“I thought you’d be here,” he said. “I don’t know what came over me!”
“Chloroform!” Tom stated helpfully. “You were out like a light.”
“What’s the plan then?” asked Old Buckley, who still looked a bit sleepy. Felix explained what they thought might happen and that he would probably have to help them get into The Railway. After lengthy discussions about possible scenarios, which at one point included dragons and machine gun wielding gorillas, Felix announced it was time to go.
7
Crouched behind a bright yellow skip in the pub car park, Felix and the Guardians kept their eyes peeled for the black car that had whisked The Sheriff away. Men in black suits arrived at regular intervals and made their way into the pub through the side door. Every one of them carried a strange furry object in their hands. There was still no sign of the car or The Sheriff. Felix was worried that he had got this completely wrong.
“Check the map, you muppet!” whispered Tom who could sense his best friend was beating himself up.
“Why didn’t I think of that?” exclaimed Felix. He opened the Book to the second page and the map appeared showing where the Guardians and the Keeper were. Three red swords clustered in the car park showed Tom, Poppy and Old Buckley. A strange black figure indicated something else was in The Railway that they had never come across before. The symbol was a man with a strange head, Felix knew he had seen something similar before but he couldn’t remember where.
“There’s something in there!” whispered Felix.
“What is it?” asked Tom. “The Brethren?”
“Can’t be the Brethren, can it?” replied Felix.
“We’ll soon find out,” exclaimed Poppy, as she pointed at the black car pulling in to a parking space close to the entrance to The Railway. They ducked behind the skip until they heard the squeaky pub door shut.
“I’ll go and see what’s going on. Wait here.” Old Buckley stepped out from their hiding place and entered the pub.
Fifteen minutes later Tom gave Felix a look that said either Old Buckley is having a sneaky drink or something has gone wrong. Felix opened the Book. There next to the black symbol was a red sword. Old Buckley had been taken into the back room.
“Trouble?” Poppy could see the worry on Felix’s face.
“He’s either talking to them or he’s been caught!”
“Come on let’s get in there,” said Tom. “We can always use the Book to escape.”
The three pushed the door open and walked into an empty room. An old man sat at a table in the corner. His dog sat watching him reading the paper and smoking his pipe as if this was a daily routine. A young women leaned on the bar looking bored, she perked up when the door squeaked only to slump back down when she saw the youngsters weren’t potential customers.
“They must all be in the back room,” whispered Felix. “The car park’s full, there must be loads of them in there.”
“You can’t go in,” said the old man as they approached the red door at the back of the pub.
“Why not?” asked Poppy.
“Members only. I’ve been asking for over forty years what they do but they only give me the old silent treatment. All a bit fishy if you ask me. All sorts in there. Businessmen, thugs, miners, the works. The bloke who’s usually on the door just escorted Frank Buckley in. Never seen him here before.” The red door opened and a giant of a man in a black suit took up his guard position in front of it.
Their thoughts on how they were going to get past the man mountain were broken by the squeaky door. There stood a huge, serious looking man scratching his ear.
“Grandad!” screamed Poppy. The old man she knew was now young and built like an ox. He had died in a battle with the Brethren along with Tom’s father. He too was a Guardian and had sensed there was trouble. He knew the Keeper was close as his ears had started burning.
“I’m afraid young lady my only son is fifteen, he has no children.” The penny slowly began to drop and he laughed. “You’ve come back in time to see me?” he asked.
“Not quite, but it’s a nice surprise,” Poppy replied. “We have a bit of a problem!” He sat down and listened intently to their story. He scratched his head as he thought. The old man in the corner had been earwigging on their conversation, it wasn’t hard as apart from them the pub was silent.
“There’s a fire door out back,” he piped up. “Just saying that’s the only other way in.”
