The Crystal Heart (21 page)

‘Those are bones,' I whispered. ‘Bones from old goblin kills – that's how they build their dens.'

Kasper threw me a startled look.

‘They're obviously not here,' I added, ‘otherwise they'd be all over us by now. But we must leave, right now.'

We left the cave back-to-back so that we could see what was coming in both directions. We made it safely to the next passage, then we ran as fast and as quietly as we could. Though the walls of the passage were rough, with rocks sticking out, it was reasonably wide and the ground was not too uneven. It was also very long, and by the time we
reached the end I was out of breath with a painful stitch in my side. Kasper, seeing that I was in pain, made to put me on his back again.

‘No,' I panted. ‘Let's stop a moment. I'll be all right.'

So we did, and after that I forced myself to keep going, to try to match my steps to Kasper's, because if I thought of anything other than putting one foot in front of the other, I knew the panic would gain on me. And if it overtook me, I was sure to do something stupid, like trip and cut myself on the rough rock wall. And then the smell of blood would draw out the goblins.

Would it never end? How far must we go? There was another passage, narrower, darker. Then another. And then one more of those cursed low passages. But …

‘Light!' Kasper breathed.

Light it undeniably was, down the very end of that horrible low tunnel. The passage curved upwards, as if reaching towards the light – golden light, the light of my father's people. The Outlands were out there, I was sure of it.

My eyes fixed on our goal, my thoughts all on following Kasper. My gorge was choked with nausea, the blood beat inside my head and I was covered in cold sweat, but it did not matter. We would soon be there. We would soon be there.

We were just halfway through when Kasper stopped.

‘What is it?' I cried fearfully.

But he did not have to answer, for I could see for myself. The golden light was fading. No, not fading, but vanishing abruptly – like the sun covered by a black cloud. Only, this cloud had eyes and teeth and claws.

‘Back – we must go back at once …' Kasper urged.

We were wriggling back the way we'd come when, suddenly, we heard it. The skittering of eager claws, the high thin whistle – behind us.

We were lost.

We had nowhere to go and only the crystal to keep the goblins at bay. Slipping the string back over my head, I tugged my half of the crystal off and gave Izolda hers. ‘We sit back-to-back,' I said, ‘and hold the crystal halves high and, whatever we do, we don't drop them. We don't give up, all right?'

‘All right,' she said, her voice toneless, though I knew she was struggling to keep from screaming. I knew because I could feel the scream bubbling in my own throat. The fear of being torn to shreds and devoured alive is a nightmare that haunts human and
feyin
alike.

‘The crystal will help us,' I said, ‘like it helped you in the Tower.' But my words must have sounded as hollow to her as they felt to me. I could feel her trembling like a leaf. With my free hand, I took hers and held it tight. ‘I love you, Izolda.'

‘And I love you, Kasper,' she said, on a whisper. The goblins were swarming towards us, a veritable cacophony
of whistling coming from their throats. We held the two halves of the crystal in front of us, and as the first rank of the goblin hordes came into view, Izolda cried, ‘Lift it high, my love, lift it with both hands, high, higher, high as you can!'

As we held them aloft, the two halves of the crystal flared, encircling us with light. The goblins hesitated, chirruped angrily, then fell back for a moment. In the light cast by the crystal, I could see the goblins plainly. I could see their hideous grey-white faces, their shiny hairless skulls, sharp teeth and slit-like eyes. Their bodies were covered in grey fur much like a rat's, with long arms that ended in thin hands and long yellow curved claws, and their squat legs finished in clawed toes. Beside such vicious creatures, the grumpiest
domevoy
would look like a sweet household pet.

‘Get back, spawn of the Evil One!' I shouted. ‘Come one step closer and the Crystal of Night will destroy you all!'

The goblins fell back with a storm of whistling and chirruping. But again they edged closer, and again we raised the crystal. This time, a strange high humming was coming from it, and it grew so warm in my hand that I thought it would burn me. I felt Izolda flinch and knew it must be the same for her. Then a pulse of light shot out from the stone in both directions, and the goblins retreated in noisy disorder, much further than before. But they did not go away. They merely sat at a safe distance, hatred in their yellow eyes, waiting for us to drop our guard, to get tired, to …

‘It's not enough,' said Izolda, and before I could stop her, she was crawling towards the goblins, holding her
crystal aloft. I yelled at her to come back, but she replied, ‘No, can't you see – they must touch it – it must touch their flesh – like it did with the
domevoy
…'

‘Izolda, no!' I backed towards her, still holding up the crystal, trying to keep an eye on the goblins before me while trying to reach out for Izolda.

