Half Wild (17 page)

“No. No. No.” Nesbitt is back and not being positive. “Look, I told you. There’ll be a protection spell.”

It’s the next morning and we’re sitting round the kitchen table, forming our plan. We’re trying to work out how to get into the bunker without Mercury knowing.

“What about digging our way in?” Gabriel asks.

“Of course.” Nesbitt slams the palm of his hand into his forehead. “All we need is some mining equipment, explosives, lifting gear, a few diggers. Shouldn’t take more than a couple of weeks.”

We know he’s right. And I know that the only way in is the way I’ve thought all along.

“I have to go to the door and knock.”

They all look at me, except Gabriel, who acknowledges I’m right by keeping his head down.

“She won’t kill me. Not straightaway anyway. She’ll want to know if I’ve got Marcus’s head or heart.”

“How long do you think it’ll be before she works out the answer?” Nesbitt says.

“About ten seconds,” Gabriel replies, looking up at me.

“Yes,” I say. “But she’ll want to listen to what I have to offer. Last time I saw her she had just heard that Rose was dead, Marcus had given me three gifts and Hunters were invading her valley. She was furious and afraid. She’ll be neither of those when I walk in this time.”

“You hope,” Nesbitt says.

“So,” I continue, “I’ll say I want her to release Annalise. What will she accept instead of Marcus’s death?”

Gabriel comments, “Yours probably.”

“There’s the risk of that but I’m betting that Mercury will want to cause me as much pain as possible. She’ll want to show me Annalise, revel in her victory. I think she’ll invite me in. I think she’ll talk to me.”

They all stare at me.

“And then what?” Gabriel says. “Now you’ve done that so successfully.”

“And then . . . And then you guys will have sneaked in behind me and will overpower Mercury, give her the persuading potion, find out how to wake Annalise, and we’ll make our escape.”

Nesbitt laughs. Gabriel rolls his eyes.

Van says, “It might work.”

We all look at her in surprise.

“Getting us all in is the trick. Mercury knows that Pilot was going to bring her a new apprentice,” Van says, looking at Pers, who is scowling in the corner. “Perhaps there’s a way of using her.”

“I could take Pers to Mercury. She’d trust me,” Gabriel says. “I can watch Mercury to see what spell protects the entrance.”

Silence. Van smokes her cigarette.

I say, “I don’t think Gabriel should come.” If Mercury sees us together she’ll be more suspicious. “How about . . . I arrive with Pers. I’ve rescued her from Pilot’s attackers. ‘Don’t know what to do with her, thought she’d be happy with you, Mercury. Oh, and by the way, how’s Annalise?’ Mercury takes me to Annalise and Pers has time to work out the entrance spell.”

“She’s French. She doesn’t understand a word of English. And she doesn’t want to help you anyway,” Gabriel says.

“Tell her I’m bound to get killed and she’ll have the chance to watch. That should motivate her.”

“No,” Van says. “You and Pers are needed to get in but someone else will have to learn about the access spell. This idea is good, though. With a few small changes it might work . . .”

The next morning we’re ready. It’s early. There’s a clear, pale blue sky. It’s going to be a lovely day.

Nesbitt says, “I’ve checked all around. This is the only entrance. Mercury must have a cut inside because I just don’t see how she can get the groceries in from this spot. The big question is . . . is she home?”

“Only one way to find out,” I say.

The entrance to the bunker is a narrow tunnel in the hillside. It gives no indication of how far it stretches as within a meter it’s black. The wooded hillside overlooks the lake. There are no footpaths, dog-walkers, or people. This isn’t England; this is Norway. Remote Norway.

Gabriel and I walk up to the entrance: the first wave of our infiltration. Gabriel has transformed to look like Pers and is wearing her clothes. He looks just like her, walks like her, talks like her, and scowls like her. I’m fairly sure that he’s going to spit at me at some point, for authenticity.

Our plan is for me and Gabriel to get into the bunker first. I’ll tell Mercury that I’m bringing Pers from Pilot and while I’m here I need to see Annalise, to be convinced she’s still alive. Mercury takes me to Annalise, and Gabriel slips away to let the others in. Nesbitt and Gabriel together surprise and overpower Mercury and give her a sleeping potion that Van has concocted. We think the two of them will have the strength to do this if they can get close enough without her suspecting. While Mercury is unconscious the persuading potion can be administered by Van.

There are numerous ways that the plan could go wrong and, if Mercury even smells a trick, we’re all in trouble, in which case we’ve agreed that we forget the plan to save Annalise and concentrate on saving ourselves. As Nesbitt said, “We can’t help her if we’re all dead.”

We go into the tunnel entrance. The air is still and even colder than outside. I switch on my torch as we walk slowly and cautiously forward. The walls are uneven, solid rock, as is the floor, and it feels like we’re being hemmed in: the walls narrow until we can no longer walk comfortably side by side.

Ahead there is a door, or rather two doors. There’s a gate of metal bars and directly behind that a solid-looking wooden door with black metal studs embedded in it.

