He looked out over the graveyard. The tombstones in their crooked rows. Sally Bones’s gang, ranged in their ranks. Luger stared at him, eyes full of hate.
The Bones cats unsheathed their claws. Bared their teeth. And here they came.
‘GO!’ yelled Varjak. His pack ran at the Bones cats – and as thunder shook the earth beneath their paws, they came together with a juddering crunch. Flanked by his friends, by a solid shield of muscle, Varjak breathed in–two–three–four, out–two–three– four, and came face to face with the enemy.
Omar and Ozzie took the first hits, on his left. They soaked them up without flinching – and struck back mightily, in an explosion of pure strength and power. The Scratch Sisters fought just as fiercely on Varjak’s right – the fastest claws in town, avenging their Sister, making a way through for him.
His pack drove forwards through the snowstorm, splintering the Bones cats before them. Some tried to circle round the rear, but Razor held them off with a terrifying roar.
‘Don’t try it!’ he yelled. ‘I’ve got nothing left to lose!’
Varjak was fighting the fight of his life. In the middle of the battle, he led the line. He guided them into the heart of the enemy, through the graveyard, towards the tower. All around him, his friends fought tooth and claw, every inch of the way. And inch by inch, they forced their way forwards.
‘Varjak!’ shouted Omar, up ahead. ‘There’s a gap! Go!’
Varjak looked up and saw it. Omar and Ozzie had smashed open a breach in the ranks of the Bones cats. Through that gap, he could see the dark doorway at the foot of the tower. This was his chance. This was it.
He surged forwards through the gap as Omar, Ozzie, Elyza and Malisha held off the waves of Bones cats that were closing all around them. Only Razor and Jess made it through with him.
They drove on, through the middle, through the churning mud and snow. And now another wave of Bones cats came. They were waiting; they were waiting; and now they came, flying through the air at him. They were led by Luger, his face a mask of blood and hate.
Razor sprang in front of Varjak. He met them head on. The tiger-striped tomcat had no ears or tail, but he would not be moved. He blocked them. He stopped them dead in their tracks. With a thunderous tackle, he smashed into Luger, and dragged him to the ground.
‘Keep going, Boss!’ yelled Razor. ‘Keep going!’
Varjak kept going. He was clear through now, thanks to his friends; but only Jess was left beside him, and there was still another wave of Bones cats to come. He breathed deep, widened his Moving Circle out to meet them – and here they came.
One cat.
Varjak took it down.
Two cats.
Down. Down.
Three came. Three, four, five. They kept coming at him, Sally Bones’s gang. Varjak got the first, got the second, spun round – and the third broke through his Circle. Claws raked his back. He kept going – so close to the doorway now, so close – but more claws were coming, ripping at his side. They just kept coming – and they were wearing him down.
Down. Varjak was down on the ground.
But little Jess – the last and smallest and weakest of his friends – tore into the Bones cats with a fury he’d never seen in her before. She startled them, just for a moment. It was enough. Varjak could move again.
He scrambled up, made another run forwards, but now there were teeth in his tail. Claws in his ribs. Paws in his face. He couldn’t fight them all. His Circle broke. They just kept coming. He couldn’t fight at all.
Varjak could see his friends, cut off from each other, battling for survival – not pressing forwards any more, just staying alive. He fought on, but his heart was sinking. It wasn’t enough. They’d given it everything they had, they’d been magnificent, but it wasn’t enough. There were just too many Bones cats. It was over, so near the end, so close. He wasn’t going to make it.
‘VAR! JAK! PAW!’ A great roar ripped the air. A shadow soared through the snow.
‘Cludge?’ said Varjak. ‘Cludge, is it you?’
‘CLUDGE COME BACK!’ barked the huge dog. ‘CLUDGE COME BACK!’
And behind Cludge came another huge shadow, and another – Cludge’s brothers: Buster and Bomballooloo! The three of them came roaring into the graveyard together. And at the head of them, with the biggest of grins: it was Tam!
