‘Well bully for them but what’s that got to do with me?’
‘Well this is all foreshadowed by the arrival of … The Fallen Angel,’ he said pointing at Harlequin, ‘and his friend, The Man From Another World,’ he said pointing at himself.
‘What?’
‘Yeah, go figure. It seems that this joker two hundred years ago, had us pegged. He identified both of us. I know they’re somewhat flowery descriptions but they do seem to be rather accurate. He even drew a picture of you.’
‘But I’m not an Angel!’
‘Yeah, I know but to their unsophisticated minds, anyone who comes from heaven, yeah, yeah, I told ‘em … anyone who comes from heaven must be an Angel.’
‘No wonder Torquelauda treats me funny, it also explains the sort of questions he asks me. “Can I tell him what heaven is like? How well do I know God?” Stuff like that. Strange, he seems to get quite upset when I tell him there is more than one God.’
‘He asks you things like that does he? Oh Dear!’
‘What?’
‘It means that he knows who you are, which means … he knows about the prophecy. Harlequin my boy, I’m afraid we’re in trouble.’
‘Well let’s get out of here now, then!’
‘Can’t do it, I made a promise. Look, you and me are not actually in any danger, I can jump us out of here at any time I like, but the Lillibetans are depending on us. The authorities will hold a public execution for us. On that day the Black Guard and the Dons will be gathered here, all in one place. The prophecy tells of a great explosion inside Castle Greystone that destroys the castle and wipes them all out. With them gone, the resistance is able to overthrow the remaining garrison and take Brimidgham. From here, the rebellion spreads throughout the country. It takes some time but eventually Angleland becomes free.’
‘What causes this explosion?’
Cobb looked around him, ‘Is there anything to drink? I’m parched.’
‘Cobb, tell me what’s going on.’ Harlequin insisted.
‘Well … it seems that for a few years now the resistance has been filling up some tunnels under the castle with barrels of gunpowder. Rather like that Guy Bonfire chap that they named Bonfire Night after. You know, gunpowder, treason and sausage in a bun.’
‘And we’re meant to be here … when it happens … in the middle of the explosion? Er …what’s wrong with this picture?!?’
‘Relax, as long as we stay sharp and within arm’s reach of each other, I’ll get us out in time.’
‘You promise?’
‘I promise.’
Cobb dragged together some straw and settled down to make himself comfortable.
Harlequin watched him as he made his bed. ‘So … how is Adele?’ he asked Cobb.
‘Careful, she’s my woman now, so watch what you say. Anyway, you have Columbine.’
‘Yes, it appears that I do have Columbine after all. I thought I’d lost her. After I’d sent Adele to the “other side” to rescue you, Columbine went mad and refused to have anything to do with me anymore. And she didn’t, until now, I guess. I figure that if she asked you to rescue me, then she’s forgiven me.’
‘How touching, I’m all choked up.’
‘Oh, why do I bother telling you about my personal life?’
‘Hell knows, it’s not like I encourage you to.’
‘What exactly do you have against me, Cobb? May I point out that I am doing penance in this hell-hole because I helped Adele to save you?’
‘Yes but I was only in that situation because you got me into it. I don’t like the way that you keep getting involved in my life and getting me into trouble.’
‘Get you in to trouble how?’
Cobb waved his arm around, indicating the dungeon.
‘So why have you come to rescue me then?’ asked Harlequin. ‘You could simply have stayed at home.’
‘Believe me I wanted to but an old friend reminded me of some of the rules I live my life by. And now here I am, in a dungeon again,’ he said with a sigh.
There was a long pause then finally Cobb broke the silence. ‘So, were the Gods really angry with you?’
‘And how,’ replied Harlequin. ‘They went crazy. They hauled me up before them and made me explain myself. Accused me of breaking the cardinal rule about actually interfering in mankind’s affairs, instead of just advising. That I could have brought down the wrath of … er … somebody, on them.’ He seemed reluctant to finish that statement.
