Taggie’s hand crept up to the bag hanging round her neck, feeling the shape of the dark gate inside. The touch of it was extremely comforting right now.
Sophie glanced round at the subdued groups that had formed along the deck, drinking their tea and eating quietly. ‘For us and the crew,’ she muttered.
‘Are you all right?’ Lantic asked Taggie, who was staring forlornly at the vast red and orange streamers of the comet’s tail.
‘I couldn’t beat her,’ Taggie said. ‘I tried everything I could, every spell my ancestors know, some new ones I devised. Nothing worked. She’s so strong.’
‘So don’t fight her head to head next time. Use a different tactic.’
‘A different tactic?’ Taggie spluttered indignantly.
‘Yes. Outsmart her. That’s one area where you’ve definitely got the upper hand.’
Taggie gave his anxious face a small smile, and put her hand on his arm. ‘Thank you, Lantic. Captain Rebecca told me how you animated the harpoons and firestars. None of us would be here without you.’
‘I think you would. But I’m glad to be by your side,’ he wheezed down a breath. ‘No matter where we are.’
She grinned. ‘You still don’t get to sing with the Heartbreakers.’
‘I know. It doesn’t matter. We’re so close now. We should actually start thinking about what we do when we get Mirlyn’s Gate back.’
‘So we should.’ Taggie glanced at Lord Colgath. ‘How will your brother react if we bring Mirlyn’s Gate back? You never did say.’
‘Badly. He will see its return as a challenge to his entire reign. He is not wrong in that. But . . . the Congress of Lords may be more tolerant. I have some allies there. Or at least, I used to.’
‘It’ll be the same with my father,’ Lantic said glumly.
‘I’m not so sure,’ Taggie said. ‘He and I will have to stand before the Gathering together. He might not have everything his own way. Earl Maril’bo will speak to the Elf King.’
Sophie sighed. ‘I wonder how he is?’
‘And Dad,’ Jemima said wistfully.
‘They’ll be worrying about us,’ Taggie said. She pressed the handle on the squeeze mug, and gulped down some hot tea.
‘What’s the first thing you’re going to do when we get home?’ Lantic asked. ‘I’m going to go travelling. I’m going to visit every place my brother went to.’
‘A bath,’ Sophie said firmly, raking a hand through her filthy hair.
‘After that,’ Lantic insisted.
‘Maybe visit Tonba,’ the skymaid said thoughtfully. ‘I mean, I’ve come to this realm, which is what I always wanted to do. But I haven’t seen much of it. Well . . .’ She gestured at the flowing haze of the comet’s tail which still obscured a quarter of the sky. ‘Not the parts of it I’ve heard so much about.’
‘Felix?’ Lantic asked.
‘I’m just looking forward to my job being less difficult,’ the white squirrel said.
‘My lord?’ Lantic asked.
‘I haven’t seen my wife, Lady Anaquis, for thirty-seven years,’ Lord Colgath rumbled. ‘I miss her. It is my hope that this will allow me to see her again.’
‘Jemima?’
‘I want Dad back. That’s all.’
‘Me too,’ Taggie told her. ‘And he’ll be there, Jem.’
‘What about you?’ Lantic asked.
Taggie shrugged. ‘Finish school, I guess. Then move to the First Realm permanently and sit on the throne.’
‘That’s what you want to do?’ Sophie asked dubiously.
Taggie grinned at her friend. ‘When I dream in the First Realm, I help people. So yes, that’s what I want.’
Captain Rebecca flew down to them, and gave Jemima a long look.
‘What?’ Jemima asked, flustered.
‘I’ve seen Wynate,’ Captain Rebecca said. ‘May the angels preserve me. When the comet expelled us, it threw us on a course that’s taking us straight there. At the rate we’re drifting, we’ll be there in another five or six hours.’
Taggie held out a hand. ‘Captain, I’d like to see it.’
Captain Rebecca handed over the telescope.
The isle of Wynate had no vegetation of any kind. As far as Taggie could see there wasn’t even any moss clinging to its dark-grey rock. She wasn’t surprised, the surface certainly looked inhospitable. There wasn’t a flat patch of ground anywhere; instead long sharp blades of rock stabbed up into the air at all angles. The whole isle was viciously barbed.
