I pushed myself into a seated position and blinked until my vision cleared. Immediately, I wished it hadn't.
Because standing right in front of us was Lieutenant Hootingham-Gore.
And I'd thought the day couldn't have gotten any worse.
"You!" I exclaimed, scrambling up awkwardly. Erik had risen, too. I could sense his irritation at how heavy and restrictive the armour was.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo," Hootingham-Gore laughed. "How fortunate. I had hoped we would meet soon."
I grabbed for my sword, but I was tired and clumsy and it took me too long. Hootingham-Gore blew some sort of powder into my face. I choked on it, trying not to inhale, but I did anyway. I was immediately woozy. I stumbled back, trying to figure out which way was up so I didn't fall over.
Vaguely, I was aware of Erik next to me. He was steadying me for a moment, but then he stumbled, too. We both fell over in a heap of armour and arms and legs.
There was a loud, screeching caw, and a moment later heavy thuds began pounding through the air towards us. It was Barbarus, I realised. I tried to untangle myself and get up, but a wave of dizziness came over me and I fell back down.
Whump. Barbarus landed in front of us.
Erik and I were dragged onto the dragon's back. We tried to fight, but neither of us were any good, between exhaustion and whatever powder Hootingham-Gore had used on us. Once the lieutenant was on, we took off. The uneven motion of the dragon's flight made me sick to my stomach. I vastly preferred flying on my own to this.
I didn't know how long we were aloft, or how far we went. It felt like a long time. I knew it was long enough for the effects of the powder to wear off. Erik and I were half trying to huddle together for warmth and half trying to sit as far apart as was logical on the dragon's narrow back. It was cold up there, but neither of us could get close to one another without the kiss on top of the Magmaroo coming to mind. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to run fast and far in the opposite direction or move in really close - because strange and unexpected and unnerving as it had been, it had also been amazing.
Finally, we touched down in a barren, chilly landscape. I jumped up right away and tried to cast a spell, but Hootingham-Gore knocked me to the ground with his staff and I lost focus. Barbarus pinned me down beneath one clawed foot. Hootingham-Gore rammed Erik, too, but he was better protected than me because of the armour and in the end, Barbarus had to pin him down, too.
"What the bloody hell do you want?" I snarled, trying to writhe free. Barbarus growled at me and pushed down harder with his foot. I groaned.
Hootingham-Gore smiled. It was a creepy look. "You two are enemies of the Gittish Empire," he said. "We're treating you the same as all hoo defy us. You have been brought to the Goretress."
My blood turned to ice. No. Not the Goretress. I'd heard stories about that place, stories that made me shudder. If we went in there, we'd never make it out alive!
No, I couldn't think that. If I did, I really wouldn't make it out.
So I pursed my lips and started trying to use magic to wriggle my sword out from between my back and Barbarus's foot. It was a tight squeeze, but with enough focus I managed to slide it out a little bit.
"This one has old magic," Barbarus told Hootingham-Gore as the lieutenant walked away. "Warn the guards."
Then he roared angrily because I'd managed to manoeuvre my sword into place and jab it into the bottom of his foot. I had about half a second of pleasure before the foot was being crushed into my back so hard that I knew there would be a big bruise from my cuirass. I groaned.
"You make me sick," I hissed when I managed to get my breath back. "A dragon, serving the Gitts like a trained dog? You're a disgrace -"
Barbarus growled. A jet of icy darkness missed my face by centimetres, and he swung his head round to look me in the eye. "Watch your tongue, girl," he threatened. "Your insolence will not be tolerated here."
"Do not speak to her that way!" snapped Erik. I almost wanted to laugh at the idea of a Celestrian reprimanding someone for calling me insolent. Heaven knew they'd done it enough times...
After that, neither of us could talk, because Barbarus pushed down so hard that it was a struggle just to breathe.
It wasn't long enough before Hootingham-Gore returned with six monster-guards. My heart sank. Maybe I'd have been able to get us out if there had been just one or two, but even with magic I didn't think Erik and I could take four-to-one odds. Especially not with a dragon on the other side.
Erik and I were stripped of our armour and weapons. One of the guards stuffed a cloth in my mouth like he thought that would stop me from casting spells. Then we were marched round towards the thick stone walls of a prison - the Goretress, without a doubt.
We must have been in the air a long time, because the sun had gone down over the jagged ring of mountains in the west. The Goretress seemed empty, which confused me for a minute until I saw the cells on a level dug into the ground and the shapes of people inside them. The part we were in seemed to be a work area. I shivered and tried to swallow past the cloth. I'd heard bad things about the work here.
