‘You can understand my concern. You don’t appear... sufficiently equipped for what is required. We must not fail again. We cannot allow the prophecy to come to fruition. Failure to achieve our objective would be catastrophic, both for Sanctuary and for us.’
‘Are those second thoughts I detect, Bysonn?’
‘Absolutely not!’ Bysonn protested, his chest visibly swelling despite the distortion of the curved glass tube.
‘That’s it isn’t it? That’s why it’s down to me to do all the dirty work!’
Even from a distance, Gabriel could sense the tension building in the Grandmaster. From his own personal experience with Bysonn, he knew Hookbeak was treading on dangerously thin ice.
‘What is “it” may I ask?’
‘You have all this brazen bravado but when it comes down to the crux of the matter, you’re afraid to muddy your own hands.’
‘I do not care for your tone,’ Bysonn snarled.
‘“You don’t care for my tone?”’ Hookbeak said, his voice dripping with contemptuous sarcasm, ‘Oh well, I am most dreadfully sorry. Whatever can I do to make up for the error of my ways?’
‘How dare-’ the Grandmaster snorted.
‘Ah, shove it up your bullhorns, Bysonn! I ain’t afraid o’ you.’
‘You should be!’
‘Please! You may have the students of this miserable school quaking in their boots and jumping at shadows, but there’s nothin’ you can do to intimidate me!’
‘And that is exactly why you were chosen for the task entrusted to you,’ Bysonn said with more than a hint of rage in his voice.
‘Oh, so now you’re doing me a favour?’ Hookbeak said, ‘Well I guess I should be flattered when someone of such calibre and prestige descends from upon high to take pity on the likes of little old me.’
Taking a deep breath and through gritted teeth Bysonn began, ‘Allow me to-’
‘NO! Allow me to,’ Hookbeak interrupted. ‘You walk around all high and mighty all the time and think you can do whatever you want. Then you expect people to jump to attention when you require it. You wanna know why I really showed up today? It wasn’t to relieve your fears of my capability, it was so that I could tell you what I really thought of you! You know what you can do? You can kiss my tail feathers, you pompous, arroga- Urrgk!’
Gabriel couldn’t see clearly what was happening through the pipes, but it sounded very much like Bysonn had grabbed Hookbeak by the throat and was throttling the life out of him.
‘I knew it was a mistake to involve you in this, you worthless pond scum! You are nothing more than a wretched parasite leaching off of the backside of our society! A parasite that is overdue for extermination!’
Between strained gasps of air, Hookbeak managed, ‘You... came... to... me!’
‘A mistake I fully intend to rectify!’ Bysonn snarled.
As Gabriel watched, the silhouetted form of Hookbeak sailed through the air and came to a crunching halt against another of the water pipes. Slowly Hookbeak, began to pick himself up, rubbing the back of his head and shooting Bysonn a look of sheer malice.
Bysonn stormed out from behind the pipes, his fists clenched and teeth bared.
Hookbeak flexed his talons and held them out in front of him to protect himself.
Bysonn reared back with his mighty fist... and then looked off to the shadows once more. After several seconds, he turned back to Hookbeak, lowered his fist and snorted out a long breath. Hs jaw relaxed and he stretched out his open hand, offering to help Hookbeak back to his feet.
Gabriel was flabbergasted. Something had done the unthinkable and calmed a raging Bysonn. But the most shocking thing about the Grandmaster’s actions was still to come – an apology.
‘Hookbeak, I apologise for my actions. But you must realise that this is a very tense issue. Sanctuary has been wounded. And this wound, if not soon cauterised, will continue to fester until it destroys everything and everyone we hold dear. Now to you that might not mean a great deal, after all you only care for yourself. And with good reason. There are very few that have shown you even an ounce of the respect you deserve... myself included,’ Bysonn added begrudgingly. ‘But a change is coming and once it is realised how important a role you played, you will forever more be labelled a hero, nay a saviour of Sanctuary.’
