The Beasts of Upton Puddle

by Simon West-Bulford

  A bloodcurdling howl ripped through the night as the distraction allowed Cornelius to strike a painful blow to the Beast. The wounded animal retreated, speeding through the tunnels the way it had come. Cornelius let it leave.

  Joe turned around to see who had spoken, not daring to believe what his eyes and ears had suggested. But it was true. Hovering in the air, just above Flarp and his friend, Danariel smiled at him.

  “Danariel! But Redwar said you were dead.”

  She giggled. “You shouldn’t take any notice of a man like that, Joe. He’s about as good at telling the truth as his guards are at marksmanship.”

  “So you’re not even hurt?” Joe’s tears flowed freely now.

  “Of course not,” she said, drifting down to stroke his cheek. “I pretended to be hit right after I heard the first gunshot, then found a burrow and hid in the tunnels.”

  “I thought you were dead.” Joe sobbed.

  “Well, I’m fine, and you should be very proud. I don’t know what happened to you since we had to separate, but Flarp has a new friend and we’ve found Mrs. Merrynether.”

  “I didn’t do much.”

  Heinrich struggled out of the burrow with a delirious Mrs. Merrynether clinging to his back.

  Cornelius leapt from the hole slashed and ruffled but alert. He roared in triumph as the other creatures gathered.

  Heinrich jumped back into the burrow and appeared a few moments later with the limp troll.

  “We’re too late,” he said. “This fellow is dead.”

  “Bring him with us,” said Mrs. Merrynether, barely conscious. “Thumbler deserves a good burial. He gave his life for me . . . and for us.”

  The brief journey to Merrynether Mansion was silent. Each of them had thoughts to contend with, and although Heinrich looked overjoyed to see Mrs. Merrynether again, Joe saw trouble in the old man’s eyes.

  Emotions—grief, elation, fear, and uncertainty—balled together in Joe’s mind, each one demanding its own special attention. Which to listen to?

  Arriving at the vault didn’t help Joe sort out his feelings much either. Left to their own devices, Kiyoshi and Lilly had launched into a full-scale verbal war. Meanwhile, Snappel the wyvern lay on the vault floor surrounded by apples from a split sack. Apparently she’d been let out of her enclosure, torn the cloth open, and then gorged a ridiculous amount of the fruit, leaving her bloated and incapacitated.

  The scene would normally have amused Joe, but what he really wanted right now was a bath, relief from the throbbing in his head, and sleep.

  He guessed Mrs. Merrynether felt far worse. Heinrich helped her to his chair and brought her a plate of biscuits with a mug of tea and a fresh bottle of elixir. Fresh blood trickled onto the floor from the wound in her leg, but Heinrich was already unrolling gauze from a first aid kit and attending to it.

  Joe sat by the wall and watched the warfare near the back of the vault. Kiyoshi, so involved in his dispute with Lilly, seemed not to have noticed them as they walked in. The disgruntled kappa was trundling up and down the length of the vault, trying to locate Lilly, who was, as usual, shouting his abuse from a hidden location.

  “May da devil himself trow up in dat stupid horl in da top a ya head.”

  “. . . and furthermore,” Kiyoshi said over Lilly’s insult, “you are nothing but a pilgarlic, sir, and your argumentative methods are nothing more than fragmented galimatius. I am quite certain your motivation is to distract me from the real matter at hand—namely, why you chose to release the wyvern. However, you need not concern yourself with explanations. I see no further advantage in debating our current predicament with an inebriated leprechaun.”

  “Leprechaun? Leprechaun? How dares ya!” An empty beer can bounced off the floor next to Kiyoshi. “Oi’m a cluricaun, and don’t ya forget it.”

  “Far be it for me to ultracrepidate. I know exactly what I’m talking about. There is absolutely no difference between you and a leprechaun—you are both classified as belonging to the Maddus midgetus irritabilius class.”

  “You jost made dat up.”

  “I did not!”

  “You can kiss moi shoiny pink—”

  Snappel hiccoughed, and a puff of fire belched into the air, singeing Kiyoshi’s hair.

  “I say!”

