The Shadow Project, page 20
“Djinn!” Michael breathed.
“What do we do now?” Danny asked nobody in particular.
“Hold our ground,” Opal said grimly.
“In case you hadn’t noticed, they have swords and we don’t,” Danny said. “We don’t have any weapons. Plus, there are a lot more of them than there are of us.”
“What you see, it’s not what you think!” Michael shouted. But then the first of the djinn were on them.
Instinctively Danny stepped between the first attacker and his Nan, but then the rest were upon them and he had no time at all to do anything except fight for his life. The nearest djinn swung his sword in a high, sweeping arc aimed at Danny’s head. But Danny dropped to one knee as the sword whistled past, then bounced up again like a rubber ball and kicked out hard at the djinn’s right leg. For an instant he was seized by the horrifying thought that the djinn might not be solid, that it might be a creature of smoke like the thing that came out of Aladdin’s lamp, but his foot connected with a satisfying thud—and the djinn, caught badly off balance, went down heavily.
Danny glanced around, still looking for Dorothy, but he was in the middle of a melee now, a jumble of moving, thrusting bodies, and was unable to see any of his friends. Two of the djinn closed in to grab him, but Danny was smaller and more agile than either of them and dodged aside. From his new position he caught a glimpse of Opal, who was surrounded by sword-swinging djinn yet moving with such fluid grace that none of them seemed able to lay a finger on her. She was so beautiful that Danny felt a pang of jealousy about Michael, not that a knight’s daughter was likely to look twice at Danny anyway. But then the moment passed and he was fighting for his life again.
He struck two more of the djinn, fighting low and dirty, and had the satisfaction of seeing them go down. He was still desperate to find his Nan, make sure she was all right, but more and more djinn were piling into the fray. Why had Nan told them to hold their ground? It would have made more sense to run from this lot, run fast. But too late for that now.
He heard the singing whistle of a sword just before it struck him in the upper arm, cutting deep. Danny screamed and clapped his free hand to the wound, as blood seeped through his fingers. The pain was mind-numbing. He twisted away as his assailant drew back his scimitar for a second blow. Then he saw Dorothy, down on one knee, trying desperately to protect her head with both hands. A djinn stood over her, sword upraised. Despite his wound, Danny hurled himself forward and head-butted the creature in the stomach. To his satisfaction, it jackknifed forward and dropped its sword.
“I’m getting you out of here!” he gasped at his Nan and seized her arm. His grip made bloody fingerprints on her skin.
Dorothy staggered to her feet, and now he could see she too was injured: there was a gash across one side of her face. He tried to pull her away from the battle zone, but they were surrounded now and the djinn were closing in. From somewhere beyond the sea of waving swords, he heard Opal scream.
Then, out of nowhere, Michael was beside him, miraculously wielding a captured sword. “Call the bats!” he shouted.
Danny looked at him stupidly. “What?”
“Call the bats!” Michael repeated. He was actually fencing with the djinn, and doing it well. They fell back, leaving a space around the beleaguered trio.
The bats? “I can’t!” Danny shouted. His eyes darted from djinn to djinn in panic.
“Yes, you can! You’ve already done it once!” Michael shouted back. “I’ll hold them off until you do.”
Why did he want the bats? Danny spun around, dragging his Nan along with him. The djinn may have fallen back, but they were still surrounded. Oh, God, Danny thought. He closed his eyes and tried to call the bats, but there was no way he could concentrate.
“Hurry, Danny!” Michael shouted.
A black-bearded djinn dashed forward and snatched Dorothy out of Danny’s grasp. “Nan!” Danny screamed. A blood mist of fury swept across his vision. He wanted a sword desperately. Something seemed to snap inside his head.
The bats came. They flew out of Danny’s mind in a rustling, squeaking cloud, hundreds, thousands more of them than had ever appeared before. They swarmed like giant bees.
