by Adam Browne
Much nodding and chest-thumping and hear-hearing.
“Where’s Flaid’s car?” another asked, a very young-looking ‘Elder’.
“Flaid is not coming, Elder Cohen.”
“But I thought he was with us, Den Father.”
Amael explained patiently, “He is a Den Father, and two Den Fathers is one too many. I cannot share power.”
“Well then what about Nikita?” Cohen pressed.
With a glance at Amael, Janoah stepped in, “Even as the new ‘Alpha’, Nikita will be legally beneath Amael and controllable. Flaid would be an equal partner and a legal complication we do not need.”
“As Prefect Janoah says,” Amael seconded.
“But I thought-”
“Calm yourself Elders, all is in paw.”
As her door was closed by the Den Guards, Janoah wasn’t so sure that everything was in paw. “Won’t Flaid try and follow as soon as he finds out we’re gone?” she asked.
Amael looked to his partner in crime and bed and said fondly, “He does not know what I know. Besides, he will find his Elder Train mysteriously… temperamental this morning.”
“Sabotage?”
A wink.
“Devious Amael,” Janoah cooed, much to the confusion and vexation of the other Elders. They looked on in silent disgust as this lowly Prefect removed her helm and then the Den Father’s and kissed him with the obvious familiarity of a seasoned lover.
The rumours were true.
Amael’s followers dared say nothing as the car pulled away, flanked by Den Guards and Howlers on monos.
Janoah judged that not even half the Bloodfang away-team was present, just a smattering of Elders, Grand Howlers and Howlers, some traitors, some simply obliviously following their Den Father.
The rest were to die with the all other flotsam, it seemed to Janoah, dear Vladimir included. Amael had no love for his pen-pusher and never had; he had been a rival once.
A rival for me.
Through the gates, passing two mighty Hummel Halberdiers, their saluting forms reflecting comically in the car’s polished bodywork. If they were concerned by Amael’s sudden departure they were ultimately powerless to stop it; a Den Father’s business was not to be curtailed by anyone, not even during last night’s curfew. If Amael wanted to leave that was his concern. Just another reason why old Vito had to die, Janoah realised; even something as easy to overlook as escaping Hummelton, which would have been difficult a few days ago, was simple now that Amael was a Den Father, answerable to nobody.
By Ulf, he’s worked it all out; every detail, every facet, and I didn’t even help him with half of it. He’s handsome, strong, ambitious and young enough. He’s so like Rufus; by rights I should love such a wolf the same.
Could I learn to be happy with him?
Parting lips with Amael and smiling, Janoah peered sadly out the window as the daylight rose higher over the happy little town of Hummelton.
Perhaps its last happy day.
Chapter 53
Propellers thrumming outside, Madou followed the blood trail through the dark bowels of the Nimbus, squeezing his muscled frame between churning imperium pipes and bulging sacks of air, or whatever special gas was in them. Sometimes he was necessitated to step across yawning gaps in the durametal skeleton with only flapping canvas beneath. One false step and Madou might rip right through the flimsy-looking material and plunge a thousand feet to his death.
At last the Chakaa reached some kind of terra firma, a metal corridor, with a door ahead, an alcove to the left, and a window to the right – the beginnings of the gondola slung beneath the main balloon perhaps, Madou hadn’t gotten a good look of the layout.
The blood smeared its way along and to the left.
Madou went to the corridor’s edge. He thought twice about stepping round, lest the Howler lay in wait. He instead tore a strip from his cloak and waved it.
“I’m a friend!” he shouted over the propellers. “I want no part of this!”
No reply.
“I’m stepping out! Don’t shoot!”
Still nothing, but Madou was no coward. Dropping the strip of cloak and removing his helmet, he slowly edged out into the open, his paws clearly raised, a vast hyena silhouette against the wobbling, new-materials window behind.
Tucked in a corner ahead of him, pistol raised in a quivering, bloodied paw, was the Howler, his golden fur matted with crusty gore, one leg limp and useless, one arm tucked close.
“Stay there!” he woofed, as Madou took a step forward.
Madou stayed his advance. “I’m on your side,” he said, as loudly as he dared. Even as the words left his lips he felt his guts twist for the betrayal of his Chakaa brothers, for all the work they had done and all they had been through to get here.
