Twelve and the Frozen Forest, page 16
‘I see,’ Oakhammer said, feigning surprise. ‘A blood feud. Someone hasn’t been paying attention to their Pledge. Well, what do you think of that, Six?’
Like a searchlight, Oakhammer’s attention slid off Twelve on to Six, leaving her feeling scorched and breathless. Dreams of revenge had driven her since her family died, but speaking them out loud left her feeling strangely empty, diminished. She turned away from the sensation, not wanting to examine it more closely.
‘I-I don’t know,’ said Six.
‘Yes, we come finally to the Boy Who Lies,’ Oakhammer said softly, his pleasure evident. ‘I’ve saved the best for last.’
Six was very pale and ramrod straight. She hated herself as soon as she acknowledged it, but a small part of Twelve was intrigued.
‘Why did you seek the Hunting Lodge, Boy Who Lies?’
Six took a deep breath and sighed it out before speaking. ‘My parents were killed too.’ He glanced at Twelve and she startled at the desperation there. ‘I didn’t feel there was a place in my clan without them, so I left and came to the lodge.’
‘Hmm.’ Oakhammer nodded thoughtfully. ‘I see. Why were your parents killed?’
‘Why?’ Six cried, unable to keep the anger from his voice. ‘How should I know? They were good people!’
‘Of course,’ Oakhammer murmured. ‘Well, perhaps you are in the same boat as Twelve; maybe your parents were murdered by the cave clan?’
‘I … no,’ Six muttered, his shoulders slumped.
‘How can you be so sure?’ Oakhammer asked silkily. ‘Starling’s whole village was wiped out. It sounds like they’re capable of anything. Were you there when they died?’
‘No.’
‘So how do you know it wasn’t the cave clan?’
The starlight was sparkling in Oakhammer’s eyes as he pinned Six with his gaze. Six said nothing, but the look he gave Twelve was full of fear and regret.
There was a little voice whispering in the back of Twelve’s mind: Six knew a lot about moonstones. The cave clan mined moonstones. And then there was that stupid, apologetic look he was giving her.
Blood roared in her ears as horror and disgust flooded her. Six who had saved her life. Six who had been good-humoured even when she was at her worst. Six who she’d begun thinking of as a friend. Cold fingers of despair gripped her by the throat and her breath juddered as she met his eye.
‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered. ‘But …’
‘Cave-creeper!’ Twelve hissed and her heart twisted violently in her chest. Six said nothing.
‘I’m not done with you, Boy Who Lies!’ Oakhammer’s inhuman voice silenced them.
‘I’m not answering any more of your questions!’ Six cried, his face like chalk.
‘Oh? But I thought we had an agreement?’ Oakhammer cocked an eyebrow and the earth at Twelve’s feet shifted. Roots sprang up to coil round her legs and drag her to her knees. Before she could even swing once with her axes, they were wrapped round her wrists and neck as well, wrenching her back into an impossible position until she could barely breathe.
‘Watch out, Starling,’ Oakhammer chuckled, ‘the cave clan might yet kill another member of your family.’
Six squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. ‘Stop it – leave her alone!’
‘With pleasure,’ Oakhammer smiled. ‘Once you have answered my last question.’
Six bowed his head in resignation.
‘Who is the girl you seek?’ Oakhammer asked.
‘Seven,’ Six said dully.
‘And what is she to you?’ Oakhammer’s eyes gleamed. ‘Why have you come after her?’
Six took a deep, shuddering breath and raised his gaze to meet Oakhammer’s. ‘She’s my sister,’ he said.
Five gave a yelp of surprise and Twelve closed her eyes in despair. It made perfect sense: all the times Six had pushed them to go faster, the fact that he’d avoided Seven at the lodge, but then tried to rescue her when she was taken. The pieces fitted together and Twelve was left with the ghastly realisation that she’d set out on a mission to rescue a cave-clan girl, had thought of a cave-clan boy as a friend. The wrongness of it sickened her.
Oakhammer laughed in delight. ‘Ah, it’s been many years since I’ve met such an ill-matched group!’
‘Twelve,’ Six whispered, trying to get her to look at him.
The roots binding Twelve and Foxpaw retreated. She stood up slowly.
‘Twelve,’ Six said again.
