The Elida thing smiled again and placed her hand on Dex's head, caressing his greasy black hair. 'Amazing things these Mamluk's,' she said, 'Loyal to the core and incredibly versatile. Some of your finest work Kane. But you can't take all the credit, I did make a few minor alterations along the way. This one is from a new batch I never managed to release, god knows how it ever came to be. Such good fortune.'
'I don't understand,' said Kane, 'How can this be?'
'Because I built in a failsafe. To make sure cowards like you couldn't double cross me.'
'But, I never double crossed you! I have prepared the Greyfaer.'
'Pah!' she spat, 'The Greyfaer is an archaic ritual which hasn't been performed for nearly 800 years. It was a pathetic attempt by the elders of Shael to extend their even more pathetic lives. I needed something more...substantial.'
'But...my lord! I have prepared everything for your return. I...'
Elida snapped her fingers and Dex immediately morphed back into the bear. He turned to Kane and with his giant claws around his throat, lifted him from the ground. Kane hung there like a trapped animal, gasping for breath and legs wheeling in an attempt to gain some purchase.
'Have you really prepared everything?' Elida hissed, 'Or were you going to wait another 500 years?'
'No! You don't understand,' he wheezed, his face turning a nasty deep red colour, 'I..the Mamluk only appeared recently. I searched everywhere!'
'Did you? DID YOU?' she was yelling now, eyes wide with fury, 'For 500 years I have been adrift, waiting. Are you telling me it has taken 500 years for you to find a way to bring me back from the void. How hard did you really look.'
'My lord,' Kane gasped, the small snatches of breath he could manage burning in his throat, 'I did everything I could.'
Elida snapped her fingers and Dex allowed him to drop to the floor. He fell to his knees, clutching at his burning throat. 'No you didn't,' she said, 'You didn't, because you are a coward. It was only good fortune that this Mamluk came along. This Mamluk with the ability which I placed in him to bring myself back! Your cowardice could have cost everything.'
'No my lord,' he gasped, 'I spent all these years...'
'Silence!' she said, cutting him off, 'I have no interest in a coward's words.' She clicked her fingers again and Dex lifted him once more from the floor. 'You will also not be needing that anymore.' She pointed to the Shimbala he wore on his right hand. 'Cowards don't deserve to wheel such power.'
Her eyes flicked to Dex and all that was needed was a subtle wordless nod to get him moving. With one claw he held the man at shoulder height. With the other, and without any noticeable effort, he ripped Kane's arm from its socket and flung it across the medical lab. It landed with a sickening squelch against the far wall.
For a second, Kane hung there, white as a sheet and with a look of wide eyed wonder on his face. Dex dropped him and he fell to the floor screaming; trying to stem the flow of blood pulsing from the shredded socket.
'My...arm!' was all he could manage, blood pooling on the floor and splattering his face, 'My arm!'
Elida wasn't listening. With her own Shimbala, she conjured a portal on the far wall of the lab. She used the ring to toggle through the various scenes - of which there were far more than the original six - and settled on the familiar red Martian landscape. For the third time, Dex picked up Kane who was now no more than a whimpering, pale shell. The sight of the giant bear holding a bloody Kane in his arms could have come straight from the pages of some surreal children's book.
'Do you recognize this place?' asked Elida.
Kane managed to lift his head to look at the portal. His eyes widened with surprise. 'You can't send me there,' he whispered, 'I can't travel through the portals.'
Elida was stood at the edge of the portal looking at the parched landscape. The sun was still quite high in the sky, but she reckoned it was just over an hour until sunset; and the winds. She went to Kane, their faces nearly touching. 'Even now, after all these years, you still haven't learnt the full power I possess,' she whispered in his ear, 'I can control you. I can control Shael!' She nodded to Dex who threw the bloody mess through the portal.
