by Victor Kloss
Joshua led them along the street, and stopped roughly halfway down, next to one of the larger houses that stood out due to its bright red stone.
“Here it is,” Joshua said, confirming the fact with his invitation.
“Now what?” said Natalie. “I guess you need to pay him a visit?”
“Yes,” Joshua replied. “We don't want to anger him. It would also not reflect well on the Institute if I didn't turn up.”
“How does he even know we're members?” Natalie asked.
“Oh, he knows,” Joshua said. “I bet he also knows the names of your parents, your date of birth and your social security number.”
“Where do you want us while you visit?” Dagmar said. “I assume it wouldn't do to loiter outside.”
“No,” said Joshua. “You should continue down the street, so you're out of sight. I'll catch up with you. I shouldn't be more than an hour.”
“Good luck,” Ben said.
Joshua gave them a slightly anxious smile, then puffed out his chest, and rang the bell by the gate. Ben and the others didn't hang around. They continued down the street a little way, until Joshua was out of sight.
Ben remembered that Lord Samuel's house was the largest of all, and was located at the end of the road. However, that proved a problem when the road split; they could either continue on or take a right. After a brief debate, they decided to turn right, for it looked like the road that forked off did not last long, and they could easily double-back. Sure enough, after less than a couple of minutes along the offshoot road, they spotted its end in the distance.
“What's that?” Abigail asked.
At the end of the road was a shimmering window – a portal, Ben realised, after a moment. Through the portal he could just make out cars whizzing by. So that was how the cars on Vanishing Street came in and out. The portal took the cars right into the heart of London.
“We need to turn back,” Dagmar said, who showed far less interest in the discovery of the road than the rest of them.
They did so, and were soon continuing on the main road. The further they progressed, the larger the houses became, until it was clearly some sort of ludicrous competition between neighbours. Some were so tall they looked more like mini-towers; others floated several feet above the ground, enabling their gardens to run beneath them. Then there were those that slowly rotated, following the path of the sun. Replica houses were also a common sight, Ben's favourite being the floating Star Trek battleship. Ben was half-tempted to stop by and see what happened when he got to the entrance, to see if he was beamed up.
As incredible as these houses were, Ben forgot about them the moment he sighted Lord Samuel's house at the end of the road. House wasn't really an apt description – mansion, or even palace, was a better fit. It was a monster, dwarfing the other houses even from a distance. There was a set of golden gates some distance from the house itself, giving enough space for gardens to warrant the attention of the National Trust. A sign was placed near the centre of the gate. Ben could see the gold lettering sparkling in the sunlight, but it wasn't until they were closer that he could read the sign. It consisted only of two words, but those two words were significant.
GUARDIANS ONLY.
“Well, that's not very nice,” Natalie said, attempting to make light of the sign. She turned, and specifically avoided Dagmar's stern expression, and Krobeg's concerned one. “A silly sign isn't going to stop us, is it, Charlie?”
Charlie gave an awkward shrug. “It depends what they have in mind.” Then, seeing Natalie's green-eyed frown, he added, “Though whatever it is, I'm sure we can deal with it.”
Ben was aware Dagmar was looking at him, and he realised then that she was letting him, as Head Guardian, make the calls. He ran a hand through his ruffled hair.
“I don't want to be responsible if anything happens to you in there,” he said softly.
“You won't be, Ben,” Natalie said firmly. “We are responsible for our own actions. If anything happens to us, it will be our own fault.”
“That's not true,” Ben said with a firm shake of the head. “If anything happens to you, it will be my responsibility, because I'm in charge, and I chose to ignore the sign that specifically says Guardians only.”
Natalie's face went slightly red, her green eyes narrowing dangerously. Ben was slightly taken aback – he'd never seen her really angry at him before. “You can't dictate the choices we make, Ben. We are not your puppets or your soldiers. We're your friends, and we are going to stick with you, no matter what you say.”
Ben hesitated. He knew, instinctively, the decision he should make, but it would cost him a very valuable friendship.