Nothing moved amid all the severe rock, though as they got closer, the telescope allowed them to see black gashes that were entrances to caves in the clefts between the pinnacles.
It was clear that the Angelhawk would pass close, but thankfully not crash and impale herself on the dreadful spikes. Everyone got ready to fly over. There were enough skyfolk to carry the rest across.
As they were preparing their shields and weapons, Maklepine gasped. ‘Ship ho!’
Taggie’s first thought was that one of the frigates had somehow followed them. But the shipsmage was pointing at the isle ahead, and his face held an expression of wonder.
It had to be there, of course. Everything they’d done, the effort and sacrifice they’d made to get to Wynate, was totally dependent on the Lady Silvaris being there. Nonetheless, when the isle’s slow rotation gradually brought the giant ship’s broken hull into view, Taggie thought she might cry – first from the joy of finding her goal, then from the state of the ship itself. The Lady Silvaris had been built as a labour of love by an entire generation of skypeople to sail amid the stars, only to lie fallen among desolate rock. Even now, abandoned for centuries, her vast bulk had a grandeur which remained exciting. It wasn’t hard to imagine the incredible old behemoth flying smoothly past the ice isles and out into the coldness.
‘We were right,’ Taggie whispered, incredulous. ‘We were right! This is where they came.’
Captain Rebecca shook her head in amazement. ‘By every angel in Heaven, it was all true.’
‘My father’s resting place,’ Lord Colgath said softly.
‘And many others,’ Felix said. ‘They committed themselves in the belief their descendants would live a better life.’
‘We will,’ Taggie said in determination.
‘I can’t see any paxia,’ Lantic said.
‘They’re down there,’ Jemima said in a despondent voice. ‘I have sight of them. Taggie, there’s an awful lot.’
Captain Rebecca gazed down on the forbidding isle, her ebony hair coiling slowly. ‘Aye, Blossom Princess, that there will be. But sleeping. For once, some good fortune! We may yet get out of this alive. We just have to be very quiet, and very sneaky.’
THE RESTING PLACE
Taggie faced the Angelhawk’s crew on the mid-deck. She took the gold and ebony ring from the bag round her neck and held it up. ‘This is the gate that will take Mirlyn’s Gate to the War Emperor. There’s not much life left in it, so we’ll only have one chance to use it.’ She gave Captain Rebecca a nervous glance. ‘That means we all have to use it together.’
‘Aye,’ Captain Rebecca said. She nodded at Wynate, which was growing larger in the sky above them. ‘We all know the Angelhawk isn’t sailing anywhere again, which means we’re all going to have to go down to the Lady Silvaris with our young Queen. So now, if you have any complaints or questions, keep them to yourself, I’m not interested. Sharpen your weapons and be ready to move out when I tell you. Above all, stick together. That way we’ll be in a decent tavern by nightfall, and the bards will have started composing their songs praising us.’
Sophie lifted Taggie as the Angelhawk glided a quarter of a mile above Wynate’s brutal spikes. They were the first. Captain Rebecca herself took Lord Colgath. The others followed in pairs. Shields were covered in cloth so as not to clank and bang, boots were wrapped in thick wool socks.
Despite the danger they were flying towards, Taggie’s eyes were shining in anticipation. This was wha
t it felt like to have a dream come true.
They landed in a narrow gully at the base of the Lady Silvaris’s stern. Even after hearing so many stories of Exator’s ship, the sheer size of it was inspiring. She lay on her side, the planks on the bottom buckled and shattered by her fall from the sky a thousand years ago. Masts and yardarms lay around, leaning against the wreck as if they were gangplanks. There was only the wood itself remaining, along with some rusting pulleys. The ropes and sails had long since rotted away. But the good French oak from which she’d been built had hardened down the centuries, remaining intact.
With everyone on the ground beside her, Taggie’s charmsward bands spun round, ready to cast her strongest protective enchantment. She walked cautiously towards one of larger splits at the foot of the huge circular stern, alert for any sign of the paxia. Everyone else kept a constant vigil over the barren rock as they followed closely. They saw several cave openings, which they took a wide path around. The silence that engulfed Wynate was so intense Taggie thought her ears had stopped working.
