The Chimera's Curse Page 18

  “Oh no, Universal. We have plenty of time. Your friends are busy fighting my army out on Dartmoor. Even as we speak, the first clash of the dragons is taking place. They will have no chance to spare a thought for you—I have seen to that. They are hopelessly outnumbered and unprepared because, foolishly, they have not let their little universal near the moor to give them early warning of my massing forces.” Kullervo smiled, showing a row of white teeth.

  “But the refinery—it can’t be long before someone notices we’re here!”

  “Ah. You are right. Thank you for reminding me. I have a little diversion planned to keep the other humans busy, too.” Kullervo nodded at the chimera. “You know what to do. Bring our guests when you have finished.”

  With a nimble leap, the chimera disappeared through the plastic screen and out of sight.

  “What’s it doing?” Connie asked fearfully, her thoughts going back to the guard she had glimpsed on her way in. Was the chimera going to attack anyone who came to the gate?

  “Giving intruders a warm reception. This place has been doing its best to heat up the atmosphere; I thought it would be fitting if we hastened the process.”

  “What do you mean?” Her shield wavered as Connie realized what was happening.

  “Fire.” Kullervo shimmered fleetingly into the dark, flickering form of a fire imp before taking shape as the eagle once more.

  “But you’ll kill us all!”

  “Only the humans.” The eagle croaked as if pleased by her swiftness to grasp the situation. “And not before you and I have concluded our business together. You, Companion, will survive if you do my bidding.”

  Somewhere in the depths of the building, a fire alarm began to ring.

  “What business? You don’t think you can persuade me to let you use my powers, do you? I’ll never do that.”

  The eagle took a pace nearer and lifted a talon toward the shield. “This flimsy defense will not hold. You will be mine.”

  “Never!” Connie gritted her teeth and clung on to the barrier. “You’ll have to kill me first.”

  “Oh no, I’m not thinking of killing you. If you refuse me again, it will be your friends’ lives at stake.”

  Connie heard footsteps behind her. She turned around quickly to see Col and Rat being pushed through the screen, the lion’s jaws at Col’s back, the snake hovering by Rat’s neck.

  “But our bargain!” Connie exclaimed to the chimera, her shield fading in shock.

  Never promised, hissed the cobra in Connie’s stunned mind. She raised her shield again and thrust the creature’s presence from her.

  Kullervo crowed with laughter. “Never trust a two-faced creature, Companion. Bring him.” He pointed a claw at Col.

  With a swipe of the lion’s paw, Col was sent flying across the walkway, colliding with the railing before falling at Kullervo’s feet.

  “Careful,” the eagle chided the chimera, “I do not want my guests to fall needlessly to their deaths. I have a far better use for them.”

  The chimera growled, less compliant now that Kullervo was no longer in his chimera form.

  Connie saw that Col was bleeding from many scratches. He raised his head, and his eyes met hers. He seemed to be trying to apologize for having let her down, for having allowed himself to be captured.

  “Oh yes, I will have great pleasure in killing this troublesome one,” said Kullervo, turning his vicious eyes to Connie to see that she was hearing every word. “If you don’t agree to help me end once and for all the destruction brought by humanity, then I will have to find something to make you obey me. Perhaps I’ll start with your friend. I have been feeling peckish.” He tapped his beak on Col’s shoulder, rolling him over so that he was facing straight up at his captor. “If you do not give in, I’ll eat him. Where shall I begin?”

  “No!” screamed Connie. She heard a scuffle behind her and a crack. Rat was knocked back by the snake as he’d attempted to leap to his friend’s aid. “Don’t you dare touch him!”

  “So, you will be mine then?” asked the eagle gleefully, pawing at the meal before him with the talons of his right foot.

  Col tried to push off Kullervo’s hated touch, but he was pinned to the floor. “No, Connie. Don’t give in!”

