The Width of the World Page 5

  “Well, we’re not going in the direction the train came in from,” I pointed out. “It would have had to turn around to do that, and it didn’t. So that means we’re heading somewhere new.”

  “To pick up more folks, do you reckon?” asked Petra.

  “And bring them back here in the middle of the night and do things to their minds?” added Delph nervously.

  I looked out the window again and wondered how long the train would keep moving. And what we would do when it arrived at its next destination. I touched my temple and shook my head slightly. The effects of whatever was happening in that room back in the bowels of the train station were gone, for the most part. But something lingered in my mind. Something so pleasing and wonderful and, well, perfect, that it instinctively horrified me more than anything I had seen or fought in the Quag possibly could.

  I looked back from where we had just come.

  A place called True.

  Ironic, I thought, since I now doubted there was even a smidgen of truth in the whole bleeding place. Simply more lies, like back in Wormwood.

  Lies.

  Ironic that my kind — who were supposed to be the good ones — and the evil Maladons would use similar methods to keep people in line.

  I rubbed my temple some more, as though trying to massage what I had seen into proper focus. I had been feeling wonderful, it was true, but there had been images associated with that feeling. I wanted to try to remember what they were.

  A hand was reaching down from what looked to be the sky. In it was something truly bedazzling. I focused even more. In the palm of the hand was … me! I was smiling and felt as light as air. I had never felt so perfect and happy and just beautiful. The possibilities were truly limitless. I could accomplish anything. And what I wanted to accomplish was … Here the images darkened a bit, but that didn’t detract from my happiness in the slightest. I was just sure that whatever my desires turned out to be, I would be perfectly satisfied. I had a very brief vision of myself baking bread. And then I was on my hands and knees washing the cobbles. The next instant I was sweeping the floor.

  And then my features relaxed.

  They weren’t my desires.

  They were the desires that someone else was telling me were my own.

  It was so astonishingly awful that I visibly shook. What was being taken from those people was simply their lives. And the only thing the poor blokes had to do was keep on living the life that someone else had chosen for them.

  The train roared on.

  Delph took the first watch. I would relieve him for the second.

  For once I slept soundly. The gentle swaying of the train carriage was rather hypnotic. I awoke refreshed, my mind once more eager to take on what lay ahead of us.

  As Delph sat back in his seat and dozed off, I glanced out the window and noted the passing countryside. I glimpsed clusters of small homes, cows and sheep dozing or grazing, the bulge of a knoll, a stand of trees, open fields.

  “Delph, Petra!” I exclaimed.

  They immediately awoke. I looked down at Harry Two. He had never fallen asleep. Now his hackles were up and his fangs were bared. That’s what had drawn my attention. And now I knew why my dog was on high alert.

  “What is it?” whispered Delph nervously.

  “The train is slowing down.”

  It was indeed now rapidly decreasing its speed.

  I looked out the window, but there was only darkened countryside. There couldn’t be a station hereabouts, could there?

  Next instant my features froze.

  Things were whirling across the sky so fast I could barely see them. They were like shooting stars, only far closer to the ground. I knew instinctively what they were doing here.

  They were coming for us!

  “Get up,” I said hurriedly. “We have to get out of here.”

  “What!” said Petra. “Why? Where are we going?”

  “Out of here,” I snapped back.

  The flying shapes were now paralleling the path of the train. One pulled up close to our window.

  It was a male dressed in a suit and a vest. A brown bowler hat, like the one Duf Delphia used to wear, somehow managed to remain on his head despite the speed at which he was traveling.

  A wand was clutched in his hand.

  He peered inside the train carriage, his gaze sweeping all points of it. I could imagine his companions were doing the same to the other carriages. They had realized that we had somehow gotten onto the empty train. And they had caught up with us.

  “Vega,” said Petra. “Look!”

  She was pointing to the other side of the train. There were two more figures there, flying along and peering inside. They had their wands out too. I suddenly knew what was about to happen.

  I grabbed the others and pushed them flat to the floor. A moment later the windows on the train exploded inward, showering us with glass, as spell after spell blasted across the width of the carriage.

  We crawled on our bellies toward the rear of the carriage. A piece of glass hit me in the face, scratching me. I heard Delph moan as a piece of a destroyed seat smacked him in the leg.

  I thought about putting up a shield spell, but I knew that would certainly give us away as things magically rebounded off it.

  So the torrent of debris continued to rain down on us.

  I looked up in time to see one of the men shoot through the open window and land on the floor.

  He held his wand up, moving it back and forth, as though he was using it to ferret us out. I turned on my back, my wand pointed directly at his chest. If he gave any indication that he saw us, I would blast him off the train.

  We scuttled backward, reached the door to the train carriage in the small vestibule and stood.

  Suddenly the carriage door was ripped open and another man hovered there. He was, like his companion, dressed neatly in a suit and bowler hat. He alighted on the floor and looked around as we shrunk back.

  I glanced over and saw that Petra had her wand out and it was pointed at his chest. I held up a finger, signaling her to wait.

  The man moved past us and joined the other in the carriage.

