Curse Of Wexkia (13 page)

The scrawny wintar faced forward again and flew alongside Sam’s captor. Nell smiled. She probably didn’t need to hit Cay-meka so hard.

Sam’s wintar had a muscular physique and was quite good looking. His black hair was short and his wings were an iridescent pastel blue. He wore a long-sleeved white shirt and loose-fitting blue trousers in the same style as the others. When he peered down at her, Nell changed her mind. His face was mean and his small round eyes were too close together.

‘What was going on back there?’ Sam asked.

‘What did you call me?’ Cay-meka shrieked.

‘You heard me,’ Nell yelled over her shoulder.

‘Shut up, all of you,’ the wintar holding Sam roared. ‘Or we’ll fly high and drop you.’

Nell and Sam exchanged shocked looks before she directed her gaze below at a forest canopy. It stretched below them for as far as the eye could see. At that moment, she would have preferred not to be able to see so well in the dark. She had been so mad at Cay-meka’s betrayal; she’d nearly forgotten the predicament they were in.

They flew farther away from the city and probably farther away from the book. Nell frowned. Hang on. Maybe the beasts were taking them closer to the book. Thinking
she may as well try to see into the wintar’s mind, she reached up past the talons and clasped her hand around his skinny ankles. She was surprised and delighted to find she had snuck in without him even realising she was there.

The wintar’s mind was cluttered and dirty and Nell managed to rummage around there for about a minute before he pushed her out.

‘That’s against the law of all the worlds,’ the wintar complained. ‘You cannot look into people’s minds without their consent. I could have you put away.’ He cackled like a hyena. ‘Oh, that’s right. You are to be put away. Put away for the rest of your life.’

Nell chewed her cheek. For the rest of her life? There was no way she was going to let anyone lock her up for the rest of her life. She closed her eyes. She wasn’t in the wintar’s mind for long, but she did get the sense they had Dar-seldra locked up somewhere. She didn’t feel anything about the book, but he definitely worked for Nadar and he was scared of him.

‘Just wait till we land, you big oaf,’ Sam warned.

Nell wasn’t sure what Sam intended by his threat, and she was pretty sure he didn’t either.

‘Don’t believe him, Nell. Your Dad’d never let that happen,’ Sam said. ‘What upset the muttonhead anyway? Did you try to read his mind?’ He nodded up to the skinny wintar.

‘Yes. They still have Dar-seldra,’ Nell said, wiping the wet off her cheeks. ‘But I don’t think they’re taking us to the same place.’

She had to admit, at least to herself, she was gaining more than phib traits. This is not the end of it, a small voice nagged at the back of her mind.

C
ay-meka cried quietly. Nell tried to turn to look at her.

‘Stop wriggling!’ the one holding Nell called, looking down at her. ‘What do you think would happen to you if I dropped you from this height?’

Nell yelled, ‘You vultures have my aunty.’ It crossed her mind how strange it was to say aunty. ‘Take us to her.’

‘You’re in no position to give orders,’ the wintar holding Sam said.

The skinny one’s laugh sounded like a frog under attack as he started to swing Nell back and forth as if she was on a swing. ‘That’s for sure. Croak. No position. No position at all.’

‘You won’t get away with this.’ Nell hoped she sounded braver than she felt. He carried her higher. Her heart pounded, loud and fast, as the forest canopy grew smaller and smaller. The suction on her right shoulder seemed to move a little. He was going to drop her.

A bolt of lightning lit up the sky above them. A moment later, thunder growled low and long like a savage dog.

The young wintar’s angry voice came from below, ‘Get back down here, Zarmraz. Do you want somebody to see you?’

The skinny wintar trembled as he dropped lower. From the thunder or the young wintar, Nell couldn’t tell.

Some time later, a pale pink sun rose over the mountains. Its flickering rays danced through the puffy white clouds and fell on the world below. Nell blinked. Corl’s nights were really short. Everything, including them, appeared to turn pink. In the near distance, the dense forest was punctured by a ravine. A mighty river might have flowed there once, but the river bed was dry.

With the light, the wintars descended even lower. The captives had to lift their legs repeatedly to avoid the branches.

Nell noticed thick vines joined the trees into one huge mass. Signalling Sam with a whistle, she pointed below and began to wriggle violently.

Sam’s eyes bulged and he shook his head. ‘I’m no trapeze artist!’

‘We’ve got to do something,’ Nell whispered loudly.

The wintar carrying her screeched, ‘Keep still, half-breed.’

