Dawn of Wonder (The Wakening Book 1) (43 page)

“In a few weeks, things will be ready, and it will
be time to fetch you back from that foolish academy. Your vacation is over. There’s
work for you to do. And it starts tonight – you keep yourself and your friends
clear.”

By the time Aedan had found a water barrel and washed the
blood from his face, it was late. He returned to Enna’s where he found everyone
had finished their meals. Lorrimer was wiping his mouth. Aedan guessed that
Enna had pushed a meal at him even though he had blown his money earlier. It
would have required little pushing.

“What have you been up to?” Peashot asked.

“Nothing.” Aedan turned his face away from the
lantern glare.

Nearby, Coren was fastening straps over a cart
that held all the copper pots, pewter bowls and mugs, wash basins, cutlery and
spices. Several bulging purses of coins were put into an iron box which was
stowed in the cart too.

Liru and Delwyn were heading in the same direction
as the elderly couple and offered to accompany them. Coren began explaining
that he and Enna needed to wait for their relatives, when Malik and Ilona walked
around a corner.

“Ah. Here they are,” Coren said. “These are our
grandchildren.”

“You are brother and sister?” Hadley asked them.

“Cousins,” said Ilona, with a shake of her golden
hair and a winning smile. Her look turned cold as she saw Aedan.

Malik glared with open enmity.

“How did you manage to afford such a huge tent?” Ilona
asked, stepping back and staring. “And a table too? And why aren’t you where
you set up this morning?”

Coren explained what had happened and how the boys
had taken it upon themselves to build the tent.

“It was Aedan’s idea,” said Hadley.

“But Kian’s carpentry,” said Aedan, diverting the
attention and hoping nobody had looked at him too closely.

Ilona turned to her grandmother, “Did you do
well?” she asked.

Enna beamed as she pulled out the money bags. “We
can pay the next three months, just from today’s earnings,” she said, tears
filling her eyes.

Ilona threw her arms around her grandmother and avoided
looking at Aedan.

Malik avoided looking at anyone. He took up the
handles of the cart and set off towards the exit, signalling the parting of
ways. Liru and Delwyn accompanied the little group as they trundled away into
the night.

Aedan watched them go. Someone small peeled from
the shadows and scurried ahead of the cart.

His father’s words began to echo in his head. The
picture hadn’t been clear at first – shock had kept his mind numb – but he saw
it now. And if he interfered his life would be ruined by a father whose anger knew
no bounds. It would be madness anyway. What could his little group of boys with
training weapons hope to do?

All strength, all sense of purpose had been
battered from him. He trailed silently behind his group of friends as they
headed in the opposite direction, back to the city gates. He hoped it would be
a clean robbery, that none would be hurt, especially Liru.

And then he began to feel ashamed. He knew that if
it had been Kalry, a hundred fathers would not have held him back.

Once again, with her memory came purpose.

“Stop!” he said.

The others came to a halt and looked at him. He
rocked slightly, staring at the ground, grimacing.

“What is it?” Hadley asked. Then he stepped
closer. “Hey, how did you get these bruises?”

Aedan ignored the questions, took a breath, and
looked up. “Follow me,” he said.

He made a turn and then another so that they were
walking back towards the other half of the party.

“Aedan, where are we going?” Hadley asked.

Aedan stopped and turned around, and for the first
time, they all saw the bruises. “I think they are going to be robbed. I’m going
back. It is going to be rough so don’t come if you don’t want to get hurt.” Then
he turned and set off at a run. Without a word, all five followed.

The screams made the search easy. They stepped
into a shadowy section of the festival ground’s outer lane and saw, a little
way ahead in the bright moonlight, a large gang surrounding the party of six. Aedan
counted the assailants – twelve.

Malik lay still on the ground beside one of the thieves
who was moaning and clutching his head. The other boys jeered and shoved the
girls, dodging out of the way of kicks and swipes. One of the boys laughed as Liru’s
fist skimmed his throat. He stopped laughing when she took advantage of his
inattention and hoofed him in the groin. He struck her so hard that she fell
back against the cart and dropped to the ground.

Peashot and Hadley started forward, but Aedan
gripped their arms and held them back.

“Wait!” he said.

Peashot listened, but Hadley dragged him forward
and then turned at him like a mad dog on a frail leash. He did not like being
told what he could not do.

“Just trust me, Hadley. I also want to charge in,
but that won’t work here. We’ll have no chance. Shift the disadvantage –
remember? Let me think.”

Reluctantly they hung back as Aedan tried
desperately to clear his mind and hatch some strategy.

The gang tightened its circle.

“You and those dirty little friends of yours be
making our boss angry today,” one of the gangsters taunted.

Aedan grimaced at the memories recalled by the
thuggish tones. He could almost see the Anvil in front of him again, dipping
and lurching with his taunts.

“The boss, he says only take the money, but it
looks to us like you’ll be needing a mighty big lesson in manners.”

Aedan’s head buzzed with anger but he forced
himself to concentrate. This was a large gang of much older boys and some grown
men. If he and his friends simply charged in, they would accomplish nothing. Anger
is a poor strategist, Dun had constantly told them.

Aedan glanced around, taking in everything that could
be used to their advantage.