  “Now,” I said quietly.

  We stepped to the doorway through which the man had entered. Right before we made our leap, the train slammed to a halt, throwing us against the inside of the vestibule. Luckily, our yelps of surprise and pain were covered by the groans of the train coming to a stop so violently.

  We picked ourselves up and jumped, hitting the ground and rolling for a few feet, but fortunately our magical tether held and we remained invisible. We settled down in the tall grass and peered about.

  The train sat motionless while blurred figures soared around it. We could see that all the windows in all of the carriages had been blown out in the search for us. That was actually a positive thing, as it showed they had no idea where on the train we had been.

  However, my good feeling lasted only a few moments.

  The two blokes in the blue uniforms who had been steering the train were hauled out by two men in suits and hats and dragged over to stand in front of the carriage we had been on.

  The two men who had been in our carriage stepped outside and walked over to stand in front of the others.

  The taller of the two twirled his wand in his hand as he surveyed the other chaps, who looked terrified. This was the bloke I had seen flying next to the carriage. When he took off his bowler hat I could see that he had straight dark hair, combed neatly around his head. His nose was long with not an imperfection on it. His mouth was but a slash of lips, cruel and remorseless. His eyes were so dark it was like looking at twin morta barrels.

  He ran a hand through his hair and replaced his hat. When he spoke, his voice was calm and quietly menacing. “You saw no one?”

  “No one, Mr. Endemen, sir,” said one of the train drivers, his voice quivering.

  Mr. Endemen? I thought. They called him sir, so he must be important.

  Endemen
replied, “Yet they were seen.”

  What did he mean that we were seen? We were invisible.

  Endemen continued smoothly. “A very tall young man with long dark hair? And a pretty young woman with long blond hair? A dog with one ear partially missing?”

  My heart sank. They must’ve seen the others while I had been down below with the late train. But his next words froze me.

  “And there was another. A woman. Even taller than the blond. Darker hair. She’s gangly and dirty.”

  I felt my face flush with anger.

  But then my knees went weak. How had anyone seen me?

  “We … we saw no one, sir,” stammered the same man.

  Endemen scrutinized him. “And, as per your duties, you did a thorough search of the train before you left the station? We’ve had stowaways before, as you well know.”

  The men in uniform gazed at each other. Though I couldn’t see their faces fully, I could only imagine the terror that was going through them.

  Endemen snapped his fingers.

  Instantly, six more blokes wearing suits and bowler hats appeared out of thin air and encircled the pair, wands out.

  “Well, we did a look-see in all the carriages,” said one of the men, his voice quite faint.

  Endemen smiled. “A look-see? Do you mean you walked through each carriage examining them thoroughly, or did you merely peek through the windows to see that everything was all right?”

  “Well, we hadn’t any reason to believe that —”

  He would never finish what he was saying.

  “Rigamorte,” said Endemen. The blast of black light hit the man full in the chest. He toppled forward and … just … died. Right there.

  I drew in a quick breath of air.

  His companion instantly dropped to his knees, his hands clasped together.

  “Please, sir, Mr. Endemen, we meant no harm. We was only —”

  “Rigamorte.”

  A moment later he joined his colleague on the ground, quite dead.

  Endemen looked down at the pair that he had just murdered. He had done so as though he were merely addressing a bothersome insect. There had been no hesitation, no buildup of anger, no … nothing. He just did it, like it was the most normal thing ever. As though the emotion needed to do so — which I found nearly impossible to conjure unless I, or someone I loved, was in mortal peril — was at the ready all the time. I couldn’t fathom how anyone could be that … cruel.

  He stroked his wand as though the twin acts of killing had pleased him and then slid it back into his inner coat pocket.

  Endemen looked around, which caused all of us to duck down farther in the grass.

  “We will search this entire area,” said Endemen. “From the air and the ground. We will find them.”

  He looked down at the two dead bodies. “Dispose of these, Creel,” he said to the shorter man standing next to him. “And as for the families, provide the standard evil Campions explanation. Appropriate compensation for their loss, any help we can convey, et cetera, et cetera. Be off with you.”

  “Yes, Mr. Endemen.”

  I felt my head whirling with new thoughts. The evil Campions?

  Creel pointed his wand downward at the bodies and mumbled something I didn’t catch. The two corpses were instantly bound in heavy blankets, with rope cinched tightly around them. Creel rose into the air and used his wand to direct the covered bodies to do the same. Then he was off in a flash of light.

  Endemen looked at the others, who were all dressed as he was: pin-striped suit, vest, tie, brown bowler hat, shiny shoes. And deadly wands.

  He said, “We will spread out. Half to the air, half down here. Keep the spell work to a minimum. Signal if you see anything. Wait for me before you kill. I want to ask some questions. Right, let’s get to it.”

  Since I knew this was coming, I had started leading the others away while the bodies were still being bound up by Creel.

  We silently lifted into the air and flew away as fast as I could manage. Petra was on the end, her wand pointed behind her at the group of evil sorcerers, who could fly fast and kill even faster. I knew if they spotted us, the fight would be a short one. We were no match at all for them.

