The Rise of Winter, page 16
There was a loud banging noise coming from the cabin—the door, opening and closing in the wind. Someone had forgotten to close it, and it hadn’t been me.
As I got closer, I saw something stuck to the door.
My journal.
It was nailed to the door with a crossbow bolt. Across a blank page was written a single word in red:
“CANO!!!”
Chapter 38
I TORE DOWN THE JOURNAL AND BURST THROUGH THE FRONT door, flying up the stairs to my room. Inside, everything was in complete disarray. The pillows and blankets had been thrown on the floor, the mattress was upturned against the wall, the lamp knocked over, the drawers opened and emptied, my clothes scattered everywhere.
I rushed to the corner. The floorboard was loose, and I felt beneath it with my hand. There was nothing there. The amulet was gone.
“Proctin? Pteron?” I called.
They had both been in my room when I’d left.
I searched under the bed for Proctin, but the space was empty. When I looked up into the rafters where Pteron had been sleeping, I found a single red streak dripping from the wood. I looked at the ground by my feet to find a few small red droplets. I touched them with my finger.
Blood.
My mind raced as I put the pieces together: the diary, the amulet, Pteron, Proctin … It all pointed to Alectus.
Where was he?
It took me all of one second to come up with the answer.
My feet moved before I’d thought anything through. I ran down the hill toward the woods, toward Alectus’s workshop.
The door was open when I arrived, but there was no light coming from within.
“Pteron?!” I cried. “Proctin?!”
I ran inside and tried to use my Aminoculus to scan the dark room, but my mind was too distraught to focus.
“Pteron?” I called again.
Something moved beside me, but before I could duck, a hand grabbed my hair, wrenching me sideways. My head hit the wooden doorframe hard, and everything went black.
WHEN I WOKE up, I knew by the stench I was still in the hut. I was sitting in a chair, and my head hurt, but when I tried to reach up and touch it, I found my hands were tied behind my back with thick rope.
Someone had lit the lantern on the nearby table, and as I looked around I saw the familiar plaques on the walls.
Was I dreaming? Was it a nightmare?
My chair was only a few feet from the wall where a new plaque was mounted. On it was a giant bat, its wings splayed wide with two crossbow bolts holding them in place.
Pteron …
The weight of his body pulled on his wings, ripping the fragile webbing. His head hung low and his eyes were closed.
“Pteron!” I cried, but he didn’t move. He was as still as the air in the hut. He looked no different from the other animals mounted to the boards around him, except for a wet patch on his stomach that was still fresh.
“Pteron!” I tried again, my throat tight. “Pteron, please wake up.”
He’s dead, I told myself. It’s too late. Alectus killed him.
But then his head moved—ever so slightly.
“Pteron, wake up!”
He raised his head and looked at me with half-opened eyes.
“You’re alive!” I shouted. “Thank goodness you’re alive! I’m going to help you, hang on.” I pulled at the restraints around my wrists, trying to free myself.
Pteron looked as if he was trying to say something.
“What is it, Pteron?” I asked.
“Proctin,” he mumbled.
“Proctin? Where is he? Is he alright?” I scanned the room for anything resembling a raccoon, but my Aminoculus was still muddled.
“Alectus,” Pteron continued.
“Alectus? Did he do this? Where is he?”
Pteron’s breathing was uneven and raspy.
“Traitor.”
“What do you mean? Where’s Proctin, Pteron? Does Alectus have Proctin?”
“Proctin … Guardian … Wisdom … you … careful … the … amulet … traitor …”
Pteron mumbled nonsensical words, his eyes closing.
“It’s okay, Pteron,” I said, trying to sound calmer than I felt. “I’m going to get you out of here. Just hold on.”
I was still struggling with the ropes around my wrists when the door behind me swung open with a bang. A gust of fresh air blew in before the door closed again, and I heard Alectus breathing quickly.
“Darn fox,” he muttered under his breath.
A scratching noise came from the other side of the door, followed by a weak thump. Vulpeera was trying to get inside the hut.
