‘Aren’t we meant to be peasants?’ said Napoleon.
He called out to the people. ‘Come forward.’ He opened his arms wide, speaking in Latin. ‘We mean you no harm.’
The peasants crept from the trees and edged closer, forming a wide circle around BG001 and Napoleon.
They were a ragged bunch, no shoes, clothes worn out and filthy. Their skin was a sickly grey, and most were scratching at horrible sores.
‘Yeew!’ said BG001. ‘Maybe Skinella was right.’
‘No way,’ Napoleon insisted. ‘They’re harmless. And besides, they might be able to help us.’
‘I don’t think so,’ said BG001. ‘They can’t even fight off their own fleas.’
‘The prof says the dracs have a nest somewhere. Well, these guys might know where it is.’
‘So we can attack the dracs when they least expect it?’
‘Exactly. Surprise – one of the best weapons of attack.’
An old man stepped from the crowd, led by a boy.
‘Your magic killed the Soul-Takers, those who suck out our life,’ he said, stroking his long beard. ‘We owe you our lives.’
He bowed low. The other peasants mumbled their thanks too.
‘It is nothing,’ said Napoleon. ‘That is why we are here – to destroy those beasts. But we need to find their nest.’
The peasants muttered nervously among themselves at his words.
The old man shook his head. ‘No one dares go near the den of the Soul-Takers. It is the home of Hades.’
‘Hades,’ Skin explained. ‘The God of the Underworld. He was a powerful and much feared god of darkness.’
Napoleon stepped towards the old man. ‘But you must take us there. Only then can we rid you of these demons.’
‘Never!’ The old man drew back in horror. ‘You know not what you ask. It is too dangerous – much too dangerous.’
He and the rest of the peasants scattered back into the forest, mumbling with fear.
Napoleon and BG001 called after them, but it was no good.
‘So much for that plan,’ sighed Napoleon.
‘It gives me no joy to say, “I told you so”,’ said Skinella. ‘But I did. Peasants cannot be trusted. We will not see them again.’
‘Incorrect,’ said Skin. ‘One approaches now.’
‘Who goes there?’ said Napoleon.
The boy who had led the old man stepped from the forest.
He was about the same age as Napoleon, but smaller and thinner.
‘My name is Atticus,’ he said. ‘And I will lead you to the den of the Soul-Takers. Follow me.’
He turned and vanished into the trees.
They followed the boy through the forest, along dark narrow paths covered by crouching trees.
Atticus travelled nimbly through the dense foliage. More than once they lost sight of him.
‘How do we know this is not a trap?’ said Skinella. ‘What if the boy . . .?’
‘Quiet, Skinella,’ said BG001. ‘You’re making me nervous.’ Then she whispered to Napoleon. ‘How do we know it’s not a trap?’
‘We don’t. But do you have a better plan?’
Eventually they came to the edge of a cliff. It looked over the valley of Cannae, where the two armies were camped. Thousands of little fires dotted the plains.
Atticus was waiting for them, sitting on the rock ledge.
‘What a mighty battle tomorrow will be. Our Roman warriors will teach that Hannibal a lesson he won’t forget.’
If only he knew, thought Napoleon. Tomorrow’s battle would be one of the biggest defeats in Roman history.
‘How much further to the Soul-Takers’ den?’ he asked Atticus.
‘Not far now,’ the boy replied. ‘We follow the ridge until it drops into a valley. There lies the lair.’
‘You know this country well.’
‘I was born and raised in these mountains. They are my home.’
‘Why aren’t you scared of the Soul-Takers?’ BG001 asked.
‘I am. But I feel safe with you two.’ He smiled at them. ‘You have magic powers,’ he said, turning to Napoleon. ‘I saw you destroy those demons with your finger.’ The boy’s eyes brightened. ‘I want you to teach me your magic!’
‘Well, that wasn’t really ma —’
‘I’m a fast learner. I’d make a good magician’s assistant. Please.’
‘It’s not that easy,’ said Napoleon. ‘You see . . .’
