The War of the Grail

by Geoffrey Wilson

  He heard a hiss near his ear and saw a centipede dangling from a vine overhead. The beast was inches from his face. He lurched to the left and the creature swung itself towards him. Then he dodged to the right, and the avatar again followed his movements.

  Then he stood stock-still. The creature paused and its feelers flickered. It shrilled and rotated its head in different directions. Finally, it scuttled away along the vine.

  Jack breathed out. He had an idea now. It was a risky plan, but it was the best he could think of at the moment.

  He called across to Saleem and Elizabeth, ‘Listen, these things can only see us if we move.’

  Elizabeth swept a creature off the ledge with her musket. ‘What?’

  ‘They follow our movements,’ Jack said. ‘If we stay still, they won’t be able to see us. They’ll leave us alone.’

  ‘You want us to just stand here?’ Elizabeth said.

  ‘We can’t hold them all back. We have to try something else.’

  ‘You sure that’ll work?’

  ‘No. But it’s our only chance now.’

  Saleem’s eyes were wide. ‘If you say so, Jack.’

  Elizabeth’s eyes glittered and she bit her bottom lip. Finally, she nodded her agreement.

  Jack swaddled Cecily tightly in her blanket so that she was unable to move her arms and legs. Despite everything that was going on, she looked drowsy and even on the verge of sleep.

  Elizabeth reached out to take Cecily, but Jack pulled the baby away. ‘It’s all right. I’ll hold on to her.’

  There was no time to discuss it further, because two centipedes dropped down and circled about on the ledge.

  ‘Stay dead still,’ Jack whispered. ‘Don’t move a muscle, or you’re finished.’

  They stood rigidly as more avatars poured over the lip of the ledge and scurried about their feet. Others fell from above, hit the overhang with a slap and then joined the writhing mass of creatures.

  One avatar hung down right before Jack’s face. He held his breath as he stared at the chewing mandibles and whirring gills. A tiny puff of smoke wafted from the creature’s side and its feelers swung about its head as it searched for any sign of movement.

  Jack felt sweat running down his cheek. Would the movement be enough to alert the creature? He fought to remain as still as possible.

  He mustn’t twitch, mustn’t even blink, because the creature was so close to his face it could strike him before he even had a chance to defend himself.

  The avatar hovered before him, its legs coiling. Then, abruptly, it swung itself back up and clattered away along the wall.

  Jack exhaled, but only felt a moment of relief because now he saw centipedes climbing up Elizabeth’s dress and Saleem’s hose. Both Elizabeth and Saleem were standing as still as they could, looking down in horror at the beasts clambering up.

  It was all Jack could do to remain where he was. He wanted to lunge across and swipe the creatures off Elizabeth. But he knew that would only put her in even more danger.

  Then he felt something on his ankle. He dropped his gaze and saw a centipede scrambling up his leg. It reached his knee-length tunic and scuttled over it up to his belt, where it paused for a moment, staring up at him.

  The sweat poured off his forehead. One movement now and the thing would bite through his clothing and poison him in an instant. An unbearable itch developed on his nose, but he pushed the sensation to the back of his mind.

  Then the creature clambered higher. Jack wanted to turn his head to check on Elizabeth and Saleem but didn’t dare now. The avatar reached his chest and then crept onto his neck. His skin rippled and puckered.

  The beast was walking up onto his face. He felt its cold, metal legs press into his skin. He could hear the faint whirring of the mechanism inside it. The creature’s segmented body passed over one of his eyes and then crawled across his scalp. Finally, after what seemed like minutes but could only have been seconds, the avatar descended over his face again and began crawling down his chest.

  He’d done it. The beast was leaving.

  Then Cecily, who so far had been lying peacefully in his arms, began to whimper and shift her head.

  Damn it. Cecily had been so still, he’d been hoping she would even fall asleep.

  The avatar immediately swung round on his chest, squealed and dashed along his arm.

  It was going to bite Cecily.

  30

  Jack’s thoughts whirled. He had to act quickly if he were going to save Cecily. But if he moved, he would alert the avatars to his presence.

