“Nobody at all?” Brian sounded confused.
The Raven Banner stood in the centre of the chamber, right where Lock had planted it, radiating its evil blood-red lines out through the scorched carpet, cracked floor and smashed green benches.
“You see?” grumbled Holgatroll. “Don’t know what you wimps were so worried about.”
She crossed the floor to the flag in three mighty strides and reached out to grab it.
“Get out of there! It’s a trap!” yelled Brian through the radio.
Alfie looked to Holgatroll and shouted, “Stop!”
But it was too late. The troll’s fingers passed through the flagpole as if it wasn’t there.
“What?” she said, and grabbed at the banner itself. But the hologram of the flag and the red lines coming from it flickered and disappeared. In the same instant, a cage sprang up around Holgatroll, its bars made from pulsing, glowing beams of energy. She roared and punched at it with her fist. Sparks and smoke filled the cage and she withdrew her burned hand with a yelp.
“I’M COMING!” shouted Qilin.
He tried to blink-shift into the cage, but rematerialized outside it, rebounding off the pulsating bars with a flash and a loud bang. Qilin groaned and got up, trying to reach through the cage to touch Holgatroll, but every time he did the bars would shift position and he had to pull his fingers away. Hearing the main doors of the chamber burst open behind him, Alfie swept Qilin up and flew on Wyvern high into eaves of the ceiling.
“What are you doing?” Tony protested. “I nearly had her!”
“Look!” said Alfie, pointing to the entrance.
Ten draugar warriors marched inside, an escort guard for Lock and Guthrum, who was carrying a bulky silver-and-black laser pulse rifle. It was the Cyclotron Particle Accelerator, which the Prime Minister had used to capture the Defender before the invasion.
“Amazing the high-tech gear the government left lying around,” said Lock, his voice echoing around the chamber. “The Cyclotron energy has so many useful applications.”
Guthrum aimed the Cyclotron at the cage and fired it. A lasso of fizzing blue energy shot through the bars and wrapped themselves around Holgatroll’s neck. She transformed back into Freya, screaming in agony as the beam tore her emerald necklace off and carried it out of the cage.
Lock waved at the Speaker’s Chair and Guthrum directed the beam to drop the necklace on to it. Freya fell on all fours, moaning with pain. He peered at her through the fizzing bars. “Apologies, Majesty, but I’m going to need to hang on to your banner a little longer. Don’t worry, though, it’s nearby and quite safe.”
The Defender whipped out his nunchuck-sceptres and hurled them at the cage. The impact caused a flash, but instead of cutting through the bars, the weapons fell to the floor. Alfie commanded them to fly up and return to his hand.
Lock gazed up at the Defender and Qilin hovering high above him. “So nice to see you making some friends at last, Alfie. You never were very popular at school, were you?”
“Let her go, Professor,” said Alfie, unsheathing the Sword of State in a burst of light.
“It’s Lord Protector these days, if you don’t mind. And no, I won’t release Her Majesty, I’m afraid. But I will allow you to join her.”
He nodded at Guthrum, who shouldered the Cyclotron rifle and emitted a ferocious blast of snaking blue energy straight up at them. Qilin grabbed Alfie and blink-shifted them both to the opposite side of the chamber. The Viking Lord roared his irritation and swivelled around, sending another blast their way. They disappeared once more, reappearing back where they started.
“Enough party tricks,” barked Lock. “Surrender now, and perhaps I’ll call off your brother. He should be arriving at Waltham Abbey any minute now.”
The Defender looked to Qilin, eyes wide with alarm. “They know,” said Alfie. “We have to warn the others!”
He nodded at the gaping hole in the ceiling. They hovered nearer so Qilin could get a line of sight to blink-shift through. But Guthrum was too fast for them, shooting a third wave of Cyclotron energy in their direction. Alfie just had time to deploy the shields from his armill bracelets, but the impact sent them both spinning into the wall and crashing down on to the viewing balcony known as Strangers’ Gallery.
“Close it,” said Lock.
Guthrum adjusted the settings on the Cyclotron and blasted a web of energy at the hole in the roof, which sealed it with a spider’s web of impenetrable beams.
