He mustn’t catch us.
The logical thing for him to do would be to lower himself down into the hole and check. Maybe I could get a shot at him then. On the other hand, he could fill the hole with fire to burn away the vegetation and burn us up too. That would be an easier solution, but exhausting. And he would already be quite used up after all his activity back at the house.
Waiting, waiting. Sweat began to drip down my face. The light circled round the side of the pit, dimly illuminating the rocky earthen wall, casting silhouettes of leaves and tangled vines all around us. I could see the shadowy alcove more clearly. It was indeed part of the old mine shaft and it was curtained with white roots that writhed and undulated like fat snakes.
Leaves crashed and something whoomped.
“Argh!” cried Illuminus and the light was gone. I heard him scrabbling amidst crashing leaves and a rush of air blew the vines back against us.
Illuminus was yelling.
“What hap—What? Crystal shot! Curse you, you stupid tree.”
Light burst out and there was an explosion. Fire flickered and the air was full of smoke and bits of burning ash.
A large piece of tree trunk came crashing through the vines and shrubs above and smashed onto the rocks and bones in front of us.
Illy let out a laugh.
“That’ll learn you to whack a mage, you stupid tree.”
The pit was much brighter now and I could see Illuminus quite clearly as he stood, arms triumphantly on his hips at the lip of the hole above us. A group of bats and several large transparent winged insects were streaming up out of the pit and into the sky. From the sounds of it, they all flew into Illuminus’ face. This was the moment. Under the cover of Illuminus’ spluttering and cursing. I took aim with my crossbow and shot.
The arrow connected. I saw a spurt of blood, heard a thud. Illuminus grunted and half-staggered, half-fell backwards, disappearing from sight. Groaning, grunting and the sound of foliage crashing came from beyond the lip of the pit. Then silence.
“Oh, no! I hit him,” I squeaked. The enormity of what I had just done gripped me.
“Didn’t you mean to?”
“I never shot anyone before,” I said. I had a breathless hollow feeling in my chest. “What if I’ve killed him?”
The ghost put his arm around me.
“It was him or you,” he said.
“Yes. Yes, of course. Of course it was.” I shook the ghost off, ashamed at being such a baby. “Come on! Let’s get out of this hole before he recovers.”
With some vines, the remains of the tree and each other, we managed to crawl up from the pit. Katti was crouched beyond the edge waiting for us.
My thoughts were full of questions about Illuminus.
He’s not up yet, but he’s not dead either. Katti sounded disapproving of the latter. I followed her glare and saw Illuminus’ foot sticking out of the scrub. I couldn’t resist. I ran over to check on him and started back in shock. There was blood everywhere. The cross bow bolt was sticking out of the side of his cheek. It’d gone right through his face. His mouth was open and his breath came in gasps. His eyes lids were mostly closed, though I could see the glitter of his eyes beneath.
“Wow! Some shot!” said the ghost. He leaned over and felt Illuminus’ wrist. “He’s still alive. Amazing. I thought there’d be more blood. Pulse is well enough, considering. I think you missed his tongue.”
The word tongue made me squirm inside.
The ghost looked up at me.
“What do you want to do? Should we um... finish him off? I guess I can do it if you can’t.”
“Bright Lady, no! He’s my cousin. Anyway, killing him would bring a world of trouble down on us.”
“I can imagine. Do you want to go back to the house and get help and I’ll go on with Katti?”
“There’s no need,” I said, even though that was precisely what I did want to do. “His magic will heal him. That’s why he’s not bleeding as much as you expect. When he’s healed enough, he’ll come to and be able to take himself home.”
“Really?”
I shot him a look.
“Yes. That’s how it works. It’s the only advantage we mundanes have ever had against the mages. If you can shoot them without their being able to stop your missile and inflict a bad enough wound, their bodies force them to survive by closing down all other activities. They become unconscious until they are healed enough to go on. That’s how mundanes held their own in the civil war and won Shola’s Pact.”
I didn’t tell him that in the old days, people would definitely have inflicted a death blow on a helpless mage.
“How long is he likely to be out?”
“I don’t know. Most of the rest of the day, I suspect. Lying helpless out here with...”
What if a wild animal came and ate him while he lay here? How would his body react?
“It was him or me,” I reminded myself. “He almost strangled me this morning.”
“What?” asked the ghost.
He’s my cousin,” I said. Family. An uncalled-for memory came to me, of Bright and me peering over the balconies of the Family House in Elayison. Down below stood Illuminus and Scintillant and Blazeann back from the college for the Winter Solstice feast all wearing their student uniforms. They’d looked so strong and proud—so lazily, effortlessly powerful—and I’d felt such a glow in my chest at the sight of them. Pride: pride at being a Lucheyart, one of the Imperial family, and connected to these mighty beings. In those days, I’d still believed I would become one of them. Now Blazeann was dead and here was Illuminus horribly wounded at my feet.
The ghost was peering closely at Illuminus’ cheek.
“Hey! This arrow is moving.” he said.
“Yes. His body is expelling it using magic. Once it comes out, he’ll start to heal much faster.”
“Amazing!”
“Let’s cover him up.” I pulled out my hunting knife and started hacking at the shrubs around me. “Come on, help me. It’ll give him some defence if a cat or a grunter comes along while he’s lying there.”
“Shine, may I remind you he almost killed you earlier!”
“But he didn’t actually do it. Look, I know, but he’s my cousin. I can’t leave him there like that.” I thrust a handful of branches at him. “Come on, put these over him.”
Do not try to reason with her. She is quite mad, said Katti. Pointlessly, since Shadow couldn’t hear her.
I’d toss him in the pit if I were you, she added.
“No one asked you,” I snapped at her.
For once, Shadow didn’t ask me what she’d said.
COVERING ILLUMINUS DIDN’T take long, but with everything that had gone on, it was mid-afternoon before we picked our way back to the path. All the shocks of the day had left me feeling dark and heavy, as if I were bearing an immense burden on my back. I kept up a hard pace as best I could. Shadow kept asking me how I was.
“Fine,” I would mutter, and keep on as fast as I could. We were both panting hard, but I wanted to reach the top of the mountain before dark. I was already feeling shaky and I didn’t want to have to fight grunters or cats in the dark. I also didn’t want to think too much.