Ratastrophe Catastrophe (18 page)

It wasn’t a cavern, he decided, because caverns had roofs and this place just seemed to go on and on forever. He gazed around him in awe, feeling like a tiny insect staring up at the universe for the first time. Above, and to either side, there was darkness. Below, there were…children. “There they are!” Jimmy gasped, pointing downward.

The children were congregated on the cavern floor. There were hundreds of them, yet they barely made an impression on the vast expanse. Jimmy suspected that you could probably enter the cavern from the other side and walk right past them without spotting them on your way out again.

“I don’t like the look of this place,” said Gordo, nervously. “It’s…distorted.”

“There he is,” said Tambor, pointing across the cavern.

Diek Wustapha stood atop a large boulder, surrounded by the teeming children. He was absolutely still.

“Maybe we could sneak the children out,” Jimmy ventured. “There’ve enough caves down there. One of them must lead to the surface, law of averages. What d’you reckon? I could try it, quiet like. Besides, it doesn’t look as if he’s awake.”

“He’s awake,” said Tambor, eyes narrowing. He looked down at the children who were milling around far below. They were sleepwalking, but they would only get so far before they turned back and stumbled in the opposite direction, as if repelled back toward Diek by some invisible wall of force.

“Oi!” said Groan, suddenly. “Look at ’im!”

A circle of light had formed in the air above Diek Wustapha. It descended on him, swirling around his torso and extending outward, sweating a dark yellow light. Gordo hefted his battle-axe and took aim, but Tambor pulled him back.

“That’s dark magic,” he said sternly. “You’ve got no hope, trust me.”

“What can we do, den?” said Groan, who didn’t like the look of it either.

Jimmy peered over the lip of the protruding rock. It was a fair way down, he had to admit. The City Hall precipice all over again. He weighed up his chances of landing safely, then realized it probably didn’t matter how he landed. If the ground didn’t kill him, the foreigner would.

“I reckon I could get the children out now,” he said, looking at his granddad evenly.

“I can probably help, there,” said Stump, with a lopsided grin. “I’m good with kids. I’ve got twenty-six from my first marriage.”

“Damn,” said Groan and Gordo in unison, looking at the prisoner with a sudden respect.

“That leaves us with the foreigner,” Tambor said to them, rolling up his sleeves. “Right.”

Gordo noticed the old man’s expression and closed a pudgy hand over his wrist. “Hold on, Tambor. What’re you doing?”

“A spell.”

“Not the Tower of Screaming Doom, surely?” Gordo’s eyes rolled back in his head. “What good’s that going to do here?”

Groan sniffed. “He might die laughin’.”

The dwarf made to chuckle, but Tambor’s expression stopped him dead. “I’m going to try the Doorway of Death.”

“But, but…but you don’t have your spell book!” shouted Jimmy, wide-eyed.

“I don’t need it, I think I can remember,” said Tambor, with a look of concentration.

“But you can’t fight him with magic, Granddad. Not
him
. He’s in league with something awful.”

“I don’t plan to
fight
him,” said Tambor. “I’m going to try to open the portal behind him. I think it’s just like a fissure in time. Somebody else will have to push him inside!”

“Leave that to us,” Gordo said. He turned to Jimmy and Stump. “You get those kiddies out.”

Jimmy nodded and peered over the edge of the promontory. Then he seemed to reach a decision. He took a few steps back, closed his eyes, and jumped. He would have landed perfectly had he remembered to open them again.

“Agggghhh—”

Tambor rushed to the edge.

“You all right?” he shouted down.

“Fine,” came the reply. “Just got a bit of a pain in the
arhhhh
—”

“What?”

“It’s all right. I hit my head getting up.”

“Great,” Gordo whispered to Groan. “If he didn’t know we were here before, he knows now.”

“I heard that,” said Tambor, scowling at the mercenaries. “My Jimmy’s a brave lad.”

“Oh, he is,” said Gordo, reassuringly.

It was Groan’s turn to go over the edge. He unhooked a leather knapsack, which nobody had noticed before, and pulled a length of rope from inside.

“Where the hell did you get that from?” shouted Tambor.

Groan shrugged. “Always carry rope,” he said. “Never know when it’ll come in ’andy.”

“Why didn’t you say you had that before Jimmy jumped?” asked Tambor.