“You can't stop us, Ben,” Natalie said, putting her hands on her hips. “Not unless you tie us up to a tree or knock us out.”
Ben couldn't help noticing how the argument came from Natalie, not Charlie. But he knew it would be cruel to put his friend on the spot, when it was obvious to Ben where Charlie stood on the matter.
Ben ran a hand through his hair, and sighed. This was the last time, he told himself. This was the absolute last time he was going to risk his friends, no matter what.
“Okay,” Ben said, raising a hand. “I have no intention of tying you to a tree or knocking you out, so I guess you're coming with.” Natalie's satisfied smile was cut off by Ben's pointing finger. “But,” he added, “once we're inside, if I see a situation that I think is too dangerous, then I want you to leave – no questions asked.”
Natalie seemed ready to protest, but Ben stared her down and eventually she gave a reluctant nod.
There was an awkward silence, but it was broken by the sound of footsteps, and the arrival of Joshua. Ben was glad for the distraction, and turned to him with a relieved smile.
“How'd it go?” Natalie asked.
“Fine. The baron is an unusual man, with some interesting ideas. But I think he was happy to have company, especially from someone with a prestigious family history.”
“So, that's it, then?” Charlie asked. “We're free to do what we like here?”
“Yes. He said when we want to leave, I should just pop by his house and he will arrange it.”
It was then that Joshua noticed the sign on the gate.
“Guardians only?”
Ben raised a hand, cutting him off. “We've just had this discussion – they're coming with.”
Joshua frowned. “That's ridiculous. What if they jeopardise the mission? What if—?”
“Joshua.”
Dagmar's voice cut him short. She was looking at him with her usual impassiveness, but there was a hint of impatience in her voice.
“Ben has made his decision. That is the end of it.”
Joshua clearly wasn't happy, but he wasn't prepared to argue the point with Dagmar, as his voice trickled to a disgruntled mumble, before fading off. Not for the first time, Ben was glad Dagmar was with them.
With the matter resolved, Ben turned his attention back to Lord Samuel's house. It was hard not to get slightly intimidated by its scope and size.
“Will we face many obstacles to get inside?” Krobeg asked. “Or are the challenges all within the house?”
Ben noticed Krobeg slowly twirling his axe, and licking his lips. He couldn't be looking forward to meeting the enemy, could he?
“We couldn't find much information on the outside,” Joshua said. “But see all the statues? They might be an issue.”
Some of the statues were clearly of famous people, most likely family members or possibly Samuel himself. But there were also creatures, perched on tall columns. Ben spotted several gargoyles, as well as other creatures he couldn't recognise. There must have been at least thirty of them, spread over the large grounds.
“You think they'll come to life or something?”
“It's possible,” Charlie said.
Ben felt his spellshooter by his waist, and eyed the front door in the distance. “Should we
make a run for it, then?”
“No,” Joshua said. “Not unless we have to. We don't know what else is out there. If we're careless, we might trigger other traps.”
Ben turned to the others. “Once we pass these gates, we have no idea how long it will be before we will eat or drink again.” He put down his backpack and then, to everyone's surprise, sat down. “We should take advantage of eating while we can.”
As it was almost lunchtime, few disagreed. Even Joshua, who was eager to get inside, sat himself down promptly. Only Krobeg, who normally leapt at the chance of food, lingered for a moment, eyeing up the house and the statues in the garden, before the smell of food finally drew him down.
Ben handed out sandwiches, crisps, and bottles of water.
“Not bad,” Krobeg said, eyeing the middle. “What ham did you use?”
“It's from a butcher’s my parents used to go to,” Ben said. “It's expensive, but once you try it, there's no going back.”
When they each had full stomachs, Ben took all the rubbish and stuffed it into a side compartment, before strapping the backpack over both shoulders, Charlie-style. He didn't want the thing falling off if they had to suddenly run or fight, where vigorous movement was required.
Abigail took out Elizabeth's Helm from her own backpack, and gently placed it over her head. She looked at her backpack in question.
