‘You absolutely will not!’ Omari spun to face him.
‘I have to! Too many people have died for me already. I won’t allow anyone else to do the same.’
‘And I will not allow any more of my family to perish at the hands of them!’ Omari snarled.
‘Grandfather, what other choice do we have?’
‘Sacrificing you will do nothing to save the rest of us. Once they have disposed of you they will not hesitate to do the same with everyone else. The only reason they have not descended upon us already is that Kalladon is not willing to risk you escaping with your life again. For the moment you are the only thing that is keeping us alive.’
‘But the Elders...’
‘The Elders are fully prepared to give their lives for anyone and everyone in Sanctuary, as am I. It was a vow we each made when we took on our roles.’
Gabriel shook his head. ‘No. I don’t accept that. I won’t accept that. There has to be something we can do. Our situation can’t be this hopeless. We-’ he glanced over at Marina and paused. An idea had sparked. Not a necessarily bright spark but a glimmer of hope nonetheless.
He glanced around the edges of the enormous theatre. He looked upwards trying to examine the ceiling, but it was to no avail, it was too high.
‘What is it?’ Omari asked.
‘Is there any other way out of here?’ Gabriel said, ‘The roof maybe?’
‘A novel idea, Gabriel but I’m afraid not. The Theatre of Life was designed to have limited exits so that the acoustics would not be interfered with. A gross oversight by our forefathers it now seems.’
‘What about the waterways?’
Before Omari had a chance to respond Kalladon’s maniacal voice boomed out again. ‘So what is your decision?’ he bellowed, ‘The life of Elder Fontis hangs precariously. Where is the child of the Gryphon? Will he be delivered to me, or must your precious Elder perish?’
‘There are many people here, Kalladon. We need time to locate the boy,’ Omari called back, buying for time.
‘He just called out! Surely he cannot be that difficult to find?’
‘He... seems to have disappeared into the crowd somehow...’ Omari said, buying further time.
‘You have fifteen minutes, old man. Then people start to die. I think one person perishing every second after the time limit expires should be sufficient for the cowardly Gryphon child to be revealed. If not by himself then by someone else who wishes to live. I hope for your sake the boy is revealed soon.’
‘Can’t he see me?’ Gabriel asked.
‘Not at this distance,’ Omari replied. ‘He has an exceptional sense of smell, but sight over distance is a weakness of all the Reptilians. Now, you were saying?’
‘What if we escaped through the underwater passageways?’
‘Impossible I fear. I would approximate that less than a third of the people here are proficient enough swimmers to navigate those channels. Many are terrified of water and would rather risk their chances against Kalladon’s forces.’
‘But I’ve travelled them before – with help. What if those that can swim help those that can’t?’
‘Possibly... but even with their poor eyesight over distance, the Reptilians would still notice our numbers diminishing as we escaped through the waterways.’
‘Maybe... but what if they were looking in the other direction?’
Omari was taken aback, ‘Gabriel... just what are you suggesting?’
‘A distraction.’
‘In the form of...?’
‘Live bait.’
‘No, absolutely not. I forbid it.’
‘Grandfather, it’s our only chance. If I can turn their attention away long enough then maybe some people can escape whilst those willing to fight can intervene.’
‘Gabriel, I... I’m not happy about this. If something goes wrong...’
‘Can you think of any other option?’
Through clenched teeth, Omari reluctantly admitted, ‘No, I can’t.’
***
‘Gabriel this is by far the worst idea I’ve ever heard!’ Tamera protested.
‘I agree,’ Marina said, her eyes welling with tears, ‘There’s no way I’m going participate in this. I’ll be leading you to your death!’
Gabriel approximated that three or four minutes had passed. Omari had reluctantly slipped away to inform the Council Guardsmen, along with other willing volunteers, of the plan. Subtly, so as not to raise the suspicions of the Reptilians, the guardsmen and other insurgents began to filter through the crowd to the bottom of the staircases ready to spring into action.
‘I see movement down there,’ Kalladon shouted down as a grim reminder of his presence. ‘How much of a coward is this boy? Does he care so little for the lives of his fellows? In ten minutes people will die.’
