Thyla - Kate Gordon [62]
Holy hell. How did I forget that?
She was there the night I fell. It was a night-time patrol. Cat and I were paired up, searching the forest for signs of Diemens. She was trying out her new powers by jumping about on the rocky cliffs, deep ravines and crevasses all around her. I begged her to be careful.
I called out to her yet again, ‘Cat, watch it!’
‘I’m fine!’ she called back. ‘You’re watching me. I’ll be fine. Why don’t you come up here and play with me, Tess? It’s fun!’
‘We are meant to be patrolling!’ I protested. ‘This is not the time for fun!’
‘It’s not dangerous up here, Tessa!’ she said. ‘Look, follow me! I’ll show you what I can do now!’
I groaned inwardly, and made to follow, but then I heard it: footsteps pounding through the bush. At first I thought it was Cat coming back, but then I smelled them. Diemens.
‘Lord’s going to be so pleased with us,’ one of them was saying. ‘Got the solution here safely and a subject to test it on.’
I crouched down. The Diemens were walking towards me, only a few metres away. They had another with them. Not a Diemen. A Sarco, by the smell. He was only half-turned, though. His legs were only slightly wrong-facing, pushing against the backs of his trousers. His hands didn’t yet have their claws. They were bound and he had a hessian bag over his head.
‘Enough solution here to last us a while,’ one of the Diemens said. ‘Good thing, too. I hear it’s hard to make, and Lord had to pull some serious strings to get it shipped over from England. Greedy bastards wanted to keep it all for themselves.’
The solution. I did not know what it was but I knew that if it was in the hands of Diemens – and if they had a captive Sarco to test it on – it could not be good. I had to get it from them. And save the Sarco.
The Diemens had moved farther away now, so I knew I would not be heard. But they were not too far away for me to catch them, if I ran at my top speed. I was good at running quietly. I would be upon them before they knew it.
I moved carefully along the high ledge. But I was not as careful as I should have been. I lost my footing and slid silently down the cliff. And that is all I remember.
I failed. But I would not fail again.
I clenched my fists and looked up at the battle in front of me, just as another Diemen launched himself at me.
I deflected his attack; pushed him away with all my newfound might. The man fell backwards, but he was smiling, a sickening, twisted smile full of silver teeth.
‘This is only the beginning, Thyla,’ he snarled as he sprang back to his feet.
‘You seem awfully confident,’ I replied, shifting my stance and steadying myself.
‘Oh, I am,’ he said, moving forwards. ‘We have the solution now. It’s only a matter of time before what we have been waiting for these many years is finally realised.’
I launched myself at him, fangs bared. But he was quicker than I. He grabbed my arm and pulled me close. ‘Too many years of waiting,’ he whispered. He pushed his dagger against my throat. ‘We know what we’re doing now. We know how to test it, how to perfect it. You just wait, you filthy –’
Then his eyes bulged and a trickle of black blood oozed from his charcoal lips.
His grip eased on my arm and he slumped to the ground. Standing behind him was Perrin.
‘Don’t you die, little girl,’ he growled. His eyes seemed to pierce my skin and my breath became sharp and ragged.
‘Hey, Tessa!’ a voice called out to me above the wailing and roaring and pounding of the fray. I tore my eyes away from Perrin.
Another man leapt at me and I stuck my claws deep in his neck. Rhiannah was beside me, her arm twisting the head of another of Lord’s men.
‘Hey, Rhiannah,’ I cried.
‘When this is over, we’ll go and get waffles, okay?’ she yelled.
‘Definitely,’ I yelled back, allowing myself a smile.
And that’s when it happened. In that small moment of distraction, Rhiannah was taken.
Lord, his white hair glinting in the moonlight, swept down like a goshawk and clamped his