There was the start of a 'Nooooo...' but it was cut off as he passed through and landed awkwardly on the cave floor. They saw him attempt to claw his way back to the portal, but Elida had seen enough and clicked the gateway shut.
The silence of the med lab was then shattered by gunfire.
10
It had taken hours for the others fury to subside. After Andrew, Karen and lastly George had evaded his grasp, he had pounded on the back wall of the cave until his fists were bloodied. He'd roared with anger, but only Godfrey hiding away in the far reaches of his own mind, could hear.
Godfrey had seen the other angry before - normally with him - but never with such prolonged fury. When he did eventually calm himself, Godfrey, gradually and tentatively came forward. He felt sure, as was normally the case, that the anger would turn on him, but miraculously it didn't. The other even seemed open to some of his suggestions.
They sat at the edge of the cave with their feet dangling over the incline. Godfrey had hung out the suggestion that after so long without any visitors, having two groups pass through within days of each other was actually a good thing. He gave the other the impression that the possibility of another group passing through was much higher than it had ever been. If they were to just bide their time, then he was sure another group would pass through. Thankfully, the other bought this, allowing Godfrey to plant some further suggestions; namely that they should start heading back to the hut and patch up their injuries.
Reluctantly he'd agreed and they began their long trek across the hard-packed plateau. Some of the gunshots had hit the target, but in the others changed form, this hadn't been a problem, as his skin was as thick as a Rhinos. But when Godfrey felt himself slowly changing back to his smaller and more human self, there were chunks missing from both his arms and legs; injuries that would need cleaning and treating as soon as they returned to the sanctuary of the hut.
But they never made it that far.
Halfway across the hardpan, he felt the other spring back to the front and take control. It wasn't the anger or fury from earlier, this was the lustfulness that had taken over him when they had chased the three humans to the cave. Godfrey was thrust unceremoniously to the back of his own mind as the other halted their progress and turned back towards the incline.
Now, Godfrey obviously wasn't blessed with the same powers as the other possessed and had no idea what had tickled his senses. All he could do was sit, like an unwilling spectator as the other lumbered his way back towards the incline; changing his form as he went.
Godfrey was steeling himself for another bout of fury as he was sure they would find the cave as empty as before. He was therefore surprised to find the cave was actually occupied on their return. This wasn't one of the three travellers from earlier, this was a tall man crawling in the dirt and scratching at the cave's wall. Apart from finding the cave occupied, there was something odd about the way the man was moving. At first Godfrey couldn't make out what it was and then it came to him. For some reason this man only had one arm and going by the amount of blood congealing in the dust of the cave, it had been removed quite recently and with significant force.
The other, now fully transformed into his much larger self, wasn't interested in the amount of appendages the figure had. Or by the fact that he was mortally wounded and only minutes away from death. No, all the other was interested in was having his first proper meal in nearly 100 years. He rose up behind the crumpled figure who was still scratching at the cave and oblivious to their approach. It was only in the final few seconds that Kane sensed something and turned. Godfrey caught sight of an 'Oh' forming on his lips, before the other bit down on his head, chewing it off with one bite.
The other roared with triumph as the power and strength from the unsuspecting prey shot through him. Godfrey watched on as
the other took no time in devouring the poor man.
It was a sickening sight, but he would be lying if he told you he didn't enjoy the experience.
At least a little bit, anyway.
11
George felt time was quickly slipping away from them. Andrew was game, but his injuries were clearly hampering him. Precious seconds were being lost every time they had to stop to give him a breather. They had followed the blood trail through the ground floor concourse and up a smaller set of stairs to a second floor landing. George didn't think the injury - either to Karen or the bear - was particularly serious as the blood was now no more than infrequent specks.
The landing curled round a floor to ceiling glass office space and then the blood trail simply stopped. 'Shit,' said Andrew, using the opportunity to rest up.
'Where did he go?' asked Thomas, 'A big thing like that can't just disappear.'
