by John Booth
“I thought those things failed when they came through to Hellogon?”
“Some things fail, but electronics gets through fine. Everyone’s wearing watches or hadn’t you noticed? It tends to be chemicals that fail to pass through the portals. Solly told me cameras didn’t work in Hellogon, but it was just the film that failed, digital camera’s get through. I got Lady Ilarna to bring one over. I didn’t want to start an arms race or I would have asked Solly to get some walkie-talkies.”
“But if chemicals fail then the guns won’t work.”
“Except for things like TASERS and pneumatic weapons like air guns. There are lots of such weapons if you know what to look for.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
Peter slumped back onto the bed.
“Talk to Jorge Dallman. We have a way of getting in contact.”
“I thought he was on our side?”
“He’s on the Warlocks side. Sometimes that’s the same side as us, like when we arranged not to fight each other. But he wouldn’t miss a chance to have the weapons to win the war, even if only to get us to surrender.” Peter tapped the headboard in irritation. “But there’s nothing I can do about it tonight. Why did you leave Zandar and what did you think you were doing setting fires in Tallus?”
Sal looked a little shamefaced as she told her story. “I got fed up of being insulted in Zandar and decided to go to Tellus to tell the people about Han No. They wouldn’t believe me. They’ve been at peace for a hundred years and weren’t going to believe a girl. Your training course said one way to unite the people was to create an external threat, even if it wasn’t real. So I thought I’d give it a go and I started some fires.”
“You have to make the threat appear real, Sal.” Peter gave a loud sigh. “And you have to make sure you don’t get caught. The only people that can pull off fake threats are governments. That’s because they can suppress the evidence. You didn’t stand a chance.”
Sal sniffed. “I thought I was helping them, but they caught me straightaway. They stripped me and made me parade around the town naked. Children threw shit at me. It was horrible. It took them all day to build that damned platform. I had to walk past it a hundred times and each time they told me what they were going to do to me. I knew I was going to die.”
“They tied me to that bench and whipped me. It hurt so much. They stopped every ten minutes or so and threw water over me so it would hurt more.”
Peter held her as she began to cry. “They were going to burn me at the stake, Peter. What kind of people do that?”
“They’re far too humans for my taste.” Peter replied and cuddled Sal until they fell asleep.
Chapter Thirty Four
Catastrophe
When Peter woke up the next morning, he was alone. For a second he panicked, but he looked at his watch and realised he’d overslept. Sal was undoubtedly up and about somewhere, hopefully not causing trouble. The slaves had left him clean clothes for the day. When he freed them, Peter was going to miss them.
There was a knock at the door and Jenkins appeared. Two maids brought silver platters with his breakfast. If the castle had electricity, he would have suspected that there were cameras spying on him. As it was, it appeared he had prescient staff.
Breakfast, as always, was a typical English breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast. None of the strange foods he had seen in the Tallus market square ever made it to his plate. One day he was going to ask Jenkins to give him the same food everybody else ate but, for the time being, Peter revelled in the luxuriousness.
It was well past noon by the time he finished his breakfast. He needed to ride to the meeting place in less than four hours or he’d miss the rendezvous. He hoped Jorge would turn up. Peter had missed the other possible meetings while in hospital.
He certainly wasn’t going to fly given what Jorge would think he had been doing. The journey by air took about twenty minutes. Getting there by horse would take more than two hours, so he needed to get a move on if he didn’t want to be late.
Peter set off looking for Ilarna. Of all the people in the castle, she was by far the most organised and was certain to know where Sal was. Ilarna wasn’t in her office when he got there, but a slave suggested he try the meeting room.
He opened the door and the conversation ceased immediately. Peter saw a group of people sitting around the table. Sal and Jenkins were there. Peter was astonished to discover the other people around the table were Baldan, Drogwar and Ilarna. They stared at Peter with a mix of horror and embarrassment.
“Hi, Peter,” Sal said brightly as everybody else was stuck for words. “I didn’t wake you because you were asleep and looked so tired. I’ve been up since before seven.”
Busy being up to something, Peter thought. What he said out loud was something else entirely. “Lady Ilarna, my Lords, I’m going for a ride this afternoon and won’t be back until late. I’m sure you can manage without me.”
“I don’t think I’m up to riding again,” Sal said
“I can manage on my own this time, Sal.” Peter shifted his gaze to Ilarna. “Lady Ilarna, can I leave you and Lady Saloni alone together without a disaster occurring?”
“I’m sure that can be arranged, my Lord Cragus,” Ilarna replied with a twinkle in her eye, while Sal gave Peter a look capable of boiling eggs.
