Polly Pippin and The Tunnel of Death (24 page)

She half opened the door and peeped out. Two
old men dressed in flowing cloaks were standing on the doorstep.
Each had a beautiful St. Bernard dog as big as a small pony sitting
beside him. 'Remember us, Polly?'

'No, yes, no. Do I know you? And how come
you can see me… or hear me, for that matter?'

They both shed their cloaks, and the dogs
immediately shrank to Chihuahua size. 'Now do you recognise us,
Polly?'

Even if Polly wasn't sure, but Fifi was
delighted, she had two new playmates. She ran off yapping and
jumping, each dog seeing who could jump the highest.

'Wait, wait, I can remember. Event? Salute?
Is it you?'

'Yes, Polly it is, and we are here to help.
Switch off your transparency watch, but before you do, take note of
the time.'

Polly switched off the watch and immediately
she could see her feet.

'So that's what the watch does! It makes me
invisible.'

'Good. Now, Polly, we haven't much time. Do
you have any idea where Hamish is?'

'Yes I do know where Hamish is… and Steve
and Lucy. The Rebels told me I have to find Piers and Miles and
within twenty-four hours and take them to where Hamish and Lucy is,
or they will be killed.'

'Who will be killed?'

'Hamish and Steve and Lucy.'

'Where are they, Polly?'

'Iceland.'

'Right. Forget Brown Sugar Polly. We have a
long trip ahead.'

'I'm ready, willing and able,' said
Polly.

'Salute, call in the dogs.'

~

But before they could leave, Alison came
running up the front drive.

'Polly, you're back!'

'Get rid of them, Polly. Quick! Time is of
the essence,' Salute whispered.

Before Polly could speak, Alison yelled.
'Get rid of me? Polly, what is going on?'

'Alison, it's not what you think.'

'Not what I think? What's not what I
think?'

'That was just a…'

'Oh for God's sake, Polly,' Event said.
'We'll take her with us.'

'And Gemma and Lily?' Alison piped up. 'They
will be worried sick if I disappear too.'

'It's not a day trip to Brighton,
Alison.'

'Please.'

'Good heavens above, it's turned into a
Charabanc trip. Where are they?'

'Brown Sugar.'

'Alright, let's go.'

'I have to get India, we can't leave her
here on her own. 'India, come here darling,' Polly yelled up the
stairs. 'We have to go.'

India came running down the stairs.

'Wait! Fifi! Where's Fifi? We can't leave
her behind,' Polly said.

'Salute's already got her. Is there anything
else you want to take?'

But Event's sarcasm was lost on Polly as she
took him seriously. 'Umm, should we take some tomato sandwiches?'
she said as Event lifted his eyes to the heavens.

'Polly, shut up. Iceland here we come.' She
put her arms round India and gave her a reassuring kiss on the
cheek.

Event switched all his human sense feelers -
sight, touch, auditory and taste. Salute suggested he should switch
on all his animal sense feelers as well, and then they would have
covered all eventualities.

Gemma and Lily had no idea where they were.
One minute they were in Brown Sugar, next it seemed they were in a
black bag with Polly, Alison and India.

'Are we in the gypsy's black basket?' Lily
asked.

'No. Remember our old lodgers, Lily?' Polly
said.

'Um, sort of.'

'Well, we are in one of his huge pockets,
and we are on our way to Iceland to rescue Hamish, Lucy and
Steve.'

'Are you are telling me I am travelling at
what seems faster than the speed of light, on the way to Iceland in
a large pocket?' Gemma asked.

'Yes.'

Gemma went deathly white. 'I think I'm going
to faint,' she said, but decided it was a dreadful nightmare and
hoped she would soon wake up.

Miles does a deal

The Freeflyers bundled a still protesting
Miles into the energy traveller.

'I don't know what your game is, Zack, but
it won't last,' Miles blurted out.

'Oh, but I think it will Miles, all I need
is a few hours. Knox will pretend he is you, and that will give him
access to all the Freeflyers' lairs and Byzantine Crescent. He can
banish the girls to our outer regions, and I can assure you it's
not very nice there… not very nice at all.'

'You bastard Zack. What have we done to you
to make you do this to us?'

'By this, do you mean destroy Earth?'

At that time, Miles wasn't actually thinking
about the Earth, but of his friend Piers, who was in terrible
danger, and no one would listen to him.

