by John Booth
When the dance finished, the Grimms flew down and performed their dances. These were wondrous to behold, not least because the Grimms did them just above the dance floor. One dance involved holding hands and spinning in concentric circles that convinced Peter they were going to fly apart and kill someone. When the dance finished, Peter realised he was holding his breath and felt faint as he gasped for air. When Sal fell into him, he realised he wasn’t the only one to be stupefied by the Grimms’ performance.
The slaves ran into the room carrying tables and chairs. They moved almost as if choreographed as Jenkins directed them.
Peter sat with Sal at the centre of a long row of tables. The other tables were arranged at right angles to his, running down the hall.
It took over four hours to eat the meal and complete the hundreds of toasts. Peter stood up and sat down so many times his legs ached. The years of memory training at the Establishment paid off as he reached the end of the toasts without a single error.
The tables were whisked away while the Vampires and Grimms formed a loose semi-circle around Peter, Sal, Lord Baldan and Drogwar. The allegiance ceremony was about to begin and Peter reviewed the oath he was to speak. He was concentrating so much, he missed the first few words being intoned by Jenkins who had come forward to stand a few feet in front of him.
“… is paramount. If any of you are honour-bound to challenge the Lord Cragus, this is your time. Let no one be afraid of speaking the truth. The Lords hold honour over above all other things. Either make your challenge or hold your peace.”
“I so challenge!” yelled a familiar voice from the back of the crowd. There were shocked gasps and Peter saw pure fury flash across Lord Baldan’s face.
The crowd moved back forming a corridor for the challenger. Peter looked in horror, though he knew who the challenger was from her first word.
“My Lady Ilarna, you can’t mean to…” Peter’s voice faded as he saw steel in Ilarna’s eyes.
“Withdraw your complaint.” Lord Baldon shouted. Peter flinched at the force of his voice. “If a miracle happens and he doesn’t gut you, I swear I will.”
“You will not, Lord Baldan.” Peter spoke in a tone capable of crushing rocks. “If Lady Ilarna walks away alive you shall keep her that way. I demand it.”
Lord Baldan snorted in disgust and moved to stand by his wife.
“Can anyone here say that I do not have just cause?” Ilarna spoke clearly. Murmurs of assent rolled through the hall, mostly from the women. “Lord Cragus used me and cast me aside once he took my maidenhood. He ordered me home simply because he lasted less than two minutes.”
The odd titter of laughter ran through the hall and for the first time Peter had an inkling of what was going on. It didn’t stop his face from turning a bright shade of red.
“See, his face admits the truth of it. He was ashamed to bring me home so quickly. Better you should be shamed than I, he told me.”
The laughter became more widespread as Peter’s face reddened further with every word. Even though he knew it was lies, some parts were close enough to the truth to embarrass him.
“Will you admit to your shame and take a woman’s justice!” Ilarna shouted at Peter. The crowd tensed as they waited for Peter to draw his sword and cut this impudent woman’s head off. No matter the truth, the vampires knew he had no choice. It was inconceivable he could do anything else.
“I will take your justice,” Peter agreed in a choked voice, “I have wronged you, Lady Ilarna. Now you must do your worst.”
Peter dropped to the floor and bowed his head, presenting the back of his neck to Ilarna. The crowd stared in horror as Ilarna pulled her sword from its scabbard. The blade glinted wickedly as she laid its blade against Peter’s neck. It felt very cold to Peter, like ice.
“Please spare him, Lady Ilarna,” Sal pleaded. “He has been a good Cragus and he doesn’t deserve to die.”
“And will you prevent him from besmirching the honour of any other maiden in Castle Cragus?” Ilarna asked Sal.
“I will guarantee it if you will spare him. By his submittal to your justice for his ungentlemanly actions, he has shown he is a fair and honest lord and does not place himself above women.”
“Get up, Lord Cragus,” Ilarna ordered. “You are forgiven. I hope you will allow me to continue to serve you as Castlemaine.”
