Gathering Voices Read online

  For my mum – KH

  For my niece Yasmin – CC

  Dedication

  Title Page

  Map

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  A Whisper of Wolves Extract

  Warning Cry Extract

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Mika woke to the sound of the guard’s boots. After seven days hiding below ground, she had grown used to that slow, tired thud on the stairs. It was a sound that meant morning had arrived.

  She reached a hand out and felt Star, her arctic fox companion, curled beside her. Star seemed so small while she was asleep, a perfect ball of white fur. Mika stroked her gently, not wishing to wake her just yet.

  Star had been out in the city during the night, scouting for food. She had found a rice cellar in an empty house nearby, which Mika and the others planned to raid for provisions that morning.

  Mika let her hand rest on Star’s thick fur and stared into the absolute darkness of the basement. She wished she was above ground, tasting the crispness of the highland air. Outside, the sun would be creeping over the mountain peaks that surrounded the city of Rakeen – her home. The sky would be a brilliant blue, the same blue as the lakes that studded the hills and valleys beyond the city walls. The rooftops of Rakeen would be flecked with snow, which would soon melt and trickle melodiously through the city’s network of streams and gutters.

  Mika felt a pang of grief at the thought of how that would be the only sound in the streets of Rakeen. There would be no cooking fires crackling, no vendors touting their wares and no horse or cattle hooves clattering over the cobble stones.

  The city was empty of people. Only demons walked there now.

  They were called the Narlaw – shape-shifters who could take on the appearance of anyone they touched. And to be touched by a Narlaw meant falling into deep unconsciousness – the ghost-sleep. The demons were faster and stronger than any human. They consumed all living things, leaving a trail of ruined country in their wake.

  This was not the first time the Narlaw had attacked the kingdom of Meridina. Every child knew about the first invasion, one hundred years ago, when the demons had been defeated and banished from the kingdom by Queen Amina.

  Nobody had expected them to return.

  But the Narlaw had attacked more swiftly this time and even Rakeen’s fierce militia hadn’t stood a chance. As far as Mika knew, she and the dozen or so others in the basement were the only survivors. Everyone else had been plunged into the ghost-sleep or had died defending the city.

  Light bloomed at the far end of the basement as the guard lit the first of the storm lamps. Around the chamber people began to stir, muttering quietly as they woke. Mika sat up, but she didn’t feel ready for the day ahead. The thought of the scavenging mission filled her with dread.

  As a Whisperer it would be her job to watch for Narlaw, while the others gathered as much food as they could from the cellar Star had found. Only a Whisperer could see through a demon’s shape-shifting disguise and only a Whisperer could banish a Narlaw back to the Darklands. But Mika had never really learned how to banish a demon. It had been part of her Whisperer training and she was good at entering the earth trance, which was the first step, but she had been completely unprepared for the invasion. And so had her mentor, Astor.

  Mika felt a stab of sadness for Astor. She had been touched by the Narlaw and now she lay in another part of the basement complex alongside three militia warriors, deep in the ghost-sleep.

  Now Mika was the only Whisperer left in Rakeen – perhaps the only one left in all of the western highlands. It was a dizzying thought. She wasn’t a leader or a warrior. For her, being a Whisperer had always been about the special closeness to the earth. She loved to feel all the life around her: the tumbling mountain streams with their tiny, darting fish, the hawks that circled above the foothills and the crystalline flakes of snow as they drifted down from the sky. And most of all she loved to feel the four winds blowing. Astor had passed down the ancient knowledge to Mika, teaching her how to channel the winds’ power and use it in the art of healing.

