The Finisher

I WENT BACK TO my digs and packed up everything I owned — which wasn’t much — and placed it in my tuck. In the pocket of my cloak went the Adder Stone and the shrunken Elemental. I placed my tuck under my cot and decided to spend one of the coins I had in my cloak pocket on a last meal in my place of birth.

The Starving Tove was where Delph and I had eaten twice before. As I walked toward it on the High Street with Harry Two at my heels, I could hear the cries of celebration still swirling from the Witch-Pidgy. Wugs had spilled out onto the cobblestones to pull on their pints and whittle down bits of meats, breads and potatoes.

Roman Picus seemed quite on the other side of the sail, as did Thaddeus Kitchen and Litches McGee. The three of them staggered about like Wugs on ice singing at the top of their lungs. I next saw Cacus Loon leaning against a post. His face was as red with flame water as the bottom of Hestia Loon’s frying pan coming off the coals.

I ducked around to the Tove before any of them could get a gander at me. I wanted food. I did not desire company. The Tove held no Wugs except the ones working there because of the free food at the pub. I held out my coin, as a matter of course, to let them know I could pay for my meal, but the big, flat-faced Wug who seated me waved this off.

“Your coin is no good here, Vega.”

“What?”

“On us, Vega. And what an honor i’tis.”

“Are you sure you can do that?” I asked.

“Sure as you beat that wicked Ladon-Tosh to nothing.”

When he brought me the scroll with the food items on it, I said I would have one of everything. At first, he looked surprised by this, but then a silly grin spread across his face and he replied, “Coming right up, luv.”

I ate like I never had in all my sessions. It was as though I had never had a meal before. The more I ate, the more I wanted, until I could gorge no more. I knew I would probably never have a meal like this one again. I pushed back the last plate, patted my belly contentedly and then refocused on what was coming. I glanced out the window. The first section of night was here.

I would wait until the fourth section. That seemed as good a time as any to tackle the Quag. I figured going into the darkness during the darkness was a good plan. There was danger to be faced, and confronting it head-on and as soon as possible seemed more sensible to my mind than trying to forever avoid it. I needed to know if I had the mettle to make it or not. Why dither about?

I also doubted quite seriously if one could wholly navigate the Quag during the brightness. I just knew that one had to go through the blackness of the shadows to get to the gold of the light. That sorry thought was about as poetic as I was ever going to be.

I had brought some food out with me to give to Harry Two. This was my other concern. Food. We had to eat while we were in the Quag. I looked down at the few remaining coins I had. I went to another shop and spent it all on some basic provisions for my canine and me. It wasn’t much, and part of me was glad of that. I couldn’t be bogged down with pounds of food if I was running from a garm. I had no idea how long it would take to get through the Quag.

The food I had purchased clearly would not last us that long. And I would have to bring water too. But water was also heavy and I could not carry enough of it to last half a session. The truth was I had to be able to locate food and water in the Quag. I was somewhat heartened by the fact that beasts, no matter how vile, also needed to eat and have water to drink. I just didn’t want their food to be us.

It was now the second section of night and I had just reached my digs when I looked up and saw it coming.

Adars are clumsy-looking beasts when ground-bound. In the air, though, they are creatures of grace and beauty. This one soared along, flying far better than I ever would.

It drew closer and closer and finally descended and came to rest a few feet from me. As I looked more closely at it, I realized it was the adar Duf had been training up for Thansius. And then I also observed it had a woolen bag in its beak. It ambled toward me and dropped the bag at my feet.

I looked down at it and then up at the tall adar.

“A present from Thansius,” said the adar in a voice that was remarkably like the Wug himself.

I knelt, picked up the cloth bag and opened it. There were two items inside.

My grandfather’s ring.

And the book on the Quag.

I looked at the adar. I had to close my eyes and reopen them. For a moment I could have sworn I was staring into the face of Thansius.

The adar continued. “He says take them with faith and the belief that the courage of one can change everything.”

I slipped the ring and book inside my cloak. I thought I was done with the adar, or he with me, but that was not the case. His next words froze me, but only for an instant. Then I was running full tilt to the door of my digs, where I frantically retrieved my tuck. I burst out of my door and ran down the cobblestones with Harry Two bounding next to me.

The adar had already taken flight and I watched it soar overhead.

Its last words came back to me. Indeed, I knew I would never forget them.

They are coming for you, Vega. They are coming for you right now.

HARRY TWO AND I did not stop running until we were well out of Wormwood proper. I looked to the sky and blinked. There were no stars up there save one. And it was moving. This was the second shooting star I had seen and it seemed identical to the first one I had glimpsed. But that was impossible. Besides, they were so far away, how could a Wug tell from all the way down here? It seemed to be following me as I hurried along the path to the point where I would confront the Wall.