'Would you like to do a deal to save your
beloved cousin's life, Miles?'

Miles had already decided he would not
listen to anything more Zack had to say, but he decided this could
be worth listening to.

'I don't give a rag what happens to him. I'm
more worried about myself right now.' Miles hoped the tone of his
voice was convincing.

'Miles, if you pretend to be Knox for,' he
looked at his time saver, 'twenty-three hours, I will let you know
where Piers is. Promise.'

'You promise? What a joke! How can I trust
you will keep up your end of the deal?'

'Easy.' He clicked his tongue, and the two
Liddles jumped out of his top pocket and sat on his lap.

Miles recognised the two little animals he
knew as Minx and Manx that belonged to the girls. He recovered his
composure remarkably quickly and said, 'So what can they do?'

'Whatever you want them to do. I will give
them to you right now.' Zack stood. 'Miles, if I wanted to escape,
I could. This antiquated lock-up couldn't keep a Rebel baby a
prisoner.'

'Go on then, big head, show me.' Miles
challenged.

'Here, Miles.' He plonked the Liddles on
Miles lap and disappeared through the open window high in the cell.
Miles gawped as Zack returned.

'Now do you believe me?' Then Zack's
super-sharp hearing heard footsteps outside the door.

'Are you with me, Miles? Will you pretend to
be Knox? Quick, yes or no?'

Miles did not have to think twice, he would
do anything for his friend. He nodded as he quickly stuffed the
Liddles down his jumper.

~

A key turned in the door, and Rhettnor and
Xavier walked in.

'Good morning Gentlemen.' Zack said.

'It might be for you, Commander Rhettnor,
but not for long I think.' Zack lolled back on his bunk and
examined his nails.

Miles jumped up, but before he could say a
word, Xavier grabbed him roughly and twisted his arms behind his
back.

'I know what little tricks you get up to,
Knox. Take him to the soundproof room Xavier, we will question
these Rebels separately.'

As Miles was pulled out, he saw Zack drag
his finger across his throat. Miles was in no doubt what the Rebel
meant, and the thought of a soundproof room scared him to
death.

'This way, youngster.' Xavier pulled Miles
round a corner and down a dark, narrow corridor. Miles had been
well over six-foot since he was fifteen and hadn't been called
'youngster' for years, and then only by his uncle, Lord Knightly.
Xavier slightly released his tight grip on Miles.

Miles saw this as an opportunity. 'Please
can I talk?'

'Shut up, or you won't see another day
Knox.'

Miles could have wept as they approached the
end of the very long corridor it was dark and dinghy. I can't
believe this is happening Miles thought, as he saw a heavy iron
door with several locks.

'There is no way you will ever see daylight
again, Knox,' Rhettnor gleefully said.

'Commander, please I'm not…'

The Commander slapped him round the head
hard. 'Shut up,' he said. 'Now before we go into this room, I can
assure you, depending on what you say, you may not come out alive.'
Miles was violently shaken. 'Are you going to talk Knox?'

Miles wondered how much pain he could take
to save his friend. He stayed silent.

'Fine,' Rhettnor said. 'Open the door,
Xavier.'

~

Inside the room, it was dark and eerie.
Miles was violently pushed in, and the heavy door was slammed shut
behind him with a resounding bang.

'So Knox, prepare to meet your maker.'

Miles stood resolute. 'This is the last
thing I can do for Piers my loyal friend,' he said. 'Long live
England. And he started to sing “Rule Britannia”. '

'Miles.' A familiar voice spoke

'That's a lousy trick to test my loyalty.
You rotten bastards. What are you up to? You want me to think
that's Piers? Well, I know it's not. So do your worst. I'm saying
nothing.'

'Miles, mate, don't be like that. Fancy
something to eat?' the voice said. And the lights slowly lit.
Someone was standing in the middle of the room with the biggest
smile ever on his face.

Miles stared. 'Piers?' he said.

'I knew you'd be hungry,' Piers
answered.

And no one knew who was crying the loudest
till Miles, between sobs, said, 'You rotten buggers.'

'Sorry for the subterfuge, Miles. I hope I
didn't hurt you, but it was imperative Zack was kept in the dark.
He must think you are still pretending to be Knox. We all know Zack
is as cunning as a bag of snakes, so we have to be very careful.
Anyway, I expect you two would love to catch up, so let's all have
something nice to eat and hear what Piers has to say.'