Eventually they were standing at the base of the ancient hull. Taggie stared at the tall, ominous fracture in the wooden wall before her.
‘That didn’t break open naturally,’ Sophie said softly as they peered into the gloomy interior. ‘Those are teeth marks.’
Taggie examined the planks, seeing the deep gashes on every edge. Sophie was right. She gave a small shudder and crept inside.
Dust shone in the multitude of slender sunbeams that prised their way round the edges of the planks and through the jagged cracks. They created a criss-cross of thin beams that glared within the midnight black that filled the Lady Silvaris’s hull. The entire hull was now one gigantic empty chamber. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw the curving hull and protruding timbers were curiously lumpy. They were large lumps, too.
‘Oh sweet Heavens save us,’ an aghast Captain Rebecca whispered. The minute stars in her eyepatch gem were swirling in agitation.
Taggie peered at the closest lump. It was slate grey with the texture of leather, the surface marked by long creases. As she stared, those creases slowly resolved into the shapes of legs and arms and wing ribs. Each lump was a small human shape, crouched tight, with legs bent up, arms hugging itself, and wings folded.
It took all her self-control for Taggie not to scream as she realized exactly what had conquered the hull. Somehow she managed to stall the breath in her throat. Paxia clung to the inside of the hull, nestled along every truss and support, settled on the beam ledges, slumbered across the broken floor. There must have been thousands upon thousands of them inside the ship.
Everyone stood perfectly still as they took in the mortifying sight. Hands reached stealthily for weapons but Taggie and Captain Rebecca shook their heads in urgent, silent warning.
Lord Colgath’s smoke cloak dimmed down to a subdued ember-red. Slivers of opalescence flowed swiftly along his arm as he raised a hand and pointed.
Mirlyn’s Gate was indeed as he’d described it. A circle of stone, made from many smaller stones, it lay beside one of the tapering rock spires that had sliced into the ancient ship, leaning at a precarious angle. Dozens of serpents that seemed to be made of dark liquid slithered over its surface in eternal circles, their eyes gleaming a malignant purple as they wiggled across each other.
The binding enchantments, Taggie realized. And Mirlyn’s Gate was less than thirty metres ahead of her. She started to study the ground between her and her goal. Not all of the paxia were pressed together. If she was very, very careful, she might manage to reach the gate by a winding route. She put one foot forward, making sure the ground underneath was solid before she put her weight on it. Then brought the other foot forward. Test the ground. Now – a slight turn. Another step, heart racing, sweat prickling her skin. Breath becoming ragged. Another step.
Sophie started to follow her. Then slowly the rest of the crew began to advance.
Taggie was halfway to Mirlyn’s Gate when one of the sunbeams flickered. She glanced up. It was one of those coming down from the crest of the hull curving above her. Another winked out for a second before reappearing, as if something had briefly passed through the air between the hull and the sun. Taggie stopped, her stomach knotting up to a cold ball. If anything disturbed the paxia now . . .
She waited but the sunbeams stayed constant. All right then, she told herself. A step forwards, then a sharp turn because three paxia were resting up against each other. One of them was on its side, allowing her the first glimpse of a face. There was practically no nose, just a smooth nub with a single nostril. The eyelids were wide, closed over a protruding hemispherical eyeball. Its circular mouth was covered by a puckered lip and its ears were small pointed shells lying flat along the side of an elongated skull.
Taggie wrinkled her nose in revulsion at the sight and took another step. Friends and crew were strung out behind her, making good progress in what had become the world’s most terrifying game of Twister ever. Captain Rebecca brought up the rear.
With just ten metres to go, the dark serpents began to slow their endless slithering around Mirlyn’s Gate. Narrow violet eyes were starting to show an interest in her.
Taggie gritted her teeth and took another step.
‘OH TAGGIE, YOU FOUND IT. WELL DONE, COUSIN. GOOD SHOW.’
A horrified Taggie looked back. Katrabeth was standing behind them in the same gap they’d used to get inside the Lady Silvaris. She wore the full bejewelled robe of a Third Realm sorceress, her chestnut hair brushed to an immaculate sheen. The smile on her face as she shouted was one of pure malice.