Hookbeak chuckled dangerously. ‘Do not fear, Bysonn. I am not so spiteful that I will endanger the objective because of your own stupidity. But nor am I so forgiving. There will be retribution for this outburst, I assure you of that!’
Gabriel sensed the meeting was quickly coming to a close and decided to take his leave before he was discovered. He made a move to get up, but as he did so his foot slid on the slippery cavemoss underfoot and he stumbled sideways.
Inadvertently, and to correct his balance, Gabriel reached out and grasped the barrel, which had unbeknownst to him, been balanced somewhat precariously over a shallow pothole. As Gabriel gripped the barrel, it rocked forward sending the lantern tumbling off. Gabriel’s futile efforts to catch the falling lantern were in vain. He swore silently to himself but the irrevocable damage had been done.
A loud metallic clang ripped through the stillness of the cave.
‘Someone’s there! I knew this was a mistake! You idiotic son-of-an-ox!’ squawked Hookbeak wildly as the sound resonated around the cave.
Gabriel heard Bysonn bellow with a fury he had never imagined possible. Before Gabriel knew what was happening, the behemoth’s thundering footsteps were already stampeding towards him.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Gabriel turned and ran for his life.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
GABRIEL’S SAVIOUR
This goes way beyond issues to do with school, Gabriel thought. What he had just overheard regarded all of Sanctuary. As a result, if he was caught now, it wouldn’t be school policy that was implemented to punish him. There would be no detentions this time. No unpleasant jobs to carry out. No writing of lines. No, if he was caught, he would most certainly and immediately be executed.
Despite the uneven and slimy floor, he sprinted faster than he ever had done before. He had to. Several times his feet skidded from under him and he almost tumbled but somehow managed to correct his balance and continue onwards at the last second. He kept to the shadows as best he could, ducking and dodging in amongst as many different obstacles as he could, be it the natural formations of the cave or the cumbersome pieces of school equipment stored there. He thanked every god he could name that the basement wasn’t as brightly lit as the rest of the school. If he was seen at all by Bysonn or Hookbeak, he may as well have turned himself over to them there and then. It wouldn’t matter whether he escaped that moment or not, Sanctuary was only so big, if they could identify him, he was dead either way.
With footsteps hammering down like mortar shells closely behind him, Gabriel knew he needed an exit and fast. He had, almost by instinct, dismissed the spiral staircase he had descended into the basement from. The tight space and steep, narrow steps encased in pitch darkness were difficult enough to negotiate when he was creeping down them. At speed they would have proved fatal.
Frantically, Gabriel scanned side to side hoping to locate a worthy exit. Suddenly he spied an opening, one that seemed vaguely familiar to him from his traipses through the school with Daws. He ducked behind a towering column half covered in cavemoss, and veered off to the right. He prayed the doorway was obscured from the view of his pursuers.
He cursed his luck that the corridor was well lit but continued on regardless. If he could maintain a far enough distance between him and his pursuers, following a broken path around a series of twists and turns, then it was unlikely, even in the illuminated corridors of the main school, that Bysonn and Hookbeak would be able to see him.
Gabriel raced along the corridor as it slowly inclined upwards. At the end of the passage was a long flight of stairs which he took three at a time. From there he tore down another corridor off to his left, which
was accursedly just as well lit. He ducked right into another passageway and up another flight of stairs. By now his heart was thumping, his lungs were burning and his breathing was struggling out in rapid, deep gasps but the Grandmaster and Hookbeak were still hot on his tail. Gabriel knew he couldn’t keep running forever, he had to find a place to hide.
Nevertheless, he continued his haphazard traversal of the school corridors. Some flights of stairs took him up a floor, others down. He hoped that his erratic zigzagging would have thrown off his pursuers, yet he still heard Bysonn careening through the passageways, chasing after him like a psychotic, gargantuan bloodhound. He assumed Hookbeak was still with him, but any indication of him was lost amongst the pounding footsteps of Bysonn.
Exploding out of yet another passageway like a cannonball, Gabriel came to a sudden skidding halt. His head was pounding, his pulse racing. Yet his stomach plummeted to his feet. He had reached a dead end.
