The Bonehill Curse (20 page)

The first soldier reached out for her ankle. Ness pulled her foot up and then slammed it back, her heel catching the creature in the eye. With a roar, the bloodsucker put his hand up to his face and Ness, sensing his loss of balance, gave him another kick to the shoulder.

The soldier jerked back, waving his arms in the air as he sought stability. But his weight had shifted too far off the branch and Ness watched with satisfaction as he fell, bones cracking as he bounced from branch to branch and finally landed on the ground with a thump, forcing the captain to take a step back.

‘I’m nearly there,’ Azuli called.

The branches were thinner near the top, bending and cracking under their weight. The carpet began twisting and pulling at the briars that snagged it, like a wild animal in a trap, but the sharp branch was punched through its middle like a meat hook, holding it tight. Azuli stretched to reach the far corner of the carpet.

Something gripped Ness’s ankle and she glanced down to see the second bloodsucker’s triumphant grin. Ness tried to kick but the creature’s grip held. With a gasp, she hooked her arms over the branch above her, desperate not to be dragged off and thrown to the ground so far below. She tried to lash out but he had her legs pinned. Slowly, the weight on her legs increased as the bloodsucker bore down. Her shoulders burning with the effort, Ness wriggled to keep hold of the branch.

‘You’ll not drag me down,’ she hissed, staring at the leering creature.

A shaft of warm sunlight lanced down from above as Azuli struggled through the canopy. The bloodsucker gave a hideous scream and Ness screwed her eyes up, glimpsing the seared flesh of his face in the light. She couldn’t block out the stink of burning flesh. The soldier’s grasp relaxed and Ness risked a look as he fell to his doom, trailing stinking smoke.

‘It’s the daylight!’ Ness called up. ‘Grubb said something about them not being able to live in the sunlight.’

But more bloodsuckers were scrambling up the tree. Ness climbed higher to where Azuli tugged at the edge of the rippling carpet.

‘I can’t get it free!’ he groaned.

‘Never mind that,’ she said. ‘Help me pull these branches apart.’

The soldiers came closer, eyes fixed on Azuli, clambering branch over branch with ruthless efficiency.

Ness tore and snapped at thin branches, becoming reckless and swinging on some of the thicker limbs until they creaked. Azuli hacked at the canopy with his silver blade.

The captain shouted commands from below and the creatures increased their climbing pace.

‘Faster, Azuli,’ Ness panted, ripping at the leaves above them. Azuli gave a mirthless grin and swung his blade harder, sending branches and stems fluttering to the floor below.

Gradually, a hole appeared in the treetops and the fierce light of the desert replaced the cool shadows. Screams sounded beneath them and Ness glanced down to see more blackened skin and smouldering corpses falling on to their comrades. A pang of pity stabbed through her. These were men once, with families; they didn’t ask to be changed. It was the oasis that bred this evil. She wished she could burn the whole thing down.

The captain stared up from the dank ground, malice burning in his eyes. He shook his fist and then vanished into the darkness of the jungle.

‘We did it.’ Ness grinned at Azuli, leaning over to hug him, then wobbling to regain her balance.

‘Ness, look out!’ Azuli yelled.

Ness spun round to see the carpet working itself free from the branch. A huge rent hung in its centre; the carpet had been hurling itself back and forth to widen the hole. Now only a few strands held it.

Ignoring the dizzying drop below, Ness threw herself at the carpet, grabbing the corner as it launched free.

‘Here we go again!’ she said through gritted teeth.

Azuli leapt on to it too and hooked his arm through the hole, grinning fiercely.

The carpet whisked upward and Ness dragged herself to the front.

‘Now listen,’ Ness bellowed at it. ‘You can’t win. I won’t let you. Just behave and take us back to London.’

Ness’s stomach seemed to force its way into her throat as the carpet gave a few rebellious dips, dives and somersaults, but then it flattened out and began to accelerate skyward.

A cool breeze fanned Ness and Azuli as they watched the oasis shrink through the hole in the middle of the carpet.

The day dragged by and, despite the carpet’s incredible speed, the landscape below remained stubbornly brown and arid.