  “Quiet!” Mrs. Merrynether’s voice shattered the bickering. She slammed the bottle of elixir onto Heinrich’s desk, making the half-eaten biscuits jump on the plate. Clearly the food and drink had boosted her strength. “We have urgent issues to discuss. Heinrich, see to . . . Is that a wyvern?”

  “Her name is Snappel, Ronnie. I’ll get her back in her enclosure.”

  “Will you help him, Kiyoshi?” Mrs. Merrynether asked.

  “May I remind you that I am a patient in your care and not a mindless bulldozer to be employed for your kinetic requests. However, I am pleased to see your safe return. I will do as you ask.”

  While Heinrich and the kappa manhandled the incapacitated lizard into its enclosure, Danariel bustled the two globbles to the back of the vault and into their own pens for the night.

  Joe stepped forward. “Mrs. Merrynether.” His heart raced with the burden of what he needed to say, and his headache surged. “Before you tell us anything, there’s something you should know.”

  He stared at Heinrich, who froze in the middle of dragging the wyvern’s tail inside the enclosure. “Are you going to tell her, or shall I?” Joe said.

  Heinrich returned Joe’s stare, and silence fell as they searched each other’s soul.

  Heinrich’s gaze dropped to the floor. “I should attend to Kiyoshi. He is falling asleep.”

  “If you don’t tell her, I have to.”

  “Tell me what?” Mrs. Merrynether looked at each of them.

  “Heinrich?” Joe pleaded.

  The old man didn’t look up. Instead, he concerned himself with positioning the kappa in such a way that his head was resting on the tip of the wyvern’s tail.

  “Mrs. Merrynether . . . Heinrich has . . . been writing letters to Argoyle Redwar for years. He’s the one that’s been passing on information, and he’s even been sending him money.”

  Heinrich dropped the wyvern’s tail and looked up. In the space of a heartbeat, his expression changed from remorse to fury.

  “What? You lying filth!” Heinrich spat. “I would never—”

  “It’s true,” said Joe, shocked by Heinrich’s fury. “I saw the letters with my own eyes in Redwar’s safe, written by his own hand.”

  “Ronnie. Don’t believe him. It is not true.”

  Mrs. Merrynether opened her mouth but didn’t speak.

  “It is true. Mrs. Merrynether, I know you haven’t known me very long, but—”

  Heinrich launched forward like an enraged bull, his fingers outstretched and his eyes murderous. Cornelius jumped between them and bellowed at Heinrich, his tail arched over their heads. At the same time, an empty beer bottle rebounded from the back of the old man’s head.

  As quickly as the rage showed on Heinrich’s face, a new expression of distress replaced it, followed by utter confusion. He staggered back for a moment, gazed tearfully at Mrs. Merrynether, then ran for the vault door. He paused with a hand on the doorknob. “I’ll see to it that you regret saying such things.”

  No one stopped him as he ran up the steps and out of the mansion. Silence came again for a full minute.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Merrynether. I didn’t expect him to act like that. He seemed so . . . sorry about it all when I confronted him before.”

  “I . . . can’t believe it.”

  “We think Redwar must have some sort of hold on him. Blackmail, perhaps.”

  “Not Heinrich, no. He was always such a noble man. So strong. How did you find out about this, Joseph?”

  “We broke into Redwar’s building thinking he’d kidnapped you, but instead of finding you, we found his safe. He’s been keeping all of Heinrich’s letters and putting them in there.”

 
; Mrs. Merrynether nodded ruefully. “It’s all starting to make sense. I don’t know why Heinrich did what he did, but . . .” Her voice trembled as she placed one hand on his desk, as though she could somehow reach the old man through the wooden surface. “But I already know what Redwar was trying to find out from him.”

  Joe paused to give Mrs. Merrynether a moment to compose herself. “Do you think Redwar wants your animals? He’s got his own vault with his own creatures in it, you know. That’s where the Beast of Upton Puddle came from. It escaped, and we used its tunnels to get out too.”

  “I already know about Redwar’s terrible prison.”

  “You do?”