“Alectus, let me go!” I yelled, struggling against the ropes. “Look what you’re doing! Pteron is dying! Take him down!”
Alectus came up beside me and calmly set his crossbow on the table. His pant leg was torn, a gash bleeding beneath it.
“You should have told me,” he said, his voice eerily quiet. “You knew it was him who attacked me. I read your diary.”
“Alectus. Yes, I did know it was Cano, but not until recently. I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I knew you’d be angry.”
“OF COURSE I’M ANGRY!” Alectus screamed, smashing his fist on the table. “You don’t think I have the right to be angry?”
“I do. You have every right to be angry. But hurting Pteron isn’t the answer. He’s not to blame.”
“They’re all to blame. They protected that whale after what he did. Even this so-called god you worship, this Terra, She’s to blame, too. She selected him as a Guardian after what he did. It’s all there, in your own handwriting.”
“If you read my journal, then you also know my father killed Cano’s father. Cano was rightfully angry. That doesn’t mean he should have attacked you, but he was … he was consumed by Malum.”
“Malum?”
“It’s what the animals call grief. The anger and misjudgment that comes from grief. I don’t blame you for being angry, but you shouldn’t take this out on the Guardians. They’re not at fault.”
Alectus walked toward the wall, standing a few feet away from Pteron. He reached out and touched Pteron’s fur, and the bat flinched.
“These creatures,” he said, “these Guardians you’ve joined. They’re a cult. They’ve brainwashed you into believing what they say.” Alectus walked back to the table and grabbed his crossbow. “But they need to learn their place.”
“Alectus, no! Please, don’t do this!”
“You, of all people, should want me to destroy them.”
“Destroy? They’re like family to me!”
“THEY KILLED YOUR FAMILY!” Alectus screamed. “They may only have taken my leg, but they took your father’s life! Have you forgotten that? The bear killed your father. And yet you stand beside him and the others, acting as their so-called leader. You’re a disgrace to your family and to your father’s name.” Alectus leaned in closer to me. “But it doesn’t have to be that way,” he whispered. “You have the power to change things—to finish what your father started and avenge him. I can help you. Together we can destroy them, Winter.”
“Never!” I said. “I would never do that!”
Alectus stood and raised his crossbow, aiming it at Pteron’s heart.
“I’m doing this for you, Winter. And for me. And for your father.”
And with that, his finger tightened on the trigger.
Chapter 39
THE THOUGHT OF AN ARROW PIERCING PTERON’S HEART SENT A surge of heat through my chest and down into my hands. Within a fraction of a second, it concentrated to a scorch and the ropes disintegrated.
I grabbed Alectus’s shoulder just as he pulled the trigger.
A loud twang echoed through the hut, followed by a thud as the bolt hit the wood two inches from Pteron.
Alectus growled angrily and swung the butt of his crossbow at me. I instinctively ducked out of the way, a reaction ingrained from my training.
“Alectus, please, I don’t want to fight you,” I said, raising my hands and backing away. He charged at me, but I sidestepped him easily.
“You’re angry,” I said, moving to the far side of the table and putting it between us, “but fighting with me isn’t going to help. Maybe you should speak with Cano. I can probably arrange that.”
A guttural sound came from the back of Alectus’s throat like a snarl. “Why would I want to talk to that whale?!” he spat, picking up a piece of wood from the table and throwing it at me. I ducked and continued to walk around the table to keep it between us.
“You could hear each other out. You’ve both been wronged. It might make you feel better.”
“I’ll feel better when he’s dead!” Alectus said.
His eyes fell on a spare crossbow bolt in the centre of the table. We looked at each other and then back at the bolt. Alectus dove first, but I swung my legs up onto the table and kicked the bolt out of his reach. He grabbed my pant leg, and before I could wriggle free he pulled me to the floor.
We landed hard, wrestling for position. He was slower but stronger, and while he couldn’t pin me down, he had a firm hold on my wrist that I couldn’t break. I managed to stand, but he grabbed my hair from behind, pushing me into the wall. My face pressed up against something cold and furry.
