for stuffing it deep in her pocket until she could get it fixed or come up with a better solution.
‘He’s not going anywhere,’ stated Crumble as he tied the last knot.
Darkmount, still snoring and twitching erratically, had been trussed into a U-shape so that his wrists were tied to his ankles.
‘Gag him too,’ insisted Charlie.
Jensen returned the urn to the altar then stuffed the remnants of Darkmount’s cloak into his mouth.
‘What are we going to do about him?’ asked Crumble. ‘We can’t just let him go, can we?’
‘After all that he’s done? There’s no chance I’m just going to let him go,’ said Charlie, an undercurrent of anger in her voice.
‘What do you have in mind?’
‘Vengeance.’
Jensen, so jubilant before, examined her with worried eyes. ‘Hippotomi,’ he began, but Charlie put her hand up.
‘I know what you’re going to say, Jensen, but please, trust me. Trust my instincts this time. I won’t do anything that would make you ashamed of me.’
Jensen couldn’t say anything after that, but he continued to watch her. Concern for what she might do and fears about the influence of the darkness that she now carried within her was evident in his eyes.
Charlie made her way to the altar. ‘Let’s get reckless,’ she whispered, and without allowing herself time to think, lifted the urn and stared into its star-filled depths.
44
Vengeance
‘I know you’re there,’ she said.
The urn grew cold. One of the stars grew closer and pulsed with a sickly green light.
‘Utter your request and see it done,’ said the god.
‘Those things outside. How was Darkmount going to control them?’
‘They will move to his wants so long as he holds their hearts within his fist.’
‘Where is this, uh, heart?’
‘Here.’
Charlie, ignoring the trickle of blood that seeped from her nose, looked around, but couldn’t see an object that resembled or could be called a heart.
‘Where?’
‘Here.’
As the star continued to grow to the point that Charlie’s face was bathed in green light, it dawned on her that it meant that it had it. Realizing she couldn’t back down, she summoned all her courage.
‘Give it to me.’
‘As you wish.’
The star grew and grew, the sensation of intense cold now beyond the point of bearing, and Charlie had no option but to drop the vessel. As it struck the ground, frost appeared along its length then spread along the floor in an arc. The tent grew icy, Charlie’s breath misted and the starlight seeping from the urn grew to an almost unbearable glory.
Just when she thought the light couldn’t get any brighter the star floated free to hang above the urn. Something stirred within the green light. A great diamond-shaped head and a pair of grasping hands appeared, but everything else, if indeed there was anything else, remained hidden inside the star.
‘Come closer,’ demanded the voice.
Charlie, thinking that perhaps she had finally bitten off more than she could chew, edged her unwilling feet nearer.
‘Closer.’
The cold was almost unbearable, the blood dripping from her nose freezing, however a small part of Charlie’s mind couldn’t help but notice and be horrified that the thing, this god, had no mouth with which to speak.
‘Give me your hand.’
Almost beyond the point of caring, Charlie thrust her arm forward. The thing reached out a thin and blackened arm and ever so lightly placed something in Charlie’s palm, and then, shrinking in on itself, it returned to the urn.
Whatever it was it was repulsive. It glistened on the palm of her hand like a fat slug. Purple tendrils sprouted across its surface and it pulsed in her hand with the movement of a real heart. The little tendrils clutched weakly at her skin and Charlie almost dropped it in disgust.
‘Er … how do I use … this?’ she asked. The question was partly for herself, partly for Jensen and Crumble, but it was the god who answered her.
‘Nurture it. Feed it. When it is satisfied it will be yours to command.’
‘Uh, OK. Thank you.’
The god didn’t reply.
With some trepidation Charlie placed the urn back on the altar. Gesturing for Crumble and Jensen to join her, she pulled them into a close huddle.
‘I need to know two things. Where is the deepest ocean in Bellania? And where’s the most desolate place?’
Jensen pondered her questions. ‘I’ve heard it said that the Sea of Charms is supposed ta be bottomless,’ he said.
‘That sounds perfect. Where is it?’
Jensen told her.
‘Good, and the most desolate place?’
‘Um, do you want ta be a bit more specific about that?’
‘I want a place that’s scarcely populated