The Finisher

I WAS JUST THINKING of crawling into my cot and pulling the covers over me when someone rapped at my door. Harry Two barked and started clawing at the wood. I walked to the door and said, “Who is it?”

“Wotcha, Vega Jane.”

I opened the door, stepped back and let Delph pass through. He knelt to pet Harry Two, who was jumping all over him and trying to lick every exposed piece of skin Delph had. I closed the door and motioned him to the chair by the empty fireplace. I perched on the cot, my hands in my lap, and stared at him.

“What do you want?” I asked.

He gave me a furtive glance. “You okay?”

“Well, let me see. I just went to watch a Wug being planted at the Hallowed Ground. I no longer recognize my brother. My parents are gone. In two lights, I’m probably going to die in the Duelum at the hands of a murderer. So, spot on, I’m definitely not okay.”

He bowed his head and I felt bad for having said what I had.

“I’m sorry, Delph. None of this is your problem.”

“But ’tis my problem. You dying? Can’t let that happen, can I? I mean, I just can’t.”

“I have to fight Ladon-Tosh,” I said. “And nothing you say will make me change my mind.”

He nodded at this, which surprised me. “So the thing is, you got to not get killed.”

“Trust me, that point I understand.”

“How you going to do it, then?”

I stared at him. It had just occurred to me that as much thought as I had given to my upcoming bout with Ladon-Tosh, I had given no thinking time to how I was actually going to win. Or at least survive. “I’ve been thinking,” I said slowly, allowing myself time to actually “think” of something.

“Well, I been thinking too,” said Delph forcefully. “And some blokes told me what he done to poor Tilt.”

I sat forward, suddenly feeling engaged. “The thing is, Delph, I never even saw Ladon-Tosh strike. That’s how fast the blow was. It knocked Tilt completely out of the quad. He weighed over two hundred pounds if he weighed an ounce. He was dead before he hit the dirt. Killed with one blow. I’ve never seen anything like it.” This all came out in a rush of fear that had been welling up inside me ever since Tilt had struck the ground.

“But look what you done to that cobble at Stacks,” he pointed out. “That thing weighed more’n Tilt, I’ll tell you that. And you didn’t just kill it. You exploded it.”

“That was because I had Destin.”

“And you’ll have Destin when you fight Ladon-Tosh.”

“That would be cheating.”

“Bollocks!! Do you really think Ladon-Tosh is a normal Wug? Something’s going on there, Vega Jane. You having Destin when you take him on won’t be cheating. It’ll be making the fight fair, way I see it.”

I sat back and thought about this. What Delph was saying made perfect sense. I had won all my other matches on my own by a combination of luck, planning and instinct. But I knew in my heart that none of those would allow me to prevail against Ladon-Tosh. He had killed a Wug with one blow. That was not possible; only it had definitely happened.

“Okay, I guess I can see that,” I finally said.

He looked vastly relieved by my acquiescence on this critical point. “So it comes down to you landing your blow before Ladon-Tosh can land his.”

“Like I said, I never even saw him hit Tilt. I might have killed that cobble with one blow, but I was nowhere near as fast as Ladon-Tosh.”

“Then we have to come up with a way that you’re even faster. Or else you have to make him miss with his first strike and finish him off before he can try again.”

“And how exactly am I supposed to do that?” I said incredulously.

“’Tis why I’m here. Fought in enough Duelums, haven’t I? Know my way around the quad, don’t I?”

“Okay, what suggestions do you have?”

“Watched Ladon-Tosh’s second round. He dinnae kill no Wug that time, but there are some things I noted.”

“Like what?”

“He don’t move on the bell, not up or back.”

“That’s right, he didn’t move against Tilt either.”

“He lets you come to him, then he strikes.”

“Faster than the eye can see,” I groused.

“Where’s the chain?”

“Why?”

“Want to see something.”

I fetched Destin from under the floorboard and put it around my waist. Delph stood and put up his hands. “Put yours up too.” I did so. “Now I’m going to throw a punch, and I’m not going to say when —”

He snapped a blow at my head. I easily flicked it away.

He smiled, but I didn’t. “That wasn’t nearly as fast as Ladon-Tosh’s,” I said.

“Back up to the wall over there.”

“What?”

“Wanta try something else.”

I did as he asked, reluctantly. From his coat he pulled out a long strip of rubber with a small square patch of leather attached. On the patch he placed a stone he’d taken from his trouser pocket. He started to spin the rubber, which I now saw as a shotslinger, faster and faster.

