Rivers of Fire (Atherton, Book 2) (11 page)

107

father said." He glanced at the wall again, saw the blue line leading on, and touched it.

"But it's a
light,
Samuel. Something's over there."

The two argued in whispers, but it was a quarrel they didn't need to have, for the light began to move toward them. Soon it was noticeably closer.

"Someone's down here," said Samuel. His voice was electric with fear.

Isabel was naturally prone to acting on instinct in the face of oncoming danger, and she took out her sling. Her hands shook so violently that she had some trouble getting the black fig properly loaded.

"It can only be two people," said Samuel. He was afraid to even say their names, but he whispered them anyway. "Sir Emerik and Lord Phineus."

The sound of the Crat started filling the air, as if a great many of them were surrounding the approaching light. The flame began to twirl around in a circle, and Samuel could only imagine that whoever was out there was trying to keep the Crat from biting them. They could hear the sound of the flame swishing through the open space.

"Hello, Samuel." The cold voice of Lord Phineus came from a few feet away.

Suddenly, the torch was ripped from Samuel's hand and a blade poked playfully at his chest. Isabel screamed. She had not screamed in a very long time, and all the terror she'd felt came out at once as she beheld the twisted face of Lord Phineus in the

108

dancing flames. The scream echoed into the vast and powerful space.

"Nobody can hear you," said Lord Phineus. "At least no one who can do you any good."

Lord Phineus looked positively insane, the black point of the widow's peak on his forehead dripping with sweat over his pale face. His eyes were swollen and glistening.

"What are you doing down here?" he asked. There was a strange sort of glee in his voice.

The sound of the Crat grew nearer, and Samuel could hear Sir Emerik in a rage trying to drive them away.

"Back! Back, I tell you!"
Eeeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeek!

It was horrible to listen as Sir Emerik approached, but Lord Phineus seemed unaware of the chaos around him.

"I asked you a question," he said, pushing the tip of the dagger harder against Samuel's chest. "What are you doing down here?"

Eeeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeek!

The Crat were nearly on top of them, and Isabel began banging her teeth together so violently it startled even Lord Phineus. He began to laugh like a madman, which gave the whole of Mead's Hollow a feeling of mayhem. It was a symphony of maddening noise in a place not accustomed to such a racket.

As if to answer in reply, Atherton itself began to quake and shudder. It would not be outdone by mere mortals. Very soon the deafening sound of rushing water and crashing boulders

109

filled the air, and the floor felt as if it were being pulled out from underneath them in fits and starts.

Meanwhile, Sir Emerik crawled clumsily toward the group, one hand swinging the flame all around him. But the Crat had gone away, and as Atherton settled into a dull, echoing roar, he looked up and saw Samuel.

"You!" screamed Sir Emerik. "It's only
you?"

Sir Emerik looked at Lord Phineus, who had stopped laughing and was leaning heavily against the wall.

"You sent me out there so we could catch two foolish
children?"

Allowing himself to be unguarded with no wall at his back turned out to be a bad decision for Sir Emerik. At that moment a Crat came from behind and leaped onto his back, clamping its teeth into him. He squirmed and shouted, waving the flame in every direction until the Crat was struck with the torch and released him.

"I'll only ask you once more," Lord Phineus said to Samuel, unmoved by his companion's plight. "Why have you come here?"

Samuel felt momentarily as helpless as he had when Lord Phineus taunted him in the House of Power. "We're looking for the source of water," he confessed, shaking.

Everything had gone quiet. The Crat were gone and Atherton was at rest. Lord Phineus knelt down and put his face a few inches from Samuel's. White fluid dripped from Lord Phineus's nose, the end of a trail that started in the corners of his eyes.

110

"Then you will be pleased," said Lord Phineus. His eyes glared heavily at the boy. "The blue line stops here, Samuel. You've found what you came for."

Lord Phineus hauled Samuel along the wall a few more feet and yelled behind him to Sir Emerik.

"Seize her!"

Sir Emerik took hold of Isabel and led her forward. He did not look well. What hair he had was matted grotesquely against his face. His eyes were bulging--not as much as Lord Phineus's were, but bulging nonetheless. And the terrible twitch remained, jolting in the firelight.

The men dragged Samuel and Isabel along until they arrived in front of a door. The door was of average size top to bottom and side to side, but it had a feeling of thickness that could not be measured. There was a latch of a kind Samuel had never seen. Putting down his torch, Lord Phineus took hold of it.

"You came looking for the source of water," said Lord Phineus. "You shall find something altogether different."

He jerked the heavy door open forcefully. When the door was open far enough Samuel was thrust inside and Isabel thrown in behind him. Lord Phineus followed, for he had reason to want to see the boy's reaction to what would be found inside. But this was a disastrous mistake. The moment he entered, Sir Emerik slammed shut the door and locked the three inside.

Every part of Sir Emerik shook with excitement. He had finally rid himself of Lord Phineus.

111

"No one remains! I am lord now, Lord Emerik, Lord of the Highlands!"

But the truth was Sir Emerik had been bitten by the Crat, and his weak mind was already awash in madness. He heard a o familiar, quiet sound coming from the distance in Mead's

Hollow.

Eeeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeek!

Sir Emerik touched the wall at his side and began running.

112

*** CHAPTER 13 THE SECRET AT THE SOURCE

Sir Emerik ran until his breath was gone, and still he heard the sound of the Crat behind him. They were on him, and this time they would not relent. Ten, maybe more, huddled in close. They had been denied a victim among many opportunities for too long, and Sir Emerik felt a deep concern that this time the creatures would not relent.

