Book of Fire

by Michelle Kenney

  ‘Molossus, for the love of Nero, run!’ August roared.

  This time no one hesitated. We all spun on our heels and sprinted out of the open doorway into the long white corridor. August was the last and I sensed him hesitating. I cursed and cast a look back over my shoulder, only to see his tall proud figure staring back through the gloom. A hundred conflicted thoughts hurtled through the space between us. He was protecting us, but why?

  ‘Go! I’ll stall them!’ he ordered before a fresh wave of snarling drowned his voice. There had to be an entire pack of molossers judging by the noise.

  ‘I said, run!’ August yelled, pulling his Diasord from his belt and pelting in the opposite direction. I turned to find Max waiting for me, his forest-green eyes reminding me this might be our only chance. I closed my eyes before breaking into a punishing race pace. Soon enough, we were all sprinting parallel with the curved atrium. We passed door after door, but this time I didn’t give the grilles a second glance.

  Fabius and Aelia took the pace in their stride, and I was taken aback by their athleticism. It wasn’t something I expected of Insiders, let alone those who were treated like they were part of some underclass. Max threw me a quizzical look.

  ‘What happened to you?’ I asked, suddenly furious with him for just about everything.

  ‘I could ask the same of you?’

  To my irritation, my cheeks started to flush. I swallowed, he wasn’t supposed to ask questions – especially those I couldn’t answer. Aelia drew level with us, and her intense expression in the ward came to mind. I flicked a suspicious look at Max; he only shrugged. Silently I fumed. This wasn’t Arafel and Aelia wasn’t some village girl. Max was completely oblivious to how much danger he was in – we were both in.

  Finally we reached the end of the corridor, which divided into two exits. One continued to follow the curve of the dome, while the other was screened by large white double doors with a sign: ‘Molecular Cloning and Transgenic Unit.’

  I slowed, panting. August was true to his word about the unit at least – if there was an incineration chute to the outside, Max could be home before dawn.

  The sound of baying and snarling had faded. We had to have put some distance between the hounds and ourselves, or August had slowed them down somehow. Suddenly, the image of August single-handedly fighting off a pack of slathering monster hounds drew me to a skidding halt. What in the name of Arafel was I doing? I couldn’t leave August to fight my fight any more than I could abandon Eli and Grandpa in this place. He’d interfered right from the beginning, but was now proving to be confusingly noble just so we stood a chance of escape.

  I was conscious of Max’s suspicious stare. ‘You’re not coming, are you?’ He grimaced.

  ‘How can I?’ I answered roughly. ‘This isn’t your fight, Max. I’m so grateful, I really am, but you … you should leave, warn Art, protect Arafel.’

  The words were harder to force out than I expected. Why did I always find it so damned difficult to send him away? Even when I was mad at him?

  A shadow flickered across Max’s face and then, to my surprise, he chuckled resignedly. He gesticulated to Aelia.

  ‘See, Lia, what did I tell you? Stubborn as a mule!’

  A quick smile broke across Aelia’s sharp features, illuminating her small, doll-like face. All at once I could see how attractive she was, and an odd sharp sensation darted through my core.

  ‘Time it right and you can catch the next Sweeper home.’ I caught hold of Max’s hand and squeezed it, before spinning on my heel. ‘I’m going back!’

  ‘Bad decision.’

  I paused and looked at Aelia’s quiet companion, who had moved to block my way.

  ‘Always retain the element of surprise when you’re outnumbered,’ Fabius offered in a smooth, charismatic voice. ‘There must be another access back into the main atrium.’

  He was right of course, it was madness to go back the way we’d come. I nodded my thanks before walking briskly in the other direction. Seconds later I became aware of faint footsteps behind me. When I glanced back, three pairs of feet were chasing mine and silent relief shuddered through me. Max caught up first.

  ‘Well, they’re not going to leave the only home they know.’ He shrugged, gesticulating to Aelia and Fabius.

  ‘And you?’ I whispered.

  ‘Ditto.’

  I looked up into his rugged face, into the eyes that smiled behind a jade shadow, and I felt as though I’d just emerged from a fog. I opened my mouth but no words came out. I’d been so mad at him, yet he’d risked everything, was still risking everything. And now I was starting to suspect why.