‘How could I tell them that I’d done it all for Adele? All because she was so upset about losing you. I tried to explain about showing compassion sometimes to humans, but they wouldn’t listen. So they took away my powers and condemned me to exile in this Gods forsaken place.’
Then a sarcastic tone entered his voice. ‘And now you’ve come to keep me company and we can’t leave yet because we have to be blown to pieces first to fulfil some stupid prophecy, that’s nothing to do with us, because this isn’t our damned world!’ he finished angrily.
‘Easy, easy, I’ll get us out of here. Just be patient. Now then, who is this somebody you mentioned that may visit his wrath on the Gods? He must be one big, high, Grand Panjandrum, if he has the Gods scared of him.’
‘Nobody, forget I said anything.’
‘Go on, tell me about him.’
‘Cobb, I told you before, there are bigger, scarier things out there than Gods, but I’m not allowed to talk about them. Just be grateful that the only things you get to see from my side of the curtain are me and the Gods.’
Nobody Expects the Castilian Questioning!
Next morning Cobb and Harlequin were picking through their breakfast, dry biscuits and … dry biscuits, when the jailer opened the cell door.
‘Come on out,’ he ordered through a mouthful of broken teeth. ‘Somebody wants to talk to you.’
They left the cell and found some Black Guards waiting for them.
‘Where are we going?’ asked Cobb.
‘The Grand Questioner wants to ask you a few … questions,’ grinned the guard.
Cobb and Harlequin looked at each other.
The guards marched them up the stairs, out of the dungeons and across the courtyard. The block that they came from housed the dungeons and the armoury while across the other side of the castle were the rooms and offices and kitchens.
They were taken up some stairs and into a room. It looked just like an ordinary office, it even had a desk. The guards sat them down in two chairs facing the desk and tied them into them. Then they left, leaving just the two of them alone.
Cobb looked around the room; it seemed curiously unlike a place of torment, there was an inherent lack of well … things to torture you with. No Iron Maidens, no burning braziers with red-hot pokers sticking out of them, no sharp, pointy things that make you go … ‘Ow!’
‘It doesn’t look like much of a torture chamber,’ said Cobb. ‘It looks more like a Headmaster’s study. How do they torture you in here,’ he asked sarcastically, ‘dip your pigtails in the inkwell? Flick spit balls at you with a ruler? Give you detention?’
‘This is where they bring me to talk to Torquelauda,’ said Harlequin. ‘That’s his desk. He’ll be here in a minute. He likes to keep you waiting to show how important he is.’
‘What’s he like?’
‘A little creepy if you ask me.’
‘That’s rich coming from you,’ said Cobb. ‘Hello? … Pot, Kettle, Black! Do these words mean anything to you? You’re the creepy one around here.’
‘Look, I know you didn’t like it but I was just doing my job, okay? And I was right wasn’t I? We needed you to save the Multiverse and I got you to do that, didn’t I? It was because of my plan that you saved Adele, Thornton, everything and everybody that you care about. All for the greater good. You may not like my methods but don’t ever dare question my motives!’
‘Am I interrupting something, gentlemen?’ came a voice. Torquelauda had entered the room unnoticed whi
le they were arguing.
‘What?’ said Cobb. ‘No, we’re … no, nothing.’
‘You were arguing like you two know each other.’
‘No, we’ve never met before.’
‘I’m sorry, I thought you two were together.’
‘Why, do I look like an organ grinder?’ said Cobb.
Torquelauda sat behind his desk and studied them both. Cobb took the opportunity to study him back. He looked as if he was in his late thirties, early forties. He was Castilian but he spoke perfect Anglish without an accent. A tall, thin, imposing figure, when he moved suddenly and his clerical robes whirled, he reminded Cobb of a large crow or a raven.
Torquelauda watched them for a while longer with his steel grey eyes before he spoke.