“Stop this!” I screamed.
He pushed my face harder into the dead carcass on the wall. “What’s wrong?” He laughed. “I thought these animals were your family.”
I kicked and flailed and managed to turn around, freeing my face from the animal, but Alectus grabbed my wrists and pinned me to the wall. We were inches apart, his eyes staring into mine.
His eyes.
Those dark, cat-like eyes.
My eyes.
“You move like that fox,” he said, “but you’re still weak.”
“Let me go, Alectus! Pteron is going to die!” I tried to squirm free, but it was no use. I looked over at Pteron. Two pools of blood were forming beneath his wings. He wasn’t moving.
“It doesn’t take long,” Alectus said, following my gaze. “They bleed quickly. He’ll be dead soon, and the process will have begun. I’ll rid my island of every one of them. And then, I’ll find that whale.”
The image of Pteron triggered something inside me, like that day in the Red Woods. I felt something snap. I couldn’t control my Imperia as the heat rose inside me like a forest fire untamed. It was the heat of anger, and it burst through my skin, encasing me in hot white flames.
Alectus roared, and let go of my wrists, but it was too late. His hands were on fire, and he waved them back and forth frantically. With each scream, the flames seemed to climb higher into the air.
I rushed to Pteron and wrapped my arms around his soft torso, lifting him from the bolts.
“Pteron, are you alive?” I asked, eyes brimming with tears. He didn’t move in my arms.
Behind me, Alectus continued to scream.
“Hold on, Pteron, I’m getting you out of here.”
I turned to the door, smoke filling the air and making it hard to see. In the centre of the room stood Alectus, his hands still on fire and raised in the air. He was no longer flailing them back and forth. He was no longer screaming. In my panic, I didn’t notice how unusual that was.
I held Pteron’s limp body to my chest and moved carefully around Alectus to the door. I had my hand on the knob when I heard another sound from behind. I turned to see my cousin standing in the centre of the hut, hands raised beside his head. The flames had spread down to his elbows and were burning high above his hands like two tall pillars that touched the roof. As he watched the flames, he was laughing.
Laughing?
Alectus turned his eyes to mine. The flames danced in their reflection. He smiled and gritted his teeth, and the flames grew.
I fumbled behind me for the lock and managed to pull it free, just as Alectus ran at me. I fell to the side and pulled the door open, narrowly missing a flaming fist.
A flash burst through the door and hit Alectus in the chest. He toppled over backward and the fire went out.
“Vulpeera!” I shouted. She stood on Alectus’s chest, glaring down at him.
“Get Pteron out of here,” she said.
My legs didn’t respond. Instead I stood frozen in place. Alectus tried to grab Vulpeera, but she swiftly dodged his hand and bit his wrist.
“Ahh!” he yelled, “get this dog off me!”
He rolled back and forth as Vulpeera nipped at his legs and arms. Finally, Alectus stood, shielding his face. Vulpeera backed him toward the door.
“This isn’t the end,” he said, glancing at me, then back to Vulpeera. “I’ll kill every last one of you!”
Vulpeera jumped forward and Alectus tripped over his own feet. He stumbled backward and screamed, raising his hands to his face. “Stay away from me!”
Vulpeera snarled and pushed him further out the door.
“I won’t forget this, Winter!” he whimpered. “I won’t forget what you’ve done.”
Vulpeera lunged again, and Alectus toppled all the way through the door. He scrambled to his feet, shooting one last glare back at us before taking off down the path. He had only gone a few paces when his feet lifted from the ground, and he rose high into the air.
His screams echoed as Catharia carried him, kicking and flailing, across the channel.
Chapter 40
PTERON LAY SPLAYED OVER A ROCK NEAR THE WATER.
“Can you heal him?” Fantom asked.
We were gathered in a circle—Cheelion, Vulpeera, Catharia, Fantom, even little Proctin—and they all looked up at me, pleading with me to do something.
“I-I’ll try,” I said, kneeling beside Pteron. I didn’t want to tell them there was no point—that I already knew I couldn’t. Besides, I had to try. If I didn’t, Pteron would die.