Andrew leant over the bannister and called to the empty space below. 'Hey there!' he said, 'Has anyone seen a giant bear! Goes by the name of fuck-face and carries a policewoman around as hand luggage.' The words echoed for a few seconds and then died back to silence.
'What are you doing?' asked Thomas, 'Do you want them to know we're after them?'
'Oh, I think we are a long way past that. I've got the scars to prove it!' he called out again, 'Hey, furry-sack! Why don't you come chew on my furry sack!'
Thomas grabbed his arm. 'I mean it Andrew,' he said, 'Stop giving away our position. We don't know what they're going to do, the last thing we want is to piss them off any more than we already have.'
George had backtracked to the last few spots of blood and was making his way back towards then. 'He's got a point,' he said, 'They've already shown what they are capable of, and clearly aren't afraid to kill. You want to antagonise them anymore?'
'Ok, fine. I'll be good. I'm just fed up with being on the back foot all the time. I want to bring them out in the open.'
'That time will come,' said George, 'And when it does, the three of us need to be ready. But we are close and they are panicking - the attack on the two of you proves that. People that panic make mistakes, let's just hope we can capitalize on it.'
'Says the man without a bunch of holes in his back.'
'That's the spirit! Anyway, I think I know where he went!'
George took them back to the last of the blood spots beside the empty office space. The glass was clean, but the space beyond was too dark to make anything out. He pointed to an area of the floor that to Andrew look exactly like the rest.
'What do you see there?' said George.
Thomas bent to get a closer look. 'Holy shit!'
'Exactly, I nearly didn't see it myself.'
'Sorry, am I missing something here?' said Andrew, 'Looks like a nice, white polished floor. Exactly like the rest of this place.'
'It is,' said George, 'And if it was covered in dust like the rest of this facility, we would have seen it straight away. Look again.'
Andrew bent stiffly to Thomas' level and, like an optical illusion only visible from a certain angle, finally saw what they meant. Scratched into the surface of the flooring, imperceptible from a distance, was a faint almost perfect quarter circle. 'Well I'll be,' he said in a strong Yankee accent, 'We have ourselves a door.' This last part was pronounced dar-wuh.
George drew the revolver and checked the cylinders were full. 'Now we play by our rules,' he said and pulled open the full length glass door.
Whatever drones were used to maintain the concourse clearly weren't used behind the scenes. The dust in the office space was inches thick and despite the poor light, they easily made out the bears prints. Andrew drew the Luger and cocked it. He nodded to George and the three of them headed into the gloom.
It may have been dirty and run down after centuries of neglect, but Andrew could tell the area beyond the office was where the money was. They moved past a sleek curved desk, which presumably was once a kind of reception area, and found themselves in a long sunlit corridor. After a short distance they came out into a grand and elegant Atrium which was bathed in light from a high stained glass ceiling, making it feel like a greenhouse. To add to this illusion, on either side of the walkways were borders full of shrubs and bushes. The majority had died and were nothing more than dried branches, but in places where the sun hit and where the irrigation system still worked, they were growing out of control.
'Somebody needs to fire the gardener,' said Andrew as they pushed through a particularly overgrown spot.
George held the revolver to his lips to hush him and sank to his knees. Thomas and Andrew immediately dropped and crawled to his side. He pointed the revolver towards a thin marble staircase covered in vines. Even to Andrews untrained eyes he could make out a trampled path, made by something of considerable size.
'From now on,' said George, 'We go full stealth mode. Guns out. No talking.'
They both nodded in agreement and followed George up the stairs. They tried their best to be quiet, but despite their best efforts, the vines made it impossible. Andrew could sense George cringing at his clumsy footing, but they did eventually make the landing where they hunkered down again. Ahead was an archway with the words, Meical Facilities A-F written overhead.
There were no vines here, but there were again clear claw marks in the dust. They followed the prints through the arch to a circular reception area. From this area six sets of double doors lead off to the different medical bays like spokes on a wheel. The bear prints went through the door marked Medical Bay C, and George gently eased the doors open.
