Lair of the Grelgoroth

by Ruth Fox

  “No,” said Zach, aghast. He looked back at his brother, willing him to return his gaze, to realise what was going to happen if they didn’t stop this. “No. Morton, you heard what he said yesterday. We share our DNA. Monsters and humans. Underneath, we’re the same.” But in his mind, he could already see it happening—this war between humans and monsters.

  “It’s already happening,” said the Grelgoroth. “Morton will follow the path of his grandfather, and serve me. Your humans have marched into South Silvershine, Zach. They are already fighting. And my children are fighting back.”

  Zach knew he was right. The monsters would win. They were bigger, stronger, tougher, and more ruthless. They were more desperate. Humans would suffer for their treatment of their own creations, for excluding them, for ignoring them and their plight for so long.

  The last shreds of Fiona’s stolen energy had faded. Zach could no longer feel that strong thrumming power inside him. He was himself—small, tired, sore, cold, and very, very afraid. He looked at Monster-boy, whose eyes shed the only light now. “Morton, do you want that?” he said in a voice that was close to a whisper. “Do you want humans to serve you?”

  “Yes,” said Monster-boy. And then, with one smooth movement, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out Zach’s kitchen knife.

  Zach had forgotten about it. But he could see it now, remembered putting it in Morton’s hands, entrusting it to him. Now Morton was going to kill him with it.

  “Yes,” echoed the Grelgoroth, and he began to laugh again. “Yes! My true son!”

  Monster-boy ran a claw along the blade of the knife. It made a scratching sound. Zach couldn’t look away. His eyes were fixed on that shining bright blade that would be his death.

  “Do it, my son,” sang the Grelgoroth. “When his blood is spilled, the humans will come. How could they not? One of their own—a small, tiny child, defenseless! They will march to war willingly, and you will have made it happen, Morton Highborn! You will be a king! This is your first step!”

  Zach knew he could run. He could try and hide. But Morton was fast, much faster than Zach was. No, it was better to stay here, and face his death. Maybe he hadn’t rescued the kids. Maybe it had been a futile hope from the start. But he’d done everything he could. He was proud of that.

  Maybe he wouldn’t die a hero, but he’d die bravely.

  “Zach,” said Monster-boy. “It’s been really nice knowing you. Living with you. You taught me a lot.”

  “You taught me stuff, too,” said Zach. “Heaps. I’m glad I met you.”

  “Yeah.” Morton nodded. “You’ve been a pretty good brother.”

  Morton whirled. The knife was a bright arch of silver-yellow light. It aimed straight for the Grelgoroth’s chest.

  But as the blade hit the Grelgoroth’s rough skin, it bounced out of his grip. It seemed to hover in the air for a moment . . . before it shattered into a million shards.

  Zach, stunned and reeling, gaped. The Grelgoroth had told them itself. His hide was too thick to be penetrated by steel.

  Monster-boy gripped his hand, hissing in pain. A claw had torn loose from his middle finger. It skidded across the floor and was lost in the shadows.

  The Grelgoroth’s eyes were wide. Those blank, milky depths showed, just for a second, a glimmer of true fear; just as quickly gone. The Grelgoroth began to laugh again.

  He threw back his head and bellowed his mirth. “Ooooohhhhhoohhhhoooohhoooohoooo!”

  The cavern boomed with reverberating sounds. The stalagmites shuddered. The pillars trembled. The floor quaked. Little pieces of glimmering rock fell from the ceiling. One struck Zach on the cheek, knocking him to the floor. He felt blood run from the cut below his eye, and his hands hit the rock, sending a jolt up through his arms. Something jabbed into his palm.

  He saw it in the gleam from Monster-boy’s eyes—his brother’s broken claw. Zach scrabbled for it with numb fingers.

  “You think you can defeat me so easily? Morton! My child! I thought so much better of you! You could have been great. I would have made you great! But you choose to side with this human? Ooooohhoooohhhhoooo!”

