5 - Hopes and Fears

There was a long moment of tension. Then, suddenly, the clay shell simply shattered, falling in great chunks to the ground.

The grubs at the base of Barda’s cone turned, huge blank eyes staring. They remained absolutely still for a single moment, then reared up, twisting and turning, heads bobbing. Some began scrambling rapidly towards Lief.

Lief staggered, off-balance. His left foot was still trapped. He kicked violently, fumbling for his sword.

‘Lief! Cover your face! They will try to spray you again!’ he heard Jasmine shout.

Lief glanced around, sword in hand. Jasmine, her mouth and nose covered by a scarf, was scooping Filli from the rubble. Covered in clay dust, chattering frantically, Filli leaped to her shoulder and dived under her collar.

Then Jasmine was darting away without a backward glance, lunging towards Barda. Three grubs reared up, blocking her path. She dodged aside, covering her muffled face. The grubs sprayed yellow mist after her, but did not attempt to give chase.

The grubs approaching Lief had also stopped. It seemed to have been decided between them that all their energies should be devoted to protecting Barda, their remaining, and finest, prize.

With his free hand, Lief snatched at the hem of his cloak and dragged it up, winding the cloth around his face so that its dusty folds covered his nose. He kicked away the last of the clay and staggered forward.

Flash was taking no notice of the panic around her. She had completely uncovered Fury’s cage now, and the two spiders were trying to fight through the bars. The cage was swinging violently, chipping away more clay every moment. Lief could clearly see Barda’s jacket, his belt buckle—even the hilt of his sword.

The grubs had stopped trying to mend the gap. Now they were concentrating on Barda’s face, no doubt aware that the sooner he was dead, the sooner they would be left in peace.

Barda’s eyes were open. He was staring straight at Lief.

Lief knew what those eyes were saying.

Leave me. Take the boat and go. You cannot help me.

Lief shook his head violently. He took another step.

Too close. A grub reared up at him. He jumped away, pressing his cloak hard against his face to avoid the burst of spray that would make him a prisoner once more.

Dagger in hand, Jasmine was warily circling Barda’s cone, keeping a good distance from the thrashing grubs that guarded it. Lief ran to her side.

‘Kree and I cannot get near him, Lief,’ Jasmine muttered. ‘They spray as soon as we try. If only we had a tool with a very long handle. Then, perhaps, we could smash the clay from a distance. But we brought nothing like that with us, and the boat’s paddles are far too short and frail to be of use.’

Lief ran over the contents of the boat in his mind and reluctantly decided that Jasmine was right. There was nothing of use in the boat. Nothing but food, water, sleeping blankets, baling buckets, rope …

Buckets! Rope! An idea struck him like a bolt of lightning.

‘There is another way to break the clay,’ he said, gripping Jasmine’s arm. ‘Come with me.’

He told her his plan as they raced to the boat. They snatched up a coil of rope, and the buckets used for baling. They filled the buckets with water, hurried back to the place where Barda stood, and dashed the water onto the base of the cone.

The grubs there reared and hissed, but did not retreat. Flash and Fury, their hard, spiny bodies wet and glistening, fought on as if nothing had happened. The water streamed off the hardened clay and sank quickly into the softer earth beneath.

‘Quickly!’ Lief gave Jasmine one end of the rope, keeping the other end in his own hand. They set off rapidly in opposite directions, their arms held high, circling the cone once, twice, like children playing a game. Loops of rope tightened around the cone, just above Fury’s cage. Confused, the grubs hissed at the loops, and began running up and down, trying to cover them with clay.

Jasmine and Lief came together on the shore behind the cone.

‘Now!’ Lief breathed. And pulled his end of the rope with all his strength.

He heard Jasmine groaning with effort as she, too, heaved with all her might. He heard the blood pounding in his ears. He heard Kree screeching above his head.

And then, at last, he heard the sound he had been waiting for—a sucking, squelching sound, as the soggy earth beneath the cone released its hold. Slowly, the cone began to tilt towards him.

He shouted in triumph, and heard Jasmine’s voice joining his own as together they ploughed backwards, the lines of rope straining between the cone and their aching hands.

Then, quite suddenly, the cone was toppling. The grubs were scattering in confusion and panic. And Lief and Jasmine were staggering back, falling, sprawling, as the cone fell crashing to the ground.