This was the first time Sir Emerik could really see the Crat. They were not as small as he'd supposed. The Crat were a full three feet long--five if you counted the hairless tail twitching behind--and powerfully built. They were black, which made them hard to see, but now it seemed that they
wanted
him to see them.

If Sir Emerik had ever seen a large house cat or a common

113

city rat, he would have said the creature before him looked like both at once. This would have been correct, because that's exactly what the Crat were--a hybrid species dreamed up by Dr. Maximus Harding and left to roam Mead's Hollow. He'd had great hopes for the Crat but found them wild and unpredictable. And yet, as with so many of his creations, he could not bring himself to destroy the Crat. He preferred to hide his flawed inventions, and Mead's Hollow had seemed as good a place as any.

Sir Emerik whipped the torch back and forth and managed to set one of the Crat on fire. He watched it roll and scream and smelled its burning hair. It reminded him of having his own hair burned off by Edgar, and for a moment he was distracted, letting down his guard.

It was then he felt the pain. Looking down, he saw the Crat at his boot. Its long, sharp teeth had pierced the leather, and jaws that seemed capable of crushing gravel into dust were clamping down around his big toe. He kicked furiously and set the beast on fire with the torch, but it would not let go. It wasn't until Sir Emerik batted the creature repeatedly with the torch that it finally released him. He kicked the flaming animal out into the darkness and to his astonishment it ran off, rolling the fire off its back as it went, until he could see it no more.

"Get back! Leave me alone!" he shouted. Having witnessed the man set fire to not one but two of the Crat, the creatures seemed to rethink their idea of taking him down. They screamed horribly but moved off.

114

[Image: MEADS HOLLOW.]

115

Sir Emerik felt a searing pain inside his boot, as if all of the skin had been torn off his toe. It was a pain that matched very closely that of the wound on the shin of his opposite leg. He had been bitten twice now.

Sir Emerik heard the snapping sound of a whip from somewhere in Mead's Hollow. "Who could that be?" he muttered to himself. He looked toward the sound and saw light coming his way. "Maybe it's that Tyler come to find me. How long have I been down here?" Sir Emerik heard the whip cracking again. "Tyler!" he howled. "Tyler, I'm here, against the wall! Follow the blue line!"

Sir Emerik felt suddenly better, as if he might escape Mead's Hollow after all. He remembered that he was in charge, that he was Lord Emerik now and would rule, if only he could get out. And then it was as if these indulgent thoughts of power were almost too much for him to bear and his head were swelled to overflowing. His brain felt full of a liquid rumbling, like it was turning wet and about to run out of his nose. He was slowly losing his mind.

Eeeeeeeek! Eeeeeeeek! Snap! Snap! Snap!

The Crat and the whip traded turns echoing through Mead's Hollow while Sir Emerik stood with his back to the wall, waiting for Tyler to find him.

But of course it was not Tyler who came upon this broken man, but Edgar, Dr. Kincaid, and Vincent. Vincent cracked the whip several times for good measure, and what Crat remained scattered at this new threat.

116

"Who are you?" said Dr. Kincaid, gazing at Sir Emerik as if he didn't belong in Mead's Hollow. "Who let you in here?"

Sir Emerik did not answer. His eyes lay heavy on Edgar, and he was consumed with one thought--to take the torch in his hand and set Edgar on fire. How could this terrible boy have climbed down in the Flatlands and yet be standing before him? Sir Emerik's face contorted with rage, and he lunged toward Edgar.

Edgar was a very quick child, as we have come to know, and he dodged the oncoming flames without difficulty. Vincent snapped the whip toward Sir Emerik and caught him with a stabbing pain in the ear. Trying to set Edgar on fire qualified as a violent act, and Vincent acted in kind.

"Who are you?" Dr. Kincaid asked once more.

"It's Sir Emerik," said Edgar. "He serves Lord Phineus."

This seemed to baffle Dr. Kincaid even further. "But what's he doing down here? He shouldn't be here."

There was a little anger in his voice, as if he felt Mead's Hollow was a sacred place for only a few and that he alone could invite people into it. It struck him that Sir Emerik was not the kind of person he would invite.

"Children!" cried Sir Emerik, touching the new wound on his ear inflicted by the whip. "Children will be my undoing!"

He was raving, but something about what he'd said made Edgar jump. "What do you mean?"

"I mean Samuel and that girl, and now
you!
Why must you all torment me?"

117

This was a shocking piece of news for Edgar. Could Samuel and Isabel be trapped in Mead's Hollow?

"You mean there's
more?"
said Dr. Kincaid, bewildered by the idea of so many people wandering around in such a forbidden place.

Even as he was losing control of his own mind, Sir Emerik had the capacity to dream up evil schemes. He stared at the group before him and heard the distant scuffling of the Crat.

"I will tell you where to find the boy and the girl, but you will let me pass. I must get free of this place, and of him!" Sir Emerik pointed to Edgar is if he were a monster, and wished with everything in his black heart that the Crat would tear the boy apart.

"You've been bitten, haven't you?" said Dr. Kincaid. "You should know it won't end well. A few hours, a day at most, and you'll be finished."

"Shut up, old man!" cried Sir Emerik. "I've never felt better in my life. And you should be more polite when talking to the lord of all Atherton. There are many who fear me."

Dr. Kincaid didn't have the slightest idea what Sir Emerik was talking about.

"He's of no use to us," Vincent assessed. Dr. Kincaid nodded and stepped back, giving Vincent authority to do as he pleased.

"You must let me go first, then I'll yell back to you," said Sir Emerik, starting along the wall with the blue line. Vincent cracked the whip, then took Sir Emerik by his filthy robe and held him out toward the open of Mead's Hollow.