The blue-eyed Howler squinted through his helmet. “You’re… one of the Chakaa hyenas. From the refinery; the one… the one that was bitten, aren’t you?”
Madou chuckled. “A wolf that doesn’t pretend he can’t tell two hyenas apart!” he grunted. “I like you already.”
“I thought Amael had you… agh… executed.”
“No, I was sent to Gelb. I met Rufus there, perhaps you know him, Bloodfang?”
A cautious nod; the Bloodfang Howler flicked his pistol, beckoning Madou closer so they could discourse easier.
“Go on.”
“We’re friends,” Madou explained, paws still up. “I don’t know if Red-mist is still alive. When I left the camp he was in trouble.”
“Trouble?”
“My chief, Nurka, he discovered Rufus’s betrayal, and my Prince’s too, a-and Tomek’s. You won’t know them, but they were all working against THORN. I didn’t know who to believe, or what to do, but I… I had no choice but to follow my Queen. I had to obey Queen Arjana’s word, it is hyena law. So, I struck Noss down because she said so, though I despise myself for it now!” Twisting in the galling chains of conflicting loyalties, Madou seethed and shook his head, “None of that matters to you, Howler, what matters is stopping this madness. I want my people to be free, but not like this. You have to help me. Please.”
The blonde wolf listened well, then scoffed, “You want my help? By Ulf, you came this far, hyena. You knew about the black-imperium, you helped steal it!”
Madou nodded slowly, “I knew we were to use black-imperium, of course, but I thought we were to bomb the Den Fathers at the Summit and then attack the Howlers, dying in honourable battle, not… not this!” Madou gestured at the walls. “They say we will kill thousands, all of this Hummelton place and then on to Lupa, all the citizens wolf to mouse. It’s not honourable! We will all be damned by our ancestors. Nurka… he’s not well. It must be the purple-imperium; the chunta must’ve clouded his mind! He is a noble hyena, but you wolves killed his family, and Themba’s. I… I never really knew mine, it’s true. My cousin’s family took me in, then Prince Noss himself trained me. Perhaps I am less touched by the pain of our people’s suffering, or perhaps I’m just a coward.”
The wolf shook his head. “No. If you stand up for right… that is not… cowardice.”
He lowered his pistol.
“Well, if this is a trick, hyena, now’s the time to… to finish me off. Not that I’m much of a threat to anyone.”
Madou smiled and lowered his paws, “No trick, friend. If I wanted you dead I’d have done it by now.”
“Indeed,” said the wolf, holding out a bloody paw. “I’m Linus.”
Madou’s hefty brow rose in surprise, but he went over and bent down to shake paws. “Chakaa Madou.”
“Honoured, friend.”
A wave of shame washed over Madou’s soul. How many more wolves were there in Lupa’s ranks like this one, like Rufus, Tomek, wolves of substance? Yet THORN wished to kill all and sundry without discrimination, without honour!
“Are you alone, Howler Linus?” Madou asked, kneeling before him.
“Yes,” Linus lied, his eyes flitting upwards. “I-I-I lea
pt onto the balloon and cut my way in. Madness really, but… I had to do something.”
A nod.
“What do you propose we do, Madou?” Linus asked.
“I was hoping you could tell me, Howler,” Madou replied, glancing around. “I do not know where to begin, but if there are two of us that’s already better than one.”
“One and a half,” the crippled Linus seethed. “Grrfgh! All right, how… how many hyenas are there aboard?”
“Maybe two dozen, including Nurka and Themba and me.”
“And who’s flying the ship; Monty and Penny?”
“Who?”
“The cats, yes?”
“Oh! Yes, the cat and his wife. Nurka has forced them to, they didn’t want to.”
Linus nodded, “Does anyone else know how to fly?”
Madou shrugged his mighty shoulders, “Nurka seems to know a lot about this machine. I know nothing and Themba can’t do. None of us even knew about it, save Queen Arjana I presume.”
Another nod, a grunt, a plan.
“Then… what we need to do, Madou,” Linus said, “is take Nurka and Themba down… them being the only other Chakaa.” He dipped his chin and looked at Madou, “They are the only ones, right?”
“Yes,” he replied with certainty.
