Abarat - Barker Clive. Страница 55

"We have to get out of here!" Candy said.

Malingo was still staring at the stones, which were rattling together.

"Where's the glyph, Malingo?" :

"That's an eye on legs!"

"Yes. I know. Malingo. Where's the glyph?"

He pointed back down the beach, without looking at where he was pointing. She followed his finger, and yes, there was the craft, lying on the stones. It was overturned, but at least it looked to be intact. The impact of striking the wall of the Twenty-Fifth hadn't smashed it to smithereens.

"Come on!" she said to Malingo, pulling on his arm again. He didn't move, however. The strange life-forms on the stones had him entranced.

"We can't wait around here," Candy said. "Or we're dead."

The rocks were being rolled aside now—the smaller ones thrown into the air—as the Fugit Brothers prepared to make their entrance.

"I never saw anything like that before," Malingo said, his voice filled with fascination.

"Can we please go ?"

Before they could take a step however, a dark voice rose from the crevices between the rocks.

"You won't escape us, Candy Quackenbush ," said one of the brothers.

"Not will your flap-eared friend ," said his sibling.

The sound of the Fugits' voices punctured Malingo's curiosity. Now it was he who backed away from the spot where the rocks were shaking.

"You're right," he said to Candy. "We should go."

"Finally."

There was no more hesitation. The two of them raced together over the slimy stones toward the beached glyph.

"Let's just hope it still works," Candy said to Malingo, as they ran.

"What do we do if it doesn't?"

"I don't know," Candy said grimly. "We'll worry about that if it happens."

They had reached the vehicle now, and they instantly got to work pushing it back into an upright position. Something rattled as the glyph rocked back into place, which didn't sound particularly optimistic.

"Get in!" Candy said.

As Malingo slipped into his seat, Candy dared a momentary glance along the beach. One of the brothers—Candy didn't know whether it was Julius or Tempus—had now dug himself clear of the stones. But there was no sign of the other. Still, she thought, one of them could do plenty of damage.

He started to stride along the beach toward Candy and Malingo, pointing toward them as he did so.

"You will not leave this island !" he yelled as he approached. "Do you hear me? You will not leave ."

Even as he spoke he proceeded to pick up his speed, his stride quickly breaking into a run.

Now it was Malingo who was urging Candy to get into the glyph. "Hurry!" he said.

Candy put one foot into the glyph.

As she lifted her other leg, an arm was thrust up out of the stones beside the glyph and seized hold of her calf.

She let out a yelp of shock. The stones rolled away as the second Fugit Brother pushed himself out of the ground, using Candy to haul himself up.

"Hold her, Brother Julius! " Tempus yelled as he came racing down the beach.

"Help me!" Candy yelled to Malingo.

She reached down and tried to unknot Julius' fingers, but his grip was cold and strong.

Malingo put both his arms around Candy and pulled hard on her. Desperation gave him strength. Candy's clothes tore, and Fugit's grasping hands were left holding two pieces of shredded fabric.

Freed of the monster's grip, Candy looked straight down into Julius' face. His crawling features had assembled now. His eyes were wide and hungry. His mouth wore the contented smile of a hunter who believed he had his prey trapped.

"You're not going anywhere ," he said, and reached up to catch hold of Candy again. Without hesitation she put her foot down on the middle of Julius' face, putting all her weight behind it. The creature let out a cry of rage and frustration, and slipped back down into the darkness.

Tempus, meanwhile, was no more than twenty strides away, racing over the stones.

"Halt," he yelled. "Both of you. Halt !"

Candy ignored him. She climbed back into the glyph, her thoughts entirely focused on the next challenge: getting the craft into the air.

"What are the words?" she said to Malingo.

"Nio Kethica."

"Of course. That's it."

Candy took a deep breath and closed her eyes, picturing the glyph rising into the air. Then she spoke the words: "Nio Kethica ."

The response from the glyph was instantaneous. The vehicle's engine made a strangled choking sound, and for a moment it seemed the craft was going to ascend. It rocked and shuddered, but unfortunately there was no upward movement. Candy looked up. Tempus was getting closer by the moment.

"Nio Kethica!" she said again. "Come on, glyph! Nio Kethica !"

There was more noise from the craft's engine, but it wasn't promising.

"It's a lost cause!" Malingo said, his eyes on the approaching Fugit Brother. "We should get away—"

Before he could finish, Julius Fugit made another lunge from the hole beside the glyph. He failed to catch hold of Candy, but his hands seized the craft. The vehicle started to tip over. Candy let out a yell as she slid from her seat toward Julius' grinning face.