“I don't really need this anymore,” she said. “I kind of like it, though, so I don't want to just blast it to smithereens.”
Ben took the backpack. He folded it up as best he could, and placed it within his own. Then he looked around, inspecting each of them. To his surprise, he found they were all looking at him. Could they actually be waiting for orders?
“Arm yourselves. We're going in. If something unexpected happens, follow my lead,” Ben said.
Joshua didn't appear overly pleased with the command, but he didn't complain. They drew and checked their spellshooters. Ben touched his orb and ran a mental check – it was loaded with some serious spells, which gave him comfort. Finally, he checked his scabbard, to make sure it was still well fastened onto his trousers.
“Everyone ready?” he asked, summoning an encouraging smile, despite his beating heart, which was rapidly starting to accelerate.
One by one, they nodded. Charlie looked the most anxious, and kept fiddling with his jacket. Abigail appeared surprisingly serene, and Ben wondered if Dagmar had been giving her lessons on staying calm; as usual Dagmar herself appeared unflustered, though there was a determined glint in her eye. Krobeg had his axe out, and seemed almost to be relishing the challenge; but then with Elizabeth's Breastplate on, he was practically a one-man army.
Joshua stepped forwards to the gate, and produced a key. It was the same key that Ben had seen him collect from the antique store what seemed like an age ago. With a soft click, the gate opened and Joshua pushed it open. Ben went in first, the rest just behind. He walked quietly, as if the lack of noise might reduce the chance of setting off some trap. His eyes darted left and right, constantly on the lookout for movement. If it wasn't for the obvious threat, the garden itself would have been a pleasure to walk in. There were neat paths, the grass was well tended, and even a few winter flowers imported from the Unseen Kingdoms gave the flowerbeds some unusual colour for this time of year. But it was the statues that Ben focused most on as he inched his way towards the front door. He counted at least two dozen gargoyles, with their bat-like wings and menacing faces.
Step by step, they got closer, and Ben started to wonder if the trials began inside, not outside. What if this was just a garden, after all?
The creaking noise quickly changed his mind.
Ben stopped dead, his head whipping round to his left. He spotted the statue immediately. How had he not noticed that? It looked like a gargoyle, except that it was three times the size of the others. A red pigment suddenly filled its eyes, and it turned its mighty head left and right. Small fragments of stone crumbled down, as it loosened its joints. It let out a puff of what looked like green smoke, and then extended bat-like wings, which must have spanned at least twenty feet.
“A queen gargoyle,” Joshua whispered.
Charlie was shuffling his feet anxiously. “Should we run?”
But there was no time. With a mighty leap, the gargoyle took to the air. Ben was stunned how quick it moved, shooting skywards, and then diving towards them with such speed that Ben took an instinctive step back. Those red eyes focused right on him. The gargoyle landed with such impact that Ben almost lost his footing.
The queen gargoyle looked down upon them. Ben could sense an intelligence in those red, calculating eyes.
“This way is barred,” she said in a strange, almost metallic voice. “Go back now, and I will spare your lives.”
Ben had dealt with enough of these types of creatures to know that debating the matter was normally pointless. He was about to inch his spellshooter upwards, to get an angle on a shot, when Joshua stepped forwards. He raised his chin and wore that slightly pompous expression that Ben found so irritating.
“I am here to inherit the Shield of Elizabeth, which we know to be in Lord Samuel's household. It is mine by right, so step aside and this can remain civil.”
Ben knew it was a mistake the moment Joshua spoke, though he had admired his bravery, if not his conceit.
The queen gargoyle turned her attention to Joshua, and opened her mouth, revealing a set of razor-sharp teeth carved of stone.
“Back!” Ben cried, grabbing Joshua and pulling him away, just as the gargoyle fired her green smoke towards them. Ben could smell the acid as it shot past.
“Foolish human,” the gargoyle said. “Nobody enters the house while I live. Those were Lord Samuel's orders.”
And with that, Ben heard the cracking of the other gargoyle statues, as they came to life, shaking off years, possibly centuries, of being statuesque, bits of stone crumbling from their joints.