One guard peeled off as we reached a tower in the northeastern corner. He headed upstears, while the rest of us went down.
Only five guards now, but I could hear Barbarus's wingbeats right overhead and besides, we were in the prison now. Who knew how many guards would come after us if we ran?
We were brought down down and then into a room in which sat one of the strangest sights of my life: a giant pig, easily twice my height form snout to curly tail, standing on its hind legs, wearing armour, and wielding a spiked ball on the end of a chain.
I could make a guess at who it was, but my ideas were put on hold as one of the guards started talking.
"These are our newest guests, Sah, sent to us by His Goreship Lieutenant Hootingham-Gore's forces, Sah!" he barked. Then, to Erik and me: "Oi, maggots! You stand in the presence of none other than Lieutenant Goreham-Hogg of the Triumgorate! A soldier so loyal that he was placed in charge of the Empire's most impenetrable prison, the Goretress! Show some respect!" He shoved Erik, who stumbled sideways into me. We scrambled apart quickly.
I could have done without the history lesson, but at least I'd been right. Goreham-Hogg had always been described as a rather piggy man; I supposed it was only logical (if there was any logic in this situation) that the trait would carry over.
"And what exactly do you mean by bringing these pig-ugly nobodies before me, may I ask?" said Goreham-Hogg, seeming bored. His voice sounded like a pig's snuffle.
The guard straightened up. "Ah, yes, Sah!" This -" he shoved Erik, who gave him the death glare - "is the apprentice of Aquila about whom we have been hearing so much, Sah! And the witch-girl -" he shoved me, and I had to struggle to keep from punching him - "who dared to help him challenge Imperial forces on dragonback, Sah! No ordinary criminals, I think you'd agree, Sah! It appears that his Goreship, Lieutenant Hootingham-Gore, was given orders to deliver them into our care, Sah!"
"But of course," grunted Goreham-Hogg grunted. "I had forgotten that we were finally rid of that ghastly Greygnarl swine. His defeat will show those who would oppose the Gittish Empire that there is no one who will save their bacon!" And then he laughed - or at least I assumed he did. It sounded an awful lot like a squealing pig to me.
Erik fumed silently. I bit down on the cloth, trying to hold back everything I wanted to say and do.
The soldier laughed humourlessly. "Yes, Sah," he said. "Very funny, Sah."
"But what is this, you pigheaded fool!" Goreham-Hogg roared suddenly, sitting forwards. The guard jumped almost out of his armour. "I believe we made it abundantly clear that we are in the business of penning Celestrians. Do these swine look celestial to you?"
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the shimmers of Erik's wings and halo, and I was suddenly grateful for the cloth muffling my laughter.
"That imbecile Hootingham-Gore has sold me a pig in a poke!" Goreham-Hogg raged. "Bird-brained fool!"
"Yes, Sah!" stammered the guard. "Sorry, Sah! What shall I do with this, ah...mortal scum, Sah?"
Goreham-Hogg sat back, grunting in annoyance. "Throw them in the cells with the rest of their boorish kind," he said disdainfully "We can always use extra pairs of hands."
Oh, no...
"Yes, Sah! Very good, Sah! Right, maggots, come with me."
We were brought back out and down towards the cells. A strange-looking shield flickered into being behind us as we reached the work area.
On the lower level, we were unceremoniously shoved into opposite cells with the encouraging parting words of "I suggest you rest while you can. You'll be joining the other prisoners for a spot of hard labour tomorrow."
As he left, I pulled the wad of cloth out of my mouth and worked my jaw round, trying to make my mouth taste a little less like old fabric.
"Damn them!" Erik exploded, and I looked at him in shock. "Thick-skulled idiots! How dare they -"
"Oi, keep it down in there, will ya?" came a gruff voice from the cell beside me. "I can't 'ear meself fink."
Erik stopped mid-rant and both of us looked towards the cell.
The voice softened slightly. "You must be new, eh. Well, I can see 'ow you might not be best pleased endin' up somewhere like this, but throwin' a wobbly won't do ya no good. This ain't the kind o' place you can afford to go wastin' yer energy. Not unless you wanna be dead by next week..."
He sighed. "Get some shut-eye while ya can. They ain't exactly generous wiv the lie-ins round 'ere."
I shivered. I'd had nightmares about this place when I was younger. How was I supposed to get any sleep now that they were coming to life? I didn't even have my dreamguard - it was in my bag, and the guards had taken that along with my sword and armour.
