The Black Amulet Read online

  ‘Might as well let me in now, li-ddle piggy.’

  ‘Shut up!’ shouted Thomas Gabriel, who looked up for a brief instant before burying his head in his knees again.

  Ruby could see a broken bottle of Slap Dust on the floor, the dark powdery contents spilt, and realized there must have been a struggle that had left Thomas Gabriel with no option but to protect himself with magic. Ruby had no idea why the boy was here. And she had no idea how the Vampire had found the cottage, but she knew it had to be her fault somehow. She looked at Victor Brynn on the floor because she knew what else that meant.

  ‘Focus, Ruby,’ whispered the gun.

  Ruby nodded and took a deep breath.

  The Vampire gave an excited yelp and Ruby peered round the door frame again. The bubble around Thomas Gabriel was failing now, and a small, raggedy hole was growing across the transparent skin.

  ‘I told y-uh!’ said the Vampire, clapping its hands like an excited child.

  Thomas Gabriel was desperately trying to summon more magic, but the white sparks kept slip-sliding round his fingers like soap suds, dropping to the floor around him, then vanishing.

  Ruby stuffed the gun into her waistband and tapped the golden brooch three times so it became a spear. She uncorked the glass vial and poured the Vamp Venom into a groove that ran down the shaft of the weapon, filling it up. One clean shot was all she needed. But her aim had to be true for the spear to go right through the creature’s heart.

  As the last of Thomas Gabriel’s bubble vanished, Ruby picked out a spot on the Vampire’s back as the creature looked down at the boy. But, as she drew back her arm, ready to hurl the weapon, she heard the whoosh of Slap Dust as someone else arrived in the hallway.

  Ed looked around, remembering what it had been like to live here. Then he saw Ruby, spear raised in her hand.

  ‘Vampire!’ she screamed.

  But when Ruby looked again the Vampire was gone. In its place was a small furry bat fluttering towards her. Ruby hurled the spear anyway, aiming for the body. It flashed through the air and pierced one of the bat’s leathery wings, its momentum carrying the creature with it. The head of the spear embedded itself in the door of the larder, the shaft quivering.

  The horrid black creature flapped and chattered, squeaking terribly. It hissed as Ruby ran towards it. She grabbed the end of the spear to pull it out, but the bat flapped its one good wing and slid down the shaft, landing on her hand and biting down, making her yell. She staggered back, two small puncture wounds visible in the fleshy part between her thumb and forefinger.

  When the bat’s skewered wing started melting, Ruby knew the Vamp Venom must be having some effect. The bat dropped to the floor with a raggedy, burnt wing no good for flying any more, and scuttled like a clockwork toy towards the open door into the garden.

  The wounds in Ruby’s hand were starting to hum and she wobbled again, feeling like she was about to fall. An arm curled round her and then somebody was wrapping a tea towel round her hand.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ was all her brain could manage to ask as she looked at the boy who was helping her.

  ‘To talk about Du Clement, but I’ll tell you why later,’ said Ed. ‘We’ve got more important things to do now.’

  Ruby blinked. And then she looked at the body of Victor Brynn and found she couldn’t swallow. She knew she was about to cry. ‘We’ve got to send him off the right way, haven’t we? According to the Ordnung.’

  ‘That’ll have to wait too.’

  ‘But I thought—’

  ‘Ruby, you need to finish the job or else that bite will infect you. Kill the Vampire and the infection will die too. It’s the only way.’ He started dragging her towards the door, waving at Thomas Gabriel to come with them, but stopped as something occurred to him. ‘Now I’m here in the Badlands again, you should call me Jones, not Ed.’ The other two looked at him and then at each other. ‘I don’t want the new me getting mixed up in all this. So, while I’m here, it’s Jones.’

  Ruby managed a weak smile. ‘Welcome back, Jones.’

  The three of them stood outside the house at the edge of the garden, their breath frosting the air. It was dark. Quiet. Jones found his brain reaching back to everything Maitland had taught him when he’d been an apprentice, that hidden part of him coming alive again. It was like a computer downloading a file. There was no time to think. He just had to act.

  He began to follow a thin trail of blood slicked across the grass. But soon the blood died out and instead there were shoeprints in the dewy grass.

