by C. M. Gray
'Pardigan, come on! Stop messing about. Have a look behind it and let's get going, she'll be back soon!' Quint was tapping the wall, looking for a secret cupboard or door as Pardigan reluctantly got down to see if the base of the throne had a false drawer, but there was nothing. Without letting Quint see, he took a small pin from his pocket, set it on the throne's cushioned seat and grinned at the thought of the Warrior Queen sitting on it. He toyed with the idea of hanging round invisibly to watch what happened but reluctantly dismissed it, they needed to find the skulls and go.
There was nothing in the throne room, so they crept back into the outer hallway and began glancing into the rooms to either side, but they held nothing of interest so made their way up another flight of stairs. This one was wider and had thicker woven fabric stretched across the wooden treads.
At the top, they found themselves in a long corridor that stretched as far as they could see in both directions with doors leading off to what looked like hundreds of rooms. With a sigh, they began opening doors and peering inside rooms again.
'I'm getting fed-up with this,' moaned Pardigan as they came out of yet another empty bedroom. 'It's like searching for a pebble in a pond. Every handful of mud we turn over could be burying it deeper!' Quint looked at his friend's face in the flickering candlelight and grinned.
'Pebble in a pond! Where did you get that from?'
'Well you know what I mean. The skulls could be hidden in any of these rooms, and we've just dismissed it because they're not sitting on a tray in the middle with a big sign hanging over them saying, 'Here are the crystal skulls!”
'Yeah, I know what you mean,' said Quint grinning. 'So what do you suggest?' The sound of footsteps out in the corridor abruptly stopped the conversation. Quint moved to the door and pressed his ear up against it. Pardigan joined him, a long knife appearing in his hand.
'Where did you get that?' said Quint in a surprised whisper.
'The wall of the throne room,' replied Pardigan,' here, you take it.' He handed the knife to Quint and pulled a slightly smaller one from his cloak. Quint shook his head. 'What?' hissed Pardigan. 'They were all over that wall in that throne room and just begging to be taken, weren't they?' The footsteps were getting closer.
'I think it's just one person, are you ready?'
'I'm always ready,' replied Pardigan with a grin. Quint shook his head, threw open the door and they ran out into the darkened corridor. What greeted them wasn't exactly what they had expected. Candlelight illuminated the features of a small man with a shiny baldhead surrounded by a halo of long grey hair, dressed of course in bedlam black. The candle wobbled in its holder as the shock of their appearance registered, then the little man screamed, and the candles went out. The boys collided with him, and they all fell heavily to the floor. After a short struggle, the little man became limp. They could feel him trembling beneath them.
'Uuurm… Quint?' whispered Pardigan.
'What?'
'I think we know him.'
Quint searched the darkness for where he judged Pardigan must be, laying across their captive's legs. 'What do you mean we know him? Who is it?'
'It's that nutter in Barnham Bolt, the King's agent.'
'Oh, is that who he is!' Came another voice. A glow globe suddenly blinded them all and Mahra peered down at the tangle of arms and legs on the floor. 'I caught him sneaking about near the top of the house, I couldn't get a close look at him, but I didn't think he worked here, I thought he was a thief.' They stared down at the little man as he struggled under the weight of both Pardigan and Quint. Quint removed his hand from where he had clamped it over the captive's mouth and the little man immediately tried to bite it.
'Hey!' hissed Quint pulling back.
'Horrible children, nasty vicious boys!' hissed the agent. He scrambled to his feet and began dusting himself down. 'The King shall hear of this!'
'If you talk any louder then it'll be the Queen who hears you, not the King,' said Quint as he dragged him into the room where he and Pardigan had been hiding. When they were all inside Mahra pulled the door closed.
'What are you nasty little children doing here?' spat the agent, pushing his face close to Quint's, forcing the fighter to step back. 'Well? Tell me… tell me.'
'Excuse me, but it was us that captured you, not the other way round!' said Mahra, pulling the agent away from Quint. 'You tell us what you're doing here first and how you got here so quickly.' The agent looked smug.
