David Baldacci - The Keeper

“Look out, Vega Jane,” Delph cried out.

I glanced at him and then looked at the colossal. He had picked up a boulder like it was a pebble and hurled it directly at me. I was so surprised by this that I barely ducked in time. As it was, I could feel my hair being whipped back by the wake of the projectile.

Then he picked up a handful of large rocks and chucked them at me.

I had to dodge, dive and cast spells in order to survive this attack. My Impacto spell exploded a hurled stone that was so close to me that a part of it broke off and hit me in the thigh, cutting it deeply.

With my wound and being exhausted from dodging death, I knew I had to finish this as fast as possible. While the colossal looked around for something else to throw at me, I glanced at a towering tree about thirty feet away. Gauging all necessary details in my head, I pointed my wand at the base of the tree and screamed over the storm, “ Withero! ”

A light from my wand hit the tree right where it met the ground and the base and roots weakened and then crumpled under the weight. It teetered for a few moments and then fell forward, all hundred-odd feet of it. I flew far away from its reach. By the time the colossal realized what was happening, it was too late.

The massive trunk hit him directly on the head with such force that it drove him ten feet into the ground before the enormous tree collapsed on top of him.

It was such a bloody awful sight that I could only look for a second to make sure the thing was dead before I flew toward Delph and Harry Two and landed.

I took the Adder Stone out, waved it over my bloody thigh and thought good thoughts. I could feel the wound healing up, and the pain vanished.

“Are you okay, Delph?” I asked.

“Yeah, right nice flying.” He grinned.

“Nice shooting.” I patted Harry Two. “Good job, Harry Two.”

As we hurried toward Lackland and Petra, I tried to use my cloak to wipe the blood and gore off my face and shoulders where the slain colossal’s head had splattered me.

Then I stopped dead.

Lackland was on his knees and was, well, bowing to me.

He gazed up at me with a look of awe. He said breathlessly, “Will you take us with you, Vega Jane? Please?”

Petra wasn’t bowing. She looked disgusted by this show of adoration.

When Delph handed back her bow and quiver, she gave him a radiant smile, rubbed his arm and said, “That was amazing, Delph. Truly.” She slowly let her hand drop and then looked back at me with a defiant expression.

I took a deep breath and then let it go.

I think I would have taken ten more colossals over her.

We followed them back to their camp, which was about a mile away. We had to wend our way through a forest that became so dense that we could barely squeeze between the trees. At least, I thought, there was no way a colossal could attack us in here. They were simply too big!

Unlike the woods around Wormwood, these trees were not all tall and straight. Many of them were twisted and warped and shrouded in dreary colors. There was not a bright green leaf to be seen on any of them. And their bark reeked of smells that were not fresh or sweet. Indeed, I could detect only fear and death in the air somehow. Every sound made could be predators coming. Every step we took might be our last. The end of our lives seemed to lurk beyond every shadow of every grotesque tree. Every branch seemed to bend toward us, wanting to strike.

I would have liked to close my eyes or look away, but I knew I couldn’t. I had to remain vigilant. As I looked at my companions, I could see they were doing the exact same thing. Petra and Lackland looked especially subdued and nervous. Well, I would be too if my entire village had been wiped out.

Their camp was nothing much. There was a strip of tattered oilcloth stretched over some low tree branches, and beds made largely from leaves inside a little wooden lean-to. It made Loons back in Wormwood seem positively luxurious.

Their food and other important possessions Petra had pointed out were kept in a burlap bag tied to a tree branch. I doubted they were safe up there, but then again, where was safe in this place?

We sat around a small fire that Lackland built and warmed our bones from the chilly air. When I saw how little they had, I opened my tuck and shared some of our food and water. After we had been fed so well at Astrea’s, it pained me to see how they gobbled the few morsels I offered. Not that long ago, I knew I would have done the very same thing.

Lackland finished the pieces of bread and hard cheese I had given him and drew closer. “Blimey, how did you do all that... stuff back there?”

I took my wand out of my pocket. “Sorcery. Magic. I was taught it.”

I glanced over at Petra. From the corner of my eyes, I had seen her flinch when I drew out my wand. Now she was staring at it, her eyes widened, I think, in fear.

“Don’t worry, I won’t use it on you, Petra,” I said disarmingly. I tacked a smile on to this to show I was joking. Mostly.

I had imagined she would look frightened, but she didn’t. She just stared back at me for a sliver with contempt.

I could feel my temper starting to get the best of me.

Perhaps sensing this on my features, Delph said quickly, “But Vega Jane was magical to begin with. It’s not like you can just wave a stick around and fight huge blokes like them back there.”

“Are you magical, Delph?” asked Petra, taking a moment to smooth out her hair and rub a spot of dirt off her arm. She touched his shoulder with her hand and let it stay there for a wee bit too long, at least in my mind. I felt my hand curl to a fist. It was a struggle not to take a swing at her.

“Not a drop of magic in me,” said Delph with a crooked grin. “I’m just big.”

“And smart,” I added quickly, because I saw that Petra was about to say something simpering to him, I was sure. “It was Delph that got us out of the maze. He remembered it all when the wendigo was chasing us. And he was the one who distracted the colossals so I could finish them off.”

Petra looked at Delph with admiration. “That’s right bonny of you, Delph. Big, and smart too. And not half-bad-lookin’ neither.” She again touched him on the arm. When she noted the blackened skin near his wrist, she exclaimed, “What happened to you?”

He shrugged and said, “Manticore got me. Vega Jane got ridda the pain, but me arm’s a bit the worse for it.”

“You beat a manticore too?” Petra said, her look full of awe.

Lackland let out a loud burp and said, “Well, all’s we got is a sword and a bow. Right easier to beat beasts with that stick thing.”

I was staring at Delph, who was blushing as Petra rubbed his arm. I quickly rose and threw another stick on the fire. When I sat back down, I somehow ended up between Delph and Petra. She had to quickly move her hand out of the way.

“So who do you nick stuff from?” I asked. “Blokes like you?”

“Like we said, ain’t no blokes like us left,” replied Lackland. “Leastways not that I know of.”

“So who, then? Not the beasts in here surely?”

“No, not the beasts.”

“Well, if it’s not blokes or beasts, what’s left?” asked Delph.

“Hyperbores mostly,” said Petra, with another glance at my wand. I finally put it away. “I guess one could call them beasts, but they’re closer to us than the other ruddy things in here.”

I nodded thoughtfully. Hyperbores . Astrea had told us about them. Blue-skinned and they could fly. And that they could be an enemy or an ally.

“What are they like?” I asked. “Do they try and attack you when you nick from them?”