She wasn’t sure which of her swirling emotions would rise to the surface if she met Six’s eye so she hurried instead to Dog. He was still on the ground, dazed.
‘She’s your sister?’ Five asked numbly. ‘Why didn’t you tell me? You could have trusted me with that at least! I’ve followed you out here blindly, nearly died, and you obviously know far more about—’
‘Enough,’ Oakhammer creaked, his laughter fading. ‘I’ll keep my word and deliver you to the goblin stronghold so Boy Who Lies can rescue his precious sister. Or you can tear each other’s throats out, whichever you prefer.’
He smiled genially down on them and Twelve grabbed her axes where she’d dropped them. Before a conscious thought had formed in her mind, Foxpaw was beside her, restraining her with surprising strength.
‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered, his golden eyes swimming with tears. ‘He’s never been like this before. Like I said, the forest is changing. But please, if you want to live, control your temper.’
Ragged breaths shook her, but she managed a tiny nod.
‘Gather in front of me,’ Oakhammer boomed. ‘Moxie, stop your mutterings and Guardian, get up. You’re made of stone – there’s no need for you to be quivering on the ground like a pup.’
With a snarl, Dog staggered to his feet, leaning against Twelve so hard she nearly fell.
‘Good,’ Oakhammer purred as Surefoot ambled cautiously over to Six. ‘Now I will open my mouth and you will walk in.’
‘What?’ For a moment, the group were united in disbelief.
Above them, Oakhammer opened his mouth. Inside, the same shiny blackness as was in his eyes greeted them.
With a shudder, Five drew back. ‘You’ve got to be joking. You actually think we’re stupid enough to just walk into your mouth?’
Oakhammer didn’t answer. His mouth yawned wider and wider. His lower jaw unhinged like a snake’s and the gaping darkness slid down the broad trunk until it touched the ground in front of them.
‘I know it seems unusual, but he is telling the truth,’ Foxpaw stuttered, seeing none of them make a move towards the trunk. ‘I’ve travelled in this manner myself once. It’s not uncomfortable. You should hurry though; go, before his patience runs out.’ With herding motions, Foxpaw tried to get them to move towards the tree. All resisted him.
‘No,’ Five said simply. ‘This has gone far enough. You’re both liars and I’m not travelling a single step further with you. Not without trust.’
‘Trust?’ Six asked darkly, eyebrows raised, his mouth pressed into a line. Spots of high colour returned to Five’s cheeks.
‘Aaargh!’ Foxpaw cried, dancing from one foot to the other. ‘He’s closing the door – you must go now or never find your friend’s trail.’
Sure enough, in front of them, Oakhammer’s mouth was closing, his eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.
‘Forgive me,’ Foxpaw cried, ‘but I can’t let you waste this opportunity when you’ve come so far.’ He raised his hands, quickly sketched a bewildering profusion of patterns in the air, then shouted a word that slipped through Twelve’s senses and vanished. Before any of them could object, or even make a sound, the whole group was flung bodily into Oakhammer’s mouth, leaving Foxpaw alone in the Heart Grove.
Twelve tumbled through absolute darkness, her heart drumming a frantic rhythm. Desperately, she tried to find something to grab on to, but there was nothing. Then suddenly she was face down on the ground, her nose and mouth filling with powdery snow, Widge’s claws digging into her painfully.
A scream dragged her to her feet, her senses reeling. Six was on his knees a few paces in front of her, his shoulders shaking. Twelve staggered forward and froze, unable to comprehend what she saw.
The group were on a snow-covered ridge. In the distance, its red stone walls unmistakable, stood the Hunting Lodge.
Oakhammer had tricked them.
They were back where they’d started.
‘I … I don’t understand.’ Five’s face was a sickly white.
‘Oakhammer lied to us,’ Twelve snarled. ‘After all that, after …’ Her voice wobbled and she stopped speaking. Widge crept out of her furs. Even his whiskers were trembling.
Six was still on his knees, shaking his head silently.
Dog went to him. ‘Get up, Six,’ he said, his voice gentle. ‘Grab my fur.’ Six stood, as unsteady as a newborn frost-deer.
‘Are you all right?’ Dog asked, nudging him with his nose.