'Spying - it's my job. Maybe there's a way through the Bolt even in winter, eh? Here seeking plans for the Barbarian invasion, so I am…' He opened his eyes wider as a thought occurred to him. 'Have you seen any?' From being hostile a moment before, he was now behaving as if they were conspirators, working together all along.
'No. No plans,' said Mahra, casting a questioning glance at Quint. Quint just shrugged, and Pardigan was giggling, twiddling his finger round his ear indicating that the agent was obviously quite mad. Mahra questioned him warily. 'We're looking for two crystal skulls that we know the Queen has hidden somewhere… have you seen anything like a crystal skull in the palace?'
'Might have!' said the agent changing character once again. He jumped back and hopped from one foot to the other with a big smile on his face. 'Might indeed have seen something… might know where some crystal skulls were taken.' Quint grabbed him and the big grin dropped from his face.
'We don't have time to play games, Mr… Elisop, wasn't it? Now, please tell us where the skulls are so we can all be friends.' He put the trembling agent down and watched expectantly as Elisop the agent glanced nervously from one face to the other, then reaching some kind of decision, wiggled a finger, indicating they should all come closer.
'Saw them take those skulls out of here. In a big box, they are. I watched the Queen put them in the box this morning… then the chaos priests took them away.' He began hopping about again, once more smiling happily. 'They're in the temple probably… almost certainly, in fact.' He stopped hopping and looked questioningly at Quint… then at Mahra and finally at Pardigan, then in a snivelling voice said, 'Nasty people, chaos priests… shall I show you the way?'
'We have to get out of here and over to the temple,' said Quint, ignoring Elisop.
The noise of doors banging and a commotion of voices calling and shouting could be heard from somewhere in the lower floors of the palace.
'Aaah, the Queen is back,' smiled Elisop. Gathering his cloak theatrically about him, he nodded to them and hissed, 'I must spy!' He made for the door and the others watched as he slipped out.
'Let him go,' said Quint shaking his head. 'Come on, Pardigan we have to get moving. Mahra, you fly out, we'll meet you across the square as soon as we can.'
Slipping out of the room, Mahra headed back to the upper levels while Quint and Pardigan retraced their steps towards the small servant's staircase. There was no sign of Elisop, even when they crept past the now noisy throne-room. They were halfway down the last flight of stairs when there was a loud shriek from above, followed by screaming, cursing, continued wailing and the shouting of angry guards.
'Ahh, I forgot about that,' said Pardigan grinning.
'Forgot what? What did you do?' They ducked behind a pillar as two servants came rushing past.
'I might have put a pin on the throne.'
'Oh, Pardigan, you're so childish sometimes… you dozy fool,' said Quint shaking his head. 'We would have had a better chance slipping out if you hadn't announced our presence like that. Quick, this way…' They ran down the last flight of stairs and along the passage retracing their earlier steps… 'In here.' The just made it into a doorway as four big armoured warriors rushed past and up the corridor.
Cries of 'The Queen has been attacked!' and 'Intruders, intruders!' filled the air. Quint shook his head at Pardigan and then gazed about the room. They were back in the first room they had been brought to, which was confirmed by a strange moaning sound coming from behind the cupboard. The two friends looked at
each other, and Pardigan shrugged as more shouting filled the corridor. The door slammed open and Elisop pushed in. He took one look at the boys and started to hop about pointing at them.
'Stupid boys, it was…' but Quint cut him off with a wave of his hand.
'Not me… him,' he pointed at the retreating Pardigan. 'If you're going to get upset then do so with him, 'cos I'm getting fed up with him as well.'
'We're going to get caught!' hissed Elisop his eyebrows dancing up and down in alarm. 'First rule of spying and you're about to break it.' He shook his finger at Pardigan. 'You never get caught! Especially here… do you know what they do with people they catch here?' The moaning came from behind the cupboard again, and Elisop jumped back. 'What's that noise?
That's the sweep, and maybe our way out of here,' said Quint as an idea struck him. He grabbed the little agent by the sleeve and dragged him spluttering over to the fireplace.