Suddenly, she gasped, her elbow hit the wall, and the crystal flew out of her grasp and rolled out of sight. The goblins whistled gleefully and swarmed towards her, but I reached her first. Flinging myself over her, I shielded Izolda with my body, pulling her into the circle of light created by my half of the crystal heart, yelling an incoherent mixture of war cry and desperate prayer.

I could hold off one lot of goblins, but not the other as well. At least, not for long, not without the other half of the crystal heart. The Prince had said the pulse of light from the talisman was always felt in Night. But we were under the Outlands, not the city. And from what Izolda had told me, they were only sparsely inhabited, especially the remote parts. Help might be coming but it would probably be too late.

‘I'm sorry, Kasper – I'm so sorry …' Izolda's voice was faint, broken, and I wanted above all to comfort her, to tell her somehow it will be all right. But I could not.

‘Hush, my love, hush,' I whispered, while my arm strained with the effort of holding up the crystal.

And then, without warning, something struck my mind like lightning. A wild idea, born out of desperation. I had no way of knowing if it would work, but I had to try. With my free hand, I fumbled at my clothes until, at last, my fingers closed around it. With trembling fingers,
I managed to open the needle case. The two needles were still there. The left one. I had to use the left one. Holding the crystal in one hand, I slipped the needle out with the other and very carefully moved the light so that our backs were still protected.

‘Kasper, what are you doing?' Izolda breathed. ‘They're coming closer …'

‘Shh, trust me.' I waited for the first goblin swarm to approach. They were thirsting for our blood but were not yet lost to all caution. I dropped the light as if I were growing exhausted, and the goblins moved closer. Closer, closer, then I hurled the needle like a miniature spear straight into the heart of the swarm.

At once, an unearthly howl rent the air, followed by a loud bang. The swarm literally exploded in front of our eyes and vapourised in a choking yellow mist. Ears ringing with the noise, nostrils full of the stench of goblin death, I turned swiftly to face the second goblin swarm, with the other needle in my hand. It was harmless but I judged that the mere sight of it would be enough to put the creatures to flight. They turned and fled, their terrified shrieks echoing down the passage. It was over.

For a moment Izolda and I could do nothing but hold each other tight.

‘What was that – how did you …?' Izolda murmured.

‘Later,' I said gently. ‘Later, my love. We must go now.' I pointed towards the end of the tunnel, where the golden light was shining once again.

Izolda nodded. ‘Yes, you are right. We must.'

We found her half of the crystal heart, but not the needle. I no longer had the weapon to kill the Prince, but
I no longer had the urge to do so, either. Neither to kill nor to die, not now. All I wanted was to live with the woman I loved.

And so, together, we crawled the remainder of the way to the light.

We emerged breathless and bruised out of the narrow mouth of the tunnel, and for a moment were too dazed by the sudden brightness to do much more than hug each other tightly. As my senses adjusted to our surroundings, I realised we'd come up in an unexpected place, one that I had only ever heard of but never seen for myself. Kasper's eyes were even wider than mine as he looked around and whispered, ‘Where in the name of all the Angels are we?'

‘The Great Forest of the Far Outlands,' I replied. ‘Isn't it a wondrous sight?' There it was, stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction, an ancient forest made not of trees and bushes but of an astonishing multitude of stalactites and stalagmites. They were all sizes and shapes, from fluting and elegant to twisted and gnarled. There was no wind shaking branches in this petrified forest, but there was beauty and colour – every shade of white and cream and grey, and the palest of blues and yellows in the stone trees and on the rocky ground, the flashing reds and blues
and blacks of small clusters of opals, sprinkled here and there, like flowers under trees.

‘Wondrous, indeed,' said Kasper, ‘but how far does it go? Where will it take us? And what are its dangers?'

‘It goes to the end of the world.'

‘The end of the world,' echoed Kasper. ‘You mean the end of
this
world? Perhaps then there is an exit to the world above.'

I shook my head. ‘No, there is none. It is truly the end of the world. At its very border, they say, is the Outlands watchtower. Beyond that is only … nothingness – the abyss.'

