The Dragon's Game

by James Erith

  ‘Gus? Really?’ Solomon stopped. ‘Goodness gracious me. What was he doing in there?’

  ‘That’s the thing. We don’t know, sir. We think he must’ve fallen in after his fight with Kemp. It’s a bit of a mystery.’

  Solomon continued on the path. ‘And where is Gus now?’

  For a while, the tread of their feet on the sludgy ground seemed louder.

  Archie bowed his head. ‘He didn’t make it, sir,’ he said. ‘He made the ultimate sacrifice, helping us right at the end. Isabella was right. Gus did the bravest thing ever known, just as it was about to go against us.’

  Solomon missed a step, righting himself before he pulled them over with him. ‘Oh, my dear children! How dreadful. I’m so terribly sorry you have had to witness such a thing. What a sorry business.’

  A violent whoosh and the roar of flames from a position below them, nearer the house, brought them to a sudden standstill. Tangy petrol fumes hit their nostrils.

  ‘Drat! It’s Stone and that infernal machine,’ Solomon whispered. ‘I do believe he’s beaten them to it.’ He held his arm out sideways. ‘Be particularly careful. Stone is a dangerous man.’ He glanced at them again noting their beaten, shattered condition. ‘In your circumstances,’ he said, I would advise you to stay well away.

  ‘Where do you think he is?’ Archie asked.

  ‘At a guess, he’s just above the courtyard.’

  The daylight surrounding them had further cleared the path towards the cottage.

  ‘We have a situation,’ Solomon declared. ‘We can’t have him destroy the house, and yet, it would be extremely unwise to face him. ’

  ‘But we have to go on,’ Daisy said, ‘especially if Mrs Pye and Sue are in the house. We promised Gus we’d protect Sue, and we’ve got to put the tablets together. We’re running out of time.’

  Solomon shifted and shook his head. ‘But looking at you three, are you in any position to, how should I put it, use your gifts? For example, could you repel the flames of his flamethrower and stop a bullet? This is what he will come at you with.’

  Daisy shook her head. ‘I’m absolutely spent. Don’t know about you guys, but I’ve got nothing left to zap him with.’

  ‘Me neither,’ Isabella said. ‘Though, of course, I’ll try.’

  They shuffled along, the earlier nervousness of travelling through the passages returning.

  From nowhere, they suddenly felt the heat of fire and the choking stench of fumes that followed.

  ‘Get down!’ Solomon cried. ‘I think he has us in his sights.’ They crawled behind the fallen bough of a tree and waited.

  Further down, emerging from the wispy fog, came a tall, lean figure holding a long metallic tube.

  Then the man spoke, his voice hard and crisp and edged with a lilt of triumph in his tone.

  ‘Come out Archie de Lowe. The game is up.’

  He waited.

  ‘We can do this the easy way,’ he yelled, ‘or we can do it the hard way. Whichever you prefer.’

  Still, there was no response.

  Stone walked closer.

  ‘I know you’re there and I know you have the information about the storm and the disease. All you’ve got to do is tell me what’s going on.’

  Again, no one moved.

  ‘I’ll give you until the count of three,’ he said, ‘to show yourself.’

  ‘One.

  ‘Two.’ The rattle of metal could be heard on his body.

  ‘Three.’

  The machine whirred into action spewing fire left and right, the tree branch in front of them bursting into flames.

  All of them gagged, coughing, their eyes watering.

  ‘Archie de Lowe,’ Stone called out, ‘I am arresting you under the Terrorism Act on the suspicion of creating or being party to the cause of a world pandemic. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’

  ‘WE CAN’T STAY HERE like this,’ Archie whispered, as he scrabbled on the ground behind the tree stump as though looking for something. ‘The man’s bonkers.’ He stood up. ‘I’ll face him.’

  ‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ Daisy said. ‘Your last plan was diabolical.’

  ‘Yours wasn’t much better,’ he whispered. ‘This time, I know what I’m doing…’

  Daisy looked into the light haze and frowned. ‘Take the tablet. Show it to him. It’s the only way there’s a chance he’ll be convinced.’

  Solomon stood up too. ‘I’ll go with you, Archie. Let’s see if we can reason with the man, get him to put that wretched thing down.’

