Deltora Quest #6: The Maze of the Beast

The chill of the Ol came before it — a breathtaking cold that froze the limbs, stung the eyes, and turned the lips to ice. Gasping, staggering back, trying to shield Lief with her body, Jasmine swung her dagger at the white, grasping fingers. Half-stunned with cold, Kree dashed himself against the thing’s peaked head.

But nothing, nothing could stop it. The fingers of one hand snaked forward and caught Jasmine around the neck, lifting her from the ground. Almost carelessly, the other hand grasped Lief’s dagger arm in a grip of frozen iron. The dagger fell clattering to the deck.

The moon slipped from behind the clouds. Its cool white light flooded the deck, fell over Lief’s face. We are dying, he thought, almost in wonder. Time seemed to be moving very slowly.

Then the Ol jerked violently. In a dream of terror, Lief looked up at the vast, wavering body and saw something sharp and gleaming slide out of the right side of its chest, growing longer, longer …

The grip on his arm loosened. He saw Jasmine fall. The Ol began to tip forward.

“Get out of the way, you fool!” roared a voice.

Desperately Lief rolled to one side. The Ol crashed to the deck, the wooden pole of the long spike that had pierced its heart sticking up from its back. Its flesh bulged and heaved. Pink curls and a single blue eye bubbled hideously in the whiteness.

Grinning savagely, the captain heaved the spike free and kicked the collapsing body into the river. “Ols! I hate ’em!” he growled.

Lief crawled to Jasmine. Filli was chattering to her, trying to make her open her eyes. She was breathing, but her neck flamed red, as though it had been burned.

Dain’s pack was still lying on the deck. Lief tore it open and pulled out the honey jar. He smeared some of the golden stuff on Jasmine’s mouth. “Lick your lips, Jasmine,” he whispered. “The honey will help you, as it helped Barda.” As he said the name, his throat closed with pain.

The captain was looking around, shaking his head. The deck was littered with pirates’ bodies. “Looks like your dad dealt with a few of the scum before he went over the side,” he said. “They got your brother, too, did they? If he was your brother, which I doubt.”

Lief swallowed. “They took Dain away,” he managed to say. “I have to follow them. Get him back.”

And the Belt. The Belt!

The words screamed in his mind and again the dreadfulness of what had happened swept over him.

The captain came closer and peered curiously at Jasmine. Filli hissed and bared his tiny teeth, his fur bristling. The captain jumped back and fell onto a pile of planks. There was a shriek, and Lockie the Stripe crawled out of hiding.

“I can’t stand this river,” he moaned. “Never again! I’m going to retire. I don’t care if I starve!”

“That’s what you always say, you cowardly blob!” snarled the captain rudely. “What about my deck rail? And my polypan? Who’s going to pay for them?”

“Who cares for that?” cried Lief. “How can you talk of money when the decks are awash with blood?” Angry tears had sprung, scalding, into his eyes.

The captain turned to him, sneering. “If that’s how you feel, you can get off, boyo!” he growled. “You, your wildcat friend, and her crazy bird. I’ll be glad to see the last of you. Don’t you think I know why that Ol attacked? It recognized her, didn’t it? It had orders to get her. And you, too, for all I know.”

He turned, snarling, to Lockie the Stripe. “Row them to the bank,” he snapped. “Get them out of my sight! We’re going back to Broad River for repairs.”

By the time Lockie, very downcast, had dumped Jasmine and Lief and rowed back to the River Queen, steam was already pouring from the boat’s funnel. Moments later, the anchor chain clattered and the paddle wheel began to move. The boat turned and chugged away upstream, leaving the companions with only Dain’s pack and one blanket for comfort.

Jasmine was conscious, but could barely speak. She took another spoonful of honey and swallowed painfully. “What are we to do?” she croaked.

“Follow the pirates and get the Belt back,” muttered Lief, with more confidence than he felt.

Jasmine nodded, her head bowed. “They have Dain, as well as the Belt,” she said. “We must help Dain. Barda would have wanted us to do that.”

She was shaking all over. Lief took the blanket and wrapped it around her. Then he sat close beside her, for warmth.

“If only we knew where the pirates planned to go!” he said. “The water from the Dreaming Spring would have helped us find out. But all that remains was in the packs.” He looked up at the sky. The stars were fading. The pirates’ boat must already be far distant.

“We must go,” said Jasmine. “They are getting away!” She struggled to rise, but fell back almost at once. Lief covered her again with the blanket. His head was thumping.

“Barda would say that we should rest,” he said. “He would say, ‘What point is there in catching up to our enemies but being too weak to fight them?’ And he would be right. He was almost always right.”

“I am glad to hear you say so,” growled a familiar voice.

And out of the shadows walked Barda — soaked, shivering, but alive! The shock was so great that for a moment Lief could not speak. But his joy and relief must have shown in his face, for Barda grinned and clapped him on the shoulder as he sat down with a weary groan.

“Did you think I was gone for good?” he asked. “Well, so did I, I confess. But I managed to fight off the cutthroat who went over the side with me. And the worms, if worms there are, must have been busy with other prey.”

“The card-playing man,” Jasmine suggested huskily. She put her hand to her throat as she spoke, but plainly her pain was already easing, thanks to the Queen Bee honey. And her spirits had soared now that Barda had returned.

Barda nodded gravely. “Perhaps so. I remember little of getting to the bank. I came to myself only a few minutes ago. There was the sound of the boat. Then I heard your voices along the bank.”

“Barda, they took the Belt.” It was agony for Lief to say it. “My sword, all our belongings — and Dain.”

Barda took a deep breath. “So,” he said finally. “So we must deal with that.”

He crawled to his feet. “But first we must warm and dry ourselves. We will start a fire — a fine blaze. And if any more enemies see it and come to attack us, they are welcome. A gang of pirates and an Ol together could not finish us — let others try if they dare!”

Lief staggered up and went to help collect wood. The terrible despair that had engulfed him had lifted with Barda’s return. But as he plodded the barren sand, now slowly lightening with the coming of dawn, he still felt sick at heart.

It was all very well to speak bravely of following the pirates, of tracking them down. But by the time the companions reached the coast, the battered boat would certainly be hidden away in some sheltered bay. However were they to find it?

He saw some old planks that had washed up on the shore, and walked towards them. Then he realized that there was something else lying in shallow water just beyond the wood. It looked like a heap of rubbish and rags, but it was not. It was a dead man.

“Barda!” he called.

Barda came quickly, and together they pulled the body up onto the sand. “This is the pirate who went into the water with me,” Barda said. “He, it seems, was not as lucky as I was.”

Lief stared down at the gaunt face. In death, the pirate looked more pathetic than savage. He watched as Barda crouched beside the body and began pulling at the clothing, checking the pockets for weapons or anything else of value. There had been a time when neither of them would have dreamed of robbing a dead body. But that time had long gone.

Barda exclaimed and sat back on his heels. He was holding something in his hand — a thin package wrapped in oilskin. Carefully he unwrapped it. The paper inside was damp, but still in one piece. He placed it on the sand and Lief bent over it. Even in the dim dawn light, he could see clearly what it was.

“It is the way to the Maze of the Beast,” muttered Barda.

“The pirates are going to the Maze? But why? It is a place of terror.” Lief’s heart was thudding painfully.

“They would not care, if they had heard of a great gem hidden there.” Barda gritted his teeth. “And somehow they have heard of it, Lief. They are going to seek it. And now they have the Belt to help them.”