by T Hodden
“Why?” Loretta asked through gritted teeth as he twisted his grip, sending pain through her entire being. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I can not allow your plans to destroy the Skein, before I can use it.” He hissed. “And that means your poor little champion must be drawn out from Heavens Edge. So you will open the cells. All of them.”
“Please have mercy.” Loretta whispered through her pain. So he changed his grip on his sword and placed it across her throat. Then she dare not make a sound.
Five
We froze as a sudden gust of wind blew through the town, coating the church yard and everything else in a fine layer of dust and grit. The wind had a strange sound upon it. A sound like a million hornets nests all being kicked into a rage at once. It made Wendy shiver and cover her ears, it made Tiger produce a well dented frying pan from her satchel and hold it up like a club.
“What was that?” I asked Val. I had been ready to break the ground with a shovel, and still held it in my hand, in mid air.
“Nothing good.” He whispered. “We got to go back to town. Now.”
I had not heard the noise, but I know I should have. There was a familiar taste in the air. Something about the dust. I licked my finger and dabbed it to the dust so I could put some on my fingertip and inspect it. It smelt... Distinct.
“Hell?” I whispered. “This dust came from hell?”
“Like I said,” Val met my gaze with eyes wide in horror, “nothing good did this. We need to get back to town and we need to prepare people. Because I got a feeling a whole lot of trouble is coming this way.”
He was wrong. Trouble was headed for the whole world.
*
“You wanted the chance to pay off your debts?” Dad said, nodding at the television in the corner of the Sheriffs office. Gwyn was sat on the desk with the remote in hand, scrolling through every rolling news channel he could find.
“Dinosaurs in Texas, poltergeists in Milan, Lizard Men on Sheppey and Aliens in Edinburgh. And a whole lot more.” Gwyn said.
“Singularity have mercy.” Val whispered.
“I can't help.” I said, feeling useless. “I can't put all that right, as I can't leave here.”
“Because you are scared of the Skein falling into the wrong hands?” Sylas said. I had not even seen him there. “Surely this is a trap? To draw you out?”
“Maybe? I mean, others must know. They must have worked out what Amduscias wanted the town for. Whoever has been orchestrating everything else?” I said, despairing.
“But we can't stand by and do nothing.” Dad was adamant. “I can help dig out this Skein, and keep an eye on things here. I wont be doing it alone either?”
“Your father is right.” Doreen said as she appeared. “All Hell has literally broken loose. We must help. I am sure that some of the bears would remain here with your father.”
“And I am also at your service.” Sylas said, without his usual reluctance. “I wish to help.”
“You are volunteering?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Who are you and where is the real Sylas?” I asked.
“Do not flatter yourself by thinking you know the real Sylas.” He warned. “Besides I would rather guard here than go anywhere near all that chaos.”
“But we are staying here too.” Mac said with a giggle. He realised it was the wrong time to make jokes and swallowed his giggles back down.
“Then how am I meant to get to all these places?” I asked.
Sylas answered by taking a chain from around his neck and passing to me a totem made from a large fang. It probably once belonged to a wolf bigger than most horses. “My Father gave this to me for a mission once.” Sylas explained. “I think he forgot he had given it to me. Draw a doorway on any surface and knock three times to open a path to my lands in Other World. Once there close the door, hold a location in your mind as though for a spell and open the door once more. It will take you where you need to be. But beware. The door closes behind you and it is sealed forever. A new door must be opened.”
I took the tooth and dropped it in my pocket. I looked at Doreen and she gripped my hand. Gwyn and Polly came waddling over to me, ready for action.
“Sure you don't want to stay here?” I asked Doreen.
“Not on your life.” She promised. “I can return if you need me to. But for now, I need to keep an eye on you.”
“Ted, you are in charge.” I said as the bear hurried into the room. “You help Val dig up the Skein, then you help Sylas take it to the Grey King. He will know how to keep it somewhere safe.”