  “Yes.” Mrs. Merrynether nodded toward a body encased in cloth close to the door. “The Beast of Upton Puddle wasn’t the only creature to escape Red-war’s prison. Thumbler escaped too.”

  “Oh!” Joe looked at the floor. “I’m sorry.”

  She nodded. To Joe, it seemed all the strength she had recovered was fading fast, her skin turning almost grey. Yet he could still see determination in her eyes, as though she had to set aside her troubles to deal with something that was too important to ignore.

  “So what is it that Redwar wants?”

  “He wants to know the location of Pyronesia. All this time he’s been trying to get his hands on this mansion just to find the island’s location. He’s come close by discovering some of the smaller islands, which is why he has some exotic species, like the Beast, but he’s never been able to find the main island.”

  “So why didn’t Heinrich tell him where it is?”

  “Heinrich doesn’t know its location any more than I do.”

  “But you were the ones who found it, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, but once we left, the location was blinded from us. They cannot afford for the world to know of their existence.”

  “So the island must still be safe, then.”

  Mrs. Merrynether sighed heavily. “That’s the news I was about to tell you all before Heinrich . . . ran away. Thumbler escaped from Redwar Industries to pass on some information he overheard. Somehow, Argoyle Redwar has discovered Pyronesia’s location and is making preparations to go there as soon as possible.”

  “What’s he going to do when he gets there?”

  “I have no idea, but he is power hungry, greedy, and from what I heard from Thumbler, he has a terrible hatred for anything that isn’t human. Considering what he and his people will encounter on that island, this can only end badly. We have to stop him or find a way to get there first.”

  “So what will Redwar encounter if he gets there?”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about in the burrow, but now that we are back and safe, it can wait until tomorrow . . . Thank you for finding me tonight,” she said, grasping his hand. “I owe you my life.”

  “It was Flarp that found you. We would have found you earlier if I’d paid attention to him sooner.”

  “But you came looking. That’s what matters to me. At least someone is still loyal to me.” She grimaced as she moved her wounded leg. The blood had already soaked through Heinrich’s bandage.

  “We have to get you to a hospital,” said Joe.

  “Oh, don’t worry about me. I know things about medicine most doctors would sell their own mothers to find out. But you don’t look so good yourself, young man. Perhaps it’s you that needs the hospital.”

  “I’m all right,” Joe lied. “Are you sure I can’t call an ambulance for you?”

  “No, no, I’m out of danger now that I’ve had my elixir and something to eat. We should both get some rest. What time is it? I’ve lost all track.”

  Joe looked at his watch. “It’s quarter to twelve.” He shook his head. “I have to get home. I’ve pushed my luck way over the edge this time. Mum is going to ground me for sure.”

  “Make sure you show that bump on your head to your mother. It’s the size of a golf ball, and you might have a concussion.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Joe insisted with a smile, but it wasn’t a happy gesture. “Do you think Heinrich will be back soon?”

  “He’ll come back,” she said solemnly. “He has nowhere else to go.”

  “But you can’t trust him.”

  Joe regretted stating the obvious when he saw how his statement had cut into her. It took her several long moments to form a reply, which sounded far from confident. “Heinrich and I go back a long way. We’ll work this out somehow.”

  Danariel drifted from the far end of the vault to hover over Mrs. Merrynether’s shoulder, one hand touching the old woman’s cheek.

  “So much to do.” Mrs. Merrynether sighed.

  “You must rest, Veronica. Is there anything I can do to help you?”

  Mrs. Merrynether looked doubtful, but she nodded. “I need you to do one thing for me. It won’t be easy.”

  “Anything.”

  “Find Lilly. If we can’t find a way to keep Redwar here in Upton Puddle, we’re going to need Lilly’s help. In fact, we’re all going to have to pull together before the next few days are over.”

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Argoyle Redwar slammed his phone down. “Gumble will be here in twenty minutes to sort out that debacle in the restricted area.”

  He leaned on the desk and massaged his forehead. Even with the lights set to low in his office, they were still bright enough to aggravate his headache.

  “What ’bout police?” muttered Ms. Burrowdown.