He shrugged. ‘In our world, we're told that the Lake is guarded by a ferocious monster. I discovered that wasn't true, it's only designed to keep the curious out. Perhaps this is another such useful legend, designed to keep
feyin
in.'

His words shook me a little. Could he be right? ‘I don't know about that,' I said helplessly, ‘but what I do know for sure is that the Forest has its own dangers. Not because of goblins – they give it a wide berth. When the lamps are dimmed in Night, the Forest comes alive and it is then you must beware, for though it is not our enemy, neither is it our friend. The Forest is very, very old and possesses a magic far older than any
feyin
magic. No one takes chances with it. No one stays out once the lights are dimmed, if they can help it. We must try to find shelter with someone. And that won't be an easy matter, as it would be if we'd come up in the Near Outlands, where there are little settlements. Only a few people live here, solitaries mostly, and they tend to be suspicious even of people from the Near Outlands, let alone from the City of Night.'

‘And humans?' Kasper said. ‘I suppose they dislike humans even more.'

‘Actually, no. The Outlanders, of course, did not like the defeat any more than the rest of my father's people. But they haven't taken against all humans as a result, and so even though they are
feyin
, that makes them slightly suspect in the eyes of the authorities, which is why they must seek official permission to enter the City of Night. My maid – my friend – Glarya, an Outlander, told me once that her people kept to the traditional way of doing things, when there was a good deal more contact between
feyin
and human. She didn't mean before the war, either, but a long time ago, before my father's reign. The Outlanders would never give up a guest, no matter who demands they do.'

Kasper smiled. ‘They sound like people after my own heart. And what of your friend Glarya? Would she have relatives here? You told me she and Amadey had gone to the Outlands.'

‘I'm pretty sure her family lives before the Forest begins, but she and Amadey would certainly be on their way back to Night. But you're right – mentioning her kin's name will help to open doors.'

‘Good,' said Kasper. ‘Now, if this were a forest up above, I'd be climbing to the top of a tree to see if I could spot a light or the puff of smoke from a chimney or any telltale sign of a dwelling. No reason not to do that here, is there?'

Without waiting for an answer, Kasper made for a tall, sturdy stalagmite. It was pitted all over with holes made long ago by dripping water, which made fine footholds for climbing.

‘Can you see anything?' I called up.

‘Wait a moment. No, there is nothing – wait, what's that? Could be a house … By the Angels! It's moving … but there's no …'

‘What? What is it?' I called out.

But Kasper did not answer. Instead, he made his way down the stone trunk, even faster than he'd climbed up. He took my hand. ‘We have to go, Izolda. Now!'

‘What is it?' I cried, as we zigzagged through the pathless forest.

‘Some sort of horseless carriage, coming very fast,' he panted. ‘And blazed on one side is a black circle with a white centre.'

I gasped. ‘Army transport. The Marshals! How far behind are they?'

‘Maybe fifteen minutes as the crow flies. If there were any crows here,' he added, with a crooked half-smile.

It was a bitter moment. I'd hoped we'd have more time. I'd hoped that they'd concentrate their search on the exits to Krainos. I wished we had taken the other path, the one to the sea cave, down in the old canals. Yes, Krainos was also dangerous, but there were more places to hide than here, sealed in the tight world of Night. Running to the Outlands had been utterly foolish. For even if we'd found shelter with an Outlander, how long would it have been before we were discovered? The Outlanders might have their independent spirit, yet they would not want my father's wrath to descend upon them.

Wishes and regrets were of no use now. All we could do was run and hope that the light would soon dim and hinder the Marshals' search for us. Presently, our headlong
rush took us into a part of the Forest where the stone trees grew so densely together, both up and down, that moving amongst them was like slipping through the bars of a great cage.

‘Let's stay here and hide up one of the trees,' said Kasper. ‘It will at least hold up their carriage.'

‘But they'll just get out and continue on foot,' I said.

‘Do you have a better idea?' Kasper asked sharply.

I shook my head.

He saw my expression and put an arm around me. ‘Forgive me, my love. I did not mean to speak thus. Of course you are right. It is a stupid idea.'

‘No. It's not stupid. It will buy us some time.' I reached up and kissed him. ‘It is nearly time for the lamps to dim, and then they may think again about staying here.'

‘Do you really think they're afraid of the Forest?' he said, as we penetrated right into the heart of the stony wilderness.