  Cecily settled and fell silent again. Jack said a Hail Mary in his head.

  The avatar paused halfway along his arm and turned its head first to one side and then the other, its feelers quivering as they sampled the air. The creature had registered movement, but now it couldn’t see anything.

  Jack prayed the thing would turn round and leave. Why was it staying poised on his arm?

  Cecily closed her eyes for a moment. Jack willed her to go to sleep. But then she flipped her eyelids open again. Her face was bunching up and it looked as though she might be about to cry.

  No.

  Jack’s heart hammered. The moment Cecily cried, her movements would give her away. She had to lie still. But that seemed to be the last thing she would do.

  Then he had an idea. He remembered Katelin blowing on Elizabeth’s eyes when she was a baby so that she would close them and drift to sleep. He was already staring directly at Cecily. He could blow and only make the barest of movements with his mouth.

  As Cecily’s face creased further and she looked set to burst into tears, he opened his lips a fraction and exhaled, just strongly enough for his breath to catch Cecily’s face. She blinked a few times – this distracted her, at least.

  The avatar on his arm made a sizzling sound and spun its feelers about its head. Its mandibles knitted and whirred.

  Jack blew again, praying Cecily would close her eyes.

  For a moment, Cecily fought against sleep. He could see she was exhausted but forcing herself to stay awake. She looked set to cry out, but then her eyelids drooped and finally shut completely.

  A Hail Mary tumbled through Jack’s head.

  The avatar raised itself up on its hind legs, clicked loudly several times, expelled a tiny jet of steam from its side and then turned and ran back up his arm. It coiled about his chest for a moment, then scuttled down his leg and crawled away towards the courtyard.

  Jack took a deep breath. He realised he hadn’t been breathing for some time. When he looked across at Elizabeth, he saw she was largely free of avatars now. One still clung to the bottom of her dress, but it soon wriggled back to the ground and disappeared from the ledge.

  But several centipedes were still entwined about Saleem, one of them crawling over his face. Saleem stood absolutely still, his eyes wide in terror. Finally, the creatures circled back down to his feet and scurried away.

  Now Jack dared to move. He shifted his head enough to look down the wall. All the avatars had left, save for a couple still scouring the rubble to the south. He inched his head round and stared up. There were no avatars above him either.

  His shoulders slumped and he breathed more freely. ‘It’s all right. Reckon we’re safe now.’

  Elizabeth and Saleem suddenly moved, statues come to life. Elizabeth sniffled, grasped Cecily and embraced the child. Saleem was panting and searching the ground below, seemingly unable to believe the creatures had gone.

  Jack looked towards the east. In the grey light of the overcast day, the ruins looked peaceful and still. But then a bell began ringing somewhere in the centre of the fortress. This seemed to set off other bells, which now pealed from many different places.

  Jack felt cold. On the one hand, it was heartening to hear this sound. It meant there were still some people alive in the fortress, that the avatars hadn’t killed everyone. But, at the same time, the bells were ringing to sound the alarm.

  The walls
were under attack.

  The centipedes must have been just the first wave of the assault, designed to soften the rebels up. Now the full attack was likely to begin.

  Elizabeth shivered. ‘We have to get back to the others.’

  Saleem nodded, his hands shaking as he put his musket back on his shoulder. No doubt the lad would be thinking of his mother and sisters huddling together back at the camp. Just as Elizabeth would be thinking of Godwin.

  And just as Jack was thinking of Sonali. He’d last seen her a little over half an hour ago and she’d looked alarmingly pale and weak. She’d only opened her eyes briefly to acknowledge him. The rest of the time, she’d lain as still as if she were dead.

  Guns began firing. First, the enemy batteries grumbled in the distance, then the rebel artillery responded. Jack heard a series of blasts behind him. When he looked towards the west wall, he saw plumes of grey-white smoke drifting into the air. The small party of artillerymen stationed there were firing at something.

  Christ. He could hear gunfire coming from the south, east and west walls. The enemy must be attacking on several fronts.