“Curly’s trick?” blurted Tom. “Whenever he wants to get out of a test he gets one of his cronies to set off the fire alarm.” Quickly understanding what he was thinking the old man stood up and smashed the glass on the red box on the wall behind them. The bell was deafening. The guard at the door ran into the backroom. There was some commotion as men poured out of the fire door and onto the car park.
Poppy and her grandfather waited near the skip for any sign of The Sheriff and Old Buckley. The men all in black suits rushed through the door and all pulled strange hats from their heads before standing and staring back at the pub. There was no sign of The Sheriff or his Guardian. Poppy ran through the fire door to find Felix under the arm of the door guard and Tom being dragged along by his collar. The Sheriff was tied to a chair and Old Buckley lay unconscious in the corner. Two men stood over the captured Keeper. They wore black suits and hats in the shape of a dog’s head. Poppy wanted to laugh at them but she knew the situation was serious. The door was slammed behind her as another of the dog club grabbed her tightly. She had no time to draw her sabre.
“What do we have here?” their leader asked. “Another meddling kid wanting to know what we do?”
“Yes sir!” she replied. “We always see loads of men coming in and the pub is always empty. We just wanted to see what your club does.” The men didn’t look convinced.
“We are a group of businessmen who meet to discuss local issues,” said the short fat man who still sat in the chair next to The Sheriff. At least they still thought they were just kids messing about.
“Why have you got The Sheriff tied up then and Old Buckley knocked out cold?” shouted Tom. Felix kicked Tom as hard as he could, given his current situation. Poppy held her head in her hands knowing that their innocence had just been given away.
“We are The Typhon,” snarled the leader through the fur hanging down from his ridiculous head gear. “What do you know of The Book of Words?”
“Nothing! What’s that?” Poppy said, trying to calm the situation.
“I am the Silver Typhon, head of this Pack and we have vowed since ancient times to track down the Book so we can once again be all-powerful. You know more than you admit. The Gold Typhon is on his way to see what we have discovered this afternoon.” With a huge smile on his face he held up The Sheriff’s Book of Words. As the Typhon Pack began filing back into the room their prisoners, and their guitar cases, were thrown into a store cupboard to await their fate.
“We have the brains of two Keepers now. How do you propose we get out of here?” Tom asked. Suddenly they could hear banging and shouting outside.
“My Grandad!” whispered Poppy.
“Not Mr Field?” enquired The Sheriff. “More brawn than brain I’m afraid!”
In seconds Poppy’s Grandad had joined them in their prison. Tom was in fits of laughter.
“What’s so funny?” Felix frowned at his friend.
“Poppy Field! I’ve only just realised!” Felix rolled his eyes at the others and left Tom to his little joke. The seriousness of their situation was worrying Felix and he wracked his brain to think of an escape plan.
“I’ve got it!” Felix said quietly. “We must summon the Brethren.”
“You’ve got to be joking!” answered The Sheriff and Old Buckley at the same time. “We’ve got that lot out there and you want to summon a hoard of those monsters?” added the caretaker.
“If that lot are working with the Brethren they’d be here by now and we’d be on our way to wherever they come from,” Felix con
tinued. “If we can get the Brethren here they will cause chaos and we may be able to escape.”
“One question,” whispered Poppy. “How are we going to get them to The Railway?”
“We can’t just sit and hope they notice a cluster of Guardians on their map,” snapped Tom.
Felix thought for a few moments, ignoring the others. “Remember Mordred?” he asked. “He let sparks from rubbing two Guardian sabres together fall in to the river. Have you all got your weapons?” All four Guardians drew their weapons and held them aloft. “Now all we need is water.”
“There’s a drain cover here.” Mr Field beamed as for the first time he had done something other than fight. Felix pulled up the drain cover and rubbed two sabres together. Sparks flew everywhere, luckily some went down the drain.
“Now we just sit, wait, and hope they don’t come out in here,” said Felix with a huge grin.
“Who would have thought we’d need the Brethren’s help to escape?” smiled Tom.