The djinn vanished. It was like some mad conjuring trick. One minute they were there, the next the rocky landscape was empty. Even the bats were gone. Danny grabbed for his Nan and hugged her. The slash on her face was gone. He glanced at his own arm and found it completely healed. Opal was walking toward them, also unharmed, a look of relief on her face.
“What you see, it isn’t what you think,” Michael said, and smiled broadly.
After a moment Danny said, “What happens now?”
Michael’s smile faded. “I suppose now we brave the Shenlu Chamber in that cave.”
“After you,” said Danny quickly.
Michael gave a Gallic shrug and walked toward the cave mouth.
61
Michael, the Shenlu Chamber
Michael found himself back in the courtyard of his father’s clinic, his stomach knotted with dread. It was morning time, but the lines of sick people had already formed, some standing, some squatting, all waiting patiently. Michael saw the young woman and the blind boy, just where he remembered them that day so long ago. Suleiman was there as well, standing by Michael’s side. “There he is now,” Suleiman said.
Mansa Konkon looked just as he remembered too—small, thin, sinister, unsmiling. There was the same sudden silence as he walked into the yard.
“Are you ready?” Suleiman asked, as if it mattered whether Michael was ready or not. His time had come now, and there was no escape.
Michael thought it might happen as it happened before, but instead of walking to the boy, Konkon walked directly toward Michael. “I have come for you,” Konkon said. He reached out and gripped Michael’s arm at the wrist. His fingers looked like the talons of a bird.
The young woman screamed.
Michael’s insides turned to water. He wanted to pull away and run, but could not work his body. “Father,” he whispered, his voice no more than a croak.
“Your father can’t help you now,” the Tuareg Suleiman told him.
From the transistor radio, the voice of Papa Konare said, “Nothing can help you now.”
“Except…,” Suleiman added. He stared casually upward into the cloudless sky.
As happened before, Michael’s father, Abégé Potolo, strode from the building. “Stop that!” he commanded. “Stop that at once! Ce garçon est mon fils.”
Michael felt a flooding of relief. This boy is my son. His father would rescue him whatever Suleiman said. But Konkon was shaking his head. “Not yours,” he said, “but mine.”
“Ah,” said Michael’s father, and walked away.
“You must kill Konkon yourself,” said Suleiman matter-of-factly.
“I can’t,” Michael whispered. He had never, ever felt so afraid.
“You can’t,” Konkon confirmed. He smiled then for the first time, and Michael could see that he had filed his teeth to points so that they were like the fangs of a serpent. Konkon pulled his sorcerer’s bone from his pocket.
“You must kill him before he kills you,” Suleiman said.
“I can’t,” Michael repeated. His body was still paralyzed by fear.
Strangely, it was Konkon who said, “You must conquer your fear.” Or perhaps it was the voice of Papa Konare or Uncle Hector or his father.
None of them understood, of course. They thought he was afraid of Konkon. But Michael wasn’t afraid of Konkon: he was afraid of what he had to do to defeat Konkon.
“If you don’t do it,” said Suleiman, “you will die.”
As Michael’s father reached the door of his clinic, he called back over his shoulder, “If you don’t do it, Opal may die too.”
Konkon smiled his serpent’s smile and raised the bone.
From somewhere a woman’s voice shouted a long drawn-out “Noooonnn!”
The thought of Opal dying turned Michael’s blood to ice. Somehow he fought his fear and raised his right hand as if warding off a blow. Konkon shrieked once, dropped the bone, and slapped his neck to swat the creature that appeared there. Then the little sorcerer slid down to the ground, spasmed, and lay still.
“You are sohanti,” Suleiman whispered triumphantly in Michael’s ear as the sun began to darken and the scene around them faded.
62
Opal, the Shenlu Chamber
Opal glanced at Dorothy, then stepped into the cave.
Michael was squatting on the floor of the cavern, a wary look on his face. Opal glanced around, but there was no sign of the spear they’d come for, no sign of guards, no sign of anybody except Michael and herself. “Are you all right?” she asked at once.