Finally, I curled up in an uneasy ball in the back corner of my cell. The floor was cold and hard, but it would have to do. I slept on the ground all the time. I could deal with this.
I was shifting around to find a less bony part of my body to lie on when I heard Erik's voice again. "Tammy," he said hesitantly.
"Mm?" I raised my head to look at him. He'd sunk down by the bars of his cell, resting his weight on the balls of his bare feet.
He fumbled with words for a long moment. "I... Goodnight, Tammy," he said finally.
I looked at him for a moment, and then almost smiled. "Night, Erik," I replied quietly.
After that, I curled back up, but it was a long time before I fell asleep.
I could feel Erik's eyes on me the entire time.
The screams were what woke me up the next morning. I scrambled up, groaning as my entire right side and most of the muscles in my body screamed in protest. It felt like I'd spent the night on the floor.
Then I remembered that I had.
I hurried to the door of my cell and looked across.
Erik had sat up, gasping for air. His eyes were wide and it looked like he was staring at something that wasn't there. He'd had another nightmare, I realised. My heart was racing from fear.
"Erik!" I called. "Are you all right? You're awake now, it's gone - are you listenin', Erik? It's not real!" I couldn't have been very reassuring, though, not with the way my voice was shaking.
He looked over at me, and he seemed to calm down for half a second, but then he frowned and I felt him start to get angry again. His face didn't show any of it but the frown, but I could sense it rippling under the mostly calm mask.
The other prisoners were up by now, groaning and asking what all the noise was about. Several guards had come running to make sure that no one was killing themselves or anyone else. They scowled when they realised that it was just someone having a nightmare. I supposed they wanted a chance to punish someone.
"All right then," said one, sounding annoyed. "Seeing as we're all awake, I suppose an extra helping of hard work wouldn't go amiss."
Nobody complained, even though I could practically feel the moans inside of me.
"Up, now!" snapped another soldier, hitting the bars of my cell and storming off. The others followed him.
We were left to let ourselves out of the cells and head up to work. I fell into step beside Erik.
"What was it this time?" I murmured.
He looked away. "Nothing of import," he muttered. "There is nothing to be concerned about."
I frowned. "I think there is," I said. "This is the second one since we landed in Wormwood Creek. What the bloody hell's goin' on, Erik?"
"Nothing," he insisted. "I would appreciate it if you would leave me alone!"
I blinked. "Fine," I said. "Be that way." If he wanted to be stubborn about it, it was his own problem.
As we crossed the bridge into the work area, we were stopped by a tall, burly man wearing clothes that didn't seem to fit right at all. "Sorry ya didn't even get the normal lie-in," he said. I recongised the voice as belonging to the gruff inhabitant of the cell next to mine. "Anyway, mornin', treacle. I'm Sterling, yer friendly neighbour. An' what should I call you?"
Erik and I introduced ourselves while I tried not to be too obvious about scruntinising Sterling. There was something...different about his appearance that had nothing to do with his bulk or the fact that his clothes were too small. I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Then I realised he was looking us over, too, and I went warm.
"Blimey, I never expected..." he murmured.
"Mm?" Erik asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, nuffing," Sterling said. "Don't mind me. Nice to meet ya, Erik, an' you, Tammy. I'm what ya might call the foreman round 'ere. You know, in charge of the workforce an' all that. An' I'm also in charge o' givin' the newcomers the guided tour an' showin' 'em the ropes. You just 'ave a wander round, an' I'll give you the low-down on all the interesin' bits."
Intersting definitely wasn't the word I'd have used to describe the Goretress. Depressing might have been more accurate. Or disturbing.
And I was proved right.
The trip round the Goretress was the most depressing thing I'd ever seen in my life. Graves, gallows, gates that we couldn't escape even if the guards were gone, and, everywhere we turned, backbreaking work. The guards oversaw it all. If any of the prisoners flagged for even a second, they were whipped. I winced every time the crack echoed through the prison. The air was leaden with hopelessness.
Neither Erik nor I said a word the entire time. I was too busy struggling to pull away from the overwhelming force of the other prisoners' hopelessness; Erik was stony-faced and tense. If he'd tried to speak, it would probably have sounded like something mechanical, wound up tight with springs. I could feel him next to me, simmering darkly. It worried me.
Finally, after we'd gone all the way round the Goretress, we found ourselves standing at the base of one of the sets of stairs leading up to the level with the tower. One of the barriers – a shield field, Sterling had called it – was blocking the top.