“I’m entrusting her safety into your hands. Keep Sal out of the kitchens. I don’t want to come back and find she’s burnt the castle to the ground,” Peter continued, deciding one way to ensure Sal was good as gold was to humiliate her now. Seeing the look on Sal’s face assured Peter he’d said more than enough.
“Lady Saloni and I will be fine during your absence, Lord Cragus. We have come to an understanding.” Ilarna said impatiently. It was clear she wanted to get back to their meeting and Peter wasn’t expected to attend.
“I’ll leave you Lords and Ladies to continue your meeting then.” Peter gave a bow to those present. Jenkins looked particularly embarrassed as Peter included him in it as well. Peter withdrew from the room and shut the door. He was determined to find out what their meeting was about as soon as he got the chance, but he didn’t want to look too anxious.
Peter discovered his horse was saddled and waiting for him. “Damn, those slaves are good at this,” he murmured as he mounted up and rode out of the castle gates.
The journey through the forest was uneventful. To get to the stronghold in Zandar merely required Peter to turn right at the fork in the road rather than left towards Tallus.
The meeting place was in the forest where he had talked to Jorge last time. It was a short journey for Jorge to make and yet it was likely to be clear of prying eyes. Peter arrived earlier than the arranged time and sat on the fallen trunk to wait.
Peter went over his plan. The Establishment would find enough eggs to restart Han No’s species. Whatever deal they came up with didn’t really matter. As soon as Han No had the eggs, his sole concern would be to see them hatched and to be their father. He would have neither the time nor the inclination to continue his genocidal war. In fact, he would probably need all his Warlock troops to look after the young dragons and so they would be out of play, possibly for years.
He would be in a good position to negotiate with Jorge to end the war between the Vampires and the Warlocks. Once the number of new Grimm females became known, the Warlocks would realise they faced extinction if they continued the fight.
The Grimms would breed their way to superiority in less than twenty years while the Warlocks didn’t possess the numbers to attack them in the mountains. Therefore, the best time to make a deal would be right now, when the two sides were even.
Peter wanted a just settlement. There were only a few thousand people left on Hellogon and between them they had a whole planet to exploit. There were riches in minerals and land for everybody, provided no one got greedy. Let Han No make a deal with the Establishment over Cathan while the Warlocks, Grimms and Vampires would deal with t
he rest of the world.
There was enough wealth to sort out the slave issue, though Peter thought that problem would be the most intractable. The Establishment might demand the return of all the slaves to Earth. Peter was sure some of them, like Jenkins, wouldn’t want to go. Dealing with the slaves wasn’t going to be easy, but for all that, it was manageable.
All in all, provided the four species of Hellogon behaved in a sane manner, the problems of the last few centuries would be over and there would be peace and prosperity for all.
* * *
Peter was lost in his thoughts when Jorge arrived. It is not often a eighteen year old gets to solve the problems of an entire planet and Peter had some trouble getting his mind back into focus.
“I see you have fully recovered,” Jorge said as he stuck out his hand for Peter to shake.
“You were aware of my indisposition ?” Peter asked, surprised the Warlocks would know about it.
“I know what happened to you in detail. The Warlocks Solly used to get you out of the Establishment report to me.”
“Do any of you follow the rules of the Great Game? The one about exiles not taking part in it, for example?”
“Yes and no. I could argue it was Solly who broke the rules by calling in favours.,” Jorge laughed. “I was in exile myself many years ago before it was agreed I could return to Hellogon. Your father and mother didn’t complain about me breaking the rules when I smuggled them into Hellogon. I cradled you in my arms on more than one of those trips.”
“I thought you hated Vampires and wanted us dead?”
“It all looks different when you’re in exile. Suddenly you’re human and so are your enemies. They become your friends because they are less strange than humans. It is not the Vampires or the Grimms I hate, it is the things they have done.”
“There’s a chance for lasting peace, if you’re willing to take it,” Peter said quietly.
“Lead me to it and I will sign, provided it is fair and just for the Warlocks. This period of peace has reminded us all that war is not what we want. Even the firebrands are talking about setting up a permanent ceasefire.”
“The Establishment has found enough petrified Dragons Eggs to save Han No’s species. They will bargain for exclusive trading rights with the Dragons of Cathan in return.” Peter paused and looked into Jorge’s eyes. “Now tell me about the human weapons Han No promised you.”
Dallman looked stunned, though whether by Peter’s first statement or his second wasn’t clear. Then light dawned in his eyes.
“Ah, your silly bitch overheard something. It never occurred to me to tell the men to keep quiet. We thought you were dead at that point. Han No promised us human made rockets and high explosives but he hasn’t delivered any.”