  The image of the two frightened men tumbling to the dirt dead was still seemingly imprinted on my eyeballs. I doubted I would ever be free from it.

  As the partially destroyed train faded from view, I could hardly keep my mind from running away faster than the train had been going.

  Then suddenly I felt my wand point directly down, and a moment later that’s the direction we were headed too.

  Try as I might, there was nothing I could do.

  We were plummeting from the sky.

  And we were going to die.

  RIGHT BEFORE WE would have slammed into the ground, my wand pointed slightly upward and we landed hard, but safely. I looked up in time to see a half dozen forms heading our way. It was Endemen and his cohorts.

  My wand jerked toward the left and I felt myself being pulled to my feet by the power within it.

  With my wand pointing the way, we raced toward the thick woods.

  We reached the tree line and plunged into the welcome cover of the trunks and canopies. We ran until we could run no more. Then we stood, bent over, gasping for air. Even Harry Two was panting heavily.

  Slowly, we all straightened.

  I looked at Delph. He stared back at me. His features wore the same expression as mine:

  Terror.

  Petra broke the silence and said breathlessly, “Well, I think we truly found the bloody Maladons.”

  “What now, Vega Jane?” said Delph.

  I made us visible and said, “We need to find a place to hide out and regroup.”

  I was about to say something else when my wand jerked so violently to the left that I was nearly pulled off my feet. I had no way to stop it.

  I was jerked through more thick forest, over a knoll, down to a narrow stream and, once I forded it, the wand pulled me back into the thicket of trees.

  The others were hustling behind me, doing their best to keep up while my wand forced me along like a slep on a rope.

  I raced through still more trees, dodging thick trunks and bending low to avoid branches and tearing through bushes, which left me scratched and bloody. But still my wand pulled me on. I was exhausted and growing more and more scared with each lunge of my legs and heave of my chest.

  And then I cleared one last stand of trees and stopped dead.

  Because my wand was no longer pulling me along.

  It was simply pointing straight ahead.

  I was standing in front of an old, rambling house. It was a higgledy-piggledy mix of lichen-coated stone, aged brick and blackened wood. Its roof was made of mossy slate shingles of the kind that I had seen back in Wormwood. The windows were old and mullioned and the front door was stout oak with rusted iron bands across it. Half a dozen chimneys sprouted from its roof, but not a single one belched smoke. The place looked abandoned. The grounds around it were all grown over, neglected and full of weeds. A meandering stone path led from the edge of the grounds up to the front door.

  I was deciding whether to approach the house when, with a rush, Delph, Petra and Harry Two hurtled into the clearing to stand next to me.

  “What the bloody Hel, Vega Jane,” gasped Delph as he doubled over, sucking in air, his huge chest rising and falling erratically.

  Petra looked at me suspiciously. “Are you mental or what?” she snapped. “We thought you’d gone off your bleeding rocker taking off like that without a word.”

  Harry Two was staring at the house I’d just discovered. It seemed like his eyes were actually sparkling at the sight of it.

  “It was my wand. It … it had a mind of its own.” I pointed at the house. “It was leading me here,” I added.

  Delph straightened, saw the place and gaped.

  Petra gasped. “What is that thing?”

  “I don’t know.”

/>   “What do we do?” asked Delph.

  “I reckon we should go see what’s inside,” I said.

  “What if it’s full of the kinds of blokes that were back there by the train?” he said.

  “I don’t think it is, Delph,” I said. “This place looks like it’s been abandoned a long time.”

  “Well, that’s true enough,” he said, giving it a long look.

  “But what if those blokes happen upon it?” pointed out Petra. “They’ll find us. It’s bloody enormous. You can’t exactly miss it.”

  She had a point there.

  The next moment we heard behind us what we had all feared we would. Voices and footsteps.

  “Quick,” I snapped. I raced up the meandering stone path and to the front door.

  The others sprinted behind me.

  I saw with a quick glance that there was a brass plate bolted to the wall next to the door. On the plate was a word.

  EMPYREAN. I had no idea what that meant.

  “Vega Jane,” said Delph. “Let’s become invisible again before we go in.”

  “Good idea.” I turned the ring round and attached the magical tethers. We vanished from sight.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when the portal opened at my push. We all slipped through the door and I closed it quietly behind us.

  We eased over to one of the windows and anxiously peered out.

  Petra saw them first.

  “There,” she said in a low voice.

  From the left a man emerged from the woods. I caught a breath, for it was Endemen.

  He was immediately followed by two of his men. They all three had their wands out. Dressed in their immaculate suits with their bowler hats perched on their heads, they looked completely out of place strolling through the woods.

  But they weren’t strolling, I reminded myself. They were hunting us.

  And they would kill us if they found us.

  Although we were invisible, we automatically ducked down lower in the window as Endemen’s gaze passed over us.

  Endemen and his men were now within ten feet of the house.

  I turned to Petra. “When they come into the house, if they appear to know where we are, use the Impacto spell on the other two. But leave Endemen to me.”