Six turned staring eyes on to the Guardian. ‘She’s gone, isn’t she?’ he whispered, desolate. ‘We’ll never find her now.’
Twelve ground her teeth and looked away. She reached up a hand to comfort Widge and tried to concentrate her thoughts on the frightened squirrel. She didn’t care about Six’s pain – she wouldn’t. A cave-clan boy and his sister. She hated them both. Murderers. She thought of Seven, how the girl’s smile had reminded her so much of Poppy. For a moment, their faces wavered, mingled. Twelve swallowed a rush of bile. Seven was not her friend, was not her sister. Rescuing her wouldn’t have changed a thing. If anything, it would have been a betrayal of her family, of their memories. Not that it mattered now anyway.
The group stood in silence for a long time. Overhead, the sun dipped and the temperature began to drop. It was only then that Dog stirred.
‘We must return to the lodge,’ he said heavily, turning to look at the others.
‘What? No!’ Six cried, looking up. His movements were suddenly quick and eager. He rushed to Surefoot. ‘We just have to go back to the forest!’ he gabbled. ‘We’ll follow the tracks and find another way to pick up the trail again. Maybe we can …’
He trailed off when he saw Five shaking his head. ‘No,’ Five said. His voice was very quiet, shaking with suppressed emotion. ‘I won’t do it. By the frost, I won’t go through that again for you. I thought we were friends. I thought you trusted me, but you’ve kept so much back. I almost died, Six! Would you even have cared?’
‘Trust,’ Six said, his fingers knotting themselves in Surefoot’s fur. ‘That’s the second time you’ve mentioned that. Where was your trust of me? You should have told me how you felt about me.’
‘Why?’ Five asked. ‘What difference would it have made?’ His voice twisted as he glanced at Twelve. ‘Oakhammer used her instead of me. That makes everything clear.’
Twelve shifted, uncomfortable despite herself. ‘What?’
Five was breathing hard. ‘When he was forcing answers out of me, he threatened Six to make me talk. But, when he was questioning Six, he threatened you. Not me.’
The jealousy was unmistakable and Twelve laughed humourlessly. Five’s fury spilled over. ‘And you, Twelve! You’re no better. You’ve lied to everyone at the Hunting Lodge, stolen food and training from those who actually want to be Hunters and believe in the work they do. You disgust me.’
‘I really don’t care what you think of me,’ Twelve said, lacing her voice with as much venom as she could manage. Her anger burned hot inside her.
‘Stop it, both of you!’ Six cried. ‘Oakhammer played us off against one another. We’re letting him win.’
‘I’m fine with that,’ Twelve said. ‘I’d rather he won than you.’
‘What does that even mean?’ Six asked shakily.
‘Stop this,’ Dog growled, trying to step between them. Twelve darted round him.
‘Do I really need to spell it out?’ she hissed. ‘You’re cave clan. Your kind killed my whole family, murdered my village even down to the animals. It took me three days to bury them all. Three days of mud and sweat, of blood I wished was mine. Three days of fending off carrion crows. Do you really think I would have tried to rescue Seven if I’d known she was one of them? No! I hope she’s already dead.’
A sickened silence fell. Twelve wanted to take the terrible words back, but they’d already flown, more destructive than anything her axes could do.
She saw a deep shudder run through Six and, when he spoke, his voice trembled with emotion. ‘How can you say that? She’s still the same person you knew. She gave you Widge.’
Twelve couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. Widge was like a statue on her shoulder.
‘Give me her moonstone,’ Six said, his voice harsher now, his breathing ragged. ‘She made a mistake giving it to you.’
‘The moonstone is Seven’s?’ Five asked wonderingly.
Surprise mingled with shame as Twelve pulled the stone from her pocket and half flung it at Six, startled at the wrench she felt to let it go. Its light had been a reassuring certainty for the last few days.
‘Yes, it’s hers,’ Six snarled, snatching it up and cradling it.
‘Another thing you could have told me,’ Five said coldly, recovering his composure. ‘Exactly how much more is there that you’ve kept to yourself? Do you know why she was taken?’
‘What does it matter now?’ Six asked bitterly.
‘You do know!’ Five exclaimed, his voice rising to a shout. ‘And you didn’t see fit to share it with us? Quite happy to use us, but clearly no need to trust us!’ He shook his head and wrapped his arms round himself, his misery obvious.
