A Skin of a Dragon (The Guild of Gatekeepers Book 1)

by Frances Jones

  'We must be at least forty feet below the ground,' I exclaimed.

  The walls had widened, and the ground beneath our feet felt sandy, the air much drier than above ground. Three tunnels opened out before us.

  'It’s the middle one,' I said, consulting the map.

  Without hesitating, I ploughed on into the darkness of the long winding tunnel. Despite the depth below ground, the air in the labyrinth moved freely. It seemed that air shafts had been somehow constructed within it, for now and then a breeze would brush past my face as we passed other hidden openings. The tunnel itself was not claustrophobic at all as I had feared; it was large enough for three men to walk abreast and more than six feet high.

  We walked for twenty minutes or more, only stopping to consult the map, as the tunnel wound its way towards the centre of the labyrinth. It seemed to be taking us as directly as possible to a chamber in the centre where George had marked the place where he had hidden compass.

  As we drew nearer, the air felt markedly warmer. Eliza stopped suddenly and trembled as blood-curdling snarls and growls echoed down the tunnel. They seemed to be coming from the direction of the chamber.

  'It can't hurt us, remember,' I whispered, taking her hand.

  We crept forward as the snarls and growls continued intermittently, gradually getting louder. I hardly dared breathe each time we rounded another corner, half expecting to see the terror of the labyrinth lurking right there, ready to pounce upon us.

  'What was that?' hissed Eliza suddenly as she stumbled on something in her path.

  I stopped and turned around. The lantern light fell upon the skeleton of a person, lying as though they had been cut down whilst running. Eliza gasped and shrank back, edging past it with her back to the wall.

  'Keep moving,' I whispered in a trembling voice. 'We must keep moving.'

  The air was growing hotter, and the sounds became louder and more frequent. I stopped as the tunnel came to an abrupt end and opened out onto a huge subterranean hall filled with flaming torches and a roaring fire pit in the centre. Blackened chains and pulleys hung from the ceiling from which miserable captives would be suspended and slowly killed in centuries past.

  'A dungeon!' I whispered, stepping into the light.

  As if in answer, the growling and snarling resumed, and from out of the shadows at the opposite end of the chamber stepped a thing so terrible to behold, I thought my legs would give way beneath me.

  Chapter 19

  It took the form of a monstrous black wolf with a horned head like that of a bull, far larger than an ordinary beast, and it was filled with a great terror as no real animal could be. Its eyes glowed yellow and its foaming mouth revealed a row of teeth like the jagged peaks of mountains. It locked its eyes onto me and Eliza as it stalked out of the shadows, snarling with malice.

  'It's coming towards us!’ cried Eliza as it began to close the gap between us. ‘Why is the repellent not working?’

  Still the beast drew nearer, seemingly unaffected by the repellent sprinkled onto our cloaks.

  'Run!' Eliza screamed, tugging me back by the cloak as the beast drew itself up, ready to pounce.

  'No!' I cried. 'It will out-run us! Stay back!'

  The beast growled and moved closer. The hairs on its back stood erect, and its foul breath almost choked me. I retched and steadied myself against the wall. A desperate plan had taken shape in my mind, and there was no time to think it through. I forced myself to disguise my fear, though every instinct in my body urged me to run, and took one confident step forward. The beast halted.

  Glancing up at the chains suspended from the ceiling, I noted that one hung lax in a loop, the end trailing on the floor to my right. My pulse thudded in my ears, and the length of the hall seemed to shrink to just a few steps. With a vicious snarl, the beast leapt, clearing almost the entire expanse of floor between it and the fire pit. I swept to the right and wheeled back round to face it in an instant. The fire pit still stood between us, but the beast could easily jump it. It took one more determined step forward, savouring the last few moments before the kill it felt sure to make. It was waiting, expecting a feeble attack which it would thwart easily before killing me with relish.