“You didn’ ask. ’Ere, Gordo, you comin’?”

He fastened the rope around a tiny ledge above the mouth of the cave and began to rappel over the lip of the rock. The dwarf waited a while, then followed him. Stump waited in the shadows, wondering which course of action would turn out to be the best bet.

Tambor shook his head to clear his thoughts, straightened up, and returned his attention to the foreigner. Then he mumbled a few syllables and breathed a magic smoke ring through his nose. It floated in the air above him for a time, then became a thin wisp of green. Finally, it descended. As it curled around the foreigner, a strange light filled Diek’s eyes.

On the ground, Gordo, Groan, and Jimmy Quickstint had stumbled upon a problem.

“It’s an invisible wall,” said Gordo. He took a step back and swung his battle-axe at it. There was a glancing
crack
, but nothing happened.

“Great,” said Jimmy, rolling his eyes.

“Le’ me ’ave a go,” said Groan, putting his weight against the barrier.

“Paid good money for this axe,” Gordo muttered to himself. “The bloke told me it’d go through magic barriers like a knife through butter, no problem, he said.”

Groan had failed to shift the unseen boundary. Instead, he was taking out his frustration on a nearby rock.

“Maybe there’s some way over it,” Jimmy hazarded.

“He said to me, Gordo, why would I sell you rubbish when you’re practically family, and I said—”

“Stan’ back,” said Groan. He picked up the rock he’d been jumping up and down on, reeled back, and hurled it at the wall. It smashed into shards.

“He’s got those kids mesmerized,” said Jimmy, staring into the circle. “Look at ’em. We’ve got to do something quick.”

“—What about a dagger, the bloke said. Dwarves
should
have a dagger, but I said—”

“Will you shut up about that stupid axe!” Jimmy screamed.

Then a bolt of energy pierced the circle. Jimmy looked up.

“It’s Tambor,” said Gordo, following the beam to the sorcerer’s fingertips. “It must be part of the doorway spell. Why couldn’t he have remembered that one when we were in the woods?”

Groan had chosen to take a running leap at the invisible barricade. This time (to his considerable surprise) he crashed right through it, bowling over a few of the children.

Diek Wustapha’s eyes flicked open.

“He’s awake!” screamed Jimmy.

The dwarf looked up. “Quick!” he shouted. “Find another exit.”

All across the floor, eyes blinked and heads shook. The children were waking up. There was sobbing, crying, foul exclamations, and an awful lot of bewilderment. One or two of the more astute kids were already picking up stones as if, in true Dullitch spirit, they could smell a fight brewing.

Stump was feeling his way along the east wall of the cavern, hunting for a different set of steps. The foreigner
had
to have walked them down there somehow.

“Over there,” came a shout from Jimmy. He was pointing at an arch farther along the same section of wall, a toddler clutched in his other arm. “We’ll take them that way. It must join to the tunnel where they came in.”

“You go on,” Stump shouted. “I’m gonna see if I can find a backup route in case that one turns out to be a dead end. Be careful, though, this place is riddled with ho-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oles….”

Jimmy gasped; Stump had disappeared right in front of him. There was a muffled cry, becoming more distant as it progressed and, finally, it stopped. Jimmy didn’t reckon he’d see Stump again.

Diek Wustapha stared blearily around the cavern. As he took stock of the situation, his eyes widened.

Interlopers: destroy them.

Stepping back on the rock, Diek raised a hand and sent a burst of green flame hurtling toward the giant barbarian.

Groan looked up just in time to avoid the blast.

Destroy him, Diek. Destroy him before he reaches you!

Diek regained his composure with a measured breath. Then he spread out his hands and a short spear materialized between them. Snatching it out of the air, Diek reached back and flung it straight at Groan, who swung out wildly with his broadsword and split the thing clean in half.

Again, Diek! Again! Give him no time to rest!

Diek acted instantaneously, driving his palm outward and producing a bolt of energy that sent Groan hurtling toward the back of the cavern. But the big barbarian was soon on his feet again, and making a determined sprint back to the center of the cavern.

Forget him, for now. Concentrate on the children.

Diek looked down at his wandering audience.

Don’t let them leave, boy. Focus your mind, control them.

