David Baldacci - The Finisher

I looked back once more at Morrigone. She was staring dead at me. Her mouth was moving. She was yelling something. Finally, I could make it out over the screams of the crowd.

“Help me, Vega! Help me!”

I don’t remember reaching in my pocket and slipping on my glove. I really don’t. I willed the Elemental to full size, sprang upward into the air, twisted my body to the left — and the golden spear launched from my grip with as much torque as I could place upon it.

It shot through the air just as the jabbits struck. They attacked in parallel, as I knew the beasts did, which made it perfectly perfect for me. The Elemental hit the first jabbit, passed through its body and collided with the second jabbit a moment later.

There was a tremendous explosion and the shock wave struck me while I was still sixteen feet off the ground. I was propelled forward like a fish by a great wave. It seemed that I flew a long, long way before hitting something extraordinarily hard.

And then everything was gone.

I OPENED MY EYESquite suddenly and tried to sit up, but a hand pushed me back down. I looked to my right and was not unduly surprised to see Delph there.

“Wotcha, Vega Jane?” he said, his voice weary but now filled with relief.

I blurted out wildly, “Where am I? Hospital? The Care? The Hallowed Ground?”

He touched my forehead as though to test for its warmth. “You jargoled?”

“Where, Delph?” I persisted.

“Your digs.”

I looked around and saw that this was so. “How did I get here?”

“Carried you.”

“I remember hitting something really hard.”

“Spot on, that was me you hit.”

I sat up slowly to see a welt on his forehead the size of a hen’s egg.

“How did I hit you? I was thrown far away from all Wugs.”

“Well, I sort of ran to … to catch you when you got blown.”

“The jabbits?” I said, my face paling at the mention of the name.

“Dead and gone. You took care-a that.”

“No Wugs hurt?”

“Just the ones who trampled each other getting away like. They’ll be okay.”

“Ladon-Tosh had jabbits inside him,” I said slowly, as though trying to make myself understand what I was saying.

Delph grimaced. “Well, what I’d say is jabbits had Ladon-Tosh outside of them .”

I turned on my side, rested my head on my arm and gazed at him. “I guess that’s one way to look at it.” Something else came back to me. “My cloak? The Elemental?”

“Don’t wad your knickers. There and there,” he added, pointing.

On a peg on the wall was my cloak. I could see the bulge of Destin inside it. Standing in one corner was the full-size Elemental.

Delph said, “Almost forgot to put the glove on before I picked it up.”

My next words carried a heaviness that I found nearly unbearable. “Delph, Wugs had to see what I did.”

“What Wugs saw was two jabbits coming out another Wug. After that, they didn’t see nothin’. ’Cept you killing the pair of ’em. And they ain’t too clear on how you done it. But I don’t see no Wug holding that against ya.”

“So what do the Wugs say about it all?”

“Outliers. They was shouting it when it was happening. ‘Outliers got Ladon-Tosh. Got inside-a him.’ That’s what they said.”

“That’s mental!”

“Course i’tis, but that don’t mean they don’t believe it.”

I sighed and sat back. I was just so tired.

“You feeling up to snuff, Vega Jane?”

I glanced over at him. “Why?”

“Well, they’re waiting, ain’t they?”

“Who’s waiting?” I said suspiciously.

He held out a hand, which I slowly took and rose off the cot. He led me over to the window. I peered out and my jaw dropped.

“ They are ,” said Delph, smiling.

When Delph opened the door to my digs and I stepped out, the cheers started and hats were flung high into the air. It looked like every Wug was in attendance.

“Ve-ga Jane. Ve-ga Jane,” they started chanting over and over.

I heard a canine bark and looked down to see Harry Two next to me. He apparently had been guarding my privacy. I stroked his head and then gazed up at Delph.

“What is all this?” I asked in bewilderment.

“Are ya serious? Time for the prize. You’re champion, you silly goose.”

I had forgotten that with the defeat of Ladon-Tosh, I was the champion.

“Quiet, please. Quiet.”

The voice belonged to Thansius. As the crowd parted and became silent, he came forward holding two objects. One was a metal figurine. The other a woolen bag with a cord tied firmly around its neck.

Thansius motioned to me. “Vega, please step forward.”

I let go of Delph’s hand and walked toward the Chief of Council with hesitant steps. I was still a bit wonky, but I couldn’t not go, could I?

Thansius turned to the crowd and proclaimed, “I officially declare Vega Jane the champion of the Duelum.”

A cheer went up again. As I looked out on the masses of Wugs, I saw many tears and smiles and only the very occasional sour look from the likes of Ran Digby, Ted Racksport — on sticks because of his morta-shot foot — and Cletus Loon, who, as usual, looked murderously at me. And when I glanced to the right, I saw Krone and Dodgson staring daggers.

As the crowd quieted, Thansius said, “I now present you with the trophy.”

He handed me the figurine. They must have made it special because it was a female holding a male over her head. Thansius bent down and said in my ear, “The young Dactyl Jasper Forke, one of your fellow Stackers, made that for you. Just in case,” he added.

I took it and held it and my smile widened to my ears. I looked and found Forke in the crowd and thanked him with my eyes before he glanced shyly down at his feet.

I held the figurine over my head, and the crowd cheered again.

When they had settled down, Thansius said, “And now the one thousand coins.” He handed me the wool bag. “As the first female champion in the history of the Duelum. And on a job exceptionally well done.” He peered at me. “Exceptionally well done. Where not only a prize was won but many Wug lives were saved.” He put out his hand. “Thank you, Vega Jane. All of Wormwood thanks you.”

As I shook his hand, the crowd truly went mad this time. I looked over at Delph, who was smiling, it seemed, with his whole body. A tear trickled down his face.

When I looked back at Thansius, he was smiling broadly as he turned to face the crowd. “Drinks are on me at the Witch-Pidgy. And for those younger wugs, there will be pink ginger ale. And food for the bellies all around. Off you go.”

A great cheer went up from the Wugs as Thansius finished and a stream of them headed off to the pub, with the very youngs jumping and twirling and making noise.

When we were alone, I touched Delph on the arm. “Can we go see your dad?”

“Don’t you want to go to the pub and celebrate, like Thansius said?”

I looked down at the bag of coins in my hand. “Let’s go to see your dad first.”

DUF DELPHIA HADstayed at his cottage because one of his timbertoes had developed a crack. This Delph had told me on our walk there. Duf was sitting out on the steps with the bad timber off and a stick bowl between his teeth when we appeared in his view. He knocked the dottle out, replaced the smoke weed and lit the bowl. He hailed us as we walked up to him. I saw that his corral was empty of beasts.

Duf grinned and pointed at me. “I knew it,” he said. “You done did it. You won the bloody thing, didn’t-cha? Course you did. Knew it, didn’t I?”