Malingo caught hold of her arm and pulled her back, scrambling to get them both out of the craft. As he did so, Candy tried one last cry of "Nio Kethica !" in the hope of awakening the glyph's engine. But it didn't work.

"Come on!" Malingo yelled, hauling her over the side of the toppling machine. He was just in time. As Candy stumbled backward into Malingo's arms the glyph fell over, trapping Julius Fugit beneath its weight.

"Help me, brother !" Julius yelled.

Tempus was two or three strides away. "I'm coming for you, brother !" he yelled, and threw himself on the craft, tearing at its decaying structure to reach his sibling.

"Don't make me wait, Brother Tempus!"

"I'm doing the best I can."

"I'm sure you are, brother. I'm sure you are."

"We're in trouble…" Malingo murmured to Candy.

He was right. It would take Tempus only a minute or two to free his brother, then the two of them would come in pursuit of their quarry with fresh zeal. And where were Candy and Malingo to go? The beach offered nothing by way of hiding places, and they couldn't outrun the Fugit Brothers for very long.

Candy shook her head in desperation.

"It can't end this way," she said to herself.

For all the grimness of their prospects, she couldn't believe it was all going to end here. After the journeys she'd taken, and the visions she'd seen she couldn't die on a deserted beach at the hands of a couple of crazy brothers. It wasn't right! She knew in her heart that she had more journeying to do, more visions to see. Wasn't that why the three women had allowed her that glimpse into the mysteries of her life before she was even born? They were preparing her for something, telling her to be ready to solve some major secrets.

The Fugit Brothers weren't going to put a stop to all that. She wasn't going to let them.

"It can't end here," she said aloud.

"What can't?" Malingo replied.

"Our lives. Us." Malingo looked startled by the fierceness in her voice, and in her eyes. "I won't let it ."

She'd no sooner spoken than a breath of wind came from off the sea, as though it were somehow answering her heartfelt plea. The gust cooled the sweat on Candy's face.

Despite everything, she managed a smile.

"We'd better start running," Malingo said. He pointed back toward the glyph.

The Fugit Brothers were now clear of the glyph's wreckage and were coming toward Candy and Malingo. Their features were on the move again, their grinning mouths racing around their faces like runners circling a track.

"Our friends appear to have nowhere left to run, Brother Tempus."

"So it would seem, Brother Julius. So it would seem."

There was another gust of wind from the sea, and its coolness made Candy unglue her gaze from the approaching assassins and chance a look toward the water. The wind had thinned the colorless mist that hung over the waves. And through it came a patch of bright red.

Red.

"A boat!" Candy yelled.

"What?"

"Look! A boat!"

The mist parted, and a simple little vessel, with a single mast and much mended sail, came into view. It had neither captain nor passengers.

"Ha !" said Malingo. "Will you look at that?"

They raced down to the water and strode into the mild surf. The wind was coming in stronger and still stronger gusts. It filled the patchwork sail until the ropes creaked under the strain.

"Get in!" Candy said to Malingo. "Quickly! In !"

"But the wind's just blowing the boat back to shore!" Malingo said. "Back to them!"

The Fugit Brothers had followed them down to the water's edge. They too had read the direction of the wind, and had apparently decided they had no need to get their feet wet. All they had to do was wait. The boat would come to them.

Candy glanced back at them as a large wave came in, wetting her all the way up to her neck. She let out a little yelp of shock, much to the amusement of the brothers.

"Please," she said to Malingo. "Just get in. Have a little faith."

"In what?"

"In me."

Malingo stared at her for a moment, then shrugged and clambered in a rather ungainly fashion into the boat. Candy stole a moment to offer up a little prayer to the women of the Fantomaya. Surely it had been they who'd sent the boat. But what was the use of a boat without the right wind?

"Help me ," she murmured.

And as she spoke the sail of the boat snapped like a flag in the wind, and Candy looked up to see the women—all three of them—standing in the boat. It was a vision intended for her eyes only, it seemed. Neither the Fugit Brothers nor Malingo responded to the sight.

Malingo offered his hand to Candy. She caught hold of it, and he hauled her onboard.

She had no sooner set foot on the timbers of the little boat than Diamanda lifted her hands into the air. They were clenched tight, Candy saw. White-knuckled fists.

"Travel safely ," the old lady said.