Emily Rodda - The Shifting Sands

“Be careful, you fool!” roared Carn 8. “How many times do you have to be told? Any broken bones Brightly didn’t put in her report and we’re in the Arena ourselves! Do you want to end your days in gladiators’ leather, fighting a Vraal? Get him under the canopy, and be quick about it!”

The other grumbled. His face and shoulders loomed out of the darkness as he bent and grabbed Lief under the arms. And it was then that Lief’s worst suspicions were confirmed. Their captors were Grey Guards.

The Guards had made a rough shelter for their prisoners by stretching oiled cloth between the lowest branches of a tree. Barda, Jasmine, and Lief huddled together under this canopy, shuddering with cold.

Kree, who had followed them all the way from Rithmere, perched on Jasmine’s shoulder. But he could not help them. There was no chance of escape. Their leg irons were fixed to an iron peg driven into the ground.

The gags were taken off and they were given water and some chunks of bread. Then the Guards moved away. Dimly, through the darkness and the rain, Lief saw them crawl together under the cart where it seemed they were planning to sleep.

“I cannot eat weighed down by these chains,” Jasmine shouted.

“Hold your tongue or I’ll cut it out and throw you into the Shifting Sands, orders or no!” bawled Carn 2. “We passed by the Sands just an hour ago.”

“Lief, is the Belt safe?” whispered Barda.

“Yes,” Lief whispered back. “Did you hear —?”

“Yes. We are not far from the Shifting Sands. But this news is of little use to us as we are. Mother Brightly fooled us well.”

“I thought she was the fool,” Jasmine hissed bitterly, breaking off a tiny piece of bread for Filli. “But the secret way out of the inn was a trap.”

“The whole of the Games is a trap! With gold coins as bait.” Lief clenched his fists. “What better way to lure the best and strongest fighters, and make them show how good they are? And dear old Mother Brightly is there all the time, to make sure that as many finalists as possible walk tamely into captivity when it is all over.”

Barda shook his head in disgust. “We heard on the highway that few Games Champions are ever heard of again. Now we know why. They do not run away to spend their money in peace. They are taken to the Shadowlands to die battling wild beasts and each other for the amusement of the crowds.”

“And their gold coins, and even the Champion medallion, are taken to be used again!” Jasmine hissed. “It is monstrous.”

The rain eased, and they heard snores coming from beneath the cart. The Guards were asleep. With new urgency they began struggling to free themselves, though in their hearts they all knew that it was no use.

They had long given up their efforts and were dozing fitfully when Kree gave a startled squawk and there was the tiny sound of cracking twigs behind them.

“Be still!” breathed a voice. “Do not speak or move until I tell you. I already have your packs and weapons in a safe place. Now I am going to unlock your chains. When you are free, follow me as quietly as you can!”

Ashort time afterwards, astounded by their unexpected release, the three companions sat back on their heels in the shelter of a cave and stared in amazement at their rescuer: Doom.

Impatiently, he waved away their thanks.

“Listen carefully,” he said. “We have little time. I am the leader of a group sworn to resist the Shadow Lord. We have been suspicious of the Games for some time — certain that they were not all they seemed. My purpose there was to see what was happening, from the inside. Your presence upset my plans. I tried to scare you off —”

“It was you who locked us in our room!” Lief broke in. “You who attacked us.”

“Yes — and got cut for my pains.” Doom grimaced, touching the cloth at his neck. “I was trying to stop you from competing — to protect you.”

“Why?” Barda asked bluntly.

“When first I saw you in Tom’s shop something about you interested me. I was hurrying on business of my own and could not stay. But ever since, wherever I have been, I have heard whispers about three travellers — a man, a boy, and a wild girl, accompanied by a black bird. Wherever these travellers go, it is said, part of the Shadow Lord’s evil is undone.”

Lief gripped Barda’s arm. If word about them was spreading, how long would it be before the Shadow Lord became aware of them?

But Jasmine, who still could not make up her mind to trust Doom, had something else on her mind. “You allowed us to be captured,” she accused. “You crept away after the finals, but you did not leave. You hid in the inn, watched, and did not lift a hand to help us.”

Doom shrugged. “I had no choice. I had to find out how the trick was worked. I had intended that animal Glock to be proclaimed Champion, and suffer whatever fate was in store for him. But he took the drugged drink intended for you, girl, and instead of losing to him, as I had planned, I had to find a way of pretending to lose to you.”

Jasmine drew herself up. “You played your part well,” she said coldly. “In fact, I would have sworn that you did lose. Or am I mistaken in thinking you hit your head on the wall, and slid down it almost unconscious?”

Doom’s grim face relaxed into a half smile. “You will never know, will you?” he said dryly.

“If it had been Glock who had been captured, would you have rescued him?” asked Lief curiously.

The smile disappeared. “You ask too many questions,” growled Doom. “What is certain is that I must save him now, for he and the woman Neridah will be following in your footsteps tomorrow, and I cannot release one without the other. It is unfortunate.”

He stared broodingly out into the rain for a moment, then turned to them again. “A group is waiting not far away. Among them is Dain, the boy who helped me at the Games. He will lead you into the mountains where we have a stronghold. You will be safe there.”

Barda, Lief, and Jasmine glanced at one another.

“We are grateful to you,” said Barda at last. “And I hope you will not take this amiss. But I fear we cannot accept your offer. We must continue our travels. There is — something of importance we must do.”

Doom frowned. “Whatever it is, you must abandon it for now,” he said. “I could not risk trying to kill the Guards. It was dangerous enough stealing your weapons and supplies from the cart while they slept below.”

“They have our gold, I think,” sighed Lief.

“Yes, I saw them take it,” Doom said. “But their master will care nothing for that. It is you he wants. When they wake and find you gone they will track you wherever you go. They will not rest until you are found.”

“All the better, then, that we do not lead them to your stronghold,” said Barda calmly. He put on his sword and pack and began crawling from the cave. Doom put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“We are many, and at our base we have ways of dealing with Guards,” he said. “You had better join us. What could be more important than our cause? What is this mysterious mission that cannot wait?”

Barda, unsmiling, pulled the restraining hand from his shoulder and continued crawling from the cave. Jasmine and Lief followed. Outside, the rain still fell and the sky was black and starless.

Doom appeared beside them, silent as a shadow. “Go your way, then,” he said, his voice very cold. “But say nothing to anyone of what I have told you this night, or you will wish you had gone to the Shadowlands.”