I pull on the gate but it’s padlocked. The torchlight seems to have dimmed and the silence has deepened around us.

I reach through the bars of the gate and knock hard on the wooden door with the flat of my hand, and then my fist, but it doesn’t make much noise. I bang again, harder, using the base of my torch. Even that sound seems to get swallowed up by the tunnel and I’m not sure if Mercury will be able to hear us. But maybe she can sense we’re here. Who knows what magic she will have protecting her home?

I bang again and shout, “Mercury! You’ve got visitors.”

We wait.

I’m about to bang again when I think I hear something and Gabriel leans forward as if he’s heard it too. It’s the sound of a bolt being pulled across rusty metal. It screeches and complains and then goes quiet. Another bolt and more scraping of metal and then . . . silence. The wooden door swings open slowly and, as it does, I smell something unusual, something spicy. I glance at Gabriel and he nods quickly to confirm that he’s smelled it too and that it’s something to do with how the door opens. It doesn’t require a key or a password but something that smells spicy!

The door opens onto blackness. But I know Mercury is there because the temperature drops dramatically.

I raise my torch and there she stands. The same horrendous figure I remember: tall and gray, like a warped and rusted iron stake, her hair a bundle of wire wool piled on her head, her black eyes flashing with sheet lightning.

She sends a blast of freezing air in my direction. I get icicles in my hair and nostrils. I have to close my eyes and turn away from her. My back goes numb with cold, the wind so strong that I’m bent over and holding onto the tunnel walls for support, trying to protect Gabriel with my body.

Then, as quickly as it began, the wind stops. I straighten up and turn to face her.

“Mercury!” I say by way of hello and now regret that I haven’t planned what else I need to say.

“Nathan. This is a surprise. And I see you have a new friend.”

“She’s not a friend. This is Pers. Pilot was going to bring her to you to be your apprentice, I believe, but . . . Pilot’s dead.”

Mercury says nothing but her eyes flash brilliantly.

“Hunters killed her. I was there. I escaped with Pers.”

“And why have you come here? You wanted to drag Hunters after you to my home—again?”

“No. They’ve not followed me. That was a week ago.”

“A week. A year. They’ll be following you all the same.”

“I’ve lost them.”

Mercury curls her lip. “And how did you find me?”

“That doesn’t matter.” I know if I tell her Pilot told me she won’t believe it. “The point is I’m here.”

“And why are you here? I said to kill Marcus and bring me his heart. I don’t see that anywhere.”

“I wanted to talk to you about that. We didn’t have much time to discuss your offer, what with the Hunters shooting at us.”

“It’s non-negotiable.”

“You’re a businesswoman, Mercury. Everything is negotiable.”

“That is not.”

“You originally wanted me to kill Marcus in return for giving me three gifts, but before I set off to steal the Fairborn we agreed I would work for you for a year instead.”

Mercury sneers at me. “And is that what you’re offering me now?”

“No. In return for Annalise, I’m offering you Pers.”

Mercury studies Gabriel and eventually says, “She was due to come to me anyway. I’ll take her.” Mercury opens the padlock with one of her hairpins, grabs Gabriel by the shoulder, drags him through the doorway, and pulls the gate shut. “But you and your father are different matters.”

“But—” I grab hold of the gate.

“No negotiations. Come back when you have Marcus’s head or heart.”

This is just about the worst possible—and yet totally anticipated—reply.

“I need to see Annalise,” I say, clinging on to the gate.

“No, you don’t,” Mercury replies.

“I do. How do I know she’s alive? I don’t even know where she is. For all I know, you left her to the Hunters. I’ll do what you ask, Mercury. If I can, I’ll do it. But I have to know that Annalise is alive. I have to see her first.”

Mercury hesitates. She hasn’t closed the padlock yet. She’s thinking about it. That’s something.

“I’m risking my life to come here, Mercury. You can kill me easily. All I ask is that you let me see Annalise.”

“Last time we discussed this you said you’d never kill your father.”

“That was before he left me to the Hunters. I nearly died—many times they nearly caught me—but I managed to get away, no thanks to him. I’d waited all my life for him to come for me. I thought he’d take me with him. I thought I’d learn from him, be with him, but no; he’d rather leave me for the Hunters to catch and torture to death.”

“He’s a cruel man. I’m glad you’re realizing that, Nathan.”

I bow my head and cling to the bars, saying, “I’ll do anything for Annalise, Mercury. And I’ll risk my life to help her but I need to see her first. Please . . .”

I daren’t look up. All I can do is hope that Mercury’s hatred blinds her to the fact that I will never kill Marcus, could never kill him. But I have to make her believe that for Annalise I’d try.

I drop to my knees. “Please, Mercury.”

The barred gate swings silently open. I hesitate and look up.

“I will boil you alive if you try any tricks,” Mercury says, and she steps back and into darkness.