He was in a short hallway with only one classroom at the end of it. With Bysonn rapidly bearing down on him, backtracking was not an option. He sprinted into the classroom hoping to find somewhere to hide but already knew the outcome.
It was an Anthropology classroom, judging from the books and models on the shelves, and posters decorating the walls. The layout of the room and its decor were awfully basic, offering few options for hiding. Desperately Gabriel moved around the room hoping for something, anything that he could hide under, behind or inside of. With only desks and stools to choose from however, his situation was hopeless. Finally accepting his fate, he stood near the front of the room, by the water channel used by the merfolk. He closed his eyes and let out a long, anguished sigh. Growing ever closer now was the same, unyielding thumping of footsteps that had hunted him down, here to claim its prize. There were but two options: stand there and wait for the inevitable slaughter, or fight. In all likelihood, Gabriel thought, both options would result in the same outcome. Yet the former option was the coward’s way out and meant that whatever secret this diabolical double act was keeping would be buried with him. But the latter? At least with this option he had a chance of survival. How did that old proverb go, something about a cornered animal being at its most dangerous? Well here he was, trapped like a rat. Bysonn and Hookbeak were plotting something and it was his duty to bring it to light. Sure Bysonn was big, Everest-big, but Gabriel was no small fry. It all came down to this: put up or shut up. Permanently.
He exhaled another deep, determined breath and waited. And suddenly time slowed to a crawl.
Dark blue watery flames exploded upwards from behind him. Gabriel started to turn, but everything, including him, was moving in slow motion. He was swallowed by an icy tidal wave that wrenched every last morsel of air from within him. Unable to breathe, Gabriel was vaguely aware of hands, warming despite the freezing waters, grasping at him, tugging, pulling. And then he was staggering backwards. His knees, one by one, buckled beneath him. He was falling now, tumbling towards the watery abyss, with those strong, warm, soft hands holding him firmly, yet pulling him down, down, down. He hit the surface and the water volcano let out another mighty eruption.
All around him the dark, icy waters bubbled and boiled and churned. He felt water tearing past him, but all the while those warm, soothing hands held him securely. He wanted to turn and face his attacker? friend? saviour? but the salt water blinded him. He wanted to breathe, needed to breathe but at that moment, that was impossible. Panic began to set in. Any second the need to breathe would become so overwhelming that his lungs would open up and their thirst for air would be met by nothing but freezing seawater.
He was four years old again. He was on holiday with his parents, the Millars, in the South of France. His father had gone to buy ice-creams for the family, his mother was laying out towels on the sun loungers. The sun was beating down and Gabriel was sweltering. His parents had told him to wait for them before he went into the pool, but who knew how long that would be? Besides, he knew he could swim: he had had four weeks of lessons! It was hot and Gabriel wanted to swim. He strolled over to the poolside and without pausing to think leapt in. He expected to bob up to the surface just like the other children playing at the far end of the pool. Except he didn’t, he sank deeper and deeper. Frantically he thrashed his arms and kicked his legs but he just sank further. He opened his mouth to shout for help and all of a sudden was choking. His thrashing became more frenzied and then the world started to go dark. All of a sudden he felt strong, warm hands grasping him and pulling him upwards.
The water was no longer boiling, it was much calmer, almost serene. The violent waters had ceased. Apart from the gentle sway backwards and forwards they had stilled completely. Was he dead? No, he couldn’t be, his lungs were still screaming for air. He opened his eyes a fraction, wincing against the stinging salt. The world was a blurred mix of deep blues.
And then it changed.
A pinkish oval with a swirling bluish halo appeared as if from nowhere in front of him. He could feel himself losing consciousness as the pink oval came so close that it filled his vision. Something soft, yet firm, soothing and sweet pressed up against his lips and the next thing he knew air was miraculously flooding down his trachea and providing his starving lungs with the fix of air that they so desperately craved.
