Today was the day of the execution. The contingent of guards led by the sergeant (with a heavily bandaged hand) came to the cell.
‘Right, scum, it’s time. Come along, look sharp, you don’t want to be late for your own execution now do you?’ he grinned evilly.
Cobb told Harlequin, ‘Stay close to me and when it kicks off head straight for me. You just have to grab hold of a part of me.’
‘I will stick to you like glue,’ Harlequin assured him.
They were led from the dungeons up to the main courtyard. The sergeant stopped the procession to arrange them in position before stepping out into the courtyard. Cobb and Harlequin were separated and had four guards placed around them, each carrying a pikestaff. Fortunately their hands were left unbound.
Cobb could see the Dons and their Ladies and rows of invited dignitaries, all dressed in their finery, here to see the hangings. They flanked each side of the courtyard and were surrounded by Black Guard. They formed a gauntlet that Harlequin and Cobb would have to pass through. This gauntlet led to the steps that went up to the gallows, high on the battlements. The idea being that the hangings could be clearly seen by anyone standing outside the castle. Namely, the local populace, as a warning to them.
‘Right,’ said the sergeant, ‘let’s go.’ He led them out into the courtyard, heading for the gallows when suddenly there was a loud explosion and bricks and dust went hurtling through the air. The far corner of the courtyard erupted in a fiery ball, throwing Dons and Black Guard through the air like straw dolls. Panic broke out and men and women ran screaming across the courtyard.
Cobb had been expecting something to happen, although he didn’t know when, so was the least surprised by the explosion. As the guards cowered, covering their heads, Cobb acted.
He elbowed the guards out of the way and grabbed a pikestaff from one of them. He couldn’t actually touch Harlequin as there were too many men between them, milling about so he shouted over their heads to him, ‘Quick, run for it!’
He took a second to whack the sergeant on the head with the pike, knocking him unconscious, and then ran back into the part of the building they had just left. Cobb intended to get to the battlements so the locals could see him and Harlequin, as he had promised Esme, before he jumped them both out of there. Just as Cobb entered the building, another part of the courtyard erupted in flame and smoke.
There were guards running through the antechamber so he took a side corridor. He dashed off up the corridor followed by his guards and then Harlequin, closely followed by his set of guards.
They clattered off down the corridor in hot pursuit of each other. The castle was full of Black Guard, there especially to protect the VIP’s, who had come to enjoy the execution. These men were now running through the castle, launched into activity by the explosion and the condemned men’s escape. Cobb heard people running towards them, there was no way out the way they were heading. Before he reached the oncoming guards, Cobb spotted a stairwell leading upwards, he shouted back to Harlequin, ‘Make your way to the roof, I’ll meet you there!’
Cobb ran up a flight of stairs, ran along the corridor, turned a corner, and banged straight into Torquelauda. He was standing outside the Armoury. As Cobb ran past him, Torquelauda said ‘God Bless You.’ They looked into each other’s eyes as they passed and the penny dropped. Cobb didn’t know how but he knew with unwavering certainty that Torquelauda was Quist’s inside contact.
No time to deal with that now, he thought. He turned around and raced in another direction, any direction as long as it might lead to the roof. He found a set of stairs and headed up them.
Cobb raced up the stairs closely followed by the guards who were chasing him. Making it to the top of the stairs without being caught, he threw the door open and jumped through. Slamming it shut behind him he tried to lock it but there was no bolt on the outside. He jammed the pikestaff into the door catch. It wasn’t very secure but it only needed to hold for a few minutes until he found Harlequin. The guards following crashed into the door but the pikestaff held.
He looked around him; Harlequin was nowhere to be seen but that was to be expected, he figured it would take him another minute or so to reach the roof. He went out onto the roof to meet him. The first thing he noticed was that the roof was a large circle, surrounded by a parapet. The second thing he noticed was that there was no other door except the one he had just barred behind him. Oh Bugger!
‘Cobb!’ he heard his name called. ‘Over here.’