‘They're wary, as are all
feyin
. The power here is older than elsewhere in Night, and it is not
feyin
magic. They may think it is better to leave it alone.'

We stopped in front of a stalagmite as big as the one Kasper had climbed. Like its fellows, it reached up towards a thick canopy of stalactites, with only a small space between. But the top of this particular stalagmite was slightly flatter than most of the others, making a kind of platform on which we could crouch, at least for a short while.

We were soon installed on our uncomfortable perch, peering through the stone canopy whilst also trying not to get speared by the sharp point of the stalactite just above our heads. Huddled together, we waited in silence for darkness
to descend. But time passed and the lights did not dim. Around us, the petrified forest slept on. And so the noiseless carriage continued its search, somewhere in its depths.

In a flash, I thought I knew what was happening. ‘Kasper,' I whispered, ‘perhaps the Marshals are not coming to arrest us. Perhaps they are coming to
help
us.'

He'd been looking down through the canopy, and my words made him turn so suddenly that he nearly whacked his head on the stalactite above. ‘I don't understand.'

‘Night is under attack,' I said. ‘That's why they've left on the lights. That's why they're looking for us. My father must have ordered that the lights not be dimmed so that the search could continue. For the first time in living memory, Night would not go into night.'

‘But what about when you were taken?' he said. ‘Wouldn't he have done that too, to look for you?'

‘No. I asked my father about that when I first came back. He told me they had rung the bells when my absence was discovered, but my father had not ordered the lights to stay up for a full-scale search in Night – not in the City, not in the Outlands. He knew I was no longer there, that it must have been an Outsider who'd taken me. Krainos was the most likely suspect, as they were at war with us. But a human could never have gone under the guard of Night, not unless he'd had
feyin
help, or was, indeed, a
feyin
himself; and every investigation my father launched had resulted in a dead end. He never did learn the identity of my abductor – only that he had been hired by the Commander and the Chief Magus. They probably killed him to protect their secret. But this is different. Father knows we're still here … and he thinks we're in danger.'

‘From the Forest?'

‘Not exactly,' I said, words tumbling over each other as thoughts rushed through my mind. ‘The history books tell us that the lights remain on when the realm is under sudden attack. And I think Father's afraid that we'll be taken by the enemy.'

‘But I
am
the enemy in your father's eyes,' Kasper said, staring at me.

‘No, you're not. You're just someone who has crossed him, and he doesn't like to be crossed.'

‘I'd like to know the difference between that and an enemy,' said Kasper, with the ghost of a smile. ‘He was going to kill me, Izolda, and if you hadn't intervened –'

‘I don't think he was going to kill you. Spellbind you, yes. He was furious that we'd dared to go against him. But something tells me things have changed.'

‘Something?'

I struggled to explain myself. ‘It is like the moment in my father's rooms, the moment the magic reawakened in me. I just
know.
Perhaps it is the
feyin
in me.'

Kasper gave me a long unreadable glance. ‘Well, if that is so,' he said softly, ‘then it has to be done.'

Something in his voice made my heart clench. ‘Kasper, what do you mean?'

‘We can't get away from them. We can't hide in Night and we can't reach the world above. And right here we are in danger from a power older than
feyin
magic. But your father would never allow that danger to touch you. I don't think there's an enemy trying to get us. I think he has left the lights on so the forest will not awaken.'

‘Kasper –'

‘So here's what we must do: as soon as they arrive, you climb down first and show them you're unharmed. Then I will give myself up to the Marshals.'

‘No, Kasper!' I broke into a cold sweat as I looked into his eyes and saw what was in his mind – that terrible moment at the cottage, when we had been parted for ever. He thought it was happening again. He thought, once again, that I had given up. ‘I really feel the Marshals are not after us to harm us. But whatever happens, I will share your fate. I will never be parted from you, not ever again. Believe in us, my love, with all your heart, as I do.'

Our eyes met for a long moment. Then Kasper gave a sigh and said, ‘What would you have us do?'

‘We climb down, as you say. They will be here soon, but let us not wait for them to arrive. We will go towards them.' I saw his startled expression and said, ‘Please trust me, Kasper. I would not do this if I were not sure.'

He shivered at these words. ‘We will do as you say, my love.'

We exchanged a tender kiss before climbing down and making our way out of the stone cage of petrified trees. And all the way, I was riven with feelings I could not confess – anxious doubt mingled with absolute certainty: my human and
feyin
halves battling each other.