Hero Rising. Shane Hegarty

rock wall.

      Beag was clinging on to Sulawan’s shoulder with apparent ease despite the sharp turns and juddering speed.

      They reached the part of the beach where Finn had first arrived on the island, the pathway running up to the cliff he’d almost fallen off. Sulawan slowed, and peering around his forearm Finn could see only glimpses of the Bone Creature swinging wildly at circling, dive-bombing serpents.

      “Let go,” Finn just about managed to say.

      Sulawan let go, dropping Finn on to stony ground.

      “I didn’t mean let go like that,” said Finn, winded.

      Sulawan grunted.

      Above them, more serpents were appearing through the clouds to pour towards the creature.

      “Call him,” Cyclops said to Beag.

      The tiny Legend stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled so loudly that shrill, piercing sound still rang in Finn’s ears after he had stopped.

      Above them, a serpent reappeared with the Orthrus in its jaws, taking Cornelius and Hiss to safety.

      The mountain shook with the sound of battle.

      “OK, kid, this is where you go home,” said Sulawan. “Next time I see you, you’ll have Gantrua in your pocket.”

      “I can’t do that,” Finn told him. “That would be crazy.”

      Leaning down and thrusting his single eye in Finn’s face, Sulawan snarled. “I hear old Cornelius and Hiss saved your life once. And your father’s. Maybe you should think about that before going all selfish on us.”

      There was a stirring in the water, a blackness moving through the waves towards them.

      “So, let’s say I decide to grab Gantrua,” asked Finn hurriedly. “What then? I just reanimate him, tell him it’s all been a big mistake, ask him for a charm and hope he doesn’t pull my head off?”

      “You call us,” said Cyclops, and handed him a tube, a little longer than Finn’s open hand, and made of some kind of thick shell, ridged and lumpy on the outside but smooth inside its rim.

      “In here are three of the crystals we smuggled out of this mine over the years and kept out of Gantrua’s hands. You push the end of this Gatemaker, a crystal will poke out the other end. It’ll be enough to punch a gateway open for a brief few seconds. We’ll know you’re ready then.”

      Finn took the thing, felt a squirming within the thick shell.

      “The crystals are attached to living scaldgrubs,” said Beag, “so they can survive the trip to your world.”

      He saw the disgust on Finn’s face.

      “Don’t worry, they’re only baby scaldgrubs,” said Sulawan. “Just don’t go putting your finger in there. They nibble.”

      “I can’t steal Gantrua,” said Finn.

      “You will. For some reason Hiss thinks you can be trusted with this job,” said Sulawan.

      “Sulawan doesn’t trust anyone,” said Beag, smiling.

      The noise from the other side of the cliff was of pure havoc, of serpents screeching, of the Bone Creature attacking.

      “This is a crazy plan, you do realise that?” Finn said over the encroaching noise.

      Sulawan thought about that. “Yeah,” he decided. “It is.”

      The dark shadow in the sea rose, pushing up a humped film of water and creating a wave that raced away either side of it.

      “One last question before you go,” said Sulawan. “Why have you humans been trying to open gateways into our world?”

      Finn shook his head. “I didn’t. We haven’t been.”

      “Well, someone has,” said Sulawan. “Someone on your side.”

      Then Finn remembered what he’d seen at the cliff back home. The assistants. That’s what they must have been doing with the crystals, he realised. Trying to open gateways.

      “Actually …” he said. “I think I know who that might be.” But it was madness. Why would they do that? Why would they deliberately try to open gateways to the Infested Side, in a town that had always tried desperately to protect against that very thing?

      “Well, here’s some free advice. They’d better stop,” said Sulawan. “If they keep trying to punch a hole to our world, some day they’re going to open one they won’t be able to close.”

      “He needs to get into the Leviathan now,” Beag said, watching the advancing form breaking through the churning waters.

      “Back into that mouth?” asked Finn, aghast at the idea of being thrust into the slobbering jaws of a sea monster. “I can’t.”

      “Would you prefer to be unconscious?” asked Beag. From somewhere, he had produced a needle of bone – a long serpent’s tooth perhaps. A glint of liquid dripped from the end of it.

      “No!” screamed Finn.

      Sulawan grabbed him, held his arms down. “The Leviathan will take you away from here. It’s quicker than the Bone Creature. Hopefully.”

      Finn felt helpless in Sulawan’s grip. “You’re not putting me to sleep again,” he yelled over the racket.

      They put him to sleep again.

      Finn’s last memory was of the world tumbling as the jaws of a Leviathan rose from the ocean depths to swallow him.

      

      Finn woke on a stone beach, while being pecked at by a seagull.

      It ate a touch of the dust that surrounded him, immediately regretted it, gagged as it flew away.

      Shocked, Finn jumped to his feet, saw the outline of his body in dust on the shingle. The sea lapped at his feet, washed the dust away. He slapped the rest of it from himself, felt his head to make sure his mind was still there and briefly wondered if he had been in a dream.

      But that smell couldn’t be imagined. He stank very badly – the stench of the Infested Side. Of sweat. Of the breath of a belching sea monster. He briefly considered jumping in the water to be free of it, and only then realised it was raining. Heavy drops, but already easing off.

      The dust was also evidence that he had been on the Infested Side. He remembered one other thing, patted around his pocket until he found the shell tube attached to his leg. This was the Gatemaker, the way back to the Infested Side when he wanted it. Scaldgrubs squirmed inside. Finn’s stomach squirmed with them.

      The task they’d given him was a crazy one. Should he do it? He reckoned he could pull it off. After all he’d done before, everything he’d been through, he thought he’d find a way. Somehow. He just wasn’t sure he should.

      Finn started to move on up the beach, the loose shingle giving way beneath his feet, adding to his general exhaustion. He reached the grass between the beach and the road just as, from further up the coastline, he saw the arrival of three assistants. They must have been alerted by the brief flickering of the gateway that had released him back home.

      He hid out of sight, crouched behind a wall as they passed. And once they were gone, he darted low across the road to an alleyway to start back to the