Ahead of them ran a sterile corridor with a second reception desk and small waiting room. They quickly and silently moved through another door marked Laboratory & Observation area and for the first time in what felt like days, had eyes on their quarry.
The lab had a solid metallic door which, as expected, was locked tight. George guessed it would take far too long to force it open, in which time the occupants would be alerted to their presence. Better still was the observation area. In front of a row of leather backed seats was a long window looking directly into the lab.
Keeping low to the ground the three of them shimmied to the window and in unison, stole a peek. In total, George could make out five "people" inside the lab. Karen was laid out on some sort of futuristic medical gurney. Thankfully, she looked in one piece but was obviously unconscious. Beyond her was a second gurney. This one was sealed, which made it difficult to ascertain whether it was Lizzy or Gillian inside. Worryingly, he couldn't locate a third woman and he felt a sickening in his stomach.
The other three "people" were a lot more active. One was unmistakable as the bear. He stood in the center of the room holding a tall man up by his throat. The man was obviously in serious discomfort, but his eyes were wide with fear and fixed on the fifth unidentified person. This was a young female that to him, looked like a punk rocker, the type he did his best to avoid during excursions to the local towns. Inexplicably she seemed to be calling the shots, as with a slight nod of her head the bear ripped the man's arm off and threw it across the lab. The observation area glass was thick, but even so, the man's screams came through good and loud.
They watched on as the girl seemed to conjure a gateway out of thin air. There was a brief exchange and then the bear threw the man through the portal; directly into the same exact world they had narrowly escaped only hours before.
George jumped as Andrew touched his arm and beckoned to join him hunkered down below the window.
'What do you think?' whispered Andrew.
'I think we need to save as many bullets as we can for that bear! It's going to take some taking down.'
'Yeah, but did you see Lizzy?'
'There's a second table, but I couldn't make out who was inside.'
'It was my mum!' whispered Thomas, 'What have they done to her?'
'By the fact that Karen hasn't been here long, I would say not much...Yet.'
'If that's your mum, then where the
hell is Lizzy?'
George could see the panic setting in again and knew they had to act quick. The boy was obviously concerned, but compared to Andrew, he was again impressed by his composure. 'We don't know that yet,' he said, 'And I don't intend on waiting. Best way is through this glass. Andrew, are you with me?'
'Yeah, yeah. What's the play.'
'Thomas and I shoot the glass. It's toughened glass so won't shatter. When we've done enough damage, you take one of those chairs and hit that glass hard as you can. Get it?'
Andrew frowned, nodded and handed the Luger to Thomas. 'Yeah, but how many shots will it take?'
'Hopefully not too many. You ready Thomas? That gun has some kick, but try and group the shots near where I hit. Ok?'
Thomas swallowed hard and nodded.
'The key here is we act fast and take them by surprise. On three. Three. Two. One. Go!'
George and Thomas rose and immediately began to fire, the guns a deafening roar in the tight space of the observation room. George considered himself a good shot, but compared to Thomas, he shot like a novice. The boy emptied three rounds in a tight grouping compared to his two somewhat erratic ones.
The problem was not with the shooting, it was with the glass. After emptying eight rounds they had barely made a dent. Andrew crashed a chair into the spot where they had been firing which widened the crack, but George feared they would have to use up more bullets than they wanted.
Especially considering the bear and the girl were now well aware of their presence.
12
Dex's first instinct was to shield the king, but after the first barrage of shots, it was clear the glass would hold them up. Elida stared on in fascination as the bullets chipped away at the surface. When the chair crashed against the glass making the whole panel shudder, even she knew it was only a matter of time before they were through.
'Such desperate creatures,' she said, 'If only they knew how insignificant they really are.'
Meadowbank: A dark fantasy thriller (The Shael Chronicles Book 2) Page 22