“Then we have nothing to fear.” Peter gave a sigh of relief.
“Have you forgotten he has an army of Warlocks at his disposal? We have been living in fear of attack ever since you told me Han No knows the Warlocks destroyed the Dragons. We’ve had contingency plans in place for weeks.”
“Han No would have to be insane to do it when his chances of saving the Dragons are so good.”
“But does Han No know what the Establishment plans to do with his eggs?” Jorge counted, “He might see their collecting of them as the end of his species chance of survival.”
Peter was about to tell Jorge he would make sure that Han No had all the relevant information when they heard a series of explosions in the distance.
“That was from the direction of Castle Cragus,” Jorge said as they stood up. “Look, there’s smoke rising.”
“Is this your doing?” Peter shouted
“We want peace, Peter, weren’t you listening?” Jorge put his hand over his brow. The blasts were almost continuous like a beast in the mountains roaring out over the world.
“I have to go.” Peter yelled. “Take care of my horse.”
Peter flew into the air and aimed at the cloud of black smoke. There was no sign of the castle through the smoke.
He flew back to Castle Cragus as fast as he could. Peter cursed himself for not anticipating this move. The Establishment’s failure to communicate with Han No had obviously got to him. He had decided to take matters into his own hands,while he still could.
As Peter flew through the sky, he realised it wouldn’t only be Castle Cragus that was going to be attacked. He should have warned Jorge that it would only be hours before Zandar and Tallus were destroyed. Han No would know he had only one shot at revenge and he would kill as many of the other species as he could.
As Peter approached the castle, he could see it had been flattened. Piles of stones lay scattered over the acres of land. Some of the piles were as high as twenty feet, but there wasn’t a single wall standing. Much of the rubble burned, and the devastation was absolute. Peter landed through the thick choking smoke into the stable yard. He could see bodies of horses crushed as the stables were smashed to the ground.
The plan under attack was to send the women and children to safe areas within the castle, but those areas were gone. He looked around in shock. He screamed for Sal, for Ilarna, for Baldan and Drogwar but there was no answer.
The flying carrion eaters had already arrived at the scene to feast. Peter flew into the air again, looking for any sign of life, but there was no sign.
As Peter hovered in the air, he heard more explosions. They were coming from two different directions. Then he saw smoke rising from Zandar and Tallus.
Clever, Han No, Peter thought. Once the major stronghold has gone, destroy the other two strongholds simultaneously, before they have time to prepare.
Peter saw the portals stood untouched beyond the ruins of the castle. That made sense, as Han No needed a way to get his army back home. Not that he needed an actual army, just enough men armed with hand held missiles and explosives to destroy everything.
Perhaps Vampire survivors fled to Earth in the aftermath of the attack. Peter had nowhere else to go. By the time, he could reach Tallus or Zandar, Han No’s army would have finished their task and everybody would be dead.
Peter landed besides the portal to the city. He couldn’t help remembering his last words to Sal and Lady Ilarna. They were both dead now, as was almost all of his species. The Vampires would never recover from this and it was Peter’s fault. That thought weighed him down.
He’d assumed all the players in the Great Game would act rationally. Peter knew his lack of experience had got everybody killed.
“Eighteen year old wipes out three species through lack of experience,” he said and laughed, or rather tried too. The thick black smoke blew across him and his laugh turned into a wracking cough.
“I suppose I better see if anybody else made it,” he said to the wind, smoke and sky. “They’ll need someone to lynch.”
Peter stepped through the portal and back into Solly’s Furniture Emporium.
Powerful lights blinded him. An array of security lights pointed straight at the portal. A voice shouted to lie on the floor and put his hands on his head. When he didn’t instantly respond, the voice told him he’d be shot unless he got onto the floor right now.
There wasn’t a of lot space in the corridor to lie down and Peter knocked his head on the far wall as he complied. Somebody pushed him to the ground with a rifle barrel. It hurt. His hands were pulled behind his back and handcuffs attached, biting painfully into his wrists.
A black hood was pulled over his head and he was dragged onto his feet. They dragged him down the stairs like a carcass.
“He comes with us,” The familiar voice of Mike Conner said. Peter couldn’t see a thing as he was thrown into a car. Nobody took the hood off his head or removed his handcuffs. Peter was pretty sure one of his wrists had been dislocated during the journey down the stairs.
“Are you taking me to the Establishment?” Peter asked between gritted teeth. He wasn’t going to complain about his wrist, he felt he deserved it.
“You are going to pris
on, Peter, while we decide whether to execute you,” Mike Conner told him as though discussing the weather.