“Can you see the stone?” he asked.

“Barely.”

He spun it faster. “How about now?”

“Just a glimpse.”

He whirled it even faster. “Now?”

“Not at al —”

Before I finished speaking, he had fired off the stone right at me. When I looked down a sliver later, I saw the stone cupped in my hand.

I looked up in amazement. “How did I do that?”

Delph grinned and pointed at Destin. “Reckon the answer lies there.”

“But it lets me fly. And it gives me strength. But —”

And now Delph was about to shock me.

“I think what it does, Vega Jane, is give ya what i’tis you need at the time you need it.”

I gazed openmouthed up at him. This was stunning. Not what Destin could do, although that was amazing. No, it was that Delph had thought of it and I hadn’t.

“Do you really think so?” I asked hopefully.

“Fly when you need to? Give a pasting to a cobble when it needs doing? Stop a stone from hitting you in the face?”

I touched Destin. It felt warm, as though it had just had a bit of exercise.

“But that’s not all, Vega Jane.”

I looked at him with wrinkled brow. “What do you mean?”

“Chain is a big help, no doubt. But you got to have more than one way to beat Ladon-Tosh. He’s big, strong, fast. Can’t count on taking him with just speed.”

“What, then?”

“You got to move. Wear him down. Let him punch.” He paused. “And if you got to take to the air, Vega Jane, take to the bloody air.”

I stared wide-eyed at him. “Okay, up to that last statement, you didn’t sound mental at all. But you want me to fly? In front of Council? In front of every Wug?”

“Would you rather be headed to the Hallowed Ground for all of eternity instead?”

What irritated me most about this exchange was that Delph sounded the far more logical one of us. “A bit of me says yes. Most of me says no.”

“Listen to most of you, then.”

“What else?”

“At the bell you don’t move either. It’ll confuse the lout. Make him come to you. He’ll throw a punch. Then you’ll move away. Hit him if you can. Taps at first. Let his confidence build.”

“I think he has plenty of confidence already.”

“You know what you done with that other cobble at Stacks?”

“I didn’t know you were watching.”

“Oh, I was. You spun him like a top. Got him all jargoled, didn’t ya?” He pointed a finger at me. “Now, I reckon with Ladon-Tosh, you do the same. You’ll get one shot to get ’er done. You got to bring all ya got. All you and the chain got.”

I looked down at Destin and felt once more guilty.

Delph must have read my look, because he snapped, “Don’t be barmy. Like I said, you think something dodgy’s not going on with Ladon-Tosh? Bloke don’t even talk. And he ain’t younger’n twenty-four sessions, I’ll tell you that. I’m not sure he’s even a Wug, tell the truth. Har.”

“I guess you’re right,” I said slowly.

“Course I’m right. Now, what we’re going to do is practice right and proper every sliver we can till it’s time to fight.”

“You really think I can beat him, Delph?”

“You’re going to beat him.”

“Thanks, Delph.”

“Thank me after you win the Duelum, Vega Jane.”

EVERYWHERE I WENT the next lights and nights, Wugs came out of all corners of Wormwood to wish me well or, in some cases, to say their good-byes. Pieces of parchment were slipped under my door. Most were kind and encouraging. However, one was particularly nasty. But I recognized Cletus Loon’s poor scrawl and I didn’t take any heed.

Delph and I had practiced his strategy over and over until I could do it in my sleep. It lifted my spirits. I felt as if I had a fighting chance, which is all one is entitled to in my view.

Thansius visited me on the night before the Duelum’s final bout. He came not by carriage; I would have heard that. He simply walked up to my humble door and knocked. I of course asked him in. Harry Two let Thansius scratch him on the head before settling down by my cot. I insisted Thansius take the more comfortable chair while I perched in the other. At first, Thansius remained silent, his face brooding and his long fingers slowly stroking his beard. Finally, seeming to have reached a decision, he leaned forward and focused on me.

But I broke the silence first. “I’m fighting Ladon-Tosh. So please don’t bother trying to talk me out of it.”

“I never intended to. I believe you must fight him.”

This stunned me. I sat back, gaping at him.

“You’re surprised by my statement?” he said unnecessarily, for my mouth was still hanging open.

“I am.”

“So many of our fellow Wugmorts never manage to see past the sole light facing them. Past the borders of Wormwood or their own narrow minds. For our borders are indeed narrow, Vega.”