  Although she was the only Whisperer in Rakeen, she wasn’t alone – she had Star by her side. The bond they shared was more than just a way to communicate without speaking aloud – as long as Star was nearby, Mika could always feel the warmth of her presence. Mika still remembered the first time she had felt that presence – it was the very beginning of her Whisperer training. While the other children in her village had started school, Mika had gone with Astor, climbing a long, steep path that led to her mentor’s cabin. Mika had been nervous, unsure what her life as a Whisperer would bring, and sad to leave the other village children behind. But when she had followed Astor into the timber-walled house, all of her fears had vanished. Curled on a fireside rug was Star. Their eyes met and Mika realized she could feel everything the little fox was feeling – the warmth of the fire, sleepiness mixed with a shy excitement.

  “This is Star,” Astor had told her. But Mika knew that already, the newly formed bond pulsing with thoughts and feelings. This was her companion. This was what it meant to be a Whisperer.

  Now, after years of training, after moving to the city with Astor and the terror of the Narlaw invasion, Mika’s bond with Star was stronger than ever.

  She looked down at her companion’s brilliant white fur and watched her chest rise and fall as she slept. Star was as crafty and playful as foxes came. Mika thought fondly of how Star had often sneaked off to chase crows or steal fish from the marketplace near the river while she studied with Astor. She worried that life in Rakeen had made her companion tame – too accustomed to people, to the food and warmth of the city. The city had made Mika soft, too. She had all but forgotten the hardship of her early life in the freezing hills to the north. She had absorbed herself in learning, in her attempts to master the four winds.

  And now the demons were here and neither she nor Astor had been able to stop them.

  The guard passed by, placing a storm lamp near the foot of Mika’s makeshift bed. A few feet away Mika could see her best friend, Zabeh, push back the blankets from her face.

  “Another beautiful morning,” Mika said, gesturing to the low ceiling and damp walls of the basement.

  Zabeh half smiled. “The sooner we leave this mildew-smelling hole, the better,” she said.

  Mika smiled back. “I think I’ve just about got used to the smell.”

  Zabeh laughed and shook her head. “I keep imagining I’m back in the village. I wake up thinking all I have to do is swim in the lake or dig snow holes – then I see these walls and smell the mildew and reality crashes back in on me.”

  “If we were back in the village,” said Mika, “you’d have to get up and go to school. No swimming or messing about in the snow.”

  Zabeh shot Mika a wicked grin. “As if school ever stopped me having fun,” she said.

  This was true. Mika and Zabeh had grown up in the same small village in the hills and, from the very beginning of Mika’s Whisperer training, Astor had frowned on Zabeh as a bad influence.

  “Fun usually meant us both getting in trouble,” said Mika.

  “So you missed a few lessons with Astor,” said Zabeh. “Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy yourself.”

  Mika grinned. It was impossible to disagree with Zabeh on that point. Also, Zabeh had always stood up for her. When
a few of the village children began taunting Mika for being different, for being a Whisperer, Zabeh had faced them down furiously, despite being outnumbered. Mika would forever be grateful for that, and for the fact that they had travelled to Rakeen at the same time – Mika to continue her training as a Whisperer and Zabeh as an apprentice in the city militia.

  Now, instead of village bullies, they were fighting the Narlaw together.

  Along with a few surviving militia warriors, Zabeh had tried to help Mika and Astor escape the city. They had been summoned, like all of the kingdom’s Whisperers, to a council of war at the capital city of Meridar. But the group had been ambushed as they tried to flee from Rakeen. A demon plunged Astor into the ghost-sleep and all they could do then was retreat, carrying Astor and the fallen warriors to the relative safety of the hidden basement. Seven nights later they were still in hiding.

  “I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll ever leave this place,” Zabeh muttered as she rose to her feet.

  Mika watched her friend closely, but chose not to respond. She knew how frustrated Zabeh had become, how she’d rather try to fight her way out of the city than stay in hiding.

  It was Mika who had urged caution and the pair of them had argued several times over whether they should stay or go. But Mika knew for certain that they wouldn’t last long out in the open. Not with just one inexperienced Whisperer for protection. Her Whisperer sense meant she could feel when a demon was coming, but she was yet to banish one. Every night she felt them moving around above ground and creeping like a sickness into her dreams. She wasn’t ready to try another escape just yet.