Nell stretched both hands up and yanked out clumps of feathery hairs from his ankles.

Sam said, ‘You’re mad.’ Nevertheless, he followed her lead.

‘Ouch!’ the skinny wintar cried, loosening his grip on Nell’s shoulders.

She pushed her fingers between his talons and her shoulders, breaking the suction enough for her to wriggle free. Knife sharp claws tore at her skin as she fell. Her heart thumped in her ears and she wondered if she’d made a mistake. Like a missile, she dropped between two giant trees. From above, the masses of vines connected the trees but she fell through empty air. Her hands frantically
grasped at the absent vines. Just as she thought there were none, her hands clutched at one. The jar of stopping nearly wrenched her arms out of their sockets. She cried out.

The wintar hovered, groping around with his claws. With aching arms and shoulders, Nell moved as fast as she could from vine to vine until she was out of sight.

‘Stop that,’ the strong wintar yelled.

‘Wanna play, do you?’ Sam yelled back.

The wintar squawked and Sam shrieked.

Sam whimpered as he landed with a thud above her. She winced and looked up expecting to see Sam climb down the tree. Instead, a wailing, orange blur crashed through the canopy. On pure instinct, Nell stepped along the branch, hung onto a vine with one hand, and caught Cay-meka in her outstretched arm. Hardly believing she actually held on to the girl, Nell contemplated dropping her.

‘What are you doing?’ Nell asked. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Come to give us away again, have you?’

‘No.’ Cay-meka’s face was pained. ‘Please. I didn’t know.’

Nell pulled her onto the branch. When she was sure her cousin had her balance, she let go. Scrambling back up a few vines, she peered through the canopy above. The wintars had flown higher and were yelling at one another.

Nell couldn’t make out what they were saying, but guessed they were blaming one another for the escape. Sam still hadn’t made an appearance.

‘Sam,’ she called. ‘Sam. Are you all right?’

Groans floated down from above. A second later, Sam’s head popped down through the leaves and she cheered. ‘Hey, you okay?’

Sam grimaced. ‘No!’ He paused. ‘We’d better get to the ground before they come back.’ He disappeared back into the canopy.

‘Sure.’ Nell’s giggle was a mixture of adrenaline and amazement at their daring. Without a word to Cay-meka, she climbed down through the branches and vines.

Relieved to be standing on firm ground, Nell called to Sam. ‘Come on, slowpoke. They’ll find a way through any minute.’

Sam jumped the last metre or so. ‘What’s happened to you? This isn’t a game you know? We could have been killed.’

Nell shrugged. ‘I know it’s not a game, but I’ll tell you something, I’d rather be down here than up there with that lot.’ She poked her finger at the sky.

Cay-meka climbed down slowly, as if she was afraid she would fall. Nell wondered how she obtained the courage to drop from the wintar’s grasp. The girl was white-faced when she finally placed her feet on solid ground. Tears sprang to her eyes, and Sam looked from Nell to Cay-meka and back again. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked.

‘I didn’t know they would be waiting for us,’ Cay-meka said.

‘What are you on about?’ Sam said impatiently.

‘Remember? Cay-meka said we should go to the skark.’ Nell shifted her weight to the other foot and placed her hands on her hips. ‘You were right, Sam, she is a spy.’ She screwed up her nose and raised her hand to her cousin. ‘I should slap you again.’

Sam pushed Nell’s hand down. ‘Did you take us into a trap, Cay-meka?’

‘No.’ Her eyes flitted over Nell before she continued. ‘Please believe me. I would never have gone there if I knew
those wintars were waiting for us.’ She shivered and wiped her shoulders as if trying to dislodge the memory of talons.

Nell wondered if Cay-meka told the truth. The girl she knew wouldn’t want wintars near her let alone carry her like that.

‘I’m not sure if she can be trusted,’ Sam said. ‘But there’s one way to find out if she’s telling the truth.’ He clasped Nell’s arm and pulled her close to Cay-meka.

Cay-meka nodded to Nell.

‘Okay,’ Nell said. ‘Sit down.’

She did and Nell sat cross-legged in front of her. She took the girl’s hands, closed her eyes and searched her mind for the truth. Cay-meka’s sorrow over the loss of her father loomed everywhere and Nell was aware of the emptiness in her cousin’s heart. Looking only for the answers she needed, she ignored everything else.

When Nell opened her eyes, Sam was lying on his back with his arms under his head, gazing at the streaky blush-pink sky.