‘Do you know what we do on the Questioning? We ask questions and people give us answers. Some interesting, some not so interesting. But eventually they tell us everything they know.
‘Now, we’ve been doing this Questioning for centuries now, for the greater glory of God, and in that time we have had some very interesting answers. The ones I like best are the ones we’ve had to the question … “What do you know about the prophecy?”
Uh-oh, we’re in trouble, thought Cobb.
‘Yes, the prophecy. Do you think we could rule this country with a rod of iron for two centuries and not know about the prophecy?’
‘Er … haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about, sorry,’ said Cobb.
‘Me neither,’ said Harlequin.
‘I see. You, Rufus Cobb, you talk strangely and your clothes are unusual. Where are you from?’
‘Kent.’
‘Oh, I think you’re from somewhere much further away than Kent. And you Harlequin, you’re from even further away than that.’
First Cobb and then Harlequin shrugged.
‘Well no matter, play dumb if you like,’ said Torquelauda easily. ‘I’m not here to get information out of you, today. In fact, I’m actually going to tell you some things. With all the Questionings that have taken place over the centuries do you really think that we wouldn’t have got to hear about the prophecy? I told you, people tell us everything they know.
‘We pieced together bits and pieces until we had the whole picture. We even got our hands on a copy of Dr. Dee’s book.’ He waved a hand at a wall, pointing out a safe. ‘That’s how I recognised Harlequin when he turned up. He’s in the book.’
He stood up and came around to the front of the desk. ‘So that is how I know he is the Fallen Angel. It’s obvious that you are acquainted with him. From your strange language and clothing, I’m guessing that you are, The Man From Another World.’ He leaned back against the desk and watched them.
‘So tell me Mr. Cobb, how exactly did you get here from another world?’
Cobb looked at Harlequin and then told Torquelauda, ‘If we were those people you seem to think we are, do you think we would tell you anything? After all you’re the enemy.’
‘The enemy? We’re just carrying out God’s work.’
‘Oh really? Is it God’s work to repress the people the way you do?’ He nodded towards the window, ‘The people out there live in poverty while the Castilians live in comfort behind their castle walls. Where I come from …’ Damn it! He’d admitted it. Oh well, too late now. ‘Where I come from we believe in freedom. People are allowed to think and say what they want without fear of punishment. It’s a much better world than this place.’
‘Oh well done, Cobb,’ said Harlequin. ‘Why not tell him everything?’
‘So there’s no poverty or oppression on your world?’ asked Torquelauda, sarcastically.
‘Yes, we have both, the same as we have crime and wars but in my country everyone is free to believe how they wish and everyone has the right to better themselves.’
‘And you think that is the way this country should be? Free to determine their own path?’
‘Without a doubt. If you haven’t got that then you’ve got nothing. Take a look out of that window some time. Go out into the towns and villages and talk to the people, and I don’t mean Question them. They are struggling to make enough to fill their bellies. I’m sure it’s not like that back in Castile. You deny the Anglish access to the wonders that can be found in the world out there, new science, new technology that can all go to improving their lives. You could teach them new ways of growing cultivating crops and irrigating them. No one would have to live hand to mouth as they do now. You could let them explore the oceans but no, you won’t allow any Anglish to go to sea unless they are controlled by a Castilian. With your oppression and enforced obedience to the Church, you have deliberately stifled any chances they have to improve their lot. And it was all done to keep them in their place, to punish them for daring to think for themselves and stand for their beliefs. You and your Church are a disgrace. You should go back to Castile and let them be free.’
Torquelauda looked at them both for a moment. ‘An interesting point of view, a shame it will never come to pass. I called you here today because I wanted to meet you both but I’m afraid that with opinions like those you’ve just expressed, you two are too dangerous to live, I’m going to have you executed. Tomorrow afternoon, that should be enough time for everyone to gather.’
‘You’re making a big mistake,’ said Cobb.
‘Oh no Mr. Cobb… you made that when you came to my world.’