The crowd held its breath as Peter stood up with some help from Sal. His legs had stiffened as he knelt on the floor. He faced the people in the hall.
“Lady Ilarna Dran, you are a credit to our species and I would be honoured if you would continue to serve me.”
The crowd went wild with delight and Lady Ilarna stepped back from Peter and gave a small curtsey. Female Vampires strove to kiss her cheeks as she made her way to the back of the hall.
Sal leaned close to Peter and whispered in his ear. “You wanted a solution and we staged that just for you. Are you happy now?”
Peter kissed her cheek and then placed his lips close to her ear. “Forty-six to come, remember? I’ll make them count when I pay you back for this.”
Sal kissed Peter on the lips. “You say the nicest things. Don’t you have an allegiance ceremony to get on with?”
Chapter Twenty Nine
Dragon
Peter and Sal down the High Street from Solly’s Furniture Emporium on a bright summer’s day. Solly watched their progress from his shop door before reluctantly going inside.
Peter shielded his eyes from the sun. It was far too bright on Earth. It was also noisy beyond belief. He wondered how he had ever managed to think. On top of that, there were a staggering number of people in the street.
So many people running around minding their own business seemed extraordinary after spending time in a place where everybody interfered in everybody else’s business.
Peter and Sal had changed into Earth clothes. As they walked to his mother’s flat, Peter noticed that Sal couldn’t stop fidgeting. It made him feel embarrassed as he was well aware of the cause.
“Leave it alone, will you? Somebody will notice. It looks like you’ve got ants in your pants.”
“I’d like to remind you it’s your fault.” Sal protested. “Just because we made you look like a fool doesn’t give you the right to do that to me.”
“I seem to remember you agreeing to it.”
“You said it would only be half and it wouldn’t really hurt,” Sal hissed back. “Well it bloody well did hurt, and it itches, you sadist.”
“You said you had the best orgasm you’d ever had. Were you lying?”
“I’m bloody sore down there, you smug bastard. That was last night and anyway, a lady’s allowed to change her mind.”
“If I meet any ladies while I’m here, I shall be sure to let them know.” Peter began to run as Sal charged at him with raised fists.
They were laughing and a little breathless when Peter unlocked the street door and walked straight into the landlady.
“Not so much running and pushing,” she complained as she tapped her cigarette ash onto the hallway carpet. “You need to learn good manners, young man. And you too, young lady.” Mrs May sniffed at them and made her way out onto the High Street, flicking the stub of her cigarette into the road.
“Nar-nar-nenar-nar,” Sal mocked, sticking her tongue out at Peter. “At least one person can recognise a lady when she sees one.” Sal ran up the stairs as it looked as though Peter was going to chase her this time.
By the time they reached the door to the flat they were out of breath and Sal couldn’t stop laughing. Peter was in only slightly better condition. They stood at the door for several minutes while they recovered.
“Decorum at all times,” Peter said as he straightened his shirt and tucked it back into his jeans. This set Sal off again and they had to wait a few minutes before Peter felt they were acting respectfully enough to meet Han No. Peter was certain Han No was already in the flat. After all, he owned the whole block so he must have a key.
>
Peter opened the door and they walked through the hallway into the lounge. As Peter expected, Han No sat in a chair on the far side of the dining room table. A Warlock wearing a silver mask stood at attention behind him. The Warlock carried a vicious looking quarter staff, which he held vertically with one of its brass ends resting lightly on the floor.
How unexpected, Peter thought as he sat down facing Han No. He pulled another chair forward for Sal so she could sit by his side. It looked to Peter as though Han No was going to try and disrupt their lives yet again. You’d think all the failures would make him give up, Peter mused. It was time to put the cat among the pigeons.