After a while, when the boys' eating frenzy
subsided somewhat, Rhettnor suggested Piers start his story.

'Well, we left the shack and dropped down
into a cavern… And Piers started his story.

The longest walk

'Can you manage another hour before we rest
Piers?' Lord Girdur inquired.

Piers was frozen to the bone, and every step
he took was excruciatingly painful, but he said of course and
steeled himself to keep going that extra bit. Suddenly, Lord Girdur
fell flat on his face and stayed still.

'Lord Girdur.' Piers ran to the front of the
sled, fell to his knees and pulled at the old man. 'Lord Girdur,
come on! Lord Girdur, Lord Girdur please.' After what seemed like
hours, Piers finally sat back on his heels and buried his head on
the old man's chest.

'My friend gave his life to save me,' he
said. He stood and leaned back on the sled. It was late in the
afternoon. 'I should get to some sort of shelter.' He looked round,
trying to decide what to do next. Luckily, no snow clouds were in
sight, so the visibility was clear for miles. He could not leave
Lord Girdur here that was for sure. Somehow, he would have to get
him up on the sled. But he was desperately tired and thought maybe
if he lay down for a while, he would feel better. His eyelids
started to slowly droop, sleep would soon be on him. Then a
movement to the far left caught his eye. He squinted but try as he
might, he could not bring the movement into focus. He shook his
head and rubbed his eyes. It was then that he heard a growl and
shrank back, covering Girdur's lifeless body with his own. It was
the cub that got to him first. She jumped up and bounced on Piers,
covering his face with wet licks. Elska was right behind and cuffed
little Kyssa and pulled her off. She picked Piers up and sat next
to him on the sled, towering over him as she put her arm round him.
Although he knew she was the bear he had saved, he still crossed
all his fingers for good luck. While all this was happening,
several bears had caught up. One picked up Lord Girdur and told him
off as it cuddled him warm. 'Why didn't you let us know, Lord
Girdur?'

Piers did a double take. He had understood
what the bear had said. 'Lord Girdur, I understood him.'

'Yes, well enough of this soppy stuff,' Lord
Girdur said sharply as he finally stood, though shakily, on his own
two feet. He undid the rather large gold button at the neck of his
cloak and threw it back, revealing Lord Knightly.

'Father?' questioned Piers.

'You were very hard to find, and keep the
Rebels away,' said Lord Knightly as he hugged his adopted son. 'I
certainly could not leave you to fight alone. I must say the bears
were most obliging, and if it weren't for them, we would never have
found you.'

'So you were in on it from the very start?
The bear trap and all?' Piers said.

'No, that was just good or bad luck…
depending which way you look at it. Unfortunately, the mother did
tread on a bear trap. The Rebels set them all round here. You were
very brave to try to save her, Piers. But what really won the bears
over was the way you cared for the mother and loved little Kyssa.
You did not abandon her, or eat her, as the Rebels tried to implant
in your mind. And that's when Lord Girdur sent for me.

The bears - and there was about ten of them
- crowded round, all wanting to hug Piers.

'I must say you have a way with animals
Piers,' Lord Knightly said. 'Because you are a vegetarian, you do
not have the smell of dead animals on you, so the animals are not
suspicious of you. And you have emerged a hero who will always be
welcome at the North Pole.'

'And that was about it', Piers said. 'I was
rushed here in the greatest secrecy but was not told about you,
Miles, until about two seconds before you walked in.'

~

'So why all the secrecy?' Miles asked. 'Zack
is locked up, and Knox is comatosed for twenty hours at least. Zack
showed me he could escape from the prison easily. He bragged no
prison could hold him. And as it was he who immobilised Knox for
twenty-four hours.'

'Miles, we are not playing his game anymore.
He is not invincible. This prison he cannot escape from. It's a
prison within a prison. We have to risk both you and Piers to the
most dreadful danger for,' he looked at his watch, 'for
twenty-three hours. Are you up to it?'

The boys looked at each other. And Miles,
winking at Piers said, 'No, I don't think so, Lord Knightly. I'm
scared, and I believe we've done enough. Don't you think so, Piers?
Sod the others. I want to go back home.' They both nodded, and then
they burst out laughing.