David Baldacci - The Finisher

“You don’t think I’ll make it past the Quag, do you?”

“Actually, I believe that you will,” he said in a whisper, and bowed his head. “And then may Steeples help all Wugs.”

When I looked at Dis Fidus, he had bowed his head too.

I turned and left Stacks. I would not be coming back.

I WENT BACK TOmy 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 ANDI 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.