  ‘He’s changed from a bat to a man to move quicker and get as far away as he can,’ said Jones, striding on.

  The footprints led to a fence that bordered the garden and beyond it, across a field, was the edge of a forest. ‘He’ll go to ground in there.’

  ‘Hide and regenerate,’ agreed Thomas Gabriel.

  ‘Come on,’ said Jones. ‘We need to find him. Finish him off.’

  Jones climbed over the fence and helped Ruby over. When he offered a hand to Thomas Gabriel, he looked him in the eye. ‘You’ll have to do magic,’ he told him. ‘Make a fengnett. Can you do that?’

  Jones felt the other boy’s hand wilt in his as Thomas Gabriel took a breath.

  ‘Can’t you do the spell?’ said Jones.

  ‘It’s not that.’

  ‘What then?’

  Thomas Gabriel stared down at his feet because he couldn’t bear to look at Jones and Ruby across the fence. ‘The magic inside me’s going rotten. I should never have taken the key from Simeon.’ He looked up at them as something in his shoulders lifted. He felt better for telling them his secret.

  ‘I told you,’ piped up the gun in Ruby’s hand. ‘I said taking the key would affect your Commencement if you went through with it! You need to tell the Order what’s happened.’

  ‘Is that why you were here?’ asked Ruby. ‘To ask Victor Brynn about it?’

  ‘Yes,’ nodded Thomas Gabriel. ‘I thought he might know what to do.’

  ‘What about the Vampire? Where did it come from?’ asked Jones.

  ‘I don’t know how. We were talking and then . . .’ Thomas Gabriel’s voice tailed away and he looked towards the forest.

  Ruby coughed. Shuffled her feet in the dirt. ‘I think it was our fault,’ she said quietly.

  ‘Your fault, you mean!’ complained the gun.

  ‘It must have followed us somehow,’ continued Ruby, ‘after we went hunting for it.’

  ‘If you hadn’t been so desperate to go after that Vampire in the first place,’ said the gun, ‘Victor Brynn would still be alive.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter whose fault it is now, does it?’ said Thomas Gabriel curtly as he climbed over the fence. The gun grumbled on, but he ignored it and looked at Jones and Ruby. ‘You’ll have to make the fengnett if we’re going to deal with this Vampire.’

  ‘But I’m not a Badlander any more.’ Jones’s heart dropped into his stomach. This wasn’t how he’d been expecting the evening to go. He heard little whispers: the magic inside him was excited. He muttered something under his breath and then cleared his throat.

  ‘Have you got The Black Book of Magical Instruction, Ruby?’

  She shook her head. ‘Why would I? I can’t do magic on my own, remember?’

  Thomas Gabriel produced his own copy of the black leather book from a pocket and held it out.

  ‘Go on, take it,’ he said. ‘It’s not much use to me,’ and he thrust it into Jones’s hands.

  As the gold lettering on the cover caught the moonlight, Jones heard a clunk inside him. It was as if his heart had shrivelled up and dropped into his stomach. He closed his eyes, then opened them again.

  The others were still there.

  And so was the book in his hands.

  ‘Let’s get this over with then,’ said the boy,

  The trees were densely packed. Thomas Gabriel, Ruby and Jones picked their way slowly between them, watching out for the Vampire.
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br />   ‘Just like old times, eh, Jones?’ whispered the gun as noises rustled in the dark around them and the odd mysterious shape flitted among the trees. But Jones just grumbled something and strode on. Ruby walked faster too, to keep up with him, even though she felt woozy from the bite, a headache throbbing in her temples.

  ‘Did you come in here a lot with Maitland then?’

  ‘Yeah, when I was little, so I could learn about being a Badlander. That’s why Maitland lived in the cottage, so the forest was close enough for training up apprentices. Didn’t Victor Brynn bring you here?’

  ‘He said I wasn’t ready to come in at night.’

  ‘It’s a dangerous place after dark all right,’ said Jones. ‘Just stay close.’

  Ruby aimed the gun into the dark spaces between the trees, ready to take on anything that might be lurking nearby, but her arm wobbled and she felt a little dizzy. Her hand was hurting too. Secretly, she was glad Jones was with her, although she was never going to admit it.