They covered Elisop with soot, rubbing it into his hair, and then over his face until the little beady eyes burnt out of a face the colour of night.
'You horrible children!' he hissed. 'I do not look like the sweep; this is a foolish plan. It may have escaped you, but he is probably a tad taller than I am… most people are.' He tried to dodge the sweep's hat that Pardigan was trying to cram down upon his head.
'This is the only way Mr. Elisop. I bet a spy of your cunning and intelligence can pull this off.' The little agent stopped struggling and stared intently up at Quint.
'Of course I can pull it off, I am Elisop the spy!' He grabbed the hat and started for the door in a cloud of soot, leaving a dark, cloudy trail in his wake with Quint and Pardigan trying to keep up.
They made it all the way to the kitchen and almost through it before they were stopped.
'Oy! You can't come in 'ere like that!' The kitchen boy that had halted them was beside himself with panic. 'Cook will boil you alive bringing all that dirt in here, go on back… out… out! He flapped his hands at them to drive them back.
'We need more sacks for the soot,' said Quint pushing on past the boy.
'We gotta get out and get the sacks, this is the way, isn't it?' asked Pardigan snatching a pie from the table as they passed.
'Oy! You can't take that. Cook'll… she'll…' The boy glanced about, close to panic, but they were still edging closer to the pantry, the last room before the door to the street, but then the cook loomed up ahead of them marching through the doorway. Her hands flew into the air, and she shrieked, 'Aaaaaghh!' She grabbed for a suitable weapon, a rolling pin from a shelf and pushed the round-bellied kitchen porter who had been following her, and he toppled backwards over a sack of flour. The sack exploded with a 'woomf', and the pantry became a world of confusion, then pandemonium ensued as the air filled with white choking flour. People were running in all directions while three blacker shapes tried to edge their way through and into the kitchen beyond. The boy was trying desperately to make his excuses in a loud trilling voice, while all about, kitchen workers were screaming. Struggling to regain his feet, the fat porter tried to catch hold of the intruders as they dodged past him but he fell spluttering to the floor empty handed and the cook tripped over him, still screeching at the top of her lungs.
'My lovely clean kitchen! You 'orrible dirty sweep! Get out! Out, out, out!' She snatched at Elisop then clambering to her feet, managed to grasp hold of him. She marched him through the kitchen after Pardigan and Quint, flung open the door and tossed him out into the darkness of the street with a further kick to his behind to send him on his way. Pardigan and Quint managed to squeeze past and both got a heavy clout round his ear as they passed.
'An' don't you ever come back in here. I shall have words with the guild and have you taken to the arena. I shall watch and laugh as your killed, the three of you, so I shall.'
Once out into the cold night, and the door slammed shut behind them, the cook's angry voice could still be clearly heard as she turned on her staff for allowing the dirty trio into her kitchens.
From the top of the building Mahra's head swivelled down to stare at the main palace entrance where a band of warriors were now keeping guard. She had heard the Queen screaming in pain for some reason and had prayed to the Source that the boys hadn't been caught. She watched in relief as three sorry looking figures were ejected from the smaller doorway accompanied by a chorus of yells and shrieks to run scampering into the rain. Satisfied that they were safe for the moment, she glanced out across the city.
The pit had now emptied, and the city streets were once again returning to life. Lamplighters were doing their job, walking on stilts from one lamp to the next setting a smoky flame to each oily wick. There appeared to be outbreaks of arson with several fires breaking out spontaneously around the city as the crowd left the arena, helping to illuminate the night and drive back the veil of black rain. The sound of screaming was coming from several directions as citizens, driven to a violent frenzy by their day's entertainment, sought their own amusements in the shadows and narrow streets of the city. With a shudder and feelings of pity for the residents of this evil society, Mahra took off in search of her friends.
As she landed next to the panting trio as they huddled in a doorway, thunder rumbled, lightning flashed, and the rain fell even heavier, quickly becoming a downpour. After a brief conversation, the four figures set off in search of Mayhem and the Chaos temple that had become the temporary home of the skulls.