  A low throaty, sound, much like an animal in pain, pierced the moment.

  Max placed a warning finger to his lips before turning to greet the others as they arrived, barely out of breath. We listened intently, as the noise came again and I shivered – whatever it was, it wasn’t human. Max crept up to a door a couple of metres away and looked through the small grilled window. Even in the gloom, his face paled unnaturally.

  ‘What is it?’ I asked, fear slowing every muscle in my neck.

  ‘I’m not sure you want to know,’ he answered in a stunned voice. Without further delay I pushed him aside and, gripping the small ledge, strained high enough to peer into the darkened room.

  My eyes took a few seconds to adjust to the dim light, but gradually they made out a large grunting mass towards the back of the cell. The creature appeared to be foraging but as soon as it caught sight of me, it pushed itself up on four heavy, powerful legs. It had to be three metres long, with bulging, sinewy muscles that rippled as it moved. Even in the small shaft of light, I could make out its huge, striped body, similar to the largest cats in the forest.

  Then, it shuffled forward, and I felt my breath falter; its broad, sinewy neck was completely hairless while the jaws had been unhinged to make room for oversized, carnivorous teeth with yellowed, spiking canines.

  As I stared, my discomfort turned into something harder. I told myself it had to be the poor light, my exhaustion, anything else. But when it lifted its head every hope evaporated – the eyes boring into my own were human.

  I drew back with bile burning up my throat. The creature inside the small room wasn’t human or animal; it was both. Some sick perversion of genetic experimentation had somehow created the beast of beasts, something I’d only ever seen once before inside the pages of a mythology book: a manticore.

  I swore under my breath, full of grim certainty that I’d only just begun to unravel Pantheon’s secrets. What other atrocities were hiding behind all these pristine white doors? Was this what August was trying to protect? A system that had forsaken all sense of reason and morality? No matter how much he justified his disease research, it was clear the Programme had far greater ambition. Mythological creatures weren’t meant to exist: the manticore was pure, cruel experimentation.

  There was only one certainty: Octavia’s insane world was careering for a headlong collision with Arafel. A new steely purpose flooded my body. Fabius and Aelia took their turns at the grille, and their white faces told me this was a first even for them. It looked as though Octavia’s Genetic Programme hid secrets from those inside Pantheon too. There was no time to lose – we needed weapons, fast.

  I scanned the corridor and a few doors up, came across a small cupboard labelled ‘Medical Supplies’. It was padlocked, but Fabius withdrew an ugly-looking blade, which made short shrift of the metal. Inside, we found trays of ominous-looking medical equipment. I tried not to think about their everyday use, but instead picked out the pieces that looked useful.

  Next, I pulled out a drawer and discovered a tray of the blue darts I’d used to sedate the nurses. I grabbed as many of the ready-to-release devices as my pockets would hold, along with a short piece of tubing that would serve as a blow tube. Suddenly I felt a glimmer of hope. If we could find a half-decent position, we might just stand a chance.

  ‘More supplies than a merch
ant on black market day,’ Aelia muttered, as she and Fabius pocketed small cylindrical canisters marked with black skulls and emblazoned with the words ‘highly flammable’.

  At the bottom of the cupboard there was a box of nets with a mesh so strong and light you could barely see it. I caught Max’s eyes and we read each other’s thoughts perfectly: to us they were hunting nets – perhaps they served the same purpose here. We pocketed one each before setting off again, this time searching for a door back into the main atrium.

  As we ran, I was newly conscious of the concealed life behind all the doors. My sensitized ears picked up the muffled sounds of laboured panting, scuffling claws, and guttural moaning that jarred my wired nerves. I gritted my teeth. Pantheon was playing a terrifying game: designing life that was only meant to exist in books. The Book of Arafel flitted through my mind, along with Grandpa’s words … our beginning is hidden in these pages … Was this the beginning he meant? The creation of a whole new world filled with monsters?

  I clenched my fists. It was crazy to think the Book of Arafel had anything to do with Octavia and her insane Programme, but there was no doubt her experiments posed a real danger all the same. These creatures from mythological nightmares were locked away for a reason. Was August part of this work too?