  Zach didn’t give himself time to think. He didn’t let himself feel the fear that was lurching around in his stomach. He launched himself at the huge towering shape, jumping as high as he could, and plunged the claw into the soft, fleshy roof of the Grelgoroth’s mouth.

  The Grelgoroth’s laughter turned into a moan of pain.

  “Ooooooooooh!” it wailed. His head whipped forwards, knocking Zach back down to the floor, where he skidded a few metres. “What have you done?”

  Zach wasn’t at all sure what he had done. He’d taken a gamble. The Grelgoroth was impervious to steel—to man-made metals—but not to its own claws, or those of its children. Monster-boy’s claw was long and curved and sharp and drove up into the flesh of the monster’s great head. The Grelgoroth howled, and the walls of the cavern quivered, sending more showers of rocks to the floor.

  “Whaaaathaaaaaveyouuuuudonnnnne!” the Grelgoroth repeated. It flung out its tiny arms, scrabbling at the arms of its throne, trying to fight whatever it was that was happening.

  Its huge belly convulsed. There was a noise from somewhere inside it, as if its giant stomach was growling. Then with a great spasm, it flung his head back, and from its mouth poured a stream of the glowing blue mist—the Virya he had swallowed only a few minutes earlier.

  The mist changed colour. Blue mingled with red and purple. It rushed into the cavern, and drifted to the roof, then vanished through the rock. As the mist came, the Grelgoroth shrank. Its rocky skin looked like it was pulling back from its innards, exposing twisted grey entrails inside.

  “Nooooooooo . . . .” The Grelgoroth’s last moan sighed from between its crumbling lips, and then, with a sound like a thunderclap, its body burst apart. Zach ducked, and not a moment too soon. Several chunks of rock the size of a fist—parts of the great monster’s body—whistled over his head to smash against the wall. Smaller pieces pelted him like angry little wasps.

  Lifting his head, he chanced a glance at Monster-boy, who was straightening up, staring about him. The terrible humming noise had stopped. The mingled colours of the energies—all the Virya the monster had ever taken—were dissipating more and more quickly through the walls.

  Zach opened his mouth, but his cheer died in his throat. The walls were vibrating ominously. The carvings were shuddering as if the figures had come to life and were battling the stone in which they were carved. Cracks formed, tearing apart the etchings of the great buildings, slicing across the horses and the carts, cracking the roads into fractions. Whatever the disaster was that had befallen the people who had carved them, it couldn’t have been much worse than this.

  “It’s going to cave in,” Zach gasped. “We have to get out of here!”

  Monster-boy reached down, grabbing Zach’s elbow and hauling him to his feet. They ran for the door.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The stairway quivered under their feet. The metal that had seemed so solid and stable when he was coming down it now felt like jelly. Zach gripped the handrail and urged Monster-boy up ahead of him.

  “Go!” he shouted, but couldn’t even hear himself over the rumbling noise. Billowing dust was coming up from below. They both began to cough violently. Climb, Zach told himself. Don’t think. Just climb!

  Monster-boy was much faster than him. His long legs took the steps two at a time, and he had vanished up ahead into the cloud of dust. Without the light of Morton’s eyes, Zach couldn’t see a thing.

  He felt for each step before he put his weight on it. He slipped and banged his leg. He pulled himself up and kept climbing. One thought was foremost in his mind, now that he was alone in the dark, with everything around him shaking to bits.

  I might die h
ere after all.

  His foot slid off the edge of the next step, his ankle twisting. “Ah!” he yelled, as he found there was suddenly nothing underneath him. He’d slipped right off the side, under the rail, and was plunging into open air. Suddenly his arm wrenched back—he was still holding the handrail, and that was what saved him, but it hurt.

  He gasped, and got a mouthful of dust. His own weight swung him back, so that he crashed into the side of the steps. That hurt, too, but it didn’t dislodge his grip, which he supposed was good.

  What wasn’t so good was that he was now dangling over what might as well have been a bottomless drop. He couldn’t see a thing. The entire staircase was trembling, about to fall apart.

  He closed his eyes (not that it made any difference, in the pitch-darkness) and thought about making a chocolate mousse.