Tam was back. She hadn’t run away at all!
‘Glad to see us?’ she yelled. ‘Thought you might need help – so I went and got some!’
The Bones cats around Varjak scattered – and now, at last, the way to the tower was clear. He dragged himself up to his paws, and made the last few steps to the doorway.
It was pitch dark in the tower. He could see the bottom of some old wooden stairs, spiralling up inside. They were very narrow; too narrow for the dogs.
Somewhere up those stairs, Sally Bones was waiting for him.
That was where Varjak had to go.
Alone.
Chapter Thirty
VARJAK CLIMBED THE spiral steps, heart thumping in his throat.
His eyes adjusted to the darkness as he went up. The stairs were narrow, dusty and very old. There were strange carvings on the walls. They looked half-familiar, but they were crumbling, covered in cobwebs, and he couldn’t see them clearly.
It was a long way up. It felt like climbing a mountain. With each step, he expected Sally Bones to come at him.
She was waiting in a chamber at the top of the tower. She was standing in front of a wide arched window, where the great bell hung. It opened onto a narrow ledge. He could see the night sky outside. He could hear the snowstorm raging; the wind howling like the end of the world. But in the tower, it was still as death and dry as dust.
Away to one side, by the bell-rope, was Holly. Sally Bones wasn’t looking at her. She was staring at Varjak with her ice-blue eye. He met her gaze. It was like looking into absolute darkness, in that Mesopotamian temple chamber, before the sun came through.
He stepped forwards, shimmering in Slow-Time, the power crackling off his claws. ‘It’s over,’ he said. ‘Let Holly go.’
Sally Bones shook her head. ‘You cannot beat me,’ she said. ‘You never could. You never will.’
‘It’s different now,’ said Varjak. ‘I know things now that I never dreamed of.’
She smiled. ‘My old enemy. Come, then. Do it, if you can.’
Varjak breathed in–two–three–four. The energy surged inside him. But the thin white cat was also in Slow-Time. Her whole body shimmered with a terrible power.
He started to circle her. There, at the top of the spiral stairs in the darkness, with the open arch behind them, they circled each other, both looking for a weakness.
Sally Bones reached out to brush Varjak’s whiskers –
– and he lunged at the opening. ‘That won’t work any more!’ he said, unleashing a Moving Circle at her. His claws lashed out, left-right, slashing, slashing.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Sally Bones staggered back. A few strands of white fur fluttered to the ground. Their tips were red with blood.
She steadied herself and licked her lips, showing sharp pointed teeth. ‘Good,’ she said. ‘Now do what you will. Give me everything.’
He looked into her ice-blue eye. He saw the same power that burned in him, burning like a dark star in her. It summoned something from his depths: an absolute denial. It rose up out of him, and rushed towards her.
He came at her with all his power, all his Skills, all the anger and pain and sadness in his heart. He hit her with everything: for Holly, for his friends, for the Free Cats in the harbour.
Every hit drew blood. He went for her face, her throat, her ribs, burying her in blows, ripping, smashing, slashing her apart. He’d never fought so fiercely. He had to win. So much depended on it. She had to go down.
But Sally Bones soaked it all up. She seemed to rejoice in it, as if it only made her stronger. She took everything he threw at h
er –
– and now she came back at him, a whirlwind of white. He parried to his left, parried to his right, but she came through the middle and kept on coming, a blur of whiteness in the dark, and he could not keep up.
SMASH!
Sally Bones broke through Varjak’s Circle. His defences were breached. He reeled back, off balance.
She drove him back, and back, and back. She forced him out, through the arch, onto the narrow ledge outside the tower. Howling wind lashed his spine, froze his blood. He looked down. Through the snow, he could see the graveyard and the city lights, spread out far below. They were so high; much higher than he’d been that night when Holly fell.
Varjak’s head swam. White, white snow whipped into his face. The wind was howling like the end of the world.
SLASH!
A long white claw seared through his side. He felt it, like a knife, opening him up.