“Now bring them to me,” commanded Lock.
The Viking squad swarmed up the walls like giant cockroaches, closing in on the gallery from all sides, singing their oddly musical song as they climbed. Guthrum shut his eyes as his body responded to the Norse incantation, bulging and growing by the second, till he had doubled in size. The Defender and Qilin lay sprawled on the balcony.
“I can keep shifting us, but it won’t buy much time at this rate,” panted Qilin.
Alfie looked round for ideas, but all he could see were Viking fingers clawing their way over the lip of the gallery, and the top of giant, fifteen-feet-tall Guthrum’s head rising into view. Suddenly gunshots rang out and the double doors at the far end of the gallery flew open. Brian stepped inside, tossed a smoke bomb into the chamber and beckoned to them.
“THIS WAY!”
As one, they made for the door through the smoke, Qilin scattering a handful of silver fireballs behind them, which blasted the incoming Vikings off their feet. For good measure, the Defender commanded every bench he could muster to fly at Guthrum, knocking him off balance just as he lunged for Alfie and Tony with his gargantuan hands. Moments later they were outside and flying clear on Wyvern. But there was no triumph in their escape. They were in a race against time. Holgatroll would have to fend for herself, for now.
They had to reach Waltham Abbey before the Black Dragon.
* * *
* “Careful what you say next, Englishman.”
* “We’ll find your boy king. Then we’re finished. I’ve had enough of taking orders from you.”
Thump.
The noise echoed around the ghostly abbey. Tamara woke from a light and troubled sleep. Was Alfie back already? Was that the sound of Wyvern’s hooves?
Thump.
“Everyone else is hearing that, right?” Ellie said, as she ran down the cavernous nave to find LC and her mum glancing around.
Thump.
“I thought you said this place was safe?” Tamara whispered.
“It is. Perfectly,” LC snapped.
“Even so. Maybe one of us should go outside and check it out?”
“Step outside of these walls and you’ll become visible for all to see. I forbid it.”
“You forbid it?” Tamara said, exasperated. “Where’s the front door of this place?”
“Don’t be foolish!” LC said as Tamara stormed off.
“What are you arguing about this time?” Hayley asked as she joined them. She held her longbow in one hand and had a quiver of newly sharpened arrows on her back. Next to her, Herne stretched and yawned, unconcerned.
“There’s something thumping around out there. Didn’t you hear it?” Ellie said.
“Oh, you mean this?” Hayley laughed, drew back her bow and fired an arrow at the ornately carved wooden partition wall of one of the abbey’s side chapels. Thump.
“Need to keep my eye in.” Hayley shrugged.
While Ellie giggled with relief, LC fumed.
“This abbey has been here for over a thousand years, Miss Hicks. I ask you kindly to not shoot arrows indoors!”
“It’s not real. It’s just a – what did you call it? A royal peculiar. A mirage.”
While LC muttered something about “priceless rood screens” and the youth of today having no respect for history, Ellie helped Hayley retrieve her arrows, levering them out of the wood.
“We could have used you on my school’s archery team,” Ellie said as she admired the tight grouping of arrows.
“Ser
iously? What kind of school has an archery team?” Hayley asked.
“The stupid, posh kind. Hockey, lacrosse, water polo… You name it, we had it,” Ellie said with a sigh and sat down on a wooden pew. “I was captain of gymnastics, swimming and table tennis. I was going to give women’s rugby a go this term, but then some undead Vikings decided to wreck the country, which was very inconsiderate of them.”
Hayley couldn’t stop herself laughing. “You posh people just take everything in your stride, don’t you?”
“You don’t think much of us blue bloods, do you?” asked Ellie.
“I didn’t used to. But you’re growing on me.” Hayley smiled as Ellie studied her, unashamedly sizing her up. “It’s Queen Troll who has the serious attitude problem.”
“She’s really not Alfie’s type, you know,” Ellie said.
“Why does everyone think I fancy Alfie?!” Hayley said and tore one of her arrows out of the wood.