  “What? Oh. We’ll just have to keep him away from them when he gets here. I don’t want that idiot blabbing if he gets scared. God knows we’ve paid him enough money to keep him quiet, but people say stupid things when the pressure’s on . . . Damn them! Who called the police anyway?”

  “Mr. Bacon. Out walking his dog. Heard gunshots.”

  “And they’re still talking to security?”

  “Think so.”

  “I don’t like this at all. If they start sniffing around—”

  “Shouldn’t worry. They aren’t s’picious. They don’t know anything.”

  “Maybe not, but that boy does. Have those bungling idiots found out who he is yet? I want to know everything about him.”

  “Name’s Joseph Copper. Goes to school at Clarkdale. Lives in the village with his mother. No brothers or sisters but has an aunt, Rose Ashworth.”

  Redwar leaned back in his chair and wrestled his fat arms behind his head. He gave Ms. Burrowdown a sideward glance, watching her as she turned over the page of her notepad and scratched her forehead with her pen.

  “It must be the same boy we saw at Merrynether’s place. That’s why he had one of those blasted fairies with him.”

  “And the eyeball.”

  “What? Oh, yes, that thing as well. Damn them all, I wasn’t expecting Merrynether to do something as drastic as this. That ugly little troll must have convinced her to mount a rescue operation. But why use the boy?”

  “Expendable.”

  “Perhaps. It’s certainly her style.” Redwar paused in thought. “But, no, I think there’s something else going on. Perhaps she hasn’t taken our bait.”

  “Need to wait.”

  “Wait? How long has it been since that troll escaped? More than a week, I’m sure.”

  “Only arrived at the mansion a few hours ago.”

  “Really? What’s it been doing all this time?”

  “Doesn’t matter.” Ms. Burrowdown shrugged. “It’s there now. Not moving ’bout much, though.”

  “Are you sure the bug is still attached?”

  “Don’t know. That’s why we should wait.”

  “All right. We’ll give it another day or two before we try something else.”

  Burrowdown scribbled something on her pad. “What about Copper?”

  Redwar stroked his chin as if he had an imaginary beard. “The boy? Hmmm. Well, I’m hoping nobody will believe him if he says anything; nevertheless, I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks.” His lips spread into a callous smile. “
I’ll have someone . . . invite him to see me.”

  Burrowdown leered in approval, then turned back to her notepad.

  Much had happened in the last few hours on Joe’s street. Usually at a quarter past twelve his neighbors would be tucked up in bed fast asleep, but not tonight. Small groups stood in the road busily discussing, pointing, and looking generally angry. A police car and several service vans were parked a few doors up from his house, and a huddle of workmen had gathered around a section of road that looked like it had been flooded.

  “Joe!” came the voice of his mum. She marched toward him, slightly hunched with her arms folded close to her body to hold back the chill of night. “Where have you been? I’ve been worried sick.”

  “What’s been going on?” asked Joe, looking around the road for clues. Then he saw the answer.

  One of the men in overalls moved aside. He held a bent manhole cover, and a flood spilled across the road.

  “Never mind that,” she said, grabbing her son to steer him toward the house. “Why didn’t you tell me where you were? I called the Duggans, and they said you left hours ago. I couldn’t even call you because your mobile phone is broken. Where have you been all this time?”

  She stopped just outside the door and held him at arm’s length. “You look terrible. Are you hurt?”

  “I’m okay, Mum. What happened to the road?”

  “There’s blood on you!” She pulled Joe into the house. “Get inside in the warmth. I want to have a proper look at you and make sure you’re all right before I go.”

  “Go? Where are you going?”

  “Is that our missing pumpkin, Jane?” a familiar high-pitched voice called from the kitchen.

  “Yes, he’s back, Rose. Could you get the first aid kit? I think he’s hurt.” She took him to the kitchen and sat him in a chair. “What happened to you, Joe?”

  “Oh my!” Aunt Rose said as she heaved herself from her chair. She puckered her lips and examined Joe as if he’d accidentally pulled the pin out of a hand grenade and swallowed it. “Oh my! Oh my! Look at you. Just look at you. That’s a terrible large bump, that is.” She planted a soggy kiss on Joe’s forehead, wrung her hands, then bustled up the stairs.