He looked around and saw Harlequin on the other tower rooftop; it was similar to the one he was on, just a round battlement roof surrounded by a crenellated parapet. That is a parapet with gaps spaced along the length, allowing soldiers to fire through.
Cobb had been expecting to come out on the main battlements where they could join up but unfortunately they had come out on each of the tower roofs on the east side of the castle. Each corner of the castle had two circular towers. These towers were accessed by one central stairwell which led to two doors that opened onto the individual towers, as well as other doors that led onto the battlements. When they’d reached the top of the stairs both Cobb and Harlequin had chosen a door that led them onto the roof of the tower, only they had chosen separate towers.
‘I say … aren’t you on the wrong roof?’ asked Harlequin.
‘No, you are you idiot!’ snapped Cobb, angrily. ‘Look around for a way to get over here.’
‘Well, I can’t go back down the stairs, it’s full of guards.’ As if to re-enforce his point, there was a crash at the door of the stairwell, which Harlequin had blocked with a barrel.
‘I’d say we’re screwed!’ said Cobb.
‘How screwed?’
‘On a scale of one to … screwed?’
‘Yeah,’ replied Harlequin.
‘Very screwed.’
***
As Cobb ran off down the corridor, Torquelauda entered the Armoury. The two guards in there rose to their feet and stood to attention.
‘Quick,’ said Torquelauda. ‘The prisoners are escaping! You two men help capture them.’
‘But your Worship! We’re not meant to leave the Armoury.
‘Do it or face the Questioning,’ he said coldly.
These two men knew what a career threatening moment was and rushed to comply.
After they had gone, Torquelauda locked and bolted the door behind them, and then he looked around him. There was only a small window in the wall, its faint light showed a desk and a couple of chairs. Beyond these was the door to the actual Armoury where the gunpowder and weapons were stored. This being the Armoury there were no naked lights allowed but there was a lamp sealed in glass illuminating the gloom. He took this down off the hook on the wall.
The whole castle shook as another massive explosion tore it apart. He quickly found the keys and let himself through the door and into the Armoury proper.
***
As Cobb and Harlequin looked around for a way to get from one side to the other, they could see the crowds outside the castle that had come to watch the execution. Frightened by the explosions they had fallen back some distance but were still too close for safety, in Cobb’s opinion. If this edge of the castle went up, they would be hit by flying debris.
‘They’ve come to see you! Tell them to get out of here. The place is going to blow,’ Cobb ordered Harlequin.
Harlequin waved his arms above his head to attract their attention. ‘Listen to me!’ he shouted, ‘Run away! Run away! The castle is going to explode!’
They didn’t seem to get the idea at first. They muttered amongst themselves although Harlequin repeated his warning again and again, but to no avail. Suddenly there was a further explosion, larger than the others so far, and part of the northern wall collapsed. That brought it home to the crowd. They got the message and began to move away, slowly at first and then faster as the panic began to spread. Well, that will take care of the prophecy about Harlequin being seen to be here, Cobb thought to himself.
Turning his mind back to their predicament, Cobb leaned over the parapet and looked at the space between him and Harlequin; it was about twenty feet across. There was a part of the castle wall between the two towers and he could see a small window there. According to his calculations, where that window was would be about where the Armoury was. He had run past Torquelauda outside the Armoury and about to head into the Armoury and if he was Quist’s inside man, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was going to do in there. He was going to do his bit to make the prophecy come true by blowing it up. Which meant that this part of the castle was about to explode, right under their feet. Cobb figured they had only minutes to get out of there.
Cobb looked across at Harlequin, who stood there with his arms out expectantly as if to say what do we do now?
Cobb pointed to a place equidistant between the two towers. ‘Right!’ he said, ‘I’m going to be there in five seconds. If you want to come with me … make sure you’re there at the same time!’
‘You’re joking!’
‘Four seconds,’ shouted Cobb, from across the roof where he had retreated, to get a good run up.
