“I’ve used it on my canine.”
“Can it bring back the dead?”
“No,” I said emphatically. “Nor can it regrow limbs that have been lost. I tried that once and it didn’t work.”
“Pity,” he said, snatching the Stone from me. “But still, it has its uses, I’ll grant you that. You will of course teach me how to fly with the chain.”
I was about to scream out, The bloody Hel I will, you king of the gits, but I refrained. I might just take an arrow to the head. “It will take time,” I said evenly. “It’s not easy to train someone up to fly.”
“Well, it’s not like you’re going anywhere. Ever again.”
Despite the clear menace behind his words, I breathed a bit easier, though I didn’t let my features express this. At least we would be allowed to live, until we could figure out a way to escape this place.
Thorne made sure to pocket the Stone and the ring.
He did not, however, take the glove. When he wasn’t looking, I slipped it into my cloak. From out of the corner of my eye, I caught a gnome staring at me as I did this. It was the same bandy-legged creature that had fetched the bucket for Thorne. At first, I thought he was going to tell on me, but he just looked at me stonily before turning away to jabber with one of his mates.
I marched along behind Thorne with Delph and Harry Two at our heels and the brigade of armed ekos bringing up the rear.
Delph whispered, “Why’d you tell him about the bleeding Stone? And show him what Destin can do?”
“Delph, he would have killed you if I hadn’t.”
“So?”
I was so stunned I stopped walking. A prod in the back from an ekos made me start up again, but I looked at Delph in astonishment.
“You wanted to die?”
“I want you to survive, to get through this here place.”
“I’m not getting through it without you,” I replied heatedly.
“I’m not that important, Vega Jane. Not really. You’re the one what needs to live. Like the female what gave you the Elemental said.”
“Not important?” I hissed back. “You’re all I’ve got, Delph. I can’t go through the Quag without you. I won’t.”
His face grew red and he looked away. I knew Delph so well that I understood he was searching for the right words to say back to me.
“Well, neither will I,” he said. “Both or nothing, eh?”
“Yes.”
He drew closer to me. “Then what I’d do is get him up high-like with Destin and when the bloke least expects it, drop the prat.”
I nodded slowly. This plan was certainly tempting. But if we killed the king, what might his minions do to us?
Thorne led us back to the room where we had dined. Lit torches still lined the wall. He sat at the table, drew a knife, sliced open his finger and then waved the Stone over it and, I supposed, thought good thoughts. The wound instantly healed.
He smiled. “We will begin the flight lessons next light,” he said. “You will be taken back to the cage until then.”
Thorne was intelligent, crafty, vain and mercurial. A difficult combination to corral, but I needed to try. “Surely you have sufficient guards to watch over us without resorting to that,” I said. “You’ll be invading Wormwood soon enough with your mighty legions. Compared to that, I doubt that the three of us will pose much of a challenge. We are totally in your power.”
Thorne rubbed his beard while I stood there watching him. I could hear Delph breathing heavily next to me, no doubt wondering if another arrow would soon be finding its way into his body because of more insolent remarks from me.
However, my plan worked and we soon found ourselves back in the room where I had slept.
The ekos left the three of us there, but I noted that a pair of them was stationed right outside the opening to the room.
I sat on the wooden pallet with Delph next to me. Harry Two sidled up to me. As I petted him, Delph said in a low voice, “It’s not enough for us to escape this place, Vega Jane. In his blasted aero ship, Thorne can fly right over the Wall.”
“We’ll never let that happen, Delph. Never!”
“So you got a plan?” he asked eagerly.
“Um, it’s forming right now in my mind,” I said lamely. I lay down on the pallet. “I just need to sleep on it is all.”
“Sleep!” exclaimed Delph incredulously. “Are ya daft? How can you think of sleep with all this goin’ on and all? I’ll not sleep a wink. Nae a wink!” he added emphatically.
“Brilliant, then you can keep watch.”
I closed my eyes, and Harry Two settled down next to me.
As I expected, shortly thereafter, I heard Delph’s soft snores. He was stretched out on the hard floor next to the pallet, sound asleep. His features were peaceful. I doubted that would last, but I was glad he could have that feeling for now. I pulled the blanket off the pallet and covered him with it.
I took another look at Delph’s features and, despite our desperate circumstances, I felt myself go a bit willy. He was very tall, about six and a half feet, with huge shoulders, long dark hair, a wide forehead that crinkled when he was embarrassed, which was often, and eyes that were deep and brooding. He was so brave. And, well, just such a good Wug. He had never let me down. Never!
And then my heart felt like it had been split in half. Delph was expecting me to have a plan, to lead him and Harry Two out of here. And also to save Wormwood from the mad king. Yet I had nothing. I was not a leader. I was a loner. I had always been a loner, more comfortable up my tree back in Wormwood with only my thoughts as companions. But now...? I felt crippled by the absolute certainty that I was going to let both Delph and Harry Two down.
I lay back on the pallet knowing full well that sleep would not be coming for me.
I had no plan. And without a plan, we had no chance to survive.
Sex: The Flight of the King
We were rousted from our beds by rough hands that pulled us awake.
It was a group of ekos, led by Luc.
“All right, all right,” muttered Delph as he stood, towering over them.
I stretched and felt kinks in my arms and shoulders pop. I had been dreaming something, but I couldn’t remember what. They pushed us out of the chamber and down a poorly lit passageway. I could hear the sounds of digging and I figured that Thorne’s minions labored all light and night. He struck me as that sort of king.
We filed into a dark chamber with a dirty, pebble-strewn floor. Here, we were forced at sword point to sit on our bums and wait.
Within a few slivers, Thorne walked in. He was dressed in trousers, boots and a long, loose shirt.
“Can we get something to eat?” I asked.
“After we’ve flown,” said Thorne. “It is early yet; your hunger will hold.”
I bristled at this, figuring that his belly was no doubt always kept full.
“Do you have the chain?” I asked, biting back my anger. I didn’t want Delph struck with another arrow.
He lifted his shirt and I saw it strapped around his waist. Seeing my chain on him made my face flush. He smiled at my obvious discomfort. “To the winner go all the spoils, Vega.”
“Right,” I said briskly. “Well, let’s crack on.”
We were joined by a dozen ekos. They all carried short-barreled mortas and pouches of powder and ammo. We made our way up a set of steps in the same chamber that we had fallen into the previous night.
With the cranking of gears, and ekos straining on ropes below, the ceiling canopy rose, revealing the blue sky. As we clambered onto the surface of the Quag, the dozen ekos raced past us and formed a perimeter, their weapons ready and their gazes scanning both sky and land. They looked like they had done this before. Then they removed their peaked caps and put them in their pockets.