  Gritting my teeth, I matched Max’s long stride easily, only slowing as we rounded the next corner. There was a white exit door just ahead, exactly the same as the one that had given us entry into this corridor of horrors in the first place. Max paused and looked back at the three of us.

  ‘Once we’re in, there’s no turning back. They’ll know we didn’t escape and it will be … messy.’

  He looked at me.

  ‘You could use the distraction to get back to the ward, see if you can wake Eli and your grandpa?’ he suggested in a low voice.

  His words were so tempting, but I’d sworn to myself we wouldn’t be separated again, and it was my fault he was here in the first place. I gazed into his easy, golden face and wished so hard we were back in Arafel, Max running just ahead of me in the trees.

  ‘Afterwards.’

  ‘You sure, Tal?’ he persisted gently. ‘You don’t have to do this. This could be the only chance …’

  Somewhere behind me I heard Fabius scoff.

  ‘Can we skip the heartfelt heroics?’ Aelia cut in. ‘We’re wasting time, Max.’

  Her small hand closed around his bronzed arm, sparking the same tight needling feeling as before. He looked down at her with a slight smile, and I bit my lip. What mattered was here and now, and I needed to be completely focused.

  ‘Give me thirty seconds!’

  Fabius turned and sprinted away before anyone had chance to object.

  ‘Aelia, we should split up when we get in there,’ Max whispered urgently. ‘Get Fabius to watch your back, stay high, and use the immobilizing darts as soon as you get close enough. Tal, you stick close to me.’

  I ignored the grimace Aelia pulled in response to Max’s rushed commands. Max and I were well used to looking out for each other’s backs and I was relieved he still wanted to pair up, no matter what else had passed since.

  ‘Sure, would you like me to babysit you, or your girlfriend, when the molossers get their first scent of blood?’ she muttered, her dark eyes flashing.

  ‘I’m not his girlfriend!’ I bit back, ignoring Max’s teasing grin.

  ‘Yeah right, and I’m just a little Prolet girl, never been kissed!’

  She tipped her elfin head to one side and fluttered her doll-like eyelashes, but her tone couldn’t have been more sardonic.

  Before I could fire back, Fabius came sprinting round the corner, fresh beads of sweat trickling down his forehead.

  ‘Time to move!’ he growled with sudden urgency. There were no objections.

  ‘OK, on my word … three, two, one.’

  As Max whispered the last word, he threw open the thick white door and stepped onto a thin-railed ledge that ran the circumference of the globe.

  I gasped as I stepped out behind him.

  The walkways had long since disappeared, leaving all the specimen container units suspended in the air once more. I looked far below us into the belly of the dome and there, in the centre of the floor, was August’s tall figure, completely surrounded by a pack of guards and gargantuan molossus hounds, including the formidable Brutus. The view made my stomach convulse with fear. August was standing before the same waxen-faced woman from the newsflashes – Octavia – and beside her was the man I’d come to loathe more than anyone: Cassius.

  August was talking, his face inscrutable and body wooden, while Octavia was smiling, stretching out a hand. I stared as August hesitated, before slowly bending to kiss it. A shudder of shock waved through my tense limbs. Had it all been some elaborate hoax? Had he guessed we’d be stupid enough to abandon our only chance at escape to help him? Or, was he simply the best actor in Pantheon? A barrage of images fired through my head: his effort to hide me in his rooms, his swift defence of the research work, the look on his face when he held Max in a stranglehold, his insistence we run …

  Cassius sneered as August resumed his rigid stance. He was clearly less impressed. The molossers stood shoulder-high to the guards and snarled impatiently, stoked for a fight. August was hopelessly outnumbered should Octavia decide not to believe whatever he was telling her – it looked as though just one bite of the canine-dense, salivating jaws could sever a human limb with ease.

  My temples felt cold and sweaty as I forced myself to count the armed guards, rubbing my palms to retain my grip. There were about a dozen guards in total plus Octavia, her blonde hair and tight black tunic making her easily distinguishable. I swallowed hard. My throat felt raspy and tight.