‘What if it’s taking us in the wrong direction, just out of spite?’ Azuli whispered at one point.

Ness shook her head. ‘It wouldn’t dare. We travelled for a long time to get here. We just have to be patient.’

Easier said than done
, Ness thought.
What on earth awaits us in London?

The air gradually grew cooler then bitterly cold. Cloud obscured their view of the land below and it seemed to Ness that they flew in another world, comprised of mist and fog.

The journey rolled on. Ness and Azuli huddled together for warmth – as best they could with a huge gaping hole between them.

‘Do you think we can stop the djinn?’ Azuli muttered after long hours of silence.

‘I don’t know,’ she replied, feeling the date stones in her pocket. ‘But we have to try.’

‘What do you think your vision in the pool meant?’ Azuli said, frowning.

‘I don’t know exactly,’ Ness murmured. ‘What I wanted was a way to destroy Zaakiel.’

‘The blade will do that,’ Azuli said, smoothing his palm along the flat edge of his scimitar.

‘No. Remember what Hafid said about brains winning this battle, not brawn?’ Ness replied. ‘If nothing else, I’ve learned my lesson.’

‘What do you mean?’ Azuli said.

‘I used to think that only the strong survive,’ Ness sighed. ‘My father drummed that into me. Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.’

‘But you don’t think that now?’ Azuli said, narrowing his eyes at her.

‘I’d give anything to go back and save the girls at the Academy,’ Ness said, choking back a sob, ‘and all those poor people who worked for Lumm and the others who have become Pestilents.’

‘But we can’t change the past. I can’t change the fact that I lost the sword. We can’t bring
people
back from the dead,’ Azuli said, looking grim. ‘Widow Quilfy tried that, didn’t she?’

Ness shuddered. So much had happened in such a short time. They sat silently and watched the light fading from their world of cloud.

‘I know but I was such a . . . a bully,’ Ness said, sniffing. ‘If there’s any way I can make it all right then I’ll take that chance.’

‘And I’ll help you.’ Azuli smiled and stroked away her tears with the back of his hand.

‘Tomorrow is day seven,’ Ness whispered to herself. ‘Tomorrow Zaakiel grants my wish, but it’ll cost me everything.’

A good anvil does not fear the hammer.

T
raditional proverb

Chapter Twenty-seven

T
he
S
eventh
D
ay

Dawn crept over the horizon, revealing the distant domes and spires of London to Ness and Azuli. The city grew, a stain spreading across the landscape, and the smell of smoke filled Ness’s nostrils. She drew a long, deep breath.

‘I never thought I’d find the stink of London welcome,’ she grinned, blotting out the thoughts of what lurked down there and what they would soon face.

‘Shall we go to Scrabsnitch’s or to Arabesque Alley?’ Azuli said, returning her grin with a tight smile.

‘The Alley,’ Ness said, her voice wavering. ‘We need to find out if Hafid has located the djinn and your father will be worried. Besides, I don’t think I could bear it if we went to the emporium and found . . .’

Azuli gave a brief nod and squeezed her hand.

The river became an ever-thickening ribbon until they could see the ships cutting through the black waters.

‘Is it just the view from up here or are there fewer boats on the river?’ Azuli said, frowning.

‘And they’re all heading east,’ Ness added. ‘Away from the city.’

‘The djinn’s evil must have spread,’ Azuli gasped, pointing down.

The streets seethed with people running in every direction. Horses whinnied, rearing as people crushed past them. Ness could pick out overturned barrows, their contents of fruit or fish scattered across the cobbles. Here and there preachers ranted at small groups of kneeling onlookers. Their angry cries mingled with the yells and calls of the panicked crowds and the occasional muffled explosion. Ness could see plumes of smoke rising all over the horizon.

The thin, green mist drifted across the city but was still thickest around the tight knot of dilapidated houses and twisting narrow streets that surrounded Arabesque Alley. The carpet flew down, skimming the heads of the terrified crowd. The fog grew more dense and the streets became emptier and more desolate.