Diek closed his eyes and turned his palms outward. A few rogue vapors swam away on the wind, but then there was nothing. The children were no longer responding to his thoughts. He reached for the flute.

Forget that foolish toy, Diek. It’s nothing; you don’t need it. Watch now, see what you can do on your own….

Diek gasped, and a blue mist emanated from his throat. Curling on the air, it snaked its way down toward the children and began to snare them with its tendrils, strapping arms to sides and binding feet together. Unfortunately, the strands were weak and did nothing more than hinder the children as they fought to escape.

No, no, no! If you can’t manage such a simple task, then what use are you?

Diek clawed at his head, as if doing so would remove The Voice. It didn’t work: if anything, the demonic tone became stronger.

What do you think you are doing? At least deal with the intruders!

Diek bit down on his lip so hard that it began to bleed. Then he cracked his knuckles, took a deep breath, and pointed his hands downward. A series of jagged blue streaks erupted from his fingertips and plunged into the cavern floor.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the ground started to shake.

Very well, Diek. Now you will see what we once were. Oh yes, we shall raise our ancient hosts to assist you….

D
UKE MODESET STOOD ATOP
the tallest tower of his palace, surveying the rebellion below through an elegant telescopic device he’d found in the war room.

His manservant stood a little way behind him, looking uncomfortable. “Sorry to keep on, milord, but why am I standing on this trapdoor, again?”

The duke sighed.

“I’ve told you, Pegrand, in order to keep our most energetic citizens from running me through with a blade.”

“But, I’ve locked it, milord, and I’ve jammed a crowbar through the handle.”

“Yes, well, I’m not taking any chances. Now just stand still, will you?”

“Er…right, milord. Whatever you say.”

Modeset returned his attention to the telescope, then collapsed it and put it away.

“We’re in big trouble this time, old friend. You do realize that, even if the children miraculously come hurtling through the gates in the next five minutes, my days in this city are numbered.”

“Oh, no, milord. Surely if—”

Modeset waved his manservant’s protestations away.

“We have to face facts, Pegrand. Even if the parents forgive me, the Yowlers won’t give up an opportunity to step in. They’ve wanted my blasted cousin for the throne ever since he was born. If I don’t get murdered, at the very least I’ll be sent into exile. Perhaps it might be best for all concerned if I just jump.”

Modeset climbed up onto the nearest buttress and stretched out his arms like a man imitating a bird.

“B-b-but you can’t—”

A sword blade suddenly shot up through the trapdoor, narrowly missing the manservant’s privates.

“Um, right you are, milord,” he gasped. “Don’t hang about, now.”

T
HE CAVERN WAS A HIVE
of frantic activity. Children scrambled left and right, dodging and swerving to avoid the walking cadavers Diek had enticed from the cracked earth in an attempt to stop them leaving.

“Down! Down! Do-o-own!”

Gordo flew over the heads of the nearest children as if he’d been fired from a cannon, barreling into the undead mass with his battle-axe a blur. Skulls shattered and half-rotted limbs flew left and right, but the dwarf wasn’t having things all his own way. An evil-looking gash had been opened on his forehead and several of the staggering grave walkers were clawing mindlessly at his back. With every triumphant blow, he darted frantic glances left and right, but Groan was nowhere to be seen.

Kill the sorcerer, boy. Destroy him.

Diek—his own mind long gone—made to focus his gaze on Tambor. This time, a plume of yellow fire flew from his hands and surged toward the sorcerer. It hit the rocky ledge beneath him, which in turn came away from the wall and crashed to the ground.

Diek smiled with satisfaction, and tried again. He sent a furious bolt of energy flying across the cavern, encased the old man and spun him around in midair, increasing in velocity until Tambor was nothing more than a blur. The spell intensified and the air began to hum. One more effort and….Diek toppled backward, his concentration broken. The spell weakened as the sorcerer’s attention was diverted to his own safety.

The boulder had moved. Diek peered over his shoulder, and saw the barbarian grinning up at him.

Groan was underneath the boy’s temporary stage, employing his considerable strength to tip it over. He gave one final grunt of effort, and Diek fell. The spell withered and died.

Tambor plummeted downward. He still had enough awareness to roll as he hit the ground, but his own momentum took him over the edge of the promontory. His legs scrabbled for purchase on the rock face and he hung there, dangling precariously in midair.