“How good of you to see me again and to do it at such short notice. I’ve been doing my best to get Sal pregnant so we could take the first step towards having grandchildren, but I must say this makes it so much easier.” Peter made his voice as light and airy as he could, as though this meeting had no significance for him.
Han No nodded his head. He was once again in Chinese Mandarin clothes and held his arms folded in front of him with his hands hidden within its wide colourful sleeves.
“Let me tell you a little story to start,” Peter said as he put his elbows on the table and leaned forward.
“A long time ago, oh say two hundred and fifty odd years ago, somebody started killing Grimms. Naturally, the Dragons couldn’t be bothered as they care little for other species and they ignored the whole affair. This was a big mistake because every so often, the number of dragons dwindles and the future of the species relies on a clutch of eggs.
One day, you returned from a mission on Earth to find all the other Dragons dead and the eggs gone. You’ve become the only Dragon left in the universe. That must have been tough.” Peter waited for a response, but Han No remained silent, his face impassive and his eyes looking straight through Peter.
“I bet that sent you insane with grief. Then, when your grieving was over, you set about getting revenge. Genocide is a pretty dirty word, but if they could do it to the Dragons then you’d give as good as you got. Is any of this coming back to you?” Peter sat and waited in vain for any sort of response.
“You turned the Great Game into a tool of destruction. I think it had been mainly a points scoring set-up up to then. The other species wanted nothing of each other but respect. The species of Hellogon want things that don’t overlap, so there was never any major conflict before you. The great Han No became the evil manipulator, intent on bringing down the other species and destroying them as certainly as they destroyed the Dragons. Is this still not ringing any bells?”
“You thought the Vampires wiped out the Dragons, of course. They are the only other regal species on Hellogon, so it must have been them. Two hundred and fifty years of pitting the species against each other must have taken its toll on you. And then, when the end is nearly in sight, when the Vampires are coming close to extinction, you find you picked the wrong enemy. The real foes were the Warlocks and you’d been allied with them for forever. That must have really hurt, eh Han?”
“It did bring a certain sour taste to the mouth.” Han No acknowledged.
“But at the same time, you discovered the race of Dragons might rise from the grave. Solly discovered the Warlocks had petrified Grimm women and dropped them through a portal to Earth before the magic wore off. He found one of the women and restored her, which is when you stepped in.” Peter waited to see if Han No would continue the story, but he sat listening impassively.
“You couldn’t allow the balance between the species to change, so you told Solly something to the effect that he could keep on finding his females but he must keep them at his shop. There’s probably a bomb in the shop that you’ll set off if he tries to move any of them through a portal.”
Han No nodded slightly.
“One of the things I can’t understand is why the Warlocks didn’t destroy the Dragons eggs on Hellogon. Why petrify any of them and portal them? And why have you failed to restore the eggs you’ve recovered?”
Han No shifted his position in his chair. “It is good to finally find an intelligent mind among the Vampires. They have generally been a disappointing enemy. You cannot imagine how much it grated to believe the most noble species of Hellogon was brought down by low grade minds. You have made some mistakes in your analysis. The Dragons were attacked before the Grimms. We are a species made up largely of females hidden in Cathan, ten females for every male, is how it was. Our females live for many centuries, while the males live until they succumb to accident or an act of malice. Every few centuries the females lay their eggs en masse. They lay many eggs over a period of a year and then they die, leaving their offspring to be brought up by males.” Han No paused, as if he didn’t want to talk any further of Dragon affairs.
“Female Dragons were highly territorial. They would fight to the death to secure many square miles of land. We were never a numerous species. There were only one hundred male dragons left on Hellogon back in those days.”
“Since hatchlings do not fight each other, we conceived a plan to increase our numbers by putting all our eggs in one place. Males have always grouped the eggs of their female mates in one place, but we planned to let the whole race hatch together. Twenty thousand eggs in one great hatchery.”
“Putting all your eggs in one basket is never wise.” Peter remarked.
