you have hatched...
Phelim, who is fourteen, and Sweeney, who is nineteen, stand on the beach at the base of the cliff. Sweeney hands Phelim a bag, which the boy snatches out of his hand.
Why? - he wants to know. Why is all this happening to him? To them? She died because of me, Phelim yells, and he reaches into the bag and pulls out a large human bone. He spins and hurls it with all his might at the cliff...
... and it sinks into the rock, about halfway, sticking out about six inches. Phelim stares at it, then goes over to it and gives it a gentle tug. It's pretty firm.
Sweeney speaks softly: 'You can stand on it. It will take your weight. Use the others, to make a ladder. The Witch's Ladder, they call it, and even though she never finished her training, she was a witch, and a good one at that. One who knew the Old Ways.'
Phelim hesitates.
'It was her purpose' encourages Sweeney. 'We all have a purpose, and this was hers.'
Phelim takes a breath, then reaches into the bag and pulls out another bone. He starts to climb, sinking bone after bone into the rock. 'Bring them all back!' shouts Sweeney. 'Every last one! Don't even forget a single toe!'
As he climbs, Phelim can feel a pulse, a steady pulse through the rock. It takes him a while to realise that it is the heartbeat of The Worm. When he reaches a shelf in the cliff, Phelim pulls himself up and rests. It's a cave - dark, musty. There are rocks on the edge that he has to climb over to get inside... and there he sees them.
The Stones.
They're everywhere, and all shapes and sizes, some tiny, some huge. As he takes a step towards a big one, it shudders and a huge crack appears in it. Phelim backs off quickly, and watches as a panther-like creature emerges from the rock, blinking like a newborn yet apparently full-grown.
It sniffs the air and smells the boy. It turns and drools, hungry from the effort of emerging but still newborn-blind. Phelim reaches for a smaller rock and lobs it with all his might at the creature's head. Crack! Another split, this time a skull.
The Hatchlings. These are the Hatchlings, and this is the mouth of The Worm. The Worm he must kill. To save them all. To save the world. But this is a cliff, a part of the land, and there are hundreds... maybe thousands of stones waiting to hatch out their hideous creatures, the monstrous children.
And Phelim is just a boy.
He looks around for inspiration. Something, anything. He sees a glint of red, sparkling red and gold, and realises that the fairies weren't lying: their treasure is really here, in piles of gold and gems behind some of the stones. He picks out a ruby, a large ruby, and pockets it... then he senses movement nearby and instinctively picks up a small rock to use as a weapon. He looks around, terrified to see what has hatched now.
A mouse appears out of darkness. It scampers this way and that. It's a pale grey mouse. Almost white. Almost transparent.
It makes no sound on the rock beneath its feet. Light as air, light as a ghost, it sniffs around.
Suddenly, Phelim knows what he must do. He stands as still as he can, willing himself to be invisible: his blood is sap, his limbs are clay, his hair is moss. He can feel his own heartbeat, and the beating heart of the Worm, and the tiny heart of the Soul Mouse scurrying at his feet.
For the Worm still sleeps, and her Soul Mouse is free to roam.
Phelim waits until the little creature is almost on top of his feet, then he smashes the rock down, over and over and over again. He yells, a primal sound that carries all the way down to Sweeney on the beach.
As the Soul Mouse dies, the Worm shudders and the Stones crack open. All manner of hideous creatures roar and screech and wail to sense their mother's death. Phelim sees what's coming, and he leaps over the mouth of the cave just as the stampede begins, deftly catching the top bone and swinging until he can find his footing.
The Hatchlings leap over his head to escape the mouth of a dying mother, and find themselves falling, plunging down onto the rocks to be claimed by the sea.
Phelim makes his way down carefully, being sure to retrieve every single bone and put them back in the bag. When he gets to the bottom, he sees that Sweeney has found an old pot from somewhere, filled it with water and lit a fire under it. The young man solemnly holds his hand out for the bag, and Phelim gives it to him, then sits down on the sand much quicker than he'd intended to.
He watches, as Sweeney carefully places every bone into the pot. Then he comes to sit beside Phelim and they watch.
After a short while, something red and fuzzy emerges from the water. The top of a head with fuzzy red hair. A girl's head. Alexia, reborn from the waters, now with flame red hair... and a shadow.
She steps out of the pot and pauses... until Phelim runs towards her and hugs her tight. Sweeney watches as the boy tells Alexia everything that happened.
And then Phelim remembers Sweeney. He reaches into his pocket, then runs back to his friend. 'There was a sparrow up there, a dead one, and I saw this inside it so I pulled it out and brought it down for you.'
Phelim holds out the ruby. Sweeney stares at it as if it were his very soul in Phelim's hand. Then he takes it, slowly. 'A sparrow? You're sure? It was in the chest?' Phelim nods. 'Oh yes, I'm sure. Pulled it right out of the bird.'
Sweeney looks like his heart might burst with joy as he carefully pockets the ruby and wanders quietly away. Walking. On the ground.