  Overwhelmed with terror, Connie couldn’t think straight. This wasn’t how it was meant to be at all. When she had given herself up to the chimera, she had thought it was only her own life she was risking, but now she had to bear the responsibility of her two friends. Kullervo knew her too well: she could be brave for herself, but not on behalf of others.

  “I see you need more time to decide,” he said, beating his wings and shifting shape. The mist coiled and twisted, forming into a nine-headed hydra, black scales glowing like jet in the harsh light. “Tie them up…”—one head darted down to flicker its tongue over Col as if tasting his scent; another slid to Connie and grinned—“…till dinner time.”

  Suddenly, there was a deafening boom from outside; the ceiling lamps went out and a wailing alarm echoed around the processing hall. The only light inside the building now came from the silver shimmer of the shield and the gleam of Kullervo’s eighteen eyes. Beyond the windows the flicker of flame danced joined by the muffled noise of another explosion. Connie’s eyes began to water as the air carried with it the trace of acrid fumes. Kullervo seemed very pleased with these signs of his plan’s progress. Two heads rose to look out of the window.

  “Good, good. Very dangerous, oil fires,” he hissed. “The fumes more harmful than the blaze itself. It will keep away unwanted visitors, but I advise you to decide quickly—or you all burn.”

  He gave a spitting hiss into the shadows behind him, summoning more assistance, and Connie heard feet clanging on the stairs. Stone sprites scuttled into view with rope dangling in their teeth. Two went to Rat, two to Col, and the remaining six surrounded Connie, protected by her shield. She heard Rat cry out with shock as their cold pinching hands grasped his wrists.

  “Don’t hurt them!” she begged.

  “Then I suggest you drop your shield and let my sprites tie you up like a good girl.” Kullervo laughed, the bubbles of foul gas bursting from the snake’s head bobbing before her.

  Reluctantly, Connie let the shield fade. The six creatures pounced on her, grabbing at her ankles and wrists. One had its freezing hands at her throat, constricting her breathing with its icy touch.

  “Oh no, you are not to damage her,” said Kullervo, half-heartedly restraining his followers, unaware that beneath his very nose Connie was secreting away some cold darts in her quiver.

  The stone sprites bound the three friends to the railings. They saved particular malice for the universal, lashing her so tightly she could barely move. Col and Rat were on either side of her, out of reach. The stone sprites scuttled off, their task done, the sound of their clicking joints disappearing into the shadows. Connie almost preferred it when she could see them: it was worse to imagine them waiting to pounce somewhere in the darkness.

  The hydra slid over to Connie and curled in a half-moon around her.

  I will leave you to reflect on my offer, Kullervo said with one of his many mouths. Offer! Offer! echoed the others. Be sure to have your answer ready when I return. I will not be long. There is someone I want you to meet.

  The hydra reared up over the walkway and slithered down like a python hanging from a branch. Twisting around the walkway below, Kullervo slipped off into the darkness.

  Left alone, the three friends felt the huge weight of the silence that had fallen between them. Col, shifting painfully on his scratched legs and back, knew that one of them must speak. He must help stiffen Connie’s resolve to resist Kullervo, even if it meant condemning himself and Rat.

  “Are you okay, Connie?” he whispered. A series of loud cracks and bangs exploded, indicating that another blaze had erupted outside. “Sorry we couldn’t get away.”

  “It would’ve been no good,” she replied despondently. “They’re all busy
fighting Kullervo’s army. There’s no one at the Mastersons’.”

  “You know what?” said Rat, trying to sound cheerful, “I’d have liked to have been in a decent battle with Icefen but…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “But now we’re tied up here like turkeys for Christmas,” said Col with a hollow laugh. Silence fell again.

  “I’m scared, Col,” said Connie in a small voice.

  Col could see her sitting straight-backed against the railing, her face deathly white.

  “Me, too,” Col said, desperately trying to think of something to encourage her, some bright thought. “But you must stay strong. This isn’t about us: it’s about all of them out there. Think of all those beautiful, wonderful people you’ll be saving—and the creatures who try to defend us. If you let him use you again, he’ll destroy us all.”