  Chocolate mousse was very calming. It took time to whip the cream and cocoa. If you did it the way Zach did, it could take an hour. The result was so light and airy that when you ate it you felt like you could float away.

  Zach wished he could fly. Not just in a fighter jet, though that would be really cool, but actually fly—like a bird. Right now, it would be particularly handy. Not that he planned to be in situations like these too often during the rest of his life—if he got to have a rest of his life—but he could float to school instead of catching the bus, or up the stairs to his bedroom, up to the top bunk of his bed. All he’d have to do was kick off, and he’d start to rise . . .

  Zach blinked his eyes open. He was rising! Something—someone—was gripping his wrist tightly, and pulling him upwards.

  “You’re heavy,” grunted Monster-boy, as he heaved Zach over the railing and onto the steps. Even though that hurt, too, Zach had never been so glad to feel pain from landing on something solid.

  “You came back,” he said, coughing.

  Monster-boy’s bright yellow eyes pierced through the gloom. “Come on. I’ll race you.”

  Zach hoisted himself to his feet as the staircase gave another huge groan. “You know I’ll win!” He took off up the stairs. This time, even though Monster-boy could have easily overtaken him, he hung back, lighting the way with his brilliant eyes and making sure Zach didn’t miss another step.

  “Look!” he shouted, pointing. Overhead, light was spilling in through the door. With a sudden burst of speed, both Zach and Monster-boy raced towards it.

  They plunged through side by side.

  ❖ ❖ ❖

  There was less of the choking dust in here, but the lights were flickering and swaying as the walls shuddered. Something fell over with a crash, and one of the beeping computers was shrieking a warning alarm. The monsters were nowhere to be seen.

  The kids in the cages were awake.

  Zach was shocked to see them sitting up, looking about, wide-eyed, rattling the bars of their cages. Several were crying. More were screaming.

  “Help! Help! Let us out! Help!”

  “Shut up!” someone was yelling over the top of them. “We need to work on the locks! DON’T PANIC!”

  Zach ran along the cages until he came to Lex. He almost fainted with relief, even though he had known it was her voice. No one else could have sounded so impatient and bossy.

  “Zach!” she exclaimed angrily. “What have you done?”

  Zach supposed he shouldn’t have expected her to shower him with praise. After all, the last time he’d seen her, she’d been a half-zombie and would have been under the impression he was helping Donovan. But still . . . “I kind of killed the monster that was stealing all the kids’ energies. I’m sorry, Lex. I would have helped you if I could.”

  She waved a hand. “I know.” And Zach felt a knot in his stomach loosen, but at the same time, he felt a bit horrible—Lex had had more faith in him than he’d had in Monster-boy. She’d believed he wouldn’t betray them. But he hadn’t believed Monster-boy wouldn’t.

  “But how did you . . . when I saw you last . . .” He didn’t want to finish that sentence. I thought you would die.

  “A few minutes ago, I woke up, along with everyone else. Then the walls started shaking. I knew you’d done something.”

  Zach wasn’t sure it was a good thing for a girl to assume that when a building started falling down it was his fault. “When the Grelgoroth died, all the energies came out of him. I guess they all went back into their owners.”

  Lex scrabbled on the floor of the cage for her glasses. “How about you get us out of here?”

  Zach glanced at the locks on the cages hopelessly. All the keyholes were shaped with the Open Eye symbol. Could he smash them with something?

  Monster-boy stepped past Zach and fitted his Cingulum into the lock on Lex’s cage. It dropped open instantly.

  Zach felt particularly stupid for not thinking of this, but covered it up quite well by slipping the lock out of the way and opening the door for Lex. Monster-boy moved onto the next cage. The girl inside it sobbed loudly and backed away.

  “Hey,” said Lex, crawling out of her cage. “He’s here to rescue you, okay?”

  “He’s a monster!” cried the girl.

  “I am,” said Monster-boy. “But I’m on your side.”

  The girl crept forward cautiously. Monster-boy smiled (though he kept his teeth hidden) and unlocked the next cage.