Moonlight flooded the scene, but he and his friends stood
hidden in the shadow of a large oak. The gang stood between the last line of
tents and a wall on the right. This wall was more like a tier, the higher
ground above it being flush with the top; a ramp behind Aedan led to the higher
level. On the left side of the alley, opposite the gang, there was an opening
in the line of tents, no more than a narrow passage – it was probably this
passage the gang had used to hide in. The ground beneath his feet was gravelly,
and if he moved forward, he would lose the cover of shadow.

An idea grew in his mind. The gang would have to be
thinned in stages.

“Peashot, Kian,” he whispered, “get up the ramp
behind us, and when you are above them, hit them with whatever you can – rocks,
slings, even blunt arrows if there is nothing else. Aim for the head, don’t
stop even when we are among them. Just try not to hit us.”

The two boys slipped away.

“Lorrimer, Vayle, go back round the tents and wait
in that passage opposite them. Some of the gang will probably try to go through
there to get behind Hadley and me when they hear us. Vayle, go ahead and crouch
to trip them. Lorrimer, use your staff on their heads as they fall.”

They nodded and glided off.

“Hadley, we drop however many are sent to get rid
of Peashot and Kian. Take a handful of gravel for the eyes, then use your
training sword like a club.”

Aedan unslung his quarterstaff and removed the
strap. The wild rush in his veins was causing his fingers to fumble and his
hands to shake. This would not be like one of Dun’s exercises. These opponents
would not hold back. They would strike with the intention to harm, perhaps
kill.

He tried to stop the shaking, but couldn’t.

Hadley wriggled his leather-clad training sword
free. Then they both scooped a handful of gravel, moved apart so they wouldn’t
strike each other, and took positions just inside the shadow where they would
be able to see without being seen.

They waited. Aedan was breathing like he had just
run a mile. Fear and excitement tightened him up, gumming his thoughts until he
looked at the staff in his hand and suddenly realised he had forgotten
everything he’d been taught on how to use it. He hoped, in a kind of dizzy panic,
that some of the techniques might come back, otherwise he’d just have to swing
and chop and hope for the best.

“Good luck,” said Hadley. Not even he could hide
the trembling in his voice.

“Good luck.”

Two rocks flew out from the upper level. One of
the bandits went down with a sigh and another screamed and reeled away,
clutching his nose. The next two rocks were partly deflected, surprise having been
lost. There was some shouting and four of the gang separated from the group and
started running towards the ramp. They drew knives and clubs, but showed no
sign that they had seen the boys waiting in the thick shadow of the oak.

Aedan crouched.

Heavy boots thudded closer.

Forty yards, twenty …

He took a deep breath.

Ten, five …

Aedan and Hadley flung their handfuls of gravel.
The first two gangsters broke into howls of pain and skidded to a halt, hands
over their eyes. The next two had only a heartbeat to prepare as they ran into
a quarterstaff wedged into the ground and a small sword swung powerfully at knee
height. They both dropped. Blows fell thick and heavy on the backs of heads and
any fingers that got in the way.

One of the gangsters was a hulking bull of a man.
He recovered himself sufficiently to grab the staff, wrestle it away with a
roar, and deliver a glancing blow to Aedan’s shoulder that was still enough to
knock him down. But Hadley, finished with his two, circled behind and unleashed
a furious swing at the big man’s head, producing a groan and a heavy thud as
the body collapsed.

Aedan, panting and trembling, picked himself up
from the ground and retrieved his staff. He looked back at the cart. The gang
still kept their prisoners at bay while cursing the two boys throwing rocks.

It was not easy to concentrate, but he pulled his
thoughts together and counted.

Only five! Where were the others?

He crouched and spun around, looking for a
surprise attack. From a distance, he heard two thumps of falling bodies and a
few woody-sounding whacks. The noises came from the direction of the passage.
Someone began to shout and threaten in strained tones that betrayed a struggle.
Another three whacks brought silence.

Six of them against five gangsters, Aedan thought,
assuming Vayle and Lorrimer were still on their feet. He decided to move
quickly, before anyone thought to use the prisoners as hostages. He also wanted
the thugs to face away from the wall, giving Peashot and Kian targets that
would not dodge.

With Hadley beside him, he ran along the tented
side of the road, calling Lorrimer and Vayle as he neared. They jumped out into
the open.

“It’s a bunch of children!” The biggest of the
gang jeered, drawing a long, cruel blade. “With toy weapons.”

It was the last thing he said. The distraction had
worked. Peashot’s expertly aimed rock bounced off the side of his head and he
crumpled. Kian’s glanced from another’s shoulder.

One of the remaining four turned and grabbed Ilona
by the hair. Aedan flew at him, Hadley and the others following. This was the
part where the tricks were done and the advantage was lost. The man holding Ilona
reached for a short, curving blade like a claw.

Aedan could not afford to wrestle with that blade;
he had to make a clean strike. But his arm was numb from the blow he had taken
on his shoulder, and as he swung the staff round, it escaped his grip and
skittered away. There was no time to run after it now.

Without breaking stride, he sped over the last few
yards and leapt into the air – something Dun had forbidden – aiming his elbow
at the much taller gangster’s head. The distance closed as he soared, swung … and
missed. The man’s head had moved. An airborne attack had made adjustment
impossible. The momentum carried Aedan into the wall where he thudded against
the stones and dropped to a crouch. Ilona’s captor looked at him and smiled as
he put the blade to her throat.