‘We need to destroy the Soul-Takers first,’ said BG001.
‘Yes, then you can teach me your magic,’ said Atticus, smiling.
‘That is where the demons live,’ Atticus said, his voice low.
The three of them were hiding behind a boulder. The Roman boy was pointing at the entrance to a cave.
‘How far inside are they?’ Napoleon asked.
‘I do not know. This is closer than I’ve been before. But I’ve seen them come and go – the flying ones, there are many of those, and the wolf ones that cry at the moon. I’ve even seen the human Soul-Taker, too.’
‘What? Is there one of those?’ said BG001.
‘Yes. He is tall and muscly, with dangerous eyes.’
‘This is not good,’ BG001 said to Napoleon. ‘There is a man drac.’ Atticus listened as well, trying to make sense of her words. ‘It means that the virus is ready to explode.’
‘We need to get moving, then.’ Napoleon turned to the Roman boy. ‘Thank you, Atticus, for being so brave and bringing us here. You’d better leave now.’
‘But I want to come with you.’
‘It’s too dangerous.’
‘I don’t care. With you, I can learn all the faster. If I stay out here I’ll never be anything more than a peasant.’
Napoleon frowned at BG001.
‘What?’ she said. ‘I didn’t promise him anything.’
‘And I can start by learning your special tongue,’ Atticus added excitedly. ‘I didn’t promise him anything,’ he said, copying Battle Girl. ‘These are magic words, yes?’
‘Not really,’ Napoleon replied. ‘But it’s too hard to explain right now. Maybe when all this is over.’
‘So I can come, yes?’
Napoleon threw his hands in the air and headed for the cave. The others followed.
At the entrance, he suddenly stopped and took a firm hold of BG001’s hand.
‘I don’t need you to hold my hand,’ she said, trying to pull away.
‘Skin is doing a cross-load.’ Napoleon felt his hand tingle. ‘I’m transferring you a copy of the Night Eyes software. You’ll need it.’
‘Software transfer complete,’ Skin reported.
‘Well, thanks,’ BG001 said, slowly releasing his hand.
‘Let’s do this,’ Napoleon said, and led the way into the cave.
The cave was blacker than the night.
They had to make their way slowly, even with Night Eyes.
Atticus was amazed they could see at all. ‘When I’m a magician, I too will have magic eyes.’
The tunnel seemed to go on forever. But then they saw a tiny glow in the distance. The glow grew as they drew closer – bigger and brighter, and in the end . . .
‘By the beard of Great Jupiter!’ Atticus gasped. ‘What is this?’
They had reached the edge of a cavern. A fire in the middle lit up the walls and ceiling. Around it squatted about twenty wolf-like creatures. They were baying at the fire.
At the head of the circle was the man drac. He surveyed the other beasts, arms folded.
‘It’s bad,’ whispered BG001. ‘The virus is at Level 4.’
‘How many levels are there?’
‘Five,’ she said. ‘And look.’ She pointed at the roof of the cavern.
Hanging from it were about a hundred bat dracs. Many were the size of eagles.
‘Those big ones are close to being war wolves.’
As she spoke, one of the bat dracs fell from the roof like a piece of ripe fruit. It glided
to the ground and almost instantly turned into a war wolf. It joined the others in their fearsome howl.
The man drac grinned and his fangs glistened in the firelight.
‘What about the boss guy?’ said Napoleon. ‘Where does he fit in?’
‘He’s in command. His evil brain controls the virus. When he has enough war wolves and battle bats, he’ll launch an attack. That’s how this virus works.’
‘So if we take him out the virus becomes dumb, brainless.’
‘Yes, but if he dies, another war wolf will morph instantly and replace him.’
‘So how do we knock out this virus?’
Before BG001 could reply, a baby bat drac began shrieking and pointing its claw at them. The war wolves turned at once.
The man drac roared with fury.
‘Don’t bother answering,’ yelled Napoleon. ‘We’ve just stirred up the nest! Get that laser blazing!’