Erik stepped onto the stairs, but Sterling put an arm out to block his path. "Whoa, whoa!" he said. "I wouldn't go any further up that way if I was you, treacle. Strictly no prisoners allowed. The guard tower an' all the guard's quarters an' all that's through there, see." He hesitated. "An' there's them solitary confinement cells down the bottom an' all, or so I've heard… The ones where Goreham-'Ogg keeps 'is, er…special guests – the ones 'e's always on the lookout for…"
Celestrians? I wondered, remembering what Goreham-Hogg had said the night before. So…is that where all the ones who vanished are?
I could tell that Erik had gotten the same idea, but Sterling, seeming oblivious, kept talking. "Anyway, that's by-the-by," he said. "That there in front o' you's a shield field, an' I wouldn't go touchin' it if I was you. Your Imperial soldiers can go wanderin' through willy-nilly, but any prisoners who try the same get a short, sharp shock." He rolled his shoulders. "Actually, experience is the best teacher, I s'pose. Why don't you give it a quick touch an' see. You won't go doin' it again!"
He took a step back.
"Erik, don't," I said. "He told you it'll shock you –"
But for all he complained about me being foolish, he seemed to have turned the same way. He strode up the stairs and straight into the shield field.
And came out unharmed on the other side.
My mouth fell open. Sterling gaped. Erik turned round to face us, his eyes wide.
"Eh!?" Sterling croaked. "'Ow come you didn't get a shock?" He glanced round worriedly and then hissed, "Anyway, get back 'ere, quick! If the guards see ya, they'll have yer guts for garters!"
Erik hurried back through the shield field and down to us. My heart rate slowed down to a slightly more normal pace once he was away from the field.
"Phew!" sighed Sterling. "You 'ad me worried there, treacle. But what the 'eck 'appened, anyway? 'Ow come you just strolled on through the shield field?"
Something underneath Erik's shirt glinted. All three of us looked at it. "What -?" Erik muttered.
"Eh!?" Sterling said again. "What's that? It's glowin'..."
"Oi, move your shirt aside," I said. "What the...?"
Erik pulled his shirt out of the way to reveal a weird-looking seal pressed against his left pectoral. The glow was fading away, but it still stood out.
Sterling blinked. "Look at that!" he exclaimed. "It's got the Imperial mark carved in it... But why's it glowin'? Maybe that's 'ow come you managed to get through the shield, eh. Where'd you get it from?"
"Greygnarl," Erik murmured, looking down at the mark.
I furrowed my brows. How had the old dragon gotten hold of an Imperial seal?
Sterling grinned. "That wrinkly old lizard?" he asked appreciatively. "Makes sense, I s'pose. Anyway, listen, treacle, we'd better keep this among us, all right? If the guards find out, we'll be in for it, so keep schtum."
"Cross my heart," I said, putting up my right hand.
Erik let the fabric of his shirt fall back into place. "...Of course," he said.
Sterling sighed. "Right," he said, "that's about it for Sterling's Grand Goretress Tour. Sorry, treacle, but we can't put off the day's work much longer. Let's see what needs doin', shall we? Follow me."
That was the end of any conversations we might have wanted to have that day. It was a long, exhausting workday made worse by the fact that I could feel every tired muscle and hopeless sigh in the prison.
Erik and I worked next to each other the entire day. He hardly made a sound except to groan while trying to do something particularly strenuous. When one of the guards' whips cracked into his back, he hardly winced. But for all his silence, I knew what he was feeling. The things I'd sensed as early on as the walk to Upover hadn't disappeared after I'd sung peace in the tunnels of the Magmaroo. The song had helped some, I knew, but there was something incredibly powerful about his anger. It was dangerous.
By the time we were sent back to our cells that night, my muscles were screaming and I had several lashes in my back. Even though I was exhausted, I decided it would be prudent to spend a little energy to heal the whip marks on Erik's and my back. I had a funny feeling that the people here weren't big on taking care of the injured and sick, so getting an infection wasn't high on my list of priorities.
Erik and I retreated to our spots so we could curl up and sleep. Before either of us could drift off, though, I heard Sterling.
"Erik... Tammy! It's me, Sterling."
Erik looked up. I scooted closer to the wall.
"I bet you're cream-crackered, ain'tcha?" Sterling asked. "The first day's always the 'ardest. ...Anyway, there's somefing I wanted to talk to you about. It's a bit of a long old story, but bear wiv me, it's worth it. You've been 'ere a day now, so I don't 'ave to tell you that the Goretress is a pretty 'orrible old 'ole. Which is why we've been workin' on a little escape plan for a while now."