‘Where have all the Pestilents gone?’ Ness frowned. ‘There should be an army of them filling these alleyways.’

Gradually they came to the alcove and Azuli gave a gasp. The blue gate hung on one hinge, splintered and dangling inwards. Ness yanked the carpet up, red brick and grey roof slate flashed past them, and her stomach lurched as she forced the carpet down into the alley on the other side of the gate.

‘Oh no,’ Ness gasped.

The Alley lay littered with Pestilents. Here and there were huddled shapes, those Lashkars who had made a valiant last stand against the tide of evil. In the distance Ness could hear the tumult of the city, but a deathly hush hung over the Alley. Somewhere water trickled from a bullet-holed barrel.

‘Are we too late?’ Azuli muttered, his knuckles whitening around the scimitar’s handle.

Ness said nothing but sent the carpet skimming over the destruction towards Hafid’s quarters. The Pestilents had obviously squeezed into this narrow alley, almost unable to move. They lay piled on top of each other, filling the passage, crushed against the doors.

‘There was a fierce battle here,’ Ness said, gripping Azuli’s hand. ‘We’ll have to go in through an upper window.’

Ness guided the carpet to one of the windows and peered in. A rifle barrel poked cold against her nose. Behind it, confusion creased Scrabsnitch’s face, followed by wide-eyed recognition.

‘Azuli! Miss Bonehill!’ he cried. ‘We thought you were gone, never to return.’

‘Mr Scrabsnitch,’ Ness replied, equally confused. ‘But what are you doing here? I mean –’

‘Let us get in, Ness,’ Azuli said, giving a tight smile. ‘Or are we going to chat like this all day?’

‘Do forgive me,’ Scrabsnitch stammered, jumping back.

Ness guided the carpet through the narrow window. She squinted in the gloom. Refugees from other houses lined the chamber. Old Lashkar men and women, coughing, sobbing.

Scrabsnitch shook his head. ‘The Pestilents started moving a few hours ago. They were slow and clumsy but there were so many of them.’

‘Where’s my father? Jabalah? Hafid?’ Azuli asked urgently, grabbing Scrabsnitch’s sleeve.

Scrabsnitch shook his head and sighed. ‘They fought their way out of Arabesque Alley but I was left here to guard Hafid.’

‘Can you get me some rope or a belt?’ Ness grunted, kneeling on the protesting carpet and rolling it up inch by inch.

‘Er, yes.’ Scrabsnitch glanced around, then pulled a length of rope from his pocket and handed it over, grinning. ‘Here we are. Lucky I picked that up before.’

The grin quickly faded as he led them down through the building. Worried faces peered from every shadow in the house. Old and tired, the last of the Lashkars of Sulayman crowded and huddled in every room they passed. Some sat on the stairways. Others lay on pallets, groaning from infected wounds.

Hafid sat, cross-legged and alone, in the centre of the room where Ness had first met him. His eyes were squeezed shut and he muttered and mumbled under his breath.

‘He’s casting a charm over the remaining Lashkars and Sergeant Major Morris,’ Scrabsnitch whispered.

‘Morris is alive?’ Ness said. ‘How did you escape from the djinn?’

‘Another piece of incredible luck.’ Scrabsnitch gave a thin, self-satisfied smile. ‘The emporium collapsed in on us.’

‘That’s luck?’ Azuli murmured.

‘Well,’ Scrabsnitch said, smoothing his wispy beard. ‘I managed to drag Morris behind a solid granite statue of Moloch. To cut a long story short, the whole shop collapsed and, by some stroke of luck, the djinn couldn’t find us or assumed we were dead. He just left.’ Scrabsnitch gave a snort of delight, then covered his mouth. ‘So once we’d dug ourselves out, we came here to see if there was any news of you.’

‘What did you . . . find?’ Hafid croaked, half turning his head.

Ness hurried over to the feeble figure. ‘Riddles and dreams,’ she muttered.

‘I’m sorry I can’t . . . be of . . . more help,’ Hafid gasped, his breathing heavy. ‘I am . . . struggling to keep the . . . contagion from the last fighting party.’