* * *
Chapter 15
A Plague of Shadows
When a wraith attacks, it does so quickly, quietly and with devastating efficiency. When the flock of wraiths, unleashed by the Emperor, Djinn Tsai, reached Dhurban, they swept through the unprepared city decimating its citizens who were simply unable to fight an invisible enemy.
A little girl, of about ten summers witnessed the first attack. It happened just after she entered her grandfather's shop and handed him his morning brew, he had smiled his thanks and then the world as she knew it turned upside down.
Moments later, she ran out into the main street shrieking. Blood covered her loose gown and tears were flowing down her cheeks. As the air in her lungs gave out, the shriek trailed off, and she was left gasping for air and trembling, the first symptoms of shock beginning to take their grip on her young body.
Two guardsmen were standing close to the shop entrance, and they both reacted immediately. One had tried to catch her as she pushed past, still screaming; the other had dashed into the small shop.
'What happened?' cried the guard holding the girl, but she wouldn't make eye contact. She was gulping for air and still making a strange high-pitched wail. She struggled, trying to break away from him. Holding on, he shook her, trying to bring some sense back into her, realising with some relief that the blood on her gown surely could not be hers, she was far too lively to have spilled that amount of blood, there was far, far too much. Glancing up to the empty doorway where his partner had entered the building, he turned back to the girl. 'Listen to me… please, calm down. Tell me what happened?' She didn't answer but suddenly went slack in his arms, falling against him sobbing. He held her, and his attention was drawn back to the door of the shop where, with some relief, he saw his partner had just emerged.
'There's blood everywhere! An old man and young boy… they're both dead,' his eyes were wide, his chest heaving, '… so much blood, everywhere… it's like a butchers shop, a charnel house in there, I don't know how but…' He didn't get a chance to finish.
The guard holding the girl watched in a fascinated horror as his friend's face creased in agony and blood spewed from a wound that suddenly appeared in his side. Glancing down, the man screamed long and hard then dropped to his knees. His head flew back, a thin red line crossed his throat and, silent at last, he fell forward into the dusty sand of the street, dead, blood pooling about him, greedily soaked up by the dry sand of the street.
Throwing the sobbing girl to the side, the remaining guard fumbled for his whistle and the first shr
ill sound of alarm filled the city streets. Moments later, it ceased as his life also became forfeit. Other whistles, screams and cries for help began to fill the air across the city as the wraiths attacked in earnest.
From dawn when they arrived, throughout the day and well into the darkest part of the night, the wraiths haunted the desert city's cramped twisting streets, hunting down its citizens, satisfying their need to take life. Once the easy kills were over, they moved from building to building, silently seeking out any terrified people that thought they had found a place to hide, shivering in fear and desperation, slowly driven to madness as their minds, unable to grasp what this unseen, unknown enemy, this nightmare that had visited them, really was! How can you fight something you cannot see yet you know will kill you?
Sometime before dawn of the second day, the ruler of the city, the Sultan, ordered his Magician to destroy the wraiths and the Magician eventually managed to conjure a minor demon that could actually see the wraiths, and, therefore, hunt and kill them. The curse of the wraiths had been devastating, leaving more than half of Dhurban's citizens now dead. Unfortunately, although it swiftly cleared the streets of wraiths, it would take a few more days to catch and kill the minor demon that, upon running out of wraiths to kill, had been a little reluctant to return to the demon realm and was now fighting the Sultan's troops.
While the Sultan's guards sought to tackle the demon, a group of citizens built a fire outside the city gates, where the wraiths' bodies that once dead, became visible, could be brought and burned. There were a lot of wraiths to burn and soon a tall column of greasy black smoke rose high into the deep blue, desert sky. The smoke acted as a beacon for the approaching army still some day's march across the sand.
The Sultan rallied his troops, closed the great gates of the city and sent further emissaries to their allies in the Realm. King Hugo Payne had promised an army in a united bid to turn back this threat that approached across the Great Expanse. However, as the Sultan stood on his private balcony, gazing across the shimmering desert, he was beginning to fear his city would be meeting these invaders alone.
