Grip of the Shadow Plague

Page 20

"I don't think you'll turn evil," Seth said.
"You have a reason?"
"Newel didn't behave like himself," Seth said. "He was out of control. But Coulter acted calm. He seemed normal, except for being a shadow."
"Coulter may just be more devious than Newel," Tanu said. "He might have pounced on us if we'd given him the chance." Tanu held up his arm. The area from his wrist to his elbow was lost in shadow. "It's spreading faster." Sweat beaded on his forehead. He sat down heavily on the deck stairs.
Across the lawn, Seth saw Grandpa Sorenson emerge from the woods. Behind him came Dale, and then Hugo giving Grandma a ride on his shoulder. "Grandpa!" Seth called. "Tanu got hurt!"
Grandpa turned and said something inaudible to Hugo. The golem picked him up, steadied Grandma, and loped across the lawn. Dale ran along behind. Hugo set Seth's grandparents down beside the deck. Tanu raised his injured arm.
"What happened?" Grandpa asked.
Tanu recounted the incident with Newel, telling how the satyr had changed, how he had attacked them, how they had gotten away, and how the injury looked shadowy to Seth. Grandma knelt by Tanu, inspecting his arm.
"A single bite did this?" she asked.
"It was a big bite," Seth said. "Small injuries from nipsies were enough to transform Newel," Tanu said.
"How are you feeling?" Grandma asked.
"Feverish." The shadow had cloaked all of his hand except the fingertips and was also spreading up his arm. "I don't think I have much time. I'll give Coulter your best."
"We'll do all we can to restore you," Grandpa promised. "Try to resist any evil inclinations."
"I'll give you two thumbs up if you can trust me," Tanu said. "I'll try with everything I have not to deceive you with that gesture. Can you think of a better way to prove I'm still on your side?"
"I can't think of much else you could do," Grandpa said.
"He'll have to stay out of the sun," Seth said. "It's painfully cold to him."
"The sun didn't appear to affect Newel?" Grandma asked.
"No," Seth said.
"Nor did it slow the fairies who came after Seth," Grandpa said. "Tanu, stay on the deck until sundown. Confer with Coulter when he arrives."
"Later, if I can hang on to my wits, I'll explore the preserve, see what I can find," Tanu mumbled, his mouth twisted into a grimace. "Did you learn anything from Nero?"
"We found him injured on the floor of the ravine, pinned beneath a heavy log," Grandpa said. "Apparently he had been set upon by dark dwarfs. They stole his seeing stone and much of his treasure. He couldn't tell us how the plague originated. The injuries he had sustained did not appear to be transforming him in any way. Hugo moved the log and Nero was able to scramble back up to his lair."
Tanu began breathing heavily, eyes squeezed shut, sweat trickling down his face. His entire arm was lost in shadow. "Sorry to hear... it was a bust," he wheezed. "Better... get inside... just in case."
Grandpa placed a reassuring hand on Tanu's healthy shoulder. "We'll get you back. Good luck." He stood up. "Hugo, I want you in the barn standing guard over Viola. Be ready to come if we call."
The golem strode away toward the barn. Dale patted Tanu's good shoulder. Grandpa led the others into the house, leaving Tanu groaning on the deck steps.
"Can't we do anything for him?" Seth asked, peeking out the window.
"Not to prevent what is happening," Grandma said. "But we won't rest until we get Tanu and Coulter back."
Dale busied himself examining Mendigo's fractured arm.
"Did you see any darkened creatures on your way to Nero?" Seth asked.
"Not one," Grandpa said. "We kept to paths and moved quickly. I didn't realize how fortunate we were until now. If we determine that we can trust Tanu and Coulter, we may attempt a final excursion in the morning before sunrise. If not, it may be time to consider abandoning Fablehaven until we can return armed with a plan."
"Don't ignore help from Tanu and Coulter just because you need me there in order to see them," Seth pleaded. "Like it or not, I must take that into consideration," Grandpa said. "I'll not place you in jeopardy."