‘Now!’ he shouted and raced across the roof. Just as he was just positioning himself to leap onto the parapet and fling himself off the roof, a large bulk crashed into him and sent him sprawling across the roof. He rolled to a stop at the parapet. Shaking his head groggily, he looked up. ‘Luther!’ he gasped. Tendenning had broken through the door and was intent on stopping him.
‘That’s Captain Tendenning to you, Cobb,’ he said nastily.
‘Listen Luther, I don’t have time for this.’ He looked across at Harlequin who had managed to skid to a halt before falling over the edge.
‘Oh no, we’ve got all the time in the world, quite possibly the rest of your life.’ He advanced menacingly on Cobb.
Cobb managed to get to his feet before Tendenning hit him. He fell back against the parapet then pushed himself forward to head butt him in the stomach. Tendenning grabbed him as he staggered back and the two of them grappled with each other, back and forth across the roof.
Tendenning managed to break free and swung a blow at Cobb’s face, knocking him to the floor. He raised his arm for another blow but Cobb swept his feet out from underneath him. He jumped on top of him and they rolled across the roof but Tendenning managed to get a knee up between them and forced Cobb away from him.
Cobb smashed into the door closing off the stairway. They froze in position for a moment catching their breath, Tendenning laying on the floor and Cobb leaning back against the door. He held his arm out in front of him and showed Tendenning the pocket watch that he had stolen back from him as they rolled across the floor. ‘That’s mine Fat Boy and I’m having it back!’
From the lack of people at the top of the stairwell it appeared that the rest of the guards had fled to avoid the exploding castle. Tendenning picked up the pikestaff and tried to run Cobb through with it. He managed to grab it and swerve it around himself to stick in the door.
Cobb clung to it tightly as Tendenning tried to pull it back for another blow. It pulled free from the door and they both jerked it backwards and forwards like a tug-of-war rope, until Cobb’s hands had slid so far down the staff that he had to let go to avoid cutting himself on the blade.
Tendenning waved the point of the blade menacingly in Cobb’s face, who backed up until he felt the door behind him. He reached down and grabbed the handle. With a cry, Tendenning ran forward to skewer Cobb, who fell out of the way dragging the door open behind him. Tendenning’s cry turned into a scream as he fell headlong into the stairwell.
Cobb took a look down the stairs, shouted, ‘Farewell, my sweet!’ and then slammed the door shut after him.
***
While Cobb and Tendenning battled it out on the roof, down in the Armoury Torquelauda looked around at all the barrels of gunpowder. He had been able to go to the underground tunnels and light a slow fuse on those explosives to give him time to get away but here in the Armoury he hadn’t been able to do this as it was manned. But even though it was empty now, he couldn’t rely on it staying that way. If he lit the fuse and left it on a timer and then the guards came in for weapons to fend off the supposed attack, someone may find it and defuse it.
So that meant only one thing, he would have to set these explosives off himself.
Using a crowbar he prised open the nearest barrel and then heaved it over so the gunpowder poured out onto the floor. He did the same with several other barrels and then just took the top off a few more. That should be enough, he thought.
He was quite sad that it had to end like this, he would have liked to have seen the Anglish become free at last, but oh well, it was God’s will that he sacrifice himself to make that happen.
He opened the door on the side of the lamp, exposing the flame. He felt an almost paralysing fear but he took his crucifix in one hand to remind himself of the holy work he was doing and that calmed his fears.
He raised the lamp above his head and with one last thought of Vive La Revolution! he dashed the lamp into the pile of gunpowder.
***
Cobb went to the wall and looked over at Harlequin who was watching anxiously. ‘Cobb, we haven’t got time to play about. The castle is exploding around us and these towers could go up any minute.’
Cobb bit back the expletive that rose to his lips. ‘Right,’ he said, ‘we’ll try again.’ They each backed up to their respective parapets, furthest away from each other. ‘NOW!’ shouted Cobb and they both ran towards each other as fast as they could.