“I'm in charge?” He looked at me. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Of course you are Ted. I trust you with my life.”
He looked flustered.
“Don't worry.” I assured him. “I will be right back. You are my best mate. You can do this.”
He nodded, and stared hard at Wendy as she took my hand. “Ted has a wee point. The Skein needs to be handled carefully. By somebody we trust. Like you.”
“Maybe he should stay here.” Ted whimpered. “You know... With the thing that can end the world?”
“You can do this.” I reminded the bears. “Anything I can do, you can do.”
They shared a look that made no sense to me.
“Well, maybe not anything.” Ted said.
“You will do fine.” I promised him.
*
I drew the door on the wall at the edge of the parking lot and was about to step through when I felt a gaze on me. I looked back at the small windows for the custody suite and could Ankh looking down at me. She gave me a gesture almost like she was wiping away imaginary tears and looked away.
“That to me looked like the sign of the lamenting blade. The worshippers of Ankh make the gesture for those they will not slay themselves.” Gwyn said.
“That's nice.” Polly cooed. “She wont kill us!”
“That they will not slay themselves,” Gwyn tried again, “because Death is already drawing them towards her.”
“Oh.” Polly said.
The door I had scratched had become a battered green door, with a wrought iron handles and hinges, flaking paint and an ominous creak. I pulled the door open and stepped into the inky shadows. It felt like stepping through an air pocket.
I stood in the Other World. In the domain of the Grey King, surrounded with all his board games. He stood looking at me. A sad expression and shadows on his face.
“Ah.” He said, rolling an 'r' that was not in the word. “Sorry to hijack your little jaunt. I would rather you were back in Heavens Edge looking for the Skein, but the game is changing.” He smiled. “I thought you would like to choose which board you handled first.” He waved at the game boards that surrounded him. “Oh yes. I was not meant to know about that little toy. Believe me, my son has been sneaking away from my view since he was a boy. He knows the way between worlds that do not even-” He paused as something lit up in his head. He suddenly understood something. “It did not do to let him know I had an eye on this particular little sneak. So... Dinosaurs or Aliens? How about the Werewolf in Berlin?”
I looked at Doreen. She shrugged.
“Which one is going to kill somebody they soonest?”
*
The streets of Berlin were filled with freezing fog that glistened sharp silver in the waning light of the dusk. The Christmas Decorations glittered and sparkled. But Eda did not have time to think about it. She was running for her life. Her pumps were pounding on the pavement and the cold raked her lungs with every heaving breath she drew. Adrenaline burned in her veins because she was sprinting through the darkness and she could hear the creature close behind her, feel the rancid breath on the back of her neck, hear the scraping of claws on the road.
She skidded into an alley and her body thumped into a wheeled rubbish bin, scattering loose garbage over the floor. Pain burst in her chest from her clumsy crash and the solid floor came rushing up to meet her far too quick
ly. She sat up and clawed her way to the back of the alley, pressing herself against the wall.
The Werewolf filled the mouth of the alley. It was taller than any man she knew, and as wide across the shoulders as it was tall. It was neither man nor wolf, but had all the worst features f both. A shaggy grey fur and piercing yellow eyes, the snout of a wolf with too many fangs to fit in the maw. It wore the ragged remains of jeans and a body warmer, a tee shirt for an of fashion band that had split in several places to make room for the slabs of muscle.
It licked its lips with gleeful anticipation, savouring the flavour of her fear. It pounced into the air with a gnashing of teeth. Eda should have looked away, but she could not, fear froze her in place and rooted her to the floor as the wolf pounced, mouth wide and claws raised.
Then suddenly it was not flying towards her any more. There was a snapping sound as a grapple and rope whipped around the trunk of the wolf and went taut. As the wolf fell back away from her Eda was sure she could see a happy looking bear in a cowboy hat on the other end of the rope. A small huddle of other bears joined Tiger as they heaved on the rope, hauling the wolf out of reach of Eda. I joined them and started to scatter sachets of salt around the wolf. An improvised circle.