  They stepped out into the light, coughing the last particles of petroleum fumes out of their lungs.

  ‘For heaven’s sake’s be careful,’ Isabella whispered. ‘And Archie, stay out of the way of that machine.’

  ‘It’s Solomon,’ the headmaster called out. ‘I have Archie here with me. We’re coming down the track. Please, lower that weapon.’

  Archie, supported by Solomon’s arm, stumbled down the track stopping about thirty paces from the Commissioner. They faced one another like gunfighters in a duel.

  ‘A-ha. Hello little Archie de Lowe. I can’t tell you how nice it is to finally meet you. So, you’ve come out of your hiding place at long last. Tell me, what is it about you, huh? What makes you so damned special? Your headmaster here told me you were looking for some kind of a tablet. Is this true?’

  ‘Yes,’ Archie said. ‘We need to find three tablets to save everyone. That’s all you need to know.’

  ‘You have these tablets?’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  Stone gurned his mouth. ‘Why is it you, de Lowe?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Archie replied. ‘It just is.’

  ‘What information, what little secrets are you holding?’

  ‘It’s nothing that concerns you,’ Archie replied.

  Stone paused. ‘Now then, first of all, hand over this troublesome tablet-thing.’

  ‘With respect, cousin,’ Solomon said, ‘the de Lowes have been through the most testing trials any human being could have gone through to attain these artifacts—’

  Stone’s icy voice interrupted. ‘Let me remind you both that Archie is under arrest. Headmaster, right now you are aiding a suspect.’ His voice went softer. ‘Please, Archie, hand over the evidence.’

  Solomon’s face was turning puce. ‘Don’t you understand, you nitwit, they can’t—’

  A shot rang out.

  Solomon fell to the floor like a sack of coal.

  ‘Nobody calls me a nitwit,’ Stone said. ‘Now, Archie, do as I say and give me the tablet.’

  With a look of shock painted on his face, Archie stared at the prostrate figure of the headmaster, then back at Stone.

  ‘Sure,’ Archie said, coolly. ‘I’ll put the tablet halfway between us. How does that sound?’

  Stone hesitated.

  ‘Very well,’ he said with a sly smile. ‘It’s only right that I look after it from here on in. Remember, you’re all coming with me, so no funny business or you’ll end up like your headmaster.’

  Archie limped forward, reached into his pocket and pulled out a block. He placed it on the ground and withdrew.

  Stone, the flamethrower still strapped to his chest, his gun steadied at Archie, moved forward.

  Struggling to bend down, Stone fell to his knees, the casing of the long barrel clacking as it hit the ground. He stared at the stone Archie had deposited.

  ‘It’s about this lump of rock, is it,’ Stone said, bitterly. ‘You’re telling me the chaos out there is because of this?’ he said spitting on it. ‘You really think I’m going to fall for that?’ He picked it up and turned it over. ‘This is an old house tile from that ruin.’

  He tossed it back on the ground.

  Archie remained silent.

  Stone cocked his head, eying the boy standing in front of h
im. He raised the gun at Archie, then pointed it at the tablet.

  He pulled the trigger.

  The first shot crashed into the tile, the noise pinging off.

  ‘NO!’ Daisy said, running out.

  The second did the same.

  Stone stared at the small tablet on the ground. ‘Bloody thing! Why doesn’t it break?’

  Stone fired again. The tablet split in two.

  By now, all three of the others stood up behind the fallen bough, watching incredulously.

  ‘You’re a damned liar,’ Stone seethed. ‘All of you! Come out from behind that tree or Archie gets it. Move, now!’

  Cautiously they moved forward.

  He eyed each one in turn. ‘Tell me, what is going on?’ Stone said.

  Archie struggled to form his words. ‘We have been tasked,’ he began.

  ‘Tasked? Who by? God?’

  Archie shrugged. ‘To find three tablets.’

  ‘Bullshit! These are shitty tiles,’ he roared. ‘Look.’ He pointed at the broken tablet.

  ‘You are not telling me the truth!’ Phlegm spat out of his mouth. ‘The truth, Archie.’

  Archie didn’t know what to say.

  ‘The truth!’

  ‘Don’t tell him,’ Isabella yelled.