“Right. Good. The rest of the hyenas you and I should be able to keep out of the gondola whilst Monty lands the ship… or at least crashes it gently enough not to cause a fire. Once she’s down we can sabotage it.”
Madou sat forward, “Could we not just sabotage it now, break some imperium pipes perhaps? Isn’t that what you were doing up in the roof, cutting the air out of the bags?”
“No… no I-I fell, Madou, a cable snapped,” Linus said, somewhat embarrassed; unsure if bad luck or stupidity had caused his tumble. “If we go down too hard… there could be an imperium fuel fire… and that would be very bad, believe me. Pure black-imperium will not travel far, but bound to smoke particles it might carry for hundreds of miles. I think the wind is blowing towards Lupa today. The poisonous cloud could reach there; it would certainly reach Hummelton… and the miles of farmland before. How many would die, if not immediately then at least prematurely from eating and drinking black-imperium? Even a teaspoon can kill thousands. The cases of rot would be incalculable.”
Madou took a sharp breath.
“I doubt your Chief Nurka truly appreciates what he’s got back there,” Linus said. “Black-imperium is a thing hardly seen in nature. We… create it in quantities that do not belong on the surface of this planet.”
“Nurka would agree with you there,” Madou insisted. “We all would, us hyenas.”
“You’d have us go back to the pre-imperium era, I suppose?”
“I would.”
“I prefer to believe in a post-imperium era,” Linus chuckled, wincing further, “Some kind of clean energy, from the wind or the water, even the sun. Fanciful perhaps, but, so was flying once.” The Howler sobered up with a sniff, “Madou, we’d better think of something. With the wind behind us we can’t be more than an hour or two from Hummelton, and I’m bound to become more useless to you by the minute.”
Madou nodded, “I’ll bind your wounds.”
“No… no, leave them. I… I might have an idea.”
A break, but for the propellers and wind, as Linus put it together in his mind.
“Wire,” he said. “We need wire.”
“Wire?” Madou replied, looking all about and passage and overhead. “Why?”
“To look like Howler-wire; it will seem like you’ve caught me, when you haven’t. You see where I’m going?”
“I think so.”
Linus felt his wounded arm, cut by wire. “The air bags?” he suggested. “They’re held by wire.”
Madou was on it, stepping round the corner and drawing his imperium short sword he cut a wire holding the corner of the nearest air bag. The wire sprung back viciously and slashed open the bag just as it had with Linus, releasing a rising cloud of felitium gas that betrayed its presence only by the way it set the air wobbling fitfully, as above a flame.
Whilst Madou wrestled with the wire, Linus made a heroic effort to stand. Limping on one leg and dragging the other, and with one arm rendered useless at the shoulder and the other cut deeply, he hobbled to the flimsy new-materials window and leant his cut arm on it, imprinting a bloody smear like the first daub of paint on a new canvas.
Wincing and grunting, he took a moment to observe the fields and forests of Everdor passing miles below, the trees resembling tufts of moss, the fields of worked arable land a patchwork quilt. Linus swore he could see little beasts standing outside farmhouses and by the roadside, waving. Such a glorious sight, and one Linus had dreamt of ever since that day in the cinema.
So long ago, it seemed.
With every passing house and station, every road and mark of civilisation, the dirigible drew nearer Hummelton, hub of Everdor, breadbasket of Lupa.
Linus rolled round to face Madou, “Well?”
The hyena ripped the wire down and felt it. “It’s springy, but maybe it will look right.”
The wolf offered up his paws, “Make it look convincing.”
*
Cora Hummel sat slowly behind her ornate office desk; she was dressed for the Summit and appeared as magnificent as any, more so for her stunning white armour and cloak. She looked up at the Grand Howler standing smartly, yet nervously before her, his striking Bloodfang colours resembling a poisonous caterpillar to Cora’s pastel butterfly.
“You’re the third beast tae come tae me with this, Howler Vladimir,” she said, spreading her black paws over the desk.
“Third, Den Mother?”
“Mah daughter warned me yesterday; she’s nae a fool but she moves in... dissident circles. Mah Howlers also arrested a lunatic rabbit on a mono during the curfew last night. They would have paid him nae mind, but because he was on a mono word got round tae me.”
Vladimir stood equally astonished, “A little beast riding a monobike?”