“I thought before we did anything else,” Michael said, “I should tell you why I couldn’t take you to the ball.”
Silence hung between them like a cloud. Opal began to feel strangely frightened. As the silence lengthened, her fear grew. Eventually she asked, “What was the reason, Michael?” Her voice was barely audible.
Michael said coolly, “Because you’re so ugly.”
Opal’s throat tightened and her heart began to race. “What?”
“I could not bear to be seen with you,” Michael said. “It was as simple as that.” He shrugged, then added, “Sorry.”
“I’m not—” Opal began.
“You’re not really all that fanciable,” Michael said. “Quite a nice figure, I suppose, but nothing special.” He shrugged again. “Perhaps ugly is too strong a word. Perhaps I should just have said plain.”
The fear was almost overwhelming now, but beyond it tears were welling up into her eyes. “Why are you talking like that, Michael?” she whispered. She felt as if her heart was being ripped from her chest.
“Because it’s true,” Michael said. “See for yourself.”
He must have learned that trick Dorothy did, for she found herself looking into a full-length mirror. Her breasts were too small and her legs were too short and her bottom looked fat. But he was right about her face as well. She really did look plain, with limp blond hair and a mouth that was too wide and eyes too far apart. It was astonishing that she’d ever thought someone as handsome as Michael might be persuaded to like her.
The fear was tearing her apart. It wasn’t just Michael. No boy would want her, not now, not ever. She was too plain, too…nothing! She felt overwhelmed by her lack of—
“Better go now,” Michael said. “I just thought you should know.” He strode away.
Opal couldn’t tear herself away from the mirror, couldn’t stop examining her miserable face and frumpy figure. She was loathsome. She had grown too fat, her skin was dry and flaking, her eyes dull and lifeless. What she saw frightened her, disgusted her. Tears began to roll down her cheeks, but she still couldn’t tear herself away.
A figure appeared behind her in the gloomy depths of the mirror, dark and very indistinct. A voice said, “You must conquer your fear.” Dorothy must have come in. Or perhaps it was her own voice.
But Opal couldn’t conquer her fear. All she could do was stand there and stare into the mirror. All she could think was how plain and flat-chested and fat she’d become. In the mirror, her face was changing.
It was now no longer plain but—just as Michael said at first—positively ugly. She felt herself slide toward the floor, sobbing as if her heart would break.
63
Danny, the Shenlu Chamber
Danny walked into a bedroom.
Somehow his Nan had managed to get there before him, for she was lying in the bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. Her eyes were very large and he didn’t like the look of her face. The skin was pale and translucent, stretched tightly across the bones of her skull. Her lips had thinned and cracked, probably as a result of swimming in the fiery lake. Even though it hadn’t burned them, it was dry and hot and Dorothy was getting on a bit. Funny thing was, she looked as old as he remembered her in their own world. The young, fit body she’d had on the astral plane seemed to have disappeared.
“What are you doing, Nan?” he asked. The large eyes turned toward him, and suddenly he felt very much afraid.
“I’m dying, Danny,” his Nan said. Her breathing was labored, and her voice wheezed and crackled when she spoke.
“No you aren’t, Nan,” Danny said a little desperately. “Tough as old boots you are.”
“I’m dying,” Dorothy repeated. “I didn’t tell you what this place does for you.” She pushed down the covers and he saw that her body was not simply wasted, but rotted. The bare arms, protruding sticklike from her nightdress, looked as if they might crumble away at any moment. The huge, pain-filled eyes locked onto his own. “I’m dying,” she said, “and it’s all your fault!”
Danny looked around. The other two, Opal and Michael, were nowhere to be seen, even though they’d both walked in before him and—as far as he could see—there was no other way out. He felt frightened to the point of panic. His Nan couldn’t be dying, not now when they needed her most—but through it all he kept remembering something she’d told him over and over when he was growing up: the only thing to do with fear is face it.