  By her side, Star finally began to wake. Her tail flicked against Mika’s hand, as soft as a summer cloud. She stretched out, her tiny black nose wrinkling as she squeezed her eyes shut in a yawn.

  I was dreaming, she whispered to Mika. The words arrived directly into Mika’s mind. We were back at home, continued Star. There was a fire in the brazier and Astor was grilling fish. She was letting me sit on her favourite red cushion and she was saving a whole mackerel for me.

  Mika watched as her companion began cleaning her tail with small, sharp flicks of her tongue. Grilled mackerel sounded wonderful to Mika, too, but this wasn’t the time for daydreaming.

  If we’re lucky, she told Star, we’ll bring back some decent food from that merchant’s house. You did well to find it last night.

  Star looked up and her black eyes shone in the lamplight. I told you my explorations would come in handy one day.

  Explorations? said Mika. Don’t you mean sneaking about and getting into trouble?

  I found some food though, didn’t I? Star resumed her tail cleaning.

  You certainly did, said Mika. Now all we have to do is fetch it.

  Most of the militia warriors were awake now, busy preparing for the coming mission. Mika rose to her feet and rolled her bedding. She’d been wearing the same clothes for a week and the dampness of the basement had infused them with a musty smell. She reached for her coat, which she’d been using as a pillow. As she unrolled it, she felt the ridged embroidery on its sleeves and shoulders. As well as the standard diamond patterning, Mika had earned one wind icon – the yellow curl of the mild south wind, which was stitched on to her coat’s left wrist. Channelling the winds was a difficult skill to master, but with technique and concentration it was possible for a Whisperer to draw a great deal of healing power from them. In time, Mika had hoped to master all four winds, like Astor. But now, with the Narlaw ruling the highlands and Astor trapped in the ghost-sleep…?

  Mika lifted the storm lamp from the floor and headed toward a dark doorway at the end of the chamber. She nodded to Zabeh as she passed.

  Back soon, she whispered to Star.

  They both knew where Mika was going.

  The adjoining room was much smaller and full to the rafters with carefully stacked timber – a reminder that the owner of the basement, and the grand house above, had been a respected architect. The stacked timber was windfall – wood that had been brought down by nature. White juniper branches shone like bone in the lamplight, more precious than gold. They could be used only for the construction of wind shrines – the intricate, whistling structures that crowned many a hilltop across the western highlands.

  Mika passed through into the next chamber and raised her lamp high to see the four ghost-sleepers. Three militia warriors and Astor. As Mika approached her mentor’s bed, there was a scrape of hooves on stone. Suri, Astor’s companion, stood to greet her, shuffling uncertainly and swinging her great, curled horns from side to side.

  It was a sad thing to see this proud, long-horned mountain goat trapped beneath the ground, pining for her companion. Mika felt Suri’s confusion and fear as she lay a gentle hand on the goat’s forehead, whispering thoughts of calm and reassurance. Suri peered up at her with doleful eyes and Mika tried to imagine the pain of being separated, even though Astor was right by Suri’s side.

  We’ll banish them all, Mika whispered to Suri, unsure if her meaning was understood. Astor will come back to you, I promise.

  But she didn’t know how they could ever defeat so many thousands of demons.

  Mika leaned over her sleeping mentor and performed what had become her morning ritual – reaching out, braving the stomach-churning sickness to search for Astor’s presence beneath the smothering grip of the ghost-sleep. She felt a dim glow, like a single distant star in an otherwise empty night. This was Astor, alive but unreachable.

  Mika wished with all her might that she could bring Astor back. But the Narlaw’s dark spell was an impassable wall between them. Mika stood for a few moments more, looking down at her mentor. Then she stepped away from the bedside, stroked Suri on her bristly chin and left.