‘You’re letting him pressure you into making a terrible mistake,’ Tamera said.
‘No, I’m not,’ Gabriel said, ‘I’m relying on his obsession with me to cause him to make a mistake.’
‘That’s a big presumption.’
‘Look we’re running out of time. If you’re not going to help I’m going to need to find someone else who will.’
Seth said, ‘Alright, what do you need us to do?’
‘Get out of here,’ Gabriel replied, ‘and ensure that everyone else does the same.’ He turned to Marina, ‘Please help me. Please don’t make this any more difficult for me than it already is.’
‘Alright,’ she replied with reluctance, ‘Just promise me you’ll stay safe.’
‘I promise I’ll try,’ Gabriel said. He took a deep breath, clasped Marina’s hand and plunged into the pool.
The cold water enveloped him once again. He cursed himself for not bringing along the gillhood Marina had gifted him on their first date. He promised himself that if he made it through his impending ordeal alive, he would not leave home without it ever again – just in case.
The water bubbled and churned all around him. Gabriel’s jacket and trousers flapped wildly. The all-too-familiar burning sensation filled his chest as his lungs rapidly emptied of air.
Thankfully the experience was short lived. The pair broke the surface and Gabriel inhaled deeply. He took a moment to collect himself and then looked around.
‘We’re in the Artisan Plaza Central Pool,’ Marina said as if reading his mind. ‘This is as close as I can get you to the Theatre entrance hall.’
‘Thanks,’ Gabriel said as he heaved himself over the edge of the pool. He turned and gazed longingly into Marina’s eyes. His stomach was a swirling vortex of nervous tension which continued to build in strength.
‘Stay safe,’ Marina said. She flicked her tail and rose up to kiss him on the cheek.
Gabriel gave a troubled smile. ‘Hurry,’ he said, ‘you need to be ready to help with the evacuation.’
Marina nodded solemnly and dove backwards into the water leaving Gabriel all alone.
***
For the first time since his arrival in Sanctuary, Artisan Plaza was a ghost town. The silence was deafening. The isolation intimidating. He removed his bowtie and tossed it aside then undid the top button of his shirt. He couldn’t have anything restricting his breathing. He expected to lead the Reptilians in a long chase away from the theatre and would need every molecule of air he could inhale.
Summoning up all of his courage he set off at a brisk jogging pace back towards the Theatre of Life. He was careful not to go too fast, he needed to conserve as much energy as he could for what lay ahead. At the same time he was aware that time was limited, he had no idea how much time had passed since he had exited the Theatre.
Shortly Gabriel exited Artisan Plaza and was approaching the entrance hall to the Theatre of Life when his concentration was broken by a noise that sounded like gravel crunching underfoot on both sides of him. Two enormous dark shapes leapt out of the shadows and descended upon him. The movement was too fast for him to react to. Both of Gabriel’s arms were clamped in a vice
like grip: his assailants’ massive hands compressed his own limbs so completely it was as though he had been vacuum-packed. In the dim light Gabriel’s eyes strained to see his attackers, yet he smelt their foul breath wafting against his cheeks. Both emitted the somewhat sweet, yet putrid stench of rotting meat. The scent of the carnivore.
‘Well, well, well,’ the brute on Gabriel’s right hissed, ‘we meet again, boy. I’ve been longing for an opportunity for payback ever since your cowardly attack on me back in the woods!’
As Gabriel’s eyes adjusted to the lowlight, his heart skipped a beat. He was face-to-face with the same snake-man he had saved Tamera and Verbera from on the day Master Tigris had been wounded.
‘You’re lucky that Kalladon wants you delivered to him alive, otherwise I’d gut you here myself.’ The monster’s scaly face was now so close that his forked-tongue tickled Gabriel’s cheek as he spoke. ‘Although,’ he continued, ‘he never said anything about delivering you completely unharmed.’
In a flash the snake-skinned beast delivered a brutal punch to Gabriel’s stomach that lifted him off of his feet. Pain exploded outward from Gabriel’s mid-section in sharp spikes as black spots burst in front of his eyes. He dropped to his knees wheezing in agony.
‘Get up runt!’ the second figure ordered. He grabbed a handful of Gabriel’s damp, shaggy hair and pulled him roughly to his feet.