“You put it far more eloquently than I could have, Thansius.”

“I understand that you and Morrigone have had words on a number of occasions. Harsh words.”

“If she said so, I don’t deny it.”

“You believe her to be evil?”

“No. I know her to be evil. What do you consider her to be?”

“Her history is an interesting one. A sterling Wug family. Good upbringing. Brilliant at Learning.”

“She has lots of books. Most Wugs don’t.”

“That is very true.”

“And her house is probably the most beautiful home in all of Wormwood.”

“Doubtless it is.”

“And the things she can do? Where did that come from?”

He paused and gave me a stare so sharp that I thought I would bleed. “You mean the things you also can do?”

“How did you —”

He waved away my surprise. “Every Wug has a job, from the lowest to the highest. Now, my job is to know things, Vega. I don’t know all, but I know close to all. And I know that the powers with which Morrigone has been endowed are showing themselves in you. There is, however, a critical difference, I think.”

“And what is that?”

“Simply that your powers are greater.”

I turned away from those penetrating eyes. “I have no idea what I’m doing. She does.”

“On the contrary, I think you do. You recall your tree?”

I turned back to him. ”What about my tree?”

“It wasn’t petrified of course,” said Thansius matter-of-factly. “But I knew that explanation would suffice for the likes of Non and his followers.”

“Didn’t you harden my tree and protect it?” I asked. Because this is what I had thought had happened.

“No, indeed. I don’t have the means with which to do so. You, Vega, you saved your tree.”

“How?”

“By, I believe, simply willing it to survive. I saw your face. I could easily realize what was in your heart. Thus, your beloved tree became hard as rock. And it survived.”

I slowly took this all in. “And my grandfather?”

“I think you know the answer to that. These things are handed down in Wug families. Only a few possess it anymore. It seems that the passage of time has diluted it to almost nothing for most of us.”

“But what is it, Thansius?”

“Power, Vega. And power is a funny thing, for handled by different Wugs for different reasons, the very same power can look very different.”

“I think I can see that.” And in my mind’s eye, I saw Morrigone using Ladon-Tosh as a lethal puppet to kill me.

“Your grandfather possessed it in abundance. It is the reason he is no longer among us.”

I looked at him eagerly. “So you know where he’s gone? You said you know all, or at least almost all.”

“He is gone from us, Vega. To another place, most certainly. A place assuredly beyond the Quag.”

“And why did he go?”

“It was his destiny to do so,” Thansius said simply. “And please do not ask me more than that, because I will have no answer for you.”

I looked away, disappointed. “So what is Wormwood, then, Thansius? And please, don’t answer my query with a question or a riddle.”

He didn’t respond right away. When he did, his speech was slow and measured. “For most Wugs, Wormwood is their home, the only one they’ll ever have. For some of us, it is our home but not our destiny, like Virgil.” He gazed off for a sliver and then glanced back at me. “Was that too much of a riddle for you?”

“We have always been taught that this is all there is.”

He looked around. “Taught, perhaps. Yet that is not the same as belief or, more significantly, truth, is it?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s not.”

He nodded, seemingly pleased that I understood the difference.

“Why do you stay here, then, Thansius? You are a mighty and special Wug. Surely your destiny cannot lie simply in Wormwood.”

“Oh, indeed I think that it does. And Wormwood is my home. Wugs, my brethren. Those concepts should never be taken lightly.”

“And what of the Outliers? The Wall?”

For the first time I could ever recall, Thansius, mighty Thansius, looked embarrassed, even ashamed.

He said, “There is a sense of duty sometimes, Vega, which compels even the most honest of Wugs to do things that lack that very honesty.”

“So it’s all a lie, then?”

“Lies are sometimes given for the very best of intentions.”

“Do you think that’s the case here?”

“On the surface, unequivocally yes. When one reaches more deeply?” He shook his head sadly. “Then it merely becomes an act of dishonesty for which there is no sound basis.”

“My grandfather once told me that the most bitterly awful place of all is one that Wugmorts don’t know is as wrong as wrong can possibly be.” I grew silent and looked at him questioningly.

Thansius studied his large, strong hands for a few moments before looking up at me. “I would say that your grandfather was a very wise Wug.” He rose. “And now duty calls and thus I must be off.”

At the door, he turned back. “Good luck, Vega, next light.” He paused and seemed to stare off for a moment before looking back at me. “And beyond. For I knew this time must come at some point.”

And then Thansius was gone.