"If I'm the only one who can see them, maybe it means there is something only I can do to help them," Seth reasoned. "There may be more important reasons for having me come than simply as a means to follow them. It may be our only hope for success."
"I won't rule it out," Grandpa said.
"Stan!" Grandma said reproachfully.
Grandpa turned to face her, and her expression softened.
"Did you wink at her?" Seth asked. "Are you just trying to shut me up?"
Grandpa regarded Seth with an amused expression. "You get more perceptive every day."
Chapter Eleven
The Old Pueblo
Gavin joined Kendra in the entry hall toting a wooden spear with a head crafted from black stone. Despite the primitive design, the weapon looked sleek and dangerous, the head affixed securely, the tip and edges sharp. Still, Kendra wondered why he preferred the spear to a more modern weapon.
Kendra wore sturdy boots and a hooded poncho over her fresh, dry clothes. "Expect we'll see any mammoths?" she asked.
Gavin grinned, hefting the spear. "You weren't with us yesterday, so you didn't hear all the details. Technically, the mesa isn't part of the preserve. It's older. Untamable. The t-t-treaty that founded this preserve won't protect us while we're up there. Rosa said that only weapons fashioned by the people who used to live on Painted Mesa are of any use against the creatures we'll encounter. This spear is more than a thousand years old. They use special treatments to keep it like new."
"Did the others have to use weapons last time?" Kendra asked.
"Supposedly not," Gavin said. "They took them, but made it to the vault with no problem. The trouble came when they reached the dragon. But I worry that things may have changed since last time. The path they used has vanished. Plus, there was a disturbing weight to the air when we tried to climb the mesa yesterday. Honestly, I think you should back out of this, Kendra."
Kendra felt like she was back at Fablehaven earlier in the summer, when Coulter refused to include her on certain excursions with Seth simply because she was a girl. Her hesitations about scaling the mesa suddenly fled. "How do you expect to find the stairs without me?"
"I don't mind you guiding us to the bottom of the stairs," Gavin said. "But if we can't climb them without you, maybe we don't have any business being up there."
Kendra took a slow breath. "Even though I'm the only one who can find the way up, you somehow think you belong on the mesa more than I do?"
"I don't mean it as an insult," he said, holding up his free hand. "I just suspect you haven't had much combat training." He twirled the spear casually, making it swish through the air.
"That would look really nifty in a parade," Kendra said flatly. "You're sweet to worry." With no particular training, hadn't she led fairies in an assault that captured a powerful demon? Hadn't she helped Warren retrieve the artifact from the vault at Fablehaven? What had Gavin done?
Gavin fixed her with an intense stare and spoke with conviction. "You think I'm a dumb teenage boy spouting off about girls having no business on an adventure. Not so. I'm worried about whether I'll survive. I would hate to see you get hurt. Kendra, I insist you tell Warren you would rather stay behind."
Kendra could not resist laughing. The surprise on his face, the way he went from so intense to so unsure, only added fuel to the fire. It took a moment to regain the power of speech. Gavin looked so crushed that she wanted to reassure him. "Okay, I was being sarcastic before, but you really are sweet. I appreciate the sentiment. I'm scared too-part of me would love to follow your advice. But I won't be going into the vault, just camping on the mesa with Neil. I wouldn't do this just for kicks. I think it's worth the risk."
Tammy entered the hall wearing a lightweight hooded jacket and carrying a tomahawk. She had tightened the hood so that only her eyes, nose, and mouth were visible. "I can't believe we're hiking up a waterfall," she said. "The trail was tiring enough."
"You didn't see anything on top of the mesa last time?" Kendra asked.
"We saw something," Tammy corrected her. "Something big. It had at least ten legs and it rippled when it moved. But it never came too close. The mesa shouldn't be a problem. I'm worried about negotiating some of those traps again, though."
Warren, Neil, Dougan, Hal, and Rosa came down the hall to the door. Dougan held a bulky stone axe. Warren carried a spear.
Hal sauntered over to Kendra, thumbs hooked in the belt loops of his jeans. "You're really going to lead these nutcases up the mesa?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Reckon I could lend you this." He held out a stone knife in a buckskin sheath.