The pain shooting across Gabriel’s scalp was intense but still overshadowed by the throbbing from his stomach. The two beings part marched, part dragged a still-panting Gabriel towards his doom.
Just as Gabriel began to recover he was dumped unceremoniously onto the floor. As he slowly picked himself up, he felt countless evil eyes scowling down at him. The rotting meat stench of the figures that began to surround him was nauseating. The rasping, hissing breathing resonating around him sounded like an orchestra of death rattles. The nightmare that had plagued him for so long had become a reality.
Finally one of them spoke. Gabriel recognised the voice instantly as that of Kalladon. ‘So here he is at last, the child of the Gryphon.’
‘We found him trying to sneak away,’ the snake-man said.
‘Is that so?’ Kalladon hissed. ‘It seems then that cowardice is genetic. How enlightening.’
Gabriel glared upwards at the leader of the Reptilians. He was surprisingly tall. A ragged, black hooded robe concealed Kalladon’s finely honed muscles. Beneath the hood his spherical yellow eyes burned with hatred. Slowly, deliberately Kalladon crouched in front of Gabriel and extended his flattened, snakelike head forward until it was mere inches from Gabriel’s own. Gabriel could see every individual shiny, tan-coloured scale of the creature’s hideous face.
Kalladon’s blue-black forked tongue flicked rapidly as he tasted the air. ‘You even emit the vile stink of a coward,’ Kalladon said, ‘It’s the same stench of fear that your parents emitted on the day I killed them.’
‘My parents were no cowards,’ Gabriel said defiantly.
‘Is that so?’ Kalladon mocked. ‘Well scent doesn’t lie, cub, and you reek of fear, just like they did. And now you’re going to die. Just. Like. Them.’ He stood up again and rocked his head backwards cackling in triumph. His wide, open mouth revealed Kalladon’s inch-long yellow fangs.
‘H-how did you get in here?’ Gabriel stammered.
‘Ah, yes an intriguing ruse,’ Kalladon boasted. ‘It was really quite simple, which is what made it so brilliant. We walked right in the front gate!’
Gabriel’s head sunk as the realisation hit: Hookbeak really had betrayed them all.
‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Kalladon continued, ‘you’re thinking that your precious Gatekeeper, Hookbeak, was nothing but a vile traitor. But the truth is he was loyal to you all to the very end.’
‘H-h-he was?’
‘Indeed. He was given the choice of joining me. He opted for death. Very noble.’ Kalladon let out a hideous laugh. ‘So I needed another way to gain access. Another way to discover the right time to strike. And it just so happened that I had a willing associate in my midst to fulfil that role all along.’
With that, one of the dark shadowy figures stepped forwards into the light.
Gabriel recognised the figure immediately.
The lethal talons protruding from the feet.
The knobbly, yet powerful, clawed hands.
The crooked posture.
That gaunt face and long, hooked nose.
Those deep-set, shifty eyes.
It was Hookbeak.
‘I don’t... I don’t understand...’ Gabriel stammered.
All around him the Reptilians roared with laughter.
‘That is because you're a worthless mammal. Oh so trusting of your eyes, you ignore the signs right in front of them – just like every other foolhardy resident of this despicable place,’ Hookbeak said maliciously. He grabbed Gabriel’s throat and squeezed. His hand was alarmingly cold.
Struggling for breath, Gabriel was even more confused.
Hookbeak continued, ‘That idiot Bysonn made the same mistake. He thought he had control of the situation. He thought I would roll over and do his bidding when all along it was him who was being manipulated. He thought that I would help him to eradicate you and in doing so save the Colony. But that was never part of the real plan. We were always going to gain access to Sanctuary. All will fall before us. You will simply be the first!’ Hookbeak loomed over Gabriel. Then, suddenly remembering his place, he released him and shrunk backwards, adding, ‘At the hands of my master of course!’
‘You treacherous snake!’ Gabriel wheezed, able to breathe again.
The Reptilians roared with laughter once more.
‘I guess that’s not too far from the truth is it?’ Kalladon mocked.
‘Wh-what do you mean?’ Gabriel said puzzled.