“Oh, sorry,” Ellie shrugged, “I thought you were cross because he’d gone off with her tonight.”
“What I’m mad about is that I had a perfectly good plan to get rid of the Raven Banner, but no, Alfie promised Queen Blondie that he’d help her get it back, so off they go. Didn’t even ask me to help! Must be hard to think clearly when she bats those big stupid eyelashes and waves her long hair around.”
“But you’re definitely not jealous, though?” Ellie smirked, then held up her hands as Hayley glared at her.
She yanked the last arrow out of the wall and sat down next to Ellie. “He can be such an idiot sometimes. He says the stupidest things and his jokes are the lamest jokes in the history of lame.”
“Agreed.” Ellie smiled.
“But even so … all right, I suppose I do…” Hayley searched for the right word. “… care for him. A bit.”
“How did you guys even meet in the first place?”
Hayley told Ellie everything – slowly at first, trying to remember the exact sequence of the many events that had brought her to the point of talking to a princess in a magical, ghost abbey. From Alfie and her first frantic moments on the roof of Gran’s block of flats when he came for the dragon scale, and the early days of her hiding in the Tower, to gatecrashing Glastonbury; from her gran to her rows with LC. By the time she’d reached the battle at the Tower of London and the dark days that followed thinking Alfie was dead, Hayley was in full flow and Ellie was grasping her hand.
“You and Alf have been through so much together,” said Ellie.
“I guess we have,” said Hayley.
At their feet, Herne growled.
“And you too, Herne,” Ellie joked, giving him a stroke.
But Hayley wasn’t laughing. Something was wrong. “What is it, boy?”
Herne growled and bared his fangs. He was looking at the ceiling.
“The town is on fire!” Tamara shouted.
Ellie and Hayley ran over to join Tamara and LC, who were peering out of one of the stained-glass windows. Sure enough, the night sky was glowing orange. The houses of Waltham Abbey were ablaze. As they watched, a jet of bright yellow flame shot down from the sky like a fiery tongue, licking the densely packed rooftops.
Screeeeeeech!
Ellie clamped her hands over her ears and tried to block out the terrible noise as the hulking, bat-like shadow skimmed the rooftops.
“The Black Dragon! He’s found us,” LC said, shocked.
“Richard!” Ellie screamed in disbelief.
People in pyjamas and dressing gowns poured on to the streets, some pointing at the Black Dragon and others at the flames consuming their homes.
“We’ve got to help. Let’s go!” Hayley yelled and ran for the abbey’s great doors and threw them open. Ellie pelted after her along with Herne.
“NO! THAT’S WHAT HE WANTS! HE’S TRYING TO FLUSH US OUT!” LC shouted, but his words were drowned out as the Black Dragon made another pass over the town, screeching and belching fire.
Out on the streets, in a row of houses and shops near the church, Hayley and Ellie joined a bucket brigade of townspeople as they tried to extinguish one of the burning buildings. LC, alongside Tamara, elbowed his way into the line.
“We must protect the line of succession!” LC hissed and tried to pull Ellie away, but she wouldn’t budge.
“Let go of me!” Ellie said.
“He’s right. Back to the abbey, we’re safe there!” Tamara said.
“Then we take everyone here too!” Hayley snapped and passed another bucket down the line.
“Impossible—” LC said and was about go on when he was interrupted by a girl, running up and down, frantically pulling on people’s arms.
“Someone help me!” she shouted. She was wrapped in a winter coat but her feet were bare in the slush and ice.
“What is it?” Hayley asked.
“My gran! She’s trapped inside!”
Hayley shot through the smoke-filled front door before the girl had even finished talking, Ellie hot on her heels.
“WAIT!” shouted her mother, but they were separated in the melee of panicking people outside the burning house.
Inside the house, the air was already full of dense black smoke. Hayley and Ellie crouched low, covering their mouths as they checked the living room and kitchen. Both were empty.
“She’s got to be upstairs!” Hayley shouted over the loud crackling of the fire.