“Aye, and well apparently! He claims tae have been spying on THORN for some time.” Cora leant back in her chair. “Now you come before me with the same tall tale; that this dirigible is loaded with black-imperium.”
“Perhaps, Den Mother,” Vladimir stipulated. “It is merely supposition from evidence, but-”
“Nae to the rabbit, he’s adamant.”
“Who is he, if I may ask?”
“Funny you should; he’s been asking for you!”
Leaving Vladimir baffled, Cora picked up a beautiful mahogany telephone, the base of which was inlaid with lighter wood depicting bees, flowers and honeycombs. “Send the rabbit up. The mad one. Aye, on the mono. Quickly now.”
She hung up, twiddled her thumbs. Similarly, Vladimir fondled his golden pen behind his back; it was scant comfort. He had revealed his knowledge and allegiance at last, he was no longer invisible; now if Amael succeeded he was a dead wolf regardless of survival here.
Brrring! Brrring!
Cora gently put her phone to an ear and listened; Vladimir watched her fine, dark-furred face twist, her ears flick.
“What do you mean?” she said. “When?”
Vladimir looked on; he knew what this must be.
Cora stood up with her phone and strode went to the window, cable trailing after her. “Is his train still here?” she asked the caller, craning to see Hummelton Station. “Well go find out, Howler, and make sure he doesn’t leave!”
A pause.
“Ah don’t care if Ulf himself is on that train; hold it until Ah get down there!”
Slamming the phone on the desk, Cora declared, “It seems Amael’s trying tae sneak away.”
“Escaping,” Vladimir stated, not even feigning surprise.
“Maybe,” Cora replied, still guarded. “Ah’m going tae have this out with the wolf himself, Den Father tae Den Mother-”
“That wouldn’t be wise, Den Mother.”
“Would nae be wise? And who’re you tae tell me-”
“Amael will be stopped, Den Mother, by my fellow agents,” Vladimir revealed, chin up, trying to appear confident despite himself. “There are wolves planted amongst his inner circle who will… arrest him. If you confront him personally your life could be in danger. There are conspirators all around us; anybody could strike you down.”
“Would the traitors nae be on Amael’s train by now?”
“Some, certainly, but he has left far too early. I believe he may be attempting to divest himself of the competition by leaving many of his fellow conspirators here to choke; Den Father Flaid amongst others.”
“Flaid… a traitor?” Cora scowled, looking Vladimir up and down with sudden suspicion. “By Ulf, you accuse your superiors too readily, Howler!”
“I speak as evidence finds, marm!” Vladimir maintained perilously. “If you do not believe me, or your own daughter, I suggest you speak to Adal Weiss as well!”
Cora waited, baffled, but listening.
Though he hated to give away credit for his work, Vladimir felt he had no choice but to cite the powerful Adal.
“The Alpha has been instrumental in allowing me and my agents to investigate this plot,” he said. “He will corroborate all I’ve said. I did not turn to ALPHA lightly, I am not fond of their constant bullying of the Howlers, but I could turn nowhere else when my own Elder was a traitor. If I had come to our pack’s Provosts with my knowledge, Amael would have found out and I would have been disposed of. For a year now I have kept silent to all but my closest confidants, waiting for this day.”
“So you knew and said nothing?” Cora hissed.
“Den Mother, it was decided, by all involved, including the Alpha, that the only way to catch the conspirators red-pawed and make the charges stick was watch and see who attempted to leave the Summit on the day of THORN’s planned attack. It stands to reason that any beasts who leave must have prior knowledge of an attack, whatever the manner of it, and must be with Amael. Whoever the wolf, Howler, Elder, even Den Father, they will all prove their guilt without question the moment they get up. However, those who remain in their seats, ignorant of any concrete knowledge of danger, must be presumed innocent. Therefore, our duty, marm, is to maintain the Summit as if nothing is amiss. We should continue as before, with or without Amael, yet be prepared to fend off any THORN attack. I pray to Ulf this poisonous dirigible will not materialise on the horizon, but we must make ready to shoot it down as discreetly as possible and as far from Hummelton as we can. I’m not entirely sure shooting it down won’t simply spread a black-imperium cloud far and wide, but at least it shan’t work as THORN and Amael intended.”