I thought to myself that it seemed lonely, that star. Lonely and perhaps lost, as I had thought before. It was shooting across a sky of nothing but black, going somewhere or at least trying to. But if you don’t know where you want to go, I suppose any path will get you there.

After a quarter mile, I stopped and pulled some things from my tuck. I had built these from scraps at Stacks over a period of time. I knelt down in front of Harry Two and told him to be still and quiet. I slipped the small breastplate over his chest and fastened it with the leather straps I had fashioned. It was lightweight but strong, just as I had designed it. I then clipped a metal cap I had made over Harry Two’s head. My canine took all of this fuss and bother perfectly stoically and wore the contraption like he had been born to it. I rubbed his ears and thanked him for being so good. I then strapped the harness around my shoulders. I would load Harry Two into it when we grew closer to the Wall.

Then I dropped to the ground and listened.

Whatever was coming did not care about stealth. It was making so much noise, I became alarmed. Predators unafraid of what lay ahead made noise. Prey kept quiet and in the shadows. I slipped behind a large bush and waited to see what it was.

I donned the glove, drew the Elemental and willed it to full size. And waited.

The noise was drawing closer. In less than a sliver, I would know what I would be confronting.

“Delph!”

He was hurtling past where I lay hidden. At my voice, he pulled up short and stared around in bewilderment until I rose up so he could see me.

“What are you doing here?”

“Thansius’s adar told me they were coming. He said he’d told you too. So’s I took off.”

“Took off for where?”

His face turned to a scowl. “You’re asking me that, you prat?”

I gaped at him. Daniel Delphia had never called me such a name in all the sessions I had known him, which was basically all of my sessions.

“A prat?” I said in astonishment. “You called me a prat?”

“What kind of a Wug do ya take me for? Prat I said and prat I meant,” he added huffily.

I walked over and was about to slap him. My hand was reared back to strike when I noticed that he had a tuck over his shoulders.

“What’s that?”

“Me stuff. Same as you got there, ain’t it?” He indicated my tuck. He looked down at the armored Harry Two and said, “Blimey, that’s right fine.” He looked back up.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Same place you’re going.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I bloody well am.”

“Delph, you are not coming with me.”

“Then you’re not going.”

“You think you can stop me?”

“I think I can try.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“What we planned all along, right?” he said.

“But your dad — I thought —”

“He and me talked it out, didn’t we? Told him stuff. He agreed I should go. You got ridda his pain. And … and he said to thank you for, well, putting me back right with me head and all. He wanted to tell you himself, but he kept blubbering in front of me when he talked of it. ’Spect he’d never be able to say it to you directly.”

“I, well, I’m very touched by that.”

“And he got coin and a bloke to train. A bizness, like you said.”

“But I meant for the two of you to run it.”

He shook his head stubbornly. “Can’t let you go in the Quag by yourself, Vega Jane. Just can’t.”

I stood there looking up at him and he stood there looking down at me. I was going to say something back to him when I happened to glance at the sky. That’s when I saw it.

Two shooting stars racing side by side. It was a lesson, I supposed, not to focus only on oneself. Delph, I’m sure, wanted to escape the confines of Wormwood too. There were other Wugs besides me whose destinies lay outside this place.

I looked at him and gripped his hand. “I’m glad you’re here, Delph.”

His face brightened. “You are? Really?”

I went up on tiptoes and kissed him.

As he went all red in the face, I said, “I’d have to be a nutter to want to go into the Quag without you, wouldn’t I? And I am many things, but a nutter is not one of them.”

“No, Vega Jane, you’re no nutter.”

And then he picked me up off the ground and kissed me back so hard I felt my breath leave my body so fast I thought I would pass out. When he set me back down, both our eyes were closed. When they opened, nearly simultaneously, Delph and I just looked at each other for what seemed a handful of slivers.

Finally he said, “So what now?”

“The Wall,” I said. Something struck me. “How did you know I’d be here?”

“Didn’t. Been running all over the place trying to find you.”

“A while back I picked a particular finished spot on the Wall. I think it’s our best shot to get through.”

“Wug guards on the towers,” he said anxiously.

“I know that. But the distance in between them leaves a gap.”

He eyed my cloak. “Got your chain?”

I nodded. “You ready?”

When we reached my planned breach point, we hid behind a bush and looked up at the Wall. Two hundred feet on either side of this spot were lantern-lighted watchtowers with Wugs carrying mortas stationed in them.

I hooked up Harry Two with the harness and he dangled from my chest. With Destin across my shoulders providing me strength, he felt no heavier than a couple of pounds.

“Wrap your arms around my shoulders, Delph, like we did before.”

He never got a chance to.

“There they are!” yelled a voice.

At the sound, my heart sank.