He looked down, and saw a few strands of silver-blue fur fluttering away. Their ends were wet with blood.
He looked up at Sally Bones – and then she hit him: once, twice; right between the eyes.
Everything came apart. Everything broke down. Varjak spilled out onto the ledge like liquid. He felt emptied, like a black hole, a star imploding. No power left.
Can’t believe it.
She’s done it.
She’s beaten me again.
Sally Bones stood over him, on the ledge of the tower. She was looking down at him with her ice-blue eye. She was the better fighter. She knew it, and so did he.
Sometimes, you cannot beat your enemy.
Poor Jalal. He couldn’t do it. And neither can I.
Feel cold now. Everything’s slipping away. It’s the end of the world.
It’s over.
Varjak shut his eyes, and waited.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
A vast ringing noise filled his head. At first he thought it was Sally Bones, hitting him again; but he could feel nothing – no pain, nothing. And a great tide of sound was rising, each note louder than the last, chiming, pealing, blasting into the night.
He opened his eyes. Sally Bones was standing above him. There was pain on her face; she was flinching at the noise; her ears pinned back as each clang filled the sky around them, resounding again and again, even bigger than the sky. And it hurt Varjak’s ears too – it felt like it was burning into the core of his brain – but it was a glorious sound.
CLANG!
CLANG!
CLANG!
Sally Bones turned away from Varjak. Scowling with fury, she stalked back through the open arch. And in the tower –
It was Holly! She was ringing the massive bell! She was swinging on the bell rope, using all her strength to make it peal out into the night. With that glorious, deafening noise, she’d distracted Sally Bones, just long enough for Varjak to catch his breath.
‘Get back in here, Varjak Paw!’ yelled Holly. ‘Get back off that ledge and fight!’
He grinned, in spite of everything.
Holly. She made something shine in him. Like fine whiskers of starlight, or a chain of coloured lights, brilliant in the winter night. Holly still believed in him, even now.
Far below in the graveyard, his friends were looking up. Every single one of them believed in him. I cannot let them down, he thought. They need me. They’re my pack. My gang. I will not let them down.
But what can I do, against Sally Bones?
The only way is to face your enemy. Face them and see them truly, without fear, without hate.
Varjak heaved himself up onto his paws. His body was a wreck, a broken, bloody pulp of pain, like a train had run him over, crushed him flat into the track. His side was bleeding, his back was aching; his paws felt like they’d break if he fought any more. But he went back through the arch, and faced Sally Bones again.
The bell had stopped ringing. Its sound was still reverberating, resonating, but it was dying away. Sally Bones had chased Holly down from the bell-rope and was shaping up to slash her to death.
‘You leave Holly alone,’ growled Varjak.
Sally Bones turned, and saw him, and laughed in his face. ‘Varjak Paw! Back for more? What a courageous little cat you are. You fought well. I am almost sorry it must end. But end it must.’
She came up close to him; so close, he could see the bones jutting out of her; he could almost smell the darkness. But he didn’t back off. He didn’t breathe in–two–three–four, or make a Moving Circle. He stood his ground, still and silent, and looked into her ice-blue eye without fear, without hate.
And what he saw was Sally Bones. Everything she was, everything she used to be, everything she would be: he saw it all, and he saw it truly. This cat who’d lived so long in darkness –
– he saw the darkness –
– the despair –
‘Yes,’ she murmured. ‘Give in to the darkness.’
But Varjak was not afraid any more. And now he remembered what he’d done, last time, in the harbour yard. He’d thought of Mesopotamia. Of the mountain. Of the bright and silent sunlight –
Sunlight.
Sally Bones was never seen in sunlight. Did it dazzle her? Was that why she’d pulled away from him? Was she powerful only in the darkness?
One ray of light can change everything.
It was the darkest hour of the night, the hour before dawn. If he could hold on, if he could somehow hold on till sunrise, then maybe, just maybe, he’d have a chance.