  Stone looked up. ‘Tell me everything, de Lowe.’

  He pointed the gun at Old Man Wood and with a level of calmness in his voice said, ‘I need to know the truth.’

  ‘That is the truth!’ Isabella exclaimed.

  Stone smiled at her, and then, just as he’d planned, he squeezed the trigger.

  65 DICKINSON ARRIVES

  From nowhere, Stone heard a click, and felt the cold imprint of metal on the back of his neck.

  ‘That’s enough,’ he heard. ‘If your magazine wasn’t empty, I might have been too late.’

  Stone froze. ‘Who the hell is it?’ he said. ‘My name is Commissioner Stone, head of operations for the United Kingdom of the Yorkshire disaster. Remove your weapon.’

  ‘I know exactly who you are,’ Dickinson said, coolly.

  Stone exhaled. ‘Dickinson,’ he sighed. ‘Well, you took your time. Look who I’ve found.’ He stood up. ‘For a moment, I thought you were some ruddy foreigner.’

  ‘Don’t move, sir. We’re going to escort you back to Swinton Park.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Enough is enough. Please give yourself over freely. I don’t want a scene.’

  ‘What is the meaning of this? You have no authority—’

  ‘I have every authority,’ Dickinson said. ‘Since you have clearly gone way beyond yours. We heard your antics on the radio, we heard the gunshots and we saw how you gunned down the headmaster like a dog. Do you deny it?’

  ‘Move your weapon away, Dickinson!’ Stone snarled.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Are you defying me, Dickinson? Right now, my word is basically law. If you do not put that thing away and do as I say, then you will be dealt with, severely.’

  ‘We’ll see about that,’ Dickinson replied. ‘Put your weapons down.’

  ‘Never,’ Stone seethed. You still don’t comprehend the situation we’re in do you, officer?’

  ‘That’s where you’re wrong. I believe it is you who are now jeopardising the situation. You have three seconds.’

  Without warning, Stone pulled the trigger. A whoosh of air splurged and flame blasted into the ground.

  Dickinson, jerked the gun from the Commissioner’s head in shock as a roaring flame blazed only yards from Archie.

  It gave Stone time. He turned and faced them, grinning, his eyes manically moving from Dickinson to the soldier standing next to him and then back to the de Lowes.

  ‘One little squeeze,’ Stone said, ‘and you are all literally fried human flesh.’ Stone fished into his pocket for a fresh magazine. ‘Where are these tablets?’

  ‘I’m afraid,’ Dickinson said his voice cold and unwavering, ‘that your game is over. You are wrong—’

  ‘Me, wrong? Never!’ The commissioner said. ‘You will pay for this, officer.’

  ‘Wrong again,’ Dickinson said coolly. ‘On either side, I have a gun trained on you, sir. Touch that trigger one more time, and my marksmen will blow you away.’

  Stone smirked. ‘Is that right?’

  ‘Gates,’ Dickinson called out. ‘Let the commissioner know you’re here?’

  A crack rang out followed instantly by a thud.

  ‘Bloody lunatic,’ Stone yelled, twisting from the impact.

  ‘Looks like he missed,’ Dickinson said. ‘I doubt he’ll be inaccurate next time. Probably best to remove that backpack, sir, before it bursts into flames.’

  Gasoline oozed out, spraying the floor.

  Stone dropped the handgun and gritting his teeth, he wrenched the sack off his back allowing it to crash to the ground,

  Then he bent over, holding himself, his teeth clenched as he fought back the pain.

  ‘You’re injured?’

  ‘Kicked by a damn horse.’

  Dickinson smiled. ‘A white horse by any chance?’

  Stone looked at him quizzically.

  ‘Talbot, do the business, please,’ Dickinson said.

  ‘Happily,’ the soldier said. Talbot grabbed the commissioner’s arms and bound his hands behind his back, with rope.

  ‘This is a bloody outrage,’ Stone yelled. ‘You will be severely dealt with. All of you. Where are you taking me?’

  Dickinson cocked an eye. ‘As far from here and as quickly as is humanly possible.’

  66 KEMP TELLS HIS MOTHER

  Shallow voices echoed around the courtyard below. Kemp slipped over to the window.