Ellie took off her jumper and ran it under the kitchen tap, then clasped it to her face. Hayley did the same with her own. They took the stairs two at a time. On the landing, the smoke was so dense they had to crawl along the floor, feeling the way with their hands. The first bedroom was engulfed with flames, forcing them back, but in the second one, they found an old woman huddled under a duvet, groaning.
“Help … me…” she croaked.
“You’re going to be all right!” Hayley said, coughing hard as smoke filled her lungs.
Together, Hayley and Ellie tried to move the woman, but she clung to her mattress like it was a life raft. They were running out of time. The roof above them was burning white hot.
“Give me a hand with this!” Ellie shouted, grabbing hold of the mattress and pulling it off the bed. Hayley followed suit, and together they heaved the mattress like a stretcher, with the old woman still on it, across the floor and towards the stairs.
Outside, Tamara was frantic, trying to reach the house. But as the flames rose higher, people held her back.
“NO, LET ME GO! MY DAUGHTER’S IN THERE!” she yelled, to no avail. But just then, through the crowd, Tamara saw Hayley and Ellie emerge from the house with the old lady, people hurrying to help them. They were exhausted and smoke-blackened, but unharmed.
She started to move towards them, but LC stopped her.
“What is it?” she asked.
LC nodded and she saw what had alarmed him. A squad of draugar Vikings were marching down the road towards them. The commander pointed directly at the Lord Chamberlain.
“We’ve been seen. We must draw them away,” he whispered.
With a last, pained look back at her daughter, Tamara nodded and followed LC away from the house, down the street. The Vikings quickened their pace.
“ÞÉR! LÉTTIÐ!”* shouted their commander.
Suddenly another draugar squad turned into the road ahead of them. LC stooped to pick up a handful of rocks from the side of the road.
“I don’t think those are going to stop them, LC.”
“They’re not for them,” he replied, arranging the stones in a circle on the pavement.
The Vikings advanced on them from both directions now, sending the street’s residents fleeing in renewed panic. LC and Tamara stayed put in the stone circle; there was nowhere to go. They braced themselves to be cut down by the Vikings, but their attackers stopped a few yards short and looked to the sky.
“Oh no,” uttered LC.
Talons descended from the darkness and lifted them both off the ground.
Out
side the burning house, Ellie and Hayley watched in horror as Tamara and LC were carried away into the night sky by the Black Dragon.
A short while later, after the Vikings had departed and the town’s residents had abandoned the smouldering ruins of their homes to find shelter elsewhere, Ellie and Hayley remained on the street near the abbey, shell-shocked. In a rumble of hooves, Alfie, Tony and Brian arrived, and both groups had to share the terrible news of their losses.
“You don’t think Richard would really hurt Mum, do you?” Ellie asked Alfie, her eyes pleading.
“I don’t know,” replied Alfie, downcast. “I didn’t think he’d hurt Dad, but…” He prepared to put his armour back on. “We’ll make for the Tower right away. We have to save them.”
“The Lord Chamberlain wouldn’t want that,” said Brian, who was some distance away, crouched over something in the road.
“How do you know that?” asked Alfie.
“Because he left us a message, that’s why,” Brian said, standing back to reveal the ring of stones still standing where LC had placed them.
“What does it mean?” asked Hayley.
“It means we should carry on with the plan,” said Brian. “Continue to the rally point and await the Yeoman Warders.”
“You got all that from a bunch of rocks?” asked Tony.
“Where is it?” asked Alfie. “Where are we going?”
“Can’t you tell?” said Brian, pointing to the circle of rocks at their feet.
* * *
* “YOU THERE! HALT!”
The Lord Chamberlain lay in the dim light of the glowing keys that hung at the centre of the dungeon antechamber. Tamara leaned over him, holding his hand.
“That’s it, just breathe…” she said.
LC closed his eyes and willed his heartbeat to slow its gallop. He felt Tamara’s grip tighten for a moment and opened his eyes again to see her looking into the shadows, scared. A scrape of talon on rock, a gust of hot air, the flap of a leathery wing. So the Black Dragon wasn’t done with them yet. It was still here, watching.
“Why don’t you come out?” coughed LC. “Or are you too ashamed to be seen?”
King's Army Page 17