“Beating your woman before an important meeting is also foolish as it makes her fidget.” Sal’s face turned to a deep shade of red and she put her hands and arms on the table trying to keep still.
“Pleasure before business whenever possible has been my watchword.”
“I came from Earth to find them gone, my fellow males and the eggs of our species. Dragon’s eggs are not easy to break. I suspect putting them through portals was the Warlocks’ only choice, given how little they knew about us.”
“For all they knew, our eggs could have hatched and a newly hatched dragon could easily kill a Warlock or a Vampire. Twenty thousand angry dragons would be a large number to petrify.”
“But why petrify the eggs, why not just shove them through the portal?” Peter asked. It made little sense to his Establishment trained mind.
“Alas, the Warlocks in question are no longer alive to ask. I would give much to go back to that time and skin them slowly while asking that and many other questions. Perhaps they feared that once on Earth, the eggs might become baby humans and that some might be brought up to one day return to Hellogon.”
“You want to bring all your eggs back to Hellogon at once, so they’ll be hatchlings and won’t fight each other?” Sal said. Han No nodded in acknowledgement of the truth of her words.
“And how many have you found in the years you’ve been searching?” Peter asked, aware this was the critical question to the survival of all the species.
“Alas, far too few,” Han No said wearily. “I need at least a thousand to guarantee enough males in the population and I have found only a few hundred eggs. I cannot search while my hands are tied by you. Will you remove those shackles?”
“The other species of Hellogon will die if you continue this pointless war. Does your Warlock friend standing there know he’s helping to destroy his species?” Peter knew Han No had a trap waiting for him in that guard, and it was time to spring it wide open. The guard continued to stand motionless. The mask meant Peter couldn’t tell if his words had any effect on him.
“What care I for the other species, or for humans? I would sacrifice you all to bring back the Dragons. We were the best of Hellogon. You are not worthy to worship us.” Han No stood up and Peter and Sal also rose. “You promised to stop your people interfering if we had this meeting, and now it is over.”
“Leave Grant Dark with us and I will.” Peter was determined to end the cat-and-mouse game Han No was playing. Sal’s mouth dropped open and she stared at the guard. He was the right height and build to be her father, but she had seen her father killed.
“Grant Dark is dead. You saw hi
m killed and I expect you sent his blood for your DNA analysis.” Han No responded haughtily.
“No, I couldn’t be bothered with the tests. It was obviously his blood or you would have been careful not to spill it where I could get at it. The problem was it was cold when I touched it.”
“Blood cools quickly on a cold floor.” Han No shrugged.
It’s always a game with the species of Hellogon, Peter thought. Why can’t they just be straightforward?
“But never colder than the floor. Your henchmen kept his trick knife in a fridge so the blood wouldn’t clot.” Peter said. He wanted this latest attempt to split up him and Sal to be over and he couldn’t do that with Han No holding her father.
The Warlock guard lifted his hand to his mask and removed it.
“Daddy!” Sal ran to hug her father.
“He will not stay with you. He is mine,” Han No said flatly. “Come Grant, we must go.”
Grant Dark pushed his daughter off him roughly and threw her to the floor. “I serve Han No and you’re no longer a daughter of mine.”
“He was always your spy. So much for your honour. Exiles are supposed to stay out of the Game, but he was always your player. That’s why you visited him so often, to get reports.” Peter explained this for Sal’s benefit, as he and Han No already knew.
“I needed to know what the exiles were doing on Earth. Especially what the Grimms were up to, as there are so many of them here. Grant has been very useful to me, though his daughter has proved to be a disappointment.” Han No replied.
“Daddy, you’re betraying the Warlocks. Surely they mean something to you.” Sal said from the floor, tears streaming down her face.
“He has more important needs,” Han No said gravely and Grant Dark came to his side.
“Opiates do that to a man,” Peter said, and had the satisfaction of seeing Grant Dark flinch. “You have your freedom back, Han No. The dogs will be called off.”