Lief scrambled to his feet. Dust hung in a low cloud above the ruins of Barda’s prison and the bodies of crushed and dying grubs. Barda himself lay groaning amidst the rubble. Rearing and twisting frantically, the surviving grubs were coming out of hiding and hurrying towards him, yellow vapour already puffing from the tubes below their eyes.

Lief and Jasmine ran to Barda and dragged him to his feet. Dazed, confused, he stumbled between them towards the boat.

Lief saw, to his amazement, that Flash was still clinging to the cage attached to Barda’s belt. Covered in dust, almost as dazed as Barda himself, the spider had stopped fighting with Fury, and was hunched like a bundle of sticks against the cage bars.

‘Make haste!’ Jasmine urged, glancing behind her.

Lief looked over his shoulder in turn and saw that the grubs had disappeared from sight. But the area around the patch of rubble was pitted with holes. The beasts were tunnelling towards them.

The companions reached the boat and Lief and Jasmine hauled it down to the waterline. All around them the wet mud was beginning to bubble as grubs came to the surface.

‘In! In!’ shrieked Jasmine, pushing at Barda feverishly. He tumbled into the boat and lay there mumbling and groaning as his companions splashed into the muddy water, hauling the boat behind them.

In seconds, pale heads began emerging from the sand. But Lief and Jasmine were already scrambling into their craft and taking up the paddles. They were paddling furiously away, into ever deeper water.

Only when they had crossed the band of bright seaweed that ringed the island did they look back. The shore they had left behind them was squirming with grubs and veiled in a thick yellow haze. And in the background were the shapes of the lumpy, twisted cones, pale against the dim sky.

A very different sky, sunny, and blue as forget-me-nots, was visible through the window of the palace bed chamber where Jinks the acrobat lay.

But Jinks was not interested in the view. He was interested only in the delicious broth being fed to him by Sharn, and in telling the story of his heroic but vain efforts to save Lief from death.

‘Of course I would never have left him, had I not seen him die. I would willingly have laid down my own life for my king!’ he wailed, rolling his eyes. ‘And for his friend, poor brave Barda, too, though Barda was often thoughtlessly cruel to me, rest his soul.’

His freshly-bathed hands clutched the sheet of the soft bed to which he had been carried. His eyelids fluttered as he opened his mouth to receive the spoonful of broth that Sharn was holding out to him. He swallowed, sighed and opened his mouth again.

Sharn forced back the tears that were burning behind her eyes. She tried to concentrate on Doom’s last words to her, before he set off for the Os-Mine Hills with the giant woman Lindal of Broome.

‘I know Jinks of old, Sharn,’ Doom had said, pressing her hand. ‘He will say and do anything that serves his purpose. Parts of his story are true, no doubt, but not all. Lief may be in danger, but he still lives, I am certain of it. We will find him, never fear.’

Sharn gave Jinks the last spoonful of broth, and shook her head slightly. She wished she could share Doom’s certainty.

No doubt Doom believes Lief is alive because the Shadow Lord has not invaded Deltora, Sharn thought. But even the Shadow Lord is not all-knowing. His spies have told him that Lief and the Belt are safe in Tora, and he believes it. His attention is not focused on us. For now. But that could change at any time. Any time …

She put aside the empty bowl. When she turned back to the bed, she saw that her patient’s eyes were closed, and that he was breathing slowly and evenly. Jinks had fallen asleep, it seemed.

Sharn shut her own eyes. Her head was throbbing.

She knew she should get up and go downstairs. There was so much to do. There were still crowds of people in the entrance hall. And by now Marilen would be waiting in her room for her midday meal. Her tray would have to be fetched from the kitchen. Then the poor girl would have to be told, as gently as possible, of the news Jinks had brought. Sharn dreaded the very thought of that.

I will stay here and rest, just for a little while, she said to herself.

Jinks opened his eyes a crack. He peered out from under his eyelashes and saw Sharn still sitting quietly beside him, her head bowed. He almost cursed aloud in annoyance.

What was the woman doing, just sitting there? Did she have no work to do? He had expected her to creep out of the room as soon as she thought he was asleep. Not go to sleep herself!

He considered groaning to disturb her, then decided it would be unwise to do this immediately. After all, he had just pretended to fall peacefully asleep.

Be patient, Jinks, my boy, he told himself. You do not want to make her suspicious, do you? Wake her later if you need to, but for now keep your eyes shut and your mouth closed. And while you are doing that, you can use that mighty brain of yours to make your plan perfect.

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