  He scanned the surroundings. What was the best way back to the camp?

  He noticed five avatars patrolling the open space beyond the courtyard. A man ran past, hurrying towards the south wall, but a centipede flung itself onto the back of his leg. The man cried out and slipped over, gripping the creature and trying to wrestle it off. But he was too late. The beast would have bitten him already, and he would be dead in minutes.

  ‘Hold on for a moment,’ Jack said to Elizabeth and Saleem.

  He grasped a clump of ivy above him and scrambled up the wall. It was difficult to climb this part of the building – there were few handholds and the masonry was often brittle and crumbled away in his fingers. He almost fell at one point, when a small outcrop snapped off beneath his foot. But he eventually reached what must once have been a window and sat astride the bottom edge of the frame. From here he could see across much of the ruins. He took out the spyglass, scoured the immediate vicinity and spotted the dark flickers of centipedes everywhere he looked.

  His grip on the glass tightened. It would be almost impossible to get back to the camp.

  A gun boomed behind him, and now his eyes strayed across to the west wall. From this height he had a clear view of the battlements lying about a hundred yards away. He could make out the gunners labouring frantically to load and fire their artillery. Several of the men were positioned along the wall, facing in towards the fortress. At first, Jack couldn’t understand what they were doing. But then he noticed they were jabbing with muskets and burning brands at any centipedes that clambered up the wall. They were doing a good job at fighting off the beasts.

  As Jack considered what to do next, he realised that the safest place nearby was the west wall. At least there were enough people there to keep the avatars at bay.

  Saleem called up to him, pointing into the courtyard. ‘Look.’

  Jack stared at the ground and saw that another centipede was scrabbling around in the grass. The creatures were returning and could climb up the wall again at any time.

  He scrambled back down to the ledge and waved his hand towards the west. ‘We have to get up on the wall.’

  ‘What about the camp?’ Elizabeth said. ‘The others?’

  ‘We won’t make it,’ he replied. ‘Too many avatars about.’

  Elizabeth tightened her jaw. ‘We can’t just abandon them.’

  Jack paused. This was as difficult a choice for him as it was for Elizabeth and Saleem. ‘We’re not abandoning anyone. They have each other. They have muskets, and the apprentices have their powers. They’re better off than we are at the moment.’

  Elizabeth’s eyes gleamed brightly, but she finally nodded.

  Jack went to the edge of the outcrop and peered down. The centipede was circling about the south side of the courtyard. Below Jack, to his right, lay an opening that led towards the west wall. Could he, Saleem and Elizabeth get down from the ledge and across to that opening before the centipede reached them?

  It was risky, but they had to try.

  He rubbed his eyes. His throat burnt with thirst. He would give anything for a drink, and felt slightly light-headed for a moment. But he pulled himself together.

  He shot a final look at Mark’s body, made the sign of the cross, and then said to Elizabeth and Saleem, ‘Follow me.’

  He climbed halfway to the ground and then jumped the remaining few feet. Elizabeth and Saleem followed, and all three of them darted over to the opening in the west side of the courtyard.

  The centipede noticed their movements, hissed and hurtled across the grass towards them. It was moving faster than Jack had expected.

  He stuck his head out of the opening and saw a wide boulevard leading all the way to the west wall.

  He grabbed Elizabeth and shoved her through the archway. ‘Get up on the wall. Hurry.’

  Saleem paused, but Jack said to him, ‘You too. Look after Elizabeth and Cecily.’

  As Saleem and Elizabeth charged off down the boulevard, Jack slipped through the archway, hid round the side and held his musket with the butt pointing downwards. The avatar shot out of the entryway in pursuit and he slammed the musket down on it just in time, catching the last few segments of its back. The creature squealed like a pig and wrestled to free itself. But Jack crunched on its head with his boot until it finally stopped moving.

  He heard more high-pitched cackling and saw several more centipedes swarming across the rubble to the south. They must have noticed movement in the courtyard and had come to investigate.