He went to the door and called the guards in. ‘Take them back to their cells,’ he ordered.
The guards untied the prisoners and one of them said, ‘But you haven’t touched them Your Eminence, would you like us to rough them up on the way back? Push ‘em down a few stairs?’
Torquelauda looked at him coldly, ‘They are not to be touched, do you understand me? Not a mark on them or you’ll pay for it. Now take them away.’ With that he turned his back on all of them as if they had ceased to exist.
As they were marched back to the cell Cobb thought to himself, Torquelauda is making a big mistake sentencing us to be executed. The prophecy states that the day of the execution is the day of the explosion and the beginning of the revolution. Torquelauda has just set in motion the chain of events that will lead to his downfall.
And … if he’s read the prophecy as he claims to have, he must know that. So what’s his game?
***
Meanwhile back in his office, Torquelauda sipped a glass of water and thought about his life and the events that had led to today.
He remembered how he had started out, a young, devout worshipper of God whose only wish was to serve him for his greater glory. To that end he had joined the church and eventually, after years of diligent and pious service, he had been chosen to be elevated to the post of Grand Questioner.
His name hadn’t always been Torquelauda, in fact he could hardly remember what his real name was. Torquelauda was an honorary name that was given to the holder of the position of Grand Questioner, like the way that each Pope chose his official name.
When he had taken over the post, along with the new name he had also been let into the “Big Secret”. The previous Grand Questioner had opened the safe and told him what had been known only to each successive Grand Questioner, Dr. Dee’s prophecy.
Over the last two centuries, the Questionings had brought forth little snippets of information about the prophecy and the coming day when all Angleland would be free. By selective targeting of Lillibetan lodges, successive Grand Questioners had gathered all the information they could about the validity of Dee’s prophecies, they had even acquired a copy of Dr. Dee’s “The Future History of Brittania Rex”. As each generation of Questioner handed over to his successor, they charged them with the sacred task of awaiting the day of the prophecy … and thwarting it. And now it appeared, that day had come, during his tenure.
But something had always troubled him about the prophecy and what he had been told about it. His predecessors had always said that the rule of the Castilians over Angleland was the will of God. Yet
The Man From Another World, Rufus Cobb, was right, he had seen much cruelty and deprivation wilfully and deliberately inflicted on the Anglish, and not just as an unintentional consequence of the Castilian invasion. That couldn’t be God’s will, surely, he was meant to be a God of Love.
And time and again he had seen the Dons and the Church interpreting the scriptures to their own ends and claiming that it was what God wanted. That was the first thing that had bothered him, Man making up his own rules and claiming that it was God’s law.
Next there was the matter of the prophecies. According to the previous Questioners, each and every one of Dr. Dee’s forecasts had come true, so far. Surely then this gift of prophecy was no earthly power but a supernatural gift, in which case was it God given or did it come from the devil? From the devil, his predecessors had claimed but Torquelauda had privately researched Dr. Dee and all records had shown him to be a kind and wise medical doctor and philosopher, who helped people. A just and kind man. Besides, even though the people of those times had been Pagans believing in all sorts of Gods, none of them were known to be devil worshippers. So, Torquelauda had finally come to the conclusion that Dee’s gift must have come from God. And it must have been given to him for a reason.
This had left Torquelauda in a quandary, why would God allow, even wish, for Dee to see into the future unless it was to show the Anglish that there was hope and if they kept the faith, one day they would be free.
Which meant that the revolution, the expulsion of the Dons and the freedom of Angleland were actually all part of God’s plan. It was what he wanted. Once Torquelauda realised this then everything else became simple. It was an easy choice to make, the abuse of the Church by Man on one side, against the will of God on the other. He knew where his loyalty lay.
So … if God wanted the revolution and the Anglish to be free, then he Torquelauda would see to it that it happened.
***
The Londum Omnibus Volume One (The Londum Series Book 4) Page 63