  My heart pounded as I took a determined step forward to goad it into action. It sprung, eager to down its prey. At the same moment, I leapt back and pulled upon the chain with all my strength as the beast's neck was caught in the loop. A choked howl filled the hall as it thrashed wildly about, throttled by the chain as the flames roared up from the fire pit to devour its body. I tugged harder to extinguish the last reserve of breath from its body and speed it to death, then the beast fell silent, its body dangling limply from the chain.

  I gasped and wiped the sweat from my brow as I gazed upon the burning corpse and then at the walls around me, filled with instruments of torment too gruesome to imagine. Eliza ran over from where she cowered near the mouth of the tunnel and threw her arms around me.

  'I thought you were going to die!' she gasped.

  'So did I,' I replied breathlessly.

  The burning corpse was blackened and charred, and the putrid smell of death filled the chamber.

  'Let’s find the compass and get away from here,' I said, stooping to retrieve the lantern. 'Does the map show where it is hidden?'

  'Yes, it should be in the north-west wall,' replied Eliza, looking about. 'If my bearings aren't altogether muddled, then that should be this wall here.'

  I followed her to the far wall, its surface pock-marked with crevices where the stones had come away. At once, we set to work turning over the loose stones and inspecting the cavities behind them. My heart thudded, and more than once I glanced over my shoulder at the roaring fire in the pit. An unreasonable fear that the beast might re-emerge from it and pounce upon us made me anxious to leave the chamber.

  'I have it!' Eliza cried as she pulled a small pouch out of a crack in the stonework and held it aloft triumphantly. She opened it and drew out a small brass compass that fitted neatly in the palm of her hand. Upon the back was engraved a gatekeeper butterfly on the starboard side of a ship. 'That is the Mercaturian's symbol!' she cried.

  'Good, let’s leave this wretched place at once,' I replied.

  'Here, you had better keep hold of it,' said Eliza, pressing the pouch into my hand as she led the way back through the tunnel.

  As the air grew cooler and damper once again, we relaxed and breathed easier. The tunnel was coming to an end, and soon we would see the staircase before us. At last, we rounded the final corner, and the lantern light fell upon the steps below the trapdoor. We climbed without looking back until the light of the hall appeared as a speck above us, gradually growing bigger the closer we got.

  'What do you suppose made the spell go awry?' I asked.

  'I don't know,' replied Eliza. 'It seemed to work on the Coquinarian's cat- but maybe we simply startled him. George was very clear that the potion needed to be prepared exactly. Perhaps it was the mallow blossom; I dried it as best I could, but it looked a little wilted.'

  The trapdoor was only a few steps above us now, and the soft candlelight of the hall gleamed through the opening.

  'Whew,' I whistled as I shut the door and drew the bolt across. 'Thank goodness that is over.'

  'It may be over, but now the real work begins,' replied Eliza. 'I have hidden a pack of supplies in my room, but we will need fresh water for the skins. We can stop at the pump in the main street on our way to the docks.'

  'The docks?' I asked.

  'Yes, we will take the Guild’s ship,’ replied Eliza. ‘The Venatorian will be sent to find us as soon as Devere realises we are gone. We will be harder to reach at sea. Come, we haven't any time to waste. We may not get another opportunity. Fetch some blankets from the dormitory. I have already prepared extra warm clothes. There is no telling how long we will be at sea.'

  I dashed off to the dormitory without further question and stripped two of the beds of their blankets. I returned
to the hall a moment later to find Eliza rolling a pile of clothes, a flintlock pistol and the Venatorian’s bugle into a linen sheet that she knotted at the top to securely hold the contents.

  'What are they for?' I asked.

  'I don’t know, but they could come in useful,' replied Eliza. ‘If nothing else, the pistol will be useful to barter with in exchange for food if it comes to it.'

  I felt relieved. I hadn't planned on fighting, and I had never even held a gun before, let alone fired one.

  'Have you got the blankets? Yes, well I think that is everything. Don't light the lantern until we have put a good distance between us and the Gatehouse. Let's go.' said Eliza.

