Lovingly, her hand smoothed the metal box. ‘Like us, you deserve death, slaves. But the master is merciful. You are all to share his gift. Soon your struggles will be at an end. You will belong to the master, as we do.’
The audience cheered wildly. The slaves on the floor of the Arena were deathly still. Hellena smiled coldly.
‘There is no need to fear, slaves, whatever rumours you may have heard,’ she said. ‘The Conversion process has been perfected. It is safe, efficient and simple. Once released, the carriers of the master’s gift will find their own way to you. They are slim, and very fast. The process will take no time at all. ‘
She touched her ear. ‘A brief moment’s pain—here—and the master will be with you always. Your Conversion will bring you freedom. You will return to your homes, mingle with your people, and do the master’s will gladly.’
Lief’s skin was crawling. At last he understood what had happened to Tira and Hellena. He understood what the hideous worms were—what they did. He saw the Shadow Lord’s plan.
The master has many plans…
Into Lief’s mind sprang a terrifying picture. Thousands of prisoners set free by the Shadow Lord, returning to Deltora, received with joy and welcome. Thousands of prisoners who looked and sounded exactly as they had before, but who carried the Enemy within their brains, guiding their every thought, their every deed.
Thousands of prisoners, in whose keeping, safe in bags or pockets, were more of the deadly scarlet-headed worms. So that at night, while their families and neighbours slept…
Hellena had begun speaking again. ‘Though there is no escape from the master’s gift, it is best if you do not struggle,’ she said. ‘With the help of the slave Faith and the gnome who once fought side by side with me against the master, I will show you how easy it can be.’
She turned to the Guards. ‘Remove the covers!’ she ordered.
15 – The Trap
The covers were swept from the cage. Light streamed in, mercilessly exposing the four people who had sprung to their feet and backed against the bars. Lief heard 3-19 shouting in anger and the Baks’ loud, triumphant explanations. He saw Tira and Hellena looking up, with shining eyes, at the red smoke swirling in the tower above them, and the dark shadow within it.
Lightning cracked the boiling clouds. A thunderous gale crashed downward, throwing Lief and the others off their feet, pinning them down. The cage shuddered, its wheels bent by the force of the blast.
Gasping for breath, unable to move, pressed down, down by the howling wind, Lief heard the screams of the slaves writhing helplessly in the Arena, the cries of Tira and Hellena, the grunts of the Baks and the Perns on the platform as they struggled to rise.
Screeching, the seven Ak-Baba swooped downward, riding the gale, talons outstretched, hooked beaks gaping. The columns that ringed the platform trembled and came to life. Ols! Hissing white flames with darkness at their hearts, with gaping, toothless mouths, hollow eyes and clutching hands, they rose and stood against the force of the wind. And with a grating crash, stone doors slid into place, sealing the Arena.
Then Lief knew that not only Jasmine, but all of them, had been expected. The Enemy had not known how, or where, they would appear. But he had known they would come. He had prepared for it.
There was one thing, though, that the Enemy had not expected. Eyes watering, almost deafened by the roaring wind, Lief began dragging the Pirran Pipe towards his lips. Slowly, slowly he forced his hand upward.
‘3-19! The prisoners are down! They are ready!’ Tira shrieked against the gale. ‘Open the Conversion Project!’
The Ol in the shape of Fallow walked to the metal box, moving easily, untroubled by the wind. He put his hand to the catch that fastened the trapdoor.
‘3-19!’ Lief shouted with all his strength. ‘Beware!’
The Ol turned its head to look at him blankly.
‘Do not listen!’ screamed Tira.‘3-19! I order you!’
‘You will be finished if you open that box, Ol!’ Lief shouted. ‘With humans to do his will, your master will have no need of you. You and all your kind will lie rotting in the scrap mounds with the Guards.’
3-19 hesitated, frowning.
‘Baks! Perns!’ cried Tira in fury.
But the Baks and Perns, scrabbling on the boards of the platform, could not move, any more than she could.
Lief’s hand, clutching the Pipe, had reached his chest. He forced it on towards his mouth. He needed one more moment. One more…
Red smoke rushed from the tower, ferocious malice at its heart. Eyes blazed within the smoke. Shadowy hands reached out.
3-19 cried out in agony, crumpled and fell. The trapdoor at the end of the box burst open. Scarlet-headed worms streamed out in a great flood, spreading, greedily seeking, into the cage.
Lief could feel them seething over his feet, his legs. Jasmine and Barda’s panic-stricken cries were ringing in his ears. Kree was screeching despairingly. Pi-Ban gave a single, high scream. Lief screwed his eyes shut, concentrating all his strength on a final, desperate effort.
Then he had the Pipe to his lips. He blew. One pure, clear note.
The piercing sound rose and echoed around the walls of the Arena, and on to the mountains beyond.
And with the sound, the stream of worms halted. The worms thrashed, twisting and dying like leeches of the Forbidden Way exposed to the light.
The red smoke recoiled in a clap of thunder that shook the ground. The gale died, and the Ak-Baba lurched in the skies. The Ols lowered their grasping hands and stood, swaying. The beings on the tiers of seats bent and groaned. The vraals howled in their cages.
The slaves in the Arena had been told to wait for the signal. What more of a signal did they need? They leaped to their feet and surged forward in a great wave. The confused Guards lining the pathway stumbled and fell, crushed beneath their weight.
But there was no way out. No way out of the Arena, sealed with doors of stone. No way to reach the pass to freedom. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
Gasping, staggering to his feet, Lief drew breath. The red smoke swelled and twisted above him, the shadow within it gathering strength. Again he blew, and again the piercing note echoed through the Arena, thunder cracked and the smoke recoiled.
Lief saw Pi-Ban rising, wide-eyed, a shrivelled worm falling from his ear and onto his shoulder. He saw Barda and Jasmine hauling themselves up, clinging to the cage bars.
Outside the cage, the guards milled, confused. Tira and Hellena had fallen to their knees, staring with dazed disgust at the worms which had dropped away from them onto the platform. Faith stood alone, pale as a ghost.
‘Faith!’ shrieked Jasmine. ‘Get the keys to the cage!’
The child turned and looked, unsmiling. Her lips opened. Then came the voice—a low, deadly whisper that chilled the blood.
‘There is no escape, Jasmine.’
Jasmine stared, frozen. The voice whispered on.
‘From the moment you looked into the crystal, from the moment you let me into your mind, you were doomed. I knew you would come to me. I had only to wait. But do not think I cared about you. You were only bait. I knew that wherever you went, he would follow.’
Then the girl laughed, horribly. And laughing she shimmered, faded and disappeared in a drift of red smoke, like the phantom she was.
Jasmine screamed and screamed again, clutching the cage bars in shock, grief and horror. Shock that what she had thought flesh and blood had been a mirage. Grief for a child who had never existed. Horror as she realised how cunningly, how completely, she had been deceived.
Into Lief’s mind flashed a memory. Tirral, speaking on the Isle of Keras.