  He sprinted after Elizabeth and Saleem. He could see that the two of them had already reached the end of the boulevard and were disappearing to the right, following the giant west wall.

  He ran faster. He hadn’t wanted to part with Elizabeth and Cecily, but he’d had no choice.

  He reached the end of the boulevard and skidded to a halt. A set of stairs about fifty feet away led up the side of the wall. Elizabeth and Saleem had already scrambled to the top. There were rebels spread out along the battlements, and many were looking down at Jack and urging him on.

  He went to sprint across to the steps, but a group of around ten centipedes raced out of the ruins ahead of him, fanning across the ground.

  The creatures were blocking his only escape route. And now he heard more clicking and shrilling behind him. When he glanced back, he saw a wave of at least twenty beasts rushing down the boulevard towards him.

  He cursed under his breath. He turned back to the wall. He had to get up those stairs. Now.

  He lifted the musket and went to fire at the centipedes immediately ahead of him. But then firearms spluttered overhead. The earth about the creatures rippled like water as the bullets struck. Avatars shrieked as they shattered, and tiny columns of dust pirouetted.

  Jack glanced up and saw a row of around twenty rebels reloading their muskets in order to fire again.

  ‘Hurry up!’ One man waved down to Jack. ‘Get up those bloody steps!’

  Jack ran towards the stairway as another volley of musket balls rattled into the centipedes. More creatures splintered, while the others retreated before the onslaught.

  Jack pounded up the steps and was greeted by Elizabeth and Saleem at the top. He embraced Elizabeth briefly and slapped Saleem on the shoulder. They’d all made it to the relative safety of the wall. That was something, at least.

  A gun roared nearby, the sound shuddering through the wall beneath Jack’s feet and making his ears ring for a second.

  A gunner stepped up to him and bowed slightly. ‘Master Casey, sir. I’m in command here.’

  Jack was startled to see that the man was wearing a European Army uniform.

  ‘Used to be in the army.’ The gunner smiled. ‘3rd Native Heavy Artillery.’

  Jack was strangely pleased to hear this. It was reassuring to know the man in charge of the west wall had been trained in the arm
y.

  ‘What’s your name?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Patrick Fletcher, sir.’ He cleared his throat. ‘I was once a sergeant.’

  ‘All right, Sergeant Fletcher, tell me what’s going on here.’

  An artilleryman touched a portfire to the vent of a gun nearby. The piece gave a pummelling boom, rocked back on its wheels and disgorged a cloud of sulphurous smoke that coiled along the ramparts and blocked the view for a moment.

  Fletcher led Jack over to the parapet. The acrid smoke scratched Jack’s eyes for a second before it was whipped away by the breeze. Now he could see the steep slope leading down the western side of the hill. Beyond this, the open countryside rolled away towards the hazy mountains in the distance. The enemy troops still encircled the fortress – he could see the line of them spreading out across the broken landscape.

  Fletcher pointed down the incline. ‘A few companies of heathens are hiding over there, behind those hills.’

  Jack peered down. A knot of smaller peaks, mounds and spurs rose from the bottom of the western side of the hill. From this angle it was impossible to see the ground beyond.

  Fletcher lowered his voice. ‘That big demon was with them. Spitting fire and smoke, it were.’

  ‘The giant avatar?’

  ‘Aye, sir.’

  Several more of the guns further down the wall blasted, the sound reverberating about the slopes.

  ‘We were firing at them as they marched up,’ Fletcher said. ‘Can’t see them now. We’re just letting them know we’re still here.’

  Jack wasn’t happy to hear the avatar was being moved closer to the fortress. That could only mean Jhala was planning a major assault. At the same time there was no point in the artillerymen wasting their ammunition. He was about to tell them to stop firing, when one of the gunners nearby started waving his arms and shouting.

  Fletcher stared at the knot of hillocks. ‘There’s something there.’

  Jack raised his glass and searched the collection of low peaks. At first, he saw nothing. But then he spotted figures slipping between copses and rocky outcrops. The soldiers had climbed up the far side of the hillocks and were creeping towards the fortress.