I moved my hands around and around, the way Granny had when she’d healed Vulpeera. I focused my energy, and the flames ignited. Granny’s healing flames had turned blue—somehow, I needed to do that. But how?
I moved my hands faster, but nothing changed. I tried repeating the word “heal” in my mind, but still, nothing changed. Frustration began to build inside me.
There were wide gashes in the silky membrane of Pteron’s wings, and a straight cut through the golden fur of his torso, now surrounded by dried blood. His eyes had remained closed since we’d pulled him from the burning hut. I wanted to cry. I wanted to break down and sob. My hands continued to circle, and the fire began to change. It wasn’t blue, not quite, but there was a faint bluish hue. When I focused on it, the colour changed quickly back to yellow and white.
I tried to force my thoughts back to Pteron, but a vision of Alectus flashed through my head. His dark green eyes inches away from mine, the word “Cano” repeating from his lips. A jolt of pain shot through my head, and I dropped the fire.
“What is it?” Vulpeera asked, suddenly by my side.
The image vanished as quickly as it had come.
“Alectus,” I cried, holding my head.
“He’s gone,” Catharia said, hopping forward, “and won’t be back. I do my best not to harm other creatures of Terra, but I can’t say the same for the wolves. I dropped Alectus in the woods on the far side of Olport among Lupora’s army. Leave it to them to decide his fate.”
I nodded. I didn’t like the thought of the wolves hurting Alectus, but at least he was gone. I looked back down at Pteron, but my hands were shaking and I could barely sit up. “I-I don’t think I can do what Granny does. I can’t heal him.”
Tears welled in my eyes. Vulpeera rubbed up against me like a cat.
“Don’t worry,” she said, “it will be alright. Fantom will carry him back to Lillian. With his speed, it shouldn’t take long.”
“I will fly my fastest,” Fantom said, hopping forward. He grasped Pteron behind the neck and took off into the air, a flash through the paling sky. Behind us, the fire crackled as the hut continued to blaze. Soon it would be nothing more than ashes, and I would be happy for that.
The flames.
A thought occurred to me.
“Vulpeera, how was it that Alectus could hold the flames?”
Vulpeera looked at me blankly. “I don’t know. I was wondering the same thing. And you were right—he speaks the common tongue. I’m not sure what to make of it, but then again, I am not a Guardian of Wisdom. Cheelion?”
Cheelion floated just beyond the rocks, his large shell bobbing slowly in the waves.
He thought for a moment, opened his beak, closed it, shook his head, opened it again. “I don’t know. It is only the Land Guardian of Wisdom who can hold the flames. And the Terra Protectorum, if they have been taught. If what you say is true, if he can truly hold the flames and speak the common tongue, then we must go at once to speak with Terra.”
“Maybe it’s because he has the amulet,” I said, thinking out loud. “Does that make sense?”
The Guardians all turned and looked at me in shock. I hadn’t told anyone. There hadn’t been time.
“He took it from my room,” I said, guiltily.
“He took the amulet?!” Catharia blurted. “Then we must get it back at once!”
Cheelion nodded. “Yes, we must get it back. But it does not explain how he can hold the flames. The amulet is only a vessel to help pass the Guardian skills to the Terra Protectorum. It should do nothing for someone who is not the Terra Protectorum. We must go to Mount Skire and speak to Terra to find out what is going on.”
“And who will retrieve the amulet?” Catharia asked.
“You take Vulpeera and get it back from the boy. I will take Winter and head south, to the mountains,” Cheelion said.
“But I thought Lupora had cut off all the rivers and trails?” I said.
“Rivers, trails, forests—yes—but not the ocean,” Cheelion said. “If we round the northwestern point, we can catch the southern current. It will take us to the west end of the mountains, where we will have access to Mount Skire.”
“I should go with Winter,” Vulpeera said, stepping forward.
Cheelion shook his head. “Catharia will need your help. Get the amulet and meet us at the mountains. We shouldn’t have trouble getting there.”