They both reached the wall at the same time and launched themselves into space. They covered the distance and slammed into each other. Gripping one another they hung on tightly, just as the Armoury exploded below them. They were blown sideways in a huge ball of flame and smoke as Cobb jumped them between dimensions.
The Will of the Gods
Cobb and Harlequin hit the floor hard and rolled, finally coming to a stop with Harlequin lying on top of Cobb.
‘Are you all right?’ Cobb asked Harlequin.
‘Er … I think so.’
‘Then get off me.’
‘Wha- ?’
‘Get off me!’ insisted Cobb.
Harlequin crawled slowly off Cobb and slumped down beside him. Cobb sat up and patted down his coat where a few parts were smoking. He stood up painfully and looked around him.
There was nothing to see around him. It was just flat land, covered at ground level in a mist, about knee-high. It certainly wasn’t home but still, it looked familiar and not in a good way. He had a bad feeling about this.
‘Where are we?’ asked Harlequin, sitting up.
‘I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Toto,’ he replied.
‘Wait a minute, this is … this is Limbo, isn’t it?’
Cobb groaned, he had been here before when he had died once. Limbo is the place where souls go after death while they wait for their final destination to be decided. Up or Down?
(It’s a long story, read the book Split Infinity, okay?)
‘Are we dead?’ Harlequin asked.
‘Do you feel dead?’
‘I don’t know, I’ve never been dead before.’
‘Well I have and this hurts a heluvva lot more. Anyway, how can we be dead? We got out before the full blast hit us. We can’t be dead. Come here.’ Cobb grabbed Harlequin’s arm and tried to jump back to his own Universe but nothing happened, something must be blocking him.
‘What are we doing here in Limbo?’ asked Harlequin.
‘We brought you here,’ came a commanding voice. Cobb and Harlequin looked around but saw no one; the voice seemed to come from everywhere. It sounded like many voices combined but with one stronger voice standing out from the crowd, like a tenor rising above the rest of the male voice choir although they are all singing the same words.
‘And who are you?’ asked Cobb.
‘We are your Gods.’
&
nbsp; ‘Gods … my Gods … I see,’ said Cobb, doubtfully. ‘And why did you bring us here?’
‘To punish the being that you know as Harlequin.’
‘No, who are you really?’ Cobb asked again. ‘Why don’t you show yourself?’
In front of him six patches of light grew slowly until they became oval shapes, just hovering in the air. Light rippled through them and the colours changed back and forth between the different colours of the rainbow.
‘It’s them!’ said Harlequin, falling to his knees and cowering.
‘Get up, be a man. You’re embarrassing yourself,’ muttered Cobb.
‘But Cobb, you don’t understand … they made me! I can’t stand up to them.’
‘So what’s going on? What’s all this about?’ asked Cobb.
‘We are the Gods. I am Jupiter, Father of the Gods, and you … are in big trouble. We sent Harlequin to that Universe as a punishment. What gives you the right to bring him out of there?’
Cobb noticed that the balls of light flashed as they spoke, so he was able to tell which one was actually speaking.
‘Well … somebody begged me to help him and I thought he was being punished unfairly.’
‘He broke the rules about interfering in the affairs of Man,’ said another ball of light.
‘Yes, I know but he did it to save me, so I figured if he needed my help then-’
‘IT IS NOT YOUR PLACE TO QUESTION THE WISDOM OF THE GODS!’ another shouted at him.
That did it. That got Cobb good and mad. He’d had to leave the comfort and safety of his home with Adele, go to that strange version of Earth where he had starved, been beaten up, threatened with execution and then nearly blown up. And now to top it all, he had this idiot shouting at him like he was a naughty schoolboy.
Cobb had never had any time for the Gods, many people worshipped them where he came from but he’d never even believed in them until he met Harlequin. The fact that he was some sort of agent for them proved at least that they existed.
The Londum Omnibus Volume One (The Londum Series Book 4) Page 64