  Connie choked on her tears. “I can’t send you to your death. I just can’t.”

  “You must!” he growled.

  Connie felt something crack inside her. “I’m going to do it: I’m going to challenge him. It’s the only way.”

  “No!”

  “I’ve said all along that it would come to this.” She was close to panic.

  “But you’ve been forbidden by the Trustees,” Col countered, wishing he could give her a hug as he could see she was falling to pieces before his eyes. “They had a good reason.”

  “Stuff the Trustees,” interrupted Rat.

  “Shut up!” said Col. “You don’t know what you’re asking her to do.”

  “I’m only asking her not to feed me to that monster!” Rat shouted back. “I don’t want to die, even if you do.”

  “Of course, I don’t want to die!” Col yelled at him, wishing he had his hands free so he could throttle Rat, “but we’ll only die later if Connie can’t hold out against him—and so will millions of others. That or he’ll torture her to death.”

  “Ah, that’s what I like to hear,” hissed Kullervo, sliding back onto the walkway and writhing past Col to stop before Connie. He seemed to swell in size in the presence of their argument. “Friend at war with friend—my favorite human trait.”

  Col and Rat both shut up, neither of them wanting to give Kullervo the satisfaction of hearing them disagree.

  So, have you decided, Companion? asked Kullervo.

  Connie nodded, keeping her eyes on the floor. She wasn’t brave. She was a coward.

  And what is your decision? the hydra asked, its tongues like black ticker tape fluttering in the air in celebration.

  Connie raised her head and looked briefly across at Col, her interior struggle evident on her face. Col shook his head, but she turned her gaze on the nearest head of the hydra.

  “Meet me at the mark. I challenge you to single-combat.”

  15

  Voice from the Past

  “No, Connie!” cried Col, straining at his bonds to reach her, to stop her from doing this, but she ignored him.

  “But I want a proper bargain this time. No tricks. They must be set free first.” She gestured with her head to Rat and Col. “And all the other humans you’ve got trapped here. I want to see them walking out to safety. Then,”—her voice almost disappeared—“I’m all yours.”

  Kullervo dissolved and reformed into the shape of a great bear, thick blue-black fur shining in the light coming through the high windows. He moved toward Connie, the walkway groaning under the weight of his vast bulk. He raised a sharp-clawed paw in the air. Connie closed her eyes, not wanting to see her death approaching. She felt the rush in the air as the claws passed close to her neck, the soft pelt brushing her cheek. The ropes that bound her fell to the ground.

  Very well, growled Kullervo. They go free. The stone sprites will drag the other humans clear of the fire to a place where they can be found. I would make them walk away like you ask, but unfortunately, they are all out cold. The bear growled with laughter.

  They’re not dead? she asked.

  Not yet—and thanks to you, it looks as though they will live another day. His snout nuzzled the top of her head. Just one more day before you surrender to me. We both know that you have bought them only a temporary reprieve.

  Temporary or not—I’m taking it, said Connie with determination, getting to her feet and away from him. Even upright, she did not reach the thigh of the great bear.

  How can she possibly hope to defeat that? Col marveled.

  But she doesn’t expect to win, another voice in his head whispered. She’s going to sacrifice herself to let you survive.

  “Connie, it’s not too late. Please change your mind,” Col urged her.

  Kullervo turned to him. “I am getting tired of the bleating of this little one. I will be pleased to get rid of him.” He raised his paw. Connie shrieked, unable to stop herself, fearing he was about to strike.

  The bear swung his head toward her. Do not be concerned, Companion. Our bargain will hold for a little longer. He cut through Col’s bonds.

  “Run, boy. You are free. Take your chance. But you’d better hurry: the chimera is on the prowl outside and, though I command it in most things, I cannot be answerable for how it chooses to satisfy its appetite.”

  Col scrambled to his feet, dodged past the massive forepaws of the bear and ran to Rat. He swiftly untied the knots holding Rat to the railing and hauled him to his feet. The moment Rat felt his bonds loosen, he made a dash for the exit. Col hesitated and glanced at Connie, who was standing still as she watched her two friends escape. No way could he just run. He sprinted back to her and swept her into a tight hug.