  ‘Why run when you can fly?’ Max whispered, nodding towards the thin ledges dotting the circumference of the globe. I understood instantly. We could use the ledges in the same way we would use the trees at home. I scrutinized the thin plinths with growing hope. It was genius. If we could move swiftly enough, we might be able to get low enough to use the immobilizing darts.

  I smiled and watched the old light flicker in his eyes. Whatever happened next, he had given me enough reason to believe we could do this, and belief was half the battle.

  Aelia shifted behind us. ‘Push from your good leg, Max; it’s further than it looks,’ she whispered. ‘If we make it out of here I’ll check the bandage again.’

  I shot Max a swift, anxious look. Good leg? Bandage? And why should she be checking anything?

  He shrugged a little apologetically at me, before shaking his head. ‘It’s nothing, Tal, just a scratch. Now, are we going in or not?’

  The noise below us suddenly increased tenfold. I looked down and saw Brutus was squaring up to August, growling threateningly. From the air the hound’s broad body, thick head, and ugly jowl looked even more grotesque, and not an adversary anyone should face alone – even a Roman knight with dubious motives. Mentally, I assessed the distance between our ledge and the next. It looked to be about three metres across, with a drop of the same. If I made the first leap, the rest seemed pretty equidistant. It was a run we wouldn’t think twice about in the forest.

  ‘It’s on,’ I threw back at Max. ‘What about the others?’

  ‘Don’t take it easy on our account,’ Aelia whispered, blowing a kiss before leaping gracefully to the next ledge on the opposite side of the dome. She turned and threw a smug grin.

  ‘Not being left behind by a girl!’ Fabius grumbled before leaping to join her.

  ‘They’re Prolets,’ Max offered as though that explained everything. ‘They can take care of themselves.’

  ‘Good, as can feral,’ I countered grimly before running to the edge of the ledge and leaping high into the air. I landed lightly on the next ledge, and in a breath I was back in the forest. The scent of fresh rain hung in the air, and somewhere beyond the next tree a tamarin chattered in its territory.

  Max and I were quicker and smooth
er in our descent, making it down to a ledge within blow-dart distance before the others. Panting, I knelt and loaded several of the short self-release tranquillizers swiftly into the blow tube ready to aim at the snarling molossus dogs.

  Just at that moment a new ferocious, unnatural roar echoed around the domed space. It was enough to stop everyone in their tracks. I looked up slowly as a new dread scored my veins. Octavia had breathed life into the depths of her dark and twisted imagination, a place where the underworld birthed writhing nightmares, and now we were faced with its full fury. Silhouetted against the topmost door of the dome, was the manticore.

  Chapter Ten

  I knew instantly that Fabius was responsible for the beast’s release. A million conflicting thoughts raced through my mind, but that he’d consigned us all to certain death couldn’t be in question.

  It padded forward on powerful, heavy haunches and bellowed its rage at us all, sending flames of pure fear coursing through my numbed body. A swift glance took in Max’s blanched face, and I knew it must mirror my own.

  A deafening chorus of molossers howling filled the air as the guards sprang into action, forcing the monster hounds into a tight, defensive pack between themselves and Octavia. I could no longer see August. The manticore was now the main focus of attention, but as the guards were looking up into the dome, it was only seconds before a second alert sounded.

  Curt commands filled the air, and a sudden barrage of tiny darts rained down around us. We crouched instinctively, minimizing our exposure, while most implanted themselves in the wall above us. Then there was a low cry from the other side of the dome and Fabius collapsed as though in slow motion. I watched in horror as his strong body toppled forward and fell thirty metres through the air, landing with a dull thud on the ground. He lay there, limbs askew and unmoving as the molossers snarled and pawed the ground impatiently.

  ‘Now!’ I yelled at Max, and holding my tube high I fired a succession of darts at the molossers and guards. Several met with their targets instantly and as they slumped to the ground, I used the ensuing panic to leap to the next ledge. Max followed up with a shower of his newly acquired surgical knives, which flew silently through the air and struck four of the guards in the head and chest. As shouts of panic filled the air I looked briefly for Aelia, but there was no sign of her.