I looked to the right and saw a cluster of Wugs rushing toward us, mortas in hand. My heart sank even more when I saw who it was. To our left was Ted Racksport hobbling on his gimpy foot, Cletus with bloodlust in his wicked eyes and Ran Digby with his ugly beard and filthy face.

To our right was Jurik Krone and Duk Dodgson.

And leading all of them was Morrigone. “No, Vega!” she screamed. “You will not leave Wormwood. You cannot.”

They were each cocking their mortas and starting to take aim.

I grabbed Delph by the hand and ran, Harry Two banging against my chest with each stride. We were within fifty yards of the Wall when I left my feet, pulling Delph with me. It was an awkward balance and I veered to the side Delph was on before righting my path of ascendance.

I turned in time to see Morrigone aim her hands at us. The full Elemental was in my hand a moment later and the deflected beam of red light she hurled at us struck part of the Wall and blasted a hole in it. We soared on.

“Fire!” shouted Krone.

The mortas roared. I felt something race past my head. I heard Delph cry out and he went limp. I gripped his arm tighter.

“Delph,” I shouted.

“Just go, go,” he said in a strained voice. “I’m okay.”

But I knew he was not okay. I banked to the left and then back to the right as the mortas fired again. Harry Two barked and then howled and then whimpered. Then he fell silent. I felt something wet against my face.

Harry Two had been shot as well. I shrunk my Elemental, put it away and supported Harry Two with my free hand while my other clutched Delph.

“Stop firing!” I yelled.

I didn’t think they would, since they had already hit two of us. I just wanted an instant to do what I was about to. I banked hard right, flew around a tree, cupped Harry Two with my elbow, ripped off a branch as I raced by, and when I came out of the turn, I was facing the Wugs.

I threw the branch, scattering them, and it plowed into the dirt right where they had been standing. I turned once more and aimed for the top timber of the Wall.

The mortas were quieted for the moment. But I knew I didn’t have much time. Delph was moaning. And, even more frightening, Harry Two was hanging limp in his harness, not moving at all. I headed right for the Wall at speed, but I was having immense trouble gaining enough lift with Delph and Harry Two.

When I looked back I froze in fear.

Jurik Krone, the finest shot in all of Wormwood, had his morta pointed directly at my head. I could not pull my Elemental because I was holding on to Delph with one hand and I was supporting Harry Two’s body with the other.

I could see Krone smile as he started to pull the trigger that would send a morta round directly into my head. And all three of us would fall to our deaths.

And then something hit Krone so hard that he was knocked sideways for thirty feet. He tumbled and rolled and his morta flew from his hands.

I looked to see what had just saved my life.

Morrigone was lowering her hands, which were pointed at where Krone had been standing. She turned and looked at me. For an instant I imagined a metal helmet around Morrigone’s face, the shield raised, and how she looked so much like the female on that battlefield from so long ago. Then she lifted her hands once more and I felt an invisible force, like an iron tether, grip my leg. When I glanced at her, Morrigone was moving her arms as though pulling a rope toward her. I felt my momentum stop and, with a jerk, I felt us being pulled backward, downward.

This was it. This was the moment. If I could not do this, then everything would have been for nothing.

With a scream that seemed to go on for slivers, I summoned every ounce of strength I had. I felt energy surging through me. I kicked with my feet and I could feel the invisible tether loosen. I kicked harder and bent my shoulders forward as though I were laboring under an impossibly heavy weight. And then with one more long scream and my muscles so tense I thought I was paralyzed, I broke free, soared over the top timbers — Delph’s boots actually scraped across them — and we were past the Wall.

As I looked back once more, I saw Morrigone on the ground, spent, dirty and defeated. Our gazes locked.

She raised one hand toward me — not to try and stop me — but, I realized, simply to say farewell.

The next quarter sliver we cleared the filled moat below and passed into the Quag. We sailed over the first stand of trees and bushes. And then it became so dense I had to quickly drop to the ground.

It was good that I did. I already had snatched the Adder Stone out of my cloak pocket. Delph was slumped on the ground, holding his arm, and blood had saturated his shirt. I ran the Stone over it and the wound vanished and the pain on his face disappeared. He straightened and gasped, “Thanks, Vega Jane.”

But I wasn’t listening to him. I had unhooked Harry Two from his harness. He lay limply on the ground. He was barely breathing. His eyes were closed.

“No,” I whimpered. “Please, no!”

I pulled off the breastplate and saw where the morta metal had pierced it. I rubbed the Adder Stone over the wound on his side where the morta metal had struck him. He was so badly hurt I thought that touching the Stone to his body would make the wound heal faster. I kept rubbing, pressing the Stone into his fur and passing it over the wound. Still nothing. The tears streamed down my face as Delph knelt next to me.

“Vega Jane.”

He put a hand on my shoulder, trying to draw me away. “Vega Jane, leave him be now. He’s gone.”

