “What’s going on?”

“You were asleep,” said Fletcher. “I just found you here.”

“My legs feel really weird. Pins and needles, I guess.” Craig yawned and picked up the torch. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Er, I just came for a walk,” muttered Fletcher.

“Uh, I should go.” Craig stumbled away through the trees and eventually the sound of snapping twigs grew fainter.

Laney and Claudia flew down after they were sure Craig had gone. Laney kept a wary eye on
the ground but the roots didn’t reappear. Fletcher rubbed his hands on his jeans. “I just don’t get it. Tree roots don’t do that by themselves.”

“We should go and collect the orb. Then we have to tell Gwen about this,” said Claudia.

Laney remembered the coldness in Gwen’s eyes when she’d gone to apologise for ruining the Spirit Smoke. “Do you think it’s a good idea to bother her? She was pretty busy when I saw her a few days ago.”

“We have to – this is important.” Fletcher took out the adder stone and scanned the clearing again. He circled every tree and even changed to faerie form and flew up to check the canopy. “There’s still no sign of any spell shimmer,” he told the others.

“Let me see.” Laney took the adder stone and scanned the clearing. “No, there’s nothing.”

“Shhh!” hissed Claudia. “Someone’s coming.”

The wind rose for a moment, sending the topmost branches swaying. Laney put the adder stone in her pocket and crouched down, the skin prickling on her arms. Away to the left, a tall man with massive shoulders came striding through the trees, swinging a walking stick. Even in the dark, Laney recognised his fierce eyes and heavy eyebrows. “Stingwood,” she whispered.

The trees swept their branches to one side to let him pass. As he came to the edge of the clearing, the
ground trembled as if the tree roots were moving once more. He stopped and stared at the place where Craig had lain, trapped. His gold-ringed eyes shone bright in the gloom. Then he marched deeper into the trees.

Laney, Claudia and Fletcher stayed hidden for a while after he’d gone. Shivers ran up and down Laney’s arms. Stingwood had a cruel side and he was the Elder she was most afraid of, even though he was a Thorn like Gwen.

“I think he’s gone,” muttered Claudia at last.

“Did you see how he stared at the place where Craig got trapped?” said Laney. “It was like he expected Craig still to be there. Do you think he’s the one that made the roots go wild?”

“Maybe,” said Fletcher. “But I’ve never seen anything like that root spell before.”

Together they flew up through the branches and Laney took a deep breath of night air, happy to be free of the forest. After collecting the orb, they flew straight back to Skellmore, passing over Craig who was limping across a field. On the outskirts, they changed to human form before running over to Gnarlwood Lane. A small figure stood on the path in front of Gwen’s garden gate.

“What are you doing up?” Fletcher stared at his little sister. “It’s way past your bedtime.”

“Password?” said Sara Thornbeam.

“We’re in a hurry. Get out the way,” said Claudia.

“Nope.” Sara folded her little arms. “Password?”

“Sara, stop it!” said Fletcher. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

“Mum sent me out to play,” said Sara. “Gwen’s not at home anyway. She went out.”

“Where did she go?” Fletcher demanded.

“Don’t know. Gathering stuff, I think – she took her basket,” said Sara.

Fletcher’s forehead creased. “If Mum sent you out at this time of night, something’s going on.” He strode down the lane to his house, which had branches covering the walls edged with red and white berries.

Laney shrugged at Claudia and they both followed. Sara crept along behind them. Through the window, they saw the inside of the Thornbeam house which was lit with a warm glow. In the kitchen, a dozen people sat at the large table; more stood round the walls. Empty mugs and plates were everywhere.

Fletcher’s dad, Mr Thornbeam, sat at the head of the table. Laney always thought he had a kind face but today his weather-worn features were drawn into a deep frown. Laney leaned closer to listen.

“He is changing things much too fast.” Mr Thornbeam looked thoughtfully at the Thorns around him. “He’s not taking time to think
about what he’s doing.”

“Who are they talking about?” Claudia whispered.

Fletcher shrugged and pulled Sara out of sight of the window.

“We all need to consider what this project will mean,” added Mr Thornbeam.

“These are fine words, Glen! But too often we’ve been slow to act,” snapped a man with ginger hair. “And because of that the other tribes don’t respect us.”

Mr Thornbeam said quietly, “I don’t care what the other tribes think. I care about the future of
our
tribe. The truth is that those who say they are seeking to make us more powerful could bring us all down.”

The ginger-haired man thumped his fist on the table. “Every year it gets worse – the chemicals they put on the land, the tree clearing… These are things we can hardly ignore!”

The noise inside grew as several people spoke at once. Then they all started to get up and after a moment the front door opened. Fletcher beckoned Laney and Claudia round the corner and they hid behind the bushy wall. A stream of Thorns came out of the front door and plodded away down the lane. Mr Thornbeam stood watching them for a while, his eyebrows lowered reflectively. Then he went back inside.

“Did they leave any cake?” Sara dashed inside to search for leftovers.

“What was that all about?” Claudia asked Fletcher. “The Thorns must know that something’s going on in the woods. Why else would they be so serious?”

“I’ll talk to my dad and see if I can find out anything,” said Fletcher.

“I want to know what Stingwood was doing in the forest,” said Laney. “I don’t trust him. I think we should follow him.”

“Don’t, Laney.” Fletcher frowned. “Just leave it.”

“We have to work out what he’s up to,” Laney insisted. “Listen – Shadow faeries must have a human form like we do, right?”

Claudia shivered and glanced round. Fletcher’s face went very still.

Laney tried to swallow. It felt like the words were stuck in her throat. “What if we
have
seen the Shadow and we just didn’t know it?” she continued. “What if the Shadow is Stingwood?”