  ‘My God! They’re back!’ he said, his face a picture of amazement. He watched as they limped through the door and, for a brief moment, his heart soared as Daisy glanced up at the window.

  ‘Blimey, mother, they’re in one hell of a state. Solomon’s being carried in. Don’t think he’s right.’

  Mrs Pye joined him and tutted. ‘I’d best get down and help patch them up,’ she said.

  Kemp moved away from the window. ‘In a minute, mother. Please, there's something I've got to tell you first,’ he said. ‘It might be my only chance.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ she said, lowering herself into the chair once more.

  ‘I’m afraid it’s not easy, especially for you.’

  ‘What’s not?’

  Kemp stammered. ‘Well, the thing is, you’re going to have to make a choice.’

  Mrs Pye rocked in her chair her face a little pinker than before. ‘Me? A choice? What choice?’ she said. ‘Is it to do with that one last thing you’re saying they won’t be able to do?’

  Kemp nodded. ‘Yup.’

  ‘Go on, son, spill your beans.’

  Kemp took a deep breath. ‘First of all, you have to promise me that what I’m about to tell you isn’t repeated to anyone. It’s our secret, right. If you or I so much as breathe it to anyone, then maybe they’ve lost already, or something terrible will happen.’

  She agreed.

  Kemp continued. ‘Now, I want you, truthfully, to answer me this one thing. OK?’

  She nodded back.

  ‘Do you think that any one of Archie, Daisy and Isabella could…’

  ‘Could what?’

  Kemp closed his eyes. ‘If any of them could … commit…’

  ‘What, son?’

  ‘Physically kill someone,’ he spat out.

  Mrs Pye stared at him, then burst into a shrill laugh. ‘Them … murder, like in cold blood, like … killers, them? Who are you kidding? My lot, never. Not in a million years. They’re as soft as my apple sponge cakes.’

  Kemp’s face remained serious.

  Mrs Pye noticed and stopped tittering. ‘Is there a problem with that? They’re not going to have to—’

  ‘The thing is,’ he continued, ‘unless they commit a murder, they’re going to fail. And along with them, the rest of mankin
d will fail — everyone on this entire planet is going to die.’

  ‘Never!’ Mrs Pye’s face told of nothing but disgust. ‘That’s just not right, that ain’t.’

  ‘It’s like the grossest thing you’ve ever heard, isn’t it? I know it’s not right, but it’s true, it really is. And, like you, I don’t think any one of them has the way or the means — or the guts.’

  She shook her head and muttered about how lovely they were even if Archie was a bit scruffy and Isabella overly bossy and Daisy all-over strange sometimes.

  Kemp listened for a bit and then spoke. ‘Mother, they don’t even know they’ve got to do it yet. They’ve got to work it out.’

  ‘And who is it they’ve got to … you know … do this terrible thing to?’

  Kemp bowed his head. ‘An old woman, apparently.’

  Mrs Pye stared at him. ‘Well, I never,’ she exclaimed. ‘They need to know this moment,’ she said standing up and starting towards the door.

  ‘You can’t,’ Kemp said, blocking her path. ‘Now that you know, mysterious, ancient powers that I don’t understand will put you in harm's way. In fact, better if you don’t go down there at all, for your safety. Please understand, mother. They’re locked into something huge, and there’s nothing me or you or the government or the soldiers or anyone else for that matter can do about it.’ He held her arm tenderly. ‘But, there is another way - a way that I can save you and me.’

  She sat down heavily.

  ‘It boils down to those choices I told you about. The first is that we stay here and we pray that somehow, either Arch, Daisy or Isabella manage to do this terrible thing. The second is that if, and when, they don’t succeed we stay here and accept that we’re going to die like everyone else. Believe me, I’ve seen enough to know what this plague does to people, and it won’t be easy. The third, mother, is that you come with me. But in so doing, you may have to give yourself over, willingly — without hesitation or regret — to a spirit.’

  She stared back at him with her mouth open. ‘A spirit?’

  ‘Yes. A kind of ghost.’ Kemp rubbed his face. ‘Look, I told you it wasn’t easy.’

  Mrs Pye eyed him for a while. ‘And what would happen if I did this with you and then they do manage to do this terrible-awful thing and save everyone?’