He turned his ThumbGun on the ceiling and swept it back and forth like a machine gun, strafing the bat dracs.
They exploded in a shower of bat bits.
BG001 used her laser finger in the same way. Her victims fell to the ground, then shrivelled like rotten fruit.
‘Not bad shooting,’ Napoleon yelled. ‘For a girl!’
They were being attacked on two fronts. Bat dracs were swooping down from the roof, while the war wolves were thundering across the cavern floor towards them. The man drac stood where he was, directing the fight with his mind.
‘You’d better take cover!’ Napoleon yelled to Atticus.
But the Roman boy had gathered a pile of rocks at his feet. He whipped out his sling and downed three bat dracs in quick succession.
At the same time BG001 lasered two war wolves. They sprang in the air, then fell in a heap and quickly turned to dust. Atticus joined her and took out another two.
Meanwhile, Napoleon was dropping bat dracs like flies. He was firing so fast that his index finger grew hot and began to smoke.
‘I think we’re winning,’ he shouted.
But then something very strange happened. Suddenly the creatures stopped attacking. The bat dracs wheeled around, flew high up into the ceiling and vanished through a hole.
The war wolves retreated as well. BG001 and Atticus picked off another beast each, but the rest vanished through a crack in the wall.
The man drac was the last to go. He stood in front of the crack, snarling up at Napoleon and the others. A second later, he was gone.
The crack sealed and the cave was silent.
It was late when they returned to the peasants’ camp in the forest.
‘I don’t reckon they’ll be back tonight,’ said Napoleon. ‘That boss drac will be keeping his forces so they can attack tomorrow, during the battle. That way they can do maximum damage because the soldiers will be too busy fighting each other.’
As they sat around the fire, Atticus told everyone about their fight with the dracs. ‘They just kept coming! At one point I thought it was the end.’
‘It would have been the end,’ said Napoleon, ‘if you hadn’t been there. You were very brave. You’ll make a fine soldier.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Atticus, his chest puffing a little. ‘But it’s not a soldier I want to be.’
He then told the others about the magic that Napoleon and BG001 had. ‘It’s all in their fingers. And they speak a special tongue. I’m learning that as well. “I didn’t promise him anything”,’ he said, as if the words were full of magic.
Napoleon sat back and yawned. The fire’s glow felt good on his face. Skin had gone into sleep mode, and BG001 was lying down, though her eyes were still open.
‘Can’t sleep?’ he asked. She nodded. ‘I think this is the most exciting mission I’ve ever been on,’ he added. ‘How about you?’
She shrugged her shoulders.
‘What about your other missions?’ he said. ‘You must have some good stories.’
BG001 sat up slowly.
‘I haven’t been on any other missions.’
Napoleon’s jaw dropped.
‘I’ve done simulated stuff,’ she said, ‘lots of it, but no real missions.’
‘You mean this is your very first?’
She nodded.
‘But you told me you’d never pulled out of a mission.’
‘Well I haven’t. I’ve never been on one to pull out of.’
Napoleon couldn’t believe his ears. ‘You’re kidding!’
‘I’m sorry. Are you really mad?’
Napoleon shook his head. ‘No wonder you freaked when the dracs first attacked. My brain wasn’t connected to my legs on my first mission. But you sure made up for it in the cave. You were awesome!’
‘You think so?’
‘Yeah. You had those war wolves wacked!’
‘Thanks!’ BG001 had a big grin on her face. But then she frowned. ‘Tomorrow will be the real test, though.’
‘Why?’
‘From my research on the vampire virus, I’m pretty sure there’s at least one other nest.’
‘Oh.’
‘There might even be more. They’d be deeper in the cave – too deep for the ScanoScope to pick up.’
‘In that case we need a plan of attack,’ said Napoleon.
He lay back and stared up at the stars, thoughts churning in his head. Tomorrow they would fight a battle within a battle.
And it was one they had to win.
Napoleon woke with a start.
He shook Battle Girl and Atticus awake.
‘Listen up,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a plan.’
They stared sleepily at him.