I get to my feet and go in. Mercury closes the gate and then shuts the wooden door and slides two large bolts into place. Then she takes a pinch of some grains from a small stone bowl that’s carved into the tunnel wall and sprinkles them over the bolts. The spicy smell fills the air again. I think the grains must fix the bolts in place.

The tunnel continues pretty much the same inside but there are a few oil lamps hanging along the walls, flickering a yellow light. Mercury keeps Gabriel in an iron grip and steers him along the tunnel as it curves to the right and I follow. She sweeps through a curtain of heavy material and I follow her into a large room, a grand hall, with roughly cut stone walls lined all round with tapestries. The curtain we came through is also a tapestry. There are no doors and I suspect that each tapestry conceals a different tunnel.

Mercury stops in the center of the hall and releases Gabriel. She says, “Stay there,” and Gabriel does a wonderful confused look.

I say to Mercury, “Pers doesn’t speak English. Just French.”

Mercury mutters something to Gabriel and he gives a Pers-like scowl. She walks round Gabriel, looking at him from all sides.

“So, Pilot is dead. That is a great loss to us all. And Gabriel? I take it he’s dead too?”

“I arranged to meet him at a place in the forest. He never turned up. Then Hunters arrived.” From that description, it should be clear what must have happened: Gabriel was caught and tortured to reveal the location of the meeting place.

“I’m sorry,” Mercury says.

“Really?” I scowl now. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Gabriel was an honorable Black Witch.” She pauses and runs her fingers through Gabriel’s hair, then lifts a strand and lets it drop. I think Gabriel has even got Pers’s head lice.

I know I need to keep things moving. I say, “Where’s Annalise?”

“You risk much for Annalise, Nathan. Are you sure she’s worth it?”

“Yes. I’m sure.”

Mercury comes to stare into my eyes. “True love. It’s a powerful force.”

“If I have to choose between Annalise and my father then I will. But I need to see her. Show me that she’s alive and I’ll do what you want.”

Mercury leans closer to me and strokes my cheek again. Her finger is cold and dry as bone. She says, “You always smelled so good, Nathan.”

“I can’t say the same for you,” I snarl. “Show me Annalise.”

“I love it when you fight back, Nathan. It’s quite delicious. Come, before I change my mind.”

She turns and walks past Gabriel, saying something in French as she passes, and Gabriel scowls and sits on the floor. I follow Mercury to the far end of the hall, to a tapestry of a hunting scene, a man on a horse with a dog running beside him and a deer with arrows in it. Behind the tapestry is a tunnel identical to the one leading from the entrance. Mercury is already striding down it.

It’s looking good for our plan. Gabriel should be on his way back to the entrance as I follow Mercury down the tunnel, which is more like a corridor. There are wooden doors on both sides and Mercury is already at the furthest one. She goes through it and I slow. I’ve been so anxious about dealing with Mercury that I’m unprepared for seeing Annalise.

I step through the doorway, expecting a cell but finding I’m in a bedroom. There’s a chair, a table, a tall chest of drawers, and a wardrobe all in a rich dark wood. An oil lantern hangs low from the center of the room, giving light and scent, and below it is a bed and on the bed is Annalise.

I feel my heart racing in panic: Annalise is pale; her eyes are closed. She’s laid out on her back, which somehow makes her look more dead than asleep.

I touch her hand with mine. It’s cold. Her face is thin. I lean over and listen for her breathing but can’t hear anything. I feel for a pulse in her neck and find none.

“This isn’t right,” I say. “She’s not asleep.”

“No, Nathan. She’s not asleep. She’s in a death-like sleep. No breathing, no pulse to speak of; her body—and her mind—is shut down to the lowest of levels. But there is still life in her.”

“How long can she survive like this?”

Mercury doesn’t reply but goes to Annalise and smooths her hair on the pillow.

“Mercury! How long?”

“A month more. Then it will probably be too late.”

“You have to wake her. Now!”

“I don’t see Marcus’s heart.”

“Wake her and I’ll get it. If she dies I never will.”

Mercury smooths Annalise’s hair again.

“Please, Mercury.”

“Nathan, begging doesn’t suit you.”

I curse her. “Wake her now! Wake her or you get nothing.”

And I’m convinced she’s going to laugh in my face but she says, “I’ve always liked you, Nathan.” She turns to look at Annalise. “And I admit she is looking frail. White Witches have no strength. A Black Witch could survive three times as long.”

“Mercury, you gain nothing by letting her die. You’re not giving me enough time to get to Marcus. It’s impossible.”

Mercury comes to me and looks into my eyes. “So you will kill him? Your own father?”

I look back at her and say it like I mean it. “Yes. I’ll find a way.”

“It will be difficult.”

“I’ll find a way. But only if you wake Annalise. Now.”

“She’ll remain my prisoner until you fulfill your half of the bargain.”

“Yes, yes. I agree.”

“She will be my slave. I warn you, Nathan, I have little patience with slaves or prisoners. I’ll treat her badly. The sooner you destroy Marcus, the less Annalise will suffer.”

“Yes, I understand.”