Emily Rodda - Ilse Of Illusion

‘What else are we to do but stand and fight?’ Jasmine hissed furiously. ‘You have seen them run, Lief. They would catch us in an instant if we tried to flee! Are we just to lie down and wait for them to eat us?’

‘We must hide,’ said Lief. ‘The light is poor. We must hide and hope they pass us by so that we can creep away.’

‘Hide?’ Jasmine exclaimed, looking around at the low ferns, the sparse clumps of fungus. ‘There is nowhere to hide!’

Lief pulled off his cloak. ‘There is,’ he said. ‘Just as there was, not long ago, in the River Broad when an Ak-Baba was overhead. Just as there was in the Shifting Sands when Grey Guards were approaching. Have you forgotten so soon?’

Jasmine’s green eyes flashed. ‘I have forgotten nothing,’ she said abruptly. ‘I thought you had, however.’

Lief stared at her, hurt and confused. He could not understand her meaning.

Barda cleared his throat. ‘If we are to hide, we should do so at once,’ he said. ‘The creatures are moving slowly, but their strides are huge. They will be upon us very soon. What of Auris?’

Lief tore his eyes away from Jasmine’s and glanced over to where Auris lay beside the statue. He thrust the cloak into Barda’s hands. ‘You and Jasmine take cover,’ he said. ‘If he still lives, I will fetch him.’

‘Keep low! Take care!’ Jasmine called softly after him as he began to run.

Obediently, Lief lowered his head. At least she cares whether I live or die, he thought. But why did she say that, about my forgetting our quest for the Belt? How could I ever forget?

Auris was rigidly still, and his eyes were closed. But as Lief drew near enough to the statue to feel its strange, radiating warmth on his skin, he realised that the last of the dome-dwellers was not dead, or even unconscious.

Auris was chanting under his breath—so softly and rapidly that Lief could not catch the words.

‘Auris,’ Lief urged, touching his arm. ‘Auris—come with me. There is danger here.’

Auris screwed his eyes more tightly shut, but made no other sign that he had heard. He did not lift his head, or move his fingers from the hem of the statue’s robe. Did not stop, for a moment, his frenzied whispering.

Lief glanced nervously at the approaching Arach. The creatures were closer now. There were at least ten of them, crawling in a wedge-shaped pack with the first, and largest, in the lead.

‘Auris!’ he said sharply. He tried to pull the Piper away from the statue, but the thin fingers immediately clutched at the razor-sharp glass and gripped it tightly. Blood ran in streams into the ground, but still the whispering voice did not pause.

Lief bent closer, straining to hear.

‘Thespellmustholdthespellmustholdthespell …’

One phrase, endlessly repeated.

‘Lief!’ Barda and Jasmine were beckoning urgently from behind the fungus where they had taken cover. Lief could hardly see them. As always, his cloak had taken on the colour of its surroundings. It was disguising them perfectly.

He turned and was shocked to see how close the Arach were, how far they had crawled in just a few moments. They had quickly become used to the solid earth under their feet. They were moving steadily, confidently.

They still had not seen him. But any moment …

Desperately, hissing warnings and commands, Lief tried again to drag Auris free. But the Piper’s bleeding fingers gripped the warm glass like steel bands, and his babbling chant did not cease.

It was no use. In despair, Lief left him and crawled to where Jasmine and Barda crouched anxiously waiting.

‘He will not move,’ he said, creeping under the cover of the cloak with them.

‘It is his choice,’ Jasmine answered calmly. ‘Perhaps he thinks the magic of the statue will offer more protection than a hiding place.’

Lief shook his head. He had a lump in his throat which made it hard to speak. ‘I do not think so,’ he said. ‘I think he is using the last of his power, and the power of the Pipe, to try to hold onto all that remains of his world.’

He had a sour, burning taste in his mouth—the taste of defeat, anger and guilt. He thought of Penn and the Piper. Were they still watching from their boat beyond the seaweed band? Or were they already hastening back to the rafts, delirious with joy because they had regained for their people the light and magic so long denied them?

‘For all the Piper of the rafts knew, there were thousands of people inside the dome,’ he muttered, his eyes on the approaching Arach. ‘Thousands, whose lives would have been destroyed by what he did. By what we did, in ignorance.’

‘He was fighting for the lives of his own people,’ said Barda in a low voice. ‘Like any good commander, he seized a chance for victory when it came.’

Lief thought of the Piper’s glowing eyes as he spoke to Penn about the visitors.

They could be our salvation.

‘And like any good commander,’ Barda went on, even more quietly, ‘he knew that sacrifices would have to be made in the cause. Unfortunately, we seem to be the sacrifices in this case. The beasts are not going to pass us by.’

The Arach were almost upon them. They had slowed as they neared the statue, and now they had stopped completely.

‘It is the warmth,’ breathed Jasmine. ‘They stayed close beside the dome not just because of the food, but because it was warm. They like the statue for the same reason. They will probably try to nest around it.’

Lief felt sick. Was it so? Were they condemned to crouch here, with no chance of escape, helplessly watching the slaughter of Auris? Knowing that the second part of the Pirran Pipe was lost forever because of something they themselves had done?

He watched with horrified fascination as the largest of the Arach moved closer to Auris’s motionless body.

The creature was gigantic. Monstrous. Its eyes bulged from its glossy black shell, gleaming red. Its fangs slowly opened and closed, dripping venom.

Its two front legs reached out delicately, took Auris in their grip, and tugged. Auris’s hands tightened on the glass. He did not stir.

‘No!’ Lief whispered in agony. He tensed himself to rise.

Barda’s hand clamped firmly on his wrist. ‘Be still! We cannot help him! There is still a chance we can get you out, Lief. You, at least.’

‘That is not important any more,’ Lief hissed back. ‘All that matters is—’

But at that moment, the Arach lost patience. With a low growl, it tore Auris away from the statue, and lifted him high into the air.

Auris’s shriek of terror and despair chilled Lief to the bone. Cold sweat broke out on his brow, and he began shivering violently. He wanted to cover his ears, but his hands were rigid. He wanted to look away, but he could not move.

The beast rose on its hind legs and pulled its victim closer. Auris screamed and screamed again, writhing in an agony of fear. The monster’s red eyes watched him closely, almost as if it was enjoying his terror. Then suddenly its fangs lunged forward and sank into his neck, mercifully ending his struggles.

The spiny, clawed legs instantly began tearing the limp body apart, shredding it exactly as they had shredded the boat.

The other Arach closed in, scrabbling for a share of the prize, fighting over every dripping scrap of flesh that fell from their leader’s jaws.

Sickened, Lief at last managed to look away.

And only then did he see what had been right in front of his eyes since the moment Auris was plucked into the air.

The statue’s arms were rising. As Lief watched, astounded, the hands covered the serene face. Then—suddenly—the glass was no longer clear and gleaming. It had become thick white.