‘My guess is the dracs will attack when the Battle of Cannae is at its height,’ said Napoleon. ‘There’ll be so much confusion then that the Romans and Carthaginians won’t know what hit them. Here’s what we do.’
He started to draw a battle plan in the dirt. ‘Here’s where we are - on the cliff overlooking the field of Cannae. And here’s the mouth of the narrow valley, only a stone’s throw away.’ He paused.
‘The cave is at the other end of this valley, so the bat dracs will have to fly past here to attack the soldiers. That’s when you ambush them, Atticus.’
‘Me?’
‘Well, not on your own. Get all the people you can lined up on both sides of the valley with all the stones they can find.’
‘What about the war wolves?’ Atticus asked.
‘They’ll come down the valley too. So have bigger rocks and boulders ready as well. Hit them with the lot. The more dracs we destroy here, the better it’ll be out there on the battlefield.’
They stared over the plain. The Battle of Cannae had already begun. Carthaginians and Romans were fighting fiercely.
‘Is that okay?’ Napoleon rested his hand on Atticus’s shoulder.
‘We’ll be ready,’ the Roman boy said, and set off at once.
‘So what about us?’ said BG001.
‘Check your HoverVest and Boot Boosters for a start.’
‘Check.’
‘Helping Hand? You want maximum laser power.’
‘Check.’
‘Good. Let’s hit the sky, then.’
Napoleon took off like a rocket.
BG001 followed close behind.
When they were high above the countryside, they switched to hover-mode, and surveyed the scene below.
The battle was in full swing and it looked like one big mess. Skin explained what was going on.
‘Hannibal has lined his troops up with the river at his back.’
‘He has done this to cut off the Romans’ water supply,’ Skinella added.
‘Correct,’ said Skin. ‘Thus, many Romans are thirsty; not ideal conditions for fighting a battle. Also, Hannibal has positioned himself so that the Romans have to face the sun. Their vision is compromised.’
‘A stiff breeze is blowing at them too,’ Skinella continued, ‘sending dust and sand into their eyes.’
‘And now Hannibal is about
to play the biggest trick of all,’ said Skin. ‘He is pretending to retreat.’
‘And,’ interrupted Skinella, ‘the Romans will follow and find themselves in a trap from which there is no escape.’
‘So the Romans don’t have a chance?’ asked Napoleon.
‘Except that there are many more of them,’ Skin replied, giving the statistics. ‘Romans: 86,000. Carthaginians: 56,000.’
‘I dispute those numbers,’ said Skinella. ‘With respect.’
‘I assure you, Skinella,’ said Skin. ‘My figures come from the most reputable military sources.’
‘Oh, stop it, you two,’ said Napoleon ‘It’s not important!’
‘Not important?’ Skinella replied. ‘That does not compute. Historical accuracy is most important.’
‘Affirmative,’ Skin added.
‘Great!’ BG001 clapped her hands. ‘At least you agree on something. But right now I think numbers are the last thing we need to worry about. Look!’
BG001 pointed to the narrow valley that led to the dracs’ cave. A huge cloud of dust was rising from it.
‘The dracs are coming.’
They reached the mouth of the valley at the same time as the dracs.
There were thousands of them.
The air was thick with bat dracs, while war wolves swarmed below like a river of black.
‘We’ll never stop them,’ BG001 yelled.
‘We have to try. Atticus and his people are in position.’
Peasants old and young were on either side of the valley, hurling everything they could at the bat dracs. Others were rolling boulders over the cliff onto the war wolves.
BG001 flew close to the cliff and used her laser finger to split off chunks of rock that crashed onto the war wolves. She even set off an avalanche that buried at least a hundred of them.
Napoleon machine-gunned as many bat dracs as he could with his ThumbGun.
But BG001 was right – there were too many. In the end the dracs broke through and surged towards the battlefield.
‘It’s like they’re moving with one mind!’ Napoleon shouted.
‘They are,’ said BG001. ‘And there’s the mind.’
Vampire Virus Page 2