‘Six?’ Dog asked, turning to him, a dangerous light in his eye. ‘Is this true?’
‘The Hunters don’t even let us keep our names!’ Six cried, his eyes wild. ‘You think they’d let me keep my sister?’
A salt-stained memory snatched at Twelve: Elder Hoarfrost, true to his name, unmoved by her pleas and tears as he carried her father’s axes away. She shook herself furiously.
‘Seven insisted we had to go to the Hunting Lodge together,’ Six said. ‘I begged her to choose somewhere else, but she said no. She must have known this was going to happen, but she never said anything. She gave her moonstone to Twelve and I don’t understand why!’
The blank look on Five’s face gave way to doubt, then outright confusion. ‘How could she have known this was going to happen?’
Twelve felt sure her expression mirrored Five’s and Dog’s. She tried to tell herself she didn’t care, that none of this mattered, but her curiosity burned bright.
‘I don’t know!’ Six threw up his hands and groaned. ‘It’s … it’s hard to explain. She just knows things.’
‘You really need to do better than that,’ Five hissed, his anger barely in check.
‘All right,’ Six said, rubbing a hand across his face. ‘It … it started when she was little. Sometimes she would have these dreams that came true. As she grew, it became more complicated though. Instead of simple outcomes, she saw paths, routes to possible futures and all the ways that led to them. Now she sees them everywhere, in everything, even when she’s awake.’
Twelve tried to make sense of what Six was saying and failed miserably. Beside her, Dog was stiff and still. ‘She can see the future?’ he asked eventually.
‘Yes,’ Six said, burying his face in his hands and drawing a shaky breath.
Something clicked into place for Twelve. ‘That’s why they took her,’ she said, finding a dark satisfaction in the mystery being solved.
Five whistled softly. ‘That is quite a power.’ He stiffened suddenly. ‘Wait, that is a power!’ he said again, his eyes wide as they sought Six’s face. ‘Something like that … doesn’t it make her a witch?’
Goosebumps broke out on Twelve’s arms and she scratched Widge’s ears, more to comfort herself than him.
‘I don’t know,’ Six said sadly. ‘Our cave paintings tell us that Icegaard always claims a witch born into the clans. We waited and waited, but no one came. After our parents were murdered, Seven said we had to come to the lodge. She never said why though, and she never said anything about this happening.’ His voice shook.
‘I never even saw you speak to each other,’ Five said wonderingly. Some of the tension had left his shoulders.
Six shivered. ‘We didn’t. We said goodbye before we got to the lodge, then I went ahead so we wouldn’t arrive together. We knew we’d have to do a convincing job of not knowing each other and the easiest way was to avoid one another completely.’
An unexpected anger fizzed through Twelve. Seven had always seemed so alone – the other students had mocked her, laughed at her, and the only person who knew her, her own brother, had ignored her. He’d even let his best friend pick on her.
‘So, this is how the cave clan looks after its own?’ Twelve said coldly. ‘That explains a lot.’
A vein pulsed in Six’s neck. ‘You don’t know anything about us,’ he growled. ‘And you’re not the only one to have lost people. My parents were murdered for nothing. Nothing. Just because of our clan. They weren’t even robbed, just left in the dirt like rubbish.’ His breathing grew ragged. ‘All the clans hate us, and because of what? Stupidity, that’s what. Fear based on ignorance and history hundreds of years old.’
His lip curled as he stared at Twelve. ‘Look at you: a few hours ago, we were friends. I’m still the same person, but now you hate me because you know I’m cave clan. And you think I’m the monster?’ He shook his head in disgust.
‘Monster?’ Blood was pounding in Twelve’s ears. ‘Not a monster,’ she said carefully, picking the words that would cut the deepest. ‘Just a terrible brother.’
A sharp intake of breath. ‘I’m a better brother than you were a sister.’
Twelve felt her fist hit Six’s cheek hard, saw the moonstone fly from his hand. His fingers raked her face, trying to push her off as she flung herself at him. Widge squealed and darted away as Twelve rained blow after blow on to any soft part of Six she could reach, cursing the furs that were protecting him. A fist came out of nowhere, connecting solidly to her jaw, and her head snapped back.