  Chapter 20

  We turned out of the lane and quickly vanished into the dark streets of London. The rain had ceased, but the wind was cold for the time of year. Here and there, turnip lanterns sat in doorways, lighting our path, or the occasional lamp from a coach would illuminate the puddled and uneven ground for a moment as it passed us by. The mournful ringing of church bells for souls trapped in purgatory echoed along the streets, as those unfortunate enough to still be out after dark hurried back to their homes, anxious to shut the door between themselves and the night.

  We stopped at the water pump and filled our water skins then continued our way.

  'This way,' said Eliza, as the river appeared before us, shimmering in the light of the lanterns that hung upon the decks of the ships and boats docked there. Mist rose from the water and hung like a veil across the landing platforms that reached out from the bank.

  'Do you know which is the Guild's ship?' I asked, as we clambered onto the platform. 'Does it have a name?'

  'No,' replied Eliza, 'it has a gatekeeper butterfly painted upon the port and starboard sides, though. Hold the lantern aloft; Father's sails will reveal which ship is the Guild's.'

  I held the lantern up as we walked the lines of vessels that bobbed gently in the black water.

  'There it is,' I said as the lantern cast its light upon the sails of a ship much like a Viking long ship, light and swift to launch, but with a wheel and a cabin below deck like a modern sailing ship. Upon the starboard side of the ship, the symbol of the gatekeeper butterfly had been carved.

  At once, I set to work loosening the ropes from the rusted moorings, and with a few strokes of the oars, we had maneuvered through the docks and were out into the midstream, vanishing into the mist.

  'Where does the compass point?' asked Eliza.

  I drew it out of my pocket. 'Exactly where the river is taking us. I imagine we are heading out into the North Sea.'

  We drew our cloaks around ourselves tighter and huddled together at the helm as the Palace of Westminster, and then the Tower of London, slid silently by. Before long, the sprawling forms of the London skyline were replaced by trees and rolling fields. The black shapes of farmsteads and timber cottages could just be seen on the river banks, a shade darker than the darkness around us.

  'Tom,' said Eliza, as we gazed out at the blackness ahead of us.

  'Yes?' I replied.

  Eliza paused for a moment and seemed suddenly embarrassed. ''Twas a brave thing you did in the labyrinth,' she said in a low voice. 'You saved both of our lives, and I will not forget that.'

  ‘It was nothing,' I mumbled as I turned away, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks despite the chilly October air.

  'What do you suppose will happen when Devere finds us gone?' I asked after a long pause.

  'I don't know,' replied Eliza. She sounded troubled. 'He has no way of knowing where we are going for now, but I fear for George. He said himself that Devere is perceptive. He will know why we have left, I am quite sure, and it will not take him long to discover that we found George. I dare not think what he will do to him then.'

  'George is more use to Devere alive than dead until he finds out where the dragonskin is,' I replied.

  Eliza nodded. 'That is true,' she said, 'but I am also afraid for my father.'

  'Your father? Why?' I asked.

  'Devere,' replied Eliza. 'I am afraid about what he will do to my father when he realises what we have done. You have seen yourself he is not a merciful man.'

  She stared out into the darkness as though she might penetrate it with her eyes and see right through to the end of our journey, wherever it might lead us.

  'We can go back,' I said, though even as I spoke the words, I knew we could not. 'There is still time before they get back and realise we are gone.'

  Eliza shook her head and straightened herself. Her jaw was set firm, and her eyes shone in the lantern light.

  'No, we cannot go back,' she said firmly.

  Chapter 21

  In the east, the sky was growing pale. The night was almost through, and the dark hour before dawn was passing. The city limits were far behind us, and the river wound its way past the Kent towns of Northfleet, Gravesend and East Tilbury where it broadened before emptying into the Thames Estuary.

  I drew the compass from my pocket. Its needle pointed east, past the towns of Margate and Ramsgate, and then south, directing us towards Dover and Folkestone. Besides studying the alchemical texts that Emerson had directed me to, I had used my time in the Guild library to look over the maps kept there, and I was now quite familiar with the general shape of England and Wales. I knew we were heading for the English Channel. I adjusted the wheel a little, keeping the ship mid-stream as we left the estuary behind and sailed out into the open sea.