So as Sally Bones came towards him, Varjak told himself what to do. Hold on till sunrise. Just hold on. Hold on and don’t give up, whatever happens.
He breathed in–two–three–four, and prepared to meet her again. He stood there, shimmering with a power that came from deep within, from everything good and bright inside him.
She threw everything she had at him. All the anger and pain and sadness in her heart. All the darkness and despair in the world. Blow after blow, raining down on Varjak’s head. It was all he could do to keep his Circle strong against the onslaught, to hold on, just hold on, for dawn.
He lost track of time as they fought. It could have been hours. Could’ve been days, or years. A hundred years, locked in battle with his enemy.
Just hold on till sunrise.
She was strong, Sally Bones. She was so very strong; and the darkness in her heart was powerful; and Varjak was tired now, so tired.
Slowly, but surely, she pushed him back, and back, and back; back onto the ledge of that fearfully high tower; and he could hear Holly ringing the bell again, but it did no good this time, because Sally Bones was pushing him back, and he knew she would not stop until he’d fallen to his death.
But still he held on. How much longer till dawn? He’d lost all sense of time and space. Where were they? It seemed like the world was flickering, blurring at the edges, its surfaces growing thin. It seemed like he could see through the world, through time and space, to something older, deeper, truer. It was almost like he could smell the sharp sweet wild mint, and see the mountain –
No. He could see it. There it was, before his eyes: a mountaintop at sunrise.
He was on top of the mountain, on the snow-capped ledge. And there was Sally Bones, in this secret place with him, just as he’d seen her in his vision in the pool.
The sun of Mesopotamia was rising higher in the sky. The sunlight beat down on Sally Bones, the bright and silent sunlight. It reflected off her snow-white fur. It grew brighter and brighter, more and more brilliant. And Sally Bones stepped back from Varjak, blinking in the light. She looked dazzled. She looked dazed. She closed her eye, and cried out.
‘No! No! No!’
And her cry must have snapped him back to his senses, because the world grew solid again, stopped flickering, and they were back on the ledge of the tower, high above the graveyard. The city was spread out below.
But even here in the city, the sun was rising in the sky.
It was dawn. A beautiful
dawn. Sally Bones was clutching her head in the daylight. Her ice-blue eye was closed.
Varjak had made it. He’d held on till sunrise. And now he had a chance. In darkness, he knew he’d never beat her; but in daylight, maybe he was stronger than he knew.
He came at her with the last drop of strength left in him. He came at her, and she could not stop him. He drove her back, to the edge, until there was nowhere left for her to go. She looked at him one last time, with a strange expression in her ice-blue eye – and then she lost her balance, lost control, and Sally Bones, the thin white cat, she fell, and fell, and fell away from view.
He looked down from the ledge. He was so tired after the endless night, it seemed to him that the world flickered one last time, and he thought he could see her tumbling from a mountain peak, down to a sunless sea.
He never saw her hit the ground. But he saw her gang, and his friends, all staring at something in the snow. Staring and rubbing their eyes. It was hard to be certain from this height, but it looked like the body of a thin white cat, fallen from the tower and broken on the ground below.
White against white; he couldn’t be sure. But buried in the white: something that might have been a chip of bluest ice, melting in the snow.
Chapter Thirty-one
IT WAS OVER.
At last, it was done. Sally Bones was gone.
‘Varjak! You did it! You did it!’ Holly’s spiky fur rippled in the sunlight as she came towards him.
He slumped down in the tower, hardly able to believe it. ‘Did I really make it?’ he said. ‘Did I hold on till dawn?’
‘You did! You beat Sally Bones!’
He shook his head in wonder. ‘Couldn’t have done it without you, Holly.’
‘I know. Now stop bleeding! You’re making a mess!’
Gently, she licked his wounds. As she did, he watched the daylight, streaming into the bell tower. He watched the dust, swirling in the light. And he watched Holly. Her eyes had definitely changed. One was mustard-coloured, the other ice-blue. It was strange; yet both her eyes were shining with new hope.