“You have to leave, Danny,” Dorothy said. “It’s the only thing that will save me. You have to forget all about this business and go home. You have to do it now.”
“Can’t do that, Nan,” Danny said. He couldn’t, either. Opal and Michael had gone on. They were relying on him to make up the triangle.
“You must,” Dorothy insisted. “I thought at first you could hack it, but now I know you can’t. You have to go back.”
Danny stared at her, and suddenly the fear that was knotting his stomach started to drain away. “You’re not Nan.”
“You’re not up to it, Danny,” said the thing in the bed. “All you’re really good for is a bit of thieving. Can’t even face the thought of Cambridge, can you?”
“Shut up,” Danny said.
“Hit a nerve, have I? You can pretend all you like you aren’t going because of me—that’s noble, that is. But the real reason is you’re not up to it. Oh, you’re bright enough, I’ll grant you that, but not university standard. And you don’t have the breeding. You go to Cambridge and they’ll soon show you up.”
This was definitely not his Nan, nothing remotely like his Nan. “Tricky,” she’d said when she was talking about the astral plane, and this was as tricky as it got. Because what Farrakhan had done was set this place up to show you your own fears.
Who knew what Opal and Michael must have faced, but what Danny was looking at was his Nan’s death, all mixed up with the heap of guilt he had about not looking after her well enough. That and the way he always felt he wasn’t really good enough. Not for Cambridge, not for anything.
Only thing to do with fear was face it.
“I’m off now,” Danny said abruptly. “Onward and upward.” As he walked forward, his environment dissolved, starting with the Nan-thing lying on the bed.
64
Danny, the Shenlu Chamber
Both Opal and Michael were waiting for him near the mouth of a cavern. “What did you get?” Danny asked.
Michael seemed to understand at once. “Sohanti,” he said. “I’ve always been afraid I might be sohanti like my father.” He paused and looked at them. “Afraid I might kill people and then kill myself.”
“What about you, Opal?”
“I’m not sure I want to talk about it,” Opal said.
Danny shrugged. “That’s cool.” He wasn’t keen to talk about his own experience, either.
But Michael pushed, “What fears did you face, Danny?”
Danny took a shuddering breath and said, “Been frightened Nan might die.” He hesitated, then added, “Bit of trouble with self-confidence as well.”
Opal’s eyes opened wide in astonishment. “You? Lacking confidence?”
Danny grinned self-consciously. “The way I come across is mostly bluff.”
Opal stared at him for a long time, then said abruptly, “It was my looks.”
“What was?”
Opal said, “It’s a stupid girl thing. I was afraid I wasn’t…” She seemed painfully embarrassed. “You know…pretty.”
Danny said spontaneously, “But you’re gorgeous.”
Opal smiled. “Thank you, Danny. I’m not sure you don’t need glasses, but thank you all the same.”
Danny shrugged. “Not just me. Michael thinks so too—see that from the way he looks at you.”
Now Michael was looking mortified. He turned his head so he wouldn’t have to meet Opal’s eye. All the same he said, “I think you are very beautiful, Opal.”
Opal said, “It’s a girl thing. I know that. Most girls think there’s something wrong with the way they look.” She was staring at Michael. “I also know it’s not true, sort of, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling afraid. It’s stupid.”
“Most of our fears are stupid,” Michael said. “Even imaginary.” He frowned. “But how clever of Farrakhan to use them against us.”
Danny said, “So what happens now? Is this the real Shenlu Chamber?”
They turned to look at the dark entrance of the cavern. “I assume so,” said Michael.
“You don’t think there are any more traps or guards or anything of that sort?” Opal asked.
“Difficult to say.”
“So…” Danny said. “We just walk in, do we?”
“I think we should hold hands.” The two boys turned to look at Opal in amazement, and she flushed. “I don’t know if the fighting is over, but I think we should present a united front.”
“Works for me.” Danny reached out and took one of her hands. After a moment, Michael took the other. Together, the three of them walked into the darkness.