The pink oval moved backwards slightly and with air once again being ferried to his brain he was able to identify the shape more clearly. The flowing hair, the sapphire-blue eyes. Somehow, amazingly, Marina had found him in his hour of need.
‘Are you OK?’ she asked, her voice as clear as crystal despite being underwater.
Gabriel nodded in response.
‘I can’t take you to the surface just yet,’ she continued, snatching a glance up towards the surface through the watery gloom. ‘I think it might be safer if I swim you over to the jetty on the far side.’
He nodded again.
With a great swish of her silvery tail they were off. The water again streamed past Gabriel’s cheeks but this time it was a wholly different sensation: rejuvenating, comforting, thrilling even. The salt still stung his eyes when he opened them, but at least now he no longer felt the cold. Holding on tightly to Marina’s hands he felt a rush of warmth, not unpleasant, but instead reassuring, blocking out the bitter cold of the water. Every so often Marina paused to fill his lungs with additional air and soon enough they reached the jetty on the far side.
They surfaced and for several long moments floated together in the shallow water, gazing at each other.
‘Thanks,’ Gabriel finally managed, ‘You saved my life.’
Marina blushed. ‘It was nothing really,’ she said demurely.
‘No, it really was, but the thing I don’t understand is: how did you know I was there?’
‘Vibrations.’
Gabriel looked puzzled.
‘I was on my way to the library to study when I felt the vibrations from overhead. A few seconds later there was another set of vibrations, much stronger though. I figured someone was being chased so I followed the sounds and there you were.’
‘I don’t know what to say... I can’t thank you enough!’ he paused as Marina smiled bashfully. ‘I guess we got to have our date after all.’
‘Date?’
‘Erm... that is, I mean to say... rendezvous? Hang out? Meet up?’
Marina smiled fondly, ‘Date is just fine. You’d probably best go and change out of those wet clothes though.’ She leant forward and kissed him on the cheek.
Having forgotten entirely that he was in fact still in the water, Gabriel agreed. He climbed up the steps and onto the jetty. Turning back he said, ‘Thanks again, Marina.’
‘You don’t have to keep thanking me,’ she replied. ‘I was right though, wasn’t I?’
‘About what?’
‘I said I’d get you in the water with me.’
Gabriel grinned bashfully and waved until once again she was out of sight beneath the waves. He turned and began the long walk back
home, his clothes heavy and soaking, his shoes squelching loudly but he didn’t care. He touched the spot on his cheek where Marina had kissed him and felt a huge smile spreading across his face.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE PROPHECY
Where were you? We were worried sick!’ Tamera scolded him in a tone that made Gabriel wince.
Seth and Tamera had found Gabriel at home not long after he had arrived back himself. He had barely had time to change out of his wet clothes before the pair had turned up. He glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece above the hearth, it was almost eight o’clock. Was it really that late? Where had the time gone to?
Gabriel explained the entire ordeal to them, how he had stumbled across the secret meeting between Grandmaster Bysonn and Hookbeak. He had suspected the presence of a third party, but couldn’t be certain. Gabriel then told them how he had narrowly managed to escape and how he had been rescued by Marina. At this, Tamera became highly irate.
‘And just what was she doing there?’
‘She’d gone to the library to study,’ Gabriel said.
‘Oh, how convenient!’ she replied with a derisive edge to her voice.
Gabriel told them how Marina had led him out of Wingtail Academy through the built in under-floor flooded passageways and swam him across the lake to safety.
‘And then what happened?’ Seth asked.
‘Nothing. I thanked her for her help, we said goodbye then I came back to get changed.’
‘Really?’ Seth pried further, ‘Nothing else at all happened?’
‘Well she may have kissed me on the cheek before I left...’
‘Trollop,’ Tamera uttered as Seth whooped in excitement.
‘What was that?’ Gabriel said.
‘I didn’t say anything,’ Tamera said.
‘OK...’ Gabriel said uncertainly. ‘So what happened to you two?’
‘Nothing as exciting as what happened to you that’s for sure,’ Tamera said sourly.
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