  'Is this the great ocean George has told me tales of?' asked Eliza, her eyes wide with wonder.

  'No,' I replied. 'This is the North Sea. The Dutch Republic and Spanish Netherlands are across the water. You may see them if the weather stays clear.'

  'You handle the ship well considering you say you have never sailed anything larger than a fishing boat before,' commented Eliza.

  'We have barely left the river behind,' I said. 'Wait until we have been on the open sea for a while. Even if the weather is kind to us, the sea will be rougher. I only hope your father's sails are as good as they look.'

  'They are,' replied Eliza firmly.

  Dawn passed, and a grey, sunless day emerged. The compass guided us around the Kent coastline and into the English Channel. The sea was calm, but I was careful to keep land in sight, fearful of what the heavy clouds that gathered ominously in the west had in store.

  'I am quite exhausted,' yawned Eliza. 'I think it must be this sea air.'

  'It is,' I called over my shoulder. 'I've missed it.'

  'That may be, but you can't sleep at the wheel,' said Eliza. 'Can we drop anchor and rest for a bit.'

  'Not here,' I replied. 'We shall have to find somewhere sheltered- a bay or inlet. I don't like the look of those clouds out west.'

  Eliza followed my gaze to where the swollen clouds gathered on the western horizon.

  'Is it a storm?' she asked.

  'It looks like it,' I said, 'but if it breaks land before it reaches us, we may be spared. We need to get past these cliffs.'

  For the next few hours we watched the sky threaten rain while the ship carried us further west, hugging the Kent coastline.

  'Look ahead,' I called.

  Eliza was dosing off, curled up under a blanket on the deck behind me. She got up and looked to where I pointed. There before us lay an inlet at the end of a long stretch of beach.

  'That will be a good place to drop anchor and rest a while,' I said. 'Let us see what the weather is like before we decide whether to go any further today once we have rested.'

  Navigating the ship into the inlet, we dropped the anchor and docked beside a rocky outcrop sheltered from the wind by a narrow headland which jutted out beyond the beach.

  'Will it be safe here?' asked Eliza.

  'As long as that storm holds off,' I replied curling up under a blanket. I didn't wait for Eliza to raise any further objection. I was asleep even as my head touched the deck.

  I woke some hours later to find the blanket wet through and my cloa
k underneath damp and cold. A fine, drenching rain was all that the clouds appeared to be carrying. Eliza stirred beside me and peered out from beneath her blanket.

  'What time is it?' she asked.

  'I should say it is about four or five o'clock,' I replied, studying the sky above.

  'Can we go any further today?' she asked.

  I thought for a moment and looked about. The beach was deserted. It seemed as good a place as any to shelter for the night, and I didn't like the thought of sailing on the open sea in the dark, no matter how close we kept to the coast.

  'No,’ I replied at last. ‘’Twill be safer to wait here until morning. I am not familiar with this stretch of coast, and we may not reach another suitable place to drop anchor before nightfall.'

  Eliza didn't argue. 'We should find some wood and make a fire,' she said, scrambling to her feet. 'We shall perish in these wet things if we don't get warm soon.'

  Taking our precious bag of supplies, we lowered the life raft into the water and paddled to the shore. The wet sand sank beneath our boots as we crossed the beach, and sea gulls swooped down to pick out food washed up by the surf. Behind the sand dunes, thick tangles of stalky grass, gorse and stunted trees provided plenty of fuel for a fire. We collected as much as we could carry and set about building a fire in a hollow between the dunes.

  Somewhere behind the thickness of clouds that hung low in the sky, the sun was setting. A finger of sunlight broke through the clouds on the horizon and flashed off the waves before sinking into the sea. Evening drew in, and the shadows deepened all around us as we ate our meal.

  'Can we sleep here beside the fire tonight?' asked Eliza through the shivers that convulsed through her body. 'I'm chilled to the bone.'

  I squinted out to where the black form of the ship lilted gently on the waves. 'Yes, just for tonight,' I replied. 'I don't think the current is strong enough to sweep her out to sea. Let us drag the raft a little further up the beach though, and we ought to try and hide it.'