Uki and the Swamp Spirit by Kieran Larwood & David Wyatt

Author:Kieran Larwood & David Wyatt [Kieran Larwood and David Wyatt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571342846
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

There were parcels of biscuits and bread inside the pack, as well as some clay bottles of elderberry wine. Uki mixed some of the wine with water and did another round of his patients. They seemed to take the mixture a bit better than before. Perhaps the wine might give them some strength. Perhaps.

He found it was easier if he tried to keep busy. Every time he stopped to watch his friends, a surge of panic built up and threatened to overtake him. How could he go on without them? How could he possibly capture the last two spirits on his own?

He set about replacing all the damp cloths on the rabbits’ foreheads, then trying them with more wine and water. By the time he’d finished that, the sky above was beginning to be tinged pink. A whole day had gone and there was no sign of anyone recovering.

Uki was thinking about lighting the bonfire again, to keep everyone warm through the oncoming night, when he noticed Kree stirring beneath her blanket. He rushed over to her side.

‘Kree? Can you hear me? Are you feeling better?’

The little rabbit squinted at him through swollen eyelids. She moved her mouth a fraction, and Uki wet it with some water from his cloth.

‘Cold,’ she said, her voice hardly more than a croak. ‘Everything is cold.’

‘I’m just about to light a fire,’ said Uki. ‘A big bonfire. It’ll warm you up nicely, I promise!’

‘Uki? Is that you?’ Kree blinked again and tried to move her head. Uki knelt closer and took one of her blistered paws in his.

‘Yes, it’s me. I’m here.’ A tear trickled down his nose and dripped on to Kree’s blanket. ‘Tell me what I can do to make you feel better. Tell me how to help you.’

‘Mooka. How is Mooka?’

Uki looked round to where her jerboa lay, his side moving with shallow breaths. How could he tell her that the poor creature was close to dying? Would it be wrong to lie? ‘He’s fine,’ Uki said eventually. ‘I found him a bit of pasture to hop around in. He’s nibbling the grass and … and … he misses you.’

Kree closed her other paw over his and gave it a weak squeeze. ‘You’re a bad liar, Uki. At least he will be with me on the Sky Plains. We will ride together again.’

‘No!’ Uki felt like shaking her, squeezing her, but he didn’t dare move her wounded body too much. ‘Don’t say that! You’re not going to die! You’re not!’

‘I think I am.’ Kree’s voice was just a whisper now, her eyes were closed again. ‘I think it will be soon. Will you do something for me, Uki?’

Pawing away the tears that spilled from his eyes, Uki nodded. He found he couldn’t speak. The words wouldn’t come.

‘Go back to the plains, once you’re done. Find my parents and tell them I was sorry. They didn’t really throw me out, you see. We had a big fight. My father wanted to use Mooka for leather to make a new tent.

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