  Zoe Hancock’s.

  “I’m sorry, Morton,” she said, as Monster-boy set her free. She rubbed her eyes. “I’m really sorry . . . I shouldn’t have . . .”

  Monster-boy shrugged. He was already moving on to the rest of the cages.

  “Right!” Lex’s voice cut over the noise of the shaking walls. The crying kids stopped crying and the screaming kids stopped screaming. No one could ignore Lex. “Don’t go doing anything stupid. When we get out of this room, we need to stick together, all right? Otherwise you’ll end up getting lost, and trust me, you don’t want to be stuck in here when this place comes down. Understand?”

  Monster-boy had reached the fifth cage, and Zach was busy with the third lock, freeing a little girl with brown hair who hugged his knee and didn’t want to let go. He had to drag her along to the next cage.

  “What’s . . . going on?”

  The voice came from behind them. It was Ida. The ripped wires from the patches on her temples dangling over her shoulders. Zach wondered whether or not Donovan had started to Test her while he was down in the chamber. She looked dazed, but otherwise she seemed okay, and she was holding Fiona’s hand tightly.

  Zach didn’t want to look at Fiona—less than an hour ago, he’d helped Donovan steal her Virya and had carried it himself down to the Grelgoroth. He hoped she’d never find out what he’d done.

  “Ida! Help me here.”

  Ida didn’t hesitate, diving in to help Zach pull the locks off the cages as Monster-boy unlocked them. Behind her, a steel beam fell from the ceiling, smashing into one of the computer banks. A shower of sparks flew into the air, and smoke mingled with the dust. But Monster-boy had unlocked the last cage, and the last kid scrambled free.

  “Don’t go anywhere!” Lex yelled, grabbing the kid’s arm as he made to run towards the door—and nearly jerked the boy off his feet. “We stay together. Okay?”

  The kids bunched together in a frightened huddle. Even in their fear and panic, no one dared disobey her. Everyone—even Zach—waited for her next order. He was shocked to find her looking towards him.

  Zach coughed. For a moment he couldn’t think. “Um. Right. Um.”

  “Right?” prompted Lex.

  Finally, Zach managed to say, “We need to get the others. This way.”

  “Everyone stay together,” Lex reminded them. “Come on.”

  She let Zach lead the way out to the elevator while she brought up the rear with Ida, making sure they didn’t lose an
yone. Monster-boy put his Cingulum into the keyhole and they all hoped the elevator would still work.

  The door creaked open. The car had stopped a little above the level of the floor, so they had to step up into it. That wasn’t a good sign, Zach thought; what if it jammed somewhere between the floors? But there was no other way out.

  Lex lifted the last little kid into the car, then climbed in herself. Some of the kids were horribly smelly, but none of them cared too much about the cramped fit. Monster-boy was about to hit the button for L0, but Zach knocked his hand aside. “No. If we go back up to the ground level, we’ll have to fight our way through a city full of monsters to get back to the Wall. And anyway—we’re not leaving anyone behind.”

  Zach hit the button for L5.

  The elevator doors juddered shut and the car ground into motion. Some of the smaller kids were whimpering.

  “Hey!” said Ida brightly. “Who wants to know about when Derek Johansson from Beyond the Wall put a note in Jane’s locker, telling her how much he liked her, but it fell out and Roberta McCloud picked it up instead? She emailed it out to the whole school so everyone could see it.”

  There was silence. Then one of the boys said, “Then what happened?”

  There was a creak and a bang from overhead. The lights in the elevator went out—only the lights behind the buttons and the glow from Morton’s eyes remained.

  “Wow,” said one of the boys. “Look at his eyes!”

  “That’s so cool,” said the little red-haired girl. “Can you see in the dark?”

  “Yeah,” said Monster-boy, unashamedly. There was no trace of shyness in his voice. He actually sounded proud. “I can see really well. I’ll look after you, all right?”

  The lights on the panels reached L5 and the elevator stopped with a jolt. The doors started to open with a grating sound, then stopped. There was only a narrow gap, but light fell through it in a wedge, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.