"I'd rather she went weaponless, like Neil," Warren said.
Hal scratched his mustache. "Neil does have a talent for staying alive. Live by the sword, die by the sword, is that it? Might not be a bad idea." He tucked the knife away.
"We only have climbing gear for five," Warren announced. "I'll ascend at the rear without a harness, just keeping hold of the rope."
"You have the key?" Rosa asked.
Dougan patted his backpack. "Wouldn't be much use to reach the top without it."
"We should get under way," Neil recommended.
Outside, rain continued to drizzle. Neil drove the Jeep with Kendra, Warren, and Tammy. Dougan followed in the truck with Gavin as copilot. Windshield wipers swaying hypnotically, the Jeep sloshed through puddles and occasionally fishtailed in the mud. At one point, Neil gunned the engine and they roared through a stream, water spraying up from both sides of the Jeep like wings. They approached the mesa from a less direct route than before, winding more, and not climbing as steeply. The drive took almost twice as long.
At length they stopped in the same flat, boulder-strewn area where they had parked earlier. Neil cut the engine and killed the headlights. Everyone exited the vehicles and shouldered their gear. Warren, Dougan, and Gavin turned on large waterproof flashlights.
"You see the stairs?" Dougan asked Kendra, squinting into the rainy darkness.
"Barely," Kendra said. She actually discerned the Flooded Stairs more clearly than she admitted, but wanted to avoid making it obvious that she could see in the dark.
They picked their way forward over wet rocks, looping around several depressions where water had pooled. Part of Kendra wondered why they bothered avoiding the water, considering the climb they were about to undertake. The hood of her poncho magnified the patter of the rainfall.
As they neared the fissure at the foot of the stairs, Kendra found herself beside Neil. "What happens if the rain stops while we're on the stairway?" she asked.
"Truthfully, I have no idea. I would like to think the stairs will persist while we remain on them. We should probably hurry just in case."
Warren helped Kendra into a harness, tightened some straps, and wound a rope through some metal clasps. Once they were all linked together, Kendra led the others along the narrow shelf between the cliff and the fissure.
"Don't focus on the stairs," Neil instructed the others. "Put your attention on following the person in front of you. It may take some effort."
Kendra stepped into the rushing water at the base of the stairs and started climbing. The boots gave her better footing than the tennis shoes she had worn earlier. As the steps became steeper, it became impossible to ascend without using her hands. Her sleeves and pant legs became soaked. The rushing water made each step forward feel unstable.
After at least a hundred stairs, they reached the first landing. Kendra turned and looked down, shocked by how much steeper the ascent looked from this perspective than it had felt as she climbed. If she fell, she would undoubtedly tumble all the way down the crude stone stairway, and her corpse would be washed away into the fissure. She backed away from the edge, fearful of hurtling down the most painful waterslide of her life.
Kendra turned. Ahead, the water fell straight for about a hundred feet before noisily splashing on the landing. The stairs became as steep as a ladder, rising to the side of the cascade.
Kendra guided the others forward and started mounting the steepest steps yet, trying to ignore the sound and spray of the waterfall beside her. No stair was wide enough to place her entire sole on it, and the steps were often separated by more than two feet. She moved cautiously upward, always keeping her hands on a higher step as she climbed, the aroma of wet stone filling her nostrils. She concentrated on nothing but the next step, ignoring the void behind her, ignoring the thought of slipping and peeling everyone off the stairs with her. The wind picked up, blowing her hood back and making her long hair flutter like a banner. Her arms trembled with fear and exertion.
Why had she volunteered for this? She should have listened to Gavin. He had tried to give her an out, but pride had prevented her from considering it.
She reached for the next step, got the best hold she could, lifted her right foot, and then her left foot. She pretended that she was only a few feet off the ground as she repeated the tiring process.
At last Kendra reached the top of the waterfall and another broad ledge. Neil boosted himself up behind her. Looking up, there remained a long distance to climb. She denied the impulse to look back or down.