I was wide awake now.
"Wot I wanted to tell ya was that I want you in on it," Sterling continued. "Both o' ya. Well, I call it a plan, but it ain't much really. We're gonna wait for a chance to smash an' grab the guards' weapons off 'em. It prob'ly ain't the most sophisticating fing you've ever 'eard, but there's plenty more of us than them, so it could work. The problem till now's been what to do about the shield fields. As long as they're there, we can't get out. But if we 'ad someone like Erik on board who could get through 'em, we'd be laughin'. What d'you reckon then? You in?"
I grinned. "You bet," I said.
Erik nodded.
It was funny, I thought. Even now, in this lovely little hellhole, there was a chance at hope. I could feel it rising up inside of me, like a snake that kept getting hit over and over again but wouldn't quite die. It was stubborn that way.
"Nice one, treacle!" Sterling said, and I could feel hope in him, too. "I knew we could count on ya. But don't go gettin' yer 'opes up too soon. We still 'ave to wait for our chance. Could be tomorrow, could be next year... I'll fill you in on all the details later, so just get your 'ead down for now and try to save your strength."
We drifted into silence. Soon, I could hear Sterling snoring, but I couldn't sleep.
It was too late for me to not get my hopes up now. There was a way out, I knew it. How we'd do it, I wasn't sure, but I knew it existed. And if there was a way out, there was a way to survive til we found it. And once there was a way out, there was a way to help Erik back to himself.
Even if it meant we had to destroy the whole Empire.
For the first twenty minutes after she and Nick reached Stornway, Cristine didn't worry.
For the next hour and a half, she tried to pretend she wasn't worried, even though she couldn't stop moving around and was glancing out the windows of the Quester's Rest every thirty seconds.
For the rest of the day, she gave up pretending and paced round the inn's common room, gnawing on her lip and swinging her arms to and fro.
Nick wasn't as visibly agitated, but he couldn't help being worried, too. He and Cristine had only been in Upover for about ten seconds of Barbarus's attack, but it had been clear how strong the black dragon was. Even with Greygnarl's help, he didn't know how things would turn out for Erik and Tammy. Each minute that passed made him more concerned that something had gone wrong.
Nighttime came, and they weren't back yet. Erinn let Nick and Cristine have rooms for a ridiculously low rate, insisting that it was the least she could do when they were so worried about their friends. Still, as lovely as the rooms were, neither of them could fall asleep easily that night.
They'd almost finished picking at breakfast the next morning before either of them voiced their thoughts. Cristine put down the toast she'd been thinking about eating and, without looking up, asked, "What...what if something's happened to them?"
"I'm sure nothing's happened," Nick said, sounding much more confidant than he felt. "It... I don't know. I'm sure it's nothing. Besides, you said yourself that Tammy can take care of herself. As long as Erik doesn't annoy her too much..."
Cristine half-smiled. "I did say that, didn't I?" she said. "I suppose you're right..." She glanced out the window, and sighed. "I'm still worried, though. Anything could have gone wrong up there. I almost think we ought to go back and make sure they're not still there."
Nick shook his head. "They can't be," he said. "If they were, they'd be able to get back. There's something else going on, I think. Why else wouldn't they be here by now?"
I can think of a reason, Cristine thought quietly, but she stopped before that thought could go any further. The last thing she needed right then was to imagine Erik and Tammy being -
She shook her head sharply. "Right," she said. "You're right." She looked down at her plate, and then picked it up and rose. "Come on, then," she said. "It's Sunday - we might as well go to church."
"All right," Nick said, getting up too.
As they walked through the streets of Stornway towards the church, Nick took Cristine's hand. She blinked and felt herself go warm, but then she couldn't help smiling.
Everything else seemed to be going wrong, but at least they had each other.
Thank goodness...
I apologise once again for having to post the Phantom thing last week instead of this chapter. It was really stupid, but I was sick and wanted an easy way out. I'll try not to confuse you all like that again!
So who likes the idea of Tammy as a witch? Well, not a witch really, I suppose, but close enough... Oh, jeez, imagine if Tammy had been able to use magic like that at the start of the book! Actually, I'm glad she couldn't, because then we'd have lost Erik really early on and there'd be no story.
And now I'm going all ADD again, so I'm going to stop now before - hey look, a squirrel! ^_^
May all the bodies of the heavens watch over you!