Time seemed to drag by. Felix wondered if the creatures in brown cloaks would make an appearance. Whatever happened he knew they were in for a fight. All he could hear was the thumping of his heart against his ribs.
8
The huge explosion shook The Railway. The pub was surrounded by thick black smoke. Within seconds the lock clicked and the prisoners were led by their confused captors into the meeting room. Men in black suits, shaken by the blast, were once again escaping in a panic. Screams from the car park told Felix all he needed to know. The Guardians drew their sabres and formed a protective line in front of Felix and The Sheriff.
“Trevor Law, the Keeper. Where are you?” the gravelly voice cried. The monks killed all before them. The men in funny hats didn’t stand a chance, only a few escaped onto the common. The car park was a sea of blood. The hooded creatures strode towards the open door. Their half human, half skeleton faces stared intently at their prey. Fresh blood dripped off the ends of their sabres.
“Here we go again!” cried Tom.
“Get The Sheriff home Buckley!” ordered Felix. “We’ve got this covered.” Buckley grabbed The Sheriff, who protested at his removal from the battle. Once Buckley pointed out that the Keeper’s sword could only be used by Felix, as he was from the future, The Sheriff went quietly.
It wasn’t long before Felix and Tom saw where Poppy got her enthusiasm for fighting from. Mr Field roared as he charged headlong towards the oncoming monks. Poppy loyally followed, even though she knew the best thing to do was to stay in the doorway and defend. The Brethren did what they always did and split into groups. This time they formed four groups of five - four monks had appeared for each Guardian and Keeper as usual. Mr Field was coping admirably with his quintet, Poppy was struggling.
“Get back here!” screamed Tom. Poppy obeyed and so, reluctantly did her grandfather. The creatures squashed into the doorway and Felix pounced, picking them off one by one. The stupidity of their enemy never failed to astound him. Piles of bones lay at their feet but the number of monks overwhelmed them and in they charged. The Guardians formed their line and Felix stood waiting behind them. They only had ten left to defeat. The Brethren had them cornered and the clashing steel deafened them. Tom and Poppy were tiring, but Mr Field was like a man possessed. Felix couldn’t get to the monks and he felt helpless.
“Ahhhh!” screamed Poppy as she fell to the floor. Felix grabbed her and pulled her back before the monster could finish her off. The gash across her leg looked serious. Tom looked worried, he thought that this could be it, they’d finally bitten off more than they could chew. He gave Felix the same resigned look he’d given him on the chopping block in the Tower of London. Felix smiled knowingly and filled Poppy’s place in the line.
Felix swiftly dealt with two of their attackers but now Tom also lay on the floor injured. Tom fended off the monk’s sabres with all the strength he had left. Just as Felix was giving up all hope the door to the bar burst open and in a second everyone was forced to the floor by a powerful jet of water. The Brethren disappeared into the flowing water as they had into the river at Camelot. Soaked and disorientated, Felix stood up to see the barmaid standing there with the fire hose in her hands.
“I’ve told you lot before, no nonsense in my pub!” she screamed at them. “You’re all barred!”
Mr Field took Poppy up in his arms, the gash across her thigh looked awful. Felix pulled Tom to his feet and helped him out into the car park. There were bodies everywhere and the sound of sirens filled the air. They made their way quickly to the common with the aim of getting to The Sheriff’s house. They rested under the old oak tree. The Railway was surrounded by emergency vehicles. The fire brigade cordoned off the area and the police searched the car park for anyone left alive. Those at the scene were convinced that there had been some sort of gas explosion under the car park.
They patched up Poppy’s wound as best they could and slowly set off to see The Sheriff. Poppy let out a scream. Their way was blocked by a large man in a black suit wearing one of those silly dog hats, but his seemed to be bigger than those they’d seen before. At his sides were two henchmen dressed all in black.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked. “Did those idiots call the ancient warriors to take the prize back to the Grand Typhon?”