“Enough of this,” Krobeg said from behind. “Coming through!”
With one mighty step, Krobeg stepped forwards and heaved his battle axe into the gargoyle's midriff. The strength of the dwarf, combined with the magic from Elizabeth's Breastplate, cut a huge chunk of stone from the queen gargoyle's body. The gargoyle stumbled back, even as its children took flight and soared towards them.
“Run!” Ben cried.
He darted past the stricken queen, and sprinted towards the front door of the house, heedless of any traps or spells he might trigger. Behind him, he could hear the path being pounded and heavy breathing as the others followed. He glanced back, and cursed. The sky was full of gargoyles, flying right at them. The noise of their flapping wings, combined with their screeching, was deafening.
Ben focused on the door, which was now less than fifty paces away, and closing fast. It was up a series of steps, set on a porch, between two Greek columns.
A ball of acid sailed past his head and seared the pathway. Ben glanced over his shoulder in shock. The gargoyles were now almost above them, raining acid. Ben raised his spellshooter skywards and fired, without giving much attention to direction. He heard several screams, and the satisfactory sound of gargoyles hitting the floor.
“Get the key ready!” Ben shouted.
Joshua nodded, and whipped it out. The two of them leapt up the stairs and reached the door in a couple of mighty leaps. Joshua fumbled with the key trying to insert it into lock. Ben spun, and saw the others sprinting up the stairs, the gargoyles hot on their heels, coming from every angle. Thankfully, the porch was covered, so the gargoyles couldn't fly over them; instead they dived right at them.
Ben unloaded powerful fireballs like a maniac, firing at anything that moved. The gargoyles went down like flies, but others took their place. A few dived under the porch and grabbed Abigail just as she was running up the steps.
“Oh no! Get off me,” Abigail said, turning and giving one of the gargoyles a hard, but largely ineffe
ctive slap.
“Get that door open,” Ben shouted, rushing down the steps to Abigail's aid.
“Working on it,” Joshua grunted. “It's stiff.”
Ben fired a couple of spells from point-blank range right into the gargoyles surrounding Abigail. He grabbed her arm and hauled her up the stairs. Something grabbed his leg, but even as he turned to tackle the offending gargoyle, a fireball from another ended its life.
“It's open! I just need—” Joshua cried, pushing the door ajar.
The rest of Joshua's words were lost as something huge hit the porch roof and it exploded. The queen gargoyle's claws could be seen ripping the remainder of the porch roof to shreds, its red eyes peeking through the gap.
“Get in!” Ben shouted.
They flew inside, almost crashing into one another. Ben aimed one last fireball at the queen. At the same time, the queen gargoyle launched its own ball of acid, the size of a basketball. Ben turned and dived through the front door, the acid crashing just outside.
Something seared the back of his shoes, but he barely noticed as he hit the welcome mat, and Joshua slammed the door shut behind them.
They had made it inside Lord Samuel's house.
— Chapter Thirty-Three —
Lord Samuel's House
Stay on the welcome rug,” Joshua said.
Thankfully, the welcome rug was big enough to accommodate them all, even those who had dived in. It looked like the fur from some stripy Unseen animal Ben couldn't recognise. They were all breathing hard, even Dagmar. Ben noticed that a few of them had their clothes scorched by acid, and Natalie was tending to Joshua's shoulder, which had a nasty welt on it.
Ben was happy to wait there until the first aid was complete, and his heart rate approached something close to normal. While the others were being tended to, he took the opportunity to take the place in.
The inside of Lord Samuel's house was every bit as magnificent as the exterior. They were standing in a grand entrance hall, lit by a sparkling chandelier. At the end of the hall was a staircase that split left and right to an open gallery. Looking up, Ben counted at least eight floors; the place couldn't have been much smaller than the Institute. Then there were the antiques on display, treasures and peculiar objects Ben could only assume came from the Unseen Kingdoms. The hallway led to a large living room to the left, which Ben could see only part of from their current angle.