“I am so sorry about this.” Doreen said, manifesting herself besides the scared young woman. “Are you okay? Do you need a nice cup of sweet tea?” She saw the look that Eda was giving her, mute with terror. “Oh. Sorry. You don't speak English?”
“A little.” Eda admitted.
“Well, my friend there, Fish, is making a magic circle. The Werewolf is actually a spirit that has possessed the poor man. It worms into his head and floods him with desires, while crushing down all the controls that stop us just doing what we want. In the morning those controls come crashing back and he will have to live with what he did. But it was all the Wolf really. Making him want to.” She pointed at the circle. “That magic circle is neither this world or the Other world. If Fish and the bears get the Wolf to lose its grip on the man the circle closes and the Wolf goes back to the Other World while the man stays here.”
“Oh.” Eda said.
I was in the circle, holding down the wolf and whispering the rites that would draw the spirit out. The bears were jumping on the wolf with wrestling moves to keep him down. Then suddenly it broke out. A cloud of jet black smoke and embers in the shape of a wolf burst from the flailing creature, leaving a confused looking man in its wake. The bears leapt from the circle before I closed it, the night air growing still and suddenly silent. I smiled at Eda.
“Hello. Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“Good. Merry Christmas.” I took the tooth from my pocket and scratched a new door on the wall of the alley and we slipped away.
*
Clara David put down her bag of chips and stepped out from her huddle of friends. She had her finger ready to point at the strange man on the beach. He was strange because he was tall, wearing a coppery leather suit like an old diving suit, and strange because his head seemed to be a glass bowl full of smoke. There was a faint light at the heart of the smoke.
He had emerged from the dark brown sea, staggering like a zombie his arms held up before him as though he were sleep walking. The news said they were spacemen. Which was stupid. So Clara, being Clara David, was going to tell him he was stupid. Because as far as I can tell Clara David had no other talent than to tell the people on the Island of Sheppey when they were stupid. She described herself as telling it how it is, and she was always enthusiastic to find something she could describe how she saw it. If for example her neighbours wanted to park in the street, but she also wanted to park in the street, she would tell them that she was not being funny and that it was stupid of them to park where everybody knows she parked. If somebody was dressed in a way she did not approve, or if somebody was taking too much time in the post office and she was at the back of the queue, she would tell somebody they were stupid. She could spend hours on the internet informing tens of people that they were stupid.
It was her super power.
“Hey!” She said to the Spaceman. “You can't just go staggering around like that. I am not being funny, but you would have to be creepy to do that. Or stupid. Do you know you look stupid?” The spaceman ignored her. It ambled down the beach, inspecting the stones one by one. Carla did not notice how her friends were stepping away from her and trying to adopt body language that made it quite clear they were not with her. “Those are called stones spaceman!” Carla shouted. “You are meant to be asking for our leaders and-” She could not think of anything else they should be doing, while the spaceman picked up another stone. Carla picked up a stone and hurled it at the Spaceman. It bounced off his helmet.
He paused and looked at her with that featureless globe.
“They are all just stones!” Carla barked and hurled a pebble at the spaceman.
The spaceman stood and loomed in her direction. It was no longer sleepwalking. It was angry. Carla stood, staring at it even as it let out a sound like a whale song and took determined strides in her direction. She stopped laughing and started to realise something was horribly wrong.
“You can't do nothing. You are bang out of order.” She snapped. “Do you know who my dad is?”
The spaceman did not seem to care. The light in his head burned ever brighter and was painful to look at. Suddenly a woman in old fashioned clothes was there, yanking Carla out of the way as a searing ray of energy flashed through the air, so hot it made Carla flush and her skin prickle. The ray shot from the head of the spaceman.