“Shove off!” I screamed and pushed him so hard he flew backward and sprawled in the dirt.

I looked down at Harry Two and thought every good thought I could think of.

“Please, please,” I moaned. “Please don’t leave me again.” In my despair, I was merging the two canines in my mind. My vision was blurred by my tears.

Harry Two didn’t move. His breathing was slowing down to where I could barely see his chest rise.

I couldn’t believe this. I had lost my Harry Two. I turned to see Delph picking himself back up. That’s when something nudged my hand. I snatched it away, thinking it was a creature of the Quag testing my flesh for eating.

Harry Two touched my hand again with his wet nose. His eyes were now open and he was breathing normally. He rose on his paws and shook all over, as though throwing off his near death good and proper. I think he even smiled at me. I was so happy I shouted for joy and hugged him tightly.

In return he licked my face and barked.

Delph knelt next to us. “Thank the Steeples,” he said, scratching Harry Two’s snout.

I smiled and then I stopped smiling. I was staring at Delph’s hand.

Delph’s ink-stamped hand from all those sessions at the Mill.

That’s when I heard the growls on either side of us.

I slowly turned.

There was a garm to the right and an enormous frek on our left.

The blue ink: like honey to stingers.

I didn’t wait an instant longer. I drew the Elemental and thought it to full size. I threw it even as the frek leapt at Delph. It struck the frek dead center of the chest and the beast disintegrated.

But the garm had lunged forward, its own blood pouring down its chest and its odious smell searing my lungs. And bursting from its powerful jaw was that awful sound it makes when on the hunt. I knew the next thing leaping from its jaws would be a chest full of fire that would cremate us.

I snatched the jug of water from my tuck and hurled it at the creature. It struck it full in the snout, the jug cracked open and the water splashed in the garm’s face.

It only gave me a moment, but a moment was all I needed. As soon as the Elemental touched my hand on its return from destroying the frek, I flung it onward.

The Elemental passed right through the garm’s mouth and burst out its backside. The creature turned a burning orange and flamed up, as though all the fire on its inside couldn’t reach the outside. A moment later, it exploded in a cloud of black smoke. When the smoke cleared, the garm was no more.

“Bloody Hel,” exclaimed Delph.

I couldn’t have agreed more.

We had no time to celebrate our victory. I grabbed Delph’s inked hand and snagged the bottle and cloth Dis Fidus had given me from my pocket.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Just shut up and know this is going to hurt like the blazes.”

I poured the liquid on the cloth and then pressed it on his hand.

Delph clenched his teeth and to his credit didn’t utter a sound though his body shook like he was having the heaves after eating bad creta meat.

When the liquid had done its job, the back of his hand was as pink and scarred as mine. But all the ink was gone.

“Is this a good thing?” he asked, wincing and shaking his hand.

“It’ll make it harder for those beasts to track us.”

“Then it’s a good thing,” he said with conviction.

We grabbed our tucks where they had fallen.

“We need to keep moving, Delph.”

I went first, with the fully formed Elemental ready in my hand, Delph second and Harry Two covering our rear flank.

We cleared the trees and thick vegetation, and then the most astounding thing happened. The Quag opened up to a flat expanse of green fields with small stands of towering trees that allowed us to see many miles in the distance. Far off to the west was a wide fog-shrouded river full of black water. To the east was a rocky slope that led up to somewhere. Far ahead of us to the north was a towering forested mountain that in the uneasy darkness looked not green, but blue.

There was only one problem. Before we could reach the flat expanse where we could see danger coming at us from a long way away, we had to get past the next obstacle. We were right on the edge of a cliff. I looked down. I figured the drop to be nearly a full mile. I looked at Delph and he looked back at me.

“Are you ready?” I asked.

He gripped my hand and nodded.

I lifted Harry Two into his harness and gave his head a pat. I had come so close to losing both of them so soon in here that a part of me wanted to go back to Wormwood. But a bigger part of me knew I couldn’t. Not now. Perhaps one light.

We heard the sounds behind us and they were coming fast. From the quantity of noise, I figured three or four garms and what sounded like a whole herd of freks. They had no doubt been alerted to our presence by the previous battle.

They burst from the dense forest, which lay behind us. I looked back. I had been wrong. It wasn’t four garms, it was ten. And they weren’t freks. They were amarocs. And if anything, they were even more terrifying than the freks.

I turned and looked ahead to the distant blue mountain that somehow I knew was where we needed to go. Just beyond that, in the sky, were the stars, the lost stars as I thought of them now. Lost, like we were. Would they ever find their way? Would we? Perhaps not. Perhaps we would simply flame out. But at least we would have tried.

I looked once more at Delph, attempted a smile that died before it reached my face, and then we jumped. The three of us were suspended in air for a long moment as the wicked beasts sped toward us.

And then we soared downward, now fully embraced by the Quag.