  They kept moving, picking their way carefully. There was barely any moonlight or starlight poking through the canopy of trees, making it hard to see very far ahead.

  ‘He’ll go to ground like all injured animals do,’ said Jones. ‘All we gotta do is follow the trail he’s left.’ He pointed to the spatters of blood on the fronds of waist-high bracken. There was the odd spot on the ground too. They carried on a few more minutes in silence and came to a clearing. As far as Ruby could tell, the path divided into two.

  Thomas Gabriel and Jones stood at the head of one path each and peered into the gloom.

  The puncture wounds on Ruby’s hand were really stinging now and her legs wobbled once more, forcing her to sit down suddenly as the world began to spin.

  Jones noticed and came running, followed quickly by Thomas Gabriel.

  ‘Take deep breaths,’ said Jones. ‘We’ll do the magic here as soon as you feel ready. It’s as good a place as any.’

  Ruby nodded. The world started to slow down and soon she was feeling less dizzy and managed to stand up.

  A tingle started up in her chest as Jones handed her The Black Book of Magical Instruction.

  ‘I might be using magic, but I’m not saying the spell,’ he said. ‘You’re the Badlander, remember, not me.’

  ‘What am I looking for?’ she asked.

  ‘The spell for a fengnett.’

  But, as Ruby flicked through the pages, she could barely focus with her hand stinging so much and she handed the book back before plopping down on the ground again.

  ‘You’ll have to do it, Jones. I’m sorry.’

  Jones muttered and grumbled as he flicked through the pages, tutting from time to time. When he found the right one, he held out a hand and Ruby grabbed it.

  He spoke the spell quickly and closed the book, making Ruby a little jealous but sad too, remembering how Victor Brynn had always been on at her about learning to pronounce Anglo-Saxon words properly.

  Her thoughts vanished as something released inside her chest, allowing the magic to flood out of her. She saw Jones react to it too. A look of revulsion twinned with wonder crossed his face as he opened and closed his free hand four times and sent silver sparks rushing out of his fingers, creating four corners of a square suspended in mid-air.

  ‘Cnyte,’ he said.

  Silver threads began stitching themselves together and, as Ruby watched the magic working, she felt Jones pull his hand out of hers now that everything was done. He wiped it on his sweater as if it was dirty.

  ‘No, I ain’t doing no more,’ he hissed and Ruby realized he must be talking to the magic inside him again.

  It didn’t take long for the fengnett to form but it was a bit droopy and Jones realized he hadn’t cast a very good spell, so he plucked it from the air. With Thomas Gabriel helping, he hooked it up between two trees to stretch it out properly. It was so finely wrought, it was as delicate as gossamer. Strung out, it looked like a very large, square-shaped spider’s web.

  ‘Will it work?’ asked Ruby.

  ‘Course. Now it’s stretched out, it’ll draw the creature in with its song as long as it’s not too far away.’ Ruby heard the threads of the net start to vibrate, as if an invisible rain was falling on them. She could hear musical notes too. Delicate. Faint. Like an orchestra was playing far off in the trees. She tilted her head to try and hear more, but it didn’t help. The harder she tried, the further away the notes seemed.

  All three of them crouched in the undergrowth, peering over the wobbly tops of the bracken.

  Just a few moments later, the Vampire appeared through the trees, coming down one of the paths that led into the clearing. One of his arms was hanging limp against his body, bloody and useless. The Vampire’s face was pale and shone with sweat. He was shuddering as he walked, trying to stop himself moving. But it was no good. His legs kept picking themselves up. He looked like a puppet being manoeuvred down the path.

  He let out a cry as he saw the fengnett strung between the trees and raised his one good arm to shield his eyes as if the net was shining too brightly at him.

  ‘Puuuhlease!’ he cried out. ‘Ahh-ll do anything. Ahh-ll help y-uh with anything y-uh want. I was never gonna eat y-uh, boy!’ He strained to look at Thomas Gabriel. ‘Ah w-uhz never gonna drain yuu-r bl-uurd. Ain’t y-uh gonna have su-hm mercy?’

  ‘You’re getting what you deserve for killing Victor Brynn!’ shouted Thomas Gabriel.