“Idiot.” Doreen said to Carla. “That is a being from another world. It has the technology and resilience required to travel the void between stars. It was sent to Hell not for a sin, but because they have the mineral the aliens need to mine and if it stayed out here it might hurt people if it was forced to defend itself.” She forced Carla to look in her eyes. “And you threw a stone at it?”
I pushed past them with the sword. The spaceman was still angry. He fired another ray from his head and I blocked it with the sword. The blade singing as it dissipated the energy harmlessly. That made the spaceman pause. Gwyn gave him a happy smile and scampered forwards holding some stone the colour of moonlight. The spaceman stopped shooting and looked at the stone.
“Nice yummy minerals.” Gwyn said. “Just enough to get home. I mean, I know that somebody dragged you away from Hell in the hope that you would get in a panic and shoot people if they acted like scared humans. But you don't need to. See?”
The spaceman took the mineral and turned around. He walked back out to see without looking back. Carla picked herself up.
“Not being funny but you can't go around shoving people like that.” Carla snapped at Doreen.
“Okay,” Tiger snorted, “maybe we should tell the spacemen they can finish zapping this one person as a favour.”
*
Ted, Wendy, Sylas, Val, and Mac hauled on the ropes to lift the coffin out of the grave. It was old, made from a metal with a dull, matte silver colour that was utterly devoid of any sign of age or corrosion, but was covered in ferns of deep frost. A fur of ice crystals was forming on the ropes where they touched the casket.
“What is that?” Mac asked.
“The Skein.” Ted said darkly.
“How do we open the casket?” Mac persisted.
“We do not.” Val said.
“Absolutely.” Ted nodded. “We keep it locked away until we can move it.”
“I agree.” Sylas whispered. “And nobody touches the casket.”
Ted uncapped his flask of piping hot coffee and poured it on the casket. The coffee froze before it finished pouring out and held the flask aloft. “I don't think we can touch it.”
“Oh.” Sylas seemed confused. “Anybody else feel that? A disturbance? Something slipping here from... I don't know.”
“Oh no.” Val whispered. “I am going to check on our guests at the station.”
&n
bsp; *
He seemed to come from nowhere as he stepped into the light of the corridor and stared into the cells. His glamour mask hid his face. His cloak masked his body. He stared at each of the mercenaries hired to do his bidding.
“I offered you all life beyond death, power beyond your ken and this is how I find you?” He hissed. “Locked in cells by a mortal? A sick mortal nearing his fate?”
“We did as you commanded.” Orbas whispered. “Followed your rules. Gave them until Noon on your word. This is on you.”
“Silence.” He snapped. “You were to draw him to you and destroy him. You did half a job and now you rest here when you should be killing him. Do not fear. You still have the most wonderful roles to play in the grand scheme. Your sacrifice will be appreciated.” He held a totem up and made a gesture. One by one the locks popped open on the cells.
“Now, see, that is just naughty.” Said a voice behind him. He turned to see a bear, with ginger coloured fur and a pitchfork. The bear clicked s trigger in the shaft and the pitchfork ignited. He looked at the little bear.
“Another of the insufferable little bears.” He held his sword high and adopted a ready stance. “I am going to make you cry out for mercy before I kill you.” He swung the sword once, it sang like a finger on the edge of a glass as it sliced the pitchfork in two. He launched into a kick and sent Ginger sailing down the corridor. He landed against the door with a thud. The door opened and Val looked down at the bear by his feet.
For the first time in his life he snatched his pistol out of his holster and pointed it at the stranger with the sword. His eyes widened.
“I know who you are.” Val whispered.
“Yeah, and you were meant to go stop my friends while Fisher was here looking for the Skein. You know, kill them?” He cocked his head.
“I don't do that.” Val said. “And you should know that. Go on home.”
“No.” He said softly. “I guess I better kill them for you.” He sprinted forwards already swinging his sword. Val fired off all six rounds from his revolver, but did not slow the attacker. He tried to move aside, but the sword flashed with an uncanny speed.