“You must be the Gold Typhon,” stated Felix. “Why do you want the Book?”
“We are the Grand Typhon’s earthly forces. We seek the Book so he can regain control of the world and its riches. Once we have our treasure we are to summon the warriors to return with the Book to their world.”
“So why did they have to wait for you?” asked Tom. “Why are you so important?”
“You ask too many questions young man!” The man in front of them looked concerned. “How do you know about The Book of Words?”
“We were listening at the door!” exclaimed Poppy. “Then the car park just exploded.”
“Get home quickly,” said the man. “Only I can summon the warriors from the other world.” He held up two Guardian sabres above his head. Acting scared, Felix dragged Tom quickly away and Mr Field ran with Poppy in his arms. The demonic laugh from the Gold Typhon could be heard across the common. Watching the police officers nearby, the strange figure climbed back in to the car with blacked out windows and made his way up the high street and off into the night.
9
The following morning the newspapers were full of pictures of The Railway pub car park. A mysterious methane gas explosion had caused 23 deaths. The explanation being given by the local fire brigade spokesman was that gas had built up in the blocked drains over time and a stray cigarette must have set it off.
“Well last night was different,” said Felix. Tom and Poppy lay in two small children’s beds in The Sheriff’s attic. “We have someone else to worry about now - this Typhon bunch and their quest to provide the Brethren with the Book.”
“Who are they? Do you think the man following you is one of their members?” asked Poppy. She winced as her leg was really smarting from her slash wound.
“Can we go home now?” enquired Tom. “Our cuts will heal in the vortex and we’ll be fine.”
Felix opened the Book. There on the map was the clock and the time was twelve thirty, remarkably in the same place as before, the school hall.
“We’ve got a couple of hours to kill again,” said Felix. “You two stay here and rest, I’ll go and speak to The Sheriff to see how we can get into school. It’s Monday and it’ll be busy.”
Felix made the familiar journey to the top of the school drive. The school sign was different, it read Queen Anne’s School for Boys. The school had begun taking girls in the 1990s and Felix could tell, there were no signs of the red and yellow that were added to the school badge when the girls joined. He gingerly found his way through the school and up to The Sheriff’s classroom, G11. Mr Law was in full flow, rabbiting on at great length about ox-bow lakes and river meanders. Felix coughed to attract his attention
.
“Ah Felix my boy. Come on in.” The class of boys stood to attention when the strange looking visitor entered. “This is my nephew, from a land far away!” The Sheriff added with a chuckle as an introduction to his pupils. Felix went into the storeroom at the front of G11.
“Trouble lies ahead,” said the worried looking teacher. “A man in a black suit was in with the Headmaster when I arrived this morning. An assembly for all students has been called for quarter past twelve!”
“Why? What did he look like?” whispered Felix. From experience, he knew that the class could hear every word.
“He got out of a huge black car, he had two men with him, dressed identically and looking like they had better things to do. He went into the office alone.”
“Did you recognise any of them?” Felix asked.
“No! They weren’t the ones who kidnapped me,” The Sheriff stated with his usual authority.
“Why did they come here then?” wondered Felix out loud.
“We will find out at quarter past twelve!” said the smiling teacher. Felix sat in the swivel chair and turned to use the computer. He went to tap in his user name but all that sat in front of him was a pile of Geography text books.
The Sheriff laughed uncontrollably, “Is something a little different in a few years?”
“A computer!” said Felix.
“Don’t be silly. They’re too big and slow for us to use in schools. I can’t see a time when we can find a way to make them useful!” The Sheriff shook his head in disbelief at such a stupid suggestion.
“I’ll go and get the others. We have to be in the hall at twelve thirty to find the object to get home.”
“It’ll be risky with everyone in there but we can try.” The Sheriff returned to his lesson. Felix crept quietly out of the room and walked, deep in thought, back to The Sheriff’s house.
Felix Jones and The Dawn Of The Brethren Page 3