All around the ruined hull, the paxia began to stir, limbs stretching out, heads turning to find the source of the disturbance, wings rising and rustling like a thousand leather leaves fluttering in the breeze.
Katrabeth sucked on her lower lip. ‘OOOPS. TOO LOUD? So sorry.’ Then she was laughing with cruel delight at the shock and dread she saw written on the faces of everyone inside the wrecked hull.
‘To me!’ Taggie yelled desperately as the paxia began to stand up. The charmsward symbols flared with sharp blue light. ‘Ti-Hath,’ she chanted as everyone piled in round her. Felix swung his sword at the drowsy paxia next to Taggie, cutting it down. Lord Colgath’s death spell blew another back through the air with smoke pouring from its mouth and ears.
Taggie’s enchantment created a bubble of solid air around her and her companions. Paxia started to move towards them, slowly at first as they shrugged off their drowsiness, then with speed and purpose building menacingly fast. Their mouths opened to squawk, revealing a ring of fangs that flexed ravenously. The noise they made as they woke was phenomenal. Taggie thought the old timbers must surely finally burst from the crescendo of aggression.
‘To Mirlyn’s Gate,’ Sophie cried. They started to run, clinging together, flinching from the paxia that had started flinging themselves at the wall of enchanted air.
The protective shell Taggie created began to stall on the sheer number of paxia bodies piling on to it. Small crude spells jabbed out of their fingers like tiny orange needles, clawing at Taggie’s magic. Then they shoved their heads against the stubborn invisible barrier and began eating.
Taggie cried out in revulsion. She could feel them chewing at her magic, a sensation that was like having their wet, hot tongues licking at the skin all over her body. ‘Clear a way through,’ she implored the others, and relaxed the shield on one side.
Lord Colgath held both arms up, and slammed out death spell after death spell. Sophie’s crossbow fired a steady stream of perfectly aimed bolts, as did the bows of the skyfolk crew. Felix stabbed and slashed with his sword. Lantic flung firestars. Captain Rebecca roared in berserk delight, and swung her cutlass triumphantly.
The paxia came in great waves. Flying and running from every direction. Shrieking dementedly, clawing their way over each other in a frenzy to reach the new food.
Katrabeth stood beside the gap in the hull, a shadecast ma
king her hard to see. It was her eyes which gave her away, gleaming with malicious joy as she watched the desperate struggle take place before her.
Slowly, inch by inch, Taggie and her friends were shoving their way across the floor until they reached Mirlyn’s Gate. There were shattered skeletons all around it. Lantic saw the emblem of the War Emperor on a gold broach beneath his feet as he stumbled on bones.
‘Father,’ Lord Colgath moaned.
‘Get the dark gate out,’ Taggie yelled at Jemima.
She tried to reinforce the shield enchantment as Jemima fumbled at the bag round her neck. The relentless assault of the paxia made it difficult.
Jemima tugged the black and gold ring from the bag, holding it aloft triumphantly. ‘Got it.’
‘My lord, give us a destination,’ Taggie said.
‘Eth-el’ turnoch,’ Lord Colgath chanted.
The centre of the black and gold ring began to shine with a lurid light. Taggie could feel the gate’s peculiar magic expanding. ‘Get round Mirlyn’s Gate,’ she told her friends.
The paxia must have known something was happening. They hammered and scratched at the enchanted air, redoubling their efforts to break through. Taggie groaned with the effort of sustaining the spell. Then everyone was holding hands, with Mirlyn’s Gate in the centre.
For a second, there was a gap in the ever-shifting wall of paxia. Taggie could now see Katrabeth clearly. Her cousin had taken a few paces into the hull so she could better watch their demise. An alarmed frown was breaking on the girl’s pretty face, causing her shadecast to falter. ‘What . . . ?’ The paxia had seen her now as well. They began flying towards her. Katrabeth’s death spells turned them to charred smouldering corpses that fell instantly to the ground. But still they kept coming. Dozens. Hundreds.
‘Oh,’ Taggie said, as if surprised. ‘Didn’t the Grand Lord tell you I have a private gate? Ooops.’ She smiled blankly, and cancelled the shield enchantment so she could issue her command. ‘Seseeamie.’