‘Come now, “Hookbeak” why don’t you reveal to our little friend here who you really are?’ Kalladon's voice sounded more dangerous than ever.
As Gabriel looked on, Hookbeak’s appearance began to transform before his very eyes. To begin with the change was gradual. At first Hookbeak's eyes began to change colour, from coal-black to leaf green. Then his eyes seemed to bulge outwards further and further. Next, Hookbeak’s skin seemed to crack and shatter into a million pieces, until it took on an appearance similar to the crusted mudflats of an arid desert. His wings receded and in their place a series of strange spikes popped up. The creature’s mouth widened into a fearsome reptile-like grin and finally his skin turned from a dull grey to a dark olive green.
‘Y-y-you’re a reptile!’ Gabriel declared in absolute shock.
‘Well I guess we’re not dealing with a complete moron after all! My name is Archaius of Chamaeleonidae.’
‘So all this time,’ Gabriel said, ‘we thought Hookbeak was a traitor, but it was you!’
Archaius gave an insidious smile.
Another realisation struck Gabriel, ‘So in the library... it was you who tried to kill me!’
‘You did what?’ Kalladon snapped.
‘Master, the cub is lying! I would never-’
Sensing an opening, Gabriel persisted, ‘You did! And you nearly succeeded! If it wasn’t for the intervention of Master Octus-’
Archaius had heard enough. ‘Be quiet, you mammalian scum!’ he ordered and struck Gabriel viciously across the face with the back of his scaly hand.
‘You tried to kill him yourself...’ Kalladon hissed with a terrifyingly calm voice. ‘And after all that talk of “At my master’s hand?”’
‘No, no, master, please I swear-’
‘Why would I lie?’ Gabriel said, lying on the floor and nursing his swollen cheek. ‘You’re going to kill me anyway, right?’
‘I didn’t ask for the opinions of a disgusting human outcast!’ Kalladon roared and violently kicked Gabriel in his midriff.
Explosive fireworks of blinding pain reignited in Gabriel’s stomach and chest. He rolled over groaning and gasping fo
r breath, fighting to retain consciousness.
‘The cub, however, has a point,’ Kalladon continued, ‘His fate is sealed; he has nothing to gain from lying at this point.’
Archaius looked upon his master, shivering with fear, his mouth agape.
‘I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that you deviated from the plan and attempted to kill him and failed, or that you tried to hide it from me!’ Kalladon’s eyes burned with fury. He slashed out as Archaius, knocking him to the floor with one fearsome blow. ‘Failure equates to weakness. I will not tolerate weakness!’ Kalladon hissed. ‘I should kill you for this betrayal!’
Archaius flung himself at his Kalladon’s feet. ‘No, please, Master. I beg of you – have mercy!’ he wailed.
As Gabriel had hoped, many of the Reptilians turned their attention away from the theatre floor and towards what was transpiring between, Kalladon, Archaius and himself. Under instruction from Omari, the Council guards stole the opportunity of the Reptilians’ lapse in concentration to creep up the stairways towards them. Meanwhile, far below, the aquatic residents and other able swimmers began ferrying innocent civilians away to safety.
Enraged, Kalladon hoisted up the still-whimpering Archaius by the throat and hurled him aside in disgust. The chameleon smashed into the rocky wall with a sickening crunch, fell to a crumpled heap on the floor and remained there silent and unmoving. Kalladon then turned and advanced upon Gabriel. The surrounding Reptilians were engrossed in their master’s actions and moved in closer to watch the demise of their enemy.
It was at this exact moment that the Council guards attacked.
The rear flanks of the Reptilians crumbled as they were caught completely by surprise. Kalladon and the Reptilians nearest to Gabriel spun to combat the new threat. They growled and snarled like rabid wild animals, venom dripping from their razor-sharp fangs. Kalladon bellowed in anger. In the confusion, the Reptilians’ watch over Gabriel faltered.
Tolero ploughed through their ranks like a bulldozer. ‘Gabriel!’ he yelled, ‘Get out of here now!’
Gabriel hesitated. He contemplated that primal choice, as old as life itself: fight or flight. The fundamental question addressed by every living thing on the planet when faced with adversity.
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