  The creature started to scream as it drew closer to the net, a hideous shrieking sound that sent drowsy birds fluttering up from the trees. Ruby, Jones and Thomas Gabriel were silent as the Vampire was finally dragged into the net. The creature let out another scream, so loud this time that Ruby covered her ears. It flailed about, like a fly caught in a spider’s web, and then started to smoke and melt.

  When Ruby looked again, the Vampire was gone. The throbbing pain in her hand had disappeared too and the puncture wounds had healed. Suddenly, she felt much better, as if something bad had been sucked out of her, and gave the boys the thumbs up before they all rose from behind the bracken and walked towards the net, which was still playing its delicate song.

  Jones and Thomas Gabriel stood at either end of it, ready to unhook it. Before they did so, Jones removed something caught in the weave and held out his hand for the others to see. In his palm was one of the Vampire’s fangs, sharp and white with a long root.

  ‘Ruby, you should have this. So everyone knows what you’ve done,’ he said. ‘It’s rare to have a Vampire tooth.’ He looked at her. ‘I don’t want it.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Ruby. Before she put the tooth in her pocket, she noticed how sharp it was as it caught the moonlight. ‘Does that mean I get to make the mearcunge too?’

  ‘Jones should mark the kill,’ said Thomas Gabriel. ‘He did the spell.’

  ‘But—’ Ruby paused when she heard a noise above the trees.

  And then all three of them heard it – a flapping sound above them, drowning out the delicate song still being played by the fengnett. A dark shape broke through the canopy, dropping down towards Ruby. There was no time to run. She cowered and twisted and turned as two large feet opened their talons and reached out. They hooked her shoulders and the pain made her gasp. And then her feet peeled up off the ground and her stomach lurched into her throat as she was lifted into the air.

  Ruby rose fast, the forest floor disappearing beneath her. She fumbled for the gun in her waistband, but dropped it and heard it cursing as it plummeted to the ground. Jones’s shouts and Thomas Gabriel’s cries were lost as she rose through the canopy and soon all she could hear was the beating of leathery wings and the rush of wind in her face as she tried to look down at the treetops below.

  SEVEN

  Ruby dangled like a piece of meat on a hook. The creature’s talons dug into her as the dark canopy of the forest slid by beneath her and the wind roared in her ears.

  She’d worked out what the creature was now. A Snarl. A flying lizard roughly th
e size of a cow. She’d read about them in one of the many books Victor Brynn had made her read. Snarls were vicious, with an appetite for people. Having dropped the gun, her first thought was to use the Vampire’s tooth and stab at the creature’s leg. But forcing it to let go of her meant she would almost certainly fall to her death.

  Trying to ignore the cold and her fear, Ruby dropped the tooth into a jacket pocket and reached for something else. The points of the Snarl’s talons dug deeper into her shoulders as she moved. But Ruby told herself that being eaten by the creature would be far worse. Snarls had long beaks lined with sharp, hooked teeth that tore the flesh from their prey. Death would be awful and it would not be quick. The book had said that Snarls picked at their food over days rather than gobbling it down, keeping it alive as long as possible to guarantee it was fresh. Ruby gritted her teeth at the pain in her shoulders as she rummaged around in her pocket, imagining the bottle of Slap Dust she wanted in her mind’s eye. And then felt it between her fingers.

  It was difficult prising it out of her pocket. The Snarl seesawed gently as it flew, meaning Ruby’s body rolled from side to side as she dangled and she kicked out her legs to keep as straight as she could. It was difficult to remove the cork stopper too, and she was scared of dropping the bottle, her only means of escape. With the stopper finally popped out, Ruby tried to pour some of the dust into her hand, but the wind blew it away in a black powdery cloud such was the Snarl’s speed through the air.

  The creature dived into a sharp left turn, taking Ruby by surprise, and she almost dropped the bottle, most of the dust spilling out into the sky.

  Just a few grains left now.

  Ruby licked her lips, ignored the pain in her shoulders and tried again. But, as she went to pour out the last grains of dust, she realized they were flying lower and lower, descending quickly into a section of forest. She had no idea how long they’d been in the air. Ten minutes? Twenty? How far had they flown?