  When she returned to the main chamber, Mika found the scavenging party ready to leave. Zabeh and three of the warriors were dressed in loose, black trousers and black, padded jackets. They were well armed, Zabeh with her short sword and Guran, the leader of the group, with a spear tucked into the strapping across his back. Jen and Yukio fell in behind Guran, both with bows and arrows.

  As usual, Mika felt young and cowardly in the presence of such warriors. But Zabeh smiled at her, as if they were still small children about to run out and play in the new spring blossoms. Mika smiled back.

  “Are you ready to guide us, sister?” Guran said. He dipped his head in a swift, formal bow.

  Mika nodded. “We’ll do our best,” she said, as Star scampered across the basement to join her.

  Stay sharp, Mika whispered.

  There’s no fox sharper than me, Star replied.

  Guran led his warriors toward the stairs and Mika followed.

  As Mika crept through the main door and out into the garden, the sky unfolded, vast and brilliant blue. The air was cold and fresh, and the mountain peaks gathered beyond the city like old friends. Guran signalled and the warriors spread into a defensive formation. The garden had been fed upon by demons, but there were still some plants left that could be used as cover – a long hedgerow stood above the ravaged lawn and a thick cluster of bamboo stalks had also survived. They were the remains of a garden that had taken many years to grow and only days to destroy.

  Mika kneeled at the centre of the group with Star, scanning for demons. After so long in the basement, the intensity of the outside world was overwhelming to her Whisperer senses, but she forced herself to concentrate. The house was clear and so was the garden. Mika reached out further with her senses, over the high stone wall and into the streets and gardens beyond. Nothing. But she knew that if she pushed further, she would soon feel the tell-tale presence of the demons.

  Anything? she asked Star.

  Not yet. Star sniffed the air. Her eyes darted and her tail twitched.

  Mika sensed her companion’s anxiety through the bond, but there was excitement there, too. If only she could share it, Mika thought. But all Mika felt was fear.

  She signalled the all-clear with a sharp nod to Guran,
who then waved them on. Mika rose and moved low to the ground as Star scurried beside her.

  They reached a small grove of ornamental bamboo and Guran slipped between the swaying stalks toward the high garden wall and the side gate. Mika probed the narrow alley beyond. It was deathly quiet. She felt the cobbles, smooth and ancient, and the tiny lilac poppies that sprouted from the outer face of the wall. She checked with Star then signalled again to Guran and he pressed his weight against the gate.

  Across into the next garden and Mika and Star began to settle into a rhythm. They scanned, searching for demons and marking out a safe radius around the group. When they were both satisfied, the group moved on, ducking and climbing, pushing through foliage and darting alongside the stone and timber walls of the grand, vacant houses. Staying focused was a constant struggle. Every sudden sound and unseen movement sent a jolt of fear through Mika’s chest. She found herself twitching nervously at the creaking of a tree in the wind or the drip of water from a gutter.

  Finally, they crossed the wall into the garden of the silk merchant and Mika landed with a thud on soft earth. Star dropped silently to squat by her side.

  The mansion stood to Mika’s right. The slopes of its roof were decorated with carvings, as were the few wooden screen doors that had survived.

  I’ll take the west side, you take the south, she whispered to Star. She breathed deeply to steady her nerves then cast her senses out across the muddied lawn, feeling through the rockeries and around the lifeless pond and the sculpted hedgerows.

  Clear, said Star.

  Mika caught Guran’s eye and nodded.

  He turned to Zabeh and Jen, motioning them on, and the two of them raced from the cover of the trees toward a cellar hatch at the top of the garden.

  Mika watched Zabeh move. She was as quick as Jen and ran with absolute focus, seemingly unfazed at being the youngest of the warriors. She and Jen reached the hatch and together they heaved the doors open. Jen vanished inside and Zabeh crouched at the entrance, one hand on the hilt of her sword. She surveyed the area with impressive calm.