  “If we get out of this,” he whispered in her ear, “there’s something I want to ask you.”

  “I’ll look forward to it,” she said bravely, though without much hope. “Give my love to…to the others.”

  Col felt a paw push on his back.

  “Get away from my companion. She is mine now,” growled Kullervo.

  With a final desperate hug, Col turned and ran after Rat, each step costing him worse pain than anything he had experienced so far that night. Bursting out of the side door, he was pulled up short by Rat, who had pressed himself against the wall.

  “Stone sprite!” Rat warned.

  To their left, Col could see the pale outline of a sprite dragging a man away. The guard dog barked and snapped at the creature, but its teeth made no impression on rock.

  “At least Kullervo’s keeping his part of the bargain,” muttered Col as they watched the stone sprite pull the man into a warehouse, separate from the refinery building. “They should be okay in there.”

  In contrast, the refinery itself was clearly in grave danger. Between the boys and the main entrance a fire now raged. The battlements of the oil castle were under siege. Great billows of black smoke belched into the air, lashed by red tongues of flame from burning cisterns. A wall of fire separated them from the emergency vehicles that had rushed to the scene. The boys could hear the wail of sirens in the night, but they had no chance of reaching help that way.

  “We need to get out,” said Col.

  Rat jerked on his sleeve and nodded over to their right. The dark form of the chimera was slinking between the two big drum containers, scorching their metal sides with bursts of its flame. Fortunately for Col and Rat, it was too preoccupied by its game to notice them. With stone sprites on their left, a chimera and a wall of fire on their right, they had no choice but to make a dash straight ahead to see if they could find a way through the high fence.

  “On three,” breathed Col, waiting for a moment when the chimera had its back turned. “One, two, three!”

  The boys burst from their hiding place and sprinted across the parking lot, hitting the fence with a clatter.

  “Look, there’s a gap!” cried Rat, dragging Col through the entrance used by the chimera.

  The boys paused on the other side of the fence, at a loss for what they should do.

  “Should we go to the police?” Col asked, knowing the idea sounded ridiculous. What
could they do against Kullervo?

  But Rat nodded. “We’ve got to give it a try.”

  It seemed miles as they ran around the perimeter of the refinery, stumbling in the dark over weeds, bits of masonry, and an abandoned supermarket cart that’d been left in this no-man’s land. They finally made their way onto the access road. In contrast to the desert they had just left, this was teeming with people. Seven fire engines were parked as close to the fires as they could, hoses trained on the blaze. Firefighters with blackened, sweaty faces jogged by carrying more equipment, jostling the boys out of the way.

  “What on Earth are you doing here?” A policeman strode over from his car and clamped a firm hand on the shoulders of both boys. “The order to evacuate the area was given half an hour ago—and that includes you two.”

  “But—!” protested Col, trying to wriggle free as the burly policeman pulled them away.

  “No buts,” said the policeman.

  “But we were in there,” Rat shouted at him, trying to get it through the man’s thick skull that there was another emergency for him to deal with. “Our friend’s in there.”

  Rat’s words had started a completely new train of thought in the policeman’s head. “You were in there?” He dropped his hold on Col and began to pat Rat’s pockets, checking for matches. “Not indulging in a little bit of arson, were you?”

  This wasn’t going well. If the policeman had his way they would be spending the rest of the night answering questions at the local station.

  Col caught Rat’s eye. Rat understood.

  “Now!” yelled Col.

  With a twist to equal Skylark’s Syracrusian Spiral, Rat slipped free from the policeman’s hand and ran off to the left. Col darted to the right.

  Rat had plenty of practice dodging the police so he knew back-up would be after them. As Col sprinted through a depot belonging to the local dairy, Rat made a dash across the road and pulled Col into the darkness of an unlit alleyway. “Keep still,” he hissed.