‘Well?’ Cay-meka asked, holding her head as if in pain.

Sam sat up suddenly. ‘You finished?’

‘Yes, but … she might have only shown me what she wanted me to see.’

Cay-meka pouted. ‘You might be able to do that, but we cannot. Blocking is our only defence.’

Nell shrugged and faced Sam. ‘I’ll believe her for now, although she really does believe I’m cursed.’ She glanced sideways at Cay-meka, expecting to hear a whine, but none came.

‘So, cursed one, how come you’re so brave all of a sudden?’ Sam asked.

‘I don’t know about brave. I guess I just thought we didn’t have much of a choice back there. Those wintars
were really mean. Anyway, I’m not so scared about the changes in me anymore. Actually, to be honest, I’m a little excited about Tuesday.’

‘Your birthday? We’d better check with someone about that. Did you notice how short the night was?’

‘Yeah. Are the days short too?’ she asked Cay-meka.

‘Yes. I think Earth rotations are twenty-four hours but Corl is twenty.’

‘Not such a big difference,’ Nell said. ‘My birthday will still be Tuesday to me.’

  ‘So what do you think your changes will be?’ Sam said. ‘Will you look different?’

Nell moved out of Cay-meka’s hearing and kept her voice low. ‘I’m not going to change in looks, silly, except, I think I’ll get wings.’

Taking her lead, Sam spoke in a whisper. ‘Wings huh? So you’ll be a wintar?’

‘Not just wintar, I am phib as well.’ She watched closely for his reaction. ‘I just hope it ends there.’ As soon as she said the words, the nagging voice told her it wouldn’t.

‘What do you mean?’

She screwed up her face. How could she explain to Sam when she didn’t even know? The only thing she did know was puberty wasn’t finished with her yet.

‘Don’t worry about it. Nothing could surprise me anymore.’ Sam spoke in an offhand tone.

Nell thought about the crocodile’s warning and clasped Sam’s forearm. ‘Remember, don’t say anything to anybody.’

‘No worries. Ha, I wouldn’t miss your birthday for anything.’

‘I feel Mother,’ Cay-meka said happily, brushing the leaves off her dress as if there had been no argument.

Nell ignored her and pointed towards the city. ‘We came from that way.’

The forest was similar to Mount Grief’s rainforest, except its flora was much sparser at ground level. It had many tall, single-trunked trees and some shrubs dotted about. Some of the plants had large fruit drooping from them.

On the way back to Cay-meka, Nell stopped at a small shrub with several single spikes erupting from the middle. The middle spike held one large purple flower. She moved closer and the scent of apples made her mouth water. Sudden hunger made her stomach rumble as she pulled the spike towards her and looked into the flower. A white fruit clung to its stamen. ‘Is it edible?’ she asked Cay-meka.

‘Yes, all the fruit here is.’ Cay-meka frowned. ‘Nell. I said, I feel Mother’s presence.’

Nell picked the fruit and raised it to her nose. ‘Hmm, it smells like a Granny Smith apple.’ She bit into it. It tasted just like a Granny Smith, slightly tart and sweet all at the same time.

‘Listen to me,’ Cay-meka said. ‘I think Mother is close by.’

‘What’s it called?’ She pretended not to see Sam’s annoyed expression and took another bite.

‘So, Cay-meka,’ Sam said, as if he could take no more. ‘Can you see where they have Dar-seldra?’

Cay-meka’s eyes closed and a look of deep concentration fell on her face. ‘No, I don’t know where she is exactly, but she is close and safe.’ She eyed Nell hopefully. ‘Can you feel more?’

Sighing, Nell closed her eyes and immediately saw Dar-seldra in her mind. She was in a low metal cage. It looked to be in a clearing on a hill. She was close.

A picture of her father filled Nell’s mind. He will find
Dar-seldra. Her heart crumpled in her chest. If she didn’t find that book and prove wintars and phibs were truly one race, her own father would lock her up forever. Her aunty would side with him for sure.

She knew she wasn’t going mad, all phibs and wintars were once wexkians. A deep sense of pride filled her. Awakening inside her were both phib and wintar abilities. And more, said another small voice. Two lots of abilities were enough to handle, thanks very much, she told the voice. She would go after the book while Sam and Cay-meka helped her father and the authorities find Dar-seldra.

Nell opened her eyes and looked at Sam and Cay-meka. If they knew she was hearing voices, they’d lock her away themselves. She smiled to herself but Sam mistook the gesture for confirmation about Dar-seldra.